The Sith Empress – Part 17

The Sith Empress

by AJ Marks

Part 17

Gaia slowly came to consciousness and tried to feel what was going on around her without opening her eyes.  She heard some background voices but was unable to make out what they were saying.  Her head hurt but was able to ignore that for the moment as she focused on her situation.

She felt herself lying on a table and was restrained.  She had a feeling the table was probably made out of a wood considering it wasn’t cold.  She listened more and heard the rumble of a ships engine meaning she could be anywhere in the universe by now depending on how long she was out.  Being rescued would be hard, of course they had to know she was captured first.

Opening her eyes she looked around to see what was around her.  The room was medium in size and not much in it except for the table she was lying on and a couple of chairs and the lights were low preventing her from seeing any details.  A closed door and beyond it she could heard the voices which were muffled too much to make out.

She could make out at least one male and one female voice though.  She focused on the female voice as if it was familiar to her somehow.  It felt odd to think that way about a voice yet blue came to her mind.  The door opened as a figure filled the doorway, outlined by the light from the other room.

“I see that our ‘guest’ is awake,” the woman’s voice said.  Gaia couldn’t see any details other than the outline and the cloak masked a lot, but the voice was female.  “So, this is one of the great Jedi Knights of the Republic, pathetic,” the woman said.  The tone of her voice was cold and made Gaia shudder wondering what type of information she might want, considering she really didn’t know much.

The figure retreated and the door closed leaving her alone in the room once more and lost in her own thoughts.  She wasn’t much of a powerful Jedi, not like Master Skywalker or a few others who she could feel were powerful.  Even if an opportunity came she didn’t know what she might be able to do.

The only thing she really knew was the feeling of the Dark Side of the Force which was present all around the ship.  It seemed to permeate the air almost as if it was trying to get into her as well.  It was uncomfortable for her and she went about her meditation to focus herself and remain calm.

*****

“Are you sure this is wise my lord?” Tyi asked with concern in his voice over the fact there was a Jedi on board the ship.

“Do no worry about the Jedi, she will be shown the way to true power and how to use it,” Jessica replied with a hard edge in her voice.  He would obey simply because she had made him richer than he ever expected to be in his life.  Without her he would still be hanging around the space dock in a little rat-hole space port.

“Do you have any instructions my lord,” Tyi said after several seconds of silence.

She gave it some thought as she realized her plane was slowly coming together.  Sure, she still had to gather more strength so she could fight the Republic and the Empire would either follow or die she decided.  If the group decided to follow, she would kill off their leaders, they were weak and the reason for the fall of the Empire.  The Emperor was a fool for putting weak leaders in the ranks.

Jessica understood the reasoning why he had done so, but the very reason was also the reason for his downfall.  As the competent leaders were killed off they were replaced with the weak.  She felt like she had nothing to fear from anyone, especially the Jedi her troops caught earlier.

Realizing that Tyi was still waiting on a response she finally figured out what he could do.  “I need for you to take the cruiser hyper and head back to the main fleet and see if the second attack fleet is ready for combat,” she said to him.  “Contact me when it is.”

“As you wish my lord,” he said with a slight bow and walked out of the room leaving her along.

She watched him leave realizing he was glad to be away from being so close to the Jedi who was in the next room.  It appeared most of her crew had an impression of Jedi.  She would use this Jedi to show her troops how they would have nothing to fear from a Jedi, and how weak they were by turning this Jedi to the Dark Side.

Turning to look at the monitors which showed the Jedi in question she allowed herself to look at the woman.  She was smaller than Jessica, probably about a head shorter, and blonde hair.  She could see the Jedi’s chest rise and fall as she evenly breathed, probably trying to remain calm.  For a brief second Jessica had a flash of what this Jedi might look like naked and her teasing the woman’s breasts.

Jessica snapped herself out of the trance she had been in and wondered about the powerful pull she felt towards the blonde.  The door opened as she turned to look watching as Katie walked into the room.  Jessica knew of the tall blonde’s potential and hunger for power.

“So, that’s the Jedi we capture, a bit puny if you ask me,” Katie said glancing at the monitor.

“What are you doing here?” Jessica asked slipping into her Darth Rizon mode.

“Just came to see if you needed any help with the Jedi,” Katie replied as Jessica’s eyes narrowed at that bit even as she continued on.  “And to tell you we have some interesting intelligence, including some on a senator,” she said with a grin.

“Very well, let’s have a look at these reports, and this senator,” Jessica said to her and started talking to the door, stopping when Katie didn’t follow her.  “Is there something wrong?” Jessica growled, her patience waning with the blonde.

“I thought I could begin the Jedi’s training,” she said.

White rage poured though Jessica at the tone Katie used as fast as she had spoken Jessica had flung her across the room to crash into the opposite wall.  Striding slowly towards her Jessica allowed the full force of her power to come out and noticed Katie realized it as well.

“I will be dealing with her alone, and I better not find you hanging around here,” Jessica said before standing up and turning towards the door.  “I said we would look at the reports, I expect you to be with me.”

She walked through the door hearing Katie quickly trying to catch up to her.   Part of her hoped they found someone they could use, or perhaps frighten to helping them.

*****

Luke sat in his office meditating on the Force, listening to it as it flowed around him.  It was a form of meditation he had heard about and was trying to discover its secrets.  The technique had been lost during the Jedi Purge and rediscovering it was proving harder than he expected.

He had a feeling that Master Yoda had used this method several times to ty and figure out what was going on in the universe.  If one became silent enough they could hear and listen to the Force, there were many levels of the Force to listen to.

Listening to the flow all around him he had been attempting this for a while now and he had found no ripples or clues despite feeling it flow around him.  It was almost like an open wind on his face as he stood in a field.  Even as he sat there a sudden rush of hot wind, almost as if something, or someone, was angry.  It disturbed the Force all around him.

He opened his eyes and noticed he was still in his office and recalled the rush of the Force and the feeling which seemed to come with it.  The anger before a vision came to him along with it.  It seemed so very strange to him considering he had never seen such ships before.

The more disturbing part was he received two visions, both of which had Gaia in them.  The small woman was dressed in black and green standing behind a tall, dark-haired woman wearing black and red as they watched an entire planet destroyed without emotion, so strange especially for Gaia who loved all life.  The other vision seemed to show Gaia victorious as she stood over the tall woman who was prone on the ground.

Luke rubbed his eyes trying to make sense of what he had seen.  What did the two visions represent?  Was it really two paths, one of which Gaia would join this woman and destroy the universe, or would she defeat the woman.

Nothing made any sense to Luke as he decided to take a break and get something to eat and perhaps things might make more sense later on.

*****

The senator walked into his office after a long day of meetings.  The President wanted everyone to be careful of a new threat, but no one knew much about it.  As a result there was mass chaos going on, and add in the mention of ancient Sith warships, everyone seemed on edge.

Today there had been a debate on how much was spent on defense, and some were worried about the high costs.  To him it seemed like anytime something came up the conversation turned to this.  He didn’t care, either way if war came or not, his company would profit.

“Hello senator,” a voice said making him jump as the door closed, he tried a switch only to find it wasn’t working.

“Who are you, and what are you doing in my office,” the senator said trying to put as much authority in his voice as he could.

“My name’s not important, but know this, we can find you at any time and reach you at any time.  I suggest you don’t try to back out of our deal, or tell anyone,” the voice said.

“Why would I do that,” he replied, sweating slightly as he realized who it was.

“This is your warning, do not cross the Sith Empress senator, she will destroy you,” the voice said.

He felt a wind blow by him and glanced at the door to see a figure walk out.  He recovered a few seconds later and walked out and looked up and down the corridor seeing no one.

Moving back into his office the lights came on making him jump again.  He looked around his office seeing a dagger stuck in his desk making him wonder if he had made a good decision in helping Darth Rizon.

*****

Jessica stood on the bridge of her flagship overlooking her growing warfleet.  There were now seven fully armed and operational ships in her fleet, and impressive accomplishment considering how she started.  The fleet would be her starting instrument to take over the universe.  She knew that as she won victories people would willingly join her fleet in larger and larger numbers.  People were like sheep, always flocking to those who won.

Anyone who dared stand up to her would suffer a terrible fate a well.  She would destroy anyone who tried to stand in her way, and the small Jedi would be the first to feel her wrath.  So far the Jedi had the annoying ability to rouse the people around her to rise up.

The Jedi really didn’t understand how powerful Jessica was.  Even the collective force of the Jedi would not be enough to stop her.  Turning as she heard someone approach she watched Admiral Pietete come walking across the bridge towards her.

“Report admiral,” she said.

“My lord, the training goes well and I can assure you we will have another two ships operational by the end of tomorrow and another two will be ready shortly after that,” Pietete stated to her.  She watched as he gave his reports and saw his Imperial background and even the fact the man had served under Darth Vader.

“Excellent,” Jessica replied looking out the window and back at him.  She felt his fear at being so close to her, a feeling she relished in.  “Good work admiral, continue your training.”

“Yes my lord,” he said, with a bow and walked away.

She didn’t care what the others thought of her, as long as they feared her.  She turned and left the bridge with a new destination in mind.

End part 17

Continued in part 18

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