Star Wars: Hope Fails

Chapter 9: The Book Of Sith

The king and queen of planet Guarandinae organized a grand reception in honor of Darth Vader's visit. They invited great performers and artists from around the world to the hovering capital city, Fumtha Prime, so they might participate in the biggest carnival of their kingdom's history. Every street and plaza had at least one entertainer or exhibit representing unique, cultural spectacles or displays for attendees to behold. Subjects arrived from all around the planet; so many that city engineers worried about straining the magnetic repulsors which levitated Fumtha Prime five thousand feet above Guarandinae's marsh surface.

Cathedral Fumtha towered above every building on the capital. It was at city center, atop a levitating disc; the city's tallest structures circled its outer edge. Moving inward, buildings became shorter so as to enable a clear view of Cathedral Fumtha from everywhere on the five thousand acre floating city. The cathedral itself was a huge, bulbous cone pointing skyward; a giant globe of crystalline metal sparkling under the planet's cherry sun. The globe was where all public functions of the royal family were held. The plush ball room within was magnified by the globe's walls so that the image of what was taking place within was large enough to be seen throughout the city. At the moment, the ball room was occupied to capacity by royalty and officials.

Before Darth Vader was to be presented to the king and queen all festivities ceased. Attendees and performers turned their attention to the Cathedral for a glimpse of the legendary knight of the Empire.

A day prior, on Coruscant, Vader knelt before Emperor Palpatine. Since the Battle Of Yavin, the Emperor had kept him conspicuously busy. Vader had just returned from a third mission to the Outer Rim, when summoned for a fourth.

"Once you have finished your business on Guarandinae you may have your.. retreat," the Emperor snapped at his disciple. "But..! You will write your entry for our Book Of Sith while you rest."

Vader had requested personal time to visit his private home, Bast Castle on Vjun, at the conversation's outset. "Yes, my master," he supplicated.

The Emperor smiled with unsettling, wide-eyed bliss as his throne turned him toward the viewport. "You may rise, Lord Vader."

Vader stood but remained head down, looking at the floor. He was weary from non-stop travel punctuated by senseless violence. He sensed that the Emperor had been distracting him from pondering his experience with the Rebel pilot. But why?

"Is this necessary, master?" Vader asked. "Are my powers to be used as mere political threats?"

"'Powers'?" mocked the Emperor. He gazed at the endless city below him. His mouth smiled but his eyes sharpened like a predator's pinpointing prey.

Vader kept silent. The throne spun laconically to face him. The Emperor's countenance was spiteful yet amused. He snapped to his feet with a crackle of blue Force lightning before the throne completed its turn.

"You have no powers!" he croaked. "I direct my own power through you! You do not exist without me!"

"When will you teach me the secret of Life?" Vader inquired evenly.

The Emperor narrowed his eyes. The plexi-glass behind him crackled. It savagely shattered outward as a blast of wind whipped through the throne room. The atmosphere violently decompressed, tearing the throne rivet by rivet from its pedestal into the abyssal cityscape outside. The Emperor slithered forward like a cobra mesmerizing prey. Though their cloaks threatened to tear away, neither Sith yielded to the gale.

"When you are finally rid of your childish emotions," the Emperor hissed." Until then you will serve as you're most appropriately suited: blunt force."