Chapter One
Emperor Palpatine walked quickly down the smooth floors of the Death Star toward his destination on the bridge. "How long till we're in destructive distance of that planet?" he asked the member nearest him of his Empire. "Three minutes until the ray is fully operational, sir!" the young lieutenant answered, fearful for his life. Palpatine walked to the view screen a few feet ahead, and looked out at the distant planet ahead. It was strange that they hadn't replied to their threatening messages sent to where it was supposed that the headquarters were. Most planets sent a surrendering acknowledgement, or at least something that said they would fight to the last. In fact, this strange world, covered mostly in blue, didn't appear to have any technology at all, according to the ships advanced sensors. They may just be very primitive, Palpatine thought, but it was more likely that they had a very advanced cloaking shield. "Well," the Emperor thought grimly, "If they refuse to respond to our warnings, they shall be blasted into oblivion".
About seventy seconds later, a senior officer walked up to his chief in command and saluted him. "Sir, it's ready to fire at your command". The great leader of his empire turned back to face the bridge. With a slight smirk playing on his lip, he gave the command to obliterate this planet from the galaxy. All throughout the massive space station, a rumble coming deep from the core could be felt. Finally, there was a blast while all the power it had been containing flew out, and toward this unknown place. The sinister emperor didn't bother to turn around, having seen whole sectors being blown apart by his impenetrable weapon. Only moments after the shot had fired, he saw the faces of his officer freeze into shock and confusion. Instead of having to turn around, Palpatine sensed through the force that his operation had failed. Somehow, some great force had absorbed the destructive ray into the planet's atmosphere. Simultaneously a message flashed across all of the computer screens throughout the ship. It read "Don't disrupt my creation" in the common human script, which most were accustomed to here.
The Sith master reached out through the force to try and understand who it might be that was doing this, and strangely found that the presence was all around. "Who are you?" he asked to the open air, knowing that whoever it was would hear him. Another message flashed across the screens: I am Iluvatar. If you pass through the layer of protection around this, I shall unleash the armies of the Halls of Mandos upon you!
For a short time, shock overcame his majesty, but was soon replaced by a quiet, sinister laughter. "Do you honestly think that tiny threat brings any fear to us?" he shook his head and laughed a little more "No. For this" he spread his hand, gesturing everything around him, "is the Empire. The strongest force on this galaxy. There is no possible way for you to beat us." He turned slightly to address his crew. "Set our destination to land on the planet."
An hour or so later, with only a little resistance from the atmosphere, a smaller, yet still heavily armed ship landed in a field of dull brown grass that stretched on for miles. A platoon of storm troopers and an officer walked off the ramp to survey the area. There were no readings of life for miles around, so they took speeder bikes in what seemed the most promising direction; towards the barely visible mountains.
After 20 minutes of simply riding, the scout took out his macro-binoculars and scanned the vicinity. "It looks like there are signs of civilization up ahead, there. On top of that hill" he told the officer, pointing to a huge rock that jutted out of the enveloping meadow. "What can you see of it?" the officer asked, relieved that he would have some kind of report for when they returned to the ship. "Hardly a thing," he looked again, "Let's move closer, but not within visibility".
They all agreed, and got to a point where the city was more decipherable. From what the group could see through their binoculars, there was one especially large building on the very top of the hill, surrounded by little wooden buildings. There was a flimsy wall circling the whole place, made out of timber, and a gate at the south side. "They don't look too hostile, we'll see if we can go talk to them. But be at the ready for any unexpected occurrence," the officer advised them. So once again, the group powered up their speeder-bikes and headed off to their destination.
Getting within two miles of the place, a group of men on horses rushed toward them. These men were no match for the speed of the imperialists, and only were able to reach them when the officer had seen the group and commanded a halt.