Inside his chambers, Emperor Suoidis looked out his massive window. He felt the presence of his 501st commander getting closer. Eventually, the room's door slid open, and the commander entered.
"I pray that you have good news for me, commander." The Emperor said, keeping his back turned toward the trooper.
"No, my lord." The commander said, sorrow in his voice. "Skywalker escaped." Although the stormtrooper could not see it, Suoidis' eyes flashed red, but only for a second.
"He escaped?" Suoidis asked.
"Yes, my lord."
"Thank you for the report. You will leave now." Suoidis said without emotion. The commander bowed and left. Captain Rotok then entered.
"What is our next move?" he asked. Suoidis turned to him.
"First, eliminate the 501st." he said. Rotok's eyes widened in shock.
"But my lord, that is our finest lei-" Rotok began, but the Emperor interrupted.
"Obviously not if they could not capture one Jedi. Their predecessors could kill over a thousand." Suoidis looked down at Rotok and grinned. "Skywalker is going to Kerran. Send our finest starfighter fleet to meet him when he leaves. Have them force him to Korriban, where this Star Destroyer will be. Make sure he enters this ship."
"Y-yes, my lord." Rotok bowed. "Should we head for Korriban now?"
"Yes." Suoidis said. The captain left.
Suoidis took his lightsaber hilt off of his belt and held it tightly in his gloved hand. He had lied to Rotok earlier. The New Emperor was excellent with a lightsaber, and in a few hours Suoidis swore that it would taste Luke Skywalker's blood.
Vader's blood.
The blood of Lord Sidious' true apprentice.
Which should have been him.
Suoidis grinned. The revenge against the Skywalkers was approaching.
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When he came out of lightspeed, Luke could see a bright light coming from the dark planet of Kerran.
"That's it, R2." Luke said, and his ship headed towards the light.
On Kerran, an old man in dirty robes saw a ship approaching his home. After over fifty years of waiting, an apprentice had come.
The mysterious (yet welcome) ship landed and a young man exited it. The boy was dressed in black, and the Force was strong with him. The old man grinned.
"Welcome, young one." The man said in a raspy voice. He shook the young man's hand. "What is your name?"
"Luke." Luke answered.
"Ah. Welcome Luke." The old man smiled.
"I understand you know the Dark Side." Luke said.
"Indeed I do." The old man said, walking toward a small hut. Before he could take another step, a blade of green plasma got in his way. The man turned, only to see Luke holding the weapon.
"A Jedi. You have come to kill me." The old man growled.
"No. I have come to ask you if you have created a Force Shadow." Luke said. He moved the blade closer to the man's throat. "Answer honestly. I will know if you are lying."
"No, I have not created a Force Shadow, but the Force has been clouded." the man said.
"Do you know what might be causing the Shadow?" Luke asked, sensing that the man had told the truth.
"Yes," the man said. "I have overheard Imperial transmissions on my old radio in the hut. People have been talking about a New Emperor named Suoidis."
Luke froze. A New Emperor?
"As you might know, Emperor Palpatine was a Dark Lord of the Sith. This New Emperor might be one, too." The old man suggested.
"What makes you think so?" Luke asked.
"Other transmissions have said that he is more powerful than some man named Vader." The old man said. "That is all I know."
"Thank you." Luke said. He turned off his lightsaber, entered his ship, and took off, leaving the old man alone once again.
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"Well, now I have to find the Imperials." Luke sighed. All of a sudden, his cockpit's view port flashed green, and the X-Wing rocked.
"What was that?" Luke asked. All of a sudden, R2 'screamed'. Luke looked to his left, only to see over a dozen TIE fighters approaching. Luke gasped. "Well, that wasn't too hard." He said. He turned toward the fighters and the fight began.
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"My lord, the fighters have engaged Skywalker." Rotok reported to Suoidis. "We will be jumping to lightspeed at any mo-" The Star Destroyer suddenly lurched and outside the room's window the stars became streaks of light. "Moment." Rotok finished.
"Thank you, captain." Suoidis said, and the captain left.
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"Why aren't they fighting back?" Luke wondered aloud as he shot down another TIE fighter. He was right. Except for the pre-battle shot, the TIEs had not fired at Luke once. Luke sped to the left as a TIE fighter nearly crashed into him. Now they began to chase him, forcing him farther and farther out into space.
"There's only one way to get away from these guys." Luke realized. Once again, he jumped to lightspeed- a feat that the TIE fighters could not perform.
Inside his TIE fighter, the fleet's commander turned on his radio.
"Skywalker has jumped to lightspeed." He said.
"Very good, commander. Any losses?" Suoidis' voice asked over the radio.
"Only three, my lord." The commander reported.
"How long until Skywalker's arrival?" Suoidis asked.
"About twenty minutes." The commander said.
"Perfect." Suoidis ended the transmission.
On his Star Destroyer, Suoidis put away his comlink and watched as the streaks of light outside his window became stars again. Down below was the stormy planet of Korriban.
Suoidis took out his comlink again.
"Captain?" he asked.
"Yes, my lord?" came Rotok's voice over the comlink.
"Prepare my shuttle." Suoidis ordered. "I am going to Korriban with Admiral Epon. Epon is healed, isn't he?"
"Yes, my lord." Rotok answered.
"Good. Alert him of his trip." Suoidis then turned off the comlink and looked down at the home of the Sith Order.
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Rotok entered Admiral Epon's quarters. The captain was still upset over the killing of the 501st legion.
Admiral Epon turned to Rotok. His face was still bruised.
"Yes, captain?" Epon asked.
"I'm sorry to be the one to say this, but the Emperor requests that you come with him when he goes down to Korriban." Rotok frowned. Epon went pale.
"Why?" he managed to ask. Rotok shrugged.
"I don't know." he said. "But the Emperor's shuttle is being prepared for the trip. You are to meet Suoidis down in the docking bay."
Terrified, Epon headed for the elevators.
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Luke was thrown forward when his X-Wing came out of lightspeed for no apparent reason.
"R2, did you do that?" Luke asked his droid. R2 beeped a confused 'no'.
"Well then what could have…" Luke trailed off as he saw a massive Imperial Star Destroyer hovering high above his ship. "They stopped us somehow! Those TIEs forced us here!" Luke looked down through his view port, only to see the Dark Side in planet form. Korriban.
"Where are we?" Luke asked. On his data screen came information about Korriban and how it was the home of the ancient Sith. "Oh, great." Luke sighed. R2 beeped again. Luke looked up at the Star Destroyer in time to see a high-class Imperial shuttle take off from it, heading toward the grim planet. Two TIE Interceptors followed it.
"Should we follow it?" Luke asked. R2 beeped another 'no'.
Then Luke didn't want to stay for it to return. He tried to fly away from the Destroyer… but he couldn't.
"They've got us in their tractor beam!" Luke gasped as he saw the Star Destroyer getting closer. He had a bad feeling about this.
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Leia sat up in bed with a gasp. It was 1:30 am on Coruscant, but Leia was wide-awake after that dream. In the dream, she had seen a Star Destroyer, a man who was reeking of the Dark Side, her brother in agony, and thousands of TIE fighters.
But this was no normal dream.
Luke was in danger.
Leia woke up Han, who immediately asked what was wrong.
"It's Luke." Leia explained. "He's in trouble. He's in a Star Destroyer and being held prisoner! We have to help him!"
"How the heck do you know this?" Han asked.
"I just know it. Come on!" Leia got out of bed and changed her clothes. Exhausted, Han did the same. He couldn't believe that he was going out in the Falcon at a time like this.
"Where is this Star Destroyer?" Han asked skeptically as he and Leia approached the Falcon. Leia closed her eyes and asked the Force.
"Korriban." She finally answered.
"I was there before the War a couple times when it was an Imperial port." Han said. He and his wife entered the Falcon and took off, jumping to lightspeed once they were in space.
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After reluctantly landing his X-Wing in the Star Destroyer's docking bay, Luke exited his ship. Twenty stormtroopers were waiting for him. Luke reached for his lightsaber-
A blaster bolt that hit the floor right next to his feet stopped him.
"Give us the saber, Jedi." The stormtrooper commander ordered. Seeing that he could not fight the twenty well-trained stormtroopers, Luke threw the lightsaber hilt into the commander's outstretched hand.
"The Emperor has been anxious to meet you." the commander said after handing the saber to another trooper. "He has gone to Korriban for a bit, but he will be back soon."
"Why does Suoidis want me?" Luke asked.
"That's information that I do not know." The commander said.
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The TIE Interceptors and the Imperial shuttle landed in the wilderness of Korriban. The landing ramp lowered, and Suoidis and Epon exited their craft. The two Imperial pilots also exited their ships.
"Stay here." Suoidis ordered as he began to walk up a small hill. He reached the top of the hill where there was a small mud hut. Suoidis entered the hut where he saw an old skeleton.
"Hello, Master Plagueis." Suoidis said to the skeleton. The New Emperor then saw what he was looking for: A scroll. He picked the scroll up and exited the hut. He walked back down to the ships and entered his shuttle. The two pilots entered their Interceptors. Admiral Epon was about to walk up the shuttle's landing ramp when it began to lift. The shuttle rose and took off with the TIEs, leaving Epon stranded on Korriban.
Inside his shuttle, Suoidis grinned. Epon would bother him no more.
Suoidis' comlink beeped. He activated it. A stormtrooper was on the other end.
"My lord, Skywalker has arrived sooner than expected," the stormtrooper said. "He has been put in a prison cell until you tell us to release him."
"Very good." Suoidis said. He then suddenly felt a very unwelcome disturbance in the Force. "Trooper?"
"Yes, my lord?"
"Send out every fighter we have and have them wait. The Millennium Falcon is coming."
"Yes, my lord."