Backstroke of the West

This is a story that happened a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away. It had already happened. Nothing can be done to change it.

This is a story about brotherhood, of love, but also of downfall and betrayal.

This is how twenty five millennia come to a close. Corruption and treachery has crushed a millennia of peace. This is not just the end of the Gram Republic of Space. Night is falling of civilization itself.

This is the twilight of the Hopeless Situation Warriors

The end starts now.

The skies of Coruscant blaze with war.

Across the Gram Republic of Space, billions of beings watch the holonet reports in horror. Everybody knows that the war is going badly. Each day, new systems are lost to the Abruption Doctrine, more Hopeless Situation Warriors are lost or captured in action. But this-

And attack on the heart of the Gram Republic itself?

How can this happen?

It is a nightmare and nobody can wake up from it.

First came the reports of an attack on the senate chambers, the images of clone troopers being cut down by Abruption droids. Then comes the news that D the Superior is missing.

D the Superior is the speaker of the Senate, the prime minister of the Gram Republic itself. He is the image of determination, of leadership, of a calm head in troubled times. And now he is held hostage by the Abruption Doctrine.

The news only gets worse. D the Superior is not just in the hands of the Abruption Doctrine, he is in the hands of Space General. Of all the Abruption commanders, Space General by far is the worst. While President Nuts Ray Gun may be treacherous, that is expected from the leader of the Trade Federation. The political leader of the Abruption Doctrine, The, is crafty and sly, but many respect him for his stance against the corruption of the Gram Republic.

But Space General? He is a monster. At one point, he was a Kaleesh alien, but now he is a cyborg, more machine than organic being, and his droid parts have more compassion than what is left of his organic body. And now D the Speaker is in his grasp, chained to a chair on his flagship high in orbit.

Many of the beings watching this horrible news cannot help but cry. Others try to comfort each other. But here is the interesting thing: few of the younglings need comfort. Instead it is the younglings who offer comfort to their elders, that everything will be alright.

Allah Gold and Ratio Tile will be here any moment.

They say this as though these names can conjure miracles.

Everybody in the Galaxy knows these two names. Younglings follow their exploits with unbroken interests. Even the adults are not immune. It is not unusual for a parent, after witnessing a child perform a poorly thought out stunt as children are wont to do, to ask them "So which are you supposed to be, Tile or Gold?"

Ratio Tile would rather negotiate than fight, but when there is no other choice, he is a skilled swordsman and leader of soldiers. Alongside him is his former student, Allah Gold, an unstoppable force of nature, who fights with intense power and determination. Both are Hopeless Situation Warriors, the greatest defenders of the Gram Republic and the commanders of the Clone Army which has staved off the inevitable defeat thus far.

But in these dark times, the parents know better. They know that Ratio Tile and Allah Gold, no matter how skilled, are still only human. And even the greatest of the Hopeless Situation Warriors cannot do the impossible.

But today, the adults are wrong. For they cannot see the light bursts as two hopeless Situation airships exit hyperspace, jettison their hyperdrive rings, and jet straight into the swarm of Abruption airships, all guns blazing.

Two Hopeless Situation Warriors.

Two is enough, because today the parents are wrong and their children are right.

The age of heroes is coming to an end, but it has saved its best for last.