SWTFW 09 - "The Nature Of Darkness"

Always hungry, always thirsty. Never satiated no matter how much negative energy it had amassed. A leech if you will of the very core of the universe. Consuming everything, returning nothing.

PRESS CTRL = (EQUALS) TO INCREASE THE PAGE SIZE AND CTRL 0 (ZERO) TO RESET THE PAGE SIZE THIS PAGE VIEWS BEST IN FIREFOX Want to read this in a different language ? Change the TO field to your own country and click the TRANSLATE button after going HERE THE FORCE WITHIN © June 2017 Written by David Wicker Please do not reprint without permission CHAPTER 9 - "THE NATURE OF DARKNESS" [ CHOOSE A DIFFERENT CHAPTER ] * * * This entry is Rated: EVERYONE As Jan watched the shields come up, so did Vader and his followers in their Tie-fighter ships. "Hold." he said. It was heard by everyone and they stopped their descent. He was silently watching the blue hue. Suddenly Smite spoke through the speakers, "Looks like a 2nd defense, Vader. What do you want us to do ?" "Hold." he said again. Smite didn't sigh, but it was clear he was a little fatigued at this cat-and-mouse game. "Holding, Vader." he said respectfully nonetheless. He didn't have long to wait. Vader called 2 ships close to him to fire their shots on the new shield. They did so and with little effect as he suspected. But after their shots had dispersed, a long moment later the shields flickered, unable to hold perfect resolution. Vader watched intently. Then he laughed. He realized they hadn't set the harmonics on this secondary shield - and there was no way they could do it now unless they shut down the shield generator first - which they wouldn't as that would allow his team to fly straight on in. Everyone heard Vader's chuckling amusement as all the ships were linked so Smite questioned over the speakers in query, "Vader ?" "We are not going through here." Vader assured everyone. "Those shields aren't stable. When they blow it will ignite all of their atmosphere. That will do far more damage than the combined forces of what we have brought today." Vader looked around at the sensors for a moment. "Leave 8, no 10 ships here. Enough so that they still feel threatened enough to not lower these new shields. The rest of us will approach from the wilderness about a mile from their base. I'm relaying the coordinates to you now." A new voice spoke from one of the Tie-fighters. It was not Smite but someone else. Clearly it was timid and unsure. "Lord Vader, we will follow you as directed. But what if they do manage to ignite their atmosphere. Won't we all die as well ?" Vader growled but he couldn't afford to needlessly kill any more pilots no matter how dull or stupid they might appear to him. Sadly in the Empire it was quantity over quality in many cases that would win the day. "Pilot !" he spat in the speakers, still angry though and wanting to command a fierce presence to the others. "All fighter ships are equipped with camping and breathing gear. When we land, we will carry it with us until it is needed. No more subspace chatter now ! No sense in relaying more to our enemy than necessary !" Back at base if Jan had hoped to be able to listen in on this conversation, she was sadly mistaken. Right now all of her attention was focused on the meter slowly creeping up the danger line of the shields whose harmonics, as Vader said, were not adjusted properly. And even though she was blind from here to see what was happening beyond the shields. Her intuition kicked in and she wanted to check on something. She spoke to one of the other channels. "Relay 4. Are you still monitoring the enemy ships outside our shields ?" "Yes ma'am." an older voice replied. "How many ships are there now ?" * * * "Now ?" He sounded puzzled at the question. But then continued, "We counted earlier, ma'am. It shouldn't be any more than 50. We monitored their arrival first and - wait ..." Jan waited as he got a new reading. "We're getting a new reading from the satellite sweep. There's only 10 tie-fighters out there now. 10 ! The remainder must have sneaked off and even now are trying to make planetfall outside the shields ! I think for the safety of the base we should increase the new shields to cover -" But Jan interrupted him. "Those shields are not going to hold ! Don't push them any harder than they already are. Monitor them closely. Turn them off before we have a reaction with the atmosphere and at that moment shoot down those 10-Tie Fighters standing by with newly placed surface gunnery. At least we'll catch them by surprise." "What about the remainder of the Empire attack force landing out in the wilderness outside our shields ?" "We'll deal with them. Ground troop soldiers. As many as we can spare. Intercept and engage." "Yes ma'am. Preparations are underway." . . . Back with Luke, he was asleep. But once again, his dreams were far from pleasant. It was as if there was some dark force out there nibbling on his brain. No. Chewing on it. Ravenously. Luke whined in misery. This thing was always hungry, always thirsty. Never satiated no matter how much negative energy it had amassed from its victims. A leech if you will of the very core of the universe. Consuming everything, returning quite literally nothing. A black hole of absolute apathy. Luke awoke with a fright to see that the robotic nurse Aida was standing beside his bed watching him intently with her hypnotic robotic eyes. He gave her a quizzical look. "I like to watch you sleep." she said flatly in digital tones. "What !?" Luke cried in panic. Aida shook her robotic head, "What I mean to say is, your rest seems disturbed. Would you like a sedative to help you sleep ?" Luke thought for a moment and nodded. Aida extended an empty metallic hand. A tiny door no bigger than a fingernail opened up from the back of her palm and a quick puff of air shot out a small white pill into her grip. Luke took the pill from her steel fingers and drank some water that was beside his bed. "You will feel better in a moment." Aida assured him. But sleep was the furthest thing from Luke's mind right now. He had way too much to concern himself with. The least of which is to make a decision, yes or no, to join Rebecca in her career of being a space scavenger. Because if he did decide he didn't want to, then where would he go from here ? Back to the rebel base ? Somehow he felt he really didn't belong there. Not with the reception Leia gave him. But should he blame and give up his duty as a decorated and heroic space pilot merely because a girl of interest slighted him ? He brought down the Death Star ! Isn't that something to be proud of !? Suddenly he felt something strange in his head. It wasn't the bad voice, which was a relief. No, it felt like - well, like white crystal sand was pouring into his brain. And he was drowning it. His eyes drooped. His balance was failing so he eased back into bed so he wouldn't fall. "That's better." Aida said and tucked the covers around him. Luke didn't respond. The fast-acting drug worked directly on him. He drooled slightly out of the corner of his mouth and his eyes were impossible to keep open as he felt absolutely every muscle relax around him. A few seconds more and he was asleep, but this time blissfully without dreams. . . . Vader, Smite, and his crew were all in Empire designed backpacks and travel gear. Each soldier held a wicked looking black laser pistol at their side. Vader had earlier checked his light sabre. It was working just fine and at full charge. Smite strangely had no weapon to speak of, and only followed with a simple hollow metallic rod he earlier brought and was using as a walking stick over uneven ground. Vader was thinking about asking him why he didn't bring a weapon, but from what he read of the old space pilot in previous skirmishes, he was wily and wiry and clearly knew how to find himself around a fight, especially using what was around him as a weapon. Vader dismissed the thought of him lacking a weapon and they all walked on. Looking around he could see they they had landed about a mile away from the rebel base so it was going to be a bit of a walk at that. Good exercise, Vader told himself. He also had a little meter connected to his belt that would sound off if the unsteady forcefield above them did in fact burn up the atmosphere. But so far it was good and silent. And really he didn't need it for himself as he was already decked out in a special breathing mask that would let him survive even in the cold of space. No, it was so he wouldn't lose any more soldiers. He could ill afford to take on this mission by himself. Suddenly a laser blast appeared to the side from one of his troops who had his gun out. A bird chirped angrily in one of the trees in reply. Vader was furious for this idiot firing at the local wildlife - that was until he saw the same soldier fall down, his suit sizzling from a mark in his chest. Backfire from the weapon ? Vader thought to himself. But then he realized quite quickly that his team were being attacked by rebel soldiers using the winding trees ahead for cover. Bright blue shots lit up all around him ! The rebel soldiers had come out to meet them on this battlefield ... (to be continued) END OF CHAPTER 9 Return back HOME You are Earth Visitor #