STAR WARS: DARK EMPEROR

by Brendon Wahlberg

Ensign Handli had everything under control. He confidently prepared to shift the mirror's coordinates once again, as ordered. That was when he noticed the TIE fighter. The small Imperial ball-shaped ship with its large flanking solar panels was aimed straight at him, and coming in fast. His scanner readouts showed that its weapons were powered up as well. A sudden fear stabbed at him. What was going on? Was he under attack? What had he done this time, and who had found out about it? In the face of his fear, the lingering traces of Vantos Boda's influence evaporated. It was as if a fog had suddenly lifted from Handli's thoughts. He was suddenly able to think clearly. His eyes fell on the mirror's settings and he was immediately aghast. What had he done, indeed! The focusing apparatus was dialed to an absurdly tight setting. He didn't remember doing it, but he must have. And the coordinates! At that moment, his mirror was sending a baking shaft of energy down to the Palace itself! People could be getting burned down there, or worse. The Emperor would order his execution! Handli panicked. He had to turn it off immediately. Desperately, he began to press buttons and turn dials, almost at random. He stared wildly out at the approaching TIE fighter. Could it be the Emperor's punishment, so soon?

Handli screamed as the TIE fighter's twin laser guns shot a sudden stream of green bolts at his viewport. The mirror control station exploded around him, and the terrified Ensign's final sight was the beautiful scintillant planet below him, with nothing but open space between them.

Mara Jade watched through the polarized lenses of her black helmet as the mirror control station was vaporized. Now, the mirror could not be turned to do further damage to the Palace. The pilot's death was unfortunate, but Mara had decided that he was either Boda's partner or a tool of Boda's. Either way, he had to die. And she was the Emperor's Hand. A killing in the service of the Emperor was merely her job. Now, Mara had to eliminate the enormous mirror itself. This particular reflector was twelve kilometers in diameter, yet it was made of a silvery fabric only a fraction of a millimeter thick. It dwarfed her tiny fighter as she sped towards it.

Mara's gloved hands tightened on the fire controls as she let loose a series of laser shots at the shining surface. The lasers punched a group of small holes into the fabric, but had no overall effect on the reflective surface. She realized that there simply wasn't time to shoot down the mirror that way. Then Mara glanced out her cockpit window, and her eyes fell on the thin edges of her vertical solar panel wings. Each wing is a little like a dagger, she thought, and the mirror is one huge piece of cloth. Smiling, she realized she could slice it apart.

Responding to her rigid control, the TIE swooped in low over the long flat fabric surface. Another adjustment, and the fighter dropped closer to the silvery sea, causing the leading edges of the solar panels to initiate long, straight, twin tears. The rips lengthened rapidly in the TIE's wake, until Mara reached the edge of the mirror. She quickly reversed course, and commenced making a new set of slices at another angle. As the fabric parted, tension on the support cables was unevenly released, and large sections of the mirror were pulled out of alignment. After a few more passes, the formerly carefully oriented fragile construct was a wreck, its tattered remains unable to focus any sunlight at all.

Mara spun the TIE fighter in a brief victory roll, and dove down towards the atmosphere. Below her was the Palace and her Master. Mara's worried tension returned as she wondered in what shape she would find either of them.

The Emperor was heady with the power coursing into him. He focused it deep inside, sharpening it against the stone core of his fury. Then he extended his hands like knife blades, and thrust them at Vantos Boda. The telekinetic attack was meant to stab Boda's brain within his skull, incapacitating him in an instant. But Vantos merely stood in place, continuing to block the way to the turbolift. The Emperor's eyes narrowed. It was impossible, unless... His danger sense rang wildly in his mind, warning him of another attack. He pivoted, and caught another shower of dark side energy bolts on his Force shield. Vantos was still up on the audience deck, striking down at him, and the figure blocking Palpatine's way was merely a Force-generated doppelganger, meant to distract him.

After releasing the Force Lightning, Vantos ducked back into hiding among the seats. Palpatine gritted his teeth, his yellow eyes blazing. Boda's foolish game of hiding had become intolerable. All thoughts of leaving vanished, as the Emperor raised his pale hands and rose from the trembling floor. His trailing black robes and sleeves gave him the aspect of a dark angel as he lifted himself ten meters to the audience deck. He landed gently among the polished marble benches and began to look for his enemy.

He was outraged that a darksider would approach him like this. All of the others acknowledged him as their Master, even Vader, the Dark Lord of the Sith. It was one thing to have a brave but foolish Jedi after him, and quite another to have an inferior dark side user trying to best him. Among dark side adepts, there was always the potential for battles over supremacy. Palpatine had forbidden them amongst his own students. The penalty for challenging each other or himself was death. This Vantos Boda was apparently ignorant of the natural order. Palpatine would find great satisfaction in teaching it to him.

Beneath the Emperor's outrage, however, lurked a certain uneasiness. Vantos Boda knew of some advanced and potent Force skills. At least one, the ability to absorb Force Lightning, was unknown to Palpatine. Where had Boda learned it? The thought of a more knowledgeable Force user taking his power and his throne from him inspired a wave of unwelcome fear. Could Vantos be more powerful? It was impossible, and yet...

There! A movement among the seats - Boda's hiding place. Palpatine unleashed a storm of Force Lightning at the location. Vantos Boda was driven out and back down the aisle, but once again, he took the energy into himself. How was he doing it, the Emperor wondered, and how much of it can he take?

Another shuddering boom shook the room, causing both men to flinch. Vantos ran up a flight of stairs to the next level, and faced the Emperor below. "The explosions are my doing!" he shouted. "There was always more to my plan than just attacking you one on one. That was too risky! Instead, I'm bringing the whole Palace down on you! I don't expect to get out alive, but I'll be here when you get buried!"

As Vantos gloated, the Emperor wrapped his mind around a huge marble bench. Wanting only to bludgeon the smile from Vantos' face, he raised it from the floor and telekinetically hurled it at his enemy. Vantos seemed to blur for a moment as he enhanced his speed with the Force. The heavy stone bench crashed into the space he had just vacated, shattering other seats and sending stone chips flying. In the confusion of the impact, Vantos ducked out of sight once again.

Palpatine could hear Boda's words coming from an indeterminate location on the second level. Some kind of auditory illusion was involved, making the voice hard to pinpoint. "Highness, there's no use fighting this. The Force itself wants you gone. I was chosen by the Force to do it, that's all. It's time for it to happen, so you can't avoid it. It's your destiny, and mine. I came back from death itself for this. Do you think I would have left you a way out?"

"You took your brother's body, didn't you?" Palpatine shot back. "Is that the behavior of a servant of the light side?"

"So what if I did? He was dead already, so he didn't need it any more. That didn't harm anyone."

By now, the rumbling above them was steady, and getting louder. Palpatine extended his senses outwards to see what was happening, and he was appalled at what he found. The Palace was on fire at it's peak, and the upper floors were collapsing onto one another, driving a shock wave of destruction down towards the throne room.

"Servant of the light side indeed!" Palpatine cried hastily. "You have deceived yourself, Vantos Boda! Do you think I do not understand? The dark side has you! You think you are a savior, but that is only the sense of self-importance that the dark side gives to its servants. You were never able to prevent the future you saw. It all happened just as your vision told you it would. I have seen the same kind of visions, old fool, and I know they rightfully predict my victory! You were never meant to change any of it! The dark side showed you that vision to seduce you, and now it has you, totally!" Palpatine lowered his voice dangerously. "I will give you one chance to keep on living, so listen carefully, Vantos Boda. Serve me, your rightful Master in the dark side, and I will not destroy you. Surrender your knowledge to me, and I will not torture it out of you. Resist me any more, and die."

There was no answer. Palpatine closed his eyes and concentrated. He did not need to see Vantos directly in order to attack him. He thrust out his arms and sent a wide wave of terrific pain rushing in Boda's general direction. Vantos screamed in agony, but didn't emerge. The Emperor was torn with indecision. Should he stay and try to capture Boda alive, or leave the throne room? He was surely in danger if he stayed - the collapse of the room was imminent. But Boda was valuable to him. Palpatine now knew that Boda had the secret of transferring his life essence to a new body. If Boda died, that would be lost. He decided he had to risk it, and attempt to subdue and capture Boda before leaving.

Vantos was sobbing somewhere above him. "Only now do you begin to see yourself," said Palpatine as he walked up the stairs. "You are no savior...you are only a killer." It was clear to him that Boda was nearly defeated, perhaps from the attacks, or perhaps even from the Emperor's cutting words. Good. There was a good deal of both left to give him. Preparing another bolt of Force Lightning, the strongest yet, Palpatine continued his verbal lesson. "Reach out with your senses, murderer. Let the Force be your eyes, servant of the dark side. The Palace you are destroying is full of Imperial citizens who have done you no wrong. They appeared in no prophetic vision, yet they are dying right now by the thousands, at your hands. Come, Vantos Boda. Follow me, now. There is no shame in serving the greatness of the dark side! Only admit what you already are. You cannot say you serve the weakness of the light side - you cannot! Come and kneel before me, and I will remove your pain." The Emperor moved among the high-backed benches, closing in on his crying adversary.

Vantos thought he might be going mad. He sobbed in his confusion, hating the Emperor's words. He was the Son of the Suns! He did not serve the dark side! He was only using the dark powers to accomplish the light side's goals. Surely, when it was done, his spirit would return to the light side's oneness. He would be welcomed back, even in death, to the belonging that he had once felt.

But Palpatine's words raped his convictions. Boda was unable to resist opening the Eyes of the Force to see the Palace above him. The dead were everywhere. Bodies...crushed and mutilated bodies, burned bodies, broken bodies by the thousands. He had never imagined this, never! He had thought the end would come quickly for Palpatine and himself, but he had not reckoned with the sheer size of the Palace. His Phelarion moss was working, but the collapse of the immense structure was taking much longer than he had expected. He and Palpatine were still cursedly alive, and there was time, damnable time, to see the terrible dying of all the other victims of his plan. With the anger of a mob, the victims seemed to tell him the same things the Emperor was saying...Killer! Murderer! Servant of the dark side!

Vantos wailed as he lay where Palpatine's wave of pain had made him fall. He was evil! No...it was impossible! He had been chosen! But his dead brother's words came back to him unbidden..."What if your vision wasn't from the light side? What if the dark side wants you, and the way to claim you is to have you murder this child?" Murder this child. Murder. Murder. Murder! Thousands of murders happening above him. Vantos had become the thing his beloved Bafforr trees would have hated utterly. He was no savior, after all. He was only a killer.

Emperor Palpatine stepped into view next to him. Vantos saw the ruler's black robe and boots through a curtain of tears. He had lost. It didn't matter any more what happened to Palpatine...nothing Vantos did would ever serve the good. He stared at his hands. For years, they had nurtured life in the gardens...for years, they had helped things grow. Now, they were the hands of a common killer.

"I'm going to take you with me now, my servant," the Emperor said quietly. "This will be painful, but that, too, will be an important lesson for you."

Vantos heard the crackle of dark side lightning begin to arc between Palpatine's fingers, but the next moment, a louder sound overwhelmed it. The ceiling of the throne room cracked open from a gigantic impact on the next level up. Great chunks of rock fell everywhere, breaking the marble seats and bouncing down onto the floor of the auditorium. The rainbow-lit throne was covered in rubble and crushed to the ground. Palpatine lifted his arms and released the dreadful lightning he had prepared for Vantos. Writhing electric blue power hammered the falling boulders apart. Many of them exploded into harmless showers of small stones, but the Emperor could not stop all of them. He was beaten to the floor and quickly covered up by the heavy debris. Vantos luckily escaped the worst of it. Several large pieces of the ceiling hit the bench he was cowering next to, tipping it on top of him. Instead of crushing him, the bench back was stopped by the next row of seats, leaving Vantos in a protective stone tent while the wreckage of the ceiling pummeled everything else.

Less than a minute later, it was over. The shaking stopped. The last boulders had fallen. There was silence.

Vantos coughed at the swirling dust and wondered. Something was wrong. The explosions had stopped...but why? The chain reaction should be continuing, as the mirror satellite ignited moss all the way down the side of the Palace. There was enough of it to carry the destruction all the way down through the rest of the Palace below him. He expected to die in the kind of ruin a great earthquake would produce. Instead, the ceiling had come down, and that was all. No fireball racing in from the Grand Corridor. No explosions blasting the floor out from under him. Something had failed! And he was still alive! And the Emperor...

Vantos saw the Emperor's body half buried in the rubble nearby. He was unconscious, but evidently still breathing, still alive! Neither of them had died, while thousands of others had been killed instead! It was horrifying, and intolerable. Vantos choked on the dust as he pulled himself out from beneath the fallen benches. This could not be how it ended. Palpatine could not live on. He looked at his filthy, bleeding hands. All right then...if he was a killer and no more than that, he would go over to that fallen, pinned man and kill.

He clambered over the rocks and hunched over the Emperor. A single thought possessed his mind. I will kill you, kill you with my own hands. Pushing away the black hood, Vantos dug his fingers into the age-ravaged throat. A thrill of horror went through him as he saw the naked head of Palpatine. The bald skin was cracked with seeping fissures that looked like they reached to the bone. Black, worm like objects nestled in the wounds, shadow-fragments of Palpatine's power that stopped the progress of his decay. Boda grimaced, and looked away from them, then forced his attention back to the mechanical process of strangling his prone foe. Die, he thought, Die...so that my life can have some small meaning...

Darth Vader entered the ruined throne room while cloaked in Sith magic. He was silent and invisible in the shadows, and it took him only moments to find the room's two other occupants. There was the dark Jedi at last, but the Emperor had fallen before him. It was unthinkable, but there it was in front of him. Boda was trying to choke the Emperor to death - a crude and cowardly method. Vader had been correct about this man. He was killing a helpless opponent, without courage or honor.

For a frozen moment, Darth Vader considered what he would do. Boda would die, that was certain, but what of his Master? Vader had been hoping for the Emperor to die, so that he could take the throne. But the Royal Guards knew Vader was here - he had met them in the Grand Corridor. He had found it difficult to convince them not to follow him into the throne room. The Guards were held back only by Palpatine's direct orders, and they had been on the verge of defying them. If the Emperor died, and Vader failed to stop it, they would accuse him of being an accessory to the murder. Under those circumstances, he would not take the throne without a great deal of opposition. Vader was not well liked in the Empire, and he knew it. The best way to overcome the opposition and take the throne was to have it officially given to him by the dying Emperor himself. And Palpatine would die soon enough, without the secrets held by Boda to help him.

But he would not die today.

Vader stepped out of the shadows, seeming to emerge from thin air. "Boda!" he boomed. "I have come for you!" His black cape billowed out around him as he took four swift steps towards the Emperor's body, activated his crimson lightsaber, and hurled it blazing through the short distance. The lightsaber made a circle of red and white glare as it spun three times through the air. The blade stabbed into Boda's breast, and the man threw up his arms, impaled. He gave a strangled cry as the saber fell downwards, slicing him apart as it dropped to the broken stones. Boda's corpse fell back onto the ruins of a marble bench, as the weapon flew neatly back to Vader's hand. The Dark Lord deactivated it, and clipped it to his belt. For a long moment, Vader stood silent, breathing mechanically. It was over at last.