Star Wars_ Death Star - Michael Reaves [138]
A group of stormtroopers standing in the dock became aware of them. Vader felt rather than saw them notice the strange duel, and sensed the troopers heading toward them.
He did not wish them to interfere, but even to warn them off would take concentration that he could not afford at the moment. Should his attention falter, Obi-Wan could kill him in the blink of an eye.
Vader heard someone call from the dock: “Ben?” It was a young man’s voice. Still he could not risk a look in that direction.
But Obi-Wan glanced away, quickly, then looked back at Vader. Then he did the last thing Vader could have possibly imagined—
He smiled.
It was an expression not the least worried; almost beatific, in fact. Then, still smiling, Obi-Wan lifted his lightsaber so that the tip pointed straight up at the ceiling.
The action was so totally unexpected that Vader paused for an instant in shock. Not even the Force had lent him prescience concerning this. His former Master had left himself wide open. Was it a trap?
It didn’t matter. If it was, Obi-Wan wasn’t fast enough, or strong enough, to spring it in time. Vader shifted his lightsaber and cut from the right, hard, aiming for the neck—
His lightsaber sheared through the old man as if the latter were no denser than the air itself, and Obi-Wan collapsed.
Yes! Fierce, exultant joy coursed through the man who had been Anakin Skywalker. He had done it! He had slain Obi-Wan Kenobi! His revenge was complete!
From a distance he heard someone scream “Nooo!”—a cry of utter despair. But Vader paid it no heed. The dark side surged within him as powerfully as he had ever felt it—for an instant. But then it stopped.
What had just happened?
Vader looked down at the body. But there was no body. Only Obi-Wan’s robes and cloak.
This was impossible! It could not be!
The squad of stormtroopers began firing at somebody in the docking bay, but Vader could not be bothered to look. He stepped forward, stared down in disbelief. An illusion of some kind? Some Jedi mind trick that the old man had never imparted to him?
Impossible! Obi-Wan had taught him everything Vader knew …
But, whispered a voice from within, maybe not everything that Obi-Wan knew.
Vader reached out with his boot to touch the corpse, but he only stirred the empty vestments, charred by the lightsaber’s heat, with his questing foot.
Obi-Wan Kenobi was gone.
How could this be?
For the first time that he could remember, the dark side had no answer. And a great surge of unfamiliar emotion suddenly washed over him.
Darth Vader, the Dark Lord of the Sith’s apprentice, one of the two most powerful beings in the galaxy, was afraid.
65
COMMAND CENTER, DEATH STAR
Tarkin watched the recording of Vader fighting the old man in a lightsaber duel, fascinated. Obi-Wan Kenobi had survived all these years. Who would have believed it?
That he was still able to make a fight of it against Darth Vader was even more impressive. The man looked old enough to be Vader’s father, and then some. Amazing.
The sound was not the best quality, but Tarkin could hear some of the exchanges between the two fighters. One statement from Kenobi in particular struck him, something about becoming more powerful than his ex-student could possibly imagine if Vader struck him down.
How droll. Had Kenobi expected Vader to flee in superstitious terror by telling him such a thing?
The thought had barely crossed Tarkin’s mind, however, when moments later Vader did indeed strike the old man down, and the former Jedi simply … disappeared, leaving nothing behind but his robes and cloak.
Tarkin stared at the image, his jaw dropping in disbelief. This was impossible—there had to be some trick at work. Nobody could survive decapitation by a lightsaber!
“Lord Vader is on his way in,” came a voice from the intercom.
Tarkin nodded. He switched off the recording and changed to an external view of the starfield, which he stood regarding. After a moment, Vader entered the room and came to stand next to him.
“Are they away?” Tarkin asked.
“They have just