Years From Now: The Hammer

[A'na]

As the light disappeared, Lilaena felt her fear nearly overcome her, the smothering sensation of the tank closing in, confining and suffocating her. She bumped her head on the tank's lid, sank back down into the center of the bacta, and slowly regained some of her senses.

She would not drown in the bacta. It was healing her. The tubes in her throat were uncomfortable, but if she would just relax...

It took a supreme effort to loosen the muscles that had tightened in her sudden panic after her surprise awakening, but she managed it. Lilaena peered out towards where the light had been and could just make out the silhouette of a man.

Not a doctor, she guessed. Suspended in the healing goo, her nakedness only slightly covered, Lilaena knew that the man outside the tank was Salem. As much as she now feared him, she was overwhelmed by a sense of loss.

The former apprentice placed her hand against the inside of the plexiglass, palm towards the dark shadow.

[Emperor Ave]

His head moved ever so slightly, so that out of the corner of his eye Salem saw her floating there, watching him. He turned slowly and began to walk towards the tank. Her hand was still pressed against the glass, as if reaching out to him. It was a tender gesture, a cry of longing. Ever so tentatively, his own hand began to lift and-

BAM!

Salem's fist struck the wall between them, not breaking the tank but sending a shock-wave of energy throughout. Seen through the bacta, the Emperor's face was distorted, his features as amorphous and indistinct as the mask he had once worn.

Did you think escaping me would be that easy?!

[A'na]

The sound of his fist hitting was muffled by the bacta, but the energy it imparted to the goo buffeted her body. Lilaena snatched her hand back from the glass, floating backwards away from him as he looked in at her.

She was exposed before him, a specimen on display, and he was as far away and imperious as he had been when they had first met. He had always been able to see down into the darkest places of her heart. Salem had drawn out the hatred inside her, pushed down the walls of her psyche that had been put in place by her former master A'na Eldhil.

He had torn her down, and built her back up again.

Did you think escaping me would be that easy?!

Lilaena's eyes widened as Salem's telepathic voice slammed into her mind, and she clutched at her head and screamed at the incredible pain. Under the weight of the bacta she made no noise, but then the tubes were dislodged and she began to choke in earnest.

[Emperor Ave]

Her pain struck him for an instant, and then his mind was closed against it. With a roar of frustration, he slammed his palm against the emergency shut-down. In a matter of moments, the tank would be empty and Lilaena would be fully exposed to him. Like a caged animal, Salem stalked suddenly away from the machinery, a brief grimace crossing his features as he thought he heard her retching up the fluids that had been pumped inside of her.

[A'na]

The levels in the tank began to drop rapidly, and in a few moments Lilaena found herself at the bottom of the tank, kneeling and gagging. Her hands found the face mask and she pulled it out, vomiting up bacta as the long tubes were withdrawn.

She did not have long to remain in that position, as a large droid arm descended into the now empty tank and grasped her slick body firmly. Drawing her up and out, it placed her gently in the rinsing station that was on the platform that surrounded the tank. Cool water cascaded down on her, but all she could do was curl up on the floor and shake.

That was not how one was supposed to exit a bacta tank. She thought she could hear footsteps, and tried to get to her feet, but she was as weak as a newborn nerf. Lilaena stumbled and grabbed for support, finding it as a medical droid finally appeared to help her.

Without a word it held her up and scrubbed off the remaining bacta. The rinsing station shut off, and the droid assisted her in climbing down from the platform. Her legs shook, but she knew from experience that the shock would soon pass.

Salem's anger, on the other hand, was not likely to fade. She glanced around, trying to find him in the semi-darkness of the medical facility as she and the droid reached the ground.

[Emperor Ave]

He came at her from out of the shadows, though not in a frantic rush of movement. Instead, his steps were even and calm. Whilst he had called upon the stoic façade that served him well as Emperor, the shadows clung to him hungrily, a sign of the emotion that was concealed beneath the surface. He came to a stop a few feet from where she waited, shaking. By contrasting, he stood as cold and unyielding as steel.

“So... how does it feel to rise from the dead, to be born again?”

[A'na]

The medical droid stopped walking her as the Emperor approached, keeping her standing in place as he questioned her. Lilaena guessed that there would be no warm bed and a medical robe for her this time.

She also knew better than to answer Salem glibly. Taking a moment, she thought the question over.

"Disappointing," Lilaena sighed, her legs finally beginning to cease their tremors. "I look forward to my death." Clad only in damp underwear, she leaned heavily on the droid who seemed to have turned into stone.

[Emperor Ave]

“You will be waiting a very long time for it's arrival.”

They stood in silence, with Salem looking over her body. There were scars there that had not been present before, and some old wounds had almost vanished with time. Some reverie of the past called to him but he shut out the memory before it could come to life before his eyes.

“Eights years... there is so much you have to tell me.”

[A'na]

As he looked at her, Lilaena felt old. Her body was still in good shape and the room was dark, but she felt ashamed to be standing in front of his probing eyes.

He had not changed much in the years that had passed. When she had left, his hair had only a sprinkling of grey at the temples. Now Salem was nearly completely grey, but still as handsome as ever. More handsome, if it were possible.

She could see Jade in the shape of his face... his nose and his lips... A pang of sorrow hit her, followed quickly by fear and hope as she thought of the Jedi who she'd entrusted her greatest accomplishment to. Her life meant nothing. Her daughter was all that mattered.

"I... I wish it had been different," she faltered.

[Emperor Ave]

“It was within your power to make it different, but you refused.”

She was at his mercy now, that much was certain. Stripped physically, perhaps even emotionally, and laid bare before him. There was some small satisfaction in it, but ultimately it only lead him to feel disgust - at her, and himself.

“I never thought you were a coward, Lilaena... but I see now that I must have been wrong about you, all along.”

[A'na]

A surge of anger welled up inside her at his words, and she snapped before she could stop herself. "I am no coward! Everything I did was for the safety of my daughter."

The anger warmed her limbs and she felt stronger as it did so. "If you had never entangled yourself with Anxia in the first place this never would have happened."

[Emperor Ave]

He didn't move, didn't shift an inch. His eyes were still fixed on hers, unwavering and when he spoke, his voice was low.

“What makes you think you have the right to judge her? Anxia never ran away. Anxia never betrayed my confidence and my trust in her...”

[A'na]

"She doesn't have anything in her head that you did not place there." Lilaena looked deep into his eyes, meeting his piercing gaze. "And if you'd admit it to yourself, you always appreciated the fact that I had a mind of my own."

It was why you had your dalliances with me in the first place, Master. I was an obedient and respectful apprentice, but I was never tamed. Whether what she thought of Anxia was true or not, Lilaena believed her opinion of the other woman to be correct. And she still feared what Salem's wife would do to Jade once she found out she existed. Once she found out that her beloved had loved another.

The Force strengthened her as she filled with anger, and Lilaena lifted her chin defiantly. "I betrayed you, and I suffered for it. I imagine that I have yet to suffer fully for it. I..." she stumbled over her words, remembering the day she'd discovered that she was carrying Salem Ave's child. He had been the Emperor for two years, and they had been carrying on behind Anxia's back for at least that long.

It had been a glorious time for Lilaena, with all the power she had long desired at her fingertips. She'd imagined that she loved Salem, and that he returned the affection. And it had all come crashing down on her with one simple medical test.

She'd packed in the night, slipped out of the palace and left Imperial Center before sunrise. The only thing she'd left behind was a small jade ring that Salem had given her months earlier.

"I panicked. And then it was too late to return."

[Emperor Ave]

He listened, and as Salem Ave so often did, he betrayed little of his emotional response to what she had said. It had always been Salem's way to try and understand the minds of those he surrounded himself with. In the case of his apprentices, he had formed a powerful bond with each of them – becoming receptive to their thoughts and feelings. In their years apart the connection between Callidus and this apprentice had weakened, but a flicker of it still remained. Feeling its presence again was... unsettling.

“That child was not yours to keep. If you had made the right choice then, perhaps... by now you could have had everything you had ever wanted.”

[A'na]

She squared her shoulders against him. "Perhaps. Or perhaps our child would be dead."

Better to be in the hands of the Jedi. Lilaena had been sure she was making the right choice, but somehow Salem always knew what to say... how to make her doubt herself. She shivered suddenly, realizing that the medical facility was cool and she was nearly naked. "May I have some clothing... Master?"