Xena was the only child to a family working for the Empire. Not with the Imperial forces, they were never the violent types. They were researchers. Her mom a biologist, her father a computers engineer and professor at the Imperial Academy. They had a fun, happy life together. She has many fond memories of both of them, and the life she had. She was set to go to the Academy herself in hopes to be a star pilot of the Academy someday. At least until her precious view of the Empire was shattered by the violent reality of their lives. Her mother learned the truth of what the Empire was having her research. What she thought was the study of a fascinating flora turned out to be the groundworks for a new biological weapon. They were turning her research into something ugly and awful. Both horrified and disgusted, she showed this to Xena's father and begged him to help her pack their bags and research and leave. But her father, ever the optimist, wanted to warn his colleagues about the truth. This did not go over well. He was ratted out by his colleagues and he was arrested at work as a traitor to the Empire under conspiracy to commit treason.

One of Xena's friends at the Academy witnessed this happening and warned her in time for her and her mother to escape with very little time to grab anything, except Xena's mother managed to take her research with her. They couldn't go anywhere they could call home or to family, because the Imperial forces would know where to find them. Her mother set coordinates for a planet amongst the Mid Rim that she had done research on before being hired by the Empire: Vandor. They crash landed through the ice while touching down on an old research base her mother had known of. This inspired Xena to name the ship what she has. The ship was still flyable, but not in great condition. They took over the abandoned research facility and made it their home for months. Her mother had left an encrypted note of where they would be, in hopes that somehow, someway Xena's father would escape and find them. But he never came.

They made do with their lives how they could, becoming foragers and survivalists. They stayed away from civilization, because if anyone recognized them they would be dead if they were reported. Xena's mother had no doubts that the Empire had listed them as wanted for treason, especially considering what she had stolen from them. They couldn't possibly be so lucky as to get away twice. So knowing they couldn't stay long, they soon left that base to move onwards to Rinn, a remote planet away from the Empire's clutches. It was there that they found a place to call home. They found a small town to dwell in, and her mother became a doctor of sorts with her botanical practices for them to make a living. It was not the life she imagined, but it was safe. At least for a very short year or two. In that time, they planned for anything that could have happened to them. Xena's father had implanted a cybernetic chip into her brain years ago, something they could afford to do at the time to help her pursue her piloting dreams with an advantage. But now, she found herself using it for a very different purpose: storing the coordinates to the research her mother had hidden on their planet-hopping journeys.

It was horrible dumb luck that caught up with them. Imperial forces were tracking down a rumor of Rebel activity that ended up truly being just a rumor, except that one of the agents sent on this mission knew Xena's mother and recognized her. They were forced to flee, again, but this time they were not so lucky. Her mother couldn't escape, she was grabbed immediately when recognized. Xena got away to where they had hidden the Ice Breaker along with an emergency stash of supplies should this ever happen to them. She waited at the rendezvous point for what felt like hours, but her mother never came. Knowing she couldn't stay long, she forced through the tears and took off in the otherwise empty spaceship. They had planned for this, they had planned for every worst case scenario imaginable. But it didn't help to numb the pain. The only thing she had gotten to remind her of her mother was the cloak she always wore when going out to research or forage. It would keep her warm in the cold months ahead of her as she set course for the pre-planned trail of coordinates they had installed in case of this, and after leaving the planet she set into hyperspace into the great unknown.

Survival

None