Sorry about the long wait. Been a lot to do lately. Onward and offward…
In the bowels of the Abyss flagship Void, Commander Srik Forr sat in his quarters, going over the details of the most recent takeover. For the last several years, he'd been carrying out missions to gain power for the organization. Slowly, they had absorbed the smaller groups, and finally had moved on to the few large ones left. The recent Hutt takeover had been a huge step.
The boss sees us as heirs to the Black Sun organization from way back. They're so far in the past, I don't care. Love the job, though.
A quiet tone sounded and a nearby bulkhead faded to transparency, revealing a comm terminal. Pressing a hand to the wall initiated a DNA scan. A moment later, he was in the small alcove. The boss's image formed in front of him.
"What can I do for you, sir?"
"Just wanted to let you know that I may be out of touch for a while. Circumstances dictate that I keep a low profile for now. However, the operation must continue, so I will leave the specifics to you for now."
"Thank you, sir."
"Don't disappoint me, Srik. My source of inspiration, Prince Xizor was ruthless, but I have resources he did not."
"I understand."
"Good. I will contact you as soon as possible."
* * *
Aboard the ship, Sith's Wrath, Darth Blight stared at the inert Ran'sot Solo. Attached to a series of small machines, the Jedi was barely alive. "Don't think I'm keeping you alive for you or Trasae," he said quitely, "I just wanted Master Kun to have the honor of killing you. I am sure you will serve him well, old friend."
Ran'sot moaned slightly, as if trying to respond.
Neca returned to the cockpit of the smallish craft, hoping to meditate for the remaining hours of the trip. Thoughts of Trasae plagued his mind, shattering his concentration. He did not know why his sister kept so occupied him-he certainly had no intention of thinking about her. He decided to go into one of the empty storage spaces in the Wrath to practice his lightsaber techniques. Images of his sister's smiling face shook him.
Several hours later, the Wrath landed in a clearing near Yavin 4's Great Temple. Blight pulled the hoverbed with Ran'sot's body to where Kun's spirit waited.
"Welcome back, apprentice. You have done well."
"Thank you, Lord Kun."
"Tell me, why is the Jedi not dead?"
"I only wished for you to deliver the killing blow, my Lord."
The ancient Sith smiled slightly. "How thoughtful of you. I have something painful in mind." The apparition glared down at Ran'sot.
Ran'sot's consciousness floated in the luminosity of his true being. Despite the realization that he was very near death, he enjoyed being so close to the Force. Its light and warmth permeated him. Somewhere distant in the formless realm, he felt an oncoming chill. Something dark.
Neca watched as Kun's spirit touched, and then seemed to melt into Ran'sot's body. Almost instantly, the Jedi began to convulse.
Starting small, the darkness surged forward. He valiantly fought against it but was slowly overwhelmed.
The sky grew dark as a severe storm rolled in. Lightning struck, igniting trees, chipping away stone on the temples. With a sudden ferocity, a stream of energy burst out of Solo's body. Blight recognized the swirling torrent of light and shadow as the spirits of his rival and Master. They were locked in a battle that surpassed the powers of the living. The entire moon seemed effected by their conflict. They twisted and soared through the atmosphere, leaving burnt scars in their wake. Massive earthquakes struck as they pushed into the ground, unhindered by soil or stone.
A section of ground exploded upwards, throwing Neca off his feet. Debris slammed into Ran'sot's body. Neca used the Force to fling it away, but saw blood dripping from three deep, parallel slashes on the body's cheek. He realized that he too was bleeding, a sharp rock having gouged a painful wound into his arm. He utilized a pain suppression technique, as he stood transfixed by the raging conflict unfolding. To someone blind to the Force, it would have seemed that the two were evenly matched. He knew, however, that Kun was the stronger by far, and Solo was weakening.
As suddenly as they had come forth, the spirits merged back into Solo's body, which once again went into violent convulsions. Blight lunged over to keep it settled on the hoverbed. After a few moments, the convulsions stopped, and the eyes flickered open. He sat up slowly, looking at his hands, smiling. He examined himself as he stood, and Blight knew what had happened.
"Welcome back, Master Kun."
Kun laughed. "How fortunate. In one move, I free myself from that exile, and remove the last of the blasted Solo bloodline. This certainly is a good day."
"Is there anything I can do for you, Master?"
"Not at the moment, no. Why don't you go into the forest to meditate. See if you can put out those fires, also."
"As you wish."
Kun watched until Blight vanished into the forest. He took a small container from the hoverbed and collected a small amount of Blight's spilled blood. He would be a greater asset than he'd ever know.
* * *
The dark void of space enveloped the Republic Defense Cruiser Vigilant as it slowly made its way across its patrol flight path. It tended to be an easy job, but the ship's commander, Thryn Velz found the overall peace enjoyable. Normally. He brought himself out of the oblivious shell he had briefly sealed his mind in as he heard the footsteps of an approaching crewman.
"Yes, Lieutenant?"
"Sir, new reports are coming in. Several more worlds in the Beta Galaxy have fallen. The Narjith are sweeping through our forces like they're nothing."
Velz sighed. "Thank you. Dismissed." He sent a mental command to the specialized eyepiece that he wore. Issued to all commanding officers, the device allowed him to sift through the status of and reports from each system and section of the ship. A radar display appeared over his normal field of vision. At the center sat a green representation of the Vigilant orbiting Sentak. A few smaller green and blue images floated about, as well as the orbital defense stations, descendents of the old Golan platforms, and the other RDC's.
Briefly, he thought the eyepiece was malfunctioning. A quick status check showed everything was in order. Shavit! The mass of red that appeared moments before surged towards the capitol.
"Launch all fighters! The Narjith are--" The attacking force's first volley vaporized the Vigilant in moments.
Small black fighters engaged the defense stations as dozens of capital ships pounded the planetary shields. Republic fighters launched from scattered positions into the swarm of enemy fighters. The Narjith's fighters consisted of a spherical cockpit with attached engines, like the TIE fighters of old. However, these ships, dubbed "twirls" by Republic pilots, were heavily shielded and had four wings armed with heavy cannons and warhead launchers, which through gravitic manipulation could move to target any direction.
"Green Squad report in." Green Squadron had launched from station Aleph-3. Seconds after they all sounded off, they'd reached the front of the swarm. "Three Flight, protect Aleph-3, One, Two, we've got Narjith to vape."
One and Two Flights set into a combat formation, and started with a warhead volley. The ion warheads exploded harmlessly in the Narjith formation. The Flights broke by wing pairs and engaged. Three was caught unawares as a twirl swooped around behind him and easily blew him away.
"They punched through his shields like nothing!" came Four's panicked voice.
"Four, go back and help Three Flight."
"As ordered, Lead."
Green Leader looked up as the enemy cruisers began decimating the defense platforms and RDC's.
On the bridge of the Defense Cruiser Corellia's Pride, a Sullustan general watched as they finally brought down the shields on a Narjith Cruiser. Reports of hull breaches plagued his ears. As sad as it was, he knew the Pride dead, and the rest of the fleet wasn't faring much better.
"Ramming speed, helm. Prepare to drop shields on my mark." The Pride soared towards the wounded enemy. He hoped this would work…
One klick distant, he gave the order. Their shields dropped. The Narjith poured weapons energy into them. Hull plating boiled off, then froze in vacuum. Whole sections seemed to explode. Mere meters away, the general ordered the return of the shields, hoping desperately that the generators hadn't been hit. Once back online, the energy sphere encompassed both the Pride and a portion of the enemy ship. With the powerful energy field ending about midway through the Narjith cruiser, the warship was rather effectively cut in half. Unable to escape, the Sullustan watched the portion of inside the shield collide with the bridge. The ship, its design making a nod to the Mon Calamari designs of old, exploded into formless fragments.
Green Squadron had been cut down into the equivalent of a single flight in minutes. Eight was on a twirl's tail, but the enemy weapons did a sudden 180
"Two, take lead, I have your wing," he heard a call from Five.
"Five, plot a course to friendly territory and jump. Recommend Bilbringi or Vortex."
"As ordered."
Two watched for a moment more as the planetary shields started to come down.