"Not good, not good, not good!" Obi-Wan muttered continuously as he ran. Ever since he had met Anakin, ever since that day, trouble had always been following him!

The sudden thought of his friend caused a deep pain to arise, but Obi-Wan fiercely fought it back down. Now was not the time, particularly when he had Imperial stormtroopers chasing him!

Rounding the corner, Obi-Wan leapt off the Imperial frigate just as the ramp closed. Thank the Force for that.

Since he had decided to investigate the disturbance, Obi-Wan had stowed away on a frigate only to find out it was carrying a squad of Imperials. The only problem was that he had no idea where he was since he had to get off after they discovered his presence.

Obviously he wasn't on a planet. He was in a space station of some sort, possibly an outpost. As Obi-Wan wandered around (since he was thankfully in a disguise that allowed him to look like a traveler) he stopped and asked one of the shopkeepers where he was.

"Well, you're near air lock Besh," the shopkeeper replied. "Do you need directions?"

"Yes," Obi-Wan immediately nodded. "I need to know where the directory is."

The shopkeeper pointed out the directory and Obi-Wan was on his way. When he looked at the top of the directory, his eyebrows raised. He was on an Imperial outpost called Outpost 37752.

Something about the outpost seemed odd to Obi-Wan. It wasn't that there were Imperials constantly going about the area… it was something in the Force. A Force imprint of some sort was lingering the air. It was familiar in a way, and yet it wasn't.

More than confused, Obi-Wan merely followed the Force and allowed it to take him to the laundry room. He walked right towards the incinerator on the other end of the room and he gazed down. Why was he looking at the incinerator?

In his mind, he heard a distant breathing. It was rhythmic and constant, but it sounded far too harsh to be natural. Where had he heard that sound before?

A memory of a HoloNet news report Obi-Wan had seen in Mos Eisley suddenly came to mind. The report had shown the monster that Anakin had—no, it showed Darth Vader. Though the reporter was talking, there had been a short clip where it was audio as well as visual. Vader had said nothing, but his breathing could be heard in the background. It sounded just like the breathing Obi-Wan was hearing now.

Vader had been here. Recently.

Jifo went as fast as he could. He could feel the anger emanating from a certain part of the ship. When he arrived, he realized it was the medical ward. What he saw made him literally wretch.

Blood was floating in the air, as well as broken tools. In the midst of it were Rebel corpses, some contorted and others completely torn up as if they had been through the internal workings of an AT-ST. Off in the distance, Jifo heard the sound of something stabbing into flesh, followed by a scream of pain.

Jifo floated towards the sound despite every sense and thought in him saying otherwise. He could see him now.

Darth Vader was just releasing his most recent victim. In his hand was a laser scalpel that was still activated. The Rebel floated away, motionless. Jifo didn't know how he could vomit anything up considering he had already spilled his lunch and dinner all over the hallway earlier, but he somehow managed to do it once again.

The noise he made in the process attracted the attention of the Sith Lord. Vader looked at him with fierce yellowish eyes that made him look demonic. Jifo fearfully tried to get away when he looked at those eyes. However, the appearance of more Rebels from the boarding party interrupted that thought. One of them immediately began to fire, even catching Vader off guard, though the latter quickly compensated.

Vader began to fly towards the Rebel, but Jifo shot the target before Darth could get to him. The others were quickly killed by Jifo's skillful aim.

Darth Vader floated without moving. The only noise heard was his panting. He didn't face Jifo.

"Little One," Jifo said in a fierce tone. "You have to calm down. I know you're upset about Kobayashi, but you need to stop. Koby is alive. He's just seriously injured. We have to find a doctor to treat him. Where are all the doctors?"

Vader didn't move.

"Lo, where are they?"

Still, Jifo got no response.

Getting desperate, Jifo yelled, "Lord Vader!"

Immediately Vader stiffened and faced him. Jifo took the opportunity to quickly say, "Little One, stop."

The yellow in the boy's eyes faded away and Vader broke down right there, tears leaking out of his eyes as yelled in frustration about not wanting anyone else to be hurt. Jifo even heard him saying he could have stopped it.

"No, Little One, I don't think anybody expected this," Jifo comforted him. "Now tell me, where are the doctors?"

"I—I don't know," Vader hiccupped. "I think one was in here when a Rebel shot him."

"What about all the patients?"

"They're dead," Vader moaned. "Including—including…"

"Including who?"

Vader couldn't say it. He merely pointed to one of the corpses. Jifo gasped, horrified.

Palpatine meditated as he impatiently waited for the shuttle to pull out of hyperspace. Vader's anger had died down, but it wasn't entirely gone. He could sense it simmering. Lord Vader still had an animalistic rage that was waiting to emerge once again. However, something was holding it back. Someone was holding it back. Interesting.

"Your Imperial Majesty, we are exiting hyperspace," the pilot informed him.

The hyperdrive disengaged and Palpatine immediately stretched his senses. They were at Outpost 37752, the last known location of Death Squadron. Palpatine was rendezvousing with a fleet tasked with accompanying him wherever he went. Palpatine had already sent orders that the fleet was to locate Death Squadron.

Palpatine set foot upon the outpost and looked about. He sensed someone nearby…

Cursing, Obi-Wan hid his Force signature. What in the blazes was the emperor doing here? Why did Obi-Wan have to show up when Palpatine decided to visit? Blasted Imperial shuttle…

Obi-Wan quietly and discreetly made his way across the outpost towards air lock Aurek. He saw a shuttlecraft and immediately boarded it. There had to be a way to get out of here without being discovered.

Ryatsi moaned as she regained consciousness. She had been knocked out when an explosion threw a crate right into her after the artificial gravity had died. Apparently it was still offline, though for some reason the battle seemed to have paused for a moment. Ryatsi looked outside of the window to see the Rebel ships just floating there in space. Did they lose power, too?

Suddenly, Ryatsi felt gravity throw her to the ground. She heard the sound of the generators coming to life once again and the lights flickered before activating. The air immediately began to grow warmer. All around her she could hear people and machinery landing heavily upon the ground.

Immediately, the other ships began lighting up once more. The turbolasers began to fire on both sides and the Executor rocked with an impact.

Cursing, Ryatsi pulled herself to her feet. How long had she been out? What had happened in that time? Where were the two doctors she had been with?

Off in the distance, she heard footsteps approaching. Looking about frantically, Ryatsi found nothing to hide behind. Instead, she turned and ran as hard as she could. The footsteps increased in volume, meaning that whoever was following her was getting closer. Ryatsi glanced back and saw the shadow of someone. The person was Human, and she recognized the Imperial-style hat.

"Thank goodness," she muttered before calling out. "Who's there?"

An Imperial officer turned the corner. Ryatsi immediately recognized him. "Jifo!"

Jifo looked horrible. His normally very dark-skinned face was yellowish green. His eyes looked sunken, though alert. He immediately stumbled towards her.

"I—we need your help," he said.

"What? Were you injured?"

"No," Jifo shook his head. "It's Koby. He's been shot."

Ryatsi immediately searched the corridor for the medical pack she had been carrying. Though it took her a couple of minutes, she managed to find it. "Where is Koby?"

"In Little One's quarters," Jifo replied.

"Little One…" Ryatsi cursed. "Where's Little One?"

Suddenly, Vader appeared around the corner. He looked at her solemnly. He had blood all over him.

"W-what happened to you?" Ryatsi blurted out.

"There's no time to explain," Jifo said breathlessly. "Please, Ryatsi, we have to get to Kobayashi."

Ryatsi nodded and Jifo led her back to Little One's quarters. Darth Vader, however, didn't follow.

Immediately catching sight of Koby, Ryatsi dropped down beside him and got to work. "I see you did a quick field dressing,"

Jifo nodded. "Yes. Just take care of him, okay? I have to go."

"Right,"

When Jifo returned to the corridor where Vader had stayed, he found him collapsed against the wall, staring at the floor with dead eyes.

"Little One, snap out of it!" Jifo said, shaking him slightly.

Vader didn't react.

Growling in frustration, Jifo stood up and activated his comlink. "Ens. Hu to Lt. Sanus,"

"Jifo, is that you? Force am I glad to hear your voice,"

"Numel, what's going on? You were leading the security team dispatched to handle the boarding party."

"We did handle the boarding party… at least the main bulk of it. Apparently they split up."

"I know," Jifo replied. "I found their corpses with a very angry Lo."

"What?"

"Just tell me the status of the boarding party. Are they all gone?"

"So far security seems to think so."

"Good," Jifo muttered. "I'll talk to you later."

"Hey, wait, how are the others?"

Jifo paused before saying, "Mormi's dead. Kobayashi is badly injured. I don't know about the others."

Numel cursed harshly over the other end.

"I'll talk to you later," Jifo said again before cutting the connection and contacting Kerrick. "Lt Cdr. Chelcu, are you there? This is Ens. Hu,"

"Jifo, where in the blazes are you? You're supposed to be at your post!"

"I know, but I had to find Lo,"

"He's with Kobayashi!"

"No, sir, he's not. Kobayashi is wounded. Little One got away from him and decided to take out the Rebels on his own. He's with me right now."

"Well get him and get up here, we need help!"

"Yes, sir,"

Jifo clipped his comlink back onto his belt and knelt down by Vader. "Come on, Little One, we have to go to the bridge."

Jifo only received a blank stare.

Sighing, Jifo literally hauled the boy to his feet and guided him to the turbolift which then took them to Deck 85. They reached the bridge just in time to be thrown into the depression by the catwalk when turbolaser fire hit the Executor.

"Get to your post!" Capt. Mentzer ordered.

"Sir, what about Lo?" Jifo asked.

"I'll take care of him, just go!" Mentzer shouted back.

Jifo immediately left Vader and went to his men, reliving an ensign who had been covering for him while worrying about her own men. He began to sift through the targets. Apparently in the time he had been gone, once the power returned, they had managed to take out two capital ships. The Rebels were retreating.

"Aim for the flagship," Mentzer said.

"Yes, sir!" Jifo and the other gunners responded.

Obi-Wan did his best not to pant for air. He was in an enclosed space with the luggage in order to avoid detection on whatever shuttle he had boarded. From what he heard, the shuttle was going to a planet called Nihoma.

Nihoma was an Outer Rim planet that was extremely loyal to the Empire. Obi-Wan knew very little of its culture or population since he had never been there before. He did know that he probably wouldn't be getting off there in a while, though. He needed to lie low after attracting the attention of an Imperial legion of stormtroopers and then being spotted, even if for an instant, by the emperor himself.

Ryatsi sighed in relief as she leaned against the wall beside Kobayashi. At least he had finally stabilized.

Grabbing her comlink, Ryatsi put in the frequency for Jifo. "Ens. Hu, are you there?"

"I'm—a—little—busy," Jifo responded in a tight voice.

"Just tell me the status of the battle," Ryatsi said quickly.

"Rebels—retreating—got—to—go—now,"

Jifo cut the connection. Blowing out a breath, Ryatsi muttered, "At least they're retreating,"

Kobayashi moaned faintly and Ryatsi's attention immediately returned to him. "Koby, how are you feeling?"

Kobayashi's eyes fluttered open and he looked at Ryatsi. From his expression, he seemed to be able to focus rather well, which was a good sign. "I feel like… like I j-just got run over by—by a… bantha…"

Ryatsi laughed. "Thank your lucky stars that you're still alive, Koby. If it weren't for Jifo giving you a field dressing, you would be dead right now."

"R-remind… me to thank—thank him…"

Ryatsi put a reassuring hand on his shoulder. "I will. Now get some rest."

"W-where's Vader?"

"I believe he's with Jifo right now,"

"Is he… alright?"

"For the most part," Ryatsi said, looking away.

Ton Mentzer wiped the sweat off his brow as he was informed that the Rebel fleet—or at least what was left of it—had escaped. Death Squadron had been so devastated in the battle that Ton didn't even bother trying to follow the fleet.

Beside him, Vader sat on the floor, slouched. Ton had originally thought that he would get in the way, but he had been unnervingly subdued since arriving on the bridge. In fact, Ton wasn't even sure if he was conscious. The blood all over him certainly made Ton nervous.

After he received word that the Rebels were no longer a threat, Ton knelt down by Vader to check up on him. "Lo…?"

Darth Vader was unconscious and feverish. Immediately, Ton called for a doctor. Dr. Tunbaoth arrived first, and immediately, Lt Cdr. Chelcu and Ens. Hu were assisting her in taking Lord Vader to the medical wing.

After they had left, Ton approached Cdr. Chupa-Pau. "I want a damage report."

Cdr. Chupa-Pau gave Ton a look that wasn't very promising. "We lost the Stalker and the Accuser, sir. No one aboard survived. The Avenger is badly damaged. Everyone else sustained minimal damage."

Ton studied the situation for a moment before saying, "Get repairs done as quickly as possible, commander. We have to get out of here."

Cdr. Chupa-Pau gave Ton a quizzical look that the captain decided not to answer. His reasoning for fleeing the system was rather simple. The emperor had to know about this… but not from Death Squadron directly… and Death Squadron would not be anywhere near Dantooine when it was investigated.

The entire purpose of Death Squadron was to locate the Rebels and eliminate them. Its side purpose was to instill fear in those who might join the Alliance and to enforce order. However, Ton had a sinking suspicion that if he personally informed the emperor of this, he wouldn't live to see another day.

Review!