Conclave on Exis Station

"My fellow Jedi, thank you for coming to Exis Station for this, our first great convocation in over a decade."

- Nomi Sunrider

The Conclave on Exis Station was the first Jedi convocation held since the Conclave of Deneba during the Great Sith War. Taking place in 3,986 BBY on Exis Station, it was presided over by Nomi Sunrider, who assembled it so the Jedi could discuss the rebuilding following the end of the war. However, due to Sylvar, a large amount of the discussion centered on whether Ulic Qel-Droma should be located and brought to justice.

Rewrite; use as intro.

Background
"Many of our fellow knights fell in the Sith War, and many new students have since been trained... Together, we have suffered a great disaster, and now comes a time for healing. War has spanned the galaxy, but now it is over."

- Nomi Sunrider

The Great Sith War, which roughly took place between the years 4,000 and 3,996 BBY, was a galaxy-spanning conflict between the forces of the Galactic Republic, which included the Jedi Order, and the followers of the Sith and their allies. In an attempt to wrest control over a large portion of the galaxy from the Republic, which had reigned for over twenty millennia, the spirit of the long-dead Dark Lord of the Sith Freedon Nadd subverted several Force-sensitives into furthering his ambitions from beyond the grave. Among these were Exar Kun, a Jedi apprentice who had grown disenchanted with the current state of the Order and had left on his own quest for knowledge&mdash;including that of the Sith. Also under the influence of Freedon Nadd were Satal and Aleema Keto, members of the Tetan elite who were themselves dabbling in dark-side magic, and had formed a secret society and dark-side cult known as the Krath.

The Sith, having been reestablished by the followers of Freedon Nadd, waged war on the Republic and the Jedi, causing a crisis on the galactic scale. But in due time, the ambitions of Nadd's converts outweighed his influence on them, and after he had branded Exar Kun&mdash;along with fellow fallen Jedi Ulic Qel-Droma&mdash;the inheritor to the Sith traditions, Kun extinguished Nadd's spirit and took full control of the Sith War. As Kun brought the Krath into his own dominion, the war gained even more cataclysmic proportion, but the Jedi Order fought the Sith at each turn. Notable Jedi Masters and Knights such as Nomi Sunrider, Sylvar, and Thon of Ambria led Republic forces against the followers of Kun and Qel-Droma as the war came to the point where a decisive victory, or a false move, could spell triumph or defeat for either side.

Ultimately, the Republic and the Jedi were victorious, but at great cost. Many of the most influential Jedi Masters, including Qel-Droma's and Kun's mentors, Arca Jeth and Vodo-Siosk Baas, respectively, were killed in the course of the war. The Sith launched a suicide attack&mdash;killing its unwitting perpetrators, Aleema Keto and the Cathar Crado&mdash;in which they triggered a supernova in the Cron Cluster using Sith magic, devastating the Jedi library world of Ossus. Ulic Qel-Droma, having killed his brother, the still-loyal Jedi Knight Cay Qel-Droma, in a fit of rage, was cornered by Nomi Sunrider, who then removed his ability to use the Force. Qel-Droma then led the Jedi armada to Exar Kun's base on Yavin 4, where Kun managed to transcend his physical body, only to have his spirit contained on the moon by the Jedi.

Following the devastation of the war, the Sith were all but destroyed, and Ulic Qel-Droma wandered the galaxy in a self-imposed exile. The Jedi Order rebuilt, naming Nomi Sunrider as their leader. . Many new Jedi were trained to replace those who had fallen in the war. In 3,986 BBY, the Sith War had been over for more than a decade, and the Republic&mdash;and the Jedi alongside it&mdash;had begun to recover. The Jedi Order had not met in great numbers in the late stages of the war or in the years following it, their last great convocation having taken place at Mount Meru on Deneba in 3,997 BBY during the Krath conflict. And so the Jedi were called to meet at Exis Station, an ion mining station in the Teedio system, in order to discuss the future of their order.

The Conclave
"Ulic betrayed the Jedi Knights... he betrayed us all! And now he wanders free, unpunished. Conspiring with Exar Kun, Ulic brought devastating war to the Republic. We lost many of our greatest Jedi in the Sith War... including my own mate Crado. My people, the Cathar, mate for life. I will never take another... so I have devoted myself to the Jedi way, to being a soldier of the Force. Ulic was once our greatest Jedi Knight. Now he is our greatest shame."

- Sylvar

The space around Exis Station swarmed with spacecraft as the Jedi gathered there for the conclave. Nomi Sunrider brought her teenage daughter, Vima, to the station for the conference, and there Vima was reunited with the Tchuukthai Jedi Master Thon, who had been Nomi's master and had cared for and protected Vima for a good portion of her life. Also arriving on the station, with two of her fellow Cathar flanking her, was Sylvar, now a revered figure on her homeworld. But the three had little time to catch up, as the Conclave on Exis Station began with a speech by the head of the Order.

After welcoming the numerous Jedi Masters and Knights to the convocation, Sunrider spoke of the Sith War, and of the time of healing since its end. Her words were ones of hope, as she asked the Jedi to think of the future, and to place their trust&mdash;trust that had been shaken in the terrible war&mdash;in the Force. As Nomi spoke, Thon noted that the gathered Jedi looked up to his former apprentice, and followed her; he was proud.

Vima Sunrider, however, was bored with the conference already, merely complicating the frustration she already felt at her mother's neglect of her Jedi training. The girl slipped away, looking for something adventurous to do, and found just what she was looking for. One of Exis Station's ion mining crews was heading to their ships for a shift. Vima, finding one ship both prepped and unguarded, climbed into the cockpit and too off with the rest of the formation. But the teenager was ill-prepared for such a flight, and soon found herself caught in a magnetic loop from one of the local star's chromospheric storm cells.

As Nomi Sunrider was laying out plans to form a new Jedi Council, she brought the conclave to a halt when she sensed her daughter's imminent danger; Thon and Sylvar also felt Vima's predicament in the Force. As the stolen ion mining ship careened towards the star, Vima punched out in the escape pod. As the escape pod fell, the mining crew's foreman refused to risk his crew on her rescue, and Vima's situation seemed dire. Yet at the last moment, the escape pod was snagged by a grapnel from the ship of a newcomer&mdash;the Twi'lek Jedi Tott Doneeta, arriving at the station late after having been caught in a heat storm on his homeworld of Ryloth. He returned with Vima to Exis Station, where they were received by Masters Thon and a very relieved Nomi. The conclave began once more.

Sylvar soon took the podium, as there was much she wanted to address at the convocation. Ulic Qel-Droma, one of the leaders of the Sith during the war, had been left to his own designs following the end of the conflict, and Sylvar sought justice. She was bitter about the cost of the war, including the death of her mate, Crado, and placed all blame on the last remaining member of the Sith regime. Demanding that Ulic be hunted down brought to justice, Sylvar caused Nomi to reflect on her memories of him. Vima did also, although as she had been a young child, hers were not as bitter as the others'.

Outcome
"As long as there are Jedi Knights, there is hope."

- Nomi Sunrider

The conclave came to its conclusion shortly thereafter. The myriad Jedi began to go their separate ways, and the station slowly emptied. Tott Doneeta, sensing that Sylvar still had much turmoil in her, invited the Cathar to join him in his work on Ryloth. Vima Sunrider decided to run away once again, this time in search of Ulic Qel-Droma; the young girl stowed away aboard the ship of the spacer known as Hoggon, who had come to the convocation to observe the great Jedi of the war. She convinced Hoggon, who had taken Ulic to the ice planet Rhen Var, to bring her there, as well. After discovering where her daughter had gone, Nomi Sunrider also traveled to Rhen Var, in order to confront Qel-Droma and take Vima home; Sylvar also arrived on the planet, but with her own intentions. After a long duel between them, Ulic decided not to defend himself against Sylvar any longer, and it was this action that reminded Sylvar what it meant to be a Jedi. She gave up her quest for vengeance, but ultimately Qel-Droma was shot and killed by Hoggon, who sought glory and his own place in history.

The Conclave on Exis Station would become known as a pivotal point in the history of the Jedi. Several thousand years after the conference, the Jedi Knight Tionne, of the New Jedi Order, would discover Exis Station's location, as well as the text of Nomi Sunrider's speeches. eleven years thereafter, the dark side Mage known as Orloc would set up his base on the station.

Behind the scenes
The Conclave on Exis Station begins in the comic Tales of the Jedi: Redemption 1: A Gathering of Jedi from the Tales of the Jedi comic series, and is concluded in Tales of the Jedi: Redemption 2: The Search for Peace. Events surrounding the Conclave continue throughout the rest of the Redemption story arc, which was written by Star Wars author Kevin J. Anderson.

Appearances

 * Tales of the Jedi: Redemption
 * Firestorm
 * Junior Jedi Knights: Kenobi's Blade