Lumiya

Biography

Early life

Shira Elan Colla Brie, a Human female, was born on the planet Coruscant, at that time known as Imperial Center, during the height of the Galactic Empire. As a Force-sensitive individual, Brie spent her childhood within the Imperial Palace of Emperor Palpatine. Brie was selected for adolescent indoctrination via the Commission for the Preservation of the New Order. She quickly became COMPNOR's star inductee, which led to her being fast-tracked into another similar Imperial program by her superiors. Darth Vader, the Emperor's primary servant, noticed Brie's impressive achievements and recommended her for training within the Empire's Imperial Intelligence division. The young woman rapidly excelled in all areas of her training, becoming proficient in almost every exotic martial art, ranging from Echani to Noghri Stava. Brie's body was also biologically enhanced, resulting in accelerated healing and an increased pain threshold. Furthermore, her mental capabilities were improved through mnemonic drug training.

As a component of her Imperial Intelligence training, Shira Brie was enrolled in the Coruscanti Pilot Institute in 2.5 BBY. As a cadet, the young woman received instruction under Commandant Mogurk. Brie formed a friendship with 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 instruction from Darth Vader during the night in complete secrecy. Although the Sith Lord's tutelage exhausted Brie, she managed to maintain her position as the Institute's best cadet. Her time in Imperial training was one of the few periods in the young Force-sensitive's life in which she felt that others genuinely cared for her well-being. She swore an oath of loyalty to the Emperor, which she considered very important.

Training on Carida

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

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 to practice more, particularly for an upcoming war game against Bantha TIE/LN starfighter training squadron, in which 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. However, Brie's training under Darth Vader continued to negatively impact her mental state. In 1 ABY, six months into the final year of military training, the MT-ST war game took place. Brie and her fellow cadets were dropped into a mountainous region called Tarkin's Teeth, roughly 300 kilometers outside 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 soon 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.

Within moments, Brie had destroyed twelve MT-STs and killed six cadets, laughing as she did so, until Davani arrived. Due to pressure from above, the live weapons were attributed to "instructor error," and the deaths were dismissed as training casualties. Although Davani urged her to discuss the incident, Brie refused. She trained at the academy during the day and with Vader at night, consistently earning high marks from her military superiors and developing new powers under the Sith Lord's tutelage, which continued to affect her psyche. Shortly before 1.5 ABY, Brie and Davani ventured into the local Caridan district on their two-day leave passes to celebrate their upcoming graduation ceremony. The two cadets embarked on a cantina crawl, visiting several establishments and drinking at each one. At the first bar, Brie used the Force to influence the Caridan bartender, allowing her and Davani to enjoy perks not available to regular customers, such as discounted drinks. Four bars later, when a group of Caridans offered to buy them a drink, Brie again used her abilities to immobilize one of the Caridans by telekinetically flattening him to the floor.

Soon after, Shira Brie graduated from the Imperial Academy with the highest honors, a feat unmatched by any other student as of 3 ABY. Lord Vader awarded Brie the rank of major in Imperial Intelligence. Darth Vader and Director Ysanne Isard of Imperial Intelligence arranged for the young Force-sensitive to be sent on a solo mission. Brie proved her capabilities, further encouraging Vader to personally use her as an operative in his efforts to eliminate the threat posed by the Rebel Alliance.

Imperial double-agent

Joining the Rebellion

Following the Empire's devastating loss to the Alliance during the Battle of Yavin, which resulted in the destruction of the Imperials' first Death Star battle station, Darth Vader assigned Shira Brie a new mission: to infiltrate the Rebel Alliance as a counterspy, with instructions to either kill Luke Skywalker, the individual responsible for the Death Star's destruction, or to severely damage his reputation to the point where he would be discredited among his fellow rebels. To this end, a believable backstory was created for Brie, claiming she was from the city of Chinshassa on the planet Shalyvane. Although the world was inhabited by the Em'liy species, Brie's cover story falsely identified Humans as the native race. The Em'liy were portrayed as oppressors who warred with the Humans and destroyed their society, killing Brie's family in the process. According to the cover story, the supposed war between the Humans and the Em'liy lasted for years until the two species set aside their differences and made peace. All of Shalyvane's natives then gathered at a shrine called the Circle of Kavaan to solidify their new conciliation under the guidance of alien ambassadors contracted by the Em'liy. Instead, they were attacked by the offworlders, who massacred everyone present. Brie, supposedly a young girl at the time, managed to escape the slaughter and survived into adulthood on her own. Years later, she learned the "truth" of Shalyvane's sterilization from an intoxicated ex-fighter pilot: the Em'liy had allied with the Empire and lied to them, claiming that Brie's people were members of the Rebel Alliance. Enraged by this revelation, Brie sought out the Alliance and decided to join. The credibility of her cover story was reinforced when Darth Vader ordered the razing of Chinshassa, which had previously resisted Imperial rule. Shalyvane also became the secret location through which Brie reported her progress, using a biological process activated when her unique blood chemistry came into contact with a transmitter embedded within the Circle of Kavaan.

Lieutenant Brie

Brie successfully infiltrated the Alliance by posing as a Shalyvane refugee, capitalizing on their immediate need for fighter pilots following the disastrous Battle of Hoth. Brie eventually attained the rank of lieutenant and participated in several rebellion missions, including working alongside 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 subsequently assigned to Rogue starfighter squadron and stationed at Haven Base on the planet 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 in search of his friend Lando Calrissian, her amiable demeanor and obvious affection for him aroused jealous feelings in Princess Leia Organa, who had been denied Skywalker's company on a reconnaissance drill around Haven Base. Unaware of Organa's scorn, Brie departed with Skywalker for Bespin in an X-wing starfighter as his wingmate. Upon their arrival, Brie observed that Cloud City appeared deserted, and an investigation by Skywalker's astromech droid R2-D2 revealed that the installation of bombs within Cloud City's infrastructure had caused the evacuation of the populace. However, the bombs had been neutralized by a cyborg and a Human, whom Skywalker identified as likely being Lando Calrissian. Before they could investigate further, they were attacked by Hugo Treece, an Imperial governor stationed on Bespin by Darth Vader. They were pinned down by Treece and his squad of stormtroopers until Calrissian's arrival diverted the Imperials' attention from Brie and Skywalker. The commander reactivated the bombs through the Force, and the resulting explosion prompted the Imperials to quickly evacuate Cloud City.

Upon returning to Arbra, Brie remained planetside for a while, as Skywalker traveled to the Bazarre space station in the Cademimu sector with Calrissian and the Wookiee Chewbacca, another Rebel Alliance hero, to negotiate the sale of four disabled TIE Fighters with weapons dealer Orion Ferret. Brie instead participated in an experiment devised by Organa, involving hiding a portion of the Rebel fleet within the primary star of the Arbran system. Despite the reservations expressed by Organa's protocol droid C-3PO about undertaking such a dangerous plan without Luke Skywalker, Brie volunteered to take his place, a request reluctantly granted by the princess.

Alliance heroine

The deal with Orion Ferret proved 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. The stationed Imperial forces mistook Brie's team for friendlies, and were subsequently captured while in possession of the precise location coordinates of a secret armada being constructed by the Empire. With the mission accomplished, Brie and her companions returned to Haven Base.

While the Rebel forces worked to understand the codes they had captured during the Spindrift mission, Brie put in a request for time off to go to Shalyvane, the world she pretended was her home. Her real plan was to secretly hand in her yearly report to Darth Vader. At first, Organa said no to giving her the exact location of Arbra, explaining that only the most important and trusted leaders of the Rebel Alliance could have that information. But, when Commander Skywalker, who knew where Arbra was on the map, offered to go with Brie on her trip, Organa reluctantly agreed. They got to Chinshassa, Brie's fake hometown, and she took Skywalker and the Rogue pilots Wald and Hanc Thorben to the Circle of Kavaan. This place was very important to the Shalyvane people, but it was also how Brie would secretly talk to Vader. Pretending she needed to do a private ritual, Brie went to the monument and secretly turned on the hidden transmitter. However, her message to Vader was interrupted when the Em'liy natives of Shalyvane ambushed the Rebels, forcing them to take cover. During the fight, Brie revealed parts of her made-up past: she claimed that the actions of the same natives, who were loyal to the Empire, against her family and her childhood home of Chinshassa were why she joined the Rebel Alliance. She also said she came back to Chinshassa every year to remember the massacre of her people.

The Rebels had to retreat until Skywalker's astromech, R2-D2, found some underground tunnels that Brie had mentioned before, which could be used as a way to escape. Skywalker wanted to go into the tunnels first, but Brie, who already knew about them, jumped in before him. Then, the Em'liy caused an explosion that sealed the tunnel, and the rebels, thinking Brie was gone, got ready for a final stand. But as the natives got closer, Brie appeared and saved her comrades by flying in with her X-wing. She attacked the Em'liy attackers in a strafing run and then met up with her teammates, who, especially Skywalker, were very relieved to see that she was alive. When they got back to Haven Base, a ceremony was held with many Rebel Alliance members present. Brie was praised for her bravery during the dangerous situation she and her fellow Rogues had faced on Shalyvane. Organa presented the prestigious Burdine Cluster award to the lieutenant and promoted her to the rank of captain, showing great appreciation for the pilot's selfless courage.

Mission accomplished

Not long after Brie was recognized, the Rebel Alliance finally found the location of the Empire's secret fleet in space. They also discovered that after the Battle of Hoth, the Empire had captured a teezl, a creature that wasn't sentient and had the natural ability to amplify hyperspace communications. This teezl, which was thought to be extinct, was being escorted to Coruscant by the Imperial fleet so it could be used as a limitless source of communications energy for the Empire. The Rebel Alliance knew about this and was determined to stop the Imperials at all costs. They came up with an infiltration mission where Brie, as part of Flying Bantha Squadron with Skywalker and pilots Alph and Hanc Thorben, would disguise herself and sabotage the Imperial fleet using TIE fighters that they had gotten from Bazarre station. Right before they left, Brie told Skywalker that she was worried about the mission and also made it clear that she had strong feelings for him with a passionate kiss, which surprised Skywalker.

The first part of the Rebel mission involved the Flying Banthas intercepting two TIE fighters that were patrolling the route the Imperial fleet would take. After shooting down the TIEs and stealing the fleet's recognition codes, the Rebels put on their own TIEs and got ready to sneak into the enemy ships. The successful transmission of the recognition codes allowed Brie's team to seamlessly enter the ranks of the Imperial fleet without being suspected. Once each of the Flying Banthas had found a good spot, the attacks began. The Imperials were confused because it looked like friendly fighters were destroying things for no reason, but they quickly realized that Rebel forces had infiltrated their ranks with fake fighters. In response, Admiral Mils Giel ordered the teezl to create interference on all communication frequencies except the Imperial war band with a psychic shriek in an attempt to expose the enemy forces. With no other way to communicate with her team, Brie took the opportunity to complete the assignment she was originally given by Vader. Taking advantage of the forced communication silence, Brie flew her TIE fighter right into Skywalker's line of fire. Skywalker, using only the Force to tell friend from foe, landed a direct hit that seemed to destroy Brie's fighter. His attack also killed the teezl and effectively ended the battle. Skywalker's return to Haven Base was met with sad greetings. Organa immediately debriefed him, and a holocam recording from Thorben's TIE showed that the fighter Skywalker had shot down was not an enemy fighter, but Captain Shira Brie's. Even though she couldn't kill him, Brie's Imperial mission was a complete success. Skywalker was completely disgraced in the eyes of his fellow Rebels because of her apparent death, and he felt guilty about making a mistake that led to the obvious death of both an Alliance hero and the woman he had developed strong feelings for. He was initially removed from his Alliance commission, but he was later cleared after he infiltrated the Empire-operated Krake Data Vault on Krake's Planet and found records that showed Brie's true loyalty to the Empire.

Rebirth

"Hands"

No longer a captain in the Rebel Alliance, Major Shira Brie of Imperial Intelligence had finished her assignment, but she had been seriously injured in the process. Adrift in her destroyed TIE fighter, she was struggling to survive. Brie would have died alone in the starfighter, but the changes made to her body during her Imperial training, as well as her ability to use healing and hibernation trances, helped her survive the harsh conditions of space. Darth Vader found her and brought her back to his flagship, the Super Star Destroyer Executor, for treatment. It was determined that she needed extensive science and cybernetics to save her life. The mechanical implants further improved Brie's body, but in the end, she was more machine than woman. After she had been restored, Brie began to learn the ways of the Sith as Vader's Shadow Hand. Shira Brie had become Lumiya.

Even though Lumiya served the Dark Lord of the Sith, Vader was bound by the Rule of Two, a Sith rule that prevented him from taking an official student of his own as long as he was still being taught by his Sith Master, Emperor Palpatine. In 4 ABY, Vader brought his secret apprentice Lumiya before Palpatine. When they arrived at the Imperial Palace, they interrupted a meeting between Palpatine and another of his personal assassins, Mara Jade. The women met and immediately felt strong dislike for each other. Jade left, and Lumiya was brought before Palpatine, who was considering her as an Emperor's Hand—secret agents of the Emperor whose only purpose was to carry out his will. Palpatine accepted Lumiya into his service and allowed her to continue training under Darth Vader.

Soon after, Darth Vader sent Lumiya to Ziost, the ancient homeworld of the Sith species. There, she found an old Sith tome that explained how to create a lightwhip, a rare weapon that was similar to but more difficult to master than the traditional lightsaber. The lightwhip had a flexible energy beam instead of a steady blade. Using this ancient knowledge, she created a unique device with a hilt made of nearly indestructible Mandalorian iron from which many extensions spewed forth. Shards of Kaiburr crystal given to her by Darth Vader provided the power source for the strands of energy, while tendrils of metal and others of studded leather complemented the pliant beams of plasma to make a one-of-a-kind and deadly flail. Her final test as the Dark Lord's pupil was finally complete, but Lumiya was on Ziost when the Empire suffered a major defeat over Endor at the hands of the Rebel Alliance. She returned to Imperial space and discovered that the Alliance had not only overthrown the Emperor, but that both he and Vader had died in the destruction of the second Death Star.

Dark Lady

With no one left to teach her more about the Sith, Lumiya declared herself Dark Lady of the Sith and began her own quest to gain dark side wisdom. She first went to the planet Nyssa in search of the Mecrosa Order, an organization that had historically been loyal to the ways of the Sith. The Order's members, who were known to possess many ancient secrets and artifacts, felt obligated to Lumiya because she looked disturbingly similar to the late Darth Vader. She was given access to all of the Mecrosa's relics and was even allowed 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 included three Imperial-class Star Destroyers, two EF76 Nebulon-B escort frigates, and four CR90 Corellian Corvettes. More than two hundred TIE/LN starfighters and TIE/sa bombers completed the fleet and were divided into several squads amongst the Star Destroyers, frigates, and one of the corvettes. The details of the fragmentation of the Empire were still unclear to many Imperial servicemen, and Lumiya sought to keep the truth hidden by depriving her subordinates of certain information, thus ensuring their complete loyalty to her and the endeavors she undertook. While in Sith space, Lumiya's fleet encountered a vanguard representing an extra-galactic, spacefaring species, the Nagai. The commander of the force hailed her flagship, the escort frigate Revenant, assuming that an officer of the Imperial Navy would respond. Instead, Lumiya answered. The Dark Lady learned that she shared a common enemy with the Nagai in the Rebel Alliance, and she promised the support of her resources to the invaders in exchange for a united front.

Events on Herdessa

Following the Nagai's instructions, Lumiya began to take action against the Alliance of Free Planets, the new state that had replaced the Rebel Alliance. She went to the Mid Rim world of Herdessa, where she became the head of planetary security for the planet's oppressive leaders, the Herdessan Guild. Lumiya organized a slaving ring, approved by the Guild, that targeted the planet's lower-class citizens for transport off-world. However, the arrival of Alliance delegates Mon Mothma and Leia Organa on Herdessa threatened Lumiya's secret operation. They promised to guarantee civil rights for the planet's citizens under the new galactic government. Pretending to be benevolent, the Dark Lady and a squad of Herdessan shocktroopers arrested several hecklers after Organa was hit with mud. Lumiya found the culprit, a woman named Suzu, in guild sector three and aggressively arrested her, but Organa intervened and helped Suzu escape. Enraged, Lumiya attacked the princess but was betrayed by her own cumbersome cybernetic enhancements, which saw her quickly bested and 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 forcefully demanded their surrender. Organa escaped the firefight that followed, and Lumiya chased her for a while before giving up. Instead, she rounded up all the Herdessan rebels in the city center for a public announcement that executions would begin unless Organa was turned over to the Herdessan Guild. Imperial stormtroopers assisted the Herdessan shocktroopers in Lumiya's tyranny and even apprehended Organa's companion, Mon Mothma, who was counted among the nonconformists. An altercation erupted 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 whereabouts to the authorities, but it was all a ruse; Organa instead appeared behind Lumiya and incapacitated her with several blaster shots before she eliminated the shocktroopers, freed the captives, and led them in a successful revolt against the Herdessan Guild. With her sinister benefactors overthrown and her slave trade dissolved, Lumiya quietly retreated, but not without promises to take revenge on the Alliance—namely Princess Leia Organa—for thwarting her efforts on Herdessa.

Upholding tradition

Lumiya's cybernetic enhancements had been severely damaged on Herdessa and needed extensive repairs. When they were finished, she had new armor and wore for the first time a triangular cloth headdress that, along with her lightwhip, became associated with her name. Lumiya fully intended to continue her campaign against the Alliance of Free Planets; however, a more important matter presented itself: the continuation of the Sith. Lumiya reorganized the Order in her own image, but she maintained the core ideals of enduring elusiveness that were fundamental to the previous Order's survival. The ancient "Rule of Two" doctrine to which Emperor Palpatine and Darth Vader adhered stated that the power of the dark side could only be divided between two individuals in the entire galaxy at any given time: one Sith Master to personify its power, and a single Sith apprentice to covet it. Lumiya thus began to search for being who was in her eyes worthy of the Sith teachings.

Though exceptionally strong in the Force in her own right, Lumiya had not been Darth Vader's only pupil. The Dark Lord had several students and intended to eventually pit them against one another 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. While he was still alive, Vader had planned for Lumiya and Flint to contend with one another, but the Dark Lord's premature death at Endor left them both without their master. Lumiya located Flint in Vader's abandoned citadel on the planet Vjun, where she confronted him for the position of Sith Master. The Dark Lady's superior strength resulted in the sound defeat of Flint, and she took the Belderone native as her first apprentice.

The new Sith immediately began to undermine everything that the Alliance of Free Planets had achieved after Emperor Palpatine's death. Lumiya tasked her new apprentice with conquering the Phelleem sector and exacting revenge on Luke Skywalker for the death of Darth Vader. 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 forsake his devotion to the dark side of the Force. Lumiya learned of Flint's abdication and promised fatal reprisals when the opportunity presented itself. The Dark Lady had more pressing matters to attend to though, including the continued preparation with the Nagai for war against the Alliance of Free Planets.

Nagai–Tof conflict

As agreed in the partnership Lumiya had previously formed with the Nagai, an attaché was sent to her in the form of Den Siva, with whom she rendezvoused and established an underground base of operations on the desolate planet Kinooine. An Alliance scouting party had recently been dispatched to Kinooine after life-forms had been detected on the otherwise unoccupied world. Lumiya ambushed them and killed all of the team's twenty members save a man named 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 disclosing the whereabouts of Princess Leia Organa, something of which he held no knowledge. Under penalty of death, Faron surprised Lumiya when he revealed that Organa had nothing to do with his team's mission; it had instead been Lumiya's sworn nemesis, Luke Skywalker, who had dispatched them to survey the Outer Rim planetoid.

Lumiya's abduction of Tolis and company caused Skywalker himself, along with a female Zeltron named Dani and her Chuhkyvi lover Kiro, to journey to Kinooine in search of his missing reconnaissance team. While Dani and Kiro explored the area surrounding their camp, the Dark Lady caught them unawares 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 did not have to search far for the Chuhkyvi's assailant; Lumiya had been waiting for him on a nearby precipice. In a vicious duel, Lumiya unleashed the full fury of her hatred upon Skywalker, whose unfamiliarity with the dual nature of her lightwhip saw him repeatedly lashed, quickly disarmed, and eventually defeated. Lumiya took her enemy as a prisoner to her underground fortress.

Meanwhile, several of Den Siva's cohorts, under command of the Nagai warrior Ozrei "Knife" N'takkilomandrife, intercepted a gathering of Alliance statesbeings who were 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 she was more concerned with the progress of the main invasion fleet and left to further prepare for their arrival. In her absence, Kiro infiltrated her underground lair and rescued Skywalker. Lumiya, who had taken up position above ground on a cliff edge, was completely surprised when the pair appeared on the crag behind her and was unable to prevent Skywalker from telekinetically reclaiming his lightsaber from her possession. Not to be deterred, Lumiya prepared to face him in combat yet again, but she failed to properly assess the significant change in circumstances; in addition to his usual weapon, Skywalker had armed himself with a lightsaber with a shorter blade, known as a shoto. Lumiya's weapon was no match for the conjunct assault of Skywalker's two sabers, which were able to counter the duality of her lightwhip's tendrils. She charged her opponent in a fit of rage after being disarmed, only to be stripped of enough armor that her face was exposed and her true identity as Shira Brie was revealed.

The humiliated Sith Lady begged for death and blamed Skywalker for the tragedies that had befallen her thus far in life; even in defeat, she vowed that her vengeance would only be sated when Skywalker himself was dead. The Jedi attempted to reconcile the differences between them but was cut short when the Nagai fleet—for whom Lumiya had been waiting—dropped out of hyperspace into Kinooine's atmosphere. While Nagai forces descended to the planet's surface, Lumiya was bound by Skywalker and Kiro, who held her captive as they prepared themselves to rescue Dani. The rescue mission was successful, 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 in the form of the Human–Nagai hybrid Bey, who provided Alliance logistics, battle schematics, and ship formations to his kinsmen. Armed with that knowledge, Lumiya reemerged as flight leader of the Nagai's Twelfth Squadron in battle over the forest moon of Endor, the same location where both Emperor Palpatine and Darth Vader had perished nearly a month earlier. The Nagai also gave Lumiya one of their unique starfighters for her own personal use; she dubbed the craft Screamer after the teezl which had perished during battle with the secret Imperial armada. With the intelligence provided by Bey, the Dark Lady led Twelfth Squadron in a dogfight against the Alliance's Gold Squadron under the leadership of her former Rebel comrade Lando Calrissian, and Mandalore Fenn Shysa's Resurrector Squadron. Severe damage was dealt to the Alliance forces over Endor, and members of their wardroom contemplated retreat. Under command of Bey's half-brother Knife and Lieutenant Hol B'shaki, the Nagai prepared to execute coordinated strikes against several Alliance installations on Endor's surface while Twelfth Squadron made short work of the Alliance's Gold and Resurrector starfighter groups. However, Bey's duplicity was soon discovered by his childhood friend Han Solo, who was also on Endor. The Alliance fought and ultimately defeated the ground-side opposition's ambuscade, and both Gold and Resurrector Squadrons were ordered to forsake their original battle strategies; the sudden change in tactics had a detrimental impact on what seemed like Lumiya's precognitive advantage, and the tide was no longer in her favor. With the battle of Endor effectively lost to the Alliance 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 conflict and simultaneously signaled the demise of Lumiya's alliance with the invading forces. The Tofs, adversaries of the Nagai hailing from their home galaxy, pursued their foes and triumphed over them in a battle fought on the world of Trenwyth. Initially, the Nagai launched an invasion of Zeltros during a diplomatic meeting with the Alliance, which then escalated into another confrontation where the Nagai and the Alliance joined forces against their newly recognized common enemy, the Tofs. Consequently, Lumiya severed ties with the Nagai and instead aligned herself with the Tofs. She convened with their leader, Prince Sereno, at the Tof fortress located on Saijo to deliberate the conditions of their partnership. Little did they know, the Nagai–Alliance coalition was 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 then redirected her fury towards the princess; however, Bey, who had infiltrated the Tof ranks by disguising himself as one of them, shot and completely disabled Lumiya. The battle of Saijo ended swiftly with Prince Sereno's capture. While Lumiya was presumed dead after the skirmish, she had actually survived, albeit wounded, and discreetly escaped amidst the chaos.

Imperial allies

Despite her best-laid plans, Lumiya's scheme to exploit the Nagai–Tof war as a tool against the Alliance of Free Planets backfired spectacularly. After recovering from her injuries sustained during the battle of Saijo, she found her fleet decimated. Therefore, the Dark Lady sought out her former Imperial Intelligence supervisor, Ysanne Isard, who had assumed leadership over the remaining forces of the Galactic Empire, in order to acquire the necessary resources to rebuild her shattered forces. Isard viewed Lumiya as a threat to her authority, and the Imperial leader reasoned that complying with the Sith Lady's demands would prevent any potential conflicts 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 deceased Emperor Palpatine. However, Isard's assistance came with stipulations; in return for her support, she requested that Lumiya inspect several highly confidential Imperial research facilities hidden within the Cron Drift.

The Nebulon-B escort frigate Revenant functioned as Lumiya's flagship as she guided her fleet towards the Auril sector. Upon their arrival, she discovered that the personnel stationed at the asteroid-based Epsilon Nine Communications Research Station had attempted to abandon their Imperial allegiance in favor of joining the newly established New Republic, as evidenced by the modification of the station's communications system to broadcast on New Republic frequencies. The sudden 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 discovered the installation's secret location within the Cron Drift; however, Lumiya possessed prior knowledge of the situation and commanded her fleet to engage the Republic forces as the Imperial forces approached the asteroid base.

Landing craft were deployed from Lumiya's CR90 corvette, Wolf-Pack, and landed on the surface of Epsilon Nine's asteroid location to create an entry point into the base, while the remainder 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, prepared to make an example of those inside. Her stormtroopers rounded up all the scientists for interrogation, and one defiant individual was immediately executed by the Dark Lady—his neck crushed by the Force in response to an insolent remark. Lumiya then ensured that the base personnel reaffirmed their commitment to Imperial service and ordered a garrison to occupy the station to further guarantee their cooperation. 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 become precarious following Flint's treachery and subsequent desertion. However, a new prospect emerged 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 took Jax as her new apprentice, and although his training was abbreviated, the Sith legacy continued. One of their initial assignments together was to the planet Bosthirda, where they completed the eradication of the remaining Prophets of the Dark Side cult, a task previously undertaken but left unfinished by the disillusioned Dark Jedi Azrakel.

Having completed her mission to Epsilon Nine, Lumiya began to fulfill Isard's second request: locating and returning the rogue Emperor's Hand, Mara Jade, to service under Isard. While preparing to hunt down Jade, Lumiya instructed Jax to infiltrate the upper 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 gambler for a swoop gang. Lumiya located 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 weapon, but the fugitive managed to escape. The Dark Lady chose not to report her failure to Isard, leading the Empire to believe that her encounter with Jade had somehow resulted in Lumiya's demise—a conclusion that aligned the Empire's viewpoint with that of the New Republic, which had maintained that Lumiya had died at the conclusion of the Nagai–Tof conflict.

Through Jax's own manipulations, the Dark Lady's apprentice began to secretly influence the Empire's governing body. During this period, Lumiya received word from Jax that he had been contacted by a mysterious individual known as Nom Anor, who represented an extraterrestrial race of travelers interested in forming an alliance with her against their shared enemy, the New Republic. The threat to the Sith that Lumiya had foreseen also materialized at that time, in the form of Emperor Palpatine's return. However, his restored reign was short-lived; the cloned bodies he had used to facilitate his revival had been sabotaged by Imperial physicians, which triggered his final death on the planet Onderon less than a year later. Carnor Jax immediately attempted to install himself as the new Emperor, but his rule was short-lived. 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 homeworld of Belderone. Choosing to withdraw from the forefront of galactic events, Lumiya took up residence on the planet Korriban, where she began to devise her next course of action. She continued to study Adas' holocron and utilized the ancient Sith artifact to observe the galaxy from afar.

Striking from the shadows

Invitation to the New Order

In 25 ABY, the galaxy was invaded by the Yuuzhan Vong Dominion, whose advance agent, Nom Anor, had attempted to contact 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 annihilated nearly all resistance to their planned transformation of the galaxy into a biotechnological empire mirroring their own. In that same year, Lumiya learned that although she lacked an apprentice to continue 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 prior to his capture by Yuuzhan Vong scouts in the Unknown Regions. While imprisoned, he was approached by a Yuuzhan Vong agent named Vergere who, like Hett, was also a former Old Republic Jedi who had turned to the Sith. The Fosh ex-Jedi imparted her knowledge to Hett, who believed that in order to restore stability to the galaxy, the Sith needed to abandon the Rule of Two and instead embrace a Rule of One—a new principle for many Sith who operated as a unified entity.

Vergere, a staunch believer in Darth Bane's ancient doctrine, rejected Hett's idea and abandoned 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 established his One Sith. The One Sith's attention turned to Lumiya, and Krayt invited her to join them on their namesake's ancestral homeworld. An escort for the Dark Lady was dispatched in the form of the Sith Master Lomi Plo and her apprentice Welk, but during their return journey, they were intercepted by the Yuuzhan Vong. Although her chaperones were captured by the invaders, Lumiya evaded capture and escaped to plot 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 lethal 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 scarce Bafforr pollen, Lumiya chose to attack 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.

A plan for the galaxy

Several months later, Lumiya encountered Vergere. The Fosh explained her own Sith origins under Darth Sidious and recounted her encounter with A'Sharad Hett—now Darth Krayt—who advocated for an Order of many 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 knowledge.

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 being with radiant white orbs—stated that another escort had not been arranged, but navigation coordinates were provided with the message should Lumiya decide to accept their invitation. Through her time with Vergere, Lumiya had come to believe that the One Sith's methods were too gradual; by the time Krayt's Order had matured, Skywalker's Jedi would be too formidable. Unwilling to deviate from the Rule of Two, Lumiya rejected Krayt's idea and embraced Vergere's realization of the futility of Krayt's long-term endeavor.

Empowered by a new purpose through Vergere's teachings, Lumiya relinquished her own ambitions to serve a Sith destiny. However, both women recognized that neither could independently restore peace to the galaxy; Lumiya's cybernetic enhancements limited her Force potential, while Vergere had been corrupted by her association with the Yuuzhan Vong. Together, they conspired to select a new Sith champion, one who would rule as a benevolent dictator and impose peace and stability upon a turbulent galaxy frequently plagued by war. The selection of this individual was of paramount importance; numerous candidates were considered and rejected. Kyp Durron, a powerful Jedi Master, was deemed too erratic and stubborn, while Lumiya's former adversary 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 bypassed as too fearful of her progenitor Darth Vader's legacy. Even Luke Skywalker was considered, but Lumiya deemed him too entrenched in Jedi philosophy.

It was Jacen Solo, Jaina's brother, who truly piqued their interest. Solo had demonstrated his ability to wield power responsibly by refusing to fire Centerpoint Station, an ancient space installation capable of unleashing devastating energy beams through hyperspace, against the Yuuzhan Vong, due to his belief that it would be an excessively aggressive action. Solo also defeated Warlord 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, presented challenges. Therefore, it was decided that Vergere would return to the Yuuzhan Vong and facilitate Solo's capture by the aliens to initiate 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 operation to Myrkr and exploited the young Jedi's isolation in Yuuzhan Vong captivity to begin 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 forces of the Warmaster during a heated engagement, he rushed to her defense at his own peril. Fearing that Jacen Solo would perish on his mission, the Fosh sacrificed herself to preserve his destiny, eliminating 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.

Long preparations

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

Lumiya also decided that year to finally transform Jacen Solo into a Sith Lord. Knowing that she would need to find a way to entice Solo to a location of her choosing, Lumiya conceived the idea of a riddle or puzzle that the Jedi would have to solve. She drew upon a variety of different 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 designed colored cords. Each section was unique and conveyed its own message. Lumiya commissioned the creation of passages 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 language of Kessel, and numerous other sources, intending to create an item that would capture Solo's attention and encourage him to explore its meaning.

Several passages, such as the Tahu'ip cord, referenced Solo's own life and how he had learned to strengthen himself through pain while in Yuuzhan Vong captivity. Others alluded to the trials he would face as he ascended to Sith mastery—the sacrifice of love, which Lumiya assumed would involve the murder of a relative or friend—the destruction of those who denied justice, and the balance between peace and conflict. While some of the cords' elements were fabricated, others, such as the sacrifice Solo would have to make, were dictated by the Force itself. The final passage, which pertained to Solo being drawn from peace into conflict, was constructed from 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, she was far from omniscient in what needed to be done.

Puppetmaster

Since the end of the Swarm War several years prior, the galaxy had remained relatively peaceful. However, the Dark Lady believed that Solo's rise to power would be best facilitated against the backdrop of 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 maintain 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 Force Admiral Matric Klauskin, and began to subtly manipulate him into engaging in a series of actions designed to further exacerbate the already strained 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 as the commander of 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 inflaming an already volatile situation. Both sides desired to end what was rapidly devolving into another war, and both governments dispatched delegates to meet on the Toryaz space station near Kuat in an attempt to negotiate a peaceful resolution to the conflict. Lumiya also decided to participate in the negotiations, not as an advocate for either side, but as a spy and saboteur. She began by sending an anonymous message to Corellian Head of State and Minister of War Thrackan Sal-Solo, alerting him to the secret meeting and enticing him with an opportunity to eliminate several of their mutual enemies in one fell swoop. Sal-Solo complied and provided Lumiya with twenty commandos, primarily of Corellian origin, 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, one that would guarantee 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 controlled through the Force into her service. She convinced the security captain that he was being considered as her partner 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 guise of being selected for such a prestigious Kuati honor and determined to thwart any assassination attempts on the part of the "rogue Jedi," 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 landing bay to rendezvous with Sal-Solo's recently arrived commandos. After briefing her assassins on their objective, Lumiya used a Force suggestion that caused Captain Tawaler to enter an emergency exit under the impression that he was supposed to board the commandos' Sentinel-class transport 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.

Lumiya's strike team achieved only partial success; their assassination plot succeeded solely in eliminating Aidel Saxan, the Five Worlds Prime Minister. As they had been instructed, each commando perished before any interrogation could be carried out by the Jedi or other authorities. Knowing Jacen Solo was present on Toryaz Station, Lumiya strategically placed the tassels—the instrument she intended to use to trap the young Jedi—near the airlock where Captain Tawaler had taken his own life, suggesting that an investigation into the failed attack would lead investigators to that location. The Dark Lady's plan was that Solo's interest in the tassels' significance would guide him to Lorrd, a world situated in the Kanz sector, known for its culture and history of non-verbal communication, where he would encounter Doctor Heilan Rotham, an expert in the field. After this setup, Lumiya departed Narsacc Habitat and followed the commandos' shuttle to the Coronet City Spaceport in Coronet City, Corellia. There, she eliminated the pilot, seized the vessel, and re-registered it under the alias "Brisha Syo," a Human woman from Commenor. She piloted the shuttle to Lorrd, paid for a week 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 in consultation with Rotham, Lumiya covertly instigated a series of seemingly random terrorist incidents around Lorrd City. The first incident involved a man who threatened to launch concussion missiles into the most densely populated area of the city unless he was granted an audience with a Jedi. Although Solo and his companions resolved that crisis, subsequent Force-influenced events continued to plague Lorrd City in the following days, all orchestrated by Lumiya. Meanwhile, Ben Skywalker, venturing alone into Lorrd City, discovered the shuttle that had escaped from Toryaz Station docked at the city spaceport. He attached a homing beacon to the vessel and instructed Security lieutenant Neav Samran to notify him if and when the pilot returned. Confident that her actions had ensured the Jedi's continued presence on Lorrd, Lumiya returned to the vessel, where Samran immediately apprehended her. She was detained at the security station, awaiting interrogation by the Jedi.

The Jedi arrived shortly thereafter, eager to question her. She greeted each of them by name, which surprised them, and admitted to having manipulated their affairs for some time prior to their 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 these dreams, that they involve the Jedi in some way. Unable to distinguish truth from falsehood, Solo inquired about her connection to the events on 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 behind in the same airlock through which Tawaler had been ejected, fully intending for Solo to eventually possess it. This led her to Lorrd, fully expecting Solo's imminent arrival. In an attempt to unravel the entire mystery, Solo demanded the truth, a request she agreed to only if the Jedi accompanied her to her home near Bimmiel. Solo initially refused, and Syo declined to reveal anything further. Solo, exasperated, threatened her with various punishments, even death, but nothing he said could sway her. 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 home, assuring Solo upon arrival that all the answers he sought would be found within. She led them inside, explaining the history of the mining habitat, which the Jedi recognized as a centuries-old mining station that had been abandoned at great expense. Syo mentioned the habitat's former administrator, who had also been a Sith Lord, but dismissed further conversation as they ascended four floors in a turbolift to a chamber filled with artwork and educational materials. She denied their suspicions of her being a Sith adept and revealed the asteroid's saturation 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 cruelty. She then revealed her own connection to 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 lowest levels.

As the turbolift carried them to the habitat's lowest level, Syo joked about the Sith Lord's identity; the Order to which he belonged, Solo believed, had been eradicated with the death of Emperor Palpatine's final clone. While the last fully recognized Sith Masters had perished with Vader and the Emperor, Syo claimed that capable individuals had survived and maintained centuries of Sith tradition. The turbolift opened onto a rail system leading into the mine, and Syo warned that Ben Skywalker should remain behind. Solo refused to leave his cousin, so Syo and the three Jedi boarded the railcar and descended into the mine's depths. Shortly into their ride, Syo used the Force to throw Skywalker and Dinn from the railcar and sent hundreds of mynock Force-phantoms to harass them. Solo sensed her Force exertion, but Syo assured him that the separation was for their own good, given the overwhelming danger ahead. With Solo effectively isolated from his companions, they began to discuss the Sith Lord whom Syo claimed resided in the mine. A phantasmal man of her creation then appeared, identifying himself as that being, though obscured by the hood of his cloak. After a brief exchange, the apparition vanished 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 by an exertion through the dark side. The door opened at Solo's slightest command of dark power, and he followed Syo as she led him before her estate. She then confessed that she was in fact Sith, trained by Solo's grandfather, Darth Vader; that she had been born Shira Brie, and the fateful confrontation with Luke Skywalker that had resulted in her rebirth as Lumiya.

Lumiya revealed her desire for Solo to become the next Dark Lord of the Sith, the training for which she explained had begun years ago during Solo's 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, landing a disorienting strike to the Jedi's face. Dinn advanced but was painfully forced into retreat by Lumiya. 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 struck the whip from her hand. She was saved by Solo, however, who had agreed to learn her dark side teachings after envisioning multiple possible futures that resulted in the galaxy's descent into chaos and the death of his uncle, Luke Skywalker; only in his visions of Nelani Dinn's fall did Skywalker survive. Dinn realized she was outmatched and fled with Solo after her, a confrontation that ended in her death. Lumiya met him shortly afterward in an airlock adjacent 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 the 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 recognized 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 a balance befitting a Sith.

Several days later, Lumiya received a Force summons to Coruscant from Solo, which she answered immediately. Dressed in a red business suit, her face obscured 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 notion before his departure, Lumiya hesitantly accepted an invitation to the Jedi Temple. Awed by the grandeur of the edifice, she entered, hid her dark side aura, and was led to the Room of a Thousand Fountains, where Solo explained that he would arrange for a discreet apartment for her on Coruscant where he desired her to remain. She agreed but stressed the importance of haste on his part, 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 required. They proceeded toward the Jedi Council Chamber, just as Luke Skywalker approached, acting as though he sensed something amiss. He promptly departed, 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 them Sith artifacts, which she used to furnish her new, temporary residence. Unbeknownst to her apprentice or anyone else, however, Lumiya also secured another dwelling on the 288th floor, intended as a relay station for observing the activities in Zorp House. She also 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 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 a complex labyrinth of tunnels beneath the building, guarded by a meter-long durasteel dart that would fire at lethal velocity if the secrecy of her escape route was compromised.

The next time Lumiya met Jacen Solo was in the Senate Building, shortly after the announcement of Admiral Gilad Pellaeon's retirement as Supreme Commander of the Galactic Alliance Defense Force. Still disguised as "Shira," she and Solo sat in lobby 513, near a meeting between the Jedi Council and the newly appointed Supreme Commander, Mon Calamari Admiral Cha Niathal, whose promotion Lumiya had secretly orchestrated. With reports of Thrackan Sal-Solo's plans to make Centerpoint Station operational within months broadcast across the HoloNet, Jacen grew 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 mirroring that of his grandfather, 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 seeking 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 conversed with Solo. When the Jedi Master departed, Lumiya accompanied Solo to congratulate Niathal.

Several days later, Lumiya met Solo in his apartment at his urgent request, as he had learned that his uncle was aware of her 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 issue of his own Sith apprentice arose, Jedi Mastery was the obstacle Lumiya felt 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 soon 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, which left him troubled with recurrent 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, through which he might find answers she could not provide. Solo was also troubled by Ben Skywalker's diminished faith in him, after witnessing 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 had to 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 fondled the tassels that had initially ensnared Solo and listened as he described his frequent nightmares and increasing obsession with his grandfather's descent into the dark side. Lumiya realized that Solo's location-restricted flow-walking limited his understanding of Darth Vader's fall, and she cautioned against attempts to vindicate himself in that manner. She then handed the tassel artifact to Solo and commended 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 required the killing of a loved one whose death would cause unbearable suffering to their loved ones.

The threat of full-blown civil war became more apparent over the course of a week as assassins employed by the True Victory Party of Bothawui colluded with Corellian terrorists to wreak havoc on Coruscant. Lumiya traveled through the Coruscant Underlevels in pursuit of Jacen Solo, who had gone to meet with 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, she was preceded by the Twi'lek Dark Jedi Alema Rar, who had stalked Solo, hoping to kill him to avenge his parents. The Dark Lady eliminated three feral Underlevel residents who attempted 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 clear of the wayward dart, which pierced the eye of the World Brain, sending the creature into death spasms as the poison circulated. 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 of sending the assassin, before he and Lumiya descended into the World Brain's pool to save its life.

From the information Jacen Solo received from his spy, Lumiya was given a list of influential Bothan dignitaries in conspiracy with Corellian insurgents and asked to kill them. 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 meet him in the Fellowship Plaza of Coruscant's Senate District to discuss the ramifications, and she was asked to expedite the completion of the list, as Solo believed that the Corellians would not reveal themselves if they learned that the World Brain was already dead. She agreed but openly acknowledged the declaration of war from Bothawui that would inevitably follow. As Solo departed for a meeting with Admiral Niathal that was to include the commission of his own Imperial II-class Star Destroyer, the Anakin Solo, Lumiya's attention shifted to a commotion behind her, between two apparently 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 to the High Council details of the conversation she had just overheard. 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 methodically driven back by the larger woman and forced to deactivate her weapon when the Twi'lek interposed herself between the combatants and was burned across the body by the whip's still-hot energy filaments. Lobi severed Lumiya's weapon arm and took position for a killing strike, but she was again parried by the Dark Jedi, giving the Sith time to recover her lightwhip and wield it with her remaining limb. Forced into retreat and momentarily distracted by the being behind her, Lobi faltered, and Lumiya sheared both of her legs off 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 to the downfall of Jacen Solo, an offer which Lumiya warily accepted.

The next morning, Lumiya gave Rar the list of Bothan ambassadors so she could complete the assassinations. She then joined her apprentice aboard the Anakin Solo to the sovereign world of the Hapes Cluster, where upon arrival, Lumiya retired from the Command Salon with Solo to her own cabin out of respect for the presence of Queen Mother Tenel Ka, on whose life an attempt had recently been made. Lumiya's involvement in Lobi's death was uncovered an hour later when the Chev's dismembered corpse was found in Fellowship Plaza by Coruscant Security Force Detectives Gwad Raatu and [Chal Tozr](/article/chal_tozr], who 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 conducted a preliminary search of her safe house, finding nothing more than an expensive gown. Assuming she had fled the planet, they sliced into the dwelling's computer and stumbled upon a list of names that corroborated Lumiya's complicity in the Bothan assassination affair. Further scrutiny revealed her high-level access to the records and resources of the Galactic Alliance Guard, and they learned her apartment was a registered safe house. The Jedi surmised that Lumiya had not infiltrated the GAG at all but had been working with them, possibly with the full knowledge of Jacen Solo.

Lumiya revealed

Reunion

Under the presumption that Lumiya harbored intentions of taking revenge on Ben Skywalker, the Skywalkers promptly intercepted Solo, who had by then been granted an Alliance Colonel's commission. While traveling to Hapes with him aboard the Anakin Solo, the Skywalkers shared their discoveries and their decision to relieve their son from his active Galactic Alliance Guard (GAG) duties. Jacen Solo conceded and arranged a meeting between his parents and Ben at the Roqoo Depot refueling station, located deep within the Hapes Cluster. However, the meeting was actually a double-edged trap. Lumiya had also agreed to go to Roqoo Depot to secretly ensure Ben Skywalker's safe transfer to the Anakin. Within an hour of the Skywalkers' and the Queen Mother's departures, the Star Destroyer prepared to jump to the Relephon Moons in order to confront the Heritage Council, who had instigated the recent Hapan coup attempt. Lumiya had returned to the ship with Alema Rar, and together they created two dead-man relays from proton detonator charges in preparation for an impending confrontation with the Skywalkers. These devices, which Lumiya intended to act as fail-safes if either woman were to fall in battle, were designed to detonate upon the cessation of the wearer's vital signs, ensuring the station's destruction and the deaths of anyone nearby. After attaching the relays to combat vests for themselves, Lumiya and Rar departed the Anakin Solo for Roqoo Depot.

Clad in dark robes with their faces obscured by cowls, the two darksiders entered the refueling station cantina shortly after the Skywalkers, their Force presences muted. Upon seeing them, Lumiya immediately threw a grenade, which exploded and scattered both Jedi and patrons. She then used her lightwhip to wound two beings as they recovered, threatening to kill all remaining bystanders unless the Skywalkers surrendered. While the Sith Lady redirected the patrons' fear towards her opponents, Luke Skywalker attacked regardless, while Mara Jade Skywalker approached her flank—both Jedi wielding lightsabers and shoto. However, she kept the civilians between them, preventing the Skywalkers from launching a successful offensive without harming innocent beings. As Lumiya fiercely battled Luke Skywalker, Rar concealed herself in a Force shadow just outside the cantina entrance and fired her blowgun at the unsuspecting Mara Jade Skywalker, who was saved by her husband's Force-enhanced warning. In a moment of distraction, Lumiya severed Luke Skywalker's weapon hand and critically wounded him with a slash across his body. As she moved to finish him, Lumiya was shot five times with a blaster rifle that the downed Jedi had found. The Grand Master's resolve to kill her was halted by his wife, who revealed that Lumiya had the same type of combat fail-safe strapped to her that Mara Jade Skywalker had discovered on the defeated Rar. The Jedi quickly fled, just minutes before Lumiya and the Twi'lek covered their tracks with the explosion caused by the activation of their dead-man relays at Roqoo Depot.

Following the events at Roqoo Depot, Lumiya went back to her asteroid retreat near Bimmiel, where a full complement of medical droids was waiting to treat her injuries. Healing trances and her accelerated metabolism also aided in her recovery, but she remained injured and in pain. While she was recuperating, Lumiya sensed Jacen Solo's touch through the Force and responded by projecting a phantom of herself to his cabin aboard the Anakin Solo. With the galaxy still teetering on the edge of war, Solo expressed his concerns about the direction his training was taking him and his uncertainty about whether his cousin—whom he had recently realized could serve as his necessary sacrifice—was the best choice for apprenticeship. To that end, Lumiya proposed coordinating a test of Solo's design for young Skywalker: a mission to Drewwa, a moon of Almania, to recover a Sith artifact known as the Amulet of Kalara. She hired a Bothan named Byalfin Dyur to steal the amulet and give it to a courier named Faskus, with instructions to take it to specific coordinates on Ziost. To further obfuscate her activities, Lumiya's agents planted disinformation in various locations, so that if the Jedi discovered her plans, they would have difficulty thwarting them. When she next received a report of Dyur's progress, Lumiya learned that Faskus had been killed, but his daughter, an unexpected element in Lumiya's scheme, had since become Skywalker's responsibility. Because the instructions Lumiya had given to Jacen Solo regarding Skywalker's mission had not accounted for the girl's presence, she realized that his inherent benevolence went against the necessary Sith survival instinct. She therefore ordered Dyur to kill them both. In the meantime, the Skywalkers discovered both her second and third safe house apartments within Zorp House on Coruscant. Along with the secret passages they learned led discreetly from the complex, they also found the Dark Lady's explosive and poison-rigged datapad, which she had used to intercept various communications and hack into the Galactic Alliance Defense network with a high-level GAG access code.

Interference

Although Bothawui continued to secretly prepare for war with the Galactic Alliance on behalf of the Corellian Confederation, the deployment of three of their fleets was hampered by the efforts of the Alliance forces, who were closely monitoring the activities of the Bothans in their home system. To further complicate the situation, Lumiya disguised herself as a Hapan noblewoman and Bothan sympathizer. She contacted Bothan Deputy Intelligence Leader Tathak K'roylan via holocomm, offering vital information that would aid Bothawui in their attempt to release their fleets undetected by the Galactic Alliance, as well as offering to assist them by diverting the Alliance's attention. To gain K'roylan's trust, Lumiya provided previously-undisclosed details about the string of Bothan assassinations on Coruscant. While she herself had been intimately involved in the deaths, the authorization had come from Colonel Solo of the Galactic Alliance Guard, who also possessed the classified records that Lumiya gave K'roylan. Confident that the Bothans would eventually take her up on her offer, she gave K'roylan information on how to contact her when the need arose and ended the communication.

She then contacted Jacen Solo directly, transmitting what she called the "Syo package." Still posing as the Hapan noblewoman, Lumiya next initiated a transmission to Commenor, another world that had recently joined the Corellian secession movement. In her conversation with Prime Minister Fyor Rodan, she provided details of the Chasin Document, which outlined the Galactic Alliance's plans to conquer Commenor. She advised that she would contact him again in a few days with details of Corellian fleet movements, which, with the help of Rodan's forces, would succeed against the Alliance. Confident that Rodan's superiors would verify her information, she ended the link 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 into consciousness and action. Within minutes, the Quarren accessed computer files and issued instructions to various beings for the Sith Mistress, including the acquisition of clothing, documentation, and transportation, all to be ready and waiting for her command. Lumiya then returned the unwitting Quarren to her office and restored her slumber, before going in search of the recently-admitted former Alliance Defense Fleet Admiral Matric Klauskin. Exploiting the insanity she herself had created in him, Lumiya convinced him to leave the hospital, return to his homeworld of Commenor, and participate in the war on behalf of the Corellian insurrection, using the resources she had just provisioned. Klauskin subsequently used his credentials to board and seize command of the Alliance frigate Shamunaar, a coordination vessel for all the Alliance's reconnaissance and fighting forces in the Bothawui system. The Admiral then relinquished control of Shamunaar to the Bothans, specifically Tathak K'roylan, who integrated the frigate into his fleet and used it in an attack on Alliance forces in the Corellian system, which ultimately ended the longstanding blockade.

Following the Battle of Corellia, in which Bothawui and Commenor participated on behalf of the Confederation, the declaration of war that had initially been directed against Corellia was extended to include the world's new allies. In addition, Adumar, Bespin, and Fondor withdrew their support of the Alliance in favor of the Confederacy, and a top-secret meeting was scheduled to elect an undisputed Supreme Commander of the Confederation military. The Alliance learned of the meeting's location at a resort satellite orbiting the primary star of the Gilatter system, and they quickly prepared for an ambush. Coordinated by Admiral Niathal and Colonel Jacen Solo, the military action was to include Jedi StealthX pilots acting as reconnaissance fighters just before the arrival of the makeshift Alliance fleet, 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 about the situation, met him on Coruscant and agreed to help him infiltrate the resort so that he could act as a distraction from the Alliance forces gathering in orbit around the star. She joined him aboard his Star Destroyer to Gilatter VIII and, using the aliases Silfinia and Najack Ell, the pair entered the enemy stronghold. To cover more ground as they surveyed the gathering, Lumiya separated from her charge. Shortly after their arrival, however, the meeting was revealed to be a trap set for the Alliance. The Confederation had already chosen General Turr Phennir as Supreme Commander at a previous engagement, and they were also well aware of—and prepared for—the Alliance assault. Lumiya received a Force-warning from Solo and prepared to help him defend against the Corellian Security officers that had swarmed him, but was surprised to find Alema Rar also present and intent on killing Mara Jade Skywalker, who was on station with her husband, as well as the fast-approaching Han Solo. Confident that their presence at the meeting would force the Solos and Skywalkers to delay their departure, the two darksiders, weapons in hand, dove into the fray.

Lumiya confronted Luke, who was dismayed to learn that she had not died at Roqoo Depot, and the two engaged in a fierce duel. Skywalker believed that Lumiya's actions stemmed from decades of hatred, an assumption she vehemently denied. She attempted to prove her sincerity by deactivating her lightwhip and offering him the chance to kill her then and there. When the Jedi Grand Master refused, Lumiya offered him her hand in a gesture of amnesty, which he hesitantly accepted. However, this momentary distraction allowed Jacen Solo to escape and return to the Anakin Solo, just as Lumiya had intended. As they held hands, an errant YV-666 light freighter crashed through the transparisteel dome of the station's main hall, and Lumiya used her reignited lightwhip to cut an escape route through an adjacent wall. Amidst the chaos that ensued as the structure collapsed and a space battle raged, the Dark Lady commandeered an abandoned airspeeder and contacted Solo, who authorized her vessel to land on the Anakin Solo. She joined her apprentice in his private office and advised him to better control the anger he radiated because of his perceived failure at Gilatter VIII. Frustrated with his own fallibility in combat, Solo desired to be unbeatable, despite its impossibility. Lumiya revealed that once he achieved full Mastery, the Sith ability to completely coordinate battle through the Force—not the rudimentary meditative invigoration used by highly-skilled Force users—would be his to command, but only after he performed his blood sacrifice and assumed his Sith identity. In the silence that followed, Lumiya realized that her apprentice was stricken with fear of his emotions, not indecision about whom he had to sacrifice. She left him to contemplate the significance of her words, disappointed by the possibility that he was not as ready to embrace his destiny as she had previously believed.

Closing in

Lumiya remained in her cabin aboard the Anakin Solo and was soon disturbed by a disturbance in the Force caused by the approach of Ben Skywalker, who had returned from his mission at the helm of an ancient Sith Meditation Sphere. The vehicle, which had been searching for Solo, instead found Lumiya—whom it recognized as Sith—and came to her for instructions. Lumiya felt that it was somehow intertwined with her apprentice's destiny and offered it to him, despite her own fascination with the Sphere, or simply "Ship," as it preferred to be called. Although the Force suggested that the vessel was insignificant in her own future, Lumiya kept it after Solo refused and silently vowed to care for the craft until he was ready for it. They quickly departed the Anakin Solo for her asteroid retreat, and Lumiya soon noticed Alema Rar closely following her. She did nothing to deter the insane Twi'lek's pursuit as the Meditation Sphere approached the Home, and grudgingly allowed Rar entry but refused to grant her safe haven. Rar, who had developed an obsession with revenge against the Solo–Skywalker clan for her various disfigurements, planned to work alongside Jacen, but Lumiya sternly rebuked her under penalty of death. The Dark Lady would not risk potential disaster caused by Rar's madness with Solo's ascendancy so near, and channeled the Dark Jedi's recklessness into something useful: surveillance on the Colonel's activities in Lumiya's stead. She confiscated Rar's easily recognizable Conqueror-class assault ship and gave the Twi'lek a less conspicuous courier shuttle, with instructions to first track the Anakin Solo.

Jacen Solo's relentless campaigns against the Confederation had depleted his forces, and he faced numerous obstacles in his attempts to replenish his resources. To circumvent the red tape, Solo drafted an amendment to a procurement regulation that eliminated the hindrances he so often encountered. He also seized an opportunity to attach a more insidious amendment to the original one, allowing him to bypass the Galactic Senate if he or Admiral Niathal ever felt the need to change any legislation within existing budgets, quickly and decisively. Anonymity was required on his part, and Lumiya attended the Senate meeting in his place to ensure that amendment number 357 on the 563-item agenda passed without issue. She received a silent comlink from him and assured him that everything was proceeding as planned. Via that same open connection, Lumiya overheard a conversation between the Colonel and Mara Jade Skywalker, who confronted Solo about Lumiya's proven involvement with GAG. From the meeting, she also learned that Byalfin Dyur, from whom she expected unfavorable news soon, had been defeated by Ben Skywalker. After Mara Jade's departure, Lumiya concluded that Ben Skywalker was definitely unfit to eventually succeed Solo as Lord of the Sith. At that moment, a sentient's rights advocate interrupted the procurement council meeting to address one part of Solo's amendment, but failed to notice the subtle wording he had secretly implemented that would allow him to change other legislation. When the potential for opposition in the gallery manifested, Lumiya used the Force to persuade the participants otherwise, and amendment 357 passed. Unbeknownst to the members of the Senate, Solo planned to seize control of the Galactic Alliance with his newfound legislative power.

A prime opportunity presented itself when GAG intelligence officers inadvertently intercepted a secret conversation between Chief of State Cal Omas and Corellian President Dur Gejjen, during which they agreed to meet personally on the planet Vulpter and plan the assassinations of Colonel Solo and Admiral Niathal. In response, Solo drafted an amendment to the part of the Emergency Measures Act that granted him the authority to detain anyone who posed a valid risk to the sanctity of the Galactic Alliance, including Heads of State. With Niathal as his co-conspirator, Solo planned to arrest Omas on those very charges, prior to his ascension to Dark Lord of the Sith—much to Lumiya's chagrin. She cautioned him against the haste of his decision, believing that he had not yet achieved the necessary power to rule undisputed. In the meantime, Lumiya agreed to distract the Jedi from Solo's next few moves and requested an item of young Skywalker's with which to antagonize his parents. She was given a pair of his boots, and at four the next morning, she sneaked into the quarters of a sleeping Luke Skywalker to plant the evidence. Skywalker sensed her moments after her departure, utterly bewildered by Lumiya's seemingly unrestricted access to his son. He contacted his wife, and together they made conscious efforts to find and eliminate Lumiya. A powerful wake in the Force led Jade Skywalker to Hesperidium, a resort moon in Coruscant's orbit, and into direct confrontation with the Dark Lady of the Sith. They fought fiercely, and when Lumiya was positioned to receive a killing blow, the Sith Meditation Sphere she had traveled on intervened and throttled Jade Skywalker. Lumiya escaped with serious injury, leaving her mutually battered opponent unfinished, but determined to continue her pursuit.

Victory

Immediately following the meeting between Omas and Gejjen on Vulpter, the latter was assassinated by Ben Skywalker under orders from Jacen Solo. Upon the Chief of State's return to Coruscant and on the same night his amendment became law, Jacen Solo personally arrested Cal Omas for suspicion of intended malice against the Galactic Alliance. He and Niathal then declared themselves Joint Chief of State, to serve for the duration of the investigation into Omas' treason. Fully healed from the wounds suffered in her fight with Mara Jade Skywalker, Lumiya returned to Coruscant aboard the Meditation Sphere, which she hid in an abandoned warehouse, and met with Solo to discuss the implications of the recent attempts to distract the Jedi, a conversation that was secretly overheard by Ben Skywalker. Her next meeting with Solo was in his apartment, where they again contemplated the final stage of his transition: the immortalization of his love. Lumiya had begun to feel that the Force was brimming for a change and had become increasingly disturbed by Solo's preoccupation with the maneuvers of non-Force users. The Colonel's recent campaigns had left him exhausted, and Lumiya agreed to watch over Admiral Niathal while he took an undisturbed, forty-eight-hour sabbatical. After his departure, Lumiya explored the apartment for a time before she too left and returned to the Meditation Sphere, intending to follow her apprentice on his secret journey. An eighteen-hour venture through the Perlemian Trade Route eventually ended in the Hapes Cluster, and Lumiya remained in orbit as Solo landed at the Fountain Palace of the namesake planet. Submersed in meditation, she was suddenly stricken through the Force by an outpouring of intense love, and she realized that the emotion had originated from Solo. The Sith Mistress deduced, much to her dismay, that he had gone to Hapes to be with his lover, Tenel Ka. Even more disturbing was the revelation that Solo had two loves on Hapes—the second being a child illegitimately conceived with the Queen Mother.

It had been that same child whom Solo dreaded having to sacrifice, and Lumiya mistakenly believed that he had come to Hapes for that purpose. Actually, he had only come to spend time with his secret family. Upon his departure from Hapes, however, Solo's StealthX was attacked by another with Mara Jade Skywalker at the helm, who had recently confronted him about his descent into darkness. Lumiya intervened just then and, with a command to 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 ensure his business on Hapes remained unknown and was answered with eight proton torpedoes locked and closing in on the Meditation Sphere. Ship, however, would not abide the treachery of the Dark Lord-to-be. As Solo sped after Mara Jade Skywalker, the vessel prepared to retaliate despite Lumiya's countermand but was stayed by the dissuasion of Ben Skywalker, who had covertly joined in his mother's pursuit. Rendered helpless by the insubordination of a Sith ship that responded to a Jedi boy's orders, Lumiya was forced to the surface of Kavan and held captive within the Meditation Sphere, unable to join in the hunt for Skywalker's mother.

Lumiya soon afterward felt the Jedi Master's death, accompanied by a subtle yet 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 newfound serenity, 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 misrepresenting herself as Mara Jade Skywalker's killer, fully accepting the certainty of her own demise at the hand of Luke Skywalker, and made a return journey 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 removed her veil as she emerged from Ship, and with little left to say to one another due to both being exhausted, the Dark Lady of the Sith and Jedi Grand Master dueled for a final time. Lumiya was quickly forced onto the defensive as Skywalker drove her to the edge of the precipice on which they fought. When she lost her footing and fell, dropping her lightwhip into the chasm in the process, Skywalker saved her, only to ensure her death by decapitating her as she recovered.

Legacy

The prophecies of both Lumiya and Vergere converged as Jacen Solo transformed into the Sith Lord Darth Caedus. Despite her declarations of seeking peace and justice through Solo's transformation, his ascent was followed by nothing less than total war as he intensified his efforts to subjugate the galaxy. Caedus heeded Lumiya's emphasis on taking an apprentice, successfully swaying Jedi Knight Tahiri Veila to embrace the dark side and betray the Jedi Order. The enhanced battle coordination, promised by Lumiya upon Caedus' rise, materialized, enabling the Dark Lord to confound his adversaries on the battlefield. Instead of Caedus, Alema Rar inherited the Sith Meditation Sphere intended by Lumiya, also claiming the asteroid habitat that had once served as the Dark Lady's base of operations. When Darth Caedus' errors threatened to undermine Lumiya's meticulously crafted schemes, Rar felt compelled to intervene, effectively employing the Dark Lady's Force phantom technique. Irrespective of Caedus' exceptional abilities and the assistance he received from the deranged Twi'lek, Lumiya's creation was ultimately defeated before achieving his objectives. Following his demise, the galaxy experienced a semblance of peace and stability, fulfilling the very goal Lumiya claimed to have pursued for so long. Veila declined to assume Caedus' mantle after his death, effectively extinguishing the last vestiges of a centuries-old Sith tradition, paving the way for the One Sith nearly a century later, precisely 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 grappled with his vengeance-fueled killing of the Sith Lady. The subsequent investigation into his wife's death further disturbed Skywalker's peace of mind, and Lumiya's final act of treachery threatened to corrupt him with the dark side should he 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 both Luke Skywalker and Leia Organa Solo with immense sorrow in the ensuing months and years, 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 to the death by Jedi Knight Jaden Korr.

Personality and traits

Appearance

Men were often mesmerized by Shira Brie's petite frame and striking beauty. Her fair skin, prominent cheekbones, full lips, slender nose, and remarkably expressive almond-shaped green eyes were considered attractive even by members of other species. Shoulder-length red hair was neatly contained within the pilot's helmet, a standard component of the Rebel Alliance flight suit Brie frequently wore. This combination of aesthetic appeal and a vibrant personality made Lieutenant Brie a popular figure among her Rebel comrades, particularly Luke Skywalker, before whom Brie often displayed a bashful innocence.

Shira Brie underwent significant physical transformations following the battle of the secret armada, where she sustained severe injuries to over half of her body. In the aftermath of this incident, Lumiya harbored a deep-seated hatred for Skywalker, whom she held accountable for her misfortune. She was compelled to rely on prosthetics to approximate her former appearance, including cybernetic limbs, torso, lower jaw, and a life-support girdle. Her initial enhancements included a full body armor suit, complete with a vocabulator and a distinctive triangular helmet, closely resembling that of her deceased Master, Darth Vader. Due to irreparable damage, her original armor required replacements that moved away from the droid-like aesthetic, instead incorporating bionics that accentuated the Dark Lady's slender figure, highlighted her Human nature, and granted her increased height, a higher pain threshold, and enhanced metabolism and healing capabilities. To demonstrate the extent of her prosthetics, Lumiya once plunged a vibroblade to the hilt into her cybernetic thigh without exhibiting any sign of discomfort.

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 favored a concealing scarf tightly wrapped around her lower face, occasionally revealing her disfigured features when she chose to do so. While she sometimes concealed them with Force illusions or makeup, she had come to terms with her disfigurements over the years and eventually allowed them to be visible. Lumiya came to the conclusion that her appearance would have ultimately hindered her objectives. 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 black cloak, seemingly woven from pure shadow, and triangular headdress became her signature attire.

Throughout her life, Lumiya maintained numerous fully detailed and indistinguishable false identities, a consequence of the anonymity required for her intricate schemes. Among these personas were 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 frequently disguised herself as an exceptionally beautiful, blonde Hapan noblewoman, a persona she preferred. However, her true identity remained that of Lumiya, the self-proclaimed Dark Lady of the Sith, regardless of others' perceptions. Luke Skywalker, at various times, referred to her as a Dark Jedi, a Sith apprentice, Sith Lady, and even the Dark Lady. Skywalker's wife, Mara Jade Skywalker, recognized Lumiya as a fellow yet rival Emperor's Hand, and later as some form of Sith affiliate, even mockingly calling her their "queen." The Sith Meditation Sphere Ship considered Lumiya to be a student of the lowest rank, as her knowledge was significantly lacking by its standards. Alema Rar repeatedly questioned Lumiya about herself and her order, each time met with rebuke.

Personality

Shira Brie

Shira Brie, a street-smart girl trained to always be on guard, was a young woman utterly devoted to the Galactic Empire. Despite her exceptional abilities, including surpassing her peers in all areas of study, her dedication, and academic excellence, Brie possessed a great sense of humor and a fondness for practical jokes. Considered a great motivator and reliable friend, she was highly regarded by those who knew her personally, while those who did not perceived her as a snob. However, Brie's closest friend sensed a hidden darkness within her, though she never addressed it. Brie remained jovial, witty, and determined throughout her infiltration of the Rebel Alliance, traits that, along with her feminine charm, earned her the respect, adoration, and friendship of many. Conversely, women who socialized with Brie were less impressed by her exuberance. Brie was conditioned for a life of solitude, a disposition she maintained throughout her existence as Lumiya. In her later years, she could no longer recall the activities she enjoyed prior to joining Imperial service.

Lumiya

Upon her transformation into Lumiya, the Dark Lady of the Sith abandoned her previous identity and refused to be addressed by her former name. She shed 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 merciless, she tolerated no argument or disobedience, and punished both with torture, sometimes death. However, the Dark Lady's initial reliance on direct assault resulted in frequent defeats. She readily exploited the weak-minded and blindly determined through subtle manipulations, both Force-assisted and otherwise. Deception was a standard practice, and she frequently capitalized on her enemies' misconceptions. Secretive, intentionally vague, and elusive, she rarely shared the specifics of her plans with anyone, and she readily switched allegiances when it suited her purposes. While she firmly adhered to the stipulations 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 establishing an entire order of Sith in opposition to the Jedi, she ultimately rejected that idea in favor of the doctrine of her predecessors—patience, cunning, and secrecy—a point she emphasized with her last apprentice. However, like Darth Sidious before her, she was willing to lie or manipulate power-hungry individuals in her schemes, as she did when she urged Chief-of-State Thrackan Sal-Solo to attack the peace conference at Toryaz Station.

Lumiya was a master strategist who believed that the reward justified a properly assessed risk. She learned to develop elaborate, multifaceted plans, courtesy of Emperor Palpatine, complete with hidden layers of treachery interwoven into each layer, 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 removed from galactic centers of activity and steeped in dark-side power, from which 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 became convinced that the galaxy was rapidly descending into chaos and that Jedi leadership, with its expectations exceeding the capabilities of its constituents, was as ineffective as ever. According to Lumiya, a Sith, on the other hand, possessed the presence of mind to recognize when intervention was required and to act accordingly. She became more pragmatic in her later years and abandoned previous obsessions with revenge—or put them on hold—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 she welcomed the rest from the weariness that ultimately overcame her, born of a life spent relentlessly pursuing Sith destiny.

Relationships

From their initial encounter, there was a palpable chemistry between Shira Brie and Luke Skywalker. What began as a flirtatious friendship quickly evolved over the course of several dangerous missions they undertook together, blossoming into a full-blown romance. Despite their mutual expressions of affection, the relationship remained purely emotional and was never physically consummated, save for a passionate kiss they shared just 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 actions against Skywalker were so significant that he made it a point to educate his future Jedi students about her. Lumiya and her former lover were reunited in 40 ABY as she secretly plunged the galaxy into a war from which only Jacen Solo could rise and rule. Although she claimed that her hatred of Skywalker had diminished years prior, the Jedi Grand Master was hesitant to believe her and was even more reluctant to agree to a momentary truce with Lumiya via a handshake. Nevertheless, her actions spoke 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 under her influence.

Interactions

Darth Vader

From the moment she was personally selected by the Dark Lord of the Sith, Shira Brie was utterly 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, leading some to believe she even bore a slight resemblance to him. Although her service was extended to Palpatine, entering his court as an Emperor's Hand, Shira Brie's apprenticeship, now as 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, whose memory she would later reflect on 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 by which she would accomplish this.

Myrette Davani

A friendship quickly formed 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 for many of Davani's 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 changed behavior made Davani wonder if she had ever known her at all.

Leia Organa Solo

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 turned into 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 incurred 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 was indifferent to her survival. However, when the Dark Lady became certain that Organa Solo's son would indeed become a Sith Lord—the very thing Leia hated most—she admitted to feeling a sense of satisfaction at causing the Princess anguish.

Mara Jade Skywalker

An immediate and intense dislike characterized the initial meeting 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 encounter on Caprioril only served to exacerbate 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 dislike she had previously harbored for Jade Skywalker and her family, despite actions that contradicted her assertion. The relationship once enjoyed by Luke Skywalker and Lumiya was a point of contention with his wife Mara who, before and after their marriage, had been an enemy of the Dark Lady. Lumiya slightly resented Mara Jade Skywalker in retrospect, feeling that she had been given more favorable opportunities in life, despite their similar backgrounds.

Jacen Solo

When it became evident to Lumiya that Jacen Solo was the only viable candidate for Sith Lordship, helping him achieve what she believed was his destiny became her primary objective. Years of careful observation, consideration, and collaboration went into her final decision, and Lumiya meticulously orchestrated events to ensure he would agree to ally with her. She acknowledged that once he fully understood her manipulations, he would hate her, but she found solace in the fact that he would also understand and therefore love her. Lumiya adopted the title of Master and asserted herself as such, a position challenged by Solo on several occasions but ultimately 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 occasionally caught her off guard. 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 amusing, 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 concluded 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 pondered whom it was that 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, the latter of which she felt made Skywalker a slave to his emotions. Lumiya praised Solo's ability to control the boy, but also cautioned him not to be hindered by his affection for his young cousin. When Solo suggested that he might abandon the prospect of Skywalker as his apprentice for one whom he believed would serve him better, such as Jedi Knight Tahiri Veila, Lumiya responded with extreme 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 theirs was a cause far greater than the lives of his friends and family. Despite his total 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 immensely frustrated Lumiya.

Alema Rar

From their very first encounter, Lumiya was appalled by Alema Rar's fragile mental state—a sentiment shared by Ship—and resolved to handle her with the utmost care, lest she provoke the wrath of a madwoman. She was particularly disturbed by the fragmented hive-mind quality she discovered upon mentally 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 made a point of revealing only the bare minimum of information regarding her own plans, even contemplating killing Rar herself to eliminate the potential liability she posed. Frequently frustrated by Rar's short attention span, incessant questioning about the Sith's agenda, and her obsessive desire for "Balance," Lumiya nonetheless recognized the benefits of having Rar as an accomplice and readily exploited her unique espionage and assassination talents, 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 with 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 felt compelled to insult Rar, despite her apparent mental instability, but when her pejoratives became slightly more scathing than Rar cared to tolerate, Lumiya obliged her with a demanded apology. Although the nature of their unique deformities differed considerably, Lumiya still felt a modicum of kinship, even pity, for Alema Rar, and she urged the Twi'lek to fuel her rage with the memories of her myriad losses.

Ship

In a galaxy where the Sith had been virtually extinct for over four thousand years, Ship was overjoyed to discover Lumiya, whom it recognized as a descendant of its creators and sought out for instructions. Lumiya's initial impression of Ship unsettled her, but when she understood its nature, she was touched by its apparent concern for her. Upon appropriating the vessel, she immediately felt a sense of camaraderie with Ship and expressed many unguarded emotions—a rare occurrence for Lumiya—when it seemed to show her a measure of affection. Lumiya and Ship conversed frequently throughout their journeys, and the Dark Lady grew annoyed with its relentless questioning about the whereabouts of 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.

Powers and abilities

Ace pilot

Shira Brie, a woman with a natural aptitude for astrogation, dedicated countless hours to combat simulation to hone her piloting skills. 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 selected 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 piloting all types of space-bound vehicles, expertly operating 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 key engagements. When she later allied with the Nagai as Lumiya, she dismayed opposing pilots in her prototype Screamer starfighter. Towards the end of her life, she piloted and controlled an antiquated Sith Meditation Sphere, a Force-sensitive vehicle that received instructions via the dark side.

Combat skills

As a student at the Carida Imperial Military Academy, Brie participated in the extremely rigorous stormtrooper training program, where her mental acuity and exceptional survival abilities enabled her to flourish. She gained expertise not just in armed conflict but also in every kind of unarmed combat, including Echani and Noghri Stava. Although she possessed knowledge of lightsabers, Lumiya chose not to use one; instead, she favored a specially-crafted lightwhip, which she wielded with deadly precision and which frequently proved more than a match for prospective adversaries. She even fought on equal, and at times superior, footing with Jedi Grand Master Luke Skywalker, widely regarded as the galaxy's most skilled swordsman. Those unfamiliar with her whip were immediately perplexed, while some formulated strategies in preparation for an encounter with Lumiya. Others conceded their inferiority and dismissed the notion altogether.

Force ability

Shira Brie possessed a natural aptitude for the Force, but her initial dark side instruction consisted of basic Force techniques, as her primary concern was Imperial intelligence. She entered a hibernation trance following the battle in which she sustained severe injuries and was thus able to endure until rescue could be arranged. Upon 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 to power, her necessary prosthetic enhancements (or, more precisely, her conviction that she was diminished by those injuries) significantly restricted her capacity to realize many of them. Consequently, despite her comprehensive understanding of battle meditation and the highly effective Sith battle coordination, she was unable to actually influence combat in that manner, a limitation she erroneously attributed to her prostheses.

Nevertheless, Lumiya demonstrated considerable skill with mind tricks and telekinetic Force abilities, although she regarded her own aptitude with the latter as somewhat restricted. She had access to a vast repository of Sith knowledge through ancient texts, holocrons, and other artifacts, including the Sith oracle stone and King Adas' holocron, the oldest such device. Among her other skills were farsight, various Force deflection techniques, mental and emotional manipulation, focused resolve augmentation, and the capacity to generate waves of pure hatred. Lumiya's most notable talent, however, was the creation of illusions of all kinds: visual improvements to one's appearance when seen in reflective surfaces; concealment of her own appearance, and the opposite; dazzling alterations of reality; doppelgangers whose sustained damage was instead inflicted on the perpetrator; phantasms created solely from the dark side. Force phantoms significantly depleted Lumiya's reserves and thus required the dark side energy source beneath The Home to fuel the technique, as well as extensive rest afterward. Reduced health amplified the strain and threatened to overwhelm the Dark Lady with spasms of pain and exhaustion. Despite this, she mastered the ability and was able to create and control hundreds of them simultaneously, in various shapes and sizes, and at multiple targets—across the galaxy.

Spy

Shira Brie received training as a top-tier espionage operative at the Carida Intelligence Academy. Darth Vader personally selected her to serve as his personal infiltrator within the Rebel Alliance, a role she executed flawlessly. She betrayed no indication of her true allegiance, and even members of the highest levels of the Alliance hierarchy remained completely unaware of Major Brie's deception, even as she lived regularly among them. Brie even took several Alliance members to Shalyvane, a planet where she was required to secretly report her progress, unbeknownst to them. Her spy training enabled her to adapt to any environment and situation, and allowed her to conceal herself anywhere, and indefinitely.

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

Equipment

Cybernetics

The incident 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 consisted of a somewhat cumbersome full suit of light body armor, equipped with a vocabulator and blasters built into the hands. The enhanced durasteel armor she acquired shortly before the Nagai–Tof conflict no longer included integrated blasters but was resistant to vibroweapons and inflicted particularly severe injuries upon physical contact with an organic being. Her replacement cybernetics comprised extensive circuitry and life support systems, complete with a utility belt, stylized helmet, and life support girdle reminiscent of the late Darth Vader. A delicate metallic sheen covered the surfaces of her armor and frequently reflected the ambient light. Both the original and replacement armor sets were highly vulnerable to close-range blaster fire. The Dark Lady kept replacement cybernetics, along with the lubricants and protein drinks she required, in a locked room within her asteroid habitat.

Weapons

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

Following the Imperial defeat at Endor, Lumiya assumed direct command 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 proved insufficient. Poisons, explosive-rigged datapads, meter-long durasteel darts, vibroweapons, and lethal traps were all part of her arsenal. She was capable of manually disarming a baradium warhead, even going so far as to extract the proton detonator charge and reinstall it as a combat failsafe. Her signature weapon, however, was her lightwhip: an unusual device seldom seen among contemporary melee weapon users, constructed from Mandalorian iron and powered by shards of Kaiburr crystal. It differed from the lightwhips used by the Sith of old, in that it was a multi-stranded device composed of equal parts studded leather, metal strands, and coherent lightsaber energy. Lumiya's lightwhip had a five-meter attack radius, but she could also shorten the lengths of its tendrils during combat when more precise control over a smaller area was necessary. She could integrate the deactivated device into one of her prosthetic limbs, and at other times, wrap it around her waist concealed under a sash.

The Home

After establishing 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 attacker; all designed to protect Vectivus' former residence from the Dark Lady of the Sith's enemies. Lumiya avoided decorations in the living quarters, except for the addition of Force-influenced mirrors which invariably made the reflection of the viewer far 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.

Behind the scenes

Character development

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, in which 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 in particular, 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 where 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 penciled Lumiya in her subsequent two appearances, Star Wars (1977) 95 and Star Wars (1977) 96. The duel between Lumiya and Luke Skywalker that began in the final pages of No Zeltrons and concluded at the beginning of Duel With a Dark Lady was featured among the 20 Most Memorable Moments of the Expanded Universe, an article written for 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 referred to Lumiya as a "proxy villain," one of many 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 penned The Emperor's Pawns, an article featured in Star Wars Gamer 5, which expanded on many of the elements only touched upon in previous appearances and sourcebook references. Peña admitted to developing an immediate interest in Lumiya as a teenager, which led to a comprehensive, costly, and ultimately successful search for each of her comic appearances. When the opportunity arose for him to contribute to Lumiya's history, he focused on exploring the depth of the bond between her and Darth Vader, foundations of which were initially laid 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 presented 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 one-time writer of 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 character initially envisioned as Jacen Solo's Sith Master was a being known only as "the wizard." Lumiya was not considered; in fact, ideas for beings of other species were proposed, including Anzati. However, Lucas Licensing executive director Sue Rostoni suggested that the trio use Lumiya as their wizard character, an idea they embraced. 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 pleasure she derived from writing characters with whom she was previously unfamiliar, including Lumiya. She was particularly fascinated by her depiction of the interaction between Lumiya and Alema Rar in Sacrifice, paying close attention to their differing perspectives on their various mutilations and their distinct approaches to their problems with the Solo/Skywalker family.

When contracted to provide illustrations for the upcoming 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 violent, and Edwards opted instead to use one depicting both combatants alive. Abel G. Peña later expressed his satisfaction with Exile's mention of the confrontation on Caprioril between Lumiya and Jade Skywalker and hoped that Sacrifice, Lumiya's final appearance as a living character, would generate renewed interest in what he 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 array 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.

Inconsistencies

As Lumiya's popularity grew, numerous discrepancies and contradictions emerged across 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 appeared 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 indicating that her eyes were 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, penned by Troy Denning, states that Alema Rar is significantly taller than Lumiya, yet 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 provided for her in Lumiya: Dark Star of the Empire. Dark Star of the Empire also mistakenly identifies Lumiya as a former Jedi Knight who fell to the dark side of the Force. The final duel between Luke Skywalker and Lumiya in Sacrifice depicts her removing 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.