Although Captain Electra had expected to be in his quarters for a very long time, he was surprised when a guard came and told him he could go back to duty. He jumped up, not caring how excited he looked. He had heard the buzz that Michael Darkrider had been released to his own fleet, and Electra found that, that was easy to believe. Especially with Jessica in charge.
Once back on the bridge, he checked the schedule for the day. Hopefully, sometime soon, Jessica had a scheduled trip to one of the other ships in the fleet. Oh nine hundred hours - War games; One hundred hours - Inspection of the Imperial Pride; Three hundred -
Whoa, back up. At one o'clock, they would be going to the Imperial Pride. Perfect! On the shuttle ride over to the Pride, he could easily kill her. The ysalamiri on the shuttle insured that, although he still very much doubted her so-called powers. He sighed. He would be somewhat jittery until the time came to execute his plans. And yet, he could keep himself in check, he was sure of it.
He glanced at Jessica, who was sitting in the command chair in the center of the bridge. She looked distracted, yet, for some unknown reason, happy. It was confounding to him why she would be so excited--
No, he knew. All he had to do was piece it together. Michael Darkrider, missing from his quarters for an entire night; Jessica and him then strolling on the bridge together the next morning, as if they were old comrades. Its was all to clear: they were in love with each other. And, to satisfy his need to kill Michael Darkrider, he would catch him, after he had disposed of Jessica. A new plan formed, one for which he would dispose of Michael Darkrider. Plain and simple, if he told Michael that he had killed Jessica, he would be outraged - he had to be, Electra knew the type; recklessly in love. He would be so angered, he would be blinded by rage, not thinking clearly, and Electra could easily kill him. Everything was so simple these days!
Suddenly, the bridge was rocked by what seemed to be an explosion. The war games had started. Electra sighed, and assumed his role as the captain who had to direct his crew in a battle situation. Although he knew his role was as their true leader, he despised the war games. He would love that day when he would be in real combat. Not here, with Jessica watching his every move. He sighed again, looking over to Command Rajahlinzt and an ensign who was as naive as they came. The ensign was in charge of the forward turbolaser implements and the forward ion cannons. The Imperial Pride was the attacking ship, and was firing a spread of laser blasts, along with ion blasts, towards the bridge shields. Once they collapsed, the Super Star Destroyer would be crippled if anything got through, just like the Executor was at the Battle of Endor. The ensign in turn fired a spread of lasers from the heavy turbolasers, not even bothering to knock out the Pride with ion cannons. Stupid, stupid, stupid! Electra thought.
Although the Pride's shields were weaker than the Dark Force's, the Pride was still inflicting great damage aboard the Super Star Destroyer. Yet, the laser fire from it soon knocked out the Pride's shields. The Pride quickly moved out of the way, and the ImpStar Deuce Rotana took its place, its shields fully intact. Electra soon realized that the opposing ships would continue their attack on the bridge until its shields were down, no matter what. Even if they lost a few ships. The Dark Force couldn't even move; the five Victory Star Destroyers were in place around it, keeping it in place, also firing at the Force.
All to soon, the game was over. The Dark Force had lost all shields, and the bridge's hull had breeched. Electra glanced up at Jessica, who had not made a sound during the entire game. Now, she was coming over to where he was, behind the ensign. "What the hell were you thinking of?" she asked, her voice loud enough for everyone to hear it.
The question was obviously directed at the ensign. "I- I don't know, sir," he said, his voice shaky, expecting the unexpected.
"You don't know?" By now, she was angry, yet trying to control it. "Did you or did you not know what the Imperial Pride was doing?"
"No, sir."
"Who trained you?" she asked, he voice still edgy.
"Command Rajahlinzt, sir."
Jessica turned to him. Jessica looked over at the ensign, and back to Commander Rajahlinzt. "So, it was your responsibility to train him, Commander. Why did you neglect this part of his training?"
Commander Rajahlinzt knew that Jessica was related to the late Emperor Palpatine, knew that she had powers like that of Darth Vader and the Emperor. He knew the stories of what happened when you failed Vader or the Emperor. If one failed Vader, his death was quick, unlike the slow, painful death the Emperor would bestow upon someone who failed. But Commander Rajahlinzt feared that since she was related to Palpatine, she would make him pay for his mistake with a slow, painful death. He finally spoke up, his voice shaking with fear. "I did not have the time to train him, Admiral."
Jessica continued to look at Rajahlinzt. "Your error made an even larger one." She raised her hand.
"Admiral!" Rajahlinzt shouted, expecting the invisible hand of the force to block his breathing passages, causing death. "I beg you! Please, don't!"
The invisible hand of the force never came; only Jessica's sonorous voice, now hardened into an icy knife by her losses and her anger toward Rajahlinzt. "You are both dismissed. Go, teach him the move."
Rajahlinzt swallowed, then let out a deep breath. "Yes, Admiral," he said.
Jessica then looked at Captain Electra. She spoke with an emotionless voice. "We should hurry to the Imperial Pride and complete the inspection, then make a jump out of this system before the New Republic finds out we're here."
A slight smile crossed his face. His tone was filled with hidden sarcasm. "As you wish, Admiral." Electra knew the time to act was now. It's so simple, he thought. I will just kill her on the shuttle ride to the Imperial Pride. Her sorcerer's ways do not frighten me like others are, and like others were afraid of Vader and the Emperor. Both are dead, so those powers they claimed made them omnipotent aren't really omnipotent. Besides, the ysalamiri that are on the shuttle are proof of her vulnerability. Inside of his mind, Electra laughed. Too bad I have to kill her. She is so beautiful, and it'd be a waste, just like Prturph said.
Jessica had started for the lift tube, leaving Electra in his daze. Electra blinked his eyes, broke himself free from his daydream. He walked fast to catch up to Jessica. Jessica then turned around, her hand extended with her lightsaber in it, ignited. Before he could react, a bolt came from a blaster in Jessica's other hand to hit him square in the chest. He fell to the ground, wondering where he went wrong in his plans. He looked up at her standing over him, and forever was her cold expression buried in his mind as he slipped away.
Jessica tore her gaze from his lifeless eyes and looked at her saber. She extinguished it, then turned to face the shocked looks of the bridge crew. She took a deep breath, then spoke. "I will answer all of your questions in due time, starting with the explanation of Electra's unfortunate death." Her voice was defiant, not showing a hint of her emotional explosion, yet it was cold and harsh at the same time with her bitter sarcasm. This bitter sarcasm and coldness were just facades, though, in which she hid her true warm, loving nature behind.
It's now or never, she thought. "Captain Electra," she began, "was a traitor to me. He had planned to overthrow me. He wanted to take the fleet and use it to reform the Empire. I do not want that, not only for me, but for you." Her eyes passed over the faces of the bridge crew. They were the epitomes of innocence. Still young and innocent, she thought.
She continued. "You would be killed in senseless battles against the warring factions of the Empire, or the New Republic itself. There is only one way out of this. One way for us to stop running. And that is to join the New Republic." Jessica waited for the murmur of disapproval to spread among the young officers, but an uneasy silence befell the officers. She went on again. "As most of you know, I am related to the late Emperor Palpatine. He was my grandfather. This means that I am the rightful heir to the Empire." Jessica clenched her jaw together. The words had come from her mouth so easily. He was my grandfather. She fought to control the involuntary shiver that ran through her body.
She shrugged the thought off. "From the ashes of the old Empire will rise the New Empire. As the leader of the New Empire, I will sign a peace treaty with the New Republic. It will, in no doubt, stop the petty fighting that continues all over the galaxy."
Jessica stood in silence for what seemed like ages. The applause started behind her. She whirled around to face a smiling Captain Jeff Darkrider. Jessica flashed him a rare smile as the entire bridge erupted into cheers and applause. The doubts and tension escaped from her shoulders as she let out a deep breath. In the place of tension and doubt, a sudden coldness appeared. It whispered to her, told her that she could have everything, the galaxy, all the power she could want. Only if she joined the dark side.
Deep inside, she laughed at the voice. I can have everything? Can you bring my parents back? This only provoked silence from the voice. I thought so, she replied to the voice's silence. You could never bring them back. She gritted her teeth at the thoughts of her loved ones. If only they were here now. But they aren't and won't be.
"I will escort you to the Imperial Pride," Jeff said, breaking her thoughts. Although he was silent throughout her impromptu speech, Jessica knew his mind was racing with thoughts. She knew he had wanted her to do this. He had even suggested it to her. His silence was a comfort to her, yet she did not know why.
"As you wish, Captain Darkrider." Once everything was complete in her formation of the New Empire, she would promote him. She did not know if she would promote herself to empress or not, but she knew she would promote Jeff. He deserves it, she thought. Jessica couldn't help but notice as she walked toward the lift tube with Jeff that the voice had returned. The voice kept whispering its false promises. Promises of power, of beauty. Only for a small price . . .
Join the dark side!
Never! She shouted. Never will I join you!
Never...
But you already have...
She thought of Captain Electra's headless body lying on the deck. No, it was justified. He committed an act of treason. It was him or me. But she knew that it was wrong, she gave into her anger. But it wasn't enough. It never would be enough. If she did commit to the dark side again, she could avenge his death by killing all that were involved with Electra. But if she did commit to the dark side, she would destroy all for which her had sacrificed for her. All that they gave her.
Think of it as you will, but you belong to the dark side.
Never...
Jessica sighed, and sank into the black couch in her quarters. It was made of material so soft, and was piled high to provide maximum comfort. And today, she needed it. On top of everything brought on by the seemingly endless day of questions about her proposed plan to join the New Republic, her loss of Michael only made it worse. She closed her eyes, willing the tears away. He said he would come back. But, then again, he was a smuggler, and everybody knew that smugglers could not be trusted.
Oh, who was she trying fool? "Myself..." she said aloud to the empty room. Trying to blame it on his past was ludicrous. Besides, just because he hadn't returned yet didn't mean he wouldn't return. In fact, he'd only been gone one day. He would return, and they'd be married. She was just panicking. Hey, she reminded herself, you've got plenty of things to do, like write up a treaty for Princess Leia to sign. She sighed again, and hopped to her feet. "Better get started on that now."
She recalled everything she had learned, and was surprised to find that it was very little in the ways of political affairs. "Hmm . . . I should know something about politics, " she said aloud to herself, finding some comfort in hearing her own voice. "How hard can it be?"
