Chapter 1

Nightmares & Visions

Jedi Temple

Ossus

Alana awoke with a strangled cry, sitting bolt upright on her bed and gasping for a breath of air. She put her hand to her chest to try and soothe her pacing heart and found to her discomfort that she had broke out into a cold sweet. As her breathing slowly returned to normal the young Jedi put her face in her hands.

The dreams were becoming more vivid now and more frequent, almost to the point where she was afraid to close her eyes out of fear of her seeing it again. Were the Emperor and his saints playing a bad joke on her or was the force deciding to take an off day?

It was always the same, she would be running down a long corridor made of black stone, small glow lamps dimly lighting the way before her. She would continue until she came to a chamber, what she saw always terrified her. Bodies covered the floor, some torn into chunks like they'd been ripped apart. Several of the bodies bared the insignia of the Inquisition.

Then she would see it and everything else would just vanish, the body of a feminine figure lying on the floor, a familiar form of a bolt pistol just a few inches from her outstretched hand. Slowly Alana would advance to the body, her pulse slowly building into a rapid race as she would approach. Every time hoping, begging, almost screaming for it not to be her. Please don't let it be her. Please don't let it be her. Please don't let it be her.

She reached down and pushed the body onto its back. Her heart would sink at the sight. The first thing she would notice was the mess of black hair which flowed across the back of her head, then she would notice the pale skin, the smooth features and then the most terrifying thing of all, the purple eyes, wide as dinner plates and as deep as a bottomless pool, completely lifeless.

Then she would wake up.

Wiping the sweat from her forehead Alana got up out of bed and hastily put on a pair of brown robes before moving out the door, being as quiet as possible to not disturb her roommate. She walked down the cavernous, now empty corridors of the residential block, pulling her robes tightly around her body to escape the chill. Finally she came to the towering balcony and leaned against the rails. Watching the great forests of Ossus, the towering conifer trees and dense green foliage, she sighed happily as she perked up her ears to hear the calls of alien birds and nocturnal animals.

"You're stealth abilities stink" Alana jumped and spun around to see her roommate wandering up towards her, wearing the same brown robes over her nightgown.

"Sorry Cha" she apologised hastily. Chaadara Ji, a young Togruta woman who was saved from slavery by the Jedi. She was a full head taller than Alana with rich red skin with white patches around her black eyes. At first Alana had been a little unsettled by Ji. She had been born and raised in an Imperial household after all. But as time went by she came to trust and love her like a sister, after all she was the first to welcome her to the academy.

"You've been having nightmares again, haven't you?" Chadaara asked worriedly as she leaned on the railings next to her companion.

Alana nodded.

Cha sighed "Why don't you go to one of the masters? Get it checked out or suppressed. Honestly Alana you've been having these nightmares on and off for over a month now, your white as a sheet, there are bags under your eyes and you've lost weight"

"I just feel like this is important" Alana whispered "That if I ignore this or ask one of the masters to block it then I will be letting people walk to their deaths"

"Saving people it good" Cha agreed as she pushed herself off the railing and starred into her friends eyes "But if you kill yourself in the process-" she stopped when she saw the look in Alana's eyes as she gazed upon the forests beyond the temple compound, her eyes were slightly dazed, as if she had seen a great horror and was trying to hide it. Sighing the Togruta looped her arm around her friends waist and guided her back into the temple "I'm right here Alana. If you feel burdened just know that"

"I know" Alana replied, looking up and flashing a brave smile "Thank you"

--

Coruscant

The Senate District

It had been nearly a decade since the Yuuzhan Vong had ravaged it surface, turning the great city world into swaths of alien forests, but after nearly a decade of reconstruction and purging it was almost there. Coruscant began to gain some of its glimmer again. Huge swaths of rebuilt city had been cut back from the forest, at the monstrous alien jungles edge were construction and demolition droids standing storeys tall, forcing the forests ever back so that the rebuilding of the centre of the galaxy could continue.

One of the first sectors to be rebuilt was the centre of government, the Senate District where the senate itself was sited. The new building was so much like the old, a massive domed structure big enough to house over a hundred thousand senators, their delegations and the senates own guard of nearly ten thousand men. Also within this sector were massive living towers where the on-planet delegations lived and worked. The military headquarters for both the navy and the armed forces was also situated in this sector. And it was here that she needed to go.

She walked up the wide stone steps with ease. Around her were her retinue of agents, her own personal elite teams of soldiers and warriors. Not in nearly two decades had she seen it necessary to assemble all three of them in one place for one mission.

Walking alongside her was Michelle Keys, her bodyguard. A young woman who had been in the Adeptus Sororitas until Robyn chose her to be her right hand. She was fairly slimmer and less muscular than her brethren with slightly messy shoulder length white hair, blue eyes and fair skin, a thin scar started on her right cheek, through the bridge of her nose and onward to her left cheek. She wore a modified form of power armour, crimson with embroidered gold and silver, and holstered to her belt was the form of a Sororitas bolter, a smaller variant of the space marine's weapon, a combat knife and duo of specially crafted bolt pistols.

Lara Chrysler flanked her right. She was very attractive with an hour glass shaped body, impressive bust and enticing thighs. Her skin was pale, her eyes were a beautiful shade of hazel, and her hair was chocolate brown and tied in a long ponytail. She wore a skin tight body glove of dull black leather with a flak jacket and loose belts hanging from her waist, containing a holstered laspistol and an array of throwing needles.

Finally was the agent whom Silvermaine assigned to her when she became an Inquisitor. Marcus Von Rosenberg. A tall man at nearly six foot, he wore a long leather trench-coat of dark red with a wide rimmed dark red leather hat on his head of thick raven black hair. A pair of amber coloured, round sunglasses lay perched on his nose. Within his coat was a long handgun, specially made for him and too heavy for any of his fellows to use. He flanked her left but remained a few steps behind Lara.

Swiftly she finished the flight of steps that took her from her assigned landing pad to the main building. An impressive blade shaped structure which stretched up nearly twenty storeys. She was surprised to meet a welcoming party, an entire battalion of Alliance marines stood at attention in files fifty across and ten deep. Their blaster rifles held solidly against their shoulders. Walking up the royal red carpet was the familiar form of Halos, dressed in his flawless white Grand Admirals uniform with gold embroidering and knee high black boots. He remained the same man she met over the battlefield of Scorpio with his cut black hair and rugged features. Flanking him were two Alliance marines, majors by the badges on their shoulders.

He came up to her and held out his hand, a grin on his face "Inquisitor Vallace, to what do we owe the honour"

Robyn smiled and shook his outstretched hand "Business I am afraid my old friend" she replied "There was really no need for such a reception"

Joseph shrugged "This lot are far too lazy, I'd take any excuse to get them back to parade ground form" he then extended his hand to her "We should take this to more secure quarters"

She nodded and hooked her arm around his, allowing him to guide her down the tenth floor lobby and into the main corridor. Robyn allowed herself to be led by him as she looked around and surveyed the gleaming silver corridors, the Alliance were so much blander when it came to military buildings. There were no tapestries, no portraits or encased weapons, no way of showing their history. She was thankful when she finally entered the Grand Admirals quarters and found that it had personality.

The floor was done in a royal blue carpet, the walls were painted a relaxing mocha colour, bookcases and filing cabinets adorned the walls as well as a few weapon cases and paintings. One caught her eye, an epic scaled painting portraying a fleet of ancient Venator Star Destroyers advancing on a planet, a fleet of Trade Federation cruisers exploding from the cloud covered lower atmosphere to surprise them.

"You like Inquisitor" Joseph asked.

"The colours are used superbly"

"It's a depiction of the battle of Boz Pita" Halos explained "The Republic expected an easy fight but were surprised by a fleet of Confederacy dreadnoughts. Although the Republic won the battle it was at a heavy price. I keep it as a reminder to never underestimate ones opponent"

As well as the exquisitely decorated walls Robyn noticed a large oak desk set out before a massive armoured glass window, showing the rebuilt city world in its splendour. A large leather chair stood out on one side with another two on the other. A large glass table covered the centre with the insignia of the Galactic Alliance displayed on its surface. Robyn's cadre remained near the exit of the Grand Admirals quarters, not wishing to explore any further, from here on it was the job of their master.

"So Inquisitor" Halos started, taking his seat and motioning for her to do the same "To what do I owe this visit"

"Like I said before my friend, business" Robyn replied as she declined a drink from one of his aides, Halos did the same "We have been losing traders in the eastern outer-rim"

"I have heard" Joseph replied "The senate are debating on the matter, I and Grand Admiral Daala have put it forward to send a taskforce to investigate. We have also been losing ships in the Cloak of the Sith, just last week a fleet of five Trade Union transports and their escort vanished without a trace"

The Trade Union was a fairly new enterprise, with the losses the Alliance gained in the Yuuzhan Vong War, the Chaos Wars and now the mopping up operations their military didn't have the capacity to keep their supply lines running, so they helped to create the Trade Union. The Union itself was an alliance of small trading organisations, they had already gained several important trade rights by the senate and the military and an act was even passed for them to have their own defence forces against Chaos pirates and the like.

"So even the Union is losing ships" Robyn surmised before sighing "I am asking that we be allowed military access to your territories so that we of the Inquisition can start our own investigation into the matters unfolding"

"Wasn't that covered by the Treaty of Kuat last year" the admiral asked.

"Yes but I need to run it by an official in order to do so and I loath asking the Chief of State or his council, they take too bloody long"

"Amen" Halos agreed with a smile "I can't give you full access to our territories without adding on an observer"

"I prefer to keep away from bureaucrat's sir" Robyn replied mildly.

"There is another kind of observer that the senate will agree too" Halos said as he raised his hands "For instance if you can convince the Jedi to loan one of their teams then I could legally give it the go-ahead"

"Aren't the Jedi stretched thin at the moment" Robyn asked "If their not fighting in the space still controlled by Chaos they are helping in rebuilding efforts or settling diplomatic disputes"

"I hear from an old friend that his team is free" Halos replied "But knowing him it wont be for long"

"Thank you" Robyn said with a smile, rising from her chair she turning to her cadre "Could you excuse us for a few moments"

Robyn waited for her retinue to file out of the chamber before turning back to Halos, who had risen from his chair and was walking around his table to her. The two stayed just an arms length away from each other. It all happened in the blink of an eye, Robyn jumped into Josephs arms and he kissed her passionately. The Inquisitor, her eyes closed, enjoyed the experience, savouring his lust and passion. When the two finally parted they were short of breath.

"Missed you" he whispered softly into her ear, causing her to sigh happily.

"I know" she replied, burrowing her head into his chest and savouring his smell "I'm three days ahead of schedule"

"And your cadre" Joseph asked as he pulled away, wiping her black bangs from her face.

"I told them that I had diplomatic business with the resident Jedi Council and did not need any protection" she smiled that serene smile "I'm all yours"

"I think I can squeeze you in Inquisitor Vallace" he replied with a smirk and silenced any retort with another kiss.

--

Unknown Location

The chamber was dark and dank with only simple fire-lit torches for light. Ancient statues of dead lords towered up to just a few meters from the ceiling, their gazes starring straight down to the route between them and the two figures stalking through. In the flickering shadows of the statues were the silhouettes of robed figures, watching them from the darkness.

Freya skipped happily along the path, completely uncaring to the piercing stares she gained from the enshrouded guardsmen or the penetrating gazes of the long dead Sith lords. She was right at home in the darkness of the temple, she had felt a kinship with it since she was brought in, dying and half mad from the daemons that tormented her. Freya hailed from Bakura and was one of the civilians who opted to stay behind to help the soldiers and to be near her husband.

A month into the conflict the battalion she was stationed with was attacked by a Chaos war-band. All of the soldiers had been killed including her husband and she, alongside other non-combatants had been taken prisoner. For months she had been suspended in a cage, humiliated, degraded and raped by Cultists. She watched with dulling dread as others were taken away for sport or too be sacrificed to the accursed dark gods.

The first time she noticed she was a forceling was in a moment of pure hate, it was during one of their 'sessions' with her. A pair of Cultists who were using her to pass the time, they ripped the rags from her body and attempted to rape her, laughing at her and hitting her every time she tried to resist. She wanted them dead, she wanted to make them regret every sin they had committed and pay it back a thousand fold.

Then it happened, she didn't know how or why, but she raised her hand as he loomed over her and a surge of raw lightning escaped her grasp. It struck him head on and sent the ugly, mutated shit flying, crashing against the wall, still screaming as the lightning burned his body and the impact snapped his spine. The other had drawn a knife, screaming threats at her in a language she didn't know. He lunged at her, knife stabbing frantically, she reached out her hand and let the knife sink in between her knuckles, breaking through the skin and bone before exiting as a blood covered blade. She closed her fist around the knife and looked into his maniacal eyes. She saw fear grip his heart and rotting soul.

She saw it in his eyes, a perfect reflection, a woman whose face, covered in dirt and caked blood was contorted into a feral snarl, her dead pool eyes changing colour to a sickly yellow. She liked it. She controlled the power perfectly. Fire ran along her hand onto the knife, following the trail as if his body was slick with a flammable liquid. He went up in flames, screaming in pain and fear as the flames cleansed him from the world. She fell to her knees and cried, slowly rolling up into a ball as everything that happened to her crashed into her mind. She found a corner and waited for more of the savage monsters to come, see what she had done and finally put her out of her misery.

The door opened but a Cultist did not walk through it. A man dressed in black robes did. She heard the gunshots and explosions of battle beyond, men screaming and yelling as they fought and died. He approached her and she shied away, thinking that it was just those monsters killing the prisoners. He grabbed her hand and forced her too her feet, he leaned in close and whispered into her ear.

"Do you hate them child? Do you fear them? Do you want to make them suffer? Do you want the daemons to go away?"

She did not answer at first "Yes"

"I can make the daemons go away. I can train you and hone your power so that they will never hurt you again. Well? Will you take it?"

She did take it and never looked back. She had been a dead being living in a shell during her captivity, with no purpose or loyalty, just her hate and grief to keep her company, then to a certain degree her insanity. Her master and the Sith gave her purpose, they gave her a reason to continue to exist.

Finally she came to the base of a set of ancient steps, leading up to a throne made of black stone. Sitting on this throne was her master, who raised his hand and beckoned them to stand.

"Well?" he asked.

"The mission is a success my lord" her partner reported "We have drawn their attention here"

"Excellent" he replied "Send word to our troops to prepare for some unwanted guests"

"Yes my lord"

"My Dark Jedi" he stated, his voice rising "Come before me"

There was a rush of wind and a blur of motion, and another eleven silhouettes appeared from the shadows. The thirteen dark forcelings of her master had assembled, each one trained under his tutelage to become a warrior true to the Sith creed, a warrior whose goal to change and strengthen the galaxy was set firmly in their minds.

"The time of our resurrection draws near and we must be ready to show the Alliance and the Imperium that we are not to be trifled with!"