Songbird
The Phantoms Yet Live
Your pretty empire took so long to build. . .
. . .now, with a snap of history's fingers. . .
. . .down it goes.
Who am I?
Such a question is not so easily answered. In a century, will I be the hero, praised as the messiah of the downtrodden? Or will I be the monster, the one mother's scare their children with to get them to behave?
I care not. I am the bane of oppression, the terror of tyrants.
I am Judgement.
I was born in 805 ABY, on a world of little consequence in the Republic, where the rich ruled, and the poor were dirt in comparison. My father worked his fingers to the bone to bring just enough food for my mother, my siblings, and I. Our neighborhood was a hellhole, with corpses filling the streets every week, only for the corrupt authorities to take them away to be disposed of. And if anyone gave those authorities or their noble masters trouble?
They joined those corpses.
And that's exactly what happened to my father. When the guard demanded their usual 'protection guarantee', and he couldn't oblige, they dragged him off to one of their 'prisons'.
I never saw him again.
After that, I did the only thing I could: I joined the Republic military. However, I found out that I wasn't meant to be just another grunt; I was meant for something more. Republic Intelligence picked me up fairly quickly, and my life changed forever.
They trained me in stealth, and taught me a dozen ways to kill someone with my bare hands, and even more with a blade. They then had me do the Republic's dirty work for years, putting my skills to the test.
I did horrible things in the name of justice, of patriotism, of liberty; terms I now realize are useless, and have no place in this cruel galaxy.
I killed men, women, children, all for the noble Republic. The terrified look on their faces as I plunged my blade into them haunts my sleep, tearing me apart from the inside.
While on a mission, I discovered something about myself I never expected. My target was a disgustingly corrupt man, one that had oppressed the people of my homeworld. When I stared at his sniveling form, something rose within me. In that moment, I became one with the darkness that took hold of my soul, and I killed him without ever touching him, with the Force.
I decided that such a thing was something my superiors didn't need to know, and buried that secret inside of me.
And when the Republic decided that I was no longer of any use, they locked me up, and threw away the key. No one could know the things I had done for them, the blood I had spilled for them.
But they did not know about the dark.
Once more, I called upon the darkness inside of me, and with it, I broke out of my cell, and slaughtered my way to freedom. Once more, my hands were stained with blood.
Now, I am sworn to atone for the innocent blood on my hands. Now, I am sworn to avenge their deaths, to ensure that the tyrants that ordered them to die see what amounts to justice in the end.
For I am the bane of oppression, the terror of tyrants.
I am Death.
I AM JUDGEMENT.
