Imperial Star Destroyer Vengeance
Darth Vindicta was listening to a report from the commander on the ground. An Aqualish with a severed arm had reported losing it to a lightsaber in the cantina. That in and of itself would have been a reason to go to the planet's surface, the fact that the bartender in the cantina reported that the wielder had been seen in company of an astromech and protocol droid only made it more necessary. The bartender reported that the one with the lightsaber had also been in the company of an older man and a Togruta female. The three had been talking to a known smuggler and his copilot. The smuggler had apparently shot a bounty hunter named Greedo before he left.
"Secure the spaceport immediately commander. I'm coming to the surface, do not let them escape" she commanded
"Yes, my lady" the commander replied
Vindicta cut the transmission and immediately went down to her hanger. Captain Juno Eclipse was waiting by the Rogue Shadow; as usual she was tinkering with the shuttle. When she saw Vindicta she finished up what she was doing and prepped the ship as the Sith got on board.
"Where to my lady?" Juno asked.
"We're going to the surface, Mos Eisley "Vindicta informed her.
With that captain Juno Eclipse took off and headed down to the desert planet below. She still hadn't reconciled her feelings towards the Sith. She harbored a deep resentment towards her in fact. But she didn't let on that she did so and if Darth Vindicta was aware of her feelings, she didn't let on. As they came to the spaceport Juno landed the ship as a company of storm troopers came out to greet them. After Darth Vindicta left the went about making sure it was ready for takeoff when the dark lady returned.
Death Star I
Darth Vader and Grand Moff Tarkin were in the control room of the Death Star discussing the former senator's resistance to the imperial mind probes and Vader's torture methods. He had met several people over the years that had proven stubborn. But everyone broke in the end. Everyone but the Alderaanian princess currently in the detention block. As they were talking, a junior officer walked in and informed them the systems were all now completely operational and asked what course they should set. Tarkin thought about it for a moment before turning to Vader.
"Perhaps she will respond to an alternative form of persuasion" the Moff said.
"What do you mean?" Vader asked.
"It's time to show the galaxy the full power of this battle station" he said before turning to the officer "Set course for Princess Winter's home planet of Alderaan"
"Yes sir" the officer said with a smile.
Tatooine
After slipping out the back of the cantina Luke Skywalker had gone to sell his speeder. He had to use the Jedi mind trick to get the two thousand credits Obi-Wan had promise the smuggler and it didn't sit well with him. It wasn't the way of the Jedi but the speeder was old and deep down Luke had to admit that the speeder wasn't exactly worth two thousand credits. When he met back up with Obi-Wan and the droids he couldn't help but notice Ahsoka's absence.
"Where is Ahsoka?" He asked Obi-Wan
"She's making a detour my boy, she will meet us on Alderaan. Come on, let's get going" Obi-Wan suggested
With that the Jedi Master and Padawan went with the droids to find the landing bay that held the Millennium Falcon. As they were moving through the spaceport Artoo kept a vigilant watch behind them. They found the landing bay and Han Solo greeted them as a large Hutt and some very dangerous looking men were leaving.
"I'm ready to get going. Right after you guys left I had to shoot a bounty hunter before he shot me" Solo said "I just talked his boss into giving me a little more time, but not much"
Luke and Obi-Wan looked at each other wondering what kind of friends Ahsoka had made when they weren't looking, but decided not to say anything out loud. They trusted her judgement when she said the two were trustworthy.
"Now if you don't mind were a little rushed" the smuggler said pointing up the ramp signaling his intentions to leave immediately. "and don't worry I'll get us past the blockade" he said with a smirk mistaking the look the two had shared.
After the passengers had boarded Han was doing some last minute visual checks when he heard several footsteps approaching. Looking up he saw eight storm troopers enter the landing bay blasters at the ready. He reached for his blaster as the squad leader shouted for his troops to open fire.
"Blast them!" the squad leader shouted.
Han drew his blaster and returned fire as he ran up the ramp yelling at his copilot.
"Chewie gets us out of here!" Han yelled to the Wookiee.
Darth Vindicta came up behind the storm troopers firing into the landing bay just in time to watch a YT series freighter take off and shoot into the Tatooine sky. Turning back to the bay the Rogue Shadow was in she pulled out her comlink and informed the captain of the Vengeance she wanted that freighter destroyed or captured, she didn't care which as long as it didn't escape.
Returning to her shuttle she found Juno Eclipse finishing her preflight checks. Not expecting Vindicta so soon, Juno was surprised when she was ordered to take off and pursue the freighter. Juno left the spaceport as fast as she could after it.
Millennium Falcon
Han frantically ran into the cockpit taking over the controls from Chewie and setting in the coordinates for Alderaan. His copilot growled in shyriiwook causing him to look up and see a large cruiser moving toward them. Artoo appeared behind them and beeped something before scurrying away. Han ignored the droids.
"Yeah that's a cruiser pal. Angle the main deflectors while I calculate the jump to light speed. Those passengers must be hotter than we thought" he said as the two got to work.
As Han put in the calculations the old man and the young boy came in behind them. He could feel Luke peering over his shoulder and the old man watching quietly letting Solo work.
"Two more coming in trying cut us off" he reported.
"why don't you just outrun them?" Luke asked behind him.
"Hey watch your mouth kid or you're going to be floating home. Besides I know a few maneuvers we'll out- "Han said before getting cut off by warning beep "We got someone coming up behind us. It's not a cruiser or destroyer…it's not a fighter either. You two go man the turrets and hold them off while I try and get us out of here" he said to the kid and the old man who went off to the gun turrets.
Rogue Shadow
Juno Eclipse flew as fast as the Rogue Shadow could go without going to hyperspace after The freighter. Beside her Darth Vindicta was giving orders to the fleet trying to cut off the fugitives. She was almost in range for her weapons when the Rogue Shadow was rocked by a blast of laser fire. She did a barrel roll to the right as another volley barely missed the freighter. After the maneuver was complete she fired off a volley of her own grazing the freighter but not doing any real damage. Whoever the pilot was they knew what they were doing. The next volley caught her by surprise, almost as if the person firing from the freighter knew what she was going to do before she did.
The Rogue Shadow lost all propulsion and weapons as the freighter got farther and farther away. Darth Vindicta yelled at her to catch up and destroy the freighter but it was no use. Tatooine's gravity was pulling them back down to the planet. A couple more seconds and they might have cleared the gravity well.
"We've lost all propulsion and weapons!" Juno informed her as the craft tumbled back down "I don't know how they knew but they fired where were going to be not where we were"
"the force was strong on that vessel, though not with the pilot" Vindicta said with surprise.
As much as she wanted to blame Juno she knew she couldn't. The pilots maneuvering would have been unpredictable to someone who wasn't force sensitive. She sat back and told the captain of the Vengeance to have a shuttle ready to pick her up immediately on the surface.
Millennium Falcon
Inside the Millennium Falcon Han Solo maneuvered his ship to avoid fire coming from the cruisers and the ship behind them. He was almost finished entering the coordinates for Alderaan and calculating the jump before he called back two his two passengers.
"Get ready! We're about to make the jump to light speed!" he shouted as he heard a loud whoop come from the turrets.
"You won't have to worry about that shuttle anymore!" he heard the kid yell.
Han wasn't about to thank his lucky stars yet, he still had to get the Falcon out of there before he did that. A few more maneuvers and Han was finished with his calculations. As they cleared the last cruiser and he told Chewie to punch it and with that view changed to the star lines of hyperspace.
Death Star I
Winter was in a turbolift flanked by two storm troopers. She wasn't sure where they were taking her but she knew wherever it was, she wasn't going to like it. As the turbolift stopped and the doors opened she found herself once again face to face with Darth Vader. His yellow eyes glaring at her, neither said anything to the other as Vader turned around and her storm trooper escort nudged her to follow him. After a few minutes they came to a door and Vader told the two to wait outside. Once inside the room she saw Grand Moff Tarkin an admiral she knew she had met before but whose name she couldn't recall. Outside the viewport she saw a planet she would recognize anywhere. Alderaan.
"Oh, Governor Tarkin. That explains the smell. I thought maybe the garbage shoots were malfunctioning." Winter quipped
Grand Moff Tarkin turned to her "Such a charming young lady. I almost stalled when signing your death order"
Winter said nothing so Tarkin continued. "Before you die I would like you to be my guest as we unveil the full capabilities of this battle station. No star system will dare oppose the Emperor now"
"the more you tighten your hold the more systems will slip between your fingers" she said smugly.
"No, I think not after this demonstration. Since you won't provide us with the rebel base your presence has determined where the demonstration will take place, Alderaan being the target" he said looking her in the eye to gauge her reaction.
"No! You can't possibly. Alderaan is peaceful we have no weapons- "she said before he cut her off.
"You would prefer another target? A military target? Then name the system!" he said raising his voice and waving at her menacingly.
"Dantooine" she said hanging her head "they're on Dantooine"
Tarkin turned to Darth Vader who had been watching silently. He knew the girl was lying about Dantooine being the base, but. Maybe at one point in time but not anymore.
"There Lord Vader, she can be reasonable" he said before turning admiral Motti "Continue with the operation. You may fire when ready"
Winter cried out "No!"
The Grand Moff looked at her "You're far to trusting. Dantooine is to remote to make for an effective demonstration. We will deal with your rebel friends soon enough, don't worry."
At that moment Winter heard a loud hum as if something was powering up. She looked out the viewportand wondered what exactly was about to happen to her people and if they would ever recover from it. Suddenly a green laser appeared and hit Alderaan; she watched in horror as her home ceased to be and fell to her knees crying.
Millennium Falcon
On board the Millennium Falcon, Luke and Obi-Wan were meditating while Artoo and Threepio were playing dejarik with the Wookiee. As the two Jedi communed with the force a wave of sadness hit them and they both broke free from their trance like state. Luke looked over at Obi-Wan who looked as if he had been kicked in chest.
"What was that?" Luke asked, he had never felt anything like what he just experienced.
"it was a like millions of voices suddenly cried out and we're suddenly silenced" the Jedi said as Han Solo walked into the central hold.
"I told you I'd outrun them. He said as he noticed his two passengers staring at each other and first mate lost his game against the droids. "Don't everyone thank me at once. Anyway we should be to Alderaan by Oh-two-hundred"
Han sat at the table and watched his copilot play against the droids. They seemed to be evenly matched until the little astromech made a move the Wookiee didn't like and let them know with a growl. The protocol droid argued that the move was perfectly legal. Han suggested letting Chewbacca win unless they wanted to make him angry. The protocol droid argued that nobody ever worried about making a droid angry, until Solo reminded him that droids don't rip arms out of sockets when they lose. After that the protocol droid was in complete agreement Captain Solo. Luke turning on his lightsaber to practice with four training remotes hovering around him caught Han's attention. The old man told the boy to let the force guide his actions.
"Hokey religions and ancient weapons are no match for a good blaster" Han said
"You don't believe in the force do you?" Luke asked before he got started.
Han stood his ground "Kid, I've flown from one side of this galaxy to the other. I've seen a lot of strange stuff, and I've never seen anything to make me believe there's one all-powerful force controlling everything. There's no mystical energy field that controls my destiny."
Luke gave him a smirk and put on a helmet with the visor painted over. When he was ready the old man activated the remotes. The kid deflected every shot the four remotes sent at him.
Han was impressed but he wondered how the kid would hold up in a real fight but he wasn't about to say anything. Some people had a hard time believing it but sometimes he did know when it was time to shut up.
Tatooine
Ahsoka Tano had watched as the Millennium Falcon had taken off followed by a ship type she didn't recognize. Afterwards she had made her way to the outside cafes to see if she could find a pilot, after deciding the cantina wasn't safe at the moment. She just failed at convincing another pilot to help her off world when she noticed the ship she had seen following the Falcon being pulled back to the spaceport on a lifter pulled by six banthas. Something told her to follow the ship to its destination.
She followed at a discreet distance as the ship was placed in a landing bay and a blonde imperial pilot started walking around it making notes on a data pad. She watched the pilot for several hours until the suns went down and she went back aboard the shuttle only to reappear a few minutes later having changed out of her imperial uniform. The pilot left the landing bay and headed back toward the market area as something told Ahsoka to follow.
Juno Eclipse had been loyal to the empire for as long as she could remember. Her father had taught her that the empire had saved the galaxy from the corruption of the Republic and the conspiracies of the Jedi, who he blamed for the clone wars. She wasn't sur how much she believed all that; but all her life everything she had done had been to seek his approval, from going to the academy on Corulag to joining the imperial fleet after graduation. But after her service these last six months with Darth Vindicta and Darth Vader, she was having doubts. She first experienced these feeling when they had joined the Vengeance and Darth Vindicta had killed Colonel Redstar for failure. She had heard Darth Vader did such things but always thought they were rumors, having never seen him do it herself.
After they had crashed Vindicta had killed the imperial commander on the ground for letting the Jedi, she assumed they were Jedi from the report, get away. Then she had ordered Juno to stay here and repair the ship and rejoin the fleet before being picked up by shuttle going back to the Vengeance.
To kill someone for something that wasn't their fault was beyond Juno. She knew she had to get away but she also knew Darth Vindicta would never let her transfer willingly. As Juno made her way to the market she realized she was being followed. She rounded a corner and waited to confront whoever it was.
She didn't have to wait long before a Togruta female came around the corner after her. Juno hopped up trying to knee her stalker in the stomach but suddenly found herself on the ground staring up a Togruta female instead.
"Why are you following me?" Juno said through clenched teeth.
Ahsoka stood over the pilot listening to the thoughts in her head "Why do you want to leave the empire?" she asked the blonde woman.
"What? How did you know?" Juno asked the Togruta confused.
"Your thoughts are so loud I'm surprised Darth Vader can't hear them" Ahsoka said as she helped her up.
Juno looked at her suspiciously for a moment and then suddenly something told her she could trust her. She didn't know how she knew but she knew, this person was a Jedi.
"You're one of the Jedi" she blurted out.
Ahsoka motioned for her to be quiet "You trying to bring the imperials over here?" she asked.
"You do realize I am an imperial?" Juno asked if she were speaking to child.
"Yeah maybe on the outside. But deep down you know you stopped being one on the inside a long time ago" Ahsoka said.
"So what do want?" Juno asked getting annoyed at how this Jedi knew so much about her.
Ahsoka explained that she needed a ride off the planet and she felt Juno was the one to help her. As dissatisfied as Juno was with the empire lately she didn't think running off with an outlaw Jedi and being branded a traitor was the best course of action. She knew she should be calling out for the Imperial troops still patrolling the city. But she didn't.
"Search your feelings, you know what the empire is doing is wrong" Ahsoka told her, she was getting through to the pilot she felt. All it would take was a little more convincing.
"But to run off with a Jedi and do what exactly?" Juno asked.
"Help me. Help me fight the evil corrupting the galaxy!" Ahsoka said
Something inside Juno was telling her to go with the Jedi. She knew she would be safe back with the fleet but for how long? A day? A week? She had seen what happened to those who did their jobs to the best of their ability and still didn't meet the expectations of the Sith. She didn't want that fate for herself. They tossed life away so casually; the Imperial commander this afternoon, Colonel Redstar with his two decades of service, Starkiller. The thought of Starkiller made her sad. Vader had raised him and then sent him to his death and hadn't even blinked an eye after he had been killed.
"Alright, I'm in. But the ship needs to be repaired" Juno informed the now smiling Jedi.