Episode X Dark Hunter

A Brief Scene from the Past

The orange glow of the planet Geonosis lit the cold space, warming the void as much as anything could. A global dust storm covered the planet's entirety giving it a smooth and peaceful appearance, hiding the tempest's deadly power. The planet's rings ornamented its polished form--thin and delicate.

Once populated and thriving, now the planet was desolate, abandoned, and raging. The narrow line of rings gave a hint of its old grandeur. Geonosis had been stripped by the Empire. This was where the first Death Star was constructed, a secret weapon of incredible destruction, and the Empire would not have witnesses. Therefore, by the direction of the Emperor, all life was exterminated. So now it lies forsaken except for its rings and one man.

This moment was fourteen years ago from our present story and thirty-one years after the much-historicized Battle of Yavin. It was at the very battle of Yavin where this Death Star was destroyed—the battle that has been well documented and duly politicized for decades by those who would make their lives documenting such things.

My place here is not to follow in those steps, as I certainly do not aspire to such heights, nor do my strengths allow it. However, as it is necessary for me to relay a brief history of one character and her settings in order to give her due justice, I will here document and historicize a single event for the sake of my heroine—and only for her sake.

So, please direct your attention away from the titian planet that I have just described, and look into the vastness of space. You will find it just as dead as the planet—silent.

For humans, it is enough to dwell on the stillness and utter vastness of space for a few seconds and somehow find philosophy in the stars. Yet, to continue cogitating much longer may sometimes bring their minds to despair. However, as most narrators do, I lied to you in order to create a contrast. For just as you begin to contemplate the void and as you reach the moment that considering its emptiness would have plunged you into the madness of hearing whispers--whispers that you may try to convince yourself do not exist--just at that moment, a white flash erupts in the blackness of space.

A two-man craft materialized from lightspeed, abruptly decelerating to a halt. It was a small ship, a YAR-41, made by the Outer Rim Manufacturing company, and like all of their starships, it was small, light, and well-armed. With one stabilizer on the port side, fitted with a sublight engine on its distal extremity and another engine on the fuselage—a triangular fuselage. It was an unattractive ship, meant for unattractive work—the work of unattractive beings.

The ship remained stationary for a moment as if to catch its breath from lightspeed before it began to drift weightlessly to the surface. The tired ship lingered as it tested the turbulent atmosphere of the angry planet. The winds began to gently rock the ship. The high altitude atmosphere was so thin it could do no more.

However, as the ship continued to descend, the planet's winds increased their effort to repel it. The YAR-41 lurched to starboard as a gust caught the stabilizer like a sail, trying to send it into a spin, but the protocol droid pilot corrected the trajectory without hesitation. One benefit of being a droid is not having a stomach to lose.

The passenger of the spacecraft was not so lucky. She screamed out and gripped her chair as the ship was tossed in the sandy gusts. She was a child, five years old and an orphan.

"Videsse, please do not blame me for the disagreeable piloting," the droid said, turning its large-eyed gaze at her. "I have not been fitted with this type of programming. It would have been better foresight of your mother to have . . ." The dull grey droid stopped. The child sniffed and wiped her face. "Perhaps, maybe, I ought to shut up."

Another gale threw the craft, this time downward. As the winds grew fiercer, the hull of the ship creaked with each gust. The droid pulled up and stabilized the ship again before turning on the holographic imaging. A computer-generated topographical terrain overlaid the creamy orange atmosphere in the viewscreen. Digital blue mountains and sharp valleys appeared from behind the veil of sand.