Star Wars: A Resistance Story. Book 3

Chapter 13: The Supreme Leader and his Apprentice.

The red blade of his lightsaber was shining only few inches away from her face, held back only thanks to her own blade. The strength he was putting in his attack was far worse than the one she was used to in his previous exercises. He was pushing her, forcing her to her edge and he was gaining ground on her, despite her attempts to block him and, when she finally ended up against a wall, she felt it arriving. She closed her eyes and let it totally invade her.

"That's it... Yes. Now let it go!"

She then opened back her eyes, a red light was shining in her gaze and a rageous cry escaped her lips as she was pushing back her opponent with a new strength. She could feel them watching the training session above her, but she didn't pay attention. She was attacking without a single break, pushing easily the young man further from her. So easily it was starting to worry everyone. She allowed her rage and her anger totally invade her, blocking the Sith's blade before turning on her heel to kick him in his stomach, pushing him on the ground, stopping her purple blade few inches from his throat.

Both of them stayed still few seconds, staring, before slow claps started echoing in the room, breaking the heavy silence.

"Congratulations. You did very well this time... Supreme Leader."

Ly'ra stepped back, deactivated her saber and helped Kylo Ren to stand up before turning to face Ushar, who was stepping in the room. The young woman looked up at the bridge above, detailing her public. The five other Knights were present, fixing the strange couple downstairs. The vision of these faces hidden behind their helmets was scary and she looked back at Kylo and the other man. Ly'ra fixed her saber on her left hip and put back her black leather jacket on. She then crossed her arms on her chest, glaring silently at the Knight.

"She's ready. It is time to make her one of our own."

Feeling his apprentice's surprise, the Supreme Leader glanced at the young woman before nodding softly. He then grabbed his cape, ignoring Ushar before stepping out of the room, followed closed behind by Ly'ra. Both of them stayed silent during a long moment, then after being sure that they were alone, the young woman stopped in the middle of the corridor.

"You have something else in mind, am I right?"

The Sith turned to face her, staying silent few more seconds before opening his lips to talk. He stopped himself though as a troop of Stormtroopers was passing nearby. He headed quickly towards his appartements and gestured discreetly at Ly'ra to follow him inside. The young pilot agreed and arched a brow when the door closed behind her.

"So? I thought we were back here for this mission you told me about on Dathomir..."

"That was the plan! I just didn't think the Knights would be aboard!"

The young woman frowned and followed with her eyes her mentor as he was pacing in the room.

"You think they don't trust you?"

Ben let out a humorless laugh and started strumming quickly on a keyboard, allowing few files to appear above the table.

"They never trusted me! The idea is that they don't distrust you!"

Ly'ra nodded and stepped forward, her green eyes fixed on the various informations on the screen.

"What's that?"

"Your mission Princess: Ubardia."

The young woman took a deep breath and stepped even closer. They came back aboard the Finalizer two days ago. Oddly enough, no one ever knew where the Supreme Leader and his prisoner went. A clear advantage for them. The official version was that Kylo Ren had brought Ly'ra on Korriban to totally turn her to the Dark Side. For all, she became a Sith with a new title: the Princess of Dathomir. A title she clearly hated but Ben had a lot of fun creating it. The rumor went on and grew and to keep her identity as secret as possible, she definitively took the Dathomir's look so a dark outfit under a black leather jacket and, under her hood, the makeup imagined by the Supreme Leader. The only detail that could betray her was her pendant that she was always wearing.

"What is it about?"

"We have someone who warned us about the upcoming arrival of the High Command of the Resistance on Ubardia..."

"That sounds quite familiar..."

The bitter sound of her voice made Ben's brow to move up before continuing:

"... They will meet an old friend of yours, the Count of..."

"Bous'Ha? That's really not a good idea. If he's still working for the Crimson Dawn, they're gonna have troubles!"

The young man let out an annoyed sigh and turned his eyes on his apprentice.

"Can I?"

"Sorry..."

"So... They have to meet him to ask for a financial help or maybe even weapons..."

Ly'ra interrupted her mentor again:

"No, he never was in contact with any kind of weapons, he's too coward for that. The only thing he could give them would be money, maybe even ships and yet, I'm really not sure about it..."

"Another comment and I swear I tie you down until I finish my briefing!"

The young woman closed her lips and stayed quiet.

"His reason doesn't matter, the First Order knows that they'll be there so Pryde will not let this occasion go. Several squads of Stormtroopers will be there and they'll be commanded by someone you know well..." 

Ben displayed the face of a high rank of the First Order. When the photo appeared, Ly'ra's eyes turned black with anger and she could feel her powers boiling in her veins.

"Kaplan..."

"Yes. Since his major fail on Crait, he's on the edge of the First Order which explains Pryde's arrival on the Finalizer."

Then, he turned his eyes on the young woman and allowed a small smile to appear.

"Guess who's gonna have the first part of her revenge?"

Ly'ra took a deep breath to calm herself down and looked up at Ben.

"What's the plan?"

The Supreme Leader made a quick move to change the informations for a map of the system.

"Officially, you'll be still onboard of the Finalizer, while you'll actually be hiding in one of our Outer Rim's refueling shuttles. There'll have a stop on Kashyyyk and from there you'll have to find a way to join Ubardia as quickly as you can. Your next step..."

Ben pointed on the concerned planet and enlarged the place where the Count's castle was, while the young woman nodded softly.

"I think I know..."

"No one must see you. You must stay hidden or unrecognized."

"You do know that no one will come back from Ubardia, right? All your men will die."

The Supreme Leader and his apprentice shared a long glance and Ly'ra ended up taking a deep breath and nodded.

"Very well. You're leaving now."

And while the young pilot was turning on her heels to leave the room, Ben called her back.

"Oh one last thing. Don't use your saber. It's the best way to reveal your identity."

"But they won't come back Ben. None of them."

Leïa's son stepped closer and grabbed her arm before she left, forcing her to face him.

"You just need one Ly'ra. Only one escapes and it's over."

The young woman stayed silent a moment before nodding again.

"Fine. I'll take my sword then."

"Be the Assassin of Dathomir. Silent and merciless."

With these words from her Master, Ly'ra stepped out of his appartements, went back quickly to her own and hide her saber before taking the sword she used on Dathomir. She fixed it on her waist with several knives. Then, she put on a long black coat and put on her black makeup on the upper part of her face before leaving and closing her room as silently as possible.

She quickly joined the boarding docks, and waited a moment before being able to hide aboard one of the refueling shuttle. The travel would be long so she tried to get a bit more comfortable. An hour later, the shuttle left under Kylo Ren's gaze, heading towards its first stop: Kashyyyk.