Collab between myself (SWTORfan195) and NinjaMaster227. It's a story following the Banite Sith after Darth Millenial was excommunicated from Darth Cognus. Her new apprentice, Darth Dedecus comes from being an outcast from a Mandalorian clan to a powerful sith lord. Darth Cognus is a relentless mentor, the young sith must prove himself worthy, or suffer the same fate as Millenial...
Prologue- The price of honor
Canderous was in the prime of his youth, in his early twenties, he had already proven himself through not one, but several Mandalorian tests. Born on the planet Ord Mantell, and named after Mandalore the Preserver, he was far from the home world, but not from the ideals of his family. At age 16, he ventured into a cave which had several rumors surrounding it. Some said it housed unspeakable horrors, others thought it was just a place for hermits and outcasts to eat their lunch. The cave housed a venomous beast, which Canderous decapitated with his vibroblade. His clan had an epic feast on that day. His second legendary battle, he won a duel against the best known duelist of the Mandalorian clan. All of this greatly impressed his uncle, who was none other than Mandalore the Honorable.
His uncle saved dozens of alien villages from gangs, pirates and bandits. Eventually, he ascended to the rank of Mandalore, after Mandalore the Wise passed away of old age. Canderous' father was killed by a bounty hunter, who himself was later slain. His mother, was a jedi master, and had to give him up to someone she thought could take care of him. Her mother told Mandalore the Honorable to tell Canderous she was sorry. Canderous knew that his immediate family were legends who would forever be remembered by Mandalorians to come. He knew he had big shoes to fill.
However, all was not well. One day, after Canderous witnessed a group of muggers harassing a young girl, he killed them, even after they surrendered. This was the final straw. While Canderous would always try to seek justice, he would often let his desire for revenge get the better of him. He had to face trial for his crimes.
"The hearing is now in session, all bow before Mandalore." Canderous was anxious and nervous. He felt he could finally justify doing what he did. Mandalore the Honorable stood up on his podium. The hearing was taking place on an unimpressive hill surrounded by boulders of various sizes. Mandalore frequently wore silver armor which did not weigh much. Today, he was wearing his gold robes over it. His mask resembled that of Mandalore the Ultimate, but had alternating black and white streaks instead of gold and black. Mandalore spoke "Canderous, you are here today because you have been accused of murder."
The look of disapproval was all over Canderous' face. He interjected "I didn't murder anyone! I SAVED dozens of lives, something you yourself did many times." A fellow clansmen yelled "Don't you dare compare yourself to Mandalore, even if you are his nephew."
Mandalore the Honorable took off his mask and looked at his nephew. His eyes filled with regret. He quietly stated "I have reviewed the evidence Canderous. You must be banished from the clan. Needless violence is something I vowed to eliminate from the Mandalorian way of life. You are disavowed, and must leave Ord Mantell."
Canderous said "How about we duel instead. If I win, you step down and I become Mandalore. If you win, I'll leave."
All of the clansmen stared at Canderous. They couldn't believe he had just made such a bold declaration.
Mandalore said "You must leave." Canderous drew his vibrosword and rushed towards his uncle. His uncle drew an electrostaff and parried the horizontal strike. Canderous lifted the blade above his head, preparing to strike his uncle in a hammer-like fashion. Mandalore proved too experienced for the young warrior. Mandalore ran forward, grabbed Canderous' hilt and stabbed him with an electrostaff, paralyzing him. Canderous was injured. Though the strike wasn't fatal, he wouldn't be able to continue. Just then, something unusual happened. Canderous was filled with rage. So much so that he was completely revitalized. His uncle was taken aback. Canderous grabbed his uncle by the throat and pushed him against a boulder. There was so much force that the very ground shook. Mandalore kicked Canderous' stomach, which sent him to the ground. Using his rage, Canderous took a gun from the holster of one of his fellow clansmen. Mandalore lunged forward to knock his nephew back to the ground. Mandalore seized an opening and punched Canderous as hard as he could with his metallic gloves. Canderous went out cold.
When Canderous awoke, he was no longer on Ord Mantell. In fact, the whole landscape was a jungle. After yelling at the top of his lungs and cursing Mandalore, he eventually settled into the reality. He was all alone, in an unknown wilderness. He was overcome with guilt. The clouds began to thunder, the rain started pouring in sheets. Canderous knew he would have to find shelter, and hopefully some other people or aliens to camp with.
After an hour walking in a dense, dark jungle, he came across an old structure. He approached it cautiously. Just then, he heard blaster fire, and immediately ducked behind a tree. Peeking out, he saw a Rodian. The Rodian yelled out "GET OUT OF HERE!" Canderous was more shocked to hear the Rodian speak Basic rather than his random shooting. Canderous, slowly approached the Rodian, and grabbed the blaster. He yelled out "wait, wait, I just need a place to camp for a little bit."
The Rodian calmed down. The tension immediately diffused. He said "come on in, just be quick, we don't need those beasts discovering our location."
Canderous walked inside the dimly lit structure. It looked like the remains of an old building. The Rodian was not alone. He saw a Togruta and another human playing pazaak. The Rodian walked Canderous into a room with a few chairs. They both sat down. The Rodian then introduced himself. "My name is Lurnas." The Togruta we call "Tentacles" and the human is Davik." We crash landed here a few months back, hoping to find a way off this rock, but no one has answered our call." Canderous' eyes widened. "Where exactly are we?" Lurnas took a sip of his drink and said "at first we thought we were on Dxun, the jungle moon of Onderon." We surveyed the land for the first few days, and compared it to our maps. Dxun was much larger, and had beaches. This planet we are on is all jungle as far as we know. Every mountain top, every valley I've seen has been full of vegetation. When I look over to the horizon, I see more of the same." Canderous said "how is it that no one knows what planet this is?" Lurnas took another sip and said "I am not sure." He then said: "we were on our way to Ilum from Alderaan when we encountered some unknown interference. Before we knew it, our engines gave in, and we were all knocked unconscious. Our crew had eight members, but we only have three left. We've assumed the worst."
Canderous said "I was knocked unconscious on Ord Mantell. I haven't the slightest idea how I came here. What I do know is, if we are going to stay on this planet, we need to expand our territory." Just then the Rodian dropped his glass. It shattered on the floor. He then said "We don't go beyond this region. Out there, there are wild beasts and unknown terrors. Something menacing exists out there."
Canderous felt a chill run down his spine. Normally, danger makes him anxious and daring. This time, he felt genuine fear. This sounded like nothing he ever faced before. Canderous then asked "do you have any guns or vibroblades? I need to go out and get some food."
The Rodian said "I'll give you my spare blaster, but be back before nightfall. There is something not right about this planet." Canderous ran off into the forest. The trail he hiked earlier had grass about one meter tall. Where he was heading, the grass quickly increased in height, until it was even taller than he was. Canderous heard some ruffling in the grass. He paused. He noticed it was already past dusk, and he was well over a mile away from camp. The sound grew louder. Canderous began to nervously shoot in the thickness. Just then, a giant worm-like creature came out from under the ground. It didn't even have a head, only a mouth and a body, with some follicles hanging off the side of its body. The worm dove for Canderous, who shot the blaster into its mouth. The worm screeched, and tackled Canderous to the ground. Just then, Canderous pulled out his poisonous pocket vibroknife and attempted to stab the worm. He didn't account for its fast reflexes. The worm was getting ready to lunge on Canderous. Just then, Canderous became filled with hatred. The air around him began to thicken, and the worm started acting strange. Canderous lost consciousness, as he saw the worm behaving increasingly erratic.
When Canderous woke up, it was dark, but there were signs of dawn approaching. He saw the worm lying motionless on the ground, with green slime oozing out of most of its body. He was confused as to what happened. As he started walking back to what he thought was the direction of the camp, he pondered the rage he felt when fighting Mandalore. Something strange was going on. He thought maybe it was somehow related to the fact that his mother was a Jedi. He didn't think he was force sensitive, since this "power" only started manifesting when he angry and in mortal danger. He knew though without this power, he would've been worm food, Mandalorian or not.
As Canderous was making his solemn walk back to camp too tell his new companions of his battle with the worm. Else way on the other side of the galaxy the secret Lord of The Sith Darth Cognus was meditating, trying to set her angered mind at ease. It had been at least two years since her former apprentice Darth Millenial had fled from her like the unworthy coward he was. His leaving had meant nothing to Cognus the moment she decided he was not worthy to be sith, and uphold "The grand plan"…but what did bother her was the fact that after so much time she had not found a suitable replacement for the traitor. She was a master holding the power of the sith, and their secrets but had no one to crave the power and serve her as an apprentice. It was most troubling situation for her, and the worries that she'd never find another apprentice worried her to the point that she needed to spend more and more time in her mediations chamber.
As she meditated more Cognus focused on her reason for spending more time meditating today then every before. Days ago as the thought that she might never find her new student set in; she was shown a vision of the future through the force. The vision had not been very clear which shocked Cognus since she was always very confident in her visions of the future. Despite being clouded she could still make out one thing in the vision a human man wearing pitch black robes, standing defiantly tall, with a double-bladed lightsaber in one hand and a stream of force lighting in the other, and his yellow red eyes shun like two solar flares forever burning and consuming everything in the galaxy. Congus had no idea how to even begin making sense of her vision, but she did know this the man in her vision defiantly was without a doubt sith. The aura of hate, and anger surrounding him reeked of the dark side and his eyes served as the final confirmation.
After confirming that the man was indeed sith in her vision, Darth Cognus came to her logical answer. "This man is either a sith who might one day destroy me…or he is the apprentice I have been seeking for so long. The one whom if they are worthy enough maybe my successor and take the mantle of lord of the sith from me. Either way I must find him and find out which…but where to begin my search I am a master tracker but I only saw a possible future for this person not them now? I got no slight hint of where they could be this will be my most difficult hunt yet." Cognus thought to herself as she began to shake the room in anger with the force, until from across the galaxy at that moment another sign from the force no doubt she felt a tremor in the darkside of the force. It was only for a few moments but she felt an all to familiar power. It was dark, angry, and full of a hate that outclassed everything else in the galaxy.
Then as the feeling faded almost as fast as it had hit her Darth Cognus stood straight up, looked up at the rooms ceiling which was a complicated self lowering star chart, and allowed a sinister smile to cross the corners her face before saying: "Most intresting its almost like the darkside is demanding I find you young one? I felt there and I now know where to begin if you truly are whom I believe you to be then the galaxy…no universe shall shutter at our combined power. I can see it now Lord Bane's grand plan shall take its next steps with you…apprentice." Cognus said with after flipping back her robes black hood and making her grin horned face completely visible.
In the coming weeks, Darth Cognus used her sensory abilities to detect where the dark side presence was coming from. She was intrigued that there may be someone worthy to be with after all besides herself. She thought to herself that she must either utilize it, or destroy it. She couldn't risk the Jedi finding out. It was not yet time to destroy them. Cognus had an assassin droid disguised as a regular protocol droid. She recently acquired the 4V series touring various regions of the galaxy looking for various with artifacts. Without much to do without an apprentice, she needed hobby. Her 4V series was a far more advanced model than the 2V model used by Darth Nox during Emperor Vitiate's rule. She had him outfitted with two hidden vibroknives coated in unrefined Quesh venom. He also had a few hidden ion grenades added. The droid was essentially close in combat capabilities to an HK unit, only disguised as a harmless droid. His specific designation was unknown, but she just called him 4V-99.
after Cognus felt confident in her tracking abilities. She turned to her droid and said "plot a course for Ilum. This wont be just another treasure hunt." She got into her ship, which was no larger than a typical fighter and head off to the icy planet.