Week 19: More Sith Dynasty
91. one

The Queen Mother's drawing room was dark, save several pairs of glowing, crimson eyes and just as many lightsabers. The woman in the center saluted, raising her blade enough to light up her face and reveal her identity as the aging Allana Djo.

"There can be only one Dark Lady of the Sith. Do any of you presume to challenge me?" she asked.

"No, matriarch, we can't, but I remember Darth Krayt's reign. He was much better than you could ever be!" shouted one of the few men who were allowed into the Sith circle.

"Enough. Then you'll back down."

92. three

A hundred years had passed since Darth Krayt's uneventful death and now, the Sith organization became like a pyramid, with their numbers multiplying by three down the ranks. For example, there was one Dark Lady, and beneath her, three Lords, and beneath each lord, three underlings, until there were no more underlings left. At the moment, there were four layers, one for each generation.

At the bottom of the infrastructure that ruled the galaxy, there's the triad, a team of three dark adepts who worked together to enforce the Dark Lady's laws. Why three? Not even the Dark Lady knew.

93. five

Darth Coruscus, a fourth-generation descendant of Jacen Solo, or Darth Krayt, carefully counted the lightsabers he collected from the fallen Jedi. There were exactly five, which meant that the Jedi were extinct at long last, unless there were still trainees who were not at the point where they could use lightsabers.

Coruscus shook his head. Trainees, especially the young ones, would be easy to convert, so there were no worries. He then scooped up the handcrafted weapons, three in one hand and two in the other, and left for Hapes, the Sith capital.

"The Queen would love this," he chuckled.

94. seven

"How long?" croaked the young Sith trainee as the Embrace of Pain lowered him. A little more than a decade before Krayt's death, his daughter, Darth Regia, had imported an Embrace of Pain from the Yuuzhan Vong.

"Seven days, child," whispered Darth Regia, who still occasionally used the name Allana.

Few grandparents could watch with Darth Regia's calm grin as the teen suffered, but it was for a higher purpose. It would put him on equal footing with his rivals and then, it would be up to him whether he emerged victorious or died to pave way for the greatest.

95. nine

Nine years had passed since Allana turned sixteen. That meant that she had been a mere Sith apprentice for nine years. Why did her father still withhold her rightful Sith name from her? It didn't matter why, for the young woman knew that she was at a point where she could him to acknowledge her, not as the daughter that she never felt she was, but as the empress that she would one day become.

Her father was coming. She could feel it. Allana activated her saber with a snap-hiss before spinning to greet Jacen with her most ferocious grin.