Mara

She searched through the looted and burned archives of the Imperial outpost on Kalin, an important spaceport with an additional radio station through which important messages from the Imperial Secret Service were transmitted. Galaxy-wide communication via HoloNet only worked via the countless swarms of satellites that were scattered in every colonized and civilized area of the galaxy. Even with all messages and transmissions sent at ten times the speed of light, there were occasional delays through time and space. Communication, especially secure communication, had always been an essential part of any expansion that extended beyond a single solar system, but now the Republic controlled the most important frequencies between the individual planets and on the major hyperspace routes. Contacting other allied Imperial stations was therefore very risky, but Kalin had continued to send radio messages until the very end, thus coordinating the Empire's retreat from the core deeper into the Outer Rim. Only the courage and determination of the radio crew, who held out until the fall of Kalin, prevented the Imperial fleet from falling apart in a chaos without a master, and thus escaped systematic and consistent destruction. Mara studied the destroyed data units, digging out what could still be salvaged from the moldy hard drives. Mara still knew the secret tricks and codes of the Imperial Secret Service, even the Emperor's private codes, which he entrusted to his hands alone, as she had been. Even Grand Moffs and Admirals did not have such explosive knowledge, because the Emperor was always afraid of being betrayed by the subordinates closest to him. The cartel slicers sent encrypted signals to the radio transmitters of Imperial planetary shields, which mimicked the codes of a ship passing through the entry points. The clicks of these ghost ships, when put together, produced a Morse code. Kalin used this to warn the planets of Republican attacks or to prepare them for the next large wave of refugees. Krevik Alan had told her that the marching orders for the Darkstar Fleet, a squadron of seven heavy cruisers, nine dreadnoughts, five corvettes and six light cruisers, with a smaller, insignificant planet in the Byss sector as its target, were from here.

Mara read from the files that the fleet was accompanied by large parts of the Imperial court, his personal Praetorian Guard and Inquisitor Orders, some wealthy residents of Coruscant, his most loyal captains, carrying with them the crown treasures of the Empire, as well as some of his most important accounts and most secret records that the Emperor had collected throughout his life. Supposedly blueprints for new super weapons, secret contracts and agreements, securities, plans for projects and strategies that were never implemented, projects that were abandoned or started shortly before the end of the rebellion... Simply everything that was needed to found a new empire under the cover of secrecy. Kill Skywalker and avenge the empire! That was her last order and with her life and her honor, Mara would do everything in her power to achieve this goal, and she would not stop fighting until her very last breath. "We won't find anything else here." Krevik said, sighing as he got up from the control panel.

"You stay and carry on doing your work until it's done," she said sharply, grabbing him roughly by the shoulder to drag him back to the console.

"I've already done that. All the information you need is here, but it won't help you much." He said weakly and held a data storage device in front of her nose.

"Why not?" she asked and snatched the stick from his hand.

"The world that the Darkstar fleet is targeting is in the Byss sector." Krevik said.

"And?" she asked impatiently.

"Well, and like many other systems, this was hit by strong solar flares in the core just a few rotations ago. They have already broken Teradoc's empire's neck." Krevik said, shrugging his shoulders carelessly. But she felt warm feelings rising in his aura.

"And you almost seem to be happy about it. Where is your honor!? You were a loyal man of the empire, you had dignity, respect, now you're hiding in the sand like a rat." Mara hissed at him contemptuously.

"Well, the Rhik calls the Balok slimy." Krevik replied curtly "What has this loyalty ever gotten me? Where am I now? Where are you?" he asked further. Mara didn't know the answer to that.

"If I had been there at Endor then..."

"Well, you weren't, and whether you like it or not, nobody really cares, the empire has fallen. Hide, run away or Cling to the Emperor's ashes as you please, but that's none of my business anymore. And soon it won't be anyone's business either, because the Republic is on the advance, so here's a final piece of advice: take cover." He said, leaving her behind in the destroyed ruins of the radio station.

Krevik was of no use to her anymore, so Mara let him go wherever his path took him. Hers led her into the Deep Core, to the Byss Sector, an insignificant system that only produced a sphere with a breathable atmosphere on which life existed in the agricultural stage. According to Mara's assessment, this world was at best used for target practice with super weapons or for a troop to rest on its way to Corsuscant, or at least that's what most people thought. But as soon as her plane emerged from hyperspace, she felt it straight away, this wave of life and power that hit her. A shock that made her body tremble to the core. This secret, hidden, utopian-looking agricultural world was a veritable melting pot of technical achievements and innovations that were highly sought after throughout the galaxy. Its inhabitants were peaceful, popular, hardworking and very capable of learning. Well protected in the anomalies of the Deep Core, Byss has so far been able to largely stay out of all conflicts since the Clone Wars and thus preserve its prosperity and identity. The high lords of Byss protected this by deliberately spreading misinformation about themselves through their extensive network of scouts and spies. They downplayed their value, erected a protective wall of lies around their system, and camouflaged under the cloak of insignificance they evaded the power interests of others. They transferred their business indirectly, always via secondary accounts or trustworthy places. This was also the reason why Emperor Palpatine had built his secret retreat right here.

Secret cloning facilities that were to become hosts for his mind in the event that he was betrayed or otherwise overthrown. Mara had feared that these barracks would have been discovered and destroyed by the Republic like others before, but the secret was still a secret. But for high-ranking initiates, Byss became the unofficial rallying point for the counterattack. Ships that had joined the Darkstar fleet gathered around the five moons of Byss. Huge orbital shipyards were built above Houll and Pelutt to build new ships, and Kissam was harvested from gas cities. But Byss did not seem to have completely escaped the fires of war; above Relus, for example, a field of debris with scattered frock pieces lay across the orbit. These must have been the remains of a fallen station or destroyed fleet. Apparently Mara arrived just in time. She must be here. Here she is. She closed her eyes and used her higher senses to feel deeper into the realms of the system. She looked for her biological counterpart in the masses of guards, workers and soldiers, but did not find one. Since Mara had become clearer about her mission, dreams and visions plagued her more often at night. Images of twisted machines that lashed out at her like the gripping arms of a Leviathan. A small child screamed and struck her deep in the heart. Where did this pain come from? Where did this worry come from? This feeling of unconditional sacrifice and devotion to a person she had never seen before? That was her sense of duty, Mara told herself. Her declaration of loyalty to the Emperor and the weight of her oath to serve that weighed on her. This world is big, they must have just hidden it well, she decided.

"Unknown hunter, identify yourself?" One of the officers on the nearest cruiser she was flying past demanded. The onboard guns took aim at her, but she neither changed course nor slowed down.

"This is the Carnivor, secular space shuttle in the service of the Royal Imperial Fleet transmitting ID code for identification confirmation." She answered briefly and began to transmit the code of her badge, which identified her as a member of the Imperial Circle.

"Welcome Carnivor, Vice Admiral Pryde awaits you in his palace on Orithon." Was the reply.

"You know that sea down there is called the Echo Ocean by the locals. Do you know why?" Pryde was a surprisingly young man for a Vice Admiral, barely older than her. He received Mara in a throne room-like conference room in which, in addition to the two of them, half a dozen members of his advisory staff and his personal bodyguard were waiting. While the rest of them all sat down at the long, oval-shaped table, Enric Pryde preferred to look out of the wide panoramic window with an unreadable gaze to look at the deep blue ocean that lay below them on the edge of the city.

"No," she said in an audibly uninterested tone. Just checking her data and the subsequent interrogation had taken several hours of her precious time and she had not come any closer to her search.

"It echoes over fifty thousand years of past eras. It is actually very young for a sea, but what it has experienced in that time is truly remarkable. It is the central starting point of Byss. The Yhlar, a dead great power of Byss, made it their sea and did so for almost a thousand years, a footnote in the chronicles of the ocean. This sea saw the downfall of cities, empires collapsed on its shores, it helped others conquer this world. It remains unpredictable, changeable and relentless. History was written on it and it has written history." He said in a monotonous voice and finally broke out of his rigidity and approached her again.

"What is the Emperor's favorite assassin doing here and what is required for her to leave?" He wanted to know.

"I'm looking for the descendants of Darth Sidious." She said bluntly and watched with satisfaction as the moods of those around her changed rapidly.

"This program was top secret and still is." Pryde said evasively.

"And I am the only one who can protect it. Who can protect her. The heir to the throne of the Empire." She said harshly.

"She was not intended to be an heir. Not in that sense." Pryde said melancholically and nodded in the direction of a corpulent, bald Chuchu who, judging by his uniform, belonged to the Empire's science department.

"The Emperor planned to transfer his consciousness into a new clone body through telepathy. But his mutation... his gift for the Force and the constant use of it had a wearing effect. His yellow eyes were just a side effect. Deformations, ulcers and scar tissue all over his body. His body had been systematically decaying for years, and the bubble of power he created around himself prevented his body from decaying, but it only slowed the process and did not stop it." He said with a tense expression.

"Every attempt he made to permanently access other host bodies resulted in these bodies rejecting him or collapsing themselves after a short time." Pryde said.

"He was the most powerful being of all time. Capturing his spirit would be nothing less than taming a star." Even years after his death, the Emperor's aura hovered like a dark cloud in the Endor system. It caused ships to lose their bearings and entire crews to go mad.

"Yes, that became clear to us over time. The host had to match and harmonize with the spirit, its own DNA was too impermissible to be reproduced properly, so we closed the gaps with donor blood. But even then the results were disappointing except for one, Subject 1873, one of the genetic engineers named her Rey." Pryde flashed up a holographic image of an infant writhing in a kind of cradle. Above him a few colored balls were circling in the air, she brought one of them down by reaching out her empty hand and as if by magic the ball flew into her delicate hand. Giggling, she took her catch. Mara tried to suppress a swallow and keep her face emotionless but for some reason these images touched her in a deeply emotional way like no other before.

"How old is she?" With the question she surprised herself even more than Pryde and his entourage but after a brief hesitation they answered her.

"Almost seven," said one of his generals.

"That's old enough to be taught the Force. Where is she now!" she demanded with such emphasis in her voice that two of the guards behind her instinctively reached for their blasters in their mounts. But Pryde remained unimpressed.

"She was on Coruscant and was safely brought out in the last days before the rebels stormed. On the Eclipse." Pryde said. The Eclipse was a battleship that was unparalleled in this universe, a fleet destroyer and weapon of unprecedented proportions, surpassed only by the Death Star itself.

"Then she is safe." she said, visibly more relaxed.

"The Eclipse has fallen." Pryde said grimly.

"How the hell is that possible!? The Eclipse was the best and strongest ship in the fleet! By far!" she shouted at Pryde, struggling to keep her anger in check.

"Unrest and uprisings have been raging on the capital world for weeks. The lower levels had long been lost and even the upper ten thousand were increasingly in distress. It was a hasty escape and many good men had to be left behind. The Eclipse was barely half manned, with young and partly completely inexperienced sailors. A calculation error during the jump into hyperspace caused the flagship to take the wrong course." Said the other general.

"Where to?" Mara demanded to know.

"To the Queli sector." Said Pryde.

"It would have been better to fly into a star." Mara said dejectedly.

The Queli sector was the center of the empire of Grand Moff Zsinji, arguably the most ambitious warlord of the crumbling empire, and the worst thing about him was that his skills were inferior to his ambitions in very few things. While the rest of the empire gradually fell apart and was conquered by rebels, Zsinj managed to become the most powerful successor state to the empire in the far north, alongside the Pentastar coalition. He managed to make a delicate peace with the rebels and his Imperial neighbors and became a kind of patron for pirates, displaced people and remaining Imperials. He was a skilled strategist and ruthless commander, his flagship was aptly named Ironfist, a super star destroyer that dominated the Outer Rim. "That would be it," Pryde admitted defeated.

"But the Eclipse was more than superior to the Ironfist, even with a weak crew." Mara said.

"Yes, the Ironfist alone, but Zsinj was accompanied by his fleet." Said one of the generals.

"And now he has the heir to the Empire in his hands. With that, he has us all in his hands. Even without the spirit of the Emperor, the child is a symbol, a coat of arms behind which all warlords and captains can unite." Mara said.

"Yes, exactly, he assured us that the clone was fine, but that she would serve as his patron from now on," said Pryde.

"He hasn't made it public yet. Why not?" With the heir to the throne, Zsinj could appoint himself Lord Protector of the Empire, Prince Regent if he so desired. He only had to put this small child on the throne, the banner of the Empire, and his claim to power would have every legitimacy. The power of House Palpatine now extended beyond the modest borders of Naboo. He had the means to reunite the Empire, Zsinj had always striven for the highest of all offices himself, as was almost a prerequisite for Grand Moffs and Grand Admirals, he could crush the rebellion in a great campaign and end the war. So what was he waiting for? The hostage of Dathomir could certainly not be described as hesitant or indecisive.

"He wants to stabilize his own empire and that of his neighbors first. Gather his forces and has therefore called on us and the other states to observe the ceasefire." Pryde said.

"And are you following these orders?" Mara asked accusingly.

"He has the strongest fleet and the clone with him. We actually started building a second Eclipse a long time ago, but unfortunately due to a technical defect, our entire orbital shipyard over Relus exploded and was completely destroyed." Pryde said and thought for a moment.

"The Yhlar rose to great power by building sailing ships. The Republic rose to great power because it was the first to build spaceships, and we too can only regain our rise through innovation and progress, but that takes years of research and work." Pryde continued.

"And until then, are they hiding here in the fog? Hoping? Waiting? Pray?" she asked mockingly.

"Leave me and the Emperor's Hand alone." He ordered his heads of state and even sent out his bodyguard so that they could talk openly to each other.

"You know that was not a mistake. That was sabotage." Zsinj's arm reached far, his network of agents gave him access to his neighbors in all four directions. He could carry out assassinations and attacks wherever he wanted, with no more than a simple hand gesture.

"Of course I know that. Entering the wrong course on the Eclipse I was certainly not an accident either, but a meticulously planned move, a trap for the flagship of the Imperial Fleet. My ranks here have been infiltrated, my activities are being monitored. I am already in the process of separating the traitors, spies and defectors from the loyal soldiers, but that too will take time. Until then, we will continue to work on our fleet and our army until the day the Emperor's true heir calls us to arms." Pryde said sternly, surprising her with a devotion that was more than rare among high-ranking military officers these days.

"I see I am not needed here." She said shortly.

"No, and not wanted either." Pryde said.

"And what is your plan? Zsinji has no interest in bringing the Emperor back or training the girl. Why potential competitors? She won't know how powerful she really is and if she ever finds out, Zsinj will simply get rid of her. She will be a prisoner. Not a queen." Mara pointed out.

"Yes, a bird in a golden cage. A figurehead." Pryde said and operated a few switches on the high table. He showed her a map of the Queli sector with the most important military positions and suspected routes of the warlords' fleets.

"I can't tell you exactly where she is, just a number of targets where she could be. Zsinj's super star destroyer cannot be ruled out." Pryde said, who knew very well about the abilities of the Emperor's hands.

"That's enough for me." Mara said euphorically.

"But you should still heed my warnings. The fate of the galaxy rests on this child. Her existence should better remain secret. The rebels will want to hunt her down like an animal and tear her apart. The other warlords will have a legitimate claim to the throne with her." Pryde said. "And you are one of them?" Mara guessed.

"Where you take the child is irrelevant to me, whether you believe it or not. But bring the child to safety. Protect Rey Palpatine with your life and more. Teach her who she is and what she is. She must understand that it is her right and her duty to rule this galaxy. Keep your oath." He urged her.

"Until my last breath." That was what Mara had sworn.

"One last thing." Pryde called after her before she could leave again.

"The rest of the Emperor's hands are also looking for her. But they certainly won't be of any help to you." Pryde said.