Chapter Fifteen:
Sensing a Familiar Presence
Within the Jedi Temple-converted Imperial Palace, the hooded Dark Lord meditated upon his throne of power, gathering his dark strength in the Force as he found his focus, relishing in his rule over a galaxy of trillions. Whereas Jedi meditated to find peace, Palpatine was always the sort who meditated to find power.
The manipulative Emperor stood upon the peak of a dark mountain in a valley of shadows within his mind, and both the mountain and valley represented the wellspring of the Dark Side that Palpatine drew upon.
Above the Emperor, a storm cloud of darkness loomed, brimming with mighty lightning, and the Sith Lord's fingertips crackled with energy found within the lightning. At any moment, he could unleash this power upon those who dared to defy his power.
In the Dark Side, he found strength, with nothing in the galaxy that could restrain the most powerful man in all of the universe.
Palpatine couldn't deny that the late Darth Plagueis' teachings served him well, and it was he alone who was destined to serve as the grand culmination of planning that started with Darth Bane.
He had no doubt, in those moments, that it was his destiny to rule forever, just as the Sith were destined to overcome the Jedi.
Dark mist surrounded the peak of the mountain, and Palpatine's cold orange-red eyes gleamed in the shadows. His cloak rippled, and the dark Force-user felt a surge of power unfolding within.
No surviving Jedi could deny the great Galactic Emperor Sheeve Palpatine from achieving his goal of having all of the unlimited, undying, and unquestionable strength he could muster from whatever else the Dark Side could offer someone as powerful as him. The darkness around the mountain was endless, with no rest, and the Dark Side could never be quenched.
Just then, Palpatine felt a tingle in his bones.
And that tingle was the Force, speaking to him, and the Emperor wasn't alone now. He could sense someone else within the valley representing the Dark Side in the galaxy, but it wasn't his apprentice, Darth Vader.
Darth Sidious reached out, searching his mind, and the wellspring of the Force for the answer, for the identity of who else was there. And, from a distance, he could see a dark figure looming in the mist. There was something about that mysterious entity, something that felt familiar to Palpatine, as if it was someone he knew years ago.
"Sidious..."
Palpatine's meditation faltered, and the mental projection of the valley and the mountain began to fade. The Galactic Emperor murmured with annoyance, and the voice spoke again, sounding a little more familiar, reminding him of...
Darth Maul. Still alive.
He opened his eyes, and frowned as many thoughts entered his mind. Palpatine never forgot his former apprentice, and, in the ten years since he brought about the rise of the Empire, the thought Maul would be at large, and challenging him, hardly crossed the Emperor's mind.
But make no mistake, the Zabrak was alive and opposing Palpatine's Empire.
'I shouldn't be surprised.' Palpatine thought, 'Lord Maul survived his defeat on Naboo, and there were many Jedi who survived the execution of Order 66. He lingers in the shadows, but I know how to deal with him, when the time is right...'
