Daughter of the Empire
Six years after the death of the Emperor...Corusca’s Eye
A small group of officers, storm troopers and guards stood at attention in the hangar bay of the ship to see
me off, hastily called together by my long-time personal aide and advisor, and now Grand Vizier, Markan
Leera, who absolutely refused to let me come and go without proper reception. It was an age old ritual that
I sometimes found annoying, but had learned to live with.
It was he who followed along side me then, going on about all the things that would have to be
done while I was gone, and that I really shouldn't be going off anyway. Walking up the guard flanked isle
to the awaiting shuttle, I couldn't help but smiles inwardly at Leera’s going on's. I remembered a time,
years ago, when I had been nothing but a chore to him, simply a young girl whom he had been given the task
of watching after. I hadn’t been all too fond of him either, wishing that I didn’t have someone looking over
my shoulder all the time.
We had bonded over the years, eventually learning to live with each other. I had come to respect
him and trusted his judgment greatly. Since my father's death he had been almost a second father to me, and
I cherished him for that. Of course, there were still times when his protective dedication of me became
something of a burden.
“...goes through while you’re gone, they will be wanting you there to make the final decision,”
Leera was saying, seeming to have no end to what he suddenly had to tell me there at the last moment. I
listened with only half an ear, knowing that he was only uneasy about my departure and was trying to come
up with excuses for me not to leave. “And what will I say if Thrawn, or Kienna ask of you--”
I halted suddenly and turned to face the older man, looking up at his aging face. Despite his being
somewhat taller than me, I could still manage to stare him down if I wished. “If anyone should ask of me,
Leera,” I instructed, holding his hazy blue eyes to mine of piercing green, “I have simply gone to tend to
some personal business and will return in a few days.” I let him free of my gaze, though did not bother to
bleed any of the annoyance from my voice. “I don't believe you should have any trouble with that,” I
assured him, then left the subject abruptly, turning my attention to the officer standing just off to the side.
“Captain.”
Captain Remardi Morreson, the vessel's commander, stepped forward and gave a respectful bow.
“Yes, my Lady?” asked the middle-aged man, coming to stand next to my aide. Leera, my attention
seemingly drawn away, had his feature's set in a grim line, no doubt worrying about the involvement’s of my
“personal business.”
I let him worry. “You have the rendezvous coordinates, I trust, Captain.”
Morreson drew himself to his full height, hands clasped behind his back, his capped head rising just
above that of the Grand Vizier. “They’re in the nav.-computer and ready to go, my Lady,” he assured me,
quite proud of his work. I had no doubt that that was the truth. In all his years of service to me --nearly ten
now-- Morreson had shown himself as a loyal officer and an excellent commander and had yet to fail me.
Over the years we had come to work quite well together, both knowing each others allowances and limits. I
intended to keep him around for as long as I could.
I smiled, pleased. “I will see you in four days then,” I said, tilting my head slightly.
“Of course, my Lady,” he replied. A thin smile crept onto his hard face, one which would have
never been seen not long ago. Now it was sometimes hard to believe that he had once been an Imperial
Commander to the very meaning of the word. Our constant struggle over the past few years had driven us
together, and had oddly softened him up. That smile was uneasy just then, though, himself nervous about
my going off, but it was there. “Good luck.”
“Thank you, Captain,” I replied. He inclined his head toward me, then I turned my attention back
to Leera, who immediately attempted to push something of a smile onto his face. It didn't work all that
well.
“Well, Leera,” I told the older man after taking a deep breath. “I must be off. I trust you can take
care of things in my absence.”
I knew very well that he could, as did he, though that didn't stop his last minute protests. “Of
course, my Lady, but are you really certain you should be doing this?” he went on. “It's dangerous out
there. Certainly you could send someone else on your behalf. Ms. Jade could surely do this on her own just
as well as...”
“I am going, and that's that! Understood?” I interrupted, unable to let him ramble on incessantly
when even his greatest efforts could not sway me.
Leera sighed, somewhat irritated, though not as much as I. “I know, it's just that...”
He was cut off once again as an impatient voice called from inside the shuttle. “You coming or not
Cris?” the Emperor's Hand and my long time friend, Mara Jade, asked as she audibly clamored to the end of
the ramp. “Because I’m not going to sit around here all... oh!” She stopped short at the top of the ramp,
suddenly aware of the formal assembly on the deck below. I raised an eyebrow at her; Leera frowned deeply
in disappointment. She quickly caught the hint.
“My Lady,” she corrected for the sake of my dignity, though the ship’s crew was not unused to her
behavior around me, “we are ready for departure, at your convenience.”
“Thank you, Mara,” I replied, throwing her a bit of a smirk. I knew how she hated formalities, and
how she was even more uncomfortable treating me as was required of my status. The only reason I pressed
her to do so was to demonstrate that she showed me more respect than some thought. I didn't care
personally; we’ve been best friends since we were children. It was a connection that no one else understood,
and we didn't want them to. “I’ll be there in a moment.”
I left Mara standing in the open hatchway and turned back to my aide who deftly let out an
exasperated sigh. “Are you certain you won’t at least take one of your guards along,” he insisted, his voice
suddenly very weary.
“Don’t worry, my friend,” I assured him, softening my composure and placing a comforting hand
on his shoulder. “I will be just fine. We can take care of ourselves, you know.” I gave his a smile, but he
did not share it.
Finally, he gave in, realizing that he was not going to win this. “Just...” he began to protest again,
then suddenly relaxed. “Just be careful, all right.”
I smiled. “I will. Just don’t worry about me.”
He still could not manage a smile, but I was satisfied that he would be all right. I knew that he
would still fret over my safety, but I hoped that he would not worry too much.
At last, I turned from him and continued to the ramp, exchanging a glance with the captain of my
personal guard before striding up the ramp into the shuttle, my dark cloak swirling behind me.
Once inside, the ramp securely closed, Mara and I finally let out a collective sigh of relief, then an
even longer outburst of laughter.
“Maker!” Mara exclaimed of my aide as we went forward to the cockpit, “with that stick on your
heels, it's amazing we get anywhere without a battalion following us to ‘watch over you.’”
I let out another annoyed sigh, pulling off my long cloak as I walked. “You don’t know the worst
of it,” I told her, not bringing up any particular incidents. “But he means well, and he does do an excellent
job. I have to give him that.”
Mara just grunted, sat down in the pilot’s seat. “Sometimes I wonder if he doesn’t put a little too
much effort into his work.”
“Well, he did swear an oath to my father that he would see to my protection,” I reminded her. A
promise to the Emperor was nothing that many dared to turn their backs on, and if anyone knew that, it was
Mara Jade.
The Emperor’s Hand shrugged. “I suppose.” She didn't seen in the mood to get into a big
conversation on that issue. “I just wish he’d lighten up a bit. We’re not children anymore. We can take
care of ourselves.” Her fingers flew over the controls at she punched in the last commands for pre-flight.
“I know,” I sighed, dropping into the co-pilot’s seat beside her. I paused for a moment, looking
out at the hangar and space beyond, then glanced back at my childhood friend. “Then again, with all we
used to do, no wonder he’s so nervous about letting us go out on our own. We weren’t exactly the best
when it came to that.”
She let out an amused laugh, remembering a few incidents. She grinned. “We weren’t, were we,”
she said, provoking some laughter from myself as well. She continued to work away as she spoke.
“Remember that time when your father was out of the system, and we snuck out of the Palace right under
Leera’s nose and went down to that underworld level bar...”
I laughed, remembering the whole thing. “And you got completely stoned drunk and I had to
drag you all the way back to the Palace, then we got caught sneaking back in and Leera refused to let you
near me for a week,” I recalled, laughing. “And then Kalinn and I spent the whole time trying to come up
with a way to sneak me back out again! We were what? Seventeen?”
Mara thought for a second. “I think so,” she assured me of our age at that time. Then a look of
confusion. “Sunshine helped you sneak out?!” she exclaimed in disbelief, “Sunshine” being her nickname
for my lady-in-waiting, Kalinn Riah. The two had never gotten along, much to my constant distress. She
had been captured back during the ambush on Coruscant though. We hadn’t seen her in nearly three years.
It was probably for the best, now that I thought if it, though I did sort of miss listening to her and Mara’s
constant irritation of each other. Just another of the many things that had been lost, another of the many
things I was fighting to regain.
“Believe it or not!” I replied. “Though it took a lot of convincing first.” Kalinn had actually been
perfectly contented not to have Mara hanging around for a while, but Mara and I were, and still are, best
friends. It's not easy to keep us apart for long.
She let out another strain of laughter, but was cut off from her next words as the com. gave a
beep and the voice of the ship’s traffic controller came on. “Fire, this is Control,” said the male voice.
“You are clear for departure.”
Mara flipped the com. switch to reply. “Copy, Control,” she replied. “We’re heading out.”
The male voice on the other end seemed quite positive. I took that as a good thing. “See you
again in four days, Fire,” he said. “Good luck.”
“You too,” she said, smiling slightly, which made me laugh softly to myself. “Fire out.”
Mara Jade cut the transmission, hit the thrusters and lifted the Jaded Fire out of the hangar and
into space. The shuttle’s name had been a long running joke between us, and was the one that we always
took on excursions like this. It had been fitted with so many of our own little touches and quirks that I think
that perhaps I was the only one other than Mara who would be able to fly it, or so we joked. Of course,
Mara could fly virtually anything.
I looked out the side viewport as my personal flagship, Corusca’s Eye, shrunk into the distance.
It was not a big ship, and unique in it's style; almost the cross between a Victory-class star destroyer and a
Corellian corvette. I could have anything else as my flagship, a Super Star Destroyer even, if I so chose,
but somehow I preferred the Eye. It had been a gift from my father, and it seemed to suit me just fine.
Despite its smaller stature, the ship was armed to the teeth, was equipped with the best shielding out there and carried a full compliment of TIE-fighters and such. And although it could easily defend itself from an attack, it was usually accompanied by at least two other capital ships, such as the two Imperial-class star destroyers that flanked it then. Even now, many precautions were taken to protect the Emperor’s heiress, and the leader of the Empire. It was a protection that I found comforting, but also extremely stifling at times like these.
But as Mara took the shuttle into hyperspace, I felt a great weight fall off my shoulders --for the
moment, at least. Out of sight, out of mind, they say, though that was a saying that I found I would never be
able to live up to. I was determined to take advantage of the freedom I then had, even if it was only for a
brief time. It was an opportunity that I rarely got.
I unstrapped myself then leaned back and stretched my arms up over my head, letting out a long
sigh as Mara double checked our course then left things to the auto-pilot. Relaxed, I put my hands behind
my head and looked over at my companion.
“So,” I asked, “Where are we headed to first?” This was, unfortunately, not exactly a simple
pleasure trip --or so we said, at least. Things like this were always pleasure for us. With the Empire and its
forces slowly, but steadily, beginning to dwindle, we had decided that it was time to resort to another sort of
aide --mercenaries. It was not an option that I had been extremely fond of, and one that the vast majority of
the Council had been quite opposed to, but I had been forced to turn to it.
Mara had been constantly reassuring me that right now it was a good idea to hire rather than send
spies. The Galaxy was a dangerous place for Imperials right now, so the less of our own people we had to
deploy, the better. Besides, she had said, it would give us some time to get away for a while, and she knew
some great places to scout out possible employees. Reluctantly, I had agreed. It was the only way.
Pushing a stray lock of her brilliant red hair out of her face, Mara leaned over and brought up a file
on the nav. computer. A photo displayed a view of a brown and obviously sandy planet, with none but a
few faint strips of white cloud here and there. Some areas showed indication of small settlements, but not
much more than that. It did not look the most inviting place in the galaxy.
“Tatooine,” Mara named the planet as I began to look over the data. “Located on the Outer Rim.
A few small settlements, mostly farms --moisture farms--” she added at my sudden confusion. “The only
thing that you could possibly call a city is there one spaceport, Mos Eisley, and the only reason that's there
--or anything else for that matter-- is because of its close proximity to some of the main hyperspace routes
--smuggling runs, mostly.” She spoke from knowledge, but I detected a hint of loathing for the place.
“Tatooine,” I echoed. I had heard a fair amount about the planet, mostly of being nothing but a
dust ball, but then remembered the main reason why. “Weren’t you sent there by Father once,” I recalled,
“back when he was after Skywalker.”
The Emperor’s Hand scowled at the name. “Yes, and don’t remind me.” It hadn’t been one of her
better experiences, as I remember. She sighed. “The only reason I even considered going back there is
because it's practically a spice mine in our case. Mos Eisley is populated by the lowest of the low, but
brings in the best of them. The place is crawling with mercenaries and smugglers of all sorts. If we can find
what we’re looking for, it’ll be there.”
I nodded, still looking over the information there, but decided to take her word on that issue. The
data said that the planet had been controlled mostly by Hutt gangsters until the Empire moved in and created
some order. Since Jabba the Hutt had been killed back over six years ago, the citizens had pretty much just
done their own thing, though the Empire was still the main authority --the Rebels weren’t all too interested
in a planet so far out of the way. At least we wouldn’t have to worry about them, and the Imperial presence
would make things a lot easier on my part.
“Looks fun,” I commented, not sure if I was being sarcastic or not.
Mara’s green eyes glinted in the dim of the cockpit. She grinned. “You have no idea.”
This was definitely going to be interesting.
