Chapter 1
Disclaimer: I don't get why I have to do this again, but my friends highly recommended it, so here it goes. I don't own Star Wars or LucasArts, or, well, anything George Lucas related. I wish I did. I don't.
Meverick casually strode back to his ship. True, it was small and junky, but that was fine with him considering he salvaged it from a junkyard on an abandoned planet he had been stuck on for 21 years. The ordeal at the cantina was unfortunate, but he still was glad he had stopped off on his way to Corusant; for if he hadn't, he would have been the latest victim of the Jedi Purge. His heart shook with the news of that tragedy, but he stood resolute. He had heard news that a small band of rebels were fighting against the newly formed Sith Empire. And he would join the Rebels, or at least help them.
As he entered the docking bay, and after he used the same mind trick to slip without being hassled by the guards, he boarded his ship. He would have got it fixed if he had Imperial Credits, but, alas, he did not. His first order of business was to find the "Rebel Alliance," anyway. Meverick, now seated comfortably in the cockpit of his junked Z-95 Headhunter-class snubfighter, punched in his intended coordinates. He then left the rest up to an advanced prototype navicomputer he bought from a "legal merchant." Meanwhile, he shut his eyes and fell into a deep meditative trance. He had much to think about, and it was going to be a long flight to Yavin.
Meverick dropped out of hyperspace perfectly, and only needed to spend 24 hours approaching Yavin IV (which happened to be on the gas giant's far side). When he finally landed, and activated his ship's automated defense systems he stood up and walked around, stretching his already cramped legs. When he was done stretching—which is not a long task for a Jedi—he reached out with the Force to guide his steps. So he was indeed surprised when he felt a very strong, but crude, Force image, not much older than a week come from his intended direction. And he wasn't sure but he felt another, relatively weak Force sense, not on this moon, but in the same general system. Could it be that the Rebels were working with another Jedi, or at least a powerful Force-attuned? Regardless, he had to find the base that would surely be where the Force image was strongest. In a feat only a Jedi could pull off, Meverick took off at a full sprint, and continued at that incredible speed for over an hour.
When he finally found the base, he stopped. He saw horrible things. The base he was hoping to find had been pummeled by laser fire, most likely from orbital bombardment in coalition with ground support. He walked into the rubble letting the Force guide his movements. After several hours of unproductive searching, he finally gave up. However, he turned to give the ruins one last glance. And he saw a small silver object. Stretching out his hand, it flew into his hand, the small datachip. He stowed it in his vest, and ran back to his ship; he prepared to leave.
And as soon as he left orbit, he saw another starship, a capital ship. Gray, ominous, and huge, the enormous wedge hung in the vacuum of space. Seconds, his ship was caught in a tractor beam. Just as he drew into the larger ship's fore-docking bay, his comm. system bubbled forth. "This is Imperial Star Destroyer Darkblade. Do not resist boarding and prepare for interrogation."
