Now, it's time for the next chapter of Shadow of Order, in this case mostly dealing with the aftermath of the previous one. So, last chapter will likely be the extent of the Ghost Rider's appearance in this story, but it will have a lingering impact, like I said.

Disclaimer: I do not own Star Wars, Halo, Mass Effect, or anything else that appears in this chapter.

In the aftermath of the Ghost Rider's attack, the IDA had recovered all the survivors of the chaotic battle. They had been evacuated to a nearby medical ship, with Master Kyle Katarn looking over the wounded.

Many were lucky to have survived. Of course, that was more than could be said for those attacked by the flaming skeleton. Whatever fire it had used was not natural, as those suffering from its wounds found they could not be healed.

Bacta, Kolto, Medi-gel, natural regenerative abilities, nanotechnology: None of it could permanently fix the damage as it either had no effect, or the wound quickly reopened after being closed. Even efforts by Jedi healers were all for naught. Many of the 'survivors' died in a lot of pain.

Strangely enough, there were some soldiers that had been injured by this 'Ghost Rider,' who were able to be treated with no lasting damage. Why the demon had spared them, Kyle could only speculate. Honestly, he wasn't sure why he had survived either.

Of course, it didn't help matters that survivors of the Shadow Collective and Banished had been in the 'not healing damage' category, meaning they couldn't question them to find out what they knew.

More alarming however, was in regards to the few First Order stormtroopers they had recovered: from what they could tell, there were clones among them, specifically Spaarti-bred creations. It would explain how the First Order suddenly seemed to have a much larger military force in such a short time.

This information had been passed onto the right people in the Galactic Alliance, who promised to investigate the matter. However, most of the focus from the GA and the Jedi was on this Ghost Rider.

Facial recognition had come up empty, which Master Katarn honestly wasn't surprised by at this point. However, it was what he was that unnerved the Jedi, which is to say, they really had no clue as to what he was.

The initial guess by the Jedi had been some sort of Sith creation, but that idea had quickly been refuted: despite his power, Kyle and the rest had felt no actual trace of the Dark Side in him, though the fact that they had felt two distinct presences in one body made it pretty clear that he was possessed by something.

They considered other known spirits, but that theory was hesitantly discarded as well. It truly was like nothing the Jedi had ever encountered before, and that was what was so alarming, along with the question of what he wanted with the Spirit Generator.

There was one thing Kyle did know: watching a man's flesh burn off down to his skeleton, seeing those piercing fire eyes staring at him, feeling like it was looking right into his soul, seeing another spirit get turned to ash.

Those images would be haunting his nightmares.

...

"BB, what exactly am I looking at?"

"I... honestly don't know Admiral." Black Box was definitely unnerved about this; it was obvious in his voice.

They were watching the footage from the disastrous spirit generator auction, specifically through the cameras of Spartan team Majestic as they fought against the flaming skeleton of this so called Ghost Rider.

Specifically how badly they had lost against this demonic being. Osman knew that contrary to UNSC propaganda, the Spartans were not invincible demigods of war, and she knew that beings existed in the multiverse who could take them down with ease.

Of course, it wasn't a comforting feeling when it did happen, especially since Majestic was hardly the worst Spartan fireteam in the UNSC. No, what had Osman concerned was what was causing the beatdown: something that could only be described as demonic effortlessly tore through the Spartans, having already taken on three Jedi.

There was really only one thought in Osman's mind in that moment.

"I hate magic."

"That's the 132nd time you've said that." BB noted idly. "Not that I can say I disagree. Magic is really the only possible explanation for what he can do."

"Which means that once again, we really have no idea who this guy is." Osman sighed. Ever since the multiverse opened up, their universe had had a difficult time getting used to the idea that magic truly existed, and to this day, it still gave her a headache every time she thought about it.

"No we don't." BB agreed. "But I think we can hazard a guess that the Republic and Separatists may know more than they let on."

"That's a sucker's bet." Osman frowned. "But it's not like we can get the answer just by asking them." At that moment, a chime emerged from her console.

"It appears that your meeting with Lord Hood has been rescheduled." BB reported. "It seems that these latest events are going to require some explanation."

That was an understatement: Fleet Admiral Hood had called her up to report in person on ONI's recent activities. She was already on thin ice as it was, and she had to be very careful about what she did next.

"Keep working on this." Serin sighed again as she stood up from her desk. "I want a full report once I return."

"Understood, Admiral." BB logged out.

Onboard the First Order medical ship, Iden Versio and Del Meeko walked through the halls to get to the medbay as quickly as possible. After giving their full report on what happened at the auction, the two soldiers only had their comrade in mind.

He had been taken to a bacta tank as soon as they had left, where no visitors were allowed. By the time they had finished their preliminary report, he had been moved to a more dedicated facility, which was where they were headed now.

With her command authentications, the two managed to enter the observation wing, where Hask was lying on a bed out of the bacta tank. Strangely, his arm was still wrapped in bandages, even after a bacta bath.

"You are not supposed to be here." They turned to see a 2-1B med droid at a control console. "Identify yourselves."

"We're Inferno Squad." Iden replied. "We're checking in on Gideon Hask: how is he?"

"His condition is stable for the moment." The 2-1B said. "But we will need to amputate his arm."

"What?"

"Why would you do that?" Iden asked incredulously. "It was just a burn!"

"A burn that won't heal." The droid replied. "We've tried bacta but the wound kept reopening. I am at a loss to explain this."

"Does that really require removing his arm?" Del retorted.

"Regrettably yes." The droid said simply. "Such an injury cannot be allowed to remain. He was one of the more fortunate ones."

Angered, the two members of Inferno Squad left, to see for themselves just how badly the other survivors had fared. As they looked deeper into the medical bay, Iden and Del realized that Hask had indeed been lucky. The other troopers who had attempted to fight the skeleton had suffered far more serious wounds.

One stormtrooper had been impaled in the stomach by the Rider's fiery chain, which wasn't immediately fatal, but the blood just kept spilling out. Any treatment didn't stop the bleeding for long and indeed he soon expired right in front of them.

Another stormtrooper had been slashed by the chain, crumbling the armor and leaving shrapnel deep in the wound. They walked by the screaming man, now coming across the bodies of those who had already succumbed to their injuries.

There were quite a few of them. As Iden looked around, she felt her blood go cold at the implications. Whatever they had dealt with was beyond Jedi or Sith, or any known form of magic for that matter.

"What was that... thing?"

...

"That thing," Maul answered. "was almost certainly one of the Republic or Separatist superpowered lap dogs."

The Sith and his brother were standing on the deck of Afterlife, with the hologram of Atriox present alongside Laccabeus and Locus, with Felix apparently having been severely wounded by whatever had attacked them.

A screen off to the side was running a hologram of the individual in question, a being with his skull on fire and a flaming chain in his hand. There wasn't much that could shake the two brothers after their time with the Gravemind, but this came very close.

"I've fought some of their agents before." Laccabeus interjected. "Neither of them were like this."

"You've seen very little." Savage spoke up. "They have many dangerous operatives to call upon, some who could easily destroy a fleet by themselves."

"It's fortunate then, that his goal was only the Generator." If Atriox was in any way affected by this news, he didn't show it, his voice and expression remaining neutral. "It seems clear that he only attacked anyone in his way."

"What if it comes back?" Locus pointed out, his tone low. "And why would the superpowers send this Ghost Rider in the first place?"

"Apparently, they desired the Spirit Generator more than we thought." Savage replied.

"It hardly matters what their goal was." Maul said, trying to shake the fear that he might be wrong. "Whatever the reason, it's clear that they were not after our forces."

"For now." Laccabeus crossed his arms. "We still lost too many warriors to that creature, and most of the wounded had to be left behind."

"We were only able to recover Felix." Locus said quietly, more to himself than the others. "His condition is... critical."

"Unfortunate." Maul said simply, Locus giving a brief glare in his direction. "Bring him back, we will treat his wounds however we can."

"Understood." Locus said after a moment and cut the link. With a brief nod to Atriox, Laccabeus did the same.

"You have never seen this being before?" Atriox's hologram turned to the two brothers.

"No." Maul hesitantly shook his head. "We were never given the chance to learn of all these 'superheroes' or 'supervillains'."

"This is a complication." Atriox admitted reluctantly.

He had heard the stories of the Republic and Separatist leaders and what they were capable of, not to mention the rumors of other powered beings on the sides of the multiversal superpowers, but this was the first time he'd actually seen just what that could mean.

This kind of power was something his Banished forces had no defense against, nor the rest of the IDA for that matter. The obvious solution was to gain superpowered individuals of their own, but that would likely lead to an arms race that they couldn't match.

To top it all off, the Republic and Separatists were obviously not keen on revealing just how or where these people came from or came to be. The only one that had some resemblance was this Atmos world Laccabeus had mentioned, but it clearly wasn't the same power (not to mention that said world was completely inaccessible to them now).

"Fortunately, the most powerful of their allies don't really leave their own territory unless they're asked to." Atriox shook out of his thoughts as Maul spoke up. "And with the two of them still in conflict with the Flood, it's unlikely they'll come for us." The Sith repeated. "Our objectives have not changed."

"Agreed." Atriox finally said. "And I suppose that we didn't lose much in the grand scheme of things."

"Precisely." Maul nodded. "We can still proceed as planned."

Snoke, Hux, Vestara and Zane all watched the holo-recordings of the Ghost Rider tearing through their forces with ease, the latter two quite thankful that they had been too occupied with other assignments to go to the auction themselves.

Watching several Jedi and Spartans fall to this entity made it abundantly clear to the two that this demon was well out of their league. Snoke and Hux meanwhile, were more concerned with what this could mean for their forces.

"Are you sure that he was just after the Spirit Generator?" Snoke asked, as Phasma's hologram crossed her arms.

"Reasonably sure." The chrome armored captain hesitantly answered. "Everything we saw seems to indicate that he was just here for the Spirit Generator. As soon as he had it, he left."

"It could be a trick." Hux interjected. "Some form of ruse meant to deceive us."

"To what end?" Vestara spoke up. "What would be the point of doing this?"

"Let alone, why would he care?" Ilsa nodded. "If he is working for the Republic or Separatists like we believe, then surely the Shadow Collective would be a bigger priority."

"We still need to know more about this." Hux crossed his arms. "We're fumbling in the dark while the two superpowers are the ones casting the shadow."

"I agree." Snoke raised his hand to forestall any protest. "But we cannot be so focused on this one snag that we ignore our other plans." He leaned closer to Phasma's hologram. "Captain, bring the survivors home. Treat them however you can but don't waste your efforts on lost causes. The rest of you still have your assignments. This setback will not impact the next phase of our plans." He waved his hand in a dismissal, which the others quickly caught on to."

Once Phasma's hologram vanished and the other three left, Snoke sat alone with his thoughts. Their trip to Atmos and their conflict with those Republic agents had shown them power beyond what was once thought possible to possess, but it was clear that they still knew very little.

And in regards to matters on the home front, it was also clear that the Supreme Leader would eventually have some cleaning to do. Daala's support had been invaluable, but it was all but inevitable she would become a liability. Already she was asking awkward questions about things like Cerberus and what their endgame was.

A flash of inspiration struck him as he turned back to the holoprojector on his desk, keying up the holographic heads of Darth Maul and Atriox, the symbols of their organizations floating beside them.

Maybe there was a way to deal with both of these new problems.

...

Unlike many others who had been at that auction, Shepard and his crew weren't as shell-shocked about the Ghost Rider as others no doubt were. Partially because the Republic had warned of his coming in advance, but mostly because they already knew of beings like this Ghost Rider thanks to their liaison with the Wests last year.

Granted, the fact that the Ghost Rider hadn't been mentioned by Wally and Artemis meant that he may not be from their universe, but Shepard could guess that their Earth was hardly the only one with superheroes and villains that the Republic and Separatists knew about.

No, what worried Shepard was what they had found in Crimson Flower's bunker: the fact that he too had superpowers was less important than the pretty clear evidence that the man had been a Unitologist.

Whether the Republic or Separatists had known about this was up for debate, but it was becoming clear that the Flood's reach was beginning to get a little too close for comfort.

"Uh, Commander." Joker's voice spoke into his ear comm. "The Council is on the line and they want to talk to you, Ash and Garrus."

"Tell them I'm on my way." Shepard sighed as he headed for the elevator. He really wasn't looking forward to this.

In many ways, the New Citadel Council was actually worse than the old one: Irissa, the new asari councilor was much more cutthroat and ruthless than Tevos, while Esheel was more callous than Valern had been. Granted it wasn't all bad.

By contrast, Quentius was a breath of fresh air compared to Sparatus, and Dominic Osoba was the one who had retained his seat on the Council, and the two had actually gotten along quite well.

Still, the Council no doubt just wanted knowledge on the Ghost Rider. Hopefully, he could get them to focus on the fact that Crimson Flower had been a Unitologist. Exiting the elevator to the CIC, the Commander made his way to the War Room, where Garrus and Ashley were already waiting.

"So we're all here." Ashley said with a sigh. "Now we just have to talk to the Council about a man with a flaming skull."

"Do you remember when our lives used to make sense?" Garrus asked abruptly. The three of them looked at each other.

"No."

"Nope."

"Yeah, me neither." The Turian sighed.

...

Locus sat in the hospital waiting room, looking through the observation window. Felix was floating in a bacta tank, letting the healing liquid seep into his wounds in an effort to heal the damage he had suffered.

Unfortunately, it was becoming clear that whatever fire that Ghost Rider had used, it wasn't normal flame, as the wound refused to close and Felix kept thrashing around in pain.

Locus... didn't know how to feel about the genuine prospect that Felix might die. On one hand, he had always hated his fellow mercenary, but on the other hand, the two of them had survived so much while working together.

To lose him now, after everything they'd been through, left him feeling torn. Unfortunately, it appeared that it was inevitable now, as Felix's thrashing movements slowed while the doctors worked in an effort to stabilize him.

...

"Don't let me die." Felix coughed as Locus helped him limp through the still chaotic firefight. "Don't you dare let me die!"

"Keep moving." His partner replied, and soon the two approached the exit that they had initially come through.

"Locus." The green and grey armored mercenary turned to his partner, taking closer look at the blood still pouring out of his armor. His tone was all but begging. "Please."

...

The sound of the heart monitor flat lining drew the soldier from his memory, as Felix's form went still in the bacta tank. A brief glance at the doctors all but extinguished any hope of Isaac Gates being revived, and they called the time of death.

Locus just stared at the body of his partner, his own body now feeling numb.

And that's the end of this chapter. I know it wasn't exactly much, but given the last three chapters were all but completely filled with action, this was a good place to put a breather episode in. I'm not sure when the next chapter will be out, but hopefully sooner rather than later.

With all that said, I hope everyone enjoyed this chapter and reviews are always welcome.