Dedicated to Xeno-Hollow

     Mandalorian Jedi Kyra Kryze-Kenobi ran out of the command center and headed straight for the Ghost, ignoring or maneuvering around every personnel member who tried to stop her. She raced through Captain Hera Syndulla's ship and boarded the Phantom II, rapidly preparing the shuttle for takeoff as she blinked away the tears that threatened to blind her. When she heard the blast door opening behind her, she swiveled in her chair, ready to fight anyone who tried to prevent her from leaving. Instead, she found Alexsandr Kallus settling into the co-pilot's chair and Captain Rex strapping into one of the fold-down seats.

     "I can't ask you to do this," Kyra said quietly as she stared out the viewport and avoided their eyes.

     Rex scoffed, "You and I have been through hell and high water, kid. I'm going with you."

     "As am I," Kallus agreed, and Kyra knew their minds were made up.

     She took a deep breath and nodded as the Phantom II pulled away from the Ghost and flew up through Yavin 4's atmosphere, Kyra's hands shaking as she made the jump to lightspeed. When they emerged from hyperspace, Kyra's breath caught in her throat, her homeworld unrecognizable in the wake of the Empire's destruction. The rebels did not have to worry about being detected by the Imperials for they had already left, Mandalore no longer of any use to them. Kyra tried to lift her hand and pilot the shuttle, but she sat immobile. Frozen in place by the debilitating emotions imprisoning her heart.

     "Are you sure?" Alex asked quietly, and when she managed a nod, he took over the controls.

     Kallus flew the Phantom II through the thick plumes of smoke that blocked out the sun and concealed a large amount of the damage inflicted upon Mandalore. So soon ago had the merciless Empire laid waste to her home that the planet still burned and buildings continued to collapse as the rebels flew overhead. Some of the cities had imploded and fallen into the Undercity below while others remained on the surface, the charred and crumbling skyscrapers a ghost of what they had once been. Others still had been razed, wiped from the face of Mandalore by the Empire, the blackened and smoldering ground serving as the only indication that anything had been there in the first place.

     Suddenly, Sundari appeared before them, half of the once-dazzling capital city having fallen beneath the surface, the glass dome shattered and its metal beams wilting from the heat of the flames. After Kallus had set the Phantom II down near the city limits of Sundari, Kyra slowly got to her feet and opened the ramp, hesitating on the threshold as she stared out at her ruined world. Kallus's fingers entwined with Kyra's as Rex placed a hand on her shoulder. Kyra's breath shook as she removed her helmet, tucking it in the crook of her arm before finally walking down the ramp. The planet's surface, which had once been graced with a plethora of wildlife before being turned to sand, was now hard and tinged a dark green color.

     After a few steps, Kyra fell to her knees and set her helmet on the ground as she placed her hands palm-down on the surface of her ruined world. When she closed her eyes, the story of Mandalore's downfall was laid out before her:

     The Empire evacuated all personnel from the city as a fleet of Imperial Star Destroyers emerged from hyperspace. TIE bombers were launched and sent to the doomed planet below, descending so quickly that Kyra's people did not have time to escape. The Imperial bombers laid waste to Mandalore's glistening cities twice over, their fusion bombs crystalizing the planet's surface and disrupting its magnetic fields. When the TIE bombers returned to their designated Star Destroyers, KX-series security droids, Viper-series probe droids, and gunships equipped with heavy repeating ion cannons slaughtered the few Mandalorians who had survived the bombings.

     After the near-total genocide of the Mandalorian people, which had been broadcast throughout the galaxy, the Empire harvested the beskar from their dead bodies as spoils of their victory. While the cities continued to burn, while the dead – who had perished trying to defend their home – lay where they fell, the Empire retreated, drunk with power and certain of their invincibility.

     Kyra opened her eyes and drew her knees up to her chest, burying her face in her hands as she sobbed, her shoulders shaking. Eventually, the debilitating sobs subsided, the tears stopping not because her internal well had dried up, but because she was too tired to continue pulling from its depths. From shock came anguish, and from anguish rose the heat of righteous indignation. Feeling as though she were carrying Mandalore on her shoulders, Kyra got to her knees and then her feet, hoping an Imperial vessel would return to the planet so she could destroy it. As if conjured through sheer willpower, the familiar whine of an Imperial starfighter grew closer.

     As an LAAT patrol gunship took off behind the rebels and raced towards the atmosphere, Kyra ran after it, arms pumping as she sprinted across the now uneven and unfamiliar terrain of her homeworld. When the gunship spotted her and turned around to open fire, she reached out to the Force, breathing hard as she slowly clenched her fist. As she slowly closed her hand, the gunship's metal frame began to groan, its supports buckling as the structure folded in on itself. She crushed the gunship as if it were nothing more than a carton of blue milk, releasing her rage and heartache in a wordless cry that reverberated off the abandoned buildings in the distance.

     From her scream came a concussive blast that cracked the crystallized ground beneath her and sent the gunship spiraling to the Undercity below, her relationship with the Force allowing her to physically release her pain and misery. Kyra stared at the capital city as the echo of her cry faded, the steel mausoleums in the distance making up one of the many graveyards that now populated Mandalore. Her gaze lowered to the hole at her feet through which the gunship had disappeared, and after a moment, her internal well overflowed and the tears came once more. She backed away from the gap and turned to find both Rex and Alex standing behind her, their expressions a mixture of the anger she felt and the sympathy they felt for her and her people.

     Kyra suddenly found herself on the ground, enveloped in the arms of her brother and the ex-Imperial she had come to love, despite their opposing pasts.

     When Kyra finally managed to catch her breath, she said, "I should've been with my people. M-maybe I could have—"

     "There's nothing you could've done," Kallus replied quietly. "You would have been killed along with the rest of them. Your place is with the Rebellion. You can prevent the Empire from inflicting this pain on another system, save other people from the suffering your people went through."

     "You could've easily stayed after your mission to rescue Sabine's father, but you didn't, and I don't believe in coincidences," Rex added. "The Force guided you back to where you were needed. To where you could continue to resist the Empire and avenge your people. If you'd been here, who would fight in the name of Mandalore?"

     "I survived the Purge of the Jedi, and now, the Purge of Mandalore. But why?" Kyra asked. "Why me? Why should I live when millions of others have died?"

     Captain Rex chuckled, "Well, as you Jedi always say, the Force works in mysterious ways. You're not just a survivor, Kyra, you're a warrior, a fighter. And a damn good one at that. You're the first one in and the last one out, no matter the odds. You never think about what might happen to you, which is why you've saved so many lives. You're a hero, whether you like it or not."

     "You were meant to survive, Kyra," Alexsandr Kallus agreed. "In seventeen years, you've helped build a rebellion that, I believe, will be able to bring down an empire that's brought pain and torment to a vast number of systems. You've already helped an uncountable number of people, but there are so many more who need your help, Kyra. Who need you. That's why you were spared."

     Kyra considered their words for a moment, taking a shaky breath as she wiped away her tears with the back of her hand. As she got to her feet, she reached out to the Force and tried to detect her aunt's presence, hoping that her last living relative had survived the massacre. When she was unable to sense Bo-Katan Kryze's life force, Kyra squeezed her eyes shut before placing a closed fist over her heart and bowing her head.

     "May the Force be with you," Kyra Kryze-Kenobi whispered, sighing as her words were carried off in the wind.