On the Wings of Valkyrie

Chapter CLIX

"What the hell?" Han asked, voicing the question he and everyone else was thinking. The Smuggler and the Princess beside him shared a confused look as the Emperor's Hands dropped to the ground around them for seemingly no reason. They slipped to cover in order to hide from blaster fire as they watched the red saber section of the Imperial Army fall one by one. "What in the galaxy is happening?"

"It's the Emperor," Leia breathed, suddenly stilling with a groan as her legs buckled, sending her to the ground. Han sprung to her side in an instant.

"What's wrong? Are you hurt?"

"I'm fine...." the Princess answered after a beat of silence, sucking air into her lungs. "But Luke and Vader aren't. We have to help them."

Han looked around. The Rebels were holding their own it seemed, especially with the sudden disappearance of Palaptine's Hands. He could make out Chewie's form not all that far away, bashing or shooting any Imperial with the misfortune of being too close to the wookie. There was a more or less clear shot to the stronghold, and Han had made far more risky dashes in his life, but the two leading Generals couldn't exactly disappear from the battlefield the moment after the red blades did.

"You go on, I'll cover you," the Smuggler said. "I'll stay back, make sure we're winning and you all have a viable retreat if needed. Unless—"

"No, that sounds like a perfect plan," Leia interrupted before Han could suggest leaving the battle to Rex and the two of them going in together. "I don't want you near the Emperor."

"That makes two of us," Han commented as he blasted a stormtrooper trying to sneak up on them. The Imp went down without a fight, leaving them a small spot of calm to continue the conversation. "Be careful."

"I will," she said, giving him a quick kiss.

"Hey," the Smuggler said, grabbing her before she turned away, taking a moment to memorize her face, her expression of unyielding determination and bravery. Just in case. "I love you."

The Princess gave him a simple smile that spoke of a thousand responses: "I know."

And with that, Leia was dashing out in the open, blue lightsaber cutting down Imperials who happened to be in her path as she raced towards the dark, towering structure.

~*~

Luke gasped, sucking in oxygen as though he was about to die from its absence. His entire body ached, agony searing through him as his mind slowly returned to him. The Emperor was saying something, but it was beyond his comprehension as an inky presence pressed at his mind, slipping by the hardly present shields. Instinctively, Luke fought the encroaching stranger as clarity slowly but surely began to return to him, and with that clarity came greater awareness and thus greater mental defense.

That was until the Force screamed out in warning. Luke twitched in an instinctive effort to react, but his body was too weak as the lightning began to drain his very essence, pushing him closer and closer to a suddenly very welcoming nothingness.

Not far from him, Palpating cackled with glee as lightning crackled across his body and from his fingers, the power being held within his elderly frame from the sacrifice of his Hands almost too much for even him to fully control—so much so he still had creations that had been left untouched, their energy unneeded. He was enjoying Luke's torture to the fullest, planning to end him in front of the nearly dead Vader (who's suit, by design, would likely not last the Emperor's former apprentice much longer considering the hit he'd taken) before ending the life of the traitor. Then Leia Organa, the last of the Skywalker line, would appear before him, too late to save her family, and Darth Sidious would turn her. Luke Skywalker, the foolish boy, was far too stubborn and set in his ways. Perhaps with time, the Emperor would have managed, but the task was foolhardy at best. According to Henry Ramsey in alternate futures the young Skywalker had either rejected or renounced the darkside, repeatedly being the cause of the Emperor's death. Best to start on a cleaner slate; Organa's potential was as great as her brother's.

As for Vader of course, Palpatine just wanted his former apprentice to feel the weight of his crushing failure before he died. It was a pity that pesky Shadow of Vader's was not present to also bear witness (as well as be yet another life to end while her Master was incapable of protecting those dearest to him), but the Emperor would take what he could get. Luna would have a different death that was equally torturous.

What had temporarily paused Palpatine's ongoing torture session was that he had stumbled on a dagger the Jedi Knight had dropped when he was hit with the original blast of lightning. The Emperor had attempted to kick it away, but ended up hitting the seemingly immovable object with enough force that it felt as though he'd stubbed his toe on the blasted handle. Darth Sidious had given the seemingly innocent weapon a glare that could kill as he blasted it with a spare bit of lightning. The dagger remained stubbornly in place.

A curiosity that the Emperor would look into after he was finished ending his former apprentice and the Jedi, provided Organa didn't show quickly enough for the Dark Master's liking.

First, of course, he had a Jedi to electrocute to death.