Before - Legends The Smallest Echo (Nomi & Vima Sunrider, One-shot)

Title: The Smallest Echo
Timeframe: 3985 BBY
Characters: Nomi Sunrider, Vima Sunrider, Darth Sion, Sareth Dorn
Summary: The Sunriders investigate a distress call.
Notes: Sareth is my name for the Jedi Exile.




My world is pain. My bones are but splinters, held in place by my anger and will. At times, I wish to die and escape this tormented existence. When will falters, instinct prevails. I am no longer a man, weak and frail. I am a Dark Lord of the Sith, and despair is my tool. I mastered it long before my first death, before Exar Kun led us down this path of ruin, this path of power. Despair, Fear, Anger, Hate, many are the forces under my command. But above all, Pain.

Pain protects me, even from that ancient enemy, Death. It makes him into yet another of my pawns; none shall stand against me. I shall visit pain upon all, the strong to make them serve me, and the weak to weed them out. Until then, my pain hides me from my enemies, and shows me their every move.

Somewhere, something has happened, been born. Something that will change the galaxy, will change me. Something beautiful.

I despise beauty.

I will hunt this thing down, and make it an example of the wages of weakness.

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Cay… Cay, forgive me!

Nomi, please don’t! I’m so… weak.

I’m blind to the Force! I… I am no longer a Jedi!

So much time wasted with you… with Vima… Nomi, forgive…

With a start, Nomi Sunrider awoke. She gave a sigh as she recognized the confines of her cabin aboard the Solar Stallion, the transport that had become her home and Vima’s. Her relief did not last long, however, as out of the blue a familiar figure stood in front of her bed. No, it can’t be. I held him in my arms as he died.

Hello there, Nomi.

“… Ulic?” she asked apprehensively.

Yes.

“How…?”

I am one with the Force now. Be at peace. Nomi cringed a little at the thought of her recurring nightmares being known, even to Ulic. If this even was Ulic.

Seeing her doubt and discomfort, the apparition continued. You must go to the Arda system. There you will find a child with a great destiny. You shall be the last Grandmaster of the Order, but through her it will rise again. With these words, the spirit began to disappear.

“Wait! Ulic!” Nomi yelled as the ship shook and waves of fire enveloped her.



With a start, The Grandmaster of the Jedi Order awoke. “Let go! What are you doing?”

“You said to wake you up when we arrived, mother,” said the red-haired young woman standing over her.

Nomi rubbed the sleep out of her eyes. She got up and donned her robe. “Change of plans. Set course for the Arda system.”

“Where?”

She hasn’t been studying her star charts, I see, Nomi thought with a sigh. “Just because we have a navicomputer on this ship does not mean you have an excuse to slack off, Vima. Do as you’re told.”

“But what about our meeting with Counselor Ooglar?”

“I’ll call and tell him we have to reschedule. Now go!”

As her daughter scurried off to the cockpit, Nomi reflected for the umpteenth time on how stubborn her daughter was. She has much to learn. And yet, here she was, out on missions at such a young age. A tribute to her master, to be sure. Only, it was Ulic, not I, who helped her get this far. It had only been a year since Vima had finished her training with him. Since he had died.

She made her way to the comm suite. And now I have to balance being Vima’s mother, with being her Master, she thought as she faced the holocomm. “Dear Counselor Ooglar, I regret to inform you that I cannot make it to our scheduled meeting…”



Vima stalked into the cockpit and slammed her hand down on the dashboard, pulling up the navicomputer. “It’s not fair! I can’t believe she still treats me like a child!” Vima was a Jedi Knight, and had been for a year now. But her mother didn’t see her that way. To her mother, Vima was just a bratty teenager acting above her station. I am a Jedi Knight. My master told me so. My real master.

There it was. The Arda system. Only a few parsecs away. Awfully convenient. Her mother often claimed there was no such thing as luck, and in this case Vima was inclined to believe her. Although she didn’t think her mother was much for action, Vima had to admit that she had acquired a knack for scheming; surely this was connected to some power play among the newly formed Jedi Council.

She pulled back the hyperdrive lever and starlines filled the viewport.



As soon as they entered the system, Vima knew something was wrong. There was only one settlement of decent size, but even that should have produced much more comm traffic than the sensors were picking up. She reached for the intercom button to call her mother to the cockpit, but was interrupted.

“I’m here.” Of course she had sensed it too.

“The sensors are picking up some strange readings—“

“Don’t use the sensors, use the Force,” Nomi said sharply.

Vima grimaced, but did as she was told. She stretched out with her feelings and sensed pain, and fear, and death. And out of the corner of her mind’s eye, a deep darkness. “What… what is that?”

Nomi’s face tightened. “A dark Jedi.” At least. “Take us in, Vima, fast and quiet.”

​

Nomi concentrated on concealing their presence in the Force as Vima brought the ship in to land in the city. As she did, she mulled over the darkness they had felt. She had dealt with several darksiders in her time as a Jedi, but there were some that gave off a distinct signature. She had not felt one like this in over ten years. Not since Yavin.

“Come, Vima. Let us investigate. Be on your guard.”

They exited the ship and entered the ruined city. Flames guttered in the burned out husks of buildings.

They walked down abandoned streets, senses straining for the slightest sign of life. All they found were corpses, mangled by force pikes and vibroblades. And some that bore cauterized wounds that could only have come from a lightsaber.

Nomi saw the stunned look on Vima’s face. “This is what the dark side can do, Vima. Never forget this.”

“Did no one escape?”

Nomi shook her head. “These are ruthless, efficient killers. The first places they would have hit would be the comm center and the spaceport. If not for my vision, this massacre could go undiscovered for months.

“Doesn’t anyone care about the Rim?”

Nomi smiled at her daughter’s naïveté. “I care. But the Republic has always put the Core first, and even many in the Jedi find it too much trouble to venture out this far.”

They continued their search as Vima considered this. Eventually they came to the Arda General Hospital, which seemed to have some power where most other buildings did not. It was as good a place to look for survivors as any. They entered the lobby and Nomi pulled up the terminal, accessing the directory and building map. Vima wandered a little up a nearby hallway. Nomi felt a small spike in malice and cried out to warn her daughter.

Too late. A blast door slammed down, separating them.

After taking a moment to collect herself, Nomi meditated and contacted Vima telepathically.

Vima! Are you all right?

Yes. But I’m going to have to find another way out.

There should be an exit on the opposite side of the building, I’ll meet you there. May the Force be with you.



Someone was herding her, forcing her through the corridors of the labyrinthine hospital. Standard protocol dictated that emergency exits be available at regular intervals; unfortunately they were all blocked by protective blast doors. But they didn’t keep the intruders out; they only trapped the victims inside. Vima stretched her senses as far as they would go, but there was no sign of her stalker.

A pulse echoed in the Force in response to her probe. Vima reached for it, trying to identify the presence. So small, but…

Vima collapsed to the floor, letting a pair of force pikes pass over her head. Two figures in black robes and masks stood over her, but gave off no aura at all. If not for instincts gained from months of combat training on Rhen Var, her skull would have been caved in.

Vima continued her movement, back-rolling to her feet, lightsaber at the ready. The two assassins advanced, and it was all that Vima could do to block their four blades with her one. Why don’t they finish me? It was as if they were waiting for something. She reached out with her fledgeling meditation ability and found the source of their focus. Behind me?

Without a thought she dodged to the side of the hallway, barely avoiding a third attacker lunging at her. A slight push with the Force was all it took to send the pike into one of the assassins in front of her. She took advantage of their surprise to slash the other across the chest as she spun back around to face the newcomer. The predator had become the prey, and Vima could feel the fear in her opponent, the mirror of her own determination. She attacked relentlessly, causing her opponent to stumble backward. His guard is down. Vima stepped forward in a Makashi stance and stabbed him through the neck.

She slumped to the floor. I just killed three people. Is this one of those ordeals you spoke of, Master?

There was no answer. After several moments, she got back up and wiped off her face. Surprisingly, she could still feel the presence from earlier. Perhaps a survivor?



A shadow flitted from doorway to doorway, slowly making its way through the hospital. She could feel her daughter’s distress, and was tempted to reach out to her through the Force. But she couldn’t afford the distraction, for the darkness was very close now, and she sensed it was as strong as Kun or Ulic ever were.



Vima followed the echo back toward its source, which surprisingly was the maternity ward. Signs of destruction were everywhere, as well as bodies of mothers, fathers, doctors and nurses. As evil as these attackers were, Vima was surprised that they had not mutilated the infants as well. When she reached the nursery, she found out why. Emaciated little faces greeted her. The assassins had ignored them so entirely that they had starved to death. All but one.

She cradled the babe in her arms, marveling at this miracle. The strength in the Force she felt was one cause, to be sure, but there was more to this one. It was so small, but already had the heart of a warrior.

It was time to go. “Come little one, let’s get you out of here.”



The confrontation could no longer be avoided. Before Nomi stood the darkness that had caused all this, the darkness that had killed a world. “For the sake of this world, I must bring you to justice. You will harm none in the future, for your future is death.”

A voice like the grave answered her. “What know you of death, puny Jedi? I have died a thousand deaths, each worse than the last. Each has only served to strengthen me. I know you, Nomi Sunrider, and I know your weakness. Barely trained at all, forced into service by the Jedi Masters because your husband was weak. You yourself: too weak to save your second love, first from the darkness, then from death at the hands of a no-name spacer. Do not think you can hope to stop me. But I am not here for you.”

Nomi felt her anger like a wildfire racing through her blood, barely contained by her resolve. He is skilled at dun moch. I must end this. She drew her lightsaber. “No more words.”

Red met green, and the battle began.




The sound of clashing lightsabers echoed down the corridor. Vima rounded the corner to the most terrifying thing she had ever seen. It was not the undead monstrosity, the stain on the Force that frightened her; it was her mother, Nomi Sunrider, Grand Master of the Jedi Order, in full fury and holding nothing back. The vision lasted but a moment, then was ended as Nomi rained down a dozen blows, laming the walking corpse.

“Mother, are you all right?”

Nomi saw her daughter, and the tempest settled. “I’m fine. I’m relieved to see you are as well, I sensed your attack. You did well to defeat opponents of this caliber.” She touched the bundle in her daughter’s arms. “What’s this?”

An echo pulsed through the Force. Vima saw her mother’s surprise, and past that, a blur of red descending toward them.

She spun around Nomi barely in time to intercept the blow. “The child!” roared the monster. “Give it to me!” The babe in one arm, it was all she could do to stop the horrible strength of his swings. Her saber was knocked out of her hand and she fell to the ground, and the fiend brought its lightsaber high like an executioner’s axe.

A streak of green fire hit him first. “If a lightsaber won’t defeat you,” said Nomi, “then perhaps this will.” She envisioned the Force, pure, flowing like a fountain with love and justice and goodness.

She enveloped the dark Jedi with a wall of this light; enough to extinguish the hellfire that drove him.
The demon was not like Ulic: it was completely a creature of the dark, and without access to its source of power collapsed, and became a man, nothing more.



Soon they were back aboard the Stallion and leaving the Arda system behind. Vima had found the child some food and tucked her in to sleep. She sat down next to Nomi at the table in the common area. “I can’t believe everyone there died.”

“Yes, it was an astonishing act of evil. That man and his followers were dark Jedi of incredible power. It is a wonder that anything survived their onslaught. How is the child? Have you learned anything about it?”

“She seems to be doing as well as can be expected. I found this with her,” she said holding up a nametag marked ‘Sareth Dorn.’

“Well, young Sareth seems to be quite a survivor.”

“And strong in the Force, as well.”

“Oh?” Nomi stretched out with her feelings and delved into the infant’s mind. Sure enough, the indicators of Force sensitivity were there. “Well then, it seems that the Force has spared her for a purpose. We will take her to Dantooine, to be raised as a Jedi.” She paused. “It is impressive that you sensed her ability before I did. As was your performance in the battle.”

“To tell the truth, I probably wouldn’t have sensed her either if she hadn’t reached out to me, but thanks.”

“Perhaps I have been a bit dismissive of your abilities.”

Vima’s pulse raced. Was she hearing correctly? “So you admit that I’m a Jedi Knight? That I can take care of myself?”

Her mother sighed. “Vima, you’re all I have left. I won’t send you away, not when I can keep you at my side and protect you. I know that I haven’t been a good mother in the past, but I’m trying to make up for that now.”

“So I’m just a kid to you?”

“Vima, you will always be my daughter. But you have also shown yourself to be a true Jedi. I will not deny you that. But will you stay with me, just for a few more years? I will need someone I trust during this transitional period for the Order.”

“That’s all I really wanted, was for you to recognize me. Thanks, Mom.”

 

I really enjoyed this short story. It’s got a fitting continuation of Nomi and Vima’s stories in the comics, while going through a self-contained plot in a short length of time. Sion is unfamiliar to me outside of Wookieepedia references, but he was genuinely grim and disturbing.

 

Very nice!

 

I don't really know these characters, but I feel like I know them after this. I really enjoyed it!

Great job! Thanks for sharing!