DARTH OCCLUS

Even with a notable name and reputation such as Darth Occlus has her own fears. There aren't a lot of people in this galaxy who are close to her. The thought of losing them, the people she cared for, yes, it scares her.

It also scared Zylas, and look where it got her.

'By order of the Dark Council and in light of your reputation as a master of the dark side, you are now Darth Occlus'. The Dark Lord opened her eyes, finding the familiar ceiling of her ship. She remembered it so clearly, she won the war against her enemies, it took every ounce of her connection to the Force for her to still have some strength yet.

Arrun stood up from the chair and rushed towards his Master, his adopted mother. With a sigh of relief, the Sith Lord didn't know what he could do if he would lose her. She was the closest thing he had as a family, she was the only one who didn't treat him so poorly.

Occlus stood up, her black hair a mess and her sky-blue eyes wandering around the room. It was just the two of them. For a Sith in her 50s, she physically looks like a woman in her 40s. Naturally, if she would have her rituals done and make her look young, like what Lord Zash did years ago. But Occlus didn't want immortality – she fought death countless times, had many enemies who wanted her dead and they all failed.

The Force had her going for a purpose, it has a plan.

"Don't give me that face," Occlus ruffled the boy's hair. "I'm not dead yet."

"You almost died—"

"I had… many near to death experiences, child. This is nothing new to me." Occlus sighed, looking at her son with a small smile as he had her hand slowly touch his cheek. The little boy she found in the middle of the battlefield, he's a grown man in her eyes now. "The Force keeps me alive for a reason, and I still have to fulfill that reason."

"How do you know?" Arrun asked. Wondering how can one person know that this is what the Force wanted. He learned the dark side and is learning the light side. He's known Occlus almost his whole life, she's not bad and she's not good either – so how could the Force make her go so far. "How do we know what the Force wants us to do?"

"You don't think I ask myself that?" Occlus answered his question with another question. "I was born a slave. I had nothing but a name. When the Sith found me and brought me to Korriban, I asked myself why I was there? Why am I still alive? What am I supposed to do? What does the Force have for me?"

"And?" Arrun waited for an answer.

"I don't know." His Master smiled. "Even I don't understand the Force. I don't know what it wants from me. I only know that it wants me alive."

He couldn't hide the sight of disappointment. Even a knowledgeable Sith such as her didn't know. Follow the will of the Force, was something Jedi would usually say, not a Sith. But Darth Occlus was a woman who has proven herself strong throughout the years, strong with the Force – but not as strong as Leena Sern.

From slavery rises the most powerful Sith in generations. Darth Thanaton was right to fear her.

She wasn't as idealistic as Zash. Everything Occlus did was more for the Empire, the home she built for herself – Malgus was always fond of her when it came to her duties back in the day. Heir of Tulak Hord and Kallig, Master of the Dead, and worshiped as the Great Dragon by the Cult of the Screaming Blade – Occlus is known with these titles and her reputation does not disappoint.

Arrun didn't know how he could compete with that. He wasn't Occlus who had many achievements when she was his age, and he wasn't Leena who came from a notable bloodline of powerful Force users. He had nothing special, he felt lost despite all of that knowledge he gained throughout the years.

In all his years learning about the Force, he doesn't know what the Force even wants from him.

For years, even under her guidance, her son – her most prized apprentice was too soft for this galaxy. And that softness would be the end of him.

When Occlus arrived back to Dromand Kaas, she specifically instructed Arrun to lay low and stay away from Leena Sern until the threat – which was Baras, is gone or weakened. It would take a long time but, all she needed was patience. She didn't explain to Arrun where she was going, nor did she have anyone else on board her ship.

All she had was a droid, a single Imperial soldier and the Dashade.

The rain continued to pour down Dromand Kaas as she proceeded to the captain's chair. "Set a course for Alderaan. I'm in no hurry to get there."

"Yes, my Lord." Answered Talos as he began to set the course on the planet Alderaan.

Baras wasn't the only Dark Lord with a massive spy network, but unlike Baras – she wasn't afraid of getting her boots dirty.

'You're going to kill yourself, and I'm not going to be a part of it.' She remembered those words as if it was still being said in front of her. She fought her way out of the academy, became an apprentice, a Sith Lord and now a member of the Dark Council – but a part of the journey is the end.

A Sith cursed with knowledge, with the only thing keeping her breathing is the Force and her only son. Power can mean nothing to her and at the same time, she understood its importance and how much power one can need to survive in a single lifetime.

When she arrived at Alderaan, some Imperial soldiers began debriefing the Dark Lord about the civil war running around the planet. Nobles fighting to see who gets to be on the throne, which side of the galaxy they would side with – the Republic or the Empire.

She proceeded alone out of the Imperial spaceport. The odd thing was that she wore no dark robes or her helmet in which she uses to conceal her face, herself for decades.

She wore simple clothes, fit for Alderaan commoners, a hood around her head as she walked upon the pathway under the clear blue skies – and yet she could feel the struggle of power through the Force. Countless Sith and Jedi were in the territory fighting for their claims of the planet.

Her mind went back to the time after Alderaan was taken back by the Republic, even though the planet was in flames – the Republic troops were eager to eradicate every Sith that remained on the planet after the Empire's retreat. She remembered remaining regardless of the warnings of her apprentices and advisers. She remembered Zylas telling her to leave when she had the chance. She remembered refusing as well.

She remembered the flames that struck Alderaan, the flames she created to make the noblemen surrender to Malgus. At the time, she was a Sith Lord who crumbled through the galaxy spreading fear and hatred as she was taught back on Korriban.

In front of her path, the image of two Jedi was heading her way. But the Dark Lord didn't flinch, she didn't draw her lightsaber nor raise her hand to command the Force, she didn't wish for a violent confrontation – she came to Alderaan for a more, personal business. But she stopped, watching the Jedi Knight who carried the values of a typical warrior of the light side of the Force.

He caught her looking at him. Her eyes widen, he had those eyes. Those were Zylas's eyes.

"Are you lost?" The Jedi asked in a polite tone. With a padawan behind him, Occlus was silent for a moment. Looking into his eyes, as if she was searching for something. She first placed her hand onto his cheek, gently and yet while searching – he was certain, this was the boy.

"I feel like I know you, Master Jedi," Occlus spoke sternly. Her eyes still with his, and she wasn't afraid that he would find out that she was Sith. A master of the dark side of the Force, a champion of Sith knowledge.

The Jedi's eyes widen as if something dead inside of him was lit up by the flame. Illuminating the darkness that surrounded him, he felt the warmth of hope, the spark of life that he lost so many years ago. A life he barely remembered.

"You're Sith." Spoke the padawan as she drew her double-bladed lightsaber.

Occlus chuckled as she drew away from her hand. "I hear the twin blades are harder to master, but they can make enemies stampede over each other running for cover." Turning to the padawan, she smiled, not wanting conflict from them. "If I wanted to kill your Master, then I would have hidden in the shadows and sliced his head off. But there I am… giving information that he gave up on."

"How…" the Master Jedi wondered in confusion. He heard the information he gave up on. Information that would give him false hope if it was a mere lie.

"What is your name, Master Jedi?"

The Jedi hesitated and the padawan didn't back down, she was prepared to slice this Sith open the moment she would hurt her Master. Despite the tension around the atmosphere, Occlus remained smiling. "I'm not your average Sith, padawan. Weaklings are like clay in my hands."

"You haven't met my Master—"

"Oh, believe me, child, I have," Occlus smirked as she turned her attention back to the Jedi Master. "We've known each other for a long, long time ago."

"What do you want with me, Sith?" The Master asked. Not answering her question.

"Oh dear," she let out a sarcastic tone. "What am I into this time?"

"I asked you a question—"

"I also asked you a question. Once I've put my mind into something, nothing in the galaxy can stop me. I don't want to take out my lightsaber, or use the Force on you, lad. But to confirm what's in my mind, I would need your name."

"What do you mean?" Asked the padawan as she turned off her lightsaber. Naturally, it was still her Master's call but, the Sith seemed to know something that he wants.

"I know those eyes." She paused as her gaze turned up to the sky. "But then I remember that I'm on Alderaan. Those eyes are no stranger here… after all, Serns are old nobility on this planet." Turning her attention back to the Jedi, that smile of hers came back on her lips. "So, tell me, Master Jedi… what is your name?"

"Sern." He answered with no more sense of hesitation. "Tyrral Sern."

She smiled as if she found another ancient artifact to her pleasing. "Are you afraid, Master Jedi?"

"Fear only leads to the dark side. Sith." The Jedi named Tyrral answered. Such a serious lad he was in her eyes, he is, in no doubt, Zylas's oldest child.

"True but know this…" she paused with that smile still on her lips. "…this war between Jedi and Sith is nothing compared to what's coming for you. The true war lies between blood, Master Jedi. The true conflict is within, the Force is conflict thus conflict will never be resolved. I trust in the Force."

"Are you sure?"

Her smile became even more pleasing. "There is only one way, trust in yourself and trust in the Force." It was odd for them. A Sith preaching what the Force wants her to do, despite the Sith trying to enslave it while the Jedi are a companion to it. "I've been ready to die for many years if the Force is done with me so be it but it is not. You know that there is more to the galaxy than the light and the dark, the Jedi and the Sith. Deep down inside of you… you've been searching for a life, far greater than any Jedi – a life that brings you significance, a flame within the dark."

"I don't… remember you from my past Sith but, you don't seem bad." Tyrral answered honestly with their little exchange. "I don't like you but you don't seem bad."

"Thank you, Master Sern. That warms my nonexistent heart."

"But I don't see anything special about you. So how do you know that the Force has something great for you? I've met better people, good people. And they've been taken by the dark side, slaughtered by your kind, or killed on the battlefield and none of them came back. So how can you know what the Force has planned for you?"

Occlus couldn't help but smile. "Funny enough that my son asked me something similar before I left. We are all here for a reason… we are all alive for an unknown reason. You and I, won't find much joy across the galaxy, but you can keep others alive. With a power that's always fleeting like this, all we can do is keep people who are close to us alive. And it doesn't matter what purpose the Force has for us individually as long as we perform them. We will meet again, Jedi Master. You will soon face your past and know what it means to truly live."

"I don't think you should return to the Sith Empire," he spoke. Something he had offered to Sith during his journey around the galaxy. "I'm not sure we'd be civil the next time we meet."

Occlus smiled. "I have to remain with the Empire, Master Sern. One last time."

"We can help you gain redemption—" A stupid statement.

"You are strong with the Force." She said out of the blue, cutting him off. "Just like your sister."

Occlus passed by the Jedi and his padawan, not saying another word nor bringing out anything violent in her path. She seemed peaceful and yet at the same time, as she left Tyrral in shock – the Jedi Master turned around not wanting to wait.

"What do you mean by that?!"

But she said nothing.

She remained quiet. Walking further until she was nowhere in sight, wanting to complicate the details towards the Jedi.

'He's young for a Jedi Knight. Then again, Zylas became a Sith Lord at seventeen.' She chuckled to herself, this was some interesting encounter. She was rather invested with Zylas's daughter and now, she accidentally found the oldest son who was thought to be dead. And instead of following his mother's footsteps and his ancestors before them, he became a Jedi.

Thinking back, Occlus would understand the misunderstanding – he was nothing more than five-years-old when their home was attacked by Republic troopers and Jedi Knights. They didn't stop until all Serns that were Sith were either brought to the Jedi Order or killed off.

'If the oldest is alive, there's the possibility that the second son is also alive – might have been taken by the Jedi as well.' She sighed. 'Zylas, your family has become too complicated for my taste.'

With living proof that Tyrral Sern – Zylas's oldest child being alive and in Alderaan, there was this strong possibility that Leena's supposed birthright and inheritance with the lands and riches here on the planet, would no longer matter. Especially when the son, the oldest son is alive.

Which made the Darth somewhat concerned: Would House Sern side with the Republic rather than the Empire, all because a dead Sith Lord's oldest child is a Jedi?

'I don't like politics but the Empire needs the military resources of this family.' Occlus continued to sigh. Having this problematic image inside her mind. If Baras wasn't too power-hungry and was actually willing to help the girl in some way – then they would have secured the alliance of House Sern. Especially when they have more to offer on the table compared to House Thul.

Occlus found herself in an almost empty estate, and yet functional with a few men protecting the gates and servants running around on a time-sensitive schedule.

"You there!" One of the guards called out. "State your business!"

Occlus smiled when she removed her hood. "I am here to visit the Lady Mother, I'm a friend of hers."

"State your name, madam."

"Veran Kallig."