Star Wars Book One: Force

Chapter 1: Old Friends and New Enemies

Planet Kurlik, Avanosh System, Outer Rim.

Korra awoke to darkness. Shifting on her makeshift cot, she strained to regain her senses, finally being awarded with the incessant drone of Bolins' snoring. The man was making more noise than a Gundark in an antique store. Snorting in amusement, she rose from her dwelling, eyes slowly adjusting to the pitch black. Noticing that Makos' bed was empty, Korra made her way to the door and left the room, blinding herself as daylight flooded the small shack that they had called home for the last 5 months.

So much had changed in the last four years.

Kurlik was once a backwater world that was overlooked more often than not by the Imperial authorities due to its strategic insignificance and its distance from the major and minor Hyperlanes, thus making it an ideal haven for criminal elements that had plagued to Outer Rim for millennia, including even the vicious and immensely wealthy Hutt Cartels. Even though life was hard under their rule, the Hutts at least left you alone as long as you paid them their 'protection' fees. Korras' family had been rather successful and had been able to provide for her without having to degrade themselves to the levels of the local gangs, and for a while everything had seemed fine to her. Then the Rebels took note of Kurliks' isolation and decided to set up a base to hide from the Empires' vast intelligence network. It would have worked to if the Hutts hadn't sold them out to collect on the vast bounty the Empire had placed on them.

When Korra was only 13 the Empire attacked, and everything changed. They utterly annihilated the Rebel presence on Kurlik but didn't stop there. Some of the local citizenry had been sympathetic to the Rebel cause, and the Hutts had sold them out as well. Korras' parents had been among them. She could still remember the day the was forced to watch as Stormtroopers had dragged Tonraq and Senna into the street in front of an officer, whose face was too long and narrow to be natural. She could still remember the list of charges that bastard had read out for all to hear, she could still remember her rage at the sheer lies that they were accused of. She could still remember her father shaking off the troopers restraining him, telling her to run and lunging at the officer.

She could still remember the sight of her fathers' smoking corpse on the ground in front of her, and her mother being dragged away to god knows whatever fate the Empire had in store for her.

Korra never knew what her parents had done to deserve such a fate, but she did know one thing. From that point on nothing would ever be the same again. Shortly after that fateful day, the Empire took full control of Kurlik, even though the Hutts still maintained that they are the worlds overlords. In truth, the Empire had always been pulling the strings from behind the curtain, they just weren't as subtle about it now.

It wasn't long after the Imperial occupation began that Korra met Mako and Bolin. She ran into them in the food markets in the capital city one day when she was trying to steal something to sustain herself on. The Empire didn't even have the decency to let Korra stay in her own home, so she now lived the life of a street rat. A very unsuccessful street rat at that. She had struggled for two weeks to make ends meet, and was weak and slow from malnutrition when the two brothers had found her.

After a bit of a struggle over some stolen fruit, Korra had convinced them to let her tag along. Bolin took no persuading, as the big lug had a heart as big as a Star Destroyer, but Mako took some convincing. Korra couldn't blame him for his caution. She found out that Mako and Bolin had once run with Matha the Hutts gang when they were younger to escape their life of poverty. A rival gang had killed their parents when they were very young and had grown up on the streets for most of their life.

Naturally they had a lot to teach Korra about survival. Bolin taught Korra how to empathise with other people, something Korra has had a lot of trouble with since that day. Mako taught kora how to be stealthy and cunning, and soon she was able to keep up with the two of them as they made their rounds of the city. They only ever took enough to keep themselves well fed and healthy though. The rest of the population was hardly well off either.

This continued on for 4 years. The three of them eventually got noticed by the Imperial authorities and a reward was issued for their arrest. That was 7 months ago, and since then they've been on the run. Every checkpoint they pass, every patrol on the street holds the promise of a significantly shortened lifespan filled with the most intense suffering imaginable. They found their current home abandoned since the beginning of the occupation, the doors and windows not even sealed against the elements that ravaged the city outskirts. It was easy to fix up however, with some technical knowhow that Mako had apparently picked up from a girl he once knew. They had even found an old broken down speeder still parked in the houses garage that they were able to fix up. Despite their wanted status, things were starting to look up for the three of them.

Then they really got in trouble.

Korras' eyes quickly adjusted to the midday sun, scanning the street for any sign of Mako. A flash of red in her peripheral vision was all she needed to see. Mako was standing at the end of the street, his dirty red scarf pulled over his mouth against the debris lingering in the air from last night's dust storm. Korra had tied a bandana over her mouth and nose the moment she stepped out the door. Walking up behind him, he turned to see who was making their way, and smiled when his eyes met hers. Korra stood next to him in silence for a while, contemplating what to say.

She didn't have to wait long for the silence to break.

"We can't stay here." Mako said, his voice brokering no argument.

"I know. They'll be looking for us now." Korra replied, her voice heavy with trepidation.

The previous day had seen one of the greatest changes to the status quo since the Imperial occupation of Kurlik began 4 years ago. The planetary governor, one Minister Iosa, had been attacked while on a publicity tour to inspect the new Imperial Shipyard that was being constructed in orbit. Rumour has it that the Empire has grand plans for Kurlik and the surrounding systems, hoping to turn the planet into a planetary shipyard to rival the vaunted Corellian and Kuati manufacturing base. Rumour also has it that it was a small group of rebels who had attacked the Minister yesterday, two young men and a young woman. While Korra and the guys didn't initiate the attack, they certainly were in the wrong place at the wrong time.

The attack had taken place at the spaceport on the outskirts of the capital city, where the Minister was returning from the orbital docks. Korra, Mako and Bolin had been there trying to scrounge up some desperately needed components to get the old speeder working when the true culprits had attacked. Korra had only glimpsed a cloaked figure reaching into the folds of his robe before all hell broke loose. Some of the Ministers Stormtrooper guards must have recognised the trio, as not even an hour later their faces were plastered over every holoboard and bounty office on the planet. For the first time in their history, none of them had anywhere to run to.

They had to get off world.

"Maybe we could make our way to the cantina. There might be a starship captain who could get us off this rock?" Korra suggested.

"I don't know Korra" Mako said, his voice betraying the conflict he was feeling underneath his calm and composed visage. "Our faces are all over every inch of this kriffing city. We couldn't walk two feet without being recognised. We'll need disguises to have any hope of making it past this street."

The street they had based themselves on was a quiet, if cluttered slum on the outskirts of the main population centres. They had survived anonymously for this long, but with recent events even that wasn't enough.

"Even if we could find a smuggler or someone to take us, how would be pay them? We don't have a credit to our name!" Mako said desperately

"That's one concern. " Korra admitted. His mind was working a mile a minute trying to work out a solution to their imminent demise, Korra knew that, but sometime Mako could be such a pessimist.

"There has to be something we could do, someone we could talk to." Mako pondered to himself.

"Isn't there anyone from your old gang who could help?" Korra asked.

Mako whirled on her almost instantly, "Absolutely not! There is nothing any of those scumbags can do for us. We didn't exactly part on good terms."

Korra sighed. The situation was hopeless. She swore that if she ever saw the bastard that got them in this mess in the first place….

"What about Asami?"

Korra and Mako turned at the sound of Bolins' voice, Makos' eyes wide

"Asami? Are you serious?" Mako said, "After what happened? What makes you think she won't call the Imps the second she sees my face?"

Bolin looked at Mako like he had grown a second head, "She wouldn't do that and you know it bro, come on you know she's our only chance." Bolin pleaded.

Korra looked between the two of them, "Who's Asami?"

"Asami Sato, the daughter of the CEO of Seinar Fleet Systems. We used to be a thing." Mako added rather sheepishly.

Korras' eyes went wide in shock, "WHAT? You dated corporate royalty? How did you manage that you dog?" Korra exclaimed, nudging Mako in the ribs.

"It's complicated, I'll just say that SFS isn't above dealing with the Cartels. Bolin how would we get in contact with her? We don't have any comm gear and we certainly can't use a Holonet terminal, the Imps are going to be monitoring every frequency."

Bolin shrugged, "We know where she lives, maybe we could go see her?"

"And get past all that security on their compound? " Mako said, clearly exasperated.

"Hey I'm just trying to help Mako! Besides you've snuck in before if I do recall." Bolin said, giving his brother a knowing look.

Mako threw his arms up in the air, "That was when she knew I was coming! Now the entire city is on lockdown after that stunt those rebels pulled! There's Stormtroopers on every street and a kriffing Star Destroyer in orbit!"

"Calm down Mako, Bolins right." Korra interjected, "This Asami sound like our only hope. We have to figure something out."

Mako looked away, deep in thought. Korra didn't like the look on his face. Mako was always the one with the plan, always the one to get them out of a mess. To see him lost with no idea what to do unsettled her. Even Bolin, Bolin the optimist, the man who could see the good in everything in life looked worried.

Finally Mako spoke.

"Maybe we could catch her when she's on her way to a meeting or something. Explain our situation, though she no doubt already knows."

Bolins' face was nearly swallowed by the grin he gave his brother, "Alright! I knew you'd see reason bro!"

Korra suddenly felt on edge, like a tingle at the back of her mind.

"Get back inside!" Korra yelled at the two brothers.

Mako and Bolin both looked at Korra like she'd lost her mind.

Then they heard it.

The distinctive thump-hiss of an Imperial walker.

"Fierfekk!" Mako cursed, dragging Bolin down the street, hot on Korras' tail.

Just as they made it inside their little habitat, an AT-DP rounded the corner that they had been standing on. Its long spindly legs carrying the bulky, rectangular cockpit on its patrol of the city slums. Peeking out the window, Mako shuddered at the sight of the Imperial war machine, its chin mounted laser cannon more than capable of turning the shack they cowered in to scrap and ash.

They waited for the walker to pass, an agonising suspense building when the sounds of its footsteps stopped for a while, and muffled, radio distorted voices could be heard outside. Mako and Korra had reached for anything they could use as a weapon, an old hydro spanner or a broken plasteel pipe. They knew full well that they wouldn't stand a chance against a Stormtrooper without a proper blaster, but it brought them some small measure of reassurance.

Eventually the voices stopped and the walker went on its way. Letting out a breath she didn't know she was holding, Korra turned to Mako, her concern mirrored on his face.

"They've never patrolled around here before. We need to go now." Bolin said

"Yeah" was all Mako could say.

Turning to Korra, Makos' face softened, "I don't know how you do it but that sixth sense of yours has saved our live more times than I can count."

Korra looked away. She had always been able to sense when something was about to happen. She had no idea how, and quite frankly it scared her at times, but it had helped them get out of some serious trouble in the past, and Korra wasn't about to look a gift Rancor in the mouth.

"let's just see if we can find your friend." Korra said sheepishly

Mako nodded, turning to Bolin to help him gather their belongings. There was enough to last them a few days on the run and they had managed to scavenge enough cloth to make each of them a cloak to disguise themselves from the patrols. Mako and Korra also took the makeshift weapons they had held in the suspense, with the hope that they wouldn't have to use them. Making their way to the now barely functional speeder, they all climbed in and set off into the city, in search of their ticket off this suddenly hostile world.

Unknown System, Outer Rim

Aboard the Imperial II class Star Destroyer Equaliser, a cloaked figure walked the corridors towards his private conference room, the crew parting before him like a tide striking the rocks of the shoreline. Ignoring the fearful glances that were passed his way by the regular enlistees and the sharp salutes from the ships Stormtrooper complement, the man passed through a set of heavy blast doors that parted in his presence, vising shut behind him. In the solitude and security of his quarters, the man took position infront of the rooms central holoterminal, kneeling before it.

With a low hum the devise activated, and an image of the man's dark master materialised before him.

"Inquisitor." The deep, mechanically augmented voice of Darth Vader, Dark Lord of the Sith, said between long wheezes from his Bio suits respirators.

The Inquisitor bowed his head in deference to the hand of the Emperor.

"What is thy bidding, my master?" he asked, keeping his voice respectful.

"I have sensed a disturbance in the force on the plant Kurlik. Intelligence has reason to believe that there is more than one rebel group operating on that world. Recent events have shown that this alliance is growing bolder by the day, and now the governor of Kurlik has been targeted in an attempted assassination."

The Inquisitor raised his gaze from the foot of the holoterminal to behold Lord Vader directly. The rebels would dare to be so foolish as to draw the ire his master! A sinister smile tugged at his lips, hidden beneath his mask.

"You wish for me to hunt down and destroy these traitors my lord?" he asked, relishing the thought of bringing the cowards to their knees

"No"

The smile dropped from his face.

"You will have a much more important target. My spies have lead me to believe that among the culprits of the attack, the only female member of their group is force sensitive."

At that, the Inquisitors grin reaffirmed itself upon his features.

"You will hunt them down and turn the girl to the Dark Side, where she will serve as you do. This is my masters command."

Lord Amon once again bowed his head, his instruction clear in his mind.

"And so it shall be done."