Part 46 (1/2)
”The omission of the clone from your report, ” he said, ”was premeditated, deliberate, and dangerous. The Dark Council disapproves of anything that smacks of disloyalty-or of emotional attachment to anything other than the Council itself. ”
”I felt no kins.h.i.+p with the clone, my lord, ” she said.
”None at all?”
She struggled to find words for the emotions that still stirred her when she thought of the pathetic creature in the tank. ”Lema Xandret refused to let her daughter go, so she created a new one, whom she imprisoned. She refused to be controlled, yet she herself was possessive and controlling. What imprisonment might she have fas.h.i.+oned for me had I not been rescued from her by Darth Chratis? Was that why my memories of her have been so easy to suppress? The only thing stirred up in the entire affair was a recollection of her screaming. I think, in short, ” she concluded, ”that I had a lucky escape. And the clone, too, in the end. ”
”Did you order the hexes to commit suicide?”
”That I didn't do, ” she said, ”but I probably could have ordered them not to. ”
He nodded. ”It was the amnioid, then. ”
”This time, yes. Lema Xandret lost her daughter twice. There was nothing else to live for. Not even revenge. ”
”So instead of becoming their master, you let them die. ” Darth Howl lowered his rifle and fixed her with an obsidian stare. ”Some might find it puzzling that you did not use the hexes to fulfill your vendetta against Dao Stryver, and then go on to conquer the galaxy. ”
”Yes. ” I could have been Emperor!” The thought did occur to me. But the Mandalorian had already escaped by then, and I remain loyal to the Dark Council. ”
”Some might say that your exposure to the Grand Master of the Jedi addled your thoughts. Some might use this as an argument to never trust you again. ”
”I don't care what people say. ”
”You only need to worry about what the Dark Council decides to do about you. ”
”I met with them yesterday. They-you said...”
”Many things are said, Ax, and many things are done. They are not always the same. ”
She knew it. ”So are you going to have me killed?”
He laughed at her, and raised the rifle. Another shot; another scream of pain.
”That depends entirely on how you spin it, ” he said. ”Were the fugitives punished?”
The fate of her mother and the clone left her in no doubt on that score. ”Undoubtedly. ”
”Did the planet fall into the Republic's hands?”
”No. ”
”So you survived where your Master did not, and you returned with valuable intel. You are strong and determined, like your mother. You deserve nothing but admiration, and a close eye.
”If anyone does learn the secret about the hexes, the explanation is simple. Your loyalty to the Emperor is such that you would never attempt to unseat him. Note that I said 'Emperor, ' not the Dark Council. It's a Sith's job to try to unseat us. That's why we have to keep a close eye on you. Fire the gun. ”
Ax closed one eye and stilled her hammering heart. Perhaps she would survive after all.
The creature in her sights did not survive, and neither did two more that came to investigate.
She wasn't going to tell Darth Howl that the only reason she had not spared the hexes was because trying to control them would have undoubtedly backfired. Riddled with the twisted spirit of her mother, the hexes would have turned on her eventually, and she would have ended up as trapped as her clone. Far from becoming Emperor, she would have been a bitter princess in a cage, shouting for help at an empty galaxy.
Better that it all disappear into a black hole, literally and metaphorically, and she get on with her life. Her life. However much of it she had left.
”Why did you invite me here?” she asked. ”It wasn't to grill me on my report or to offer me advice. ”
”True. You are young and inexperienced, but you are observant, and you survived this crisis unscathed. Perhaps you are hiding your true feelings well, or you are more resilient than you look. Either way, you can be useful to me. I brought you here to offer you an alliance. ”
Ax didn't even see what lay down her sights. ”What kind of alliance?”
”One considerably more to your advantage than the last one. Darth Chratis deserved what came to him. His methods were unreliable, his philosophies dangerous, and his ambition unchecked. It was therefore inevitable that he would fall. The only question was: how far would you fall with him?”
She didn't answer.
Darth Howl's teeth gleamed faintly in the night. ”Darth Chratis failed you, just as my last apprentice failed me. It's time to look beyond failure and see the successes awaiting you and I. With my power and your potential, can you imagine what we might accomplish together? We might shake the Supreme Chancellor from his seat, and earn rewards beyond our wildest dreams!”
She wasn't thinking that far ahead. All she had in mind was how useful it would be to have a Master actually on the Dark Council, not just dreaming about it.
”What happened to your last apprentice?”
”She liked to keep pets, ” he said, taking aim and dispatching another hapless furball down below. ”And now I keep her in the observation dome directly above our heads. She loves it when I entertain guests. ”
His smile was cold and vicious, and something about it thrilled Ax to her core. Darth Howl needed her, and she needed him. There was no shame in admitting it. There were bigger games to play now.
Dao Stryver could wait. When she needed to feel anger in its purest form, he would be there, ready to inspire her. It didn't matter where he was or what he was doing. The longer her vow remained unfulfilled, the greater her anger would become. The end justifies the means, as he himself had said.
”I would be honored, my lord. ”
”Good. And I will accept you as my student. You will put the messy business of your mother behind us and we'll both look forward to slaughtering the Jedi sc.u.m in their beds. And, most important... ”
He winked like the chopping of a guillotine.
”Most important of all, my young apprentice, we will both watch our backs. ”
EPILOGUE : TATTOINE.
There was no shortage of cantinas on Tatooine, nor of cantina brawls. Akshae Shanka had come in second in yet another combat tournament, and emotions were running high. There had been riots around the arena, and several full-blown shoot-outs had rivaled those of the contest itself.
Dao Stryver wasn't there to fight, however.
From the shadowy depths of the Wing and Wanderer, the Mandalorian watched the arrival of the human who called himself ”Jet Nebula” with a keen eye.
The smuggler had a sandy air, as most people did on the desiccated planet. His gray hair was as wild and his uniform as s.p.a.ceworn as ever. The droid trailing him had earned a couple of extra dents in his travels since Sebaddon. But they looked much as Stryver had expected. They were watchful in a way that older warriors learned to be.
”Jet Nebula” looked around the bar, saw the impa.s.sive Gektl sitting alone, and performed a subtle double take.
Then he held up two fingers to the bartender, who chattered confirmation, and he and the droid pressed through the dusty crowd.
”Fancy meeting you here. ”
”You recognize me?”