Star Wars - Darkness Shared - Gamer #5 Read online

  Darkness Shared

  Bill Slavicsek

  Star Wars Gamer #5

  A galaxy far, far away, six months before the Battle of Ruusan...

  The Golden Song rode the shifting currents of color and light through hyperspace, covering vast distances with each click of its onboard chronometer. Crian Maru sat rigid in her chair, using every meditative exercise she knew to remain calm and in control. She wasn't sure how the Jedi Masters did it. They always looked so serene, so at peace. Perhaps she would eventually achieve such a constant state of quiet reflection and confidence, the conditions that she believed separated a Jedi Knight from a Jedi Master. But those were thoughts for another day. Now she had to prepare herself and her apprentice for the tests that lay ahead of them, while she tried to come to grips with the horror they had left behind.

  Under the light of Harpori's sun, Crian Maru and her apprentice had landed the Golden Song. What was supposed to be a bustling Duros colony was silent and still. No one had come to greet them. The town square had been deserted. When Crian reached into the Force, all she sensed was sadness. All she felt was emptiness. Behind this emptiness lurked darkness.

  The transport shuddered, and with a sudden shift in the stars, the journey through hyperspace came to an end. Crian tried to block out the images of Harpori. Slaughtered Duros adorned with the unmistakable wounds of a lightsaber. Men, women, and children massacred to appease the dark hunger and churning anger of the Marauder. The Madman. The Dark Killer.

  With a deep, calming breath, the Jedi Knight banished the haunting images, at least for the moment. It was time to finish the job they had set out to do. They had to face the darkness. He was close, their quarry. Within this star system. Crian could feel his sinister presence in the Force. It was not a feeling she appreciated.

  "Where are we, Dree?" Crian asked her Padawan learner.

  The young Rodian, Dree Vandap - barely more than a child - was reviewing the Golden Song's nav computer display, anticipating her teacher's request. "Still in the Mid Rim," Dree said, "A system called Balowa." Dree frowned in the Rodian fashion, crinkling her snout. She absently shook her head crest. "I see nothing out here."

  "He's here," Crian said, adjusting the controls and engaging the ship's sublight thrusters. "Check the sensors, and be mindful for vibrations in the Force. It will tell you more than machines and computers ever will, if you listen to its song."

  For Crian, the Force was like a constant melody that had been with her for as long as she could remember. It washed over the Jedi Knight like waves of sensation that few others could feel, an omnipresent hum that was at once grand and complex, simple and comforting, full of movement yet totally still. When she was at peace, she could feel the Force resonate within her. Like the echoes of a beloved song. That was how Crian perceived it. Other Jedi explained it differently. Her Master had described it as an omnipresent mist that swirled and drifted constantly around him. Dree described it as a still pond; when it rippled, it told her things.

  Crian closed her eyes, letting the Force guide her hands as they moved over the transport's controls. The song reverberated within her, changing, building. Now it was thunderous and cacophonous. Crian could sense the Dark One in the Force, could hear the terrible rhythm that made him tangible to her Jedi senses. His presence was full of anger. It vibrated with barely controlled rage.

  He was coming.

  The Marauder.

  The Madman.

  Kaox Krul.

  ***

  The Marauder slipped his ship into the transport's wake, riding the thrust of its sublight drive like some sleek ocean predator angling for the kill. He was Kaox Krul, proud warrior of the Brotherhood of Darkness, devoted follower of Kaan, the Dark Lord of the Sith. A great war was about to erupt, pitting the hate-fueled believers in the dark side of the Force against the weak-willed Jedi who preached the hypocrisy of peace and tranquility. The Jedi claimed they never felt the raw wind of rage as it screamed through their blood. Liars! They denied the dark side, refused to harness its power. They made rules to stop others from accepting that strength if they so desired. How Kaox hated the Jedi and the sanctimony they preached.

  This one, the human woman, had been hounding Kaox for more than a month. It was time to end their little game. He had to return to Lord Kaan's side. He could sense his Master's summons in the Force, and he could not resist the beckoning much longer. Lord Kaan was calling them all, the entire Brotherhood. The war of dark against light was about to begin. But Kaox had one more thing to accomplish before he returned to his Master.

  The hunting transport moved in a deliberate search pattern, sliding closer and closer to a small, uninhabited world. Kaox didn't bother to check his nav computer; the Force told him that the unnamed planet teemed with life, none of it more advanced than a womp rat. There was nothing in this system to concern him. The Jedi were alone, without any possibility of assistance. Soon, Kaox thought, they would be dead.

  The Marauder pushed his starfighter into an attack vector and powered up his weapons system. The transport was in his sights - a slow, lumbering creature about to be ripped asunder by the fast predator swooping up behind it. He would have preferred to kill the Jedi and her apprentice in close combat, lightsaber against lightsaber, but the time for such contests had passed. He reached into the Force, pictured the transport exploding into a thousand fiery shards. He let his anger rise within him, filling him with rage and power. Now the Force was a crimson sheen before his eyes, bathing the transport in a targeting haze that would increase his accuracy and ensure the killing shot. Kaox triggered the starfighter's laser cannons, and bolts of energized death streaked toward the unsuspecting prey.

  ***

  The Dark Killer had slipped behind them like a shadow. She felt his savage presence a fraction of a second before Dree cried out. Crian suppressed a smile. Her Padawan was very good, but now was not the time to tell her so. Instead her hands danced over the controls, coaxing the sluggish transport to veer from its current course before the Marauder's lasers burned through their hull or sliced open their sublight engines.

  "Dree, hang on to something!" Crian commanded as the Golden Song shook and groaned. With stern resistance-and a token measure of defiance-the transport rolled slowly to one side. Crian grimaced and hoped it would hold together.

  "The Marauder is right behind us!" Dree shouted. "Closing fast ..."

  The explosion that ripped through the transport drowned out Dree's voice. She might have finished her sentence, but Crian couldn't hear the words over the noise of the laser strike and the blaring alarms that warned her of a dozen imminent systems failures. The Golden Song was locked in a spin. As smoke poured into the cockpit, Crian frowned and fought the controls. Then, with a crash and a powerful jolt, the lights snapped out, leaving the Jedi Knight and her Padawan in total darkness.

  ***

  Kaox Krul felt his starfighter shudder as lances of laser fire erupted from its forward-mounted cannons. He used the dark side to aim true, pinpointing the precise spot where the lasers would rip through the transport's engines. His elation was momentary at best, however, because the transport had dodged the fatal fire. The insipid Jedi had sensed his presence! There could be no other answer. His prey slid to the right, a maneuver far too ambitious and daring for such a lumbering craft. The Marauder's lasers sliced into the belly of the transport, carving a wound that bled atmosphere from the left ventral portion of its hull. Kaox leered. It wasn't the killing blow he had foreseen, but it was damaging nonetheless.

  As the transport fell into an uncontrolled spin, Kaox realized with some alarm that his starfighter was too close. He had wanted to fly through
the explosion, scattering the remaining shards of the transport in his passing as he sent the Jedi and her apprentice to their Final Jump. But there was no explosion, and the spinning transport's nose struck the starfighter a solid blow. The Jedi's ship hit the Marauder like a charging nerf plowing into a ripclaw.

  Kaox's consciousness fled as the starfighter bounced away and fell toward the small planet below.

  ***

  The transport tumbled end over end.

  While Crian hoped that fate had spelled the end of the Marauder, she didn't believe that Kaox Krul could be dispatched so easily. The darkness was still out there. Regardless, she had more immediate problems. The Golden Song spiraled toward the small planet that had greeted the Jedi shortly after they had emerged from hyperspace. Now it filled the viewport as Crian struggled to regain control of the vessel.

  "Dree, what can you tell me about that planet?"

  There was no response. Crian could sense nothing more than an impression of the Rodian Padawan. Dree was alive and probably unconscious. Anything else Crian imagined was purely speculation, and she didn't have time for that. The planet was coming up fast, and she still couldn't get the transport to respond to her commands.

  "Come on," Crian urged the ship. "Your namesake is supposed to bring good luck and fortune. I could use a little of both right about now."

  The Golden Song hit the planet's atmosphere hard. Crian could feel the ship breaking apart around her. "A little help here," Crian whispered, willing the stabilizers to come back on line or the repulsorlift engine to kick in. She hit the repulsor toggle again. Nothing. Once more.

  There was a recalcitrant groan from somewhere deep in the transport. Suddenly, it was slowing, trying to level out. The repulsors were working! That was something, anyway. She might not be able to get the Golden Song up into space again, but maybe she could lead it relatively gently to the surface of the planet.

  It wasn't going to be a pretty landing, Crian knew. The transport rocked back and forth as the repulsors pushed against the planet's surface. With great trepidation, the ship fought the clutches of gravity as it punched through the exosphere into the ionosphere, sliced across the stratosphere, and plunged into the sky. A weird realization came to Crian as she imagined the ship confronting its own destiny with a mixture of trepidation and valor, and it made her sad. The Golden Song had made its last journey. Their beautiful, faithful transport was diving to its death.

  The transport raked the treetops, cutting a swath through the leafy canopy before plunging into the sea of dense foliage.

  It hit the ground, bounced off its repulsorfield, and bounced again. Through the cracked viewport, Crian saw impenetrable forest. The transport slid across a clearing and plowed into the base of a massive tree trunk, and then Crian saw nothing at all.

  ***

  Kaox's senses cleared as his starfighter skimmed across the planet's atmosphere. He struggled to attain a vector that would allow the ship to glide toward the planet's surface in a more or less controlled fall. He caught sight of the Jedi's transport as it plunged toward the dense forest canopy, then focused his attention on saving his own craft. The starfighter's nose had been crushed, rendering its sensor array useless. Kaox was certain that other systems had been damaged as well, perhaps beyond repair, but he had engines and steering. He flew the starfighter toward the surface, looking for a place to set down.

  Then he would head out on foot, locate the Jedi, and either dance on their dead bodies or finish the job-up close, where he could carve them into small chunks.

  ***

  Dree Vandap knew she was alive because she hurt all over. A spirit on the Rodian Hunting World - the place good Rodians go when they die - couldn't hurt like this. At least, Dree had never heard of such a thing in any of the stories she had read. She hadn't been raised in the Rodian tradition, though, so there were probably a lot of things about Rodian theology that she didn't know. She grew up in the Jedi Temple, where she learned the ways of the Jedi from teachers such as Lord Hoth and Crian Maru. The Jedi didn't follow the Path of the Hunt, but Dree had read about her homeworld and the Rodian traditions. She felt that she had a good idea about the Hunting World and spirit hunters, and certainly no spirit that she had ever read about had a bruise the size of a shell-fruit on the side of its head.

  The Padawan pushed aside the debris and stood up. The Golden Song was a ruin of shredded durasteel, melted plasteel, and exposed wiring. She loved this ship, but it was painfully obvious that it had flown its last mission. Thankfully, it hadn't been Dree's last mission as well.

  "Just wait, Vandap," Dree muttered to herself, "the day isn't over yet."

  The Rodian took a moment to assess the damage. It looked bad from the inside, but she didn't see anything that led her to believe she was in immediate danger. There was no fire, no sparking wires, no warning hum signaling a power cell overload. She stepped into a relatively clear spot on the tilted deck and checked that her lightsaber was still clipped to her belt. Then she remembered her Master.

  "Master Crian?" Dree called out. Her voice was weaker and more frightened sounding than she had intended, so she called again, louder and - she hoped - with more confidence.

  When she received no reply, Dree reached out with the Force. She probed the area, searching for any sign of her Master's presence in the Force. Dree wasn't very good at this sort of thing, though every Jedi had some rudimentary ability to sense vibrations in the Force. She concentrated, closed her eyes, and tried to open herself to the vibrations.

  Nothing.

  No, wait. There was something. Dree had a sense of impending doom. Death. The dark side. It made her convulse.

  "Space this!" Dree muttered. She shook her head, clearing away the feeling. "I'll check on Crian the old-fashioned way."

  She moved toward the forward part of the cabin, trying to ignore the shattered viewport and the crushed control panels. "Crian?" she called again, and she could feel the fear trying to well within her. Dree didn't let it.

  Stepping over a piece of deck plating that had been ripped open, Dree saw Crian's boot sticking out from behind a twisted console. The Padawan took a deep breath to steady herself, then moved to her Master's side. She saw Crian lying there, and was unsure how to proceed. She didn't see any gaping wounds or obviously broken bones. There wasn't any blood pooling around her Master, but that didn't mean she wasn't hurt just the same. Should I touch her, Dree wondered, trying to remember the rudimentary medical training she had received a few years earlier. Shake her? Call out her name until she answers?

  But what if she's dead, Dree asked herself. She certainly won't respond if she's already dead.

  "I'm not dead," Crian said in a hoarse whisper, blinking her eyes open to look at her student.

  Dree couldn't help herself. She jumped back, banging her elbow on a twisted bulkhead.

  "Fine," Crian said in an amused tone, "Don't help your old Master."

  "You're not old," Dree said, coming to Crian's side and helping her sit up. "But you certainly scared a few years off my life."

  Crian sat still for a moment. She closed her eyes, and Dree knew that she was reaching out with the Force. When Crian opened her eyes, Dree could see determination and purpose within them. The Jedi rose to her feet, placing a hand on the lightsaber dangling at her side.

  "We aren't finished yet," Crian said. "The Marauder is still out there, and he's searching for us."

  "I guess that makes us the prey."

  "For the moment, Little Hunter," Crian said affectionately. "Let's let him think of us that way for a while longer."

  ***

  Kaox Krul skulked through the forest like a stealthful prowler. His senses stretched before him, making him aware of every insect, plant and flower, every small creature that cowered in its burrow or fled as he approached. This world, its bountiful lower life forms, had never seen the likes of the Marauder, and he fed upon the fear that his presence garnered. He was still too far away to get an accurate feeling,
but Kaox imagined that the Jedi and her apprentice were experiencing the same kind of fear as the fur-covered burrowers and the small leaf-eaters. That fear would grow as he got closer, and he would draw strength from their dread.

  He would relish it.

  The Marauder kept a steady pace. He didn't worry that he would misstep or stumble. Such were the concerns of lesser beings. Stealth fell away like a tattered cloak, a serpent's skin.

  He envisioned his prey shuddering under thick blankets of fear.

  He wore black body armor of his own design. It consisted of protective padding and composite plates crafted into an intricate pattern that glorified the Sith and the Brotherhood of Darkness. He had also used Sith alchemy to imbue the armor with dark side energy, creating a barrier that provided some protection against the abilities of the Jedi. He was proud of the work he had done, both the menial construction and the application of Sith magic, and he wore the armor as a symbol of his faith in the dark side of the Force.

  At his side, clipped to his belt, hung the lightsaber that he had used to kill more than a hundred foes. Kaox hadn't constructed the weapon. He had earned the lightsaber, taking it from the still-grasping hand of the first Jedi he had killed in personal combat. He diminished the Jedi every time he used the weapon to strike down an innocent - such as the pleading Duros he slaughtered at the Harpori colony - or a despised foe the likes of that Jedi, Karist Dem, or the Wookiee diplomat Rojarra. The weapon, cleansed in blood and used as an instrument of the dark side, was completely Kaox's now. Barely any of the Jedi taint remained.

  Kaox would use this weapon to kill the Jedi woman and her young apprentice. He saw the battle to come in his mind. He would start by testing the two of them together, allowing them to team up against him to reveal the cowardice that typified the Jedi. Then he would break away, give them time to wallow in their fear as they contemplated his greater strength and power. When he struck again, he would kill the apprentice. It wouldn't be a clean, swift kill. He wanted her to experience agony, to intensify her fear. She would call to her Master for help, but she would also realize that help would not reach her in time. When she knew that death had set upon her to feast, he would end her life. His actions would drive the Jedi crazy with grief and anger. Perhaps she would accept the truth of the dark side then, but he had not found that to be the case in the past. The Jedi were stubborn, closed-minded. She would come close to the truth of the Force, but she would back away from the power that might actually give her a fighting chance. And then the Jedi would die as well.