Chapter 1

Ruby walked carefully through the forests of her home planet of Remnant. It was a poor farming world on the very edge of galactic civilization. The wildlife could be hostile at times, but Ruby was by no means defenseless. Though not trained as a Jedi or Sith, her father saw to that, she had a strong connection to the Force. Besides, the trip was worth the effort. Not far from her home was an ancient temple. The temple itself was off-limits. The Sith had made that clear in blood many years ago. The area around it, however, held treasures. Lightsaber crystals of significant power and rare color filled the caves that surrounded the temple. Ruby had long ago constructed her own lightsaber, and had no interest in altering its design, but the crystals could be sold or traded. Her father made his money farming, but money was always tight and selling crystals provided some much needed credits.

Ruby reached the edge of the forest, where it ended sharply in the clearing that surrounded the temple. She could not see anyone around, so she stepped from the cover of the trees. Suddenly, amidst confused and angry shouts, a group of Mandalorian mercenaries rushed out of one of the temple's out-buildings and straight toward Ruby. They seemed to not even notice her at first but came to a sudden halt as soon as they did. The looks on their faces indicated that they were just as surprised to see her as she was to see them. One of the four leveled his blaster rifle at Ruby, and that was all the prompting she needed.

In a flash Ruby drew her lightsaber. The shape of the hilt made clear that it was double-bladed, and sure enough, with the push of a button, two brilliant silver blades leapt from either side. With a spin of the blade she deflected the Mandalorian's shot; quite accidentally back into the leg of one of his comrades. The injured man groaned with pain and fell over, pulling another down with him. Ruby charged, dodging shots as she approached, and sliced the Mandalorian's blaster in half. Already panicked when the encounter began, the mercenary dropped the useless half of his gun and ran off into the forest, followed by the others. The injured one struggled to keep up as he limped along.

The whole encounter was strange to Ruby. She had encountered many things on her trips to the temple – strange animals, bandits – but never professional mercenaries. The Sith would surely kill them if they knew about their entry into the temple. The Empire and the Sith had not been seen on Remnant in many years, but it would be foolish to think they were not watching. The temple was very important to them for some reason. More than that, what or who had chased them from the temple? The questions bounced around in Ruby's mind as she went about collecting crystals.

Yang had noticed that something was going on at the old temple near her home. She wanted to know what, and hoped it had to do with someone she had lost. She dare not investigate herself however. It was too dangerous. Confident though she was, she was not foolish enough to risk angering the Sith. Someone had to know though. In pursuit of some knowledge she had gone to Vale, the nearest city. It was not far away, and the seedier parts were full of just the sort of people who might know something. To avoid sticking out, Yang adopted a smuggler's style of dress, with her own twist. She wore a black vest over a yellow button-up shirt, the top few buttons open, black shorts and black boots. She would look the part of the rogue but keep her individual flair.

The best place to get information was the local cantina, and Yang spent hours there trying to find someone with the right connections. It was a bit dangerous given the characters of the patrons, and the day before she had gotten into a fairly significant scrap. She won, as evidenced by her return and her opponent's disappearance. Unfortunately, that fight had been the only event of note. No one seemed to know anything about the temple.

"Hey there Blondie." A man said. Yang sat in a booth, her legs resting atop the table. She turned to face him. It was the cantina's owner, along with a group of his enforcers. He went by Junior. "You owe me some money."

"Yeah?" Yang said. "For what?"

"That little scuffle you had yesterday did some serious damage." Junior said. "You put that guy's head through some expensive equipment."

"His head did the damage, get the money from him." Yang said flatly.

"I will once he's out of the hospital." Junior grumbled. "Now, are you going to pay or do we have a problem?" His thugs stepped forward, wielding vibroblades.

Yang sighed and stood up. She swiftly drew her lightsaber, the blade glowing violet, and swept it in a wide arc that forced the thugs to back up. She jabbed her hand, open-palmed, toward them, and an invisible wave of energy knocked them off their feet. Junior hesitated but Yang did not. With her free hand, she drew a blaster pistol and fired a shot between Junior's legs. The searing bolt of energy passed within inches of his manhood. "Here's what's going to happen." Yang said. "I'm going to leave. Tomorrow I'll be back. We're all going to pretend that today didn't happen. Then we'll all be great friends." Junior stood there, mouth agape, and said nothing. "Next time I won't miss." Yang threatened.

"Y-yes ma'am." Junior stammered.

"You can call me sir." Yang said as she slipped her blaster back into its holster and retracted her lightsaber. She headed for the exit confidently. Yang stepped out of the cantina feeling empowered by what she had just done, but also disappointed in her failure to find out anything useful. Fortunately, her luck was about to change.

"Hello there." A man said in a deep voice, just behind her. She spun around to see a short, thin man leaning against the cantina's wall, just beside the door. His blue skin and red eyes immediately marked him out as a Chiss. "I saw that. I saw your fight yesterday too. You know how to handle yourself."

"What do you want?" Yang asked, her hand on her lightsaber.

"You've been looking for information." The Chiss said with a sly smile. "Information is my business. There is most definitely something going on at the temple. I'd be happy to fill you in."

"What's the catch?" Yang asked.

"There's no catch." The Chiss said. "I just want some information in return. There is a woman at the temple, a new arrival. She has caused quite the stir. I want to know who she is and why she's there."

"Fine, I'll find out for you." Yang agreed. "What's going on there?"

The Chiss' smile grew. "For starters, the temple is not quite as abandoned as it would seem."

Weiss was the eldest daughter of the family that owned the Empire's largest arms manufacturer. That meant she would one day be the wealthiest and most powerful non-Sith in the Empire, just as her father was now. Until then, however, her choices were not her own. At her father's command, Weiss had become an officer in Imperial Intelligence. It was a position to be respected and feared. She would rather not have had it.

Weiss had no great love for the Empire. Her father knew as much and hoped her tenure in the service would correct that. She had developed her distaste for the Empire as a result of her tutor, a former Jedi. Weiss was born a force-sensitive. In the Empire, all force-sensitives were to be trained as Sith, but the process was brutal and dangerous, with most students dying before completing their training. Weiss' father had used his wealth and influence to hide his daughter's talent, and to acquire a tutor to properly refine it. Since the Sith could not know and a Jedi would never train the daughter of such a powerful Imperial, the only option was a Jedi who was no longer part of the order. Not wanted by the Jedi or the Sith, such a person would be perfect. Unfortunately, her tutor had retained some of his dislike of the Empire, along with some Jedi ideals, and passed them along. Though no fan of the Republic or the Jedi, the brutality and oppressiveness of the Empire made Weiss question her loyalty.

As the daughter of such a powerful man, Weiss was given mostly prestige assignments. The Empire could not risk angering one of its most important supporters. It seemed she had been given another one. On the backwater planet of Remnant, a world so remote and poor that the Empire and Republic did not even try to control it, there was apparently an ancient temple. The Sith had declared the place off-limits. Recently, however, someone had violated that prohibition. The Sith wanted to know who. It was a place where the light and dark sides of the force were both strong and mixed together, and as such it would not be of interest to the Jedi. More likely, the intruder was a local looking for artifacts to sell. Weiss would have to find him and kill him, or just rough him up a bit if she was feeling generous. The low priority of the mission was made clear by the fact that she was being sent alone. Still, there was something odd, something that made Weiss think there might be more to the whole affair. She had been given sealed orders, written on paper, that were not to be read until she arrived at Remnant. It was a strange precaution for any mission.

Weiss boarded her ship and was greeted by its protocol droid. "Welcome aboard master!" The droid said enthusiastically. "I trust you're having a wonderful day."

"Sure." Weiss said. The droid's peppy attitude was sickening. "Are we ready to fly?"

"Yes master." The droid replied. "The coordinates have already been loaded into the flight computer. Simply give the command and we will be off."

Weiss sat down at the pilot's console. She was trained to fly the ship manually, but it would do just fine flying itself. She fired up the engines and flicked on the autopilot. Traveling many times the speed of light, she arrived at Remnant in less than an hour. Now was the time to read her secret orders. She unsealed the paper and was terrified by what she read.

Agent Schnee,

We at the Ministry of Intelligence have recently become aware of your force-sensitivity. It seems you and your father have committed a serious transgression against the Empire. Hiding a force-sensitive from the Sith is punishable by death. Fortunately for you, we have decided to keep this matter quiet for the time being. We may even be persuaded to forget the whole affair, assuming you succeed in your mission, which is as follows:

The temple site on Remnant, on which you have already been briefed, has not been abandoned. A team of Imperial researchers have been hard at work unlocking the place's secrets. Recently, we have lost contact with the team. You are to ascertain their fate and secure the site for the next team of researchers. Anyone responsible for interfering with Imperial operations there is to be executed. We are confident that someone with your abilities should be able to accomplish this task. If not, die a hero of the Empire or return to face disgrace and execution.

Signed,

The Minister of Intelligence

Weiss must succeed or die trying. Even if successful, her fate upon returning to Dromund Kaas was uncertain. They may well just kill her anyway. Her father was untouchable, she was not.

Weiss approached the temple. Being an official Imperial representative dressed in a full Imperial officer's uniform, she had had no trouble intimidating the locals into bringing here there. They were quick to leave. The temple was an imposing stone structure built in a style she did not recognize as Jedi or Sith. There were supposed to be mercenaries guarding the site, Mandalorians, the best of the best, but they were nowhere to be found. On the ground sat a blaster rifle, sliced cleanly in half. Nearby was some blood. It was a sign of a struggle, but not nearly enough to account for the disappearance of the research team and their guards. Perhaps there were answers inside.

Weiss entered the temple through the monumental archway at its front. There were doors, but they were wide open. There were also more signs of combat. The walls were peppered with the results of errant blaster shots. It was a shame, they had damaged the intricate artwork that seemed to line every surface. There was a great mosaic on the floor consisting of two interlocking circles, one black and one white. Weiss took it to represent the place's connection with the light and dark sides of the force. Still there was no sign of the researchers.

Weiss traveled down, deeper into the temple. She came to a large room with an altar at the center. It was covered in ash with more spread across the floor nearby. Weiss touched the stone altar. It was still hot. Perhaps it had been a pyre. That would account for the lack of bodies. At the altar she could feel the light and dark sides of the force struggling against one another, both inside and outside of her. This place was powerful, no wonder the Sith had taken such a keen and secretive interest. The farther she went into the temple, the stronger Weiss could feel the Force.

Weiss climbed down the stone stairs, arriving in the temple's deepest chamber. The whole place had an otherworldly glow to it. Weiss was not alone. Across the chamber, sitting before another altar, was a cloaked figure. Still and silent, the figure seemed to pay Weiss no heed. She could feel its power. She drew her blaster and aimed it at the figure. "Identify yourself." Weiss called. The figure did not respond. "Identify yourself or I'll shoot."

"Go ahead." The figure replied in a woman's voice. "It will do you no good." Weiss knew the truth of the statement. A shot from a blaster pistol would do no harm to someone so powerful. "Why have you come here?"

"I'm here to find out what happened to the Imperial research team." Weiss said.

"They are dead." The figure said.

"I assume you killed them." Weiss accused.

"No, not all of them." The figure said as she stood. "This place is full of dangers." Still hidden by her black cloak, the figure reached out a hand. An invisible force pressed down on a plate built into the floor. Suddenly, a series of blades appeared from the ceiling and sliced through the air just above the plate. Anyone unfortunate enough to step on it would have been killed. Weis realized she had been unconsciously avoiding traps like this as long as she had been in the temple. The Force had guided her. "Those that resisted, I dealt with. Those that fled were cut down in their haste. I burned their bodies as a mark of respect for the deceased."

"Why?" Weiss asked. "Why attack this place?"

"This is a place of great power." The figure said. "No doubt you have felt it. It is a place where the light and dark sides of the force are magnified by each other. The secrets contained within this place are too dangerous for the Sith or the Jedi, the Empire or the Republic. They must remain secret."

"You know I can't let this stand." Weiss warned. "I will strike you down."

"You speak confidently." The figure said. "It is but a façade. Like this place you are conflicted. You were born to and raised in the dark but you long for the light."

She was absolutely correct, whoever she was. "What is this?" Weiss demanded. "Tell me who you are!" Weiss tossed her useless blaster aside and drew her lightsaber. Its red blade leapt from the hilt. "Jedi scum and your mind tricks!"

"I am no Jedi." The figure boomed. She turned around, the hood of her cloak dropping from her head to reveal a young woman. An extra set of ears atop her head marked her out as non-human. She drew two lightsabers of her own and faced Weiss. The blades were black, as dark as a black hole, but somehow they glowed yellow around the edges. "If you will not leave this place I will end you." The figure threatened.

Weiss charged, blade in her left hand, and thrust her right hand forward. Lightning shot from her fingers and out toward the figure. The figure caught the lighting on one lightsaber and threw the other at Weiss. Weiss deflected the blade away with her own and it boomeranged back to the figure. Before Weiss could reach the figure she was hit by an unseen wall of energy and pushed back. The Force push knocked her off balance, and she was only just able to dodge the figure's sudden, whirling attack.

Weiss sprung to her feet and extended her free hand at the figure, cupping her fingers. The figure was lifted off the ground, choking and struggling as Weiss focused. There was a sudden flash of yellow and black, and Weiss was forced to dive to the ground to avoid a flying lightsaber. The figure gathered herself, standing opposite Weiss. The figure reached out her hand to retrieve her thrown blade but Weiss slid in the way and caught it by the hilt. She quickly smashed the lightsaber on the ground, rendering it useless. Now it was a fair fight.

Out of breath, the two fighters stared each other down, the glow of their lightsabers giving the entire room a strange tint. "You know there's only one way this can end." Weiss said.

"I do." The figure replied.

Weiss reached out her hand and again lightning flew from her fingertips. The figure did the same, their attacks meeting in the middle. As each struggled for dominance, the energy began to build between them. A great ball of electricity grew where their attacks met, each refusing to back down. Finally it was too much for either to control. The ball of energy exploded with a blinding flash and a thunderous boom. Then all was silent and still.