Chapter 27:

Luke stood alone in the training room, fingering the double-edged hilt at his belt. Mara had left, claiming that she was too young to die, but he suspected it was more to get away from him than otherwise. Putting that from his mind for the moment, he drew the old weapon and ignited it, first one crimson blade then the other. He immediately realized why the weapon was so dangerous; if you weren't careful, while you were parrying with one blade, you could cut off your own leg with the other. Visualizing the moves in his mind, he slowly began going through the motions of combat: thrust, block, parry, repeat in variation. He sighed, and wished his father was here. A sparring partner would really come in handy right now, and he had a feeling that Mara wouldn't oblige him. The Emperor certainly wouldn't; he'd told Luke to have made progress by the time he was called back.

Suddenly, as Luke was practicing, he got the impression that someone was watching him. He turned around and found someone watching him… but whoever it was, was not living, but was a Force ghost. The ghost before him was of a species that he had never seen before. "Who- who are you?"

The ghost didn't reply, but drew out a double bladed lightsaber identical to Luke's, and lunged forward, forcing Luke to parry. But his opponent simply whipped his blade around so that the second blade shot towards Luke's side, which Luke wasn't expecting. He threw himself to the ground to avoid it, and rolled to the side as a blade tip plunged towards him. Luke swung his blade around to sweep through the specter's legs, but his attacker flipped over him and advanced again. By that time, Luke managed to scramble to his feet, and thrust towards his opponent as he rushed towards him.

The blade pierced the ghost's chest, and the ghost turned his head to stare into Luke's eyes, unblinking. For the first time, he spoke, his voice a low, hoarse monotone. "Nice try. Kenobi tried that once, it will not succeed again."

Luke ducked as the enemy blade swept towards his head, and grimaced. This was going to be even more difficult than he had thought.

Leia ducked under a low-hanging branch as she ran through the swamp. She had thought herself in pretty good shape, but Yoda's rigorous training regimen quickly revealed her physical shortcomings. She leapt over a boggy patch of ground, and dodged a rock jutting out into her path. Finally, she collapsed on the ground beside Yoda, panting. Suddenly, she felt that everything was disturbingly calm; nothing moved; no animal made a sound. She shivered, and looked at Yoda, who seemed calm, if grave. "I feel…. cold."

Yoda bowed his head. "Strong with the dark side, that place is. Go there, you must."

Leia nodded, her hand slipping down to rest on the blaster at her side. Yoda remained serene, but warned, "Your weapons…. you will not need them."

Leia didn't answer. She turned, and began to walk towards the source of the darkness, emanating from a cave overgrown with roots and twisted vegetation. Once inside, she could not help but feel that she was being… watched by something. Suddenly, she felt an instinct to draw her blaster and raised it up at a dark, hooded figure, who ignited a crimson saber staff. She shot several blaster bolts off at the figure but he easily deflected them back towards her.

Once she was able to get back up and face her attacker, Leia noticed that another dark figure had stepped into view, wielding a crimson lightsaber… herself.

"No…." she whispered, taking an involuntary step backwards.

The dark shade of herself laughed. "You should have known you wouldn't be able to stand against the power of the dark side."

The other figure smiled, twistedly. It was Luke. "No matter where you run, or how you hide, the darkness will overtake you. Only together, with the dark side as our tool, can we accomplish your goal: to defeat the Emperor. That's what you want, isn't it?"

The other Leia met her eyes. "What would you sacrifice to restore peace and justice to the galaxy?"

The real Leia stood there in shock at what she was seeing. "I- I don't believe what I'm seeing."

The dark Leia smiled twistedly. "Believe it… after all I am you."

Luke stepped in, "You will soon learn about your betrayal, and be punished for it. You will only have two options, to join me… or be destroyed." He said calmly and coldly, as though it were a simple conversation. Then, both of the ghosts disappeared from sight and left Leia feeling… troubled.

Luke and the Sith ghost battled onwards, matching each other blow for blow. The harder Luke battled, the more frustrated he became; his opponent was obviously toying with him, despite the fact that Luke was working as hard as he could to beat him. Luke threw a desperate slice towards the ghost's neck, and with inhuman speed, his attacker leaned backwards, the blade missing him by inches, and then snapped a kick at Luke's chest. Luke wasn't prepared for it, and sprawled backwards, lightsaber spinning out of reach. Luke swallowed, uneasily, as a lightsaber tip came to rest within a hair's breadth of his throat.

The alien Sith stared down at him, dispassionately. Then he said, "You will pass…. Darth Atrox." The lightsaber tip receded, and the Sith ghost vanished, leaving Luke to get to his feet, aching from the battle. He suspected that the Emperor would want to hear about what happened, so he left the training room, retrieving his lightsaber with the force as he went, and began to make his way to the throne room.

When Luke finally got to the throne room, he stormed in, ignoring all of the guards. He continued up to the top of the stairs where he knelt down and waited for the Emperor to address him. "Master."

The Emperor slowly turned his chair, sensing something different about young Skywalker. He took a few moments to study Luke's kneeling form and finally addressed him. "You have… changed. What happened when you were training?"

Luke looked up at the Emperor and decided to explain everything. "A- a Force ghost of some Sith Lord appeared and began to fight me. I picked up some of his combat techniques, but I have not mastered his speed yet. At the very end of our… duel, he called me 'Darth Atrox'."

The Emperor raised an eyebrow, mildly surprised. "Did he, now…." He frowned, seemingly lost in thought, then said, "I sense the touch of my old apprentice, Maul, on you, 'Darth Atrox'. It is his lightsaber you bear now.

Darth Atrox continued to look his master in the eye. "He mentioned that Kenobi killed him? He also said that… 'I will pass…'"

The Emperor nodded, thoughtfully. "Yes, it happened shortly before your father's admittance into that misguided Order of fools. A mere stroke of luck on Kenobi's part, there is little doubt. Now…. about this title you have been given… you know about the Rule of Two? It states, there may only be two Sith at a time in the Galaxy—a Master and an apprentice. This leads to a complication…. there cannot be three Sith Lords." Palpatine's expression grew indecipherable. "You have unlimited potential, Darth Atrox. Potential which Lord Vader does not have."

"I understand, Master." Darth Atrox said, giving the Emperor a twisted smile.