[Galaxy Of Fear] - 11(6)

It didn’t.

She tried again, pushing harder, but still the battle station crept forward, preparing to destroy her home planet, her parents, and everything she loved.

Tash’s stomach twisted into an angry knot. She couldn’t let her parents die! She wouldn’t!

The minute she grew angry, Tash felt the Force take on a new shape inside her. It wasn’t calm or peaceful - now it rolled and wriggled inside her as if she’d swallowed a snake. But it was powerful. Very powerful. With it, she knew she could do anything. She could destroy the Death Star with a thought. She would be more powerful than Darth Vader. More powerful than the Emperor himself! All she had to do was use her anger…

Tash awoke, sitting up with a start. Her heart was racing and her hair was matted with sweat. She held up her hand-it was trembling. She realized she felt angry. What had she been dreaming? Something about using the Force to destroy the Death Star…

She put her hands on her stomach, remembering the sick feeling of snakes wriggling around inside her. That wasn’t the Force. At least, it wasn’t the way she wanted the Force to feel.

The first time Tash had used the Force was when she’d met the ghost of a Jedi named Aidan. She’d felt calm and at peace. Using the Force had taken no effort at all.

Tash slipped her pendant from around her neck and put it on the ground. She took a deep breath, letting all her muscles relax as she focused on the little necklace. She reached out through the Force and willed the pendant to rise.

The tiny red crystal trembled, then slowly lifted into the air. It hovered there for a moment or two, then dropped back down to the ground.

Tash looked around for something larger to move. On the ground near the entrance to their tent sat a serving bowl. It wasn’t as large as the cauldron she’d dumped on Maga, but it was larger than anything Tash had tried to move during practice. She focused on the bowl, imagining that it would rise.

It didn’t move.

Tash frowned. She’d moved bigger objects twice now-first the boulder, then the pot full of porridge. What was the problem?

Suddenly it struck her. Both of those times she had been angry. Was that the key? Was she supposed to use her anger to strengthen the Force?

That didn’t sound right to Tash. She had read everything she could find about the Jedi, and although the Empire had banned all information about them years ago, she still managed to learn a lot. Everything she had read told her that the Jedi did not use anger or aggressive emotions. They fought for peace.

But her power was stronger when she used her anger. How could that be?

Tash wondered about her dream for the rest of that night, and it filled her thoughts all the next morning. As the Dantari broke camp and started their hike, she kept to herself, walking silently along with the other Dantari while Zak zipped in and out of the migrating crowd, running races with some of the Dantari children. At first Tash didn’t think he had noticed her change in mood, but when they stopped to rest at noon, he came up to her.

“So what’s got your comlink so silent?” he asked. “Why so gloomy?”

Tash frowned. “It would take a while to explain.” Zak replied, “Okay, you can tell me on the way.”

“On the way where?”

Zak started to walk. “Come on. I want to show you something.”

Before Tash could ask another question, Zak was running across the prairie. She had to sprint to catch up with him. She reached his side just as they came to the top of a very low hill. It was more like a mound of grass, really, but it was high enough to block the view of the horizon. At the top of the mound was a tall bilba tree, its branches covered with sharp thorns. Zak pulled her down so that they were crouched low in the grass.

“Look,” he said, pointing ahead.

But Tash had already seen it. Ahead of them lay the glittering silver line of a river. On the far side of the river, Tash could see two separate sets of buildings. The closer one looked ancient and ruined, but it was still too far away to be seen in detail. The buildings farther away had a familiar shape, as if they were new.

“I could see those places when we came through the ravine,” she said. “I thought they were hills or something.”

“Nope,” Zak said. “I heard some of the Dantari talk about them. They’re buildings. Here, on a planet that isn’t supposed to have any sort of civilization at all.”

“It is strange,” she agreed.

“You want to go investigate?” Zak asked.

Tash was tempted. “How far away are they?”

Zak shrugged. “It’s hard to tell, especially since I don’t know how big the buildings are. But I’d guess not more than a couple of kilometers. If we hurried we could be there in no time.”