This is my first attempt at writing a story, so please feel free to leave any comments
or suggestions. I formatted it, so that it could be printed in large type. There are only four
chapters, none very big. You should be able to print each chapter on three or four pages.
I hate it when people type to the edge. I can't print it up unless I make the type size very small.
It is very difficult to read.
My inspiration for this story came from both YouTube and television. The Stupendous Wave
makes great videos, specifically his "what if" series of videos. I love these. Basically, he explains
how events could have unfolded if events were somehow altered. Take this story, for example.
I've always wondered what would become of Darth Zannah, if her master Lord Bane were to be
taken out of the picture somehow. Remember, while a powerful dark lord; he's still human.
He is still very acceptable to heart attack, stroke, Alzheimer's, cancer, even a terrorist attack.
Would Darth Zannah be able to continue on her own; would she search out some other dark side
entity to help her; join the jedi order; or would she abandon the force altogether
I also used the Star Trek: Enterprise episode "Vanishing Point" as inspiration.
-DRAMATIS PERSONAE-
Adam Jorius - Servant (butler) employed by Sepp Omek
Darth Bane / Sepp Omek - Dark Lord of the Sith / Wealthy resident of Ciutric IV
Darth Zannah / Allia Omek - Sith Apprentice / Wealthy resident of Ciutric IV
Kal Katall - Leader, Free Ciutric IV Movement
-CHAPTER ONE- ZANNAH'S TRIALS
-LOCATION: CIUTRIC IV
Darth Zannah enjoyed these sparring sessions with her master. For one, fighting with her sparring
droids was too easy. They were becoming predictable. She could beat them blindfolded. They offered
her no real challenge.
However, squaring off against Darth Bane was different. Unlike the droids, he was not predictable.
The droids did not possess his brute strength. A droid could not strategize. Unlike Lord Bane.
And there was something about facing a superior opponent that gave Lady Zannah thrills.
Like she was facing the ultimate test.
This time, their sparring match lasted a meager five seconds. Lord Bane jumped up, and came crashing
down upon his apprentice, with his full body weight. Her training saberstaff broke in half as Zannah hit the
floor mat hard. The bout ended a second later with Bane's training saber at Zannah's throat.
"You must expect that your enemy may try to end the fight quickly. Not everyone enjoys the thrill of combat
as much as you do, or are as skilled and graceful as you are, Darth Zannah" Lord Bane reminded Zannah.
Lord Bane helped his apprentice up, and they continued sparring. This time, their match was even shorter.
Lord Bane dropped to the floor, and did a textbook leg sweep, knocking Zannah's leg out from under her.
Once again, Bane's training saber was at her throat.
Undeterred, Lady Zannah got up, and they continued to spar. This time, the bout lasted only a few seconds.
As she raised her saberstaff to attack her master, he grabbed onto her arm, and using his other hand, ran his
training saber across her stomach. Three matches, three defeats in humiliatingly short time.
"Three straight sparring matches I have defeated you in only a few seconds. Had I been an actual enemy,
you would have died long ago" Bane admonished her. "You must learn to expect the unexpected. There are
no rules in a fight to the death. Your enemy will do whatever it takes to defeat you.
Rest for awhile, and meditate upon what I have told you."
Lord Bane then dismissed her.
"And Zannah, don't telegraph your moves. It makes you too easy to defeat" Lord Bane said, smirking.
-.-.-.-.-.-,-,-,-,-,-,-,-,-,-,-,-,-,-,-,
A few hours later, they sparred again. This time, however, Zannah was the teacher. Once again, she raised her
saberstaff to attack. And once again, Bane went to grab her wrist. This time, however, Zannah dropped to the
floor and took his legs out. As he fell hard on the floor, she came to her feet, and swiped at his head.
Naturally, he blocked. Which she expected from him.
Darth Zannah then did something unexpected. And extremely cruel. She stepped on his groin. As he screamed
out in pain, she ran her training saberstaff across his throat.
"Master" Zannah stated "You must learn to expect the unexpected." Darth Zannah sported a wicked grin
as she spoke the same words he had spoken to her only a few hours earlier.
It was the very first time that she had ever defeated him. Which made her day. At his expense.
-.-.-.-.-.-,-,-,-,-,-,-,-,-,-,-,-,-,-,-,
After both of them grabbed a quick shower, they went to the local market, to gather the food and supplies
they required. As the market was large and very crowded, they wandered about, looking at every stall and vendor.
As usual, you could find goods from all over the galaxy. There were wookiee cookies from Kashyyyk, expensive art
from Coruscant, even the occasional relic from Dromund Kaas. Lord Bane even found a few unique items from
Korriban for his collection.
After they got a bite to eat, they heard it. A short burst of automatic blaster fire. It only lasted a
few seconds. Out of survival instinct, everyone, including Bane and Zannah, hit the ground.
When it was over, Zannah got up. However, Lord Bane did not.
Her master Darth Bane, dark lord of the sith, was dead.
Along with several dozen others. All of them murdered in cold blood.
-,-,-,-,-,-,-,-,-,-,-,-,-,-,-,-,-,-,-,-,
Allia Omek returned to the mansion she shared with her brother. Now, however, she was alone. Just her,
and the butler who her brother had hired four years ago.
"Wecome home, Ms. Omek" greeted Adam Jorius, the young man Sepp had hired. "How was your trip?"
"Terrible. There was an incident this afternoon at the market. Many people were murdered by blaster fire.
Sadly, Sepp was among those killed. I've lost my brother" Allia said, still in shock.
"I'm very sorry for your loss, Miss Omek. Sepp was a great man." Adam replied, not having the right words
to say. What more could he say under the circumstances?
Allia sat down on one of the couches in the living quarters. Adam sat down across from her.
"Mr. Jorius, I have to ask you something, and I want you to be completely honest with me. Watching
you and my brother together, I got the impression that you knew him for awhile before you came to work
here four years ago. How long have you known my brother?" Allia inquired of Adam.
Adam replied "Your putting me in a tough position, Ms. Omek. Had your brother lived, I could never tell
you this. He would have killed me."
He continued "I first met your brother almost twenty years ago, while he was an apprentice at the
sith academy on Korriban"
Allia was shocked. Totally speechless.
"Yes, Ms. Zannah, I knew that Darth Bane was a dark lord. When Des first showed up at the academy,
I was the keeper of the archives; their chief librarian. It was my job to transfer all information from the
many books, parchments and tomes onto computer. I also, from time to time, would track down and
retrieve these documents. I was first brought into service at the academy by Lord Kaan a few years earlier."
"And what did you think of me, Mr. Jorius?" Zannah asked.
"I guessed that either you were his apprentice or his wife" was Adam's answer.
Darth Zannah laughed. "You can't be serious"
"Ms. Zannah, Many of the early sith lords were married. Naga Sadow, Ludo Kressh, even Darth Malgus
was married. His wife's name was Eleena Daru. The raid and sacking of the the Jedi Temple on Coruscant
served as their honeymoon. Some of them even had children" Adam reminded her.
"Lord Bane was only ten years older than you. He was very muscular. And relatively handsome
considering his power. You can't tell me you never thought about it" Adam joked.
Zannah just shock her head. Unbelievable, she thought.
"Mr. Jorius, as you know about Bane and myself, answer me this: how can I continue as a sith
by myself? I have not yet completed my training" Zannah asked of Adam.
"I believe that I may be able to help you" Adam replied to his new boss. "While I myself am weak
in the force, I know people that are very powerful in the dark side. They can help you."
Adam continued "After Sepp's memorial service, we leave for Korriban.
-,-,-,-,-,-,-,-,-,-,-,-,-,-,-,-,-,-,-,-,
Four days later, Allia, with some help from Adam, had arranged a small memorial service
for Sepp. All of his many business contacts were there. Both Allia and Adam gave
moving speeches.
After, they spread a small urn of ashes in a nearby field.
However, nobody had reason to suspect that they weren't the ashes of Sepp Omek.
-,-,-,-,-,-,-,-,-,-,-,-,-,-,-,-,-,-,-,-,
The next morning, as Zannah was stocking her private starship, Loranda, with supplies, Adam was
loading the casket carrying Darth Bane into the cargo bay. Before visiting the academy archives on Korriban,
they would give Lord Bane a proper burial within the Valley of Dark Lords. Once they finished, they plotted
a course for the Horuset system, in the Outer Rim.
-LOCATION: KORRIBAN
Korriban, the only planet in the Horuset system. Known as Moraband in the old high sith language,
it was mostly barren desert. However, it was well known for one thing; it's connection to the sith
and the dark side.
Lady Zannah set the Loranda down among the many mountains which made up the Valley of the Dark Lords.
Many tombs were carved out of these mountains. Surely they would find an unused tomb for Lord Bane.
It didn't take long. They found lots of unused tombs, to last many more centuries.
Standing here, she could feel the dark side burning. The dark side was so strong and powerful in these sacred
burial grounds, that Darth Zannah was starting to feel a little light headed, as if she were intoxicated with
strong drink.
"Bane was a good friend. He will be greatly missed" Adam said as they placed Bane's casket into his new
resting place.
-,-,-,-,-,-,-,-,-,-,-,-,-,-,-,-,-,-,-,-,
Back at the academy, Zannah and Adam began the journey down the long, spiral staircase which led to the
archives in the basement.
"Mr. Jorius, back in Bane's tomb, you called him a friend. What did you mean?" Zannah asked. "Bane had told
me that sith couldn't have normal friendships without being compromised."
"Ms. Zannah, most people consider the sith to be monsters. However, most people don't know any sith
personally. What most people do not realize, is that sith are normal people, like you and me. They may be
powerful in the dark side, and seek total power; yet they still are living beings" was Adam's answer.
He continued "When Lord Kaan first brought me into the archives, I knew very little about the sith, other than
the stories floating about. After awhile, as I worked, I slowly began to meet some of the masters and students.
Some of them became friends. While Lord Kaan was not a great leader for the Brotherhood of Darkness. As a
person however, he was generally nice. I often played both dejarik and sabacc with him. While he was great
at sabacc, he was rather lousy at dejarik. He was not very good at thinking ahead of his opponent.
Which may be why the Brotherhood of Darkness failed" Adam stated.
"That, and a thought bomb" He added playfully.
After a few minutes, the pair reached what was left of the archives room. As expected, it was a mess.
Without regular upkeep, things started falling apart. Shelves fell down. Books and parchments, that needed
repairs, degraded further. And of course, over the past decade and a half, many looters had broken in and
took souvenirs from this place.
However, Adam noticed one set of shelves at the back still standing, and smiled. The vault room remained
undisturbed. Of course, no one knew it existed.
As Adam, with help from Zannah, began to remove the shelving units, he told her about their destination.
"Only three people knew about the vault. Lord Kaan, as leader of the Brotherhood. Lord Qordis as Headmaster
of the academy, and myself, as Keeper of the Archives.
Once they finished removing the shelves, they them removed part of the wall. Then they began their descent
down the narrow staircase. Once inside the vault room, Darth Zannah's eyes began to glow with excitement.
In front of her, were several glass display cases filled with many almost pristine books on alchemy, parchments
listing powerful spells, even a small collection of about twenty sith holocrons. She felt giddy like a child in a
toy store.
"Most of these were obtained almost 4000 years ago by the Sphere of Mysteries under Sith Emperor Vitiate" Adam
informed his new boss. "When Lord Kaan first formed the Brotherhood, he relocated the archives from Dromund Kaas
to the academy on Korriban. Of course, I also found some of these relics. I love to explore the tombs in the
Valley of the Dark Lords. I've discovered a few previously unknown tombs."
As Adam talked, Zannah was very carefully placing these relics into a trunk she had brought. When finished, the two
of them transported them back to the Loranda. Then they made their way back to Lord Bane's tomb. Darth Zannah
wanted to say her final goodbyes, before leaving forever.
As Adam walked into the tomb, Zannah laid a clean white sheet near the entrance to the tomb.
"It's a tradition among the sith" Zannah began "that when a sith lord passes from life unto death, that their servants
are buried with them." She then took her lightsaber, and ran it through Adam. A look of horror was on his face as she
ended his life.
Darth Zannah then neatly wrapped Adam's corpse in the sheet, and placed it upon a flat rock near the entrance.
As she left, she used the force to collapse the entrance, to protect it from looters.
-,-,-,-,-,-,-,-,-,-,-,-,-,-,-,-,-,-,-,-,
-LOCATION: CIUTRIC IV
Two weeks have past since the bombing which had taken the life of her master. As expected, Allia had received many
visitors offering their condolences. She found them somewhat tiresome after awhile.
She also monitored the local holonet feeds, for any news of the bombing. Naturally, there were many rumours. That is
until a local terrorist group calling itself "Free Ciutric IV Movement" claimed responsibility. Their leader, Kal Katall,
gave non-natives a deadline of one week to leave Ciutric IV, or die.
Darth Zannah smiled a wicked grin as she watched his statement. All of her hate and rage now had a target. Kal Katall
would suffer for her master's untimely death. He would regret that he ever crossed paths with the sith.