Acquiescence: Chapter 7
In the wake of Luke Skywalker's death, Chief of State Daala called off the charges against him and the Jedi Order regarding the actions of Jacen Solo. Though she was initially suspicious that the Jedi were trying to fool her about Skywalker's demise, Daala knew that if the Jedi did try something like that, they would all pay for the transgression. Meanwhile, Master Cilghal was temporarily suspended from the Masters' Council under Daala's orders, and Seff Hellin was confirmed to be psychologically stable by a professional neurologist at the newly rebuilt Valorum Center. He was released back out to the public so that he could continue on with his duties as a Jedi Knight.
And yet, despite all this, Daala refused to allow Valin Horn out of carbonite.
The primary reason she gave out to the public regarding her decision with Horn was that due to the fact that he was in carbonite, the effects of the Force psychosis that plagued him and Hellin would still be lingering in his mind; releasing him from carbonite, given his powers as a Jedi, would be dangerous.
Figures, Han Solo thought in the cockpit of the Millennium Falcon as it flew through hyperspace to the world of Nam Chorios. It's literally quite a wonder how the hell Daala ever got the job of leading the Galactic Alliance. I mean, really, who is surprised?
The Falcon was flying to Nam Chorios by acting Grand Master Kenth Hamner's request in order to find out the cause of several disastrous Force tornadoes that ravaged the planet and killed thousands of its local citizens. Han knew he needed to do something other than sit around and grieve about Luke's death; the last time he did that over Chewbacca's loss in the early days of the Yuuzhan Vong War, it nearly destroyed him and almost tore him away from the rest of his friends and family. Ever since Anakin died later on in that war, he'd helped Leia by having her contribute to the New Republic's campaign–and later on, the Galactic Alliance's campaign–of ultimately defeating the invaders.
In spite of her grief, Leia agreed to go with Han. They decided, if such Force tornadoes were to appear on Nam Chorios again, Allana would be in danger if she came along with them. So they left her in Jaina's care while the elder Solos investigated the disasters on Nam Chorios.
A few minutes before the Millennium Falcon would drop out into Nam Chorios's system, Han got up out of his seat and walked back into the passenger cabin, where Leia was sitting still and straight as a statue, her face blank of all expression after Luke's death. It broke Han's heart to see Leia's freedom-fighting spirit abated like this, as it had when she felt Anakin's death almost twenty years earlier. But Han managed to take in a breath and say, "We've almost arrived in the Nam Chorios system. You wanna come to the cockpit so we can check it out?"
Leia looked at her husband, still expressionless, and nodded, not saying a word as she got up and followed Han back into the cockpit. She took a seat in the copilot's chair while Han took his customary spot as the pilot. He disengaged the autopilot and prepared to cut the hyperdrives. When the timer ticked down to zero, the Millennium Falcon streaked out of the blue of hyperspace and into the white-studded blackness of normal space, with the foreground dominated by the unpleasant view of Nam Chorios's sphere.
It had been many years since they had visited Nam Chorios, back when Jaina, Jacen, and Anakin were all toddlers. It had been a barren wasteland then as it was now, redeemed only by the fact of its population.
Now, even from orbit, Han could see the enormity of the damage that these Force tornadoes had cast upon the planet's surface. Either that, or it had just gotten worse over the years since he had last seen it from orbit.
Taking his eyes away from Nam Chorios, he looked at Leia only to find his wife's eyes closed in a trance. He didn't do anything to snap her out of it and allowed her to sense whatever she was feeling in the Force.
After a few brief moments, Leia's eyes snapped open in shock just as her mouth dropped in terror.
"Leia, honey, what is it?" Han asked, worried. He feared the worst, if either Jaina, or even Ben, if he was still out there, had just joined Luke in the Force.
His wife looked at him and hesitated to speak before she said, "It's Ben."
Han's sharp intake of breath and the widening of his eyes in the false realization of Ben's supposed loss was quickly corrected by Leia when she said, "No, it's not that. But if what my senses are telling me is true, and I hope to the Force they aren't, Ben may have already suffered a fate worse than death."
~o~
Abeloth, in her cave dwelling, felt a sudden sharp spike in the Force. She concentrated on where that sensation originated, and found that it came from the space engulfing her world. She stepped outside, and in the clear blue skies, she saw a massive ship approaching the world.
Abeloth had accumulated enough power, as it was. It was time to confront these intruders.
~o~
Lady Rhea broadcasted the announcement throughout the Eternal Crusader that they had finally arrived in the system of the Maw where Ship guided them towards via his instructions. She then assigned everyone to their places, whether they'd be aboard the Crusader still, or be within the party that destroys Abeloth.
Ben and Vestara were in the latter party. As they boarded one of the many shuttles that the Eternal Crusader housed, she gave him the look that promised that no matter what happens, she will kill Ben in the end.
The trip down to the surface of the mysterious planet was uneventful. At least it was for the shuttle that Ben and Vestara were in. No one spoke as they sat quietly, prepared for battle and, if worse came to worse, death.
Maybe that was because, as much as Ben hated to give credit to the Sith, they were very disciplined in the face of combat.
Or maybe it was because the presence of a Jedi among them warranted any conversation that may have been among these Sith moot. Vestara appeared that way, for whenever she wasn't looking at Ben in cold, unmitigated hatred, she was looking away to another fellow Sith.
By the time the shuttles did touch down on the surface, everything changed.
As all the Sith, and Ben, debarked the shuttles, they were all attacked by voracious plants. Immediately, without hesitation, Ben and all the Sith ignited their lightsabers and cut down as many of the wild plants that tried to end their lives, whether they'd be giant, menacing flowers, or trees whose vines tried to hang their opponents by the necks. Alas, though, not all of the Sith survived this initial assault, as many of them were either impaled, decapitated, lost limbs that would eventually drain the blood from their bodies and kill them, or they were hanged.
Despite this, Ben, Vestara, and many of their comrades made it through, and then proceeded from one of the many clearings that the shuttles landed on into the wild jungles. There, they encountered more vicious plants, and though they defended themselves further, still more Sith died. However, fewer Sith died here in the jundles than in the initial plant assault, and there were still enough to face Abeloth.
Assuming that this would be all that was needed to kill her.
Eventually, after slashing and killing their way through the last of the attacking plants at the other end of the jungle, Ben and the Sith found themselves facing a monstrous creature that was standing in front of the entrance of its cave dwelling in the dead volcano behind the monster herself.
Ben and the Sith all knew who it was.
"So, we finally meet," Ben said. "You must be Abeloth."
"Yes," the monster confirmed in a feminine yet intimidating voice. "Somehow, you know my name. And yet, I don't know yours. Who are you, and why have you come here?"
"We are the Sith," one of the remaining Sith Sabers in the hunting party proclaimed. "And we know of your plans of galactic domination, Abeloth. Hence, we are here to destroy you so that only the Sith may rule supreme."
"We shall see about that," Abeloth said.
Then, all of a sudden, tentacles sprang forth from not only Abeloth's hands, but also from other places in her body. They reached for Ben and the Sith, and while Ben, Vestara, and several others in the hunting party avoided the tentacles, others weren't so lucky; when the tentacles attacked their bodies, they collapsed in an agonizing spasm, and disintegrated before the survivors' eyes. And in the midst of those who died in the initial tentacle attack, white mist flowed straight to Abeloth.
And as Ben sensed through the Force, she somehow became stronger.
Then it hit Ben. Abeloth's strength was through consuming the life energies of others, particularly Force-sensitives.
The mnemotherapy. Maybe it wasn't just for taking away one's memories. Maybe...
Ben didn't have anymore time to think, for the tentacles had already reeled back in towards Abeloth, and lashed out to the crowd again. Ben, Vestara, and the others once again dodged, and fewer were killed by the tentacles this time.
And so it became a duel between the Force-sensitives and Abeloth as the former dodged the latter's tentacles. Several of the Sith died, with maybe one or two falling victim to each tentacle attack, while Ben and the survivors tried to find a way past Abeloth's defenses so that they could at least attack her themselves, if not altogether kill her.
As the battle progressed, Vestara, in one of her dodges from Abeloth's tentacles, strayed way too close to an attacking plant that didn't fall victim to either Ben or any of the other Sith. The plant bit Vestara's ankle, and she collapsed next to her attacker in a painful heap. But when the plant tried to attack her again, she still had the strength and wits to defend herself with her lightsaber by decapitating the plant. Its head flew off its skinny body, but when that was done, Vestara's lightsaber deactivated and she fell unconscious.
When Ben rolled away from one of Abeloth's tentacles, he saw, when he got up in a crouch, Vestara's fallen form. He froze when he saw her, but he didn't stay still for long before his danger senses alerted him to another tentacle attack from behind. He rolled away from it again, leaped to his feet, and continued to simultaneously avoid Abeloth's tentacles and try to find a way past her defenses.
As more and more Sith fell to either Abeloth's tentacles, or the nearby plants that weren't killed yet, Ben eventually became the only contender against this monstrous entity before him.
The two opponents stared down at each other for quite a while before Abeloth lashed out with all of her tentacles in Ben's direction. But the Jedi avoided the attack by leaping high into the air, and then he soared down for the entity. Nevertheless, Abeloth quickly retracted her tentacles and lashed out for Ben as he was descending from the air.
Prepared for this eventuality, Ben, in the midst of his descent, managed to twist and flip himself all around to avoid many of the tentacles while his lightsaber tested the durability of Abeloth's limbs.
As it was, the lightsaber sheared through the tentacles it came into contact with.
Reeling in pain from her dismembered tentacles, Abeloth reeled all of them back in and squealed in pain. Ben landed a meter in front of her, and taking advantage of every second of her distracted agony, he quickly deactivated his lightsaber and hung it to his belt as he charged for Abeloth.
When he got to her, he placed his hands around her head and practiced mnemotherapy on her. Only here, he wasn't extracting any memories from her, but rather the souls she had taken.
Abeloth stole the life energies of many people, Force-sensitive and non-Force-sensitive alike. And that didn't even count those Sith who had just fallen under her wrath in the battle just a few minutes before. There were more Force-sensitives than non-Force-sensitives she had killed and absorbed in her body though.
And Ben took all of them away from her.
When he was done, Ben broke contact with Abeloth and quickly stepped back from the entity as she herself slowly walked back. She was now reeling in even more pain now that she had experienced the robbing of all the souls that she had taken, and much of her power supply was gone now.
After quickly letting the souls he had absorbed dissipate into the Force, Ben then took out his lightsaber, ignited it, and advanced to Abeloth. Then, not wasting a second while she was suffering that painful agony that he had brought upon her, the Jedi struck her down.
Abeloth's misery was ended even before she had hit the ground. Ten seconds after her death, she simply faded away into the Force before Ben's eyes.
