Chapter Five

Along the way back to Imperial Center from Dromund Kaas, Arden Lyn had gone into meditation to ponder the consequences of her actions in bringing back the holocron. After all, the spirit of her father had appeared to her for the first time since she had come out of her original hibernation. Something big like that never happened unless her actions were guiding her down a path that would ultimately lead to a doom of sorts she might not avoid easily. That is, if she was meant to avoid it coming to her at all but still there was the matter of the little girl and the man she assumed was her father.

Was that meant to be Arden Lyn's future family, was she meant to find love again and produce a child out of it? If that was the case, why did she still feel attraction to Xendor? Why did she feel the need to have his body united with her own and know that his confidence would get through everything? She wanted to accept the possibility that this might be a sign that she was going to move on with her love life but did she really want to?

Did she really want to give up on what she had with Xendor in favor of falling in love again and restarting her marital life? Too many questions and not enough answers for them, Arden decided it was best to let that matter drop and focus on the reasons that her father's voice might have appeared. It was too real to have been an illusion of the temple of Lord Vitiate, she figured out that much for herself. However, that eliminated several factors as to why he had come along while the remaining ones seemed to make no sense.

After all, he had told her to control her anger and let go of her vengeance. The only vengeance Arden had was against the descendants of the murderers of her husband they themselves were no more. It was also the centerpoint for the only anger she had which was toward the Jedi and anyone who got in the way of her fury towards the children of the Light. So far, Palpatine and his apprentice had not gotten in her way and thus they were not subject to her fury though how long that lasted remained to be seen.

And that was another problem: there was still a spark of doubt in her as to whether or not the Emperor could resurrect her husband. Had he really managed to revive other spirits as ancient as his was? Was he telling the truth when he said he could and had brought back the dead? Or was the extent of his power only about as far as his incredible age allowed it to be?

She had doubted him until he had said that he had resurrected the dead and could do it for her which had sealed their pact. However, she began to wonder if she should consult Vader about the truth of these claims that sounded utterly ridiculous. He looked like he hated the Emperor and if given a chance, he probably wouldn't mind ratting out his Master to save her from total enslavement. Or else, of course, to benefit himself more than to benefit her in the long run like Sith were fond of doing to others.

Was she just a pawn meant to be used in a game that the Sith controlled or was she as free as they had dictated she was? She knew that only time and the will of the Force would reveal the truth of the matter to her. Thus, she decided to be content with that and serve them until further notice though whether or not they'd give her that chance was beyond her. She hoped they did so that her eventual betrayal was more discreet than outright leaving the Empire upon being forced to do so.

The meditation in which she pondered all this took up almost all of the time it took for the lightspeed trip from Dromund Kaas to Imperial Center to be completed. As a result, she wasn't surprised to awaken just in time for the pilot to notify her that they had returned. "Thank you sir, may I ask for your name in case we should be working together in the future?" Arden asked before leaving. "My name is Maarek Stele and I do hope that we should collaborate more though I make no promises on that front," the pilot answered.

"And why not?" she inquired after shaking his hand. She immediately noticed the black hair from the man of her vision but he matched him in no other way. "Let's just say the Emperor and I have a special preference for me being piloting starfighters and chasing off enemies whenever possible. Seldom do I pilot shuttles like this one for missions like yours but the Emperor deemed it a necessary formality to have me escort you to Dromund Kaas," he explained.

I wonder why but I can only assume that it had something to do with me being new to the ranks of the Empire in rank and in time dedicated she thought to herself. "Well it was nice to have you as the pilot and I hope to hear great things about your career in the future," she said aloud. "Thanks though I assure you I am only serving the Emperor as I always have and always will," he replied smiling. "Whether or not you're just doing what you do, you could use a little endorsement sometime," she stated.

He shrugged in yielding to that and let go from shaking her hand after she had given the compliment to him. Then she grabbed her prize from Dromund Kaas and marched off the shuttle to proudly present it to her new Master. He would, after all, have sensed her arrival as well as her success on Dromund Kaas and be expecting her to return with it by now. And sure enough, when she arrived to the Throne Room, his chair rotated so that he faced her while he remained seated.

"I have been expecting you, Arden Lyn," he stated. "I know, Master. Your prize is ready for your taking if you wish," she replied calmly. "Excellent, I had all the faith in the universe that you would succeed in your mission where several of my other servants had failed," he said as he collected it.

When his telekinesis successfully brought the artifact into his hand and Arden had said nothing, he continued with his speeches. "Because of your success, I shall allow you a week of recuperation and vacation depending on which you need more. When that is over, I wish to discuss with you the possibility of training future servants in the martial arts known as Terras Kasi. Someone of your caliber in the style should be allowed to pass it on to future generations, after all," he stated tonelessly.

"And I shall be looking forward to the discussions, Master. Although may I request that I be allowed the ability to handpick the pupils I take in with accordance to their potential in mind?" she asked. "You may have that power, remember: you rule supreme in all matters pertaining to the martial arts style Terras Kasi," he answered. "Thank you milord, with that said I look forward to the candidates you have for me to pick and choose," she said.

"And I look forward to being of service to you in that area as well," he replied. "Will that be all, Master?" she asked. "Unless you have anything to tell me about the mission to Dromund Kaas, yes," he answered. Should I tell him about the visions that I had when I reached the holocron as well as the appearance of my father in my mind? she asked herself silently.

Quickly coming to a decision, she decided she wouldn't tell him that and figure it out for herself if she could first. "No sir, I have nothing to discuss with you on the mission just yet," she said aloud. It was far from the whole truth but at the same time, it did serve her purpose to make that statement. "Very well then, you are dismissed for the week, Emperor's Hand," he stated, using her title to salute her success.

"Thank you Master," she said with a bow before leaving. There was much she wanted to do with the vacation time that she had but she determined it was best to rest first before doing anything. After all, she had just returned from her first real challenge in her service to the Empire and would need to work off the stress caused by the wheels turning in her head. Guess it's time to head back down to the sparring chambers and work out some more she thought to herself as she grabbed a towel.

The Emperor examined his new prize from Arden Lyn with the zeal of a child receiving a new toy for his birthday. For the holocron of Lord Vitiate was a prize he had been seeking for decades, even when he was under the apprenticeship of Darth Plagueis and had trained Maul. As if that wasn't bad enough, it was also a prize sought by Lord Plagueis which encouraged Sidious to send Maul after it. However, he had returned barely alive and without the holocron to which Plagueis had experienced some disappointment in the report but not to the extreme of desiring Maul's destruction.

But despite Plagueis moving on to other means by which to obtain the secret to immortality, Sidious had never lost interest in the holocron of Lord Vitiate. After all, Lord Vitiate himself was the only man to have ever perfected immortality that did not come at the price of essence transfer. Anyone with a desire to truly cheat death would certainly have longed for this as did Sidious but... Alas, he had beaten them all to the holocron and it was thanks to Arden Lyn that it was so.

Sidious knew that the holocron had a unique way of being activated as did all other holocrons so the old man did his best to find the way to the information that Vitiate had. True that activation is never simple but I don't think that it should be this difficult to activate he thought to himself. He tried his best to concentrate but it seemed as though Vitiate had made defenses that threw him off. After hours of trying he simply gave up on trying to open the holocron though he sensed that he had won.

Though partly, he had still managed to break through some of the defenses that Vitiate had left in his holocron which would have caused anyone else's heads to explode. "What is the secret, Vitiate? Why do you so diligently defend your creation from my entry into it?" Sidious demanded. Luckily, no one was around to hear his cries but it made no difference if they had.

He began to feel as though his work had been for nothing but he immediately told himself that there was plenty of time to decipher the holocron's code. Besides, he had servants who could do any task he was asked of and more while he could safely obsess on learning Vitiate's secret. It was a power he vowed to use more frequently especially now that Arden Lyn had proven herself a worthy servant. Smiling, he put aside the holocron and reminded himself to ask her to help him pick her Terras Kasi students when her week of rest was over.

By the time Arden Lyn began to even break a sweat in her sparring round, she had already broken three punching bags in half with her mechanical arm. Whether or not this was because of her usage of the Variant of Anger, a secret Terras Kasi technique shown her by her aunt, she didn't know. However, she was willing to bet that her usage of the variant was not entirely out of the question nor unlikely to have increased her endurance as that was the variant was all about.

In return for extreme fatigue as well as massive appetites later, the variant offered incredible speed and power as well endurance that saw to the death of all who fought against it. Perhaps I'll return to Bunduki and use this technique on the monks someday she thought with a smile. Aside from her hatred of the Jedi, she longed for vengeance against the Followers of Palawa and their monks. For although the Jedi had defeated her, killed her husband, and placed her in the hibernation that allowed her to remain in suspended animation until fifteen years ago, they betrayed her.

When the Jedi Council needed information about getting around the systems nearest Bunduki that had fallen to the Legions of Lettow, the monks gave it to them. As if that wasn't bad enough, they had asked for a hefty amount of Republic credits in return, quintessentially betraying their principles. Sure they thought it was an emergency but it was an unjustifiable breach of trust between them and the Legions of Lettow! she exclaimed to herself at the memory of their treason. And that was when she destroyed the fourth punching bag the same way she had destroyed the other three.

"You have a strong hand when you fight, miss. Be careful not to aim that at an ally should you attend a mission with teams," a strange female voice said. Arden turned behind her to see a woman that was a little taller than her with shining brown hair and crystal blue eyes with arms crossed at the door. "Who are you?" Arden asked, wasting no time in dealing with this intrusion as she pulled out another bag.

"Shira Brie's the name but you can call me Shira and your name?" the intruder replied. "Arden Lyn though you may call me Arden for short," Arden said as she took Shira's extended hand. "Pleased to meet you Arden and you know, destroy one more of those bags today and the Emperor may have to arrange the bill. That equipment's expensive, you know," Shira warned after shaking Arden's hand.

"Are you the debtor come to collect?" Arden asked as she put aside the bag for later. "No, I'm just the one who gives you the two-week notice," Shira joked. Arden smirked, humored by what Shira had said to her about being a messenger. "What brings you here?" Arden asked after a pause.

"I was originally intent on coming here to work out but I see you're probably going to need help in the cleanup," Shira answered. "You're probably right about that," Arden replied. Then she began using telekinesis to clean up the mess, including the beans that had spilled out. When it had all been disposed of and cleaned up, Arden turned around and said, "but then probably not", with a smile.

"Showoff," Shira retorted. "Not really, just someone who knows what to do with their Force powers. But I sense that you have potential in the Force, yourself," Arden said. "Yeah, me serving as an apprentice of the Emperor; that'll be the day," Shira replied.

"And why not?" Arden inquired. "Let's just say that he thinks I'm a little too soft for that kind of thing," Shira explained. Arden understood at once what Shira meant by that: the Dark Side demanded those who bore it to become killers and while Arden had done some killing, she was not like Palpatine. "Then become my apprentice, learn to use the martial arts style of the Followers of Palawa known as Terras Kasi," Arden offered.

She saw potential in this brown headed woman who looked like she would was in her mid-teens or so, little over less than a decade younger than Arden at most were it not for the hibernation. "I've heard many different things about that style, including that it can make even someone like me a very dangerous person. Do I really have what it takes to master the style and maybe even become the servant Palpatine wants?" Shira said. "I have faith that you can accomplish anything you desire should you put your all into it and never give up even when it seems impossible," Arden replied, nodding.

Shira looked surprised that anyone would say such a thing to her but Arden meant it. This girl did indeed have the build for Terras Kasi and she would need to decide which variant she wanted later. However, now was the time only for seeing if she would take Arden's offer and they could begin their lessons. "Then I guess you have yourself a new apprentice, Arden Lyn: I'm at your service until you feel I have mastered Terras Kasi but on a condition," Shira replied, kneeling as she did so.

"Speak it and I will see if I can grant it," Arden said. "If I master Terras Kasi as you see fit, I want you to put in a good word for me when I go to apply for service to the Emperor. In my previous attempts, he asked if I had anyone working for him that could endorse me to which I had to say no. That was only a small portion as to why I failed to get a job working for him but that's beside the point," Shira explained.

"I will be happy to do that for you, Shira Jade," Arden said enthusiastically. This was something she could grant and she wasn't kidding about that much. "Thank you Mistress Arden, when do we begin training?" Shira begged, her eyes revealing eagerness to begin immediately. "Come back to me in two days, before the sun rises so we can get you warmed up before the heat starts coming down," Arden answered calmly.

She'll make for a great student in time but she'll have to learn patience before she's finished, that much is for sure. Even the most bloodthirsty killer is smart to bide their time before catching their prey when necessary to do so Arden thought to herself silently. "As you wish, Mistress," Shira said disappointedly. "Don't be too upset and don't call me Mistress, last thing I need is any formality I do not deserve," Arden ordered.

Shira bowed and walked off possibly to get some equipment for her own workout to prepare for her training. To Arden, this was the sign of a cunning, skilled warrior and one that was ready for any challenge that was sure to befall her. It was this same trait in her that had impressed her father when they first crossed paths when Arden was only sixteen years old. Now, she saw it someone else and was determined to be her empathetic link where she had had none in the years before Xendor appeared.

One week later...

Having made Shira Jade her first student to the approval of the Emperor and having devoted the rest of her vacation to giving Shira the beginnings of development in her technique, she was ready. Arden was ready for action, any action, as was her new apprentice and the Emperor could not have been more ready to give them an opportunity. "In Tatooine, a pitiful speck of a planet in the middle of space, there is a Tusken Raider named Hoar who is causing trouble in Mos Eisley," he said directly.

"One little man working alone? Shouldn't be a problem for even me, let alone Arden," Shira spoke up. "There's more: the only one who knows when he strikes before he does is a Gamorrean named Thok. Rumor has it that he and Hoar collaborate for profit gain with Thok challenging anyone seeking him to a fight.

"If they lose, they have to pay him for the information and that's just assuming that they're still alive after that. But if they win, he will reveal details plans for free... To think that one of those Tusken Raiders can actually be cunning enough to orchestrate attacks like this is remarkable," he answered. "And why is that?" Arden asked.

"Let's just say Tusken Raiders are not often known to be intelligent nor effective in anything they do without the element of surprise," Shira answered. "Precisely," Palpatine agreed. "Then perhaps we can use that to our advantage when we find him. Anything that can be used to make him sloppy and stupid like the rest of his people is a point for us," Arden suggested.

"Then I presume you wish to go on this mission for me?" Palpatine asked. Arden nodded and Shira did the same before he told them he wanted these two alive if possible. "Do with them as you wish after you present them to me but I want you to prove to me that you have succeeded," he added. "Shouldn't be too difficult, especially if they're working alone," Shira stated.

"Do not be so confident or so eager, my apprentice. Even the greatest of predators can fall victim to ego and be killed by their prey," Arden warned. "Wiser words have never been uttered," Palpatine admitted. Or was it just him saying he agreed to shut me and my pupil up? Arden asked herself .

"I will begin immediately with the mission, the sooner we get it underway the sooner we can complete it," she said after a moment's pause. "Of course, I will not hold you back from your destiny any longer," he replied with a smile. Arden and Shira smiled uneasily before marching off to begin their mission. "Do you really think it's our destiny to have our path intertwined with these two beyond our adventure?" Shira asked.

"I truly do not know whether or not it is though I don't see why it couldn't happen. If the will of the Force decrees it then we will meet them again," Arden answered. "But what if the will of the Force dictates that they die? Will we be the one to kill them?" Shira continued.

"I don't know, Shira. I truly don't know," Arden admitted. That ended the conversation immediately and there was nothing more to be said afterwards instead, the mission became the focus.