War {3}

Chapter 14

Her red eyes glittered in amusement as Khana stumbled back, breathless and her forehead beaded with sweat.

"You'll have to do better than that, Daughter." She chuckled, putting herself into a ready stance. Khana yelled in rage and charged the Empress, but she easily moved out of the way.

"Your moves are telegraphed. Improvise a bit."

Khana paused for a moment, then charged again except this time the immediately swung to the right instead of the left as usual. But her swing was too far out of the way of the rest of her body, leaving her unbalanced. The Empress quickly and smoothly disarmed her daughter, with her deactivated hilt landing in her hand and in the other her blade lingered dangerously close to Khana's nose.

The Empress deactivated her saber, placing it on her belt. She motioned for her apprentice to rise, and Khana obeyed, bowing calmly. But she could feel her emotions of anger and frustration at the loss brewing just beneath the surface. She also knew she missed Kiracel, who would spar with her.

But the Empress's eldest daughter was off on an elaborate mission to assassinate Skywalker, and in the process destroy him. She had faith in her daughter's skills, because she had been a faithful second in command while she served with the Kirma. Khana was having difficulty living up to her sister's legacy, with Kiracel being the more logical and emotionally detached of the two. Khana was much more emotional, and although most saw that as a weakness the Empress saw it as one she could exploit to keep her under her thumb at all times.

"Good." She praised, giving Khana back her saber. "But not good enough."

"Yes, Master." Khana replied breathlessly, bowing and accepting the hilt. But before she could speak again the door slid open, revealing the new recruit.

Lila stepped in, bowing respectfully. The Empress raised her brows in surprise; most recruits would have melted into a bundle of nerves at the mere sight of her, but Lila held her own. However, a flaw she did notice was that Lila was hiding her hands behind her back, most likely because they were shaking.

"My Lord, you have been contacted." She bowed respectfully, flashing her blonde hair pulled into a tight bun in the normal fashion.

"Very well. Thank you." The Empress informed her, but before Lila could exit the room completely she stopped her. "Would you like to stay and listen?"

Lila's brown eyes widened and blinked several times, and the Empress could see her swallow nervously. But nevertheless when she spoke the Empress could only hear a slight waver in her tone. "If it doesn't upset you."

"Not in the slightest." The Empress smiled and ushered the girl into the room, letting the door slide closed behind them. Most recruits were afraid of her, even after conditioning, and she knew that Lila had potential. Therefore, she had spent as much time with the young girl as possible to ensure that her loyalties lie with her.

The transmission began, revealing Captain Relli. The Empress smiled in delight at the sight of the respected Imperial captain, and Khana had the beginnings of a smile on her face. Lila, however, smiled stiffly and bowed, not knowing the experienced assassin well enough to recognize her.

"Captain, what have you to report?"

"My Lord, we have picked up a strange signal on Jutùre on the wild half of the planet. Do I have permission to investigate?"

"That depends. What is the disturbance?"

"Our ships were doing a scan of the asteroid field and located a few pieces of shrapnel and debris that weren't present before, meaning a ship had tried to enter. However no ship was found inside the field, and no ship, no matter the size, has ever been able to penetrate the field and make it to the atmosphere intact."