Geanosis had never been a hospitable planet. Ever since the Empire had wiped out the populous, the weather had seemed to get worse and worse, as if it was showing it's displeasure at what the Emperor had ordered.
Agent Sil Ree was in command of the last Imperial presence on the planet. He had been tasked with making sure there were no Geanosians left and that anything of worth had been removed and ferried up to one of the four Star Destroyers in orbit. He hated the planet, it had been decades since the Clone War had started there, he had only been a child then, but even from the holos he'd seen of the place, he knew he'd hate it. The young Corellian had risen quickly through the ranks. He had been put in command of this unit by Grand Moff Tarkin himself, it had been as a reward to him capturing three renegade Jedi. Sil had never quite seen it as a reward, but he had kept his feelings to himself. If there was one thing he had learned through watching others mistakes, it was not to offend the people at the top.
He stood at the command station aboard the lead AT-AT, one of three giant monsters, that were doing one final sweep before they called for a pick up. He scratched his jet black beard as he looked at what stood in front of the walker. Trying to decide what to do.
"Your orders sir?" JG-2153 asked from her position in front.
Sil looked at the man standing in front of the three walkers, who just stood there, smiling defiantly. He wondered what the man could be doing here, on his own.
"I want to speak to him," Sil said picking up a hand set, he paused for a moment before the walker commander nodded, "My name is Agent Sil Ree of the Galactic Empire, I demand to know what you are doing here? Geanosis is under Imperial control."
Sil watched as the man did, well he did nothing.
"Lieutenant, he can hear me can't he?" Sil asked.
JG-2153 nodded as she replied, "Yes sir, he heard us."
"This is your last chance, if you do not reply, I will kill you."
Again, Sil watched and he waited. He couldn't believe someone would have this much of a death wish.
"Fair enough," he said to himself, "Please inform walkers 2 and 3 to fire on this fool so we can get under way."
Hal Whitestorm looked up at the three AT-AT walkers. This, it would seem was where the Force had guided him. He hadn't been to this dust ball of a world since that day, the day that was the beginning of the end for the Jedi. He had left the order by that point, even at that point he didn't class himself as a Jedi any more, just a force user, but he had been there. Not on the battle field, but inside the catacombs. By that point the Order had only heard rumours about General Grevious, they had asked Hal and his wife, also a former Jedi Knight, to try and find out anything about him. They had done better than that, they'd found him. By the time they had caught up with him he had already killed a handful of Jedi, if it hadn't been for a group of Destroyer Droids joining the battle, he knew they would have been able to stop the cyborg General. After that day, he had vowed never to return and if the Force hadn't brought him back there, he never would have, too many painful memories. Hal didn't even flinch when the walker to his left and the one from the right had fired on him. He raised, just a finger and all four blasts stopped a full foot away from him. He looked back up to the lead walker and smiled again, he can guarantee they never saw that coming.
Sil couldn't believe his eyes, his mouth fell open and he tried to think of what to do, in that moment, his mind was completely blank, stunned into silence. He watched as the man ignited a yellow bladed lightsaber, that got a reaction.
"Yellow." Sil said quietly.
The rest happened in an instant, Sil watched as Hal simply waved his hand and the four laser bolts went back the way they came. The bolts hit the heads of both walkers at the same time and exploded. As if in tandem, the two walkers fell, one to the left, the other to the right.
"Send a message to the Brotherhood, immediately." Sil screamed.
Hal jumped off the ground, it was all so fast, the first anyone on the AT-AT knew about it was as the lightsaber appeared at the top of the neck behind them, Sil turned and watched, again in stunned silence as the lightsaber moved around the neck of the walker before disappearing. Sil felt his stomach leave him behind as the head fell.
As, Hal brought his lightsaber back to his hand, he switched it off and grimaced for a moment. He'd first heard the call of a Khyber crystal when he was a child and he was searching for it so he could make a lightsaber. Back then though, it sounded like a gentle song, now however it was a deafening scream. He'd first heard it two days ago, it woke him from his sleep, he tried to ignore it at first, but it had become so loud he could barely hear anything else. That was how he found himself on this dust ball. He jumped down and grabbed the neck of the AT-AT, pulling himself inside. He took a moment to look below.
Sil felt more pain that he ever had done before. The AT-AT drivers were dead, both impaled on broken metal. He looked down and saw he to was impaled through the stomach. He couldn't move even if he wanted to, the pain was too much. He looked up and saw the Jedi looking down at him. He reached for his blaster but it was gone, broken by the metal that threatened to cut him in two. He looked back up, the Jedi was gone.
As Hal stepped inside the AT-AT a Stormtrooper lunged for him. Before the Imperial even knew what was happening, Hal had cut him in two. There were two doors in front of him, he knew which one to choose now that all he could hear was the scream, he could sense another Stormtrooper inside. Using the Force, he opened the door and held the unsuspecting trooper in place. Before he could speak, Hal twisted his neck, breaking it. Inside were crates, each marked with a seal reading, "Top Secret", Hal ignored them all as he walked inside, instead he stopped in front of an old leather satchel. He kneeled down and slowly reached for it, as he opened it, the scream became unbearable and now he knew why. Inside sat thirteen lightsaber hilts, but Hal knew which one screamed for his help. As he picked up the hilt, the scream stopped, he recognised it, once it had belonged a Jedi Knight named Kai Stalt. They had grown up together, she had been his closest friend. When, Hal became Grand Master Yoda's Padawan, he saw less and less of her. Then after he left the Order, he had only seen her three times before she had been killed in the arena. As soon as he held the blade he knew that it now belonged to him. He clipped the hilt to his belt before closing the satchel and putting it over his shoulder. Moments later he was back at the open neck of the walker. He could see Sil looking back up at him, still alive. Hal jumped down and climbed into the decapitated head.
"Why did you have those lightsabers?" Hal asked as he sat next to the dying Imperial.
Sil looked at the Jedi and managed to give a little laugh, "I found them. I decided to take a look at the arena before we left. I thought they would make an appreciated gift for Lord Vader."
Now it was, Hal's turn to laugh.
"Ah, I see. Here's something you might not know, I don't think this is a place Lord Vader would want to remember." Hal replied.
"And how would you know?"
"I'm a LOT older than I look. I was here, this lightsaber," He said taking the hilt off his belt, "Belonged to someone I knew, it called me here."
Silas jumped as Hal ignited it's blue blade, he yelped at the pain coming from what was left of his stomach.
"Then it brought you to your grave." he snarled.
"Oh I assume you're referring to the Brotherhood. I'm guessing you sent a call out to them. I know some of them are in the next system, they'll be here soon," Hal said, Sil was confused, "Sorry to tell you, but they're not that well trained."
"They've killed a lot of Jedi."
"I'm not a Jedi. I gave up the right to call myself that a long time ago." He switched off the blade and put it back on his belt.
"Never the less, you're on the list. A list of Jedi sought after by Vader himself."
This was a confirmation of something, Hal had long suspected.
"You don't even know my name."
"Your blade gave you away. In recent times very few Jedi had a yellow blade outside the Jedi temple, Hal Whitestorm. You're second only to Obi Wan Kenobi."
As Sil finished speaking the engines of a spaceship could be heard overhead.
"Looks like they're here. Don't die yet, you're about to see something special.
Outside a small sleek black custom made Imperial ship landed. It had been made for them, especially for them. One of the perks of being an Inquisitor, you got anything you asked for. As the back of the ship opened up the front of the AT-AT head exploded outwards, Hal walked out blue energy crackling and sparking around his hands and up his arms. He could see there were three of them, their faces hidden by black masks. He could tell there were two males and a female who led the way, she walked as though she was openly stalking her prey.
"Which one are you?" her voice crackled through what sounded like a broken microphone.
Hal studied each one silently, if any of them were a credible threat it would be her. The other two were far too big and wearing clumsy armour for them to be quick. He guessed brute force was their go to move.
Hal didn't reply, instead he took his lightsaber from his belt and ignited the yellow blade. Each of the Brotherhood flinched for a quick moment, he saw it from all of them. They knew who he was, Vader had clearly told them.
Each of them ignited their red saberstaffs, each of them began to spin as they were held. Hal almost sighed, they were all show, this would be over quick. The male Brother who was closest threw his lightsaber at Hal. He raised his hand and stopped it's momentum dead in mid air. It span away in mid-air, Hal looked at it for a moment before sending it back to it's master, then to the female then finally at the other male. Moments later their headless bodies fell to the ground. Hal took the satchel off, one by one he brought their staffs to him before putting them with the other lightsabers. As he closed it back up he turned to see if Sil was still alive before walking back towards him.
"You still here?" Hal asked.
Sil groaned before he spoke, "I can see why Vader wants you dead."
"For what it's worth, I am sorry it had to go down like this, I don't like to kill people."
"Why? You're a master at it."
"Do you want me to end it for you before I go?" Hal asked.
"I don't think there's any point, I'll be dead even if one of my ships were to send help now. But I wish I could be there when Vader finds you, I'd like to watch you die."
"My friend, if that day ever happens, I'll show Anakin Skywalker why I was always better than him."