[Last Of The Jedi] - 06(15)

Reporting directly to the Emperor.

Why hadn’t Olin left after restoring Platform-7? He’d been given amnesty. He could have taken off. Yet he’d stayed. And when the Emperor had arrived, he had singled Olin out.

Darth Vader wasn’t about to succumb to petty jealousy. Those emotions were gone forever, as foreign to him as love. He had felt love once. He had failed at it. So he had turned his mind and his power to other things. What remained had distilled down to a pureness he relished. Duty. A job to fulfill. Power to grab and consolidate and protect, and a Master to serve.

It was like this body armor he wore, this life-sustaining suit. In the beginning, he’d felt trapped by it. But he’d learned to use it for both intimidation and isolation. It allowed him to feel separate from all the beings around him, and that turned out to be very useful.

Do you see me now, Obi-Wan? I’m not connecting to the Living Force. I am looking at it from a distance. It can’t touch me now.

You were wrong, my old Master. I don’t need to connect to it. I just need to control it.

Vader turned away from the sight of the sea. He pushed away the thought of his former Master, as he always did. Thoughts and memories of the past came less frequently now.

Until Ferus Olin had shown up.

Jealousy wasn’t an option for him anymore, but analysis was. He was adept at manipulation, at figuring out motives, of thinking ten steps ahead of anyone else. But Olin … he couldn’t figure him out. If he was a double agent, he was a fool. He wasn’t going to learn anything. He wasn’t going to make a difference.

Could he truly be half fascinated by the power he saw? Could he be turned to the dark side? That’s what his Master thought. That could be the only reason his Master was taking an interest.

Could his Master be right? The dark side could be seductive for a Jedi. Vader knew that.

If it were so, he would have to take steps to eliminate Ferus Olin here, now. He couldn’t allow Ferus Olin to flourish in the Empire. It wasn’t ambition talking — Vader left ambition to fools like the captain of the battalion here — it was efficiency. He couldn’t do his job if Olin were around, trying to replace him. It would just be tiresome. And annoying.

He activated the comlink to access the security guard at the main entrance of the Imperial headquarters. They’d taken over a bloc of government offices near the Hall of Ministers. “Has Ferus Olin returned?” he asked.

“Just a few minutes ago, Lord Vader.”

“Send him to me.”

Ferus appeared in less than a minute. Vader was surprised he didn’t make him wait, just to show him that he could. But then again, Ferus didn’t play those tiresome games that Bog Divinian relished.

“You wanted to see me, chief?”

Vader despised his flippancy. So unlike the way he’d been when they’d been Padawans together. One day Olin would find himself at the end of a lightsaber. Vader was looking forward to that moment.

“I want a report on the resistance.”

Ferus frowned. “I guess you forgot — I don’t report to you. It’s okay, I know you’ve got a lot on your mind — all that resistance to crush. If that’s all, I’ll —”

“I am not interested in whatever the Emperor asked you to do. Give me the report.”

Ferus lounged against the wall and crossed his arms. “You know that you’re the big mystery among the Emperor’s staff. Everyone wants to know who you are. Where you came from. How did you get involved with the Emperor? One day you weren’t there. The next day you were.”

Vader found it extremely vexing that Ferus wasn’t afraid of him. He was used to feeling fear from those who were in his presence. Once, he had felt it from Ferus Olin. Olin had tumbled out from his hiding place in the Temple, looked up at Vader, and he’d almost laughed at the fear coming off him in waves. Olin had taken off like a frightened womp rat. Vader could have — should have — killed him then. But he’d let him go. He was more interested in embarrassing Malorum, the Inquisitor, than killing Olin. Let Malorum try to handle the intruder. He hadn’t expected that with all those prowler droids and stormtroopers at his disposal, Malorum would be incompetent enough to fail.

Now Ferus Olin had the protection of the Emperor. He couldn’t touch him. Yet.

Extremely trying.

He could so easily use the dark side of the Force, send Ferus’s body flying through the air and slam it hard against the wall. Watch Olin break. But he couldn’t. Palpatine had told him to keep his hands off.

“Not sharing today? Oh well. Maybe when we get to know each other a little better.”

“I know you,” Darth Vader said.