Clones

by John Whitman

  Star Wars

  Galaxy of Fear

  11

  Clones

  by John Whitman

  source : IRC

  uploaded: 13.II.2006

  PROLOGUE

  Darth Vader approached the ancient Jedi ruins.

  Once, a Jedi fortress had stood here. But it had been abandoned long ago,

  centuries before the rise of the Empire. For a moment, Vader paused,

  remembering a time long ago, before he served the Emperor. A time when he had

  been a Jedi Knight...

  Behind him, his squad of stormtroopers hesitated, wondering why he had

  stopped.

  Vader shrugged off the memories of his old life. He was a Dark Lord of

  the Sith now. He served the Emperor.

  Vader had come to this planet in search of clues that might lead him to

  Luke Skywalker. The Rebels once had a secret base here, but like the Jedi

  ruins, it had been abandoned. The Dark Lord searched the abandoned Rebel base

  first. As expected, he found nothing of interest. Then Vader turned his

  attention to the nearby Jedi fortress.

  He sensed something here. Something important.

  He hoped it would lead him to Skywalker. Skywalker had managed to

  disappear after the destruction of the Death Star. In the moments before the

  battle station exploded, Vader had felt a disturbance in the Force, a

  disturbance that came from Skywalker. The Force was strong in him. Vader was

  determined to hunt him down.

  The Dark Lord knew the Force would lead Skywalker toward his destiny. The

  young Rebel would want to learn more about the Jedi. Without a teacher, he

  would search for remnants of Jedi history. He might visit ancient ruins.

  Just like these.

  Vader entered the fortress with the squad of stormtroopers close behind.

  Around them, broken stones and crumbling walls cast deep shadows. Vader

  noticed something strange about the ruins. The old fortress seemed quite small

  from the outside, but inside the wall, the area was much larger.

  Or at least it seemed that way. It might have been a clever design of the

  builders, or maybe a Jedi trick. Vader didn't care. With the dark side of the

  Force as his guide, he would not lose his way.

  Near the center of the ruins stood the only remaining building. The

  structure was round, like a tower, except that it wasn't very tall. Curiously,

  the tower seemed to have no door.

  Vader strode around the ancient building until he'd made a complete

  circle. There was no way inside.

  Vader considered. Maybe this place had been designed so that only Jedi

  could enter.

  The Dark Lord reached out with the Force. Ripples of dark-side energy

  rolled toward the building and, though he couldn't see it with his eyes, Vader

  felt the door with the Force. It was right in front of him. Still using the

  Force, Vader tried to push the door open, but it would not move. Behind his

  black mask, the Dark Lord frowned. He didn't know whether the door was locked

  or just frozen shut with age. He didn't care. Gathering the dark side around

  him, Vader shoved with his mind, and the hidden door exploded inward.

  The stormtroopers behind him jumped back, startled by his display of

  power, but Vader didn't hesitate. He strode forward into the circular room.

  Here, Vader sensed, lay the source of the disturbance.

  The Dark Lord stepped into the room, scanning it. There was something

  here...

  The faint click of metallic weapons reached his ears.

  Faster than thought, Vader drew and ignited his light-saber. In the same

  moment, small openings appeared in the walls and ceiling, and hidden blasters

  fired. Energy beams rained down on the Dark Lord and his soldiers.

  Stormtroopers cried out as blaster bolts shattered their white armor. At least

  a dozen bolts streaked toward Vader himself. Moving faster than the eye could

  follow, Vader's lightsaber blocked them all.

  Except for one.

  The last blaster shot slipped past his saber and glanced off the Dark

  Lord's armored shoulder. Circuits snapped and sizzled. Looking down, Vader saw

  that the energy beam had sliced a thin hole in his armor and reached his skin.

  A tiny stream of blood trickled down his armor and dripped onto the stone

  floor. The Dark Lord let out a low growl and covered the wound with his gloved

  hand. The wound itself was only a scratch, but he relied on his armor's power

  to keep him alive. Now that it had been punctured, he would have to have it

  repaired.

  More blasters fired.

  "Retreat," Vader ordered, backing out of the building. Only then did he

  realize that all his men were dead.

  Angrily, Vader waved one hand across the room. One by one, the hidden

  weapons exploded and sputtered as if struck by invisible lightning. The

  blaster fire stopped.

  The Dark Lord walked over to the wall and studied one of the small

  openings. Inside, the remains of a ruined blaster smoldered. By the looks of

  the device, the blaster weapons were as old as the building itself.

  Interesting, Vader thought. The blasters were an ancient booby trap-a

  trap that would have snared anyone less powerful.

  Something important must be buried in these ruins. Something very old and

  very valuable..He had just decided to investigate further when his comlink

  beeped urgently.

  "What?" he demanded into the microphone.

  An Imperial officer aboard an orbiting Star Destroyer said, "One of our

  scouts just located a small Rebel outpost."

  "I'll return to the ship immediately," Vader replied. "Prepare for

  hyperspace."

  Vader took one last look at the Jedi ruins. The ruins, would have to

  wait. Rebels and the mystery they held, came first.

  Swirling away like a dark shadow, Darth Vader promised that he would

  return.

  CHAPTER 1

  Tash Arranda was lying on her back in the grass. Her eyes were closed and

  she was half asleep. She could feel the warm sun on her face and hear a soft

  breeze whisper around her. It was a perfect summer day on the planet

  Dantooine.

  Tash felt something tickle her arm, maybe a blade of grass blowing in the

  wind. Then she felt something sharp clamp down on her skin.

  "Ouch!" she yelled, sitting up with a start.

  A snail hung from the soft inside part of her arm by its sharp teeth. She

  tried to shake it off, but it only bit harder. "Zak, help!"

  Tash's younger brother was already on his feet. Unlike Tash, who was only

  dozing, Zak had been deep in a nap, and he was bleary-eyed and confused.

  "What is it?" he shouted. "Stormtroopers? Pirates?"

  "Snails!" Tash shouted back.

  Now awake enough to see what was happening, Zak laughed. Tash usually

  looked so calm and organized, with her neat clothes and her blond hair pulled

  back into a tidy braid. But now there was grass stuck to her hair, and her

  arms were flapping around as she yelped. She looked like a clown in a

  holovideo. Zak laughed again.

  "Don't laugh,
help me!" she snapped.

  Zak swallowed another laugh and grabbed his sister's arm. "Here, you

  can't shake these snails off. You have to pry them loose."

  The snail was almost the size of his fist. Zak grabbed it by its squishy

  head and carefully pulled it off so that its teeth slid straight out of Tash's

  skin.

  "Yuck," she said, checking the wound. It wasn't very deep. The snail's

  teeth were sharp but not very long.

  Zak tossed the snail into the grass. "There are more of them around here.

  Maybe we should move."

  "Where to?" Tash asked. "It's all the same."

  Tash was right. A huge prairie stretched out before them. Here and there,

  the grassy plain was spotted by groves of thorny bilba trees, and in the

  distance was a line of small hills. Over their heads floated a flock of

  fabools. Tash thought of them as birds, but they weren't birds, exactly. With

  their swollen round bodies and tiny wings, the fabools were more like living

  balloons that floated on the air currents, trying to avoid the bilba trees.

  Zak and Tash, along with their uncle Hoole, had been hiding out from

  agents of the Empire on the planet Dantooine. Months ago, they had stumbled

  upon an evil Imperial plot and, with the help of some Rebels named Luke

  Skywalker, Leia Organa, and Han Solo, they had foiled it. Now the Emperor's

  agents wanted revenge.

  They'd spent weeks looking for a place to hide, only to find themselves

  in more and more trouble. But finally they'd reached Dantooine, a planet so

  far from the rest of the Empire that no one visited the place. Ever. It was a

  beautiful world, covered by blue oceans and plains of green grass. But there

  wasn't much else. There weren't any cities, although Hoole had mentioned that

  there was an abandoned Rebel base somewhere around. The only inhabitants were

  tribes of primitive nomadic humanoids called Dantari.

  Tash looked to her left, at a cluster of Dantari tents. When they'd

  arrived on Dantooine, Zak, Tash, and Hoole had made friends with one tribe of

  Dantari. The Dantari knew nothing about technology. Unaware that starships

  armed with blasters, ion cannons, and photon torpedoes traveled among the

  stars over their heads, the Dantari wandered across their prairies, using

  spears and stone axes to hunt the animals on the plains.

  For the first two weeks, Zak and Tash had loved it.

  Hoole had landed their starship, the Shroud, in an isolated spot in the

  hills to avoid scaring the natives. Hoole had equipped the Shroud with

  something called a slave circuit-a remote control device that would bring the

  ship to them wherever they might be.

  After a few days of watching the Dantari to make sure they weren't

  dangerous, the star travelers had cautiously approached the nearest tribe.

  Since all the natives had dark hair and wide, flat faces, they were fascinated

  by Tash's blond braid. Zak's hair was almost as dark as the Dantari's, but his

  smaller mouth and nose revealed him to be human.

  The Dantari saved their greatest fascination for Hoole.

  Tash and Zak's uncle was a different species altogether. From a distance,

  he might pass for human. But his skin was gray and his face and hands were

  elongated. He was obviously from another planet. He was, in fact, a Shi'ido, a

  rare species with an even rarer ability: Hoole could change his shape at will.

  Instead of being frightened by the newcomers, the Dantari tribe had

  welcomed them. Zak, Tash, and Hoole had joined in the Dantari's routine as

  they folded up their tents every morning and continued their endless journey

  across the plains in search of food. At midday, the tribe stopped to eat and

  rest, and that was what Tash had been doing when the snail bit her.

  "We might as well go back to the camp," Zak suggested. "They'll be moving

  again soon."

  "Where's Uncle Hoole?" Tash asked.

  Zak sighed. "Probably taking notes."

  Tash nodded. To the Arrandas, their time with the Dantari felt like a

  vacation. But Hoole had put himself to work. He was an anthropologist-a

  scientist who studied other cultures-and he'd spent every waking moment since

  they'd arrived on Dantooine studying the tribe. He had already filled an

  entire datapad with notes about what the Dantari ate, how they raised their

  children, what kinds of stories they told... his lists seemed endless.

  Zak and Tash, meanwhile, had kept themselves busy trying to make friends.

  There were a few Dantari their age, but they were shy. The adults were a

  little braver, and Zak and Tash often spoke with them. The Dantari understood

  a broken version of Basic, the common galactic language. Communication was

  sometimes hard, but they had been patient with each other, and now Zak and

  Tash talked with the Dantari often. They had made many friends.

  And one enemy.

  His name was Maga. Zak and Tash saw him as they walked back to the

  Dantari camp. He was standing near his tent, talking with a few other Dantari,

  and he glared at them as they walked past. He was big, even for a Dantari.

  Among his people, Maga was called the garoo. Hoole had explained to them

  that a garoo is a cross between a holy man and a magician.

  "Makes it sound like he's a Jedi Knight," Zak had noted.

  "Does that mean he can use the Force?" Tash had asked.

  "I doubt it," Hoole had replied. "I don't believe he has any real

  abilities. But the other Dantari believe he has magical powers and can command

  the spirits of the animals, so they give him great respect."

  At least, Tash thought, they used to give him respect, until Uncle Hoole

  and I showed up. It wasn't long before a few of the Dantari spotted Hoole

  shape-shifting and decided that he, too, had magical powers. Later, Tash had

  also attracted their attention.

  Tash smiled, remembering what the Dantari had seen her doing, and tugged

  at a small pendant around her neck. She'd been using the pendant to practice

  using the Force. One evening, when she thought she was alone, Tash had made

  the necklace move-without touching it. Dantari children, spying on the blond

  stranger, had been amazed and had run off to tell their parents.

  Tash had to admit that she was amazed, too. Still, every time she

  practiced, she felt the Force grow stronger in her.

  Tash fingered the necklace again. The pendant wasn't very valuable-except

  to her. It was just a thin metal chain with a small red crystal on the end.

  Ever since their strange adventures began, she'd kept it locked in her cabin

  for fear of losing it. It had been a gift from her mother, who had kept a

  matching one. They had both worn their necklaces on the day Zak and Tash had

  left their home planet, Alderaan, on a field trip. While they were away,

  Alderaan was destroyed by the Empire. Their mother and father were killed..

  Tash frowned. Thinking of her parents stirred up painful memories. She

  missed them terribly, especially lately. She knew she was starting to grow up.

  She was thirteen-in a few years she would be an adult, and she knew the Force

  would grow stronger as she matured. She wished she could talk about things

  like adulthood and the Force with her mom and dad. She had serious questionsr />
  to ask. Why did she have the Force and not her friends? Was she meant for

  something special? Could she possibly be destined to be a Jedi Knight?

  Tash had always thought that growing up would mean finding out who you

  are and what you want out of life. But the older she got, the less she knew

  about herself. She wondered if other kids her age felt the same way.

  Of course, most of them had parents to talk to.

  Tash looked at the pendant thoughtfully. She'd started wearing it again

  for two reasons. The first was that it reminded her of her mother and on

  peaceful Dantooine, she felt safe enough to bring her old memories out of

  hiding. But the other reason was more practical. The pendant was very small

  and very light, and Tash found that if she focused on it with the Force, she

  could make the tiny red pendant move.

  She couldn't do much more than that. But it was enough to impress the

  Dantari.

  All except Maga. He couldn't perform tricks like Hoole's and Tash's, and

  the awe of the other Dantari for the strangers made him angry.

  "I think he's still mad at us," Zak whispered to Tash.

  "He sure can hold a grudge," Tash replied irritably. "It's not like we

  did anything to him on purpose."