The grass of his homeworld crunched beneath his boots as he walked towards the boundaries of a city he had seen many times. He walked through the streets amazed at the emptiness of the main market, a place that was usually bustling with activity. The open-air market next to the open waterway led to the city's spaceport, already several Lambda and Sentinel-class ships could be seen lifting off and landing. The scream of TIE Fighters sounded through the air, sending their observer to scan the sky for a sign of their arrival.
The place was distinctly Imperial, from the ships in the sky to the propaganda posters on the walls. He reached for his blaster pistol, only to find it missing. He was weaponless and defenseless in an Imperial-controlled city, and despite what he felt he continued to make his way to the spaceport. It was if he was being forced to walk towards it.
He arrived at his destination minutes later, the roar of Imperial ships giving away to silence. There was no voice of warning as he looked up at the "decorations" that had recently been added. Anger rose within him as he stared at the bloody head of his father, the lust for revenge upon those who had committed this horrible deed was enflamed at this reminder.
"You want to avenge him, don't you?" asked a voice behind him. "But you can't, can you?"
Kyle Katarn turned around from the gruesome sight and was face-to-face with a middle-aged man. Black hair fell down from his head onto the shoulders of deep-blue armor, on his belt was a strange looking cylindrical device. An evil smirk appeared on Exar Kun's face.
"You're far too weak to do it. You've seen what the Empire can do, what it has in store," Exar Kun taunted his prey.
"I seemed to do pretty well on Danuta," Katarn replied.
"Mere child's play compared to what's to come," Exar replied. "The only way to survive," he pointed to the severed head of Morgan Katarn, "and avenge your father's death is to unlock the power you have within you."
"Why should I trust you?"
"Because, at the moment, there is no one else to trust. I can help you get your revenge upon those who did this, and all of those that didn't trust you in the first place."
Kyle began to say something, but he was quickly interrupted by the Sith Lord.
"Some people trust you here? They send you on what would be a suicide mission to a normal person and tell someone you thought you could trust to kill you at the first sign of a possible defection."
Kyle's mind returned to Danuta, the meeting with an old friend that allowed him to actually get into the room with the plans, and the sight of Jan Ors holding a blaster pistol to his head after the meeting. Of all of the people he thought he could trust…
"They're trying to get rid of you, you're power frightens them."
Exar watched as his prey began to actually think this over, the memories pulled from his head were useful and in a few more meetings like this, he would be ready to fully turn to the Dark Side. Then, the scenery of Baron's Hed faded into the jungles of Yavin. Exar looked angrily around his location, searching for the reason he had been banished once again. Had the mortal Jedi forced him from his target yet again?
"It was a nice touch, really," said a voice from within the jungle, "the whole 'power frightens them' bit. There is a large problem with that being one big lie, however…"
"Show yourself," Exar Kun ordered.
A man of about 60 stepped out of the jungle and into the clearing, his hair was brown with streaks of gray showing and he wore the traditional robes of a Jedi.
"It's amazing to see you," the spectral form of Qui-Gon Jinn said to Exar Kun, "I had heard rumors that the Sith had a power similar to the one I rediscovered. Of course, it is extremely limited isn't it?" Exar Kun's face contorted in anger as the Jedi continued. "Anchored to a specific place, like this planet, 'living' an eternity filled with anger."
"I achieved immortality," Exar Kun screamed at the Jedi spirit in front of him. "And it will be possible for me to be reborn!"
"A foolish dream that will never happen," Qui-Gon said.
"You seem awfully confident in your abilities, Jedi," Exar snarled. "I've been plotting my revenge for 4,000 years, do you think I'd let something like you interfere?"
Qui-Gon concentrated upon the Sith Spirit in front of him, sending out waves of light-side energy towards the evil being. Exar Kun's image flickered for a moment, twisting and contorting, before finally returning to normal. An evil grin appeared on his face.
"You're far too weak, Jedi. This conversation is over." Exar Kun turned his back to his spiritual adversary and walked towards his temple. Halfway down the trail, he turned back. "I will not fail in my mission, Jedi. Several Jedi more powerful than you couldn't stop me. It will take more than you could ever do to defeat me…"
"Concentrate, Luke. See the stone levitate in your mind," Obi-Wan instructed as he paced through an open area in the Temple. He watched as his two students tried their best to lift the 15-kg stone in front of them. He smiled to himself about what Yoda would say about their efforts. They would probably succeed if they stopped trying so hard to lift the stone and actually lift it. Both of them had great success with smaller weights, but now they were struggling.
Luke followed Ben's advice and concentrated further on the task assigned for him. He watched as the large rock began to shake on the floor before raising off of the floor several centimeters. Luke's eyes widened as he saw what he was doing, and continued focusing on keeping the large rock above the ground. His excitement proved too much a few seconds later as the exhilaration of his accomplishment broke his concentration, the large stone fell to the ground, the sound echoing throughout the room. The sound also disturbed Keyan's concentration, ending the shaking of the rock soon after it began.
Later that evening, Obi-Wan sat meditating inside of his private quarters. The sun of Yavin had already set, and the sounds of the nocturnal predators stalking their prey could be heard.
"So, that presence I sensed yesterday. You've found out what it is?"
Yes, a voice replied. It is the spirit of a long dead Sith Lord by the name of Exar Kun.
"So, the Sith can do as you can and I will?" Obi-Wan asked. He listened as his former Master explained to him all that he knew about the Sith version of the ability, the limitations, and the dangers that could happen.
I had first believed that it was not possible, Qui-Gon replied. However, it seems that I have been proven wrong.
"You said Exar was trying to corrupt someone, did he succeed?"
I was able to stop Exar from haunting him, but his destiny is his own."Is there anyway to defeat him?" Obi-Wan asked.
I'm trying to find out. I was able to do some slight damage to him, but I wasn't strong enough.
"May the Force be with you, Qui-Gon."
And may it be with you and you're students.
The briefing room was filled with the best pilots the Rebellion could spare, along with a few guests. Luke Skywalker sat in an empty seat next to a brown-haired Corellian pilot, excited that Biggs and Obi-Wan's vouching had gotten him into the battle, and since the T-65 X-wing had similar controls to the T-16, Keyan Farlander had loaned him his X-wing. Along the walls of the room stood various personnel, including Leia Organa and Obi-Wan. The idle chatter of the pilots turned into silence as General Dodonna entered the war room, carrying with him a code cylinder. He walked up to the computer console at the front of the room and began the presentation.
"The battlestation is geared towards a large scale assault, their point-defense weapons are formidable, but not as concentrated as they should be." The computer screen showed the battlestation in a simple 2D image, the spherical station was split in half by an equatorial trench and its Northern Hemisphere was cratered by what they assumed was the actual superlaser. General Dodonna continued. "The Empire doesn't consider a small, one-man fighter a threat."
The view of the Death Star on the computer console zoomed in on the trench, then began making a virtual trench run. "To reach the weak spot, you must navigate this narrow trench." General Dodonna paused for a second, knowing the reaction he would get after the next sentence. "The target area is an exhaust port two meters wide…" His next few words were drowned out by the reactions of the pilots.
"Two meters? That's impossible, even for a computer," said the Corellian pilot next to Luke.
"That's not impossible," Luke said to him, making sure the other pilots could hear him. "I used to bullseye womp rats in my T-16 back home. They're not much bigger than two meters," Luke added, knowing that most of the pilots had probably never even heard of a womp rat.
"A direct hit in the exhaust port will cause a chain reaction that will destroy the station." The computer image indicated a pair of photon torpedoes leaving the virtual starfighter, and showed the torpedoes leading down the exhaust port and into the main reactor. With a flash of light across the screen, the image of the Death Star exploded. "Now man your ships, and may the Force be with you."
The fighter pilots and the others walked out of the briefing room, some having more questions than they did answers. Obi-Wan Kenobi could sense the fear of everyone in the base, fear that this plan wouldn't actually work. The Rebellion was taking a huge risk with this plan, and Obi-Wan couldn't help but think that the fate of the entire war depended on this battle. A gentle tapping on his shoulder brought him back to the present. It was Leia Organa.
"General Kenobi, we've all heard of your actions during the Second Battle of Coruscant during the Clone Wars," she began.
"Yes, I got quite the hero worship from several pilots when I first arrived."
"Commander Jake Farrell was recently injured…"
"Let me guess, knowing of my past flying heroics, you want me to fill in for him," Obi-Wan mused.
"If it wouldn't be too much to ask."
"I really shouldn't," Obi-Wan explained. "It's been nearly twenty years since I last flew a starfighter into combat. I doubt I could be of any use to you."
"We're short a pilot for an R-22 Spearhead in Blue Squadron, any extra help would be much appreciated."
The HWK-290 sat outside of the Great Temple, it's owner going over some last minute repairs. The carbon scores obtained over Danuta were being checked over, a hope that they weren't going to lead to a disastrous hull breach during the upcoming battle. He couldn't believe that he was actually going into battle, after the recent events.
"Need a pilot?" a female voice asked. Kyle Katarn turned around and saw Jan Ors walking toward the Crow. She wore a simple tan jacket over a white shirt, a pair of goggles up in her brown hair.
Why, so you can shoot me if I decide to save my own skin? Kyle thought. "I wouldn't mind your help," he decided to say out loud. Ever since that dream two nights ago, he had been wary of almost anything the rest of the Rebels had to say, yet he still couldn't shake the feeling that he could trust Jan, despite some thoughts to the contrary.
"So you got your reward and now you're just leaving?" Luke asked Han Solo as the older man stacked several crates full of credits and supplies into his ship.
"I have a lot of old debts to pay off," Han said as he made an excuse for his leaving. He handed a crate to Chewbacca and then turned around to face Luke again.
"They need you, you've seen what they're up against, you know what they stand for."
"Look kid, I know what they stand for," Han said, remembering being double-crossed by the woman he loved. "Besides, going up against that thing is suicide."
Han entered the Millenium Falcon and sat down in the pilot's chair. He began the final preparations for takeoff, not wanting to be stuck on the planet when the full wrath of the Imperial Navy fell on it.
You sure you know what you're doing, Han? Chewbacca asked as he emerged from the cargo bay.
"Yeah, I know what I'm doing," Han replied as the Falcon began to rise off of the ground. Chewbacca took his seat, hoping that he could actually talk some sense into his friend before it would be too late.
Inside of the medical bay of the Death Star, yellow eyes opened for the first time in three days. Through the vision enhancers of his mask, Darth Vader could see the world outside of his bacta tank in unusual clarity. He looked down upon his body, saw the partially healed lightsaber wound he had received by the hands of Obi-Wan Kenobi. At the very thought of his old Master the hatred began to take form in his mind. He would have his revenge, and it would occur soon…