Imdris Emraeth stared heavenward, feeling his life-blood pool around his broken body as he listened to the one who committed him to the grave speak, the voice somber and reflective, as if simply passing on an interesting bit of trivia.
"I heard once, that in the founding years of the Jedi, there was a sect of them that decided to make a statement to the Sith. A statement that would not be forgotten."
The speaker sat in a chair gazing at a crystal sphere, perfectly crafted - every facet catching the light just so. The rays of light that touched his face made his azure eyes seem ancient, almost eldritch.
"They targeted a Sith crèche, deciding that the Sith had to understand that their brand of heresy would not be allowed to poison the hearts and minds of the young. Better for them to die than to be deceived by such lies."
He stood, the longcoat rippling in the breeze blowing through the shattered wall behind him, his hair - slightly longer than shoulder length - obscuring his features for a moment, then falling back to reveal a face hardened by time and loss.
The face of a man who, last he heard, served the Emperor.
Anakin Skywalker, the one-time Jedi Knight known as "The Hero with No Fear", stared down at Imdris, a sort of pity in his eyes.
"According to the story, the Jedi who delivered the bomb to the crèche did their job a little too well. The explosion killed not only all inside, it leveled the marketplace district outside, killing four hundred people with the shockwave.
"The bomb, you see, was in retaliation for a Sith ambush of a Jedi training ship out of Rhen Var. Thirteen hundred souls killed, simply for being either Jedi or supporters of Jedi."
Anakin squatted down next to Imdris, and held out the sphere.
"This is from your family, yes?"
A tear rolled from Imdris' face as he nodded.
"I am sorry that your children have to live without a father, your wife without a husband. Had you made a different choice, sir, you would have gone home to see them to safety."
He pressed the sphere into Imdris' hand.
"I give you my word they will be kept safe. They will not come to harm from me."
The dying man's eyes widened.
"Where are the files Palpatine commissioned you for?" Skywalker asked.
Imdris' hand raised shakily, a finger pointing to the terminal on his ruined desk; then, with a rattled, hollow breath, his life left him.
Anakin closed his eyes.
"I will keep my promise, sir. The Force be with you as you deserve."
~AoA~
The files turned out to be exactly as Anakin expected; a shipping manifest for the project Grand Moff Whiluff Tarkin was currently overseeing in the Despraye system. Most of it read like building materiel for a small fleet, but other portions made no sense to the ex-Jedi. One such listing was for a series of focusing chambers larger than the drive cores of a Venator-class destroyer.
Damn you, Palpatine. What in the Force is all this?
The one thing of interest that Anakin noticed was that a good portion of the Kamino-bred clones were being returned to the waterworld for storage or destruction. That didn't track for him.
While Palpatine had firmly secured his grip - however short-lived - on the galaxy, his domination was far from complete. The new mainstay of the Imperial Navy - the Star Destroyer - was a massive craft requiring at least a thousand-man crew to keep it going; for optimal use to be even remotely feasible, that number increased six-fold.
Unless he's decided that there's a simpler way to crew those ships, Anakin thought sourly.
Rumors had begun to spread about Imperial conscriptions beginning in the Core Worlds, largely targeting the lower and middle classes of the outlying moons. The hub worlds had begun to promote young souls - largely men, from the sound of it - applying for admittance into the newly-formed Imperial Academy on Carida. Since the nonhuman races were being subjugated as second-class citizens, if not worse - the thought of how Kashyyyk had been handled still made Anakin pale with rage - that left a very select pool of potential forces to draw from.
Sitting in the command chair of the Sword of The Morrigan, Anakin looked through the rest of the data, his fears drawing him to a very ugly conclusion - Palpatine either had, or was preparing, a 'final solution' to the rising whispers of dissent in his Empire. If it was ever implemented…
Squaring his shoulders, he keyed a set of commands into the controls, and watched as the point of light lengthened into starlines, and the roiling vortex of hyperspace swallowed the ship whole.
The Dark Times have come. Empire has risen.
The Supreme Chancellor, Elias Palpatine, has appointed himself Emperor.
The Jedi Order has been annihilated, presumably at the hands of its greatest champion, Anakin Skywalker, who was nearly burned to death on the shores of Mustafar.
Padme Amidala is believed to be dead, having died under mysterious circumstances prior to the Rise.
On the borders of the Unknown Regions and Wyld Space, the Maa'daer'khai Confederation has fallen, betrayed by its civilian leadership. The capital world of the Confederation, Jhae'khoria Prime, is now a debris field, destroyed by the Immortal Makhael Sinclair to deprive the Emperor of the vast secrets acquired since its original colonization over fifty millennia prior. The survivors have retreated into the Regions, turning isolative as they struggle to defend those who escaped.
In recent years, a mysterious stealth ship has begun to harry the Imperial armada. Specifically targeting shipyards, supply depots, and the operations bases of the Emperor's elite Jedi Hunter teams, the captain of this vessel is ruthless and unforgiving. Wherever this ship goes, death follows with the predictability of the tides.
As the Rebellion begins to come to life in more than just the words and ideals of the Senators who survived Palpatine's paranoia, and as whispers begin to surface concerning a massive project in the Outer Rim, the stage is set.
A name shall be redeemed.
A love shall be reborn.
A monster shall be overthrown.
The Chosen One shall discover the truth of his existence, and the full meaning of the prophecy that foretold his arrival.
STAR WARS: FALLEN RECKONING SAGA
EPISODE 1: RAGE AGAINST THE DYING OF THE LIGHT