CHAPTER 14.
Darth Vader had encountered Bail Organa"s daughter, Princess Leia, at several occasions in recent years. The first time had been on Corascant, before she had become a Senator, when she and her father had been standing in a receiving line to meet the Emperor at the Imperial Palace. Like most people, she had trembled in the Emperor"s presence, and had given Vader no reason to a.s.sume she might pose any threat. Most recently, he had seen her and one of her officers, Captain Antilles, on the planet Ralltiir, where the Princess had claimed to be working as a goodwill amba.s.sador, hoping to deliver medical supplies to Ralltiir"s High Council. Because her recent movements had placed her in areas where there had been Rebel activity, Vader had made sure that her old Corellian Corvette - Imperials had given the make its nickname "Blockade Runner" because of its evasive qualities - did not leave Ralltiir without a tiny stowaway homing device.
After learning that the Rebels had attacked an Imperial convoy in the Toprawa system, Vader traveled swiftly there. He was standing beside his aide, the black-uniformed Commander Praji, on the bridge of the Imperial Star Destroyer Devastator in orbit of Toprawa, when a small blip that represented an incoming ship appeared on a sensor screen. Although the ship was not broadcasting an identification number, a homing signal indicated it was Princess Leia"s Blockade Runner.
Vader was not surprised.
Seconds later, an Imperial communications officer looked up from his monitor and said, "Commander, scrambled transmissions are being sent from the planet."
Vader turned his helmet to face Praji and said, "The starship that just entered the system. Detain it."
Praji moved to a communications console to open a line to the Blockade Runner and spoke into a comlink, "Unidentified ship. Heave to at once and prepare for security search and interrogation!"
"This is the Tantive IV" a man"s voice answered from the comlink, and Vader immediately recognized the speaker as Captain Antilles. "We have an extravehicular malfunction. A maintenance unit is working on it now." After a moment"s pause, Antilles continued, "We are a consular ship on a diplomatic mission and will clear this system as soon as we have effected repairs."
Commander Praji looked to Vader, who gave a single approving nod. Returning to the comlink, Praji replied, "We acknowledge your transmissions, Tantive IV. The Devastator will hold fire. Maintain your present course and prepare to receive Imperial investigators."
A few seconds later, Antilles responded, "Imperial cruiser Devastator, we are on a diplomatic mission and are not to be detained or diverted."
Praji quickly examined a sensor screen. "Tantive IV has raised its energy shields and is accelerating out of orbit."
"After them," Vader ordered, confident that the Blockade Runner would not escape.
As the Devastator"?, engines roared to life, Praji spoke again into the comlink. "Tantive IV, this is the Devastator. Our sensors indicate you have intercepted illegal transmissions in this solar system. Heave to or we"ll open fire!"
When Vader saw that the Blockade Runner was maintaining its course, he said calmly, "Shoot for minimum damage."
The Devastator"s cannons launched long streaks of energized bolts that hammered at the small fleeing ship"s shields. A moment later, the Tantive TVs engines flared and the ship vanished into hypers.p.a.ce.
Every s.p.a.cer knew that it was impossible to track another ship through hypers.p.a.ce, the dimension that allowed for travel at faster than lightspeed.
On the Devastator, Commander Praji consulted a sensor screen to locate the homing device. "Lord Vader, they"re heading for the Tatooine system."
Tatooine! Vader appeared impa.s.sive, but behind his mask, he clenched his teeth and seethed. The very thought of Tatooine released a small flood of distasteful memories. Regaining his composure, Vader said, "Plot a course."
"Yes, my Lord."
By the time the Tantive IV reached the Tatooine system, the Devastator was right behind it. The Blockade Runner returned laserfire as it reached Tatooine"s...o...b..t, but was overwhelmingly outgunned by the Imperial Star Destroyer. After the Star Destroyer blasted away the Blockade Runner"s primary sensor array and starboard shield projector, the smaller ship was effectively crippled.
An Imperial tractor beam drew the Tantive IV into the Devastator"s, main hangar, and stormtroopers armed with blaster rifles were dispatched into the captured vessel. Several stormtroopers were shot down by the Tantive IV s crew upon entry, but the steady stream of unrelenting white-armored Imperial soldiers managed to secure the ship within minutes.
When the blaster fight was over, Darth Vader boarded the Tantive IV. The white-walled corridors were scorched, the air was heavy with the scent of blaster fumes, and the floor was littered with the bodies of fallen stormtroopers as well as Rebel troops. Vader moved forward through the corridor like a malevolent shadow.
Captain Antilles had survived the Imperial a.s.sault and was escorted by stormtroopers to the ship"s operations forum, where Vader was waiting for him. Vader wrapped his black-gloved fingers around Antilles"s neck as an Imperial officer rushed up and announced, "The Death Star plans are not in the main computer."
Vader turned his visor to gaze at Captain Antilles. "Where are those transmissions you intercepted?" Without effort, the Sith Lord slowly raised his arm and lifted Antilles off the floor. "What have you done with those plans?"
Gasping, Antilles answered, "We intercepted no transmissions. Aaah... this is a consular ship. We"re on a diplomatic mission."
Vader tightened his grip and said, "If this is a consular ship . . . where is the Amba.s.sador?"
When Antilles did not answer, Vader decided the interrogation was over. The Dark Lord gave a sharp squeeze, instantly breaking Antilles"s neck. Vader threw the corpse against the wall, and then turned to a stormtrooper.
"Commander," Vader said, "tear this ship apart until you"ve found those plans, and bring me the pa.s.sengers. I want them alive!"
Minutes after the stormtroopers had begun their search for the pa.s.sengers, Vader was informed that Princess Leia had been apprehended.
"Darth Vader," Leia addressed her captor. Her wrists were secured in binders and she ignored the numerous stormtroopers who also stood in the narrow corridor of the Tantive IV. Bravely staring straight into the dark lenses of the Sith Lord"s helmet, she continued, "Only you could be so bold. The Imperial Senate will not sit still for this. When they hear you"ve attacked a diplomatic..."
"Don"t act so surprised, Your Highness," Vader interrupted. "You weren"t on any mercy mission this time. Several transmissions were beamed to this ship by Rebel spies. I want to know what happened to the plans they sent you."
"I don"t know what you"re talking about," Leia replied tersely. "I"m a member of the Imperial Senate on a diplomatic mission to Alderaan...."
"You are a part of the Rebel Alliance ... and a traitor," Vader snarled. "Take her away!"
As the stormtroopers led Leia from her ship to the Star Destroyer, a black-uniformed, hawk-nosed Imperial officer named Daine Jir trailed alongside Vader as the Sith Lord wound through the corridors, searching for some sign that might lead him to the stolen plans.
"Holding her is dangerous," said the outspoken Jir. "If word of this gets out, it could generate sympathy for the Rebellion in the Senate."
"I have traced the Rebel spies to here," Vader said without concern. "Now she is my only link to finding their secret base."
Jir must have been aware of the Princess"s reputation, for he added, "She"ll die before she"ll tell you anything."
"Leave that to me," Vader said. "Send a distress signal and then inform the Senate that all aboard were killed!"
As Vader arrived at a corridor intersection, Commander Praji stopped him and said, "Lord Vader, the battle station plans are not aboard this ship! And no transmissions were made. An escape pod was jettisoned during the fighting, but no life-forms were aboard."
Feeling his anger rise, Vader said, "She must have hidden the plans in the escape pod. Send a detachment down to retrieve them. See to it personally, Commander. There"ll be no one to stop us this time."
"Yes, sir," said Praji.
"And send detachments to secure the planet"s s.p.a.ceports," Vader added. "No ship is to leave Tatooine without Imperial authorization."
Vader stepped to a viewport and gazed down at the sand planet. It looked just as barren as he remembered it.
To think that I lived there once . . . that it was my home before the Jedi came and took me away. My mother breathed her last on this world, and for years I felt such . . . agonizing loss.
Now I feel nothing. This world means as much to me as a speck of dust, and all its inhabitants might as well be dust too.
As he returned to the Devastator, Vader considered the fact that Tatooine could be reduced to dust by the Death Star. He wondered if watching the sand planet"s obliteration might bring him any pleasure. It was a possibility he wouldn"t rule out.
CHAPTER 15.
An orb that was 160 kilometers in diameter, the Death Star was the size of a Cla.s.s IV moon and was the largest starship ever built. Its quadanium steel outer hull had two prominent features: a concave superlaser focus lens set into the upper hemisphere, and an equatorial trench that contained ion engines, hyperdrives, and hangar bays. Besides its superlaser, which was not yet fully operational, the Death Star"s weaponry included more than 10,000 turbolaser batteries, 2,500 laser cannons, and 2,500 ion cannons. Its hangars contained 7,000 Twin Ion Engine starfighters and more than 20,000 military and transport vessels. The battle station"s crew, troops, and pilots numbered over one million.
The Death Star did not in any way impress Darth Vader.
After returning from the Tatooine system with Princess Leia as his prisoner, Vader and the hollow-cheeked Grand Moff Tarkin entered a Death Star conference room where a meeting was already in progress. Admiral Motti, the senior Imperial commander in charge of operations on the Death Star, General Tagge of the Imperial Army, and five other high-ranking Imperial officials sat around a table and listened as Tarkin announced that the Emperor had dissolved the Imperial Senate, and a.s.sured them that fear of the Death Star would keep the local star systems in line.
While General Tagge maintained concern that the Rebel Alliance might use the stolen Death Star plans to their advantage, Admiral Motti snidely a.s.serted that any attack against the Death Star would be a useless gesture. "This station is now the ultimate power in the universe," Motti said. "I suggest we use it."
"Don"t be too proud of this technological terror you" ve constructed," Vader cautioned. "The ability to destroy a planet is insignificant next to the power of the Force."
Sneering at the Sith Lord, Motti said, "Don"t try to frighten us with your sorcerer"s ways, Lord Vader. Your sad devotion to that ancient religion has not helped you conjure up the stolen data tapes or given you clairvoyance enough to find the Rebels" hidden fort - Motti stopped speaking and reached to his throat as Vader made a pinching movement with his own gloved hand from across the meeting room. "I find your lack of faith disturbing," Vader said.
"Enough of this!" Tarkin snapped. "Vader, release him!"
Although Vader answered only to the Emperor, it was the Emperor"s command that he serve Tarkin on the Death Star. "As you wish," Vader said as he lowered his hand, releasing his telekinetic grip on Motti"s throat.
Gasping for air, Motti slumped forward onto the table. Tarkin said, "This bickering is pointless. Lord Vader will provide us with the location of the Rebel fortress by the time this station is operational. We will then crush the Rebellion with one swift stroke!"
After the meeting, Vader was informed that he had an incoming message from the Tatooine system. He had already been notified that Commander Praji" s storm-trooper squad had learned that the Tantive IVs missing escape pod had carried two droids to Tatooine"s surface, and that the droids had been picked up by a Jawa sandcrawler. Vader walked over to a communications console, where a holoprojector flickered to life and projected an image of two fully armed Imperial sand-troopers standing beside a middle-aged man and woman who wore robes and were kneeling on the ground. Near the four figures, there was a partial view of a structure, which Vader recognized as an entry dome for a desert dwelling.
Addressing the sandtrooper squad leader, Vader said, "Report via closed circuit."
"Lord Vader," said one of the sandtroopers, adjusting a control on his helmet so that only Vader could hear his voice. "The Jawas sold a protocol droid and an astromech to these moisture farmers, but both droids are gone."
Moisture farmers? Intrigued, Vader examined the holograms of the kneeling couple and said, "The farmers" names?"
"Owen and Bern Lars, sir," the sandtrooper responded. "They say they don"t know where the droids are, but it looks like a landspeeder is missing from their garage."
Owen and Bern, Vader recalled. The resolution of their holograms was clear enough that he could make out their worn, weathered features. Neither of them appeared to be comfortable having blaster rifles aimed at their backs. Remembering how they"d looked on the day Anakin Skywalker had met them, Vader thought, The years have not been kind. It"s time for them to pay for their repeated weaknesses.
"Your orders, sir?" said the sandtrooper.
"Tell Mr. and Mrs. Lars that they seem to have trouble keeping protocol droids on their property."
Not certain if he had heard correctly, the sandtrooper said, "Sir?"
"Then you may extend to them every courtesy that you showed the Jawas before you continue your search. Establish checkpoints to detain any droids entering Mos Espa or Mos Eisley s.p.a.ceports. And one more thing."
"Yes, Sir?"
"Do not stop transmitting until I break the connection."
"Understood," said the sandtrooper.
Vader watched the sandtroopers carry out his orders on their helpless victims. He found the sight of rising flames - even holograms of flames burning millions of light years away - to be most satisfying.
When the Lars family homestead had been transformed into an inferno, Vader deactivated the holo-projector. He proceeded to the nearest lift tube, and was quickly transported to sublevel five of detention area AA-23, which was reserved for political prisoners.
Time to talk with the Princess.
The door to detention cell 3187 slid up into the ceiling and Darth Vader ducked through the doorway, followed by two black-uniformed Imperial soldiers. Inside the cell, Princess Leia sat on a bare metal bed that projected from the wall. Looming over the prisoner, Vader said, "And now, Your Highness, we will discuss the location of your hidden Rebel Base."
There was an electric hum from behind Vader, then a spherical black interrogator droid hovered slowly into the cell. The droid"s midsection was ringed by a repulsorlift system, and its exterior was festooned with devices that included an electroshock a.s.sembly, sonic torture device, chemical syringe, and lie determinator.
Leia"s eyes went wide at the sight of the droid, and Vader could practically taste her terror. She said, "Keep it away from me!"
Vader seized his prisoner, pinning her arms to her sides while the interrogator droid moved in closer There was a brief hiss from the droid"s injector arm then Leia cried out and fell backward, slumping against the cell wall with a thud. "You can"t..." she said. "You c..."
"Your Highness," Vader said in his most soothing tone. "Listen to my voice."
Leia"s eyes rolled in their sockets, unable to focus on anything. She stammered, "V-voice ..."
"That"s right. Listen ... I am your friend."
"Wha... friend?" Leia said, then winced. "No ..."
"Yes!" Vader insisted, watching her plunge deeper into a hypnotic state. "You trust me, you can confide inme. All your secrets are safe with me."
"Mmmm?" Leia licked her lips. "Safe?"
"That"s right, safe. You are safe here. You"re among friends. You can trust me. I am a member of the Rebel Alliance, like you."
A look of relief swept over Leia"s face as she muttered, "Rebel?"
"What did you do with the Death Star plans? Where are they? The Rebels need to know! Help us, Leia!"
"No," she moaned, closing her eyes. "Can"t!"
"It"s your duty," Vader urged. "Your duty to our Alliance. Your obligation to Alderaan and to your father. It"s your duty to tell us where those tapes are!"
"Father?" Leia said, her eyes still shut.
"Yes," Vader said. "Your father commands you to tell us!"
"Father ... wouldn"t."
Growing impatient, Vader used his own psychic powers to make Leia believe she was in excruciating pain, but after several minutes, he ended the interrogation. He sensed that her inborn willpower was not only formidable but must have been augmented with certain physical and mental disciplines. She would not be broken easily.