Mara Jade, later Mara Jade-Skywalker, was a Force-sensitive human female that served as one of many personal agents for Darth Sidious known as "the Emperor's Hands" during the reign of The Galactic Empire. But unlike the other Emperor's Hands, Mara actually formed a rivalry with Darth Vader himself, who believed Mara was a threat to his current position as Palpatine's Sith Apprentice. Eventually, this rivalry grew to a point where Mara learned that Vader was training a secret Apprentice of his own in the so-called "Inquisitor" Galen Marek, who had been given the title of Lord Starkiller by that point in time. After this, Mara told the Emperor about her discovery, and although Palpatine already knew the truth since one of his other Emperor's Hands, Jeng Droga, watched Starkiller murder Jedi Master Plo Koon on Cato Nemoidia and heard Plo expose Starkiller as Vader's Apprentice, Darth Sidious decided to confront Lord Vader onboard his Star Destroyer and ordered him to kill his Apprentice. However, Vader kept Starkiller alive and continued his secret plot against his Master until Starkiller betrayed him at Hosnian Prime, becoming a Jedi Padawan under the guidance of Cal Kestis, a Jedi survivor of Order 66 that had been running from the Empire for years up until that point. Then, at the battle of Endor, the second Death Star would be destroyed with Sidious onboard the station, throwing Mara down a dangerous path insanity that led her to form a deep hatred for Luke Skywalker, even teaming up with another one of Vader's Apprentices, Lord Caseus, to destroy The New Republic. This did not go as planned, as Caseus was killed at the end of the Seige of Coruscant and Mara was locked away in New Republic prison, up until Galen Marek managed to turn her to the Light Side of the Force, leading Mara to marry Luke Skywalker and help him rebuild The Jedi Order, but in the end, she was struck down by Ben Solo on Mimban after his fall to the Dark Side of the Force. But what if Mara Jade was actually Vader's secret Apprentice and Galen Marek served as Palpatine's most powerful Emperor's Hand in the Empire?

On the planet Coruscant, Darth Vader would enter the doors to the throne room of Emperor Palpatine and bent down on one knee in the middle of the room, catching Palpatine's attention. "What is it that brings you here, Lord Vader?" "Clone Trooper X2 has returned, and now, both my Apprentice AND Delta Squad are being held as prisoners aboard a Mon Calamari ship known as the Avatar in the Jomark system, my Master." Sidious sensed that Vader's personal agent, Mara Jade, was being held captive by the Rebel Alliance and frowned. He didn't like that Vader was training his own Sith Apprentice, but permitted it anyway for his own secret intents and purposes to cast Vader aside when the time was right. "Very well, Lord Vader. We cannot lose Delta Squad, nor your personal agent. Tell General Pryde to prepare a fleet to head for the Jomark system at once.."

Vader rose to his feet and looked up at the Emperor, who had only just risen from his seat. "As you wish, my Master..." However, right as Vader was about to turn around, he another voice from behind. "If you're sending Lord Vader on a mission, let me go with him, your highness." Turning his head, Vader saw a man with short, black hair that wore torn pieces of fabric and battered armor standing behind him. This man was Galen Marek, Palpatine's most prized and most powerful Emperor's Hand out of all of the Hands that served him, whom Vader considered to be a threat to his role as Palpatine's Apprentice because of Galen's dangerous potential in the Force. "This mission does not require your power, Emperor's Hand. I will go alone with my OWN forces. I do not need your help in rescuing Lady Jade..."

Galen couldn't help but glare at Vader upon hearing this. "My Hand of Judgment squad has been hungry for a new mission for months, Lord Vader. They'll want to slaughter some people that oppose the Empire, as they have been trained to do and have been doing since they were first enlisted into our grateful military..." Vader clenched his fist tightly. "Your squad of Stormtroopers has failed many missions before, even if they have such a deadly reputation in the eyes of the Empire. You yourself have even failed the Emperor before, Galen Marek..."

Darth Sidious then walked down the staircase towards Vader and Galen, with a small hint of a smirk etched upon his physically deformed face. "I'm sure my Emperor's Hand will dominate the Rebels at Jomark with ease, Lord Vader. You and I both know he has an insanely strong connection to the Force, so those insurgents won't even see the attack coming. Gather The Hand of Judgment to join you, their squad leader, and General Pryde's fleet in the attack above the surface of Jomark at once.."

Vader glared at Galen, before looking at Palpatine. "I will inform General Pryde of the oncoming attack at once, Master." Vader and Galen both left the room, before heading to the dining room inside the Imperial Palace, where they both saw General Pryde having a feast with a few other Imperials and walked up to the General slowly. "Allegiant General Pryde, prepare the Stormhawk and a massive to head for Jomark at once. My personal agent has been captured by the Rebels alongside Delta Squad, and they are now bring held as prisoners onboard one of the main Rebel capital ships in the Jomark system.."

Pryde smiled and took one last sip of his Corellian wine, before responding to Vader. "As you command, Lord Vader..." After Vader and Galen told Pryde to assemble his Imperial fleet led by his personal Star Destroyer, the Stormhawk, the two of them went to the Imperial Military Base and informed Galen's personal Stormtrooper squad known as The Hand of Judgment to tell them about a new mission to Jomark, before they all left Coruscant to fight the Rebels at Jomark and rescue both Vader's Apprentice, Mara Jade, and Delta Squad.

As the Stormhawk and the rest of General Pryde's fleet flew through Hyperspace, Galen turned to The Hand of Judgment whilst they prepared themselves for what was to come, both physically and mentally. "Alright, boys. Once the Stormhawk exits Hyperspace, all of the Star Destroyers in General Pryde's fleet will open fire on any Rebel ships in sight, buying us enough time to fly into their main flagship in the system known as the Avatar, via the Rogue Shadow. When we're inside the Avatar, Lord Vader and I will lead our forces in attacking the Rebels inside the ship itself, before we find Vader's personal agent and Delta Squad and rescue them from the Alliance's custody. Any questions, my fellow squad members?"

One of the Stormtroopers in The Hand of Judgment squad raised their hand, catching Galen's immediate attention. "What's your question, Stormtrooper Daric?" "Okay, so where exactly ARE Lady Jade and Delta Squad..???" Galen sighed. "I definitely know that they're in a couple of prison cells onboard the Avatar, but I wished I had an answer as to which cell each of them are in, Trooper. I guess the best thing to do is just hope they haven't already been shot out of the airlock. Any more questions?" None of the Stormtroopers asked another question after Galen finished his words. "Very well. Let's show these Rebels the true might of the Empire!!"

"Sir, YES SIR!!!" All of the Stormtroopers yelled, before Darth Vader entered the room. "Has your ship been preped for launch yet, Emperor's Hand?" Galen stood up and smiled. "Follow me, Lord Vader." Vader and The Hand of Judgment followed Galen to the hanger bay, before they stopped at the sight of what appeared to be a heavily modified Imperial Transport. "There she is...       the Rogue Shadow. Yeah, I know it looks like a piece of junk, but at least it's better than all of those janky Rebel Starfighters anyway."

Suddenly, the alarms inside the entire Star Destroyer began to blare loudly, confirming that the Stormhawk and the rest of Pryde's fleet had just dropped out of Hyperspace and that the battle above the surface of Jomark had commenced. Upon coming to this conclusion, Vader, Galen, and The Hand of Judgment all got inside the Rogue Shadow and left the hanger bay to join their allies in the battle to rescue Mara Jade and Delta Squad. When they left the hanger, all that either Galen or Vader would see would be a full-on bloodbath between the Rebel fleet and their opponents that were trying everything to tear them apart.

In the midst of the battle, Galen turned his personal pilot of the Rogue Shadow, Captain Juno Eclipse. "Find us the nearest open hanger on the Avatar, Captain Eclipse." Juno nodded, before she glanced at all of the hangers attached to the hull of the Avatar and saw that only one of them was open, just as Galen had predicted. Flying towards that one open hanger, Juno pressed a button that opened the Rogue Shadow's ramp when she was halfway inside the hanger, allowing Galen and Vader to step out of the ship and ignite both of their blood-red Lightsabers next to the dead bodies of several Imperial soldiers lying on the ground at their feet, catching the attention of everyone in the room.

The faces of every single Rebel soldier in the room turned from confidence to absolute fear at the sight of Darth Vader, as one of them screamed for the others to open fire on the Sith Lord and the other man standing next to him, but Vader was no stranger to cutting down such insurgents. Both he and Galen easily deflected the blaster bolts of the Rebel soldiers and cut down any that were either the closest to them or mindlessly charged at them, before The Hand of Judgment got out of the Rogue Shadow and ran towards the Rebels, tackling some of them to the ground and shooting down several others that were in sight.

Once all of the Rebels in the hanger were cut down, Galen turned to the members of The Hand of Judgment that had helped him and Vader in the battle. "Korlo, you tend to any wounded soldiers in this hanger and see if they are still in the condition to fight. Daric and Taxtro, you seal off all blast doors until Vader and I return with Delta Squad and Vader's personal agent to ensure there are no Rebel reinforcements. Saberan and Joak, you two guard the blast doors once Daric and Taxtro have them all sealed. Vader and I will take our personal mission from here..." All of the Stormtroopers in The Hand of Judgment nodded, before Galen and Vader entered one of the hallways to continue cutting down the Rebels, with Vader sensing that this was the right direction to go if he was to rescue his Apprentice.

Finally, Vader and Galen approached the cells where Mara and Delta Squad were being held after killing so many Rebels in the hallway, seeing Clone Trooper X1, a Clone of a dead Jedi Knight named Falon Grey, fighting his brother X2 in front of the cells where they saw Mara and the others watching two Force-sensitive brothers duel each other for the fate of five individuals that valiantly served the Empire.

Pinning X2 to the wall with the Force, Vader let X1 pull out a blaster pistol and shot his own brother square in the head, before the Dark Lord released his grip on X2 and watched his body fall face-first onto the floor. "Clone Trooper X1, when you reach the bridge of this Rebel flagship, kill everyone onboard and lock down the command center until it's time to get out of here. I'm sure the shields on the Avatar must be down by now..."

X1 nodded. "As you wish, Lord Vader." As X1 ran back into the hallway to continue the battle from the inside, Galen used the Force to deactivate the Ray Shields that were holding Mara and Delta Squad inside their cells, before Mara realized that Vader had come to rescue her and stood up, seeing her Master standing next to one of Palpatine's Emperor's Hands and running out of her cell alongside the members of Delta Squad. "Master? I'm surprised you were able to launch a full-scale invasion this quickly..."

Galen then spoke to Mara. "We don't have much time before this ship goes up in flames. Clone Trooper X1 is currently trying to commandeer the bridge, and if he is successful, we can make it out of this place alive..." Suddenly, Vader sensed a disturbance in the Force and realized that X1 had just been gunned down by the Rebels on the bridge of the Avatar, despite his best efforts to take over the bridge of the ship. "I sense that Clone Trooper X1 died trying to fulfill the order I gave to him. We need to evacuate this Rebel cruiser, and fast..."

Mara, Galen, and Delta Squad nodded, before they followed Vader down the hallway where the Rogue Shadow was awaiting their return in the hanger bay, only for a huge amount of metal debris to come crashing down in between the group, with Mara and Delta Squad quickly jolting out of the way to avoid being crushed by the metal. However, now Vader and Galen were seperated from Mara and her Clone Commandos. On the other side of the debris, Mara quickly rose back to her feet and realized her Master was now seperated from her, before turning to Delta Squad. "Are there any remaining Escape Pods in this Rebel flagship???" 

"We don't know, Lady Jade...." Mara could feel the ship shake beneath her feet, sensing that she and her Commandos didn't have much time before General Pryde's fleet made this Rebel ship go up in flames. "Well, I guess there's only one way to find out..." Meanwhile, Vader and Galen would return to the hanger bay where the Rogue Shadow had dropped them and The Hand of Judgment off earlier, now seeing huge sparks bursting from certain areas of the ceiling and walls, but also seeing all of the members of The Hand of Judgment getting onto the Rogue Shadow's ramp and entering the ship when they got close enough to jump onto the ramp of the craft.

When Vader and Galen were inside the Rogue Shadow, the ramp closed and Juno Eclipse flew the ship out of the rapidly exploding hanger bay, before Galen entered the cockpit and sat down next to Juno, who saw that Mara and Delta Squad didn't enter the ship. "What happened inside that flagship?" Galen was about to respond to Juno, when he suddenly saw a bright light strike the Stormhawk and then watched that bright light turn into an inferno of flamming orbital debris, realizing that the Avatar had jumped into Hyperspace right before it exploded and collided with General Pryde's flagship.

From just behind the cockpit, Lord Vader could sense how many Imperials and Rebels alike were just killed in that Hyperspace ram, all in the span of what felt like miliseconds. And yet, he could sense that both his Apprentice and her Clone Commandos were still alive, but they must've gotten into any Escape Pods onboard the Avatar and edjected them the moment that the ship itself jumped into Hyperspace, meaning they could've crashed anywhere across the galaxy. "Lady Jade and Delta Squad are still alive. I can still sense her presence, but it's further away from Jomark. When we return to Coruscant, I'll inform the Emperor of her disappearance and will also send whatever Imperial forces needed to find her at once..."