At Vader's Right Hand

Lucky Shot

Castor stood behind Vader as he picked up Kenobi's lightsaber and handed the cloak to Castor.  "At last..." Castor heard Vader say quietly.  Castor folded the cloak and tucked it in his pack and headed back to his quarters to drop it off.  When he returned to Vader, he was on the bridge with Grand Moff Tarkin.  Before them was the planet Yavin.  The Rebel base was on the moon Yavin IV.

One bridge officer turned in his seat.  "Sir, Rebel X-Wings in attack position.  Your orders?" He asked.

Vader turned and left, followed by Castor.  "Leave them to me.  Commander, with me.  I understand you are now a quite capable pilot?"

Minutes later, Castor was sitting in his modified TIE Fighter ready to launch and follow Vader.  In Vader's squadron, he had Vader, himself, Commander Iden Versio, and two TIE Pilots.  He plugged in his air filtration system into his helmet and flipped them on.  As he flipped switches in his cockpit, he heard Iden on his comms.  Apparently, she was his wingman.  "Commander Durk, let's see if those lessons paid off," Iden said as she followed Castor out of the hanger towards the Rebels.

"Don't worry.  I've had plenty of actual flight in this.  Just keep to my left," Castor replied as he spun, unleashing a barrage, destroying two X-Wings.  Iden chased another, breaking off as she saw Vader's TIE Advanced and the other two TIE Fighters following them.  A shot hit one of her engines, sending her to a crash landing on the moon below.  Castor saw the Millennium Falcon dive into the trench after the rest of his squadron.  He could only watch as he saw Vader's fighter spin out of control away from the station.  Soon, a massive explosion erupted on the surface of the Death Star, chain reacting throughout the vessel, destroying it.  Castor landed near where Iden had gone down and drew his TL-50 (for those of you who don't know what this is, it's a blaster rifle made for Imperial Special Forces.  It can unleash a hail of blaster fire and can charge up a lethal plasma bomb, similar to a Mass Driver cannon.)  He started sprinting towards a smoke cloud and heard a TL-50 firing.  He entered a clearing to see Iden handling a Rebel patrol.  He charged a shot and it landed next to them, critically injuring the lot.  Iden nodded.

"I was wondering if you saw me go down.  I did some scanning as I went down.  They've got AA guns placed in a temple up ahead.  Reinforcements coming?"   Iden asked a Imperial dropships landed behind them bearing 501st markings.

Castor looked at her.  "Yes."  Moments later, the Empire attacked the temple and destroyed the AA guns, allowing AT-STs to be dropped on site.  As the walkers entered the Yavin IV jungle, they knocked down trees and cleared the way for infantry to move more easily.  Breaking through the forest, they reached the Rebel base and began an aerial assault, pummeling the Main Temple to rubble, but not before the Rebels escaped and flew away to fight again later.  Castor turned to his field officer, who by the way he avoided mud and leaves, guessed he never stepped foot out of an office.  As he was about to reprimand the officer, his neck suddenly snapped.  Vader walked up and headed for the base.

"Commander, I decided to handle that lieutenant for you.  If you wish, you may deal with them in kind hereafter," the Dark Lord said.

Castor and Iden followed Vader into the Temple and went to work on the computers, which were running data clearing software.  Castor stopped it, but got fragments that would take ages to piece together.  "Lord Vader, I've got work to do here.  These data cores have most of their data, but it's pretty fragmented.  Give me a team of technicians and I should be able to have these in... at the most three days," Castor said as he removed the cores and slipped them in a bag.

"Very well.  The Rebels have won for now.  We will regather our strength and search for their new base and strike with the full force of the Empire.  Meanwhile, I must take my report to the Emperor," Vader said as he turned and went back outside.  As Castor entered his shuttle, his HUD brought up a notification alerting him to the news that a planet had been decrypted from the files.  He shook it off as not important.  Seriously, who makes a base on a frozen wasteland of a planet like Hoth?