The life of Darth Midnight's secret apprentice took an unexpected and deadly turn the day his master first spoke of General Celestia.
She hadn't anticipated such an important moment approaching. During her nightly meditations, kneeling on the metal floor of her room while the construction droids worked on the Executor, oblivious to its existence, she had not seen any premonitory images in the pure and intense red light of the lightsaber she held before her eyes. like a red-hot iron. Despite not having looked away from that light until the world disappeared and the Dark Side flowed through his body like a bloody tide, the future had not been shown to him.
That is why she was unprepared for the events that took her away from the strenuous and unpredictable exercises of that day. Her teacher was not a patient instructor, nor was she talkative. She preferred action to conversation, just as she preferred reprimand to reward. In the days that they had practiced combat with the lightsaber, telekinesis, or suggestion, the Dark Lady had never uttered a single word of encouragement. And she knew that it should be so. Her teacher's mission was not to guide her disciple along a single well-laid path. Rather, it consisted of allowing him to make his own way through the forest, and to intervene only when the student was completely lost and needed to be corrected.
But he knew that even in the wrong ways he could find wisdom. If something didn't kill her, she would make her stronger on the Dark Side.
And on many, many occasions, she believed that she was going to die. Panting from a grueling series of attacks and having lowered the lightsaber in submission, she knelt in front of her teacher and prepared for the coup de grace. She felt the anger radiating from the Dark Lady like a wave of heat, intense, visceral heat that made her shiver. For an instant that seemed eternal to her she could only hear the rhythmic, relentless breathing that kept the woman behind her mask alive.
"When I found you, you were weak" His voice seemed to come from the bottom of a long and deep tunnel "You should not have survived my training"
She closed her eyes. She had heard those words before. They were the closest thing she had ever had to stories when she was little. Her moral had been burned into his mind.
"Learn... or die".
Inside her, she again visualized the clean, purifying heat of the lightsaber. Her skin had brushed that luminous edge on many occasions, defying pain and sustaining numerous minor injuries during duels with her teacher. She thought she had an idea of what she would feel when the sword fell on her. She was partly unhappy that she would come to that moment.
The sword came so close to his neck that he could smell his hair scorching.
"But now, your hatred has become your strength" The lightsaber moved away and deactivated with a hum "At last, the Dark Side is your ally".
She didn't dare nod or look up. What was that about? Was it a new trick for her to trust herself and fail again?
His heart skipped a beat upon hearing the next words from his teacher.
"Get up, my young apprentice".
"Apprentice" She had always considered herself his apprentice, but they had never made it clear to her. And that strange movement of the lightsaber... was it possible that she had knighted him?
She deactivated her sword. It was the only thing she could do to balance herself on her knees, that they felt rubbery. The black shadow looming in front of her was impenetrable, outlined by the crimson glow of the planet that shone on the other side of the lookout. The space around her, metallic, angular, and functional, was as familiar to him as the scars on the back of her hand, but suddenly, without knowing why, everything seemed different.
The apprentice looked up and kept the same tone of voice.
"What is her will, Master?"
"You have defeated many of my enemies. Your training is nearing completion. The time has come for you to face your first real test".
Images of previous missions flashed through the apprentice's mind. Over the years, Lady Midnight had instructed her to dispose of numerous enemies from within the Empire; mainly spies and thieves, but sometimes there was also a traitor of more rank. She only felt the satisfaction of duty accomplished. Her victims had wrought their doom, they were nothing more than vermin gnawing at the foundations of the majestic edifice that was the Empire.
However, this was different. There was something else in her teacher's words. Darth Midnight was not referring to a common smuggler who knew nothing of the Force. It was time for her to face the enemy of whom she was finally worthy.
"Have his spies located a Jedi?"
"Yes. General Celestia" That name meant nothing to the apprentice; it was just one of many names found in the unconfirmed Jedi death files "She is attacking a major shipyard in Nar Shadaa. Destroy her and bring me her sword".
The apprentice felt crippled with excitement. She had trained for that longed-for moment for as long as she remembered her. And she had finally arrived. She could not be considered a true Sith until she had finished off one of her master's old enemies.
"I will leave immediately, Master".
When she had barely started toward the door, Darth Midnight's peremptory voice stopped her.
"The Emperor must not know about you".
"As you wish, Master".
"Leave no witnesses. He Kills everyone on board, whether Imperial or Rebel".
The apprentice nodded, not revealing the doubts that suddenly haunted her.
"Don't fail".
The weight of the lightsaber dangling from her belt was suddenly reassuring and comforting.
"No, my lady" she assured with her back straight and her voice firm.
Darth Midnight turned and clasped his hands behind his back. The red sun bathed his helmet in reflections of lava.
Her secret apprentice wasted no time on the last and darkest mission of all she had undertaken.
"General Celestia".
The name came to his mind as he hurried through the maze of secret rooms of his teacher. They were functional and austere rooms consisting of a meditation room, a droid workshop, meager individual quarters, and a hangar. They were on a hidden floor of Darth Midnight's flagship that had long since been expunged from the plans. The future crew would not know of its existence.
"The Emperor must not know about you".
The requirement her master had placed on her immediately clouded her excitement at the thought of hunting down the Jedi. All her life she had been trained to turn fear into anger and anger into Force. She realized that for Darth Midnight she was no different either. Who could Darth Midnight turn to to increase her power if she was not the Emperor? People were divided into victims and predators. That was one of the basic principles of life. Together, Darth Midnight and her apprentice would ensure that her joint power continued to increase.
However, she should first survive combat against a Jedi. She wouldn't be surprised if her teacher had located one of them at large. Some were suspected of having survived the Great Jedi Purge, and Darth Midnight was the most interested in finding them. The Dark Side had conquered the entire Galaxy, so nothing could remain hidden forever. Perhaps one day, the apprentice thought, she too would be able to find her enemies through her thoughts and feelings, since that ability had not yet manifested itself in her, just as she could not see the future. She had never seen a Jedi. They were a mystery to her.
But she knew his story. Her Master did not give her classes or examine her in writing, but she allowed her access to the documents that they had preserved from the Republic and the Order that she herself had helped to overthrow from her undeservedly privileged position. The apprentice had devoted herself to study, knowing that someday her knowledge of her enemy could tip the balance of life and death.
"General Celestia"
That name brought her no memory related to her fighting style, her character or the last time she was seen. She would access the database when she reached her ship, the Rogue Sun. On the way to Nar Shaddaa she would have time to consult the documents. If she investigated thoroughly, she might end up finding out some detail, however trivial, that would prove useful at some decisive moment. It was the only preparation she needed.
She entered the hangar and made her way through the usual maze of boxes, shelves stacked with weapons and starfighter parts. The hangar was dimly lit, shadows closing in on the corners. The air smelled of metal and ozone, an acidic mix to which she was already used. Some believed that the belly of a Star Destroyer was a strange place to grow up, but she felt very at home among those unmistakable symbols of technological and political power. Ships like this one had patrolled the trade routes of the Galaxy for many years. They had put down rebellions and crushed resistance on hundreds of worlds. What place would be more suitable as a residence and school for a Sith apprentice?
"Kill everyone on board, whether Imperial or Rebel. Leave no witnesses".
As she pondered the turn of events, she heard a familiar snap to her right and a blue and white light appeared in a dark corner of the hangar. A white-robed figure ran towards her brandishing a lightsaber.
The apprentice immediately crouched down and raised her lightsaber to parry the blow, baring her teeth in a grimace of pleasure.
She and her adversary held their respective positions for a moment, their swords crossed in front of their chests. The apprentice quickly assessed her attacker. She was a human woman, slim and with rainbow hair. Her gaze was calm and serious and her jaw clenched resolutely. Anyone who had lived through the Clone Wars or had access to the Jedi archives would have recognized her immediately.
Jedi Master Rainbow Dash, a general of the Galactic Republic and an expert in the Soresu style of lightsaber combat, slid her sword down to the right, ducking at the same time to avoid the inevitable backlash. Sparks flew as the apprentice took a Force leap into the air and landed on stacked boxes with extraordinary agility. She reached out with her left hand and tossed a piece of metal across the hangar, aiming for her opponent's head. Dash crouched down and leapt toward her, deflecting a succession of blows that would have smashed an ordinary person to pieces. Then, she forced the apprentice to dodge her own attack by jumping from box to box in a temporary retreat.
The duel went on for almost a minute. Dash and the apprentice danced like Gados acrobats as they leapt from one pile of boxes to another, brandishing and clashing lightsabers, using shelves and pieces that temporarily turned into throwing weapons with which to attack each other. There was considerable scandal, the danger was real. Dash tore the sleeve of the apprentice's combat suit with a movement that would have amputated her arm at her elbow had he not pulled away from her in time. On two occasions she noticed the sword of the Jedi above her head.
The apprentice was not afraid of death. Her only fear was disappointing her master, and she made good use of that fear. She felt more powerful than ever.
Midnight had ordered her to eliminate an old enemy of hers, and killing the woman who was one of the most famous Jedi in the Galaxy was an excellent way to warm up her engines for the mission.
Excited by killing instinct, the apprentice rushed in front of her brandishing the red beam to deliver the final blow.