Dark Days: Order 44

Yoda and the Emperor fought each other for the future of the galaxy. On opposing sides. Little do the other Jedi know Yoda's fought the same man before in a struggle lost in the past.

Yoda could feel the dark side closing in on him. The atmosphere had grown tense. The air was still and stained with the scent of blood. Fresh blood. Jedi blood. The screams of fallen warriors echoed through his mind, tearing at his senses and making it impossible for him to think. In the confusion and the distress, the Jedi Master's small knobbly walking stick slipped through his fingers and clattered to the floor. He fell against a wall and closed his eyes, breathing deeply, fighting back the pandemonium that was filling his chest with pure agony. The pain and the loss were only half of Yoda's troubles. Fear bubbled up above the rest, oozing through his body like a pebble slowly sinking to the bottom of a lake. This had happened once before. It was fear of the known that was consuming the frail Jedi Master's ancient heart the most. For Yoda knew what this meant. This very incident had been covered up once before, intentionally forgotten, wiped clean from records. Only last time they had called it Order 44…

Yoda was sprinting through an oriental garden. Tailing him were two agents of the Sith race, both of whom were encased in black suits of armour and riding identical state-of-the-art speeders. The youthful Jedi Master's blade was glowing green and held up above his head, deflecting the torrent of gunfire that was pelting him from every direction. He knew he mustn't stop. He knew he mustn't be afraid. But most importantly of all, he knew what had to be done. An agent suddenly sprang up in front of him, gun raised and ready to fire. Yoda deflected the bullets that swam towards him, leapt up over the agent and brought his lightsaber down on its black helmet. It slumped to the floor, narrowly avoiding the two speeder's as they soared over the limp form. Yoda raced on, cutting down more soldier's as he bounced through the fog and the bullets, faced fixed firmly ahead. One of the speeder's accelerated, edging forwards and catching Yoda round the waist. The Jedi Master lost balance and, with no other alternative, clawed onto the metal surface, still clutching his green blade. The pilot shot a line of bullets down towards him. Yoda narrowly avoided them with a flourish of his lightsaber and gathered enough strength to swing himself up and onto the pilot's seat. The pilot, attempting to steer the speeder and defend himself at the same time, shot desperately behind him, but Yoda's skill was no match for a mere soldier. A steaming black helmet fell to the base of the chaser, leaving a steaming body behind on the seat. Yoda knocked the pilot into the onslaught below and gained a quick understanding of the controls in front of him. He manoeuvred the speeder out of the line of fire and sped through a patch of undergrowth, leaving the agents with nothing but a coil of fading smoke. Yoda kicked hard at the pedals, his eyes screwed up in concentration. The Sith Lord could not be far from here. As long as Yoda was still alive, Order 44 would not succeed.