Outcasts: A Star Wars Story

Chapter 1

A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away...

Approx. 37 ABY

Chapter 1: In Which Zara finds a B1 Battle Droid's remains and a strange, violent orphan.

The streets of Coruscant were always cramped and filled with traffic, especially now, at the end of the world day. Aliens from all corners of the Galaxy twisted their way through each other in an intricate maze of people as speeders of all kinds whizzed on by.

Zara was no exception in this case.

She was a young Twi'lek woman of 15, with pale yellow skin, and brilliant green eyes hidden partially behind her oversized goggles. She wore a drab, brown scavenger's coat and boots, and a belt bristling with tools of all kinds.

Among this crowd, she was basically invisible, which proved to be bad for her health. She had narrowly avoided getting trampled thirteen times already, and not without a few bruises.

She finally found refuge in a nearby alley, and leaned heavily on one of the great, metal walls, catching her breath.

"By the Force," she grumbled. "I hate crowds so much."

At that moment, a black blur passed her by, yanking something from her belt as it headed deeper into the alley.

"Hey," she yelled, turning to run after what seemed to be a human child. "Get back here, you little thief!"

The child laughed, glancing back and giving her a glimpse of his blue eyes through his edgy haircut. He tipped over a passing trash droid (Zara was fairly certain it was a GNK power droid), which fell in her path.

Zara almost stopped to comment on how stupid a move this was. Almost. Hurdling over it was child's play compared to worming her way through the crowd earlier.

The kid skidded on the balls of his feet, scrambling as he made a left turn. He pocketed her credit chip, still in a dead sprint.

Zara muttered a curse under her breath. How in the name of the Force was this kid so fast? Skidding to a stop, she looked down the alley he had torn down through, raising her goggles and squinting.

The child was attempting to pull a large, metal barrel out of a stack of them. All he was really doing was making the stack wobble a little bit.

Zara folded her arms, one corner of her mouth rising as she watched the tiny bit continue his fruitless attempts for a moment.

When she had enough amusement, she cleared her throat.

The child whipped around in shock, stumbling away from the barrels as he caught his breath.

Zara gave him a slow clap, then held out her hand. "Okay, kid, game's over. Give me back my chip, and I'll pretend I never saw you."

The boy grunted, turning on his heel and making a break for it as he called back, "You'll have to catch me first-"

Zara launched herself at the child, and they tumbled into a nearby pile of scrap as they tussled with one another.

This fight was quickly brought to a close when a droid torso fell on them both, knocking the wind out of them.

The pair groaned in unison, and Zara rolled over, shoving the droid away.

They both laid there for a moment, catching their breath.

"Skrog," the boy muttered, glancing at Zara. "How much do you even have on this thing, anyways?"

Zara sat up with a defeated sigh. "Enough for two more meals. Maybe a dessert, if I save enough."