Caverns of Mindor [some time later]
Oct. 22nd, 2009 05:41 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tatooine_doofusWell, crashing into a planet and losing most of his crew had definitely not been on Luke's list of things to do before homecoming (not dead losing, either. Sucked through the floor and disappeared losing. Luke had no idea how that was even possible), and he'd sat around for a little while feeling heartily sorry for himself and out of his depth before remembering he was a Jedi.
So went looking for the enemy and asked to be taken to their leader (yes, literally. Luke was still Luke, even when he was a general). And now he was in a throne room cut from living rock, a place that looked like it had been lifted intact from a terrible holodrama. What exactly was Blackhole--or at least he assumed that the guy lounging on the throne with a helmet that made Vader's look downright normal was Blackhole--up to?
"Luke Skywalker! Tremble before me!"
Luke's eyebrows rose. The voice boomed through the cavern, no doubt using concealed speakers. "I think you have me confused with a different Luke Skywalker," he said evenly as he was pushed toward the throne by the stormtroopers escorting him.
"Kneel, Skywalker! Pledge yourself to me and I will spare your life, and the lives of your crew!" Shadowspawn's fist shot into the air. "I have done what the vain, arrogant Emperor and his pathetic hound Vader never could! I have defeated Luke Skywalker!"
"Not yet," Luke replied. "Or if it makes you feel better, I can say 'Do not underestimate my power.'"
"You came here," Shadowspawn pontificated, "to kill me."
Luke spread his hands. "I told your troopers outside that I'm hoping to end the day with nobody else dying."
"In this--" Shadowspawn lowered his fist and rested it on his sword, "--you are doomed to disappointment."
"You don't want to do that."
"Your Jedi tricks mean nothing to me!"
Luke frowned. "No, I mean it. You really don't want to do that. I can feel that you don't." He lowered his voice. "What's with the playacting?" Through the Force he could feel eyes on him, many more than would be accounted for by the company of stormtroopers. "Are you recording this?"
"Fool!" Shadowspawn yelled as he drew his sword. The blade was enormous--half again as long as Luke's lightsaber--and a dark, glowing red. Just like Vader's. Luke fought against rolling his eyes. "Listen to me," he said quietly. "I'm a Jedi, but I didn't get all of the training the old Jedi did. I know they tried to end conflicts without violence, but I'm still learning that. If you attack me, I will hurt you. If hurting you isn't enough, I will kill you."
Ignoring Luke's words, the other man continued to pontificate. "You think you can defeat me? This blade is the product of untold millennia of Sith alchemy! Against such power, your Jedi toy is but a broken reed!"
"Sith alchemy?" Luke squinted at him. "Are you kidding?"
"Summon your blade and fight!" Shadowspawn demanded. "Destroy me and my men will instead serve you!"
Luke blinked. "...what?"
"Legions of Shadow! Hear the word of you Lord!" Shadowspawn raised his sword above his head. "If this Jedi pup can defeat the Lord of the Shadow Throne, you will be his! Obey his every word as you would my own! This is the command of Shadowspawn!"
This was rapidly spiraling into the land of What the Kriffing Hells, Luke decided. "So if I beat you..."
"My legions are bred to absolute obedience. They will obey my commands until their deaths, or my own...when they will serve to command of Luke Skywalker instead."
And through the Force, Luke could tell that Shadowspawn was telling the truth. Fantastic.
"All right, then," Luke said with a sigh, igniting his lightsaber. "Take your best shot."
Shadowspawn brought the crystal sword down toward Luke's head with all of the finesse of rancor stomping through a forest. Luke met the strike almost effortlessly, and sliced a good chunk from the edge of the sword. "Sith alchemy, huh?" Luke asked.
They circled, the warlord fighting like someone who had heard of swordplay but had never really seen it done. It would have been funny if Luke hadn't felt the the threat in the Force. But that threat wasn't centered on the man in front of him.
Shadowspawn. Lord Shadowspawn. Lord Shadow's Pawn. I've been played.
The sword came down and this time Luke didn't dodge.
The blade froze in the air, its edge a centimeter from Luke's forehead. Luke smiled and leaned just far enough to deliver a very precise punch, following the guidance of the Force. It landed on Shadowspawn's forehead, and in the fraction of a second that Shadowspawn's head snapped back, Luke reached out and yanked the stupid hat right off the man's head.
And the man folded like a cheap suit, looking completely unlike the image that had been projected (thanks to technology inside the helmet, Luke now realized). "Kill me," the man croaked. "Skywalker, you have to kill me."
"You don't need to be killed," Luke said, kneeling on the floor. "You need to be rescued."
"Are you related to Anakin Skywalker?" the man asked, coughing. "He'd have...smoked me without a second thought."
"Yeah, well," Luke said with a slightly pained smile, "I'm not the man he was."
"Listen," the man said, still trying to catch his breath. "That headgear. It's a device--Sith alchemy--there are crystals implanted in my brain. That headgear concentrates the Dark--what you call the Force--so that Blackhole and can use me like a puppet."
Luke glanced around at the other officers, all wearing the same weird helmets, who were starting to charge toward them and felt his blood run cold. "They're all innocent?"
The man nodded. "Get up on the throne. Now!"
Luke blinked. "Why?" Just ahead of the approaching stormtroopers, the rock bridge linking the throne to the rest of the cavern thinned, then parted, then completely disappeared.
The stormtroopers paused in midair for one long, heartwrenching moment before falling into the chasm.
"So much for witnesses," the other man murmured as he and Luke squashed together uncomfortably in the throne and watched as the rock then flowed to close off the entrance to the tunnel. "Can you use the Force to get us out of here?"
"I don't think so," Luke said grimly. "But if he wants us dead, all he has to do is turn off the repulsorlift that's holding the throne up."
"He doesn't want to kill you," the man replied. "He wants to be you."
Before Luke could ask what that meant huge fingers of stone, each three times taller than Luke was, closed over them. Luke brought his lightsaber out and slashed one finger off...but the rock simply fell beside him and flowed around his feet, locking him in place.
The cavern boomed with mocking laughter. "I believe the appropriate word here," said the fake-Vader voice, "is cut!"
Then a burst of energy blasted up Luke's legs and yanked away his consciousness.
[OOC: Did I mention this book is kind of cracky? Dialogue snurched from Matthew Stover's Shadows of Mindor. NFB, NFI, OOC is love.]
So went looking for the enemy and asked to be taken to their leader (yes, literally. Luke was still Luke, even when he was a general). And now he was in a throne room cut from living rock, a place that looked like it had been lifted intact from a terrible holodrama. What exactly was Blackhole--or at least he assumed that the guy lounging on the throne with a helmet that made Vader's look downright normal was Blackhole--up to?
"Luke Skywalker! Tremble before me!"
Luke's eyebrows rose. The voice boomed through the cavern, no doubt using concealed speakers. "I think you have me confused with a different Luke Skywalker," he said evenly as he was pushed toward the throne by the stormtroopers escorting him.
"Kneel, Skywalker! Pledge yourself to me and I will spare your life, and the lives of your crew!" Shadowspawn's fist shot into the air. "I have done what the vain, arrogant Emperor and his pathetic hound Vader never could! I have defeated Luke Skywalker!"
"Not yet," Luke replied. "Or if it makes you feel better, I can say 'Do not underestimate my power.'"
"You came here," Shadowspawn pontificated, "to kill me."
Luke spread his hands. "I told your troopers outside that I'm hoping to end the day with nobody else dying."
"In this--" Shadowspawn lowered his fist and rested it on his sword, "--you are doomed to disappointment."
"You don't want to do that."
"Your Jedi tricks mean nothing to me!"
Luke frowned. "No, I mean it. You really don't want to do that. I can feel that you don't." He lowered his voice. "What's with the playacting?" Through the Force he could feel eyes on him, many more than would be accounted for by the company of stormtroopers. "Are you recording this?"
"Fool!" Shadowspawn yelled as he drew his sword. The blade was enormous--half again as long as Luke's lightsaber--and a dark, glowing red. Just like Vader's. Luke fought against rolling his eyes. "Listen to me," he said quietly. "I'm a Jedi, but I didn't get all of the training the old Jedi did. I know they tried to end conflicts without violence, but I'm still learning that. If you attack me, I will hurt you. If hurting you isn't enough, I will kill you."
Ignoring Luke's words, the other man continued to pontificate. "You think you can defeat me? This blade is the product of untold millennia of Sith alchemy! Against such power, your Jedi toy is but a broken reed!"
"Sith alchemy?" Luke squinted at him. "Are you kidding?"
"Summon your blade and fight!" Shadowspawn demanded. "Destroy me and my men will instead serve you!"
Luke blinked. "...what?"
"Legions of Shadow! Hear the word of you Lord!" Shadowspawn raised his sword above his head. "If this Jedi pup can defeat the Lord of the Shadow Throne, you will be his! Obey his every word as you would my own! This is the command of Shadowspawn!"
This was rapidly spiraling into the land of What the Kriffing Hells, Luke decided. "So if I beat you..."
"My legions are bred to absolute obedience. They will obey my commands until their deaths, or my own...when they will serve to command of Luke Skywalker instead."
And through the Force, Luke could tell that Shadowspawn was telling the truth. Fantastic.
"All right, then," Luke said with a sigh, igniting his lightsaber. "Take your best shot."
Shadowspawn brought the crystal sword down toward Luke's head with all of the finesse of rancor stomping through a forest. Luke met the strike almost effortlessly, and sliced a good chunk from the edge of the sword. "Sith alchemy, huh?" Luke asked.
They circled, the warlord fighting like someone who had heard of swordplay but had never really seen it done. It would have been funny if Luke hadn't felt the the threat in the Force. But that threat wasn't centered on the man in front of him.
Shadowspawn. Lord Shadowspawn. Lord Shadow's Pawn. I've been played.
The sword came down and this time Luke didn't dodge.
The blade froze in the air, its edge a centimeter from Luke's forehead. Luke smiled and leaned just far enough to deliver a very precise punch, following the guidance of the Force. It landed on Shadowspawn's forehead, and in the fraction of a second that Shadowspawn's head snapped back, Luke reached out and yanked the stupid hat right off the man's head.
And the man folded like a cheap suit, looking completely unlike the image that had been projected (thanks to technology inside the helmet, Luke now realized). "Kill me," the man croaked. "Skywalker, you have to kill me."
"You don't need to be killed," Luke said, kneeling on the floor. "You need to be rescued."
"Are you related to Anakin Skywalker?" the man asked, coughing. "He'd have...smoked me without a second thought."
"Yeah, well," Luke said with a slightly pained smile, "I'm not the man he was."
"Listen," the man said, still trying to catch his breath. "That headgear. It's a device--Sith alchemy--there are crystals implanted in my brain. That headgear concentrates the Dark--what you call the Force--so that Blackhole and can use me like a puppet."
Luke glanced around at the other officers, all wearing the same weird helmets, who were starting to charge toward them and felt his blood run cold. "They're all innocent?"
The man nodded. "Get up on the throne. Now!"
Luke blinked. "Why?" Just ahead of the approaching stormtroopers, the rock bridge linking the throne to the rest of the cavern thinned, then parted, then completely disappeared.
The stormtroopers paused in midair for one long, heartwrenching moment before falling into the chasm.
"So much for witnesses," the other man murmured as he and Luke squashed together uncomfortably in the throne and watched as the rock then flowed to close off the entrance to the tunnel. "Can you use the Force to get us out of here?"
"I don't think so," Luke said grimly. "But if he wants us dead, all he has to do is turn off the repulsorlift that's holding the throne up."
"He doesn't want to kill you," the man replied. "He wants to be you."
Before Luke could ask what that meant huge fingers of stone, each three times taller than Luke was, closed over them. Luke brought his lightsaber out and slashed one finger off...but the rock simply fell beside him and flowed around his feet, locking him in place.
The cavern boomed with mocking laughter. "I believe the appropriate word here," said the fake-Vader voice, "is cut!"
Then a burst of energy blasted up Luke's legs and yanked away his consciousness.
[OOC: Did I mention this book is kind of cracky? Dialogue snurched from Matthew Stover's Shadows of Mindor. NFB, NFI, OOC is love.]
