Luke Skywalker walked down the hallways of the Jedi Temple. He looked out the transparisteel window, where he could look down upon Corusca City, the capital of the New Republic. Hover cars whizzed all around in traffic jams, honking. Luke sensed tension in them. He looked upon the skyscrapers, and even though Luke hadn't left Coruscant for what seemed like an eternity, it still was quite a sight to see so many buildings. Not far he saw Galactic Palace, which had once been the seat of Palpatine. Now it had become a government-run tourist attraction, which brought in massive funds used for diplomacy, building fleets in defense of Republic worlds and many other uses.
Luke looked forward and saw one of his former students, Lowbacca, and C-3PO. Lowie was now a Jedi Knight, and although Lowie was a Jedi and non-violent unless forced, he could intimidate anyone he stood up to. His huge, over two meter figure and large lightsaber at his belt made him look like a fearsome warrior. He was a great member of the Jedi Order. Master Skywalker knew better, though. Lowie was a Jedi, and was at peace with force.
"Why hello Master Luke!" C-3PO exclaimed, greeting Luke. "Lowbacca has been looking all over for you."
"Grrrrrr!" Lowbacca said to Luke.
"Lowie wants to know what's going on with the 'Sith' situation," C-3PO said. "I'm not sure what he means, Master Luke, but-"
"Threepio, don't repeat anything you hear in this room to anyone," Luke said. His divine influence worked great on anyone or anything, even droids. Although it was obvious 3PO would never betray his master's words, Luke's endless connection to the force gave him the knowledge of Yoda and the greatness of Obi-Wan Kenobi. Even without mind tricks, everyone seemed to see Luke's way of things.
"Yes, Master Luke. I would never disobey your word." Threepio said politely, and Luke smiled. "Thank you, Threepio."
Lowbacca cried out several more times with various growls, barks and grunts, the standard Wookie language. "He wants to know how he can help investigate this," Threepio promptly stated.
Luke nodded. "I will call the whole order to the audience chamber in a few hours. You will know when to come, Lowie."
Lowie growled in agreement and walked away, lightsaber clanging against his belt. Luke looked at Lowie, and thought of Chewbacca. Luke smiled, remembering the friendship between Chewbacca and Han.
I wonder how Han's been doing with his illness, Luke thought. He reached deeply into the force and reached out, across Coruscant. He felt his twin sister Leia. She was at peace and calm. Her worry for her husband was obvious. He saw Han in great pain.
It was a new virus that was nearly impossible to treat. Radiation therapy was the last hope, and it still hadn't been slowing it down. Luke thought back many years ago when his wife died. He couldn't bring himself to see Han die like Mara, weak.
Luke remembered his last memory of her, asking to take care of Ben. A surge of sadness swept over him, remembering her defending Ben to her death.
Luke began to connect to his son and nephew, who were on Yavin Four, taking archaeological samples. Ben Skywalker enjoyed the study and history of civilizations with use of the Force, and a surge of happiness swarmed over him as he saw his young adult son pull a dirt sample into a portable scanner. Ben, Anakin. You must return to Coruscant. A dark force is brewing, and your knowledge of the ancient Sith could help us.
Luke opened his eyes, breaking the connection, positive that his son had heard his calls. The Force was incredible in his family, and although Luke had lost his love Mara, he wouldn't lose his friend Han. He pulled his mini-datapad from his belt. He punched in the elder Solo household number, and heard a beep as Leia responded.
"Hello?" she said. Her voice was still calm and concise, even after her retirement years earlier as a diplomat.
"Hello, Leia."
"Luke! How have you been doing?" Leia asked
"Oh, its been great. How is Han going?" Luke asked Leia into the speaker of the datapad.
"He's in bed right now, I was just planning to go visit. Do you want to come?" Leia inquired.
"I'd be delighted. I'll see if these old legs can still get me to a hovercar," Luke chuckled, and Leia did the same. "I'll see you there," Luke said, and switched the commlink off. He limped with his cane down the hall.
Jaina Solo watched from far behind him, and was sad. She couldn't believe how weak her uncle really was. If it wasn't for the Force, he'd be just like my dad, laying in bed. She sighed, but was glad Luke was very alive, even if his physical condition wasn't top shape.
* * *
"Shield generators for the bridge are near the garbage chute! Green Squadron, fire torps NOW!" Bogaan yelled into his commlink. Laser cannon fire from the Carrack Cruisers shot at Green Squadron, and pilots dove out of the way. Torpedoes from nearly all of the X-Wings aimed straight through the shields and blew the garbage chute to oblivion.
"Green Leader, their particle shields are up as well as their ray shields!"
"Impossible… those things don't have that much energy!" Bogaan cried, and he fired two more torpedoes, directly at what looked like power generators. They dissipated against the shields, exploding on impact.
"My lord… On the grave of Mon Mothma, that is the most powerful thing I've ever laid eyes upon!" Bogaan cried, and heard the scream of Green Five. "Green Five?"
He's gone, Bogaan thought. Sadness crept over him, but his senses stayed alert as the mysterious Star Destroyer launched squadron after squadron of TIEs and Interceptors. "Green Squadron, these may be the guys with shields," Bogaan stated grimly, his face tightening.
"Let's find out!" Green Eleven cried, and put his X-Wing into full thrust, firing laser cannons at a TIE. The blasts did not damage the craft.
"I told you! We've got to get out of here! These ships are too powerful for us to fight!" Bogaan ordered, but he soon noticed only he, Green Ten, and Green Twelve remained. "R6, get us back to the command ship!"
He beeped and whistled out a readout. Their systems were no longer under their control. "Tractor beams," Green Twelve muttered.
A human face came across Bogaan, Green Twelve and Green Ten's message screen. "You are now property of the New Empire, as is your fleet. You will be interrogated if you do not wish to reveal secrets of the New Republic to us. I am Admiral Welsh, and I hope you do remember my face, bottom of the level scum. I am the first of a great breed of Second Order officers. You will reveal all, or the New Empire's face will haunt all of your nightmares forever."
A man in a dark hood walked in front of the screen, and Bogaan jumped in his seat. The deep voice came from the hood, and Bogaan was immediately terrified. The hooded thing's glowing eyes closed, and then opened. "Yes, be afraid of me. Let your fear guide you. With my fleet at my command, I will hammer your Republic and all of your allies, including the weak Imperial Remnant, to nothing but space dust. Who is the leader of your escapade?" The hooded figure demanded.
Bogaan's eyes narrowed. "I am the leader of this squadron."
"Annihilate the others," the figure ordered, and before Bogaan even processed what he said, laser cannons shot the X-Wings into nothingness.
"You! You're a fool. The New Republic fleet could defend the whole galaxy without problem. Your little escapade is just like all the other criminal organizations' that have tried the New Republic's patience!" Bogaan spit out in rage at the figure.
"I will no longer take this idiocy. I will personally interrogate the scum!" The figure said, and the transmission faded to black as the X-Wing was docked. Bogaan fiddled with his DL-60 Heavy Blaster Pistol. He pulled a power pack off his belt and shoved it in as the cockpit opened. He jumped out and two seemingly stormtroopers, but with black armor and large blaster rifles, fired at Bogaan. He ducked down and shot at the troopers, taking one to the ground. Laserfire zapped his X-Wing and he got up again, firing a direct hit on the trooper.
The dark figure then appeared in the docking bay. Wearing a dark brown cloak, it almost looked like an incredibly tall Jedi. He fired six times, but the figure held up a reptilian-looking hand and deflected the blasts easily. They created black scorch marks in the wall.
"You will tell me why you are here," the figure ordered.
"I'll never tell you anything!" Bogaan yelled.
"You will tell me why you are here," the figure ordered, but this time with a wave of his hand, obviously attempting a mind trick.
"What do you think you are, a Jedi? Your mind tricks-"
"Cease your talking. I am Darth Zen, and you now will obey me," Zen said calmly, but with a hint of anger.
"I'd rather die!"
"SO BE IT!" Zen yelled in rage, and he pulled out his lightsaber and ignited the fluorescent orange-blade. Bogaan dove out of the way. He knew anyone trained with a lightsaber he couldn't challenge. He fired his blaster, and the bolt was deflected easily, bouncing off Zen's blade of pure energy.
Jim tried again, but the power pack was out. He threw the blaster at Zen's head. Darth Zen laughed as he chopped the blaster into two pieces. Sparks flew across the floor. Zen then raised his lightsaber inches from Bogaan's throat. "I love seeing my enemies in pain… Like your New Republic ships outside of this command vessel. They are being boarded and taken over by my men as we speak."
"The New Republic will hear of this! You will be destroyed!" Bogaan yelled in a furious cry, as the black troopers locked his wrists behind him with stun cuffs.
Zen went into a whisper, pushing his face out of his cloak. "The New Republic has nothing that can work against my shielded TIEs, my Star Destroyer Four models with superior armor and energy production. My stormtroopers are supplemented with what I call ASTs, advanced stormtroopers: black-armored troopers with incredible skill and weaponry. My forces are superior to anything ever thought of, and I didn't even fund this little fleet I'm creating… I am far too powerful for anyone in the New Republic, or the rest of this galaxy to deal with!"
"You ordered those TIEs… YOU KILLED HER!" Jim jumped backwards, out of reach of Zen's lightsaber.
Zen took down his hood, and stormtroopers and Imperial officers alike gasped as the Falleen's face was revealed. The scar over his left eye was intimidating at the very least. Zen reached out with the force and unhooked the stun cuffs. He instead began to pull into the motor movements of Jim. He cried out as his body was controlled by another. I can't control my own movements!
"You know too much already, pilot. You will die here." Zen beckoned him closer, and put his arm with an incredible grip on Jim's collar. He pressed the button on his wrist commlink.
"Goodbye, R6." With those words, the X-Wing's power core overloaded and the starfighter exploded, rocking the docking bay.
Everyone was taken aback, and Zen dove backwards to protect himself. It was Jim's chance! He grabbed Zen's deactivated lightsaber on the ground and hooked it to his belt. This will work too, he thought as he picked up a blaster rifle from a fallen stormtrooper. He shot his way down the docking bay. He knew he had to get to the communication station of the Destroyer to transmit to Coruscant. My two years of experience in the Imperial Navy are going to be paying off right now, he thought.
* * *
"Luke Skywalker! I never thought I'd see a man like you here," Han Solo said. Luke shook hands with his old friend, who was lying in bed. "What have you been doing lately?"
"Working with the Council, like usual," Luke said, still smiling. "What have you been doing?" Luke tried not to show any sign of concern for Han, just in politeness.
"Ah… sitting around here. My days for the New Republic are over, as you probably guessed."
Its hard not to, he looks so weak. Luke tapped into Han's body. He felt the foreign virus inside, and it was making Han extremely weak. It shocked him what a great presence the organism had made, he hadn't seen anything like it in a long time.
"Master Skywalker?" Luke turned around and smiled. Leia wasn't even calling him by his own name anymore. "Would you like something to drink?"
"That's alright. I'm fine." Luke said. But Han sure isn't.
"I'm not," Han said in a serious tone. "The doctors tell me I only have two weeks to live…" Han's face went into sadness. "But I've known it was coming. My body, after all that smuggling, hiding, fighting… its too weak to fight it well. I'm not scared though, I've done enough for this galaxy."
"That is for sure," Luke said. "You flew me out of situations I thought I was going to die in. You and the Millenium Falcon flew us all across the galaxy and back, and somehow, that ship survived everything."
"Where is she anyway, Leia?" Han said, in his creaky old tone.
"Its on display at the Galactic Museum a couple blocks down. Its brought in immense funds for Republic's military defense," Leia stated in her collected, 'diplomatic' tone.
"Heh… She's a great ship," Han said weakly.
Luke smiled weakly. He felt horrible seeing his brother-in-law in such awful condition. "Well, I would stay longer, but the Council has much we have to address," Luke said.
"That's alright, Luke," Han said as Luke headed for the door.
"Goodbye," he turned around and waved at Han and Leia, and then stepped into the turbolift of their house.
* * *
Ben Skywalker's longish brown hair that barely covered his ears shone in the intense reflection of sunlight off of Yavin. Ben was only a teenager, but he knew how to fly a ship, and his father trusted him in being adventurous, because Luke was adventurous when he was a teenager. Ben was interested in studying history and archeology of the ancient Jedi Knights.
He himself was Anakin Solo's Padawan apprentice. Anakin was only a few feet away. He ignited his lightsaber and with incredible precision, sliced off a cluster of yellow berries like he was cutting through butter. Every berry was untouched. Ben was amazed. "How'd you do that?"
Anakin pulled four small berries off and popped them into his mouth as he spoke. "Lots and lots of training with the lightsaber. It is a Jedi's second line of defense, after all."
"Second?" Ben asked skeptically. "I don't understand. A lightsaber is what makes a Jedi."
"No, my young Padawan. The first is the Force. If you can use a mind trick or manipulate objects to defend yourself or others, you will not cause a scene with your lightsaber. If manipulation through the force or mind tricks do not work, then the lightsaber can be used. But never for attack. That is the way of the dark side."
"I understand," Ben said simply. Anakin knew Ben meant it, though. Ben was like Luke: he could make things sound simple without meaning to.
"We better start get going… Especially after Luke's call earlier. He sounds pretty serious," Anakin stated, staring at the giant gas ball of Yavin.
"Alright, I guess so," Ben said reluctantly, "But we did find a lot of this interesting stuff here, though. What do you think it's from?" Ben asked his teacher.
"Those artifacts are of a great dark force. Many young students of the past have been tempted to the dark side by the evil spirits here," Anakin said dryly.
"Like Master Durron?" Ben asked.
"My young Padawan, that will not be spoken of here or anywhere in this galaxy. Master Durron is completely at calm with the Force," Anakin assured him, with the slightest bit of disapproval.
"I understand, Master." Ben picked up their bag of stone artifacts and such and began to bring them back to the Serenity, Anakin Solo's personal Jedi transport. It was mainly used for diplomacy, but was fitted with many research and science modifications and sensors. It was a modified SoroSuub freighter, and its speed and maneuverability were at incredible levels. Its armor was as average as any ship, but its shield generators, modified by Anakin himself, created a shield as powerful as those of a Mon Calamari 120's shield system.
The ship had been used by Anakin now for only about a year, and was spotless to any type of damage. Anakin's excellent use of electronics and the Force allowed him to make great modifications. Anakin pulled the controller out of his belt and pressed a button, making a sliding sound as the boarding ramp extended downward. The ramp made almost an exhaling sound as it touched the humid and wet grass of Yavin 4. Ben walked up the ramp and headed toward the research laboratory in the back of the ship.
Anakin put the controller back on his belt as he walked up the ramp. The ramp slowly began to close, and Anakin walked through the winding hallways of the ship to the front. The ship reminded him of his father's Millennium Falcon. It was different in design, of course, but it was sturdy and had great emotional value attached to it. Anakin arrived at the cockpit. It was full of buttons, switches, levers, and all kinds of computer panels, but Anakin knew what every button did. He sat down in the pilot's seat, and pulled a commlink off a computer panel.
"Ben, are you ready for lift-off?" Anakin asked.
"Always, Master."
"Alright then, put on your restraining strap," Anakin said, and powered up the engines. The ship slowly left the ground, creating a loud sound that deafened nearby animals and creatures of Yavin 4. The ship then shot into the air, beginning its descent out of the atmosphere and soon Coruscant.