The Death Star has been destroyed. While the Coalition celebrates, Ezra and Jaral return to Lothal, to spend some time with their family and introduce Luke to the ways of the Jedi. But the Empire is far from broken, as Grand Admiral Tanis and his fl...
"Take us closer, quick." Iden ordered and the Corvus moved.
Dodging the bigger debris by enacting constant evasive maneuvers, Meeko calmly brought the ship beyond the giant ruins and eventually they came across a TIE Advanced, the engines of which had been damaged in the explosion and the reactor was at the lowest level of energy.
"Bring him aboard." Iulius ordered. "Commander, you and your squad come with me to greet Lord Vader."
Iden clacked her heel. "Yes, sir." and rushed to get her helmet back, so did Meeko and Hask, who had heard the order clearly.
The four imperials rushed to the small hangar of the Corvus, which could normally hold a couple of fighters, but right now it was empty.
They waited outside the small door while the hangar was opened and the TIE Advanced flew in with what little energy it had left.
The Inferno lined up on the right side of the door, while Iulius stood in front of it, waiting for Vader to come out of it and welcoming him right away. Soon enough, beyond the closed door came the unmistakable sound of metallic footsteps and one of Vader's signature breathing.
Finally, the door slid open, revealing the black-clad figure.
Vader walked in with a pace which was slightly faster than his usual, but most importantly, Iulius could clearly feel that he was livid.
Breathing heavily again and again, Vader was limping a bit forward, but when he arrived in front of Iulius he recomposed himself.
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Still, the Grand Admiral kept his cool.
"Lord Vader." he greeted with a neutral tone.
The cyborg turned his helmet toward him. "Did the Emperor send you?" he asked gravely.
"Yes, my Lord. We have orders to escort you back to Coruscant." Iulius dutifully replied.
The Dark Lord didn't reply. He exhaled one of his breaths again and then walked away toward the point of the ship, probably looking for somewhere secluded.
"Guess we'll have to take it as an 'all clear'." Iulius commented as he turned toward the Inferno. "Let's get back to the bridge."
"Y-yes, Grand Admiral." Iden stuttered lightly.
"Something wrong, Commander?" he asked calmly.
All three of them seemed to hesitate.
"It's just..." Hask tried to say. "I don't know...it's like my heart was being squeezed."
"I'm not sure I want to know, and maybe we shouldn't investigate." Meeko said with a bit of fear into his voice.
Iulius realized that this must have had something to do with Vader and his connection to the Force. The details were still eluding him, especially because he didn't feel anything particular in front of the Lord. He could tell that Vader was furious because of the situation at hand, knowing his temperament and perhaps even from some small details in his body language. Despite that, Iulius didn't feel anything in front of Vader. In his mind there was only the mission and the prospects to avenge the Death Star.
