Even as Sate Pestage wondered where Mara Jade might be, she was secure in a hospital bed in the Old Republic Hospital not far from the Palace. She had been found unconscious in Manarai Hall, with dangerously low brain activity. She had been brought to the Hospital for treatment, and now she was recovering in a private room, the danger past. Fast asleep, she shifted, tossed and turned, clutching at the blankets and mumbling. “Skywalker…you killed him…kill…kill you…”
Deep inside her mind, Palpatine was fashioning nightmares for her.
Mara could see the throne room on the Death Star, but the only clearly visible areas were the throne and the steps before it. The far walls were lost in the mist, and the window behind the throne looked out on absolute blackness. The throne was facing away from her, and she could see a dark figure standing behind it in the shadows, a barely visible silhouette against the window. She was aware of a low hum, then the dark figure raised a lightsaber, illuminating its face. It was Skywalker, and his face was a mask of sadistic pleasure. He put a bloody hand on the throne and slowly rotated it to face Mara. She felt a stab of ice in her vitals as she saw the occupant of the chair. It was Palpatine. Skywalker had dissected him.
Atop a burnt stack of his limbs sat his head, severed and facing directly at her. An odd grouping of lightsaber wounds marred his face like a charcoal sketch. She could almost see a pattern in them. Then Skywalker spoke, showing his enjoyment by indicating the body parts with a flourish. “Amazing the things you can do with a lightsaber,” he said. Then he pointed to a large black heap at the mist’s edge. “That’s Vader, or it was. We attacked the Emperor together. He couldn’t defend against both of us at the same time, so he struck down the greater threat. Poor Vader. He wanted to share ruling the Empire so much. He never knew that I used him, that all I wanted was for the Empire to fall. I thought this would be a fitting tribute for him, though.” Skywalker indicated the burn marks on Palpatine’s face.
Suddenly Mara could see how the burns resembled the lines of Vader’s breath mask, and she cried out in anger. Palpatine’s dead, staring eyes held her own, seeming to accuse her. I will never rest until he is dead, they seemed to say.
With one swift step, she seemed to close the distance to Skywalker’s side in an instant. He froze in surprise, as if seeing her for the first time. She lashed out with her hand at his throat, bringing him to his knees, choking. Mara calmly picked up his fallen lightsaber and activated it. “You killed him, Skywalker,” she said grimly. “Now I’ll kill you.”
His left hand was the first thing to go.
In her hospital bed, Mara Jade’s tormented expression smoothed out and shifted to a small tight smile.
When Mara Jade awoke, she had a splitting headache. She didn’t dare to sit up, but she turned to face the Emdee droid that stood by her bedside. “Just relax, Mara Jade,” the droid soothed. “You were found unconscious in Manarai Hall, in the old section of the Palace. You almost slipped into a coma, but you seem to have recovered from your trauma. I can find no further signs of trouble. When you feel up to it, you may leave. I do suggest you seek out the advice of a specialist. We could not discover the reason for your trauma, and it may recur. And now, citizen, I have other patients to attend to. I wish you well.” The droid glided away.
“Thank you,” she called after it. Mara lay still, thinking about her situation. She could still vividly recall her vision, and fragments of nightmares flitted through her memory. They had all been of killing Skywalker. He wasn’t dead though. Not yet. She knew she had to do something about that, but right now, she was in no shape to do anything. Her Master was dead. And what was she now? Where could she go? No one knew her, no one knew what she did. No one knew of the power she had possessed; they all saw her as the Emperor’s lovely companion. In a twinkling, she had lost everything. Maybe the only meaning left to her was to fulfill Palpatine’s last directive, to kill Skywalker. Well, she would try, but she had to be realistic. He would be no easy target, and it might take her years to find him. She might as well leave Coruscant, even though she had no idea where she might go.
But first, she would get rid of her headache. She began to try to channel the Force to ease her pain, and was astonished to discover she couldn’t sense the Force at all. The walls of her tiny room seemed like true boundaries. She couldn’t sense anyone or anything beyond them. It was like losing a basic sense like eyesight or hearing. Enhanced perceptions she had come to take for granted were completely gone.