Author's Note: And another plot bunny. This one came to me as a result of playing Star Wars: The Old Republic, which this is set in. Both characters are based off actual characters that I created in-game, and my desire to give them a backstory led to this. So, enjoy!

Summary: Even with a fragile peace in place, the war between the Republic and Empire goes on, sweeping up countless people and worlds in their conflict. From that conflict, two sisters have emerged, who will show the galaxy the true power of the Force and revenge.

Star Wars, The Old Republic: Bloodstained Light

Balmorra.

It's interesting how just one word, one name, could invoke any of a variety of feelings. From pride to envy, guilt to resolve, love to hate, there were almost as many feelings that the name of that one planet can cause as there were inhabitants of that same planet.

But what was Balmorra? According the historical documents, the planet of Balmorra was one of the founding worlds of the Old Republic, and the center of production for advanced droids and weapons throughout the galaxy. Considering that, it was not surprising that Balmorra was a target for the Sith Empire during the Great Galactic War. The many plains that composed the planet became pock-marked with artillery fire, and many lives were lost during the many fights for Balmorra, its people and its power.

Yet, for all the Republic's efforts, their campaign was futile. Following the Treaty of Coruscant, the Republic was forced to withdraw all its forces from Balmorra, leaving the locals to fend for themselves against the Imperials. And so, the Empire conquered Balmorra and turned the planet's government into its puppet, even as local resistance forces still fought for freedom.

It was on the war-torn world that this story began, just one year after the Treaty was signed. Amongst the settlements found within the Gorinth Canyon, one burned even as two children survived…

"Shh… It's going to be okay, Ru. It'll be alright," a young girl said, holding her crying sister close even as she held back her own tears. Outside the window to their room, they could see an Imperial squad moving throughout their village. While they couldn't hear what most of them were saying, they did catch onto phrases such as 'burn the crops', 'no witnesses' and 'Lachris's orders'.

It wasn't hard to figure it out, even for children such as them. The Empire was here to kill them.

"Annie… I-I don't want to die…" the other girl whimpered, closing her eyes in the vain hope that it would make her troubles go away. She had long white hair that fell in waves to her shoulders, slightly pale skin and her eyes, were they open, would be seen as green. Her name was Ruinara Omnes.

Her sister, by contrast, had a more tanned skin tone and black hair that was held up in a high ponytail. Additionally, her eyes were gray. This was Ruinara's twin sister, Annarith Omnes.

Annarith tried to come up with something to calm her sister down when their door swung open. Fear shot through them for a moment, before calming when they saw that it was their mother, Decima. She had Ruinara's hair but Annarith's eyes, and her expression was currently stuck in one of urgency.

"Annie, Ru, you have to hide!" she said, but was careful to avoid yelling.

Both nine-year olds looked up at her. "Mommy, what's going on? Are they really here to kill us?" Annarith asked.

Decima bit her lip, wondering for a moment whether to tell the truth, before realizing that there wasn't enough time for her to come up with a working lie. No chance of escape, nowhere to hide all three of them, there was no other choice. "They won't be able to if they can't find you. Quickly, get under the bed!" she said, before pushing them under their beds.

Just as she was about to run out the door, however, she could hear Ruinara asked "But what about you?"

She froze, before slowly looking back at them. When she did, they could see a spark of something in Decima's eyes. While they weren't sure what it was, when they saw it, they could feel themselves start to panic.

She walked back towards them and got down on one knee. "You two remembered what happened to your father, right?" she asked.

Both of them nodded. Their father Indomitus had been part of the resistance, helping the Republic fight the Empire with the sole purpose of keeping the Sith away from his family. Only for him and his squad to be pinned down under fire by the Empire. From what the girls and their mother had been told, they had tried radioing the Republic for back-up… and found that there was no back-up. The Republic was retreating from Balmorra completely, and his team was being left high and dry.

There wasn't even a body of their father to be recovered. Just ashes and a blaster cannon.

In the present, Decima looked at them both with a hard glint in her eyes. "The Republic abandoned your father and this planet in its time of need. And now, the Empire has come to finish us off. Whatever happens to me, I want you two to make me a promise. Don't ever abandon each other, and always protect what matters. Can you promise me that?" she asked.

Annarith and Ruinara nodded, and Decima smiled. Reaching for her back, she took the techblade she was wearing off and slid it under the bed to them. "Then I have no regrets. Just keep that promise, and you'll do great things. I love you both," she said, before standing and leaving the room.

The twins could see their bedroom shut and hear the lock snap in place. Instantly, both of them got out from under the bed and ran to the window. Outside, they could still see the village crops being set on fire and the other houses being raided.

But then they saw their mother, who was charging into the middle of the village and wearing an oddly-shaped jacket. She was also holding an assault cannon—the same one their father had been using.

"Hey, you Imperial bucket-heads!" she yelled, catching the attention of every soldier in sight. When they turned to face her, she smirked and the barrel began rotating. "Eat blaster!" she roared, and unleashed a hailstorm of green-colored bolts. The three closest to her went down before they could react, and their screams shocked the others into action.

"Shit! Open fire!" the captain of the squad called, and aimed at Decima. Only for her to fire at a gas barrel a short distance from him, causing it explode and send him flying into one of the burning fields. The other soldiers also began firing, but she stomped one of her feet and an energy shield appeared around her. Their shots deflected harmlessly off it while Decima laughed and continued to unleash mayhem on the Imperials.

"Mom…" Ruinara muttered.

"She's amazing…" Annarith said in awe.

Decima grinned. "How's that, you Sith-kissing maggots! Have some of your own medicine!" she called, and kept firing.

Five more Imperial soldiers fell before her, torsos perforated with sizzling holes. Over a dozen more had already fallen before her, and she could keep going well into the night if she wanted.

Unfortunately, however, it was not to be. After more than three minutes of sustained blaster fire—a lifetime in any battle—her assault cannon finally stopped spewing rounds as it overheated. As if fate were watching, that was also the exact moment that the power supply to her shield cut out, leaving her defenseless.

The remaining Imperials wasted no time in taking their opportunity, and peppered Decima with several dozen shot between them.

"Mom! No!" Annarith called, gripping the edge of the window hard enough that her knuckles turned white.

Decima staggered back with each shot. Once they finally stopped, she coughed and released a gout of blood before looking up at them. The captain, who had been helped out of the fire and was holding her now-broken arm, staggered forward. "Well, looks like your efforts were in vain. Any last words?" he asked tauntingly.

But Decima just grinned up at him with bloodied teeth. The captain snorted and raised his hand to issue the killing order, when she suddenly unzipped her jacket. Strapped to her chest was every last ounce of detonite that her husband had managed to collect in his firefights with Imperials, reaching several pounds in total.

"You can have this back!" she called, and ran straight at them. Not even waiting for an order, the soldiers began firing, but Decima persevered and tackled the captain before hitting the detonator.

The subsequent explosion would have blasted a small hole in the side of a Republic battlecruiser. At such close range, the immediately force of it killed the Imperial captain along with every grunt within a twenty-meter radius, while those that were beyond that were torn to pieces by shrapnel.

The blast also caused the window that Ruinara and Annarith were looking through the shatter, forcing them to duck their heads to avoid getting a face-full of broken glass. The two of them didn't move for a few minutes, trying to get rid of the ringing in their ears. Once said ringing was finally gone, they cautiously looked over the edge of the window.

All that remained of Decima's heroic charge was a large, smoking crater, along with several grass fires caused by the shrapnel. No other villagers, no soldiers, no sound. Nothing.

Slowly, the two of them emerged from the house and began to make their way to the crater, Annarith clutching the techblade that they had been given. And lying there, in the center of the crater, was the smoking husk that had been Decima Omnes.

Ruinara gasped, despite knowing that this was what they would find. She fell to her knees and reached out towards the body, only for her to yelp in pain was the still-smoldering flesh burned her fingertips.

Annarith came next to her, staring down at what had been their mother. 'Why? Why is it that good people have die? What's the reason for it?' she thought. She looked out to what was left of their village. The other residents had all been killed, the fields were all burnt, and soon the scavengers would come to pick apart the bodies. They had to move.

She knelt next to her sister, and began shaking her shoulder. "Come on, Ru. We have to leave here. We need to go," she said.

But Ruinara just stared blankly at Decima's body. Eventually, she replied "…Go to where? The reistance can't hold off the Empire. The Empire killed Mom. And the Republic killed Dad. There's no one that can help us," she said, too numb to even cry.

And as much as Annarith wanted to cry enough for both of them, she knew she had to stay strong. As the older twin, it was her job.

Even so, staying strong and trying to come up with a plan was harder than it looked. Option of option appeared in her head, but each one either would not or could not work. With each second that passed, she could feel her frustration growing until, finally, she screamed in rage and threw the techblade at a nearby tree.

The moment the blade left her hands, however, it became coated in a sheen of glowing energy. It hit the tree and sliced through trunk of it as easily as butter, and kept going before falling onto the ground several meters away.

The severed tree crashed to the ground and Annarith stared. "Did I… Did I do that?" she asked, looking down at her hand. Ruinara looked up at that and blinked, staring in surprise at the tree, then at her sister.

"Annie… Did you… just use the Force?" she asked. When Annarith didn't respond, she looked down at her hands. If her sister could use the Force, was she able to as well? She had heard stories from their father about how the Sith could shoot lightning from their hands. Maybe she…

Ruinara extended her hand towards the fallen tree. At first, she accomplished nothing, and no lightning came forth. The same happened on her second, third and fourth try. Finally, once her anger reached a similar stage as Annarith's did, she screamed and was able to fire a single bolt of electricity, one that hit the leaves of the tree and set them afire.

Now with their theory confirmed, the two siblings looked at each other. "So, we are Force-users," Annarith said.

Ruinara nodded, before slowly smiling. "You know what this means, right? If we can use the Force, we can become Jedi! Or Sith! Then we can punish the Empire and Republic for everything they had done!" she said excitedly.

Annarith smiled as well, before reaching forward and hugging her sister tightly. Ruinara did the same, and the two of them held each other tight.

"Let's make a new promise. Even if we end up apart, even if everyone else gets hurt, we'll do whatever we can to keep our promise to Mom. To keep each other safe," she said.

Ruinara nodded, before smiling darkly in a way that no child should have been able to. "Yeah. And for everything, we'll make the Republic and Empire pay, right?" she asked. Annarith smiled back just as darkly. "Right," she replied.

Balmorra.

A planet devastated by war, one that contained so much suffering at the hands of either faction.

And from that suffering, two people who would change the galaxy emerged.

And that's a wrap on that plot bunny. Like I said, there is the chance that this will be made into an actual fic, but only once I've finished a couple of the ones that I'm currently working on. That said, let me know what you think of this short and little introduction in the review box!

Please review! If you flame me then Bruce Lee will smash you with his nunchaku. (I'm just kidding... or am I?)