Sonya Ghente

Thirty-four years ago, the arrival of a new angel was heralded by the sound of a newborns cries, as well as the end of one man's hope. Genna had given her husband, Grayson Ghente IV a daughter instead of the son he prayed fervently for every night during the past nine months. It also saw the end of Genna's ability to produce additional children. Due to complications brought on by the pregnancy, Genna had to have a hysterectomy. This didn't bode well for the couple, but for Grayson it shattered his hopes of having a strapping boy to pass the torch to when the time came.

The first child born of a new generation for the Ghente family, had always been a boy. This is how it had been for the past four generations. And that boy, when grown, would follow in the footsteps of his father by becoming a CorSec Officer. It was tradition. Though Grayson hadn't been blessed with the son he so greatly desired, he wasn't going to let that tradition die. The first thing he made sure to instill in his daughter was that family is held in high respect on Corellia and it is considered most dishonorable to involve innocent family members in a quarrel held with one family member. Therefore, she learned early on that backtalk and disobeying her parents would not be tolerated. She was never spanked, but she was raised by a man who was very strict and a mother who was very loving.

The first day of school brought the child home in tears. A boy her age, five to be exact, named Logan Lorles, had been teasing her and picking on her all day. Her clothes were a mess, as was her hair, and she had smudges of dirt on her face and scraped knees. Genna doted on her little girl but Grayson told the woman to quit babying her. Then he took his daughter out back and instructed her in the how-to's of handling boys like Logan. That's when she learned right where to kick a boy where it hurts the most.

The teasing and being picked on by Logan continued, even though she'd do just as her daddy instructed her and she'd kick Logan right where it hurt the most. The boy was relentless, though. He continued to torment her all through grade school.

The summer before middle school started, the Ghente's moved to Coronet City so Grayson could be closer to CorSec headquarters. Often referred to as "The Jewel of Corellia," Coronet was a bustling urban metropolis located on the coast of the southernmost continent. It was a technologically advanced city with beautiful architecture, but its urban development paled in comparison to Coruscant. The famous Treasure Ship Row was a large bazaar located just inside Blue Sector and was famous for offering just about anything a customer could desire, legal or otherwise. Grayson made it a strict rule that neither Sonya nor his wife were to ever go to Treasure Ship Row.

She was looking forward to starting a new school where she'd meet new people and make new friends. But what she was looking forward to the most was going through school without the likes of Logan Lorles around.

Or so she thought.

While walking to her first class Logan came up behind her and knocked her books out of her arms. When she looked to see who had done it, she just groaned. "Who let you out of the basement and off your leash?" She quipped at him, already convinced that the rest of the school year would suck. She even went so far as to asking her father if they could move again when he got home that night from his shift. Of course, he said no. Just a few nights later, the doorbell rang. Grayson was having his new partner and his family over for dinner. Sonya opened the door to see the smiling smug-faced Logan standing there. Had his father not been with him, she would have shut the door in his face. To her dismay, she learned that night that she would be seeing much more of Logan.

Skipping ahead a few years to high school, Logan began to change; albeit slowly. The days of knocking her books out of her arms slowly ceased, as did the pranks and the snapping of her bra strap. That all turned into cordial greetings, shy requests to carry her books, and if he could walk her to class or escort her home after school. Because of the years of teasing and torment, Sonya was quite wary of Logan's intentions for a while. But, she eventually warmed up to him - a little bit at a time. Their junior year, Logan took Sonya to their prom, as he also did for their senior year. Never were they an official couple, but their classmates had assumed they were. Their volatile beginnings had blossomed into a close friendship.

Just before graduation, Sonya's grandfather passed away. Though she had been educated in the ways Corellian's respect their dead, it was the first time she would ever witness the ritual her people held sacred. Her grandfather's remains were cremated and the ashes compressed into synthetic diamonds. Sonya was given two of the diamonds on the one year anniversary of his death. One had been embedded within a thin heart charm that hung from a thin gold necklace and the other was embedded within a ring that she wore on the last finger of her right hand. Neither are ever taken off for any reason whatsoever.

The two were accepted at the Corellia University, where they both began the long haul of earning law degrees. But after two years, at the age of 20, both Sonya and Logan were accepted into CorSec Academy. The Corellian Security Force is a fiercely proud organization whose members enjoy an almost familial sense of loyalty and camaraderie. Officers of CorSec usually followed their parents or siblings into the organization, donning the gray and khaki uniforms as part of a longstanding tradition. They graduated as officers after two years at the age of twenty-two and they have served faithfully with CorSec to the present day.

There was a false, but persistent, myth that all CorSec officers were given quotas of traffic tickets to hand out. Considering the current State of Affairs for their beloved planet --- meeting a quota would be greatly welcomed right about now. The past eighteen or so months led the peaceful planet into its current state of war. Could any of it have been avoided?

The news came out of nowhere. All Jedi were banished. Not just banished from certain sectors, planets, or systems. They were banished from existence. Who had declared that specific edict, no one is certain. It seemed as if the entire galaxy had gone insane. Bounty hunters were in their glory, reaping the rewards for every Jedi life they ended. News broadcasts reported that the Jedi had suddenly turned on each other, caused by some rift that tore the religious way of life asunder. Rumors began to spread as fast as bantha stampede with their asses on fire that it was something in the water that had made them go crazy. It took the Center for Disease Control nearly four long months to finally convince the general public that the water was safe for drinking and was not the cause of the genocide scouring the galaxy. Citizens were panicked, fearful for their own lives. Acts of violence broke out in the streets, but CorSec was able to end them with relative speed and efficiency.

In order to allow Corellians to recover from the atrocity, then Senator Marc Bellis invoked Contemplanys Hermi, an obscure clause in the Galactic Constitution that allowed for "meditative solitude". However, this attempt to insulate the system failed and Corellia, like the rest of the galaxy, was soon embroiled in the wretched turmoil of the Great Jedi Purge.

During that dark year, CorSec suffered its own tragedy. Two of its highest ranking members had been meeting behind closed doors to engage in private discussions as to the fate of CorSec. Intelligence never did find out with whom the two men had been meeting or receiving large sums of cash from, but they did uncover the worst of their crimes. They were found guilty of participating in the annihilation of the Corellian Jedi. A couple of CorSec officers dealt the two a swift justice, though none of the events leading up to their death are on public record. According to the news reports, the two men are still missing, and the rest of the department thinks that as well.

Thirteen months had passed since the beginning of the end for the Jedi and war was threatening to break out in the unstable Outer Rim. Corellian officials were working day and night to reassure the citizens that Corellia was safe from the instability and would do what it could to offer aid to those in need in the event things escalated into a full blown war. However, one month later saw the end of the Senate and the rise of the Galactic Empire, led by the former Senator and current self-proclaimed Emperor, Edwis Josdon.

When Bellassa fell to the control of the new regime, the Diktat and former Senator decided they wanted Corellia to have no part of this new Galactic Empire. The Diktat announced his intentions to withdraw shortly thereafter.

However, Imperial Intelligence discovered quickly the importance of Corellia to the rest of the galaxy. But even more than that, the Empire wanted control of the Corellian shipyards. Representatives of Emperor Josdon took up residence on Corellia and engaged the Diktat in lengthy negotiations. In the beginning, the Diktat made a deal with them: he could govern the Corellian Sector as he wished (mostly free of Imperial mandates) as long as he paid taxes, war material, and homage to the Emperor. But, the Corellian population, upon hearing the bargain, became outraged and sparked anti-Imperial protests.

Because the Diktat was an elected official, he'd seen the follies of his mistake a little too late. In an attempt to save face with the public, he went back to plead with the Imperial representatives to renegotiate the deal that had been stuck. But of course, the damage was already done and there was nothing he could do. To prove this, or perhaps to exert their prowess over the sovereign people, Imperial troops arrived on the ground while Star Destroyers took up position around the planet.