Chapter Text
The brilliant morning light shone down on the Darkknell spaceport. Hundreds of sentients were going about their business, moving freight, carrying cargo, and scanning parcels.
Among the multicoloured throng were small squads of white-armored soldiers. Helmeted and toting sleek black blaster carbines, the stormtroopers were everywhere on Darkknell. It almost seemed, Trader Wilyeam Zedal thought, that they were searching for someone. Not that that mattered in the slightest to Wilyeam. All he wanted to do was get through spaceport security and get home to his wife. This latest supply run had taken far longer than he’d expected and he was, to put it frankly, beat.
Out of the corner of his eye, Wilyeam saw a five-man squad of stormtroopers approach the rear of the security line. No doubt the soldiers had spotted someone they deemed to be suspicious. Or a nonhuman. The two were almost synonymous these days when it came to the Empire.
He didn’t bother glancing backwards to see who the Imperials were victimizing today. It never paid to draw the Empire’s attention. Especially on Darkknell.
The usual chatter of the traffic was abruptly broken by a chilling snap-hiss and a awful-sounding gurgle. The smell of charred flesh filled the air and Wilyeam, along with the dozens of their sentients in line, found himself spinning towards the source of the noise.
Lying on the grimy permacrete was a stormtrooper, or rather what remained of one. A long molten gash had been carved deep into his chest plate. Standing above him, a glowing emerald blade clutched tightly in one hand, was an bald, eyeless human male. Wilyeam saw the human’s empty eye sockets glimmer with a silver twinkle that chilled him right to his bones.
“Jedi!” One of the other stormtroopers shouted and the remaining four soldiers opened fire. The man-the Jedi-moved with supernatural speed, his emerald blade twisting in a cage of a light around him. It was too fast for Wilyeam to see, but two of the stormtroopers collapsed on the street like puppets whose strings had been cut, smoking blaster holes in their armour.
The remaining two troopers fell back hastily, blasters still firing rapidly. The green blade spun, batting the bolts aside, then flashed in a single lateral sweep that sheared the barrels off both weapons. The Jedi lunged forward and sent one of the stormtroopers’ heads flying free with an overhead slash. The last soldier seemed to tremble with terror, something Wilyeam could sympathize with.
The eyeless Jedi grinned then, brilliant white teeth bared in a ferocious smile. The man’s long fingers twitched and the last soldier flew off the ground as if caught in a tractor beam and slammed right into the fiery spear of the extended lightsaber.
The awful stench of burnt meat filled the air again and Wilyeam felt the gorba melt he’d had for lunch start to rise back up in his throat. The Jedi slashed his blade free, dropping the dead trooper to the deck in two pieces. Screams of horror and revulsion filled the air and the Jedi suddenly looked around furtively.
Wilyeam stood where he was, unable to move despite his fervent desire to be somewhere else. Anywhere else. Then the clatter of boots on permacrete reached his ears and he turned towards the main entrance to see three more squads of stormtroopers charging forward.
The Jedi grinned again, a feral expression that made Wilyeam shiver. Then the man raised both hands and crackling bolts of deep blue lightning sprang from his fingers. The dazzling electrical storm fell on the fifteen soldiers and as one, they screamed, their metallic cries sounding like the screech of dying animals. The unnatural storm raged for a few seconds before dying out. The entire platoon dropped to the ground, their bodies twitching and smoking from the Jedi’s sorcery.
Wilyeam could hardly believe what he’d seen. In less than a minute, the Jedi had killed twenty soldiers without even breaking a sweat. The trader didn’t know much about the mysterious figures from decades gone by, but he knew now that everything the Empire ever claimed about the renegade Knights was true. They were dangerous, sadistic monsters who were a threat to everyone.
The Jedi looked around at the multi-species mob that was eyeing him with mixed fear, awe and horror. The man raised both hands and waved them in a slow, deliberate motion. Wilyeam blinked and rubbed at his eyes in confusion. A moment later, he opened them to see the scattered armored bodies and…nothing else. The Jedi was gone.