FALL TO TRAGEDY
-joining the empire…

Everything was going great for the family until Azazel was summoned by the emperor; he had a special job for him. He was to help Bevel, the top designer for the emperor to build the ultimate weapon, the death star. He was soon setup to work. His job would be to design the super laser components that would be used, and to devise a system that would help the laser not over load and self destruct as did the first prototypes. After a short amount of time he soon figured out the problem and was on his way of finding a solution. But something he didn't know was that details of this death star had leaked out and the rebels had become aware of the death star plans. Further more they had found out who the designers were. The rebel high command had agreed that in order to stop the program they would have to take out the designers. The whole program was still on the drawing board and only the designers knew all the details of the super weapon. They picked a team of commandos that would go to Corusant and take care of these engineers, including Azazel. They would take him hostage interrogate him and then if he didn't defect dispose of him. This was the plan the rebels had devised. It would be carried out immediately since the threat of this weapon was imminent.

And so the plan was carried out several days later on a stormy night around midnight. All the windows in Azazel apartment were dark. Melina was fast asleep in her chamber and in the adjacent room jade was fast asleep in her little bed. Azazel was not at the apartment, he was at Signus labs working on the design. But the rebel agents were not aware of this. They had trusted a street dealer that had sold them information. As the clock struck twelve there was a sudden blast and the door of the apartment was blasted open. This woke up Melina and she jumped out of bed. She grabbed a blaster Azazel had taught her to use and she ran to Jades room. It was quiet for a few minutes but then she saw a shadow in the hall way and heard foot steps. As a dark figure appeared in the door way she fired. A body hit the floor. She had killed the first rebel agent. But then 3 more came into the room. One ran towards her and knocked the blaster out of her hand. She was knocked to the floor but got up and hit another agent in the face, she put out a tough fight but soon one of the rebels grabbed her.

As one of the agent rebels held her the other questioned her. They asked her where Azazel was. She refused to respond, and then suddenly managed to free one arm, she grabbed the rebels side arm and was about to fire at the rebel interrogating her when a third rebel fired a blaster bolt. The rebel had intended to shoot and knock the blaster off her hand but he had missed and the shoot missed the blast, hit the window, and was reflected hitting Melina. She fell to her knees in pain but managed to get two shots off before the rebels could leave the room. She hit the rebel that had fired and the rebel that was holding her. As she shot at the rebels her blaster bolts also set off the alarm. The rebel that had interrogated her had made a dash for jade, grabbed her and left the room. She dropped the laser and laid down on the floor. She was in intense pain and knew she was mortally wounded as she heard footsteps of storm troopers were heard in the hall way. But it was too late the rebel had escaped.

In a large office in Sygnus labs, Azazel's intercom beeped. It had an urgent message, it said emergency…terrible situation, come home immediately, it was signed, N.A, Nestor Azazel his father. Azazel dropped what he was doing and hurried to the garage where he kept his speeder and rushed home. When he arrived he found storm troopers at the entrance of the complex and imperial guards walking around the complex. Nearing his apartment door he saw there were 3 imperial officers standing in the hall. He walked into his apartment and met his father there; Nestor took him into the living room and made him sit down. He told him that rebel agents had attempted to assassinate Azazel they had raided his apartment in hopes of kidnapping or assassinating him. Azazel immediately asked about Jade and Melina. Nestor told him that jade was missing, but assured him that imperial troops were going to get her back, they had a lead on the kidnapper, a lie. Then he told him Melina was in the apartment, there was a pause and then he told him that nothing could prepare him to say what he had to tell his son. He sat down with him and told him, Melina had tried to defend jade but had been shot in the process, she had managed to take out 2 of the 3 rebel agents but in the process was mortally wounded. Azazel couldn't believe it; his life had come crashing down in a matter of minutes. Nestor continued, Melina in the bedroom, she is still alive but barely, the doctors have made her comfortable but they said she only has hours.

Azazel didn't wait to for Nestor to finish. He rushed into the bedroom and saw his Wife lying on the bed. Eyes closed. He sat by her side and held her hand. She opened her eyes, her face was pale and her blue eyes were pale and sad. She greeted him and said sorry she couldn't defend her daughter. He stopped her in mid sentence and told her it was alright, she had done her best. He kissed her, and said nothing. He just sat there looking into her eyes. Slowly Melina's eyes started to shut. Whispering he told her , I love you. She tried to say it back but was unable to make her mouth move. He grabbed her and held her close. Her eyes shut, and her chest stopped moving. She died in his arms. A tear rolled down Azazel's cheek, damned those rebels he screamed out, damned them. He vowed to get revenge. The rebels would pay. They would pay dearly.

That next day after Melina's funeral, Azazel headed to Sygnus main offices, he turned in his resignation as director of research, and then walked towards what used to be the senate, now part of the emperors palace. He went into the throne room where the emperor was waiting for him. The emperor had sense he had some sort of force power and had felt him come. Azazel told him his plan; he had resigned and was signing up to be in the imperial navy, he wanted a piece of those rebels who had destroyed his life. The emperor agreed and told him that he would make him a commander in his personal fleet that guarded Corusant. But Azazel refused the offer; he thanked the emperor but told him that he would make his way in the imperial navy. The emperor chuckled and told him, do to do as he wished. The emperor knew he had Azazel in his grasp, he knew that he would do anything to get back at the rebels. And that he was strong in the force. He would soon be his, his new pawn to bring darkness to the galaxy. He gave him his blessings and sent him off to the imperial war center.

The next day Azazel reported to the imperial war center. There he was assigned to pilot training. Since he had worked at Sygnus designing ties and other spaceships, they figured he could now pilot them. Azazel liked the idea, he knew all the workings and every part of every ship in service, and he had had part in designing most of them. Hours later he was in imperial uniform on a transport that was more fit for carrying foodstuffs then troops. He was off to Tarlus; there they would give him his basic training as a pilot and also as a Stormtrooper.

He arrived there and they were divided into groups, each with a commander as a leader. The commanders were usually veteran tie fighters, now retired from combat but very experienced. Azazel's group was taken to what seemed to be a class room of a sort, and then their commander entered, he wore a space fight suit equipped with helmet. He came in and took off his helmet and a dark tired face appeared, with dark eyes and full of scars. He started teaching them the basics of flying.

3 weeks later Azazel had mastered flying tie fighters, he was at an advantage having designed them and also having the influence of the force. He was at the head of his class and enjoyed having a reputation for even challenging his commander. Soon he was called to the director's office a retired fleet admiral. As he entered his office, the admiral started to talk to him, He said "we've been watching you, and you've surprised us a lot, you've defied your class mates, your commander and even me". There was a long pause, and then the director told him, that he had been selected to go to officer school, he would be a tie fighter but would not start as a cadet as his fellow pilots would, but as a lieutenant. Azazel accepted and 2 days later he was on an imperial shuttle heading to his home planet Carida, which had the best officer school in the empire. When he arrived he was given a crisp new black uniform.

At the new school he was taught tactics and advanced tie maneuvers. He was also taught about the politic issues of the empire and trained to be a leader. As an officer he would mainly train as a pilot, but also would have to pick a secondary specialization. He picked ground commander. He would not only be a pilot but he would also be qualified to command imperial forces on the ground. 3 months passed and he was given his rank as lieutenant and certified as a tie pilot. But this is when his ground assault training began. He was drilled in tactics and ground maneuvers. His final test finally came. He was given a squadron of storm troopers and was tasked with taking out a rebel outpost. He passed this test and was given a secondary rank of ground assault leader. He graduated from the academy first in his class and was recognized by the emperor. He received the Medal of Achievement and was then assigned for duty. He was assigned to a small task force near Van Sluis. He was attached to the 103rd tie interceptor squadron and stationed on the crusher, a victory class star destroyer.

In his squadron he was given the second in command, and found that his wing man was a close friend of his, lieutenant Cordell a roommate in the academy. Their commander, captain Zane, Cordell and Azazel made up the wing command for the squadron of 15 ties. Zane commanded the whole squadron and in missions he lead alpha group, which was made up of 5 ties. Azazel led beta group, and Cordell lead delta group.

Months passed and they had many skirmishes, they lost one or two fighters, but were never defeated. They started to make quite a reputation for themselves and became one of the leading squadrons in whole fleet.

One day they were sitting in the officer's room, when the alarm went off, rebel ships had just entered the sector, and were on an attack pattern towards their task force. All ties were scrambled and ordered to attack the enemy before it attacked them. Alpha, beta and delta group were scrambled together, and they headed out to meet the other fleet, hopefully they could destroy the capital ships before they had all their fighters out of the hanger. But when they got closer, from behind the capital ships 3 waves of fighters came out, it had been an ambush. The ties were out numbered 5 to 1, and quickly the numbers of ships in each group diminished. In less then 5 minutes it was just Zane with his wing man, Cordell by himself and Azazel with 3 of his fighters against 13 rebel fighters. They had fought a good fight but it seemed that there was no chance. They started to go toward each other. Suddenly 3 ties blew up along with 6 rebel ships. Now it was just Cordell, Zane and Azazel against 3 rebels. Cordell took out his fighter and then help Zane, Azazel chased his rebel fighter. But soon the rebel fighter flipped on him, he fired and hit the cockpit. Azazel felt a burning sensation in his arm, but had more important things to worry about. His weapons systems were disabled and more ships were scrambled from the rebel ships.

Zane called a retreat, Cordell headed toward the crusher, and so did Zane. Azazel was trailing behind with an a-wing in his tail. He knew he wouldn't make it, and so did Zane. Zane suddenly turned his tie around and headed towards Azazel, he got right behind the a-wing and started chasing him into the swarm of rebel fighters. Azazel screamed into his comm., "Are you crazy". All Zane said was "I order you to get back to the ship". Azazel had no choice and did as he was orders, even though he didn't want to. As Azazel reached the hangar, he saw Zane's ship being chased by 4 rebel fighters and suddenly they had him. His ship blew up into millions of pieces. Azazel rushed thru the hanger and got Cordell. He was enraged, he told Cordell, "get me a comm. line to the fleet, tell them I need a wing of new fighters." This was not the end the battle, 3 hours later a carrier ship arrived with 15 new ties, as soon as they were in the hanger; Azazel went out to inspect them. He was the new commander of the squadron. He liked what he saw, next time the rebels wouldn't be so lucky.