Chapter Text
From his seat in his throne room in the Palace, the Emperor of the Galaxy could watch through transparisteel windows the battle unfolding in the skies over Jhantor; retractable holo-screens set beside his throne depicted the Rebel fleet’s desperate battle against three Death Stars and the armed might of the Imperial Navy.
But his gaze was fixed instead on the hilt of the dagger embedded in his chest, and the bloodstain spreading across the tunic of his white navy uniform like a Felucian bloodflower.
He tried to call out, to summon his loyal Guards to his aid, but he found his tongue and lips would no longer obey his desires.
So.
This was it, then.
This was the moment of his death.
“Coated with Kondorian dragon venom. It’s a fast-acting paralytic, a favorite of torturers. Extremely painful. I can tell you from personal experience, Your Majesty.”
Ignoring the pain like fire blossoming in his veins, he mustered the effort to raise his head, looking up at the false Guard who spoke to him, standing over his throne, the one had dealt him his death-blow.
The scarlet-robed guard removed his helmet and cast it to one side, revealing the face of a woman with short red hair… and dark, empty eye sockets.
No.
“It’ll take a while for your heart to stop,” said Leia Organa, last Princess of a planet burnt under his rule to ash and dust. “Enough time to pay you back for how your men put out my eyes.
“Vader had already had me beaten so badly I lost an eye. But that wasn’t enough for the Empire. No, your guards held me down on the floor as you watched, and finished the job with a red-hot iron. And then, because that wasn’t enough to satiate their cruelty, they pissed in the sockets. With their Emperor’s approval.
“You know the old saying: an eye for an eye…”
She smiled, a broken grimace like a row of knives, and the dying Emperor knew his death could not come soon enough.