Star Wars_ Death Star - Michael Reaves [127]
The door slid up. Uli looked up in annoyance and said, “I thought I told you to—” He stopped. It wasn’t the tech.
It was Vader.
He entered, his cloak spreading like black ink against the eggshell white of the exam room’s floor. “Doctor. I trust your patient is well?”
The words came out before Uli was aware of them. “Yes—no thanks to you.”
Leia laughed.
Vader regarded him. “You are insubordinate, Doctor. But I have no time to show you the error of your thoughts.” He gestured to Leia. “Come with me, Your Highness.”
For a moment, Uli and the Princess locked gazes. Her eyes were brown, he noticed.
Barriss’s eyes had been blue, he remembered.
If he’d had a weapon, he might have used it on Vader in that brief instant of time, to allow her a chance to escape. But he was a doctor, not a fighter. It was not his path.
“Good luck,” he said to her.
She nodded. “And to you.”
Vader ushered her through the door ahead of him with a gesture that was almost courtly. The panel dropped, and they were gone.
COMMAND CENTER, DEATH STAR
Motti entered the control room to report to Tarkin. “We’ve entered the Alderaan system.”
It had been a quick trip, and all systems had performed flawlessly. The station was as fast as any ship in the Imperial Navy, and faster than most. The jump to lightspeed had been smooth, the hyperspace lanes had been cleared by Imperial order, and it seemed that it had taken no time at all to reach the Alderaan system. The superlaser was charged to full capacity and ready to fire.
Tarkin nodded. He seemed about to speak when Vader entered, along with a couple of guards and the fetching Princess Leia Organa. Gorgeous woman, Motti thought. He wouldn’t mind getting to know her better. Alas, she wasn’t going to be with them much longer. A waste.
She was hustled up to Tarkin. It seemed obvious that Vader’s tortures had had little or no effect, because her spirit was unbroken. “Governor Tarkin,” she said. “I should have expected to find you holding Vader’s leash. I recognized your foul stench when I was brought on board.”
Motti suppressed a laugh. My, but she was a spitfire. A real shame she had to die.
Tarkin favored her with a smirk. “Charming to the last.” He reached out and touched her chin. “You don’t know how hard I found it signing the order to terminate your life.”
She jerked her head back. “I’m surprised you had the courage to take the responsibility yourself.”
Motti held his smile in check, but not without effort. She might be about to die, but she wasn’t going to cringe in fear. You had to respect that in an enemy, even a woman. Maybe especially a woman.
“Princess Leia, before your execution, I would like you to be the guest at a ceremony that will make this battle station operational.” Tarkin took a few steps, raised his hands to take in the vastness of the station, and turned to regard her again. “No star system will dare oppose the Emperor now.”
She sneered at him. “The more your tighten your grip, Tarkin, the more star systems will slip through your fingers.”
Tarkin walked back to her, pointing a finger for emphasis. “Not after we demonstrate the power of this station. In a way, you have determined the choice of the planet that will be destroyed first.” He loomed over her, face-to-face. “Since you are reluctant to provide us with the location of the Rebel base, I have chosen to test this station’s destructive power on your home planet of Alderaan.”
That wiped the smirk from her face.
She said, “No! Alderaan is peaceful. We have no weapons! You can’t possibly—”
“You would prefer another target?” Tarkin asked. “A military target? Then name the system!”
Motti watched as Tarkin crowded the Princess, giving her no space, no chance to regain her balance, either figuratively or literally. He leaned over her, nose-to-nose, backing her up. She was stopped by Vader standing behind her.
“I grow tired of asking this,” Tarkin told her, “so it’ll be the last time. Where is the Rebel base?”
Motti watched as she looked at the viewer. Alderaan