History
Once a Jedi Knight of an order little known outside of its own members, Ardonis Commodore lead a life that most Jedi would. As the war with the Sith raged on between the Imperial Empire, and its counter, the Sith Empire, many times would the Jedi try to intervene and help the Fel Dynasty in its fight against the growing powers of the Sith forces.
The proclaimed Emperor of the Sith did not take to highly to the Jedi Orders interference in his quest for power. A large fleet amassed over the Praxeum’s planet, decimating the planetary forces as they pushed towards the Jedi temple. But the Sith forces weren’t enough to hold the Jedi within the confines of their own walls. Before long, the Jedi were pushing through the ranks of Troopers and Sith Lords, enough to the point that the fleet captain called for a planetary evacuation. In a last attempt, the orders were given to orbitally bombard the planet to demolish the Jedi forces. Nothing more then burnt craters, scattered bodies, and battle torn buildings stood. Few survived the bombardment, Ardonis included.
After being nursed back to help by citizens of a neighboring city out of the blast radius, he frantically began his search through the wreckage of the Jedi Praxeum in hopes of finding some remains or knowledge of his wife. Grief stricken, his search went on for over a week before finally he succumbed to exhaustion. He knew all was lost, and he was left with nothing.
Though as a few months passed, he found new drive, a new purpose for what was left of his life. Vengence. From that point he quested across the galaxy in search of the Sith Emperor, but he knew deep down his fight was futile unless he had the power to properly fight him and his minions.
His journeys then took another turn, in search of more indepth knowledge of the force. Moving from one highly force sensitive region to the next, he spent most of his time in search of holocrons and text that would tell him more than any Jedi Master would teach inside of the order. As his knowledge grew more vast with the teachings and tricks, his dabbling with the dark side of the force would have its mark on his body, draining him slightly of his youth.
His search went on for years, at one point even entangling his path with the Sith as a member. His plot to destroy them from the inside was futile though as those he had allied himself with fell to the hands of their superiors. Along his travels, odd friendships occurred as he would help out people that normally would loathe the help of his kind, but of course he would receive as much as he had given.
Forming a friendship with the Death Watch would soon lead him to his next calling, as would someone else. While roaming through Naboo, he met up with one of the members of Death Watch, who was drinking with a young Zeltron. While they talked, a fight brewed outside between a few Sith and bounty hunters. Unable to sit idly by and watch, Ardonis quickly joined in the fight, helping the local citizens take out the aggressors. This formed his long growing friendship with Drisana(Sana), the young Zeltron. She was a lost Padawan, seeking guidance in the force who had no place to turn after she was captured months before. Ardonis took her in as his first student in over ten years, teaching her mostly basics at the time, force manipulation, and saber finesse.
When her interest came to lie with the Empire, her next mentor served as the Grand Master of the Imperial Knights, Koji Starr. Like Ardonis, Koji had once lived as a Jedi, and saw potential between Ardonis and Sana to become a powerful pair. Sana vowed to become an Imperial Knight soon afterwards, and with the growing confrontations with the Empire and the Sith, Ardonis volunteered as well. Koji had other plans though. Sana soon enrolled in the Telos Jedi Order, with the promise that when she became a Knight, Koji would enstate her as a knight of the Empire, and Ardonis as well.
Despite Ardonis pushing for Koji to let him in sooner so he could fight, it would eventually be too late. Traitors spawned from within the ranks, soon turning to the side of the Sith. The two Sith witches killed the Grand Admiral, and tore through the ranks before Ardonis and a few members of the Storm Commandos put them down.
All seemed to be at an end after that though Ardonis had ceased giving up at that point. Tracking down one of the Admirals who still had contact with the Emperor, who had gone into hiding, Ardonis and the newly instated Grand Admiral picked up promptly where the Empire had left off. Taking over the title of Grand Master, Ardonis reformed the Imperial Knights, basing themselves out of an abandoned outpost on Ilum. From there as their forces grew, they branched out, soon taking Tatooine, and Naboo back into Imperial control again.
Though before long, Ardonis could see through the power hungry nature of the Grand Admiral, and forced him to retire. With the help of High Admiral Vesperia, they took Grand Admiral Varun out of office, though he did not take it lightly, and formed a Rebellion against the Empire.
Things went well for a good while after that. Sana was brought into the Knights, and was the tying bind between the Empire and the Jedi order. Sana and Ardonis formed a relationship out of the time spent together, though it was rather shaky. He was jealous, and to full of pride at many times, plus his closed up heart and cold nature eventually drove her away. It was only then that he realized that she had given him back some bit of humanity and peace, though it seemed it was too late for them.
All seemed to turn for the worse afterwards. The Sith began to grow in force yet again, ruthlessly attacking at random, even striking at his heart when they would go directly for Sana to get to him. The months to come would certainly try his sanity and his courage, but as always, the largest threat was the one that grew from within. They would later find out fully that the regional governor, Moff Ar’zona, was really a Sith seeking to use the Fel Dynasty as his boost to power.
Ardonis seemed to disappear for some time, as he had gone to do service directly with the Emperor as his aid and guard. In his absence the Empire began to crumble once again, leaving next to nothing behind but ruins. During his time away, he met up with Sana on her homeworld of Zeltros, staying with her while she dealt with her family. Both came back to the more known regions of space soon afterwards to find that all that they had fought for was slowly degrading. Eventually Ardonis lost track of the Emperor, and Sana in the years following, which brought him back to nothing once more.
It wasn’t until Talmerith Jael approached him on Telos IV, that he would find a path again. The now, Commander Jael, told him the ill fate of the Empire after he left, and how the Moff had been exposed as a Sith. She enlisted his help soon afterwards in rebuilding the Empire, though he was hesitant to do so, he eventually succumbed to her wishes, reclaiming his rank as the Grand Master to help rebuild the Empire in the design of the Fel Dynasty. Their first order of business was to retake Coruscant, while Bastion was being rebuilt and the Sith Empire was in shambles. Leading the final assault on the palace himself, his top squad of Storm Commando's were leading the distraction at the Sith Temple.
His service lasted for a few years before disappearing for a short time to deal with personal matters. Upon his return to active service, he'd found his position taken by the Regent Emperess' lover, and former Sith, Atticus, also known as Darth Morpheus. Having lost his rank, and forced to serve under a former Sith, he quickly resigned. Finding the retired group of Storm Commandos, famous for the destruction of the Sith Temple on Coruscant, they formed a small group known simply as Spectre. Together they cleaned up much of the mess the Empire left behind, or couldn't handle themselves. This lasted for nearly a year before they were called upon for direct Imperial service. With the uprising of a new Rebel front, a cold war was instated, using the Spectre's as spies and sabotuers.
During their operation, Atticus happened upon them in Onderon, ruining their cover while trying to help them out of a fix. In turn, Atticus was imprisoned, and Emperess Jael had no other option but to go to war to retrieve her husband from the Onderon jail cells. Calling Ardonis back to active service, along with the Commando team, they set forward in an assault of Onderon against the Republic forces, and the Bounty Hunter guild of House Morane. The battle raged on for a short while, cutting down the Republic forces and pushing them back into the Onderon forests. Siezing the Capital city of Iziz for the time with the unfortunate loss of Queen Janick, the Empire occupied the planet until a new Queen could be found, to keep the Sith forces from moving in during the time of weakness for the planet. Moving their forces back to Coruscant not long after Queen Astra took power, the Empire would again prosper, however short of a time.
Tensions grew within the Empire however, as trust became a major issue. Feeling that Emperess Jael was being influenced by her Jedi advisors, as well as her retired husband, Ardonis, and other Knights began investigating the Emperess and her husband, as well as other members of the Empire suspected of treason. In turn, the Regent felt the Knights were trying to usurp power from her, and she attempted to disband the Knights. This however, did not go over to well with Ardonis and the Knights, who refused her order. Emperess Jael soon afterwards, felt that the Empire was going down a path she could not follow, and attempted to sell out the Fel Dynasty to the Republic. Catching wind of this trechery though, Ardonis, along with loyal members of the Empire struck the meeting place. Boarding the Republic Capital ship after a short battle to capture the Regent, in attempts to make her see reason. Confronted by Covenant Jedi, and Republic forces, the attempts at capturing the former Emperess were thwarted.
Managing a narrow escape from the Republic ship, his ship crash landed on the surface of Onderon, along with several escape pods and other Imperials. Seriously fatigued from the battled, and an over exertion of dark force powers, he was returned to Coruscant, along with the retrieved traitor, Chris Novastar. Later when Ardonis woke up, he went down to Novastar, speaking with him to try and change his views on the force, and of the Empire. Promising to train him in all forms of the force, as well as show him the truth of the way of the galaxy, Novastar would become his next student.
Not long afterwards, the Republic made a daring assualt on Coruscant to retrieve Queen Astra, who had been taken into custody under suspected terrorism. The fight drew to a close when the Queen was released, but it would not be the last. No more then a few weeks later, the Republic assaulted Coruscant, somehow managing to break through Imperial defenses and land their assault parties. The fast assault managed to suprise Imperial Forces, pushing them back at bay while the Republic took over the Palace sector of the planet. Captured by Republic forces, he was taken to Onderon to stand trial. This didn't last long when a crack team of Imperials broke into the Iziz palace to break him out. Fleeing the fight with Ardonis, they hid in the dense jungles of Onderon before moving to Ilum to wait out their next course of action.
Time Gap
Ardonis Commodore Today
Current whereabouts unknown. Possibly regrouping forces at an undisclosed location, possibly Kuat or Bastion.
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The Historian of Ossus spends an entire chapter of his "Commentaries" discussing the historical importance of Ardonis Commodore, especially in the context of his leadership of various key Imperial Remnant Successor States.