Chapter 4. Kreia's Rebellion
The unknown regions was at peace, the Arquillian emperor had enough of war and opened up peace talks with the alien alliance. This peace was due to the intervention of Darth Tarya who ruled the unknown regions from the shadows. Traya was old now in her early seventies; she could regenerate her body with the force if she wanted too, but she had no interest in living a long drawn out life like Darth Koar. Darth Koar was an ancient sith lord she learned the ultimate knowledge from. The truth of the force was the force without the limitations the Jedi and Sith placed on them and she passed this knowledge on to her apprentice Kreia who was now a woman in her twenties. Kreia's ambition was starting to rise and soon she would challenge Darth Traya for her title.
("When will you strike little one…") Traya thought to herself. Their battle would be epic and if Kreia was strong enough she would kill her and become the new Darth Traya, if she was strong enough. Traya was in her secret study adding her last entry to her journal. She had sent the Sith Lord Cornad to insure the peace talks between the Arquillians and the Alien Alliance. Traya finished her entry and left the study making her way through the Trayus academy to the thrown room where the sith lords were assembled. Janeo Ram was there, Horad Swent, Lord Paris, Darth Sorr, and High Sith Priest Galan to name a few. They bowed as she crossed the marble floor to her thrown.
"About time… we've been waiting…" Sorr complained.
"Your arrogance Lord Sorr is only superseded by your stupidity… I summoned you all here because Kreia is about to raise her hand against me…"
"Give us the word my lady and we shall destroy her…" Paris said.
"No… I must face her alone… I am telling you all because if she defeats me she will be lord of this academy and she will inherit my title and name… She will be Darth Traya…"
"She can never take your place my lady… There will only ever be one Darth Traya…" Paris said.
Paris had always hated Kreia, especially after her grunt of an apprentice embarrassed him in front of the entire academy. "There must always be a Darth Traya…" She said to them, "…Now leave me I must prepare myself."
Everyone but Galan left the Thrown room, "Paris can't be trusted…"
"I know…" She said, "…But he will be Kreia's problem not mine… Anyway I want you to give Kreia your full support…"
"All will be done as you see fit mistress…" She waved him off and when he left Traya centered herself in the force in preparation for Kreia's next move.
The Planet NeCroth:
NeCroth was a planetary graveyard for ships and droids from all over the Unknown Regions. It was also the place Lord Paris, had built his fortress. Like Racuss Prime, the planet was controlled by droids who now served Paris. Paris was building an army, a droid army and had constructed three droid factories on the planet. When his star ship the Dark Walker landed in the underground hangar Paris was greeted by his apprentice Mixo Zel and the droid general; General Colossus. Colossus was eight feet tall, heavily armored and had tentacles in addition to his arms.
Colossus and Mixo took a knee as Paris came down the ramp; "Welcome home my lord…" Mixo said.
"General how many troops do you have now?" Paris asked ignoring the greeting.
"Five hundred thousand and counting… The fleet is at a count of ten thousand ships my lord…"
"Where is Morvius…"
Morvius was Cerean and Paris's apprentice, "He is in the dueling arena as usual Master…" Mixo said.
"Mixo meet me in the thrown in one hour… I have a mission for you…"
The dueling arena was on the second level underground in the fortress and it is where the oblong head Cerean was matching blades with eight saber droids. Saber droids were agile droids capable of making calculations and probabilities at the tenth of a microsecond. Morvius was fighting eight of the black and silver plated droids with his lightsaber. His weapon had four prongs where the energy blade sprouted from; it was gold and black with an adjustable blade modulator. Morvius could widen or thin the beam however he wished or he could extend the length of the beam out as far as he wanted.
He spun around and severed the head of the first droid; then he arced his blade spun again and lengthened the beam to fifteen feet. Three droids were severed at the waist while one slid on its knees beneath the blade. Another droid flipped over the energy blade while the last blocked it. The remaining droids assaulted him at the same time, but he spun around using the force with his arms tucked in. when he completed the move he stood up strait and tall with his arms close to his body and his blade pointed up. His power gave life to the shadow spin he made and the droids were cut in two.
"I told you not to use the saber droids for lightsaber practice…" Paris said entering the arena.
Morvius held the pose for a few more seconds before switching off his lightsaber. "Forgive me my lord… but the regular droids lack imagination when fighting me…"
Paris grunted and pointed his hands at Morvius unleashing a lightening storm, but Morvius caught the blast with his hands. Paris ended his attack with a smile; "You are growing stronger…"
"Thank you master…"
"Yes that is right… I am master…" They just stared at each other for the next minute or so; "…Walk with me." They left the arena and headed upstairs via the steps. "…I want you to get ready you are leaving for the outer rim."
Morvius stopped, "Why has something happened?"
Paris sighed, then he turned to face him, "Kreia is making her move… I have no wish to follow that viper… You will head towards the core and reclaim the planets that once belonged to the sith empire… Destroy Darth Shenron and claim the sith on Mariluka, Dathimor, and Vespar for yourself. When the sith bow to us then we will destroy the Jedi… But first I must kill Kreia after she kills Darth Traya…"
"I obey my lord…" What Paris didn't know was that Morvius and Kreia were lovers.
After he left Morvius Paris went to the thrown room where he gave Mixo his mission and that mission was to find Kreia's apprentice and kill him.
The Alien's Gate:
During the first few months of the war, the Arquillians took over the alien's gate. Now the Alien's Alliance had agreed to meet there for peace talks. The peace conference had been going on for the past two months and Conrad Ram was sent to manipulate the terms of peace. Traya wanted the peace talks to go in favor of the Arquillians, but Kreia had other ideas. She sent her apprentice Qwan Hystar to kill Ram and disrupt the peace treaty. Qwan was now Darth Hystar, he had been given his sith name by his master Kreia. He arrived at the gate in the disguise as an Arquillian ambassador; his ship had bombs planted in the hyper drive. The moment he left the hangar, he used his force cloaking power to travel through the gate freely.
"The J'Shannii want the Arquillians to share in any territories they take in an invasion of the core… My lord…" These words were spoken by Charren Roth a high ranking member of the Roth Clan.
"We can't allow that… Tell the sith spies in the J'Shannii government to have Ambassador RuToi recalled to the home world…"
The room was filled with nine people, six of whom were personal servants to Conrad, his apprentice was there as well. The other two were spies high ranking spies for the sith. Charren was stabbed from behind hoisted into the air and thrown into the wall. One of the spies was decapitated and the other was slashed across the chest. Conrad drew his lightsaber and started fighting Hystar. They battled back and forth adding kicks to their melee, Cornad force punched Hystar in the chest and he responded by doing a back flip kick. Hystar landed on one knee and leapt at Cornad who raised his saber at the last minute, blocking his attack.
"Why are you doing this… My orders come from Darth Traya…" He asked on his back pushing his blade against Hystar's.
"My Master Kreia commands it…"
Cornad stuck his feet up and flipped Hystar over, he couldn't use the force because Hystar had been trained as a sith assassin. Sith assassins had weak force abilities, but they knew a special technique of using and manipulating force energy directed at them. Cornad was restricted to using his lightsaber. He fought to the limits of his knowledge but Hystar was the better swordsman and eventually Cornad lost his arm to Hystar's blade. He swung around again and decapitated him, ending Cornad's life. Hystar collected the lightsaber and left the suit to perform the second part of his mission and that was to disrupt the conference and start the war. Cornad entered the auditorium using force cloak technique. His target was Ambassador RuToi who was still under the influence of the force. Hystar whispered in his ear and commanded him to insult the Arquillian ambassador. With that little nudge the peace treaty began to fall apart. Hystar planted a holocam in the room and left. At the right moment he would detonate the bombs and blame it on the Arquillians. Hystar stole a new ship for his escape and when he activated the screen to tune into his holocam the people in the auditorium were motionless.
("Force stasis…") He said in his mind recognizing the force technique that paralyzed its victims leaving them in suspended animation. ("Another force user…") Hystar gasped as his force sense warned him of danger. He slammed his fist down on the eject button just as a blast of force lightening struck the ship. Hystar rose fifty feet into the air. He unbuckled his jet pack and dove towards his attacker igniting his lightsaber. He came down in a role swinging for Mixo's legs who jumped into a flip over Hystar. Hystar was still on his knees when Mixo landed; he spun around blocking an attack from Mixo. They traded fifteen blows before they locked blades.
"May I have the pleasure of your name… I like to know who I'm about to kill before they die…" Hystar asked because he had never seen Mixo at the academy on Sithari.
"The name is Mixo… My master is Lord Paris…"
"You and your pompous master will die at my blade…"
They broke the stand off arcing, parrying, and blocking each other's attacks. Hystar lunged forward, but Mixo side stepped him and swung for his back. Hystar brought his blade around and blocked the attack with his back to Mixo. He spun around twisting his lightsaber from left to right backing Mixo into a star fighter. Mixo jumped up and flipped backwards on to the hall of the fighter. Using the energy from the lightening attack Hystar turned the ship over trying to crush Mixo, but Mixo leapt off the fighter to the second level of the hangar. Hystar ran up the side of the wall to the second level where they continued their deadly melee. Hystar leapt side ways onto the rail to get an advantage over Mixo, but Mixo rolled to the ground and then jumped up onto the rail. They balanced on the rail fighting back and forth making high and low attacks. Hystar wrenched Mixo's lightsaber from his hand, but Mixo dropped off the rail over the side, then using the force he swung his legs out to the side and up kicking Hystar in the chest. When he hit the floor Hystar force threw his lightsaber but Mixo unleashed a force wave. The blast threw Hystar's lightsaber across the floor of the second level and it threw Hystar into a star ship. When he recovered Mixo was gone and so was his ship Hystar planted the bombs in.
Hystar's rage began to build up on the inside; "Run… run back to your master I will hunt you down and destroy you both…" Because Mixo stole his ship Hystar had to assassinate RuToi by other means.
(You will not…") Came Kreia's voice to his mind. ("You will return to me on Arquillia…")
Hystar was angry; ("But Master… He interfered with my mission… He must suffer…")
("He will, but you are no match for his master… I will deal with Lord Paris… Return to Arquillia…")
("As you command master…")
Arquillia:
The peace talks had fallen apart and Emperor Kaban Gervel Sathar met with his fleet commanders in the war room.
"What happened?"
"I don't know exactly my lord… One thing led to another and then threats were made… There was an assassination attempt… we are still trying to sort it out… The alliance is blaming us and our people are blaming them…"
Kaban started pacing, "My lord we have no choice we must go to war or the alliance will get the jump on us…"
He stopped pacing to look at the admiral, "Tell all our forces to go to yellow alert… We will let the alliance make the first move…"
The emperor's word spread quickly throughout the Arquillian domain and the fleet prepared for war. It was the Alliance that made the first move and when the Arquillians responded they did with merciless impunity.
Avaress Nine;
The sith fortress on Avaress Nine was home to the sith masters Cornad and Janeo. Janeo had just given birth to their two month old daughter Caira. When Cornad died Janeo felt it and she was preparing to get her revenge. She was in the droid armory when a droid entered the room a droid she had never seen before.
She drew her lightsaber thinking it was an assassin droid; the droid projected an image of her husband Cornad. "My love if you are watching this then I am dead… I have been planning for our daughter's future and if my plans work… she will become the most powerful sith in the galaxy… First off, I ask you not to avenge me… The second thing I have created a holocron… it is hidden inside this droid… He will give it to you when this transmission has ended… There is a force technique on there that I need you to learn… It is called spirit summon… It was invented by the Arquillians, when they practiced the force. It is a technique that allows the user to summon a force apparition from the nexus of the force… I want you to summon me so that I can merge my force essence to our daughter's and when the time is right I want you to merge with our daughter as well… My love our future is our daughter and she must be a powerful sith if we are to survive… Farewell and I look forward to the day that you summon me from the nexus of the force…" The transmission ended and the droid's chest opened up to reveal the holocron. Janeo reverently removed the holocron and activated it.
Arquillia:
Kreia was on Arquillia manipulating the war, which was now under way again. She had out maneuvered Darth Traya in her plan to overthrow her master. She stood in the hangar waiting for the arrival of her apprentice Qwan Hystar. As she waited Kreia could feel the rage of her former master Darth Traya. She smiled at her satisfaction in knowing that her master couldn't do anything about war. Her attention returned to the present when the ion engines of her apprentice's ship filled the air.
"I want my revenge!" Hystar barked walking down the ramp.
She smiled; "Of course you do apprentice and you shall have when the time is right… For now I want you to remain here… I must return to Sathari and claim my thrown from my master…"
"As you command master…"
Kreia left him alone and went to her private study to force teleport to Sithari. When she vanished she was grabbed in the force and when the light faded she was on the surface of the moon.
"Welcome my little Kreia…"
Kreia turned to face Traya who was standing over her on a twenty foot high bolder. "So old woman this is the place you choose to die…"
Traya smiled; "Don't mistake old age for weakness… I am just as strong as I was when I was forty…"
She grunted; "Yes and you taught me that I would one day take the title of Darth Traya from you…"
Traya sighed in disappointment; "Perhaps you aren't ready… The apprentice has learned nothing…"
"Oh really… I learned everything you taught me and more… Or perhaps you were thinking I could have asked you to step down…"
"Yesssss… You are learning… You make me proud little one…"
"Yes but we both know you would never step down…" Kreia drew her lightsaber.
"I would if you truly were ready…"
She smiled; "I am ready… Now die!"
Kreia leapt off the ground igniting her lightsaber; as she flew through the air Traya uncoiled her lightwhip and cracked it at Kreia. Kreia vanished in a red flash and reappeared behind Traya. Traya recoiled her whip and ignited the sword end of her exotic weapon blocking an attack from behind. Traya spun around with her lightsaber locked with Kreia's. Kreia broke the stand off, attacking high and low, then she flipped over Traya's head trying to decapitate her, but Traya unleashed a force wave that threw Kreia out of the air and to the ground. She hit the ground with a hard thump landing on her but. Enraged Kreia's eyes glowed blue and beams of pure force energy buzzed through the air. Traya leapt off the top of the bolder and as she did Traya attacked with her own eye beams. They cut the bolder in half and locked beams on each other. There was a bang and a bright blue flash, when the light faded both women were holding their eyes and using the force to heal them. They recovered at the same time, Kreia threw force lightening at Traya whose body force phased. Traya stood up and started walking towards Kreia. She ended her attack and force phased her body as well. Their lightsabers met in mid air as they were phased; ("Now your just showing off little one… Can't you be original…") Traya said with her mind.
In anger she unleashed a force wave that tore the moon in half and then shattered it. As Traya went tumbling through space still in phase Kreia leapt from asteroid to asteroid. When Traya phased through a large piece of debris Kreia grabbed the huge bolder in the force phased it then she crushed it.
("You didn't die that easy… Where are you…") Kreia thought to herself. As she looked this way and that way, Traya rose up behind her phasing through the asteroid. When her entire body was out she became corporeal and swung her lightsaber. With a smile Kreia blocked to the side and leapt nine feet to the next bolder. She grabbed a bolder in the force and hurled at Traya who leapt off at the last minute. When Traya landed on the next Kreia threw another bolder at her, but this time Traya teleported. When she reappeared Kreia threw another asteroid only this time Traya phased through the debris and leapt at Kreia who continued hurling large chunks of the moon at her. With a wave of her hand Traya obliterated the bolder coming at her, she used the force cut technique on the next and for the last asteroid Traya simply stuck her hand out and smashed the huge rock with a force wave.
"Have you ever seen or heard of a battle like this?" Sorr asked on the surface of Sithari.
"I have only read about such things…" Galan the sith priest answered. The entire academy was spell bound by the battle transmitted via the sentry satellite in space. They watched as Traya dove through the debris of rock she smashed and landed on the same floating rock Kreia stood on. They fought back and forth trying to dominate each other with their sabers. They side stepped each other and Traya swung for Kreia's head, but she ducked beneath the attack and arced her saber around. Kreia blocked and parried her attack, then they locked up again, but Traya swept her foot forward and clipped her on the leg. Kreia responded by elbowing her in the side of the head. Traya spun around, uncoiled her whip, cracked it and caught Kreia on the wrist severing her hand. She cracked her whip again with the lightsaber still ignited, but Kreia blocked with her lightsaber and pulled. As they tugged back and forth Kreia used her force element technique summoning a deposit of lava in the floating debris of rock. The eruption engulfed Traya burning her entire body. When she fell to her knees Kreia leapt at her and stabbed Traya in the chest, it was over.
"Well played…" She said in a wheezing voice, "…You mastered a technique that I could not… You have fulfilled and surpassed all my expectations… my daughter…"
Kreia gasped, "You told me my father killed my mother…"
Instead of imploding Traya's body began to heal and become one with the force. "Now what would be gained by telling you that I am your mother… You needed a passion that would drive you and I gave it to you… You know the true nature of the force… Find your own destiny… You are now Darth Traya…" before her body completely faded Traya used the force to heal Kreia's hand and then she gave the new Darth Traya her saber-whip.