Finally, it permeated through Leia's shocked thoughts...the Commander... the Commander. They were speaking about Luke! There was no second Commander who had issued the order to bring her here. They were speaking about Luke as if he could give out orders...as if they knew him!
The officer bowed his head and clicked his heels together in military acknowledgement, then started toward Leia. Her eyes remained on Luke in shocked silence until the officer took her arm and hauled her away, leaving the medic to watch in confused alarm as she was practically dragged from the room.
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Bewildered, Nathan Hallin turned to Mas Amedda as he too made to leave, "I'm sorry, is she not a friend of the Commander?"
The Chagrian turned icy eyes on him. "She was. She's not anymore," he said simply, not bothering to wait for a reply.
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As ordered, Mara had waited outside the apartments for Amedda before returning to the Op's Suite two stories up, where the Emperor stared at virtual screens showing Skywalker's quarters from various viewpoints, with Hallin now tending to his patient, oblivious.
"Your timing was impeccable as ever, Amedda," Palpatine rewarded as they entered, bowing to his back.
"It remains to be seen whether she'll believe it, Excellency. She only has the medic's word for it--and that obscurely," he replied, studying the images...and Leaving Mara to narrow her eyes, sure that something was being kept from her.
Why bother making Amedda curtail the Rebel woman's visit when Mara could so easily have returned and broken up the discussion at the relevant moment?
"She'll piece it together. She was always an intelligent young woman." Palpatine smiled as he scrolled through images on another virtual screen until he found her whereabouts, scowling in confusion as she was marched down long corridors towards the Main Palace and the Detention Center far below, with rare white-armored stormtroopers before and behind her. One of the officers reached out to grab her arm as she walked too far ahead and she jerked free, turning to deliver some unheard diatribe at her captors.
"I thought we would have to wait forever for the medic to tell her," Palpatine murmured at last, amused.
Mara turned again from the screen; tell her what? Hadn't this been to persuade the Rebel Princess that her precious Jedi was actually an Imperial agent, sent by Palpatine to infiltrate the Rebellion...though why exactly that was important escaped Mara. He was gone from them now...why bother to sully his name there?
She was still uncomfortable that she'd been ordered to hide all the guards and unlock all the doors to his apartments, presenting them as genuine quarters rather than a heavily-fortified prison. What if he had woken? It would have been her who would have been responsible for containing an irate Jedi rampaging through the PalaceTowers. Hallin said he had woken twice onboard the Executor when he was supposedly drugged with custom-developed sedatives.
"You worry too much, child," Palpatine said without turning, not hiding the fact that he was listening to her thoughts, as he always did.
She never hid them, not from him--which was why he trusted her. Not that she could anyway; he had taught her everything she knew about the Force, taught her to put up shields about her mind, to hide knowledge and intent even from Lord Vader. But he had not taught her one fraction of what he knew...which was also why he trusted her.
"This way was better," her master added. "A little spontaneity goes a long way. She'll find no artifice in the medic's actions because there was none. You had your task and Amedda had his...and I'm sure neither of you would ever disappoint me."
He didn't look to her as he issued the last, confidence and demand both, as subtle yet as crystal clear as ever. Mara didn't react; she'd heard the same abstruse threats since childhood, when she'd first been brought to the Palace, her rare abilities making her an ideal candidate for her master's exacting requirements.
"But is it enough to make her believe that he's an Imperial agent?" Mara worried. Intelligence suggested that Organa knew Skywalker well; had done so for years. She wouldn't be easily swayed.
"Will she tell the Alliance leadership everything?" Amedda added at last, bringing Mara's inquisitive gaze to him; everything?
The Emperor smiled confidently, his answer vague enough to reply to both Amedda and Mara's questions equally. "Oh, I'm sure she'll find countless reasons not to at first. But I'll give her equal reasons to question that. She'll believe eventually, and tell her precious Rebellion. She's too loyal not to. And the truth has a way of outing...Skywalker is proof of that."
Mara nodded, confident that her master's plans--whatever they really were--would come to fruition at his designated pace. They always did.
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To be continued...
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Chapter 5
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CHAPTER FIVE
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Palpatine walked purposefully down the wide, high corridors in the palatial West Tower to Skywalker's quarters. Guards became more and more in evidence as he grew closer, and his pulse quickened, senses heightening in anticipation of the task ahead.
Today more than ever he bristled with dark intent. Today he faced his Jedi. Today the battle lines would be drawn. Subtly though; he knew the boy from long study. Always from afar; information from agents and spies and second-hand accounts, but he had a good sense of how this battle would need to be fought. Nothing too overt--the boy would bridle at that--this would be a subtler game, a slow subversion. Death of a thousand cuts, plans hidden within plans; some distant, some immediate.
Some underway already...if his acerbic little Princess would be so good as to carry the information Palpatine had provided her with back to her Rebellion. He had carefully scattered clues and traces to be found by them, both within their precious little Rebellion and further afield, when they eventually began to look. No matter what, there would be no going back for his new Jedi. He would make sure of that.
His thoughts went momentarily back to the Princess; to her vague attenuation within the Force, very much like Mara, his wonderful, pitiless assassin. His 'Hand' when she fulfilled his orders far from the Core Systems, in delicate situations which required a certain...distance.
He had trained many 'Hands' over the years; people of exceptional ability with an affinity in the Force, agents who travelled the Empire carrying out his will, hearing his voice and replying in kind. Though he took care only to give enough knowledge to serve, never sufficient to represent even a passing complication.
Leia Organa could be taught, if he had the inclination. Not too much; just enough to be useful.
But not now--now, she would fulfill his plans far better by running back to her Rebellion and spreading suspicions. She was high enough in the hierarchy there to be trusted, even over their precious hero, their vaunted 'Destroyer of the Death Star.' It would necessitate someone of her status to override their reluctance; someone who actually knew him and who clearly had their own doubts, even as they betrayed him.
Yes; one must be prepared to surrender a few pawns in the greater game, and Palpatine was certainly willing to give up the opportunity to train another Hand, in return for cutting his Jedi's connections with the Rebellion. He had Mara, and that was enough for now. She too had a specific role in his future plans, which was why he needed her here, with his Jedi. She would doubtless object privately, but she would never voice her frustrations.