Cliffhanger resolution time!

Hope this is worth the wait...

Might end up taking a little break, to work out where to go from here with the story. Hope this tides people over.

THE EMPEROR'S SHADOW:

THE BLACK QUEEN

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX: OLD GHOSTS

I stood there for at least a minute in stunned silence.

These women, these monsters, these Imperial assassins…the women who had helped to bring terror and prejudice to the streets of Naboo, kidnappers and murderers, one of whom had acted as the double of the Royal Inquisitor, the butcher of Theed…had been the handmaidens that had served me so diligently when I had served as Queen and Senator?

These women had been closer than servants. They had been friends…sisters.

And the worst was the woman standing in front of me.

Sabe'…the woman that I had spent at least three years mourning in the sanctuary of my own head. The woman who I had watched be cruelly murdered…by my own hand no less, as a test of the Emperor's brainwashing and body control device! How could she be alive, standing in front of me?

The question passed through my lips, barely a whisper, disbelief in every agonised syllable.

"How…?"

The Emperor stepped forward. "You should have been able to detect that there was something off with your friend…surely you knew her well enough to tell when she wasn't herself?" he mocked, and I could tell by the smug tone of his voice that I had been hoodwinked somehow…though I didn't know how. No doubt I was soon to find out…

"We were as close as sisters…" I whispered, my voice nearly gone and my eyes welling up.

Palpatine, however, was showing no mercy and went straight for the jugular…

"That Sabe' you killed…executed in my throne room. I have a confession to make, my plaything. She was…a clone. A quick grown clone, only days from clone madness. Still, she served her purpose…"

At this, I felt a mixture of horror and rage beyond anything that I had ever felt before.

"Her purpose…? I SLIT HER THROAT WITH A VIBROBLADE! I DRAINED THE LIFE OUT OF HER! I THOUGH THAT I HAD MURDERED MY BEST FRIEND IN COLD BLOOD, AND I HAVE BEEN TEARING MYSELF APART ABOUT IT FOR NEARLY FOUR YEARS…AND NOW YOU REVEAL THAT IT WAS A CLONE! WHY…WHY DID YOU DO THAT TO ME!?"

My voice broke in the last few words, but the rage-filled outburst felt so cathartic. However, I was unable to move towards Palpatine-unable to throttle the life out of his evil body, unable to run and hide to somewhere I could heal. Some of my conditioning was still holding…but I was allowed to react for real. That was truly sickening…he wanted to see my genuine reaction to what he had done. That made me feel truly sick to the pit of my stomach at the evil of this man…

Palpatine simply cackled, which made things even worse.

"Her purpose…? Her purpose was actually to achieve several aims. By killing off Sabe', you would not only prove the effectiveness of the serum as far as obedience goes-if you were willing to kill your own best friend, then there is nothing that would not do to anyone-nothing would be off limits for you. Also, by killing Sabe', you would know that you are truly lost and that nobody is coming to help you-you are mine, and that was my first way of teaching you that your old self is truly gone. I could not have you kill the genuine article, however, so I simply cloned her, and kept the original as insurance in case you proved stronger to the serum than I anticipated. Of course, you proved pitifully weak to the serum-and it made you so much stronger than you could have ever been otherwise. The subterfuge was worth it, as it has turned you into the woman that you are now."

I looked at Sabe' with a feeling of apprehension and dread building in my head.

"And what did you do to the real Sabe'?" I asked, fearing the answer.

Sabe's stepped forward to answer this question.

"I rebelled on Naboo, along with everyone else you see here. We all stood up for our home, much as we had when we were with you years ago. Sisters in arms…best friends, fighting side by side to improve the galaxy. Yet we were all captured…that monster Vader slaughtered the rest. At least we saw him as a monster then...We were seen as useful to the Empire, so were taken to an Imperial facility. The scientists and guards there tortured us, brutalised us, and eventually broke us…at which point we started to see the Imperial system for what it really was. A bastion of order against chaos and anarchy…everybody has a place in the Order, and anything that goes against the order has to be purged. After all, it was elements that went against the established order that invaded Naboo in the first place…and started the Clone Wars…"

This was not the Sabe' that I knew. The woman that I knew was compassionate about her people, and shared the same values that I did-as well as my determination. The woman that I thought of as a sister would not have believed in the cover story given in my apparent "death", and would likely have joined Organa and the others in my place. How could she now be fully Imperial, ready to slaughter untold numbers of people in the name of the Emperor? What had they done to her to break her this badly?

Palpatine took up this part of the story. He pressed a switch, and we heard a voice. It was from an Imperial recording, sounding a lot like a science log. The others did not react to it in the least…

"Shadow Angel programme entry #237, subject #1."

"The subject has completed Phase One. The various methods of breaking her physically and mentally seem to have worked even better than predicted. Tests have shown her to be still in possession of her memories, as well as her considerable physical skills. However, her free will has been utterly destroyed, leaving her as an empty shell-ready to learn her new life. I predict that this one will be an exemplary candidate, and I intend to subject the other subjects to this process when I am satisfied Phase Two will work. To break her was time-consuming, as she fought so hard, but after a few months she finally succumbed. Seeing her best friend's funeral on the news feeds helped to break her…now she faces Phase Two. The early signs are good…"

I was utterly horrified. Were they all subjected to this…? What had they been aiming to create? This sounded like some sort of horrific special forces military project…and why had they been named Shadow Angels? Had they been built for me and me alone? This thought left me cold inside, as it meant that the Emperor was playing a long game with my future. To what end, I had no idea. But it could not end well-that I could see from here.

The Emperor continued with the recordings.

"Shadow Angel Programme entry #489, Subject #1"

"After many attempts and a lot of subliminal manipulation, we have done it. We have turned Subject One into what was requested as the brief-a soldier that has all of her older memories intact, but with her loyalties changed to the Empire. This loyalty appears to be absolutely unshakable-her mind has very firmly accepted the conditioning. She is now as capable as she was previously, but very dedicated to her new Imperial masters. She has demonstrated fanatical loyalty and a ruthless edge that makes her a far more capable operative. She will be an ideal squad leader with a little additional training. I recommend extending the programme to the remaining subjects. We will have the squad ready by the appointed date without any problem."

At this, I realised that the Emperor had been playing a long game. All the time I had been at the Training Academy and guarding the Emperor, he had been having my friends mentally drained and brainwashed. All signs pointed to this being the intended outcome…was this part of some long game to him? Was the Black Queen simply a move to take Naboo long in the making? Or was this simply to stick the vibroblade into me?

The Emperor had one final recording for me…

"Shadow Angel Programme, Personal Note #667."

"I am grateful for the data given from the ultra-black ops project designated 'Project Shadow', as without it I would never have got this far. While there is a lot that has been classified under security levels so high that it is more than my life's worth to so much as speculate, the fact remains that it has been a very useful treasure trove of information. The idea of the serum injector device keeping somebody under control, while I believe that to be an impractical delivery system, has proven that what we seek to achieve is viable-we just need to find other ways of doing so. This has prompted me to find alternatives-a way of controlling the mind and not the body, as this is a much more direct way to accomplish my goals here. Nonetheless, the experimental data has proven useful as it has highlighted that the person can be broken if denied access to control of their body, and this has proven instrumental in breaking down subject #1 ready for her re-education…"

The recording went on for a little while, but I was tuning out due to my fury and despair at what I was hearing. First, I was hearing about how my friends had been drained of their will to fight. Secondly, I had heard how they were reconditioned to obey the Imperial machine and act as my agents when I was to undermine Naboo authority in preparation for an Imperial takeover of the planet. But to hear that it was my present predicament that had given them the means (and the inspiration) to be able to condition these women…that truly appalled me. Was I simply the test subject for a horrific Imperial project into obedience? Were any of us truly free?

Sabe' was looking at me. Her face remained stoic, but her eyes spoke of horror.

"I was told you were dead, Padme'…one of the ways that they broke me was by telling me that I was dead and that you would not be coming to help us. They even showed us the footage of the funeral…it really convinced us that you were truly gone. Seeing your face again…"

I dared to hope…was my friend breaking through?

"Now I can see that Padme' Amidala is indeed dead…and is on her way to becoming something greater-a true daughter of the Empire, just like us. You just aren't there yet, judging by the way that you are insulting our esteemed Emperor. You need to accept your role in the Imperial machine, as we have grown to accept ours. We will continue to serve, as it is our duty to serve the Empire, but I would advise you to stoop fighting and embrace the will of the Emperor. He has truly marked you for great things…" she spoke, destroying my hopes and making me realise just how far she had fallen.

I looked at the others, and found similar expressions in their eyes. Rabe', Eirtae', Sache', Yane', Dorme', Motee'…all of them showing eyes that blazed with fanaticism and faces that spoke of determination, loyalty to their Imperial masters. My friends, my sisters in arms, were gone…

I looked at the Emperor, eyes blazing with cold fury and the pain of loss.

"They accepted their places in the Empire…when will you accept yours?" he simply stated.

I did not answer-there was no answer to give…

These women, who were now re-donning their helmets that turned them back into faceless monsters, had been loyal to Naboo-fighting valiantly against the forces that had sought to destroy her. Now they were purging her people and assisting in the corruption of their planet, in the name of the Empire. They had been broken, and then rebuilt as daughters of the Empire.

How long could I hold out before I became just as fanatical, ruthless…and Imperial…as them?