The Force Unleashed by Sean Williams Page A

glared through the broad viewport, but there was something new in that vista: a
    fleet of Star Destroyers and support ships clustering around his Master's flagship
    like carrion.
    Darth Vader didn't turn. "The Emperor's fleet has arrived," was all he said.
    The apprentice felt a quickening in his throat. Moving in front of his Master to get
    a look out the viewport, he pressed his palm against the thick transparisteel and
    smiled. Destiny.
    "You lured him here." He could hear the excitement in his voice. "When do we
    strike?"
    "I did not summon him." There was no warning in his Master's deep voice, no hint at
    all of what was to come. With an unexpected snap-hiss, Darth Vader's lightsaber was
    active, reflecting in the viewport beside the baleful orb of the sun. "His spies
    followed you here."
    The apprentice opened his mouth to protest, but had barely begun to turn when his
    Master's potent blade stabbed through his back. His eyes widened in shock at the
    sight of the lightsaber protruding from his stomach. The pain was unbearable, much
    worse than he had ever imagined it would be.
    The lightsaber's fiery blade disappeared as Darth Vader deactivated the weapon.
    With a choked scream, the apprentice fell to his knees. Darkness threatened to
    spread across his vision, but he resisted it with all his strength. Despair
    likewise. This had to be a terrible mistake. It couldn't be happening.
    His Master loomed over him, studying him impassively from behind his black mask.
    Without turning, he gestured at PROXY
    "Begin the transmission."
    "Yes, Lord Vader."
    PROXY, standing slightly behind their dark Master, transformed by sinister stages
    into the Emperor, hooded and enshrouded in shadow. The two Sith Lords looked down at
    the apprentice, who gasped helplessly at their feet.
    "What is thy bidding, Master?" Darth Vader asked.
    "You have forgotten your place, Lord Vader. By taking this boy as your apprentice,
    you have betrayed me." The Emperor's lone was at the same time harsh and hypnotic.
    One claw-like hand reached out from the sleeve of his voluminous cloak. "Now you
    will kill him, or I will destroy you both."
    The apprentice watched his Master, pain twisting his features into a rictus. There
    was nothing he could do to stop this terrible reversal. He could not lift a hand
    against his Master, who had raised him and taught him all his life. But he would not
    die silent.
    "Don't, Master!" he gasped, struggling to stand but failing. The darkness encroached
    further. "Together we can defeat him!"
    "Do it now, Lord Vader!" insisted the Emperor. "Strike him down and prove your
    loyalty to me!"
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    Darth Vader looked from the Emperor to the apprentice as though weighing up two very
    heavy alternatives. Then he lashed out with the Force, unleashing a mighty
    telekinetic surge that sent the apprentice crashing into one of the transparisteel
    viewports behind him. With a piercing sound, it cracked.
    "Yes, Vader!" the Emperor crowed. "Kill him! Kill him!"
    The apprentice was gripped tightly in his Master's will and pulled away from the
    viewport. For a faint instant, he thought his Master had changed his mind and
    decided to defy the Emperor after all. But then he was hurled back at the
    transparisteel with all the force of a small meteor. The viewport shattered outward
    in a huge explosion, sucking him into the cold vacuum of space.
    His final cry went unheard. Darkness and despair closed in again, and he no longer
    tried to fight them. There was no point. It was over.
    * * *
    JUNO WATCHED IN HORROR FROM the cockpit of the Rogue Shadow, her mouth hanging open
    and her fingers limp on the controls of the ship. Perhaps she should have been
    readying the ship for flight, or at least cutting the signal of her illicit data
    feed. Later she would wish she had, but at that moment all she could do was stare.
    Klaxons began to sound in the Dark Lord's inner sanctum, sounding a strident