by John Whitman
Kiva.
Only Deevee, Zak, and Tash were unaffected.
Eppon stalked closer. He would be on them in a few minutes. Zak backed up
until he was right next to his sister. "We can't fight what we can't even
touch!"
Tash, too, backed away, and bumped into Luke Skywalker. Luke had managed
to get to his feet. His eyes were squeezed shut as he tried to fight off the
illusion. He muttered to himself, "The Force... got to stay... with the Force.
"
"That's it!" she realized. "I can use the Force!"
Zak understood. Through his experiments, Gog had managed to take control
of the galaxy's most powerful elements. He had learned to control life and
death. But the one thing he had never been able to do was control the Force.
"I just hope you can use the Force as effectively as Vader did," Deevee
said frantically.
As soon as she heard those words, Tash knew that Deevee was wrong. She
did not want to use the Force the way Vader had. That was the dark side.
She recalled Luke's words: The Force isn't a weapon like a blaster or a
lightsaber. It's more like a power that helps you focus yourself and
understand everything around you.
If the Force connected all living things, then maybe it connected her to
Eppon, too. Maybe she could use it to reach him.
"Eppon," she said softly. As she spoke, she reached out with her
feelings, trying to imagine an energy field that flowed from her to the
monster and back again. "Eppon, it's me. Tash. The one who took you from that
egg chamber. I carried you on my back. We laughed and played together."
Eppon lunged forward to grab her. Tash didn't move. She ignored her
pounding heart. She focused on the Force.
"We don't want to hurt you, Eppon. We're your friends. Remember?"
Eppon's clawed hand hung over Tash, but did not come down. He could have
destroyed her in a moment, but instead he only growled at her, gnashing his
teeth.
Using the Force, Tash connected herself to Eppon's mind. She felt anger,
even rage, but somehow she knew that those emotions didn't belong to Eppon.
They belonged to the evil scientist who had created him.
She said softly, "What you're doing is not your fault. You were created
by evil. But there is good in you. I can feel it."
Eppon lowered his clawed hand.
A few meters away, Gog howled in frustration. "No, no! Destroy her!"
Eppon responded to Gog's command. His red eyes flashed, and Tash felt a
wave of cold fear wash over her. Her concentration started to break. She
suddenly began to worry that the others would escape while she was fighting
Eppon. They would abandon her, leaving her to die while they escaped to
safety. They would betray her.
She started to lose her connection to the Force.
Eppon growled, and raised his claws again to strike her down.
You're not alone, Tash. Tash didn't hear the voice with her ears. She
heard it inside her head. You're never alone.
The sound of the voice made her feel stronger. She concentrated again,
and felt the Force flow through her once more.
There was something more. She felt someone else using the Force, too.
Someone had added their strength to hers.
Nearby, Luke had regained control of himself. She could feel him
concentrating along with her.
Tash aimed all her thoughts at Eppon. She summoned all the images of the
baby boy Eppon into her brain, recalling how she had held him, and played with
him, and hugged him when the commandos wanted to desert him.
The images penetrated Eppon's angry mind. He lowered his claws again. His
flaming eyes studied Tash, then turned to look at Zak. He growled softly.
Gog shrieked, "Kill them now!"
Eppon roared again, but this time he did not attack Zak and Tash. The
creature whirled about and started toward Gog, its massive arms reaching out
to crush him.
"Get him, Eppon!" Zak cheered.
As Eppon approached, Gog raised a small, flat object and pressed a single
button.
Eppon's head exploded.
CHAPTER 19
The creature's body slumped to the ground. His head had disintegrated in
a flash of light.
Gog shook his head. "Did you think I learned nothing from my past
failures?"
He stood over Eppon's body and kicked it with his toe.
"Learning from mistakes is the basis of all science," he said. "I knew
that once I had created the invincible soldiers for my Army of Terror, I had
to be prepared in case I lost control." He patted the small device in his
hand. "I planted a tiny explosive device in the creature's brain. It was the
only way the creature could be destroyed."
"You killed him!" Tash cried.
"Murderer!" Zak spat.
Gog only shrugged. "I created him. He was mine to destroy."
"But you've still lost, Gog," Hoole said. "You'll never get off this
planet."
"Oh? Who will stop me, Hoole?" Gog laughed.
"We will," Han said weakly. Beside him, Chewbacca snarled. The Rebels
were recovering from Eppon's fear power.
"You? You have more important things to worry about."
Even as Gog spoke, Hoole and the others felt a shadow fall across them.
No, not one shadow-thousands of shadows.
The wraiths were rushing into the laboratory.
They filled the room with swirling darkness, whispering and moaning,
Murder! Death to Mammon! Death!
Zak and Tash felt the wraiths smother them, holding them down, while more
of the shadow creatures pinned Hoole in place. He struggled, but could not
move. The wraiths surrounded the Rebels.
It didn't matter, Zak realized. They had no ion weapons. They had nothing
with which to fight the wraiths.
They all seemed too exhausted to fight. They waited for the shadow
creatures to take their revenge.
Except for Deevee. The droid struggled against the shadows that
imprisoned him. Calling on every spark of energy that his mechanical body
could muster, he pushed his way toward the center of the room.
"Deevee, what are you doing?" Zak asked.
Deevee couldn't spare the energy to answer.
Mammon must die! Mammon must die! the voices moaned.
A black claw slashed through the darkness, ripping a long red line across
Hoole's chest. Gog cackled gleefully.
Deevee reached the control console in the center of the room.
Another black claw cut Hoole, drawing blood on his cheek. Gog cheered.
Tash and Zak watched Deevee punch commands into the computer console. In
response to his instructions, the console lit up, sending power to the five
video monitors that hung overhead.
Gog's image appeared on all five screens.
It was an old recording, blurred by years of electronic storage. But it
clearly showed Gog transmitting a message to the Emperor himself.
"Your Excellency," Gog said in the message. "I have completed the final
arrangements for the experiments here on Kiva. As we suspected, our experiment
is a failure. It will not create life. It will destroy life. However, I plan
to let the test go forward. I suspect that the results should be quite
/>
devastating, and may provide you with a useful weapon."
The recording ended.
The room was utterly silent.
Then the whispers started.
Gog.
Another voice joined the first.
Gog.
More voices joined in. The wraiths seemed to be debating among
themselves. For a moment, the voices of the shadow creatures were filled with
doubt. They had been cursing the name of one scientist for twenty years. It
was almost impossible for them to change course now. But Deevee had set the
tape on replay, and Gog's recorded voice echoed throughout the chamber: "I
plan to let the test go forward."
Suddenly, a thousand voices accused: Goggoggoggoggoggoggog!
Gog backed away, pointing at Hoole. "No, no. He is responsible. He did
it!"
You are a murderer! You are a killer! Gog, you must die! The shadows fell
away from Zak and Tash. They fell away from Hoole, and the Rebels.
They poured onto Gog.
The wraiths descended on the evil scientist. They smothered him until he
could no longer be seen.
Only Gog's voice could be heard, screaming in agony.
The blackness of the shadows seemed to collapse in on itself, growing
smaller and smaller, darker and darker, until finally it disappeared into thin
air. Then the screaming stopped.
EPILOGUE
Tash and Zak let a moment of silence pass.
Their nightmares were finally at an end. Gog was gone for good. Project
Starscream had finally been destroyed.
Zak was the first to speak. "What do you think happened to the wraiths?"
he whispered.
Hoole answered. "They were creatures of energy and hatred. Perhaps, in
killing Gog, they burned themselves out."
By now, the Rebels had fully recovered from the fear Eppon had planted in
them. Han Solo shook his head. "And I thought things were weird enough hanging
around Luke!"
"Are you all right?" Leia asked.
"I think so," Tash answered. "Thanks for your help."
Luke put a hand on her shoulder. "I think we owe you our thanks. That
creature might have destroyed us all if you hadn't beaten it."
Tash smiled weakly. "I couldn't have done it without you, Luke. Thanks
for coming to help us."
"You kidding?" Han replied with a laugh. "I had to get my ship back!"
The roar of the Millennium Falcon's engines still filled the air as a
lightsaber slashed through the last of the rubble. The powerful sword cut a
large hole through the wall of debris, and Darth Vader stepped into the
laboratory.
His eyes, hidden by the dark mask, quickly scanned the scene. He saw the
empty room. He saw the corpse of the dead creature. He knew that Gog's
experiment was over. The Rebels had succeeded in destroying the first soldier
in the Emperor's Army of Terror. Without Gog's knowledge, there would be no
others.
Vader felt no regret. Even a creature as powerful as Eppon was nothing
compared to the power of the Force. Besides, the Army of Terror was supposed
to have been unbeatable, and Gog had been able to destroy his own creature.
Obviously, the experiment was flawed.
The Dark Lord turned his thoughts to the Rebels. They had escaped him
again. He swore by the power of the dark side that he would find them. Dark
thoughts filled Vader's mind as he strode away, leaving only the dry, sad wind
of Kiva to sweep through the ruined laboratory.
The wind whispered around the room, swirling in the corners, swirling
around Eppon's body.
Maybe it was the wind blowing across the dead planet. Maybe not.
But a moment later, one of Eppon's fingers twitched..