[Last Of The Jedi] - 05

CHAPTER ONE


He hadn’t seen Palpatine since he was seventeen. Ferus Olin remembered a pale, soft-spoken man with a sharp political mind. Chancellor Palpatine always had an air of deference to all, despite his considerable power in the Senate.

But things had changed.

He was the Emperor now … and his power had turned sinister.

Ferus was shocked. Palpatine’s face had sunken into itself, his cheeks collapsed, his eyes hollowed. He wore a concealing hood, but it couldn’t hide his newly grotesque appearance. The whites of his eyes had turned yellow, and his skin was deeply furrowed.

No wonder he no longer appeared on the HoloNet for official pronouncements.

Obi-Wan Kenobi had told him that Palpatine was a Sith. That he had fought in a battle with Mace Windu and had defeated him, but the effort of it had left him horribly scarred. Ferns hadn’t known what to expect, but this was worse than he could have possibly imagined. He could feel the dark side of the Force in the room. He had to fight to keep his concentration.

Palpatine’s aides, Sly Moore and Mas Amedda, stood at both ends of his desk. His Royal Red Guards — six of them — stood at attention near the exit door. A thin graying man with sunken cheeks, dressed in an Imperial uniform, stood near them. Ferus had no idea who he was, but the way he stood spoke of a certain importance.

All this, Ferus thought, for little old me?

Palpatine had contacted him only a few days before. He had asked him to this meeting, even though Ferus had recently escaped from an Imperial prison. The Emperor had guaranteed his safety. When Ferus had arrived, he’d undergone a standard weapons check, but to his surprise, Sly Moore had allowed him to keep the lightsaber he had clipped to his utility belt. He hadn’t bothered to hide it. He knew Palpatine was aware that he had one.

“Please sit,” Palpatine said, gesturing to a chair. “Make yourself comfortable. You see we allowed you to keep your weapon. A lightsaber … how interesting. And here I thought you were a former Jedi.”

“Former apprentice, actually.”

Palpatine sat and folded his hands on his desk. Ferus wrenched his eyes away from the Sith’s long, deeply furrowed nails, caked with dirt. “I could hardly expect you to admit to being a Jedi, seeing that they were traitors who tried to bring down the Republic.”

“I’m confused,” Ferus said. “I thought it was you who brought down the Republic. Didn’t you declare an Empire a couple of months ago?”

“I’m curious as to how you obtained a lightsaber,” Palpatine said, ignoring Ferus’s question. “Strange to see, because we received reports that a ship had landed on Ilium, where so many lightsabers are created.”

“Did you? I’m glad to hear it’s still a popular place.”

Palpatine gave a thin smile. “Only for the Jedi, and they are all gone now.”

“I heard that, too.”

“It was a shame that such a respected order overstepped its bounds so badly.”

“Is that what happened? I had no idea.”

Ferus felt sweat bead up on his hairline and hoped the Emperor wouldn’t see it. He was feeling Palpatine out, trying to provoke him. But Palpatine just continued to speak in the same deep, sonorous voice, close to expressionless.

“Perhaps now we should discuss why I asked you here,” the Emperor said.

“I have to admit I’m curious,” Ferus said.

He had debated whether to come. He had been on a remote space station with his crew when the summons came. They were a scruffy bunch, made up of members of a group called the Erased, which included Keets Freely, a former journalist, and Curran Caladian, who had been a Senate aide. Also along was Clive Flax, who had escaped from the same prison as Ferus. Ferus was fond of Clive, who had been a double agent during the Clone Wars but claimed to owe allegiance to no one but himself. And then there was Trever, the street kid who’d been traveling with Ferus. Trever had been a stowaway on his flight from his homeworld of Bellassa, and the two had journeyed together ever since.

Also along was Solace, a reluctant traveler. She’d once been the great Jedi Knight Fy-Tor-Ana. She’d changed her name and had tried to forget her past existence as a Jedi. So she hadn’t been too thrilled when Ferus came along, suggesting she team up to find other missing Jedi.

They’d been on their way to the secret base Ferus had set up for any Jedi he might find, when the summons had come from Palpatine. Ferus had been trying to get back there for weeks now. He needed to know how Jedi Master Garen Mum was faring.

Ferus had found him in the caves of Illum, waiting for death to take him. He’d still been weak when Ferus had left him in the care of his friends, Raina and Toma.