OH. MY. GOSH. This is SO awesome! 53 reviews for 5 chapters! THAT TOTALLY ROCKS! Do you know what this means? If you guys keep it up and review like this in the sequel, at chapter 10 I'll have around 100 reviews! TOO awesome! I'm so happy.

All right. Some of you don't know who Dash Rendar is. He's a character in Shadows of the Empire. For a full biography, go to: and type in the search Dash Rendar. There you go! There's a few pics of him, too.

RavenRulzRF: If you want a refresher, just read the little note above. Thanks for reviewing!

JediMan: That's ok. And, so sorry! Geenine will not be in this story, but she will be in the sequel, which will be up in about a week! Thanks for reviewing!

fanfictionfan: Does Jix have a little crush on Elena, you mean? Yes, he does. Nothing major. But since Elena's gonna get someone else, I have to find him a girl. Maybe you could think of one!

Adame shmi Skywalker Vader: Yeah, those are awesome. I read your story, and loved it! It was great. Thanks for reviewing!

Sci-Fi Sista: Hello again, haven't seen you in a while! Yes, Dash is going to be in the rest of the story. I love him, he's totally awesome. Thanks for reviewing!

Super Tinfoil Man Part 2:Yeah, Dash rocks. I was having trouble, too... stupid computers. Thanks!

Pip Baggins:You like the cliffhanger? Me too! If you want to know about Dash, just read the note at the top. There you go, and thanks!

Writin' Dude: The guestbook didn't work! Argggh... try doing again, maybe it'll work. I don't know, it seems like it's worked before... anyways, enjoy this chapter! It's the last one!

Jessica-Angel-Skywalker: You didn't? Neither did I! He he he! Thanks for reviewing!

ILUVZIM: Your comments never fail to crack me up. You are a very good guesser. The assassin doesn't know about her powers, but he is a total creep. The capturing part.. oh, you're getting warm! I'm sorry, I've never heard of Pink Five... but mtFbwy, too!

Diamond of the Moon: Thank you so much for reading my stories. The one where you didn't know if that was it, it was. It was a oneshot. This is the last chapter of this interlude, and then will come the MUCH longer sequel. Thank you so much for reviewing!

The last chapter... darn it. Oh well, then it's ONTO THE SEQUEL! WOO HOO!

Palps: Drat! I hate Elena. She's a Mary-Sue!

Everyone: GASP! HOW COULD YOU POSSIBLY SAY THAT? (Growls at him menacingly)

Eh-hem, Palpatine. Isn't there something better you could be doing... like cleaning the entire basement of the Reviewer Temple?

Palps: Darn.. just like Cinderella.

Wee-ell, not really. Cinderella's beautiful - you're not, Cinderella's sweet - you're not, Cinderella has a good singing voice - you don't, Cinderella isn't a Sith lord - you are, and Cinderella isn't evil and trying to control the galaxy - you are. Big differences.

Everyone: HOP TO IT!

You didn't think I'd give you a break, did you? Maul, Dooku, Xizor, Isolder - YOU TOO!

Sith and Princes: BLAST!

EEE he he he! Bet NONE of you were expecting that little piece of goodness, were you? I had planned on doing that as a surprise. Just a little note for future reference, though - in the sequel, please try to make your demands shorter. I try to put all of them in, but I can't if they're really long. Okie-day? Thanks!

Disclaimer: Of course I own Elena, I just don't own Star Wars. But who cares about that?

Chapter 6: The Final Confrontation

Elena and Jix darted to the front door. They could hear some roaring and voices inside. Suddenly having a strange thought, Elena put her head up against the door and listened closely.

"Elena, what are you doing?" Jix hissed, looking at her in complete bewilderment.

She put a hand to her mouth, motioning for him to be quiet. At that moment, she heard a loud crash from inside; and a voice shouted, "OW! CHEWIE!"

"Han!" Elena gasped in astonishment, and shoved the door open. Sure enough, she and Jix found Han rubbing his head and shooting evil looks at Chewie, who had accidentally whacked him on the head with a hydrospanner. Han and Chewie were very surprised to see them there, and stared at them for a second.

"Wha…?" Han trailed off, his eyes widening.

Dash burst through the back door, holding his gun up. "PUT YOUR HANDSSSSolo!" he morphed his words into Han's name as his face lit up with relief. "What in Force's name are you doing in my apartment at this hour? I thought you were making a trip to Jabba!"

Han shrugged sheepishly. "Eh, I decided to make a pit stop and come over to your place for a few days." He then turned to Elena and Jix. "Well, your Highness, it looks like we meet again," he grinned, bowing.

Elena blushed. "I'm not a 'Your Highness,'" she muttered, kicking the floor with a foot.

"Oh, forgive me," Han apologized with false bravado, "Sorry for callin' you that, kid." He sat down with a small broken droid in his hands and began to work on it.

She glared at him. "Don't – call– me–kid!" she growled, stalking off to her room and slamming the door shut.

The three Corellians looked at each other and shrugged.

"Anyone want a whiskey?" Dash asked.

The two others nodded enthusiastically. "Make that two," Jix added, plopping down into a seat tiredly.

---

The next two days passed quickly for Elena and the three Corellians. They hung out, taught Elena how to play sabbac, and discussed Elena's dilemma. Han thought she should stay at Dash's until Vader got home, Dash thought that she should try to make herself open so they could catch the assassin, and Jix just wished the whole thing would end. Elena's thoughts were so muddled, she didn't even notice that someone was following her on her way back from the store.

It was a cloudy day, and her father would be home in two days. She was relieved. But the ordeal with the assassin was not yet over. She knew in her mind that he had not given up looking for her yet, but she just hoped that he hadn't discovered her whereabouts.

But sure enough, a man in dark cloak was following her, his face covered. She hadn't even realized it. It wasn't until one of the bags she was carrying started to fall out of her hands did she see a dark shadow fall on her and a pair of large black boots step in front of her vision. She slowly looked up to face an evil face, jet black hair that was spiked, dark brown eyes, and a curving, menacing grin plastered on his face.

"Hello there, Your Highness," he began smoothly, his voice echoing in her brain.

She stared at him, unsure of what to say. Why everyone had begun calling her 'Your Highness' was beyond her, though.

"I see that you are ignorant of whom I am," he continued. "I am quite surprised."

"Then why don't you just tell me and get it over with," Elena shot back angrily, narrowing her eyes.

He chuckled, trying to infuriate her. "Such a temper, Lady Skywalker," he said. "Of course, I expected as much. I am Sedriss, Executor of Emperor Palpatine." He bowed shortly, if not mockingly.

He was rather unprepared for her reaction, though.

"I KNEW that old CORPSE was behind all of this!" she shouted furiously, leaping to her feet, blue eyes blazing in fury.

"Whoa, hang on, my lady," he said, a bit taken aback. "The Emperor had nothing to do with this. I did it all on my own."

She stared at him. "Why?"

After a slight pause, he slowly drew out the hilt of a lightsaber, hiding it under his cloak so that only she could see it. He then reached up to touch her face, causing her to flinch and abruptly pull back.

"I think you know why…" Sedriss trailed off, eyeing her with a look that made her skin crawl.

She gave him a disgusted look. "Go to Hoth," she snapped, and tried to stride past him.

He grabbed her arm and showed her the lightsaber again. "Ah, ah, ah," he tsked, "I would hate for you to lose a pretty arm or see your soft skin get burned by this lightsaber."

Elena looked at it and back to him.

"Let's go," he ordered harshly. "I think your Corellian agent will be pleased to see you."

She blanched. "What have you done to him?" she asked in a quietly dangerous tone.

"Oh, nothing much," Sedriss smirked, "Just made sure that he was safely caught until your return. Now come." He yanked her along, leaving her no choice but to follow him.

They strode along the side streets briskly until they came to a shadowed apartment. It appeared as if it had been abandoned long before, but Sedriss pulled her inside quickly. There she saw Jix bound to a wall by restraints. He looked fine, but his eyes were blazing as she had never seen before.

"Blast you, Executor, let her go," he hissed furiously, yanking at his bonds.

Sedriss only grinned. "And why on earth would I do that?" he questioned. "Elena is going to stay with me whether you like it or not. I assure you of that."

"I won't do it," Elena replied firmly. "I won't stay with you."

Sedriss turned to look at her. "Oh I think you will," he said, eyes turning yellow as he ignited his red lightsaber and strode forth to Jix. He pointed it at his chest, coming dangerously close.

"Now, I will kill him if you don't promise to stay with me," he said simply.

Elena cast Jix a glance and looked back at Sedriss. "What?" was all she could muster.

Sedriss gave her an annoyed look and drew out a gun, this time pointing it at her. "If you don't do as I say, Skywalker, then I will kill both of you. That was my original intent."

"Then why didn't you?" Elena shot back.

"Because you won me over," he answered. "I had always heard of the famous Elena Skywalker, daughter of Lord Vader, and was astonished that such a droidish and dark looking person as Vader could produce such a beautiful and alluring daughter."

"Oh shut up," she snapped, growing angrier by the second. "I don't want to hear of your sick infatuation of me… you'd kill me just as keep me. Just tell me what you want me to do."

While Elena was saying this, she was slowly using the Force to undo Jix's bonds. Jix, when I give the word, I want you to pull off your bonds and run, she told him mentally.

Jix gave her a bewildered look.

"Ah, I see," Sedriss chuckled, "that you have just as bad a temper as your father. Very well then." He began circling her, moving away from Jix.

Elena deftly moved towards him, trying not to appear suspicious. She continued to slowly undo his bonds.

As Sedriss named his terms, she moved closer and closer, but pretended to agree to what he was saying. She thought it was going well, but when she was right in front of Jix, Sedriss suddenly ceased talking and raised the blaster again.

"You move one more step and I kill you," he said coldly.

She raised her hands in pretended compliance but shouted, "NOW!"

Jix ripped off the bonds, leapt to the ground, and darted out the door. Sedriss bellowed as he saw him running and raised the gun.

The next few seconds were extremely muddled for Jix. The next thing he knew, the gun was fired at him – and Elena leapt in front of his body, taking the shot full force. She fell to the ground, and Jix picked her up and ran out of the apartment, Sedriss following them, still firing. Luckily the Executor had kept his speeder in the open, so Jix basically threw Elena in and leapt inside himself, gunning the engine. Before Sedriss could catch up, he was away.

Elena, who had quickly healed herself from the blaster wound, sat up and saw Sedriss still firing at them. She pulled out a machine blaster gun from a nearby compartment, aimed, and fired.

Sedriss took out his lightsaber and deflected the bolts, but by now the speeder had moved too far away for her to get a closer shot.

"Skyler!" Jix cried, "Are you okay? I saw him hit you right in the chest, so I thought that–"

"I'm fine," she quickly replied, "Listen, this has gone too far. This guy's an obsessive creep. We've tried everything, and now there's only one decision."

Jix glanced at her. "Which is…?"

"We go to the apartment. Quick as lightning pack our things. And get the heck out of here and find the Executor, where I'm gonna tell Dad the entire situation."

He nodded in consent. "Sounds fine to me," he replied. "Oh, I feel like such an idiot. I wasn't on the lookout for any danger, so he knocked me out while I was on my way home from a weapons store. Sorry that he got you."

"Hey, I told you I'm okay," Elena answered, putting a hand on his arm. "I used the Force to deflect the shot before he hit me." Of course that wasn't true, but she wasn't going to tell him that.

Jix eyed her. "Fine then."

---

The ship sped towards the large star destroyer, another ship on its tail. Jix and Elena were trying to get to the Executor, and Sedriss was hot on their tail. It appeared he wasn't going to give up.

"NO, listen," Jix was saying over the intercom, "My name's Wrenga Jixton, and I have with me Elena Skywalker. She's LORD VADER'S daughter! I don't have a clearance code because we took a privately owned vessel, but would you just let us in!" He was getting very annoyed.

There was a pause, and a stream of torpedoes came out at them from Sedriss's ship, causing some more damage.

"Very well," the other person said, "Docking bay 45 will be open. But who is that ship on your tail?"

"He's an Executor who's trying to kill us," Elena cut in, "So would you shut your mouth and open the hangar shields!"

The line was cut as the other person ended the link. Elena and Jix glanced at each other with a look that said: We really don't need this right now.

Jix steered the ship, putting on a burst of speed, right into the hangar, and they went sliding along the floor of the bay, knocking over some equipment. Sedriss's ship came in right after them, just as the shields were coming back up. Elena and Jix shut the ship off, ran down the hatch and into a turbo lift, Sedriss hot on their tails.

They ran through the halls, pushing past officers, droids, and stormtroopers, who wondered what in the heck was going on. They finally made their way up to the bridge level, where Elena ran as fast as she could towards the bridge, where she knew her father would be.

Suddenly blaster fire began to come at them, and they had to zigzag to keep from being hit by Sedriss. Elena thought she was going to make it, but suddenly she felt a strong hand yank her arm and pull her back. A red lightsaber flashed in front of her face, telling her that if she tried to pull away, she would be killed.

"Don't you think that you're getting away with me, Skywalker," Sedriss panted, glaring at her.

"Oh, I don't think it," Elena retorted, "I KNOW it!" With that, she kicked the lightsaber out of his hand and Force pushed him into a wall. She then darted onto the bridge, where she saw her father standing in his usual spot, looking out at the stars.

Putting on an extra burst of speed, past officers and stormtroopers, she ran towards the middle of the bridge, passing a startled Captain Piett and Admiral Ozzel.

"Elena!.." Captain Piett said, shocked. "What are…." He stared at her as she flew past him and then Sedriss, who had knocked Jix down and was chasing after her, an evil, twisted look on his face.

"Dad!" Elena cried, streaking up to him.

Vader turned around as she came towards him, surprised beyond belief. "Elena! What in Force's name are you doing here?"

Elena ran full force at him, skidding to a stop next to him, panting for breath. "It's him!" she gasped, staring wide-eyed at Sedriss, who had halted in front of them. "He's been trying to kill me for a week! He's an obsessive murderer!"

Sedriss glared at both of them. "She belongs to me, Vader," he hissed, drawing his lightsaber out. "Elena is MINE!"

Vader hadn't felt this furious since he didn't know how long. His large droid hands curled into fists, and everyone on the bridge knew right then and there that Darth Vader was not pleased.

"You will stay away from my daughter, Executor," he boomed, voice growing fiercer by the second, "Or you will feel pain as you have never felt it before!" With that, he raised his hand and Force pushed him to the ground. He then ignited his lightsaber and strode towards him slowly, breathing loudly.

When he was right over Sedriss, he lowered the lightsaber to his neck. "You are fortunate that you are a servant of the Emperor," Vader continued, "Because if you were not, I would give you a more painful death!" He then swiped off Sedriss's head.

Elena stared at him, sort of shell shocked. She was still trying to comprehend the situation.

Piett was certain that he had never seen Vader angrier than when he was right now. The Sith deactivated his lightsaber and turned around back to Elena, who was staring at the body. "Elena, are you all right?" he asked, coming towards her.

Slowly, she nodded. "Yeah… I'm fine…" she said in a nervous voice. "Just a little shaken up."

"I want you to tell me everything that has been going on," Vader ordered, putting a hand on her arm. "But why didn't you contact me?"

Elena raised an eyebrow. "Because… your comlink is turned off."

Vader looked down at his comlink, and sure enough, it was. Blast, he thought to himself, feeling a bit sheepish.

"Elena! Elena!" Jix yelled, running onto the bridge. He then halted and stared at the body of Sedriss. "Good riddance," he said haughtily, and turned to Elena. "You all right?"

She nodded. "I'm okay Jix, but what about you?"

He shrugged and answered, "I'll be fine. Just a little bruise on the back where I crashed into the wall." Jix winced and rubbed his back. Suddenly he turned to Vader and said, "I owe Elena my life. She took a shot full force when it was really going for me. Thank you, Elena." He held out his hand and she shook it, giving a faint smile.

"Anytime," she replied. "It was the least I could do… even after you dragged me to Corellia." She narrowed her eyes, but there was a mischievous sparkle in them.

Vader turned to Jix, who was reddening. "What?" he demanded.

"Erm… thanks for telling him," Jix shot out, glaring daggers at Elena. She only smiled innocently.

"You allowed my daughter to be subjected to smugglers, pirates, and ruffians!" Vader bellowed. "She could have gotten killed!"

"Dad," Elena interrupted calmly, "No one on Corellia hurt me, unless you count Sedriss. They were all very nice."

Vader stared at her for a second. "How is it that you get into these kinds of situations?" he asked finally, taking a moment to calm himself down a bit.

She grinned, a familiar grin that reminded Vader of his younger self. "Dad, I'm a Skywalker. It's genetic. We always get ourselves into trouble."

"You got that right," Jix muttered.

I love the ending to this! For all of you who don't know who Sedriss is, look him up on Wookieepedia. He's there, believe me. But I made him die in here, so it's different. Oh well. Now it's onto the sequel!

Palps: Blast. You mean we have to stand through a whole other story with ELENA? I can't take it.

You'll have to. I'm going to make you read it fifty-thousand times.

Palps: NOOOOOO!

If it'll make you feel any better, I'll just say that it's your destiny. How's that? (Palps just sobs louder) Oh well. His problem. Don't forget to review!