"It's alright Vaylin, you're nearly there."
Eyes screwed shut and mouth wide, wracked with cries of agony, Vaylin screamed furiously at her dead brother. "SHUT! UP THEXAN! IF YOU WEREN'T ALREADY DEAD, I'D RIP YOUR HEAD OFF!"
All around her, the metal walls of the room buckled and groaned under her rampant power of the Force, droids were crushed to scrap, glass shattering and the very air electrified. The only things left untouched in the room were Arcann, a single medical droid and Vaylin herself. The remaining droid had been shielded by the scarred warrior, who had shielded himself also. His cybernetic hand grasped her left one to give her something to grip.
According to the droid, she was doing well considering that she had allowed no drugs to assist with the delivery or lessened the pain. From the pain she gained strength. As the moment for the final push approached, her grip tightened on the metal hand. The droid gave the go-ahead, and she gave one last, excruciating push, crushing Arcann's cybernetic hand in the process with physical strength alone. But, the agony of the whole ordeal was well worth it in her mind.
The young Empress was rewarded with a sharp cry as her son began to breath on his own, and the droid cleaned him swiftly and efficiently. Once cleaned, he was wrapped in a gold trimmed black blanket and placed in her arms. 1 month and 3 weeks, all worth it.
Her fiery eyes raced hungrily over his adorable little form, all his perfect imperfections, every little detail, committing it to her memory, burning it into her mind with the Force. Then she saw his little eyelids peek open as he stopped crying, and a shard of perfect, brilliant blue was revealed, with depths of newborn curiosity vaster than the oceans of Manaan.
It was in that very that she fell in love with her baby.
And, for the first time in her life, she knew, truly knew, what it was to unconditionally love something other than herself. Planting a truly affectionate kiss on his little forehead, Vaylin smiled and cradled him close. Silence filled the room, and she laid back, closing her eyes.
"My son, my Luke."
When she felt strong enough, Vaylin left the somewhat destroyed medical facility in the Spire and returned to the Throne Room for the first time in days and slowly walked the path that led to the dais, standing upon it. Using the Force freely now, she activated the planetary hologram that would link her image to every civilised place with a holoprojector on the planet. As she waited a short period of few seconds for the uplink, she shifted Luke in her arms to ensure his comfort. He was sleeping peacefully.
The broadcast started mere moments after Arcann stood behind her to her right, hands clasped behind his back. Then, she spoke.
"Zakuul, today I present you with your newborn Prince. As of this moment, I declare my son, Luke, the heir to Eternal Throne. And, I now degree the Council of Elders disbanded and unnecessary, our great society has no need of conflicting government. I thank you for your time, that will be all."
She cut the transmission and sat down on the Throne, smiling as Luke stirred in her arms, blinking sleepily as he awoke. Freeing his arms of his blanket with infantile excitement, he reached for her face whilst letting out an adorable squeal. Lifting him up to her eye level, she let him capture her dark brown hair where it had slipped out of her hood that usually kept it back and hidden. His little fingers slipped through it easily, and he seemed to love the sensation it created.
Sensing Arcann watching, she resisted the sadistic urge to unleash a deluge of lightning on him, quelling it by focusing on her joyful son. She wouldn't traumatise him for her own desires, he was far too innocent and precious to her.
Innocence. That was something she had never before considered when it came to her dark and deranged choices. Why did her son's very presence inspire such mercy in her?
Then she realised, it was because he was her son that she now hesitated. Her own flesh and blood, with whom she now felt a mental connection, she knew his infantile thoughts, felt his somewhat basic emotions. How he liked the silky feel of her hair, to fall asleep to her calm heartbeat, the warmth of her embrace. She's lost much in Nathema, a great deal of who she was. It was almost as if he was giving her that back. Perhaps he was.
A very light tug on her hair brought her back to the present moment, where Luke was pulling her hair slightly. Shifting him to rest in the crook of her left arm, Vaylin caught his little hand between her thumb and forefinger, gently rubbing them back and forth in a rolling motion that caused him to relinquish her hair.
"Curious, aren't you?"
He gurgled happily and curled up against her chest. But she sensed a shift in his temperament across their bond. Sending an echo of the Force through him, she discovered he was hungry. He started bawling. Well, she wasn't prepared for this. She had no idea what to do. Apparently the Force had a sense of humour.
"Arcann." She forced herself to voice her request, no matter how much she disliked it. "Do you still have Mother's holocron with you?"
In response, he produced it. A river of hatred ran through her soul, which she shielded from Luke, and she spoke again. "Release her."
He did as she commanded, and Senya manifested her astral body.
"Mother." She growled.
"Vaylin."
"I… need your help." Vaylin forced it out. Her mother immediately caught on and instructed her on how to feed her infantile son. Within minutes, Luke was content again, and snuggled back into his blanket to go to sleep, so she wrapped him up in once more and rested him against her chest, his little head over her heart.
"So this is the grandson who caused such a change in you." The Force Ghost remarked. "He's adorable."
The fire in Vaylin's eyes burned brighter and she snapped quietly. "He's mine."
"Keep him safe Vaylin, you need him more than you know."
With that, Arcann used the holocron and locked their mother's spirit away once more, tucking the device away. An alert pulsed quietly from the controls on the Throne, and she acknowledged it, calling in the reformed Horizon Guard straight after.
"Arcann, go to the armoury and acquire the armour that has been designed for you."
Hearing the command and seeing the Horizon Guard, he bowed his head respectfully and obeyed, making directly for the armoury. He passed the Knights with no resistance and traversed the building with memorable ease, entering it mere minutes later. Upon seeing the armour, he froze, unbidden and unwanted memories washing over him. Years of tormenting the galaxy, tyrannical whims and twisted actions.
'Vaylin has always known how to torment me, but this is a new level entirely.' He lamented.
The armour was almost identical to his previous one, but had key changes. The new arm was upgraded to the maximum, and had orange light shining from beneath the armour instead of blue, the guard on its shoulder was more maneuverable but better armoured, there was a neck armour that accompanied it. The robes were black and medium grey, quite similar to Thexan's, and the helmet covered all but a third of his face, part of that being his right eye. The familiar orange lense was there too. It wasn't just combat armour, it was the attire of an executioner.
Reluctantly, he submitted to the droids for them to assist him in putting it on. It wasn't… uncomfortable, but he disliked the appearance. But he had pledged his service, and he wouldn't forsake his sister or his honour.
Meanwhile, Vaylin reflected on how Zakuul had stood for 3000 years.
It had taken almost a thousand years for the Outlander's bloodline to be influenced enough by blind fools to install a council of advisors, which was all they had been initially. But over the next 2000 years, they gained miniscule scraps of power until they could essentially tie a sovereign ruler's hands if said ruler was too slow to act. She had dissolved them before they could plot against her.
The society had changed the most however. At some point, she and Arcann had been erased from the history records, however Valkorion had remained as the founder and above all, the Immortal Emperor, Lord, Protector and Master of Zakuul. That irked her, but it was also fortunate. The records stated he had 3 children, but not their names nor anything else. This 'new' Zakuul was stronger, didn't need to be sheltered, and could stand on its own. It had adjusted to her seizing the Throne with minimal disruptions so far.
The Knights has been swiftly brought up to the standards of old by Arcann's disciplined but thorough training. He'd then selected the 45 most skilled among them and taken them on personally following whipping the entire army of Zakuul into shape, teaching them the advanced skills that had made her previous iteration of the Horizon Guard so formidable. They were required to advance to specialist standing in one of the 7 Forms and have a deeper understanding and command of the Force than the regular Knights, which he had instilled in them. The Captain herself was a specialist in Form VI, Niman. Her brother had worked tirelessly to recreate the Horizon Guard at her order, spending his every available moment for over a month training them. And, they were completely loyal to her and her alone.
The Zakuul military had been her focus, she'd been building up officers and soldiers, maximising Skytrooper and Eternal Fleet vessel production as well as more Gemini Captain Droids. Of course this was all done quietly and subtly, so that the public wasn't alarmed. Gemini Prime was absolutely secure, on planet and locked down.
A rattling jolted her from her contemplation.
Her lightsaber was hovering before her, and the shields of the Knights and lightsabers of the Horizon Guard were shaking, much to their owners' panic. But she wasn't the one doing it, her power was in check. So the only culprit could be…
Luke was wide awake in her arms not even heeding the unrest he was causing. He was focused on her lightsaber, the shields and other weapons were unintended as far as she could tell. He didn't seem to be consciously controlling the Force, it was simply… responding to his curiosity toward her unignited weapon.
Should she suppress him? No, better to let him be, she decided. Merely hours old, he was already displaying the Force. Then again, he'd periodically managed to levitate furniture whilst still within her, so this wasn't so surprising. He was similar to her at his age, and if he continued this progression, he'd soon be tearing apart droids and objects. She exercised her own power so to still all objects but her lightsaber, and disconnected the power cell from the emitter matrix in order to prevent the blade from activating. Then, she let her son have his way.
"You'll never get away with this!" The former Emperor's wife yelled at her. "We won't let you!"
Quickly checking if Luke was asleep, he was, Vaylin rose from the Eternal Throne and raised her one free hand. She paused for a moment, to savour the moment of cruelty she was permitted with her 2 week old child sleeping.
"I already have."
A blaze of purple electricity blasted from her fingertips and struck the defiant woman, killing her painfully and instantly. Turning away and taking Zakuul's Prince in both arms, she spoke again.
"Arcann, end their miserable lives."
"As you command, my sister." The cyborg former Emperor consented reluctantly and dutifully at the same time.
His yellow-bladed lightsaber hissed into life, striking terror into the former Royal Family as he slowly stalked towards them. 3 strokes later and the 3 new corpses hit the ground following the hiss that punctuated the deactivation of the weapon. The single blue eye regarded them regretfully for a moment, then he returned to stand beside the deadly Empress. With a dismissive wave, she ordered the bodies removed.
Once they were gone, the baby was placed in a hovercrib and the adults drew their lightsabers, circling each other on the dais. Yellow blades hissed into life, and Arcann took the Form V Djem So ready stance, holding the lightsaber above his head, angled back and down at an approximately 45° angle.
Vaylin defaulted to her flawed attempt at combining Form II Makashi and Form V Shien, weapon pointing at the floor by her back foot, which was her right. With a flare of rage, she shot forward at him, being her blade up to stab.
Arcann brought his blade down, knocking hers aside with his two handed grip easily and span on the ball of his foot, elbowing her in the back of the head. She stumbled, but immediately came at him again with a flurry of two handed blows. He met her, strike for strike, not once leaving an opening in his guard. When she spun and used what had become a repetitive and predictable move in her repertoire, a one handed horizontal slash, he deactivated his lightsaber, letting it pass by and catching her wrist with his mechanical hand.
Twisting her around, he forced her own right arm around her neck, kicked the back of one knee so that she buckled to the floor and stood on her left shoulder blade, effectively pinning and strangling her at the same time. Her blade went out.
"Makashi answered by Tràkata, that has always been your downfall Vaylin. You rely too much on the move to surprise and jolt your enemy, and you use it too often. It is too easy to bypass using a defensive iteration of Pass The Blade." He released her and helped her to her feet. "Your fighting style is too raw, it's unrefined, unbalanced, undisciplined. If you are to rule you must do so by example.
"Shien is meant to reflect continuous blaster fire back at the shooters, not combat a fellow duelist. You learned the Form variant that is appropriate for fighting blaster-equiped opponents, not lightsaber wielders." Arcann explained.
Vaylin sneered. "So what? I give up with a weapon?"
"No. Forget everything you think you know about fighting with lightsaber, and open your mind to me. I will teach you from the ground up. Now, ignite your blade."
Her yellow blade snarled hungrily from the hilt as his slid out with a vortex sound. Their eyes locked, and she mirrored the basic 'Ready' stance her brother took with contemptuous regard, recognising it as the first one she was taught by the Knights as a child.
He spoke a few words before he attacked.
"Remember the base katas taught to you by the Knights, use them and them alone. Zone 3, block!"
She brought the lightsaber across from the centre of her body to clash with the strike to her left side, deflecting it. He acknowledged it, grinding his blade up hers and bringing it the other side of her body. "Good. Zone 2!"
She inverted and repeated the action, blocking the slash at her right arm.
"Zone 1!"
His lightsaber bore down in a slash downward at her head, and she positioned her blade at a 90° angle parallel to his, bracing for the more powerful impact that came immediately, and she persevered through it, holding her block.
He span on his feet, slashing at her right shin.
"Zone 5!"
The moment she blocked it, he reversed direction, lashing out with a sweep to take her off her feet from the left. "Sai! Zone 6!"
Vaylin overleapt the sweep and parried the lightsaber swing that came with the second spin, Arcann resuming his Ready stance.
"Good, now faster. Zone 3! Zone 2! Zone 1! Zone 5! Sai! Zone 6!"
She countered each step of the attack kata with the defensive counterpart, gritting her teeth against the indignity of being taught by her brother, who was lesser than her, and whom she had once dominated in a duel. But back then, she had been using her Force powers, predominantly lightning.
"Faster again. 3! 2! 1! 5! Sai! 6!"
She repeated the steps, this time at the speed of an actual duel.
"Shun!"
The sudden change startled her for a moment, but she span at the same time as him, meeting his one handed slash with a two handed one that jarred them both.
"Falling Leaf!"
Holding her lightsaber parallel to her body, she rolled under the strike that came down from the sky, performing a 180° turn, referred to as Jung, without his instruction. Then they continued.
Luke giggled happily in her arms as Vaylin cradled him to her chest, enjoying the serenity of the Skytop Garden that was at the top of the palace. Arcann was within what he deemed a safe distance, in case of any potential attack, but out of sight and mind. She wasn't one for peaceful surroundings usually, but her precious son was bringing out traits in her that she lost long ago, kindness, tolerance, serenity, all because she loved him more than life itself.
Looking out over her Empire, that, in time, would once again be poised to become the greatest power in the galaxy under her control, she smiled, seeing a new side to it. Beauty in the peace.
"One day, this will all be yours Luke. But I hope that day doesn't come for quite some time, I'm not ready to give up the Throne just yet, my son. Nowhere near."
A memory she believed long lost washed over her for a moment.
"I liked you better when you were dead." She jabbed at her mother, throwing a cycling unit torn from the roof of the Asylum dock to crush the older woman
Then, another brief memory.
"I wanted to save you!" Senya lamented, looking down at Arcann's motionless form.
"Too late." Her own voice rang out across the destroyed flagship bridge. "You're always too late."
Her burning eyes glowed brighter for a few seconds. 'No, we won't be like that! I will never abandon my son the way Mother abandoned me! I won't control him like Father did me!"