The war between the Empire and the Coalition is about to enter its bloodiest phase as 2227 will go down as the 'year of battles'. Meanwhile the Jedi Order keeps fighting a parallel war against the Sith and the Imperial Federation is entangled with a...
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October 7, 2227.
Another day had dawned on Lothal. Jaral had found herself waking on her own, getting breakfast ready for Darvos and Samira, and then walk out for a morning jog on the training ground, where she found Ezra and Luke already stretching.
"Can't sleep, boys?" she asked, halfway between a quip and an understanding tone.
Ezra pursed his lips and nodded, but didn't reply immediately. Luke instead only needed the time to find the courage to speak.
"I keep seeing...I keep seeing that fire. That incendiary bomb falling and engulfing thousands with its flame. I try to reach, but I can't do nothing."
"Would you like to tell us what happened?" Ezra kindly asked.
Luke had been silent since he had returned, but it wasn't surprising: even Jordan had little to no desire to speak about what happened during the battle of Sullust.
"The imperials were all around us. In the last moments of the fight, Jordan called in a Broken Arrow, but the operator at one point misspelled a number and that bomb fell on one of our positions." he took a pause to collect the strength that he clearly lacked at that moment, while the two Masters listened patiently and with the mixture of horror and comprehension of those who had already seen such scenes way more times that they wished for.
"I saw these bodies, dancing and screaming while covered in flames. There was this...young Private...Rennen Bermin from Raxus..." then tears started streaming down on his cheeks as he concluded with a broken voice. "Wife had a baby the day before...he died on the flight to the infirmary."
As Luke sniffed and rubbed his face with a hand, Ezra went and patted his shoulder to comfort him.
"It wasn't your fault, Luke." the Master said. "At least you don't have him on the conscience." he added grimly and then decided to share a story, too. "I...always think of an episode on Ringo Vinda, a month and a half ago. We were retreating, and the fight was chaotic. At one point I am fighting against a wave of imperials and even Morit Astarte. Then I feel a danger on the right and think it's the other twin, so I just thrust my lightsaber that way.
"Except it was just a trooper. I don't know why he was trying to charge me...but I stabbed him in the chest. I saw his face...I'm not even sure he was 18..."
He breathed and exhaled with his nose in a resigned way.
"You know...I didn't step down as Grand Marshall because I didn't feel fit for the job anymore." Jaral added, walking next to them. "I was also tired of ordering thousands of people to die every day."
After a brief silence, Luke eventually murmured "We need to end this war."
"We will." Ezra reassured. "We will make any effort to draw the Emperor out. And once we do, we'll make sure he stays dead."
