Merry Christmas!
This was originally due to be one massive chapter, but I decided to stick with my standard chapter length. It's a more reasonable length to keep pumping out, but with room for expansion should it be required, and it's easier to consume I'd imagine. So I've started work on the next chapter already, therefore hopefully it won't be too long a wait for the next one.
Welcome back to Naboo, one year later...the reign of the Black Queen has now truly begun...
THE EMPEROR'S SHADOW:
THE BLACK QUEEN
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE: IMPERIAL ORDER
The courtyard of Theed was lined with stormtroopers, their white armour glistening in the Naboo sun. It was one year since the culling of the Naboo Security Forces, and a lot had changed on Naboo over the past year. If I could respond to what I had seen, I would be in a state of fear and loathing at the sights that I have seen…the acts that I have done. But I was still as controlled as ever by the serum, still powerless to stop my own actions. Still a passenger in my own body..
Today was a very special day on Naboo.
I was making a rare public appearance, and a sizeable crowd had gathered, all wearing black to mark the anniversary of the events of the events one year prior. However, the square was cordoned off with a sizeable Imperial presence. The crowds were lining the street, however, baying to get a view of their Queen and the new arrival that everyone was waiting on.
The Imperial shuttle, a new Lambda Class Shuttle, descended on the courtyard. It made its landing, the tension in the surrounding area building. There were only two people in the galaxy who could generate this much awe and trepidation…and I knew for a fact that this wasn't Darth Vader, as he was (according to rumour) pursuing another group of Jedi who had somehow survived Order 66.
The ramp descended, and a group of scarlet-hued Imperial Royal Guard descended, taking their places to ensure that the shuttle's main occupant would be protected to the utmost when he made his grand arrival. I stood in my place at the bottom of the ramp, my mind reeling with the impending terror that was about to descend. It was one thing to have him manipulate me from Imperial Center, but for him to be here…
The Emperor walked down the ramp. I bowed in greeting.
"Rise, Black Queen…" he responded, raising his hand. I did so.
He walked down the red carpet that had been laid out, with his Royal Guard escort taking positions ahead, beside and behind him to cover all directions. My Handmaidens were sitting this engagement out, instead being clad in their armour, being accompanied by the Royal Inquisitor-once again the ruthless and emotionally dead commander of the Shadow Angels. They took positions along with the Royal Guard, so that both of us were protected as we walked beside each other. The Royal Inquisitor walked directly behind us.
"You have done well, Black Queen…" he said, as we walked.
Thank you, Your Excellency." I replied, my words chosen by my well-honed conditioning.
"We have a lot to show you about how Naboo now functions." I continued.
A lot of what I had to show him would have disgusted me, had I been in a position to act. But I wasn't, and I couldn't even show my hatred for such acts as I had perpetrated over the last twelve months...
We passed a horde of Gungans, being led along by a group of stormtroopers that were being referred to as 'Aquatroopers', as they had gear that allowed them to operate underwater. The Gungans were walking with bowed heads, wrists in binders, the fight literally knocked out of them…
"The slave labour force for the underwater world projects is coming along nicely, Your Majesty" I commented upon seeing the horde of Gungans.
I could only think of Jar Jar Binks-he had never been the most careful Gungan, nor the most well liked, but in the end he had at least stood up for what he believed was wrong. How he would have felt upon seeing this sight…the memory of my old friend, a fellow senator and representative of his race, still stung-especially when I remembered how long our two races had been enemies. Now all of those efforts were rendered utterly wasted, all for the racist pride of the Empire.
"The Aquatroopers acquitted themselves adequately, Black Queen?" The Emperor asked.
"Better…the cities fell within a month. The Gungans put up some fight, but it was mostly with the same primitive weaponry that they used against the Trade Federation. It didn't take long for sheer force of numbers to overwhelm them…" I continued, the words tasting of betrayal.
"And Boss Nass?" Palpatine asked. My emotional pain returned as I recalled another old friend. The stubborn, obstinate old Gungan leader that had brought an end to the Gungans' isolationist policy and helped me to bring both our races to an age of peace only dreamed off previously. A member of my funeral procession…
"Executed in the Square by the Royal Inquisitor herself." I answered.
That murder had been committed by myself…and I could not feel more self-loathing over it if I tried. Another friend, another valued ally, simply discarded…and for what!?
"So, how did you subdue the Gungans once they had surrendered?" Palpatine asked.
"Simple…the Shadow Angels rounded up Gungans at random, pulled them from the hordes that had survived the fighting. They executed them on the spot, decimating one tenth of the surviving Gungan population on the spot. After that, the remaining Gungans submitted to anything we wished. As all that oppose us shall, in time."
My voice had pride in its syllables, but inside I felt utterly enraged and in despair at the actions of my Shadow Angels. Whoever they had been, they were no longer clearly. They were utterly dead inside, striking remorselessly and mercilessly. I had stopped wondering who these women were-it was now obvious that these were nightmares rendered from darkness itself. What had it taken for the Empire to destroy them so completely and for the Emperor to breathe his evil soul into each of them?
The Emperor was looking round at the hordes of people gathered to meet them. I could see him smiling under his hooded robes. Some of the people were staring stony-faced, keeping any emotions they felt for this malignant entity firmly in check. Others were looking at him with a blood-curdling fear written into every inch of their face-even then only seeing him for only a fraction of what he truly was. Others stared at him with reverence, a slavish devotion that meant that they were now trapped in the Imperial system. Still others were looking at him with a resigned expression that confessed their recognition of the trap that they had been ensnared in, and their acceptance that they could do nothing to escape it. The range of different expressions astonished me…
"How are your efforts progressing at destroying the Resistance?" he finally asked.
I thought back at the last two years…all that I had seen, and all that I had done…
"Dormant for now…rebuilding, planning, scheming. Licking their wounds, cowering…" I spoke. The words again tasted like wet ash in my mouth, but I could not stop them. They no longer shocked me-I was slowly becoming numb to the pain of having my very words betray me.
"Patience, Black Queen, you will have them in time. I feel that this will be true…" he reassured me.
What he meant by the latter statement I was unsure of, but my conditioning kept me silent. I simply kept on walking beside the Emperor, my face utterly impenetrable beneath my mask. Closed off from the universe…
At that point, we passed a group of aliens staring stoically at myself and the Emperor. Mixed races stood in a group together, staring a hole into the Emperor's chest. I felt a sudden surge of horror…
To my abject horror, they opened fire and slaughtered the aliens instantly.
No provocation, no aggression. Just cold-blooded murder.
Inside my head, I was utterly horrified. I could not believe that my Shadow Angels had executed a group of aliens in an unjustifiable act of cold-blooded murder. But I could not act on these, as my conditioning had already kicked in…
"Angels…examine the bodies." I simply spoke. No reprimand for my murderous operatives. And what made it worse is the fact that the crowd simply stood silently and watched it all happen. No outcry, no screams of horror, no attempts to stop these horrific actions…it chilled my blood to the core to realise that incidents such as these had become so routine that the citizenry had become utterly desensitised to it.
The Shadow Angels checked the bodies of the aliens for identification. Soon, one stood up.
"Found this on this alien scum here…" she pointed to a wolf-like alien lying dead on the ground.
She handed over an identification card, which even I could tell was a fake.
"Check the other bodies…" I said, handing it over to the Royal Inquisitor.
The squad found blasters and thermal detonators on the other bodies.
I took a moment to speak to the crowd.
"These aliens were obviously a Resistance hit squad, sent on a cowardly mission to strike at the heart of the Empire. With my Shadow Angels on guard detail, they stood no hope of accomplishing their mission. They were intercepted and prevented from acting, being executed for the safety of all. Long live the Emperor." My words were cold, calm and collected. Few could guess that the Emperor had chosen every word through the force.
"Long live the Emperor!" some in the crowd shouted in response.
"Well done, Black Queen. It seems your Shadow Angels are very effective servants…" the Emperor commented from beneath his black robes, his composure utterly unshaken by the events of the last few minutes. He had been in no real danger-that much was clear. The Shadow Angels had simply fired upon some aliens, and only found out later that they were an alien hit squad, sent in to assassinate the Emperor. This had not mattered, as they were dead before they had the chance to put their plan into action. It was an anti-alien attack, and far from the first that the Angels had committed. They seemed to fire upon any aliens they saw these days…and for someone who had fought for all races' freedoms, not just humans, it was truly disheartening and sickening to see myself allied with such monsters, even if I had no choice in the matter.
With the demonstration made, we proceeded through the crowds to our next destination in the Emperor's tour of the newly Imperialised capital of Naboo…