The Imperial city is the seat for the "Immortal" Emperor Vader. Few remember the time of the force, when jedi were the protectors of the senatorial regions. Fewer still are certain that the Emperor used to be something even resembling human. None know that Vader himself is a Force user. Vader has become something of a God to the realm, unkillable, and possessing of a powerful aura of fear and immovable constitution.



The church of the Force, once a powerful symbol in the old republic, has been shattered and eroded down to a few squalling fanatics and millenia tested individuals. The force is a forbidden subject, and children with the aptitude are hidden away, or killed. The ones hidden were hunted down by Vader himself, having slain the Inquisitors the previous tyrant had placed in the Imperial army. Vader grew more powerful in the dark side with every kill, his hatred bringing forth a yearning for the ancient teachings of the sith, and their ghost possessed holocrons.



Armed with new knowledge and power, Vader enhanced his clumsy suit, using the force and kestral tachnology to create semi-biotic limbs and exoskeleton, permanently grafting the new armor to his flesh. His new body was fitted with such enhancements as intravenious synthetic adrenaline glands and liquefied kaiber, to inject him with essence constantly, keeping him and his ancient body alive far beyond his natural years. The plating itself was formed of solid beskar from mandalore, impervious to lightsaber cuts or force manipulation, among other weaker things. Truly, Vader had found the immortality that his old master had promised to seduce him to the dark side, but still he could find nothing to bring back his wife and children.



Centuries of monotony and fearful peace passed, with only a few minor and easily crushed "new rebellions" to break the silence.

Then, in 452 A.B.Y. A force storm of immense size struck the Tython system, reminiscent of one that had been created thousands of years ago by the birth of the original Jed'daii. Vader immediately left at the behest of his holocrons, promised that whatever had sparked this storm, it would be powerful and revolutionary. Whatever it was, he needed to bring it into his grasp, or destroy it, lest it turn on him and destroy everything he had built.

And so... Vader went to Tythos...



Buuk We'motaraa was a simple Cathar Farmer on the nearly obscure planet of Tythos. Tythos had a long and rich history, but one that was long forgotten as most of the information pertaining to the planet was force-related and therefore destroyed in the "Purge of Wisdom". Folk tales still passed down in some families, speaking of the Jed'daii, and the Sith, both of whom had made that planet their home at one time or another. Remnants of the ancient sith Race, a species that the group had gotten their origins from still lived on the planet, with their red skin, and shifty attitude, they weren't well received by the local populace, but were a necessary part of the economy. Buuk himself was not too worried about local politics, or even galactic politics for that matter. So long as he and his beautiful wife Neb'uruu could live in peace with their coming child, he was happy living outside of the city on his humble but sustainable homestead.



"K'tar Enuyo Buuk! Val'emys sin vinyi!" Buuk looked toward where the call goodbye had come from. His farm hand Tea'Po was waving at him in the distance, beginning his walk home before the storm hit. The boy had been helping him settle the livestock, and had even helped prepare the home for his wife, who was expecting their child at any moment. "Val'emys sin vinyi Tea'po!" Buuk yelled after him, seeing the boy turn around and wave back, smiling.

Buuk purred as he began the long walk back. His land covered several acres, the fire-cane that he grew tall and silhouetted in the setting red sun, casting a pattern of shadows across the ground and his fur covered skin. he scratched his mane, thinking about names for his new baby daughter, an honour traditional for a new Cathar father.
Then he heard it. Lightning struck in the field, instantly setting the flame retardent cane ablaze for a few short moments before fizzing out in the mess of oxidized sugar juice. The storm had hit. Sudden, and unrelenting. Winds picked up at a rate Buuk would not have believed had he not been digging his clawed feet into the earth to fight being pulled off his feet. He scrambeld best as he could, practically on all fours, towards the farmhouse in the distance, barely able to see his ancestral home in the dust being whipped up by the dry knives of wind beating him down.

It was two hours before he reached the threshold, stepping over the splintered cane fence that had been blasted low. Lightning struck the rod atop his house repeatedly, making the durasteel bar glow white hot white and bend unsettlingly. He entered the home to the sound of a mewling new kitten, crying at the assault she was born into.

Buuk was a father...

The storm lasted a full day. Buuk, his wife, and baby Nul'ara huddled together in the basement of their home to wait it out, only being able to guess to the source of each disturbing sound of destruction above. The storm had begun to settle down when Buuk heard Tea'Po's voice above...
"K'KATAR! BUUK! NEB"URUU! K"KATAR VOSN NE-" The screaming of his young farm-hand was cut short by an inexplicable burning hiss, loud and sinister. Suddenly a feeling of cold dread washed over Buuk. The boy had been telling him to run. His claws instinctively lengthened, and his shoulders hunched in anticipation of a threat to his wife and child. The alloy door whooshed open forebodingly, a black silhouette visible against the darkened sky where the roof of his demolished home should have been. Then... a breath. Loud and rasping, enunciated and dramatized by a deep vocoder. The fear Buuk felt intensified, and his shoulders fell, his eyes grew wide, his claws, retracting... he immediately felt the urge of submission wash over him in the presence of this... monster... "Buuk?" his wife whispered. The seven foot tall suited creature reached out a black metallic hand in what seemed to be a mild pinch in the air. It puzzled Buuk for only a moment... then the hideous cracking and ripping of flesh behind him made him spin in place, a moment too late to watch his wife crumple to the floor, over their child.



His rage renewed, Buuk turned on the creature, claws extended, legs tensed to pounce. But somehow, the other had approached him with graceful silence in the time it took him to turn around. he had no time to utter a single word before a crimson red light had cut into his lungs, burning his organs with every second it remained. He stayed standing there in shock for about five seconds before weakening, sliding to his knees, and passing the lightsaber through his shoulder and crumpling to the ground. His last sight before slipping away into darkness was of Emporor Vader holding his child up in one fist, staring at it as though in contemplation. "Nul... he whispered with his dying breath, trying to make out his daughter's name... "Nul'..."

Null saw all this as though an imprint on her closed eyelids. Breathing deep she watched as the force revealed to her the death of her mother... her father... then rapidly changing images... Vader carrying her to his dropship... training with him. A sudden memory struck her from about ten years into training as his apprentice... they were practicing with the stun-sabers in one of the old training rooms in the Imperial palace, once the jedi temple of the old republic. "Master... why do you never remove your mask. Doesn't it make it hard to breathe?"

Vader stared at the child silently for a few seconds, his laboring breaths caught in surprise. "I am scarred youngling. My body was destroyed by my dearest and oldest friend when he betrayed me and left me to die. Then I was scarred yet again by the lightning the previous emperor attacked me with before I killed him. Let that be a lesson to you to never trust anyone. It is a weakness no one can afford, and one I will punish you greatly for."

"Has anyone ever seen your face?" The quizzical girl responded with. Vader suddenly seemed very tired. You could not see his face, but the way his body drooped was very expressively less affirmed.

"My son..." He responded, before walking away. Leaving her to clean up the training room. In a spark of dawning realization, the young Null knew that his armor was now permanent, and his mask would never be removed again. For anyone.

The vision changed, the force showing her the face of a boy... maybe twenty, clad in all black, the bodysuit reminiscent of jedi robes. His eyes had the glistening light of a soul slowly leaving its body, and a black gloved hand reached out to touch the young man's face. "Father..." The boy whispered... "Your face... let me see Anakin... once... let me see my father... your eyes..." Null saw Vader then, his mask similar but not quite the same, the armor so foreign to what she had lived her whole life seeing him wear.

"The face you will see will not be your father's..."

"Maybe... but I... can die believing... I saw it..." Vader looked at his gasping son, the gash across his chest seeming to deepen as he spoke. Hesitantly, Vaders hands reached for his mask. Lifting the dome, and then peeling off the respirator and vocoder apparatus. The vision blurred, preventing her from seeing the scarred and pocked face, focusing on the eyes of Luke Skywalker... "You're wrong... Your eyes tell me... my father is still there..."



And with that he fell limp. His head rolling back in Vaders remaining hand... reminding him of the way his mother had died... in his arms at the Tusken raider camp. The mask fell to the floor and footsteps clacked across the metal floor. The Emperor Palpatine descending the steps into the maintenance units below his throne room. "Good." The Emperor croaked. "Good. You have done well. The last of the jedi is dead, the rebellion is soon to die outside our window. This is the dawn... of peace in our new empire."

Every word struck Vader like a stone. The voices of every person he had ever loved and killed echoing in his head... voices swarming the mind of the listening Null like bees in a nest...
"Ani... Little Ani?"
"I tried to free her Ani..."
"You were my brother Anakin! I loved you!"
"Anakin... you're breaking my heart"

And suddenly they were silenced, replaced by one voice...
"You're wrong... Your eyes tell me... My father is still there..."



The face of the emperor suddenly turned to a scowl as he sensed Vaders rising emotions. Vaders unsevered prosthetic hand reached out before the old man could react. Vader lifted Palpatine into the air and screamed pathetically with almost no voice, his mask still on the floor. His burnt tear ducts began shedding blood from the corners of his eyes, spreading throughout his retinas and making him see red as the emperor gasped in his hold above the ground. Palpatine's hands raised and lightning flashed forth from them, burning Vaders face with fresh searing rends. Still screaming, Vader smashed the emperor's skull into the metal ground, the pistons in his arm groaning audibly from exertion. The lightning stopped after the first strike, but Vader's arm malfunctioned, and he couldn't move his hand to let go of the now-dead Palpatine. Over and over he smashed the ancient skul into the ground until it caved, dropping from his paralyzed hand in nothing more than a bloodied pulp. He screamed at the cieling, the gravelly weak sound tearing at Null's heart as she watched this broken man, someone she had always known as immortal and God-like, fall to the ground and sob blood.



And it was like that... the vision faded.

Null's eyes popped open and a cold sweat dripped from her fur, her ears aching from the strain of listening to imaginary sounds, her heart pounding in her chest. She lowered herself from her hovering meditative position and walked to her bathing quarters, leaning over the sink and staring into the mirror. She saw there a different woman than the heartless killer who had looked into it this morning... something had changed... was it permanent? What did it mean... and why did the force reveal this to her now? A beeping noise signaled a comm transmition incoming from her side table. She quickly rinsed her face and fluffed it in a towel before pressing the answer button. An image of Moff Borge appeared above the receiver. "Emperor Vader has ordered you to the throne room." She nodded and quietly responded. "Inform him I'll be right there." The Moff nodded his pudgy face in a way that accentuated his double chin. "I'll let him know."



After the transmission ended, Null took one more glance in the mirror to look again at this different person she was seeing. As she undressed from her training clothes and got into her uniform she pondered it.
It's not the fur or the face that has changed...
she decided, stepping out into the hallway toward the throne room...
It's the eyes...

Lianna came from a place far away, in a star system that was near void of life. Once her planet had been teeming with the hope of finding their place in the vastness of this universe. Being so remote they had eschewed most of the consequences of the greater wars that had ravaged the galaxy and sought to eek out a peaceful, if not primitive, life. Though they knew of the 'God Emperor' as he was called by some, they were far enough away that he seemed nothing to worth troubling themselves over. What did concern the Human inhabitants of Ceri VII were the Amani who had also been settled on the planet, perhaps long before the Humans. Whatever the other Amani were, these one were cruel and vicious, carrying out regular assaults on the human towns and villages and ravaging populations, crops and livestock.

The constant fighting took its toll on the population, but their salvation came and it would change them forever. One day when the Sun was low, a ship landed on the planet. From it emerged a being that would forever after alter the course of Ceri VII's history. The God Emperor Darth Vader had come. There had been rumors, though none that the humans would have known, of a force-sensitive individual hiding out on the planet. The being had found refuge with the Amani, having become something of a leader to them in hopes to raise an army to protect himself from the coming storm. Vader took no mercy and slaughtered tens of thousands of Amani who came to defend their friend before cutting down the would-be rebel. Not long after he had completed his task, Vader walked among the towns and villages of the humans. He searched for days to find any traces of another force sensitive individual, but he found none. Satisfied his work was finished, he left the planet without care for the consequences he would leave behind.

In the years that followed, and now void of a conflict to subdue them, the humans began rapidly advancing. They reached out to the stars and joined their brothers and sisters. They also became fanatical worshipers of Vader. In their eyes he was no tyrant, but a savior who had descended from on high and done away with their enemies. They learned what they could about him and began willingly giving themselves cybernetic implants to bring them closer to the majesty deity. It became tradition that all children, no matter their own desire, were to have a hand chopped off and replaced with a cybernetic one when they came of age. the only choice they got was which hand. If they resisted and fought, it would be both.

So it was, over three hundred years later that a young girl named Lianna was born. Her family, like all others, worshiped the savior, but she did not. She saw him not as they did, but as a machine, not a man as he was rumored to once have been. She had no desire to follow the traditions of her family, though she knew better to resist when she came of age. Her left hand was sliced off in one clean strike and she was fitted with a cybernetic replacement. As she grew further she began to resent the fanaticism that had seeped into every corner of Cetian's ways of life. Despite her immense dislike for her robotic hand, her conflicts with some of the few remaining Amani had robbed her of her right arm all the way up to her bicep. Once that too had been replaced and made metal she knew it had come time to leave. Faking her way onto a trade ship, Lianna found herself in the Outer Rim. In order to make ends meet she was forced to embrace her skills as a smuggler. Her heart only hardened to the plights of the worlds around her and their people. Mistrust and dishonesty were ways of life for the people. Few could say they ever lived a 'good' life under the reign of the God Emperor, and she was no different.



---

When one entered the throne room of Darth Vader they would be mistaken for thinking they had entered a room with perpetual machinery. Even when he was absent the sound of his breathing played on a constant cycle to remind those who entered who they might dare to cross. But such an event had not happened in a long time. Vader spent much of his time sat on his throne. For a being of his power the throne itself was surprisingly simple. It stretched thirty feet upwards and consisted only of the blackest, sleekest metals known to the universe. The throne, like Vader himself, seemed to drink in the light and drain it from any stars that dared to peer through the enormous glass panels that made up the two sides of the room. There was no sign of the legendary lightsaber that had cut down the lives of innumerable creatures, but there did not need to be. Anyone who thought themselves foolish enough to challenge Vader were most likely dead before they even reached him. The breathing sounds pervaded every inch of the room and seemed to swallow courage as the throne did with light. Few were even brave enough to step into the room, even among Vader's personally appointed entourage.

Of those permitted to enter at nearly any hour, Null was one. Vader suspected likely the most fearless, if only due to her training by his own hand. He had heard plenty of whispers and talks of the girl since he had brought her on. He heard everything that occurred on the planet, even if the people were not aware. The jealousy that filled the hearts of lesser beings would amuse him if he allowed himself to feel amusement. Yet he did nothing without reason, and summoning her was with reason. The chair served a purpose that perhaps only she understood beside himself. It was wired and filled with all sorts of ancient technology used to sense the force. When he sat in the chair he could reach through the vastness of space to where his mind may not normally reach. He could find those born with the force etched into their very being. Today he had found one, and Null would go and kill it. There would be no threat, Not to Vader. No being in all the galaxy, nay, the universe, could hope to bring to ruin the empire that his own master had only dreamed of building.

Null walked down the hall toward the throne room, without even a glance to the beady envious eyes that followed her along the line of the Emperor's waiting supplicants. Most of them would wait days before being let in to see Vader, a fact she took some pleasure in, as she shared with her master an extreme dislike for bureaucrats and sycophants. Some, who knew her better, kept their sneers to themselves, but one, a fat Huttese ambassador from Nar Shaddaa slid his grease filmed body in front of her, blocking the way.
Keh doe wonky Vader nopa inot Corba doe Hutt? U keh belon han, mee inki u koose je tah stuka, mo torta doe mebomba doe Hutts.
"Sorry. I don't speak slug." Null replied, gesturing for him to move aside. When he didn't, her hand moved to the hilt of her lightsaber.
Mo! Proteccol Derooid!
A silver white translater droid quickly clacked over to the Hutt's side from where it had been standing in line.
"My apologies m'lady." began the droid, "The great Corba the Hutt asks why she has yet to be admitted into the throne room. She demands that you take her to him immediately, or suffer the wrath of the Hutt clans."
Null took a deep breath. Killing Outer Rim Crime Lords was a good way to start costly gang wars. The Empire would invariably win, but the Hutts were fickle, stubborn, and rich. Rich enough to do some real damage to Impirial property.
"Droid, tell Corba that she is not more esteemed than any other ambassador of any other planet. Vader will see her when he sees fit, and if she has a problem with that she can go home and handle her own problems." And with that, she stepped on the long slimy tail of Corba, eliciting a nasty gurgling screech, and walking over and past her to the door.

Vaders throne room was, in Null's mind, the perfect example of everything the Dark Lord permeated. His throne was a paragon of the blending of power and function. Even despite the things she saw in meditation, she had immense respect for her master. What had really changed now is that she knew he wasn't immortal. She had seen the man beneath the armor. She couldn't truly muster any hatred towards him for killing her parents. They meant nothing to her. But there was this sliver of hope that she hoped to hide from him even in his force augmenting seat. The idea that she might one day take his place.

She kneeled. "What is thy bidding, my master..."

Vader, expressionless and foreboding, looked down on her from his seat. "There is a girl who has lived decades now with the force at her side. She seems to know not the extent of power she yields as of yet. But that could change in an instant. This girl has somehow hidden from me for far too long. Either she is under someone else's protection, or the girl has been aware of my omnipresence since her youngest years. Either way, we cannot allow any force user to propagate the recreation of the Jedi order. I want you to find her, crush her spirit until she tells you how she hid from me, and then kill her protector and her. They will know that none can escape the all seeing eyes of the Empire. Now go, my apprentice."

Null stood, "As you wish, my master." she bowed briefly and turned in place, walking out of the throne room with a sigh of relief. It didn't matter how accustomed you were to that room, or how enlightened you were of its purpose. It was still... unsettling. She stepped out the door to find the hallway mostly empty, but for two bounty hunters, the translator droid, and scorch marks indicating the "spontaneous" incineration of Corba the Hutt. Null smiled. War it was. The Empire would probably strike before the news even reached Nal Hutta that Corba was dead. The criminal legacy of the Hutts, was soon to be ended.

And so, Null began her journey out to find the spacecraft Vader's rogue force user was travelling in. One, possibly two full grown potential Jedi? This could be fun.

Lianna sat a few feet away from the bartender of her local watering hole. Jabfess was one of the few beings who knew, or perhaps had some inkling as to how she made her way in the world, yet still showed her some form of affection. The strange creature's race had long since been purged by the Emperor himself, and it had been over such issues that the two had bonded. He felt her pain when she had regaled him with the story of her home planet, a place she was glad to not have to bring into her thoughts terribly often. They had shared a distaste for their Lord and master, though to speak of such things in public, even on a planet set within the Outer Rim, was foolish and likely a death sentence if the wrong individual heard you. Still, this bar had become something of a second home to her and it had been how she had met with her current employer and foster father, Emeric.
Emeric was a Twi'lek with shimmering blue skin and a strange fondness for Lianna. She in turn shared a fondness for the man she had come to see as her true father figure, though she did not grasp the true reason behind their bonding. The being had found her, alone and destitute, fighting for her survival against a cruel bounty hunter. The pair had gotten into a particularly nasty altercation in the streets of the slums, coming to a head as she ran towards the only place that she thought she might escape him, the bar of Jabfess. It seemed for all her work to escape her home planet, she would travel so far just to die. But Emeric had intervened and saved her. He dispatched the hunter with a ruthless efficiency and skill that left the girl in awe. She expected him to ask for a reward, though he asked for none. Instead he told her he would take the girl under his wing and teach her the ways and means to thrive in the darkness of the Galaxy.

So had begun her training to become a smuggler, and she was a damned good one at that. She far exceeded the expectations of the other members of Emeric's gang and quickly became not only his favourite, but his second in command. She had long suspected that the creatures feelings for her extended beyond that of a mere father figure the issue had never been pressed, much to Lianna's own relief. Regardless the pair were a force to be reckoned with and their gang had grown considerably since then. They now operated the smuggling of the planet's three biggest illegal drugs and the credits rolled in. Despite the temptation to flee and live a quiet life, the girl persisted and for a time she was as happy as she could be in such a situation. Her heart had become cold and she had only become more ruthless. But at night strange things happened. Unreal images filled her mind as she slept. Stories of the past filling her head and waking her in cold sweats. Though her adopted family had no answers for this, she was simply told to brush them aside. There was no great destiny for them, only the harsh truths of life under the all seeing eyes of Lord Vader.

Things began to change on a rainy afternoon like all others. They had finished their normal smuggling route when Emeric burst through the door with a concerned look upon his face. Though he would not speak of his worries to any other, he summoned Lianna for a private meeting. After going to great lengths to ensure they would not be overhead, he began to open up to her about the seriousness of the trouble they were about to find thrust upon themselves. The Twi'lek told the girl that he was a force user. Not a particularly good one, but good enough to conceal it from the outside world. It was how he had began his business and beat his rivals from the trade, survived attempts on his life...and how he had found Lianna herself.

"You can't be serious." the girl would ask, her ears twitching at the thought of what she was being told, of it's magnitude.
"I am, but it gets far worse. There are rumours of a kyber crystal that has made its way to the planet. They were the heart of the lightsabers forged by the Jedi and Sith when such things still existed en mass. But now one had surfaced, and when, not if, Vader finds out..."
A look of terror spread across Lianna's face. She had heard only stories of the Emperor, but she had no desire to see if they matched the reality. No one could stand up to him.
"I don't understand, what does such a crystal have to do with us?" she asked, her voice almost pleading with him to make sense of this.
"That night I found you, you were cold, starved, alone and all but ready to die. But you did not. It was not chance that brought us together, I know that much. I am no Jedi, but my knowledge of the Force is enough to know there was something more. I believe you are a force user, and a potentially powerful one at that. I have avoided Vader because I am not strong enough to register on his grand hunt...but you...If that crystal finds its way to your hands, as I believe it is fated to do so, then Vader will find you and you will die."
Lianna was breathing heavily now. This was far too much to take in. Not only was she supposedly a user of the fabled and reviled force, but there was the core of a lightsaber destined to fall into her own hands?

She stood firm, belying her terror inside and spoke once more.
"What am I to do? If you say this crystal's destiny is to find itself in my hands then I have to run. I'll probably never stop having to run."
She now looked on the brink of tears. When last she had left her home it had been through choice, but this was a place she had realised in this moment that she was deeply attached to. To leave it all behind, even if it were to save her own life, would not be easy.
"Listen to me, Lianna. We likely have a small grace period to prepare you, but I will do my best to make sure that crystal never reaches your hands, even if it costs me my own life."
Such words hit her deep. Here he was, her foster father, willing to risk everything for a girl who was not his own. Moved by nothing more than her deep care for him, she lunged forward and embraced him in a hug. When she was finished she regained her composure.
"My apologies master." she stated simply, but the older being merely gave her that same knowing smile he had done when she first laid eyes on him all that time ago.

---

Lianna was sat speaking to her friend Jabfess. She had been instructed to tell no one anything or she would be at greater risk. The rest of the gang selected for the mission to find the crystal had not been told the nature of the task, and she was simply instructed to find somewhere to wait, somewhere that she could use for a quick getaway if needed. That had brought her to the bar, to Jabfess, and to the drink she swirled with her cybernetic hand. She did not believe in any kind of God or greater being, but if one existed she could only hope her foster family were safe, and that Vader would never find her...

The Force and Vader's coordinates led Null first, to a warehouse in the slum districts of a major Onderron City.
She sensed something there that didn't feel like a person... but more like a wellspring of the force. Like one she had never felt before. She landed the rented speeder about a block from the warehouse to avoid attention, her hood pulled up over her ears. She kept one hand on her vibrosword at all times, the other ready to snap the lightsaber on her belt into her palm and activate it. She walked around the warehouse pensively. The feeling was not that of a jedi... she was almost certain... so... what then?

Seeing a window that was cracked open on the third floor, she focused herself. In one leap she had scaled half the distance between the window and the ground, vaulting off the wall to the one opposite before flipping backwards and grabbing the open pane. Then it was just a matter of pushing off the wall to turn the window in its hinge and slip inside. Easy as mynock pie.

Strangely enough, the warehouse seemed completely empty of any life. Null realized why upon going downstairs and finding half a dozen Onderrans lying dead from blaster wounds. It looked like an ambush, something which unsettled Null greatly. Could this be a trap? her nerves were further rattled by the sound of voices below.
Creeping down the steps to the ground floor, body pressed against the wall, she heard one yell, "Boss! We found them! Not one but two!"

"Bring them here!" a gruffer alien voice shouted back. Null peeked around the corner just as a humanoid ran up with an extremely small package in his hand, maybe the size of a jewelry box. The Trandoshan he handed the box to opened it immediately, licking his unblinking eyeballs to clear the dust from them. "Why are they so dull? I thought these gave lightsabers their color?"

Kyber Crystals!

An architect droid in the group spoke up, "Jedi end up with specific colors for lightsabers when they interact with their force crystal. Imbuing the crystal with themselves gives it its rich color, so that it can be used in lightsabers."

"Are we gonna need a jedi to make these crystals work? I thought there weren't any anymore."

"No," responded the droid. "A little known alternative to directly interacting with the crystal is to take it to a particularly force sensitive planet, where an incubation period would be required. My records show that the best planet for this process would be Tythos."

Tythos again...

"Well fine then! Whatever we have to do to make ourselves some lightsabers! I'll keep one for myself and we'll sell the other to the highest bidder! This proves to be our most profitable venture yet!" The other humanoids and Trandos cheered and howled in excitement. They didn't notice the slinking form coming upon them until it was too late. The fight lasted seconds. In one efficient twisting swing through their chests Null dispatched one humanoid and two Trandoshans, the Zabrak in the group swung a hefty looking vibroaxe her way but the swing was inexplicably redirected straight into the skull of a trando in the process of raising his blaster. She quickly beheaded the zabrak with her sword and turned to face the Trandoshan boss, who was now alone on the floor. He fell to his knees and laid down the package, curling into a simpering ball. "Please don't kill me! I just wanted to learn to use the force!" Null raised a hand, lifting him into mid air.

"Oh? And how exactly was an illegal lightsaber going to help you accomplish that?"

The lizard made some hissing whimpering noises as he struggled in the air. "You know... the lightsabers give you these powers... I wanted to be able to move shrak with my mind... predict the future..."

Null rolled her eyes. "Lightsabers don't give you power. They are just a sword."

"What...?" the lizard had just enough time to squeak out before Null crushed his spine.

Null bent down to pick up the two crystals... What a rare find... picking one up between her thumb and forefinger, she felt a sudden surgance in the force, and the crystal seemed to shed its dull grey-blue coloration like a layer of paint, replacing it with blood-red adegan coloring. The feeling that this crystal was always meant to be hers surged through her mind. She held up her lightsaber, looked at it, then back at the crystal. Then, floating it a few inches above her hand, she focused on sliding it open. She needed not fully disassemble it, but she removed the crystal housing where a perfectly constructed red synthetic crystal had been housed. Carefully she slotted the new kyber into its housing. Then she closed it up, and brought it back into her hand. She turned on the blade, and marveled at the beautiful deep crimson of her new saber. It was matched in color by Vader's himself...

Shutting it down, she looked to the two crystals in the case. Grabbing the synthetic crystal, she tossed it to the ground, smashing it under the heel of her boot. Then she picked up the second crystal, entertaining ideas in her mind of a double bladed weapon... after all, they were clearly a pair... but no matte rhow much energy she tried to focus through the crystal, its color did not change. After a few attempts, the crystal seemed to pull away from her... not literally, physically... but she felt a tug in the force... would this other crystal lead her to the jedi Vader had sensed? Was it destined for one of them?

Null wasn't sure, but she trusted the force, and slipped the case into her pocket. It was time to see where this trail led.

Emeric came bursting through the doors to the seedy bar that Lianna was sat in. The bartender did not grumble, for the pair knew that bursting through doors, often with more force than was required, was a bad habit of the Twi'lek that now stood, bathing in the sunlight and casting him into shadow.
"I'll send you the bill." Jabfess uttered as he moved out of sight. The few patrons that also sat about knew that was their cue to leave too. Some pushed past in anger, but they knew they would not be served again until his business had been complete. Lianna stood up and a wave of fear pulsed through her entire being when she saw the look of terror on her master's face.
"We have a problem, but the look on my face and the look on yours means you knew that already. The kyber crystals are gone, and there was a rival gang there, all slaughtered...by a lightsaber."

Lianna turned away from him before breathing in deeply. A lightsaber meant only one of two things, Vader or his apprentice. Either one was a death sentence if she were to be found, which is why she knew exactly what would be said next.
"You know we have to run. There's a ship waiting to take you to another planet. A few of us will stay behind and obfuscate your disappearance to try and throw them off your trail."
The girl couldn't even argue, she was too scared to even put up her usual toughness, it had all but swelled up with the images of a lightsaber cutting her in half.

A short time later the two had arrived at a remote shipyard. Awaiting was what seemed like an ordinary human pilot with little more than a blaster pistol at his waist.
"This man has been paid enough to get you far away and not ask any questions about it. If we're lucky Vader will find me and chase me instead thinking I'm the one the crystal is seeking."
The pair approached the man and Lianna gave her old friend a saddened look as she climbed into the ship's hold.
"You know what to do." Emeric spoke, trying to keep his courage.

"I do." the man said, reaching for his pistol. He fired a blast at Emeric who barely dodged it in time. Lianna let out a furious yell as the man hammered a button on his wristwatch that sealed the door of the ship. Desperately she hammered the door, but it was to no avail. She could hear the sounds of fighting outside and a few choice words of 'Vader', 'insanely rich' and 'force'. How this bounty hunter had discovered their secret she did not know, now her thoughts were consumed only with escape. She ran to the cockpit and desperately searched for the button to open the door. The sounds of the conflict outside seemed to get only louder, though she could not see as the cockpit was facing the wrong way. Soon enough she found the magic button and opened the door, racing to go and help her friend.

The two men were locked in a fierce hand-to-hand fight, each one trading hard blows and bleeding in several places.
"THAT FORTUNE WILL BE MINE!" the hunter screamed as he punched the Twi'lek square between the eyes. Emeric recoiled and lifted his hands to defend himself as the bounty hunter charged at him.
"NO!" came the low guttural roar from Lianna. In that moment something strange happened. Something ancient stirred deep within her, something she knew felt powerful, but dangerous at the same time. It was the same thing she felt when she awoke from her nightmares, but this time it felt like it was her ally. A wave of force came hurling from her extended arm and slammed into the charging human. It pushed him backwards and down and there was a sickly sound of his skull cracking on the hard ground. Blood seeped out of the open wound and Lianna could only look on with horror. She had killed before, but not like this. This was something new, something she did not understand, could not control. The sense of terror that had been building all day seemed as if it might wash her away into a sea of never ending despair.

Null felt a disturbance in the force that was only amplified by the kyber crystal in her hand. Her target, whoever it was, was scared, angry... but why? She broke into a run, using the force to amplify her speed to get to her target faster. It was less than a minute before she saw what appeared to be two humanoids fighting in front of a ship undergoing launch prep. She tapped the seek and retrieve code into her wristband, summoning her ship to the location, but it would be a few moments before the ship would get there. Masking her presence in the force, she continued to sprint forward.

Then it happened. She sensed the dark side boiling from a third individual, a girl... her name was... Lianna. She was protecting... her Master... So there was two. Vader was right. A force shockwave blasted far off to the side of her... but she was not the target. one of the humanoids was on the ground dead, leaving the dazed Twi'lek on the ground nearby. Taking advantage of him being stunned, she threw her vibrosword. It whizzed throught the air, guided by Null, directly into the ships hypercore on the underbelly. Whoever was aboard wouldn't get far in that ship. Then she turned to the Twi'lek.

"It's over jedi! You are unarmed, and I got your kyber crystals." she turned on her blade, revealing the gorgeous sinister red. "I guess it turns out one of them wasn't meant for you. Draw your weapon. Make use of the power you have so foolishly tried to wield improperly."

Standing at the door to the ship, Lianna saw as a strange thing came booming towards it. It seemed to hit something beneath the ship and boomerang back towards where it had come from. She knew immediately that some kind of damage had been done, it seemed that the bounty hunter had a friend. She looked over and saw this new creature. It was nothing she had ever laid eyes on before. Her shape was feline and her body covered in fur. She knew not what species this stranger was, but all Lianna could feel was the radiant waves of power that she exuded. It felt in her mind as she imagined what meeting Vader would be like. Could this be the fabled apprentice? The girl jumped backwards when the cat woman drew her lightsaber. It's vibrant hue drew her in and she couldn't help but stare into it, it was drawing her in and she drank every moment of the power and strength she felt from both the blade and its master.

Her mind was wrenched back into reality when she heard her friend speak.
"You found me Lady Null. I am the one you and your master seek. I have been trying to re-ingite the spark of the ancient and lost Jedi. Together we would build a galaxy free of tyranny and hatred. Remember, power is a lie, there is only peace."
Lianna's eyes scanned the enemy. Her eyes stood out beyond the rest of her. They spoke of a history under the tutelage of the Emperor, of power she sought. She knew her master stood no chance.
"It was I, and I alone that began this endeavor and it shall die with me. Or perhaps it shall die with you vile Sith!"
As he charged he pulled out a lightsaber of his very own. It's hue was the same dull grey-blue as the other kyber crystals, the likes of which could only come from a crystal that had not been ignited by someone attuned with the force.

As he attacked the feline Sith it was quickly clear that his stance was poor and he had not been trained in the fine arts of the lightsaber. He struck out wildly with blows hoping to strike down his enemy in some kind of miracle.
Lianna could only watch, her fingers twitching, desperate to call upon the same power she had used to fend off the bounty hunter. But it did not matter how hard she tried, how close the tears came in her eyes, she was resigned to Emeric's death and to her own. His last act would be to try and absorb the focus, to seem as if he was a lone party, in the hopes the Sith would leave the seemingly frail Lianna to mourn the death of her friend and not discover the power within her.

The wild frenzied attacks of the twi'lek were in horrifically bad form, nonetheless, he was drawing on raw power, putting everything he had into striking her down to protect Lianna, and the the force of every unpaced angry blow sung of the dark side. Knowing he was outmatched, this man was drawing upon his emotions, calling to him even darker powers if they would help Lianna escape, or even kill this new threat. But Null knew what happened when someone untrained with a lightsaber began wildly thrashing with it. She went fully on the defensive, simply deflecting each of his hefty blows away from her, and before too long, he lost control of the centrifugal force from the weightless blade, and hit himself in the side of the head. Null didn't even need to attack him. In the man's rage... he killed himself.

It was too bad that the man had risked so much to hide something that was already apparent to Null. Clearly he didn't understand the full significance of the crystal that sought his apprentice out. Null raised a hand to her right, Picking up Lianna with the force and pulling her to her knees in front of Null. Null pinched the crystal with her thumb and forefinger, holding it in front of the scared girl. "This thing calls to you. When I found it I had thought I might gain a second lightsaber, but this... this crystal is for you." She smirked horribly, "How ironic. This crystal called to you. This Jedi died for you. All to protect a future fate you will never see. I wonder what happens to a channeled crystal once its master has been destroyed. And with that she pressed the crystal against Lianna's forehead, unintentionally being sucked into the girls memories.

She saw Ceri VII, the conflict with remaining amani, the fanatics of Vaders followers. The multilation, the sacrifice. She saw the years of being alone, the feeling of being hunted, the connection she felt with the being known as Emeric. Her years training as... a smuggler? Null was surprised to learn that this girl had never had any force training whatsoever. This man had focused his very little ability on hiding her from the Dark Lord, not in training her. She felt Lianna's fear... her anger... and she felt... a connection with this girl. The visions swam back into reality...

"Or perhaps..." Null said, pulling the now amethyst purple crystal away from the girls forehead. "You have a greater destiny still." And with that Null touched the girls temple and forehead, knocking her out instantly, and carrying the heavy part-metal girl to the platform she was expecting her ship at. In the bes'kar ship even Vader would be unable to sense the girl's life force anymore. But in the ship, she could live, train... and one day, help Null tackle the impossible. They were going to kill the Emperor God.

Lianna could only watch helplessly as her friend desperately tried to assault the Sith and failed each time. She blocked the blows as if it were a mere child attacking her. How could she hope to ever escape from this alive? It was her only hope that the woman would buy what Emeric had said about being the lone Jedi. But then it happened. As Emeric failed yet another attack he was thrown off balance and struck himself. She knew...she knew before he even hit the ground. She could feel it from her mind right through to her bones...he was dead. She let out a yell, but this was not guttural, it was not strength or defiance. It was pain, deep and scarring pain. A moment she knew she'd remember for the rest of her life. The time she failed to protect the man who had spent a chunk of his life to protecting her. She could do nothing but fall to her knees and let the feelings of sorrow and anguish wash over her. Before she could move, not that she had the emotional strength to do so, she felt a strangeness around her body as she was lifted through the air and planted in front of the Sith. Just feet away was the body of Emeric, but she could not bear to look at it.

She tried to speak, to rage and scream, but no words came out. Unaware whether it was just the despair or the woman in front of her suppressing her voice with the force. Either way, she did not care. She stared up at her with loathing and hatred filling her every frame. The words she spoke were lost on her. It was only when the crystal was pressed to her head that she felt a spark. At the moment of contact the crystal shed its dull coloring and thrummed into life with all manner of vibrant purple and violet hues. She felt the spot on her forehead burn and her memories came to life before her very eyes, being projected through the crystal. Throught it all pervaded a sense of anger and injustice, a desire for power and revenge against those who had wronged her. Tears streamed from the girls eyes and down her cheeks, splashing on the ground, unheard beyond the hum of the crystal.

She took a deep breath when the crystal was removed and began gasping for air. Still no words emerged from her mouth and no words entered her ears. She only thought of the silence and relief death would bring her. Sure enough she fell into darkness as her eyes shut. Her end had come at last. Or so she thought.

---

She awoke with a feeling of grogginess that happened only when one had been drugged or knocked out. Inclined to believe the latter, she wondered why she was still alive. Lianna opened her mouth but all that came out was a slur of words and a grumble of pain. Her head was aching something fierce as she made her best attempt to sit up and drink in her new surroundings. It became apparent as her senses began to return in full that she was on a ship. The humming of an engine and the feeling of movement that she knew belonged only to space travel meant they had left the planet. Taking a mere guess she suspected she had been out for quite some time. Looking around as her eyesight came back fully she saw no traces of any other being, dead or alive. Knowing she would regret it, but desperate to find out what had become of her, she opened her mouth and coherent words finally emerged.
"Hello?" she asked, though the weariness from her collapse was still present in her voice.
"Where the heck am I?" though she doubted a response would be given.

A voice called out from the brig. The intercom patched it through to Null in the pilots chair. "We're in hyperspace toward the imperial city. This ship... for now it's to be your new home. It's one of few places Vader wont be able to notice you without a force user nearby clouding his sight. It's possible there are rooms at the palace lined with force resistant materials that used to be used for meditation by the jedi. But I'm unsure about placing you under Vader's nose." Null stood up and walked to the brig with a plate of air cake and a chasuka salad. She could tell from the look in her eyes that the girl was not particularly fond of her yet. "Look. You aren't dead. And I'm hoping to keep you that way. You have a destiny none of us could have expected. Even Vader and your master have failed to see your potential for greatness..." Seeing the look of anger at the mention of Emeric, Null revised, "Lianna, Emeric was a good man for protecting you as he did. But he was impatient and foolhardy. I had yet to even attack him before he drew a weapon he had no idea how to use on me. Furthermore, in the time he knew you he did not even try to prepare you for the force. He had given up on it entirely. I was surprised to find he was running away from those crystals and encouraging you to do the same." Null tossed Emeric's lightsaber to the ground in front of Lianna. "It has your crystal in it now. The one which allowed me to see your destiny. That lightsaber is a chance Lianna. You have an opportunity to become apart of something greater. To become an instrument of justice for billions of lives. Vader is ruthless and monstrous, but he is no God. He killed my parents. He stole my life from me, but I'm not going to let him take what I have left for his own gain. He can be killed. Under his armored skin is the frail body of a dying old man. Together, given time, we can kill him. But I cannot do it without you. It's up to you how this goes. You know you can't kill me with that weapon. So you can either join me or cut out your own heart." And with that Null went back to the cockpit. It wouldn't be long before they arrived out of hyperspace at the imperial city.

Lianna shot upright like a bolt when she heard the voice over the intercom. She might have been out for days, weeks maybe, but that voice was seared into her mind and she loathed every venomous word that slithered from that cat's forked tongue. Yet now, unlike before, the hatred did not mask the words or pass through her without care. Instead now she heard the words she was saying. So the mention of the Imperial palace shook her, yet the cat's words made no sense. She didn't want Vader to sense her? The confusion overrid the hatred that would have otherwise been etched upon Lianna's face when Null appeared before her. She spoke of her master and the anger boiled up, but somehow the words she spoke seemed to run into the core of her being. He had not wanted to prepare her, only for her to run far away. She did not believe that anyone would be capable of taking Vader on, but he had never once tried to teach her the ways of the force, or even tell her she might be capable of using such a thing until it seemed her death warrant was all but signed with the crystals arrival.

There was a thud on the floor as Emeric's lightsaber was dropped. Her gaze was immediately drawn to the weapon and thoughts of thrusting it through the wicked heart of her captor. But if Emeric failed, what hope did she have? Yet again, the words of Null drew her in. Talk of the so called 'immortal' God not being as impervious as everyone thought. Her mind turned to the images she had seen not so long ago, of the destruction that one 'man' had wrought on a single planet, of the chaos and death he had brought to the entire galaxy. Now here she was being told by the one person Vader had trained, possibly even shared secrets with that he may never have dared to share with another. She was rebelling. His own apprentice was seeking to topple the balance of power as Vader had done so long ago.

A fire burned deep within her now. Thoughts ravaged her mind of the possibility. Could she really be the one to restore balance to the force? So many years ago it had been believed it was the destiny of the Skywalkers to bring such a change. Here was Lianna, a no one from the remote corner of nowhere...was this real? The girl watched as her captor left the room and returned to the pilot's seat. Once Null was out of sight she moved her hand towards the lightsaber, thoughts running through her head at a thousand a second. Stopping just short, her fingers tantalisingly close to such a thing.

'It's Emeric's...' she thought
'It's yours now. That crystal beckons you, as you did to it.'
'I can't'
'You will. Embrace your destiny'
'I could never kill Vader'
'You could with help...'
'I am no Jedi'
'You don't need to be'
'I'm just a girl from nowhere, the force would never help me...'
'You can feel it all around you. Just close your eyes...let it in'

Despite the hesitation, despite all that had happened to her, Lianna closed her eyes and her fingers closed around the lightsaber without her telling them to do so. A wave of energy surged through her revitalizing her from any grogginess that remained. Standing up with the weapon gripped firmly in her cybernetic hand, she pressed the on button. Immediately the weapon burst into life filling her eyes with the same splendorous shades of violet and purple she had witnessed on the ground. Power and hatred flowed through her, but so did love and warmth. Finally she understood all those feelings she had not known. The cold sweats during the night, those visions and the wave of force from her hand. This was the force. In equal measures it was wondrous and terrifying, light and dark, good and evil pervading throughout the entire galaxy, the whole universe. It existed in every aspect of life and it was all around, she had only needed to let it in. It was not something that controlled her, but something that could be controlled, manipulated and perhaps even mastered.

Pressing the button once more caused the light to vanish. Although there would be many trials to come, Lianna Dolett would surive, as she always had. Thoughts of the future, of a restored Jedi temple and true peace, or perhaps of a new emperor by the name of Lianna...all futures were possible, but they started here and now. She was not yet the master of her own destiny, but in time she would be. She sat herself down and ate the food that had been given. Conserving energy for the times ahead would be vital. Her journey had not ended on Onderron in tears and desperation, it had only just begun.

Vader expectedly wanted to see her upon her arrival home. She was unsure if he had been paying attention to the force during her short combat with Emeric and Lianna, but if he had, it might have seemed that Lianna's life force disappeared aboard her ship, which might have raised questions. The line of supplicants toward the throne room had disappeared, and news was sprerading across the holonet that Vader had declared the Hutts no longer apart of his galactic empire. It meant that without some hefty trade agreements, Hutt space would be cut off and embargoed. Everything from their normal illegal contraband to their very provisions for livelihood would be ten times as expensive now, and the Hutt's opulent lifestyle would be threatened. War had been declared. A laughable matter in the eyes of the Empire. As rich as the Hutt's were, they had few loyal subjects and almost no standing army. Normally the Hutt's would hire mercenaries, but in the case of the empire, they all would be hired beforehand to kill the slugs while under their service. It was an impossible situation for them. It would be interesting to see how it played out.

Null entered the throne room, actively clouding her mind of any thoughts of the girl in her ship's brig. She kneeled and Vader Spoke. "Tell me of the girl."

"She was with another, as you predicted my lord. A twi'lek had been keeping her council and her identity for most of her life. They were, according to him, trying to reignite the jedi order. A foolish notion, as when he attacked me with his lightsaber he was so ungainly with it that he ended up killing himself. The other fell apart over his loss. She attacked with the dark side and tried to corner me aboard my ship. I vented the cabin into space and let her boil away." Null glanced up at him, for some reason hoping to see some indication that he believed her lie. "They had been attempting to get ahold of two kyber crystals. One was in his lightsaber, the other, the girl had, presumably to create her own. It has ended up in my own blade... the crystal called to me. The dark side made it clear the crystal was mine."

Vader nodded once. "And the other? Where is it? Destroyed with his lightsaber?"

"No... I have it here. I originally had entertained the idea of a second blade, but it does not appear to be mine." Null removed the crystal from her robes, holding it out to him. Vader drew the crystal to him with the force. As soon as it was in his fingers the room was filled with a glowing red light, the air warmed, and when the flash left, Null's eyes had to adjust to her surroundings before she could make out Vader holding up the crystal to look at it. The crystal was the same color as hers, but clearly glowing actively. Null wondered if that had any bearing on the power of the user.

"Interesting..." Vader pondered... "Most interesting... You have done well my apprentice. I am sending five cruisers out to Mandalore. I want you to take command of them and use Mandalore's moon Concordia as a base to wipe out the Hutt systems. Those systems are worth a great deal to the Empire, so I won't be using the death star. The locals on Concordia are already aware of the arrangements. It will be a time, years perhaps, before I see you again. Return to me when every single Hutt is dead and those systems are in my hands." Null nodded, and Vader gestured away. "Now go my apprentice. Time to prove you are worth more than a assassin for tired old fanatics."

Null bowed and left, her mind racing a million miles and hour. Concordia? It wouldn't be hard to train Lianna out in the open there. Just set her up as a local bounty hunter and give her some choice armor. This was perfect. All they had to do was smuggle her to Concordia without being noticed. That is, assuming the girl would join her...

The conversation with Null when she returned to the ship was a strange one. Lianna had spent a good chunk of the time in her head trying to sort out her thoughts. But the words 'train you' seemed to ring strange. 'I need to train you if we're to have a hope of killing him'. That was what she had said. It seemed strange but obvious. Of course she couldn't exactly walk up to Vader and not expect to be killed in short order. But the Jedi and Sith trained for years upon years to master their craft. Who knows what would happen in that time? It wasn't like they could train in the confines of this ship either. It might have had enough room for her to mill about in, but there was little more than that. Concordia? Mandalore? The Hutts? Since when was the empire at war with the Hutts? The gang she had been part of had done fruitful trading with them for the past few years and now suddenly they were public enemy number one. Still, it didn't do to not co-operate at this stage of whatever the grand plan would be. She knew as much as she loathed this cat woman she still needed her...for now.

"But how the heck am I going to avoid his gaze? Don't you think when I start being able to use the force and my crystal that he's going to notice? He didn't exactly get this far by ignoring such things. Even if you told him I was dead, he's going to realize you're lying to him, and then we'll have the entire galaxy on top of us. I hope you have some kind of plan, because I'm not staying cooped up in some force-proof room...if I'm going to help you do the impossible I'll need to be able to test the limits of what I can do."
Despite her words it seemed odd that Lianna had even agreed to join her. The reason for her anger already seemed like a lifetime ago, though thoughts of revenge still flitted in and out, she knew it would come to that eventually. Even though her life was currently in the hands of Null, the cat needed her, that much was clear. Such knowledge would hopefully provide to be a powerful bargaining tool someday.

"I will be clouding your presence until you can get some Mandalorian Iron weave armor or robes. It's what this ship is made out of... and incidentally Vader's exoskeleton. From this distance he shouldn't be able to differentiate your power from mine, so long as you are either wearing it or aboard the ship. Plus, I'm the second most powerful being in the galaxy, that creates alot of interference automatically wherever I am. If you are nearby me, unless he is actively trying to view the situation, he shouldn't be able to see you."

Null eyed the emotionally torn human out of the corner of her eye while she flew. "I also want to clarify something with you. I am not a jedi. I will never be, a jedi. I don't care what you decide to do or what you become after all this. But I am a Sith. I believe fully in the power the dark side brings. Hell, chances are this might end in one of us killing the other after all is said and done, but my only concern right now is training you and killing Vader. We clear on that?" Null waited for a response as she pulled into her flagship Super Star Destroyer.

Mandalorian armor huh? She had heard of it before, even seen a select few higher up soldiers wear the stuff. Supposedly it was extremely durable, meant to fend off even lightsabers themselves. Even in her years of trading she had never gotten her hands on the stuff and now she was being told she would just be given a suit of it? She didn't know whether to be thankful or disgusted at the kind of freedom over such precious materials that this Sith had, even if she had stated herself as the second most powerful and feared being in the known universe. Even so, she heard the words of Null spoken loud and clear, as though she had peered into her thoughts and seen her desire for eventual revenge. Despite her hatred for the only two known Sith, Lianna suspected the lure of the dark side of the force was powerful. She had felt the overwhelming anger and despair that they used as weapons. She did not know if she could resist such a pull, neither did she care. People often thought her nothing more than a meagre child, lost and alone. But she was about to rise above all that, even if it meant embracing all the darkness and chaos of the Sith ways.

There was a distinct and heavy thunk as the ship made its landing and the ever increasing volume of peons doing their work and commanders ordering them about. Wherever they were stopping off they had clearly arrived.
"I understand." she replied softly but firmly, though she continued to speak despite knowing what she was about to say would likely have consequences. "Besides, I'll look forward to such a fight. You'd look make a good trophy curled up at my feet on the throne as my pet."
She gave Null the smallest of smirks despite knowing she'd be made to pay for such a comment.
"I want to rest before you beat me every which way during whatever hell you'll call training. I hope there's something resembling a bed on whatever transport is taking us to Mandalore."

Null snorted a little. What an impertinent kitten. Nonetheless, it was a trait Null preferred over whiny complaints. This girl would at the very least fun to play with. Null licked one of her pointed teeth with her barbed tongue, a habit she had when thinking a good thought. She used to purr, but Vader said it was too revealing of her emotions so she needed to find something else...
"I hate to break it to you shrak'niir'vaal But you have to stay aboard here. We're taking a star destroyer to Mandalore, so if you don't want to be cut in half with a glowing red frisbee, I suggest you make do with the captains bunk in here. It's my room, so don't make a mess of it please. Thank you."

Lianna couldn't help but pout about the fact she would need to remain cooped up in such a small ship on such a long journey, but needs must.
"I'll be sure to leave it exactly how I found it." the girl said, pouring as much sarcasm into the statement as she possibly could. That said, she was now very curious what she would find in that room. It seemed that Null had been given glimpses into who she was, yet she herself knew little if anything about her would be master. Without another word she skulked off to the room to have a look around and glean any information she could.

A commander had been waiting for Null to get off her personal ship and began to rattle off a prepared report to her.
"Gracious Lady, we have received our first intelligence from the Concordian base regarding operation Ascendance. Small skirmishes have already broken out around the star systems furthest away from the centre of the Hutt empire in retaliation to the death of Corba. We have sent operatives down to a backwater planet named Vesias in order to carry out some reconnaissance but they never returned. We then sent some of our bounty hunters to locate the missing recon, but they too never returned. We suspect they all fell into some kind of trap. It is our belief that the Hutts have been preparing for this war for a very long time and no planet under their control will fall without a fight. As much as we'd like it to be a one and done operation, this may well escalate and take months, if not years before we can crack into the inner ring of the Hutt planets. Regardless, under orders from the Emperor, the full might of our armies, weapons and technology are under your command. Where you lead we shall follow. You need only give the order and we will set out for Concordia at once. I can give you briefings on any specific planet or sub operation you please along the way."

Null closed her eyes, preparing for the most important few years of her life, with a single moment to breathe.
"I want you to take us to Vesias first. No more sending people down. I want the Hutt's to know that their hidden resources are of no value to the Empire. We will focus on keeping the resources we know we can use functional, but the rest of it, we will burn. I'm hereby ordering a full orbital bombardment on the planet. Scan for the largest clusters of life forms on the planet and burn it all. No troops. Be prepared to capture any fleeing starcraft. Anyone without proper identification will be interrogated by me directly. Anyone associated with the Hutts will be interrogated by me directly. Any Hutts, kill on capture. We won't be mucking about with prisoners of war or delegation. The Hutts are going extinct."

"I have a human bounty hunter with me who I want fitted for a bes'kar suit to her own specifications. She is going to be helping command my army on an unnoficial capacity. Let Concordia know that we expect luxury accomodations fitting of two war generals. I'm sure with my reputation that they will comply. Let any commanding officers delegating with the Mando'aa know that we are the ones doing them a favor. When the Hutt's are gone the Mandalorian clans will be taking possession of all of their resources at the Empires behest. Any negotiations should be done with that in mind."

"As you command my Lady."
The commander beckoned over a subordinate and passed on the information regarding Lianna. The new man nodded and headed into Null's ship.
Once he was out of site the commander continued.
"The Captain's deck is yours as you please Lady. The council awaits in the war room to discuss the situation with you. If you'll excuse me I shall proceed with issuing your orders to our pilots and speak with the Concordian leaders to have your accommodation prepared for our arrival."
Without another word the man moved off with purpose and was soon out of site. Before long there came a booming announcement over the intercom system.
"ALL PERSONNEL PREPARE FOR HYPERSPACE. BY THE GRACE OF LADY NULL OUR COURSE IS VESIAS."
Immediately the hustle and bustle seemed to intensify by magnitudes as all manner of people and soldiers moved about as the rumbling of the ships engines slowly began to whir into life.

---

Lianna had been sat meditating when she heard someone enter the vessel and approach her. She opened a single eye to see someone dressed in full empire military uniform. His posture was aggravatingly straight and proper. His eyes seemed to refuse to meet hers.
"By the grace of Lady Null I have been instructed to escort you madam to have an outfit of bes'kar armor suited to your own tastes."
The girl looked up at him, now with both eyes open, and examined his small, twitching movements. It seemed he was scared of Null, and by proxy perhaps scared of her.
"I'm not going to hurt you." she stated softly, but it did nothing to assure the man.
"Please follow me, and if it pleases you I request that you do not wander off."
Taking her time to stand up she began to accompany him towards their destination. Hear ears nearly jumped at the volume of the message as it boomed across the massive ship. Still, she breathed a sigh of relief. Though she was hardly out of the woods at least she would be far away from Vader...

"So tell me." she asked as they walked briskly, "What do you think of Null?"
The man stopped in his tracks as if he had been hit over the head.
"What? I just asked w-" she started, but was interrupted.
"You called Lady Null simply by her name...no one does that except the great Lord Vader himself..."
Lianna could not help to mentally sigh. She had no desire to even mention the murderer by name, but calling her the viscous cat lady would probably have her thrown into space to die. As much as she wanted to kill herself for even doing it, she knew that it would be best to try and adopt whatever customs these Imperials had, if only for protection.
"My apologies. What do you think of 'Lady' Null?" she asked, putting as much emphasis, albeit slipping in a hint of sarcasm, on the word lady.
"Her grace is an exceptional fighter and leader. I can only hope I am worthy of serving under her."
Lianna rolled her eyes. Probably the response they were taught to give. They could hardly badmouth Vader's apprentice she supposed. Perhaps she could befriend someone enough to find out any real truths about the cat. Any power she could get over her would be welcomed.