Chapter 4

Explosions rock the base as Imperial Stormtroopers charge through the now broken door, firing at what they hope will be Rebel troopers waiting for them. Instead, they're greeted by a single man with a lightsaber in black Sith robes. The Stormtroopers stop firing and slowly step into the hallway, each aiming their blaster rifle at the man in front of them. Soon, the hallway is filled with men in white armor. One of them steps forward, never taking his sights off of the man.

"Where are the Rebels," The Stormtrooper asks.

"The Force has judged you," Ithost says. He looks up at stares at the men with the red-yellow eyes of someone deeply connected to the Dark Side. "and found you wanting. I have been sent as your executioner."

"Where are the Rebels?"

Silently counting off the number of Stormtroopers that keep entering the hallway in his head, Ithost grins as the odds slowly grow against him. Always enjoying a challenge, his excitement grows as well as the Force inside of him. Keeping most of his power suppressed, he decides to just this once allow himself to use more than normal. He ignites the blade on his lightsaber.

The Stormtroopers move in closer and open fire. Dropping into the Shien stance, Ithost deflects some blaster bolts back at their shooters. Some Stormtroopers drop to the ground, then some toss grenades. They nearly fall to the ground when they see the grenades floating a few inches above their heads. Ithost holds out his hand, keeping the grenades from detonating or falling. A simple flick of his wrist makes the grenades fly over and into the explosives he placed earlier, making a huge explosion and collapsing part of the hallway.

"First wave," He says before turning to run down the hallway towards the hangar and his waiting fighter.

He stops when he sees some Stormtroopers charging past him and towards the hangar. Skidding to a stop, remembering the datapad left in the now collapsed hallway. Deciding that it's best to just leave it, he quickly turns on his heels and makes his way towards the control room. Again, Stormtroopers greet him once he reaches the door.

Using the Force to speed up, he jumps over the blaster rifle shots and lands between them and the Stormtroopers. He ignites his saber and takes out the first couple men in a matter of seconds. The others open fire, but each one is cut down just as quick. Once the last one falls, Ithost stands up and switches off his lightsaber.

The door slides open and the Echani steps inside. He spins his lightsaber around in his hand and stares at the person hunched over the computer, punching something into it. Ithost silently moves towards the man, stopping a few feet away from him A couple minutes later, the man turns around and takes off his hood. To Ithost's surprise, the man is really a woman.

"About time you got here," She says as she leans back against the computer.

The woman is a beautiful human woman with long blonde hair and deep blue eyes. A grin crosses her ruby red lips and her robes part a little to reveal a lightsaber hanging from her belt. Ithost looks down at it, then back up at her. Unconsciously, he keeps spinning his lightsaber around in his hand.

"I was expected," Ithost says flatly, almost has if he expected to find her there. Something about her seems off to him. "how nice."

"I almost thought that you weren't going to make it and I would have to kill everyone here all by myself. Now that you're here..."

"Shut it," He warns. "I've served the Dark Side as well as the light. You're tricks won't work on me."

"A pity. You could have been a great service to the Empire, much like our new Sith."

"New Sith?"

"Yes," She says with a slight smile. "A powerful Sith. With a black and red mask, a green cape, and copper colored armor. It's said that he's even more powerful than the Emperor."

Ithost stops spinning his lightsaber. The woman notices it. "I see that you know him. Would you like to see him again? I can bring you to him."

That was a lie, of course. She didn't know where he is, but as one of the Emperor's Hands, she has been trained in Dun Moch. Ithost, trained in Dun Moch as well, knows just how to counter it. He goes back to spinning his lightsaber.

"Interesting. Why should I care about what that Sith is doing? I'm not under anybody's thumb, unlike certain people."

The woman pushes off of the computer and crosses her arms over her chest.

"Move," Ithost says simply.

The woman grabs her lightsaber and ignites the crimson red blade. Ithost simply looks at it and scoffs. He looks up at the woman and tosses his lightsaber into the air and catches it, then repeats. He doesn't want to fight her, but he has to get to the computer and he knows that she won't move if he asks nicely.

She jumps up into the air and swings her blade around, bringing it down in a forward arc. Ithost grins and lifts his hand into the air and stops her in mid-attack. He swings his arm to the left and slams her against the wall with the Force, then he brings his arm right and slams her against the other wall. Her lightsaber drops after she hits the wall the first time.

He slams her down onto the ground, then releases his grip on her. He tosses his lightsaber into the air again, then catches it. She gets up and grabs her lightsaber and charges at him. Ithost reaches out with the Force and he starts to choke her.

She lifts into the air again and grabs at her throat, trying to get some air into her body. The sickening sound of bones snapping echoes in the room and the woman's body drops lifeless to the ground. Her lightsaber rolls over and taps Ithost's foot. He bends down and picks it up and examines it for a couple seconds before tossing it aside.

He makes his way over to the computer and punches in the code for the self-destruct sequence. The computer warns over the loudspeakers that the base is going to self-destruct in 5 minutes. He walks over to the corpse of the woman and watches as it changes shape into that of a Clawdite. Ithost shakes his head; he's never trusted them.

Making his way through the halls to the hanger, he meets almost no resistance from the Imperials that are trying to flee the base as well. Once he reaches the hanger, he notices that the shields are up and a couple Stormtroopers are trying to sabotage them. He clips his lightsaber onto his belt and walks over to them. Before they can turn around, the grenades on their belts explode, taking the unfortunate troopers with them.

"One minute to base self-destruction," That automated voice calls out.

Ithost jumps up onto the wing of the X-Wing, then he slides into the cockpit. He stares at the controls for a couple seconds and the droid behind him whistles and beeps. The translation appears on a screen in front of him. He presses a couple buttons and flips switches until the engines roar to life.

The astromech droid whistles again.

"45 seconds to base self-destruction."

The droid whistles and beeps louder and more frantic.

"Shut up," Ithost yells as he pulls back his hood. "I know!"

"30 seconds to base self-destruction."

Ithost looks around and finds the controls.

"15 seconds to base self-destruction."

The fighter lifts off of the ground and the landing struts sink into the chassis.

"10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5..."

Ithost surrenders himself to the Force and his droid and he slams the control stick forward and takes off out of the base as the roof starts to collapse. He flies out of the base and looks back, watching explosion after explosion taking chunks out of the base. The final explosion changes the base into a gigantic crater in the ground. His eyes go wide when he sees the explosion bubble racing up towards him.

"By the Force!"

He pulls his stick back and the nose of the fighter points up towards the sky, then he nearly breaks the control stick off as he pushes it forward as hard as he can. He ignores the droid's frantic whistles and what sounds like a scream as he looks back once again. The explosion is a couple inches from his engines. He ignores the translation on the screen and focuses on piloting.

Breaking through the atmosphere, he banks to the right to avoid the laser cannon fire from an Imperial Star Destroyer.

"Take us to Yavin, droid."

The astromech droid whistles it's agreement and takes control of the fighter. Ithost lets go of the control stick as the ship starts to move on his own. He leans back in his chair and sighs. He looks at his hand and thinks back on his fight with that Clawdite. He wanted to use a little more power to spoil himself, but he knows he used too much to kill her.

He sighs again. "By the Force, what happened to the galaxy?"