"You haven't touched your brandy" the Commander remarked.

Almost mechanically the figure on the bed downed the contents of the glass, and moved off the bed. Still clad in the medbay gown she opened a drawer, removed a brushed metal box and returned with it to the bed. Carefully, almost reverentially Alyssa removed a key from a chain around her neck, and unlocked the box. Gentler still the girl, for Aaron had difficulty seeing the woman in the figure in front of him, removed a simple holograph and activated it. The image formed was of three figures, he instantly recognised Alyssa standing with a middle-aged man and a young girl, but something seemed odd. Out of place. He carefully took the holograph from the ensign's unresisting grasp and looked closer. The woman certainly had Alyssa's face, but her eyes... her eyes had a old, drug-abused, vacant quality he'd never seen in Alyssa's eyes, not even now. The man was broad and stocky, his eyes blazed with fierce determination and resolve. The little girl seemed small and innocent, her auburn hair plaited into two long braids.

"Who are they?" he asked.

"Family, mother, father and Erin Diariat"

Erin?

Aaron realised how little any of the crew knew of Alyssa's background or family. So Alyssa has a sister?

"She died while I was at the academy. Would you like my to tell you a horror story, Commander?"

Sensing the others need for release, Aaron nodded silently.

"Erin was a natural academic, she was born in a test tube, because Father never had the time nor mother the inclination to spoil her figure. Father was Alysson Diariat, Ambassador to the Senate of the old Republic. A negotiator, he had a busy and hectic job. Mother spent all her time seeking distraction from boredom, in whatever way she could, drugs, music, alcohol, anything but the children, who were brought up around nanny's and bodyguards. Father went to the military academy on Carida, his previous children went and so did Erin. She excelled in her classes, graduated the preschool with honours, she did so well that mother and father even came to the awards ceremony."

Alyssa pointed to the holograph.

"The academy placed her into special classes, designed to train black operations specialists. Again she excelled, then her grades came to the attention of Commander Forge, who was responsible for training the Stormtrooper cadets..."

Alyssa's hands became fists and tears threatened.

"They couldn't tell from the name that she was female, so she was transferred before they found out. You don't get many female stormtroopers, 'cause they try they damnedest to make sure they fail the training. But Father had always been so determined and Erin tried so hard to be Daddy's girl, so every time they treated her badly, every disciplinary given unfairly, every incident, she just got back up and tried again, harder than before."

The determination to hold back the tears was more than evident.

"Then came the conference, some miners were having difficulty with some taxes Palpatine had levied and Father was sent to mediate. By the third day of negotiations things weren't going well, and the delegation hall was bombed to smithereens. Seemed the Rebel Alliance got involved in a lethal way. There wasn't even a body left."

A single tear ran for the lost parent.

"Erin was devastated. She was given statutory leave of two days from training to mourn. That night Commander Forge came to see her..."

The fists curled tighter.

"...Said he understood her pain..." The words became strained as the knuckles went white.

"...Said that he understood how hard things were for her..."

Aaron was concerned he could see a drop of blood on the sheet below her hands.

"...He said all that, then he held her down and raped her! She screamed for him to stop, screamed for someone to help. And...And people, cadets, came, and...And they watched, they watched and they laughed..!?"

The tears were in full flow now, released after years of restraint.

"When they left she cried, she cried until dawn...and she...Erin died. The next night Forge came back to see her again, but she was gone, dead."

Now Alyssa looked up, the fire in her eyes had returned, but it was ice cold and made Aaron start.

"But I was waiting for him, and I did what I was trained to do, what he trained me to do and I gave him what he deserved. He died slowly, his cadets got to see that too. To arrest me they had to explain why I killed him, it would have been really 'bad press'. I was thrown out of the academy on a disciplinary and paid to keep my mouth shut. Mother died a year later...overdose. People around me either die or betray me. The suit was a protection from anything, blaster bolts, knives . . ."

"People?" Aaron said gently. Alyssa nodded, slowly.

"I guess I...I guess over there I went one stage further and actually became a weapon, some kind of monster. A...A...Forge."

"The last thing you need now is to run away from people." Aaron said kindly, gently holding her as the tears ran free. "I'll start small if you don't mind, one person at a time."

Aaron smiled." Just one at a time"