I re-wrote My Background for Mercury:
Jarl Saran was a Speederbike Racer as a teen. He was actually quite good at it too. He won the Junior Nationals twice and placed in the top three within the Corellian Championships before he was 19. At the age of 20, he made it to first place in the Championship and was looking forward to heading off-world to compete on the planetary levels.
But Jarl's father became quite ill just before the games and Jarl was put into a difficult situation. His family needed a breadwinner to keep going. The prize money for the championship would do that, but it wasn't guaranteed. A friend of the family was offering a well placed position working in the ship building yards which was a guaranteed income, with benefits. Jarl felt a strong sense of responsibility so he took the job, thinking he'd go back to racing in a year. Unfortunately his father died within a month and he was left to support his family.
That was thirty years ago, and Jarl went on to marry and have three sons (Starn 23, Nato 20 and Mercury 1
and a daughter ( Biel 10). He makes a good income in a managerial role now at the ship yards and has Starn working there as well. Nato chose a different path, taking an administrative role within the Corellian Government (a junior clerk in the Ministry of Communications). Jarl had high hopes that with Mercury coming of age, he'd take on a job within the shipyards as well.
Mercury loves his family very much. He is especially close to his sister whom he played with as a child. They'd have play duels throughout the household, Mercury being the valorous Jedi and Biel being the evil villain. To this day they affectionately call each other "Jedi Scum" and "Vile Villain".
But Mercury was different than his brothers in that he had a wild rebellious streak in him and a need for independence. His mind was sharp as he picked up new skills and technology well. He enjoyed sports and events that tested the reflexes as well as skills. But when it came to work, he really wasn't into the whole honest day work for an honest day's pay. He liked to hang out with his friends and … well hang out.
In fact, it was one day that Mercury was attempting to avoid doing his chores that he made a discovery. In the very back of an old storage shed far from the homestead, he found a speederbike - an old racing speederbike that was covered in a tarp. It must have been there for ages.
His father never spoke to his boys about his racing days, so Mercury didn't realize the significance of the find. With the self-centeredness of youth (I found it – it's mine) he began to work on the bike until it was operational and then he started riding it. The thrill of the speed and riding took hold of Mercury from the first moments that he rode the speederbike.
He kept it a secret from his family for awhile, mostly because he wanted to avoid chores and work so he could ride and hang out with his friends. Besides – the speederbike was something fun and his dad would never go for anything fun.
Jarl reached an end to his patience with his youngest son when he skipped out on helping Nato move out of the home to his own place in the capital. That shirking of responsibility was more than the man could bear so he went looking for his wayward son. After some questioning and some checking, Jarl discovered that these friends of Mercury were into racing each other at an abandoning parts storage facility on the edge of town. Once Jarl heard about Mercury having a bike – he started to realize what must have happened. His son had fallen in with the wrong crowd and need his help. Jarl headed directly to the Parts Facility.
Meanwhile, Mercury was started to realize that he was in a bad situation. His friends had started out nice enough and he enjoyed being with them. They raced speederbikes, hung out and worked on the machines. Then they started stealing parts to enhance their machines, which didn't sit well with Mercury. Then they started challenging other kids to race against their enhanced bikes for ownership – so they could strip the speeders' parts and sell them. It was then he realized that he needed to get out and go home.
Had he been able to do so, he'd probably have met his father at the gates and the whole incident would have gone over smoothly. But the authorities had been watching the parts theft ring for a long time and chose that night to make the arrest. They came into the depot on mass and arrested all the kids just as Jarl was arriving. He tried to speak to people in charge but they wouldn't listen, telling Jarl to go to the station to make arrangements. Mercury saw his father talking to the authorities and assumed that his father had turned in him and his friends.
It took awhile to sort out but Mercury was released to his father with a mark on his record. The authorities had been more interested in the people in charge of the racket and Jarl had some pull with the community. Mercury came home and became more sullen and withdrawn. Jarl sold the bike and swore that Mercury would never ride one again. Mercury had big fights with his father, each accusing the other of many things and eventually he moved out of his father's home and moved in with his brother Starn. Biel took the move poorly, crying a lot and generally upset that her favourite brother was now gone.
Starn took his baby brother in, but insisted that he had to work in order to earn his keep. He got Mercury a job at the shipyard so he'd be able to keep an eye on him. Mercury worked as a loader in the junkyards and got to meet a number of people at the yards, including pilots. He found himself interested in their stories. He found an old flight simulator in the junkyard and rebuilt it to teach himself piloting skills.
One day, Mercury was asked to deliver some parts to a shipping yard. He was told to give them to a Captain Thom Dulo of the Kul Kura. He wandered around looking at all the ships until he found the Corellian CR90 Corvette. Mercury saw the hatch door was open, so he entered. A ship's hand told him to put the parts in the hold and wandered off. Mercury did so, but when he did, he accidentally knocked the bar that was bracing the door open. Only when the door was closed did he realize why it was braced open – the handle on the other side was broken and the door was locked from without.
It was two days after the ship launched that a crew member found him there. By then, the ship had already jumped to hyperspeed and was long away from Corellia. At first, he was considered a stowaway but the Captain believed his story. He offered Mercury a position on the ship for awhile, a chance to see the universe so to speak. He would let Mercury send his family a message and then he'd drop Mercury off back on Corellia when he was next heading there. He was open and honest that it would be a year at least.
Captain Thom became a friend to Mercury and a mentor. The young man enjoyed life in space, and learning new skills. A year passed and the chance of going to Corellia was put off for two years. Mercury kept in contact with his family, sending regular messages to his brothers and sisters. He did send messages to his father, but his father never replied. Feeling that his father has abandoned him, Mercury has decided he is no hurry to get home again.
In actuality, Jarl feels he failed Mercury as a father and wishes his son would come home. He can't find a way to say what he wants to say in a holo-message or a transmission, so he keeps on hoping he will have a chance to see his son again.
Shadows of the Empire Q&A
Shadows of the Empire
Shadows of the Empire - R
Reralae's A'niorna
Yay for creativity spurts!
Hmmm... guess I need to get some coffee and pour directly on my brain... I'll remember later.
