Jaden swerved up from Korriban's atmosphere, maneuvering through the storm and wild clouds of dust. His escape trajectory cleared the planet's gravity well, and he placed his hand on the switch that would send his starfighter into hyperspace.
Where?
The question caught him by surprise. The R4 unit tweetled behind him, asking for directions.
He did not have a single clue. Coruscant was an obvious answer; he could lose himself there, hide from the Jedi Order and the New Republic, and never be found – but he frowned in anger and resolve as a sudden realization came over him: He didn't want to fade from history. Jaden Korr was the best lightsaber artist the Academy had trained since its foundation, and he knew that his powers would only grow now that he possessed the Staff of Ragnos. He wanted to lead, he wanted recognition, and he wanted power.
That meant the Imperial Remnant.
Tavion had struck a deal with Moff Gaxious, who, under the nose of Admiral Pellaeon, made the 329th Legion, an elder Dreadnought and an Imperial Star Destroyer available to them. The Jedi killed most of the stormtroopers, Kyle had destroyed the Dreadnought, and the remaining ship was in orbit right in front of him.
He could follow her line of thought. The Imperial Remnant was losing the war against the New Republic, and by the last HoloNet bulletin, the Moff's Council barely held on to eight sectors. They needed every advantage they could get, and an army of Dark Jedi was a tempting offer. If he kept it open, all he needed to do was jump to Gaxious's world, and have a good talk.
However, he might be ignored or just shot out of the sky if he arrived on his aged Z-95 Headhunter. His eyes deviated to the Star Destroyer in front of him, now identified by his tactical display as the Dark Fist. Jaden grinned, and donned the helmet that lay between his legs. "R4? Set me up with a trajectory into the private hangar bay of that destroyer."
The droid tweetled apprehensively.
"Of course I know that they have a turbolaser battery right there. I have a plan, trust me." He set the Headhunter on full throttle, and saw the destroyer grow on his canopy as he closed thousands of kilometers on it. He opened himself to the Force, as he had done so many times with Kyle on a Jedi Meld, and then winced as he remembered that it was gone, and would never come back. He felt his anger build up inside himself again, and realized that the Jedi were too weak to develop him to his full potential. He was about to take his destiny on his own hands, one much brighter than any he would ever achieve as a Jedi Knight.
Now smiling, he felt the general alarm of the bridge as they noticed a single outdated fighter making a seemingly bombing approach on them. Then the alarm went further down, and a team of gunners started to take aim at him. The first laser cannon fired, and he rolled to the right, watching as the red streaks came close enough to darken his canopy. Seeing through the Force, he finally saw the turbolaser battery catch up with his trajectory. At his speed, it would only get a couple of shots.
It fired, and time seemed to dilate as Jaden brought up his backward thrusters to overload, forsaking his shields and maneuvering plates. His inertial compensator, dialed to make him feel less than two percent of all movements of the starfighter, was not enough to keep his vision from graying around the edges as he decelerated wildly. The turbolaser barrage once again darkened his canopy, tearing through the spot where he would have been on the next second.
The laser cannons finally noticed his new condition, but by the time they had reacquired him, he had redistributed power and was on course for the hangar – whose containment field was already half covered with blast doors. By reflex, he fired two proton torpedoes at the closing edges, and was rewarded by a shower of sparks as one of the doors was stuck for half a second. It was more than enough for his fighter to clear the containment field and crash-land on a hangar filled with running personnel. The fighter's left foil was torn off as the vehicle rolled and finally stopped on its side.
Jaden took off his helmet, smelling singed metal and leaking hyperdrive coolant. Looking through the canopy, he saw a squadron of stormtroopers taking position at the hangar exits, and two of them were taking aim with distinctive rocket launchers. He would never make it out by the time they fired.
An idea took over his mind. He grabbed the ejection lever on the underside of his seat and gave it a strong pull. His spine flared with danger sense as he felt the stormtroopers all fire at the crashed starfighter, and finally a small explosion sounded beneath him and sent him flying across the hangar, all the way to the blast doors. Stopping himself with the Force, he jumped from the cockpit's displaced chair, lightsaber in hand, and started deflecting blasterfire back to the stormtroopers.
Again, the rocket launchers fired at him. The Dark Jedi exerted himself through the Force, grabbing hold of both of them and sending them back into their ranks. He felt their pain as the explosions tore them apart, leaving the men burning on the metal floor or grabbing limbs pierced by shrapnel, and sensed the remaining troopers retreating through the smoke. Before they could close the hangar access doors behind him, Jaden boosted his speed and jumped through.
He finished the rest of the stunned squadron with his lightsaber, leaving the air filled with the acrid smell of melted plastoid and charred flesh. Directly in front of him was the turbolift that would take him to the bridge, and he walked forward to press the OPEN button.
The Force, however, flared with danger and could feel the general aggressiveness of the men who set the explosives around him. Then, instead of opening the doors normally, Jaden thumbed his green blade back into life and cut a man-sized hole into a carpet-floored lift.
He pressed the up button, and felt the whole thing spring back into life… for three seconds, before the crew turned it off. Jaden frowned, measuring the distance of the flag hangar to the bridge, and shrugged. Jumping upwards and holding himself on the ceiling with his hands on a ventilation grid, he used his lightsaber to cut a large hole on the durasteel. The sheet of metal dropped with a deafening clang, and he jumped up, clearing the white-hot metal by barely an inch.
Staring up, he saw that the lift had left only a single floor uncleared. A door opened above him, and blasterfire poured out. Without waiting to see who was firing, he jumped up; grabbing bars and wires, he got himself at bridge level, and busted the lift door with a blast of the Force.
He found himself in an eerily quiet corridor. Straightening his Jedi robes, he hooked his lightsaber back on his belt, smoothened his hair, and took a deep breath; walking up to a door whose gleaming panel said BRIDGE, he pressed the opening switch.
The tension in the command center of the Star Destroyer was almost palpable. Officers looked up from their stations apprehensively, but not aggressively. Fifteen stormtroopers, with the shoulderpads of elite troops, took aim, but Korr simply gestured in their direction and the rifles dropped to the floor. Slowly, at a deliberate pace, he strode to the command station, where a man in the brown uniform of a captain held a blaster pistol in a trembling grip.
"What are you waiting for?" He broke the silence. "Shoot him! Kill him! Take this Jedi into- "His commands were cut short as Jaden's hand surged forward in a pinching motion. The captain sputtered as he choked under the grip of the Force, and the Dark Jedi set him gently to the side as he shook on his death throes.
Exhaling calm through the Force, he took the position of an admiral debriefing the bridge. "Your commanding officer has been deemed unworthy by his masters. I am here to keep Axmis' plan." The bridge barely flinched. He felt a sense of detachment from them, as if the death of their former Captain meant very little – probably a newly commissioned ship. "You may all call me Lord Korr." He looked at the helmsman. "How far away are we from this Destroyer's base, soldier?"
The man gulped before answering in an uncertain voice. "Two days, Cap- Lord Korr. Three, if we take the route through Bastion to answer Commander Pellaeon's call."
Jaden shook his head. "That won't be necessary." Looking out of the bridge viewports, he saw the pale brown silhouette of Korriban, and felt the Jedi launching in their ships. "Make the jump when ready."
Suddenly, he felt very vulnerable and open. He was strong in the Force and a terrific duelist, but he could not defeat all of the Order by himself. Three instructors had massed him back in the tombs and given him almost all of his wounds, and even Kyle might have been able to overpower him… if not for the Scepter. Yes, the Scepter would keep him safe for as long as it took to figure out a way to absorb its power.
He turned to the auxiliary staff. "My ship has crash-landed on the flag hangar. Inside its cargo compartment, there is a staff. See to it that it is placed on my quarters."
"Yes, sir. May I accompany you to your quarters?" A short, young bald man, sporting a mustache and a spotless gray uniform, walked up to him. With a motion of his hand, the two stormtroopers grabbed the body of the former Captain and dragged it away.
Jaden nodded, and followed the officer to the ship's main lift. He found it amusing how quickly power had transitioned, having gone from intruder to Jedi to Lord in less than an hour, and it was all a result of how strong he had become. He felt his pride swell, as well as rage and hate for the Jedi Order – who would never let him achieve this, nor the great things he would do in the future. He felt his heart burn in righteous anger, and happiness as he remembered how Kyle had been removed from his way, ignoring the faint sting that came with the thought. He came back to himself as a wave of fear exuded from the man at his side, who flinched even more when Korr looked directly at him.
As Jaden stepped off the lift into what seemed to be a luxurious apartment, the officer punched the button to get back to the bridge in palpable relief. Curious, he turned his eyes to gaze at his image on the mirror.
The orange-red eyes of a Sith gazed back.