Finally. The first Star Wars chapter. This one starts just after the Battle of Hoth. Thanks for all the reviews and to all those who made this a fave or a story alert.


Cold Encounters

This room was silent. All but empty it was a bare, cold and darkened room. Darkness pervaded it, not just from the blinds across the windows, but rather from within the room itself. Light itself seemed to be corrupted here in this presence of great evil. Circulated atmosphere cycled endlessly, a testament to the occupier's paranoia. But then again, didn't Sith always try to murder each other? Emperor Palpatine opened his eyes. His eerie yellow gaze slid slowly around the room that he used solely for his dark meditation. While he was in here none disturbed him, lest they suffer the wrath of the Dark side. And it was the Dark side he had felt. There was no possible way it was Lord Vader, he was on Hoth wiping out Rebels to his heart's desire, his obsession with hunting them having turned into a frenzy. That battle was not the disturbance he had felt, and Vader was not likely to attempt a coup just yet. Without an apprentice at his side he would not be capable of defeating the Emperor, and Vader had only recently killed his last near apprentice. So, if it was not his erstwhile apprentice, then who was it. It was no Jedi, of that he was certain; no Jedi ever came this close to the Dark if they could help it. The only one who had had the ability to do so, Galen Marek had vanished, not heard from since the Death Star and the Emperors spies had not uncovered his location. It was most definitely not the Rebellion, they spouted all that peace and freedom and democracy nonsense that was the trademark of foolish former senators like Mon Mothma and Garm Bel Iblis. They were not his concern, not right now. This was far too important to worry about just yet. The Emperor closed his eyes and tried to remember what he had sensed.

------------------------------

It was a cold, calculating evil. Silent, foreboding and watchful. Somewhere out on the Outer Rim, it was waiting. It was beyond his ability to reconcile, the sense was one of death, but the perpetrators were not alive, in the conventional sense. He could feel their pulsating signatures in the Force, but they lacked the sense of living that made all creatures had. Whatever they were he could feel their dangerous intent. For a brief moment he wondered if they were related to the Sith, but shook off that thought easily. The Sith had returned in force to the galaxy two and a half thousand years ago, roughly. They had lost their empire through internal fighting only to be finally finished off by Darth Bane a thousand years ago on Ruusan. Now he was certain that the only Sith left in the galaxy were he and his apprentice. But these newcomers felt different. Not Sith, not truly, but a cold calculating evil nonetheless. That had only been the first part of the vision. It had not been a true vision, but he had felt the disturbance in the Force and he knew something was about to happen. Palpatine recalled the second half of his sense. A sudden and violent change in the texture of the Force, centred around Hoth. It was not Lord Vader and it was not the Rebellion. Whatever it was it was nothing like he had ever felt before. With his attention on that part of the Galaxy, he doubted that Lord Vader had felt it. Vader was far too wrapped up in his anger and his battle against the Rebellion to have noticed something of the like and none of his officers were Force Sensitive at all. By and large Vader was blind to the disturbance, momentarily of course. He had probably sensed it, but could have no idea what it meant or really have cared right now. He was too engrossed in extermination for that. For a brief moment the Emperor wondered if Vader was zealous for some other reason, had he found himself another apprentice, he wondered. Vader seemed to be becoming too enthralled by the idea of toppling him from his throne, but since Marek he hadn't been able to find an apprentice of that calibre. Palpatine laughed quietly to himself. For a while he had had a new apprentice, a young boy named Tao, but the boy hadn't been able to touch the Dark Side in the way that Vader wanted so Vader had sent him away. Palpatine laughed out loud as he remembered the look on Vader's face when he had shown Vader the boy, telling him to kill him or he would kill Vader and take the boy for his new apprentice. Vader had been forced to kill him, despite his regret at the fact and then the Emperor had forced him to bury the child himself. Vader had been furious with him. However, at this point in time, with these new forces building, he could not afford to have similar "disagreements" with Vader. Vader was still an effective tool and he was a skilled warrior.

--------------------------------

The second sets of feelings were mixed. A turbulent mix of animalistic rage, fanatical devotion and simmering evil. There was also something else lurking in the shadows with those as well, something primal, something base, but made of pure malice and calculating insatiable hunger. For a brief moment he thought he had come across the holocron of Darth Nihilus again , the Lord of Hunger, that same hunger had burned in him as well, despite it just being a mere echo of his long dead powers. But they had disappeared from the area almost as soon as they had arrived. It was a lethal brew, and Palpatine was hard pressed to be unable to link the two events. There was no fate, there was the Force, there was no luck, there was the Force. Constantly the Jedi had told each other this, but they had failed to realise what exactly that meant for the future. Palpatine knew the answer, the future is always in motion, so be ready to seize it by the throat and carve your own path to destiny. These two were linked; the Force told him so, so he followed his philosophy. He had already decided to crush this threat to his power the moment it manifested itself, but before he could do so he needed information. It was part of the Sith philosophy that had been passed down from Master to apprentice, not least from his master to himself. Know your enemy, so you know best how to destroy him.

-----------------------------------

But who to send to investigate? Vader was already in the area, but he was consumed by a desire for battle, more so for desire to find that thrice dammed Alderaanian Princess, Leia Organa, the last of the Organa's and as difficult as they had all been. He would not be swayed from that pursuit. If Palpatine ordered him to do a search of the area for information Vader would, no doubt, do a rapid cursory search before blithely saying there was nothing and go chasing after rebels again. Besides Vader was not known for tact, he would kill as soon as he found anything, a bludgeoning hammer that crushed all threats to the Empire. No he was not suitable for this task at all. Palpatine turned his thoughts to his other servants who could possibly fulfil the task. The Inquisitors, led by their leader Jerec, they were skilled and their training called for the ability to question and interrogate. For a few brief moments the Emperor considered this, then discarded it. While they were good at their tasks Inquisitors were not suited. While they were all Force Sensitive and able to fight well, they were not adept at capturing an enemy. A Super Star Destroyer was not the best choice to avoid notice and Jerec was adverse to the thought of going anywhere without his new flagship. For that same reason the Prophets of the Dark Side were equally unsuited. Most had delusions of grandeur anyway. While still fanatically loyal to him, they caused problems with Vader and now was not the time for another one of their cloning incidents. Besides, he had them working on another project. At that his attention turned to his elites, the Emperors Hands. Force Sensitive, every one of them, aptly suited to any tasks he gave them, perfect for infiltration, they were his scalpel where Vader was a vibrosword. Acting alone, they could crack any safe and find anyone that managed to escape Vader's grip. One of them had unveiled a conspiracy to him merely seven months ago. Palpatine had the utmost faith in them and was fully aware that they had every skill necessary to perform this task. Blackhole would be best to send, until he remembered where Blackhole was. Keeping an eye on his Byss facility, Agent Blackhole was one of the more adept of the Hands, an experienced spy and an equally experienced administrator, he was more important where he was. Perhaps a better choice would be Arden Lyn, Sarcev Quest, Roganda Imerson or Jeng Droga. Palpatine smiled and stretched out with his senses to locate them and to briefly touch their minds with his own. Through the mental link he was able to locate them all, but to his displeasure none were within reach of the system in the time frame he needed. Imerson, Quest and Droga were all busy with important assignments anyway and Lyn was on the other side of the galaxy. However Palpatine still smiled. He had one other Hand who was perfect for the job, as well as being loyal to him absolutely. Best of all she was within range and the task she was performing was nowhere near worthy of her skills. She had one flaw, and that was that she believed herself special in his eyes. Palpatine allowed himself a small chuckle at that. A delusion but a useful one. Her service was valuable and for the moment that's what held her apart from the rest. Palpatine walked over to his throne, sat and opened his mental link to Mara Jade.

-----------------------------------------

Seated in his hovel on the planet Dagobah Yoda, last surviving member of the Jedi Masters and former Grand Master of the Jedi Order was stone still with his spoon halfway to his lips. He had been sitting like that for the past hour. Ever since he had felt the lethal touch of the Dark Side upon the galaxy he had been stone still. It was like nothing he had ever experienced. Darkness was gathering on the edges of the galaxy, and it would show neither side mercy in its quest to dominate all life. He could feel the darkness watching the galaxy, awaiting the proper time to strike. But he could sense something else. Neither were alive in the real true sense of the word, and in truth he could only sense the effect the second had on the space it passed through. The other, the first, he could feel them, but they too lacked the sense of life.

"You are correct."

Two shimmering Force Ghosts appeared before him, both instantly recognisable and both powerful and wise masters of the Jedi Order. Yoda nodded to them both as he set the spoon down carefully into his now cold stew.

"Master Qui Gon, Master Obi-Wan. Felt it too, you have?"

Both nodded, Obi-Wan slowly and Qui Gon quickly.

"It is like fire and ice, and rage. There is more to this than any could possibly imagine." Qui Gon said, his face still betraying his deep thought in regards to this development.

"Spoken to the boy, have you?" Yoda asked of Obi-Wan who nodded.

"I have, he intends to come to this planet to seek Master Yoda." Obi-Wan gave a wry smile, similar to the one he was used to giving in his younger years. His smile fell away as he thought of the boy, the son of his former apprentice and his own apprentice if only for a short time. "What is coming will be a great trial for him."

"If succeed he does, then worthy of the knight rank he will be."

Qui-Gon frowned slightly at that. "We cannot tell if this will be a long lived conflict, or a short one. The future is always in motion."

Yoda had to agree to that.

Obi-Wan added what he needed to. "This war will make or break him. He will face many hardships throughout its course, so we must prepare him for it."

Qui-Gon turned to Yoda having heard the wisdom in his words. "We need to train him to be the best he can be. He is well able to master the training. But I will say no more on that note, it would be best if another did."

------------------------------

Another figure faded into existence on his right and Yoda could only smile as he saw the familiar robes and mask of Revan, a great hero of the Old Republic era. Revan's own story was a great tale of redemption and most apprentices learned it, while in the Temple. In the years before the Purge however, the story had become a fable, a fact which may have influenced many Jedi and their behaviour.

"Master Revan."

Revan nodded in greeting to him. "Master Yoda. I must speak with you about the training that Luke should receive. And about how we need to deal with Darth Vader."

Yoda smiled, "Beyond redemption, he is not. Recognize that now, I do. However, not remembering this before, do I regret."

Beneath the mask Revan smiled. "There is still time." He said, "Vader knows of his sons existence and pursues his closest friends in the hopes of tracking him down through them. In the conflict to come, Vader will be forced to defend his children and to work with them."

The other three Masters nodded. "And of the boy himself?"

Revan smiled. "He will not be alone I think. There will be others, yet he will be the first. What he learns he must pass on. As a result we must train him to be more than just a Jedi Knight, he must be trained for a Mastership. With the others that will follow him he will become first amongst equals, and first of the new Order."

---------------------------------------

Darth Vader strode through the frozen halls of Hoth. The base was still shaking from the blast impacts of the AT-AT's that were continuing to encircle the base. Silently and in the privacy of his own mask Vader cursed the Rebels and their resilience. At the head of a column of snowtroopers he marched into the hangers, only to find the Millennium Falcon lifting slowly off and heading into the atmosphere, ready to escape the planet and Darth Vader's clutches. Vader whirled to one of his lieutenants.

"Contact the Executor and tell them that the Millennium Falcon will be leaving the planet shortly. Tell the Fleet to give chase." His voice was throbbing with anger, "And I want them alive! No excuses if they are harmed."

As the trooper scrambled to call in the signal, Vader whirled again. He couldn't feel Luke Skywalker anywhere. He cursed Obi-Wan up and down the sides of his mind.

"Continue your search men. Find any Rebels and bring them to me for questioning."

As soon as they had left on their mission Vader smashed the nearest crate across the room with a touch of the Dark Side of the Force swirling in his anger. Damn that son of a drabble Ozzel! He wished he were still alive, just so he could make him suffer. As Vader began to pace all over the hanger he randomly crushed pieces of equipment just to destroy something. Then for a moment, he paused. With heavy booted footsteps he walked over to the crushed crate and examined it. Typhon coils, they were used in the repair of hyperdrive generators. Hidden eyes swept over the area around where the Falcon had been landed. There were tools scattered all over the place and Vader summoned one of them to his hand. A welder. This could prove interesting. What's more it confirmed his suspicions.

"Lord Vader, we have a prisoner." The two snowtroopers held up the injured medic.

Without a word Vader picked him up in a Force Grip and snapped his spine. Then he threw him out of the hanger bay.

"Gather the troops and the vehicles." He rumbled, "The Falcon will not have gotten far."

---------------------------------

Luke Skywalker struggled through the snow towards the spot where he had prearranged for his X-Wing fighter to be hidden. Luke had always intended to be the last off the planet, mostly in an attempt to give Leia and Han a chance to get away. As he stumbled along he could feel the adrenaline slipping from his chest and could sense the sadness at the loss of so many friends that day. Dak was one that would always stick in his mind. The young gunner was only a recent addition to the Rogues, as evidenced by his overeager attitude. Now he was dead, and Luke would have to hold another memorial service for another downed squadron member. The last one had been only seven weeks ago, during one of Rogue Squadrons raids. The raid was a success, but Ric had been shot down as they were fleeing the battle. The older man had only been with them for a few months too, a native of Naboo and a skilled pilot. His death had been a blow for most of the Rogues, all of whom had not expected it. Now they were going to have to have another funeral, this time for a rookie who'd never had a chance to fight in space combat at all. A roar from behind caused Luke to throw a glance over his shoulder, and the Millennium Falcon soared past and climbed swiftly into the air.

"I hope Han fixed the hyperdrive." Luke muttered under his breath.

But if they were only just gone, that meant that the base was empty and it was only a matter of time until the Imperials decided that they should search the surrounding area for any survivors. Luke turned and hurried through the snow, his boots leaving deep impressions in the crisp snow surface. He crested the hill and stumbled down to where the last transport and his X-wing were located. In a few minutes, he was airbourne and headed for the stars.

--------------------------------

The X-wing soared into space, the powerful engines driving it forward at a huge rate. R2-D2, safely ensconced in his pod behind Luke's canopy twittered out a question.

"There's nothing wrong R2, just setting a new course." Luke answered.

Artoo warbled an exclamation.

Luke focused on his controls. "We're not going to regroup with the others," Artoo twooed at that, "We're going to the Dagobah sys… what in the world!"

Even Luke's untapped Force potential felt it. A surge in the Force, as if something was lighting up. A quick scan of the area showed no Imperials, so the X-wing turned and began scouting. There were seven planets in the Hoth system, with only one being remotely habitable, the rest just didn't have atmosphere. Luke could still feel something, but he wasn't quite sure what it was.

"R2, run a quick scan of the area and tell me if you spot anything."

R2 warbled a question.

"How should I know what you should be looking for, this is the Force we're talking about!"

R2 wheedled something else.

"Okay, I'm sorry, it's just," Luke peered out into the galaxy from his cockpit, "it felt really weird. Like there was suddenly a huge bright light in the Force that just flared into existence right over there."

There was another whoop from Artoo.

"You got that right. Keep your eyes open. If you see anything at all, let me know."

Text began to scroll across Luke's monitor and he looked at it, a cold feeling of dread slowly creeping into his chest.

Luke, the last planet's moon is gone. I'm detecting a massive power surge from that area.

"Oh no." the boy said quietly under his breath.

They rounded the planets horizon and Luke nearly had a heart attack.

----------------------------------

Hoth VII had a huge moon. It was nearly as big as a planet itself and for the entire time the Rebellion had been on Hoth their scientists had wondered what exactly had been there to allow a moon of such a size to remain a such a lose orbit to the planet. Now Luke saw why. Chunks of ice floated free of what lay underneath and hanging in the moons place, was a giant Space Station. While it was not the size of the Death Star it was frightening enough. But what was more frightening was the fleet waiting in front of it. None of the ships there were in any way similar to the ships he had seen while he had been in the galaxy. What was even worse was that his database itself, which had had more information than he did, was telling him constantly that it found no match. R2-D2 screamed a warning and Luke twisted around and began dodging projectile and plasma fire from a dozen fighters. Within a second however, the firing stopped and Luke sensed a change from the pursuing fighters. It was not a sense of hostility, as such, but it was a sense of caution and a sense of determination not to let him escape. Ha, he thought to himself, try it.

"Artoo, prepare for hyperspace jump to the Dagobah coordinates." The fighters swerved around the X-wing and blocked his jump path.

"Sithspit!" Luke hauled on the stick and the X-wing banked hard to the left and tried to get past the blockade. The result was a dive by one of the fighters to cut off that route. In essence Luke could try and escape, but he would crash into one of them in the process, killing himself in the process. Luke did the only thing he could in the circumstances.

"Artoo. Download a copy of all the information on the nav computer, and then fry it. Let me know when you've done that and then shut yourself down. I'll shut down all power after that."

After a minute or two, R2 tootled a confirmation to Luke, along with a note of warning, and then shut himself down. Luke smiled at the note and then switched off the controls as a tractor beam hit him.

Whatever you want from me, he thought grimly, I'll make sure you never get it.


There you have it. The first meeting is going to take place in the next chapter. A little note in regards to an questions about why Vader hasn't twigged about the new arrivals. He is so focused on chasing down the Rebels that he wouldn't be aware of anything else. Palpatine will notice because he's using a form of battle meditation to control his forces, thus he needs his senses fully expanded. Oh yeah, and Mara Jade is in this. She's too cool to be left out. Another note, Tao did exist and Vader did have to kill him. The conspiracy is the main plotline of Allegiance by Timothy Zahn, an excellent book you should read it. Stay tuned and leave me a review.