Knowing that there wasn't any other way for a street kid like himself to not just survive but thrive, Alexsandr waited in line as he and several others who longed for more than just scraping out a life in the lower levels of Coruscant waited for their turn to sign up now that the clones were being phased out of the army. While the clones served the Republic well, the Empire would see it's own citizens raised out of the muck that those like Alexsandr lived in. By going to conscripted soldiers, the Empire would offer him a better life than he'd ever would have hoped for in the Republic. All around him he saw others who were taking the same opportunity that he was.

Somewhere in the back of his mind he wondered if the Empire would be willing to take them all or if he'd get to the front of the line only to be told that he was too late; that all who would be accepted have gone before him. He was terrified of being told that he'd have to return to small closet of an apartment that he'd grown up in. And empty apartment. He was the last of those who he'd known as family to still live there. The rest have either died from various ailments or had sought an escape in some other manner. But Alexsandr sought a better life than trying to find odd jobs that he'd have to compete against others for who were just as desperate as he was for the few credits that they would pay.

When Alexsandr finally got to the front of the line to sign up to go to the Imperial Academy he was thrilled to find that he wasn't turned away. Finally, he had a hope to make something of his life. He had a chance to be more than he or the others from the lower levels of Coruscant would have ever dreamed of. And he would make something of himself, too. He promised to dedicate himself to being the best officer possible. After all, he couldn't think of any better way to repay the Empire for this chance of a lifetime than to give his loyalty over to it. He was sure that those around him felt the same way.


Kallus turned the meteorite over in his hands as he he'd done many times over the last few days since returning from the ice moon. Until his unexpected excursion to the moon of Bahryn over Geonosis and the events that transpired there he had never once questioned his loyalty to the Empire. Never thought that he needed more than his purpose that it gave him. But the rebel wasn't what he'd expected. Nor were his friends. When he saw them retrieve Garazeb he saw relief that he was unharmed and well when they came for him. Actually, they didn't look like friends at all. No. The crew of the Ghost were a family. An odd patchwork of a family but one nonetheless.

It had taken nearly another full rotation before he, himself, was retrieved from the ice moon. The recovery team actually seemed quite surprised to see that he was still alive. Had they waited that long hoping that he'd be dead by the time that they reached him? Then by the time he left the medical bay after having his broken leg reset he saw how little his colleagues actually cared about him or his well-being. In fact, as he has hobbled about his work days he swore he'd seen distain on the looks on his fellow officers. Both for allowing the rebel that he'd pursued down to Bahryn to get away as well as for becoming injured in the process. Not one officer had seemed to be concerned for him at all. There was none of the warmth that he'd witnessed when Garazeb had gotten onboard before flying away.

Kallus didn't know why he'd been so surprised. He hadn't thought about it in over a decade but he couldn't remember really having any friends since he'd left the academy. And really the only one friend he had in the academy had partially been because Valour hadn't been interested in showing that they were the best. Instead, Valour did all that could possibly be done to go unnoticed; wanted to blend in with the regular rabble rather than accel to the to the top as Kallus had hope to do. So as such, there was no competition between the two of them. Valour had even helped Kallus when it came to getting ahead of the rest of their class so that he'd be able to graduate at the very top.

Briefly, Kallus wondered whatever happened to his old friend. He hadn't even thought about those old academy days in years.

Kallus put the meteorite back in it's place by his bunk. Sitting here staring at that thing wasn't going to get any of the numerous things that he needed to do today done. Instead he got up and got dressed for his shift as he tried to clear the melancholy from his mind.

As he approached his office within the Imperial Complex here on Lothal he was handed a datapad by a cadet who looked as eager to please as he'd been when he'd not been much older than the boy. Kallus took it and read over it as he continued to head into his office. It appeared that more officers had been sent to replace those whom had either died in action or required replacements for some other reason. It would be his job to do thorough background checks on them to make sure that those who had perform the previous ones hadn't missed anything. It could be tedious work but it was work that he was good at.

As he scanned through the list of names he was surprised to see one that he'd certainly not expected.

Valour, K.

It figured. All these years later and Valour was still a lower-ranked officer. It looked like his old friend had succeeded in staying among the mediocre. Perhaps now he'll ask why that had been the goal of Valour in the first place. Why not show just how superior one was when you could?

Author's note. While this chapter is very short I wanted to post it anyway to see if there is any interest in Kallus's story. Most of my chapters are usually about 3000 words in my other fandoms, however I'm interested to hear what length you are interested in having your reads for enjoyment.