1This is me wanting to go work on a story idea I've had for a while. I'm a long-time fan of Star Wars and absolutely loved the twist of Kylo killing Snoke in TLJ, but still remaining evil. To me I felt it was a nice change of pace from the scheming puppet master dark side user, it made me think of Darth Malak, who I liked because he was both clever and good in a fight.
However, TROS struck some sour notes with me to the point I've only read the plot summary and will never watch the movie. Edit: I have watched it on 12/30/2022, and nothing changed. I never liked the idea of Palpatine coming back as a threat even in the EU, and well how it was done in TROS was only lessened by the fact it at least took place a good twenty-five years later than when Dark Empire did in Legends. The second thing was just further ruining the idea of the First Order, which TLJ did too, as much as I like that movie. I liked the First Order as a concept on paper an Imperial splinter group that prioritized quality over how many pie-shaped battleships and legions of troops they could throw at the enemy. Yet very little was done with them, in favor of retreading old plots after having them killed off for others' growth.
So, I'm hoping to work with a mix of both Legends and Canon for well what is basically a sequel trilogy rewrite or perhaps something close to it.
The Supremacy
29 ABY
'Another day, another pointless lesson. Did I trade one foolish old man for another?' The thoughts had come from an armored figure who strode down the long corridors of a gargantuan spaceship, whose inhabitants had worked tirelessly for both revenge and the chance to restore order to the Galaxy. Yet this figure was still unsure of his place in this organization, yes he had power, but what would he do when he destroyed the Jedi?
"Master Ren." a random officer had stopped his train of thought, then simply bowed as he just walked by.
'I am Kylo Ren, Master of the Knights of Ren. I am no longer Ben Solo, that weak pathetic Jedi.' Kylo let out a sigh. 'But there must be more. My master talks about the power of the Force, how it allows one to control life and death itself, yet what have I really learned other than focusing my emotions, lighting, and mind probes?' Kylo stopped in realization as if struck by a sudden thought. 'Surely my 'dear' master must have something in one of those vaults, especially if he has to oversee his Praetorian Guards now.' Kylo had soon started to pick up the pace to reach an elevator towards his destination.
The elevator had stopped at one of the seldom visited sections of the ship. Out stepped Kylo who could barely hide his anticipation even clad head to toe in armor. Kylo stopped before a chamber behind which he could feel multiple presences in the Force. Opening the door Kylo stepped through, and prepared himself for what might come.
The chamber was filled with various holocrons and other relics. As Kylo began to approach some of them, faint spirits began to emerge radiating dark power. One of the first such spirits to approach him looked to be a female Iktotchi dressed in simple robes. Her face which had tattoos on her chin showed no emotion, but her eyes were fierce and sizing him up.
"How sad, you have the potential power, but no purpose. That is the worst thing about you, but such a thing can be rectified, even if you are both spawned and fostered by Sidious's errors. I am Darth Cognus, Lord of the Sith." [1]
"You are a Lord of nothing, as are all of your Banite ilk, Cognus." The voice was harsh and commanding and belonged to an average-sized human male in ornate robes. "You rule over nothing and are even unworthy of the title of Lord. To say nothing of daring to call yourself Sith. You care about the power but know nothing of our culture and traditions, your order are but a bunch of children dressed up in costume." The spirit stopped ranting to look at Klyo before he calmed down. "Apologies, I am Darth Thanaton, Dark Lord of the Sith. As much as I am loath to admit it, she does have a point. you could be so much more that this galaxy could be yours for the taking." Thanaton remarked with some embers of passion still remaining. [2]
"Fools. Are these pointless political games the only things you two care about? States rise and fall but art remains eternal as shall I be once more." A bored-sounding voice chimed in.
"Oh, now the lunatic is coming to pontificate his 'art' to us." The ghostly figure of Thanaton sighed.
"I am ashamed he was ever a part of our particular order, Thanaton." Cognus said with a hint of annoyance.
"For those who title themselves Lords, you certainly lack manners." This speaker wore a mask but there was hair showing from the sides, Kylo could also see red lights in the shape of where eyes would be on a person's face. "I am Darth Momin and what are you supposed to be other than clay for your disgustingly dull master?" Momim asked in an almost bored fashion. [3]
"I am Kylo Ren, Master of the Knights of Ren. I will continue what my Grandfather started, I will destroy the Jedi!" This proclamation only saw darkness as many spectral figures began to converge around Kylo. One appeared a stern-faced man with broad shoulders and no hair on his head, another a Bith with a scowl on their face, a Munn was looking Kylo curiously up and down, and a man with long flowing hair with a beard and mustache was doing the same.
"Look at you clad in armor and making proclamations. I wonder what is behind that mask?" Thanaton mused.
Kylo felt himself being gripped by a presence. He looked to see Darth Cognus using the force to hold him in place. Her face had a small devious smile, but her eyes gave the look of a predator. Kylo felt more pressure and tried to fight back tapping into his hatred, but the other two Sith joined in. Klyo felt his mask get flung off, as he was forced to face the three Sith with his bare brown eyes.
"A mere child." Thanaton looked on with disappointment.
"Are you fit only to be your master's pet? Look at you fresh-faced, but you say you are master of 'Knights'. Maybe your master keeps you because you look pretty." Cognus had a look of mock thoughtfulness as Momin and Thanaton laughed.
"Those are interesting remarks, but insulting to both children and pets." The two other figures laughed. "When I was a child, the childhood pet I killed went through worse. To call oneself a master is to presume you can reach unreachable heights, but you are something worse. You are if one put a blob of clay on a pedestal and called it their unsurpassed masterpiece." Klyo could feel an intense fury emanating from Momin.
"Must you really insult the young man like this?" A soft older voice called out. "After all, he did come here for a reason, a potentially foolish one nonetheless. You should show more patience for him, even if it is for the soon-to-be deceased." The voice did not once lose its soft tone.
A fourth figure appeared nearby. They wore robes similar to Darth Thanaton, but they appeared to be a different species. While the figure had short hair on their head, in place of eyebrows were ridges, they had a series of tendrils where a beard would be, with two of them adorned with decorative ornaments. Yet most surprising of all, he seemed to be old, with a kindly smile, betrayed by scrutinizing eyes.
"I am Darth Vowrawn, Dark Lord of the Sith. I take it you are here for power, although having had the displeasure of speaking with your master, you could be here for conversation too?" Vowrawn's courteous tone contained some degree of mirth. [4]
"I desire more power." Kylo said, trying to regain his composure, in the face of the spirits that surrounded him.
"Typical, but let's say you obtained this power, what would you do with it?" Vowrawn asked with a hint of curiosity.
"Destroy the Jedi." Klyo growled.
"Like your dear old grandfather, who was he by the way?" Kylo suspected the figure was asking for politeness sake, as they did not seem too interested in the current conversation.
"Darth Vader." Kylo stated as seriously as possible. A moment of silence passed before only one person's laughter rang out. The hysterical laughter had come from Darth Momin.
"That miserable excuse of a Sith, a walking slab of meat. You wish to emulate that?" Momin asked incredulously, before stopping to think. "If you believe the insanity your 'Master' peddles, your grandfather would be a smarter choice of inspiration, if only slightly."
"Do you believe your master, that you know only hatred, you cannot be stopped? That somehow love and compassion are nothing but weaknesses?" Vowrawn asked, as his ethereal tendrils began to twitch, seemingly in irritation.
"Why wouldn't they be? It was what made even my grandfather weak, and caused him to spare his son." Anger began to radiate from Kylo as he thought of his uncle.
"And when the Jedi are gone, what will you then do with your hatred then, turn it towards something or someone else in the galaxy?" A sly smile was on Vowrawn's face.
'I'll rule the galaxy, and then, and then.' Kylo could not clearly think. Even if the Galaxy was his to command, what would he gain from it, or even do in the first place.
"Ah, you don't know, do you?" Vowrawn practically cooed. "I hope you are more open-minded than your master to the truth."
"The truth?" Kylo asked in confusion.
"Yes, that your Master's belief in power is as shallow as his taste in fashion is gaudy." Kylo saw Vowrawn give a look of disgust. "You are taught both to embrace your hatred, but to deny the source of that hatred. Your grandfather's love for your uncle is what brought him back to the light, yet it can also lead to hate. Life without someone or something to care about is worthless, so who or what do you care about?"
Kylo tried to answer, but found himself thinking back to his old friends, wait they were Ben's friends weren't they? Kylo forced himself back to the present, where he saw a look of pity on Vowrawn's face.
"Has something wrong gone in the galaxy, you're a young man without passion. Peace is a lie after all, there is only Passion, and that can be anything you want it be. Food, drink, carnal pleasure, intellectual hobbies, and even gardening." Kylo only glared at the apparition, ignoring those last three words.
"So, what would you have me do 'honored lord'? Would you have me learn the ancient dark arts of debauchery and find the answers I seek later?" Kylo asked in irritation as he saw a look of delight on Vowrawn's face instead of anger.
"That would be a nice start. For it is our passions that give us strength, which gives us power, and when we achieve victory our chains are broken and nothing may limit us again, well almost nothing. Then we could work on possible wardrobe changes, and once we are all set get you into the thrill of taking on impossible challenges and winning. You might not be Sith, but you would be better than what you are now."
"Why would I want to look to actual specters of the past? I look to my grandfather as a source of strength, and that's enough!"
"Is it? Don't tell me you're content with gaining only crumbs from your master's vile hands." The old Sith's tone was condescending as if it were holding back fury, but Kylo did not protest for his words held a degree of truth. "If he gives you all of his important secrets, you are no longer a student, you are a threat. Threats get dealt with in oh so many wonderful ways, especially if those threats have use. Imagine being led into a situation where you die taking out many of your foes, heroically of course. As it happens your enemies received information from an informant either working for or from your dear Supreme Leader himself."
"But my master said I was one of his strongest students, would he really betray me?" Vowrawn's ghostly laugh was joined by the entire room of spirits, at the young man's answer.
"Oh, your potential strength is a tool, but who uses that tool, and to what purpose is the question you should be asking first. Second, do you like the answer, and if not how would you change it? For all you know, your master could be trying to steal your body, and with a visage like that, I would not blame him. You may be considered useful by your master now, but that use always has limits, and when you are of no use, you will be discarded"
"Then what should I do?" Kylo was desperately wondering what the mischievous elder would say next.
"Oh, you would have to accept my tutelage to find out." Vowrawn had a small teasing smile.
"And what would you use me for?" Kylo glared annoyed at the elder's mind games, but to his surprise, Vowrawn's smile grew wider.
"You're starting to learn, how wonderful. All I would use you for is to see the galaxy, and maybe the look on that ghoulish bore's face when you kill him." Vowrawn's second sentence had sounded if it had come as a whimsical afterthought rather than a real goal.
"I accept." At these words the other spirits had soon dissipated, leaving only Kylo and Vowrawn.
"Very well, my spirit is within this old relic, I'm sure your master won't notice it, we are on understandably bad terms." Vowrawn said in irritation as he pointed toward the relic.
Kylo had picked up the relic and with a brisk pace left the room to return to his quarters. "There's no coming back from this is there? Who am I now? My old, no Ben's old friend Voe she was ambitious too? I'm plotting against my mast- no, the Supreme Leader, perhaps the Former Supreme Leader. This is a dangerous game." Kylo remarked in the sanctuary of his room, only for laughter and Darth Vowrawn to reappear. [5]
"Ah, but those are the best kind of games. Wager everything you have, to gain everything you have ever wanted." Kylo had set the relic down, he figured he could learn from the paradoxically active old person's spirit later and had gone to sleep. But what he actually wanted was still something that ate away at his thoughts.
[1] Darth Cognus was a Sith who followed the Rule of Two and showed up in the Darth Bane Trilogy of novels. I'm just doing this to go introduce characters and concepts that might be unfamiliar since this plot is going to be set in a universe that mixes elements of the current canon, and Legends/EU.
[2] Darth Thanaton shows in media related to Star Wars the Old Republic, as something of a staunch traditionalist. The thing to understand with the Sith of this particular property is that like the Sith from the Tales of the Jedi, is they are genuine Sith both in terms of either species, blood since they have bred with humans, and culture. So for them being a Sith is more than just wearing robes or adopting a title with which to oppose the Jedi, it is or was a living breathing culture that stretched back several millennia.
[3] Darth Momin is from canon and one of my favorite Sith Lords. Essentially he is a mad artist who believes in the glorification of the Dark Side itself through actions of cruelty, over using the Dark Side as a source of power.
[4] Darth Vowrawn similar to Thanaton comes from Star Wars the Old Republic and is noticeably both outgoing in his demeanor and also a Sith Lord who has served on the Dark Council for decades where most members usually serve either months or years. He also happens to find cutthroat scheming and power plays as a pastime and enjoys challenges.
[5] Voe was one of Ben's friends before he struck her down when he fell to the Dark Side.
So here it is. I don't honestly know what I can promise update-wise in terms of frequency, however, I want to see where this goes even if I have planned out some elements here and there. So I hope you guys enjoy.