Star Wars - Orientation by John Jackson Miller

Author:John Jackson Miller
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Published: 2015-04-30T23:00:00+00:00

Baylo was waiting in the anteroom as Vader stepped onto the administrative deck. Wearing an antique greatcoat, dress attire for the era during which he trained, Baylo leaned near a large viewport looking out upon the streaming stars of hyperspace. He was using the window frame for support, Vader saw. He looked old, even for Baylo.

He straightened as he saw Vader. “Told you we’d get underway on time.”

Vader said nothing.

“Hmph.” Baylo looked back at the closed door. “Not used to waiting outside my own office.”

“It is not your office.”

Baylo looked at Vader —— and chuckled lightly. “Whatever you say,” he said. Before the old man could return his gaze outside, the door to the office opened. Three women and one man emerged, admirals all: chiefs of various branches of the Imperial Navy. Each glanced briefly at Baylo and silently headed for the elevator.

That evoked a frown from the commandant, but only for a moment. “The Emperor will see us now,” Vader said.

“Who told you that?”

Vader simply pointed to the door. Shrugging, Baylo took a breath and started for it, shadowed by the Dark Lord.

The master of Defiance stood in his own office, hands clasped and eyes directly forward. The room was windowless save for a single viewport —— and the walls were covered with plaques and pictures depicting the names and faces of cadet classes from the past. Vader thought the room somber, a pathetic shrine to a soon-to-be-forgotten past. An appropriate setting, too: seated at Baylo’s desk, the black-robed Emperor began to describe his just-settled plans for the Imperial Academy. They included several modifications to streamline operations, making the body more responsive to him. And one other change: “Defiance is approaching obsolescence —— and we will employ no one who is unresponsive to command The ‘Baylo School’, as you call it, will be folded into the existing training center at Corellia. And you will take a chair at the navigation institute planetside.”

“No.”

The Emperor was more surprised by Baylo’s response than Vader was. “Repeat yourself,” his Master said, in a voice nearing a hiss.

“No, I will not transfer this vessel to your new command.” Still standing as erect as his gnarled frame would allow, Baylo nodded toward the great seal on the wall to the right of his desk. “Defiance was commissioned by the Galactic Republic —— and detached to me so those who trained here might serve that Republic. I do not recognize your order as legitimate.”

The Emperor frowned. “Don’t play games, Commandant. Whether you’ve had time to redecorate or not, the Republic is no more. The Senate decided— —”

“—— to dissolve its pact with the people,” Baylo said, voice rising in volume. “What I owed allegiance to no longer exists. I consider the Galactic Empire a hostile power —— and I can’t fulfill these orders.” He reached inside his waistcoat, an act that drew Vader’s immediate attention. But before he reached through the Force to summon his lightsaber, Vader saw Baylo produce a datapad. “This is my resignation.” He offered it to the Emperor.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.