NEVER MESS WITH THE BEST! We all know DARTH VADER as THE EMPEROR'S iron fist, but as any rebel can tell you, he's also a terror in a TIE Fighter. What does it feel like in that X-WING cockpit when you're nose-to-nose with the EMPIRE'S deadliest pilot? Will you even live to tell the tale, hotshot?
On Coruscant, a young boy watches on from the sewers as his father is interrogated by a group of stormtroopers who have discovered a number of blasters he is carrying around. As the troopers mention dropping him off at the detention center, the father makes a run for it. The young boy in the sewers is ready to help shoot the troopers but fails to be able to fire the gun as his father is shot down by the troopers. He watches as the Imperials drag his father off to the morgue.
The Imperial Minister
Years later, in deep space, a group of Rebel Alliance pilots are powered down and playing dead as a squadron of TIE fighters pass over thinking the battle is over. They are escorting an Imperial minister as the X-wings follow low and slow, only using their auxiliary power.
Years earlier and the young boy is now a teenager and at a rebel outpost on Jamiri. After listening in on the new X-wing pilots being introduced to their starfighter, the teenager interrupts and asks when he will be able to get his own X-wing. The Rebel Commander giving the talk tells the young rebel it would be in about five years. The commander gets interrupted as the teenager gets into an X-wing and manages to take off, hovering around the hanger to the shock and amazement of the other rebels.
Years later, and the Imperial minister lands on the moon they were headed to. He is greeted by another Imperial who informs him Darth Vader is currently on the base overseeing upgrades to his TIE fighter. The minister walks over to Lord Vader and greets him. Before he can say much, Vader interrupts and says that the minister was followed by a couple of rebels. The X-wing pilots destroy a couple of TIE fighters and the wreckage comes into the hanger, killing the minister and several other Imperials on the moon.
Vader escapes and gets into his own TIE fighter, launching immediately. One of the X-wings gets targeted and the other jumps forward to distract and push Vader off the other rebel. He just about manages to accomplish his goal and Vader is forced to maneuver his TIE out of harm's way.
Before the battle, the rebel commander is explaining her plan to attack the starfighter factory to the General in the room. The general is worried about the risk of the mission but the commander replies that if they have their best pilots, it would be worth it as the war minister is within the quadrant and they don't want the factory to be fully operational.
The teenage pilot, now a young adult, comes into the room saying that he is their best pilot, with the commander arguing that time in the simulator and time out in a battle are completely different. The young one makes his argument and recounts the story of him and his father running guns on Coruscant. About how he is not scared any more and he is ready to take on the Empire. The general intervenes and instructs the commander to use all the best pilots, which the commander affirms.
Back in the mission, and Vader's flying is sending them in a spin. The young rebel manages to get a hit but Vader soon swoops round and picks off one of the other star pilots, Radley. Soon after, Vader takes out another of the X-wings and the commander and the young pilot calm down and regroup as they attempt to work together.
The young pilot shoots at Vader and misses on purpose, thinking he is supposed to be the bait. The commander thought otherwise since the kid wanted a 'shot at the Empire'. The commander is shot down and killed as Vader passes them again. The young pilot starts to panic as Vader's TIE attempts to lock onto the last X-Wing. The young pilots runs away from the fight as Vader calls to the Leviathan.
The Leviathan as the rebel hangar is destroyed
Back in the hanger on Jamiri, the young pilot comes in and lands, nearly falling out of his X-wing. He mumbles about Darth Vader, leaving the other pilots in the hangar confused. He throws up in his helmet and tries to calm himself down with a splash of water. After being asked by a number of the other pilots, who followed, the young one simply comments that they are all dead. The young pilot is in shock as he didn't take the shot again, and the hanger is destroyed as the other pilots panic around him, trying to save themselves to no avail.
- UPC 759606094004; May 29, 2019; Marvel Comics
- Star Wars: Vader — Dark Visions