The Corvette Sunniva 3 flew, immersed in the swirling pseudo-masses of hyperspace.

The ship's captain sat, in Imperial-standard clothing amongst a false-hearted and inexperienced crew. The captain sighed, reminiscing about better days, about starships fifty times larger than a puny Corellian Corvette which she once commanded.

She had it all.

But Daala knew that her demotion to captain was her own decision. The Knight Hammer had been a beautiful and deadly ship- a Super Star Destroyer. Daala had attained her wildest desires: respect and power. Commanding the Imperial fleet she was even given red Imperial guards who would have given their lives for her.

But the nostalgia blackened. Daala's rage was a double-edged sword: her anger made her resolute, but it also made her reckless and delirious. Her failures had squandered Imperial resources. The loss of good officers like Kratas infuriated her. If only she could channel her anger.

Some junior officers replaced each other as a duty shift finished. They saluted their captain. Daala nodded gravely and thought of the task given to her by Paelleon.

Paelleon.

Daala hadn't seen him since she delegated the command of the fleet to him. She embarrassed him now that he knew the real reason why she teamed with him. Daala fingered Tarkin's lock of hair which she kept in the pocket of her olive-grey suit. He loved me, she thought, at least.

"Lieutenant," boomed Daala, "what's our ETA to the sleeper unit?"

"Uh, thirty-seven minutes approximately, Captain." Replied an immature officer.

Since Paelleon's rise to command, he had tried to replenish the resources of Thrawn's sleeper units in New Republic space. Most had been forgotten about following Thrawn's death, so Paelleon began a campaign of sending convoys to these units to prepare for battles in the coming months. The ones he knew about, anyway.

Daala strode around the bridge noting the mesmerising, churning patterns of hyperspace when suddenly she was flung to her knees as the patterns became starlines, became stars. Daala got up and fingered her dishevelled, fiery hair.

"Lieutenant, has our hyperdrive failed or… no…"

The sombre Interdictor cruiser hovered ominously above the Corellian Corvette.

"Captain, we've picked up three Y-wings and a YT-1300 Corellian freighter."

"No…" repeated Daala, speculating about the ship's occupant when her fears were confirmed.

"Imperial Corvette," came a confident and mocking voice, "This is New Republic shipping officer Han Solo. Um, you have violated New Republic space. Prepare to be boarded…"

Daala cut the transmission. "Solo" she hissed bitterly. She would not go down without a fight.

Chewbacca growled as the signal was shut off. "I know Chewie, but the Imperials have never been noted for their manners." said Han. Chewbacca grumbled nonetheless and continued flying towards the stranded Imperial ship.

Suddenly, the speakers on the Millenium Falcon blared. "Rebel boarding party, this is captain…" The more Han thought the more he could swear that he recognised the stern, female voice. And she seemed reluctant to give her identity. "I am captain Narleen. I have no intention of surrendering. Back off immediately!"

"You know Chewie, we could learn something from Imperial protocol. Cut the transmission." Han opened transmission to the starpilots. "Open fire!"

"All turbolaser batteries, fire at will!" screamed Daala, as if her tiny Corvette had the firepower of the Knight Hammer. The effect of her command was unimpressive as several green bolts lashed out, missing the small fighters. Meanwhile, the Y-wings continued their systematic bombarding of the sheilds and the bridge lights went out. This was no warship.

"Captain, we have been disabled. "Wait… boarding parties have arrived." came a nervous officer's voice.

"Well intercept them then! And destroy them!" ordered Daala as her bridge crew dispersed. Daala's heart beat quicly and the fury within her was swelling. She was going to get her blaster when cool metal touched her neck.

"Easy there lady." Came the voice from behind her. Solo's voice. She would have to surrender, she thought, if for nothing else, to stop Solo from gloating.

"OK. I'm sitting now," said Daala bitterly as she raised her hands and slunk into her chair. She turned to face her captor.

"Daala!" cried Solo, his eyes wide partly in surprise and partly in fear. And then he laughed. "Captain Daala? I didn't know you were up for demotion!" Daala held his gaze and bit her lip. "You know, Captain," mocked Han, a tone of anger coating his words, "this reminds me of the time you captured me. If I wasn't working for a legitimate government I might feel compelled to order an interrogation of my own. Take the prisoner away!" ordered Han with a flippant gesture of his hand.

"I enjoyed torturing you!" shouted Daala tartly as the helmeted soldiers marched her away.

As the Y-wings returned to their hangar, Han prepared the Milennium Falcon for hyperspace. The Interdictor and Corvette were ready to return to Coruscant with their new prisoners.

From the Corvette, a small shuttle exited the main hangar. "I didn't know we had anything else to shuttle to the Interdictor," said Han to Chewbacca. The shuttle veered off-course and suddenly jumped to hyperspace in a flash of pseudo-motion. "I've got a bad feeling about this…"

Daala's personal shuttle arrived in normal space having followed an escape vector to the sleeper unit. As the list of Imperial bases scrolled down on her viewer, Daala thought of how she would have to limp back, defeated, to the Empire. Again.

Working quickly before she could be tracked she remembered the sleeper unit. It would probably have a full complement of clones and maybe even a warship. But what would they want with a lowly captain?

She looked down to Tarkin's lock of hair and smiled sweetly. Her private wardrobe held many surprises.

There was a genuine air of excitement in sleeper unit X13, if a group of identical and single-minded clones could share excitement. They had awaited orders from Grand Admiral Thrawn for years, and their first Imperial visitor was away to arrive.

The shuttle transmitted an appropriate identification code and a small holo appeared in front of the clones. The woman wearing the rank-earned white uniform spoke:

"This is Grand Admiral Daala. I have been ordered by the Empire to activate your sleeper unit. Prepare for my arrival." The holo disappeared. In truth, there was very little to be done given the meticulous maintenance of the unit by the clones. But even they, without Imperial resources, could not stop several facilities from breaking down. Nevertheless, they had kept communication silence as ordered, lest the rebels find their base.

As Daala left her shuttle she was confronted by a group of identical male officers. They bore a look of yearning in their indistinguishable faces like children waiting for guidance.

"Greetings, Grand Admiral," said one clone, whose appearance and grey clothing did not differentiate him from the thirty or so others. "I am Alpha 22. Please join us Grand Admiral and we will do your bidding. We have not heard from the Empire for many years."

Daala looked at him in the eyes and said, "Thrawn's dead and I command the Imperial fleet. What is the status of your unit?"

Alpha 22 seemed surprised by her bluntness, but was glad to be serving the Empire once again. "We have 32 clones, a cloaked Katana fleet Dreadnaught, one functional Spaarti cloning cylinder and a single ysalmir. We have suffered losses with none of the promised convoys of resources. We have much… Grand Admiral?"

Thirty-two single-minded freaks to control and a cloaked warship! A cloning cylinder which could clone someone in twenty days! Daala fingered her container with Tarkin's hair and thought…

"Grand Admiral?"

"Ah, yes. Your report is satisfactory. Mobilise the Dreadnaught and prepare to leave under my command." The clone nodded and the group dispersed. "Hey!" shouted Daala to Alpha 22. "I have some genetic material here for you to create a clone from. Begin immediately. And what is your Dreadnaught named?"

"It has no such form of identification."

"We will leave, cloaked, for Coruscant immediately. Christen the ship the Terror of Daala." Daala added with a wry smile.

The Solo children squealed and giggled as they flew around their dining chamber. Young Anakin was content to enjoy the experience, while Jacen and Jaina used their own force ablilities to soar, pirouette and enhance their uncle's feat of levitaion.

"Come on kids," said Leia, "That's enough." She reached out with the force and guided them to the carpeted floor, raising an impressed smile from Luke. Han sat at the dining table, distant from the force-gifted Skywalker family. But what a gift for his children.

Leia was relieved as her whole family sat down to eat together. As Minister of State such opportunities were a rare treat, but the meeting was slightly overshadowed by the reappearance- and disappearance of Daala.

"I can't believe that we lost her." said Han, tucking into some greasy, Corellian delicacy. Jacen levitated a chunk of meat from his plate and guided it into his mouth with the force. "Don't play with your food, Jacen." Added Han smirking.

"You know Han," said Luke, aware of the nagging feeling in Han's mind, "you could have never predicted that Daala would have used flash bombs on her escorts. There's very little that you can do to stop them, and once they exploded, your men were blinded for minutes."

"You're right Luke, but I feel responsible for letting that nutcase escape. I have to track her down."

"What is it mommy?" asked Jaina, sensing her mother's swelling concern.

"Nothing honey," said Han to his daughter, "Daddy's going away for a while."

The Terror of Daala arived in the Coruscant system unseen and effectively blind. Daala smiled as the cloning process of Grand Moff Tarkin had began. 20 days seemed so long to wait, but without a ysalmir it would take much longer. Unless the clone was to be mentally unstable. Her first clone-scouting group had departed for Imperial City.

The scout ships had no means of contact with the Terror of Daala, but Daala was confident that they could complete their mission- to check the status of Coruscant's defenses in preparation for an attack. A memory flashed back- Paelleon and Daala discussing how to capture Coruscant once again. Paelleon didn't want Imperial City to be razed. Daala had once formulated a plan to destroy the planet and her enemies.

Solo. Daala's anger swelled thinking that her nemesis was so close. The Terror of Daala could cause so much damage, but for the moment she was content to nurture her rage and strike when the time came.

Paelleon sighed deeply as he heard of Daala's capture. Thinking about the formidable woman made him blush slightly. He respected her ideals, but she had wasted so many Imperial resources. And frankly, he suspected that she was deranged. Her personality was volatile and erratic to say the least. Perhaps it was best that she couldn't do any more damage.

"Supreme Commander, we have a high priority signal waiting." came the comlink. Concerned, Paelleon activated the holo-message.

"Paelleon, I am confident that you are aware of my capture, but I inform you that I have eluded capture and have mobilised the sleeper unit." He stared at the beautiful and ruthless figure swathed in a white uniform. "As you can see I have promoted myself to the rank of Grand Admiral and have begun a campaign to regain Coruscant for the Empire. Using a Spaarti cylinder, I have begun to create a clone of Grand Moff Tarkin. He will become our new leader with me as his second in command. At least he appreciates me." Paelleon was well aware of the implication. "Meet the Terror of Daala at the following coordinates."

Terror of Daala? Grand Admiral? Daala seemed more delusional than ever. The last thing Paelleon needed was another sleeper unit destroyed. She had to be stopped.

When the scout ships returned bearing news that the entire Skywalker family was at Coruscant, Daala knew that the time for attack was nearing. Her clone developed by the day and her meeting with Paelleon approched.

The scout ships now flew outwith the cloaking sheilds, relaying data to the hidden Dreadnaught. And a nearby Corellian Corvette was a prime target. Daala had devised a new strategy of skulking around cloaked, and decloaking just long enough to destroy a taret before disappearing once more. It brought a new meaning to hit and fade.

"On my mark, decloak and all turbolasers destroy the Corvette." It made sense: her Corvette for the Rebels'. "Now."

The target had no time to react to the surprise, nor the time to contact anyone. As the engines blew, the Terror of Daala was once again masked.

Daala's eyes were wide and she beamed with joy as the explosion was relayed to her viewscreen. She bathed in relish. "Alpha 22," she called, "return our scouts to Coruscant. I don't want the Rebels to think that this was a freak occurrence. Get them to circulate rumours about the Terror of Daala."

But for now she would have to retreat to the faithful and steadfast arms of Paelleon.

The Chimaera waited for Daala patiently, with confidence in the success of the ambush. As expected, a Dreadnaught crusier arrived broadcasting the name Terror of Daala widely. Daala's conceit was obvious.

And as planned, the Interdictor cruiser arrived. Paelleon reached for his comlink and spoke: "Captain Daala, we are confiscating your vessel. Surrender at once." Silence hummed ominously. A channel opened.

"This is Grand Admiral Daala. It is you, Paelleon, who does not have the Empire's interest at heart. Let me move to hyperspace or I will open fire."

She's bluffing, thought Paelleon. The Interdictor cruiser would prevent her escape. Apparently, Daala though alike as she lashed out with turbolaser fire and proton torpedoes to the smaller gravity-wall projecting ship.

"You'll never work in the Empire again!" shouted Paelleon in vain. Paelleon caused superficial damage to the Dreadnaught before it callously obliterated the Interdictor and fled on a pre-set escape vector.

Paelleon contemplated his situation and his rogue officer and devotee. Reluctantly he conceded that the Rebels should know that she was no longer working for the Empire, and that she must be stopped.

Leia kissed Han as he prepared the Millennium Falcon for departure. Leia couldn't pin down the source of her apprehension, but she knew that Han's mission was importamt. And these Terror of Daala rumours circulating Imperial Palace were disturbing.

"Trust me," said Han boyishly, "I'll be fine."

"I know," agreed Leia, "but that Corvette's destruction was no accident. And Luke swears that he can sense clones in the building. He's off looking for them."

Chewbacca growled twice to Han. "Yeah, yeah. I'm coming. Relax honey, there's no more clones. See ya."

As Leia watched the bashed freighter taking off she felt a strange buzzing in the force. It emanated from a living presence, but it was so strange. Leia's chrono beeped and there were pressing presidential matters to resolve. And the buzzing continued.

As the Millennium Falcon cleared Coruscant's gravity well, Han waited for the hyperspace calculations to come through. Daala's shuttle had been tracked to an unremarkable planet not far away.

It took both Han and Chewbacca a moment to fully notice the dreadnaught cruiser appear on the main viewscreen. The loss of the front deflector shield grabbed their attention.

"Fly evasive Chewie!" called Han. He had outrun large ships and beaten the odds before, but this ship came from nowhere and was pummelling the smaller freighter. The attacker's identity signature was being broadcast widely. "Terror of Daala." muttered Han disbelieving. "I think our captain just got promoted. Get us out of here and give me coordinates for that thing."

Chewbacca howled and Han understood that the cruiser was gone.

Coruscant's defense fleet prepared for action on a red alert warning.

"I just don't see how we can fight a ship which can cloak and decloak at will." came Admiral Ackbar's guttural voice.

"And that's where Daala knows she's at an advantage," replied Han, "but we'll find a way to get round it."

"Han… Thank the force you're safe!" cried Leia, running to her husband's arms. "Luke was right. We've got clones on our hands. I've felt them too. It's so strange."

"Admiral Ackbar," piped Han suddenly, "I've got a plan."

Alpha 22 grew more suspicious of the Grand Admiral by the minute. Like his fellow clones his imprinted flash learning taught him only basic intelligence, piloting skills and a desire to blindly follow Imperial orders.

But Daala's methods and aims seemed so deviant. Why was she working on her own, and why would she attack another Imperial ship? In fact, none of the clones had ever heard of a Grand Admiral Daala before.

Mutiny, however, was never an option for a clone, so they continued to obey Daala, keeping her informed of the new clone's progress.

Daala smiled as the pink biomass began to adopt a human shape, like a foetus. But Daala's baby would become something much greater- the greatest Imperial Warlord, destined to rule the Imperial fleet. The name of Grand Moff Tarkin was feared and respected widely.

"Grand Admiral, we have a rebel defense fleet approaching us from Coruscant, we…" reported Alpha 22, only to be interrupted by Daala.

"Let them pass. There's no way that they can detect us. If any ships are in range, decloak the ship and open fire." said Daala confidently, returning to wonder at the cylindrical cloning chamber.

"Grand Admiral, if I may, the rebels are on a direct intercept vector. They know exactly where we are!"

"This is impossible!" said Daala nervously. "We're going to the bridge, we have to be sure."

When Daala arrived at the bridge, she ordered a decloak since the Dreadnaught's sensors could not function. As the blackness dissipated the ominous figurehead of a Corellian Corvette charged like a mad Krayt Dragon. Towards the Terror of Daala. The Rebel's had somehow known where she was. She had to escape.

The Coruscant defense fleet followed Luke Skywalker's lead on a vector leading to nowhere. Most of the pilots doubted that a cloaked ship was nearby, or that it could ever be discovered, but Han Solo's plan offered a solution.

In his X-wing, Luke was surrounded by the force and the disturbance caused by cloned soldiers was easy to pinpoint. Your eyes can deceive you, Ben had said, and Luke's eyes showed nothing, but the force showed that the clone ship was definitely approaching.

"Okay Han, I've got the numbers for the ramming course. Send them to the ramming ship."

"You know Luke," came the response, "Daala's really going to appreciate what I've set up." And as he spoke a Corellian Corvette, the Sunniva 3, raced onwards to ram the hidden terror.

The starfleet saw the beauty of Han Solo's plan when the dreadnaught appeared, exactly where Skywalker had predicted that it would appear. The Corvette hammered into the larger ship, destroying the aft section entirely in a magnificent explosion.

The fleet cheered and congratulated Han, but rising from the flames shot a Lambda-class shuttle. Luke was the first to notice and race to intercept the escapee who was almost certaily Daala.

Simultaneously, Daala frantically inputted data into her escape shuttle's computer, gasping angry, tearful sighs. The rear viewscreen showed the death-throes of her lost ship, taking with it the clone that could have commanded the Empire. And now an X-wing was moving in to intercept.

Daala set acceleration to maximum as the ship slowly calculated an escape jump. And then she felt something, a presence behind her, probing her mind. Skywalker. The computer indicated that the calculations for hyperspace were complete. Daala pulled the hyperdrive lever, consumed with regret, bitterness and hatred.

As Luke gave chase to the escape shuttle the distinctive feeling of a presence in the force was nearby. The shuttle was evading him, but he would not fire.

"Artoo," said Luke, reaching for his hand scanner which he always carried, "boost power to my scanner and direct it through the front sensor towards that shuttle." He had do be sure.

Slowly, a three-dimensional image of a woman appeared on the scanner, surrounded by a sinister red aura. And then it disappeared, and with it went the woman and her shuttle.

Luke relaxed himself, disbelieving. Leia's calm voice appeared over the comlink. "Luke, I've just been contacted by that Imperial commander Paelleon. He says that Daala has been exiled by the Empire."

"Thanks Leia…" Luke paused. "I have some disturbing news. I just felt a presence in the force, and my Jedi scanner picked it up too. Daala's got force potential."

The comlink remained silent for some time.

This story was written by Greig Walker and is shown here with his permission.