PART 3: Dividing Paths -Starkiller's birthday

5BBY Imperial Center

Galen Marek threw his lightsaber. It bounced off the hull of the ten feet Imperial walker. With a quick Force-induced dash he was out of range of the blasterfire, forced the blade to turn mid-air only to send it back again. The walker shuddered, its electronics finally giving in. Not wasting any time, Galen reached for the Force and compressed the metal until the core was damaged and the whole thing died in a violent explosion.

Galen lowered his hands with a sneer. There was no challenge anymore to fighting droids. He'd gone through all the models and none could surprise him anymore. They all had their individual weaknesses and he knew them all. Not for the first time he wished he'd had his old training droid PROXY at his side. While he had no doubt that he would be able to defeat him too, at least he was always good for a surprise and got regular updates.

But PROXY had stayed behind when he'd left the services of Darth Vader three years ago. At first Galen had been angry about that. He was forced to adapt to a completely foreign world, couldn't he at least have that one piece of familiarity with him? However, over time he had learned better. The Imperial palace was a snake's pit. Galen was not the only Force-sensitive trained here. In fact, he'd found about a dozen other students ever since he had arrived. The Emperor said that he was the favorite, the strongest one but Galen knew that he told the others exactly the same. They were his agents, his assassins, his many right hands. Galen could barely believe how stupid and brainwashed they all were, craving the attention and praise of a man so twisted, so evil.

And yet, he'd been like that too at one time, wasn't that right? He had believed with the same utter confidence that he was important to his Master, that the greatest plans stood and fell with his actions. Until he had found out how replaceable he really was. Until the time had come where he really had to lay down his life for his Master and been walked over in return. Until he had been betrayed and all childish fantasies of respect and equality and freedom and family had been brutally ripped to shreds right in front of him.

He was no better than a hundred other agents; he was just a pawn in the game of the great ones. But his time would come. There would be a day where he rose against his slavers, when he broke his chains and unleashed the Force on his enemies. The day would come when he fulfilled his destiny and killed the Emperor. Maybe he would humor his old Master and pretend he'd done it for him. He'd wait until he thought himself safe and then, when Galen had recovered from what would undoubtedly be a hard battle he would go ahead and kill Darth Vader as well. Then, his revenge would be complete. Then, he would finally be free and nobody would use him anymore.

Until that day he would train, become stronger and put every piece of knowledge the Emperor threw at him to good use. It would not be easy. Already, Galen was treading on thin ice with the Emperor. The old man was well aware of his hatred for him. In the beginning he had tried to win Galen's trust. It had almost worked too. He got to use his birth name, he had his own flat and servant droids and whenever he wanted to see the Emperor, he cleared his schedule just for him. On the first day he'd gotten his own lightsaber, something which he'd always dreamed of and what he had worked tirelessly to earn. He had felt respected, even appreciated, something that was so foreign to him.

Then the first assassin had come. Galen had interrogated him extensively to find out that he had not been sent by either the Emperor or Vader. He had acted on his own because he feared the Emperor's new toy would take his place, he feared for his position. Others had come after him and Galen had discovered the Emperor's hands. That's when he realized what he was being trained to be. He was used yet again to be a weapon. He wasn't an apprentice; he wasn't the heir to anything. He was just another weapon.

Every child Galen's age eventually went through a rebellious phase. Some kids took to drinking or taking drugs or racing. Galen rebelled by killing every single Hand he came across.

At first it had amused the Emperor. Tool or not, Galen was incredibly talented, certainly more so than all his other toys. He even started to use him to separate the wheat from the chaff. Galen noticed the exact moment when he went too far, the moment he killed an active hand with quite some experience, a valuable agent. He felt that exact moment when the Emperor noticed Galen had killed more loyal Imperial agents than assassination targets, that he was costing more than he earned. It was the first time the Emperor punished him using Force lighting. That had been agony but it also totally failed in its expected result.

Instead of stopping, Galen put even more effort in discovering his rivals, hunting them down methodically. Sidious punished him again and again the more agents he lost and Galen took it all, he let the lighting course through his body – and he watched very, very closely. He'd just killed the current head Inquisitor when he came for a visit, breaking his very busy schedule. The man hadn't even been trained by the Emperor himself but Galen unleashed hell on him, destroying half a building in their duel. The following punishment was one of the worst yet. Galen honestly thought the Sith Lord intended to kill him. That was until Galen stood, absorbing the pain, turning it into power – and sent the lighting right back at him.

The attack had not been very strong but it was the first time Galen had ever used lighting intentionally. Sidious had never taught him how, he had learned by watching him do it and he had deliberately provoked him into doing so. Realizing this, Sidious had been shocked for just a second. Then, he'd started laughing.

Things had changed after that. Galen no longer got punished for killing other agents. They were becoming rather scarce by now and he even suspected the Emperor had sent them all away for their protection. Of course he still wouldn't tolerate it if he randomly killed staff members, civilians or politicians but that's not what he did anyway. Galen had no interest in terrorizing the innocent. He simply wanted there to be no other next to him, he didn't want to share his position and – though he kept that thought carefully hidden – he wanted to thin out the Emperor's legions.

Galen took the Emperor's new tolerance as a sign that he was getting stronger. Strong enough to be able to defeat Darth Vader one day and replace him as the apprentice. That's why the Sith Lord ignored his escapades, he was becoming too important. Of course Galen didn't plan on being anyone's apprentice ever again. He would kill Sidious first and only then would he get his revenge on Vader. He would make him regret ever giving him away.

Seeing as there were no more droids for him to destroy, Galen decided to end his training here. He went back to his room to wash the sweat off his skin, his head still filled with dark and brooding thoughts. When he came back he had a message on his personal comm from his pilot, Captain Lassley. The man was the 7th in a line of pilots that had either died on his missions or been killed by Galen himself. He really doubted anyone would take the job willingly at this rate if they knew about his record.

Of course, it wasn't like any of that was Galen's fault. His first pilot had been killed by Lord Vader. It had been the first human being he'd built up any kind of relationship with aside from his Master and of course that had to be crushed in order to strengthen the dark side in him. The second pilot, Corton, had died on a mission while Galen was away, as had his third. It was a natural risk but one he had learned from. After he began his service with the Emperor, he had taken to ordering his pilots to stay in orbit and only come to collect him when he was done with the job.

His 4th pilot had died pretty much the same way his first had for pretty much the same reason with the exception that Sidious had made him kill the man himself. His 5th pilot, the first female one, had lasted longer but ended up betraying him for a sizable sum of credits and so he took her out himself. His 6th pilot had actually been ordered to spy on him and he'd killed him just to make a statement to his Master. He did not appreciate having his loyalty questioned any more than he liked to share his position.

Thus, Lassley was his 7th pilot and Galen honestly wondered how he would die.

The message called him to the staff hangar on the backside of the palace so that's where he went. There he found Lassley talking and laughing together with a few other officers. They greeted him cheerfully and with the kind of smiles that made Galen wary.

Lassley had been his pilot for only a few weeks and had no idea what it was he was really doing for the Emperor. He only dropped him off at random planets, lost all communication with him for a couple of hours and picked him up again when he was called. Thus he hadn't learned to fear Galen yet and though it was tempting to open his eyes, Galen said nothing. As long as Lassley was unaware of who he was serving, it would be more obvious to Galen once he did get an offer to betray or spy on him.

"There you are, Marek! My friends and I, we have a little surprise planned for you", Lassely announced once he was within hearing range.

Galen merely scowled. "What is the meaning of this, Captain?"

"We're going to celebrate your birthday, that's the meaning!"

Galen blinked. That was not at all what he'd been expecting.

When he first came to the palace his presence of course had to be explained in some way. Officially he held the rank of a cadet and once he reached fifteen he went under the guise of an officer working for the palace security. As such there did exist a file about him that someone with Lassley's clearance could access. Most of the information in it was of course fake. In fact, only his picture, name and blood group were correct. He'd made up the rest of the information himself. When it came to his date of birth, any random number would've done the job but for some reason, he'd picked a particular one, the one when his old Master had first found him. He'd celebrated that birthday only once together with PROXY, his pilot and... that boy and silly, weak little brat that he'd been, he had wanted to keep a reminder of that happy day. According to that date, he was turning sixteen today.

The day used to have a meaning to him. It didn't anymore of course but Lassley didn't know that. Undoubtedly his offer to celebrate was just a sycophant's desire to suck up to him.

The crew began to cheer and it took Galen a moment to realize that he'd agreed to come with them. What? Why had he done that? He had better things to do than celebrate his birthday! Like reviewing the last mission or searching for new agents or... Alright, he had nothing better to do. Let's just get this over with.

Strangely excited, Galen hopped into the transport with the rest of the men. He rarely ever got out without a particular goal or mission and for a moment... for just a moment he enjoyed the illusion of being one of them.

The trip of course turned out to be fairly disappointing and awkward. He really should've known better. The men were merely looking for an excuse to get drunk, driving from one bar to the next and getting more ridiculous as time passed on. Galen never drank alcohol out of principle but seeing as his headache grew with all the noise and stench around, he seriously considered it today. In the end, Lassley actually talked him into taking a few drinks, just enough to be able to ignore how disgusting everyone was being but not enough to impair his abilities.

It was around midnight, they were in some kind of bar belonging to a dirty hostel when Lassley laid his arm over Galen's shoulder and slurred:

"It's time for you ta get ya birthday present, don't ya think?"

It spoke of Galen's lack of concentration that he didn't fight against the captain's informal behavior. The man pulled him up some stairs, laughing and patting him on the back and pushed him into one of the rooms. Galen had barely any time to realize what was going on before the door was closed behind him, a key turned in the lock and a mad cackle sounding form outside.

Within a second, all drowsiness was gone from his head as Galen's hand flew to the hilt of his lightsaber. The Force seemed strangely dampened today and he cursed his stupidity at getting involved in this. He could see no immediate sign of danger, there was only one other person present, a civilian as he learned from brushing her mind. It seemed to be a standard room in the hostel but there was a window just large enough for an assassin droid to sneak in.

"Hey handsome."

Galen turned with a scowl to the civilian woman lying on the bed. Now that he thought about it, it was strange that Lassley would lock him in here with someone else unless that someone was out to kill him. Maybe she knew something about the plot?

"What are you doing here?", he snapped at the woman harshly.

"Me?", she replied innocently. "I can do whatever you want me to."

Slowly the woman stood. She was wearing a long red fur coat that parted to reveal black nylon stockings reaching her thighs and equally black lingerie that barely covered her private parts. Her blonde hair was open and falling over her shoulders. Though he could see that she used a lot of make up to cover dark circles under her eyes, she was still beautiful. Galen had realized what she was the moment she left the bed but it took him a few seconds longer to figure out what it meant.

She was his birthday present. Lassley had paid this woman to sleep with him. There would be no attempt on his life today.

The relief over that distracted him long enough for the woman to reach him. She laid both hands on his shoulders, leaning against him, rubbing one leg between his.

"I am here to show you the greatest pleasure", she whispered into his ear, her breath hot at his neck.

Galen looked at her, really looked at her. The plot did look obvious but was it really that innocent? His eyes wandered down her body and he felt himself grow hot. He would have to make sure...

Galen pushed her away from him slightly. "I'm sorry, Miss, but I will have to search you for weapons. You could be an assassin out to kill me."

Instead of being affronted like he'd expected her to be, she merely winked at him naughtily and returned to sit on the bed.

"Of course, officer. Feel free to search me... everywhere."

Her lack of protest did seem to make it unlikely that she was dangerous. Galen's gaze flew to her long legs, then up to her round breasts and he felt a longing in himself that he'd never felt before. The dark side seemed to urge him on and his previous fear and anger began to turn into something else, something equally passionate. Yes, he would search her very thoroughly.

XxX

Galen woke up the next day from his comm beeping. The moment it did, years of training and honing his instincts kicked in as he felt the unfamiliar mattress under him, smelled the bad air and took in his foreign surroundings. There was a movement next to him and he reached for the vibroblade under his pillow – only there was none. Panicked and now convinced he was in danger, Galen whirled around and pushed his bare hands forward against the shadow that rose to loom over him. Blue lighting coursed from his fingertips and he barely had a second to take in the sight of the very much naked woman leaning over him, eyes wide, blonde hair tussled and in disorder before she let out a tortured scream. He stopped his attack at once and she fell on the mattress next to him, quivering spasmodically, her presence radiating fear and pain.

The memories of last night came rushing back to him. The celebration, the drinking and the... the most wonderful night of his life. The pleasure this woman had given him even though she barely knew him. He knew she'd been paid, he knew she was a whore and yet he couldn't help but feel a connection to her. He'd never felt anything as glorious as what she'd given him last night. Sex didn't have a place in his Sith training and yet the dark side had embraced his passion and lust as it did his anger and he'd felt more powerful than ever before.

Galen cursed as he stumbled away from the bed, not caring about his own nudity. He hadn't wanted to hurt her. It had been an instinctual reaction, worsened yet by the alcohol-induced headache that was plaguing him. Now she was in pain and he would have to act fast if he wanted to save her. Of course he knew absolutely nothing about healing and she had stopped quivering. He hoped she was just exhausted.

The Force gave him a nudge and Galen's eyes fell on the commlink that lay discarded next to the bed with the rest of his clothes. He remembered the message on it. The urging of the Force grew stronger and he picked it up.

He had a new mission. It had arrived just minutes ago. His target was a prostitute working at the same motel he was in, fitting the description of the same woman on his bed.

Something cold settled into Galen's stomach as he processed this information. Then, anger exploded in his chest, followed by unimaginable hatred.

This whole night, the celebration, the woman, it had all been one of the Emperor's little games. Galen was a young, healthy and not too bad looking man and he was at just the age to take interest in the other sex. Of course the Emperor, control addict that he was, would want to dictate every last part of his life, even the most personal. He had decided who he was to share his first night with. He had made sure he learned of the carnal pleasures under his conditions and now he forced him to kill the woman. It was almost embarrassing that the Sith Lord should teach him this lesson, the lesson that sex had nothing to do with emotions or attachments. Galen knew that the Emperor had concubines on his own. This message said nothing else than that he could have sex, as much as he wanted, but woe him if he got too involved with any woman for the Emperor would not hesitate to have him kill her.

It made Galen absolutely furious. Not because he'd planned on having any sort of relationship with this woman that he barely knew but because the old man wanted to control a part of his life that was utterly private and had absolutely nothing to do with his duties or his training. As much as he had loathed being left alone and ignored more often than not under Vader's tutelage, at least the other Sith had always respected his privacy.

Galen felt the woman rise behind him. He could feel her fear of him and that she was about to scream. With a shout of rage on his own, Galen grabbed his lightsaber, activated the red blade and stabbed it right through her chest. As he looked down at her corpse falling down on the mattress, Galen's thoughts where with his Sith Master. He couldn't wait for the day when he was finally ready to kill him. In the meantime, he would take care of Lassley. The guy would set a record for the shortest time served with him.

XxX

AN: It took me some time to write this chapter. It was clear that SK had to change under Sidious' training but I wondered in which direction he would go. I finally chose to make him more temperamental, rebellious and even openly defieant. Partly, this is a result of Sidious turing his entire character upside down in an attempt to destroy his loyaltry to Vader (which is evidently working). But also I thought about the diffrent teaching/raising abilities of the two Sith.

When Sidious began to guide Anakin into the dark side, he did so by supporting his strong emotions and emotionally influenced decisions. This caused Anakin to become emotionally unstable and vulnerable to his manipulations. Sidious tries the same method now with SK, pushing him to carry his emotions more openly, emotions that have always circled around anger and jealousy.

After Anakin fell, as Vader he has with time shed his skin, turned away from his overwhelming emotions and learned to control them until his anger was cold and efficient instead of hot and burning. He tried to raise SK the same way, supporting dark emotions but teaching him to supress them until teh time was right and then unleash them in powerful attacs. It's what made him act so mature all the time.

In summary, SK has been brainwashed by two Sith Lords who want to push him into different directions and it will be some time before he can find his own way and act independantly, even led other people like he did in teh end of Force Unleashed.

He is truely, for a lack of better term, in his rebellious teenager phase. Before long, Vader will thank his Master for taking that load off his shoulders^^