Chapter Text
35ABY
Outer Rim
Rseik Sector: Vestar - Port-Esta
T’rien sat down on the cold, compacted, dirt ground of an alley. She knew that she was on Vestar. Vestar used to be ruled by the Imperials during the time of the Galactic Empire. The Imperials had long since left and Vestar was a good place to escape to. It was under the radar and most of the humans who lived on Vestar were trying to escape from the actions of the dominant power, specifically, the First Order. She was also trying to escape, but her reasons were very different.
She was of two species: Sith, and Human. This made her a big target from the First Order and from many others. Her abilities came from being Force Sensitive. This meant that she could manipulate the Force and use it as she might use a tool for her own needs. Force Sensitive beings, after the fall of the New Republic, had become even more scarce in the galaxy. The First Order had been trying to kill her now for a while because she had infiltrated one of their Resurgent-class star destroyers and planted detonators on the engine. She had blown up the whole Resurgent-class Star Destroyer and because of that, The First Order had put a very large bounty on her head. The Mandos were after her because they wanted the bounty money.
Vestar used to be a very quiet planet and many people did not know of it. T’rien had chosen to hide there because she had thought she would be safe. Before Vestar, she had been on Utapau, before Utapau she had been on Askaj, and before Askaj she had been on Eriadu. She had been forced to leave those planets because of First Order sympathizers. The sympathizers had reported back to First Order operatives and the operatives had chased her everywhere. It would only be a matter of time before she’d be forced to leave Vestar. The only reason she had survived this long was because every time she sensed a threat, she flew her Delta-7 starfighter to another planet. T’rien had found the Delta-7 on Coruscant before it had been destroyed. She had named the starfighter Nomad, after the resurgent-class star destroyer she had blown up. She might have also named her ship that because the only thing she remembered about her father had been his callsign, Nomadium. Unlike her father, she remembered her mother clearly. She remembered her mother’s piercing yellow eyes, her jet black hair, her cheek tentacles and she remembered her embrace. Her warm, heart melting embrace. T’rien missed it. Her and her mother had been very close. T’ryett had been her mother’s name. Her mother had not been the kindest person. After all, she had been trained to feed off her anger. T’rien had been taught the same. Before her mother had given herself over to the New Republic, she had given T’rien her curved crimson lightsaber.
T’rien rested her hand on the lightsaber, feeling the darkness radiating from it. All the memories flooded into her head. All those years spent training and learning how to use the Force. That had been a waste of time. The Force had brought her nothing but trouble. The Force had put her on the run. It was the reason her father had left her and her mother. It was the reason she had run away from Dromund Kaas in the first place. The Force had used to mean everything to her. Now every time she used it she was reminded of the things that had ever happened to her. All the horrible and painful things that had happened to her. She had been cast out of the Academy on Dromund Kaas because of her inability to focus on just the dark aspects of The Force. She had always been intrigued by the light aspects. Her compassion and kindness towards the other students had been her downfall.
It had not been long since she had been cast out of the academy. It had been maybe six months. After her shameful exile, she had set out to other planets, looking for Force Sensitives. The reason she was in search of Force Sensitive beings was because she was attempting to form her own order. She hadn’t found many people that were sensitive to The Force. The people she had found had willingly joined her cause. The whole of the order was here on Vestar with her. The rest was split between Utapau and Eriadu. The total number of members in her order was about 72 humans and about 10 others. On Eriadu, she had recruited only 7 people. Those seven people were now a part of the order’s High Council. The order was known as the New Force Order. She had based her council after the Dark Council Of The Sith. Their ship arsenal was not large. It had The Nomad, three Fury-class Interceptors, seven stolen TIE fighters, a stolen X-wing starfighter, a scavenged BTL-B Y-wing and The Dogfighter which was an Imperial-class TIE Interceptor. They also had a corvette that they used to transport the operatives of the New Force Order. They stored their ships at the old Imperial operations base. They had pretty much taken over Port-Esta just as the Galactic Empire had. They had a few other minor bases on Utapau. There was also a communications center on Askaj.
Recently, T’rien had received some news that one of their bases on Utapau had been destroyed. She had lost ten standard operatives, two officers, and one high ranked operative. At least that was what she thought. There had been three survivors and the rest had been assumed dead. The attack had most likely been caused by the First Order. T’rien was lucky that anybody had survived the assault. She knew it was The First Order because they were the only organizations that would have been able to make it through the base’s rock hard defenses. The star destroyer she had blown had been accompanied by three others. The Eviscerator, The Calamity, and worst of all, The Reaver. The Reaver was all her fears confirmed, one of the strongest ships in The First Order’s fleet which had the strongest shields, ion defenses and had the ability to destroy a death star. It was equipped with a device similar to the super lazer used on Starkiller Base. Unlike Starkiller Base, it had no exhaust points to launch ion cannons at or to place detonators on. And just to make her luck worse, it was chasing the order.
T’rien stood up and walk out onto the bustling streets of Port-Esta. She began to make her way to the base of operations. While she was walked, she happened to bump into a blue eyed Rodian. He took one look at T’rien and started running. T’rien was momentarily confused. She had not recognized the Rodian but maybe he had known her. T’rien silently swore. She began to chase after the Rodian.
T’rien followed the Rodian into a bar. She looked around and scowled. It looked to be like a Smuggler’s bar, where scum usually thrived. She saw the Rodian. He was a about four standard meters ahead of her. He had not seemed to notice her and looked worried. T’rien stormed towards the Rodian, grabbing his shoulder. The Rodian whirled around and squealed in fear. He quickly drew a blaster and aimed at her.
Suddenly, the bar patrons all whirled on her and drew their weapons. T’rien moved her hand to her lightsaber hilt slowly, but clearly. The patrons looked surprised and a few of them holstered their blasters and left. T’rien spit on the ground, “What do you want?”
The Rodian regarded her with mock interest and replied, “I am Fovius, Captain of the Clovis.”
T’rien rolled her eyes, “I meant, why did you run when you saw me?”
Fovius studied T’rien’s facial expression for a moment, “You wear the robes of a Sith. The Sith took everything from me. I desire revenge.” Fovius responded, he clipped his words with a scowl.
“I assure you, I am no Sith.”
“Then why do you don their garb?”
T’rien’s scowl grew, “I don’t. I bear a different insignia.” T’rien lifted her hand and showed Fovius the insignia ring she bore. Two crossed lines with four small circles was the symbol in the center of the ring. T’rien looked down pridefully at her ring that bore the insignia of her Order.
“What insignia is that? I have never seen that before..” Said Fovius, intrigued by the symbol on the ring.
“It is the insignia of the New Force Order.”
Fovius lowered his blaster and gestured for the others to do the same. “The New Force Order? I apologize, I did not realize you were one of them. You are neutral freedom fighters, yes? You fight the First Order, the Resistance, and The Sith?”
“Yes, the Order’s you listed, among others.” Replied T’rien
“I have a message to prevay to your leader, can you please deliver it to them? It’s regarding the High Angel’s accords.”
T’rien regarded him for a moment, containing a laugh.
Fovius scowled at her, “What is funny?” he asked
“It’s funny because I’m the leader.”
Fovius stepped back, “You are? Well then,” He chuckled, “I guess I’ll deliver my message to you then..I would like to make an alliance with your order. We have common goals in mind, taking down the First Order being one of them. You cannot be everywhere on this planet at once and trust me when I tell you that people have been watching you. There are some who do not like what you are doing, opposing some of the most major powers? That’s brave. Perhaps even foolish. Many view your order as a beacon of hope for this galaxy, you give them what the Resistance cannot. I hope that you’ll allow the High Angel’s to form a partnership with you and with the New Force Order.”
T’rien took a step back, “I’m sorry..this is a very generous offer but-”
Fovius interrupted, “Stop. you may have some time to think my offer over and discuss it with your council. You can contact me whenever you like using this.” Fovius pulled a comm from within his jacket and handed it to T’rien.
“I hope to hear from you soon.” and with those final words, Fovius turned around and went back out the way he had come in.
A few hours later, T’rien had called a meeting with her council to discuss Fovius’ proposal. Six out of seven of them had arrived and T’rien was becoming antsy and impatient waiting for Daran, one of the council members, and his Apprentice, Skirin. Daran wasn’t usually tardy and T’rien was becoming suspicious. Daran had recently been appointed with Skirin and he had become unusually awkward. He had applied for an apprentice and if he was having second thoughts, it was not her fault.
T’rien looked towards the brass doors and listened as they creaked open. Through them stepped Daran and his apprentice, Skirin. Skirin was wearing cream coloured robes and his shoulder was being clasped by Daran. Daran frowned and scowled as he walked into the chambers. Skirin looked slightly worried. As he should be, thought T’rien, after all, this is his first time at a council meeting. Daran wore his traditional jedi master robes; a cream robe with a brown cape billowing from his neck. He had his hood pulled over his head, showing nothing but his frown. Daran walked to his seat and sat in it. Skirin folded his legs and sat beside his master. T’rien stretched her arms out on her throne, relaxed now that everyone was there.
“I bet you’re all wondering why I have called a council meeting today,” said T’rien, tapping her right hand fingers on her throne anxiously, “here is the reason; today, I received a proposition from the leader of the High Angel’s group, which I presume most of you are familiar with. They want to form a partnership with us. Should we accept their offer and form a partnership? Or should we refuse them? They gave us this,” T’rien raises the comm so the assembled council members can view it, “to contact their leader, Fovius.”
“All in favour of accepting their offer, raise thy hand!” said Daran
Four council member’s hands, out of the seven, rise into the air. Daran looked down at his apprentice and smacked his hand down. T’rien suppressed a smile.
“Apprentices cannot vote.” Said Alamar, a Quarren council member.
Skirin frowned and rubbed his hand, obviously in pain. Daran furiously whispered a few words to his apprentice. Skirin looked down at his feet, ashamed of his actions.
“Then it is passed. When will we be commencing, Empress?” asked Amia, another human council member.
T’rien scowled when Amia called her Empress as it was a title that everyone knew she hated to be called by.
“We will commence using the communicator on the morrow. For now though, we have other things to discuss. Is there any other information or problem that any of you would like to bring to my attention?” T’rien looked around the council chambers at the member’s, and finally, her gaze rested on Daran, whose frown was etched even deeper into his face.
Daran stood up and opened his mouth to speak, “I have a matter to discuss with the council.” He looked around at the other council members and a few of their apprentices. “Without our apprentices.”
T’rien nodded her assent. “Very well.” She gestures to the few apprentices gathered in the chambers with the council and they stood up to leave. After they had gone, Daran sat back down on his platinum seat just like the other council members.
T’rien gestured at him, “What is it that you would like to bring to our attention?”
“I have had a few things on my mind recently,” said Daran, “it has occured to me how weak we are compared to the forces of the First Order. The Resistance isn't much of a threat to us, as, at this stage, they’d be lucky if they could even muster up a cargo freighter. We must continue to build our fleet of ships and perhaps, we will even have to look into adding new non-force powered beings into our ranks. As is, we are vulnerable to attack. We all know what happened on Eriadu was a terrible tragedy and it hurts me to say it, but it will almost indefinitely happen again. We must focus on building our own forces or else we may end up like the Resistance; a shambled remnant of what once was. We must find a way to thwart The First Order, for we are next on their hit list.”
“And how do you propose we do this?” asked Amia, curious.
“I believe we should stop expanding from planet to planet and settle down. We know the weapons they have and we can defend against them. We are force users, we can stand against them.”
Amia was about to speak out and say what the rest of them were thinking but T’rien raised her hand in her direction so that she would know not to say anything. T’rien eyes narrowed at Daran. He was blunt and had obviously not thought through his plan, perhaps his judgement was clouded, but she would have to correct him.
“Daran,” said T’rien, staring him down, “the First Order has the ability to wipe out entire planets. We are not strong enough to stand against them alone. You obviously didn’t think of that. We all remember Starkiller Base and the horrors it performed on Coruscant. Would you really want that to happen to our Order? To everything we’ve worked for? I think not. No, the time to strike is not now. We should still build up our numbers more before making any more big moves. We have to gather allies and spread our hold wider. There is much conflict with all the factions in the galaxy, and are we to make ourselves more known, we might find people with similar goals to ourselves.
“However,” continued T’rien, pausing to take a breath, “should an opportunity arise where we can actually take on the First Order with superior numbers, in a group, for example, then we should seize that opportunity. At this point though I don’t really see who we would ally with that is able to help us fully oppose the First Order and its allies. No factions are really big enough that would be willing to aid us. It would be a mistake at this point to fully go up against them with our little number of members and Allies. That is why I believe it might be best for us to ally ourselves with the High Angel’s group run by Fovius. If my sources are correct, he should be able to greatly increase our naval battle. Currently, as you all know, we do not have that many ships at our disposal. We have a corvette plus fourteen fighters including the Nomad and the Dogfighter. That is enough to transport our operatives and such but it isn’t enough to do any serious damage.” T’rien ended at that.
“But Empress!” exclaimed Amia, “Didn’t we destroy an entire Star Destroyer?” The other council members nodded at that, obviously considering it as they made their final decisions on what would happen with the fleet and their allies.
T’rien thought this over. She and she alone had destroyed the star destroyer, not any of the actual Order. She had been trying to extract information about the First Order’s movement from the star destroyer’s database. All in all it had been a successful mission. She had been able to download a lot of their data, and they were able to stay away from them with the info. After that she had started to form the Order, and since then they had found many more mission files and extracted even more of the First Order’s data. She had operatives deep in the First Order’s rank. T’rien was the only one who even knew their names, the others only knew them by face.
“I destroyed that Star destroyer because I saw an opportunity while I was getting information. I did all of that without the Order because I was one single fighter, so tiny that the cloaking device I installed in the Nomad. It’s a much different matter to cloak an entire fleet of ships. It would be near impossible to destroy one now unless we risked our agents lives, which I’m not really willing to do. Our best course of action would be to, of course, ground assault them, because we could actually win in that situation. Or we trick them into tractor beaming our corvette into one of them. Still very risky though as they could just blow us up as soon as they got the chance. The safest option remains as coordinating a large-scale assault with other factions. That’s why I don’t think we should keep Fovius waiting any longer. Amia, if you would please give him a call. Place it on the center table.”
Amia fulfilled her orders and sat down as a blue holograph flared to life in front of them. Fovius turned all the way around and looked at each of them in turn until his gaze was on her. His Rodian face broke into a smile.
“Lady T’rien! I was waiting for your call. I must assume this means that you are ready for a partnership perhaps? Or maybe you just want to show me to your Council? Either or I’m very glad you gave me a call. I suppose I’ll have to propose this partnership to the rest of the council?” T’rien nodded at him and his happy demeanor turned into a businesslike one as he straightened himself and folded his hands behind his back formally.
“The High Angel’s group was formed at the time of the fall of the New Republic. We started off small, recruiting smugglers and bounty hunters until we were eventually recruiting ex-New Republic military personal. Now we are made up of about four-hundred personall all-in-all. Those are only your ground forces though, and we have a fairly sizable navy. Our navy has thirty First Order age TIE fighters, five corvette’s, fifteen First Order TIE interceptors, two Delta-7’s, and eight refurbished BTL-B Y-wings. It is nowhere near as large as the First Order’s arsenal but together we’d make a pretty formidable force. Of course we’d also have to create even more alliances with other factions though to raise our numbers. Very few of my troops are Force Sensitive but I’d also like the ones that are to be trained in the ways of the Force. We also have a great deal of extra weaponry, including lightsabers, for the New Force Order to use. We believe we could mutually benefit from an alliance. We’d also provide you with as much information on the First Order that we have. Please do consider our offer.” Fovius ended it with a smile and he fizzed out of the holograph.
“That sounds promising.” remarked Amia, looking to T’rien for her verdict.
T’rien nodded, “Yes it does.”
“Maybe a little too promising.” commented Nia as she raised her head to speak for the first time from the other side of the table. T’rien was shocked. Nia usually never spoke. She was a very quiet person. Her black robes concealed everything but her face as her dark eyes glittered at the rest of the council.
“You’re right, Nia. We should proceed with caution for they might have other motives.” Said T’rien, truly agreeing with her for she was right.
“As far as allies go though, this is a pretty good deal. We’d get a larger navy, much weaponry, and we’d get lightsabers. Many of our troops have no lightsabers and use blasters. Actually, one of our operatives prefers a blaster because what he does is he will shoot with a blaster then he will guide the blaster fire using the Force to hit wherever he wants it to. He never misses and his precision is unrivaled.” Said Vartil, a Sullustian council member. He handled the training of most of the troops as he was very skilled in duellign and other forms of combat and acrobatics.
“Lightsabers are very elegant, but deadly, items. You have to think of them as an extension of yourself and they are fairly useful in many situations. Some Force Sensitives used them to deflect blaster fire or as an intimidation tactic. Some would even just use it as a light source when they are in darkness. It would be troubling to see them being used by somebody who had no clue as to how to fully utilize it.” Vartil added that and then sat back on his seat.
T’rien was surprised. So many of the council members that barely spoke at the meetings were now speaking and putting in their own inputs on the situation. That just meant that these decisions were getting much more serious and that the members were getting more comfortable with each other. They were becoming more and more organized by the day, and that was something to be glad for.
“I say we take it for a vote.” Said Daran, speaking out for the first time since T’rien had turned down his proposal. “All in favour of passing the motion and gaining a new ally, raise thy hand.”
The vote was unanimous. “Now that that is cleared up, let’s call Fovius and let him know the good news.” Said T’rien, gesturing to Amia who fiddled with the holo projector for a second before turning it on.
It was answered almost immediately and Fovius fizzed into existence in front of them. “Does this mean we have a deal?” asked Fovius, looking to T’rien. At her nod he smiled. “We’ll send over some of our troops right now with the weaponry and information, as promised. We don’t have any need for the lightsabers anyways so it isn’t too much of a loss. Our troops can’t use them very well. I look forward to working with you all again in the future.” With those words, Fovius fizzled out.
T’rien sat back on her chair, contemplating on what might go wrong and on what might go well, her mind swirling with ideas as she was lost in thought.