Thank you to all my reviewers! :-D Let the marathon continue!
"All right, Little One, now recite Emperor Palpatine's declaration of a new order," Kerrick told Vader.
Sighing dramatically, the boy faced him and said in a mundane tone, "Citizens of the civilized galaxy, on this day we mark a transition. For a thousand years, the Republic stood as the crowning achievement of civilized beings. But there were those who would set us against one another, and we took up arms to defend our way of life against the Separatists. In so doing, we never suspected that the greatest threat came from within.
"The Jedi, and some within our own Senate, had conspired to create the shadow of Separatism using one of their own as the enemy's leader. They had hoped to grind the Republic into ruin. But the hatred in their hearts could not be hidden forever. At last, there came a day when our enemies showed their true natures.
"The Jedi hoped to unleash their destructive power against the Republic by assassinating the head of government and usurping control of the clone army. But the aims of would-be tyrants were valiantly opposed by those without elitist, dangerous powers. Our loyal clone troopers contained the insurrection within the Jedi Temple and quelled uprisings on a thousand worlds.
"The remaining Jedi will be hunted down and defeated! Any collaborators will suffer the same fate. These have been trying times, but we have passed the test. The attempt on my life has left me scarred and deformed, but I assure you my resolve has never been stronger. This has been the most trying of times, but we have passed the test. The war is over!
"The Separatists have been utterly defeated, and the Republic will stand. United! United and free!
"The Jedi Rebellion was our final test—it was the last gasp of the forces of darkness! Now we have left that darkness behind us forever, and a new day has begun! It is morning in the Republic!
"Never again will we be divided! Never again will sector turn against sector, planet turn against planet, sibling turn against sibling. We are one nation, indivisible!
"To ensure that we will always stand together, that we will always speak with a single voice and act with a single hand, the Republic must change. We must evolve. We must grow. We have become an empire in fact; let us become an Empire in name as well! We are the first Galactic Empire!
"We are an Empire that will continue to be ruled by this august body! We are an Empire that will never return to the political maneuvering and corruption that have wounded us so deeply; we are an Empire that will be directed by a single sovereign, chosen for life!
"We are an Empire ruled by the majority! An Empire ruled by a new Constitution! An Empire of laws, not of politicians! An Empire devoted to the preservation of a just society. Of a safe and secure society! We are an Empire that will stand ten thousand years!
"We will celebrate the anniversary of this day as Empire Day. For the sake of our children. For our children's children! For the next ten thousand years! Safety! Security! Justice and peace!"
Vader paused and sighed before saying, "His address is really annoying,"
"Why is that?"
"I don't know, it's just… something about it seems… dirty…"
Kerrick folded his arms and sat down on Vader's cot and took a deep breath. "I don't see what's dirty about it. Emperor Palpatine is ensuring that we never have a situation like the Clone War again."
"But then what about the Rebel Alliance?" Vader said earnestly. "I mean, they're stupid and annoying and everything, but if Emperor Palpatine said that the Empire would be a safe, secure, just, and peaceful one, then the Rebels wouldn't even exist, right?"
"Lo, any plan sounds ideal until you implement it and enter the sentient factor. Someone is going to try to ruin your plans, for good or for ill. The Rebels are trying to destroy our Empire. That's why we're fighting them." Kerrick said, tilting his head forward.
"I guess so…" Vader muttered, though he didn't sound entirely convinced. Still, the boy returned to his history work.
Kerrick pondered over how they had been schooling Vader. The first week had gone relatively well. They had all managed to juggle their busy schedules to where they could teach him and when one officer could not make it, another would fill in for him or her. By the time the week was over, nearly half the ship was involved in tutoring the young Sith Lord. Everyone knew him either by Little One or "Lo," a name that had be ingeniously invented on the spot by Moeema. While they called him Little One to cheer him up, most of the time they addressed him by an actual name, and he began to respond to it.
However, now some big problems were beginning to arise, such as experimenting on Vader. Kerrick remembered that Capt. Mentzer had ordered the doctors to start running tests on Vader to see what had happened.
Kerrick dreaded the thought of having Vader being tested on, and Ryatsi did not seem to like the idea either. She even went so far as to protest to the captain's face, but he ignored her words and ordered her to do it or risk being charged with insubordination.
Kerrick watched Vader as he studiously looked over the history work that had been assigned to him. The lieutenant commander sighed as he sat on Vader's cot. He knew the testing would begin today, but he did not know when. However, he found that question answered very quickly.
Darth Vader was reading about the Battle of Jabiim during the Clone Wars when he suddenly froze. His head shot up and his eyes darted to the corner of the room, slowly moving towards the door as if he were watching something.
"Eh—what are you doing, Little One?" Kerrick asked.
"Someone's coming," Vader said in a flat tone.
The door opened to reveal two stormtroopers and a doctor standing in the doorway.
The power immediately went out.
Capt. Ton Mentzer sighed as he fingered the generator which was producing a holo of his fiancée. He missed her dearly, but he had told her that he would remain in Death Squadron so he could serve Darth Vader. He had always admired Darth Vader, seeing him as the greatest enforcer who let nothing get in his way. Now that he acted like a youngling… it wasn't disgraceful; Vader couldn't help it. It was, however, extremely awkward.
Ton had ordered the doctors to perform tests on Darth Vader to see what in the blazes had happened. Nothing that he knew of could possibly make someone revert to a younger age. According to medical records, Vader was supposed to be twenty-seven, a fact that had surprised Ton greatly. Practically the entire Empire, whether they did or didn't respect the Sith Lord, thought Vader was much older. Part of the reason was because if Vader was twenty-seven now, than he had been twenty-two when he first joined the Empire. When Ton was twenty-two he was in college for Force's sake!
Ton's thoughts were quickly interrupted when the power flickered and then died. Standing up, he immediately activated his comlink. "Capt. Mentzer to engineering,"
"Sir, we don't know what happened, the power just failed!"
Ton restrained an exasperated sigh. Half of the ship now knew about Vader's mannerisms and abilities, and Ton was no exception. Something had startled the young man and Death Squadron had to pay for it.
Immediately, Ton changed the frequency on the comlink. "Captain Mentzer to Lieutenant Commander Chelcu,"
"Yes sir?"
"Do you mind explaining why the power just died?"
"Well, sir, if you hadn't sent those doctors—"
The ship rumbled and shook, sending Ton flailing to the ground. The ship continued to vibrate before it suddenly lurched, throwing Ton out of his quarters and into the hallway. "What in the blazes—"
His comlink chimed numerous times. Ton contacted the bridge first. "What is going on up there?"
"Sir, when the power went out, we dropped out of hyperspace! We… oh, Force…"
"What is it?" Ton snapped.
"Sir, I believe we just found the Rebel base,"
Ton gaped. He was stunned speechless for about ten seconds before snapping back into reality. "We—we what? Where are we?"
"Dantooine, sir,"
"Get everyone to their battle stations immediately!" Ton ordered before cutting the connection and running towards the turbolift. He stopped when he reached the doorway, cursing when he remembered the power was down. He once again contacted engineering. "Get that power up, now!"
Kerrick desperately tried to calm down a frantic Vader. "Come on, Lo, they're not going to hurt you now…"
"No, why are they here, I didn't do anything!" Vader protested, trying to get out of the room and away from the doctors.
Suddenly, Ryatsi ran into the area. "Get out of here, come on! We've got casualties!"
The doctors ran off, much to Kerrick and Vader's relief. The power slowly began returning, and then Rowan's voice was heard over the loudspeaker. "Everyone to their battle stations immediately! This is not a drill!"
Cursing, Kerrick looked at Vader. What were they going to do with him? They had never even considered having to deal with a battle scenario, but that was utterly foolish of them. They were in the most feared and powerful fleet in the galaxy; although this meant they were less likely to be attacked, it also meant they were more likely to be on the offensive. But what had happened? They were supposed to be in hyperspace. Vader must have knocked the fleet out of it when he panicked… so where were they?
"Little One, please just stay here," Kerrick ordered him. "Don't leave your quarters, no matter what happens, all right?"
Vader nodded, a little fearful. Kerrick prayed that he wouldn't cause the power to go out once more. If the power failed during a battle, they were all as good as dead.
Kerrick leapt up and ran out of the room, rushing towards the turbolifts and immediately pressing for the bridge.
As everyone gathered on the bridge and went to their battle stations, Capt. Mentzer looked at Kobayashi and pulled him aside. "Lt. Beillane, I want you to find Lord Vader and stay with him. Do anything you can to keep him safe, but especially keep him calm. We can't have any technical issues."
Kobayashi nodded. "Yes, sir,"
Kobayashi turned and ran out of the bridge, nearly pounding the turbolift door so it would move faster. Once he reached Deck 65, he practically flew into the corridor and opened the door to Vader's room.
Darth Vader looked at him curiously, but did not look surprised. He had probably sensed Kobayashi coming from the bridge. The thought made Kobayashi's skin crawl; it was still unsettling to think that Vader knew everything he was doing.
"Hi, Koby," he said calmly. His normally excited demeanor had lessened immensely. He seemed too calm… something was wrong with him, Kobayashi could tell. Dealing with the boy for over a week had shown Kobayashi that much.
Vader's normal temperament was excited and curious. He would always ask questions and always look for ways to bend the rules, for an innocent reason, but disobedient nonetheless. One thing Kobayashi had never seen from him, though, was a sense of inner strength and patience. This was exactly what he was seeing now. Vader was not panicking, nor was he even scared in the least. Kobayashi knew that it wasn't because Vader didn't realize they were in a battle; he could tell the Sith Lord knew perfectly well. He was fully aware of the situation. Instead, he was waiting to see what happened. His entire body had gone rigid with anticipation. Kobayashi was starting to see the Darth Vader he had known for the past three years.
"Stang," Jifo cussed as he looked at the targeting computer. "Captain, they're all over us!"
"Send out the TIE squadrons," the captain ordered.
Other officers carried out the orders as Jifo watched his enlisted crew stroke their screens to activate some of the Super Star Destroyer's turbolasers. One of them fired and destroyed the engines of one of the Rebel ships.
The moment they had been knocked out of hyperspace, they found themselves face-to-face with the entire Rebel fleet. Apparently the Rebels were preparing to leave when they arrived, but their arrival seemed unexpected. Though the Rebels were the first to attack, they had paused for a minute that seemed an eternity to Jifo. Both sides had stared at each other in blank shock before opening fire.
"Aim for their capital ships," Capt. Mentzer told Jifo and the others manning the turbolasers.
"Yes, sir," they chorused together.
Jifo immediately ensured his men targeted the nearest capital ship, aiming for the bridge. Suddenly an alarm blared loudly, causing the ensign to flinch slightly.
Rowan looked at his data screen and whipped around to face Capt. Mentzer. "Sir, there's a boarding party!"
"Send a squad to eradicate them," the captain yelled.
Jifo felt his entire body stiffen. This was just getting worse and worse.
Kobayashi paced Vader's room restlessly, fingering his blaster. Vader watched him for a short while before his eyes suddenly narrowed and then widened. He looked in a different direction and jumped to his feet.
"What's wrong?" Kobayashi immediately asked. The last thing he needed was for Vader to panic.
"Somebody's coming!" Vader whispered.
"Who's coming?"
Vader paused, as if he were listening for something, before he growled, "Rebels,"
Kobayashi blanched. "What? How did Rebels get here?"
The ship rocked and then everything grew still. It was like being in the eye of the storm. Nothing made a sound. The lights flickered and then died, leaving the dim red glow of the emergency power. Frightened, Kobayashi looked at Vader, but he seriously doubted that the Sith Lord caused the problem. Vader was looking intently at the door. There was no fear in his eyes.
Above them, Kobayashi heard footsteps. Worry and fear began to leak into his mind. He started perspiring, wiping his brow and panting softly. He hated this feeling. Being boarded was one of the worst feelings a naval officer could get; having the enemy on your own ship was a nightmare, especially if they were skilled. Many Imperials thought of Rebels as barbaric fools, but Kobayashi had heard too much of the contrary-and been in a ground battle with them firsthand-to believe it. With the intense glare Vader was giving, Kobayashi knew better than to underestimate that boarding party.
Both occupants in the room jumped at the sound of blaster fire and screams. All of Vader's intense scrutinizing vanished in an instant. Any hope of the power returning faded as fear began to glitter in his eyes. The red emergency lighting went out. All sound dissipated. They were truly floating dead in the water.
"Little One, it's going to be alright," Kobayashi tried to reassure the boy, but he couldn't even stop the quiver in his own voice. He knew that with Vader's perception his tone of voice would not help.
The air seemed to grow thick with tension as the two waited in complete silence. Kobayashi didn't dare make any movement for fear of attracting the Rebels. They couldn't see them, but in this dead silence, anything would make a loud noise. Still… they had to get out of there. Kobayashi didn't care how scared they were; keeping Darth Vader alive was his priority and objective, and he had to go through with it.
"Come on," he said to Vader, sneaking up to the door and pressing his ear against it. He didn't hear anything… there was the possibility that the boarding party had moved on. There was also the possibility that they were lingering in the hallway.
Cursing, Kobayashi decided that they couldn't wait any longer. He reached for Vader's sleeve and pulled the boy towards the door. This immediately proved to be a deadly mistake.
"No!" Vader nearly yelled. Kobayashi smacked a palm to the boy's mouth in order to silence him, but the damage was already done.
"Did you hear that?"
"What was that?"
Kobayashi pulled Vader and shoved him under his cot. He then pulled out his blaster and hid in the corner by the door, waiting for the Rebels. Sweat trickled down his face as fear gnawed at his insides, which was not helping the situation.
The echoing footsteps drew closer. No other noise was heard, not even Vader or Kobayashi's breathing. It was almost as if the galaxy were holding its breath in anticipation, waiting to see what would happen next.
Judging from the footsteps, Kobayashi could guess that there were at least ten men, but the echoes were doing an extraordinary job of muffling the sound. There was no way he could be certain how many people were on their way. It grew silent…
BANG!
Kobayashi jumped and heard Vader jump as well. The Rebels were kicking the door.
"Damn power outage," one of the Rebels muttered, giving Kobayashi some hope. Perhaps they would just pass by… or perhaps not.
A circle began to trace its way around the door, glowing white hot. They were using a fusion cutter to break into the room. Kobayashi clutched his blaster even tighter. He at least had the element of surprise on his side. He prayed that Vader would remain hidden and not get in the way.
The circle was completed and kicked in by a large black boot. A Rebel began to step into the room… just one more moment… wait for it… wait for it…
Silently, Kobayashi took aim just as the man entered.
Then he fired.
The room was immediately lit up by his blaster fire. The Rebel crumpled to the ground. The hole in the door would slow the other soldiers down. They would have to enter one by one, thinning them out so Kobayashi could pick them off bit by bit, soldier by soldier. This should have been relatively easy.
At least until the Wookiee knocked the entire door down.
About fifteen troopers stormed in, firing all at once. Kobayashi shot off as many blasts as he could before he felt a fire erupt in his gut. He screamed out in pain, falling back. He couldn't give up… he couldn't stop fighting… he couldn't let them find Vader…
Kobayashi lifted his now trembling blaster hand and fired but the shot went wild. The Rebels approached him, ready to finish him off…
An inhuman scream was heard and the world went black.
Lt. Ooke Tunrott frantically worked to get the power going once again. The air began to grow chilly as atmospheric conditioning within the ship faded. Even his glow rod's light seemed to be fading.
"Damn," he cursed. "Nothing's been right since that bloody outpost,"
He continued to fumble with the wiring of the power conduit he had been fixing when his fingers suddenly stiffened. He took a sharp intake as his entire body shuddered. A gnawing fear began enveloping him, almost overpowering the unsuspecting lieutenant. Where in the blazes had that come from?
The fear remained, eating away at his very being. He couldn't work with this pain… there was no way he could concentrate… where was this coming from?
Gasping, Ooke fell to the ground, dropping his hydrospanner. The fear had suddenly changed. Waves of nausea overpowered the lieutenant. This wasn't fear… not anymore, at least… what was going on?
"Sithspit," he muttered.
The feeling was clawing at him. The fear had originally felt like his insides were twisting and churning but now it had changed drastically. It felt like his insides were burning.
Nearby, Ooke heard someone else drop a tool and collapse to the ground. Most likely it was the chief engineer, Commander Katsure. He had been repairing the life support systems.
"S-sir…?"
A moan was heard, but nothing more. Ooke moaned as well and then gasped in horror. His world turned deep red, almost as if he were wearing blood-soaked spectacles. What was going on? Was he having a seizure or something? He tasted blood in his mouth, he could smell it…
Suddenly, he and his superior officer jumped as they heard a savage roar.
The entire battle had stilled. Every Imperial had collapsed to the ground in pain and terror at whatever was eating away at their insides. The horrible smell of blood stank in the air, making some feel like they were going to retch. As for the Rebels, a sudden dread filled them as they heard the most inhuman scream any of them had ever heard. It wasn't a scream of pain, or terror.
It was a scream of blinding, bloodthirsty rage.