Part 10 (1/2)
Even while inspecting his nearly completed flags.h.i.+p, the Super Star Destroyer Executor, at the Stars.h.i.+p Yards of Fondor, Vader could not get Luke Skywalker out of his mind. He silently chewed on the name, and considered the fact that the boy had been born three years after the death of Shmi Skywalker. To the best of his knowledge, Anakin Skywalker had been his mother's only living blood relative.
Could there have been other Skywalkers from Tatooine? Vader allowed the possibility. After all, it wasn't an entirely uncommon name in the galaxy.
But Anakin and Padme Amidala had been expecting a baby nineteen years ago.
Nineteen standard years.
It's not possible, Vader thought. I killed Padme. The baby died with her.
Not for the first time, he wondered if the Emperor had told him the whole truth about Padme's death. But I remember choking her. . . seeing her collapse on Mustafar. I was so angry with her. And yet. . .
Luke Skywalker exists.
Vader refused to believe that the notorious Rebel's surname was merely a bizarre coincidence. If he had possessed any other name, Vader would not have hesitated to report what he had learned to the Emperor. But for purely selfish reasons, Vader kept the Rebel's name to himself. To him, Luke Skywalker was more than a mystery to be solved.
He is. . . an opportunity. As strong with the Force as he may be, he is an opportunity... an opportunity for even greater power.
But who is he? Who were his parents? Could he have been Obi-Wan's son? But then why was he named Skywalker and raised by the Lars family? Or was he merely trained by Obi-Wan?
Because Obi-Wan Ken.o.bi, Shmi Skywalker, Owen and Beru Lars, and Padme Amidala were dead, there was only one way Vader could discover the truth. He would have to ask Luke Skywalker himself. All he had to do was find him.
After enlisting an actor to impersonate Obi-Wan Ken.o.bi, Vader tailored a new trap specifically for Luke on the desert world of Aridus. Unfortunately, Luke saw through the ruse and escaped. Vader was even more frustrated by the actions of his top officer, the ultimately incompetent Admiral Griff, who allowed the Rebel Alliance to evade the Imperial blockade at Yavin 4 and evacuate to a new secret base.
Vader was not idle as he searched and waited for any information that would lead him to Luke Skywalker and his allies. He brought Obi-Wan Ken.o.bi's lightsaber back to Bast Castle, where he also studied an ancient Sith Holocron he had acquired. He oversaw various secret projects, including the development of mind-altering Pacifog on Kadril, the construction of robotic Imperial Dark Troopers, and preparation for a new superweapon in the Endor system. He a.s.signed a Force-sensitive Imperial Intelligence agent named s.h.i.+ra Brie to infiltrate the Rebel Alliance, but her mission to discredit Luke Skywalker was a failure and left her horribly injured. Because Vader still considered Brie valuable, he ordered Imperial medics to replace her shattered limbs with cyborg prosthetics, and offered her to Palpatine to serve as an elite secret operative.
Luke Skywalker was not idle either. As word of his actions spread, many Imperials became familiar with the name of the young pilot who was a leading figure in the Rebel Alliance.
Two years after the destruction of the Death Star, an Imperial governor notified Vader that persons matching the descriptions of Luke Skywalker and Princess Leia Organa had been captured on Circarpous V, a swamp planet known locally as Mimban. Vader was aware of the Mimban legend about the Kaiburr Crystal, a luminous crimson-colored gem that magnified the Force a thousandfold, and hoped to collect this relic along with the captive Rebels.
By the time Vader arrived on Mimban, Skywalker and the Princess had escaped and fled into the jungle. After a close encounter in a cavern, he finally caught up with them at the vine-encrusted Temple of Pomojema, a pyramidal ziggurat constructed of great blocks of volcanic stone for an ancient Mimban deity, which contained the Kaiburr Crystal. Using the Force, Vader dropped a stone ceiling on Luke Skywalker, pinning him to the temple floor, while Leia Organa watched helplessly.
”You have a great deal to atone for to me,” Vader told Skywalker, who, like the Princess, was attired in the dark work uniform worn by local miners. Activating his lightsaber, Vader began swinging its red blade back and forth, chopping playfully at bits of stone from the surrounding walls. ”I probably won't have the patience to let you last as long as you deserve,” he continued. ”You may consider yourself lucky.”
Turning his attention to the Princess, Vader said, ”I expect no such difficulty in restraining myself where you are concerned, Leia Organa. In several ways, you are responsible for my setbacks much more than this simple boy.”
Simple boy? Vader was surprised by the words that had come from his own mouth. Even though he knew there was more to Skywalker than met the eye, and had only intended on apprehending the Rebels, he was suddenly overcome by the desire to kill them. He realized he was losing his self-control.
The Princess picked up Luke's lightsaber and activated its blue blade. As she moved toward Vader, he abruptly let his arm fall, letting the beam of his own weapon hang limply at his side.
”Leia, don't!” Luke yelled. ”It's a feint... he's daring you. Kill me, then yourself. . . it's hopeless now.”
Gazing at the Princess with contempt, Vader said to her, ”Go on, let him fight for you if you want. But I won't let you kill him.” Thinking of how Luke had escaped his clutches before, he added, ”I've been robbed too often.”
The Princess fought bravely, but she was no match for Vader. She used the last of her strength to throw the lightsaber to Sky walker, just as he emerged from under the rabble. Facing the Sith Lord, Skywalker said, ”Ben Ken.o.bi is with me, Vader, and the Force is with me too.”
The duel was furious, and carried Vader and Skywalker through the temple to a chamber where there was a dark circular opening in the floor, the mouth of a deep pit. As the battle wore on, Vader found himself breathing hard through his respirator. But then, thanks to his proximity to the Force-enhancing Kaiburr Crystal, he felt a sudden surge of the power of the dark side, allowing him to project lightning from his fingertips for the first time in his life. He hurled Force-energized lightning at Skywalker, but his young opponent deflected the blast.
”Not... possible!” Vader muttered, feeling his energy drain. ”Such power ... in a child. Not possible!”
As Skywalker threw himself at the towering black figure, Vader raised his lightsaber to defend himself. But he wasn't fast enough. Sky walker's blade cut through the Sith Lord's prosthetic right arm, and it fell to the floor, still clutching the red-bladed lightsaber.
Dazed, Vader bent and used his left hand to pry his weapon from the gloved fingers of his severed arm. He was s.h.i.+fting his weight to make another attack when he suddenly had a clear view of the lightsaber in Skywalker's grip. The weapon's design and handgrip looked ... familiar.
Vader's head suddenly felt heavy, and as he tried to move forward, he stumbled over his severed limb. The robotic arm tumbled after him as he plummeted into the nearby pit.
He howled as he descended into the darkness, and it seemed like his fall would never end. Throughout the fall, he thought of Skywalker's lightsaber. Vader would have sworn it was the same weapon that Obi-Wan had taken from Anakin Skywalker on Mustafar. He didn't stop howling with rage until he crashed in a heap upon a pile of hard stones.
It was over an hour before Vader regained consciousness at the bottom of the pit below the Temple of Pomojema. He tasted blood inside his helmet and silently cursed himself.
He realized what had happened in the temple. The Kaiburr Crystal had increased his Force powers, but not to his advantage. It had amplified his hatred and anger, causing him to abandon his desire to capture Skywalker and find out more about his ident.i.ty. Now he sensed that the Kaiburr Crystal was no longer in the temple, that it had left Mimban.
Along with Skywalker and the Princess.
Vader gathered up his arm and lightsaber, and made his way out of the cavern, where he summoned an Imperial shuttle to deliver him to the nearest medical center. Even as his right arm was replaced, he did not consider his battle on Mimban a loss, for now he knew that Skywalker was more than an opportunity for greater power: He was the solution to his greatest obstacle.
He's the one person who can help me overthrow the Emperor.
Vader had never discussed Luke Skywalker with the Emperor, but he did not rule out the possibility that his Master had learned the name of the Rebel pilot who had destroyed the Death Star. It was only a matter of time before the Emperor broached the subject.
Even though Vader had yet to discover any significant information about Sky walker's heritage, he did sense there was a strong connection between them, and not only because they had both been trained by Obi-Wan. But Vader didn't want simply more information. He wanted Skywalker, wanted him immediately, and wanted him alive.
It was therefore inevitable that the Dark Lord would meet with Boba Fett.
CHAPTER 18.
Wearing the helmet and armor he'd inherited from his father, Boba Fett stood before Darth Vader in a s.p.a.ceport reception room on Ord Mantell, a Mid Rim planet that had once been an ordinance depot for the Old Republic. The room had a wide window that overlooked the landing pad where Vader's Lambda-cla.s.s shuttle was taking on supplies. Vader's own armor and inner workings had been fully repaired, leaving no evidence of his duel on Mimban.
”You seek certain Rebels, Lord Vader,” Fett rasped through his helmet's vocabulator. ”So does my employer, Jabba the Hutt. Possibly in satisfying him, I can satisfy you also.”
”And collect two rewards instead of just one, bounty hunter?” said Vader, not missing a trick. ”A particular Rebel interests me ... Luke Skywalker.”
Boba Fett gave a slight nod, tilting his helmet forward.
”A companion of the man I'm after ... Han Solo. One might lure the other, Lord Vader.”
By now, Vader was familiar with the name of the captain of the Millennium Falcon, the s.h.i.+p that had fired upon his TIE fighter at the Death Star battle. He was not interested in why Jabba the Hutt wanted Han Solo, but behind his black mask, he felt a grin twitch across his lips as he considered using Solo as bait for Skywalker. ”You are enterprising, Fett,” he said as he turned for a lift tube that led down to the landing pad. ”Perhaps we will meet again when your enterprise bears fruit.”
Leaving Fett on Ord Mantell, Vader returned to the Executor. Although he would be pleased if the bounty hunter's plan worked, he was unwilling to wait for information leading to the location of the new base for the Rebel Alliance. Finding Luke Skywalker had become more than a goal for Darth Vader. It had become his purpose.