Soren jerked awake from his slumber. Another nightmare. He'd been having them ever since he woke up in the hospital a week ago. They were always the same, first he felt like he was falling then there was a sudden burst of heat and light followed by unbearable pain shooting through his entire body. The psychatrist had told him that they were probably his repressed memories about the crash since he still couldn't remember anything after the TIE-fighters started shooting at them.

He got up from the sofa in Leia's lounge, not wanting to disturb Leia or Han, especially not Han, that grouch. Leia had recently discovered that she's a month pregnant. Soren had argued that he should move in with Luke now that conditions have changed, Han was very much in agreement. But Leia had disagreed saying that her being pregnant doesn't change anything and Luke's apartment (which is just down the hall) didn't have enough room for his hyperbaric chamber. Ah yes, his hyberbaric chamber. He had to eat in it, bathe in it and sleep in it...well he would sleep in it if the damn thing had come with a bed! Somehow the genius' who had constructed it had forgotten to add that simple feature, their excuse being that they'd only needed to build them for a single client in the past and he had never wanted a bed in his. So he was left to sleep on the sofa until a team of engineers could come round to 're-decorate' as Han had put it.

And now we come to Han. The moment he walked through the door to meet Han for the first time he was met with a blaster pointed at his face...er mask. Obviously Han Solo had very few fond memories of the deceased Sith Lord. When things had finally calmed down and Leia had began explaining to Han, the man had gone ballistic saying they weren't charity workers. To say that had hurt Soren's feelings would have been an understatement, he'd always respected the corellian smugger turned war-hero. Now to have one of his hero's who he believed had worked alongside his parents talk about him like he was some kind of diseased animal a four year old child had 'found' in the park and asked if they could keep. Well that had practically killed him. Thankfully Luke was nearby and had used that Jedi-radar of his and sensed how hurt the boy was by Han's reaction.
Not many people can claim to have seen Luke Skywalker angry, even fewer can claim to have seen him down right furious, but when Luke had picked up on Soren's feelings he'd practically blown the roof off the building when he started shouting at Han. Han's anger soon turned to shock and amazement, he'd never seen Luke that furious before, especially not at him. Luke went on in graphic detail on all of Soren's injuries and the reason why. Apparently Leia had only gotten so far as saying Soren was staying with them when Han had blown his top, but now that he knew how much the boy had suffered at the hands of the empire, he'd softened up a bit, but not by much.

Han was still rather stand-offish around Soren and often stiffened when he heard his mechanical breathing or his deep, artificial voice. Obviously Han still had a lot of issues to deal with about his torture at the hands of Vader. He and Leia had recently gotten into several arguments about him going to see a psychiatrists about it, but with typical corellian stubbornness he argued that he was perfectly fine and didn't need to talk to anyone about anything. Leia had booked him an appointment anyway and told him if he didn't go he could sleep on the couch to which Han replied that Soren already had the couch, Leia not to be out-done then told him he could sleep with the droids. The thought of having to sleep in the same room as 'goldenrod' was all the motivation that was needed, the next day Han saw the psychiatrist.

That had been yesterday and Han had been a grouch all day. But now at least they'd both found some common ground, but apparently he still didn't like having him in the apartment since he'd readily agreed to his suggestion to move out.

He had been waking up in the middle of the night after his nightmares for days now and it often left him unable to get back to sleep, which often ended up with Soren getting bored out of his mind. There weren't that many things he could do this late into the night and his new appearance and disability shortened that already limited list considerably. He'd been quite an accomplished swimmer before his 'accident', but now all hopes of ever going into the water again had sunk.

He was about to give up and try to get back to sleep when Han walked into the lounge. The lights were off but Soren didn't need lights to see, his holo-enhanced eyes adjusted appropriately to all lighting conditions. Han was quietly stalking across the room hoping not to disturb Soren who he believed was still asleep.

"What are you doing up Captain Solo?"

Han stopped dead in his tracks and stiffened slightly. He looked towards the sofa and saw in the dim lights of Coruscant coming through the window that it was unoccupied. Soren told himself that he should probably get a suit and helmet in various different colours if he wants to distance himself as much from the memory of Dearth Vader as possible. It would probably help if people could see him at night, unless he wants to get run over by a passing speeder. Han realizing that this was his apartment (even though the lease is in Leia's name) decided he should be asking the question.

"What are you doing up kid?" Soren didn't like having his questions ignored, especially by a scruffy looking nerfherder like Han Solo.

"I asked first." Soren wasn't raised to be rude, no on the contrary his parents had drilled the rules of politeness and good manners into him, but sometimes he'll meet someone like Han Solo and politeness just doesn't cut it, so the direct and to the point route has to be taken.

Han for his part was momentararily shocked. 'So the kid's got a backbone after all eh?/i' he thought to himself, well he could respect that. Soren had survived the loss of two limbs, total bodily disfigurement, his eyesight and the ability to breathe without assistance. If he could survive all that then one corllian freighter captain should be nothing. Yup, Han had to respect the kid for his resilience if nothing else, so he let the kid win the battle of wills...this time.

"Hey I was just askin'. Anyway I was just gonna get some Jawa Juice, you want some?" Han's brain had always been slower than his mouth, as soon as the words were out he felt like a mynock. Soren couldn't eat anything outside his hyperbaric chamber and he detested being reminded of it. Leia had once asked Han how he was still alive with that mouth of his, to which Han replied that lady luck was always on his side. This time however he didn't really feel very lucky.

There was a sudden uncomfortable silence between the two. Han didn't need to be a force sensitive to know that Soren's mood had darkened, he watched as the boy stalked towards the window and just stood and watched the late night traffic fly past. Han knew there wasn't anything he could say or do to make it up to the boy and if he went to get his drink now he'd just be rubbing it in his face. Han Solo was many things he was rude, ill-mannered and at the worst of times down-right uncivilized but what he wasn't was spiteful. He decided the best thing to do would be to go back to bed and that's exactly what he did.

---

Over the next week Soren found himself being enrolled into one of the finest schools on Coruscant. Unlike Luke who had very little experience with school since everyday on Tatooine was a life and death struggle with the vaporators, Soren had a fairly decent education. He could speak two languages (Basic, Huttesse) and could understand Shyriiwook the language of the Wookies.

It took another four days to completely enroll him which was fortunate since school started two days later. When he was asked if he wanted any special arrangements to be made he instantly replied with a stubborn "no". He had no intention of having people feel sorry for him or make special arrangements for him, he wanted his life to be as normal as possible.

---

The various reactions when he started school was as he expected, shock and terror. Rumours started almost as soon as he walked through the door, varying from 'I heard he's Vader's son!' to 'You think they cloned him?' He tried not to let it get to him and was successful for the most part, but of course sometimes the back talk just hurt.

The next day the school was inundated with inquiries and complaints from parents and the media wanting to know if these rumours of Vader's son/clone were true or not. For the most part the school refused to comment to the media stating that it would be a violation of their students privacy and reassured parents that the individual in question was not Vader or his son.

School continued as normal, Soren refused to take time off until the media got bored and the parents stopped complaining, stating that if they didn't like him then that's their problem not his, which got an approving smile from Han. Of course Luke and Leia were both worried, they realized that people would be shocked by his presence but they didn't count on this much hassle.
Eventually Luke and Leia had sat Soren down to talk about the situation and it was decided that Leia would explain the circumstances of Soren's condition to everyone in a press conference. They'd tried to convince Soren to make the announcement but he refused, saying that he already felt like he was on display and having to explain his condition to billions of people across the galaxy wasn't going to help.

---

The press conference took no time at all to set-up. The school's headmistress had graciously offered the use of the schools small auditorium that would easily fit all the journalists that would be coming. In no time at all the day of the press conference had arrived and every journalists from the most respected core world news-networks to the sleaziest outer-rim tabloids had come. Although he had refused to do the talking Soren didn't want to hide behind his guardians, he'd decided to sit in on the press conference so that everyone could get a good long look at him.

The reaction when he appeared on stage was a collective gasp which he'd become accustomed too recently. Obviously most of these journalists thought it was all a hoax and there was no Vader Child, but the unmistakable sound of his breathing was a dead giveaway that he was very much real. As soon as they'd recovered from their amazement they started shouting questions at him.

"Are you really Vaders son? Who was your mother? Are you a clone? Can you use the force? Did your father buy you any slave girls? Why are you living with the leaders of the rebellion? What species are you? What's your favourite type of woman? Do you..."

The questions seemed to be never ending, it wasn't until Luke and Leia rushed onto the stage and called for everyone to "shut up or the press conference is canceled" did everyone quiet down and Soren relax into his chair. Eventually Leia decided it was time to just get it over with as fast as possible.

"Members of the Galactic Press, some of you have no doubt heard the rumours of about our young friend here. What none of you have heard is the truth behind his condition. Firstly I'd like to introduce you all to Seron Jakar." At this she turned and motioned towards Seron. "Seron is the son of Aeron and Mila Jakar who were both members of the rebellion, who I'm afraid were both killed by the empire. Seron being their only living child was sent to an orphanage on a mid-rim world controlled by the Alliance, he lived there for five years until just over two months ago an Imperial Star Destroyer arrived to invade his home. Thousand of children were placed on transports hoping to get them to safety, however Soren's transport was shot down while attempting to leave orbit. His ship was pulled back by the planets gravity and went crashing back down into the surface. Seron was the only survivor."

She paused for a few moments hoping to give them some time to digest the story before moving on.

"When he was rescued two hours later it was discovered that he'd lost his right arm and his left leg. The majority of his body had been burned, leaving him scarred for the rest of his life." She decided to leave out the problem with his eyesight. "and lastly his lungs had been so badly damaged by inhaling smoke and gases produced by the flaming wreckage that he can no longer breathe without that mask or a special hyperbaric chamber. My brother and I took it upon ourselves to look after him, we are now his legal guardians and he now goes by the name Seron Skywalker. That is all, thank you for your patience but I will not be answering questions."

She, Luke and Seron left as quickly as possible before the mob of journalists could block off thier escape. They're part in all this was over now, it was over to everyone else now to learn to accept Seron for who he really is.