The Sith Empress
by AJ Marks
Part 19
Luke sat in his meditation chambers trying to figure out what his last vision with Gaia might mean and why it disturbed him so much. All he could figure out was that Gaia was a young and peaceful woman who had a lot of enthusiasm for life which one rarely saw in others. She filled others with that life as it flowed out from her much like the Force. He could only hope she was not corrupted by the Dark Side of the Force.
“Master Skywalker,” a voice said interrupting his thoughts and looked up to see an older man walking towards him. He had grey hair and eyes which were intelligent but he had never seen the man before.
Luke felt no danger coming from the man and motioned for him to have a seat.
“Yes,” Luke said, but didn’t indicate that he was surprised by the man’s appearance or where he might have come from despite no one informing him he had a visitor.
“I beg your pardon for the intrusion, and I hope I’m not interrupting anything,” he said with a smile.
“Nothing at the moment,” Luke replied wondering what the man wanted.
“I was sent by some,” he paused here as if trying to find the right words, “interested members about the whereabouts of a certain Jedi.”
“Let me guess, Gaia,” Luke said, his eyes never leaving the man’s even as he answered yes to the question. “I’m afraid we don’t know at the moment. The planet she was on isn’t responding either, and she was supposed to report back some time ago.”
The man seemed to digest the information for several seconds.
“I see, we heard some rumors that she had disappeared and now it seems like its confirmed,” he said rubbing his chin in thought before looking up at the ceiling. “Then its happening and everything it out of our hands for now.”
Luke’s eyebrows rose at that statement. “What does that mean?” Luke asked hoping to get some sort of answer.
“The answer is complex and one I cannot tell you right now, to do so might be more harmful than helpful,” the man said standing up and looking around. “All we can do is wait for now, thank you Master Jedi.”
Luke frowned as the man left the room as he tried to figure out what exactly happened. Getting up he made his way out of the room and looked at an empty corridor and continued down until he ran into Kyle.
“Luke, what’s up?” he asked.
“You see an older man walk by?” Luke asked.
“Um, no,” Kyle replied looking around. “Why?”
“No reason, forget it,” Luke said making his way back to the room and leaving a bewildered Kyle behind. Luke wondered what type of group this man had been a part of, and what it had to do with Gaia. He had too many questions and no answers it seemed. Things were getting complex.
*****
Gaia sat meditating in the room which held her. She had heard the engines power up a few time and they had gone somewhere and were now on the path to go somewhere else. She focused on the Force wondering what she could use in this situation to help her escape, or gain some sort of advantage against this Darth Rizon. The woman had a power Gaia hadn’t seen in an opponent.
The door opened but she remained with her eyes closed for a bit longer trying to feel with the Force and realized who had entered the room, Rizon. Opening her eyes she looked up into the blue eyes which held a very different power and seemed to connect to her somehow.
“You are about to become my new project little one,” Rizon said with a slight smile. “You will become a Sith and you will join me.”
Gaia looked on seeing the blue eyes turn icy, but yet there was something else there that she would not be afraid of. Her rational mind wanted nothing more than to run away and leave the ship yet she found herself drawn to the woman for some unknown reason.
“No,” Gaia finally replied finding the strength to say no to this powerful woman.
“No?” Rizon replied as she looked on.
Gaia waited to see what might happen next, would it be anger, rage, or something else she didn’t know yet. She prepared herself for anything and tried to remain calm despite what might happen.
“Perhaps you should feel the power of the Dark Side,” Rizon said, and with that Force lightning shot out from her hands throwing Gaia to the ground in pain. After what seemed like an eternity to Gaia, but she knew was probably only a few seconds, Rizon stopped. “That is but a taste of what I can do.”
Gaia could barely feel any part of her body which the lightning had coursed through her. She had heard stories of this happening to Master Skywalker in his battle with the Emperor but now had a better appreciation of what he went thought. This was painful.
“Now, can’t have you lying down,” Rizon stated.
Gaia felt herself picked up and place against the wall as she was chained once more and realized the woman had used the Force to do this.
“Much better,” Rizon said moving in front of Gaia. She wondered what the woman had in store for her next.
She felt Rizon looking her over a bit more and could recall the strangeness from the last time they had talked, and the almost erotic touches she had used on her. She felt her cheeks grow hot from the memories.
“Interesting little one,” Rizon said moving a bit closer to Gaia.
She waited for another round of torture, but instead found a hand caressing her cheek. It was a softer touch than she expected and after a few seconds of tracing her cheek went to her lips before following the jawbone to her ear before finishing with a caress of her hair. It was almost surreal to Gaia that this was happening, but was it part of Rizon’s training?
Suddenly Rizon jerked away and looked towards the doorway. It took a second for Gaia to look that direction to see another figure there as well, a tall blonde standing there looking at them.
“What do you want?” Rizon asked, her voice filled with anger and Gaia knew the woman was pissed at the interruption, but she was glad as it allowed her time to recover from the unusual assault.
“My lord, I was to inform you that we’ve arrived at the fleet,” the blonde replied back who looked from Rizon to Gaia.
“Fine, tell the admiral to gather five ships and then head to Frasis,” Rizon ordered.
The blonde looked once more at Gaia and before anyone said anything more the tall blonde was pushed up against the wall as Rizon strode towards her. Gaia felt het power coming from the woman and waited to see what might happen next.
“Next time you enter, you knock and you wait until I tell you to enter,” Rizon growled using the Force to push the blonde up against the wall. “Next time I won’t be so forgiving. Do I make myself clear?”
“Yes my lord,” the blonde said as she was released and gasped for breathe. With a salute she quickly left the room leaving them along again.
Gaia watched the display of anger and violence as it allowed her time to gather herself once more. The fact the woman could be so brutal to her own people was a bit sickening to her. She steeled herself as the woman had redirected her attention back towards her. She felt a bit of fear as Rizon looked at her, but there was still something else there which she didn’t understand, a deeper level.
She could still feel the trail of Rizon’s hand and it had caressed her face and hair and part of her wanted to feel that again, almost as if she craved the touch, a bit more than life itself. She paused at that thought as it scared her a lot more than the violence the woman could do to her. The blue eyes locked back on hers as they started at each other.
“Well, it seems that I’m going to be needed elsewhere little one,” Rizon said to her “But don’t worry, I won’t forget about you at all, in fact, I might have just the mission for you after all.”
Gaia watched as the woman smiled as she said the last part. She didn’t want to know what the woman had in mind at all if the smile was any indication of the evil plan. The tone in Rizon’s voice was also something to fear as well and her mind raced to try and figure out what she might have in store.
Rizon ran her fingers though Gaia’s hair one last time before leaving the room and Gaia in silence. She wondered what would happen next in this strange battle of will. She looked at her chains and realized she could easily get out of them, but even is she could do that, what would she do next? She decided to wait and watch for an opportunity to escape.
*****
Jessica strode onto the bridge in full Darth Rizon mode thrilled the way others cowered before her as she walked down the corridor. Even on the bridge others appeared to be hard at work, even if they were not, anything to avoid looking in her direction. It was this action which perhaps made the Jedi seem interesting, she looked at her and while she saw fear there was something else there which wasn’t afraid of her.
“Lord Rizon,” the newly appointed admiral of this fleet said, as Admiral Pietete was elsewhere at the moment working on training the fleet.
She felt his fear as he made his way towards her. She had been random in her anger outburst to keep the crew unprepared for what she might go next.
“Admiral, what is the situation?” she asked him.
“I’ve gathered the ships Rixis, Yunis, Terrible, Purge and Rage to form up with us and head to Frasis,” the admiral said to her.
“Excellent,” Jessica replied to him. Frasis would not know what hit them once she was done. “Engage.”
“Yes Lord Rizon,” the admiral said turning to the crew and carried out the orders.
The six ships quickly jumped into hyperspace and that despite the old engines she knew the trip to Frasis would be quick, being located not far away. Another reason for its conquest, it was close to her base of power.
She walked over and inspected the plan the admiral had laid out for the invasion. It was simple and straight forward, a plan which worked well for what they were up against and the training of her troops. A more heavily defended planet would require more planning, but for this it should work, and if it didn’t she would make sure someone paid for failure.
She looked out at the openness of space and have vast it was. There were so many areas to hide and attack from. The New Republic and Empire would never know what happened when the war started. Even as she stood there the ship came out of hyperspace.
Before her the planet Frasis, its typical blue/green of many life sustaining planets in the universe waiting for her to take over. This planet would help create her political seat of power in the universe. It mattered not if they feared her, only that they were part of her empire.
“Launch fighters,” she heard the admiral order.
From her position she watched the fighters scramble out and head down to overpower the defenses of the planet. Even as she watched preparations for the invasion force were already underway.
It wouldn’t be long before they spoke her name across the galaxy in whisper and fear especially as her victories mounted. Smiling she continued to watch and waited to hear of the planet’s surrender.
End part 19