Life is a journey, a path on itself...

With my freighter I dove below the traffic lanes to avoid collisions. They didn’t see me, neither picked security cams and droids my presence up, because the IFF transponder was off and all frequencies scrambled. Despite the peace between the Republic and the Empire, I doubted still that an Imperial really was welcome under the old colours. And that was how I looked in my own uniform. Civilian clothing I had not worn in a couple of years now, not since entering the Academy, where uniforms were acquired for students and personnel. The Capital had changed since the great destruction in the Vong war, the buildings were as high as they once were. And not all was transparisteel and duracrete alone. More and more natural elements returned and gave the unique planet another look from the sky. To say it felt friendlier. I knew only as this was, being born after the Vong war. But still being lived who remembered Old Coruscant as it had been once. For millions of beings Coruscant was home, the only home they knew and had. Most never left the planet in their entire live just lived here. A part even never left the district where they lived. From my cockpit I searched in the computer where the former bank had been and so I flew half around the planet to the more civilian parts of the city, out of the districts where the ambassadors and politicians lived and the richest of peoples around in the galaxy. The GCB had been a bank for the normal man. Why my great-grandfather had stored away all his capital was a riddle to me, it was not comparable with the man he had been. Or my great-grandmother? Had it been an initiative from her?

The bank was closed and secured. Security cams hang around and kept an eye upon the traffic that flew by, or passed. Strange moves would be reported and security could come. That was the impression the outside gave me. But somewhere I felt that inside were only droids around to keep the bank running and no living employees. I gave my new security code and without problems I could enter. Inside the building in the docking area I settled my freighter down and closed down the engines. The status of my freighter went over from active to dormant. It never slept really. Two other civilians were present at the moment, from the air speeders parked in another part of the docking bay. The landing ramp closed after me and was locked. I was welcomed by a service droid and brought over to a security area where my ID was checked. But all was fine, as I knew. From there I was permitted to go on. In a safe chamber I changed the name on the account to my own and asked for a pay card. In the meanwhile I checked the stored values. And the vault contained many things and values from ancient times.
To me as I looked around in the soft illuminated vault room that the presents had been put down and never been looked after. It was all endurable materials, there were no organic materials the presents. I was curious. Most of the items I had some idea where they originated from, but even more things was unknown where they came from, what culture or planet. My great-grandfather had been to many places. If he had been really here I had no idea. One part of me could believe it, but most of me found it unlikely. It was the Force that tickled me that the collector of all these values had been here sometimes. Residues of emotions lingered on, and I sensed them. Sadness and fear ruled the most around.
In a terminal was a long list of the items assembled here and where they had come from. It had been cataloged. Perhaps there was an idea of this all to return to the former owners, see if it had been taken by force from them or that they had offered it freely. For me all this richness meant nothing, but to some peoples it could. I kept the though in mind and left the vault, deciding that I would take later action toward the content of the vault what to do with it. At least one of my dreams I could now make reality, my own command vessel. And I knew what kind I wanted. I was a free man and could do what I wanted. Teaching students would now become something of pleasure and was not longer a necessary way of living. I had to say if felt fine, lesser worries and struggles. But all of it was secret and would remain so. I left the bank also the way I came, after I had checked out with security.

For a few days I remained on Coruscant, exploring around what the Galactic city really was. I took a sightseeing tour toward the senate and was invited to dine with a few senators who loaned themselves for those excursions. The civilian participants were thrilled to meet the senators, although they were from lesser planets and not very known. The area was grand and open and the dining facility we went was a very expensive one. But the participants had paid for it and got back a wonderful day. I surmised that they would take a long time about it. I was among them, but kept to myself. No Jedi were around here, so I didn’t hide myself in the Force. I read the excitement around me, what made me regular grin without reason. The tour was enlightening for me; I knew I would return here in other circumstances and surely not as merely a visitor. I wore a cape over my clothes, my lightsaber safely tucked away in the side of my trousers. My blaster was holstered beneath my cape, out of sight. Everyone was checked at the beginning of the tour, but with some mind influence I was not. Except my surroundings my fellow tour visitors were also a point of interest, so toward the end I had a couple of conversations, with a Twi’lek, a Duro family and an old married couple of my own kind. They were all just salesman, or barber, accountant, housewife or –man. I was just a teacher in a school. That was always accepted and in reality I was. Some could tell richly about their background, but I kept quiet. The food in the dining facility was good, what was in the Senate building itself. The walls were transparisteel, so a wide view was there over the nearby buildings and a large pleasant garden. We were with twenty persons total and had a free table, large enough. I like that. I sat with my back to the window, having a good view over the restaurant. Every table was shielded off by a natural wall of plants, but it was possible to look over them. The menu was four rounds, including dessert. Four consumptions I had, mostly new liquor what taste I liked. After the second glass the bottle remained with me. With the Force I neutralized the effects of the alcohol in the drink.

As it was near dinner time on this part of Coruscant slowly more and more dignitaries came toward the diner and had a meal there. So also the Chancellor of the Republic and his entourage of followers and senators. My fellow tour members had surely interest, but I ignored it, knowing the danger what came with them, two representatives of the Jedi Order and because I hadn’t hidden myself in the Force they knew immediately I was here, another Force presence. I felt them reaching out to me, but I blocked them out, not wanting to find anything out about me. I dined quietly on and talked with my neighbours about how the senate worked. We neither had really a true idea, so surmising about it was fun and with the five of us at the corner of the table we laughed a lot. Somehow I got befriended with them, but exchange of ID’s and contact numbers was not possible. I admitted to them I felt not so easy exchanging that to anyone. I left in the middle why. I just wanted the pleasant memory of this tour, no other obligations. I knew the Jedi were irritated by my response to their probing, but they had no chance of departing the company they were with. So I was left alone, by circumstances. I kept the block in place in case they tried to reach out to me once more. Being 23 was not all that easy in these times, and surely not being an Imperial Officer. I put the Jedi and the Chancellor out of my head and finished with taste the third round of my menu.

After desert we left with the tour leader the dining facility for the end. One of the Jedi had managed to break off from the Chancellor’s group with an excuse for the refreshments. When I left the men’s room outside in the hallway I met the female Jedi unwillingly. Headstrong as I could be sometimes I just went to her, trying to attract as less attention from the group as possible, just as she did. But to no avail all looked at me in curiosity, including the group leader. I said nothing to the Jedi and gave her no bow. It was a challenge and I knew why I did it. The Jedi was my age and I felt she had a strong spirit. I was not that well with ladies, but I knew what to do to distract them and so I did. She faced me clearly irritated, the taunting twinkling in my eyes swept her thoughts away to more raw forms of communications. When she got her voice back she sounded very formal. Macey Jucan Djoron was her name. She wanted to know my identity, but except Keiran I didn’t tell her more. I excused myself and went off with the tour, leaving her in doubts behind. The face of that Jedi I would never forget, for me it was a kind of light that you met really seldom in your life. I wondered slightly if she would remember me, but most likely she would have forgotten me soon she was back with her important company. Two days after the tour I left Coruscant and flew back toward the Empire.