Darth Cognus

"If you become my apprentice, who you were will cease to exist. You must be reborn in the ways of the dark side.''" ""I'm ready, my lord." "Then choose a new name for yourself, as a symbol of your new and greater existence." "''Cognus."

- Darth Bane and the Huntress, upon the hour of the latter's rebirth

The Huntress was a female Iktotchi assassin who operated in the years following the end of the New Sith Wars. An impeccable record of success saw the Huntress employed by Lucia, a bodyguard working for the royal house of the planet Doan. After efficiently honoring her contract with Lucia, the Huntress was then hired by the bodyguard's charge, Princess Serra, to track down Darth Bane, the only surviving Dark Lord of the Sith of the war of twenty years prior.

With a score of mercenaries allotted to her by Serra, the Huntress ambushed Bane and immobilized him with senflax poison, before taking him into custody and delivering him to the Stone Prison on Doan. Despite the completion of her task, however, she delayed her departure from the penitentiary, believing that her destiny was inextricably linked with that of Darth Bane. She made her way to the prison's hangar bay where she encountered and dueled the Dark Jedi Set Harth, whom she eventually allowed to flee after conceding the bout to stalemate. Darth Bane arrived shortly afterward, having escaped the torment he had been subjected to at Serra's hands. The Huntress yielded before him and appealed to learn the ways of the Sith from him, an offer which he accepted.

Together they fled the Stone Prison ensuing destruction and journeyed to the planet Ambria, where the Huntress ceased to exist. At Bane's prompting, she abandoned her former handle in favor of Darth Cognus, Dark Lord of the Sith; so named for her inherent ability to perceive and influence the future. Before she could formally begin her training, however, Bane's current apprentice, Darth Zannah, arrived soon after to do battle with him for rites to the title of Sith Master. Realizing that the two were evenly matched, Cognus did not interfere but instead pledged to serve the survivor. When Zannah emerged victorious, and Darth Cognus' life was thus consecrated to the Order of Sith Lords. Cognus ascended to Sith Mastery years later, taking the three-eyed Human mutant Darth Millennial as her apprentice. She was ultimately forced to disavow him for blasphemy against Darth Bane's Rule of Two.

Early life
""I love a good chase. That's why they call me the Huntress."

- The Huntress

The Huntress, as she was called, was a Force-sensitive female Iktotchi who, like most members of her species, possessed a natural talent with precognition and telepathy. Her abilities far-exceeded those of her kinsmen, and with time she learned to focus and control her visions with great precision. Occasionally, she was able to perceive possible futures and exert minimal influence over them. The dark side also flowed strongly through the Huntress, and with it she was able to hamper the powers and connections of Force-Force-users within close proximity to her. She made use of her talents in a career as an assassin in the years following the end of the New Sith Wars. For five years she indulged herself, during which time she cultivated a flawless track record and earned a reputation for exemplary mission success.

Jedi killer
"The miners are dead.''" ""You're an assassin. Sent by the royal family to kill the rebel leaders." "If you surrender, I will promise you a fair trial." "''There will be no trial."

- The Huntress and Medd Tandar, just before the latter's death

In 980 BBY, after several discreet inquiries and transfers of large amounts of credits, the Huntress was contacted by Lucia, a Human woman who served as a bodyguard for Princess Serra of the planet Doan. They met at the Paradise space station which was located on a small hyperspace route that branched off of the Corellian Trade Spine to discuss the assassination of the leader of a militant mining organization that had been implicated in the recent death of Serra's husband, Crown Prince Gerran. The Huntress accepted the contract and made her way to Doan, where she located her quarry in an underground cavern, only to realize that with them was a Jedi. Still catching them unawares, the Huntress fired her twin blasters and first killed Gelba, the leader of the miners, before felling two more in rapid succession. As total pandemonium rapidly erupted, the Huntress began projecting her Force-dampening aura to suppress the Jedi's powers, a move which instantly disoriented and temporarily removed him from the skirmish. The Huntress proceeded to eliminate the remaining miners, which then led the debilitated Jedi, a Cerean Knight named Medd Tandar, into a direct confrontation with her. She answered his challenge with another round of blaster shots, before the Jedi used the Force to wrench her blasters free from her grasp. Undaunted, the Huntress listened as Tandar promised her a fair trial if she simply surrendered to him; however, the Force had shown her that a trial was not to be. After advising her opponent of that fact, she made haste her exit as she had set her confiscated blasters to overload&mdash;which did so immediately after her departure, and resulted in the death of Medd Tandar.

Second contract
"The assassin you hired. I need you to contact her again. I have another job for her."

- Serra

Despite the successful consummation of her task, the Huntress believed that she had earned Princess Serra's displeasure because of the resultant collateral damage in the form of Jedi Tandar. Her skills were nevertheless called upon a second time by Lucia, this time for the service of none other than Princess Serra herself. A journey with Lucia to the Jedi Temple on Coruscant revealed to Serra that her father Caleb had been killed on the planet Ambria, presumably by a Dark Lord of the Sith that had visited and tormented Serra and her father twenty years prior. Learning of the Huntress' reputation from Lucia, Serra charged her bodyguard with contacting the Iktotchi woman on the Princess' behalf. Again the Huntress went to meet Lucia on Paradise station, where she waited in the furthest corner of the Stolen Fortune casino for the arrival of her most recent employer. Lucia arrived shortly afterward, causing the Huntress to voice her expectation of Serra's displeasure. She agreed to entertain Lucia once the woman made clear her intention to enlist the Huntress' services yet again. The Iktotchi guessed that she had been contacted to deal with more rebels, but Lucia revealed that Princess Serra had wanted to meet with her in person and alone on Ambria. While handing the Huntress a datapad with the planet's location, Lucia explained that if she accepted, the Princess offered to pay three times her standard rate. After a moment's communion with the Force, the Huntress accepted Serra's offer.

The Huntress meditated for hours during the ride to Ambria, and through the Force she learned much about her destination. However, the clarity of her visions began to wane, and all she could glean about her imminent meeting with Serra was that it was not a trap. Her shuttle, the Stalker, touched down just outside of an abandoned camp, where she disembarked and met with an already present Serra. After she was satisfied that the Huntress was able to satisfy her needs, Serra explained her need for the location and capture of a Sith Lord who had come to Ambria many years before. Through the Force, the Huntress saw Serra's childhood and adolescent years with her father Caleb, as well as the faces of hundreds of other individuals who had come and gone from Ambria over the course of the planet's history. The visage of the Sith Lord of whom Serra spoke then appeared to the Huntress, and of the confrontation between he and the Princess' father. She then saw him again on Ambria at a later date, this time accompanied by a young, blond-haired woman. Serra was desperate to know the details of their second meeting, prompting the Huntress continued her Force probe and saw the aftermath of Caleb's violent death. She also saw another another man in Caleb's former hut, driven mad by some unknown force. She knew that the Sith Lord and the young woman were still there, albeit obscured by some concealing force. She was violently repelled upon her attempt to pierce the haze, causing her to fall to the ground and cry out in pain. Thrown out of her trance, the Huntress realized that her inability to circumvent the veil was the result of the remnants of a spell cast long ago to protect the Sith Lord and his charge. She recovered and told the anxious Princess all that she had seen, confirming that the Sith Lord had indeed returned to Ambria as Caleb had predicted. While confident that she had seen enough to be able to locate him, the Huntress expressed misgivings about her ability to actually kill him. Serra specified her desire for the Sith Lord to be captured, which led the Huntress to remind her of her status as an assassin, not a bounty hunter. The Princess offered to pay the Huntress ten times her usual fee and the support of a team of mercenaries. Still hesitant, the Huntress inquired as to how she was supposed to keep the Sith Lord in custody once he had been captured. She was led by Serra into the shack that she and her father had once lived in, where she entered a makeshift cellar and retrieved a vile of senflax; a neurotoxin extracted from a rare plant found only on the planet Cadannia. Although Caleb had used it as a sedative, Serra explained to the Huntress that senflax's potency would allow her to maintain the Sith Lord's imprisonment. Despite her inability to perceive the mission's outcome, she was intrigued by the prospect of facing an actual Sith Lord in combat, something she felt as though she had been preparing for her entire life. She advised the Princess that she would require a minimum of ten well-trained commandos to complete the mission. When Serra offered twenty such individuals, all with prior military experience, the Huntress accepted.

Facing a Sith Lord
"You can't escape.''" "''I wasn't trying to."

- Darth Bane and the Huntress

In the days following her meeting with Princess Serra, the Huntress' sleep was disturbed by reoccurring dreams of the Sith Lord. The Force showed her visions of his day to day activities, even the daily sunrise of whatever world on which he resided. Cross-referencing the details of her visions with an all-inclusive database of systems, planets, and other celestial bodies, the Huntress was able to determine that her quarry could be found on the world of Ciutric IV. Armed with Serra's mercenary allotment of eight women and twelve men, led by Captain Jedder of the Doan Royal Guard, the Huntress infiltrated the Sith Lord's mansion while he was away. While her teammates waited outside, she explored the entire estate and committed the details to memory. She deactivated all of the mansion's security measures, including those that protected a small building toward the rear of the premises. Mistaking it for some sort of armory, the Huntress discovered instead that it was a library replete with all sorts of educational materials, from datapads to scrolls scribed on weathered parchment. She also discovered the Sith Lord's personal holocron, though she was unsure as to what exactly it was. She was compelled to it nonetheless, and confiscated it before continuing her perusal of the estate. Once she was satisfied that the grounds were secured, the mercenaries entered to begin their preparations.

The Huntress knew that her prey would sense something amiss upon his return, and planned to attempt to subdue him the mansion's vestibule. On her command, sonic detonators were installed on either side of the entrance, while a pair mercenaries took up positions on the balcony with their stun rifles trained on the foyer. She dismissed the idea of using both force pikes and carbonite guns to take him down, as both required close-quarters combat to be used effectively. Jedder questioned the efficiency of the tangle guns within their arsenal, but the Huntress made it clear that the projectile they discharged was only supposed to slow the Sith Lord down long enough for her to move in and administer the senflax poison. Once her part had been completed, the mercenaries were supposed to then overwhelm him with their attacks until which time the senflax began to take effect. In the interim, Captain Jedder, who had heard of the Iktotchi's ability to perceive the future, asked her if they would all survive the encounter with the Sith Lord. While she replied that perhaps several of them would, she failed to make Jedder aware that she had seen his mangled corpse lying on the mansion's marble floor.

The Sith Lord returned to his mansion shortly afterward and immediately&mdash;just as the Huntress had said&mdash;sensed the presence of intruders. She held position in the far end of the upstairs hallway, where she began projecting her Force-dampening aura just as the sonic detonators activated. The mercenaries then descended upon him, and the Huntress' Force suppression, while unable to stop the Sith completely, hindered him enough to fall victim to one of the many stun bolts fired in his direction. He recovered instantly and attacked four of the mercenaries with Force lightning, killing three of them in the process. He evaded the following adhesive spray of the tangle guns by propelling himself onto the balcony where he landed face to face with the Huntress. She raced toward him with her twin senflax-covered knives drawn, but her move was a feint; as the Dark Lord prepared himself, a series of flash grenades detonated at his feet and blinded him momentarily. The Huntress followed through with a boot to his chest which sent him over the balcony. She pursued his descent and continued her Force suppression, managing to carve a deep furrow into his arm with her senflax-coated blades as he quickly recovered. The Huntress then retreated to the balcony and as her opponent made short work of several more mercenaries before returning to face her. After a brief exchange the Huntress attacked him, but was thrown from the balcony by a strong Force push. The Sith Lord advanced, but it was in that moment that the senflax took effect; he collapsed into unconsciousness upon landing, and the Huntress immediately called for a cease-fire. At least six of the mercenaries were dead, Jedder included, and the Huntress ordered the survivors prepare for departure, as the Force had shown her the imminent arrival of the Sith Lord's blond companion. After ensuring the removal of anything that could implicate Princess Serra, the Huntress collected her bounty, his lightsaber and the travel bag he had arrived with, before departing both the mansion and Ciutric IV with the surviving mercenaries.

Darth Bane's escape
Upon their arrival on Doan, the Huntress transferred custody of the Sith Lord to Serra, who had him interned in the planet's infamous and antiquated Stone Prison. The Iktotchi chose to remain with the captive, and while the surviving mercenaries and Lucia waited for Serra, she occupied a corner of the room adjacent to his cell, where she sat quietly in meditation. The Princess arrived shortly afterward, and the Huntress insisted on entering the cell with her and Lucia. The Sith Lord was subjected to torture and interrogation at Serra's hand, who demanded the acknowledgement of his culpability in her father's death. When he denied being the one who actually killed Caleb, the Huntress reminded Serra that she had seen another person in her visions, and that it was very possible that she had been the instrument of Caleb's demise. She reveled in his agony as the torment continued, before Serra finally became so frustrated by his indignance that she left to regain her composure. Curious as to what she would do next, the Huntress followed after the oblivious Princess, who only noticed the stalker after she herself had halted her own advance. The Huntress evinced her preoccupation with Serra's reaction to the Sith Lord's denial, and warned that she had missed her opportunity for revenge. She refused Serra's subsequent dismissal, expressing her interest in what would happen once the prisoner escaped. Serra vowed that the Sith would never be freed, but the Huntress revealed that Lucia had betrayed her by facilitating the prisoner's abdication. Serra was unable to understand why the assassin had refrained from telling her sooner, who cited that her contract involved nothing more than the capture of the Sith Lord. She delighted herself in the Princess' despair and smiled as the woman then fled to determine the validity of the Iktotchi's claim. Lucia appeared moments later, and the Huntress confessed that she had made Serra aware of Lucia's treachery. As the bodyguard ran off in her mistress' direction, the Huntress envisioned the destruction of the Stone Prison, and made haste herself for the hangar bay, only to be stricken with a hesitation to leave even as the warning alarms began to sound. She felt her life had been virtually meaningless up until that point, and something in the Force&mdash;though she was unsure as to what it was&mdash;told her that her the truth of her destiny was about to be brought into sharp relief.



As she waited around the hangar, the Huntress noticed a white-haired man who appeared to be preparing to steal her ship. She startled him with a warning to leave the vessel alone, and was rewarded with his ignited lightsaber swinging in her direction. She evaded the maneuver easily and faced the man who, instead of attacking again, claimed to be Jedi Knight Medd Tandar. The Huntress was not fooled, however, and exposed his falsehood while also mocking him. The man attempted to blast her with a wave of Force energy but was instantly crippled and surprised by her Force-stifling aura. She shrugged off the attack and struck unsuccessfully at him with twin vibroblades. He had eluded her temporarily, and the Huntress, a woman thrilled by the prospect of an invigorating hunt, gave chase. Try as she might, the Huntress was unable to catch her opponent. On one occasion she just barely dodged his thrown lightsaber, which hewed off a portion of one of her horns. She continued to stalk him, but the pitch in the alarm changed and the Huntress knew that she was running out of time. The Huntress eventually found him, but each had grown weary of the protracted chase, and conceded that they would both die if the stalemate prolonged any further. Grudgingly, the Huntress allowed the man to escape in one of the shuttles at the same moment that the formerly-captive Sith Lord appeared.

Bane had escaped the prison, and the Huntress was standing next to the remaining shuttle, waiting for him. Recognizing her as the same assassin who captured him on Ciutric IV, Bane attacked her. The Huntress, instead of fighting back, dropped to one knee and bowed down, presenting him with his lightsaber. The Huntress explained to a wary Bane that their destinies were intertwined, and asked to study under him, learning the ways of the Sith. Bane wanted to know what she could offer him, and she said that she would offer loyalty, devotion, a way to escape the prison, and the location of Caleb's daughter. Bane accepted, and they fled the planet.

Looking to find Serra, the Huntress explained to Bane that Serra would return to Ambria, not because visions in the Force told her so, but because that was where they met to discuss Bane's capture. The pair landed their ship on Ambria at the edge of Caleb's camp. Serra emerged from the shack and confronted Bane and the Huntress. Serra told Bane that, like her father, she would not help him if she had a choice in the matter, and she told the Huntress that Bane and the dark side would destroy her. Citing her recent life as an example, Serra told the Huntress that the dark side cost her everything, and Bane replied that the dark side devours those who are weak and unworthy, but rewards those who are strong. Serra again stated that she would never serve Bane. Bane, sensing that she would never change her mind on the issue, let the Huntress kill Serra and ordered her to bury Serra's body.

Birth of Darth Cognus
On the night of Serra's death, Bane and the Huntress built a fire and discussed the Huntress's apprenticeship to Bane. Bane told her she must cast off her old life, so she could not to return home, must sever all ties with family and friends, and leave behind all her possessions. The Huntress replied that she had no family and friends, and that compared to power and purpose, wealth and material goods meant nothing to her. Bane then asked her to choose a new name for herself, to signify her new life. After a moment's deliberation, the Huntress chose the name "Cognus" for herself. Bane was impressed at the choice of her name, as Cognus understood that her power was in her intelligence and her ability to see the future, not in her fighting skills. Bane then pronounced her Darth Cognus of the Sith, and demanded to know what visions Cognus has had of Bane and his old apprentice Darth Zannah. Cognus stated that the details always changed, and that sometimes Bane won, and that sometimes Zannah won. Bane took the visions to mean that he and Zannah were too evenly matched to see the outcome, and arranged for Zannah's shuttle to receive a distress signal from his ship to lure Zannah to Ambria. While waiting for Zannah to arrive, Bane explained to Cognus the basic tenets of the Rule of Two; how there was always a Master and an apprentice, and that one day, the apprentice must kill the Master. If the apprentice is unworthy, they die by the Master's hand. If the apprentice is worthy, they take over as Master. Cognus understood the significance of the rule, and promised not to interfere when Zannah arrived.

Zannah arrived a few moments later, and Cognus stayed near the hut while Bane met with her. Bane assured Zannah that Cognus would not interfere in their duel, and introduced Cognus as a new apprentice. Cognus called out to Zannah that she would serve under whoever won, so if Zannah won, she would serve under her. Zannah agreed, and Bane and Zannah dueled as Cognus watched. During the duel, Bane's body was destroyed as he used the life essence transference spell he had learned from Darth Andeddu's holocron in an attempt to possess Zannah's body. Zannah collapsed to the ground, and when she awoke Cognus thought that Bane had taken over Zannah's body and knelt before Zannah, addressing her as "Bane". Zannah corrected her, introducing herself to Cognus as Darth Zannah, Dark Lord of the Sith and therefore her new Master. Cognus introduced herself to her new master, and told Zannah that her lessons with Bane were too brief to learn anything. Zannah handed Cognus Bane's lightsaber and told her that she would teach her everything in time, including how to build her own lightsaber. Zannah also explained that they were Bane's legacy, and that one day Cognus would face her just as Zannah had faced Bane. Cognus took note of her Master's lessons, but also took note of the tremor in Zannah's left hand; a trait that Darth Bane used to possess.

Dark Lord of the Sith
At some point later in Cognus' life, she took on an apprentice of her own, the three-eyed mutant human Darth Millennial. Cognus, however, was angered by the beliefs of her apprentice, which ran contradictory to Darth Bane's teachings, and drove him away. Millennial, who considered the Rule of Two far too restrictive, fled to the world of Dromund Kaas, where he established the Dark Force religion, while Cognus stayed on the path set forth by Bane and took on a new apprentice to continue her line.

Personality and traits
"Wealth and material goods mean nothing to me. I crave only power and purpose. With power, anything you want or need can simply be taken. With purpose, your life has meaning."

- Darth Cognus

The Huntress thrived on the misery of others and relished when able to witness their suffering personally. As an assassin, Cognus was ruthless and cared little for concepts of "good" and "evil". When she was on Paradise, Cognus also enjoyed watching animals fight to the death, often ripping each other apart. She also took great pleasure in watching Bane's torture at the hands of Serra, and also from Serra's reaction when the Huntress told her about Lucia's betrayal.

Cognus was a hired killer, not a bounty hunter, and she balked when Serra offered her large amounts of money to capture, but not kill, a Sith Lord. The job did pique her interest, as she had never fought a Sith Lord before, so she made an exception to take on the job not for the massive amounts of money, but because she considered it a challenge.

When Darth Bane was Cognus' master, he noted that she had ambition, and was impressed with what she had chosen as her Sith name one that fit her personality and abilities. By choosing that name, she emphasized her knowledge of the future and her intelligence over her fighting skills. For her part, Cognus herself stated that she craved only power and purpose.

Powers and abilities
"My visions. If I concentrate, they allow me to see images: people, places. Sometimes I catch glimpses of the future, though they do not always come true."

- The Huntress

If she concentrated, Cognus could use the Force to see visions of the past and the future of a person or area she was searching for. This particular force talent served her well as an assassin, as she concentrated on her target and the Force would lead her to her target's current location. In her career as an assassin, she always found her target, and only one person she wanted to kill got away: Set Harth.

Cognus also had an ability to disrupt the use of the Force in others, making their Force-based attacks weak.

As an assassin, she carried around two vibroblades, which she wielded with great expertise.

Behind the scenes
Abel G. Peña, the creator of Darth Cognus, stated he personally considered her to be a female. Cognus's gender was later canonized in the book Jedi vs. Sith: Essential Guide to the Force. However, The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia mistakenly identified Cognus as male.

Appearances

 * Darth Bane: Dynasty of Evil

Notes and references
Darth Cognus Darth Cognus Darth Cognus