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Chapter 15
"Luke!" Leia called. She stood, pinned to the wall by an unknown power. Queen Atalya lay crumpled on the floor, a discarded toy, her battered and bruised body still and unmoving. Luke reached out in the Force to confirm that life remained in his cousin. Be calm, at peace, he tried to reassure Leia.
"Ah, young Skywalker," the Palpatine clone called, gleeful. "I don't remember inviting you to my party, but I am glad you've come." He stepped from the shadows, enjoying his dramatics. The echoes of lightning tingled in Luke's blood.
"I'm afraid your sister will never be quite the Jedi you are," he mocked, pacing restlessly by his makeshift throne. "She has disappointed me several times now." Luke warily advanced, conscious of his friends continuing their fight in the back corridors against the stormtroopers, his cousin's faltering breaths, and Leia's impatience. Wait, he cautioned her.
"Yes, Princess Leia, listen to your brother," Palpatine echoed. "You have not his wisdom or his experience. Such a foolish mistake, rushing up here," he spoke sadly to Luke. "I cannot make her Queen now." Luke murmured indistinctly, moving easily, trying not to excite or alarm the clone who seemed almost childlike in his bemusement.
"Let them go," Luke instructed. "I can help you, I'm what you want." Palpatine stood still for several seconds.
"How dare you presume to speak to me that way!" He shouted suddenly. Debris began flying around the room, barely controlled by the madman's erratic skill. Luke easily deflected the smaller items.
The false Palpatine, while at least a partial copy of the Emperor, had not had formal training in the Force or the ways of the Sith, and his unpredictable motions challenged all Luke's senses. His lightsaber ignited, he advanced on the screeching, cackling clone.
"Only our skills with the lightsaber can decide this," he advised quietly, still deflecting the falling rubble from Ryoo's helpless body.
"You challenge me to a duel?" Palpatine shrieked. The audacity of that charge finally distracted the clone. He brandished his own lightsaber and that action forced him to drop his hold on Leia and she slumped, unharmed, to the ground. Luke, now parrying with Palpatine, motioned for her to stay back but she ignored him and crawled slowly forward.
"Ryoo!" Pooja wailed as she entered the room and caught sight of her sister. She rushed forward. Han grabbed her and pulled her back.
"Are you crazy!"
"That's Ryoo," Pooja cried again, indicating the still prostrate queen. Han, noting Leia's slow movements forward, simply nodded.
"I know. We have to wait though. Just wait," he soothed, as well as a worried man can in a room filled with the sound of clashing lightsabers and crashing rock. He fingered his vest again.
"I hope this is right," he murmured as he ran forward. "LEIA!" With this shout he pulled a blaster from his vest and tossed it in the air. It arched neatly into Leia's hand and she stood and began firing as she rushed toward the clone and her brother. He continued to hold Pooja's arm and they both watched, nearly breathless, as the Skywalker twins fought the crazed demon.
"Get out!" Luke called, his breath ragged. The clone's skill was rough, formless, but his foe's very unpredictability kept him constantly shifting, attempting new paths, new stances. In one swift move Luke disarmed the clone and the red blade lightsaber flew into Leia's hand. The clone began backing away from the Skywalker twins' sabers. Leia's intent and focus compensated for her lack of training and Luke could feel her mind, at peace, guided by yet another unknown mind.
"Han, get her and get out!" Han stood still, unsure of what Luke meant. He watched in horror as Luke turned away from the clone, leaving Leia to meet the fight, her lightsaber against everything the clone was throwing around the room, on her own. Han wanted to scream at Luke until he saw what Luke had in mind. Luke reached with the Force, lifted Ryoo as if she were a baby, and nearly threw her at Han. Han stumbled under the weight but he managed to catch her.
"Get out!" Luke shouted again and Han put Ryoo gracelessly over his shoulder and tugged Pooja away, back down the corridor where Sabé had continued holding off stormtroopers, her arm steady and her shots almost always meeting their targets.
Luke turned his full attention to Leia and the clone. Now! They both heard the voices and they fought as one person. Palpatine's eyes, now bloodshot and crazed, searched desperately for a way out.
"And now, we will all die...together," he murmured and Luke had just enough time to pull Leia back as the clone snatched his lightsaber from Leia's grip and plunged it into his own body. Luke threw himself and his sister into the only shelter he had noticed, a table near a rocky alcove, just as the expected blue explosion erupted, showering the entire chamber in rock, debris, and hatred.