(I'm so sorry this chapter has taken so long! In the time I've been working on this, I also published my first full length novel, "Allison's Game"! You can find it on Amazon at Allisons-Game-Penumbra-Kylee-Ridley/dp/1521201099/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1495914958&sr=8-1&keywords=kylee+jain+ridley)
The Two-Hearts had made its way into the Unknown Regions, leaving the "civilized" galaxy behind. Somina knew where she was going; she'd been to Ilum on more than one occasion. She felt confident in her memory of the coordinates of the world once held by the Jedi, and let the nav-computer take care of the steering of the ship. She lay in bed, on her back, staring up at the ceiling, while Enuma's head lay across her chest. The Twi'lek was fast asleep, but Somina knew no rest. The events of the last few days haunted her in both waking and sleep, and no amount of meditation could ease the doubt and anger. She knew, ultimately, that to try and alleviate the effects of her emotions was not the way of the road she'd chosen to walk, but at the same time, her focus was essentially non-existent.
It was horrendous timing, as well. Ilum was no longer the Jedi's world; it was controlled entirely by the Empire, as any world with any notable supply of kyber currently was. The supply of crystals clearly was the only interest the Empire could possibly have in the remote system, as there was little of interest, either tactically or scientifically. There was no tactical advantage to controlling Ilum, though Somina suspected that it gave the Emperor a certain degree of satisfaction knowing he'd wrested it away from the Jedi. Not that there were many Jedi left to suffer from the loss; of the entire order, only she and Mace Windu remained, at least to her knowledge. No one seemed to know the fate of Grand Master Yoda or Master Kenobi, and therefore Somina had to assume they'd met their fates as well. Between the Imperial Inquisitors and Vader's death squads, surely even Yoda could not hold out forever.
Perhaps, but on the rare quiet night, even Somina had to wonder.
The best thing about the Unknown Regions was the complete absence of quite literally anything. It generally meant quiet navigation, besides the occasional pirate attack, which the Two-Hearts was more than prepared for. It meant that a cautious captain could relax just a little, though Somina could not, even after making love with Enuma once again. She'd enjoyed it, to be sure, and it had proved relaxing in the moment, but once Enuma fell fast asleep, as she often did after sex, Somina's penchant for insomnia leapt to the fore.
Her thoughts wandered about the cosmos when sleep was not to be had, and occasionally, her thoughts would find their way to Anakin Skywalker. She knew, deep down, who Darth Vader really was, and when she looked at him, really looked at him with the Force as her lens, she did not see Anakin whatsoever. It was entirely possible that Vader's boast of having killed Anakin was true, from a certain point of view. She couldn't help but wonder, though, if the man he had once been, the man she'd once loved with all that she was, was still there, somewhere, buried under the hatred and tragedy that had forged the Dark Lord of the Sith. If he was, if Anakin still somehow survived, he was nowhere to be found in the psyche of Darth Vader; even with Somina's limited skills with the mind, it was clear there was no trace of him in Vader's consciousness.
Her mind flashed back to Yavin 4, and the Sith temple. She remembered the trials Vader had put her through, and how it felt to see those she'd once cared about. Seeing Anakin and feeling his touch for the first time as male and female, seeing Lux Bonteri and Barriss Offee again, after so many years…the emotions had been overwhelming. It was simple enough to go with her passions then, only because she knew they were merely illusions. Illusions that had taken her maidenhood, to be sure, but they were illusions all the same.
Her mind lingered on Barriss Offee. The betrayal was still fresh in her mind, even after all this time. She could remember standing in the dock as clearly as if it were still happening. She could also remember the feeling she had when Barriss confessed to what she'd done, when she knew that Barriss had fallen to the Dark Side, and had been taken away. That was the last Somina had even known of Barriss' fate; she didn't even know if Barriss had fallen prey to Palpatine's "Order 66", like so many others had. Even now, Somina missed the guidance of Master Plo Koon, though she was certain he would have considered her an enemy at this point. Perhaps he would have tried to bring her back to the Light, and perhaps she might have managed to persuade him to join her. It was all irrelevant mental clutter, but right now, it was all she had to keep herself from going mad.
Somina, as subtly and silently as she ever could, slid out from under the snoring Twi'lek and off the bed. Enuma did not stir, nor did the reverberating snore cease; Somina was glad, as she did not want to wake Enuma. No, it was best that Enuma get some sleep, for what was to come would without a doubt be a harrowing encounter. As for Somina herself, she found as of late that communion with the Force itself tended to yield better results than sleep, so she prepared to meditate.
Somina sat in the makeshift meditation chamber, on a small platform in the middle of the room. There was no sound coming in from the rest of the ship; she'd seen to it that this chamber was as completely soundproofed as it could possibly be. It was also an unspoken rule on the Two-Hearts that no one inside the room was to ever be disturbed, save for a life-or-death situation. Here, Somina could clear her mind of all clutter and baggage, and allow her consciousness to intertwine with the Force.
Images started to reveal themselves in her mind. She saw a dark figure, carrying two red-bladed lightsabers, and it looked as if the dark figure was pursuing someone. Somina did not recognize the person, and they were helmeted and masked in a fashion similar to that of Darth Vader himself. Perhaps it was one of the Empire's Inquisitors, but that would not pose much threat to her. No, there was a greater malice at play here, and Somina could sense the murderous intent behind the mask of the dark figure.
Somina next saw Enuma, her face contorted in rage, torrents of electricity cascading from her hands. She could not make out what Enuma was saying, but she could sense that Enuma was enraged at someone just out of sight. Somina did not recognize the place where Enuma stood; only that it was a great marsh, with great trees dripping with moss of some sort. Enuma stood waist-deep in stagnant water, and the electrical bolts that came from her fingertips made little puffs of steam as they crackled across the water's surface.
Then, without warning, Somina stood before a massive, black pyramid, underneath a broken sky. The sound of Darth Vader's respirator filled her senses, and a feeling of dread overtook her.
Somina's eyes opened, and she was once more back in the meditation chamber aboard the ship. She did not know how long she'd been in here, but she found herself shaking with fear and rage. What did all of that mean? Was it literal or symbolic? Ever since her encounter with the Daughter, back on Mortis, the Force spoke to her in odd ways.
The air felt oddly cold on her bare skin, even more so than it usually did. Somina liked to keep the temperature inside the meditation chamber fairly low, as Enuma tended to keep the temperature in the rest of the ship relatively high, being used to the environment of a smog-choked, overheated Hutt world. She also felt far more tense than normal, the tension even extending into her lekku. She rarely had such tension in her body, but it was tension that matched the tension in her mind. Something, somewhere, was very wrong, and in time, she would have to deal with it.
Somina left the confines of the meditation chamber, quietly shutting the soundproofed hatch after her. The ship was still silent, except for the distant drone of Enuma's snore. Somina walked slowly back towards their quarters, catching a glimpse of her reflection in a metal panel along the way. The reflection was faint, and slightly distorted, but even in the less-than-ideal surface, she looked powerful. Her athletic body looked more muscular than she'd even known herself to be, even though her feminine curves were still clearly apparent. Her lekku were lush and healthy, and her montrals had become far taller than she'd noticed before. She barely recognized herself, but the yellow-orange of her eyes especially caught her attention. On a couple of prior occasions, Enuma had told her that her eyes had changed color, but every time Somina managed to look, they'd become her normal blue. Now, the fiery color seemed to stay, and Somina was fine with the change. After all, was she not a different person than she was back on Coruscant, or even Praxigor? Had Ahsoka Tano actually ceased to exist, to be replaced with Darth Somina? If so, then perhaps she understood Vader better than she had at first realized.
Somina turned and twisted a bit in the reflective surface, examining herself from every possible angle. She'd never really realized what a beauty she'd become, if only because she'd spent most of her life up until this point concerned only with survival and staying out of the sight of the Empire. Ironically, it was her partial alignment with the Empire itself that had led to the life she now had, and the lover with whom she shared a bed. Perhaps at one time, what she was doing would have seemed somehow wrong, but in the current day, where she was, it all felt so…right. What Vader had taught her made sense, and she'd grown stronger because of it. She'd gained so much, and lost so little; how could it be wrong?
The answer, Somina decided, was incredibly simple; it wasn't wrong.
Somina could remember a time when she considered Master Shaak Ti the paragon of Togruta grace. Now, she saw herself in that same role, and it felt right. She would show the galaxy what a true Togruta paragon, and a true Sith, was really like, and those who would stand against her would tremble. Perhaps that would come to pass, but Somina knew that before the herds of nerfs could be put in their place, it would be to her advantage to cease being naked.
Somina grimly accepted that there would be no more sleep, and wearily made her way back into the quarters she shared with Enuma. The Twi'lek continued to snore like a rancor, so Somina knew that there would be no waking her for quite a while. Still, she tried her best to remain quiet as she dressed, wondering just what the Force was trying to tell her.
Far from the Two-Hearts, aboard the massive vessel Eclipse, the Emperor of the galaxy opened his eyes abruptly. He rarely ever slept, for when he did, he was haunted by ghosts from another time, another life. He could remember a time when he was but the apprentice, and the "wise" Darth Plagueis his master. He could also remember a time when he slew his master, as was tradition for the Sith and it's Rule of Two. Of all the memories that gave Palpatine pleasure, the memory of the life slowly fading from the eyes of that accursed Muun was certainly near the top of the list.
It was not, however, pleasant memories that disrupted his sleep on this night. A strange tremor in the Force had shaken him from the blissful oblivion of sleep, and though there was something strangely familiar about it, he did not know where it had come from, or what it could have meant. He sat up on the bed he'd had specially installed within his quarters on the Eclipse, his head hanging slightly. His hair was white as the snows of Hoth, and the horrific disfigurements of his face were even more apparent without his usual hood pulled down low.
There was something frustratingly familiar about the tremor, a feeling he knew he'd felt before. The question was, of course, when? As a Senator, then Chancellor, and finally Emperor, he'd come into contact with hundreds, if not thousands, of individuals. Admittedly, since founding the Galactic Empire, he'd been far more selective on who received an audience, but even so, each individual he met left some sort of impression, and doubly so for Force-sensitives.
"A Jedi," Palpatine muttered to himself. That had to be it, but which one? Which of the Jedi unaccounted for could have eluded both Vader and the Inquisitors? Perhaps Yoda might have slipped through the cracks, but who else was left?
There was something about this potential Jedi that didn't make any sense, though. The power that he'd felt as he became aware of the tremor was not the sort of power a Jedi wielded; it was purely of the Dark Side of the Force. Not as powerful as the call he'd felt coming from the Unknown Regions, but surprisingly powerful nevertheless. Palpatine was not aware of any Force-sensitives trained and deployed by his Empire that had such strength and conviction. Indeed, it was power that rivaled even that of Vader himself.
And then, in an instant, Emperor Palpatine, the one true Lord of the Sith, realized where he'd felt this before. The Jedi had stood before him, on trial for treason and terrorism against the Republic. Once he knew this truth, it was not a long leap of logic to determine how such a Jedi could have such power in the Dark Side. He slid off the bed and pulled his robe on, pulling the hood over his face, as was customary. He took up the walking stick, itself an ancient Sith artifact, that sat nearby. It amused him to think of all the people that believed he, the Lord of the Sith, was frail and weak. He did not need the stick to move about freely, but it suited his purposes to engender the belief that he was little more than a weak, withered, old man.
He pressed a button on a nearby tactical panel, one that constantly updated him as to the condition and location of the Eclipse. "Yes, Your Majesty?" The voice of the Eclipse's commanding officer came over the speaker.
"Lord Vader, the Emperor commands that you make contact with him." The very last words Darth Vader wanted to hear were the words that the captain of the Executor had just said to him. This captain had a degree of boldness Vader was unaccustomed to, but he was sure he'd have him broken soon, just like every other captain the Executor had previously had.
Vader turned away from the captain, returning to his sanctum. "Hold this position, Captain. And in the future, do not assume your standing so high that you may convey the Emperor's will yourself." Vader stopped, and turned back towards the young captain. "Many have found themselves…speechless…when making the assumption that they are beyond my grasp."
The captain swallowed loudly, and Vader took a small degree of satisfaction in that. After all, the crew that operates out of fear operates the most efficiently and reliably. So long as this captain understood who was the master of the vessel, and he behaved with the appropriate deference, Vader had no interest in executing him. Vader had grown bored of killing subordinates, but fear was his best weapon. He would cultivate it as long as the legend of the Empire's monster persisted.
Fear didn't cross his mind though, as he strode towards his personal quarters. This was the only place in the galaxy where Vader could be alone. Even in his fortress on Mustafar, overlooking his birthplace, there were sycophants and underlings everywhere. Other humans irritated Darth Vader to no end, further widening the gap between the man he'd once been, and the monster he now was. Only here, on the Executor, could he find any time alone. Even there, though, he could not escape the call of his master. Palpatine would expect an immediate response to his command, and Vader intended to provide it. Deep in his withered, scarred heart, Vader longed for the day when Emperor Palpatine breathed his last, and perhaps then Vader could actually find some sort of peace. Though he didn't truly understand the warp and weft of Sith sorcery, he knew that Palpatine used it to maintain an iron grip on all of his servants, especially Darth Vader.
One day, however…but that was in Somina's hands now.
He entered the private holocomm chamber, and knelt down upon the actuator pad, which began to glow upon contact. Within seconds, an image of the face of the Emperor hovered in the middle of the room. Vader remained on one knee, his head bowed as low as his armor would allow. "What is your bidding, my master?"
Palpatine cackled; a horrific, choking sound. "You have attempted to deceive me, Lord Vader. I have warned you before of the futility of such action, but it seems my words went unheeded."
Vader froze for an instant, but forced himself to remain without thought or emotion. This was dangerous territory; he hadn't thought Palpatine would be on to his plans so quickly. He would have to be extremely cautious, for if he incurred the wrath of the Emperor, he would meet a most painful, horrible end, and he knew it.
Vader remained silent, and Palpatine continued. "I have felt a tremor in the Force, a most powerful source of the Dark Side, one I did not initially recognize. I have determined that you have in your service a former Jedi, one that I seem to remember imprisoning for treason once before. What do you have to say on this, Lord Vader?"
Vader did everything he could to shield himself from Palpatine's probing, but he knew there was no way he could repel his master for long. "It is true. I have found a former Jedi that has turned fully to the Dark Side and pledged her service to me, and through me, to you, my master."
Palpatine smiled, a horrific, toothy visage of crinkled skin. "Of course. Then this Jedi has no illusions about her purpose, I assume? She does not believe she is Sith, as Dooku's 'apprentice' did, does she, Lord Vader?"
"No, my master. There are only ever two. A master and an apprentice."
"And who is the master, Lord Vader?" That horrific smile.
Suddenly, the force of a thousand stellar masses of gravity seemed to crush Vader's armor downwards. He knew he was being tested, and he did his best to resist the unrelenting force. "You…are…master."
"Good. Good." The force vanished, and Vader found he could move again. "Bring this…Zathara…to me, aboard the Eclipse. I wish to…question her."
Darth Vader hadn't uttered a sigh of relief since long before leaving the Jedi Order, but if he had been capable of doing so in that moment, he would surely have considered it. He hadn't expected any part of his plans to be discovered, but if somehow Palpatine had overlooked Somina in favor of Zathara, then perhaps all was not yet lost. As long as Somina remained a secret, his plans could move forward.
And if all he need do was to throw Zathara to the gundarks, so be it.
On the other side of the galaxy, the Two-Hearts slid quietly into orbit around Ilum. Somina looked at the world she'd been to many times, and barely recognized it. All over the planet, massive construction platforms, themselves nearly the size of a small moon, were working on building something, or possibly several somethings, on a scale more massive than anything Somina had ever seen before. All around the Empire-held world were massive Imperial-class Star Destroyers, numbering in the dozens. She'd never seen such a massive collection of space vessels and operational platforms, at least not since the Clone Wars.
Enuma, fully awake and dressed, was utterly transfixed to the forward viewport. Her expression was one of awe and wonder, having never seen such things before. She'd only ever heard of Star Destroyers, but to see so many was beyond her capacity to describe. There were whole worlds' worth of the artifice of the Empire, and Enuma was ill-prepared to take it all in.
"Such things…surely the Empire is invincible, if they can do this." Enuma's awe was apparent in her speech. "It is well that you are Sith, beloved, for if the Emperor is capable of such things, he is mighty indeed."
Somina found herself recoiling slightly at Enuma's almost-reverent attitude towards Palpatine. It was a gut reaction, of course, for she knew that even with the history that she and Palpatine had, she had little choice but to respect the Emperor's power and authority. He controlled the galaxy, however directly or indirectly it may be, and she was now his agent, whether she liked it or not. She worked for Vader, and Vader worked for Palpatine. It was really that simple, and as long as she operated under the radar and did her job, Vader would look good, and Palpatine would continue to favor him.
"He is mighty, Enuma, but it is not his might that has brought this into being, but his mind. The Emperor is brilliant as well as powerful." Somina tried to sound like another Imperial true-believer, but it was incredibly difficult for her to sell such an act when she could clearly remember a time Palpatine wanted her executed.
"Beloved, does admiration for the Emperor offend you?" Enuma always seemed to be able to circumnavigate Somina's mental defenses and cut straight to the heart of the issue.
"I believe he is the absolute ruler of the Empire, and as such, he's our liege. As Sith, we're bound to him through my master as well. But I don't like him, Enuma, and I don't trust him. There's been too much in the past for me to ever be able to trust him."
Enuma laughed, a deep-down hearty laugh. "I do not trust anyone who is not you, beloved."
Somina smiled, sliding her arms around Enuma's belly. "It's just us against the galaxy, I guess."
Enuma took hold of Somina's hands and smiled. "I would not have it any other way."
A voice crackled to life over the ship's communications system. "Unidentified ship, you are in restricted space. Identify yourself and prepare to transmit clearance codes or be boarded."
Somina flipped the transmitter to life. "This is Imperial vessel Two-Hearts on a mission for Lord Vader. Transmitting our clearance codes now." Somina punched in one of the sequences she'd gotten from Vader's underlings, and held her breath.
After a few tense moments where neither Somina nor Enuma dared speak a word, the voice came back over the comm. "Two-Hearts, you are clear for planetary approach. Do not deviate from vector seven seven zero. You will be met at Landing Pad Omicron."
Somina finally breathed in, not wanting to relax too much just yet. "Two-Hearts confirms. Inbound for Omicron. Two-Hearts out."
The ship quickly slipped through the thin atmosphere of Ilum, and as they got closer to the planet's surface, Somina noticed that there was quite a bit of work in process on the planet as well as around it. Huge construction towers and massive land-moving machines littered the landscape around the primary Imperial base. From what Somina could see, there seemed to be a massive trench dug into Ilum's surface, far larger than anything intended for mining, and that in turn led to a monstrous pit, seemingly plunging into darkness, bored deep into the planet's crust. Massive spires and structures lined the trench and the huge pit, none of which really attested to their purpose.
"I wonder what all that is for," Somina mused. "I've never seen so much construction."
"Are they planning to colonize Ilum, beloved?" Enuma made a good point; usually this much work meant a world was being prepared for inhabitation. It was an odd choice of worlds, though, unless it was all part of the Empire's kyber mining initiative. Ilum had one of the richest known supplies of the rare but potent crystals, and it would make sense to construct quarters and facilities for miners and refinery workers, and yet there was something about the way these trenches, pits and buildings were arranged that suggested to Somina they were not miners' quarters.
"Perhaps. I don't really know, Enuma. Maybe we can ask our contact here, once we find him."
The ship landed softly upon the landing pad, one of the pads nearest to the massive pit. From there, they could see the enormous, gaping hole in the planet's face, easily as wide as a large city and deeper than they were able to see. Everywhere they looked, Imperial shuttles, mining freighters and cargo ships zoomed this way and that, creating an area of traffic that reminded Somina of days on Coruscant. Whatever was going on here was a big, big deal, and though Somina didn't know what that could be, she was bound and determined to find out.
Service droids began tending to the ship as the ramp lowered, and the primary airlock doors hissed open. Somina, once more clad in black, and Enuma with her, walked down the ramp to meet an Imperial officer that stood a few meters from the bottom of the ramp. She was a tall woman, her dark hair apparently up under her uniform's hat. Two Stormtroopers, one on either side of her, waited silently, their blaster rifles at the ready.
"Lady Somina, I believe?" The woman's voice was friendly, yet not excessively so. For someone stationed at such a remote outpost, the officer seemed to be of surprisingly good cheer. Somina nodded to her, her face somewhat visible underneath her hood. "I am Commander Verex, the senior officer of this outpost. If you'll come with me?" Verex gestured towards a nearby building. Verex turned on her heels and immediately started walking at a brisk pace to the building, and Somina followed, with Enuma bringing up the rear of the small procession.
They entered the nearby building, which turned out to be an office facility. It was spartan in décor, as most Imperial outposts tended to be, but once they had entered what had to be Verex's personal office, the décor changed considerably. There were pictures on the wall of Verex as a cadet at the Imperial Academy, and Verex standing with Imperial luminaries like Wilhuff Tarkin. The picture of Tarkin made Somina's blood boil just slightly, but she put that impulse in check, as the time had not yet come for her vengeance on Tarkin. She would, in time, pay the man back for destroying her old life, but for the moment, she was far too busy living the current one.
Verex strode casually behind her small desk, and gestured for Somina and Enuma to sit in the comfortable-looking chairs set in front of the desk. Somina and Enuma sat, and Verex joined them, sitting in the high-backed chair behind the desk. "Welcome to Imperial Ilum, Lady Somina and…I'm sorry, I don't know the name of your companion."
"Enuma," the Twi'lek said, with a smile.
"Enuma. A lovely name." Verex was different from many of the Imperial officers Somina had met, in that her congeniality seemed to actually be sincere. Verex seemed almost jovial comparatively, and Somina was puzzled that someone so different from the norm could actually be successful in the Imperial military. She would have to get to know this Commander Verex better. "Now, before we get to business…gentlemen, please close the door. Assume your posts, if you would." The Stormtroopers, now flanking the door to Verex's office, stood outside of the office and shut the metal door behind them, sealing with a click. "They're good men, but they're not privy to Lord Vader's plans."
Somina nodded her assent, glad to be getting down to the matter at hand. Social situations, even ones such as this, had long been a problem for her. Having been on the run for so many years, Somina had all but forgotten how to trust anyone, much less sit still long enough to converse at length. Even the old Rodian back on Praxigor, who constantly wanted to gossip, was greeted with relative indifference.
"Now, I appreciate the fact that you've come quite a long way, but it is as I have already informed Lord Vader; Chozai isn't here, at least not in any Imperial facility. Starblade is extremely outdated technology, and was something that the Emperor himself ordered scrapped. His Majesty is actually quite the imaginative one, with all the huge projects he's ordered designed, created, and deployed." Verex pressed her fingertips together, forming a rough triangle with her hands. "I'm told that a new project, one code-named 'Stardust', has met final approval, one that should prove quite a formidable asset for the Empire."
"It seems that the Empire has many projects going here as well," Somina noted.
"Oh yes, but that's neither my concern, nor my jurisdiction, Lady Somina, in case you felt like asking about the gargantuan hole nearby. I'm afraid I'm as in the dark on the matter as you." Verex's smile became thin, almost a smirk. "Now, though Chozai is not on Ilum, some of his notes are, and I've taken the liberty of gathering them up for you to review. Darth Vader is not one I'm keen to disappoint, and I extend such courtesy to his associates."
Verex produced a large pile of datacards from a drawer in her desk, some with hastily scrawled labels in Aurebesh, some in a script unfamiliar to Somina, and some not labeled at all. She slid them gingerly across the desk's smooth surface, without a single card falling. Somina grinned at the display of dexterity. "Thank you, Commander. I will make certain to review these as soon as possible."
Verex's smile returned to the normal, genial smile she'd worn nearly the entire time Somina had been in her presence. "Now, I know that you'd requested a bit of time with your companion out in the old kyber fields, and Lord Vader has given his approval, but I must ask that you be extremely careful. The areas around where we believe the old Jedi temple to be are unstable due to the construction efforts. Unfortunately, we've had to blast some areas with quantum detonators to break through some of the mineral deposits. Use caution, and don't be afraid to contact us for backup if things get dicey." Verex pressed her fingertips back together into the rough triangle. "Now, please consider joining me for dinner tonight. I've arranged for a small welcoming celebration for you."
Somina's face crinkled with disbelief. Perhaps Verex was only being considerate, but rarely had any officer associated with Darth Vader been so generous, or so good-humored. Still, she was somewhat hungry, and she knew that Enuma lacked her self-control, so perhaps a meal with the men wouldn't be such a terrible idea. "We would love to join you."
"Excellent. We'll send someone to your ship to escort you. Until then, please feel free to have a look around. Lord Vader has asked that you be given every consideration."
"I thank you, Commander. Until later." Somina rose from her seat and bowed slightly to Verex. The gesture was returned, and Somina turned to depart, Enuma immediately after. They'd left the building and gotten halfway back to the ship when Somina turned to Enuma, only to see Enuma's face tightened with anger.
"She was flirting with you." Perhaps not anger, but jealousy, colored Enuma's normally jovial features. "I should show her how to be more respectful to…"
"You'll do nothing of the sort. She wasn't flirting with me," Somina interrupted.
"Beloved, you are naïve when it comes to such things. She was clearly interested in you."
Somina stopped dead at that. Did Enuma actually just call her naïve? Her eyes narrowed slightly, though she tried hard to keep from becoming angry at the jealous Twi'lek. "Perhaps, but she wasn't aware that we're together."
"That may be, beloved, but I still do not trust her. I saw the lust for you in her eyes."
Somina turned back towards the ship. "Then you are far more observant than I, because all I saw was someone giving us information." She started to trudge back to the ship, suddenly weary, as if gravity itself had exhausted her supply of energy. "I think I'm going to lay down for a little while. You coming?"
Enuma, still fuming, shook her head. "No. I will go back to the ship, but I am upset. I will find something to do."
Somina shrugged, and walked away. "Suit yourself," she muttered.
Enuma crossed her arms and huffed, but Somina did not turn around to see. It was strange, the overwhelming feeling of lethargy that had suddenly come over her. It was worrisome, but Somina didn't care much at that moment. She and Enuma had had their fair share of arguments, but this wasn't like their usual fights. There was something else at play here, something unexpected; it was almost as if an outside force was influencing them.
Somina made it back to their bed, and crashed down hard, falling asleep almost as soon as she hit the mattress. Enuma, on the other hand, sat down in the command chair in the navigation module. She was fidgety and restless, for she too could sense something not right about their argument. Somina seemed to have all the life drained from her in the span of a couple minutes, and this worried Enuma. Somina was always energetic, even when having gone without sleep for days. Somina's connection with the Force was deep enough that she never seemed weary, so seeing her become exhausted so quickly suggested danger, and yet Enuma could not sense any disruptions in the Force around them.
No sooner had Enuma sit down that the incoming signal indicator began to flash on the ship's communications panel. Enuma quickly patched it through to the command headset, and placed the headset, designed to fit Somina more than her, upon her head, the output speakers over her ears. The garbled sounds of what sounded to Enuma to be a hysterical Wookiee came through, and Enuma began fiddling with the communications panel, attempting to clear the signal up enough to understand what was being said.
Finally, after a hectic few seconds, the signal cleared up enough for Enuma to recognize the voice of Liakykam, the Wookiee she'd met on Mon Cala. Liak seemed frenzied, as if terrified. The Wookiee spoke far too quickly and loudly for Enuma to make out every word, but she could pick out the basics. "What do you mean, you had a nightmare?" Enuma asked.
The Wookiee's growling, roaring and rumbling continued at a frenzied pace as Enuma struggled to keep up with her. "A weird voice told you to have me come to the Dagobah system with you? My, that is odd." Liak rumbled what clearly seemed like agreement. "I will have to wait for Somina to wake up, Liak. I cannot just leave her here." Liak roared once more, the speed of which was more panicked than the other sounds she had made. "No, Liak, the escape pods will not get me back to Mon Cala. Once Somina awakens, I will ask her to bring me to Mon Cala, and we can see about this nightmare." The Wookiee sounded distraught, but seemed to know Enuma would not be swayed. "I will see you soon, my friend. Be well."
Enuma closed the connection over the comm system, and sighed as she settled deeper into the command seat. Her life had never been boring, but perhaps it was starting to get a little too exciting for her taste. For the first time since being liberated from the Hutts, she was unsure of where her life was going, and where her relationship with Somina really stood. Of course, Enuma was hardly alone in this sentiment.
The helmet shattered as it impacted against the bulkhead. The image of Darth Vader had minutes ago vanished, and Zathara was enraged. He had not requested, but commanded her to come aboard the Executor, at which time he was to bring her before the Emperor. Now, from the beginning of their unorthodox master/apprentice relationship, Vader had been adamant that for his plans to come to fruition, she had to remain out of the Emperor's notice. Now, he was bringing her to the Emperor on a durasteel platter. Darth Vader had sold her out to his master, and she knew what would happen next. If she was fortunate, she would be swiftly executed. If she was less fortunate, stories had circulated since the dawn of the Empire of what Palpatine had done to those who displeased him. None of them were pleasant, and all of them were carried out horrifically slowly by those the Emperor had specially trained for such purposes.
Why, she wondered, would Vader sell her out? Had she not carried out his instructions, to the tiniest detail? Had she not kept herself hidden, her identity secret, as he had instructed? Had she not kept herself invisible, even to her most hated nemesis? Why then, she could not help but wonder, would Vader have condemned her so? She often had days that she regretted the deal she'd made back then, when she was imprisoned, but none compared to the regret and abject rage that she felt on this day. The one being alive that Zathara felt she could trust, and he betrayed her as well.
Somehow, she thought, Ahsoka has something to do with this. It could only be her. Perhaps Vader fancied her more than Zathara, but she'd never once seen Vader show even the slightest interest in any living being, much less a hideous freak of a Togruta like Ahsoka Tano. No, she was quite certain Vader had no sexual interests whatsoever, regardless of what may or may not be under the armor. It certainly could not be because Ahsoka was more powerful; Zathara had seen her parlor tricks, and was not concerned. Ahsoka possessed the potency of a lizard monkey. No, in every way, Zathara was superior to Ahsoka, so why was she the one on the chopping block?
From where she stood, Zathara reached her hand out, throwing every trace of her rage into her concentration. As she did, several fragments of the shattered helmet flew from their resting place near the aft bulkhead and embedded themselves in the hull opposite where Zathara stood, with a sound like thunder as each fragment slammed into the durasteel wall. She stood there, her breathing loud and labored, a scowl of loathing and hatred on her face.
"I will END you for this, Ahsoka Tano!"
Somina's eyes snapped open suddenly, without warning. Something palpable, something very real, seemed to be cascading through the Force. A sudden surge of Dark Side energy washed through her mind, like the ripples from a massive boulder crashing into the sea. The power was familiar to Somina, somehow, but she could not place it. This was happening far too many times to be accidental.
Several hours later, Zathara's small one-man starfighter, a modified Y-wing fighter given to her by Vader, came out of hyperspace near the rendezvous point Vader had given her. She'd preferred the Y-wing to the TIE prototypes Vader himself was partial to, if only because of their familiarity. She'd flown a couple of them during the Clone Wars, back before her life had been destroyed by the reviled Ahsoka Tano, and she could appreciate the kick their hyperdrive was capable of putting out, in addition to the massive load of ordnance she stocked it with. The fighter had no name, and needed none. It was simply Zathara's cosmic chariot of death, and that is all it needed to be.
Far off, to the starboard side of the fighter, was a massive starship that Zathara recognized as the Executor. She knew Vader was bringing his flagship to the rendezvous point, and she laid in her heading to intercept and dock with the monstrous starship. From there, she did not know where Vader planned to take her, but she was not going to disobey a direct order from as strict a disciplinarian as Darth Vader tended to be. The massive Super Star Destroyer grew larger and larger as Zathara's fighter approached, and she sharply breathed in as she began to realize just how enormous the vessel was. It was easily as massive as a dozen Imperial-class Star Destroyers; how anyone had managed to construct something so ridiculously huge was beyond even her reckoning, though she knew of Palpatine's fondness for clear messages of supremacy. She could appreciate the way the Emperor wielded fear as a Jedi would wield a lightsaber. Fear to Palpatine was a weapon, a tool, and above all else, something to be controlled. He understood fear as few did, and that is why Zathara found herself begrudgingly admiring the Emperor; she could learn much even from his apprentice, if not from the Dark Lord of the Sith himself.
The fighter pulled into the docking bay that the Executor's control had directed her to, and as she climbed out of the cockpit upon the canopy's opening, she found herself met by several odd-looking, black Stormtroopers. They did not speak, but they gestured for Zathara to follow them, and she did as instructed. She'd heard of the Death Troopers before; though they were slowly being phased out by Imperial recruitment efforts, they were still utilized for tight security situations as well as escorting powerful and influential Imperial officers when on away missions. She had no doubt that she could eliminate every last one of them if she could get out in the open, but now was not the time for making a scene. Vader had summoned her, and that was all that mattered.
The Death Troopers escorted Zathara to the bridge of the massive ship, and at the large window that overlooked the monstrous ship stood Darth Vader, looking out into the cosmos, the sound of his resipirator clearly heard over the hushed murmur of the command crew. Everyone knew the unspoken rule; when Vader was on the bridge, you kept quiet and you did your job. Even Zathara could respect that, for she herself generally did not speak unless spoken to during her dealings with her master.
Zathara knelt down before Vader, who continued to gaze out into space, his expressionless mask and mechanical breathing telling no tale about his mood or state of mind. When at last he spoke, it was brief. "You have come." Vader's hand waved the Death Troopers off, and they turned as one and walked off. "This is not for their ears."
Zathara, clad in her armor, with her backup helmet secured, spoke in a reverent tone, as was befitting her master. "What do you wish of me, master?"
"Your emotions betray you, Zathara. I can sense your rage; it tears at its cage like a wounded beast driven mad with pain." His tone had no inflection, no emphasis. It was as mechanical as he appeared to be. He did not turn to look upon her either, and this struck her as unusual.
"Have I failed you, master?"
Vader was silent for a moment. "The Emperor has sensed your presence. He has commanded me to bring you before him."
Zathara remained silent. She had no reply to that statement, at least none that would be tolerated by Vader. She remained on one knee, unmoving and as unexpressive as Vader.
"The Emperor will decide what is to become of you." Finally, Vader slowly turned to face Zathara, the death mask aimed directly at her. "There have been many disturbances in the Force lately. Somehow, the Emperor has sensed you as the source of some of them." Vader's right hand suddenly shot up from his side, clenched in a deadly claw. At that moment, Zathara felt herself being pulled up off the ground by her neck, an invisible power clutching her with a grip of steel. "What did I tell you, Zathara? What were my instructions?"
"Stay…hidden…remain unseen…unknown…" She could only choke out a few words as her trachea was crushed under inhuman pressure.
"And yet somehow, the Emperor senses you from the other side of the galaxy. You did not remain unseen or unknown. How did this happen? What would cause you to generate such a ripple in the Force?"
"Hatred."
Vader's hand unclenched, and Zathara fell to the ground. She gasped for air as hard as she could, the shriek of her breathing echoing through the now-silent bridge. "Hatred for whom?"
Zathara climbed to her feet, her gaze now locked with his. "Ahsoka Tano."
"I see." Vader turned away again. "Go. Leave me. When we arrive at the Emperor's vessel I will send for you."
Somina nearly jumped off the bed as she awoke with a start. She found herself disoriented, unsure of where she was, or what time it was. She looked around instinctively, looking for Enuma, who was nowhere to be found. The ship was uncharacteristically silent. She slid off the bed, landing cautiously on her feet, and began to quietly search the area. Something felt wrong, somehow. She'd learned early on to trust her gut instincts, and everything she felt said that something was just not right.
Suddenly, Somina turned around, and she found herself inside an old factory, one that seemed more familiar to her than it should be. Too many signs were pointing to a very troubling time in her life, and she found herself distinctly uncomfortable with it.
From far above her, on a platform near what appeared to be some sort of smelting unit, a dark, shadowy figure ignited two red-bladed lightsabers.
Ventress? Somina thought.
No. Not Ventress. This is Coruscant. Ventress had just left when I was attacked.
The shadowy figure leapt from the higher platform, lightsabers swinging. Somina easily dodged the wild swings, far more ably than she had as a girl. The attacker pressed on, swinging the sabers as if they weren't actually trained in a dual-blade technique.
Barriss.
Somina remembered how apparently Barriss Offee had taken Asajj Ventress unawares, stolen her lightsabers, and then turned around and attacked her. She hadn't known this at the time, and had no reason to think that Barriss, whom Somina had believed a friend, would have been the one behind the attack on the Jedi Temple as well as the attacks on both Ventress and herself.
However, the sizzle of the red blade as it careened past her lek reminded her that sometimes, you just had to live in the moment. She turned and ignited her own blades, though for some reason, hers were red-bladed as well, as opposed to the familiar green and yellow blades she had used before. She smiled evilly, and then lunged for her attacker. It was only a few seconds before Somina's superior skill put her attacker on the defensive. She was using her stamina far more efficiently than her opponent; the shadowy figure was showing signs of tiring out. Somina pressed the attack harder, driving her opposition towards a steep drop into the hungry darkness of the bowels of Coruscant. The attacker parried as many blows as she could, but Somina's speed was too much to keep up with, and eventually, Somina managed to exploit a hole in her assailant's defenses, severing her enemy's left leg just below the knee. The figure fell to the ground with a clearly-feminine scream, dropping her blades in the process. Somina deactivated her lightsabers as well, and approached the figure laying on the ground. Her attacker writhed in agony, clutching the cauterized stump and swearing profusely.
"DO IT! FINISH ME!" An electronically-altered voice cried out from the helmeted figure. Somina once more drew one of her blades, and igniting it to life, held the tip dangerously close to the front of the figure's helmet. "DO IT, COWARD!"
Somina swept the blade swiftly along the helmet's seam, breaking it open. The smoldering halves of the helmet fell to the floor, and revealed the yellow face of a Mirialan with a familiar diamond pattern tattooed on her face. The face wasn't that of someone in pain, or in terror, but instead, Barriss Offee laughed. Her mocking laughter echoed throughout the vast foundry. "YOU'LL NEVER FIND ME BEFORE HE FINDS HER!"
Somina heard a horrifying cackle coming from somewhere unseen, and Enuma's familiar scream shortly after. Somina's attention turned from Barriss for less than a second, but when she turned her gaze back, Barriss was gone. The entire foundry was gone, and Somina stood in her quarters aboard the Two-Hearts, a lightsaber impaling a pillow.