-8-

Darth Spectre was furious.

After spending the last few years sowing the Dark Side back into the galaxy following the fall of Krayt's Sith Empire, and gathering as much Dark Side lore before encountering Darth Momin, who gave her the advice she needed to transform the Sith into something bigger. Momin's advice had given her a calling, one that was more practical, and besides while the Sith yearned for conquest and war, they weren't stupid.

Every Sith Empire over the centuries had collapsed in some way, either due to the stupidity of the Sith at large, or because of other factors; Darth Sidious had made the mistake of turning Anakin Skywalker into Darth Vader and while Vader had ushered in the Empire, forging it out of the blood of the Jedi slaughtered in Order 66, he had been too unstable.

But it had taken Bane's Order of the Sith Lords a thousand years to create the Empire, polluting the galaxy, instigating disasters and crisis upon crisis, committing murders and starting small conflicts to help push Darth Sidious into the position of Supreme Chancellor.

Spectre had no desire to do the same thing. While she knew, as a scientist, with a mind trained and honed by logic, which the power of the Dark Side had augmented, it wouldn't be hard for her to figure out a formula which would ensure that a new Sith Empire could be created in much the same manner, Spectre had been unable to shake off the feeling she was going about things the wrong way. And besides, the Sith had formed empires before, they usually fell apart, and she knew that deep down.

To say it was a relief that she had gone down the new path to sow disasters and wars to fuel the Dark Side, was an understatement. For the last five years since she had killed her master, and gone out into the galaxy following Krayt's fall, she had found herself and had studied Sith sorcery and Sith alchemy at length, and she had combined both with modern science to create disasters on planetary scales.

She had gone to Naboo and released many invasive species that caused terrifying deaths and she had driven people insane during many riots on Sullust, and it had nearly destroyed the planet when someone detonated a thermonuclear bomb. Spectre had been on the move all the time, hiding out in the shadows and keeping watch, forming spy networks using the advice of the Banite Sith Order, who'd made use of such networks to help them discover the best keys for the Grand Plan.

Only in her case, the networks were for the same thing, but only so she could make things worse.

And for the last five years, Spectre had been busy.

She was creating a superweapon in the shape of a virus, cultivated and manipulated by the Force, designed to drive people insane with fury and rage; she had been studying different animals and plants, trying to find the right combination to make her virus potent enough to drive people insane to fuel the Dark side. Still, the Jedi had been scouring the galaxy, and she had gone into hiding to try to avoid the parties, certain they had realised a Sith had survived the fall of the empire. They were trying to prevent another Krayt, or Sidious from rising to power again.

They need not bother worrying.

She had no intention of forming a Sith Order, only for it to fall in another 900 or so years.

But the Jedi didn't know that. They had tracked her down, somehow, to this lowly planet on the edge of the Outer Rim, and they had cornered her on her planetary base.

Spectre didn't bother talking as the three Jedi Knights came at her, using a combination of the differing lightsaber forms to keep them guessing while she prepared to channel Sith sorcery at them. She had studied the Sith arts at length, sorcery and alchemy were among the best she had an affinity with.

"Why do you Sith bother? You never win, so what's the point?" One of the Jedi demanded as they fought.

Spectre ground her teeth. It galled her whenever she was reminded of the Sith's many failures over the centuries, but hearing it from a Jedi was more galling. She reacted by violently shoving the Jedi away, and she took advantage of the moment to slash the Jedi's legs. The Jedi fell, screaming in pain, but she focused on the others.

"How did you find me?" She demanded angrily, glaring at them.

"We tracked you from your last stopover," one of the Jedi said.

So they had traced her with her aura? Interesting.

But as she got further into the fight, Spectre switched to Form Seven - Juyo while using the other forms as well to keep the Jedi thinking; Sidious had been good for many things, keeping the Jedi survivors and Luke Skywalker's New Jedi Order from properly finding many Lightsaber forms was one of them, but the Jedi had found the time to blend the different forms, using their own experiences and teaching them to others, and so it quickly became apparent to the Sith Lady that these Jedi were an equal match.

But Spectre had an edge. Smirking mentally in malice at the plan, Spectre cast a mind spear and broke the concentration of one of the Jedi, and she took the moment to impale them through the chest before she went for the other Jedi, and she blasted the Jedi with Force lightning, shrieking in frustration when the Jedi used their lightsaber to reflect the lightning, but Spectre kept pounding their defences before she used the mind shear again. While the Jedi were stumbling, they barely had time to let out a cry when a lightsaber suddenly ignited through their head. Spectre had levitated one of the fallen lightsabers, igniting it against the head of her victim.

Darth Spectre was triumphant, but at the same time, she was shaken. This encounter with the Jedi further reminded her of her need for an apprentice.