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Senator Jar Jar Binks watched as the dusty ocher skies of Coruscant filled with TIE Fighters and Imperial dropships, descending like an ominous black stormcloud. The Cheka Star Destroyer which had descended only a few minutes ago, and which had been hunting down terrorists even at the cost of civilian deaths, was now ascending, its exhaust ports flaring white-hot in its haste. Massive green blaster bolts tore through the clouds like divine spears, crashing into the Cheka Star Destroyer’s shields with violent force and vaporizing its starfighter escort. Jar Jar’s mouth fell open in silent dismay as the starfighters of the Imperial warlords met with the Cheka defenders, their blaster bolts illuminating skyscrapers in flashes of green and red.

“Sen’tor! Sen’tor!”

The chief of Jar Jar’s personal security team entered the living room carrying a briefcase stuffed with his own personal belongings. The broad-shouldered Gungan looked around the luxurious living room warily, as if expecting a stormtrooper to jump out from behind his boss’s purple velvet sectional sofa.

Jar Jar made no indication that he had heard, so his chief of security said, “Sen’tor Binks, meesa securen us a position in theesa Cheka bunker, but we haven to leave immediately! It was only stupid luck that was keepen us out of the Senate Building today. Weesa could have been crunched by deesa Imperios! But if we stayen here? Bad bombin’, for certain!”

“Nosa.”

The chief froze and stared at Senator Binks, doubting what he had just heard. “Nosa?” he asked. “Nosa?! My already been gettin’ yoosa security boyos ready, along with theysa familios! Sen’tor Binks, weesa gotta bangdown speedy-like, afore weesa gettin’ pasted!”

“Prepare my ship,” said Jar Jar, suddenly turning away from the window. “Weesa leavin’ Coruscant.”

“But… but!” The chief swallowed painfully, then waved away one of the Gungan security guards looking in on them expectantly. “Sen’tor Binks, theysa bigo bombin’ in space, bigo ships all over, Imperios, Cheka, even deesa Hutt Cartel crunchin’ everywhere!”

“Never-the-lessen,” said Jar Jar, his yellow eyes narrowing. “Weesa not stayin’ here.” Jar Jar Binks took a deep breath, the wrinkles on his pale flesh seeming to deepen with regret. Exhaling, he gripped his fists within the folds of his dark robe, adding, “Into exile weesa must go.”

* * *

Luke and Leia’s lightsabers clashed, golden and purple beams hissing as Luke turned aside his sister’s frantic assault. Ignoring the sight of her inhuman face, he felt only the will of the Force guiding his movements, parrying her impossibly fast thrusts hidden behind expert feints.

As if heeding a warning, Leia whirled aside and backed away along the wide walkway before the churning pool of dark water. She turned her gaze skyward, the green tentacles of her face wrapping around her slender, gray throat in agitation. The roof of heavy clouds flashed with the incandescent reflection of blaster beams as starfighters raced throughout the city, and from this distance they could hear the rumble and groan of blasted starfighters colliding with crumbling skyscrapers.

Leia’s lips pulled back from her teeth, revealing black gums as she growled in anger. “You did this!” she shouted. “You came back to destroy everything I’ve worked to build!”

Luke approached with even footsteps, his golden lightsaber extended. He swallowed, forcing deep down the desire to comfort the person who had once been his sister. “I only came to rescue my niece and nephew from their sick mother,” he said. “The rest of the galaxy came for their own reasons.”

Crying out in wordless hatred, Leia flung herself at Luke, her purple lightsaber almost seeming to bend with the momentum of her outrage. As their lightsabers struck, a black wave of filthy water struck the duracrete walkway, rebounding in a glistening wave.

* * *

“Who are these guys?” said Dagen, one of Sindo’s pilots.

“They’re your friends!” said Sindo, laughing as a smoking A-Wing raced away from three TIE Fighters chasing it like a pack on the hunt.

Sindo fell in alongside an Imperial gunship, which was followed by a formation of TIEs escorting it closer to street level. The gunship doors were open and a squad of stormtroopers turned to look at her. She adjusted her comm, but could not reach them. As if sensing her trouble, one of the stormtroopers tapped his helmet, then gave her a thumbs up.

“Hold on,” said Sindo, “I can’t reach that gunship on any of Praji’s comm codes.”

“That’s what I’m trying to tell you!” said Dagen. “It’s not just Praji, and plenty of these guys aren’t using Admiral Freeling’s channels, either!”

Sindo’s mouth fell open. “Everybody’s here,” she said, as quiet as a whisper. “The entire Empire is here!”

The gunship dropped out of view, then another joined it as they prepared for a ground invasion. Sindo laughed again, her spirit racing now that hope had returned.

Han checked the sensor readout, then winced in annoyance. “I can’t see what’s happening overhead, thanks to particles in that cloud cover screwing with the instruments,” he said, then nudged the controls so that they banked out of the way of an X-Wing chasing two TIE Fighters through the crowded duracrete canyon. “Whatever the case, I think it’s time to go.”

“Yeah, agreed,” said Lando, who had taken the copilot’s seat. He activated the comm, then said, “Sindo, you read me? We’re going to make a break for it and get the twins out of this mess. Good luck to you!”

“Understood, Calrissian,” Sindo’s voice came through loud and clear. “Take care of my friend Arryk. And the kids, too.”

Chewbacca’s howled from the gun turret, and little Ben screamed in delight, for another Cheka starfighter slipping up behind them ended up in a cloud of flaming fragments thanks to the Wookiee’s blaster fire. Ben hung on to Chewbacca’s fur as the Falcon banked hard once again. His sister Anakel peeked around the corner at the black-armored Imperial pilot sitting at the other gun turret, both scared and intrigued by Arryk’s cold and calculating technique. As if sensing her gaze, he suddenly turned and looked at her. She hid behind the corner. Arryk leaned toward the pilot’s compartment.

“You know!” Arryk shouted. “We wouldn’t have to abandon the fight if these kids would sit down and buckle up!”

“Duly noted, Imp!” said Han. “Now, everybody, hang on!”

Han pulled the flight control wheel back and brought the Falcon into a steep ascent. They heard Nurse Pilena screaming in the rec room, then she fell silent as she passed out. The pilot’s compartment grew dark as they pushed through clouds of sulfur and soot, their faces lit by the amber lights of the control panel. Han heard Anakel squeal, followed by Arryk barking, “That’s why you need to sit down and buckle up, kid!”

“Don’t worry,” Han called over his shoulder. “We’ll be out of here in…”

As they tore free of the cloud cover, they saw a flaming Cheka Star Destroyer desperately trying to maneuver away from racing clouds of TIE Fighters streaking past, hammering its flanks. Two other capital ships locked in battle looked like buildings falling on top of the Falcon, their shadowy underbellies flashing with the green glow of blasters cutting into one another. Through clouds of starfighters racing after one another, Han saw even more capital ships further up, trapped in a flashing web of blaster fire. Even before the control panel bleated in a cascade of warning sirens, Han jerked the stick and brought them into a steep corkscrewing turn.

“We’re going back down!” Han announced, stifling his stinging pride.

“I don’t blame you,” said Lando, reaching for the comm. “Not with the kids and the nurse on board. Sindo, you still there?”

Pulling back through the cloud cover and descending toward the city, they saw Sindo and her six Interceptors streaking past three A-Wings, blasting two of them and sending the third in a dizzying evasive maneuver that sent it rocketing into the cockpit of another X-Wing dueling with two TIE Fighters.

“Yeah, I’m here!” said Sindo, sighing with satisfaction after the successful attack. “Why are you still here?”

“Evacuation is a no-go, it’s worse up there than down here!” said Lando. “Listen, can you stick close to us?”

Sindo exhaled, frustrated.

“Ma’am?” said Dagen, her teammate. “We going to babysit in the middle of a battle?”

“We are,” Sindo responded. “Falcon, get in the middle of us. We’re not leaving this fight. Understand? But we’ll watch out for you!”

“Good,” the comm crackled as a cold, rasping voice broke onto the line. “They’re going to need it.”

“Say again? Who is-”

The Millennium Falcon shook as blaster fire hammered its shields. Han wondered how so many starfighters were hitting them at once - and then the violet X-Wing streaked past, rolling unnecessarily as if signaling him. The brightly-colored starfighter dropped like a stone, passed through the middle of Sindo’s formation, and then one of Sindo’s Interceptors erupted in a brilliant flash as it was torn apart by one precise shot.

“Damn it!” said Sindo. “It’s him again!”

“Don’t assume you know what I am!” Lucitor Opeia spat into the comm. “Now, I’ll teach you Imperialist traitors what happens when you assume anything about the Stralucitor!”

* * *

Black waves swept over Luke and Leia’s ankles as their lightsabers crashed, numbing their arms. Luke ignored his rising sense of dread as he focused on the Force, desperate to stay one step ahead of Leia’s projected intentions and feints. Tables and chairs along the patio shrieked as a black wave crashed into them, scraping them along white marble.

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“You did this, too, didn’t you?” said Leia, her robe hanging from her in a soaking mess.

“Just a reminder for what you’ve done to Coruscant,” said Luke, steadying himself. “While the rest of the city drowns in sewage, you bathe in luxury. It’s not the Jedi way.”

Enraged by Luke’s response, Leia’s face twisted into a mask of mania, her writhing tentacles flaring outward just as her body shone with golden light. The water at her feet burst into a cloud of mist and her robe billowed around her. Even from a distance, Luke could feel searing heat pouring out of her.

Lowering her purple lightsaber, Leia extended a free hand toward Luke - but as her golden beam shot toward him, he raised one hand and twisted the Force. The golden beam bent around him, much like Reo’s lightsaber on Dagobah. The diffused beam struck the roiling black water and sent up a raging geyser of mist. Leia recoiled as cold water struck her, shrieking involuntarily.

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She opened her eyes and found herself lost in a cloud of dark, stinking fog. Her gaze was drawn to Luke’s golden lightsaber moving toward her. She prepared for his attack.

Just then, Luke raced out of the mist from her other side. His steel fist crashed into her jaw, slicing tentacles against teeth. Leia dropped her lightsaber and fell rolling against the marble walkway just as a wave smacked into her, disorienting her. Luke reached out, grasping the golden lightsaber as it sought out his hand once again, then leaped over the rising waves to end what he had started.

Leia rolled onto her knees as a receding wave pulled against her. She felt herself dancing on the edge of the abyss, her life hanging by a thread. The golden lightsaber raced toward her - then she gave herself up to her greater power, and felt new strength coursing through her even as her remaining inhibitions were brushed aside. She whirled, caught her lightsaber, and activated it just as Luke nearly fell on top of her. As his lightsaber crashed into hers, holding firm even under his Force-bending powers, Leia saw that the look on his face was not one of triumph, or even shock, but horror. His mouth hung open, for he knew that he had nearly killed his own sister.

Leia laughed, the dark blood running across her teeth and mouth, then streaming down the length of her tentacles.

“You won’t do it!” she said, her voice sounding strange even in her own ears. “You’re too weak, my brother!”

* * *

“Get down! Get down!” Regis shouted, then the comm lines stuttered as the thermal detonators exploded. As if punched in the chest he fell back against the windowsill, then his visors darkened, protecting him from the blinding flash. Even through his plastoid armor he felt buffeted by waves of heat, like being thrown into a giant oven.

Regis’s cooling system and rebreather hummed with effort, straining to clean his air intake before the smoke overwhelmed his filtration system. When he could see through his optical visors, he saw a young teammate kneeling amongst the flaming ruins of a merchant’s stall, his arms and hands twitching strangely as smoke poured from the joints in his armor. He was already dead, his flesh and blood ignited inside his armor. Shanty stalls burned like kindling, their cheap gadgets and toys twisting into blackened, macabre caricatures.

Despite the devastation, Regis saw other stormtroopers helping one another up, and gathering in safe zones between burning stalls. The comms sputtered and came back online, and he heard gasping and muttered curses.

“You okay, sir?” said Birdy, grasping his arm.

“Yeah!” said Regis, pushing off from the wall. “Clear the comms, everyone! If you’re still alive, get it together! They’ll be sending up a kill team any moment now! How many are down, Bird?”

“Two dead, multiple wounded,” said Birdy, immediately slipping into proper comms protocol. “We’re still in fighting shape, but this area’s finished.”

“Good. Vas-”

“Already there, sir, and it’s no good,” said Vasili, slamming shut the stairwell door. As he did so, a whining, shrieking wail of torment that Regis had not even realized was there suddenly fell silent. “They must have hit other floors, too, because the stairwell’s clogged with civilians fighting to get out. They should’ve listened to us!”

“Stow it!” Regis barked, unwilling to listen to comm chatter when their team was off-balance. He knew the Stralucitor would not soften them up with thermals and then clock out for the day. “Shield, Birdy!”

Birdy unslung his heavy plasteel shield and handed it to Regis, who strapped it to his left shoulder and forearm. Against his instinct for self-preservation, he looked out of the window. His gaze was immediately drawn to the three Stralucitor. The diminutive Lucitor Thorn saluted his comrades, then took off around the side of the building with a large force of Cheka running to keep up with him.

“One Stralucitor with Cheka infantry heading for the stairwell,” said Regis.

“Have fun with those stampeding civilians,” Vasili muttered.

Suddenly Lucitor Reo turned and met Regis’s gaze. A small smile puckered Reo’s buttocks-shaped face, sending a cold chill up Regis’s spine. Regis assumed the Stralucitor was about to order another blaster bombardment. Instead, Reo and the Hutt-hybrid, Lucitor Fenn, tucked small rebreathers into their mouths, then strode toward Regis, as if expecting to somehow walk directly up to the third-story window. Although such an occurrence seemed unlikely, Regis could not shake the alarms going off in his head.

“Get back!” Regis shouted, backpedaling away from the window. “We’re getting company!”

“Another bombardment?” said Birdy.

“No! It’s the Stralucitors! Blasters ready!”

As if in a dream Regis watched, dumbfounded at the sight of Reo and Fenn leaping through the air and landing on the wide window sills. He knew the others must have been shocked as well, for they hesitated. Regis was the first to react, placing his blaster rifle against his shield and firing. The pink-robed Stralucitor’s violet lightsaber hissed to life and he swung, deflecting Regis’s blaster fire. Soon the air was filled with shrieking red blaster bolts, and the Stralucitors leaped down into the room swinging their lightsabers, deflecting one bolt after another.

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Dancing flames glinted along Lucitor Fenn’s sweat-soaked golden robe as the giant charged at two stormtroopers. Her violet lightsaber flashed, passing through one man’s wrists, sending his hand and rifle clattering along the ground. His cries of pain filled the comm, and without hesitation Fenn blocked an incoming bolt, then swung her lightsaber up and down through another stormtrooper, shearing his helmet and face in half. A young stormtrooper charged as he fired his blaster, but the hybrid simply deflected, sidestepped, then caught the stormtrooper with a free hand and sent him flying into the wall, cracking the duracrete as his bones shattered on impact.

A moment before Birdy fired his CR-1 blaster cannon, Fenn ducked and raced behind the cover of a burning buukshi stall. Birdy fired again, his body jerking under the cannon’s firepower as boiling buukshi leaped skyward under the assault of crimson scattershot bolts. He caught sight of Fenn’s shadow as she ran deeper within the burning stalls.

“Jared! Pevoy!” Birdy shouted. “Stick with me. That freak can’t block this blaster cannon!”

“Yes, sir!” the stormtroopers replied.

At the same time, Lucitor Reo turned and stared directly at Regis. Though Regis was physically indistinguishable from the rest of his crew with his helmet on, Lucitor Reo somehow knew that he was the most important target. The Stralucitor’s arrogant smile never left as he charged toward Regis with blinding speed, deflecting still more blaster fire from Regis’s teammates.

Regis backpedaled, firing his blaster rifle as the violet lightsaber tore through the blinding smoke, humming like some infernal demon. Reo drew perilously close, and in horror Regis realized that the Stralucitor’s eyes were closed. Unaffected by the smoke, he was not even looking at the blaster bolts that he was somehow deflecting!

Suddenly Regis’s blaster rifle felt light in his hand, then the trigger became unresponsive. He watched in horror as the front half fell off, sheared in half by the Stralucitor’s lightsaber. Then his plasteel shield jerked with the incredible force of Reo’s lightsaber slamming into it, numbing Regis’s arm. He saw the violet tip hanging over his head, drawing nearer as Reo slowly dragged the blazing weapon through the shield.

Regis could hardly breathe with the fear slamming his heart inside his chest. But he had known this battle would come, and he had decided that before his death, he wanted to hurt these freaks. So he swallowed his fear and, ignoring the lightsaber drawing nearer, he pulled back slightly, as if meaning to retreat. He saw Reo adjust his footing as he leaned his weight into the shield. Regis suddenly pushed all of his weight forward, throwing Reo off-balance.

“For the Emperor!” Regis shouted, throwing himself directly at the monster. They crashed into a burning stall, knocking wooden beams and sheet metal loose and sending smoke pouring forth. Reo hissed and jerked his lightsaber free from Regis’s shield. He raised it awkwardly, hoping to bring it down on Regis’s exposed head - then at that moment, Vasili fired his Sonn-Blas F-9E. Reo swung to deflect the heavy bolt, but the lightsaber was jerked from his grasp and sent spinning.

“Yaaakh!” Reo cried, nearly spitting out his rebreather as his wrist numbed from the impact. He placed his free hand against Regis’s shield, and Regis was suddenly knocked back by an invisible blow.

Regis staggered, but dug in his heels, unwilling to be pushed around any longer. Reo turned his attention for a moment and reached out with the Force, and his deactivated lightsaber came flying through the swirling black smoke. Without hesitation Regis let his shield slide off his arm, grabbed the end of it, and swung it. With a satisfying krack! it struck the lightsaber, sending it spinning through the air.

Burning with rage, Regis was completely unmindful of the voices screaming in his comm, as several teammates begged him to run so they could get an opportunity to fire at the Stralucitor. But even if he had wanted to run, it was now too late, for Reo turned to him with burning hatred in his eyes. He reached out, and though his hand was several inches away from Regis, he still felt something like bands of steel clamping shut around his throat, cutting off his air. Reo smirked, his face becoming a grotesque, mocking mask of inhuman delight. Regis tried to lift his shield once again, but it became deadweight, as if dragged down by fate itself.

Regis ignored the pressure, the black spots welling up in his vision, and with frenzied movements he tried to unhook the shoulder strap from the shield. Reo glanced to either side, eager to escape his confined position and finish off his tormentors. He braced himself to leap, then adjusted his grip on Regis’s throat. Somehow, perhaps by noticing the hint of demonic glee in the Stralucitor’s eyes, Regis knew that he planned on leaping and breaking his neck before turning on the others. But after his fight with Luke on Dagobah, Regis had spent a lot of time thinking of how he could gain an advantage over such an opponent. Finally the shield came free of the strap and hit the ground with a sharp thunk.

Lucitor Reo kicked off from the burning stall and leaped, and with his hand still extended toward Regis’s throat, Regis wrapped the strap around Reo’s extended hand. Empowered with the Force, Reo gracefully arced through the air - but as Regis fell and jerked on the strap, Reo twisted in midair with considerably less grace. His condescending smirk turned into wide-eyed shock.

Both of them crashed into the ground, and Reo spat out his rebreather with the force of his landing. He struggled against the strap twisting his wrist painfully, but was interrupted when Regis’s plastoid boot crashed into his nose and eye. Seeing the Stralucitor stunned, Regis forced himself up and, stumbling, he drove his knee into Reo’s belly with his full weight behind the attack.

Though Regis wanted to say something that would strike fear into the hybrid, he was winded, and could only bellow in rage before slamming his fist into Reo’s mouth. Reo’s head bounced against the duracrete floor, resounding like a hollow gourd before another blow crashed into his eye.

“I fought Luke Skywalker!” Regis wheezed, bringing his plastoid gauntlet down onto Reo’s jaw, sending two teeth flying. “I thought you Jedi… were tough! But you’re nowhere near! His level! You punk!”

Again and again Regis brought his fist down onto Reo’s face, further mutilating the face that had already strayed far from the human norm. Reo’s tongue was shredded by fragments of teeth, blood poured onto duracrete, and then Reo spat up bright crimson blood onto his glossy pink robe. Regis caught movement, then realized at least two other stormtroopers were stomping the Stralucitor’s arms and legs while Regis sat on him.

“Major! Look out!”

Before the words left Vasili’s mouth, Regis turned and saw Birdy rolling along the ground, as if tossed by a Krayt dragon. Someone’s plastoid helmet - with a head still inside - bounced along beside him, spraying blood in a sickening pattern as it struck the ground. Lucitor Fenn charged into a smoldering stall with a stormtrooper held in both arms. Sheet metal folded as she fell on top of the dead man, his armor now only useful for holding his mangled body together in one piece. Birdy fumbled with his blaster cannon, saw that it was broken in pieces, then he fell back as if all of the fight had been drained out of him.

Lucitor Fenn rose from the wreckage and staggered toward Regis. Blood poured down from her right arm from multiple scattershot lacerations, and her lightsaber was nowhere in sight. With his pulse hammering in his ears, Regis could hear nothing but his instincts screaming at him to run, but his limbs felt like stone. Fenn suddenly spat out her rebreather.

“You can’t be serious,” she said, with one hand on her earpiece. “Then pull back! We have to fortify the courtyard!”

With blinding speed, Lucitor Fenn shot forward, knocking two stormtroopers aside before smacking Regis back against a stall. The air was driven from his lungs, and he could do nothing but watch as Fenn picked up Reo, then held her hand outward, summoning his lightsaber out of the gloom. As soon as the lightsaber slapped into her palm, she ran toward the window and leaped over the side.

“Major! Major!” Vasili said, nearly falling over Regis. “Are you okay?!”

Regis nodded, fighting to draw in a breath.

“I’m sorry, I couldn’t get a clear shot! I tried to-”

“You saved my life, buddy,” Regis rasped. “I’m just winded. Check on Birdy. Get Birdy.”

Vasili ran to his teammate, and four stormtroopers gathered around Regis. They said nothing, but only crouched over him like sentinels.

“I’m alive,” Birdy’s voice came through the comm. “But I’m down. Ribs are cracked, I think. Sorry, Major.”

“Sorry?” said Regis. “Brother, I thought we were going to come here, shoot a few bad guys, maybe knock something over before we got blasted. I didn’t know we were going to spank the Empress’s inner circle after getting front row seats at an Ewok barbecue.”

The comm crackled momentarily.

“It’s way bigger than that, Major,” said Sindo. “I don’t know how, but we’ve got a full invasion of Coruscant underway. The Grand Moff and some others are attacking by air and land.”

“Can you get us out of here, Sindo?”

“No, the upper floors of your location are on fire. And I’m in an Interceptor. But if you can get out of there, I know somebody who can get you.”

Regis nodded. “Birdy, you remember that backdoor you were talking about?”

“The one that I said was a bad idea? Yeah. But it’s not a back door, it’s just a broken window leading out to a canal. It’s a place to get drowned, or shot at, not make a getaway.”

“Well, that’s where we’re going.”

“Yes, sir,” Birdy said without hesitation.

As Regis held out his hand for assistance, he was surprised at the sight of dark blood covering his white gauntlet. He made sure not to groan as Vasili and another stormtrooper helped him get on his feet.

“You boys, put Birdy on the shield, and carry him,” said Regis. “Don’t worry about me, I’ll be fine.” As Vasili moved to help Birdy, Regis grabbed his shoulder. Vasili turned to him. Regis hesitated, fearing that he was making the wrong call. Then he pushed ahead. “Vasili. You’re not coming with us. I want you to do something.”

“... Anything, Major.”

“I heard that big ugly Stralucitor say they were going to fortify their position here. They think we’re down for the count. I want you to find a good spot nearby, and set up shop. Vas… I want you to take a shot at those freaks. I want you to hit them where it hurts. Understand?”

Vasili nodded, but said nothing. Regis knew that he was considering his odds. They were not good. Regis felt a strong compulsion to tell him to forget the whole thing, and come along with them. Then he pushed his concern deep down, far into the back of his mind, and stood strong, waiting for his friend to respond.

“Understood, sir,” said Vasili.