Chapter 32
Luke's shuttle dropped quickly through the clouds, and he wished that he'd brought his TIE Fighter. Apparently, there was some kind of storm brewing above Coruscant today, even though storms were rare on this planet, and somehow, despite the fact that the odds had to be one in a million, Luke's shuttle had been struck by lightning, and they lost all flight power 20 klicks above their destination. The stormtrooper pilots were sweating as they desperately tried to regain control, almost more afraid of their passenger's reaction to this sort of choppy flying than they were of crashing into the rapidly approaching ground. Finally, Luke had had enough. Getting up from his seat, he knelt and placed his hand on the floor, closing his eyes. Slowly, the ship's descent began to slow. Not sure what was happening but being grateful for it anyway, the pilots began to put extra effort into restoring power to the shuttle. They looked up as they passed through the dark clouds and had to quickly yank back on the steering yoke just as the power came back in order to prevent colliding with the top of the Devastator's hull. Breathing out in relief, they quickly turned around and guided the ship into the Devastator's hangar, touching down lightly.
As soon as the ship had touched the ground, Luke was off of it. He didn't even wait for the ramp to lower, instead simply running up it and jumping through the small crack at the top as it began to lower, flipping and landing on his feet outside the ship, ignoring the odd looks it earned him from the stormtroopers in the hangar. Not wasting a moment, Luke immediately began to quickly stride down to his father's office, trying to straighten his cape so as to appear presentable before the Emperor. As soon as he arrived outside Vader's office, the door slid open on its own and Luke stepped inside. The door closed behind him, and he looked around the room. Vader sat at his desk, as Luke had expected, but he was somewhat surprised to see that Governor Krennic was here. Not stopping to think about it and seeing that his Master had a guest, Luke moved to stand behind Vader's chair so that they were both facing Krennic.
Despite the rather stressful sight of both of his bosses staring him down, Krennic simply cleared his throat and got down to business. "Now, Lord Scion, as I have just told our Emperor, we may have a problem." Luke raised an eyebrow and looked at Vader, but the Dark Lord gave no indication that he had noticed, so Krennic continued. "Earlier today, we received an urgent alert from one of our Imperial authorities, Minister Tua of Lothal. Apparently, when she attempted to procure some weaponry on Garel, she was met by some resistance." Krennic paused for them to say something, but they didn't so he took a deep breath and delivered the worst news. "Not only did a band of insurgents attack her there and steal her weapons, but among those insurgents were Jedi." Krennic looked back and forth at the both of them and said, "Three of them."
Luke stiffened and turned to Vader, opening his mouth to speak, but Vader held up a hand and Luke stopped. Vader then gestured for Krennic to continue. Krennic pulled out a holopad and began to read from it, saying, "This isn't the only recent increase in Jedi activity, either. Three days ago, just after Lord Vader's announcement, a Jedi attacked several scout troopers and managed to escape from Kashyyyk after releasing a large number of Wookiee prisoners. The day after that, ISB Agent Kallus reported a Master and Apprentice that he found on Kessel, oddly enough, also freeing Wookiees. And just yesterday, another Jedi managed to escape an Inquisitor on Bracca, aided by what our probes claimed was another Jedi. Now, there are two things we can take from these incidents. One, the Wookiees must be secured more tightly. And two, …" Vader cut him off and said, "The Jedi are getting bolder." He stood up from his desk and walked over to stare out at space passing by outside the window.
"They believe that the Empire is weakened by Palpatine's death, the transition of power," Vader said. Neither Krennic nor Luke dared to interrupt him. Vader suddenly turned back to face them. "We must correct that belief," Vader said with finality. Turning to Luke, he said, "Go. Gather the Inquisitors and hunt the Jedi. If they wish to stand publicly, then they will be easier to find. Destroy them and remove their stench from the galaxy permanently." Luke bowed to his Master and walked out the door, immediately setting out to follow Vader's orders. Back in the office, Krennic looked at his Emperor and asked, "You trust that boy to handle the Jedi infestation?" Vader walked over and leaned towards him over the desk, making Krennic shy away involuntarily. "You would do well not to underestimate the boy, Governor." Krennic nodded and quickly excused himself from the room. As soon as he was gone, Vader pressed a button on his desk which opened the wall to his right, revealing a collection of hundreds of lightsabers taken from fallen Jedi. "Besides," Vader continued to himself, looking at his large variety of trophies from defeated enemies, "killing Jedi is in his blood."