A young girl sat on the front counter of a store with a holo-pad in her lap. From the back room of the shop, there could be a cacophony of random mechanical sounds. She hummed innocently to herself while pondering how to pass the next level of the game.

There were three loud thuds and then silence. After a few seconds a woman walked out of the workshop. She was the spitting image of her daughter. Short Caramel Hair which flowed like oozing syrup crowning a wide rounded face with Freckled skin, subtle cheek bones and a tall nose, she gave off an independent aura.

She used the back of her gloved hand to wipe the residue of sweat off of her forehead, her toned arms doing so in one smooth motion while she let out a sigh in exhaustion. She then looked over at her daughter, who heavy resembled herself.

Her age left a few key differences, however. While she only kept her hair at about halfway down her neck, the daughter had hers about a two-thirds down her back tied in a ponytail. She possessed a small amount of baby fat still which gave her cheeks a rounded and made her have a fuller face then that of her mothers. She hoped her daughter would not lose that.

“Alva.” She said in an endearing voice, jolting the girl out of the trance like state she had been in. Alva turned her Agate pigmented eyes onto her. For a split moment, the light left her mother’s eyes, her body tensed and her mind drifted as she was brought back to that night where she was forced to stare into those eyes that where exactly the same as her daughters.

However, just like the millions of times she had seen that penetrating gaze, she shocks it off again knowing they were not him, before her precious child could know that something was wrong. The girl just responded with an “um-hm.”

“I need to drop off some stuff at Brith’s Okay. I know you hate going outside so stay here. I’ll be back later.” She said once she knew she had Alva’s full attention. To which the girl just gained a smirk on her face before saying. “Are you sure, you just don’t want to spend some time with him alone?”

She spluttered at those words, before simply just walking into the back to grab the parts for his condenser. The damn Federation had been lax in their quarantine procedures a few months ago and let a breeding pair of Pags loose. They had been wrecking Havok on the Atmospheric purifiers which almost everyone relied on due to Aknin’s highly toxic atmosphere.

Just a few minutes in this planet’s atmosphere and your lungs will be unusable without having your lungs completely submerged in Bacta for a few weeks. Even longer and the scarring will be permanent.

She cleaned herself up and got into some more appropriate clothes then the very little she usually wore while busy in the workshop. She then donned a cloak and a satchel filled with the parts that where for Brith. She checked herself in the mirror a few times and then headed to the front door.

She had been seeing Brith for a few months now. It had taken a lot of courage on her part and a lot of understanding on his, but they were getting closer over time. Alva seemed to like him as well which was the main point. Alva never liked anyone.

Almost every person she would speak to, she would show indifference towards or would simply be wary of them. There had been a few times when she had been wary of someone and after the first time and that a customer, she had pointed out had screwed her over she had decided to trust whatever gift her daughter had.

Last year, a Jedi had come to Anin to look for people to join their order. Apparently, Alva was high enough or something to join but was already too old, at eight. He explained to her that one of the innate powers of the jedi was to sense someone’s emotions, once he had been told of her abilities. It at least made sense to her now. Most here had some dark past or ulterior motive. There weren’t many kids on this cursed world either. Her mother could understand why she was distant with most and socially awkward.

She shakes off their idle thoughts and slid on a breathing mask which covered the lower half of her face. She then waved and said, “Bye.” And Alva soon replied in kind. She stepped through the door and with a hiss it slammed shut. The filters in the room immediately began to hum as the air that had entered the front of the store was cleansed.

Alva looked up at that door, idly wondering how long her mother would be, not knowing that this would be the last time she would watch her walk out of the shop.

A few hours later and Alva was beginning to get lonely. She knew her mum could end up staying the night at Briths and she had locked up which seemed to confirm that. She just jumped off her perching spot and rolled her shoulders as she headed to the kitchen. She heated up one of the meals her mum had already cooked and sat at the table.

It had a mix of a few different meats, all of which were too tough to actually be recognizable after becoming soft. Mixed in was a medley of preserved beans, legumes and vegetables all inside a thick orange almost pudding like sauce. It was known as Guarin Stew due the main ingredient being Huat Fruit from said planet which gave the stew its consistency. She didn’t like it but ate it all the same.

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She then re-perched herself on the countertop and continued with her game. It was only five minutes later that there was a loud thump on the door. For about half a minute there was scratching and repetitive thumping on the door.

After that there was shouting. She flinched when the sound she guessed was blaster-fire began to erupt. She hid in the corner for a few minutes until, the door swung open as she silently smothered her sobs while trying her best to stay hidden. The entire time a sense of dread and fear had pierced through my mind as terror began to take hold.

Meanwhile, a few minutes earlier…

I walked with my arm wrapped around Brith trying to supress my gleeful smile that wanted to plaster itself to my face. We slowly weaved through the maze of lean-tos and makeshift buildings which were barley airtight. Strings of light hanging between the tightly packed buildings, due to millennia of mining the once habitable planet had now become a hellscape, with air that killed, blazing heat and land that would never see the light of day.

The reason for celebration? We had together finally paid of our debts and had enough to get off world and make a new start. We had put off getting married till then. But, now that both of our debts where paid off to the lords and we had a little extra for emergencies. We were free.

We wanted to tell Alva the exciting news. She hated it here more than both of us combined and he had grown up here. As we approached, both me and Brith reached for our blasters, I cursed under my breath as I realised, I had left it at Brith’s due to a slight wardrobe malfunction.

He raised his at the five men who were scratching at the door to the workshop with various tools. It was reinforced but they would eventually get in. Brith, without hesitation opened fire and the red bolt flew straight at the first man. He collapsed instantly dropping his tool with a loud clatter.

Before he could fire again however a second guy, this one carrying a blaster rifle pointed at Brith and squeezed the trigger. A flurry of bolts impacted his chest. I only survived the barrage due to him pushing me out of the way in the last minute. I collapsed to my knees as I saw the light of his eyes leave him with a smile looking directly at me. A tear ran down my face as it dawns on me what had just happened. Before I could begin to break down however, I was dragged to my feet with multiple blaster pointed at me.

I now recognized this group. The Abyss Raiders is what they called themselves. The one who looked to be a leader said, “You. Open this door.” I just stared straight at him. There was no way they were getting in. They were known to leave no witnesses. Either killing them or taking them as slaves.

I clenched my fist as I would not allow what happened to me to happen to Alva. My precious baby. He seeing that I was ignoring him grabbed me by the hair and shoved a blaster onto my neck, and growled in a slow guttural voice. “Open, the Door.” While staring into my eyes. I just stared back into his eyes.

It dawned on me at this moment. I was gone. Alva will be left alone in this cruel galaxy. I let go and tears began to flood my face. He just shoved me to the ground and shouted, “Kill her.” The first blaster impacted the back of my ribs and as the searing hot plasma entered my chest, I felt it slowly begin to melt through my organs until it cooled enough where it wouldn’t be able to cut through the cauterized flesh it left, before evaporating into gas.

I felt several more enter me before they stopped. Each held only a minute fraction of the pain I felt inside as I rolled onto my back. I then heard the mechanical marching sounds of the droids. I stared up at the inky grey skey as y vision became more and more faded.

In my last breaths as time seemed to slow, I prayed with everything. To whomever might be out there, that if they exist. May they help Alva. May she find love and explore this beautiful universe. As the edges of my vision faded to black and I felt a sucking sensation at the back of my mind, I saw her. My darling Alva one last time hugging me. I felt at peace as a warm light engulfed my consciousness.

…

When Alva peaked up, she saw it had been a B-2 Droid which had kicked in the door. She marvelled at its blocky frame. Polished Armor and piercing red eyes. Before she could take in the sight anymore, she noticed someone lying on the ground.

“Nooo…” she shouted at the top of her lungs as it dawned on her what that sense of dread had been. She ran past the droid using her small frame to avoid its attempt at stopping her. She immediately hugged her mother’s dying body as streams of fear and terror ran down her cheeks.

As she saw the light leaving her mother’s eyes, she heard her mutter so quietly that she almost missed it. “al-va…”

The very second that light faded, she felt extreme pain in her head, as if all of the strongest emotions of her mother had entered her mind. Hate, Fear, Hope, Contentment, all were present. But most of all she felt an over whelming amount of love.

She sat there on her knees staring at her mother’s face. A blank look on her face for what felt like forever. She snapped out of it as a person put an arm on their shoulder and said, “Come my child. You must get a mask on.”

That very second, Alva tilted her head back and let out a wail of agony that all in the town could hear. Those closer even had to cover their ears from the intensity. The air around her began to ripple and pulse causing those who were looking at her to run in terror as if a primordial beast was before them.

When the scream began to turn into constant repetitive sobs while she clung to her mother’s lifeless corpse, a wave of energy emitted from her body. It evaporated everything in its surroundings. The droid, along with her mother were turned into ash instantly.

The hair on Alva’s head burned away under the intense heat, while the houses surrounding her began to glow and buckle under the pressure she had exerted. She unconsciously poured every last drop of emotion she had into it along with the entirety of her lifeforce. She lost consciousness and fell onto the scorched ground.