Karai and Jeslan sat at the small table, hunched over Karai's datapadd. The room around them reeked of desperation. The walls streaked with orange rust, the dustcloths heaped negligently on the floor where they lay after being pulled off the table and the two occupied chairs. The weak sun of Xarox filtered through the shaded window, throwing its feeble light on the two insurgents. A 'click' from outside the room made Jeslan lift his head up.
"Did you hear that?" he asked his compatriot. Karai snorted and shook her head. "You know I can't hear anything after last week. That grenade went off too close."
"Too close? I'm surprised you survived it. That hunter's got a nasty reputation."
Karai grinned again. "The so-called Starkiller?" She made a dismissive noise. "He couldn't touch me"
Something against the wall sounded a quite electronic squeal right before the wall exploded inward. The two insurgents spun, hands grabbing for their blasters.
"I'd rethink that if I were you," said the man who stood behind the ruined wall, covering the pair with a wicked-looking blaster carbine. He was dressed all in black, reminiscent of clone trooper armor, but much more flexible and much less conspicuous. He twitched the muzzle towards Jeslan as he made as if to draw. "I wouldn't do that if I were you. No need to impress your girlfriend here." Jeslan hand stopped its creep towards his holster. "Now, we have two options. You can surrender quietly, or I can cart you back in body bags, you're choice."
While the muzzle of the carbine had Jeslan intimidated, his female companion was not so intimidated. "I'm never going back! Death to the Empire!" As she shouted, her hand clawed for the blaster at her left hip. As the muzzle of her blaster cleared the holster, a trio of expanding blue rings caught her in the midsection, and she gave a surprised grunt as she folded up. The man looked down at her, then up at the man holding the carbine. The gun dipped towards the now-unconscious Karai. "Pick her up." As Jeslan made to comply, the man stopped him. "No, drop your gun first, and kick hers over here."
Jeslan was quivering with fear as he complied. "Now, you can pick up your girlfriend."
The man stooped and stepped through the hole in the wall and walked over to the table and picked up the datapad. He read what was displayed and shook his head. "Trying to bomb the Palace, my we have been naughty." Pocketing the datapad, he retrieved the discarded weapons before motioning Jelsan, now carrying the unconscious Karai, out the hole the breaching charge had made. "Who are you?" came Jeslan's quavering voice. The man grinned. "Didn't your girlfriend tell you? They call me Starkiller."