"One Thousand Levels Down"

Author: Alexander Freed

Time: 0 ABY, after the destruction of Alderaan

Place: Coruscant

Anandra Milon is your typical teenage girl. Except she's on the run from Stormtroopers who are trying to arrest her for being a first-generation Alderaanian on the multi-level city-planet of Coruscant. You see, after Darth Vader blew up the planet Alderaan, some people got a little mad. The Alderaanians living on level 3204 began to protest the unjust destruction of Alderaan. The Empire decided to round them up.

Anandra and her younger brother Santigo were able to escape their house by hiding in a cleaning droid. They were supposed to seek refuge with a friend of the family that lived on another floor, but they didn't want to help. Anandra and Santigo were forced to continue moving down the levels of Coruscant, one by one,  until they could find a safe place.

They eventually find a drug dealer in a cantina who will provide them safety, but only if Anandra works for him. She refuses. A Stormtrooper walks in the cantina and spots her, so she and Santigo have to take off running. She allows herself to be captured by the Stormtrooper and attacks him. In the resulting struggle, he almost kills her, but a kind stranger pushes the Stormtrooper off the edge of the floor.

Anandra and Santigo make their way to level 1782, the endless junkyard. She spots a Mon Calamari, who leads them to their new home: a ragtag community of persecuted peoples.

Quotes: It's gone. Just like Alderaan. Get used to it.

Final Judgment: 4 out of 5 starblossoms. This story was successful in making me feel something for these characters that I only get a dozen pages to know. It offered a really nice point of view from an average Imperial citizen. They didn't go very much in-depth when it came to the protests and calls for revolution. This is something I'd like to see more about.