Star Wars: Dark Emperor

by Brendon Wahlberg

Part Four: The Emperor Eclipsed

A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away...

The Emperor is presumed to be destroyed with the Death Star at Endor. The throne of a galactic civilization stands empty.

But Palpatine survives within the mind of the Emperor's Hand, Mara Jade. Grand Vizier Sate Pestage must bring her to the planet Byss in order to restore his Master.

Now a new threat arises, as a powerful Imperial advisor plans to claim both the vacant throne and Mara Jade for himself...

The Emperor's Grand Vizier, Sate Pestage, knew his Master was dead before anyone else in the Palace. The message that appeared on his secure HoloNet terminal left no doubt in his mind. Once he had decrypted it, using codes known only to the Emperor and himself, Pestage knew the Empire had lost its dark center. Like the gigantic black hole at the center of the galaxy, Palpatine had been the hub around which every destiny in the Empire revolved. Now, without him, the Empire would spin out of control, heading for disaster. Pestage should have been filled with despair. He had found his life's meaning in his service to the Emperor. Without that purpose, the emptiness would surely swallow him. But the Grand Vizier could afford neither despair nor oblivion. It was entrusted to him to turn defeat into victory, to salvage order out of chaos, to restore hope. Palpatine, his Emperor, was depending on him.

Pestage reviewed the contents of the message once more, as puzzled by its cryptic lines as ever.

My old friend, the fact that you are reading this means that the worst has come to pass. I have reached the nexus I feared, and have not survived. But you must not surrender. If ever you have been my servant, you must serve me now. You must bring Mara Jade to the Citadel on Byss. No one, not even Jade, must know the reason for the journey, but if you succeed, I will be restored. The Empire is in your hands.

Palpatine

With one bony finger, Pestage touched the erase key. He knew that no one else must see the message. Bad times were coming. Now, a power vacuum existed, and someone would rush to fill it. No one had the right to the throne except his Master. Not even Pestage himself could claim it. But those who would steal the throne would also kill to hold it, and that meant Pestage's life was in danger. Doubly so, if the usurpers knew of this message. Not that Pestage understood it. Palpatine was dead, somewhere near Endor. He had gone to face Skywalker, and that had led to the ultimate ruin. He had taken a clone with him, but evidently, that had not availed him. Pestage knew enough about the Emperor's cloning-based immortality to see that there was no salvation for his Master, so far away from Byss. Without proximity to a clone, Palpatine was surely lost. Yet, he would trust that somehow, appearances were deceiving, and that there was hope. He would trust in his Master, and he would trust in the Force.

Suddenly, Pestage felt very old, very alone, and quite overwhelmed. He regarded his own frail frame.

"It isn't fair," he muttered. "These weak bones cannot bear such a great burden. I must restore you, when you were all that kept me going... what have you done? You've staked all on an old man, whose only strength is his love for you. Well it may not be enough. But I...I will die trying to save you, if need be. There is no other way for me."

Pestage hung his head. Now, he must deliver the terrible news of the Emperor's fall to Ars Dangor. He did not look forward to that duty in the slightest. Dangor was not a man who took bad news well.

The Emperor's Hand, Mara Jade, was the second person in the Palace to know that Palpatine was dead, and the only one to see him die. She was standing alone in vast and ancient Manarai hall, in front of a huge window that displayed the breathtaking panorama of the distant Manarai Mountains. She could look down on the sprawling Imperial City that filled the valley, ocean like, its metallic waves breaking against the severe rock of the faraway peaks. The city heaved with activity, but high above, Mara had sought out this serene and empty place for her much needed meditation. She had been tormented by anxiety and guilt for days.

She was afraid that something terrible was going to happen, and most of all, she felt that it would happen because her last mission had failed.

Mara had been summoned into her Master's presence just weeks ago, by a mental command. She had made her way to his private chambers. She knew that every courtier who saw her pass by, saw her beauty and concluded that she was Palpatine's pleasure toy. That misconception, that underestimation, suited her just fine. It made her job that much easier. For Mara Jade was in reality the Emperor's Hand, a special operative who took care of the tasks that couldn't be handled by a legion of Stormtroopers. She was an assassin and a spy, a versatile extension of Palpatine's will. He had trained her in the dark side of the Force personally, and she could hear his mental commands from anywhere in the galaxy. That last ability made her very special to the Emperor, for she often ventured into places where communication was impossible, to work his will with an immediacy and an effectiveness that was impossible for other operatives to achieve.

When she reached Palpatine's rooms, Mara slipped inside with a slight swaying of her graceful hips, for the benefit of an advisor who was waiting at the Emperor's door. She saw a spark of outrage in the advisor's eyes, that he should wait even longer while the Emperor dallied, and then she was inside. Palpatine's rooms were sparsely decorated, and despite being well lit, had a sense of shadowiness to them.

"Come, Mara Jade," said Palpatine from a side chamber. She found him in a tiny gallery of Jedi artifacts and lightsabers, each one representing a vanquished foe. "I have a mission for you, one well suited to your talents." She stood very close to him, and he placed a fatherly hand on her red-gold hair. In a sense, he was her father. Mara's parents had died when she was very young, and she remembered very little of them. Palpatine had brought her to Coruscant, and she had grown up there, thinking of the Emperor as her father figure, despite their infrequent contact. When she came of age, he had revealed his special plans for her, and she had been overjoyed. She had experienced a rocky start as his assassin, but her many successes won so much praise from him that they had eventually formed a strong working relationship. Ever since then, it had been her pride to serve as his agent, rooting out his evil enemies and bringing an end to their schemes. And now, here was another chance to do just that.

"What do you need me to do?" she asked eagerly.

"I have told you of how Lord Vader secretly proposed an alliance with the young Jedi, Luke Skywalker. Despite Vader's poor judgment, I desire to retain him as my servant. Therefore, temptation must be removed from his path. Vader must not see my hand in this...that is why I have chosen you, my faithful assassin. The Jedi must die, because alone, Vader will not dare to assert his independence, and matters will return to normal. But there is another more important reason for your assignment. I have told you of my visions concerning Skywalker," Palpatine said quietly. "You know that I believe I will face him, and that there is some...uncertainty surrounding the outcome. I fear that the Force itself conspires against me. But you and I, my dear Mara Jade, you and I will cheat fate. We will deny destiny. Skywalker will never trouble me if he dies at your hands.

"I have intelligence that Skywalker is going to Tatooine to rescue his friend, the Correllian, from the local Hutt crime lord. You will take full advantage of this knowledge, and find him on Tatooine. There you will see that our young Jedi meets a premature death." He smiled at her warmly, conspiratorially. "I leave the details to your capable mind."

Mara Jade was filled with feelings of determination, pride, and anger towards Skywalker. Anger that such a young terrorist could give the slightest vexation to her beloved Emperor, let alone threaten him. "As you command," she said with conviction, "so shall it be done."

Mara had traveled to that forsaken dustball and infiltrated the grotesque slug's "Palace" as a dancer named Arica. How it had disgusted her to perform for that drooling monstrosity! But apparently her lithe figure and shining hair had delighted the Hutt from the moment he saw her. It was degrading, but it was a good cover. She had waited, biding her time among the sick menagerie that thronged the Hutt's fortress. Then, finally, a few days later, Skywalker had shown up, walking into the Palace with arrogant self-confidence. Mara had almost been able to take a shot at him, but she had been stopped by Jabba's employee, Melina Carniss. Carniss had suspected her of wanting to kill Jabba! As if she would have wasted her time on such filth. Mara had escaped Carniss, but by that time, Skywalker had already killed Jabba's pet monster and earned the Hutt's personal hatred. The Jedi was to be executed at something called the Pit of Carkoon. Suddenly everything was spinning out of control. She had deduced that Skywalker must have a hidden lightsaber, and that the bloated Hutt might not be able to overcome the Jedi. She was sure that unless she came along to make sure Skywalker died, he would escape.

So she had asked to go with Jabba on the sail barge. But somehow, Jabba had an inkling of her true motives. Wanting Skywalker for himself, he had dismissed her without explanation. She had even tried to use her Force skills on him, to no avail. And so, the sail barge and its prisoners had left without her. A day later, Bib Fortuna had made his way back to the Palace, the only survivor of what was to him an astonishing debacle. Jabba was dead, Boba Fett as well, and the Jedi had escaped. Mara had been consumed by a helpless rage. Fortuna, already busy with his bid to take over the organization, did not even notice when she left.

She returned to Coruscant in disgrace, but she was the only one who knew it. The Emperor had already left to go to Endor, where he planned to trap the Rebel fleet. He had not even contacted her, or acknowledged the failure of her mission. He had been forced to go and face his fears and it was her fault. Worry and a sense of doom hovered around her for several days until she finally came to the ancient hall to practice the meditation skills that Palpatine had taught her, to try to find some escape from her deep unease. She reached out to her Master, calmly and carefully, but his mind was closed to her. She could not sense him. Then, just as she was settling into a meditative state, letting the Force flow through her, a vision of Palpatine hit her like a silent explosion. Her eyes jerked open, but the view of the distant mountain range was utterly blotted out by larger than life figures that floated before her; they seemed more real than the room she was in. The Jedi, Skywalker, and the Sith Lord, Darth Vader, were standing in front of a seated Palpatine. Behind her Master, a circular window looked out on the stars. A moment later, she saw Skywalker gesture commandingly at Vader, and they both moved together to attack Palpatine with their lightsabers. To slaughter him. She saw his face between their grim forms as they closed the gap. He was looking directly at her. Such a sense of betrayal was in his yellow eyes - she gasped at his look of rage and terror. In his last seconds, a crystal clear message came through to her, so strong she could have sworn he was there in the room with her.

"YOU WILL KILL LUKE SKYWALKER!" It was his last command. Vader and Skywalker cut him down without mercy, and the vision ended. Mara Jade crumpled to the floor, unconscious.

Emperor Palpatine knew he wasn't dead, but then, he wasn't exactly alive, either. As the Death Star began to erupt, he reached out through the Force to find Mara Jade's mind. It was his only choice, given the pressing need for a swift escape. Finding it, he established a special link between them, through which he could use her as a "spirit anchor". A moment later, the Stormtroopers and officers around him screamed in final terror as simultaneously, a fireball devoured the air in the corridor and the floor vanished, opening a gate to an inferno. Palpatine's pain was all-consuming, but very brief. His clone body was vaporized. He felt his consciousness stretch out, impossibly thin, bridging the gap from Endor to Coruscant. With a violent snap, he hurtled into the mind of Mara Jade. He huddled around the Force-sensitive node in her brain, trying to regain coherence of perception; the brief journey had been enough to leave him severely disoriented. For an eternal moment, he had been exposed to the dark side's chaotic force of dissolution. If it had been able to claim him, he would have been swallowed into its madness for eternity. But now, Mara Jade's living, organized mind provided him with a shield against that chaos. He was safe.

But something had happened that he hadn't expected. Most of his dark power had been stripped from him and left behind in space near Endor. Mara Jade's mind simply could not contain it. Additionally, his state was nothing like what he had expected from his studies on spirit anchors. It was different on the dark side, he now learned. He wasn't entirely within the Force while retaining his individuality. This was more like a kind of possession. Worse, it was a kind of imprisonment. Palpatine was a guest who couldn't survive leaving.

And so, diminished, shorn of his form and power, and almost defeated, the former Master of the dark side of the Force clung to Mara Jade's mind as he slowly came back to himself.

His main goal now was his restoration. He had not panicked at the end, that was critical. Instead, he had sent a message to Sate Pestage, which would hopefully convince the Grand Vizier to bring Jade to Byss. There he could leave Jade's mind and reenter one of his clone bodies. Even as he had made the transition into her mind, he had created a false vision of his death for her, calculated to make her blame Skywalker for his murder. Palpatine still wanted revenge, and he still felt Mara Jade was best suited to carry it out. But she must have the complete conviction that the boy must die. From his position within her mind, Palpatine would do his best to encourage that belief. Skywalker had an unfortunate talent for making allies out of his enemies, and that must not happen with Mara.

Even though he had lost, the game was not over. The Emperor's power was merely eclipsed for a time, and before long, he vowed, his name would once again inspire fear throughout the galaxy.

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