Dark Apprentice

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Dark Apprentice Page 31

by Kevin J. Anderson


  trying to hold thoughts inside that kept slipping through her fingers.

  "Qwi!" he shouted, and ran to her. Bending down, he took her wrist and

  gently forced her to turn her head. He stared into her wide, blank eyes.

  "What

  happened?"

  She didn't appear to recognize him, and Wedge's stomach sank with horror.

  Qwi looked confused and devastated. She frowned as if searching her memory.

  She shook her head slowly, then closed her big eyes, squeezing them tight as

  she fought with her own thoughts. Tears ran down her cheeks, oozing in small

  drops, then larger splashes as she bit her lip in furious concentration. She

  blinked up at him again, finally finding the name that had eluded her.

  "Widj? Wedge?" she said at last. "Is your name Wedge?"

  He nodded numbly, and with another great weeping cry she threw herself

  into his arms. He held her, feeling her body tremble with sobs. "What

  happened?" he repeated. "Qwi, tell me!"

  "I don't know." She shook her head, and featherlike hair flowed in a slow

  wave from one shoulder to the other. "I barely know you. I can't remember.

  My

  mind feels so empty... filled with blank spots."

  Wedge held her tight as she said, "I've lost everything. Most of my

  memory, my life--is gone."

  Kyp Durron returned to the fourth moon of Yavin in the heartbeat

  stillness of the jungle night. Filled with a power he had decided to use to

  its fullest, he felt ready to explode in an exhilarating outpouring of the

  Force--but he could not let such childish demonstrations seduce him. He had

  a

  mission to accomplish, one that would affect the future of the entire

  galaxy.

  Without running lights or landing beacon, he brought the Z-95 Headhunter

  he had taken from Mara Jade to a gentle rest on the slightly overgrown

  landing

  pad in front of the Great Temple. Kyp had no interest in reacquainting

  himself

  with the other weak Jedi trainees or even with the misguided and cowardly

  Master Skywalker. He simply needed access to the ancient Massassi temples

  Exar

  Kun had designed as focal points for concentrating the power of the Sith.

  Above him the night sky was lush with stars, and the stirrings of the

  surrounding jungle wove a tapestry of hushed sounds. But the insects made

  their music more quietly, and few large animals crashed through the

  underbrush. The entire rain forest seemed stunned by Kyp's return.

  Kyp tossed the oddly glittering black cape over his shoulders. Time to be

  about his business.

  Leaving the Headhunter fighter behind him, he approached the monolithic

  ziggurat of the Great Temple. Rust-colored vermiform vines writhed out of

  his

  way, avoiding Kyp's footsteps, as if his entire body exuded a deadly heat.

  Chisel-cut stone steps ran up the side of the pyramid. He set one foot in

  front of the other, climbing slowly, listening to the soft echoes of his

  breathing. Anticipation built within him.

  In his mind Kyp heard cheering ghosts, saw visions like a videoloop from

  four thousand years ago when Exar Kun had found the last resting place of

  the

  ancient Sith. Kun had rediscovered their teachings. He had built great

  temples, establishing the Brotherhood of the Sith among disillusioned Jedi

  Knights. Here on Yavin 4, Kun had used the Massassi people as expendable

  resources, power conduits to redefine the chaos and corruption of the Old

  Republic. He had challenged the foolish Jedi who followed their incompetent

  leaders without thinking simply because they had sworn to do so....

  Now Kyp would finish the battle, though the enemy was no longer the

  incompetent, decaying Republic, but the fraudulent New Order and the

  repressive Empire that had taken the Old Republic's place. While Master

  Skywalker limited the training of his new Jedi Knights, Kyp Durron had

  learned

  more. Much more.

  He reached the second tier of the ziggurat and paused to look down at the

  insectile shape of his Z-95 fighter resting in the center of the landing

  grid.

  No one had yet stirred from inside the temple.

  A pastel glow crept into the sky at the horizon as the rapid rotation of

  the jungle moon brought planetrise closer. Kyp continued to climb the long

  series of steps, staring toward the apex of the Great Temple.

  Kyp had already struck his first blow by erasing dangerous knowledge from

  the Imperial scientist, Qwi Xux. Only Qwi had known how to build another Sun

  Crusher--but Kyp, using his bare hands and his newfound power, had torn that

  knowledge from her brain and scattered it into nothingness. No one could

  ever

  find it again.

  Next, he would apply a poetic justice that delighted his sensibility,

  that made him thrill with revenge for all that the Empire had done against

  him

  and his family and his colony world. Kyp would resurrect the Sun Crusher

  itself and use it to obliterate the remains of the Empire. He would be

  accountable to no one but himself. He trusted no one else to make the hard

  decisions.

  Kyp reached the summit of the Great Temple just as the huge orange ball

  of Yavin heaved itself over the horizon. Misty and pale, the gas giant

  swirled

  with tremendous storm systems large enough to swallow smaller worlds.

  The temple's diamond-shaped flagstones covered the small observation

  platform above the grand audience chamber. Vines and stunted Massassi trees

  poked up from the corners of the old stones.

  Kyp looke d skyward. The small plants and animals filling the jungles of

  Yavin 4 were insignificant to him. They mattered nothing in the grand scheme

  of what he was about to undertake. The importance of his vision far exceeded

  the petty needs of any single planet.

  As the sphere of Yavin rose into the sky, Kyp lifted his arms, and the

  slick black fabric of his cape fell behind him. His hands were slender and

  small, the hands of a young man. But inside, power sizzled through his

  bones.

  "Exar Kun, help me," Kyp said, closing his eyes.

  He reached out with his mind, following the paths of the Force that led

  to every object in the universe, drawing power from the cosmic focal point

  of

  the Massassi temple. He searched, sending his thoughts like a probe deep

  into

  the storm systems of the gas giant.

  Behind him Kyp felt the black-ice power of Exar Kun arise, tapping into

  hm and reinforcing his abilities. His own feeble exploratory touch suddenly

  plunged forward like a blaster bolt. Kyp felt larger, a part of the jungle

  moon, then a part of the entire planetary system, until he burrowed into the

  heart of the gas giant itself.

  Pale orange clouds whipped past him. He sensed pressure increasing as he

  plummeted down, down to the incredibly dense layers near the core. He sought

  the tiny speck of machinery, a small, indestructible ship that had been cast

  away.

  When he reached the bottommost levels of the atmosphere, Kyp finally

  found the Sun Crusher. It stood out like a beacon, a bull's-eye in the
>
  funneling field lines of the Force.

  Size matters not, Master Skywalker had repeated. Kyp engulfed the Sun

  Crusher with his mind, surrounding it, touching it with his limitless,

  invisible hands. He thought about heaving it back up, dragging the Sun

  Crusher

  out of the depths of Yavin. But he discarded that thought.

  Instead, with the assistance of Exar Kun, he used his innate skill to

  power up the controls again, to move control levers, push buttons to alter

  the

  course stored in the Sun Crusher's memory, bringing it out of its

  entombment.

  Kyp continued to watch the weapon's progress, focusing on the sphere of

  the enormous planet as it crested the misty treetops. The Sun Crusher

  appeared

  as a silvery dot, seeming no larger than an atom as it emerged from the

  highest cloud layers and streaked across space toward the emerald-green moon

  where Kyp waited.

  He stared upward and waited, opening his arms to receive the

  indestructible weapon.

  The Sun Crusher approached like a long, sharp thorn of crystalline alloy,

  cruising upright on its long axis. The toroidal resonance-torpedo launcher

  hung at the bottom of the long hook. It looked beautiful.

  The Sun Crusher descended through the jungle moon's atmosphere, straight

  down--like a spike to impale the Great Temple. Kyp controlled it, slowed its

  descent, until the superweapon hovered to a stop, suspended in front of him.

  As the sky brightened with planetrise, the alloy hull of the Sun Crusher

  seemed as pristine as a firefacet gem, scoured of all oxidation and debris

  by

  the intense temperatures and pressures at the core of Yavin. The Sun Crusher

  looked clean, and deadly, and ready for him.

  "Thank you, Exar Kun," Kyp whispered.

  * * *

  Luke Skywalker awoke from another series of nightmares. He sat bolt

  upright on his pallet, instantly aware. He had felt a great disturbance in

  the

  Force. Something was not right.

  He got up, moving cautiously as he sent out his thoughts to check on his

  students Kirana Ti, Dorsk 81, the new Calamarian arrival Cilghal, Streen,

  Tionne, Kam Solusar, and all the others. Nothing seemed amiss. They slept

  soundly--almost too soundly, as if a net of sleep had been cast over them.

  When he reached out farther, he was stunned to feel a cold, black

  whirlpool of twisted Force around the peak of the temple. It stunned him.

  Luke sprinted to the door of his chambers, hesitated, then stepped back

  to retrieve his lightsaber. He marched down the corridors, smoothing his

  fear

  as he rode the turbolift to the upper levels of the ancient pyramid.

  Calm, Yoda had said, you must remain calm.

  But the sight that greeted him under the dawn sky nearly overwhelmed

  Luke.

  The Sun Crusher hung suspended over the temple, still steaming in the

  morning air, resurrected from its tomb at the core of the gas giant. Kyp

  Durron spun around to stare at Luke, his black cape swirling with the rapid

  motion.

  Stunned, Luke reeled backward. "How dare you bring that weapon back!" he

  said. "It goes against all the Jedi knowledge I have taught you."

  Kyp laughed at him. "You haven't taught me very much, Master Skywalker.

  I've learned a great deal beyond your feeble teachings. You pretend to be a

  great instructor, but you're afraid to learn for yourself."

  He looked back at the Sun Crusher. "I will do what must be done to

  eradicate the Empire. While I make the galaxy safe for everyone, you can

  stay

  here and practice your simple Jedi tricks. But they are no more than

  children's games."

  "Kyp," Luke said, keeping his voice even and taking a step toward him,

  "you've been lured by the dark side, but you must return. You were deceived

  and misled. Come back before its grip becomes too strong." He swallowed. "I

  went over to the dark side once, and I came back. It can be done if you're

  strong enough and brave enough. Are you?"

  Kyp laughed in disbelief. "Skywalker, it's embarrassing for me to listen

  to you talk. You are afraid to risk anything yourself, yet you want to call

  yourself a Jedi Master. It doesn't work that way. You've stunted the

  training

  of your other Jedi candidates because of your own narrow-mindedness. Perhaps

  I

  should just defeat you here and now, and then I can take over their

  training."

  With trembling hands and a deep-seated dread in his heart, Luke reached

  to his side and wrapped his hand around the slick handle of his lightsaber.

  He

  pulled it free, igniting it with the familiar snap-hiss. The brilliant green

  blade extended, humming and ready for battle.

  A Jedi could not attack an unarmed opponent, could not resort to violence

  before all other avenues had been exhausted--but Luke knew the deadly

  potential of his most talented student. If Kyp had fallen to the dark side,

  he

  could become another Darth Vader. Perhaps even worse....

  "Don't make me do this," Luke said, raising his lightsaber, but unsure

  what to do. He couldn't just cut down his student, who stood unarmed at the

  top of the temple. But if he didn't...

  "We have to send the Sun Crusher back," Luke said. "At one time you

  yourself insisted that it should never be used."

  "I spoke out of ignorance," Kyp said, "just as you do."

  "Don't make me fight you," Luke said in a low voice.

  Kyp made a dismissive gesture with one hand, and a sudden wave of dark

  ripples splashed across the air like the shock front from a concussion

  grenade.

  Luke stumbled backward. The lightsaber turned cold in his hand. Frost

  crystals grew in feathery patterns around the handle. At the core of the

  brilliant green blade a shadow appeared, a black disease rotting away the

  purity of the beam. The humming blade sputtered, sounding like a sickly

  cough.

  The black taint rapidly grew stronger, swallowing up the green beam.

  With a fizzle of sparks Luke's lightsaber died.

  Trying to control his growing fear, Luke felt a sudden brush of cold

  behind him. He turned to see a black, hooded silhouette--the image that had

  impersonated Anakin Skywalker in Luke's nightmare... the dark man who had

  lured Gantoris into a devastating loss of control.

  Kyp's voice came as if from a great distance. "At last, Master Skywalker,

  you can meet my mentor--Exar Kun."

  Luke dropped his useless lightsaber and crouched. His every muscle

  suddenly coiled and tensed. He rallied all the powers of the Force around

  him,

  seeking any defensive tactic.

  With the Sun Crusher looming behind him, Kyp stretched out both hands and

  blasted Luke with lightning bolts like black cracks in the Force. Dark

  tendrils rose up from gaps in the temple flagstones, fanged, illusory vipers

  that struck at him from all sides.

  Luke cried out and tried to strike back, but the shadow of Exar Kun

  joined the attack, adding more deadly force. The ancient Dark Lord of the

  Sith

  lashed out with waves of blackness, d
riving long icicles of frozen poison

  into

  Luke's body.

  He thrashed, but felt helpless. To lose control to anger and desperation

  would be as great a failure as if he did nothing at all. Luke called upon

  the

  powers that Yoda and Obi-Wan had taught him--but everything he did, every

  skillful technique, failed utterly.

  Against the full might of Kyp Durron and the forbidden weapons of the

  long-dead spirit of Exar Kun, even a Jedi Master such as Luke Skywalker

  could

  not prevail.

  The black serpentlike tentacles of evil force struck at him again and

  again, filling his body with a pain like lava coursing through his veins. As

  he screamed, his voice was swallowed by a hurricane from the dark side.

  Luke cried out one last time and crumpled backward to the blessedly cool

  flagstones of the Great Massassi Temple, as everything turned a smothering,

  final black around him....

  Near the center of the Cauldron Nebula, the two surviving Star Destroyers

  hung poised and ready to launch their attack on Coruscant.

  Admiral Daala stood tall on her bridge platform, filled with an

  electrifying new self-confidence and det ermination. She had not slept in

  the

  past day.

  Her officers sat at their stations, keyed up and anxious. A double

  complement of stormtroopers marched up and down the Gorgon's halls, fully

  armed and battle ready. They had had a decade of drills, and now they would

  use their training to strike the greatest blow they could imagine for their

  cause.

  "Commander Kratas, report," Daala said.

  Kratas snapped to attention, barking out his report. "All equipment and

  weaponry have been transferred from the Basilisk to the Gorgon. Only a

  skeleton crew of volunteers--all stormtroopers--remains on the Basilisk.

  Captain Mullinore reports he is ready for his final mission."

  Daala turned to the lieutenant at the comm station. "Patch me through to

  Captain Mullinore."

  The image of the Basilisk's captain appeared in front of her. The

  hologram wavered, but the man himself seemed completely rigid and in

  control,

  looking stoic as he met Admiral Daala's emerald eyes. "Yes, Admiral," he

  said.

  "Captain, is your ship ready?" She paused, clasping her hands behind her

  back. "Are you ready?"

  "Yes, Admiral. We have reconfigured all weapons systems to increase power

  to our shields. The stormtrooper crew has rigged the self-destruct mechanism

 

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