[Galaxy Of Fear] - 06(22)

The energy beams didn’t slow him down, though. Eppon picked up another trooper as though he weighed nothing, and hurled the armored soldier at the rest of the troop. The stormtroopers stumbled backward in a clatter of armor, crashing into Vader. The weight of a dozen men was not enough to move the Dark Lord, but the confusion caused by the troopers gave Gog an opening.

“Take me to safety!” he ordered his creation.

Eppon obeyed with blinding speed. He picked Gog up in one arm and raced away, moving so quickly that, by the time Vader had shrugged the troopers off, his two opponents were nowhere in sight.

Vader growled through his breath mask. “You’ve just signed your death warrant, Gog.”

Still hiding just inside the cargo ship, Tash, Zak, and Deevee remained utterly still.

“Maybe,” Tash whispered as softly as she could, “he doesn’t know we’re here. Maybe he’ll go after Gog and forget about us.”

It seemed as though her wish would be granted. Outside the ship, Vader issued orders to his dazed stormtroopers. “Send a squad to search the surrounding area. If Gog and his creature are nearby, I want them alive. Then bring me a report on the location of those Rebels. I want to make sure they do not escape either.”

Yes, Zak and Tash thought at the same time. We’re going to make it!

“But first,” the Dark Lord said, turning and staring directly at the cargo ship, “bring the two children and the droid to me. I plan to question them. Personally.”





CHAPTER 14


Darth Vader ignited his lightsaber and held it close to Zak’s throat. The energy sword hummed threateningly. “Do you know what this can do to human flesh?”

Zak nodded.

Vader turned to Tash. “Do you understand that I have another, more terrible weapon at my disposal?”

Tash knew that he meant the dark side of the Force, and she nodded, too.

Tash and Zak were sitting on the floor in the cockpit of the cargo ship.

The stormtroopers had dragged them out, searched them for weapons, then thrown them back into the ship for questioning. They’d been locked into the cockpit, where they had waited for almost half an hour while the troopers plugged into Deevee’s computer brain and scanned his memory banks. No one had spoken to them. Finally, the door to the cockpit had opened, and Darth Vader had entered.

“Excellent,” Vader said. “Then you will cooperate completely.”

Zak and Tash both nodded.

Vader’s mere presence was enough to weaken even the bravest heart. He was ruthless, and when he focused his terrible mind on them, Tash felt dark ripples of the Force wash over her, threatening to drown her in pure evil. Beside her, Zak felt Vader’s cruel will like a shadow darker than anything the wraiths could create.

They told him everything.

They told him about Hoole and his secret past, Vader seemed to know about this already, and did not care much about the Shi’ido. They told him about the Rebels, Luke Skywalker and Han Solo and Princess Leia. Vader was more interested in them, but he already seemed to know more than they did, and he quickly changed the subject.

They told him everything they knew about Gog, but again, the Dark Lord already seemed far ahead of them, and dismissed their words.

They told him how they had first arrived on the planet D’vouran, and discovered the first part of Gog’s experiment. Vader seemed eager to hear this, and ordered them to continue. He listened as their story wound its way through all the planets they had visited, all the discoveries they had made about Gog and Project Starscream. Vader was intrigued by the details of each experiment.

Tash and Zak guessed that Gog had kept the details hidden, hoping to keep the experiments for himself. Vader now absorbed every bit of information they could give him about the various sections of Project Starscream. Fearing for their lives, Zak and Tash cooperated.

Except for one thing. Instinctively, neither Zak nor Tash mentioned Tash’s growing sensitivity to the Force. They did not mention her frequent intuitions of approaching danger, and they certainly did not mention what had occurred on the abandoned space station known as Nespis 8, where Tash had finally become fully aware of her ability to use the Force.

Tash didn’t know what made her leave out those details. Maybe it was the Force itself. But she knew that Vader, once he suspected her awareness of the Force, would never let her out of his sight.

She was sure that Vader would discover her secret anyway. After all, he had been a Jedi Knight before turning to the dark side of the Force. He could sense other Jedi.

But either Tash’s Force-sensitivity was very young and weak, or Vader’s mind was distracted by other thoughts. He never guessed at the truth. Having gathered all the information he could, the Dark Lord simply turned and strode from the cockpit, locking the door behind him.