Alright, and now it's time for another battle for Omega. And this case is going to be really entertaining. Hopefully it won't be as much of a mess as the battle for Remnant was. But let's dive right in, shall we?
Disclaimer: I do not own Star Wars, Halo, Mass Effect, Bionicle, the MCU or any other franchise that appears in this story.
The battle had already begun, and the Shadow Collective were losing badly. The Banished ships had already left the rendezvous point under Atriox's order and the rather abrupt arrival of Thor in the Bifrost teleporting to Omega had kept the Shadow Collective from doing the same thing.
So when the Republic vessels followed the Bifrost trail and arrived at the deep space meeting point, the Shadow Collective were caught rather flat footed. The Republic fleet wasted no time in tearing through the mercenary vessels, while simultaneously shutting off access to all forms of FTL travel, keeping the criminals from escaping.
It took but a matter of minutes for the bulk of the Shadow Collective ships to be wiped out, leaving only a handful of smaller ships and Omega itself relatively intact. The mobile space station found itself dwarfed by the bulk of a Republic mega-dreadnought, the larger ship picking off the engines with pinpoint accuracy while boarding actions were already being commenced via teleportation.
The Republic could've easily destroyed the station, of course, killing Darth Maul and ending his reign permanently. But they needed him alive, to find out just how far his operations extended, so they could shut them all down.
To the credit of the Collective and Banished forces onboard the station, they were able to put up a rather formidable resistance, thanks in no small part due to the upgraded weapons they possessed.
But the Republic's own weapons were more much more advanced, and combined with the more powerful armor, more professional tactics, as well as the fact that a number of them had superpowers, and it was clear that Maul's criminal empire wouldn't last much longer.
...
Thor had continued his rampage through the manufacturing center of Omega, now with the aid of his brother and the turncoat Sith who was increasingly feeling like a third wheel in all of this.
She had doubted Kilo, no Loki's, words that his brother was an actual god, but watching him hurling lightning around, bringing even the most powerful tanks down with a single swipe of his strange axe, well... it was now hard not to believe.
It became clear how little the two brothers were actually taking this seriously when they were having a conversation with one another to catch up for lost time. In between deflecting blaster bolts and cutting down any stragglers, she was struggling to pay attention, barely managing to catch on to what they were saying.
Mentions of the Flood were unsurprising and common enough, but there were names and objects that sounded completely alien to her. Mentions of "Thanos" and "Infinity Stones" came up more than once, but their meanings were still a mystery to her.
"You know, it's rude to eavesdrop." Loki said, as he turned to look at Vestara. "If you want to ask, just ask."
"I'm not even sure what to say." Vestara admitted, as Thor also turned to look at her. "I don't know who or what you guys are, where you came from, or what your relationship with the Republic is. The amount of questions I have could fill a holo book."
"Then perhaps you should save it for another time." Thor suggested. "It is quite a long story anyways."
Two Gods and a Sith walked into the main factories on Omega. What might have been a joke at one point was now an utter nightmare to the guards who had remained to defend the manufacturing facility.
Truth be told, it was mostly Thor doing the heavy lifting, with him slaughtering most of the guards and soldiers while Vestara and Loki cleaned out any stragglers he missed. The lightning from the Thunder God also had the effects of frying dozens in their tracks, as well as shorting out critical systems in the assembly lines and cooking off some of the more volatile materials.
Once that was done, Thor took a quick look over their handiwork with a calm expression. He hadn't enjoyed having to kill all those people, his joy for mindless bloodlust had long since been burned out of him.
Still, the knowledge that they had disrupted the operations of these criminals had brought him some satisfaction, and the unexpected windfall of finding his brother alive in the last place he had expected had left the current leader of the Asgardians in rather high spirits. But there was still a job to do.
"You two might want to get out of here." Thor turned to Loki and Vestara, the former of whom had a smirk on his face.
"I take it you're about to bring the whole building down?"
"Yes and that's exactly why you shouldn't be here." Thor shook his head. "I lost you already, brother. I don't want to lose you again."
With that unexpected emotional response, Loki nodded and left, pulling Vestara with him.
As soon as they were out of sight, Thor hurled the electrically charged Stormbreaker through the foundry's support structures, cutting through them almost effortlessly and frying any of the droids and soldiers that were still standing.
The God of Thunder recalled his axe to him and flew out of the building roof, before landing right next to the other two. Once that was done, the foundry began collapsing in on itself, leaving the two brothers and the one Sith to overlook their handiwork.
...
In a different section of the criminal station, Krakua was fighting his way through one of the many night club-turned armories on the station, as more and more Shadow Collective guards attempted to stop him.
A wall of Sound knocked a squad of Brutes on the floor, blood coming from their ears as they fell unconscious. This allowed more Republic soldiers to advance through the area as more and more of the station fell to the Republic.
While taking down the criminal organization was currently their priority, many units had another equally important task: freeing the slaves that were forced to work in the depths of Omega.
Krakua was currently leading that particular mission, his powers making it relatively easy for him to take down the soldiers and mercenaries while causing relatively minimal collateral damage to the captives in the process.
So far, the Toa of Sonics had followed the thoughts of a number of soldiers, his Mask and their minds telling him that the bulk of the slaves would be kept in the lower parts of the station.
But as the Toa and Republic forces made their way to the locations in question, they began to find bodies in various states of mutilation, a testament to the horrible conditions they worked in as well as the cruelty of the Shadow Collective.
But it was the next scene that really horrified Krakua, as he arrived just in time to see mercenaries executing civilians, right in front of him. Furious, the Toa called up another sonic blast that drove the Blue Suns troopers to their knees.
A quick scan of their minds revealed what he both suspected and feared: with the Republic forces currently taking over Omega, the order had been given out to terminate the slaves, to at the very least deny the Republic that much.
Krakua would not allow that. He sent a message to other Republic forces informing them of what was happening and continued forward at a much more urgent speed, unleashing his Sonic power in the next room to draw the attention of the soldiers within.
His gamble worked, as it drew the mercenaries away from terminating the hostages, but it also turned their attention towards him. A barrage of weapons fire targeted him, forcing the Toa to get into cover.
A barrage of sound distorted their senses long enough for more Republic troopers to arrive, and in a matter of moments, the Shadow Collective solders had all been defeated or killed. Krakua approached one of the captives, a malnourished female Twi'lek who flinched away at his approach.
"I'm not going to hurt you." The Sonics Toa said. "You're safe now."
"You-you are here to free us?" The Twi'lek's fearful hope was enough to break hearts, and further reinforced Krakua's determination to help the slaves still captive on the station.
"Yes. We are."
...
Samus Aran stepped over the now smoking corpse of yet another Dark Hunter, her third in the last ten minutes. She kept quiet as a new marker appeared on her HUD and map, directing her to the next target to take down.
When the Republic knew they were going to take over Omega, she had been recalled to help defeat any Dark Hunter that was still on the station. It was a task she accomplished with her usual professionalism, and one that made the rest of this takeover all the easier.
However, she knew that her next target would be anything but easy.
"Control, this is Samus." She reported. "I'm on my way to the next target now."
"Copy that." Control replied as the waypoint in her HUD grew closer. "Be advised, the rest of the offensive in that area has stalled. The target has already killed dozens of our soldiers."
"Understood." She turned a corner and came face to face with Voporak. "I found him."
The temporal manipulating Dark Hunter had been busy becoming the biggest problem the Republic was facing in their efforts to take over Omega. And now she had the unlucky opportunity of finding him.
"Well, well, well. The great Samus Aran." Voporak murmured. "This will be interesting."
Even Samus didn't like her odds against this being. It had taken the Republic Supreme Commander to take him down the first time, and that hadn't been an easy task. Still, she knew one thing he was weak to.
The Dark Hunter advanced, but Samus didn't bother firing at him, already knowing just how futile it would be. Instead she launched a super missile just ahead of him, targeting a structural weakness that brought the floor down underneath him. He was quick to jump back up however, and soon the chase was on again.
She had the misfortune of being hit by Voporak's Rhotuka spinner, and only her Chozo future sight gave her the necessary clarity to keep out of his range. She kept dodging and retreating as he continued his approach, avoiding more Rhotuka spinners as she drew him away.
Soon, Samus' perspective returned to normal and the fight had been drawn in the direction of Omega's outer regions. She kept firing her weapons at Voporak, none of it hurting him, but it kept his attention on her instead of more vulnerable Republic soldiers.
Meanwhile, the Dark Hunter's frustration was evident as he continued to chase Samus, desiring to get her in range long enough for his temporal field to do its work. Samus only exacerbated that frustration when she began firing on the environment around him, further impeding his progress.
After coming across a passage of debris blocking her path, Samus morphed into her Morph ball and dropped a Power bomb to clear the way, the explosive energy also reaching and dissipating as it came into contact with Voporak again.
The chase continued until the two Hunters had reached a hallway that led towards a single blocked door. Voporak couldn't help but smirk upon seeing Samus backed into a corner, like an animal trapped in a cage.
"There's nowhere left for you run."
"Looks like it." Samus noted. "Fortunately, we're exactly where I wanted you." And with that, Samus fired a Super Missile... at the wall beside her, which Voporak realized too late, was near one of Omega's airlocks.
The vacuum pulled him out into space, while the effects of her Gravity suit kept her footing firm. Voporak had been removed from the battle of Omega completely. Samus marked his location for the Republic ships to pick up his body, then turned her attention the larger battle.
Voporak's defeat had given the Republic some much needed breathing room, and the boarding assault had sped up while Samus had kept the temporal Dark Hunter occupied. A few pockets of resistance could be seen on her map, but they would be dealt with soon enough, and the Republic still owned most Omega.
And with so many sections of the station pacified, it was time to finally head towards the true prize. The capture of Darth Maul.
...
The Sith Lord himself was holed up in Afterlife alongside the Shadowed One, as a large number of Shadow Collective forces led by Maul's Mandalorians were holding the line outside.
The two criminal leaders watched as the Republic forces continued their warpath throughout all of Omega, with Maul getting more and more furious as the hologram of the station grew increasingly dark, signifying the Republic advance.
The Shadowed One was much more collected, but even his expression darkened as the Dark Hunters still present on the station were either captured or killed. It was when Voporak was blasted into space by Samus Aran that the Shadowed One spoke again.
"This fight is over." The leader of the Dark Hunters shook his head. "Even I know when to admit defeat, and the Republic will be upon us soon enough."
"You can't leave." Maul rounded on the Shadowed One, his hand on his lightsaber hilt. "There is no way for you to escape."
"See, that's where you're wrong." Sentrakh pulled out Vanisher's spear and created a portal, before walking right into it. "I do have a way to leave."
The Shadowed One fired his disintegration beams, forcing Maul to pull his lightsaber out and deflect them, sending them through one of the control consoles around them and turning it to dust. This distraction allowed the Shadowed One to enter the rift just as Maul turned to watch.
"You're on your own." And with those words, the portal vanished, causing Maul to snarl in fury.
...
Despite the loss of the Dark Hunters, the battle continued to rage, as the Republic forces were forced to slow down in the more concentrated spots of resistance. The street that led to Afterlife and the command station was particularly brutal, with quite a number of artillery emplacements and automated defenses that worked to slow the assault.
At least until a portal appeared in the center of the Republic formation and a single figure stepped out, his armor golden and holding a silver sword in one hand and a strange shield in the other. He was wearing a rather ornate mask, which was enough to clue everyone in on his identity.
Mata Nui stood in the street and the fighting all but ground to a halt. Using the power over Magnetism and Iron, the Great Spirit ended up shorting out most of the vehicles and turrets. Then he turned his attention to restraining most of the wounded criminals before setting to work on the remaining soldiers.
Their leader's mere presence was enough to galvanize Republic forces, and the tide rapidly turned. With his elemental powers and access to the Mask of Life, the Republic assault rapidly gained ground until they reached the metaphorical heart of Omega.
The leader of the Republic breached the doors to Afterlife, sending fire and plasma through the hall and forcing the defenders to take cover. This allowed the rest of the Republic to storm in, and in less than two minutes, the station's bridge had been secured.
"Sir, there's no sign of Darth Maul." One Republic soldier reported. "Nor the Shadowed One." Mata Nui turned to one of the surviving Mandalorians, who was currently being restrained by another pair of Republic soldiers.
"Where are they?" The Mandalorian's only response was to chuckle darkly.
"Do you actually believe I would tell you?"
"You don't have to." The Great Spirit replied. "But it would've been much easier."
With that said, Mata Nui telepatically dove into the captive soldier's mind, sifting through his knowledge and memories. The Death Watch soldier tried to resist, but his mental fortitude wasn't strong enough and Mata Nui saw what had happened as clear as day.
The Shadowed One and Sentrakh had abandoned the station through Vanisher's spear, leaving Maul to take a hidden pathway to his docked escape ship. He had ordered his soldiers to stay behind and hold them off long enough for the Sith Lord to escape.
Coming back from his mental interrogation, Mata Nui turned to look at the wall where he knew there was a hidden door.
...
Maul had already fled, using the secret passage he had built into the station after his coup against Aria T'Loak. His personal Star Destroyer, the Scimitar, was still docked in the city even after all this time, and as soon as the Sith was aboard, it blasted out from the station.
The Scimitar immediately cloaked as it moved, aiming to escape in all the chaos. Unfortunately, they were still in range of the Republic's FTL jamming, and the advanced sensor arrays managed to locate the cloaked vessel.
Torsion fields and gravity beams immediately locked onto the ship and held it in place, allowing even more boarding parties to be teleported on board. All of this information was being told to Maul on the ship's bridge, who was not taking it well.
"Get us loose!" The Sith Lord all but shouted. "Fire on the Republic ships!"
"My lord, all our exterior weapons have been disabled." One officer replied. "Republic boarders have-HURK!" Maul throttled the man with the Force, his eyes narrowed.
"I have no tolerance for your excuses." The Sith Lord snapped the officer's neck, before glaring at the rest of the surrounding bridge crew. "You will FIX THIS!"
"Darth Maul." The Sith turned to the unexpected voice, finding Mata Nui walking out of a portal in the rear of the bridge. "This ends now." Security forces took aim at the Great Spirit, but it wasn't enough to do anything as Mata Nui acted.
A massive wave of ice had the entire bridge crew and security forces frozen in their tracks, alongside their Sith master. Maul was the only one who wasn't imprisoned, as Force shockwave shattered the icy prison around him, leaving the Sith Lord rather angry.
"So you are the Great Spirit Mata Nui." Maul snarled as his lightsaber and Darksaber were ignited. "I'm hardly impressed."
"It's over, Maul." Mata Nui had his own sword drawn and pointed at the Sith Lord. "Your armies are in ruins and your criminal empire is crumbling around you. Things will go a lot easier for you if you just surrender."
"How very much like the Jedi you are." And with those words, Maul gripped the Great Spirit and telekinetically slammed him against the ceiling, then the floor, before shocking the biomechanical being with Force Lightning.
To his surprise, Mata Nui almost seemed to absorb the electricity before channeling it through his sword, striking back at Maul and forcing the Sith to bring his lightsabers up and cross them in order to absorb the lightning.
Mata Nui didn't let up, as he started unleashing a variety of elemental powers against the Sith. A blast of water hurled the Zabrak against the bridge viewport, before it suddenly froze solid.
Maul shattered it with the Force, then cut through the subsequent Stone pieces that attempted to restrain his hands. A powerful Force push launched Mata Nui away, who slowed himself to a halt with a powerful wind current.
"This is pointless." Mata Nui said, even as he hurled a bolt of plasma at the Sith. "Where do you intend to run to? We know all of your hiding spots and safehouses. You can't flee from us, not anymore."
"I will simply rebuild again." Maul hurled more Force Lightning, which was blocked by a wall of Earth. Maul leapt forward as the Earth vanished, swinging his lightsaber which was barely blocked by Mata Nui's own sword. "My power is unmatched, and not even you will stand in my way!"
"Then you leave me no choice."
Mata Nui's mask took on a glow, affecting Darth Maul by his will. The energy of Life flowed through the Sith, reversing the transformation done to the Zabrak and leaving him in the weaker form he had originally. Maul gaped in horror at the change, breaking the blade lock.
"What have you done?!"
"What I had to." Mata Nui growled, as he telekinetically lifted the Sith into the air, before slamming him on the ground. The Zabrak attempted to rise again, but suddenly found his lightsabers pulled out of his hands, allowing Mata Nui to shock him with even more electricity, which finally knocked Maul unconscious. Once that was done, Mata Nui made a call to the Republic fleet.
"It's over." The Great Spirit said. "Maul has been contained."
...
Voridus and Pavium were in one of the Banished outposts, far from most of their known territory. The location in question was effectively a safehouse for their faction, with cloaking technology keeping them hidden from the multiverse at large.
Right now, they were watching what little video they could still get from Omega's feed. The news wasn't good, considering how the Republic was shutting them down as the station fell into the superpower's hands. Atriox was also present via hologram, from his own relative safety aboard the Enduring Conviction.
"This... is certainly a complication." Pavium admitted. "If the Shadow Collective does fall, how long before our own operations are at risk?"
"I have already begun taking steps to ensure the survival of the Banished." Atriox replied. "We have enough assets that Maul and his forces never knew about, so we can still survive even with this loss."
"And the Dark Hunters?" Voridus asked. "What is their stance in all of this?"
"I can't say for certain." Atriox shook his head. "But the Shadowed One is an opportunist. I wouldn't put it past him to consider betraying us. Fortunately, the knowledge of his current base should make him stay his hand, at least for now."
"Understood." Pavium nodded. "We can be ready to move shortly."
"What about the Forerunner data?"
"We have it." Voridus replied. "It's been decrypted and ready for our use."
"Good. Meet us at the rendezvous point, immediately." Atriox's hologram disconnected, leaving Pavium and Voridus alone in their outpost.
The two brothers wasted no time in ordering their forces to begin evacuation procedures, downloading and dismantling what they could take with them and setting demolition charges on the the things they couldn't.
But just as Voridus and Pavium made to leave, something strange happened. Absolute silence came to pass as darkness suddenly fell over the room. The last thing either brother saw was a pair of red eyes before everything turned pitch black.
...
Like the Banished, the Dark Hunters had their own camera access to the feeds on Omega, which the Shadowed One was currently watching in his private throne room in the Dark Hunter base. He watched as the Republic forces tore their way through the space station, watched as Mata Nui's mere presence inspired the soldiers to fight even harder.
He watched as the former Great Spirit personally fought the soldiers of the Shadow Collective, and was methodical in his fighting style, even if he left most of his enemies alive. This certainly wasn't the Great Spirit he had known for most of his life, of that much the Shadowed One knew.
They would have to relocate of course. Several of his Dark Hunters had been captured, quite a few of whom were well aware of their new base's location. It was a shame that Guardian was dead, he would've been very useful in that role.
Still, the loss of several of his best operatives would put a major damper on the Dark Hunter operations in the future, and the Republic would continue to hunt them down and further decrease their number.
Currently, the only other option the Shadowed One could see was to join the First Order, and the leader of the Dark Hunters loathed the thought of serving someone so similar to the Makuta (if Maul's claims about Palpatine were to be believed), but it was starting to look like he didn't have a choice.
"You're right about one thing." A voice emerged in the shadows as it suddenly grew darker, drawing the Shadowed One's eyes behind him. "You have no choice at all."
A pair of red eyes appeared in the dark as the massive figure stepped into clarity, causing the Shadowed One's eyes to widen. That form, that mask, it had been thousands of years since he had personally seen him, but the Shadowed One would certainly never forget it.
"You're dead." The Shadowed One snarled. "We all saw you die!"
"So I've been told." Makuta loomed over the Shadowed One as his own shadows spread everywhere. "You have something I want. You can hand it over willingly, or I will take it myself."
The Shadowed One said nothing. Instead Sentrakh moved forward to defend his master, but Makuta simply used his density shifting to phase Sentrakh through the floor, before dodging the Shadowed One's madness spinner.
In response, the leader of the Dark Hunters focused his disintegration eyebeams on Teridax. The beams lashed out, striking the Makuta head on... and did absolutely nothing. The Makuta laughed as the Shadowed One paused in shock, having expected his beams to have some effect on his armor.
The Shadowed One had no idea just how durable Teridax's new body was and now he would never get a chance to learn the truth. The moment of distraction allowed the Makuta to launch his Shadow Hand, which latched onto the Shadowed One and pulled him in so fast that there wasn't any time for him to even scream.
The Shadowed One was absorbed into the Makuta's mass, with Teridax quickly moving to crush his will and avoid a repeat of the Nidhiki and Krekka incident. With that done, Makuta magnetically pulled the deceased Vanisher's staff to him.
Having read the Shadowed One's mind, the Makuta activated the staff, creating a small portal in front of him. It opened into a small pocket dimension that was filled with only one thing: a pool of Energized Protodermis. Teridax closed the staff with a smirk, having acquired one further thing he needed.
With the Dark Hunters now leaderless, there was just one last thing that Teridax needed from this place. Walking over to the Terminal, the Makuta pulled the data from it and smirked. He had almost everything he required.
Now there was just one last stop he had to make. Checking the security cameras, he was pleasantly surprised to see Mata Nui present on Omega. Which meant his next task would be all the easier.
No one heard Makuta Teridax laugh as a dimensional portal enveloped him.
Alright, and that's the end of this chapter. The next segment will more closely follow what happens to the Banished, as well as follow Teridax as he continues his plan. And for the moment, that's all I'll say about everything.
With that said, I hope everyone enjoys this chapter and reviews are always welcome.