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"...It was burning..."
That's what I remember of my childhood, it burning. It died around me, my whole world. My home. Screams of dread rising to the heavens for some hope of salvation. Corpses littered the street, smoke filled the air, and buildings like dreams crumbled. The Sith and their Imperium had arrived. Coruscant had been my home since birth and now it was doomed. What do I remember first? Waking up to thunder with no storm, fire raining down from the heavens and my mother calling for me over the chaos.
In nothing but my loose night shorts I was rushed by my father’s soldiers to the Galactic Command Center. We had known they were coming, even at fifteen years I had known, but their attack had come so swiftly what little forces we had were in disarray. My father stood among the other generals trying to organize what remained of the Alliance military. It was a valiant defense, but like an evil flood the Imperium forces swept over the planet. One by one strategic points began to fall and the darkness closed in. Soon the barbarians were at the gates. All of our evacuation shuttles attempting to leave were being shot down. The Imperium killed indiscriminately; women, children, wounded, it didn’t matter to them. I felt the weight of a blaster for the first time that day, my mother did too. We stood in one of the war rooms, waiting as they cut through the blast doors. Crimson and verdant streaks filled the air as it fell to the ground. I fired blindly, wildly. When I opened my eyes I saw I man I had killed. I think I threw up.
Men, generals, their families; they were all dying around me. I can’t remember how long it lasted. Five minutes or five hours, who knows? Next thing I know I was kneeling with the other survivors of the firefight. A Sith holding a blood red lightsaber entered. It’s funny. I can’t remember anything that was said in that death filled room. My father was the last member of command alive in this building. He was brought before the black robed figure. He stood unafraid, defiant. I could swear there was a light around him. He turned to me and my mother. He smiled…before the Sith ran him through.
Other men were executed by firing squads, leaving just the women, a few very young children, and myself. When the Sith who had killed my father announced that we would share the same fate before departing, the women rose up as one. They hadn’t even needed to speak. Their maternal instincts and grief fueled their attack. Desperate to save the children, even if they weren’t their own, they rushed the stormtroopers. Many were cut down, but some managed to reach and attack the white armored men. I hid the smaller children behind me as they fought to free us, but rushed forward when I saw my mother fall. Running to her side after I tackled a soldier, took his blaster, and shot him I held my mother in my hands. She touched my face with a bloodied hand. Looking into my eyes, ‘I love you…flee…and live…’ were the last things I would her from her.
Filled with grief, rage, and pain I refused to cry…not yet. I would mourn my parents, my life, after I got the others to safety. Taking the other orphans and telling them not to cry, lying to them that it would be ok, I led them through the ruins that once housed such hope. I still can’t believe we managed to sneak out without being seen. I was taking care of four kids. Bori and Bolli were the twin human boys, both five, along with Jacek a seven year old Rodian and Aleia a four year old Echani. I was a kid myself; I didn’t know what the hell I was doing. So we made our way down; down into the depths of the fallen city plant. It was all I could think of. We went down as far as our feet could carry us, finally collapsing in an empty warehouse far from the sounds of conflict. Then I mourned…we all did…we cried until no more tears would fall. I don’t remember falling asleep, but I remember when I woke up. The kids were piled around me, hugging me and cuddling close. I was all they had left; their savoir and they were all I had left.
So I made a vow as they slept and I made sure the place was safe. That I would protect them and that the Imperium would pay. My parents were gone, my home in ruins. It might have been different if the cowardly Jedi hadn’t fled. It might not have, but at least they would have died fighting for what they say they believed in. So much for being Champions of Peace and Justice. They let millions, no billions die. They hadn’t even tried to defend them; they even condemned the few that had stayed behind to fight expelling them from the Order. It was then that my innocence died, it was then that I knew what I would do. I would fight the Imperium anyway I could. I would help build a new Republic. I would become a rebel and fight for freedom; from the Imperium, the Sith…and the Jedi. The Republic I would help create would no longer need these cowards and charlatans. I am Kane De’Lanfant. Hero? Rebel? Terrorist? Champion? I am all of these things. This is how my story both ends and begins.
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