Chapter 3

Yavin IV

19 years after the creation of the Empire

The humming of insects was the only sound heard by the Rebel guards just outside of a large temple being used as a hangar bay. Every once in a while, a gust of wind or the call of some animal would break the relative silence, but otherwise nothing disturbed their shift.

Dressed in gray and orange uniforms, the guards held blasters loosely at their sides, oblivious to the fact that there was danger waiting just yards away in an inconspicuous stand of trees to their left. From the shadows, Darth Taegous smiled. This would be all too easy.

Using the Force, Taegous made a small rock to the guards' right to go hurtling into the stone side of the temple, creating a loud clack! and causing both to jump and point their blasters at the harmless noise, completely missing the blur and snap-hiss sound to the left.

Neither had time to think any more before their heads hit the ground, closely followed by their bodies.

Switching off the crimson blade of her lightsaber as swiftly as she had ignited it, Darth Taegous hooked it back onto her belt. Once again there was silence, broken only by the sound of some large insect clicking. She quietly lifted a hand, using the Force to hurl the two bodies, including heads, into the jungle. By morning, nothing save for the bones would be left and these "Rebels" would assume some animal had dragged both guards off during the night.

After describing the situation to Exar Kun the night before, Darth Taegous had been given another mission: obtain a leader of these "Rebels" so both Kun and she could learn what events had occurred while they were in isolation on this deserted jungle moon.

So far, this had proven to be a very unchallenging request.

Taegous examined the steel blast doors that had apparently been hurriedly installed into the temple's entrance the previous day, looking for the touchpad so she could enter unnoticed. In the dim light generated on the horizon by Yavin's bright glow, she finally spotted the touchpad to the far left of the door and quickly moved to take a look.

With a quick scan using her Force abilities, the door slid silently open. It was a simple system, really; the touchpad required someone to put their hand over certain sensors on the front of the pad, and the pad compared the DNA registered in its system to the DNA of the person that was touching the pad. This flipped an "OK" signal in the wiring, which in turn unlocked the door.

All she had to do was flip that "OK" signal in the wiring by using her Force abilities, and she was in.

Partially she was disappointed. Exar Kun had never been able to send her on any missions before except for the time those pirates came back, and to finally get one and have it be so simple was, in part, excruciating. The side of her brain that craved excitement was greatly disappointed.

Then again, the mission was only beginning. As she stepped into the hangar bay, she saw numerous ships that required wings in an "X" shape scattered across the temple floor. All were powered down, and no pilots were left, all having chosen other rooms in the temple in which to spend the night.

The swish of her cloak and near-silent step of her boots were the only sounds in the otherwise dead-silent hangar bay as Darth Taegous walked toward another door that she knew led deeper into the temple. She had explored all these temples many times before, and knew every corridor and room.

As she reached the opening, she once again used her Force abilities to check for alarms, and easily deactivated a motion-activated trip wire before stepping through the door and into the hall beyond. Once there, she deactivated nine more.

Smirking at their obvious lack of preparedness, she walked through the dark corridors, making a right, a left, another left, and a final right. She could sense the pilots in the other rooms near the far side of the temple, but she could also sense that others were here, in this particular area. Since leaders generally slept separate from the masses, she could make an accurate guess that this was where she would find her… "volunteer."

Placing a Force sleep-net on all in the immediate area, Darth Taegous chose a door at random and slid the heavy stone away with a wave of her hand. Inside, sleeping on a simple cot, was the officer she needed.

"I have you now," she whispered, walking back through the temple hallways while using the Force to levitate the officer just behind her, still under the influence of the sleep-net.

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"Master, I have located and effectively obtained what I believe to be a 'Rebel' officer." Darth Taegous's voice rang out through the otherwise empty entranceway to Exar Kun's temple as the Rebel officer continued to float beside her, "He is ready for interrogation whenever you wish to commence."

"Excellent," came the cold whisper of Exar Kun as black energy swirled through the temple to form once again into the shape of her Master. "You may awake him."

"As you wish." Darth Taegous released her Force hold on the officer, lifting the sleep-net as he unceremoniously dropped to the floor and cried out as he hit the obsidian-black stone headfirst.

"What the stang…" he mumbled, obviously still oblivious to where he was, "Maj, I thought I told you never again to wake me up by flipping my cot over, you know how-" he broke off, blinking in the relative dark. His eyes widened as he saw the form of Exar Kun in front of him.

"Caf, that's what I need; I'm obviously still asleep…"

"You're not asleep, 'Rebel'," Exar Kun laughed, a cold, ruthless sound. "You're very much awake. And you are going to tell me everything that has happened over the past couple of dozen years… or you will have the honor of meeting my apprentice, Darth Taegous."

Darth? That was the same first name as Vader- or was it a title? It couldn't be that common… he stiffened, "I give no information to Imperials. Do your worst."

"You misunderstand. We don't even know who these so-called 'Imperials' are. You see, we have been… shall we say… trapped here for a very long time. The last information I obtained about the outside world was when my apprentice, Taegous, arrived here, at which point there seemed to be a 'Republic'…" Kun broke off, letting the Rebel process the information.

The Rebel swallowed, his throat dry. If these two didn't know anything, then they could either help the Rebellion or go against it. He had to be careful to survive to get back to base. "The Republic was destroyed nineteen years ago… Palpatine gained control and declared a new Empire in its place- with himself as the leader. The Senate has been destroyed, it is no longer a democracy. However, there is a Rebellion that's trying to restore the values of the Republic, but Darth Vader-"

Darth Taegous suddenly stiffened and interrupted, looking straight at the Rebel. "Darth?"

"He's Palpatine's right-hand man," the Rebel replied nervously, afraid he had said something wrong, "A mechanical monster. No one's even sure if he's human. He wears a suit, supposedly to keep himself alive; we think that he can't breathe without it, but we're not sure. I've heard he can choke people without even touching them…" he trailed off.

Both Exar Kun and Darth Taegous had been listening intently. This was important information. If there were other Sith remaining in the galaxy… all the rules were broken. The Sith were apparently in control again, but was this Vader the apprentice… or the master? And what role did this "Palpatine" play in all of this?

Exar Kun suddenly looked at the Rebel again, snapping "What of the Jedi?"

Shrinking back, the Rebel replied, "Gone. Destroyed by Darth Vader in the purges."

That was enough information. The Sith were in control of the galaxy once more, and Kun was sure that this "Emperor Palpatine" had another identity unknown to anyone other than this "Darth Vader."

Kun looked to Darth Taegous, "I think we have obtained a reasonable amount of information. Kindly take care of this 'Rebel' and return him to where you found him. I think the others might be missing him by now, don't you?"

A dark glint appeared in Taegous's eyes, and a small smirk appeared on her face. "Of course, my Master."

The Rebel looked relieved for a split second before he saw the look on Darth Taegous's face, and before the hum of a brilliant red blade made everything go black…

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"Maj, have you seen Greg today?" A voice crackled over the Twi'lek's comlink as he walked along the temple's perimeter, and he stopped to answer it, "No, why? I thought he was out on a scouting assignment."

"Maybe, but no one I've asked has seen him at all since last night, and this morning we discovered that all of our locks and alarms were deactivated last night. The two guards stationed outside the temple were found in the forest this morning- dead. They appear to have been… eaten… by some animal. It could just be a coincidence, but it looks suspicious to me… I can't even reach him over his comlink; it appears to have been switched off. Greg never does that, even at night."

A small frown of worry appeared on Maj's face. That was unlike Greg. "You say that no one you've contacted has seen him at all?"

"No one. Not even his close friends, including you."

The Twi'lek continued to walk along the temple's wall, thinking. The Imperials couldn't be here, could they? They had checked the entire planet, but it was always possible that they could have missed something… he turned a corner of the temple.

And then he stopped dead, color draining from his pale blue face, suddenly looking nauseated. Slowly he picked up his comlink again, swallowing with a suddenly dry, tight throat before speaking.

"Never mind; I think I found him…"

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"I don't understand it," Maj said, shaking his head and trembling, "It doesn't look like any animal did this; the cuts are too clean."

The Geonosian biologist, called Bul, clicked something in his native tongue, and his personal translator droid said, "And the marks don't match up to any Imperial blaster weapon we've seen, that's for sure."

"It just makes no sense," agreed a Mon Calamarian medic, Kahon, from the other side of the room. "We know for a fact that there are no Imperials here; we checked everywhere, and no sign of sentient life exists! The marks are too clean and accurate to have been made by any animal or weapon that we know exists; except, of course, for a lightsaber..." He paused to let that information sink in.

Maj paled again, and Bul rattled his wings in sudden understanding.

"…and no one we know has a lightsaber, except-"

"Vader," finished Maj. More desperately, "But he can't be here! We would know; our sensors would have picked up his ship or something!"

"Not necessarily."

"Darklighter," greeted Maj, turning to face the door, "You have something to tell us?"

"Unfortunately," Biggs Darklighter, a human with dark hair and moustache, replied. "Mon Mothma just sent me to inform you of something one of our Selonian spies recently uncovered while working in their shipyards. The Imperials have taken Selonia-"

"Stang," whispered Maj; that was an important system.

"-and have developed something we didn't think could be done, at least not for many years. They've created a complete cloaking shield."

Bul clicked and hissed, and the protocol droid translated, "No disrespect intended, but that's already been done. Many of our ships are undetectable to Imperial sensors."

"You misunderstand," Biggs replied, sitting down on the closest chair and rubbing his temples, "This cloaks against sensors… and it's visual."

"What!" Kahon sat straight up in his chair, "But that's impossible!"

Once again, Bul's clicking was translated by the droid. "Apparently not."

Maj whistled, "Which means…"

"… that Vader and his ship could be in plain sight right in front of this temple, and we would never even see him," finished Biggs darkly.

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Disclaimer: I do not own Star Wars, and all Star Wars content except for my OC Darth Taegous (me!) is (c) Lucasfilm Ltd. George Lucas owns everything.

Author's note: …and Chapter 3 finished, and it isn't July! Please review and let me know if you like it! Comments, criticism, anything is appreciated:) Next chapter should be sometime in the next two weeks or so.