SW: Coming Home

The planet Da'hren had never been strategically important. It wasn't even a planet technically but rather a moon of the gas giant J'hen with few resources and most of its surface covered in desert. It did little more than serve as a place of habitation for a failed mining colony now long abandoned. However despite this it had not gone without notice and the Galactic Empire maintained a token garrison force simply to maintain their grip. During the Clone Wars a pitched battle had been fought in orbit of Da'hren between the Republic and Separatists and the shattered hulls of ships littered parts of the planet's surface providing valuable scrap which helped fuel the local economy which was otherwise non-existent.
Still, Da'hren was home to many, and Yana had called the planet's main settlement such for most of her life. She ran a foster home for orphaned children which the Imperial garrison was too busy doing nothing to bother with. They didn't even try to extort 'protection' money from her, not that she had much to give them in the first place. She walked through the market with her small brood of children flowing around her like a school of exotic fish. Looking up the street, Yana could see the Governor's Palace looming over the low structures of the town. The fortress-like structure that the Imperial administrator had built for himself with the money he embezzled from the local tax collection.
Sometimes she wished someone would just come and wipe it off the planet, more than the Imperial garrison she felt that it was a blemish on poor Da'hren's already battered surface. But things were as they were and there was no force in the galaxy that could change it. She was paying for the food she'd just selected when Sasha—a little togruta girl who had come to Yana only recently—tugged on her sleeve.
“What is it dear?” Yana asked looking down at Sasha.
Sasha—who rarely spoke—pointed upwards towards the sky.
Yana frowned and looked upwards, her heart falling out of her chest as the distinctive wedge shape of a star destroyer loomed overhead. Then it was joined by other ships that were very obviously not Imperial which seemed to close in around it.
“Oh no,” she murmured, hurriedly paying for the food and ushering her charges down the street. “Everyone to the house, hurry!”
She looked up overhead at the gathering ships, wondering when the fighting would start and dreading what it might mean for the planet and her children.

Commander Quinn Shara looked down at her homeworld quietly from the bridge of the star destroyer Dream Eater. She wasn't supposed to be here. Her orders were to hunt down Inquisitor Galgriev and his super star destroyer Nightmare, not liberate backwater worlds from the Empire. However her orders did not strictly say she was not to liberate those same worlds should the opportunity arise. Well that opportunity had arisen and from the looks of it Da'hren was just as undefended now as it had been when she'd been growing up here.
“What is that?” she asked as she looked at the screen before her, showing an image of a small fortress in the center of Da'hren's main settlement.
“It appears to be the seat of the local Imperial government given the coms traffic we are intercepting.”
Quinn glared at the sharp angles of the Imperial structure. That hadn't been there when she'd left over a decade ago. The Imperials had spent their credits on that monstrosity instead of helping the local population.
“Level it.” she ordered.
The captain of the Death Eater turned his hammer-head towards her.
“Without asking them to surrender?”
“We'll ask the garrison to surrender,” Quinn replied. “I want that structure gone.”
The captain nodded, turning to his weapons officer and speaking in his deep stereo voice.
“Target the Imperial administration building and fire, precision shots only.”

The ground shook as turbolaser fire roared in from high orbit and slammed into the city. The children with Yana shrieked in fear as she urged them inside.
“Down into the basement!” she ordered, looking back towards the site where the shots had come in.
She'd expected to see the city burning, but instead all she saw was smoke rising from the spot where the governor's building had been. She frowned in confusion, looking up towards the star destroyer and what she assumed were Rebel starships. Why weren't they firing on one another? For that matter, who had leveled the Governor's Palace?

“The garrison is asking to surrender.” the Dream Eater's captain said with the ithorian equivalent of a chuckle as he added. “Their exact words were 'we aren't dying for that bastard.'”
Quinn snorted. “Send down troops to take charge of the garrison base, ensure we contact whatever civil leaders we can and turn over the bases to them.”
“And the weapons?”
“We leave them here, we don't need them...they're probably outdated anyways.”
“A few years ago that wouldn't have mattered,” the ithorian said.
Quinn shrugged. “Times are changing. I'll be going down to the surface, you have command until I return.”

Yana waited for more shots to rain down from the sky but none came and no Imperial fighters swarmed up to meet the transports that descended from the ships in orbit. The entire thing seemed to be over with before it even began. The only shots fired were those that had flattened the Governor's Palace, the rest of the Imperial forces seemed to have given up without a fight which was just fine by her. She didn't like the Empire, but she didn't want a pitched battle being fought here, not with her children to think about.
She waited for some time to see what would happen once the transports were planetside but still no combat began that she could see or hear. As she watched, three figures came around the corner. She looked besides her at the old blaster rifle she kept. It was a Clone Wars era design, but worked just fine. She'd never had to fire it in anger but seeing the armored figure walking with the trio sent a chill down her spine. She may have spent her life on Da'hren, but she knew a mandalorian when she saw one.
She examined the mandalorian's companions and her misgivings turned to confusion. Beside the mandalorian was a young girl who couldn't be out of her teens yet with blue skin, red eyes and black hair and the woman walking on the other side of the girl was...Yana's heart stopped.

“I wish you weren't wearing that armor.” Quinn remarked as she shot a glare at Jaeriel.
Jaeriel shrugged in her black and green armor. “Sue me, we just took an Imperial held world, you can walk around in the open all you like but I'm keeping my armor on.”
Quinn sighed in exasperation. She'd wanted to show Orchid and Jaeriel her home but Jaeriel was being insufferable about it and way too paranoid. This was Da'hren, the worst they had to worry about here were muggers. No major crime syndicates had ever come here that she knew of and the Imperials had surrendered without firing a shot. It was a good day and Jaeriel was souring it. She looked ahead ot the house where she'd spent so much of her childhood.
It hadn't changed much, the three story structure looked like it had been repainted since Quinn had left. The garage where Yana kept her speeder was still besides it. Memories of Quinn's days of scavenging in the wastes only to return late at night on her speeder bike came to mind and Quinn felt her throat constricting at the memory of coming home to a warm meal and Yana fussing over her hair. Looking back, Quinn had the feeling that she'd left something that most kids—kids like Orchid—would have killed for. When she'd been here, she couldn't wait to escape. It hadn't been until the day Isabelle took her away that she'd realized how much she was going to miss home.
The door opened as they approached, and in the doorway stood a familiar face that stopped Quinn in her tracks.
“Quinn?” Yana murmured in amazement.
Quinn looked at her foster mother, trying to speak but finding that words failed her. Yana had aged—Quinn realized now that she'd expected Yana to be unchanged—she had more wrinkles across her features than Quinn remembered but looking into her eyes Quinn saw the same strong warmth that she remembered.
“Hi mom,” she finally managed. “I'm back.”
Yana didn't say anything as she rushed forwards. One moment she was standing in the doorway, the next she had her arms around Quinn—who stood taller than her now—as she cried into her shoulder.
“Oh Quinn,” Yana said tearfully.
Quinn couldn't help herself as she began to cry, suddenly feeling like the little girl that Yana had taken in as she wrapped her foster mother in her arms and held the orange skinned twi'lek tightly. They stood like that in silence, holding one another as the world around them faded away. When the embrace finally ended Yana held Quinn at arms length and looked her up and down.
“You've grown so much, look at you.” she said before turning to Orchid and Jaeriel. “And who are these?”
Quinn reached over to Orchid, pulling the young girl to her and looking to Yana proudly.
“This is my daughter, Orchid.”
Yana's smile spread as she knelt down in front of Orchid.
“Well then Orchid, I suppose this makes me your grandmother.”
Orchid's face heated as she smiled and ducked her head in embarrassment. Yana reached out and ruffled Orchid's dark hair.
“I hope you behave yourself, your mother has a tough job.”
Orchid smiled sheepishly. “I try.”
“That's good,” Yana said as she leaned in and kissed Orchid on the forehead. “I'm sure you do your very best.” she looked up at Jaeriel curiously now, her expression flickering.
Quinn turned to look at Jaeriel in exasperation.
“Take the kriffing helmet off already.”
“Quinn,” Yana snapped suddenly. “Language.”
Quinn sighed, shaking her head.
“Sorry, the scary one is Jaeriel. One of my pilots and a good friend.”
Jaeriel reached up and unfastened her helmet, clipping it to her hip and holding out her hand to Yana.
“Pleased to meet you.”
“You as well,” Yana said as she examined Jaeriel for a moment. “Your features are very unique, it's quite exotic.”
Jaeriel actually blushed slightly much to Quinn's surprise. She'd gotten so used to Jaeriel's black and green hair, long pointed ears and dark blue eyes that she sometimes forgot that Jaeriel actually looked rather unusual by most standards.

Yana turned back to Quinn. “So I assume that the ship that fired on the palace is yours?”
Quinn nodded. “That's right, I didn't like the look of it.”
Yana's lekku twitched slightly as she looked at Quinn.
“So you just flatten it?”
“Are you going to miss it?” Quinn asked.
Yana sighed. “No I suppose not, but there are better ways to demolish a building that don't involve terrifying your poor mother.”
“Sorry,” Quinn said. “I just wanted to make sure there was as little resistance as possible, destroying the Imperial administration building seemed like the best way to go about it.”
“Is Captain Devon with you?” Yana asked.
Quinn's features flickered slightly as she looked away.
“She...she died, a few years ago.”
Yana's face fell as she saw the distress on Quinn's face. She reached out to touch her arm tenderly.
“I'm sorry dearest, I didn't mean to bring up bad memories.” she linked arms with Quinn and put a hand gently on Orchid's back. “Come inside, let's have dinner, you can meet all the kids.”
Yana looked over her shoulder at the mandalorian—Jaeriel—smiling warmly.
“You're welcome to join us.”
Jaeriel's face twitched in a slight smile.
“Thank you, I'd love to.”