Chapter Eight

            A loud throbbing filled his mind like some ancient and powerful tribal drum of the ancient Sith Lords.  Days had past since the battle at Saccoria where the Magog had dealt a brutal blow the forces of the Galactic Alliance sending them scurrying back to the artificial safety of their fortress worlds.  They had not anticipated the arrival of his Worldship and it's powerful singularity weapons.  They did not expect him to reveal his power, greater then any power Vader or the Emperor had displayed, greater then any Jedi or Sith had ever known.

            He was no longer human, he did not know what he was, not yet.  His power was so tangible yet so distant as though he no longer existed entirely in the world he could see.  He felt that the universe was larger then he could ever have dreamed, filled with dimensions and subtleties he could not yet explain.

            The power of the Abyss filled him, more power then he could of understood or controlled through the limits of the Force.

            The Spirit of the Abyss, that is what he had become, this he did understand.  Darth Krell no longer existed, there was nothing left of that Sith Lord but a name barely remembered, and memories just beyond reach.

            The battle had weakened him, he realized, that is why his mind was filled with such thoughts.  These efforts always took their toll, his concentration slipped, he felt himself falling deeper into the Abyss as he tried to gather strength.

            A voice was needed, one to call out into the depths of space to guide his Harbingers in battle and to focus them on his aims to reshape this universe in his image.

            Grounding himself firmly in this reality, the Spirit of the Abyss called out to one of his Harbingers, one of the Magog.

            The beast hurled himself into the presence of his master, a hunched creature, feral in every sense of the word, but molded perfectly to carry out its most powerful biological imperatives, to kill and eat sentient beings or use them as hosts for its progeny.

            Such was its creation, the purpose of its existence and that would not be denied it, but the Abyss required more from this one.  It would become a leader, an officer of the Abyss.  All of the Harbingers would fear him and his progeny and serve them in the name of the Abyss for all time.

            The power of the Abyss filled the lone Magog, and the Spirit could see a great intelligence fill the once weak but cleaver eyes.  The creatures back straightened and its feral nature was blunted, though not removed.

            "I honour you master," the lone Harbinger cried, "I shall call myself Death Knell as a pale shadow of your former name.  And I shall guide your Harbingers in all the ways you direct."

            Beka guided the Andromeda through the maze of quantum strings that made up the other worldly dimension of Slipstream.  The retreat from Saccoria and then from Duros had taken a great physical toll on the Andromeda's best pilot and first officer but she refused to give up the Pilot's Station.

            The flight from Saccoria had been the most difficult as Andromeda tried to dodge hundreds of Swarmships that had followed them into the 'stream.  Just as they had lost the last of the Swarm the Andromeda arrived in the Duros System.

            Unfortunately the Magog had already arrived.

            The Andromeda had been able to avoid the main body of the Magog force but hundreds of Alliance ships were not so lucky.

            "Welcome to Coruscant," Beka called out as the ship reverted from the 'stream.

            "Thank you Beka," Dylan replied, "now get of my Command Deck and go get some rest."

            "Fine, I'm going," she told them as she stepped down from the Pilot's Station, "But I'm not promising I'll get any sleep."

            "Dylan," Trance reported, "We've got a message coming from Cal Omas."

            "Put it through," he ordered.

            The image of the Galactic Alliance's leader filled the central view screen.

            "Captain Hunt," Omas began, "I am happy to see you and your crew have survived.  I afraid that much of the fleet was not so fortunate. 

            "Only twenty percent of the fleet survived to report to Alliance bases.  The Magog have occupied the Duros system and are right now scattered across the galaxy striking out against any ship they can find."

            "I am terribly sorry sir," Dylan replied.

            "Thank you Captain," the Chief-of-State returned, "Admiral Pellaeon is attempting to muster as many ships as he can for a counter-attack.  Admiral Sovv has already returned, he sends his thanks to you and your crew as well."

            "What of Admiral Meduk," Dylan asked.

            "She suffered life threatening injuries while attempting to escape her Star Destroyer, the Griffon.

            "She has already spent a great deal of time in a Bacta Tank, though her injuries were quite severe."

            "I see," Dylan returned.

            "Captain," Omas continued, "We will be holding a meeting of the Defense Security Council in a few hours, I'd like you to attend."

            "I'll be there sir," Dylan told him

            With a simple nod Omas signed off.

            "You should tell him that we are leaving," Tyr declared as he approached Dylan, "This is not our time and not our War."

            "Tyr," Dylan began, "you know that there is a chance that what we do here could change the future.  I know its small and everything we have experienced goes against it, but we have to try."

            "NO Captain," Tyr bit back, "We do not, for all we know our actions here perpetuate the future.  We could be sending the Magog on their rampage across the universe.

            "Why, that would make the fall of the Commonwealth your fault, wouldn't it."

            "Yes, Dylan replied, "I have considered that.

            For a moment Tyr was at a complete loss for words but he recovered quickly.

            "Dylan, take this ship back to its own time.  We have our own threats to deal with.  There is no future for this galaxy, there may be one for ours."

            "I'll consider it Tyr," Dylan replied quietly, "But for now I have a meeting to attend."

            Admiral Sovv completed his report to the council on the utter debacle that was the battle of and retreat from Saccoria.

            "The Magog appear to have technology for more dangerous then we had ever imagined."

            "Captain Hunt," Cal Omas called out, "Do you have anything to add?"

            "The weapons they used are called Point-Singularity Projectors," Dylan informed them, "In my time only a very few Magog ships were equipped with them along with the World ship that later joined the battle.

            "This still seems to be the case as only a handful of the Swarmships fired PSP's at the fleet.  I must add that this battle was fought with far more tactical ingenuity then I have previously seen from the Magog.  Their tactics have always been very simplistic and direct."

            "How do you account for this Captain," Omas asked.

            "They knew we would come," Dylan replied, "They prepared for it, and they executed their plan.  The Magog are an intelligent species, as my close friend and confidant Rev Bem can attest, but they are also single-minded in their natural state, this battle plan was likely directed from above."

            "By the Spirit of the Abyss perhaps," Omas suggested.

            "That seems likely," Dylan said with some confusion, "You know of the Abyss?"

            "I'll fill you in on all the details later Captain," Omas told him, "But yes we know of the Abyss."

            "As per your early recommendation, prior to the battle we will be detaching our fleets into smaller units," Sovv began, "Task force size groups and medium sized flotillas will roam the galaxy seeking out Magog fleets.

            "Ours will be a policy of containment," the admiral reported, "We will do our best to keep the Magog bottled up until we can find a way to beat them."

            "He was a Fleet Engineer," Dylan spoke quietly sitting in a comfortable seat in the Chief-of-State's office, "assigned to the Imperial corvette Running.  We had an arrangement with them, to provide slipstream technology in exchange for communications  systems and sensor technology."

            "But you left him behind," Omas returned.

            "No," Dylan told him, "of course we wanted to go back for him, all of them.  We couldn't.  We had assumed they had all been killed in our final battle with the Imperial forces."

            "Well he survived Dylan," Omas reported, "and they succeeded in equipping the Running with your slipstream technology.  They escaped to the Core of this galaxy where Yu Wang and the others were forced to work for Darth Krell."
            "Krell lead the invasion of our galaxies," Dylan remembered.

            "Yes," Omas replied, "And he used Wang and the others to create his own version of the Magog and to transform himself into the 'Spirit of the Abyss.'"

            "NO," Dylan cried out, throwing his body from his seat and nearly slamming himself on to Omas' desk, "That can not be true; it's impossible."

            "That is his report Captain," Omas responded quietly."

            "I would like to see him," a much calmer Dylan requested.
            "I am sure we can arrange that."

            Dylan entered the outer room of Wang's Coruscant apartment feeling smaller then he had felt in a long long time.  The Jedi had provided these rooms for the former Commonwealth engineer, they seemed comfortable if a little Spartan, but he had come to expect that from Jedi.

            "Captain Hunt," Wang greeted him quietly, "Welcome."

            "Thank you Yu," Dylan replied, "But as I understand it thirty years have past for you, so call me Dylan."

            "I'm not sure I could be comfortable with that kind of familiarity, sir," Wang told him.

            "I understand," he replied.

            "You have hardly changed," Wang told him, "Still the same daring Captain who restored the Commonwealth.  You probably don't even remember me."

            "Not true," Dylan told him, "I remember, I burned your image and those of your team into my brain the moment we returned from battle.

            "We thought you were lost," Dylan continued, "We are glad to see you survived."

            "I am the last one Captain," Wang, "the rest of us were killed in Krell's little projects.  The last of them were murdered by the Magog when Krell became the Abyss."

            "Your certain that Krell is the Spirit of the Abyss," Dylan demanded gently."

            "There is no doubt in my mind," Wang replied.

            "I see," Dylan responded suddenly at a loss for words.

            "Sir, if you came here seeking forgiveness, I can not yet give it," Wang told him, "Far too much has happened in these thirty years.  I have seen things I could never have imagined and can not forget.  My memories are seared with horrors beyond telling.

            "Perhaps in time I can forgive," he concluded, "But not yet."

            "I understand," Dylan replied with a discernable tremble in his voice, "I have to go now, perhaps we will speak again."

            "Perhaps, Sir," Wang replied, "Good day."

The battered frame of the galaxies most famous freighter filled its own private docking port not far from the seat of government for the Galactic Alliance.  The Millennium Falcon had spent the last few months undergoing a large scale rebuild, only the second in its long history, and was now in better condition then at the beginning of the Yuuzhan Vong War.

            Han had decided to leave his beloved starship the stealthy black colour he had painted it during those hard years, but he added a new coat of gloss to the ship giving it a new shine.

            "She look great Han," Luke told his old friend as he ran his hand over the new finish, "Practically a new ship."

            "It's taken a long time to get it done right," Han replied, "Just the way Chewie would have liked it.

            "I've got the hyperdrive tweaked out better then ever, new sensors and I even managed to squeeze a couple of extra concussion missiles in for the forward launchers."

            "That's great Han," Luke said, "This ship may yet outlast you."

            "It better," Han returned, "But not if my old friends keeping coming around to borrow her for suicide missions."

            "How did you guess," Luke asked.

            "It's combination of factors," Han told him, "but mostly the jovial attitude combined with a sincere expression."

            "So can I borrow the ship," Luke asked simply.

            "That all depends," Han replied, "On where your, or should I say 'we're' takin' her."

            "The Maw," Luke began, "And then the Deep Core."

            "The Core," Han stepped back in surprise hitting his head on one of the landing struts, "Luke you can't be serious."

            "It is where I have to go," Luke told him honestly, "I can't ask you to come with me."

            "It's my ship" Han replied with resignation, "I go where it goes."

            "Thanks Han."

            "I would like to go as well," Yu Wang called out from the entrance to the docking port.  Both Luke and Han turned to see the former Commonwealth engineer and long time prisoner of the Abyss as he approached.

            "I am afraid you will need my help  if you want to find the Abyss," Wang told them, "I have been there, I know the facility and I can get you there safely."

            "He's right," Corran Horn replied as he stepped up behind Wang, "And I'm coming along too."

            "Corran, I don't want you to come," Luke told his Jedi friend.

            "I know Luke," Horn replied, "That's why I'm going."