[Short Stories] - Dark Emperor 1(7)

Then Ashka struck the rocks at the bottom of the cliff. His body rolled a good distance down the slope, but Ashka’s awareness had been smashed out of him, and he didn’t know it.

Ashka awakened the next morning to the feel of another’s probing hands on his head. He blinked in the bright sunlight, focusing on the long, thin face of a late middle aged man bending over his own in concern. Ashka could feel the caked dried blood on his skin shift as he made a pained face. He didn’t try to move his limbs yet, not until he could check them with his Force sense. He tried to speak, grunted airily, and cleared his parched throat to try again.

“I’m…Ashka Boda…My…my brother,” he rasped, “is he…dead?”

“Your brother,” repeated the lanky stranger. “Yes, I see. That explains the body up on the cliff. I’m sorry, but yes, your brother is dead.”

Ashka moaned quietly. So. It was true. His brother, his training partner…his only family…was dead. Swift fragments of memory came to Ashka—the two of them burying their parents, learning the Force with Master Dina…he and Vantos roaring drunk and laughing. All of it…all of it gone, now.

“I found him when I was out looking for my son,” the stranger said. “He’s disappeared, and I’m very worried about him. I was combing the cliff side—Espaa likes to go there alone—when I found the body. He had been killed by a lightsaber. Was he a Jedi? Are you?”

“Yes,” said Ashka slowly. “Both Jedi. I…killed him myself. He was going to kill your son. Had to stop him.” Ashka began to cough painfully.

The stranger grimaced, and took a small flask from the pocket of his vest. Carefully, he tipped the contents into Ashka’s mouth. It was water. Ashka drank gratefully.

“My son?” the man was saying. “What would your brother want to do that for? Do you know where Espaa is? Is he all right?”

“We…didn’t see your son. I’m sorry.” Ashka closed his eyes. “Vantos had a vision…that your son was going…going to turn to the dark side and kill many people. He thought it was up to him…to stop it before-” A jolt of pain shot up Ashka’s leg, and he winced.

“Did your brother have anything to do with those three men from two days ago?”

“Men?” said Ashka, confused. “What men? We didn’t see anyone else.”

“Listen,” the man said, “my name is Sate Pestage, and I live here alone with my son. My wife Gemsaa died in childbirth…she was a Jedi healer, but she couldn’t save herself. Espaa is all I have left of her. These men came to our house…they wanted to take Espaa away, to ‘fulfill an important destiny’. Of course I wasn’t going to let him go away with any total strangers. I told them to leave us alone. Are you sure you don’t know anything about them? They called themselves the ‘Sith’. I think they came to my house last night in secret, and kidnapped my son. I have no idea who they are. I’m terrified I won’t see my son again.”

As Pestage spoke, Ashka felt a cold feeling of failure settle over him. He felt like he was physically plunged into a chilling shadow he knew would never lift until he died. As a Jedi Knight, Ashka knew who the Sith were: an order of dark side magicians from thousands of years ago. As far as any Jedi knew, they should all be dust, their threat belonging to ancient history. But three Sith had come to this world, to this place, to find the same child that Vantos foresaw becoming a dark side Master, a dark Emperor who would rule the galaxy. Had Vantos been right? Had Ashka killed his brother, only to allow the Sith to claim their prize? Ashka’s confusion and remorse overwhelmed him. He slipped once more into unconsciousness as Vantos’ words echoed in his head…”Do you want to live with that? All those deaths will be on your head…”

The memory faded out as Boda leaned against his Bafforr tree, letting the peace of the entire grove flood over him. His fight with his brother would always be a difficult memory, but that was in the past. The only important thing to learn from it was whether that long ago vision had been the truth. Boda sighed. How very, very true it had been…

Boda was certain that the boy of the vision, Espaa Pestage, was the same person as Emperor Palpatine. Yes, the name was different, but it was probable that he had changed it to avoid anyone learning about his past. The proof, to Boda, was the devoted service of Sate Pestage to the Emperor. It was almost…fatherly.

If Espaa had in fact trained with the Sith, it would explain his dark side powers. But somewhere along the line, Espaa must have surpassed the Sith, for now the Sith were all gone and their final Dark Lord was his servant. He had also fulfilled most of the prophecy of the vision. He had assisted in the destruction of the Republic, he had engineered the fall of the Jedi Order, and he had become a tyrannical Emperor. True, he had not built a machine that could destroy a world, but considering his build-up of Star Destroyers, could such a device be far behind?