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The Hand of FateBy Brendon Wahlberg (bwahlber+@pitt.edu)Second in a series of stories about the Emperor during the film trilogy(episodes 4-6) See also A New Enemy (1) and The Emperor Eclipsed (3)Emperor Palpatine, master of the dark side of the Force, made noeffort to hide his satisfaction as he strode across the throne roomfloor towards the two combatants. One of them was Luke Skywalker, ayoung man clad in austere black. He was holding his humming lightsaberblade at the throat of his vanquished enemy, Lord Darth Vader. Lukehad given in to his anger at last, and he was astonished at how easilyhe had beaten the Dark Lord. Luke panted, barely containing his rageas he warily watched the approaching Emperor. The blade in his handdrifted perilously close to Vader's gasping mask. The once mighty SithLord was reduced to abject terror, trying in vain to crawl away fromLuke. Luke saw Palpatine through a haze of anger. The Emperor was asurprisingly small man, hunched with age and clasping his wrinkledhands together. "Good!" Palpatine said, his withered features stampedwith lust. "Your hate has made you powerful. Now, fulfill yourdestiny and take Lord Vader's place at my side!" Luke looked at thefallen Sith Lord, once his most deadly foe, now completely at hismercy. He looked at his prosthetic right hand, gloved in black, andremembered that Vader had cut his real hand off when they lastmet. Not only that, Vader had also tortured his friends and deliveredone of them to the ruthless crime lord, Jabba the Hutt, perhaps neverto be seen again. And those acts barely began to scratch the surfaceof Vader's black deeds. If he put an end to this evil being, he wouldonly be giving the galaxy the justice it cried out for. Luke suddenlyrecalled another man who had once been helpless before a lightsaberblade, and what Vader had done to him. Then he made the decision thatfelt right and just. He reversed his grip on the lightsaber he hadmade with his own hands and swept it through the torso of the DarkLord, crying "For Ben Kenobi!" Vader died screaming, cut in half in aheap of seared gore. Luke turned his back on the smoking corpse andfaced the Emperor. Palpatine was nearly beside himself withglee. "Well done, my young apprentice! Now, come and kneel to me, andpledge your loyalty." Luke didn't move. The Emperor smiled at Luke,but it was the smile of a crafty predator. "You cannot turn back, now,young Skywalker," he chided Luke. He held out a wasted hand,beckoning. "I shall raise you to such heights of power that your nameshall forever eclipse the name of Darth Vader." Luke walked over tohim, and with a grim set to his features, knelt deliberately at theEmperor's feet. "Lord Vader's destiny is my own," Luke said withfinality. Without warning, Luke moved. "Now you die!" Luke shouted,stabbing upward with his lightsaber at Palpatine's defenseless, robedbody. The bright green blade did not find its mark, however. Even asthe thrust began, the saber was deactivated by a proximity sensorhidden on the Emperor's person. The pommel of Luke's weapon thuddedineffectually against the Emperor's chest, and the galactic rulerlurched backwards. Palpatine saw a flash of crimson behind Luke, thenthe point of a force pike bloomed from Luke's chest. Luke was liftedfrom the floor, impaled on the long weapon of a hulking Imperialguard. Luke had known he would not leave the throne room alive, butto have failed in his one chance to kill the Emperor...it was too muchdespair to bear. Drowning in his pain, Luke was dimly aware that hislightsaber had returned to life. Knowing death was near, and desperateto end his physical and mental torment, he managed to turn the weapononto himself. The red robed guard let the room's second corpse slidefrom his force pike and slump to the floor. He regarded his Emperorsilently. Palpatine stared thoughtfully at Luke's body for a longtime. Then, noticing the guard, he dismissed him distractedly. Thebland voice of Sate Pestage, the Emperor's Grand Vizier, interruptedPalpatine's introspection. "My condolences, master, on the loss ofyour servant." Palpatine looked at Pestage bemusedly, searching histimeworn face for a hint of the humor he thought might be behind thestatement. There was nothing but a wizened serenity in Pestage'sexpression. Pestage knew his master was experiencing a period of greatstress, and he meant his presence to be soothing. Therefore it waswith relief that he saw Palpatine calmly beckon to him and beginwalking. Together, they went out into the halls of the Imperialcitadel. They met no other person as they strode along in silence, forthis part of the citadel was the Emperor's private sanctuary. Therewere times when Pestage worried a great deal about his master. Likethe day, four months ago, when Palpatine had collapsed into a visiontrance in front of most of the fleet Admirals. The glorious one hadforeseen his own death, and despite his reliable means of overcomingthat particular affliction, he had been afraid. Seeing fear in hismaster had shaken Pestage. Palpatine was the foundation on which hebuilt his life. He could not imagine what he would do if thatfoundation were taken away. Equally worrisome was the Emperor'saccelerated physical decay as the ravages of the dark side became evermore harsh. For Palpatine was demanding more of the Force than everbefore. Pestage had seen his master spend a great deal of time in hismeditation chamber, trying, he suspected, to see the future. Thisability awed Pestage, but for once, it did not seem to beworking. Palpatine always emerged in a rage, flailing his fists andcursing his 'blindness'. He exerted more and more power, and hisapparently futile efforts took a fearsome toll on his body. Only oncehad Palpatine given him any explanation, and Pestage had not fullyunderstood. A great nexus was coming, the glorious one had told him,and the strands of probability were too much in flux to follow. Butwhatever barriers there were did not stop Palpatine from trying, andPestage had begun to wonder if his Emperor would actually destroyhimself. Then, one day, Vader had returned with a prize. The Emperorhad received his servant with a curious coldness, but once hediscovered what the Sith Lord had brought, Palpatine had seemedrejuvenated. The prize had set in motion a series of frenziedpreparations, as the Emperor immediately saw in it another means ofgaining the information he sought - the probable outcome of hismeeting with Luke Skywalker. The prize had also made possible thecontents of the room that they now entered. It was a large chamber,filled with row upon row of man-size tanks. The Emperor moved to thenearest one and wiped away the moisture beading on its glasssurface. He stared at the face behind the glass with a searchingintensity, but its eyes remained closed, its hair floating in thegentle currents of the nutrient bath. Sate Pestage suppressed ashiver. It was the face of Luke Skywalker. The Constable ofHomunculi, Rollo Mon, stepped out of the shadows, his enormous headornament casting bizarre shadows in the sharp green light illuminatingthe entryway. The Emperor turned to him, his hand still resting on thetank. "Prepare him," commanded Palpatine.* * *Three months earlier, Darth Vader was striding through the nearlyempty halls of cloud city. Behind him, struggling to keep up, was asurgeon droid clutching a foot long cylindrical tank. They hurriedpast vacated apartments and hollow, silent casinos. Only stormtroopersmarked their passage by saluting, their rifles held casually due tothe lack of any threat. For the once thriving luxury resort was nowin the hands of the Empire. Any citizens not able to evacuate in theexodus initiated by Baron- Administrator turned rebel Lando Calrissianwere rounded up and forcibly deported. Those with questionable pastshad gone to Imperial prisons, as had some of the innocent, caught inthe wrong place at the wrong time. Vader and the droid moved quicklyinto the lower levels of the city. The graceful sculptures and richdecor gave way to the gritty, exposed machinery of the Tibanna gasmining facility. Here and there, the squat, grotesque Ugnaughtsscurried about, continuing the task of running the enormousmachines. For them, one human master was much the same as any other,provided they were paid and not mistreated. Now the valuable gas,useful for antigrav devices and blasters, would go to the Empire, thatwas all. Finally, the Sith Lord reached the bottom of Cloud City andentered a small control room. Vader stepped through a cloud of steam,suddenly appearing in front of Lieutenant Pralt and his workdetail. Pralt backed away before he could catch himself as the hugearmored figure loomed up before him like a sculpted gargoyle. "Report,Lieutenant," demanded Vader. "My Lord," the officer stammered,straightening himself. Pralt knew of Vader's reputation for anger, andhe feared to give the Dark Lord even partial bad news. But over thepast few days, a strange story had circulated through the ranks. Aweek ago, when the rebels had escaped both Cloud City and theExecutor, Vader had failed to execute Admiral Piett, or anybodyelse. Instead, he had gone to meditate in his private chamber forthree days. When he emerged, he had ordered a work detail to searchthe lower levels of the Cloud City reactor shaft for an unspecifiedobject belonging to the rebel, Luke Skywalker. Rumor had it that therebel had faced Vader high above and survived. His bravery bolsteredby these tales, Pralt swallowed once and steadily reported, "My Lord,we have located what seems to be a lightsaber, but it lies in a ratherdifficult location." At least, Pralt assumed it was one of the oldJedi weapons. Its resemblance to the object hanging at Vader's beltgave the Lieutenant a bit of confidence. Vader wa... [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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