Darth Bane: Rule of Two

Written by: Drew Karpyshyn
1,000 BBY

The sequel begins after the final battle of Ruusan where the thought bomb has detonated. Darovit, a human male and cousin to Darth Zannah, has survived the thought bomb even though he is believed to be force sensitive and everything that was force sensitive was to be destroyed by the bomb. He finds his way to the cave to see the devastation for himself and finds the orb that is now the thought bomb. He reaches his hand out to touch it and immediately recoils feeling the suffering first hand and unable to handle it. He collapses to the floor.

Bane and Zannah return to the Sith camp where a couple of hired guns from the remaining/recently disbanded Sith Army are ransacking the place. Bane kills most of them and leaves a few surviving so they can spread rumors about a Dark Lord. They are not reliable sources and will therefore be discredited leaving the rumors to become legend and no one to truly taking them seriously.

At the camp Bane discovers that Lord Qordis has found the location of Freedon Naad's tomb (a dark lord of the Sith that lived 3,000 years ago). Bane then takes Zannah to see the bomb so she can understand what has happened here and the destruction that comes with a corrupted Sith ideology. As they arrive in the cave, Darovit hears the sounds in the tunnel he was trying to find his way out of. He stumbles back into the cave and recognizes his cousin. He was so sure she didn't make it and is elated to discover she is alive. She turns her back on him and stays loyal to her master. But to save his life from Bane, she destroys his hand and together Bane and her leave the cave.

Bane decides to go to Dxun to find Nadd's tomb and hopefully his holocron. He tells Zannah to meet his on Onderon in 10 days. The catch is she has to find her own way there. As she protests, bane explains that she has the ability to become more powerful than him and one day challenge him for the title of Dark Lord of the Sith. In order to do that she has to prove that she can survive. He then gets in his craft and flies off.

Johun Othone, former Jedi padawan of General Hoth, is high above the planet of Ruusan and dealing with the evacutation and destruction of the planet. He does not beleive that all the Sith have escaped and asks General Farfalla to return to Ruusan to check. Farfalla refuses but Othone goes anyway. On the planet he runs into the mercenaries that Bane left alive and they are telling their story of the Sith. He takes them to Farfalla who immediately discredits them. Meanwhile, the crew of the ship that Johun arrived on Ruusan in find what they believe to be a lost little girl but its really Zannah. They try to take her to the Jedi and she freaks out and kills all of them saying she has to get to Onderon.

Bane crash lands on Dxun and begins to look for Nadd's tomb. He finds the place and locates the holocron. As he reaches out to grab it all these bugs start to attack him. Two manage to grab on and he cannot get them off. He runs out of the chamber and begins to meditate over the holocron. Throughout his studies he realizes that the creatures are called Orbalisks and that they are parasitic and there is no way to remove them. They will multiply and spread over his body leaving him completely covered. They will also crate an armor that nothing can get through included a lightsaber, and provide him with amazing healing powers. But in return Bane will live in constant pain and they will feed off of the dark side in him.

Bane then leaves his ruined ship and finds a flying creature that will get him to Onderon. Dxun is Onderon's moon and the atmospheres are so close they touch. He flies to Onderon and arrives just as Zannah is getting into trouble with some locals. Together they board Zannah's ship and take off to Ambria.

Johun has returned to Coruscant with Master Farfalla to meet with Chancellor Valorum. Valorum is the first non-Jedi chancellor ever elected. He also wants to pass many new reformations that will limit the Jedi's abilities to control the galaxy. Valorum requests a Jedi to be his council and Farfalla promotes Johun to full Jedi Knight and Valorum's council.

TEN YEARS LATER:
Zannah is a beautiful woman and she and Bane are living on Ambria. Zannah is training in the arts of Sith Sorcery, mostly by herself. She is sent on assignment to Serenno to goad a separatist movement into acting before it is ready. She uses Kel, an affluent Twi'lek to spur the movement along and they decide that since former chancellor Valorum is arriving on a diplomatic mission, they will assassinate him. Content with her plan, Zannah returns to Ambria to find that Bane has failed once again at making his own holocron and that he has destroyed the camp.

The plan on Serenno gets put into motion and Valorum is attacked as he lands on the planet. Fortunately, Johun is there to save him and kills all of the assassins, including Kel. Zannah returns to Serenno to see if the plan worked and gets attacked by the surviving separatist members. She then goes to see the leader Hetton and discovers that he is strong in the force and obsessed with the dark side. She decides to take him to Ambria to see if he can defeat Bane. He does not and she says that she did not betray Bane but instead brought him the location of the holocron that can help him make his own holocron.

Bane is worried that the orbalisks are the reason his holocron is failing and decides to send Zannah to the Jedi Temple on Coruscant to try to find a way the orbalisks can be removed. Meanwhile, he will travel into the Deep Core to the world of Tython to find this missing holocron.

Darovit is now an older man living as a hermit on Ruusan, helping to heal the planet and the people. Johun has decided that a memorial to the one hundred Jedi that lost themselves to the thought bomb should be built on Ruusan. Darovit keeps attacking the building site and slowing the pace of accomplishment. Johun figures out that it is being tampered with and catches Darovit. He then realizes that Darovit knows that they are Sith and that he would be believed. He takes Darovit to Coruscant to tell the council his story.

At the temple, Darovit runs into Zannah and recognizes her just as she finds what she needs. She figure out that he is there to turn her in and that they need to run. They take off to Tython and when Johun and Farfalla come looking for Darovit they realize what has happened. The contact other Jedi and head off to destroy the Sith.

On Tython, bane has found the holocron and is learning through it when Zannah and Darovit approach. Coming in behind them are the Jedi and the Sith prepare for a battle. They battle and destroy the Jedi but at a cost. Bane released force lightning that rebounded on him and burned some of the orbalisks. They have begun to kill him so Zannah takes him to the healer Caleb on Ambria.

Once on Ambria, Caleb refuses to help. He cannot be bullied like he was the last time because pain means nothing to him and he sent his daughter away. There is no leverage to use. Darovit suggests that if Zannah sends a beacon to the Jedi stating that the Sith are captured on Ambria, Caleb will help. She send the signal and Caleb begins to remove the orbalisks. He removes them all and Bane begins to heal. Zannah has to figure out how to destroy the Jedi and escape. As Bane awakens, he feel betrayed and asks for death. Zannah refuses and comes up with a plan. She kills Caleb and uses her Sith Sorcery to turn Darovit insane. Then she leaves the Jedi lightsabers with Darovit and masks her and Bane's presence with the force as the Jedi arrive. They see the death of Caleb and the madness of Darovit and decide that he is the Sith and that he has turned mad. They kill him and assume the Sith are destroyed. THE END.

This series is pretty amazing and I am really impressed with how Drew was able to capture the exact essence of the Sith. They are just how I would picture them to be. Brutal and calculating but smart and always planning. I am looking forward to the epic battle between Zannah and Bane in the last book and am also looking forward to more books from this writer.