Marek strode out of the interrogation chamber, his face clouded by anger. Daala hesitantly stepped up to him.
"My Lord?"
"What is it, Admiral?" Marek asked in a tight voice.
"Admiral T'Vor of the Romulan defense fleet. He has been appointed by the Praetor of the Romulan star empire to be our liaison with the government." Daala introduced the tall gaunt Romulan commander with eyes like steel. There was still anger in his eyes as he grimly sized up the young man in the black tunic. T'Vor thought it had been a trick of the holograms that this young boy could be leading such a mighty armada. If he were from the Federation, T'Vor guessed he would just be entering Starfleet academy at this point.
"I consider it a sign of ability and power more than age, Admiral." Marek replied with a ghost of a smile on his lips. T'Vor was taken aback but his face betrayed nothing.
"Lord Marek. I have come at your fleet's request. I understand that you had a question for me?" T'Vor replied coolly.
"Indeed I do, Admiral."
Suddenly they heard the sound of running feet and Kratas rounded the corner. He stopped short and snapped to attention as he saw Daala and Marek standing before him.
"Captain, what is the meaning of this? Officers do not run on Imperial warships, certainly not Commanders!" Daala snapped.
"My apologies, Admiral, Lord Marek. But I have news." He sounded out of breath. Had he run all the decks from the bridge to here? Daala wondered.
"Well, what is it, Commander?" Marek asked testily.
"We have just received a transmission from the Emperor."
Daala stiffened and Marek's eyes widened slightly.
"The Emperor?"
"It has been verified."
"I will take the message in my chambers, immediately!" Marek ordered and stalked away. T'Vor watched the exchange with interest.
Daala turned to the admiral.
"Wait here, Lord Marek will want to speak to you as soon as he is done."
Marek strode into his chamber. Mara Jade smiled as he entered and bowed slightly.
"My Lord I'm ready to give you my after action report on the boardi-"
"Leave me now." He snapped and stalked over to his holonet receiver.
"My lord?" Mara asked, confused.
"I am about to receive a transmission from the Emperor, leave me." He said the last part with a dangerous gleam in his eyes.
Mara nodded and quickly left, torn by the fact that she would not be able to see the Emperor. As the doors slid shut behind her the holonet transmitter sprang to life and a very distorted and faint image wavered on.
Marek knelt and bowed his head.
"What is thy bidding, my master?"
"Lord Marek, this message has been dispatched in the hopes that you will receive it wherever it is that you have found yourself. Your fleet disappeared from our sensor nets more than two weeks ago." Two weeks ago? They had only been gone four days? The image wavered and almost broke up, lines of static snow constantly flashed across the image. "Despite attempts by probe droids and our fastest ships, we have been unable to find you within the confines of Imperial space. The time grows near when the Empire will embark on its greatest mission, the destruction of the Alliance. I am loathe to do so without my newest Sith Lord at my side, my young apprentice, but it is obvious that you have stumbled upon something we have never encountered before. Bevel and some of my scientific advisers have analyzed the data our ships returned from your last location and theorizes that you may have fallen into a wormhole. You may be on the other side of the universe." The Emperor paused, anger clear on his desiccated face. "The fates have conspired to take you from our side, Lord Vader and I are anxious that you find a way to return, until that happens trust in what I have taught you, use your aggressive feelings and hold on to your anger, let it feed you, let the dark side grow within you and it will bring you back to me."
Marek nodded, feeling the soothing touch of the shadows. But the message had stirred more in him than he had hoped. How could it be possible that they were receiving a message from two weeks into their future?
"I am departing for Endor tomorrow. Lord Vader will meet me there. If you are on your way back, meet us at Endor, there we will crush the insignificant rebellion and you will be raised as an equal at my side. Together, we will restore order and crush the pitiful lying light side once and for all." With that, the Emperor's image faded.
Marek remained kneeling for a long moment. How was this possible? He slowly rose and activated a comlink.
"Admiral?"
"My Lord?"
"The quality of the transmission was abominable. Either have your communications officer disciplined or give me an explanation."
"Actually, my Lord, I was waiting for you to finish hearing the message. Our communications station was running an analysis on the message, in the hopes of discovering the source so we could at least have a general idea in which direction our galaxy lies, the analysis of the transmission has provided some very disturbing information."
"I have no time for games, Admiral."
"The message is date tagged two weeks after our disappearance, however, the signal decay and other factors peg the age of the transmission as being…over three thousand years old."
Marek blinked.
"And considering the speed at which holonet transmissions travel…the distance must be nearly impossible to comprehend…at least three thousand years at our fastest hyperspace rate."
Marek shook his head. The words were refusing to sink in.
"In other words my lord, it seems that this transmission originated a long time ago in a galaxy far far away."