When Sera arrived at the palace, reporters with holocams were swarming outside of the exit, each staying well away from the stormtroopers with blasters aimed at them, ready should any step too close. Sera smiled... it was good that they could at least keep the civilians in line...

Skywalker's body had begun to attract flying insects... Sera drew one of them to her with the Force, holding it in her hand. The insect bit the flesh of her hand, and died soon afterwards... it was real, then. Or, maybe it was... She stood off to the side of the entrance, jumped up to the top of a stone pillar, and waited... she could sense her Master closeby, but he wasn't ready for her just yet, and was on his way to the main entrance, anyways. Instead, she looked out to the crowd... a pathetic, whiney herd of animals whose only purpose was to be led... led to slaughter...

She felt her hatred get a strong grip on her, and jumped off of the pillar, walking briskly inside the palace. Her hatred was so strong... she had almost accidentally broken the holocams. She needed to learn control...

"Excuse me, Miss-" was as far as one stormtrooper got before the hand he held out to her suddenly lost its glove... and he screamed as the flesh of it was slowly ripped from its bones.

After a moment, Sera stopped, as the man grasped his now ruined hand at the wrist. "My name, is Lady Sera," she said sweetly, as though nothing had happened, and continued walking.

She didn't think about the holocams that got that bit of footage...

She felt her power spilling out of her a bit... as she walked down a corridor, pictures on the walls shook, metal bent a little, glass cracked and shattered... and the walls began to bleed.

Eyes in the walls... they watched her, whispered to her... she knew whose eyes they were. Children's eyes, stormtrooper's eyes... her mother's eyes... Raz's eyes... and a pair of mocha brown ones.

Whose eyes were they? "Who are you?" she demanded of the wall. "STOP WATCHING ME!!!" she screamed, and the eyes blinked and were gone.

Turning, she saw her Master had been staring at her. She knelt, head down. "We found twenty Jedi survivors and killed them, my Master. The ships overhead may have shot down more that tried to escape, though whether those on the ship were Jedi or not, we will not be able to tell," she reported.

(There, Sith Master. You can say this was before or after his speech.)

(Sorry, writing the speech now so I just didn't want to go into anything lengthy, but Xarkun's concerns are also mine, will anything Dr. Malk did effect her training?)

Sera rose and followed him from a distance. She did not want to get too close to the cameras... She waited beside a tall pillar and listened to Emperor Xarkun's speech.

Shortly he left Lady Sera Xarkun walked off toward the entrance hall, brutally killing a person dressed in black who looked a bit like an assassin along the way, whether it was one of his or not he did not care. He was vaguely aware of Sera following him…. Focusing most on what he was going to say, he absentmindedly walked into the entrance hall of the palace which was littered with the dead bodies of stormtroopers and rebel soldiers. Near the entrance hung Luke Skywalker’s body, his blood dripping to the floor like tiny droplets of scarlet rain.

The view was quite admirable but it was not why Xarkun was there. His black eyes flicked to several droid cameras for the HoloNet orbiting the body of Skywalker at a certain distance, he assumed the stormtroopers had told them to stay back because there was one droid on the floor and it looked as though it had been shot by numerous blaster rifles. A crowd of nervous civilians were being watched closely by the stromtroopers and a few CIS battle droids as well, droidekas had been called down, they functioned like strategic, shielded turrets in key areas. There were also a few shady pirates in the room as well.

Several flustered and frightened reporters were hovering around in close proximity to the hanging body, most have a camera crew along with them, each marked with some different news insignia, Xarkun noticed that the news insignias on the grounded cameras correlated with the insignias on the floating cameras… good shots were always necessary when covering a catastrophic event after all. Xarkun smiled as he approached the reporters. Only the stormtroopers and pirates gave recognition of him, they seemed unsure whether or not they should bow. Xarkun waved dismissively and approached the first reporter, a female Twi’lek doing her best to sound professional.

“Oh the horror! Jedi Master Luke Skywalker’s body hanging in the entrance hall of the Imperial Palace, this news station has yet to find out who is responsible for this terrible crime, and who is responsible for the Imperial attacks on Coruscant, the rumored one at Naboo, and also at Mon Calamari… wait, we have a person approaching the scene.” the reporter, along with all the others and their cameras turned to face him. Most of the floating cameras began to orbit him as well.

“I believe,” Xarkun said quietly. “I can help you with that.”

“Who exactly are you?” asked the Twi’lek reporter.

“What is your business here?” asked a female human.

“Do you know anything about this crime?” a male human asked.

“Crime?” Xarkun repeated, glancing at Skywalker’s body. “What crime? Skywalker’s body? No, that is not a crime, it is perfectly legal.”

“Can you explain further sir?” a reporter asked.

“Oh, allow me to introduce myself. I am your new Emperor, Darth Xarkun.”

Several gasps issued from the crowd and the reporters had all paled.

“Do you mean to say that you are responsible for these atrocities?” asked the female Twi’lek.

“Yes. But I’ll kill you if you call them atrocities. I am the new Emperor, and the Galactic Empire has been reestablished as the government for this galaxy. The Republic is no more, the Senate is destroyed and the Jedi are gone. I rule over all people in this galaxy now. Those who follow me willingly will be rewarded; those who fail to do so will be punished. I will have a new weapon soon, more terrible than the Death Star ever was, a weapon with the capability to destroy an entire solar system. Any planet who opposes my rule will be destroyed, as will their entire system… that should persuade you all to band together under the rule of I, Lord Xarkun!”

“What is this weapon called?”

“It is known as the Sun Crusher, Admiral Daala only knows its exact location, and I’ve sent a guard there in secret. No one knows of this, not even my comrades, but I tell you now because I wish to give a fair warning. This is a message to all remaining Jedi. Surrender and there is a deal to be made, flee and you will be hunted down by every bounty hunter in the galaxy plus the entire force of the new Empire, and by the Sith. Any planet found harboring the Jedi will be punished. And to all the remaining Senators and followers of the Republic, give up now, I’ve destroyed your fleet, I’ve taken Coruscant. This Galaxy is mine. Hail Lord Xarkun, your new Emperor, hail the Galactic Empire or die….”

“HAIL!” cried several people in the crowd probably out of fear. The reporters began nervously speaking into their respective cameras.

“Luke Skywalker’s body is an example of what happens to those who oppose Lord Xarkun!” Xarkun cried, causing the cameras to return to him. “I will be installing a governor on each planet to ensure you all follow my rule. Any disbanded stormtrooper still loyal to the Empire should report to the military base on Coruscant immediately, once it has been cleared to apply for reinstatement into the military. That is all for now citizens of the Empire further announcements shall be made when the time comes. Ah yes… but one more thing to the Jedi that escaped…. Senator Elisabeth Organa. I sense you, I know you yet live. I warn you now, as you are the only reasonable and intelligent Jedi I’ve ever had the displeasure to meet, do not try to resist me, it will only bring you and your remaining allies pain and death. If I encounter any resistance I’ll ensure that it is you I make a top priority to hunt down… I kill you, I’ll kill your scum bag smuggler friend, and any other Jedi I find with you. Don’t take this as a bluff, I have the capabilities to do this and I certainly will.

“And to the Jedi--”

“Excuse me sir!” asked the female reporter loudly.

“I believe I already announced my status as Emperor!” Xarkun hissed angrily.

“Yes, you did sir, but can you prove that you are indeed the Emperor and not just some lunatic speaking out against the Republic?”

Xarkun’s blood seemed to boil with rage. This idiotic reporter would be his proof!

“For one the stormtroopers are not attacking me you pathetic dilettante reporter! And secondly this.”

Xarkun extended his hand and there was a sickening crack as every bone in the reporter’s body broke, Xarkun ensured that something stabbed into her brain before tossing her aside.

“Does anyone require more proof? Must I further demonstrate what happens to those who speak out against the Emperor?”

“No.” several reporters muttered, shaking their heads vigorously.

“Good. Now, to the Jedi who killed Xen I’ve my own personal vendetta against you, so I’ll also be looking for your sister, what was her name? The slave of Gorgo the Hutt… Mira? Yes, I know she is your sister, I warn you, keep your Jedi pets in check or I’ll hunt her down and finish what Xen undoubtedly wanted to do, I’ll slit her throat and then I’ll kill you. So I warn all Jedi one last time, do not attempt to resist me…. In fact, I’ll be posting a large bounty on the head of Jedi. Yes, that should give you much trouble. This has been an announcement for your new Emperor Xarkun, bow down to me and my regime or die.”

(Well there you are, more of Xarkun talking, and talking, and talking. I swear, this guy has said more words in one day then Sidious ever said in his life... or maybe if we want to be accurate we can say he's said more words in one day then Darth Maul ever said in his life.... Well anyway I'm going to get off the internet for a while now and... I dont know, write more fan fiction or watch TV.... But I'm just getting off the net now.)

Later, Emperor Xarkun sat on the throne created by Palpatine all those years ago, and Lady Sera stood before him, head bowed. Beside her was Dr. Nevick, his fear showing ever so slightly beneath his cool professional exterior. He was a man who accepted the high possibility of his death with one wrong word, and therefore focused on doing his job with the most extreme accuracy. This was one reason he was still alive.

The other was the information he was giving to Xarkun.

"My Emperor, I have had time to look over the medical data I had acquired on Lady Sera, and have determined that this Dr. Malk was nothing less than a medical genius. Lady Sera's body, for the most part, is completely fabricated, made to look human, but completely inhuman at a genetic level. Her blood contains a bacteria that promotes life even when the internal organs cease to work, as we saw when her heart and lungs stopped after she was impaled by a lightsaber. The organs themselves are designed to work the way a human's would, but do not actually contribute to the well-being of her body. For instance, the lungs breath, allowing her to speak, but do not send oxygen to the blood. Likewise, the stomach digests food, and disposes of it normally, but none of the nutrients actually go to her bloodstream. Normal poisons will not work on her, she is physically incapable of suffocation, heart attacks will not affect her, as her heart is not actually used to pump her blood, and she will never fall prey to the diseases that are commonly associated with humans.

"However... her brain is another matter entirely. It is human, most likely harvested from another body when she was an infant. The implant which had previously allowed her to be completely controlled by the remote also released a certain chemical that protected her brain from the corroding effects the bacteria in her 'blood' would have on the human flesh. Because this implant was crushed inside of her brain, the chemical is no longer being produced. I have reproduced this chemical, to the best of my abilities, and have been administering it to Lady Sera. Without this chemical administered regularly, the corrosion of her brain will accelerate, and she will die a slow, painful death. With this chemical, and barring some other disaster, she will live out her natural life-span... which is, unfortunately, only about twenty-five years. That is all the time her body was designed to live... after that time, she will completely fall apart, at a genetic level.

"Her brain will suffer mild delusions until that time... those are unavoidable. However, it is my belief that these hallucinations are a by-product not only of the corrosion of her brain, but long-term control of her mind by the implant... her brain has been trained to re-create memories at the whim of the remote's user, and without that stimulus, her subconscious simply becomes... too creative. It should not get to the point where she becomes confused about what is real... so far, from what she has told me, she is perfectly able to tell her 'visions' from reality. Other quirks of hers... she has told me about the incident with the bounty hunter's eyes... stem not from the corrosion of her brain, but from training she had received as a child from Dr. Malk. In short, she is perfectly in control of her actions, which are not affected by the corrosion of her brain. The corrosion, so far, has only manifested itself in her hallucinations, both visual, auditory, and tactile, and will not reach the part of her brain responsible for judgement for a very long time."

It wasn't long before Sera made a mistake. At one point, she had left her right shoulder open. He stabbed her through it, the lightsaber burning through her. She screamed, and he withdrew the lightsaber. "That would never kill you, Sera, but it would if you allowed yourself to be DISTRACTED!" he shouted, slamming her to the floor with Force Lightning. She screamed in pain until he stopped. "Pick up your lightsaber and try again," he spat. She quickly got to her feet, despite the intense pain she was feeling, especially from her shoulder, and called her lightsaber back to her. They began again, and it was a few more minutes before he got through her defenses and stabbed her through the leg, barely missing the bone. She screamed, but this time she did not lower her defenses, and took that opportunity to strike at Xarkun's side. In a flash, Xarkun had pulled the blade out of her leg, and deflected her attack, which was made very sloppy by the amount of pain she was in. He simply pushed her away, and when she stumbled due to the pain in her leg, he hit her full-force with Force Lightning again. "PAY ATTENTION! Do not let your pain distract you, there IS NO PAIN!!!" he yelled at her, before finally letting up.

In a daze, Sera pulled herself up off the ground, having managed to keep ahold of her lightsaber this time, and attacked again. She focused all of her hatred to keep her mind clear, but the pain had begun to overload her senses, until...

In no time, she was back on the floor, being struck once again by Force Lightning. It was a long moment before Xarkun stopped this time... after he had, she felt like she would die...

"Get up," he spat, and with great effort, and drawing heavily on her hatred, Sera managed to do so.

Xarkun scowled at her. "You think you've experienced pain so far? You have not begun to taste it! Before I can teach you anything, you must learn not to let pain distract you," he said. "Kneel before me," he commanded, and she did so. "And stay that way. You will learn not to move, not to scream. You will embrace the pain, become one with it." With that, he hit her once again with Force Lightning.

Sera tried her best to remain kneeling, but the effort of staying still was too much with the force of the Lightning pushing her back. "I SAID STAY!!!" Xarkun yelled, and she fought to regain her position on her knees, moving into the current. Pain tore through her, and as she got back on her knees, she realized she was screaming. "SILENCE!!!" he yelled at her, and she clamped her mouth shut, fighting against the scream that was still coming from inside her throat. It was impossible to concentrate, there was so much pain... Tears streamed down her face, hatred filled her heart, and she fought to accept the pain of the Lightning as she felt her life slipping from her.

And, suddenly, it stopped. "That is enough training for today," Xarkun spat, going to sit on his throne. Sera felt incapable of movement, but her pride would not let her lie prone on the floor. She dragged herself up to her feet. When she got to a standing position, she bowed.

"Thank you, my Master," she got out, her throat hoarse from screaming so much. He nodded slightly in her direction, dismissing her, and she drug herself out of the throne room and to a small room that was down the corridor. It was a sitting room of some kind. That was as far as she made it before darkness took her.

The healer to whom the office belonged walked in, eyes wide. "What happened?" the Twi'lek healer asked.

"I'll need your office," Dr. Nevick said, slipping one of Lady Sera's vibroblades out of its harness. "Indefinitely," he said, and in a flash the Twi'lek healer was on the floor, his throat slit. Blood pooled at his feet as Nevick removed the necessary parts of Lady Sera's clothing and got to work. He had hoped to discuss Lady Sera's next appointment with her after her meeting with the Emperor, and was now glad he had stayed. He determined that, from now on, he would remain in the Palace during Lady Sera's meetings with the Emperor... he had heard Sith training was brutal, and now had proof.

When he had finished his work, and Lady Sera was resting somewhat comfortably, still unconscious, he activated the comm, and soon two stormtroopers walked in. "This is now my private office when Lady Sera is on Coruscant. No one, I mean no one , is allowed in here, other than myself or Lady Sera. You will speak of this to no one, and if ever Lady Sera is in need of any kind of medical attention, she is to be brought to me and no one else, do you understand?" he asked dangerously. The stormtroopers looked down at the dead healer, then at him and the unconscious Sith, and nodded. He handed them a datapad. "See that these arrangements are put in place," he said, and they saluted and left.

"What arrangements?" a sleepy voice asked him from the diagnostic table.

"Merely clothing and a room to be prepared for you at the Palace. You can't let anyone see you after one of your training sessions with the Emperor... what would they think?" he asked. Slowly, the girl nodded before drifting once again out of consciousness.

Sera surrounded herself with a dark cloud of hatred as she strode down the hall, the guards flinching slightly as she passed, probably remembering the fate of the guard who used to stand outside of her room. He had liked to talk. Now he got nourishment from a tube in his stomach.

When she arrived at the throne room, her Master was there, as were Magus and Duo. She smiled sweetly as she walked in, and bowed before her Emperor. He gestured for her to rise, which she did, and then looked back over at Magus and Duo.

There was someone standing behind Duo.

It was a light blue figure, and she couldn't make out the shape, it was as though the image was purposely blurred. Soon it was gone, and Duo began to bleed from his head. Blood ran down it, began gushing, and soon was a fountain, spilling onto the floor.

She stared at him for a full minute before she realized someone was talking to her. It was Xarkun.

"What are you staring at, my apprentice?" he asked her.

Sera blinked. "Duo... his head is a river, now," she said, looking back over to Duo, whose face was completely covered in the blood. The blood gurgled, and it sounded like whispering, yes, whispering... "A ghost wants him..." she murmured, then turned back to her Master, flashing a smile. "Shall we kill some more today, Master?" she asked, like a child asking to go play.

Xarkun glanced over at Duo and Lord Magus who still looked perplexed with what Sera had just said, most likely because of her questionable mental health.

"Lady Sera suffers from hallucinations." Xarkun explained absently and quickly. "Her blood is not the normal blood of a human being, it creates its own oxygen, most of her internal organs are useless, however her blood is also slowly eating away at her brain now because the implant in it has been destroyed."

(Okay, chattiness has been set up. Sadly it'll have to wait on my part. I'll be back tomorrow.)

Hatred filled her, and she longed to see the inside of Duo's skin. "I told you already. A ghost. Standing behind you, a woman. And, your head may have stopped bleeding, but I can make it start again if you call me that NAME!!!!" she said, and glass shattered from the window behind her. The noise startled her, and she looked around at it. She still hadn't learned to control her power... she looked back to Xarkun, sheepishly. "Sorry, Master," she said, wondering if she would be punished for breaking yet another window with the Force...

"We have not defeated the Republic," she whispered in horror. "It survives... in the cold. It grows stronger... the Jedi..." suddenly, she was back in the room, with Duo, Magus, and now Xarkun, looking at her like she was mad. She swallowed, shaking her head. Anger filled her once again as she realized the meaning of the vision. "They are re-grouping. They have allies, now. They must be destroyed," she spat, hatred boiling within her.

(Okay, I don't think anyone should get the correlation between Sera's vision and Hoth, so the Jedi and the Republic are still okay...)

(Xarkun's gonna make the connection between white with snow, therefore he's gonna think Rhen-Var.)

And it suddenly came to him.

***

“Focus my apprentice!” Darth Agro growled as Lord Xarkun kneeled before him… young and pale, with long black hair, his knees cold and wet, half submerged in the cold snow of Rhen-Var.

“It’s an entire mountain master… is it possible?”

“Anything is possible!” Agro hissed, sending a wave of blue-white lightning into his apprentice who winced heavily, but had long since learned not to cry out in pain, but to embrace it, or else face the anger of his master.

“But… how can you destroy a mountain… there’s too much.”

“I ask not for you to destroy the mountain, I ask for you to destroy it’s core, create a cavity, from which we may hide from the eyes of prying Jedi.”

“But… there is so much…”

“Rise my apprentice.” Agro commanded. “Arise and make the mountain hollow.”

Xarkun stood and faced the towered white peaks to his right and stared straight at a dazzling mountain, blinding in the bright sunlight. The tallest of peaks, the most deep rooted of mountains, cold, uninviting, and solid…. How to create a cavity in which me might build a shelter for himself and his master? Was it possible, possible to make dirt, and ice, and snow, and stone just disappear? Was there truly away to carve out a mountain? Could it be done?

“Anything can be done with the Force my apprentice. It has no limits, no boundaries. What limits you is your lack of focus, your lack of control, there is nothing that cannot be done, anything is possible, the only thing that prevents you from carving out the mountain is your lack of concentration! Power is unlimited! There are only those to weak to use it to its full potential!”

“Like the Jedi?”

“Yes Lord Xarkun, the Jedi are the best example. Idealistic fools who sacrifice true knowledge and power in an attempt to carry out the ‘greater good’, it as foolish and endless path. Consider this, the philosophy of the great Sith Lady Traya. What good does it do to help one who cannot help themselves? Feed food to a man who could not obtain it on his own, and you weaken him, he is ill prepared to cease the opportunity to gain more food on his own. Deny him the food, force him to obtain it himself, and if he does then he is worthy of life.

“You have no limits Lord Xarkun. Carve out the mountain side, create for us a sanctuary, away from the prying eyes of our enemies.”

And so he had tried, and so he had failed, and so… he had faced the wrath of his master, who died thereafter… only then did he understand the extent of his power, only then did he truly command it.

***

"Rhen-Var!" Xarkun gasped. "So many mountains... so easily carved into a sanctuary.... They are likely on a mountainous planet Lady Sera. Perhaps not Rhen-Var, but a planet with show capped mountains, and chilly mountain sides.... Yes... the perfect place for sanctuary...."

(Xarkun's might be wrong, I dunno if you guys at Hoth will use mountains. I just used it as an excuse to dechiper Sera's vision, and even Xarkun must be wrong sometimes. But at least you caught a glimpse of his past, Darth Agro was his master, Agro means battle in some language.)

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