"Tatooine Ghost (Troy Denning)" - читать интересную книгу автора (Denning Troy)

Star Wars Tatooine Ghost Troy Denning

Leia Organa, newly Leia Organa Solo, sat behind Han and Chewbacca on the
flight deck of the Millennium Falcon. The twin suns of the Tatoo system were
hanging outside the forward viewport, a pair of white eyes blazing up from the
black well of space. Like all twins, they were bound together by a tie as
unpredictable as it was powerful. Sometimes, the bond boosted their luminosity
far beyond that of two normal suns. At other times, it sent waves of ionic
discharge pulsing across space to scramble circuits and reorient core-relative
compasses. Today, the twins were assailing the Falcon with electromagnetic
blasts, overloading her sensors and filling the cockpit speakers with static.
As Chewbacca worked to raise the proper filters, the static faded from a roar
to a crackle, then softened to a hiss, which rose and fell in a sharp rhythm.
Puzzled by the odd snickering sound, Leia glanced over at the master comm
console and found the reception indicator still scanning for signals. She
leaned forward against her crash webbing.
"Han, do you hear..."
No sound came from her mouth. The snicker became a deep chuckle, and a
nebula of black gas began to gather in front of the Falcon. Han showed no
reaction to it. Neither did Chewbacca, even when it coalesced into the cowl of
a Jedi cloak.
"Han! Don't you see..."
Again, her voice made no sound. Glaring out from beneath the cowl, the
twin suns looked more than ever like eyesЧheartless eyes, full of malice and
power lust. Where the cloud was thin, crooked streaks of purple radiance
created the impression of a twisted mouth and wrinkled face.
The mouth rose at the corners. "Mine."
The voice was cruel and distinct and rife with dark side power. Leia
gaspedЧsilentlyЧand tried to raise an arm that had suddenly grown as heavy as
the Falcon.
The smile became a sneer. "Mine."
Still, neither Han nor Chewbacca seemed to notice what was happening.
Leia would have screamed, had her mouth been willing to obey.
The nebula began to thicken, and the purple wrinkles faded behind its
inky veil. The twin suns dimmed to darkness, and the black cloud assumed the
shape of a familiar maskЧa mask of harsh angles and obsidian sheen, framed by
the long, flaring neck apron of an equally black helmet. Vader's helmet.
A chill wave of nausea washed over Leia. The curved eye lenses grew
transparent, but instead of the blazing brightness of Tatooine's twin sunsЧor
the angry red-rimmed gaze of Darth VaderЧshe found herself looking into her
brother's soft blue eyes. "Luke! What are you..."
Her question remained as silent as the others she had asked. Luke's eyes
grew hollow and hard and haunted, and the helmet moved slowly from side to
side. Blue flickers of electricity snaked across the speech circuits behind
the respiratory screen, but his words were rendered nearly inaudible by static
crackling. Leia made out something about not following and staying out of
darkness; then Luke fell silent again. She tried to tell him that his
equipment was malfunctioning, that his voice had been obscured, but before she
could find a way to make herself heard, the helmet stopped moving.
Luke locked gazes and held her transfixed for what might have been