Shadow of the Old Empire (Star Wars Fan Fiction)

Episode I: Chapter 1

Evil is a word used by the ignorant and the weak. The Dark Side is about survival. It's about unleashing your inner power. It glorifies the strength of the individual.

Drew Karpyshyn, Rule of Two

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"I have to say I'm surprised, Your Highness. I didn't think you of all people would be looking for my services. I thought you looked down on my kind of people," a dark-haired young woman inquired blandly, almost bored with the conversation.

Not many things grabbed the attention of the young woman much anymore, not since her awakening on Belsavis four years ago. At one time, her name caused her enemies to tremble in fear of her wrath. She was a stalker of shadows, and no one outside of a select few knew her real identity. Well known for being an expert tactician and interrogator, Kalei Syrus, known as Lord Immitis or the Empire's Shadow, was a prominent Sith Lord of the Sith Empire during the Cold War and the beginning of the Galactic War. She gained the respect of many of her peers, including Darth Marr, the unofficial leader of the Dark Council, and surprisingly, the attention of the Emperor. She had no idea why the Emperor took an interest in her and still didn't to this day, but she used that advantage to gain more power and knowledge about the dark side of the force.

She soon came across a ritual that would manipulate midi-chlorians to stop the aging of an individual. It wasn't exactly an immortality ritual; since you could still die, but it would allow someone to live past their time without any physical changes. It was a lengthy ritual, requiring months of preparation before it could be performed and powerful artifacts of the dark side to power it. It was all worth it in the end though, as she felt the power reshape her into something glorious. Her power increased as a result of the ritual, thus making her a bigger threat against the Jedi and the Republic.

However, she wouldn't get to experience the advantages of her power for long. On a mission to Belsavis at the beginning of the Great Galactic War, she was ambushed by Jedi and Republic Special Forces and forced into a carbonite chamber when they couldn't incapacitate her long enough to kill her. Rather than risk her going free, they chose carbon-freezing to trap her until she dies. However, they didn't know of the ritual she performed, thus making this point moot as she stayed alive far past her time. Erased from Republic records, the Sith were not able to find her for the duration of the Galactic War and the Eternal Empire's conquest, eventually giving up hope that she was alive.

For three millennia she slept, watching events in the galaxy through the Force. She grew increasingly frustrated at the state of the galaxy, especially after the fall of her beloved Sith Empire, first at the hands of the Eternal Empire and later by the Republic. With the extinction of the Sith species and the dwindling numbers of Sith, she knew that the likelihood of creating an empire like before had diminished. She grew disgusted at the newest dogma of the 'False Sith,' as she calls them, and their 'Rule of Two.' How dare they try to rewrite a millennium of Sith teachings and call themselves 'Sith,' when they haven't earned the right and honor to hold the title.

3604 years after being trapped in carbonite, the power cells of the carbonite block malfunctioned, causing it to release her into a dark chamber deep within Belsavis' prisons. It took her a few hours to gather her bearings from the hibernation sickness, but she eventually made it back to her ship, which was surprisingly intact after three millennia. On board, she found HK-51, an assassin droid she found on Belsavis back when she was an apprentice so long ago, and her closest companion throughout her career as a Sith. As of this moment, her favorite droid was busy hunting targets on a list she compiled to keep him at peak efficiency. It always made him happy when he exterminated targets that she gave him, as there was always an air of smugness that seemed to radiate off him after he completed an assignment. She had no problem with it though, she was proud to have an efficient assassin droid that enjoyed what he was programmed for.