Private Aiden Dakaar of the Onderonian Royal Military crouched behind what used to be the wall of a second story, two bedroom dwelling which used to be part of the residential complex behind him. The status and condition of the complex in the Merchant Quarter had changed drastically when it was hit by a barrage of Mandalorian shatter-missiles fired from their hated Basilisk War Droids.
Aiden Dakaar had just turned eighteen standard years old four months ago. For his eighteenth birthday he had enlisted in the Onderonian Royal Military, just like his father, Jaithen Dakaar, had done almost thirty years ago when he had turned eighteen and just like his grandfather Timen Dakaar had done when he had turned eighteen. Fresh out of Basic Training, Aiden had never even seen a Mandalorian in his life. He hadn't even been born, and his father had been barely fifteen when the Mandalorians had first attacked Onderon during what the Jedi liked to call the Great Sith War. Aiden had never seen a Jedi before either for that matter. His grandfather had seen both. It was during that conflict over three decades ago that Aiden's grandfather had been killed by a squad of Mandalorians. The Onderonians had been able, with the help of the Beast Riders, the Republic, and the Jedi, to drive the Mandalorians back off planet, but it hadn't been soon enough for Aiden's grandfather. Jaithen himself had been taken by his mother, Aiden's grandmother, and sister, Aiden's aunt, into a safe house, far away from the battle raging throughout the streets of Iziz, so he never did see anything of the battle. Jaithen had wanted to join the fighting, to fight alongside his father, but since he was not yet eighteen he could do nothing but hide with his mother and sister. He used to tell Aiden stories of how he remembered in great detail the sound of explosions and blaster fire as well as the screams of both men and women as they were gunned down by the invaders, and not enough screams from the invaders themselves, except for one, a war cry that Aiden had just heard for himself, "For Mandalore!" Jaithen had hated those words as he hated nothing else except those beings that spoke them and he had taught his hatred to his son over the course Aiden's childhood.
Matters had been made worse during the last part of Jaithen's life. Because of his bitterness over what had befallen his father and his own personal shame at having been unable to do anything about it, Jaithen drank heavily and was eventually drummed out of the military only four years after enlisting for Conduct Unbefitting an Officer. Due to sympathy from ORM officials over what had happened to Timen Dakaar in the war, Jaithen had managed to avoid greater charges and the whole thing was more or less swept under the rug. To Jaithen however, the incident just added more to his personal shame and caused to him to crawl even further into the bottle.
Aiden's mother had taken pity on Jaithen when he had ended up in a detox center where she did volunteer work. Jaithen got cleaned up and the two got married. For once things seemed to be going right for Jaithen. The birth of Aiden made things seem even brighter.
Then one day Jaithen was walking through the Merchant Quarter when he heard a fight break out near the entrance to the spaceport. He rushed over to see what was going on and saw something he had never thought he would see.
A Mandalorian had landed in the spaceport and was being held back from entering the Merchant Quarter by guards. The guards were denying his entry to the Quarter and the Mandalorian was protesting loudly. Finally ORM soldiers arrived on the scene. They told the Mandalorian that he was not welcome in Iziz and that he must return to his ship and leave the planet.
Jaithen went into a rage. A hated Mandalorian, whose people had destroyed Jaithen's life, was being gently ushered out of the city? Jaithen started screaming for the Mandalorian's blood, saying that the soldiers were being weak and that the Mandalorian scum needed to die. He started trying to push his way towards the Mandalorian who, by this point, was making his way back towards his ship. The soldiers held Jaithen back and this made Jaithen rage even harder. He was being held back while that Mandalorian was being allowed to leave! Jaithen threw a punch which landed on the jaw of one of the soldiers trying to hold him back. And before he knew it, Jaithen was unconscious as the soldier returned the blow.
When he awoke he was in a detention cell. Once again out of sympathy the ORM looked the other way and Jaithen was released. Instead of going home however, Jaithen went to the nearest bar.
Most of Aiden's memories growing up involved his father in varying levels of inebriation until Jaithen finally died due to kidney failure two years ago when Aiden was sixteen. It was this that had given him an even sharper hatred for Mandalorians. They had taken away his grandfather, and then they took away his father too. Aiden was only too anxious to enlist in the hopes that maybe he would get his chance to get revenge, for himself, for his father, and for his grandfather.
Life in the Onderonian Royal Military had been a lot of parading and marching in formation until this moment. Honestly the ORM didn't really have any enemies to speak of, with the exception of course of the Mandalorians, but they hadn't shown themselves as a threat in so long, the ORM didn't even really have a plan of action in the event of another attempted invasion. It was firmly believed by all Onderonians that they would never see the Mandalorians again, that the Mandalorians would have to be fools to try another attack, especially since their fleet had been all but decimated during the war. Apparently the Mandalorians were bigger fools then the Onderonians had thought, or maybe it was the Onderonians who had been foolish.
It was still early in Iziz. The troops in Aiden's unit had barely gotten through their morning drills in the courtyard of the Sky Ramp when the klaxons had gone crazy. Soldiers started running every direction, towards monitors, towards radar screens, towards the armory. Aiden had looked around in confusion. They had performed alarm and air raid drills of course, every military did, but this didn't seem like any drill they had ever done. Finally Aiden had snapped out of it and had flagged down one of his fellow soldiers to ask him what was going on.
"Don't know exactly," the soldier had said frantically. "Sensor Units are showing fifteen…somethings headed this way!"
Before Aiden could ask what a "something" was the soldier had pulled himself free of Aiden's grasp and was running again on his original course.
"Fighters incoming!" someone shouted. Several soldiers started running towards their stations in the Air Defense Towers.
Aiden was at a loss. He couldn't see a commanding officer anywhere. Then he heard the tone that announced that the PA system was about to broadcast.
"Attention, attention," It was Colonel Tobin, second in command of the Onderonian Royal Military. "This is not a drill. All Turret Soldiers to you stations. All other soldiers maintain battle readiness and await further instructions."
All other soldiers await further instructions? Aiden had thought to himself. Shouldn't we be scrambling our fighters?
Aiden wondered what Colonel Tobin could possibly be thinking but kept it to himself. After all, Aiden had learned from his father's mistakes to obey orders and toe-the-line. If Colonel Tobin didn't think the fighters were necessary then maybe they weren't.
Suddenly, from a distance came an explosion. Had the turrets already downed one of…whatever they were? Then there was another explosion, and another. Then Aiden heard something he had never truly thought he would hear in a million years.
"I-it's the M-mandalorians! They've returned…they've returned to finish us all!" A shout came from somewhere. Aiden wasn't sure from whom or from where it had come. His mind had shut down. This was impossible! As much as Aiden had hated the Mandalorians for so long, for as long as he had wanted to finally take his revenge on them, he had never thought he would ever get a chance. Aiden began to dismiss the whole thing. It couldn't possibly be the Mandalorians. Whoever had shouted was just paranoid and mistaken, Aiden was sure of it now, they had to be.
Then the PA toned again and the cool voice of Colonel Tobin poured from it, uttering words that caught Aiden's breath in his throat and chilled him to the bone.
"Attention, attention. We are under assault by a squadron of Mandalorian Basilisk War Droids. They have already destroyed thr-," Aiden barely heard the next explosion, it was hard to hear anything over the rapid beating of his heart. "...four of our Air Defense Towers," the Colonel amended. "Pilots of Drexl Squadron scramble your fighters. That is all."
The PA system shut off and an eerie silence settled over the soldiers collected in courtyard. The silence was soon broken by the sound of another explosion.
One squadron? Just one squadron against Basilisk War Droids? How could they think that would be enough? Surely Colonel Tobin was mad.
Aiden's felt his head spinning. He looked up into the sky and saw ten Onderonian starfighters blasting overhead, Drexl Squadron was off to fight an enemy that Aiden knew they wouldn't be able to stop.
Several more explosions followed, Aiden lost count of them all. He heard some cheering from some soldiers nearby and absently thought that they must have finally managed to destroy a Basilisk. Maybe they had destroyed more, maybe not all of those explosions had been losses for the Onderonians. Then he remembered something his father had told him once. He had been drunk of course, but Aiden would never forget the words.
"A Mandalorian is like cannok, son. Stupid and ravenous, it'll eat anything in its path, even to the point of destroying all sources of food so that it no longer has any food left. You can shoot at it and maybe you'll hit it, but that'll just make it more determined to destroy you too. The weaker you make it, the harder it fights. The only thing you can do is keep shooting, and hope that you are the last one standing."
Aiden was pulled back from the memory by another explosion, but this one was closer, much closer. So close in fact that it had knocked him off his feet. The air was full of black smoke and Aiden could see fire in the opposite part of the courtyard, the part where the ADT use to be. Now all that was there was a pile of rubble. Aiden thought that he saw arms and legs jutting from the rubble, but there were far too many to be just one soldier and far too few to be three whole ones.
Aiden was delirious. He didn't know what was happening anymore. He wasn't even sure he was still alive. He felt numb and hopeless. He wondered if his grandfather had felt this way the last time the Mandalorians had come to Onderon.
Aiden didn't remember much from that point on. He had a vague recollection of someone thrusting a standard issue blaster rifle into his hands and ordering him down to the Merchant Quarter. Something was said about how a section of the great wall there had fallen. Then he was following other soldiers. He followed them blindly.
The next thing he remembered he was crouched behind rubble that used to be part of a wall of a second story two bedroom dwelling of a residential complex.
His resparation was quick and uneven. He clutched his blaster rifle so tightly that it made his knuckles white. The blaster was shaking…no…it was his hands that were shaking.
Then a part of his brain starting yelling at the rest of it. "Pull yourself together!" it said and it sounded like his father's voice. "A man doesn't cower behind rubble! This is your chance…your chance to avenge me and the grandfather you never got a chance to meet! Don't just stand there shaking…fight!...kill! KILL THEM ALL!"
Aiden Dakaar pulled himself together. He calmed his breathing and straightened. He loosened the grip on his rifle. He couldn't fail at this. He must avenge his father, his grandfather. He focused his attention and heard rustling. It was almost drowned out by the sound of blaster fire that seemed to be everywhere but Aiden could still hear it.
Moving to the edge of the rubble, Aiden looked around the corner. He saw a dark shape. He couldn't quite make it out but the form looked to be covered in armor. Aiden raised his blaster. He would have his revenge. He steadied his finger on the trigger and squeezed, just like they had taught him in training.
A blaster bolt spat forth from the rifle. Aiden was kicked back slightly as the rifle butted up against his shoulder. The blaster bolt connected with the shadowy figure. It swayed slightly and then crumpled over. He had done it! He had caught the monster by surprise and had taken it down!
Aiden rushed over towards the place where the Mandalorian had fallen, gaining new confidence with each step. As he approached the crumpled figure he slowed down. He wanted to enjoy this moment. When he got to the spot where he had downed his enemy, Aiden looked at the ground.
At his feet lay a familiar face. It took Aiden a moment as the shock fought its way back over him to recognize it. It was Reelit Kophie. They had gone through training together, they had been friends. But how had he gotten here? Where was the Mandalorian Aiden had shot? He couldn't have shot Reelit could he? No, there was some mistake.
Suddenly, pain washed through Aiden. It felt like his back was on fire. He collapsed on the ground and realized he could no longer feel his back. In fact, Aiden couldn't feel anything at all. He moved his head slightly and realized that he had fallen on Reelit. He tried to move but couldn't. What had happened? Why couldn't he move?
A shadow fell across his face and Aiden moved his head as best he could to look up at whatever was over him. Aiden found himself staring up into the T-shaped visor of a Mandalorian helmet. The Mandalorian leveled his blaster at Aiden's head.
The last thing to go through Aiden's head before the blaster bolt from the Mandalorian's gun was a thought laced with regret and sorrow.
"I failed you father, and now no one will be around to avenge me." Aiden Dakaar didn't think anything else. Aiden Dakaar was dead for the glory of Mandalore.
General Vaklu, cousin to Queen Talia of Onderon and leader of the Onderonian Royal Military was, for the first time in his life, unsure of what to do.
He and his forces had been caught completely off guard by the Mandalorian assault. When they had actually caught the fifteen contacts on their senor readouts, he had expected that they were inconsequential, maybe a flight of drexl as had been known to fly over Iziz from time to time. Such things hadn't been a threat since peace was made between the Onderonians and the Beast Riders. When he realized that they weren't drexl he had ordered the ADTs manned and armed. He felt they would be enough.
He had been wrong. By the time they had received a verified report that the contacts were Mandalorians, the hostiles had already destroyed three ADTs in tandem and were finishing off one more. At that point he had ordered Drexl Squadron to intercept. Colonel Tobin had asked if maybe they should deploy more fighters. General Vaklu hadn't wanted to bother wasting time and fuel on a threat that wouldn't amount to much. Surely between the ten fighters and the remaining towers they would be able to halt the advancing Basilisks. After all, they had defeated them once before, they could do it again.
Again Vaklu had been wrong. The fighters had been plucked from the air and the remaining towers had fallen. Vaklu was about to order more fighters into the air when Tobin had informed him that the hanger doors had been blocked by debris, no more starfighters would be able to escape.
When he had received word that part of the great wall had fallen near the Merchant Quarter, Vaklu ordered soldiers deployed to the Quarter and to reinforce the Sky Ramp. The Mandalorians might have managed to cut off any air support for the Onderonians but surely they wouldn't be able to take the Sky Ramp. It was built to give the Onderonian defenders an advantage over any hostile force.
As General Vaklu looked at the monitor showing the engagement on the Sky Ramp he realized that he had once again been wrong, and this mistake might be his last. The monitor showed ten Mandalorians that had already made it to the courtyard. From the reports Vaklu knew that the other seven of the initial ground assault had remained at the base of the Sky Ramp to keep any Onderonian soldiers from attacking the advancing Mandalorians from the rear. So far no Mandalorians had been reported as having been killed in the ground assault. The same could not be said about his forces. Already he had seen twelve fall on his monitors, and that had just been since the Mandalorians had started up the Sky Ramp (and didn't include the seven other soldiers that had been guarding the entrance to the Sky Ramp that surely must have been killed for the Mandalorians to have made it this far).
The Mandalorians seemed unstoppable. He saw as they crossed the courtyard as if they were doing nothing more complicated then crossing the street. When a unit of his own men began firing from the bunker, it seemed that finally the Mandalorians would face some opposition, but that lasted only as long as it took for a pair of Basilisks to completely obliterate the bunker with a fly by. Even with that, Vaklu felt compelled to be sure that they wouldn't possibly be able to get past the force shields that had snapped into place as soon as word had reached him that the Mandalorians had taken the Sky Ramp entrance, but given how many times he had been wrong so far since this had started, Vaklu held the thought in check.
He was right to, for in less than a minute he saw the force barrier flicker and fade. The soldiers behind it started firing, and were mowed down by the advancing Mandalorians for all their trouble.
The entire way up the ramp the Mandalorian ground troops continued to receive air support from the still flying Basilisks. If only he had launched more starfighters before the hanger doors had been blocked. Far too late he realized his greatest folly in all this, underestimating the Mandalorians. He vowed to himself that if he survived this, he would never do such a thing again.
Vaklu dismissed all the soldiers in the Command Center including Tobin and then ran to the communications terminal and sent an urgent transmission to Tatooine's Twins, the lead Republic capital ship for this sector, it was a quick transmission burst concerning the situation. He didn't wait for Tatooine's Twins to reply but rather headed for the secret passageway that would lead him safely out of the palace. He was sure at this point that the Mandalorians would make it all the way to the palace. They might be stopped by the palace guards or they might actually be able to make it all the way to the Queen. General Vaklu was not going to wait around to find out. If they were stopped he could put a spin on it and claim he had remained in the Command Center in order to coordinate reinforcements but that the communications grid had fallen and he had soon been trapped. If the Mandalorians succeeded in capturing the Queen, or even killing her, Vaklu could merely stride in and take her place, as he had always had aspirations to, once the Republic had finally routed the invaders. Either way he could work it in his favor.
General Vaklu took one more look back at the monitor. On it the second force screen flickered out of existence. The Mandalorians now had an almost unobstructed run to the palace. All they had to do was make it through the remaining soldiers. Vaklu reflected morbidly that that should only take another five minutes. With that thought he left the Command Center and left the palace behind him. He hoped it would not be forever.