There wasn't much for Aby Isolder to think about down in the dark cell of the palace on Coruscant. She knew that the attempt to assassinate the emperor would go badly, but she had to try. The Jedi had gone through a great purge on Korriban, and only a few were left who could possibly finish the job.

Raltharan's apprentice was in charge of helping slay the guards to the emperor's throne room, but she'd barely gotten that farm and her teammates had been killed, and she had been captured almost instantly.

Kyle Katarn, who had been heading the mission, had to call a retreat, with no one left to save Aby. She knew it was all for strategical reasons and had nothing to do with her personally, but it still made her wonder if she meant anything to her master or to the New Jedi Order with all the effort she made on their behalf and how she was left to rot. To put it simply, she felt utterly alone.

She picked at the hem of her tunic. She knew her execution was only a matter of time, and it weighed heavily on her mind. There was a heavy guard of reborn Force-sensitives outside her door, so escape was not an option. Aby knew the emperor meant to make an example of her, to warn any Force-sensitive who valued their life to not ally with the Jedi, and rather join his army of dark Jedi.

The door opened, and Aby looked up, expecting a squad of stormtroopers to be coming in to escort her to her death. Instead was a woman that society hadn't seen much of in years, even on the holonet.

Her fiery red hair was tied in a knot at the base of her neck, with a few wispy strands escaping it, framing her freckled, pale face. She wore a dark green gown of a silky material that brought out the green in her hazel eyes and contrasted nicely with her red hair, although it made her look even paler and made her freckles pop.

It was Empress Elle Ghilsiane-Korr, the empress consort. She hadn't been seen in over a decade, except on the occasional broadcastings at the palace. Even during those, she was silent, with a look of a gentle sadness in her eyes.

"I'd heard that the palace guard had captured a Jedi," she said in a soft voice, a bit raspy from lack of use.

"What do you want, Empress?" Aby demanded, raising her eyebrows. "Come to torture me for trying to kill your evil husband?"

Maybe it wasn't the smartest move on Aby's behalf, but honestly, she was completely done with doing the safe thing. She was here anyway, wasn't she? Safety was no longer an option. Than again, it no longer had been after the day she joined the Jedi.

The empress looked down to the ground, and sat on top of her knees, hands folded passively in her lap. Her eyes flicked back up to Aby's.

"I intend to do nothing of that sort," she assured her in that deceivingly short voice.

"Then what do you intend to do, Highness?" Aby sneered, already losing her patience with this woman who seemed to be letting herself be a punching bag, who wouldn't fight back, wouldn't scream or fly into a rage.

"I just wanted to see if the New Jedi Order was still alive," she said, her voice almost a whisper, tears beading up in her eyes.

"Why? So you could finish off the threat? So you could brainwash them into your slaves?" Aby demanded, pouring all her fury at this empire that she'd been building up for years into those words.

The empress raised her eyebrows, and a fire lit itself in her eyes. Now this was more of Aby's element, fire vs. fire.

"I'm not quite the monster you make me out to be," she said, her voice cold as ice. "I'm grateful the Order survives. They need to succeed in their task."

Aby shook her head, not sure of what she was hearing. "Why would you want your husband dead?"

"I was a girl who got swept into this mess," she said, a faraway look in her eyes. "I love Jaden, I truly do, but things went too far. I always will love him, but although a glimpse of the man I once loved is still there, he has been replaced by a monster."

"Why don't you do the job yourself?" Aby asked, cocking her head, sending her blond curls tumbling down the front of her tunic.

The empress gave off a bitter laugh. "Because I'm selfish, Aby," she explained, shaking her head sadly. "Because the part of me that loves him irrevocably still believes his inner light can resurface."

"How do you know my name?" Aby asked, caught off-guard.

"I'm the empress. I have access to all the information in the palace," she answered with a shrug.

"How did you get into all of this?" Aby asked. "What happened that made him go dark?"

"It all starts about eleven years ago, when I was taken to become a Jedi," the empress told her.

"You were a Jedi?" Aby couldn't remember any information ever indicating that the empress was Force-sensitive. Everyone knew that Emperor Korr was, but no one knew that his consort had any sort of Force abilities.

The empress gave a smile. "There are many things the public doesn't know about me. Like that I still carry the evidence at all times." She gestured down to her braided gold belt, and Aby did a double-take at the silver cylinder hanging off of it.

"Can you show me?" She asked eagerly.

The empress's smile widened, and some of the sadness in her eyes faded. She pulled the cylinder off, and activated her lightsaber, revealing with a snap-hiss an emerald blade. Then, as soon as the empress knew that Aby had seen it, she deactivated it, and expertly re-clipped it onto her belt.

"Whoa, I had no idea.." Aby shook her head in disbelief.

"Let me tell you the tale of how Jaden Korr rose to power," Empress Elle began. "It begins with a ship from Coruscant, heading to Yavin IV. . ."