M A N D A L O R E

THE DAY THE STARS WEPT
"On that day, it was not warriors who paid the price. It was the innocent.
And for them...we became Monsters."
VEXIS STATION
Neutral Territory

There were better places in the Galaxy. Cleaner. Quieter. But Vexis Station had something they didn’t.
Positioned delicately between the Mandalorian Empire and the Diarchy, nestled along the fractured edge of an asteroid belt, the civilian outpost had long been a crossroads. Cargo ships refueled. Merchants made deals over caf. Families stretched their legs in artificial gravity. Travelers from both nations passed through daily, and for all the pride and history they carried, peace endured here longer than anyone had expected.
It wasn’t perfect. Pride has its own orbit. Mandalorians and Diarchy citizens alike brought their opinions with them. Words sometimes turned to fists. Fists sometimes turned to bruises. But the station’s walls held firm, patched with good intentions and economic necessity. No one really wanted war on Vexis. Not where they traded, not where they rested.
That was true...until today.
It started like so many days before it. A Diarchy preacher in a worn officer’s coat took to the center of a local eatery and raised her voice to anyone who would listen. She spoke of unity. Of peace. Of prosperity beneath their twin monarchs. She painted the Diarchy as the Galaxy’s guiding hand. A few heads turned. Most stayed fixed to their drinks. It was routine. It was tolerable.
Until it wasn’t.
Her finger swept toward a nearby table, toward warriors clad in the unmistakable hues of the Mandalorian Clans. Her words cut deeper this time. Taris, she said, had burned because of them. Taris, she claimed, was a tragedy born of Mandalorian incompetence. Under Diarchy leadership, such carnage would never have occurred. It was barbarism, she said. The Mandalorians were the problem.
What followed was not unexpected. Chairs scraped. Voices rose. Pride flared hot in the throats of those who had buried brothers beneath the rubble of Taris. They had fought through the Gravesong. They had watched cities fall and refused to let the dead have the last word. The preacher knew nothing of that hell, and so her condemnation felt like a desecration. Insults were hurled. Cups flew. It was not the first fight this station had seen, and by all accounts, it should have ended the same as the others.
But this time, someone reached for their blaster. No one knows who pulled first. Not truly. Maybe it was the preacher herself. Maybe it was one of the Mandalorians. Maybe a bodyguard, a hothead, or a bystander. The bolt flew, and in the next heartbeat, the eatery was consumed in fire and confusion. Tables shattered. Civilians scrambled. Shouts turned to screams.
And when the dust settled, the real horror began.
The first to be found was a toddler, her body slumped beside a weeping mother who had only stepped away for a moment. The child had been waiting outside with her, oblivious to the storm inside. She had come to the station with her father, a Mandalorian who had needed a break from the stars. Now? His world was broken.
Not far away lay another child, no older than five, clutching the remains of a toy starfighter. He had wandered near with his father, unaware of the danger beyond the eatery doors. His mother, the preacher, had just left them to buy toys whilst she gave her speech. Now? Her world was destroyed.
Two children. Neither armed. Neither warned. Neither given a choice. One was Mandalorian. One was Diarchy. Both were gone.
What followed was no longer a matter of patriotism or political pride. It was grief. Raw, roaring, and uncontrollable. Blasters were raised once more. This time not in warning, not in self-defense, but in vengeance. The fight consumed the station. Calls for aid echoed across every comm channel. Mandalorians cried out for justice, for brothers and sisters to rally against those who had taken one of their own. The Diarchy responded in kind, calling for loyalists to strike down the butchers of their future.
And so Vexis Station, once a beacon of balance, now trembled under the weight of war. The stars outside did not change. They still burned. They still spun. But something in them seemed different now. Dimmer. More distant...
Positioned delicately between the Mandalorian Empire and the Diarchy, nestled along the fractured edge of an asteroid belt, the civilian outpost had long been a crossroads. Cargo ships refueled. Merchants made deals over caf. Families stretched their legs in artificial gravity. Travelers from both nations passed through daily, and for all the pride and history they carried, peace endured here longer than anyone had expected.
It wasn’t perfect. Pride has its own orbit. Mandalorians and Diarchy citizens alike brought their opinions with them. Words sometimes turned to fists. Fists sometimes turned to bruises. But the station’s walls held firm, patched with good intentions and economic necessity. No one really wanted war on Vexis. Not where they traded, not where they rested.
That was true...until today.
It started like so many days before it. A Diarchy preacher in a worn officer’s coat took to the center of a local eatery and raised her voice to anyone who would listen. She spoke of unity. Of peace. Of prosperity beneath their twin monarchs. She painted the Diarchy as the Galaxy’s guiding hand. A few heads turned. Most stayed fixed to their drinks. It was routine. It was tolerable.
Until it wasn’t.
Her finger swept toward a nearby table, toward warriors clad in the unmistakable hues of the Mandalorian Clans. Her words cut deeper this time. Taris, she said, had burned because of them. Taris, she claimed, was a tragedy born of Mandalorian incompetence. Under Diarchy leadership, such carnage would never have occurred. It was barbarism, she said. The Mandalorians were the problem.
What followed was not unexpected. Chairs scraped. Voices rose. Pride flared hot in the throats of those who had buried brothers beneath the rubble of Taris. They had fought through the Gravesong. They had watched cities fall and refused to let the dead have the last word. The preacher knew nothing of that hell, and so her condemnation felt like a desecration. Insults were hurled. Cups flew. It was not the first fight this station had seen, and by all accounts, it should have ended the same as the others.
But this time, someone reached for their blaster. No one knows who pulled first. Not truly. Maybe it was the preacher herself. Maybe it was one of the Mandalorians. Maybe a bodyguard, a hothead, or a bystander. The bolt flew, and in the next heartbeat, the eatery was consumed in fire and confusion. Tables shattered. Civilians scrambled. Shouts turned to screams.
And when the dust settled, the real horror began.
The first to be found was a toddler, her body slumped beside a weeping mother who had only stepped away for a moment. The child had been waiting outside with her, oblivious to the storm inside. She had come to the station with her father, a Mandalorian who had needed a break from the stars. Now? His world was broken.
Not far away lay another child, no older than five, clutching the remains of a toy starfighter. He had wandered near with his father, unaware of the danger beyond the eatery doors. His mother, the preacher, had just left them to buy toys whilst she gave her speech. Now? Her world was destroyed.
Two children. Neither armed. Neither warned. Neither given a choice. One was Mandalorian. One was Diarchy. Both were gone.
What followed was no longer a matter of patriotism or political pride. It was grief. Raw, roaring, and uncontrollable. Blasters were raised once more. This time not in warning, not in self-defense, but in vengeance. The fight consumed the station. Calls for aid echoed across every comm channel. Mandalorians cried out for justice, for brothers and sisters to rally against those who had taken one of their own. The Diarchy responded in kind, calling for loyalists to strike down the butchers of their future.
And so Vexis Station, once a beacon of balance, now trembled under the weight of war. The stars outside did not change. They still burned. They still spun. But something in them seemed different now. Dimmer. More distant...
They say the stars wept that day.
Where will YOU stand?
Where will YOU stand?














@Viera
























































































@Varuun Rekaal







