The Darth Side: My Two Suns

Preamble: The re-run romp continues with another bonus chapter never included in the original run of THE DARTH SIDE back in 2005.

(Previously... PART I: Chapter 1.)

THE DARTH SIDE
by Cheeseburger Brown

PART I, Chapter 2 - My Two Suns

Busy day. Ambushing the insurgents over Tatooine. Surrounded by incompetence, blinded by the Force.

We captured the Rebel blockade runner Tantive IV in high orbit over the desert world of Tatooine, a planet with which I am...familiar. The Force radiates from its twin suns like the delta of a vast river, pouring out across the cosmos in strange, shifting, meandering paths that flicker and fork in response to history's unfolding. There is an unusual concentration of nodes of causality here, and I find their snaking glare oppressive. That is why I have ever avoided this world.

But business is business.

Whether by fate or accident this system creates an ideal camouflage for someone whose goal is to change the destiny of the galaxy, for the fleeting trails of probability that leap about their purpose are cloaked in the maelstrom of manifest possibility that shines here through space. Indeed, even as I strangled the Rebel captain I could barely discern his tortured spirit depart against the background noise.

I also confronted the master hypocrite behind the mission: the pretender-ambassador Leia Organa of Alderaan, lies ready on her lips even when her treason against the Empire is apparent. I am not fooled by this girl, though her particular recalcitrance inspires in me a bewildering ire. I had her sent away from me as quickly as possible, escorted to the StarDestroyer brig for transport to Coruscant.

The stolen plans were not found aboard the ship, but I believe they may have been smuggled in the company of droids down to the surface below. I have no explanation for the sudden and acute idiocy of the officer who let the escape pod go, but I have confidence that his sudden and acute death has inspired a new level of diligence on the part of his colleagues.

Despite this set-back I am optimistic. Where Tatooine was once a world beyond the borders of the Old Republic it is now firmly within the influence of the New Order. Stormtrooper platoons are now on the surface, securing the co-operation of the Hutts in their search efforts. With the help of their local agents I have confidence the plans will soon be in our hands.

There will be no one to stop us this time!