Star Wars

The Arden Lyn Chronicles

The Dark Days

By

Christopher Cleveland & Diego Feliu

Prologue

From the Imperial Palace on Coruscant, Emperor Palpatine gazed up to his greatest creation as it slowly came to life. The Death Star was almost ready for its application in combat and Wilhuff Tarkin was certainly doing a superb job on its construction. However, the Dark Lord of the Sith felt hollow even so for he had yet to acquire someone he had longed to recruit: he wanted Arden Lyn in his ranks. Six months had come and gone since the day that Chiss Admiral Thrawn had informed him of her return from beyond the Unknown Regions, fighting the enemy that he had long held back and had defeated.

He couldn't wait any longer, not when his quarry was now so close to possibly becoming his ultimate prize. A powerful individual such as herself cannot be allowed to remain rogue for any reason he told himself silently. "Captain Tarkin?" Palpatine asked into his comlink. "My liege?" was the reply.

"Inform my three finest Inquisitors that I have a special mission for them and they are to report to my headquarters at once," Palpatine ordered. "As you command, master. Do you wish to know the current progress on the Death Star?" Tarkin inquired. "Perhaps another time, for the moment, sending my Inquisitors on their way is all that concerns me," Palpatine said.

"Very well, milord," Tarkin said before cutting transmission. Loyal servants like him always come in handy until they start demanding what they feel is rightfully theirs. The most annoying ones are the ones who feel the need for vengeance for reasons unknown he thought with a smile. It was then that he was surprised with both the speed and the efficiency with which his Inquisitors came.

However, this surprise was soon washed away by his pride at who the three had turned out to be. The first was his Grand Inquisitor Laddinare Torbin with Antinnis Tremayne flanking his left and Ameesa Darys on his right. "Excellent, the mission I have for you three is very top secret and requires no small amount of stealth and cunning. For this reason, I am glad that Torbin's tactical genius can be applied to it: on Irkalla, there lives a woman called Arden Lyn.

"Bring her to me alive or do not come back alive, yourselves. You will understand her importance to my plans better if you should be forced to face her in combat. However, I recommend avoiding this if at all possible," Palpatine explained. "I can probably sense her potential long before we even need to fight her, I'm proud that you have summoned me to this mission," Torbin replied.

Palpatine smiled, glad to see that Torbin's mind was still the way it was when he first began to train him in the Force. "Remember: I want her alive or else never return, am I understood?" he repeated, questioning especially the subordinates to Torbin with his last comment. "Personally, I don't see why she could be so special but I will obey your command, Master," Tremayne stated, bowing. Darys said nothing, she didn't need to and she was usually a more silent woman than most of Palpatine's servants at any rate though she acknowledged her understanding with a bow.

"Now go to Irkalla and fetch her from the cold depths of its caverns where she remains in a Trance even now," Palpatine commanded, waving his hand with authority as he did so. The trio of servants bowed in unison and left with Torbin marching first and the others following him, haplessly.

Chapter One

Grieving for Depa Billaba was a far more profound task than Arden thought it would be when she underwent the Trance. However, she managed to finally find a reason to smile: it was coming to an end and she would soon be able to begin actively pursuing a new life in the alien galaxy before her. But still, something that she had foreseen in what appeared to be her future disturbed her. It was the vision of a little girl who had long, flowing black hair much like Arden's own standing in front of an older man.

What significance did the girl and the man in white and gold have for her? Was this the future of her family life and if so, was the man the father and the girl their daughter? None of it made sense and she hoped that she learned what it meant before the end of her life now that she was no longer immortal. Slowly, she began to come out of her trance, a long and tedious process that was always painful whenever she accidentally hurried one of the steps towards her revival.

Irkalla was still cold and windy like she had remembered it being when she first went into the trance, the caverns were still dark and void of life as she had remembered. But most importantly, she was still very much alone as she had remembered being just before entering the Trance. It seemed her way in life, to be alone and in command of her destiny whenever people were not around. Still, I often wonder if my life will soon be bound to others or if I'll always be a phantom outcast she thought.

The thought saddened her but she supposed it was better than remaining the insane woman that she had been when she had first awakened to the strange new universe around her. As she arose from her trance however, she began sensing presences approaching her lonely queendom. Presences that she had not sensed before nor would have invited into it before her trance if she hadn't wished. She knew she had to deal with these people before they got to the heart of her labyrinth and quickly.

Time was running out and Arden didn't want to be discovered by someone who had been forbidden from discovering her by Chiss Admiral Thrawn. He promised that his troops would stay clear of my caverns as much as possible she reminded herself quietly. However, as she came closer to the approaching phantoms, she sensed that they were not Chiss nor even Republic. They were different with white armor from head to toe except for black visors and underneaths.

Was this a sign of the Empire that Thrawn had rather passively mentioned during their last encounter? How had they managed to find this planet considering its trajectory lying in the Unknown Regions of the Galaxy? It didn't add up and Arden was becoming worried that she might have been tracked down by someone from whom Thrawn couldn't protect her. She had to fight, there was no mistaking it and she began by shooting green bolts of Force Lightning at the enemy before her.

Torbin sensed the dark presence before even needing to see the carnage that had surely begun with the detection of his bait stormtroopers. Smiling, he told the other Inquisitors that their target had taken their bait and it was time to head out. "Hold on Torbin, I sense her presence in the Force too: do you really think we have what it takes to destroy her?" Darys asked. "If you don't have the stomach for a fight like this, you can wait here until Tremayne and I get back," Torbin answered wickedly.

"No, not at all. I just wonder if we should go into this with backup," Darys said. "You fool, do you even understand what your title means? For normal stormtroopers, we are the backup if they're up against someone like this Arden Lyn. Now let's get a move on and bring her down for the Emperor," Torbin ordered.

Darys and Tremayne both nodded, following under the heel of their superior who would have waited for no one if he had been on his own. Because of her usage of the Dark Side of the Force, Torbin had no difficulty tracking Arden's every move nor any difficulty pinpointing her location. He had gotten used to having that capability with all beings his Master and perhaps, Lord Vader. Sometimes, even the Emperor's minor masterpiece caught the powerful Inquisitor off guard which was interesting.

But Torbin turned himself away from this mental digression on the prize of the game that was to be played. Indeed this will most likely be one of the best fights that I have ever had in my life he thought to himself gleefully. He had had few challenges in his career as an Inquisitor and quickly rose up to be one of the leaders of his group but he longed for difficult opponents. And when he finally gazed upon the woman that caused the disturbance he had pinpointed he smiled for he wasn't disappointed.

"Arden Lyn, we meet at last. I am Grand Inquisitor Laddinare Torbin and beside me..." he began. "Enough formality, Jedi! Now you die for entering my caverns!" she exclaimed. Shooting bolts of green lightning that the Grand Inquisitor easily deflected, Arden used the distraction to ignite two sabers.

One of them had the green blade of a fallen Jedi though whether this was her own personal one or not, Torbin didn't know nor would care if he did. The other was an orange blade, more likely taken from somebody who had fallen that she had the pleasure of knowing than it was to be her own. Less likely, in fact, than the green one already was and Torbin calculated that it was also unlikely it was hers. Nonetheless, her charge with the usage of Jar'Kai against the Grand Inquisitor astounded him and almost swept him off feet that might have been severed by her blades if he hadn't been careful.

At his signal, Darys lunged with her own usage of the lightsaber form Juyo whilst Tremayne attacked with the full agility and power of Ataru. Torbin himself kept up a steady barrage of Makashi and even together, it seemed as though Arden could beat it all. Impressive power, no Jedi would have lasted more than half a standard minute against this attack and she's already done better he observed to himself. Indeed, the Emperor had chosen wisely in requesting Torbin to bring two other Inquisitors to bring Arden Lyn into the folds of the Empire rather than let her keep on being rogue.

Indeed, her skills with a blade alone were worth bringing her into the fold of the Empire though he highly doubted this was the best that she could do. Thinking about this, Torbin became distracted again and Arden Lyn was quick to exploit it in the form of Force Pushing him against a wall. Then she proceeded to hack at Tremayne until he was almost out of Torbin's line of vision. Finally, she turned her attention back to Darys who she had kicked aside earlier with an impressive sweeping of her leg.

Torbin was about to get up and intervene when he recalled the abnormality of both the precision and the scale of the kick in proportion to her body. Is this a Terras Kasi user? he asked himself silently, raising an eyebrow in curiosity. He watched as even Darys' introduction of her lightsaber being a saberstaff, he could not hold his own against Arden without the rest of the team. But of the two other Inquisitors, only Tremayne intervened though this was before Arden lopped off his legs.

Smiling, Torbin relished in his junior officer's suffering and used it to fuel his own recovery from Arden's blows. However, he didn't recover in time to avoid seeing Arden run Darys through with both of her blades. The young woman groaned in agony and barely managed to keep herself standing up before Arden threw her aside with the Force. Subsequently, in a fit of rage, Tremayne managed to disarm Arden of her lightsabers with his skill in Ataru and had his blade at her neck.

However, Arden conjured more lightning that Tremayne was forced to deflect with his blade, a distraction that worked to her advantage. After deflecting the electricity successfully, Torbin watched while collecting Darys' saber as Arden punched Tremayne five times in rapid succession. Two were aimed at the chest, one was aimed the lungs, another at his stomach, with the final resting on his nose. Torbin was especially amazed at how the punches beared such magnificent strength and precision as to have Tremayne coughing up blood whilst trying to keep his nose together.

Then Arden recalled her lightsabers over to her and ignited the blades in preparation to lay the killing blow on Tremayne. However, Torbin reignited both his saber and Darys' which beckoned a better challenge for the ancient warrior woman before him. Arden smiled, taking the bait that he threw at her and for what felt like eternity but was just a few minutes, the two of them exchanged blows. His use of Jar'Kai was excellent but it had not prepared him for the full barrage of Arden's own abilities in it.

As if that wasn't bad enough, she did incorporate some of the lesser known moves of Terras Kasi such as the kick he had observed earlier. Though he managed to dodge most, one scored a shot in his left jaw hard enough to send him spinning through the air. Fortunately, he used the Force to manipulate the currents of the air and his body movement so to levitate himself back on his feet. Then he charged back into the fray, having quickly recovered from the blow, defended against her next move.

For many seconds, their blades remained crossed with his blades taking the shape of an X in their defense of him and hers taking the shape of II in her attack on him. "This duel has drawn on long enough, it is time to end this," he said at last. Before she could confess her agreement on it though, he surprised her by separating her blades and exposing her chest to a quick stab from both his blades. Instead though, he only used one of his blades to sever her right arm which threw her into a universe of pain that she had never known before.

Immediately, she dropped the lightsaber that had been situated in her remaining hand (the orange one) and tried her best to tend to the stump. She made no screams which surprised Torbin as that was usually the reaction he got from people who lost their limbs before their own eyes. However, he could tell by her face that she didn't need a scream to indicate that it hurt too damn much. Torbin pitied her and was surprised that Tremayne had reignited his saber with the intention of killing her.

"No Tremayne, she must live," Torbin said, raising a hand to stop his remaining subordinate. "But Master, she killed Darys and injured me with her bare hands. She is too dangerous to be left alive!" Tremayne exclaimed. "If left alive and rogue yes but if alive and a servant of our Master, perhaps not," Torbin replied.

"I'll never serve you," Arden hissed. "Oh no, no, no. You wouldn't be serving me, you would be serving my superior. Come with us and hear his offer, I am sure he will think of a most generous one for you," Torbin replied calmly and meticulously.

He used his smile to prey on the innocence he sensed in her mentality as well as the extending of his hand to act as a beacon of hope for her. "I say kill her and kill her now!" Tremayne exclaimed. "Oh no Tremayne, do you remember the Emperor's orders? Come back with this woman in tow or don't come back at all," Torbin reminded.

"Your Emperor has been hoping to see me?" Arden asked. "If that can be arranged for the great Arden Lyn," Torbin answered. "No, it cannot be arranged!" Tremayne interjected. Sighing annoyedly, Torbin placed Tremayne under a Force Crush pulse until he submitted to his superior.

"We will take Arden Lyn to the Emperor and see if we can fetch an artificial replacement for her arm while seeing if she will take his offer of an alliance. Get her a stretcher and find her a comfortable place to rest from her injury in the meantime," Torbin ordered. "Yes Master," Tremayne replied before disappearing to obey his superior's commands. "Why did you spare me and why would your master have an interest in me?" Arden asked when they were alone.

"My master has many Force adepts under his command and while powerful, no two adepts have the same set of talents or the same level in any talent. But amongst the ones still missing, I have detected that your skills in Terras Kasi would be most useful to us if you were to accept. Would you?" Torbin answered. "I don't know, depends on what he can offer me in return," Arden admitted.

"Then I guess we'll have to wait until you meet him to find out, now won't we? Rest in the meantime, it's going to be a little while before we return to Imperial Center. I'll go to comm in my success in bringing you to calmer levels than you were just moments ago," Torbin said, walking away. While it did mean leaving Arden alone to the possibility that Tremayne would try to kill her again, Torbin wasn't worried about that as the junior officer knew what would befall him if he disobeyed his order.

Six months had come and gone since the last time that Chiss officer Thrawn had laid eyes on the Force-sensitive rogue known as Arden Lyn. While he had guaranteed her protection for at least that long, he still felt bad that he couldn't guarantee anymore than that. After all, Arden had proven so useful to him in defeating the Yuuzhan Vong despite the Ascendancy cheating him out of his victory. But there were other aims to concern himself with now, one of them being to find a way to ascend from Vice Admiral to Grand Admiral in Palpatine's Empire.

Two months after Arden had underwent the Trance, Thrawn moved into Known Space and had been issued his test by the Emperor. Though he did not succeed in all aspects, the Emperor had been so profoundly impressed by his work as to allow him to have the rank of Vice Admiral. Rather than start from the bottom up, Thrawn only had to do a little more work to earn his desired title. True that it wasn't as bad as it could've been he still wondered what had disappointed the Emperor so much.

But thinking about it gave him a headache and he decided that until he knew what it was that had annoyed the Emperor about his approach, he would continue his old methods. After all, there was no way for him to know what to improve on without knowing what it was that pestered Palpatine, right? No matter, all shall be revealed to me in good time if it is meant to be revealed at all he told himself fervently. After that, he turned his attention back onto the plans that Palpatine had recommended for his return into the Unknown Regions and he was impressed by their humility.

After all, he was being asked to chart the most mysterious part of the galaxy rather than conquer it and bring the information back for future military design. Not a bad goal even by the standards of a man who was high and lofty above all others in the dog-eat-dog empire he had created. Nonetheless, Thrawn's amusement over the plans were soon consumed by annoyance with the arrival of his superior. Grand Admiral Demetrius Zaarin was not a bad man, he was just bossy and it made Thrawn's skin crawl and send shivers down his spine.

"So tell me Chiss, have you found any means by which we can conduct the most rapid expansion into the Unknown Regions yet? If you can't, no one can, after all," Zaarin asked. "Sir, a rapid and poorly planned expansion such as you're requesting would be suicidal for us all. If you want good results, you're going to have to be a little patient with me as I map out what we have to take," Thrawn answered.

"Truly, that is quite a disappointing reply but I suppose you would know that better than the rest of us. But if you don't mind me asking, how would it be suicidal for us all?" Zaarin inquired. Thrawn heaved a heavy sigh and shook his head, unbelieving that this incompetent fool was his superior. Unless this is an act he's putting up to annoy me, he is truly an idiot worthy of execution he thought.

"Our first problem would be the insectoid Killiks who have a grudge against Chiss like myself for what happened in wartimes long past. As if that wasn't bad enough, they are the first of only dozens of different uncategorized species that want a Chiss head for their collection. And unfortunately, they will expand their range to include allies of the Chiss if they have to become versatile," he explained. "Then I suggest you find a way to get around them for now and then let the Death Star annihilate their worlds when it's ready," Zaarin retorted.

"I plan on it, sir," Thrawn said. "Good, now get back to your work. You have a long road ahead of you after all," Zaarin ordered. Though not for the same reasons as the Grand Admiral had, Thrawn couldn't have agreed more with him.

Meditating, Palpatine had sensed tremors in the Force that he only knew could have come from Irkalla. It was clear to him that his Inquisitors had engaged Arden Lyn and the disappearance in the tremors meant that either they had failed or they had succeeded. At this moment, he awoke from his meditation and decided that he was going to need to do some research in case the latter had occurred. He needed to know as best he could what he could do to persuade Arden to join him without any thought to fighting against him and he needed it immediately.

Looking through his old archives which included some ancient scrolls, he found only a couple pages which told of the story of the Legions of Lettow. Their leader had been a man called Xendor and he had been loved by many in the Legions though he had his heart only for one: Arden herself. Hmm, if she returned the feelings to him then it could prove useful in persuading her. I wonder if she has ever thought about resurrecting him and if whether or not she's tried it he thought gleefully.

True that it was cruel for anyone to play with the feelings of a woman whose mind had been ravaged anywhere near as bad as Arden's probably had been. However, wasn't that one of the favorites of the Sith: to be cruel to those of weaker minds than themselves? Granted, this one was not just easy to manipulate but was also relatively unstable and thus, he would have to tread carefully. However, this thought was soon tossed aside when his comlink beeped and flashed the red light of an important message.

"This is the Emperor," he said nonchalantly. "My liege, this is Grand Inquisitor Torbin with exciting news on the quest for Arden Lyn. We have her under our custody and are bringing her back to Imperial Center at this time. However, we request that you have a prosthetic replacement limb ready as I was forced to sever Arden's right arm in the process of taking her into custody," the voice of Torbin said.

"Excellent news, I could have done without the part where her arm was lopped off but other than that, excellent work as always," Palpatine replied. "Thank you my liege and also, we may need to have a moment of silence for Inquisitor Darys: she ended up on the wrong end of Arden's blades. It was tragic but I guess we all saw it coming sooner or later with her attitude," Torbin added.

Indeed she was one of the most cowardly of Vader's Inquisitors even if she was brave to follow in the footsteps of her Jedi Master Jerec and join me Palpatine agreed mentally. "Very well, I think I know just the prostheses to apply to her wound. She will find it most useful regardless of whether or not she agrees to join us," he said aloud. "Though I have not spoken on your behalf, I have told her that you wished to make her an offer in exchange for service, I trust you have one?" Torbin asked.

"Yes, as always, I have an offer that she might just be unable to refuse and will persuade her to hastily agree to a contract with us," Palpatine said with a smile. "Excellent milord, I shall contact you again when we are approaching Imperial Center," Torbin stated with a bow. Transmission was disconnected at that point and Palpatine relaxed into his Throne Room chair gloatingly.

Laughing in his usual demeanor, he came to accept that everything was proceeding as he had foreseen for Arden Lyn. Then a new idea flashed across his mind: the Inquisitors were becoming obsolete though they did not need to be disbanded. He needed a new branch of Force adept that he could trust to serve him on any account, whether related to the Jedi or not. This would have to be a branch of adepts willing to extend his reach across the stars and inspire further fear.

The Emperor's Hand... that shall be the name of the new branch and it shall destroy all my enemies at my command or dying trying he thought with a smile. This new idea, combined with the other dozens that it stirred, turned the gears and engines running in his head rather sadistically.