The Rule of Two [RP for emperors_hand]

[the_starkiller]

The box shook as Starkiller slowly guided it across the training room. It didn't weigh more than a few dozen kilograms, but he found himself straining with the effort of simply keeping it off the ground and moving. It was ridiculous. Months had passed since he'd awoken on the medlab table, once more saved from death by the will of a Sith Lord intent on using him and his strength for evil deeds. Months since he'd had to begin getting used to the mechanical right arm and leg that had replaced his ruined limbs.

The Force didn't reside in his hand, and yet when Starkiller tried to focus through gestures with his artificial arm, the result was a weak echo of his former ability. With his left hand, it was as though nothing had changed. His Master had punished him time and again for such weakness, and Starkiller had improved, but he was far from the warrior he had been.

Finally, the box crashed to the floor. Before Starkiller could curse himself, he was slammed to the floor, onto his knees with the Force. The double doors to the training room hissed open and his Master, the Emperor Palpatine entered. "Starkiller, you continue to disappoint me. You will need to do far better if you wish to take a true place at my side."

Starkiller bowed his head. "I am sorry, my Master."

The Emperor circled near, and Starkiller's flesh chilled. "I care nothing for your apologies, only for your usefulness. Which brings me to your first assignment as my operative."

"What is your bidding, my Master?"

"You are to pilot a cloaked Sith Interceptor to the planet Correllia. There you will rendezvous with one of the Emperor's Hands on a mission I wish completed immediately. Thus, you and the Hand both have orders to assassinate the same individual, to see who will prevail. You will fulfill my wishes or both of you will perish."

"Yes, my Master."

Palpatine was gone a moment later, and with one last hateful look at the box on the floor, Starkiller left, boarding the Sith Interceptor and heading toward Correllia.

Comments

[emperors-hand.insanejournal.com]

Blast it, he felt good.

Mara smirked, liking the feeling of his fingers on her back, and finally sat up, leaning on one elbow to look at Galen's face before she bent down to kiss him again. "Gotta say, Kid, that my name on your lips has to be one of the sexiest things I've ever heard." She touched his chest a bit and frowned, remembering their mission and the fact that she should keep an eye on him for her Master.

"I hate to break up this nice moment, but we should really go. Of course, I'm quite agreeable to doing this again afterward to celebrate." She was feeling quite smug and didn't care if he knew it. One last kiss and she pushed herself off him, didn't bother rinsing off, and changed back into her "costume" for the mission. Mara fluffed her hair a bit, then looked back at him.

"Ready, Starkiller?" It was a good way to keep him separate. Starkiller for missions, Galen for more private, personal stuff. "Let's go."

[emperors-blade.insanejournal.com]

A low, frustrated grumble sounded out of Galen's chest as he pushed himself up off the floor. What they'd just done had been more pleasure than he had ever experienced in his entire life, he'd have been perfectly content to stay in the ship and continue, the Emperor's mission be damned. But Mara, for all of her almost insufferable self-satisfaction at the moment, was right. And that made him even more frustrated.

Not so much, though, that he intended to refuse. "Fine," he said curtly, "but next time, I hope you've got a bed on this crate, girl."

He finished dressing in the clothes Mara had provided him, making sure that his lightsaber was properly hidden underneath his disguise. Satisfied, he shouldered his way past Mara toward the landing ramp. "I've been ready. Just don't get in the way."

The fire that had been lit in his belly was still going. It made him want to prove himself, to take his place as the Emperor's true apprentice. This would be the first step, and if he had to work with Mara to do it, then so be it.