EMPEROR'S TRAINING LOG-ENTRY 2

by Debbie Casselbury

 
EMPEROR'S LOG  ..   C O N F I D E N T I A L 
Current Location - ECLIPSE-LEV5
Date - 1.0614200
Subject - Lammashta, Psylocke
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Today she came to the Officer's Meeting in the Dining Room.  She was quiet,
tended to pick at her food but seemed very alert to the conversation around
the table.  She did comment to me about Mira Lexor's request to retain her
former rank by whispering "I'm thinking that Mira has a good point.  I
think it is honorable for one to turn down a rank that she doesn't feel she
can hold responsibility for.  It's noble - perhaps a little foolish, but
still noble."

After everyone had left the room, I ordered the guards to leave except for
Tahirah, my new Haldis Guard.  Then I rose from my chair and stood.  She
looked as if she would stand but I said "No.  I want you seated, my
apprentice.  And I want you to listen to me very carefully.  You have
received a minimum amount of rest but you are still suffering from your
recent trauma at Port Lansing.  As well you should.  Reveal to me your
thoughts as they come into your mind."  I warned her to hide nothing from
me and began truth reading her to see if she had become Maul or some other
past personage.

My apprentice's brow furrowed and she looked down at the table and said "I
don't feel anything..."  I knew then that she was, as she said to me at
Port Lansing, an *empty vessel to be filled with the Dark Side* and it
thrilled me.
"Good enough", I said. "Now...what is your name and who do you serve?"
She looked up at me with a puzzled expression. "I am Psylocke Jago
Lammashta and I serve you."

"And who am I?" I pressed.  "You're Emperor Palpatine...come to think of
it, I don't know your first name.  I'm curious to know what it is." she had
the audacity to reply back!  My  anger leaped into dangerous measure as I
moved closer to her.  "WRONG answer, my apprentice!  I will give you one
more chance to tell me who I am..."

She nodded quickly with a smug smile. "You...are...my...master."  I gave
her a warning look and paused before I said "And, just so you know - you
will never, not ever, know my first name...do you *understand*?"

She disappointed me entirely when she replied, "As you wish.  But I would
have liked you to address me as Captain Lammashta instead of Psylocke
before anyway..."

That piveted me into a new direction with her.  "You lack the vision behind
this questioning - even moreso, you lack *respect*!"  I moved closer to her
face and gripped her narrow chin angerly.  "Let me see you show that
respect *now*, my apprentice!  KNEEL to me!"  I watched with satisfaction
as she knelt on one knee, then told her to kneel on both knees, which she
did with a touch of defiance.

I gritted my teeth.  "Now...here's TODAY'S lesson, my little Lammashta..."
I looked at her, trying unsuccessfully to hide her emotion from me and
pulled away from her in disgust.  "Do you see the space between my feet and
your knees?  That represents the division between us!" 

Psylocke looked up. "Yes, Master, a division." She was turning dark, I
could sense the coldness seeping into her day by day - and I was beginning
to know her weaknesses and it disturbed me.  I needed to make her submit to
me as her master or we could never begin.  "NOW...here, too represents the
space and time and experience between us!"  I used the Force to slam her
back against the opposite wall.  "Are you making a note of THAT?  Let me
hear you answer me!"

My apprentice smiled back at me, as if the jolt sent her pleasure instead
of pain. "Yes, the space of time and experience between us, Master!"  I
looked at her with some surprise and it occurred to me that she might not
have absorbed the entire lesson, so I decided then and there to finish it.

"Ah..but that still does not demonstrate the division of my power against
yours, my apprentice!" I seethed, "Look into my eyes now..." My pupils
slitted over hers and I lifted my hands, surrounding her with blue and
white Force lightning.  I managed to raise her up from the floor midway to
the ceiling and dropped her, stunned.  She screamed once in pain, then lay
on the floor barely moving.

I turned away, nursing my private anger, returned to my dining chair and
waited for my apprentice to digest the lesson.  I knew this one would be a
greater challenge than her forebear, Maul.  He had not been as much a
handful but then - I had discovered him as a near babe.  Psylocke Lammashta
was an attractive, maturing female.  I watched her as she laid there
quietly on the floor.  Slowly, she pushed herself up into a sitting
position.  "Do you think I don't understand that you are more powerful than
me?" she suddenly retorted. "Do you think that I don't know that you could
kill me in an *instant*?  Is this suppose to scare me...Master?"  She
glared at me - I could detect a delicious rage welling in her.  "I DO
understand this!  I've known it for years!  Everyone thinks that I don't
understand anything!  That everything has to be explained to me!"  She
stood up warily.  "I am your apprentice.  I sacrificed the one thing I
truly loved for you!  I do understand the distance between us."

"Then give up your *sacrifice*" I hissed. "I don't want your love or any
other emotion unless it's to STIFLE it under my foot!"  Her face hardened
as she glared at me.  "I already gave it up.  You, of all people, should be
able to sense it,  I haven't been able to feel anything but emptiness
since..." She cut herself off as if she were trying to hold back a bad memory.

"Are you sure you know who you are talking to, Lammashta?  I am not
'people', I am your MASTER.  Sith do not feel, they act according to what
they have been taught.  You have been raised erroneously to think
'emptiness' is a feeling...but no -- for you, it is a state of *beginning*.
As you told me once before, you wish to be filled, like an empty vessel,
with knowledge.  I am your Master now - I am giving you your first
lesson...LET ME FILL IT."

She looked down at the floor and then back up at me.  "You are most
profound, Master.  And I do wish to learn from you."  I nodded back at her
obvious sincerity.  She was calmer now.  "So," I said, "Let go of your past
life and your recent sacrifices.  They have been noted and duly appreciated
but you are a new creature now.  You are my Sith Apprentice.  One day, you
will serve me without question.  One day you wil be my finest champion - I
respect your abilities and will use them.  One day, you too, may become a
master and command respect yourself!  But, my young apprentice...we have a
long road and short time to get there."  I stood before the chair and faced
her.  "Go now, and finish your sleep.  I will monitor your dreams night and
day so that no entity will disturb your rest."

Silently, she turned on her heel and left the room.





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