FORCES IN THE DARK

"It's not the dark that's scary. It what lurks in the shadows."

The empty void of space, stretching out over the horizon of the Mammoth Star Destroyer's brazen window. It was a sight much familiar to Emperor Palpatine, one that gave him hope for the future. Hope that his conquest would not be futile. Count Dooku, on the other hand, did not share the same sentiment. To him, the empty space was merely a reminder of how far they still had to go.
"I bring news my Lord." Dooku said, sitting down. As usual, Emperor Palpatine had his back to Dooku, but he was used to it by now.
"You may continue, Lord Dooku. I can sense the elation in the news you have to bring me."
"I have news from General Grievous my Lord- He has confirmed that Juno Eclipse was shot down over the planet of Gyndine. We have also taken control of the outer rim planets Corrasso and Pakra V."
There was a pause, one which caused The Emperor to sit to attention.
"More news, Count Dooku?"
Dooku hated when the Emperor did that. He really didn't like someone being able to read his mind.
"Captain Sturn has just given me the authentication codeword to finalise Project Sentinel. My Lord, The Death Star is now officially online.
"This is excellent news. Our plan is proceeding as it should. Now, to test out our new superweapon! Get me Ozzik Sturn on the radio link."
Dooku walked away, coming back with a radio communicator seconds later.
"Emperor Palpatine," Came a voice, that of Captain Sturn. "It is an honour. I suppose you have heard that we have completed work on The Death Star."
"Indeed I have Captain. Now I want you to test it. There is a Republic freight transport currently in deep space on its way to Coruscant. Destroy it. Let us send The Republic a message."
"Very well my Lord."
The radio shut itself off, and Palpatine relaxed back into his chair. Dooku turned to leave, but The Emperor raised his hand, halting him.
"Not so fast, Dooku. You still have a cyborg to take care off. He leaves for Kamino in 2 hours. You cannot fail me this time."

The Invincible drifted through space, well on its way to deliver a cargo of nuclear and plasma based explosives to the Republic army. Word had been that the Republic had wanted to start an offensive, and this was certainly one way to do it. Despite it's incredible size, The Invincible held just a two man crew, sitting in the bridge. A pilot, Captain Marko Heller, and a comms man, Lieutenant Ossario McKay.
"Have you got any more of that 'Inta' food McKay?" Heller called across the bridge, hungry. The ship was on autopilot and nobody was having to do much, which generally made Heller hungry.
"Certainly Captain" McKay called back, walking towards him with a plate of food in his hand. "Seems this is all we ever seem to do these days- eat."
"Well McKay, that's the job we signed up for."
"Still, it would be nice to see some action every once in a while."
Heller just smirked at him, knowing exactly what he meant. At least he was lucky enough to have a girlfriend. With that, McKay went back to his post. Again, nothing was happening, so he started to daydream. He thought about his life. He'd done everything he'd set out to do- he had a beautiful girlfriend, a fantastic house on Alderaan, a 10 month old daughter. Life literally couldn't be better for him right now. And there was just 2 more days until he could get off this ship and go and see them again. He drifted back into reality, content, but soon stopped. Something was wrong. The noise…. There was a noise…. Sirens. He could hear sirens.
"MCKAY!" Heller shouted down from his Captain's perch. "What the hell is going on down there?!"
McKay looked through his instrument panel, trying to find what had triggered the alarm. He found it eventually, in the energy sector. He didn't like what he saw.
"Captain! There's a massive pulse of energy heading our way, on direct collision course."
"Oh no…" Heller said to himself. He knew just as well as McKay what that could mean. Any energy overload could set off the cargo of explosives. "I'm taking manual control. Where is the energy pulse?"
"277 degrees magnetic, heading south-central towards the port underside. Power rating is almost off the charts! Speed is Mach…. Mach…."
"For god's sake, spit it out McKay!"
"It's going Mach 874030 sir, speed of light."
"That's impossible, at least at that power."
"No, it's not impossible. I only ever heard about it once, but….." McKay steadied himself, "It's too late for us."
He glanced back at his instrument panel. He could see it, a blazing green light reflecting off the shiny surface of his instrument panel, growing in size by the second. It would be the last thing he ever saw.

They never recovered the bodies.

Sitting back on the Mammoth Star Destroyer, Emperor Palpatine let out a wry smile, something that was reserved for special moments. But this was special. The Death Star was ready to go into action.

The Jedi temple stood tall, one of the most majestic buildings throughout Coruscant. Even with the new Senate building that had been created, the Jedi Temple still outshone everything. It was there that both Captain Miller and Sidewinder stood, being examined by the leader of the Jedi order, Mace Windu. After escaping Yavin II, they had headed straight for Coruscant, where Miller had contacted his commanding officer- Space Brigadier Stark- about the mission. After meeting with Stark he directed them to the Senate, where they had a meeting with the current Supreme Chancellor, Supreme Chancellor Casso. He had approved Sidewinder to become a part of the Republic, but that also needed approval from the Jedi Council. And so, there they were. After 2 straight hours of questioning, the Council had retired to make their verdict. Now, as Sidewinder and Miller were stood before them, they were ready to deliver it.
"Members of the Council" Mace Windu began, "I am delighted to confirm that we have reached a verdict on the acceptance of Adam Isanzo into the Republic."
Everyone stood up to hear the verdict, although they all knew what it was.
"By a unanimous verdict, Adam 'Sidewinder' Isanzo has been accepted into the Republic and dissolved of any charges that may be brought against him due to his Imperial past."
"What does that mean for me now?" Sidewinder asked.
"It means that you are free." Windu replied. "But, with that said, the Army of the Republic would like to make you an offer. Captain Miller holds your combat skills in high regard, and we would like to make you Commander of the 57th Republic Attrition Squad, if you accept."
"It would be an honour."
"Excellent. You shall head to the planet of Kamino immediately to rendezvous with your squad. We'll give you instructions from there."
"I'll meet you there a bit later" Miller said. He shook hands with Sidewinder, but the cyborg was soon gone to suit up. Miller went to leave too, but Mace Windu stopped him.
"There's something else, Captain. I know how difficult that mission on Yavin II was. It's probably the most difficult mission undertaken by the Republic in this war, and your success could just be about to change our fortunes. Because of this, the Jedi Council would like to nominate you for the Republic Medal of Honour, the highest achievement we offer."
"Wow" Miller said in amazement. Getting any medal from the Jedi Council was tough, let alone the Medal of Honour. "Thank you Master, I cannot express my gratitude."
"There is no need Captain. Now, if that's everything, this Council session is dismissed."

Sidewinder stood there, admiring the fighter he was going to take to Kamino. Although he was only travelling there for a meet up, the fighter was faster than using a transport or landing craft, and more inconspicuous.
"It's beautiful, isn't it?" Came a voice from across the hangar. Sidewinder looked up- it was Space Brigadier Stark.
"It certainly is." He replied. Taking care, he ran his hand over the fighter's shell. It was nothing like he'd ever seen before. It had a pointed front, with 6 slender wings jutting out of the side and what could be described as a dorsal fin on top. It was slim and streamlined, and had 8 nutonic boosters for propulsion. It's vivid yellow finish just made the fighter look even better than Sidewinder could have even imagined, and even the distinct symbols stood out, even if he had no idea what they meant.
"It was built by one of the greatest pilots I've ever had the pleasure of working with. His name was Kissel Overiero-MacStreska, but we all just called him K. Him and his best friend, E, made a double team, one of the greatest I've ever seen. E was the fighter out of them and K was the technician if you like, but they both built their own fighters. This was one of K's."
"What do the symbols mean?"
"I honestly have no idea. I do know they're tribal markings from their home planet of Dantooine, but whatever they meant, it meant a lot to them."
"Would I be able to meet them at all?"
"No, Adam, I'm afraid not. I haven't seen them for about 2 and a half years myself. I don't even know if they're still alive."
"Bloody hell. What happened?"
"They were going back to Dantooine for a holiday. Unfortunately none of us knew that the Imperials had launched an invasion at the very same time. I tried to warn them about what was happening, but the next thing I know the radio had cut out. I never heard from either of them again, and considering the Empire was successful in its invasion, god only knows what could have happened to them."
"That's tough, losing your best men like that."
"It is, but we had to move on. I still hope to this day that, out of the blue, I'll get a radio message and it'll be one of those two on the other end. They were clever, both of them, and they had some sort of weird connection, almost psychic. They never left each other's sides. If anyone asks me I follow the line that they're MIA presumed dead. Honestly, though, I still think they're alive. I think they're still there somewhere fighting in the shadows."

Sidewinder sat in the cockpit, waiting for takeoff clearance. He had given himself 20 minutes to familiarise himself with the controls, but that, in the end, hadn't made much difference. Whilst the layout was similar to most spacecraft he's seen, the controls were inscribed with not the standard galactic text, but the same tribal Dantooine based markings that were on the outside of the ship. He couldn't understand any of it. He was going to have to wing it.
"Are you sure there isn't any other craft I can use?" He called out to Stark over the comms, but Stark confirmed a negative.
"I'm afraid there isn't anything fast enough to get you to Kamino in time. You'll just have to figure your way through the controls."
"Well then….. I guess I'll be seeing you later Brigadier."
"Yes. Good luck."

Kamino, fortunately enough, was a fairly easy planet to reach from Coruscant, and Sidewinder would have to make just 2 rendezvous' along the way, above the planets of Kuat and Gyndine, but other than that, it was straight to Kamino to meet up with his new squad. Weirdly, the fighter he was using was the only one Sidewinder had ever seen with a hyperspace function, something that both pleased him and perplexed him- Fighters never usually hit hyperspace. It was something he was happy to take advantage of, however, seeing as it meant it would take less time to reach Kamino. It also meant he didn't take long to reach Kuat, the first checkpoint. With Kuat being a Republic held planet, it was easy enough to relay the message back to Stark and carry on. Gyndine, however, was another story. It was a neutral planet, and one that had gained a reputation for not welcoming any unwanted visitors, having fought off a droid invasion in the first year of the war without Republic assistance. They had no bad feelings towards the Republic, however, so Sidewinder hoped that meant he would get his message away fine.
"This is Echo-5 calling Gyndine Central Control. Echo-5 to Gyndine Central Control." Sidewinder said over the radio, using his designated codename.
"Echo-5 from GCC, reading you loud and clear. You are now entering restricted stratospheric space, require access code and reasons for entering."
Stark had told him about this before. For all the space traffic he could see around the planet, they still were wary of everyone. Probably right in a war.
"Gyndine Central Control from Echo-5. Request permission to relay radio message back to Coruscant, access code Seven-Five-Eight-Alpha."
"Access code received. You have permission to relay message Echo-5"
He flicked radio channels, ready to get back to Stark about his progress, but then something caught his eye. It was his radar. There was something on it.
"Gyndine Control from Echo-5. Unidentified fighter approaching at 055 degrees magnetic. Confirm if it is one of yours?"
"Negative Echo-5, fighter is of droid origin and should be considered hostile."
"Shit" Was all he could say before his radar illuminated again, this time with a warning. The droid had fired rockets. He jammed both joysticks to the right in a spiral lock, and the missiles narrowly missed, colliding into each other. 2 more were fired and once again he had to evade. The only hope now was hit hyperspace. He pulled out the 3 levers, then pushed them down simultaneously. Nothing. He tried again, but this time all he got was a message on his screen:

HYPERDRIVE FAILURE IN PORT 6

"Oh come on, you piece of shit. WORK!" He tried once more, desperate to escape…

And that's when the rockets hit.

Even in the depths of space, they exploded in a bright orange glow, tearing out one of the engines and severing the oxygen supply. He started spiralling downwards towards the planet's surface, battling with everything he had.
"Gyndine control from Echo-5. I have been hit. Repeat, I have been hit. Oxygen critical, losing alti… losing al…"

Well, he was still alive. As he clambered out of the ruined fighter, Sidewinder took time to look at his surroundings. There were trees, so he was in some kind of wooded area, but there was also snow on the ground. It was pretty cold too. He could see behind him the trail where his fighter had hit the ground. But he could also see a second one. Somebody else had also crashed here. Tentatively, he walked over to the other trail, to the other crash site. It was an Imperial craft.
"You're probably looking for me, aren't you?" Came a voice from behind him, causing him to jump in shock.
"Bloody hell, you scared the life out of me." Sidewinder responded. He took a look at who was in front of him. It was a woman, tall and slender, blonde hair reaching past her shoulders. She was dressed in full Imperial kit. To Sidewinder, things made no sense…
"You can wipe that look off your face" She said, "I'm as much part of the Empire as you are part of the droid army."
"And you are?"
"Juno Eclipse" She said, extending a hand. Sidewinder took it.
"Adam Isanzo. You can call me Sidewinder though."
"Sidewinder?" Juno enquired, intrigued.
"Long story."
"Well, we've got time. I don't think anyone is going to pick us up anytime soon."
"I did contact Central Control before I crashed." Sidewinder said, a grin creeping onto his face. "They'll have logged my position."
"Oh I can assure you that you're a long way from where you were shot down. I watched your ship fall from the sky." They'd started walking. Sidewinder had no idea why, but they had started walking.
"Wait, how long have you been here?"
"Long enough" Juno replied, keeping her cards close to her chest. "But I've been here long enough to know that we were both probably shot down by the same droid, and that there's a massive energy signature emanating from that cave to the east. An energy signature which is identical in nature to a- wait for it- tractor beam. It's no coincidence we ended up in the same place, or that we're alive. Whoever is operating that thing doesn't want us dead." Almost expectantly she looked back at Sidewinder, admiring his metalwork. "So go on then," She said, "You said it was a long story. I want to hear it."
He didn't know why, but he told her everything. He told her about Operation Sidewinder, Count Dooku's project to create an army of cyborgs to help the Empire. He told her about how he was the first, the experiment to see if it would work, how it did indeed work but he was able to break free from their hold. He then told her about Captain Miller, about the rescue, why he was here. He told her everything.
"You say that was Dooku's project?" She asked once he had finished. "Blimey, that's something I would have expected from General Grievous, not him." She looked at him and laughed. "Oh, and I think this makes you more of an Imperial than me!"
"Go on then," Said Sidewinder, "I want to know your story. If you're not an Imperial, why the outfit. Not going to make you many friends."
"Oh if only you knew. I'm part of an organisation called HAWK. We, basically, are here to take down the Empire from the inside. We had 3 commanders, of which I was one. We were getting close to taking down the Emperor, but then one of our other commanders, Ozzik Sturn, stabbed us in the back and ratted us out in exchange for his life, the bastard."
"Ouch, harsh. Although I guess it comes with the territory of doing what you do."
"Indeed." Juno said, then held up a hand, signalling Sidewinder to stop.
"Oh, so this is the famous cave with the traction beam." Sidewinder said, looking at the archway infront of him. It was a large opening into darkness, with just a faint glowing illumination from its core. But there were noises coming from it. Mechanical noises. Sidewinder knew he wasn't the only person to pick up on it when Juno drew her gun.
"You don't have a gun?" She asked, but Sidewinder just held up his robotic hand and laughed. "You know, I should just call you Megatron."
"Well then, after you" Sidewinder said, and they moved into the cave. They walked, tentatively, forward into the darkness. They could still hear it, a metallic hum emitting from the vague white glow coming from one of the corners.
"Nice and dark in here" Sidewinder said.
"Why, you afraid of the dark?"
"It's not the dark that's scary. It's what lurks in the shadows."
Juno nodded, and the two slowed up even more as the light grew bigger, just around the corner they were at. Mentally they counted to three together, then turned the corner.

What they saw shocked them both.

It could only be described as the lair of a evil genius. Everywhere were guns, rockets, blueprints and plans. But there were no people there. There were only droids- lots and lots of droids- and in the centre, standing tall, was a droid like nothing either of them had seen before. Sleek, tall and silver, it's solitary eye glowing a deep red. The other, regular, battle droids that worked around him had a brilliant white camo, to blend with the snow.
"Welcome to my Atlantis" The droid croaked, it's voice raspy, like it had a grate stuck in its throat.

PAK-4 had returned.

"You" Sidewinder said. "You're General Grievous' droid. I'd know that design anywhere."
"Was General Grievous' droid. I left him a long time ago to set up my greatest project yet. That's the problem when you give a droid the ability to think for itself. It knows when to move on."
"So why here? Why now?" Juno enquired, taking PAK-4 by surprise. "Why the traction beam?"
"Ah the traction beam!" PAK-4 gleamed in delight. "My greatest achievement! You know, I still hold just as great a hatred of the Republic now as I did when I was with Grievous, so I thought: What better way to knock the Republic off than framing them? You see, in orbit above us right now is The Republica, a nuclear satellite used by the Republic as a relay station. Now, imagine what the powers at be in the Gyndine leadership would think if a republic satellite crashes on their planet, blowing up and killing millions? Then I would make a pact with them, and together we would form an alliance. Then, the galaxy could be ours!"
"So basically what Grievous was aiming for anyway?" Sidewinder retorted.
"No. He was motivated by revenge because the Republic rightly refused to help his people when they fucked up their own planet. I'm just here for the power. Cold, hard power."
"I'm not sure if that makes me feel any better."
"It doesn't matter" Said PAK-4, "Because you're both going to have to die anyway. I don't like witnesses." As soon as PAK-4 had finished his sentence, every droid in the cave stood to attention, their guns raised high at both Sidewinder and Eclipse.
"Well this is awkward" Sidewinder said, tensing his mechanical fist.
"Don't try anything." PAK-4 said.
"You have no idea" Sidewinder replied, and dropped to the floor, his mechanical fist hitting the ground, creating a shockwave so powerful that it threw every droid in the cave off their feet. PAK-4, incensed, let off a volley of rounds at Sidewinder himself, but he rolled out of the way, and Juno, who was still holding her gun, let off a few rounds, but it didn't affect the Kinemadroid.
"You can't hurt it like that" Sidewinder said to Eclipse, "It has a forcefield around it. Either we have to destroy that, or we can only get it in a melee battle."
"You'd be best equipped to take him" Juno said, "I'll finish off the rest of them."
Sidewinder stood up, looking for PAK-4. He spotted the droid at the edge of the room, trying to get away. PAK, seeing Sidewinder, let off a wrist rocket, which veered heavily off course and flew straight into the cave's centre console, causing it to explode in a brilliant blue colour. Using it as a distraction, Sidewinder ripped a pipe off the wall and charged at PAK-4. As he swung the pipe towards its head, PAK-4 raised an arm and blocked the blow, causing shards of metal to tear off its limb. Undeterred, the droid swung out a leg, catching Sidewinder in the groin and causing him to bend over in pain, before throwing a right hook, landing straight on the human side of his jaw, knocking him to the ground. PAK-4 reached over to pick Sidewinder up, but as he did the cyborg swung again with the pipe, landing it on the side of PAK-4's head and causing him to stumble backwards. Sidewinder then bolted up and rammed the pipe straight through the Kinemadroid's chest, severing the complex wiring to his forcefield.
"Now we're on even terms" Sidewinder hissed, and threw PAK-4 across the floor, where he landed with an explosion of sparks.

Juno meanwhile was having problems of her own- the droids were starting to get back up. She'd dispatched the 3 nearest he with no problem, but a volley of laser bolts from the other side of the cave had forced her to dive behind one of the command consoles. More shots followed, but the power of the laser bolts hitting the console caused it to short circuit, and burst into flames. Steadily, Juno started picking off the droids one by one, keeping an eye on Sidewinder's fight with PAK-4, but the smoke billowing from the top of the console was making it near impossible for her to get a clear shot. She was going to have to move. She was going to have to move soon.

Sidewinder strode over to PAK-4, a man on a mission. With the droid still recovering from being thrown half way across the cave, Sidewinder took the opportunity to haul it up and smash it into the wall. PAK-4 wasn't going to give up, however, and swiped at Sidewinder, his hand of razors slicing straight through the metal half of his face. There was an almighty screech as he dropped the droid and put a hand to his face. He pulled it away to see it stained black in oil; He was leaking. PAK-4 wasted no time making a follow up assault, grabbing a blaster rifle off the ground and firing three shots in Sidewinder's direction. The first two missed, but the third went straight through the soft flesh of his still human leg, causing him to fall to the ground, too injured to support himself. PAK-4 walked over to him, ready to finish the job, but suddenly a scream echoed through the cave as Juno was cornered by a camo droid. PAK looked over, distracted, so Sidewinder- using his good leg- thrust out, knocking he droid off balance. In one movement he kicked the gun straight out of the droid's hand, but at the same time brought his foot down, crushing it's arm in a vice grip. He grabbed PAK-4's chest plate and pulled him upwards sharply, ripping the arm off entirely, and causing PAK-4 to cry in a hideous grated howl. Every head, including those of the 2 remaining battle droids, turned to the scream, it's waveform painful to those around it. It didn't take long for Juno to finish off the two remaining regular droids.
"This. Is. Over." Sidewinder hissed at PAK-4, pulling him close.
"No. This… is not…. Over." The droid replied, struggling to process the words through its heavily damaged body. "You… You have still lost. The tra…. The traction beam is in full flow. Soon… Soon you will be killed along with your pathetic Republic."
"I wouldn't try going all bravado on me, not now."
"You… You are naïve. I am not alone. There are forces in the dark far greater than you can comprehend. When… the… the… the time is right, we shall emerge, and claim the galaxy for our own."
"No. We will defeat the Empire."
"I cut my allegiance to the Empire a long time ago. No… you do not know who we are." There was a long, uncomfortable pause. "I may have… may have failed in my personal mission, bu… but we shall succeed. You will become just another statistic. The Jedi order….. Count Dooku, General Grievous, The Emperor… Everyone. Everyone will die."
He could feel it building up inside of him as he listened to PAK-4 speak, but the last comment sent Sidewinder over the edge in rage. He threw the droid backwards over the floor, then brought his mechanical arm outwards, a small cannon protruding out of it. Instantaneously he let off three rockets, all running parallel until at the last moment they converged right in the centre of PAK-4's eye, blowing half of its face off. For a few seconds it just stood there, lifeless, and then collapsed to the floor, pouring thick oil and metallic residue from it's now almost certainly fatal wounds.

He had defeated him. But the tractor beam was still active. He hadn't won yet.

Quickly he called Juno over, who had watched the entire last stand in awe.
"Blimey" She said, joining Sidewinder by the centre console. "That was… Powerful."
"Needed to be. We can't let them win."
"You really hate droids, don't you?"
"Can you blame me? After what I've been through, I don't want to see another droid walk in this galaxy ever again."
"How's your leg?" Juno asked, pointing to the leg PAK-4 had shot him through.
"Painful, but I'll live. We need to disable this bloody tractor beam before I can think of sorting out my injuries."
They both checked out the centre console; Despite being blown up, it was still functioning perfectly fine. The tractor beam launch up was at 80%.
"What do we do?" Juno asked.
"We blast it." Sidewinder replied, and walked over to one of the cave's walls. Lined on the wall was a variety of high end weaponry, so naturally Sidewinder chose the rocket launcher.
"Stand back" He said to Juno, who positioned herself at the far end of the cave. Carefully he took aim, right at the intact guidance panel in the centre of the console, and let fly. The rocket hit the console with inch perfect aim, causing it to explode yet again in its brilliant blue inferno.

The good news: The tractor beam had been destroyed. The bad news: The cave was now collapsing. Fast.

"RUN" Sidewinder yelled, and they both made a run dash for the exit of the cave. Rocks were falling and the ceiling collapsing, but the end wasn't far.
"Watch out!" Juno shouted, as the entire front of the cave collapsed, almost crushing Sidewinder.
"We're going to have to climb over the slide"
"You first" Juno said, so Sidewinder hauled himself up on top of the rocks that had fallen down. Balancing himself, he offered a hand to Juno, who took it without hesitation. They jumped through the gap ahead of them, falling out of the cave just as the rest of the droid lair caved in. They were safe.
"What's that noise?" Juno asked, a weird humming sound filling the air. They both looked round, but found nothing, just trees and snow as had been there beforehand. Then they both looked up.

Sat above them, powering it's way past Gyndine's pull of gravity, was the biggest Imperial Star Destroyer either of them had ever seen, and it was being flanked by two Republic cruisers.
"Well" Said Juno, staring in awe, "At least they're not firing at each other."
"You know what" Sidewinder replied, also staring at the sky, "That might just be what worries me the most. Something is happening, and whatever it is, it's going to be big…"

TO BE CONTINUED