"Focus, child! It's like you're not even trying!" I rolled my eyes as my mother, Bo-Katan Kryze, berated me from across the training room. Honestly, so I'd missed one target out of three hundred in less than a minute. Big whoop. "If that training droid was a stormtrooper you'd be dead right now!" I snorted at that one. If that target had been a stormtrooper, I'd be wearing beskar armor right now instead of my training gear, and that bucket head's puny blaster bolts would've just glanced right off! Still, I lined up my blaster and planted a big black scorch mark right in the center of the target.
"Better?" I asked sarcastically.
"Dubiously so," Mom told me. "I don't know if you've realized this yet, Tara, but we are at war here. I may be Manda'lor, but if I fall in battle, that title passes to you. It is vital that you be the most powerful warrior our people have so that you can not only survive the war - but also any potential challengers."
"Mom! I'll be fine!" I replied. "Can I go now?"
Bo-Katan sighed. "Yes, you may go...but take your blasters with you."
"Got it." I gave my mom a brief hug, then dashed out of the room to go find my best friend, Lia.
"Guess what?" Lia said as soon as I ran up to her.
"What?" I asked, still a little out of breath from my training session.
"I got you something." Lia held out a small box. "Happy birthday, Tara."
I opened the box and gasped. "It's beautiful." It was a small silver pendant in the shape of the Kryze family crest - my family crest. "Thank you." I slipped it on with a smile, then gave her a hug.
That's when it happened. There was a loud whump-ish kind of sound, and suddenly there was a Star Destroyer blocking out the sun. The sound came again, and a second one joined it. Then a third. A fourth. A fifth. There were more, but I stopped counting after that. I was already running, dragging Lia along behind me as I dodged the laser bolts that were already streaking through the sky as TIE fighters screamed overhead. Something exploded, and I was thrown from my feet and through a wall. Somewhere in that process, I lost hold of Lia's hand. I remember hitting the ground...then darkness.
When I came to, I was lying on the ground amidst a pile of debris. Something warm and sticky was trickling down my forehead and into my eye. I touched it. It was blood - my blood. Suddenly, I was all too mortal. The ground shook. I needed to move, get somewhere safe. First, I needed to find Lia. I called for her, stumbling through the streets. People were screaming...running...shooting at things. It was all a blur. Then, I found her, not far from where I'd fallen.
Blood trickled from where a metal pole had been impaled through her chest by the blast. Her eyes were open but glazed over...clouded. Dead.
I threw up. Tears swam in my vision as an orbital blast landed somewhere nearby. The Armory - I needed to get to the Armory. I was completely without armor, and my tiny training pistols wouldn't do much good in a firefight. Finally I had a goal. I blinked the tears away and focused all my energy on achieving that goal. If I thought about anything else I was going to break down completely. There would be time to grieve later, once I survived.
If I survived.
There were already dead bodies everywhere. It was a good thing there wasn't anything else in my stomach, or I would have vomited again. I ran through the debris-riddled streets, keeping to the shadows and shooting at anything that looked even vaguely like a stormtrooper's helmet. Somehow, I made it to the Armory. My armor was still there. Sabine had painted it for me in purple, black, and silver the last time she was here. I slipped it on and breathed a small sigh of relief as my helmet systems came online. I grabbed a pair of military grade blaster pistols, a matching pair of slugthrowers, a set of whistling birds, a grapple, a variety of bladed weapons, including throwing stars and a hidden wrist dagger, and a disruptor rifle. Oh, and somebody's jetpack. I'd like to say I nobly left payment or something like that, but truth is I didn't care about any of that nonsense. I needed it, so I took it. End of story.
I'd just come back out into the street when the troop transports landed. Suddenly, there were blasters firing in every direction. Mandalorians swooped in to battle the invaders, and several transports exploded in balls of flame before they could even touch down, but there were too many of them. I dodged through the firefight on my stolen jetpack, keeping low and shooting at anyone that wasn't Mandalorian as I headed back to the palace as fast as possible.
I was too late.
An orbital blast crashed into my home, obliterating it and showering me with debris as I pulled up short. Mom had still been in there... I dropped to the ground and ran into the still-smoking crater, yelling her name. I turned over debris left and right...there were no bodies. Nothing had survived - except the hilt of the darksaber. I found that poking out of the ground near where the throne room had been. It was mine now, I supposed. Numbly, I grasped it and clipped the precious relic to my belt. Even through my gloves it was still warm to the touch. I was Manda'lor now...not that there was much of Mandalore left. With that realization, the last bit of my resolve crumbled. I'm ashamed to tell what happened next, but the world deserves the truth.
Instead of going to rally my people like my mother would have - like any good leader would have - I turned and ran.
There were still a few undamage Kom'rks left at the airfields. I climbed into one and thanked the Force Mom had made me learn how to fly. I powered it on and piloted the nimble little starfighter through the Imperial barrage. As soon as I was clear, I made the jump to hyperspace, not caring where I wound up. I'd learn later that the Empire had been defeated a few weeks earlier at the Battle of Yavin. Their attack on my home was nothing more than revenge, pure and simple. Pointless, bloody revenge. The galaxy had been saved, but Mandalore paid the price. I paid the price. Lia and Mom and so many others paid the price.
I was only nineteen at the time.