The Brief Return of High Inquisitor Tremayne

Dark Vendetta

Author: Eric S. Trautmann

Medium: Short story

Publication date: July 1996 in Star Wars Galaxy Magazine #8

Timeline placement: 10 BBY

 

Extremely short but very cool, "Dark Vendetta" features the earliest in-story appearance of High Inquisitor Antinnis Tremayne, a Darth Vader expy from The Star Wars Roleplaying Game first introduced in 1993's  Galaxy Guide 9: Fragments from the Rim. Like Vader, Tremayne was a fallen Jedi who served the Emperor and had several cybernetic prostheses, as well as a penchant for telekinetically strangling his minions. The backstory of his lightsaber duel with fugitive Jedi Padawan Corwin Shelvay, which cost Tremayne his right arm and eye, was detailed in Fragments from the Rim before being depicted three years later in "Dark Vendetta."

 

On Coruscant, now called Imperial Center, Corwin Shelvay has just been rescued from Imperial interrogation by his Jedi Master, the Sullustan Darrin Arkanian. As they attempt to rendezvous with Rebel pilot Captain Rashh, they are confronted in an alley by High Inquisitor Tremayne, commanding a detachment of Imperial troopers, presumably of the storm- variety (but since this is Coruscant, it would be badass if it was these guys). Arkanian duels Tremayne, who wields a green-bladed lightsaber. Remember when authors could give Jedi and Dark Jedi any color lightsaber they wanted? Those were the days.

 

Tremayne admits that Arkanian may surpass him as a swordsman, so he orders his troops to shoot Corwin unless the Jedi Master surrenders. Darrin Arkanian deactivates his lightsaber, and Tremayne quickly cuts him down. "Dark Vendetta" gives every indication that Arkanian dies here, but the original version of this story in Fragments of the Rim had him escaping with Corwin to die of his wounds a few days later.

 

Corwin still escapes, though, as he calls his fallen Master's lightsaber to him with the Force, and, drawing on the dark side, brutally defeats Tremayne in combat, severing his right arm below the shoulder and slashing the right side of his face across the eye. What follows is the most interesting part of the story, a unique glimpse into the EU's pre-prequel assumptions about the prequel era. To this day, Timothy Zahn still gets shit from fans for including vague details about the Clone Wars in his Thrawn Trilogy books that were ultimately contradicted by Attack of the Clones, but Eric S. Trautmann really swung for the fences.

 

As he recuperates from his wounds in a bacta tank, Tremayne has flashbacks to his early life and time as a Jedi. He was accepted for Jedi training at the age of 15, impossibly old according to the standards George Lucas introduced in the prequels. Some years later, a courier met with him and revealed that Palpatine (no Senator, Chancellor, or Emperor, just Palpatine) had been watching Tremayne's progress with great interest and wanted him to study under his agent Darth Vader to weed out corruption in the Jedi ranks. Vader, already wearing his armor, promised Tremayne that they would work together to restore the Jedi to their former glory and bring order and justice back to the galaxy.

 

It's very rare for a '90s EU story to get so specific when touching on details from the rise of the Empire. Generally they just weren't allowed to do it, so I wonder how this one got through. It's very cool that it did, even though it got almost everything wrong.

 

Tremayne awakens from his fever dream and finds that his lost body parts have been replaced with grotesque cybernetics. Fragments of the Rim claimed that he deliberately selected his cybernetic parts to intimidate his victims and subordinates, but "Dark Vendetta" changes this so Vader had the Imperial medics turn Tremayne into a freak as punishment for his failure. I prefer this version, as young Tremayne is characterized as a vain man obsessed with appearance, so his choice to advance himself by doing evil ultimately leads to the ruination of the aspect of himself he most values.

 

Vader browbeats Tremayne, then warns him not to fail him again. Suitably humbled, Tremayne begins planning for his next meeting with Corwin Shelvay, something which never happens in recorded Star Wars canon.

 

3 out of 5 Death Stars. The writing isn't anything special, and the story is too short to accomplish anything of merit, but it's always awesome to see High Inquisitor Tremayne and this early attempt at prequel lore is fascinating, even if Vader fighting Obi-Wan, going into the suit, and still not being on the Jedi's radar despite being openly evil makes no sense.