Day 1, 5 BBY
Ezra Bridger, son of Mira and Ephraim Bridger was not in a good mood. He was never in a good mood today. On Empire Day. No, there was nothing to celebrate on this day. Yes, he turned fourteen today, but that was overshadowed by all the bad that happened on this day. The day the Jedi died. The day the Republic died. The day the Empire was born. The day his parents were taken.
Ezra leaned up against the railing of his tower overlooking the plains of Lothal.
Ezra was bitter. He still is bitter.
The Empire took everything from him. It turned him into an orphan at the ripe age of seven.
On his birthday.
He had officially lived half of his life without his parents. He didn't even know if they were still alive.
The only consolation was that he still has his older sister, Emily. She was a little under three years older than Ezra and would turn seventeen in about two months making her sixteen right now.
They didn't have much in the way of possessions. Their mother left Emily her Mandalorian armor and weapons, and their father had left a box for Ezra to open on his fourteenth birthday.
Their mother, Mira Bridger, was originally Mira Vizla. A mandalorian from Clan and House Vizla.
Their father, Ephraim Bridger, was a Jedi Knight during the clone wars. But neither Ezra nor Emily knew about this. It wasn't safe for them to know their father was a Jedi.
Somehow the two had fallen in love, moved to Lothal and had two children.
Ever since Emily had turned thirteen she had worn her mothers armor with pride. Ezra didn't share the same sentimentality.
The fact of the matter is, they were both fluent in Mando'a and knew their heritage. Ezra didn't care to much.
He didn't have anything to show for being mandalorian. He didn't have anything. Except the stupid box he was supposed to open today.
Ezra heard the door to the tower swish open, "Ez, you need to come inside; It's starting to get cold out."
"I'm not in the mood, Emily."
Emily walked over to him and pulled him into a hug, "I know today is hard, Ez. But you need to open the present dad left you."
Ezra sighed and melted into the hug a bit, "I know. I just want them back."
Emily started to lead Ezra back inside, "I know you do. I do too. But let's look at the upside for today. You're finally fourteen!"
Ezra laughed a bit at that and moved over to where the crate his dad left him had been sitting for the past seven years.
"Well, guess it's time to finally find out what's in here."
Ezra opened up the crate to reveal multiple items. He honestly didn't recognize a fair few things.
On the very top there were what appeared to be white robes with a holo recorder.
Ezra grabbed the holo recorder and played the message saved to it.
"Ezra, if you're listening to this then your mother and I unfortunately met an untimely end. Sadly with the visions I have been having recently I believe this to be true. It's time you understand your heritage Ezra. Your true heritage. Yes your mother was mandalorian, but when you were born I sensed something big in you. At a young age I taught you that the Jedi were not evil like the Empire proclaimed. This is because I myself was a Jedi Knight. I did not have the gifts of our ancestors, but you do Ezra. Inside this crate you will find everything you need to learn about your ancestry. To put it simply you are the descendant of the prodigal knight, Revan. The first in history to be attuned to the force in the way he was. What makes you even more special is your mandalorian heritage. Your mothers family line goes all the way back to Shae Vizla, including Tarre Vizla the only mandalorian in history to become a Jedi. You and your sister are both descendants of Revan, Bastilla Shan, Satele Shan, and previous Mandalore's such as Tarre and Shae Vizla. Your mother and I see both you and Emily doing incredible things, but Ezra, you have an amazing gift. A Jedi became a Padawan at the age of fourteen, and because I was unable to teach you the basics before then the items inside this crate will help you understand and learn to use that gift. Use it well. Use it to do good and help those in need like your mother and I taught you. We love you son and will always be with you. Never forget that."
By the end of the recording Ezra was on his knees crying into Emily's shoulder.
It seemed impossible but he hated the Empire even more at this point. He wanted to hate his father for knowing what was going to happen and doing nothing to change it.
He wanted to hate the Manda and the Force for bringing him into this cruel world.
Ezra just wanted to hate.
Unfortunately for him, he couldn't. Because somehow after almost everything that had been taken away from him, he still saw the good in things.
He still had his sister, who was the strongest person he knew. Apparently he was gifted in this force that his father talked about. Apparently he could help the people who needed it the most.
So because of that, Ezra picked himself up. His father hadn't taught him to lie down and accept defeat. His mother hadn't taught him to be weak. No, his parents had taught him to be strong. For his sister and everyone else that could ever depend on him.
Standing up Ezra started to sort through the contents of the crate. The robes appeared to be white robes that covered his whole body with a hood.
Underneath that he found multiple tube like devices. Pulling them out he counted five in total.
He set them aside with the robes and continued to look through the crate.
Ezra pulled out three glowing objects. One glowed blue and was a cube shape, one glowed red and was a pyramid shape, and the last glowed grey and was a sphere shape.
He set them aside and continued through the crate. He pulled out what appeared to be an old text.
Reading the cover it said 'The Basics of the Force, Lightsabers, and Holocrons'. It seemed to be a guide on how to teach oneself to open up to the force.
Setting that aside he looked at the next item in the crate.
It appeared to be some type of mask. Obviously mandalorian based on the T visor and beskar.
There was a note attached to the mask 'This is the mask your ancestor Revan wore during the Mandalorian Wars and the Jedi Sith Wars. He found it among the corpses of dead civilians and a mandalorian warrior. He had a vision of what happened, showing him that the Mandalorians ruthlessly gunned down all the civilians and the Mandalorian that tried to stop them. He swore to wear the mask and avenge the civilians and the woman who tried to save them.'
"Hey Em, did you know about that?"
Emily looked over from where she was looking at the book on Jedi, "No, but from what mother said the Mandalorians changed a lot after that. Starting with Canderous Ordo who worked alongside Revan. After that we stopped attacking savagely."
Ezra nodded and set the mask aside. What he saw next made him gasp.
Inside was a set of shiny beskar armor that had yet to be painted. It was a full set of armor including a helmet with another note attached, 'Ezra, I left your sister my set of my armor, but seeing as your father was not mandalorian I had nothing to leave to you. I traveled back to Mandalore and had this set made for you when you came of age. Technically you should have received this on your thirteenth birthday, but I decided to put it in alongside the things your father was leaving you. It wouldn't be proper to be a mandalorian without armor and weapons. You'll find a full set of armor that can be adjusted easily to fit you as you grow. Also, there are two WESTAR-35 pistols, two sets of vambraces (one set for your sister), and something special for my baby boy. Since I made you wait an extra year for your armor you will also find something special called whistling birds. The datapad at the bottom of the crate will explain how everything works. You will do great things one day, love mom.'
Underneath the armor he could see some undersuits and a datapad that presumably had more information on it.
Ezra sighed and looked over to Emily, who was rather intrigued with what the tubes could be.
"Emily, I don't... I'm not sure..."
Emily stopped what she was doing and pulled Ezra into another hug. They must be breaking records with the amount of feelings being released today.
"Ez, our parents wanted the best for us. They knew how strong you are. I know how strong you are. I think you should look into some of this stuff."
Ezra felt completely overwhelmed right now. He was a mandalorian. But he was also a Jedi. Or was he? Apparently he did have something to show for both now.
There was no room for bitterness or hate right now, just an overwhelming sense of being overwhelmed.
"I need to clear my head, I'm gonna go into town for a bit."
Emily broke the hug and looked him in the eyes, "You better not steal anything."
Ezra looked away, "I don't plan on it, but if something pops up I'm not gonna let a good opportunity go."
Emily sighed and looked down, "No, it's too busy out there with the Empire day celebrations going on. You can stay here and I'll break out some of the ice cream."
Ezra accepted defeat and grabbed the datapad while Emily went to the small kitchen to get the ice cream.
After grabbing the datapad Ezra moved over to the small couch they had in the tower and started looking through it.
It pretty much explained how to use the armor to the best of its ability and how to use the various weapons and vambrace technology.
While reading through it Emily came in and sat down next to Ezra. She turned the small holo projector they had and found their favorite show to watch when they weren't doing anything.
After at least half an hour of reading Ezra put the datapad down and grabbed the Jedi text.
Apparently the tubes were lightsabers, and Ezra's father had made a note on the inside of the text.
'The five lightsabers that you found inside the crate are important to our family. The purple one is the blade Revan wielded as a Jedi. The red one is the blade Revan wielded during his time as a Sith. The yellow double bladed saber is the one Bastilla Shan wielded alongside Revan. The blue double bladed saber is the one Satele Shan wielded during her time as Grandmaster of the Jedi Order. The green saber is my personal lightsaber I wielded as a Jedi Knight.'
"Interesting" Ezra muttered.
He continued looking through the book and found out the glowing objects were holocrons.
The book showed him the basics of meditation, lightsaber combat, and force abilities.
After he was finished skimming through the book he set everything he had got on the small mattress that served as his bed. He gave the other set of vambraces to Emily, but continued to look at what his mother had called whistling birds.
Apparently they were a projectile weapon that tracked targets identified in the HUD system of the connected helmet and exploded on impact. They're strong enough to punch through thin layers of beskar, so they must work on stormtroopers as well.
Ezra put the vambraces down and laid down in bed. After giving a sleepy goodnight to Emily he slowly drifted off to sleep.
In the end, this birthday hasn't been terrible.