(no subject)

[gone_byebye]

As before, not all that long ago, Ray leads the way up to his room. The door opens to a room decorated in blue and brown and the occasional bit of silver. The carpet is dark blue, the bedspread a lighter one (it's a bed for two people, clearly); the desk is wooden and brown and stacked with papers. And there are the bookshelves- wire things, silver wire, stacked with reference volumes and the occasional novel and quite a few slim, very neat cases.

"That's the video disc collection over there," Ray says, pointing towards the cases. "The books are mostly reference works, not fiction. Those papers tacked to the wall over there are the blueprints and deck plans for a Firefly class interstellar freighter- I'm very proud of those. That's my crystal-growing rig in the corner, which I mostly use these days for turning silicates and water into synthetic opals for paying my Bar bill..."

Comments

[fathers-cleric.livejournal.com]

Preston absorbs this silently, "...the old man knows something about the girl and the boy and..."

No, it's not the force, it's just being preceptive as hell.

"...I don't follow it, but otherwise why would he have wanted the young man to go with him? you can tell in the way he's looking Skywalker in the eye, he's..."

Preston frowns, Ray's Presence completely forgotten.

[gone_byebye]

Ray just smiles a little. The scene changes- they're back in space now, and a Star Destroyer approaches the Death Star's massive bulk. The camera shifts to the interior, a scene of eight men in uniform around a table.

Until this battle station is fully operational we are vulnerable. The Rebel Alliance is too well equipped. They're more dangerous than you realize.
Dangerous to your starfleet, Commander, not to this battle station!
The Rebellion will continue to gain a support in the Imperial Senate as long as-

The thin, pale Grand Moff Tarkin enters, followed by Vader.

The Imperial Senate will no longer be of any concern to us. I've just received word that the Emperor has dissolved the council permanently. The last remnants of the Old Republic have been swept away.
That's impossible! How will the Emperor maintain control without the bureaucracy?
The regional governors now have direct control over territories. Fear will keep the local systems in line. Fear of this battle station.
And what of the Rebellion? If the Rebels have obtained a complete technical readout of this station, it is possible, however unlikely, that they might find a weakness and exploit it.
The plans you refer to will soon be back in our hands.
Any attack made by the Rebels against this station would be a useless gesture, no matter what technical data they've obtained. This station is now the ultimate power in the universe. I suggest we use it!

Vader's voice rumbles as he turns his full ire on the commander who speaks.

Don't be too proud of this technological terror you've constructed. The ability to destroy a planet is insignificant next to the power of the Force.
Don't try to frighten us with your sorcerer's ways, Lord Vader. Your sad devotion to that ancient religion has not helped you conjure up the stolen data tapes, or given you clairvoyance enough to find the Rebel's hidden fort-

The man's words are cut off mid-sentence, and his eyes start to bulge. Making gagging, choking noises he reaches helplessly for his throat. Vader is holding out one hand in his direction, making an implacable choking gesture from well over two meters away.

I find your lack of faith... disturbing.

[fathers-cleric.livejournal.com]

Call it Faith. You have it I assume?

Preston barks out a brutal and harsh laugh at the news that this mysterious emperor has dissolved the governing body. It's a laugh of someone who's heard the same story many times before, Although not for the same reasons.

"...They didn't go into hiding at least." as it was said the United States government did, "They didn't just abandon their people, least the emperor was taking-"

He is interrupted by Vader's speech.
How is it Cleric that you have not located them yet?
I shall double my efforts sir.

As Vader waxes on faith, the man in thrall before him, Preston shakes his head.

Call it Faith. You have it I assume?

"Yes." Preston says, his voice barely above a whisper, "I have it."

[gone_byebye]

Ray would raise an eyebrow if he could, but he can't, so he just nods and goes on watching. There's some more Imperial discussion, and they're back on Tattooine. The crawler that had held the droids has been reduced to a wreck. Luke speculates about the Sandpeople. Ben disabuses him, pinning the blame firmly on Stormtroopers. And Luke realizes that the troopers were after the droids, not the Jawas-

If they traced the robots here, they may have learned who they sold them to. And that would lead them home!
Wait, Luke! It's too dangerous.

The warning comes too late. Luke's already in his speeder, and before you know it he's at the smouldering, smoking remains of the farm. Luke stumbles around in a daze looking for his aunt and uncle. Suddenly he comes upon their smoldering remains. He is stunned, and cannot speak. Hate replaces fear and a new resolve comes over him.

The camera cuts to space again. Two stormtroopers open an electronic cell door and allow several Imperial guards to enter. Princess Leia's face is filled with defiance, which slowly gives way to fear as a giant black torture robot enters, followed by Darth Vader.

And, now Your Highness, we will discuss the location of your hidden Rebel base.

The torture robot gives off a steady beeping sound as it approaches Princess Leia and extends one of its mechanical arms bearing a large hypodermic needle. The door slides shut and the long cell block hallway appears peaceful. The muffled screams of the Rebel princess are barely heard.

Back on Tattooine, Ben and the droids are burning the Jawa corpses as Luke returns...

There's nothing you could have done, Luke, had you been there. You'd have been killed, too, and the droids would be in the hands of the Empire.
I want to come with you to Alderaan. There's nothing here for me now. I want to learn the ways of the Force and become a Jedi like my father.

[fathers-cleric.livejournal.com]

Smoldering bodies left out in the waste like that...humans beings treated in such a way...

A cold fist of fury has implanted itself in his stomache.

"How can you possibly find that entertaining?" Preston says. There's indignation and a bit of horror mixed in there, "How could they-they show such a thing? What sort of cruel and thoughtless writer would...cause such unspeakable...

At the torture Robot Preston stands up suddenly, looking away for a firm moment before returning his gaze to the small screen.

"No one survives Clinical Interrogation." Preston says bluntly, "That will be the last we see of her."
how many times have I stood over someone like that? Where are your compatriots? What materials have you collected, How many arms have you gathered, why did you turn against father, why, why...


He's no longer watching the Screen.

[gone_byebye]

Ray pauses the DVD.

"It's not supposed to be entertaining, this part," Ray says. "It's supposed to show that they're not kidding. That the Empire genuinely is evil. The Empire wants to maintain power and sustain its own existence even at the cost of uninvolved, unknowing human life. This kind of atrocity is the kind of act it takes to get someone who previously had no grudge against them to decide for himself that he won't let their evil stand. It takes a lot to make someone leave the only life they've ever known and pit themselves against something as massive and oppressive as the Empire. They have to have a reason." Ray nods at the screen. "That's the reason."

He shakes his head slightly. "She's stronger than she looks," he says, "and Vader doesn't go through with the whole spectrum of interrogation. He has another technique in mind to get the information out of her. I assure you, she lives."

[fathers-cleric.livejournal.com]

Ray's words fill Preston with a...strange new feeling that replaces the cold fist of Rage and hatred in his chest.

Hope?

I could do it by god...
The evil's comitted in the state's name. Mary's face swam up before him, pure and innocent, alive yes but dead. Dead to his world, never to see their collective universe again and...

Surprised, Jurgen's visage swims before his eyes.
that's why you're a godsend to us Preston. You're the only person who can get through Father's Security. Without you we've lost everything.

He looks to Ray, it's a look of confusion mixed with fear, and maybe a little nervousness.

without you-we're doomed.

"Is it...hard for them?" He gestures at the figures on the screen, "Will it be hard for them?"

Yes. Preston can't make it through Star wars.

[gone_byebye]

Ray looks at the screen. "It's hard," Ray admits. "And they learn things along the way that they never even imagined. But-"

He remembers something he thought, the last time Romana was away this long. The phrase turns over a couple of times in his head before he actually says it.

"Nothing worth having is ever done easily."