[Lord Darkness]

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Lance stroked his mustache as he flipped the switchon his datapad with the other hand. He took another smoke of his expensive cigar and slowly blew it in the air, making smoke circles. He snatched the bottle of Corellian ale from the makeshift table on his left. “Hey, did you know that Emperor Palpatine had a secret affair with some two hundred women, fifty six of them were aliens?” Lance looked at his partner, grinning widely.
His partner – an atractive Twi’lek female, called Eyx – glanced at him and snorted. “Gimme a break, Lance.” she said. “Don’t tell you believe that stuff. Just look at their name : The Galactic Truth.” Eyx flipped a few switches on the control board in front of her, making some minor course adjustments. “Those are just some kids with lots of money and imagination.” Lance payed no attention to Eyx’s comments, but continued to read the pad, still grinning.
The red skinned Twi’lek just shook her head.
Ten minutes later (with Lance still reading the papers, giving an ocassional laugh) their ship jumped to hyperspace. Eyx turned to Lance, clearing her throat to get his attention. But Lance just ignored her.
“Lance?” Eyx hissed.
No response.
“Oh, sithspit…” She jumped to her feet and tore the datapad out of his hands. Lance tried to grab it, but the Twi’lek was too fast and got him flat-footed. Eyx tore the datapad in two with one swift move, tossing the remains into a corner.
“The hell did you do that?” Lance yelped.
Eyx glared at him. “You’ve had enough fun for one day. Time for some work.”
She sat at the controls, running through the controls. “We’ll be arriving at target in thirty minutes, and I want us to be ready.” Lance sat down, grumbling about Twi’lek women.
When he finished, he looked up at his partner.
“So you have no idea yet where are we going?” he asked.
Eyx shook her head. “No. I just followed the coordinates given to us by the Command. They said that the location of this place must be kept secret, at all costs.” She glanced at the timer. “So, you know the plan. Don’t blast anyone unless they try to blast you. Keep a low profile and try not to dress in flashy clothes.”
Lance groaned. “Alright. I’ll go check the weapons, and you just – “
Without any warning, the ship jerked violently. Lance tried to maintain his balance, but failed miserably. He was sent flying over the ****pit, and into the rear wall. Eyx had no more luck than her partner. She tried to grap the chair but her hand slipped, and she hit her head in the fall. With a loud thud, the Twi’lek fell on the floor and rolled towards Lance.
The ship was calm once again, and Lance jumped to his partner. He made a quick check of her pulse, to make sure she was still alive. She was. In one leap he was in the pilot’s seat, running a system check and a sensor scan at the same time.
Most of the systems were fried, including hyperdrive. The sensors were still working, barely. Lance caught one huge blip just on top of him, and seconds later that blip dissolved into four smaller ships.
“What the…” Lance tried to identify the ships but the sensor system just short-circuited at that moment. Then the small ship was shaken again, this time by a tractor beam. Lance could tell that by the faint green glow outside his viewports. Only if he had more power in the engines, he could try to break free.
Just as Lance’s fingers danced over the controls, the ship twisted and gave him a clean view of the attacking ships. To his surprise and dismay, these were not some pirates who got their hands on an Interdictor cruiser.
It was the Empire.
More Imperials than the entire Rebel fleet as it was at this moment could handle. But the things were about to get worse, as Lance soon found out.
A huge, really huge, spaceship cut out of hyperspace above the four ships. It was larger than Lance had ever seen. But Lance recognized it from Intelligence reports, though he never saw it.
It was a Super Star Destroyer.
At that moment, only two words crossed Lance’s mind.
“Holy Sith…”



Admiral Dennox stood at the bridge, looking out the main viewport. His face was grim, and looked much older. At his side was Captain Yannoc, also wearing a similar facial expression. They watched as the little ship struggled to escape the tractor beam, sparks flying from the strained engines. Dennox managed an evil smile. It was by pure chance that they were captured. The Abductor’s gravity wells were not supposed to be powered up, but a malfunction with the ship’s electronics powered them up. Dennox walked over to the sensors officer.
“What have you got, Lieutenant?” he asked.
The lieutenant punched a few buttons, and the captured ship’s readout came up. “The ship is running under the name of Star Scream, but our records have matched it with the rebel ship Galaxy Lance.” He frowned. “It appears that the ship was captured sometime ago in an Imperial supply convoy.”
Dennox nodded and turned to the tractor beam officer. “Ensign, I want that ship inside the hangar bay – don’t let them escape. Captain Yannoc!” Yannoc stepped to the Admiral’s side, his expression stern. “Prepare a boarding party, see to it personally.”
“Yes, Sir!” Captain Yannoc gave a slight nod of his head and hurried out through the nearest turbolift. The bridge was now full of activity, due to the unexpected events. Dennox walked over to the communications console. “Comm,” he said. “Contact the Executor and inform Lord Vader of the situation. Ask him if he wishes to have the prisoners transferred over to him.” The other man nodded and got to work. Dennox strode over to the front viewport, to watch as the tiny ship was brought in. He allowed himself an evil grin. Now, if only they could get some valuable information from the ship’s crew, maybe he’ll even get the chance to exact vengeance on the rebels. The Admiral killed his smile as the comm officer called from the back of the bridge. “Sir, incoming transmission from the Executor!”
Dennox straightened his tunic and walked back to the holoprojector. “Put it through, Lieutenant.”
The circle on the ceiling in front of Dennox glowed white and the towering life-size figure of Darth Vader materialized out of nothingness. Vader looked down on Dennox, his hands on his hips, the sound of his breathing seending chills through the bridge crew.
“Congratulations on fast reaction and succesfull capture, Admiral Dennox,” he boomed. “I wish these prisoners to be shipped aboard Executor along with their spacecraft. After their interrogation, you and the other two ships under your command will make sure they are delivered into right hands.” There was an uncofortamble silence, with only Vader’s breathing cutting sharply through the air. The Sith Lord turned his head slightly to the side, as if listening to someone outside the holoprojection field. He glanced at Dennox one more time, then cut the transmisson, leaving only gray plating where he once stood.
The Admiral noticeably relaxed, and exhaled softly. He never met Darth Vader in person (never wanted to, also) and even this was too much for him. The man – if he could still be called that – was simply radiating with dark power, striking terror into people’s hearts with his very presence. The tractor beam officer’s voice snapped him out of his thoughts.
“Sir, the ship is in our hangar bay,” he said.

Yet more coming soon...