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The Lambda was a small craft, twenty meters stem-to-stern, and Palpatine could fight as well with his Force powers from the day cabin as he could within lightsaber range of an enemy. Vader took his calm reaction as tacit proof that the Emperor knew he was not at risk, but that Vader was. And suddenly he resented him for compromising his crew, who deserved better than this.

“I will deal with this, Master. There is no need for you be involved.” Don’t put obstacles in my way. Don’t try to test me further. Keep out of this fight. “Lekauf and I will restore order.”

Vader strode back down the passageway and came out at the hatch one compartment aft of the ten-meter bulkhead. Smoke and the smell of discharged blaster filled the air; Lekauf, the navigation officer Pepin, and the Lekauf clones had stacked crates as a defensive barrier and were alternating between blasting at the hatch and attempting to force the sections apart with a metal bar.

“If we didn’t have Jedi on the other side of the hatch, this would be open by now,” said Pepin, grunting with the effort as he put all his weight on the metal bar.

“It’s Sheyvan, sir,” said Lekauf. “He led them.”

Vader walked up to the hatch, moved Pepin out of the way with an assertive hand, and struck his balled fist against the durasteel twice.

“Sheyvan, give up. You can never defeat me.”

Sheyvan’s voice was muffled. Vader’s amplified hearing picked out the words clearly even through the heavy durasteel.

“He betrayed us,” said Sheyvan. “The Emperor betrayed us all.”

“Open this hatch.”

“He uses us, Lord Vader. Don’t you understand?”

Oh, yes, indeed I do. And I could rip this hatch apart with the power of my will, but I want to hear more. How did you find the strength to defy Palpatine?

“I said open the hatch.”

“He makes us believe we’re each the only Hand, and then we find—he throws away our lives, Lord Vader, and our loyalty deserves better.”

Indeed it does. So did mine. Who am I still angry with—Palpatine or Kenobi? Which Master disappointed me more?

“Cuis clones!” He rapped the hatch again. “You cannot have your donor’s memories. What makes you feel betrayed enough to threaten your Emperor?”

A dead man’s voice answered with a slightly different accent, the accent of Sheyvan. “We’re loyal to the man who trained us, Lord Vader.”

“Terrific,” said Lekauf. “Smart way to turn their qualities against us.”

There was no disputing their capacity for loyalty, and Vader had been right to spot that quality in Cuis; but he hadn’t known how betrayed Sheyvan would feel by finding he wasn’t the only Hand, and by discovering what had happened to Cuis.

But Palpatine must have known the reaction was likely. Had he engineered this, putting a bitter man in charge of training Dark Jedi who were highly likely to take on their instructor’s cause? Had he influenced Sheyvan’s mind? Vader never knew how many layers there were to Palpatine’s intrigue, only that he was tired of it.

Lekauf was right. Loyalty was a two-edged sword. It was a pity that it was working against him at the moment.

“Lord Vader,” said Sheyvan. “Lord Vader, help us overthrow Palpatine. You could rule in his place.”

Yes, I will oust him. But now seemed very soon, too soon. Vader considered it for a moment. He turned and caught Lekauf staring at him, then dismissed the thought.

“Stand back and let me open this hatch, Lieutenant.”

The Cuis clones heard him. It felt as if one had moved closer to the hatch. “If you attempt to storm the cockpit,” the clone shouted, “we’ll overload the laser cannons and destroy the ship.”

Lekauf nodded. “They can do that, sir,” he said quietly. “They have control of all weapons systems.”

“Then we need to neutralize them safely.”

“Safe for them?”

“Safe for us.”

“If you’re prepared to cope without life support for a while, my lord, I can probably cut power to the whole ship,” said Pepin. “The generator is on our side of the hatch.”

That would cripple the laser cannons. It meant fighting in darkness, but Vader and the clones