Lumiya

Born on the planet Coruscant, then known as Imperial Center, during the zenith of the Galactic Empire, Shira Elan Colla Brie was a Human female. As a Force-sensitive, Brie spent her childhood within the Imperial Palace of Emperor Palpatine. Brie was selected for early indoctrination through the Commission for the Preservation of the New Order, quickly becoming COMPNOR's top recruit. Her success led to her fast-tracking into another similar Imperial program by her superiors. Emperor's chief servant, Darth Vader, noticed Brie's impressive achievements and recommended her for training within the Empire's Imperial Intelligence division. She excelled in all areas of her training, becoming proficient in various exotic martial arts, ranging from Echani to Noghri Stava. Brie's body underwent biological enhancements, accelerating her healing and maximizing her pain threshold. Additionally, her mental capabilities were improved through mnemonic drug training.

As part of her Imperial Intelligence training, Shira Brie enrolled in the Coruscanti Pilot Institute in 2.5 BBY. As a cadet, she trained under Commandant Mogurk. Brie befriended her fellow trainee and bunkmate, Cadet Myrette Davani, and quickly rose to the top of her class. Throughout her three years of training, Brie also received secret nighttime instruction from Darth Vader. Although the Sith Lord's tutelage exhausted Brie, she maintained her position as the Institute's best cadet. Her time in Imperial training was one of the few periods in her life where she felt genuinely cared for, leading her to swear an oath of loyalty to the Emperor, which she held in high regard.

Around 0.5 ABY, Brie's flight school class transferred from Coruscant to Carida for their final year of study at the Imperial Military Academy. There, Brie and her classmates participated in a term of stormtrooper boot camp, followed by two terms of strategy, survival, and tactics. As the school's best pilot, Brie was expected to fly the personnel shuttle from Coruscant to the academy, but she refused, and Davani was chosen instead. The class arrived safely at Carida, a world with high gravity, and prepared for boot camp. Training began with two days of intense physical conditioning in the barracks, followed by a 200-kilometer hike across one of Carida's deserts on the third day. Instructors told the cadets they could pack as many supplies as they wanted, but Brie understood the exercise's true purpose. She explained to Davani that the instructors wanted to see if the cadets would foolishly weigh themselves down with extra water and other supplies, which would cause them to perish due to the high gravity. Equipped only with standard supplies, Brie and Davani completed the hike together, becoming two of only twenty survivors out of two hundred trainees.

The hikes became a regular part of boot camp training, along with war games and long hours of simulated space combat in the flight simulator. Brie and Davani also used simulators for extra practice, especially for an upcoming war game against Bantha TIE/LN starfighter training squadron, where they would operate the new "bug walker" Mountain Terrain Scout Transports, or MT-STs. The academy's war games often served as field tests for new technology. Brie's training under Darth Vader continued to affect her mental state. In 1 ABY, six months into her final year of military training, the MT-ST war game took place. Brie and her fellow cadets were dropped into a mountainous area called Tarkin's Teeth, about 300 kilometers from the academy. They boarded their MT-STs and began the exercise. While the rest of the squad formed a perimeter, Brie and Davani conducted separate reconnaissance missions in their individual walkers. Brie encountered the Bantha Squad walkers and opened fire, but her vehicle had been equipped with live weapons instead of the training lasers used by the other cadets.

Brie quickly destroyed twelve MT-STs and killed six cadets, laughing as Davani arrived. The live weapons were blamed on "instructor error" due to pressure from above, and the deaths were classified as training casualties. Brie refused to discuss the incident, despite Davani's urging. She continued to train at the academy during the day and with Vader at night, earning high marks from her military superiors and developing new powers under the Sith Lord's tutelage, which further impacted her psyche. Shortly before 1.5 ABY, Brie and Davani went to the local Caridan district on a two-day leave to celebrate their upcoming graduation. They began a cantina crawl, visiting several establishments and drinking at each. At the first bar, Brie used the Force to influence the Caridan bartender, securing perks like discounted drinks. Four bars later, when a group of Caridans offered to buy them a drink, Brie used her abilities to immobilize one of them by telekinetically flattening him to the floor.

Soon after, Shira Brie graduated from the Imperial Academy with top honors, an achievement unmatched as of 3 ABY. Lord Vader promoted Brie to the rank of major in Imperial Intelligence. Darth Vader and Director Ysanne Isard of Imperial Intelligence arranged for Brie to be sent on a solo mission. Brie proved her abilities, and Vader was further encouraged to use her as an operative in his efforts to eliminate the threat posed by the Rebel Alliance.

After the Empire's devastating loss to the Alliance at the Battle of Yavin, which resulted in the destruction of the Imperials' first Death Star battle station, Darth Vader assigned Shira Brie to infiltrate the Rebel Alliance as a counterspy. Her mission was to either kill Luke Skywalker, the Rebel hero responsible for the Death Star's destruction, or to discredit him so severely that his fellow rebels would distrust him. A fabricated backstory was created for Brie, claiming she was from the city of Chinshassa on the planet Shalyvane. Although the Em'liy species inhabited the world, Brie's cover story falsely identified Humans as the native race, portraying the Em'liy as oppressors who destroyed her society and killed her family. The supposed war between Humans and Em'liy lasted for years until they made peace. All of Shalyvane's natives gathered at a shrine called the Circle of Kavaan to solidify their reconciliation under the guidance of alien ambassadors hired by the Em'liy, but they were attacked by the offworlders, who massacred everyone present. Brie, supposedly a young girl at the time, escaped and survived into adulthood. Years later, she learned the "truth" about Shalyvane's sterilization from an intoxicated ex-fighter pilot: the Em'liy had allied with the Empire and falsely claimed that Brie's people were members of the Rebel Alliance. Enraged, Brie sought out the Alliance and decided to enlist. To support her cover story, Darth Vader ordered the razing of Chinshassa, which had previously resisted Imperial rule. Shalyvane also became the secret location where Brie reported her progress through a biological process activated when her unique blood chemistry contacted a transmitter embedded within the Circle of Kavaan.

Brie successfully infiltrated the Alliance by posing as a refugee from Shalyvane, aided by the Alliance's urgent need for fighter pilots following the disastrous Battle of Hoth. Brie eventually became a lieutenant and participated in several rebellion sorties, including working with fellow Force-sensitive Rebels Kyle Katarn, Corwin Shelvay, and Erling Tredway on a mission to D'rinba IV to disable the superlaser of the second Death Star.

Brie was then assigned to Rogue starfighter squadron and stationed at Haven Base on Arbra, where she met and befriended her superior, flight commander Luke Skywalker. When Brie volunteered to accompany Skywalker on a mission to Bespin's Cloud City to find his friend Lando Calrissian, her friendly demeanor and obvious affection for him sparked jealousy from Princess Leia Organa, who had been denied Skywalker's company on a reconnaissance exercise around Haven Base. Unaware of Organa's scorn, Brie left for Bespin with Skywalker in an X-wing starfighter as his wingmate. Upon arrival, Brie noticed Cloud City seemed deserted. Skywalker's astromech droid R2-D2 discovered that bombs had been planted within Cloud City's infrastructure, leading to the evacuation. However, a cyborg and a Human had neutralized the bombs, which Skywalker believed was likely Lando Calrissian. Before they could investigate further, they were attacked by Hugo Treece, an Imperial governor stationed on Bespin by Darth Vader. Treece and his stormtroopers pinned them down until Calrissian's arrival diverted the Imperials' attention. Skywalker reactivated the bombs through the Force, and the resulting explosion forced the Imperials to evacuate Cloud City.

Upon returning to Arbra, Brie remained planetside while Skywalker, Calrissian, and the Wookiee Chewbacca traveled to the Bazarre space station in the Cademimu sector to negotiate the sale of four disabled TIE Fighters with weapons dealer Orion Ferret. Brie participated in an experiment by Organa to hide part of the Rebel fleet within the primary star of the Arbran system. Despite C-3PO's reservations about carrying out such a dangerous plan without Luke Skywalker, Brie volunteered to take his place, a request reluctantly granted by the princess.

The deal with Orion Ferret was successful, and Brie was selected alongside Skywalker and two others to test the reconditioned TIE Fighters in actual combat during an assault on the Imperial Spindrift Station on the planet of the same name. Brie's team was mistaken for friendlies by the stationed Imperial forces, who were then captured while in possession of the specific location coordinates of a secret armada under construction by the Empire. With the mission accomplished, Brie and her companions returned to Haven Base.

While Rebel forces worked to understand the intercepted codes from the Spindrift operation, Brie put in a request for leave to visit her supposed home planet, Shalyvane. Her true intention was to secretly deliver her yearly assessment to Darth Vader. Initially, Organa refused to give Brie the exact coordinates of Arbra, explaining that this information was restricted to the most senior and trusted members of the Rebel Alliance leadership. However, when Commander Skywalker, who possessed Arbra's map data, volunteered to accompany Brie on her journey, Organa reluctantly granted permission. Upon arriving in Chinshassa, Brie's fabricated hometown, she guided Skywalker and fellow Rogue Squadron pilots Wald and Hanc Thorben to the Circle of Kavaan. This location held significance for the Shalyvane natives and served as Brie's clandestine communication channel with Vader. Pretending to need privacy for a ritual, Brie approached the monument and discreetly activated the hidden transmitter to contact Vader. This transmission was interrupted when the Em'liy natives of Shalyvane ambushed the Rebels, forcing them to seek cover. During the ensuing battle, Brie revealed fabricated details of her past: that the same natives, aligned with the Empire, had committed atrocities against her family and Chinshassa, leading her to join the Rebel Alliance, and that she returned annually to Chinshassa to commemorate her people's massacre.

The Rebels were compelled to retreat until Skywalker's astromech droid, R2-D2, discovered a network of underground tunnels that Brie had previously mentioned, offering a potential escape route. Skywalker offered to explore the tunnels first, but Brie, already familiar with their layout, preemptively entered them. The Em'liy then detonated an explosion, sealing the tunnel and leading the rebels to believe Brie was lost. Preparing for a final stand against the approaching natives, the rebels were surprised when Brie emerged, having successfully located and returned with her X-wing to rescue them. She executed a strafing run, decimating the Em'liy attackers. Afterward, she reunited with her teammates, particularly Skywalker, who expressed immense relief at her survival. Upon their return to Haven Base, a ceremony was held, attended by numerous Rebel Alliance members, to honor Brie's bravery during the Shalyvane ordeal. Organa presented the lieutenant with the prestigious Burdine Cluster award and promoted her to the rank of captain, expressing deep gratitude for her selfless courage.

Soon after Brie's recognition, the Rebel Alliance finally pinpointed the location of the Empire's secret fleet in space. They also discovered that the Empire had captured a teezl following the Battle of Hoth. This creature, a non-sentient being, possessed the innate ability to amplify hyperspace communications. The teezl, thought to be extinct, was being escorted to Coruscant by the Imperial armada to serve as an unlimited source of communications energy for the Empire. Aware of this, the Rebel Alliance resolved to prevent the Imperials from succeeding. An infiltration mission was devised, with Brie, Skywalker, and pilots Alph and Hanc Thorben of Flying Bantha Squadron, disguising themselves and sabotaging the Imperial armada using TIE fighters acquired from Bazarre station. Before their departure, Brie expressed her anxieties about the upcoming mission to Skywalker and conveyed her strong feelings for him with a passionate kiss, catching him off guard.

The initial phase of the Rebel mission involved Flying Bantha Squadron intercepting two TIE fighters patrolling the Imperial armada's intended route. After destroying the TIEs and obtaining the armada's recognition codes, the Rebels donned their own TIE fighters and prepared to infiltrate the enemy fleet. Successfully transmitting the stolen recognition codes allowed Brie's team to seamlessly integrate into the ranks of the Imperial fleet without raising suspicion. Once each member of Flying Bantha Squadron had secured a suitable position, the attacks began. The Imperials, confused by what appeared to be friendly fire, quickly realized that Rebel forces had infiltrated their ranks using counterfeit fighters. Admiral Mils Giel responded by ordering the teezl to emit a psychic shriek, disrupting all communication frequencies except the Imperial war band, in an attempt to expose the enemy forces. With communication cut off, Brie seized the opportunity to complete her mission for Vader. She maneuvered her TIE fighter directly into Skywalker's line of fire, relying on his Force abilities to distinguish friend from foe. Skywalker scored a direct hit, seemingly destroying Brie's fighter. This attack also resulted in the death of the teezl, effectively ending the battle. Skywalker's return to Haven Base was met with somber greetings. Organa immediately debriefed him, and a holocam recording from Thorben's TIE revealed that Skywalker had shot down Captain Shira Brie's fighter, not an enemy vessel. Despite failing to kill him, Brie's Imperial mission was a resounding success. Skywalker was disgraced in the eyes of his fellow Rebels for her apparent death and tormented by guilt over a misjudgment that led to the presumed demise of both an Alliance hero and the woman he had grown to love. He was initially relieved of his Alliance commission but was later exonerated after infiltrating the Empire-operated Krake Data Vault on Krake's Planet and uncovering records detailing Brie's true allegiance to the Empire.

Having completed her assignment, Major Shira Brie of Imperial Intelligence, formerly a captain in the Rebel Alliance, suffered severe physical injuries. Adrift in her wrecked TIE fighter, she struggled to survive. Brie would have perished in the vacuum of space, but the modifications made to her body during her Imperial training, combined with her skills in healing and hibernation trances, allowed her to endure. Darth Vader discovered her and brought her back to his flagship, the Super Star Destroyer Executor, for rehabilitation. It was determined that extensive science and cybernetics were necessary to save her life. The mechanical implants further augmented Brie's body, ultimately transforming her into more machine than woman. After her restoration, Brie began to learn the ways of the Sith as Vader's Shadow Hand. Shira Brie had become Lumiya.

Despite Lumiya's service to the Dark Lord of the Sith, Vader was bound by the Rule of Two, a Sith doctrine prohibiting him from taking an official student while under the tutelage of his own Sith Master, Emperor Palpatine. In 4 ABY, Vader presented his secret apprentice Lumiya to Palpatine. Upon arriving at the Imperial Palace, they interrupted a meeting between Palpatine and another of his personal assassins, Mara Jade. The two women immediately felt intense animosity toward each other. Jade departed, and Lumiya was brought before Palpatine, presented by Darth Vader for consideration as an Emperor's Hand—secret agents tasked with fulfilling the Emperor's will. Palpatine accepted Lumiya into his service and allowed her to continue training under Darth Vader.

Soon after, Darth Vader sequestered Lumiya on Ziost, the ancient homeworld of the Sith species. There, she discovered an ancient Sith tome detailing the process of crafting a lightwhip. This rare weapon, similar to but more challenging to master than the traditional lightsaber, featured a flexible energy beam instead of a solid blade. Using this ancient knowledge, she created a unique device with a hilt made of nearly indestructible Mandalorian iron from which multiple extensions emerged. Shards of Kaiburr crystal, gifted to her by Darth Vader, powered the strands of energy, while tendrils of metal and studded leather complemented the flexible plasma beams, creating a unique and deadly flail. Her final test as the Dark Lord's pupil was complete, but Lumiya was on Ziost when the Empire suffered a major defeat over Endor at the hands of the Rebel Alliance. Upon returning to Imperial space, she discovered that the Alliance had overthrown the Emperor, and both he and Vader had died in the destruction of the second Death Star.

With no one to further her Sith knowledge, Lumiya declared herself Dark Lady of the Sith and embarked on her own quest to deepen her understanding of the dark side. She traveled to the planet Nyssa in search of the Mecrosa Order, an organization with a long history of allegiance to the Sith. Known for possessing many ancient secrets and artifacts, the Order's members felt a sense of obligation to Lumiya, who they believed bore a striking resemblance to the late Darth Vader. They granted her access to all of the Mecrosa's relics and allowed her to take the oldest of Sith holocrons—that of the legendary Sith'ari Adas.

Shortly after the Battle of Endor, Lumiya gathered a naval fleet of Imperial starships to consolidate power and prepare for retaliation against the Rebel Alliance. Her armada consisted of three Imperial-class Star Destroyers, two EF76 Nebulon-B escort frigates, and four CR90 Corellian Corvettes. Over two hundred TIE/LN starfighters and TIE/sa bombers completed the fleet, divided into squadrons among the Star Destroyers, frigates, and one of the corvettes. With the fragmentation of the Empire still unclear to many Imperial servicemen, Lumiya concealed the truth by withholding information from her subordinates, ensuring their complete loyalty to her and her endeavors. While in Sith space, Lumiya's fleet encountered a vanguard of the Nagai, an extra-galactic spacefaring species. The commander of the force hailed her flagship, the escort frigate Revenant, expecting an officer of the Imperial Navy to respond. Instead, Lumiya answered. The Dark Lady learned that she shared a common enemy with the Nagai in the Rebel Alliance and promised her resources to support the invaders in a united front.

Following the Nagai's instructions, Lumiya moved against the Alliance of Free Planets, the emerging successor to the Rebel Alliance. She traveled to the Mid Rim world of Herdessa, where she became the head of planetary security for the planet's oppressive rulers, the Herdessan Guild. Lumiya organized a Guild-approved slaving operation, targeting lower-class citizens for off-world transport. However, the arrival of Alliance delegates Mon Mothma and Leia Organa on Herdessa, promising civil rights for the planet's citizens under the new galactic government, threatened Lumiya's secret operation. Feigning benevolence, the Dark Lady and a squad of Herdessan shocktroopers arrested several hecklers after Organa was pelted with mud. Lumiya located the culprit, a woman named Suzu, in guild sector three and aggressively arrested her, but Organa intervened, resulting in Suzu's escape. Enraged, Lumiya attacked the princess but was hampered by her own cybernetic enhancements, which led to her defeat and being slammed to the ground by Organa. As the princess fled after Suzu, the humiliated Lumiya vowed to deal with both women.

Lumiya and her shocktroopers tracked Organa to Suzu's hideout and demanded their surrender. Organa escaped the ensuing firefight, and Lumiya pursued her briefly before abandoning the chase. Instead, she rounded up all the Herdessan rebels in the city center for a public announcement: unless Organa was handed over to the Herdessan Guild, executions would begin. Imperial stormtroopers aided the Herdessan shocktroopers in Lumiya's tyranny and even apprehended Organa's companion, Mon Mothma, counting her among the nonconformists. An altercation broke out between one of the prisoners and a stormtrooper, and Lumiya decided that the prisoner would be the first to die. Suzu then conceded to Lumiya's demands and betrayed Organa's location to the authorities, but it was a trick. Organa appeared behind Lumiya and incapacitated her with blaster shots before eliminating the shocktroopers, freeing the captives, and leading them in a successful revolt against the Herdessan Guild. With her sinister benefactors overthrown and her slave trade dissolved, Lumiya quietly retreated, promising revenge on the Alliance, particularly Princess Leia Organa, for thwarting her efforts on Herdessa.

Lumiya's cybernetic enhancements were severely damaged on Herdessa, requiring extensive repairs. After the repairs, she sported new armor and donned a triangular cloth headdress for the first time, which, along with her lightwhip, became synonymous with her name. Lumiya intended to resume her campaign against the Alliance of Free Planets, but a more pressing matter presented itself: the continuation of the Sith. Lumiya reorganized the Order in her own image, while retaining the core ideals of enduring elusiveness essential to the previous Order's survival. The ancient "Rule of Two" doctrine, followed by Emperor Palpatine and Darth Vader, stated that the power of the dark side could only be divided between two individuals in the galaxy at any time: a Sith Master embodying its power and a single Sith apprentice coveting it. Lumiya began searching for someone worthy of the Sith teachings.

Despite her own strength in the Force, Lumiya was not Darth Vader's only student. The Dark Lord had several students and intended to pit them against each other for the right to become his true Sith apprentice. After Vader's death, Lumiya sought out one of those pupils, a young Force-sensitive stormtrooper named Flint. Vader had planned for Lumiya and Flint to compete, but his premature death on Endor left them without a master. Lumiya located Flint in Vader's abandoned citadel on the planet Vjun, where she confronted him for the position of Sith Master. Lumiya's superior strength led to Flint's defeat, and she took the Belderone native as her first apprentice.

The new Sith immediately began planning to undermine the Alliance of Free Planets' achievements after Emperor Palpatine's death. Lumiya tasked her new apprentice with conquering the Phelleem sector and exacting revenge on Luke Skywalker for Darth Vader's death. Styled as the Dark Lord of Belderone, Flint's exploits led him to the planet Naldar, where he was confronted by Skywalker and persuaded to abandon the dark side. Lumiya learned of Flint's defection and promised fatal reprisals when the opportunity arose. However, she had more pressing matters, including continued preparations with the Nagai for war against the Alliance of Free Planets.

As agreed upon in her partnership with the Nagai, an attaché, Den Siva, was sent to Lumiya. They rendezvoused and established an underground base of operations on the desolate planet Kinooine. An Alliance scouting party had recently been dispatched to Kinooine after detecting life-forms on the otherwise unoccupied world. Lumiya ambushed them, killing all twenty members except Faron Tolis, whom she spared for interrogation. She accused Tolis of being a member of the former Rebel Alliance and attempted to torture him into revealing Princess Leia Organa's location, which he did not know. Under threat of death, Faron surprised Lumiya by revealing that Organa had nothing to do with his team's mission; it was Luke Skywalker who had sent them to survey the Outer Rim planetoid.

Lumiya's abduction of Tolis and his team prompted Skywalker, along with a female Zeltron named Dani and her Chuhkyvi lover Kiro, to travel to Kinooine in search of the missing reconnaissance team. While Dani and Kiro explored the area around their camp, the Dark Lady ambushed them and brutally attacked them with her lightwhip. Knowing that Skywalker would come for his comrades, Lumiya took Dani captive and, after smashing the faceplate of Kiro's rebreather helmet, left him for dead. Skywalker found Kiro and quickly located his assailant; Lumiya had been waiting for him on a nearby precipice. In a vicious duel, Lumiya unleashed her hatred upon Skywalker, whose unfamiliarity with the dual nature of her lightwhip led to him being repeatedly lashed, quickly disarmed, and eventually defeated. Lumiya took her enemy prisoner to her underground fortress.

Meanwhile, several of Den Siva's cohorts, under the command of the Nagai warrior Ozrei "Knife" N'takkilomandrife, intercepted a gathering of Alliance statesbeings scheduled to meet with Princess Organa and General Han Solo in the Mid Rim on the world of Kabray. Lumiya received word of their defeat by Organa's Zeltron escorts but was more concerned with the progress of the main invasion fleet and left to prepare for their arrival. In her absence, Kiro infiltrated her underground lair and rescued Skywalker. Lumiya, positioned above ground on a cliff edge, was surprised when the pair appeared behind her and was unable to prevent Skywalker from telekinetically reclaiming his lightsaber. Undeterred, Lumiya prepared to face him in combat again, but she failed to account for the changed circumstances. In addition to his usual weapon, Skywalker wielded a lightsaber with a shorter blade, a shoto. Lumiya's weapon was no match for Skywalker's two sabers, which countered the duality of her lightwhip's tendrils. She charged her opponent in a rage after being disarmed, only to have enough armor stripped away to expose her face and reveal her true identity as Shira Brie.

The humiliated Sith Lady begged for death and blamed Skywalker for her misfortunes. Even in defeat, she vowed that her vengeance would only be satisfied when Skywalker was dead. The Jedi attempted to reconcile their differences but was interrupted when the Nagai fleet, which Lumiya had been awaiting, dropped out of hyperspace into Kinooine's atmosphere. As Nagai forces descended to the planet's surface, Lumiya was bound by Skywalker and Kiro, who held her captive while preparing to rescue Dani. The rescue mission succeeded, and Lumiya was abandoned by Skywalker and his companions, who were forced to flee Kinooine as the Nagai continued to swarm the planet.

After the Nagai established a sufficient operational platform on Kinooine, they installed a double-agent among the Alliance forces, the Human–Nagai hybrid Bey, who provided Alliance logistics, battle schematics, and ship formations to his kinsmen. Armed with this knowledge, Lumiya reemerged as flight leader of the Nagai's Twelfth Squadron in battle over the forest moon of Endor, where Emperor Palpatine and Darth Vader had died nearly a month earlier. The Nagai also gave Lumiya one of their unique starfighters for her personal use, which she named Screamer after the teezl that had perished during the battle with the secret Imperial armada. With Bey's intelligence, the Dark Lady led Twelfth Squadron in a dogfight against the Alliance's Gold Squadron, led by her former Rebel comrade Lando Calrissian, and Mandalore Fenn Shysa's Resurrector Squadron. The Alliance forces over Endor suffered severe damage, and members of their wardroom considered retreat. Under the command of Bey's half-brother Knife and Lieutenant Hol B'shaki, the Nagai prepared to launch coordinated strikes against Alliance installations on Endor's surface while Twelfth Squadron decimated the Alliance's Gold and Resurrector starfighter groups. However, Han Solo, also on Endor, soon discovered Bey's duplicity. The Alliance fought and defeated the ground-side ambush, and both Gold and Resurrector Squadrons were ordered to abandon their original battle strategies. This sudden shift in tactics undermined Lumiya's apparent precognitive advantage, and the tide turned against her. With the battle of Endor effectively lost on both fronts, Lumiya ordered a full retreat of the Nagai forces.

The defeat of the Nagai at Endor marked a pivotal shift in the war and the termination of Lumiya's alliance with the invaders. The Tofs, adversaries of the Nagai originating from their home galaxy, pursued their foes and triumphed over them in a battle fought on the world of Trenwyth. What began as a Nagai incursion into Zeltros during a diplomatic meeting with the Alliance quickly escalated into another conflict, resulting in the Nagai and the Alliance uniting against the Tofs, their newfound mutual enemy. Consequently, Lumiya severed her ties with the Nagai and aligned herself with the Tofs. She convened with their leader, Prince Sereno, at the Tof fortress on Saijo to negotiate the terms of their collaboration. Little did they know, the Nagai–Alliance coalition was also present on Saijo, and they ambushed Lumiya and Sereno during their discussion. Lumiya swiftly neutralized Knife, the leader of the assault, but Organa intervened, preventing her from delivering the killing blow. The Dark Lady redirected her fury towards the princess, but Bey, who had infiltrated the Tof ranks disguised as one of their own, shot and utterly incapacitated Lumiya. The battle of Saijo concluded with the capture of Prince Sereno. Though presumed dead, Lumiya had actually survived, albeit wounded, and managed to escape unnoticed amidst the chaos.

Despite her best laid plans, Lumiya's scheme to exploit the Nagai–Tof conflict as a weapon against the Alliance of Free Planets met with complete failure. After recovering from her wounds sustained during the battle of Saijo, she found her fleet decimated. Consequently, the Dark Lady sought out her former Imperial Intelligence superior, Ysanne Isard, who had assumed leadership over the remaining forces of the Galactic Empire, in order to acquire the resources necessary to rebuild her shattered forces. Isard viewed Lumiya as a threat to her authority, and the Imperial leader reasoned that fulfilling the Sith Lady's requests would preempt any potential issues between them. She provided Lumiya with two TIE fighter squadrons, Alpha and Theta, along with four platoons of stormtroopers—including two platoons of elite red-armored Royal Guards who had directly served in the defense of the late Emperor Palpatine. However, Isard's assistance came with conditions; in exchange for her support, she tasked Lumiya with inspecting several highly confidential Imperial research facilities concealed within the Cron Drift.

The Nebulon-B escort frigate Revenant became Lumiya's flagship as she guided her fleet to the Auril sector. Upon their arrival, she discovered that the personnel at the asteroid-based Epsilon Nine Communications Research Station were attempting to abandon their Imperial allegiance and join the newly-reformed New Republic, as evidenced by the reconfiguration of the station's comlink system to broadcast on New Republic frequencies. The appearance of nine T-65 X-wing starfighters from Epsilon Nine stirred excitement among the Revenant's crew, who questioned how the New Republic had learned of the installation's covert location within the Cron Drift; however, Lumiya, already aware of the situation, ordered her fleet to engage the Republic forces as the Imperial forces approached the asteroid base.

Landing craft deployed from Lumiya's CR90 corvette, Wolf-Pack, and touched down on the surface of Epsilon Nine's asteroid location to secure a path into the base, while the rest of her fleet eliminated the enemy X-wings and base defenses. Lumiya then transferred from the Revenant to the asteroid in her personal Lambda-class T-4a shuttle and entered the base, ready to make an example of those inside. Her stormtroopers rounded up all the scientists for interrogation, and one defiant individual was instantly executed by the Dark Lady—his windpipe crushed by the Force in response to an insolent remark. Lumiya then ensured that the base staff reaffirmed their commitment to Imperial service, and ordered a garrison to occupy the station to further guarantee their compliance. Before departing the Cron Drift with the remainder of her fleet, Lumiya pledged to return in eight weeks to ensure her authority remained unchallenged.

The Sith's position had been jeopardized following Flint's betrayal and subsequent desertion. However, a new opportunity presented itself in the form of a Force-sensitive Royal Guard named Carnor Jax, whom Lumiya had encountered among those assigned to her by Ysanne Isard. The Dark Lady chose Jax as her new apprentice, and although his training was brief, the Sith legacy continued. One of their initial assignments together took them to the planet Bosthirda, where they completed the elimination of the remaining Prophets of the Dark Side cult, a task previously started but left unfinished by the disillusioned Dark Jedi Azrakel.

With her mission to Epsilon Nine accomplished, Lumiya turned to fulfilling Isard's second request: locating and returning the rogue Emperor's Hand, Mara Jade, to service under Isard. While preparing to hunt Jade, Lumiya instructed Jax to infiltrate the higher ranks of the Galactic Empire in anticipation of any potential threats to the Sith. Meanwhile, she traveled to the planet Caprioril, where she discovered that Jade, using the alias "Marellis," had gone into hiding as a starport gambler for a swoop gang. Lumiya found Jade and attempted to persuade her to rejoin the Imperial fold, a request that Jade refused. A confrontation ensued, and Lumiya disarmed Jade of her lightsaber, but the fugitive managed to escape. The Dark Lady opted not to report her failure to Isard, leading the Empire to believe that her encounter with Jade had somehow resulted in Lumiya's death—a belief that aligned the Empire with the New Republic, which had maintained that Lumiya had died at the end of the Nagai–Tof conflict.

Through Jax's own manipulations, the Dark Lady's apprentice began to secretly control the Empire's governing body. During this period, Lumiya received a message from Jax stating that he had been contacted by a mysterious individual known as Nom Anor, representing an alien race interested in forming an alliance with her against their common enemy, the New Republic. The threat to the Sith that Lumiya had foreseen also materialized at this time, with the return of Emperor Palpatine. However, his renewed reign was short-lived; the clone bodies he had used to facilitate his revival had been sabotaged by Imperial physicians, leading to his final demise on the planet Onderon less than a year later. Carnor Jax immediately attempted to install himself as the new Emperor, but his rule was brief. After requesting a meeting with Lumiya in an attempt to lure her into a trap, Jax was killed in a duel by another of Palpatine's former Royal Guardsmen, Kir Kanos. Jax's connections to Anor were severed upon his death on Yinchorr, and Lumiya was unable to respond to Anor's initial overtures. Three years after Jax's death, Lumiya's original apprentice, Flint, was discovered dead on his home planet of Belderone. Deciding to withdraw from the forefront of galactic events, Lumiya took up residence on the planet Korriban, where she began to strategize her next move. She continued to study Adas' holocron and used the ancient Sith divination stone to observe the galaxy from afar.

In 25 ABY, the galaxy was invaded by the Yuuzhan Vong Empire, whose advance agent, Nom Anor, had attempted to recruit Lumiya through Carnor Jax fourteen years earlier. The New Republic suffered significant losses in the initial months of the war against the Yuuzhan Vong, who crushed nearly all resistance to their planned transformation of the galaxy into a biotechnological empire mirroring their own. That same year, Lumiya learned that while she lacked an apprentice to carry on the legacy of the dark side, she was not alone in its practice; a former Jedi of the Old Republic named A'Sharad Hett had studied Sith teachings before being captured by Yuuzhan Vong scouts in the Unknown Regions. During his captivity, he was approached by a Yuuzhan Vong agent named Vergere who, like Hett, was also a former Jedi of the Old Republic who had turned to the Sith. The Fosh ex-Jedi shared her knowledge with Hett, who believed that to restore stability to the galaxy, the Sith needed to abandon the Rule of Two and instead adopt a Rule of One—a new principle embraced by many Sith who operated as a unified force.

Vergere, a firm believer in Darth Bane's ancient doctrine, rejected Hett's concept and left him to the mercy of the Yuuzhan Vong. Hett eventually escaped captivity and returned to Korriban, where he assumed the title of Dark Lord, adopting the new name Darth Krayt, and founded his One Sith. The One Sith's attention was drawn to Lumiya, and Krayt invited her to join them on their namesake's ancestral homeworld. An escort was dispatched for the Dark Lady in the form of the Sith Master Lomi Plo and her apprentice Welk, but during the return journey, they were intercepted by the Yuuzhan Vong. While her chaperones were captured by the invaders, Lumiya evaded capture and escaped to strategize her next move.

Lumiya then resolved to strike against the Yuuzhan Vong. The New Republic suffered a defeat at Ithor in 25 ABY when Yuuzhan Vong forces devastated the planet. They had discovered that the pollen of Ithor's native Bafforr trees was fatal to the living armor worn by Yuuzhan Vong warriors. The New Republic had allied with the Imperial Remnant to defend the world and its valuable military asset, but their efforts were in vain. Determined to acquire a sample of the now rare Bafforr pollen, Lumiya chose to strike at Yaga Minor, a fortified Imperial Remnant world that housed some of the last Bafforr pollen in the galaxy. The Sith Lady landed on the planet and infiltrated the laboratory where the samples were stored, but she was confronted by a group of Yuuzhan Vong who had infiltrated the facility themselves and destroyed its large munitions depot.

Several months later, Lumiya encountered Vergere. The Fosh explained her own Sith origins under Darth Sidious, and how she had met A'Sharad Hett—now Darth Krayt—who advocated for an Order of numerous Sith united in the power of the dark side of the Force. During her time with Vergere, Lumiya completed the Sith training she had begun long ago under Darth Vader, and she finally achieved full status as Dark Lady of the Sith in both title and wisdom.

Shortly thereafter, Lumiya received another invitation from Krayt's agents to align herself with their Order. The message from the spokesman of the One Sith—a man with glowing white eyes—stated that another escort had not been arranged, but directions were provided on the navigation string included with the message should Lumiya decide to accept their invitation. Through her time with Vergere, Lumiya had concluded that the One Sith's methods were too slow; by the time Krayt's Order had matured, Skywalker's Jedi would be too powerful. Unwilling to deviate from the Rule of Two, Lumiya rejected Krayt's concept and embraced Vergere's realization of the folly of Krayt's long-term endeavor.

Empowered by a new purpose through Vergere's teachings, Lumiya relinquished her own ambitions in service of a Sith destiny. However, both women knew that neither could restore peace to the galaxy alone; Lumiya's cybernetic implants limited her Force potential, while Vergere had been corrupted by her association with the Yuuzhan Vong. Together, they plotted to select a new Sith champion, one who would rule as a benevolent dictator and bring peace and stability to a chaotic galaxy frequently plagued by war. The selection of this champion was of utmost importance; numerous candidates were considered, and many were rejected. Kyp Durron, a powerful Jedi Master, was deemed too unpredictable and stubborn, while Lumiya's former rival Mara Jade Skywalker was considered to have too many attachments. Jaina Solo, the daughter of Leia and Han Solo, was dismissed as too emotional, while Leia Solo herself was passed over as too afraid of her father Darth Vader's legacy. Even Luke Skywalker was considered, but Lumiya deemed him too entrenched in Jedi dogma.

It was Jacen Solo, Jaina's brother, who truly captured their attention. Solo had demonstrated his ability to wield power responsibly by refusing to fire Centerpoint Station, an ancient space facility capable of unleashing devastating energy beams through hyperspace, against the Yuuzhan Vong, believing it would be an overly aggressive action. Solo also defeated Warmaster Tsavong Lah of the Yuuzhan Vong in personal combat, demonstrating to Lumiya and Vergere that the young Jedi wielded power when necessary. Thus, Jacen Solo was chosen as the most suitable candidate; however, his close relationship with his uncle, Luke Skywalker, posed a challenge. It was therefore decided that Vergere would return to the Yuuzhan Vong and facilitate Solo's capture by the aliens to begin his training without interference. By mid 25 ABY, she returned to the Yuuzhan Vong, where she manipulated her way into Tsavong Lah's confidence. Vergere abducted Solo during a Jedi mission to Myrkr and exploited the young Jedi's isolation in Yuuzhan Vong captivity to initiate his training.

Vergere returned with Solo to the New Republic in 28 ABY, where he was reunited with his family. However, Solo's attachment to his sister Jaina was so strong that when Jaina was endangered by the Warmaster's forces during a heated battle, he rushed to her defense at his own risk. Fearing that Jacen Solo would die on his mission, the Fosh sacrificed herself to preserve his destiny, killing the Yuuzhan Vong warriors threatening Jaina Solo and ensuring her protégé's survival. With Vergere gone, the execution of the Sith plan fell entirely to Lumiya. A year after Vergere's death, the Yuuzhan Vong were defeated at Coruscant and the galactic capital was reclaimed by the Galactic Federation of Free Alliances—the successor government to the New Republic. The Yuuzhan Vong War had cost Lumiya both her battle fleet and her Sith companion; although the moment to approach Solo was a decade away, the cyborg woman had the time and freedom to prepare for that day.

By 40 ABY, Lumiya had established her residence on an asteroid within the MZX32905 system near the planet Bimmiel. Formerly the home of an ancient Dark Lord of the Sith named Darth Vectivus, "the Home"—as it was called by a sentient mynock-like indigenous species that had once inhabited the asteroid but had since become extinct—was a lavish mansion constructed directly above a network of abandoned mining caverns. Upon further exploration, Lumiya discovered that the dark side was exceptionally potent in the mines; it concentrated within the depths of the asteroid, and Lumiya frequently reveled in its power. It was within these tunnels that Lumiya encountered the spirit of Vectivus himself. The Dark Lady learned from her Sith predecessor how to harness the dark side reservoir to create Force phantoms; malevolent entities that could interact with and influence the physical world.

Lumiya also decided that year to finally transform Jacen Solo into a Sith Lord. Realizing that she needed to find a way to entice Solo to a location of her choosing, Lumiya conceived the idea of a riddle or a puzzle that the Jedi would have to solve. She drew upon various cultures, Sith ideals, perversions of Jedi principles, and Solo's own past to construct a small piece of beadwork, an artifact composed of a series of intricately crafted colored tassels. Each section was unique and conveyed its own message. Lumiya commissioned the creation of lines from the Tahu'ip culture of the Twi'lek people, the Bith Aalagar race of Clak'dor VII, the language of the Firrerreo, the prison slang of Kessel, and numerous other sources, intending to create an item that would capture Solo's attention and encourage him to investigate its meaning.

Several lines, such as the Tahu'ip tassel, alluded to Solo's own life and how he had learned to strengthen himself through pain during his captivity by the Yuuzhan Vong. Others referenced the trials he would face as he ascended to Sith mastery—the sacrifice of love, which Lumiya anticipated would involve the murder of a relative or friend—the downfall of those who denied justice, and the balance between peace and conflict. While some of the tassels' elements were fabricated, others, such as the sacrifice Solo would have to make, were dictated by the Force itself. The final line, which concerned Solo being drawn from peace into conflict, was composed in an ancient Sith language used specifically on the world of Ziost and imbued with the Force, in a final attempt to capture Solo's attention. Although Lumiya was operating within the realm of Sith prophecy, her knowledge of what needed to be done was far from complete.

Since the end of the Swarm War several years prior, the galaxy had experienced relative peace. However, the Dark Lady believed that Solo's rise to power would be best facilitated by war and instability. The Galactic Federation of Free Alliances and its Chief of State, the Alderaanian Cal Omas, maintained close ties with the Jedi Order and worked alongside them to preserve peace and stability. Nevertheless, tensions had escalated between the Galactic Alliance and Corellia, a planet with a population known for their independence and pride. The Corellian government, led by Five World Prime Minister Aidel Saxan, sought to enjoy the benefits of Galactic Alliance membership while disregarding the government's regulations. To enable Jacen Solo's rise, Lumiya decided to plunge the galaxy into conflict by inciting the subsequent secession movement for which the Five Worlds confederacy began to gather support.

Utilizing Darth Vectivus' Force phantom technique, she projected the image of Edela Klauskin, the deceased wife of Galactic Alliance Defense Fleet Admiral Matric Klauskin, and began to subtly manipulate him into engaging in a series of actions designed to further destabilize the already fragile relations between the Galactic Alliance and the Corellians. The first of these actions was interwoven within the highly-classified Operation Roundabout, with Klauskin's role being that of commander over the Alliance Second Fleet's disastrous attempt to place Corellia under siege. When that action failed, Lumiya influenced Klauskin to attack and occupy the nearby world of Tralus, further exacerbating an already tense situation. Both sides desired to end what was rapidly devolving into another war, and both governments sent delegates to meet on the Toryaz space station near Kuat to negotiate a peaceful resolution to the conflict. Lumiya decided to participate in the negotiations as well, not as an advocate for either side, but as a spy and saboteur. She initiated her plan with an anonymous message to Corellian Head of State and Minister of War Thrackan Sal-Solo, informing him of the secret meeting and tempting him with an opportunity to eliminate several of their mutual enemies in one fell swoop. Sal-Solo complied and provided Lumiya with twenty commandos, mostly of Corellian descent, all Human, and all expendable; each was terminally ill, suffering from various diseases that were incurable by any known means. To prevent any interrogation attempts should any of the commandos be captured, each was injected with a potent alkaloid toxin, guaranteeing death shortly after administration.

Disguised as a Kuati mercantile princess, the Dark Lady infiltrated Toryaz station's Narsacc Habitat and approached station captain Siron Tawaler, whom she mentally ensnared through the Force into her service. She convinced the security captain that he was being considered for the role of her consort, and presented him with documents that, among other things, verified her false identity. She claimed that one of the Jedi on the station was determined to assassinate her, and that Tawaler had to do everything in his power to prevent such an act from occurring. Under the illusion of being selected for such a prestigious Kuati honor and determined to prevent any assassination attempts on the "rogue Jedi's" part, Captain Tawaler was compelled to assist Lumiya. He provided her with detailed schematics of the habitat, including the lodgings of each of the delegates. They then proceeded to Narsacc Habitat's docking bay to meet with Sal-Solo's recently arrived commandos. After briefing her assassins on their mission, Lumiya used a Force suggestion that caused Captain Tawaler to enter an airlock under the impression that he was supposed to board the commandos' Sentinel-class shuttle and return to Kuat. However, this was a deception on Lumiya's part; the shuttle had already departed from the hangar. Tawaler nonetheless initiated the depressurization sequence and died soon afterward, the victim of explosive decompression.

The operation carried out by Lumiya's commandos achieved only partial success; they managed to eliminate only one of the delegates, Aidel Saxan, the Prime Minister of the Five Worlds. In accordance with the prearranged plan, each commando perished before any interrogation could be conducted by the Jedi or any other party. Lumiya, aware of Jacen Solo's presence at Toryaz Station, deliberately left the tassels—the instrument she intended to use to trap the young Jedi—near the airlock where Captain Tawaler had taken his own life. Her intention was that the investigation into the failed attack would lead investigators to this location. The Dark Lady's strategy hinged on Solo's curiosity about the tassels' significance, which she hoped would lead him to Lorrd, a planet situated in the Kanz sector. On Lorrd, he would encounter Doctor Heilan Rotham, an expert in the planet's culture and history of non-verbal communication. Subsequently, she departed Narsacc Habitat and followed the commandos' shuttle to the Coronet City Spaceport in Coronet City on Corellia. There, she assassinated the pilot, seized control of the shuttle, and re-registered it under the alias "Brisha Syo," a Human woman from Commenor. She piloted the shuttle to Lorrd, paid for a week's worth of parking at the Lorrd spaceport, and awaited Jacen Solo's arrival, who soon appeared with his cousin Ben Skywalker and Nelani Dinn, the female watchman of the system. While they were meeting with Rotham, Lumiya secretly orchestrated several seemingly random acts of terrorism in Lorrd City. The first incident involved a man threatening to launch concussion missiles into the city's most populated area unless he could speak with a Jedi. Although Solo and his companions resolved this crisis, subsequent Force-influenced catastrophes plagued Lorrd City in the following days, all instigated by Lumiya. Meanwhile, Ben Skywalker, exploring Lorrd City on his own, discovered the shuttle that had escaped from Toryaz Station docked at the spaceport. He attached a homing beacon to the shuttle and instructed Security lieutenant Neav Samran to contact him when the pilot returned. Satisfied that her actions had ensured the Jedi's continued presence on Lorrd, Lumiya returned to the shuttle, where Samran immediately apprehended her. She was taken to the security station, where she awaited interrogation by the Jedi.

The Jedi arrived soon after, ready with a series of questions. She greeted each of them by name, which surprised them, and admitted to having influenced their activities for some time before their first direct encounter. She denied any direct involvement in the recent unusual events, claiming instead that she had foreseen their plans to commit heinous acts in her dreams and had suggested, through her dreams, that they involve the Jedi. Unable to distinguish truth from falsehood, Solo inquired about her connection to the events at Toryaz Station. Syo admitted only to being present on the station as an observer of Jacen Solo, using her Force abilities to remain hidden. She claimed to have witnessed Security Captain Tawaler's death at the hands of a hooded figure due to uncontrolled decompression and decided to flee, but not before leaving her tassel artifact in the same airlock where Tawaler had been ejected, fully intending for Solo to eventually possess it. This led her to Lorrd, anticipating Solo's imminent arrival. In an attempt to understand the situation, Solo demanded the truth, which she agreed to provide only if the Jedi accompanied her to her home near Bimmiel. Solo initially refused, and Syo declined to reveal any further information. Solo, frustrated, threatened her with various punishments, including death, but she remained unmoved. She waited patiently as Solo consulted with his companions and finally agreed to visit Syo's home.

"Brisha Syo" joined the Jedi on their shuttle for the journey to her residence, assuring Solo upon arrival that all the answers he sought would be found inside. They entered as she explained the history of the mining habitat, which the Jedi recognized as a centuries-old mining station that had been abandoned at significant cost. Syo mentioned the habitat's former administrator, who had also been a Sith Lord, but dismissed further discussion as they ascended four floors in a turbolift to a chamber filled with artwork and educational materials. She denied their suspicions that she was a Sith adept and revealed that the asteroid was permeated with both sides of the Force, a fact that preoccupied Solo. Syo then admitted to being a student of all aspects of the Force, focusing primarily on using Sith teachings for the benefit of others. She explained her beliefs about the differences between the light and dark sides of the Force, as well as the history of the Home and the semi-sentient mynock-like species that had once lived there. She also presented Darth Vectivus as an example of a benevolent darksider, an ancient Sith Master who had learned to wield the dark side without malice. She explained that while many Sith Lords of the past—including Solo's grandfather, Darth Vader—were already corrupt before becoming Sith, Vectivus had been a man of strong moral character before embracing the dark side, allowing him to resist temptations of malevolence and soft-heartedness. She then revealed her own relationship with Vader, which frustrated Solo, who realized he still knew nothing about Syo or her motives. Although she admitted to deception, she claimed that her true reason for the Jedi's presence was to confront a Sith Lord supposedly residing in the asteroid's lower levels.

As the turbolift descended to the habitat's lowest level, Syo joked about the Sith Lord's identity; Solo believed that the Order to which he belonged had been eradicated with the death of Emperor Palpatine's final clone. While the last fully initiated Sith Masters had died with Vader and the Emperor, Syo claimed that capable aspirants had survived and maintained centuries of Sith tradition. The turbolift opened onto a rail system leading into the mine, and Syo advised Ben Skywalker to stay behind. Solo refused to leave his cousin, so Syo and the three Jedi boarded the railcar and descended into the mine's depths. Shortly after their ride began, Syo used the Force to throw Skywalker and Dinn from the railcar and sent hundreds of mynock Force-phantoms to harass them. Solo felt her Force exertion, but Syo assured him that the separation was for their own good, given the overwhelming danger ahead. With Solo isolated from his companions, they began to discuss the Sith Lord whom Syo claimed resided in the mine. A phantasmal man of her creation appeared before them, identifying himself as that being, though his face was obscured by a cloak. After a brief exchange, the apparition disappeared and was replaced by one of Luke Skywalker. While his illusory uncle engaged Solo in lightsaber combat, Syo created a phantom of Mara Jade Skywalker that simultaneously attacked Ben Skywalker, and another of Darth Vectivus to waylay Nelani Dinn, both elsewhere in the mines. Exhaustion forced her to end the assault shortly afterward, but the test she had conducted of Solo had been successful; his refusal to tap into the asteroid's abundant dark side energy had saved his life. Syo then led him to a door made of ebony stone—immovable except through the dark side. The door opened at Solo's slightest command of dark power, and he followed Syo as she brought him before her estate. She then confessed that she was, in fact, a Sith, trained by Solo's grandfather, Darth Vader; that she had been born Shira Brie, and the fateful confrontation with Luke Skywalker had resulted in her rebirth as Lumiya.

Lumiya revealed her desire for Solo to become the next Dark Lord of the Sith, explaining that his training had begun years ago during his time with Vergere. They were interrupted by the arrival of Nelani Dinn, who attempted to end the Dark Lady's seductions by activating her lightsaber. When the seemingly unarmed Lumiya refused to acknowledge Dinn's authority, she was attacked. Lumiya evaded Dinn to draw her lightwhip, striking the Jedi's face to disorient her. Dinn advanced, but Lumiya painfully forced her into retreat. The Jedi telekinetically hurled two marble busts, the first of which Lumiya destroyed with her whip, and the second she caught in the Force. She lost the struggle, and the bust knocked the whip from her hand. However, Solo saved her, having agreed to learn her dark side teachings after envisioning multiple possible futures where the galaxy descended into chaos and his uncle, Luke Skywalker, died; only in his visions of Nelani Dinn's fall did Skywalker survive. Dinn realized she was outmatched and fled, with Solo pursuing her, a confrontation that ended in her death. Lumiya met him shortly afterward in an airlock next to the hangar where his shuttle was docked, promising to honor the deceased with a burial befitting a noble warrior. She noticed Solo's distress at what he had done and assured him that he had already begun to strengthen himself through his actions. As he departed with the unconscious but uninjured Ben Skywalker, Lumiya promised that upon his return to her asteroid, she would help Solo reach a level of Sith status that his grandfather had been unable to achieve. She retired to the Home's summit, where she met with the specter of Jacen's future self—her interpretation of him as a Sith. They acknowledged that, while the ghost was compelled to return to nonexistence, Lumiya's triumph over Solo ensured his eventual return and that he would finally be granted a proper Sith name. The phantom disappeared, and Lumiya knew that through her victory, she had achieved balance befitting a Sith.

Several days later, Lumiya received a Force summons from Solo on Coruscant, which she answered immediately. Dressed in a red business suit with her face hidden by a scarf and veil, Lumiya concealed her Force presence and located Solo with Ben Skywalker in the Plaza of the Core. Introduced as "Shira" to the younger Jedi, who thought he recognized her but dismissed the idea, Lumiya reluctantly accepted an invitation to the Jedi Temple. Awed by the building's grandeur, she entered, hid her dark side aura, and was led to the Room of a Thousand Fountains, where Solo explained that he would arrange a discreet apartment for her on Coruscant where he wanted her to stay. She agreed but emphasized the urgency of his actions, now confident in his decision to become Sith. Both sensed the beginnings of the rapid degradation of galactic peace, and Lumiya—who scoffed at his suggestion of her involvement in recent terrorist attacks—felt certain that the next few weeks would determine what specific knowledge he needed. They proceeded toward the Jedi Council Chamber, just as Luke Skywalker approached, acting as though he sensed something slightly amiss. He promptly left, unaware of the identity of the veiled woman at his nephew's side. She scolded him for his recklessness and bid him farewell as she left the Temple and Coruscant for her home to collect her belongings and return.

Lumiya's safe house was apartment 712 on the 300th floor of Coruscant's Zorp House apartment complex. She returned to the galactic capital with her possessions, many of which were Sith artifacts, and furnished her new temporary residence. Unbeknownst to her apprentice or anyone else, Lumiya also secured another dwelling on the 288th floor, which would serve as a relay station for observing Zorp House's activities. Additionally, she infiltrated unoccupied quarters on the building's third level, where she installed a modified and booby-trapped datapad to splice into the building's communications system. Her datapad was also programmed to penetrate the most secure Alliance Military databanks, from which she obtained highly classified plans for the Alliance invasion of Commenor, a world leaning toward Corellian allegiance. Lumiya created a secret passage in one of the bedroom closets, leading to an intricate labyrinth of tunnels beneath the building, guarded by a meter-long durasteel dart that would fire at lethal velocity if her escape route was compromised.

Lumiya's next meeting with Jacen Solo occurred in the Senate Building just after the announcement of Admiral Gilad Pellaeon's retirement as Supreme Commander of the Galactic Alliance Defense Force. Again disguised as "Shira," she and Solo sat in lobby 513, near a meeting between Jedi Council members and the newly appointed Supreme Commander, Mon Calamari Admiral Cha Niathal, whose promotion Lumiya had secretly orchestrated. With reports of his cousin Thrackan Sal-Solo's plans to make Centerpoint Station operational in the coming months broadcast across the HoloNet, Jacen became increasingly determined to mitigate the repercussions of his family's actions on the galaxy. Lumiya realized that Solo feared his fall to the dark side would mirror his grandfather's, whose actions during the razing of the Jedi Temple he had witnessed during a recent flow-walking experience. Pleased when he expressed his desire to eventually take Ben Skywalker as his Sith apprentice, Lumiya did not fully agree with Solo's decision to remain with the Galactic Alliance Guard police force instead of a more influential military position, given his relationship with Niathal. The meeting ended, and as the Jedi approached, Lumiya hid her dark orientation within Solo's Force illusion. Luke Skywalker greeted him but did not acknowledge her, and she remained indifferent as he spoke with Solo. When the Jedi Master left, Lumiya accompanied Solo to congratulate Niathal.

Days later, Lumiya met Solo in his apartment at his urgent request, as he had learned that his uncle was aware of the Dark Lady's presence on Coruscant. Concerned that Skywalker might find her before her task was complete, Lumiya decided to accelerate Solo's Sith training. She projected a soothing Force illusion of deep blue, meditative light, submerging the room in an underwater ambiance. Lumiya defined her role as Solo's guide on his path to Sith enlightenment, assuring him that his destiny was not the same as his grandfather's. When the topic of his own Sith apprentice arose, Lumiya felt that Jedi Mastery was the obstacle Solo needed to overcome to secure young Skywalker's tutelage under him. To that end, she planned to influence several non-Jedi supporters of Jacen Solo to lobby the Jedi Council on his behalf. Confident that Solo would soon reach the necessary level of understanding, the illusion ended, and she departed. Solo sought his Sith Master after a military engagement during the Corellian blockade, in which he destroyed a civilian freighter after his sister, Jaina Solo, refused his direct order to fire. Jacen Solo felt compelled to court-martial his sister for her insubordination, leaving him troubled with recurring nightmares. Lumiya sensed his unrest as she emerged from an adjacent room to find him in her apartment, advising him to recognize the significance of such decisions as he prepared to make his final sacrifice; the alienation of his sister was a small price to pay for his role in establishing an ordered galaxy. His dreams were inconsequential to Lumiya as long as he could differentiate them from Force visions, which might provide answers she could not. Solo was also troubled by Ben Skywalker's diminished faith in him, as the boy had witnessed Jacen Solo's inadvertent murder of a prisoner during interrogation. Lumiya suggested that instead of seeking the boy's approval, Solo should place him in a situation where he would discover the need for such extremes himself.

Lumiya met with Solo regularly over the next several weeks. One day in her safe house apartment, she handled the tassels that had initially ensnared Solo and listened as he described the frequency of his nightmares and his increasing obsession with his grandfather's descent into the dark side. Lumiya realized that Solo's location-restricted flow-walking technique limited his understanding of Darth Vader's fall, and she cautioned against attempting to vindicate himself in that manner. She then handed the tassel artifact to Solo, praising his fulfillment of various aspects of the prophecy. The time was approaching for the metaphorical immortalization of his love, the specifics of which Lumiya did not know, but which required killing a loved one whose death would cause unbearable suffering to their loved ones.

The threat of full-scale civil war became more apparent over a week as assassins employed by Bothawui's True Victory Party conspired with Corellian terrorists to wreak havoc on Coruscant. Lumiya traveled through the Coruscant Underlevels in pursuit of Jacen Solo, who had gone to meet his friend and spy, the World Brain, to learn what the Yuuzhan Vong creature had discovered about the terrorists' activities in the Underlevels. Unbeknownst to Lumiya, the Twi'lek Dark Jedi Alema Rar had preceded her, stalking Solo to avenge his parents. The Dark Lady eliminated three feral Underlevel residents who tried to impede her progress at Rar's suggestion before noticing the Twi'lek's presence. She hid with a muted Force aura on a balcony in the shadows of the fogged cesspool where the World Brain resided, just as Rar emerged from the corridor and prepared to fire her blowgun at Solo. Lumiya used the Force to hurl the Jedi out of the way of the dart, which pierced the eye of the World Brain, causing it to die in spasms as the poison spread. Now aware of the assassin's location, Lumiya alerted Solo to her presence, and the Sith apprentice momentarily deterred Rar's escape with a torrent of Force lightning. Lumiya rebuked any further exertion of his wrath, reminding him that preserving the World Brain as an intelligence asset was more important than revenge. He resisted, and Lumiya denounced him as a slave to his emotions for seeking justice for a wounded friend. Solo relented but promised vengeance against the True Victory Party and its leader, a Bothan named Reh'mwa, whom he suspected had sent the assassin, before he and Lumiya descended into the World Brain's pool to save its life.

Based on the information Jacen Solo received from his spy, Lumiya was given a list and asked to kill several influential Bothan dignitaries conspiring with Corellian insurgents. The terrorists had also discovered the World Brain's treachery as the Galactic Alliance Guard's spy and prepared to move their entire network against it. Despite the Sith's best efforts, the World Brain succumbed to the poison and died within a week. Lumiya was summoned by her apprentice to the Fellowship Plaza of Coruscant's Senate District to discuss the ramifications and asked to expedite the list's completion, as Solo believed the Corellians would not reveal themselves if they learned of the World Brain's death. She agreed, openly acknowledging the declaration of war from Bothawui that would inevitably follow. As Solo departed for a meeting with Admiral Niathal, which would include commissioning his own Imperial II-class Star Destroyer, the Anakin Solo, Lumiya's attention turned to a commotion behind her, involving two spying females: a Chev Jedi and a deformed, blue-skinned, lightsaber-wielding Twi'lek. The Dark Lady urged her apprentice to leave as she activated her lightwhip and prepared to deal with the Twi'lek, who beckoned Lumiya to stop the fleeing Jedi Master, Tresina Lobi, from reporting details of the conversation she had overheard to the High Council. The Dark Jedi blasted Lobi with Force lightning but was incapacitated by an urn thrown telekinetically by the Chev. Lumiya began a duel with the Jedi but was forced back by the larger woman and deactivated her weapon when the Twi'lek interposed herself between the combatants and was burned by the whip's energy filaments. Lobi severed Lumiya's weapon arm and prepared a killing strike, but the Dark Jedi parried again, giving the Sith time to recover her lightwhip and wield it with her remaining limb. Forced to retreat and distracted by the being behind her, Lobi faltered, and Lumiya sheared off both of her legs at the knee, just before her accomplice killed her with a decapitating strike. The Twi'lek then introduced herself as Alema Rar and pledged her assistance in bringing about Jacen Solo's downfall, an offer Lumiya warily accepted.

The next morning, Lumiya gave Rar the list of Bothan ambassadors to assassinate in her stead. She then joined her apprentice aboard the Anakin Solo en route to the sovereign world of the Hapes Cluster, where, upon arrival, Lumiya retired from the Command Salon to her cabin out of respect for Queen Mother Tenel Ka, whose life had recently been targeted. Meanwhile, an hour later, Lumiya's involvement in Lobi's death was discovered when Coruscant Security Force Detectives Gwad Raatu and Chal Tozr found the Chev's dismembered corpse in Fellowship Plaza and notified Jedi Masters Mara Jade and Luke Skywalker. Their subsequent investigation led them to believe that Lumiya and a female accomplice had stalked their son Ben. They discovered and preliminarily searched her safe house, finding only an expensive gown. Assuming she had fled the planet, they sliced into the dwelling's computer and found a list of names corroborating Lumiya's involvement in the Bothan assassination. Further investigation revealed her high-level access to the Galactic Alliance Guard's records and resources, and they learned that her apartment was a registered safe house. The Jedi concluded that Lumiya had not infiltrated the GAG but had been working with them, possibly with Jacen Solo's full knowledge.

Under the assumption that Lumiya was planning to get even with Ben Skywalker, the Skywalkers immediately stopped Solo, who had by then been given a commission as an Alliance Colonel in the Legends continuity. While they were on the Anakin Solo, headed towards Hapes, the Skywalkers explained what they had found and their choice to take their son off of active duty with the Galactic Alliance Guard. Jacen Solo gave in and set up a meeting between the parents and their son at the Roqoo Depot refueling station, which was located deep within the Hapes Cluster. However, the meeting was actually a double trap, because Lumiya also agreed to go to Roqoo Depot in secret to make sure Ben Skywalker got safely onto the Anakin. Within an hour after the Skywalkers and the Queen Mother left, the Star Destroyer got ready to jump to the Relephon Moons to deal with the Heritage Council, who had started the recent coup attempt on Hapan. Lumiya came back to the ship with Alema Rar, and together they made two dead-man switches out of proton detonator charges, to prepare for a fight with the Skywalkers that was about to happen. Lumiya intended these devices to be a backup plan if either woman was killed in battle. They were set to explode when the person wearing them stopped showing vital signs, which would destroy the station and kill anyone nearby. Lumiya and Rar put the switches on combat vests and left the Anakin Solo for Roqoo Depot.

The two darksiders, dressed in dark clothes with their faces hidden by hoods, went into the refueling station's cantina just after the Skywalkers, hiding their presence in the Force. As soon as she saw them, Lumiya threw a grenade, which exploded and scattered both Jedi and customers. She hurt two people with her lightwhip as they were getting up and said she would kill all the other bystanders unless the Skywalkers surrendered. The Sith Lady turned the cantina patrons' fear towards her enemies, but Luke Skywalker attacked anyway, while Mara Jade Skywalker moved in on her side. Both Jedi had lightsabers and shoto. However, she kept the civilians between them, so the Skywalkers couldn't attack successfully without killing innocent people. While Lumiya was fighting Luke Skywalker, Rar hid in a Force shadow just outside the cantina entrance and shot Mara Jade Skywalker with her blowgun, but Luke's warning through the Force saved her. For a moment, Lumiya cut off Luke Skywalker's weapon hand and knocked him down with a slash across his body. As she was about to finish him off, Lumiya was shot five times with a blaster rifle that Luke had found. Luke wanted to kill her, but his wife stopped him and showed him that Lumiya had the same kind of combat fail-safe strapped to her that Mara Jade Skywalker had found on Rar after defeating her. The Jedi ran away minutes before Lumiya and the Twi'lek blew up Roqoo Depot by activating their dead man relays and covering their tracks.

After the events on Roqoo Depot, Lumiya went back to her asteroid hideout near Bimmiel, where a full staff of medical droids was waiting to treat her injuries. She also used healing trances and her enhanced metabolism to recover, but she was still hurt and in pain. While she was recovering, Lumiya felt Jacen Solo's presence through the Force and sent a phantom of herself to his cabin on the Anakin Solo. With the galaxy still on the verge of war, Solo said he was worried about the direction his training was taking him and wasn't sure if his cousin, who he had realized could be his necessary sacrifice, was the best choice for an apprentice. So, Lumiya offered to set up a test for young Skywalker that Solo had designed: a mission to Drewwa, a moon of Almania, to get back a Sith artifact called the Amulet of Kalara. She hired a Bothan named Byalfin Dyur to steal the amulet and give it to a courier named Faskus, who was supposed to take it to specific coordinates on Ziost. Lumiya's agents spread false information in different places, so that if the Jedi found out about her activities, they wouldn't be able to stop her easily. When she got an update on Dyur's progress, Lumiya found out that Faskus had been killed, but his daughter, who Lumiya hadn't expected, had become Skywalker's responsibility. Lumiya's instructions to Jacen Solo about Skywalker's mission didn't include the girl, and she realized that his kindness went against the Sith survival instinct, so she ordered Dyur to kill them both. Meanwhile, the Skywalkers found both her second and third safe house apartments inside Zorp House on Coruscant. They also found Lumiya's secret passages that led out of the complex, as well as her explosive and poison-rigged datapad, which she had used to intercept communications and hack into the Galactic Alliance Defense network with a high-level GAG access code.

Even though Bothawui was secretly getting ready to go to war with the Galactic Alliance on behalf of the Corellian Confederation, the Alliance forces made it hard for them to deploy three of their fleets by watching the Bothans' activities in their home system closely. To make things even more complicated, Lumiya disguised herself as a Hapan noblewoman and Bothan supporter and contacted Bothan Deputy Intelligence Leader Tathak K'roylan through holocomm. She gave him information that would help Bothawui release their fleets without the Galactic Alliance noticing, and she offered to help them by distracting the Alliance. To gain K'roylan's trust, Lumiya gave him details about the Bothan assassinations on Coruscant that hadn't been revealed before. She had been involved in the deaths herself, but Colonel Solo of the Galactic Alliance Guard had authorized them. The classified records that Lumiya gave K'roylan also belonged to Solo. She was sure that the Bothans would contact her when they needed her, so she gave K'roylan information on how to reach her and ended the call.

Then, she contacted Jacen Solo directly and sent him what she called the "Syo package." Still pretending to be the Hapan noblewoman, Lumiya started a transmission to Commenor, another world that had recently joined the Corellian secession movement. In the conversation with Prime Minister Fyor Rodan, she gave him the details of the Chasin Document, which was the Galactic Alliance's plan to conquer Commenor. She said she would contact him again in a few days with information about Corellian fleet movements that, with the help of Rodan's forces, would defeat the Alliance. She was sure that Rodan's superiors would confirm her information, so she ended the call with the Prime Minister and created a Force phantom of herself. She sent it to the Veterans' Mental Care Hospital in Coruscant's Galactic City, where she influenced a sleeping female Quarren employee to wake up and take action. Within minutes, the Quarren accessed computer files and gave instructions to different people for the Sith Mistress, including getting clothing, documents, and transportation ready for her. Lumiya then sent the Quarren back to her office and put her back to sleep before going to find Matric Klauskin, the former Alliance Defense Fleet Admiral who had recently been admitted to the hospital. She used the insanity that she had created in him to convince him to leave the hospital, go back to his homeworld of Commenor, and fight in the war for the Corellian insurrection, using the resources she had just arranged. Klauskin then used his credentials to board and take control of the Alliance frigate Shamunaar, which was the coordination vessel for all of the Alliance's reconnaissance and fighting forces in the Bothawui system. The Admiral then gave control of Shamunaar to the Bothans, specifically Tathak K'roylan, who added the frigate to his fleet and used it in an attack on Alliance forces in the Corellian system, which ended the long-standing blockade.

After the battle of Corellia, where Bothawui and Commenor fought for the Confederation, the declaration of war that had been made against Corellia was extended to include the world's new allies. Also, Adumar, Bespin, and Fondor stopped supporting the Alliance and sided with the Confederacy. A top-secret meeting was scheduled to elect a Supreme Commander of the Confederation military. The Alliance found out that the meeting was going to be held at a resort satellite around the primary star of the Gilatter system, and they quickly got ready for an ambush. Admiral Niathal and Colonel Jacen Solo coordinated the military action, which included Jedi StealthX pilots acting as reconnaissance fighters before the makeshift Alliance fleet arrived, led by Niathal's flagship, the Galactic Voyager, and the Anakin Solo. Lumiya, who was now fully healed and had sensed Jacen Solo's anxiety, met him on Coruscant and agreed to help him sneak into the resort so he could distract the enemy from the Alliance forces gathering in orbit around the star. She went with him on his Star Destroyer to Gilatter VIII, and they used the aliases Silfinia and Najack Ell to get into the enemy's stronghold. To cover more ground as they searched the gathering, Lumiya separated from Solo. However, shortly after they arrived, they found out that the meeting was a trap for the Alliance. The Confederation had already chosen General Turr Phennir as Supreme Commander at a previous meeting, and they knew about the Alliance attack and were ready for it. Lumiya got a warning from Solo through the Force and got ready to help him fight off the Corellian Security officers who had surrounded him. But she was surprised to see Alema Rar there, who was trying to kill Mara Jade Skywalker, who was there with her husband, as well as Han Solo, who was approaching quickly. The two darksiders were confident that their presence at the meeting would force the Solos and Skywalkers to delay their departure, so they jumped into the fight with weapons in hand.

Lumiya faced Luke, who was upset to find out that she hadn't died at Roqoo Depot. They fought fiercely. Luke thought that Lumiya's actions were because of a hatred she had held for decades, but she denied it and tried to prove it by turning off her lightwhip and offering to let him kill her right then and there. When Luke refused, Lumiya offered him her hand as a sign of peace, and he hesitated before taking it. However, this distracted Luke and gave Jacen Solo the chance to escape and go back to the Anakin Solo, which was what Lumiya had planned. As they were holding hands, a YV-666 light freighter crashed through the transparisteel dome of the station's main hall. Lumiya used her lightwhip to cut an escape route through a nearby wall. In the chaos that followed as the structure collapsed and a space battle broke out, Lumiya took an abandoned airspeeder and contacted Solo, who gave her permission to land her ship on the Anakin Solo. She joined her apprentice in his private office and told him to control the anger he was feeling because he thought he had failed at Gilatter VIII. Solo was frustrated with his own weaknesses in combat and wanted to be unbeatable, even though it was impossible. Lumiya said that once he reached full Mastery, he would have the Sith ability to completely coordinate battle through the Force, not just the basic meditative invigoration that skilled Force users had. But he couldn't have it until he made his blood sacrifice and became a Sith. In the silence that followed, Lumiya realized that her apprentice was afraid of his emotions, not unsure about who he had to sacrifice. She left him to think about what she had said, disappointed that he might not be as ready to embrace his destiny as she had thought.

Lumiya stayed in her cabin on the Anakin Solo and was soon disturbed by a disturbance in the Force that was the approach of Ben Skywalker, who had come back from his mission in an ancient Sith Meditation Sphere. The vehicle had been looking for Solo but had found Lumiya instead, recognizing her as a Sith, and came to her for instructions. Lumiya felt that it was connected to her apprentice's destiny and offered it to him, even though she was fascinated by the Sphere, or just "Ship," as it liked to be called. Even though the Force suggested that the vessel wasn't important to her own future, Lumiya kept it after Solo refused it and secretly promised to take care of it until he was ready for it. They quickly left the Anakin Solo for her asteroid hideout, and Lumiya noticed that Alema Rar was following her closely. She didn't try to stop the insane Twi'lek from following her as the Meditation Sphere approached the Home, and she reluctantly let Rar enter but refused to give her safe haven. Rar, who was obsessed with getting revenge on the Solo–Skywalker family for her disfigurements, wanted to work with Jacen, but Lumiya sternly warned her that she would be killed if she did. Lumiya didn't want Rar's madness to ruin Solo's rise to power, which was about to happen, so she used the Dark Jedi's recklessness for something useful: spying on Solo's activities instead of Lumiya. She took Rar's easily recognizable Conqueror-class assault ship and gave the Twi'lek a less noticeable courier shuttle, telling her to track the Anakin Solo first.

Jacen Solo's constant campaigns against the Confederation had left his forces very weak, and he had trouble getting more resources. To get around the red tape, Solo wrote an amendment to a procurement regulation that removed the obstacles he often faced. He also took the opportunity to add a more sneaky amendment to the original one, which allowed him to bypass the Galactic Senate if he or Admiral Niathal felt the need to change any legislation within existing budgets quickly and decisively. He needed to remain anonymous, so Lumiya went to the Senate meeting in his place to make sure that amendment number 357 on the 563-item agenda passed without any problems. He sent her a silent comlink, and she assured him that everything was going as planned. Through that same open connection, Lumiya overheard a conversation between Solo and Mara Jade Skywalker, who confronted Solo about Lumiya's involvement with GAG. From the meeting, she also found out that Byalfin Dyur, who she expected to hear bad news from soon, had been defeated by Ben Skywalker. After Mara Jade left, Lumiya said that Ben Skywalker was definitely not fit to succeed Solo as Lord of the Sith. At that moment, a sentient's rights advocate interrupted the procurement council meeting to talk about one part of Solo's amendment, but he didn't notice the subtle wording that Solo had secretly added that would allow him to change other legislation. When some people in the gallery seemed like they might oppose the amendment, Lumiya used the Force to persuade them otherwise, and amendment 357 passed. The members of the Senate didn't know that Solo was planning to take control of the Galactic Alliance with his new legislative power.

A great opportunity came up when GAG intelligence officers accidentally intercepted a secret conversation between Chief of State Cal Omas and Corellian President Dur Gejjen, where they agreed to meet in person on the planet Vulpter and plan the assassinations of Solo and Niathal. In response, Solo wrote an amendment to the Emergency Measures Act that gave him the authority to detain anyone who posed a risk to the Galactic Alliance, including Heads of State. Solo and Niathal planned to arrest Omas on those charges before Solo became Dark Lord of the Sith, which Lumiya didn't like. She warned him not to rush his decision because she didn't think he had enough power to rule without being challenged. In the meantime, Lumiya agreed to distract the Jedi from Solo's next moves and asked for something of young Skywalker's to use to provoke his parents. She was given a pair of his boots, and at four in the morning, she snuck into Luke Skywalker's quarters while he was sleeping to plant the evidence. Skywalker sensed her moments after she left and was confused by how Lumiya had been able to get to his son so easily. He contacted his wife, and together they tried to find and eliminate Lumiya. A strong disturbance in the Force led Jade Skywalker to Hesperidium, a resort moon in Coruscant's orbit, where she had a confrontation with Lumiya. They fought fiercely, and when Lumiya was about to be killed, the Sith Meditation Sphere she had traveled on intervened and choked Jade Skywalker. Lumiya escaped with serious injuries, leaving her opponent battered but determined to continue the pursuit.

Right after the meeting between Omas and Gejjen on Vulpter, Ben Skywalker assassinated Gejjen under orders from Jacen Solo. When the Chief of State returned to Coruscant, Jacen Solo arrested Cal Omas for suspicion of plotting against the Galactic Alliance on the same night his amendment became law. He and Niathal then declared themselves Joint Chief of State to serve for the duration of the investigation into Omas' treason. Lumiya, who had fully recovered from her fight with Mara Jade Skywalker, returned to Coruscant on the Meditation Sphere, which she hid in an abandoned warehouse. She met with Solo to discuss the implications of the recent attempts to distract the Jedi, and Ben Skywalker secretly overheard their conversation. Her next meeting with Solo was in his apartment, where they discussed the final stage of his transformation, making his love immortal. Lumiya felt like the Force was about to change and was increasingly disturbed by Solo's focus on non-Force users. Solo's recent campaigns had left him exhausted, so Lumiya agreed to watch over Admiral Niathal while he took a forty-eight hour break. After he left, Lumiya explored the apartment for a while before leaving and returning to the Meditation Sphere, planning to follow her apprentice on his secret journey. An eighteen-hour trip through the Perlemian Trade Route ended in the Hapes Cluster, and Lumiya stayed in orbit as Solo landed at the Fountain Palace on the planet of the same name. While meditating, she was suddenly struck by an outpouring of intense love through the Force and realized that it had come from Solo. The Sith Mistress realized that he had gone to Hapes to be with his lover, Tenel Ka, which dismayed her. Even more disturbing was the revelation that Solo had two loves on Hapes—the second being a child that he had illegitimately conceived with the Queen Mother.

It was that child whom Solo was afraid of having to sacrifice, and Lumiya mistakenly thought that he had come to Hapes for that purpose. Actually, he had only come to spend time with his secret family. However, when Solo left Hapes, his StealthX was attacked by another ship piloted by Mara Jade Skywalker, who had recently confronted him about his descent into darkness. Lumiya intervened and, by commanding Ship, caused a hull breach in Skywalker's StealthX. The battle carried the combatants to orbit over the nearby planet Kavan, where Jade Skywalker's starfighter was forced planetside as it vented atmosphere. Lumiya assured Solo that she would make sure his business on Hapes stayed secret and was answered with eight proton torpedoes locked and closing in on the Meditation Sphere. However, Ship wouldn't allow the Dark Lord-to-be's treachery. As Solo chased after Mara Jade Skywalker, the vessel prepared to retaliate despite Lumiya's orders, but Ben Skywalker, who had secretly joined in his mother's pursuit, stopped it. Lumiya was helpless because a Sith ship was responding to a Jedi boy's orders and was forced to the surface of Kavan and held captive inside the Meditation Sphere, unable to join the hunt for Skywalker's mother.

Lumiya soon felt Mara Jade Skywalker's death, along with a subtle but telling shift in the Force: Solo's sacrifice had been made at Mara Jade Skywalker's expense. Ben Skywalker's hold over Ship was immediately broken, and Lumiya, with a new calmness about her, commanded the Sphere to find the new Dark Lord of the Sith. They met on Ziost, where Lumiya gave Solo instructions on how to proceed. She offered to serve as one last distraction from his total consolidation of power by pretending to be Mara Jade Skywalker's killer, fully accepting that she would die at the hands of Luke Skywalker. Then, she returned to Hapan space. With her Force-presence no longer hidden, Skywalker soon found Lumiya and forced her to land on the nearby planet Terephon. She took off her veil as she emerged from Ship, and with little left to say to each other because they were both exhausted, the Dark Lady of the Sith and Jedi Grand Master dueled for the final time. Lumiya was quickly forced onto the defensive as Skywalker drove her to the edge of the cliff where they were fighting. When she lost her footing and fell, dropping her lightwhip into the chasm, Skywalker saved her, only to ensure her death by decapitating her as she recovered.

The prophecies of Lumiya and Vergere found their fulfillment in Jacen Solo's transformation into the Sith Lord Darth Caedus. Despite her claims that Solo's transformation would bring peace and justice, his rise to power was followed by nothing less than total war as he grew increasingly determined to subjugate the galaxy. Caedus took Lumiya's advice to heart regarding the importance of an apprentice, and he successfully tempted Jedi Knight Tahiri Veila to betray the Jedi Order and embrace the dark side. Lumiya had promised Caedus the ability to coordinate battles upon his ascension, and this promise was realized as the Dark Lord used his newfound skills to confound his enemies on the battlefield. Instead of Caedus, Alema Rar inherited the Sith Meditation Sphere that Lumiya had intended for him, along with the asteroid habitat that had once served as the Dark Lady's base of operations. When Darth Caedus' mistakes threatened to undermine Lumiya's carefully crafted plans, Rar felt compelled to intervene, utilizing the Dark Lady's Force phantom technique to great effect. Despite Caedus' remarkable abilities and the assistance he received from the deranged Twi'lek, Lumiya's creation was ultimately defeated before he could achieve his goals. Following his death, the galaxy experienced a period of relative peace and stability, fulfilling the objective that Lumiya claimed to have worked towards for so long. With Caedus gone, Veila refused to take his place, and the last vestiges of a centuries-old Sith tradition were extinguished, only to be replaced by the One Sith nearly a century later, just as Lumiya had foreseen.

Upon learning that Lumiya was not responsible for his wife's death, Luke Skywalker was plunged into deep despair as he struggled to come to terms with his act of vengeance against the Sith Lady. Skywalker's peace of mind was further disrupted by the subsequent investigation into his wife's death, and Lumiya's final act of treachery threatened to corrupt him with the dark side if he were to confront Mara Jade Skywalker's true killer, Jacen Solo. The combined tragedies of Mara Jade Skywalker's death, the Dark Lady's deception, and the creation of Darth Caedus left Luke Skywalker and Leia Organa Solo with profound sorrow in the years that followed, thus fulfilling Lumiya's decades-old vow of revenge against the Jedi Grand Master and his sister. A clone of the Dark Lady, created by scientists under the command of the late Grand Admiral Thrawn, was among a group that escaped from an Imperial research facility in 41 ABY and was hunted down and killed by Jedi Knight Jaden Korr.

Shira Brie's physical attractiveness often captivated men; her fair skin, prominent cheekbones, full lips, slender nose, and exceptionally expressive almond-shaped green eyes were considered appealing by members of various species. Her shoulder-length red hair fit neatly under the pilot's helmet that complemented the standard Rebel Alliance flight suit she often wore. Her attractive appearance, combined with a lively personality, made Lieutenant Brie quite popular among her Rebel comrades, especially Luke Skywalker, whom she often teased with innocent coquetry.

After the battle of the secret armada, Shira Brie underwent extensive physical reconstruction due to severe injuries that left more than half of her body damaged. In the following months, Lumiya harbored a deep-seated hatred for Skywalker, whom she blamed for her misfortune. She was forced to rely on prosthetic replacements to restore a semblance of her former self; cybernetic limbs, torso, lower jaw, and a life-support girdle were essential for her survival. Her initial enhancements included a full body armor suit, complete with a vocabulator and a distinctive triangular helmet, resembling that of her deceased Master, Darth Vader. Due to irreparable damage, her original armor required replacements that abandoned the previous droid-like appearance in favor of bionics that accentuated the Dark Lady's slender physique and emphasized her Human nature, while also increasing her height, pain tolerance, and metabolic and healing capabilities. To demonstrate the extent of her prosthetics, Lumiya once plunged a vibroblade into her cybernetic thigh without flinching.

By the time of the Second Galactic Civil War, Lumiya appeared as a physically fit, middle-aged woman with hair beginning to turn gray. Lumiya often wore a concealing scarf tightly wrapped around her lower face, although she occasionally revealed her disfigured features when she chose to. While she sometimes concealed them with Force illusions or makeup, she had gradually learned to accept her disfigurements over the years. Lumiya eventually concluded that her appearance would hinder her long-term goals. Despite decades immersed in the power of the dark side, Lumiya never developed the yellow-orange eyes characteristic of the Sith. She occasionally wore flowing robes in various colors, but her signature look was a black cloak that seemed woven from pure shadow and a triangular headdress.

Throughout her life, Lumiya maintained numerous detailed and convincing false identities due to the secrecy required for her schemes. These included Shira Brie, the Shalyvane refugee; the Kuati mercantile princess; a dark-skinned smuggler named Silfinia Ell; and the curly-haired Brisha Syo of Commenor, all beautiful and well-dressed. She also favored disguising herself as an exceptionally beautiful, blonde Hapan noblewoman. Regardless of others' perspectives, her true identity remained Lumiya, the self-proclaimed Dark Lady of the Sith. Luke Skywalker referred to her at different times as a Dark Jedi, a Sith apprentice, Sith Lady, and even as the Dark Lady. Skywalker's wife, Mara Jade Skywalker, knew Lumiya as a fellow yet rival Emperor's Hand, and later as some form of Sith affiliate, even mocking her as their "queen." The Sith Meditation Sphere Ship considered Lumiya to be the least knowledgeable of students, as her understanding was significantly lacking by its standards. Alema Rar repeatedly questioned Lumiya about her and her order, only to be met with rebuke each time.

Shira Brie, a street-smart girl trained to be constantly vigilant, was a young woman utterly devoted to the Galactic Empire. Despite her exceptional intelligence, dedication, and academic achievements, Brie possessed a great sense of humor and a fondness for practical jokes. She was a strong motivator and reliable friend, highly regarded by those who knew her personally, while those who did not considered her a snob. Nevertheless, Brie's closest friend sensed a hidden darkness within her, though she never addressed it. Brie remained cheerful and witty, yet determined, throughout her infiltration of the Rebel Alliance, traits that, along with her feminine charm, earned her the respect, admiration, and friendship of many. However, women who socialized with Brie were less impressed by her exuberance. Brie was conditioned for a life of solitude, a trait she maintained throughout her existence as Lumiya. In her later years, she could not recall any of the activities she enjoyed before joining Imperial service.

Upon becoming Lumiya, the Dark Lady of the Sith abandoned her former identity and refused to be addressed by her previous name. She relinquished all pleasantries in favor of more selfish pursuits, even though Luke Skywalker, whom Lumiya blamed entirely for her disfigurements, genuinely believed she could still be redeemed from her dark path. Cold and ruthless, she tolerated no dissent or disobedience, and punished both with torture, sometimes death. However, her initial approach of direct confrontation often resulted in defeat. She readily exploited the weak-minded and blindly determined through subtle manipulations, both Force-assisted and otherwise. Deception was her standard practice, and she frequently capitalized on her enemies' misconceptions. Secretive, intentionally vague, and evasive, she rarely shared the details of her plans with anyone, and she readily switched allegiances when it suited her purposes. While she staunchly adhered to the tenets of the Rule of Two, Lumiya preferred to work alone, often taking a hands-on approach to ensure the successful execution of her goals. Although she briefly considered the idea of an entire order of Sith in opposition to the Jedi, she ultimately rejected that notion in favor of the doctrine of her predecessors—patience, cunning, and secrecy—a point she emphasized with her last apprentice. Like Darth Sidious before her, however, she was willing to lie or manipulate power-hungry individuals in her schemes, such as when she incited Chief-of-State Thrackan Sal-Solo to attack the peace conference at Toryaz Station.

Lumiya was a skilled strategist who believed that a properly assessed risk was worth the potential reward. She learned to develop intricate, multifaceted plans, courtesy of Emperor Palpatine, complete with hidden layers of treachery interwoven into each level, and only revealed herself upon the execution of such schemes. While she despised politics, Lumiya engaged in their insidious manipulation whenever she deemed it necessary. She preferred residences far from galactic centers and steeped in dark-side power, from where she secretly orchestrated events to suit her purposes. Her plans were designed to guarantee victory, even if she suffered losses along the way. She eventually came to believe that the galaxy was rapidly descending into chaos and that Jedi leadership, with its expectations far exceeding the capabilities of its constituents, was as ineffective as ever. According to Lumiya, a Sith, on the other hand, had the presence of mind to recognize when intervention was required and to act accordingly. She became more pragmatic in her later years and abandoned her previous obsessions with revenge — or postponed them — for the greater Sith purpose, one she could not personally achieve due to the Force-restrictive nature of her cybernetic implants. Only after this realization did she understand that restoring peace and stability through the rule of a Sith Lord could only be orchestrated by her. Lumiya claimed to welcome the rest from the weariness that ultimately overcame her, born of a life spent relentlessly pursuing Sith destiny.

From their initial encounter, there was a connection between Shira Brie and Luke Skywalker, and what began as a flirtatious friendship quickly evolved over the course of several dangerous missions together, blossoming into a full-fledged romance. Despite their mutual declarations of affection, the relationship remained purely emotional, never physically consummated, except for a passionate kiss shared before Skywalker departed on a mission. Deep affection transformed into seething hatred as Brie, now Lumiya, blamed Skywalker for her disfigurements. Driven by vengeance, Lumiya repeatedly harassed him and his family, seeking to inflict the same suffering she had endured, despite the Jedi's attempts to persuade her to reject the dark side. Lumiya's terrorizing of Skywalker was so significant that he made it a point to educate his future Jedi students about her. Lumiya and her former lover reunited in 40 ABY as she secretly plunged the galaxy into a war from which only Jacen Solo could emerge and rule. Even though she claimed her hatred of Skywalker had subsided years earlier, the Jedi Grand Master was hesitant to believe her and even more reluctant to agree to a temporary truce with Lumiya through a handshake. Nevertheless, her actions suggested otherwise, as she attempted to lure both Skywalker's son and nephew to the dark side, the latter of whom killed Skywalker's wife while on that path.

From the moment she was hand-picked by the Dark Lord of the Sith, Shira Brie was completely devoted to Darth Vader. The injuries she sustained during the secret armada battle and the measures taken to save her life fostered a sense of kinship between them, to the point where some thought she even bore a slight resemblance to him. Although her service was extended to Palpatine, into whose court she entered as an Emperor's Hand, Shira Brie's apprenticeship, now Lumiya, was secretly maintained with Darth Vader. Lumiya was devastated by the loss of her Masters at the Battle of Endor and was thereafter cautious when she encountered individuals claiming allegiance to the Sith. She harbored intense hatred for those responsible for the death of her mentor and kindred spirit, whom she would later remember with pity. In her later years, Lumiya believed that the ascendancy of the dark side could only be achieved through the lineage of Anakin Skywalker, and she chose his grandson, Jacen Solo, as the means to accomplish this.

A friendship quickly developed between Brie and fellow Imperial Cadet Myrette Davani, lasting throughout their academic lives. From local pubs to combat flight simulator sessions, Brie and Davani shared many interests and were often together. The two women supported each other, and Brie was credited as an inspiration to Davani for many of her personal successes at the Academy. However, as Brie's private instruction under Darth Vader became more frequent, she became withdrawn and less inclined to confide in Davani, who nevertheless resolved to observe her more closely. Several incidents, including the deaths of Bantha Squad and the disabling of a Caridan cantina patron, caused Davani to question how well she truly knew Brie. By the time of their graduation, Brie's drastically altered behavior made Davani wonder if she had ever known her at all.

During her time with the Rebel Alliance, Shira Brie was friendly with Leia Organa and displayed no animosity, feelings that were far from mutual. However, Organa's displeasure eventually gave way to gratitude and respect for Brie's actions in battle on Shalyvane, expressed through the presentation of the prestigious Burdine Cluster and the conferral of the rank of captain upon Brie. Years later, Leia Organa earned Lumiya's enmity upon their meeting on Herdessa, when the Sith Lady's slavery operation was exposed and dismantled by the Alderaanian Princess. Although Lumiya vowed revenge against Organa, she ultimately abandoned that promise and became indifferent to her survival. However, when the Dark Lady was certain that Organa Solo's son would become a Sith Lord—the very thing Leia abhorred—she admitted to feeling a sense of satisfaction at causing the Princess anguish.

An immediate and intense dislike characterized the initial encounter between Lumiya and Mara Jade, the latter of whom was infuriated to learn of the Dark Lady as another "Hand" of Emperor Palpatine. Their subsequent meeting on Caprioril only intensified their mutual hatred, a rivalry compounded by Jade's later marriage to Luke Skywalker. By 40 ABY, however, Lumiya claimed to have moved beyond the animosity she had previously harbored for Jade Skywalker and her family, despite actions that contradicted her claim. The relationship once shared by Luke Skywalker and Lumiya was a source of contention for his wife Mara, who had been an enemy of the Dark Lady both before and after their marriage. Lumiya slightly resented Mara Jade Skywalker in retrospect, feeling that she had received more favorable opportunities in life, despite their similar backgrounds.

When it became clear to Lumiya that Jacen Solo was the only viable candidate for Sith Lordship, helping him fulfill what she believed was his destiny became her primary goal. Years of observation, deliberation, and collaboration went into her final decision, and Lumiya carefully orchestrated events to compel him to ally with her. She recognized that once he fully understood her manipulations, he would hate her, but she took solace in the fact that he would also understand and therefore love her. Lumiya adopted the title of Master and asserted her authority, a position challenged by Solo on several occasions but nonetheless reinforced by the Dark Lady. She repeatedly emphasized Solo's importance as the instrument of galactic stability and was willing to sacrifice herself on several occasions to demonstrate her sincerity to him. Even though she came to understand Solo's way of thinking, the lingering humanity she attributed to his flesh still caught her off guard at times. Still, when she realized that Solo had a child, and that it had been the child's death he had contemplated while on his path to Mastery, the Dark Lady was moved to tears. She thought Solo's choice of soap, a plain antiseptic, was both touching and funny, and she planned to teach him to indulge himself more when he became a Sith Lord. She was intrigued by how austere his quarters became each time she visited and resolved that if Solo had discarded his personal effects as a symbol of the end of his old life and the beginning of his new one, it was just as well.

Lumiya often wondered whom Jacen Solo had to sacrifice and recognized the possibility that, in the way of the Sith, she might be that individual. She also became increasingly concerned with his choice of apprentice and firmly believed that Ben Skywalker was the most suitable candidate, given his hereditary Force potential and his preoccupation with impressing Solo, which she felt made Skywalker a slave to his emotions. Lumiya praised Solo's ability to control the boy but cautioned him not to be hindered by his affection for his young cousin. When Solo suggested he might abandon the prospect of Skywalker as his apprentice for someone he believed would serve him better, such as Jedi Knight Tahiri Veila, Lumiya responded with strong disapproval. She eventually abandoned that perspective after the conclusion of Skywalker's quest for the Amulet of Kalara. She doubted Solo's commitment to the Sith from time to time and reminded him that their cause was far greater than the lives of his friends and family. Despite his complete mastery of the Force and potential for Sith greatness, Jacen Solo's preference to engage ordinary beings on their terms rather than dominating them through the Force frustrated Lumiya immensely.

From their first encounter, Lumiya was appalled by Alema Rar's fragile mental state—a sentiment shared by Ship—and resolved to handle her with care, lest she provoke the wrath of a madwoman. She was particularly disturbed by the fragmented hive-mind quality she discovered upon probing Rar's mind, likening the Twi'lek's Force presence to shards of broken glass in her mouth. Lumiya was initially wary of the Twi'lek's motives and revealed only minimal details about her own plans, even considering killing Rar to eliminate the potential liability she posed. Frequently frustrated with Rar's short attention span, incessant questioning about the Sith's agenda, and her obsessive desire for "Balance," Lumiya nonetheless recognized Rar's usefulness as an accomplice and readily exploited her unique espionage and assassination skills, even though the latter believed that Lumiya misunderstood the extent of their partnership. The relationship strained the Dark Lady's patience; Lumiya refused to provide Rar safe haven, and when it seemed impossible to reason with the Dark Jedi, Lumiya acted as insane as Rar, a tactic that immediately sobered her with fear. Lumiya often insulted Rar, despite her apparent mental instability, but when her insults became too harsh for Rar's liking, Lumiya complied with her demand for an apology. Although the nature of their unique deformities differed considerably, Lumiya still felt a degree of kinship, even pity, for Alema Rar, and she urged the Twi'lek to fuel her rage with the memories of her numerous losses.

In a galaxy where the Sith had been nearly extinct for over four thousand years, Ship was overjoyed to discover Lumiya, whom it recognized as a descendant of its creators and sought guidance from. Lumiya's initial impression of Ship unsettled her, but when she understood what it was, she was touched by its apparent concern for her. Upon appropriating the vessel, she immediately felt a sense of camaraderie with Ship and expressed unguarded emotions—a rare occurrence for Lumiya—when it seemed to show her affection. Lumiya and Ship conversed frequently during their journeys, and the Dark Lady grew annoyed with its persistent inquiries about other Sith, or "dark ones," as it called them. Lumiya usually agreed with its character assessments of various individuals and was pleased to learn that Ship had detected faint residual traces of darkness within both Mara Jade Skywalker, a former Emperor's Hand, and her son Ben, whom Lumiya had dismissed as unworthy of Sith apprenticeship. However, when Ship later realized that Lumiya lacked sufficient Sith knowledge to be considered a Master by its standards, and therefore could not fully command it, Lumiya lost control of the Meditation Sphere to a mere Jedi Padawan.

A woman with a natural aptitude for astrogation, Shira Brie dedicated countless hours to combat simulations to refine her piloting abilities. Her perseverance paid off, and Brie graduated as the top student of the Coruscanti Pilots Institute. Subsequently, she maintained a consistently high success rate throughout her time at the Carida Academy. As the school's premier pilot, Brie was chosen to fly an Imperial personnel shuttle to Carida, an honor she ultimately declined, allowing her friend Myrette Davani to benefit from the recognition. Brie was proficient in flying all types of space vehicles and expertly operated their countermeasures and defensive systems. Her reputation as a skilled starfighter pilot extended to her service with the Rebel Alliance, where she flew T-65 X-wing starfighters and TIE/LN starfighters in several crucial engagements. When she later allied with the Nagai as Lumiya, she confounded opposing pilots in her prototype Screamer starfighter. Toward the end of her life, she piloted and controlled an antiquated Sith Meditation Sphere, a Force-sensitive vehicle that received instructions through the dark side.

As a student at the Imperial Military Academy on Carida, Brie took part in the extremely demanding stormtrooper training program, where her sharp intellect and exceptional survival abilities allowed her to thrive. She gained expertise in not only ranged weaponry but also in all types of unarmed combat, including Echani and Noghri Stava. Though she possessed knowledge of lightsabers, Lumiya chose not to use one; instead, she favored a uniquely designed lightwhip, which she wielded with deadly precision and which frequently proved to be more than a match for potential adversaries. In fact, she fought on equal footing, and sometimes even held an advantage, against Jedi Grand Master Luke Skywalker, widely regarded as the most skilled swordsman alive in the galaxy. Individuals unfamiliar with her whip were immediately bewildered, while some developed a deliberate plan in anticipation of an encounter with Lumiya. Others acknowledged their own inadequacy and dismissed the idea altogether.

Shira Brie possessed a natural aptitude for the Force, but her initial training in the dark side involved basic Force techniques, as her primary role was in Imperial intelligence. After the battle in which she sustained severe injuries, she entered a hibernation trance, which enabled her to survive until she was rescued. After her transformation into Lumiya, Brie's already advanced training reached new heights through Sith knowledge imparted to her by Darth Vader. However, while Lumiya had access to and explored limitless avenues of power, her required prosthetic enhancements (or, more accurately, her perception that she was diminished by those injuries) significantly hampered her ability to fully realize many of them. Consequently, despite her comprehensive understanding of battle meditation and the highly effective Sith battle coordination, she was unable to directly influence combat in that manner, a limitation she mistakenly attributed to her prostheses.

Nevertheless, Lumiya demonstrated considerable skill with mind tricks and telekinetic Force abilities, although she considered her own proficiency with the latter to be somewhat limited. She had access to a vast collection of Sith knowledge through ancient texts, holocrons, and other artifacts, including the Sith oracle stone and King Adas' holocron, the oldest device of its kind. Among her other skills were farsight, various applications of Force deflection, mental and emotional manipulation, focused resolve augmentation, and the capacity to project waves of pure hatred. Lumiya's most notable talent, however, was her ability to create illusions of all kinds: visual enhancements of one's appearance when viewed in reflective surfaces; concealment of her own appearance, and vice versa; dazzling distortions of reality; doppelgangers whose sustained damage was instead inflicted upon the attacker; phantasms originating purely from the dark side. Force phantoms placed a significant strain on Lumiya's resources, necessitating the dark side energy found beneath The Home to power the technique, as well as substantial rest afterward. Declining health amplified the strain and threatened to overwhelm the Dark Lady with spasms of pain and exhaustion. Despite this, she perfected the ability and was able to create and control hundreds of them simultaneously, in various shapes and sizes, and directed at multiple targets—across the galaxy.

Shira Brie received training as a highly skilled espionage agent at the Intelligence Academy of Carida. Darth Vader personally selected her to serve as his personal infiltrator within the Rebel Alliance, a role she executed flawlessly. She revealed no indication of her true allegiance, and even members of the highest levels of the Alliance leadership had no suspicion of Major Brie's deception, even as she regularly associated with them. Brie even took several members of the Alliance to Shalyvane, a planet where she was required to report her progress through covert means, completely unbeknownst to them. Her spy training equipped her with the ability to adapt to any environment and any situation, and allowed her to remain hidden anywhere, indefinitely.

Through the use of employed agents, assumed identities, and Force illusions, Lumiya was able to infiltrate various buildings, residences, and organizations without the knowledge of their members. She was an adept swimmer, a proficient slicer, and fluent in several languages, including Galactic Basic Standard, Huttese, Mon Calamarian, and Bothan.

The accident that left Lumiya severely scarred necessitated the installation of extensive prosthetics and additional modifications that enhanced her strength, endurance, and pain tolerance. Her initial prosthetics included a somewhat cumbersome full suit of light body armor, equipped with a vocabulator and blasters integrated into the hands. The improved durasteel armor she obtained shortly before the Nagai–Tof conflict no longer included integrated blasters, but was resistant to vibroweapons and caused particularly severe injuries when an organic being made contact with a physical attack. Her replacement cybernetics consisted of extensive circuitry and life support systems, complete with a utility belt, stylized helmet, and life support girdle reminiscent of the late Darth Vader. A subtle metallic sheen covered the surfaces of her armor and often reflected the ambient light. Both the original and replacement sets of armor were highly vulnerable to close-range blaster fire. The Dark Lady stored replacement cybernetics, along with the lubricants and protein drinks she required, in a locked room within her asteroid habitat.

As a student at the Caridan Military Academy, Shira Brie learned to operate a variety of weapons. She possessed extensive knowledge and experience with ranged energy blasters, throwing weapons, and projectile armaments. Brie was also fully proficient in operating a prototype MT-ST.

Following the Imperial defeat at Endor, Lumiya assumed direct control of a small fleet of warships as she began to consolidate her resources, but eventually abandoned her considerable firepower and adopted more subtle methods of malice when brute force was no longer effective. Poisons, explosive-rigged datapads, meter-long durasteel darts, vibroweapons, and lethal traps were all part of her arsenal. She was capable of manually disabling a baradium warhead, even going so far as to extract the proton detonator charge and reinstall it as a combat fail-safe. However, her signature weapon was her lightwhip: an uncommon device rarely seen among contemporary melee weapon users, constructed of Mandalorian iron and powered by shards of Kaiburr crystal. It differed from the lightwhips wielded by the Sith of old, in that it was a multi-stranded device composed of equal parts studded leather, strands of metal, and coherent lightsaber energy. Lumiya's lightwhip had a five-meter attack radius, but she could also shorten the lengths of its tendrils in combat when more precise control over a smaller area was required. She could incorporate the deactivated device into one of her prosthetic limbs, and at other times, wrapped it around her waist concealed under a sash.

After establishing her residence in her final home, the estate previously occupied by the ancient Sith Lord Darth Vectivus, Lumiya implemented numerous countermeasures to deter unwanted intruders: concealed baradium explosives and flechette discharges; a reverse airlock followed by a poison decontamination shower; even a Force illusion of Lumiya that redirected any sustained attack damage back to the assailant; all designed to protect Vectivus' former residence from enemies of the Dark Lady of the Sith. Lumiya avoided decorations in the living quarters, except for the addition of Force-influenced mirrors that consistently made the reflection of the viewer more attractive than they actually were. Lumiya preferred to retreat to the summit of her habitat—where the dark side power of the asteroid, although hundreds of meters below, was strongest—to project her Force phantoms.

David Michelinie and Walt Simonson collaborated to create Shira Elan Colla Brie for the fifty-sixth issue of the Marvel Star Wars comic series, Coffin in the Clouds, where her surname is initially spelled "Brei." Following Brie's February 1982 debut, Michelinie and Simonson significantly expanded her character over the next ten issues. One particular issue, Star Wars (1977) 63, explored the interaction between Brie and Darth Vader in considerable detail. In Glenn Greenberg's "How to Do Star Wars the Marvel Way" — Back Issue! 9, an article written for Back Issue Magazine 9, Michelinie and Simonson expressed a desire to extend the storyline in which Brie is supposedly killed by Skywalker, which they both considered their personal favorite. Her first appearance as Lumiya occurred two years after her appearance as Brie, in writer Mary Jo Duffy's Star Wars (1977) 88, illustrated by Bob McLeod and Cynthia Martin. Martin and McLeod also illustrated Lumiya in her subsequent two appearances, Star Wars (1977) 95 and Star Wars (1977) 96. The duel between Lumiya and Luke Skywalker, which began in the final pages of No Zeltrons and concluded at the start of Duel With a Dark Lady, was recognized as one of the 20 Most Memorable Moments of the Expanded Universe, an article featured in the eighty-third issue of Star Wars Insider. Duffy and Martin continued to collaborate for the remainder of Lumiya's Marvel Star Wars appearances: Star Wars (1977) 97, Star Wars (1977) 100, and Star Wars (1977) 107. The StarWars.com Databank for Darth Vader described Lumiya as a "proxy villain," one of several through whom Vader plotted throughout the Marvel Star Wars series.

Nearly ten years passed before Lumiya reappeared in the Star Wars universe, in Star Wars Gamer managing editor Michael Mikaelian's short story Lumiya: Dark Star of the Empire, written for Star Wars Galaxy #3. In 2001, veteran Star Wars writer Abel G. Peña authored The Emperor's Pawns, an article included in Star Wars Gamer 5, which expanded on many of the elements that had only been touched upon in previous appearances and sourcebook references. Peña admitted to developing an immediate interest in Lumiya as a teenager, leading to an extensive, costly, and ultimately successful search for each of her comic appearances. When the opportunity arose to contribute to Lumiya's history, his focus was on exploring the depth of the connection between her and Darth Vader, foundations of which were initially established by Michelinie and Simonson, and later expanded upon by Martin and McLeod. He also expressed concerns that identifying her as an Emperor's Hand would be a "tough sell," but was able to incorporate it based on the retcon provided in The Essential Chronology, which first established her as such. At the time he wrote The Emperor's Pawns, Peña was able to share his enthusiasm for Lumiya with Michael Mikaelian, then still the managing editor of Star Wars Gamer, who was also a fan and had previously written about the character.

Beginning in May 2006, Lumiya played a crucial role in the nine-part Star Wars: Legacy of the Force novel series, serving as the primary antagonist for the first five installments. When co-authors Aaron Allston, Troy Denning, and Karen Traviss, each responsible for a third of the series, began their collaboration, the concept of a being known only as "the wizard" was intended to represent Jacen Solo's Sith Master. Lumiya had not been considered; in fact, suggestions were made for beings of other species, including Anzati. Lucas Licensing executive director Sue Rostoni, however, suggested that the trio use Lumiya as their wizard character, an idea they accepted. For the first of the nine novels, titled Legacy of the Force: Betrayal, Allston experimented with how to plausibly connect a character from thirty or forty in-universe years prior to a character of the current era, specifically Jacen Solo. He credited the rich history of the Sith and the dark side in Star Wars with providing him with sufficient material to create an exceptionally complex character in Lumiya for Betrayal. Traviss noted the enjoyment she derived from writing characters with whom she was not previously familiar, including Lumiya. She was particularly fascinated by her depiction of Lumiya and Alema Rar's interaction in Sacrifice, paying close attention to their differing perspectives on their respective mutilations, and their contrasting approaches to their issues with the Solo/Skywalker family.

When contracted to provide illustrations for the forthcoming reference book Jedi vs. Sith: The Essential Guide to the Force, artist Tommy Lee Edwards initially sketched the duel between Lumiya and Luke Skywalker on Terephon, featured in Sacrifice, with the Dark Lady being decapitated by the Jedi Grand Master. However, Lucasfilm deemed the image too graphic, and Edwards instead chose to use one that depicted both combatants alive. Abel G. Peña later expressed his satisfaction with Exile's mention of the confrontation between Lumiya and Jade Skywalker on Caprioril and hoped that Sacrifice, Lumiya's final appearance as a living character, would reignite interest in what he had originally alluded to in The Emperor's Pawns. Since its release, he has attempted to secure licensing for the story, but without success. In the article Who's Who in Soulcalibur IV on StarWars.com, a grudge match was suggested between Lumiya and the character Ivy from Soul Calibur. In addition to appearances in a wide range of reference and source materials, several focus specifically on Lumiya, including the one hundred eleventh issue of The Official Star Wars Fact File, as well as exclusive entries in both the StarWars.com Databank and 2008's Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia.

Lumiya and her lightwhip were included in Hasbro's Legacy of the Force set of Star Wars Miniatures. In 2009, Hasbro released both a Lumiya action figure in a comic pack with Luke Skywalker and Marvel's Star Wars (1977) 96, and a Shira Brie figure as part of the Evolutions: Rebel Pilot Legacy III set.

As Lumiya's popularity increased, numerous discrepancies and contradictions emerged within the various sources that expanded upon her history. The Official Star Wars Fact File 111 incorrectly states that Lumiya was shot down by Luke Skywalker during their mission to Cloud City, when in reality she was shot down during the battle of the secret armada, which was depicted in Star Wars 61: Screams in the Void. While Lumiya's Databank entry asserts that she was recovered from her destroyed TIE fighter by Darth Vader's agents, The Emperor's Pawns claims that Vader himself discovered Brie in the damaged starfighter. Despite sources identifying her eyes as green, Mara Jade describes them as "cold gray" in Jedi vs. Sith: The Essential Guide to the Force. Lumiya: Dark Star of the Empire lists her height as 6 ft., or 1.83 meters, as late as the battle of Endor, but The Official Star Wars Fact File 111 and The New Essential Chronology list it as 5 ft. 2 in., or 1.6 meters. Furthermore, the novel Legacy of the Force: Tempest, written by Troy Denning, states that Alema Rar is significantly taller than Lumiya, but the New Essential Chronology lists them both as the same height at 1.6 meters, and Lumiya is the taller of the two based on the 1.83 meters given in Lumiya: Dark Star of the Empire. Dark Star of the Empire also erroneously identifies Lumiya as having previously been a Jedi Knight who fell to the dark side of the Force. The final duel between Luke Skywalker and Lumiya in Sacrifice describes her as having removed her cowl to fight bare-faced, while the depiction of the same confrontation in Jedi vs. Sith: The Essential Guide to the Force shows the Dark Lady still wearing her trademark headdress.