One last chapter to detail the fall of Naboo, before we go for a time skip and show the Black Queen's Imperial reign in detail.
Keep your eyes open for a character from the films...
I did have another name for this chapter, but it referenced a group from history that I personally despise, so I changed it. Hope you're all still enjoying this. Send me a review-I will reply to them and it's nice to be able to engage readers with debates.
THE EMPEROR'S SHADOW:
THE BLACK QUEEN
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO: THE PURGE
When I ascended to the throne as the Black Queen, Naboo had its own security forces. They were backed up by Imperial "peacekeeping" forces, who were slowly but surely working their way into a position of power, ensured by my actions in my double role of Black Queen and Royal Inquisitor. Under the name of battling the anarchist actions of the degenerate Resistance, I had stolen precious freedoms from the Naboo people and home forces, and had slowly but surely reduced the Security Forces' role in maintaining law and order by portraying them as incompetent at best, complicit at worst.
Now the Council is dead, wiped out by a black ops mission blamed officially on the Resistance. A investigation was under way to find out how such a grievous security lapse could happen…a complete fabrication, of course. But the story of how Naboo became an oppressive dictatorship was not yet complete. There was one more atrocity to commit…
And I would be the one to lead it.
I had received my orders from the Emperor, and the Shadow Angels were ready for action.
The sickening feeling rose in the pit of my stomach as I considered what was about to happen. Nonetheless, my conditioning forced me to continue. I took the elevator down to the armoury, where the Shadow Angels awaited, having taken the time to go down before me to don their full armour. I took my own room, and changed from my Royal regalia to the black sinister armour of the Royal Inquisitor. Replacing one monster with another…
Ready for battle, I stepped out. The Shadow Angels were waiting, fully armoured. They all stood silently to attention, like well-drilled troops. The commander stepped forward and stated plainly in a voice devoid of emotion.
"Angels ready to commence, Royal Inquisitor."
No pleasantries, no humanity. Just a remorseless killing machine…
"Are the additional forces ready?" I asked.
"Affirmative" came the filtered reply.
I nodded, accepting the Emperor's orders to be satisfactorily carried out.
"Let's begin it…" I spoke.
The commander nodded, then spoke her orders.
"Move out, as per your orders."
We headed out through secret passages into the dark Theed streets. The night was pitch black, lending us a greater degree of stealth than we would normally get, our black armours blending into the shadows seamlessly. The air was heavy with the stench of death, though that could just be my guilt over what happened affecting my recollection of events. What we were about to do was wrong…was truly evil. But I could do nothing to resist my orders, and the Shadow Angels were too hardline Imperial to even question orders, let alone refuse them. Ideal Imperial operatives…
We had reached our destination…
The headquarters of the Naboo Security Forces.
There was a meeting taking place in secret, where the Naboo security officers were going to talk about the increasing influence-though some called it corruption-of the Imperial Stormtroopers in the law enforcement processes on the planet. It was a hot topic of discussion, especially given recent events-a lot of people were questioning their roles if they were to have to play a part in state sponsored public executions. What would come out of this meeting, nobody knew…but the fact that they were holding the meeting at all showed how dire they saw their situation.
Unfortunately, one officer had somehow aroused the suspicions of one of the Stormtroopers, who had reported it. This had been forwarded to the Royal Inquisitor, who had come to his apartment with the Shadow Angels. We had dragged him to a secret facility, where we had literally beaten the information out of him about this meeting. He was being kept in custody, so he couldn't confirm that he had been forced to spill the beans on the secret meeting.
The security forces likely had contacts in the Resistance-some of their number probably were resistance themselves. So, our orders from the Emperor were very clear…
We sneaked into the building, the Shadow Angels leading the charge in an extreme Black Ops style raid. Anyone who we spotted was stunned, cuffed, and hidden. There were enough of us to keep taking people out without arousing suspicion. All went down before we noticed, and all were hidden away before anyone else noticed their absence. This was a testament to the ruthless efficiency of the Shadow Angels-wherever the Emperor had found them, they were very accurate shots, and were very gifted in the art of stealth. Their ruthlessness and lack of any emotion whatsoever was also chillingly well suited to an operation such as this.
Finally, we were outside the meeting room. It was being held in the basement of the building-it was supposed to be highly top secret, so none of the offices or regular meeting rooms could be used. We had traversed the entire building, stunning everyone we could find, and so far we had not let anyone know that we were even inside. The occupants in the meeting-discussing a course of action that could be seen as treasonous by the Emperor-would have no idea what was about to happen to them.
However, before the operation began, a couple of preliminaries were required.
I activated a hidden comlink.
"Commander Rax, are all of the exits to the building sealed?" I asked.
"Affirmative, Royal Inquisitor" came the filtered reply at the other end.
Nowhere to go for anyone in this building…
I then changed channels.
"All squads report in and confirm readiness…" I carried on.
I went through every channel, and every squad of stormtroopers reported in.
All was ready. The rats were in the traps…all we had to do was close them.
"Commence the operation…" I said.
At this moment, the Shadow Angels, who had taken position at every entrance and exit to the basement, broke down the entrances and stormed into the room, firing stun shots to incapacitate everyone in the meeting. All were taken by surprise-a few tried reaching for blasters, but were cut down by the Angels' precision shooting.
Across Naboo, there were squads of stormtroopers ready and waiting for the commence signal. The Empire had been shipping in extra troops on the quiet, ready for tonight. The intended target was every member of the Naboo Security Forces…without exception. Resistance member or not, all got stunned and carted off to various Imperial prison ships to await interrogation.
As for the group in the meeting room, there was only one left standing-the man who had called the meeting in the first place. A veteran of the Naboo Invasion by the Trade Federation, and a loyal and dependable son of Naboo-and another ghost from the past that I no longer was entitled to, or so the Emperor believed. A man whose one eye not covered in an electronic eyepatch stared me down. His hands were raised as he was faced with every single Shadow Angel pointing her gun at him, but his eye told of a warrior's instincts.
Captain Gregar Typho.
Another pang of guilt tore at my heart. This man had saved my life at the landing platform when a bounty hunter later identified as Zam Wesell had planted a bomb intended for me, by arranging for me to use my old decoy gambit. The man who had continued to keep me safe all throughout my time as Senator. By Shiraya, he had even urged me against going to Mustafar to confront my husband! If only I had heeded his advice…His eye spoke of deep haunting, as if the feeling that he had sent me to my 'death' weighed heavily on him every moment he lived. He had let me go…and the next thing he knew was of my death. He had even attended my funeral procession…I had seen him.
I wanted to comfort him. I wanted to tell him that I had survived. That the guilt wasn't his…
But I could not break my conditioning. Besides, how could I bear to tell him that I was the malignant entity that was step-by-step corrupting the planet that he and I loved so much?
To his credit, there was a warrior's glint in his eye too. If any of these officers was allied with the Resistance, it had to be Tycho.
"Captain Tycho…you are under arrest for high treason."
Tycho gave a small smile.
"The Royal Inquisitor…I was wondering when you would be moving against the Security Forces. I've seen it coming from a parsec away…the slow and steady sidelining of the Naboo security forces in favour of Imperial Stormtroopers. The public executions…state endorsed murder. Your Black Queen is slowly dragging Naboo into the Empire, by any means necessary. Amidala was right…this is how liberty dies."
I felt a pang of emotion as an old memory surfaced. But I buried it, not wishing to relive those terrible days of the declaration of the New Order and the fall of the Jedi…and the rise of Vader.
"The Black Queen learned of our meeting, and sent her loyal attack dog I trust? You may think of yourself as a powerful figure, but believe me when I say this Royal Inquisitor, I've been around enough powerful figures…people who could inspire with words and force of personality. You, Royal Inquisitor, are simply a vicious dog on her leash…"
Oh, how right you were, Tycho…not that I could tell him this.
"I assume you're planning to arrest us all and have us all publicly executed on false charges of resistance collaboration? Is that the Black Queen's grand scheme? If so, then I'll save you the trouble and just reveal what you want to know…not that it'll do you any good, Inquisitor."
The contempt in his voice cut me deep, but I had to ask…and my orders complied.
"Explain…now." My harsh, metallic tones barked.
"Qarsh Panaka was my uncle, and he was murdered by an agent of the Empire, I know it. So, I took a position in the Resistance to avenge his death, but also to save my home planet. It's what Amidala would have done…fight for what she believed in. So that's what I've done. I've been rebuilding the Resistance. We've suffered a lot of losses, but we've got to the point where we can begin to properly fight your Black Queen and her evil rule. Public executions…! There is no place for that on Naboo!"
I felt a pang of regret as I knew that he was right.
"I resented the public executions, and I knew that I wasn't the only one. So we did join with the Resistance. We taught them how to plan, how to shoot, and how to co-ordinate. They are now a strong fighting force. Hopefully more than a match for your Queen's loyal bucketheads…"
One question entered my mind.
"Why are you telling me this?"
He glared at me, his face showing no fear.
"Because it won't matter what I tell you. You'll execute some of us, but some of us have already escaped under your very nose. We've been extracting key figures since the Black Queen took over, and we've got enough to keep the Resistance running. The war for Naboo has begun, Royal Inquisitor…"
He raised his blaster, not pointing it at the Angels.
"Besides, you won't interrogate me…I don't plan on going with you."
Before we or anyone else could stop him, he had raised his blaster and shot himself in the head.
I felt time slow down as his body hit the floor, taking with it another of my loyal allies. He had killed himself, to prevent himself being interrogated and the Empire learning the key information that he had on the Resistance, which was now gaining in strength-bolstered by several escaped Security officers. How had this exodus been going on all this time? Had the entire organisation been concealing the extraction of its members? What did this mean for those who had already been caught-were these only lower grade members? Ones willing to die for their cause?
Looking down with regret at Tycho's body, I could only resume my role as Inquisitor.
"Process them…" I ordered.
Two weeks later, I stood in full Black Queen regalia in front of the crowd. The Shadow Angels commander was once again resuming the role of Royal Inquisitor, flanked by a few Angels-the others in their role as handmaidens accompanying me.
In the courtyard knelt at least two hundred Security forces members. All of them bound and gagged, so that there could be no protests of innocence or martyr-creating speeches. Just executions…
The interrogations had yielded information, but nothing major on the Resistance. There were a few arrests here and there, but it appeared all we had were those responsible for maintaining the escape routes and keeping the cover stories intact. All were defiant in the face of certain death, ready to die if it meant that the Resistance that they had rebuilt would one day free Naboo. Tycho had been right-he had indeed rebuilt the Resistance it seemed, along the lines that he and his uncle Qarth Panaka had believed in, and any key information he had taken to his grave. Some had indeed known nothing, and currently languished in prison awaiting the judgement of the Black Queen…
But the message for the people of Naboo, and the Imperial forces of the Black Queen, was clear.
The Resistance were out there…and they were simply biding their time.
In the meantime, there was one more atrocity to carry out.
"People of Naboo, I give to you your traitors…the men and women responsible for allowing the Council Chamber bombing to take place, the ones who let the perpetrators and other Resistance members escape from their rightful justice and carry on perpetuating their brand of anarchy. These Security forces were collaborating with the lawless Resistance, and henceforth proved that they are not fit to live in the New Order."
I could hear calls of "Justice!" and "Avenge the Council!" from the gathered crowd. The atmosphere was more toxic, far more venomous…they were baying for blood, and I could not believe it.
"The Security Forces are henceforth disbanded, with immediate effect. Full control of planetary security will be handed over to the Imperial military, who will dispatch additional Stormtroopers to the planet to maintain law and order. Those among the Security Forces who were not found guilty of Resistance activity were nonetheless guilty of inaction and complicit in the horrific actions of the Resistance. So they have been offered a chance to redeem themselves by volunteering for the Imperial Stormtrooper Academy, or the Fighter Pilot Academy for those who are part of the Space Fighter Corps. Both groups have been offered a chance to become part of the Imperial machine, where they will hopefully return as loyal sons and daughters of the Empire. Just as this planet deserves…"
The "offer" was not voluntary at all. Any Security guard or officer who had little to nothing to do with the Resistance had been conscripted to the Stormtrooper Academy for a gruelling course of dehumanisation and reshaping from which not all of them would survive. And those who did would return as loyal shock troops or killer pilots for the Empire. The Naboo Security Forces as I had known them were well and truly gone.
"But as for these traitors, there can be only one fate. I have come among you to demonstrate the price of treason to every being on this planet. Captain Gregar Tycho admitted to treason, but then committed a cowardly suicide just to avoid the might of my righteous justice. None of you will be able to follow his example, I can assure you. I will have order and let anyone who wishes to disrupt that order behold what will happen to them. In the name of the Empire, I sentence all of you to death. May Shiraya have mercy on your souls…"
I looked at the Shadow Angels commander in the guise of the Royal Inquisitor.
"Royal Inquisitor, carry out the sentence."
The Royal Inquisitor nodded, and then stepped forward.
"Squad…ready weapons."
The executions were brutal and clean. One shot to the head, then another to the person behind. By the end, there was an unbelievable pile of corpses…the last of the once proud Naboo Security Forces. The force that Panaka and Tycho had given their lives for, now just as dead as them. The loyal security forces that had stood for law, order and the protection of rights and liberties had been well and truly purged. And it had been their most loved Queen that had carried out the sentence…the fact that any of these would have gladly died for me hung over me like a shroud.
My heart-the part of my heart that I could still call my own-was heavy.
No more Council, and no more Security Forces. All of these Naboo institutions had been eliminated. The Royal House of Naboo was taken care of, and the once proud Queen under house arrest.
The Imperial Machine was ready to fully take over Naboo, with the Black Queen at the top. I now had nothing stopping me from doing what I desired, but my desires were enslaved to those of the Emperor. The resistance was out there, rebuilding and biding their time, but I could only be pessimistic about the likelihood of their success in freeing Naboo from the Imperial machine.
The reign of the Black Queen could now begin properly…