Star Wars Infinities: The Master
Chapter 19
By: Christopher W. Blaine
e-mail: darth_yoshi@yahoo.com
DISCLAIMER: All of the characters and situations contained in this story are ©2003 by LucasFilm Ltd. They are used here without permission for fan-related entertainment purposes only. This original story is ©2003 by Christopher W. Blaine.
The air of the carbonite-freezing chamber was surprisingly warm and Luke undid the top button of his dark tunic. Artoo-Detoo, his robotic companion, gave a low whistled as its photoreceptor took in the sit of the massive pit in front of them. Luke put a hand on the small droid and patted it gingerly. "You are my only friend, Artoo," he said in a low voice.
The droid had originally been his mother's, but it had been his father who had taken a special interest in the little astromech. In the years since his mother's betrayal, Artoo had served as the unofficial communications middleman between Luke and his mother. There was no way Luke could directly contact her, to let her know of his feelings of betrayal and his oath of vengeance, so he sent the droid instead. The New Republic, no, the galaxy he corrected himself, was full of models just like Artoo and his passage between the two governments was always uneventful.
Several times his mother had sent messages of pleading, begging Luke to be just like her and betray his oath to his master. To deny the Sith was to deny his heritage and he would never do that. Artoo scanned the pit and then straightened up, turning his single receptor towards his master. Luke smiled at him and for a moment he looked like someone else. In the company of the astromech droid, he was at his happiest. Artoo made no judgments, made no demands of Luke and was always loyal regardless of what Luke did.
Han Solo had almost been a friend like that. Luke remembered the cocky Corellian with the lopsided grin. Of course, all Corellians had that same insipid smile. But, Luke knew, Han would have eventually turned against him, would have taken someone's side over his. Emperor Palpatine had told Luke to watch out for those closest to him, but he had not heeded that advice totally and he had paid a price for it.
Small, furry and tusked humanoids scurried about the chamber, checking hoses and examining valves. The Ugnaughts were the workers, the slave labor, of Cloud City. Slavery, which was referred to as indentured servitude in the Corporate Sector, was prominent in many mining colonies. Luke assumed that they knew what they were doing as he could not ask the human supervisor. Most of the staff of Cloud City was under house arrest or dead and Luke's detachment of stormtroopers was getting spread too thin. He really did need to leave and soon.
A chamber door opened on the other side and two stormtroopers stepped through. Their black armor reflecting the orange lighting like it was flames. They looked more like demons of myth than soldiers. Luke stepped away from Artoo, physically placing himself between the prisoners and his only friend. The first person through the door was Lando Calrissian. The notorious gambler and former baron-administrator of Cloud City gave Luke a look that would have killed if it had been possible. There was no fear radiating from Calrissian, only anger and hatred. Were Calrissian a Jedi, he would be dangerous and Luke gave him a smirk to indicate that he knew what he was thinking.
Leia was dragged in by an Ugnaught. Luke had allowed her to slip into a small leather thong and top, with an added chain around her neck. She didn't protest, but that was only because her throat was raw from all of the screaming she had done over the past few days. There were bruises, cuts and some deep lacerations all over her body, but Luke still thought she looked to good. Some more torture was in order and he made a mental note to have Artoo send a signal to his command ship to prepare his personal playroom for his darling sister.
Leia tripped and fell onto the rough grating, tearing the skin from both knees. Lando turned to help her and reached out, despite his hands being bound. One of stormtroopers smacked him in the kidney with the butt of his blaster rifle. Lando went down as well and the Ugnaught that had been in charge of Leia was flattened under Lando's mass. There were a few moments of confusion as two more stormtroopers entered the chamber to help the two prisoners up and Luke passed the time by using the Force to make some of the other Ugnaughts trip and fall. He got a lot of pleasure out of one in particular that was blind in one eye and walked with a limp.
The stormtroopers shoved the prisoners forward and brought them to a spot opposite from Luke and across the pit. "You won't get away with this!" Lando sneered. "This is Corporate Sector territory. You've committed an act of war!"
Luke shrugged. "We've been at war for five years; it's nothing new." He tapped his chin with a finger. "Of course, I've been monitoring all of the local net channels and CSA news is reporting nothing amiss here. I guess someone paid off the board."
Lando's surprised and shocked look made Luke chuckle. "Really? Did you think the Corporate Sector was going to plunge itself into an unprofitable war over you?" He turned his attention to his sister. "Are you feeling well, sibling? Can I get you something?"
Leia spit blood onto the grating. "Go to hell," she managed to get out.
"Perhaps one day, when I need to extend the boundaries of the New Order." He replied with a smile. Fresca entered the chamber next, dressed in her red tunic and a short skirt, complete with the knee-high black boots. Luke felt the familiar stirrings deep within his stomach, a hunger for the flesh of a subservient lover. She seemed to sense his desire and she graced him with a smile. He tried to read her mind, but again the symphony was playing. He really had to find out what it was about her and classical music.
Fresca walked by the prisoners, not even bothering to glance at them and took her spot at Luke's rear, next to Artoo. Then Corran was led in. He was not bound, except by honor. He had been told the moment he tried to escape or make trouble, Leia would be shot by one of three snipers positioned in the chamber. His lightsaber was gone and Luke did not appear to be wearing one. Not that it would help; Corran could not hope to match the telekinetic powers of the Sith Lord.
Corran was stopped at the edge of the pit at a point between the prisoners and captor. Luke nodded to him and remarked to the others what a gracious host he had been. "As you can see, Padawan Horn has not been touched…much. I haven't slit his Jedi throat, as much as I would like to." Nobody said anything and again Luke shrugged. He cleared his throat and addressed his sister. "Leia, I will only ask this once: join me. Come to the Dark Side of the Force and swear loyalty to my Lord Ravage. Do so and I will spare the life of your true love, for there is no guarantee that the freezing process is not fatal."
Corran finally spoke, his eyes filling with tears. "No! Leia! Don't do it! Don't throw your life away!"
Leia began crying as well and shaking her head. "Why are you doing this?" she asked. It was the same question she had asked time and time again during the whole ordeal. She had never imagined that her brother's hatred for her had run so deep. The things he had done to her were unmentionable, things she would have to live with in silent shame for the rest of her life. Now he was demanding that she become just like him.
"Because I can, sister, dear. People in power can do that and right now, I am the one with the power." He paused and gave a sadistic laugh. "You might have had a chance if your master had not run out on you! I can't imagine Kyp Durron, the great messiah of the New Republic, turning his back on his two padawans. I guess you really broke his heart, sis."
"Don't do it!" Corran repeated. He looked over at Luke. "Go ahead, throw me in, but leave her alone!"
Luke's face took on a look of confusion and he paused for a moment and then looked around the room, making a theater production out of the whole affair. "I'm sorry, Corran, but I said her true love." Luke looked over to Leia. "You haven't told him, have you?"
"What? That she slept with Dash? Because of your influence, Sith!" Corran shouted. "You manipulated her mind, you made her and Dash do those things." He straightened up and looked to Leia. "I still love her."
"Yeah, but she doesn't love you. She never really did. In fact, all I did was get rid of her inhibitions." Luke's grin grew feral and he stepped closer to Corran. "She has always been in love with Dash, ever since the first day she saw him. I've seen it all in her mind. She settled for you because you were the nice one, the stable one. You were a slow cooker for a woman who wanted flame broiling."
Luke snapped his fingers and a figure was pushed into the chamber by some guards. "Dash!" Leia exclaimed as the Corellian stepped into the light.
"I caught him with my mind," Luke said, referring to the previous battle when he had knocked Dash out of the hanger bay. He wiggled his eyebrows at Corran and moved a step closer. "The power of the Dark Side is great, but you wouldn't know about that would you, Corran? That's because you're the honorable one, the nice guy. You make sweet love to a girl; Dash ravages a woman."
Corran's gaze switched back and forth from Dash, who looked the worse for wear and to Leia. Her eyes betrayed her true emotions and Corran felt his is world shattering. Luke sensed it as well and he was soon whispering into Corran's ear. "They have all turned against you. They have lied and used you, laughed at you behind your back while they spawned like fish every chance they got."
Corran shook his head and kept whispering "no, no". Luke moved behind the padawan and spoke lightly into the other ear. "How many times have you laid with my sister and she blocked you from reaching out to you in the Force? You always thought it was your lack of ability, but in truth it was her strength in protecting her lies. While you made love, she thought of Dash while you thought of her. '
"Corran…" Dash said weakly.
The sound of Dash's voice snapped the last of Corran's resolve. He had struggled to be honorable throughout their confinement, ever since he realized that Leia and Dash had been intimate. He had given both of his friends the benefit of the doubt and he had been made a fool. And now they wanted to plead with him to understand. They wanted to say they were sorry. "No," he said, his voice rising from a whisper to a crescendo. "No!"
The power of his voice was amplified by the rage he was feeling. Leia stumbled back, feeling the dark Side pouring in through the very walls and heading straight for Corran. His eyes seemed to grow dark and his breathing became heavier as he started to tremble. Luke stepped back and sniffed the air. "Smells like revenge to me," he said.
"No, Corran, don't!" Leia cried out. "I'm sorry!"
Corran stretched an arm out towards Dash and grabbed him with the Force. His rage and embarrassment amplified his powers, making them ten times what they normally would be. It had a price, though, as a large purplish splotch started to grow from a pinpoint over his left eye into a spider-like creation of evil that started to creep down his face. "You! You claimed to be my friend! You claimed to be my ally! I looked up to you! " Dash started to rise in the air, wiggling as if he were in the grasp of a giant invisible hand.
"Yes," Luke whispered. "Show them the price of betrayal. Know what I know, Corran Horn!"
Leia and Lando both begged Corran to put Dash down, but the Corellian was beyond reasoning with and he moved the struggling space-pirate/mercenary over the pit. He opened his hand and Dash dropped with a heavy thud into it. Luke waved a finger, activating the freezing equipment. There was a blast of white, frozen air and then the thunderous roar of carbonite as it was being changed from gas to liquid and then finally a solid.
If Dash screamed, it was drowned out by the noise of the process and Corran's face continued to contort with rage. Leia was on her knees, crying and screaming for it all to stop and Lando forced himself to look away. Fresca, on the other hand, continued to watch Luke, who was simply relishing in the entire affair. That look finalized any lingering doubts she had about going over to the New Republic. She craved power, but not at this price.
As an intelligence officer, she had always distanced herself from the day-to-day obscenities that defined the work of a special operative. Unlike her mother, she had never been one for hands-on-work of this type. To Fresca, it was cheap. A true intelligence officer used their mind to outwit their opponent, such as when she disguised herself as a mercenary and simply strode past Kyp Durron, the most powerful Jedi in the galaxy.
In truth she had distanced herself because she wanted to avoid the truth of what her government and position represented. She had foolishly allowed herself to get swept up in the notion that her skills in the bedroom could somehow alter the course of destiny. Luke Skywalker was a madman and if he was the servant, she could only imagine the true state of mind of Lord Ravage. Did Thrawn know about all of this? Did he even care?
The process of freezing was relatively quick as it was normally reserved for putting the gas minded on Bespin into a better, more durable form for shipping. Production demands required a fast process and this was the fastest. An Ugnaught hurried over to the unloading controls and activated them. From the overhead, a pair of giant mechanical fingers lowered down into the pit. A light on the control panel turned green and the creature pressed another button.
The fingers rose out of the pit, a giant dark and steaming block of black material grasped in the metal digits. It took several seconds to maneuver the fingers out of the pit area and over to the unloading area. With very little ceremony, the fingers opened and the block dropped to the grating with a resounding clang.
Leia gasped and Lando moaned when they looked upon it and Luke and stepped past a shivering Corran to examine the block. It was almost square, except in the spots where Dash's from stuck out. It was obvious he had been down on all fours, one arm off of the ground and reaching up. His face was locked in a permanent moan of despair.
As part of the manufacturing process, the block had a status indicator attached to it and Luke gave it a quick glance. It indicated a perfectly frozen organic locked inside the block. "He lives." Luke turned to Corran. "A present for you, a gift to mark your transformation."
"My transformation?" Corran managed to ask in a raspy voice. He was barely able to stand.
"You have come across the great divide, Corran Horn. You now know the true power the Force has to offer. No longer will you be lied to. No longer will you be the one that they speak of behind closed doors." Luke moved back over to him and put a hand on his shoulder.
"You bastard!" Leia said. There was no way to know whom the statement was directed at.
Luke turned to her. "And what does that make you, my sister?" She did not immediately reply and he started laughing. It was a maniacal laugh, the laugh of someone not possessing a soul. "Why do you curse me, sister? What have I done except expose the truth of your infidelity?" Luke then whirled to face Corran. "It as I have always said, as my master has always said. The Jedi propagate lies and deceit, while it has always been the Sith who proclaim the truth. Sometimes the truth is painful."
"What do you want from me?" Corran asked, his voice rough. He averted his eyes from Leia and Lando.
"Join us in the New Order. We are working towards a greater goal, a goal of a government not ruled by smooth-talking liberal liars, we seek to unify the galaxy under a safety net of the truth." Luke spread his arms wide and Fresca was silently impressed by the way he could shift from raving pervert to politician in the blink of an eye. It was obvious he had studied under Palpatine. "Sometimes that truth is brutal. Sometimes you have to acknowledge that for the good of the many, the few must be sacrificed. Through the Sith way, by following the Dark Side, you can learn the truths that the Jedi wanted to keep from you."
Corran looked unsure and Luke continued. "Why were you not able to detect the lustful thoughts of your fiancé? Do you think that Dash Rendar was the only rogue that caught her eye? Do you now know what she and the other Jedi thought of you, the Jedi with the 'weaker' talents?"
Leia's eyes betrayed the truth and told of the thoughts she had allowed to wander through her mind over the years. But thinking was not the same as doing she always told herself, but now, looking into the face of Corran and seeing the pain, she understood how wrong she had been. Corran had been a fine boyfriend, but she now realized she should have never agreed to marry him.
Now it was too late. "Corran, I'm sorry…"
Corran's facial muscles twitched and there was a surge in the Force as he tried to control his anger. "I'll join you," he finally said. Slowly, he dropped down onto one knee in front of Luke and bowed his head. "Take me as your apprentice, teach me the ways of the Sith." He popped his head up and looked directly at Leia. "Teach me the truth."
"We will be exiting hyperspace in a few minutes, fleshbags," Ippy said. The droid quickly typed in some commands to the hyperdrive controls. If he didn't compensate correctly, Kyp and Chewbacca would be splattered against the bulkheads when they returned to real space.
Kyp popped his head into the cockpit. "Chewbacca is finally getting some rest, so let's leave him be. Is Threepio still behind us?"
Ippy pointed to a small, green plant. It was tied in directly to the navigational senses of the living part of the Millennium Falcon. "Your salad says so," the droid commented, indicating the small purple bloom. "If you want, I can open the hatch and you can stick your head out to look."
"Where did you get that attitude?" Kyp grumbled as he plopped into the pilot's seat.
"Droids do not have attitudes, we have specialized programming."
Kyp reached up for the interface hood. "Ever hear of a memory wipe?"
"If I had emotions, I suppose I would be scared."
Kyp pulled the hood down and placed it over his head. Through it, he saw hyperspace the way the ship did and it was hypnotic. Gravitational fields roared by, disappearing into small time warps. He loved to sleep with the hood on when they were in hyperspace, but to be honest, he enjoyed talking with his ship. Ippy was annoying, but loyal, yet he wasn't really alive. Corran and him had not gotten along for a while, though they did not hate each other. The truth was that Kyp still sort of resented the fact that Leia had picked Corran over him, when even Kyp could see that Leia wanted something more.
Leia made Kyp uncomfortable now. Each day she seemed to get lovelier and each day he felt himself thinking more and more about her. Well, except for that cute little mercenary he had run into on Cloud City. Maybe he should have gotten her name?
The ship fell back into real space and Kyp's mind exploded with colors and sensations. The Dark Side was thick here, like a fog of death. Kyp could taste bile in his mouth and even the ship seemed particularly upset to be in this area. Korriban showed up as a large swirling mass through the senses of the Falcon. Tendrils of evil radiated from the center and small black dots swarmed around it like flies over a corpse.
"Dots?" Kyp whispered, not understanding.
"Sir," Ippy said in a sarcastic tone, "It looks like the planet is under blockade and there are fighters coming for us."