Disclaimer: All of the characters, except Cari, are not my own in any way, shape or form, and I do not claim them as such.
Chapter 4: Confrontation
Cari walked through the doors of the turbolift, into the throne room of the Death Star. Turning to the red robed guard on her right, she murmured softly "You can go now". Both guards, the one on her left as well as the one on her right, left the throne room, unable to resist against the power of the Force she used on their minds.
She mounted the steps, and walked towards the throne her father was sat in.
"I was expecting Lord Vader". His voice sent a shiver of nausea running through her, as did his actual presence. Now, he was repulsive, the feel of his mind much more distasteful to her than the faces of even the most extremely different aliens. The last vestiges of anti-alien sentiment that had been carefully trained into her since childhood were washed away.
Cari nodded. "Vader couldn't come. He has interests somewhere else." The Emperor, her father, stiffened, and she felt him trying to get into her mind. She resisted him, not because she didn't want him to know the truth, but because she'd rather say it out loud, rather not have him crawling around in her mind.
"You've lost, father". She tried to keep her voice soft and even, tried to push away some of the anger and hatred she felt towards him.
He smiled at her. "Oh, I think not."
"I think so," she countered. "Vader won't be coming here, with or without his son. They decided to have a nice on-planet reconciliation, see the trees, feel the ground under foot, hear the birds singing."
The Emperor frowned, and abruptly stood up from his chair. "What have you done?"
"Something I should have done a long time ago, father" she smiled at him. He looked at her, then glanced out of the window that led out into space. A hint of excitement tightened his features - if he hadn't got the challenge of turning Luke Skywalker to look forward to, at least he could enjoy the destruction of the Rebel fleet. She was quite glad that she'd managed to convince Skywalker to meet his father on the planet. He shouldn't have to meet her father. He was still too naive, too innocent to realise what her father could do him. No, she decided, best to leave her father to people like her, who knew what he was capable of, and, if necessary, might even be able to match it.
"Any second now" she commented.
"What?"
She walked away from him, towards the window. As she did, there was a flicker of psuedo-motion, and the Rebel fleet exited from hyperspace. "That" she said, nodding towards the fleet. "That was what you were expecting?" She stared out of the window for a second longer, then turned back towards her father. "Unfortunately, if you knew that they were coming, then they also knew that you knew that they were coming.". She smiled, appreciating the irony.
"What have you done?" her father hissed, surging towards her. Coolly she stepped away, heading back towards the steps, keeping her front towards her father.
"A short while ago, all the troops on Endor were sent a message, informing them of a change in orders. The bunker is now unguarded, as is the forest approach to it. The troops are quite happily guarding some distance away. The message had the highest codes attached to it, informing them that this order came from the Emperor himself. The same codes you taught me." She laughed quietly, the sound of laughter at something that isn't very amusing, but is painful to someone. "And so, the fleet arrives just in time for their ground troops to disable the shield around this station. We are, if not now, then, very soon, defenceless."
Keeping both eyes on her, her father stepped slowly backwards towards his chair, and when he reached it, leant down and hit the comm switch, preparing to communicate with the crew on the Death Star. As he flicked the switch, nothing happened.
"Did I forget to mention," Cari inquired sweetly, "that my last act before coming here was to disable your communication systems, and orders have been given that you are not to be disturbed, whatever happens? Well, I did."
Her father stared grimly at her for a long moment, then slowly lifted his hands. "Did you think it would be that easy?" he asked viciously, and blue-white lightening streaked out towards his daughter. And met a Force shield, and splashed harmlessly off.
"Did you?" she countered coolly, and lifting her hand sent green-white lightning streaking back towards her father. Which also met a shield, and did no harm. For a long, silent moment, father and daughter stared at each other.
Down on Endor, the shield generator exploded, shattering the comparative silence. Leia stared at the destruction, her mind not on the present view, but with her brother. Han touched her gently on the shoulder, and she turned, looking into his dark, concerned eyes. After a huge, internal battle, she'd finally told him who she was, about her brother, her father. She shook her head, and whispered softly "I have to go to him, Han."
Han stared at her, then smiled fondly, and shook his head. Somehow, she could "feel" his desperate fear, and matching anger, but he just shrugged, and said "I'll go get us a couple of speed bikes. You know where we're going?"
"'We' aren't going anywhere" she snapped furiously, but he just gave her a lopsided grin, and, turning, loped off down towards the speed bikes they'd "liberated" from the bunker. She headed down after him. Yes, she did know where to go, she could feel her brother, and it was that, nothing else, that made her decide that she had to see her father for herself, to see if Luke had told the truth. She just hoped that Luke could protect them.
She sighed softly. This was definitely not one of her better ideas.
"Aren't you proud father? You trained me well. I've thought of everything. I even disabled the Death Star's firing beam. There is, quite literally, nothing left for me to do, except come and say goodbye." Cari smiled at her father.
"Why? Why have you betrayed me like this?"
"When you're prepared to betray anyone to get your own way? You would have sold Vader to his own son, urged one to kill the other. But no, the real reason, father," she spat with sudden viciousness "is that you have made me into nothing. Wouldn't train me to become a Sith, and I could never become a Jedi. Force trained, and with no heritage. You made me into nothing more than your servant. And you really should not have done that. You don't love me, don't care for me, don't even see me as anything more than someone to further you schemes, and no, Father, it really is too late to begin denying it. Far, far too late."
Cari glanced out of the window. She hadn't been able to do anything about the fleet without attracting too much attention, but her father had given orders that the larger ships only keep the rebels "from escaping". All the rebels had to do was deal with the Tie fighters, which shouldn't be too much trouble. She could feel a ship sweeping into the Death Star even now. "Not much longer, father."
He panicked then, the first time she'd ever seen her father lose control. He lifted his hand and sent wave after wave of lightning sweeping towards her. Which she met and countered with equal ferocity, the strange mixture of hate, and desire to rid the universe of a terrible evil giving her strength in the Force.
"You're going to die, Father."
"And what about you?" he snapped, the strain obvious in his voice.
"Me? Oh, I'm going to die too. You see, I could have just let you die when this Station explodes, but I wanted to see you die, for you to know who did this to you, to kill you myself if possible. And that desire, I'm afraid, comes from the Dark side of the Force. So, I'm going to kill you, and then die myself when the Death Star blows up. I could escape, and Skywalker would try and help redeem me, but it's too much of a risk, and I don't think I'm cut out for life in the Light side of the Force. After all, I am your daughter."
Despite the fear she could feel from him, her father smiled. "You won't stay. If you kill me, you'll remember how much you enjoyed the power you had. You won't give up so easily. Even if I die, the Universe is still fated to be ruled by one of my line."
"No" she said softly, and now her face was calm and serene. "I won't. And do you want to know why? Because of Yoda. You failed in your attempts to rid the galaxy of Jedi, and even after Kenobi, Yoda was left alive. Old, tired, and grieving at what has been done to the Galaxy, and he still cared enough to try and help me. I owe him, and I will pay that debt, in the best way I know how. We're finished Father."
The Emperor gave a howl of rage and bitterness, and lightning flared once again from his fingertips, but again Cari met him, and matched him, lightning from him and lightning from her meeting in the middle, striving against each other, and this time she won. Wave after wave of lightning surged from her, without her really understanding how she was creating it. And then, her father died.
The Dark energy within him swept out in a howling wave, sweeping her off her feet, flinging her down the stairs, and finally smashing into a pillar. For a long moment she lay there, blood trickling down the side of her face. Finally, she managed to drag herself upright and stood, swaying. She turned, intending to head back up the stairs, and watch out of the window, and then stopped, and stood, undecided. There might still be enough time. She could go, and save the Battle Station, prevent it from being blown up. The Rebellion could probably do with a weapon of this kind, to help keep others in line, and defeat the remnants of the Empire, and she could help them, and...
She laughed softly, real laughter, for all that it was ragged and tired. "One last trick, Father" she inquired softly to thin air, and then, blinking her eyes against double vision, she reached down and pulled the Lightsaber from her belt. She ignited it, listening to the hum echo through the huge room, staring at the dark green blade. She wondered, would she die in an explosion of Dark energy, as evil as her father, or would her death be more quiet, more normal than the life she'd ever led? Shrugging one last time, she flipped the saber round, and drove it through her heart.
There was no pain.
For a moment the saber hung in the air, as if undecided, then it tumbled to the ground, and once it hit, switched itself off. Of Cari, daughter of the Emperor Palpatine, there was no sign. In the end, she, like Yoda, had been accepted into the Force.
Shortly afterwards, Lando Calrissian destroyed the Death Star.
On Endor, Vader felt the death of the Emperor, his Master, and staggered, falling to his knees as the pain washed through him. Slowly, fighting against the wrenching pain, he looked up. His son stared down at him in concern. Now was his time, Vader knew. With the Emperor dead, all he had to do was turn his son, and they could rule the Galaxy together. But ... the thought wasn't as appealing as it had been. A huge void had opened up inside him, torn there by the death of the Emperor, and all the dark power he could throw at this void couldn't close it. It would be there forever, the knowledge that he hadn't done anything to save his Master, had betrayed him. But there was a way. Vader could feel the love his son offered him, flickering at the edge of his own mind. A gift so freely given, despite what it might cost the boy. He'd already freely acknowledged that if this meeting hadn't been arranged, he would have tried to reach his father another way. While part of Vader's mind laughed in scorn at the boy's feeble notion, another part of it rejoiced.
Vader's mind hung in the balance, as he knelt on the ground of Endor, surrounded by trees, and plants, the cool air washing over him and the whole planet echoing through the Force, strong with light. As Vader struggled with Anakin within his mind, the latter truly given power for the first time in so many years, a small sound made Vader and his son look to the left.
Leia stood at the edge of the clearing, staring at her brother. And at Vader. Han hung worriedly at her side, preparing to back her up despite the fact that he thought it was a stupid idea. Luke looked at her with relief, and she could see the strain on his face. And the cuts, and bruises. They'd obviously been fighting, and anger flared up in Leia. She stepped forwards, to stand protectively at her brother's side, Han trailing nervously after her. She stood, staring coolly at the dark masked figure who slowly straightened in front of her. Luke grasped her hand in his, and slowly reached his left one out to his father. Their father. Her father.
"Father, please" he said softly, and somehow Leia could "see" the conflict in her father's mind, could feel the hope in Luke's, and for her brother's sake, if not her father's, she took the first step towards forgiving him, and slowly, held out her hand.
The Rebellion defeated the Empire that day, although the actual cleaning up of Empire troops took a lot longer. The Jedi again began to roam the universe, strengthening peace and justice, and with the guidance of one idealistic, younger Skywalker, the wariness and knowledge of an older Skywalker, and the compassion and wisdom of a third Skywalker, the New Republic and the Jedi worked in peace and harmony, trying to avoid the mistakes that had once led to the Empire.
In time, Anakin Skywalker was healed, both mentally and physically, through the application of bacta, healing from the light side of the Force, and a large amount of love. Eventually, the new Republic accepted him, forgiving the terrible deeds of his past, and giving him a new chance. He lived long enough to see his three grandchildren grow to become Jedi in their own right, then died peacefully, surrounded by his family. In death, he was reunited with his old mentor - Obi-wan Kenobi, as well as Yoda, and a young girl, whose bravery despite herself had made the bright future possible. Vader, and the Emperor's daughter were no more, and Anakin Skywalker, and the girl known finally as Cari, were at peace.