The Myth Of Time
A cold metal touching her back, as she realized she was lying down. Where was she? The only thing she could remotely remember was the sound of blaster fire and a breathing mechanism. Afraid to open her eyes she tried to listen to her surroundings to grasp an idea of a place she might be, cold, damp, and silent except for some moaning. Abruptly Calandra opens her eyes seeing what must have been a doctor for the white robes she wore tainted in blood, a Zraph, half dead on the ground trying to gasp for air. Rushing to her aide she noticed a hole that went all the way through her throat. Unable to breathe or speak the Zraph was wide eyed. Calandra noticed three feet to her right a headless male of the same species.
Slowly pushing through the grogginess of the medicine she had been given she started noticing the room for what it really was. Dimly lit, with a warm earthy tone for the color, struck her as odd, because it was not a medical facility. It had machines and computers all along the walls with the only table being the one she had been laying on. As she looked around only then did she notice teal puddles of blood next to the two bodies, and giant foot patterns walking out of the room. Determined to find out what happened she followed the footsteps through the doorway being careful not to touch any wall.
She noticed a drastic change in the way she felt as she walked down the hall towards the room on the other side, like she was scared of more than what was attacking her. As far as she could remember she had always had a gift, one that she knew could be extraordinary but only occurred when she truly needed it. Never sure of what the gift really was she could never contain it and experiment with its power to get a grasp on what she would someday have unlimited control over.
The closer she got, the louder the breathing mechanism, she remembered, became. Three feet from the double doors she could hear one man speaking basic through a thick accent and another, what appeared to sound like, a cyborg.
"You will tell me what you know about Calandra Skylark, what her midichlorian count is, and how long she will be lying on that procedure table in that room. Failing to help events unfold will not be pleasant for you."
"Lord Vader, I….I only wish to tell you that she has extraordinary gifts, unlike any I have ever seen!"
"What kind of gifts Dr. Zaher?"
"She has the ability to Shadow herself from any enemy she sees, mentally and physically! It's a talent I have not heard of since Darth Banes apprentice, and even that wasn't as powerful as thi-uch"
Vaders force choke caught him off guard, "You will listen to me Zaher, you will restore her to her full health within the week or you will die before my hand."
"But Lord that will take at least two standard weeks!"
"Well then prove that you would like to live and that you are not weak!"
Vader threw the Zraph into the wall and the impact knocked him out cold as Vader turned around and stopped dead in his tracks.
Calandra stared at the tall figure. Scared thinking back on the memories, hearing the breathing mechanism, seeing those dark black eyes, broad shoulders and tall figure. Every instinct told her to run but she couldn't move, she just stood there staring. "I can now sense your fear, I will not hurt you Skylark, I am only in need of your services," he said as he walked toward her, "I hear you are quite a talented individual and I could use your skills at my hand." Calandra was confused, knowing she was attacked by this monster the galaxy called Lord Vader, as well as knowing she was always gifted with some power, just never knowing its capabilities, she was reluctant to speak to him as her heart pounded faster. "I always knew I was special, but I have never known what my capabilities are, they just help me out in time of need" as soon as she stopped he continued, "you are a gifted Zabrak, one that will prove her worthiness time and time again, I will help you unleash the power within, as long as you are willing to help me. I have come a long way to find you across the galaxy, if you refuse, I will let you leave, but you speak word of this to anyone and I will kill you myself, do you understand?"
Calandra's mind was racing, for fear of death she began "tell me where we are and the task that I am to carry out, Lord Vader."
"Do not call me that, I wish for you to call me Skywalker. We are on the world of Barcadia, in the Tingel Arm, far from the Emperor's reach, he is focused on the exploration of The Unknown Regions to pay attention here. This will be the base of operations for you, anything you need will be either here or transferred here to your liking. The task I ask of you is to study my ancestory and find who my father really was. I also wish for you to find Sidious's weakness so that way I may kill him, and we both can rule the galaxy and make things the way we see fit."
"I will do this task, I wish for you to teach me in your ways, I know you were once a Jedi, I would like to be taught in both ways, I have heard legends of Revan being a powerful being from both paths of the force, that is my wish, and only just"
"Your wish will be granted, Calandra, as will mine!"
Vader pulled out his crimson blade and stabbed Dr. Zaher in the back right where his heart would be located, not a move was made from the Zraph, as his body went limp. "Brilliant species, Zraph, but they have too much fear, everything you need to start your research is on the holoscreen through those doors."
Three years later, a Trandoshan by the name of Acaph, was called to Naboo by the almighty Emperor. Unknown as to why the Dark Lord of the Sith had called upon him requesting his appearance at the wreckage of the Palpatine house, he made his way halfway across the galaxy. Feeling uneasy about the summons, he knew that if he were to decline he would have many assassins and bounty hunters after him. Most had heard about powerful bounty hunters working for the Empire but one in particular he was afraid of was Boba Fett. A fearless warrior who never failed in his bounties, this made Acaph fear the Empire alone, and made his arrival sooner than the Emperor had asked to be in favor of the Dark Lords likings.
On his arrival he was welcomed by four red guards, personal bodyguards of Darth Sidious. As they led him to the estate he wondered why Sidious would need such petty protection, after all he was said to be the most powerful being in the galaxy, aside from the former fallen JedI Anakin Skywalker. Skywalkers fall was known all around the galaxy, and was said to be the chosen one to bring balance to the force, when all that was seen from the worlds he visited were death and destruction. His mind was brought back to the current actions that were going on when they arrived at the Palpatine house ruins that once housed the great Emperor.
Waiting on the grounds as he arrived was Sidious, staring out past the distraught trees towards the lakes that was home to the Gungan race that was slaughtered by his hand only months earlier.
As Acaph approached Sidious, he spoke, "I am to understand that you are fearless of the Empire and its opposing forces, this puts me at a great risk. I must say that I plan to kill you, unless you provide useful to me, you have destroyed many of my platoons, personal guard and Dark Assassins, as well as benefited me from killing countless Resistance, am I correct…"
"Yes, my Lor-"
"Don not speak!" Sidious Snarled, "Do so again and I will cut you down here and now," Acaph wondered why he was thought to be so powerful, Acaph sensed he was weak, except for being so forward and power hungry giving off the illusion he was hiding something. "You will learn and destroy my master and his masters secrets and report to me, once you unveil his secrets you will tell me everything you have learned and you will destroy every ounce of evidence you have gained, failure to do so will be most unpleasant for you and your family. Understood?"
"Yes Lord, your will be done."
"Leave me, go to Muunilinst, there you will find the home of my dead master and all his information you will apply to this encrypted data disk, return to me with evidence of success and you will be rewarded with your life. There is no time to waste"
Acaph was escorted to a new ship that would take him to Muunilinst, the Muun, and Darth Sidious masters, homeworld.
After weeks of investigation of Plagueis and his learnings, he put together a secret message left behind in multiple holorecordings subconsciously telling him to go to the world of Hoth, where evidence showed on a secret data disk stored away in the Muuns house, that Plagueis had made multiple trips countless times to Hoths uninhabitable side.
Curious Acaph readied his shuttle and kept his R3 droid to find any other clues that were suspicious in any way to the droid. He told the droid his route and reasoning why he was leaving and to not let any one but him tamper with any evidence he had found.
Moments later Acaph was in hyperspace headed to Hoth to investigate more on the clues he had.
Becoming the most powerful non-JedI, non-Sith, Skylark practiced hard and studied possible weaknesses of Vader's master, but to her failures found nothing short of improbabilities. Under Vader, she learned to harness her powers and use them in ways no force-sensitive ever did, she could hide her abilities, feelings, fears, and physical self (for short periods of time) with the help of the force. She became known as the Invisible Catastraphe, having no ties to either faction of the so called "war" the Empire and Resistance were having. Along with her investigation she decided to secretly go to the homeworld of the Dark Lords master, without the knowledge of anyone, to further her investigations for herself. Calandra was highly Curious in the outcomes of Plageuis' interest of which was eternal life. She sought riches and power to herself and one day hoped to rule the galaxy herself and rid it of Skywalker and Palpatine. Not afraid to call them by their real names, for they were mere men of the sort to have more power than most.
With the secret holocron journeys that were lost thousands of years ago, and studying the holocrons taken from the slain JedI she gained a few secret powers of her own that she was able to hide from her mentor and any who came in contact with her. With this knowledge she grew stronger than her master knew, making her very dangerous to the Sith and its forces.
Sneaking to her ship given by Skywalker, she plotted a course for Courascant, as she boarded her personal ship headed to Muunilinst. Elusiveness meant everything in her searches, as she became more powerful she became more critical in efforts knowing one slip of her cover would bring her downfall.
As she was headed to Muunilinst she decided to meditate and practice future seeking, an art she knew Palpatine had mastered and knew how to bend to his will. She slowly faded into a fog, seeing flashes of yellow, a black abyss, a Trandoshan, and a cold withered planet. The yellow plasma she knew to be her light saber, but she couldn't tell what the others meant or how soon these events would unfold. Content in the fact that she had been seeing more about this future lately she decided to get some rest for the journey.
What felt like moments later she had awoken aboard her ship. One parsec away from Muun, grabbing some nourishment she waited and pondered about what she might find. She knew Plageuis had experimented on beings, she also knew that his world was not welcome to offworlders, so she would have to be extra careful not to attract any unwanted attention to her. Curious at what she would learn she was brought back to the present time by the ships beeping of an oncoming world. She must have been thinking for quite some time, because she was coming up on Muunilinst.
Entering the atmosphere was not a problem, nor was landing at the landing bay, but she had little difficulty hiding herself and any evidence that could lead the five Muuns searching her ship to her. As they searched the ship she slowly escaped the cargo bay and slyly made it onto their homeworld, 'piece of cake' she thought.
As she made her way to the mansion that was left devastated by Sidious for the search of eternal life, she noticed a strong attachment, like an anchor pulling her in. She followed her instinct and it became correct that this was the wing of the mansion Hego Demask had lived in before he was known as Darth Plageuis.
Searching the rooms up and down she hadn't noticed the droid sitting in the corner of what was the library. As she was looking through the already opened books she felt a quick pain through the force as she turned around and saw the droid fire its arm that was fashioned into a blaster at her. In the split of a second she had pulled out her yellow bladed light saber and made quick end of the droids arm and held the light saber up to its eye. "Who owns you!" she asked quickly.
"Deet deet twee whoop" the droid resisted.
Skylark hurried over to the computer she had found hours earlier and hacked into its holofeed only to find the Trandoshan in her visions giving the droid a data disk and giving him instructions.
Headed back to the droid she demanded the droid hand over the codes to the secured data disk. Once the droid complied she then cut the droid down and took the data disk from the R3 droid. Finding all evidence that had been burned, which she was looking for, had been stored on this disk, as well as the holorecordings. She then saw the last details of the disk and headed out the door to her ship.
After learning all he did on Hoth he decided to summon the Emperor to Naboo to have a talk with him. Having arrived early to the Palpatine estate, he roamed the halls of what was left of the building. He then stumbled across an odd shaped statue, looking like a man protecting a woman from fear of death, just below reading, To my mother and father, great cowards, your ghosts may forever haunt me, you remind me of what I will never be. Realizing that this was the weakness of Sidious! He had found his way to get rid of the threat to his life! Bring him to Naboo at his estate, and while he battles off the ghosts of his pasts, you strike him down! He will never see it while he is distracted elsewhere, but the time must be right. And now is not the time.
Leaving the estate towards the grounds he notices the elite red guards walking Sidious towards where they last met. After revealing what he had found about Plageuis that no one had ever found before, Sidious congratulated him.
"You have done well Trandoshan, I may spare your life, although I sense death in your near future from another source. I will let you live, long as you destroy the secret base my master hid from me."
"Already in progress my Lord, I cant help but wonder, did you ever have a suspicious feeling about him, your master I mean?"
"I didn't trust him since he led me to kill my family, I hated them, and soon after I started hating him, but I wanted to get closer, grow more powerful than he ever did, I wanted to learn the art of immortality he was so obsessed about, till one day something in me clicked while he was teaching me, and I murdered him, over powered his mind, for he was no match for me" Sidious opened his arms wide towards Acaph, "you have done well my friend! I look forward to doing business with you in the future, this is a great day, and this time will only be better when you destroy all evidence of that base. Keep none for yourself, then return to me and you will be handsomely rewarded"
"Lord, I must be on my way then, no time to waste!"
Arriving back at the base Acaph notices that there is a shuttle that is not his nor the Emperors. He grows suspicious and carefully draws out his enchanted vibrosword and arms his Echani shields. For he will kill anyone who stands in his way of his families lives.
Skylark arrived at Hoth at the correct coordinates, the base barely visible through the snow. While she entered she couldn't help but notice the dozens of different sized bacta tanks. Wondering what they were used for, she then saw three medical tables across the room, with seven powered down medical droids. Looking at the markings on the book cabinet she saw when she passed the entrance, she knew now that this was an experimental chamber. Looking through the books she saw laying on the tables she perceived countless different species marked down as dead. Only one had survived the horrid tests he had put them through, surprisingly the test subject was a teenage human female, and she had great interest in her.
The Zabrak had read on in the diaries that lay in front of her, hoping to understand what had happened, she read until she found this:
Entry Thirty Seven
Test Subject
Shmi Skywalker
She is the only survivor of these tests and I take great pride in my work with her. She not only is still alive and strong but she now carries a child, I have forseen as strong in the force, for he is my creation.
I have not revealed this information to my apprentice for he would get frustrated and try and kill me by thinking I am replacing him, but what he does not know is this may be our future.
In due time, I will tell him.
Once finishing the entry she heard a blade slide against the metal wall, going silent and unseen she ran behind a bacta tank.
"I know you are here! Come out! Either way you will die, I have disabled your ship, so you will die by my hand or the blizzards outside!"
As he stepped past her she stepped out and ignited her blade.
He turned around as she stated what he expected, "I will kill you before you have the chance to cut me down, sucumb to my will or I will defeat you."
Running at her he didn't think she would be as fast as she was, moving like a blur to the eye. Luckily he was a Trandoshan, he could switch to heat vision. As she tried to go invisible he could still see the heat emanating off of her body and blade.
"I see you beautiful!" attacking where she stood, she blocked it with a flick of her wrist.
She knew Trandoshans were a tough species even without proper training. But she realized that he was driven by fear! The most powerful drive there was. He was a difficult opponent. One she would have to use most of her strength in defeating.
"You may be beautiful, and kin to the great Darth Mual, but you are no match for me beautiful, I will kill you"
Becoming visible, and leaping over him she threw her light saber directly behind her to stab him in the back but he was to quick, he had already moved out of the way and swung his sword at her head, stopping it just inches away from her throat with her force pushing it halfway across the room.
He hadn't expected the force this strong. He had dealt with force users before, defeated many of them, but they weren't trained, not like this. Pulling a blaster out of its holster on his side he fired six rounds at her while running to his blade. Throwing a quick thermal grenade at her, she diverted the path toward the bacta tanks. The explosion busted all the tanks, as liquid flooded the floor and started to harden from the cool air let in from the outside.
Calandra thought quickly, grabbed a droid with the force and threw it at the Trandoshan, hitting him knocking him down. She leapt next to him, grabbed him by the throat and hissed, "I have easily over powered you, who do you work for, and why are you here?"
"Silly girl, you wont get way with this, Sidious will find out"
"so you do work for him! I will have my chance to kill him for this"
"you will not kill him, no one knows his weakness but I, and I am not so keen on you taking my kill of the one who threatened my family"
"You have no choice! How do you kill him, What's his weakness? Tell me and I will let you live"
"I will never tell you" he laughed.
She called upon the force to burn his skin with force lightning.
"tell me, I have no sympathy for you, I will break your will till you have no choice" as she shocks him again.
Through his screaming he is capable of getting out, "Naboo, that is his weakness, his dead parents ghosts on Naboo at the Palpatine estate. He meets me there for this job, but he only meets me, theres no way you can get that close to him"
"I have my ways, tell me more" she said as she gripped his throat harder.
"he fights off his parents ghosts that haunt him for their deaths, his boastful killings. He does not know that I know this, no one does, I believe it to be a great weakness of his"
"thank you for your cooperation." as she lets go of him and starts to walk away, he pulls out a small dagger and stabs her in the back, as she falls she realizes what happened, how could she be so foolish! She should have killed him! She lays on her back looking up at his crooked smile, "I told you, you would never get that close to hi-"
She threw him into the wall, noticing she was dying she attempted the most powerful skill she ever learned, Essence Transfer. As he was out cold against the wall, his soul was easy to battle, as everything started to go dark, she felt she was being ripped in two. She couldn't tell what was going on, fighting and resisting for five minutes until she opened her eyes, seeing her lifeless, and now soulless, body lay in front of her. She had succeeded! She had transferred into his body! She was also aware that she now possessed a way to get much closer to Sidious. She hurried to the Trandoshans ship, which now was her ship, and contacted the Emperor to meet her at his old estate. Taking the bait as a fool, he agreed, and ended the transmission. Finally she would be able to overcome him! She would rule the galaxy! No one would stand in her way for the search of eternal life. She would get her reward! She mapped the coordinates for Naboo, and lifted off Hoths surface, meditating the final battle of supremacy.
Waiting for the Emperor at the estate she grew impatient. She finally saw the ship lower into the atmosphere. As he walked up with his guards, she planned the attack out in her head, not one movement could be out of place or she would be dead. She counted four guards, and Lord Sidious.
As lord Sidious approached her she hid her powers from him so he wouldn't suspect anything odd, "Acaph, I suspect the deed is done then, the base has been successfully destroyed along with all notes and diaries on the data disk?"
"Yes my Lord, it is done, may my family be left unharmed?"
"They have been safe all along" as he turned his back to the Trandoshan.
Now is the perfect time she thought, she pulled out the dagger that had been used to kill her other body, and threw it at the farthest guards throat, at the same time grabbing Lord Sidious' saber with the force, if igniting the crimson blade through the air, impaling the guard next to Sidious, and decapitating the guard left to her while cutting the guard from head to toe with her yellow blade. Pulling the crimson blade into her right hand with hers in her left.
"Ah, sly as a scoundrel, I see. Tell me, was this your plan all along Acaph, because I didn't think you would be able to pull off what looked like easy handiwork of my guards…"
"I am here to kill you, I will take your throne you have made, I am not this Trandoshan filth you trusted so, he sold out your weakness of this place" as she glides her hand towards the estate. "I am Calandra Skylark, I have successfully transferred into this body, and you are the only thing that stands in my way"
"You re horribly misled my dear. I am impressed that you have found this all out without my knowledge, and the quick work of my guards, but they were weak where I am not."
Without her knowledge he had been picking up the staff from one of his fallen guards behind her. "you will pay for the attempt on my life, I will show you no mercy".
He threw the staff at her and she noticed before it came within a foot of her, and crushed it with the force. Taken aback the emperor stepped back, fear emanating from him but hiding it well from his face.
She walked over to him pushed him on his knees with the force, and crossed the blades at his throat. The feeling of victory at the edge of the sword. She went on for the kill. As she slid the blades outwards, Sidious grabbed her heart with the force and stopped it dead in its beat. The whole time she had been dominating him, he had been focusing his power for one blow. He took the only chance he had when it presented itself and crushed her heart.
Left with burns on his neck, the Trandoshan fell to the ground, her life quickly fading from her grasp. "I told you I wasn't as weak as my guards, your existence, along with the knowledge of Vaders father is mine. This secret will die with me, for it is the leverage I have on Vader when he tries to overthrow me like the many Sith before us. You have lost"
He picked his light saber out of her hand, and walked toward his ship as her life slipped through her fingertips. She closed her eyes. Dead.