by Jude Watson
Of course it was laughable to think this could be the case. But perhaps his Master didn’t think it so laughable.
Vader was still hampered by the incredible injuries he’d endured. He could never have the full power the Emperor had. It was the unspoken thing between them. The thing he could never change.
Vader let his artificial hands relax before they clenched.
No, Ferus was not a serious threat. But he had won anyway, had he not? The saboteur had escaped. Ferus had aided in that escape. Of that he had no doubt.
Had there been another lightsaber? Had Ferus found another Jedi?
The old jealousy surged in him, the old envy.
He didn’t try to dismiss it. Now he knew how to use it.
The deeply enjoyable part of his conversion to the dark side of the Force was this feeling of sureness. The dark side eliminated doubt.
He never wanted to live with doubt again.
He never wanted to be reminded of what he’d been.
He nodded to his driver, who pushed the speeder engines and lifted the craft into the air. He would control this situation. Sauro was not the problem now.
Ferus Olin was.
Ferus stood concealed behind one of the columns of the spaceport and watched as the Imperial ship took off from the landing platform in Sath. He had to be sure his friends were safe.
What now?
He turned his face toward the city. Astri had managed to tell him how to solve the problem with the BRT droid computer. If Larker gave the okay, the city could be back to normal as early as tomorrow morning, the changes made to protect those fighting the Empire.
He was anxious to return to the secret base. Anxious to see the progress Raina and Toma had made, anxious to see how Garen was faring. And it was hard to say good-bye to Roan. It would have been good to ride through the atmospheric storm to get to the asteroid. Good to be with friends. To rest, even for just a day.
But something was telling him not to leave. Things had changed. He had taken on a job for the Emperor. He was now working for the Empire, at least on the surface. He was certain that Palpatine didn’t trust him, but that wouldn’t prevent him from becoming a double agent.
He was certain that Palpatine would have another job for him, and soon. They were both aware of the game they were playing.
He would risk it.
Risk it, and learn what he could. He’d enter the heart of the darkness he hated and feared.
He would need all his strength, he knew, to survive it.
