I’m originally from the Correllia system. After my parents were killed in a construction accident on the docks, I was sold to serve a faction of the Black Sun as a mechanic in one of their scams on Falleen. I was young, but had already started training on the Corellian docks, so I was put to work working on ships right away.
My skills allowed me to quickly move up and run a repair shop on the planet Falleen, part of the Mid Rim. That is until the Rebels and Imperials showed up and destroyed it.

I had just finished up a job on a small, beat up, freighter. Still had some life but looked like it had been handled rough and been through a few fights. “Probably the pirates again, the stupid kung” muttering to myself as I did a final check of the hull.
That was much of my work, fixing up those that made it through a pirate attack. What pissed me off though, was the fact that my shop was mostly owned by a faction of the Black Suns…which was also responsible for most of the pirate activities. What they couldn’t steal out in space, they made up for in my repair work.
As I began putting away my tools, I hear a cacophony of blaster fire in the street. “Great, another gang war.” I was now in a sour mood vs. just normally annoyed with life.
I was just about to head into my living quarters next to the shop to await my clients, when the place shook. The fighting was right outside, and it felt like a heavy blaster had just opened on the walls.
That’s when I saw my clients running into the bay, blasters in hand, shooting back the way they came. And one of them was pulling out a THERMAL DETONATOR!!
“STOP” I screamed over the noise, but too late. The detonator was thrown and I’m pretty sure my shop front was no longer as a gout of flames shot through the door. I could hear screams on the other side…and they were sort of electronic, like through a speaker? It didn’t sound like any gang I knew of.
I ran over to the group that were quickly running in while others took up positions to cover the door.
“What are you doshing doing!! That was my shop! I’ll have your ship to pay for this!” A hail of blaster fire, one bolt splashing off the landing strut next to me, stopped me cold though.
From the door, in ones and twos, can Imperial Troopers! Now the electronic screams made more sense, and my sense of dread and despair was complete.
The front of my shop was surely destroyed and it’s not something that the Black Suns would get compensation for from the Empire, so it meant, they’d be looking for me to make it right. I’d be lucky to get sold to a slaver to cover the costs of losing the shop.

A large explosion knocked me from my cover behind the landing strut and down to the ground. As I shakily get to my feet again and look up, I can see straight through my shop to the street!
A stray shot had hit a fuel cell in the corner, right where my quarters were! And they were now gone. Everything I had…. gone.

From up the ramp someone yelled “We have to leave NOW!” and I couldn’t agree more. I joined the other few running up the ramp as it closed behind us.
I could feel the ship lift off and accelerate hard as gravity pushed me into the seat. That and I realized I had a couple of hands holding me down and at least 2 blasters pointed my way.
“Who the hell are you!?” one gruff human demanded.
“The one that got your hunk of junk fixed so that we could escape after you kung blew my shop and quarters! I’ve got nothing left at this point.” I slump down as the freighter cleared the atmosphere and there was nothing holding me up. The hands holding me back slide away as I slumped down.
“You fixed the Promise?” the gruff one stated, now looking at me differently. “Seems to me that you’re stuck with us for now. But if you like, we can always use a resourceful engineer in the crew to keep Promise flying.”

I at each person now for the first time really. The gruff human I vaguely remember as being around when they arrived to get repaired a few days ago. Two humans, a trandoshan, and a wookie. I knew there had to be a couple others, probably in the cockpit. This was an odd crew, and with the look of their gear, much of what they had was scrounged from all over.
Oh crink, are these Rebels??

I could care less I guess. With everything gone, the Black Sun probably blaming me for helping once they see I’m not dead, and the Imperials probably assuming the same…what did I have to lose?

“Sure. You have a engineer. Just know the Black Sun and Imperials will probably be looking for me due to what happened at the shop. Black Sun doesn’t forgive the loss of their stuff. And if any of those Imperials noted me running up the ramp…I’m probably wanted by now.”

Everyone around me looked at each other grinning. “You’ve joined the club then! Welcome to the Rebel Alliance.” the gruff one said, and they all laughed and walked off.
Son of a mudscuffer. Yep, they are Rebels.
Sod it all.

Sometime later, Promise was damaged beyond repair, after being chased across 2 systems. I had done what I could to keep her going…but thankfully we gracefully crashed and were picked up by a local Rebel group.
…….
I’m being assigned to a new cell. I’ve gotten used to life as a Rebel by now and must admit, it is a step up from working for the Black Sun and being stuck on Falleen.