Darth Bane: Rule of Two

Darth Bane: Rule of Two is the follow-up novel to 2006's Darth Bane: Path of Destruction. It is a replacement for the cancelled Darth Plagueis novel. It recounts the story of Darth Bane and his apprentice Darth Zannah after the Seventh Battle of Ruusan.

A preview of Rule of Two is available in the paperback release of Allegiance, released the same day as Rule of Two.

Synopsis
'''Two there should be; no more, no less. One to embody the power, the other to crave it.'''

''Now Darth Bane is ready to put his policy into action, and he thinks he has found the key element that will make his triumph complete: a student to train in the ways of the dark side. Though she is young, Zannah possesses an instinctive link to the dark side that rivals his own. With his guidance, she will become essential in his quest to destroy the Jedi and dominate the galaxy.''

''There is one who is determined to stop Darth Bane: Johun Othone, Padawan to Jedi Master Lord Hoth, who died at Bane's hands in the last great Sith War. Though the rest of the Jedi scoff at him, Johun's belief that there are surviving Sith on the loose is unshakeable.''

''As Johun continues his dogged pursuit of the man who killed his master, Zannah, faced unexpectedly with a figure from her past, begins to question her embrace of the dark side. And Darth Bane is led by Force-induced visions to a moon where he will acquire astonishing new knowledge and power -- power that will alter him in ways he could never have imagined...''

Plot summary
Darth Bane: Rule of Two begins just after the end of Darth Bane: Path of Destruction, with Bane and his new apprentice Zannah still on Ruusan after the destruction of the Brotherhood of Darkness during the Seventh Battle of Ruusan.

Bane begins Zannah's instruction by forcing her to relive her memories of Laa's death, then they head rapidly toward the former Sith encampment. Bane attacks and kills most of a group of mercenaries who are looting the camp, but allows the last two to escape. When a confused Zannah questions his motives, Bane tells her that there would have been no purpose in killing all of the mercenaries. He explains that the Sith's continued existence will depend on secrecy but that rumors about them are inevitable; and that the more questionable the source of the rumor, the easier it will be for people to dismiss it.

In Qordis' tent, Bane finds an unexpected treasure: a Sith manuscript which reveals the location of the tomb of Freedon Nadd, a legendary Sith Lord from some three thousand years earlier. Bane then leads Zannah into the cave where the thought bomb detonated, wanting to show her what Kaan's beliefs led to. Zannah is horrified by the feelings emanating from the orb, but a contemptuous Bane easily shrugs off its effects. Bane derides Kaan's philosophy of equality and tells Zannah that the dark side is meant to be embraced by the strong, not the weak. Zannah questions what will happen to her if she fails Bane, but before he can answer, Zannah's cousin Darovit stumbles upon them, and thinking that he is protecting Zannah, attempts to attack Bane. Knowing that her new master would kill Darovit in a instant, Zannah instead stops him by destroying his right hand with the Force, telling Bane when pressed that the boy's death would serve no purpose.

After Bane and Zannah leave the cave, Bane informs her that he will meet her on Onderon in ten days, and that she is to find her own way there. When an upset Zannah protests, he tells her that she has the potential to become more powerful than him, and will one day challenge him for the role of Master: a battle only one of them will survive. Bane tells her finding her own way to Onderon from Ruusan is her first test, and if she does not do so, she will have proved herself unworthy of being his apprentice. Bane then boards the Valcyn and leaves Ruusan, headed for Nadd's tomb on Dxun.

Meanwhile, Johun Othone, former Padawan of General Hoth, doesn't believe all the Sith Lords died. Hearing the two surviving mercenaries story of being attacked by Bane, Johun attempts to convince Jedi Master Valenthyne Farfalla that a Sith Lord has survived, but Farfalla quickly casts doubt on the mercenaries story, saying that they had been around the Sith enough to manufacture any manner of tale. He then tells Johun that he will take Johun on as his apprentice, and they are to return to Coruscant and meet with the Chancellor.

Now alone, Zannah manages to locate a Republic shuttle crewed by a soldier, a farmer, and his two sons. She accepts a meal, and tells them when questioned that she has to get to Onderon, where she has family. When the shuttle prepares to rejoin the Republic fleet, Zannah makes her move, intending to hold the crew hostage in exchange for passage to Onderon. One of the farmers' sons sees her stealing a blaster, and in the ensuing struggle Zannah kills him. She then kills the farmer and orders the soldier to set an autopilot course for Onderon, killing the woman and the other boy after the computer is programmed.

In the aftermath of the thought bomb, Bane has been seeing hallucinations of Kaan and Qordis, and as he flies to Dxun, the vision of Qordis begins to goad him, causing Bane to lash out with the Force and seriously damage the Valcyn. Crashlanding and badly injuring himself, Bane manages to treat his wounds before heading toward Nadd's tomb. Bane enters the tomb and finds a chamber containing Nadd's holocron. As Bane retrieves the holocron, he is attacked by orbalisks, parasitic creatures native to Dxun. Two of the creatures manage to attach themselves to his body before he can escape the holocron chamber and reseal it, and Bane quickly realizes that he cannot remove them. Nadd's holocron describes his own experiences with the orbalisks; that they feed on the dark side and release enzymes that increase physical strength and the power to draw on the dark side, grant incredible regenerative powers, and that their shells protect the area they cover from virtually any weapon, up to and including a lightsaber. The constant pain the creatures inflict concerns Bane, as does Nadd's warnings that they will eventually multiply and spread over his entire body if he doesn't protect his face from their progress as Nadd has done, and that if one dies, it will stay attached even in death and release a lethal poison that would kill him within days. Using his increased power to drive the phantoms of Kaan and Qordis from his mind permanently. Bane then mentally dominates a drexl, a flying reptile, using the Force to encase it and himself in a cocoon of dark side energy and fly the few hundred kilometers through open space to Onderon.

Zannah has landed her stolen shuttle on Onderon, and is confronted by a group of Onderon beast-riders who threaten her. Bane makes his appearance at that moment, killing the riders and rejoining his apprentice before they take the shuttle and leave. On Coruscant, the Galactic Senate has passed resolutions disbanding the Jedi's military forces. Master Farfalla assigns Johun to the Chancellor's personal guard and promotes him to full Jedi Knight.

Ten years later Zannah has grown into a beautiful young woman training in the rare arts of Sith Sorcery. She has had to learn much of the dangerous power by herself, as while Bane can provide her with some spells and techniques from Nadd's holocron, his own skills in that area are limited. She has been sent on a mission by Bane to goad a Seperatist movement on the world of Serenno into acting before it is ready. Zannah seduces their second in command, an affluent Twi'lek named Kel, and feeds them infomation about former Chancellor Valorum coming to Serenno. The group decide to kidnap him and Zannah leaves, heading bck to her and Bane's home on Ambria. In her absence, Bane has attempted to create his own holocron and failed, destroying the camp when his anger at his failure allows the orbalisks to drive him into a dark side-fueled fury. Concerned for her master's future and slightly conflicted over her physical attraction to Kel, Zannah questions whether the orbalisks are helping Bane or harming him now. She realizes from Bane's reaction to her question that she has successfully caused him to begin to wonder about the orbalisks, and hopes that this will eventually lead him to finding a way to rid himself of them before he kills her in another outburst.

Back on Serenno, the seperatists attempt their kidnapping. Johun, however, is still Valorum's guard, and he manages to prevent the kidnapping and kill most of the Seperatists. Zannah, for her part, is accosted by the surviving members of the movement when she returns to buy supplies and is taken to their financial backer, a middle-aged man named Hetton who has been trained in the dark side and asks to become Zannah's apprentice. He shows her his library of rare Sith artifacts and tells her of his master's stronghold on the planet Tython, where the Jedi and Sith first came to power. Zannah takes Hetton and his eight Umbaran Shadow Assassins back to her and Bane's home on Ambria.

The assassins attack Bane, who kills them and Hetton, then, still enraged, turns on Zannah. She manages to hold his attacks off long enough to tell him that Hetton knew where to find information about how to make a working holocron: this gets through to Bane and he calms down. Bane wonders if perhaps the orbalisks are part of his inability to create a holocron and finally decides that the abilities they give him are no longer worth the cost to his power and mental state. He heads to Tython to find Hetton's masters base, while Zannah will attempt to use her sorcery to enter the Jedi Temple Library undetected and find information about how to remove the orbalisks from the massive data archives.

As a favor for Johun's saving his life, Valorum has asked the Senate to comission a memorial to the Jedi forces who died on Ruusan. Darovit, living a reclusive existence as a healer, is angered by this and sabotages the construction effort until Johun tracks him down. Upon questioning Darovit, Johun finds out that his hand was destroyed by his cousin Zannah, and that she had been accompanied by Bane. Taking Darovit with him back to Coruscant, Johun leaves him in the Library while attempting to convince Master Farfalla to seek an audience with the Jedi Council. Zannah finds the information she is looking for and her momentary lapse of concentration at her victory breaks her spell just long enough for Darovit to sense her true identity. When she finds out that he has told the Jedi about her and Bane, Zannah demands that he accompany her to Tython so that they can warn Bane and then escape. Johun and Farfalla reach the library and are unable to find Darovit, but the Archivist heard them refer to each other as 'Tomcat' and 'Rain', the names Johun's research had found in the records from Ruusan. They then find the terminal Zannah had used and see that she had looked up a hyperspace route to Tython. Farfalla is finally convinced and dispatches Johun to summon other Jedi who had served in the Army of Light to go to Tython and try to destroy the Sith once and for all.

On their way to Tython, Zannah disdains Darovit's attempts to sway her from the Sith, momentarily choking him into submission before ordering him to study the data she copied and find a way to free Bane of the orbalisks. On Tython, Bane is learning how to successfully create a holocron from Hetton's master Belia Darzu's holocron, when Zannah and Darovit arrive. She informs Bane that the Jedi are on their way, but before they can leave, the Jedi ship enters the atmosphere. With no choice but to stand and fight, Zannah shuts Darovit in a small closet and she and Bane face their opponents. Echani Jedi Weapons Master Raskta Lsu and Master Farfalla duel Bane, while Johun and human Jedi Sarro Xaj go up against Zannah. Bane and Zannah are unable to do more than hold their own, as the Jedi are empowered by Ithorian Master Worror's battle meditation. Bane, however, is formidable enough that Johun must join Lsu and Farfalla, leaving Zannah overpowered against the much larger Xaj. Bane attempts to kill Worror, but Johun manages to shove the Ithorian out of the way, breaking his concetration long enough for Zannah to use one of her mind-altering spells on Xaj. Confused and terrified, he is easily slain by Zannah, who then goes to join Bane, killing Lsu from behind and severing Johun's hand. Bane kills Farfalla, then leaps toward Worror and slits his throat. Bane then turns to finish off Johun with Sith lightning, but the dying Worror uses his last power to create a shield around Bane that turns the lighting back on him. Zannah kills Johun before going to Bane's side, his injuries too horrific even for the orbalisks to heal, with several of them actually having been killed by the energy. Zannah demands that Darovit remove the orbalisks, but he protests that he doesn't have the right equipment, medicines, or understanding of the process. While knowing that Bane's death would make her the master, Zannah realizes that she has no idea as to the extent of his manipulations or financial arrangements and holdings, and most importantly, has yet to learn everything he can teach her. Desperate to save her master's life, Zannah takes Bane and Darovit to Ambria in search of the healer Caleb, who had saved Bane from Githany's assassination attempt ten years prior.

On Ambria, Zannah easily finds Caleb, but he refuses to help, having sent his daughter away years prior without even knowing where she was going so that he could not be forced to aid Bane again. Zannah threatens him with physical pain and her sorcery, but Caleb still refuses. Darovit again tries to dissuade Zannah from being a Sith, telling her that Caleb has agreed to help Bane on the condtion that Zannah sabotage their ship and send a message to the Jedi Council telling them of Bane's location. Zannah finally agrees, and Caleb removes the orbalisks and heals Bane's injuries. When Bane is strong enough to understand, Zannah tells him of the bargain she made to save his life. Bane orders Zannah to kill him rather than become a prisoner or be executed. Zannah refuses, and a still weak Bane collapses back onto his bedding. Realizing that Bane's mental faculties are undiminished, she rises from his side and activates her lightsaber.

A Jedi strike team land on Ambria, disembarking from their ship to see a mutilated body in left in pieces. They approach Caleb's shack and hear noises from within, then a one-handed man swinging Farfalla's lightsaber emerges and attacks them insanely. Although startled, the Jedi quickly overpower and kill him, finding the others' lightsabers inside the shelter. Deciding that this last Sith had been wounded in the battle on Tython and then driven himself insane by attempting to use the dark side to heal his injuries, the Jedi gather Caleb's remains in order to give him a funeral, and then leave Ambria. They overlook, as Zannah did at first, the pit under the shelter where Zannah is now hiding herself and Bane with her sorcery.

Several days later, Bane finally awakes fully, grabbing Zannah and demanding to know what has happened. She informs him that she killed Caleb and broke Darovit's mind with her powers, and that Darovit was then killed by the Jedi when they arrived. Bane asks her why she saved him, and Zannah reminds him that he still has much to teach her before she challenges him.

"One day I will surpass you. And on that day, I will kill you, Lord Bane. But that day is not today."

- Darth Zannah

Characters

 * Anno Wen-Chii
 * Barra-Rona-Ban
 * Belia Darzu
 * Bordon
 * Caleb
 * Cyndra
 * Darovit
 * Darth Bane
 * Darth Zannah
 * Derrin
 * Freedon Nadd
 * Githany
 * Hansh
 * Hardin
 * Hetton
 * Hurst
 * Irtanna
 * Johun Othone
 * Kaan
 * Kelad'den
 * Laa
 * Lergan
 * Lord Hoth
 * Nalia Adollu
 * Orten Ledes
 * Paak
 * Pad
 * Qiina
 * Qordis
 * Raskta Lsu
 * Rell (mercenary)
 * Root
 * Sarro Xaj
 * Tallo
 * Tarsus Valorum
 * Valenthyne Farfalla
 * Wend
 * Worror

Locations

 * Alderaan
 * Ambria
 * Apatros
 * Coruscant
 * Dxun
 * Kashyyyk
 * Korriban
 * Onderon
 * Ruusan
 * Serenno
 * Tython
 * Somov Rit

Sentient species

 * Bouncer
 * Cerean
 * Chiss
 * Equine
 * Human
 * Nikto
 * Orbalisk
 * Twi'lek

Vehicles and vessels

 * Fairwind
 * Justice Crusader
 * Loranda
 * Mystic
 * Star-Wake
 * Valcyn

Behind the scenes

 * This novel is noteworthy for being a very late addition to the publishing schedule, as Rostoni describes above. When asked about the roughly five-month production time the book would have to fit into, she called it "almost unrealistic".
 * The inital cover art for Rule of Two was first revealed at the 2007 Worldcon in Yokohama, Japan.