Another chapter so fast!? And not a shorter chapter? What is going on!? What can I say...when it flows, it flows...

THis concludes this mini-arc. Expect another short time hop to the next section.

This one gets fairly brutal, so be warned.

Points to whoever can see what I am referencing in the chapter title...

THE EMPEROR'S SHADOW:

THE BLACK QUEEN

CHAPTER THIRTY: THE FALL OF THE HOUSE OF NABERRIE'

I was torturing my own parents…

They were bleeding, shaking and bruised from being subjected to endless electrical shocks, physical beating, truth serum injections and even use of vibroblades to start blood flowing, partly as a psychological warfare tactic and partly as a physical wound. I was even forced to use my training on how to use a Force Pike as a torture instrument from the Royal Guard Academy.

They had slowly divulged some information about the Resistance, about their role in the organisation and their role in helping refugees off the planet and resistance elements in. However, the part of my mind that was the Royal Inquisitor still suspected that there was more to learn. And the Emperor had one last trick in mind to properly break them…

"You will remove your mask, my servant…reveal your true identity to them."

His tone of voice was calm but betrayed his underlying malevolence. He knew very well that I would attempt to fight him on this…it was my parents that I was torturing, and now he was demanding that I reveal that it was their own daughter that was subjecting them to this level of pain and degradation? The daughter in whose memory they were finding the strength to act!? They had already lost one daughter…and now they were expected to learn that it had been their other daughter that was her killer!? How much further would I be expected to be dragged by this monstrous entity masquerading as a human being…?

"No…" I thought, to no avail. It was pointless; akin to writing words in wet sand…

"You are under my control now, my puppet. You will do as you are told…or must I take more direct measures to get you to behave yourself in a manner to which I am accustomed of my servants?"

He replied, clearly anticipating the feeble resistance that I was able to put up. However, he was all too keen to force me into what he saw was my place.

Yet…the phrase "direct measures" chilled my blood. Could the serum allow him to directly control me? As if he was in my body…like possession? The thought terrified me, and yet I did not doubt that the serum coursing through my blood gave him that hideous power. What else was he capable of…?

I said nothing. I simply stood and thought of my family, silently weeping mentally at the losses that they had been forced to endure. The death of their beloved (and pregnant) daughter, and with her the hope for Naboo as the Empire slowly took root. The demise of democracy as the despised Black Queen seized power and imprisoned the democratically elected Queen Apailana. The flagrant disregard and dismissal of alien rights, and the rise of a reign of terror unparalleled in our planet's history that had forced them to take action in the name of their lost daughter simply because it is what I would have done-the right thing. The loss of their nieces to the Imperial Academy, and the murder of their mother and father. Then I mentally broke down at the thought of the loss that was to come…the utter defilement of their daughter's memory. The reveal that I was now a slave to the Empire…

I obeyed my orders (as if I could refuse) and got in close to my parents, still strapped down and trying desperately to recover from the multitude of ordeals that I had forced them to endure. All that I had inflicted on them…and this would be by far the worst for them.

"Do you want to know who I really am, traitorous scum?" I said in a low, seething tone that I did not recognise even without the mechanical filter that disguised my real voice. I felt like a monster, waiting to strike…so far from what I had been once, in another lifetime.

They remained silent, still wounded from the interrogation, physically, mentally and emotionally.

I unlocked my helmet, and pulled it off, revealing my true face for the first time in five years.

My parents' eyes flashed with recognition, but also with pain. My father remained silent, trapped in disbelief at what was right in front of him. Finally, he whispered "I've finally broken…Padme, my daughter, I will be with you shortly. Shiraya, await my coming and guide my broken soul…"

My mother was looking at me, her expression aghast, mentally floored. Could this nightmare dragged from the deepest pits of the Abyss-the Royal Inquisitor-really be her beloved daughter…?

"Padme'…is it really you? The torturer…how can it be you? How can you do this to your…" she began, before I harshly cut her off.

"Family? How can I act against my family? Simple…I now serve the Empire. They are my family now, my loyalty to the Emperor and my Queen beyond question. I have always served the Emperor…but I was too good at hiding my true allegiances for you weak-willed people to notice."

My father had found his voice now, realising that this was no dying man's hallucination, but was instead a different grade of nightmare…and one you couldn't walk away from. "Why…?" he whispered through bleeding lips.

My words were being manipulated again-was this the direct control that Palpatine had mentioned?

"Why…? The Republic was weak…its politicians were more interested in obscene personal fortunes than representing the people they claim to serve in the Senate, indulging in all sorts of backstabbing and political scheming to stay in power. They ensured that Chancellor Valorum was powerless to act when Naboo faced its invasion crisis, so there was nothing for me to do but to rely on the use of force to take back my planet. Going forward, however, I knew as Emperor Palpatine did that the Senate cannot survive in its present form-corruption and decadence will force it into decay and obsolescence. The galaxy cannot survive a political cataclysm like that, so it is imperative that every inch of the Republic is unified and brough to heel under the banner of the Empire. It may be brutal, but it will turn out like a near fatal medicine. In the end, while it may almost kill the patient, the patient will grow stronger as a result-and the same applies to the old Republic."

My mother spoke next. "Why as a torturer…an Inquisitor…a monster!?" Her breath was coming faster now, more ragged. She was visibly flagging now, and I could tell she could take little more.

"Why am I dressed like this, weeding out the anarchy and disposing of the dissidents? Well, I have always had a unique skill set, and my Emperor vowed for me to put them to use. I am happy to serve the Black Queen in this capacity, the true power behind the throne. Her right hand…I was only too happy to fake my own death to disappear to be able to take my place as his agent."

My father coughed up blood, a sight that repulsed me from within my head. And yet I didn't stop…

"Why are you revealing your identity, my daughter? Why do this when you have kept it successfully hidden all this time? All it can achieve is to torture us even further…why, beloved Padme, why?"

He begged, with what were becoming increasingly like his last breaths.

"Because you won't be leaving this ship alive. This is journey's end…the final destination. The purpose of this prison ship is not only to hold Resistance fighters. It is also a place of execution. No martyrs, no heroes…simply a place to dispose of dissidents, undesirables and anarchists quietly and efficiently. You will disappear, your names forgotten and your lives rendered forfeit. In the name of the Emperor, you will be taken from this place and be terminated tomorrow at dawn…"

I then put my helmet back on, signifying my transformation back to the monster.

"Until then, there is still information on the Resistance to be obtained. So, we will resume the interrogation…"

And with that, I clenched my fist and rammed my leather-clad gloved fist into my father's stomach…

Four hours later, I finally emerged from the interrogation room. Rubbing my scuffed gloves, I addressed the officer that was standing near to the room that had been waiting for me to emerge. I had successfully obtained the information I was seeking; a number of resistance cells would be purged that night based on the information extracted. Not enough to break the Resistance, but enough to ensure that a number of operations would be finished. Another blow to the inevitable victory, the voice in my head told me.

As promised, the next day, my parents were taken to the disintegration chamber. Neither spoke as they were escorted there-the revelation of my survival, new role and denial of all that I had once stood for, not to mention killer of my own sister, had evidently broken them. All they wanted to do was to ne with their other daughter, I suspected…and I had no reason to doubt that.

I stood watching the execution. My parents both looked at me, with desperate and pain-stricken eyes, imploring the lost soul that was their daughter to return to them, to come to her senses…but she never did. How could I? I was utterly consumed…and now it was about to cost me everything.

As my parents were executed, I felt a large part of Padme' Naberrie' die with them.

There was one more dose of personal pain to add to the story, however.

I was back as the Black Queen, speaking out on the well-guarded steps at recent events. I explained the "truth" about the raid, and the alleged purpose of the Resistance facility that my family was running. Naturally, it was far from the truth, but there were more personal attacks to come…

"This infiltration and fugitive escape route was run by the members of the House of Naberrie'."

I paused, then pronounced judgement.

"I therefore hereby name the House of Naberrie' as dissolved, their deeds stricken from the historical records, their names forgotten and disgraced. Never again will their name be spoken…so I have said, so it shall be. That will be all…"

Leaving a shocked crowd behind, I walked back to the throne room. My family had been executed, and their house had been utterly buried-no trace of their existence…or mine. Ryoo and Pooja had been taken into the care of the Imperial Academy, their legacies stripped from them. My parents and my sister, close family, had been executed or murdered. I had lost nearly everything…

"Your Majesty?" an Imperial messenger ran in, stopped, and saluted.

"Speak…" I said, holding up a hand to prevent Motee' and Yane' from literally shooting the messenger.

"I bear a message from the Imperial Officer's Academy." The messenger was quick and precise.

"What has happened? And why are you bringing this to me?" I asked.

"It concerns an Officer Cadet that was placed under the care of the state…Ryoo Naberrie'."

My stomach lurched…what had happened to Ryoo?

"Explain…and use the surname Amidala, as Naberrie' is never to be spoken again."

The messenger gulped. "Apologies, Your Majesty. Ryoo Amidala…has run away. She has escaped from the Officer's Training Academy. She has absconded and vanished…"

"And her sister? What of the other one?" I asked, my voice as cold as possible.

"She remains…she raised the alarm about her sister's escape. It seems Pooja…Amidala wishes to remain training as an Imperial officer candidate. So, she reported her sister, but not in time for us to prevent her escape."

So Pooja had reported her own sister…and Ryoo was now Shiraya only knew where.

The House of Naberrie' had fallen…and it was all by my hand.