Thank you for reading Star Wars: The Sith Orb: Part 3: Wrath of the Sith! As great as Part 2 was, I believe Part 3 will be even better!
Before we continue this journey, there are a few things we need to get out of the way.
First of all, I do not own the Star Wars universe or anything in it (with the exception of my original characters, locations, and events.) All events in my story are non-canon, and should not be treated as part of the Star Wars universe. A large amount of credit goes to George Lucas for creating Star Wars. Also, special thanks to the people at Lucasfilm who have expanded the universe to create many characters and locations used in this story. Specifically, I would like to thank the writers who have made the Star Wars novels such compelling reads, and inspiring me to write my own stories!
Secondly, all of my stories are original works by me. While I have taken inspiration from other works of fiction, I alone came up with the ideas. As seems to be happening a lot lately, official Star Wars media contains events very similar to events in my stories. This is purely coincidental, at least on my part. I came up with these ideas before the official works were published. Please do not use any elements of my stories without my permission!
Third, this story is rated T for Teen. While Part 1 was relatively mild, Part 2 delved into darker, more adult themes. Part 3 will contain graphic violence, mild sexuality, descriptive torture and death, depressing and frightening situations, and even parallels to real-life tragedies. It is my intention to make readers more aware of these events by connecting with them emotionally. Still, if the subjects are too depressing for you to continue reading, I'm very sorry that you feel that way. But, I promise, the story will have a happy ending. You just need to brave it out.
This story contains references to my previous stories, so if you haven't read them, I recommend that you do, even though it's not required. You should at least have read Part 1: The Hunt for the Orb, Part 2: Exterminators of Peace, and Part 2.5: The Lost Tribe. For those of you who don't feel like reading the previous parts, or have read them and don't remember most of what happens, here is a summary that contains all of the main plot points you need to know.
And now, without further ado...
A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away...
Summary of Part 1: The Hunt for the Orb
Over 850 years prior to the birth of the New Jedi Order, Yoda, then a Jedi Knight, went to Ruusan to explore the site of the battle in which the Sith were destroyed by their own thought bomb. When Yoda found the cave where the bomb had been detonated, he was surprised to find a glowing red orb. He could sense a massive amount of Dark Force energy radiating from it, and he decided to bring it back to the Jedi Temple for study. There, he discovered that it was a Sith Orb, an ancient weapon that gave its wielder ultimate power, containing the Force essences of the hundreds of Jedi and Sith that had been killed by the thought bomb.
After pitting Yoda against his former Master, N'Kata Del Gormo, the orb was shown to the Jedi Council to decide its fate. While Yoda argued that it was dangerous and should have been destroyed, most of the Council did not agree. In the end, a compromise was reached. It would be hidden in a secret location known only to two Jedi at a time. If it was ever needed, the Jedi could retrieve the orb and use it. Unfortunately, the orb's location was lost when both secret-keepers died during the Jedi Purge.
On the thirty-fifth anniversary of the New Jedi Order, led by Grand Master Luke Skywalker, Don Dain was inaugurated as Supreme Chancellor of the Galactic Alliance. The ceremony was interrupted, however, by three dark side assassins who defeated the Jedi present and caused a galaxy-wide panic. Commander Mek Dain, the chancellor's son, argued that the Jedi may have staged the attack as a cover to take over the Alliance. Don, who had always mistrusted the Jedi, decided to watch them for the slightest hint of treachery. Meanwhile, the Jedi were still being blamed for the recent takeover by Sith Lord Darth Caedus, formerly Jedi Knight Jacen Solo, and feared that if they did not catch the assassins, they would completely fall out of favor with the Alliance.
On a deep-space survey mission, Admiral Mo'Ari, a loyal ally of the Jedi, discovered a man in the wreckage of a Separatist cruiser on the Dead Planet. The man was old, comatose, blind, and legless, and he wore a tattered Jedi uniform. He soon became a medical mystery and was sent to the Jedi Temple to be examined by Jedi Master Cilghal, who was equally dumbfounded by his condition. Master Ahsoka Tano, a survivor of the old Jedi Order, identified him as Demood Elppirc, a depressed Jedi Master who had been arrested for organizing a prison break during the Clone Wars. He had been presumed dead after a failed Separatist attempt to free him.
The Jedi temporarily revived Elppirc, only to find that he had gone insane. Amidst his mad ramblings, they learned that he was a secret-keeper and deciphered his riddle to discover the Sith Orb's location on Mustafar. While Ahsoka led a Jedi strike team to recover the orb, Luke met with one of the Sith assassins, who told him their identities. They were the survivors of a project by Emperor Palpatine to clone his Force-sensitive servants. Sinestro, their leader, was a clone of Count Dooku; Volatis was of Mara Jade Skywalker, Luke's recently deceased wife; and Masculous was a mutated clone of Anakin Skywalker, Luke's father. Sinestro went on to reveal that they had been trained by Darth Caedus and were bent on finishing his work. He also warned Luke against trusting Elppirc or finding the orb.
Meanwhile, Ahsoka and her team, including Jedi Knights Zekk, Tesar Sebatyne, Lowbacca, and Tahiri Veila, went to the Island of Serpents on Mustafar and climbed into a volcano to find the orb. However, the orb was missing, and an Imperial flag lay in its place. At that moment, the volcano began to erupt, and the Jedi had to outrun the lava. During the escape, Zekk was severely burned trying to protect the team. The mission's failure affected Tahiri greatly. She had seen her lover, Anakin Solo, die in battle, been shaped into a monstrous Yuuzhan Vong, and briefly served as Caedus' apprentice. As a result, she felt like she did not belong anywhere. Only through the support of her closest friends did she find consolation.
After consulting the Imperial head of state, Jagged Fel, with whom Jaina Solo was having a secret affair, Luke learned that the Star Destroyer transporting the orb had crashed into the ocean on Kamino. He met with Chancellor Dain to requisition underwater exploration equipment, although he neglected to say exactly what they were looking for. Dain eventually agreed to the request, with his only condition being that his Jedi bodyguard, Master Sol Fadré, be sent on the mission. After the meeting, Dain was even more convinced that the Jedi were hiding something from him.
Jaina and Sol went to Kamino to explore the underwater wreckage of the Star Destroyer, but the orb was nowhere to be found. Instead, they found evidence that the ship had been raided by an unknown organization. Unexpectedly, the entire ship tilted on the ocean floor, causing the room to collapse, damaging Jaina's scuba helmet and leaving her life in the hands of Sol. Using her Force abilities, she managed to free herself from the wreck and was brought safely back aboard the submarines.
Returning to the temple, Jaina and Sol investigated the clue they had found on Kamino. They determined that the orb had been salvaged by a group of scavengers under the employ of Jabba the Hutt. Luke was determined to go to Jabba's palace to find the orb, but the rest of the Jedi Council felt that they should give up the hunt. Angrily, Luke stormed out and went to Tatooine with his son, Ben. It became clear that Luke's mind was unsettled by recent events and the stress of being Grand Master, even though he refused to admit it.
Beneath Jabba's palace, Luke and Ben discovered that the orb was in the possession of the mysterious B'Omarr monks, who worshipped it as a deity. They reacted violently to Luke's request to take it and locked the Skywalkers away to have their brains removed. The Jedi escaped, however, and recovered the orb from the vault. They soon found themselves surrounded by monks and tried to fight their way out. But then, the orb killed all of the monks with Force energy, apparently deciding to help the Jedi.
Back at the temple, Luke used the orb to cure Elppirc of his madness and completely heal him. His success backfired, however, when Elppirc revealed himself to have been working with the Sith assassins, who infiltrated the temple to extract Elppirc and the orb, with the help of Sol Fadré. In the ensuing battle, Sol had a change of heart and tried to destroy the orb, but it defended itself by killing him. And then, using the orb, the Sith blew open the doors to the temple and escaped.
As the Jedi reflected on this unfortunate turn of events, Luke admitted that they were right about him allowing stress to cloud his judgment. He vowed that the Jedi would not rest until the assassins, Elppirc, and the orb were hunted down and destroyed.
Summary of Part 2: Exterminators of Peace
In the seven months since they had obtained the Sith Orb, Demood Elppirc and the Sith assassins gathered powerful allies, including former Imperial Moff Hyke, and established a hidden base on Korriban, from which they silently prepared to take over the galaxy. Meanwhile, Elppirc, having renamed himself Darth Hatus, had been using the orb to rejuvenate himself and regrow his legs. He and Darth Sinestro soon came at odds over their end goal. Sinestro wanted to impose order on the galaxy so that no one had to suffer the way he had. Hatus, however, wanted to make the entire galaxy understand his own suffering, and he was prepared to torture and kill innocent people to attain that goal.
Back on Coruscant, the Jedi had found their first solid lead to the Sith – a holotransmission between the late Sol Fadré and Sinestro. The recording revealed that Sol had tracked the Sith down during an investigation into Jacen Solo, at the behest of Mara Jade Skywalker. Sinestro described how he and his siblings had been recruiting allies since the Yuuzhan Vong War in an attempt to revive the Sith Order. Among them was the Dark Jedi Lumiya, who trained the assassins in the dark side of the Force and recruited Jacen to their cause. The recording ended with Sinestro inviting Sol to the Sith base on Dromund Kaas.
Reacting to this information, the Jedi Council decided to launch an attack against the Sith on Dromund Kaas. However, they could not obtain Chancellor Don Dain's approval without revealing their secrets to him. Luke figured out a way around this by enlisting the aid of Admiral Mo'Ari, who agreed to commit three Star Destroyers to the attack. When Ben Skywalker learned that he would not be allowed on the attack force, he angrily accused his father of being overprotective. Tired of arguing with his son, Luke reluctantly agreed to let him join the battle.
When the Jedi fleet arrived at Dromund Kaas, they sent in their fighter squadrons to where they believed the Sith base to be. However, they were hailed from that location by a man claiming to be the governor of a refugee colony. Believing that they had come to the wrong place, Luke ordered the fighters to return to the cruisers. Suddenly, several fighters were struck by lightning and exploded, including Ben's. No longer able to sense him through the Force, Luke was dismayed to realize that his son was dead.
No one knew that Ben had actually survived and crash-landed on Dromund Kaas. With his lightsaber destroyed, and no way to contact the Jedi, Ben set out towards the refugee colony. When he arrived, however, he discovered that it actually was a Sith base, inhabited by members of the ancient Sith species, revived using the Sith Orb. He also learned that over a thousand innocent beings from throughout the Outer Rim were being held prisoner and forced to build the Sith's weapons and armor. Mistaken as an escaped slave, Ben was captured and tortured. Knowing he had few options, he decided to play along until he could find an opportunity to escape. He quickly befriended a girl named Nysilla Zabeth, who had been taken from her home along with her mother, Mari. The next day, Darth Volatis arrived to motivate the slaves to work harder. To do this, she made an example of the slaves who performed the worst, including Mari. Ben was forced to stand by and watch the slaves' execution.
Upon returning to Coruscant, the Jedi Council could not decide what to do next. Ahsoka Tano met with Chancellor Dain to try and explain why he had not been informed of the attack beforehand. After she left, Commander Mek Dain convinced his father that the Jedi were getting out of hand and had to be taken down. But, to do that, they needed evidence to convince the Senate to act. So, Don enlisted cyborg bounty hunter AO-327 to spy on the Jedi.
A few weeks later, while investigating several disappearances in the Outer Rim, the Jedi noticed that most of them happened near Dromund Kaas, leading them to believe that they had been deceived by the Sith. They could not prove their theory, however, so Don Dain would not authorize another attack on the planet. After meditating together, the Jedi sensed that the Sith would soon attack Zygerria and decided to set a trap for them there. With Admiral Mo'Ari under probation, Jaina convinced Jagged Fel to send Imperial troops to back them up – in exchange for a chance to continue their secret affair. Unbeknownst to everyone, AO-327 was listening in on both the meeting and Jaina's transmission, and he decided to follow the Jedi to Zygerria to prove that they were betraying the Alliance.
On Dromund Kaas, Ben continued to work for the Sith, witnessing the brutal treatment of the other slaves. When he saw a woman about to be raped, he wanted to save her, but he was powerless. One day, to his horror, he learned that there was a warehouse filled with the rotting corpses of hundreds of slaves, and he was forced to feed those bodies into the furnaces that power the base. One of the bodies was a young girl who resembled his cousin, Allana Solo, so much so that he feared it could have been her. Afterwards, Ben broke down and confessed his hopelessness to Nysilla, who comforted him. They confessed their feelings for each other and kissed for the first time.
After the Jedi rendezvoused with Jagged Fel's fleet on their way to Zygerria, he and Jaina met for a secret rendezvous of their own, during which Jaina explained to Jag everything that had happened. She did not realize that AO-327 was listening. Arriving at Zygerria, the Jedi and Imperial forces assembled outside the capital city, waiting for the Sith to arrive. But they did not realize that Darth Hatus was already inside with the Zygerrian king, threatening to take his people as slaves. Using the Sith Orb, he created a fiery tornado that destroyed the royal palace, as well as most of the city. Stunned by the destruction, the Jedi and stormtroopers were ambushed by Sith warriors and force to retreat.
In the aftermath of the events on Zygerria, the Jedi and the Empire were held responsible for both the destruction of the city and the kidnapping of the survivors since there was no evidence of the Sith. Don Dain announced his plans to have the Jedi barred from the Alliance, shortly before AO-327 showed him all of the evidence he had compiled against the Jedi. Now that he knew all of the Jedi's secrets, Don confronted Luke and threatened to attack the Jedi Temple unless they turned Tahiri Veila over to Alliance custody for the crimes she committed during her brief period as Darth Caedus' apprentice. Luke refused, and returned to the temple to prepare the Jedi for war.
After two months of being enslaved on Dromund Kaas, Ben was forced to blow his cover to save Nysilla from the Sith. She was furious to learn that he had been lying about his identity and accused him of letting all of the other slaves die, including her mother. With the entire Sith base now hunting him, Ben was forced into hiding to formulate a plan to contact the Jedi for help. He set the corpse warehouse on fire as a distraction while he snuck into the command center to send a message. Meanwhile, Hatus, having learned of Ben's survival, feared that the boy would ruin his entire plan, so he decided to send an attack force to the Jedi Temple to prevent the boy's message from being received.
Back on Coruscant, Luke revealed everything Dain told him, including Jaina's affair (much to her humiliation), to the Jedi Council. Determined not to give in to Dain, Luke found evidence that the chancellor used to be a Separatist admiral and used it to blackmail him. Dain revealed how he was disgraced in the eyes of General Grievous because he was tricked by Anakin Skywalker and narrowly escaped punishment. He also told the story of how he had been unwillingly roped into a Separatist plot to kidnap Demood Elppirc from prison, and a plot by Darth Maul and AO-327 to recover him. Still, Dain was afraid of what would happen if the truth came out, so he ordered the troops sent to attack the temple to stand down. Mek was furious at the change of plans, especially since he was prepared to fire a nuclear missile at the temple, destroying the troublesome Jedi once and for all.
Suddenly, a ship flew over the temple and dropped dozens of highly-skilled, lightsaber-wielding assassin droids. Working together, the Jedi and Alliance troops were able to defend the temple from the intruders. Luke, meanwhile, came face-to-face with Emperor Palpatine, who had been resurrected using the Sith Orb. Palpatine offered to help Luke defeat Darth Hatus and the New Sith, but the Jedi Master knew better than to trust the Emperor, and a lightsaber duel ensued. Luke seemed to be outmatched until Ahsoka arrived and helped him kill Palpatine. After the battle, Don Dain realized that the Sith really had returned, and agreed that he and the Jedi needed to work together to defeat this threat. At that moment, they received Ben's message summoning them to Dromund Kaas. Luke was overjoyed to learn that his son was alive, and Dain authorized an immediate attack on the Sith base.
Back on Dromund Kaas, Darth Volatis, growing more and more furious at Ben's sabotage and elusiveness, drew him out of hiding by threatening to kill Nysilla. Using a lightsaber stolen from a Sith Knight, Ben engaged Volatis in a fierce duel, using his anger and hatred to defeat her. Then, in a fit of rage, he used an electrowhip to torture her to death. As he killed her, the Alliance forces arrived and overran the base, killing the Sith and freeing the slaves. And then, Ben was treated to an emotional reunion with his family. With the Sith exposed as the true culprits of the Outer Rim disappearances and the incident on Zygerria, the Jedi Order and Imperial Remnant were vindicated. However, Jaina and Jagged Fel decided to end their relationship to avoid any future scandals.
At the Sith base on Korriban, Moff Hyke was contacted by Mek Dain, who was angry that the Sith attack on the Jedi Temple had ruined his own plans for the destruction of the Jedi Order. He revealed that he had allied with the Sith so that he could usurp his father's place. Meanwhile, Hatus used the Sith Orb to resurrect Volatis, holding her responsible for the loss of Dromund Kaas and warning her not to fail him again. After she had left, a Sith laborer delivered Hatus' new lightsaber to him. While practicing with it, Hatus injured himself and discovered that he could infuse the orb's power directly into his bloodstream through direct contact. The process also caused a psychedelic high that Hatus quickly became addicted to.
Having returned to Coruscant with the freed slaves, Ben was hailed as a hero by everyone – except Nysilla. Even though her anger towards him had abated, she still could not cope with the fact that he had lied to her, and decided to return to her home, leaving Ben heartbroken. At the next Jedi Council meeting, Luke requested that Ben be promoted to Jedi Knight as a reward for his heroism. Not everyone shared this view, however, fearing that Ben's experiences on Dromund Kaas might drive him to the dark side. But, Luke convinced them that he would seek psychological help for his son, so they accepted the appointment. At a special ceremony, Ben Skywalker was knighted by his father.
Summary of Part 2.5: The Lost Tribe
One day, six months after the Battle of Dromund Kaas, Darth Hatus woke to the sound of a voice in his head. At first, he thought it was the voice of one of the tormented souls trapped within the Sith Orb, whose power he had been infusing into his bloodstream. He soon realized that this voice belonged to something else. He was then called to the command center of the Korriban Sith base in response to an unknown object dropping out of hyperspace. Upon seeing a hologram of the object, his apprentices thought it was a Yuuzhan Vong ship. But, then, it spoke to Hatus through the Force.
The vessel introduced itself as an ancient Sith Meditation Sphere called "Ship." It had sensed Hatus' growing power and came to serve him. It also mentioned that it had previously been serving the Lost Tribe, an entire civilization descended from ancient Sith who had crash-landed on the planet Kesh, in Wild Space, five thousand years prior. Fearing that this "Lost Tribe" could be a threat to his plans, Hatus ordered Ship to bring him to them.
Upon arriving on Kesh, Hatus sought an audience with the Circle of Lords, led by Grand Lord Darish Vol. The Lost Tribe were surprised to see him, having only recently learned that the Sith had been destroyed by the Jedi. Hatus explained that he had built a new Sith Order, planned to retake control of the galaxy, and wanted to add the Lost Tribe to his exponentially-growing army. At first, Vol refused, believing the Hatus was not a true Sith, but he changed his mind when Hatus revealed the Sith Orb.
The alliance had been made, but there was debate over who should be the singular ruler. Hatus suggested that he and Vol battle for the title. Not wanting to be perceived as weak or cowardly, Vol accepted the challenge. In the city square, with all Sith bearing witness, they engaged in a lightsaber duel that ended with Hatus disarming Vol and both duelists firing Force lightning at each other. When it became clear that Hatus' attack was overpowering Vol's, the Grand Lord was forced to yield. Hatus was declared the victor and ruler of the New Sith Alliance.
However, Vol could not accept being beaten by someone whom he still believed was not worthy of the Sith title, so he tried to kill Hatus by using the Force to throw cobblestones at the back of his head. Hatus, being warned of the attack through the Force, used the Sith Orb's power to reduce the stones to sand and then reform them into a metal spike, which he plunged through Vol's heart, killing him.
Afterwards, Hatus told his apprentices that he would stay on Kesh to negotiate the terms of the alliance, and that, after he had left, Volatis would remain to oversee the Lost Tribe. Volatis, furious over this arrangement, accused Hatus of still blaming her for the loss of Dromund Kaas. Hatus confirmed this, saying that she would have to do whatever he asked in order to regain his favor. Sinestro and Masculous were sent back to Korriban to continue the war against the Jedi. Before they left, however, Sinestro noted that the Sith Orb had shrunk to half of its original volume.