Chapter 2

He looked out the viewport of his ship, the Rider's Journey, and watched the immense Imperial Star Destroyer Stalwart locked its ion beams on the surface below. He could hear the Star Destroyer's communications to the surface. "Turn the Rebels over to our custody. If you refuse, you will be at the mercy of the Empire."

The surface of Garos IV immediately responded. "For the last time, there are no Rebels located in this town! We are all loyal Imperial citizens, and have done nothing wrong!"

Once again, his own comm lit up with the transmissions of the Stalwart. "I am sick of your lies! You will be punished for treason! Lieutenant Darkrider, fire at will!"

He sat straight up. Darkrider! No! It couldn't be! He watched helplessly as the Star Destroyer's ion cannons and turbolasers lanced the planet's surface to strike a particular city. His stomach wrenched as he flipped his comm switch and began to shout into it. "Freight Town, come in! This is Rider's Journey, come in Freight Town!" No response. Nothing but static. He was becoming frantic and then tried a different frequency. "Garos City Control, this is Rider's Journey, come in!"

Rider's Journey, we copy. What is the urgency?"

The urgency! What were these people doing? Twiddling their thumbs? Did they not notice the ImpStar Deuce hanging in orbit? "I cannot reach Freight Town. What is happening down there?"

He could hear a muffled swallow and the comm controller spoke in a deathly voice. "Haven't you heard? Freight Town was completely destroyed."

For what seemed like an eternity he sat in silence. The silence was then shattered by his own scream. "No! No!"

Blinded by hate and rage, he turned his small, but heavily modified YT-1300 toward the Star Destroyer. He began firing his concussion missiles at it, not caring where they were aimed. He could still hear the Star Destroyer's comm, and he heard "Return fire!"

Oh, no, they weren't going to get a chance at him. No way. Before he shot back into hyperspace, he gave the ImpStar his final goodbye for the time being.

"I'll see you in hell for this!"


Michael Darkrider jumped up abruptly. He was covered with sweat and his breathing was shallow. The dreams had started again. It had been almost seventeen years since the incident. Seventeen years. And now why, after all these years, did the dreams start again. He checked the chrono meter to see it was a little past midnight, although time was irrelevant in deep hyperspace. He still had another five hours to go before he dropped out of hyperspace, and had hoped it would have been a time passed in a deep sleep. So much for that.

He got up from his chair in the cockpit of his ship, a Corellian YT-2400, the Phoenix, and made his way to the fresher. He looked in the mirror above the sink. His green eyes were full of such hatred and rage, yet filled with pain and despair at the same time. His long, brown hair was pulled into a neat ponytail. His features were clean shaven, and he was very handsome. He would have to cut his hair soon, though. Yet, he didn't want to look like his brother. Not twins, yet they looked so much alike. The man he hated most - even more than Palpatine himself - was his own brother.

Jeff Darkrider.

Jeff had caused him all the pain and grief he had ever suffered. His own brother had fired upon Freight Town so many years ago, killing their parents in the process. But that wasn't all. He had destroyed the one person that Michael loved more than life itself, his fiancee Katherine.

He sighed and splashed cold water on his face. Katherine, his sweet, beautiful Katherine. She had never done anything wrong. She was so beautiful and innocent. Blonde hair, icy blue eyes that could melt his heart. He smiled at her memory and splashed more water on his face to wash away the coming tears. He made his way back to the cockpit and sat down again afterwards.

He wondered about the dreams again. They always started with this one. Then the other would follow. One of a beautiful woman with brown eyes and long, brown, coppery hair. She was always holding a lightsaber, and its amethyst blade was glowing. He was always there too, holding a saber of his own with a crimson blade. Somehow, he knew -no he felt- that the saber he held had belonged to her and that they were friends, not enemies. He could feel that he had strong emotions for her, and that some were mixed. Yet who she was and what they were doing were completely oblivious to him. He only wished he knew.

He knew it really wasn't a dream, but really was a vision of the future. Unlike his brother and entire family, he had been born with a sensitivity to the mystical energy field known as the Force. He kept quiet about it during the Empire's reign, and even after the New Republic was established and Luke Skywalker started his Jedi Academy. He didn't want to be a Jedi. He had his own problems, and did not need to help the New Republic with theirs when the Jedi were needed. He had a small, yet profitable smuggling organization. He had six Marauder Corvettes, two Corellian Corvettes, one Dreadnaught, several squads of X-Wings, Y-Wings, and Z-95 headhunters, plus three modified Corellian Light Freighters, his own YT-2400 and one other YT-2400, plus a YT-1300. Keeping track of everything going on in his organization was enough trouble.

For almost seventeen years, he had tried to hide from his past. Now, for some reason, it was coming forward to haunt him again. Why were the dreams occurring? And occurring in such intensity. In the past they had always been so unclear, yet until recently, they had become so clear it was as if he was really there. Who was the woman, and how was she entwined in his so-called destiny? He sighed and stared out the viewport into the star lines formed by his passing through hyperspace.

Suddenly, his ship lurched forward and dropped out of hyperspace. "What the . . . ?" he said, trailing off as he slapped controls. He looked ahead and almost gasped. His ship had dropped out of hyperspace to avoid hitting something that wasn't on the charts.

A fleet of Star Destroyers. Ten of them to be exact. And in the lead was a Super Star Destroyer.

"What the hell?" he shouted out. "This is supposed to be the Unknown Regions, no freakin' Imps are supposed to be here!"

Seeing this, his thoughts turned to Katherine. He could at last avenge her death against the Imperials. The rage and hatred he had felt moments before surfaced, smoldering him. Revenge. Revenge. The only thing that his mind focused on was revenge. Even if it killed him. He could at last be with Katherine. Although he had so much, he longed to die. Suicide had crossed his mind many times, yet suicide was never the way out. Unless it was a suicide run against ten Star Destroyers.

He turned on his ion cannons and turbo lasers, armed his concussion missiles and went straight for the lead ship. The Super Star Destroyer.

Like I said before, I will see you in hell!


Captain Electra stood on the Dark Force's bridge, staring out into space. Then, out of nowhere, a tiny Corellian Light Stock freighter YT-2400 dropped out of hyperspace. He blinked, wondering where in the world this ship had come from. He stared at, his curiosity fuming. Finally, a lieutenant spoke up. His voice was somewhat shaky, no doubt because he hadn't been under any combat for sixteen years. "Captain, the ship is preparing to fire upon us! Its moving to attack position!"

Electra smiled. A small ship against a fleet of Star Destroyers. Its captain was either courageous or naive. "Lieutenant, you may fire when ready." Ah, he would enjoy this. Killing someone who dared to invade his space. How he would relish the bright, red-gold glare that would appear when the ship exploded. He was shaken out of his reverie by the sound of bridge alarms, and silently cursed the lieutenant for activating them. In minutes, maybe even seconds, Jessica would appear on the bridge. And knowing her, she would demand him to stop. She was too kind. Not a true Imperial like he was. And he could not wait to take his place and show the fleet again what it meant to be Imperial.


Sitting in her ready room, Jessica Darken picked up her cup of cappuccino. In her short time on Coruscant - not really a fond memory for her - she had found the exotic drink to be slightly intoxicating. Its smooth chocolate flavor had a touch of coffee in it, and she always liked it when hot because of the whipped topping that floated on it. She took a sip and then looked up at the door to the room, a presence nearby. Sure enough, the door opened and Jeff Darkrider walked in. "Am I interrupting anything, Jessica?" he asked, he voice calm and pleasant.

She smiled up at him, a welcome sight after a long, tiring day. "No, not at all." She motioned to a chair beside her. "Have a seat. Can I get you anything? Coffee or something?"

He smiled at her. She was the admiral and he the lower officer, yet she always treated him like her equal. Like her best friend. "No, thanks, I'm fine. I thought I'd just come in and keep you company, maybe remind you to actually get some sleep tonight."

She then grinned. "Is it that obvious? If I don't finish these reports, then we shall never know how much resources the Empire has. I must do that for the --"

He held up his hand, and cut her off, about to say something himself.

And then, the bridge alarms went off, blaring around them.

Jessica jumped up and rushed to the door with Jeff in close pursuit behind her. They rushed to the bridge to find Captain Electra hovering around a lieutenant. And through the viewport she could see the lances of fire shooting from her Super Star Destroyer toward a tiny Corellian freighter. She stood, stunned and frozen in terror, as her ship returned fire again and again, hitting the tiny freighter and finally crippling it.

Dead in space, no weapons or anything, Electra was going in for the kill.


The cockpit was on fire. A small explosion in a control panel had sent him sprawling, and now, Michael Darkrider was barely conscious. His attempt was foolish, he knew, yet he would die knowing that Katherine would not be alone. She would not be alone.

Get out of there!

His voice was a hoarse whisper as he tried to look around to see who said that, "What . . . Who said that . . ."

It was no good, there was of course no one there. Yet, the voice came again, clearer and more constant.

Get out of here! Go! Now before the ship blows!

That voice. The voice from his dreams. Still, even in the hour of his demise, it haunted him.

NOW!

He jumped up with strength he never knew he had. He ran. He dug into reserves that he never knew existed. He ran and ran, almost blindly, yet the voice leading him.

Into the escape pod. Now! Before it's too late!

He jumped through the escape pod's door and hit a button. The door closed behind him and the pod ejected. Out the small window the pod had, he could see his ship dead in space as another bolt from the Super Star Destroyer lanced through it. The Phoenix then exploded into a bright flare of red and gold only to be snuffed out by the airless expanse of space.

Leaving him alone floating helplessly in space.


"No!" Jessica shouted as she ran over to Electra. But it was too late. One more beam from the Star Destroyer's extensive array of heavy turbo lasers pierced the freighter causing it to explode into an awesome sight of red-gold fire.

And still, she felt nothing but a life form out there. Alive and well.

Then she saw it. A tiny life pod careening away from the fire of the ship. Her senses told her a lone survivor, possibly the only one who was on the ship. The one she had told to get off his ship before it exploded, although she had no recollection of doing it. She turned to face the lieutenant and with her anger she choked him with invisible force hands. Not caring if she was giving into her anger. "Tractor the pod into the main docking bay! Now!"

She released him. He clutched his throat and choked out "Yes, Admiral!" as he worked the controls in front off him.

Looking to Jeff, she said, "Come on!" She then ran toward the turbo lift. Before stepping in, she glared at Electra. "You will pay dearly for this if the person dies!" Then the lift doors closed in front of her and Jeff.

With an evil smile, Electra spoke quietly to himself. "We shall see who pays, my dear. We shall see!"