In Shadows and Darkness

Chapter 31

Mara stood statue-still on the massive Palace landing platform and watched Luke leave, shoulders sagging, completely lost.

What should she do? She had no idea- none at all. His last words rang again and again in her head, so much so that she wondered whether he'd used the Force to instil the thought.

Fate. Him and his stupid, stubborn, irresponsible, dangerous Fate. Was that what this was- just another test, another of his bizarre opportunities for Fate to even the score if it was meant to be, or whatever the hell reason he took these reckless, unreasonable risks?

Had he pushed his luck to the limit again just to see how far he could go before it all fell down about him?

He could have lied to her and she would have believed him. And even if she didn't he could have charmed and cajoled her as he always did. Why this? Why admit the truth when he knew it could damn him- and to Mara, who had never hesitated to make her allegiance known.

Him and his precious intractable, uncheatable Fate. Damn them both, Mara thought. And damn Vader for colluding; for putting his own son at such risk, knowing the consequences.

He knew - Luke knew what she would do and she wouldn't be made to feel guilty for doing her duty.

She set forward from the roof, jaw jutting in determination... and slowed to a stop, shaking her head.

Because he really was telling the truth. He wouldn't yield to Palpatine again- not now; not anymore. Forewarned, he'd never let them get close enough to use the drugs; he wouldn't be taken and he wouldn't be brought back to the Palace... and what would Palpatine do, when his Jedi wouldn't back down this time?

He would rip Luke to pieces- completely, as he had done when he'd had first arrived here. Worse, because Luke would be that much less willing to capitulate. The last time had nearly killed him- had changed him completely at some fundamental level, even she could see that.

But Palpatine would do whatever was necessary to take his precious Jedi apart and rebuild him again, just as he had before. Luke was simply worth too much to him.

And what would be left when he had finished? Not the man she... loved.

What little was left would despise her for being the one who did this to him- who knowingly turned him over to his persecutor.

Persecutor? Mara frowned at the concept... at the belief. At the consequences...

For a brief moment she wavered, indecisive, lightheaded, weightless, as if the galaxy itself held its breath...

Then she shook her head, suddenly intensely sure;

She couldn't do it. If she did this - if she took this to Palpatine - she condemned Luke.

And she couldn't do that. At the end of the day, it all came down to that one fact.

She couldn't do it.

Was this what he had really wanted - to give her the chance to come to this decision on her own?

No tricks, no deceptions... just the truth. All of it.

Funny; she'd always been terrified of this moment. He was right, she'd always known it would come and dreaded it- when she'd have to make the choice; Luke or the Emperor. Now, finally brought to this moment, it seemed incredibly easy.

She walked slowly from the platform, head down, lost in thought... unbelievably easy...

.

The summons to the Emperor's presence came three hours later- enough of a gap that Mara was unsure whether it was connected or not. Enough that she hoped...

She walked slowly down long, lofty corridors to his sprawling apartments, arranging layer after layer of shields about her thoughts as Luke had taught her, aware of the distinction this time; of the gravity of her situation. Before it had been a minor dissent, if there was such a thing in her master's eyes, tinged with Luke's insistence that Palpatine already knew the truth about herself and Luke even if he chose not to acknowledge it.

This- this was different; this was treason. A heavy iron band tightened across her chest, heart hammering at that thought; treason.

No matter how Luke validated his actions, rightly or wrongly it was still the premeditated, repeated disobedience of a fundamental rule; a primary order which had been intentionally breached. And knowing that, she became accessory to the fact- which was tantamount to committing it in her master's eyes.

This was more than an impassioned lie; more than the insignificant steps she'd taken to hide their harmless trysts. Never, in her whole life, had Mara disobeyed a direct command from her master; never.

She didn't want to this time; she didn't want to betray him now either...

She only wanted to protect Luke; if she could have done that without lying to her master then she would, but Palpatine was forcing the lie... because Mara knew what he would do if he found out.

Still, the guilt twisted her stomach and seemed to steal the air from her lungs, making every breath laboured. She wished Luke was here, if only in the Palace- some support; reassurance, no matter how muted. But this was her decision, hers alone. And that was how she needed to achieve it; alone.

She'd made her choice, now all she needed to do was follow through.

She walked, breathless, beneath the high arch which marked the Emperor's private apartments; past the row of eight Royal Guards who stood to still attention, a scarlet streak against the dark ebony walls, and into the vast, circular central hall, three storeys high, a sweeping double-staircase hugging the curved walls, carved from mirror-polished black stone with subtle, fiery veins of deep blood red tracing through, its imposing scale dwarfing the few who were allowed access even this far.

She paused momentarily then walked on beneath the first landing of the immense stairwell, feet leaden, instantly lost in the shadows and the columns of the dark, echoing space, knowing where her master would be.

Knowing what she had to do.

Was this how Luke faced the Emperor; every summons, every meeting, heart pumping, hands trembling, anxious and fearful that somehow Palpatine imagined, he suspected, he knew.

How had he held out against this? How could she? Because even now, committed as she was... without even facing her master, without looking into those sharp, perceptive eyes-

Already she feared that she would slip, that she'd crack, concede....

Already she feared she'd crumble.

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Palpatine stood at the far side of the cavernous three-storey Receiving Room, the light from the long banks of tall windows dimmed by photovoltaic glass, reducing the massive hall to darkness and shadows. This was not a room for daylight- like all of the Emperor's chambers it thrived in darkness, the tall stretch of double-storey walls inset with two columned walkways, stucco plaster pigmented a rich, radiant claret red, the arched and vaulted ceilings above rendered in relief-carved tracery of glowing golds. Its heavy, stately grandeur engulfed all who entered, and it was not without consideration that Palpatine had chosen it.

The substantial carved doors slid aside and Mara Jade whispered into the hall, her footfalls inaudible though her sense in the Force sounded a heavy tone of unease.

His back still to her, gazing out through the muted windows, Palpatine's thin lips pulled to a malicious smile at the game ahead. He waited until she was close, neither turning nor acknowledging her reverential bow, leaving her to stand in uneasy attendance...

When he finally spoke he turned his head just slightly, his face still hidden within the heavy cowl of his raven cloak, "I am... confused. Chancellor Amedda tells me that my Jedi has left for Mosiin... yet you are still here."

The tension in Jade's voice as she spoke was palpable, "The Heir... forbade me to attend."

"Forbade you? You act under my decree, lest you forget, Emperor's Hand. I ordered you to attend him. He is now without a bodyguard... or a watcher."

Jade hesitated long seconds, and he knew she was gathering her nerve where normally she would have spoken without pause. "I apologise, master... but he wouldn't allow me to board- my rank isn't equal to his..."

"Why?"

She wavered, unsure "... master?"

"Why would he not allow you to board- what had you done?"

"We... argued. He told me I was to stay here to consider m..."

"About what?"

.

Mara paused, uncertain; had Palpatine already spoken to Luke? Oh, she could so easily destroy everything without whispering a word about his defiance.

No; Luke had played this game too often with the Emperor. If he'd already been quizzed and been forced to give an account, Luke would have made damn sure Mara knew every point. She'd seen him do it with scrupulous attention to detail so often over even the most minor matters in the past - and that must be a fraction of the truth, if he had hidden his meetings with his father for so long. No- this was something else...

The Emperor turned his head a little more, his tone a shade more indulgent; "A... personal quarrel perhaps?"

The breath went Mara Mara's lungs in a silent rush.

.

Palpatine turned, the slightest of smiles on bloodless lips. "Or did you think that I was unaware?"

He set forward, one arm out beside him to usher Jade along as he walked the length of the massive, imposing room. "I'm disappointed, my child; I thought you knew me better than that."

Head in a spin, she allowed herself to be guided forward, no words coming to her lips, no thoughts to her mind such was her alarm.

He shepherded her from the soulless grandeur of the cavernous space to a small waiting room, its proportions of a more comforting scale, more fitting to his line of attack, decided now. From what little they had spoken - from the lack of readable information through the Force when he had asked her directly about the argument - he knew she was hiding something. He could force her to tell him as he had originally intended, could terrorize and intimidate her or simply break the barriers she had placed and take the information by dint of relative strength... but this was so much better.

He owned his Wolf - and nobody else. Skywalker had learned his lessons and trusted very few, so the opportunities to clarify this fact were far between these days, but occasionally it was still possible to expose for Skywalker the limits of supposed fidelity in those about him, to underline that fact.

Mara Jade was his player; she would ultimately do whatever the Emperor demanded of her... he had held her too long for Skywalker to even think he might be able to change that. He allowed his Jedi this indiscretion, but it was on the Emperor's terms, not Skywalker's - and it was time to remind him of that. "Everything that transpires here is according to my will. My intent. You know that. You are with my Jedi by my consent... and you will remain so by my good grace."

He paused, then reached out to place one pale hand to her face and lift her chin, "But don't fret, child; I have every faith in you- you would never disappoint."

Jade looked to her master, emerald-green eyes anxious and apprehensive, and he smiled into that panicked face, arranging an expression of gracious indulgence about his own features, knowing that Mara would realize it only skin-deep. She knew her master well; there was no need for open threats- they were implicit here.

He had already seen their argument on the landing platform of course; had taken the trouble to have the images sent to him following a report by one of the Palace Guards. It was a tiny fragment, Skywalker shrewd enough to quickly move Jade to a point behind the shuttle where they were hidden from the lens, their words inaudible above multiple engines.

Normally Palpatine would have ignored it; dismissed it out of hand as two fiery temperaments squaring off, as they had so often in the past... but today, so soon after the unsettling disturbance in the Force so clearly centred here in the Palace, everything was of interest.

Everything required further scrutiny.

This was not what it seemed- that much had been clear the moment she entered the Stateroom. Something had changed... and now everything else was shifting about it...

What exactly had changed the Force would not reveal, defying any scrutiny. But in Palpatine's experience events often became more difficult to see or predict according to their proximity to a trained Force-sensitive...

There were only three of those left in existence. If Palpatine were changing the Fates by his own actions then he would surely know... which left two others, both of whom had done something unexpected today, Vader in trying to delay his intended return to the Palace and Skywalker in leaving Jade behind when he set out to Mosiin.

Of the two, Palpatine knew who was capable of inflicting the most damage; like Jade, he held Vader completely... which left just one.

Skywalker himself would be a closed book even if he were here - he'd learned his lessons - but Jade... well, Palpatine had always told the boy that she was his weakness.

So he smiled at the woman now, dressing his question to hide its intent and play to her insecurity. "We do not speak enough of your new role, my dear. Perhaps we should remedy that."

"I..." she stumbled over her reply, wordless before the one person who could reduce her to such, lost as to how to react.

Not that it mattered; the Emperor spoke on regardless, "You of course appreciate how important such a role is- how strategically significant. You were among the very first I considered. Only those in whom I held absolute faith could be contemplated for such a role."

'Among the first'; she was sharp enough to hear the threat.

He bared ruined teeth in an empty smile, "And I know that you would never withhold information from me - cause me to question that faith. Make me re-evaluate that privileged position."

She lifted her eyes to him, and still he smiled indulgently, as if explaining the obvious; "You are consort to The Heir, child; a position of great... responsibility. This is the first time that I have ever asked you to prove your suitability- your loyalty. Don't make me doubt you now."

Again that grin, like a garral stalking prey; all cold eyes and sharp teeth. "You, my dear, understand the potential offered - and the terms inherent. I give him everything- more than any, ever... he has simply to take it. To reach out his hand and take it. And I expect you to aid him in that; in explaining to him the opportunity he has... and in illustrating to him the futility - and the danger - of defiance."

She shook her head fervently, "He's not..."

"Think very carefully before you answer, child." he interrupted, clipped voice silencing her instantly, "As I said; yours is a privileged position."

She hesitated momentarily, "He's not at fault."

Her first slip; he wasn't at fault - not he'd done nothing wrong. Palpatine smiled benignly, head to one side, "I believe you."

She fell to subdued silence, reluctant to betray him directly and Palpatine considered, caught up in the game now... perhaps he could offer her a pretext; a way to tell the truth but pass the burden.

"I... worry for him, child. I am concerned that he is... at risk from outside influences- that another has found a vulnerability and seeks to lead him astray. I hoped your closeness would give you the opportunity to identify such lapses."

She glanced down too quickly, eyes anywhere but at her master's, and Palpatine smiled into that guilt-ridden evasion. Before anyone else she was unassailable, unshakeably cool under fire. Before Palpatine and a lifetime of grooming, each manipulation carefully constructed one upon the other, she was tractable and compliant- though her fear was for another rather than herself, that much was clear. Which was what made it so wonderfully easy to exploit.

"I am not blind child; I know the games he plays- in fact I expect no less from him, you know that. On the contrary, it is his strength of spirit which I value. But there are times when that resolve is... misdirected. And then I rely on the counsel of those whom I have placed about him for clarification."

The slightest of frowns crossed her smooth brow, uncertainty played out in her face as Palpatine continued his subtly-insistent coercion. "I know that you wish only to protect him- that is why I allow you close to him."

She glanced up at that, fresh insecurity worrying her thoughts, and he softened his voice further.

"This need go no further, Mara. I have no intention of punishing him for something if I do not believe he is at fault. It is enough to know. By knowing, I may disperse this problem before it requires stronger action. To tell me now can only help him..."

"... he trusts me..."

"And he is correct to do so, because you will do what is right for him." Palpatine underlined, knowing how close to the edge she was, savouring the game, already looking forward to the moment when he could reveal to Skywalker that his greatest weakness had betrayed him with no more encouragement than a few coercive words.

"It will be our secret Mara; nobody else need know - what you say here will never go beyond these walls. In truth, you will be helping him, as you will be helping me. You will be fulfilling your obligations to both- I know that is what you want." He paused, taking the chance, pushing the probability. "I already know that there is something wrong. I don't wish to take him to the cells; don't make me do that."

.

Mara glanced up at this, aware of the gravity of that threat, remembering Luke's words; that he absolutely wouldn't be taken again. And Palpatine already knew- he already knew something was wrong. Would it be so terrible to tell him the facts? Surely her master was right; she would be helping Luke, dispersing the situation before it reached critical.

Luke wouldn't back down again; she'd seen that in his eyes, heard it in his tone. He was no longer the tentative innocent at odds with his own conscience. This could so easily escalate...

.

Palpatine leaned closer, tone persuasive, compelling, knowing from long familiarity exactly what she needed to hear, encouraging her hopes and voicing her fears, "I don't believe he is at fault... but until I know otherwise, there is no other way to deal with this problem, you know that. I don't wish to hurt him but it would become a battle of wills as it always does... one which he can only lose. Don't make me put him through that again."

She shook her head, concern obvious. "He won't yield."

Of course he would yield; Palpatine consciously kept his features from hardening, kept the cold amusement from his voice at the knowledge that he would simply break the boy apart a piece at a time until he did. But he nodded just once, tone grave, tinged with reluctant concern, "I know. But you know what I will do - what I have to do. Once we are on that path, I cannot back down."

He hesitated; just one more push. "You have the power to stop all that now Mara, before it's begun. You have the power to save him."

"It's not his fault..."

The Emperor nodded benignly, the touch of impatient steel beneath his quiet words unnoticed by Mara. "If there is something you think I should know then you should tell me now..."

She held to hesitant silence, at the very brink...

Perhaps it was time to replace her after all; Skywalker's hold was becoming too great.

"The Force whispers..." he trailed off into silence, intending to allow her own fears to fill the pause but, sensing her apprehension spike and realizing that Skywalker must have mentioned the disturbance, he arranged a contemplative tone to his voice and about his ravaged features. "I sense... a shift; a change- and I do not wish it to be between myself and my Jedi. I have invested five onerous years in establishing our collaboration- in ensuring his investment here. Left to his own devices he would have deserted us long ago... returned to his precious rebellion- or simply disappeared. My methods seem harsh but it is I who have held him here; my will, nothing else. Remember that."

He stepped forward, grating voice lowered to a wheedling tone, "You must trust my judgement child..."

"I do master- I always have."

"I fear that without intervention this situation may escalate beyond any retrieval - I fear we may both lose him..."

Panic lit her eyes... and he knew that he had her-

.

".......... Vader." she said, voice a breathless whisper.

"Vader?"

"He's been speaking with Vader; meeting with him. Vader's manipulating him, trying to use Luke to accomplish what he can't; push him to disobey..." She absolutely believed this; Luke wouldn't do more, not of his own choice. He was being manipulated; he was. "Luke just... wanted to speak to his father. He didn't intend any greater defiance."

"No... he wouldn't...." Palpatine shook his head, tone darkening. After all he had done, surely the boy knew there were some laws never to be disobeyed; and why would he choose to anyway? He hated his father. Palpatine had invested long hours of scheming to ensure that, to be sure that when he'd first faced his father as a Sith, the boy would want only to kill him

And he had; Skywalker almost had killed Vader when they duelled- in fact Palpatine had thought he would, had been sure that the boy had entered into that duel with his own agenda regardless of Palpatine's order. That had been the test; the ultimate confirmation of Palpatine's control over the boy even in the most dire of circumstances; the ability to make him pull back in the heat of battle.

"...The duel- he tried to kill Vader-"

Mara's eyes turned down, words almost lost in shallow breaths, "But he couldn't."

"He couldn't..." and finally Palpatine understood; saw with crystal clarity all that had transpired... He had intended to disobey- to kill Vader anyway... but he couldn't.

And if, in the event, he couldn't do it... then the choice had been his, not Palpatine's.

But he'd allowed Palpatine to believe that he had controlled his Jedi- used Palpatine's conviction that he'd contained Luke to his own advantage.

As, apparently, had his father.

The tie that Palpatine had thought irrevocably broken was evidently still intact. They hadn't moved against him, so the boy was still wary of his father, the bond tattered and torn- but there nonetheless.

And that was too much to tolerate.

Everything that Palpatine had built since had been dependent on that one fact; on his ability to control the boy in the heat of unreserved rage or cold, calculating fury.

Control was everything- and Palpatine had been certain that he had held it unconditionally... but he'd been deceived, intentionally deceived time and again by the boy... Which meant that he had lied... lied to Palpatine's face. Deliberately and repeatedly in order to conceal his treachery and maintain his deception.

Outrage burned through Palpatine at the boy's brazen treachery. Indignation that he had believed he could disguise such a damning deceit, fury at the extent and duration that he had done so.

"Insolent, intractable, scheming creature..." There could only be one punishment for this- for putting another before his Master. He had always told his Jedi that if he did not resolve his own weaknesses, then Palpatine would do it for him.

Mara hesitated, "You said.."

Palpatine tensed as he turned on her and she flinched back instantly... he paused-

Yes, he had intended to lash out at her- but then this link would be lost.

"That was your argument on the landing platform today." he observed, grating voice hard and calculating now, bitter fury already cooling to reserved, hostile vehemence.

"I told him to stop." she said, voice earnest- pleading almost.

So he had known within hours of Jade finding out. A valuable arrangement then, one that should perhaps be maintained- for now. Her replacement was not yet entirely established, and he had not gained all he wanted from their association yet.

He turned cold eyes to her, voice dismissive, "You may go, Jade."

.

Mara hesitated, terrified at the change that had overcome her master but needing to know, driven by something greater than fear, "You won't..."

"I said you are dismissed."

There was a power to it which bore no refusal, and she turned and almost ran from the room, her eyes blurring.

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CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

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A Lambda-class shuttle with Palace markings came to a slow descent on the roof below, Mara watching blankly from the window of her apartments to the rear of the North Tower. For long seconds she stared without really seeing, worried thoughts elsewhere, then the escort flew by overhead and she realized the shuttle designation and leaned forward, heart in her throat...

Vader strode smoothly forward from the shuttle toward the South Tower entrance, unaware of her eyes on him, and Mara felt the air go from her lungs in a rush.

Vader! Palpatine had summoned Vader to the Palace... her mind raced, searching to fill in the blanks; Vader had agreed to Reece that he would remain at Tingarn tonight, which meant that he must have been summoned back here by Palpatine personally. Only the Emperor's summons would have changed his plans.

Would he hold Vader accountable- make him answer all accusations? He knew that he had far greater control over Vader than Luke; expected more of him- would that be enough to stay his hand?

She saw again the look in her master's eyes when she'd told him the truth and shook her head imperceptibly; no. Not this time. She glanced again the the comlink on the table nearby. She'd picked it up intending to contact Luke a dozen times now... more. But she always replaced it unused. She turned, resisting the urge to pace up and down, aware that she had committed an irreversible act, hoping desperately that she had done the right thing.

She had potentially betrayed Luke to the Emperor- if he chose to act on her information.

Court had been deferred and its members dismissed- for days, the Emperor had indicated, rumours already circulating. Hardly the act of someone intending to disperse the situation.

Mara shook her head, hand to her mouth; of course he'd act on it, why had she believed otherwise? What had she been thinking- how could she have been so easily led?

Because she was trying to help him! Trying to diffuse the disaster. How could it have got this far... how could the absence of one stupid, insignificant comlink have escalated this fast? And there was no way to hide her part in this; if Palpatine punished Vader... whilst Mara didn't give a damn for the man who had dragged his own son to near-destruction to feed his own political ambitions, she doubted that Luke would share her low opinion, considering what he was risking simply to speak to him.

How could he have thought to cross Palpatine?! How could...

"Don't cross me..." Where had she heard that before?

Her mind was drawn to that night on the Patriot, horrified at the realisation... when they'd been curled about each-other in the safe cloak of a distant night; "Don't cross me..." Luke had whispered those words to her with such feeling. She'd opened her mouth to deny it and Luke had stopped her; didn't want the empty words.

He'd known even then; known that he was laid beside his eventual betrayer.

She felt physically sick- she was trembling.

The situation could cascade so easily; escalate out of all control- she knew that. Luke had said that to her!

He wouldn't back down this time...

But how could she blame the Emperor for acting on the information she'd given him? What alternative did he have? He had to act on it, she knew that. She'd known that all along; she'd held her silence at Luke's revelation about the duel with his father for so long because she knew that if she told Palpatine, it would destroy everything-

Destroy Luke.

But Palpatine said he wouldn't- he'd said this would be their secret, that to know was enough. He'd promised he wouldn't act. He'd promised her...

Yet already Court was dismissed, the levels about the Throne Room empty, and Mara's stomach was tightening into an icy knot which left her cold and breathless, arms wrapped about herself.

One impulsive moment of blind trust... it had always been so easy before to trust him. Perhaps she'd never had anything she feared to lose.

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Palpatine stood in silence in the small anteroom for a long time considering, eyes narrowed, lips clenched to a thin line.

How credulous he'd been to trust his Wolf- how gullible.

How lenient for so long that the boy thought he could get away with this. How remiss.

He knew what the boy was; what he was capable of... hadn't he sworn that he would always watch his Wolf closely- that any dissent would be swiftly and mercilessly dealt with?

But he had- he always had.

The Sith narrowed his eyes, remembering again the vision which had haunted him for two long decades; of the wolf in the darkness, the warning within; pull the leash too tight and it will bite.

He'd seen the vision again, at dawn. Seen the feral wolf; seen the man stand as the dark sable cloak fell away. He closed his eyes and brought a pallid hand to cover them, replaying the vision with perfect clarity, searching for knowledge...

...

... ... ... ... ...

The wolf in the twilight; the feral creature which whispered through the darkness, at one with the night, wild and capricious- then in a flurry of shadows it was gone and he stared at the empty stillness, waiting...

He turned, uncertain, the silence profound.

Knelt before him in mute stillness was his Jedi, eyes turned down, a dark heavy cloak of dense, black fur draped about him, absorbing all light.

The wolf in the night...

Pull the leash too tight and he will bite.

His Jedi stood, the confining sable cloak he wore slipping from his shoulders as he wordlessly held out his hand, and once again Palpatine's eyes were drawn inexorably down to the lightsaber there, smeared scarlet red, the colour of anger and passion and betrayal...

Vader's lightsaber.

Take it.

His Jedi said, though his lips did not move.

Palpatine looked again to the lightsaber, perfect scarlet streams seeping over the inactive hilt, running in ruby rivulets, dripping in dark drops from his Jedi's fingers to pool on the floor at Palpatine's feet, soaking a stain into the trailing hem of his cloak...

He looked back to the boy's eyes, the perfect blue of ice in darkness...

His Wolf remained silent and impassive but something... something had changed in those eyes- and for a broken heartbeat that perfect glacial blue glowed with the finest sliver of red-tinged ochre.

Something tugged at Palpatine's mind as never before, making his heart skip a beat in trepidation- in...fear.

His Wolf blinked slowly and the momentary shift was gone, cool eyes leading Palpatine's gaze back to the saber he still held out.

Take it...or it will kill you.

Palpatine looked back to the saber hilt,

"Vader?"

His Wolf said nothing, merely held out the blood-wet saber, the pool of dripping scarlet beneath it spreading unevenly, fed by a trailing, glutinous trickle of blood which still oozed unevenly down the metal hilt.

Liquid life, rich and viscous.

Liquid death, weeping ruby tears.

Death...The lightsaber was not activated, but he could hear the bass hum of non-existent blades, the hiss of superheated light.

Death...

... ... ... ... ...

...

Palpatine's eyes flashed open in denial, in fury, a snarl of frustration curling his lip. Would he yet have to kill the boy? Would that alone break the vision?

Or was Vader the threat - had he always been the threat? Surely not; his had been a slow conversion, a gradual attrition from youth to adulthood. Years of investment, time-consuming but predictable- guaranteed; a fixed, clear-cut path.

After five long years, why was the boy so different? What reserve did he tap into that his father could not, what had reduced and what had redoubled- and how? His father was Palpatine's; in some basic, elemental way he had been his from the first moment their eyes had met. What had changed in the space of one generation.....

Abruptly Palpatine remembered the ring; his mother's ring... his mother... the one uncontrolled variable. Still reaching out from the grave to harry him, it seemed.

And another thought occurred at that; he remembered challenging his Jedi at the time he found the ring. Skywalker had come after it the moment Palpatine had taken it... because he'd needed to disperse that suspicion before Palpatine thought too long on it; where he'd gotten the ring from, why his father would possibly have given such a thing up...

Hadn't Skywalker lied to him then? Looked him in the eye and lied, every answer calculated to remove blame and distance connection... to protect his father. Not himself, Palpatine realized; if he'd wanted to do that, he wouldn't have come, wouldn't have faced his Master- wouldn't have lied.

His father.... Palpatine thought again of the vision; of the warning within. Of a way to change the vision without losing his Wolf.

... Perhaps he had been using the wrong chastisement-

.

Yes- he knew now what to do. His first instinct had been correct; there was only one punishment for this, for placing another before his Master's wishes.. Palpatine had warned the boy time and again that if he did not resolve his own weaknesses then his Master would surely do it for him...

It was time to deliver on those words.

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Luke received the comm late afternoon, the Communications Officer at Mosiin Barracks handing his own comlink over to The Heir. Luke took two quick paces back, pausing as the officers about him politely did the same to give him some privacy, "Yes?"

"Good afternoon, Sir. Forgive the intrusion."

Luke frowned at Reece's voice; those last words were a coded message to find a safe spot before continuing.

He took a further two paces back, but was well aware that the comlink wasn't encoded and the room could easily be bugged. "No- that's alright." 'No', was the message.

Reece hesitated, mind clearly racing to supply enough facts that Luke understood his message without it causing suspicion, "I received the ordnance and personnel authorisations you sent- they're being dealt with now. Fortunately Lord Vader is now at the Palace, so I may present the personnel reassignments to him in person if you wish, which will mean they may well be in effect by tomorrow. I... wished to keep you abreast of the schedule change this will incur."

Luke hesitated; his father had returned to the Palace- why? Reece had also covertly offered to go and see Vader to chase down the change in plans...

No; his father had a secure, coded channel frequency to speak with Luke, and Karrde's protégé slicer Ghent was already here at Mosiin Barracks, waiting to install a new cipher onto Luke's automemo; Ghent could easily arrange for a little scrambling of standard surveillance here, guaranteeing Luke a clean room for a conversation with his father to find out what had happened.

"I'll be free in an hour- I'll comm you then on my automemo channel so I can go over the details."

As he spoke, Luke reached out into the Force, seeking reassurance...

.

And the comlink fell Reece his hand, Reece's reply unheeded-

.

Luke turned and ran, taking the stairs within the base four at a time, powering up the three flights to the landing field, startled officers staring after him in surprise.

He reached the ships at a dead-run. All of the 701st I-TIE's were routinely kept on standby ready for liftoff, and he jumped from six paces away, landing in the open cockpit of the nearest, locking down the canopy without helmet or flightsuit as he brought the engines to full.

The call from Flight Control crackled into the cockpit speakers, pilots and ground crew coming out from the ready-rooms to see what the commotion was about, "Echo zero-three, you're attempting an unauthorised takeoff. Power down you engines and identify yourself and your clearance details..."

"Release the ship!" Luke yelled into the pickup, the heavy docking clamp holding the I-TIE down as it bobbed unevenly against the pull, engines screaming.

"Echo Zero-three, I repeat, you are..."

Luke batted the comm closed and reached out with the Force at the same instant, and the heavy bulk of the organic steel docking clamp dragged back, splitting across it's width with a rending shriek, unfurling from the I-TIE's landing gear like a living thing, a wide, blinding splash of sparks thrown about it, ground crew backing up, hands out before them.

In the same second, the engines powered up to full, the fighter righting itself for a split second before batting forward, careening wildly side to side as it burst skyward, a speck in the distance before anybody had even thought to react.

.