Naboo: Betrayal

[Kara Kornelius]

Theed Palace – Southern Balconade Overlook
Just before dawn


A pale blue mist hung over the lakes of Naboo as the first light crept across the horizon, casting the Theed cliffs in soft gold. Yet no light could pierce the weight Kara Kornelius felt in her chest.


She stood at the southern edge of the palace, where the ornate marble balustrade curved out into a wide overlook—reserved for royal addresses and rare diplomatic audiences. Today, it would serve another purpose: a confrontation long in the making.


Kara had shed the flowing silks of her wedding gown. In its place, she wore a deep gray tunic beneath a grey robe, marked only by the subtle crest of the Knights of Tomorrow at her shoulder. Her lightsaber—silver-hilted and etched with quiet artistry—hung at her side, untouched but ready.


She stared into the skies beyond the mountain ridge, where stars dimmed against the swelling glow of an incoming ship.


She could feel it now—closer than ever. Like a storm cloud reaching for the soil.​

Arcubis.

His presence in the Force surged toward her like a screaming shadow—anger, grief, power… and something buried beneath it all that she still couldn't name.

 

[Var-Sulis]

Footsteps behind her.

Var-Sulis approached, armored now beneath a formal Naboo cloak, flanked by two palace guards. His eyes scanned the sky as he came to her side, but his words were for her.

"Voidcutter has broken through planetary orbit. Its descent vector targets this side of the palace. He's making it obvious."

 

[Kara Kornelius]

Kara didn't look at him. "He wants to be seen. Wants to make a spectacle of pulling me from this place… from you."

 

[Var-Sulis]

Var gave a dry chuckle. "Let him try. I've got artillery tucked into the west bluff and stealth gunships ready to intercept if things turn ugly."

 

[Kara Kornelius]

She finally turned to face him. "He's not just a threat to this planet, Var. He's a message. To me. To the Jedi. He wants me to make a choice."

 

[Var-Sulis]

Var took her hand, his voice low and firm. "Then let him see what you've chosen."

 

[Kara Kornelius]

Kara looked down at their joined hands, then back out over the valley.

A distant roar built in the sky.

 

[Kara Kornelius]

The clouds split as a jagged, obsidian-edged ship emerged from the upper atmosphere—sleek and dagger-shaped, its hull veined with crimson lights pulsing like arteries. The Voidcutter. A machine born of exile and hate.

It moved like it didn't care whether the world beneath it feared or worshiped it.

A whisper stirred across the Force—like her own name spoken by wind over tombstones. Arcubis had arrived.

She exhaled slowly. Calm. Centered.

Then she turned to the guards. "No weapons drawn unless he attacks first. I'll face him. Alone."

 

[Var-Sulis]

Var's hand tightened slightly, then released. "I'll be right behind you. Always."

 

[Kara Kornelius]

She nodded, stepped forward, and moved toward the center of the balcony just as the Voidcutter hissed and groaned above, descending with fire into the valley below. With eerie precision, it came to hover just outside the edge of the marble platform.


A long silence. Then the boarding ramp extended.


A figure stood at its top—cloaked in black, his silhouette unchanged by time, his posture regal, cold, familiar.


Arcubis Kornelius


Their eyes locked across the void.


For the first time in two decades, brother and sister stood within reach.


And the Force trembled in the space between them.​

 

[Kara Kornelius]

The wind rolled gently across the marble overlook, carrying Naboo's morning breeze through the folds of Kara's robe, but she didn't feel its softness. The only sensation she registered now was the shadow ahead—the shape of her brother, Arcubis , now standing fully before her, cloaked in midnight fabrics that twisted like smoke, yet somehow regal. His face was leaner, older, but unmistakable. Haunted.

Their eyes locked, and for a heartbeat, nothing else existed in the galaxy.


Then Kara spoke.

"I thought you were dead."

 

[Arcubis Kornelius]

Arcubis tilted his head slightly—just enough to show amusement, or perhaps contempt. His voice emerged like a blade unsheathing: smooth, cold, precise.

"A convenient assumption. Easier than searching."

 

[Kara Kornelius]

She flinched slightly but held her ground. "You chose exile. You vanished. I mourned you for years, and when no one came back from Exegol, I—"

 

[Arcubis Kornelius]

"You gave up." He stepped forward slowly. "You buried me. Replaced me with robes and rules."

 

[Kara Kornelius]

Kara took a breath to center herself. "I became what we both promised we'd become—Jedi. Guardians. You were with me every step until the fall."

 

[Arcubis Kornelius]

Arcubis's eyes darkened, a flicker of pain buried under fury. "You always needed the temple. The cause. I needed truth. And the truth, sister, is that the Jedi fear power they cannot control. They feared me. They feared you."

 

[Kara Kornelius]

She didn't deny it. "I've felt the fear. I live with it. But I don't surrender to it."

 

[Arcubis Kornelius]

He stepped close now—within a few feet. His voice dropped.

"You will. You'll see. The veil is thin, Kara. You still remember the cold, don't you? The whisper in the dark when we were children… how it called to us both."

 

[Kara Kornelius]

A wave of nausea rippled through her. She hadn't let herself remember those nights—when strange shadows crept into their dreams, long before either of them held a saber.

Kara shook her head. "I buried that voice. You fed it."

 

[Arcubis Kornelius]

"And it gave me clarity." He extended a hand, calm and terrible. "Come with me. Now. Before this planet burns for your indecision."