Chapter Six

Vardos, 34 ABY

Zay stood on the bridge of the Corvus and looked on with a hint of sadness as Shriv and her mother left the hanger in X-wings to the surface of Vardos. The ship was held above the Jinata Security Headquarters located in the capital city of Kestro. She wanted to go with the two of them seeing as she thought she'd done a pretty job on Athulla, but her mother forbade her and told her to stay on the ship. Before they left, her mother pulled Zay aside and explained why she wanted her to stay on the Corvus. 

"Look, Zay, you did great over Athulla and I'm very proud of you for doing such a good job," she started, "I know you're upset about me not letting you go down to the surface."

"That's a bit of an understatement," Zay muttered.

"You know about the history between your father and me and the Empire," her mother continued. "Gleb is... she is a part of my life that I'd like to forget. It's one thing for you to know about my past, but it's another for you to stare it right in the face. I hope you understand."

"Fair enough, Mom. I understand," Zay said as she hugged her mother. "Stay safe."

"We will," her mother said as she hugged Zay and left the bridge.

Back during the time of the Galactic Empire, Vardos was well known for its loyalty to the Empire. Zay knew of her parents' history and what the planet Vardos meant to both her parents. Approximately thirty years prior, this was the planet that had caused her mom and dad to defect to the Rebel Alliance. This planet was also her mother's homeworld and Gleb was her mom's mentor at the Imperial academy that used to be located on the planet. The planet used to have a lot of tall buildings adorned with Galactic Empire memorabilia but now the planet was nothing but a barren wasteland covered with a substance that looked like snow.   

Her parents had been a part of an Imperial Special Forces unit called Inferno Squad at the time of their defection. The team consisted of three members: her parents and Gideon Hask. There was a fourth member, Seyn Marana, but she had been killed a couple of years before her parents defected. Zay's mother had told her that she had shot down Hask's TIE Fighter and he had died during the last battle of the Galactic Civil War, the battle of Jakku years before Zay was born.

Zay knew from what her parents had told her that her grandfather and her mother's father, Garrick Versio, had been an Admiral in the Imperial Security Bureau during the time of the Galactic Empire. Meanwhile, her grandmother, Zeehay Versio, had been an artist who created Imperial propaganda posters during that same period. However, from what her mother had told her, Zay's grandparents divorced when her mother was five. Zay didn't know much about her father's parents and his two older brothers. All she knew about them were that her dad and his brothers were born on Coruscant and all three served in the Empire.

As she continued to stare at the barren wasteland before her, lost in her thoughts, Zay saw a flash of light out of the corner of her eye. She turned her head slightly to see a streak of red light go by her.

"What the hell was that?" she murmured.

Zay turned and headed to the holo pad. She clicked a few buttons to get the comms up so she could contact her mother and Shriv and tell them about the strange red light she saw. However, all she received was static.

"Damn it," she muttered and curled her hand into a fist and banged it against the holo pad in frustration.

Suddenly, Zay heard the unmistakable sound of a large starship and she perked her head up. What the hell is going on? she thought. She then saw the shadow of an Imperial Star Destroyer go over the Corvus.

"What in the world is an Imperial Star Destroyer doing here? I thought those weren't used anymore," she said thoughtfully.

All of a sudden, the Corvus's emergency siren began to blare throughout the ship. 'This can't be good," she said as she continued to watch the Star Destroyer so she could try to predict it's next move. Then, without warning, Zay saw the Star Destroyer open fire on her position.

"Oh, shit," she said right before the first lasers hit the Corvus. Zay staggered slightly and tried to regain her balance. The escape pods. I need to reach the escape pods, she thought as she ran out of the bridge as quickly as she could to reach the escape pods so she could get off the Corvus before it was destroyed. The ship was quickly falling apart around her. Sparks were flying everywhere and a pipe almost fell on her head as she ran through the hallways of the Corvus.

When Zay reached the room where the escape pods were housed, she instinctively typed in the command to launch all of the pods at once. Then, she dashed into the first pod before the door closed on her. Once inside the pod, she quickly strapped herself in. A second after she finished strapping in, she felt the escape pod eject from the Corvus.

Zay looked over her shoulder as she saw the ship that was born on explode into a ball of flames and metal. Not aware of how fast the pod was hurling towards the surface of Vardos, she abruptly let out a loud grunt and jolted forward in the seat as the escape pod hit the ground, her head almost smacking right into the viewport. The pod slid for a couple of meters before it came to a stop. If it weren't for the strap, she would've either gotten knocked out or worse.

After catching her breath, Zay unbuckled herself and smashed the release button so she could get out of the pod. When Zay stepped out of the pod her boots made a crunching noise and she held up her hand to block the sunlight from blinding her.

After taking a look at her surroundings she turned back to the pod and saw the distress beacon. She stepped back into the pod, wrapped her hands around the beacon, and tugged hard. After three attempts, she managed to rip the distress beacon out and she stuffed it in her jacket.

"I better get out of the immediate area quickly," she murmured. "I'm too exposed out here."

Next, she reached down and pulled out a Glie-44 blaster pistol that she had strapped to her waist. Her parents found it wise to teach her very early on how to shoot just about every blaster in the galaxy and the Glie-44 blaster pistol was one of her favorites. Considering she was the daughter of two former Special Forces Imperial Stormtroopers, she was just as good as her veteran parents when it came to shooting blasters.

"If mom and dad were here they'd probably tell me to find higher ground as soon as possible," she said quietly.

Zay checked the charge on the pistol, crouched down, and scooped up some of the whitish substance on the ground. She thought it was snow at first but upon further inspection, it didn't look like or smell like snow at all. Instead, it felt and smelled more like... ash. Dumping the substance on the ground and wiping her hand on her pants, she checked the charge on her blaster pistol once more, flipped the safety off, and set off to find higher ground.

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