I didn’t expect to die when I did, but who does? Dying for your country, guarding a military base in foreign soil.. Not exactly a great way to die. The miniature sun that did it wasn’t great either. I was fresh out of basic training; the absolute audacity of congress to draft a woman. The absolute audacity. And I’m not just saying this because I got nuked.

WW3 had begun half a year before. Surprisingly, no nukes had flown until I found myself, suddenly blinded, and then dead, by a nuclear blast. Kiev fell a day before they nuked the base, I suppose someone decided to end the world.

I was in a void. Nothingness, not what I expected for the afterlife, if I ever thought about it. A deep voice began talking, as text appeared of what he said.

[We apologize for the end of your life on Planet Earth. You are the 983,743,321th human to have died on the 9th of September, 2038. You are the 12,372th person to be selected for reincarnation in the Star Wars galaxy.]

Almost a billion dead. I- how do I even process that? I'm being fucking reincarnated into Star Wars. Earth is dead. Everyone I love is dead. My friends are dead. Everyone on the planet is dead, and I died in the middle of it all. Lucky me! Instead of a nice, peaceful end I'm being reincarnated. Absolutely nuts. I hope it isn't all bad.

Congratulations! Due to your backstory on Earth as a [Soldier], if you choose to enlist in the Imperial Military, you will skip basic training!

Congratulations! Due to your backstory on Earth as a [Conscript], the Military will force your enlistment at some point.

Congratulations! Due to your backstory on Earth as a [Death by Nuke], you have been granted +15 points!

What the hell are points? What do I use them for? Conscript? What military? And other questions rolled through my head as I simply watched.

[Due to having 5 points left over you have been given the following bonus: Random Dice Roll!]

[Congratulations! You have rolled One. Due to your poor roll, the following Background will be enacted earlier: Conscript.]

You know, what, void? Fuck you. I hope I can find a way to kill you.

The void turned bright, quickly. Instead of the text, I was staring at a destroyed building, the smoke still billowing out. Before I could take it in, my head was filled with horrible pain. I screamed, collapsing to the floor. I could see some people running over to me when I blacked out.

“Ma’am? Ma’am? Wake up.” A slap on my cheek. I recognized the voice, somehow. It was the local doctor, a twi’lek by the name of Zelvir. As I opened my eyes, I could see the old twi’lek looking down on me. I wasn’t where I collapsed; I was in a bedroom, groaning. I tried to sit up, Zelvir held me down with a frown, “You need to rest. The soldiers are gone.” With a nod of assent, I laid back down to think.

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

I remembered some things that never happened to me. I remember hearing news about the Clone Wars as it raged; we were on a separatist-occupied, republic loyalist planet. I remember looking in awe at a Republic fleet that had come to liberate us, a detachment of clone troopers that had arrived a week after, checking the town for someone, then dragging a separatist out.

I remember the Emperor’s declaration; the creation of the Empire. The changes, slow to reach out from the Capital City. New laws. Mandates. An Imperial governor. It still made it here, even to our small town. I remember being elected to our Town Council at 19, and arguing against working for the rebels.

“It’s too dangerous.” I begged, “The Empire will find out.” I pleaded. “You can’t risk our lives!” I was ignored. “We’re Imperial citizens! We can’t help rebels.” I was right. The Empire did find out. They arrived in force, searching the town for all of the council. I was awoken as I was dragged from my home, to the town hall. A recording of the exact town meeting where it was voted was playing when the last had arrived.

As my protests came over the meeting, the man who led the Imperials pointed at me, then whispered something. I was terrified. A trooper walked over with a knife out. I looked in horror, then a gasp of relief as he untied me and dragged me out of the building, to the waiting townsfolk. It was an agonizing 10 minutes before blaster fire occurred briefly, within the building. The troopers began leaving, dragging the Council leader in cuffs. As the troopers began leaving, the town hall erupted into flames.

I appeared here right then.

----------------------------------------

She opened her eyes, stretching her arms toward her sides as she sat up. The familiar, yet odd morning noise of the town came into her hearing through an open window in the bedroom. The hum of a repulsorlift engine, soft through the town as early risers maneuvered their speeders. The chirping of native birds intertwined with the mechanical chirrups of astromech droids, the hiss of steam as it escaped a cafe dispenser, mixing with calls of advertisement from the local market, advertising everything from some exotic fruit to starship parts. The distant clatter of crates as they were loaded onto a landspeeder; a child’s laughter. The soft whoosh of a door sliding shut, and some conversations in Basic.

She stood up from the bed, surveying the room. The sense of oddness continued, even in her knowing she was in her childhood bedroom, in the house she was raised in in this galaxy. She spotted, with instinct and foreknowledge, where her two blaster pistols were; where her vibroblade was stashed inside the bedside table; how she stored the armor next to her teal dress. The datapad she left on the kitchen counter, or the safe located in the floor, under her bed, where the life-savings of her parents sat, untouched since their deaths.

She thought it was unnerving that she remembered her life in both universes. She remembered growing up in Massachusetts, just the same as she remembered growing up in the town of Kelthia. She remembered basic training and the fear of nuclear war, just as much as she remembers fearing the separatists, and then the empire. She remembers how scared she was when she was deployed towards the front, just as much as she remembers how scared she was when the Republic was abolished by the Emperor.

And somehow, she feels like she is grieving two different sets of parents. The two that died right here in this town, the same as the ones she’ll never see again on Earth.