Lianna City, Lianna, Outer Rim Territories, Tion Cluster;
The former territories of The Empire of the Lost;
"A true Sith Master never reveals himself, or herself . . ."
-- Darth Mendacium.
It has only been a few weeks since the collapse of The Empire of the Lost.
The subsequent revolts, rioting and looting in the streets of Lianna City have come to an end.
Replaced by decadence, and crime, while the Liann eat themselves.
The World cries out for the return of The Empire.
In the wake of the Sartinaynian Crisis, The Imperial Confederation rises.
The themes of conspiracy, and strife which contributed to the fall of it's predecessor still reverberate
in the fledging, burgeoning new administration.
Rumours are spreading among the Outer Rim Territories of a new state emerging from the darkness.
Their retribution, and claim to supremacy, will be marvellous, and violent.
But something else is brewing in the former territories of The Lost.
It is a time of great change unseen in several millennia.
Everything has become so alien, and foreign.
As a Dark Lord of the Sith contemplates the past, and the unforeseen future ahead.
Adapting to the transience of life, lost and unfound.
The Galaxy turns in turmoil, and strife.
There has been a Disturbance in the Force.
Something is coming . . .
[POST THEME]
Days of nothing. That's what it is like. Days like lost dogs.
The DIRECTOR has been dead for almost a year now. Yet her name continues to rise up among the Imperial Remnant like a scar that won't fade. There is more fiction in her story than there are facts; an identity obfuscated and so blurred that nobody truly knows who or what she was. The further you dug into who Alicia Drey was you gleam more questions than answers. While The Galaxy feels a Disturbance in the Force, among the rumours strife are the effects of the dreaded BLACKWALL, while hyperlanes collapse, and entire star systems become lost, a woman steeped in mystery deals with the consequences of the past as she traverses an unfamiliar present into a transient, unknowing future, contemplating the questions posed by her unwitting associates, and vast array of adversaries.
How does a former Jedi Knight, broken free from an alliance prison on Coruscant, who was incarcerated by the Jedi Order for an attack on a peace summit fifty-years ago, by the Dark-Imperials whom invaded the Core Worlds at the turn of the ninth century, become the Staff Director of the New Imperial Security Bureau?
Why did Velran Kilran pardon her after she was proven to be guilty of sedition, and treason against his administration?
How did these events lead up to the economic collapse of The Empire of the Lost?
Why did she create The Fifth Wing, and why did they later organise an attack on The Diarchy?
What are the links to House Mecetti, and the new Chancellor of the Chancellorate?
Who is Darth Ayra ?
Is she still alive?
What is this disturbance I have felt in the force?
The soft thrmmm of an elevator rising up through it's shaft creates a familiar ambience which reminds Her of the recent incursion on board The Quest as she ascended to the top of an apartment complex in a city that was set on fire. In the weeks following the Sartinaynian Crisis a series of events in a long line of incidents-- which were, somehow, connected-- had led to this moment of solitude and nostalgia. Outside, in the streets of Lianna City, crime has risen dramatically in the wake of the Empire's collapse and the subsequent end of the Imperial occupation of the Old Tion Hegemony. While the Liann were no longer revolting against their former rulers, for there was no regime left for them to rebel against, Lianna had fallen into a state of decadence, and decay which left some crying out for the return of the Empire mere weeks after it's occupation had come to an end.
There were rumours of a new confederation, made up of remnants of The Empire of the Lost (The Imperial Sector Authority), The Dark Empire (The Empire Reborn), and The Risen Empire (The first GALACTIC EMPIRE) that were rampant along the Outer Rim Territories. They had spread out from the Calamari sector as gossip, and superstition which implicated a top secret meeting had been held which would lead to the beginning of a successor state made up of all the Imperial Remnants left behind, and scattered from the fall of several regimes that had risen (and later toppled) over the course of the last millennia in the wake of the GALACTIC EMPIRE. Their retribution against the alleged Sith influence, which had led to the demise of the regimes upon Lianna and Carlac, were expected to be quick, efficient and decisive as the new replaced the old.
They had a name now, and they would be coming soon.
The lift door opened and immediately filled the senses with the smell of ozone. As Her stepped across the threshold of the lift, and out into the hallway of the apartment complex, she was met with a ghastly sight. The building had been the home to some of the most rich, and powerful individuals in the city. Ranging from executives of Santhe-Sienar to wealthy entrepreneurs, and household names of Liann culture, it had been a place of refinement, and eloquence associated with wealth, and power. Now it was a project for the ilk that had risen up from the lower level slums of the ecumenopolis to revolt against the Imperial regime that had fallen several weeks ago. It was also the former home of Director Drey, and where she had been found deceased two-hundred, and sixty days ago, following a raid orchestrated by The Imperial Immortals.
Somewhere there was something on fire, and the smell of it was filling the corridor as Her navigated her way through the debauchery towards her goal. Doors hung ajar from places that had been former homes, and its contents pilfered by the looting mob that had seized an opportunity for untapped violence. Graffiti lined the walls and the ceiling as she walked through the complex to where The Director had once lived which only added to the ghastly aesthetic which had replaced the refined order of the former Imperial occupiers on Lianna. Guided by memory, and familiarity, Her stopped in front of the only apartment whose door was not open, or broken into. Not that it hadn't been for a lack of trying. A crimson stain lined the keypad situated to the left of the entrance, and sprayed across the door was a singular word that got straight to the point.
TRAITOR.
Her found herself staring up at the seven letter word with a feeling of acceptance. It had been some years now since the lessons taught to her by The Nomad. She did not miss the heat, or the gruelling life that one led upon the harsh, barren deserts of Kalist VI. But, even now, all this distance away from the dunes, among the sprawling skyscrapers of Lianna, the hollowed words of the man rung true to this day. "Betrayal is the nature of the dark side," he had murmured above the embers that had risen up from the flames of the camp fire as he had trained Her in the ways of the dark side. As the former territories of The Empire of the Lost burned, while she was staring up at the door to the former home of the woman widely held responsible for all of it, and as worlds turned in turmoil in the wake of it's collapse, Her knew that there was more than one traitor among the old Imperial occupation and their name was not Alicia Drey .
While The Director was remembered as a seditionist, who had went onto create the conspiracy known as THE FIFTH WING, Her knew that there had been more than one traitor among them. She wasn't thinking about herself, or the likes of Maldor Mecetti , who had been unwittingly involved in the conspiracy as he was compartmentalized from the truth until it was too late. No . . . The betrayal had began with Velran Kilran and his coup d'etat against Aculia Voland two years ago. Her had not been present during the summit convened by the relics of the Eternal and Elysium Empires that had been banded together by Voland in the wake of THE SECOND GREAT HYPERSPACE WAR. But their assassinations, according to The Director's description of the event, had been bloody, and violent. Now, as she stood here looking up at the graffiti which was staring down at her, Her wondered how her associates within The Imperial Sector Authority would handle the inquiries into the conspiracy responsible for the end of the former Imperial occupation given their involvement in the coup d'etat that had led to their takeover of The Empire of the Lost two years before it's collapse?
Did the likes of Karl Von Strauss , who now led as The Exarch, and who had been previously elevated to a position upon The Imperial Ruling Council when Kilran murdered The Voland Administration two years ago to become His Majesty of All Imperial Kind, believe they were also safe from retribution as well? That they were also not guilty of sedition and treason? Would their new allies see them as unwitting participants-- the victims of a plot led by the late Eggman-- who had been ushered into prominent positions less they have the assassin's daggers turned on them also?
Perhaps a more important question to consider was whether or not The Lord of Hunger would make a compelling argument to quell the investigation into the whereabouts of LAETOR? Would her powers in the dark side, and collusion with the mysterious architect of N&Z Umbrella Corporation, lead to her salvation away from the prying blades of The Imperial Inqusitors?
Or am I doomed?
Lifting her palm towards the keypad, Her did not hesitate despite the bloodstains on it. Whoever had tried to break into the apartment had clearly underestimated the security of this particular place, and had paid a steep price for trying to get in. She wondered if it had been one of the participants of the revolt looking to get a lucky score? Judging by the rest of the apartment complex it was highly likely given that everything valuable had seemingly been looted and stolen during the rioting except from the apartment of the late Director Drey. But there was nagging possibility that it could have been somebody else looking for answers about them. As her hand was scanned, and the security protocols (which were somehow still active despite the damage and devastation in the rest of the building) scanned her fingerprints for recognition, Her lowered her other to the Lightsaber blade which hung from her waist.
What if somebody is waiting on the other side?
DIRECT SURVEILLANCE OF DOMESTIC THREATS; APARTMENT COMPLEX TK-AD; //SECURITY TERMINAL LINK ESTABLISHED. //SCANNING. //SCAN COMPLETE. //DIRECTOR DREY DETECTED. //AUTHORIZING ACCESS. //ACCESS AUTHORIZED. //WELCOME HOME, DIRECTOR DREY. //DISCONNECTING LINK. //DELETING PACKETS. //PACKETS DELETED. |
A soft bleep signified that her scan had been accepted. Next it was followed by an array of loud thuds as the bolts within the door unlocked and opened to expose the entrance into the apartment. As Her waited for the door to open she reached out into the force to feel for the presence of any imminent danger within the room ahead, and she felt nothing other than the same disturbance that had been affecting her sleep over the past few weeks since she had escaped from The Quest with Diarch Rellik . Just as she was entering the apartment someone in the background shouted something, but before whoever else was in the beaten down apartment complex, Her entered the apartment and the doors sealed behind her.
THUD. THUD. THUD.
On the other side of the door, outside in the hallways, a commotion started in earnest as the criminal element within the building discovered that someone had found a way into the only apartment yet to be pilfered. They were banging on the door outside, and although distant (with thanks to the shielding provided by the door) she could faintly hear the yelling, and arguments as they tried to figure out their own way in. Her paid them little mind. There were very few people who had an ability to break into a place such as this. It had been the home to the woman who had led the premiere security keeping force within the Empire of the Lost and the NISB had put in the safeguards to protect them. Whoever they were-- rioters, criminals, thieves-- hadn't found a way in before today they weren't about to do it now. They had missed their opportunity which was ironic because who ever had murdered The Director had not been stopped by the same system designed to stop them.
Her surveyed the dusty hall which led into the apartment, and as she walked further in, she realised that it had been completely emptied out. No doubt, after they had discovered Drey's body, any furniture, technology or items of belonging to the place had been confiscated, searched and thoroughly analysed by the agents who had investigated her death. To this day nobody knew who had murdered The Director. The Trigonus Report implicated the rebellion that had risen up during THE RIM WARS OF 902 ABY but following the arrest of it's creator it's contents had thrown that into disrupte. To this day nobody knew who really killed Alicia Drey except for those who had attended THE RUBICON. Reaching out a hand, Her turned on the lights and took a moment to admire the place. This would be the last time she would come here. There had been many evenings spent in this place in the company of The Director as they colluded against the Imperial administration they were meant to be in service too, and the Sith they they had brought into the conspiracy to obfuscate their own involvement.
But she was not here for nostalgic reasons. There was no room for sentimentality. With the arrest of Sieliel Dimegor and the subsequent questions about The Trigonus Report, the threat of discovery and persecution by her associates within the fledgling Imperial Confederation was very real, and threatening. The beginning of a cover-up to quell the threat from the likes of Meredith Rayner or Lady Varokscar was necessary, and failure was not an option. If they made the connections between LAETOR to her operating number (TK-73) then everything would be lost. They would never stop hunting for her, and perhaps worse would be the loss of leverage, and influence within the newly rising confederation through her membership in The Imperial Sector Authority.
She had no choice but to act.
Lifting her hand away from the Lightsaber blade on her hip, now that she knew nobody was here waiting for her, Her pulled a datastick from her robes and approached a nearby wall. Running her hands over it's edges she discovered what she was looking for, and with a little bit of effort, she drew back a lid revealing a port pocket built into the wall itself. Inserting the stick into the port, Her stepped backwards and a few seconds later eerie music filled the apartment. As the hymn played she lowered herself to the ground and waited patiently. Her eyes closed, and she began to meditate on the Force to contemplate the disturbance she had felt recently while she waited for what she was looking for to reveal itself.
Hours passed as she sat there in the dusty, old apartment. While she meditated the thudding from outside ceased as whoever was knocking on the door gave up as it dawned upon them that they still could not get inside, and that whoever had just opened the apartment wasn't coming out. In spite of the soothing sensation given by the playing hymn, and the familiarity of her setting, Her gleamed no insight into the disturbance in the force despite her meditation. No visions, or thoughts to help ease her worry, and contemplation. Something, somewhere was responsible for the emerging stories of collapsing hyperlanes, and of old star systems, whose astronomical position had been found and well document for several millennia, which were now suddenly no longer where they should be, and as she tried to meditate on it all, Her still gleamed no insight about it all from the force.
Beneath the stories of missing planets, and ships, was the lingering sensation of danger, and darkness. Before today she considered her nemesis within the Sith Order, and the half-a-dozen Dark Lords who could be capable of such events with their powers in the dark side. But this did not feel familiar, or showed signs of something to do with the three Warlord factions of the modern day Sith Empire. It appeared an alarming, yet coincidental series of invents that the dreaded BLACKWALL (whereby the Eleventh Sith Empire declared complete and utter isolation from the rest of The Galaxy) coincided with the demise of the late Empire of the Lost and Dark Empire. While these events coincided with one another, each contributing their own unique issues and problems to what appeared to be a new brewing crisis in a long growing list dating back to THE SECOND GREAT HYPERSPACE WAR, they appeared to not be a contributing factor to the disturbance itself, albeit adding to the array of issues brewing across the Outer Rim Territories.
As Her meditated she contemplated something else. Was it possible that she could not gleam insights into the disturbances because she was no longer a Jedi? As a child, growing up in the Coruscant Temple in the Agricultural Corps, she had not been exceptionally powerful or gifted with the force. Despite being indoctrinated as an Initiate by Carn Dista, and later taken as a Padawan Learner by Sochi-Ru, she never blossomed into a powerful Jedi Knight up until the advent of The One Sith Wars. It had only been in those eight years of conflict, as she was honed as a warrior through the theatre of war, that her abilities and skills were developed. Visions, premonitions and an ability to see into the future had never come despite her Jedi training. Was it then not a problem with herself but rather one posed by whatever was posing as elusive within the force itself that was stopping her from seeing the future?
Her contemplations were cast aside when she felt movement within the apartment. It was not an assassin, or someone from the confederation looking for her, as she had initially expected but rather an old acquaintance she had known most of her life. As she opened her eyes, and lifted her gaze up from the ground, she found herself looking at a very old astromech droid. It was so old that the insignia of the Old Republic was still etched on it's plating albeit faded over the decades since it had been invaded and subsequently annexed by the Ninth Sith Empire. As it rolled towards her, and came to a stop near her, the droid made no noise. It had once been a noisy contraception. Almost gleeful, and happy, if you believed a droid could host such feelings. But something had eroded that part of it's behavioural programming.
It now appeared almost sad.
"Hello, old friend," Her said to the droid as she reached out a hand, and ran it across it's head. "I am sorry that I didn't come sooner."
No response. Turning her gaze away from the droid, Her collected herself and stood to her feet. She continued to look away and stared into nothingness as she contemplated next a decision she had already made before coming here today. In an effort to preserve the droid, who had been an old companion since her adolescence, she had never scrubbed it's memory. The astromech droid known as R5 knew everything. Her real identity. Who she was. Her service to the Old Republic. More significantly it's memories contained links between her alias (known only as her operating number 'TK-73' to her associates within the ISA and their allies in the confederation) to The Fifth Wing. If they discovered this droid-- her last friend-- then it all they would need to prove her involvement in The Siege of Tion, The Sartinaynian Crisis and the economic collapse of The Empire of the Lost, which if discovered, would surely lead to her demise.
But what she had to do next, to stop the upcoming catastrophe to her life, and work, would be difficult.
Wooo.
Her turned her gaze back to the droid as it made a soft sound. It was like a greeting from a ghost. Prompted to reactivate and reveal itself to her by the playing hymn around them it now looked up to her quietly.
Expectantly.
Her gathered her strength. She would need to be strong to do this next part.
"I'm sorry, R5. But you don't talk to me anymore."
Her knew why he didn't talk to her anymore. She wasn't the same person she had been when they had first met. Forever changed, and warped by the power of the dark side. It was like she was giving herself an excuse to do what she needed to do. Running her hand along the frame of the astromech one last time, Her gathered her courage and left it's side to walk back to the entrance of The Director's apartment. Alicia Drey had been masterful in keeping the droid hidden even from the likes of The Imperial Immortals when they had raided the apartment almost a year ago and found her dead, she had to admit. But Her could not afford to give her associates or adversaries the means to destroy her. It had to go. The last piece of $%^£ £$£^ went today.
Killed by whatever, or whoever, she had become now.
As Her exited the apartment flames erupted across the building. She drew the cowl of her robe above her head, to conceal her tears, as the apartment complex burned behind her. It was another unfortunate accident melding together into the convoluted revolts and riots that had broken out after the end of the old Imperial occupation of the planet. A lot had been destroyed after the collapse of The Empire of the Lost. Starports. Vehicles. Starships, both civilian, and military grade. Other buildings. Among that destruction would be the apartment complex where Director Drey had once lived covered up everything else that happened. Another coincidence in a sea of them. As she walked, Her knew that she was forever alone now. No companionship. No confident. A lonely, dark path to nowhere. Days of nothing. That is what it is like.
Days like a lost dog.
Bleep.
As she traversed the ruined walkways of the ecumenopolis, Her lowered her gaze to her chrono. It was the Direct Surveillance of Domestic Threats pinging her. She paused to read the incoming transmission, and after she was done reading, she knew that whatever was the disturbance in the force had come into the lands of the Old Tion Hegemony, where once The Empire of the Lost had ruled, and where The Eggman had once reigned. Suddenly the weight of her decision to destroy the apartment complex, her old companion, and the prospect of her associates discovering her true allegiances was cast aside by a new threat that was set to challenge her.
|
DIRECT SURVEILLANCE OF DOMESIC THREATS; INTERCEPTING DISTRESS SIGNAL; SOURCE: NEW ALDERAAN SYSTEM, VELRAN-CLASS SUPER STAR DESTROYER; DESTINATION: THE IMPERIAL CONFEDERATION, CALAMARI SECTOR. REDIRECTING TO DIRECTOR DREY. ~ 
THE IMPERIAL CONFEDERATION; STARDATE: 15042025; EMERGENCY DISTRESS SIGNAL; SOURCE: VELRAN-CLASS SUPER STAR DESTROYER, "THE REVENGE". ~ "MAYDAY. I REPEAT, MAYDAY. ALL HANDS ARE LOST. THE PLANET IS NOT HERE. NEW ALDERAAN IS GONE. THEY ARE REAL. WE ARE UNDER ATTACK. NAVIGATIONAL COMPUTERS DYSFUNCTIONAL. LOST IN THE VOID. THEY HAVE ALWAYS BEEN AMONG US. GOD IS REAL. GOD IS REAL. GOD IS REAL. GOD IS REAL. GOD IS REAL. GOD IS REAL. GOD IS REAL. GOD IS REAL. GOD IS REAL. GOD IS REAL. GOD IS REAL. GOD IS REAL. GOD IS REAL. WHO ARE WE? AT THE END OF TIME . . . A MOMENT WILL COME WHEN JUST ONE MAN REMAINS. THEN THE MOMENT SHALL PASS. THE MAN WILL BE GONE. THERE WILL BE NOTHING TO SHOW THAT WE WERE EVER HERE . . . BUT STARDUST. THE LAST MAN, ALONE WITH GOD. AM I THAT MAN? MY GO-" --END OF MESSAGE-- |
I am not Alicia Drey , and I am not Darth Ayra .
The Giblim Incident awaits.
