Chapter 11: Under New Management

Darth Vader had just about finished his interrogation when the good news reached him. Death Squadron had finally arrived in this system, and would certainly put a swift end this world's resistance. The locals had gotten lucky to bring down one Star Destroyer, but they would not succeed at that again. Four more Star Destroyers, and the Super Star Destroyer Executor, would not be taken by surprise so easily. At best Death Squadron would need a few days, at worst a full week to establish order on this planet.

As quickly as possible Darth Vader had gone to the hangar and boarded a shuttle, which took off immediately and set a course for the Executor. As the shuttle ascended Darth Vader got a firsthand view of the crashed Stalker, and it looked even worse from the air than it did from the ground. Soon the shuttle was leaving atmosphere for space, and the view was quickly filled by the massive Super Star Destroyer in high orbit. It was certainly a welcome sight for Darth Vader, returning to a vessel that might as well be his own personal space fortress.

The shuttle flew into a much larger hangar than the one it had just left, this one holding enough TIE Fighters and Bombers to lay waste to an entire planet. Once the shuttle landed Darth Vader exited it, and he was greeted by a legion of stormtroopers standing at attention. Darth Vader walked between the ranks of the 501st legion, his handpicked soldiers that served as the best the Empire had to offer. After crossing the hangar Darth Vader went straight to the bridge, to have a word with the commanding officer.

When he got there Darth Vader saw the Grand Admiral, and he knew this was the alien that the Emperor sent to take over here. "Thrawn…"

"Vader." Thrawn was still sitting in Admiral Ozzel's chair, though turned around to see Darth Vader's entrance. "A pleasure, as always."

"I should have known the Emperor would send you," Vader said.

"Well his usual agent is busy at this time," Thrawn said.

"She usually is," Darth Vader said. He walked over to the side of the chair, and Thrawn turned it around to face the hologram Darth Vader now looked at. "Now then, let's get to the matter at hand."

"Yes," Thrawn said, eyeing the hologram of a crashed Star Destroyer. "What went wrong?"

"Overconfidence," Darth Vader answered. "We were certain that this world would be an easy conquest, so the former captain was reckless with his ship. The locals took advantage of that and struck with more power than we anticipated, and that is the result."

"I trust you relieved the captain of command," Thrawn said. "In your usual style, I presume?"

"He will not make his mistake again," Darth Vader assured him.

"I see," Thrawn said. He stood up and properly faced Darth Vader, looking him in the eye. "I will take over this operation now."

"Then I will take my leave," Darth Vader said, and he turned to leave the bridge.

Once Darth Vader had left, Thrawn turned toward Admiral Ozzel. "The survivors are to be debriefed immediately. All data collected is to be uploaded to the Executor and analyzed. And all current operations on the ground are to be put on hold until further notice."

Admiral Ozzel nodded. "Understood."

Thrawn walked over to where Ozzel stood, held his hands behind his back while looking out at the planet. "We will not charge into this blindly like Vader did."

If someone said lightning does not strike twice, that someone never met Fire Lord Ozai.

The battle in the Fire Nation capital may have been lost on the surface, but it continued in the tunnels that lay underneath the city. Fire Lord Ozai had made the enemy pay dearly for each foot they pushed him and his firebenders back, the bodies of electrified stormtroopers littering the path to the first emergency bunker beneath the palace. The doors to the bunker had been closed behind them, but the enemy had used powerful explosives to blast the bunker open. Even here the Fire Lord's rule was challenged, and he fought back with everything he had.

Ozai was shooting lightning through the hole in the bunker doors every few seconds, hitting and electrocuting several stormtroopers at a time with each lightning bolt. Firebenders beside him were throwing endless flames through the hole, burning the stormtroopers that Ozai missed. Meanwhile stormtroopers were shooting back into the hole, firing blindly into the flames and lightning hoping for a lucky shot. Occasionally a firebender would be hit by a blaster bolt, and the defense as a whole suffered as a result.

Even Ozai was beginning to tire, and the firebenders were growing more exhausted by the minute. Nonbender troops and palace servants collected on the way here were helping to mitigate fatigue, providing food and water to replenish the firebenders' strength. Still they could not hold out forever, not without reinforcements to relieve the exhausted firebenders. And the enemy just kept on coming with little regard for their own safety, throwing away a dozen lives just to take down one firebender or a chance to take down Ozai.

After drinking a whole pitcher of water, Ozai charged and fired yet another lightning bolt. "We will not let this end here."

Meanwhile, at the opposite end of the tunnel outside the bunker, stormtroopers were setting up a bunker buster missile launcher. They were almost ready to demolish the entire bunker when the ground shook, and they dismissed the rumbling because they were inside a volcano, where such things were expected all the time. But then the tunnel wall behind them exploded, large chunks of rock crushing a few stormtroopers. All the others turned toward the new hole, and the young girl and boy charging out of it.

"Oh Yeah!" Toph yelled, leaping out of the hole she just made.

Toph immediately punched the ground, making a small earthquake that split the floor and shook stormtroopers off their feet. Burning hot steam erupted through the cracks, venting some hidden lava chamber while also scalding stormtroopers through their armor. Toph then yanked down with her other first, pulling rock down from the ceiling to crush anyone underneath them. She then faced the entrance to the tunnel and did the same thing with both fists, collapsing the ceiling there and blocking the tunnel entrance.

During the earthbending madness Sokka cut down some stormtroopers with his space sword, and then spotted the missile launcher that now stood unattended. "Well that looks dangerous."

Sokka ran over to the weapon and raised his sword, bringing it down with enough force to cleave it in two. There was no explosive destruction from that, a slight disappointment for Sokka. But then he had to raise his space shield to block some blaster bolts, though not for long until Toph threw some boulders at them. Sokka then charged at the few stormtroopers still trying to get into the bunker, and he cut them down with his sword one by one. Pretty soon those were all gone too, and the fighting in this tunnel came to an end.

"Okay…" Sokka called out. "People are dead."

Fire and lightning stopped coming out of the bunker, and Sokka could see what was inside. The Fire Lord was breathing heavily and sweating like a turkey-pig, and the firebenders beside him were just about ready to collapse. Sokka walked down the scorched tunnel and entered the bunker, seeing several people hurrying with food and drink, among them Toph's old man Lao coordinating the effort. Yet something felt wrong about this, even when Sokka told himself it was just a holdover feeling from the war.

"Can't believe we saved the Fire Lord," Sokka muttered, sheathing his space sword. "Year ago me would call now me crazy."

Toph sealed the collapsed entrance with more rock, and then hurried over to the bunker. "I don't know how long that's going to hold. There's a lot more of those guys on the other side."

"Right," Sokka said. He then turned back to Ozai and the firebenders, seeing the poor shape they were in. "How are you holding up?"

Ozai had walked back to the small throne he kept down here and sat down in it, taking the chance to rest while he still could. "I'll live."

Toph walked up to her dad, felt his relief through the vibrations when he saw her, and the two hugged. "I wasn't sure you made it dad."

"I wasn't," Lao said, being content to hold his daughter for as long as he could. "You're tougher than I ever imagined."

Meanwhile Sokka kept his attention on the Fire Lord. "So… Are we going to fall back to one of your other bunkers, stay right here until we're crushed by numbers, or try to rush back out there and take as many of them out with us?"

"The city has already fallen," Ozai said, as much as it pained him to admit it.

"Hey guys," Toph said. She pointed to the sealed tunnel behind her. "They haven't tried to break through that yet. I think they're up to something."

"Probably," Sokka said. "I say we get moving before they do whatever it is they're doing."

Ozai nodded. "We'll take ten minutes of rest, then head up there for our final stand."

Those ten minutes passed by far too quickly, and far too soon they were on the move. Sokka and Toph led the way out of the bunker and down the tunnel, and Toph opened a passage into a different tunnel. In the side tunnel they went around the one taken by the enemy, and they found a route that led up toward the surface. At first it seemed fortunate that this tunnel was empty, until they reached an intersection that had to be occupied. Yet that was empty too, and that was only the start of new worries.

"Where are they?" Sokka wondered, space sword at the ready. "Toph, what do your feet say?"

Toph stopped and put a hand on the floor. "What the… they're heading up."

"You are certain?" Ozai asked.

"Yeah," Toph said. "Something is definitely wrong about this."

Despite their suspicions about the whole affair, they still continued on their way up toward the surface. They were moving slowly when they reached the palace basement, expecting ambushes around every corner and certain that finding a trap was inevitable. Even Toph was starting to suspect that they'd figured out how to fool her feet, even if there was no possible way for the enemy to know that's how she saw the world. But the ambushes were never sprung, and even in the palace's ground floor the place was completely empty.

"Where did they all go?" Sokka wondered, scratching his head in confusion.

Ozai walked over to the palace entrance, looking through the open doors and into the city beyond. "They're leaving. Why are they leaving?"

Throughout the city the stormtroopers were marching back to their landing crafts, recovering the weapons of the fallen but leaving the bodies behind. Their numbers had been thinned greatly since their arrival, and some of the landing crafts ended up with few passengers. Then one by one the landing crafts lifted off the ground, flying up into the sky and away from the capital. Soon the capital city was empty of invaders, even though no one could fathom why they left. When Sokka saw this development, he could not believe his eyes.

"This is either really good," Sokka said. "Or it is really, really bad."

Thrawn had left the Executor's bridge for his personal quarters, and he studied the data retrieved from the Stalker there. Of particular interest was the supernatural abilities some of the populace possessed, the obvious means by which they had amazingly managed to bring down a Star Destroyer. The potential uses for that made this world worthwhile, assuming the locals could be brought into the fold. He also reviewed Darth Vader's plans for this sector of space, and while the idea itself was sound the execution clearly needed a far different approach.

He also took the time to review reports from stormtroopers on the ground, many of which were not happy about the order to withdraw. It was rather unusual for an invasion to be halted, and many of the stormtroopers wanted to continue the battle. A simple reminder of the unusually high casualty count was enough to convince most of them otherwise, and that throwing more men at the problem wasn't going to solve it. Besides, those men down there needed to be debriefed on what they found down there, and they deserved a rest after a long day of fighting.

After a few hours there was a ring at Thrawn's door. "Enter."

The door opened and Admiral Ozzel walked in. "You sent for me."

"I did," Thrawn said. He tapped a button on his computer console, and a full color hologram appeared. "Tell me, what do you make of this?"

"It's a painting?" Ozzel answered. "I'm not really into that kind of thing."

The painting was one of many found in the palace under siege, copied on holofilm and transmitted to the Executor with the rest of the data. It depicted a ruler from a bygone era, one that had laid waste to all that stood before him, and held with reverence from his subjects. Above the ruler's raised fist was a ball of fire with a long fiery tail, seemingly scorching the heavens themselves, a common depiction of a comet in primitive arts. A label named this ruler as Fire Lord Sozin, and a caption listed this event as taking place just over a century ago.

"This would have been seen by every person walking into that palace down there," Thrawn said. "Imagine for a moment, you're entering a place of political power, welcomed by the sight of supernatural power. You're reminded of what your ruler did long ago, and that the heavens themselves had given him the divine right to do it."

Admiral Ozzel gave him a puzzled look. "I don't follow."

"Context, my dear admiral," Thrawn said. "It is clear that they perceive comets as celestial omens. This ruler used it to add legitimacy to his reign. And he was most likely feared by the rest of this world because of it. This is a society that still fears the supernatural."

"How does that help us?" Ozzel asked.

Thrawn leaned back in his chair and put his fingertips together. "The key to truly defeating one's enemies is to understand them. Once you do that, you can manipulate them into defeating themselves. In this case, I suspect that understanding their culture will be essential."

"We could just lay waste to the entire planet from orbit," Ozzel suggested. "Wipe them all out and be done with it."

"And waste a valuable resource, I think not," Thrawn said. "Vader had the right idea with these 'benders' as they call themselves. We just need to make them realize they would be better off under the Empire's rule. Then they would work with us rather than fight and die against us."

"That may take some time," Ozzel pointed out.

"We have it," Thrawn said. "The bigger prize is beyond the border, and it will take some time before it is ready for a full invasion."

"Hello… what do we have here?"

The Fire Nation capital lay in ruin, and after all the work spent rebuilding it too, seeming like such a waste. After all the lives taken by the stormtroopers, and after they all left, the city was just about empty of people. Only small groups of holdouts remained alive, no larger than half a dozen each. None of them dared venture out from their shelter, not while they suspected the enemy would return. They left the city deserted while the Fire Lord's group emerged from the palace, seeing what little was left of the once proud capital.

Although the loss of life here was tragic, it was not completely one sided. Throughout the city lay the bodies of fallen stormtroopers, their armor up for grabs by anyone that wanted to claim it for themselves. So many of them had fallen that one of their landing crafts had lost its entire contingent, and in the haste to withdraw from the city that landing craft had been left unattended. Sokka had been the first to spot it a few blocks away from the palace courtyard, and the ideas were already going through his mind.

Toph could certainly imagine what he was thinking right now. "Don't you remember what happened last time?"

Not far behind her Ozai wondered what she meant by that. "Last time?"

Sokka turned around, his face a little red. "Okay, so I made a ship fly out of control and crash. Now I know what not to do."

Ozai then noticed the mangled wrecks of a landing craft and a shuttle nearby. "That's hardly reassuring."

"I'll figure it out eventually," Sokka said. He resumed his walk toward the landing craft, eager to get inside. "Practice makes perfect, right?"

"You can't even get practice in," Toph said. She followed Sokka to the landing craft, and noticed something right before he was about to go in it. "Hey Sokka, wait a minute."

Sokka had just stuck his head in through the open door, and had to yank his head back out immediately. But instead of a blaster bolt being fired, it was an energy blast that just barely missed his face. "Whoa!"

"Tried to warn you," Toph said, walking up to Sokka. She banged her fist against the side of the landing craft a few times. "Suki, it's us, so please don't shoot."

A moment later Suki stuck her head out, and was clearly surprised to see friendly faces. "Sokka? Toph? I thought you guys were in space?"

"We came back," Sokka said. "Tell you later. Right now I want to know how you got in this thing."

"Not much to tell," Suki said. She gestured to some stormtrooper bodies nearby, with rather distinctive holes in them. "This was the last thing about to leave, we attacked, and we killed everyone but the pilot."

Sokka peeked inside the landing craft, seeing two Kyoshi Warriors interrogating a prisoner. "Huh?"

"Well that'll help," Toph said. "We need a guy that can actually fly this thing."

"Are you planning what I think you're planning?" Suki asked.

"That depends," Sokka said. "Are you thinking I'm planning on going back up there in this thing?"

"I was not thinking that," Suki admitted.

"Oh," Sokka said. "Well that's what I want to do. Do you think you can get this pilot to do it for us?"

Suki shrugged. "I'm not sure. But we can find out."

The pilot was a rather scrawny man, and he wore a simple black uniform that was now torn in places. He appeared to have been beaten somewhat, though not excessively so at the Kyoshi Warriors' hands. Those warriors were a little frustrated with their captive, who apparently hadn't given up any useful information. Granted, they had only been interrogating him for about five minutes, so it was to be expected that the pilot wouldn't be complying with them just yet. They likely would have moved on to more extreme methods, if they hadn't been interrupted.

"Alright, listen up," Sokka said as he approached the pilot. "We're going to be taking this thing for a little joyride. You can either show us how to do it, or be strapped in while I make this thing crash somewhere."

"You're not making any sense," the pilot said. "If you can't fly it, how can you crash it?"

Sokka grabbed the pilot, lifted him up, and brought him over to a nearby window. "Do you see that out there?"

The pilot saw lots of things out there. "You're going to have to be more specific."

"The wreckage," Sokka clarified, pointing to the smoldering wrecks of a landing craft and a shuttle. "That was me, and I can make that happen again, but with you in it."

"You're bluffing," the pilot said.

"Care to call me out on it?" Sokka said. He brought the pilot back to the cockpit, shoved him into the copilot's seat, and then sat down in the pilot's seat. "Let's see, if I remember right…"

The pilot watched Sokka start fiddling with the controls, and he panicked when Sokka almost pushed a certain switch forward. "Stop!"

Sokka complied, made a mental note about that switch, and looked at the pilot. "I take it you don't want to die in this flying deathtrap?"

"I can take you up to the Star Destroyer," the pilot offered. "That's the only place you can take this ship and not get destroyed when you reach orbit."

"Okay," Sokka said. He quickly got out of the chair, and gestured for the pilot to take it. "That's all I wanted."

Suki saw Sokka come out of the cockpit, and she glanced inside to look at the pilot. "Are you sure you want that guy at the controls to this thing?"

"Not really," Sokka whispered. "Still, it's really the only idea I have other than wait for the invaders to come back and finish us off."

"Point," Suki conceded. "So what's next?"

Sokka walked back outside and faced the others standing out there. "Alright, who wants to go to space? Toph?"

"No!" Toph yelled. "I remember what happened last time I went up there. No way am I flying in one of those contraptions ever again!"

"What happened last time?" Suki asked.

"No earthbending up there," Sokka answered. His gaze settled on Ozai, and he found it hard to believe what he was about to ask. "Fire Lord, space, do you want to go up there?"

"And leave myself at the mercy of this machine?" Ozai questioned. "No."

"Figures," Sokka admitted. He looked around, only seeing more shaking heads. "Anyone else?"

"I'll go up with you," Suki offered.

Tempting though that may be, Sokka shook his head. "We need you down here. If we do get shot down and die, we'd lose one of the only advantages we have."

"You need someone to watch your back," Suki insisted.

"I know that," Sokka said. He then looked at the rest one more time. "Anyone else?"

Various ways of saying no answered him.

"Fine then," Sokka muttered, going back inside the landing craft and heading for the cockpit. "Guess it's just me going up there."

The collective hangars of Death Squadron were getting a little cramped, despite the vast amount of space they contained across five ships. The problem was accommodating all the various smaller ships the Stalker had carried, and Star Destroyers weren't meant to hold an extra twenty percent of their rated carrying capacity. The Executor took on the bulk of the extra landing crafts and shuttles, but even then some of the arriving ships had to orbit the fleet while waiting for their turn to come aboard, much to the frustration of the officers trying to find space to put them all.

The delays were affecting outbound ships as well as inbound ships, something that Darth Vader found when he was ready to leave the Executor. But his presence was more than enough to speed up the process of clearing a shuttle for departure, and it would then open up a spot in the hangar for another ship to land. Given the nature of Darth Vader's departure he wanted to pilot the shuttle himself, as this was a trip he wanted to take alone and with little fanfare, where he could let the Force guide him and meditate on his thoughts and actions.

Soon enough Darth Vader was in the shuttle and flying it out of the hangar, and in relative silence he was left with only his thoughts for company. Although he was no longer in charge of the operation, he found comfort in that the campaign was still going forward. Sure he didn't like the guy the Emperor put in charge, but Thrawn was a capable commander in his own right, something that he could respect. Between that tactical mind and the might of Death Squadron, there really was no way that Thrawn could fail.

Once the shuttle was in open space Darth Vader took one last look at the planet, thinking about all the trouble it had surprised him with over the last few days. He then turned the shuttle away from the planet and toward friendly space, content with the notion that it wasn't his problem anymore. Darth Vader then fired up the shuttle's hyperdrive, the stars turned to streaks, and the blue void welcomed him on his journey back into the Empire. The autopilot took over from here, and Darth Vader could turn his attention inward.

Darth Vader had one final thought as he left. "Good Riddance."

"That… was not there before."

Sokka was looking through the windshield of the landing craft, sitting in the copilot's seat with a good view. The pilot had just brought the craft into space, which was a lot more crowded than it was the last time Sokka was up here. Instead of one large ship there were four like it, along with one much bigger than the others and far more terrifying. Apparently the invaders were taking the situation seriously enough to bring in reinforcements, and Sokka could only guess at how much firepower he was staring at.

"This just keeps getting worse and worse," Sokka grumbled.

The pilot, on the other hand, was feeling rather satisfied with the reaction of the passenger, indulging in a small laugh. "You're in for it now. That's Death Squadron. It has more than enough power to raze an entire planet from orbit."

"Transport one-one-three-eight, please wait for permission to board. There is a long queue and not enough space in the hangars at this time."

"Acknowledged," the pilot said, though tempted to inform that officer of his situation. The black sword at his neck convinced him otherwise. "Transport out."

Sokka put away his space sword, and started looking at the controls again. After watching the pilot for a little while longer, Sokka had a better idea of what the various parts did. "So… does this thing have any weapons?"

"Seriously?" the pilot asked, staring at Sokka. "This is a troop transport. It's not supposed to be doing any fighting."

"Oh," Sokka grumbled. He then jabbed his elbow into the pilots face hard enough to knock him out. "Boring conversation anyway."

Not wanting the pilot to sound the alarm, Sokka had made sure that couldn't happen. He then pulled the unconscious pilot out of the chair and gently put him down on the floor, and took his place in the pilot's seat. Figuring that he had seen enough to fly this thing, at least as far enough to crash it into the biggest ship and take out the invaders' leadership. Given the very low odds of survival now, Sokka figured that he could make his own demise mean something. But at the last moment he hesitated, his resolve wavering while truly thinking about what he was about to do.

A glance at a specific switch reminded Sokka of something, remembering that the pilot didn't want him touching it. "Oh why not, let's see what it does."

Sokka pushed the switch forward, and the entire view changed. The stars turned into streaks, which then became a strange blue void. And Sokka screamed, a lot.

"Did that transport just jump to hyperspace?"

Thrawn had gone back to the bridge to check up on things there, and he had been glancing out the window when a transport just disappeared. For a second there he thought he might have imagined it, until he heard officers making the exact same comment. It was to be expected that transport pilots would be getting impatient by now, but not enough to disobey orders and head back to the Empire on their own, or to risk getting completely lost. Something weird had just happened, and it merited investigation.

"Which transport was that?" Thrawn asked.

"One-One-Three-Eight," an officer reported. "It was the last one to report in."

"When did it report?" Thrawn asked.

"Only a minute ago," that officer answered. "It was the only report the transport made since the order to withdraw."

Finding this suspicious, Thrawn went through the likely scenarios in his mind. One in particular stood out as plausible. "There are stowaways on that transport. Hone in on that transport's tracking beacon. I want it found the moment it emerges from hyperspace."

"Yes sir," the officer said.

In the meantime Thrawn turned back to looking out the window, thinking about this latest development. He made a mental note to have a word with whomever it was that thought putting hyperdrives on troop transports was a good idea, even if they were the most basic models and only meant to be used in emergencies. It wouldn't get very far before the hyperdrive overheated and automatically shut down, and would be a simple matter to track its signal, wherever its bare bones navigation computer took it.

Assuming no one else found it first.

In a remote sector of space a small squad of X-Wing fighter crafts was scouting a solar system, flying past each of its planets and collecting data about them. Supposedly this system had a barren planet that could conceal a military base, and this squad was checking to see if that was true. However, when they got to the second innermost planet they found it barren, but with an atmosphere of methane and carbon dioxide. No good for a base that would be exposed to the environment, making this trip a waste of time.

The squad leader didn't like that, as this was yet another alternative that turned up bad. He heard some beeping from the droid hooked up to his X-Wing, and he agreed with the little guy. "I know R2, at this rate we'll have no choice but to build on Hoth."

Another pilot sent a message over the radio. "Skywalker, we're just about done here. I think it's time we moved on to the next system."

"Agreed," Skywalker said. He angled his X-Wing to fly around the barren planet to turn back toward friendly territory. "Make the jump as soon as we're past the- Whoa!"

A ship suddenly dropped out of hyperspace ahead of the squad, so close to the planet that it was in danger of falling into planet's gravity well. On a closer look that ship appeared to be an imperial troop transport, one that had clearly gotten lost somehow in order to end up here. The transport was on a vector that would skim the planet's atmosphere, getting a slingshot boost in speed from going around the planet. Yet somehow that didn't seem to be an intentional maneuver, if the feeling in Skywalker's gut was any indication.

"Did you see that?!"

"Of course I saw it," Skywalker answered. He kept his eyes open for more imperial ships, yet they didn't seem to be coming. "R2, can you figure out what that ship is doing out here?"

More beeps came from the droid, until it patched into an imperial comm frequency.

"You hit the switch, didn't you?"

"I wouldn't have if you mentioned what it did."

"Yes you would have."

"Maybe, maybe not."

Skywalker figured now was good time to interrupt. "Excuse me, whoever you are, I can't help but notice that you're lost."

There were some surprised yelps, a loud thud of someone hitting someone else, and then a young male voice took over. "Yes, yes I am lost. And quite frankly, I have no idea what I'm doing, again."

Either it was the legit honesty in the voice, or a gut feeling, that had Skywalker inclined to believe it. "Don't worry. You're going to be alright. Just follow my instructions and we'll get you somewhere safe."

A/N: This chapter originally had Suki going to space with Sokka. That was causing problems further down the line, so I tried to edit Suki out of the scene she was originally in. I failed in that regard at first, hopefully I haven't missed anything else.