Igni Irae
"Do you know what the Dominion is? It is the last bastion of Light in the Galaxy, governed by wise Jedi Lords. Our last hope for peace. It is the story we agree to tell ourselves over and over until we forget that it is a lie. History is a set of lies agreed upon by the victors. Because if we abandon the lie, we will be swallowed by the gaping maw of chaos. The myth of righteousness is more comforting for the masses than the truth because they want comfort more than liberty. Anyone who can appease a man's conscience can rule over him. Woe to the ruler who succumbs to his own lies."
OUT OF CHARACTER INFORMATION
Intent: Expand on Tephrike. This character is fairly powerful, but this is balanced by the fact that she is supposed to be utilised within the context of private and factional rps as an antagonist/frenemy.
Image Credit: Here.
Role: Battlemaster of the Dominion of Light. Mahtara is the military dictator of the Dominion.
Permission: N/A
Links: After Darkness, Into Darkness, Jedi Kyrric, Nexus City, Tephrike.
PHYSICAL INFORMATION
Age: 436.
Force Sensitivity: Master.
Species: Yoda's species.
Appearance: Typical features of a Yodaling. She is very short in stature, has sharp, elfin ears, ridges on her forehead, tridactyl hands and anisodactyl feet. Her green, leathery skin is covered by several scars since she has spent most of her life as a soldier and often engaged in frontline combat in younger years. Mahtara usually wears Jedi robes, as is expected from a member of the Windian Jedi Order.
SOCIAL INFORMATION
Name: Mahtara.
Loyalties: Tephrike, Dominion of Light, Jedi Kyrric.
Wealth: Mahtara's personal life style is ascetic. She has neither time nor the inclination to pursue creature comforts and waste money of them. In that regard she lives similar to a Master of the old Jedi Order would. Like their spiritual ancestors, the Tephriki Jedi adhere to a vow of poverty. However, she has plenty of funds stashed away. She does not spend the money on herself though. Instead she puts it to good use when she needs to equip her soldiers, ensure they are paid or purchase someone's loyalty.
Notable Possessions: Holocron of her dead Master Tallak Haran. Tallak was a bit of a maverick, admired Qui-Gon Jinn and followed the teachings of the New Jedi Order. This put him at odds with many members of the old Jedi Enclave of Tephrike, as they tended to have a very conservative mind set. Mahtara is fully aware that Tallak would be horriifed by the Dominion, but keeps the holocron nonetheless. Perhaps the gatekeeper serves as something akin to a morality chain. The holocron does not teach her anything she does not already know. It is a fairly standard Jedi holocron, focusing on the core powers, the Living Force, Jedi philosophy and their role in society. It is of value because it represents a tie to a more innocent past and possesses philosophical insights.
She owns various mementos from old Tephrike prior to the outbreak of the Gulag Virus. This includes Jedi texts that have since been banned as heretical - some at the behest of Mahtara, ironically. Among other things, she has texts about the philosophies of Luke Skywalker and Mace Windu. Lightsabres are incredibly rare on Tephrike since the planet lacks lightsabre crystals. Thus most Jedi, Sith and other Force-Users use Force imbued or alchemised weapons. Mahtara is one of the few Jedi who wield the iconic weapon. Hers is a shoto-style lightsabre.
Similar to Yoda's lightsabre and in keeping with her short stature, it has a shorter than average hilt and a shorter blade, crossguards, a bifurcating cyclical ignition pulse and other standard systems. The lightsabre makes use of a Lambent crystal, allowing her to use Vongsense, an alternate form of Force Sense. It emits a blue blade. Moreover, she has a Force imbued dagger. It has the standard qualities of a Force imbued weapon. Namely resistance to lightsabres, greater cutting power than a conventional melee weapon and the ability to damage and destroy darkside spirits.
Skills: Mahtara is a powerful Master of the Force. The long life span of her species has allowed her to hone her skills and acquire some rare Force abilities. Moreover, she is a capable tactician, strategist and leader. She uses Force abilities such as Force Valour and Battlemind to boost herself and overcome the weaknesses of her small stature and advanced age. She is good at utlising the Force for the purpose of physical enhancement, boosting her speed, pain tolerance, strength and reflexes. Furthermore, she is very skilled in Dampen Force and Sever Force. The former allows her to block the Force powers of others or take the edge off their attacks. When used this power is sometimes referred to as a cold, wet blanket. However, it does not block the entire use of the Force and is temporary. By contrast, the latter ability allows her to sever another being's connection to the Force.
She is skilled in the neutral abilities of Telekinesis and Protection Bubble, and can summon Doppelgangers. Her command of Force Stasis is very potent, enabling her to temporarily freeze several beings, and she is able to enter a Force Meld with others, enabling them to draw strength from her and vice versa. This also helps with coordinating attacks. Mahtara is able to conceal her Force aura, but is not a master of this skill and prolonged use of it is taxing for her. Like Yoda, Mahtara is a good lightsabre duellist.
Despite her personal distaste for them, Mahtara has some familiarity with Yuuzhan Vong biotechnology, such as Villips and Oggzills. She has found both them to be useful to communicate with her allies without the risk of her transmissions being jammed or intercepted. Unlike many Yodalings, Mahtara uses proper grammar when speaking. She's good at gardening and has an affinity for horticulture. However, though Mahtara is skilled in many fields, has little truck with technology, and frequently calls upon Kyrric to solve even minor technical issues.
Personality: To speak of Mahtara is to speak of two people. On the one hand, she is a stalwart defender of the Dominion of Light. Indeed she has been one of the constants of the theocratic regime. Alone among the Jedi of today, she remembers the old days before the collapse. Indeed, she knew the original Jedi Lords who created the Dominion after Tephrike descended into chaos following the outbreak of the Gulag Virus. Her prowess in battle is well-known and has made her both feared and respect. To the orthodox and the faithful, she is a vigilant guardian of theirpeople and their way of life who has dedicated her entire life to bringing order to the chaos. To those who despise the Dominion, she is a rigid, oppressive tyrant whose hands are soaked in blood and who is the incarnation of all that is wrong on Tephrike.
Yet the truth is...more complex. Deep down Mahtara is conflicted. She knows that the Jedi of Tephrike have strayed from the path of their ancestors. On a certain level, she knows that she has fallen to the Dark Side and that the régime she has played such a vital role in keeping alive does not really follow the Jedi Code. However, she has chosen to spin a lie to maintain order. Mahtara was but a child when the terrorist Zero unleashed the Gulag Virus on Csilla. The horrible plague eventually reached her homeworld. She saw civilisation unravel before her eyes. The government collapsed, racial strife broke out, warlords and gangs fought over scarce resources and scraps of power. Millions died, falling prey to disease, bloodletting or starvation.
She helped bring the Dominion to power, seeking to unite Tephrike under the control of Jedi Lords. The Dominion was supposed to restore peace and give hope to the hopeless. Yet any dreams of benevolent philosopher-kings were revealed to be hollow when the Jedi succumbed to religious extremism. Mahtara chose to take control, but became part of the machine. In the name of keeping order, she had to make sacrifices and commit atrocities. Some of these still scar her deeply, yet she regards them as necessary sacrifices.
She coldly despises overly cruel, sadistic or vainglorious beings. The same applies to those who appeal to tradition to legitimise their actions, but have no understanding of it. Sadly, the Dominion has plenty of those. She keeps the holocron of her long-dead master, but also feels the old Jedi failed in their vigil. From her perspective, they failed in their duties by not preventing the great plague from being unleashed. The Yodaling is pragmatic, cynical and authoritarian. One of her sins is pride, since she often has the impression that she is the smartest person in the room. This can offend others and thus backfire on her. She feels more comfortable in the company of her clone troopers than in that of many of her peers.
Her leadership skills have made her popular with soldiers, especially the clone troopers under her direct control. Those tend to have more free will and ability to think for themselves than in the other legions. Unlike many of her peers, she does not dismiss them as 'crude beings' due to their lack of Force affinity. However, she will sacrifice them if she believes the greater good demands it. When it comes to ethics she is firmly in the consequentialist and moral relativist camp. A morally right act is one that produces a beneficial outcome for the greatest number of people, even if the means utilised to achieve it are deplorable. After all, a Jedi's life is sacrifice. Mahtara does desire peace and an end to the pervasive strife, but on her terms.
Rightly or wrongly, she regards herself as the sole force capable of keeping peace and order. She is contemptuous of the religious zealotry of the Dominion, but recognises it as a useful tool to rally a disparate population around one banner. In many ways, she has been a moderating influence, using her prestige and prowess to moderate or get rid of the Dominion's more insane policies. Yet at the same time she has perpetuated the totalitarian regime.
Mahtara has a strong bond with her apprentice Kyrric. She rescued him from a mundane existence and took him on as a student, giving him a chance many masters would have denied him. Kel Dor and Yodalings are very rare on Tephrike, which has given them another reason to bond. Kyrric has repaid her with loyalty. When Mahtara was declared a traitor and decided to rebel against the Grandmaster, Kyrric followed her, despite being deeply conflicted about fighting his comrades. Mahtara sees him as a protege. Perhaps someone she can one day pass the Order on to.
COMBAT INFORMATION
Weapon of Choice: Lightsabre, the Force.
Combat Function: Mahtara is a Master level Force-User with a strong Force connection and centuries of experience. She has spent most of her Jedi career in the field or positions of military leadership. This makes her a formidable opponet. She can use the Force to boost herself and her allies. It allows her to overcome the weaknesses inherent to her lack of physical strength and small stature. While no 'genius strategist' or savant of warfare, she is a capable military commander.
Much like Yoda, she is a skilled lightsabre duellist and focuses on Ataru, an aggressive, acrobatic form. It allows her to compensate for her limited reach and stature. She displays impressive speed and dexterity. She also incorporates aspects of Soresu, Makashi and Niman into her duelling style. Her mastery of the Force allows her to overcome her physical limitations, but this gets taxing over time. She often incorporates telekinesis into her attacks. Her strongest offensive Force abilities are probably Dampen Force and Sever Force. The latter is particularly potent. Like Nomi Sunrinder, she can use this power to temporarily or permanently sever another being's Force connection. Mahtara has a natural gift for these powers and has honed them throughout the centuries. It goes without saying that cutting someone off from the Force is an ability that requires extreme focus and is thus not something that cannot be performed on a whim.
Dampen Force, meanwhile, allows her to block the Force off from others by limiting their ability to control it, rather than nullifying it outright. When used on someone this technique is sometimes referred to as a cold, wet blanket being wrapped around a Force-Sensitive. Victims of this technique are known to have difficulty controlling objects bigger than mere molecules when affected. Of course, how much an opponent is affected depends on their skill level. An experienced Knight or a Master would have an easier time overcoming it, much like Darth Bane was able to work through Cognus' attempts to Force suppress him, though it would require a lot of effort. She can also use this ability to disrupt Force abilities as they are manifested, taking some of the edge off and dampen the effectiveness of a power, though not in its entirety.
While her Force powers are very potent, Mahtara still has notable weaknesses. Her short stature imposes limitations on her physical strength. Moreover, it also means she lacks reach. This can be a serious disadvantage in melee combat, especially if she lacks room to manoeuvre and thus cannot use evasion and acrobatics against a larger opponent. Moreover, due to her size and small hands she cannot utilise heavy weapons and even has trouble using rifles effectively. She is an average pistol shot. Bottom line, large or particularly weighty weapons are difficult or impossible for her to use. All in all, Mahtara is very reliant on the Force and would be significantly weakened if deprived of it.
This is ironic since neutralising or dampening an opponent's Force abilities is her specialisation. As a result, ysalamiri, Voidstone and the like would be a problem for her. She does not use armour, so she is reliant on mobility or defensive Force powers to protect herself. Mahtara is only half as old as Yoda, but various war injuries are catching up with her. This ties in with her being reliant on the Force for agility. Her small stature can be an advantage because it allows her to go places someone larger would be unable to. This is useful for stealth, but also a bit situational.
Tephrike has been isolated for several centuries. Mahtara has a better grasp of advanced technology than many of her peers since she has been around for a long time and has tried to preserve knowledge that got lost during the Dark Age. However, the Galaxy has moved on a good deal since then. Thus her understanding of galactic tech is a bit out of date. She is also not much of a pilot.
Strengths:
- Master level Force-User with a strong Force connection. Mahtara is a very experienced Force warrior. Her specialisation lies in buffing herself and others, as well using her powers to dampen or sever an opponent's Force connection.
- Skilled lightsabre duellist, with a focus on speed, aggression and agility. Specialises in Ataru similar to Yoda.
- Centuries of military experience. Competent commander on the tactical and strategic level.
- Small stature. Lacks reach and raw physical strength. Due to to being so short, she cannot make effective use of heavy weapons or rifles.
- Very reliant upon the Force for her agility and to protect herself from heavy attacks since she does not wear armour. Being exposed to Voidstone, ysalamiri and the like is thus particularly hazadous for her.
- Poor pilot and only average pistol shot. Limited understanding of modern galactic tech due to Tephrike's long period of isolation.
Mahtara's life has spanned the entire of the Four Hundred Year Darkness. She is one of those beings who got to see civilisation descend into chaos due to Zero's madness. She was born at the tail end of the so-called Golden Age, when the Galaxy flourished and prosperity reigned. At least that is the nostalgic way this time period is depicted. On most of the Known Words of the Galaxy, the Darkness eventually receded. Life found a way, and civilisation was slowly rebuilt. However, on Tephrike, the Long Night never came to an end. Mahtara had a front seat view of her homeworld's parabolic descent into chaos. She has been both victim and perpetrator; war hero and war criminal.
Still young in years, she had idealistic notions of a Jedi's role in society as defenders of truth, justice and liberty. These noble ideals were eroded by the chaos she faced, the atrocities she witnessed and committed. What remained was a steadfast, unwavering commitment to order and, in her own way, defending peace. Even at the price of imposing totalitarian, soul-crushing order upon the populace. She sought to harness history, yet became part of the machine.
Mahtara's early life was fairly uneventful. At the time of her birth, Tephrike was a democratic, multispecies federation and a member state of the Galactic Alliance. Originally the planet had been colonised centuries ago in the days of the Old Republic. When the Republic was transformed into the Galactic Empire, the Imperials occupied the planet, purged the local Jedi enclave and established a human supremacist regime. Though the colonial regime was short-lived, its policies left scars on the planet. But this was the distant past. However, all was not well. Tephrike's democracy was unstable, characterised by short-lived coalition government, political and economic polarisation as well as racial strife. But this was nothing compared to the horrors that would be unleashed when Zero committed his insane terrorist act.
As is apparently common for her species, Mahtara was Force-Sensitive. For many centuries, Tephrike had been home to a Jedi Enclave. It was determined that she possessed strong Force potential during a series of standardised test. Jedi were respected in Tephrike for their role in fighting the Empire and Yuuzhan Vong. Moreover, they were frequently called on as mediators to arbitrate disputes.
What distinguished the Tephriki Jedi from the mainstream order was that many of them still adhered to the old ways. Indeed, several of the senior members of the enclave were critical of what they perceived as the permissivism and liberalism of the New Jedi Order or the relativism of the Imperial Knights. In any case, Mahtara was inducted into the order as a Youngling, alongside a batch of other initiates. On paper her Force potential was significant but there was little to suggest that she would be anyone exceptional. Young Mahtara was a gregarious, outgoing child, with a penchant for practical jokes and minor mischief.
Storm clouds were gathering above Tephrike. A few years before her birth, Prime Minister Winston Stakes, a highly divisive, corrupt politician and businessman, had been forced to leave office in disgrace. The immediate cause was a catastrophic meltdown at a fusion power plant his administration had championed. It was widely believed by his detractors that the prime minister had awarded the contract to construct and maintain the station to his cronies in return for large sums of money. While parliament impeached him, supporters of the controversial politician clashed with those of his opponents. Compared to the hurly-bully of Tephriki politics, the Jedi enclave seemed like an oasis of tranquility. However, it is doubtful that Mahtara remained wholly ignorant of the unrest outside, as violence in the streets became a more frequent occurence.
More senior Jedi got involved in increasingly heated debates about what their order's place in society was. Some argued that it was necessary for the order to take a more active role in keeping the peace. They argued that if politicians failed the people, as they had done in the twilight of the Old Republic, it was the duty of the Jedi to act as stewards. At her age, Mahtara had obviously other things to worry about than politics. The ethics courses she had to attend hammered the point home that the Jedi were the servants, not the rulers of society.
Then Zero released the Gulag Virus, just when Mahtara had finally been allowed to play with training lightsabres. The disease was unleashed on Csilla, but soon spread across the Galaxy. Over the millennia most of the known worlds had become connected. The expansion of galactic markets had integrated a myriad star systems. A process that had brought prosperity to many worlds now became the Galaxy's undoing. What could have otherwise remained a localised pandemic turned into a galactic Dark Age. It was only a matter of time before it reached Tephrike. A general election had just been held and produced an unstable minority government, which depended on the opposition remaining divided and some opposition parties tolerating it. No one wanted to take responsibility for a poor infrastructure, rising unemployment or the incomplete cleanup of the quarantine zone around the failed fusion power station.
In short, this was a less than ideal constellation when the first citizens showed signs of having been infected with the virus that had been cutting a bloody swathe across the Galaxy. By then the Tephriki had lost contact with Coruscant. Emissaries were dispatched to find out what was going on. Most never returned. Panic broke out. Desperation drove people to do desperate things. Rumours that there was a cure but the rich were hoarding it spread like wild fire. There was no cure, but people wanted to believe in one. The result was violent unrest. Blood flowed in the streets. As the situation worsened, doomsday cults arose. The federal security forces and the Jedi Knights found themselves beleaguered, forcing them to carry out harsh crackdowns. Isolation soon led to shortages.
The Jedi Enclave was no longer a safe haven. A few of Mahtara's instructors and fellow neophytes succumbed to the disease. Others were put in quarantine. Mahtara herself grew very will, showing symptoms close to that of the Gulag Virus. She was quarantined, but fortunately it turned out that she was not infected. Nonetheless, the experiences scarred the girl. Seeing friends die without any chance of remedy left its mark on the child, who had no experience with death. Many common people flocked to the Enclave, believing that the Jedi could offer them protection and healing. It was hoped their mystical powers could cure the sick. However, Jedi healers were just as baffled by the plague as medical practitioners across the Galaxy. Soon the enclave was overflowing with refugees and the Jedi were forced to turn people away, for they could not risk an outbreak. When some civilians tried to storm the enclave, force had to be used to drive them off.
Once Mahtara was old enough, she was selected as a Padawan by Jedi Knight Tallak Haran. In contrast to many of the local Jedi, he was a bit of a maverick. He focused on the Living Force and followed the teachings of the New Jedi Order. He was even married. Under his guidance she took her first steps as a true Jedi apprentice. However, she could not remain in a bubble, for Tephrike's situation kept deteriorating. A Grand Coalition government, composed of five parties, took power and ruled through emergency decrees. The strongest party in the Coalition was the National Liberal Democratic Party of Tephrike. Detractors said that it was neither national nor liberal nor democratic. It was led by Guy Aybel, a Duros politician.
Manpower shortages meant that the Jedi were spread thin. As a result, a lot of her training took place on the job. At first she was given duties such as helping in hospitals, escorting supplies to refugee camps or more remote towns and assisting the police. But she was soon drawn into the conflicts that had broken out on Tephrike. The political landscape had already been polarised before the outbreak. Now party militias clashed in the streets. Groups such as the Gungan Homeland Movement, the Quarren League and the Pan-Human Front raised their own private militias and fought over scarce resources. Desperate measures were taken in an attempt to stem the outbreak. Areas were cordoned ff and the houses of infected were often sealed. Once Mahtara tried to save infected who had been trapped inside a burning building and had to be physically restrained and stunned by soldiers.
Entire city districts were turned into no-go areas. Lynching became common. Many times Mahtara and her Master tried to pursue criminals, but it seemed their efforts were sabotaged because those they sought to bring to justice had ties to local politicians. In one episode, she and Tallak took down an apocalyptic cult that believed Jedi blood would provide a cure. While investigating the disappearance of several Padawans, Mahtara herself was captured. An escape attempt failed, but she managed to leave clues for her Master to follow. Freed, she and her Master took down the cult boss.
When Mahtara and some other Jedi were sent to distribute aid in a refugee camp, she got an idea of how bad things were. Criminal gangs and cults had the upper hand and corruption flourished. A convoy escorted by them was attacked by partisans from the so-called Liberation Front of Tephrike. Here Mahtara fought her first battle. The inexperienced Padawan was thrown into a violent skirmish. Forced to fight and kill in self-defence, she was shocked by her first kill, a human boy who was little older than her. It toon transpired that the alleged dangerous bandits were common folk who lacked food and clean water. Desperation had driven them to these violent acts, for their home province had been abandoned.
Nonetheless, the government ordered an assault on their mountain base and Jedi were assigned to aid the federal troops. It was a bloody fight. The partisans regarded the government as illegitimate and racist, so they fought fanatically. Mahtara distinguished herself with her bravery, but emerged shell-shocked from the fight. To flush out the rebels, government troops dropped napalm bombs. Having been injured in the battle, she was given some time to recover and returned to Palmyra, Tephrike's capital city. She was just in time for an incident that would go down in history as Bloody Sunday. This tragedy would change Tephrike forever. Her own life would never be the same after it.
On this day, unarmed demonstrantors, led by a priest who was ironically a police agent, were fired upon by Yuuzhan Vong government troopers as they marched to Parliament. The soldiers would later claim that the protesters had been violent and that shots had been fired from within the crowd. There is a grain of truth to this. However, there is no doubt that the vast majority of the protesters were unarmed civilians. Mahtara and some of her fellow young Jedi had come to see the rally. When the protest reached a pitch, and the soldiers opened fire many around her were killed, including Younglings, recalling the famous massacre committed by Clone Troopers and Vong Warriors centuries ago.
Mahtara herself was hurt when she tried to help wounded. Her Master managed to get her to safety, herding the group of wounded, confused and angry Jedi neophytes. Witnessing this bloody carnage, Mahtara was left with an enduring disgust for Vong. Moreover, she was resolved that only Jedi could decide what was right, as only they could hear the will of the Force. The government appointed a committee to conduct an investigation. A number of low-level soldiers were punished, but few changes took place in the upper ranks.
This incident was the catalyst for the Jedi coup. A radical Duros Jedi Master called Zaras Dant acquired many followers when she proclaimed that it was time for the Jedi to do their duty and save Tephrike from itself. Only they could see the bigger picture and look beyond race, class or party. Centuries ago the Jedi had failed the people by not recognising Palpatine's true nature and stopping him from destroying the Republic. Now they had failed the Galaxy again by not preventing the outbreak. For all they knew, they might be the last surviving Jedi. They could not stand by and let Tephrike tear itself apart. Nor could they continue being stooges of corrupt politicians.
Mahtara was a friend of one of Zaras' Padawans and found herself agreeing with this radical message. Her teacher, on the other hand, was sceptical. While he believed the government needed to go, he insisted that it was not a Jedi's role to rule. The belief that they were better than Non-Force-Users was, he argued, the first step to the dark side. Instead the Jedi should work with trustworthy politicians to create a caretaker administration that could unite Tephrike and bring an end to the violence.
But Zaras got her way, though the council vote was a close one. At first the charismatic Jedi Master seems to have intended to hand over power to an elected civilian government once the crisis had passed. Hence a number of members of Tephrike's parliament gave their tacit consent to the coup. She gathered a following among the Tephriki Jedi, but also members of the security forces who had grown disillusioned with the system. On the day of the coup, the putschists cut Palmyra's lines of communication with the outside world, seized its garrison, broadcasting studios, parliament building and government ministries.
Her master's disapproval had left Mahtara conflicted, but many of her friends had joined the coup. She also needed to make the senseless deaths of those who had been slaughtered on Bloody Sunday matter. So she participated in the storming of Government House, the official residence of the Prime Minister. Notwithstanding the flaws of the government, there were soldiers willing to lay down their lives for it. So a bloody fight ensued. The putschists had to use artillery and the Force to get past the defences. Though injured, Mahtara fought her way in among her comrades. Killing soldiers doing their duty caused her guilt, but she told herself that it was for a good cause.
Ultimately, it was the young Yodaling who found Gul. When it all came crumbling down, the Prime Minister sickened her with his cowardice. He was found by her hiding inside a cupboard. He promised to make her rich if she helped him escape. Disgusted by his craven attitude, she hit with the pommel of her lightsabre, then turned him over. Most of the members of his cabinet were arrested, but some managed to evade capture and go underground or flee to cities held by the loyalists. The coup also triggered a pogrom against Palmyra's Yuuzhan Vong community. Many Duros and Gungans were targeted as well. This had not been the intention of the Jedi putschists, but armed militias seized the chance to settle old scores.
When Mahtara and some other Jedi tried to protect civilians from attacks, they came under fire. Forced to defend herself, she found herself fighting people who only days ago had been allies. The bloodletting affirmed Zaras' belief that a firm hand was needed. She now believed thar she could only trust herself, her fellow Jedi and the Light. Deciding that politicians could not be trusted, she abandoned the united front strategy. When legislators arrived at Parliament building, Zaras appeared at the head of a contingent of soldiers. Mahtara was one of them - against the wishes of her teacher. After her minions had disarmed the parliamentary guards and secured the exits, Zaras stepped into the hall to address the equal parts outraged and afraid legislators.
In her speech, Zaras denounced them as venal, cowardly and selfish. It was, she said, time to put an end to their sitting in this place, which they had dishonoured by their contempt of all virtue and defiled by their practice of every vice. Like the Senate of the Galactic Republic, they would sell their soul to darkness for a few pieces of aurodium. Was there a single virtue remaining among them? Was there a single vice they did not possess? They had no regard for the greater good. Through petty theft and fighting amongst themselves, they had lost the right to lead this world. She concluded her speech by declaring: "Go, get out! Make haste! You venal slaves be gone! So! Take away that shining bauble there, and lock up the doors. In the name of the Light, go!"
A number of lawmakers were arrested, the rest were escorted out. The building was placed under lockdown. It would later be converted into a hospital for those in need. Decades later, Mahtara would have cause to wonder whether she and her comrades might have been so terribly wrong. She would conclude that there had been no choice. She had gone along with things to prevent the chaos. Over time the Yodaling would conclude that order was more important than freedom if freedom led to chaos.
With the civilian government dissolved, Zaras proclaimed herself the first Jedi Lord of Tephrike. She appointed a mixed cabinet composed of Jedi Masters, military officers and apolitical technocrats. She declared that it was her heal goal to unite Tephrike, give hope to the hopeless, restore clean government and banish the plague that had ravaged the planet. But many contested her rule. Uprisings sparked in several provinces. Ironically, the Jedi junta was soon forced to adopt many of the measures of the old government to contain the spread of the plague. The containment measures were having an effect, but were unconscionable for some.
Forces that were loyal to the old government and members of the opposition who rejected the new régime as tyrannical united in the Alliance of Democratic Forces. A few Jedi and some Neutral Force-Users joined their ranks. The capital became a battleground. During fighting in the capital, Mahtara ran into her old teacher, who was protecting civilians. Tallak had reluctantly accepted the overthrow of the old government, but the dismantlement of constitutional government and the creation of a Jedi military junta was a step too far for him. Mahtara would not fight her old teacher, but she could also not join him.
The Jedi were few in number, so the junta ordered mass conscription of Force-Sensitives. In many cases, they could only be given minimal training. Personnel shortages forced young Jedi into positions they would have otherwise only obtained after after a far longer period of training, if at all. Mahtara was fast-tracked for promotion to Jedi Knight after slaying a Grey Jedi who had taken up arms for the ADF. In this duel she first manifested her ability to suppress another Force-Sensitive's powers. Facing a stronger and larger opponent, Mahtara was able to exploit her agility and speed for a while. But the Grey Jedi hammered her with Force attacks, blasting Mahtara's lightsabre out of her hand after succeeding in a mental attack. Triggered by her fear, Mahtara manifested an attack that temporarily weakened her enemy's Force connection, enabling her to strike a blow.
Having been knighted, Mahtara found herself in command of a small group of militia and apprentices. It went without saying that the Yodaling had no command experience or officer training. This was the case with many Jedi her age. In that regard she found herself in a situation similar to that of many Jedi during the Clone Wars. Unlike most of her spiritual ancestors, she realised that her inexperience was a problem. She was confronted by challenges she had no training for. This also made it difficult to exert authority. So she sought professional expertise.
She got it from Kozon Bok, a grizzled, no-nonsense Zabrak soldier who was not in awe of Jedi or their mystical powers. He was seen as unreliable by many of Mahtara's peers due to his past as a government soldier and his refusal to kowtow, but she came to appreciate his competence and direct attitude. He taught her how to think about more than ten clones and a lightsabre death charge, to think tactically and strategically. She also learned the importance of bonding with her soldiers. Inevitably there would be casualties in a fight, but they had to see her as one of them instead of an aloof space wizard.
She put the advice to good use during a fierce battle in the jungle near Palmyra. The ADF had been trying to cut off the road to the capital and severe its lines of communicatins, trapping the Jedi junta inside a city with dwindling supplies. As a result, the Jedi were throwing forces at the ADF to drive them away and get supply convoys into the city, but casualties were high. Mahtara's instinct was to launch a frontal attack on the enemy position, but her mentor warned her of the possibility of an ambush. He pointed out to her that the ADF was trying to goad the Jedi into attacking. With his advice she discovered that there was an ambush waiting and foiled it, taking many prisoners and seizing ammunition and other supplies. Combined with the intelligence gained from questioning captives, this helped the Jedi to relieve Palmyra. By then vast swathes of the city had been damaged by house-to-house fighting, shelling and air strikes. Many deaths were not the result of combat, but inflicted by disease and malnutrition.
The ADF lines around the capital eventually crumbled. It helped that while the Alliance was united in its desire to overthrow the Jedi junta, they had little unanimity beyond that. As with many rebel coalitions, they were very fractious. However, the junta suffered a powerful blow when Jedi Lord Zaras Dant was assassinated by traitorous bodyguards while she was boosting her soldiers through battle meditation. Jedi had lost their leader, but Mahtara also lost her mentor, for Tallak had helped facilitate the assassination.
At first Tallak had stepped away from battle to protect civilians and act as a healer, running his own clinic. Though he opposed the coup, he could not take up arms against his fellow Jedi. But as the situation worsened, innocents were caught in the crossfire and more and more people died, he came to the conclusion that he needed to take action. To him, Zaras was a tyrant and she was leading the Jedi down a dark path. So he made contact with the rebels and used the access he still possessed to help their agents. Mahtara was outraged and stricken with guilt. In her eyes, she could have stopped her master, but had done nothing. She took it as a betrayal. It hurt that they had grown so far apart. This event hardened her heart. She was never the same again.
Mahtara was a member of the group that arrested him. Tallak had foregone the chance to flee, choosing to stay behind to cover the escape of his accomplices and answer for his deeds. However, he would not go down without a fight. Tallak fought valiantly, but was taken down in the end. Mahtara severed his right hand at the wrist, but was left with physical and emotional scars. Tallak was later judged by the Jedi Council. Master and apprentice shared one last conversation, then he was executed for his treason.
Tyian Kree, a Devaronian Jedi Master, emerged as the new Jedi Lord. A charismatic, fierce woman, she shared Zaras' belief that it was the Jedi's duty to take control. However, she took things a step further. Zaras had been a reluctant ruler and ruled as a largely secular military dictator. By contrast, Tyian was a theocrat. With large swathes of the populace at the risk of starvation, the Jedi Lord implemented a policy of requisitions. All spheres of economic life would be nationalised, those who did not work would be conscripted into labour battalions and hoarding would be punished severely.
Tyian was very ambitious - and had unknowingly fallen to the Dark Side. Obsessed with the idea that the Plague had been a Sith conspiracy and that agents of darkness lurked everywhere, she saw the uprisings sparking across the planet as confirmation. The infrastructure for a dictatorship had already been put into place by Zaras, but Tyian finished what her predecessor had started by implementing a totalitarian theocracy. For it was the only way to ensure that the Light would not be eclipsed by the forces of Darkness. In order to save the last vestiges of civilisation, the Jedi would have to harden their hearts. Furthermore, they would have to spread their beliefs to the common people, lest they become pawns of the Darkness. The Dominion of Light was born.
Tyian's rule was opposed by remnants of the ADF, secessionists, rogue Jedi who believed the order has gone too far and a myriad dark cults. Ultimately many of these opposition forces would be united under the banner of the Republican Guard and the Disciples of the Vader. Finding herself in the position of Jedi Commander, Mahtara was put in charge of one of the punitive expeditions the Dominion launched to bring the rebels to heel. This required her to grow as a leader. She was now responsible for thousands of soldiers instead of small groups. So she had to broaden her knowledge of strategy, tactics and logistics.
It also made her more ruthless. At first she tried to limit loss of life, especially among innocents. But over time the lines got blurry. In a battle between the forces of order and the forces of chaos, were not all means justified? Civilians and soldiers had to be fed, so was requisitioning foodstuffs a necessary evil? The enemy used population centres as bases, so was collateral damage not unavoidable? Factories that churned out weapons for war machines and weapons for the enemy had to be destroyed. Civilian casualties were unavoidable and the Dominion did not have precision bombs.
Sometimes the populace and enemy soldiers had to be compelled through terror to submit. Those infected by the plague had to be isolated. They could not waste time with imprisoning hostile Force-users and redeeming them through gentle persuasion. Civilians had to be conscripted to serve as soldiers or labourers - at gunpoint if need be. In time the Dominion initiated a cloning programme to preserve its best servants. It also began to regulate the reproductive rights of the people under its control. Abandoning devastated Palmyra, the Jedi Lords built a new capital, Nexus City.
Mahtara remained popular among her soldiers for her willingness to lead from the front, listen to her officers and the care with which she prepared their operations. Her ascetic life style also won her respect, as she did not use her rank to get better food and living conditions than the common men. Some Jedi Generals disapproved of her closeness to the 'mundanes'.
She became acquainted with Jedi Cade Seward, who later fell to the Dark Side and became the Dark Lord of the Vaderite fanatics, and fought alongside him for a while. Like her he had been thrust into command at a young rage and faced horrors of war he was not prepared for. However, unlike Mahtara, he had been born long after the outbreak and thus knew no world other than the one they inhabited. To him, it was normalcy. To her, it was madness. She hoped that one day she would get to live in a better world, but that dream grew more unrealistic with each day. Mahtara participated in the failed siege of Red Coral City, an underwater settlement that became the capital of the Republican Guard.
The failure of the attack emboldened the rebels, who declared war on both Jedi and Sith. Tyian died of a heart attack while laying siege to the Gungan city. Her successor Norn Astur did not have her authority due to his lack of military credentials and tried to bolster his legitimacy through excessive piety. Cade, suffering from disease and madness, became convinced that the spirit of Darth Vader had chosen him to lead the legions of darkness. Gathering followers, he mustered a Sith army and marched against the Dominion. Once again, Mahtara was confronted with betrayal. By now she was numbed.
Initially, the Dominion did not take the oathbreaker seriously as a threat. They regarded him as a mere bandit. But it soon turned out that the newly christened Darth Menace was a genuine danger to the Dominion. Supporters of the Dominion were massacred en masse to be raised as zombies or turned into Sithspawn abominations. He also did not shy away from using nuclear, chemical or biological weapons. The Dominion was driven to radicalise even further. All aspects of life were subordinated to a total war policy.
Mahtara was one of the Jedi commanders who faced Menace in the field at the ruins of Palmyra. She received her promotion to Master in the field after holding off a Sith attack. However, the battle was going ill. Her mentor Kozon was killed in the fight. Dominion troops were falling back after the Sith performed a dark ritual to create a huge Deadly Field. Thus Mahtara was authorised to unleash a terrible weapon Dominion scientists had built in secret. In essence, it amounted to a Force nuke.
Troubled by the use of this weapon, yet desperate, Mahtara insisted on accompanying the bomber crew that would drop the weapon upon Palmyra. It was not possible to evacuate all Dominion troops and Jedi in time, as they were still locked in combat with the Sith legions. Lacking conventional stealth systems, the bomber was concealed by illusions. However, a Sith mentalist managed to see past the concealment and the bomber came under fire. Insisting on completing the mission, Mahtara gave the order to drop the bomb. The weapon did not just cause devastation and kill its targets, it devoured their souls. Palmyra ceased to exist. The Sith crusade came to an end. Menace's forces retreated, going on the Arduous March. He was eventually slain by one of his lieutenants. The Vaderites regrouped at Castle Maysaf, but their bid to conquert Tephrike had failed.
On paper, it was a victory for the Dominion, but at a staggering cost. Feeling immense guilt about her actions, Mahtara put down her lightsabre and resigned from active service. For a long time she lived in seclusion. Eventually she consented to training students, though she would refuse to assume a command role again. She had enough of war and politics. Instead she taught Younglings. She was a somewhat aloof, but kind teacher. However, her seclusion could not last.
The Dominion had consolidated power. Most of Tephrike was under its control. But its leaders still felt threatened and insecure. The religious fanaticism that had been harnessed against their enemies became a permanent fixture. Gone were the ways where the Windian Jedi Order's dictatorship was supposed to be temporary. Instead it became an end in itself. New leaders came to power. Men and women who knew nothing except the Dominion. Looking back at the older generations of Jedi, they saw failures. The wars had hardened them and inured them to to their horrors. And they believed that to prevent another Collapse, the entire society of the Dominion would have to be indoctrinated in accordance with their warped understanding of Jedi principles.
Cloning, once seen as a provisional solution, was expanded. Because intercourse was regarded as sinful, it was decreed that citizens would be sterilised after mandatory sperm and egg harvesting. This would allow the miracle of life to take place in a medically sanctioned way inside a clean laboratory, without the risk of citizens being tempted by lust. In the process family units were abolished. Instead all young citizens would be raised by the government. But conditions were poor in many of the nurseries.
Citizens from towns considered disloyal were relocated to the countryside, where they performed manual labour. Shortages of consumer goods, technical failures in war machines and famine were blamed on saboteurs instead of being attributed to the deficencies inherent in a command economy. Free enterprise had been abolished in favour of a system without incentives. Inevitable failure was blamed on Sith saboteurs and lack of right consciousness. The Great Enlightenment was a catastrophic failure. It was supposed to create a world of plenty, but spawned just the opposite.
Things came to head when the Blue Guards were unleashed. They were a paramilitary social movement composed mostly of students, Padawans and young Knights. They saw themselves as a revolutionary youth organisation and Grandmaster Tsal Te Mong as their commander-in-chief. They saw it as their duty to dismantle Tephrike's pre-Dominion past and crush all opposition to its rebirth as a theocratic utopia. Backed by the Grandmaster and the so called Gang of Three, they unleashed a wave of terror. In the new utopia, everything, material or spiritual, that was contaminated by the past, had to be jettisoned so that a new and more beautiful could emerge. According to them, the key which would unlock this radiant future was religious consiousness. Ideological purity became the foundation of national policy.
The catalyst for the Blue Guards' destructive campaign was a play called Rai Hui Dismissed from Office. Ben, the man who wrote the play, was a historian and Jedi scholar who grew interested in Rai Hui, who had been dismissed and unjustly imprisoned for criticising the destructive policies of Prime Minister Winston Stakes, a pre-Dark Age Tephriki politician. The play was a tragedy in which an honest official and Jedi carried the complaints of the people to the Prime Minister at the expense of his career.
It portrayed Rai as an honest magistrate who sought an audience with the corrupt billionaire. Rai then criticised Stakes directly for tolerating the corruption and abuse perpetuated by his officials, laying the blame for Golden Future Fusion Reactor meltdown at his feet. The Prime Minister was so offended by Rai's criticism that he dismissed Rai from office. However, the honest magistrate was restored after Stakes' impeachment.
The Blue Guards saw the play as allegorical criticism of the Grandmaster. At the time, Tsal was under fire because her economic collectivisation policies had produced disaster. They started as a small grass roots movement, but soon grew in power. Seeing them as a means to secure his grip on power, Tsal endorsed them. They waged a campaign against the Four Olds (old culture, old thinking, old habits and old customs).
While the regime had sought to abolish family units, these policies had been limited to the centre. The Blue Guards changed this. Children were ripped from their families to be raised by the state and their parents were subjected to reeducation. Officials regarded as sinful were persecuted, museums were ransacked and pieces of art, holomovies and books destroyed. The Blue Guards also tried to secure weapons from the army and take control over military units. Some soldiers and militias defected to them, others resisted.
Even Mahtara was not unaffected. One of her Padawans was targeted by the fanatics. The young boy either jumped out of the window of a four-storey building, or was thrown out, and became a cripple. Mahtara had tried to turn her school into a safe space, but realised that she could not hide any longer. Spurred on by her enemies, the Blue Guards initiated a 'Criticise Mahtara' campaign, bringing up the fact that her teacher had betrayed Jedi Lord Zaras.
Conflicting directives from Nexus City only increased the confusion. One moment Tsal urged moderation, the next it spurred the Blue Guards on. The erratic Cerean was losing control over the monster he had created. The meat-mincer ground on. It was destroying the fabric of Dominion society. In addition, it left more remote provinces vulnerable to the nation's enemies. It was around this time that the Republican Guard and the Vaderites became genuine threats.
Mahtara began to conspire with other Jedi Generals troubled by this course of events. Senior Masters concluded that the madness had to be brought to an end. However, they disagreed about how far to go. Loyal Army of Light units were mobilised to disarm the most extreme Blue Guard units. Mahtara and her allies snuck into Nexus City. There she rallied the soldiers of the First Legion. All the soldiers of this unit were clones of her long-dead Zabrak mentor. The clone troopers seized key installations and helped rebellious units enter the city. Officially, they acted in accordance with the will of the Grandmaster, who had ordered them to purge the Dominion of closeted Sith.
In actual fact, Tsal was placed under house arrest after being severed from the Force. When he refused to give a speech legitimising their actions, the putschists used an impostor. When some of his allies tried to free the captive Grandmaster, the clone troopers strangled him. The The putschists kept up the charade that Tsal was still alive for the rest of the year, using 'his' authority to eliminate the Gang of Three. In the aftermath, the Jedi Council convened to elect a new Grandmaster. Or rather confirm the one that had been chosen for them by Mahtara and a generals' clique.
This might have been the moment for change. However, while Mahtara had lost her faith in freedom. She had concluded that it led only to chaos. So while she moderated the aftermath of the Cultural Revolution, closed most concentration camps and issued an amnesty for most prisoners, the substance of the regime did not change. Instead its totalitarian nature was refined. In the future, there would be order. All citizens of the Dominion would be raised and moulded by the state. They would each have a place and remain in it for their entire life.
Indeed, creating a harmonious society would only be possible by growing citizens for specific roles. Citizens would be fed, clothes and cared for. But from the moment they were decanted, their futurewould have been all but ordained. Their names, their work place and their place of residence would be chosen for them by the state. Choice opened the doors to chaos. Mahtara led various posts in subsequent administrations. Most of the Grandmasters were puppets of the army. Eventually she was made Battlemaster. Compared to the chaos that preceded and followed it, it was a period of relative stability. Low-intensity conflict with the Dominion's rivals continued, heating up whenever one of the parties showed weakness.
She eventually took on a young Jedi apprentice called Kyrric as her Padawan. Kyrric's talents had been wasted in a bureaucratic position in the Jedi Service Corps. This had been partly out of racism since he was a Kel Dor and the conformist Dominion viewed his people with suspicion. However, Mahtara recognised his talents. Perhaps it helped that Yodalings were very rare as well. She proved to be a stern but fair teacher.
Around this time, another Padawan was assigned to Mahtara. His name was Tyrus, who had been born in the Vaderite lands. Tyrus was a human male raised from low ranking Force using parents. During one of the Sith's many civil wars his parents were driven out. His father was killed. His mother fled to the Dominion. They were granted asylum, but after her son's Force potential was discovered he was taken from her to be raised as 'ward' of the Jedi Order. Years later Tyrus was a Padawan demonstrating his skills. However, he had a bit of a rebellious streak; always trying to uphold the ideals and codes of the Jedi and the Dominion. This was great...sort of. This made him someone who was more of a true paladin and defender of the Light than most in the Dominion, especially the higher-ups.
This became concerning when he was sent on a mission with his Master to a remote village which had been agitating 'counter-righteous sentiments'. Tyrus found out that these complaints were pretty valid; the Dominion had promised them aid in return for their allegiance but done back on their word. Collectivisation had caused great misery and poverty. Tyrus then faced the reality of the Dominion as troops moved in to ensure 'righteous behaviour' because it was against the tenets of the Light. This caused him to be transferred to Mahtara to be trained alongside Kyrric.
Mahtara was incredibly conflicted since the boy is much closer than the current generation to what a Jedi should be, but pragmatism and order demanded harsh measures. In some sense she's aware that she's rationalising, but did it anyway. Kyrric was happy about having another friend, though part of him felt jealous. He was taken aback by Tyrus' hetedorox beliefs and tried to anchor him in the Light, as he saw it, for he feared that his fellow Jedi might have been tempted by the dark side. Despite a rocky start, the two managed to become friendly with one another.
Things came to a head when Tyrus was sent with Kyrric to fight the Republican Guard, after investigating a string of terrorist attacks. There they discovered that the rebels had some valid views, but also saw him as the enemy. Interrogation revealed that many were ordinary people who saw the Jedi and Sith as oppressors, instead of being pawns of Yuuzhan Vong like the Dominion's propaganda claimed. Even Kyrric felt conflicted, but in response doubled down on his commitment to the Code. The rebels had murdered his fellow Jedi and committed terrorist acts. Their bombings had killed Dominion civilians. Kyrric and Tyrus fought the revolutionaries alongside a unit of clone troopers.
However, then Tyrus came across his mother, who was fighting to get revenge on the Dominion for taking away her son. In accordance with the Guard's laws, she had been stripped of the Force and turned Force Dead, but she had submitted to this willingly. Tyrus found that he could not kill his parent despite everything and spared her. Kyrric tried to take her prisoner, but Tyrus interceded, for he was now resolved to fight against the Dominion for betraying the Light and the people under them. Kyrric was knocked out and the two fled, for Dominion troops were on the way.
When Mahtara learned of this, she gave Tyrus the task to capture or kill the renegade, for Tyrus had become a nuisance and helped the partisans launch strikes against Dominion settlements and bases. It was a chance for him to prove his commitment to the order and solidify his place in it. When she bid him farewell, Mahtara told him that: "there come times when the greater good demands that we perform acts that repulse us. We will feel disgusted with ourselves...but duty demands that we do not shirk. A Jedi's life is sacrifice." She gave him some scout clone troopers to aid him. Kyrric pursued his quest with vigour.
After a long search, he was able to track Tyrus down to a volcanic island. The partisans had established anti-air defences, so Kyrric and a small team of scout troopers infiltrated the island to knock them out, allowing the Dominion to perform an air strike. However, the rebels were well-entrenched and the fighting was fierce. A clone trooper saved Kyrric from being killed by a Republican Guard sniper. Grimly, Kyrric engaged Tyrus in a furious duel. The battle soon moved to the volcano itself.
Kyrric was badly wounded but managed to strike a serious blow and his opponent seemingly fell to his death, after being devoured by lava. Little did Kyrric know that his opponent managed to survive and claw his way out of the fiery pit by drawing upon the Light. His horribly burnt body was recovered by his mother and rebuilt. Kyrric returned home and was commended for his actions, but internally he felt hollow. Mahtara recognised his feeling of loss. It was one she knew all too well.
She was tested once more during the Netherworld Event. The sudden mass disappearances caused a panic. The same applied to the fact that the Force was thrown out of balance. Sensing prey, the Republican Guard launched an offensive. After all, they did not have Force-Users in their ranks. The leader of the rebel movement made a secret pact with the Disciples of the Vader. The weakened Dominion was backed against a wall. To stall for time and starve the enemy forces, the Battlemaster implemented scorched earth policies. At the same time she used subterfuge to drive a wedge between the two unwieldy co-belligerents. The Republican Guard's Hundred Day Offensive was blunted and then ground to a halt after its attack on Fortress Purity ended in a rout.
The Dominion stood victorious. But success produced infighting. Grand Inquisitor Antonius emerged as a rival to Mahtara. Secretly the chief witch hunter was indifferent to Dominion ideology, seeing it as a path to power and nothing more. However, he was capable of exploiting the internal rivalries in the Council and befriending those who felt that the Battlemaster had been in her position for too long and amassed too much power. The Grand Inquisitor used embezzlement and blackmail as leverages to gain support. Mathara's student Kyrric was uncomfortable with the power plays in the capital. He was loyal to the Dominion, but the intrigue was a far cry from the values he had been taught in the academy. The Inquisition approached him with a request to become an informant. Kyrric wanted to decline, but his Master told him to play along and feed them information given to him by her. His activities helped unmask double agents in Mahtara's command. Some were turned, others quietly removed.
However, the Battlemaster was unable to prevent Antonius from being permitted to expand the combat troops of the Inquisition. He depicted them as an army of the faithful that would quell any internal disturbances and fight for the Light. But in truth they were an alternate army. This led to a turf war between the Grand Army and the Inquisition, as both squabbled over resources.
Mahtara had some success at keeping Antonius from giving his troops a strong tank arm by limiting his access to clone tank troopers, modern engines, fuel and spare parts, citing shortages. In response, her rival accused her of monopolising power and depriving the faithful of the means to fight the enemies of the Light. The Grand Inquisitor was able to bring the Temple Guard under his influence, which strengthened his position in the capital. Things would have come to head sooner or later, but the arrival of Firemane served as a catalyst.
Only a few years after the Dominion had weathered the Netherworld conflict, it faced a new challenge. For centuries the Tephriki had believed that the Gulag Virus had wiped out all life except on their world. But then a Firemane exploration fleet appeared in their orbit. Initial contact was hostile. Dominion starfighters attacked a Firemane patrol. In retaliation Firemane landed soldiers on one of Tephrike's moons and overran the local garrison. One of the Battlemaster's associates, Jedi Master Airla, communicated with Tegaea Alcori, head of the expedition.
Uncertain about how to respond to the foreigners, the Jedi Council bickered, but Mahtara took control of the situation. She was unnerved by the revelation that the Tephriki were not alone. She also recognised that the offworlders possessed technology that was far in advance of of anything the Tephriki possessed. However, she believed that their arrival could be used to the advantage of the Dominion, for it seemed that they opposed Sith. So she announced that the Dominion would enter negotiations with them. The Grandmaster, isolated in his palace, was not informed. He had been distracted with news of a 'great victory' over the Sith - one Mahtara had made up.
However, Mahtara underestimated the zealotry of certain members of the Council. Grand Inquisitor Antonius wanted to usurp her power. To this end he influenced the fanatical Grandmaster, who was being affected by apocalyptic visions. Ironically he had once been a mild-mannered man whose abilities as a healer and charisma had gained him the position of Barsen'thor. Mahtara had made him Grandmaster, believing she could control him, then shut him out of politics when it he turned more than a little crazy.
So when Master Airla met with a Firemane delegation in Nexus City, the Inquisition activated its assets. The Firemane representatives were ambushed. Elpsis Kerrigan-Alcori, daughter of Tegaea, was taken prisoner. Mahtara was outraged and protested during an audience with the Grandmaster, but was forced to grit her teeth and realise that the balance of power had shifted. The Dominion refused to submit to a Firemane ultimatum, so the megacorporation declared war. The Grandmaster welcomed it, believing that this would be the final struggle between good and evil.
The first sign that things were going wrong came when Firemane managed to destroy the capital's shield generator. Mahtara had wisely chosen to leave the Jedi Temple right after the start of the bombardment. Shortly after her depature, the shield broke and the temple was levelled by Firemane bombardment, forcing the Grandmaster and Antonius to flee to an underground bunker that had been built to withstand nuclear strikes. Firemane proceeded to bomb military installations, communication facilities and Jedi academies.
Antonius' agents attempted to assassinate Mahtara with a speeder bomb and a sniper, but the Battlemaster was able to defeat her would-be killers. Going underground, she began to rally her allies. When the Grandmaster ordered nuclear strikes against the Firemane ships, Mahtara was able to thwart two of the launches and take possession of the nukes. She was partly driven to this course of action by her traumatic memories of Palmyra, but also for pragmatic reasons because she understood that Firemane would send more ships and nuke the Dominion from orbit. The special weapons were supposed to be a deterrent and only used as a last resort. A Firemane corvette was destroyed, while a fourth missile was tractor beamed into the sun by the elite pilots of Firemane's Mirage Squadron.
She learned that Firemane had made an alliance with the Republican Guard, but also realised that the corporation seemed unwilling or unable to deploy enough troops for a protracted campaign. This was something the Dominion could use to wear its enemies down and drive a wedge between them, if it did not waste all its assets in senseless death charges like the Grandmaster had ordered. When she learned that Firemane and its allies were preparing an assault on Fortress Purity, an important citadel on the way to Nexus City, Mahtara decided to hold back her troops. The militia and Jedi would give Firemane a hard fight, but if the corporation took the fortress due to Grandmaster's incompetence, it would undermine his power.
She also ordered Jedi Kyrric to find Elpsis, who was being brainwashed by the Inquisition at a black site. Firemane was able to conquer Fortress Purity, which was held by General Kennobi and a mixed force of militias and Dominion elite troops. But the corporation's forces had to pay a high price in blood. Among other things, the Dominion used a weather control machine to throw Firemane troops into disarray. Eventually the allied forces managed to storm the fortress. In the final phase of the battle, a legion composed of Younglings and Padawans death charged Firemane and rebel troops.
In the meantime, Mahtara put her plan into action. The Grandmaster was stabbed to death by his own clone, Jedi Master Cassius, who proceeded to contact Mahtara. Her supporters initiated Operation Apotheois, a continuity of government plan that was now being repurposed to facilitate a coup. The army assumed executive power, Nexus City was placed under lockdown and the Inquisition was purged. Antonius had been slain by Elpsis after the girl managed to break free from her brainwashing and help her fellow prisoners overpower their captors. This meant that Mahtara's attempt to use the Fire Princess as a bargaining chip had failed, but it also left her as the highest-ranking Jedi in the Dominion. A handful of Dominion warlords schismed.
But being a long standing officer enabled the Battlemaster to consolidate power. Kyrric managed to return to his master and aid her coup. Mahtara proceeded to convene a meeting of the High Council. When she met opposition from conservatives who denounced her as a traitor, she browbeat them with a speech, attacking their vantiy, short-sightedness and greed. Then she declared the Council dissolved for the duration of the emergency and called in her loyal clone troopers to escort the recalcitrant out. Cassius and his allies remained and agreed to an alliance with her.
Mahtara took control over a smaller, more compact War Council, with Cassius as her deputy. Neither trusted the other, but both knew they needed each other. She refused the title of Grandmaster, but she was now the supreme leader of the Dominion in all but name. She knew that it could easily turn out to be a poisoned chalice, but duty compelled her. She reflected grimly that the crisis might turn out to be beneficial to the Dominion in the long run because it would force it to focus on what mattered instead of squandering its resources on vanity projects and ideological fantasies.
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