Extremely short, but it had to be done.
Chapter 9: Malachor
"Master, the Mandalorians failed. Revan will finish them."
"That is of no surprise… he is stronger then we anticipated. He will come for us next."
"Master?"
"We shall wait and see, my apprentice."
The Tedevium was silent amid the battle raging among them. At least on the bridge. No orders were shouted, no reports or alarms ringing. Everyone merely sat and waited…
Joanna stood in front of the holoprojector, waiting for the message. It needed to come soon. Before the Mass Gravity Generator was activated, all the men had to be evacuated… but Revan was waiting for the right time… what she didn't know.
Suddenly it flared to life. "Joanna, quickly, activate the Generator."
"But the men! I can't!"
"Joanna, there's no time. They've discovered them somehow. It's now or never! I leave it in your hands!"
With that he winked out, leaving Joanna standing there, biting her lip, hand poised over the activation button…
The bridge crew turned to look at her, a silent audience…
Blood began to dribble from her lip.
"Doom millions of soldiers if I activate it…. but doom millions if I don't," she said simply, as she realized what choice she had made. Her eyes began to water, as she pushed the button…
A brilliant blast was all that could be seen… Malachor itself imploded into nothingness, then exploded back out into millions of pieces, held together at the center by an unknown force…
50 million republic soldiers perished… thousands of ships destroyed…
Millions more of Mandalorians fell…
The echo created in the force was deafening, and all across the universe, anyone attuned to the force felt the staggering implications of it… one more than any other…
The moment after it exploded, Joanna immediately felt millions of voices. Fear filled her as she worried that she would go insane. The screams, everywhere… she broke out screaming herself, and fell to her knees, clutching her head.
The crew made no move to help her, shocked at what had occurred…
And there she lay for 5 minutes, 10 minutes, 20 minutes, wracking with sobs, the crew still shocked… At last she rose, and stumbled away, deaf to the voices at last…
The Mandalorians surrendered with minutes of the generator going off. Their ships heavily damaged, few in number. They would have merely been swept aside.
Revan sighed as he felt Joanna's echo within the force fly out… alas the pain that was caused to her was necessary… for what he didn't know. Her connection was gone, there was little doubt of that, and she would be of no use in a war again. She was done with battle… done with him she could see. He would send her back to the council, that they may help her through this tough time. She would suffer, but she was strong. She would be a great power in the future…
However, that was not the present. Now he had to take as much of the fleet as he could and seek out the Sith. For they were out there… there was no doubt of that left in his mind. They had encouraged the Mandalorians to attack, in an attempt to weaken the republic that they may sweep in. Now it was time to show them the error of their ways.
He would crush them, using the death they caused to fuel him…
He slapped himself lightly, bringing himself down from his thoughts… that wasn't him. Those thoughts were of…
He wouldn't… couldn't fall… but the Sith must die…
Thanks for the reviews guys. And brazillian sith lord, yes, it is moving fast. While I had originally intended to make a long 'epic' sorta tale, I just found that I couldn't do it. I found myself continuously rushing forward, skipping past things I would have wanted in a longer epic story. So I decided that it would be better if I kept it smaller, addressing the key events. That's why this is ending up to be a much smaller story then I envisioned. And besides, the mandalorian wars were the minor part of this in my mind. There are other fics on this. There are much fewer fics on the actual fall. And thanks for the advice. While I haven't put any advice into this chapter, as it was actually written before I saw your chapter 7 review (I am usually a few chapters ahead of what I publish so I can change stuff I don't like), and I chose to not change anything in it.