User:Harrar/Workbench2

Lumiya
"My true name is Shira Brie.''" "But you're better known as Lumiya." "''Yes."

- Lumiya reveals herself to Jacen Solo

Shira Elan Colla Brie was a Force-sensitive Human female born on Imperial Center during the height of his Imperial Majesty Palpatine's reign over the majority of the galaxy. Brie's dedication to the tenets of the Emperor's New Order garnered the interest of his chief enforcer, the Sith Lord Darth Vader, who expedited the young woman's advancement in various Imperial-sponsored programs and oversaw her enrollment into the Intelligence Academy of Carida. After she graduated with top honors and was promoted to the rank of major by Vader himself, Brie was given the primary objective of infiltrating the Rebel Alliance to either cause the death of or facilitate the ostracism of Rebel champion and Jedi Luke Skywalker amongst his peers, the latter of which Brie successfully achieved. However, the events that ended in Skywalker's expatriation also left Brie horribly disfigured and near death. She was recovered by Darth Vader, who rehabilitated her with cybernetic replacements such as his own. Brie then began to train in the dark side at the feet of Vader, and assumed the identity of Lumiya, Dark Lady of the Sith.

While Lumiya studied in secret as Lord Vader's Shadow Hand, she also served as one of the Emperor's Hands; Force-trained assassins who answered to Palpatine himself. A pilgrimage to the world of Ziost was embarked on by Lumiya, during which time she crafted her infamous lightwhip. It was while on that sojourn, however, that both Palpatine and Darth Vader perished in battle at Endor, and Lumiya became Dark Lady of the Sith despite her deficient training. Purpose-driven toward vengeance against Luke Skywalker and the Alliance Rebellion, Lumiya apprenticed an ex-stormtrooper named Flint and threw her support behind the extra-galactic Nagai species' invasion of the galaxy. The Sith Lady suffered a critical defeat early in her campaign, the damage from which required replacement of her armor, and saw the debut of a triangular headdress that, along with her lightwhip, was thenceforth regarded as her trademark. She continued to aid the Nagai, during which time she confronted and was ultimately beaten on Kinooine by her sworn enemy, Jedi Knight Luke Skywalker. As the Nagai invasion fleet descended upon and the planet, however, Skywalker was forced to abandon the Dark Lady, an opportunity she took to escape&mdash;with promises of mayhem for him when next they met. Lumiya subsequently ended her partnership with the Nagai in favor of the Tof opposition, but their swift defeat on Saijo by the unified forces of the Alliance, Empire, and Nagai, signified the end of the invasion. Thought dead, she retreated to the Outer Rim, with retribution ever on her mind.

Lumiya capitalized on the misconception of her demise by consolidating resources in preparation for a strike against the New Republic, the successor democracy of the Rebel Alliance. She again worked closely with Imperial Intelligence and also took the second of her apprentices, former Imperial Royal Guardsman Carnor Jax, after the mysterious death of her first. Together Lumiya and Jax eliminated the last vestiges of the Prophets of the Dark Side cult. She then charged him with the infiltration of the Imperial stratosphere in anticipation of a threat to her Sith Order, while she herself brokered for additional assets with Imperial stewardess Ysanne Isard. However, Jax's own nascent ambitions led him into an ill-conceived attempt at betrayal against Lumiya, and he was murdered by another former Royal Guardsman, leaving the Dark Lady yet again without an apprentice. She returned to Korriban to plot strategy and, in possession of the ancient Sith oracle stone, continued to monitor galactic events from afar. By 25 ABY, though, Lumiya had long abandoned the Outer Rim in favor of the former asteroid dwelling of the ancient Sith Lord Vectivus, where she mastered the creation of his dark-side empowered Force phantoms. That same year, she considered an invitation by a new order of Sith on Korriban, who sought to bring the Dark Lady into their fold, but was delayed en route by advance scouts of the Yuuzhan Vong on the eve of their galactic invasion. She eluded capture and attempted to, from the shadows, undermine the Yuuzhan Vong offensive in her own way.

As the galaxy descended further into chaos, Lumiya came to believe that order and stability could only be imposed through the supreme will of a Dark Lord of the Sith. It was during cultivation of such beliefs that she met ex-Jedi-turned-Sith Vergere, and through the the latter's superior knowledge, Lumiya's training was completed. Together they conspired to restore peace to the galaxy through the creation and ascension of the next Sith Lord. A second overture on behalf of those on Korriban to once again ally was ignored, as Lumiya and Vergere contrived to bring the Skywalker family's Sith legacy full circle through Jacen Solo, the grandson of Darth Vader. She and Vergere facilitated Solo's capture by the Yuuzhan Vong, to whom Vergere had ingratiated herself, and the Fosh began the training that Lumiya would eventually finish. Vergere died three years into the Yuuzhan Vong War with her role in the affair complete, but another twelve passed before Lumiya was prepared to uphold her end of the bargain. In 40 ABY, she enacted her plan to beguile Solo against the backdrop of a new war, one consequent of her clandestine instigation, by aggravating the already tepid relationship between the Galactic Federation of Free Alliances and Corellia's Five Worlds government. An orchestrated series of events led to a meeting between Lumiya and Solo at her home, which resulted in his agreement to take up the way of the Sith. For months she trained him, while continuing her secret manipulations of the Corellian separatist movement, and enlisting the services of the Twi'lek darksider Alema Rar in the process. Lumiya then revealed herself to the Jedi, and maneuvered their determination to eliminate her into a distraction from Jacen Solo's utter embrace of the dark side. Satisfied that vengeance had been cemented against her enemies, Lumiya resigned herself to death in combat against her one-time lover-turned nemesis, Luke Skywalker.

Early life
"Born in Empire capitol. Raised in palace of Emperor Palpatine as part of experiment in adolescent indoctrination. Experiment totally successful."

- Excerpt of Brie's Imperial dossier from the Krake Data Vault



Shira Elan Colla Brie was a Human female born on Coruscant, then known as Imperial Center, at the height of the Galactic Empire. A Force-sensitive, Brie's childhood was spent in the Imperial Palace of Emperor Palpatine. Brie was chosen for adolescent indoctrination via the Commission for the Preservation of the New Order where she quickly became COMPNOR's premier inductee, and her success there saw her fast-tracked into another similar Imperial program by her superiors. Brie's impressive achievements fell under the notice of the Emperor's foremost servant, Darth Vader, who recommended Brie for training in the Empire's Imperial Intelligence division. She had few memories of her life before her time with Imperial Intelligence; the young woman soon excelled in all aspects of her training, becoming proficient in nearly all exotic martial arts, from Echani to Noghri Stava. Brie's body was also biologically enhanced with accelerated healing and a maximum increase in her pain threshold; furthermore, her mental faculties were improved by means of mnemonic drug training.

As part of her training in Imperial Intelligence, Shira Brie was enrolled in the Coruscanti Pilot Institute in 2.5 BBY. Holding the rank of cadet, the young woman underwent training under Commandant Mogurk. Brie struck up a friendship her fellow trainee and bunk-mate Cadet Myrette Davani, and soon rose to the top of the class. Throughout her three years of training, Brie's also received instruction under Darth Vader which occurred at night and in utmost secrecy. Although the Sith Lord's tutelage wearied Brie, she was able to maintain her position as the Institute's best cadet. Her time in Imperial training became one of the few times in the young Force-sensitive's life that she felt that others truly cared for her well-being. She swore an oath of loyalty to the Emperor, to which she attached great importance.

Training on Carida
"Shira still hasn't discussed the bug walker incident, and I've stopped pressing her. Nothing like it has happened since. She still spends a lot of time in "private tutoring" that she won't tell me about, though. Frankly, I think she's heading into intelligence. It would explain why more of a stink wasn't made about the accidental deaths of six students, and it would explain her mysterious private training, which always happens at night. Yet in many ways, she's still the same woman I've known for years. Same sense of humor, same brilliant mind, and the same love of practical jokes. But that darkness inside her keeps growing."

- Myrette Davani, who trained alongside Brie

Circa 0.5 ABY, Brie's flight school class transferred from Coruscant to Carida for one last year of study at the Imperial Military Academy. There, Brie and her fellow flight school classmates would undergo one term of stormtrooper boot camp, followed by a further two terms of strategy, survival and tactics. As the school's finest pilot, the role of flying the personnel shuttle from Coruscant to the academy fell to Brie. The cadet refused, however, and her superiors instead selected Davani. The class arrived safely at Carida, a high-gravity world, and settled in to prepare for boot camp. The training began with two days of arduous physical conditioning in the barracks, before the cadets were dispatched on a 200 kilometer hike across one of Carida's deserts on the third day. Brie and her fellow classmates were told by the instructors that they could pack however many supplies they wished, but the young woman perceived the exercise's true purpose. She explained to Davani that the instructors were waiting to see if the cadets would foolishly weigh themselves down with extra water and other supplies; any cadet who did would perish on the hike due to the world's high gravity. Taking only the standard supplies, Brie and Davani completed the hike together&mdash;two of twenty trainees to survive out of two hundred.



The hikes proved to be a staple of the boot camp training, along with war games and long hours honing their pilot skills in the simulator. Together with Davani, Brie also used simulators to put in extra practice, especially for one upcoming war game against Bantha Squad, in which the two cadets would be operating the new Mountain Terrain Scout Transports&mdash;the war games at the academy often served as field tests for new technology. Brie's training under Darth Vader, however, continued to take a toll on the young woman's mental state. In 1 ABY, six months into the final year of the military training, the Mountain Terrain Scout Transport war game was carried out. Brie and her fellow cadets were dropped into a mountainous area known as Tarkin's Teeth, some 300 kilometers outside the academy proper. There, they boarded their MT-STs and began the exercise. While the rest of the squad formed a perimeter, Brie and Davani undertook separate reconnaissance missions in their individual walkers. Brie soon encountered the Bantha Squad walkers and opened fire&mdash;her vehicle, however, had been fitted with live weapons rather than the training lasers employed by the other cadets.

In moments, Brie had destroyed twelve MT-STs and killed six cadets. The Force-sensitive woman was laughing when Davani arrived. Due to pressure from above, the live weapons were blamed on "instructor error" and the deaths passed off as training casualties. Although Davani pressured her to discuss the incident, Brie refused to do so. She trained at the academy during the day and with Vader at night, earning consistent high marks from her military superiors and developing new powers under the Sith Lord's tutelage, which continued to affect her psyche. A short time before circa 1.5 ABY, to celebrate their upcoming graduation ceremony, Brie and Davani headed out into the local Caridan district on their two-day leave passes. The two cadets began a cantina crawl, heading through several establishments in short order and drinking at each one. At the first bar, Brie used the Force to exert influence over the Caridan bartender so that she and Davani could enjoy certain perks unavailable to regular customers, such as discounted drinks. Four bars later, when a group of Caridans offered to buy the two women a drink, Brie once again made use of her abilities. She used the Force to immobilize one of the Caridans and then telekinetically flattened him to the floor.

Soon after, Shira Brie graduated from the Imperial Academy with top honors, an accolade which had been achieved by no other student as of 3 ABY. Lord Vader granted Brie the rank of a major in Imperial Intelligence. Following Brie's graduation, Darth Vader and Director Ysanne Isard of Imperial Intelligence arranged for the young Force-sensitive to be dispatched on a solo mission. Brie proved herself able, encouraging Vader to field her as an operative personally in his attempts to rid himself of the threat of the Rebel Alliance.

Joining the Rebellion
"I found that the nomads had told the Empire that my tribe was in league with the Rebel Alliance. My drunken friend said that was why they had killed them all: men&hellip;women&hellip;children. And so I joined the rebellion."

- Shira Brie



Following the Empire's devastating loss to the Rebel Alliance during the Battle of Yavin which saw the destruction of their first Death Star superweapon, Shira Brie was given a new assignment by Darth Vader. She was to be installed a counterspy within the Rebel Alliance with instructions either to cause the death of the individual directly responsible for the Death Star's destruction, Rebel hero Luke Skywalker, or to so severely tarnish his reputation that he would be discredited in the eyes of his fellow rebels. To this end, a plausible back story was fabricated for Brie which stated that she was from the city of Chinshassa on Shalyvane. Though the planet was home to the native Em'liy species, Brie's cover story falsely identified Humans as the domestic race. The Em'liy were instead cast as oppressors to the Humans who warred with them and destroyed the society to which Brie supposedly belonged, killing her family in the process. This pseudo war between the Humans and the Em'liy lasted for years until they two species cast their differences aside to make peace with one another. All of Shalyvane's natives then gathered together at a shrine called the Circle of Kavaan to solidify their new conciliation under the guidance of alien ambassadors contracted by the Em'liy, but they were instead attacked by these offworlders, who proceeded to massacre all those present. Brie, a little girl, managed to escape the slaughter and was left to survive into adulthood by her own faculties. Many years passed before she learned the "truth" of Shalyvane's destruction from an intoxicated ex-fighter pilot; the Em'liy had allied with the Empire and also lied to them, claiming that Brie's people were members of the Rebel Alliance. Enraged by the revelation, Brie sought out the Alliance and decided to enlist. The verisimilitude of her cover story was bolstered when Darth Vader ordered the razing of Chinshassa, which had previously displayed resistance to Imperial rule. Shalyvane would also serve as the secret location by which Brie would report her progress to Vader; a personal means of contact was furnished by the Dark Lord that was activated when her unique blood chemistry came into contact with a transmitter embedded within the Circle of Kavaan.

Lieutenant Brie
"Wasn't it nice of Shira, asking to help like that? She's such a thoughtful person.''" "Yes. Isn't she." "''And cute, too&mdash;for a Human."

- C-3PO, Leia Organa, and Plif

Brie posed as a Shalyvane refugee and successfully infiltrated the Alliance, due in part to their immediate need for fighter pilots following the Battle of Hoth. Eventually earning the rank of lieutenant, Brie engaged in several rebellion sorties, including work alongside fellow Force-sensitives Kyle Katarn, Corwin Shelvay, and Erling Tredway on a mission to D'rinba IV to disable the superlaser of the second Death Star.



Shira was next assigned to Rogue starfighter squadron and was stationed at Haven Base on Arbra, during which time she met and befriended her superior, flight commander Luke Skywalker. When lieutenant Brie volunteered to accompany Skywalker on a mission to Bespin's Cloud City in search of Lando Calrissian, her congenial demeanor and obvious affection for him spurred contemptuous feelings from Princess Leia Organa&mdash;who had been denied Skywalker's companionship on a reconnaissance drill around Haven Base. Oblivious to Organa's scorn, Brie left with Skywalker for Bespin, flying her X-wing starfighter as his wingmate. Upon their arrival Lieutenant Brie noted that Cloud City seemed deserted, and an investigation by Commander Skywalker's astromech droid R2-D2, determined that the planting of a series of bombs within Cloud City's infrastructure resulted in the evacuation of the populace, though they were soon thereafter neutralized by a lobot and a Human, which Skywalker surmised was probably Lando Calrissian. Before their investigation could take them any further they were attacked by Hugo Treece, an Imperial governor stationed on Bespin by Darth Vader. They remained pinned under fire from Treece and his squad of stormtroopers until Calrissian's arrival served to distract the Imperial's attention away from his allies. Brie stood by while Commander Skywalker reactivated the bombs through the Force, and the resulting explosion was enough to scare the Imperials into swiftly evacuating Cloud City.

After returning to Arbra, Lieutenant Brie stayed behind while Commander Skywalker ventured to the Bazarre space station in the Cademimu sector with Lando Calrissian and the Wookiee Chewbacca to negotiate the sale of four disabled TIE Fighters with weapons dealer Orion Ferret. Brie instead took part in an experiment of Princess Organa's that involved hiding a portion of the Rebel fleet within the primary star of the Arbran system. The expressed reservations of Organa's protocol droid C-3P0 about carrying out such a hazardous plan without the presence of Luke Skywalker led Brie to volunteer to act in his stead&mdash;a request that was reluctantly granted by the Princess.

Alliance heroine
"In recognition of your recent acts of heroism on the planet Shalyvane, you are herewith awarded the Burdine Cluster, along with the traditional advancement in rank&mdash;Captain Brie."

- Princess Leia Organa

The deal with Orion Ferret had been successful, and Lieutenant Brie was selected with Luke Skywalker and two others to test the newly-acquired TIE Fighters as part of the Flying Bantha Squadron in actual combat during an assault on the Imperial Spindrift Station on the planet of the same name. The the forces stationed there mistakenly identified Brie's team as friendlies which ultimately resulted in capture for the Imperials, as well as the seizure of the specific location coordinates of a secret armada being assembled by the Empire. Mission accomplished, Brie and her companions traveled back to Haven Base.



In the interim between the time it took the Rebel forces on Arbra to decipher the codes retrieved during the Spindrift mission and when they planned to execute their attack on the secret armada, Lieutenant Brie requested permission to return to her pseudo-homeworld of Shalyvane for personal reasons. In truth, the time had come to submit her annual progress report to Darth Vader. Brie was initially refused by Princess Organa when she requested the specific spatial coordinates of Arbra, Organa's reason being that such knowledge was privy only to the principle and most trusted among the Rebel Alliance leadership. However, when Commander Skywalker, who knew the map specs of Arbra, offered to accompany Brie on her pilgrimage, Organa grudgingly granted them permission. They arrived in Brie's false hometown of Chinshassa, and the Lieutenant led Skywalker and fellow Rogue pilots Wald and Hanc Thorben to the Circle of Kavaan, a place of great importance to the Shalyvane natives, but also the means by which Brie was to secretly communicate with Darth Vader. Feigning an expressed need to perform a sacred ritual in private, Brie approached the monument and knelt at its foundation. Much to Skywalker's astonishment, she pierced herself and let her blood trickle onto the alter, which triggered the embedded communications transmitter. Brie's message to Vader was interrupted, however, when Shalyvane's Em'liy natives ambushed the Rebels and forced them to take cover. While fighting against the Em'liy warriors, Lieutenant Brie revealed several elements of her cover story; that it had been these same natives who destroyed both her family and childhood home of Chinshassa in allegiance to the Empire which led her to pursue membership with the Rebel Alliance, and that she returned annually to Chinshassa in remembrance of her people's massacre.

The Rebels were forced to give quarter under the relentless advance of the Em'liy warriors until Commander Skywalker's astromech R2-D2 discovered the location of a series of underground tunnels previously spoken of by Lieutenant Brie that could potentially serve as an adequate means of escape. Skywalker volunteered to enter the subterranean labyrinth first but lost the opportunity to do so when Brie, who was already familiar with their existence, jumped in before him. Believing that Brie had been lost to them after the entrance in which she disappeared was sealed following an explosion caused by the Em'liy warriors, the Rebels began to make their final stand against the opposition; but as the natives closed in they were cut off by Lieutenant Brie&mdash;who had successfully sneaked past them through the tunnels to recover her X-Wing and returned to save her comrades. She decimated the Em'liy barbarians in a strafing run and afterward met up with her teammates who&mdash;especially Luke Skywalker&mdash;expressed much relief in knowing that Brie was alive and well. A ceremony was held following their return to Haven Base in the presence of many Rebel Alliance members wherein Lieutenant Shira Brie was recognized for her gallantry during the peril she and her fellow Rogues faced on Shalyvane. The prestigious Burdine Cluster award was presented to the lieutenant along with a promotion to the rank of captain by Princess Organa, who displayed considerable gratitude for the selfless valor of Shira Brie.

Mission accomplished
"&mdash;I had to use the Force to tell me if the blockading TIE was friend or foe! And, Leia&hellip;the Force told me to shoot! It told me to shoot, blast it! But according to the holographs taken by our other surviving fighter, the pilot of the TIE I shot down was Shira! My own wing guard! It's impossible!''" "I believe you, Luke. I don't know what happened, but I believe you. However, I&hellip;I'm afraid I can't support'' you!"

- Luke Skywalker and Leia Organa discuss Shira Brie's death



Shortly after Brie's commendation, the Rebel Alliance finally discovered the location in space of the Empire's secret armada. They also learned that the following the Battle of Hoth, the Empire had captured a teezl; a non-sentient creature with a natural ability to act as a hyperspace communications amplifier. Believed to be extinct, the teezl was under escort of the Imperial armada to Coruscant where it would be installed and made to serve the Empire as a limitless source of communications energy. The Rebel Alliance was aware of this, and was determined to thwart the Imperials at all costs. To this end, Captain Brie again joined Flying Bantha Squadron alongside Commander Skywalker and two additional pilots, Alph and Hanc Thorben, to partake in a mission which involved sabotaging the Imperial armada by infiltrating the fleet disguised as TIE pilots by means of the TIE fighters that had been previously obtained on Bazarre station. Just prior to their departure, Captain Brie related to Skywalker her apprehension in undertaking the task set before her, as well as making obvious her deep affection for him by kissing him passionately&mdash;much to Skywalker's surprise.

The preliminary phase of the Rebel mission involved the Flying Banthas intercepting a pair of TIE fighters patrolling the route in which the Imperial armada was to travel. After shooting down the two TIEs and confiscating the armada's recognition codes, the Rebels donned their own recently acquired TIEs and prepared to infiltrate the armada. The successful transmission of the recognition codes allowed for a seamless and unsuspecting insertion of Brie's team into the ranks of the Imperial fleet, and once each of the Flying Banthas had assumed an adequate vantage point, the attacks commenced. The Imperials were confused by what seemed to be friendly fighters engaging in wanton destruction and quickly deduced that Rebel forces had penetrated their ranks with fraudulent TIE fighters. In response, Admiral Mils Giel ordered for the teezl to cause interference on all communication frequencies except the Imperial war band with a psychic shriek in an attempt to expose the enemy forces. With no other means of communication between herself and her team, Shira Brie seized an opportunity to complete the assignment she was originally given by Darth Vader. Capitalizing on the forced comm silence, Brie maneuvered her TIE fighter directly into Luke Skywalker's line of fire; with only the Force to guide him in determining friend from foe, Skywalker landed a direct and crippling hit on Brie's fighter. His assault also resulted in the destruction of the teezl as well as effectively ending the Battle of the secret armada. Skywalker's return to Haven Base was met with somber greetings; he was immediately debriefed by Princess Organa and a holocam recording from Hanc Thorben's TIE revealed that the fighter which Skywalker had shot down was not one of an enemy, but that of Captain Shira Brie. Though she had been unable to kill him, Brie's Imperial mission was a total success; Skywalker had been absolutely disgraced in the eyes of his fellow Rebels for "killing" her, and riddled with guilt over being responsible for the "death" of both an Alliance champion and the woman for whom he had developed strong feelings. He was initially stripped of his Alliance commission, but would later be exonerated after infiltrating the Empire-operated Krake Data Vault on Krake's Planet and discovering the nature of Shira Brie's deception.

"Hands"
"Come Lumiya. You will be an extension of my will&hellip;"

- Lumiya becomes Emperor Palpatine's "Hand"

No longer a captain in the Rebel Alliance, Major Shira Brie of Imperial Intelligence had completed her assignment, but had suffered grievous physical injuries and had been left adrift in her ruined TIE fighter while she struggled for life. Brie would die alone in the starfighter, but the modifications made to her body during her Imperial training as well as her facility with healing trance helped her survive the hard vacuum of space. She was discovered by Darth Vader and returned to the Executor for rehabilitation, where it was determined that extensive cybernetics were required to save her life. The mechanical implants further enhanced Brie's body, though ultimately she was left more machine than woman. After Brie's body had been restored, she began to learn the ways of the Sith as Vader's Shadow Hand, and Shira Brie became Lumiya.

Athough Lumiya served the Dark Lord of the Sith, Darth Vader was himself bound to the Rule of Two and forbidden to take an official student of his own. In 4 BBY, he brought his secret apprentice Lumiya before his own Master, Emperor Palpatine. When Lumiya arrived at the Imperial Palace with Vader, they interrupted a meeting between Palpatine and another of his personal assassins, Mara Jade. The women crossed paths with immediate and intense animosity toward one another, remembering a duel in which they had engaged after a chance meeting not long ago. Jade departed and Lumiya was ushered into Palpatine's presence, presented by Darth Vader for consideration as an Emperor's Hand&mdash;secret agents of the Emperor whose sole purpose was to bring his will to fruition. Palpatine accepted Lumiya into his service, and allowed her to continue training under Darth Vader.

Lumiya was soon thereafter sequestered by Darth Vader on Ziost, the ancient homeworld of the Sith species. There she discovered an archaic Sith tome which detailed the process required to craft a lightwhip; a rare weapon similar to though more difficult to master than the traditional lightsaber, and possessed a flexible energy beam in lieu of a steady blade. With this ancient knowledge, she created a unique device with a hilt of nearly indestructible Mandalorian iron from which many extensions spewed forth. Shards of Kaiburr crystal given to her by Darth Vader provided the power source for the strands of energy, while tendrils of metal and others of studded leather complimented the pliant beams of plasma to make a one-of-a-kind and deadly flail. Her final test as the Dark Lord's pupil was finally complete. Lumiya was on Ziost when the Empire suffered a pivotal defeat over Endor at the hands of the Rebel Alliance. She returned to Imperial space and discovered that not only had the Alliance successfully toppled the Emperor, but both he and Darth Vader had perished in the destruction of the second Death Star.

Dark Lady
"Lumiya? Queen of the stanging Sith?"

- Mara Jade Skywalker

With no one left to further her Sith knowledge, Lumiya proclaimed herself Dark Lady of the Sith, and embarked on a quest of her own volition to progress in dark side wisdom, first in search of an organization with a historic allegiance to the ways of the Sith: the esoteric Mecrosa Order. Known to be in possession of many ancient secrets and artifacts, the Order's members felt a sense of obligation to the woman who arrived at their fortress on the planet Nyssa bearing an unnerving resemblance to the late Darth Vader. Lumiya was given access to all of the Mecrosa's relics, and was even allowed to take from them possession of the oldest of Sith holocrons&mdash;that of the legendary King Adas.

Shortly after the Battle of Endor, Lumiya amassed a naval fleet of Imperial starships in her efforts to consolidate power in preparation for retaliation against the Rebel Alliance. Her armada included three Imperial-class Star Destroyers, two EF76 Nebulon-B escort frigates, and four CR90 Corellian Corvettes. More than two hundred TIE/ln starfighters and TIE/sa bombers were divided in several squads amongst the Star Destroyers, Frigates and one Corvette, which completed the fleet. The details of the fragmentation of the Empire were still unclear to many Imperial servicemen, and Lumiya sought to keep the truth hidden by depriving her subordinates of certain information, thus ensuring their complete loyalty to her and the endeavors she undertook. It was during that time while in Sith space, Lumiya's fleet came into contact with a vanguard representing the extra-galactic, spacefaring, Nagai. The commander of the force hailed her flagship, the escort frigate Revenant, under the impression an officer of the Imperial Navy would respond; instead, Lumiya answered. The Dark Lady learned that she shared a common enemy with the Nagai in the Rebel Alliance, and promised the support of her resources to them upon proposition of a united front.

Events on Herdessa
"Run back to your friends, little Leia&hellip;but you have worse things to worry about than stormtroopers. Before long, you and everyone you hold dear will learn just how 'pretty dangerous' a foe I can be."

- Lumiya



Under instruction from the Nagai, Lumiya set out to take action against the Alliance of Free Planets, the fledgling successor state of the Rebel Alliance. She went to the Mid Rim world of Herdessa where she installed herself as the head of planetary security on behalf of the planet's oppressive leadership, the Herdessan Guild. Lumiya organized a Guild-sanctioned slaving ring which targeted the planet's lower-class citizens for transport off world. However, the arrival on Herdessa of Alliance delegates Mon Mothma and Leia Organa with promises of guaranteed civil rights for the planet's citizens under the new galactic government threatened to become problematic for Lumiya's covert operation. Wearing the face of benevolence, the Dark Lady and a squad of Herdessan shocktroopers apprehended several hecklers after Organa was pummeled with mud. Lumiya located the culprit, a woman named Suzu, in Guild sector three and aggressively arrested her, but was interrupted by Princess Organa&mdash;whose intervention on Suzu's behalf resulted in the woman's escape. Enraged, Lumiya attacked the Princess but was betrayed by her own cumbersome cybernetic enhancements, which saw her quickly bested and slammed to the ground by Organa. As the Princess fled after Suzu, the humiliated Lumiya vowed to deal with both the naysayer, and the off-worlder who interceded on her behalf.

Lumiya and her shocktroopers tracked Organa to the insurgent's hideout and forcefully demanded their surrender. Organa managed to escape the firefight that ensued, and Lumiya chased her for a time before abandoning pursuit, instead choosing to round up all the Herdessan rebels in the city center and made a public declaration that unless Organa was turned over to the custody of the Herdessan Guild, executions would commence. Imperial stormtroopers assisted the Herdessan shocktroopers in Lumiya's tyranny, even apprehending Organa's companion, Mon Mothma, and counting her among the nonconformists. An altercation erupted between one of the prisoners and a stormtrooper, and Lumiya decided that he would be the first to die. Suzu then conceded to Lumyia's demands and betrayed Organa's whereabouts to the authorities, but it was all a ruse; Organa instead appeared behind Lumiya and incapacitated her with several blaster shots before eliminating the shocktroopers, freeing the captives, and leading them in a successful revolt against the Herdessan Guild. With her sinister benefactors overthrown and her slave trade dissolved, Lumiya quietly retreated, but not without promising to take revenge on the Alliance&mdash;namely Princess Leia Organa&mdash;for thwarting her efforts on Herdessa.

Upholding tradition
"In terms of the classic Master–and–apprentice Sith structure, there can be only two&hellip;"

- Lumiya



Lumiya's cybernetic enhancements had been irreparably damaged on Herdessa and required extensive repairs. Upon completion, she emerged sporting new armor, and donned for the first time a triangular cloth headdress that, along with her lightwhip, became thenceforth synonymous with her name. Lumiya fully intended to resume her campaign against the Alliance of Free Planets; however, a matter of greater importance manifested itself, and presented a considerable problem; the perpetuation of the Sith. Lumiya reorganized the Order in her own image but maintained the core ideals of patience, cunning, and secrecy that were fundamental to the previous Order's survival. The ancient "Rule of Two" doctrine of Darth Bane, the one to which Emperor Palpatine and Darth Vader adhered, stated that the power of the dark side could only be divided between two individuals in the entire galaxy at any given time: one Sith Master to personify its power, and a single Sith apprentice to covet it. Lumiya thus began to search for being who was in her eyes worthy of the Sith teachings.

Though exceptionally strong in the Force in her own right, Lumiya had not been Darth Vader's only pupil. The Dark Lord had several students and intended to eventually pit them against one another for the right to become his Shadow Hand, or Sith apprentice. After Vader's death Lumiya sought out one of these pupils, a young Force-sensitive stormtrooper named Flint. While he was still alive, Vader had planned for Lumiya and Flint to contend with one another, but his premature death at Endor left them both without their Master. Lumiya located Flint in Vader's abandoned citadel on the planet Vjun, where she confronted him for the position of Sith Master. The Dark Lady's superior strength resulted in the sound defeat of Flint, and she took the Belderone native as her first apprentice.

Plans were immediately set in motion by the new Sith to undermine all that the Alliance of Free Planets had achieved in the wake of Emperor Palpatine's death. Lumiya tasked her new apprentice with both conquering the Phelleem sector as well as exacting vengeance upon Luke Skywalker for the death of Darth Vader. Styling himself as the Dark Lord of Belderone, Flint's exploits led him to the planet Naldar where he was confronted by Skywalker and persuaded to forsake his devotion to the dark side of the Force. Lumiya learned of Flint's abdication and promised fatal reprisals when the opportunity presented itself. The Dark Lady had more pressing matters to attend though, which involved the continued preparation of the Nagai for war with the Alliance of Free Planets.

Laying foundations
"We can do this the easy way, or we can do it the hard way. But it won't change a thing. Because, sooner or later, you are going to tell me what I want to know."

- Lumiya threatens Faron Tolis



As stipulated by the partnership Lumiya had previously formed with the Nagai, an attache was sent to her in the form of Den Siva, with whom she rendezvoused and established an underground base of operations on the desolate planet Kinooine. An Alliance scouting party had recently been dispatched to Kinooine after life-forms had been detected on the otherwise unoccupied world. Lumiya ambushed them and killed nineteen of the team's twenty members, leaving one, a man named Faron Tolis, alive for interrogation. She accused Tolis of being a member of the former Rebel Alliance, and attempted to torture him into disclosing the whereabouts of Princess Leia Organa, something of which he held no knowledge. Under penalty of death, Faron surprised Lumiya when he revealed that Organa had nothing to do with his team's mission; it had instead been Lumiya's sworn nemesis, Luke Skywalker, who had dispatched them to survey the Outer Rim planetoid.

Lumiya's abduction of Tolis and company caused Skywalker himself, along with a female Zeltron named Dani and her Chuhkyvi lover Kiro, to journey to Kinooine in search of his missing reconnaissance team. The Dark Lady caught Dani and Kiro unawares while they explored the area surrounding their camp, and brutally attacked them with her lightwhip. Knowing that Skywalker would come for his comrades, Lumiya took Dani captive and, after smashing the faceplate of Kiro's rebreather helmet, left him for dead. Skywalker found Kiro and did not have to search far for the Chuhkyvi's assailant; Lumiya had been waiting for him on a nearby precipice. Silence preceded a vicious duel where Lumiya unleashed the full fury of her hatred upon Skywalker, whose unfamiliarity with the dual nature of her lightwhip saw him repeatedly lashed, quickly disarmed, and eventually defeated. Triumphant, Lumiya refrained from killing her enemy and instead took him as a prisoner to her underground fortress.

Identity revealed
"I was Shira Elan Colla Brie. Now I am Lumiya. And someday, little fish man, I will spit on your grave&hellip;as I will spit on your friend, Skywalker's, after I have seen him bereft of hope, of even the will to live&hellip;''" "Lumiya&hellip;the man who made you feel this way used you as a tool&hellip;but he's dead now and he wouldn't want you to go on like this&hellip;at the end&hellip;he reconciled to the good in himself. As'' you can. I know it&hellip;"

- Lumiya and Luke Skywalker



Meanwhile, several of Den Siva's cohorts, under command of the Nagai warrior Ozrei "Knife" N'takkilomandrife, intercepted a gathering of Alliance statesmen who were scheduled to meet with Princess Organa and General Han Solo in the Mid Rim on the world of Kabray. Lumiya received word of their defeat by Organa's Zeltron escorts, was more concerned with the progress of the main invasion fleet, and left to further prepare for their arrival. In her absence, Kiro infiltrated her underground lair and rescued Luke Skywalker. Lumiya, who had taken up position above ground on a cliff edge, was completely surprised when Skywalker appeared on the crag behind her. She was unable to prevent him from telekinetically reclaiming his lightsaber from her possession. Not to be deterred, Lumiya prepared to face him in combat yet again, but in this rematch the circumstances had changed; in addition to his usual weapon, Skywalker had armed himself with a lightsaber of shorter blade-length known as a shoto. Lumiya's weapon was no match for the conjunct assault of Skywalker's two sabers, which were successfully able to counter the duality of her lightwhip's tendrils. She charged her opponent in a fit of rage after being disarmed, only to be stripped of enough armor that her face was exposed and her true identity as Shira Brie was revealed.

The humiliated Sith Lady begged for death while also blaming Skywalker for all the tragedies that had befallen her; even in defeat, she vowed that her satisfaction would only be realized when Skywalker himself was dead. The Jedi attempted to reconcile the differences between them but was cut short when the Nagai fleet&mdash;for whom Lumiya had been waiting&mdash;dropped out of hyperspace into the Kinooine atmosphere. While Nagai forces descended to the planet's surface, Lumiya was bound by Luke Skywalker and Kiro, who held her captive as they prepared themselves to rescue Kiro's lover, Dani. The rescue mission was successful, and Lumiya was abandoned by Skywalker and his companions who were forced to flee Kinooine as the Nagai continued to swarm the planet.

Second battle of Endor
"Ah, revenge is sweet! I wonder how many of those fools will die before they realize the truth&mdash;that they were betrayed before we ever arrived here."

- Lumiya, over Endor

After the Nagai established a sufficient operational platform on Kinooine, they installed a double-agent among the Alliance forces in the form of the Human-Nagai hybrid Bey, who provided Alliance logistics, battle schematics, and ship formations to his kinsmen. Armed with this knowledge, Lumiya reemerged as flight leader of the Nagai's Twelfth Squadron in battle over the forest moon of Endor, the same location where both Emperor Palpatine and Darth Vader had perished nearly a month ago. The Nagai also gave Lumiya one of their unique starfighters for her own personal use; she dubbed the craft Screamer after the teezl which had perished during battle with the secret Imperial armada. With the intelligence provided by Bey, the Dark Lady led Twelfth Squadron in a dogfight against the Alliance's Gold Squadron under leadership of her former Rebel comrade Lando Calrissian, and Mandalore Fenn Shysa's Resurrector Squadron. Severe damage was dealt to the Alliance forces over Endor, and members of their wardroom began to contemplate retreat. Under command of Bey's half-brother Knife and Lieutenant Hol B'shaki, the Nagai prepared to execute coordinated strikes against several Alliance installations on Endor's surface while Twelfth Squadron made short work of the Alliance's Gold and Resurrector starfighter groups. However, Bey's duplicity was soon discovered by his childhood friend Han Solo who was also on Endor. The Alliance fought and ultimately defeated the ground-side opposition's ambush while ordering Gold and Resurrector Squadrons to forsake their original battle strategies; this change in tactics had a detrimental impact on what seemed like Lumiya's precognitive advantage and the tide was no longer in her favor. With the battle of Endor effectively lost to the Nagai on both fronts, Lumiya ordered a full retreat of her forces.

Changing sides
"Lady Lumiya&hellip;truly, we cannot adequately express our gratification&hellip;at your having forsaken your Nagai comrades and joined yourself to our cause.''" "''No thanks are necessary, Prince Sereno. I vowed to Darth Vader, my old Master, that I would lay down my life for the destruction of Luke Skywalker and the Alliance of Free Planets. The Nagai were only useful to me so long as they seemed likely to fulfill that end. Now that they've allied themselves with Skywalker, well&hellip;"

- Prince Sereno and Lumiya

The Nagai defeat over Endor was the beginning of a turning point in both the war, and in Lumiya's relationship with them. The Tofs, enemies of the Nagai from their native Companion Besh galaxy, followed and defeated them in battle on the planet Trenwyth. What began as a Nagai invasion of Zeltros during a diplomatic rendezvous with the Alliance quickly turned into another battle that saw the Nagai join forces with the Alliance to face their new common foe, the Tofs. Because of this, Lumiya renounced her partnership with the Nagai in favor of the Tofs. She met with their leader, Prince Sereno, at the Tof stronghold on Saijo to discuss the terms of their partnership. Unbeknownst to them was the presence of the Nagai-Alliance coalition on Saijo, which ambushed Lumiya and Sereno as they conversed. Lumiya quickly shot down the leader of the attack, Knife, but was prevented from killing him by Leia Organa. The Dark Lady's attention turned to the princess, but she was shot and completely incapacitated by Bey, who had infiltrated the Tof ranks by posing as one of them. The battle of Saijo soon came to an end with the capture of Prince Sereno. Lumiya survived the injuries she suffered during the altercation, and managed to slip away unnoticed in the midst of the commotion.

Epsilon Nine
"I am Lumiya. You were charged with developing new spy satellites for Imperial Intelligence. I am here to remind you of your loyalties to the Empire, and will overlook consorting with the enemy just this once."

- Lumiya

Despite her best efforts, Lumiya's plan to manipulate the Nagai-Tof war as a weapon against the Alliance of Free Planets resulted in utter failure. She recovered from the injuries received during the battle on Saijo, but her fleet had been left in shambles. To this end, the Dark Lady sought her former Imperial Intelligence superior Ysanne Isard, who now maintained stewardship over the remnants of the Galactic Empire, with for sufficient resources with which she could replenish her depleted forces. Lumiya was considered a threat by Isard to her authority, and the Imperial stewardess surmised that compliance with the Lady of the Sith's demands would eliminate any potential problems that might arise between them. Two TIE fighter squadrons, Alpha and Theta, were allocated for Lumiya, as well as four platoons of stormtroopers&mdash;two of which were elite red-armored Royal Guards who had personally served in the defense of the late Emperor Palpatine. Isard's succor was not without conditions, however; in exchange for support, Lumiya was asked to inspect several top-secret Imperial research installations hidden within the Cron Drift.

The Nebulon-B escort frigate Revenant served as Lumiya's command ship as she led her fleet to the to the Auril sector. Upon their arrival, it was discovered that those working on the asteroid-based Epsilon Nine Communications Research Station were attempting to deny their Imperial mandate in favor of joining the recently-reorganized New Republic as evidenced by the reconfiguration of the station's comlink system to transmit on New Republic wavelengths. The emergence of nine T-65 X-Wing starfighters from Epsilon Nine served to excite the Revenant's crew, who wondered how the New Republic had become aware of the installation's secret location within the Cron Drift; however, Lumiya was aware of all these facts before hand, and ordered her fleet to engage the Republic forces as her own approached the asteroid base.

Assault shuttles launched from Lumiya's CR90 corvette Wolf-Pack and landed on the surface of Epsilon Nine's asteroid location to pave an opening into the base while the remainder of the fleet made short work of the X-Wings and base defenses. Lumiya then went from the Revenant to the asteroid in her personal Lambda-class T-4a shuttle and entered the base, prepared to make an example of the traitors inside. Her stormtroopers rounded up all the scientists for interrogation, and one indignant individual was immediately executed by the Dark Lady&mdash;having his throat Force-crushed in response to a snide remark. Lumiya then made certain that they recommitted themselves to Imperial service, and stated that a garrison would occupy the station to further ensure their cooperation. Before departing the Cron Drift with the remainder of her fleet, Lumiya vowed to return in eight weeks to make certain her will remained uncontested.

Return of the Emperor
"I'm not sure I even count the Emperor's clones as Sith. After all, they didn't earn their Sith knowledge, didn't acquire it through sweat and sacrifice; they inherited it like a package of downloaded computer programming. I think that the last Sith were gone when the Emperor and your grandfather died on the same day. But plenty of Sith legacy survived. Individuals who were candidates to become Sith and failed for some reason to achieve full apprenticeship. They knew enough to survive, enough to continue learning. One may have learned enough to become a Master."

- Lumiya

The Sith had become imperiled in the wake of Flint's treachery and subsequent desertion. A new prospect arose, however, in the form of a Force-sensitive Royal Guard named Carnor Jax, one whom Lumiya had come across amongst those allotted to her by Ysanne Isard. The Dark Lady took Jax as her new apprentice and, though his training was abbreviated, Sith order lived on. One of their first missions together was to the planet Bosthirda, where they completed the sterilization of the remaining Prophets of the Dark Side cult, a massacre first enacted by the dejected Dark Jedi Azrakel.

With her mission to Epsilon Nine complete, Lumiya began fulfillment of Isard's second request: locating and returning rogue-Emperor's Hand Mara Jade to service under Isard. While she readied herself to hunt Jade, Lumiya ordered Carnor Jax to infiltrate the upper echelons of the Galactic Empire in preparation for any rising threats to the Sith. She meanwhile journeyed to the planet Caprioril, where she learned that Jade, under the assumed identity of "Marellis", had gone underground as a Come-Up Flector for a swoop gang. Lumiya located Jade and attempted to persuade her to come back into the Imperial fold, a petition that Jade refused. A duel resulted in which Mara escaped, leaving Lumiya unsuccessful in the task set before her by Ysanne Isard. The Dark Lady chose not to report her failure to Isard, which led the Empire to believe that her confrontation with Jade on Caprioril had somehow resulted in Lumiya's demise, a position that the New Republic had also maintained following the end of the Nagai-Tof conflict.

Through his own machinations, the Dark Lady's apprentice began to secretly manipulate the Empire's ruling council. During this time, Lumiya received word from Jax that he had been approached by a mysterious individual known as Nom Anor, who represented an extra-galactic race of wayfarers interested by the possibility of an alliance with her against their common enemy, the New Republic. The threat to the Sith of which Lumiya spoke also manifested itself at this time, in the form of the return of Emperor Palpatine. However, his resumed reign was brief; the clone bodies he was using to facilitate his resurrection had been sabotaged by Imperial physicians, which was the catalyst for his final death on the planet Onderon less than a year later. Carnor Jax immediately attempted to install himself as the new Emperor, but his dynasty was also short-lived. After requesting audience with Lumiya in an attempt to lure her into a trap, Jax was killed in a duel by another one of Palpatine's former Royal Guardsmen, Kir Kanos. Jax's links to Nom Anor were lost upon his death on Yinchorr, leaving Lumiya unable to respond to the individual's advances. Three years after Jax's death, Lumiya's original apprentice, Flint, was found dead on his homeworld of Belderone. Deciding to withdraw from the forefront of galactic events, Lumiya retreated to Korriban and took up residence there, where she began plotting her next course of action. She continued to study Adas' holocron, and used the ancient Sith oracle stone to keep an eye on the galaxy from a distance.

Invitation to the New Order
"Our apologies for the brevity of your journey. Had we foreseen the speed of the invaders' advance, we would have sent a more sizable escort. Should you survive and care to reach us on your own, the navigation string attached to this message will guide you&hellip;once."

- White Eyes invites Lumiya to parley with the One Sith

In 25 ABY, the galaxy was invaded by the extra-galactic invaders who, by means of the advance agent Nom Anor, had attempted to make overtures to Lumiya through Carnor Jax fourteen years previously. Known as the Yuuzhan Vong, the species intended to eradicate all technology and either convert the inhabitants to their own religion or annihilate those who stood in their way. The New Republic suffered heavy losses in the opening months of the war. That same year, Lumiya learned that though she was without an apprentice to perpetuate the legacy of the dark side, she was not alone in its practice. A former Jedi of the Old Republic named A'Sharad Hett had been exposed to the Sith teachings prior to being captured by Yuuzhan Vong scouts in the Unknown Regions. While in captivity, he was approached by a Yuuzhan Vong agent named Vergere who, like Hett, was also a pre-Imperial Jedi-turned-Sith. The Fosh ex-Jedi imparted her own knowledge to Hett, who believed that in order to restore stability in the galaxy, the Sith needed to abandon the Rule of Two and instead adopt a Rule of One&mdash;a new axiom of many Sith who operated as a single unit.

Vergere, a staunch adherent to Darth Bane's ancient principle, rejected Hett's idea and left him to the mercy of the Yuuzhan Vong. Hett eventually escaped captivity and returned to Korriban, where he assumed the mantle of Dark Lord as Darth Krayt, and founded his One Sith. The attention of the One Sith had fallen upon Lumiya, and she was invited by Krayt to consort with them on their namesake's ancestral homeworld of Korriban. An escort for the Dark Lady was sent in the form of the Sith Master Lomi Plo and her apprentice Welk, but on the return journey, they were forestalled by the Yuuzhan Vong. Though her chaperons were captured by the extra-galactic invaders, Lumiya eluded them and escaped to plot her next course of action.

Lumiya then decided to strike against the Yuuzhan Vong. The New Republic suffered a defeat at Ithor in 25.3 ABY when Yuuzhan Vong forces laid waste to the planet. It had been discovered that the pollen of Ithor's native Bafforr trees was lethal to the living armor worn by Yuuzhan Vong warriors. The New Republic had allied with the Imperial Remnant to defend the world and its valuable military asset, but to no avail. Determined to secure a sample of the now rare Bafforr pollen, Lumiya elected to strike at Yaga Minor, a fortified Imperial Remnant world that housed some of the last pollen in the galaxy. The Sith Lady went planetside and sneaked into the laboratory where the samples were located, but was confronted there by a band of Yuuzhan Vong who had infiltrated the facility themselves and destroyed its large munitions dump.

A plan for the galaxy
"There is a plan&mdash;a plan that will be carried out whether or not I survive."

- Lumiya

Several months later, Lumiya met Vergere. The Fosh explained her own Sith origins under Darth Sidious, and how she had encountered A'Sharad Hett&mdash;now Darth Krayt&mdash;who favored an Order of many Sith unified in the power of the dark side of the Force. She also completed the Sith training which had begun so long ago under Darth Vader during this time by Vergere, and Lumiya finally achieved full status as Dark Lady of the Sith in both name and wisdom. Not long afterward, Lumiya received another invitation from Krayt's agents to ally herself with their Order. The message from the spokesman of the One Sith&mdash;a man with glowing white eyes&mdash;stated that another escort had not been arranged, but directions were provided on the navigation string included with the message should Lumiya decide to answer their summons. Lumiya had come to believe, however, that the One Sith's methods were too slow; the Dark Lady felt that by the time Krayt's Order had moved beyond its fledgling status, Skywalker's Jedi would be too powerful. Unwilling to deviate from the Rule of Two, Lumiya rejected Krayt's idea and convinced Vergere to realize the folly of Krayt's long-term affair, to which the Fosh relented.

Given a new purpose through the teachings of Vergere, Lumiya retired her own desires in service of a Sith destiny. However, both women knew that neither could restore peace to the galaxy themselves; Lumiya's cybernetic implants limited her Force potential, while Vergere had become tainted by her collaboration with the Yuuzhan Vong. Together they conspired to select a new Sith champion, one who would reign as a benign dictator and impose peace and stability over a tumultuous galaxy so often plagued by war. The question of who would be chosen as the new Sith Lord was one of great importance; many candidates were considered, and many discarded. Kyp Durron, a powerful Jedi Master, was considered too volatile and obstinate, while Lumiya's old rival Mara Jade Skywalker was felt to possess too many attachments. Jaina, the daughter of Leia and Han Solo, was dismissed as too emotional, while Leia herself was bypassed as too fearful of her father Darth Vader's legacy. Even Luke Skywalker was considered, but Lumiya declaimed him as too bound in the dogma of Jedi philosophy.

It was Jacen Solo, the brother of Jaina, who fell under observation. In 25.7 ABY, Solo had proven his ability to wield power responsibly when he had refused to fire Centerpoint Station, an ancient space facility capable of unleashing devastating energy beams through hyperspace, against the Yuuzhan Vong, due to his belief that it would be an overly aggressive action. At the beginning of the war's second year, during the Battle of Duro, Solo defeated Warmaster Tsavong Lah of the Yuuzhan Vong in personal combat, which demonstrated to Lumiya and Vergere that the young Jedi could dispense power when necessary. Thus, Jacen Solo was thus selected as the best possible choice; his close relationship with his uncle Luke Skywalker, however, posed problems. It was therefore decided that Vergere would return to the Yuuzhan Vong and facilitate Solo's capture by the aliens, whereupon she could begin his training without interference. The Fosh Sith made her way back to the Yuuzhan Vong, mid-year, whereupon she inveigled her way into the confidence of Tsavong Lah himself. Vergere abducted Solo during a Jedi mission to Myrkr, and exploited the young Jedi's isolation in Yuuzhan Vong captivity to begin his training.

Vergere returned with Solo to the New Republic in 28 ABY, where he was re-united with his family. Solo's attachment to his sister Jaina was such, however, that when during a pitched battle Jaina was endangered by the forces of Warmaster Tsavong Lah, Vergere's trainee rushed to defend his sister at the risk of his own life. Fearful that Solo would die on his mission, the Fosh sacrificed herself to preserve Solo's destiny, killing the Yuuzhan Vong warriors threatening Jaina and ensuring her protégé's survival. With Vergere dead, the duty of enacting the Sith plan fell entirely to Lumiya. A year after Vergere's death, the Yuuzhan Vong were defeated at Coruscant and the galactic capital was reclaimed by the Galactic Federation of Free Alliances&mdash;the successor government to the New Republic. The Yuuzhan Vong War had cost Lumiya both her battle fleet and her Sith companion; though the moment to approach Solo was a decade away, the cyborg woman had the time and freedom to make preparations for that day.

Long preparations
"Don't put it past Lumiya to engineer events to serve her purposes."

- Luke Skywalker

By 40 ABY, Lumiya had taken up residence on an asteroid in the MZX32905 system near the planet Bimmiel. Formerly the abode of an ancient Dark Lord of the Sith named Darth Vectivus, "the Home"&mdash;as it was called by a sapient mynock-like indigenous species that had once lived there but had since gone extinct&mdash;was an opulent mansion built directly over a network of defunct mining caverns. Lumiya discovered upon further exploration that the dark side was exceptionally strong in mines; in fact, it pooled within the bowels of the asteroid, and Lumiya frequently basked in its power. It was in those tunnels where Lumiya encountered the spirit of Vectivus himself. The Dark Lady learned from her Sith predecessor how to tap into the dark side reservoir for the creation of Force phantoms; malevolent manifestations that could interact with and influence the physical realm.

Lumiya also decided that year that the time to convert Jacen Solo into a Sith Lord had finally arrived. Aware that she would have to find a way to lure Solo to a location of her choosing, Lumiya alighted upon the idea of a riddle or a puzzle that the Jedi would have to unravel. Drawing on a variety of different cultures, Sith ideals, perversions of Jedi precepts and Solo's own past, Lumiya set about constructing a small piece of beadcraft, an artifact made up of a series of intricately designed colored tassels. Each section was unique and carried its own message. Lumiya ordered the creation of lines from the Tahu'ip culture of the Twi'lek people; the Bith Aalagar race of Clak'dor VII; the language of the Firrerreo; the prison dialect of Kessel; and numerous other sources, wishing to create an item that would attract Solo's attention and encourage him to study its meaning. Several lines, such as the Tahu'up tassel, referred to Solo's own life and how he had learned to strengthen himself through pain while in Yuuzhan Vong captivity.

Others referred to the trials he would endure as he ascended to Sith mastery&mdash;the sacrifice of love, which Lumiya presumed would be carried out by means of the murder of a relative or friend&mdash;the ruination of those who defied justice, and the balance of peace and conflict. While several of the tassels' elements were contrived, others, such as the sacrifice Solo would have to make, were the province of the Force itself. The final line, which pertained to Solo being drawn from peace into conflict, was constructed from a language from the Sith world of Ziost and imbued with the Force, in a last attempt to capture Solo's attention. Although Lumiya was operating in the realms of Sith prophecy, she was far from omniscient in what needed to be done.

Initiating a war
"To Thrackan Sal-Solo, Chief of State, Corellia, all greetings and respects. Let me begin this communication by offering you a gift, the gift of knowledge: The impending meeting between representatives of the Corellian and Galactic Alliance governments will take place on Toryaz Station, Kuat System. But, sadly, this gift is incomplete by itself, as security at the station will be formidable. Fortunately, I have information on that matter, too&mdash;I can provide exact details on the locations of all delegates at all times, as well as the security measures guarding them, for the duration of their stay here. Should this information be of interest to you, please contact me on the HoloNet frequency indicated below, at the times shown. Standard encryption, using the contents of my next message as the encryption key."

- Lumiya's secret message to Thrackan Sal-Solo

The Dark Lady was aware that Solo's rise to power would have to occurr against the backdrop of war and instability. Since the end of the Swarm War several years prior, the galaxy had remained at relative peace. The Galactic Federation of Free Alliances and its Chief of State, the Alderaanian Cal Omas, maintained close ties with Skywalker's Jedi Order and operated alongside them to keep order and stability. Nevertheless, tensions were arising between the Galactic Alliance and the world of Corellia, a planet with a people known for their independence and pride. The Corellian government, headed by Five World Prime Minister Aidel Saxan, wished to enjoy the benefits of Galactic Alliance membership while flouting the government's regulations. It was the subsequent secession movement for which the Five Worlds confederacy began to muster support that Lumiya decided to enlarge in order to plunge the galaxy into conflict and enable the rise of Jacen Solo.



Employing Darth Vectivus' Force phantom technique, she projected the image of Edela, the late wife of Galactic Alliance Defense Fleet Admiral Matric Klauskin, and began to subtly coerce him to engage in a series of actions designed to further agitate the already strained relations between the Galactic Alliance and the Corellians. The first of these was interwoven within the highly-classified Operation Roundabout, with Klauskin's role being that of commander over the Alliance Second Fleet's ill-fated attempt to place Corellia itself under siege. When that action failed, Lumiya influenced Klauskin to attack and occupy the nearby world of Tralus, further agitating an already volatile situation. With both parties wishing to bring an end to what was quickly degenerating into yet another war, the Alliance and the Confederacy sent delegates to meet on the Toryaz space station near Kuat in attempt to negotiate a peaceful resolution to the conflict. Lumiya decided to partake in the negotiations as well, though not as an advocate of either party, but rather as a spy and saboteur. She started by sending an anonymous message to Corellian Head of State and Minister of War Thrackan Sal-Solo, alerting him to the secret meeting and enticing him with an opportunity to eliminate several of their mutual rivals in one fell swoop. Sal-Solo obliged and provided Lumiya with support for her mission: twenty commandos, most of Corellian origin, all Human, and all expendable; each was terminally ill, afflicted with various diseases that could not be cured by any known means. To hinder any interrogation attempts should any of the commandos be captured, each was also injected with a powerful alkaloid poison, one that would guarantee death shortly after being administered.

While in disguise as a Kuati mercantile princess, the Dark Lady infiltrated Toryaz station's Narsacc Habitat and accosted station captain Siron Tawaler, whom she mentally seduced through the Force into doing her bidding. She convinced the security captain that he was under consideration to be chosen as her consort, while also presenting him with documents that, among other things, verified her pseudo-identity. She also claimed that one of the Jedi on the station was determined to kill her, and that Tawaler had to do everything in his power to prevent such an act from taking place. Under the pretense of being selected for such a prestigious Kuati honor, and determined to thwart any assassination attempts on part of the "rogue Jedi," Captain Tawaler was compelled to help Lumiya. He provided her with detailed schematics of the habitat, including the lodgings of each of the delegates. They then proceeded to Narsacc Habitat's docking bay to rendezvous with Sal-Solo's recently-arrived commandos. After briefing her assassins on their mission, Lumiya used a Force suggestion that caused Captain Tawaler to enter an airlock, himself under the impression that he was supposed to board the commandos' Sentinel-class shuttle and return to Kuat. This, however, was a deception on Lumiya's part; the shuttle had already disengaged from the hangar. Tawaler nonetheless initiated the depressurization sequence, and died soon afterward&mdash;the victim of explosive decompression.

Meeting Jacen Solo
"Hello. Jedi Solo, Jedi Dinn, young Skywalker.''" "You know us." "Of course. I've been meddling in your business for some time." "You admit it." "''I admit to that, yes."

- Brisha Syo, upon meeting the Jedi on Lorrd

Lumiya's commandos were partially successful in their mission, as they were only able to assassinate one of the delegates, Five Worlds Prime Minister Aidel Saxon. As planned, each one died before they could be interrogated by the Jedi or anyone else. Knowing that Jacen Solo was among those on Toryaz station, Lumiya left the tassels&mdash;the lure through which she intended ensnare the young Jedi&mdash;by the airlock where Captain Tawaler committed suicide, under the pretense that subsequent scrutiny into the botched attack would lead investigators there. She then left Narsacc Habitat and pursued the commandos' shuttle to the Coronet City Spaceport in Coronet City, Corellia, where she killed the pilot, commandeered the vessel for herself, and re-registered it under the alias "Brisha Syo;" styled by Lumiya as a Human Commenori woman with short, curly, dark hair, and an attractive yet personable appearance. She took the shuttle to Lorrd, a planet in the Kanz sector with a culture that had a history of non-verbal communication, where she waited for Jacen Solo. The Dark Lady believed that Solo's attempts to understand the mysterious tassels would lead him to Lorrd, where he would find an expert on the subject: Doctor Heilan Rotham. Paying for a week's worth of parking, Lumiya left the shuttle at the Lorrd spaceport and waited for the inevitable arrival of the Jedi. Jacen Solo soon arrived on Lorrd, accompanied by Ben Skywalker, and the watchman of the system, a female Jedi named Nelani Dinn. While they met with Dr. Rotham, Lumiya secretly incited several random acts of terrorism around Lorrd City, the first of which involved a man threatening to fire concussion missiles into the most heavily populated of the city unless he was given audience with a Jedi. Although that crisis abated following the intervention of Solo and his companions, subsequent Force-influenced catastrophes plagued Lorrd City in the days that followed, all at the instigation of Lumiya. Meanwhile, Ben Skywalker had ventured out into Lorrd City on his own, where he discovered the shuttle that had escaped from Toryaz station docked in the city spaceport. He placed a homing beacon on the vessel and advised Security lieutenant Neav Samran to contact him if and when the pilot returned. Satisfied that her actions had guaranteed the continued presence of the Jedi on Lorrd, Lumiya went back to the vessel and was immediately detained by Samran. She was then taken to the security station, until which time the Jedi arrived to interrogate her.



She did not have to wait long for the Jedi, who arrived soon afterward with a number of questions. She greeted them all by name, something which startled them, and admitted to having interfered in their affairs for some time before actually meeting them face to face. When asked if she had anything to do with the recent string of unusual events in Lorrd City, however, she denied any explicit culpability for the actions of several seemingly mentally unstable Lorrdians. She instead claimed that she heard them in her dreams planning to commit heinous acts, and how through her dreams she suggested to them that they somehow involve the Jedi. Unable to discern truth from lies, Solo continued the interrogation by asking what Syo's connection to the events on Toryaz station was. Her response was that she was on the space station observing Jacen Solo specifically, using her Force abilities to remain hidden while doing so. It was then, according to her, that the situation began to then unravel. She claimed to have witnessed the death of Security Captain Tawaler at the hands of a hooded invidual by uncontrolled decompression, and decided at that point to flee, though not before leaving her tassel artifact behind in the same airlock through which Tawaler had spaced, fully intending and expecting it to end up in the possession of Jacen Solo. Upon her departure from Toryaz station, Syo claimed that she tracked the assassin's shuttle to Coronet City Spaceport, killed its pilot with her bare hands, and then acquired legal ownership of it. Knowing that the tassels would eventually lead Solo to Dr. Rotham on Lorrd for decipherment, Syo traveled there, and waited. Solo was skeptical about Syo's purported omniscience, citing the fact that his sister Jaina had originally been assigned to discover the origin of the tassels, but Syo related her certainty that Jacen would be the one to investigate them further. In an attempt to piece the entire puzzle together, Solo petitioned Syo to tell her story from the beginning, a request to which she agreed, only if the Jedi joined her at her home near Bimmiel. Solo initially declined, prompting Syo to refrain from sharing anymore information. She was threatened with several different punishments by an exasperated Solo, even death, but nothing he said was able to sway her. She waited patiently as Solo then consulted his comrades, and finally agreed to join Syo at her home.

Seducing a Jedi
"The galaxy is dissolving into chaos. Its leadership can't save it; they're the leftovers of what failed fifteen years ago during the Yuuzhan Vong war. The Jedi can't step in and fix things&mdash;you know their methods, the way they think. What has Luke Skywalker told you? Have his tactics, his recommendations fixed anything? No. As good a man as he is, he and his order are just tools of the Galactic Alliance. Vergere sacrificed herself so you could assume the Sith mantle she wanted for you. That's the kind of self-sacrifice no Jedi would admit is possible for the Sith, but it's the truth. Take what I have to teach you, Jacen. Take this place and the dark side power it contains. Take the knowledge that rests in its tombs on the world of Ziost. And use them against the forces that are trying to tear this galaxy apart. Restore order. Give your cousin, give the children in your family and your life the chance to grow up in a galaxy without war."

- Lumiya's temptation of Jacen Solo

Still under the guise of Brisha Syo, Lumiya joined the Jedi on their shuttle during the ride to her home. Upon their arrival, she assured Jacen Solo that all the answers he sought would be found within. After docking, Syo led them inside and began explaining the history of the mining habitat as they ventured deeper into the asteroid. The Jedi recognized the facility as centuries-old mining station, one which would have been rather expensive to just abandon as it apparently had been. Syo agreed, but remarked that such things were well within the capabilities of the habitat's administrator, who also happened to have been a Sith Lord. She dismissed any further questions and led them to a turbolift, which took them up four floors to a chamber lined with artwork and educational materials. As she lay down on the nearest sofa, Nelani Dinn surmised that Syo was some type of Sith adept, which she initially denied. She also took notice of Solo's preoccupation with the dark side resonance he felt from the asteroid, and stated that the power of both the light and dark sides of the Force suffused the habitat. Syo then admitted to being a student of all aspects of the Force, one who focused primarily on how to utilize the Sith teachings without for the benefit of other beings. Scoffing at Dinn's subsequent accusations of naïveté, Syo continued to explain her beliefs about the differences between the light and dark sides of the Force, as well as the history of the Home and the semi-sentient mynock-like species that had once resided there. It was during that conversation where she also presented her example of a benevolent darksider in the form of Darth Vectivus, an ancient Sith Master who had occupied the Home after the mynock-like species and had learned to weild the dark side without malice. She further explained that while many Sith Lords of yesteryear&mdash;Solo's grandfather, Darth Vader included&mdash;were already corrupt individuals prior to becoming Sith, Vectivus had been a man of solid moral stature long before his affirmation of the dark side, and was thus able to ignore temptations of malevolence and softheartedness. She next spoke of her personal relationship with Lord Vader, causing Solo to express his exasperation with the fact that he stil knew nothing about Syo, nor why she had truly brought them to her home. Admitting that she had yet give them her true name, Syo claimed that the real reason she brought the Jedi to her home was because an actual Sith Lord resided in its lowest levels, and she was reluctant to face him alone.



They then returned to the turbolift and together rode to the habitat's lowest level. The Jedi inquired as to the identity of the resident Sith, and Syo feigned joked that it was probably "Darth" something. Solo was under the impression that the Sith had been eradicated with the death of Emperor Palpatine's final clone, but Syo stated that while the last of their Order had died with Vader and the Emperor, individuals with the propensity for continuing the Sith legacy had indeed survived. They exited the turbolift at that point and entered a room with a rail system that led into the mine proper, and Syo cautioned that Ben Skywalker should remain behind, citing his inability to face a Sith Lord. Solo refused to leave his cousin, so Syo and the three Jedi boarded the railcar and descended into the depths of the mine. Shortly into their ride, Syo used the Force to hurl Skywalker and Dinn from the railcar, before sending hundreds of mynock Force-phantoms to harry them. The ride ended soon afterward, and Solo asked Syo about what she had just done, to which she explained that she had separated them for their own good, because the danger in the mines would have overwhelmed them. With Solo effectively isolated from his companions, they began to discuss the Sith Lord that Syo claimed resided in the mine. A phantasmal man of her creation then appeared before them who, although obscured by the hood of his cloak, admitted to being the being in question. The illusion engaged in a brief exchange with Solo before it disappeared and was replaced by an apparation of Luke Skywalker. While the illusory Luke entered into lightsaber combat with Solo, Syo also created a phantom of Mara Jade Skywalker that simultaneously attacked Ben, and another of Darth Vectivus to waylay Nelani Dinn. When Syo determined that Solo and the Skywalker phantom's duel was at an impasse, she called it to an end. Despite her exhaustion from the concerted projection of multiple Force apparitions, Syo explained that the test she had just conducted would have ended with Solo's failure, because he refused to tap into the abundant dark side energy of the asteroid. When he demanded a full explanation from her, Syo acquiesced, and led him to a door made of ebony stone&mdash;immovable, save by an exertion through the dark side. The door opened upon Solo's command and he followed behind Syo as she entered and brought him before her estate. While he was taken aback by the expanse of his surroundings, Syo confessed that she too was a Sith, one who had been trained by Solo's grandfather, Darth Vader; how her she had been born Shira Brie, and the fateful confrontation with Luke Skywalker that preceded her rebirth as the Sith Lady Lumiya.

As she spoke, Solo realized that Lumiya desired for him to become the next Dark Lord of the Sith, the training for which she explained had begun years ago during Solo's time with Vergere. They were interruped by the arrival of a lone Nelani Dinn, who attempted to cease the Dark Lady's seductions with the eventual activation of her lightsaber. When the unarmed Lumiya refused to heed Dinn's repeated attempts to silence her, the Jedi attacked. Lumiya evaded to draw her lightwhip, and landed a disorienting strike to Dinn's face. Again she advanced, and again she was painfully lashed by the tendrils of Lumiya's lightwhip and forced into retreat. As the Sith resumed her conversation with Solo, she was assaulted by two telekinetically-thrown marble busts, the first of which first she obliterated with her whip before catching the second through the Force. She lost the struggle and bust struck her weapon hand, which knocked the lightwhip from her grasp. Lumiya was saved from Dinn's following attack by Solo, who had been smitten by her words, and had decided to learn her dark side teachings. Lumiya nonetheless still yielded to Dinn's subsequent arrest attempt, and pledged herself to Solo, He perceived various paths that led to the galaxy's descent into chaos, and ultimately, the death of his uncle, Luke Skywalker. Only in his visions of Nelani Dinn's death did Skywalker survive. Lumiya sensed Solo's inner-conflict and, with tears in her eyes, told him that to be Sith was to strengthen oneself through sacrifice. Dinn realized that she was now outmatched and fled, with Solo after her. Lumiya met him shortly afterward in an airlock adjacent to the hangar where his shuttle was docked, and learned that he had killed Dinn to prevent her from reporting Lumiya's existence to the Jedi. The Sith Lady promised that she would honor the deceased with internment suitable of a noble warrior. She noticed Solo's distress at what he had done, and she assured him that he had already begun to strengthen himself through his actions. As he boarded his shuttle, on which he had placed the unconscious Ben Skywalker, Lumiya promised that upon his return to her asteroid, she would help Solo reach the level of Sith status that his grandfather, Anakin Skywalker, had been unable to achieve. With his departure, an exhausted Lumiya retired to her living quarters in the Home's summit, where she met with the spectre of Jacen's future self&mdash;her interpretation of him as a Sith. They discussed that, while the ghost was compelled to return to nonexistence, Lumiya's triumph over Solo insured that her vision of him would eventually become reality, and that he would finally be granted a proper Sith name. As she lay on the couch, the phantom disappeared, and Lumiya knew that through her victory, she had achieved the balance she sought: the balance of the Sith.

Sith Master
"Are there techniques to teach me?''" "Not techniques so much as awareness. Technique is for apprentices. You know all you need to know. It's within you. You only have to become aware of it and embrace it." "You make it sound like pain." "''It will be."

- Jacen Solo, and Lumiya

Several days later, Lumiya received a Force summons to Coruscant from Solo, which she answered immediately. Clad in a red business suit and face obscured with scarf and veil, Lumiya concealed her Force presence, and when she sensed him magnify his own, located Solo and Ben Skywalker in the Plaza of the Core. After a brief conversation, in which she was introduced as "Shira" to the younger Jedi who, for some reason, thought he recognized her but abandoned the notion. He was then dismissed, and Lumiya learned that Solo had decided to allow her to help him achieve his destiny. With hesitation she accepted an invitation to the Jedi Temple. Awed by the grandeur of the edifice, Lumiya entered the building with Solo and hid her dark side aura within a Force illusion of his design. She was led to the Room of a Thousand Fountains, where Solo explained that he would arrange for a discreet apartment for her on Coruscant where he desired for her to remain. She acquiesced, but stressed the importance of haste on his part. now that she was confident in his decision to become Sith. Both of them had sensed the beginnings of the rapid degradation of galactic peace, and Lumiya&mdash;who scoffed at his suggestion of her involement in recent terrorist attacks&mdash;felt certain that the next few weeks would determine what specific knowledge her pupil required. They proceeded toward the Jedi Council Chamber, just as Luke Skywalker himself approached, acting as though he sensed something slightly amiss. He and Solo conversed briefly before he departed, none the wiser as to the identity of the veiled woman at his nephew's flank. Lumiya rebuked him for his recklessness, and reminded him that she was quite capable of assaulting Skywalker were she still plagued by such trivialities as the mutual enmity between Jedi and Sith of old. She bid him farewell, leaving the Temple and Coruscant for her home, to collect and return with her personal belongings.



When next Lumiya met Jacen Solo it was in the Senate Building, just after the announcement of Admiral Gilad Pellaeon's retirement as Supreme Commander of the Galactic Alliance Defense Force. Again under the guise of "Shira," she and Solo Sat in lobby 513, down the hall from a meeting between members of the Jedi Council and the newly-appointed Supreme Commander, Mon Calamari Admiral Cha Niathal, whose promotion Lumiya had secretly engineered. With reports of his cousin Thrackan Sal-Solo's plans to have Centerpoint Station operable within the coming months broadcast all over the HoloNet, Jacen became increasingly determined to mitigate the repercussions of actions various members of his family visited upon the galaxy. Lumiya realized that Solo feared the similarities in his fall to the dark side and that of his grandfather, whose actions during the razing of the Jedi Temple he had witnessed during a recent Flow-walking experience. Satisfied when he related his desire to still take Ben Skywalker as his eventual Sith apprentice, Lumiya was not completely in agreement with Solo's decision to remain with the Galactic Alliance Guard in lieu of a more influential military appointment, given his comradery with Admiral Niathal. The meeting ended just then, and as the Jedi approached, Lumiya hid her dark orientation within Solo's Force illusion. Luke Skywalker greeted but did not otherwise acknowledge her, and she too remained indifferent as he conversed with Solo. When the Jedi Master departed, Lumiya accompanied Solo to congratulate Admiral Niathal.

Several days later, Lumiya met Solo in his apartment upon urgent request, as he had learned that his uncle was aware of the Dark Lady's presence on Coruscant. Concerned with the possibility that Skywalker might find her before her task was complete, Lumiya decided to accelerate Solo's Sith training. She projected a soothing Force illusion of deep blue, meditative light, through which the room was submerged in an underwater ambiance. Conversation proceeded, during which Lumiya defined her role as Solo's guide on his path to Sith enlightenment. He was preoccupied with the flawed motivations of his grandfather, but Lumiya assured him that theirs was not the same destiny. When the issue of his own Sith apprentice arose, Mastery was the obstacle Lumiya felt it necessary for Solo to overcome to cement young Skywalker's tutelage under him. To that end, she planned to influence several non-Jedi supporters of Jacen Solo into lobbying with the Jedi Council on his behalf, despite Solo's dubiety in her ability to do so. Confident that Solo would soon reach the necessary level of understanding, the illusion ended, and she departed. Solo sought his Sith Master soon after a military engagement during the Corellian blockade, in which he destroyed a civilian freighter after his sister Jaina refused his direct order to fire. Jacen felt compelled to court-marshall Jaina for her insubordination, which left him with recurrent bad dreams, and extremely troubled. Lumiya sensed his unrest as she emerged from an adjacent room to find him in her apartment. She told him that while he should not feel guilt over his decisions, he needed to recognize their significance as he prepared to make his final sacrifice; among other things, the alienation of his sister was a small part of the price to pay for his role in instituting ordered galaxy. His dreams were inconsequential to Lumiya, so long as he was able differentiate between them and Force visions, the latter through which he might find answers she was unable to provide. Solo was also troubled with the diminished faith in him of Ben Skywalker, who had witnessed Solo's inadvertent murder of a prisoner during interrogation. Lumiya suggested that instead of seeking the boy's approval, Solo should place him in a situation where he had to discover the the need for extreme measures himself.

Lumiya met with Jacen regularly over the course of the next several weeks as she expedited his training. On one particular day in her safehouse apartment, she fondled the tassels that had initially ensnared Solo and listened as he related the frequency of his bad dreams, as well as his increasing obsession with the descent into the dark side of his grandfather. Lumiya realized that Solo's location-restictive flow-walking technique limited his understanding of Darth Vader's fall, and thus advised that any attempts to vindicate himself through Vader's actions on Coruscant alone were inherently biased. She then handed the tassel artifact to Solo&mdash;which he tossed about as though it were extremely hot&mdash;and commended his fullfillment of various aspects of the tassel prophecy. The time was fast-approaching for the metaphoric immortalization of his love, the specifics of which Lumiya had no idea, but required the killing of a loved one whose death would bring unbearable suffering to their loved ones in turn.

Machinations
"What you are doing with Jacen is so delicious&mdash;and so right for the Balance."

- Alema Rar

The threat of full-blown civil war became more apparent over the course of a week as assassins under the employ of Bothawui's True Victory Party colluded with Corellian terrorists to wreak havoc on Coruscant. Lumiya traveled through the Coruscant Underlevels in pursuit of Jacen Solo, who had gone to meet with his friend and spy, the World Brain and learn what the Yuuzhan Vong monstrosity had discovered about the activities of the terrorists in the Underlevels. Unknown to Lumiya, she was preceded by the Twi'lek Dark Jedi Alema Rar, who had stalked Solo with hopes of killing him to exact revenge against his parents. The Dark Lady killed three ferals who attempted to impede her progress Upon Rar's suggestion, before she realized the Twi'lek's presence. Lumiya diminished her own Force aura so as to remain undetected, and hid on a balcony in the shadows of the fogged cesspool wherein resided the World Brain, just Rar emerged from the corridor and prepared to fire her blowgun at Solo. She used the Force at that same moment to hurl the Jedi clear of the wayward dart, which pierced the eye of the World Brain, and sent the creature into death spasms as the poison began to circulate. Now aware of the assassin's location but not her identity, Lumiya alerted Solo to her presence, and the Sith apprentice deterred Rar's escape with a torrent of Force lighting. Lumiya rebuked any further exertion of his wrath and reminded him that preserving the World Brain as an intelligance asset was of far greater import than exacting revenge. He resisted, and Lumiya denounced him as a slave to his emotions for his desire to seek justice for his wounded friend. Solo relented but promised vengeance against the True Victory Party and its leader, a Bothan called Reh'mwa, whom he suspected had sent the assassin, before he and Lumiya descended into the World Brain's pool in an attempt to save its life.

From the information Jacen Solo gleaned from his spy, Lumiya was given a list of and asked to kill a number of influential Bothan dignitaries who had been in conspiracy with the Corellian insurgents. The terrorists had also discovered the World Brain's treachery as the Galactic Alliance Guard's spy and were preparing to move their entire network against it. Despite the best efforts of the Sith, however, the World Brain succumbed to the poison and died a week's time. Lumiya was summoned by her apprentice to meet him in the Fellowship Plaza of Coruscant's Senate District to discuss the ramifications, and was asked to expedite the completion of the list, as Solo believed that the Corellians would not reveal themselves if they learned that the World Brain was already dead. She agreed, but openly recognized the declaration of war from Bothuwai that would inevitably follow. As Solo departed for a meeting with Admiral Niathal that was to include the commission of his own Imperial II-class Star Destroyer, the Anakin Solo, Lumiya's attention shifted to a commotion behind her between two apparently spying females: a Chev Jedi, and a deformed, blue-skinned, lightsaber-wielding Twi'lek. The Dark Lady urged her apprentice to make haste his exit as she activated her lightwhip and prepared to deal with the Twi'lek, who beckoned Lumiya forth to stop the fleeing Jedi Master, Tresina Lobi, from reporting details of the conversation on which she had just eavesdropped to the High Council. The Dark Jedi then blasted Lobi with Force lightning but was incapacitated by an urn thrown telekinetically by the Chev. Lumiya moved in and began to duel the Jedi, but was methodically driven back by the larger woman, and forced to deactivate her weapon when the Twi'lek interposed herself between the combatants and was burned across the body by the whip's still-hot energy filaments. Lobi severed Lumiya's weapon arm just then and positioned for a killing strike, but was again parried by the Dark Jedi, which gave the Sith time to recover her lightwhip to wield with her remaining limb and force Lobi into retreat. Momentarily distracted by the being behind her, Lobi faltered, and Lumiya sheared both of her legs off at the knee, just before the Twi'lek killed her with a decapitating strike. She then introduced herself as Alema Rar upon demand of the Dark Lady, and pledged her assistance to the downfall of Jacen Solo, an offer which Lumiya warily accepted.

That morning, Lumiya gave the list of Bothan ambassadors to Alema Rar that she might complete the assassinations in her stead, then joined her apprentice on board the Anakin Solo as it made its way to the Hapes Cluster. When they reached the sovereign world, Lumiya retired from the Command Salon with Solo to her own cabin upon the boarding of Queen Mother Tenel Ka, on whose life an attempt had recently been made. The Dark Lady's involvement in Tresina Lobi's death was uncovered an hour later when the Chev's dismembered corpse was found in Fellowship Plaza by Corusant Security Forces, and Jedi Masters Mara Jade and Luke Skywalker. Their subsequent investigation led them to believe that Lumiya and a female accomplice had stalked their son Ben. They discovered and conducted a search of her safehouse which yielded nothing more than an expensive gown and a datapad, the latter item they confiscated. Under the assumption she had fled the planet, they sliced into the dwelling's computer and unwittingly found a list of names that corroborated Lumiya's complicity in the Bothan assassination affair. Further scrutiny revealed her high-level access to the records and resources of none other than Coruscant's own secret police, the Galactic Alliance Guard, to which they learned her apartment was a registered safehouse. The Jedi surmised that Lumiya had not infiltrated GAG at all, but had actually been working with them, possibly under the full awareness of Jacen Solo.

Reunion
"You've caused me a lot of pain over the years, Skywalker. What better way to repay it than bringing your family legacy full circle?''" "''You'll never make a Sith of my&hellip;"

- Lumiya and Luke Skywalker, on Roqoo Depot

Under the assumption that Lumiya had intentions of vengeance with Ben in mind, the Skywalkers immediately intercepted the Colonel, who was en route to the planet Hapes on board the Anakin Solo, and related the sum of their discoveries, as well as their decision to remove their son from active GAG duty. Jacen relented and scheduled a rendezvous between parents and child on the Roqoo Depot refueling station, deep within the Hapes Cluster. The meeting was a twofold trap, however, as Lumiya agreed to also venture to Roqoo Depot under the pretense of secretly overseeing Ben Skywalker's safe passage to the Anakin. Within an hour of the Skywalker's and Queen Mother's departures, the Star Destroyer prepared to jump to the Relephon Moons to deal with the Heritage Council, the instigators of the recent Hapan coup attempt. Lumiya had returned to the vessel with Alema Rar, with whom she fashioned two dead-man relays from as many proton detonator charges, in preparation imminent confrontation with the Masters Skywalker. The devices, which Lumiya intended to serve as failsafes, were configured to detonate upon the cessation of the wearer's vital signs, thus ensuring the deaths of those in close proximity. With the relays affixed to a combat vest for each ofthem, Lumiya and Rar left the Anakin Solo for Roqoo Depot. Dressed in dark robes with their faces hidden behind cowls, the two darksiders entered the refueling station cantina, Force presences hidden, just after the Skywalkers. Lumiya hurled a grenade at them upon sight, which detonated and scattered Jedi and patron alike. She maimed two beings with her lightwhip as they recovered, and vowed to kill all remaining bystanders for the Skywalkers' refusal to surrender. The Sith Lady redirected the cantina patrons' terror toward her opponents, but Luke attacked nonetheless, while Mara Jade closed in on her flank&mdash;both Jedi armed with lightsaber and shoto. She kept the civilians between them, however, and the Skywalkers were unable to mount a successful offensive without killing innocent beings. While Lumiya furiously fought with Luke, Alema hid within a Force shadow just outside the cantina entrance, and fired her blowgun at the unsuspecting Mara Jade, who was saved by the Force-warning of her husband. In his moment of distraction, Lumiya severed Luke's weapon hand and brought him down with a critical slash across the body. As she moved to finish him, Lumiya was shot five times with a blaster rifle found by the downed Jedi. The Grand Master's determination to kill her was stayed by his wife, who revealed the same type of combat failsafe strapped to Lumiya that Mara had discovered on the defeated Rar. The Jedi fled minutes before Lumiya and her accomplice, whose tracks were covered in the explosion of Roqoo Depot that resulted from the abandonment of their dead man relays.

Victory
"My work and my life are done, Jacen. I'd really welcome a rest."

- Lumiya

Legacy
"I've won.''" "And so I must go. Become nothingness." "You always were nothingness. You're a projection&mdash;dark side energy from the caverns, shaped by my imagination and Jacen Solo's form. But you'll be back. Bit by bit, Jacen Solo will become you." "And at last I'll have a name. A Sith name." "Yes." "He will learn that the attack at Toryaz Station was your doing. That good men were ruined by the phantoms from your mind, phantoms taking the forms of those they loved. That this war to come could have been prevented but for your interference." "Yes, someday, perhaps. In the meantime, his anger, the anger of his family, will be directed at Thrackan Sal-Solo, who's more to blame than I am for that attack-since he did what he did out of self-interest. And by the time Jacen discovers the full truth, he will understand how important he is, how he could not come to be without those events occurring, and he will forgive me." "I feel his emotions. He will hate you for these events." "But he will love me for them, too." "Yes." "''Then I know balance. The balance of the Sith."

- Lumiya, conversing with the Force phantom of Darth Caedus


 * This section talks about the events surrounding the moment Jacen took the name of Caedus.

Appearance
"No, I don't miss my beauty, you fool, because it would have vanished by now anyway. Once I understood that my injuries freed me from worrying about such nonsense, I realized that I had a task that only I could fulfill."

- Lumiya

Lumiya was considered attractive by other members of the Rebel Alliance with whom she once served. She was aware of her physical beauty and often flaunted herself in front of a bashful Luke Skywalker. Her physical appearance was dramatically altered after her accident during the Battle of the Secret armada. In the months that followed, Lumiya nursed a deep hatred for Skywalker, whom she held responsible for her tragedy. Over the years she learned to cope with her disfigurements and eventually suffered them to be so. She came to believe that her looks would have served as a hindrance to her goals in the long run. Despite this, she continued to wear and elaborate garments, and those who looked inside her closets remarked on their expense.


 * Never manifested the yellow-orange eyes of the Sith.


 * Kept a number of fully detailed and indiscernible false identities, among them Kuati mercantile princess, a smuggler named Silfinia Ell, and Brisha Syo of Commenor. Frequently appeared as a Hapan noblewoman.


 * Kept lavish and expensive clothing for use when disguise.


 * Thin nose.

Identity
"Aren't there only two Sith at a time?''" "Do you really want me to answer that?" "No, there is no need. We have heard enough of your lies for now." "''That is probably for the best."

- Alema Rar, and Lumiya

While Lumiya by her own initiative styled herself as the Dark Lady of the Sith, others differed in their personal perspectives. Luke Skywalker at different times thought of and referred to her as a Dark Jedi, a Sith apprentice, Sith Lady, and even as the Dark Lady. Skywalker's wife Mara knew Lumiya as a fellow yet rival Emperor's Hand, and later also as some form of Sith affiliate, going so far as to mock her as their "queen." The Sith Meditation Sphere Ship considered Lumiya to be the lowliest of students, for by his standards her knowledge was considerably lacking. Alema Rar repeatedly questioned Lumiya about her and her order and was met with reproach each time.

Ingenuity
"Very clever. You win even if you lose.''" "''It is the Sith way."

- Lumiya, and Alema Rar,


 * Constructing a weapon that most had never encountered.


 * Using her feminine wiles.


 * Capitalization on the misconceptions of her enemies.


 * Adaptability to all environments and any situation.

Philosophies
"Here's the truth about the difference between Jedi and Sith. Both Jedi and Sith gravitate toward rule. But the Jedi believe it's contrary to their nature, so they create guidelines that are only supposed to govern their own actions&hellip;until the inevitable day when the secular governments fall so short of Jedi ideals that they feel they have to impose their own rules on the others, to save them. That's what happened at the end of the Old Republic. But the rules they put together are strange, ascetic, not designed for ordinary people, and they can't be sustained as a form of government. The Sith recognize from the start that they can choose to impose their rule on others&hellip;or not. If society is functioning well, a Sith doesn't have to act. Vectivus didn't. If it's not, he should act. And since he knows that fixing a broken government is his mission, he can design a system of government that works, that is fair, orderly."

- Lumiya



She praised Solo for his ability to control Ben Skywalker, but also cautioned him to not be hindered by his affection for the boy. She was certain that the boy was the ideal candidate for Sith apprenticeship under Solo, given the Force potential afforded by his heredity and preoccupation with impressing his informal Master, the latter of which she let made him a slave to his emotions. When Solo suggested that he might abandon the prospect of Skywalker as his apprentice for one whom he believed would serve him better, such Jedi Knight Tahiri Veila, expressed extreme disapproval. She doubted Solo's committment to the Sith from time to time, and reminded him that their's was a cause far greater than the lives of his friends and family. She urged him to keep Skywalker close,


 * Lumiya was greatly disturbed by the insanity of Alema Rar, especially the fragmented hive-mind elements she found when probing her mind. She likened the Twi'lek's Force presence to that of shards of broken glass in her mouth. She was wary of Rar because of her mental instability, but quickly dismissed the idea of imparting her own Sith knowledge on the Dark Jedi, as Lumiya herself had a zero-tolerance policy with regard to a lack of discipline.

Shira Brie was trained to never let her guard down. By 40 ABY, she could remember none of the things that she used to enjoy doing prior to entering Imperial service. As she grew older, Lumiya became less inclined to indulge in her own desires in favor of a more pragmatic approach to her destiny.

Lumiya believed that so long as a risk was properly assessed, the reward which resulted was worth it.

Lumiya shunned politics and only saw their manipulation as a necessary means to an end. Even though she denied harboring such feelings, Lumiya nonetheless viewed Jacen Solo's desire to make a Sith apprentice out of his cousin Ben as an extra layer of vengeance against her enemy Luke Skywalker.

As an adolescent, Shira Brie was a staunch adherent to the tenets of Palpatine's New Order. Lumiya believed wholeheartedly in the guiding principles of the Rule of Two and the Sith Order over which it governed. She preferred to operate on the principles of patience, cunning, and secrecy when dealing with her enemies, and only revealed herself when she was absolutely sure that her plans were no longer subject to sabotage. She encouraged the last of her Sith apprentices, Jacen Solo, to subscribe to the same beliefs, particularly with regard to the selection of his own apprentice. Lumiya was a master of subtle manipulations, Force-augmented or otherwise, and employed deception as a matter of course.

Powers and abilities
Just a bit sketchy at the moment; will make it cohesive over time.

Spy
Shira Brie was trained as an espionage agent of the highest caliber at the Intelligence Academy of Carida. She was hand-selected by Darth Vader to serve as his personal, Rebel Alliance infiltrator, a job which she performed impeccably. She gave no hint of her true allegiance, and members of the highest tiers of the Alliance hierarchy had not the slightest clue of Major Brie's duplicity, even as she dwelt regularly amongst them. Brie went as far as to bring several members of the Alliance to Shalyvane, a world on which she was required to report her progress through secret means, much to their ignorance.

Lumiya maintained her propensity for intrigue and influenced a number of events over the decades, whether major or otherwise insignificant, to the complete ignorance of the galaxy at large.

Force ability
"The Force is the energy of the living. You interact with it, its eddies and flows, with your own living body. It's all right to have a mechanical part or two&mdash;an implant, a replacement foot. But for true Mastery in the Force, light side or dark side, you have to be mostly organic. I'm not, and so the greatest, the most significant powers, I can never learn."

- Lumiya

"Why so dismayed? Surely you knew that my training in the ways of the Force&hellip;gives me mastery over limited amounts of matter and energy&hellip;and hence&mdash;telekinesis."

- Lumiya

Prior to the accident that led to her disfigurement, Shira Brie's Force capabilities were considered exceptional by Darth Vader. While in training on Carida, in both intelligence and the Force, Brie learned to perform mind tricks and developed an intuitive facility with telekinesis.

She could enter a healing trance, create Force whirlwinds, deflect blasters, dissipate energy, project hatred. Battlemind. Able to tame beasts as steeds if the need to arose.


 * She was streetwise.


 * Her true power lay in the conjuring of illusory constructs. Despite all her environment-altering ability, nothing she changed was ever permanent; everything was simply a fascade.


 * Able to amplifythe emotions of individuals and redirect them at specific targets.

Piloting skills
A fine pilot, Brie was top of her class during her training at the Coruscanti Pilots Institute and maintained a consistently high record throughout her time at the Carida Academy. Practice on simulators enabled Brie to hone her skills and gain proficiency at piloting a variety of vehicles, such as the MT-ST.

Physical prowess
Lumiya was proficient at Echani and Noghri Stava. In addition to Galactic Basic Standard, Lumiya could speak Huttese, Mon Calamarian and Bothan.

She was an accomplished swimmer.

Cybernetics
"I'm actually more machine than organic&hellip;there's a point, I think, at which a woman ceases to be a human with cybernetic implants and becomes a machine with organic parts. I believe I've crossed that threshold. And you know what? I'm not unhappy with that."

- Lumiya

Her original prostheses included blasters incorporated into the hands. When these were replaced after the Nagai-Tof conflict, they no longer included integrated blasters, rendering her unable to fire energy beams from her hands.


 * Talk about Lumiya's original mechanical enhancements as shown in Figurehead.
 * Blasters incorporated into her hands, shown in Figurehead and described in LDSE.
 * Increase in height based on stats from LDSE.
 * Discuss the awkwardness of her original mechanical enhancements, shown in Figurehead.
 * Described how Leia exploded her original cybernetics as shown in Figurehead.
 * Describe her new prostheses as shown in Duel With a Dark Lady after her original set was destroyed in Figurehead.
 * Discuss the chest monitor thingy like Darth Vader's.
 * Discuss how she could hide her lightwhip inside one of her prosthetic legs as described in Betrayal.
 * Discuss how her cloak flowed like perpetual darkness as shown in Duel With a Dark Lady.
 * Describe her signature triangular headdress.

Lightwhip


"&hellip;Biting metal and stinging light&hellip;"

- Excerpt from the Sith tome which inspired the creation of Lumiya's lightwhip

The one thing probably more closely associated with Lumiya than her signature triangular headdress was her choice of weapon; the ancient Sith lightwhip. A peculiar thing that resembled a cat o' nine tails, Lumiya's device was constructed of Mandalorian iron and powered by shards of kaiburr crystal. It differed than the lightwhips wielded by the Sith of old, in that it was a multi-stranded device of equal parts studded leather, strands of metal, and coherent lightsaber energy. Lumiya's lightwhip had a five meter attack radius, but she was also able to shorten the lengths of its tendrils in combat when more precise control over a shorter area was required.

Ship
"What a magnificent piece of engineering. It says it's found me."

- Lumiya


 * Describe how Ship recognized her as Sith & came to her for instructions in Sacrifice.
 * Describe how Ship later realized that Lumiya lacked sufficient Sith knowledge to be considered a Master by Ship's standards, and therefore was unable to fully command Ship, losing control of it to a Jedi Padawan (Ben Skywalker) in Sacrifice.

The Home

 * The asteroid on which Lumiya resided had a subfuscous ambiance to it.

Behind the scenes
Lumiya was created by David Michelinie and Walt Simonson and first appeared as Shira Brie in Coffin in the Clouds. She later appeared in Star Wars 57: Hello, Bespin, Goodbye, Star Wars 58: Sundown, Star Wars 60: Shira's Story, and Star Wars 61: Screams in the Void, also by Michelinie and Simonson. Her first appearance as Lumiya, however, was in Star Wars 88: Figurehead, by writer Jo Duffy and illustrators Bob McLeod and Cynthia Martin. Martin and Mcleod also penciled Lumiya in subsequent issues of the Marvel Star Wars story arc: Star Wars 95: No Zeltrons, Star Wars 96: Duel With a Dark Lady, Star Wars 97: Escape, Star Wars 100: First Strike, and Star Wars 107: All Together Now. Elements of her backstory were explored in depth in Star Wars 63: The Mind Spider. The relationship between she and Darth Vader was initially unexplored, but The Emperor's Pawns went into greater detail about their interaction with each other. While Lumiya's Databank entry claims that the woman was recovered from her TIE fighter by Darth Vader's agents, The Emperor's Pawns states that the Sith Lord himself discovered Lumiya in the damaged starfighter.

The final duel between Luke Skywalker and Lumiya, which took place on Terephon, was illustrated by artist Tommy Lee Edwards for Jedi vs. Sith: The Essential Guide to the Force. In Edwards' depiction, Lumiya is still wearing her headdress, whereas Sacrifice states that the Sith Lady removed it before the duel took place.

On Edwards' blog, another illustration of the duel is shown. In this unpublished drawing, Skywalker is shown decapitating Lumiya, although the events of the duel in Sacrifice are once again contradictory. Link to Lee Edwards' blog http://web.mac.com/tommyleeedwards/iWeb/Site%202/TLE%20BLOG/78EA8B5A-57FA-4106-8625-028D707BD0E0.html

In Jedi vs. Sith: The Essential Guide to the Force, Mara Jade Skywalker recounts her first encounter with Lumiya on Caprioril, and then talks about how she saw her later in passing while at the Imperial Palace. Furthermore, the cover for The Emperor's Pawns shows Lumiya dueling Mara Jade, lightwhip versus lightsaber. If the chronology of the events given by Mara Jade in JVS is correct, Lumiya's databank entry contradicts this because it states Lumiya constructed her lightwhip after being presented to Palpatine as an Emperor's Hand, though Mara Jade is shown fighting her with a lightwhip in their first encounter (according to Jade) with one.

Lumiya: Dark Star of the Empire lists Lumiya's height as 6' (1.83 meters) as late as the battle of Endor, but and The New Essential Chronology lists it as 5'2" (1.6 meters). Furthermore, Tempest states that Alema Rar is considerably taller than Lumiya, but the NEC shows them both as the same height at 1.6 meters, while Dark Star of the Empire contradicts both of these.

Lumiya: Dark Star of the Empire also mistakenly identifies Lumiya as having been previously a Jedi Knight that fell to the dark side of the Force.

In the New Essential Guide to Characters Lumiya's eyes are stated to be green. However in Jedi vs. Sith: The Essential Guide to the Force, Mara Jade Skywalker says that Lumiya's eyes are gray. Lumiya's picture in The Essential Atlas show her eyes as green also.

says that Lumiya was shot down by Luke Skywalker during their mission to Cloud City, when in fact she was shot down during the battle of the Battle of the secret armada.