Prologue: Solaris

"Run! Hurry up! I'll hold them off!"

There were four of them when the attack started; four young boys, each with a headful of sliver-white hair and a pair of bright-green eyes. Their dark-tanned skin was common for the people in their remote village on the tropical, vegetated moon. They had been lucky for a long time being a middle of the road trading route for both the Republic and the Empire, but the two factions had finally butted heads one too many times. The Empire was finally invading, taking prisoners who gave up and shooting down those who didn't.

"But you can't hold them all off!" The cry came from one of the younger boys who called old to his brother in desperation as he attempted to get some logic through the stubborn attitude and thick headedness. The eldest only grinned, throwing a wink over his shoulder before calling out to the Imperial soldiers.

"HEY YOU! Get away from our house!"

A swirl of red circled the youthful but solid body, drawing into him enough raw and untrained Force to toss a rather large piece of wrecked ceiling towards the group. After it crashed landed in the center of their formation, the young boy proudly snickered before running off to draw their attention. Naturally, he was chased, only stopping every so often to pick up another piece of debris with his will to toss behind at the pursuers. Admittedly, it felt good to hit one and have another trip over the body. Still, it didn't take long before he was cornered. Surrounded by blaster rifles, he stared daggers at his captors.

The sharp green eyes glared at circle of men in black uniforms and armor, completely fearless.

"Stand down. I'll be taking this one." Moving aside, the soldiers made room for the heavily-armored female Sith Lord. There was a sense of elegance to the older woman, despite her menacing aura. Her face was hidden behind a mask that altered her voice as the black and red armor hugged the aged curves of her adult body. A leathery cape flapped in the wind, mirroring the shapes and color of the many swirls of smoke in the sky.

"What's your name, boy?"

The glare continued as the red snakes returned and continuously surrounded the youth. While he couldn't see the smirk that came across the mouth of the women in front of him, he could sense it as she mocked the weak Force energy with the crushing power of her own. His strength and expression suddenly wavered noticeable, however, despite his body trembling, he still continued to stand. The woman was equally surprised and amused as she made another fist to radiate a Force stronger than before. Finally, he fell to his already dirtied knees as a cough of blood came out to splatter on the scorched earth. The red cloud around him dissipated as the unnatural strength finally retreated.

"Your name, boy."

"…Solaris." What choice was there but to answer? Everything hurt. His vision was blurry and blood dripped from dry, chapped lips.

"Age?"

"Four…Fourteen."

"And no formal training on this waste of a moon. Impressive. Yes, you will go far."

The female Sith Lord turned to speak to one of the soldiers. "Ready my ship and take this child to the space dock. He's Force-sensitive and he's coming with me."

"Yes, my Lord." The solider who was spoken to saluted before heading to Solaris's body. Being pulled up, Solaris looked toward his new master. Still, the softened green eyes moved to the spot where he had left the others. If nothing else, there was the relief that they had escaped.

Prologue: Seren

"But you can't hold them all off!"

Seren had to protest at Solaris's broken logic. What good would it do them if they all split up?! But his stubborn brother ran off with a smile just the same. That self-righteous jackass! Of course, this left Seren in charge of the other two. Sighing, he pushed his two younger siblings along to try to hide in the remains of a small hut that had been recently destroyed. It made sense that the troops wouldn't have any interest in a house they had already ransacked and ravaged.

Hunkered down, the three remained as quiet as possible as they watched the Empire march in a sea of black. It reminded Seren of how ants walked in straight lines and for a brief moment, he also wondered if any of them had a fear of getting lost if the trail broke. Thinking of things like a giant breadcrumb falling from the sky and watching the Imperial scurry to it gave him a mental chuckle. It was the only bit of happiness he would be allowed to have today.

"Some might still be hiding. Search the remains!" There was a large man in rich, gaudy robes giving orders to a handful of soldiers. Once someone was found, they were inspected.

"Slave traders," one of the other boys spoke quietly as he through overgrown bangs.

"Quiet, Tsuki," Seren quickly hushed the younger brother in fear that they might be heard from there hiding spot despite the overpowering sounds of grenades exploding and blaster fire in the background.

With another explosion nearby, the already unstable roof above them started to collapse. Looking up, Seren had quickly deduced that there were only two choices to make; get crushed or push the younger two to safety that would leave him exposed and out in the open. Sighing, he opted for the second choice. The last thing he saw was Tsuki's wide-eyed look before the roof came down just inches in front of his nose. The collapse made a terrible sound of breaking stones and metal being torn and scratched that easily caught the attention of the slave hunting patrol.

"Sir, we have another one."

Not even fighting it, Seren was pulled to his feet though his glare was most defiant. He even jerked his face away as he was inspected by the foul-smelling, fat noble. "Get your hands off me, you piece of lard. Just stick my shock collar on already."

The force of the impact of being backhanded by a swollen hand covered in jeweled rings busted Seren's lips and nose. "Shock collar? HA! You….You get the brand."

Tensing up, Seren felt the heat of the device coming towards his face and released a blood piercing scream when it made contact. Across the nose, directly under the eyes, a fresh brand was burned into the brown flesh along with a circular symbol on his forehead. He could feel the indentations just from the pain alone.

Prologue: Tsuki

"Seren…SEREN!" The younger of the remaining two started to scream.

Tsuki's hand covered the yelling mouth as they both watched the roof collapse in front of them. There was nothing that could be done for their brother now. The hand that covered the screaming could feel the tears of the youngest as they started to drip down on his dirty fingers.

"Stop it. We need to get out of here. Look for a way." With heavy sniffling, there was a nod as the pair crawled in the darkness on their hands and knees.

"Found a grate. This should lead to the sewers, right?" Smiling, Tsuki gave a nod.

"Good job, Celi." The cried upon hand came up to ruffle up the short white hair of the youngest in an attempt to both comfort and praise, something Tsuki often failed at doing properly on most occasions. Pulling the grate open, Tsuki let the smaller one go in first and dropped down afterward with a splash in dirty water. The smell was incredibly foul with overgrown rats running through the tunnels.

"Ugh." Holding his nose with one hand and Celi's fingers with the other, Tsuki began to lead them through the dimly lit passageways following a tiny amount of light that eventually allowed for the pair to come out on the other side. There was no telling how long they were in there and how far away from the village they were at this point. In the horizon, the black smoke from the attack was still visible.

"We need to get out of here." Tsuki only looked behind for just a moment before returning his gaze to the front. With his younger brother in tow, he tugged his sibling along down a dipping hill trying to avoid the small waterfall of sewage and waste. Only tuffs of their white hair could be seen at this point, mostly hidden by dirt and Maker knows what else.

Glaring through the beams of the setting dual-suns, they noticed a line of ships that had landed on the outskirts. They were different looking from the Imperial ships with a much more battle-worn and armored appearance. Putting a finger to his lips, Tsuki silently hushed Celi as the pair kept low, sneaking between the spacecrafts. Avoiding the armored Mandalorians was the tricky part, but every step got them closer to an unguarded craft. At the end of the line was a black Imperial ship, sleek looking as if it were brand-new and fresh off the assembly line with the hatch open.

Perfect.

Motioning over, Tsuki made Celi go first after whispering something into his ear. Whatever it was seemed to startle the younger boy.

"But…But Tsuki, I can't…"

"Yes, you can. Wait for my signal. You'll be fine. Go. Araceli! Go!"

Finally mustering up the courage, Celi ran as fast as his short legs would carry him towards the hatch, disappearing inside. With a sigh of relief, Tsuki turned back toward the patrolling guards. Sneaking up behind one, he swiped the pair of blaster pistols from each side of their hips. The plan was to grab them and run, hide between the ships, and draw their attention to give Celi time to do as he was instructed, but the temptation was too much. Despite the desperate situation, Tsuki's lust for revenge had to be satisfied. Shooting down the man who just lost his guns, there was a menacing smile that crept onto the boy's lips. The second guard reached for her own pistols, but was shot down before she could draw.

"Two."

The blaster noise had alerted the other patrollers. As each ran up, they were each shot down in deadly accuracy.

"Three. Four."

"Hold it."

Tsuki was surrounded with arms spread to opposite direction, a gun in each hand. A more rugged, older man with a gruff voice came out from behind his fellows; his face covered by a respectable, but aged traditional Mandalorian helmet.

"You're surrounded."

Tsuki only smirked, his messy dirt-covered hair covering one of the narrowed green eyes. "I evened the score from what you took from me. As long as I take two more of yours before you kill me, I would still one up you. That's all I care about."

There was silence at first, but the older man started to laugh. It wasn't a mocking laugh. The sound was throaty, full of actual amusement that bellowed and reverberated from inside the helmet. "You've got balls, kid. I'll give you that."

The helmet came off, showing a shaved head with a thick-jawed face decorated with war paint. "You want something, right? Name it."

"My baby brother has disabled your ships and their shields remotely. He's just a kid and he's smart. Not a waste of space like me. We got nothing to do with your war on the Republic, but you sacked us anyway. Deal is, you get him out of here alive and make sure he stays that way."

"What about you? Don't you want out of here too?"

Tsuki just shook his head. "Don't care about me. I got what I wanted." Grinning, it was obvious he was speaking on his freshly killed body count; one for each of his missing siblings and his mother.

The large Mandalorian leader thought for only just a moment before giving a nod. It was interesting to negotiate with a child, especially one facing down an army of trained warriors without any fear or hesitation.

"Deal."

The second voice came from behind as a sharply dressed Imperial Agent who emerged from stealth with a knife at Tsuki's throat. He was been there the entire time completely unnoticed.

"Damnit…" Taking his fingers off the triggers, Tsuki put his hands up. The agent smirked as he removed the blade.

"You say he disabled the shields? Indeed…We could use that sort of intelligence, at such a young age no less. Prove your loyalty to the Empire and I'll take him to be trained. He will be taken care of, you have my word." Tsuki remained silent for a moment wanting to take his chances, but he had to keep a clear head that Araceli wouldn't be able to make it on his own.

"…Fine. Celi! Celi, you can come out now!" Timidly, a little tuff of white hair peaked from the open hatch.

"Really…really? Okay…" Coming over, there seemed to be some confusion. Despite Tsuki's claim that Celi was younger, they looked identical.

"Hm. Twins?" The older Mandalorian scratched at his scruff. Tsuki only glared, refusing to answer the question before turning to his brother.

"You're going to go with this guy, okay? You'll be alright, I promise."

"You…You mean 'we', right?"

Smiling, Tsuki just shook his head. "Nah, I'll come find you later. I got business with this old guy back here."

"…Old?" The Mando leader scoffed at the notion. He wasn't old…yet.

"But…but," Celi started to tear up again, his nerves getting the best of him.

"Hey, it's alright. You'll go to a real school and everything like you wanted." Tsuki managed fluffed up the short hair again before pushing him over to the Agent.

"You hurt him, I will hunt you down."

With an arm around Celi, the agent turned to head back to his ship but still had a nagging feeling that the older of the two boys was actually serious.

"We take care of our own", the Agent attempted to reassure him before making his way inside of the ship.

Araceli eventually disappeared as well as the hatch closed behind them. That just left Tsuki with the rather pissed off bunch of Mandalorians to deal with.

Great.

Turning, he looked into the eyes of the leader. "So, you gonna kill me now or what?"

Again, the large Mando laughed before belting a large, armored fist into Tsuki's face. The impact nearly broke the young boy's jaw and sent him stammering back. Much to the Mando's amusement, Tsuki shook it off with a grin.

"That all you got old man?"

The other Mandalorians stood back, watching the back and forth scrap. Tsuki gave pretty well for the beating he was receiving despite not having any sort of armor on and having dropped his stolen pistols, but it was finally ended when he took a hard knee jab to the stomach. The pain that shook his body caused him to pass out, already half-starved and exhausted from being on the run. Thoroughly unconscious, he was picked up and flung over the large man's shoulder.

"Ready the ship."

The other Mandos nodded, moving out of the way as they shuffled into back to work.

Prologue: Araceli

"But...but…"

Araceli's mind was racing. He had already lost so much already. Despite technically being the same age as Tsuki, he had less than half the nerves. He was also wondering why Tsuki didn't answer the question when asked if they were twins. No, they weren't twins. There were four of them, after all or at least, there was.

Solaris, Seren, Tsuki, and Araceli.

Sun, Star, Moon, and Sky.

They were brothers, all born one right after the other. They were all the same age and even relatively the same size with matching faces, hair, and eyes. There were subtle differences, to be sure, in both appearance and especially in personality. Solaris kept his hair slightly longer, while Seren liked to spike his bangs up to keep them out of his eyes while he read. Tsuki grew his bangs out instead, brushing them to one side of his face saying he only needed one eye to see really. Araceli was less creative in this department, keeping a typical short boy cut that his mother insisted on. She would have at least one normal child, so help her.

Solaris had a strong personality that he blamed on being the first born. He was overprotective and tried to do everything on his own. Seren was next and usually quieter, keeping to himself and preferred to stay lost any sort of studies that he could manage to find over the net. Tsuki was a bit of a jerk and had mean streak, but was surprisingly kind in private. He was only a big brother to Araceli, so he tried constantly to make the youngest of them braver by reminding him that life was cruel. Celi never thought he'd see the day where Tsuki would be proven right.

"So you managed to hack into my system?" The Agent asked as he took Celi to the ship and went to check the console to see exactly how that was even possible. The boy just nodded as his curious green eyes scanned the ship. He didn't have much time to look around before. It was all so…shiny.

"I see. You'll be just what we're looking for. Such a young age as well. Do you have any implants?"

Turning, Celi found himself being scanned over with a probe. This time, the small head shook no. There was a sharp pain as he was stuck was a needle in the upper arm. "Just an immunity booster," he was told. "You're a bit under-fed. Scrawny."

"I've always been a bit smaller." Rubbing the arm, Celi felt a bit embarrassed. "What's going to happen to me?"

"You'll be sent for training, formally. That's all I can tell you right now."

"…Okay."

The ship started to rattle before taking off.