Star Wars_ Legacy of the Force 01_ Betrayal - Aaron Allston [199]
“I apologize for our performance, sir,” said Lekauf.
Vader noted the use of the word our. “I won’t consider that failure in hand-to-hand combat until I see you fight ordinary men.”
“That’s very generous of you, sir.”
No, it wasn’t generous: it was fair. The test against the Cuis clones was merely an act of curiosity and no reason to judge them unfit. Vader watched them mount the ramp of his Lambda-class shuttle and noted that even with their helmets on, he could tell the Lekauf from the Cuis simply by their bearing and their disciplined, synchronized stride. The Cuis clones looked more like athletes than soldiers, and—he couldn’t help but notice—they did not move like one machine.
“Smarten up,” Lekauf snapped, instinctively knowing what Vader thought with his usual unerring accuracy. “You’re in the Five Hundred and First now.”
COMMANDING OFFICER’S DAY CABIN,
SHUTTLE ST 321, EN ROUTE
TO IMPERIAL CENTER
“I think I might like the Cuis battalion under my personal command,” said the Emperor, leaning back in Vader’s seat as the shuttle jumped to hyperspace.
Vader ignored the infringement on his own territory and simply registered the fact that his Master bothered to do it. It was another of those little tests, the constant pushing and prodding designed to make Vader hungry for supremacy and angry enough to seize it. A thousand small threats would feed the dark side within him, but sometimes it seemed more for sport than education.
I don’t need you to keep me sharp, Master. I won’t forget what drives me. And I’ll kill you one day, yes, but the day will be of my choosing, not a reflex when you finally provoke me once too often.
“They will not form part of the infantry, then, Master?”
Palpatine’s tone hardened a little. “I know how to command an army, Lord Vader.”
“I mean that the Cuis clones are effectively all Hands, and so might be ideal for special operations.”
The Emperor accepted a glass of water from Lekauf, who never seemed to find menial tasks demeaning. “Yes, I shall train them to carry out many tasks.”
Vader still managed to avoid the words that always hung between them now. “Cuis was loyal to his Master to the end. He would not reveal his name.”
“A commendable quality that I hope will be found in his clones.”
“It may be genetic, but it can also be encouraged.”
It can also be crushed. Vader thought of the man he had been—yes, there was no pain now, just a vivid and angry determination—and those whom he had loved but who had betrayed him. He could still re-create that cold, focusing sense of disappointment when he realized that Palpatine had sent Cuis, and that the only thing he could trust him to do was be a source of constant threat. Knowing how alone he truly was might have made him stronger, but it did not comfort him. He suspected it was why he surrounded himself with the Lekaufs of this world: not simply because loyal soldiers were good soldiers, but also because it reassured the small part of him that had been Anakin, the part that still seemed sufficiently useful not to suppress. Lekauf was soothing: a man who liked to know where he stood, a man who simply wanted to excel and be given clarity of purpose in exchange for his devotion.
You won’t disappoint me. So many people disappoint me.
“Lieutenant,” said Palpatine, looking past Vader to where Lekauf stood in patient silence. “What makes you loyal to Lord Vader?”
Lekauf, normally uncomfortable around Palpatine, relaxed a little. Vader could feel it. Lekauf’s doubts and passions seldom showed on his face, but he had them. Vader could always taste them, and sometimes he relied on them to understand what was happening within the Imperial Army.
“With your permission, sir,” said Lekauf, and looked to Vader. “It’s because my lord never asks his men to do anything that he wouldn’t do himself.”
“Laudable,” said Palpatine.
Honest, thought Vader. He could have said that the Empire was all that was holy and I was