- "If we never try to make things better, we shouldn’t be surprised when they never improve."
- — Kalja Sairu Leidias
Kalja Sairu Leidias is a member of the Leidias Family, and as such comes from a strong Jedi lineage. Many believe that she has surpassed her ancestors as one of the greatest Leidiases to ever live. She's the wife of Delth Ardin, the mother of Kalja Falanis and James Ardin II, and the matriarch of the Leidias family. Additionally, Kalja oversees the Jedi Temple on Tython as the Headmaster and is one of the primary Jedi diplomats to the Empire.
Aside from being the youngest Jedi to ever be voted onto the Jedi Council, as well as one of the youngest to be granted the title of Jedi Master, Kalja has accomplished many amazing feats. She’s stopped galactic threats like Sivter and the Val Aru. She was a principal reason for GAIT’s downfall. She even was the primary force for an eventual treaty between the Jedi Order and the Empire. Many also believe that her establishment of a Jedi Temple on Tython was a catalyst that eventually created a lasting peace for the galaxy.
Kalja could be considered a prodigy in the Force. Her inherent skill and power has allowed her to easily learn and develop abilities that many others would consider difficult to master. Her deep connection with the Force does come at a price. While Kalja has always strived to use her abilities for the good of the galaxy, she is terrified of what she could become if she ever lost control and fell to the Dark Side. She would also be the first to admit that she's not very useful without her connection to the Force, although she has worked to change that a bit.
Despite her sometimes rocky history, Kalja is often held up as the consummate Jedi; a shining example that all others should strive for. Even though Kalja has largely stepped back from solving the galaxy's problems so she can focus on managing and protecting Tython, the mark she has made on the galaxy is indelible.
History[]
- "I've never seen someone so in tune with the Force without prior training. Mark my words, Falanis, one day Kalja is going to be greater than all of us."
- — Tulsar Leidias
Early Life[]
- "Welcome to the galaxy, Kalja Sairu. May your deeds be as noble as the legacy you've inherited."
- — Tulsar Leidias to a newborn Kalja Sairu Leidias
Kalja was a natural at communing with the Force early on.
Kalja was born to Tulsar and Falanis Leidias on the planet Juoi. Even at a young age her potential in the Force overshadowed anyone else in the family, much to the chagrin of her older brother, Sysen, and to an extent, her parents. Using the Force seemed to come intuitively to her and Kalja picked up Tulsar and Falanis’ lessons with little need of a repeat instruction.
By the time Kalja was seven she was already casually using the Core Powers to aid her in her everyday activities, which also started to get her into trouble since she had a penchant for wandering off if she saw someone who needed help. The first time Kalja ended up using her powers to help someone in public, her parents had to rush her away and explain what could happen if people found out about her, doing the best they could to impress upon the young Kalja the evils of Palpatine and Vader. While she didn’t fully understand why they couldn’t just stop the “bad men” when they showed up, Kalja largely refrained from using her abilities in public from that point onward – as long as no one was looking.
Although she was a prodigy in the Force, Kalja’s prowess with a lightsaber was far more lacking. Since she could feel life around her very acutely through the Force, Kalja absolutely refused to learn how to use a lightsaber; insisting that all it could do was kill. Tulsar eventually convinced her to start learning the largely defensive style of Soresu, but getting her to train in it became a daily chore. To make matters even more frustrating for her father, Kalja tended to be purposefully neglectful when it came to her practice lightsaber, either “forgetting” to bring it with her or finding creative ways to lose it to try and get out of the training. Tulsar, however, was adamant and remained just as persistent in trying to get her properly trained.
A Notorious Trip[]
- "Did they steal this stuff from you?”
“No. I saw them take it from a woman and didn’t see anyone else try to stop them, so I went after them.”
“I see. Seems you have a lot in common with my daughter in that respect." - — Tulsar Leidias speaking with Faye Ward
During a family trip to see Corellia, Kalja ran across her first experience with the evils of the galaxy. It started when she helped another girl her age, a disciple of the Followers of Palawa named Faye Ward, track down a thief. Like Kalja, Faye was considered something of a prodigy, only in her case it was through the martial arts. However, when the two young girls tracked the thief back to his gang, they found themselves outmatched and it was only through the timely intervention of Tulsar that a nasty situation was avoided.
Kalja’s ability to find people was also noticed from afar by Notorious, a Firrerreo street urchin who was looking for his friend, a young Corellian boy by the name of Gadget. After getting into contact with the Leidiases and explaining the situation, Tulsar was at first set to refuse for fear of the risk of exposing themselves to the Empire’s Jedi Hunters, but at Kalja’s insistence he agreed to help find Gadget. Faye and her Master, Lyn, agreed to help as well. With Kalja’s abilities, they soon discovered too late that Gadget had been taken by a group of nearly feral Anzati led by Rethe Frettan; the boy was already dead by the time they arrived.
Unknown to the Leidiases, Rethe was an old enemy of one of their ancestors, who had defeated him in the past. Rethe recognized them as descendants and attacked, hoping to rectify his past failure. The resulting duel with Rethe and his Anzati was hard fought, with Tulsar, Falanis, and Lyn doing most of the fighting, but in the end the feral Anzati were destroyed and Rethe was forced to flee to save his life. Kalja, who witnessed it all, lost her innocence that day, but not her faith in good triumphing over evil.
The event attracted the attention of the authorities and the Moff himself, Faarel Blackthorne. Things seemed rather bleak until Kalja recognized that Faarel was actually a Jedi in hiding. Knowing better than to doubt his daughter when it came to such things, Tulsar confronted Faarel in private with the information and explained the situation. The two were able to come to an understanding; the Leidias and Ward families were given clearance to depart and Notorious was secretly placed under Faarel’s protection until the heat died down.
- "I’ll call you Danolie, because you can patch yourself up just like my dolly, Danola."
- — Kalja to Danolie
A young Faye, Kalja, and Danolie on Corellia.
As Kalja said goodbye to her new friends, she gave Notorious a real name: Danolie (which was based on the name of her favorite doll, Danola). With names being so important to Firrerreo, Kalja’s gift of one was seen as a real treasure – though she didn’t realize it at the time.
Years later Kalja would encounter Faye, Danolie, and Faarel again at different times in her life and would further strengthen her bonds with them. She had no idea that she was also destined to meet someone far worse than Rethe who would end up changing her life forever.
Sivter[]
- "I feel cold. Why do I feel so cold?"
- — Kalja Sairu Leidias to Tulsar Leidias
For the most part, life for Kalja on Juoi was peaceful, and even her trips abroad with the family – Corellia excluded – were relatively uneventful. Her halcyon days were not meant to last, however, and would all come to a horrific end in the form of a cruel Defel Darksider named Sivter.
Kalja was the first to sense something was wrong after Sivter arrived on Juoi, even though she was too inexperienced to realize it was a Darksider. However Tulsar knew that his daughter’s senses were keener than his own and immediately began searching the planet for the elusive threat. After several weeks of cat-and-mouse between Sivter and Tulsar, the Jedi was finally able to drive the Defel from Juoi after a battle that Sivter barely escaped from alive. He was only saved from Tulsar’s killing strike after professing to give up and agreeing to leave and never return.
It would be a mistake that would haunt the Leidias family for years to come.
Sivter took advantage of Tulsar's mercy and only left to improve his skills at preventing himself from being sensed with the Force. When he secretly returned a few months later, Kalja was unable to sense him this time. It did create a vague sense of unease in her, but without being able to place why she was uneasy, all it served to do was make her restless.
With no reason to think Kalja’s vague anxiety was being caused by Sivter’s return, and Kalja herself unsure what was going on, Tulsar tried to help her relax by taking her to a fair that was being thrown at a nearby town. Either by fate or design, going to the fair likely saved their lives for Sivter chose that night to strike, killing Sysen and Falanis in their sleep.
The two rushed home immediately upon sensing the deaths, but Sivter was already long gone. It would be discovered later that Sivter had also contacted the Empire about Jedi being on the planet, which would lead into the Battle of Juoi. Amidst the chaos of the battle, the Darksider managed to get his hands on the information he had originally been seeking and slipped away before anyone could find him.
After the battle, Tulsar petitioned Juoi’s leader, Sulimurr, for the resources to hunt Sivter down. Sulimurr was only too eager to agree. Unwilling to risk something happening to his daughter in his absence, Tulsar took Kalja with him to watch over her and to help her grow even stronger in preparation for the next time they would encounter Sivter.
The Hunt[]
- "I never would have figured a girl so young would be up to the challenge of hunting Sivter. Boy, was I proven wrong real quick."
- — Davit Jipper
For many years Kalja joined her father in the hunt for Sivter. The Defel proved to be a slippery foe and would often be one step ahead of Tulsar and the crew of the Champion of Juoi, who had been assigned to help Tulsar. The few times they managed to get the drop on him, Sivter would find a way to escape.
Their failure to bring Sivter to justice became an increasing source of frustration for Tulsar, but Kalja discovered the hunt as a way to sharpen and perfect her own skills. An informal battle was soon waged between Sivter and Kalja throughout her time on the hunt. Kalja would hone her ability at detection and Sivter would in turn hone his at stealth to evade her.
Even with the danger of their mission, Kalja still adamantly refused to carry her lightsaber with her unless Tulsar gave her no other choice. Instead, Kalja focused on different ways she could use the Force to end a conflict without inflicting harm, or at the very least killing somebody.
The hunt also gave Kalja an opportunity to see a multitude of different worlds and races. The Champion became the informal ambassador ship of Juoi as they searched the galaxy for Sivter. Many times they would pick up temporary allies from other worlds that had felt Sivter’s touch, but the difficulty in tracking Sivter meant that their help only lasted so long.
The Sands of Time[]
- "It may be true that I will also fall against your power, Sivter, but I won't run. A Jedi's duty is to protect and preserve life, no matter what the cost."
- — Kalja Sairu Leidias
Even though they had no real success in stopping Sivter, they were eventually able to learn that Sivter was searching for the ancient Sith planet of Chisas, where legend had it that an army of Force-wielding droids were waiting to be activated and used. Tulsar and Kalja would soon meet new allies on Tatooine in the form of the Jedi Devon Vos and his family.
The two families joined forces even as Sivter joined up with an enemy of the Vos family; an ancient Sith known as Dragon Masque. Over the course of time, Sivter would be granted all of Masque’s power and knowledge as well as leadership of Masque’s cult. The Jedi were only able to corner Sivter once he finally reached Chisas, but with the droids at his command and the considerable power he had inherited from Masque, Sivter proved to be more than a match for the Jedi and their forces.
Because of her pacifistic nature, Kalja ended up being the last Jedi Sivter dealt with. Knowing that she couldn’t let Sivter unleash his droids on the galaxy or untold numbers of people would suffer because of it, Kalja valiantly made a stand to stop him. She fought well, but even her own great power wasn’t enough to overcome the combined might of Masque and Sivter. When things looked their darkest, Kalja had a burst of inspiration and discovered a way to exorcise the power Sivter had absorbed from Masque.
Severely weakened from the withdrawal, Sivter fled and activated the self-destruct on the droid factories to cover his escape and attempt to kill the Jedi that had thwarted him. Kalja managed to get everyone to safety, but once again Sivter escaped their grasp. Despite this, Tulsar called it a victory as the loss of Chisas was a major blow to Sivter.
Praxeum Days[]
- "It's a Leidias tradition to only train within our family... but then again I've never been one to let tradition interfere with the flow of the Force."
- — Kalja Sairu Leidias
Kalja teaching at Devon Vos' Praxeum.
After the events at Chisas, Devon invited Tulsar and Kalja to become instructors at a new Jedi Praxeum he was founding. Tulsar turned Devon down, but Kalja, ready for something different, agreed to join him and became the youngest instructor there. Her classes specialized in meditation and other aspects of the Force that didn’t have to do with violence. She proved to be a popular instructor although her accomplishments caused some students who were around her age to become jealous, including Faye Ward, who resented Kalja’s status as instructor since Faye was still considered a student. Kalja, just happy to share her wisdom, remained mostly oblivious to the resentment of her friend.
Devon, seeing how reluctant Kalja was about carrying a lightsaber, gave her a gift of a shield gauntlet while she was at the Praxeum. Kalja would make good use out of the shield gauntlet, even developing a style that incorporated the gauntlet with a lightsaber after she finally decided to carry the Jedi weapon around with her.
While at Devon’s Praxeum, Kalja also formed a bond with one of the students who was having a hard time opening himself to the Force, an orphan named Reave Hevren. Although Kalja had no way of knowing it at the time, Reave’s difficulty in using the Force would go far deeper than either of them could have guessed.
A Link to the Past[]
Kalja and Reave inside a Sith temple on the Praxeum Moon.
Kalja and Reave would eventually explore a crumbling Sith temple that was located on the same moon as Devon’s Praxeum. While inside, Kalja would connect with the spirit of one of her ancestors, Kalja Valie Leidias, who had given her life ages ago to seal the temple and trap the Sith spirits that dwelled within it.
Speaking with her ancestor, Kalja learned much from her elder namesake and it would be her words that would finally convince Kalja to carry a lightsaber at all times. Kalja also learned that her ancestor’s ship, the Mystic Aura, was still buried on the moon and, amazingly enough, in working condition.
With Reave and her ancestor’s help, Kalja was able to traverse the booby-trapped temple and fight past the ancient Sith’s alchemically created soldiers; known only as the Deadly. When it came time to destroy the temple, Kalja was forced to call upon her ability to draw power from the Force past her limit. She was able to exorcise the Sith spirits, free her ancestor, and extract herself and Reave from the temple while trapping the last of the Deadly inside.
True to the give and take nature of the Force, Kalja fell into a deep coma afterwards from the strain of drawing so much power. Her ancestor, Kalja Valie, remained behind to comfort Reave and let him know that Kalja would be alright before her spirit disappeared into the ether of the Force.
Jedi Council[]
- "I never expected to be nominated onto the Council by my fellow Jedi. It is an honor I'm not quite sure I deserve, but I will strive to embody the ideals of the Jedi Order and see to it that your faith in me is not misplaced."
- — Kalja Sairu Leidias
Kalja’s time at Devon’s Praxeum was cut short as she was invited to attend the first Jedi Convocation at Midpoint Station soon after waking from her coma. Before leaving though, she managed to extract the Mystic Aura from the moon’s jungle with some help from her father and the crew of the Champion. She also bequeathed her ancestor’s lightsaber to Reave as a sign of her faith in the young man, however Kalja kept another treasure she found on the ship: the long lost Leidias Family Holocron.
At the Jedi Convocation, Kalja was eloquent in her words about the redemption of fallen Jedi being a priority and was surprised to find herself voted onto the newly formed Jedi Council at the convocation’s end. It was an honor that she didn’t turn down; pleased that she would be able to serve the Jedi in such a capacity, despite the fact that she was still a Knight and also the youngest member of the Council. Coruscant became her new home and for the first time Kalja found that she had to reign in her senses or be overwhelmed by them on such a populated planet.
Kalja and Jana Dophi become friends on Coruscant.
Kalja dedicated her life to doing everything within her power to try and reestablish the Jedi Order, often at the expense of her own personal life. Perhaps it was fortunate then that while on Coruscant Kalja became acquainted with a Jedi Knight named Jana Dophi, who helped mind the Jedi Archives. The two women became fast friends, but oddly enough, it turned out to be the librarian Jana who was the more extroverted of the pair as she continually tired to hook up the perpetually single Kalja with a boyfriend. Kalja humored the attempts, but they tended to be doomed to failure for one reason or another.
Kalja was happy with her life and rarely left Coruscant unless it was a matter of grave importance, such as when she was contacted by Reave some months later...
Temptation[]
- "I can't do it, Reave! I can't do what you ask! It goes against everything I believe... and yet, what choice do I have? If I don't destroy the Val Aru now, every innocent life they take once they start their jihad will be on my head..."
- — Kalja Sairu Leidias
In Kalja’s absence, Reave had discovered his roots and learned that he had the blood of the ancient Val Aru race flowing through his veins. The powerful and genocidal race had been strong in the Force, but lacked any ethical guidelines about how to use it. The ancient Jedi had wiped them out millennia ago, but somehow a sect of them had survived into the present day and were threatening to wage a jihad against the galaxy.
With some help from Tulsar and another member of the Jedi Council, Ethan Voss, Reave had tracked down the Val Aru to the planet Calernon. Reave defied the Val Aru’s attempts to convert him, but even with the Jedi's combined might, they were no match against the power of the Val Aru.
To end their threat, Kalja had to make the most difficult decision of her life and use her own power in the Force, combined with the abilities of the Mystic Aura, to eradicate the Val Aru from Calernon before they could commence their plans and kill billions of innocent people. Even though the Val Aru had been hopelessly malevolent beings, their deaths still cut deeply into Kalja’s psyche.
After the events on Calernon, Kalja isolated herself from the galaxy and focused on meditation to heal her spiritual wounds. Her actions had brought her perilously close to the Dark Side and it scared her to think of the power that she could call on. She wouldn’t return to Coruscant until many months later; healed but forever with a scar of what she had been forced to do to protect the galaxy. One of the few bright spots to the incident that helped her to heal was Reave’s growth into a Jedi Knight and Tulsar’s agreement to adopt Reave into the Leidias family.
Fall of Coruscant[]
- "It might not be wise, but I'm staying behind. The Empire's occupation will cause great suffering. Someone has to be there to ease it."
- — Kalja Sairu Leidias
Upon her return to Coruscant, Kalja redoubled her efforts to help the new Jedi Order that she had helped establish grow stronger. However, with many of the other Council members frequently away on other missions, Kalja found herself more often than not maintaining the status quo with the few other Council members still on Coruscant. She contented herself with helping to teach again at Devon’s Praxeum, which had been moved to Coruscant in her absence.
Kalja in hiding on Coruscant.
The return to a quieter life would not last long, as the Empire, under the rule of Emperor Damascus, attacked Coruscant with the third Death Star. The New Republic was hopelessly overpowered and forced to flee the planet, which presented the Jedi with a dilemma of their own: stay and fight the Empire or leave and help the New Republic. In the end, the choice was up to each individual Jedi. Kalja herself chose to stay behind, not to fight the Empire but to help out those who would wind up suffering from its occupation. Her choice was motivated partly by a lingering need to still redeem herself after the Val Aru incident.
While working in the underground, Kalja came across Adumar Ranchino, a Tynnan who had been a student at the Jedi Temple before it was destroyed. Adumar was able to locate Kalja due to her incredibly bright aura in the Force and Kalja decided to take Adumar on as her new Padawan.
Kalja and Adumar did a lot of good while on occupied Coruscant, not the least of which was helping the New Republic resistance cells develop a cure for the Imperial registration virus from her own antibodies. Kalja soon had visions of a new threat encroaching on the galaxy, however, and knew it was time to go. Kalja and Adumar were able to get off Coruscant with some other Jedi and former Council member, Gideon Duthuras, thanks to some outside help provided by her father and Jonji Fawkes.
Search For Significance[]
- "I know you hate titles but you, probably more than any of us, deserve the title of Master and though not needed, it is bestowed upon you."
- — Daer'Gunn
The threat Kalja had sensed on Coruscant, as she would find out, came in the form of the Xen’Chi Invasion. However, even more alarming to Kalja was the entity known as GAIT, which had appeared during the Battle of Corellia while she was still trapped on Coruscant. Once she made it off the planet, Kalja dedicated her time to try and find out all she could about GAIT as well as ways to defeat it.
She didn’t make much progress before word reached her that the Jedi were creating a new academy on Onderon. Knowing that her duties to the Jedi took priority, Kalja rushed to the ancient planet and ended up helping Faarel Blackthorne (who had retaken the mantle of Jedi Master since their encounter on Corellia) receive the influx of Jedi and Force-sensitives who heeded the call.
Soon she and the newest incarnation of the Jedi Council built a new temple, one that incorporated the planet’s surroundings rather than overpower them. Later, in a ceremony where the current head of the Council, Daer'Gunn, inducted new Jedi into the Council, he also gave Kalja the title of Jedi Master. Although Kalja didn’t feel she was ready for it, she accepted Daer'Gunn’s decision, figuring that many Jedi already saw her as a Master even if she didn’t.
With the temple built and Kalja promoted to Jedi Master, Adumar came to a realization that his skills would be put to better use elsewhere. While he had learned a lot under Kalja, it was clear to him that he wouldn't be able to keep up with where her path was guiding her. There was a mutual parting of the ways for the two as Adumar decided to devote his time learning as a student again.
Akain Karna[]
- "I don’t often take on Padawans, but that’s because I only choose those I think will benefit the most from being my Padawan. Most can get what they need from me when I teach a class. For me to consider a Padawan… it requires something more. It was no mistake that I chose you."
- — Kalja Sairu Leidias comforting Akain Karna
Kalja comforts Akain Karna on Onderon.
A few weeks after Adumar left, Kalja ended up taking on a new apprentice, a Nagai named Akain Karna within whom she sensed enormous potential. Whereas Adumar had been eager to learn, Akain was nearly the opposite. Despite his talents, he had no confidence in himself. Kalja worked diligently with Akain, helping to him to build up confidence in his abilities in the Force. Unfortunately, as the Xen'Chi Invasion continued to take a heavy toll on the galaxy, Kalja would eventually be forced to cut Akain's training short.
On a trip to Taylon, to visit the City of the Jedi, Kalja was overwhelmed by a wave of pain and despair sent through the Force by GAIT. She ended up blacking out while on approach to Taylon, sending her ship out of control. Kalja and Akain would likely have been killed if not for the actions of Tav Garvin, who noticed the out of control ship and kept it from crashing.
Kalja recovered shortly thereafter, but the event forced her to make a hard decision. Knowing that Akain wasn't nearly ready to face something like GAIT, but realizing the galaxy needed her now more than ever, Kalja secured another teacher for Akain before departing Taylon alone. She vowed to herself that, if she made it back, she would resume Akain's instruction if needed.
Strange Alliances[]
- "I’ve spent most of my life dealing with monsters that threaten this galaxy. Just because I choose to believe the best about people, it doesn’t mean I’m blind to what it’s like out there. You have no idea what I’ve had to do to keep this galaxy safe; what I’ve sacrificed. I’ve got plenty of scars, Delth, on the inside. I bear them gladly because it means someone else won’t have to."
- — Kalja Sairu Leidias to Delth Ardin
Kalja was able to track the wake of the wave GAIT caused in the Force and use it to pinpoint the center of the disturbance. With a good idea of where the A.I. was hiding and confident that the abilities of the Mystic Aura would help her defeat GAIT, she took off to hopefully end the war...
Kalja’s path took her into an unexpected meeting with the Rogue Fleet and Dolomar Daktren of the Dark Star in particular. She was not the only one to show up though, it was as if the Force itself had worked to draw some of the best in the galaxy together in one place to fight GAIT. The eclectic group, Kalja included, consisted of Delth Ardin, her old friend: Danolie Notorious – now a Jedi, Skarrek, Ket Maliss, Grant Tirelli, and Josep. Under Daktren's suggestion, the strange alliance of people from different professions was formed into a task force with the sole purpose of tracking down and destroying the A.I.
The first action of the group was to locate and recruit Garrett G. Granth IV, since the man was known to have an extensive knowledge of GAIT. It was decided that Kalja, Danolie, and Delth would stay behind since Granth was also known to be wary of working with any affiliation. Between the three of them, they could be said to represent the New Republic and the Empire. No one else in the group had any such ties.
The three waited for their return in Kalja’s ship. It turned out to be a blessing in disguise as it allowed Kalja and Delth to know each other better and come to terms with who the other was. By the time the other members of the group returned with Granth and, unexpectedly, Ivan Munroe and Morgana Okaya, a professional respect had been forged between her and Delth.
Little did Kalja realize at the time that her talk with Delth would eventually lead to something much more profound…
The Cleansing[]
- "Twice GAIT has tried to single me out during battle without actually killing me. I’m positive that she doesn’t want me dead – at least not yet."
- — Kalja Sairu Leidias
The eclectic group would soon discover a way onto GAIT's flagship, the Cleansing, and begin a long struggle to reach GAIT's sanctum and destroy her. Thanks to a bio-bomb that Garrett had set off earlier, which was aggressively interfering with the ship's systems, the fighting was not as heavy as it could have been, but it was by no means easy to make their way through the ship. Devious traps, scores of droids, and Xen'Chi Chosen were all placed in the way by GAIT to try and destroy the intruders.
The closer they got to GAIT's sanctum, the tougher it became to proceed and after a particularly devastating trap, the group was forced to split up. Thanks to fate, Kalja ended up with Delth as her only companion as they neared ever-closer to their target. Little by little, without either of them realizing it, the two began to form a bond through the Force. At first it was just a means to survive the constant attacks, but as the bond became stronger, it also began to mean much more.
Feelings that they had not even been aware of started to surface and each was subtly changed by their contact with the other. Kalja’s inextinguishable light helped to quell the roiling darkness that Delth constantly struggled with, whereas Delth’s familiarity with death helped Kalja to better deal with those they were forced to cut down in order to make their way to GAIT. The feelings they had for each other also increased until they both realized they had something special.
Unfortunately, GAIT, who had been monitoring everyone’s progress, became very interested in Kalja due to the amount of power she wielded in the Living Force, which she could use to eliminate the effects of the bio-bomb. The A.I. focused numerous attacks on the pair to exhaust them before drawing Delth into the nether of the Cleansing. With Delth unable to help Kalja, GAIT was able to send in a legion of droids to successfully capture her.
Death & Rebirth[]
- "You should feel honored. Your body will be the last living organism to inhabit this galaxy by the time I’m finished."
- — GAIT to Kalja Sairu Leidias before taking over her body
Kalja, under GAIT's control.
Kalja, who had been preparing for an attempt by GAIT to take control of her body, was not surprised to discover she was right. Even though she had known what was coming, the speed in which GAIT took control was frightening and it was only through Kalja's prior understanding of what GAIT wanted that allowed her to retain her soul instead of having it destroyed by GAIT. Kalja hid herself away in a sanctuary within her own mind that was hidden well enough that GAIT couldn't find it. There she bided her time until the right moment presented itself for a surprise strike.
The waiting was an excruciating process for Kalja. All she could do was watch as GAIT was able to summon almost god-like power from her takeover and do horrible things with her newfound might. Although Skarrek, Ket, Danolie, and Delth fought bravely against the A.I., in the end none of them stood a chance. This was made especially clear after GAIT revealed that after acquiring Kalja's knowledge of healing through the Force, she could fix even the most grievous of wounds in a matter of seconds, making her practically invincible. One by one, the four warriors fell to GAIT.
It was only when GAIT was a hairsbreadth away from killing Delth, her focus almost completely on him, that Kalja made her move and disrupted GAIT's control over the Force. The tactic worked. Delth used Kalja's own lightsaber, which he had been hiding behind his back, to run both of them through in an act of ultimate sacrifice. Even with Kalja and Delth dying from the mortal wounds (Kalja though the heart, Delth through the stomach), they were able to keep GAIT's control disrupted long enough for her to only be partially successful in healing the wound in the heart.
Forced with the possibility of dying with Kalja's body, GAIT tried to flee and find another body to inhabit, but Kalja and Delth were able to force her into the nether dimension on the Cleansing instead. GAIT was defeated, trapped, but for the galaxy to truly be at peace, the genocidal A.I. had to be destroyed completely before she found a way to free herself from the nether…
The End of GAIT[]
- "I can’t follow you, Delth. There’s something I still have to do.”
“I know. We each have our own path.”
“Ours will meet again. I’m going to see to it that you have what you need to finish GAIT off once and for all. You aren’t alone anymore." - — Kalja Sairu Leidias and Delth Ardin speaking to each other between the physical realm and the nether
Both Kalja and Delth found themselves as spirits in the Force after GAIT’s defeat. Kalja wanted to follow Delth in pursuit of GAIT, but she knew that Delth would never be able to defeat GAIT alone in the nether. No one could. Without a physical body, the only way to kill GAIT would be to overpower her. Towards that end, Kalja resolved to return to her physical form and use the abilities of the Mystic Aura to engineer GAIT’s final and lasting death.
She and Delth shared what, at the time, they thought would be their only kiss. All the pent-up emotions they had been feeling for each other was expressed in the embrace before duty took hold once more. Delth left for the nether and Kalja returned to the living world, if only briefly, to ensure their final victory.
Slowing dying after being impaled and partially healed, Kalja nonetheless did what she could to save the other warriors who had fought against GAIT. With her connection to the Mystic Aura, Kalja was able to utilize one of the ship’s abilities and have it appear next to her. As she was barely able to crawl aboard, it was up to everyone else to make their way onto the ship. In spite of their injuries, Danolie, Ket, and Skarrek were able to stagger their way onboard. Danolie, perhaps the least injured of their group, even managed to drag Delth’s prone body onboard as well.
Kalja uses the Mystic Aura to contact Force-users across the galaxy.
With the Aura and Danolie’s remaining power keeping her mortally wounded body sustained, Kalja concentrated on helping Delth. The Mystic Aura served as her conduit, allowing Kalja to achieve a kind of Oneness with the Force and connect to every Force-user in the galaxy to plead for them to lend Delth their power. While not everyone contributed, the response was overwhelming and Delth was able to use that power to finally and completely destroy what was left of GAIT. The enemy of every biological lifeform would threaten the galaxy no more.
Kalja managed to cling to life just long enough to sense GAIT’s ultimate demise before her body finally quit on her. She welcomed the peace of becoming one with the Force, but had some regrets about going before her natural time. However she was unexpectedly saved moments from true death by Delth’s return.
While he still had access to the incredible power that had been given to him, Delth used it to heal Kalja back to life before collapsing into a coma as his physical body slowly died from the wound to the stomach. Kalja, her body perfectly restored, in turn used the healing knowledge she had to try and save Delth. While she was able to stabilize his connection, she couldn’t restore him as perfectly as he was able to restore her.
With GAIT’s complete annihilation, the Xen’Chi War ended soon afterwards. Delth, still in a coma, was taken into Imperial custody for treatment, and Kalja was forced to return to the Jedi rather than being allowed to try and help him further. However, Kalja vowed that she wasn’t about to give up on Delth so soon after realizing her feelings for him - even if that meant she had to change everything to make it happen.
Kalja managed to speak directly to the Regent of the Empire, Grand Admiral Thrawn, about the possibility of a treaty as a formal end to hostilities. Much to her delight, Thrawn appeared open to the idea, and agreed to meet at a neutral location known as Nexus Station in one standard weeks’ time to discuss it. It fell on Kalja’s shoulders to convince her fellow Jedi to agree as well…
New Opportunities[]
- "I know there is no love lost between us and the Empire, but I believe one of the biggest threats to the Jedi is changing for the better. I think helping Delth recover could be the first step in achieving a peace between us."
- — Kalja Sairu Leidias in her speech to the Jedi Council
Upon her return to Onderon Kalja discovered, much to her dismay, that in her absence Sivter and his Cult of Shadow had launched a devastating attack upon the Jedi temple. By the time of her return, the battle was long over, but the deaths of the Jedi involved - most notably Faarel Blackthorne - caused her no small distress. If she hadn’t already had Delth’s well-being to worry about, she would have set off once more to try and track down Sivter. As it was, she resolved to go after him once her business with helping Delth was finished.
With Imperial attitudes towards Jedi being less than friendly, and a lot of Jedi who could care less about the Empire because of the Purge, Kalja knew that the current level of distrust between the two groups meant she had her work cut out for her, but she never hesitated. Kalja couldn’t explain why, but she felt as though she was the only one who could bring Delth out of his coma, and she didn’t intend to sit around and do nothing when she had the power to help.
During Kalja’s meeting with the Jedi Council, she was eloquent in her passion to help and her belief that Delth had atoned for his past sins and deserved a chance to be helped. Although other council members shared misgivings about her idea, it was eventually decided that they would give it a try - if for no other reason than for what Delth had done for the galaxy by killing GAIT. And, as Daer’Gunn pointed out, it wasn’t the Jedi way to refuse any chance at peace.
Caitlyn DeVries[]
- "You are a member of the Jedi Order now, Caitlyn, and as long as you keep in mind the kind of responsibility that goes along with that, I see no reason for me to worry."
- — Kalja Sairu Leidias
Kalja meets Caitlyn DeVries on Onderon.
While on Onderon, Kalja found her old Padawan, Akain, with a young girl newly arrived to the temple, named Caitlyn DeVries. Although Kalja knew she already had her hands full with Akain, she felt a connection to Caitlyn that she couldn’t quite explain. Always one to trust in the Force, Kalja took it upon herself to take Caitlyn on as a second apprentice - little realizing at the time what it would mean for the future for herself and her apprentices.
In the week leading up to the soon to be historic meeting at Nexus Station, Kalja resumed her instruction duties, helping to teach Akain and Caitlyn in the ways of the Jedi. She found that Caitlyn’s rather open and direct personality was more effective at breaking through Akain’s withdrawn nature and lack of self-confidence than her own gentle nurturing and encouraged it whenever possible – little realizing what it would eventually lead to.
Nexus at Nexus[]
- "We just might make a diplomat out of you yet."
- — Kalja Sairu Leidias to Daer’Gunn
During the trip to Nexus Station, Kalja learned that Caitlyn had already been to the station once before looking for her sister. She tried to give words of encouragement, but it was clear that her new Padawan wasn’t eager to return. As such, when it came time for Kalja to leave Akain and Caitlyn for the meeting due to security precautions, she was glad to see Caitlyn leave with not only Akain, but some of the other Padawans as well, such as Rhyana Torshey and Renato Farani. It would be the last contact Kalja would have with her Padawans for awhile since the meeting room was protected by ysalamiri to put all the delegates at ease about the possibility of mind control.
The talks with Thrawn went well for the most part, with Kalja taking the lead and Daer’Gunn, in his capacity as Grand Master, following her example. However it didn’t take long for her Padawans to get into trouble in her absence, the most notable being a mysterious Darksider that confronted Caitlyn, but refrained from attacking her. When Kalja learned about the trouble they had been in during a recess in the talks, she tried to reassure Caitlyn, but suggested that she and Akain return to the Guardian where it was safe.
Before they could another Darksider, a Dathomiri witch known as Lyli Var'nio, tried to provoke Akain by psychically attacking Caitlyn, driving him to the Dark Side as he sought retaliation. While Kalja wouldn’t learn of it until after the incident, Lyli had been the killer of Akain’s parents, and the sight of her very nearly sent Akain over the edge. Nothing seemed able to deter him until Kalja resolutely stood in his way and talked him down. Lyli, her attempt thwarted, vanished before the authorities could find her. Seeing the anger issues Akain was dealing with, Kalja suggested he try her father’s method of Combat Meditation as a way to deal with the intense feelings he was dealing with. Akain gave it a try and started training under JSI operative Daria Nekros, discovering that it could indeed help him.
While the Padawans were taken off of the station, the events that had transpired almost ruined the negotiations between the Empire and the Jedi, with Thrawn pointing out that he had doubts about the Jedi controlling their own when the Masters at the talks couldn’t even control their Padawans. Kalja and Daer’Gunn were able to salvage the discussion by pointing out that their Padawans had simply defended themselves from attack, which seemed to satisfy the Imperial leader. Kalja tried not to think about how narrowly their chance at peace could have been ruined if Akain hadn’t listened to her about going after Lyli Var’nio.
Eventually an accord was struck and Thrawn gave his permission for the Jedi to see what help they could give to Delth. The historic implications of the truce were nearly lost on Kalja now that the way was open for her to help the man she loved.
Delth Restored[]
- "He's locked himself away. If the ghost is to be believed we have no hope of forcing the issue. There was a lock on the gate though... Which means somewhere there's a mental key that could open it."
- — Jola'Edana Kahlid Vos
Reviving Delth turned out to be a little more complicated than Kalja had anticipated, since although his body was fine, his mind was completely shut off from contact. Kalja’s old friend, Jola'Edana Kahlid Vos, who was an expert in healing and mental states, was able to create a simulacrum of the mental state of Delth’s mind. At first an attempt was made to reach Delth using a former Jedi acquaintance of Delth’s, Jaster Marael. He and Jola ran across the remains of Damascus' spirit connected to Delth's mind, who had lost his power and simply guided them to a fortress in the simulacrum that contained Delth's memories and core personality. The fortress remained sealed despite their best attempts to get inside. About all the duo could uncover was that Delth was indeed inside the fortress somewhere and that a mental key carried by someone else would be needed before they could go further.
Kalja volunteered immediately to be brought inside Delth’s mind and give it a try and quickly discovered that she could bypass the barriers of the fortress with ease, allowing her, Jola, and Jaster to enter. Kalja suspected that it had something to do with the mental bond she and Delth had established during their time on the Cleansing, but it remained speculation. The trio ventured through the fortress, past different doors that contained Delth’s memories, including a newly created one for Kalja, before they arrived at the room that contained Delth’s core personality.
Inside the room was a vision of Delth laid out on a stone slab. Acting more on instinct and her own gut feelings, Kalja approached, knelt down next to Delth’s prone form, and kissed him. For one reason or another, Kalja’s kiss was able to wake Delth and bring him back from his mental isolation. Before Kalja knew it, she and the rest were back in the real world and Delth was cognizant once again. She kissed him for real, no longer caring who knew about her feelings for him, and quietly promised Delth that they had a lot of catching up to do when he was ready.
However, the mental trip had lasted longer than Kalja expected, and a standard day had already passed since her arrival on Nexus Station. Working without sleep and both spiritually and emotionally drained from her journey into Delth’s mind, Kalja bid Delth farewell as she left to check on Akain and Caitlyn on the Guardian, promising to return as soon as she was able.
It would be a promise that she wouldn’t be able to keep as other forces were already in motion that would end up bringing Kalja closer to the breaking point than she had ever been before.
Kidnapped[]
- "Emperor’s black bones. They’re insane. Completely insane."
- — Mai Valentine, upon learning her target is Kalja Sairu Leidias
Unbeknownst to Kalja, at the same time she was trying to broker a peace between the Empire and the Jedi, her enemies were moving against her. The Obsidian Company, working through their front on Nexus Station, had their man Duncan Colivaar hire four mercenaries to kidnap Kalja for a mysterious client. The four who ended up taking the job; Mai Valentine, Lorcin Kileon, and Emmali Vaungier & Cassandra Muir; had no idea who it was they were supposed to kidnap until they arrived on the station. While the idea of kidnapping a Jedi Master was daunting, especially one of Kalja's skill, none of them backed down. In fact, the kidnapping proved to be surprisingly easy.
Exhausted from the long negotiations and her ordeal with Delth, Kajla wasn’t at her best when she was suddenly contacted by Mai, who gave her a datapad in a rush and said they needed to talk before leaving again. The team had done their homework as the datapad Mai had given her indicated that she had information on Sivter’s whereabouts. Although wary of some kind of deception with everything else that had happened to the Jedi on Nexus Station already, Kalja couldn’t turn down the possibility of locating the Defel and went to meet her.
Mai Valentine looks after Kalja's unconscious body.
When she arrived she was immediately accosted by Lorcin and knocked out by a sharp blow to her head. Kalja had no time to defend herself, managing only to send out a brief cry for help through the Force before falling unconscious. The call didn’t prevent Kalja from being taken from the station, but it did alert Akain, Caitlyn, and Delth that something was wrong. Her apprentices, with the aid of Sulimurr and the JSI, took Kalja’s new ship, the Swift Light, to try and find Tulsar to help them. Delth, on the other hand, was given command of a Strike Cruiser – aptly renamed the Ardin – to search for Kalja his way.
A Waking Nightmare[]
- "So what do you plan to do with me?"
"You’ll figure it all out soon enough. Sivter’s instructions were quite clear." - — Kalja Sairu Leidias speaking with Vok Ruvege
Kalja awoke naked in a cell, bound to a table and cut off from the Force by ysalamiri. Although she didn’t know it, she had been brought to Nar Shaddaa to draw her would-be rescuers into a trap. She didn’t stay on the Smuggler’s Moon for long as she was soon visited by Vok Ruvege who “interrogated” her by causing her as much pain as possible before she passed out. He didn’t even bother to ask her any questions.
After the interrogation, Kalja was once again transported to another location. She woke up in another room that was identical to the one she had been confined in on Nar Shaddaa, but found that one of her restraints had come loose. She took the opportunity to quickly free herself and wrap herself in a black cloak that had been left in the room with her. She also found that the door was unlocked, allowing her to exit her prison.
Kalja realizes that she's been cut off from the Force.
Kalja discovered that she was on the lower levels of some megacity planet, but it didn’t seem like either Nar Shaddaa or Coruscant. She also discovered that even though she had walked far enough away from the influence of the ysalamiri, she still couldn’t feel the Force. Kalja felt real panic at the realization that Vok had done something to her to cut her off from feeling the Force. What she didn’t know at the time was that Vok had let her escape on purpose and was watching her carefully, all in an effort to break Kalja’s will and cause her to spiral into despair.
Kalja soon learned that the Cult of Shadow was guarding every lift and road that would let her escape the depths of the planet she was on. Without the Force, she knew she was no match for any of them and struggled to find some way out of her predicament with little success. Kalja soon found herself at her lowest point when a gangleader named Sak got ahold of her and threatened to have his way with her. She had just about resigned herself to her fate before unexpectedly being rescued by a Vorzydiak named Geshk who chased off the gang members and brought her to the relative safety of his flat.
The Price of Conviction[]
- "In reality, Kalja, you never left my cage. I just gilded it to make you believe you had."
- — Vok Ruvege
For a brief time, Kalja thought she might be safe with Geshk. She learned from him that she was on Vorzyd V and that there was some kind of communications interference happening on the lower levels where they were at. Although they were strangers, Geshk did everything he could to try and make Kalja comfortable, providing her with clothes, a place to sleep, and even offering to figure out a way to get her to the surface of the planet beyond the communication interference.
Thanks to Geshk, Kalja began to feel better about her situation, but the reprieve from her misery was destined to be brief. After only a few hours, Vok Ruvege unexpectedly broke into Geshk’s flat in what seemed like an attempt to grab Kalja again. Geshk tried to stop Vok with his blaster, but the Inner Circle Dark Lord simply batted away the blaster bolts with his hand before drawing the Vorzydiak to his hand to choke the life out of him.
Geshk had no chance against Vok’s power and sheer strength, so Kalja tried to plead with Vok to spare her new friend and take her instead. That was when Vok hit Kalja with a chilling reveal: she hadn’t been cut off from the Force entirely. She could still access it via the Dark Side. All she had to do to save Geshk was to use it.
Terrified at the thought of what she would be like as a Darksider, Kalja refused and as a result Vok snapped Geshk’s neck, killing him instantly. Vok continued to taunt Kalja after the killing by letting her know that Geshk had been implanted with a suggestion that he had to protect her. The entire situation had been manufactured to toy with Kalja’s emotions and try to make her more vulnerable to accepting the Dark Side.
Since the ploy with Geshk failed, Vok decided to move on to his second plan and initiated the Massacre on Vorzyd V to see if Kalja would act to stop the slaughter of thousands of people. As the populace of the planet began to tear itself apart, Kalja inadvertently felt a flash of anger, but even that brief look into what she might become terrified her and she withdrew deeper into herself. Seeing that not even a massacre would be enough to turn Kalja, Vok left her in the flat to witness the fall of the planet.
Thankfully, Kalja's outburst of anger was strong enough that it was sensed by a search party, headed by her father and Delth, who had been turning Vorzyd V upside down in an attempt to recover her. They were able to find her and take her back to the Ardin. At Kalja's insistence, Geshk's body was also taken so it could be laid to rest in a better place than the slums of Vorzyd V.
Living without the Force[]
- "I’m trying to work through this, but every moment I’m awake it feels like I’m suffocating. I feel so… trapped, so… hollow…"
- — Kalja Sairu Leidias
After leaving Vorzyd V, Kalja returned to the Jedi Temple at Onderon with her rescuers so she could be examined by a healer of the Jedi Order to see if the Force could find something normal medical scans could not. She even invited Delth to come with her to the surface despite his reluctance to be surrounded by Jedi after having killed so many of them in his past. However, she was able to convince him to try, noting that he was a different person from who he used to be.
While at the temple Kalja was examined by Master Healer Chirushk, a skilled healer from the days of the Clone Wars that had gone into exile and only recently rejoined the Jedi Order. Chirushk was able to confirm that what Vok had done to Kalja was inject a special type of Sith Poison into her body that perfectly mimicked its surroundings. The integration was so perfect that most medical scans wouldn't be able to pick it up. Chirushk had only been able to identify it by using the Force to trick the substance into briefly revealing itself.
With the integration so complete, Chirushk suspected that even just finding a way to study it could take a long time - let alone finding a way to cure it. The one small blessing for Kalja was that it apparently wasn't contagious - something she hadn't considered - but a frightening thought in hindsight.
With the possibility of curing it on their own looking like a longshot, it was suggested by Delth that perhaps they could capture someone from the Cult of Shadow that they could use to get information about the poison. Unfortunately, with the cult being far too good at covering their tracks, it meant that they would have to find some way of luring a high ranking cult member to them instead. After some brainstorming it was clear that the only bait they had that Sivter would be interested in going after would be Kalja herself - specifically if it looked like Kalja had either restored her powers or fallen to the Dark Side.
Kalja was adamant about not using the Dark Side, which meant they had to find a way to make it look like her powers were back. Without a real cure, they would have to find another Jedi that could impersonate Kalja well enough to fool the Cult of Shadow. There was really only one choice, Kalja's old friend, Jana. Although Jana didn't have the same kind of raw power that Kalja did, they shared many of the same skills and mannerisms and Jana was an expert at disguising herself with the Force.
There was some initial awkwardness when Jana revealed that Delth had killed her uncle back in they day, but as the three of them discussed the plan, Jana agreed to help. It was also decided that their best bet in making the plan work would be to have as few people as possible knowing about it. They agreed that the details would only be known by Kalja, Delth, Jana, and Radek Vidar - Jana's apprentice who would also act as her bodyguard in the mission to come.
New Family[]
- "Today is too special to ruin it by talking about Sivter. His time will come. Right now, I’d rather we focus on happier memories."
- — Kalja Sairu Leidias to Reave Hevren
As Delth returned to the Ardin to start work on where they would try and trap the Cult of Shadow, Kalja stayed at the temple to try and wrap up any loose ends with her friends and family in case the plan didn't work out. She had conversations with Caitlyn and Akain, speaking to both of them separately in an effort to settle the relationship issues the two were going through at the time, even taking time to help teach Caitlyn how to make cookies to add to the quality time.
Kalja was also introduced to the pair's newly adopted "son", an Anuran by the name of Salvatore E. Salmurian that they had rescued from the slums of Vorzyd V while they had been looking for her. The bond between Sal and Kalja was instantaneous even though it took Kalja a bit to understand Sal's unique method of categorizing his family tree and his insistence of referring to her as "Grandma" Kalja. She was able to convince Sal to change the title to "Aunt" after bribing him with some cookies.
After catching up with her Padawans and their personal lives, Kalja also made sure to tell them both that her father would be taking over their training while she was recovering from what happened to her on Vorzyd V. Neither Akain or Caitlyn seemed happy to hear about the change, but accepted it because of Kalja's condition.
Caitlyn and Akain posing for a holo-photo with Kalja on Onderon.
When Kalja went to visit with her father and Reave, she was also unexpectedly introduced to her new sister, Morwenna, who was Reave's previously unknown younger sister that her father had also adopted into the family. This led to a round of taking holo-photos, some with Kalja, her father, and her adopted siblings, some with Caitlyn included since Kalja considered her to be an unofficial younger sister, and one with just Kalja, Caitlyn, and Akain (who had been reluctant to be involved in any pictures until he was forced to join in).
After that eventful day, a few weeks passed as the plan to lure out the Cult of Shadow was secretly put together and finalized. Kalja spent much of that time informing Jana about as much of her life, past and present, as she could so her friend would be able to better sell the deception. This included everything that was going on with her students. Finally, once everything had been prepped as much as possible, Kalja had Jana officially take over as "Kalja" and Kalja went undercover on the Ardin. However, she also left holo-recordings explaining her actions with Jana just in case her Padawans or a member of her family saw through the ruse.
The next stop for Kalja would be Sernpidal...
The Ruse[]
- "I can get used to you in that uniform."
- — Delth Ardin to Kalja Sairu Leidias (as Shalai Var)
In order to try and draw out a high ranking member of the Cult of Shadow, it was decided that riling up an existing rebel group on Sernpidal, known as New Dawn, would be the way to do it. Since New Dawn had strong ties to Black Sun, the resulting action to stop them would be more akin to a police action than oppressing the populace. The group was successfully motivated to take control of a power plant after the schematics were provided to them through agents of the Obsidian Company (neither Kalja or Delth were aware that the Obsidian Company had been the ones to kidnap her back on Nexus Station).
With the schematics, New Dawn were able to successfully take control of the power planet as well as some hostages. As per the plan, the Empire had a response ready, but Delth lobbied for famed Jedi Master Kalja Sairu Leidias to try a peaceful intervention first. This intervention was designed to show any cult members watching that Kalja had somehow recovered her full powers which would then hopefully lure a high ranking member to deal with her that they could then capture and use to find where the cult was hiding.
Kalja in disguise as ISS officer Shalai Var.
In reality, "Kalja" was just Jana using the Force to look like her old friend. Kalja herself was in disguise as "Shalai Var," an observer from the Imperial Special Services. Since Kalja couldn't use the Force to disguise herself, she physically cut her hair short, dyed it black, and changed her eye color to brown with special contacts. She then took on the persona of Shalai by dredging up every anti-Jedi sentiment she'd ever been exposed to. It was surprisingly easy for Kalja to play Shalai, which she suspected had something to with her lack of a connection with the Force.
The plan started going off the rails when it was clear that even though Jana was perfectly disguised as Kalja, right down to the mannerisms, she lacked Kalja's extensive field experience and failed to make any headway negotiating with the New Dawn leader, a man named Kerr Arans. This necessitated taking the power plant back by Force. Jana as Kalja worked with the Imperial troops to re-secure the power plant and ended up putting on a good enough show that it really looked like Kalja had her powers back. A cult agent known as Tajran, who had been secretly observing the events on Sernpidal, reported that Kalja was active once more.
The resulting events to follow would become known as the Skirmish on Sernpidal.
Triggering the Trap[]
- "Let me assure you, Jedi, that while you may look like Ms. Leidias, only a fool would mistake you for the real thing."
- — Vok Ruvege to Jana Dophi
The person Sivter sent to investigate the news of Kalja's recovery ended up being Vok Ruvege, the same Dark Lord that had poisoned Kalja in the first place. Vok arrived on the planet a few days after the power planet incident as "Kalja" was being paraded around the capital city for her actions against New Dawn. Vok was exceedingly cautious about the entire thing and smelled a trap just waiting to be triggered. Eventually he decided to set off the trap, but on his terms.
First, in order to draw away the Imperial forces, he unleashed three Terencors in the main spaceport that he had brought with him for just such a diversion. The giant Sithspawn aberrations quickly made a mess of everything around them, necessitating that the Imperial forces respond to the surprise attack instead of protecting their bait.
Jana and Radek[]
- "That was Vok. Jana... Radek... they never had a chance."
- — Kalja Sairu Leidias
Vok then faced off against the imposter Kalja personally and quickly deduced that it wasn't the real deal by using the Force to carry her scent directly to him. Even though she was found out, Jana kept up the disguise to try and hold Vok's attention as long as possible. She and Radek faced off against him simultaneously, but Vok was able to match and counter their moves despite being outnumbered. It quickly became clear that even working together wouldn't be enough to defeat him.
Radek tried to escape with Jana once he realized how outmatched they were, but Vok sent five of his best cult members after them as they retreated. The chase ended as Radek sacrificed himself with a thermal detonator to blow up a building with him and the five cultists inside, taking them all out in the explosion and subsequent building collapse. Radek's last act was to save Jana by using the Force to send her flying out of a gap in a nearby wall into a vacant lot.
Unfortunately, Vok was waiting for her, having gone the long way around to ambush the duo. He didn't expect Radek to sacrifice himself, but it also meant that Jana had to try and face him alone. She was in no shape to put up a fight and Vok was able to quickly overpower her, putting her in a chokehold and zapping her directly with Force Lightning. Jana could no longer maintain her disguise and dropped it just before falling unconscious. Vok decided to spare her life once he saw that the imposter Kalja was Jana Dophi since he suspected Sivter would enjoy absorbing Jana's vast wealth of knowledge.
However, before Vok could summon some minions to take Jana away, he was attacked by Delth at a distance with a sniper rifle...
Delth and Jaster[]
- "You succeeded in getting my attention, Mr. Ardin. I hope you know what to do now that you have it."
- — Vok Ruvege to Delth Ardin
Vok was able to avoid Delth's sniper shots through a combination of sensing the projectiles through the Force and using debris as cover. The Shistavanen Dark Lord then began backtracking the shots to Delth's location, necessitating Delth to go down into the vacant lot and face Vok directly or it would put Kalja in danger (who was at his side). Without a connection to the Force, Delth had to rely on his extensive combat experience against Forcers to try and take Vok down.
Delth felt confident in his abilities and experience, attacking Vok with a dual combination of a lightsaber in one hand and a vibroblade in the other. Vok, however, was unlike any opponent Delth had fought before; no boasting, no overconfidence, just pure combat prowess that could match and even exceed Delth's best efforts.
Meanwhile, with Vok busy in his fight against Delth, Kalja used her authority as Shalai Var to order some nearby Imperial troops to retrieve Jana's body and search for Radek.
The worst injury Delth managed to inflict on Vok was a shallow slash across the Dark Lord's chest with his vibroblade, but it became increasingly obvious as the fight between the two continued that Vok had control of the situation. Eventually Vok was able to surprise Delth by activating his dual-phase lightsaber, using the distraction to slice through Delth's lightsaber and part of his hand. Delth tried to retaliate by pulling his blaster for a point-blank shot at Vok, but got a reflected blaster bolt to the stomach for his trouble.
Before Vok could finish Delth off, he was stopped by the unexpected arrival of a rogue Jedi known as Jaster Mereel, an old ally of Delth's. Jaster was skilled with a lightsaber and was able to match Vok in lightsaber combat, but the Dark Lord was done playing around. He used his ability to absorb energy to suddenly grasp Jaster's lightsaber with his bare hand and used the other to blast the interloper with lightning. The sheer power of the attack blew Jaster through the wall of a nearby building and rendered him unconscious.
Thus Vok Ruvege emerged triumphant from his successive duels on Sernpidal and there was no one left to protect Kalja from him...
Loss of Control[]
- "I’m going to make you feel every life you extinguished on Vorzyd V! Then I’m going to eradicate Sivter and his cult. And then all the other self-styled Darksiders will follow. I’ll kill them all. I’m sick of it! I’ll make sure no one ever impedes on the peace of my galaxy again!"
- — Kalja Sairu Leidias to Vok Ruvege
Kalja was a witness to everyone's attempts to stop Vok on her behalf. As they fell to him one-by-one, Kalja could feel her own despair growing at her own weakness to do anything to help. All she could do was watch in a vain hope that she might see something that could be used against Vok.
Vok, likewise, knew his prey well. He knew Kalja was hiding from him, but that she wasn't the type to run. In order to draw her out, he gave Kalja an ultimatum - much like the one he issued to her on Vorzyd V. Only this time he used Delth's severely injured and unconscious body as the incentive. He threatened to kill Delth unless she revealed herself.
Unwillingly to lose Delth, Kalja emerged from hiding and tried to exchange herself for Delth, but Vok wasn't interested in a trade. His goal was to make Kalja use the Dark Side, so he gave Kalja a five count to stop him or she could watch him finish off Delth. As Vok counted down, Kalja tried desperately to think of anything else she could do, but every idea met a dead end. Vok was simply too intelligent, too skilled, and too powerful.
Kalja nearly kills Vok Ruvege with the Dark Side.
So when Vok reached the end of his count, Kalja did the one thing she had sworn to herself that she would never do; she willingly embraced the Dark Side. The power that came to her was like a breath of fresh air after slowly drowning. With merely a thought she stopped Vok from moving before crushing his arm to pulp and rendering his lightsaber useless. She then grabbed the Dark Lord in a vise made from the Force and started to slowly crush his body.
Meanwhile, in her head, a part of Kalja was trying to argue with herself that Vok was beaten and they could release this power. However, the arguments made little headway against how good Kalja felt while immersed in the Force again. She was almost lost to it all until she saw Vok laughing at his imminent death and realized that her fall to the Dark Side was exactly what Vok wanted. The revelation was enough to snap Kalja back to her senses and she was able to successfully relinquish her power in an explosive shockwave that could be felt several blocks away from her.
Kalja slipped into unconsciousness from the sudden withdrawal of power and Vok, still alive, but his body mangled, was forced to retreat.
Aftermath[]
- "Kalja can be a true danger, Delth, perhaps even more powerful than Damascus. She can't be allowed to fall. And you cannot follow."
- — Jaster Mereel to Delth Ardin
Kalja awoke in the medical bay of the Ardin, feeling sick at the thought of what she had done and what she had almost become. It was a relief for her to learn that Delth, Jana, and Jaster were all going to be okay. In Delth's case, it meant he was going to have to be fitted with a prosthetic hand and acquire a new lightsaber, but otherwise he had pulled through just fine.
Not all of the news was good though. The Imperial search teams were unable to find Radek's body, which very likely meant that Jana's apprentice had been vaporized in the blast of the thermal detonator. All Kalja could do was apologize to her friend, but Jana was very forgiving and made it clear that she and Radek had both known the dangers before deciding to try and help her.
Jaster, learning more about Kalja's dilemma, offered to completely cut off Kalja's connection to the Force so that she wouldn't even be able to use the Dark Side. Kalja refused the offer. Even though she knew it might be a safer option, a part of her wasn't certain that Sivter and the Cult of Shadow wouldn't find a way around the technique.
Soon enough Jaster left to help find more allies to fight the Cult of Shadow and Jana left to return to the Jedi Temple at Onderon. Kalja and Delth discussed what their next move should be before ultimately deciding on a visit to Chandrila. Kalja's research with her family holocron indicated that the planet's crystal canyons might provide a key to finding a cure. She became even more adamant about going when she learned that Chandrila was Delth's homeworld. It was like a sign from the Force itself.
However, they were done using Imperial resources on Kalja's behalf. The Imperial Director of Intelligence, Maezal Voss, regarded everything that had happened at Sernpidal to be a waste of resources and didn't consider the Cult of Shadow to be anything but a minor nuisance on the galactic stage. As such he prohibited any further use of the Ardin or its crew in trying to fight the Cult of Shadow.
With no other option available to them, Kalja and Delth said their goodbyes to the crew of the Ardin and left for Chandrila in the Swift Light.
Reforging Connections[]
- "I just need to figure out how I'm going to live the rest of my life... and with whom."
"Oh, really? You’re still trying to figure that out? Who’s my competition?"
"I have to admit that I’d be hard-pressed to top you." - — Delth Ardin speaking with Kalja Sairu Leidias
Visiting Chandrila with just Delth felt like a vacation to Kalja. Even though they were here for a serious purpose, to try and restore her connection to the Force, she was determined to have a little quality time with Delth while they went about it. Ever since making their connection when fighting against GAIT, there had always been something in the way of them getting a chance to explore their relationship more fully. While they both had demonstrated their commitment to each other in big ways, they hadn't really had time to just enjoy being together.
So when Delth suggested they visit his old childhood home as their first stop, Kalja was more than happy to join him. What neither of them expected was that the old Ardin home would be made into a museum to celebrate the deeds of Delth and his older brother, James. The tour brought back many memories for Delth, which he quietly shared with Kalja as they tried to remain inconspicuous. Kalja's hair was still short and black, but she had discarded the Shalai Var persona after the disaster on Sernpidal. Delth was wearing civilian clothing with a hat worn low to obscure his face. Neither look was something usually associated with the pair.
Kalja keeping a low profile on Chandrila as Ashla Laorn.
When it was revealed that two large bronze statues of the Ardin brothers had been built in the backyard, one of James, tall and regal, and the other of Delth, acting as a protector for his brother, Delth started to get overwhelmed with emotions - even seeing an image of his dead brother telling him that it was okay to finally find peace. Delth's outburst caused the rest of the tour crowd to look at him and recognize one the heroes of their homeworld. Kalja, thinking quickly, adopted another persona and called herself "Ashla Laorn" before passing herself off as Delth's personal assistant to give her some kind of authority to keep the crowd back so Delth could compose himself.
Delth recovered quickly and he spent the next hour or so taking holos and signing autographs with the other people on the tour. He would later confide to Kalja that part of the reason he became overwhelmed by emotions was because his own connection to the Force was returning to him.
Rest and Relaxation[]
- "I think I enjoyed not being recognized. It’s been forever since I’ve had strangers treat me like a normal person."
- — Kalja Sairu Leidias to Delth Ardin
Kalja was happy to know the Force was returning to Delth even if she had yet to find a cure for herself. She had never seen Delth look so at peace with himself and she was enjoying spending time with him. Kalja also found herself enjoying her anonymity as Ashla, giving her a certain sense of freedom to just be a regular person. She made a decision to delay their visit to the crystal canyons for at least a day or so to give them time to just experience Chandrila's beauty and charms as a couple without the weight of the galaxy on their shoulders.
They took a swim in the Silver Sea, with Kalja remarking how good the water felt and even sharing some of her family history with Delth, such as the tradition to name every first-born daughter "Kalja" even though no one knew why or where it first started - or even who the first Kalja was.
That night they dined at the Wavecrest Hotel, and were unexpectedly joined by a young man named Trai Roviditian whose family owned the hotel. The Roviditians were a powerful family of politicians on Chandrila, in fact Trai's father was the current mayor of Hanna City. Trai warned the couple that now that people knew Delth was back on his homeworld, they were going to be swarmed by the local media and tabloid reporters before too much longer. He offered to help keep their whereabouts secret since doing so was something his family had a lot of experience with.
Although Kalja and Delth were a little wary about Trai's reasons for helping them, they agreed to accept his help. Before long they had been secreted away to the Roviditian family mansion without any reporters catching on to what happened. To keep up appearances, Kalja and Delth took separate rooms next to each other to continue the façade of Delth and his assistant. Even though they couldn't spend the night together, Kalja gave him a kiss that promised more in the future.
Hope at Last[]
- "I’ve never heard of any Leidiases living on Chandrila before, but then again my lineage has numerous examples of the family moving to one planet or another throughout the generations..."
- — Kalja Sairu Leidias
The Leidias Family Crest.
The next day Kalja and Delth borrowed one of the speeders from the Roviditian motor pool and made their way to the crystal caverns. Trai didn't pry into their business, but left them with a comlink that was keyed to his personal frequency in case they needed help.
The caverns were busy with tourists when the pair arrived, forcing them to wait out the crowds so they could investigate the caverns without drawing attention to themselves. After hours of searching, Kalja finally ran across a clue when she found a broken version of the Leidias family crest, which indicated that at least one Leidias Jedi had a tomb in the caverns somewhere.
Working backwards from the crest led to a collapsed section of the caverns, which she and Delth had to clear by themselves. Thankfully some careful cuts with Kalja's lightsaber made it easier to move the larger rocks. A few hours later they had managed to clear out enough of the caverns to reveal a set of massive doors that also had the Leidias family crest on them. Just touching the doors was enough to give Kalja a slight tingle in the Force that had nothing to do with the Dark Side. Unfortunately the doors themselves refused to budge no matter how much strength was applied to them.
Although Delth suggested trying to cut their way inside, Kalja wasn't ready to desecrate a part of her heritage so soon. She was sure there that there had to be some kind of trick to open the doors. Ultimately Kalja decided to head back up to do more research with the Leidias Family Holocron to hopefully find an answer.
Once the pair reached the surface they found a message from Trai waiting for them; a local insurrectionist group, known as the Mothmen, had taken control of the Chandrilan House and were demanding to speak with Delth...
Moths to Flame[]
- "The Mothmen have no idea what they’re asking. This will be over before they know what hit them."
"Just come back to me alive and try to keep the casualties to a minimum."
"I can promise the former, but not the latter." - — Delth Ardin speaking with Kalja Sairu Leidias
The hostage situation turned out to be a ruse by the Cult of Shadow, who were only using the Mothmen to lure Delth to them. A Dark Knight from the cult, known as Blud, had taken control of the Mothmen and forced them into undertaking such a high profile crime. When Delth arrived, Blud challenged him to a fight. The cultist was strong and powerful, but Delth was not the same person he had been on Sernpidal. His connection to the Force had been growing ever stronger since arriving on Chandrila.
He managed to deliver what appeared to be a killing strike on Blud with the Dark Knight's own lightsaber. The rest of the Mothmen surrendered to Imperial authorities shortly afterwards as it was quickly apparent that none of them were a match for Delth. Unknown to Delth, the entire proceedings had been watched by another member of the Cult of Shadow who followed Delth back to the crystal canyons.
Kalja, meanwhile, was deep in research with her family holocron, having found a gatekeeper by the name of Jener Leidias, who seemed to be one of the oldest gatekeepers the holocron had. Jener informed her that the doors were sealed shut with the Force and anything powerful enough to bypass them would probably destroy the tombs as well. However the doors could be opened with a passcode that was supposedly known to all members of the Leidias family if they had stayed true to their traditions.
It seemed like another dead end for Kalja as no one in her family in the current age had known anything about there being Leidiases buried on Chandrila, let alone a passcode that could open the doors. Kalja mulled over what the answer could possibly be and was no closer to solving the puzzle by the time Delth returned. Searching around the crystal canyons the next day also failed to reveal any clues, frustrating and exhausting Kalja in equal measure. To try and get clarity of mind again, Kalja started reciting the ancient Leidias meditation chant:
- "The Force is an endless ocean. It is shallow and impossibly deep. I swim the ocean. I will let it guide me to the proper current…"
- — Leidias Family Meditation Chant
The chant turned out to be the key and the doors that had blocked Kalja from her potential cure finally opened...
Connections Restored[]
- "In life I was known as Kalja Ashla Leidias - the first to bear the Kalja name."
- — The spirit of Kalja Ashla Leidias to Kalja Sairu Leidias
Opening the doors had an immediate effect on Delth as the power of the Force that had been sealed behind the doors poured out like a tidal wave. The exposure fully opened his connection to the Force, bringing back senses and abilities he had lost ever since the last fateful battle with GAIT. Kalja didn't have to wait too long to find her cure either as she uncovered the tomb of Kalja Ashla Leidias and a moment later the spirit of Kalja Ashla appeared before her.
Kalja had a million questions for her distant ancestor and not a lot of time to ask any of them. In the end Kalja Ashla answered what she could before confirming that she could cure Kalja of the cult's Sith Poison. In fact her ancestor had been waiting for millennia to do just that as it had been foretold a long time ago that Kalja would be needed to bring the galaxy out of a Great Darkness. Kalja took it to mean that she was needed to defeat Sivter, but her ancestor would only cryptically state that Sivter was just one part of it.
The procedure would be simple enough for the spirit of Kalja Ashla, but it would leave both of them helpless while she neutralized the poison. Kalja knew that Delth would protect her with his life, so she didn't hesitate to start the procedure. Soon, both Kaljas merged into one and effectively entered a coma-like state as the painstaking process of undoing what the Cult of Shadow had inflicted was started.
It left Delth alone to watch over and guard them...
Old Ghosts[]
- "I think perhaps you truly are the best I’ve ever faced. It’s a real pity that Ms. Leidias has you wrapped around her finger, I believe you would have enjoyed being a part of the Cult of Shadow."
- — Vok Ruvege to Delth Ardin
As soon as Kalja was unresponsive, Delth's father, Damascus, appeared before him as a spirit, claiming that the power of the tomb and their familial connection was allowing him to speak directly to his son. Damascus tried tempting Delth into using his newly restored connection in the Force to grab for even greater power in the universe, promising that with Kalja's restored connection and her influence by his side, no one would be able to stand against him. Delth would have none of it and unequivocally rejected the vision Damascus tried to spin, forcing his father to drop the argument for the time being.
However, almost as soon as Damascus had been dealt with, another threat arrived in the tomb: Vok Ruvege. Vok had used Blud to flush Delth out of hiding and had followed him back to the tombs and had been patiently waiting for a chance to strike. With Kalja on the verge of regaining her connection and Delth all alone, there seemed to be no better opportunity.
The rematch between Delth and Vok was a bit more even than it had been on Sernpidal, but Vok still seemed to have the edge despite Delth's newly returned powers. Delth also had the additional burden of protecting Kalja's body as Vok had made it clear that he would try to kill Kalja if Delth gave him any openings to do so. The battle soon turned in Vok's favor when he revealed a power had hadn't used in their last match by covering his fists with Force lightning, so even if Delth blocked one of his blows, he'd still take a shock from the lightning which would numb his body and slow his reflexes.
The End of Vok Ruvege[]
- "Goodbye, Delth Ardin, may Chaos take you as it takes me now."
- — Vok Ruvege
Before long Vok had Delth at his mercy, on the ground and ready to deliver a killing blow with his lightsaber. Delth tried one last desperation move by unleashing all of the pent-up darkness in his soul as a blast of power against Vok, but it was not enough to even push the Dark Lord back. Right as Vok prepared to impale Delth with his lightsaber, Delth spotted Kalja Ashla's Jedi Sword and called it to him with the Force just in time to sever both of Vok's hands. He then finished the battle by impaling Vok through the chest.
Vok was too tough to die right away, although it was clear he didn't have long. The Dark Lord congratulated Delth on his victory before pulling one last move and unleashing all of the dark power still inside him as an explosion of chaos. The explosion didn't seem to affect the Kaljas, but it was almost more than Delth could bear. It also severely weakened the structural integrity of the tomb, forcing Delth to try and summon enough power in the Force to keep it from collapsing entirely. Through sheer willpower, Delth did everything he could to keep the tomb up while he tried to carry Kalja to safety.
It wasn't enough. Delth had used up practically everything he had fighting Vok, but just as all seemed lost, he felt a spark from Kalja as her power started to return. Instinctively Delth knew that Kalja was sharing her power with him and it gave him just enough strength to get the both of them to safety before the tomb collapsed.
With the danger passed and his body beyond exhaustion, Delth collapsed into unconsciousness next to the woman he loved.
A New Day[]
- "You know who I am?"
"What probably threw me off longest was having to wrap my head around the concept of Delth Ardin and Kalja Leidias being in a relationship together. That’s a better disguise than all the fake names and black hair dye in the galaxy."
"Well, I suppose it was bound to come out eventually." - — Kalja Sairu Leidias speaking with Trai Roviditian
The two were each unconscious for about three days. It was only thanks to the tracker Trai had placed in the speeder that he loaned them that they were recovered in a timely fashion and brought back to the Roviditian mansion to recuperate properly. True to her ancestor's word, Kalja had recovered her full connection to the Force. Delth was also on the mend, although his last fight with Vok and subsequent action to drag Kalja to safety had cost him physically, giving him a nasty lightsaber scar by his right eye and a heart condition.
By the time Delth was physically well enough to move again, the Ardin had arrived in orbit to pick the pair up to resume the hunt for Sivter. There Delth was able to get fully treated for his injuries. The two also dropped any pretense about not being a couple. By this time most of the crew who knew them had figured out what was really going on.
Surprisingly, Kalja found herself questioned about it by Delth's friends more than she expected. Since it was plain to see that Delth had devoted himself to her body and soul, many feared that Kalja had some kind of ulterior motive for seducing him. Kalja did her best to reassure everyone that her love for Delth was just as genuine as the love he had for her, but she knew that for many only time would prove her right.
As the Ardin prepared to depart Chandrila, and as they planned their next move to take down Sivter and the Cult of Shadow, it finally gave Kalja and Delth some downtime. They used the opportunity to consummate their feelings. It was a long wait, but neither partner was unsatisfied with the result. It would also turn out to have big ramifications for their future.
Complications[]
- "You just ruin all the surprises, don't you?"
"Aren't our lives full of enough surprises?" - — Delth Ardin speaking with Kalja Sairu Leidias
Kalja's sensitivity in the Force, now fully restored, meant that she sensed a change in her body the next morning that indicated that she was pregnant with twins. She was quick to inform Delth of the news, who was jubilant to find out that he was going to be a father. However it also meant that the two of them had to reevaluate their lives as a couple if they were going to be parents. Delth suggested getting married right away, but Kalja turned down the idea because a marriage ceremony was bound to attract members of the Cult of Shadow, but she was more than happy to be secretly engaged to Delth until the cult could be dealt with.
They both agreed that the news that she was pregnant should be kept as secret as possible. Once again fears that the cult might try something to get at Kalja or her babies were at the forefront of their caution. They also agreed that once Sivter was dealt with and the Cult of Shadow was wiped out that they would take a step back from always trying to save the galaxy. Their children would need dedicated parents.
Issues of Absence[]
- "You tell me your excuse is that you're worthless without your powers well I say you're worthless even with them. You were so caught up in your own troubles that you couldn't even see what was happening right in front of your face."
- — Isis Sinclair to Kalja Sairu Leidias
The unexpected arrival of the Final Shot and those aboard it would quickly tear apart any lingering happiness Kalja had after her trip to Chandrila. Although it wasn't true for everyone, at least a few people onboard had issues with Kalja, particularly Isis Sinclair and Elena Connor. Isis, as it turned out, was the older sister that Caitlyn had been seeking when Kalja had first met her, a goal she had apparently accomplished while Kalja had been away. Elena was the Padawan of her friend, Faye, or was supposed to be, but she had arrived without her Master for some reason.
Isis was quick to share the first piece of bad news with her. Caitlyn had been captured by the Cult of Shadow and Akain had left for parts unknown. Isis accused Kalja of neglecting her Padawans, but when Kalja tried to tell her that she had left holos with Jana that would explain why she left without saying anything, Isis had no idea who Jana was. It indicated that not only were here Padawans gone and in danger, but something had happened to Jana too.
Kalja was at least able to bring Isis up to speed about losing her connection and why her attempted ruse on Sernpidal would not have been a good place for her Padawans, which seemed to cause Isis' anger to abate, but the same story seemed to only make Elena angry. When Kalja confronted Elena about it, she learned that Elena's family had been on Vorzyd V. In Elena's mind, Kalja not acting to stop Vok made the Jedi Master just as bad as the Darksider. Kalja tried to demonstrate to Elena what her unleashed power would do to the galaxy by giving her a practical example in a duel, but it didn't seem to make much of an impact with her.
Ship of Fools[]
- "You better be right about the Red Viper. I find it a bit hard to swallow that he's really changed all that much."
"Then perhaps you’ll both be surprised. Good luck."
"I thought the Jedi didn’t believe in luck."
"Only the ones who don’t know better. It won’t be the Force that helps you out of this." - — An exchange between Isis Sinclair and Kalja Sairu Leidias
With everyone's grievances against Kalja having been aired, thoughts turned to something more productive as everyone came to the same conclusion: they had to find the Cult of Shadow. Figuring out a way to do so was where everyone had differing plans. All kinds of suggestions were brought up. One of the more promising ideas - trying to contact Tulsar and join his search - was unexpectedly halted when Kalja learned her father had disappeared somewhere in the Oseon Belt and the only thing recovered was the Windfall.
Elena decided to take matters into her own hands. She tricked Isis into trying to steal a shuttle and used it as a distraction of her own to steal another shuttle, along with Tsivoin Ulderis, while the Imperials were busy arresting Isis. Due to those actions, everyone who had come board the Ardin in the Final Shot was considered a suspect and also arrested. Kalja tried to vouch for the group's intentions with Delth, but ultimately it would be up to them to convince him. Thankfully, Delth was reasonable and pragmatic, and he agreed to free them since the best way to take down Sivter would be to have everyone working together.
However, before a solid plan could be formulated, Sivter made his most brazen move yet by pirating the GNN holofeed to send a message to the entire galaxy. He declared that in one standard week's time he would arrive at the planet Alsakan and wipe it clean of all life. Sivter even challenged the various military powers of the galaxy to stop him.
This declaration forced Kalja and her allies to try and come up with a workable plan to deal with Sivter before the end of the one week deadline.
Digging into Alsakan[]
- "So… I’m bait… Again!? I’m tired of being bait."
- — Kalja Sairu Leidias
As Alsakan was part of Imperial territory, efforts were underway by the Empire to try and evacuate the planet before Sivter's arrival, but with a population of over a trillion it was a mostly futile effort. Instead Kalja, Delth, and the remaining members from the Final Shot were going to try and seek out Cult of Shadow sleeper cells that had likely been planted on Alsakan to get things ready for whatever Sivter had planned. The hope was that some could be captured and interrogated for information that would lead to the secret whereabouts of Sivter and the Cult of Shadow.
Based on Imperial intelligence it was decided that a mining area, colloquially known as Marinow Town, would be the area of focus since the depths of the mines could make a perfect place to hide a planet killing weapon. The entire area was controlled by a company called Teamore which had several red flags concerning their finances and was having trouble with the large underclass working for it. The basic plan would be for Kalja and Delth to investigate and attract attention by virtue of who they were. With so many eyes on the pair, it would hopefully make it easier for the Final Shot crew to infiltrate into places without being noticed.
Kalja and Delth met with Wali Blaine, the vice president in charge of construction for Teamore. Wali ended up confiding in them that he suspected something was going on with upper management and agreed to give them all the data they wanted in exchange for passage off of the planet. After talking it over, it was agreed that Delth would speak with the executives while Kalja would check out the mines on her own.
Down in the Underground[]
- "I almost hope they do try something. After feeling like a helpless victim for so long, I’m kind of looking forward to demonstrating to the cult just why the only thing Sivter fears in this galaxy is me."
- — Kalja Sairu Leidias
Kalja was led down into the mines by an officer from Teamore, named Pelan Jann, as they went to inspect the oldest and deepest of the mineshafts on Alsakan as that seemed to be the most likely place for Sivter to hide a planet-killing device. Before they could reach it however, Kalja's senses alerted her to an unusual presence in another tunnel. Pelan informed her that they had discovered artifacts down that particular tunnel which was intriguing enough for Kalja to start her investigation there.
Kalja defends miners on Alsakan from the Cult of Shadow.
Unfortunately it turned out to be a trap. It was only thanks to Kalja's senses that the entire group was able to avoid a hidden bomb planted by the Cult of Shadow. She used the Force to keep the tunnel from collapsing so the miners on the other side wouldn't be trapped, but it also left Kalja at a disadvantage as several minions from the Cult of Shadow tried attacking her while her power and attention was divided. However, the leader of the ambush, a Dark Lord who identified himself as Malasik, chose to stay back and watch. With no choice but to defend herself and the miners, Kalja was able to protect herself with Soresu before dispatching the minions one by one.
When it looked like Malasik would have no choice but to get involved, Kalja found herself unexpectedly assaulted by Elena and Tsivoin, who had both joined the Cult of Shadow after fleeing the Ardin. Elena ended up killing the last cult minion herself before trying to fool Kalja with a series of identical illusions of herself. The illusions were no match for Kalja's senses and she was able to quickly figure out the fakes from the real Elena through the eye of the Force. The battle was nearly ended when Kalja summoned a whirlwind of debris to use against the pair, but before she could properly subdue them, Tsiv was shot in the back shoulder by a blaster bolt.
The shot had come from Isis, who had pursued Elena down into the mines along with her allies. Elena was able to escape with Tsiv thanks to a flash-bang. Malasik had also slipped away at some point during the combat. Although it was disappointing to lose Elena again, Kalja was thankful that she could finally get all the miners to safety before finally allowing the tunnel to collapse.
Kalja was exhausted from such an extended and split use of her powers, but she was determined to do also do something about the riots that were breaking out on the surface. Upon being informed that Faye had arrived with a New Republic contingent of ships, Kalja arranged to meet with her old friend in order to put a stop to the violence overtaking the planet.
Calming the Madness[]
- "All of this is either a distraction to keep our forces busy or a warm-up – but that doesn’t mean we should ignore the suffering of the people."
- — Kalja Sairu Leidias
Kalja was sure she could stop the riots, but after her time down in the mines, she lacked the reserves to make it happen on her own. While she could have opened herself up to her full power in the Force, it would have meant she likely wouldn't have anything left to confront Sivter when he arrived at Alsakan. So, as an alternative, Kalja asked Faye to lend her power so she could use Battle Meditation and encompass the entire planet.
Faye was initially unsure she had the power or the skill to help Kalja with such an advanced technique, but after some reassurances from Kalja, the two got to work. Faye was a quick study and soon the pair were working in tandem to cool down the anger and the hate that had been stirred up by the Cult of Shadow agents. Thanks to their efforts, the population of the planet calmed down and the riots were stopped, marking an end to Sivter's sinister manipulations, at least for the time being.
With the riots taken care of, Kalja, along with Faye and two Padawans that had come with her to help, Arilyn and Anastasya Romero, joined up with Delth and his task force to investigate two Teamore bulk freighters that the New Republic forces had interdicted trying to flee the planet. Delth had uncovered plenty of evidence to show that Teamore was being controlled by the Cult of Shadow, so it was important to find out what the cult was shipping away from the planet before the oncoming battle...
One Last Failsafe[]
- "I won’t be the one you need to seek forgiveness from. You already have it from me. I understand probably better than most what kind of hard choices Sivter can force one to make. It’s everyone else that you’re going to have trouble with."
- — Kalja Sairu Leidias to Elena Connor
The freighters turned out to be protected by Derriphan-class Labor Drones, which provided a challenge to the boarding parties. Although the drones proved to be resistant to lightsaber blades and blaster bolts, alternative means were found to destroy them, such as dropping shipping containers on them, reflecting their cutting lasers back at them, and general heavier ordinance.
Although the destination of the freighters was wiped from the navicomputers, and the crews had taken their own lives, the cargo manifests showed that the Cult of Shadow was looting Alsakan of all its valuables before Sivter's arrival. It was a minor victory to stop the cult from making off with two freighter's worth of valuables, but it didn't get them any closer to finding Sivter or the Cult of Shadow's base.
That changed when Kalja returned to the Ardin to find that Elena and Tsiv had surrendered to Imperial authorities with a specific message to deliver from Sivter to Kalja. According to the message: if Kalja was at Alsakan by the time Sivter arrived, he would have Caitlyn killed. Additionally, if Kalja wanted to rescue Caitlyn, she could be found where Sivter had "first lost everything."
It was an obvious trap and a scheme to remove Kalja from the battlefield, but Kalja knew she couldn't abandon her Padawan to die even if it meant Sivter would get his way. The vague riddle about where Sivter had first lost everything was clear as day to Kalja; it was a reference to Chisas. Delth wasn't about to let her face the trap alone and agreed to bring her to the planet with the crew of the Ardin as support.
After securing the release of Elena and Tsiv into Faye's custody, Kalja and the Ardin left Alsakan to rescue Caitlyn...
The Needs of the Few[]
- "Sivter’s been prepared for my arrival since before we left Alsakan. However, I can only hope he was counting on myself and possibly Delth, Isis, and a handful of others showing up to rescue Caitlyn; not a Strike Cruiser full of troops."
- — Kalja Sairu Leidias
Upon arriving at Chisas, Kalja wasted no time assaulting the Cult of Shadow base with Delth, Isis and her allies, and some Imperial commandoes. The cult base was discovered behind a gigantic holoshroud in the shape of a mountain with several layers of defense inside. It was decided that the most effective way to secure the base would be to split their forces, with Kalja acting as a lure to draw away as many cult forces from the Imperial team as possible. Isis and Micaiah went with Kalja to give her support, which was helpful, but Kalja wasn't holding back this time. Although she still felt a bit drained from her actions on Alsakan, she was determined that nothing was going to keep her from rescuing Caitlyn...
Meanwhile the Battle of Alsakan did not go well for the forces opposing Sivter and the Cult of Shadow. One of the few ships to survive was the Tzohar, Garrett Granth's ship. During the battle Garrett had tried to outwit Sivter and had lost nearly half his crew before being forced to flee, but he had managed to escape with Elena and Tsiv. Using astrogation data stolen from Imperial Intelligence, Granth was able to extrapolate where the Ardin had gone and followed it to Chisas.
No Going Back[]
- "I’m not going to try and justify that my going after Caitlyn is a smart and logical decision. Leidiases have never been very good about the Jedi concept of detachment and I’m probably the worst there is when it comes to that. All I know is that I’ll never forgive myself if something happens to her and I didn’t try everything I could to rescue her first."
- — Kalja Sairu Leidias
As it turned out, Granth managed to arrive just as the mission to rescue Caitlyn took a decided turn for the worse. Kalja was able to make her way to the prison area, but was taken aback by the sight of a giant pillar that was several stories high. Around the pillar were prisoner cells, hundreds and hundreds of them, all filled with a prisoner that had crossed the Cult of Shadow in some way. Kalja could sense that Caitlyn wasn't in the regular cells and was even higher up, so the decision was made to keep the prisoners in their cells until Caitlyn was rescued and the facility could be properly secured.
As Kalja was headed towards the top of the prison, Granth was assaulting the facility with a few other members from the Tzohar, using special battleframes designed to drop from orbit. Granth's team was able to provide an unexpected element to the rescue attempt. It seemed as though Sivter had planned to let Caitlyn's rescue team get deep inside his prison facility before blowing up the entire structure with everyone inside, but Granth's team disrupted those plans as he was able to slice into the programming of the battle droids the cult was using inside the facility and turn them against the cultists.
One thing no one could account for were the presence of several different types of Schrai drones that had been waiting to ambush the rescue teams. The resilient insectoid race proved to be much tougher to deal with than the droids, but Kalja's experience with them years ago on the Praxeum Moon helped her team to overcome the drones that tried to kill them.
A Deadly Duo[]
- "The great and powerful Kalja Leidias... My master has spoken at length about you, but I’m not impressed."
- — Raii Meriaz
An Eradicator droid.
The last obstacle to rescuing Caitlyn were the duo of Razor and Raii Meriaz, two of Sivter's most trusted agents, standing guard over Caitlyn - who was suspended in an electrostasis containment field and behind a forcefield. Micaiah took on Razor, which left Isis and Kalja to face off against Raii - a task easier said than done. Both of the Darksider women were extraordinary skilled in combat, with Raii being the more skilled of the two. Even as Kalja and Isis sought to find a way to overcome Raii, she called forth two Eradicator-class Droids to give herself a greater advantage.
Trying to take on Raii and the Eradicators might have proven to be too much after everything else Kalja had been forced to deal with after the events on Alsakan and storming the prison facility, but fortunately that was when Granth and one of his allies, Hirai Molariou, arrived to help even the odds. Hirai took on Raii while Kalja and Isis dealt with the Eradicators. While Hirai put up a good fight against Raii and even managed to strike her once or twice, the other woman did more damage to Hirai and was about to kill her before Kalja used the Force to slam Raii into the forcefield between them and Caitlyn.
Apparently defeated, Raii gave up the remote that controlled the containment field holding Caitlyn captive and retreated via a hidden passage before anyone could stop her. Micaiah also returned from her fight with Razor, injured - but victorious, as the other woman had also fled when it was clear Micaiah was about to defeat her.
Caitlyn was finally rescued, but there was still the matter of all the other prisoners...
Rushed Rescue[]
- "I can still help."
"No you can’t. You’ve done your job. Leave the rest of it up to us. Now get out of here before I start thinking how absurd it is to see a Jedi being carried around by two assassins." - — Kalja Sairu Leidias speaking with Clara Molariou
By the time Caitlyn was rescued, Delth's team had finished rigging the facility's reactor to blow and Granth had released all of the other prisoners. Everyone met back up at the prison as Delth informed them they would be escaping via the roof. He also made it clear, in no uncertain terms, that Kalja was to be put on one of the first shuttles to safety. Even though Kalja was so exhausted that Micaiah and Hirai had to support her, she still tried to object, but Clara sided with Delth and ended the argument.
Delth also had an ulterior motive for getting Kalja to safety first as it was clear that they didn't have time to save all of the prisoners before the reactor was rigged to blow and he didn't want to give Kalja an opportunity to do something heroic and foolish to try and save them all. The Cult of Shadow made it even more difficult by hiding cultists in among the prisoners and attacking the other prisoners to slow the rescue down. Two rescue shuttles were also blown up by cult suicide bombers disguised as prisoners. In the end, about a hundred prisoners were unavoidably killed or left behind to die in the explosion of the facility.
Later, aboard the Ardin, Delth was informed that Khal Arunson, the last of the old guard that Delth had considered to be his friends and surrogate family, didn't survive the Battle of Alsakan. He took it hard and Kalja spent time comforting her love by reminding him that he would never be alone as long as she was around - and that they had already started a new family with the twins growing inside her. It helped Delth, but he still requested some time alone to grieve and suggested that Kalja finally reunite with Caitlyn in the meantime.
It was an awkward reunion, with many questions unasked by both participants, but Caitlyn seemed to be in good health considering what had happened to her and that was good enough for Kalja. They agreed to catch up later when both of them had recovered a little more from their ordeal on Chisas.
The Darkness Within[]
- "You need to stop pushing yourself so hard."
"You first. I'll be fine, really." - — Delth Ardin speaking with Kalja Sairu Leidias
The next few days were a mixed bag for Kalja. Although Caitlyn was rescued, the news they received about what would soon become known as Sivter's War of Darkness was grim. After the fall of Alsakan, random worlds were now being targeting by Sivter's secret weapon, the Charon, who overwhelmed any defenses they encountered and ravaged planets clean of life. The stability of galactic governments all across the galaxy were starting to break down as worlds swore allegiance to Sivter as a way to spare themselves from being attacked by the Charon. Sivter had also announced that in a few days time he would attack the New Republic capital of Mon Calamari and strip it of all life just like all the other worlds the Charon had decimated.
Amongst the backdrop of galactic turmoil, Caitlyn had also decided to secretly leave with her sister, Isis, and the rest of the crew on the Final Shot to try and fight the cult in their own way. Kalja couldn't help worrying about her Padawan, but she was committed to participating at the upcoming battle at Mon Calamari to fight Sivter. She figured at least this time there was nothing Sivter could do to try and keep her away.
However, as he had proven many times before, Sivter always had a trick up his sleeve...
Malignant Manifestation[]
- "I don’t think he knows how much power she really has. Maybe even she doesn’t know. She’s stupid for blocking herself off from most of it."
- — Xerchite Kalja
Unknown to Kalja, Sivter was making a deal with another Darksider known as Darius Malakai to try and find another way to keep her from interfering in his War of Darkness. Malakai offered to perform a ritual he called Xerchite Possession that would supposedly drain Kalja of her strength and plague her with visions of death and despair. Sivter agreed to give it a try and for a few days the possession seemed to work on Kalja. She constantly felt tired and was plagued with nightmares whenever she tried to sleep. However, Malakai miscalculated the kind of power that Kalja had access to and the Xerchite that was feeding on her grew in power at an exponential rate.
The Xerchite eventually manifested into a physical form as the Ardin was in mid-jump to Mon Calamari. Since the Xerchite Possession had used one of Kalja's childhood dolls as the totem needed to bind the parasite to her, it ended up manifesting itself as a representation of Kalja as a young girl. At that point the parasite stopped being an "it" and became a "her". She also picked up a childlike mentality as she started to disable the Ardin so that none of the crew would be able to escape as the Xerchite "played" with them.
The Xerchite fully manifested as Kalja as a young girl.
The Xerchite Kalja, as she would eventually be known, very methodically ripped apart the Strike Cruiser, taking out the hyperdrives, then communications, and then the ships in the docking-bay. Elena and Delth both attempted to stop Xerchite Kalja, but she proved to be too powerful for either of them and likely would have killed them if not for the arrival of the real Kalja, who managed to stop the rampage by threatening to kill herself to kill the Xerchite.
Xerchite Kalja, afraid to lose the "game" she was playing by not being able to absorb every last bit of the real Kalja's power and lifeforce, ripped open a hole in reality so just the two of them could face off against each other some where in private. The place turned out to be the Swift Light, which Xerchite Kalja had tossed out of the docking-bay before destroying everything else inside of it. Although severely weakened by this point, Kalja managed to deduce the nature of the Xerchite after getting a physical hold on her doppelgänger.
Kalja realized the connection between her and Xerchite Kalja could work both ways and reversed the drain until the two of them were nearly equal in strength. She then hugged Xerchite Kalja and used that increased connection to trace the connection Xerchite Kalja had with the totem that started the possession in the first place. Kalja used the Force to send a surge of power along that connection to destroy the doll, which also spelled the end of Xerchite Kalja. Kalja had just enough presence of mind to trigger the Swift Light's distress beacon before falling unconscious from the strain of essentially fighting herself.
- "Just tell me how you beat her."
"Turns out all she needed was a hug."
"You’re joking, right? Tell me you’re joking." - — A conversation between Elena Connor and Kalja Sairu Leidias
Although the danger of the Xerchite was gone, the actions of Xerchite Kalja would not soon be forgotten as she had singlehandedly killed dozens of people and ripped apart a starship from the inside. All of it was done with Kalja's own power, a chilling demonstration of what she could become if she ever strayed from the Light Side.
A Vision Before Battle[]
- "Trust in the Force and it will lead you to where you need to go."
- — The spirit of Faarel Blackthorne
While unconscious, Kalja received a vision in the Force in the form of the spirit of Faarel Blackthorne. He pleaded with Kalja to try and get her to help save his daughter, Aaralyn Blackthorne, who had been corrupted by Sivter. The news came as a bit of a shock to Kalja as she had previously only been aware of Faarel's son, Cadden.
After explaining the circumstances about why he had thought his daughter had been dead until now, Faarel mentioned his efforts to try to direct Aaralyn to the ancient Jedi homeworld of Tython so she could find help in overcoming her inner darkness. While he believed that being on the planet would benefit Aaralyn, he also believed that his daughter would need Kalja's assistance to overcome what Sivter did to her.
Kalja pointed out to Faarel that the location of Tython had been lost to the galaxy for centuries, but the spirit was confident that Kalja would find the planet and find Aaralyn as well. According to Faarel, all she needed to do was trust in the Force and the location would be revealed to her. Kalja tried to get more details from Faarel, but his spirit faded away after his last cryptic answer.
Once the vision was over, Kalja woke up to discover that she had been in a deep sleep for a few days after the encounter with Xerchite Kalja. Delth quickly arrived at her bedside to inform her that the Ardin had to be towed to Anaxes and that Sivter was primed to attack Mon Calamari in just twelve standard hours.
It was a lot to take in but Kalja, determined not to be absent from another battle against Sivter, declared that she was going to take the Swift Light to Mon Calamari ahead of the Imperial fleet to see what she could do. Delth, Elena, Tsiv, Mai, and several Imperial commandos agreed to come with her.
As her ship jumped into hyperspace, Kalja promised herself that she'd begin looking for Tython soon. However, until she could obtain the coordinates to the lost planet, stopping Sivter would have priority over everything else...
The Battle of Mon Calamari[]
- "There are plenty of Jedi who know how to fight that can be sent against Sivter, but only a rare few who know how to use Battle Meditation. You even said yourself that you’re the best out of all of them. Those gifts are needed here. If we can’t stop the enemy Battle Meditation, then I fear our lines will break before anyone has a chance to send a boarding party to Sivter’s ship."
- — Alarice Mollari to Kalja Sairu Leidias
Kalja managed to arrive at Mon Calamari as several fleets from different factions across the galaxy were gathering to resist Sivter's upcoming attack on the planet. She and the others who came with her on the Swift Light met up with the the commander of the New Republic forces, Admiral Alarice Mollari, on the Nightfury. It was quickly decided that Kalja's greatest value in the upcoming clash would be to keep the allied forces united through Battle Meditation. Not only would the defenders likely be facing overwhelming numbers of Charon vessels, but Sivter had his own Battle Meditation user so Kalja would be essential in blocking the enemy influence.
As more and more forces arrived with the purpose of defeating Sivter, Kalja ended up reuniting with some familiar faces: Caitlyn, Reave, Morwenna, and most shockingly of all, Akain. Each of them had been on adventures of their own since the last time Kalja had seen them and grown stronger because of it. Akain's journey was particularly surprising and he was almost unrecognizable from the despondent Padawan Kalja used to know. It was decided that all of them, plus a few other volunteers, would guard Kalja while she performed Battle Meditation once the fighting started. Meanwhile Delth, Elena, Tsiv, and Mai would have their own mission objectives to take care of.
While Kalja was happy to see so many people she loved and cared about in one place, there was one absence that worried her. There was no sign of her father, Tulsar. With Sivter guaranteed to arrive at Mon Calamari, it seemed unthinkable that her father wouldn't also be around to attempt to stop him. It made her even more concerned about what might have happened to him, but at least she didn't get the sense that he was dead.
Shortly before the start of the battle, Delth left to meet up with one of his oldest friends that he had thought dead, Nichalus Dreadstar, to find Garrett Granth and get his help finding a way to sabotage the Otherdrives the Charon used to leave their pocket universe and invade Realspace. Before leaving, Kalja shared a tender moment with Delth and both of them swore to each other that they would make it through the battle alive.
An Endless Onslaught[]
- "Kalja Leidias wove my efforts into hers, and if what I've done had been swaying the balance of things solely in your favor, her instincts would have warned her against doing what she did."
- — Ashin Varanin to Sivter
Kalja uses Battle Meditation at the Battle of Mon Calamari.
The battle to save Mon Calamari started with the sudden arrival of hundreds of Charon Starships emerging from Otherspace. The Charon were relentless and fanatical, fully unconcerned with accruing heavy losses if it meant taking down their target. Even powerful blasts from Mon Calamari's Colony Laser were not enough to hold them back. They also didn't appear to be affected by Kalja's Battle Meditation, so she focused mainly on enhancing her allies with her power.
In the midst of the battle, Kalja became aware of someone in the Sith'ari Centrality fleet, Ashin Varanin, using a Jukre technique very similar to Battle Meditation. Due to the great threat that Sivter and his Charon posed to the galaxy, the Sith'ari were actually part of the allied defense of Mon Calamari, so Kalja was able to connect with Ashin and weave their efforts together to create an even more effective influence on the battlefield. While doing do, she was also able to help Ashin repel an attempt by Sivter to mess with Ashin's mental resolve.
When Sivter finally arrived in his flagship, the Edict of Darkness, Kalja came across a new challenge as there was a Dark Lord onboard the Edict that could rival her skill in Battle Meditation. She found herself not only trying to keep her allies unified and at their best, but also having to counter the enemy Battle Meditation. She would end up fighting an invisible battle with this Dark Lord to repel and counter his efforts to break her own Battle Meditation.
While Kalja remained locked in a chamber to make sure no one interfered with her Battle Meditation, the Charon were able to break the New Republic lines and board the Nightfury in an attempt to kill her. Thanks to her friends and allies, and some hard fighting, the Charon were eventually repelled before they could reach her.
Turning the Tide[]
- "Take what you need from me. Take whatever you need... we can't lose our victory..."
- — Delth Ardin to Kalja Sairu Leidias, regarding Sivter's Force Storm
The tide of the battle finally turned against Sivter after Garrett Granth found a way to channel the energy of a solar flare into every Otherdrive used by the Charon ships, resulting in their instantaneous destruction. It was an enormous loss of life and Kalja sensed it all, but she was able to maintain the Battle Meditation through it all.
Sivter did not take the loss of the Charon well and created a Force Storm that chewed through several surviving allied ships, including the Colony Laser. It seemed as though no one had a way to deal with Sivter's Force Storm and many people were casting their thoughts towards Kalja in the hopes that she could do something to stop it. After such an extended use of Battle Meditation Kalja felt exhausted, which meant she had to either open herself up to her full power or find a way to stop the Force Storm without directly opposing it.
Kalja decided to drop her Battle Meditation and try to attack Sivter's mind directly, reasoning that controlling something as large and destructive as the Force Storm had to require a lot of concentration. Her gambit paid off as Sivter was forced to end his Force Storm and refocus his efforts on keeping Kalja out of his mind. With his last trick defeated, Sivter retreated from the battlefield.
In the end, even with Kalja's Battle Meditation, the Battle of Mon Calamari proved to be very costly for all sides, but it marked a major defeat for Sivter in his War of Darkness and a potential turning point to end the war for good.
Residual Results[]
- "If any Jedi can keep a secret, it's Kalja fething Leidias."
- — Ashin Varanin to Garrett Granth
After the battle, as the various factions tried to regroup, Kalja thanked everyone who had protected her while she was using Battle Meditation. She also gave some advice to Akain and Caitlyn, reunited after being apart for such a long time: take advantage of the downtime while they could since there was no telling when they would have the opportunity again. It was a hard-learned lesson Kalja had come to realize from her own struggles to have a relationship with Delth.
It was also advice that Kalja couldn't follow as she had another commitment to take care of: a post-battle talk with Ashin Varanin. Thanks to her use Battle Meditation throughout most of the battle, she had a pretty good idea where most people were in the space around Mon Calamari, so it wasn't too difficult for her to find Ashin in the sea of debris and dead starships. She was a little surprised to find Garrett Granth was also with her, but didn't bother trying to figure out how or why - simply content with the notion that Granth would always show up in unexpected places.
She found the pair in a ship stolen from a local Moff. She also sensed that they were suffering from radiation sickness due mostly to Granth's crazy plan to end the Charon threat and Ashin's subsequent rescue of the man. Using her ability to heal, Kalja helped both of them recover from the high levels of radiation that they had been exposed to, helping to save both of their lives - or at the very least spare them from months of recovery from the ordeal.
Once they were relatively healthy again, Kalja had a talk with both of them in which she stressed the good she saw in the pair. For all his rogue-like ways, Garrett had put his life on the line to save the galaxy. Ashin, even while steeped in the Dark Side, had done a lot during the battle that could be considered selfless and noble. Kalja's words had a deep effect on each of them as neither of them were used to receiving genuine sympathy and caring from someone else.
Recuperation[]
- "I see now why you chose your name; you’re as fearsome as an exploding star, but unfortunately you’ve been blinded by your own glare."
- — Kalja Sairu Leidias to Elena "Nova" Connor
After helping to heal Garrett and Ashin, Kalja and Ashin had a brief discussion about the Jukre Star Sailors and the technique they had developed which had helped enhance Kalja's Battle Meditation. She then left the pair to mull over her words and their futures, ready to reunite with Delth for a little alone time, however, she was instead redirected to the Azure Defender for a briefing by Reng Kasr to all of the allied commanders. The purpose of the meeting was to discuss the next move of the allied fleet: an assault on the homeworld of the Cult of Shadow: Arcanix.
Somehow the closely-guarded secret of Arcanix's location had been uncovered and Kasr was adamant that the allied fleet, even in as rough shape as it was, had to strike as soon as possible to end the threat of Sivter for good. A plan was developed to send in an advance group of former cult members to disrupt things on Arcanix and hopefully make it easier to finish off the Cult of Shadow. Once Kalja learned that Elena and Tsiv would be part of that advance group, she decided to have one last talk with the pair.
Kalja tried to reason with Elena one last time about how revenge would only leave her feeling hollow and empty and distance her from the ones who loved her - much like it had done to Tulsar. Elena seemed to consider Kalja's words more seriously than before, but her desire to avenge her family was too strong. As much as she wanted to, Kalja knew better than to try and press the issue which might cause Elena to distance herself even more from her friends and loved ones. Instead she helped to heal Tsiv and purify a shard of Korriban Crystal that Sivter had inserted into his body and quietly asked Tsiv to watch over Elena.
Kalja then reunited with Akain and Caitlyn only to find that Salvatore had somehow absorbed the Dark Side energy from several Korriban Crystals that had been taken from the Edict during the battle - which was an ability no one suspected he had. Although the Dark Side energies were gone, it had left Salvatore feeling very sick. Kalja helped to stabilize his condition and was confident that Salvatore would recover back to full health in time.
- "The whole galaxy might need Kalja Leidias, but right now she’s all yours and we’re going to make the most of it."
- — Kalja Sairu Leidias to Delth Ardin
Finally, after helping so many people, Kalja was able to meet up with Delth. She spent the final hours before the allied fleet jumped to Arcanix with the one she loved most in the galaxy. Neither of them knew what was going to happen once the fleet arrived at Arcanix, but their promise to each other to survive felt more important than ever.
Mon Calamari had been a devastating defeat for Sivter, but his threat wouldn't be truly ended until he and his forces were destroyed.
The Battle of Arcanix[]
- "Kalja Sairu Leidias is more entangled in the fates than any other individual I have examined..."
- — Darius Malakai
Kalja remained hidden at the start of the Battle of Arcanix in a move intended to throw off Sivter and prevent him from running until it was too late. This was accomplished by masking Kalja's aura in a room full of Ysalamiri aboard Delth's latest ship, the Ghost. However, Kalja's skills were soon needed to help stave off the first line of defense Arcanix had against being invaded: hollow asteroids filled with various dangerous space-borne creatures such as Colossus Wasps, Scree, and most frightening of all: Starweirds. Once again Kalja had to use Battle Meditation to keep the allied fleet cohesive and unified.
Kalja maintained her Battle Meditation until the allied fleet could make it to the planet and destroy the Edict, effectively eliminating the biggest obstacle to landing troops on the ground as well as taking out the cult's Battle Meditation user. Without having to worry about countering enemy Battle Meditation and sensing that Sivter's forces were outnumbered, Kalja decided to make her way to the surface of the planet to put an end to Sivter once and for all.
Since many of Kalja's allies were already engaged in battle on the surface, she arrived on the planet with just Delth, Reave, Morwenna, and Caitlyn at her side. Although they all had breath masks to deal with the poisonous atmosphere of Arcanix, the air was still oppressive. Delth and Reave were able to weaponize the Sith poison that hung in the air, but Kalja chose instead to purify the air around her with Force Light, which also helped Caitlyn. As a group they had one purpose: get Kalja to Sivter so she could finally end him and the War of Darkness.
It was a task easier said than done. The Cult of Shadow was fanatical and had plenty of contingencies ready to defend their world. Once such tactic was to use the atmosphere itself to strike at the invading forces by creating tornados fueled by the Dark Side. Ironically, this helped Kalja and her small squad to traverse the distance to Sivter much quicker than normal. In an act so inspired it bordered on insanity, Kalja used a Protection Bubble to encapsulate her group and then had one of the Force tornados fling them closer to Sivter's location. Kalja used her own familiarity with directing wind currents to make sure they went in the right direction.
Although it was a rough landing, the gambit worked and they soon found themselves confronting the Dark Master of the Cult of Shadow himself: Sivter.
One Last Contingency[]
- "I think this whole rotten day might be worth it now that I’ve heard Kalja Sairu Leidias give me a death threat. That’s not very Jedi-like behavior. What do you think we should do about that, Caitlyn?"
- — Sivter
Caitlyn is turned against Kalja by Sivter.
Unbeknownst to Kalja, Sivter had just finished dueling Darth Trayus when they encountered him. The Dark Master had emerged triumphant from that fight and he seemed more than ready to deal with Kalja and her companions. Sivter was flanked by two Schrai Alpha Drones and even bantered with Kalja a little bit before triggering a trap he had set weeks ago when Caitlyn was still his prisoner.
An implanted mental clone of Sivter took control of Caitlyn's body and attacked Kalja while the two Alpha Drones went after Reave and Morwenna. That left only Delth free to attack Sivter on his own, which was exactly the scenario he wanted. In one fell swoop, Sivter had managed to separate Kalja from her allies and even turn one against her. His plan was to divide and conquer and pick each of them off one-by-one, with Delth scheduled to be the first to fall.
Delth put up a good fight, but it soon became apparent that he was no longer the warrior he once was; the spirit was willing, but the flesh had seen too many injuries and near-death situations. Sivter had him outmatched and soon Delth began stalling to try and give Kalja more time to figure out what was happening to Caitlyn and find a way to put a stop to it.
Kalja used the time Delth bought her wisely, entering Caitlyn's mental realm and locating the real Caitlyn amid a series of fakes created by the mental clone of Sivter. However, removing the clone in the heat of battle was a task easier said than done. In the end it would be up to Caitlyn to force it out since if Kalja tried to brute force it, there was a good chance it would cause mental damage to her Padawan. Thankfully, Caitlyn managed to rally enough power to destroy the clone and take back control of her body.
Removing the mental clone took almost everything Caitlyn had, causing her to pass out after her victory.
The End of the Hunt[]
- "My father will have his chance to end it, but if he fails... I’ll kill Sivter myself."
- — Kalja Sairu Leidias
Caitlyn was able to regain control of herself shortly after Delth collapsed from fighting with Sivter due to his heart condition. Kalja rushed to Delth's aid to try and stabilize him, which would have given Sivter an opening to attack her, but he was unexpectedly stopped by the arrival of Tulsar - who had been in hiding on Arcanix under the guise of a lowly recruit named "Dakarn." The disguise had been so perfect that it even took Sivter by surprise. Flanking her father was Elena and Tsiv.
Tulsar's intervention allowed Kalja to quickly crush the two Alpha Drones still giving Reave and Morwenna trouble. With her adopted siblings free to help, Kalja asked them to get an unconscious Caitlyn back to a medical facility. With Delth stabilized, but also unconscious, she made the same request to Elena and Tsiv to make sure Delth would get the proper medical treatment. They all agreed to help and soon the only one left to witness her father's duel with Sivter was Kalja.
Tulsar and Sivter were evenly matched as the two knew each other's skills and abilities better than anyone else. Sivter knew where to block or parry Tulsar's attacks and Tulsar didn't give Sivter the time or the room to try one of his myriad tricks. It was as close to a straight fight as the Dark Master had been forced to battle in a long time. Unfortunately it also meant that neither of them was making any progress against the other.
Kalja wanted to jump in to assist in the fight, but every time her father looked at her it was clear that he didn't want to any interference. As it turned out, Tulsar had a trick up his sleeve that he was sure not even Sivter would anticipate; he briefly turned off his lightsaber and allowed Sivter's blade to suddenly pass through and mortally wound him. Then, with Sivter's defenses open from the unexpected move, Tulsar used a second lightsaber to perform a Shiak and stab Sivter through the heart - killing his body.
The duel belonged to Tulsar, but it had required a self-sacrifice on his part to make it happen. Kalja's father managed to cling to life just long enough to learn that his daughter was pregnant with twins. Upon learning the news that he was a grandfather, Tulsar Leidias laughed with affection before closing his eyes and passing away - finally at peace.
Banishing the Darkness[]
- "You’ve made a miscalculation, Sivter. Today marks the end of your ability to influence your legacy, while I have every moment of my life after this to build on mine. It should be obvious which one will last longer."
- — Kalja Sairu Leidias
Although Sivter's original body was killed, his spirit was still active and he had a far more powerful Sithspawn body waiting as a backup for just such an event. With this new body and even greater power at his command, Sivter renamed himself as Bogan and went to confront Kalja to see just who between them was stronger. As the two fought a battle that was very much a struggle between the power of the Light Side and the power of the Dark Side, Kalja opened herself up fully to the Force to put down the threat of Bogan for good.
However, for the first time while she was in her unrestrained state, Kalja felt herself being overwhelmed by the sheer power that Bogan possessed. Sivter had been planning his new body for a long time and in his new form he had no battle-weariness, unlike Kalja. That was when two things happened unexpectedly and changed the tide of the battle. First, Darth Trayus was able to get in a sneak attack and stab Bogan with Soulblade, one of the few weapons capable of piercing his Sithspawn body and leave lasting damage. Second, Delth's spirit, having been separated form his body, attempted to possess Bogan's body. Although Delth's attempt failed it was still enough to cause a distraction in Bogan's concentration.
Weakened by Soulblade and distracted by Delth's spirit, Bogan was finally vanquished and consumed by Kalja's power. His body and spirit were disintegrated by the power of Kalja's light. Sivter, in all his forms, was finally destroyed.
Kalja held on to her full power just long enough to guide Delth's spirit back to his body and used the power she still had at her command to heal as much of his body as she could, focusing first on his heart condition. Once she was sure Delth would recover, Kalja happily passed out on top of him and fell into a peaceful sleep.
New Beginnings[]
- "Today we celebrate the life of a man of honor, compassion, and dedication; Tulsar Leidias. May his name and legacy continue to inspire others as it has inspired me and all of us gathered here."
- — Kalja Sairu Leidias, speaking at her father's funeral
Kalja gives a speech at her father's funeral.
A standard week after the Battle of Arcanix, Kalja held a funeral for her father at the Leidias homestead back on Juoi. It was attended by all the various friends and family that Tulsar had made over his life. Kalja made a speech extolling her father's virtues and officially assumed the role of matriarch of the Leidias family. Unfortunately there was no body to bury as Kalja had cremated Tulsar's remains back on Arcanix rather than risk it falling into some Darksider's hands. As a substitute for the body, the two lightsabers Tulsar had used to kill Sivter, Chrona and Falsyn, were ceremonially buried in a plot next to the grave of his wife.
Elena also became a recognized member of the Leidias family as Tulsar had been able to reach her more than anyone else when the two worked together on Arcanix to undermine Sivter. He had even volunteered to adopt her into the Leidias family once they were done on Arcanix, but since he never made it back, Kalja was more than happy to honor her late father's offer. Elena became Kalja's second adopted sister, even dropping her usage of the "Nova" name now that her birth family had been avenged. Kalja suggested that Elena would be the perfect person to take up her father's mantle of Blademaster as a potential new goal in life. Elena was dubious of the idea at first, but found herself seriously considering the idea by the time the funeral was over.
Akain Refrained[]
- "I urge caution on this path you’re following, Akain. You’re not the first to try using both sides of the Force, or to philosophize that there are indeed no sides at all. History tells what has happened to those who have come before you. With only a few exceptions, they all eventually succumbed to their darker impulses. Do not underestimate the lure of the Dark Side for even a moment."
- — Kalja Sairu Leidias
After another standard week, Kalja had settled into the Jedi Temple on Ossus and knew it was time to speak to her two Padawans about their futures. The first to see her was Akain. Due to his experiences with the weapon known as the Spear, Akain no longer followed the tenets of the Jedi - so it was with regret that Kalja informed him that he could no longer be part of the Jedi Order. Akain took it well and actually ended up agreeing with Kalja's decision to end his time as her Padawan.
However, Kalja still saw the good within Akain and was sure to point out that her decision was only in the capacity as a Jedi Master and member of the Jedi Council. She still personally considered Akain to be very important to her and let him know that she would always be around to help mentor and guide his personal journey if he ever asked her for it. Akain let her know that he understood and they ended the meeting with a mutual understanding and no hard feelings.
Relating to Caitlyn[]
- "You’ve been through a lot since you became my Padawan, Caitlyn, and that’s an understatement."
- — Kalja Sairu Leidias
Kalja's next meeting was with Caitlyn and she had happier news to give her other Padawan. Throughout the course of the War of Darkness, Kalja felt as though Caitlyn had experienced several events that could be substituted for the Jedi Trials. Not only had Caitlyn faced these trials, but she had overcome them all and now that things had settled down Kalja felt it was time for Caitlyn to advance to the rank of Jedi Knight.
Caitlyn was not at all confident about Kalja's decision, stating that she still had trouble controlling her power, but her argument was easily countered when Kalja pointed out that the learning process never ended. However, as far as what was expected for Padawans to learn, Caitlyn had mastered everything the trials could teach her. Kalja also pointed out that she would still be around to help Caitlyn grow as a Jedi, but she would have the autonomy to represent the Jedi Order on her own and even train her own students.
Caitlyn finally surrendered to Kalja's logic and it was soon made official: Caitlyn became the second Padawan trained under Kalja to make it to Jedi Knight.
Climbing Towards Peace[]
- "I don’t suppose we go with the Leidias option? Every time there’s a problem, we throw Kalja Leidias at it. She seems to have a knack for coming out on top. Call it a habit, even."
- — Roman Kato to Makaera Tor
Soon after the end of the War of Darkness a peace summit, known as the InterGalactic Government Summit, was held at Midpoint Station with the express purpose of finding ways to prevent another being like Sivter from coming to power and threatening the galaxy. Kalja attended as part of the Jedi delegation along with Makaera Tor, Derek Muir, and Vuntar Greth. Meanwhile Delth came as part of the Imperial delegation.
Before the main summit started, Kalja met up with Delth in private. While they talked about their future as a couple and Kalja's growing pregnancy, Delth suddenly proposed to her with a wedding ring that once belonged to his mother. The act took Kalja by surprise, but it didn't take her long to accept. Now that they had taken the next step, the two agreed that they were done trying to hide their relationship from the galaxy at large. In order to prove it, when the summit started, she and Delth walked into the summit hand-in-hand.
Their public display caused a stir among the other delegates, even those who knew about the relationship between Kalja and Delth beforehand, as it was a bold act to see an esteemed Jedi Master and a notorious Jedi killer holding hands together. Kalja also wore the engagement ring Delth had proposed with so those with an eye for detail would see just how serious the relationship was. It also served as a declaration of how serious the Jedi and the Empire were about overcoming past enmities.
The rest of the summit seemed to go well, with many delegates proposing peace measures and transparency for certain operations, but the process ended up being sabotaged by bad faith actors from the New Republic and the Empire. Backroom discussions between the two superpowers fell apart, especially after the defection of Kolot Rosion to the New Republic.
This caused both governments to withdraw from the summit and, without the involvement of the Empire or the New Republic, the rest of the summit quietly ended without any progress being made. It was a highly disappointing outcome for Kalja, but she took it as a learning experience. She still felt that galactic peace was possible, but realized there would need to be a more solid foundation before it could be achieved.
The Marriage of an Impossible Couple[]
- "I wish everyone could see you like I do. When I see Delth Ardin, I see a man who cares more deeply for those he loves than anyone else I've ever met. You've always been by my side when I've needed you, giving me all your support and dedication without a single complaint or need to have it acknowledged. It's just who you are and I couldn't be more honored to share my life with such an amazing man."
- — An excerpt of Kalja Sairu Leidias' marriage vows to Delth Ardin
Kalja and Delth get married.
After the summit ended, Kalja split her time between researching the location of Tython and working with Delth to plan their wedding. The pair decided that they couldn't afford to wait that long to have the ceremony happen and set the date for a standard month after the summit. There were a few reasons for this decision, but chief among them was that it wouldn't give their enemies much time to disrupt it and it felt like tensions were rising again between the New Republic and the Empire. There was no telling what state the galaxy would be in on any given day.
The couple decided to have the marriage ceremony take place on Chandrila and sent out private invites to their close friends, family, and allies. To help keep the actual wedding location secure several venues were booked for the wedding with only a location at Junari Point being the real spot (and also booked under fake names). To help make the ceremony a little more memorable, a special batch of Chandrilan Blue '439 was made just for the wedding, with a special label on each bottle denoting that they were made exclusively for the wedding.
The precautions taken ended up being successful as the actual wedding day ended up happening without any undue disruptions. It was a special day for everyone, a rare moment of peace, fun, and love for all involved.
After the wedding, Kalja and Delth had a brief honeymoon before the pair reluctantly were drawn away in different directions as their respective responsibilities required their presences. Delth returned to the Empire to work with the ISS and the training of the newly formed Imperial Knights while Kalja resumed her search for Tython.
Tracking Down Tython[]
- "I’m positive that the Jedi can be a positive influence within the Empire someday. If my time on Tython is a success, I can petition Thrawn to allow us to set up some kind of presence there."
- — Kalja Sairu Leidias
Kalja was finally able to find a hyperspace route to Tython after a meeting with the Jedi Council ended up revealing that one of her fellow councilmembers, Ember Rekali, had discovered a route and even been to the planet. He had been keeping the location secret because of the possible ramifications and conflict that such a discovery might entail. Due to Tython being in the Deep Core, and thus deep in Imperial territory, it could create issues if the Jedi tried to reclaim it.
However, Ember agreed to give Kalja the route to Tython due to her connections and good relations with the Empire, figuring that if anyone could negotiate with the Imperials on behalf of the Jedi, it would be her. Ember's cooperation came with an additional warning. He could confirm that Aaralyn Blackthorne was on the planet, but she was also being protected by a group of Force-users that had splintered off from the Jedi Order thousands of years ago - known as the Guardians of the Force. Kalja would have to deal with Aaralyn and the Guardians before anything else could be done on Tython.
These new challenges didn't intimidate Kalja and she soon left to finally visit the birthplace of the Jedi Order.
Homecoming[]
- "You don't need to be part of any organization to do good through the Force. Don't worry how others perceive you. Simply let your actions speak for themselves."
- — Kalja Sairu Leidias to Aaralyn Blackthorne
By the time Kalja arrived on Tython, she found that most of the work had been done for her. The Guardians had actually helped to rehabilitate Aaralyn and had even decided to rejoin the rest of the Jedi Order on Ossus. Kalja had apparently just missed their departure. Aaralyn had chosen to stay behind, partly in repentance for her past actions, and partly due to the fact that she didn't think the Jedi Order would accept her back into their ranks.
However, Kalja's meeting with Aaralyn was not without merit. She spoke to the other woman and shared her vision for a new type of Jedi temple on Tython. She let Aaralyn know that as far as she was concerned, the other woman had found a way to redeem herself and she would be more than happy to have Aaralyn's help with this new temple in whatever capacity she felt comfortable with. Kalja's words seemed to reach Aaralyn and a partnership between the two was formed.
Negotiating the Future[]
- "A Jedi Temple in Imperial territory? Such a thing would be problematic to say the least."
- — Reng Kasr to Kalja Sairu Leidias
With her promise to Faarel about Aaralyn fulfilled and the way to Tython now known to her, Kalja took the next step and asked for a meeting with the current Regent of the Empire, Thrawn. She was granted an audience based upon her relationship with Delth and her actions in helping to save the galaxy. The leader of Oremin, Reng Kasr, was in attendance as well due to his impressive knowledge about Force-users.
Kalja was direct in her request and petitioned Thrawn for permission to build a temple on Tython. Although the Empire had no formal control over the previously lost planet, it was still well within their territory. Building a Jedi Temple in secret would not be looked at favorably if it was discovered after the fact. Kasr was very much against the idea of a temple, but Kalja persisted and worked to negotiate with the pair for an agreement that would be to the benefit of everyone.
After a lot of discussion in which Kalja emphasized the political benefits of the Empire working with her - a galactic savior with a favorable reputation throughout the known galaxy - Thrawn agreed, although he had a few caveats. For one, there would have to be Imperial oversight at all levels, with a fleet in orbit, a garrison on the ground, an Imperial Knights extension, and a separate division of special anti-Forcer troops from Oremin. These precautions would not only ensure that the Empire's investment in the temple was well protected, but it would also mean that they would have the ability to quickly put down any member of the temple that might fall to the Dark Side.
Although Thrawn's precautions might have seemed extreme, Kalja had no issue agreeing to them. From her perspective she had nothing to hide from the Empire. Even Kasr had to reluctantly agree that the conditions of building this new temple heavily favored the Empire. Once the negotiations were done, a contract was formed allowing Kalja to build her new temple.
Creating a Sanctuary[]
- "I want Tython to be a sanctuary; a place of safety where everyone is free to learn and where others can find redemption for past mistakes."
- — Kalja Sairu Leidias
Kalja helps to oversee the construction of a new temple on Tython while pregnant.
With an agreement struck with the Empire, Kalja didn't waste any time getting a temple built. She chose to make a new temple rather than try and restore one of the older structures on Tython because she wanted to differentiate her temple from the way things had been done in the past. With that in mind, Kalja worked closely with the Imperial Engineering Corps to create a temple on the relatively placid continent of Masara. In conjunction with the creation of what would soon become known as the New Tython Temple, she also helped to design the layout of the nearby town that would be used as the location for the Imperial garrison and several other facilities. Kalja chose to call the town New Joy in honor of her homeworld.
As the temple neared completion, Kalja's pregnancy was also coming to an end. Her children were born in a medical facility in New Joy. Delth was at her side the entire time, barely taking a break to eat or wash up for fear of missing the arrival of their children. On the fateful day that Kalja went into labor, Delth insisted on helping to deliver the babies. Fortunately, with the Force to aid Kalja and modern medical equipment and professionals to handle the rest, the twins came into the world healthy and strong.
New Lives on Tython[]
- "Their names are Kalja Falanis and James. May they carry on the proud legacies of those they were named after."
- — Kalja Sairu Leidias
The children of Kalja and Delth were fraternal twins, meaning they were not identical, and were named in honor of people important to the couple.
The baby girl was named Kalja Falanis and became the next successor to the Kalja name, as per the ancient Leidias Family tradition. Her middle name was used to honor Kalja's mother, Falanis. Meanwhile, the baby boy was named James Ardin II, fully in honor of Delth's older brother, James, and it was even decided that baby James would forgo the surname of Leidias to keep the Ardin line going.
The choice to keep different surnames stemmed from the choices Kalja and Delth had made during their wedding, as both of them had opted to keep their own names even after getting married. In Kalja's eyes their two shattered families had come together to form a whole and that was all she cared about. According to Kalja's own internal logic, she had fallen in love with Delth Ardin, not "Delth Leidias" or "Delth Ardin-Leidias," and she wasn't interested in adding labels to denote that their relationship was now recognized by government paperwork.
Delth stayed with Kalja on Tython for the first few months to help her raise their children as the Imperial Engineering Corps finished constructing the new temple. Kalja was then able to reach out to her friends and other contacts she had made across the galaxy to come join her at Tython. Some come to help her teach at the temple, some come to learn, and some come to expand New Joy and help support Kalja's temple in other ways.
The Effect of the Tython Temple[]
- "The Jedi were meant to be peacekeepers, with allegiance to no one but helpful to everyone."
- — Kalja Sairu Leidias
The Jedi at the New Tython Temple were given special dispensation to work within Imperial borders, with a caveat that they coordinate with the Imperial Knights. This soon proved to be quite beneficial as it allowed Kalja, as the Headmaster of the temple and a member of the Jedi Council, to help coordinate Jedi activities within the New Republic and the Empire. This eventually helped to uncover a plot by some disloyal Imperial Moffs and some greedy New Republic senators to start a new war between the big two.
Uncovering the conspiracy helped to save countless lives and likely spared the Empire a potential civil war, thus helping to further reinforce Thrawn's position of power. After this act, the value of the temple and the Jedi working within the Empire could not be denied. Although the Tython temple remained under Imperial observation, it was clear that attitudes were changing. It became less about distrust and paranoia and more about safeguarding and protection.
This would prove to be the start of an age of peace that Kalja had dreamt about for so long.
Raising the Future[]
- "It's not my place to choose their destiny. I'm here to make sure they have the skills and knowledge to excel in whatever path they choose."
- — Kalja Sairu Leidias
With the Empire and the New Republic no longer poised to go to war, and the Jedi helping to maintain the peace, it allowed both governments to focus on the larger picture of protecting the galaxy. Darksider groups, terrorist organizations, and even other hostile governments soon found themselves targeted by dedicated task groups with the express purpose of taking them down. Two large threats were even handled by Kalja's former students. The hostile Force-entity known as Laeradr was eventually destroyed by Caitlyn and Akain was the primary force for stopping the evils of Zohmaj Hauc.
Through it all the temple on Tython continued to grow and expand, as did the colony of New Joy. With Kalja constantly watching over the planet and the Empire providing more conventional protection, the planet truly became a sanctuary from the galaxy at large.
Kalja training her children in the ways of the Force.
It was in this idyllic environment that Kalja raised her children. Although Kalja Falanis and James both attended the rudimentary classes at the temple, Kalja and Delth provided plenty of private instruction of their own. They knew that despite the growing peace in the galaxy, there would still be plenty of dangers that their children might face once they left Tython to pursue their own goals. After all, she and Delth had become some of the most well-known names in the galaxy, and that was a legacy their offspring would have to deal with.
Kalja Falanis would eventually choose the path of the Jedi, like her mother before her, but James decided on a different route and joined the Imperial Academy before eventually being accepted into the Imperial Knights. As they continued to learn and grow, each of them found new mentors to help further their skills and abilities. Kalja Falanis went to train with Faye Ward (now known as Faye Halomek after her marriage to Sigarr Halomek) and learn the greater intricacies of Teräs Käsi while James mentored with Sierra Pryde as he trained to be an Imperial Knight.
Unfortunately an evil from Kalja's past would soon reveal itself...
Shadow of a Legacy[]
- "I don't blame you, Faye. My daughter was meant to face Raii. Such is the way of the Force. The fact that she survived means she was well trained for the encounter and that includes your instruction."
- — Kalja Sairu Leidias to Faye Halomek
Kalja would learn that her daughter would have a near lethal run-in with Raii Meriaz on Charros IV while under Faye's watch. Contrary to how many people might react to leaning that their child had almost died, Kalja didn't seek to place blame on anyone for what happened. She instead saw it as the will of the Force and was thankful that her daughter was able to survive the encounter at all.
It took a little more convincing for Delth to see it the same way, but once their daughter recovered she told her father that she had run off to face Raii despite Faye trying to stop her. That seemed to finally cause Delth to drop his anger at Faye. In fact the near-death experience seemed to change Kalja Falanis. Whereas before their daughter had been impulsive and overconfident in her abilities, the loss to Raii seemed to make her more humble and dedicated in her training.
Meanwhile James was excelling in his own training, earning high marks in the academy and during his training as an Imperial Knight. It was getting him noticed by Imperial High Command. With Delth having more influence in Imperial matters than Kalja, he was closely watching his son's progress to make sure he didn't get exploited by an ambitious officer or politician.
A Growing Family[]
- "We have some amazing kids."
- — Kalja Sairu Leidias to Delth Ardin
The New Tython Temple circa 40 ABY.
Soon enough Kalja's children graduated within their respective organizations. Kalja Falanis went through the Jedi Trials and became a Jedi Knight and quickly became known for her skills out in the field taking down various Darksider and terrorist organizations. James proved his skills and earned the rank of an Imperial Knight before being assigned to oversee the Imperial forces watching over Tython. For a few years that became the status quo for Kalja and her family and life was good.
Kalja's status as the Headmaster was well-regarded and she became infamous for getting to know all the members of the temple; students, instructors, and graduates alike. Tython, and New Joy, had also become the new home for many of Kalja's friends and family. Elena was the temple's resident blademaster, taking on the mantle left by Tulsar. Reave and Morwenna also used the temple as a base, but were usually away on various long-term missions. Akain and Caitlyn had also married, settled down in New Joy, and had two children of their own: Toshiro and Cadence.
The two families remained in close contact with each other, often gathering for holidays and birthdays. Kalja came to know Caitlyn's children well and vice/versa. Kalja also did her best to respect Caitlyn's parenting style although as the Headmaster of the temple Kalja eventually found herself in a quandary when she learned that Cadence was having trouble in her classes and hiding it from her mother. When Kalja asked Cadence about it, the younger girl asked Kalja not to tell anyone as she tried to train in secret to improve herself.
However it soon became clear that Cadence would only get so far trying to train by herself, so Kalja considered an alternate method to help Cadence without breaking her promise...
A New Age[]
- "Check out how much Cadence has grown since you visited last. You might be surprised."
- — Kalja Sairu Leidias to her daughter
Cadence soon reached the age of 14 standard years old, which was the age in which members of the Tython Temple could petition a more experienced Jedi to taken them on as their Padawan/Apprentice. On the day of Cadence's birthday, Kalja spoke to her daughter about the possibility of taking Cadence on as her Padawan. Although Kalja Falanis wasn't looking to take on a Padawan, she agreed to see what the younger girl was capable of.
Kalja had, in fact, worded her request very carefully to deliberately catch her daughter's attention without specifying why Cadence would be of interest to her. Kalja would learn later that her plan had worked, with her daughter seeing beyond Cadence's poor skills to the untapped talent Cadence actually had. By the time Kalja arrived at Cadence's birthday party, it was already late in the evening and her daughter had secreted Cadence away to test some theories. Caitlyn wasn't happy with the situation, to say the least, and it took a lot of convincing on Kalja's part to calm her down.
Past Connections[]
- "Right now my mind is too preoccupied with Cadence."
"Sinclairs do always have a knack for finding trouble-"
"Accessing information about Cadence Sinclair..." - — Caitlyn Karna-Sinclair speaking with Kalja Sairu Leidias, causing the holocron Gatekeeper to mistake it as a request for info about Cadence Sinclair
As Kalja and Caitlyn waited for their daughters to return, Kalja suggested passing the time by listening to a tale or two from the Leidias Family Holocron. In an unexpected twist, the Gatekeeper was active while Kalja and Caitlyn were in a conversation about Cadence and the order of the conversation caused the Gatekeeper to pull up information about a Cadence Sinclair from the distant past. Much to the shock of the two women present, the holocron brought up a Gatekeeper from the time of the Galactic Wars, named Kalja Maysul Leidias, who claimed to have once had an apprentice named Cadence Sinclair.
With neither Kalja or Caitlyn aware of this apparent past connection between their two families, it only became stranger when the holocron showed an image of the past Cadence that looked almost identical to the modern day Cadence. The Gatekeeper then related the story of the past Cadence's rise and fall. Rescued by the Jedi Order as an orphan of war, she became the Padawan of Kalja Maysul and eventually earned the title of Jedi Knight.
The duo were regarded as heroes and past Cadence even found love and had a family, but being heroes also meant that she had plenty of enemies. One tragic night, while past Cadence was on a mission, a Defel Darksider (not Sivter) and some of his followers killed her family. Past Cadence's anger and despair at her loss caused her to fall to the Dark Side. Kalja Maysul tried to bring her friend and former student back to the Light Side, but was eventually forced to kill her for the good of the Galactic Republic.
Unknown until after past Cadence was killed, one of her children had been hidden away and had survived. While it meant the survival of the Sinclair family line, it also punctuated the tragedy of her fall. After the Gatekeeper finished relating the tale, the holocron shut off and left Kalja and Caitlyn in stunned silence with a long list of questions about what they had just learned.
Future Debate[]
- "Until we know exactly what this means, I suggest we remain quiet about it. Our Cadence has more than enough on her mind as it is. There’s no sense in burdening her with knowledge that we barely understand ourselves."
- — Kalja Sairu Leidias
As it turned out, the story told by the holocron Gatekeeper was also observed by Akain, Isis, and Elena. The group had a debate about what to do with this new knowledge. Kalja suggested keeping quiet about it until they could learn exactly what it meant for Caitlyn's daughter to have the same name and look the same as her distant ancestor. Elena suggested that keeping the information from Cadence might backfire and cause the girl to fall to the Dark Side.
Ultimately the decision about what to do was placed in the hands of Caitlyn and Akain and it was determined that discretion would be the best course of action for the time being. The reasoning was that they simply didn't know enough about any of it and modern Cadence already had a lot that she was dealing with as it was.
Later in the night, Kalja Falanis finally returned with Cadence and informed Caitlyn about what they had been up to, mentioning that her daughter had sung in front of a crowd and won them over - a major boost to her confidence. She also declared that she was going to take Cadence on as her Apprentice - seemingly starting anew the tragedy that had happened to the Kalja and Cadence pairing of the past.
However there was no denying that Kalja Falanis had done more to help Cadence in one night than anyone else had managed in months, so Caitlyn ultimately gave her blessing to have Kalja's daughter teach her daughter. Only time would tell if the decision would prove to be wise or a case of history repeating itself...
A Growing Problem[]
- "The kidnappers asked for Akain, alone. So that is what they’re going to get. It’s not the fate I would have wished upon them, but they chose this."
- — Kalja Sairu Leidias
The very next day as Caitlyn was driving Cadence to the Tython Temple to make her new apprenticeship to Kalja Falanis official, they ended up getting attacked by a Mandalorian mercenary group, led by a man named Jarus. Despite Caitlyn's best efforts, she was overwhelmed by the Mandalorians and Cadence was kidnapped. The reason for the attack turned out to be that the mercenaries wanted to collect on a bounty on Akain and were willing to exchange Cadence for him.
As it turned out, Kalja had been aware of Jarus and his people weeks before their attack and had been allowing them to stay because they were not much of a threat and the lure of a better life on Tython was slowly changing their motives while they waited for Akain to show up on the planet. If not for Akain unexpectedly showing up for Cadence's birthday, which spurred Jarus and his people into the rash action of kidnapping Cadence before their bounty left again, the mercenaries have settled down into a new life without a shot fired.
Unfortunately that was not the case.
Furthermore, Kalja had turned Tython into a sanctuary planet, meaning that anyone living on it was under her protection and that included Akain and his family - regardless of his status elsewhere in the galaxy. Normally Kalja would have dealt the situation herself, but since the mercenaries were demanding that Akain turn himself over to them, she stepped back to allow him to take care of it himself. All Kalja asked of Akain was for him to leave survivors so they could find out if there was anyone else behind Jarus and his group.
As Kalja suspected, Akain was able to easily handle Jarus and his mercenaries and rescue Cadence. In deference to Kalja, Akain also kept Jarus and most of his mercenaries alive for her to talk to later. Kalja gave Jarus and his people two options: be tried as criminals in an Imperial court and likely be put in a prison for the rest of their natural lives or use the skills they had already demonstrated when they infiltrated the planet to serve the people of Tython.
Jarus and his surviving people eventually agreed to Kalja's terms, ending the small conflict, but it proved to be a precursor to a greater danger to come...
The Root of an Issue[]
- "There are actually a frightening number of Cult members still unaccounted for even today."
- — Kalja Sairu Leidias
A few weeks passed as Kalja's daughter helped Cadence improve her abilities in a short amount of time, which seemed to indicate that she really was the right Master for the girl. It was determined that the time had come to give the duo their first mission as Master and Apprentice. Fortunately what looked to be a Blue Milk Run seemed to fall into Kalja's lap as Sigarr Halomek was hosting a retirement party for his older brother and was requesting some representatives from the Jedi Order to attend the event.
Kalja determined that this would be a perfect mission since her daughter already knew the Halomek family from her training with Faye (who had married Sigarr years before). Not only would mission expectations for the pair be easy to complete, but they'd also be in a friendly environment so the pressure on Cadence would be very low. To provide an extra layer of protection, Kalja also allowed them to use the Windfall as their means of transportation to the location of the mission: Ord Mercek.
Things seemed to go well at first, but soon Kalja Falanis reported in about taking on a secondary mission to investigate the disappearance of Trakan Lakshire, the president of REC Agricultural - an offshoot division of the Republic Engineering Corporation. After investigating Trakan's condo, her only clue was a strange leaf from a mysterious plant that had apparently been hidden away in the condo but was gone by the time Kalja Falanis had found the leaf.
An analysis of the leaf showed it to be nearly identical to Laeradr, which had a lot of terrible implications. However, not even Kalja could guess exactly what this would mean for the future.
Seeds of Suspicion[]
- "If these kids are going to become the galaxy's next generation of protectors then we have to give them the space they need to grow."
- — Kalja Sairu Leidias
Kalja decided to bring her concerns about the existence of a new Laeradr-type entity to Caitlyn in person since all information about the tree had been heavily classified to prevent malicious Darksiders from trying to create another one. When she arrived at Caitlyn's house, she found her former Padawan speaking with another student of the temple, an Ilythian called Cassiel, who had been sent on an unrelated errand.
As Headmaster, Kalja was well aware of Cassiel and her abilities - as well as the girl's natural curiosity and terrible habit for not keeping secrets. For some reason, Kalja felt the urge to speak to Caitlyn without first shooing away Cassiel, and attempted to inform Caitlyn about the emergence of a new threat without mentioning anything specific. Perhaps the urge to keep Cassiel around had been a nudge from the Force because it proved to be fortuitous. Rather unexpectedly, as Cassiel was literally sniffing around Caitlyn's backyard, she came back with a handful of strange leaves and reportedly had smelled a strange man nearby before he ran away.
The news was a shock to everyone, especially Kalja - not only did leaves look identical to the leaf her daughter had found on Ord Mercek, but Kalja hadn't sensed the man spying on them at all. It should have been all but impossible for someone to hide from her senses but Kalja had experienced the impossible before. The Cult of Shadow had cut off her connection to Force once and, even though she had cured herself, she had never found out who had created the poison that had cut her off in the first place.
As Kalja examined the leaves, she discovered that nothing felt strange about them to her and, try as she might, Kalja couldn't find the spy Cassiel had mentioned. Absolutely nothing about the leaves or the spy was triggering her senses. Still, Kalja was quick to act, she sent Cassiel to the Imperial Knights to speak to James and get their help in tracking down the spy, reasoning that Cassiel's senses would be an asset where the Force had failed.
Working together, James and Cassiel were able to locate and eliminate several of the spies by Cassiel sniffing out the scent of the strange leaves. It was clear that the mysterious spies had been taken by surprise, which gave Kalja a small window of time to take advantage of catching them off-guard. Towards that end, she quickly assembled a strike team to locate and destroy this new Laeradr and whoever might be controlling it...
Finding a Hidden Enemy (Current Activity)[]
- "If Laeradr managed to take control of the Headmaster, that would have been it for the galaxy. The stories you learn about her in your history lessons don’t even begin to adequately describe what it’s like to face her when she gets serious."
- — Caitlyn Karna-Sinclair cautioning Cassiel about the prospect of Kalja Sairu Leidias being turned against the galaxy
With little time to prepare, Kalja summoned to Tython another Jedi responsible for the first Laeradr's destruction, a Linshi Monk named Kail, and teamed him up with Caitlyn and Cassiel to begin an immediate investigation into this new danger to the galaxy.
Further information from Ord Mercek indicated that terrorists had used modified seeds to increase their power in the Force at the expense of their mental stability.
It just gave further credence to the idea that something was not only controlling this new Laeradr, but it was also exploiting its power in ways never seen from the first tree.
Personality[]
- "A lot of people mistake my kind-heartedness for being naïve. They think you have to be hard and cynical in order to survive. Rather, I help people because I don’t believe in thinking the worst of everyone. It’s been my experience that very few people have fully extinguished the good within themselves."
- — Kalja Sairu Leidias to Garrett Granth and Ashin Varanin
Kalja is often considered to be the idealized Jedi. She’s patient, understanding, brave, and kind almost to a fault – selflessly doing her best to help others no matter what the cost to herself. It’s not that uncommon an occurrence for her friends and allies to force Kalja to take a break before she passes out from exhaustion. She also does her best to avoid fighting unless she’s given no other choice, as she strongly believes that violence only begets more violence.
Kalja’s kindness doesn’t stop at allies and innocents either. She’ll extend the same to her enemies and others shunned by society (such as career criminals) if she feels that there’s still good inside them, preferring to try and bring that good to the surface if she can. While not always successful, Kalja does have a remarkable record of making friends out of those who initially tried to do her harm. Many who have a cause to hate or disparage the Jedi Order will usually welcome Kalja with open arms.
However, Kalja is not without her flaws. She has a deep-seated fear of one day losing control over her great power and becoming a monster. This fear is so great that Kalja utterly refuses to even try and face it unless given no choice, lest that fear somehow becomes a reality by doing so. At any other time she patently avoids thinking about it. On the other end of the spectrum, Kalja also fears going through life without the Force at all. When cut off from the mystical energy field, Kalja becomes a shell of her normal self, far less confident in anything she does or says. She’s been known to state that life without the Force would be a living nightmare for her.
Kalja has a quirk of referring to everybody she meets by their first name since she sees everyone as equals through the Force. Although she finds little meaning in titles, many still refer to her as Master Leidias or Headmaster (in regards to her overseeing the Tython Temple) as a sign of respect.
Notable Relationships[]
- "The Force moves in mysterious ways."
- — A quote often used by Kalja Sairu Leidias
Kalja has developed and established friends and connections all over the galaxy, however there are a handful of people who have had a much more impactful effect on her life or vice/versa.
Delth Ardin[]
- "The demigoddess loves her snake
And leaves the Order for his sake
Forgets Red Viper's former cause
When you picked me up, you knew what I was" - — Connory, Bard of the Hyperlanes
No one would have ever guessed that Jedi Master Kalja Sairu Leidias and Imperial Agent/Jedi Hunter Delth Ardin would become a couple. Any sane person would have bet that one of them would destroy the other, but the pair ended up forming a deep bond through the Force during their battle with GAIT that would persist well after the Xen'Chi War as each of them struggled to make their unlikely relationship work.
For Delth, it was Kalja's boundless kindness, her endless determination, and her refusal to judge others along political or ideological lines that really resonated with him. His love and respect for her saw Delth put his life on the line many times to protect and help Kalja whenever she was vulnerable.
For Kalja, she saw past Delth's sordid history to the core of who he was; a noble soul who had been manipulated and bombarded by tragedy and the machinations of others. With her help, Delth was able to eventually let go of the darkness inside of himself that had guided much of his destiny and become a more complete person.
Their relationship would end up having a huge effect on the political landscape of the galaxy, not only spurring a peace treaty between the Galactic Empire and the Jedi Order, but also an eventual lasting peace between the Empire and the New Republic.
Faye Halomek[]
- "Faye is always seeking to challenge herself. I admire that."
- — Kalja Sairu Leidias
Faye Halomek could be considered to be Kalja's oldest friend as they both initially met each other as children. For a long time after that fateful meeting Faye developed a one-sided rivalry with Kalja. Faye would work hard to better herself and her skills and then Kalja would outdo her without seemingly any effort. As Kalja's influence continued to rise in the galaxy, Faye struggled to catch up to her however she could, but it was always a losing race.
Kalja never suspected that her friend Faye harbored any kind of jealously towards her even though it was apparent to many other members of the Jedi Order. She always saw Faye as a strong and dependable ally who was constantly trying to improve herself. Thankfully Faye would eventually come to accept that Kalja was just built different and that trying to surpass her would be next to impossible for just about anybody.
By the time Kalja's daughter went to train under her, Faye had learned to take pride in her own power and accomplishments.
Jana Dophi[]
- "Never underestimate Jana. Behind that quiet librarian exterior beats the heart of one of the bravest Jedi I've ever met."
- — Kalja Sairu Leidias
While Faye may be Kalja's oldest friend, Jana could be considered her best friend. The two of them connected right away after first meeting each other and found that they shared many of the same interests and views about the galaxy at large. Ironically it would be Jana the librarian who would prove to be the more extroverted of the pair as she would constantly set Kalja up on dates and other outings to make sure Kalja experienced more than just a life of service to the Jedi Order.
Kalja came to deeply appreciate Jana's approach to life and admired her friend's intelligence and compassion. Kalja's trust in Jana is so great that she allows Jana to have unsupervised access to the Leidias Family Holocron. When it came time to build the Jedi Temple on Tython, Jana was at the top of Kalja's list of people she wanted to help her run it.
Reave Hevren-Leidias[]
- "Reave is always an inspiration to me. Fate wanted to cast him into darkness, but he stood resolute against the destiny others wanted for him and chose his own path."
- — Kalja Sairu Leidias
Reave was Kalja's first Padawan; an orphan with a dark secret in his past, he nonetheless overcame his demons and became a fine member of the Jedi Order. Although she has never said so in as many words, Reave is very important to Kalja. Not only did she grow as a Jedi by learning how to teach him the ways of the Force, but his decision to later adopt into the Leidias family was a mutual balm that helped heal scars from tragedies in their pasts.
Kalja remains consistently proud of her former Padawan and adopted brother and is always eager to hear about his adventures. When she learned that Reave had a long-lost sister in Morwenna, she was overjoyed to have her join the family as well.
Akain Karna-Sinclair[]
- "I don't agree with everything Akain has done, but I recognize the good still within him."
- — Kalja Sairu Leidias
When Kalja first met Akain, she spent a lot of effort trying to get the the terminally despondent Nagai to work through his issues - with little effect. Despite this, Kalja never gave up on Akain and was tireless in helping him learn what it meant to be a Jedi. Through her efforts, Akain's growth was slow but steady, and although he didn't emote much about it at the time, a part of him recognized that she was never going to give up on him and a bond was formed.
Kalja understood this too, even if it remained unsaid. Tragically, events would conspire to cut short Akain's training with Kalja and his life would be changed forever by coming into contact with the Spear. When Kalja eventually reunited with her lost Padawan, he was a drastically changed man with little consideration for the lives of most other people and no longer fit to be a Jedi. Despite this, Kalja saw that there was still a good man inside Akain and has tried to keep mentoring him in other ways.
It's unclear who would triumph if Kalja ever had to battle her former Padawan after Akain's transformative journey with the Spear, but for the time being she remains one of the few people that he respects above all others. Kalja is aware that she can ask Akain to do something, or not do something, and he'll respect her wishes in either case.
Caitlyn Karna-Sinclair[]
- "I love Caitlyn like a younger sister, but there's no one else in this galaxy that tests me quite like her."
- — Kalja Sairu Leidias
Caitlyn was another orphan that Kalja took under her care and protection and became her fourth Padawan, after Akain. When they first met Caitlyn had nobody, so Kalja became like a surrogate mother to her. In return, Kalja saw Caitlyn as something of a little sister and did all she could to help the girl come to terms with her powers. This created a strong sense of devotion for Kalja in Caitlyn's mind, which was unfortunately tested quite a bit through Kalja's own trials during the War of Darkness.
By the time the War of Darkness ended, Caitlyn had become much more independent and sure of herself, even earning the title of Jedi Knight. The only reason why Caitlyn was never formally adopted into the Leidias family was because she eventually found her real family, the Sinclairs, but she is considered to be an honorary Leidias in Kalja's eyes.
Kalja has remained close with Caitlyn through the years and they still love each other like family, but Caitlyn has also become known as the one person above all others who isn't afraid to argue with Kalja if she thinks her former Master has got something wrong. The two have had many disagreements thanks to Caitlyn's hot-blooded nature, but ultimately they usually find common ground to agree upon.
Skills[]
Force Powers[]
- "As far as Forcers go, Kalja Sairu Leidias shows little sign of corruption by the Force, which I find to be a minor miracle considering the power she has demonstrated in the past. However, all it takes is the proper set of circumstances to shatter all of that. We’ve seen it happen before in too many others."
- — Reng Kasr to Thrawn, expressing his concerns about Kalja Sairu Leidias
Kalja taps into some of her true power.
Kalja has a very strong sensitivity to the Force. She is an intuitive and quick learner and usually needs little instruction in how to use Force powers or how to counter others. She is considered to be one of the most powerful Jedi in the galaxy and her base power alone is often enough to overwhelm most opponents. It does not make her invincible and, in fact, her reliance on the Force has also been her biggest weakness. The most successful attempts to stop Kalja are usually those that find a way to remove her from her connection to the Force.
Her unique connection to the Force allows Kalja to draw a dangerous amount of power from it without having her body fried in the process; an ability she has had to call upon more than once to end galactic threats. It is not something she enjoys doing, so she usually resorts to it when left with no other option. In her younger days drawing upon so much power would cause her to fall into a coma-like state once that power was withdrawn, but she has largely overcome this flaw through time and practice while on Tython.
Kalja's aura in the Force is often described as a bright light or a beacon, comforting to those who favor the Light Side and blinding to those who use the Dark Side. It's such a powerful glow that Kalja has never been able to fully suppress or hide her presence in the Force, making stealth one of the few areas that she has trouble with. While this means that she is ill-suited for covert missions, it also means that her aura is instantly identifiable to other Force-users. This often works to her advantage since it is commonly believed that when Kalja arrives at a battlefield, victory can't be far behind her. Her aura alone can function like a rallying cry to her allies.
Even though Kalja is a Human, her physical aging seems to happen at a much slower rate than others of her kind. It's suspected that her deep connection to the Living Force may be the reason for why she doesn't age normally, but no one knows for sure - not even Kalja.
Commonly Used Powers[]
- "It's like trying to throw a surprise party for Kalja."
- — Jedi saying that refers to a seemingly impossible task
Kalja is well versed in all of the basics and has mastered many of the more advanced non-violent techniques known to Jedi. One of her most powerful abilities is the Core Power of being able to sense her surroundings in great detail. She's shown the ability to easily locate most individuals within the proximity of her senses and is particularly capable of seeing through many stealth techniques - depending on how hard she concentrates.
She has great skill as a healer, with the demonstrated ability to cure physical injuries, diseases, harmful radiation, and most poisons. Despite this, Kalja's abilities as a healer tend to be overshadowed by the fact that her other skills are usually needed more for most situations.
Kalja is considered to be one of the most powerful Battle Meditation users within the Jedi Order, both in scope and skill. During the Battle of Mon Calamari she also learned how to combine her Battle Meditation with Ashin Varanin's use of Jukre "harmonic tuning" to exert more influence on how events might unfold. Although Kalja doesn't have the same experience with Jukre techniques that Ashin does, she's been able to apply some of what she learned during that battle to make her future uses of Battle Meditation even more potent.
To deal with spiritual threats steeped in the Dark Side, Kalja instinctively figured out how to use Force Light at an early age when helping her father hunt down Sivter. Later on she learned how to exorcise Dark Side spirits to counter the abilities of Spirit Absorption. These abilities have made her feared by many Darksiders, such as Velok.
Kalja rarely uses offensive spells, but when she does it's usually through the direction of whirlwinds in the Force or by using it to knock back enemies. These whirlwinds can also be used as a defensive barrier, making it difficult for opponents or projectiles to get close to her without being deflected or blown away. In keeping with her defensive focus, Kalja has demonstrated the ability to absorb destructive powers such as Force Lightning and even a Force Bomb. She'll also often try to end a battle before it starts by using Induce Sleep on opponents that have little in the way of mental defenses.
Since she is usually more interested in exploring her connection to the Force rather than finding ways to manipulate it, Kalja doesn't often try to develop new abilities. However, during her time as Headmaster for the New Tython Temple, she created a variation on the Protection Bubble known as the Privacy Bubble.
Lightsaber Forms[]
When it comes to lightsaber combat, Kalja has mastered the traditional Soresu form to an extent that her defense is thought to be nearly impregnable. It has proven effective in keeping her safe from skilled duelists and large groups of enemies alike. As it is the only purely defensive style of the classic seven forms, it is the only one Kalja has ever trained herself to use, and she has come up with ways to augment her defense further with the right application of the Force.
In general though, Kalja prefers not to use her lightsaber at all, as she is a big advocate of Form Zero.
Equipment[]
Jedi Robes[]
An example of one of Kalja's Jedi Robes.
Kalja started wearing traditional Jedi Robes after officially joining the Jedi Order, but quickly began customizing her look to be more distinctive. There's usually some part of her robes decorated with purple embroidery in various designs. Her cloaks can also vary from the standard dark brown to white or tan. She might also substitute the robe with vests of various sizes.
Over the years, Kalja has slowly customized her look more and more. As the War of Darkness began to to escalate, she started wearing fingerless forearm guards with shock-absorbent padding to help reduce the power of impacts from enemy strikes. She would eventually upgrade her forearm guards and her robes with Armorweave to provide even more protection to her defensive style of fighting.
Lightsaber[]
- Singlebladed Lightsaber
Kalja uses a singlebladed lightsaber with a relatively common Mephite Adegan crystal.
Feeling that her lightsaber is better off unused, Kalja has spent a lot of time designing the hilt to be as elegant and artistic as possible without sacrificing function. The reason for this is so the weapon will resemble a decoration more than a tool of attack.
Equipment[]
- Shield Gauntlet
Originally a gift from Devon Vos so Kalja would have another option available to her other than her lightsaber, the shield gauntlet was the same kind as the type worn by the Kilian Rangers. Kalja was able to incorporate it into her use of Soresu, but it required some changes to her default style.
The shield gauntlet was eventually lost during a fight with GAIT's droids. Kalja ended up not replacing it as she had become skilled enough in Soresu by that time that she could deliver non-lethal strikes if she desired. Instead Kalja decided to use other means to protect herself that provided greater flexibility in a fight such as incorporating more defensive Force powers and upgrading her clothing with Armorweave.