Star Wars - FanFiction - Emperor

by Brendon Wahlberg

  "Zelotes, Constable. I'm sorry I frightened you. But you see, I'm in need of your assistance." Zelotes stood up. "I need to get into the innermost cloning laboratory, and I need your help with the access codes." The adept's hands clenched oddly as his face took on a look of concentration. It still felt strange to him to use the Force without talismans.

  Rollo Mon backed away. "I'm sorry, Adept Zelotes, I can't share that information. The Emperor forbids it. No one else is to enter those labs, especially while he is away. I...I just can't...help you." He stopped his retreat abruptly.

  "Yes, Constable, I commend your loyalty, but the Emperor needs me to get into the lab. Before he left, he gave me special orders. He wants an experimental solution tested on his clones, and he said you would help me. He told me to come to you. You are the only one who can help me carry out his wishes."

  Rollo Mon said slowly, "I'm the only one who can help you. Do you wish to go there now?”

  ”No Constable. First we need to wait for a little more protection. The solution is highly valuable and very rare." Zelotes picked up a clear cylinder of yellow liquid. "I have strict orders to prevent it from being stolen by his enemies. He thinks certain of his adepts may be plotting against him, but he doesn't know which ones. You and I might not be able to hold off a traitorous attack on our own. So I brought my Sentinel." Zelotes gestured, and the giant stepped out of the corner.

  It was a silent titan, carrying a tall pole arm. Its body was hidden under many layers of clothing, and its shadowed helm hid all of its face save two glinting reddish eyes. The Sentinels were cloned creatures, linked to their adepts and dependent on them for their purpose. They could share their perceptions with their adepts, and they were fearsome fighters.

  Palpatine had access to several hundred, but the lesser adepts were allotted only one each. Zelotes had brought his own, and his ten allies had contributed theirs. Eleven Sentinels would have to be enough. "We await the arrival of ten more Sentinels, Constable. His Majesty informed me that several uniforms were stolen from the Sovereign Protectors. We may run into enemies who look like our allies. Have patience."

  Rollo Mon was quite overwhelmed. His defenseless mind had fallen swiftly to Zelotes, and he was further caught up in the intrigue. "Do you really think there'll be fighting? That's incredible...Well, you can count on me. But, ahh, there is a slight complication. Usually the Emperor enters the innermost labs with me. Now that he is away, he has entrusted his portion of the access code to the Grand Vizier. We were just there a while ago. I'm not sure where he went after that, but we can probably find him. How much time do you have?" Rollo Mon looked at Urn Zelotes with concern.

  The adept had begun to curse, very loudly.

  * * *

  Rollo Mon watched, curious, as Adept Zelotes paced nervously back and forth. Standing rigidly beyond the agitated alien were eleven towering Sentinels. They made the Constable uneasy, they always had. Even with his meter high head ornament, the little scientist only came up to a Sentinel's chest. And they were so very still. It was eerie.

  There was a gentle knock at the door, and Zelotes' agitation redoubled. "Answer it. If it's Sate Pestage, let him in, but don't tell him I'm here."

  Rollo Mon nodded, pleased to see some action after so much waiting. He hurried into the hall and opened the door to see the elderly Grand Vizier looking tensely at him. There was no need for tension. Once the Grand Vizier saw how things were so well in hand with Adept Zelotes there, he would be so much more at ease.

  "Constable, I've come as you asked. Now tell me what you know about a threat to the Emperor. What have you discovered?"

  Rollo Mon waved Sate Pestage into the hall. "Not out here," he hissed, and hurried into the main room. Pestage followed.

  Zelotes summoned his will as the Grand Vizier came into view. This new and unexpected development had greatly increased the difficulty of his task. Now he would have to control two minds as well as coordinate the actions of eleven Sentinels. The labs were about ten minutes away. It promised to be a quite an ordeal.

  Pestage saw the gathered Sentinels first, and an expression of startled suspicion was born on his face. Zelotes clamped an instant coercive hold on both Rollo Mon's and Pestage's minds. The time for brain-washing was over. He saw Pestage's eyes fill with outrage at his captivity, but the Vizier could not move.

  "Welcome, Grand Vizier Pestage," said Zelotes. "You are just in time to help me destroy your Master once and for all." The adept forced Rollo Mon and Sate Pestage to stand to either side of him. He opened the door and sent his own Sentinel ahead as a scout. A single Sentinel would not immediately alarm the Sovereign Protectors; it could be going about the business of any of the adepts. His Sentinel would also give him visuals of what was around the next corner. Zelotes had planned his route in advance, but chance encounters with soldiers could still ruin him. He linked himself to the monster, and in moments, he could see out of its eyes. As usual, the sense of height was disorienting.

  With his two captives at his side and surrounded by the other Sentinels, Zelotes went out after his mute slave. Soon the giant reached the first security cameras, and as planned, a small device it carried emitted a short burst of energy. The camera would pick up only static for a minute, enough time for Zelotes to hurry past. He didn't want any clear images of him to be made, in case he had to retreat. For two minutes, the route proved to be an excellent choice. Then they encountered a Stormtrooper patrol. The Sentinels took the troopers by surprise, tearing into them and rending them limb from limb. Zelotes didn't need to direct their every move in combat. They were programmed for such ruthless violence.

  Zelotes had to place a new Sentinel at point, as his was now blood-soaked. He was unused to the specific mind of that giant and had trouble linking his vision to it. As a result, the Sentinel marched straight through an intersection without revealing to Zelotes the Sovereign Protector standing in the cross-corridor. The elite warrior, however, detected Zelotes. He was trained in the use of the dark side of the Force, and the coercion being placed on the captives was like a beacon drawing his attention. The Protector was there to investigate the failure of the Stormtrooper squad to report, and he was fully alert. Zelotes and his prisoners came into view, and the Protector was already in motion, barking a clipped command into his comlink for reinforcements. In one hand, he had a prototype blaster, in the other, an exotic Force Pike.

  The adept went pale with shocked surprise, and lost his control over Rollo Mon and Sate Pestage. But the two men swayed and held their heads, unable to recover. The Protector's first shot ripped away the lead Sentinel's head with immense violence. As the others closed with him, the soldier spun and darted beneath the grasp of the nearest behemoth with impressive dexterity, twisting his Force Pike at full power into its vitals. Sparking and shuddering, the weapon penetrated the giant's light armor. But even as the discharges ravaged its brutish nervous system, the Sentinel forced itself forward. The Force Pike burned out its back as the Sentinel managed a powerful backhanded blow that broke the Protector's neck. Zelotes recovered his wits. Two Sentinels picked up the prisoners, and the invaders left the dying Sentinel behind in an awful embrace with the corpse of the Protector.

  Pestage and Rollo Mon, now fully aware, were terrified and furious. The minutes ticked by as they came ever closer to Zelotes' goal. A sudden storm of Blaster fire announced the arrival of the Sovereign Protector reinforcements. Zelotes spun and blocked some of the bolts with his hands, desperate to keep his captives alive. Several of the Sentinels went down, gaping holes burned dead center into their backs. Zelotes sent the rest back towards the Protectors, keeping only the two holding Pestage and Rollo Mon. Then he ran on towards the clone labs. The meeting of the two forces was a fury of noise that washed over the fleeing adept.

  The Protectors were the most elite of the Empire's soldiers, chosen from the Royal Guard for their stamina, strength, dexterity, and intelligence. The Force further enhanced their perceptions and sped their reactions.
The Sentinels were much stronger, but they were dependent on the will of their adepts. As Zelotes fled, they were doomed to failure.

  Wielded with the astonishing skill of the Protectors, a few vibroweapons and heavy blasters spelled the end of Zelotes' force. The fight came to an abrupt end when the Protectors' Commander stepped up with a Prax Energy Rifle and fired microgrenades into the helmets of the last three standing Sentinels. There was a stunning report, and fragments of the giants' heavy robes soared flaming through the air as their headless forms slumped heavily to the floor. Zelotes felt the loss of his Sentinels through the Force. Despairing, he experienced a moment of pure terror as the corridor became a dead end and he realized what the Sovereign Protectors would do to him. Then he understood that he had reached the clone labs at last. Before him was a heavy blast door with a complex control panel to one side. Zelotes throttled his own panic and reasserted his control over Rollo Mon and Sate Pestage.

  "Open it," he growled. They stumbled forward, rushing to do his bidding. The codes were entered, and moments later, Zelotes experienced the immense relief of the blast door hissing shut behind him. "Disable all the lab security systems," he commanded. A plan to deceive the adept flickered across Pestage's thoughts. Zelotes caught it, and punished him with an angry constriction of his wrinkled throat. Gasping, Pestage went to his stick like knees. "Don't defy me, or you die. It's that simple." Zelotes pointed to the console. "One of you, turn it all off, and erase any recordings made so far. I'll know if you do it wrong."

  Rollo Mon scurried to the controls and deactivated the system, but Pestage seemed unable to get up. He was weak, and getting weaker. Zelotes didn't care. He brought out the cylinder of yellow liquid, and passed it to Rollo Mon. "Feed this into the Spaarti Cylinders." Rollo Mon thought of dashing the cylinder to the floor, but the thought was detected. His hands wouldn't obey him; instead they hooked the container up to the nutrient feed lines. He watched in impotent horror as the poison flowed out to find every clone. All his work was being destroyed. He wanted to die rather than watch, but watch he did. Some of the clones twitched violently, then they were still. The youngest forms did not react at all.

  One by one,

  the tanks began to whine with warning alarms as their contents died. At Zelotes' command, Rollo Mon shut those off, too. When the last alarm was silenced, the only sounds were the gasps of Sate Pestage, the whimpering of Rollo Mon, and the dull thud of the Sovereign Protectors' first attempt to get through the blast door. Zelotes was not worried. It would hold for a while, yet. He trembled as a feeling of wild victory coursed through him. He had survived, and he had won! The clones of the betrayer were destroyed, and it was done in time. At any moment now, the betrayer himself would be destroyed, and Zelotes would get the message of ultimate success on the room's Holonet terminal. He forced Rollo Mon to his knees next to Sate Pestage and waited.

  * * *

  "When rage leads directly to results, a sense of the omnipotence of expressed rage grows. Vader felt this sense of power, but he and I did not use it in the same way. I have truly learned to control my anger, while Vader could only partially control his. Like a berserker, he always struck out with his rage, but I am like a furnace. My rage burns deep within, contained and concentrated. Mine was ever the greater strength, for this reason. Many of my enemies were fooled by my apparent lack of defenses. But rage, focused within and controlled, is a devastating weapon that can be used at any time, and without warning."

  -From The Book of Anger

  Standing on the bridge of the Eclipse, Admiral Dal reflected that his career had certainly had its ups and downs while serving Emperor Palpatine. Dal had first come to the Emperor's attention in the early days of the Empire, for his part in the massacre that ended the threat of the Zingali. He had climbed in the ranks swiftly, becoming an Admiral by the Battle of Endor. He remembered that day vividly. His Star Destroyer had been in a great fleet, trapping the rebels between them and the Death Star.

  Evidently, a madman's order was given within the rebel fleet, for the rebel frigates and Mon Cal cruisers had flown directly into their midst and opened fire at point blank range. It broke all the rules of Capital Ship combat, and it was horrible to behold. Most of all, Dal remembered the explosions of the Star Destroyers. The city-like ships almost brushed up against the rebel cruisers and the tiny space between them was like a lace work of turbolaser bolts. Twin rows of fireballs blossomed along each hull as deflector shields crumbled and the pent-up hatred of years of conflict was given a savage outlet. A dying Mon Cal cruiser had aimed itself directly at Admiral Dal's bridge, but another Star Destroyer, spinning out of control, hit it first. Their collision had nearly taken Dal's ship with it.

  Dark and disabled, they had drifted away from the battle. A while later, the blackness of the bridge had been lit up by the distant annihilation of the second Death Star. Dal and his surviving crew had joined with another ship and escaped the rebel mopping up action. For one year, he had defended the shrinking Imperial territory. Then, to his mystification, he had been assigned to the Eclipse project. He couldn't believe it was still being funded. Nor did matters become clear when he was in the midst of the project. The source of the funding was hidden in a bureaucratic tangle he could never hope to unravel. The available evidence pointed to a powerful Imperial leader somewhere, but those who inquired too closely into the matter tended to vanish.

  A few weeks ago, just after the completion of the ship's hyperdrive and prime weapon, Dal had received orders to take the unfinished Eclipse into the Deep Core. He had obeyed, hungry to penetrate the mystery. Perhaps the last thing Dal expected was to find the Emperor reborn awaiting him. Dal knew absolutely that it was the Emperor, but how could someone return from death as a younger man? Dal couldn't conceive of it. Like a proper Imperial, he had never believed in the Force. His grip on reality had begun to slip. Then he was told that he would be taking the ship to destroy several uninhabited Deep Core worlds for the Emperor.

  Enveloped by a sense of the surreal, Admiral Dal had agreed. Perhaps he had died at Endor, and he and his Emperor were carving out a new Empire in the afterlife. It didn't matter, so long as he could serve. Without service, Dal instinctively knew he would find a kind of living death. The Eclipse emerged from hyperspace, pulling Dal into the present. The bridge crew went smoothly into action, placing the vast ship on a course for a nearby world, visible as a tiny blue sphere on the main screen. Dal admired his crew. They were some of the best remaining officers in the Empire. They were efficient and skilled, and completely loyal to the Emperor. Dal was really only comfortable on the bridge itself, surrounded by his human officers.

  Elsewhere on the Eclipse, he was unnerved by the presence of the alien dark side adepts. They filled him with a deep revulsion and sent a chill through him whenever he saw them. The small planet ahead continued to grow in the viewscreen. Dal turned to look behind him at the special platform above the bridge. There sat the Emperor, on one of his technological thrones. He was in something called a meditation trance, supposedly in contact with the Force. The Emperor had told Dal privately that destroying the planet ahead would increase his power.

  Dal was struggling to include the Force in his view of reality, but after seeing the Emperor reborn, he believed many things were possible. He looked forward to reclaiming the Empire and erasing the New Republic from existence. The Eclipse moved smoothly into firing range. "All crew stand ready," called out the Admiral. He glanced once more at the Emperor's still form. "Commence primary ignition." The Eclipse began to vibrate subtly. It was the barest indication of the incomprehensible forces about to be unleashed.

  The power of his ship intoxicated the Admiral. Very soon, the planet ahead would simply cease to exist. Dal hadn't served on either Death Star, but this more than made up for it. His prime weapon was stronger than those that had come before. Now he would see it in action at last. And just maybe, before too long, he would see it used on the worlds of the New Republic.

&n
bsp; Dal was just about to give the order to fire, when he felt a startling and frightening constriction at his throat. His breath was choked off, and panicked, he grabbed at his neck to force away the hands that held it so painfully. There was nothing there. Terror surged up inside him, but there was nothing he could do. The Force was killing him, he realized in his final moments. He dimly saw that the officers around him were stricken as well. Irrationally, he thought he could see Lord Vader standing nearby. That makes sense, he thought as his mind cut loose from his pain-wracked body. Vader often punished people like this. But he had heard Vader was dead. On the other hand, the Emperor was still alive, was he not? Perhaps no one really died at all. Perhaps this wasn't the end, but only a beginning...

  Palpatine let the Force flow through him. He could sense the balance of the dark against the light. Soon, he would disrupt that balance in a violent assault against nature itself. The new strength of the dark side would be shared with him, and once again he would become its greatest servant. But his servitude was not slavery; it was a position of ultimate mortal power. He was far above all other living beings. This was given to him to know by the dark side itself. This he believed absolutely.

  The world ahead was full of life. Its oceans and continents were teeming with non sentient forms. Its loss would be strongly felt by the light side. Not only would the existing life be lost, but also all the potential life. Just as all the potential death had been lost with the destruction of the Death Star, weakening the dark side. Despite being in a trance, Palpatine was partly aware of his surroundings. He heard the command to commence primary ignition as if it was spoken at a great distance. This was it. He was ready to reclaim his title as Master of the dark side, a title that meant more than Emperor to him. But wait - Something was wrong. The command to fire had not been given. Palpatine reached out with the Force and saw two things at the same moment. The entire bridge crew was dead, and he was completely surrounded by black-robed figures, their human and alien arms raised as if to reach out to him. He had a moment of utter clarity to realize that this, at last, was the source of his recent fears. It was his death. Then, devastating waves of Force Lightning slammed into him from the ten adepts that ringed him.