I may be making updates regarding the Silentium after I read the Lando Calrissian adventures.
Coruscant
Kyle Katarn, Thrace, Allana, Tahiri and three other Jedi dropped out of hyperspace in orbit around the former capital planet. Over the next few moments twenty five other X-wings, none of which were piloted by Jedi, entered realspace.
Still there were seven Chiss vessels engaged in a fierce fire fight with multiple droid ships on the verge of detonating. Kyle searched the Force for any signs of Abeloth. She-one of her, anyway-was there, in one of the ships about to detonate.
"Commander Sgovt," he said into the comm. "You must not destroy that droid control ship. That will only hinder our efforts to destroy our enemy."
"Understood," came the reply.
The bombardment continued on that enemy vessel, but only to disable it. Kyle Katarn led the Jedi toward the ship. Abeloth would know they had the Mortis Dagger. And she'd also know by now that the Chiss weren't going to blast her to atoms.
Kyle felt Abeloth's presence rapidly moving away from the Lukrehulk. Through the Force meld he could feel the distinct energy signature of a Shadow TIE. Along with it was an assortment of droid fighters.
Abeloth's Shadow TIE was heading straight toward the Jedi. They'd have to disable the fighter without vaping it. It might be Abeloth's only current manifestation remaining. And then the galaxy would have to wait for who knows how long before the next chance to vanquish her permanently presented itself. And who knows what she'd learn in that time.
"Commander Sgovt," Kyle commed. "You can destroy that ship now; Abeloth's in a Shadow TIE."
"Acknowledged."
Like the previous Shadow TIE Abeloth had piloted this one also had a cockpit. The four wings straightened and then pivoted outward. The portions holding the blades also straightened; the silvery blades extended outward as to slash at the X-wings' deflector shields.
Abeloth's fighter began spinning as it came onward. Red and bluish energy flashed forward. Kyle, Allana, and Thrace stayed in front of the fighter, while Tahiri and the other three Jedi broke into pairs and moved to flank Abeloth. The non-Jedi pilots went to engage incoming droid fighters.
Kyle felt a flash of concern from Thrace. The sensors showed more droid fighters incoming. Fortunately, there was a swarm of Chiss Clawcraft in pursuit. Some of the droid fighters turned and managed to ram some of the Clawcraft. But other enemy fighters were vaped before they could follow suit.
Thrace frowned. The Chiss didn't seem to be fighting with the oneness they'd demonstrated earlier. Perhaps Corran's tendency to see strange connections was rubbing off on him. But nothing could be done about it now.
Tahiri and the three Jedi were forced to break off their attack on the Shadow TIE in order to engage more incoming bogeys. But they'd managed to do some damage; sparks had begun erupting from the port side wing array. Port was relative of course, since Shadow TIEs lacked a definite left or right.
Thrace launched a missile toward the weakened area. A subtle squeeze of the hand detonated the ordnance before it could hit the ship. Then Allana focused laser fire at the weakened portion of the deflector shield. And Kyle continued to fire at the forward deflector shield. Without quite understanding what was going on, Thrace seemed to know just where to hit Abeloth's Shadow TIE. Through the Force meld Thrace continued to show Kyle and Allana where to fire without destroying the fighter.
Abeloth's Shadow TIE suddenly executed a wickedly sharp turn; Kyle's deflector shield rippled angrily as one of the hooks at the rear of the wing tore into his deflector shield. His astromech trilled over the comm. Kyle checked the diagnostics; shield strength was down to forty three percent.
The Shadow TIE was enveloped in flame as it hurtled toward the broken surface of Coruscant. Following behind were two X-wings and Thrace's X-ceptor. Kyle's deflector shield continued to spark as it was weakened by the planet's atmosphere.
Before it could crash to the ground the Shadow TIE abruptly leveled off. It fired at spot in the ground a few meters ahead. Dust was thrown up into the air as that area seemed to collapse. The cockpit suddenly disconnected from the rest of the fighter. As the Shadow TIE flew upward the spherical cockpit rolled forward and fell into the hole that had been blasted into the ground. Kyle figured she'd just blasted a hole in the roof of an underground building.
The cockpit of the Shadow TIE hit the floor with a loud, metallic clang. A hatch opened and a girl with long red hair scrambled out of it. To each of her hands Abeloth summoned a long, silvery sword. And then she turned and ran down a long corridor.
Kyle Katarn reached out in the Force, toward Abeloth's presence as he, Allana, and Thrace approached the monster's location. He didn't sense any sort of trap, which concerned him more than if he had. Jedi couldn't sense everything, after all.
Nevertheless, Kyle and the two Jedi Knights jumped out of their fighters and ran toward the hole Abeloth had blasted. Pink, green, and gold light filled the inside of the room, into which the Jedi dropped, as they activated their lightsabers. Kyle nodded his head to the right, indicating where he felt Abeloth. Allana and Thrace followed him down the long corridor through which their quarry had run.
On a whim, Thrace suddenly spun to his left and blasted a hole in the wall. The Chiss Jedi jumped back a split second before a flurry of blue energy bolts flew out of the hole. He activated his second blade as Kyle, blocking energy bolts and firing his own, managed to lead him and Allana into the hole.
Allana suppressed a shudder at what the lightsabers illuminated. Abeloth looked just like her. But only for a few seconds.
Then the eyes seemed to sink back into Abeloth's skull, and became tiny pinpoints of silver light. She smiled; the smile continued beyond her lips until it went from ear to ear. And then she opened her mouth, revealing long, black fangs. Her nose flattened until it was almost gone, and the hair became coarse and yellow.
The three Jedi quickly fanned out and began firing at Abeloth. She either batted back or deflected the blasts, and responded with more Force lightning. Kyle eyed Thrace's lightsaber. The two quickly exchanged weapons.
Allana and Thrace moved to Abeloth's right, while Kyle went to her left. The lightning blades moved faster than what seemed possible.
Kuat
Admiral Bwua'tu lost another ship as the situation continued to deteriorate. Many of the ally ships were too far into Kuat's gravity well to enter hyperspace. Perhaps he should have commed Lecersen for help. Then some of Lecersen's ships may have been destroyed instead. It would have hurt the Moff's image to refuse.
Lecersen's fleet was hanging back so that the Galactic Alliance would take the majority of the losses. The Alliance would be less able to defend itself against Imperial terrorism. And the war against the Empire could be rekindled.
Admiral Bwua'tu studied Kuat's gravity well. By pushing forward his fleet closer to the fringes of the gravity well, part of his fleet might be able to escape to hyperspace. The Imperial fleet would be stranded. Unfortunately that too, would likely restart the war.
"Lecersen, some of the Alliance vessels appear to be turning away from the battle. I think they're retreating, sir."
So that was why they'd pushed forward like that. Did the Alliance really still hate the Empire that much? That they would risk losing this war against the droids just to hurt the Empire.
"Is there anything we can do about this?" the Moff asked.
The sensor officer shook his head. "We're going to have to stay and fight, sir." He remained quiet a moment. "The Alliance has lost a lot of ships," the officer added.
"That may be good news, depending on how this whole sordid thing turns out."
"Yes, sir."
"Just shut up and see if you can turn it into good news."
Coruscant
Kyle was growing more worried by the minute. Abeloth didn't seem to be tiring, but the three Jedi were. It was only a matter of time until one of… And then he saw Thrace stiffen as one of Abeloth's sparking blades scratched his chest. The lightsaber clattered from the Chiss Jedi's hand as he hit the ground.
Allana felt a stabbing pain in her chest as Thrace's heart stopped. She reached out into the Force and visualized her heart beating. And as hoped their Force bond caused Thrace's heart to start again.
Thrace gasped and felt himself being Force pulled backward. One of Abeloth's blades slashed where his legs had just been. He configured his plasma cannon and fired a blast at Abeloth's head. And of course she twisted out of the way.
Yes, Kyle was glad that the younger Jedis' Force bond had saved Thrace's life. But it wouldn't make much difference if something didn't change. Kyle felt Tahiri reaching out to him through the Force. The three Jedi backed away from Abeloth just as a quartet as red laser beams tore through the ceiling. Abeloth had just gotten away, again. The Jedi hadn't had much of a choice. At least this way, three more Jedi were...
Kyle could still feel Abeloth's presence. And as the smoke cleared, he could see a figure still standing. How in the worlds? He grabbed hold of the Mortis Dagger and charged at Abeloth. Kyle slashed down at Abeloth's left shoulder, and with his left hand brought the dagger down.
Abeloth sent some of her tentacles down Kyle's throat, and grabbed onto the arm holding the dagger with some others. She squeezed and a sickening cracking sound came from the Jedi Master's arm. His grip on the dagger loosened and the weapon fell from his hand.
Allana grabbed hold of the Mortis Dagger in the Force, yanking it away from Abeloth. Allana sent the dagger back toward Abeloth. At the last instant she realized what Abeloth was planning to do and the dagger angled to the left to plunge into Kyle's chest.
His eyes glazed over and he went limp. But the body of Allana's clone still stood. Allana had made the wrong decision. The once mortal woman, who had become this abomination, would simply remove the dagger from Kyle's chest and…
And then a multi-voice scream made its way out of Kyle. His body rather. The body of Allana's clone crumpled to the ground along with Kyle's dead body.
All she had wanted was to be one of them. But she was mortal. She grew old while they did not. So one day, despite the adamant warnings, she swam in the stream and then, at a later time drank from the Font of Power. But she did not become one of the Ones. She became this horrific monstrosity. Abeloth.
Abeloth had been abandoned because of what she had become. And she had been imprisoned for thousands of years in a place called the Maw. Abeloth had become angry and lonely. And that was how she would die.
These were the last thoughts that went through her mind as that ancient dagger was plunged into her new body's chest. Fiery pain erupted within her as her very essence was torn asunder. She had not foreseen this; the Jedi girl was supposed to destroy her old vessel.
Tahiri felt as though she'd been kicked in the stomach. It meant that Abeloth was gone. Forever. Her astromech screeched at her over the comm, as the X-wing started losing altitude, and activated the repulsors. "Thanks, Cappy." The Jedi took over from there and landed the X-wing.
Tahiri dropped down through the hole she'd made. She landed by the dead body of Allana's clone. Kyle's body had already faded into the Force. She bent down and deactivated both sides of Thrace's saberstaff, which lay nearby. Thrace and Allana were propped up against a wall.
"I don't understand how she survived that laser barrage," Thrace commented.
"It wasn't full strength," Tahiri responded.
Kuat
Cilghal stumbled and braced herself against the wall as a powerful shock wave rippled through the Force, announcing Abeloth's undoing. The monster was gone, forever.
The Mon Calamari Jedi felt a sense of alarm and confusion from the Silentium. She hadn't thought such emotions could come from a mechanical being, even if it did possess a life force. The creature shuddered visibly and cowered under a table. It collapsed, and the red light atop it dimmed.
"We receive signal," commented Armedius. "Others of Silentium's kind communicate."
"They knew that Abeloth's gone." And as if on cue, code began streaming across one of the monitors. And then a sphere, which quickly dissolved. And along with that came a sense of guilt and sorrow, as powerful as that generated by an organic being. "I believe that the Silentium are sorry for what they've done," Cilghal stated.
"Its behavior does suggest this," Krayt agreed.
"The shields can't take much more of this," commented an officer as the bridge of the Minotaur continued to shudder, and was suddenly plunged into darkness. Lecersen waited a few moments for the auxiliary lighting to come on; the room stayed dark. "Bugger." The Moff slouched in his command chair. That dog Bwua'tu had left his fleet here to perish. As if to accentuate his point one of the terminals began hissing, and then began throwing up sparks.
And just when demise seemed imminent, the shaking stopped. "They've stopped firing, sir."
"Cease fire immediately, then." Moff Lecersen had been briefed on the situation. A droid species called the Silentium had been acting on the orders of some monstrous being called Abeloth. The Jedi must have managed to destroy Abeloth. Continuing to fire would only force the Silentium to defend themselves.
Korriban
Darth Plagueis saw the Mortis Dagger suddenly change course as it flew toward Abeloth. He saw the only woman he'd ever loved burned into oblivion. But there was no indication that she knew of the part Plagueis had played in her demise.
Darth Plagueis suddenly understood that the Grand Plan had required Allana to be alive because another Jedi would have made the wrong choice. It was a great comfort to Plagueis that the Jedi girl had served a purpose.
Errant Venture: in orbit around Kuat
Within just a couple of days Coruscant had been reduced to a third galaxy world. It could take centuries to rebuild. A new capital world would have to be chosen; for the time being the Galactic Alliance government would be headquartered on Kuat. Chief of State Commodore Brand was glad that he could bypass the Senate in this. Or else it would be faster to just rebuild Coruscant.
"As long as Moff Reige stays in power, Moff Lecersen won't have enough support to go to war," Admiral Bwua'tu said. "But Lecersen may try to change that."
"You think he'd have the Reige killed?" the Chief of State asked.
"I wouldn't put it past him, sir. He's done far worse."
"True, but couldn't that result in an internal war within the Empire?"
"If the majority of the Empire is as moderate as it appears, then yes," Admiral Bwua'tu said. "But then Lecersen wouldn't try it."
"Preventative measures are wise. I will contact Moff Reige when we're done here and warn him to be careful."
"Thank you, sir."
Don't forget to review so I know how I did.
The adventure continues in STAR WARS: FATE OF THE JEDI: EMPEROR OF DARKNESS-to find it quickly, type Lecersen into the search box.
