Star Wars.

The Last of the Jedi.

Return of the Dark Side.

by Jude Watson.

Chapter One.

Almost there.

Ferus Olin ran through the last check on Platform-7, the BRT druid computer that ran the capital city of Sath. It had taken over two days of constant monitoring, but most systems were back to full function. And, most important to Ferus, any information that could lead to the discovery of the ident.i.ties of the Samarian resistance was gone.

Now what?

He wasn't sure what he was doing here on Samaria. It had been a spur-of-the-moment decision; he'd sent off his friends to safety, but he had remained. He felt an obligation to help the Samarians straighten out their immediate problems, and make sure that the computer sabotage hadn't endangered any members of the resistance.

But this wasn't his battle. He had set his own mission - to find every Jedi who had managed to escape Imperial Order 66, who had survived the Empire's slaughter. He'd set up a secret base for them on an unmapped asteroid. But it seemed as though every time he was about to focus on his mission, he was knocked off course.

Obi-Wan would never let this happen to him. Why does it keep happening to me?

It was true that since he'd started, he'd found two Jedi. He'd been through high-speed chases, a trip to the ruined Jedi Temple, and a stay in an Imperial prison. He'd been pursued by a bounty hunter and an Inquisitor. He'd been to the Outer Rim and under the crust of Coruscant. He was starting to get the feeling that surviving Jedi were few and far between.

There has to be a better way to do this.

The Emperor had offered him amnesty in exchange for fixing the computer-sabotage problem in Sath, adding almost as an afterthought that Ferus's partner and best friend might die if Ferus didn't do it. Ferus had taken the job.

And so, Ferus Olin, double agent, was born.

He wore the label uneasily. He didn't like working for the Empire, even though he was trying to undermine it at the same time. He didn't like being this close to the dark side.

Ferus felt a sudden lurch in his stomach, a feeling close to nausea. Darth Vader was near. One of the things he'd learned staying here in Imperial headquarters was that the Sith could be hard on the digestion.

The door slid open in the darkened room. Darth Vader stood in the doorway. He never entered a room unless he had to. He was a busy . . . man? Humanoid? Machine?

"You should be done with this by now."

Ferus spun around in his chair. "Hey, don't you ever say h.e.l.lo?"

"Emperor Palpatine has requested your presence."

Ferus frowned, surprised. "My presence where?"

"He is arriving at the landing platform at the Hall of Ministers in fifteen minutes. Then we are to proceed to the reception hall. Bog Divinian is receiving a tribute from the Samarian ministers of state."

"The Emperor is coming here? Why?" Palpatine rarely left Coruscant now.

"That is not for you to question. Be there." Vader stalked out.

"Nice to see you, too," Ferus muttered under his breath.

Darth Vader was in charge of all of the Empire's operations on Samaria, which meant that he was technically Ferus's boss. Vader treated him with thinly veiled boredom or contempt, depending on his mood. Ferus wasn't insulted. He was happy not to have to pretend to be buddies.

Ferus closed the program he was running on the amazingly tweaked Platform-7 and headed out. The building he was in was part of a vast government complex, so he could walk to the ministers' hall through a series of turbolifts and connecting hallways.

Samaria was a desert planet, and Sath was its major city. In the past century, city planners had created a vast artificial bay that curved around two-thirds of the city. The most exclusive neighborhoods were spread out on a series of land extensions into the bay in a pattern of many-petaled flowers. Government buildings, as well as homes for the wealthy and the palace of the prime minister, were located here.

Ferus noted the extra buzz in the hallways. Some of the ministers, dressed in their sky-blue official robes, were also heading to the landing platform. Although there was a healthy opposition to the Empire in Sath, ministers were canny politicians. They'd curry favor with the Emperor if they had to.

But why had the Emperor asked for his presence at a purely ceremonial affair?

Ferus had let the saboteur of the Sathan computer go, but there was no way for Palpatine to know that.

Or was there?

And why was Palpatine so interested in Samaria? It was a technologically sophisticated planet, true. But Lemurtoo was a small system, with only the neighboring planet of Rosha orbiting the same sun.

The Emperor had told Ferus he wanted to help Samaria thrive . . . but Ferus would believe that the day he believed in s.p.a.ce angels.

Ferus hopped on the turbolift to the landing platform. He wanted to be gone. He wanted to return to the asteroid base and see his friends. But for now, he'd better stick around.

He had a feeling his work here wasn't quite done.

Chapter Two.

The Legislators' private landing platform was a large one, protruding from the fiftieth floor of the Hall of Ministers. Because it was open to the sky, a cooling system was installed in the overhang in an attempt to regulate the hot, dry climate. The cool air helped, but standing out here for so long was making everyone wilt. Emperor Palpatine was late. No one dared activate the transparisteel canopy bubble, for fear of offending him.

The top ministers ringed the platform. Perched on their shoulders or attached to specially designed holsters were personal droids, all customized with different colors and jeweled insets. All Samarians wore these small, lightweight droids, which had been developed exclusively on the planet from a prototype design from LeisureMech Industries. Each droid had a sleek design that combined the personal-servant features of a luxury droid and the hardwiring of a tech droid. They were about the size of a lightweight mouse droid. Known as Personal Droid Helpers, most Samarians called them PDs, or the more affectionate Peteys.

Samarians didn't use credits. Everything from their taste in tea to the fuel level in their speeders was kept track of by their PDs. All they had to do was walk into a caf or fueling station and the purchase would be automatically deleted from a central account. Everything in Samarians' lives was contained in their droids, from their transit records to the boot sizes of their children.

Aaren Larker, the prime minister of Samaria, stood waiting, his aide by his side. Bog Divinian, the Imperial advisor, kept near the cooling jets, holding his arms out so that perspiration wouldn't stain his royal-blue tunic.

Across the platform, Darth Vader stood in the hot sun, a black presence that seemed to suck all the air and light into his shiny black boots and helmet. Was Vader sweltering underneath all that black plastoid and armor? Ferus got a certain amount of pleasure out of the idea.

What was under that helmet, anyway? There was not a trace of skin to be seen, nothing to indicate what species Darth Vader was. Humanoid, certainly. Once again Ferus wondered where Vader had come from. If only he knew that, he might hold the key to defeating Palpatine. Or not. At any rate, it would satisfy his curiosity.

At last Ferus glimpsed the flash of the Emperor's personal shuttle. Everyone followed its path as the ship glided downward and landed. Ferus could feel the relief bouncing off the ferrocrete with the heat. After this they could all get back to climate control.

The ramp extended until it touched the ground. The Emperor appeared at the top, his Red Guards behind him. Ferus couldn't see his face. His hood, as usual, covered his scarred and furrowed skin, his yellowed eyes. He held out his arms to the waiting ministers, in the odd greeting Ferus had noted he'd adopted. As though he were so busy gathering in all that worship that he couldn't be bothered to say h.e.l.lo. The ministers bowed in greeting.

The Emperor slowly descended. His head turned to one side, seeing Darth Vader, and then toward Ferus, who could feel the flash of the Emperor's regard. It sent a shiver through him. Ferus could never show how being around him was like being slammed with bad frequencies. He kept his expression neutral as his throat constricted.

Bog Divinian started forward, but the Emperor ignored him. To Ferus's surprise, the Emperor moved instead in Ferus's direction, turning his back on Vader and leaving Bog looking foolish, striding toward an empty ramp.

If this was intended to demonstrate Ferus's growing influence, Ferus could have done without it. He didn't want to be a rival to Darth Vader. He wanted to keep his head down, gather all the information he could on the Empire, and get out.

The Emperor approached him. The Red Guards stayed a discreet distance away. The ministers hesitantly moved toward the turbolifts. Darth Vader had not moved.

"Ferus Olin, you have done well," the Emperor said. "I asked you to restore Samaria to a functioning power again, and you did so."

"The saboteur escaped." The saboteur had turned out to be Astri Oddo, an old friend of Obi-Wan Ken.o.bi's whom Ferus had known only slightly. He had let her and her son Lune escape with the help of his friends.

"Yes, but that was not your responsibility," the Emperor said with a glance at Darth Vader across the platform. "It belonged to someone else. You did what was required and you did it quickly. Your efficiency has been noted. We value efficiency in the Empire. It can be more valuable than strength."

"Or perhaps it's a necessary component of strength."

"Very true. Now," the Emperor said, turning to walk toward the turbolift, "come and walk with me. I have something to discuss with you. I'm glad you remained on the planet. It shows respect."

"Or a lack of transport," Ferus observed.

The Emperor ignored this. He wasn't one for jokes. But that didn't mean Ferus didn't derive some pleasure out of launching a few his way. One thing about the Imperials, they were a humorless bunch. "I would like your a.s.sessment of the current situation here," Palpatine said.

Ferus clicked into a businesslike mode. "The infrastructure has been restored up to ninety-eight percent and by the end of today will be fully operational -"

"I am not talking about the infrastructure. I am not a bureaucrat. I am interested in your impressions of the situation."

Ferus thought a moment. He knew what the Emperor was asking. "The population was unnerved by the infrastructure crash," Ferus confided. "It left the city feeling vulnerable. Bog Divinian is exploiting the vulnerability. He's hinting that the delegation from Rosha is behind it."

"They are here to negotiate a trade agreement."

"The first ever. The two planets have been technological rivals for decades. Exploiting the Samarian distrust of the Roshans isn't a bad strategy to gain power, but it could backfire. Most Samarians now support trade with Rosha. If they discover that Divinian is manufacturing the charges against the Roshans, the whole thing could blow up in your face. You'd have unrest here, and distrust of the Empire will grow. That would feed the resistance."

"I could simply blame Divinian, and then remove him from office."

"Well, that's a strategy. But the Samarians wouldn't believe you. You'd have to use force to crush the planet." Which you don't mind doing.

"What about this resistance?" the Emperor asked. "They have struck a few Imperial targets and have been successful."

"Their numbers are small," Ferus said. He was treading on dangerous ground here. He had remained on the planet to help the resistance. He didn't want to give the Emperor a reason to crack down, but if he minimized their strength too much, the Emperor would become suspicious.

"They seem well organized."

"Yes," Ferus agreed. He had to. Both of the operations to knock out Imperial transports had been executed flawlessly. If he didn't admit that, Palpatine would suspect his involvement.

"You know more about resistance groups than Lord Vader. He wouldn't admit that, but it's true," the Emperor said. By his tone one could almost think he was musing aloud, but Ferus didn't buy it for a minute. This whole conversation had been calculated, and Ferus had the feeling the outcome was inevitable. He began to feel nervous. Very nervous.

"Only Sath matters on Samaria," Palpatine continued. "If resistance is crushed here, it will be eliminated planetwide. And here is where the computer system crashed. Lord Vader tells me you have not been able to restore the records of any subversives on the planet."

"That was the saboteur's first target, it turns out," Ferus said. "Those records are gone forever."

"What the galaxy doesn't understand," Palpatine continued, "is that resistance results in problems for a society as a whole - there is property damage, restricted movement for all, an atmosphere of fear and distrust. The best outcome for this planet is that it continues to be a prosperous, well-run society."

"Of course." There really were times when Ferus felt he was in the middle of a dream. This couldn't be real. He couldn't be walking alongside Emperor Palpatine and agreeing with him.

He knew he was being manipulated. He was here to play out the game. He had to seem reluctant, but he also had to seem corruptible. But it had to be a challenge, or Palpatine would suspect him.

"I want you to find the leaders of the resistance cell in Sath and bring them a message," Palpatine went on. "I offer them amnesty, if they disband. We must maintain the peace."

Amazing. Ferus wanted to shake his head at the sheer audacity of it. This figure of evil and destruction claimed to be carrying a message of peace.

"You forget I don't know who the resistance is," Ferus said.

"I forget nothing," Palpatine said, a hint of sharpness in his tone. "That is a minor detail. And who better to bring them the message than one who has been granted amnesty himself?"

There it was. The inevitable trap. Ferus marveled at its cleverness, even as he winced as it bit into him. He had been given amnesty, so they'd trust him. He could rea.s.sure them of the Emperor's trustworthiness without saying a word. And then Palpatine would crush them. It might not be now, it might not even be soon, but it would be.

They were steps away from the turbolift. Darth Vader was still standing a hundred meters away, waiting. An Imperial officer stood by the turbolift, ready to activate the sensor. Ferus could see the darkening of his collar as the sweat had rolled down his neck and collected there. Palpatine was making them all wait. He was taking his time.

Palpatine stopped walking and turned to him. Ferus wished he hadn't. It was when he was staring into that ravaged face that he came closest to losing his nerve.

"You do not like to think so, but you're drawn to power," Palpatine told him, inclining his head so that his voice curled around Ferus's ear. "We are just beginning the new era. Make no judgments yet. The climb to power for any government takes some ruthlessness to ensure a just end. Things before were corrupt and breaking down. You must admit that to be true."

"Yes." But how much of that breakdown in stability was due to Palpatine's own maneuvering? Ferus didn't know. Palpatine had cleverly used the greed and corruption of the Senators - and the blindness of the Jedi - to build his power and then make his move.

"I am here to demonstrate that peace and stability in the galaxy are possible only through me." The Emperor looked over the city of Sath below them, at the artificial fingers of sand that stretched out into the aquamarine sea. "You are standing at a crossroads, Ferus Olin. You should consider where you truly belong. You flourished at the Jedi Temple. You thrived under its rules, its structure. What I am building is much better. A central clearing house in which the politics and stability of the galaxy are acted on by wise minds."

Ferus didn't know what to say, so he said nothing. Palpatine was drawing him in. It was a clumsy effort. Yes, he had thrived under the rules of the Temple.

But he wasn't that person anymore.

He wasn't crazy about rules anymore. And he definitely didn't like being told what to do.

He would never join the Empire, but it disturbed him that Palpatine seemed to know him intimately. When he spoke of Ferus's life as a Jedi student, he put his finger on exactly how Ferus had experienced it. How could that be? They'd barely had contact. Anakin Skywalker had been Palpatine's favorite, not Ferus.

"Will you do what I have asked?" Palpatine questioned.

"Yes," Ferus said. At least the job would work with his own interest. He could contact the resistance and see what sort of help they might need.

Ferus started to move away, but Palpatine wasn't finished.

"One more thing," the Emperor said. "Contact me directly with your progress reports."

Ferus nodded, trying to keep the surprise off his face. n.o.body reported directly to Palpatine except Darth Vader. Ferus had a.s.sumed that Vader would be his contact; after all, Vader was in charge of all the Empire's operations on the planet, though he came and went often. Was Palpatine hinting to Ferus that Vader was not quite the favorite he appeared to be?

The Emperor moved off toward Darth Vader, who was still waiting and had not moved a muscle. As Ferus walked toward the turbolift, he could feel Vader's anger like a shove against his back. Ferus hopped onto the turbolift and felt the rea.s.suring movement down toward the planet, away from the heavy Imperial presence.