Chapter 31 - Dragon and Demon
Somewhere distant, rushing wind and a humming engine broke through the foggy darkness of Boba Fett's dreamless sleep. His eyes fluttered. He cringed away from the burning light of twin suns. Putting both gloved hands in front of his face, he slowly opened one eye, getting used to the oppressive glow of day. Memories flooded back: Vader, the Tusken, and those… hallucinations? The woman, tortured and dying.
And the bottomless rage he felt course through him. White hot, yet foreign. Not quite his own.
Finally opening both eyes, he found himself in the back of his speeder. He sat up, only to see Vader driving the hovercraft across the Dune Sea, hood of his cloak whipping in the wind.
"What the hell was that!?"
Kshhhhhh
"A woman. Tortured and killed by the Sand People."
It seemed the Sith Lord had no intention to explain further, but Boba pressed the matter. "How did you… show me those images?"
"The Power of the Force is not limited to the paltry displays you have already seen. Control of the weak-willed. Connecting of minds. Foreseeing the future. Communing beyond our plane of existence. All this and more," Vader said. Compared to before, his presence seemed subdued to Boba Fett. The bounty hunter wondered if Lord Vader was tired after his last display, but no. The Sith remained strong. He still exuded the same overwhelming confidence and power.
"Why bring me?" Fett asked. "Do you need my help with something?" Even as he asked the question felt ludicrous. Nothing he'd seen indicated the Dark Lord needed anyone or anything. Even the lightsaber was more a convenience than a vital weapon, given he could break necks with his mind.
"You are a tool. What you become? Chose for yourself."
With that, Vader descended back into silence. Whatever the Sith planned in the future, he considered the bounty hunter to be an asset, but far from necessary. In fact, Boba wondered how much of this Galactic Empire the Sith Lord required. Could he be thinking it was all a convenience? A matter of utility in the face of the entire galaxy. Boba worked for Jabba. In all the days he sought out the Hutt's foes, he never once felt that he merely rated as a tool. A vital resource? Perhaps. But with Vader, the entire galaxy laid before him? Maybe it was all little more than objects to be used and discarded. Exactly how far could this Force of the Sith's see?
"Quiet your mind," Vader ordered. "A cacophony of fear emanates off you."
"I'm not scared!"
Vader's helmet turned upon Boba like the mask of death and looked into his very soul. For a long moment, Fett wondered what the Sith saw, then it was over.
"You reek of terror. Do not attempt to deceive me. Fear is but one path to the Dark Side. Embrace it. Nurture it. Let it fill you and keep you alive. Master it. Accept the gift and grow."
As the speeder shot over another dune Boba caught sight of a Tusken encampment in the distance. And Vader did as well. "So, we come upon their home."
"Will you kill them too?"
Vader refused to answer, but soon enough they came to a stop in front of a pair of Tusken guards. Vader swung out over the landspeeder and marched through the sand, sure footed and full of rage.
Kshhhhhh
"I am here to speak with your witch," he said.
A moment of glancing back and forth between themselves after Boba translated and one guard turned inside, retreating into the camp. Glancing around the young bounty hunter recognized a few signs, symbols, and effigies. He'd dealt with this clan before. As far as savagery, they ranked in the middle. Plenty of Tusken were worse, more than a few better by far. Meanwhile, the remaining guard did all in his power to avoid looking directly at Vader. Boba Fett couldn't fault him. Apart from his already imposing presence, a quick glance at his boots revealed compacted sand. A trick of the Force. Everyone else sank into the soft Tatooine sand, further enhancing the Emperor's already impressive height. Now, he loomed over almost everyone by at least a full foot, if not more. Boba only came to his chest and even the tallest Sand People barely reached his chin. And when the bounty hunter reached adulthood? He'd still be a head shorter, even in his armor. The future was slightly less mysterious for a clone.
Once more, Boba considered how imposing every aspect of the Sith could be.
Uncomfortable minutes passed, and the pressure of Darth Vader, despite standing motionless, arms crossed, began to weigh on the guard, who even now looked to be making himself smaller. At last, they heard the sound of footsteps making their way through the sand and both Boba and the Tusken sighed in relief.
Straightening up and translating, Boba relayed the chief and shaman's greeting and Vader's reply to her. Several Tusken were at their heels. An honor guard of sorts. Probably defenders as well, Boba thought.
"We welcome you, Dark One. Long foretold cleanser of rock and dune!"
Kshhhhhh
"So, another prophecy. What else do you know of me, Sand Witch?"
"Wait," Boba said, confused. "You spoke Tusken just now." A sudden realization and he discovered what had been bothering him for so long. Back at the hunter camp, Vader did the same when he tortured and killed the other Tusken Raiders. "Why bring me to translate!? You said you didn't-" No. He never did. Boba thought back. The Sith only commented that Boba Fett spoke the language. Not that he himself could not.
"Do not take my disdain for the mongrel tongue of these animals as ignorance."
###
Instead of relying on Boba Fett to translate, Vader spoke to the Sand People in their own tongue, eliciting shock from the women and children. The guttural growl of his voice, along with the synthetic noise of every breath, sent a chill through all the Sand People. Even the warriors took a step back.
Kshhhhhh
"Give me what I desire, and I will show mercy."
The shaman came forward, cringing, bowing and scraping. "We offer all! All to you! Dark One. Ravager! Purifier!"
Vader looked down at the female, and even Boba couldn't tell what he might think.
"I sense your presence in the Force. What does a worm know of me?"
"Foretold! Your coming, a prophecy! Remove the unworthy! Purify and Bring Balance!"
Boba was surprised to see Vader freeze in place. It certainly seemed like he hadn't expected those words from the shaman. Maybe they meant something to him?
"I hunt Krayt. The oldest and most powerful. Tell me where it is."
"The dragon? Yes, know of it. Ancient, powerful. Worthy prey, Dark One."
Several of the other Tusken averted their eyes and muttered, 'Dark One,' at the shaman's words. Behind the Mandalorean helmet, Boba Fett's eyes narrowed, trying to make sense of it all. The natives acted like Darth Vader was a long expected guest.
Kshhhhhh
"Your confusion is understandable, Fett. But in time you will learn prophecies of my coming are not limited to this world. Jedi, Sith, and more beyond in the hidden places of our galaxy." Vader spoke common, but switched back to the Tusken language when he resumed speaking with the Shaman and village chief. "Tell me how to find the oldest Krayt."
A back and forth between the two elders quickly sketched out a path at the edge of the Dune Sea near Beggar's Canyon. For Boba's part, he was amazed the minimal directions were enough for Vader, but the Sith seemed to understand not only the native speech Tusken used, but even their odd directions, which he could barely follow. They included turns of phrase he almost never heard and mention of Tusken holy sites, yet Vader remained unmoved, nodding his head, at most. The only others capable of following the strange native language were the lifelong residents of Tatooine's settlements. But who knew what the Force allowed this Sith Emperor to accomplish.
When he heard the information he wanted, Vader turned to Boba "Prepare the Speeder. We leave as soon as I finish my business here." With that, Vader followed the shaman and chief into the village.
Orders given, Fett shrugged and jogged back to the X-34. He hadn't expected to find any problems and a quick systems diagnostic returned all green. "I dunno why he needed me to check. He drove us here. They way he uses the damn thing, probably knows her better than me by now," he muttered. Complaining about his new employer, Boba paused when he heard a crunch and the sound of something heavy landing in the dunes. Shutting the maintenance hood and jamming his helmet back over his head, Boba Fett froze and his blood ran cold. The guards, two of them at the village entrance, lay motionless in the sand.
"Hey! HEY!" Raising his voice, Boba trudged up the sandy dune as fast as his feet would carry him. Dehydration, a constant threat on Tatooine, wasn't something he'd expect from the Sand People. But when he arrived at the motionless bodies, he found their necks bent at a stomach churning angle. Looking past, he saw a few more, women and children among them, collapsed in the dirt with the same sick twist between shoulders and head. Even from a dozen strides, he knew the breath of life was gone. Then Darth Vader marched into view.
Kshhhhhh
"Our business is done. Come."
"Did you do this!?"
Vader stopped mid-stride. Without turning to face Boba, he asked, "And if I did?"
"You promised the mercy!"
"The mercy of a quick death. The only mercy their kind deserves."
On instinct, Boba's hands strayed towards the blasters on his hips. Before he could decide to draw them, a black glove shot out. Faster than thought, snatched by the throat. Boba's legs kicked the air. He managed a strangled gurgle of protest as Vader lifted him up and stared, helmet to helmet.
"You would do well to remember your place. Now come. The Dragon awaits." With that, Vader dropped the boy onto baking sand and turned back to the speeder.
"You call murder a mercy!?" Boba choked out. Then he felt the full weight of Vader's killing intent. For the first time, he appreciated what Schous and Norba went through. His hands trembled and he wondered if he could even manage to draw his blasters, let alone take aim.
"So, you wish to see?" The Dark Lord asked. And never before had Boba considered that phrase could hold such overwhelming malice. With every step the Sith took, the sound of doom echoed across the young man's mind. When, at last, Vader stood before him, he gently placed a black gloved hand on the top of that Mandalorian helmet. The son of Jango started foaming at the mouth as visions assaulted his mind. A woman. Kind. Loving. Innocent. Taken and tortured. Beaten and maimed. Dying. Life spilling from every wound. Rage! Fury! Sorrow!
FEAR!
HATE!
"They deserve to die SCREAMING!" A sharp breath and Boba hit the sand. The emotions vanished like morning mist.
"Stand," a cold, hard voice demanded.
Eyes cracking open, Boba slowly clenched his fists and then relaxed. Rivulets of sand flowed between his fingers and memory flooded back. "Wh-what happened?"
Kshhhhhh
"You gave in," Vader growled, "to weakness."
Without another word, he turned away, sand-colored cloak billowing, only to reveal the darkness underneath. "Come, I have what I need. And I have already spent too long walking in the dust these vermin call home." Vader climbed behind the controls of the speeder and pointed to a herd of Bantha on the edge of the village. "Rope a few. They will be of use."
###
Kshhhhhh
"So, this is where it nests. No cover, no concealment, no barricades. Only a barren stretch of sand and rock before the yawning cave." A grim note of pleasure edged into Vader's voice. This would be a good challenge. One more trial from the Dark Side. One more amongst many. And when he surpassed it? "I know the true Power of the Force, and it will be mine." Even from back in the speeder, Boba Fett felt the same rumble from deep within the ground. The same disturbance he felt back in Jabba's palace. As if in response, a guttural groan rolled out from the cavern before them.
A rhythmic thud echoed. A drum of certain death.
Thump!
Dust fell, a dry, tan waterfall, from the roof of the burrow.
Thump!
Boba reached for the landspeeder's cannon controls, but stopped when Vader's voice warned him against interfering. "You will not." Then he looked around the clearing and said, "This is an ancient, natural spillway." Boba checked the readouts on his own helmet's HUD. Sure enough, the air within was dense with moisture. At least, by Tatooine standards. As the bounty hunter looked around, he realized all the rocks seemed well worn and smooth. It might be sandy now, but long ago water flowed out onto the dusty landscape from some inner spring.
A shadow stirred deep within the darkness and then it stepped out into the blistering light of day. Bigger than any star shuttle, dirt and dust, mud and water, poured from the Dragon's flank. Caustic slime dripped between rows of jagged yellow teeth.
"By the pit!" Boba yelped. "What is it!?"
"You have only encountered Krayt before. No more than a century old. This is a Greater Krayt. As far above those lizards as I am above you." Too shocked to be insulted by the comment, Boba watched as a beast more than double the size of any Dragon he'd ever seen emerged from within the darkness of the cave. A long, muscled neck stretched out, its head bigger than the speeder. Behind, the massive body followed. A normal Krayt sported two pairs of legs. This behemoth supported itself upon five pairs.
The Greater Krayt extended it long neck. Ten legs, ending in claws stronger than steel, gouged the sandstone floor.
At last, Vader waved his left hand, releasing the Force hold over the minds of three Bantha they'd dragged here. Bellowing in confused terror, they charged out into the Dune Sea. Whether fleeing the Krayt or Vader or both, Boba Fett couldn't say. Either way, they'd served their purpose, drawing the animal from its burrow.
Having worked for the Hutt on this planet over the last couple years, Jango's purest clone knew well the dangers of Dragons. And this one seemed the zenith of its kind. "It has to be more than 120 meters long. A century old… maybe more." He'd seen a few Tusken hunts go sideways when they encountered beasts half this size. And Krayt never backed down. Aggressive, territorial, and unafraid. After all, for millions of years, nothing on Tatooine existed to challenge them, right? And yet, this king of Krayts hesitated. Everything Fett knew told him the creature should charge straight at Vader, but it paused, holding its ground, but not closing towards the lone human. Boba already knew how dangerous Darth Vader could be, but it seemed instinct told the Dragon much the same.
Kshhhhhh
Pulling Kirak's lightsaber from his belt, Vader ignited the green blade, holding it out in one hand while the other ripped a chunk of stone from the canyon wall. In a swift motion, rock bigger than Vader himself slammed into the Dragon, but it barely noticed. Instead, the monster pulled back its lips in a sneering growl, revealing row after row of teeth bigger than the Sith's arm. Rearing back, it suddenly shot forward, spewing caustic enzymes from its stomach. Vader dashed forward, but the acid hit him and he quickly ripped the sandy canvas cloak, casting to the ground where it steamed and bubbled as the bile ate away at it.
Now he was uncovered, His black cape furled in the hot desert wind and the hum of his saber as he spun into the first slice matched the beating heat of twin suns. Flashing, arcs of green light cut at the Dragon's fore legs, but it reared up and a long, whip-like, tail snaked out, spikes at the end aiming for Vader's head.
He rolled under the swing, then brought his lightsaber around and sliced into one leg, severing a single claw.
The Greater Krayt made no howl of pain, only tried to stomp the Sith with three of its legs and when that failed the long neck stretched out as it tried to capture him in its jaws.
Vader Force pushed the head back and sliced into its flank. A shallow blow, barely getting through the hard, leathery skin and thick sub-dermal tissue. The Dragon's tail and head struck out simultaneously, but a Force push on one and menacing saber flash on the other kept the monster at bay. Vader stepped back, gaining distance and launching stones in a spray of debris at the mighty creature. "This body is unsuitable to such a fight, but nonetheless, I will emerge the victor. Your life will feed me, strengthen me, and propel me onward."
The Krayt tilted its head to one side, regarding Vader through a slitted eye.
Suddenly, the monster dropped low, then in a single burst, it used all ten legs to launch itself forward. Maw opening wide, its long neck shot forward as it tried to take Vader in a single, vicious bite.
Vader's hands reached up and he stomped down with his right boot. With an open mouth nearly enough to swallow the seven foot tall cyborg, Vader managed to grasp the upper jaw and slam a boot down on the lower. Prosthetics surging with power, Vader held the creature, and its eyes went wide as it tried to slam its mouth closed, but failed.
"Wait," Boba said. "Where'd the lightsaber go?"
With a deep roar, it whipped its head up and sent Vader sailing through the air. He flipped and hit the ground, cracking sandstone beneath his feet. For the first time since his duel aboard the Death Star against the Emperor's Hand, he risked activating a dangerous trump card. Mechanisms in his prosthetic limbs whirred to life and capacitors dumped enough power to supply a city block on Coruscant for hours. Legs pounding, sandstone shattered under each step. From the speeder, Boba barely followed the Sith as he blurred across the dry, ancient spillway in front of the cave. Suddenly a green blade spun down from overhead and the Dragon ducked under it, but that only brought it closer to Vader, who collided, slamming his fist into the beasts eye socket. It spasmed, swinging its head ans sending Vader straight up into the air. He snatched the hilt of his blade as he passed and then plummeted back down, landing on the dragons back and plunging the saber, tip first, deep into its spine.
Screaming, pained and furious, the tail swung around and this time it struck true. Vader went tumbling down its flank, blocking the spikes but unable to stop the momentum. But it didn't stop him. Hitting the Greater Krayt, raining down blow after blow, green blade singing and singeing, the beast roared and struck out again. Teeth tail, claws, but Vader jumped the blow and landed a deep gash into its flank, sliding down as blood and viscera spilled out the gash. Then came the sudden burst of Force energy and a gout of blood squeezed out from a dozen wounds. Vader' hand clenched closed and the Dragon shook its head, pushing away the Force choke grip around its throat.
Kshhhhhh
"You will FALL."
At the last word, earth cracked and the beast collapsed under the weight of Darth Vader's power. Slammed down by the Dark Side, Krayt and Sith locked eyes. The beast, unaccustomed to anything challenging it, didn't give in. Instead, all ten legs dug deep into the stone.
With a few quick steps back, Vader avoided the thrashing as his Force slam failed and the Krayt raised itself, ready to fight again.
A burst of acid splashed across the dirt where Vader stood, but his prosthetics, already whirring in strain and protest, carried him away, leaving the digestive enzymes to bubble on the sand. Vader slashed the Krayt twice, leaving a cross-shaped wound, then he jammed his left hand deep into the monstrous chest.
His left arm clicked.
Boba Fett watched a violent storm of lightning burst, crackle and scream, Vader at the center. "What!?"
Then the Sith was reeling back, arm smoldering, but a sparking spider's web of electrified scars raced along the Krayt's torso as it roared in tortured fury. The monstrous beast glared at Vader. Blood and pus spilled from one ruined eye, while a spark of intelligence and venomous rage glared out from behind the other. It wasn't just dealing with an intruder anymore. The Krayt wanted to kill the dark figure. Hurt it. Bleed it. Devour it.
Kshhhhhh
"Yes. Even you can feel it. Let the Hatred flow through you. Draw on all your might and strike me down."
Boba felt a strange chill run down his spine. Something wrong stirred in the very air. Tail raised high, the Krayt swung down to slam Vader into the sand and rock. Deactivating his weapon, Vader held a lone hand up. Fett cringed and closed his eyes, looking away from the inevitable carnage. "No sound?" he asked himself and opened one eye. Vader still stood, hand outstretched. The tail remained in the air, unmoving.
"I'd hoped for more," Vader said, a note of disappointment in his voice. Then his head whipped around to Boba and he released his hold of the Krayt. "Fett!" Vader dropped the saber and his other hand reached out and snatched at something, like he tried grabbing an invisible rope. Suddenly Boba felt himself yanked forward like he wore a tether.
He hit the sand and rolled upright on instinct, just in time to see something burst through his speeder, sending sparks and shredded metal high into the air. Boba Fett watched, slack-jawed, as a giant, six-legged insect arced across the clearing and landed on the Krayt's back, instantly tearing into it with a pair of powerful mandibles and two scythe-like forelegs. In moments it burrowed into the Dragon's body, only to burst out the chest like a bloody firework. For a momet, the Dragon remained still, eye wide as it twitched. The shock of its own death kept it still, then its ruined heart beat one last time and the body went limp, legs collapsing underneath it as the mighty head fell, hitting the desert stone with a dull thump. A final breath leaked out from between its massive jaws and blood oozed out, soaking the parched sand.
"By the Force! What in all the hells is it!?"
Kshhhhhh
"Sand Demon. If not for my presence on this planet, its kind would be the Krayt's only predator. It is nearly as smart as any sentient. Do not think it a mere beast."
"I've never even heard of it!"
"Most consider it a myth," Vader said as the insectoid lapped up the blood on its razor sharp appendages. Vader's helmet tilted slightly as he measured this new enemy. "They live for centuries, tunneling through the sand and rock. This one may be millennia old and remember when water flowed across the surface."
"Should we run?" Boba asked, a tremor in his voice. Something in him warned that the creature before him was a monster among monsters.
Vader ignored the question, merely stating, "If your communicator still functions, tell the Hutt he may look forward to a sign of my favor. Tusken, Krayt, Sarlaac, even this. They are nothing next to the True Power of the Dark Side." Vader stalked forward. Ignoring anything else, he looked at the Sand Demon. "Tell me, do you know fear?" His heart beat, and he felt the sweet rush of battle wash over his very soul. "You will."