The Sith Empress
by AJ Marks
Part 25
“Master Fie-Tel, what did you find out?” Luke asked his friend as he reported in on the meeting.
“I’m unsure Master Skywalker,” Fie-Tel replied back. “This Empress Rizon, she had a strange aura around her that I could tell.”
“The Force?” Luke asked, wondering if someone else was a Force user and masking their abilities from them all. The Emperor had done that for years while gaining power, but it also meant little as Leia was strong in the Force as well.
“I don’t know,” Fie-Tel replied. “Only that she holds herself with great poise and power.”
“Someone to keep an eye on, or just who she is,” Luke said. “A lot of politicians are that way and this doesn’t make our job any easier.”
“No, but I will keep an eye on her for anything else,” Fie-Tel replied back to her.
“Okay, report in regularly and see if we can narrow down if it’s just who she is, or something else we might have to be worried about,” Luke said to him.
“Of course,” Fie-Tel said as the conversation ended.
Luke sat back knowing the meeting hadn’t solved any questions they had. They would have to do some work to figure out who these Rizonians were.
*****
Jessica made her way back onto her flagship and looked over the reports coming in. The latest news was she now had eight operational ships that were manned. Things were still looking up but she knew she also had to deal with a revolt which probably would occur soon, at least the impatient ones. She wasn’t too worried about this one, as it would be crushed quickly and swiftly as an example of them.
Her thoughts moved on to green eyes and she had to stop a smile which came to her lips at the imagined sight. It was a genuine feeling she couldn’t seem to help. Coming to her senses she turned the corner and ran into a group of people before her.
She thought it was strange they were all in the hallway, even as her senses screamed for her to be wary. She listened to them and waited, seeing what might happen next even as she recognized the leader of the group.
“Well, well, it if isn’t Lord Rizon,” the tall blonde said sauntering up to the front of the group.
“Katie, no surprise,” Jessica said slipping into her Darth Rizon mode knowing a fight was going to occur. “I see you’ve been working quicker than I expected, not that it matters.”
“Ten against one,” Katie said looking around as some others appeared behind Jessica.
“Actually its not, but you wouldn’t understand,” Jessica said calmly.
Even as she spoke though she moved into action, sending Force lightning to the group in front of her watching as several were tossed about and others slumped down in agony. Katie was tossed back even as a few others opened fired. However Jessica was already moving, her lightsaber activated and deflecting shots as she moved quickly striking down several traitors.
After several seconds the only sound in the hallway was the hum of her lightsaber. She glanced over at who had attempted the coup and snorted in disgust before making her way towards the blonde who had managed to survive.
“You’re really pathetic, aren’t you,” Jessica said closing the distance and seeing the grey eyes widen in both shock and anger. “You forgot to understand one thing, you are facing a Sith Lord, not a weak pathetic Dark Jedi.”
With those words she swung down decapitating the blonde before looking at the others as they were frozen in fear. She used that launch another offensive at the group. The commotion brought guards racing in only to stop at the carnage in front of them.
“Get a cleanup crew in here now,” Jessica said to them as she put her lightsaber up. “And remember, this is what happens if you try to rebel against me.”
Several guards stood there wide-eyed at the devastation in front of them. Jessica walked past them, as the guards gave her a wide berth before she continued on her way down the corridor knowing she had set an example to the others. The weak would be cast off and the strong would survive. She had a feeling there were still other rebellious groups and hoped such an action would cause them to pause before acting. The minor attack had been undertaken, the larger attack would still occur.
*****
Gaia felt the sudden disturbance in the Force and its relationship in the Dark side making her wonder what had happened. She figured the surge was probably from Rizon, and wondered if she had been killed. The very thought caused an unexpected pain in her chest.
“This is silly,” Gaia mumbled to herself as she pondered what it might mean. “She’s a Sith Lord, the enemy of the Jedi,” she continued trying to rationalize the thoughts in her mind.
So far nothing about the entire situation had been normal for her and the unexpected feeling only made things more confusing to her.
“I’m acting like a schoolgirl with my first crush with her,” Gaia said scolding herself over her attitude. Only problem was it appeared not to be working with her heart. “I might as well be in love with her or something.”
She paused as a part of her opened up even as she spoke the words. It felt like somehow she was opening up to her true feelings deep within her.
“This is ridiculous,” she said to herself, but even as she said it she looked around.
She was a prisoner, forced here against her will and even to make a terrible choice by Rizon. Yet, something about the way the woman acted, telling her she’d be her queen, and the way she touched her were very different.
“Well, mom always said I would be unusual,” Gaia said recalling those conversations, back then she thought she meant her connection to the Force. Now as she calmed down she focused more on what had happened, the events and such.
Rizon was powerful in the force, much more powerful than Gaia was. She felt sure she would not be able to physically defeat her in combat nor did she really want to fight her. Then there was the two ‘ghosts’ in her vision she kept having. They acted like lovers to her when they appeared. Add in the mysterious group who had contacted her when she had been searching for information about the mysterious Jedi Master, Bri Lightner.
It was all getting complex. She felt sure Bri was one of the two ghosts, but why did they look like her and Rizon? Why was she attracted to her and she had a feeling the tall Sith was attracted to her as well. In a strange way, she thought Rizon was a bit protective of her.
“Nah, that’s just my imagination,” Gaia said now pacing the room a bit as she tried to sort through all the information. “Though, she is sexy, and beautiful.”
She had conflicting thought as nothing seemed to make any sense to her. She considered it all before finally coming to a conclusion. Her heart and mind were at war with each other, and she usually relied on her heart. So why was she fighting it this time when it usually led her on the right path.
Making up her mind she decided to follow the path of her heart. As she made that decision a peace came over her unlike any since she had arrived. Now, all she had to do was wait for her target to appear.
*****
Fie-Tel listened as the President was speaking to another group about the Rizonians, he had given his report to Luke and now was waiting for the next meeting. As he sat he felt a sudden disturbance in the Force unlike anything he had felt before and full of Dark Side energy.
“Fie-Tel, are you all right?” Leia asked looking over at him.
“Just a tremor in the Force, did you feel it as well?” Fie-Tel asked seeing the others look on at them.
“Yes,” Leia said.
“It was strong, but I have no idea from where it came from,” Fie-Tel replied.
“Our new Rizonian friend?” Leia asked.
“Maybe, or maybe not, remember the Emperor worked right under the Jedi’s noses, this could be something similar,” Fie-Tel replied watching as some of the others shifted uneasily in their seats.
“Are we making the new potential ally a threat already?” another person asked.
“No, anyone can be an ally, or an enemy. But the Rizonians might have a different take on the Force than we have. The Dark and Light Side might not exist there, but they might exist side by side in their society,” Fie-Tel replied.
“An interesting proposal,” Leia said. “We also think there is a new Sith Lord out there somewhere as well. We could be sitting right next to him.”
“That’s preposterous,” another senator said, obviously insulted by the course of the conversation.
“I think what we mean is they could be on board this ship,” Fie-Tel said. “I only suggest we be cautious, not fearful.”
“I agree, we’ll proceed cautiously when speaking with this group,” Leia said to them.
Fie-Tel watched as a few wanted to argue, but a few others seemed to agree. It was typical of office politics and a reason why he disliked meeting with politicians. They were deceiving and always made it hard to discover who was actually telling the truth and who wasn’t.
*****
Jessica walked to the bridge in a bad mood now. She barely noticed as people moved quickly out of her way and it appeared word of the attempted coup had spread throughout the ship. She only noticed that it had put the fear back into many of their eyes that fear she could fear as she made her way onto the bridge.
She spotted Tyi standing on the bridge. He was carrying out her latest orders as she looked around. She could feel something else going on as well but couldn’t place it. It felt, a bit disturbing and she had a hard time placing the feeling.
“What’s the situation?” Jessica asked looking over at the captain.
“We’ve received word the fleet is ready to go,” he replied back to her.
“Good, prepare for the next phase of the plane at once,” Jessica ordered knowing it would send part of her fleet off to attack another world which would be added to her growing empire. Another conquest meant another planet, people and more power which she could wield.
“And what about the local governors, are they establishing their power?” Jessica asked looking over at Tyi.
“They state they are only encountering minor problems my lord,” Tyi replied back to her.
“Good, see to it nothing goes wrong,” Jessica said having gotten the information she wanted from him. Things were progressing as she had foreseen. “I’ll be having another meeting with the President of the New Republic, I’m sure she’ll have some more questions for me. Let me know when everything is ready.”
“Yes my lord,” Tyi replied back to her.
Jessica then walked off the bridge but couldn’t’ shake this feeling that something else was going on. She knew the coup d’état against her hadn’t ended. The real leader she still had yet to identify. Katie was ambitious yet lack the ability to lead and organize her forces without someone else as the brains.
Going over the list of people there were a few who came to mind, and no one was immune to her suspicion. She headed down the corridor not really paying attention until she arrived outside where her Jedi prisoner was located.
“She still in there?” Jessica asked the guards.
“She hasn’t given us any trouble my lord,” one of the guards stated. “She was pacing around earlier, but calmed down now and back to her meditation.”
Jessica looked at the monitor to see Gaia meditating. Making her way through the doors she wanted to surprise the young Jedi who didn’t move as she entered.
“I felt you coming,” Gaia stated surprising Jessica frown a bit but she quickly recovered.
“You are a Jedi, I would think you’d be able to feel a Force user approaching,” Jessica replied back to her.
“I didn’t say I felt your presence through the Force,” Gaia replied opening her eyes and looking right at her. “I said I felt you.”
End Part 25