HOLOCRON

It was another rainy day in Dromand Kaas when Vette spotted Leena by the balcony proceeding with her daily routine of swinging her lightsaber. The Twi'lek wondered why she would do this under the rain when Baras made sure she had room to train in. This made her concerned.

Leena released all of her frustration and sorrow through the swings of her lightsaber. A trapped bird inside of a cage, feeling the tight chains around her neck for she only answered to her Master. Darth Occlus is a Dark Lord who can grant her freedom from him, but she didn't. All she gave her was wisdom and a lightsaber, and for the apprentice, that was enough for a temporary fuel for determination.

The Sith use their anger and hatred to generate suffering to their enemies, and those who stand in their way. Perhaps, she thought that the only way to be free from Baras was to find someone who can.

As he would make her suffer further, she collects all the hatred and agony, and one day challenge her Master when the time is right.

When Leena took her bath, the first thing that popped into her mind was her father. Erhart Zarbo, from what she remembered, her father was a respected military captain when she was younger. She had no contact from him for six years and she didn't have the will to even try and reach out to him, in fear that Baras would kill him or her sister so that she could suffer.

'All warriors understand the need to face and defeat the enemy, and both aspects of the task can be challenging. In which both can require thought, insight and planning.' She remembered her father's words, when he was teaching her and Azal, the youngest girl, his own beliefs and serving the Empire through their own granted gifts. Force-sensitives or not. 'But a warrior may forget, that even the task of identifying the enemy, can be difficult.'

'Pretend to be weak,' she thought to herself. 'So he may grow arrogant.'

Cut off the head and the snake will die.

Darth Occlus claimed to be a friend of her mother. As scared as she was, she did genuinely believe that Occlus did have this bond, this connection with her mother. Zylas wielded two lightsabers like her, it was only natural for the Lord Sern to have two of the lightsabers but she wondered – why were one with Baras and the other with Occlus?

Both Darths in their respective tricks but only one spoke the truth. Lying and manipulation came to be the natural talents of Sith or talents in general, for those who worked hard to climb on the ladder. Those who were born with Sith blood, they were born to wage war. A war of silence of shadow to the point where they embrace the darkness as if they were one. Once the dark side reigns unchecked, it would be difficult to embrace the light.

Human nature at its core – what is human nature?

That afternoon while Leena was meditating in her room, 2V approached the Twi'lek telling her that there was a visitor for the Sern apprentice. Disturbing her on meditation was something Vette would never do, with a sigh, the companion stood up and began to walk towards the entrance to see this human male that approached them during their walk.

With a smile still on his face, if she recalled, his name was Arrun Zaine.

"You… have a message for Leena?" Vette asked curiously, wondering what he had for her friend.

The servant nodded. "I'm actually here in service of Darth Occlus, a mere delivery."

"Vette?" She heard Leena's voice from inside the stronghold. "Why are you there?"

"Arrun is here… with something, I don't know." The Twi'lek shrugged.

"Darth Occlus wishes to keep tabs on you, and face to face is the safest bet."

"What kind of bet?" The apprentice crossed her arms as Vette slowly backed out of the conversation between the two. She sensed something with this one, he has a connection to the Force – she could feel it, but the difference was that – he seemed to be a free man and not a caged apprentice like her. "Why would Darth Occlus send a Sith to deliver a message?"

"Because killing a Sith in Dromand Kaas is a crime. If Lord Baras would want me dead, he would have to do it himself…" the man smiled. "…I outrank you, apprentice. I am a Sith Lord."

"Forgive me… my Lord. I did not mean to insult you."

The Sith Lord chuckled. "No need to be all obedient in my presence, it's just the two of us and… your slave and droid. I came here to be your friend."

"You said Darth Occlus has something for me."

He nodded. "Me."

"That… doesn't make any sense—"

Arrun began to laugh, he found this apprentice amusing for his taste. "Darth Occlus wants me to deliver this to you." He stated as he handed over a Holocron in the shape of a pyramid. The girl hesitantly took it, and began to observe – wondering why the Dark Lord would even bother herself to grant a mere apprentice with her mother's surname, something that seems so… important. "Dark Occlus knows you will take good care of it."

"Tell Darth Occlus that I thank her… for this gift."

"If you need a friend," the Sith trailed off as the girl met his eyes. It seemed genuine despite the central hate that empowers him like any other Sith. "I'll be by your side."

A smile was formed on her lips. "Is that some sort of Sith trick or is it a classic lie?"

"What's the difference Sern?" Vette wanted to laugh at the background for this exchange.

"The first one can have me dead by the end of the day, and the other can let me live – so which one is it, my Lord?" She seemed to be enjoying this, being comfortable around the Sith Lord.

"A genuine statement." He chuckled. "Until then, Sern."

When the Dark Lord left the stronghold, Leena immediately told the droid to prepare her something sweet when she goes to her room and sees what the Holocron does. With Vette smiling like an idiot, seated on the couch, she couldn't help but show that proud grin to Leena.

"What?" Leena asked with a playful smile, seemed more bashful.

"You like the man."

"We only met once." Leena pointed out.

Vette on the other hand, corrected. "Twice. AND – he seems to like you too."

"There's no way he would look at a lowly apprentice like that. He's only kind because his Master asked him to, and…"

"And what?" Vette raised her brow. Waiting for the apprentice's answer.

"He's Sith." The answer was rather simple for her. "If we do become friends, if we do become close – one day he will leave me, betray me, leave me alone to die. Who knows maybe he'll kill me where it hurts. Treachery is an endless game for Sith like me, Vette – it's no stranger for people who serve the Empire."

"Well… just because the people in power lie and murder, doesn't mean those at the bottom are the same."

"You'd be surprised… how many people turned out like the people they don't want to be." Leena didn't have many expectations from Sith, especially when she's on the road to becoming one. Forced to learn the dark side of the Force, there was no middle ground being the oldest surviving child of Lord Zylas Sern, a Sith Lord who fell after the Battle of Alderaan.

But she never knew why and how.

That evening, the apprenticed placed the Holocron on the table inside of her quarters. Looking at it, wondering what contents that were inside, and Darth Occlus wanted her to have it. She's been in Dromand Kaas for two years now, not much excitement and it took the Dark Lord a while before she could have contact with Zylas's oldest surviving child.

A Sith Holocron, that should be nothing much for her and yet – she felt a strange calling and held the Holocron once more.

But unlike other Holocrons, this one didn't require some sort of meditation – all she needed was her, activating it an image of a woman stood in her presence. Within the darkness of her room, a young woman, older than her in looks. Hair as black as the night, eyes as yellow due to the corruption of the dark side like any other Sith. Skin as fair as hers and what's odd to the young apprentice was that they were similar in looks – especially the shape of her eyes.

"I sense your presence," the woman spoke softly with a smile on her lips. "For long I hoped that one of my children would open this Holocron, this confirms my suspicions. Your brothers did not survive the assault."

"Assault?" Leena repeated in question. "Who are you?"

"You were only a babe it all happened. I can't blame you for not remembering me, nor I can't blame you for not knowing me at all. I assume your father spoke little of me… Leena Sern, I am your mother – Zylas, head of House Sern of Alderaan and a faithful servant of the Emperor."

Shocked as she was, they were like carbon copies – can be easily mistaken as twins if Leena's hair wasn't white. "You look… different. I didn't expect an offspring of mine to have such… snow white hair."

"It's a long story. You could say that" she paused "Trauma had something to do with it."

Zylas gave such a stern look towards the child. "Life hasn't been kind to you. If I wasn't betrayed on Alderaan, I would have been training you and your brothers… you wouldn't have suffered."

"How… I…" Leena was lost. The apprentice didn't know how this could work; all she knew was that holocrons were like recordings for knowledge but this didn't seem like a mere recording. It felt something more. She felt the presence of Zylas as if she was alive.

"Veran—no… She goes by Darth Occlus now, I suppose." Gentle and a kind smile, it wasn't much of a Sith appearance nor mannerisms. "During my youth, I collected knowledge that can allow me to construct a… special kind of Holocron, in which only my bloodline can open and a tricky technique in which I had to ask Occlus for – how to imprison a spirit in a Holocron."

"How is that possible?"

"Darth Occlus is a woman who loves Sith artifacts and getting her way on things. She has more knowledge about Sith holocrons than I did in my lifetimes – and here I am. Nothing but a soul trapped inside a box."

As her mother continued the story, she could feel the anger and frustration from the spirit that stood in front of her. "I told your father to get you and your sister Azal. Find a way to be off-world and we would meet in Empire territory, Dromand Kaas was the safest place we agreed on, and I had my apprentice protect him and the both of you. I, on the other hand, was assigned to get your brothers. I slaughtered Jedi after Jedi, stubborn troops who dare attacked my family – but I was struck down by a Jedi Master and lost consciousness."

"If you were killed by a Jedi, then… why are you inside the Holocron?"

"I'm not sure." Answered Zylas. "I was struggling to fight when I was… you could say, outnumbered by those who I have trusted. Sith who I had called my comrades finally betrayed me. The last thing I remembered was your brothers, Tyrral and Varan – such small boys that never got to see what the future had for them. I would ask you to release me but you're not ready. You need to be strong when the time comes and annihilate the Jedi Order to avenge me."

"Forgive me, mother. But I am only a mere apprentice…" she spoke softly. Shy in the presence of her mother, even as a mere spirit. "…I can't slay Jedi."

"Apprentice to who?"

"Darth Baras."

Zylas's forehead wrinkled by the mere mention of his name, her frown became deeper as if it was going to fall off from her face. "He dares take you as an apprentice? You will be his downfall if the time ever comes that he might finally dispose of you. He's always like that, he allowed arrogance to fuel his lust for power – and he thinks he can outsmart everyone, even the Dark Council themselves. Tell me at least – you have both my lightsabers?"

Leena nodded. "Good. A lightsaber is an elegant weapon, a more civilized weapon for the slaying. I hope that I have no need to doubt your skills… and I must prepare you for war."

"War?" Leena repeated in confusion. "We're not at war… mother."

"That's where you're wrong, daughter. Soon, you will be dispatch to fight in a war that we have fought for so long and countless of times. War is the way of life for the Empire and conquest is a right – in which those who stand victorious have the right to claim everything. The Empire is ruled by the strongest and the Empire is the strongest." Zylas spoke to her daughter in confidence, the corruption in her eyes show it all too well. "There is no such thing as safety for a Sith, and everyone who is close to you will live in constant danger."

"I'll protect them." Leena gave her answer without hesitation.

That's what Zylas said so many years ago, and there she stood, dead without a body. "You can't even protect yourself." As painful as it sounded, Leena knew that her mother was right. "Tell me, Leena… have you already lost someone who you have considered to be important?"

Leena nodded, remembering how Baras tortured her by starring at Tremel's rotting head in front of her. That image will always haunt her, even years after. "Welcome to the lifetime of a Sith. It will not be the first and it won't be the last. It will go on and on until your death – because that's the way it works. I paid… a terrible price for my carelessness, and look where I am now – a spirit in a Holocron, a mother who lost both her sons, failed her family and her Emperor."

"I'm aware that I will sacrifice lives along the way," Leena assured. "But these actions… Baras is making me do… they keep me a step further away from the person I want to be—"

"The person you are… is Sith. And favor for a favor keeps you in power."

"That is your way." Zylas knew those eyes. Those were eyes of determination. Perhaps hate was boiling inside of her, she wasn't just using it. Not yet. She might be something more, something Zylas failed to be – but it was too early to determine the young Sern's fate in this galaxy.

"Every Sith walks the same path. And if we wish for the Sern Legacy to live, I need you to become the Sith Lord you are always meant to be – or you could collapse into nothing as I did before you." Leena remained in silence, listening to her mother's reasons.

"Have you ever lost a war mother?"

"If Malgus won the Battle of Alderaan then I would have been with you through your childhood, I would have been the one to train you. I would have been your Master, you would have been my apprentice… and I would have been a mother to you and you would have brothers to look up to… but none of that doesn't matter now." Leena continued to listen. "I have lost the battle and I have yet to win the war."

"What makes you say that?"

"You're alive, aren't you?" Leena nodded. Zylas was strict and yet commanding. The apprentice was too young to have memories of her mother, but she was right. If her mother was alive, then she wouldn't have been suffering like this – Baras would have been nothing compared to Zylas. "It is a rare thing, daughter. A Sith, who lives up to her reputation. You will do your duty, years and years of lectures of family and legacy it always occurred to be me that your oldest brother would be living by them – not Varan, not even you – but I have to live with my failure and hope that you will give this legacy strength to stand long… as my oldest surviving child. How is Azal?"

Zylas asked. Her youngest daughter at the time was only three months old when the assault happened. "I… I don't keep tabs with father or Azal… so I don't know how she's doing. I can only assume that she's well… alive and safe."

"Your father is probably station to who knows what planet." Zylas sighed. "I just hope Azal can cope up with the horrors of the galaxy. The galaxy is a cruel place, and it's cruelest to the weak."

Leena couldn't help but look down on her feet.

'Cruelest to the weak.' She thought to herself, wondering if she was truly weak to even be Sith.

"Enough moping around, Leena. We shall begin your lesson." The apprentice turned up to her mother, wondering what she could have to teach her in this kind of situation. "A Sern should know how to lay her plans. War will always be important to the Empire, we Sith use their anguish and hate to fill our soul. Our connection to the Force. It is a matter of life and death, a road either to safety or ruin. Hence why it cannot be neglected… You must master the five factors, someday you might find a good use for it – you must learn to understand the moral law, have people who will follow you regardless of their lives and undismayed by danger."

"You want people to worship me?" Leena questioned.

"Not worship, Leena. Follow. I want people to follow you because they will believe in you. Remember Leena, one. One army, united by one leader, with a single purpose. Fear is one way of the Sith. But you must learn how to inspire people, be respected and feared by also loved."

"I'd never thought that I would hear that from… a Sith Lord."

"Baras controls his little spies with fear, that's what triggers their loyalty. They're afraid that they will kill them and only a fool would believe that Baras would spare them from death. Only a fool."

"You dislike him, mother?"

Zylas smirked. "Sweet child, I loathed him." She never imagined that her daughter would serve Baras of all the dark lords in the Sith Empire. She could have been hers, or if lucky – Marr would have had his eyes on Leena or Occlus, her old friend. Those two could have taken her daughter in and train her to be the Sith she was meant to be.

But Baras has her, and he was forcing himself to tame her daughter – to tame a Sern.

"The next factor would be the concept of heaven – which signifies the day and night, the cold and the heat, the times and the seasons. The third factor – earth comprises the distances, great or small. Danger and security. Open ground or narrow-passage ways. The chances of life and death. The general stands for the virtues, Leena. Remember the virtues of wisdom, serenity, benevolence, courage and strictness."

"Serenity sounds like what the Jedi would say…"

"Wisdom and serenity are put before humility or benevolence, and the two military virtues are courage and strictness can be a substitute for the uprightness of mind and self-respect, self-control or these proper feelings."

"What about the Sith Code?"

"Use the Sith Code to your advantage, but when the time comes you slowly learn how to understand the Sith code, the more you will question the code itself. By method and discipline are to be understood the marshaling of the army and its proper subdivisions, the rank of your offices, the maintenance of pathways were the supplies may reach you and your army as well as the control of the expenditure."

"You speak as if there would come a war that will never come," Leena didn't understand. And yet, Zylas knew her daughter seemed to be too young, too pure to understand the ways of the Sith – she will learn in time, the Sith Lord knows that too well. After all, she used to be the same. "We have the Treaty of Coruscant, mother. We won't go into war any time soon nor do I even have the authority to even command troops."

"A treaty." Zylas couldn't help but laugh at her daughter's statement. "A treaty never lasts, my dear. If it ever does – then why do the Sith and the Jedi are at constant war against each other? Why do Imperial soldiers and Republic troops keep on slaughtering one another in the field? Why does the Empire plan behind the Republic's back and arm their enemies? Sith and Jedi – they could never be one, no one can ever unite them. We are two groups with two different ideas and ways of life, traditions and cultures. We will always be at war with the Jedi and the Republic – we can never be one."

"I'm only an apprentice, mother. I serve Darth Baras whether I like it or not, I do his dirty work – I am his enforcer. Imperial soldiers smile in front of my face and I know very well, that they want to stab me behind my back. Bars told me to never trust anyone—"

"Trusting no one can be true, but at the same time it can be your greatest downfall."

"Some elaboration is required, mother."

"No one can survive in this galaxy without help, no one." Zylas eyes said it all. She spoke from experience, no one can do everything alone. "Sith is fooling, we think we can conquer the galaxy under a singular person, ignoring those who work for us. We don't use droids who just follow senseless commands, if a being believes in what you fight for – then expect absolute loyalty. Those five factors should be familiar to you, Leena. If you know them well enough, you will be victorious. If you don't know them, you will fail."

When the mother shares her wisdom, it would usually be about fidelity and motherhood – but instead, Leena was receiving war lessons from her own mother. She couldn't really understand what she was feeling, this was a reunion she never imagined. In fact, she never imagined a reunion at all. Zylas was dead to the galaxy after all.

But she could feel it from the spirit. The regret, the anger, the sadness, and the love – regardless if she was nothing more than a spirit in front of her oldest living child.

"All warfare is based on deception. When you are to attack, you must seem unable. When using forces, you must seem inactive. When you are near, you must make the enemy believe that you are far away. When far away, you must make them believe you are near. Hold out baits towards the enemy, feign disorder and crush them. This is how Baras lasted and I want you to play his own game."

"I can't." Zylas saw the fear in her daughter's eyes. Life hasn't been truly kind to her, and as a mother – it pains her so much to see her child suffer like this. "Baras… would just torture me in any method he wants. He didn't want to do anything with my face, he needed it. He needed the face of Lord Zylas Sern's daughter… but the rest of me… he could do anything with the rest of me. He will kill me."

"As long as you stand by him, he will kill you regardless if you give him unquestionable loyalty or defy him with every ounce of your being. You need to play the game of power, Leena. The galaxy is a cruel place, and it is cruelest to the weak – built by killers. So, you better start to gain your own experience."

"I can't play the game." Leena pleads, but Zylas was not taking any of it even in the afterlife.

"Learn how to play the game. Learning a person's motives is one way how to play it." Zylas began her next lesson. "Assume the worst – their reasons for doing it, why they're saying that why they did it and ask yourself – how does that reason explain what they're saying and what they're doing. The enemies who have to come to spy on you must be sought out, tempted with bribes, led away and comfortably housed. They will become converted spies."

"Wouldn't… it just is wise to kill the spies?"

"No. Never waste resources." Leena nodded, knowing that's what Tremel told her as well. "When the spy has one important information, and two Lords are yearning for it to crush their enemies and raise their political gain to power – which Lord will the spy seek?" The mother smiled with the question. "The Lord with the most promising reward. Learn from your fear, don't let it consume you."

"How?" Leena asked. "How do I do that? I will never win…"

"You learned that you will never win because it's his game. His rules. You're not going to fight them… you're going to make it your game. That's what you know, that's what you are, and only by admitting what we are can we get what we want?"

"You must despise him too much if you're… actually teaching me how to turn against him."

Zylas has always been a stubborn woman. "Baras is one of the most dangerous men in the Empire, I always have a hard time trusting masked men. Who knows what they want?"

"You don't trust Darth Occlus?"

"I'm a practical woman, Leena. I actually enjoyed Baras… but he will see this Empire burn if he could be the Emperor himself."

"How…" Leena trailed off. Not knowing what her mother meant. "…I don't think that's ever possible. Having control over the council is being the Emperor himself."

"A man with no motives is a man no one suspects. Always keep your foes confused. If they don't know who you are or what you want, they can't know what you plan to do next. Play the game, don't be a survivor. Take your life on your own hands… and you learn not to answer to anyone."

"I'm… I'm afraid."

"To conquer fear… you must become fear, you must bask in the fear of other men. It's not the title that defines you, but what you do. And I need you to become the Sern that you were always meant to be, do you understand me, Leena?"

Leena nodded.

Zylas wanted to hold her, and tell her everything will be alright – she seemed so young but, Zylas knew that everywhere in the galaxy they hurt little girls. And telling her those words would just lead her to lie to her own daughter.

Zylas was many things but she's not a liar – everyone knew that.

With the Sith Lord returning to her Holocron, Leena found herself alone again in her chambers. So close to understanding the Force and yet so close to giving it up. If to be free means being a Sith, then so be it.