Hondo's men approached the Stormtroopers, blasters raised, but the armored men were faster. After a volley of bolts erupted from their blasters, all of Hondo's men lay dead on the floor.

Hondo peeked out from behind me, and pointed at the black-armored trooper.

"That's a Death trooper." He said, "Highly trained and very dangerous."

So that's what they're called. I thought. Fitting name.

"Hold it right there." the Death trooper said as he raised his blaster rifle, his voice barely intelligible due to his helmet's voice modulator. "You are under arrest."

As he said that, the Stormtroopers who had entered with him closed in on us, their blasters raised.

I eyed Chyla, and she nodded.

We both flanked on either side of the Stormtroopers, blasters discharging. The Stormtroopers had no time to react, and were all quickly gunned down.

The Death trooper turned to me and fired his blaster several times, nearly landing every shot. That's not like Imperial troops to be so accurate, I thought. Hondo wasn't lying, these guys must be highly trained.

Chyla snuck a shot from behind the Death trooper, blasting the rifle out of his hands, and causing him to fall to the floor. He reached to his gauntlet comlink, and spoke into it.

"Backup, now!"

After he spoke, a brigade of six stormtroopers in light-gray armor entered the building, wielding staffs that had ends crackling with yellow electricity.

As they entered, the Death trooper got back up, and reached onto his back, pulling out a small metal rod.

I watched as the rod in the Death trooper's hand quickly extended into a long staff, longer than the ones the stormtroopers around him carried, and the ends ignited with purple electricity.

"Shit." I muttered.

The Death trooper shouted and charged at me, his staff poised to strike.

At the last second, I drew the lightsaber I had kept from the palace, and blocked his attack, then pushed, forcing him off of me.

"A lightsaber." the Death trooper said sinisterly. "It'll be a pleasure to return that to my superiors."

I spun the lightsaber, and gripped it tightly with two hands.

"Come and get it."

I screamed, charging at the Death trooper. We engaged each other in a violent fight with him using the enhanced electrostaff, and me using the lightsaber.

I kicked the Death trooper hard in the waist, knocking him backwards away from me. He made a motion with his fingers, and three of the six stormtroopers carrying electrostaffs approached me, their weapons poised to strike.

I blocked and parried my way through the three troopers, slicing them with the saber, until they were corpses lying on the ground with charred carbon scoring on their armor. The Death trooper suddenly ran back at me, swinging his staff madly.

Suddenly, he swept his staff against my legs, knocking me off my feet. The saber fell out of my hands and deactivated, and I looked up to see the Death Trooper raising his staff to finish me off.

Suddenly, a blaster bolt impacted the Death trooper's shoulder, knocking him off guard. I turned to see who fired the shot.

It was Hondo, holding a blaster pistol in his hands.

The Death trooper retracted the staff, and quickly pulled a hold-out blaster, and shot Hondo in the leg, causing the old pirate to cry out in pain and fall to the ground.

By the time the Death trooper turned back to me, I was already on my feet and wielding the lightsaber again. With a swift movement, I struck him in the helmet, causing a giant cut to be opened up on part of his visor.

The trooper screamed in pain, and fell to the ground, clutching his head in his hands.

I put the saber away, and Chyla ran up to me.

"Hondo." she said.

We rushed to the pirate, who was lying on the ground, holding his leg.

"The ship!" I said hurriedly. "Which one?"

Hondo weakly pointed to a blue-and-white gunship, which was vaguely U-shaped. "Take it." he said, his voice faltering. "Free of charge. It is my gift to you."

"What about you?" Chyla asked.

"Leave me." He said, "This pirate...has made his last deal."

As Chyla ran to get the ship started, I shook Hondo's hand.

"I-it has been an honor to meet you, Mandalorian." he said finally.

I nodded my head.

And with one last breath, Hondo Ohnaka passed away.

I laid his body down, and ran to the gunship as the entrance to the hanger was suddenly blown open, revealing an AT-ST followed by two assault tanks.

I ran into the gunship and climbed into the cockpit. "We need to leave now." I said, and Chyla nodded, powering up the ship's engines, and bringing it to a hovering distance above the ground. She turned the ship towards the hangar bay doors-

-but they were closed.

"Damnit!" I shouted. "We're trapped."

"Not exactly." She said, turning the ship back around, eventually pointing it right at the AT-ST and Imperial forces waiting outside.

"What are you doing?" I said in concern.

"Trust me." she said, and put the ship into full throttle. "When I give the word, fire the ship's cannons at the walker."

I sat myself into the copilot's seat, and rested my thumbs onto the triggers for the cannons.

"Now?" I said, after the AT-ST got into my sights.

"Not yet."

The AT-ST was growing closer, and Chyla sped up the ship.

"Now?"

"Not yet."

The AT-ST was practically in front of us.

"Now!?"

"Now!"

I flicked the triggers, firing the ion cannons at the AT-ST, decimating it. We flew through the smoke, and cleared straight out of the Pirate compound. Entering the planet's atmosphere, we made the jump to hyperspace.