Star Wars - Emperor 3 - Emperor

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The Emperor Eclipsed

By Brendon Wahlberg (

Third in a series of stories about the Emperor during the film

trilogy

(episodes 4-6) see also A New Enemy (1) and The Hand Of Fate (2)

The Emperor's Grand Vizier, Sate Pestage, knew his master was dead

before anyone else in the palace. The message he found waiting for

him

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.

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

salvation for his master, so far away from Byss. Without proximity

a clone, Palpatine was surely lost. Yet, he would trust that somehow,

appearances were deceiving, and that there was hope. He would trust

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 braking

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

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. 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 my

visions

concerning the Jedi, Skywalker," He replied quietly. "You know that 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. 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. 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. And Mara had been asleep! A long day of

dancing had exhausted her, and by the time she woke up, the Jedi had

already killed Jabba's rancor and earned the Hutt's personal

hatred. Skywalker was to be executed at something called the Pit of

Carkoon. Suddenly everything was spinning out of control. She didn't

trust the bloated Hutt to be able to overcome the Jedi. She was in a

panic that unless she came along to make sure Skywalker died, somehow

he would escape. Anyone who could elude Darth Vader should have

little

trouble with a Hutt. Skywalker had some clever plan, she was sure of

it. So she had asked to go with Jabba on the sail barge. And her

cover identity had backfired on her. Jabba had become very "attached"

to her, and wanted her safe in his chambers when he returned from his

little excursion. The Pit of Carkoon was no place for a dancer, it

was too dangerous. She had begged him, telling him she didn't want to

be away from him for that long, but he had been adamant. 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.

* * *

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Star Wars - Emperor 3 - Emperor

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