The Alliance

Darth Vader wants Deena terminated, but Kale won't let this chance slip away...

The Command

Filtered through infrared lenses on a desk screen before him, the spread-eagled image of a nude Deena Shan was being closely watched by Captain Roshuir. Though this time, she did not have his full attention. A vague feeling of dread prevailed as he stood beside the imposing form of Lord Darth Vader, overruling any bitterness he held for the female prisoner.

Roshuir could not comprehend where his fear came from. There were other officers who dismissed Vader’s supernatural powers as false notions and tricks, probably to disguise their own trepidations; but even they could not deny that some faint aura of terror enshrouded the Sith Lord, intoxicating and poisonous. Many an officer had choked on that terror, ending with a demotion…or worse.

“You have done well, Captain, capturing one of the Rebels responsible for the Kalist VI incident,” the deeply commanding voice of Vader spoke, any tones of praise stripped away by the mechanical rasp of his artificial lungs.

“Thank you, my Lord.” Kale gulped, knowing one word out of place could have him stripped of rank or sent to some dreaded backwater planet…or death. Working under Vader could lead to a fast-track promotion, but he wasn’t sure it was worth it, if ones life was the forfeit for failure.

“I would have preferred Skywalker,” intoned the Dark Lord, through the steady in and out echoes of his breathing apparatus.

There was no mistaking the displeasure in those words. Roshuir shuddered; he had a score to settle, questions that needed answers. His frustration overrode his fear.

“I sense there is nothing of interest she can tell us,” Vader continued. “Her Rebel companions feel the same, otherwise, they would have attempted a rescue. She must be terminated.”

Dead cold words cooled Roshuir’s frustration, which was soon replaced with something of a panic. He had spent too long obsessing over Deena; holding her accountable for her crimes. He didn’t want her dead; he wanted her to pay for the pain and betrayal she had caused him and his men, by making her feel pain and finally by betraying her own companions.

Grasping for a reason to accomplish this goal, he turned to the Dark Lord, hoping by chance his confidence would not fail him.

“Allow me to pry some information from her, my lord” Roshuir spoke with conviction.

Few argued with the Lord Vader, and even fewer survived challenging Vader’s judgment. Holding back the surge of anger he felt towards Deena, he bit his tongue and waited for the response.

“If you wish to avenge your troops, you would do better to focus your energies towards tracking the rest of her terrorist cell,” replied Vader, who had chosen not to take offence at Roshuir’s request, though the death sentence on Deena remained unchanged.

“I have a distinct impression that she is hiding something from us, my lord. Perhaps, she knows where the Rebels moved to after Kalist VI; or something else that would enable me to begin my search for Skywalker and his associates.”

Roshuir had heard that Vader had some reason to be particularly interested in Skywalker, and so he appealed to this, determined to confront Deena, one on one.

“You have my permission to use any means necessary to secure such information from her.”

With those words and an ominous swirl of his black cloak, the Dark Lord left Roshuir’s vicinity, striding off in the direction of the outer hallway, leaving the Captain to consider his minor victory.

“Thank you, my lord.” Roshuir spoke softly to himself, with a smug, twisted smile upon his lips.

Soon, Deena would undergo her punishment, but it would not be from his hands. There were more subtle ways to cause pain and suffering.