Vader's Fortress

by Rebecca Moesta

  gripped the arms of the seat tightly.

  "I think I'm going to be sick," she said in a small voice.

  Tionne's voice was grim.

  "Hang on, everyone, it's going to get even rougher before we land."

  Although it was daytime, the sky grew darker around them as the ship

  plunged into a cluster of roiling storm clouds. The ship shuddered again,

  and lightning crashed outside the viewports.

  "This would be a fine opportunity to practice your Jedi relaxation

  exercises, my young friends," Ikrit pointed out. The small Jedi Master

  sounded completely calm. Anakin was thankful for the reminder as high winds

  continued to jostle the ship. He began to feel better almost instantly.

  "You all right?" he asked Tahiri.

  She nodded.

  "Better."

  Anakin was glad to see that Uldir seemed to have relaxed as well. His

  face was no longer deathly pale, though he merely grunted when Anakin asked

  how he felt.

  "Not much longer now," Tionne said.

  The Lore Seeker jerked sideways, and she steadied it.

  "It's only about fifty more kilometers to the landing area." Ikrit

  said, "I wish to help, if you would not object. I cannot control the

  weather, but if you will show me our path, I can use the Force to steady

  your ship."

  "Thank you, Master Ikrit. I would appreciate your assistance," Tionne

  said in a relieved voice. In less than a minute she had shown him the

  coordinates to Bast Castle and their flight path.

  Then Ikrit closed his blue-green eyes and stretched one paw toward the

  front viewport in the direction of their flight. Instantly the Lore

  Seeker's shuddering quieted. Anakin could still feel some vibration when

  winds struck the ship or lightning flashed close by, but the tiny Jedi

  Master held the ship steady while Tionne piloted the Lore Seeker in a

  smooth descent to the landing area. As the craft folded its coppery wings

  and touched down with a gentle thump, Anakin, Tahiri, Tionne, and Uldir

  burst into cheers and applause.

  "All right, I admit it," Uldir said. "I'm impressed."

  Artoo-Detoo twittered and bleeped enthusiastically.

  "Good work, everyone," Tionne said. "And a special thanks to both of

  my copilots."

  "Well, let's get out and take a look at Darth Vader's fortress,"

  Tahiri said.

  Anakin suddenly had a strange feeling at the pit of his stomach again.

  While safe on Yavin 4, he had been very curious to see the fortress his

  grandfather had built. But now that he was here, he wasn't so sure....

  The area where they had landed was rocky and bare except for a few

  stunted trees, whose leafless branches stretched toward the cloudy sky.

  Anakin turned in a slow circle to look around. Dark rocky spires stretched

  up hundreds of meters to disappear into the mist and low clouds. But they

  saw no sign of any buildings.

  "Where is the castle?" he said at last. Tionne sighed. "According to

  Master Skywalker, it's up there." She pointed to one of the rocky peaks.

  Tahiri, Anakin, and Uldir exchanged surprised glances. Distant lightning

  flickered across the shadowy landscape.

  "Don't worry," Tionne said, "the information broker told me how to get

  to the top."

  "Then why didn't we just fly up there?" Uldir asked.

  "Master Skywalker warned me that the wind and storms might make it

  difficult for me to pilot the Lore Seeker safely onto the landing platform

  in front of Bast Castle. Even some modern ships have trouble making that

  landing."

  "Did Uncle Luke tell you anything about the fortress itself?" Anakin

  asked.

  "I don't know much about it."

  "Well, I found out as much as I could before we left. Apparently Vader

  built Bast Castle as one of his private strongholds; he was a powerful man.

  After both he and Emperor Palpatine died, some of the Emperor's followers

  brought a copy of Palpatine's body here-a clone. This second Emperor was

  defeated too. Since then, the fortress has been abandoned, as far as we

  know."

  A cold rain began to drizzle down on the gathered companions. And soon

  the wind picked up again, chilling them all.

  "I still don't get it," Uldir said to Anakin. "Why would your

  grandfather choose to build in such a desolate place?"

  Anakin's teeth were beginning to chatter.

  "Guess he didn't want many visitors."

  Despite the freezing rain and her bare feet, Tahiri had clambered to

  the top of a rock to get a better view of their surroundings. Her feet

  looked blue from the cold and Anakin wondered if she really was more

  comfortable without boots on.

  "Um, it looks like they still get at least some visitors," Tahiri

  said.

  "What do you mean?" Anakin asked, climbing up beside her.

  She pointed to a spot a hundred meters away, where a battered old

  cargo shuttle was half hidden in the shadow of a rocky outcropping.

  Lightning flashed, brightening the area around the small ship for a moment.

  "Looks empty," Anakin said.

  Tahiri nodded.

  "I wonder if it's been there very long."

  The chilly rain stopped as suddenly as it had begun, but the wind

  still howled around them.

  "I think we'd better get up to Bast Castle as soon as the weather

  improves," Tionne said. "I just hope we're not too late to find what we

  came for."

  "Look," Tahiri gasped, and pointed upward.

  The wind that had been making them all shiver had also broken up the

  clouds and pushed them aside. Towering above them, on a grim stony peak,

  sat Bast Castle. The fortress was domed and heavily armored, with a craggy

  spike at the center. Dark and brooding, it looked like a deadly battleship

  hovering in the sky just above the tip of sharp rock that stabbed upward.

  Lightning flashed around it like blaster fire. Thunder rumbled.

  "It's hard to imagine," Tahiri said, "that anyone ever called this

  place home."

  It was a dark and stormy day. Tahiri shivered as she looked out the

  Lore Seeker's viewport at the rain and gusty winds that swept Vjun's bleak

  landscape. She yanked at a strand of her damp blonde hair. Now that they

  had all changed into dry clothes and eaten a warm meal, Tahiri was ready to

  face the climb up to the fortress.

  But the weather, if anything, had gotten worse. It was raining again-

  much harder this time - and her feet refused to get warm.

  "Do you think it will let up?" Anakin asked.

  "From what Master Skywalker told me, the weather on this planet is

  never very pleasant," Tionne said.

  "I guess it's a good thing we brought thermal liners to wear under our

  jumpsuits then," Anakin said. "And our rain gear too."

  "How long are we going to wait?" Uldir asked impatiently. "We don't

  know how long this rain will last. It could be days."

  Tionne sighed.

  "That's true. Let's gather all of our equipment together and get our

  rain gear ready. We'll wait another hour. If it hasn't let up by then,

  we'll start anyway."

  Tahiri looked down at her bare feet. They were still cold, and when

  she wriggled her toes she coul
d hardly feel them. But she detested shoes,

  and her voice was miserable as she told Tionne,

  "I hate to say it, but I think I'll have to wear those soft boots you

  had made for me. I hope I'll only need them for the climb. Once we get to

  the castle I may take them off again, of course."

  The Jedi teacher's face was solemn as she nodded at Tahiri and said,

  "Of course."

  As it was, the rain her face. Her nose was starting to drip, and the

  chilly gusts stung her eyes and made her cheeks and ears numb.

  "The information broker on Borgo Prime said there was a stairway

  around the back of the rock," Tionne said. "Ah, here we are."

  Now that they were getting close, Anakin looked upward.

  "Will this lead us to the landing pad?" he asked.

  Tionne inspected the stairway etched into the side of the rock

  pinnacle.

  "Not exactly. This takes us to the back of Bast Castle. The last time

  Master Skywalker was here, there were automatic lasers firing on anything

  that moved in front of the fortress. He knew about this rear stairway and

  suggested it might be safer."

  "He probably just wanted us to be extra careful," Anakin said. "The

  stairs look pretty steep, Artoo," he added. "Can you make it?"

  Artoo-Detoo warbled uncertainly.

  "If he cannot, I will use the Force to help him over the rough parts,"

  Ikrit said Tahiri eyed the stairs warily. She spotted several broken steps

  with jagged edges.

  "Glad I'm wearing my boots after all," she muttered.

  "What about you, Uldir?" Tionne asked. "Are you ready for the climb?"

  The teenager shrugged and grinned.

  "Hey, this kind of stuff is why I wanted to be a Jedi Knight. I came

  for adventure--and I'm ready for anything."

  Anakin wasn't really surprised when it started raining again only a

  few minutes after they began their climb. Their protective clothing kept

  them dry for the most part. What surprised him was the cold. The rain was

  freezing. The stairs to the fortress led up in a spiral that began outside,

  tunneled into the rock, and then wound back to the outside again as the

  stairs led higher. In and out, in and out. The icy rain made the stone

  steps slippery, and Anakin was glad each time the stairway tunneled back

  into the rock. Even though they stopped several times to rest away from the

  wind and rain, Anakin found himself growing tired.

  "How-how much-farther-do you-think - it is?" Tahiri asked, collapsing

  beside Anakin during one of their rest breaks. In spite of her rain hood,

  bedraggled clumps of wet, hair were plastered against her forehead and

  cheeks. Anakin had no idea how far they had come, and he was too out of

  breath even to attempt an answer. He merely shook his head.

  "I think we are about halfway," Tionne said. A healthy pink flush ran

  along the instructor's high cheekbones. She didn't seem to be breathing

  hard at all.

  Uldir moved to the closest opening in the stairway, leaned out, and

  looked up to the top of the rock spire.

  "She's right," he said. "We've got a long ways to go yet."

  Tahiri groaned. "These stairs are giving me a headache."

  Anakin closed his eyes and tried to convince himself that he felt much

  better after his brief rest.

  "Among my people on the planet Kushibah," Ikrit said, "we have a

  proverb: The path to success is seldom short." Uldir pulled his head back

  inside and crouched next to Anakin and Tahiri.

  "Yeah? I'll bet your people always go the long way around instead of

  taking shortcuts when they see them."

  The teenager wiped a hand across his cheek and came away with a

  fingerful of slush. He grinned.

  "I thought the rain outside felt awfully cold." He held out his finger

  to show Anakin. "Sleet. The rain has turned to sleet."

  This time it was Anakin's turn to groan. He was already tired of being

  cold and damp.

  Tionne's silvery brows drew together in a frown.

  "That means we'll all have to take extra care on the slippery steps

  outside," she said.

  "Especially Artoo." Anakin pushed himself back to his feet and reached

  out a hand to help Tahiri up as well.

  "The sooner we get up to the castle the sooner we can get warm and

  dry," he said. "Ikrit and I will follow Artoo to make sure he doesn't slip.

  "

  Artoo-Detoo whistled a halfhearted agreement and they all set off

  again.

  It was late in the day when the companions finally stood on a broad

  ledge at the rear entrance to Bast Castle, all somewhat the worse for wear.

  Anakin had a bruised knee and chin from having slipped and fallen heavily

  on the stairs. At least twice, Artoo-Detoo had teetered precariously at the

  edge of the steps before Ikrit had managed to use the Force to catch and

  lift him to safety. Tahiri had a scrape on one cheek from stumbling and

  falling against the rock wall. And so it had gone for all of them. Cold,

  bone-weary, and aching from their climb, they wanted nothing more than to

  get out of the wind and rain for a while. Tionne carefully raised one hand

  and waved it in front of the motion sensors beside the blast panel on the

  fortress door.

  "No laser blasts," she said. "That's a good sign. Maybe Imperials

  turned the defenses off when they left. Artoo, we'll need you to open the

  cyberlock on this door."

  Buzzing and twittering, Artoo-Detoo rolled forward and put one of his

  probes into the computer-operated lock. The impressive double doors were

  five meters tall and almost as wide.

  While waiting for the little droid to open the doors, Anakin and

  Tahiri backed up to get a better look at the fortress now that they were

  close enough to see it. Bast Castle looked to Anakin like an enormous

  armor-plated helmet with a large spiky tower rising from its center. Dark

  metallic blast shielding covered every wall and window. Artoo-Detoo

  whistled in surprise and prodded the huge doors. They swung inward on

  noiseless hinges.

  "Wow, that was fast," Tahiri said.

  "Yeah, good work, Artoo," Anakin said.

  Together, the two companions moved forward to get their first glimpse

  of the inside. Neither of them went in, but Anakin leaned through the broad

  doorway and looked around. What he saw made him catch his breath. Ahead, in

  a room as big as the Grand Audience Chamber at the Jedi academy, lay the

  enormous black-robed figure of Darth Vader. It took Anakin a moment to

  realize that the plasteel helmet and black flowing cape were really part of

  a statue - a larger-than-life statue of Darth Vader that had been toppled

  to the floor, discarded like a piece of old junk.

  Uldir shouldered his way into the entrance beside Anakin and pushed

  the gigantic portal open all the way.

  "It's cold out here. Why don't we go inside where it's warm and dry?"

  Without warning, bright steaks of laser fire crisscrossed the

  courtyard.

  "Stay back," Ikrit rasped.

  "Everyone down," Tionne yelled. Anakin, Tahiri, and Uldir hit the

  floor.

  Another bright streak burned across the air in front of Anakin.

  "Blaster bol
ts!" Uldir yelped in his ear.

  "Yeah, that's exactly what my brother Jacen always says," Anakin

  muttered. "Only this time they're lasers, not blasters."

  "I think we set off some sort of intruder alarm," Tahiri said.

  Uldir snorted. "You figured that out all by yourself, did you? Of

  course we set off an alarm - and now someone's shooting at us!"

  "Not someone," Anakin corrected. "Something."

  Uldir grunted.

  "Okay, fine. But whatever it is will probably come out here any minute

  and kill us."

  "No," Ikrit said immediately. "I sense no life - forms, no

  intelligence in that room."

  "Whatever it is, it isn't alive," Tionne agreed. "I can feel that."

  "I think it's an automatic system," Anakin said. "Tahiri was right

  when she said we triggered something. It looks like some sort of intruder

  defense. It must be automatic. Look how regular the pattern is: two shots

  every second, first from the front left and right, and then from the rear