Chapter 3

"Black Nine, you got two more on your tail!"

"I can't shake 'em! Loosen up!"

"How did we get surrounded by this many fighters?"

"I don't know! Where's Lord Starkiller?"

But in the end, the TIE Fighters were destroyed by the Rebel Alliance's newest fighters, the T-65 X-Wing.

A lone X-Wing jump out of hyperspace. In the cockpit's seat, an elder man gazes at the view in front of him.

"Incredible...I've never sensed such great amount of the Dark Side in a single place."

The navicomputer of his starfighter started flashing, which identified another ship emerging from hyperspace. According to the computer, it was an Old Republic Eta-2 Actis-class light interceptor.

"No..."

The black interceptor suddenly jumped out of hyperspace, and its pilot immediately noticed the X-Wing, and gave pursuit.

"Surrender, old man, and the Empire will be merciful."

"I don't think so, you Sith trash!"

The X-Wing suddenly twisted, and red lasers suddenly came at him. The Sith interceptor returned the fire and maneuvered around the lasers. One blast successfully hit the fighter's wing, and sent it spiraling towards the planet. However, the X-Wing kept firing, and one of the blasts hit the interceptor, which sent it spinning in a similar manner.

As Darth Starkiller leaped out of his ruined starfighter, he walked towards a channel of smoke where the X-Wing crashed. After a couple of hours, he arrived at the crashed fighter, and noticed the cockpit was empty. Behind him, he noticed a large metal building, not too different from the ones on Coruscant, and had the distinctive Imperial appearance of buildings in strongholds on Empire-controlled worlds.

Well, I never knew Palpatine had a secret base out here...and so close to the Core.

The man was already inside, and in front of him was a revolting sight.

"Well...what do we have here?"

He turned, and a bar of green plasma emerged from his hand.

"Jedi Master Utha Finian. I didn't expect any company in this time. After all...I have an Empire to run."

From the shadows, an ancient being came out of hiding. He had a black cloak, a walking cane, and an unmistakable face.

"Palpatine!" the Jedi exclaimed. "I will kill you here, and I will kill you now, and end this reign of evil!"

"How...impulsive. If you wish to kill me, you have to kill my minions as well."

"What minions?"

"Right here."

Master Finian turned, and in the shadows was another black clothed being, but had hideous red tattoos and horns on his head.

"The Master's minions are everywhere, no matter where you go."

From another side, another figure emerged; this one the Jedi immediately recognized.

"You can't run. You can't hide. There's nothing you can do." he said, the words coming out of his scarred face.

"And now..."

Finian turned again, this time face-to-face with someone he did not recognize. It was a shaved young man, whose face had been kept secret.

"You will die!"

All four figures, including Palpatine, brandished glowing red blades from their hands, and moved forward.

Starkiller eventually arrived to a hallway, where Imperial Stormtroopers were standing guard. He noticed one particular door, and started heading forward. As soon as he arrived, the trooper pointed his blaster at him.

"Halt. You are not authorized access in this sector."

Starkiller casually waved his hand, saying, "You will allow me access."

The Stormtrooper did not seem impressed, and kept his eyes trained on him.

"Sorry, but we're not so easily affected by simple tricks. Go be a Jedi somewhere else, before I call for back..."

Before he could finish, he felt sharp points thrust at the back of his head, and he felt himself being lifted and flying across the room. Suddenly, a surge of power came through him, and flew faster towards a group of troops, where he practically exploded.

Starkiller glanced at the other troopers, who seemed scared, and backed away. He opened the door to the elevator and entered it.

The elevator took him to another room, where he sensed a strong presence of the Force. As he walked towards it, he noticed a head flying out of the room, and was followed by a body. Starkiller readied himself, lightsaber ignited, and carefully walked into the room.

Strangely, there was nothing in there but tanks, which appear to have been shattered. Suddenly, he heard a scream, and saw a large creature in the air, ready to kill. Starkiller quickly dodged, and recognized his attacker.

It was Darth Maul; he had fought a simulation of the Sith warrior on Raxus Prime, which he easily defeated. Maul ignited two lightsabers from his hands, and joined them to form his double-bladed weapon, spinning them and preparing for battle.

Commentary 3 - Clones

In the Dark Empire comic series, Emperor Palpatine comes back to life by transferring his spirit into Clones to achieve eternal life. He has a secret laboratory somewhere on the Deep Core planet of Byss. I wanted to give some idea of Expanded Universe comics in this story.

So, I came up with this idea that ever since the incident on the Death Star, Palpatine has been trying to find a new apprentice, and in the meantime he's planning to create an army of Sith Clones against the rebellion. He took the DNA of Darth Maul, Anakin, and Galen Marek, which he recovered somehow, probably from subtle bits on his cloak or whatever, and used it combined with Spaarti cloning technology to create an entire army of Sith. Of course, it would've been better for him to use Kaminoan cloning tech., but there was a rebellion on Kamino and the facilities were shut down, so he was forced to resort to this.

Another way of looking at this is that the clones were meant to test Starkiller's skill, when fighting against three of Palpatine's most skilled apprentices. And that if Starkiller succeeds, he would earn some remnant of his trust. But whether or not he succeeds, we'll have to wait and see.