By: padawan
Chapter 1: Mutiny
A high-pitched beeping sound informed Han Solo that they had little time until the reversion to real space. He stood up, followed by his Wookie partner Chewbacca, and headed through the corridor, towards the cockpit of his ship, the Millennium Falcon. As he sat down in the pilot's chair, the tone hit its highest mark, and Han pulled the hyperdrive lever toward him, and the lines of hyperspace outside the cockpit faded into stars. In front of the Falcon was the blue-green planet of Dellalt.
"Been a while, Chewie. Think they'll remember us?" Han asked his partner.
The Wookie grumbled a reply, and Han shot him an annoyed glance. This was where Han, without knowing it, had turned his life around. After coming to the planet looking for treasure about 11 years earlier, Han had made the decision to make another Kessel run for Jabba the Hutt, which in turn led him to Luke Skywalker, and the Rebellion.
"I know Chewie. We're here for the New Republic this time. Start monitoring the comm frequencies."
Chewbacca turned in the cockpit and went to the chair behind his own, and began to fiddle with the controls. After a few moments, he howled a victory cheer, and then muttered something to Han.
"Ion trails? This planet's so far away from the Perlemian Trade Route, I'm surprised it's even on the star charts." Han's partner grunted a reply, and Han swung the Falcon to the left, away from Dellalt.
As the Falcon's trajectory changed, so did its view. A starless expanse now took up almost the entire view afforded by the Millennium Falcon's cockpit.
"That wasn't there last time. Chewie, full power to the deflector shields. Weapons at standby. We're gonna go check it out." Chewbacca howled, and Han turned to stare at him. "Chewie, we're the only New Republic ship out here. It would take days to get someone else." The Wookie grumbled in defeat, and retook his place next to Han in the oversized copilot's chair.
As Han took the Falcon closer to the black spot, the ship began to rumble. Chewbacca growled something.
"Yeah, I think you're right. Chewie, full reverse!" Chewbacca rumbled something, and hit a switch on the board.
"Chewie, reverse!" Han repeated to his partner, who howled back. "Angle the deflector shields forward!"
Despite their best efforts, the Millennium Falcon continued to accelerate toward the black spot, until it completely surrounded the Falcon. The last thing Han remembered was quiet howl of Chewbacca as his head slumped forward and hit the control panel.
"Admiral Sarden! Something's happened to Dellalt!" The navigation officer shouted over the screech of the alarms.
Admiral Sarden turned, fire in his eyes. "Shut off the alarms! Get emergency crews down to the docking bay, and deploy Avenger Squadron! Have them create a perimeter around Insidious and make sure nothing gets past them! And Lieutenant," he called to one of the bridge officers, "Get our turbolasers and deflector shields back online as quickly as possible. Divert power from artificial gravity if you have to." The admiral turned to the navigation officer. "What was that about Dellalt?"
"It's…gone, sir."
Sarden gazed skeptically down at the officer. "What do you mean it's gone? Planets don't just disappear. It must be another malfunction. We'll get it fixed. Until then, get down to the sublight engines and help the maintenance crews with whatever they need. We'll call you when the navigation controls are fixed."
"Yes, sir." The officer got up and was gone.
Sarden turned, and observed the chaos around the bridge. The Insidious had traveled to Dellalt, and all of a sudden, everything had gone black. When he could see again, Sarden had called for a damage report, and found that almost all the ships systems had gone offline. That had been an hour and a half ago, and since then, his crew had managed to get artificial gravity, main power, and life support working again.
Sarden was a tall man, well into his fifties, but he looked no older than thirty-five. His hair was graying around the temples, but that was the only thing about him that allowed others to know how old he was getting. He had a goatee that was pitch black, which gave him a roguish look that intimidated those who were unfortunate enough to get on his bad side, and some who didn't.
Sarden also had the respect of every person under his command. He wielded a silent authority, and none challenged him.
"Sir, we have a problem." The intercom blurted into his thoughts. Although he knew the voice to be that of Dalton, the second in command of the Insidious, the voice was a tone too high, and his last word skipped.
Sarden sighed. The Insidious was in bad shape, and now there was another problem to deal with.
"What is it?" Sarden growled into his comlink.
"Sir, we've gotten reports from the lower decks that a group of stormtroopers are attacking our maintenance crews. I've sent a squad down to investigate, but I haven't heard back from them."
"Get a team of shocktroopers. Wait for me in the shocktrooper barracks. I'll be there shortly." This was all he needed. Not only was his ship vulnerable, but now he had to put up with a small mutiny.
Sarden looked to the Lieutenant First Class, who was seated at one of the stations on the upper level of the bridge.
"You have the bridge. Get this ship up and running by the time I get back." Sarden ordered as he turned and left.
It was a short turbolift ride to the barracks of the Insidious, and when he got there, Sarden found it abandoned. Now he was starting to get angry.
"Dalton, where are you?" He barked into his comlink. There was no reply. He was about to go explore further into the barracks, when he heard a groaning from a weapons storage room on his right. He turned and entered the room, and saw a shocktrooper lying on his back, with a hole in his chest.
"What happened soldier?" Sarden's voice had instantly changed.
"I…I was…ambushed…"
"By who? Who ambushed you?"
"They…did…the other…shock…troopers…"
"What about Dalton? What happened to him?
"A squad of normal troopers came…they were led by…someone…and then…Dalton bowed…and they were about to leave…but I stayed…and Dalton ordered them to shoot me…the other man was laughing…"
Sarden's face paled. "Dalton? Order to fire on one of his own men?"
"It was the…man…he did…something…my body wanted to…follow him…but my mind didn't…" The trooper groaned in pain, and Sarden could see that he wasn't going to last much longer.
"Don't worry soldier. You did good. I'll get a medical droid down here, and we'll have you fixed up in no time." Sarden knew that would probably become a lie in the next few minutes, but he tried.
"I…don't have…long…Admiral…but…" The trooper pointed to an emergency bacta container on the table.
Sarden jumped up and grabbed it, realizing that this could save the troopers life. He raised the container to the trooper's mouth. The trooper swallowed the liquid bacta, and Sarden could see that the sedative was already starting to work.
"You'll be ok." Was all Sarden said as he stood up to leave. He pulled out his comlink, called for a medical droid, and then he contacted the bridge.
"We have another problem. Something is happening to the crew. Give the orders to shoot on sight anybody not wearing an Imperial uniform."
"Yes, sir."
Sarden picked up the troopers blaster rifle, and as he left the barracks, he saw a medical droid already arriving.
When Sarden arrived at the bridge, the first thing he noticed was the quiet. The second was the stormtroopers and shocktroopers standing on the bridge. And third, was a man dressed in black, staring out into the darkness.
"What are you all standing around for? Shoot him!" Sarden yelled, as the troopers all turned to face him. The man began to laugh, and Sarden's heart skipped a beat. Something was wrong.
All of the troopers raised their weapons, barrels at Sarden. He hated to fire on his own men, but it was either him or them.
Time seemed to stand still. Sarden saw himself pull the trigger, and as the first trooper fell, he pulled it again. As the next trooper fell, time resumed its normal pace, and Sarden dove behind a computer terminal to his left, just as blaster bolts began to rain on the turbolift door.
Sarden reached up, fired multiple times, and was rewarded with the thud of bodies hitting the floor.
The smell of burned wires hit Sarden, and he knew that his cover wouldn't last very long. He reached up and shot twice more, but heard nothing.
Over to his left, a member of the bridge crew pulled out a blaster of his own.
Good. I'm not alone. Sarden thought.
The crewmember raised the blaster, and pointed it at Sarden.
He ran out from behind the computer just as a blaster bolt scorched a hole where his head had been moments before. He charged across the walkway, and down into one of the bridge crew pits, firing as he went. By the time he got across, seven more troopers had fallen.
Sarden looked up and realized that he now had a clear shot at the man in black. He ducked back down, as more blaster bolts hit the screens above his head, sending sparks down to sting his arms and neck.
He raised his blaster and fired again. One of the stormtroopers fell.
Sarden aimed his blaster at the man's head, and time once again stood still. He watched as the bolt of red energy flew away from his weapon, and was joyful as he saw that his aim was true.
Just as the shot should have killed the intruder where he stood, he raised his right had, and the bolt disappeared.
It disappeared! Only Lord Vader could do that! He must be a Jedi! Sarden realized too late, as the man threw a ball of dark energy at Sarden.
It hit him and threw him backwards, into the computer panel. He lay there, as the man in black began to laugh.
Sarden felt the Star Destroyer start to rumble, and realized that the sublight drives had come back online. He saw his second in command, Dalton, stand over him, and order two troopers to stun him and take him to the detention level. Just as the trooper fired, Sarden thought he saw a star appear outside of the ship, amidst the darkness, and begin to grow.
