HUGE MEGA NOTE: AFTER YOU FINISH READING THIS CHAPTER PLEASE READ THE AUTHOR NOTE AT THE END OF IT. THAT IS ALL. SITH MASTER2019 OUT.

Chapter 22: Another Betrayal

Vader opened the fight with a generally deadly move. He stabbed at Mara's gut, luckily, she had a good angle, her feet left the ground, and she flipped in the air and landed behind the dark lord. She spun with her blade outstretched to that she might cut him in half. Instead of meeting Vader's waist, her blade met Vader's own. The two sabers crackled a spat white lighting as they locked, casting eerie glowing light on their wielder's faces.

Mara grimaced as her strength and Vader's began to duel. His lightsaber was knocking hers away. "Damn those cyborg muscles." Mara thought as she attempted to push against it but it was futile. No matter how hard she tried, Vader had the upper hand in this field, slowly her saber inched one way with Vader's coaxing. The harder they came together the bigger the occasional explosions of raw laser and pure white energy. Mara could practically smell the ozone emanating off the two blades.

Alecto, Zax, and the three other smugglers stood just stood there, near the turbo lift and the broken chair that had smashed into Leia and sent her to an infernal death. Alecto stared intently at the duel, ready to shoot at a moments notice; she could fire within a fraction of a second and be deadly accurate. She had been a freelance assassin once, and a damn good one. More politicians, debtors, smugglers, criminals, powerful men and woman, and assorted other freelance assassins had died at her hand. She had racked up a body count so enumerable, she known as "Infinite". Those days were over now, but not forgotten, nor were the skills she once used in them.

Mara's strength gave out, her saber knocked out of the way so hard she had to let go with one hand. As her blade swung back, Vader raised his and swung at her head. Mara ducked at the saber slashed over, nearly singeing her fiery red hair. Turning she delivered a sweep kick that knocked Vader flat on his back, the new Emperor dropped his weapon, it rolled to the left and over the steps, clinking on each one all the way down. Mara angled her blood red blade down at his neck. The red glow cast a scarlet light of Vader's black helmet.

The sun had set on Coruscant, making the glow even brighter.

"I am going to enjoy gutting you." Mara hissed. "It'll be a good learning experience."

"How nice for you, except…"

"Except what?"

"You'll be dead before your blade can so much as scorch my armor."

Mara laughed. "Is that so?"

Perhaps it would be. Vader raised his right leg and shot it at Mara, his boot hit her in the groin and she toppled over onto the floor. Vader extended a gloved hand calling his weapon to him aware that the five smugglers had their weapons trained on him and would fire at any moment. Vader felt the saber hilt hit the palm of his glove and he wrapped his hand around it, activating it and angling it down at Mara's neck, casting a scarlet glow on her skin.

"It is so." Vader replied to her earlier question.

Mara smiled, shaking her head, trying to ignore the pain she felt on the lower and more private parts of her.

"I have to hand it to you Vader." Mara grunted. "That was good. I wasn't expecting it at—"

Mara didn't finish her sentence. She called her weapon to her, activated it and sliced an inch into Vader's right shoulder, the dark lord jumped back and grunted. Mara leaped to her feet and stabbed at his blinking control panel attached to his chest. With a sound that sounded somewhat like, an angry grunt and some sort of war cry, he parried so hard Mara nearly dropped her saber again.

She sensed Vader's saber coming at her head. That was to fast. She ducked. The saber glided over her head again, and again nearly singed her hair. Thinking for a split second on her next move she remembered the catwalks she had used jumped on once during an early sparring match with Ravan, she had got him in a prime position and knocked him off. If Vader was half as angry as her senses detected it might cloud his judgment just enough to see Mara's oncoming attack, and then she would win.

Putting a hand now behind her she flipped backwards and into the air, using the hand to provide the necessary lift. Her black boot smacked the part of the mask that could reference a chin if it were actually a real head. Mara flipped into the air, and Vader doubled back just a little, his head in the air.

Mara felt her feet hit the catwalk. She looked down at Vader with a sly smile on her face. The dark lord grunted again. Damn it, why was she so good? She had barely any training in the Force, just the initial training. There was absolutely no way she could be that fast and accurate with that amount of training. On the other hand, perhaps it was Vader that was the problem; perhaps his skill with a blade just wasn't what it used to be. Hopefully it was enough to disarm Mara that way he could kill her in what way seemed best to him, and most fun.

He took Mara's bait and propelled himself up at the catwalk, landing in front of her. Their deadly dance progressed with Vader taking the lead; his offense was quick and fast. The advantage of his style, Djem So, Mara like so many other Sith practiced the form Makashi, but she was sort of waving away from it now. Now she was more of a free stylist. It was a good thing too because she knew Makashi was an exquisite form and generally very deadly, but Djem So brought out the flaws of it. Djem So focused on speed, while Makashi focused on grace, accuracy, and generally a slower approach to things. Obviously, speed verses, grace and slow accurate attacks would win.

Mara wondered for a moment if Vader had always practiced Djem So. She thought of a young Anakin Skywalker as maybe more of an Ataru stylist. None of this thinking was getting her anywhere however, and when her butt bumped a guardrail, she realized she was at the edge of the catwalk. Vader threw himself into an overhead strike Mara raised her saber to parry and succeeded, but Vader's hit was so strong it knocked the weapon out of Mara's hands. Her saber deactivated in mid air and hit the ground, stopping and resting there.

Alecto and the others trained their weapons on Vader who seemed to be considering whether he should kill Mara. Attempt to deflect several dozen blaster bolts or whether he might toss a box that happened to be sitting on the catwalk, at them. However, he wasn't able to do either, as something so unconceivable took place. It happened so fast Mara really head the sound of breaking transparisteel as an advanced TIE X1 burst into the throne room from the giant hexagonal window and touched down, crushing Vader's chair. Vader, Mara both stared at it as the hatch opened, and a cloaked figure leapt out. It was Ravan.

"I told you to land in the private hanger." Vader snapped. "You crushed my chair!"

"There wasn't time." Ravan replied.

Alecto, Zax, and the three smugglers exchanged glances. Then they came to their senses and opened fire on Ravan.

He activated his lightsaber in a fraction of a second, deflecting the bolts and killing the three smugglers. He deflected another that flew and drilled a smoking hole in Zax's chest. Alecto screamed out in pain as another hit her in the knee, disabling her and knocking her flat. Using this distraction Mara made her move and in the form of a roundhouse kick to the helmet, knocked Vader off the catwalk. He hit the ground, unconscious, perhaps dead.

Mara leaped down, landing near him.

"We meet again." Ravan said.

"I knew we would." Mara replied, calling her lightsaber to her hand, but not activating it.

"I didn't think so after I locked you in that hanger and depressurized it."

"I'm a tough girl to kill." Mara shrugged.

"And to get along with." Ravan added.

"Yeah." Mara agreed.

Stealthily she latched onto a chair from the situation table behind her with the Force. When Ravan was about to speak the hurled it at him, he simply ducked and it went over his ship and out the broken window.

"That was pitiful."

"Anything is worth a try." Mara said. She then leapt at Ravan, raising her saber, feigning a slash high, but then going low. Ravan hopped up and the saber slid across the ground. Mara brought it back up again to launch another attack, but it failed as Ravan launched a blow of his own towards the head. Mara parried and the sabers locked, spitting white energy.

"It sucks that it turned out this way." Ravan said, with sadness in his voice that really was genuine. It almost… touched Mara (emotionally that is) almost. "I really did—"

Mara broke the lock and swiped at Ravan's neck, but he parried and the sabers locked again.

"Save it farm boy. This is how it is going to be." Mara spat.

Ravan broke the lock this time, ducked, and in a sweep kick knocked Mara on the ground. She lost grip on her saber and it rolled a few feet away. Ravan angled his crimson blade down at her neck.

"Why does it have to be this way?" Ravan asked, somewhat sadly.

"You killed the Emperor, left me with nothing! I trusted you and you stabbed my masters back you bastard! That's why it has to be this way!" Mara cried, blocking the sadness out of her own voice. She didn't even know why she felt it.

Ravan took a deep breath and raised his blade.

"I hate that it turned out this way." He said, flipping his lightsaber and angling it down at her chest to stab and kill. He plunged it down, but stopped. He stepped back and dropped his weapon. "I can't do this. I tried once, I can't again."

Mara shook her head. She slammed her feet into his boots tripping him, jumping up she put her foot on his neck.

"You should have killed me, because now I have to kill—"

However, an earsplitting boom interrupted Mara. She covered her ears as another one followed and took her foot off Ravan's neck. Ravan covered his own ears and three more booms issued in succession. Then it all went quiet.

"What the hell was that?" Mara asked to no one, hardly able to hear herself. Ravan didn't reply, just looked up at the ceiling at her hearing began to return to normal. Then five booms that are more gigantic sounded echoing through the room and actually shattering Ravan's cockpit window. Mara looked up at the ceiling, there was a huge hole torn in it, she could see the starless night sky. Then two rappel lines tumbled down, stopping on the floor and hanging. In unison, Mara and Ravan called their lightsabers, allied for the moment against this unknown threat. Two figures began to slide down the lines; Mara knew who they both were before they reached the ground.

The two reached the floor; both were wearing helmets with tinted visors, but took then off at the same time and dropped them, revealing their identities, Kallisto and General Derevko.

It was surprising to see Kallisto dressed in a black combat suit when her normal color was red. Her hair tied up messily, it hung down in some places to about her neck, in others only to her earlobes. She smiled at Mara.

"Hello." She said.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Mara asked.

"A job."

Before Mara even had time to register what happened; her lightsaber hilt sliced in half, as well Ravan's. Kallisto's smart disc sang as it ripped through the air, and it flew back to her. She caught it by the S shaped handle in the middle and hooked it back onto her belt.

"A job that requires neither of you to have weapons in your possession."

"DAMN YOU!" Someone cried from behind Kallisto, a single shot issued from Alecto's pistol at drilled into the general's back. He fell down dead.

"NO!" Kallisto cried in fury. She spun and hurled her smart disc at Alecto, who was lying on the ground. It smashed into her stomach, ripping open a giant gash; it bounced back, past Kallisto and smacked Ravan in the head, drawing dark crimson blood that matted his blonde hair. He fell over unconscious and the smart disc flew back to Kallisto. She caught it and clipped it onto her belt.

She then bent down and checked the general's neck for a pulse. Mara looked from the unconscious Ravan to Kallisto; she didn't know what to do. She could shoot Ravan with the blaster pistol she had, or she could check his pulse, strangely, she wanted to do just that. On the other hand, she could shoot Kallisto. She shot at Kallisto, but Kallisto rolled out of the way and extended a gloved hand. Mara felt herself fly backwards and crash into the steps leading up to Vader's crushed throne and Ravan's fighter.

Her pistol flew out of her hand. Kallisto smiled.

"Who are you?" Mara asked, and coughed, desperately trying to catch her breath.

"I'm exactly who you think I am. My name is Kallisto and I betrayed you."

"I can see that." Mara retorted, still trying to catch her breath and desperately searching for a weapon. She couldn't pinpoint her pistol. She assumed it had flipped up and out of the broken window. "How do you know how to use the Force?"

"Isn't that the golden question? I might as well summarize my story since I am about to kill you. I was never working for Vader, I was working for the Emperor-- no, he is not alive-- and I was working with his spirit. Years ago, the Emperor found me and recruited me as one of his many personal hands. I still am and remain loyal to him as does a cult of Imperials that went rouge after Vader took over."

"What do you mean he has been gathering a cult if he is dead?"

"I am the Emperor's hand, he can use me as a vessel when it is necessary and he sends his orders through me. I've been recording your conversations with Daala for the past while to play to the Emperor when you are not around, since he can be busy. Even in death. I then give orders to his cult."

"That explains a lot, keep going."

"He assigned me to kill you recently, he wanted you to kill Vader and Ravan but it would seem my timing was bad and I have to kill all three of you."

"And…"

"And nothing, that's it, here I stand." Kallisto reached back, behind a huge rifle on her back and pulled out an incredibly shiny vibro blade from a hidden sheath. "I'm going to enjoy gutting you."

XxX

Ravan's eyes flew open, greeted by the sight of that woman, about to kill Mara. His first instinct was to protect her. He grabbed his useless saber hilt and threw it at her. It hit her in the head, making her back up a few steps. Ravan leaped up and kicked her in the face; she turned to the side and dropped her vibro blade, her hands on her bleeding nose. Ravan picked up her weapon and used it, plunging it into the side of her abdomen. It went in a little ways and hit a rib. Ravan reached out with the Force and used it to blow her away; she went flying with the blade still in her and it the guardrail near the reactor pit. Ravan helped Mara up.

"You… saved me." Mara said bewildered.

"Yeah… yeah I did." Ravan agreed, equally as bewildered. "Mara… since the day we met…"

Mara nodded. "I know. You don't need to say it. Thank you for saving me… and for letting her reveal the truth about the Emperor."

"Does this mean I'm off the hook and you won't kill me?" Ravan asked.

Mara actually smiled. "No, I won't kill you."

Suddenly, her head exploded with an earsplitting shriek, "YOU FOOL! KILL HIM NOW OR HE WILL STAB YOU IN THE BACK!" Cried the voice of the deceased former Emperor, Mara fell to the ground and held her head as he continued to scream.

"What's wrong, Mara!" Ravan cried as she went down. Then it hit him, he heard the voice too… and he knew where it was coming from. His eyes snapped to Kallisto whose eyes were glowing yellow.

"Hello young Skywalker." The Emperor's voice said through Kallisto's lips.

"That's how you've been driving her! You've been using the woman as a vessel and invading her mind, driving her insane."

"Yes, I have. And this is the final time. Very soon she will die… from my voice."

"What!" Ravan cried in alarm, looking at Mara who was withering on the floor. He felt her pain, it was as if someone was driving a lightsaber into her brain and it was not killing her. Nevertheless, it was killing her. He had to stop the Emperor, or the woman, or whoever it was. He charged at her, or him. The Emperor unsheathed a knife and threw it at Ravan. It hit him in the shoulder but it kept on coming. While he ran, he pulled the knife out of his shoulder and hurled it back at the woman. Her eyes turned wide, she opened her mouth and the Emperor cried out as the knife hit her in the left side of the chest, a ways down from the shoulder. She went limp and he felt the Emperor leave her. However, she was not dead.

Neither was Vader thankfully, she stood up slowly, his breathing sounded horrible. However, slowly it came back into rhythm, Ravan noted a golf ball sized dent on his helmet. He looked to Ravan, then to Kallisto and the other smugglers, and then to Mara. Ravan wiped a single a mixture of blood and sweat from his forehead, near the stop Kallisto's disc, or whatever it was had hit him.

Vader looked around some more, vaguely Ravan wondered if he had a concussion or something, he immediately dismissed the idea when Vader spoke.

"What in the hell happened here?" Vader asked.

"I won." Ravan replied simply.

"What about her?" Vader asked pointing to Mara.

"It seems it was…" Ravan pointed to Kallisto. "What's-her-name's fault that Mara wanted to kill us anyway, the Emperor was working through her and driving her mad."

"Are you mad? We cannot trust her Ravan I will not allow it! She knocked me off of that catwalk and would have killed me! I sensed it, she was so set on doing it that it is a miracle of the Force that you showed up when you did."

"We can trust her father."

"For now, but when inevitable day comes and she attempts to kill me again I will not hesitate." Vader vowed. He turned his attention to Mara. "I will kill you, no questions asked."

"Speaking of questions," Ravan said. "What happened to Leia? She might have been a help."

"Yeah to me." Mara huffed. "But she betrayed you both, and now I assume she's just broken down matter in a reactor pit."

Ravan nodded. "I knew it! I knew she didn't join us just too… join us! The day in the maze when she almost killed me, that's when I knew!"

"Then why didn't you voice your concerns to me?" Vader asked.

"You would have killed me if I did, you were crazy about the power she had." Ravan replied matter-of-factly, which was exactly the wrong tone to use with Vader at this particular moment. Several objects crushed into themselves and the room temperature dropped five degrees.

"Crazy about the power she had? You imbecile! You heard me talk to her about it I feared the power she had. The Force literally took control of her, or she took control of it but it was uncontrollable!"

"That doesn't make much sense." Mara put in.

"Stay out of this matter." Vader snapped. "It's a damn good thing she is dead Ravan. I would have killed her myself if she didn't betray us like that, she was getting far too powerful and soon I believe she wound be uncontrollable."

Suddenly they were all on their backs as the entire palace shook. For a moment, Mara thought it was one of Daala's ships; that then had won the battle and began bombardment of the planet. Nevertheless, it was far from that, near the reactor pit Mara felt a massive quake in the Force. Vader and Ravan felt it as well, and then a hideous creature came out of it, over the dead bodies of the smugglers, and the barely living ones of Kallisto and Alecto, (yes Mara could sense Alecto was alive). The creature was none other than Leia. She looked like she had silver molten to her on parts of her skin. Her velvet black robes torn, her hair was everywhere down her back and shoulders, her veins reached far out and her eyes were dark red. However, the detail of her skin, she looked almost like a cyborg but she covered in hard metal that had recently cooled.

Vader stood up as did Ravan and Mara.

"How are you alive?" Vader asked bewildered.

"I saved myself using the Force; the reactor pit is all molten metal. I fell into it and then healed my wounds but the metal still stuck to me, and I flew back up. Now I will kill you." Leia hissed in a voice that echoed… off nothing. It echoed in her mouth as her lips formed the words. Everything about her had an eerie air. "I assume you will help me Mara."

"Sorry, I'm no longer a pawn of the Emperor. And I'm not sure I could stomach fighting side by side with someone as hideous as you."

Leia's eyes darkened, the palace shook again. The duels that had finished had been nothing. A moment ago, Kallisto seemed like a demon, Leia was hell itself.

Thank you Darth Gladiator45 for everything you corrected in this chapter. It was really helpful, I can't read my own work, well I can but I am terrible at editing. I know enough to possibly get me by but this chapter required help, so again thank you Darth Gladiator45. REVIEW!! There is only one more chapter after this which I will leave you an evil cliffy on and I'll keep it open for a sequel, again I'm already developing a fic of Alias right now and I will post and finish it before Unknown Son 3 so keep me on your author alert lists.