Disclaimers: The
two main characters look a lot like the ones we are used to, Xena and Gabrielle, and no I don’t own them, wish I
did. This story takes place in the Star
Wars universe that I don’t own either, that’s owned by George Lucas, along with
Yoda who I borrowed for this story.
Disclaimer 2: This story takes place about 650 years
after ‘Jedi Bri Meets Sith Xara”.
Subtext: Yes this
involves love between two women, nothing graphic however.
Send comments to AJMarks01@aol.com
The Sith Empress
by
AJ Marks
Part 5
Gaia
stretched out her legs from where she was sitting on board the Millennium
Falcon as it was about to reach the Academy on Yavin IV. Glancing around her looked at her fellow
passengers. There was the president,
Leia Solo and her three children along with two other senators.
Gaia had
not really talked with either of them. One
of them she did not like but the other from what he had said was guanine about
his concerns about the academy.
Chewbacca and Han Solo were still up in the cockpit as the ship was
about to come out of hyperspace.
Gaia
wondered what her master, Fie-Tel had in store for her once she had landed at
the academy. She had not found out that
much during her time away other than a little about the Jedi Master Bri and a few
visions of two Jedi, or she had thought they were two Jedi but now was not sure
about that.
Glancing
back down at the report on her lap there were reports of disturbances in the
Force that might endanger the academy. From
what the Jedi could find out it seemed that Tavion was gathering the remaining
forces that Desann. Tavion was visiting
Force sensitive areas draining them of Force.
The only problem was there was not any information as to what she was
planning to do with all of the stored Force power.
Gaia had
the feeling that everything she had been reading about did not have anything to
do with her visions. There was something
inside her that just did not feel right about it. With that thought she realized that there was
something else going on that no one knew about.
“So how
far along are you in your training,” one of the senators called Ollo asked
Gaia.
Gaia
looked up at the question not having expecting it. “Not long, I’m not as strong as many of the
others,” Gaia answered honestly.
“Our philosophy
is that even the weakest can defeat the strongest,” Ollo replied.
“Which is
why your people fell so easily to the Empire when the Emperor took over,” the
other senator said making Ollo bristle slightly.
“That
allowed them to gather so much intelligence for the rebellion. The Emperor did not view his race as a threat
Ulti,” Leia replied having heard the conversation between the two senators.
“When it
comes to the Force, it always works in mysterious ways,” Gaia replied. “I’m better off now than I was before I
joined the order,” Gaia said as she now looked at Ulti.
“Really,
that’s interesting,” Ollo said. “How are
you better now?”
“My family
is poor and father and mother had a hard time providing for the three of us,”
Gaia replied.
“They should
work then,” Ulti said with a bit of a snort in his voice.
“They did,”
Gaia said looking him right in his eyes.
“At least they had a job before a high corporate bigwig decided to
downsize.”
“Then they
should have just looked for another job,” Ulti replied a bit uncomfortable with
the way that Gaia was looking at him.
“They
would have if the business had not controlled everything,” Gaia told him.
“Then they
should have just left for something new,” Ulti said regaining some of his
smugness.
“Well, they
might have if the company had paid the severance pay they promised everyone,
but you should know about that,” Gaia said evenly knowing that what she was
about to say would shock them all.
“After all my parents worked for Intergalac.”
Ulti
suddenly stiffened at that comment.
Everyone knew that he was the majority owner of Intergalac. At the moment the company had been under
investigation for several wrongful business dealings that many said it was
doing both to other companies and its employees.
“Really,”
Leia said with interest at what Gaia had just said. “I think that the investigating council would
like to hear that.”
“They
can’t prove anything,” Ulti said but without his smug tone that he had earlier
in the conversation.
Gaia felt
the ship land and got up and was about to turn around when she stopped and
looked back at Ulti. “You may try and
deny it, but you’ve destroyed just as many lives as the Emperor did. Excuse me Madam President, Senator Ollo,” she
said with a nod of her head to the other two then left the ship. She could hear an argument start as she
walked out but really did not care at the moment.
Gaia
wondered if anything she had said would make a difference. She was not sure but either way it had felt
good telling the man what she thought even though it went against her Jedi
training. Looking around she saw Master
Fie-Tel standing there waiting for her.
“Gaia, how
are you doing,” he asked glancing at her.
He could feel that something had changed but could not see it. He would have to wait to see if she would
tell him.
“I’m doing
fine Master Fie-Tel,” Gaia replied to him.
“And how
did your research go,” he asked her wondering if she had found anything.
“Very
little survived the war but I was able to find a name,” Gaia replied. “A Jedi by the name of Bri Lighter.”
“I am not
familiar with that name,” Fie-Tel said after thinking about it for a second.
They both
turned around that the yells of Uncle Luke and watched as Han and Leia’s kids
ran to their uncle. Luke gave each of the
kids a hug before also giving his sister and Han a warm greeting as well.
“I see
that a couple of council members are here as well,” Fie-Tel said noticing the
two men.
“Yes,
Senators Ollo and Ulti,” Gaia replied.
Fie-Tel could tell by the way that Gaia had said Ulti’s name that the
young woman did not like the senator. He
quickly made a mental note to see if he could find out what had happened
between the two of them. It was not like
Gaia to not like someone.
“Have you
been keeping up with the reports I’ve sent you,” he asked changing the subject
of the conversation.
“I was
reading them on the way over here. Does
Tavion pose that much of a threat to the Jedi,” Gaia asked her master.
“We
believe so,” Fie-Tel replied to her question.
“Do you think that your research is connected with it?”
“My
feelings on the subject tell me no but that also scares me a lot. Whatever it is the pull of the Dark Side is
very strong,” Gaia replied.
“Then
we’ll have to keep our guard up,” Fie-Tel said not sure if they could guard
against two threats.
“Thousands,”
Tyi and the captain whispered together.
They could not believe that so many ships existed in one place.
“It is the
remnants of the Sith fleet that Darth Malak used and then hid,” Rizon said as
she glanced out at the fleet in pure joy.
“Soon it will be alive again,” she said.
“I thought
that it was all destroyed by the Republic fleet at the end of that war and the
Jedi Civil war,” the captain asked as he recalled his history.
Rizon
turned to look at the captain. ‘At least
this one knows his history,’ she thought to herself. “You are only half correct. Darth Malak hid this part of the fleet in
case of an emergency. Anyone who knew
about was killed,” Rizon said.
Tyi and
the captain exchanged glances with each other at her statement. They each wanted to know how she knew about
it if no one else did.
“I am a
true Sith Lord, that is how I know,” Rizon stated knowing that they would
wonder about how she knew. She would not
embellish any more though.
“Of course
my lord,” Tyi replied with a slight bow not wanting to anger her at all.
“Prepare a
landing part captain. We’re going over
to one of the ship,” Rizon said picking out the ship that would serve as her
flagship. She glanced out at the fleet
until she found the one that she wanted.
She then told the captain to make his way to that ship.
“Of
course,” the captain replied as he went to carry out his orders.
A few
minutes later they were on their way to the ship that Rizon had selected. She watched as the ship grew larger though
the shuttles window. The pilot followed
the directions that Rizon gave as if his life depended on it. He was able to land on the ship without any
problems.
Getting
off the shuttle the men noticed that while the air seemed a bit stale it was at
least breathable without any equipment.
Most of the group was heavily armed and they wondered what was on board
that would require such heavy weapons.
They quickly started to make their way to the bridge.
The group
rounded a corner and saw a droid unlike anything they had ever seen
before. It reminded them of a giant
spider. When it noticed them the droid
immediately began to screech and beep at them.
They all readied their weapons not sure what the droid was going to do
next.
The droid
stopped its noises and opened fire on the group with a deadly accuracy. One man quickly went down before anyone could
return fire. When they recovered enough
to open fire they noticed that the droid was protected by an unknown type of
shield.
Another
man went down to the droid and the group was wondering what type of droid they
had just encountered. The droid suddenly
seemed to freeze for a few seconds before finally exploding. The men looked around wondering what had
happened when they noticed that Darth Rizon was now standing behind them.
Rizon had
silently watched the encounter with the droid and realized that her men were
not equipped with the right weapons for this mission. They would need ion weapons against these
droids. Deciding to end the
confrontation she used the Force to destroy the droid. She then walked past the group of men and
continued on her way to the bridge.
The men
glanced at awe at the woman who passed them.
She had power that most of them could only imagine. The ease at which she had destroyed the droid
had left the men with their mouths open.
They quickly hurried to catch up to their leader not knowing if other
droids were on the ship.
The men’s
thoughts were confirmed as another droid was encountered. Rizon quickly destroyed that droid as well as
they finally made their way to the bride of the ship. Everyone was silently amazed at the room that
the bridge had.
“Reminds
me of an Imperial class star destroyer,” one man said. Rizon glanced at the man and realized that he
had experience from the Imperial Navy.
“The
droids can be disabled from here,” Rizon said walking over to where a console
was. After a few moments of hacking into
the system she had access and had the droids disabled.
The men
looked around the ship wondering if everything was still working. The one man
who had served in the Imperial Navy quickly walked over to the console and
brought up the power levels of the ship.
“What’s
the reading,” Rizon asked the man hoping that it was still good.
“Everything’s
normal. It just requires the starting of
the main engines. Everything has been on
auxiliaries at the moment,” the man replied looking at the screen.
“Perfect,
take teams of three and explore the ship.
Make sure that there are no other visitors on my ship,” Rizon said
watching as the men slowly split up into groups. “The droid’s security features have been
disabled,” she told them watching as they relaxed a bit at that.
A few of
the men remained on the bridge a bit longer.
Rizon realized that one of them was the man who had served in the
Imperial Navy and a thought came to her.
“Do you
know how to bring the main engines on line,” she asked the man who nodded his
head yes. “Good, go and activate the
main engines,” she told him as he left the bridge with two other men and went
in search of the engine room.
“Tyi,” she
said activating the communicator.
“What’s the count?”
“Two
thousand and twenty-three ship my lord,” Tyi replied.
“Excellent,
the Republic and Empire won’t know what hit them,” Rizon said pleased that
things were going so well and smiled at that thought of being the Empress of
the universe and the heart of a new Sith Empire.
The others
looked at her wondering if she had gone mad.
She was going to take on both the Imperial and
Gaia
walked up to the main meeting area of the temple. Master Skywalker had called for a meeting of
all the Jedi in the area. She thought
she had an idea of what was going on.
Tavion had been stirring up trouble for a while now and it appeared that
everything was about to reach the climax.
“Thank you
for coming so quickly,” Luke said as he glanced around at all the Jedi who had
shown up. “Jaden has come across some
information that Tavion has been influenced by an Ancient Sith Lord. Right now she is currently on her way to
resurrect this Sith Lord. We must stop
her at all costs. I won’t lie to you
though we will be up against other Force users who can handle a lightsaber just
as well as any of us so be careful out there.”
Gaia suddenly
felt unsure if she should have even shown up for this meeting. She was not much of a swordswoman with the
lightsaber. She decided to approach
Master Fie-Tel about her going on this mission.
Luke
finished telling everyone what to expect and Gaia went in search of
Fir-Tel. She spotted him standing beside
Luke and Kyle Katarn. She wondered what
they were talking about as they quieted down as she approached.
“Gaia,
what can I do for your,” Fie-Tel asked the young woman. He already had an idea about what she wanted
but wanted to hear her ask it.
“I don’t
feel like I should participate in this mission Master Fie-Tel. My skills are not as good as the others,”
Gaia said wondering what their reaction would be.
“Gaia, I
need all available Jedi to help combat this threat,” Luke said quite seriously.
“Then I
will do my best,” Gaia replied hoping that she would be able to live up to her
mentor’s expectations.
“I have a
feeling that you will do just fine,” Luke replied as the group began to head
for the ships. Luke had felt that
something inside the young Jedi stirring but was not sure what it was. He would have to talk with Fie-Tel and see if
he knew anything about it. That would
happen when they returned back to Yavin.
Tyi
listened to the report that was coming in from one of his spies that he had in
the
The Jedi
were concerned with a group of rebels who might be working with remnants of the
Imperial military. The group was being
led by Tavion who had been a pupil of Desann.
Tyi figured that his master would want to know about this. He activated the communicator and waited for
her to answer.
“Yes Tyi,”
Lord Rizon said over the communicator.
“My lord,
I have received come news that the Jedi are moving against Tavion and her
forces,” Tyi told her.
“Yes, I
know that already. The Jedi will win
this battle,” Rizon said not really concerned with the outcome of the battle.
“This
might be a way to boost our forces my lord,” Tyi said carefully not wanting to
anger her. There was a moment of silence
and Tyi was a bit concerned about his safety.
“So be
it,” Rizon finally said to Tyi who let out a sigh of relief. “Just be sure to remain in the shadows.”
“Yes my
lord,” Tyi replied as Rizon signed off.
He would have to gather a small group of loyal people to act as
recruiters. They would have to remain
hidden to avoid detection from the Jedi and the Imperials.
Tyi
quickly gave out the orders to the group that he had assembled. There was a bit of silence when he realized
that someone else had come into the room.
He turned around and was shocked to see Lord Rizon standing there.
“I’ve
changed my mind,” she stated walking up to him.
He was a bit nervous that she had changed her mind about the
mission. “I will be going with
them. Captain Pietete will be in charge
until my return. I wish for you to
continue on your current mission,” she said then walked out of the room. Tyi looked at the others who were in the room
and each of them had faces of both awe and fear in their eyes. He did not have to tell them that she was
going only for them to be careful.
Gaia
checked out the equipment that she was issued on the way to their
destination. She was feeling nervous
about what was sure to be a fight. She
did not want to hurt anyone during the fight that she was sure would occur.
Taking a
deep breath and letting it out she tried to concentrate on something else other
than fighting. It was hard for her to as
she could feel that there was something about this mission.
“Everything
all right,” another Jedi asked who was sitting next to her.
“I don’t
know. I just feel that something is
going to happen during the battle but I can’t pinpoint it,” Gaia said not sure
how to explain her uneasiness that she felt.
“Prebattle
jitters, we all get it,” the other Jedi replied. He had been in battle before as a rebel pilot
years ago during the last part of the war against the Empire. “I remember the first time I went into
battle. I thought for sure that I was
going to throw up,” he said to her.
“I guess
so,” Gaia replied hoping that the other Jedi was right.
They felt
the ship touchdown on the planet’s surface and the door opened. Gaia went to her assigned area and waited to
see what was going to happen. They were
there to stop Tavion’s forces from trying to resurrect a dead Sith Lord. Gaia waited to see if anyone came near her
area while she could hear the fight all around her.
A flash
off to her right caught her attention.
She noticed that it was a Jedi facing off with an attacker. She turned and headed in their direction. She engaged the opponent and together they
overwhelmed the attacker.
The Jedi
muttered thanks before heading back into the fray. Gaia was about to follow when she felt
something strange. It was much different
than what she had been feeling earlier.
This felt more like the strange attacker she had seen back at the
academy when it had been attacked earlier in the year.
Gaia
quickly made up her mind and decided to see if she could follow the source of
what she have been feeling. She quietly
made her way around the ruins avoiding others.
Right now she wanted to be hidden.
Gaia could
hear the fighting begin to die down as the report of Tavion’s defeat came down
though the ruins. She could still hear
the occasional fight going on but as she turned the corner she could hear
voices. Trying to be as quiet as she
could she glanced around the corner. She
could see that many of Tavion’s forces were leaving the ruins heading up a
secret exit that she was sure no one knew about.
Gaia was
about to head back to tell the others what she saw when she noticed the person
who appeared to be in charge. It was a
woman who was dressed in black with a deep crimson cape that seemed to flow
around her. The woman had long black
hair that shimmered and caught Gaia’s attention. The thought that the woman was beautiful
entered her mind.
‘What am I
thinking,” Gaia thought to herself as she regained her senses and looked around
for any signs of trouble. She could tell
that there were quite a few that were leaving using this tunnel as an exit. Gaia realized that she had to tell someone
and was about to leave when the woman turned around and look in her direction.
Gaia felt
caught as deep blue eyes seemed to penetrate her being. Her rational mind tried to tell her that she
should leave as she was in danger but her soul was telling her something else. Something deeper inside her was speaking
louder than her mind was. The deep blue
of the woman’s eyes seemed to draw her in with a strange feeling of belonging
that she had never felt before.
One of the
men headed down the tunnel dropped his lightsaber startled her and realizing
that she had been discovered turned and fled the scene. She ran as fast as she could to where she
knew the others would be. Her heart was
pounding erratically from her encounter as she finally made her way to a small
place where Luke, Kyle Katarn and other Jedi named Jaden were standing.
“Gaia, I’m
glad to see that you made it,” Luke said knowing that he had lost some good
Jedi in the fight. They would have to
step up their training later.
“I think
we have more trouble in the future,” Gaia replied catching her breath from her
run.
“What do
you mean,” Kyle asked pretty sure that he was not going to like what Gaia was
going to tell him.
Gaia
waited a few seconds before replying to fully catch her breath. “I had a feeling of something different so I
went searching. I saw a group of the
survivors heading out of a secret exit.
They also appeared to have a woman leader who was not Tavion,” Gaia told
them.
“So
someone took some of the survivors,” Luke replied as he thought about the ramifications
of what he had just heard. “Do you know
how many,” he asked her trying to gage the threat they might pose.
“From what
I saw over twenty,” Gaia replied honestly.
“I was only there a few minutes before leaving.”
“They’ll
have a hard time leaving the planet.
We’ve got a Republic cruiser patrolling the planet to prevent any ship
from leaving. We’ll be able to find out
who they are shortly,” Luke said as he recalled the cruiser.
Jessica
waited in the shadows as her men did their job.
She could feel that something else was going on inside the tomb. She figured that it was Tavion trying to
resurrect the ancient Sith Lord but there was also something else there. She would keep a close eye out for anything
was out of the ordinary.
Jessica
also silently counted the number of people that her recruiters were able to
gather from Tavion’s forces. The woman
was not very competent if so many of her people were leaving their ranks for
her. A few of them stopped to look at
her and a few she recognized but she now had the persona of Darth Rizon. Many looked at her with a bit of fear and awe
in their eyes. That was good for her as
it meant there would be fewer who would challenge her in her attempt to take
her title of Sith Lord.
She
noticed that most of them were Force users and already had their own
lightsabers. That would be a great head
start in training for her. The training
that she had in mind for these people would be different as they would make up
her elite troops that she would use against the Jedi.
The news
had come though the hallways that Tavion had fallen to a Jedi called
Jaden. The news was no surprise to
Jessica. She had already seen Tavion’s
failure and was using it to strengthen her own forces.
The last
of the group was heading though when she became aware of someone watching
her. She turned around and scanned the
area for whoever it was. She saw the
person almost right away almost as if she had been guided right to the person
by some unknown force.
Jessica
locked onto green eyes that were looking right back at her. She could feel the intensity and it caught
her off guard for several seconds. She
almost felt lost in the depths of the mysterious green eyes of the stranger.
One of the
men walking past her made a slight noise breaking the contact with the
woman. Jessica turned to see what the
noise had been. She noticed that one of
the men had dropped his weapon as anger flashed though her.
“If you
can’t hold onto your weapon then don’t carry one,” Jessica said slipping into
the role of Darth Rizon very easily.
The men
stopped as they watched what was going on between the two. The man seemed to not even have heard the
woman and his reply reinforced that face as several suddenly backed away.
“Whatever,”
the man said as he retrieved his lightsaber.
He was annoyed at having this woman play like she was something
special. He had worked for several
others and would wait for the next big person.
The man
suddenly found himself hurled off his feet and thrown up against the wall. The force that was used was tremendous and he
had to work to see who it was who had attacked him. Turning his head he noticed the woman who he
had just passed.
“I will
tolerate no disrespect among my troops,” Rizon said as she now approached the
man who was struggling to get back up.
“I don’t
care who you are. I was the commander of
Tavion’s forces and soon I will be the new commander once I talk with whoever
is in charge of this,” he thought activating his lightsaber to take care of
this woman.
“That was
a mistake,” Rizon said as she activated her own. The other men watched from a distance as the
tall woman quickly struck down their former leader. “Anyone else who wants to challenge Darth
Rizon?
The men
looked at each other each knowing that they would not be able to defeat the
woman. The power she gave off made most
of them almost giddy at the thought of someone who seemed to be so
powerful. Tavion never was able to give off
this much power.
“Us excuse
me Darth Rizon,” one man said trying not to flinch when the blue eyes pinned
him. “Do you want us to go after the
woman who was watching us,” he asked her having seen her look at the woman.
“No, we
are leaving this place,” Rizon said to the group. “She will already be with the rest of the
Jedi by now and there is no reason for a confrontation now.”
“But
there’s a Republic cruiser orbiting the planet.
How are we going to get off now,” another man said as they began to walk
thought the secret passage.
“Let me
worry about that,” Rizon stated as they walked though the hallway.
The men
walked along a bit skeptical about what the woman had just told them. She was obviously not worried about the
Republic cruiser making them wonder what she had planned.
They
quickly boarded the shuttle and waited to take off. Rizon went to the front of the shuttle and
quickly barked out several commands.
They left the shuttle life off along with two other shuttles.
“Captain,
we have three shuttles lifting off from Korriban’s surface. What are you orders,” the scanner operator
said looking up from his position.
The
captain turned to his own console and brought up his communicator to contact
Luke Skywalker. This was the Jedi’s
mission not the Republic’s so he would ask them what to do. Luke quickly told him that he wanted the
shuttles captured. The captain relayed
the message back to the crew.
“Battlestations,
we are to disable the shuttles and take the crew and any passengers as
prisoners,” the captain ordered.
The
Republic cruiser went to full alert and began to close in on the three fleeing
shuttles. Orders for the shuttles to
stand down and be boarded went unheeded.
The cruiser had just come within firing range of the shuttles when
another ship arrived.
“Captain
we have a new contact just coming out of hyperspace,” the scanner operator
said. “Computer says it’s a Sith
battleship,” the man said with a bit of wonder in his voice.
“A what,”
the captain asked not sure what he had just heard.
“A Sith
battleship,” the scanner operator repeated.
The
operator barely had time to tell the captain that the battleship had them
targeted when it opened fire. The
firepower on board the Sith battleship might have been old, but it was still
enough to take out the cruiser’s shields.
Within a few minutes the cruiser was destroyed leaving the battleship to
take on the three shuttles. A few
minutes later the battleship entered hyperspace and left the planet.
Luke was
walking back to the shuttles to head back to Yevin when he felt something was
wrong. Kyle and Gaia looked at him when
he suddenly glanced up at the sky.
“Skywalker
to Captain Yept,” Luke said into his communicator. He was greeted with nothing but silence. The longer the silence went the more
concerned he became about what my have happened.
“What’s
wrong,” Kyle asked breaking the silence.
“I have a
bad feeling about the cruiser,” Luke replied.
“Great, when
you have a bad feeling about something the entire universe trembles,” Kyle said
half joking half serious.
Gaia
remained quiet even though there was a comfortable banter going on between Luke
and Kyle. There was something about the
mysterious woman who had seemed to be in charge of the group. The woman seemed to be familiar to her
somehow. She turned her attention back
to the other two who were now standing there looking at her.
“Are you
all right,” Luke asked her a bit concerned when Gaia was not paying any
attention to them.
“Yes
Master Luke, I was just thinking about something,” Gaia replied.
Suddenly
another Jedi came running up to them. He
appeared to be a bit shaken up by the news he had just be told.
“Master
Skywalker, I’m afraid that we’ve just received news that the cruiser was
destroyed,” he told the group.
The news
shocked everyone that was standing there.
A
“Any clues
as to what happened,” Luke asked wondering what had happened.
“Not at
the moment Master,” the man replied.
“The fleet is sending out a recovery team to sift though the wreckage to
see if they can find out what happened.”
“It seems
that we have another mystery on our hands,” Kyle said more to himself than
anyone else.
Gaia
wondered if the woman she had seen earlier had anything to do with the attack
on the cruiser. A part of her hoped that
she was not but her more rational side figured she was. She also wondered as to why she did not say
anything about the person being a woman to Luke.
Gaia
walked to the shuttle lost in her own thoughts as she tried to sort out what
was going on with her. She should not
have kept any information away from the others but she was. There must be a reason for her behavior and
she was determined to find out what it was before telling Master Skywalker.
Gaia went
though her training even though she was still wondering about what her next
step would be for the mysterious blue-eyed woman. She was meditating when Master Fie-Tel came
walking into the room.
“Gaia,
you’re wanted in Master Skywalker’s office,” he told her and waited for her to
get up from her meditating position.
Gaia was a
bit surprised about being summoned to Master Skywalker’s office. She wondered what he could want with
her. She walked along with Fie-Tel who
did not offer any clues as to why she had been summoned. Luke was waiting for her in his office and
turned around when they walked into the room.
“Gaia,
come in,” Luke said. “Master Fie-Tel and
I have been going over your record lately.
You’ve demonstrated that your abilities are that of a full Jedi
Knight. So as of right now we are
promoting you to the rank of Jedi Knight.”
“Jedi
Knight,” Gaia replied in a bit of a stunned voice. She did not feel like she deserved such a
promotion.
“Yes, your
actions at Korriban and the previous attack here at the academy have proven that
you are ready for the next step,” Fie-Tel said to her. “Just remember that a Jedi never stops
learning or being tested.”
“I won’t
master,” Gaia replied to Fie-Tel.
“Then I
have a mission for you Jedi Knight Gaia,” Luke said to her. “Lately I have been feeling a disturbance in
the force. I think that it might be
related to what happened to the cruiser at Korriban and what you were
researching earlier. I want you to fine
out what is happening and report back to me.”
“I will,”
Gaia replied then walked out of the room and headed back to her mediation. She needed to see if she could find something
in the Force that might guide her. She
had reached the end of what she knew for the next step for the mission. She was missing something and she was nut sure
what it was.
As she sat
down she decided to try another approach.
This time she would concentrate on the dark haired blue-eyed woman she
had seen. Perhaps she might be able to
see something about her in her visions.
Gaia had
been at it for several days without having anything and was about to give up
when something came to her. The name of
a planet that she felt was important.
She quickly looked it up and noticed that it was just outside Republic
space.
She told
Luke and Fie-Tel where she was going and that she might be out of touch but
would try to remain in contact with them.
She just hoped that that she would find something that she was looking
for. She climbed into the ship and
punched in the coordinates for the planet.
“My lord,”
a man said as he bowed to the tall dark clothed woman standing on the bridge of
the ship.
“Report,”
she replied curtly.
“The
attack fleet is ready to strike,” he reported to the woman. She scared him and he was not afraid for
other to know it. He had seen her kill a
person just last week just because they said something wrong to her. He was not going to let that happen to him.
“Excellent,
tell Admiral Pietete to have everything ready to go when I say so,” the woman
told him. She then turned and walked off
the bridge and headed towards one of the hangers.
Several
people were training with lightsabers inside the spacious area of the
hanger. A few of the people were acting
instructors. They wore a dark cape and
grey clothing to make them stand out from the others. The door opened up and a tall woman wearing a
dark red cloak walked into the room.
“Darth
Rizon,” a woman said along with a bow as Rizon walked into the room. She surveyed the room to see how everything
was coming along.
“Katie,”
Rizon said to the woman who was standing in front of her. “How are the recruits doing?”
“We have a
great group that was mostly trained already,” Katie replied.
“Then
they’ll be ready for our next attack,” Rizon said.
“See for yourself,”
Katie replied.
Rizon said
that she wanted to and walked further into the hanger. She motioned for one of the students in the
room to attack her. He glanced over at
Katie who nodded her head and he recovered from the shock and ignited his
lightsaber. He attacked her with a fury
of strikes.
Rizon
easily blocked the man’s attack but that was not what she was looking for. Her continuing blocking added to his
frustration as his anger got the better of him.
He growled and put his anger behind his attack.
Rizon
threw him back easily with a quick Force push and called the session to a
halt. “Excellent work, you are
ready. Get everyone ready for a
planetside attack,” she said to the group then walked out of the hanger.
When she
arrived back on the bridge she told Admiral Pietete to head to the planet she
told him to. She then went over to Tyi
to discuss her plans once the planet was hers.
Gaia
arrived at the planet and landed on the surface with out a problem. The population there at first greeted her
with a bit of hostility. Then they
realized that she was a Jedi and they seemed to be a bit more at ease with her.
Gaia could
only figure out that the people must have had a previous encounter with a Jedi
Knight somewhere in their past. She
still did not know what she was looking for.
She had no idea that it was about to find her.
End Part 5