The Emperor's Hand
Chapter 1. First Mission
Mara sat bolt upright in her bed. Beads of sweat ran down her face. In one swift movement, she grabbed her lightsaber from under her pillow and switched it on, bathing the room in soft, purple light. Long shadows appeared on the wall, every piece of furniture creating ghostlike figures.
"Who's there?" she asked, her green eyes flitting around, searching for whoever or whatever had woken her.
The only reply she received was the regular beating of her own heart. Everything else was still. Even the noise of late-night traffic outside was hushed.
Her whole room looked distant and alien. Mara blinked, trying to make sense of everything. There was no one there. Nothing was wrong. She was safe in her room in the Imperial Palace.
Letting out a gentle sigh of relief, she switched off her weapon and slid back down into the soft warm covers, succumbing to the hypnotic voice that sang in the back of her head:
Sleep. Sleep. Sleep.
As she began to drift off again, a stray though occurred to her: she'd been having a dream. A very important dream.
All thoughts of sleep slipped away. Mara racked her brain, trying to remember what she'd been dreaming about and what its significance was.
Sleep. Sleep. Sleep.
The voice came back, urging her to forget about the dream. It could wait until morning. Everything could wait until morning. Everything...except for sleep.
In the back of her mind, a new voice added to the confusion. A quieter voice, almost drowned out by the others. But it was just as strong:
No! Stay awake! Remember...you must remember.
It was like a battle was going on in her head.
Sleep. Remember. Sleep. Stay awake. Sleep. No! SLEEP!
A sharp jolt of pain ran through Mara's mind. She clutched her head and gave a little cry of shock. It refused to go away. An ache took over, slowing increasing pressure until she felt like her head was going to explode.
Sleep. Sleep. Sleep.
The voice was so tempting...so beautiful. Mara wanted to listen to it. She wanted to sleep. If she slept, all her problems would fade away and she'd be happy. But she would also risk never finding out what was so important.
"Never give up!" someone cried. Startled, Mara looked around the room. But there was no one there. An image flashed in her mind of a weapon raised high, ready to kill an innocent child.
"I'll always be with you," the voice was weaker this time. A kind face danced before her. It was a face that was all so familiar, yet Mara couldn't quite place it.
"I know you'll make me proud of you." The pressure was at a maximum now. Mara didn't know if she could take it any more.
Sleep. Sleep. Sleep.
The dream was no longer important. All that was important was sleep. Mara felt weighted down, like she was sinking through her bed. It was too much effort to even move a finger. She was so tired. So very tired.
Mara promised herself that she'd try to remember what happened in the morning. She fell asleep, not realizing that she had just lost her only key to the past.
Little did she know, she was not alone. There someone else in the room watching. Someone who she couldn't see. Someone who was no longer alive.
The figure let out a sigh of frustration.
He had failed.
As a last act before he's died, he'd used up every ounce of his limited Jedi powers to attach his spirit to Mara. Since then he'd managed to always stay with her. He'd never been powerful enough to actually speak to her, but he had been able to put suggestions in her mind. Suggestions to keep her safe.
But now he was leaving.
He had no strength left to stay attached to her. The Force was calling him, waiting for him to become one with it. It was time to let go of his child. It was the eve of her first mission and he was finally meeting his destiny.
Laying one transparent, ghostly hand on her forehead, he studied his daughter. The fourteen year old girl looked so much like her mother.
"Goodbye," he whispered knowing that she couldn't hear him. "I know you'll make me proud of you."
As he slowly began to dissipate, Mara's forehead creased as her dreams turned darker. For the first time in her life, she was truly alone.
* * *
The small figure watched from her vantage point, high above the regal chamber, in a small, inconspicuous alcove. Carefully, she shifted positions to get the best angle through the scope on her blastech sniper rifle. Everything was perfect.
A thrill ran through her body as she watched her shriveled master stand up from his seat at the long, rectangle table below. Any moment now, he would begin his speech. It would be her cue to strike.
Her master was an old man who had pushed his way through to the top of galactic politics using every dirty trick available. Even though he wasn't all that old, he looked completely deteriorated, like the evil inside him was slowly devouring him. Despite all this, her ambition in life was to do his bidding.
Although Mara Jade was only fourteen years old, she loyally served her master, the Emperor Palpatine with all of her being. This would be her first real mission. The chance for her to prove her allegiance.
Her distinctive red hair was hidden by a piece of black cloth. Even though it was unlikely that anyone would spot her, she wasn't taking any chances. It was vital that nothing went wrong.
The chamber was set up for a council meeting. Representatives from different worlds were seated around the black table. Emperor Palpatine stood at the head, knowing what was about to happen. The others, however, were in for a big suprise.
One man at the table caught her attention. He was the one. The tall, pointy-faced humanoid had openly showed distaste for the Emperor's ways. There had even been news that he would be leading his home planet, Ka'el, in a secret rebellion. Palpatine could not allow that. That was why Mara was there.
The defiant senator showed contempt on his face as he looked up at the Emperor. No matter what the tyrant's speech would be about, he would find fault with it Mara smiled to herself. He wouldn't live long enough to make any more trouble.
Without warning, she felt something strange boiling inside of her. Something that she could not remember ever feeling before.
Fear.
Thoughts of doubt flickered through her head. What if she failed? What if the blaster bolt missed? What if she shot the wrong senator? She knew that answers to all of those questions. If anything went wrong, it would mean her death. The Emperor did not look kindly upon failure.
Mara swallowed hard, feeling the dryness in her throat. She silently reprimanded herself. It would do no good to think like that. She would succeed. She had to succeed.
With a new determination, Mara concentrated on her target. She knew that at any second she would hear Palpatine's voice in her sensitive ear piece as he began his speech. All of her muscles tensed involuntarily.
"Fellow Councilors -- " his rasping words rang loudly in Mara's ear. It was time.
Forgetting any misgivings, she pressed the firing stud. A collective gasp of horror echoed up from the chamber.
As the senator slumped down in his chair, a few of the councilors leapt to their feet to assist him. The others just sat staring wide-eyed at the gaping hole in his chest. There was nothing that could be done. He was dead.
All eyes looked up accusingly in the direction where the blaster bolt had been fired. For the first time, they noticed the small platform where Mara had been hidden in the alcove. Yet, they could not see her, for she was already gone.
"Guards!" cried the Emperor, feigning rage. "Find whoever did this to my dear colleague." The group of stormtroopers who had been standing beside the door rushed into action, while the higher ranking members of the Imperial Royal guard stayed dutifully by the Emperor's side.
Mara smirked to herself as she slipped unseen into the secret passageway. Dear colleague indeed! Palpatine had despised the man. He was a threat to the New Order. That was why he had to be killed.
Strangely, Mara felt a grim satisfaction as she made her way back towards the Emperor's private chambers. She had done well and she knew it. Her master would be very pleased.
It seemed like it had been such a long time since the Emperor had brought Mara to Coruscant. He had been very good to her and made sure that she was given a thorough education and the most rigorous training. For years, he had prepared her for the time when she would become his most trusted servant and most helpful tool--
The Emperor's Hand.
* * *
Darth Vader strode down the corridor, his black cape billowing out behind him. His breath was slow and loud through his breathing mask. He was on his way to his master's chambers, ready to be assigned a new mission.
But there was also something else.
Although his master hadn't said anything about it, Vader knew that he was going to reveal something to him. He'd just have to wait to find out what that was.
Once he arrived at the Emperor's royal chambers, Vader waited outside. His master had not returned yet. He was still at the political meeting with some of the High Council members.
A small noise caught Vader's attention. Slowly, he turned his masked head to the side, focusing his senses towards the sound.
From behind his mask, Vader frowned.
Someone was there, just down the corridor. But they were not actually standing in the corridor, but beside it, in the wall. Vader marched down to that section of wall and stood before it, extending his senses.
It was a human. A human female. She wasn't moving; she was waiting for something. For a moment Vader wondered if she might be in one of the rooms connecting to the corridor, but he pushed away that thought. She was too close to be in another room.
A small grating noise sounded. To Vader's suprise, the section of wall slid open a tiny bit, revealing a secret passage. Vader stepped away to the side, so he wouldn't be seen by whoever was inside.
A head stuck out of the opening. Green eyes flickered down the right of the hall scanning to see if anyone was there. She turned her head to the left to check the other direction...
...and let out a gasp as she found herself staring directly into the black mask of Darth Vader.
Vader recognised her with a start. She was Kira Dewlya, the Emperor's favourite dancer.
For a moment she stared at Vader in horror. Vader crossed his arms and took a step towards her. Coming back to her senses, she ducked her head back into the passage. It started to close again.
Using the Force, Vader opened it up fully. Kira raced down the passage, back where she'd come from. She stopped abruptly as Vader reached out his hand and got a mental grasp on her throat.
She whirled around to face him. "Stop it," she snarled as he began to squeeze her small neck. Her hands came up to her throat in a futile effort to pry the invisible fingers away.
"Why should I?" Vader asked with a hint of amusement in his voice. "This'll teach you to sneak around the palace, Dewlya."
Mara Jade stared at him in confusion. Then she remembered that was what the Emperor had told Vader her name was: Kira Dewlya. "Stop it," she repeated, "The Emperor will...be...most...displeased," she barely managed to choke out the words. White dots began to dance before her eyes as unconsciousness threatened to wash over her.
Vader relaxed his hold for a few seconds, deciding that Kira wasn't worth the effort. She looked like she was only thirteen or fourteen, barely into her teen years.
She fell to her knees, taking deep, gasping breaths. "Get up," Vader ordered, curious as to how she knew about the secret passageway. Vader knew that the Emperor had many of these passages, but he had never seen this one before.
Mara stood to her feet and advanced towards Vader, refusing to show any fear. "I'm going to the Emperor now," she told him. "He will not be pleased when he hears about how you treated me."
Vader let loose a short laugh. "Come now, Dewlya. I don't think the Emperor cares all that much about his dancers."
It was then that Mara decided it would be best to let Vader think that she was merely a dancer. The Emperor had not yet chosen to reveal her true identity to him. Although Mara couldn?t understand why he?d want to keep her a secret from his number one man. "Maybe you'll be suprised," she muttered.
"I was just on my way to see the Emperor now," Vader told her smugly in his deep, mechanical voice. "Let us see if you're right or not."
"Sounds like a good idea to me," Mara bit back, brushing past him and heading back towards the exit of the passageway. As she went past, Vader laid a black-gloved hand on her shoulder, stopping her in her tracks. An involuntary shiver ran down her spine as she sensed his anger with her rudimentary Jedi abilities.
"If I weren't so curious about how you knew about this passage, I'd crush you here and now," he informed her coldly, lifting up his fist and clenching it for emphasis.
?I get the point," Mara said, her voice sounded strained even to her own ears as her bravado drained away. Mentally, she shook herself. She couldn't allow herself to be intimidated.
Not even by Darth Vader, the Dark Lord of the Sith.
Mara slipped through the passage, fully aware of Vader behind her, watching her every move. Waiting for her to slip up so he could execute her on the spot. She shivered at the thought.
After they were both back in the corridor, she closed the door using a hidden sensor panel. Vader looked at her curiously, but didn't say anything. They walked down to the door to the Emperor's chambers. Two Royal Imperial Guardsmen were now standing outside the door.
The Emperor had returned from his meeting.
"Wait here," Vader commanded her. He then turned to the silent, scarlet clad warriors. "This is Kira Dewlya, one of the Emperor's dancers. Watch her very closely."
Neither of the two men moved an inch. It was as if they hadn't even heard him. But Mara knew that they had. The guardsmen were cunning and ruthless killers who would give their lives for their master. They missed out on no detail.
Vader spun on his heel and keyed open the door. He entered the darkened room and the door slid shut behind him.
As soon as he was gone, Mara looked up at the guards. They hadn't even so much as turned their heads in her direction. Both held their force-pikes in their hands, ready to spring into action the moment Mara showed any threat.
She cocked her head to the side and inspected them carefully. An Imperial guardsmen had been her tutor in the art of combat over the past few years. Of course, with their masks on it was impossible to tell one from the other. She wondered if one of the two was her trainer, Lee Ghan.
Mara looked away and glanced down the corridor. A subtle movement caught her eye. She snapped her head back towards the guards. One of them was still looking straight ahead, as he had been before. But the other one was looking directly at her.
Mara narrowed her eyes down to slits as she focused her Jedi senses on him. The Emperor had given her a little training on recognizing one mind from another. This guardsman?s mind was familiar. Very familiar.
"Lee?" She asked uncertainly.
"Hello Mara," he said. "Or should I say 'Kira Dewlya'." Mara could sense his amusement. The other guard didn't move an inch.
Mara found herself grinning broadly. Lee was the youngest of the Royal Imperial Guardsmen, and one of the best. She enjoyed being around him. He often gave her a hard time, but she liked his honesty and clever sarcastic wit, even if it was often directed at her.
"Vader still doesn't know about my real identity," she explained. For the first time, the other guard stirred. No one in the palace except for the Emperor, Lee Ghan and a handful of her tutors knew about Mara's position in the Empire. "I was just on my way back to the Emperor when he saw me and thought that I was in the wrong place for a mere dancer to be."
Lee shook his head and chuckled. "Trust you to do something stupid like that. How many times have I told you to make sure you're unseen? You have to blend in with your surroundings."
"Right," Mara scoffed. "How is a fourteen year old girl supposed to make herself look inconspicuous in the Imperial Palace?"
"There are ways," Lee said vaguely.
Mara rolled her eyes.
"Do I take it you completed your mission?" Lee asked, choosing to ignore Mara's gesture.
Her eyes shone at the mention of it. "Everything went perfectly," she assured him. "The senator will no longer be a problem for the Emperor."
"Ghan," snapped the other man. "Be silent. You know what the Emperor will do if he finds that you've been chatting on duty--"
"Mara can vouch for me if I get caught," Lee said, waving his hand casually. It was a severe breach of rules to talk while guarding. The punishments for it were very harsh. "Remember, you owe me one."
Mara winced. "I'm sorry about that."
"It's all forgotten," Lee assured her. "I'm just glad you didn't get into trouble."
The unpleasant memory of what had happened two months ago rose up in her mind: the Emperor had been in a foul mood when a deal with some pirates went sour. Someone reported to him that Mara had failed miserably at a test that Lee had set out for her. In a fit of anger, the Emperor went to have her punished. Lee had felt pity on her and blamed her failure on himself. He had paid dearly for that and was lucky to still be in the Imperial service, let alone a Royal Guardsmen.
The door slid open again. Lee straightened himself up. Once again he was still as a statue.
"Come in, my Hand" the Emperor's rasping voice called from inside his chambers. Mara squared her shoulders and lifted her chin, trying to add to her meager height.
She entered and knelt down before his throne. The door hissed shut. "You may rise," he told her regally. She stood to her feet, her eyes lowered respectfully. "I have just explained to Lord Vader about your position with the Empire." Mara felt a strong stirring of gleeful emotions rise up in her. She hoped that the Emperor had scolded his servant about mistreating her back in the secret passage.
"However," Palpitine continued, "I can not blame him for his actions in the secret passage." Mara looked up, her confused eyes meeting the Emperor's reptilian yellow ones. "He did not know about you, so it was quite valid that he became suspicious."
"Yes, my Master," Mara said, keeping her voice flat and emotionless.
"I am very pleased with your performance," Palpitine told her. Mara felt the temperature rise in her cheeks. It was rare when the Emperor complimented her. "We no longer need to worry about that senator. You will be getting many more missions like that in the near future."
"Yes, my Master," Mara repeated, her voice sounding less tightly controlled as it had before.
"You may return to your chambers now."
"Thank you, my Master." Mara bowed her head and turned to leave.
"One more thing," the Emperor said on an afterthought. "Tell you trainer, Lee Ghan, that there are to be no more conversations while on duty. I am already most displeased with his performance concerning your training. However, I am willing to overlook what just happened out in the corridor because I understand that you were both excited about your success today."
Mara shifted her weight onto her other foot, suddenly feeling very uncomfortable. She had the urge to spill out the whole story and tell the Emperor the truth that the training incident had been her fault, not Lee's.
"Yes, My Master," Mara said meekly. The damage had already been done. There was no point in reopening the matter. Giving her master an abbreviated bow, she exited his chambers.
On the way out, Lee gave her a slight nod. She smiled tightly in response and returned to her quarters.
The door to her room was thick and wooden. Like most of the other rooms in the Imperial Palace, it was an old-fashioned hinge door. As she swung it open, the delightfully fragrant smell of Fijisi wood wafted up to her.
Inhaling deeply and contentedly, she flopped down on her bed, landing on her back. She stretched out an idle hand and scooped up a datapad from her bedside table.
It still had the datacard that she had been reading the night before in it: ?Sith vs. Jedi?. She resumed reading from where she was up to. It was an exciting tale about the ancient battle between the Jedi and the Sith.
The door buzzer sounded. Mara let out a groan and rolled over onto her side, ignoring it. But whoever was behind the door was not in the mood to be ignored. The buzzer sounded again and again.
Mara got to her feet and walked over to the door as slowly as possible. A sudden, unpleasant thought occurred to her. What if it was trouble?
She pulled down the sleeve of her tunic and checked her sleeve blaster. It was fully charged.
Satisfied, she opened up the door. A tall, slender woman with graying hair and a stern expression on her face came through. "Hello Mara," she said curtly.
"Hello Mrs Kinn," Mara sighed. "What is it?"
"I don't suppose you were planning on going to your language lesson anytime soon, were you?" she asked sarcastically.
Mara frowned and glanced at the chronometer on her wall. Her eyes widened slightly in mild suprise. She had been reading for hours. "I had a language lesson today?" she asked lamely.
Jakki Kinn placed her hands on her hips and marched into Mara's room. "I'm getting tired of your forgetfulness," she told her crossly. "Your selective forgetfulness."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Mara asked, raising her voice beyond what was considered the level for polite conversation.
"Would you forget about a lesson in combat arts? Or piloting?" she asked, raising an eyebrow. She caught sight of the datapad lying on Mara's bed. Sweeping past Mara she picked it up and removed the datacard from the datapad.
"Hey!" Mara cried angrily. "That's mine!"
Jakki Kinn placed the datacard in her pocket. "Maybe you should take lessons in fairy tales. You read enough of this rot to be an expert at it."
"It's not rot," Mara said indignantly. "And it's not fairy tales either. It's all true. Now give that back."
"Do not give me commands Mara," Mrs Kinn said darkly. "I don't care if you manage to manipulate your other tutors. I will not be manipulated."
"Fine," Mara grunted. "Can I please have my datacard back?" There was no mistaking the raw sarcasm in her voice.
"No," Mrs Kinn said briskly. "Not until you can prove to me that you are really working on your language skills."
"I'm fourteen," Mara reminded her. "Why would someone my age possible need to know any language other than basic?"
Mrs Kinn's face darkened noticeably. "You really don't have a clue, do you? You are more than just a fourteen year old girl. You have a bright future on the horizon. You will need to know as much as possible to properly develop to your full potential and serve the Emperor to the best of your ability."
"So I've been told," Mara muttered, following her tutor reluctantly from her room, "dozens of times." She comforted herself with the knowledge that she had a combat arts lesson that afternoon.
* * *
The blue-white blade flashed out from nowhere. Mara was scarcely able to parry the blow with her amethyst-white blade.
Her green eyes locked with Lees Ghan?s blue ones as their lightsabers were pressed together.
Neither relented, but Mara could feel her strength fading. That wasn't suprising, considering that Lee was twenty four years old -- ten years older than her -- and an expert at nearly all forms of combat.
He grinned at her. "Could you possibly be any weaker? My Grandmother fights better than you?and she?s been dead for ten years!"
Mara suddenly increased the pressure on her blade. "Shut up, Ghan," she snarled. Lee took the opportunity to sweep his blade away from hers and stepped aside in one fluid movement.
Caught off balance, Mara stumbled forward, belatedly realizing that she had been leaning all her weight onto Lee's lightsaber.
Letting out a loose chuckle, Lee darted forward and used his lightsaber blade to easily flick Mara's weapon from her now lax grip. Before she could try to make a grab for it, he leaned over and caught it in one hand. She whirled around and glared at him. But it was a glare without any real anger behind it. Only frustration. Lee had won fairly.
He shook his head in disapproval. "You always let your emotions get in the way while fighting," he admonished her. "All your opponent needs to do is goad you a little, and you let your anger take over." He placed his and Mara's lightsabers on the ground and folded his arms across his chest.
Mara was silent, thinking about his words for a while. He was right. He was always right. "How do you do that?" she asked suddenly.
"Do what?" he frowned.
"How do you fight so well without the Force? I use the Force a little in our battles, but I know that you're not Force-sensitive."
A strange expression came over his face. One that Mara couldn't quite place. "The Jedi are gone," he murmured. "A whole race of warriors destroyed. Emperor Palpitine has shown that they have no place in today's society. You're lucky that you're still alive, lucky that he didn't kill you with the rest of the Jedi."
"That doesn't answer my question," Mara complained. Every time she mentioned the Force or Jedi, Lee would always suddenly start acting strangely.
Lee seemed to snap out of a trance. "You still have much to learn," he said quickly. "You don't need the Force to become a warrior. You are gifted that you can use it, but as I've proven, there are many ways of fighting without it. You must learn to fight without it. Who knows, one day you may find yourself in a situation where it is necessary to not use the Force."
Mara raised an eyebrow. "I doubt it. I'll always have the Force."
"But it is not necessary to use it to fight," he argued.
A glint came into Mara's eyes and her mouth curled up into a sly smile. Without warning, Mara's lightsaber leapt up from the floor near Lee's feet and landed neatly in her hand. She dove towards her trainer, holding her saber high in a one-handed grip.
Lee ducked low under the blade and caught her wrist. He twisted her arm behind her back, carefully avoiding the lethal blade. It slipped through her fingers and clattered to the ground, extinguished, as he increased the pressure on her arm.
"Okay," she cried, "okay, I get your point." He released her.
"You are not ready," he said firmly, once again crossing his arms.
"I am too," she insisted, knowing how lame her words sounded after Lee had defeated her so easily -- twice. "Yesterday I performed my first duty as the Emperor's Hand. Emperor Palpitine would never have allowed me to do it if he thought me not ready."
Lee's eyes closed for a moment and he exhaled deeply. His eyes opened again and he gazed at her. The look he was giving Mara always managed to intimidate her. Not that she would ever admit it.
"There is much for you to learn," he sounded aged beyond his mere twenty-four years. "All you did was kill an unarmed senator from a balcony, in your own territory with practically no danger of being discovered."
Mara's face reddened at the memory of being caught out by Darth Vader.
"You're jealous," she said quickly, covering up her chagrin.
Lee shot her an annoyed glare. "Why should I be jealous of you?"
"Because you can't use the Force," she said simply. For a moment Lee was silent. A fury slowly began to build up in his eyes, causing Mara to feel uneasy.
Lee tried to keep his emotions under control. He told himself that Mara's comment had been made without any real thought. But her words steamed in his mind.
Suddenly his rigid control snapped and he lost his temper. He moved so swiftly that Mara didn't have time to do anything in her own defense.
In less that a second he grabbed her by the shoulders and yanked her closer to him. He kicked the lightsaber lying under his feet so that it flipped in the air and landed squarely in his hand.
Lee pressed the lightsaber hilt against her throat with one hand. The other one pulled the hair at the back of her head taut.
"Could you use the Force save you now?" he hissed. "Could you use the Force save you if I chose to activate this lightsaber?"
Mara found herself trembling. For the first time ever, she was truly afraid of her teacher. Pushing back her fears, she reached out the Force.
Lee abruptly felt something pressing into his stomach. He risked a glance downwards.
"I can always us the Force to save me," she told him confidently.
Mara was pressing the hilt of another lightsaber into him. How could that be possible? He hadn't seen her call a lightsaber to her hand. He drove his knee upwards into Mara hand to knock safely away her weapon.
To his suprise, his knee hit her hand, but the lightsaber disappeared.
Finally understanding what had happened, he released Mara and gave her a shove backwards.
"You Calamarian Cow!" he snarled. "You kreffing little Calamarian Cow!" Lee slammed the lightsaber hilt into her cheek, sending her flying backwards into a rack of blaster rifles. "I swear that I will kill you if you ever play a Jedi mind trick on me again! No one messes with my mind, Mara. No one." He ignited the lightsaber and stormed over to where Mara lay, half-stunned.
As he approached, she lifted up one of the rifles.
"Don't you dare touch me." Mara said evenly, aiming her weapon at Lee. "I'll shoot if you come a step closer."
With a start Lee remembered exactly who Mara was: the Emperor's prized possession.
"I'm sorry," he murmured, tossing the lightsaber aside. "I don't know what came over me. I had no right to treat you like that."
"It's okay," Mara said, not quite believing what she'd just heard. She rose unsteadily to her feet.
"I shouldn't have endangered your life like that. You are very important to the Emperor. In time, you will rise to far greater things," he continued solemnly. "Far greater than even I will ever accomplish."
Mara gave him a disbelieving look. "But you're one of the Royal Imperial Guardsmen. How could I ever--"
He silenced her by raising his hand. "You will. Believe me when I say that."
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