501st barracks, subsection C

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Sophia peered out the window overlooking a frantic and chaotic scene of people desperately trying to ready themselves for the upcoming invasion. Although she was not sure if it was merely because they were to embark on yet another attack on Endor, or if they were frightened and exhilarated at the chance to see Janus Miriya. Sophia’s eye turned to an ant, scurrying along her window ceil, carrying away the crumbs from her chips. She willed the ant to stop using the force, causing it to thrash about in a desperate attempt at getting free. “I wonder how many of us ants has she crushed to maintain her position for 1000 years”? The ant thrashed about with all 6 limbs, in a desperate attempt to break free. The girl's head tilted as she said, " Hmm is resistance integral to you simple beings and not us humans, or do human beings crave subservience to a higher power"? She mused with a dejected energy, before her concentration was broken upon hearing the final call siren, which blared throughout the barracks letting them know it was almost time to embark upon their parade. 

Moments later she stood over her bed, staring down the various pieces of indigo and white armor. Even after a decade of training under the empire, she still couldn’t get over how light the stormtrooper’s armor was, as she tossed a piece up and down using one hand. “What was a symbol of oppression...now I must don this infernal demon carapace”, she uttered, just below a whisper reflexively. She held her palm out, as if to concentrate her attention on the chest piece. Her fingers completely straight, contracted inward to make the chest piece rise from the bed. Using both hands, she maneuvered both pieces using hand gestures to wrap herself with the armor. With each click, she moved onto the next piece. 

 As she completed her task, she shivered every now and then. “This shit is more comfortable than my skin…”, she paused and trembled. “ but err..that’s wha’...what makes it so damn creepy”, she said before the final rallying bell boomed throughout the barracks. Last was the coronet, which fit her just as naturally as the rest of her armor. She stood there for a moment and ran her fingertips against the plastoid headgear, which lacked all the technological advancements of her armor, but still was eerily as comfortable and natural as her own skin.
Her concentration was broken by the sudden intrusion of her bith friend, Bara’k. “ C’mon ice queen, get your ass into gear”! The semihumanoid’s pitch black eyes peered deeply into her mind, sending goosebumps down her spine before making Sophia jump a little. “ Y-y-yes sir”! Sophia charged forth, tripping over her own boots before making it out of her room. 

She found herself perched upon steps of a grand place, at the head of a corridor of palaces stretching as far as the eye could see. There in formation, she was overlooking throngs of coruscant’s citizens eagerly awaiting their dark queen. Part of a small group of ex jedi and force sensitive knights, she was directed to stand upon the palace’s steps overlooking the 501st and the audience stretching for what seemed to be miles long. Sophia maintained her posture and overlooked the view, taking note of all the big fish on the wings of the palace's promenade. She felt what little power they leaked out and gulped, but none of them compared to Janus Miriya when she burst onto the scene. The crowd roared, sending seemingly a thunderous boom toward the dark queen. Sophia flinched, as if she expected to be crushed by the cheers and expectations. 

In that moment she was buffeted, she saw the others drawing their lightsabers, prompting her to join in a few seconds late. The delay was nothing to the average person, but anyone trained in the force would notice her glaring mistake. Sophia’s saber was a dark red, humming rhythmically just inches from her face, as she held it upright in front of her face. 

Janus strolled with a grace that left Sophia in awe, the pressure making the young girl’s body ache. Her voice although projected by the force, was not harsh and rough as if she shouted, but rather, it was received if she was having a one on one conversation with every single person there. 

Sophia seemingly had an iron cage around her heart for the past decade. Most people who met her enjoyed working with her because of the clear work ethic and dedication the teen possessed. Much of her peers, even the most scarred ones, made it a game to predict when her mask would slip. Revealing a vulnerable and malleable girl perpetually adrift, but with a block of ice which encased her fragile heart. That was the girl most took her for, even the inquisitors who trained her personally. However, something was different today.

Sophia’s gaze was affixed upon Janus as she went on about the former emperor and how cruel he was. A spark lit up in her eyes, though it was not bright and fierce… but rather it was controlled but with a deep intensity. Her bith friend tried to bore into sophia’s mind via telepathy, but none of his attempts seemed to shake the girl. Her mind was affixed upon the arkanian, who she saw as threatening as sidious himself. However, something shifted in her mind when yoda was mentioned. Although Sophia spent most of her life on coruscant, she was originally found and recruited on a jedi homeworld that was decimated by yoda’s zealous actions. 

Her grip on the light saber wrenched until she started to tremble without realizing it. Yet the memories of being stuck on a homeworld that was impoverished in the name of the light, caused her to nashed her teeth together. A darkness overtook the light within her, causing her defenses to drop. Sophia was drawn deeper, by the magical voice janus projected as she spoke of reforging the empire, much akin to forging the impurities from steel.  Deeper the hatred became in her heart, causing her lightsaber’s core to become blackened. It was only when her neighbor grasped her shoulder, that she trembled and snapped out of it. The darkside receded once more, suppressed by her intentional invocation of the light. 

“Yes...long live the empire”, she said as the crowd erupted into cheers for their defacto queen. “I will stamp out the republic, if only to prevent another yoda from rising from its ashes”.