The Shadow Academy functioned as a battle station and a clandestine training facility utilized by the Second Imperium. Brakiss, a fallen Jedi, established this center to instruct Dark Jedi in 23 ABY.
Constructed in the shape of a torus, the Shadow Academy battle station featured expansive observation and docking towers on one of its sides. To defend itself or act as a combat platform, the Academy's perimeter boasted gun emplacements pointing in all directions. However, these guns were rarely used as a last resort, because the Shadow Academy possessed a cloaking device that kept it concealed. Furthermore, the torus was equipped with engines that allowed it to maneuver and enter hyperspace, enabling it to serve as a transport or escape if detected.
The Shadow Academy was equipped to train a new generation of Dark Jedi. Emperor Palpatine, the Great Leader of the Second Imperium, believed these Dark Jedi were necessary to defeat the Republic and maintain the new Empire that would emerge from its ruins.
Thousands of remotely detonatable explosives were installed within the Shadow Academy. This was because if Brakiss failed to train an order of Dark Jedi, or if he became rebellious, the Great Leader needed a method to punish him and eliminate any threat posed by his Dark Jedi.
The Shadow Academy's hallways were predominantly monochromatic and sterile. The walls were only broken up by occasional computer terminal or doors with stenciled labels. The only sounds that could be heard were status reports and chronometers that chimed every fifteen minutes.
The student quarters at the Shadow Academy consisted of stark, cubical rooms with bare walls. Students were confined to these rooms during designated sleep periods and instructed to rest or meditate. Tamith Kai may have decided to keep the student quarters devoid of normal comforts, as she believed that hardship and deprivation were essential for honing one's skills.
Brakiss's office was furnished with a form-chair and a long desk that held a recording pad. Brakiss used the recording pad to store and review daily records, as well as to create daily reports for the Great Leader. The office's walls, constructed of thick, black transparisteel, displayed glowing holographic images of cosmic violence, including:
- Lavafalls from Nkllon.
- Exploding suns of the Denarii Nova.
- The heart of the Cauldron Nebula.
- The Graveyard of Alderaan.
Brakiss meditated using Force techniques to absorb the events depicted in the holograms, attempting to strengthen his inner resolve. He viewed them as beautiful, representing unlimited power, whether natural or man-made.
The Shadow Academy had a number of training chambers where students could improve their combat abilities. One chamber featured a computer sensor grid that projected holo-remotes and holoshrouds onto the users.
Another chamber tested students' powers by launching projectiles from various openings. Blindfolded students defended themselves with wooden sticks, while another student controlled remotes powerful enough to destroy the projectiles from the safety of an observation room. This drill had three difficulty levels: hard balls, rocks, and knives. At least six students died during this drill.
The Shadow Academy possessed at least one torture chamber. It appeared as an empty, unremarkable room to new recruits, but the emptiness concealed immense danger. A transparisteel panel separated the chamber from an observation room, which contained controls for manipulating nearly all variables within the chamber.
Those inside the chamber were subjected to flashing lights and extreme temperatures. Spray nozzles in the walls could discharge near-freezing water at high pressure. A hatch in the ceiling could release a hardened sonic generator, introducing high-pitched, piercing sounds into the chamber.
The instructor, usually Tamith Kai, would tell the recruit that the only way to stop the unpleasantness was to destroy the sonic generator. Because the sonic generator was heavy and reinforced, destroying it required tapping into the dark side of the Force for strength.
The Shadow Academy's docking bays accommodated the arrival, storage, and departure of various spacecraft. Flashing yellow lights guided craft in and out of the space station in a typical docking bay.
The walls of the docking bays were covered in reflective durasteel. An observation chamber, located opposite the docking bay opening, allowed for the control of the docking bay doors. The Shadow Academy's main docking bay housed standard Imperial vehicles, including TIE/LN starfighters, TIE/sa bombers, GAT-12 Skipray Blastboats, Imperial Assault Shuttles and Battle Platforms.
After his near-fatal battle with Luke Skywalker on Telti and the defeat of Kueller, Brakiss joined the "Second Imperium," led by the enigmatic Great Leader. Because the Imperium needed its own Dark Jedi to counter Skywalker's Jedi Praxeum on Yavin 4, Brakiss was recruited for this purpose.
He used Imperium funds to build the Shadow Academy, a cloaked space station, as a mobile training center for his Dark Jedi. Brakiss hoped these Dark Jedi would maintain order within the collapsing remnants of the Empire. With Tamith Kai and a group of exiled Nightsisters, Brakiss began recruiting youths. Those who were Force-sensitive became Dark Jedi Knights, while others became Stormtroopers and TIE pilots. The Dark Jedi received mass-produced lightsabers from the Academy.
In 23 ABY, Qorl joined the Shadow Academy after escaping from Yavin 4, where he had lived in the jungle moon for nearly two decades. Qorl became the leader of the Second Imperium's growing starfighter corps. He also revealed that Luke Skywalker's Jedi Praxeum was training young Jedi Knights who could be manipulated to serve the Second Imperium.
A plan was devised to kidnap trainees from the Jedi Academy. During a raid on GemDiver Station orbiting Yavin, the Shadow Academy used a small fleet, including a modified assault shuttle and four GAT-12 Skipray Blastboats, to kidnap the Solo twins, their Wookiee classmate Lowbacca, and Em Teedee. The plan failed because the captives were too strong to be indoctrinated. They escaped with the help of Skywalker and another trainee, Tenel Ka Djo, and further abduction plans were abandoned.
Afterward, Brakiss moved the Shadow Academy near Coruscant to attack supply ships carrying weapons and hyperdrives and to gather more recruits. Agents were sent to the lower levels of the metropolis to recruit the galactic underclass with promises of a better life. Among them were Zekk, an orphaned street urchin, and the Lost Ones street gang.
The Academy's presence was soon discovered. The Solo twins, Lowbacca, and Chewbacca used the orbiting solar mirrors to disable the Academy's cloaking devices, revealing it to Republic forces. The Shadow Academy jumped into hyperspace and escaped capture.
Zekk, who was discovered to be Force-sensitive, became the Academy's Darkest Knight after killing Vilas. He led a task force that raided Thikkiiana City on Kashyyyk, an important computer center. However, he could not kill Jaina and warned her that the Jedi Praxeum was the Second Imperium's next target.
Meanwhile, the Great Leader, revealed to be another Palpatine clone, arrived at the Shadow Academy in a repulsorlift isolation chamber. He refused to see Brakiss and was attended by four Imperial Royal Guards. Brakiss grew concerned about the Emperor's health. Later, a Palpatine hologram prompted Brakiss to launch an assault on the Jedi Praxeum on Yavin 4.
The battle initially went as planned until the Republic fleet arrived under Admiral Ackbar. Brakiss defied his master and went to the jungle moon, where Skywalker defeated him in a lightsaber duel. Back on the space station, Brakiss went to the isolation chamber and demanded to see the Emperor, but two Royal Guards blocked him. Enraged, Brakiss killed them with his lightsaber and entered the chamber.
He found a third Royal Guard working on controls, computer screens, and holographic generators, realizing that Palpatine had never returned. The Royal Guards had created the illusion to control the Second Imperium. The fourth guard activated the Shadow Academy's self-destruct systems, destroying the Shadow Academy and killing everyone on board.