The Sith Empress
by AJ Marks
Part 2
Jessica slowly became aware of her surroundings as she regained consciousness. The first thing she became aware of was a headache but that was beginning to ease up a bit despite the feeling it would last all day. She thought back to what happened, entering the Valley of the Jedi cave, then the strange figure calling itself Darth Zaris, and finally some unknown presence.
A voice above her snapped her back to the present as he regained her senses. Opening her eyes she waited a few seconds for her eyes to adjust to the light and could make out a figure standing above her.
“You all right?” the man asked her waiting for a reply.
Jessica took a moment to stretch a few muscles and evaluate if she had any pain at all. Nothing felt out of place to anything and the man appeared to be waiting for an answer to his question. She flexed her arm a bit and felt a strange power coursing through her even with her head hurting.
“I’m fine,” Jessica finally replied standing up. Her headache was slowly fading away as she moved to the entrance of the cave and walked out into the sunshine. She felt the heat from the sun’s rays after the coolness of the cave. She could feel a lot more now, the life force all around her, a raw power which made her feel almost invincible. Making her way over to Desann she realized he would not last very long. Something she felt and understood despite the appearance he upheld.
She watched Desann make his way over to where she stood. He seemed to look her over a bit closer than many of the others. She realized there was a bit of a power difference between them and wondered if he could feel it.
“Shadow,” Desann said to her, and she was led off where she realized the more elite group was waiting and receiving black armor and other equipment.
“Here,” one of the men said, handing her a lightsaber. She placed at her side and moved on to the armor.
“Special armor, it deflects lightsabers, mostly,” the man said to her handing her the black armor. She realized how important such armor would be in the future, especially if they were fighting Jedi. Though she doubted its effects to counter the Force.
Glancing around she realized how careless Desann was being in gathering this army. He ran the risk of allowing others to be more powerful than he was, and he believed everyone in the army followed him. She smiled at that thought, someone else had already claimed to be her master.
She put on the armor and waited for it to settle right, making some adjustments to the fit before feeling it fit nicely. She made her way back over to where the rest of her squad they were organizing even as an officer came walking over to them.
“All right, listen up,” the officer said. “We’re headed to Yavin IV, the home of the Jedi along with other strike units gathered under General Garret and Desann we will deal a devastating blow to the Jedi, and the New Republic. Head on board the shuttle, we’ll be leaving shortly.”
She moved to the shuttle and found herself a place to sit down and meditate. Several others did the same, while the rest seemed to prepare for battle differently than she did. They were excited about the upcoming battle while she concentrated on the Force. The ‘Dark Side’ seemed to call strongly to her and she felt a part of her respond.
The plan to attack Yavin IV was bold, strong, yet she realized stupid in the long run. Neither Garret nor Desann were powerful enough yet for such a forward attack on the Jedi. Yet such groups seemed to always attack before they were ready. She understood Master Skywalker had done a good job in training his students, they were combat ready and led by those who fought the imperial Empire and other would be Sith Lords.
They did a good job in bringing together an army, but moved too foolishly to do any good. Desann was as good as dead by the end of the battle. The Force was not on his side this time.
*****
Luke walked into the med lab looking around for Fie-Tel quickly spotting him sitting next to a blonde who was now wide awake. He made his way on over to the two knowing that Gaia was confused about something by the look on her face. He could almost feel the confusion going on inside her.
“Master Skywalker, Gaia was telling me about a strange dream she had while passed out,” Fie-Tel stated as Luke joined them and sat down next to the bed.
“I see,” Luck said turning his attention to Gaia. “Perhaps if you tell us both, we can help you figure it out.”
He watched her as she paused, ran a hand though her blonde hair and thought about where to begin. He prepared himself for anything from an actual dream to something more, connected to the Force. It would not be the first time such things had happened to padawans but it could be dangerous. Something he learned the hard way years ago in his first encounter against Darth Vader.
“I remember being on the training field against the droid,” Gaia began. “I recall feeling something very strong inside of me. I’m unsure what it was as I’ve never felt anything like ti before. It might have been the Force but I can’t be sure.”
Luke nodded his head not wanting to break her train of thought. Gaia might have other talents in the Force and recalled the many ways people have used the Force throughout the galaxy. He would consider her talents might be useful in other areas for support even as she continued.
“I felt this great, well, sorrow and then a burst of only what I can describe as pure evil,” Gaia said hesitating here for a second as she tried to come up with a description. “Then, I saw two robed figures. One was tall, much taller than me, the other seemed to be about my height. I think they were both women but I’m not sure as I never saw their faces. A woman’s voice told me that I’m the key, but I have no idea what I could be a key for? I know there are more here more powerful than I am, I’m not that tall.”
“Remember, size doesn’t matter. Master Yoda was one of the smallest Jedi ever, yet he was one of the most powerful Jedi’s ever. Each of us is powerful in our own ways and we must find the strengths each of us have and use it,” Luke said recalling all he had learned in his travels.
He watched as Gaia thought about what he said before saying something else. “I also, well, it’s the strange thing, I felt like I somehow knew who they were,” she said to them. Luke felt her confusion over this statement but had no wisdom for her this time.
“We’ll look into this later, but for now there are some other concerns,” Luke said getting up and motioning for Fie-Tel to follow him. “Allow her some rest before resuming training,” Luke said to him.
“Is that all master Skywalker?” Fie-Tel asked as if he knew there was more to it when Luke motioned him out of the room.
“No, I had a visit from Master Yoda after you left,” Luke said knowing he startled Fie-Tel with the statement. “he told me that there is a new disturbance in the Force, and something that deals with more than the Force. I’m not sure if he was talking about Desann or not, but let me know if anything else happens to her. He might have been talking about her.”
“I will Master Skywalker,” Fie-Tel replied.
Luck watched as he moved off to continue his instructions with other students before heading back to his own office. There would be so much to keep an eye on and sometimes he wondered how the Jedi Council handled it so many years ago. Perhaps it was time to form his own council as well.
*****
Jessica felt the ship come out of hyperspace and knew the ship had finally arrived in the Yavin system. In a few minutes they would receive their orders and know what their assignment would be. She had her own thoughts as the officers came in giving each person an assignment. In the confusion of battle she would have no trouble getting away, it was getting a ride off Yavin which she figured might be difficult.
Her squadron was given orders to help take the base and prevent reinforcements from arriving. Reports from the surface already indicated heavy resistance coming from the ground, not that she was surprised by it. Fighters had already come up from the surface making landing a bit tougher than normal even as they boarded the landing shuttles.
She had a feeling things would only get worse for Desann and his army as the battle progressed. The shuttle bumped along as it made its way down to the surface. The door opened allowing them all to exit. Shouts could be heard as the troopers rushed forward to engage.
Quickly igniting her lightsaber she rushed into battle looking around and seeing a few fighters nearby. Not wasting much time she used the confusion of the battle to head towards one noticing it already had an R2 unit in it. Even as she moved forward she paused feeling something strange, something she had felt before blacking out at the Valley of the Jedi.
A presence she could not shake. Despite looking around she saw nothing before dismissing it and jumping into the fighter. In a few moments she had taken off and quickly set the coordinates of her destination ignoring the R2 units concern. She jumped into hyperspace knowing Garret and Desann would lose this battle but her journey had just begun.
*****
Gaia fought hard as the invasion had happened rather quickly forcing her out of med lab. She was greeted with a scene of chaos as Stormtroopers rushed into the hangar trying to take it over. Reports of incoming pods did not help as she knew she had to do something to help with the battle.
Igniting her own lightsaber she blocked a few blaster bolts headed her way before using the Force to push them back and hopefully knock them out without really hurting them. Her green blade flashed as she moved quickly keeping up with several others including some of the students who were in the fight.
A new group joined the fight, these were dressed in black, used lightsabers and the Force. They were dangerous foes as word got out about the battle. She watched in horror as one of the black suited warriors cut down another student before turning towards her. He was intercepted by another Jedi master. She watched as they dueled before her attention was pulled to someone else.
She watched a tall person dressed in black slice though several guards on a path towards the fighters. It felt unusual considering most of the others seemed content on securing the area. Even as she watched there was something about the way the person moved which seemed familiar to Gaia, like she had seen the person before. It felt odd even as the person jumped into a fighter and after a few seconds took off.
Gaia had little time to think about what happened as two people jumped in front of her forcing her to engage. Before she really knew what to do they were engaged by another Jedi, this guy had brown hair and a beard and seemed to know what he was doing and quickly cut them down. It took her only a few seconds to realize she was fighting with Kyle Katarn.
She went with him a little bit further fighting a fore more attackers trying to hold her own and not kill anyone. The sounds of battle would down and she made her way back to the hanger to see what she could do with the cleanup.
Her mind went back to the person in black armor and who that person was. It was a strange thing and she tried to rationalize it but so far could not think of anything. With the attack over she watched as a bit later Luke Skywalker came walking back into the area along with Kyle Katarn and a woman Gaia had never seen before. They talked for a bit before Kyle seemed to move off and Luke moved his way over to where she stood.
End part 2