Chapter Twenty-Three
For Palpatine, the scent of Arden Lyn's fear was enough to strengthen him but also to nauseate him. Whoever or whatever was with her was clearly of significant value to her to provoke this much fear and-protective instinct?-in her. But he ignored this and proceed to break down the door anyway, immediately being greeted by Arden's orange lightsaber afterward. He intercepted an overhead blow from her with his own cyan-blue lightsaber and rammed his enemy's blade into her face.
The blow landed near her right eye and put her through enough pain to place one hand over the wound whilst keeping the fight in Makashi form. "Pathetic," Palpatine mocked as he destroyed the lightsaber with a swift stroke of his own Makashi application. Then he sliced at Arden's belly and kicked her on the other side of her face with enough force to knock her on her back. "I warned you that in my youth, I would have been a match for you Arden Lyn," he hissed when he stood over her.
"And I told you to save the youthful reminisces for another time. Guess now is that time," Arden retorted, spitting blood at his boot after saying that. "You still hate me for not completing my end of our bargain, don't you?" he asked rhetorically. "Son of a bitch, you knew you didn't have the power to resurrect and wouldn't have wanted to even if you did," she snapped.
"Guilty as charged, Arden Lyn. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to be finishing you off now and my apprentice has to be looking around to see what it is you're hiding," he replied, smiling. He rose his lightsaber just in time to be distracted by Skywalker breaking into the bathroom and calling him over. Arden's fear indicated that whatever Palpatine sensed earlier was hidden there and he smiled, curious to see what it was.
"Master, I think you'll like this one quite a bit," Skywalker said which escalated Palpatine's interest. When he finally arrived to what Luke was looking at, he knew that his search had paid off well. Next to the toilet, crouched into fetal position for the best hiding possible, was a little girl that Palpatine knew to be Arden's daughter immediately. Suddenly, he had an idea and it was an idea so nasty and vengeful even by the standards of Sith that it gave him the widest grin he could possibly muster.
"Skywalker, stay here and make sure she doesn't try to escape. I've got some unfinished business with this little lady's mother," Palpatine ordered. Marching back to where Arden still lied clutching her wounded belly, the Dark Lord of the Sith knelt to reveal his idea to the ancient woman. "Please don't kill my daughter," she begged before he spoke, nearly crying in the process. Chuckling, he assured Arden Lyn that he was not going to kill her or at least, not yet.
"I am going to enslave her, subject her to the most cruel experiments of Dark Side powers that I can imagine. Her mind will break and her spirit will shatter until she is no more than a blank slate for me to write what I wish on her. She will become no more than an extension of my will, disposing of any and all enemies I send against her until such time as they no longer exist. Then, when every last ounce of her power has been spent on destroying my enemies and succeeding, I will destroy her myself!
This is my will, Arden Lyn: that you die knowing that your daughter will become my pawn, my slave more than even this slave Skywalker can ever hope to be. She will know no love, she will know no comfort, and no remorse. She will only know hatred, pain and suffering until she has emanated her last pitiful breath of life!" he hissed, his voice rising until he was yelling into her ear as he spoke. He watched as Arden's own pain and sorrow rose until tears were gushing out of her like waterfalls.
"Good, I have broken your body and I have destroyed your spirit. You did that to me years ago and now, I have done the same to you: the only enemy that has defeated me and lived," he added. By this time, he had risen up from his kneel and asked Skywalker to finish her off for him as he couldn't bear the sight of her alive anymore. As Skywalker went to do that, Palpatine tried prying the little girl out from where she hid but in her despair, the little child accidentally Force-pushed the older man down.
"You are strong in the Force, little one. I shall enjoy breaking you all the more," Palpatine said with glee as he rose back up. First, he rose her up by Force Choking her then he delivered a dosage of Force Lightning before pulling her towards him. To his surprise, she was still wide awake enough to see her mother and peril and scream out to her as Palpatine carried her away.
"Forget about your mother, she is a traitor and you are mine!" Palpatine demanded. "Normally, I obey my mother in the rule of never cursing but you are a fucking dickhead! Put me down, you bastard!" Cassandra screamed. Laughing, the Emperor of the Galactic Empire assured Cassandra he would be rectifying her opinion of him soon enough.
As Arden lied on the floor in a desperate attempt to heal her wounds, Skywalker stood over her with intent to kill her. But she sensed that he had not even begun to be consumed by the Dark Side unlike his supposed Master. "Arden Lyn, before you go, I want you to know that I'm on an undercover mission with the New Republic. I'm trying to do what I can to bust the Emperor's operations within so that the Empire can be destroyed for all time," he said after shutting off his saber and kneeling near her.
"Then why are you acting as the Emperor's executioner?" Arden asked. "Even if he suspects that I am trying to destroy him, I can't rebel against him outright. He would be able to kill me before I even did so much as scratch him, never mind wound him," Luke answered. "Then, you're still with that New Jedi Order?" she inquired.
"I am," he replied with a nod. Arden's heart beat anew with a sense of hope that Cassandra wouldn't be broken into a dumb drone of the Emperor, after all. "Then please promise me that you'll save her daughter?" she begged. If she was going to die in the darkness of her past deeds, she wanted to be sure that her sacrifice meant her daughter being levitated to redemption's light in her place. Luke bent close so that no one nearby would hear what he said to Arden Lyn next, which was calming.
"Arden Lyn, I give you my word that I will save your daughter. She will become a worthy addition to my Jedi Academy on Yavin 4 and perhaps even a very powerful warrioress of the Order. My sister will keep her safe there alongside her own children whilst this crisis has yet to pass. But once she's secured there, I will make it my life's work to destroy the Emperor so this never happens again.
"Whilst there is still breath in my body, I will never rest until I have plunged my blade into his damned chest and cast his soul into oblivion for all time. I will not forget your sacrifice nor will I forget what Palpatine has done to people like you in the past, in fact, I will avenge those very people. You have my word, as a Knight of the Jedi Order, that I will fight to that end or my death," he said. "Then go: I give my daughter to your sister's keeping and tell her I love her and to never forget me.
"For by remembering and what we had together, I will be immortal to my daughter. By allowing you to save her from the Emperor, I give her the gift that I could never hope to possess myself," she said. "And what gift is that?" he asked. "I fell from the grace of the Jedi because I tried to help Xendor understand the machinations of the Dark Side and succumbed to it in the process.
"By giving her to your Order's keeping of your accord, I raise my daughter back into the Light with my bare hands whilst remaining in Hell," she answered. "To love another person as unconditionally as you love your daughter and to be willing to protect her at risk of life and limb... Arden, that love in itself is the key to see the Light of Redemption even if you don't know it now," he told her. "Perhaps you're right but while you fight against him, please take a word of advice," she requested.
Nodding to acknowledge that he was listening, she continued. "Just because you have seen battle does not mean that your courage has been tried. I sense that yours has hardly been tried compared to me or even to the Emperor. And untried courage, even if backed by the skill of the Jedi, is no match for that kind of evil hatred," she said.
"I will remember, I promise," he vowed. "Then I think it's time you at least made my death quick. The Emperor will be expecting you to have killed me by now," she stated. "You aren't afraid?" he asked.
"I am but now that I know my daughter will be safe and will have a better future than I did when I was that young, my life-though ancient it is-has been completed. Kill me Skywalker and keep your act until you're ready to kill him, I go to join my father and the rest of those I love at last," she said. Calmly, she closed her eyes and braced herself for the inevitable strike of his lightsaber which would kill her. And when it finally did come, she felt his blade seared its way through her chest, into her bloodstream, then out between her shoulder blades all within a matter of seconds.
"If that doesn't kill you instantly, it'll kill you within minutes. That's always the result of that kind of blow from a lightsaber," he said. Then, remorse clearly clouding some of his thoughts, he marched off to rejoin the Emperor and Arden's daughter. "A few minutes... are all I need," she said weakly though he wasn't around to hear this.
Returning near Iziz Palace, Skywalker wasn't surprised that Palpatine would demand what took him so long. "I was reminiscing on what I knew about how she had been useful to you and wondering for a bit how it was a shame such a fine asset was forced to die. Then I thought about the best way to kill her cleanly whilst enjoying her pain at the same time," he lied quickly. "Hm, perhaps there is hope for you as a Sith Lord yet though it was a little more obvious your father would become one," Palpatine said.
"I am nothing like my father," Luke warned him. "Of course not, I would not have had an interest in you at your father's suggestion of corrupting you if you were," Palpatine replied. A trooper came up and though irritated, Palpatine allowed him to state what he had to say. By this time, Cassandra was passed out with her head resting on the Emperor's shoulder while he carried her.
"Sir, there's been a breach at Imperial Center. It seems as though the New Republic is trying to claim that world back for itself," he said. At first, Palpatine didn't know how to answer that message since he hadn't been expecting Coruscant to come under attack. Frankly, even Luke didn't imagine the New Republic trying that despite the need to destroy the so-called Galaxy Gun.
"Prepare a shuttle for me to return there. Apprentice, take the child to my facility and see to it that experimentation on her begins immediately," Palpatine ordered at last. Luke nodded as Palpatine handed the unconscious child to him, her aura surprising the Jedi as he received her. "Yes Master," he said.
Palpatine disappeared at that point and Luke first ordered the pilot to take them to Yavin 4 and wave up a flag of truce. "There's a delivery I have to make. The Emperor wants me to set an example to the Jedi," he added. "Yes sir," the pilot stated.
Yavin 4 was not as far away from Onderon as Luke thought it would be but it worked all the better for him. When the shuttle was permitted to land, Luke immediately grabbed the girl and rushed off to greet his sister. "Luke, who have you rescued for us this time?" Leia demanded immediately. "This child is the daughter of Arden Lyn, her only child," Luke replied.
"The same Arden Lyn that defeated Palpatine at Coruscant, seven and a half years ago then disappeared?" Leia asked. "Yes, before she died she made me promise that her child would be safe with you. Please take care of her, Leia?" Luke replied. Leia nodded and immediately had her husband Han take her to a guest room where she would remain hidden.
"I gotta go back now, the Emperor will be expecting me at Byss," Luke said. "Very good, keep up the act and it may get us somewhere good," Leia told him. After he left, Leia saw her twin children run up to her and ask who the guest was. "Someone who will be staying with us while she adjusts to not having her mother anymore," Leia replied before shepherding her twins back in.
Awakening from being unconscious at last, Cassandra Lyn was surprised to see herself surrounded by a relatively friendly environment. There was food that she was more than willing to eat on the nightstand and plenty of medicinal water to wash it down which worked wonders for her headache. "You be careful there little one or else the medicine in that water will knock you right back out," an older man warned her. Jumping out of fright, she immediately demanded to know who he was.
"I should have seen it coming but don't jump too greatly out of your skin, I'm Han Solo. I'm an officer in the New Republic and you're in a base we've established for our safety. You're safe here too thanks to my pal Luke who brought you here when you were knocked out," the man replied. "Luke?" Cassandra asked.
"He is often called Skywalker by his enemies," Han answered. Then her memory came back, the memory of the one called Skywalker and of her mother being killed before her eyes. Of Palpatine vowing to break Cassandra until she was his servant and one he could use expendably. "Oh mommy!" she screamed, putting her hands to her face to try and shield her tears.
"Hey, it's going to be alright. You'll see: we'll beat the Emperor again and we'll make sure he stays dead this time. As long as you remain with us, there's the guarantee that you will be safe from him," he assured her. "Thank you sir but may I ask what planet I am on?" she asked.
"You're on Yavin 4, in an ancient Massassi Temple that's been acquired for military purposes by the New Republic. Every one of these soldiers will fight to the death to protect a civilian such as yourself and my children," he answered. "No one is ever truly safe despite what they may think," she told him. "True but there are always ways to improve safety so that that's not as painful when it becomes a reality," he explained.
Cassandra didn't know or understand why her mind was working this way, it was like the trauma of her mother's death had given her an enlightenment of sorts rather than grief. Granted, she was becoming a little more stoic than she had been before but she didn't know it was happening. "Yet when it does become a reality, what do you do then?" she continued. Laughing, he was surprised to see that a six-going-on seven year old girl was asking this of someone his age and smuggling prowess.
"Anything you can, anything you can. Hey, what's your name kid?" he replied. "Cassandra. Pleasure to meet you, I guess," she said.
She was being honest in her uncertainty, she hardly knew him and hadn't spent a lot of time around people aside from her mother and teachers. Han laughed and said that she could consider it a pleasure if she wanted to. "I've never met a girl as young as you and yet as mature as you are," he added. "I guess that's what I get for hanging out with a mother like Arden Lyn," she replied.
"Living a fugitive life that isn't even yours sucks, doesn't it?" he asked. "In her case, not really. But you would know about that sort of life?" she replied. "Long story made short, you have no idea," he said with a smile.
Cassandra and Han both started laughing and it wasn't an unnatural laugh either. Rather, it was the laugh of an older man sympathizing with a child who had made the sympathetic experience some fun. "Do you think it'll be safer that I stay out of this little war until the Emperor is no more?" she asked after the laughing. "That's what my wife and her brother Luke would recommend," Han admitted.
"In that case, I'll stay out but I'll be wanting Jedi training in return. That way, I won't have to hide the next time a big war comes along if you get my meaning," she said. "Luke said he already planned on doing that when he got a motion for a Jedi Academy put through," he told her. "Perfect, hate to be a dumbass in distress if I can help it," she teased.
Cassandra didn't know it but her standing in the nexus of the Force meant that she would be able to draw on the power of the Dark Side without actually falling into it. In the years to follow, she would train as a Jedi Knight and discover this power more and more. Along the way, she eventually obtained a friendship with Jaina Solo and participated in the Yuuzhan Vong War. She would be active in the Wars and skirmishes to follow and even temporarily leading the Jedi Order.
Kadann's prophecy for her destiny meant that she would eventually live to see the rise of the One Sith Empire under Darth Krayt. But in all that time, even unto her death just twenty years or so before the career of Cade Skywalker, she maintained a kind and gentle but sometimes stoic life-view. Despite her service to the Order and Palpatine's death on Onderon, one year after her escape, she guessed that this was a scar from her trauma that remained with her unto her dying days. "I guess you could say that despite his holocron remaining now, he left something even bigger behind," she once said.
She would have a husband and three children who all would become Jedi due to their own connections to the Force. Their children would influence and guide the Galactic Alliance, even participating in the fight against Krayt's Sith Empire. The line of Arden Lyn would live on even unto the ending of the galaxy, influencing the Light and the Dark Sides of the Force for good or ill. But all that is a tale for another day...
The spirit of Depa Billaba had sensed the death of Arden Lyn long before it happened and now that she was at its threshold thanks to the young man called Skywalker, she watched intently. Time was no longer of the essence in the netherworld nor did she think it ever would be. After all, time was a mortal concept for they cared about it enough to figure out when they might die. Of course, this knowledge didn't help Depa when she was killed by the Yuuzhan Vong Onimi but that was exceptional.
Not everyone in the galaxy knew about the Yuuzhan Vong and for certain, no one knew about the truce that Thrawn had established with them towards the last years of Depa's mortal life. But to mortals, Arden Lyn would have been dying in a matter of minutes though it would seem like eternity. Surrounding Depa were Arden's family as well as Arden's final lover and the father of her daughter, Paris Zaarin. "How long before she joins us?" Paris asked.
"You know better than to think about time here in the realm of the dead, Paris Zaarin. But if you insist, only a matter of mortal minutes which can be any length of time to us spirits," Depa answered. "Good, I'd hate for it to be long but if it turns out to be that way then it turns out that way," he stated. "No worries kid, we'll all be one big family except for Cassandra when Arden arrives," Arden's father said behind him.
"You really think so, old man?" Paris inquired. "Yes, I have already accepted you as family for the way you treated my daughter when you were alive. I never really did like Xendor being around her due to the Kashi Mer family tending to be a little more... abusive towards women as they got older. Unfortunately, much as she loved him when she was with him, he was hardly an exception in the end," Arden's father explained.
When Paris asked where Xendor was, he was told that he only needed to know that Xendor was living out eternity in a punishment fit for his crimes. For eternity, he would live in perpetual madness of the kind where he would be torn to pieces and put back together again and again. Paris accepted that answer to the question and just in time for Arden to heave out her last breath of life soon after. "She'll be back in our arms within moments now, excited?" Paris asked her father, who nodded agreement.