[Short Stories] - Dark Emperor 2(8)

“That accursed freighter dove at us in a collision course. One wingman was shot down, and the other panicked, striking my ship and ending my defense of the Death Star. Out of control, I spun into space. The next thing I knew, the Death Star was gone and over a million Imperial lives were lost.” Vader waited, seeming to prepare himself for his Master’s response.

“Your thoughts are focused on how I will punish you,” Palpatine said. Vader stiffened even more. “You think you failed to save my battle station. Perhaps I will cut off your hand…that would be a fitting payment for your failure, don’t you think?”

Vader’s mind reeled in sudden confusion. He wasn’t sure he had heard his Master correctly. Both of his arms and hands were prosthetic, and losing them would only mean that the cybernetic specialists would have to replace them. It was no punishment at all.

The Emperor spoke into the silence to reassure his servant. “I do not blame you for what happened, Lord Vader. If Governor Tarkin had treated the attack with proper seriousness and deployed the Death Star’s fighter defenses, that freighter could not have gotten through. I cannot punish him for that, but I can punish others in the command structure. I want them all to hear the rumor that even you were a victim of my wrath. For if you are not safe from my anger…then who is? As for the Force user you sensed…he is of little concern. Obi-Wan Kenobi obviously engineered the whole thing. His cowardly death was a distraction to allow his pilot to escape. But that is as far as it goes. This debacle was a freak event. An untrained whelp can be no threat to us, now that we are prepared. There will be a new Death Star, my servant. While it is under construction, I shall assemble the greatest strike fleet ever known. It shall contain the first of the new Super Star Destroyers and you shall command it. Your duty will be to hunt down and destroy the Rebel Alliance. I know you will not fail, my faithful servant.” The Emperor smiled benevolently, but Vader was still clearly troubled.

“I have not told you the worst of it,” the Dark Lord said. “Kenobi’s plans ran deep. I told you that I felt the Force in the pilot, but I also knew at that moment that the boy was my son.”

Palpatine was incredulous. Sudden fury radiated from him. “Son?! I never knew Skywalker had a son! What treachery is this?”

Vader immediately fell to his knees. “I did not know myself. But I could not be mistaken. I believe Kenobi raised him hoping to present a threat to us.”

“Well his plans have failed,” the Emperor grated, glowering at the ebony helmet before him. “He will never become a Jedi. We ensured that when we destroyed Kenobi. He did not foresee his own end. This changes nothing. We shall find and crush the Rebels as planned.”

“Yes, my Master.” Vader hesitated. “Even so, I wish to find him and put an end to him. It does not make sense to ignore even a small threat. Surely…this is the lesson of the Death Star.”

Palpatine considered Vader. There was some very subtle difference in him, feelings running just beyond Palpatine’s reach. But the Dark Lord had been through a great deal recently. It was surely only the strain affecting him. Palpatine spoke firmly. “Young Skywalker, if that is his name, can be no threat to our might. But he is no doubt with the Rebels, and if you wish to destroy him, you may do so when you crush the Alliance. Now go, and work my will.”

Vader arose and left, black cape billowing. Palpatine put his momentary unease aside. He could trust Vader implicitly, for Vader was entirely his, body and soul. The spirit of Anakin Skywalker was as lost as the very limbs of the cyborged giant who went out to plan the Empire’s revenge.



Everything proceeded according to the Emperor’s design, as he was so fond of saying. As three swift years passed, the galaxy felt the full might of the Empire. Vader’s strike fleet pursued the Rebels across the galaxy, never giving them a chance to establish a permanent base. Rebellious worlds were swiftly punished and their resources were fed into the Imperial war machine. Palpatine’s vision for the galaxy was becoming a reality. Vader seemed obsessed with finding young Skywalker, but that did not seem to interfere with his search for the main Alliance forces. The new Death Star took shape around the forest moon of Endor.

Then, one day, Vader sent news that he had located the main Rebel base on Hoth, and was proceeding with his full armada against it. The clever Rebels received a lucky break, however, when the fleet admiral brought the entire fleet out of hyperspace too close to Hoth. Had the fleet remained out of scanner range, it could have used the cover of the system’s asteroid field to remain hidden until it was too late for Hoth base to react. Instead, the Rebels were alerted and had time to raise a planetary shield that Admiral Ozzel had not guessed they possessed. The end result was a needless and costly ground battle. Sacrificing many lives in a delaying action, the Alliance managed to allow the escape of its command group. It was a rout, but it was not, frustratingly, a final victory for Vader.