Star Wars - Vader Adrift by Ryder Windham

Author:Ryder Windham [Windham, Ryder]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2011-11-04T06:16:08+00:00

Vader slid back the egress hatch above his black-helmeted head, rose from his seat, and launched himself through space to the waiting shuttle. The trooper had already opened the starboard airlock. Vader guided his body into the shuttle, and the airlocks outer hatch slid shut behind him. The chamber soon pressurized and then the inner hatch opened. Vader proceeded to the shuttle’s bridge, where he found the armored trooper standing at attention. Vader gazed down at the trooper, and his deep voice echoed in the bridge as he said: “Why isn’t an Imperial pilot in command of this vessel?”

Without hesitation, the trooper replied, “I was stationed at the shuttle launching pad on Hockaleg when the Tarkin exploded, Lord Vader. I left my post to search for survivors.”

Vader recognized the trooper’s distinctive voice and clipped manner of speech. “You served in the Clone Wars.” It wasn’t a question.

But the trooper replied, “Yes, sir.”

“And you are an experienced pilot.”

“Yes. sir.”

“Then why,” Vader said, “are you in Stormtrooper armor?”

“I was demoted, sir.”

“Why?”

“I disobeyed an order and assaulted a superior officer twenty years ago, sir,” the trooper replied, no trace of regret in his voice.

Vader was impressed by the trooper’s strong composure. In fact, he did not sense any fear in the trooper. And although Vader lived and breathed to instill fear - especially in subordinates - he did not feel any compulsion to rattle this particular soldier, who exuded reliability as well as loyalty. Instead, Vader simply asked, “What was your operational unit during the Clone Wars?”

“Shadow Squadron, sir.”

Vader’s breathing apparatus made a small wrenching noise. “If you were in Shadow Squadron, you were trained by…?”

“General Skywalker, sir. Do you wish to return to your Star Destroyer?”

“Not yet,” Vader said. He gestured at the shuttle’s controls. “Leave a distress strobe with my fighter and then take me to the garrison on Hockaleg.”

As the trooper deployed a beacon, he said, “Begging your pardon, sir, but when the search team finds your fighter empty, they may assume that you’re adrift.”

“So be it,” Vader said as he lowered himself onto the copilot’s seat.

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