Prolog (1)

I was dying, alone, I, Layan Vaherg, leader of one the most infamous organization of this galaxy. Here on this desolate moon full of nothing except rubbles and mines. I was laying on a floor of rubbles, unable to move as the scorching heat left by the lightsaber stab in my chest was slowly but surely killing me.

As my life was slowly leaving me, I couldn't help but think to think fondly of my past.

In the beginning, my life was bright, I had a loving family. A sweet mother, a strict but nice father, my twin brother that acted like a jerk, and my cute little sister.

I was born in 18 after the Re Synchronization or 17 BBY in the new calendar used by the rebels, to say 2 years after the Great Jedi Purge.

My mother's name was Vizia, she was a tall woman, really beautiful, funny and caring, she sometimes showed us trick with the force, like the jedis, but we couldn't do it like her. She said that she was gifted with the force because she was a Vahla.

My father was a human, proud and strong, one of the few who fought actively during the clone wars. He may have been rough, but it was in our best interest.

They met each other during the clone wars, my father was protecting someone important and my mother was among the mercenaries hired as a backup.

I remember playing to the Jedis and the Siths using sticks as lightsabers with my brother and sister as we were kids. To us, Jedi were heroes of fairy tales, the allies of justice who saved everyone and fight evil all across the galaxy.

We lived on a backward planet where the most technologically advanced thing was the speeder, the blaster of my father and the rare spaceship traveling in the air as they were coming in and out of the planet.

Everything outside of our planet was to me legends, myth or child stories.

The travelers were few and our father rarely let us going in the villages, our house was built some distance away and hidden. Our parents were always worried that someone from what they called the Empire came here.

With my siblings, we often imagined how was the universe out there but our father said that living here was a paradise, out there was the Empire he talks so often. Those leading the Empire were monsters when he talked about them.

He told us it was them that killed the Jedis that we loved incarnating in our plays and that they rule with tyranny and cruelty, no one can resist them or they would die.

As a living our parents were cultivating a pink plant called Nysillin used in medical treatments, apparently, it was pretty rare, so our plantation was tiny but the sales were good. When we weren't playing around, we helped our parents at the plantation.

Our life was perfect and peaceful, but this peace was broken when I was Eight, three huge spaceships appeared in the sky. Later, I would later these ships were Venator-class cruiser.

I still remember my parents crying when they saw these huge ships appearing. Stormtroopers soon filled the streets of the villages and made announcements, our planet was reclaimed by the Empire, we were now under their protection.

I don't know the meaning they give to the word protection, but it must differ from mine, soon after their arrival, it was several slavers ships that appeared, but slaver and the Empire are birds of the same feather.

The slavers took all the women, strong men and children in their ships, killing the elderly, crippled or those who tried to resist them. The Karazak Slaver's Guild is a famous slavers guild approved by the Empire existing since the Old Republic and were known to kidnap whole villages or ship at once, or even kidnapping and enslaving specific individuals to use it in a blackmailing purpose.

It was in this way that I became a slave at eight years old. They separated us, my mother was taken with my little sister, and I was in the same cage as my twin brother, as for my father he fought back and tried to protect us, and killed a slaver that tried to **** my mother, so he died.

The period after these events is among the darkest of my life, living in captivity was horrible we were malnourished and had barely any clothes to cover ourselves. I was kept in the same cell as my brother and some child of other races. I recognized none of these races except for one of the girls, she was a Togruta.

The cells were tiny, dusty and dark and we could hear the other slaves howling, those were the new ones, after some days, they would shut up and despair, and if they did not, they would be tortured until they shut up.

I and my twin brother were luckier than most, we weren't raped as it matters for these bastards to have a virgin pair. The selling price would be higher.

The slave market on Orvax IV was a noisy place, and a peculiar one, one of the few places where you can meet rich merchants, nobles, criminals and even the worst bastards of our galaxy being all friendly with each other.

After a heated auction where those bastards were selling people like livestock, we were sold for more than 150.000 credits, you heard right, two children were sold for a price which with you could buy a new corellians ships.

After this, we lived with our new master, a male Anzat with a bad temper, from the servants whisper in the mansion, he was apparently more than 700 years old.

To us, this was a new environment, we didn't know the name of the planet but the jungle was extending as far as I could see, unknown birds were flying in the sky.

I and my brother's job was to take care of the garden, and at night become the plaything of this asshole if he called us to play in his pervert games.

The first night that we were summoned to his bedroom, as that fucker was preparing himself to **** us, my brother broke down, he couldn't endure it and bite with all the strength he could muster, trying to rip off that fucker cock.

That old asshole cried so much, his voice became so high pitched, I thought he would break the glasses. It made me laugh so much, it was so pleasant to see him suffer.

Maybe it was the last time I laughed, he beat us up black and blue, the pain was horrible but it was worth it to see him suffer.

Finally, guards entered the room and were locked in cells. We didn't eat for three days straight and lights were on the whole time to keep us of sleep. So, we talked, the main subject being what would be the punishment, knowing that man temperament we would surely be tortured.

After the third day, guards led us to the basement were several hundred tools I've never seen before were arranged, the blood on them was giving me a bad vibe. Every cell in my brain was screaming me to run, but I couldn't, I was a kid and I was unharmed.

After that our days of torture begun, we were drowned, burned, electrocuted, and suffered the worst kind of abuses.

My right arm was cut off, and after a stupid attempt to rebel, they gouged out my left eye. The process was horribly painful. These fuckers were playing with us, making sure to not kill us by accident. Their goal was to make it last longs and give a good show to that ball-less bastard.

I barely kept my mind steady, my brother, on the other hand, became totally crazy, his eyes were empty and I couldn't even recognize him.

I became mad when I saw my brother in this state but couldn't do anything. Several days later, as they branded us with red iron, my brother sends a powerful headbutt toward a sharp tool laying on the wall, thus ending his own life.

When I saw this something snapped, my anger, my hatred, my despair became raw power and something was powerfully emitted out of my body.

Thus, I awaken to the Force.

All of my tormentors were sent flying with unimaginable strength and collided with the wall. The impact made them groggy, I caught the key laying on the floor and free myself from the handcuffs. I ran and caught a blaster at a guard waist and shot them one by one. They all had a blaster hole in the head except for the master.

Him, he had several dozens, I shot and shot again, until my rational mind finally takes over my hatred.

Looking at the lifeless body of my brother, my tears flowed again. I was now alone, the chance to find the other members of my family were slim, the area to rummage was huge, and I was just a boy.

Searching the bodies, I took another blaster several hundred credit and a dagger I strapped at my belt. No one was allowed to come in the torture room except the master and some of his guards, and they are now all dead laying on the floor.

I didn't know what to do, a crippled eight years old boy had to escape the mansion while avoiding the servants and dozens of guards.

" Sorry brother, I can't even give you a proper burial."

Heading toward the stairs leading upward, I crouch down and tried to be as stealthy as I could.

There were around 30 guards in total on the domain, five now lay dead in the basement, ten are usually patrolling around the mansion, which left 15 guards in the mansion.

I couldn't plan a revolt, slaves were few in the mansions, less than ten and all of them were like me, kids.

Skimming discreetly the corridors, I headed toward the landing platform, where the master's ship was. I didn't know how to pilot, but I had to leave, even if I crash later on.

After two years of living in this mansion, I knew the layout like the back of my hand, I made it halfway to the shuttle when a guard saw me out of the basement and with a blaster in hand.

My first reflex wasn't to run or something else, it was to shoot him until he falls dead. I was safe for a short moment, the blaster shots echoed in the huge mansion. I had to run fast.

Running in the corridors, I had a bit more than 500 meters left to reach the ship.

Everything I saw moving, I shot at it, even if most of my shots ended either on the floor or the walls, destroying several costly antiquities that the master loved so much.

I was running at full speed, my only able arm behind me holding a blaster shooting at my pursuers.

As I was nearing the door to the platform, it opened and two armed guards opened fire at me. Instinctively, I jumped behind a statue, blaster shots were reducing it to pieces bit by bit.

Leaning to the side to see these guards, I saw blaster bolts coming toward me, reducing my protection even more.

Aiming at the only one I could see, the one across me, I shot at him several times before succeeding at shooting him in the head.

The other one was still alive, and I could hear loud sounds of peoples running in my direction.

Leaving the rumbles left of my hiding spot, I ran toward him, it was do or die. After killing their master, they would surely have killed me, a cripple child doesn't have any worth at the slave market.

Maybe the man was surprised or I was lucky, I killed him with a shot of my blaster at the stomach before he could shoot at me.

Running past their dead bodies, I touched the panel and opened the door.

In the middle of the platform was a spaceship, a Peregrine-class Star Yacht, pretty sure this ship is the most luxurious I ever piloted to this day.

Truly a waste that I crashed it after a 5 minutes flight.

After boarding the ship, I ran toward the cockpit, and here I saw several tens levers and buttons I ignored the use, and blaster sounds echoed from the now-closed ramp.

The sound of blaster bolts hitting the metal ramp echoed again and again at a fast rhythm.

Hurried by the sounds, my stress reached his peak, so I tried everything, and finally, after pushing a button the reactors lit up but I wasn't flying and once I pushed a lever downward, the reactor gave more powerful and I felt the ship move.

The ship didn't take off the ground, he went forward and fell from the platform with a young terrified me inside.

I caught the yoke and pulled with all my strength, and finally, the ship started flying in the air.

" I'm free, finally, I'm free!!" I remember how joyful I felt at this moment, but sadness came soon after as I remembered my lost family and dead brother.

The flight was short-lived, barely 5 minutes after taking off the ground, I was shot down by a rocket launched from the ground.

The crash was violent, I was unconscious when a group of bandits hiding in the jungle intrude the ship and took me as a prisoner.

I awoke the next day with a concussion and pain everywhere but I was used to it after the daily tortures.

In my misfortune, I was lucky as most of these bandits were slaves who escaped their masters and became bandits later on.

As a fellow slave and with all the stigma of tortures I had on my body, I sympathized with them.

They gave me a mechanical arm and food, they treated me as one of them.

I lived with them for 3 years, my role was to be the diversion or to steal some target, with time and experience, I became a gifted pickpocket.

I didn't have a teacher or mentor to teach me how to use the Force, but with time and tries, I learned some useful things.

I learned mechanic from another bandit, to take care of my mechanical arm by myself.

I learned to fix ships and droids, even to build some. Well, most of the time it was how to rewrite their programs or stole information. I became even better than my teacher it was interesting to learn.

With them, I visited a lot of worlds, learned how to fight, steal, disappear, to be a good liar. Life became a bit brighter, but once again, the Empire destroyed it.

At night, as I was watching over our encampments, I saw a red light appear, illuminating a black mechanical abomination.

With a raised hand, stormtroopers in their white armor raided our camp.

It was a bloodbath, most of us were sleeping, we were taken by surprise and were outnumbered. Soon, the night was illuminated by red laser bolts shots by the troopers.

We tried to counter-attack but that man in black armor swung his lightsaber and sent back our blaster bolt at us.

When I saw this, I knew what I had in front of me was a Sith. The monster in our games, the evil that jedis should slay.

Even now, I remember his horrible breathing sound that gave me nightmares during years. The nightmare of all the galaxy, Darth Vader.

The few things we tried to use as protection were raised in the air and used to reduced us into meat paste. I saw him decapitate my friends, cutting their bodies in half or simply strangling them using the force.

He was impressive, terrifying and extremely powerful. The man who was responsible for the Jedi's hunt was a monster.

I did what was rationally right, I let those I considered as friends die as I run into the dense forest to hide. I didn't look behind me even once, I was far too terrified.

I ran, ran and ran on my short child legs. The surroundings were zooming, I heard the sounds of my hurried race and of my pursuers.

After a short time, I was exhausted, the stress and the fatigue of running through the forest in the dark night lighten only by the two moons in the sky drained me of my stamina.

I couldn't continue to run and rain started to fall from the sky, so I hide in a bush. What came after me were three stormtroopers. They lost sight of me and started to search for traces.

Soon, the few droplets became a heavy rain, and apparently searching all night for a powerless kid in the middle of the night and under the rain wasn't their goal."

"Let's go back, the life of a kid is of no importance to us. I don't want to be late to board the ship, you know how Vader punishes those who annoy him."

"Yeah, he strangles them in the air. Last time I had to take care of the dead body of an old friend he killed before me."

I heard them talking from where I was hiding, on a mound covered in mud and bushes.

(Vader) now, I knew his name. The name of this monster. In fact, I knew it already but I thought it was just propaganda of the Empire and the was just a legend, a symbol.

They left, but I stayed in the forest too afraid to go back to the encampment. I found a shelter from the rain and passed the night shivering while holding my sides with my arms.

The next morning, I discreetly made my way back to the camp.

What I found were dozens of dead bodies and fuming ruins. Checking the pulses of my friends, I found no survivors.

After this, I had a lot of odds jobs while being a thief in the sidelines.

For a time, I even worked in a small-time cantina on Tatooine, the life of a barman wasn't worth much and every day ended with a brawl, but listening to the client's conversations, I learned a few interesting things for my new career or bounty hunter.

I started at 15 years old, I had my face hidden by with a helmet of Mandalorian design, wore a black armor you can buy anywhere and two blasters.

I did this not only to win more money and live a more comfortable life but also to not become rusty and improve my fighting skills.

I was pretty good, not someone incredible like Boba Fett that can be all friendly with Darth Vader, but I was not bad.

I never worked for the Empire, my hatred for them couldn't be erased.

I wasn't really someone worthy of trust, I had the bad habit to steal my clients. Well, maybe I liked the money too much.

During a mission, I ran into some trouble with the Empire troopers, I had to kill a few, after that the Empire put a bounty on my head.

With a bounty on my head, I couldn't visit the places I used to, my bounty wasn't impressive, but no one refuses easy money.

In order to compensate for the loss of the credits I used to win as a bounty hunter, I became a full-time thief, a daring one.

For my first job as a full-time thief, I stole a ship, more precisely a Pelta-class frigate, a medical ship for a group of rebels at the hand of the Empire.

At the time, it wasn't called the Rebel Alliance, it was just several disparate groups, and Galen Marek didn't betray Vader yet. It would happen several months later.

Two birds with one stone, on one hand, I got credits and in the other, I contribute to putting a thorn in the side of the Empire.

My collaboration with the rebels was occasional, I was a money-grubber and made them wince more than once. The relationship with them wasn't perfect but it helped me, sometimes I launched raids on the slaves' market and freed the slaves, it was at these moments that knowing them came into a handy. A part of the slaves joined them to avenge themselves of the Empires, but most of them gone into hiding somewhere.

My favorite job was the data theft, go in, kill some stormtroopers that don't know how to aim, steal the data and go out. A pretty easy job, except when some unforeseen events happen.

I remember one time, I was leaving the base I intruded upon when I saw Vader TIE Interceptor landing in a platform.

I rushed to my shuttle to flee, ever since the raid at the bandit's camp, this guy gave me goosebumps.

But my evasion wasn't smooth, they were pursuing me, even Vader Interceptor was behind me trying to shoot me down. I'm not boastful, but when I pilot a ship or even a speeder, I'm one of the best, it's like I am one with the machine, sometimes I felt it with the Force.

Nonetheless, it didn't change the fact that Vader is one hell of a pilot, after several minutes and looping, I shot down all his backup, but he was still behind me, but I couldn't succeed in trying to shoot him down.

He, on the other hand, landed several shots, my shuttle didn't explode it was a heavily modified one but it showed several deficiencies. Therefore, I fled through hyperspace.

Fortunately, I had a good Astromech droid, with a fight of this intensity, I wouldn't have time to set the coordinates.

As I relaxed after the fight, problems appeared, my hyperdrive seems to be impacted, the ship was forced out of hyperspace, but by a fluke of luck, I wasn't lost in space, a planet mostly covered in green forests appeared in sight. I tried to avoid the crash and keep the ship in one piece. Finally, after a forced landing, the ship was still complete but suffered several damages.

There was something strange with this world, it was as if the world itself was alive, at someplace it looked like a paradise and to other places it was a green hell.

The environment was strange, a lot of bizarre plants such as spike, spore, and enormous pitcher plants either blue or orange, I could also see some animals which were rubber-like and translucent.

When the sun shone, the environment glittered with multicolored highlights. It was entirely covered by a humid, fetid landscape of huge fungal forests.

Exiting the ship, I saw it took a few damages and impacts during the fight, but I should have been able to fix it for one last flight.

The world featured a hot and humid atmosphere and a significant water point. I won't die of thirst, a chance, because the reparations would take some time.

Plant, fungal, and animal life dominated the environment and I could feel the Force permeating in the ecosystem. Not only that there was something else, underground.

Lowering myself, I put a hand on the ground to feel what was this strange sensation.

A raspy voice echoed around me, but I couldn't locate it.

" I would avoid stimulating it if I were you, young one."

Taking my blasters out of the holsters I turned around but could see nothing except plants and bugs everywhere.

" Don't worry, I mean you no harm." The raspy voice spoked again.

" Why don't you stop hiding so I can check myself?"

" I hope you won't be afraid of my appearance; it would be tough for me." As the voice spoke again, I heard footsteps behind me.

What came out of the shadow of the jungle was an adult female Togruta, her skin was strange, between a beautiful red and stone gray. From the way she walked and her look, she seemed extremely sick or even at death's door.

She was wearing as what could be described as tribal clothes, barely covering her body and accentuating her curves, it could have been beautiful, but now it only showed how much her illness impacted her body.

" I'm Layan Vaherg. Can I know to whom I'm talking?"

" Jedi Master Shaak Ti." She said with a mischievous smile.

I was on my guard but still taken aback by her bold statement, in some places, no one asks questions when they hear the word Jedi, they shoot first.

" She's dead even the rebels said so." I was doubtful, she does look like the face I saw on the news, but she seemed old, but maybe it was due to her illness, even her montrals and lekku were the same.

" The news of my death may be slightly exaggerated." The sick Togruta said with a slight giggle that made her cough.