Star Wars - Emperor 2 - Hand Of Fate (Brendon Wahlberg) - Notisblokk

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Star Wars - Emperor 2 - Hand Of Fate (Brendon Wahlberg)

The Hand of Fate

By Brendon Wahlberg (bwahlber+@pitt.edu)

Second in a series of stories about the Emperor during the film trilogy

(episodes 4-6) See also A New Enemy (1) and The Emperor Eclipsed (3)

Emperor Palpatine, master of the dark side of the Force, made no

effort to hide his satisfaction as he strode across the throne room

floor towards the two combatants. One of them was Luke Skywalker, a

young man clad in austere black. He was holding his humming lightsaber

blade at the throat of his vanquished enemy, Lord Darth Vader. Luke

had given in to his anger at last, and he was astonished at how easily

he had beaten the Dark Lord. Luke panted, barely containing his rage

as he warily watched the approaching Emperor. The blade in his hand

drifted perilously close to Vader's gasping mask. The once mighty Sith

Lord was reduced to abject terror, trying in vain to crawl away from

Luke. Luke saw Palpatine through a haze of anger. The Emperor was a

surprisingly small man, hunched with age and clasping his wrinkled

hands together. "Good!" Palpatine said, his withered features stamped

with lust. "Your hate has made you powerful. Now, fulfill your

destiny and take Lord Vader's place at my side!" Luke looked at the

fallen Sith Lord, once his most deadly foe, now completely at his

mercy. He looked at his prosthetic right hand, gloved in black, and

remembered that Vader had cut his real hand off when they last

met. Not only that, Vader had also tortured his friends and delivered

one of them to the ruthless crime lord, Jabba the Hutt, perhaps never

to be seen again. And those acts barely began to scratch the surface

of Vader's black deeds. If he put an end to this evil being, he would

only be giving the galaxy the justice it cried out for. Luke suddenly

recalled another man who had once been helpless before a lightsaber

blade, and what Vader had done to him. Then he made the decision that

felt right and just. He reversed his grip on the lightsaber he had

made with his own hands and swept it through the torso of the Dark

Lord, crying "For Ben Kenobi!" Vader died screaming, cut in half in a

heap of seared gore. Luke turned his back on the smoking corpse and

faced the Emperor. Palpatine was nearly beside himself with

glee. "Well done, my young apprentice! Now, come and kneel to me, and

pledge your loyalty." Luke didn't move. The Emperor smiled at Luke,

but it was the smile of a crafty predator. "You cannot turn back, now,

young Skywalker," he chided Luke. He held out a wasted hand,

beckoning. "I shall raise you to such heights of power that your name

shall forever eclipse the name of Darth Vader." Luke walked over to

him, and with a grim set to his features, knelt deliberately at the

Emperor's feet. "Lord Vader's destiny is my own," Luke said with

finality. Without warning, Luke moved. "Now you die!" Luke shouted,

stabbing upward with his lightsaber at Palpatine's defenseless, robed

body. The bright green blade did not find its mark, however. Even as

the thrust began, the saber was deactivated by a proximity sensor

hidden on the Emperor's person. The pommel of Luke's weapon thudded

ineffectually against the Emperor's chest, and the galactic ruler

lurched backwards. Palpatine saw a flash of crimson behind Luke, then

the point of a force pike bloomed from Luke's chest. Luke was lifted

from the floor, impaled on the long weapon of a hulking Imperial

guard. Luke had known he would not leave the throne room alive, but

to have failed in his one chance to kill the Emperor...it was too much

despair to bear. Drowning in his pain, Luke was dimly aware that his

lightsaber had returned to life. Knowing death was near, and desperate

to end his physical and mental torment, he managed to turn the weapon

onto himself. The red robed guard let the room's second corpse slide

from his force pike and slump to the floor. He regarded his Emperor

silently. Palpatine stared thoughtfully at Luke's body for a long

time. Then, noticing the guard, he dismissed him distractedly. The

bland voice of Sate Pestage, the Emperor's Grand Vizier, interrupted

Palpatine's introspection. "My condolences, master, on the loss of

your servant." Palpatine looked at Pestage bemusedly, searching his

timeworn face for a hint of the humor he thought might be behind the

Side 1

Star Wars - Emperor 2 - Hand Of Fate (Brendon Wahlberg)

statement. There was nothing but a wizened serenity in Pestage's

expression. Pestage knew his master was experiencing a period of great

stress, and he meant his presence to be soothing. Therefore it was

with relief that he saw Palpatine calmly beckon to him and begin

walking. Together, they went out into the halls of the Imperial

citadel. They met no other person as they strode along in silence, for

this part of the citadel was the Emperor's private sanctuary. There

were times when Pestage worried a great deal about his master. Like

the day, four months ago, when Palpatine had collapsed into a vision

trance in front of most of the fleet Admirals. The glorious one had

foreseen his own death, and despite his reliable means of overcoming

that particular affliction, he had been afraid. Seeing fear in his

master had shaken Pestage. Palpatine was the foundation on which he

built his life. He could not imagine what he would do if that

foundation were taken away. Equally worrisome was the Emperor's

accelerated physical decay as the ravages of the dark side became ever

more harsh. For Palpatine was demanding more of the Force than ever

before. Pestage had seen his master spend a great deal of time in his

meditation chamber, trying, he suspected, to see the future. This

ability awed Pestage, but for once, it did not seem to be

working. Palpatine always emerged in a rage, flailing his fists and

cursing his 'blindness'. He exerted more and more power, and his

apparently futile efforts took a fearsome toll on his body. Only once

had Palpatine given him any explanation, and Pestage had not fully

understood. A great nexus was coming, the glorious one had told him,

and the strands of probability were too much in flux to follow. But

whatever barriers there were did not stop Palpatine from trying, and

Pestage had begun to wonder if his Emperor would actually destroy

himself. Then, one day, Vader had returned with a prize. The Emperor

had received his servant with a curious coldness, but once he

discovered what the Sith Lord had brought, Palpatine had seemed

rejuvenated. The prize had set in motion a series of frenzied

preparations, as the Emperor immediately saw in it another means of

gaining the information he sought - the probable outcome of his

meeting with Luke Skywalker. The prize had also made possible the

contents of the room that they now entered. It was a large chamber,

filled with row upon row of man-size tanks. The Emperor moved to the

nearest one and wiped away the moisture beading on its glass

surface. He stared at the face behind the glass with a searching

intensity, but its eyes remained closed, its hair floating in the

gentle currents of the nutrient bath. Sate Pestage suppressed a

shiver. It was the face of Luke Skywalker. The Constable of

Homunculi, Rollo Mon, stepped out of the shadows, his enormous head

ornament casting bizarre shadows in the sharp green light illuminating

the entryway. The Emperor turned to him, his hand still resting on the

tank. "Prepare him," commanded Palpatine.

* * *

Three months earlier, Darth Vader was striding through the nearly

empty halls of cloud city. Behind him, struggling to keep up, was a

surgeon droid clutching a foot long cylindrical tank. They hurried

past vacated apartments and hollow, silent casinos. Only stormtroopers

marked their passage by saluting, their rifles held casually due to

the lack of any threat. For the once thriving luxury resort was now

in the hands of the Empire. Any citizens not able to evacuate in the

exodus initiated by Baron- Administrator turned rebel Lando Calrissian

were rounded up and forcibly deported. Those with questionable pasts

had gone to Imperial prisons, as had some of the innocent, caught in

the wrong place at the wrong time. Vader and the droid moved quickly

into the lower levels of the city. The graceful sculptures and rich

decor gave way to the gritty, exposed machinery of the Tibanna gas

mining facility. Here and there, the squat, grotesque Ugnaughts

scurried about, continuing the task of running the enormous

machines. For them, one human master was much the same as any other,

provided they were paid and not mistreated. Now the valuable gas,

useful for antigrav devices and blasters, would go to the Empire, that

was all. Finally, the Sith Lord reached the bottom of Cloud City and

Side 2

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