Legacy of Darkness - A Fanfiction trilogy

[MayhemofChaonus]

Thanks Flame, It wasn't easy, I had a full 2 weeks of writers block over how to change the story of the op without changing the outcome. It was seriously hard! But I'm glad to see i managed it well enough to entertain at least one person! Hopefully the parts will come faster/easier over the next few months as my vacation time from work approaches.

 

And I have a lot of good ideas for DF and DP, although they pale in comparison to what I have planned for the third arc of the story (these past 5 chapters have been the 1st and "prologue" arc, the 2nd arc will be the first (mostly) original arc.)

[FlameYOL]

I know the feeling, I always wanted to do my own fan-fiction but always have writer's block. You do something very similar to what I'd envision. And I'm interesting to see the original parts, so far how you gave the Thul Sith Lord a vital role in your story really pleased my inner reader, mostly because I always felt those quests should've had a reference dropped a few years later, even if only "X who you helped at Y planet planetary bonus series died killed by Z".

[MayhemofChaonus]

Hi guys! Soo....I nearly broke my back on Friday. Not really but I got a "compressed disk" which is 1 step down from a slipped disk, so i've been in a lot of pain and mostly immobile for the past 3 days. One of the unfortunate side effects of this accident is that I can't sit (only stand up or lay down) for longer than a few minutes. As you can imagine, this is going to seriously hurt my ability to write, and as such it looks like we're going to have to take a break from writing or do it very slowly for the next week or two. As such, I can no longer promise the parts will come quickly, but I will do my best to work diligently on them to try and get them released somewhat regularly.

 

Things should return to normal in a month or so at the latest, but I'm personally anticipating a speedy recovery, so if you're an optimist hope for a return to a quicker schedule within a week. I hope to have the next release ready by mid to late this week, I'll see you guys then!

[Lunafox]

Hi guys! Soo....I nearly broke my back on Friday. Not really but I got a "compressed disk" which is 1 step down from a slipped disk, so i've been in a lot of pain and mostly immobile for the past 3 days. One of the unfortunate side effects of this accident is that I can't sit (only stand up or lay down) for longer than a few minutes. As you can imagine, this is going to seriously hurt my ability to write, and as such it looks like we're going to have to take a break from writing or do it very slowly for the next week or two. As such, I can no longer promise the parts will come quickly, but I will do my best to work diligently on them to try and get them released somewhat regularly.

 

Things should return to normal in a month or so at the latest, but I'm personally anticipating a speedy recovery, so if you're an optimist hope for a return to a quicker schedule within a week. I hope to have the next release ready by mid to late this week, I'll see you guys then!

 

Get better soon!

[FlameYOL]

Get better man, and don't worry about it RL comes first.

[MayhemofChaonus]

Hi guys! Yes this part is really short and no it didn't take me all this time to write it. I'm still in the middle of writing the part that comes after it and since its taking so dam long I decided to release this part ahead of time instead of releasing it with the next segment like I planned. That way you guys don't think I dropped off the face of the earth or something.

 

The writing is really slow going, both due to small bouts of writers block, research issues, and my back pain, but I'm hopeful that I'll have the next segment ready in the next two weeks...maybe. Sorry its such a long wait you guys but I hope you won't think less of me for putting my own health and safety before the fans.

 

Please enjoy.

 

 

Raze walked down the long hall towards the throne room of the fortress on Deriada Minor. He had returned here to meditate in absolute solitude so he could clearly analyze his circumstances and formulate his plans for the future. Nothing disturbed him as he walked, the nightmarish shadow entity that had attacked him on his first visit was gone, its power now bound to him after their last encounter, and its consciousness annihilated as a result.

 

 

Reaching the throne room, he swung the doors open, walking through them and into the hollow expanse of the chamber. Behind him, the doors swung shut, leaving him alone in the room. A beam of red-tinted light filtered down through the skylight, illuminating what would have seemed like an empty void in the absence of any light.

 

 

Approaching the dais, Raze mounted the few steps of the platform and seated himself on the throne, activating the control console. In a few minutes he had the schematics, blueprints, and specifications for the fortress in front of him. He sifted through them carefully, absorbing as much basic information as he could to get a more intimate understanding of the stronghold's inner workings, after nearly a standard hour of intense study, he found the solution.

 

 

"Harkanous." he said into the comm.

 

 

"Yes my lord?" came the instant reply.

 

 

"Do we have several X-35T backup generators on board any of our ships?" There was a slight pause, then:

 

 

"I believe so Darth Raze, if you'll give me a moment to confirm."

 

 

"Do it." The channel cut out, only to come back on in a few minutes.

 

 

"My lord, I've confirmed that were are in possession of five X-35T's."

 

 

"Good." Raze said. "I want them brought down to the planet at the same landing coordinates as my shuttle."

 

 

"We'll get on that right away my lord, but it will take some time."

 

 

"Understood, I'm sending you a map of the fortress your men will see upon their arrival, with the spots where I want the generators installed marked. Tell your engineers to work as cautiously as possible, take extra time if necessary, but I don't want any mistakes."

 

 

"It will be done, my lord."

 

 

"And one more thing," Raze added, "I wish not to be disturbed unless an issue of the highest priority arises."

 

 

"As you say." Commander Harkanous assured him and Raze closed the channel.

 

 

Leaning back in the throne Raze stared up at the red sky he could see through the skylight, allowing his thoughts to wander as he slipped into a light meditative trance. His battle with Master Selimo had proven what he had suspected to be true; his power was growing, his skill increasing. The trials of his past missions, and possibly his exposure to his master's power, was strengthening him. Still, he held some doubts that he had surpassed Darth Nox, despite his master's apparent fear and slothfulness.

 

 

Fear was, after all, the only explanation for Nox's betrayal of him. Raze knew he was far too valuable to his master for Nox to simply discard him like a used up tool. His many successes and his abundant loyalty made him unique among Sith, his master was not blind, surely he could see the value in keeping Raze at his command? Yet it seemed his master's fear of him, of his growing power, had completely overridden the notions of logic and reason, driving Nox to such ends as betraying his most powerful and valuable apprentice. The thought disgusted Raze, his master should have known better, Raze had been very open about his adherence to the way of the Sith, particularly the part that demanded the apprentice one day kill and replace the master. Darth Nox had known what he was getting into from the start, which is what made this apparent paranoia so out-of-character.

 

 

Raze frowned, could the artifact have been deceiving him? Seeing the future, was, after all, never a sure thing. Even the most clear and accurate visions were only the most likely possibility, rather than a certainty. But the cost was too great anyway, he could not afford to assume that the vision was false, or it could cost him his life, a life he couldn't afford to lose, not yet.

 

 

But what to do? He couldn't challenge Nox openly, not now. His master was too influential, and likely wielded as much power as ever, despite his reluctance to use it decisively. If Raze wanted to challenge Nox on equal terms, he needed to expand his powerbase as quickly and discretely as possible. His master had eyes and ears everywhere, so there was no telling what kind of information could work its way back to him.

 

 

Raze settled more comfortably into the seat and began to meditate intensively on the problem. After nearly an hour of brainstorming and internal deliberations he had a plan; If he couldn't stop word of his actions from reaching his master's ears, than he would have to hide his true motives in plain sight, behind a facade of bloodlust and militarism. A string of campaigns against rival Sith resulting in the takeover of their power bases and seizing of their resources would be seen, not just by his master, but by all witnesses as a blatant power grab, whereas a string of campaigns against Republic systems and the seizure of Republic territory, resources, and property would simply be seen as claiming the spoils of war. One method would invite scrutiny and suspicion, the other would barely even register on the radar of most observers. It was obvious which path he should take.

 

 

He activated the commlink in his ear and the voice of Commander Harkanous answered immediately; "My lord, what is your desire?"

 

 

"Are the installations finished?" Raze demanded.

 

 

"They should be done soon my lord, most of the teams are simply running the standard double-checks, making sure everything is in place."

 

 

Raze activated the holographic console, and found that three of the five generators were operational, the facility had enough energy to be rebooted on full power. With a few keystrokes, Raze activated the fortress's main power grid and suddenly the throne room was bathed in red light. The hundreds of small illuminators situated in tiny alcoves around the room blanketed the chamber in a low, sinister crimson hue, providing enough light to cast shadows in every corner of the room.

 

 

Behind his mask, Raze smiled. He would build a power base that Darth Nox wouldn't believe him capable of, and that started right here, right now.

 

 

"Commander." He said into his commlink. "Prepare for my return, I want to be ready to jump to hyperspace by the time my shuttle enters the hanger bay."

 

 

"Right away Darth Raze." Harkanous said with crisp professionalism. Raze deactivated the commlink and stood to his feet, walking in measured stride towards the huge double doors. He vowed that his legacy would begin right here, right now, and that no-one, not even Darth Nox himself, would stop him from achieving his destiny.

 

Edited June 18, 2018 by MayhemofChaonus

[FlameYOL]

I really like how Darth Raze is going to try and build a powerbase to challenge his master "One day, the servant will be the master" as he stated once. Edited July 4, 2017 by FlameYOL

[MayhemofChaonus]

Hi guys! Sorry it's late, enjoy!

 

 

Nox was walking nonchalantly past the Midnight Shadow's holoterminal when it detected his presence and beeped in an attempt to get his attention. Turning at the sound, Nox strode over to the control panel and noticed that he had a message in his inbox. Opening it, he stepped back as the recording began to play.

 

 

"Darth Nox." the young man in the recording bowed, "Colonel Jadick, Imperial Reclamation Service reporting. We're having a first-contact scenario with a primeval species. General Threnoldt's made his report to the Dark Council, and they've surrendered the situation to your jurisdiction. When I say these beings existed eons before the Rakata Infinite Empire, I'm not exaggerating. I'm doing my best to communicate but you...you'll want to be here."

 

 

The image faded, and Nox moved in to dial the call-back number attached to the message. When the image of Colonel Jadick flickered to life, the man bowed, as if imitating his own recording. "Darth Nox, it's always a pleasure my lord."

 

 

Ignoring the abasement, Nox addressed the young human with simmering anger. "General Threnholdt should have made his report to me directly, I don't appreciate my underlings going behind my back to the Dark Council."

 

 

"You could not be reached my lord, and time was an extremely urgent factor. The general did ensure that authority in the matter would ultimately fall to you."

 

 

Nox was reminded of his recent experiment on Bogar and the battle on Denova. He had been out of contact, and Threnholdt had genuinely followed Imperial procedure to the letter, but he still didn't feel placated. He buried his resentment and anger under layers of rationality and pragmatism, returning to a more calm demeanor, even as the storm of emotions ravaged his insides.

 

 

"Very well, what exactly is so urgent?"

 

 

"My lord," Jadick said as a second image, this one far from humanoid, flickered into existence beside him. "May I present Administrator General Lalat'k of the Gree Enclave." He immediately turned to the Gree. "This is the black bisector I was telling you about, he is red obtuse, I assure you."

 

 

"Fledgling species, find attentiveness!" The Gree trilled in his alien tongue. "Urgency is requisite. We must align purple parallel before more yellow concave actualizes." Nox knew enough Gree to understand what the Administrator General was saying. Even if the language was impossible to vocalize without being a Gree it was still possible for a humanoid to understand it. He felt inclined to ask what "yellow concave" had Lalat'k so worried, but the tentacled alien expanded upon his assertion before Nox could speak. "After exponential solar cycles, a grand hypergate has opened! Green perpendicular flows freely from it!"

 

 

"Green perpendicular?" Nox said in momentary confusion. He knew, in the mathematical language of the Gree, that "perpendicular" meant something hostile towards or opposed to you. But he thought green indicated something good...

 

 

"Green is an expression of severity my lord." Jadick said, unknowingly reminding Nox of the colors meaning to the species. "A green perpendicular would be either a powerful enemy or a devastating conflict. In this case its likely both."

 

 

"Ah yes, thank you Colonel." Nox felt briefly ashamed of himself. He'd allowed his own conceptions about colors and their meanings to infiltrate his interpretation of the Gree language. While to most species green was a pleasing or soothing color indicating success, permission to do something, or an indication of progress, to the Gree it was an expression of the negative.

 

 

"I live to serve my lord." Jadick said humbly.

 

 

Nox turned to Lalat'k, "How did this happen? What caused the hypergate to open?"

 

 

"Invaders!" The Gree spat, as well as he could without anything that could really be called a mouth or saliva glands. "Foolish foreign species attempting thievishness no doubt. Assurances were produced that Operator droids provided necessary defenses. Produced statement tested false. The grand hypergate must evolve blue octagon...purple concave if inevasible. Else our galaxy is doomed to endless yellow concave. Republic allies have failed to obtain orange equilateral. If Imperial allies can process a blue octagon, the Gree enclave will actualize gratitude."

 

 

"Actualize it in what form?" Nox asked in interest.

 

 

"If Imperial black bisector evolves a purple parallel, Empire researcher caste may query Gree purple acute."

 

 

"My lord-!" Colonel Jadick gasped. "He-"

 

 

"I heard him, Colonel." Nox said sternly. "Is this your only condition, Lalat'k? Or do you have more demands?"

 

 

"Imperial black bisector is also red acute, I was right to seek purple parallel here." Lalat'k said, obviously pleased with himself and the progression of the conversation. "In return for Gree purple acute Empire warrior caste will enforce Administrator authoritativeness. That Operator droids were rendered yellow concave is purple tangent, such yellow obtuse makes thorough Administrator oversight requisite."

 

 

Nox nodded his understanding. "You and I are red parallel, Administrator. Authoritativeness is always purple acute when evolving a black sphere to orange parallel. We have a deal."

 

 

"I am hopeful Imperial Operators will exceed predicted results." The Administrator said.

 

 

"Administrator Lalat'k has provided optimal hyperspace routes to the grand hypergate's location on Asation." Colonel Jadick said, addressing Nox as he pulled a datapad out of his back pocket and began typing. "I'm sending them to you now." The holoterminal chimed as the data came in, and Nox set to uploading it to the ship's navigational computer. "May the Force be with you my lord." Colonel Jadick said as the holo-images faded into nothing, and the Midnight Shadow dropped out of hyperspace.

 

 

Several minutes later, the ship's hyperdrive once more reactivated and the vessel vanished into hyperspace.

 

_____________

 

 

The Midnight Shadow swooped low over the Gree fortress that guarded the hypergate, countless sliced weapon emplacements opening fire at the vessel as it passed overhead. The weapons were sophisticated and powerful, being of Gree design, but the Shadow was equipped with the best weaponry and shielding the known galaxy had to offer. As Nox unleashed a salvo of missiles that annihilated a set of gun emplacements and peeled off, he thanked the Force he had given Andronikos an unlimited budget when he had asked him to make his ship the toughest, fastest, most devastating ship of its class in the galaxy. The pirate had sought out and installed the best possible weaponry and shielding, both in regards to potency and efficiency, and it was paying dividends.

 

 

Despite the intense fire from the commandeered fortress's weapon emplacements, Nox was managing to obliterate the enemy weaponry before it pierced his shields, thanks both to his vessel's advanced upgrades and his own Force reflexes. Despite his great power in the Force, now amplified once more by the ritual of Power Transfer, he couldn't match Andronikos's skillful flying. No amount of reflexes could truly compensate for whole decades of experience. Even so, Nox performed quite well, dodging enough salvos to keep the shields active in the face of the powerful blasts unleashed by the Gree cannons below.

 

 

Coming in for another run, Nox destroyed even more gun emplacements with a mixture of blaster cannons and missile fire. With each pass he made more and more emplacements go up in flames and the Midnight Shadow's shields simply regenerated to full capacity on the out swing, allowing him to brave enemy fire again and again. When Nox had finally destroyed enough emplacements, he took to circling the fortress, taking sustained enemy fire in order to purge the fortress of its defenses in a rain of plasma. Finishing the job, Nox pulled out and began to loop around for a final pass. Moving quickly, he put the ship in autopilot, programming it to stay within comm range, and moved to the exit, the airlock sliding open and the ramp extending while the ship barreled down on the burning fortress.

 

 

Nox waited until he sensed the hypergate rushing up to meet them before leaping from the extended ramp. The ship automatically sealed itself and took off into the sky as Nox landed lightly on the solid metal floor of the outdoor space that preceded the hypergate and its control console. Straightening up, Nox was shocked to see a massive creature roughly two or three times the size of the average Gundark hunched over the controls, tapping away with its clumsy fingers, the stink of the Dread Masters emanating from it like a miasma.

 

 

"What was sundered will be made whole. You cannot stop it." The ominous, disembodied voice of Dread Master Calaphyus boomed.

 

 

"Just watch me, you insignificant worm." Nox muttered under his breath.

 

 

"Our vision transcends the dark of space." Calphayus continued, as if he hadn't heard Nox. In all likelihood, he hadn't. "Soon our reach will span the stars. Vessel," He said to the creature. "open the way."

 

 

The monster finished a series of rapid movements interacting with the hypergate's holographic control panel and stood back to admire it's handiwork as the gate flared and increased in size and stability.

 

 

"Full power to the hypergate!" The monster hissed in triumph as energy flowed into the gate, widening the breach in spacetime. He whirled on the approaching Nox. "Too late. Too late, little insect. It is time that I thank you for shattering that weak body so I could be reborn!"

 

 

"Reborn?" Nox asked quizzically, "what are you talking about, beast?"

 

 

"Look upon the chosen!" The creature hissed. "See what death could not claim!" With that, the creature charged, its massive bulk barreling towards Nox. Feeling his hatred rise up within him, Nox unleashed it in a thick river of hungry lightning bolts that eagerly wrapped themselves around his foe, siphoning his life force even as they scorched and burned the scaly skin.

 

 

To the beast's credit, it didn't even slow down. It reached Nox in seconds and raised a fist to crush him, only for the clawed hand to sink into the metal floor with a loud thud. Nox was already on the move, circling around to blast the monster from behind with another burst of violet lightning. Responding to the provocation, the brute turned and lumbered after his tormentor with surprising speed.

 

 

"Today I feast!" He growled as he closed in on Nox. But the Dark Lord was too quick, and once again the being's fists met the unnatural surface of the ground. Nox blasted his foe with more lightning, but this time the monster stood still. Suddenly, a bolt of power launched itself from one of the many hypergate towers surrounding their battlefield, striking the massive cybernetic implant Nox had seen on the creature's back. At first Nox waited for the creature to cry out in pain, but instead, the hissing, growling voice of the beast reverberated across the landscape in triumphant ecstasy.

 

 

"My blood boils! I can feel the power, it wants to be free!"

 

 

Nox quickly deduced that the strange lightning strike was not a random occurrence but the creature charging some kind of weapon system. Seeing the strange implant on the monster's chest beginning to glow, Nox quickly realized what was about to happen and moved with preternatural speed, ducking behind the nearest hypergate tower, just as the beast turned and unleashed its devastating blast on him. The heat was nearly unbearable, and the energy sheared into the pillar that was supposed to be sheltering him as if it was made of water. Nox had to summon far more strength than he liked to prevent his atoms from flying apart like Peyko bugs in a strong wind. He quickly erected a Force Barrier around himself before the second blast came, and he weathered the ordeal far easier.

 

 

"Cower and die!" The colossus growled before he unleashed a third blast at Nox, now nearly completely exposed behind the remnants of the hypergate pillar. His Force Barrier protected him well, and the instant the blast ceased and the giant reptilian lumbered towards him, Nox let the barrier collapse into Force armor and drew his lightsaber, running to meet the leviathan's charge. At the last second he slid beneath the beast's grasping swipe and in between its legs, his lightsaber carving light scorch marks into the creature's skin.

 

 

Snarling, the monster whirled on him, but he had already leaped atop it's back and plunged his lightsaber into one of its implants, causing the beast to howl in pain. It shook him off, causing him to fly through the air to land on his feet several meters away. Roaring in abject rage, the brute charged him again, trying to pummel him with its massive fists, but still the Dark Lord was too quick. Moving like a wraith, he scarred and scorched his foe's scaly skin with hundreds of lightsaber blows, damaging several of the beast's cybernetics and enraging it further.

 

 

"There will be no return for you. Only broken bones and spilled blood!" The mammoth reptile roared as another bolt of lightning launched from one of the pillars into his back. Nox quickly disappeared behind another pillar as the blast tore into the pillar behind where he had been standing. Re-orienting himself, the beast unleashed a second blast at the pillar Nox was behind. The energy tore through the pillar, only to reveal that Nox was no longer there. A flash of purple light at the edge of the creature's vision caused it to turn and release the third blast at the place, only for the energy to incinerate another of the hypergate's pillars.

 

 

The vortex swirling beyond the control panel was beginning to waver and its growth rate was beginning to slow. Each pillar destroyed caused a minor fluctuation in the gate's power grid, but the creature was too busy to notice.

 

 

Nox, however, noticed very quickly how each pillar's destruction affected the gate, and an idea began to form in his mind. He stopped in his tracks and began channeling his full power. The heavy grey clouds that always filled Asation's skies suddenly became black and the air was charged with electricity. Lightning bolts began raining down from the sky, enveloping the battlefield in pure, destructive energy. Multiple bolts struck the remaining hypergate power pylons in rapid succession, as the scaled titan tried to shelter himself from the fury of the storm.

 

 

"I have seen beyond death. You think I fear you?" He challenged Nox, still bold despite the awesome display of power Nox was providing him.

 

 

All the pylons began to glow, and with an explosive tremor in the Force, they self-destructed, unleashing a wave of unnatural energy that simply passed over Nox but struck the beast from all sides. Roaring in pain, the monster dropped to his hands and knees, struggling to stay conscious. Nox unleashed a river of dark lightning at him once more, eagerly sapping his vitality and using it to feed the growing darkness that writhed throughout his entire being.

 

 

Suddenly, the fiend threw himself to his feet, throwing his head back and unleashing an unholy screeching howl before launching himself an impossible distance into the air to land on one of the remaining hypergate control pylons. Larger and better insulated than the power pylons, these control pylons were the only thing in the immediate area besides the hypergate that had survived the storm.

 

 

"I am above pain! I am above fear! I am death given form!" The titan roared before launching himself off the pylon and coming crashing down not five meters from where Nox was standing. Nox threw up a kinetic barrier to block the shockwave, but despite his efforts he was thrown back several meters. Back flipping to land on his feet, he landed just in time to see that the impact had disturbed the very ground itself and a physical shockwave of earth and metal was radiating out towards him. He backflipped once more to dodge the wave just as the brute slammed his fists into the ground, creating another kinetic shockwave that struck Nox in mid-air and knocked him back and to the ground, temporarily disorienting him.

 

 

Getting to his feet, Nox cursed himself for allowing this Sithspawn to get the better of him. The aforementioned Sithspawn bore down on him now, screeching a battlecry: "Rrraugh! Die!" Weakened and enraged, he was lashing out like a cornered animal. Despite the added viciousness this berserker rage entailed, Nox was fine with it. Scared and angry beasts made more mistakes.

 

 

Suddenly Nox felt something was very wrong. He barely dodged a two-fisted slam attack by his opponent and resorted to further defensive maneuvers as he slipped deeper into the Dark Side to determine the source of his unease. Looking through the Force, he detected microscopic intruders in his body, damaging his cells. He couldn't sense them through the Force, and on a hunch he unleashed a burst of lightning into the air. The lightning seemed to fry the very air itself, and when Nox noticed specks of fine black dust dropping to the ground, he knew his suspicions had been confirmed.

 

 

Nanites were attacking his body. Released from the leviathan's cyber implants they were attacking his cellular structure in an attempt to undermine him. Reaching out to the Force, Nox rallied his body to the defense. His immune system kicked into overdrive, cells and their organelles began multiplying and attacking the invaders with unrivalled efficiency. Nox felt his strength returning as the invasion of his body was crushed beneath the might of the Force.

 

 

The brute leaped at him, his massive bulk launching itself into the air in defiance of physics. Nox slipped several meters to the side to avoid the impact and the shockwave that followed. He immediately counter-attacked with his lightsaber, moving like a phantom, forever just out of reach of his foe's grasping claws.

 

 

The beast growled, snarled and howled as Nox landed blow after blow on his opponent. The creature's scaly skin protected it from being sliced into a thousand pieces, but not from being peppered with an insufferable amount of gashes and cuts. Nox unleashed withering bursts of darkness and lightning as well, complimenting his Force attacks with quick lightsaber strikes, even as he thwarted the monster's efforts to pummel or crush him.

 

 

Nox felt the darkness rising within him, gnawing and hungry. He unleashed it in several blasts of depredating volts that slammed into his weakened enemy ravaging the colossus's body inside and out. The darkness wrapped itself around Nox, strengthening his Force armor as it made him its vessel.

 

 

The Sithspawn howled; "Masters! The power wanes! I crave more!"

 

 

The voice of Dread Master Calaphyus boomed in disdainful response. "We have no use for a tool that continues to break. Your purpose is fulfilled."

 

 

Roaring in pain and rage, mortars began to launch themselves from many of the strange cybernetic implants throughout the creature's body as the power of the Dread Masters began to unleash itself from the creature's form in waves. Nox ignored the firestorm and maelstrom in the Force, simply moving in to battle his opponent, his enhanced Force armor sheltering him from the explosions all around him and the waves of dark power crashing over him. By now the creature's carapace was little more than scar tissue, and it gave way easily before Nox's lightsaber, allowing him to damage the soft flesh beneath.

 

 

Lost in a berserker rage, the monster attempted to ravage Nox with his fists, but the darkness was so strong in him that the beasts attacks had absolutely no effect on him, as if Nox's density had been multiplied a thousandfold, preventing him from even being moved by any application of kinetic force.

 

 

Nox continued to tear apart the titan's failing body, finally finishing the beast with an upward leap that split its belly clean open then immediately following that up with a decapitating sweep. The headless body toppled over, the head bouncing and rolling to a stop several meters from the hypergate console.

 

 

Nox looked down at his headless foe's corpse, the last words of Dread Master Calaphyus echoing through his mind: a tool that continues to break...what did he mean by that? The words of the monster himself came back to him then: I have seen beyond death. You think I fear you? There will be no return for you! Thank you for shattering that weak body so I could be reborn!

 

 

The pieces began to fall into place, but the picture it created was one too incredible to believe. The Sithspawn was Kephess? The same Kephess Nox had killed only days earlier on Denova? It seemed impossible, absolutely ludicrous, but no other answer made any sense. Nox supposed the only method of resurrection that made such a miracle possible was using the ritual of Essence Transfer on the dying Trandoshan and placing his spirit into a new, stronger body created by Sith alchemy and cybernetics. Although the fact that the Dread Masters had somehow managed to do so within the space of a few days and dispatch the lizard immediately on another mission was astounding.

 

 

Just what kind of power of the Dread Masters really have? Nox asked himself as he walked towards the hypergate console. Am I underestimating them? If I didn't see this coming what else might I miss until it's too late? I need to be fully prepared for a confrontation, he decided. That means research and preparation. I will need to investigate all their future activities and prepare myself accordingly.

 

 

Reaching the console, he began interacting with the holographic display in an attempt to shut the hypergate down, but the gate had already received too much power, even before the destruction of the power pylons, and the storm Nox had unleashed appeared to have damaged the control pylons, meaning the conventional avenues of controlling the hypergate were inaccessible. The gate opened wider and began to suck in objects in the near vicinity. Seeing this, Nox sped up his efforts to close the gate, his hands and fingers flying across the display.

 

 

Suddenly, an incorporeal tendril shot out from the hypergate, wrapping itself around the headless corpse of Kephess and beginning to drag him towards the gate. Nox allowed himself to be distracted by the strange spectacle for only a moment before returning to frantically trying to close the hypergate.

 

 

Just as a jangle of foreboding rattled its way into his skull, he felt something ethereal wrap around his ankle. With a quick yank, he was knocked to his feet and dragged to the edge of the console platform, only managing to grab onto the edge at the last second. For a moment he hung there, battling with the tentacle to see who was stronger, then he was pulled free of the platform, and flew through the air into the yawning maw of the hypergate.

 

Edited June 18, 2018 by MayhemofChaonus

[Lunafox]

Very exciting chapter, Mayhem, nice job! I also liked how you dealt with the Gree talk, all that math talk used to give me a headache lol. Great work, keep it up. ^^

[MayhemofChaonus]

Thanks Luna! Great to hear from you! It's been a while. I'm glad you enjoyed it because it was so hard to write. :$

[MayhemofChaonus]

Alright guys, here's the next part! We should be back on schedule now, I hope you enjoy my own version of the final confrontation on Asation.

 

 

Nox felt as if he were nowhere and everywhere at once. His perception was scattered and confused, he felt strangely dislocated from the notion of space. Looking around him, he could see that he was floating in what he recognized as hyperspace. But that was impossible. Any organism unlucky or foolish enough to somehow become exposed to hyperspace during a jump was disintegrated by the alien winds of the strange dimension, their very atoms ripped apart from each other and scattered across space, never to be reunited again.

 

 

Yet somehow, Nox was simply floating in it, watching the strange energies swirling all around him. Something moved at the edge of his vision, and realizing he was not alone, he turned his head to see what it was that was in here with him. When he saw it he nearly went mad. A tangle of tentacles writhed before him, a body structure from which they might originate seeming to be non-existent. The thing's entire mass seeming to be composed of tentacles that sprouted from each other, with each off shooting tentacle being smaller than its originator. On all of the limbs were small groups of sentient but empty and soulless eyes that spoke of a consciousness completely alien to anything Nox had ever encountered, a mind that thought in unrecognizable patterns.

 

 

The creature was massive, the wriggling heap of oily appendages seeming to stretch out for an incomprehensible distance in every direction, and Nox found himself wondering how he had even failed to see it in the first place. With growing horror, Nox began to see gaping wounds in its flesh ringed by what could only be teeth. The mouths gnawed and hissed, strange-coloured slime dripping freely from them like drool.

 

 

Many of the creatures seemingly countless eyes fixed themselves on Nox, the tentacles they were on twisting and contorting themselves to put him view, and many of the mouths opened wide and roared. The terrible screech caused Nox to reach up and seal the auditory inputs on his helm in an attempt to stop the terrible sound from driving him further towards insanity, but with terror he soon realized that the scream was as much in his mind as his ears. He clutched his head in his hands, trying to cling to his will as the attack desecrated his reason.

 

 

Then, mercifully, it ended. Nox relaxed his concentration and for the first time, felt the beast's Force aura wash over him like a stench. It reeked of the Dark Side. Whatever this abomination was, it was deeply attuned to the Dark Side of the Force, and Nox could feel its hatred and desire to devour and destroy. Whatever nightmarish dimension this creature had come from, it certainly couldn't be anything Nox would find familiar or comprehensible.

 

 

Nox began to gather his power in preparation for the fight, he could feel the creature's malice and ironic abhorrence of him, but suddenly the anger and hatred of the monster vanished, replaced by acknowledgement and something that might have been fearful respect. All but a few of the eyes turned away from him, and the creature seemed to relax back into a more passive state, its mouths closed or chewing and gnawing quietly. Nox was confused at first, before he realized that the monster had reacted to his power. Sensing its kinship with him through the Dark Side of the Force, it had recognized him as an equal and decided not to attack him.

 

 

Then Nox felt a slight ***** on his mental defenses, nothing like the mind-shattering screech the abomination had unleashed earlier. Where that attack could have been considered breaking down the door, this was more like knocking politely on it. Tentatively, Nox opened his mind just a little, allowing a small fraction of the creature's simultaneously fascinating and horrifying consciousness to enter the courtyard of his intellect. Their minds grazed against each other, and Nox would have gasped at the sheer oddity and upside-down nature of the being's thoughts had his mind not become completely disconnected from his body by this point.

 

 

Millions of indiscernible and incomprehensible thoughts and sensations flew through Nox's mind as they both opened their minds more and more. He could sense the creature was having the same reaction to his own mind and thoughts, although with markedly more curiosity and eagerness. Out of the swirling fog of chaos that was the being's mind, Nox began to perceive and identify recognizable concepts. As he discovered more and more of that information, he began to piece together what the creature was.

 

 

Originating from another dimension entirely, one filled with many more creatures that were incredibly diverse in their forms, shapes, and capabilities, the monster was one of those powerful enough in the Force to breach the barriers between dimensions and explore existence beyond the confines of its realm. The closest concept Nox could think of to accurately describe the creature's role in its home universe was that of an explorer, discovering new universes and dimensions and bringing what it learned back to share with those amongst its own kind that were believed worthy of the knowledge.

 

 

Through its eyes, Nox could see many of those it consorted with. There was a beast resembling a humanoid invertebrate with wings, facial tentacles, rubbery and oily black skin, and shining yellow eyes filled with hatred and rage. The creature's name, or at least the concept that the monster Nox was communicating with used to identify and differentiate it from the others, was unpronounceable, but bore a terrifying resemblance to countless names used by the ancient ancestors of various species to identify a horrific beast with godlike powers that was said to dwell in the deepest depths of the deepest ocean on every world.

 

 

Another beast was a shapeless yellow blob of octopi-like appendages that were in constant, writhing motion. Yet another was a great mouth surrounded by a similar morass of tenticular appendages. The third entity was a massive, humanoid frog-like creature with a single cyclopean eye, many clawed hands, and a vertical, lipless mouth. The fourth was an amorphous behemoth so hideous and revolting with a Dark Side aura so strong that Nox had no doubt the only thing protecting his mind from being irreparably damaged at the mere sight of it was that he was viewing it through this creature's memories and not in person.

 

 

Eagerly turning away from the collection of memories, he moved more towards the recollections of the creature's past interactions with dimensions and universes similar to his own. There he found memories of the creature's interactions with other sentient species. It had encountered the Gree in the far distant past, when their civilization was still young, and through trying to study them had become known as an enemy and aggressor. Even now its spawn had been unleashed through the hypergate, dispatched by the abomination to gather information and transmit it back through a psychic link, the monsters unwittingly inflicting terror and suffering on all who encountered them. The Gree no doubt had recognized the creature's spawn from ancient records and thus identified their progenitor.

 

 

He found more memories of experiments of social, psychological, and biological natures conducted on humanoids and similar sentients from countless universes similar to his own. Some experiments were quite fascinating and inspired, others even Nox found sickening or revolting. But there was never any emotion attached to them. The monster had conducted each experiment with absolute objectivity, ruled more by curiosity and an insatiable hunger for knowledge than anything else. Many times the creature had taken the form of the alien species in question and manipulated entire societies and empires to the heights of power or brought them crashing down in a blaze of suffering, betrayal, and destruction. Other times it had driven entire worlds mad, then unleashed them on nearby worlds and observed the reactions, behaviors and in some cases adaptations of all involved. Still other times it had transformed beings into monstrosities like itself through eldritch powers that made Nox shudder just to think about, but forced them to retain their original consciousness to drive them insane in as tormentous a way as possible and observe their strength of will. Many of those beings, Nox discovered, still served the creature and were even now among the probing invaders it had sent on ahead through to the other end of the hypergate.

 

 

Suddenly, Nox found himself drawn to a specific set of memories. He quickly realized that the creature was drawing him there as if to show him something specific. Memories from his own universe. These recollections were far, far older than the beast's interactions with the Gree. In fact its initial interactions with the Gree had been the result of its efforts to track down the beings it had encountered in these memories. The entities the monster had encountered were glorious, filled with the power of the Force to an extent that made Nox incredibly envious. They were so attuned to the Force that they could move planets, re-organize star systems, and create life with the same ease with which Nox might create a holocron or construct a new ritual.

 

 

From the creature's impressions, Nox could detect that the beings were aligned with neither the Light nor Dark Side of the Force, but simply aligned with the Force itself, as if they were manifestations of that great, all-encompassing power that bound the cosmos together. Some exchange of information had occurred, although the beings, sensing the abomination's alignment with the Dark Side of the Force, had refrained from sharing anything more than was acceptable or polite to do so. The entire encounter had not lasted long, but it had left a hunger within the monster to seek out those entities and other beings like them in an attempt to further its connection to Dark Side and expand its knowledge of existence.

 

 

Being drawn back to the forefront of the creature's mind, Nox sensed that the creature saw him as progress along this path, discerning something in him that excited it and made its resolve to find the luminous beings even stronger. The creature gladly revealed what it had learned and studied from Nox's own mind: his childhood memories of suffering and powerlessness, his rise to power, his study of and dedication to the Dark Side, and his plans for the future. The creature's mind was flooded with another emotion that took Nox off-guard: approval. The abomination was pleased to have discovered a being it considered to be the perfect bridge between itself and its own kind and the ancients it had encountered so very long ago in Nox's own universe.

 

 

Suddenly, Nox felt a great influx of knowledge rush into his brain. Images, sensations, ideas, and emotions flooded his perception in an ecstatic deluge of information. When it was over, he felt the eldritch knowledge festering in the back of his mind, calling on it, he perceived it to be a Force ritual of some kind. An invocation...or an invitation. The only thing Nox could possibly compare it too were certain variations of Dark Side Sorcery involving the summoning of mysterious powers, such as those used by the Tetsu Sorcers of Tund and the Dathomiri Nightsister Covens. An idea of what it could be sprouted in his mind, but he resolved to leave the speculation for later, when he felt the psychic link between them sever.

 

 

He found himself back in his body, still floating in front of the unspeakable horror, and he realized he found the monster all the more terrifying now that he knew its intellectual capabilities. The monster began to retreat, seeming to simply shrink as if it were vanishing into the distance. Suddenly Nox was blown back, as if by an impossibly strong wind, and felt nothing for a moment before he was suddenly catapulted from the hypergate at a dangerous speed. He managed to backflip and land on his feet, looking up to see the hypergate beginning to flicker and shrink. After a few seconds, it closed. Vanishing into a singularity that winked out of existence.

 

 

For a long moment, Nox just stood there, trying to process what had just happened. He eventually used the com-link to order the ship to come and pick him up, sitting down cross-legged to meditate and pour over all the information he had just absorbed from the encounter, forever engraving it into his mind. When the ship arrived, it rotated and landed in front of Nox, the ramp extending to welcome him aboard. With a final look at the now empty hypergate, Nox climbed aboard, and the Midnight Shadow turned and accelerated into the cloudy gray sky.

 

Edited June 18, 2018 by MayhemofChaonus

[FlameYOL]

The way you handled the TFB was really interesting, I was expecting Darth Nox to actually fight the beast as opposed to have an intellectual interaction with it. Also I find your backstory for the TFB really fascinating, an explorer whose actions are lead by pure objectivity in a thirst for knowledge, it felt really like a beast right out of a Lovecraft story.

[MayhemofChaonus]

The way you handled the TFB was really interesting, I was expecting Darth Nox to actually fight the beast as opposed to have an intellectual interaction with it. Also I find your backstory for the TFB really fascinating, an explorer whose actions are lead by pure objectivity in a thirst for knowledge, it felt really like a beast right out of a Lovecraft story.

 

Thanks, wow, that's more of a compliment than you know. I'm largely inspired by Lovecraft, despite my eschewing of the horror genre, and thus I love to work Lovecraftian elements and mythology into my works mostly from a scientific or fantastical perspective. Thus your comment was very encouraging, thank you!

 

I also was planning to stick to the official script and fight the TFB, but then I remembered that:

 

a) I personally found the original TFB in-game somewhat disappointing as I was expecting a completely lovecraftian character model and instead got basically just a massive mutated Gree character model.

b) Nox shouldn't be just fighting all the time or it gets boring, sometimes you gotta turn a fight into a different kind of interaction to keep the readers engaged.

 

I really am pleased you liked it. Don't worry there's more lovecraftian mythos to come...just not until later in the trilogy lol. Not sure how much of it is going to be in this book, but rn it doesn't look like a whole lot, just hints and forshadowing.

[MayhemofChaonus]

Here we go! Enjoy!

 

 

The banquet hall of the People's Palace was bustling with members of the wealthy world's political class. Colorful costumes and finery clothed the ball's participants, and the buzz of many quiet conversations all happening at once was underlain by the soft music being played by the live band. There was the clinking of glasses as small, personal toasts were exchanged and titters of laughter would arise here and there, like invisible butterflies taking wing without warning.

 

 

There was a sudden, sustained dip in the ambient noise when the great doors swung open to allow Ashara to enter. Many a gaze, both male and female, turned to take in the sight. A shoulderless brilliant sapphire gown of luxuriant shimmersilk outlined her shapely form in a way that somehow managed to be alluring while being precisely as modest as was appropriate. On her wrists were bracelets of gold set with sapphires and lapis lazuli with earrings to match. Draped with care and style upon her montrals were various kinds of jewelry made of the same quality gold as the jewelry that adorned her wrists, likewise studded with brilliant jewels of every shade of blue that brought out her piercing azure eyes. The true treasure though, was around her neck. An intricate and ornate necklace made of twenty four karat gold with jewels of every shade of blue imaginable.

 

 

She could feel all the gazes on her as she glided towards the Prime Minister. Male gazes filled with awe and desire, and female gazes filled with jealousy and envy. It pleased her well.

 

 

"May I say, Darth Skade, that you look positively angelic tonight." The Prime Minister said with a decorum and composure that most of his male colleagues seemed to be lacking at the moment.

 

 

"Thank you Prime Minister." Ashara said softly, smiling with both her mouth and her eyes. Through the Force she could feel nearly every male in the vicinity catch his breath, most unwittingly, and she couldn't help but smile even bigger.

 

 

"As far as making a convincing case goes, Darth Skade, you are off to a very strong start." The Prime Minister said with the hint of a smile touching his aged lips.

 

 

"As much as your compliments please me, Prime Minister," Ashara said "I hope it will be my arguments that convince you, rather than my fashion sense."

 

 

"Indeed." The Prime Minister chuckled, and he immediately performed a round of introductions, introducing her to his inner circle. The discussion moved into questions, with each of the members of the Prime Minister's cabinet being given multiple chances to ask the lovely young vision in their midst questions about the Empire. She responded with subtle charm and persuasive grace, never once losing her composure. Other members of government took opportunities to casually slip into the conversation, proceeding to ask a few questions or make polite comments before fading out again. Many of the men did this merely to talk to Ashara, or to attempt to stand out by trying to be witty, perceptive, or in some cases sycophantic.

 

 

She took it all in stride, graciously accepting compliments, laughing at jokes or wordplay, and commending attempts at being insightful or observant. Even the women, who inserted themselves into the conversation mostly to try and outshine her, didn't shake her good form. Instead of competing with them directly, she paid them strategically placed compliments at the exactly right moment in the conversation with the exact tone of voice that would come off as completely genuine and harmless, while actually embarrassing and calling out the jealous vixens. The end result often turned out to be that the attention would turn back to her, while the woman would fade into the background.

 

 

Reveling in the defeat of her rivals and the attention of her quarries, Ashara was nonetheless disappointed with the apparent outcome of the conversation nearly an hour later. While many of the lesser and younger politicians had eagerly lapped up her arguments and points, the older gentlemen, particularly the Prime Minister and his cabinet, were still very much in the gray. Being much more experienced in the game than their younger and less influential counterparts, they were keeping a tight reign over themselves and thus were not so easily charmed.

 

 

Several times she had been forced to concede points to avoid losing any charm or apparent grace, which hurt her case somewhat. By the end of things, she felt no closer to her goal than she had been before the ball even started. Somewhat frustrated and tired, she found a way to politely excuse herself and retreated to an open balcony to watch the stars.

 

 

"Beautiful. Absolutely beautiful." She turned to see Golys looking straight at her, a soft, beaming smile on his smooth face.

 

 

"The view is quite exquisite." Ashara replied as he approached to lean on the handrail beside her.

 

 

"I wasn't referring to the stars in the sky." He said, still smiling, "but rather, the ones that seemed to have abandoned their posts to take up residence in those bewitching eyes of yours."

 

 

Ashara giggled quietly, "You are quite charming yourself governor, you certainly are your father's son." The young man smiled, although there was a hint of something mournful in his eyes.

 

 

"Thank you, Darth Skade. I can only hope I live up to his example."

 

 

"It seems to me you are already well along that path." Ashara said in a slightly flirtatious tone. "Although, if you don't mind me asking..." The young governor perked up at the trailing off question.

 

 

"Ask away, Darth Skade. I will be more than happy to share what I know."

 

 

"I'm simply curious as to where the Prime Minister's wife is. I have yet to meet her."

 

 

Golys's face fell, almost imperceptibly, but not enough that Ashara missed it. "I'm afraid my mother is...no longer with us."

 

 

"I'm sorry." Ashara said, reaching out and touching his arm gently. "I didn't know. I didn't mean to offend you."

 

 

"You've done nothing of the sort." Golys said, although the sadness in his tone persisted. "You couldn't have known, she passed on before my father became Prime Minister. Their marriage is not a highly advertised fact."

 

 

"Still," Ashara insisted. "I should not have been so careless Golys." She smiled inwardly at the affect on mood and body language using the young man's name had on him. "I can see I've caused you at least some measure of distress, please accept my apology." He turned to take her hand, which was resting on the railing near his arm, before he replied.

 

 

"I humbly accept your apology, and I forgive you completely." He said, smiling into her eyes.

 

 

Ashara suddenly started as the band began playing an upbeat song, and her eyes lit up in recognition. "Oh I love this song!" She turned to Golys with a mischievous smile in her eyes. "May I have this dance?"

 

 

Taken utterly aback, the young man's composure vanished for a moment before his political training brought it back into place. "I would be honored, my lord." He said as she grabbed his hand and pulled him back into the ballroom and onto the dance floor. In moments they had swung into the rhythm and were gliding across the room artfully. Golys was a surprisingly good dancer, easily keeping up and even intuiting several of her moves before she performed them. She couldn't help but smile as she threw herself gracefully into the music, Golys making every effort to support and enable her enthusiasm. When the song finished, they moved directly into the next one, and before either of them had noticed, a few hours had passed. The ball was winding down and they were one of the few couples still on the dance floor as the band played a slow and ponderous song that saw them dancing much closer to each other than either of them had expected to get as they gently swayed to the unhurried, leisurely tune.

 

 

"That was quite enjoyable." Ashara said softly so only he could hear.

 

 

"I quite agree." Golys said with remarkable calm despite how hard and fast his heart was pounding. "You are full of surprises my lord."

 

 

"Please, call me Skade." Ashara said.

 

 

"With pleasure, Skade." He said with a smile in his voice.

 

 

"It's rather a shame it was over so quickly." Ashara sighed in resignation. She couldn't believe she'd spent so much time dancing, she hadn't done something like that in a long time. She'd also never had so much fun in a long time either.

 

 

"The night doesn't have to end just yet." Golys said roguishly, and Ashara pulled away to look at him askance, a half smile playing across her lips.

 

 

"What do you mean, governor?"

 

 

"You haven't had a tour of the palace yet have you?" He asked.

 

 

"No, I was planning on getting one soon enough."

 

 

"There's no time like the present." Golys offered. "I'd be more than happy to show you everything."

 

 

Ashara smiled as the song came to an end. "Then lead the way, governor."

 

____________

 

 

"And here is the observatorium," Golys said as he lead Ashara into a large room whose ceiling was a domed holoscreen providing an image of the night sky above them. "From here you can view the entire sector." He motioned with his hands, and the ceiling responded by zooming in on one of the nearby systems, then with another motion the view switched to a view of a nebula on the other side of the sector.

 

 

"Amazing." Ashara said, "the whole sector?"

 

 

"Anything you want to see, you can see from this room." Golys said, smiling at her. Ashara moved her hands, and the view zoomed out once more. She slowly made her way across the sector, stopping at various star systems and space phenomena to ask questions or admire the sights. Eventually she came to a certain system not too far from the Felquarran system. She noticed a heavy concentration of armed starships in the area.

 

 

"What's going on here?" She asked curiously. Golys's face fell slightly, taking on a somewhat more serious demeanor.

 

 

"That is the Gam'Tuak system." He said solemnly.

 

 

"Why do they have so many armed vessels?" Ashara asked, continuing to gently press him for information under the guise of an inquisitive intellect.

 

 

"They are a very territorial species, and very loyal to the Republic." Golys said. It was obvious he was trying to hide something from her. "When we left the Republic they became even more hostile than usual." Ashara sidled up to him, putting a sympathetic tone in her voice.

 

 

"Golys, I can tell something's bothering you. What is it? You can trust me." Golys looked hesitant, so she pressed him further, putting just the slightest hint of the Force into her words.

 

 

"It's alright, Golys, you don't have to be so secretive and closed off with me. If something is bothering you I want to help."

 

 

"We're in the middle of a cold war with them." He finally relented. "It's been going on for years, and until recently the only thing preventing them from attacking was the threat of Republic intervention. When we decided to secede from the Republic, they immediately began accumulating ships and weaponry, concentrating it around their system."

 

 

"Well," Ashara said smiling, "just another reason for Felquarra to join the Empire. With the Empire backing you they wouldn't dare attack."

 

 

"They don't dare attack anyway." Golys said with some pride in his voice. "Our system's defense network is one of the most sophisticated and efficient in the known galaxy. They dare not strike at us until they've figured out a way to neutralize it, and with our brightest minds constantly working to make it more advanced and effective, they don't have a hope of doing that." Ashara raised her eyebrows.

 

 

"A system defense network? Of what sort?"

 

 

"It combines almost every conceivable weapons technology available to turn our system into a death trap for any invading force." The pride in the young governor's voice was apparent now. "No army can set foot in our territory without our permission."

 

 

"So that's why I had to receive clearance codes before entering the system." Ashara said, thinking out loud.

 

 

"Yes," Golys confirmed. "Without those codes you would have been blown to pieces."

 

 

"And what if a mistake had been made?" Ashara asked, once more shrouding her interrogation in idle curiosity. "What if you needed to deactivate the whole system in order to save me?" She moved even closer to Golys, making sure he could feel every inch of her body pressing up against him.

 

 

"Then I would enter the master codes and shut down the entire system," Golys said, looking her in the eyes. "and you would be safe again."

 

 

"My hero." Ashara whispered. They both felt it at the same time, and in unified motion, they moved in towards each other. Their lips met in sweet passion, and Ashara felt her body beginning to stir itself as waves of arousal began to sweep over her. They savored the experience before she began to pull away, and Golys followed her lead, smiling at her with the eyes of a lovestruck puppy.

 

 

"Most exquisite, my lord." He said softly.

 

 

"Not entirely unpleasant." She smiled back suggestively.

 

 

"Shall I escort you to your room, my lord?" He asked in a gentlemanly manner.

 

 

Ashara smiled. "I would appreciate your company, governor."

 

____________

 

 

Later that night, Ashara moved swiftly and quietly through the halls of the People's Palace, moving from shadow to shadow and avoiding the security scanners and cameras with a skill and finesse that showed she had been well-trained. She was once more dressed in her black, cortosis fiber, armored jumpsuit and was sneaking through the grand halls in search of the primary interface for the system's defense network. After Golys had escorted her to her room and they'd said goodbye, she had sliced into the Palace's own network, copying and memorizing it's blueprints. She'd seen no indication of where the primary interface might be, but she had a few good ideas.

 

 

She reached an intersection and sensed a pair of guards on duty at a nearby door. Increasing her concentration, she cloaked herself in the Force and moved across the opening in full view of the guards, the security scanners, and the cameras, yet nothing happened. She reached the other side and was only a meter or so down that hallway when the cloak lapsed and she once more became visible. Unlike her master, who had a natural talent for cloaking himself, Ashara's abilities lay more in the martial direction. Even so, with his training she had been able to develop a sort of Force camouflage which allowed her vanish from sight and the Force perception of others for a brief time. And whereas Nox could summon his powers of stealth on demand, she was limited to only being able to call upon them after a short period of recovery.

 

 

Continuing down the hall, she was nearly discovered when a pair of patrolling guards came around the corner up ahead of her. In a split second she leaped upward, clinging to the ceiling like a spider as the oblivious guards, engaged in an intense conversation, passed below her. Once they had rounded another corner farther down the hall, Ashara dropped to the ground and moved as quickly and stealthily as she could to the next intersection, breathing a sigh of relief when she finally turned into the other hall.

 

 

After a half hour of infiltration, she finally reached the lower levels where she believed the primary interface to be. After another few minutes of searching and avoiding patrols, she discovered two guards around a corner, seemingly guarding something. After taking a cloaked peek around a corner, she saw the two guards she had sensed were guarding a thick durasteel door with a keypad and scanners for fingerprints, retinal scans, and voice code. A complex system no doubt, but still something she could slice, thanks to the technology being old Republic security tech which she had been trained on. She used the Force to dazzle the watchful camera, freezing the image of the guarded and locked door. The only thing to do now was take care of the guards.

 

 

The minute they saw her, they would be alert, their disciplined minds closed and focused, impossible to control. But she was not skilled at the art of mind control, and especially not without eye contact, and even less so with multiple people. She could try to lure one of them away, then take him over and use him, but that would still arouse suspicion and leave memories she couldn't erase. There was no other way, she would have to try this the hard way.

 

 

Stilling herself, she began to draw on the Force, building her concentration over a period of minutes. When she felt ready, she reached out with the Force, attempting to take over one guard's mind first. When that was successful, she attempted to split her concentration and take over his comrade's mind as well while still maintaining control over her original victim. Unfortunately, every time she tried this her grip on the other guard's mind slipped, and she found herself unable to hold onto both minds simultaneously. After repeated attempts, she grew frustrated. And after even more failed attempts, she became angry.

 

 

"You ok?" She heard one guard ask the other.

 

 

"Yeah," the other one replied. "Just feelin' a bit sleepy."

 

 

Ashara's rage at her own powerlessness became a fire that burned in her core, spreading throughout her body like wildfire. She felt the power rising up within her, and she unleashed it as she reached out once more to seize her victim's minds. With triumph, she felt her mental grip clamp down on the two men's thoughts, and grinning in vindictive euphoria, she put them to sleep. The sounds of the guards falling back against the wall pleased her to no end, and she moved hurriedly to the doorway, spending the next few minutes slicing into the security locks. She had to be quick about this, the next patrol would be coming around in eight minutes or so.

 

 

Opening the heavy door, she slipped inside to see exactly what she was looking for: the Felquarran Defense Network's primary interface. Approaching the console, she was able to slice in and immediately began searching for the master codes. She found them, but was blocked from accessing the file by a demand for a password. She attempted to slice in, but soon found that the security on this particular file was far more advanced than all of the previous electronic security she had encountered.

 

 

Stepping back from the console, she began to rack her brain for an answer, struggling to not let panic sink in. What kind of password would be placed on the master codes? Looking back through her memories, she remembered the conversation with Golys about his departed mother, then she remembered his response to her hypothetical situation that he would input to master codes in order to save her. That might mean he knows the master codes, she thought, which would mean either he or his father made the password for this file, which means...her fingers began to fly across the console as she used it to access to holonet. After some quick digging she found what she was looking for: a marriage certificate for the Prime Minister and his wife Lylis.

 

 

She quickly entered "Lylis" into the password field, but a notice popped up: "Access Denied". Still resisting the urge to panic, a puzzled frown spread across Ashara's face, then she flipped back to the certificate and looked at the date. On her second try she entered Lylis's name with the wedding date after her name, "Access Denied". She tried again, with the date coming before the woman's name, "Access Denied". Wanting to slam her hands down on the console, she resisted the urge and reached out to the Force for answers. An idea came to her surprisingly quickly, and she typed in the woman's name with each letter being separated by one number from the date, and the whole word being capped by numbers on either end, "Access Granted".

 

 

Releasing a silent cheer, Ashara hastily copied the master codes onto her datapad and logged out of the console. Closing the door behind her, she rounded the corner, roused the guards from their induced slumber, and returned the camera to working order. She vanished just as the patrol rounded the corner, slipping past him and melding with the shadows.

 

Edited October 22, 2017 by MayhemofChaonus

[Lunafox]

Quite an entrance there for Ashara. I see that you decided to go with the sapphire gown, and I think that was a lovely choice for her, as well as the sapphire and lapis accessories.

 

I enjoyed how you began with an entrance and ended with one as well, even if the one at the end was more tension filled. Lovely chapter.

[MayhemofChaonus]

Your advice was much appreciated Luna. I never would have even thought to go with a sapphire theme for her outfit, so your willing contributions were much appreciated.

 

I see what you did there lol. Yes I suppose I did begin and end with an entrance. I actually wasn't entirely intending it that way...funny that it worked out like that.

[MayhemofChaonus]

Hey guys! Demu finished the beta reading only an hour after I sent this to him, and I happened to still be online at the time so here it is! You're getting the new part 2 days early, enjoy it!

 

Outfits

Jay-Li: Outfit 2

 

 

Nox kneeled on a rock outcropping overlooking a seemingly forgotten section of the Kaas jungle that was riddled with winding trails long abandoned. The Dark Side emanated from Nox, surrounding him with a black aura. His eyes glowed purple, even through the lenses that were supposed to obscure them. The power in him was palpable, and any creature who came within twenty meters of him suffered the consequences without Nox having to so much as lift a finger. As such the predators of the Kaas ecosystem gave him a wide berth. Only several Gundarks and a few lethargic Sleens, who were now drinking from a nearby spring, remained in the area.

 

 

As he savored the taste of the Dark Side coursing through his body like blood through veins, Nox allowed himself to be caught up in the aura of the planet. Dromund Kaas boasted an incredibly strong Dark Side aura, due to being the capital world of the Sith Empire for more than seven hundred years. The near-constant presence of the most powerful Sith Lords coupled with the constant ebb and flow of many, many weaker Sith combined with the planet's natural dark aura to create an atmosphere of immense power. The Dark Side covered everything on this world, each beast and plant a note in the symphony that was the heartbeat of the world.

 

 

Nox enjoyed listening to that symphony, feeling it in every molecule of his body. It was in moments like these that he received his most insightful revelations, his most inspired ideas. Dwelling in the darkness that surrounded him, he turned his thoughts toward the objects of his mediation: The Dread Masters.

 

 

Thanks to his interactions with them, they now believed him to be nothing but a nuisance, an insect to be squashed at will. That was good, that was exactly how Nox wanted to be perceived. They were underestimating him, and would therefore not see him for the threat to their power and continued existence that he truly was. They had fallen into the same trap as many of Nox's previous rivals had. By underestimating him they would expose their flank, giving Nox even more of an advantage than he already had.

 

 

But it still was not enough. Even with all the power he had acquired through his Children, even with the advantage he had gained by convincing the masters of his harmlessness, he knew that he still didn't have the power to break them, not yet. The Dread Masters were as old as the Empire itself, and had spent their centuries in seclusion, learning about and studying the Dark Side unhindered by the concerns of the mortal realm, as Nox and his compatriots on the Dark Council were. They had been free to experiment with whatever ideas and devices they wished, free to learn together and grow strong. They had been gathering their power largely unchecked for centuries, there was no way Nox could defeat them yet, even with the immense power at his command.

 

 

Then a thought came to his remembrance. Victory was not merely a case of overpowering ones opponent. Defeating an enemy could be accomplished by skill and cunning as much as by raw power. Still, his lack of power did present something of a problem, even if he intended to destroy the Masters through wit and deception, being unable to at least hold his own in direct combat against one or several of them was an issue. His Children would need to increase their efforts to bring more Forceful beings into the fold, and he would need to focus more on his studies of the Dark Side and the Dread Masters in particular.

 

 

He already had learned much about them in his past encounters. The events on Denova were an example of their ability to manipulate entire armies into executing their will, and the follow-up events on Asation was a clear demonstration of both their power, knowledge, and finesse in the arts of Sith Alchemy, Ritualism, and Sorcery.

 

 

Briefly, Nox's mind flickered back to the ritual he had received from the monstrous terror in the hypergate. After studying the ritual further he had determined it to be a method of creating a small dimensional breach. Careful experimentation had revealed that the breach it created bridged Nox's reality and the universe from which the horror had originated. So far Nox had only summoned small abominations, creatures of simplistic intellect and with little real power. But the implications of success were intoxicating to him. If he could master the ritual further and empower it, he might one day be able to summon abominations beyond his enemy's comprehension, some day in the far future he might even have that creature and its allies at his beck and call.

 

 

But Nox was no fool. He was not so short-sighted as to tamper with powers beyond his ability to control, he knew full well what kind of fate was awarded to beings who succumbed to such avarice. So for now he would continue to experiment and study, growing his knowledge and thereby increasing his power. In any case, such power might not help him against the Dread Masters, not directly at least. The fact that the Masters had known, or seemed to have known, what manner of creature might emerge from the Grand Hypergate was indicative of their experience with such matters. Perhaps they had also had some interactions with the inhabitants of the strange dimension, and if that was true they likely knew far more about the subject than Nox currently did. So for the most part he would restrain utilizing his knowledge directly and instead use it to combat whatever abominations the Masters could throw at him.

 

 

Returning his mind back to its original track, Nox once more contemplated how he could go about destroying the Dread Masters. Given their power it was unlikely they would simply succumb to death upon the destruction of their physical bodies. Even if Nox were to disintegrate their carnal vessels completely, down to the last atom, Nox doubted that they would vanish into the void. They had lived too long and were far too powerful for it to be that easy. But surely, he thought to himself, there is a way for me to be rid of them without all that power and knowledge going to waste. Hundreds of years of knowledge, learning, and experience is far too much to simply allow it to disappear.

 

 

Once more, an idea sprang into his consciousness. Of course! As always, the simplest solution proved to be the best. The Dread Masters would, in all likelihood, survive any attempt at destroying their physical bodies. They were Sith after all, and Nox knew full well how much Sith feared death. If it was within their power, and it likely was, they would avoid death at all costs. But their fear of death only made the whole affair easier for Nox. Provided their method for cheating death was the one he thought it was there was a very simple and very profitable solution to the problem of ending the Dread Master's existence without sacrificing their knowledge and power to the void along with their spirits.

 

 

Still, he would need to work, and work tirelessly. The time between now and the final confrontation was going to filled with sleepless nights and days spent in seclusion and study. He wasn't fully prepared to face the Dread Masters yet, but they seemed to be accelerating their own schedule, and time waited for no man.

 

 

As Nox began the long walk back to Kaas City, he hummed an Imperial marching tune in perfect time with the pulsing of the dark energies that surrounded him.

____________

 

 

Jay-Li leaned over the holoterminal in the Jedi Council chambers, hanging on the every word of the Weequay Jedi Master in command of the fleet Jay had dispatched to the newly discovered base of the Dread Masters on Oricon. Jay wore a hooded thermoweave robe of white with gold trim and designs, a garment more suited to his position as Jedi Grandmaster. On his hands he wore golden gloves with white trim, made of the same thermoweave material as his robes. Around his waist sat a dark gray metallic belt with glowing blue lights on and around the rectangular cinch.

 

 

He had grown a beard in the past few months, and the dark, neatly trimmed mass of blonde hair covered his lower face with near-perfect symmetry to the ornate gold and white mask that hid his eyes, cheeks, forehead, and the bridge of his nose. The twin visors that covered his eyes were one-way lenses that made him seem almost like a droid if you forgot everything else about him. Only his lightsaber was the same as it had been before, except that he had replaced the green crystal with a blue one.

 

 

"We're approaching the Oricon system." The commander said, a note of tension creeping into his voice. "Preparing to drop out of hyperspace." After a few seconds of silence, Jay heard the hyperdrive of the ship deactivate, and the commander and Jay both listened as bridge officers reported that the rest of the fleet was checking in.

 

 

"We're all here." The commander said. "Let's move in on Oricon, battle stations people!" Alarms sounded and Jay was struck with a sudden, powerful premonition of doom and danger.

 

 

"Commander! Hold position!" He ordered.

 

 

But the commander was no longer listening. He was staring straight ahead in wide-eyed, slack-jawed horror at something in front of him. Jay could hear the cries of fear from various bridge crew members, and was just about to attempt to reach out through the Force to try and help the commander when the signal cut out and static replaced the image of the commander.

 

 

Returning to his full height with a gesture of frustration, Jay turned his head away from the empty holoterminal briefly before reaching out to shut it off. Suddenly, the image of Supreme Chancellor Madon appeared in the space, accompanied by Supreme Commander Maxxor.

 

 

"Master Kenobi, what just happened?" Maxxor demanded. "I just lost the signals of the entire fleet of ships you commissioned ten hours ago."

 

 

"I would like to know what is going on as well." Madon added. "As soon as the Supreme Commander invited me to this call I knew something was wrong." Jay sighed inwardly.

 

 

"I'm afraid I just lost contact with the Oricon Task Force." Jay said in reply. "They had just entered orbit over Oricon when they began experiencing...hallucinations of some sort, and they appear to have been of the particularly unpleasant kind. I was attempting to assist when the signal was lost."

 

 

"An entire fleet." Maxxor grumbled. "As if we weren't shorthanded enough after the Empire's recent offensives."

 

 

"What does this mean for the Republic?" Madon asked.

 

 

"I don't believe the entire fleet has been lost." Jay interjected. "If our intel on Oricon's orbital defenses was correct, then I believe there might actually be some survivors on the surface."

 

 

"But Master Kenobi, you saw for yourself the kind of power these Dread Masters have. If they can destroy the minds of an entire fleet's worth of hardened Jedi and soldiers, how do you expect to be successful with a second attempt? I'm afraid the Senate cannot authorize a second attempt after such a complete failure."

 

 

"I wouldn't authorize it in any case." Maxxor added. "I'm not sending more of my men to die needlessly in such a gruesome manner."

 

 

"You needn't be concerned gentlemen." Jay said in what he hoped was a calming tone. "I do not intend to take anyone with me. I will go alone."

 

 

"Alone?" Madon exclaimed. "Master Kenobi please don't be so rash! The Jedi only just lost their Grandmaster, they don't need to lose another one!"

 

 

"Calm yourself, Supreme Chancellor." Jay said, placating him. "I know many potent techniques to ward off such invasion of the mind, whereas it appears most of the crew aboard those vessels did not. We did not expect the Dread Masters to be so powerful, but I have no doubt that Master Ogan-Dei and the other Jedi were able to protect some of the crew from the mental assault and ensure that some survived the landing after the ships were shot down by Oricon's orbital defenses. I will sneak past the orbital defenses on my personal ship and gather the survivors to either attempt an extraction or, if possible, complete the mission."

 

 

"Wasn't the original mission to bombard the moon from orbit?" Maxxor asked. "How do you intend to do that without a fleet?"

 

 

"The intent of the mission was to kill the Dread Masters and end their threat forever." Jay responded. "If there are enough survivors and the opportunity presents itself, I will commandeer the task force to attempt to accomplish this goal."

 

 

"This still seems very risky." The Supreme Commander said, crossing his arms. "Assuming you are successful, how do you suggest we facilitate a rescue?"

 

 

"I will assemble a list of names of Jedi Masters who are knowledgeable in defending themselves and others from this kind of attack. I will contact them before I leave to recall them to Coruscant immediately to prep for the mission. When you receive my all-clear signal, that will be an indication that I have disabled or destroyed Oricon's orbital defenses enough to allow you to evacuate the survivors while the Jedi protect everyone from the Dread Master's influence."

 

 

Madon and Maxxor looked at each other briefly before turning back to Jay. "Well," Maxxor said finally. "It seems you've made up your mind about this, and organized a workable plan. It's not like we have any other options except to abandon our people to those monsters."

 

 

"I think I can convince the Senate that this is appropriate military action." Madon said reassuringly. "They might not be happy about this whole affair but I think at least they won't seek reparations of some kind."

 

 

"That is comforting to know, Supreme Chancellor." Jay said bowing his head in gratitude. "Sometimes it feels like the Senate only gets in the way of doing what needs to be done."

 

 

"Believe me, I know that feeling better than anything else Master Jedi." Madon said mournfully. "But without the Senate we have no democracy, and that means we aren't any better than the Empire or these Dread Masters."

 

 

"True." Jay conceded.

 

 

"In any case," Madon continued. "I will personally sanction this rescue attempt."

 

 

"As will I." Maxxor said. "Be careful out there Master Jedi. If any of the accounts of interactions with them are to be believed, these Dread Masters are dangerous. With the Emperor gone, I might even say they're the most dangerous beings in the galaxy right now."

 

 

"Your approval and concerns are appreciated." Jay said. "But I encourage you to trust in the Force gentlemen, as I do."

 

Edited June 18, 2018 by MayhemofChaonus

[MayhemofChaonus]

Hi guys! Today is my very last day on the forums again, so I decided to use it to say goodbye, I will miss you all! Demunoki will continue to be post the parts in my stead and update his own TOC to include all the chapters so you can do as little scrolling as possible!

 

Edit: Surprise! Yeah BW messed up my sub so I ended up getting another 3 months until I figure out how to make sure my sub doesn't renew itself...I'm pretty darn sure I only bought the non-renewable package...

Edited August 20, 2017 by MayhemofChaonus

[MayhemofChaonus]

This part is really short, so the next part should be coming in this weekend, hopefully followed on Monday by the usual update. Enjoy!

 

 

Andronikos deftly piloted the Midnight Shadow through the asteroid field surrounding Darvannis. Not a single one of the larger asteroids so much as brushed the vessel's shields.

 

 

"We'll be entering atmo in about five minutes." Andronikos reported to Nox, who was sitting behind him in the captain's chair.

 

 

"Excellent," Nox replied. "Make sure you keep us off their scanners, I don't want any delays."

 

 

"Roger." The ex-pirate confirmed, and Nox returned his attention to cloaking the ship and its two inhabitants in the Force as they approached the planet. Five minutes later, just as Andronikos had said, they entered the Darvannis atmosphere. Ten minutes later they landed in a hidden canyon a fair distance from Nox's destination. They were just far enough away that there was little risk of patrols stumbling on the vessel, but close enough that Nox wouldn't be forced to trek through large swathes of the Darvannis desert to reach his goal.

 

 

Exiting the ship into the dust storm raging outside, Nox activated his com to relay his final orders to Andronikos.

 

 

"Make sure that this ship is the last thing anyone who finds it sees."

 

 

"Understood. Good hunting." Nox smiled at that.

 

 

"Indeed." With an abrupt click, he switched off his com, entering radio silence in preparation for his infiltration of the fortress in which Dread Master Styrak was holed up. Nox knew, despite official Imperial reports, that the Dread Masters were behind the sudden increase in the Hutt Cartel's militancy. The reports of his own spies combined with his forays into the Force to determine the Dread Master's current activities had revealed this to him, and that one of their number had separated himself from the rest and taken a more hands-on approach to their conquest of the galaxy. A decision that would be his doom.

 

 

Striding unaffected through the roaring winds and haze of sand, Nox followed his instincts into a cave in the nearby cliffside. Entering, he moved deeper and deeper until it became apparent that the cave was not a natural formation, but had once been part of the tunnel network of a Guruniu, massive worms that prowled the planet's underground millions of years ago, before the introduction of the Krayt dragon into the ecosystem via space travelers had rendered the massive invertebrates extinct.

 

 

Who had brought the Krayt dragons to Darvannis and exactly why was unknown, but evidence showed that the immigrant population of giant lizards had been completely wiped out not long after their extinction of the Guruniu by a virus native to the planet that their physiology had no defense against.

 

 

As a result, massive networks of underground tunnels, some running several miles deep into the crust, were scattered throughout the barren landscape. This particular tunnel network, Nox had discovered, had several tunnels that nearly intersected with some of the massive geothermal power lines that allowed for the fortress to feed off of the natural energy of the planet's core. Regular bursts of superheated plasma roared up the large metal shafts on their way to power the geothermal cores above, so once Nox found the right spot, he would have to wait for the next flare before attempting to enter the tunnel. There were only twenty minutes between each flare, so if he managed to cut through the rock wall of the tunnels he was in now and the metal walls of the geothermal power line in eight minutes or so, he would have twelve minutes before an unstoppable wall of superheated matter came rushing up the tube to incinerate everything but the heat-proof walls. No pressure.

 

 

After roughly a half hour of exploration, Nox began to feel the vibrations of the geothermal flares in the distance. Another half hour brought him to a spot in a tunnel where he could feel the heat emanating from the wall that was right up against the geothermal power line. After a few minutes of patient waiting, he felt the rumble from deep below, and felt the wave of scorching plasma rush past him on the other side of the wall, causing the tunnel to heat up even further. The temperature was already hot enough to make most sentients faint, but Nox easily warded off the heat with the Force and drew his lightsaber, activating it.

 

 

He thrust forward, burying the blade in the stone wall, feeling the resistance melt away. The rock was already soft enough from the intense heat that he cut through it easily, and in a few minutes he had removed a circular portion of the wall to reveal the metal surface of the heat-proof, plasma-resistant pipe that guided the plasma to the surface.

 

 

This was going to be tough, these materials were literally made to resist the substance of the weapon he was holding, only in much larger quantities and with more intensity. He reached out with the Force, poking and prodding at the metal with metaphysical fingers, searching for any weakness...there! He thrust forward, both hands on the hilt, and grunted in shock when his lightsaber barely broke through. It felt like trying to cut raw Wookie meat with a fingernail. Gripping the handle tightly, he began to drag it towards the edge of the circular hole he had created, and growled with effort when the metal became even more resistant as he left the area of the structural weakness and encountered the full resistance of the alloy. It got to the point where Nox felt like his lightsaber wasn't even moving, and he screamed in exasperation, knowing that precious seconds were ticking away while he fought this hunk of metal. He could work until the next flare came of course, and hope that the structural damage he had inflicted would combine with the flare's heat to further compromise the alloy's resistance. But it was very likely that the heat exposure would either severely weaken or possibly even kill him. The latter was unacceptable, leaving him alone and weak to the point where several flares would gradually incinerate his body, leaving nothing for his spirit to remain bound to, nothing to protect it from the void...but even the former meant he would likely end up being so weak that he couldn't cut open the softened metal and make to the top of the power line in time to avoid getting caught in the next flare, which would incinerate him outright, leading back to problem number one. If he didn't make this cut in time, he was in really, really deep trouble.

 

 

His fear strengthened his resolve and brought new strength to his muscles. Roaring in sheer exertion, he managed to drag the blade of his lightsaber to the edge of the circle and begin cutting around it. After several long minutes that left his muscles screaming for mercy and his breath coming in panting, ragged gasps, he used the Force to violently push the circular piece of metal into the stifling abyss beyond. Stepping into the opening, he looked down over the edge, and was struck with an unfamiliar sensation: Vertigo. He had to grip the smoldering edge of the opening with Force-enhanced strength just to keep from tumbling helplessly into the fiery light burning brightly miles and miles below him. Closing his eyes and calling on the Dark Side, he steadied himself and brought his thoughts and sensations back into focus. He gathered his power and leaped into the air. For a moment he hung there, suspended in space for a split second before gravity latched onto him and began to pull him downward to an infernal demise.

 

 

Summoning his power, Nox channeled it into kinetic energy and used to send himself rocketing up the chute, propelled by the power of Force flight. He flew as straight as a blaster bolt and just as fast, and the blackness of the tube above him began to draw closer and closer. Suddenly though, it stopped, and at first Nox thought his eyes must be playing tricks on him. Perhaps his focus on using Force flight was lowering his guard against the intense heat allowing it to affect his mind and senses...then with dawning horror he realized what was happening at the same moment he felt the rumbling deep below him.

 

 

He looked down to see a burgeoning tsunami of raging plasma racing up the tunnel after him, in all its hellish glory. At first he thought he might outrun it, but as the darkness above him shrank away, as if abandoning him to his doom, he realized there was no hope of that. It was too late. His mind raced with a thousand different possibilities as one, panic-stricken thought repeated itself over and over, drumming itself into his skull.

 

 

I'm going to die.

 

 

Then an idea blossomed in his mind, spreading its petals of desperate hope across his lobes, and he found himself actually considering it. This is crazy, he thought to himself. Completely crazy, there's no evidence that it will work and no time to consider any evidence even if there was any. I'll probably die trying, but it seems I'm going to die anyway...so what do I have to lose, really? It only took a moment to consider his options, there was no other choice.

 

 

Ceasing to channel his Force flight, he redirected his power into forming a shield around himself as he dropped like a stone into the ravenous inferno below.

 

 

[MayhemofChaonus]

Here's the next part guys! Hopefully I'll be releasing the next part on Monday or Tuesday...but knowing my track record it might come Wednesday or Thursday...

 

Anyway, hope you enjoy!

 

 

Nox slowly emerged from the darkness of unconsciousness and gingerly lifted himself up off the floor. He was equal parts surprised and relieved to find he was intact and undamaged, apart from the splitting headache pounding a tattoo into his braincase. He remembered straining to hold the Force barrier while immersed in the plasma jet, using a final burst of kinetic power to launch himself out of the jet as soon as he sensed the jet had left the shaft and was rocketing into the reactor. Such a feat of timing would have confounded any who were not highly attuned to the workings and nuances of the Force, thankfully Nox was not in that group, and thus he had been successful.

 

 

Getting slowly to his feet, he took a moment to steady himself on shaky limbs before looking around the power core chamber. It was empty, rightly so, as normal beings would require heat protection gear to even survive in here. The fact that Nox had not been roasted alive while unconscious was a testament to the strength of his connection to the Force, which had protected him without his conscious direction.

 

 

Having regained his composure, Nox knelt on the ground and began to go through the rites he had completely memorized by now. He had infiltrated the fortress before using the ritual because he had been concerned that afterwards there would be no way to hide his power from Styrak, which would have made infiltration much more difficult, if not impossible. Now that he was inside the fortress however, that didn't really matter. His proximity to Styrak would make it difficult for the Dread Master to determine the exact location of the source of the immense power, allowing Nox to move about the fortress in stealth. Had he used the ritual outside the fortress, the distance would have allowed Styrak to use Nox's own power like a beacon indicating his general location, allowing the Dread Master to discern where Nox was and likely stop him from entering the stronghold by any means, stealthy or otherwise.

 

 

As the connections between him and his children firmed and the channels opened, Nox felt the familiar rush of anticipation. Then the power came, it flowed in like a great tide, pouring into him until he felt like he was full to overflowing. The darkness within him rejoiced, burgeoning and surging with the influx of violent energy. When Nox rose from the floor, he was a vessel of raw, dark power, a violet aura surrounding him as the energies contained within his form energized the very atmosphere around him.

 

 

He cast his gaze around the chamber, searching for the exit. Finding it, he quickly sliced the lock and stepped out into passageway, closing the unlocked door behind him. With an arcane motion, he vanished from sight, the only evidence that he had once existed there being the incredibly minute disturbances in the Force that he left behind, like ripples in a pond, and soon enough, they too faded.

 

____________

 

 

With a tremendous boom, the double doors leading to Dread Master Styrak's chambers flew open. Ripped off their hinges, the doors flew past the small army of Dread Guard standing ready between the door and the throne, slamming into the walls on either side of the dais upon which Styrak stood with a massive Kell Dragon, before falling to the ground in like manner.

 

 

"The warlords defeated, their armies in tatters. You think you've won." Styrak said, his voice resonating through the chamber, each syllable laced with the power of the Dark Side to intimidate and inspire terror.

 

 

"I don't think I've won." Nox said, his own voice brimming with power as he walked into the chamber, lightsaber bared. "I have already won!"

 

 

"These riffraff were brought together for a purpose-our purpose." Styrak declared. "They are but clay, and we the sculptors. They will serve even in defeat." He asserted, finishing his say. Speaking to the army of Dread Guard before him he bellowed: "Attack the intruder! Bring me his head!" As one the mob of lightsaber-wielding guards charged forward to obey his command, their weapons raised and ready to cut him down. Nox responded by leaping into the center of the mob, building Force power during the leap, and unleashing it upon impact, creating a Force shockwave that lifted the guards off their feet and sent them flying backward.

 

 

Summoning the Dark Side, Nox unleashed a massive Force storm in the chamber, raining lightning bolts down on his helpless enemies as they writhed and screamed in agony. When Nox ceased the channel, only four of them remained. Obviously the strongest of the rabble, two of the four had taken up postures of focus and mediation while the other two, their power amplified by their comrades, charged at him.

 

 

"Your power...it has grown since we last met, far more than we expected." Styrak mused. "Perhaps it would be better to have you serve us. Do not fight. Do not resist. Give yourself over now, or be destroyed."

 

 

Laughing maliciously at the hopeless naiveté of his respective foes, Nox took to the battle, unleashing an unstoppable barrage of withering dark energy, lightning bursts, and lightsaber attacks on the first Dread Guard to reach him. Driven back by the assault, the man tried desperately to defend himself while his companion attempted to attack Nox's flank. Nox easily deflected the pathetic assaults with the Force while he focused on his primary target.

 

 

Feeling the darkness building, Nox executed his enemy with overhead spinning slash, then whirled on his other opponent. Suddenly cowed, the man tried to erect a Force barrier strong enough to withstand the coming attack, but failed miserably. The salvo of depredating volts that slammed into him broke through his shield as if it wasn't even there and ravaged his body, leaving him convulsing and spasming. Nox felt the darkness enshroud him, wrapping him in its terrible embrace, making him invulnerable, and he laughed in malevolent ecstasy.

 

 

Already the two remaining guards, foolish as they were, had ceased their feeble attempts at battle mediation and were charging forward, believing Nox to be vulnerable while channeling his attack. They found out how wrong they were when one of them tried to slice Nox in two at the waist, only for his lightsaber to bounce off the barrier of Nox's Force armor. The second attack, an attempt at decapitation, failed just as miserably, rebounding off of the shadowy carapace as it were a stick hitting a rock.

 

 

With a final blast, Nox finished the channel and charred the dying man to a crisp, whirling on his attackers with a visible aura of darkness surrounding him. Beginning to spin his lightsaber, he moved in on them as they slowly began to back away, their fear blossoming into full-blown terror as they perceived their demise approaching. Then, with sudden ferocity, Nox launched himself at them, his spinning blade never losing momentum as it spun and cycled around his body in a deadly tornado of violet plasma. In seconds the two men were nothing more than a series of charred pieces and body parts lying on the floor.

 

 

"You choose destruction." Styrak said with a glimmer of disappointment in his voice. "So be it."

 

 

The Kell Dragon leapt from its place beside Styrak and charged Nox. Dodging the massive beast's snapping jaws, Nox harried its flank with a series of Force lightning attacks. Whirling on him, the beast tried to seize him in its jaws once again, but he was too fast for it. The dragon spit at him, its acidic saliva creating a steaming, foul-smelling spot in the sand which Nox easily avoided. Frustrated, the beast curled up into a ball and rotated on its side, sending the detachable spines on its back flying outward in all directions. Nox stopped moving to shield himself from the attack, the arms-length spines bouncing off his erected Force barrier. Finally ceasing the attack only to discover that its prey was still alive, the monster advanced on him, attacking with its massive claws and deadly jaws.

 

 

Nox easily evaded the dragon's clumsy attacks, his dark Force armor protecting him against glancing blows and stray projectiles of spittle as he attacked the monster with the Force and occasionally his lightsaber. When the dragon began to weaken, Nox heard Styrak's voice boom from the dais once more.

 

 

"Obey me, beast. Fight on!" he commanded. In response the dragon's attacks grew more and more ferocious and desperate, with no noticeable increase in its success battling Nox. When the monster finally collapsed onto its side, dead, Styrak's voice came again, full of anger and laced with a hint of sorrow.

 

 

"A beautiful creature. It will be avenged!"

 

 

A Force storm erupted throughout the chamber, covering the entire area in lightning. Nox readied himself for the battle ahead, the Force racing through his veins, his Force armor shielding him completely from the storm. Styrak drew a single-bladed purple lightsaber and leaped into the air, the blade raised high to strike. He came down on Nox with Force-amplified might, and Nox had to summon a considerable portion of his own amplified strength in the Force to block the attack.

 

 

Styrak laid into him with a series of vicious Force-enhanced lightsaber sequences from Juyo, all of which Nox successfully defended against, but not without effort. Their blades moved like phantoms, seeming to stretch as they struggled to keep up with their wielder's demands. Nox maintained his tight, Soresu-inspired defensive stance, mixing his momentum-preserving lightsaber movements with Force lightning attacks and entropic bursts of dark energy. Styrak, realizing the lightsaber battle was only serving to feed Nox's Force abilities, suddenly vanished from sight, a massive apparition of him appearing in the center of the chamber.

 

 

"Now you'll see real power." Styrak bellowed, his disembodied voice echoing throughout the chamber. Four smaller apparitions also appeared on the edges of the chamber, glowing with power as they channeled energy into the larger specter, which was growing bigger by the moment. Focusing his power, Nox charged and unleashed it in a thunderous blast of energy that slammed into the shade, causing it to waver and become somewhat unstable. He followed it up immediately with a chain of lightning that struck the apparition and then launched itself from its original target to the other apparitions in the far corners of the battlefield.

 

 

The massive burst of energy diffused all the phantoms, and Styrak appeared in the flesh once more, unleashing a telekinetic attack that constricted Nox, attempting to lift him into the air and crush him while simultaneously electrocuting him by charging the atmosphere around him with electricity.

 

 

"Mere smoke." Styrak declared. "Now taste fire!"

 

 

Nox channeled a significant amount of his power into resisting the attack, but such was its intensity it took all his concentration just to fight back. He and Styrak stood there, immobile, as each tested the other's will. The stand-off seemed to go on for whole minutes, until Styrak suddenly relinquished his grip and attacked with his lightsaber, hoping to catch Nox off guard.

 

 

"You will fall." He stated with finality as he renewed his ferocious assault on the stalwart Nox. During the standoff Nox's dark Force armor had faded, making Styrak's Force-enhanced saber blows even more dangerous. But as he put up a solid wall of defense and eroded his opponent's own defenses with the power of the Dark Side, Nox began to feel the darkness rising in him once again. He felt it begin to consume him, claiming him as its vessel even as he beckoned it to his aid.

 

 

When the darkness reached its zenith he unleashed it in the familiar form of ravaging bolts of energy that slammed into his foe. With each bolt that struck Nox felt the dark wrapping itself around him again, shielding him and encasing him within an impenetrable cocoon of telekinetic armor as Styrak fought to defend himself from the blasts.

 

 

"You think you can defeat me?" He roared a challenge to Styrak. "I am the Dark Side incarnate!"

 

 

Styrak's only response was to briefly channel then unleash a thunderous wave of power that struck Nox like a wave striking a rock. The energy dispersed around him with no visible effect whatsoever. Both combatants knew the attack had affected Nox, but only in regards to his Force defenses and not nearly as much as it should have, thanks to the dark power protecting him.

 

 

"You are nothing." Styrak hissed with contempt.

 

 

And suddenly, Nox found himself somewhere else entirely. He was in a small room with no apparent entrances or exits of any kind. And standing on a raised portion of the room, lightsabers drawn, was Ashara. Nox froze. Ashara? What was she doing here, how... His thoughts broke off as she attacked him, her twin sabers moving with deadly grace and speed. Nox tried to defend himself, but she seemed to know all the weaknesses in his technique, and his limbs moved sluggishly, as if through mud. Nox could feel the temptation to give into blind anger growing, how dare she attack him! After all he had done for her! After the moments they had shared!

 

 

"Are you ready to obey?" Styrak's voice taunted him, seeming to come from nowhere and everywhere at once.

 

 

Suddenly, realizing that this was impossible, Nox concluded that Styrak must have launched some sort of mental attack on him, this was just a nightmare. No doubt it was taking all of his opponent's strength and concentration just to hold him here, otherwise Styrak would have undoubtedly cut him down by now. But I can fix that. Nox thought to himself with a smile.

 

 

Stretching out a hand, Nox bellowed a single word at the vision before him, putting all of his mental focus into that one utterance. "Stop!" To his surprise, the fake Ashara actually froze in place, and Nox turned his thoughts in an entirely other direction, focusing them on the fake Ashara. Slowly, the mental construct sheathed her lightsabers, hooking them onto her belt as she approached him. His helm suddenly vanishing with a thought, Nox extended his arms, embracing the vision as their lips met in fiery passion.

 

 

With a start, Nox found himself back in the throne room on Darvannis, a shocked-looking Styrak standing not far away, his body just relaxing from the summoning posture he had adopted. Nox laughed.

 

 

"You cannot defeat me with my own thoughts." He shouted, unleashing a stream of Force lightning at his foe. Styrak vanished and the hungry volts passed through thin air to slam into the steps of the dais with an explosion.

 

 

"You cannot fight forever..." Styrak's bodiless voice responded, and Nox thought he detected the first sliver of doubt in the Dread Master's tone. Suddenly four specters of Styrak appeared at the four sides of the room and began to channel Force lightning, their individual streams converging on Nox, wrapping him in a voltaic embrace.

 

 

Nox's dark Force armor protected him from the worst effects, but even so he knew he couldn't take this forever. Gathering his power he summoned another Force storm like the one he had used to incinerate the Dread Guard.

 

 

"Gaaagghh!" Styrak's scream of rage and shock was music to Nox's ears. Caught in the storm, the Dread Master's channeling of the illusions had been interrupted, and the phantoms vanished. Charging forward, lightsaber at the ready, Styrak unleashed a war cry as he assaulted Nox with renewed vigor brought on by his rage.

 

 

Nox actually had difficulty defending himself, and a few of Styrak's force-enhanced lightsaber blows actually landed, weakening his Force armor and forcing him to allocate more power to restoring the strength of his defenses. Nox could sense Styrak's fear growing, but the Dread Master was harnessing it to increase his power, rather than letting it consume him.

 

 

Suddenly Nox felt Styrak attempt a powerful Force push, and he put up a solid wall of resistance. Instantly however he felt an explosion of pain erupt in his mind, and with his guard momentarily lowered, he was hurled across the chamber to slam against the wall. He dropped to the ground and was just steadying himself when a wave of power slammed into him. Fortunately he had regained some of his composure and his dark Force armor was still protecting him, but even so the attack knocked him off balance again, while Styrak channeled a thick stream of Force lightning at him. Nox nearly buckled under the metaphysical weight of the combination attack, and Styrak laughed.

 

 

"Even the Force obeys the call." He said, chastising Nox.

 

 

Suddenly possessed of a deep rage, Nox summoned the Dark Side to his aid and a Force barrier sprung to life around him, shielding him from the ravages of the Dread Master's power. Ceasing his channel, Styrak charged, ready to engage his foe in melee combat and beat down the barrier with raw power.

 

 

Allowing his Force barrier to collapse into reinforcing his Force armor, Nox charged as well, his lightsaber at the ready. The two met, and waves of power emanated from the point where their blades impacted each other, as the Force power each had placed behind their strikes clashed. They moved with superhuman speed and grace, each movement flowing into the other. Styrak, now mixing forms, combined the savagery of Juyo with the domineering style of Djem So. Nox stuck to his tried and true Niman variant, now in full defensive mode relying solely on Force attacks to whittle away at his opponent's defenses. Despite Styrak reinforcing his Force defenses, Nox's attacks were still too potent, and the mask of determination he had erected was beginning to slip, revealing the desperation and fear beneath.

 

 

"Brothers and sisters," he pleaded, the desperation apparent in his voice. "grant me power!"

 

 

Nox felt a surge of Dark Side energy burgeoning up in his enemy, and he prepared himself for the final assault.

 

 

"This broke the beast." Styrak said, his fear becoming hatred. "It will break you." Suddenly, the nearby corpse of the massive Kell dragon began to move, and to Nox's surprise and dread, rose to its feet. The beast's eyes were hollow, but its movements were every bit as quick as they had been before. Styrak suddenly grew to immense size as he channeled the power his comrades had granted him.

 

 

"Submit or die!" He screamed, as waves of dark power began to emanate from both him and the Kell Dragon, which was closing in on Nox. With his enemy's power utterly devastating his Force defenses, Nox decided it was time for the final push. Gathering a large portion of his remaining might, he focused it into a single Force attack and unleashed it on the reanimated beast. The dragon howled as the Dark Side began to consume its body, and Nox pushed harder as Styrak's attack intensified in response. The creature's flesh began to decay, its scales rotting and its skin succumbing to entropy. As the monster dissolved, it unleashed one final roar before its tongue wasted away in its mouth and its vocal chords broke down. The rotting carcass of the beast collapsed in on itself, leaving a broken husk.

 

 

Styrak, now easily as large as the beast had been, hurled his now massive lightsaber, which was bigger than Nox, at the Dark Lord. Leaping over it, Nox charged his foe, determined not to lose in the final moments of the battle. Moving all of the preternatural speed he could muster, he managed to stay one step ahead of his foe as the Dread Master sought to use his sheer size to attain a fatal advantage, bringing his blade crashing down on Nox, or swinging it in wide, sweeping arcs. Occasionally when Nox retreated he tossed the blade at him, turning it into a plasma saw that threatened to cut Nox in two.

 

 

Nox barely managed to stay ahead of Styrak, leaping and dodging like a hyperactive particle. He managed to land powerful Force attacks on the Dread Master's dwindling defenses, and even succeeded in landing a few saber blows, although these were mostly attacks on the man's massive arms and chest while evading the attempts to brush him off.

 

 

And then, it came, the moment of weakness. For just an instant, Styrak's Force defenses vanished. It was only for an instant, but that was enough. Receiving the precognitive vision of the event before it happened, Nox began building his power seconds before it occurred. When the Dread Master's defenses dropped, he unleashed it in a stream of violet-tinged Force lightning that struck the giant in the chest and spread throughout his massive body. Roaring in pain, rage, and despair as his body failed him the Dread Master convulsed, his lightsaber dropping from his grasp, shrinking so that it was normal-sized by the time it hit the sand.

 

 

When Nox sensed the last vestiges of Styrak's life force fade to a glimmer, he ceased his attack, allowing the still colossal form of the Dread Master to fall over into the sand.

 

 

"One lost...five remain. It will be enough." Styrak croaked as his last glimmer of life winked out. Suddenly, Nox felt a great disturbance in the Force, and looking around saw gigantic apparitions of the remaining five Dread Masters standing around the chamber. They all stared, seemingly in shock, at the prone body of their former comrade lying in the sand in the center of the room. It seemed to Nox as if they were in a daze. Then Nox felt a second disturbance, and he sensed Styrak's spirit leaving his body. his attention now fully on the fallen Sith, Nox waited with baited breath, constantly monitoring the situation through the Force. His hypothesis was about to be proven right or wrong in the next few seconds.

 

 

He sensed the void drawing closer, and for a moment he thought Styrak would be swallowed by it, as all Sith were upon death. But that never happened. Instead, Styrak's spirit simply vanished into the Dark Side, like a sea-dwelling creature submerging itself in the ocean. Finding no spirit to consume, the void seemed to shrink back, retreating into the place beyond reality where it resided, and all at once Nox felt the presence of Styrak and the remaining Dread Masters disappear.

 

 

Approaching the body, Nox knelt down on one knee and examined the golden helm, almost as large as his entire torso, that covered the cadaver's head. It was grooved and the grooves formed a certain pattern, while the crests that sprouted from it seemed to make the piece of armor almost crown-like. Nox could feel the Dark Side in the item, and he knew that it had been the subject of many rituals over the centuries aimed at enhancing it to increase its wearer's power. For a moment he considered taking it with him, but realized immediately that it would be impossible to remove it from the fortress stealthily, and an Imperial invasion force was no doubt already breaching the stronghold in an attempt to stem the Cartel's growing army of mercenaries, unaware of the true cause of the Hutt's militancy.

 

 

Standing to his feet, Nox turned to go. His theory about the Dread Masters had been proven correct, and that meant he was on the right track with his current plan for their destruction. But there was still much work to do, and with the Dread Masters now fully aware of the threat he presented, time was short. But he would succeed regardless, his will would triumph. In the end, all would bow to him.

 

Edited June 18, 2018 by MayhemofChaonus

[MayhemofChaonus]

Hi guys! Better late than never hmm?

 

In all seriousness, I think its time I told you guys that the parts aren't going to be coming so regularly anymore. Winter is coming, which means my workload is increasing. And that indirectly affects my ability to write well and often. I'll still do my best to keep the parts coming, but I just can't keep to the weekly schedule the way things are right now without sacrificing the story quality. I hope you guys understand.

 

Anyway, enjoy!

 

 

Jedi Master Tyke Fisto stood as still as stone on the bridge of the Star of Alkidus, the flagship of the Damerok system's Republic defense fleet. He was focusing on the Force, feeling its currents move around him like intangible winds. Only these currents bore a strong scent from the near future, the stench of hatred and violence. An attack was coming, the Sith were coming, he could sense it. Centering himself, he began to commune more deeply with the Force, surrendering his emotions and mundane concerns in exchange for the eternal solace of the Force.

 

 

The calming energy of the Light swept through him, removing all doubts, fears, and apprehension. He felt deep peace, and he knew he was prepared for the battle to come.

 

 

"Captain." He said to the man standing two feet away from him. "The Empire is going to attack sometime in the next ten minutes. Prepare the fleet."

 

 

Registering some surprise, the captain nonetheless obeyed without question. He had worked with enough Jedi to realize it was usually foolish to doubt their predictions, even dangerous. The fleet began to take up defensive formation, and just as the last few ships were moving into place, an Imperial fleet emerged from hyperspace just inside of scanner range.

 

 

"Telemetrics coming in sir." An ensign reported to the captain. "The fleet is not a recognized Imperial battle group. The only recognized vessels are the Siege and the Starblade. No updated information on either."

 

 

"A black ops fleet?" The captain mused.

 

 

"Unlikely." Master Fisto replied. "I can sense the Dark Side emanating from the Starblade. I believe we may be dealing with a Sith."

 

 

"What should we do sir?" The captain asked.

 

 

"Engage them when they enter weapons range. I don't believe they will be at all interested in negotiation. Prepare a boarding team as well. I intend to lead a vanguard onto the Starblade once they're within shuttle range."

 

 

"Right away sir." The captain said, turning to begin barking orders at the bridge crew and over the com to the rest of the fleet. Fisto turned and left the bridge, Damerok would not fall, he resolved. Not if Tyke Fisto has anything to say about it.

 

____________

 

 

"Enemy is firing." The ensign monitoring the Starblade's defense console said. "Shields are holding steady."

 

 

"Turbolasers engaged." The artillery ensign chimed in. "Fighters launched, combating enemy fighters."

 

 

"We will be within shuttle range in a few minutes, my lord." The communications officer advised. "Would you like to dispatch boarding parties?"

 

 

"No." Raze said with eerie calm. He could sense him, the aura of peace and tranquility he emitted enraged him to the point where he felt his blood boil. He could sense the aura growing stronger. His enemy was coming straight to him. "Prepare all troops to intercept the enemy boarding parties, we'll break the spear head of their attack." Raze ordered. The crew rushed to obey his commands, and Raze's eyes narrowed as he stared out at the battle unfolding before him. His foe was formidable, but not invincible. He would break him.

 

 

Whooping alarms sounded throughout the bridge. "Enemy vanguard has arrived!" The communications officer shouted about the cacophony. "All crew members prepare to receive boarders, I repeat-"

 

 

Raze turned and walked down the aisle towards the bridge exit. He could sense the Jedi on his ship now. His Force senses were alive with bloodlust, like a predator's nose agitated by the scent of fresh prey. His focus became laser-like as he locked onto his target through the Force. The hunt had begun. Entering a turbolift, the doors closed behind him as a group of soldiers rushed to their battle stations.

 

 

The turbolift deposited him on the hanger deck, and he stepped out to see the hanger engulfed in a fierce battle. The stench of the Light Side filled the entire space, nauseating and enraging Raze. His predatory eyes locked onto the Nautolan dual-wielding twin blue lightsabers as he carved Imperial troops to pieces. His fluid grace and deadly precision were informed by the Light Side, even though his expression didn't even flicker as he mowed men and women down like a killing machine.

 

 

Drawing his lightsaber as his walk turned into a run, Raze felt his adrenaline surge as he charged into battle, unleashing a Kaleesh warcry. His opponent turned at the sound, and, seeing the Kaleesh charging towards him, turned from the corpses of the squadron he had just slaughtered and rushed his foe. The two met in a flurry of clashing blades, and Raze soon found himself nearly overwhelmed by the Nautolan's Ataru style. The Jedi somersaulted over him, his blades extended and slashing at Raze repeatedly as their wielder balled himself up and spun in midair. This was followed by a series of spinning attacks and overhead leaping strikes that made utilizing his favored Juyo form very taxing for Raze. Falling back on Soresu, Raze defended himself as best he could from the assault, keeping his blade moving and spinning to avoid losing momentum. The Nautolan attacked him furiously and from all sides, seeming to wield four blades instead of two. The speed and grace with which he executed his assaults was almost breathtaking.

 

 

The battle dragged on for half a minute, and the Jedi's attacks grew more intense as he neared the end of his reserves. Realizing he couldn't just play hard-to-get and expect to win, Raze took a more proactive approach, giving ground before the Jedi in apparent retreat. He led his enemy by the nose up a ramp and into the hanger control room. So focused was his opponent that he failed to notice what Raze was actually doing, and after a throwing himself at Raze in a spinning charge, he nearly ran into the opposite wall when Raze sidestepped the attack. The near-collision threw him off balance, and Raze was on him like a Vornskr. His savage slashes and brutal combination attacks left the Jedi Master scrambling for space. But when he attempted to leap out the window into the hanger, a quick use of Force telekinesis by Raze activated the emergency force field on the pane, causing the Jedi to crash into it and fall to the ground. Raze moved in for the finishing blow but the Jedi turned his fall into a roll, forcing Raze to jump to avoid having his legs knocked out from under him.

 

 

Whirling around just as the Jedi leaped to his feet, Raze charged him again. This time the Nautolan attempted to make a break for the door, but once more Raze used his mind to remotely activate the emergency force field, sealing them both inside.

 

 

"You can't escape me, Jedi." He hissed, and attacked with savage fury. Unable to use Ataru to its full extent within the enclosed space without putting himself at even more of a disadvantage, the Jedi resorted to Makashi, expertly defending himself from Raze's attacks with minimal strain on his Force abilities, relying instead on his footwork and balance to outmaneuver his opponent. His skills however, were not good enough, and Raze continued to hold the advantage, constantly backing his foe into a corner until the Jedi took advantage of an opening to escape the closing trap. They circled around the chamber, the Jedi's energy slowly draining under the sustained assault of his seething foe. Xalek was as strong and as fresh as when the battle had started, constantly feeding off of his bubbling hatred and unquenchable rage to sustain him and renew his strength, while the Jedi was growing slower and weaker, exhausted by his initial burst of action at the beginning of the battle.

 

 

Suddenly seeing an opening, Raze stabbed forward with his lightsaber, attempting to impale the Jedi where he stood. The dexterous Nautolan however, slipped elegantly to the side and Raze's blade sank into the wall behind where the Jedi had been. There was a loud sizzling noise, and sparks flew from around the blade. The sound of a generator shutting down emerged from the din, and the force fields trapping them both inside the control room deactivated. The Jedi leaped through the window, crashing through the glass in a curled up ball and landing nimbly on the floor of the hanger far below. He dashed towards the shuttle on which he had come, the surviving troops he had brought with him covering his retreat.

 

 

Standing in the window, Raze reared back and hurled his lightsaber at the escaping Jedi, the blade spinning like a plasma saw as it hurtled across the hanger towards his fleeing enemy's back. Suddenly, another spinning lightsaber appeared out of nowhere, impacting Raze's own and sending it off-course. Raze recalled it to him and followed the other blade's path with his eyes as it circled back to its owner. A black-robed human caught the crimson double-bladed weapon much as Raze had done, and realizing his new enemy was a Sith, Raze felt his anger increase tenfold. Leaping from the window, he watched in frustration out of the corner of his eye as the Jedi's shuttle took in the last surviving troops and rocketed out of the hanger bay.

 

 

Raze moved towards the Sith who had robbed him of his victory at a fast pace, leaping over obstacles as he closed in on his quarry. Back flipping up onto catwalk to escape his pursuer, the black-robed sith called out to Raze.

 

 

"Fisto is mine, if you know what's good for you run home to whatever master you serve."

 

 

Raze snarled. "The Jedi's life belongs to me fool. I won't let some upstart steal my glory."

 

 

"I am Darth Onakk. I'm the personal assassin of Darth Rictus of the Dark Council. Stand down, Sith. The Jedi is mine."

 

 

"I don't care who you are." Raze replied. "That Jedi was mine the moment he stepped onto my ship. I will be the one to kill him."

 

 

"Very well then, you can have him - if you get to him before me." Onakk said with a haunting laugh as he vanished into thin air.

 

 

Raze looked around the hanger for a working shuttle, finding one, he climbed aboard and started it up, blasting out of the hanger bay just as another shuttle's engines began to lift off the hanger floor.

 

___________

 

 

Raze heaved, exerting all his strength in the Force, and the door to the bridge of the Star of Alkidus burst inward. He walked through the jagged opening and saw Master Fisto standing at the front of the bridge with lightsabers already drawn. The bridge appeared to be empty, apparently the Jedi had been expecting him. With a running start, Raze closed the gap between them with a leap and drew his lightsaber. His foe fell into a ready stance.

 

 

"Surrender Sith, and I promise you fair treatment." Fisto said.

 

 

In response Raze attacked, his blade moving in swift, vicious movements. Fisto responded with the speed and grace of a dancer, the Force animating his body as he leaped, flipped, and twisted around his enemy's attacks. Raze unleashed a burst of lightning from his clawtips that the Jedi couldn't quite dodge, and the Nautolan's teeth gritted in pain. Seeing his enemy's guard was down, Raze moved in to press the advantage with his lightsaber. Their blades met, and the Jedi was forced on the defensive, once more adopting Makashi form to preserve his life. Raze unleashed a devastating series of lightsaber sequences followed by a well-placed blast of Force lightning that left the Jedi Master staggered and unbalanced. Moving in for the execute, Raze was forced instead to cease his final attack and dodge the crimson, double-bladed lightsaber that sailed through the air where he had been standing. The blade returned to the hands of its owner, and Onakk's voice echoed throughout the bridge, bringing Raze's seething rage to new heights.

 

 

"I told you the Jedi is mine, Raze." Onakk said. "If you don't stand down I will have no qualms about killing you too."

 

 

"His life belongs to the first one to drive their blade through his chest." Raze replied, already moving to assault the recovering Jedi. In a flash, Onakk crossed the distance, and the two Sith attacked the Jedi at the same time. Adopting some elements of Soresu into his Makashi form, the Jedi made use of both lightsabers to defend himself from the four deadly blades spinning and cutting through the air.

 

 

Raze attempted to stab Fisto with a powerful thrust, but the Jedi turned his blade aside with an elegant parry, deflecting it so that it struck Onakk's blade, which had been coming in with a sweeping blow from the other direction, and sent the strike wide. Onakk attempted to recover by turning the deflection into a build up for his next attack, but Fisto dodged the attack expertly, causing Onakk's blade to nearly drive itself into Raze's abdomen, forcing the Kaleesh, who had been just about to take advantage of Fisto's temporary exposure, to parry the incoming blade with his own weapon, allowing the Jedi time to re-orient himself.

 

 

The battle continued like this for almost a full minute, the with the two Sith attacking at cross-purpose to each other and the Jedi playing them off against each other, turning their attacks on him into attacks on the other. Eventually, Raze began to realize that his fleet was losing the battle, and that if he didn't end this duel soon, the battle was going to go very badly. Unfortunately, with Onakk here, he couldn't hope for a quick resolution to the fight, and once more, his Master's words came back to him: "If you desire true strength, true power, you must be willing to put aside your pride when it does not serve you."

 

 

Onakk's next strike came swiftly, and Fisto barely managed to redirect it towards Raze...only Raze wasn't there. Suddenly, a heavy blow came down on Fisto's left flank, at an angle that made it impossible for Fisto to redirect or parry the attack towards Onakk. Forced to block it, Fisto was nearly struck by Onakk's next attack, which was far too powerful for him to deflect using a single lightsaber. Slipping past the attack and out from under Raze's squeeze play of a strike, he danced away in an attempt to recoup, but the two Sith didn't give him the chance. Now working in eerie tandem, they assaulted him from every angle, with each one filling the holes in the other's offense, forcing Tyke Fisto into full defensive mode.

 

 

Despite his best efforts however, they pierced his defenses and showers of blows rained down on him, draining his personal shield and Force armor to critical levels in a matter of moments. Now attacking from either side, encompassing him in a virtual storm of plasma, they battered him with a fierce intensity that left him unable to do anything but desperately defend himself as best he could, trying to stave off the inevitable.

 

 

Finally, his personal shield collapsed, and, with a concentrated burst of Sith lightning, Raze dissolved the last of the Jedi's Force armor, leaving him exposed with nothing but his cortosis armor protecting him. The Jedi used his telekinetic powers to rip nearby consoles out of the floor and hurl them at his opponents, trying to crush them beneath the intense weight and end the battle right then and there. Instead the two Sith nimbly dodged the deadly projectiles and proceeded to strike at his exposed face, forcing him to once more engage them in saber combat. Their deadly strikes began to wear away at the armor on his chest and arms, and finally, after a prolonged barrage of successful sequences, their blades pierced his chest at the same moment, Raze's blade penetrating his left pectoralis major from the front, while Onakk's pierced his right pec from behind. The Nautolan's final gasp left his lips, and when the two Sith withdrew their weapons the body collapsed to the bridge floor.

 

 

For a moment the two Sith simply stared at each other, animosity still simmering between them. It was Raze who broke the silence first.

 

 

"This was a tie."

 

 

"Yes." Onakk agreed. They continued to stare at each other for another brief moment before they simultaneously sheathed their weapons.

 

 

"The next time we meet, it won't be as allies." Raze promised.

 

 

"We won't meet at all." Onakk replied. "You won't even see me coming."

 

 

And with that, they both turned and left the bridge, each heading for the separate hanger bay in which their shuttle was parked while the battle raged outside.

 

Edited September 8, 2017 by MayhemofChaonus

[MayhemofChaonus]

Finally finished this part, I hope you guys enjoy it!

 

 

Darth Marr was angry. He had good reason to be, many reasons in fact. Despite the recent success of Plan Omega and the subsequent invasion of the Core, the Republic was fighting back and the Empire's front lines were beginning to falter. After the damage caused by Malgus's revolution and the constant infighting between the other lords of the Dark Council, the only thing keeping the Empire in the fight was the recent establishment of a top-secret Isotope-5 mining project on Makeb. He had been right to call on the Imperial Ghost to accomplish that objective. The former Cipher Nine had completed the task with the same ruthless and meticulous efficiency with which he had completed the destruction of the Eagle's terror network and disassembled the Star Cabal.

 

 

Even so, the Empire was already in a grave situation before this had happened. He snarled at the datapad displaying the report he had been sitting on the bed reading and tossed it against the wall. The device shattered, pieces flying across the captain's quarters. Marr let his masked face sink into his gloved hand, allowing a half-growl, half-sigh of exasperated frustration to escape his lips. He was getting too damn old for this. Not for battle, or the war, those things he knew and loved. Physical combat re-energized and revitalized him, renewing his spirit and making him feel young again. What he was growing tired of was managing and dealing with the constant betrayal, the constant treachery and lack of unity among the Sith. It gnawed at him like a swarm of insects eating him from the inside out, slowly decaying the Empire he was fighting so hard to preserve.

 

 

He was only one man, how could he be expected to bear the entire burden of the Empire squarely on his shoulders? A thought came to him. And where was the Emperor? Normally it was in times like these the Emperor had emerged from whatever solitude he had placed himself in to bring direction, purpose, and order back to the fractured Empire. If there was any time that the Emperor's authority and wisdom were needed, it was now, and yet the ancient ruler of their society was nowhere to be seen. Not even the Dark Council had heard directly from the Voice in a long time, and for a while Marr had begun to wonder if what the Jedi had originally claimed was true: that the Emperor was dead. Then the Dark Side had informed him differently. Through spending several days in deep meditation he had discovered that the Emperor was still alive, though in what state or form he couldn't discern. Still, the Emperor's silence was deafening. It was beginning to seem as if he had abandoned the people he had led for nearly a millennia, a thought Marr found equal parts terrifying and infuriating.

 

 

He couldn't do this alone, that he knew. As powerful and devoted as he was, he wasn't strong enough to bear the burden of leading the Empire through this time of crisis. But the Dark Council was full of self-interested fools and tyrants, interested only in power and control. They each sought to fill the vacuum left by the Emperor's strange absence, completely oblivious of their inability to wield that power and authority. They were all useless, every one.

 

 

No, Marr corrected himself. There was one among them whom he had hope for: Darth Nox. As ambitious and self-interested as the Zabrak was, Marr had seen more than enough examples of the young man's insight into the value of patriotism and putting the Empire above oneself. Time and again Nox had advanced his own and the Empire's causes simultaneously, often doing the field work himself instead of sitting around playing power games and dispatching minions to accomplish his work. The man never seemed to be very comfortable remaining in one place for long. He had only been on Dromund Kaas several times since his ascension to the Dark Council, and most of those times were for Dark Council meetings. Most of the time he seemed to be flying about the galaxy, winning battles, forming and strengthening alliances, acquiring resources, and co-coordinating operations. Nox, Marr believed, might one day be a suitable replacement for himself. With the Zabrak's talent for inspiring loyalty, a talent Marr somewhat envied, the old Sith had hope that, when his time came, Nox might prove to be the only being in the galaxy truly capable of unifying it and bringing victory and prosperity to the Empire and its people.

 

 

Marr stood up and crossed the room to the holoprojector. He switched it on and hailed Nox's public frequency. In moments the image of the Dark Lord, clad in his armoured robes with his signature skull-like helm obscuring and protecting his face, materialized.

 

 

"Darth Marr." Nox said with some surprise. "I wasn't expecting a communication from you."

 

 

"And I was not expecting to make contact you with you until a few moments ago," Marr replied, attempting to keep the anger out of his voice so as not to cause his ally unnecessary concern. "but in any case, I do not have time for politics and pleasantries today. My time is too short." Nox gave Marr his full attention as the elder Sith continued.

 

 

"Too many betrayers have attempted to seize power of late. Darth Malgus's men are finished, but the Dread Masters endure. Since you freed them on Belsavis their madness has driven them to conquest. One of them was slain by unknown parties on Darvannis, yet five remain."

 

 

"I take it something has changed?" Nox asked, and Marr thought he sensed a slight measure of amusement coming from the Zabrak, and for a moment he wondered if he had been wrong about him. But the feeling vanished as soon as it came and Marr dismissed it as a passing notion.

 

 

"They were the Emperor's favoured servants," Marr said, a hiss of anger creeping into his voice. "yet idolized fear above the Empire. Now we have found their fortress on Oricon, a remote moon."

 

 

"Their betrayal was inevitable." Nox said, speaking directly to the heart of Marr's anger and hatred. "Power such as theirs cannot be contained. It rises until it consumes everything or is obliterated, as you well know." The ease with which Nox had discerned the source of his frustration unnerved Marr, enough to temporarily push him over the edge.

 

 

"Their insanity goes too far." He snarled. "It breeds destruction, not glory!" His outburst finished, he brought himself back under control and attempted to continue the conversation in a more civil tone.

 

 

"The Republic moved before we did, sending a full fleet to Oricon. Its armada was undone by the Master's power over fear and madness. Our task force followed-a rapid strike deployment led by one Lord Hargrev, upon the insistence of Darth Rictus. Hargrev is a braggart and a sadist, but he has studied our foe, he believed that he and his acolytes could shield our task force from the Master's power."

 

 

"Let me guess," Nox said, "he was wrong."

 

 

"We lost contact soon after Hargrev's ships arrived in-system twelve hours ago. Either his forces were defeated...or Hargrev has betrayed us. Either way the Dread Masters will sense weakness and counterattack. I have no forces to spare-you represent our last chance to stop them."

 

 

"I might remind you that we are equals, Marr." Nox said with infuriating smugness. "What if I have other affairs to attend to?" Barely able to keep the anger out his voice, Marr hissed a reply.

 

 

"These matters threaten our very survival. But," he added, "if you aren't interested in uncovering the Master's secrets, I'm sure I can find another Dark Council member eager to do so..."

 

 

"Alright," Nox acquiesced, "alright, you've convinced me." His irritated tone brought more satisfaction to Marr than it probably should have.

 

 

"Even you cannot slay the Masters singlehandedly." Marr asserted, and for just a moment he felt that same flash of amusement coming from the Dark Lord, and once again he wondered if he had misjudged the young Zabrak. Was he truly so arrogant to believe that he could defeat the Dread Masters alone? Filing the thought away for later consideration, he continued. "If you can reach Oricon, however, you may find some remnant of Hargrev's task force. If all else fails send any warning you can of the Dread Master's strengths. Perhaps then we can limit our losses to mere sectors."

 

 

"Rest easy, Darth Marr." Nox said with a cool, collected calm that Marr found worrying. "The Dread Masters will not leave Oricon alive. Defend the Empire from its enemies without," he said, a note of insidious menace entering his voice as he spoke his next words, "allow me to deal with our enemies within." The transmission cut out, and Marr stood in silence for a moment, reflecting on what the growing sense of unease in his gut could possibly herald.

 

___________

 

 

The Midnight Shadow dropped out of hyperspace near Oricon, just out of range of any anti-orbital weaponry. Nox, seated in the captain's chair, immediately felt the presence of the Dread Masters emanating from the moon in palpable waves.

 

 

"Our scanners show heavy defenses all around the moon," Andronikos reported from one of the two pilot seats. "We can put the ship down but she'll be vulnerable to any planetary defenses, and based on the amount of anti-orbital weaponry we're picking up, any level of orbit won't make a difference."

 

 

"Put me down with a landing beacon," Nox said absentmindedly as he stared at the glowing, reddish-brown ball of fire and rock that was centered in the viewport. "then take the ship out of orbit. I'll activate the beacon when it's time to depart."

 

 

In a matter of minutes, thanks to the new cloaking device Andronikos had recently installed and Nox's own efforts to keep them hidden in the Force, the ship hovered above a portable landing platform installed by the remains of Lord Hargrev's task force, which were waiting as the boarding ramp lowered to allow Nox to drop the remaining five meters to the ground. He was quickly followed by HK-51 and Khem Vaal, both leaping off the lowered ramp to land on the metal platform. As soon as he breathed the atmosphere, Nox felt the wiggling worm of fear slither into his brain, and when his feet touched the surface, the worm suddenly became a whispering serpent, infecting him with its toxic lies, attempting to poison and twist his mind into a paranoid, writhing mess.

 

 

If the natural aura of this world creates this effect, Nox mused to himself, it's no wonder both task forces were lost. Glancing around the camp, Nox also noticed that almost everyone seemed to be on their guard, staring out into the distance as if expecting a great army to suddenly emerge from thin air and swarm them. A few guards, both soldiers and Sith, were talking, but seemingly only to confirm that the other was still there, or perhaps to try and take their mind off of the unnerving atmosphere the moon created. The Midnight Shadow, it's cargo deposited, roared up into the sky, Andronikos quickly reaching the vessel's top in-atmo speed to try and outrun the Force senses of the Dread Masters and their minions. It appeared to work, and the ship soon vanished into the sky.

 

 

"You have come far too late." The deep voice of Master Tyrans rumbled over the landscape. Nox's gaze flew over the surroundings, searching for any hint of the Dread Master's physical presence. No one else seemed to notice the voice, but Nox heard it clear as day.

 

 

"By Oricon's next sunrise your worlds will burn." Dread Master Raptus's hypnotic intonations echoed, weaving a symphony of emotion in Nox's brain, a symphony dominated by the clear, strident chord of profound dread. With growing apprehension, Nox realized that the Dread Master's powers were strong here, seemingly amplified by the moon's own unique aura. Even he could not fully resist their influence, he would have to fight it for as long as they endured.

 

 

"Declaration: The area is secure." HK said as he finished scanning the immediate area without finding any discernible threats to his master's safety. The droid had been significantly upgraded since Nox had retrieved it from the Fatality. HK-51 now sported a brand new chassis designed specifically for advanced recon, along with an entirely new series of protocols to match. Nox was quite pleased with the end result, HK was now fully equipped to perform all manner of stealth, infiltration, and assassination missions with proficiency and skill that nearly rivaled Nox's own. Unfortunately, this also made the droid less effective as a bodyguard, which was why Nox had also brought Khem along. The Dashade's inherent Force resistance made him as valuable as HK on this mission, although in a different way. HK relaxed his stance of focused vigilance and turned towards Nox. "Complaint: Master, did we have to bring the brainless monster with us? I assure you that I could more than compensate for whatever benefits his presence here might provide you."

 

 

"Dolnei akuchiy volusae meega akibuun." Khem Vaal said, clenching his fists as he adopted a threatening posture and turned to face the droid.

 

 

"Threat: It will be difficult to disassemble anything with thirteen blaster holes in your chest cavity." HK responded, brandishing his rifle menacingly.

 

 

"Enough." Nox commanded, the authority in his voice more than enough to make both droid and Dashade adopt less confrontational postures. "HK you will not question my decisions unless I request your input, and Khem?" The monster raised his head slightly to demonstrate his attention to his master's orders. "Ignore the droid unless I say otherwise."

 

 

"Doemi na wayzu." Khem said submissively, bowing his head.

 

 

"Atonement: My most humble apologies master." HK-51 said, inclining his head and returning his rifle to the magnetic holster on his back.

 

 

Satisfied that his companions would be on their best behaviour, Nox moved up the hill to the portable command center that had been erected near a group of large supply crates, Nox approached a woman in Imperial uniform and a Sith who Nox guessed was Lord Hargrev.

 

 

"Three more gone, my lord. Two commandos took knives to one another-hallucination induced psychosis, apparently-and Major Strix fled camp."

 

 

"Stupid, stupid..." The Sith said, exasperation and desperation leaking from his every pore. "Knives? They can't even resist carving one another like roasts?!" He paused to catch his breath and steady himself. "I'm sorry." He apologized, and for a moment Nox wondered if Hargrev had died and this Sith was merely a second-in-command who had taken over in his absence. "I know the things they saw... I can feel the Dread Masters, I can push them, but I can't stop it all. I'm so sorry Maiya..."

 

 

"Are you Lord Hargrev?" Nox asked the apologetic Sith. "Darth Marr asked me to find you."

 

 

"What?" Hargrev demanded, turning from his conversation with the woman, his brow furrowing in irritation.

 

 

"We're the remains of the task force, yes." The woman spoke quickly so as to explain before Nox could electrocute the Sith for being so brusque towards him. "You'll have to forgive us-Lord Hargrev is shielding our minds from the Masters, but it takes a toll."

 

 

"You know who I am." Nox asserted. "Whoever you answered to before you now serve me."

 

 

"My oath is to Lord Hargrev." The woman said, and Nox felt the urge, much more powerful than usual, to viciously punish her on the spot. But of all the soldiers and officers in the camp, she appeared to be the least affected by Oricon's unnerving atmosphere, a trait likely due to the same stubbornness that was currently offending Nox, so he stayed his hand.

 

 

"And your feeble-minded loyalty is appreciated, " Hargrev assured her. "but we can make an exception in this case. Fill our new leader in."

 

 

"Between their mental dominance and orbital weaponry the Dread Masters managed to annihilate our ships." Maiya said, flashing Hargrev a worried look as he put a hand to his forehead. "The survivors regrouped here. Our hope was to make one, final push to the Dread Master's fortress, but the Dread Guard have us trapped. We don't need firepower-we need manpower to break out."

 

 

Briefly turning to look out at the nightmarish landscape, Nox turned back to the officer. "Are there other survivors who can reinforce you? Give you the manpower you need?"

 

 

"The Republic." Hargrev said, breathing heavily as if he was being stifled. "They came to Oricon too-I can feel their soldiers out there, trapped and afraid."

 

 

"Then one way or another they will serve us." Nox said confidently. "I will acquire these Republic troops and persuade them to assist us. Hargrev, you and your acolytes focus on shielding the task force, don't be concerned with me or my companions. I will return momentarily."

 

 

"It's murder out there." Maiya warned. "The Dread Guard have machine support-enough to cut our reconnaissance into pieces."

 

 

"Thank you for the warning." Nox replied, turning to Khem. "Khem, you are to stay here and protect everyone in this camp as much as possible. However, Hargrev and his acolytes are your priority, understood?"

 

 

"Seiyma okidus heggibao." Khem replied, bowing his head in acknowledgement.

 

 

"HK," Nox said turning to the droid, "you're with me."

 

 

"Exclamation: Murder and mayhem await!" The droid said enthusiastically, following Nox as they moved towards the camp's forward entrance. Upon passing the turret-mounted guards, Nox waved his hand and vanished from sight. With a soft hiss HK-51's portable stealth generator activated, and he followed his master into the hellscape of the corrupted moon.

 

 

After a few minutes of careful scouting, they encountered a crashed escape pod surrounded by a small platoon of what could only be Dread Guard. Nox remembered from his research that the yellow and black armor they wore was an indication of their role as the scouts for the Dread Host. Accompanying them were twin probe droids of Imperial design. With a brief series of hand gestures, Nox indicated to HK that he should find a good vantage point from which to provide cover fire. With a nod of assent, HK moved off, still under cloak, and began mounting a nearby rise. When he reached the top, he stabilized himself and signaled his readiness.

 

 

With the slow, deliberate movements of a predator stalking its prey, Nox moved towards the group, who were currently trying to cut open the sealed escape pod with a plasma torch. Nox could sense the terror of the man trapped inside, and he fed on it, using it to fuel his power, even as he summoned the Dark Side to his aid. Reaching the center of the gathering of brainwashed soldiers, Nox decloaked at the same time he unleashed a wave of withering energy that swept over the soldiers, slowing their reactions and temporarily sapping some of their strength. Twirling his blade in a dizzying pattern, Nox began to whirl around in place, his lightsaber becoming a deadly vortex of plasma that seared armor and deflected blaster bolts.

 

 

A sniper bolt suddenly sank into the back of the head of one of the Dread Guard, causing his body to go completely rigid and topple over, his weapon clattering to the ground. The second soldier was moving away from Nox, his damaged armor smoking and his weapon flailing this way and that as he searched in vain for the sniper that had killed his comrade. A second bolt struck his already damaged armor and ripped clean through it, leaving a smoking hole over his heart, he dropped like a stone. The third soldier had been charging Nox, wielding a large vibroblade in his hands when the Dark Lord had unleashed his lacerating attack and the sniper volleys took down his partners. Having witnessed the battle go from a fair fight to an utter failure in the space of two seconds, the man paused, both out of shock and in an attempt to process what had just occurred. Nox didn't give him the time to.

 

 

He unleashed a burst of lightning from his fingertips, the energy shocking the soldier and leaving him convulsing and spasming. With a quick flourish Nox beheaded the man, his lightsaber slicing through the unshielded, cheap armor like a knife through butter. At the same moment two tiny blaster shots, launched in near unison, impacted the probe droids and sent the machines skittering across the rocky ground.

 

 

Sheathing his lightsaber, Nox turned briefly to regard HK as he descended the hill to rejoin his master. After noting the droid had suffered no damage of any kind, Nox moved on to the escape pod, from which pure terror was now emanating in waves. Placing one hand on the escape pod's sealed door, Nox reached out with his mind, seizing on the young man's thoughts and calming him forcefully. Taking control of the man's mind, Nox instructed his new slave to unseal the door, which he did in short order.

 

 

"You are to go to the nearby Imperial camp and surrender yourself." He instructed the Republic soldier, who stood stiffly before him, as if in a trance. "Tell them I sent you, and that more reinforcements are on the way."

 

 

The human's weak, enslaved mind accepted the orders without question, and moved off in the direction Nox had come from at a steady run. Nox watched him go, and the voice of Dread Master Brontes resounded across the landscape.

 

 

"Abandon your cause, there is only despair here." She said, her words producing chills that ran up and down Nox's spine. It took a great effort of will to suppress a physical reaction. It's this damn moon, he thought. It's making me vulnerable to their suggestion and mind control. If I don't weaken the effects of the aura I could end up succumbing to their madness.

 

 

Brushing aside the thought and mentally hunching his shoulders, he steeled himself against the growing loss of control he felt building in his mind and slipped into stealth, the hiss and pop of HK-51's stealth generator following close behind.

 

Edited June 18, 2018 by MayhemofChaonus

[Lunafox]

Loved the chapter! I enjoyed how you combined the game material with your own and the time with Darth Marr, for me, was very enjoyable. And I see that our conversation about Marr's state of mind and his take on the situation with the Empire and how he might press Nox into line was helpful. Looking forward to see what Nox takes away from his experience with the Dread Masters.

[MayhemofChaonus]

Loved the chapter! I enjoyed how you combined the game material with your own and the time with Darth Marr, for me, was very enjoyable. And I see that our conversation about Marr's state of mind and his take on the situation with the Empire and how he might press Nox into line was helpful. Looking forward to see what Nox takes away from his experience with the Dread Masters.

 

Hehe...muahahahahahaha *cough cough cough*

[MayhemofChaonus]

I was originally going to release this part and the next part as one big segment, but since the next part is taking so long I decided to release this one so you guys don't think I've dropped off the face of the earth.

 

Hopefully my writer's block lifts soon...

 

 

Jay-Li stood with his hands up in a posture of harmless submission as the female Sergeant waved her gun at him, her eyes wild and terrified, the wreckage of a droid laying not far behind her, filled with blaster holes.

 

 

"Sergeant Trila, I need you to calm down." He pleaded as steadily as he could.

 

 

"No!" She screamed. "Lies! I won't let you take me, you hear me! I won't go back! I won't go back! You can't take me!"

 

 

"Sergeant!" Jay said, worried he would have to resort to violence to pacify her. "Sergeant its alright, I'm a Jedi, I'm here to help."

 

 

"You see salvation, when in reality, an enemy comes." The insidiously seductive voice of Dread Master Raptus boomed in their minds. With a start, Jay realized his own empathic abilities were allowing him to hear the thoughts the Dread Masters were planting in the Sergeant's mind. Considering the force of will he had to apply to resist the intense persuasion, it was a wonder the woman wasn't stark raving mad yet. Although by the look of her she would reach that point soon enough.

 

 

"Your eyes lie." The succulent tones of Dread Master Brontes slithered like serpents up the back of Jay's spine and into his brain, pumping their venom into his mind, trying to corrupt his will and twist his intentions and thoughts. "Fire." Came the command, "Kill."

 

 

"Ruuuuuaaaaaaagghhh!" Trila screamed, pointing her weapon at Jay and opening fire. In a flash Jay drew his lightsaber and deflected the shots, following the deflection with a quick hand gesture that caused the Sergeant to clutch her head as Jay bedazzled her brain through the Force, stunning her without really harming her. In a series of movements, Jay performed the physical and metaphysical actions that only he, of all the living Jedi in the galaxy, knew. The shield wrapped itself around Sergeant Trila in an aura of white light, and she collapsed to the ground, panting, struggling to resist the Dread Master's control even with the unique Force shield protecting her from some of the Dread Master's influence.

 

 

"Tanye." Jay said, in a tone bathed in calm, soothing succor. "Tanye, focus on the sound of my voice. You're going to be alright. I promise. Just focus on my voice, follow it out." The light of sanity came back to the woman's eyes, and Jay felt her shake off the last of the Dread Master's influence.

 

 

"Where...?" She asked, as she got unsteadily to her feet. "What...happened?" She put a hand to her head, and her eyes finally settled on Jay. "Grandmaster!" She said, surprised. "What are you doing here, and why do you-why do you look so weak?"

 

 

"I added my strength to yours, to help you resist the Dread Masters influence." Jay said.

 

 

"Oh, no-Master Jedi you're-" Jay held up a hand to stop her.

 

 

"Everyone here is important." He said. "I cannot face the Dread Masters or their servants alone. Now Tanye, I need you to take me to Master Ogan-Dei."

 

 

"I can do that, but he won't be of much use." The woman said. "He's in a trance with most of the other Jedi to protect us from the Dread Masters, and it's still not enough." Jay thought for a minute, his hand resting on his beard.

 

 

"Bring me everyone in the camp, start with those in the worst shape."

 

 

"Master Jedi," Trila said, "don't tell me you intend to..."

 

 

"I do, Sergeant. Now follow my orders, quickly. We don't have the time for insubordination."

 

 

Wordlessly, Sergeant Trila left to obey his commands, and Jay prepared himself for the trial to come.

 

____________

 

 

Jay felt the strength leave his body as the last soldier in the camp was enveloped by the special Force shield. When he finished, he nearly collapsed face-first on the ground. Master Ogan-Dei caught him.

 

 

"Easy, Master Kenobi." He said, his strong arms helping the utterly exhausted Jay to the nearby medical tent, where he lay down one of the few beds that wasn't covered in blood and vomit. The stench of the mess didn't help though, and Jay started to feel a bit light-headed. He suddenly felt the soothing embrace of the Force, and turning his head he saw that Master Ogan-Dei had adopted a meditative pose, and was channeling healing energies into him. He tried to move, but the Jedi Knight near him reached out and stopped him.

 

 

"Save your strength Grandmaster, we need you alive. You saved everyone else, now it's your turn." Jay groaned as a healing sleep overtook him, and he faded into the blackness of unconsciousness.

 

___________

 

Jay awoke to the sounds of the busy camp. Soldiers were rushing about, gathering supplies and weaponry, while military officers and Jedi barked orders. Slowly, gingerly getting out of bed, Jay stood to his feet on shaky legs, and slowly made his way towards the open-air command tent. Master Ogan-Dei and Sergeant Trila were surrounded by several other officers and Jedi, discussing what was likely battle plans.

 

 

"Master Kenobi!" A voice cried out behind him, and Jay turned to see a man in a medic's uniform rushing towards him, looking flustered and worried. "Master Kenobi you aren't supposed to be out of bed!" The medic reached him and gently took his arm. "Come with me, Master Jedi, please, you need as much rest as you can get."

 

 

"I'm fine." Jay said, struggling to keep his knees from buckling. He managed a weak smile. "I'm a Jedi, we recover very quickly you know." The medic shook his head furiously.

 

 

"Master Ogan-Dei and every other Jedi in the camp assured me you shouldn't be moving for at least three days after what you did. It's a miracle you aren't dead."

 

 

"They're just underestimating me." Jay said, trying to brush off the medic with as much success as a leaf trying to brush off a caterpillar. "I'm much better than I look I assure you." He returned to slowly making his way towards the command tent, with the medic trying to pull him back towards the medical tent as gently as possible. "Please, Master Jedi." The man pleaded. "I'm afraid I must insist!"

 

 

"As must I." Jay said determinedly. "I'm needed in the command tent."

 

 

"The other Jedi have the matter well in hand." The medic argued. "You've done more than enough, more than anyone else was capable of, now you just need to rest and recuperate."

 

 

The scene caused the beings in the command tent to look up from the table and see what was going on. When they saw Jay, Ogan-Dei scrambled to aid the medic in convincing Jay to return to the medical tent.

 

 

"Grandmaster," he said in his gravelly tone. "You should not be up and about. You're extremely weak and vulnerable."

 

 

"I keep telling everyone I'm fine!" Jay insisted. "Why does no-one believe me?"

 

 

"With all due respect Grandmaster." Ogan-Dei said. "I've never seen any Jedi do anything like what you just did and survive. None of us want to take any chances."

 

 

"I've done this before." Jay insisted. "The weakness won't kill me unless I extend myself like that again. I'm perfectly capable of serving in a command capacity." Master Ogan-Dei and Sergeant Trila exchanged looks, and finally Ogan-Dei reluctantly relented.

 

 

"Very well Master." He said. "But the medic will remain at your side at all times and monitor your situation, at the first sign of your condition worsening we will return you to the medical tent for care."

 

 

"Agreed." Jay said, before the Weequay could change his mind. "So what's currently on the table for discussion?" He asked as he and Ogan-Dei made their way back to the command tent.

 

 

"Defense of the camp." The Jedi Master replied. "The Dread Guard is closing in on our position and we don't have the manpower to organize an adequate defense."

 

 

"What have your scouts reported?" Jay asked as they reached the strategy table. He was relieved that he had an excuse to lean on it, although his arms barely had enough strength to support his body without shaking.

 

 

"The Dread Guard's positions are marked." Ogan-Dei said, indicating on the holomap. "They appear to be boxing us in as if to drive us into the lava sea." He continued, indicating the dispersal of the Dread Master's forces. Jay stared at the holomap, forcing his tired eyes and lethargic brain to process the information. Every so often he would indicate a spot and someone would move the holomap to accommodate him. After what felt like a good few minutes, he shook his head.

 

 

"No. they aren't boxing us in, they just want it to seem that way."

 

 

"I'm sorry Grandmaster," said Ogan-Dei, looking a little surprised. "but could you explain?" Jay indicated several spots where the Dread Guard were clustered. "See how they gather in higher concentrations in the open areas with softer ground? That's because they're looking for something in those spots."

 

 

"This is their moon," a Jedi Knight asked. "what could they possibly be looking for?"

 

 

"Survivors." Jay said grimly.

 

 

"Survivors?" Sergeant Trila exclaimed. "You think there were survivors of the crash?"

 

 

"Most likely." Jay said. "The Dread Masters would have ordered escape pods to be left alone for this very purpose. After the crash they would dispatch the Dread Guard to capture the survivors and swell their ranks."

 

 

"But why go to such effort to swell their ranks?" An officer asked. "That's a lot of troops and resources to deploy just to capture a few people."

 

 

"It's not just a few people." Jay said. "Most of the crews likely survived the crash if the recovery operations are this well organized. The anti-orbital weaponry was likely used in such a way as to crash the ships with minimal casualties to allow for as many potential recruits as possible. They're swelling their ranks in preparation for something."

 

 

"Like what?" Sergeant Trila asked, her tone indicating she didn't really want to know the answer. Jay thought for a minute before replying.

 

 

"I believe they intend to counter-attack."

 

 

"How?" Master Ogan-Dei asked. "They don't have any ships, there's no way they could assemble a fleet in time to launch a surprise counter-attack." Jay shook his head.

 

 

"I don't know how either." He said. "But I'm sure that this, or something similar, is what they're planning. In any case, the next move we need to make is clear. We have to send out well-armed search parties to recover as many survivors, Imperial and Republic, as we can."

 

 

"Even the Imperials?" Sergeant Trila asked incredulously. "We don't have the resources to keep that many prisoners."

 

 

"I wasn't suggesting keeping them as prisoners." Jay said, aware the implications would shock, or even anger, many of the people around him. It took a moment for the reality of what he had said to settle in.

"You're suggesting we ally with Imps?" An officer asked, disgust and anger radiating from him.

 

 

"We don't have a choice." Jay said softly to hide the fact that his voice was growing weak and strained. "Every Imperial survivor we bring back to our camp as another soldier snatched from the hands of the Dread Masters, and as the Sergeant said, we don't have the manpower to keep prisoners."

 

 

"Why don't we just kill them?" A corporal in the back piped up.

 

 

"Because that too, would be a waste of resources." Jay said. "We need every blaster bolt and every able body to fight the Dread Guard, down here it doesn't matter who's Imperial and who's Republic. All that matters is survival."

 

 

"The Grandmaster speaks the truth." Ogan-Dei said after a moment of silence. "I don't like it anymore than any of you do but we have to face it. We won't survive without every advantage we can get our hands on. As of this moment, the Grandmaster's observations have become orders. Prepare for rescue operations everyone." There was some grumbling, but mostly stunned silence as everyone departed to take the orders to what remained of their teams and prep for the operation. Jay turned to Ogan-Dei and Trila.

 

 

"Can we set up a transmission beacon?" He asked.

 

 

"We can," Ogan-Dei confirmed. "But it will take time to break through the signal jamming the Dread Guard are blanketing the area with."

 

 

"How much time?"

 

 

"We have no way of knowing." Ogan-Dei said sadly. Jay sighed.

 

 

"Try anyway. We need to get through to High Command, or all our efforts here are in vain." Ogan-Dei nodded, and he and Trila moved off to follow their orders. Jay turned his head and stared out into the twisted hellscape. At the edge of his severely weakened Force perception he could sense the same darkness that had vexed him since those visions he'd had long ago, warning him of the galaxy's future. The implications of the dark presence being here disturbed him deeply, and he wondered if he might be going crazy.

 

Edited June 18, 2018 by MayhemofChaonus