Immediately the imperial troops swarmed over him; the officer dropped me and ran to join them, and I ran after him. I slipped in the sand, tumbled down the dune; my parents embraced me at its base and helped me to my feet – and held me back from Evan as the soldiers struck him and shouted insults at him and put his hands in binders. I tried to push past them, to get to him, but Dad held me back, and then Evan had been pushed into one of the gunships and it had taken off and vanished into the sky.
The young officer came over to us and curtly apologized for his rough treatment of me. He said that the reward money would be put in a special account for my parents. "You've done the Empire a great service today, Mr and Mrs Rand," he told them.
We moved to Coruscant a few months later. Dad was made the Hutts' ambassador to the Empire, Mum became a socialite, Jan and I were put into good private schools. We had a fine high-rise apartment with a balcony. By Coruscant standards we were middle class - by Tatooine standards we were royalty - but I could find no happiness in it. I could think only of Evan, who had given his life to save us, and as soon as I completed my education I enrolled in a small and unprestigious university on some backwater world - I don't remember which one, since I never actually went there and only enrolled in the school as a cover - and joined the Rebellion. By fighting the Empire, I hoped I might be able in some part to avenge Evan's death. I would repay him - I would tell the galaxy what had happened to his family. Someday, I decided, people would know.
