Death Star (42 page)

T
arkin looked at Vader, the unspoken question in his eyes. General Tagge stood there as well, still recovering, no doubt, from Tarkin’s earlier revelations.

Vader said, “Her resistance to the mind-probe is considerable. It will be some time before we can extract any information from her.”

Tarkin shook his head. Why was it always the small details that seemed to trip up the largest projects?

One of his staff officers arrived. Tarkin regarded him.

The man said, “The final checkout is completed. All systems are operational. What course shall we take?”

Excellent! If the superlaser was now fully functional, they could go anywhere. But they needed the location of that base, and—ah, wait. Tarkin rubbed at his chin. “Perhaps she would respond to an alternative form of persuasion.”

“What do you mean?” Vader said.

“I think it’s time we demonstrated the full power of this station.” He looked back at his officer. “Set your course for Alderaan.”

The man mumbled something and left, but Tarkin was already thinking ahead. If Princess Leia Organa was a thorn in the Empire’s side, then Alderaan was a forest of thorns.

Well, it was time to purge that forest. With fire.

Tagge started to say something but apparently thought better of it. Tarkin smiled almost benignly and said, “I understand your concerns, General. Rest assured I’ve spoken with Emperor Palpatine recently about demonstrating his battle station’s range and strength. He has assured me that I have full rein to do so.” He looked at Vader. “You disapprove, Lord Vader?”

“Not at all, Governor.”

Uli looked at the reads on his sensors. Princess Organa was doing as well as could be expected, given her unpleasant experience. If you didn’t know what she had undergone, it would be hard to tell by looking at her.

They were alone in the room—he had made the tech wait outside.

“Thank you, Doctor …? Sorry, I didn’t get your name.”

“Divini. Kornell Divini. My friends call me Uli.”

“I appreciate your medical help, Dr. Divini, but I don’t think we’re going to be friends. I don’t expect I’ll be around much longer, and you are an Imperial officer, after all.”

He shrugged. “Not by choice. I was drafted. And they aren’t letting doctors muster out, as I am sure you’re aware.”

“You could have deserted.”

He laughed. “Really? When? I haven’t been anywhere I could have walked away from without being shot by both sides for my trouble. Besides, I’m not sure working for the Rebels would be any better.”

She raised herself by one elbow off the examining couch. It took effort, he noted, but she did it, the better to look him in the eye. “You support the Emperor’s agenda?”

“I have no clue what his agenda might be. And like I said, I’m not sure that the Alliance would be any better.
Yes, they talk a good show, but so did Palpatine before he declared himself Emperor.”

“The Senate will continue to oppose him,” she said.

“You haven’t heard? The Emperor has dissolved the Senate. You are out of a job, Princess.”

She paled, and one of the sensors
pinged
quietly, registering the momentary orthostasis. Uli put a hand on her shoulder and tried to push her gently back down, but she brushed his hand away. “When did this happen?”

He shrugged. “I don’t know. I had a patient who works for someone who was in a high-level meeting. It was announced right after Vader arrived on the station with you.”

She shook her head. “This is terrible news.”

“All the news is terrible,” Uli said. “It has been since this war began.”

She looked up at him. “If there’s ever going to be good news for any of us again, Uli, it has to start with us. We have to create it, not wait to read about it the next morning.”

The door slid up. Uli looked up in annoyance and said, “I thought I told you to—” He stopped. It wasn’t the tech.

It was Vader.

He entered, his cloak spreading like black ink against the eggshell white of the exam room’s floor. “Doctor. I trust your patient is well?”

The words came out before Uli was aware of them. “Yes—no thanks to you.”

Leia laughed.

Vader regarded him. “You are insubordinate, Doctor. But I have no time to show you the error of your thoughts.” He gestured to Leia. “Come with me, Your Highness.”

For a moment, Uli and the Princess locked gazes. Her eyes were brown, he noticed.

Barriss’s eyes had been blue, he remembered.

If he’d had a weapon, he might have used it on Vader in that brief instant of time, to allow her a chance to escape. But he was a doctor, not a fighter. It was not his path.

“Good luck,” he said to her.

She nodded. “And to you.”

Vader ushered her through the door ahead of him with a gesture that was almost courtly. The panel dropped, and they were gone.

Motti entered the control room to report to Tarkin. “We’ve entered the Alderaan system.”

It had been a quick trip, and all systems had performed flawlessly. The station was as fast as any ship in the Imperial Navy, and faster than most. The jump to lightspeed had been smooth, the hyperspace lanes had been cleared by Imperial order, and it seemed that it had taken no time at all to reach the Alderaan system. The superlaser was charged to full capacity and ready to fire.

Tarkin nodded. He seemed about to speak when Vader entered, along with a couple of guards and the fetching Princess Leia Organa.
Gorgeous woman
, Motti thought. He wouldn’t mind getting to know her better. Alas, she wasn’t going to be with them much longer. A waste.

She was hustled up to Tarkin. It seemed obvious that Vader’s tortures had had little or no effect, because her spirit was unbroken. “Governor Tarkin,” she said. “I should have expected to find you holding Vader’s leash. I recognized your foul stench when I was brought on board.”

Motti suppressed a laugh. My, but she was a spitfire. A real shame she had to die.

Tarkin favored her with a smirk. “Charming to the last.” He reached out and touched her chin. “You don’t know
how hard I found it signing the order to terminate your life.”

She jerked her head back. “I’m surprised you had the courage to take the responsibility yourself.”

Motti held his smile in check, but not without effort. She might be about to die, but she wasn’t going to cringe in fear. You had to respect that in an enemy, even a woman. Maybe especially a woman.

“Princess Leia, before your execution, I would like you to be the guest at a ceremony that will make this battle station operational.” Tarkin took a few steps, raised his hands to take in the vastness of the station, and turned to regard her again. “No star system will dare oppose the Emperor now.”

She sneered at him. “The more your tighten your grip, Tarkin, the more star systems will slip through your fingers.”

Tarkin walked back to her, pointing a finger for emphasis. “Not after we demonstrate the power of this station. In a way, you have determined the choice of the planet that will be destroyed first.” He loomed over her, face-to-face. “Since you are reluctant to provide us with the location of the Rebel base, I have chosen to test this station’s destructive power on your home planet of Alderaan.”

That wiped the smirk from her face.

She said, “No! Alderaan is peaceful. We have no weapons! You can’t possibly—”

“You would prefer another target?” Tarkin asked. “A military target? Then name the system!”

Motti watched as Tarkin crowded the Princess, giving her no space, no chance to regain her balance, either figuratively or literally. He leaned over her, nose-to-nose, backing her up. She was stopped by Vader standing behind her.

“I grow tired of asking this,” Tarkin told her, “so it’ll be the last time. Where is the Rebel base?”

Motti watched as she looked at the viewer. Alderaan was
centered there, a beautiful green, white, and blue world, quite unaware of its impending danger.

“Dantooine,” she said. Her voice was soft. Defeated. “They’re on Dantooine.” She lowered her gaze.

Tarkin looked up, pleased. “There, you see, Lord Vader, she can be reasonable.” He looked at Motti. “Continue with the operation. You may fire when ready.”

Leia looked up in shock.
“What?”

Tarkin turned back to face her. “You’re far too trusting. Dantooine is too remote to make an effective demonstration. But don’t worry—we will deal with your Rebel friends soon enough.”

“No!” She struggled, but Vader held her fast.

Motti smiled as he prepared to give the order. Tarkin was right. Fear was the key …

Tenn heard the order crackle over the speaker. He couldn’t believe it, but there it was:

“Commence primary ignition.”

He hesitated a second. Could it be some bizarre kind of test? To see if he had what it took?

No, that was foolish. He had already killed the prison planet, hadn’t he? They couldn’t have any doubts about his loyalty, both to the Empire and to Governor Tarkin.

But in a way that made it worse—because it meant the order was real. He was about to destroy yet another world—and it wasn’t a virulent jungle planet swarming with criminals this time.

This time it was a world all too similar to his own homeworld.

He was aware of his CO watching him. He reached up, grabbed the lever. All systems were green.

His crew once again performed their functions flawlessly,
adjusting switches, checking readouts, balancing harmonics. All too soon, everything was in readiness. All systems were go.

Tenn felt sweat dripping down his neck, under that blasted helmet. He looked at the timer: 00:58:57.

He pulled the lever.

It would take a second or so for the tributary beams to coalesce. He wanted to look away from the monitor, but he couldn’t.

The superlaser beam lanced from the focusing point above the dish.

The image of Alderaan on the screen was struck by the green ray.

It took no more than an instant. Tenn knew that the beam’s total destructive power was much bigger than matter-energy conversions limited to realspace. At full charge, the hypermatter reactor provided a superluminal “boost” that caused much of the planet’s mass to be shifted immediately into hyperspace. As a result, Alderaan exploded into a fiery ball of eye-smiting light almost instantaneously, and a planar ring of energy reflux—the “shadow” of a hyperspatial ripple—spread rapidly outward.

The timer read: 00:59:10.

So little time. So much damage. It was incredible.

If, somehow, the Rebel Alliance were to win this war—not that Tenn Graneet could see how that would be possible, given what he had just witnessed, what he had just
done
—then surely this act would condemn his ashes to the deepest pit they could find after he was executed.

It was his job, and if he hadn’t performed it, someone else would have, but his belly roiled with the enormity of what pulling that lever had caused.

Billions of lives snuffed out. Just like that.

There was no sense of triumph in it, none. He had not destroyed a Rebel base or a military target. Instead, a planet full of unarmed civilians had been … extinguished.

And he had done it.

It made him feel sick.

Nova was taking a sonic shower to relax before trying once again to sleep when he felt a roar in his head—soundless, but nevertheless so loud that it knocked him completely unconscious.

When he awoke, he was lying on the floor of the shower plate, the hum of the sonics still vibrating his body. His nose was bleeding, and his muscles tremored and shook as if he’d been hit by a stunner on maximum. He could barely stand.

Something had just happened. Something terrible.

T
he Imperial officer strode into the room, his boots echoing on the polished deck. Tarkin sat at the opposite end of the conference table, and Vader had taken a position near the wall to the left of the door. No one else was there save a pair of guards on the sides of the doorway.

The officer came to attention.

Tarkin looked at the man. “Yes?”

“Our scout ships have reached Dantooine. They found the remains of a Rebel base, but they estimate that it has been deserted for some time. They are now conducting an extensive search of the surrounding system.”

Vader felt a small surge of triumph, even though the news was bad. He had expected this.

As the officer turned and marched away, Tarkin came to his feet, simmering with rage. “She lied! She lied to us!”

Vader was amused at Tarkin’s outrage. Now who was too naïve and trusting? Aloud, he said, “I told you she would never consciously betray the Rebellion.”

Tarkin took a few steps toward him. Vader could sense that the governor’s anger had gotten the better of him. “Terminate her! Immediately!”

Unseen under his helmet, Vader’s tight features formed a painful grin. He understood Tarkin’s anger—after all, he himself was a master of anger—but Princess Leia Organa
might better serve them alive. He would consider the matter. Tarkin could not order, only suggest various courses and actions to him, and he was not averse to going along with those suggestions most of the time, since they didn’t really matter. But Darth Vader bowed to no one’s wishes save those of his Master, the Dark Lord of the Sith. Should his Master’s wishes and Tarkin’s collide, Tarkin would be swept away with the rest of history’s dust without a second’s hesitation.