Corellia.

John was growing fast, Arkadi was getting used to Galen's absence in her life, though that absence still left a hole in her chest that left her paralyzed every time she thought about it. To top it all off she was getting used to the company of her dear friend Ralph, grateful for him to help her forget.

But John was growing steadily, in both mental faculties and in physical size. He was already able to speak fluently, keeping up a conversation. Always asking about what was going on. Wanting desperately to one day go to school, however Arkadi had every intention of home schooling him.

So every night she taught herself everything, history, math, physics, and consulted with specialists in their field that might be able to help her out.

It was an exciting time, and she loved John dearly, with all of her soul. He was her only lifeline to his father, and was apart of her as well. That made him the most unique being in the universe, and she had no intention of letting anything happen to him.

But the best laid plans…

A human male, named Crag, stared through his binoculars at the large mansion of a house.

"So they look rich?" The female member of the crowd asked excitedly.

"Yes." He said with a scowl.

He did not like this, he had been laid off months ago from a Corellian shipping company which left him without any options to pay for his survival, he had to do something, and this was the most obvious location.

They had already raided two others without much luck, so he and his gang of six tried to do something about that, and went to this ambitious site.

He had no idea who lived here only that they had to be rich to afford the gigantic space.

"Well lets get on it." He said, lightning arched through the air, as it began to pour, drenching his beard and hair in water. but fortunately not the blaster pistol that he had tucked in his poncho.

Arkadi had just finished getting into her smooth white, tight fitting, flower jammies, and had done the same for dear John.

She sighed contently to herself, enjoying the peace and quiet that life provided for her at this time of night. Before the next major crisis.

She wrapped her arms around herself and closed her eyes and enjoyed the silence, it wrapped her in a blanket, as she listened to her own heartbeat. Not another noise in the house, it was deathly quiet.

The only noise was the rain outside, pattering against the windows and the wood. This only served to heighten her feeling of peace and contentment.

Her eyes snapped open, then she heard a banging from the outside door which attracted her notice. Somehow she knew it was going to happen, and this thought made her shiver.

But then she stopped and her mind raced. Who would brave the storm and be visiting at this time of night? No one had any business, doing so. She clenched her fists at her sides, and tip toed around the corner, and to the top of the flight of steps, peering around the corner, and then moving to expose herself.

She was merely curious by the situation, and watched as the Droid went to go greet the visitors.

Suddenly a spike of terror arched through her body and her soul, shooting out from that place where she kept the memory of Galen.

Her eyes widened as wide as planetary orbs, her breath caught in panic as she wanted to yell out and warn the Droid not to greet.

Too late.

The door opened and a metal rod appeared in the doorway, two blaster bolts screeched out and pierced the calm night air, the Droid let out a startled yelp as it fell with two gaping burns in its chest, its eyes dark and deactivated.

She gasped and ran for the room as six figures burst through the door.

"Alright move out! Find the vault, or any other valuables!" A masculine voice graveled out.

Thieves! Here! She cursed her luck, and then wished Galen was here to rescue her. She was terrified, panicked, her heart was pounding in her chest. Nowhere to hide in the wide hallways of her house, the tall ceilings, the great expanses, the many stairs.

She had to get a grip, her mind was working in over drive. John! She thought. She ran, and then was thankful she was in her bare feet making a pitter patter of noise that was not likely to reach over the howling wind, the flash lightning, and the ever increasing noise of rain slamming into the house.

She reached her son's room and scooped him up, practically dragging him to the panic room, away from the main halls, out of the way, hard to find. She placed him in a compartment full of blankets and sheets to hide him further, she shut it and then moved a picture in front of the compartment that now contained him.

Ancient Corellian legend, if you put a picture of a beautiful woman over your son or his sleeping place, he will have great powers of prowess.

She smiled skeptically at the painting before rushing out of the room.

Boot steps behind her made her freeze, and she could see shadows approaching her.

She picked up her pace and slinked around the corner just as the two figures appeared in the hallway.

Staying off the main paths she sped to her room, and staying to the secret hallways and shortcuts. She made it to her room and shut the door quietly.

She then jolted for the vault on the other side of her room. She entered in the combination code expertly and quickly, it whooshed open with a rush of air, revealing a perfectly preserved Corellian dueling Pistol.

It was a gift for her birthday from Galen, and even though she thought it odd at the time it was invaluable now. Arkadi had a warm feeling as she hefted the smooth expertly crafted weapon, she found it comforting that Galen was able to protect her even from the grave.

She carefully made her way out, now that she was armed there was no need to panic.

Crag was making his way along the second floor, this place was huge! He was surprised that the only thing he had run into was the Droid. The rest of the household must have abandoned ship at their presence.

A woman appeared In his path holding a device. He froze in shock, and his eyes widened. He spun back around the corner as two bolts of yellow light exploded from the gun.

He ripped his own bulky weapon out of the holster and placed it in both hands aiming down it as he carefully moved out from his cover. Only to find nothing there.

"Heads up we are not alone here." he alerted into his com.

"We know, we heard." His woman said bored.

Arkadi moved down the stairs, she missed, and she lost the element of surprise, she was trying not to panic and not to lose herself, but she was no Jedi and no soldier. Only a simple daughter of a politician, and a lover of a great man.

She made her way over to the stair banister and peered down it.

"Hey you!" A slurred voice said, she jumped and looked at the figure, obscured in the dull lighting, but clearly human. She panicked and leapt, landing on the floor below and going into a roll, she hit her shoulder hard and grimaced in pain. She rolled again to face the top floor.

The thief was aiming down his pistol deciding what to do, she beat him to it, she swung her whole body around and fired, repeatedly. Wood exploded from the railing as the bolts made contact, ripping it to shreds, and causing the thief to wince back. He pointed down the pistol in one hand and fired down at her.

She was able to get up and run, the heat of the bolts just missing her, one punching a whole in her skirt.

She ran and flew around a corner, hugging herself to a wall.

She saw another one of the thief's leafing through an old history book, and enraged at the intrusion she leveled the pistol at him and fired.

This time the yellow bolt drilled the man in his chest causing him to crumple and be forced back, dead.

She went down the long flight of steps again, leading them away from John.

Then she saw their leader. No time to fire, she prepared to jump off the remaining steps and make a get away to the basement and hide there. But the leader fired before she was able to make the jump.

He did not intend to hit her but she ran into his weapons fire.

The yellow bolt caught her in her shoulder causing her to grimace in pain and misread her jump, she fell, the second bolt caught her in the back.

She landed hard on the ground and broke her neck.

Crag's eyes widened in shock. "No!" He yelled out, the pounding of boots running greeted him as his team assembled.

He ran to check on her. She was dead. He felt humiliated and so enraged at himself for what he had become.

The team stared down solemnly at her, all but one, a satisfied and ruthless smile plastered on her face.

A bolt of lightning split the air and illuminated the scene in front of them.

"Wait what's that?" The youngest member of the team said.

The rest of them strained their ears, and Crag could here it too, the wailing of a baby.

"She was a mother?" One of the team said.

Crag felt sick, he nearly stumbled and fell down, feeling weak and humbled.

"Who cares?" The woman said. "The only valuable thing here is books and plates. And neither of them will be of much use to our employer's. Maybe we can auction him off?"

Crag looked at her shocked and disgusted. The mere suggestion served to reinforce his stomach, his posture hardened and he extended himself to his maximum height. It was as though durasteel had been poured into his very soul making him stronger.

"What?" He said bitterly.

"This will be for nothing." She said simply, "all of this, we need to get something."

"No! this is too much, we have to go."

"You can go if you like but I am taking the child." She said turning her back on him, exposing the rear of her to him. He was too disgusted to take notice.

"Come on man we need to go, the Militia are probably around the corner!" The man who shot at Arkadi pleaded.

"Yeah he is right." Crag said pleading.

She froze. "Well I am not leaving."

He was shocked. He picked up his weapon and fired at her, catching her square in the back, and dropping her down hard.

She was dead. But he was enraged. He fired into her head twice out of pure spite.

Then he dropped his weapon, shocked by what had happen. The baby was still wailing.

His comrade's arm was draped across the waist of the woman they had murdered. To anyone who had come it would look like two women trying to protect each other from the evil thieves.

Crag stumbled back, in fear, and scrambled outside the door. Crawling back, and then running in a blind panic.

His men pleading after him.

The Dark Planet.

Galen stumbled and fell face first into the ground, Death's makeshift blade just barely avoiding severing Galen's head from his body.

"Master?" Death said shocked.

"Its nothing Death." He said, truly not knowing.

All he had felt was a wave of sadness in the Force, that penetrated even this deep dark miserable place. Slamming into him and causing him to nearly break down. But he had no way to know what had caused it.

Corellia

It was Ralph's regular visiting day. He got up the steps, and was curious to see that the door was ajar.

He opened it all the way and entered, peering around. He saw the Droid in many pieces, obviously deactivated, he looked around in a panic.

"Arkadi!" He yelped as he saw her in a crumpled mass on the floor, another woman's arms draped around her.

He went over to her, and fell on his knees. He rolled the other woman over, making her stare at the sky. Her eyes were lifeless. She was ruggedly beautiful, and not the same classic beauty as Arkadi.

Before he could check on her he thought of John. He rushed up the stairs and found him easily.

He gathered him up and tried to soothe him.

He panicked. He did not know what to do, did not have the money, or the resources to take care of John. His soul was rocked with great sadness. He knew what had to be done, but he would betray Arkadi, and he did not need that on his conscience. He was torn, and the baby, knowing his parentage, picked up on that and cried, wailed.

It broke his heart and made it even more difficult.

"There, there, I am going to take care of you." He said.

He left a tip at a local PD station and then dropped John off at an orphanage.

He retreated quickly from guilt mostly, fear, and not wanting his identity known for political reasons. A nun opened the door curious at the intrusion, and peered down on the steps before the orphanage, she found a small boy, breathing fitfully as if he was still in the throes of a nightmare.

Worried about his safety, she took him into the orphanage and summoned the rest of the nuns.

Ralph's heart fell, but he had no other choice in the matter. Who knew what would be the fate of John Zaun.