CHAPTER TEN
Arkania
The First Light was the first ship to exit hyperspace into the Perave system and begin its approach towards the planet of Arkania. A harsh world covered in ice, Arkania had largely stayed independent from the New Republic for most of the government’s existence, although the Arkanians did have an embassy in the Core Worlds and were considered members of the greater Galactic Alliance. Even so, the Arkanians had kept mostly to themselves for the past forty years and stayed out of galactic politics. Dani herself had never been to Arkania before, nor had she encountered many Arkanians out in the wild. As far as she knew, those such as Lunara and Sal Tyrius were exceptions rather than the rule.
Under Lunara’s directions, Dani steered the First Light towards an icy tundra that was barren save for a small abode that appeared to be abandoned. There was no sign of any civilization for miles, although Dani could see what appeared to be a city in the mountains off in the distance.
Once the star yacht had settled into place, Dani powered down the vessel before turning to Lunara. “Okay. We’re here. Now how are we going to get the collection down there? I can already tell you that it won’t fit in that small abode.”
“Who says we have to move it?” Lunara asked.
Dani stared at her. “I thought that was the plan.”
“The plan was to deliver the collection to Arkania. Here we are on Arkania. The collection has been delivered.”
“But you told me I could keep the First Light and only had to let you have the collection. How will that work if the stuff stays on the ship?”
“The Curator will address all of your concerns.” Lunara motioned for her to follow her. “He waits for us now.”
Dani eyed the Arkanian woman warily as she followed her through the corridors of the First Light. They stopped only to retrieve heavy clothing to protect themselves from the cold before disembarking from the First Light. As they stepped out into the chilling winds, Dani looked up to see the Errant Venture and the Queen’s Hammer appearing in the sky. She then turned her attention to the small abode, from where a figure clad in a heavy cloak emerged. Their face was fully concealed with protective goggles and a face wrap, but Dani had a feeling she already knew who he was.
“Sal Tyrius, I presume?” she asked.
The figure paused before inclining his head. “Yes, although most call me the Curator.”
“I am aware.” Dani crossed her arms. “If it’s all the same to you, I won’t be respecting your title.”
“Fair enough.” Tyrius seemed to have a lot less energy than Dani was used to seeing from the Arkanian collector. He sounded tired and old, although Dani had always figured him to be younger than she was.
She watched as Lunara moved over to stand at Tyrius’s side, his dutiful assistant as always. Then, she asked the question immediately pressing her mind. “How are you alive? We recovered your body after the incident on Ord Mantell and tossed it into an incinerator.”
Tyrius chuckled. “How unceremonious. You least you could have done was send my ashes home.”
“Answer the question.”
The Curator waved a dismissive hand. “The answer is the same as to how I survived my previous ‘death.’ The Sal Tyrius you encountered was not the same Sal Tyrius that stands before you now. Nor was the one executed two years hence.”
“They were clones, then?”
“Indeed. Clones with my memories imprinted onto them. A process that few have been able to achieve without the unfortunate side effects.”
Dani tilted her head. “I never knew cloning to be an Arkanian thing.”
“Compared to the other things my people are capable of, cloning is child’s play to us.”
“But why? What do you hope to accomplish with clones? You’re just a museum curator who likes to play criminal kingpin.”
“Am I?” Tyrius laughed again, shaking his head. “If that’s all I am to you, then I’ve really sold myself short.”
“Then what are you?” Dani asked. “What exactly is all of this for?”
Tyrius said nothing, instead tilting his head up towards the sky. Dani followed his gaze and saw that each of the two flagships had dispatched a smaller transport, no doubt carrying the captains of the respective ships.
“You’ve brought guests,” Tyrius observed.
“She insisted on it,” Lunara said. “I would have tried to dissuade her from it, but it was the only way I could get her to trust me.”
“Ah, it’s not an issue.” Tyrius then paused before chuckling quietly under his breath. “Quite the opposite, in fact.”
Dani stared at the Curator, already being driven insane by his cryptic remarks. She looked to Lunara in the vain hope that the Arkanian woman would shed some light, but the cold look she got back told her that she would find no such thing from her.
Dani waited there as the Renegade and the shuttle from the Queen’s Hammer landed on the tundra near them. Captain Kishanti disembarked from her ship with her Renegades, along with Cera, Toah Jarsan, and Booster Terrik. Meanwhile, Viira departed from the ship with her assorted crew of pirates; Dani noted that the Twi’lek was no longer wearing the mask of the Pirate Queen and seemed to be glancing furtively in Dani’s direction with a fearful look.
Once everyone had gathered before the Curator, Booster crossed his heavy arms and was the first to speak. “All right, let’s get this over with already. What do you want?”
“All I want are the items on that ship,” Tyrius said, gesturing to the First Light. “I was not expecting to entertain such a large and diverse group of guests, but I will if I must.”
Dani sighed as she turned to face Toah and Booster. “I… have an idea on how to fight the First Order.”
Toah raised an eyebrow in surprise at her. “You do?”
“It’s a long story—one that some of you might already know—but by all accounts, I am a descendant of the House of Solo.”
“Yeah,” muttered Viira. “You’re Han Solo’s bastard or something, right?”
“That, I still haven’t been able to confirm for sure,” Dani admitted. “But the datacron heirloom recognizes me as a blood relative regardless. Which means I have a claim to the throne of Corellia.”
Booster snorted derisively. “There hasn’t been a throne for hundreds of years, kid.”
“But there can be one again. Thrackan has left the Corellian government in shambles; if I were to declare myself Queen and prove my birthright, then it might convince the people to follow me. And the rest of the sector might follow.”
“Sounds like a hell of a gamble. What makes you think it’ll work?”
“I don’t know that it will. But at this point, your Resistance is going to need all of the help it can get.”
Toah’s eyes widened slightly. “You mean, you’re joining us?”
Dani glanced at the man she had once loved—and perhaps still did—and sighed. “I’m offering my help. It’s up to you and your leaders to accept it. Either way, I plan on taking Corellia.”
“You’re definitely gonna need help to do that.” Booster looked Kyla, who gave him a slight nod. He turned back to Dani and sighed. “And I guess you’ve got it.”
Viira kicked at the icy dirt at her feet. “Listen, the others and I’ve been talking on the way over here, and while some of us still hate you for keepin’ secrets from us….” She glanced at Lavira, who merely crossed her arms. “We’re willing to give you a second chance.” She reached behind her back and produced the mask of the Pirate Queen, handing it to Dani. “None of us want it until you’ve actually gotten to prove yourself. If you fail those, that’s it. No more chances.”
Dani considered the proffered mask before taking it. “The Pirate Queen of Corellia,” she mused aloud. “Has a ring to it. Why didn’t I think of it sooner?”
“Self-awareness, maybe?” Booster muttered.
Dani ignored his grumblings as she placed the mask over her head. It felt good to wear it again. It was as if she was meant for it… or it was meant for her.
“It’s settled then,” she said. “We head for Corellia.”
“Actually, there’s something I need to take care of first,” said Cera.
Dani looked to her daughter. “And what is that?”
“I need to go to Sedratis. Tyron Valrisa wants me to meet him there to help him settle the Charge Matrica.”
“But you’re not an heir…”
“No. He wants me to help eliminate the true seventh heir. Then he will give me a full pardon.”
“It’s obviously a trap,” said Kyla Kishanti. “No politician ever stays true to their word.”
“I know that,” Cera said. “But I worry that if I don’t go, he’s just going to send people after me. After us. He already knows where I am because of Marv.”
“The Dowager’s droid?” Dani asked.
Cera nodded. “We kept him around in case we could anything on the Malvis Cabal from him… although I suppose there isn’t a point in doing so now.”
Dani thought for a moment. “If he knows where you are through Marv... then maybe we could reverse the connection and find out where he is.”
“Good luck,” Booster said. “My slicer’s already tried hacking into him but couldn’t get anywhere with him.”
Dani smirked. “No offense, Booster, but your slicer isn’t the end-all-be-all.” She looked over to Viira. “Drozza’s still with you?”
Viira blinked. “Um, yeah?”
“We’ll bring Marv to her and see what she can do with him. Maybe then we can find out what Tyron is planning for you on Sedratis.”
Once everyone had agreed to the plan, Dani returned her attention to Tyrius and Lunara. “Do you have people who can remove the collection from the First Light?”
Tyrius hesitated for the briefest of seconds. “Yes.”
“Good.” Dani took a breath, not believing what she was about to say. “I’m going to leave her with you. I’ve already reprogrammed it so that only I can start it up again. Not even Lunara knows the access code; I made sure of it.”
“Oh, don’t worry. I have no intention of leaving any time soon.”
“Good. Because if you do try to hack into its systems, it will initiate a self-destruct sequence and destroy you and the entire collection.” She allowed those words to sink in before turning back to the others. “All right. Let’s go.”
The Errant Venture
Aboard the Errant Venture, in an isolated cell, Kalon Sendor—possessed by the spirit of Darth Vorath—grinned.
Despite being cut off from the rest of the galaxy, the Dark Lord knew exactly where they were. While to most Arkania was nothing more than a secluded icy world that was home to the equally secluded and icy Arkanians, to a Sith Lord such as himself it was so much more.
Over seven thousand years ago, Arkania had been the site of a Sith library constructed by the early Sith Lord Ku’ar Danar. Predating the rise of the first Dark Lords on Korriban, the Great Library of Veeshas Tuwan had contained a great wealth of forbidden knowledge that Danar had used to influence the Dark Jedi in their war against the Republic and inadvertently cause the rise of the Sith Empire. Following the Great Hyperspace War, the library and its contents had been destroyed by the Republic in an attempt to rid the galaxy of the dark stain of the Sith… if only they had known how futile their efforts would turn out to be.
Even so, Veeshas Tuwan had been reduced to nothing more than a footnote in the history books. No Sith since then had even attempted to rebuild the Great Library and its contents, preferring to keep their dark knowledge in remote worlds on the edge of the galaxy to keep it out of the Jedi’s reach.
But that hadn’t stopped others from trying.
Vorath knew little about Sal Tyrius, but he had entrusted the young Arkanian collector with keeping a backup repository of Sith scrolls and holocrons at his museum in the event that his Empire collapsed, which it had not long after. Had it not, Vorath had planned to rebuild the Great Library of Veeshas Tuwan as the galaxy was reshaped into a dark imitation of itself. Although his plans had failed, he could sense the dark energies radiating from beneath Arkania’s surface, telling him that the collection Tyrius had been safekeeping had not been touched.
Everything was set for him to pick up where he had left off. All he needed to do was to get rid of Snoke and take control of the First Order, which was already itself an echo of his short-lived Sith Empire. With the Alliance already on its knees and the Resistance pushed to its limits, there would be nothing to stop him from finishing what he had started.
He just needed to be patient. Sedratis would be where everything went down. He could feel it in the Force. He did not know the exact hows or whys, but he did not need to. Things would play out as they would.
So far, everything had turned out in his favor and he did not see that changing any time soon.
Everything would proceed exactly as he had foreseen.
* * *
“All right, then.” Drozza spat out a glob of phlegm as she hovered over MR-V’s stationary body. “Let’s see what we’ve got here.”
Standing on the opposite side of the operating table, Booster’s slicer Ghent gave the Toydarian a skeptical look. “No offense, but if I couldn’t get anywhere with him, then there’s no way you can.”
Drozza glared at him. “How long have you been doing this, son?”
“’Son?’ I’m in my fifties. And I’ve been doing this since I was, like, twelve.”
“Well, I’ve been doing this since you were still floating in your mama’s womb. Now shut up and let me work.”
Ghent rolled his eyes and stepped back while Drozza went to work. As Cera and the others watched her, MR-V’s green photoreceptors flickered through different colors as the Toydarian messed with the wires in his cranium, pulling some cords out to connect to a nearby computer. Cera glanced at Ghent and saw the Barolian man shifting uncomfortably as he watched the old Toydarian work.
“That’s not how you’re supposed to…” he started to say.
“What did I just say?” Drozza snapped.
Booster put a hand on Ghent’s shoulder. “Let her do her thing. Worse thing she can do is fry the droid’s brain.”
“Oh, and I’m sure you would love to see that happen,” MR-V said gloomily. “Let’s see you lie conscious on an operating table while someone messes with your brain.”
“That goes for you, too, droid,” Drozza grunted.
The room stayed quiet as the Toydarian continued to operate on the droid, slicing into his processor and bringing the data up on the computer screen. Cera couldn’t make out anything from the data and could only hope that Drozza knew what she was doing. Behind her, she felt Typha lean against her back as she rested her chin on her shoulder.
“Does Tivec work like this?” Cera quietly asked her partner, referring to the Lannik slicer they had attempted to recruit not long ago.
“I wouldn’t know,” Typha whispered back. “He never let people watch him work.”
“How did you come to know him, anyway? Did he work for the Cabal?”
“Briefly. We were given an assignment together shortly after the Glorian War to break into a rival crime lord’s headquarters. It was a year before we met.”
“I’m surprised the Cabal would let him go to work for the Hutts….”
Typha shrugged. “Who knows what goes on in the minds of crime lords?”
After several long moments, Drozza finally spoke up after sifting through the data from MR-V’s processor. “Found him.”
“Found who?” asked Dani.
“The Chief of State,” Drozza snapped back, as if she had been asked the stupidest question in the galaxy. “He’s on Darkknell.”
“Darkknell?” Booster repeated. “What in the blazes is he doing out there?”
“Hell if I know, geezer.” Drozza then turned to Dani and folded her arms. “I’d better get a raise for this.”
“Sure thing,” Dani said dryly. She then turned to the others. “So is it off to Darkknell, then?”
Toah rubbed his chin. “Let’s not be too hasty. How do we know he isn’t trying to set up a trap for us on Darkknell?”
“Because he already wants me to go to Sedratis?” Cera replied. “They aren’t exactly neighbors, you know.”
“Not to mention that droid’s processor was pretty heavily encrypted,” Drozza grunted. “Even with my skills, it wasn’t easy.”
“You sure made it look easy,” Ghent said under his breath.
“Even so, the Chief of State is sure to have brought protection with him,” Toah said. “Having two cruisers appear in the system—especially one as recognizable as the Errant Venture—is going to set off alarms. We’ll need to take a smaller transport, like the Renegade. The rest will have to stay on standby to head for Sedratis in case we do end up going there.”
“Fine by me… except for one thing.” Booster raised an eyebrow at Toah. “We’ve still got a kid with a Sith spirit in his body. If you end up going to Darkknell with the Renegades, then I’m not sure how we’re gonna handle him without a Jedi if he decides to break out.”
Toah seemed to consider this as a grim expression crossed his face. He then closed his eyes and let out a sigh. “Kyla, you’re going to hate me for this….”
“No.” The Mirialan captain was already shaking her head. “You’re not suggesting we—”
“—take him with us. As well as his parents, in case Vorath hops into one of their bodies at the last minute.”
Dani looked between the two of them confusingly. “What’s this about Vorath? Isn’t he dead?”
“It’s a long story,” Toah muttered. Keeping his eyes on Kyla, he said, “Look, it’s either that or I stay on the Errant Venture with them. But I can’t leave them without Jedi supervision… even if one Jedi might not be enough to keep them in check.”
“I want you to come with us to Darkknell,” Cera said. When Toah looked at her in surprise, she elaborated. “Whatever Tyron has planned for me, I want you to be there to help me through it. Lately, I’ve been… hearing the Force more than I ever have in twelve years… and I worry that I might end up doing something with the Force that I’ll regret.”
“Having Vorath near you isn’t going to help that,” Toah warned.
“Which is why I need you. To guide me.”
Toah seemed he was about to further object until he locked eyes with Cera. He seemed to see something in her eyes that made him reconsider, as he then looked back to Kyla. The Mirialan looked back at him incredulously before eventually throwing up her hands in defeat.
“If he ends up throwing up Sith juice or something, you’re cleaning it up.”
* * *
The door to Kalon Sendor’s cell opened and the boy squinted his eyes at the sudden light.
“All right, kid,” a gruff voice said. “Time to go.”
Darth Vorath was confused. Had they already arrived at Sedratis? He hadn’t felt the Star Destroyer make the jump to lightspeed. He could have sworn that was where Cera Jarsan intended on going next, once the matter with her mother had been resolved. Of course, he hadn’t reached out to her since the showdown on Numidian Prime….
A large hand reached into the cell as a Kian’thar crew member grabbed Kalon’s arm and dragged the boy out of the cell. He did not resist as Vorath pondered what was going on. He then saw the boy’s parents, Varon and Lysira, brought out of their cells as well while other crew members fitted them with stun cuffs. The Kian’thar did the same to Kalon’s hands. Such devices could easily be broken by the mind of a Sith Lord, but Vorath did not want to cause a scene yet. He had to figure out what was going on.
That was when he saw Toah Jarsan. The Jedi Knight walked up to the boy and knelt in front of him, looking like a parent about to deliver upsetting news to a child.
“Hey, Vor,” Toah said.
“I will kill you if you ever call me that again,” Vorath said.
“Noted. Look, I have to go somewhere and Booster wants me to bring you and your parents with me. He and his crew aren’t well-equipped to look after a Sith-possessed child.”
The boy narrowed his eyes. “Where are we going?”
“Not sure if I should tell you just yet. But it’s pretty far away from here, so it’s going to be a long trip. Do you need to use the refresher before we go?”
“You realize I can take any information I want from you with a single thought, yes?”
“Good point,” Toah admitted. “All right, then. We’re going to Darkknell.”
Kalon frowned, projecting genuine confusion from the Sith spirit inhabiting his body. “Darkknell? Why there?”
“The Chief of State is taking a trip there. Why is anyone’s guess.” Toah then rose up. “Come on. He probably isn’t going to wait for us there.”
The Jedi started to leave and the Kian’thar pushed Kalon ahead while the other crew members escorted the boy’s parents. Vorath allowed the alien to do as it willed; his thoughts were occupied with trying to figure out why the Chief of State—installed by the First Order as he understood it—had any interest in a planet as remote as Darkknell.
He did know that, during the last few decades of the New Sith Wars, the planet had been the capital of the Sith fiefdom known as the Damianate, ruled by the solipsistic Sith Lord Daiman who adhered to a similar philosophy as Darth Ruin before him. One of the many grandchildren of Vilia Calimondra that vied for control of the Grumani sector, Daiman had actually come close to winning the Charge Matrica and moving on to take the rest of the galaxy, only to be thwarted by the errant Jedi Knight Kerra Holt. With Daiman’s death, the Calimondra bloodline had ended.
Or had it?
Vorath knew from Cera’s contact with Tyron Valrisa that the practice of the Charge Matrica had been reinstated by his mother Sareth. While the practice had not been exclusive to the Calimondra Sith, they had been the last ones known to use it. The odds of someone unrelated to them resurrecting the practice a millennium after the last heir had passed were extremely slim… which suggested that Daiman was perhaps not the last of his bloodline.
Suddenly, it all clicked together. That was why the Force had indicated the importance of Sedratis. If Tyron Valrisa truly was descended from the Calimondras, then whatever was of interest on Darkknell would inevitably lead back to Sedratis, Valrisa’s homeworld.
Content that things would continue to unfold as they would, Vorath allowed the Kian’thar to escort him to the Renegade, holding back a grin that threatened to creep onto the boy’s face.
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