[Short Stories] - Dark Emperor 1(31)
Mara’s gloved hands tightened on the fire controls as she let loose a series of laser shots at the shining surface. The lasers punched a group of small holes into the fabric, but had no overall effect on the reflective surface. She realized that there simply wasn’t time to shoot down the mirror that way. Then Mara glanced out her cockpit window, and her eyes fell on the thin edges of her vertical solar panel wings. Each wing is a little like a dagger, she thought, and the mirror is one huge piece of cloth. Smiling, she realized she could slice it apart.
Responding to her rigid control, the TIE swooped in low over the long flat fabric surface. Another adjustment, and the fighter dropped closer to the silvery sea, causing the leading edges of the solar panels to initiate long, straight, twin tears. The rips lengthened rapidly in the TIE’s wake, until Mara reached the edge of the mirror. She quickly reversed course, and commenced making a new set of slices at another angle. As the fabric parted, tension on the support cables was unevenly released, and large sections of the mirror were pulled out of alignment. After a few more passes, the formerly carefully oriented fragile construct was a wreck, its tattered remains unable to focus any sunlight at all.
Mara spun the TIE fighter in a brief victory roll, and dove down towards the atmosphere. Below her was the Palace and her Master. Mara’s worried tension returned as she wondered in what shape she would find either of them.
The Emperor was heady with the power coursing into him. He focused it deep inside, sharpening it against the stone core of his fury. Then he extended his hands like knife blades, and thrust them at Vantos Boda. The telekinetic attack was meant to stab Boda’s brain within his skull, incapacitating him in an instant. But Vantos merely stood in place, continuing to block the way to the turbolift. The Emperor’s eyes narrowed. It was impossible, unless… His danger sense rang wildly in his mind, warning him of another attack. He pivoted, and caught another shower of dark side energy bolts on his Force shield. Vantos was still up on the audience deck, striking down at him, and the figure blocking Palpatine’s way was merely a Force-generated doppleganger, meant to distract him.
After releasing the Force Lightning, Vantos ducked back into hiding among the seats. Palpatine gritted his teeth, his yellow eyes blazing. Boda’s foolish game of hiding had become intolerable. All thoughts of leaving vanished, as the Emperor raised his pale hands and rose from the trembling floor. His trailing black robes and sleeves gave him the aspect of a dark angel as he lifted himself ten meters to the audience deck. He landed gently among the polished marble benches and began to look for his enemy.
He was outraged that a darksider would approach him like this. All of the others acknowledged him as their Master, even the Dark Lord of the Sith. It was one thing to have a brave but foolish Jedi after him, and quite another to have an inferior dark side user trying to best him. Among dark side adepts, there was always the potential for battles over supremacy. Palpatine had forbidden them amongst his own students. The penalty for challenging each other or himself was death. This Vantos Boda was apparently ignorant of the natural order. Palpatine would find great satisfaction in teaching it to him.
Beneath the Emperor’s outrage, however, lurked a certain uneasiness. Vantos Boda knew of some advanced and potent Force skills. At least one, the ability to absorb Force Lightning, was unknown to Palpatine. Where had Boda learned it? The thought of a more knowledgeable Force user taking his power and his throne from him inspired a wave of unwelcome fear. Could Vantos be more powerful? It was impossible, and yet…
There! A movement among the seats—Boda’s hiding place. Palpatine unleashed a storm of Force Lightning at the location. Vantos Boda was driven out and back down the aisle, but once again, he took the energy into himself. How was he doing it, the Emperor wondered, and how much of it can he take?
Another shuddering boom shook the room, causing both men to flinch. Vantos ran up a flight of stairs to the next level, and faced the Emperor below. “The explosions are my doing!” he shouted. “There was always more to my plan than just attacking you one on one. That was too risky! Instead, I’m bringing the whole Palace down on you! I don’t expect to get out alive, but I’ll be here when you get buried!”
As Vantos gloated, the Emperor wrapped his mind around a huge marble bench. Wanting only to bludgeon the smile from Vantos’ face, he raised it from the floor and telekinetically hurled it at his enemy. Vantos seemed to blur for a moment as he enhanced his speed with the Force. The heavy stone bench crashed into the space he had just vacated, shattering other seats and sending stone chips flying. In the confusion of the impact, Vantos ducked out of sight once again.