INTERLUDE

A Disturbance in the Force

The city-world of Coruscant, gem of the Galactic Republic and a shining beacon of liberty and democracy throughout the Known Galaxy, glowed in the light of its distant star. Home to some four trillion beings, Coruscant slowly grew into a world of almost pure city and industry, spread from pole to pole with sparse breaks to ensure a degree of self-sufficiency. For a thousand years, it has stood without threat, guarded like the rest of the Republic by the Jedi Order. Generations have passed since whisper or word of any true enemy to the Senate or the Jedi Council has reached Coruscant. The Sith remained extinct, or so they believed.

But now, on the ethereal currents of the Force, a cascading tide of the dark side washed across the world, alerting all sensitive to its currents.

Located on the edge of Galactic City, the Jedi Temple has remained a fixture of Coruscant's evolving skyline for millennia. Only the Jedi remember when their temple was first raised eons ago. Sandstone and marble quarried from Undercity quarries long abandoned rose to brush the sky, meeting the soft rays passing through the systemically controlled weather of Coruscant.

Within the temple, sat in the Room of a Thousand Fountains, Grand Master Yoda meditated. Nearly nine hundred years old, he had witnessed the coming and going of many Jedi. Diminutive and green-skinned, Yoda was well aware of how odd he appeared beside the taller humanoids who dominated the galaxy. Yet it was in those oddities he found inspiration. Life flourished under the careful guidance of the Force, and he had learned to mind the will of the Force well. As the Grand Master, he was the wisest and strongest of all living Jedi. His strength came not from commanding the Force to act as he wished, but by working in tandem with the Force. It was his ally. A powerful ally.

There is no emotion. There is peace, he mentally recanted, eyes closed. The Jedi Code was as familiar to Yoda as his reflection. He found comfort in their lasting strength. A thousand generations had passed since they first came into being. There is no ignorance. There is knowledge. There is no passion. There is serenity. There is no chaos. There is harmony. There is no death. There is the Force.

On and on he repeated the Jedi Code, using it as a guide to delve deeper into the ripples and waves of the Force. Often when he meditated, Yoda did not delve as deeply as he did this day. He rarely needed to, for his connection to the Force was so great. Yet a premonition had come to him recently. One that prompted him to meditate as deeply as he was now.

For a time, he remained there in meditation. And then Yoda frowned suddenly. He sensed pain. Death. Destruction. Something terrible was happening, and only now he felt its ripples in the Force. His brow furrowed as a terrible realization brewed in his mind. A shadow formed.

And then he saw her. Yoda knew it was a woman—a young woman around sixteen or seventeen years of age. Her eyes burned with malice and her lips bore a sardonic smirk. Terrible black streaks marred her human beauty, blending her features into her raven-black hair. A faint scar passed over her brow before it faded.

Her lips moved, and Yoda was left with a name. A terrible name, bearing the titles he knew from the histories he had learned as a young Padawan. By the time Yoda came to the Jedi Temple, those who fought the last Sith at Ruusan had long been dead. The name shocked Yoda. A moment passed and then he emerged from his meditation with a gasp and a sense of foreboding that lingered.

"Darth Gladiolus," whispered Yoda, Grand Master of the Jedi. A trace of horror managed to crawl into his soft voice. "How she suffers, that poor girl. Oh, the suffering… Suffering, her coming will spread…"

Elsewhere within the Jedi Temple, Master Dooku paused midstride. Growing old yet not frail, the human Jedi looked out into the cloudy western sky as his mind strained to make sense of what he had just felt. He knew it was the dark side, but it was not a weak feeling. It was strong. Potent. Dangerous. Like many older Jedi, Dooku had passed through a brush with the dark side in his youth. He had succeeded and avoided that temptation. But what he felt went beyond his brief encounter with the dark side. Dooku almost felt as if he had been strangled by that wretched power, and only now had been released to tremble before it.

"Master?" a soft voice asked. Dooku turned to a group of créchlings about seven or eight years old. About half of them were human, while the other half hailed from worlds throughout the Inner and Mid Rim. One was a Twi'lek of Ryloth. "Is something wrong, Master?"

His mouth opened, but no words dared emerge. Dooku did not know how to explain the extent of the horror even now running through his mind. He was thankful these children did not have the same familiarity with the Force that he possessed. They remained ignorant of what he had sensed and of the horrors that awaited the Jedi Order in the coming future.

Dooku had read the long, terrible histories of the Jedi, the Sith, and their many wars. From the emergence of the Sith Order several millennia ago on Korriban to the Seventh Battle of Ruusan a thousand years ago, conflicts between Sith and Jedi led to devastation on so many worlds across so many eras. Countless lives had been sacrificed in those wars. The Jedi sought to preserve the Republic, while the Sith tried to destroy it and rule the galaxy through a dominating Empire.

And as he gazed upon the créchlings, all of whom were waiting for him to respond, Dooku found he did not have the heart to tell them the truth. He did not want to envision them older, trained, yet with dull, lifeless eyes nonetheless. He did not want to envision that terrible woman with yellow Sith eyes standing over their bodies, a crimson blade humming as she turned to him with a wry smile.

"It's only… only that something caught my eye," he said weakly. "Even at my age, I notice things I find interesting or peculiar."

The children nodded understandingly. He smiled at their acceptance and hoped that his choice would not harm them.

But Dooku found doubt in his heart. Dark days would eventually come for the Jedi and for the Republic they were sworn to serve. What fate awaited them, he could not say.

He tried to take solace in how many the Jedi were, and the fact she was but one Sith Lord.

Master Qui-Gon Jinn's brow furrowed when he sensed a massive disturbance in the Force. He recognized the touch of the dark side; the potency of its power, and the pain and fury that lingered even after the wave passed on and faded. But he thought he sensed something else. Something that he had never sensed before.

Something… curious.

"Master," said Obi-Wan Kenobi, his apprentice. "Did you feel that?"

Qui-Gon turned to Obi-Wan and nodded. "I believe dark days await the Jedi Order in the future," he confessed. "But I think there might be hope, as well."

"But… Master, it's a Sith! That was evidence the Sith have returned!"

Qui-Gon nodded, for his student told the truth. The ripple had been more than just the dark side. It had been a proclamation to all who were Force-sensitive: a new Sith Lord had ascended to their dark powers. Already Qui-Gon could name the Sith Lord: Darth Gladiolus. The young woman—barely more than a girl grown into a woman's body—had failed to mask the power she poured forth into the galaxy.

She may have released her power on purpose. It may not have been a mistake.

"Then the Council—" continued Obi-Wan.

"The Council will do as they think best," Qui-Gon confessed, unable to believe the Council would act wisely on this matter. His disagreements with the Council had grown over the years, especially after his recent conversations with his Jedi Master, Dooku. The Serenno-born Jedi thought the Republic was increasingly mired in the political miasma and disrepair. He had not suggested that it would be necessary for a structural change on par with the Ruusan Reformation, but something had to be done before, as Dooku told him, "The Senate becomes nothing more than the plaything of corporations and guilds, old friend."

"But the Sith—"

"Peace, Obi-Wan." Qui-Gon closed his eyes for a moment and then nodded to himself. "We will have many years before this Sith appears before the Jedi. I do not think we know of her world, even if a Sith Lord somehow found their way there."

"…but that would have been a thousand years ago, if not more."

Qui-Gon nodded. "Indeed. It very likely was that long ago. Maybe a little more." He shrugged and smiled sheepishly. "We will not know until we find this Sith and question her."

"So it is a woman. I thought I misheard you earlier, Master."

"Did you not—" Qui-Gon stopped himself before he said anymore. As he stared at his apprentice, it dawned on Qui-Gon that Obi-Wan was unaware of the Sith beyond sensing her sudden rise to power, and the influence of the dark side which emerged from the ascension. Already the name "Darth Gladiolus" was engraved into his memory. He would not forget it—and he would know her the moment they finally encountered each other.

"Did I not what, Master?" asked Obi-Wan, coming closer. "What did you sense that I missed?"

"Only her sex, it appears," Qui-Gon murmured. He smiled fondly. "Perhaps I can teach you further to better recognize the peculiarities in the Force."

"Would that allow me to recognize what I missed from that wave of dark side energies?"

Qui-Gon nodded. "It will take time and practice, Obi-Wan. But I believe you will be able to succeed."

His apprentice smiled. A moment later, Obi-Wan shifted to be before Qui-Gon, sat up straight as he met his master's gaze. "I'm ready to begin, Master."

"I guess we can begin today," Qui-Gon said fondly. "Now, I want you to focus on your place in the galaxy…"