Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
Everything about her was dark. From the obsidian dress of crêpe-de-chine, which enveloped her lithe body like a malignant blossom cloaking poisoned nectar, to the onyx jewels of her eyes, to the very decayed, rotten heart of the girl. Zara Lazarus was sin incarnate.
She had never had any choice in the matter of her morality as the heiress to the House of Lazarus and now that of the House of Palpatine. Prior to now, this had been of scarce significance to her, but as she now stood in anticipation of attacking a rebel ship, the memory of the previous night's dreams plagued her and she found herself stricken with guilt.
As of present, Zara was surrounded by white fields of stormtroopers, broken only by two pillars of blackness like herself: that of the intimidating figure of Kazran on her left and on her right, the looming silhouette of the Sith lord, Darth Vader, clad in his armour and cloak of midnight. They were situated on a colossal, heavily weaponised Imperial cruiser, which was pursuing a much smaller galactic cruiser, moving erratically to avoid the emerald beams of concentrated energy being shot at its hull.
From her briefing, Zara knew that the spaceship, which sped desperately away from them, was a vessel transporting intercepted plans detailing the infrastructure of the Death Star. It had been instilled in Zara that the space station was indestructible, a flawless masterpiece. The Empire's magnum opus. Due to this, she wondered what benefits access to the blueprints of the superweapon would grant the Rebel Alliance. Perhaps the fervour of this operation indicated that not all was as faultless as the Empire would have people - Zara included - believe.
For a long time now, the windows of the Imperial cruiser had displayed perfectly to Zara the intensity of the blasts which had been rattling the ship in front of them. Now, she watched as a precise beam of jade energy collided with the top of the ship, causing large, glass-like shards of metal and rubble to ricochet out into space. The galactic cruiser slowed, allowing the Empire's predatory ship to move into touching distance.
Shouted commands echoed throughout the whole of the Imperial cruiser and Zara registered that now that initial troops of stormtroopers had commenced an attack, it would soon be her duty to depart. No sooner had she thought this than Vader spoke.
"Lady Lazarus, I find it necessary that the presence of the White Death on that ship be imminent."
The lack of emotion in Vader's voice chilled her. The trepidation he instilled was not softened by the titles with which he addressed her. The White Death. The title her role of assassin had earned from the small number of her victims who had survived to tell the tale. She wished that he would simply refer to her as Zara. To humanise her.
