Lana Beniko

"*You're unusual for a Sith. You don't even have a title.*""*Knowledge, answers, truth, the Force:* these *are the things I hold dear. Titles don't interest me.*"

Veda and Lana Beniko

**Lana Beniko** was a Human female Sith Lord of the Sith Empire. During the Galactic War against the Galactic Republic she served as a key advisor to Dark Council member Darth Arkous. Investigating Arkous' unusual activities in the wake of the Korriban Incursion, Beniko discovered that Arkous was a traitor, secretly working for the Order of Revan. To expose Arkous, Beniko teamed up with some unusual allies, which included Republic SIS agent Theron Shan, a Wookiee smuggler named Jakarro, and other figures of importance on the galactic scale. The group tracked Arkous and his Revanite ally Rian Darok to Rakata Prime, where both were killed, only for Revan himself to enter the scene and attempt to kill Beniko and her allies. Proclaimed a traitor to the Empire, Beniko was forced into hiding along with Theron Shan and Jakarro. The three eventually tracked Revan and his allies to Rishi and with the help of their allies were able to expose the conspiracy to Darth Marr. To stop Revan from resurrecting the Sith Emperor, Beniko and Marr joined forces with Jedi Grand Master Satele Shan and traveled to Yavin 4, forming a temporary coalition between the Republic and the Empire. After it became clear that the Emperor was planning on consuming all life in the galaxy, Beniko stood against Revan himself alongside Darth Marr, Satele and Theron Shan, Jakarro and Shae Vizla. Though Revan was defeated, the Emperor nevertheless returned to life. In the aftermath of the confrontation, Darth Marr appointed Beniko as the new head of the reformed Sith Intelligence.

Beniko's responsibilities as Minister of Sith Intelligence were put to the test on Ziost. The former Emperor, Vitiate, began possessing the population of the capital city, New Adasta and used them to slaughter each other to fuel himself. Despite possessing both Imperial and Sith alike, Vitiate gave up trying to possess Beniko due to her mental defenses, making her suspect that the former Emperor was not as strong as he once was. As the Republic's invasion of the planet only added to the chaos, Beniko once again allied with Theron and Darth Veda who previously aided them against the Revanites, to stop the Emperor. Theron had previously discovered that by shocking Vitiate's thralls into unconsciousness, it broke his control over them. Thus, he modified New Adasta's electrostatic weapon, originally designed to counter major civil uprisings, to be non-lethal. Though the plan worked, incapacitating Vitiate's pawns, one remained standing, Master Surro, Sixth Line commander, who subdued Beniko and Theron, only to be defeated by their ally.

Beniko later evacuated Ziost before Vitiate consumed all life on the planet. Despite her failing her first mission as Sith Intelligence Minister, Beniko resolved to carry on.

### Eternal Empire's Invasion

At the same time Vitiate fled towards Wild Space, a pair of twin conquerors of a mysterious third faction attacked Korriban before disappearing into the western galaxy. Darth Marr led a joint Imperial-Republic fleet into Wild Space in pursuit of Vitiate, unintentionally encroaching on the territory of the invaders, the Eternal Empire. Subsequently, Beniko felt Marr's death through the Force and identified his murderer as the former Sith Emperor, who secretly created and ruled the Eternal Empire under the name of Valkorion. His son, Arcann, later took the throne after claiming that an Outlander assassinated his father, though Beniko, among others, discerned the truth, and launched an all-out war against the galaxy in retaliation. Within a year, the Empire and Republic had all but fallen to the Eternal Empire and were forced to pay heavy tribute to Arcann. Suspicious on why the tributes were more than what was necessary for the Eternal Empire, Beniko dedicated some of her resources to finding out Arcann's plans for the tribute.

### Searching for the Outlander

In the five years since Arcann's conquest, Beniko, accompanied by a bodyguard droid named HK-55, traveled into Wild Space in search of the Outlander, knowing her former ally had the skills to overthrowing Arcann. In her travels, she encountered Senya Tirall, a Knight of Zakuul, whom she managed to turn due to Senya acknowledging how cruel and oppressive Arcann's reign was.

Beniko attempted to cultivate Zakuulans unsympathetic to Arcann and found it in Koth Vortena, a military deserter. They had a series of adventures together on planets such as Arron Prime and Altair 3. By 3635 BBY, they mounted a rescue of the Outlander. With the aid of T7-O1, Beniko infiltrated the Spire where the Outlander was being kept in carbonite. As the carbonite freezing process was imperfect, thus poisoning the Outlander, Beniko quickly administered an antidote just after her ally was thawed out. They then made for their rendezvous with Koth, all the while trying to keep ahead of Vaylin, Arcann's sister. After fighting past skytroopers and Knights, they reached a dead end and were cornered by Vaylin. Beniko was ready to hold her off to let ensure the Outlander's escape, but thankfully, Koth showed up and rescued them.

### Finding the *Gravestone*

Unfortunately, their ship had sustained damage in their escape and crashed into the Endless Swamp. Beniko stayed behind with Koth to hide evidence of their landing while the Outlander and HK went ahead to investigate a large technological object. When they caught up to their companions, HK informed them that the object is not native to Zakuul. Koth quickly identified it as the *Gravestone*, the legendary starship that singlehandedly stood up to the Eternal Fleet. Koth was convinced that the recent event they've experienced was a sign of fate that they would beat Arcann, though Lana disagreed.

Later, while scouting for supplies and safe drinking water, Beniko brought the Outlander up to speed on the state of the galaxy. They then returned to repair the *Gravestone*. By the time they managed to fix it, they came under siege by skytroopers and Knights. Senya arrived during the fighting and assisted Beniko and her associates. Koth became hostile upon spotting Senya, as he had spent years running from her. But as reinforcements were on the way, he chose to table the argument to get the *Gravestone* off the ground. Beniko and Senya contributed using the Force, successfully raising the ancient ship. As they fled Zakuul, the Eternal Fleet appeared to interdict them, but the *Gravestone*'s omnicannon, destroying more than two dozen ships in a single shot, enabling them to escape into hyperspace.

### Asylum

The *Gravestone* managed to limp to the shadowport of Asylum, where Senya intended to rendezvous with undisclosed allies. After meeting Koth's crew, Beniko went to contact her network. She later found HK wandering Asylum with no memory of where he had been in the past few hours. When she returned to the *Gravestone* to inform Koth of what happened, Koth recalled that HK was to accompany the Outlander to Senya's rendezvous and assumed that the turncoat Knight had betrayed them. However, Beniko suspected that Senya's mystery contacts were the real danger.

Thankfully, HK remembered the location of the meet before his memory wipe, and so, Beniko and Koth rallied the crew and found a concealed entrance. Storming the hideout, they found the Outlander and Senya in a standoff with the Scions of Zakuul and demanded the aggressors stand down, which they do. The Scion leader, Heskal, then shocked everyone by revealed that Valkorion lived within the Outlander's mind. The news excited Koth, who believed Valkorion's survival meant hope for Zakuul. Beniko insisted that Valkorion was a threat to all life in the galaxy and vowed to find a way to extract the Immortal Emperor from the Outlander's mind. What was more shocking was Senya confessing that she was Arcann and Vaylin's mother.

Returning to the *Gravestone*, Koth had it out with Senya for holding back on them. Senya suggested asking Valkorion himself for whether or not she could be trusted, but the Outlander made it clear that they are not his mouthpiece. Koth stated that restoring Valkorion to the throne should be their goal, but Beniko insisted that he was a world devourer. She and Koth got at odds with one another, both insisting they knew Valkorion better. The argument got awkward when Senya insisted that she knew Valkorion better.

HK then interrupted, announcing that Teeseven had passed a message from the "Lady of Sorrows", who wished to commune with the *Gravestone*. Koth and Senya were familiar with the name, knowing the Lady as an elusive information broker who operated out of Zakuul's Old World. Senya claimed to know to the Old World well and accompanied the Outlander back to Zakuul to recruit the Lady of Sorrows. Before they departed, Beniko advised the Outlander act as an example for Koth and Senya to cooperate.

The Lady later turned out to be a droid named SCORPIO, who used to work with Imperial Intelligence in the past. Upon demanding access to the *Gravestone*'s mainframe, SCORPIO was met with a wall of mistrust, so she accepted to be delegated to the hyperdrive. Beniko then took the Outlander aside to inform them that elements from both Republic and Empire were willing to support an Alliance to destroy the Eternal Throne. Subsequently, the Outlander was summoned to the Scions' hideout by Heskal. Beniko advised the Outlander to be cautious around Scions, knowing zealots to be unpredictable.

### Battle of Asylum

Without warning, Asylum came under attack by the Eternal Empire. Beniko managed to raise the Outlander, who had survived a confrontation with Arcann. Beniko later defended the *Gravestone* alongside Koth's crew until the Outlander and Teeseven arrived. Beniko then informed the Outlander that Arcann's forces had taken control of docking clamps keeping the *Gravestone* in place. Before they could leave, they were confronted by Vaylin. Luckily, Senya intervened and engaged Vaylin so the Outlander and Beniko could go on ahead and meet Koth. Beniko then volunteered to hold a choke point so Koth and the Outlander could reach the Control Spar.

When the *Gravestone* was freed, Beniko rejoined her companions as they fled Asylum. Despite the omnicannon being non-operational, though they were able to escape into hyperspace. However, all eyes turned to the Outlander, who fell unconscious, having suffered injuries from fighting Arcann. Beniko and company checked up on the Outlander after a few days. The Outlander mournfully confirmed that HK-55 was destroyed by Arcann. Beniko then got angry when SCORPIO insensitively labeled the HK droids inferior, threatening to deactivate her.

### The Alliance

Unbeknownst to the Outlander, Lana had secretly been calling in favors across the galaxy, leading to an unprecedented gathering of Imperial and Republic dissidents on the planet Odessen. Lana's contacts, which included Theron Shan, had come together to form an alliance against the Eternal Empire, putting aside the remnants of the Galactic War to free the galaxy of Arcann's tyranny. Lana handed command of the Alliance over to the Outlander, preferred to remain in the shadows as she always had.

As the Alliance expanded and grew as the Commander recruited individuals such as Kaliyo Djannis and Aric Jorgan, a major operation in tapping Zakuul's planetary transmitter revealed the existence of the GEMINI frequency, the means of which Arcann controlled the Eternal Fleet. With data on the Spire Kaliyo helped the Commander obtain, the Alliance discovered the existence of a hyperwave relay station ten kilometers beneath the Spire, linking the Eternal Throne to the fleet. Lana believed they should decrypt the GEMINI frequency to learn Arcann's plans, but Kaliyo wanted to control it and Jorgan wanted to destroy it. After the Outlander assigned an infiltration and distraction team, Lana advised the Commander to consult Valkorion for information on how to invade the Spire.

Unfortunately, the Outlander went missing, forcing the Alliance to proceed with the mission. While in the middle of the operation, the Outlander returned unexpectedly, explaining that Valkorion lured them out into the wilderness and left their mind for parts unknown, before the Outlander met Satele Shan and the ghost of Darth Marr, who helped construct a new weapon to defeat Arcann; Lana remarked that a terrible lie like that had to be true. Subsequently, the infiltration team went dark, forcing the diversion team to go in to rescue them. The Alliance could do nothing but wait for a status report as the Spire went into lockdown.

Lana subsequently proceeded to the cantina and engaged a newcomer, Gault Rennow, in a game of sabacc. She attempted to read the Devaronian's mind but all she saw was a series of clouded images, preventing her from learning what cards he had, enabling him to beat her.

Subsequently, Gault propositioned to the Alliance a plan to raid the *Gilded Star*, the Eternal Empire's treasury ship, to fund an underfunded Alliance. Lana participated in the heist by piloting a tanker ship and brought up alongside the *Gilded Star*, siphoning its valuable contents that were vaporized by a warhead the Outlander and Gault placed inside the vault.

Upon their return to Odessen, they received both Kaliyo and Jorgan, who had barely managed to escape the Spire with a database on the GEMINI droids. Hoping to salvage this fiasco, Lana had SCORPIO analyze the drive, revealing the existence of a template, GEMINI Prime, on Darvannis. Lana noted that the factory where the Prime resided, as well as the landscape, required an army to siege, so Theron called in Mandalorian allies. Lana remained behind on Odessen while the Commander went to meet with Mandalore the Avenger. Later on, during the siege, Lana passed on detailed schematics of the factory from Theron to the Commander. She also cautioned the Outlander regarding a long-term alliance with the Mandalorians, comparing them to wild animals craving violence.

Once GEMINI Prime was in their possession, SCORPIO analyzed the template was able to easily crack the droid due to their similar designs. As SCORPIO explained, by plugging the Prime into the captain's chair of any warship in the Eternal Fleet, they'd be able to take control of it, and she had managed to locate one such warship they could take. SCORPIO unfortunately betrayed everyone and took the Eternal Throne for herself, stealing Arcann's control over all but a few ships. Arcann proceeded to attack with his last forces, leading to the Battle of Odessen.

In the resulting battle of Odessen Beniko accompanied the Alliance Commander up until their duel with Arcann, which resulted in him defeated and taken away by his mother Senya Tirall into hiding. Arcann's sister Vaylin allied herself with SCORPIO and proclaimed herself the new Eternal Empress and Beniko stood by the Alliance Commander's side as they battled her forces on Voss. At attempt by Vaylin to take control of the *Gravestone* led to the discovery of a hidden artificial world called Iokath, which the Alliance forces had to temporarily abandon when it was covered by deadly radiation. Beniko then assisted the Alliance mission to sabotage the Grand Festival of Empress Vaylin and accompanied the Commander to Nathema, where she strongly felt the absence of the Force on the dead world. Vaylin soon launched another assault on Odessen where Beniko again fought on the front lines and which led to Vaylin's death at the Commander's hand. Subsequently, the Alliance forces traveled to Zakuul where the Commander claimed the Eternal Throne and took control over the Eternal Fleet, transforming the Alliance from an anti-Zakuul insurgency into the Eternal Alliance.

## The Eternal Alliance

The Eternal Alliance was now one of the biggest galactic powers, and as one of its highest-ranking members, Beniko had to contend with new threats from the first hours of its existence. Anti-Alliance uprisings sprung across the galaxy, with Beniko identifying and ordering to neutralize such new threats as Renegade Sith Lords Adacin and Zanisk, former Imperial Intelligence Major Korven and exiled Zakuulan Battalion Commander Tassar.

### A traitor close to home

By the time the radiation levels on Iokath had subsided, Beniko personally led an Alliance team to map and claim it for the Alliance. She contacted the Commander and Theron with a status report, which was interrupted by her discovery of Imperial and Republic forces on Iokath, who shot her droid C6-X and appeared to be fighting for control over the superweapon. Beniko established a secure area with the Alliance forces at her disposal and detained two emissaries send by the Republic and the Empire - Captain Elara Dorne and Major Malavai Quinn. The Commander and Theron soon joined her on Iokath, though an unknown interference left the Eternal Fleet, now controlled from Odessen, unable to assist. Beniko greeted the Commander back to Iokath and let her captives introduce themselves, before joining in a holoconference with Sith Empress Acina and Republic Supreme Commander Jace Malcom, Theron's father. Both sides arrived on Iokath looking to claim the superweapon and both pleaded the Alliance to join forces against the other. She followed the Commander in the decision to join with the Sith Emipe, though she was ordered to guard the base, while the Commander and Theron went on the offensive. However, Beniko soon discovered that the ongoing battle for Iokath was orchestrated by an unknown outside party, which leaked identical data regarding the superweapon to all three parties, hoping to lure them in the same place and the same time and restart the Galactic War. Since the Eternal Throne's control over the Eternal Fleet could only be sabotaged by an Alliance member, Lana suspected a traitor in their ranks. The Commander and Theron moved to prevent the superweapon activation and though they were unsuccessful and the legendary Six Gods were awakened, the control over the Eternal Fleet was restored, allowing to push the first of them, Tyth, back. With no way to narrow down the suspects from almost half of the Alliance personnel Beniko and Shan started to look for the traitor.

Eventually she found a trail that led to the shadow-world of Umbara, where a transmission with the same encryption as the one from Iokath was detected from a Hovertrain with a large stockpile of Adegan crystals. Lana Beniko, Theron Shan and the Commander traveled there and boarded the train to intercept and stop the traitor. After defeating an Umbaran Shadow Assassin the three reached the empty cockpit of the train, where Theron revealed himself as the traitor, locking the Commander and Lana inside and sabotaging the train to crash before escaping. Managing to bail before the impact and survive the crash, the Commander and Lana pursuit Theron on foot, while also fending off local wildlife. They caught up with Theron, but were unable to stop him before his shuttle left Umbara. Returning to Odessen empty-handed, the Commander ordered Beniko to use every resource at the Alliance's disposal to locate Theron's whereabouts.

Their message reached the right ears, and Aristocra Saganu of the Chiss Expansionary Defense Force arrived on Odessen to personally meet with Lana and the Commander. Saganu revealed that Theron was being sheltered on the Chiss world of Copero by the rogue Syndic Zenta of House Inrokini. To avoid a political conflict, Saganu asked the Alliance to deal with the traitor, sending Human Ensign Raina Temple with the Commander to keep an eye on Chiss Ascendancy interests. Though Theron escaped again, the Alliance learned that he had joined a group looking for a powerful superweapon. The Copero holomap that pointed to it was destroyed, but Lana put her best engineers into reassembling it. The Alliance also intercepted a message from Theron to his new masters, revealing that he was now working for the Order of Zildrog.

#### Chasing Zildrog

"*I recognize this encryption method. We developed it together years ago, on Rishi. Only two people know how to decrypt it. Me... and Theron.*"
―Lana Beniko
Smugglers working for Hylo Visz eventually intercepted a message to the Alliance from an Abandoned Listening Postand Lana joined the Commander to personally investigate it. They discovered that the abandoned station had served as the Order of Zildrog's base of operation for months, and that the Order had been able to watch the Alliance that whole time despite the regular security sweeps on Odessen. Holorecordings revealed that the Order was led by former Horizon Guard Vinn Atrius, who planned to awaken another superweapon from Iokath called Zildrog and use it against Odessen. However, a message entered just before their arrival also revealed a set of coordinates on Nathema, which Lana recognized as coming from Theron due to a unique encryption they had developed together on Rishi, indicating that Theron's true allegiance could still lie with them. Forced to flee as the self-destruct mechanism was activated and completely obliterated the station, Lana and the Commander returned to Odessen just as the work of restoring the holomap from Copero was finished, revealing a location on Nathema that matched the coordinates left by Theron.

To stop the Order's plan and deal with Theron one way or another, the Commander and Lana traveled to Nathema, where they were shocked to see the once lifeless world overgrown with plant life, with no trace of the unsettling wrongness in the Force it had shown before. After dealing with several Nathema Zealots and escaped beasts from the Sanitarium, they reached the coordinates they'd been given, where Theron approached them and revealed himself to be secretly working for the Alliance's interests the whole time. Though Lana still did not trust him fully, everyone agreed that the Order should be stopped, and Theron led her and the Commander towards the Emperor's Vault under an ancient Sith Temple, where Zildrog was located. Along the way, Theron apologized to Lana for deceiving her, reminding her of the time she had similarly kept him in the dark on Rishi. Theron led the Commander and Lana to the Emperor's Vault, where Vinn Atrius and GEMINI 16 were already in the process of awakening Zildrog. Theron shot Atrius, but GEMINI 16 trapped the three of them in a force field and finished summoning Zildrog, allowing it to remotely take over the *Gravestone* that remained parked on Odessen.

#### A blow to the Alliance

"*This goes without saying, but... I'm not going anywhere. The Alliance may be different now, but I'm here to stay.*"
―Lana Beniko
Controlling it from the Dark Sanctuary, Zildrog took the *Gravestone* into Odessen's orbit and proceeded to repeatedly fire the omnicannon at the Eternal Fleet, which sat defenseless in the abscence of orders from the Eternal Throne. Hylo Visz contacted the Commander and informed them of the crisis, but they, Lana, and Theron were unable to do anything to stop Zildrog from completely annihilating the Eternal Fleet. It then targeted Odessen itself, but needed to recharge before the next attack, forcing GEMINI 16 to engage the Alliance directly. Lana, Theron, and the Commander destroyed her, and Theron attempted to shut Zildrog down, but was stabbed in the back by Vinn Atrius with a lightsaber pike. Atrius then ordered Zildrog to augment him with its power and attacked Lana and the Commander with his new increased strength. They defeated Atrius and destroyed Zildrog, which also caused the self-destruct of the *Gravestone* and disabled the Eternal Throne. The Commander decided Atrius' fate while Lana tended to Theron's wounds, determining that he needed to be immediately brought to Odessen for treatment. The Commander agreed and the three of them returned to the base.

Lana did an assessment of the incident and reported to Commander that although Odessen had suffered minimal damage with no casualties to Alliance personnel, the *Gravestone* and the Eternal Fleet, two of Eternal Alliance's greatest weapons, were gone. Without them, the Alliance no longer possessed the military force to rival that of the Republic and the Sith Empire, who were redoubling their preparations for the inevitable renewal of open hostilities. Additionally, many Alliance members were choosing to leave and rejoin their original factions, their goal of toppling the Eternal Empire accomplished. Lana however assured the Commander of her continued loyalty and the two of them welcomed back Theron, who apologized for keeping them in the dark and asked the Commander to allow him back into the Alliance.

## Personality and traits

"*There was something about her. Secretive. Conniving. I ignored it, and for that I cannot forgive myself.*"
―Sgt. Tarsten
Lana Beniko had very unusual personality for a Sith Lord. She spoke in a very serene and considerate manner, and possessed a keen mind with a preference to analyze the problem rather to charge it head on. She was a patriot of the Empire and seemed to care more about its safety than her own goals or achieving new titles. Her patriotism made her pragmatic enough to ally with unlikely allies against threats to the Empire, including a Wookiee smuggler, a Republic SIS agent and eventually even Jedi. Unlike practically every other Sith, Lana held no disdain for non-Humans, people without Force-sensitivity and even loyal citizens of the Galactic Republic, neither did she have the urge to remind them of their place. Her outward appearance showed no effect of Dark Side corruption and she possessed a healthy sense of humor, free from sadistic tendencies typical of Sith. She easily fit with unlikely companions for weeks, it took the combined force of an extremely stressful situation and the constant annoyance of the droid C2-D4 to get her to even raise her voice, a situation most Sith would choose to settle with either a Force-choke or their lightsaber. Despite all this, Lana remained a loyal Imperial even after she was branded traitor and refused an offer to defect to the Republic. Lana grew close to Theron Shan, Jakarro and her ally and sincerely regretted when Theron lost his trust in her, she parted with him on good terms though she already prepared to made his life difficult in her new role at the Sith Intelligence. Her calm outward demeanor was also contrasted by her prowess in combat, and she had no qualms of using Force lightning against Revan during the fight.

After becoming one of the owners of HK-55, Lana had become quite attached to the bodyguard droid. When SCORPIO insensitively labeled the HK-series droid to be inferior, Lana threatened to deactivate SCORPIO.

## Romance

Darth Veda flirted with Lana on several different occasions, leading to a romance and culminating in a passionate kiss and "Hot Sex" after they

defeated Revan.

Following the Ziost missions, Darth Veda shared another kiss with Lana on Vaiken Spacedock.

Doing Darth Veda's rescue from the Eternal Empire, he flirted with Lana several times and reinitiate a full romance (More "Hot Sex") with her when they where at thier Alliance base.

After the Mission to Nathema Darth Veda proposed to marry her.

 Gender
 Hair color
 Eye color
 Affiliation
* + Sphere of Military Offense
	+ Sith Intelligence
* Alliance