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 8

Luke was sitting in his meditation room when he suddenly felt the loss in the force. It was something that he could only remember back when he was on board the Millennium Falcon before he was really trained in the Force. Then it was the destruction of Alderaan that he had felt. This time he was not sure what it was.

Getting up Luke walked out of the room in search of others to see if they had felt it as well. He needed to know how much it effected there Force and how many other felt it. If it was something that had been felt allover then it might be the destruction of an entire planet. If that was the case then there was definitely a new evil out there that would need to be addressed.

"Master Skywalker, some students were wondering if you felt something in the Force. Several of us thought we felt something but are not sure what it was," Fie-Tel asked coming up to Luke.

"Yes, I did. I fear that something dreadful has happened," Luke replied. "I need to speak to my sister."

He sighed a few minutes later when he was not able to get in touch with her. She was apparently in council with the senate. He could only hope that she was aware of what was going on.

The council was full of trouble this time. No one seemed to want to listen to anyone else. People were complaining why they should have to help defend against a threat while others were saying that Leia was trying to take after the Senator Palpantine who turned into the Emperor. The senator of Korraban was still trying to gather support for his council and the meeting of this group called Rizians.

Leia was about to intervene when she felt something very strong in the Force. At that moment she knew that something had gone wrong. She quickly wondered what could have caused such a disturbance and what it was. She needed to talk with her brother to see if he had any idea as to what it was.

"I move for a brief recess so that tempers may cool down and then we can look at this with cooler heads," Leia said to the council. Several others agreed with her and the council recess until later in the day to discuss the agenda that had been brought up earlier.

Leia quickly went to her desk and was informed by her secretary that Luke had indeed tried to call her not that long ago. Hoping that she could still catch him she called him back. It took a few moments but his face appeared on the screen.

"Leia," Luke said. "I’m glad that you called me back."

"Does this have anything to do with what I felt just a few minutes ago," Leia asked.

"Yes, something terrible has happened Leia. I was wondering if the Republic intelligence had discovered anything out of the ordinary lately that might account for what we felt here," Luke asked hoping that they had found something.

"Not that I'm aware of, but I'll keep you informed of anything that the intelligence picks up," Leia replied.

"Thanks," Luke said as he signed off.

Leia quickly called for the intelligence reports to see if there was anything in there that she might have missed or if there was something new. Her aide quickly went and gathered the reports and returned with them for her to read.

Darth Rizon stood there waiting for the government of Farsis to respond to her demands. She had ordered the leveling of one city already and had no remorse about having a second city leveled if her demands were not met.

"Anything yet," she asked Tyi who was standing nearby on the deck.

"Nothing yet my Lord," he replied. "Perhaps they are still stunned and are working out everything."

"Perhaps, or they are too stupid to know when to surrender," Rizon replied as she continued to look at the planet. "Tell them they have ten minutes to reply, or another city is destroyed."

"Yes my Lord," Tyi replied then went to relay the message. It left Rizon with Gaia by her side.

"You don't approve," Rizon whispered to the smaller woman beside her.

"No," Gaia whispered back. "I don't like seeing anyone hurt."

"Is that so," Rizon replied as an idea went through her mind. "We shall see then."

Gaia was not sure what the tall woman meant by what she had just said. The one thing she was sure of though was it would mean bad news for her. She would have to be on guard against everything that the woman threw at her. Somehow she also had the feeling that she would need more than her Jedi training to survive this and that more was at stake then the universe for her.

"I can't believe that she has that tiny weak Jedi standing by her," one of the trainees was saying as they stood in the training room.

"Be quite you fool, you'll get us all killed," another one said as he eyed a tall blonde who walked into the room. She was Rizon's right hand when it came to training.

"I don't care, its a sure sign of weakness for her to have that Jedi," he said spitting out the last word as if it might contaminate him. He was suddenly very still as the hum of a lightsaber sliced though the air. He could almost feel it as the blade hovered right at his throat and he had to fight the urge to swallow.

"I suggest you be careful of where you say that. Darth Rizon has spies everywhere," the tall woman said. None of them had seen her move on over and now she looked like she was about to kill one of them.

All movement in the room stopped as they looked at what was going on. They were all waiting to see what their instructor was going to do. If she was going to kill him or not. Finally the lightsaber was clicked off and the man let out an audible gasp of relief.

"Everyone back to your practice," she said in a growl. "You come with me," she said pointing to the man.

"Yes ma'am," he replied hoping that he would live though the meeting with her.

She led him to a small secluded area away from the others where she had a feeling that they would be able to talk in private. This might be just the man to help her in her own plans.

"Tell me, what do you know of Sith doctrine," she asked him.

"The strong survive," the man answered.

"Right, and part of the Sith way is to overthrow their masters," she said watching as realization sunk in. "I think together we can overthrow Darth Rizon and become Sith lords ourselves."

"Is that possible," the man asked not sure about what she had just said. He had seen the power that Darth Rizon was capable of.

"Yes, that puny Jedi is the key," she said. "What do you say?"

"I think that you can count me in, my lord," the man said.

"Excellent," she replied. "For now continue to train and keep you mouth shut."

"Of course," he said and walked out.

"The fool doesn't know what he's in for," another figure said emerging from the shadows.

"No he doesn't my master," the woman said to him.

"Soon they will all know," he said then left again.

"Darth Rizon, we have received word from the surface," Tyi said sure that Rizon would not like what they had said. He handed her the message and watched as she scanned the reply.

"Do they take me for a fool," she finally said her eyes darkening with anger. "They will feel the power of the Sith."

Rizon turned to the captain and paused before saying anything. She thought about what she had been thinking about earlier. Now was the time to implement her plan. She turned to where Gaia was standing. She could almost feel the younger woman's fear as Rizon walked up to where she was.

"I have a proposition for you," Rizon said. "I'll spare the planet if you order the destruction of one of the cities."

"What," Gaia exclaimed not sure she had heard the taller woman correctly.

"Its quite simple really. Either you order my captain to destroy one city, which you choose, or I order the entire planet's surface destroyed," Rizon said.

Gaia's heart constricted in her throat at what this tall woman had just said. Either she would order innocent lives to be killed or more would be killed. Gaia was also not sure if she did do this the planet would not be destroyed anyways.

"And how do I know that you won't go ahead and destroy the planet's surface anyways," Gaia finally said.

"You don't," Rizon said bluntly. "It depends on their answer again. Pick a good target and they just might come around. If not then," Rizon left the rest unsaid with a small shrug like it was nothing.

Gaia really felt sick as she heard what the woman in front of her wanted her to do. She would condemn several thousand innocent people to death all because she wanted it.

"Why don't you just threaten them again," Gaia said wondering if the woman in front of her really was the monster that several others on board thought she was.

"That already didn't work," Rizon said with a smile. This game was fun. "Pick a target. I don't have a lot of patience."

Gaia stood still as she listened to what Rizon was saying. She wanted to flee the room and wished that none of this had ever happened. Her mind was already reeling with the endless possibilities. If she did not pick a target then millions, even billions of lives were at stake. But if she did then lives would be lost. She could see no real way out of her predicament.

"Hurry up," Rizon said looking at Gaia.

Gaia quickly made up her mind. She would pick a target hoping that they would understand, and maybe one day forgive her for what she had done. With a shaking finger she pointed to a place on the map. "Here," Gaia said.

"Fine, you heard the lady, open fire," Rizon said pulling Gaia along with her. The small reddish-blonde hair woman did not offer much resistance. Rizon looked out the window as the turbolasers opened fire along with Gaia beside her.

The turbolasers rained down on the planet's surface towards the unsuspecting city. Within a few moments the city was lying in ruins as death and destruction visited it. The thought of what she had done finally caught up with Gaia.

"I despise you," Gaia finally said and quicker than anyone thought she slapped Rizon across the face leaving a red imprint of her small hand on the cheek of Rizon's face. Before Rizon could recover the small woman was already walking towards the door with tears forming in her eyes.

Rizon then quickly closed the distance before the smaller woman had a chance to leave the bridge. A large part of her wanted to hurt the woman but another smaller part of her did not. In a strange war the smaller part of her won. Rizon did not have time to dwell on it as she spun the smaller woman around so she could see her anger.

"I don't think that your leaving so soon little one," Rizon said as she held the smaller woman close to her. There for a second Rizon watched as the green eyes in front of her changed from the hatred that she had seen to something else. For a second Rizon wanted to do nothing else but kiss the smaller woman then the look was gone replaced by anger again.

Rizon turned and motioned for the guards to come. "Take her back to her room," Rizon ordered then turned and walked back to the window of the bridge. Glancing out at the planet below she should have felt powerful but instead there was a part of her that hurt. It was a strange feeling and one that she was not used to. It did not matter as long as the planet surrendered to her.

"My lord," Tyi said walking up to the dark lord.

"Yes," Rizon said turning to look at Tyi.

"We've just received word from the planet. They accept your terms for surrender," Tyi said.

"Excellent," Rizon said. "See to it immediately. I'm going to be concentrating on our next move," she said then walked out the door not waiting for a reply.

Rizon walked out not really sure where she was going. Part of her though already knew where she was going. She was headed to see about her prisoner/student. She knew that the blonde would be standing at her side sooner or later it was only a matter of time.

Gaia had left the bridge feeling a mixture of emotions. Part of her wanted to just go ahead and kill the tall dark woman for what she had done. Another part of her wanted the woman in a way that went against everything she had been trained for. Gaia was a Jedi Knight and a defender of the people, not a bringer of destruction.

She realized that she was letting her emotions get the best of her, especially her anger. That was a path that she did not want to follow, it was one that was not her. Inside the room she then realized that she had just walked back to where she was a prisoner by herself. A Jedi Knight was loose on the ship and no one seemed to mind. With a sigh she sat down. It was not like she could do much anyways. There were supposed to be guards but she had lost them easily.

If she made it to the hanger and managed to get an escape craft she had no idea as to where she was now. That and they would probably bow her up before she even got away from the ship.

With a sigh she decided that she would try meditation. Perhaps that would allow her a bit of calm to figure out what to do. Setting down she relaxed herself mentally and physically and concentrated on the Force and how it flowed through her.

Rizon knew where the blonde was going to go. She was walking along when she heard talking. She decided that she would stop for a moment to see what was going on. She could hear the whispered voice quite well.

"I tell ya Gohn, it's perfect," a male voice said. "We let that damn psycho bitch take care of this Lord Rizon, then we take care of her and viola, we have ourselves an Empire."

"I don't know Oary, she's pretty powerful," the one Rizon assumed was Gohn said.

"Its perfect, even if the bitch wins Lord Rizon won't know that we're part of it," Oary replied.

At first the Dark Side flared in her for a moment until she realized that she needed more information about what was going on. She settled herself then quickly ducked into an open door and watched as the two men walked down the hallway. Her eyes narrowed at the thought of someone trying to take away what was hers.

She knew that her empire was still too weak to take on the Republic just yet. There was still a lot to do before that happens. She already had people who wanted to overthrow her. She however had the advantage here, not them. They would pay fro wanting to overthrow her.

Luke had just received word about what had happened on the distant planet. An entire town had been destroyed. It was then that he recalled his vision. It was one of Gaia along with another woman standing on a bridge watching as the planet below them was destroyed.

Luke was sure now that Gaia was there. He almost felt saddened by what he had seen. It was something that he was not used to feeling. He was losing one of his own Jedi again. There must be something wrong with his training techniques if so many were leaving and joining the Dark Side.

Gaia was one Jedi that he was sure would never join the dark side of the Force. Her morals just did not seem like they would allow for such a thing to happen. Perhaps he needed more information before saying anything else. The other possibility would be very grave for all Jedi involved and he was not sure that he wanted to think about such a thing.

Luke decided that about the only course of action that he could undertake was patience. Things had a way of working out and balance would eventually be achieved even if it took a bit of time to do.

Jessica stood outside the door looking at her two guards who were standing there. She could feel them sweating as she looked at them. There was fear there, but it was fear of her and what she could do.

"I take it my guest made it back to her room," Jessica said slipping into the role of Darth Rizon.

"Yes my Lord," both guards said at almost the same time.

"Good," Rizon said as she let the door slid open and walked into he room. She saw the small Jedi still in the green and black robe sitting in the middle of the room. It was obvious she was meditating. "I see you made it back, did you wait for my escort," Jessica said with a smile.

"Two guards, you mean they made it back here," Gaia finally said not bothering to open her eyes. She had felt the tall woman's approach before the door opened.

Jessica thought about that for a second. She then realized that the small Jedi was probably right. She had been off the bridge before the guards could even move. The other thing was she had not asked the guards if they had escorted the Jedi personally all the way down to the room. A slight error on her part but she would not do anything this time.

"They are standing outside your room, you didn't notice them," Jessica asked.

"Didn't look," Gaia replied still not having opened her eyes. She could feel the other woman walking around the room.

Jessica circled around the room looking at the small blonde. There was something about the small blonde that attracted Jessica. At the moment her blonde hair was loose framing her face. The face did not show any tension but was instead relaxed. Her hand reached out and gently touched the blonde hair slowly caressing it. A slight smile appeared on Jessica's lips when she felt the small Jedi lean slightly into the touch.

Gaia had to mentally slap herself when she felt herself beginning to lean into the tall woman's touch. It was something that had just happened without her even being aware of it. She did have to admit that the touch felt good. Her heart and soul were trying to reach out to this tall woman surrounded by the Dark Side. Her rational mind however was having none it especially after what happened.

"Did I tell you," Jessica said still slowly caressing the blonde's hair. "The government surrendered. You picked a good target."

Gaia sucked in a breath at that. There was a pain in her chest at the thought that she had ordered the deaths of so many people. Jessica felt a wall go up between them again. In a small part of her heart she felt the pain the smaller woman was in. Deciding to shrug it off Jessica decided to switch tactics on the smaller woman.

"You know that you could be a queen among everyone right," Jessica said as she walked up behind the smaller woman leaning to whisper into a small ear. Jessica thought that she felt a small shudder run though the woman's frame and smiled to herself. "All you have to do is be mine."

"I will never be yours," Gaia said as forcefully as she could. "You bring pain to people, I can't do that."

"I can teach you," Jessica said wrapping an arm around the woman's stomach.

"Then you would destroy who I am. I can't allow that," Gaia said.

"Then you will be destroyed one way or the other," Jessica said abruptly standing up. She glanced at the blonde one last time before walking out of the room. Gaia was not sure how much longer she would be able to resist the taller woman. There was something there that was drawing her in.

Gaia took a deep breath and slowly let it out. There was a lot to think about and she needed to clear her mind. It was something that she hoped would provide her a path that she could head down that might help her out.

She had not been doing it very long when she became aware of another presence. Gaia opened her eyes and noticed that there were two women in the room. One was surrounded by a soft blue light the other had a reddish light around her. The smaller one looked like her and the other looked like her capture.

"Who are you," Gaia finally said. "What are you trying to tell me."

"You already have all the power you need," the taller one said to Gaia.

"I'm not very strong in the Force, not like Master Luke or this Sith Lord that has me prisoner," Gaia replied.

"You are using the wrong power the smaller one said taking her arms and wrapping them around the taller woman. "You already hold more power than you think, use it."

Gaia was still puzzled but they disappeared leaving her alone again.

"Great, I've already got the power," Gaia said muttering what the vision had said to her. "What power. I'll always be just a mediocre Jedi with a low Force power."

The senator sat down at his desk. He checked his messages and one stood out from all the rest. It was a voice that he had heard before. Only this time he was scared of what the message was about. It seemed that the person was not happy with the way things were going.

The senator took a calming breath as the message switched off. He had to meet with the president now to see if he could force the issue. His life would be forfeit if he could not.

Leia sat at her desk the next day wondering if things could possibly get any worse. It was then that the senator from Korrabas walked into her office.

"Madam President may I have a word with you," he asked her not bothering to ask if he could have a seat.

"Make it quick, there is a lot of pressing matters to attend to," Leia said.

"Has the committee agreed to meet with the Rizonians yet," he finally asked.

"Well, they've been meeting for the past couple of hours. I hope to have a decision soon, why," Leia asked looking up at the man from what she was doing.

"Its just that I don't know how long the Rizonians will be interested in meeting with us. There is some rumor that they are also interested in meeting with the remnants of the Imperial forces," the senator said.

Leia could feel that something had happened to the man and wondered what it was. She thought about it for a few seconds before giving her reply.

"I can't rush the committee, that would make it look like I'm pushing my policies on the council," Leia said. "Well just have to trust the committee to make the right decision."

"I hope they do," the senator said then left the room leaving Leia alone.

"This is getting strange," she said to herself. Something was going on and the sooner she found out about it the better she would feel.

Gaia was still wondering what the visions had meant when they had come to her telling her that she had the power. She was trying to think about what power she had that the Sith Lord did not have. Gaia was pretty sure that no matter what she tried the other woman would be more powerful than she was. She had to be missing something but she was just not able to see whatever it was for some reason.

The door opened to reveal the tall dark haired woman walking into the room. There was an air of power that seemed to come off her in waves unlike anyone else Gaia had ever seen. Then she also could feel something else that she again clamped down on. There was an attraction to the tall powerful woman that for some reason Gaia just could not understand.

"And how are you today," Rizon asked the smaller Jedi.

"I'm still a prisoner if that's what you mean," Gaia replied.

"You know you don't have to be," Rizon said walking over to where the woman was taking a hand and brushing a lock of blond hair back behind a small ear.

Gaia had to resist the urge to lean into the touch. Gaia had to keep repeating to herself that this woman was evil and had done terrible things both to others and what she had made her do.

"I will never be with you," Gaia managed to spit out. He mind firmly believed that but deep inside her soul something laughed at her all the while was dancing around that the tall woman was touching her and craved more contact.

"Never say never," Rizon said letting her voice go to a low timbre watching the smaller woman. Rizon was quite sure that she had the smaller woman right where she wanted her.

"Lord Rizon, there is a message for you," the intercom buzzed causing the tall woman to turn her head.

"Well, looks like I have to cut our time together short this time little one," Rizon said before turning to answer the intercom. She told the bridge that she would be right there. She had a feeling that she knew who was calling and why. The man had better have good information for her this time.

Rizon entered the bridge and waited a second until the image of the man appeared on her screen. She waited with what looked like patience for the man to speak. On the inside however she was waiting to see if she would kill the man or not.

"Darth Rizon," the man said respectively.

"Report," Rizon said making the man shiver with just a word.

"I hope to have the results in a few hours. The council is being most difficult. Some do not want to meet with you others are more than eager," the man replied.

"And what do you think their decision will be," Rizon said getting to the point of the conversation. She did not care how long it too as long as they agreed to meet with her.

"I think the advantages of meeting with you outweigh any concerns," the man said.

"Excellent, make sure that is the direction the council goes," Rizon said disconnecting the conversation before the man could say anything else. The one thing that she did not want to do was give the man time to anger her. She still needed the man for now. But he was a politician which would have to be dealt with after all of this.

"Tell our operative on Coruscant to make sure that everything is in position. I will be making another visit to our friend there," Rizon said to Tyi who went to carry out her order. Rizon watched as the man walked away. She wondered if he was involved in the rebellion that was being planned against her. That was the problem with being on top that someone always wanted your position.

Then there was the Jedi that she had her forces captured. At first she wanted to make the small Jedi a lesson to the rest of the Jedi who she knew were going to oppose her. Now however she had changed her mind. She wanted the Jedi to join her, be with her for some reason. Sure the reddish blonde haired Jedi was cute, actually really cute, but it was not often that Jessica was attracted to anyone.

Rizon turned her attention back to the task at hand. She had to meet with the council of the New Republic. Her plan was to have them believe that she and her 'people' were the ones under attack. If she could confuse them enough then when she did attack they would not know where the attacks were coming from until it was too late. Then the Republic would be hers followed by the remnants of the Imperial forces.

End Part 8

Go on to Part 9

Return to Xena\SW Page