SHIMA

Shima stood beside her Master, who was still inhabiting the body of the young Jedi padawan, as he steered their shuttle into the Moraband system. Although she wasn’t pleased that they couldn’t complete their plot against the New Jedi Order themselves, she was comforted that they would regardless be there to see the fireworks as the Jedi living on Cialone went up in smoke.

Her Master had refused to explain much, but that was nothing out of the ordinary. It was in the custom of the Sith to only tell others what they absolutely had to know for a plan to succeed. But what little she knew greatly interested her.

Apparently, Maul had friends in the Netherworld of the Force that he was planning to bring back from the dead. Who they were, exactly, she had no idea, but the saying ‘friends in high places’ came to mind. They were undoubtedly powerful.

They were also going to the planet for another reason. In the back of their small ship was Maul’s original body, which had been frozen in carbonite, after she had stolen it from the facility on Hesperidium. Her Master’s plan was to reintroduce his living essence into his body. Even while Darth Sidious had been ripping his soul from him, he had been saving the information to recreate the spell to memory.

To the very end, he had been scheming.

The ship landed on the planet’s dry, barren surface. The blood red effect that the sun gave the sand of a similar color was almost eerie, but Shima felt perfectly at ease. This was the home of the original Sith beings, and anyone who was strong with the Dark Side of the Force could feed off of the energy that their spirits had released. It was quite rejuvenating.

“Where are we headed, Master?” she asked, disturbing the strange stillness of the air and the silence. She carefully unloaded the frozen body of her Master from the ship, and activated the anti-grav mechanism that allowed the carbonite sheet to float above the ground.

“To the Tomb of Darth Bane, creator of the Rule of Two,” he said in his quiet, menacing voice. “And you will ask no further questions, my apprentice.”

“Yes Master.” She bowed her head for a moment, then look up again.

They arrived at a pedestal before the largest tomb there, which was covered in a fine black sand. Maul’s host stuck out an arm to stop her. “Wait,” he murmured.

Suddenly the sand shifted and began to swirl up into the shape of a man. Shima suddenly realized that the black sand wasn’t what she thought. It was ash, which was rapidly beginning to catch fire and burn and crackle.

The ash-sand completed the shape it wished to make, which was that of a man. Her Master kneeled before the fiery being suddenly, and she followed suit.

I am Bane, it hissed. Except that it wasn’t said aloud; the ancient Sith Lord was speaking in her mind. Why have two of the Eternal Sith Order come before me?

Her Master stood, the shape of his host flickering a few times before it settled on that of Darth Maul. “I am Maul,” he said, “Once apprentice of the Eternal Sith Order, now Master. I seek to destroy Sidious and Vader of the Eternal Sith Order. I have come humbly seeking guidance from the Sith’ari, the Perfect Overlord, and to reunite my conscious self with my physical image.”

You and your apprentice are not of the Two I created, Bane said, gliding around Shima and her Master, his feet always staying a few feet above the ground. But you are worthy. The Sith’ari is a being that is reincarnated, and not One, as those who have heard the sacred prophecy believe. Sidious of the Eternal Sith Order had the arrogance and shortsightedness to claim that he was the Sith’ari, which he is not.

Lord Bane paused for a moment before continuing. The Sith’ari is meant to raise the Sith from death and make them stronger than before, as says the scared prophecy. This Sidious has not done.

He knows not how to raise the Sith from their everlasting sleep. Instead of strengthening the Eternal Sith Order, he has weakened it, with his choice of apprentice. Vader is weak. He clings still to the Jedi ways, a speck of rot within the perfection of the Sith Order. He will destroy us if we do not move quickly.

Maul looked up at him. The specter was probably about seven feet tall. “What must I do, Overlord?”

I know why you have come, Maul of the Eternal Sith Order, Darth Bane said. You wish to fulfill the prophecy. You need the armies of the Sith Empire of old to rid the galaxy of the Jedi. You wish to make the Sith stronger than ever before.

“And will you help me in my quest, Lord Bane?” Shima’s Master asked. It was the question that she herself had been burning to ask, but she knew that it wasn’t her place. She knew that for now, she couldn’t measure up to these powerful people. 

Yes. I will reunite your spirit with your body and give you what you so desire.

*Darth Maul is planning on raising the armies of the Sith Empire of old, and to transplant his mind from Jinoyar's body back to his own. But to what end? If he raises an army of trained Sith warriors from the dead, what havoc will he unleash on the galaxy? How are Ahsoka and fer allies to defeat such a foe? You'll find out in the next thirrling chapter of The Unchronicled Adventures Of Ahsoka Tano!

Become a Galactic Senator for your homeworld and may the Force be with you,

Sharron