Chapter 5. Differences of Opinion
Darth Millienial studied the ways of the Dark Side and the rule of two. "Peace is lie…There is only passion. Through passion I gain strength…Through strength I gain power…Through power I gain victory…Through victory, my chains are broken. The force shall free me…" Darth Millenial recited the code to his new Master Darth Cognus.
"Can you tell me what the words mean?"
He takes a deep breath before speaking, "Peace is a lie…Because life creates the force and force creates life so how can anyone or thing ever be at peace…Life is a struggle to live to survive…When one finds what they are passionate about then they will allow no one stand in the way of what they want…This gives them strength…Only the strong are meant to rule…Even in nature the strong rule the weak…With that strength comes power…The power to do whatever one wants to whomever…Power comes in all forms…Political, Social, and the most important…Mastery of the living force itself…But power is nothing if one does not have the will to use that power…Power is the key to victory in every area of life…true freedom…true victory…Comes from knowing these things and using them…"
Cognus nods in approval, "Very good…"
"Master!"
"Yes!"
"I know the history of our order, but why did Darth Bane betray the Brotherhood…I mean if he had taken the leadership role from Lord Kaan…The Republic and the Jedi would have fallen…"
"True!" Cognus says taking a seat on the desk. "But the system was still flawed…And even if Bane had taken the leadership role and conquered the galaxy he still would have to face the inevitable infighting. Think of it…The Republic is no more and the Jedi are destroyed…Who will the Sith fight now? Each other! The weaker Sith would ban together and destroy a powerful leader…Then these Sith turn on each other…The winner will become the Lord of the Sith…But he or she would be weak…Bane's system eliminates the weak and keeps a strong leader on the throne…"
"But how can two Sith overcome legions of Jedi?"
Cognus smiles, "I will tell when you are ready for that knowledge…Come let us meditate…"
They meditated for an hour, then they practiced sword play and hand to hand combat. Millenial's daily routine involved meditation for five hours, then calisthenics for two hours. Then they practiced lightsaber forms and hand to hand combat. From there it was study and theory of politics and war scenarios. They also studied finance and business.
Within three years Millenial could manipulate certain events in the future through the force. He had limited Sith sorcery ability and he could conjure force lightening. Millennial could lift large objects with ease and redirect energy. He could dominate minds and create powerful force waves. But with all the success Cognus was having with Darth Millenial he was always questioning the teachings of the rule of two. Especially when Cognus began telling him that it would be his duty to try and kill her. To rip her throne from her grasp if he was strong enough.
"I'm just saying…If the Jedi ever discover our existence and the two of us are killed…Who will carry on the fight…It is always a good idea to have acolytes to take up the cause Master…"
"ENOUGH! I will not here this again…The ways of Darth Bane and the rule of two are not to be questioned!"
"You are being closed minded…"
Cognus roared and as she did Millenial left his feet and struck the wall cracking it. He slide down the wall and remained there for the next twenty minutes. Cognus sneered and left the archives. After an hour Millenial stood up and went to the med center in the temple. He had three broken ribs and a busted collar bone. After he healed Millenial avoided Darth Cognus preferring to study on his own.
Millenial was in his room when his door chimed. A month had passed without master and apprentice speaking to each other. "Come in!"
The door opened and Cognus entered, "Do you question my ability to teach or have I offended you in some way…"
He sighed, "No master! I just see things differently than you do…That is all…"
She bit her upper lip, "If and when you feel that there is nothing more you can learn from me then by all means challenge me and kill me if you can…If you do become Lord of the Sith make whatever changes you feel are necessary…Until then obey me in all things…"
"Yes Master!"
She turned on her heels and left his room. Over the next few days they resumed training, Millenial was respectful and obedient, but he put no extra effort into his studies. His power grew by leaps and bounds over the years. Eventually Cognus allowed him to study on his own as he had reached his peek. Darth Cognus already knew the outcome of their fight if he decided to challenge her. Millenial would lose and she was beginning to believe that she made a mistake in picking Talune to be her apprentice.
Cognus sat in her throne room alone, "If I kill him…I will have wasted years of training…I suppose I could find me a new body…"
While Cognus considered the implications of killing Millenial he considered running away. After months of searching Millenial could not come up with a plan to kill Cognus short of training his own acolytes to help him kill her. But the more he thought of it the more he liked the idea. Then he could rebuild the brotherhood.
After a vision Millenial runs away and travels to the remote planet of Typhlas II. He learned that the brotherhood was alive or at least there were a hundred of them. He convinced their leader Lord Servon Jaurd to travel to the deep core world of Prakith to successfully rebuild the brotherhood. He even tells him how to get there. As a reward Servon convinces eight of his most powerful sith to help Darth Millenial kill Darth Cognus. After defeating Darth Cognus Millenial agrees to drop the title Darth and join the New Brotherhood.
Iktotch
Darth Millenial had returned to her fortress on her home world. She had once again wasted her time training Darth Millenial. Her first night in her fortress she dreamed of the young human. If she had waited then she have found her true apprentice. She immediately gave her agents a description of the boy. But from the far reaches of the outer rim to the core worlds the young man could not be found.
The next day Darth Cognus was eating when an explosion racked her fortress. She could feel her apprentice and several other powerful force auras closing in on her. "Millenial you fool!" Cognus reduced her aura to the size of needle head and vanished from the senses of her apprentice and his comrades.
"We should split up!" Arri Helt said.
"That is what she wants us to do…She can't fight all of us…" The nine Sith had 100 heavily armed men with them. Blaster fire zipped back and forth as the fortress guards confronted the intruders. "Stay together!" Millenial shouted as he batted blaster bolts away. Just then Kobba (Male Twi'Lek) screamed out as he was dragged into a secret passageway.
"Blow this wall open!" Nole Winter demanded. When they wall was blown open they found a tunnel and a few feet from the hole was a rotting corpse. Cognus had sucked his life force from his body leaving a mummified corpse. Then the passageway was filled with force lightening. They backed out of the tunnel with their lightsabers held high. "The four of you with me…The rest remain here!" Millenial tried to protest but he was ignored.
Winter lead the group up the steps and down the hall. They found another entrance to a secret passageway and was about to enter when two of Winter's companions were obliterated by spectral tendrils from Cognus. The other man leapt up to the chandelier and force threw his lightsaber. Cognus caught it out of the air and showered him with force lightening. Winter roars and leaps at her swinging his saber. Cognus ignites her twin blades and they fight.
Feeling the first two Sith die Millenial, Arri, and the two Sith with them rush upstairs and find Winter on his back missing both his legs. The four Sith unleash a force wave at Cognus that rips up the walls and floor of the second level. They stand in awe as Cognus is still alive. She is alive because Cognus weakened the force wave with her suppression power. Then she focused her power on all four robbing them of their different abilities. Arri couldn't use force agility, Millenial couldn't use his force sorcery, the male Rodian couldn't move objects and the last woman couldn't raise a force barrier. Cognus attacked everyone according to their handicap. She threw her left saber at Arri cutting the Sith woman in half at the waist. She unleashed force lightening on the other woman. Millenial escaped as Cognus brought down her full force suppression on the Rodian.
"Who are you?" After interrogating the male Rodian Cognus searched for the Brotherhood remnant but they had fled to the Deep Core and Darth Millenial had gone into hiding.
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