I can bet that there's going to be another attack on Coruscant sooner than I could ever guess.
Just as Admiral Bwua'tu thought that, the female Bothan lieutenant at one of the comm consoles of the Admiral Ackbar's bridge - her name was Ul'ye, Bwua'tu remembered - called without turning away, "Admiral, thousands of ships are dropping out of hyperspace!"
"I wonder what Terrik wants this time," Bwua'tu muttered before he pressed a button on the right arm of his chair to activate the fleet-wide frequency. "All forces, turn in the direction that the Admiral will be facing." As he said that, Bwua'tu's flagship was already turning to the direction that the Smugglers' Alliance would no doubt drop out of.
After the Ackbar finally faced the direction that the enemy ships would be dropping out of, they found not the capitals of the Smugglers' Alliance, but Hapan Battle Dragons that began firing immediately.
.
"Have you captured Damask and Ruk yet, Captain Obrim?" Shesh, sitting in her office desk, asked through her personal commlink.
"No, Chief Shesh," Obrim said from the other end. "Damask's holding us off with a Force wall, it seems."
Shesh frowned. So it appeared as if Hamner's assertion that Damask was a Sith Lord was indeed correct. "Well, don't you have any ysalamari with you? I hear those can take away a Jedi or Sith's Force powers."
"We have some ysalamari on the way," Obrim replied. "They should be here any minute now."
"Fine, let me know when you've finally either apprehended or neutralized Damask and Ruk, Captain," Shesh said before signing off and replacing her commlink.
Just as she did that, the door to her office opened, and the head of her security, the male Rodian known as Horass, and two yellow-skinned human male guards came in.
"Chief Shesh, we must get you to safety immediately," Horass stated. "If you will follow us down to the basement of the Palace, please."
"May I ask what's going on?" Shesh asked as she stood up from her desk and walked around it to join the security guards.
"It seems that the Hapans have decided to declare war on the Alliance, ma'am," Horass answered.
.
"Only half an hour now," Ruk muttered to Plagueis as he continued to work on the interdimensional portal device.
"Good," Plagueis replied before he widened his arms away from his body.
Seconds later, all the cops before and above Plagueis and Ruk instantly disintegrated.
Looking up from his work, temporarily stopping his progress in completing the portal device, Ruk first stared in amazement to the direction that the cops that were just ahead of him and Plagueis, then up above where the rappelling cops once were.
"You didn't bother to do that before?" Ruk asked Plagueis.
"Get back to work," Plagueis said as he soon joined the scientist. "We only have a few minutes now."
"Until what?"
"Don't worry about that just yet, Doctor. Just focus on finishing this up."
Ruk halted his progress for about two seconds once vibrations characteristic of explosions could be felt rattling throughout the warehouse, then he resumed his progress again, working faster this time, before Plagueis even needed to glare at him.
.
The near-invisible StealthX fleet raced past around the projectiles being fired between the Galactic Alliance and Hapes Consortium fleets, as well as the resultant explosions that were now beginning to occur. The Jedi starfighters also avoided engaging in any individual dogfights against Alliance fighters, even when some StealthXs were being blown to molecules either incidentally or deliberately. Regardless of the resultant losses, however, an acceptable majority of the StealthX fleet managed to make it through and descend through Coruscant's atmosphere at Grand Master Jaden Korr's lead.
Once they were within the skies of the planet, it wasn't long before the exteriors of the StealthXs shifted in their camouflage to adapt to their new environment on Coruscant. While they still suffered losses from the planet's inner defense, the fleet overall still managed to escape the skies and dive to the underworld, where they lost the less maneuverable enemies.
Now that the Jedi were gliding through the underworld of Coruscant, Jaden decided to comm Booster Terrik. "Captain?"
"Yeah, Master Korr?"
"You have the location of that warehouse?"
"Laji should be sending it to you right about... now," Booster replied before a map appeared on one of Jaden's consoles.
Jaden spared it a glance, then said, "Thanks, Captain. We'll let you know when we take down Plagueis." He then signed off before activating the frequency that all Jedi had access to. "The warehouse has been found. Follow my lead."
.
"There! We've finally finished it!" Ruk exclaimed as he and Plagueis stepped out of the portal device to admire their handiwork.
Just as the scientist said that, he and the Sith Lord turned to the open exit of the warehouse, where they were hearing the faint sounds of sonic booms nearby.
"Impeccable timing," Plagueis commented with a hateful frown.
He then erected a Force shield around himself, Ruk, and the portal device seconds before the entire warehouse began collapsing on top of them from explosions coming from the outside.
Once all the flaming debris settled to burn, Plagueis blasted away all the debris, quickly smothering the inferno and leaving only himself, Ruk, and their precious device out in an open field of Vongformed structures.
The two of them then looked off to their right in response to more sonic booms. Before they could see anything, they saw lasers heading towards them, seeming to come from the sky.
Again, all it took was a Force shield from Plagueis to dissipate the lethal bolts of light before converting that shield into a wave that headed for the sky.
.
"Bank away now!" Jaden called over the Jedi frequency before swerving his StealthX starboard.
He felt many of the other Jedi who were once behind him obey his command, though there were a few who ended up as victims of their own destroyed starfighters. Still, they continued on for Plagueis and Dr. Ruk.
Once all the StealthXs straightened out in their flight paths, Jaden announced, "At my command, land your ships.
"We're going after Plagueis personally."
.
Allana saw the doom of the Jedi when they went up against Darth Plagueis, the faux Bringer of Tranquility. The immortal Sith Lord managed to slaughter each and every one of them mercilessly, leaving none alive before his wrath. Then, in the wake of their deaths, Plagueis would take over all of reality, and Allana would be a pawn of his in ruling this galaxy. Her mother would die, and all other civilizations would collapse, only to rise up under Plagueis's tyranny.
If the Jedi die, Allana thought, then no one can stop Plagueis.
And with the forces of the Galactic Alliance and the Hapes Consortium engaging in battle now, no one would stop Plagueis from activating that device of his and ensuring that he would be the most powerful being in all of existence.
Which was why she had to do it.
Standing up from her bed, Allana walked to the exit of her chamber and opened the door. She stepped out to find no one else around; they were all busy wherever they were because of the battle over Coruscant now.
Without anymore hesitation, she stepped out, closed the door, and moved toward the direction of the corridor she was in that would lead her to the Dragon Queen II's hangar bay.
Cousin Trista, she called telepathically through the Force, I need your help.
.
"Shouldn't we start the device now?" Ruk asked Plagueis nervously as they watched the barely-discernible StealthXs land from tens of meters away to nearly a klick back.
"Not yet, Doctor," Plagueis responded without turning his gaze away from the Jedi fleet. "I want to savor every moment against the Jedi."
"This is a waste of time," Ruk muttered.
Plagueis growled, then stared hard at the scientist. "Just as you are now." He then sent out a powerful Force wave that disintegrated the Nautolan scientist before turning back to the Jedi fleet before him.
Not much longer, the StealthXs landed, shut off their engines, and then their canopies opened up to unleash their pilots, who sprang through the air and landed from bare meters from Plagueis to the beginning of the StealthX line way back.
The army of Jedi, led by a brown-haired, light-skinned human male at the head of the pack, all unhooked and activated their lightsabers as they faced Plagueis.
"Darth Plagueis," the leader said, "I am Grand Master Jaden Korr. Surrender now or prepare to die."
Plagueis smiled. "I believe it is you and every single one of your Jedi who should prepare to die, Master Korr." He then used the Force to propel his lightsaber from his belt to his hand, upon which it activated.
The Sith Lord then jumped forward to engage all the Jedi.
.
Allana was joined by her cousin Trista Zel in the Dragon Queen II's hangar bay as they approached the one remaining shuttle. Before they could get there for Trista to open the landing ramp, however, the two of them were then halted by a commanding voice.
"Stop!"
Allana and Trista turned to find Tenel Ka with two female bodyguards at her sides as she approached her daughter and cousin.
"Where do you think you are taking the Chume'da, cousin?" the Queen Mother asked when she and her guards finally stopped a meter from them.
"Down to Coruscant, Your Majesty," Trista answered with a subservient nod.
"Why?"
"Because I told her to, Mommy," Allana answered for Trista.
"What? What do you think you are doing, my child?"
"Saving the Jedi Order," Allana answered. "I saw in a vision that they'll all die by Plagueis's hand if I don't do something. I'm the only one capable of stopping him. The Force told me so."
"Well, the Force did not tell me so, so you are not going down to Coruscant, young lady," Tenel Ka affirmed.
"We don't have time for this," Allana said. She then made a minor hand motion.
Next thing everyone in the hangar knew, the Queen Mother collapsed. Her bodyguards kept her from hitting the ground. They then looked back up to Allana.
"She'll be fine," Allana told them. "I used my abilities from my time with the Killiks to send out a telepathic signal to knock her out for a couple of hours. Those abilities, just to let you know, went unhindered during my time in isolation, which caused those close to me without Force-sensitivity, like Doctor Gordom, to die. Now that I'm control of them, I no longer have to worry about them." She then looked at Trista. "Let's go."
Her cousin nodded before she began inputting the code that would open up the shuttle's boarding ramp.
.
Among the crowd of Jedi who had come to confront Darth Plagueis - that is, all of the Jedi left in the Order - Jaden watched in horror as their target Sith Lord slaughtered them in droves, and seemingly at his leisure.
And even when he wasn't batting away the countless strikes from Jedi lightsabers, any blades that did hit him seem to have been deflected off of his body, apparently without any effort from him. Jaden didn't know how Plagueis was doing this, and right now, he didn't care. All he knew was that this monster had to be stopped before he wiped out what remained of the Order all by himself.
Unfortunately, given how there were so many Jedi around Plagueis, not all of them could reach him to help their dying comrades, which was why Jaden was now at the back of this crowd instead of actively engaging him. So he could only helplessly watch as Plagueis managed to slaughter Jedi Knights and apprentices that Jaden didn't even know the names of before he began to target those more familiar to Jaden.
With one swift stroke, he was able to decapitate both the Horn siblings before impaling Radd Minker through the torso. Jedi Knight Izal Wav was the next victim, as he was bisected down the middle by Plagueis's blade. The three Barabel Knights - Wilyem, Zal, and Dordi - were respectively mauled by Plagueis's blade as he slashed them across their chests through individual strokes, killing them all instantly.
Plagueis then leaped through the air to land before Vaala Razelle and Yantahar Bwua'tu. He traded a few strokes with each of them as Jedi behind him, Sothais Saar and Turi Altamik, tried to cut him down. Plagueis soon stabbed Vaala through the face with his lightsaber before disintegrating Yantahar with a powerful Force-blast, and simultaneously killing Seha Dorvald and Doran Sarkin-Tainer, who were just behind the Bothan Knight.
Swiftly turning around, he managed to decapitate Sothais, but Turi ducked beneath the swing, only to be bisected across the chest before she fell back dead in two pieces. Jedi Knight Kunor Bann quickly rushed in to take Turi's place with a battle cry, but he only traded five strikes against Plagueis's blade before the Sith Lord parried it away to send a punch across his face so powerful that it ripped off the entirety of his face. He was dead before he hit the ground.
Some of the younger Knights became Plagueis's next targets, such as the male Duros Ramud, female Arcona Huli, and Ryn male Jayk. He impaled Ramud right through one of his red eyes before swiftly decapitating Huli's bulbous head from her body, and then promptly impaled Jayk through the chest.
Rosh Penin, one of Jaden's old friends, charged Plagueis from behind, only to be cut down across the chest in one swift stroke from the quickly-moving Sith.
"Rosh, no!" Jaden exclaimed.
He then leaped through the air and struck his lightsaber down for Plagueis, but the Sith Lord sent out a relatively weak Force wave - one powerful enough, through, to blow Jaden toward the back of the crowd again.
After landing on his feet like a sand panther, the first thing that ran through Jaden's mind as Plagueis continued killing Jedi was, Why didn't he just disintegrate me?
Jedi Waxarn Kel was the next to die by Plagueis's hand, getting his lightsaber arm cut off before being impaled by the burning red blade right through the side of his neck. Turning, he then dueled Tash Arranda, and promptly killed her by decapitation.
Wonetun - impaled through the forehead. Daye and Tam Azur-Jamin - simultaneously slashed across their chests. Hivrek'wao'Cheklev - had his horns cut off before being bisected down the middle. Corask Slen'da - impaled up through his Bothan muzzle.
The list went on and on and on as Jaden watched with his fellow Masters helplessly.
Soon, after Plagueis managed to impale and murder Twi'lek Knight Shul Vaal, the Masters found themselves to be the last Jedi standing against Plagueis. The Sith Lord turned to them and smiled maliciously.
"After all that, do you all still dare go up against me?" Plagueis remarked.
There was some hesitation as the Masters looked out among the army of bodies that Plagueis left behind. But when they looked back up to their sole murderer, they grimaced, and Jaden answered for all of them:
"Yes."
"And to think that the fun would end here," Plagueis said before charging for the Masters.
.
Trista did her best to pilot the Hapan shuttle past all the chaos and destruction of the battle between the Galactic Alliance and Hapes Cosnortium fleets, but alas, their trip to Coruscant was being slowed down by all the hits they were taking.
"We've lost shields!" Trista announced.
"Not to worry," Allana said as she extended her arms upward. "My Force shield can protect us."
"Very well," Trista said before continuing the journey straight for Coruscant, all projectiles that came in their direction simply being absorbed into the Force shield.
It wasn't long before they made it through Coruscant's atmosphere, and then Allana allowed her Force shield to dissipate away.
"Shields have been recharged," Trista announced.
"Head down that way," Allana pointed through the viewport.
Wordlessly, Trista turned her relatively modest descent to a steep dive for the Coruscant underworld, and in the direction that Allana indicated.
.
The Solusars were the first Masters to go, as Plagueis first impaled Tionne before following up on Kam by killing him the exact same way. He allowed husband and wife to collapse prone to the ground with each other in their final moments before moving on to the other Masters.
He then engaged Lowbacca and Tesar Sebatyne; he defeated Tesar by cutting off his left leg before cutting off his muzzle. He allowed the Barabel Master to collapse back to the ground before exchanging a few more blows with Lowbacca. He parried away one of the Wookiee's strikes and unleashed a Force wave that disintegrated him. Plagueis turned back to Tesar and, as Zekk and Tekli behind him tried striking him down, the Sith leisurely decapitated the Barabel.
He then turned around and dueled off Tekli and Zekk for a bit before kicking the former straight in her snout, breaking her neck on impact. As for Zekk, he took him out by punching him straight in the chest, sending him flying back several feet before collapsing dead to the ground.
"Too much pressure on his heart," Plagueis elaborated for the remaining Masters.
Who were now Master Barratk'l and Grand Master Jaden Korr, the last of the Jedi.
"Well? Come get me."
Jaden and Barratk'l spared each other a look before nodding. They turned back to Plagueis and charged.
The two of them dueled Plagueis the longest compared to any of the other Jedi, and they traded blows against him for a good half-minute before he whirled off to Barratk'l side and impaled her through the ribs. He then dragged his blade up across her body so that it fell back in two pieces lifelessly.
Without hesitation, Jaden engaged Plagueis all alone for a quarter of a minute before he fell prone to the ground by a stab in his left knee. His lightsaber rolled out of his hand, and Plagueis then stomped on it, completely destroying it.
"Before I kill you, Grand Master Korr," Plagueis said, leering down upon Jaden, "I want you to take one good look around you so that you may comprehend that the Jedi Order, as it is, is dead. And that you are the last of them. I want you to understand that you had failed to carry on the legacy that Luke Skywalker had established."
With no choice, Jaden, tears now streaming from his eyes because of the agony of everything that was lost, looked out upon the maimed and dismembered corpses of his fellow Jedi.
"And that with this one strike," Plagueis said as he raised his blade above his head. "I, Darth Plagueis the Immortal, will end the Jedi Order once and for all!"
Before he could bring his lightsaber down upon Jaden, however, Plagueis was stopped by the sound of a nearby sonic boom. He and the Grand Master looked up to find a Hapan shuttle flying back. They saw its landing ramp lower, and out jumped Chume'da Allana Djo Solo, her blue blade igniting from the handle of her lightsaber.
Even though her strike wouldn't have killed him, Plagueis blocked the incoming blade, but Allana managed to kick the Sith Lord in the chest, sending him flying back from the impact. He managed to execute back-flip midair and landed in a swift crouch on the ground before leaping up and glaring at the Chume'da.
"It's time to end this once and for all, Plagueis," Allana said.
The Sith Lord sneered. "What do you hope to accomplish, young one? You can't kill me. No one can. I am immortal." He then sent out a Force wave meant to disintegrate Allana.
But instead of doing that, the Chume'da continued to stand, unfazed. Plagueis's eyes widened in shock.
"Did you forget?" Allana asked. "Your Force powers don't work on me." She then sent out a Force wave of her own, sending Plagueis flying back again, and this time, he crashed on his back.
The next thing he saw, Allana was in the air and coming down toward him. He rolled out of the way of her lightsaber strike and stood up, bearing his own lightsaber against her.
"But mine still do," Allana concluded with a smirk.
"You're too late in either case, Chume'da," Plagueis said. "My interdimensional portal device has been complete, and the Jedi Order is now dead."
"He still lives," Allana said as she pointed to the downed Jaden. "And as long as one Jedi lives, the Order will never die."
"Since when did you support the Order now?"
"Since you decided to use me as an asset."
"Vengeful, are you now?" Plagueis retorted. "No wonder you could never by a Jedi. I can still accept you as an apprentice, though."
"I'd rather die," Allana returned.
"Then die, you will," Plagueis said before roaring and charging after the Chume'da.
The two of them then clashed sabers, and their duel began. Allana took the defensive, allowing herself to step away from Plagueis as he attacked like an aggressive animal. Eventually, when her back hit the wall behind her, she pivoted out of the way from a strike that would have bisected her down the middle, and her back was now to the still-downed Jaden.
Plagueis attacked again, continuing to force Allana back until she could feel that she was a few meters away from Jaden. She then leaped up and above her opponent, catching his strikes as she flipped midair, and upon her landing, Plagueis turned, traded a few more clashes against her, then Allana flipped back several times.
Plagueis charged again, this time putting some superhuman speed in his movements. Allana matched them strike-for-strike, never allowing him to even get a graze on her form. After a while, though, when it became obvious that he had been dueling her for far longer than any of the other Jedi he had confronted a few minutes earlier, Plagueis really allowed his anger, frustration, and hate for Allana to fuel his form.
It wasn't long before the superhuman speed in Plagueis's attacks died out, and he and Allana returned to dueling at relatively normal speeds. Yet his rage and fury continued to influence the way he struck all the time, yet he still could not even singe a follicle on his opponent's red hair.
Then she struck him in the side. While it did nothing to him, the fact that she managed to strike him only angered him more. More aggression than he ever thought he could muster bloomed in his being, and he continued to attack faster and harder, bordering on superhuman speed again. But once again, Allana didn't falter, and she tapped him again in his other side.
The duel kept on going like this, with Allana scoring ineffectual hits against Plagueis's form, and Plagueis not scoring a single hit on Allana's form. But it was clear that Allana striking Plagueis when it did nothing to him was to show that if he were still mortal, he would be dead now. One would think that such humiliation couldn't influence the way that Plagueis fought anymore, but one would be so wrong.
For what felt like an eternity for Plagueis, when he felt as if he reached the boiling point of his anger, Allana decided to stop him from forcing her back, and stood her ground. The Sith Lord continued to fight his hardest, with all the dedication that he felt he was worth, that he knew he was worth, but still, when superhuman speed was reached between them, there was still nothing that could be done against Allana, just as nothing could be done against him physically.
And then, when it seemed as if the duel would go on forever, Allana parried away one of Plagueis's strikes and committed a Force blow that sent him flying back. He scraped the ground with his back, and growled as he looked up.
"This is pointless!" he shouted. He then leaped to his feet and charged for his portal device.
But just when he reached it, a burst of electricity sent him flying back again. He hit the ground, and looked up, to see through the Force, that his device was now enveloped in pure light side energy.
Plagueis looked over to Allana, who was smiling back at him.
"Did you really think I would duel you after you told me that you're immortal if I didn't have some kind of ulterior motive?" Allana asked the Sith Lord.
"What have you done to my beautiful machine, you little brat?!" Plagueis shouted as he stood up.
"While we dueled," Allana explained, "I allowed the Force to take over my actions, an event that my father once experienced. That was why you couldn't strike me down, and because your power cannot conquer mine, it was only a minor challenge to take over your machine from your own power."
"No!" Plagueis cried.
"That security system of yours was pretty beneficial to the both of us," Allana quipped. "And even if I can't kill you, I can still stop you." She then reached out a hand for the device, sending out a powerful wave of her own.
"NO!" Plagueis shouted from the top of his immortal lungs as his interdimensional portal device exploded in a brilliant burst of white fire.
Plagueis was then consumed by the fire, while Allana and Jaden remained unharmed by the light side energy, which only empowered them, and healed Jaden's leg wound. All of the corpses and remains of the Jedi around them instantly disappeared without a trace, as if they were never there.
When the light energy fizzled away, Jaden stood up and stood next to Allana to look at where Plagueis and his machine once were.
"He's gone," Jaden stated. "It's all over."
"No," Allana said, looking up at the Grand Master of the Jedi. "Plagueis is immortal. Nothing can kill him."
"Then what happened to him?" Jaden asked.
"When I destroyed his machine," Allana explained, "it actually managed to open up a gateway to another dimension, just as Plagueis wanted."
"How does that work?" Jaden asked. "And why didn't we go in when we caught in the explosion?"
"Because I commanded it to do that when I took it over," Allana said. "I knew Plagueis would rush over to his masterpiece to vainly save it from destruction. So I had the machine open up into another dimension from which he could never return."
.
A white vortex opened up in the sky of Vongformed Coruscant, and Plagueis fell several stories before hitting the top of a roof. He stood up and looked around at the organic-covered cityscape that he was now in.
He heard the sound of an approaching aircraft coming, and he turned around to find a Yuuzhan Vong coralskipper headed his way.
Growling, he activated his lightsaber and leaped through the air to engage it in combat.