Terran Solus’ life before the Empire was a sharp contrast to the life he lived afterwards. Before, he was young and naive. He was privileged and blessed far more than he even comprehended. As far as he was concerned, the person that he used to be died long ago, name and all. He missed the life at times, but he knew that he could never go back to it, for his sake, and the sake of those he loved.
Born Aaron Lorizan, the human was risen on Coruscant by a wealthy family of government officials, he was given the best of everything. They made sure that he never went without, and because of their position in the government, he had the privilege of seeing the inner workings of the Republic and getting to know many influential figures, some even being the fabled Jedi. Still, as he grew older, he became less fond of the life he had. His parents were constantly squabbling and fighting, often coming home drunk and upset by the direction the Republic was taking. Sometimes they would shout, taking out their anger out on things around the house, like the droids, or when they were in the most foul of moods, him.
As he grew older, his parents desired a life on Coruscant where he would follow in their footsteps. Aaron had no desire to do this though, and wished to make an actual difference, to be in a position where he personally could get things done, rather than just talk about it. This led him to join up with the Coruscant Security Force, specifically working in the Underground division. Most officers were droids, but as an adaptable human, he found himself moving up the ranks and becoming more valued. As a cop, he quickly became more hardened. He saw just how expansive crime was throughout his homeworld. With start of the Clone Wars, the police force was provided with better equipment, and Aaron learned the basics of flying a police gunship. He got pretty good at it too.
The idea of a clone army being forced to follow orders with little questions was horrifying to Aaron. He saw it as immoral to mass produce individuals as if they were droids, to send them into battle with no regard of whether they would live or die. Still, for as awful as this seemed to him, he stayed loyal to the Republic. It had its problems, but the Separatists were only making things worse by waging war.
So life went on, and Lorizan continued to fight against the crime of the lower levels, growing more and more uncertain with the decisions being made by the Republic every day. Crime only seemed to increase, and the people on the surface were oblivious to the scoundrels living beneath them. The tipping point for him was when the Empire crumbled and the Chancellor took upon himself “necessary powers” as the new Emperor. Atop of this, the Jedi were being slaughtered. Apparently, the Clone Wars had been orchestrated by their order, and they had recently tried to kill Palpatine. While some were able to accept this easily, Lorizan had trouble taking this as the truth. True, some Jedi had been known to turn. The Coruscant Underground Security Force had even chased one only just a while ago, a female Togruta who was suspected of committing a few crimes. Still, that was the exception, not the rule. The idea that the entire Jedi order, from padawan to master, had turned seemed almost inconceivable to him. Then again, he had been raised on stories of Jedi valor, so he was a tiny bit biased. Still, not everything was adding up with the Emperor’s new rise to power, and it was weighing heavily on his mind. He still knew he could do a lot of good in the Security Force of Coruscant, but he didn’t know if he could support the destruction of an entire culture, one that had served the people for millennia.
The decision was not his to make though. Just a few months into the Emperor’s rise to power, the young police officer bit off more than he could chew. He had recently been tracking the activities of one of his fellow officers, Dorma Thane. Aaron had been suspicious of Thane since day one. The Twi’lek was sloppy, arrogant, and always seemed to be hiding something. Aaron could never prove anything though, and his superiors always seemed to cover for him, make strange excuses for his erratic behavior. This time, it was different. This time, he had gathered enough evidence to prove that Thane was providing equipment and information to a few of the gangs of the Underground, and making far more credits off of it than a normal cop would make in a year.
Lorizan caught him in the act, and had so much against the Twi’lek that the thug’s ‘friends in high places’ had no choice but to allow the arrest. This was a large blow to several gangs in the area, and Lorizan’s actions brought several more criminals into police custody. However, while the young officer was being celebrated and congratulated for his achievements, Thane was plotting revenge. Thane placed a bounty on Lorizan, one so large that no bounty hunter in the system could ignore it. The weeks dragged by, and Lorizan realized that there was no way to survive on Coruscant anymore. Thane, even in prison, was still rich and powerful. No doubt, the friends of the Twi’lek were already trying to buy the traitor’s way out of jail. They were trying to bring Lorizan in alive, to make him suffer, and he was sure that if he stayed, his parents and friends would all suffer too.
The young officer found himself getting a fake ID and buying his way off the planet, setting course for a planet he had never heard of. Terran Solus, as he was now known, was planning on living a long and happy life on Dantooine. For the first few months, he took up odd jobs, working to make some money and keep in the shadows. He was doing so well too, until he met Shana. At least, that’s what she said her name was, but he suspected that she, like him, wasn’t being entirely honest. Both seemed to have similar pasts, though neither divulged much information on that subject, and the two took a quick liking to one another. She was a young human like, him, possibly a few years older, and she soon became more important to him than anything else. Her views on the galaxy were deep and powerful, and she had a way of looking looking at things differently than anyone he had ever met. Eventually, that bond they had became something more, and the two moved beyond their painful pasts together. For the first time in one and a half years, life was good.
As with all things though, this didn’t last. It happened soon after the birth of their first child, a beautiful and healthy daughter. They were walking through a few of the ruins of Dantooine, enjoying the sights when men of the Empire arrived. Not just any men, but inquisitors. Jedi hunters. Shana instantly snapped into action, running home and gathering her supplies. She was worried, more than that actually. Shana only took time to gather a few items before turning to Terran and telling him that she had to run, that if she stayed, he and all else she loved would be lost, along with her own life. Terran had to leave, run with their baby to a distant planet where the Empire would never be able to find them. Shana promised to find him again one day, and with that, she disappeared from his life.
Terran had always expected her of being a Jedi of some sort. She didn’t seem to live by all of the standards anymore (though Terran only knew of a few). Still, Shana had been different from anyone else he had ever met. In his brief meetings with Jedi in the past, they had radiated a similar feel. This seemed to solidify that suspicion. There were other possibilities, but this one felt right to him.
And so it was that Aaron Lorizan, now known as Terran Solus, found himself flying to Tatooine alone, with a tiny infant girl resting in his arms. Triss, they had called her. To Terran, she was everything, worth more than the entire galaxy. He would do anything for her, even hide on some miserable desert planet on the outer rim. He opened a shop, that he called the Oasis, and bought a small cargo vessel which he named the Shana. Terran made a few friends among the locals, and on his trips to get new and exotic supplies, he left his little girl in their care. She grew up knowing nothing about her mother or her capabilities in the force, and that was the way it needed to be. Occasionally, Terran would check in with a few of his contacts to see if they knew anything about his wife, and while they normally had nothing, he never lost hope.
After nearly a decade though, he heard something from one of his contacts on Dantooine, something that made him leave as quickly as possible. The man had been cryptic, but supposedly he had something, something worth returning to the planet where he had lost his wife. After a little less than a decade, he was ready to face that demon...