Victora

A Star Wars Story

Chapter 1

Flashing light sabers. Powerful feelings. Dark side teachings. These were her life and had been ever since she could remember. She knew nothing else. But, at times like now, she didn't think about what her life had been. During the training fights, all she could think of was winning. She wasn't a good fighter, but she could usually find a way to win, even if she was a little numb in places from the training blades.

"Channel your emotions, Victora," her master, Darth Odium, was saying. "You'll never survive if you do nothing but dodge. There's generally more than one person to fight."

His name meant "hate". She often thought that was appropriate enough, since he hated everyone and everything. And that hate did not exclude her. Why he had ever taken on an apprentice she never knew. He acted more like a vengeful hermit than a Sith Lord.

She could feel his anger at her for her lack of fighting talent growing as the training fight continued. She could see she would not win this one, because his emotions were being channeled more properly. A quick swipe at her arm and he had ended it. The toxins in the training saber effectively cut off feeling to her arm - temporary, but effective in showing how it feels to not have an arm. As her nerves went dead, she dropped her training saber. He sent her to her quarters to rest it off. Not out of kindness, but jut to get her out of the way.

"You're useless with only one arm anyway," he said.

As she lay in her bed, she thought about the events that led her to this point. Lord Odium told her that she was an orphan and he had rescued her, but she could never really believe it. For sixteen years, he had raised her in the ways of the Sith. She was isolated from the rest of the galaxy. Lord Odium's spaceship took him to the nearest Sith Academy on a distant planet when he needed to consult or be consulted. She had never gone with him on these journeys. Her knowledge of what was out there came from books and star charts. Sometimes she thought it was funny that she could operate a spaceship based on the textbooks she had read, but never had the opportunity to put those instructions into practice. When she stopped to think about it, it was a lonely life that she led.

The promise of a new life, however, was on the horizon. Her master needed news from an informant on Coruscant, and he had promised to send her there to retrieve it. All by herself. Maybe he thinks I'll get killed and he'll be rid of me she thought jokingly, knowing that there could be more truth in that joke than in the whole galaxy.

She didn't know she'd fallen asleep until Lord Odium knocked on her door. Sitting up on her bed, she noticed feeling painfully coming back into her arm.

"Enter," she called.

She stood up awkwardly, knowing he would stand there in total silence until she did.

"It's time I briefed you on your mission," he said. "You'll take the ship to Coruscant tomorrow and land on the same side of the planet as the Jedi Temple. The journey there will take three standard days. You will wait until sundown to travel to a club called The Four Planets where you will request to see a man by the name of Jalle. You will show him this medallion."

He handed her a medallion with the Sith symbols of hate and power.

"After showing Jalle that medallion," he continued, "you will wait until he gives you a hologram projector. Stay long enough to make it look like the two of you met for drinks and conversation, then leave. You will begin the return home that very night. Am I clear?"

"Transparently," Victora replied.


The droids packed the ship with the necessary provisions for the mission. Victora was ready long before the ship was, and Lord Odium shouted at the droids to hurry. He had never been a patient man.

By mid-morning, the ship was ready to launch. Lord Odium had given Victora a droid to help her as needed. She could keep it provided she perform her mission satisfactorily. After receiving a few parting reminders from her master, Victora launched the ship. She keyed the destination into the computer, calculated the path, and made the jump to lightspeed.