Kiandra Beniko

Kiandra Beniko, known among the Eternal Alliance and galactic history as Darth Caida, was a female human Jedi Master who was active in many conflicts of the Old Republic, but became famous for her defeat of the Eternal Empire and the way she united the Jedi and Sith toward a common goal. Her Alliance of former Republic and Imperial citizens managed to stand for several decades before its eventual dissolution. Eventually, Caida turned away from the Jedi Order due to feeling disillusioned with it and settled down with her wife, the Sith Lord Lana Beniko. Caida and Lana eventually sired the Beniko Family, which would be an active lineage for thousands of years.

Caida's legacy was one the Jedi attempted to bury, but which continued to be passed around the Outer Rim. A Jedi who gave everything for the Republic, even to the point of losing pieces of herself. It was considered a tragedy with a bittersweet ending as the hero of the galaxy found solace in the arms of a Sith lord who truly cared for her.

Caida would be later memorialized by her descendant, Darth Amorosa, who wore her makeup.

# Biography

## Jedi Training

### Trials on Tython

Kiandra was brought into the Jedi Order at a very young age, and trained under various masters before being sent to Tython to complete her training. However during her training, an army of Flesh Raiders attacked the training grounds. Kiandra was deputized to clear out the flesh raiders and discover their source with her new master, Orgus Din. Their investigations took them to Kalikori Village, a Twi'lek settlement that had recently been attacked by the raiders and had routinely requested Jedi aid, only to be ignored.

Kiandra established a positive relationship with the matriarch, Ranna Tao'ven, comforting her as her mother died of an illness. Over the course of the conflict, Kiandra routinely aided the Twi'leks and helped them defend themselves. She even risked her own life to save their crops. Her kindness and dedication led to Ranna developing feelings for her and the two engaged in a brief tryst.

Kiandra eventually discovered that the Flesh Raiders were under the control of a rogue Jedi, and put an end to him. She was promoted to the rank of Jedi Knight for her achievements.

### Attack on the Esseles

While en route to Coruscant to address a security breach, Kiandra's shuttle, the Esseles, was attacked by an imperial cruiser. Grand Moff Kilran contacted the crew and demanded turning over an ambassador known for sewing sedition on Imperial worlds and turning them over to the Republic. Believing that Kilran wouldn't bother to let them go, Kiandra decided to rally the crew to fight back. After fending off the boarding party, including several mandalorians, Kiandra boarded the enemy ship to disable the tractor beams.

She encountered a Sith Apprentice as she was escaping, who slaughtered her squad. She slew the Sith and set the Esseles back on course, resuming toward Coruscant.

## Strike of the Desolator

### Security Breach

Upon arriving on Coruscant, Kiandra learned about a superweapon designed to quarantine planets called the Planet Prison. A security breach had resulted in the designs for the weapon being stolen by the Migrant Merchant's Guild. However, while investigating the guild, Kiandra learned that the entire operation had been a distraction and that Doctor Tarnis, the man who worked on the weapon and other superweapons was in fact a Sith Lord working for Darth Angral. Tailing Tarnis through Black Sun and Justicar territory lead Kiandra to the ruins of the Jedi Temple, where she slew Tarnis in front of his father.

Enraged, Angral swore revenge. Further investigating the breach led Kiandra to Ord Mantel where she discovered that Angral was planning to use the Republic superweapons to create a planet-killer called the Desolator that could be mounted onto a cruiser. Realizing they were in a race against the Sith, Kiandra got to work roundup up the Republic's compromised weapons.

### Doctor Godera

Kiandra was sent to Taris to locate Doctor Godera, who worked on many of the superweapons and quit in protest when the treaty of Coruscant was signed, believing the peace to be a false one. Kiandra tracked Godera to his hideout, only to find that he wasn't there. He'd been captured by Imperial Intelligence Watcher One. What followed was a game of cat and mouse as Watcher One eluded Kiandra at every turn, even going as far as to warn her of an imminent attack on a small outpost to buy time to interrogate the doctor.

Kiandra eventually cornered Watcher One, much to Angral's displeasure, and slew him. After explaining the situation to the doctor, Godera felt vindicated and returned to the Republic to aid in recovering his weapons and countering Darth Angral's schemes.

### The Republic Superweapons

Kiandra learned, to her outrage, that the Republic had been developing superweapons all over the galaxy and testing them on the people, largely in the Outer Rim. The first of these was the Power Guard project, an attempt to replicate the strength of the Jedi through cybernetics. However they were also subject to being controlled remotely. The entire project was taken over by Lord Sadic, who used Republic SIS agent Galen as a test subject for Angral's new power guard soldiers, and sent him to kill Kiandra. Galen manged to resist the control, however, and the two killed Sadic before destroying the Power Guard project.

Receiving a message about a defector, Kiandra took her Padawan to meet with a general from the Sith Empire. However it turned out to be a trap from a Child of the Emperor who revealed that Kira was a former Child of the Emperor. After dispatching the Sith, Kira revealed that she was raised on Korriban and escaped when she realized that the Emperor was planning something with her before being found by the Jedi. Kiandra took Kira back to the Jedi Council to tell them as well, but urged the Council not to punish her for something that wasn't her fault, which Satele was amenable to.

Kira later expressed gratitude toward Kiandra for sticking up for her, to which Kiandra assured her that she wouldn't just leave her behind. At was at this point that Kira began to develop romantic feelings toward her master.

Kiandra and her apprentice continued on to Tatooine, where Kiandra was once again horrified to learn that the Republic was testing a catastrophic seismic weapon in the middle of a populated area. The Shock Drum had been taken by Lord Praven and hidden in a mining facility. Triangulating the position revealed the facility to be out in the Dune Sea. However, Praven contacted Kiandra and warned her that the deactivation codes had been changed and that Bela Kiwiks had been left beside the active device. He offered the codes if Kiandra won an honorable duel, which she did. Praven was surprised at Kiandra's integrity, and at her urging turned away from the Sith and became a Jedi. Kiandra then proceeded to deactivate the Shock Drum and save the Jedi Master's life.

### Attacks on Uphrades and Tython

Kiandra arrived far too late to save Uphrades from an attack by Darth Angral, discovering it to be a world that was practically on fire with few, if any, survivors. The sheer scope of death on the planet shook Kiandra to her very core, and she would forever view Uphrades as her greatest failure.

Kiandra raced to Tython the moment she was given word of Angral's arrival, and boarded his dreadnought to destroy both him and the desolator. Burning with a desire for revenge for not just Uphrades, but the death of Orgus Din, she struck Angral down mercilessly. Her vengeance-fueled crusade was ignored by the Jedi, who dubbed her a hero to Tython and the Republic.

# Personality

Caida was a bitter woman later in her life, resentful of the Republic and of herself for giving so much of herself to organizations that only used and abused her, and then attempted to have her killed when she proved to be inconvenient. Her cybernetics, previously seen as medals of honor, became reminders of what she gave of herself ultimately for nothing.

# Trivia

* Caida's Darth title is an honorary title as Caida never officially became a Sith Lord. Her descendant, Darth Amorosa, would later repeat this with her own wife Rey Beniko, naming her "Darth Irus."
* Caida is the Spanish word for Fall, detailing Kiandra's slow and gradual fall to the Dark Side and eventual allegiance to the Sith Empire.