What the Eye Doesn’t See…3

I stood as calmly as I could and watched as the storm that was called Lord Vader unleashed itself with a fury that was as astonishing as it was vicious. I had seen him angry before but it never ceased to amaze me just how destructive his anger truly was. I looked around the room he had destroyed and at the body of the man who had displeased him with the news he had delivered and sighed.

“I absolutely will not tolerate such incompetence!” he snarled. The air crackled as he used the force to hurl the last surviving bit of furniture against the bulk head.

I wanted to yell at him about killing the young officer who had reported the destruction of the Gromas Mines but thought the better of it. He had summoned me to give me work but he also wanted to show me his anger. I was never quite sure why this was but I suspected he just liked having an audience. I looked around the chaos that was once a nice looking debriefing room and had to bite my tongue. It looked now the way building did when a category ten sand storm busted its way through it. Nothing and no one survived intact.

It had been almost two weeks since Lord Vader had gone to Talay to meet Rom Mohc and be given a demonstration of how the new Dark Forces droids worked. They had chosen a Rebel base on the planet called the Tak Base as a target and everything had seemingly gone well. The base was effectively obliterated but one ship managed to escape.

The Rebellion had sent someone to investigate this project and whoever it was had managed to figure out who had manufactured the droids, a man named Moff Rebus. After Lord Vader discovered that Rebus had been interrogated by a rebel fighter named Kyle Katarn, Rebus didn’t last terribly long and Lord Vader had been in a foul temper when he returned because, and he was correct in his summation, Rebus knew where the new alloys for the Dark Trooper droids were being tested and had given up the location to his interrogator.

The young man, whose body now littered the floor along with everything else that had been in the room, was the messenger sent by Mohc. It angered me that Mohc had not come himself and now this young man was dead all because he had delivered the news to Lord Vader. There should be rules about not killing the messenger. The Gromas Mines, where the metal called Phrik, a vital part of the Dark Troopers’ indestructible armour, was found had been destroyed. This was a terrible blow to the project because Phrik wasn’t easy to find and the Gromas mines were a bountiful supply until the facility had been obliterated by the rebels.

So I stood as still and as quietly as I could by the open door and waited for this latest storm to pass. He had woken me up to get me here and I was standing in bare feet, my nightdress and a robe, one of Thrawn’s that I had ‘borrowed.’ I actually had quite a few articles of the Admiral’s clothing, some he knew about and some I was pretty sure he didn’t, like his favourite black long sleeved, crew necked shirt, the one made from the really soft, stretch fabric, and there was his black silk sweater. He’d be mad when he found out I had absconded with that one as well, but I liked how it felt and his scent lingered in its fabric.

“Get this mess cleaned up, deal with that body and get me General Mohc on the comm at once!” Vader growled, his fury spent. He stood amidst the mess and looked about then he stormed passed me. “I’ll be in my chambers, patch Mohc through the instant you have him.”

“Yes, my lord.” I nodded and stepped back to let him sweep by me, grateful he hadn’t decided to take his temper out on me as well, as he was often wont to do. When I was sure he had gone I made my way through the mess and knelt down at the young man’s lifeless body, put my fingers to his neck and sighed. He was dead, no pulse at all. A wave of sorrow for the dead young man washed through me and rippled about.

“Stop dawdling about girl, unless you wish to end up next to that boy!” Vader’s angry thoughts intruded on my sadness.

I didn’t dignify him with an answer and ran down through the hall to my own office to start the process of getting a clean up crew in the wrecked room and alerting the med center that they’d better send a team down for the body.

Getting a hold of General Mohc proved to be slightly more difficult and after almost forty minutes of bad links and fuzzy holos I had him on the line. He wasn’t too happy about my interrupting his supper but the mention of Darth Vader’s name soon smartened him up. I patched the comm through to Vader’s chambers and then went to make some very strong tea. I had the distinct impression this was going to be a long night.

A knock on my door made me jump. I looked up from the work I was in the middle of doing to see Jorae.

“Hey.” I said.

“Not disturbing you am I?” he asked looking nervously around him.

“He’s not here, you’re safe.” I said. The look of relief on his face was so funny I had to smile.
“You’re on duty late.” I said.

He nodded plunking himself down in the chair nearest my desk. “Who was it this time?”

“He was just a kid, one of General Mohc’s boys; I didn’t even know his name.” I said, trying to swallow down the sadness I felt. At least I hadn’t been there at the time Lord Vader was actually killing the poor young man. That had happened only twice and I still sometimes had nightmares about that. Having been on the end of Lord Vader’s temper numerous times and felt the icy touch of Force Choke, it wasn’t something I wanted to watch. I was always saddened by his abuse of this power but I came to realise a long time ago that if I was going to cry every time he killed someone I would be forever in tears. It wasn’t so much that I got used to it, more like I learned to distance myself from it. “I guess he drew the short stick.”

Jorae pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed. “Do you know what the rest of the navy and the entire army call this ship instead of the Executor?

I shook my head. “No.”

“The Executioner.” He told me.

“Figures. We probably have the highest non combat mortality rate around.” I said.

He shrugged. “Yeah, probably, but no one wants to count. Anyway, I’d heard there was a casualty and wanted to make sure you were still here.”

I gave him a wan smile. “I’m still here.”

He nodded at my clothes. “New dress code?”

“When he gets me out of bed with the words ‘this instant’ he doesn’t mean you have time to dress and look decent.” I said.

“If Badmiral Ozzel ever catches you running around barefoot he’ll blow a valve.”

I rolled my eyes. I could care less what Ozzel thought of me. “Oh bring on that happy day!” I often ran around barefoot, but the long skirts and dresses I wore usually hid that fact.

He gave me a knowing look and stifled a yawn. “Guess Vader doesn’t care what you wear as long as you get the job done.”

“Dress code isn’t high on his list of priorities.” I gave him a slight smile. “You look tired, hard shift?”

He nodded “There’s been another defection and he was leaking information about the Dark Forces Project. We’ve been trying to sort some of it all out and see if we can’t flush him out or find out where the transmissions are coming from.”

“Oh fun, that will really make Lord Vader’s day or does he know already?”

Jorae nodded. “Yeah, he knows, thankfully.” He said. “Some guy named Madine.”

“Crix Madine, the man responsible for heading up the Storm Commandos?” I asked with surprise.

“Yeah that’s the one. I wouldn’t think you’d have heard of him.”

I made a face. “I am required to know the oddest things about the Empire. Lord Vader insists on it. So I get to read all sorts of tasty titbits on all sorts of personnel. I am certain that news didn’t make him happy at all.” I sighed.

“Not really, but then again does anything make him happy?” He said stifling another yawn. “Anyway glad you are still alive. Maybe see you for lunch some time if the Old Meanie lets you have a moment’s peace.”

“Sure.” I grinned and waved as he left.

Another defection. This was getting to be a regular occurrence and I was starting to wonder if the saying about wamprats and sinking sail barges was not a bit true. If that was the case I had to wonder where this was all leading, because it sure did not feel good.