Chapter 2: Awakening the Ancient Emperors

(Darth Finalus's Point of View)

As Darth Finalus sat in his private shuttle he wondered why the elder of the Crimson Guard wanted to speak to him. The Crimson Guard was a mysterious branch of the royal guard. They did not answer to him nor did they answer to anyone else. He had expected to find out when he had been crowned emperor, but was only told that he had no control over their activities. However he had heard rumors that for thousands of years the Crimson Guard has protected some ancient space station and that when an emperor was on his deathbed, the guards would take them there. Finalus arrived at his throne room and found it seemingly empty. Presuming that Elder Val had not yet arrived he sat at the throne and waited. Suddenly he sensed a strong presence watching him and began to feel into the force to find it. He was so concentrated on finding the presence that he did not sense the presence of someone behind him, and by the time he realised it was too late. A small needle pricked his neck, and Finalus instantly passed out.

When Finalus woke up he was laying on a bed in a unknown location. His lightsaber was on a table next to him. He picked it up and walked up to the doorway, expecting it to be locked. To his surprise the door opened. He stepped out of the room, his lightsaber ready. The room opened up into a bare hallway with a single doorway. The door opened and a man walked in. Finalus recognized him as a member of the crimson guard and put away his lightsaber. The guard bowed quickly then motioned for him to follow.

"My lord, Elder Val is waiting for you in the conference room. He will explain what is happening when you arrive. Please, follow me."

Finalus followed him to the room. When they reached the door he stopped and ushered him inside. Waiting for Finalus was a large reptilian creature wearing what looked to be a modified guard suit. The creature bowed then spoke.

"I am Khem Val, elder of the crimson guard, and I am at your service. We are in a ship on route to the space station Sepulcrum. You are needed for a task that only the current emperor of the sith can fulfil."

"And what gives you the right to take me without my consent?" Finalus said angrily.

"I am following the orders of my master, Darth Imperius."

Finalus scoffed.

"Darth Imperius? The first emperor? He has been dead for nearly four thousand years!" He was about to activate his saber when he felt something. It was the same presence he felt before he had been kidnapped. Then he heard a something, a voice. It was soft, almost like a whisper

"Listen to him… He speaks the truth… Come to me, and I will explain all…"

Finalus put away his saber.

"Are you taking me to him?"

Val nodded.

"The journey is about a day's length in hyperspace. When you meet him he will explain."

Finalus spent the rest of that day meditating and researching anything that could tell him more about what was going on. While looking for any records of Khem Val he came across a historical record. The record summary was that Khem Val originally served the ancient Sith Tulak Hord. He had been put into stasis by Hord until he was freed by the heir of Kallig. He served the heir until the heir's disappearance when the eternal empire attacked. Years later he was recruited by the outlander, a jedi whose name was lost to time. While working with the outlander he was reunited with the heir, now called Darth Imperius. When the republic attacked the Sith Empire in an overwhelming assault the outlander helped Imperius escape with a fleet of survivors into the unknown regions. There Imperius established the New Sith Empire. Khem Val served Emperor Imperius until they both disappeared about 50 years after the empire's founding.

After reading through the records Finalus was curious. He went to ask Khem if he was indeed the same as the one in the records but Khem just told him to wait.

"Lord Imperius will explain to you when we arrive. But now we approach the station."

The Sepulcrum towered over the ship. The station looked like a large asteroid made of obsidian and volcanic rock, floating in a eternal void. The station was about 2 km tall and about a km in radius. They flew towards a large alcove in the rock. As they approached a large hangar door opened, letting the ship in. They landed and Finalus walked out of the ship. About two hundred crimson guardsmen were lined up in formation. Khen led him out of the hanger bay and deeper into the station. As they got closer to the center of the station Finalus began to notice something. The atmosphere seemed heavier, the air colder. It felt like someone was watching him, but every time he looked around he saw nothing. The walls themselves seemed to be whispering.

Soon they reached their destination, a stone doorway at the end of the hallway. It seemed to lead to a large cavern which continued down further into the station. Khem stopped at the doorway.

"This is as far as I can take you. You must continue from here by yourself."

"Before I enter tell me this. What is this place?"

"This is the tomb of the emperors. You will find my master at the center of the tombs. Be careful young sith, the tomb is a dangerous place. Even us guards get lost inside, and we have mapped it . Good luck, Emperor Finalus."

With that Finalus walked into the tombs.

The tomb was very maze like, with hallways seemingly going off in random directions and many rooms seemingly put in random areas. There was also a heavy force presence in the tomb, with both dark and light side energies overwhelming Finalus's ability to sense his destination. Not long after entering he became lost. He took out his lightsaber and was about to start cutting his way through when he noticed a shadowy figure. He cautiously walked towards the figure. As he approached the figure it moved away. He followed it through the tombs for about an hour. As they got closer to the center of the tomb Finalus noticed that the shadowy figure was beginning to look more solid and began to take a more human-like shape. He also noticed that occasionally when passing an occupied tomb a spirit of a long dead emperor would reveal itself and kneel as the figure passed..

Their journey ended when the figure led Finalus to a circular room with two doors, each with carvings written in the language of the ancient sith. The shadow led him into the door on the right which opened into what could only be described as a cavern. Inside were twelve machines surrounding a large statue. Upon closer inspection of the machines Finalus realised that they were some sort of stasis chamber. What surprised him even more was the fact that four of them were occupied. All of the chambers occupants looked familiar to Finalus. Then he realised who they were. The people in the chambers were former emperors! While he was studying that chambers the shadow walked up behind him. Finalus turned to see that the shadow had taken a more solid form, looking somewhat similar to a force ghost. The ghost looked familiar, but Finalus could not place where he had seen its face before. It pointed at the statue in the middle.

"Release us" it said before walking up to one of the chambers and "climbed" into the occupant.

Finalus went over to that stasis chamber and saw that the resident inside was the same person as the shadow. Then it dawned on him. The shadow was the first emperor, Darth Imperius.

Finalus turned and walked to the middle of the circular chamber where a statue of a cloaked Sith with a lightsaber activated stood. Darth Finalus looked up at the statue. He had a feeling that it was the key to releasing the people in the chambers.

Darth Finalus decided that he should meditate in front of the statue. After about an hour of meditating he finally got the answer. As he was meditating he had a vision. The vision was of Darth Imperius, the first emperor, when he was still just a sith acolyte. The vision showed him when he was doing his final trial to become a Sith apprentice. He was trying to open a Sith Holocron, each time with no success. Finally, out of frustration and anger he shot it with force lightning which caused the Holocron to open.

Darth Finalus realised that in order to activate the statue he had to shoot it with force lightning. He got up and faced the statue. He started to shoot it with force lightning. The statue crackled with power as force lightning ran through it. The statue's eyes started to glow red and a purplish aura of dark side energy formed around it. The energy built up until finally a large explosion of electricity shot out of the statue's lightsaber and spread across the room. Darth Finalus was thrown across the room as the built up energy flew into crystals on each of the stasis chambers. The energy was absorbed by the crystals which began to glow. The energized crystals disrupted the flow of energy keeping the emperors in stasis. Then in one final powerful blast of energy the stasis chambers shut off and the ancient emperors awoke.

Darth Finalus lay dazed by the entrance to the cavernous room where he had been thrown by the explosion. After his ears had stopped ringing and his vision had returned to normal he looked up and realized that the occupants were released from their chambers

"My lords, it is an honor." he said as he kneeled in front of them. Imperius spoke to him.

"There is no need for such formalities my friend, even though we may have ruled longer we are all equals."

He then offered to help Finalus up. Darth Finalus got up and look around in amazement. He had heard tales about the previous emperors and all their amazing feats. However he had never thought that he would meet them. He was about to tell them why he had released them when Darth Imperius stopped him.

"We already know why you have come. We have watched you through the force and we know of the coming war. I know you have many questions. Come, let us go to your ship. I will explain on our journey back."