"It might have been a backwater, out where no one wanted to live, and infested with pirates, but it was home. Mom was a ship mechanic, working on whatever would or could land on Hickham. Dad was a fuel transfer specialist. In some ways, I was lucky.... close enough to be loyal to the Empire while being small and far away enough to never needing to work about politics.

I always had dreams of travelling the stars, so when the opportunity came up, I helped steward passengers on small liners. Eventually, saved up enough to buy a Dolphin. I could see the pride in my parent's faces when they saw me off."