p style="text-align: left;" It was dark. When had it gotten so dark?br / In fact, it was more than dark; she couldn't see anything, and she could see ultraviolet light. There was a close metallic smell and she suddenly realized she was breathing strongly. Like she was exerting herself, but not winded. She tried to calm her breathing, but desisted when the effort made her lightheaded. br / She closed her eyes and pressed her palm to her forehead. At least, she tried to; her eyes flew open as she realized she couldn't feel her body. There was a sensation of motion but it was erratic and confusing, and she could hear muffled noises like someone nearby was fighting. She tried to sharpen her focus, to stand, or at least identify how she was lying, but her mind was still dark around the edges, like she was about to pass / What the nova happened? But now was not the time to waste on thought, there was a fight, and she needed to stop it. It was her job as a First Rank Guardian, and she took it very seriously. br / She turned all her attention to the sounds of fighting. Strange, it sounds like hand to hand fighting. The Resistance used illegal blasters and stolen Imperial pulse weapons. br /* * * * *br / The Empire had been peaceful for thirty-seven standard years before a group of militant religious zealots declared the Empire had too much power and attacked. A group of two thousand illegally armed followers stormed the House of Council where the Emperor was holding the yearly Galactic Economic Review. They swiftly overwhelmed the five hundred Imperial Guards on duty and overran the complex, quickly penetrating the security locks around the Main Council / It would have been an impressive coup, but First Guardian Bright Star was attending the Emperor and disarmed the attacking force. The group was convicted of treason and was sentenced to imprisonment on the Ice Moon of Triveria, and the incident was / However, inevitably the populace found out about the failed coup, and, learning that Bright Star alone defeated it, public opinion began to agree that the Empire, especially the Emperor's First Guard, did indeed have too much power. Rebel groups quickly formed, and the public, forgetting the tragedy of the last war and how greatly the Empire had improved the lives of the populace, became disordered and / The Imperial Guard and the rebelling groups' conflicts caused much damage and loss of innocent life until the Emperor ordered anti-pulse shields over all heavily populated areas. Since no pulse weapons except the standard-issue non-lethal armament of the Guard could function within the shields, rebel forces were soon pressed back to unpopulated areas and wild colony planets. There the separate groups came together into a single united force. While they were still outmatched by the armament and numbers of the Imperial Forces, the Rebels were not without ingenuity and quickly modified standard pulse weapons, adjusting output wavelengths and removing energy limiters, into destructive and deadly blasters. Using these highly destructive weapons the Rebels were able to deal some heavy blows to the Imperial Forces and the battlefield expanded again to more populated / So began, after just thirty-nine years of peace, the Second Galactic Civil /* * * * */p