DISCLAIMER: Star Wars and all publicly recognisable characters, names and references, etc are the sole property of George Lucas, Lucasfilm Ltd, Lucasarts Inc, 20th Century Fox, Timothy Zahn, Barbara Hambly, YKW and the other writers of the expanded Star Wars Universe. This fan fiction was created solely for entertainment and no money was made from it. Also, no copyright or trademark infringement was intended. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author. Any other characters, the storyline and the actual story are the property of the author.
Vaiya had had little visions before. A flash here, and picture there. Sometimes she could see entire sequences of events, but they were always fuzzy and broken. They were not like this.
She was standing in the middle of a large room with a giant, octoganal window displaying the stars to a large, curved throne. The thone was facing away from her, but there was someone in it. Someone familiar. She herself was draped in a black robe, a part of the shadows, forbidden to speak or to move. She couldn't even feel herself, her own body. It was like she were a ghost observing some past time.
The room was silent. She could barely hear the breathing of the person sitting on the throne. Seconds ticked past, and then a pair of doors slip open, letting the harsh glow of the lift lights create a crude off-white rectangle on the cold grey floor. The shadow of a woman was the only thing that disturbed the stillness. She glided into the room, something clutched in either hand, not making the slightest noise.
The person on the throne knew she was there, but she didn't know it. Vaiya wanted to open her mouth and cry out, so terrible was the sudden disruption in the Force she felt. There was something very wrong here, something that shouldn't be.
The woman was half-way across the room when the throne turned. A figure dressed all in black, save for his head, was seated there. A man Vaiya couldn't bring herself to recognize.
"I've been waiting for you, Mara Jade," the familiar voice said.
Vaiya dragged her eyes back to the woman. The light glanced off Mara's hair and the red-gold shone like a demon's halo. "Have you, Skywalker? Have you been waiting for the Emperor to gain his vengence against you? Then by no means should you wait any longer."
She ignited her blade--not the teal-blue that Vaiya knew, but a pale pink. The light flew against the dark man's face, and Vaiya recognized her father. His hair was darker in this version, no longer the sun-bleached sandy blond she knew, but a darker golden color, and thinning rapidly.
He smiled at her. It was a cold smile. Mara returned it with a look of such hatred and rage that Vaiya wondered who was on what side. There was no trace of the light, here. It was all the dark side...overwhelmingly evil. These two were just two more victims of a darker power.
Skywalker rose. Mara didn't even flinch. "Do you really thing you can best me?" he said calmly, sounding for a moment like the man Vaiya knew.
Mara's glare hardened. "If you have the guts to fight me, I'll take my chances. At least it will be an honest kill. Not like your murdering of my master."
Skywalker waved his hand. "I didn't murder your master, Mara," he said. "Vader did. And he paid the price. He, too, is dead. There is just me." He descended the low flight of stairs, approaching her in spite of the threat of the humming pink blade. "And you, Emperor's Hand."
Vaiya's ears felt like they were ringing. *Emperor's Hand*....her mother had said she was once an Imperial, but this piece of truth was too much to take. She had served Palpatine himself? As Vaiya gazed at her mother's hate-filled face, she could see memories floating past her like ghosts. The times she'd killed, stole and cheated to serve her master. How he had been her everything, her only reason for existing. Now, she was going to avenge his death if it cost her her own life in the process.
He raised a hand toward her. "If I wanted to," he said, a little crossly, "I could kill you with Force lightening right where you stand. But I'd rather give you a chance."
"How touching," she hissed.
"The Emperor was keeping you back," Skywalker said. "He knew the potential you had. And he knew that you were destined to be with me. That we were destined to rule the galaxy in his place." The hard, cold eyes softened as he gazed at her. "Accept your destiny, Mara."
"You're delusional." She physcially recoiled as he took another step, her first show of weakness. "I will never join you. You are everything I hate."
"Me?" he said softly. "I am everything you hate? What about the man you served, Mara? He was surely worse than I. Do you know how many innocent lives he took to serve his own pleasure? He was as much of a monster as you think I am."
"Then all the more reason to destroy you."
He gave a little chuckle. "You are everything I thought you would be, Mara Jade. Bold, beautiful, and a complete paradox." He moved closer still, and Vaiya realized he was backing her against a nearby control panel. It was high, reaching her waist, and would be the perfect place for Skywalker to pin his prey.
"Don't forget dangerous," she snapped, bringing her blade forward again. Skywalker just smiled at her.
"How could I? I have seen how dangerous you are. When you were in Jabba's Palace, I knew you were there. It cost me a great deal of effort to let Jabba on to who you were without letting him kill you. You should be thankful I bothered."
"And why did you bother?" she sneered.
His smile widened and his eyes shone at her. "I have seen you in visions, Mara. I've seen you kneeling before me. I've seen you as my consort, my guide, and the mother of our children. I have seen you as my Empress, ruling the galaxy beside me. You have no Master any more, Mara Jade. And you shall never have another Master besides me."
"I am my only Master," she announced. "I avenge Palpatine's death as his last act as an Emperor. After you are dead, I and the rest of the galaxy will be free."
"At least let me prove my case." With that, Skywalker raised his hand and Mara's saber arm flung far to the side. He stepped forward and caught both her wrists, pinning her against the control panel.
The look of pure astonishment on Mara's face was almost comical. But as Skywalker's lips bore down onto hers, the look melted underneath something else.
Seconds passed. Mara's eyes grew heavy and her face lost the sharp scowling angles and the hot rage. Finally, Skywalker pulled back and gazed down into her face. She gazed back up at him, almost dreamily, and then said in a soft tone, "I hate you."
"That's a start," he murmured, smiling that eerie smile again.
This time, Mara returned the smile. "And a finish," she said, and with that swung her lightsaber forward with all the Force she could muster. Skywalker countered the blow effortlessly with his glowing red saber.
The fight had begun.
Vaiya watched helplessly as the two warped versions of her parents battled it out across the throne room. Red on pink sizzled and clashed, and it felt like all the air was being sucked out of the room. They tore up the throne, a heavy blow from Mara taking the top clean off. She chased Skywalker back down the stairs, but tripped and in an undignified manner wound up sprawled on her back. She barely brought her blade up in time to counter a stabbing blow to scramble for the nearest cover--the same control panel he had pinned her against.
Skywalker laughed in an almost jolly way. "Mara, Mara! You have such potential! Do not waste it on me. You cannot defeat me. Surely you see you only have two choices--join me or die!"
"Fat chance, farmboy."
Skywalker's eye glittered in anger. "Mara, don't test me. I will kill you, as much as I would dislike it."
"Oh, I'm sure you'd have no problem getting over me and finding some nice Jedi bimbo to breed litters Dark Jedi for you to train. If you can even get it up, anymore. You'd be surprised what immersing yourself in the dark side does to your staying power! Ask Palpatine...he'll tell you when you see him!"
"Enough of your petty insults," Luke said, deactivating his saber. He raised his hand toward the control panle. "Perhaps you just need a lesson."
The Force lightning came from him in a brilliant blue white. Mara raised her blade to deflect it but it hit the control panel and wound up bathing her in an electrical storm. She screamed and fell back, rasping in pain.
Vaiya screamed with her. She could no longer see her mother, only hear her breathing, and see her father making his way around the panel with perfect calm.
He stood over her, his voice hallow. "Now do you see, Mara Jade? I am far your superior in the ways of the Force. If you deny me, I will kill you." He held the blade to her throat steadily as she glared up at him. Vaiya couldn't see her mother's face, but she could feel her rage.
"Go jump into a sarlacc pit, you pathetic excuse for an Emperor," she spat.
"Very well." Emotionlessly, Skywalker raised his lightsaber to bring it down sharply. The last Vaiya felt of Mara was her deathcry through the Force.
It was then that Vaiya started to scream for her sanity.