Star Wars_ Darth Bane 02_ Rule of Two - Drew Karpyshyn [31]
“I’ll go get us ready for takeoff,” Irtanna said as she left, heading up toward the front of the vessel.
Bordon grunted his agreement, then spoke to Zannah once more. “I have to go up front to help Irtanna. You just stay back here and finish eating, okay?”
Zannah nodded again. There was something comforting about the way Bordon spoke to her. He made her feel safe and important at the same time. She watched him disappear through the door separating the supply hold from the cockpit.
“You just holler if you need anything,” Bordon’s voice called back to her.
A minute later the engines roared to life and the shuttle lifted up into the air, but Zannah barely noticed. Her brain was overwhelmed with conflicting emotions. Part of her was silently screaming that she couldn’t just sit there—she had to do something now! She couldn’t let them take her back to the fleet. There were too many people there. Too many Jedi. Someone was bound to notice her special gifts and start asking questions. They’d find out about Darth Bane, and everything he had promised her—all the knowledge and power of the dark side—would be lost.
Yet another part of her wanted to go back to the fleet. Bane had warned that her apprenticeship would be a long and difficult struggle. She was tired of struggling. And Bane had abandoned her. Bordon, on the other hand, had offered her his home; he’d offered to let her be part of his family. What would be so wrong about simply accepting his offer? Bane had said she was the chosen heir to the legacy of the ancient Sith, but was that really what she wanted?
Before she could come up with an answer she heard a noise, and looked up to see Wend, the younger of Bordon’s two sons, coming in from the cockpit to talk to her. She guessed he was somewhere around thirteen—only a few years older than she was.
“Papa says you don’t have any family,” he said by way of greeting.
Zannah didn’t know what to say, so she only nodded.
“Did they die in the war?” Wend asked. “Did the Sith kill them?”
She shrugged, unwilling to elaborate in case she inadvertently gave away some detail that would expose her façade.
“My mother was a soldier,” Wend told her. “She was very brave. She went to fight the Sith when they first came to Ruusan.”
“What happened to her?” She only asked the question because it was expected and it would have seemed odd if she hadn’t. She didn’t want to do anything to draw unwanted attention to herself.
“She died at the Fourth Battle of Ruusan. Killed by the Sith. Papa says—”
“Wend!” came Bordon’s voice from the cockpit. “Get back up here. Let Rain have some peace and quiet.”
The boy gave her a shy smile, then turned and left her alone again with her thoughts. Thanks to his words, however, she’d made her decision.
Bordon had offered to take her in. He’d offered to make her part of his family. He was tempting her with a simple but happy life. But his words offered nothing except empty promises. Peace is a lie.
What good were family or friends if you didn’t have the strength to protect them? Bordon had lost his wife, and Tallo and Wend had lost their mother. When the Sith came they’d been powerless to save the one they most loved.
Zannah knew what it was like to feel powerless. She knew what it was like to have the things she valued above all else taken from her. And she had vowed to never let it happen again.
Bordon and his family were victims—slaves bound by the chains of their own weakness. Zannah refused to be a victim any longer. Bane had promised to teach her the ways of the dark side. He would show her how to unleash the power within and free herself from the shackles of the world.
Through power I gain victory. Through victory my chains are broken!
The realization of what she was—the acceptance of her destiny—spurred Zannah into action. She tried to call upon the Force to give her strength, but she was still too exhausted from her previous exertions to use her talents. Undaunted, she began to rummage through the supply crates in the cargo hold, looking for