The Sith Empress – Part 8

The Sith Empress

by AJ Marks

Part 8

Luke watched as Gaia ate and wondered what might happen next with her before going over the conversation with his sister. She had not been convinced of anything and wanted more proof.  He hoped she might at least understand that something might be going on.  But he had to admit that convincing any of the others he would need proof that something was going on, and not vague feelings and a visit from an old Jedi Master.

He knew there were still some hard feeling regarding the Jedi, and the lies which the Emperor had spread during his reign. One of many things they had to try and overcome.  Perhaps setting up on Yavin IV wasn’t the best idea he had, but he would make it work.

He felt glad Gaia had accepted the offer from Leia to head over to the library. He had a feeling she had to do this on her own, he couldn’t help her in her research.  He probably would not recognize what she might be looking for.

They finished up and Leia and Gaia left the room leaving Han and Luke alone, the children not quite up yet.

“So, what’s the story with the kid?” Han asked pinning Luke with a stare.

Luke sighed knowing this was going to come up. He hoped Gaia would find something which he could bring to the council, or something he could use to formulate a plan against this new threat.  With it all he understood his sister’s reluctance to appear before the Council without any proof.

“I guess that I’m really hoping she finds something about this threat. I have a real bad feeling about it all,” he said to her.

“So, this really could be serious,” Han replied.

“Well, it warranted a visit from Yoda,” Luke said.

“I’ll try to talk to Leia, see if we can get any more help, not sure it will do any good. You know how she gets when her mind is made up,” Han said to him.

“I know,” Luke replied, giving him a grin before heading off to start his own day.

*****

Gaia really had no idea what she was headed into but heading to the library with the President of the Republic was not something she imagined doing on the way to Coruscant. She looked on as the shuttle approached the capital building, a place she never thought herself to be when she was younger.  Now she was going to do research as a Jedi padawan.

“Don’t let the size of it overwhelm you, if you do that you’ll never get over it,” Leia said to her.

Gaia nodded hoping she could do that. The entire Galactic Senate was housed in the building and she knew hundreds of different species were all in there.  It amazed her how they housed everyone so different species would not fight among each other.

The speeder touched down in a special spot and allowed both of them out. Gaia looked around amazed at all the bustle of people running around probably doing some sort of errand for some senator or other important figure.

“Follow me, I’ll show you where the library is,” Leia said to her. “I can arrange a tour as well if you’d like one.”

“Ah, no thanks,” Gaia quickly replied as they started off into the building. A few people stopped and said hi to Leia, and looked briefly at Gaia as if they were wondering who she was.  Gaia remained quiet and just watched the interactions.

They made their way down before entering the library, which was deep inside the building and from what she heard took up several floors.

“Madam President,” a voice said as they entered. Gaia turned to see a tall, skinny figure make its way towards them, an older human with grey hair.

“Hello Ysonne,” Leia said in a quieter voice. “Ysonne, this is Gaia, from the Jedi Academy.”

“A Jedi, I’m honored to be in your presence,” Ysonne said turning to talk to Gaia.

“Oh, I’m not a full Jedi yet,” Gaia said honestly clarifying her position in the Jedi Order.

“Nevertheless, you are training to be a Jedi, yes?” Ysonne asked which Gaia nodded yes. “We don’t get many Jedi here.  Now, tell me how I can help you?”

“Ysonne knows the library almost better than anyone else,” Leia said.

“You flatter me madam President,” Ysonne said.

“It’s true,” Leia replied turning to look at Gaia. “I’ll leave you in her capable hands.  If you get tired and want to head back to the house and left them know.  I’ll leave word that you are my houseguest, if you have any trouble show them this.”

Gaia took a card which Leia handed her and placed it away in a safe spot.

“I will,” she replied watching as Leia said a quick good-bye and hurried off to a council meeting.

“Poor girl, always heading off to this or that meeting,” Ysonne said looking at the retreating form of Leia before turning back to Gaia. “Now, how can I help you?”

“Well, I’m looking for any information about the Jedi before the purge,” Gaia replied hoping she would know where to look.

“Hmm, might be difficult, the Emperor destroyed a lot of the archives. However, I do know some pieces which did survive, perhaps what you seek will be in there,” Ysonne said leading Gaia away from the entrance, down a few flights of stairs and further in the recesses of the library.  “Do you know what time period or the name of the Jedi you’re looking for?”

“Not yet, only that they were two women and I hope they were Jedi within the last millennia,” Gaia replied.

“That covers a lot of time, but most of it was when Yoda was alive,” Ysonne replied before coming to a sudden thought. “We do have some information recovered from the Chu’unthor and its files, but if what you’re looking for is more recent I’m afraid you’ll have trouble finding it.”

“I understand,” Gaia said as they approached an area and she looked around. For not having much information there was a lot of it here.

“There is just so much missing, the old Jedi library took up an entire building to house it all,” Ysonne explained looking as if she was missing a friend.

“I can only hope what I need is here,’ Gaia replied back to her.

“I hope so too, this entire area is full of Jedi records, I must go but if you need any assistance don’t hesitate to call on one of us,” she said to her. “The library is open all the time to accommodate all species.”

“Thank you,” Gaia said watching as she left the room before heading over and sitting down at one of the computers to go to work. She could only hope she might find something about the two Jedi somewhere in all of these files and documents.

*****

The wind whistled around the empty desert terrain blowing the tiny sand particles into the assembled group on the surface. The group followed slowly behind a woman who seemed to know where they were going.  All of them were dressed in black, the lead figure also wore a black cape which fluttered in the wind along with her black hair seemingly unfazed by it all.

The others would occasionally glace at each other than at the woman and continue on wondering where they could be going. No one in the group dared to question her as they trudged on.  The group had been walking for a while now and the only thing which made things better was the fact it wasn’t hot like other desert planets.

The woman stopped causing everyone to halt but still no one spoke until the woman looked around for several seconds and nodded.

“We’re here,” the woman said to the men who were there to guard her. They merely looked around not seeing anything which might indicate an entrance or a cave to them.

The woman closed her eyes and concentrated on the Force. The wind picked up causing the others with her to couch down to present the smallest target they could for the stinging sand particles.  For a second a few thought they might be picked up and tossed about t=by the wind when it suddenly died down and stopped for the first time since they landed.

Looking up an entrance had been revealed to a cave.

“Stay here,” she said to them and descended into the entrance. No one dared to argue with her and none of them even wanted to go down there.

”What do you think’s down there?” one of the guards asked.

“Don’t know, I just wonder how long it’ll take her to get back,” a second one said.

“Last time it took almost all day,” a third said.

“Probably another Sith artifact,” the first one said.

“And we get to carry it back,” the third one said.

“If its not too heavy, I’ll take it,” the second one said seeing the others look at him with some confusion. “Hey, prestige man,” he said to him knowing they all had volunteered in a hope to impress her, the Sith Lord they called Darth Rizon.  She had a power they all felt and understood, she was going someplace and they all wanted a part of it.  They also had learned how easily she could discard with you if you overstepped your bounds.

A noise caused them to look at the entrance seeing the woman exit the cave carrying a small black metal looking device in her hands. She handed it to one of the men and then turned and went back into the cave leaving them standing there looking at each other.

“You okay,” the first one asked

“Yeah, its strange though, I can feel its power coursing through me,” he answered a bit strangely not taking his eyes off the piece of metal. Even as they were trying to figure out what they might be the woman came walking back up with another object and handed to one of the other men before disappearing once more.

The three of them all looked at each other wondering what might happen next, or how many times she might disappear into the cave. She emerged once more with a third object and handed it to the remaining man.

“We’re done here,” closing her eyes and concentrating the entrance was covered up once more before beginning their trek back to the ship.

*****

Luke sat meditating on the Force hoping to figure out more of what was going to happen next. He could feel a stir in the Force of something but it was elusive in nature.  He and Gaia had been on Coruscant now for a week and a half and she was nowhere close to solving her puzzle which made him wonder if this new event was even connected to the feeling and warning Yoda gave him.

The comm link buzzed interrupting any further thoughts as he picked it up.

“Luke here,” he answered.

“Sorry to bother you Master Skywalker,” the voice of the head of the Jedi Academy replied. “But you wanted to know when the next batch of students were going to arrive.”

“Yes I did,” Luke said.

“They are scheduled to arrive tomorrow morning,” he told him.

“I’ll be there then,” Luke replied.

“Oh, thought you might want to know, Kyle Katarn also just arrived back as well,” he told Luke.

“Hmm, his vacation didn’t last very long, hopefully nothing happened between him and Jan,” Luke said knowing that Kyle was a talented Jedi and hoped he would come back to the academy full time, he could be very useful.

“She was leading when they landed master,” he replied back to Luke answering a question. “And they appeared happy.

“All right, let me schedule a flight path out of here and back to Yavin IV then,” Luke said ending the conversation even as he pondered a few other questions. Standing up he went in search of Han to tell him what was going on and what he might consider doing with Gaia.  She hadn’t been much of a problem and spent most of her time in the library searching.

Leaving the room he knew what he must do next.

End part 8

Continued in part 9

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