Lords of the Old Republic

Chapter II: Korriban

In the year 3940, after returning to known space, a fallen Jedi Knight named Mina Takhisis sought to find her former lover: Darth Revan. After killing Revan's former master, Darth Traya, Mina departed beyond the known regions of space again, searching for any traces of a mysterious "Forge" she had heard reference to on the Sith world of Korriban. Several months after her departure, one lone member of her crew returned: a Sith Assassin name Atton Jaq Rand. Before dying on Coruscant, he raved in a fevered sleep about finding darkness and true power. It has been speculated that Mina Takhisis may have found the Star Forge and Darth Revan, though these theories have never been proven or disproved. Mina Takhisis was never heard from again.

269 ABY – Outer Rim – Heavy Class Independent Space Station Striker

In the year 196 ABY, the Galactic Alliance felt the rifts of a civil war. The Senate was divided and the politicians who led the Alliance all fought to hinder one another. This was, now known as the War of Independence, was a result of fear. The Supreme Chancellor had imposed a strict tax on the mid and outer rims, forcing them to send nearly triple the amount of credits to Coruscant annually than the inner planets or the core worlds. Several systems attempted to secede from the Alliance and in the end, they succeeded. Thirteen planets escaped the unjust taxation of the government and became thirteen individual governments.

As the years had gone on the Independent systems had slowly begun to rejoin the Alliance. Now only three systems were still separate; Tatooine, a remote desert world that the Alliance had little interest in, and Nar Shadda.

During the Yuuzhan Vong War, the former Smuggler's Moon had been destroyed. Billions died and much of the urban planet was laid to waste. Shortly after the war, it was terraformed by the Vong to make it a more natural world. The next two hundred and fifty years slowly saw the Vong's efforts go to waste. Major corporations retook the planet and began to build over the natural terrain the Vong had spawned. In short, the planet looked exactly the same as it had nearly four thousand years previously. Most of the legitimate corporations had been driven out by companies such as Czerka or Ordan or the re-established crime syndicate – The Exchange.

There had been few wars since the initial separation. Therefore it wasn't a refugee infested moon anymore, though it was still grossly over populated and practically synonymous with crime. Mercenaries pretty much ran the planet, oppressing those who attempted to rise up against them. The Jedi and the Alliance had no jurisdiction on Nar Shadda and most of the people had little hope that they would ever be free from the bonds of near enslavement.

The last planet that was free had done considerably well for itself: Zanju V. The planet was a city based planet, covered with buildings that went miles high. Some of the most powerful and wealthy people in the galaxy lived there, along with some of the most powerful and well known crime lords.

The Striker was a full operational orbital defense station that was used as the first line of defense against attack against Zanju V. The station had been built using the most up to date technology in the galaxy. One shot from the Striker could cut clean through an Alliance Heavy Cruiser, splitting it in half.

The Striker was run by Sergeant Major Clen, a man who had served with Zanju V's military since he was eighteen years old. The Sergeant Major had seen his fair share of battle and had been awarded numerous metals and honors for his prowess in combat and military genius. He was a hardened soldier. His face was rugged and worn from years of pressure and stress. His hair was beginning to gray and his face was rarely without an accompanying stubble. His once blue eyes had been damaged on a mission to aid an Alliance cruiser through a nest of space beasts. One of the breasts had slammed the antique Star Destroyer it had re-commissioned into his Independent Heavy Cruiser. The Sergeant Major had been buried beneath a cylinder of flash grenades, which had broken open and unleashed a brilliant light throughout the room. He had been unharmed, except for the damage to his eyes. They had been replaced with ocular implants that gave him near perfect vision, though the implants stood out. The unusual gray color made them strange for a human.

Clen now sat alone in his office with one other person; a man named Aurico. Aurico was a strong young man, nearly twenty-five years old. He had been born on Zanju, but had left with his father at the age of twelve. Since then he and his father had scoured the galaxy as explores, going passed the outer rim to chart out new solar systems and map out new, unexplored planets. He had learned much in his travels. He had stayed on many planets for several months and had learned of most species in the galaxy. He could speak nearly twenty-seven alien languages fluently and was studying a few beyond that.

Lastly, he was proficient in numerous forms of combat. The Jedi had discovered him to be a Force sensitive when he was very young, though he had been older than most regular students. An old Jedi woman he had met in his travels had taught him the ways of the Force. Since then he had polished his own skills to become a Force wielder outside of the Jedi Order. Combining his Jedi powers with his numerous combat trainings, Aurico was a deadly fighter.

He ran a hand through his dark brown hair and looked at the Sergeant Major seriously. Clen now held a datapad in his hand, which he was reading very carefully. He would look up at Aurico every couple of lines as if to check to see if the explorer was joking. He was met by a serious gaze and an affirming nod each time. The contents of the datapad disturbed him greatly. He had heard rumors that the Jedi Order had been attacked, but he hadn't realized how serious it was or that this threat may also have been directed at the Independent systems.

Nearly four hundred Jedi Knights had been killed across the galaxy and over one thousand Jedi children had been reported captured. Twenty-eight Jedi Knights were still unaccounted for and it was suspected that they too had been captured along with the children. The Jedi stronghold on Korriban had been completely eradicated. There were no survivors and inspection crews had come up empty handed.

Aurico had noticed some rather strange things about the inspection of the Korriban Jedi enclave. The Dreshdae security force that had run the inspection had left numerous holes in their reports. None of the dead Jedi were named and none of the missing Jedi had been recorded. Coruscant had been forced to step in to force a more thorough survey of the scene. By that time, the Korriban security had already disposed of all the bodies, claiming that they had served their purpose and should be put to rest.

"What do you make of the situation?" the explorer asked.

"I believe you're right. I believe Korriban is hiding something," the Sergeant Major replied.

"Obviously," Aurico snorted. "I meant what do you plan to do?"

"What do I plan to do?" Clen repeated.

"Yes," the explorer replied. "The Senate can't be trusted to act on its own. The Independence must act for itself!"

"Korriban is an Alliance world. Even if I were to send a ship, they wouldn't make it passed the orbital defense grid. They'd be turned away instantly."

"Not necessarily," Aurico replied as took the datapad the Sergeant Major was holding. He pressed a button, changing the contents of the screen. Clen was now looking at a picture of a woman dressed in sea green Jedi robes. Her amethyst colored eyes seemed to be piecing the camera that took the image. She seemed very confident of herself and her arms were folded to emphasize the point. "This is Laurana Kaladon, Grand Jedi Master of Coruscant. I have spoken with her and she has already come up with a plan. One ship will be sent with to Korriban to scout the academy. They will use the story that they are there to begin preparing to repopulate the academy," he explained.

"An interesting plan, but what do you want from the independence?"

"Men," Aurico replied. "The Senate refuses to help the Jedi. They need the Independence."

"Then why haven't the Jedi come to me with this proposition?" the Sergeant Major asked. "And why come to me, for that matter? Why not go to the Parliament down on the surface?"

"You're this planet's military leader, Sergeant Major," the explorer replied. "I don't need to put up with the delays that inevitably come with all politicians."

Clen gave a dry chuckle and a curt nod. "That's true," he agreed. "I have an extra Specter Class Freighter that I can spare. It's has a prototype hyperdrive, so I'll require that you take a tech specialist with you to keep a close observation it. I will provide you with twelve soldiers and eight scouts, along with a skeleton crew. You may take care of your own business while there and my men will assist you, but Commander Throust is the officer in charge of this mission. If things go south, he will pull out, regardless of what you do."

Aurico smiled and nodded back at the Sergeant Major. "Thank you, Sir," he said with a grateful nod.

"It will take nearly fourteen hours to complete all preparations," the Sergeant Major explained.

"I'll be ready," Aurico replied.

"You better. This is your idea."

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He was nothing more than a janitor to them. He wasn't a soldier. He had fought in no battles. He wasn't a technician. Machines didn't interest him, nor did the prospect of flying a ship. He had little talent in their eyes. In fact, they probably wouldn't have noticed if he simply vanished.

This was their mistake. The human male had overheard everything that had been said between the Sergeant Major and his guest while he was mopping the floor outside of the office. What he had heard had disturbed him. His master wasn't expecting the blame to turn to Korriban so quickly. If the Jedi did send a search party, their cover could be blown.

More than four thousand years of work and effort had been put into this plan. He had not wasted so much time just to see it all die. He needed to act quickly. This Jedi, Kaladon, needed to be taken care of immediately. His partners on Coruscant could tend to that. As for this explorer and the Sergeant Major, they would need to be dealt with and there was no one else to do the job.

The janitor reached into his pocket and produced a small comm. link that worked on a secure channel. He activated it and slipped the small device into his ear. It would look like a hearing aid to anyone who saw him, but in truth it would record everything he heard or said and send it back home.

"There's a problem," he muttered. "They're sending a ship your way."

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"Let them," she muttered back. The janitor aboard the Striker couldn't hear her. She had spoken more out of confidence than to relay an order. She turned to the zabrak that sat at the computer that had picked up the janitor's message. "Send orders back. He is to continue as before. Take no action."

"Yes General," the zabrak replied as he keyed in the orders.

The woman had a sickly sort of beauty to her. Her form was very petite and her skin tight clothing did little to hide it. She was very slender and moved with elegance. Her hair was black as sin and her eyes were acid yellow. Her skin tone was very pale. Every vein in her arms was a clear blue line beneath the thin exterior. She wore black skin tight armor that left her arms exposed and didn't really do too much to protect her neckline. Her black hair fell around her shoulders in a mass of curls. She wore a communication device on her wrist, but that was her only accessory.

This woman's name was Mina Takhisis. In her day, she was known as the Jedi Exile. She had defied the Jedi Council of the Old Republic and went to war with the Mandalorians who were conquering Republic space. During the war she had learned of pleasures that no true Jedi could ever understand. She learned the thrill of battle during the war. She learned to love the challenge of conflict and she learned to love the sight of victory. The adrenaline she felt when she cut down her enemies became her addiction. It was a drug she could not live without anymore.

Her exile from the Jedi Order had been no real shock. Only five of the twelve Jedi Councilors had been present at her sentencing, but they had all seen a change. Her own former master, Atris, had been terrified in the woman she had seen that day. She had practically raised the girl. Atris had always taught Mina to be polite and respectful. Her body was an instrument of the Force. It was meant to be kept pure. Mina had come back from the war a changed woman.

She had become a hardened soldier. Had her connection from the Force still been intact at the time, she wouldn't have become an exile. She would have continued to follow Revan and Malak. She would have been placed in charge of the Trayus Academy instead of Traya. In short, she would have become the second most powerful Sith in the history of time.

Instead she had been weak. Her powers had been taken from her. She had been forced to receive a brief period of satisfaction in corrupting the Jedi Master's faith in their order. How could a woman who had once been the epitome of what they stood for go so wrong? Her mannerism that day had come as a complete shock to all of them. She had been snide and sarcastic. She had spoken of the thrill of combat and her love of murder. She had spoken giddily of the numerous men who had occupied her bed during the wars. Most of all, she spoke of power.

That's what she had now. Mina Takhisis was now ranked as the second most powerful organic being in the galaxy. For more than four thousand years she had built up her forces and sought out every object of Jedi or Sith history imaginable. Her forces had explored countless world throughout the Unknown Regions. She had conquered almost all of them in the name of the Sith. Each conquest brought her more bloodshed, more power, and more recruits.

Her name was revered throughout unknown space. All of the Sith Lords' were. They had become the rulers of the galaxy. All that remained now was the Galactic Alliance.

The Sith had considered invading Republic Space at several points during the last four millennia. Each time there had been a distraction that wasn't worth facing. Time wasn't an issue. The Sith had discovered the secrets of eternal life. All they had to do was wait. Mina had often considered disobeying orders and invading. She had been so eager to face the self proclaimed "Sith Lords" of the last four thousand years. Darth Vader would have been a worthy opponent. Darth Krayt and his followers could have been worth it. The Jedi who killed these false Sith would have been powerful adversaries as well. The original Skywalker family had radiated Force energy. Mina had felt it from thousands of light years away.

She mourned the loss of such a chance, but now she realized that it had been a wise choice. Had they revealed themselves early, the Alliance would have been prepared. The war that would soon lay waste to the Alliance would begin soon and the galaxy's prime example of peace and prosperity would burn.

"Iridonian," said Mina. "Where is my apprentice?"

The zabrak quickly scanned his computers and nodded. "She is in the valley, General," said the alien. "Dueling."

"What is she doing out there?" Mina thundered as she turned away and stalked out of the room.

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Nearly eight hundred years after the Sith Civil War, Mina Takhisis had selected an apprentice. It had been on a desolate world near the outer rim. There had only been one village on the planet and every single member had been a Force sensitive. Tests had concluded that the entire species was strong in the Force and traditionally, non-Force sensitive children were considered abominations.

The people of the village had no formal training and the planet had not evolved passed the bow and arrow stage. She had burned the village without thought. Only one young woman had survived. She couldn't have been more than fourteen, but already she had been with child. Mina had found her lying in the streets. A rock had been imbedded in her stomach. The child she had carried had already died. One look at Mina had caused something inside of her to burst. The Sith Lord had felt the seething hate and Force energies radiating off of this woman. Mina had used the Force to save the woman's life, but it probably would have been better if she hadn't. Mina had taken the woman back to her ship and tortured her for weeks. She had begged for death, but the Jedi Exile's cruelty would not allow it. Mina had preserved a flicker of her life and nursed that back to health each time.

The weeks of endless pain hadn't driven her insane as it would have done for most. No, this woman had used it to find clarity. She quickly learned to draw energies from the Force. She hated Mina. Time slowly molded her into a cold killer. Mina began to torture her in a new way. She had prodded her into fighting and each time the girl had become stronger and stronger.

Now, years later, Mina's apprentice had come to depend on Mina as much as she hated her. Only three things gave this woman's life meaning: pain, violence, and power. Her name was Kit Tara. This wasn't her real name. She had long since forgotten it. This was the name Mina had bestowed upon her once she had completed the Trials of the Sith.

Kit was a slender woman, though she was still larger than Mina. She wore black armor enforced robes with liquisteel gauntlets. There was no cloak, leaving all of her weapons and devices in pain sight. Several gadgets ran up her arms, including a missile launcher, assassination pistol, arm blades, and communications device. Her wavy chocolate colored hair cascaded behind her, a few inches longer than Mina's.

Kit was facing a single opponent in the Sith Battle Circle. The Sith student, nearly two thousand years of experience under his belt, charged at her. His blood colored lightsaber was raised high. Kit brought up her arm to block the on coming sweep. The blade landed on her arm blade. Despite his superior size, the Sith student couldn't overpower her. The blade would not proceed any further.

Kit brought up her leg and kicked her opponent in the stomach. He coughed and sputtered as he fell back. Kit stepped forward and grabbed his arm. She began to kick him in the stomach repeatedly, until she flipped him through the air and let him slam on the barren ground. She stepped over his twitching form and reached down, sliding her fingers around his head. She grunted slightly and she snapped his neck. All of the Sith around her shuddered slightly at the sound.

The Sith Lady dropped the man onto the ground and stepped away. She stood up straight, letting all of the Sith see her confidence. Her very stance radiated it. None of the Sith there would dare to defy her. The student she had killed had been unlucky. She had selected him randomly from the group. He had known he wouldn't survive the second she had pointed to him.

"Kit."

The Sith Lady turned around and saw her master coming towards her. Mina seemed to be in a sour mood, though this was not uncommon. All of the students around Kit dropped to their knees before the Dark Lady. Kit however remained standing. It had been centuries since she had shown any sort of awe towards Mina. As far as she was concerned, Mina had taught her everything she could. Kit deserved her own forces. She deserved to be proclaimed one of the Sith Lords.

"Kit, you were supposed to be ready to leave for Coruscant over an hour ago!" The Dark Lady roared.

"I am ready," Kit snarled back.

"Then why haven't you left?" Mina demanded.

"I'm going to be stuck in the damn star fighter for nearly eighty hours! I want to stretch my legs before I cram myself in there."

"What you want is not my concern," Mina snarled. "Go now!"

"Master." Mina spun around. One of the Sith from the crowd had stood up and was facing her. She was wearing red and black leather robes. A red veil covered most of her face, but what was visible of her skin was very pale. "It is my fault. She cannot leave until I have finished repairing her armor."

Mina looked at the woman she had known for so long. Visas Marr had been one of Mina's original students, over four thousand years ago. For reasons Mina did not fully understand, Visas was very protective of Kit. Mina saw the lie in Visas's story, but it didn't matter to her. Her need to inflict pain could be satisfied with either of them.

"Finish it them!" Mina screeched as she flung a wave of Force lightning at the Miraluka. The Sith apprentice had not been prepared for such an attack and was thrown through the air. She smashed into one of the Sith obelisks that had stood since the days of Marka Ragnos. Visas grunted as she slammed onto the ground and whimpered in pain. Kit stepped forward and blocked Mina from attacking Visas again.

"Enough. She's no use to me dead!" the apprentice snarled.

"All of you," said the Dark Lady. "Get back to work." All of the Sith murmured as they dispersed leaving the Dark Lady and the Sith Lady facing each other. "I don't know why that Miraluka protects you, Kit, but be warned. I will destroy both you and her if it is necessary. I've waited over four millennia for this! I will not let you ruin it!"

With strength that seemed impossible for such a small person, Mina back handed her apprentice, flinging her to the ground. "Get Visas back on her feet and get to Coruscant."

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The door to Visas's quarters slid open and the two Sith women entered. The door slid shut behind them and Kit keyed in the code to lock it. The Sith Lady had to support Visas as they walked. Mina had done a number on Visas this time. The Miraluka was in a considerable amount of pain and it was likely that she had fractured her shoulder. She knew at the very least that it was dislocated.

Kit dropped Visas onto her bed. The Miraluka did not say anything, but sat quietly as the Sith Lady looked at her arm. She felt the power of the Force running through her shoulder as Kit began to draw the bone back together.

"Thank you," was all Visas said when Kit was done.

"Are you alright?" asked Kit.

"I will be," replied the Miraluka.

Kit put her hand on Visas's shoulder and sighed. The two rested their foreheads against one another. The Sith Lady pulled the veil away from the other apprentice's head. Visas had a beautiful face, despite how pale it was. The Miraluka's black hair was soft as silk. It was a little shorter than shoulder length. Her eyes were closed, as they always were. Kit had never seen the Miraluka's eyes open. She had asked her to open them once. Visas had been unable to. She simply could not remember how. Her eyes were worthless to her now.

Kit leaned forward and kissed Visas softly on the lips in an act of comfort. "Do not worry, my love," she said to the Miraluka. "We'll be free soon."

"I know," Visas replied.

Visas wrapped her arms around Kit's waist, while Kit locked her arms around the Miraluka's neck. They shared a close passionate kiss with one another. Visas moaned softly in pleasure as she fell backwards onto her bed, pulling Kit on top of her.

Well, maybe there was one other thing that gave meaning to Kit Tara's life…