The Dark One [Ask]

[Darth Ayra]

The Dark One​

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Outer Rim Territories.
Centrality, Tund system.

[member="Enigma"]

Tund had a rich history with the Sith. It was here that the Sorcerers of Tund, an ancient band of Sith sorcerers, became famous for their dark side illusions and skills in the Force. It was a world taken by the Galactic Republic during it's age of growth during the modern era, when the Four-Hundred Year Darkness that had plagued the galaxy no longer hindered the asipirations of the Jedi to restore peace to the galaxy; and where the Galactic Republic could instill order alongside it.

With the Tund system secured, relics such as the Sorcerers of Tund could not threaten the galaxy under the watchful eye of the Jedi Order. The excision that followed saw the end to any threats that could come from the Tund system. The Jedi moved on, to face greater threats such as the reemergence of the One Sith in the Core. Now, the native Toongs find themselves out of the reach of the Jedi and their Galactic Republic following the Netherworld event, causing a schism across the galaxy. Whilst the galaxy rebuilds once more, the Sith have returned to Tund on the eve of an historic event.

Six months had passed since Alicia Drey disappeared. Presumably, the entrepeneur from Chandrila had succumbed much like most of the galaxies population, with what most of it disappearing in an instant and the survivors caught in a power vacuum left in the wake of it's disaster. Akala and her actions had paved the way to consequences that could not be comprehended as of yet. As the galaxy was drawn into conflict once more, the work of Darth Pandeima had come to frutition and the Dark One had been conceived.

The Niathal-class shuttle docked with the Emeritus shipyard. Darth Ayra disengaged the engines of the transport and unbuckled herself from the confines of her seat, standing up in the narrow cockpit. Her hand brushed against the Lightsaber, a reflex that followed her whenever she arrived at a destination. She decided that it would not be needed in these circumstances. If Pandeima wanted her dead, she would have died long ago. If understood correctly, in fact, her master did not want her to die at all. For a second time in it's rich history, two Sith Lords had found each other to form a perfect Rule of Two. Unlike the two before them, Ayra could not see the Order of Sith Lord suffering the betrayal that Darth Plagueis had felt to the hands of his apprentice. Netherless, it was a comfortable weight on her hip, as it always was.

Lowering the landing ramp, Ayra made her way out of the Niathal that had acted as her home during her time on Kursid and into the technological marvel that was Emeritus Industries. In comparison to the surroundings she had found herself in for the past six months, the shipyard was a completely alien environment. Taking a deep breath, Ayra accustomed herself to her new surroundings, tasting the scents of machinery and the work that went around them. Much had changed in the six months since she had last been involved in the company she held a joint majority with. The Tund system had not been a place in which Emeritus had been before her disapperence. She would endeavour to discover more about the company when she met with her master.

The observation deck that overlooked Tund was the setting in which master and apprentice would reconvene. Out of the prying eyes of the Galactic Republic and the Jedi Order, the Order of Sith Lords and the two women that followed the Rule of Two were free to host another piece of history to add to their historic order and that of the world that floated beneath them. Stepping up into the deck, the door behind Ayra closed itself with a soft hiss. Her eyes turned to look for Pandeima.

 

[Onrai]

And there the maiden of illusion was. Her fair blonde locks fell down her shoulders as she eyed over the lovely form of her one and true most loyal apprentice. She smiled, stepping forward and lovingly embracing her charge from behind, a gentle kiss to the woman's right ear. "Alicia... You've been a very naughty apprentice, running away like that. I would punish you... if not for your punishment you've already experienced." She paused, running a hand down the Chandrilan's body.

"A lot has changed since you disappeared. I helped stop Akala - and gained a good position for Emeritus in the hearts of our enemies. They will prove most useful to grow our final product."

She nuzzled the woman lovingly, waiting to see the fruit of her labor - perhaps soon she would see the fruit of their own.

[member="Alicia Drey"]

 

[Darth Ayra]

[member="Enigma"]

Her eyes found Circe in the form of her arms, as they coiled themselves around her body. Alicia shuddered for a moment, remembering the process in which the child had been conceived. It had been the second most traumatic experience of her life; and that had just been the conception! Her eyes lowered briefly, in contemplation that within day or two, she would have to go through the progress of giving birth. Alicia couldn't comprehend the levels of pain that she would go through on the day or night she gave birth to the Dark One.

"I went to the Esstran sector. I needed time away, to rejuvenate myself for the tasks ahead. I've had time to think about us and the Grand Plan." Alicia lifted her eyes to look into the other womans. "Know that I would never leave you. I have come back because it is almost time." She rubbed a hand on her stomach, where the bump had grown larger in the intervening months since the Battle of Kashyyyk. "The fruits of your research and work have nearly come to frutition. They will be among us. Soon."

 

[Onrai]

"Soon." She smiled. "But for now, there is only you and I. You have been more than a suitable vessel for the sort of work we've done together, my love." She leaned forward once more, trailing kisses down the side of the woman's neck. "I'm sorry that I couldn't be there to comfort you during the struggle. I know they must've been giving you such a hard time." She ran a hand through Alicia's hair in love.

"Shall I relax you in preparation for the inevitable, my darling?"

[member="Alicia Drey"]

 

[Darth Ayra]

[member="Enigma"]

"No. I am prepared. It is what I have been doing in the past six months since we last saw each other. But preparation for the childs birth is not the only thing I have been thinking about. I've been thinking about a lot of things, for a while now." Alicia licked her lips for a moment. She enjoyed it when Circe kissed her. It made her comfortable. But she was also aware of what her master was capable of. Not only had she seen it first hand at Coruscant, but also during the crisis that had crippled the galaxy nine months ago, when the Dark One had been conceived. Although she loved her, Alicia had grown to fear Circe Savan.

"The subterfuge that you and I have done in the past twenty or so years. From taking over Chandrila DataTech, usurping my families control over it so that I could take the reigns to the development of Subach-Innes, only to watch it all go in smoke. From our subtle manipulation and control over the New Order and One Sith, only to see them slip away. Aynea Savan. Rave Merrill. The people that have betrayed us. What was it all for?"

Alicia turned to face Circe, placing her arms around her neck. She was the smaller of the two, by only a couple of inches. She looked up into the Sith Lords face. Darth Ayra spoke now. "On Sojourn, you explained that you would build a force so large, that nobody in the galaxy could stop you. That was eight years ago, master. Constant feuds and interruptions to our work has allowed the One Sith to grow more powerful. It has allowed the galaxy that you seek to rule as Empress became weaker, day after day."

She leaned her forehead against Pandeima's chin, continuing to speak. "Because of you, the crisis that came was resolved because you and I are meant to do what the Sith could not. Our subterfuge and infiltration has allowed us to play a war of economics, but where has it gotten us? What is our plan?"

"On Kashyyyk, I fought the Jedi Order and the Galactic Republic alongside the One Sith. I even fought a Sith Lord called Meric Nadun that day; and when I defeated him, I took both of us back to Sojourn and I thought long and hard about it." She looked up again. "I participated in a battle, for a war that wasn't mine. I- no, we- infiltrated the One Sith so that we could use them to benefit us and the Grand Plan that we are working for. One that has allowed us to conceive this child."

Ayra wrapped her hand around Pandeima's and placed it on her stomach "Do you know what I learned, my love?" she asked softly, barely above a whisper.

 

[Onrai]

[member="Alicia Drey"]

"What did you learn, my darling?" She leaned her head down, kissing the woman's forehead as she accepted their union with one another. What Alicia had learned from her were many things - business, sorcery. And yet there were some things she had chosen to keep to herself. Why so? Well, she wanted some things to be kept private, regardless of how things turned out.

After all, she did love Alicia enough to not let certain things hurt her.

 

[Darth Ayra]

[member="Enigma"]

She said softly. "We cannot rule a galaxy that doesn't want to be ruled. We cannot conquer a galaxy that doesn't want to be conquered. We cannot complete the Grand Plan if things remain the way they are."

 

[Onrai]

[member="Alicia Drey"]

"True." She frowned. "If only the galaxy was so willing to be conquered... Like you." She switched faces, a grin growing as she sighed, looking upon the face of her darling. "But whether our plan goes as we intended, or whether fate has chosen to alter it, we must rejoice in the fact that we have created a child - a harbinger of destruction."

 

[Darth Ayra]

[member="Enigma"]

She began to shake. Holding onto Pandeima, Ayra bowed her head to look back down. "It's time."

 

[Onrai]

[member="Darth Ayra"]

And lo, the ritual to end the experiment into the realm of developing true darkness finally began. Circe would play the midwife - albeit an extremely loving one - as through the cries unheard by anyone else except for Circe herself, darkness was brought into the world. She saw the strain that Alicia was experiencing, and not wanting her apprentice to suffer, she pressed her lips to the woman's own, strengthening their bond and feeding her with some of the tainted energy she held within, helping her through the trying times.

And when they were done, an exhausted Circe would crawl over, gazing upon a child that seemed to have a cloud of black smoke evaporating from their body, a soft cry eliciting from their lips. Cautiously, she brought the child to Alicia's chest, so she could best look at the spawn she had produced.

"Is it a boy, or a girl?"

 

[Darth Ayra]

[member="Enigma"]

The tragedy that was Darth Plagueis the Wise continued to vibrate through the annuals of history. The promise that there was an ability to conceive life through the will of the dark side. To save one from death. The successors to the Muun Dark Lord of the Sith that conceived both the idea that became a Sith legend, as well as the first to attempt the perfect Rule of Two, had done what had only been myth.

The child that was lain on the chest of Darth Ayra had broken the myth and made it a reality. Perhaps Plagueis had created life once through the power of the dark side. No evidence suggested that he had. But Darth Pandeima had done it and the evidence gurgled before her, eerily silent and watch his Mothers.

The Dark One was a boy.

Ayra could not respond to her master. She shook on the bed, eyes watching the ceiling as she came to terms with the pain. For the third time in her life, she felt excruciating pain. It was worse than the time Rave Merrill had poisoned her with radiation and a blood trail, forcing Pandeima to replace her skin to remove the Nightsister trace. Worse than when the boy had been conceived nine months ago, during Akala's attack on the galaxy.

Her eyes felt heavy and so, finally, she succumbed to the darkness, unconscious.

 

[Onrai]

Gently embracing her apprentice, she smiled, falling into her own private sleep with the child - her child - resting next to them both. It was a strange feeling - though one day, she would have to reveal the child to her "mother" and have a fruitful family gathering. But before she fell to rest, she whispered a word into her silent apprentice's ear.

"Congratulations."

[member="Darth Ayra"]

 

[Darth Ayra]

[member="Enigma"]

A boy had been conceived, one who had been created with the potential to the Force far beyond that of any natural born Force-sensitive. Time would tell if the boy would become the Dark One, the harbinger of destruction as Darth Pandeima described him; or if he would end up in a new path, entirely different to that in which his parents had planned for him.

Was he to bring balance to the Force or be the key to the destruction of the Jedi?

FIN