It wasn't my fault was it? What did I do to be exiled by my own family?

He stood up and began to pace up and down the aisle. He was the shuttle's sole passenger; the pilot was a loyal soldier of the Empire, following orders his mother had forged in her husband's name. "I can't believe this. It's not my fault, it's the Empire's, but..."

What am I saying? an inner voice replied. The Empire's given me everything... money, a home, even parents. It must be my fault. Even if all I did wrong was being born to the wrong father. Jason slumped back into his chair, feeling miserable and utterly alone, with only his dark and troubled thoughts to keep him company.

The shuttle reverted from the swirl of hyperspace and the largest city in the known universe came into view: Coruscant, more commonly known as Imperial Center. Whoever owned the planet owned the Galaxy. As the shuttle approached, Jason -- no, now that I'm on Coruscant I must be Darsel, Darsel Rost -- could see the tops of skyscrapers and high rise walkways across the buildings, as well as the streams of traffic constantly weaving between them.

As he reached for his sole piece of luggage, a datapad fell out of the open bag. A blinking line of text on the small screen indicated that there was a recorded message for him in the pad's memory. What's this? He pressed for playback, and the face of his mother appeared, drawn with anxiety, just as he'd last seen her.

"Hello Jason. I'm sorry to have had to send you off like this, but because of your father I had no choice. There are some things that you have to know about you, your father and I. As you've already learned, we are not your parents. We found you on the street, in the arms of your real father."

Jason stopped the message. Even though he'd found it out himself, to hear the woman he still thought of as his mother confirm it was a blow. Finally, he felt ready to continue listening.

"He was dead before I found you. Your father... I recognized the robes of a Jedi Knight, of course. He must have wanted to protect you from the Empire. The only way to do that was not to get caught or put in the Imperial records. That's why he died - he was sick, but he couldn't get medical attention. We didn't tell you this to protect you from discovery... to protect you from yourself."

He stopped the recording again. To protect me... That's what my father, what Derick always said the Empire did. Protect the Galaxy from fear and chaos. Was it all a lie? He looked down at the city planet below, buildings stretching to the horizon. In the distance, the Imperial Palace loomed. He'd always dreamed of seeing its splendor, but now it felt like he was descending toward a fortress of evil. He resolved to listen to the rest of the message before he landed, and then wipe the datapad's memory.

" I know that was stupid. I am now aware of the injustices of the Empire and I urge you to follow the path of your ancestry. The Empire must be stopped. I trust you will do what you feel is right. Along with this datapad, I've given you a credchip with a thousand credits on it, so you will have food and a place to stay..." Iyellan Wess looked close to tears, and "Darsel" felt a tightness at the corners of his own eyes. "This probably will be the last you will see of me so, I love you and... May the Force be with you. Good-bye."

A large man stood at the entrance of the terminal, his black uniform spotlessly clean, with the rank cylinders of a major in his chest pockets. Behind him stood a squad of the Empire's white-armored elite soldiers. "I am Major Rance Prester. We have reason to believe that there is a rebel spy among you. As of now, this facility is sealed off. No one is leaving until I say so!"

A pickpocket in the crowd panicked and decided to make a break for it. Imperial justice was swift; he didn't get a dozen yards before he was cut down by blaster fire. Stormtroopers forced their way through screaming bystanders to examine the body. In the confusion, no one saw an older man quickly duck behind a decorative pillar.

Dower Matit cursed silently, wondering for a moment who had sold him out. But such questions would have to wait. Right now, he had to find out a way out of here. As he looked around the terminal, his eyes fell on a boy just getting off the slideramp. Dower did a double take. Could it be...? The resemblance was amazing. Perhaps the Force was with him after all.

Jason saw the troopers and edged toward the side of the concourse, hoping not to be seen. Without warning, a hand reached out from behind a pillar and dragged him out of sight. A startled Jason found himself face to face with a stranger who looked at him intently.

"Young Carillo, is that you?"

"Y-you have the wrong person, mister," Jason stammered. "My name is Rost, Darsel Rost."

The stranger shook his head. "No, I don't. You are Lykos Carillo's son. You have his face, his eyes."

Jason's blood froze. This man had known his father? Seeing the shock in his eyes, the man continued.

"Yes, I even saw you as a little boy. Your father was a great Jedi. When the Empire came to power... but we don't have time for this, I need you to keep something for me." The stranger pressed a datacard into Jason's hand. "I know I can trust you to keep this safe. Don't let the Empire have it."

"But...but..."

"No buts, now go."

Jason wandered away in a daze. The next thing he knew, an Army major was demanding to see his identification. Jason gulped and offered his card. Either the fake ID was a good one or the major had other things on his mind, for he only glanced at it before waving the teenager through the gauntlet of stormtroopers.

Jason found himself on the street outside the terminal entrance without quite knowing how he got there. The urban canyons rose up all around him. Taking his first deep breath of Coruscant's air (and finding it somehow foul), he hailed a skytaxi.

At first, Jason had constant nightmares about Imperial agents showing up at his door - looking for him, the datacard, or both. But as weeks turned into months and no one seemed to notice another anonymous bit of street trash, he stopped worrying about it. His allowance had run out, and he was too busy learning how to survive in the biggest city.

A year went by. Jason was cleaning up his apartment - a single room smaller than the one he'd had at home, in a neighborhood that saw sunlight maybe twice a year and knifings daily - when he came across the place he'd hidden the card. He sat down on his narrow bed, turning it over and over in his hands.

What should I do? I have a card that probably has very sensitive data on it and no one to give it to. Maybe I should just get rid of it. Then Jace remembered what his mother had said. Stop the Empire... do what I feel is right. This isn't something I can walk away from.

Among his few possessions, Jason still had the datapad his mother had given him. He slotted the card into it and tried to access the contents. Encrypted, I should have known. For a moment, he wondered if he should be tampering with it. But this was his only lead, and he had nothing to lose by trying. Besides, hadn't he gotten high marks in math and computers at school?

Hours later, his fingers stiff and eyes burning, Jason finally got a list of names and addresses. They all seemed to be here on Coruscant. But are they rebel agents, or Imperials? One way to find out. Jason picked the first name on the list and decided to visit him the next day.

It took Jason almost all day to get to the Alien Protection Zone, known to those outside the Imperial bureaucracy as the Invisible Sector. Part of that time was spent switching rides to cover his tracks He got to the apartment an hour later, avoiding two attempted muggings, and knocked on the door. The door slid open a crack and Jace saw a familiar face: the man from the shuttle terminal.

"Dower Matit?"

"Who's asking... it's you! Come in, quick! I just about gave up on you." Once Jason was inside, Dower asked, "Do you have it with you?"

"Not with me. It's back at my apartment, in a security case."

"You are a smart boy. Maybe smarter than I am. We need to destroy it..."

"Destroy it?" Jason gaped. "But I thought it was important data! Secret spy stuff."

"It was... a year ago." Dower smiled ruefully. "I meant to get it to General Cracken. Now, half of the people on that list are dead or in custody and the other half will be if the Imperials get ahold of it."

"You're with the..." Jason lowered his voice. "Rebel Alliance. Aren't you?"

"You are a smart lad. Just like your father," Dower said. "You know, I don't even know your name. And don't tell me it's Dorsal, or whatever it was you said before."

"Jason."

Dower shook the young man's hand. "Well, Jason, it's good you came now. I have to leave soon; they're getting wise to me at the data center where I work. You were one of the few loose ends I was hoping to wrap up first. I have a speeder we can take to your place. Let's go."

As soon as they got to Jason's apartment, he climbed up on the bed and pulled down one corner of the flickering light panel. The small security case was inside. Jason disarmed the case and opened it. Dower took the data card and snapped it in half, then (before Jason could protest) used a holdout blaster, set on low power, to melt both halves into bubbling puddles of goo on the floor.

"Hey!"

"Now, we must leave, quickly. Gather your things, one bag at most, and come with me."

"But my apartment, my clothes..."

"You don't need them if you're going to join the Alliance. Besides, loading all that into my speeder would be too conspicuous. And if the Empire's put a tail on me, we haven't much time. Please, Jason. Trust me."

Jason nodded slowly, then did as he was told. Once again, he was leaving everything behind... but this time, he had something to look forward to.

The Empire must pay and at last, I've found the way to get back at them.

Days later, Jason found himself aboard a tramp freighter whose Duros captain ran cargos for the Alliance, headed for his new destiny. He was standing in the cockpit when the freighter dropped out of hyperspace and he got his first look at the CRS Independence and its escorts. The pilot smiled and let him stare.

This is what the flagship of the Alliance looks like. I always imagined the thing to look old and dirty, but it's beautiful.

Once the freighter landed in the main hangar of the Independence, Dower and Jason went their separate ways. Jason spent a bewildering two weeks being sworn in, tested, briefed, and finally assigned to Starfighter Command. Soon he was on his way to the training frigate Regis, where he hoped he would - at last - find a new home.