When I saw Sion's eyes I could see traces of who we had once been. Functional family bonds were uncommon in the slums of Krayiss, much less those that brought a little joy into the mundanity of it all. Trust was rarer still. We had built our little paradise, with the sweat of our brows and the resolve to make this better. For a time things were wonderful. It wasn't perfect, but I don't think I'd ever been happier than in those days with my husband.
But the Sith's ambition brought it all to an end. When they came to Krayiss, to 'make an example' of it, they destroyed all facets of our joy. I only learned why they came after it was over. A power struggle among a few Sith Lords. To think that the hubris of two beings could bring so much devastation. They appeared one day, their ships far up in the sky, and descended on the city without warning. The fighting was terrible. We thought at first it might have been the New Imperials, launching a surprise attack to make some grandiose statement. But when we saw legionnaires kill each other in the streets, we knew this was different.
The fighting didn't last long. We scarcely had any who could fight against the Empire's troops, let alone their Sith. I'd sought shelter at my place of work, a small marine-life zoo, for the entirety of those seven hours. The Sith never bothered with it, I think the notion of slaughtering animals when they already had their bipedal ones to hunt was beneath them. Bastards. When it was over I carefully navigated what was left of our streets home. The ship wharf district, where he and I had our small apartment, billowed with smoke and flames, even in the distance. The entire way there anxiety made me tremble. By the time I turned the corner onto our street I had been running as quickly as I could.
I found our home in pieces. Top floors reduced to rubble on the streets, the lower part hollowed out and blackened from the flames. It froze me in my tracks. My heart pounded in my chest and all I could hear was its rhythmic thrumming in my head. When I finally moved again I was shaking. It felt as though I was walking through a ghost town, something unfamiliar, that wasn't at all the home I remembered. The foyer was stained with ash. The walls were full of blaster holes. I could see our landlord's apartment door on the floor of his room. It had been ripped violently from its hinges. I didn't go in to check if he was there.
My footsteps carried me up the stairs, slowly. I felt weightless and heavy, so heavy, all at once. The smell of ash was suffocating on the stairs, cold and thick as I breathed it in. When I came to our floor the stairs were partially destroyed, pieces still crumbled and fell when I moved past them. I had taken to the railing out of instinct, the thought of falling was last on my mind.
Our floor was almost completely gone. I could see the orange sky, still thick with plumes of smoke, above me. Chunks of rubble were strewn about all over, doors were missing, and the walls had been torn down almost in their entirety. What remained were indications of apartments, rooms barely distinguishable in the chaos of permacrete and personal effects. Our apartment was little more than a pile of ash.
It found Sion buried under the wall of living room. He barely breathed when I pulled him free. It wasn't until days later that he woke up, and told me what had happened.
That the Sith had taken him.
Part of me had died when he told me, but another one clung to hope. He was still alive, even if he was gone. I could still find him one day. The chance still existed that there could be an end to this nightmare. But as the weeks went by, as the years faded, I lost that hope. With each day that passed a small part of it died and calcified into a shard lodged into my heart. Slowly, all that love for him was replaced with a bitterness that fueled hatred. Hate for the ones who had done this to us.
Hate for the Sith. The same hate that brought us, Sion and me, to become rebels for some far off government we'd likely never see. But they promised us something we'd both craved.
Vengeance.
"I'm ready," I said.
I could feel the weight of the blaster rifle in my palms. I'd grown accustomed to it. Before all this I'd never held one in my life. Now I was ready to take the lives of anyone who served the Empire willingly.
How time changes us.
But the Sith's ambition brought it all to an end. When they came to Krayiss, to 'make an example' of it, they destroyed all facets of our joy. I only learned why they came after it was over. A power struggle among a few Sith Lords. To think that the hubris of two beings could bring so much devastation. They appeared one day, their ships far up in the sky, and descended on the city without warning. The fighting was terrible. We thought at first it might have been the New Imperials, launching a surprise attack to make some grandiose statement. But when we saw legionnaires kill each other in the streets, we knew this was different.
The fighting didn't last long. We scarcely had any who could fight against the Empire's troops, let alone their Sith. I'd sought shelter at my place of work, a small marine-life zoo, for the entirety of those seven hours. The Sith never bothered with it, I think the notion of slaughtering animals when they already had their bipedal ones to hunt was beneath them. Bastards. When it was over I carefully navigated what was left of our streets home. The ship wharf district, where he and I had our small apartment, billowed with smoke and flames, even in the distance. The entire way there anxiety made me tremble. By the time I turned the corner onto our street I had been running as quickly as I could.
I found our home in pieces. Top floors reduced to rubble on the streets, the lower part hollowed out and blackened from the flames. It froze me in my tracks. My heart pounded in my chest and all I could hear was its rhythmic thrumming in my head. When I finally moved again I was shaking. It felt as though I was walking through a ghost town, something unfamiliar, that wasn't at all the home I remembered. The foyer was stained with ash. The walls were full of blaster holes. I could see our landlord's apartment door on the floor of his room. It had been ripped violently from its hinges. I didn't go in to check if he was there.
My footsteps carried me up the stairs, slowly. I felt weightless and heavy, so heavy, all at once. The smell of ash was suffocating on the stairs, cold and thick as I breathed it in. When I came to our floor the stairs were partially destroyed, pieces still crumbled and fell when I moved past them. I had taken to the railing out of instinct, the thought of falling was last on my mind.
Our floor was almost completely gone. I could see the orange sky, still thick with plumes of smoke, above me. Chunks of rubble were strewn about all over, doors were missing, and the walls had been torn down almost in their entirety. What remained were indications of apartments, rooms barely distinguishable in the chaos of permacrete and personal effects. Our apartment was little more than a pile of ash.
It found Sion buried under the wall of living room. He barely breathed when I pulled him free. It wasn't until days later that he woke up, and told me what had happened.
That the Sith had taken him.
Part of me had died when he told me, but another one clung to hope. He was still alive, even if he was gone. I could still find him one day. The chance still existed that there could be an end to this nightmare. But as the weeks went by, as the years faded, I lost that hope. With each day that passed a small part of it died and calcified into a shard lodged into my heart. Slowly, all that love for him was replaced with a bitterness that fueled hatred. Hate for the ones who had done this to us.
Hate for the Sith. The same hate that brought us, Sion and me, to become rebels for some far off government we'd likely never see. But they promised us something we'd both craved.
Vengeance.
"I'm ready," I said.
I could feel the weight of the blaster rifle in my palms. I'd grown accustomed to it. Before all this I'd never held one in my life. Now I was ready to take the lives of anyone who served the Empire willingly.
How time changes us.
Allies: GA, NJO, NIO,
Zark San Tekka
,
Suri Vullen
,
Captain Raith
,
Sion Dallo
['N FAMILY STAYS TOGETHER]Enemies: TSE, Open
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