![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
giveherahandMara mingled through the crowd at Grand Moff Tarkin's personal residence in a dark green, form-fitting dress, lightsaber and blaster strapped securely out of sight and the Emperor's instructions still ringing in her ears. This was her final test to determine if she was worth of becoming his Hand and failure was not an option. She smiled at several generals, bowed to an admiral, and dodged neatly out of the way of a Senator's wandering hands as they got entirely too close to her ass. She could feel the Emperor's eyes on her from across the crowded ballroom, where he stood talking with Darth Vader.
As creative as her mind was, she couldn't imagine what the two of them used as party smalltalk.
After making several passes around the room to memorize the faces of who was talking with whom, who had been invited, and who was now on the outskirts of the elite and not here (other than most women and all non-humans, because that was standard these days). She glanced around to see where Grand Moff Tarkin was (in a deep conversation with a young female officer named Daala. Rumor said they'd been sleeping together for months), and then stumbled into one of the security guards posted around the room, looking pale. "I'm so sorry," she said, swallowing hard and leaning into him. "I think I ate some crustaceons that didn't agree with me. Is there a room I can lie down in for a moment. I can't go home yet. The Senator--" she pointed to a greasy looking one from the Inner Rim who was at least 80 years older than she was-- "wouldn't permit it."
She saw the guard make a slight face of distaste before leading her beyond the public areas to a small guest room with an ajoining refresher. "Take your time," he said gruffly. Mara gave him a tight smile, still pretending to be sick, and waited until he was gone before looking under the bed for a small bag of tools and a change of clothing that had been left behind by her handlers. She changed quickly into a black jumpsuit and using the grappling hook provided, climbed out the window and down two stories of the hundred-plus on the building to reach Grand Moff Tarkin's private safe.
She carefully pried the window open and was halfway through when her movements were noticed by Tarkin's guards. She rolled out of the window, took cover behind the desk and began engaging with her lightsaber and blaster, taking them out as silently as possible. They were a half-dozen droids hidden inside Trooper armor, so she was focusing on headshots...until her Force senses told her that the last Trooper was alive. She immediately changed her tactics, and their silent grappling took out a painting, two lamps (that Mara caught with her foot and one hand before they made any noise), and almost the desk before Mara finally choked him into unconsciousness. There was no reason to kill a man just for a training exercise, she thought loudly to herself as she broke into the safe and retrieved her package before setting the room to rights (albeit filled with dead droids and an unconscious guard) and scurrying back up the building to return to the party.
The Emperor and Darth Vader glided silently toward her as she made her way back into the ballroom. "We must be going," Vader told Tarkin as he approached. "Now."
With that, he spun on his heel and marched out the door, partygoers all but leaping out of his path to avoid his attention. Something about his stride reminded Mara of the Dean of Students back in Fandom, and she pursed her lips thoughtfully. Strange...
The trip back to the Imperial Palace was a silent one, and the review of the holographic video of her operation in the dimly lit Imperial Throne Room equally silent.
Vader froze the image of her fighting with the human guard. "This fight lasted an additional two minutes because you chose to knock him unconscious," he observed. "Why didn't you kill him?"
"Because this was an exercise," Mara said, standing upright and trying to control her breathing and heartbeat. Getting interrogated by Lord Vader was never a comfortable experience. According to Imperial scuttlebutt, it was very often a fatal experience. A tiny part of Mara's brain wondered how they would explain it to the school if she never resurfaced from this.
The Emperor and Vader stared at each other for a long moment as Mara forgot how to breathe.
"Well done," the Emperor said, nodding his head. "As a Hand, it's important to not become merely a mindless droid. You have been trained to use your mind, as well as your weapons." He gestured to the ground before him. "Kneel, Mara Jade. Emperor's Hand."
Mara knelt, head bowed, fighting down the swell of relief and pride that rocketed through her. She'd succeeded!
...if only she could tell anyone.
[OOC: Adapted from the comic Mara Jade: By the Emperor's Hand, NFB, NFI.]
As creative as her mind was, she couldn't imagine what the two of them used as party smalltalk.
After making several passes around the room to memorize the faces of who was talking with whom, who had been invited, and who was now on the outskirts of the elite and not here (other than most women and all non-humans, because that was standard these days). She glanced around to see where Grand Moff Tarkin was (in a deep conversation with a young female officer named Daala. Rumor said they'd been sleeping together for months), and then stumbled into one of the security guards posted around the room, looking pale. "I'm so sorry," she said, swallowing hard and leaning into him. "I think I ate some crustaceons that didn't agree with me. Is there a room I can lie down in for a moment. I can't go home yet. The Senator--" she pointed to a greasy looking one from the Inner Rim who was at least 80 years older than she was-- "wouldn't permit it."
She saw the guard make a slight face of distaste before leading her beyond the public areas to a small guest room with an ajoining refresher. "Take your time," he said gruffly. Mara gave him a tight smile, still pretending to be sick, and waited until he was gone before looking under the bed for a small bag of tools and a change of clothing that had been left behind by her handlers. She changed quickly into a black jumpsuit and using the grappling hook provided, climbed out the window and down two stories of the hundred-plus on the building to reach Grand Moff Tarkin's private safe.
She carefully pried the window open and was halfway through when her movements were noticed by Tarkin's guards. She rolled out of the window, took cover behind the desk and began engaging with her lightsaber and blaster, taking them out as silently as possible. They were a half-dozen droids hidden inside Trooper armor, so she was focusing on headshots...until her Force senses told her that the last Trooper was alive. She immediately changed her tactics, and their silent grappling took out a painting, two lamps (that Mara caught with her foot and one hand before they made any noise), and almost the desk before Mara finally choked him into unconsciousness. There was no reason to kill a man just for a training exercise, she thought loudly to herself as she broke into the safe and retrieved her package before setting the room to rights (albeit filled with dead droids and an unconscious guard) and scurrying back up the building to return to the party.
The Emperor and Darth Vader glided silently toward her as she made her way back into the ballroom. "We must be going," Vader told Tarkin as he approached. "Now."
With that, he spun on his heel and marched out the door, partygoers all but leaping out of his path to avoid his attention. Something about his stride reminded Mara of the Dean of Students back in Fandom, and she pursed her lips thoughtfully. Strange...
The trip back to the Imperial Palace was a silent one, and the review of the holographic video of her operation in the dimly lit Imperial Throne Room equally silent.
Vader froze the image of her fighting with the human guard. "This fight lasted an additional two minutes because you chose to knock him unconscious," he observed. "Why didn't you kill him?"
"Because this was an exercise," Mara said, standing upright and trying to control her breathing and heartbeat. Getting interrogated by Lord Vader was never a comfortable experience. According to Imperial scuttlebutt, it was very often a fatal experience. A tiny part of Mara's brain wondered how they would explain it to the school if she never resurfaced from this.
The Emperor and Vader stared at each other for a long moment as Mara forgot how to breathe.
"Well done," the Emperor said, nodding his head. "As a Hand, it's important to not become merely a mindless droid. You have been trained to use your mind, as well as your weapons." He gestured to the ground before him. "Kneel, Mara Jade. Emperor's Hand."
Mara knelt, head bowed, fighting down the swell of relief and pride that rocketed through her. She'd succeeded!
...if only she could tell anyone.
[OOC: Adapted from the comic Mara Jade: By the Emperor's Hand, NFB, NFI.]
