Corellia, 14 B.B.Y

The predawn light began to tentatively touch the pills of Coronet City, making the dark-gray connected islands somewhat lighter gray, before the sun would rise and turn them to their glory of, well, a little bit lighter gray than that. The city was always gray in some shade or other.

Once a jewel of the Old Republic, Corellia almost seemed a shadow of its former glory. The city seemed to blur with pollution and gloom, almost as if reflecting the current state of the galaxy. The scream of TIE engines sliced through the morning air as a pair of fighters flew over the city.

A Star Destroyer hovered high above the city currently in the middle of construction, an all-too-common sight in the Corellian skies as more and more of the planet's factories began to manufacture components specifically for Imperial projects.

The faint chatter of probe droids drifted through the air as around a dozen flittered around the Destroyer. Even uncompleted, the Star Destroyer was a hive of activity. Crews worked throughout the ship preforming a wide variety of tasks, with platforms floating between levels dropping off droids, supplies and engineers where needed.

"Okay, bring it down!" Alyssa Durron yelled, gesturing at the level above her. A pair of Sullustans yelled back at her in their chittering language as they loaded a container onto a small platform.

"NO, MY LEFT!" she screamed. They yelled back at her, causing her to sigh in exasperation.

"I don't… I don't speak that!" She snapped as the platform reached her. She grabbed the container and grunted as she tried to lift it, sweat dripping down her face. Once, something like this would have been child's play. But now…

Finally, she managed to lift the container, dropping it down with a loud CLANG against the wall. She sighed as she pressed a button on the platform, sending it floating back up. Then, someone tapped on her shoulder.

"Hey Carina!" her bright blue eyes blinked back at the source of her interruption.

It was Nalise, a local girl who lived in the same district as Alyssa and worked at the factory with her father and two brothers. Naise had the typical native Corellian look: dark hair, tan skin, fair complexion.

Ever since Alyssa had first arrived three years ago, Nalise had tried to befriend her, to limited success. Alyssa tried to ignore her, not wanting to make any connections, but Nalise was stubborn. She grinned at Alyssa.

"Sorry to mess with your mojo, but the boss wants a word." She thumbed back. Alyssa sighed as she sat up and followed Nalise.

"As you can see, Lieutenant, progress is coming along smoothly." The foreman, a Rhodian, was saying to a stone-faced Imperial, flanked by a pair of stormtroopers.

"Here she is, Chief." Nalise gestured at Alyssa. The Rodian faced them and frowned.

"We've got a loose coupling up on the communication relay. Go up there and secure it." Alyssa crossed her arms, a frown on her face. She glanced briefly at the left stormtrooper before turning away.

"That's risky."

"We'll double your pay for this shift." The foreman grumbled. Nalise's eyes gleamed as she grinned at Alyssa.

"We'll do it." She looked at Alyssa with an almost pleading expression. Alyssa stuffed her hands in her pockets and sighed.

"Okay." Nalise grinned as she clapped Alyssa on the back.

"Get back to work! The Empire doesn't pay you to sit around!" the officer barked. Alyssa glanced at the left stormtrooper before following Nalise down the corridor. Sparks flew around them as workers worked on welding the wall. What made Alyssa a bit more uncomfortable were the occasional stormtroopers they passed, patrolling to make sure everyone kept on schedule. Uncompleted, the hallway abruptly ended with a dropoff into open sky. Without missing a beat, the two girls stepped onto one of the floating platforms. Nalise walked over to the controls while Alyssa knelt down in front of a bucket of water. The platform rumbled beneath her feet as it started floating upwards.

Alyssa splashed water on her face, letting out a small sigh of relief at the cold sensation after hours in the heat. She picked up a small rag next to the bucket and scrubbed. After a minute, she dropped the rag, now stained with black streaks. She blinked at the reflection looking back at her. These days, she hardly recognized the girl looking back at her. Sure, they had the same features: fair brown hair that sat at her neck, light freckles across her face and tanned skin from years of work. As far as Corellia was concerned, she was Carina Dune, a war orphan from Dantooine. Just another face in the masses. Left alone to finish their shift until their next shift came around.

Alone. Something she was never meant to be. But things had changed after the end of the Clone Wars. Everything had changed. The girl who wanted to disappear had turned her back on the galaxy.

"Carina, you okay?" Alyssa blinked, looking up to meet the other girl's confused gaze.

"Huh? Oh… sorry. Got lost in thought. Long day." Nalise nodded.

"Sorry that I kinda forced you into this, but I just couldn't say no to the credits."

"Hmph." Alyssa shrugged, leaning back as they looked at the vast city stretched beneath them.

"Believe me, there are times I wish I was anywhere else but here." Alyssa looked up at the girl with a curious expression. Nalise stood silent, her hair flapping silently in the wind.

"My dad used to tell me how beautiful the city looked in the old days, before the Empire. Plus, the Republic paid way better too." Alyssa's eyes widened.

"Hey, you should really watch what you say." she whispered, her voice tense. Her eyes flittered around, alert.

"Look, all I'm saying is these extra credits could finally get the two of us off this miserable rock. They're always looking for pilots and engineers on Tatooine. Or maybe Coruscant." Alyssa stiffened at the mention of Coruscant. The platform slowed as they reached the top level. Stretched out before them was the surface of the Star Destroyers, bustling with workers. From where she was standing, it was like standing on a desolate moon. A grey surface that stretched on and on. Alyssa grunted as she carried a large toolbox off the platform.

"Wow. I never get tired of this sight." Nalise breathed. She wiped at her forehead. Alyssa was silent.

"What makes you think I want off?"

"Yeah right. Who would willingly spend the rest of their life working in a dump like this?" Alyssa didn't answer.

"I'm not ending up like my dad, slaving away the rest of my life. Like my mom always says, find your destiny." Alyssa snorted.

"Destiny can go lightspeed into a maw." Then, a loud crackling noise made the girls turn to see a red tower with blue sparks shooting out of the top.

"Looks like that's the tower."

"Oh, this is gonna be fun…" Nalise let out a deep sigh.

"Let's get this over with." Alyssa nodded, following the other girl. They looked the tower over.

"Okay, looks like the power runs through here." Nalise pointed at a large panel near the base.

Nalise grumbled as she knelt down, rummaging through the large toolbox. A moment later, she stood up with a pair of rubber gloves and welding masks.

"Ready?" Alyssa nodded as she slid them on. They gripped the sides of the panel door.

"Ready?" Alyssa nodded.

"Okay… now." They lifted the door off and were immediately blinded in the face with smoke and sparks. Nalise coughed.

"Woo, that's bad. Okay… hydrospanner?" Alyssa fished the device out of the box and tossed it up to Nalise.

"Okay… so we move that here…" A few minutes later, they closed the door.

"Did that do the trick?" Then, the tower let out a loud beeping noise, and the rings around the tower's tip turned blue.

"Okay, looks like it did it." Alyssa sighed.

"Great, now let's get back dow-" she was suddenly interrupted by the sound of TIE engines screaming through the air. Then a pair of fighters suddenly shot out of the sky, sweeping over the Destroyer so close that Alyssa could see the pilots. Then, a burst of wind knocked them both to the ground.

Nalise cursed as she struggled back to her feet, waving her fist at the shrinking TIE fighters.

"Blasted! Why the heck are they flying so close? Could have knocked us right off the ship!"

"Let it go, it's not worth the trouble." Alyssa sighed, dusting her pants off. Then, the ground suddenly lurched, causing both girls to stumble.

"What now? Another TIE?" the ground rumbled again.

"That wasn't the TIE." Then, a loud groaning noise echoed through the air. Alyssa let out a gasp as the ground started to tilt. Alarms started to blare, deafening Alyssa's ears.

"The stabilizer went out!"

"Hold onto something!"

"Watch out!" Alyssa gasped as the entire ship quickly started to tilt. Before she could gain her footing, the ground fell out from under her, sending her tumbling down the side of the massive ship. Fortunately, she slammed into the back of a turret, breaking her fall. At the same time, it felt like the wind shot out of her lungs.

The breath rushed out of Alyssa as her entire back throbbed. She groaned as she blinked stars out of her eyes. Then, a loud scream made Alyssa whirl to see Nalise fall past her, flailing helplessly with Coronet City stretched out beneath her.

Without hesitating, Alyssa thrust her right hand out towards Nalise. A feeling spread out from her fingers, a nearly forgotten familiar rush. The world seemed to fade away, the alarms growing muffled in her ears. Nalise seemed to freeze in mid-air, her arms flailing. A second later, a platform floated beneath her, and Nalise fell into it back-first.

She gasped as she sat up, staring up as alarms blared. She stared at Alyssa, her jaw agape. Alyssa lowered her hand, the sound of her heartbeat thudding in her ears until it drowned everything else out.