Weapon of the Empire. (Tarik's Tale)
Chapter Three, part five.
Imperial times- Coruscant
The rain fell in sheets like razors, slashing at the combatants in the alley. A human boy, barely in his teens, stood fighting several larger humans. The young human had dark hair and strange colored eyes of imperial green. The larger human boy struck the younger one again, knocking him against the wall.
A little creature leapt off a ledge next to the fight, hanging onto the neck of the older boy and biting his hand as he reached up to pry him loose. The younger boy punched one of the older ones, the other two taking flight at the sudden intrusion of the little creature.
The older boy finally pried him loose, throwing the creature at the young boy with dark hair and fleeing with the others. The boy caught him, holding the suddenly terrified creature close as the lightning flashed above.
The familiar
little creature looked up at the human with violet-hazel eyes, blonde-streaked brown
hair soaked from the rain. He suddenly leapt from the human�s arms, taking off
into the shadows of the streets. The image faded as he disappeared, leaving the
scent of an all-too familiar little being in his nose.
This would be remembered, it would be thought upon and considered, then discarded as
merely a dream, as all the others had been. Zolyn�s future would write itself, he
couldn�t trust the quickly fading image of a dream to be truthful.
To wake up and still smell the dream is as strange as living one.
~~~~~~~~~~
Tarik snuffled his way awake, feeling something warm curled up beside him. He looked over to see the tiny form of Zolyn curled up against him, without the slightest clue of how he�d gotten there. He nudged him with his shout, then backed away with a snort, remembering his dream.
Little Zolyn was always going to be little, no matter how old he got. How did he know that?
Tarik backed away, looking
for Noryyce. She was in her weird sleep sitting up again, she wouldn�t wake up too
soon from the looks of her. He picked up the sleeping little creature, setting him
gently back in his little hammock. He couldn�t stay here anymore, he had to leave
so they wouldn�t be found. He quietly packed his knapsack with the few things he
needed and slipped out of the room and out of the building.
Noryyce opened one shimmering blue eye, sensing him leave. She opened both eyes, looking at Zolyn in his cradle, then toward the exit high on the wall. Tarik wouldn�t be back this time, it was too close to the time he�d be needed. Fate seemed to enjoy playing with those who had no idea they were being played with.
Ryyce closed her eyes again, sighing. Tarik had his own destiny to fulfill, she
couldn�t interfere. She bid him a silent goodbye, knowing she would most likely
not live to see him again. She slid into her sleep trance again, letting her
thoughts wander.
She found herself watching from a great distance, as if not really there, which she
wasn�t. The tiny fighter planes floated up out of the jungle toward a massive gray
moon that held the aura of death.
The moon was a machine, a space station, it had
caused some great catastrophe that Ryyce couldn�t sense yet through the images. The
tiny fighters would be victorious against the monstrosity, and the empire would
begin its slide toward the end.
Someone in the battle was different, one tiny speck
that defined itself as a ship called an x-wing as she watched was different. He had fired the killing shot to the massive station with a Jedi�s instinct. He
would be one to watch for in the future dreaming, he would be a hero, and the end of
a great evil. Ryyce smiled lightly in her sleep, she hadn�t let herself see these things in a long
time, it felt good to know that the universe would be safe without the old Jedi to
protect them. There would be new ones in place of the old, and she�d finally seen
the one to carry the spark that would ignite the fire of the Jedi knights again. Some dreams come true in ways we don�t expect.
~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~
---------------
Darth Vader sat in his meditation chamber, a frown on his face beneath the helmet. Had he been dreaming, or had he actually felt that little flicker of something distant remembered? It was early morning, he hadn�t left his own mansion for the imperial palace yet.
He shook off the frown, passing the feeling off as merely a
reaction to the rumor that there was a Jedi knight left on Coruscant, living in the
very shadow of the imperial palace. Such rumors were commonplace, a result of the
people�s desperation for some fragment of the past to have survived to the present.
Some things were simply meant not to survive, the Jedi had been one of those things.
The unfortunate fact was, some did survive, far beyond even the empire�s reach. The
masters and knights were long gone, but an occasional apprentice turned farmer or
hermit was found here and there on the far rim. Most weren�t worth the time to hunt
down and kill, but a few had proved to be an annoyance to the local authorities on
occasion.
Vader sighed, this was no time to concern himself with another rumor, he�d sensed no great Jedi presence here. He could ask the emperor if he�d felt any disturbances, but he didn�t want to appear weak in his eyes. This was best left alone and forgotten, whatever that flicker had been, it was gone now.
Riker South and the
creature named Tarik were what was important at this moment. They were both far too
quiet for Vader�s liking, something was going on, and that he could sense very
clearly. Whatever Riker was planning, it would blow up in his face like all his
other schemes. Then Vader would finally be able to convince the emperor to let him
get rid of the little pest once and for all.
He let a faint smile creep onto his face, watching Riker die would be a well
deserved reward for letting the little rodent harass him all these years.
-------
----on to Part 6 of Chapter 3---
© 2000 Michelle Petrosky