Corellia
Surface
Gemma took her question and ran with it, her response both defensive and aggressive - if that was possible. Mara let her finish her words before offering a smirk.
"Well, there is at least one thing you don't know about who you are then. You are also Riley's cousin"
Mara couldn't help but appreciate the stunned look on Gemma's face. Served her right, for all of her self-righteousness. Before Gemma could respond, Mara continued.
"And also Dahlia's cousin. Albeit, distant cousins. The four of you are not merely linked by prophesy - you share a common ancestor. Her name was Persephone Winton. A long time ago, long before the Empire even existed, Persephone and her husband, Darryl Winnton, came to the jedi seeking their assistance. She was barren, and hoped the jedi could help her conceive.
Most of the jedi order, of course, knew they should not interfere with the natural order of things but one jedi, named Imri - who ultimately fell to darkness, said he could help them. He used a combination of experimental science and the dark side of the force to help Persephone conceive. Four embryos. Each imbued with a very unique enzyme, that Imri said would unlock untold abilities. The genetic mutation allowing for the existence of this enzyme, you might know as the Legacy Gene.
As the embryos grew, Persephone began to have dreams, visions. A prophesy"
Mara prepared to rise, before realizing she was still plugged into the wall and with a shrug, she gently disconnected the power cord that connected to the back of her neck. She shook her head briefly, then stood, moving across the room to where a datapad was sitting, activating it, and handing it to Gemma, the words floating above the pad in holo-blue, Mara reciting the words as Gemma, Riley, and Donovan watched them scroll through the air.
"Bound by blood, their destiny
Offspring of young Persephone
Found has been a power old
Never 'fore the secret told
Discovered by a jedi shunned
The ripples now have just begunned
FOUR won't see their mother's face
Separated by stars and space
FOUR names will be their own to take
and separate paths they each will make
The eldest boy shall keep the name
And ruthlessly will rule the game
Daughter one will heal and save
And guard the light as one so brave
Daughter two will lack in trust
be strong and fierce with power lust
Daughter three, idealist dear
Will grow from love yet also fear.
These FOUR will span the galaxy
Till brought again to destiny
When Empire will burn to ground
The FOUR will be their tightest bound
Two of light and two of dark
the contrasts forever stark
Amidst betrayal, lies and death
Their names whispered on every breath
And whence the FOUR all die in vain
This truth will hold yet again:
Master of darkness, rules beside
Daughter of darkness, his deadly bride
Eternity theirs, with one exception
A child born of light's conception
Yet in their blood, there lies a key
to break free of this destiny
And darkness will consume the light
Defeat the enemies of night
Body's weakness, mortality
Will vanish with brutality
The light can end in triumph too
By breaking up the darkest two
And blotting out the evil name
So only memory recalls the same
Until one wins, the dark or light
Repeat, repeat eternal fight
Will shape the course of galaxy
A FOURsome they will always be
Bound by blood, their destiny
Offspring of young Persephone"
Mara let the words linger in the silence for a moment longer before continuing.
"The Jedi Imri killed the father, Darryl Winton before the children were born, and Persephone shortly after she gave birth. The jedi took it upon themselves to protect the children from Imri, but understood that together, they were a target, and a danger. It was decided that to keep them safe, they must be separated, across the four corners of the galaxy.
And so it was, one child went to Thyferra, one to Etti IV in the Corporate Sector, one to Corellia, and one on Coruscant.
But the jedi also wanted to destroy the prophesy itself, bury it forever - no Gemma, now is not the time for your judgment."
Mara paused long enough to scold the young woman before continuing.
"So they placed everything about the prophesy, all memory of it, all records of it, in the mind of a single jedi prophet, Jedi Olindae. And she was sent to the outer-world planet of Naboo.
Now importantly, both the prophesy, and the power locked inside these four descendants of Persephone, remained dormant, and would remain dormant until they came together. If you know anything about genetics, the key to the legacy gene is that it is recessive. It cannot be tapped unless two of those genes are joined.
Over the course of time, the genes did come together on occasion, but those who had them inside themselves either didn't realize what was inside them, or just didn't understand it. But that changed when two particular individuals, born with the legacy gene, found themselves on Naboo. One was the man who later became the Trade Federation Viceroy, Medivh. The other Was Alexander Winton. Whether by destiny, design, or sheer luck, they ended up in close personal relationships with two sisters of the Greyson family. Elle, the younger sister, was together with Medivh until the Trade Federation took him off world. She ended up becoming pregnant, but her father arranged for the baby to be taken away, and told her it had died in child-birth. When Elle first coupled with Medivh, she started having visions, scenes of the prophesy. But when her baby was lost to her, she was driven mad, and spent the rest of her life locked away. That is where Nevylinn and I found her on Naboo. But the older girl, Monica, ended up marrying Alexander Winton. She too later received a prophesy, the one that is better known as the Persephonea Prophesy.
Now, as I've said, Medivh and Alexander both were descendants of the original Persephone; both had a drive and ambition that was deeply imbued in their very core - a desire to rule, to conquer. And above all, a desire for eternal life. Their high positions - Medivh as head of the Trade Federation, and Alexander Winton as Director of Imperial Intelligence - brought them together in a collaboration that became known as the GURI Project.
Guri was named after a famous Human Replica Droid that worked for Black Sun.
The GURI Project had a number of goals. (1) To create an artificial intelligence that was able to think and make decisions with such complexity, they were effectively alive. A droid, a machine, that was alive"
Mara paused for a minute, bowing her head in a moment of personal reflection before again looking up at them.
"(2) to be able to transfer the intelligence and memory of a living organism into an HRD body, and (3) to imbue said droid with a connection to the Force - granting an ability that had never been done before.
Their work brought them together with Rutherford Gellar, and Kyrie Patten. As you've probably guessed, Rutherford Gellar, Celeste Masterton, and Kyrie Patten were all also descendants of Persephone - though each from a different one of her children. This is where Valerie Gellar came into play - she was the child of two descendants. She received two copies of the recessive Legacy Gene, meaning it was active inside her. Valerie Gellar's DNA was the key to unlocking the GURI Project - it had an enzyme that allowed Winton and Medivh to create their prototype droid.
That droid was PHAGE, the first prototype, test concept of their work. PHAGE was created with an intelligence and independence that made him the most sophisticated artificial mind ever. PHAGE did not have the body of a human, only the mind of one. So the second phase of their project was to create a being with both. The mind and body of a human. That prototype, that combination of Valerie's DNA, the Legacy gene, in a human shell. That's me. That is how I came to be.
But Winton betrayed Medivh. He had placed a trigger in PHAGE that would make him turn against his maker. PHAGE took over the Trade Federation, and attempted to destroy Corellia and Medivh. PHAGE was the one who actually woke me, finished my programming. Gave me a designation, INFLITRATOR-01. Under the influence of that original programming, I was sent, appearing as a human, to help PHAGE obtain resources, destroy competition, make him more powerful. It was only after I actually met Medivh that I learned what I could be, and strived to become something besides my base programming. I consider Medivh to be my father.
When PHAGE was destroyed, I felt a connection to Valerie Gellar. Not only is my programming based on her, my external appearance was as well. Just as clones are duplicates of the original, I consider myself a clone of Valerie, albeit through a different method. I could tell you more about my own journey, growth, but there is still more to be said.
You see, Alexander Winton had heard the Persephonea Propphesy from his wife. He was ambitious beyond belief. He used his skills as an imperial intelligence officer to manipulate how the prophesy was interpreted, to further the goals of the GURI Project. When Medivh was taken out, he was unopposed. And he used what was learned - from Medivh, from PHAGE, from my creation - to do exactly what he set out to do. He created a replica, not of a generic human, but of himself, imbued with a connection to use the Force that he had not originally had at birth. And he developed a mechanism to transfer his memory from his body into that replica.
That mechanism has a technique callled a flash transmitter. Transferring memories is not, in itself, difficult, but keeping those memories up to date is a difficult process. The flash transmitter not only triggers a data-transfer at regular intervals, but triggers a transfer any time the physical body is in distress. It meant that Winton could transfer his memories to a new body automatically at the moment he died.
And he used it, that ability. Winton set up roughly a half-dozen facilities, designed to create new bodies for him. He did not merely fake his death - he actually died, dozens of times, being reborn in a new body. Just prior to the Battle of Centerpoint Station, I went on a mission with Dahlia's older sister, Karen, and we destroyed every facility. The last version of Alexander Winton died at Centerpoint Station.
But that technology lived on. Nevylinn's sister, Adubell, took a path quite opposite from her. When Nevylinn turned to the jedi, Adubell turned to the sith. We later believe she made contact with Alexander Winton, before he died. And she took his technology with him. She created a new body for herself, just like he did. Only she made changes to the new body. She did not make it appear like her original self. Instead, she laced the new body with a metal known as cortosis. It is not only extremely strong, but it has the ability to short out most lightsabers. That is the gray-skinned woman who hunted down and slaughtered most of the jedi.
And the only way to stop her, the only way to defeat her is with this - "
Mara reached into a drawer and pulled out her lightsaber, igniting it and flashing it through the air.
"The yellow blade comes from a unique stone that is not affected by cortosis - and there is a computer program inside that works like a virus, designed to decompose the computer programming of a human replica droid. When this weapon is used on Adubell, it will not only destroy her current body - it will send the virus into any replicas, destroying them as well"
Mara deactivated the blade, putting it away safely in the drawer.
"Adubell is the one who is working with the Voss-Ra in an effort to bring about the dark-end version of the prophesy. The Voss-Ra are a cultish species, devoted to helping the sith rise to power. They aided the sith in corrupting the jedi Imri, helping him to create the Legacy Gene.
This is where the etheralis comes in. It is essentially an artifact that channels the power of the force, something that came into existence at the same time the force did. And at one point, it was split into four parts. The Voss-Ra believed that Persephone was the epitome of reunifying the four parts of the etheralis. They had a shrine to her on the planet Empress Teta, buried deep in the mines - and they may have been correct - but just like the four original offspring were scattered, long ago, the four pieces of the etheralis were separated as well. Should they ever be reunited, they would be able to channel an amount of power unheard of before.
We know that Adubell has at least one of the pieces, possibly two. We also know she does not have all four. We know that she played a role in Dahlia becoming a sith, but I've hypothesized that Adubell actually interprets the prophesy differently. She doesn't think Dahlia is one of the four - she thinks she is. The way she wields her power, the way she talks. She might be working with the Voss-Ra still, but I think her own delusions and desire for immortality have taken control.
But then we come to you - the four of you. As I've said, each of you are cousins, albeit distantly. Each of you has at least one of the recessive traits of the Legacy Gene. Your brother, Dane, had both - his blood, like Valerie's, is valuable because it can trigger the abilities of the Legacy Gene, and in fact, if harvested, can even be triggered in someone with only one recessive gene."
Mara is about to continue, when she is interrupted by the chirp from Donovan's comm. He steps away for a minute and Mara continues talking to Gemma and Riley.
"Our time is short, but let me say this. The Voss-Ra are driven by the prophesy, and the belief that it will lead to the rise of Sith. All they have to do is prevent you two from conceiving a child - Not that that should be a reason to go and do anything reckless, ahem - but here's the thing about prophesies. Any prophesy.
The prophesy - if you believe it verbatim - says there is a cycle that will repeat until one side is totally defeated. Darkness will win, unless a new child is born to the light, light will win unless darkness survives. But here's the thing. The prophesy itself has an agenda. It assumes Winton is evil and Masterton is good. But Karen Winton was not evil, dark as she may have been. and Melanie was not the radiant good she was made out to be. Melanie ended up killing Karen, in cold-blood, when Karen was calling out to her as a friend. So maybe the roles of the four aren't set in stone. Maybe it's not good versus evil people, but the good versus evil impulses inside each of us. I've argued as much with Nevylinn, over and over again. it's not light versus dark. It's all shades of gray"
Donovan steps back into the room, lowering the comm as he looks to Gemma and Riley, thinking about all that Mara had said, thinking about how they had gotten there. Three of the four previous "four" had all died in the same place, just a short distance away.
"The Republic is here"
Mara stood up quickly, "here? where?"
"They've commandeered the remnants of Centerpoint Station, taken it over, claiming a need to secure it from the fugitive Artemis Soldys"
"And how is the senator responding to that?"
"At the moment, he's staying cooped up in a bunker, unseen, so Corellia can retain its plausible deniability."
"And the rest of the government?"
"Taking steps to make sure the Republic doesn't try commandeering any other galaxy-threatening assets"
Mara nodded
"What can I do?"
TBC
