With a humming sound, the holographic generators in his sealed office activated, and Brakiss snapped to attention. The air shimmered in front of him as a massive image crystallized into focus, transmitted from some far-distant hiding place in the Core Systems. Static rippled along the edges of the gigantic cowled head that loomed over Brakiss, scowling down at him.
Brakiss instinctively averted his eyes, bowing his head in reverence. After performing the appropriate gestures of obeisance, he looked up into the face of the Great Leader of the Second Imperium—the hooded, wrinkled form of Emperor Palpatine himself!
Though the holographic image was fuzzy and fragmented from being transmitted across so many systems on the Holonet, through asteroid belts and solar flares and ion storms, the features of the sallow-faced Emperor were unmistakable. Brakiss looked adoringly at the harsh paternal figure. Here was the man who would make all star systems quake with terror until they learned to live again with respect and glory, in the Imperial way.
The Emperor’s skin was ravaged with wrinkles brought on by too deep an immersion in the potent powers of evil. His yellow reptilian eyes blazed from hollowed sockets, and wattles on his neck hung down like the throat sac of a scrawny lizard.
Brakiss knew that the rest of the galaxy thought the Emperor had died many years ago, first in the explosion of the second Death Star, and then six years later in the destruction of the last of Palpatine’s clones. But the Emperor’s death must have been some kind of illusion, because Brakiss could see the transmission with his own eyes. He could not guess how the Emperor had survived, what sort of trick the great man had played on everyone—but with the Force, many things were possible.
Master Skywalker had taught him that.
When he finally spoke, the Emperor’s voice was harsh and raspy. “So, Insignificant One, what is your report for today? More successes, I hope. I am tired of failures, Brakiss. I grow impatient to bring about my reign and the Second Imperium.”
Brakiss bowed again. “Yes, my master. I have good news to report. We are sending along the hyperdrive cores and turbolaser batteries stolen from the Rebel supply ship, as you ordered. I think your glorious military machine will make efficient use of them.”
“Yesss,” Palpatine hissed.
Brakiss continued. “Here at the Shadow Academy your new force of Dark Jedi grows more powerful each day. I am particularly pleased that we have uncovered new candidates from the underworld of Imperial Center—exactly as you suspected, my master. No one will notice their disappearance, and we are free to turn them.”
“Yesss!” the Emperor said. “I told you it would be simpler to turn candidates whose lives held little hope. It is especially ironic to snatch them from under the very noses of the Rebel usurpers in the government.”
Brakiss nodded. “Yes, indeed, my master. We merely offer the new candidates something they need—and they are desperate to take it from us.”
“Ah,” the image of the Emperor said. He seemed almost—almost—proud.
Brakiss drew a deep breath before continuing. “Naturally, many of these new candidates have no Jedi potential, but still they remain eager for opportunities. Therefore, we have begun training one group as elite stormtroopers. They know the underworld of Coruscant very well, and could prove to be effective spies or saboteurs, should we choose to employ them in such a fashion.”
The projection of the Emperor nodded inside his cowl. “Agreed, Brakiss. Very good.” A ripple of static flickered across the transmitted image, and the Emperor’s voice wavered. “You shall survive another day.”
“Yes, my master,” Brakiss said.
The expression on the Emperors ravaged face grew stern. “Don’t disappoint me, Brakiss,” he said. “I should be most displeased if I was forced to blow up your Shadow Academy.”
Brakiss bowed low, and his silvery robes pooled around him. “I would be displeased as well,” he said.
The holographic image of the Emperor shimmered, then broke into sparkles of static as the transmission cut off.
Brakiss felt himself trembling all over, as he did each time he spoke to the awesome Palpatine. Exhausted, he sat down again at his desk and began to review his next set of plans, obsessively careful not to allow any mistakes.
19
Young Anakin Solo stood next to the comm unit in the living area of his family’s quarters, exhausted from his long and fruitless search, and worried about his brother Jacen. Staring at the darkened screen, he willed a message to come in from Jacen, but he knew that none would come—he could feel it.
He and Threepio had returned to their quarters an hour earlier after covering their assigned search locations, but they had heard no word from Jacen. And Anakin knew he couldn’t delay any longer.
He turned and walked over to the wall, where the golden protocol droid sat enjoying the refreshment of a brief shutdown cycle. Ice-blue eyes looked into the droid’s yellow optical sensors. Anakin gave the droid a tap. “Wake up, Threepio. We’ve waited long enough. Time to get help.”
The optical sensors winked to life, and See-Threepio gave a start of surprise. “Dear me, I couldn’t possibly have overslept, could I? I thought we agreed to rest two more cycles before going out to search again. And you have a lesson plan to—”
“I can sense that something is wrong,” Anakin interrupted. “Jacen and Tenel Ka haven’t come back.”
“Well, if you ask me—”
“I didn’t,” Anakin cut in. “Try to signal them again with your mobile comlink connection.”
“I’m sure they’re quite all right, but I’ll try.” Threepio tilted his head sideways and stared off into space for a few seconds.
“Any response?” Anakin asked.
“No, Master Anakin,” Threepio replied with greater concern in his voice. “None at all.”
Just then Leia Organa Solo entered the room, smiling brightly at Anakin—then frowning. “Anakin, what’s wrong?”
Anakin considered how much to tell his mother—after all, they had asked for her help earlier, but she had not believed Zekk’s disappearance was anything serious. Now, though, maybe Leia would change her mind when she learned that Jacen and Tenel Ka had vanished as well. The young boy spilled the story rapidly, with Threepio adding sound effects and embellishing with unnecessary comments.
“Jacen would have answered our call if he could,” Anakin said.
“Most certainly,” See-Threepio added with enthusiasm. “Master Jacen may be somewhat disorganized, but he is always conscientious.”
Her alarm growing visibly, Leia said, “He would answer—unless he’s in trouble.” She reached some sort of decision and snapped into action, demonstrating one of the qualities that made her a good Chief of State. “We’ve got to go find them. Tenel Ka wouldn’t let Jacen do anything dangerous. But she probably doesn’t think anything is dangerous.”
Leia ran to a wall panel. “I’ll summon a group of guards to go with us. Threepio, can you trace the location of Jacen’s comlink?”
“Well, it’s certainly not as precise a tracking system as I’d like, but I suppose that by sending a continuous signal and monitoring the feedback from the mobile comlink I could probably—”
“So how close can you get us?” Leia interrupted impatiently.
“I should be able to pinpoint the signal to within a radius of ten meters.”
“Close enough,” Leia said.
Anakin gave a sigh of relief. “Let’s just hope both Jacen and Tenel Ka are still somewhere near the comlink.”
“We’ll worry about that when we get there,” Leia said, grabbing a medkit and dashing toward the door. Guards rushed into position, still not clear on what the emergency was. “Let’s go, Anakin. You’re part of this rescue, too. Which way, Threepio?” Leia called.