From her position behind the desk of her personal quarters, Iosha watched the holoimages of Kyle Katarn and his Jedi Knights either cutting down the Chiss troops before them or deflecting charric fire away from themselves. They were currently in the last corridor of the Elash that led to Iosha's quarters, and the soldiers waiting in the living area were her penultimate line of defense against them.
Her last line of defense was the lightsaber that she kept hidden up her sleeve.
But just as Katarn and his six remaining Knights were halfway down the corridor, Iosha seized up in what felt like physical pain that resonated throughout her whole being; she screamed so loudly that two troops from the living area rushed in to check on her, and the rest of them piled near the threshold to see what was going on.
"Admiral, what's wrong?" one of the troops asked as he and his colleague gathered near her.
When she stopped screaming, and the pain stopped, she stiffened in place as the realization hit her over what had just happened.
Darth Krayt, and so many other Sith on Korriban, had ceased to be.
Iosha looked at the soldier who asked her if she was alright. "Tend to your duties. I will be fine," she said militantly.
"Are you sure, Admiral?" the soldier insisted. "If you have some kind of condition, we can find a way to get to the medbay and-"
"Back to your duties, or I will have you shot for insubordination, Private!" Iosha yelled. She looked at his partner and the others gathered at the threshold. "Same for the rest of you!"
The inadvertently-offending soldier stiffened in place with the others, and they all hurried back out of her den.
Once the door was closed, Iosha's eyes wandered away from the holoimages that showed that Katarn and his Jedi Knights—of which there were five now, with one of them dying by charric fire—were just meters away from the door.
What was she going to do now? Iosha wondered. What would she, Ulaska, or any of the other One Sith left in the galaxy do without Lord Krayt? Without him, their organization would no doubt fall apart and devolve into petty civil wars over power, not unlike the Empire after Palpatine first died.
Perhaps that may be, she thought. But until then, she resolved to herself, she had Jedi to kill.
As the sounds of charric fire combined with the humming and crashing of lightsabers outside of her den, Iosha stood up stock-still, ready for the coming fight.
In a matter of a minute, the door to her den burst open; it clattered to the floor, and Katarn and his four surviving Knights—two male humans, a female red-skinned Twi'lek, and a male Aqualish—all hurried in with their lightsabers ablaze. They promptly surrounded the outnumbered Iosha, who didn't move one iota of her body even as she saw that one of their number lay dead among the troops in her living area.
"Surrender, Sith," Katarn intoned.
Iosha didn't even bother responding verbally. Instead, the fingers from both her hands flared out to all five Jedi with Force-lightning. While all of the Knights flew back to hit the wall behind them, Katarn stood resolutely as he allowed his blade to absorb the torrent.
Seeing that her Force-lightning wasn't going to work on the Jedi Master, Iosha ceased her torrent and leaped over her desk with her lightsaber drawn and active. She drove Katarn back a few steps with her initial overhead clash, and upon landing on her feet, she drove him back further with her vicious slashes. However, before Katarn's back could hit the wall behind him, he found his footing a meter away from it and stood his ground again as he expertly deflected everything that the Sith tried to bring upon him.
Half a minute into their duel, the two of them locked blades, which allowed Katarn to say over the strained clash, "I can sense... weakened resolve in you, Admiral Iosha. I take it something bad happened to you?" There was not a trace of sympathy in his tone.
Iosha screamed as she won that brief contest and drove Katarn back against the wall behind him. But before she could strike him down, he drove her back with a Force-shove; she landed in a tuck-and-roll over her shoulder and came back up to her full height in time to deflect a diagonal strike from the Jedi Master.
From there, it only took a minute of dueling in place before another sensation of loss overwhelmed Iosha's Force-senses, distracting her for just a crucial moment in the fight. And before she could even register whose death it was that she sensed, Katarn found a way past her defenses and lopped off her lightsaber-wielding hand. As she screamed in pain from her dismembered and cauterized limb, Katarn Force-shoved her to the wall behind her and pinned her there.
"Doran! Seff! Meechka! Kopas!" Katarn called out to the two humans, Twi'lek, and Aqualish respectively as they all finally stood up from their downed positions. "Are you alright?" That was when his personal commlink beeped for his attention.
Each Knight responded with an affirmative answer in turn, though their tones were all subdued more from the losses of the friends that they endured just getting here than in the residual pain from Iosha's lightning attack.
"How are each of your holocams?" Katarn asked, ignoring his comm for the moment.
The Knights all searched themselves and unhooked the now-sparking minicams that were placed directly over their tunics.
"That's alright," Katarn said. "Mine's just fine."
He then displayed the minicam directly for Iosha's sight, even as the tears that streamed from her eyes over the pain of her lost hand somewhat blurred her vision.
As Katarn deactivated and hooked his lightsaber back to his belt, he brought up his personal commlink to finally answer it. "Sorry for the wait. How are you doin', Octa?"
"I just decapitated Admiral Ulaska, Kyle," Octa Ramis' voice came through. "But don't worry; I got all the evidence I need to confirm that he was, indeed, a Sith just from how he dueled."
Ulaska. So that was who she sensed die, Iosha thought bitterly.
"Good," Katarn replied. "I got Admiral Iosha pinned; I had to take her right hand from her, but she's still alive. She'll answer for her crimes, sure enough, after we upload the vids to the HoloNet. I'll keep you posted."
"Ditto," Ramis replied before she signed off.
After Katarn replaced the commlink to his belt, he looked back at Iosha. "Now, Admiral, you're gonna take us to the bridge. We'll stop by the medbay to get a tourniquet for that wound first, don't worry, but you are going to cooperate with us."
Iosha chuckled mirthlessly, much to Katarn and his surviving Knights' chagrin.
"You think Ulaska and I were the only Sith in the Chiss, Master Katarn?" the admiral retorted. "I know you do not know about the rest of us. Or even the Sith still out there who aren't part of my species. This is not over, not even close. In fact, while you were preoccupied with your little communique with Master Ramis there, I Force-communed with my fellow Sith in the Chiss fleet and let them know of my circumstances. They already knew about Ulaska, too."
Iosha looked over among the surprised Knights before looking back at Katarn. "And here I thought they could sense me doing that. Looks like you and Skywalker need to train your dogs better, Master Jedi."
"You might be right that there may be more Sith out there," Katarn said as he ignored her insult, "but as far as this war is concerned, it is over."
Iosha sneered. "This is only a minor setback," she declared, even though she didn't completely believe in that statement "for the Sith."
Katarn then released Iosha from the wall but maintained her in his Force-hold as he and his Knights escorted her out of her quarters.
. . .
By this point in the battle between the Corellians and the Chiss outside Thrackan Sal-Solo's public office building, the laser and charric fire had dwindled considerably. Now the combatants on the battlefield were relying more on stealth and cover as they used the buildings around them for protection, with soldiers on both sides acting more like snipers than infantry.
Thus, neither Jacen nor Judicar felt much fear for the forces hiding around them as their lightsaber duel extended to the plaza just outside the office building. The Sith was now the one pushing the Jedi back, one step for every ten strikes and deflections between them, while they periodically batted both laser and charric fire away from them, with neither caring whether they returned to the firers or simply struck a piece of masonry.
The only time either of them faltered in step was when they felt Darth Acheron pass into the Force several minutes after they left Sal-Solo's office. But as soon as the feeling subsided, and they both silently acknowledged it to themselves, they went right back to dueling as if nothing had happened; they could deal with Tahiri's-or Acheron's-death later in their own ways, they each thought.
Eventually, their duel brought them to the threshold of a building just on the opposite side of Sal-Solo's office, by which point Judicar got past Jacen's defenses and sent a burst of Force-lightning to fling him through. He crashed through the classic wooden door behind him before he collapsed to his back in the apartment hallway in which he now found himself. But before he could get back up, Judicar Force-pinned Jacen in place and rushed forward to strike him down.
Then another Jacen appeared directly in front of Judicar, halting her in place through sheer surprise. She instantly ducked beneath the lightsaber that this new Jacen had a bare second before he flickered in place.
The illusory Jacen flashed out of existence just as the real Jacen sent a torrent of Electric Judgment for Judicar's legs. She caught the torrent on her lightsaber, which only lasted for a few seconds before Jacen cut it off; he flipped himself to his feet and angrily screamed as he charged back in for the woman he once knew to be his sister.
The next two minutes was them simply attacking and deflecting their attacks and defenses by instinct as they constantly pushed each other back and forth at seemingly random intervals. It was as if they were waltzing in place; but instead of a slow dance, it was an unceasing struggle of life-or-death, with the Jedi unwilling to see anymore loved ones die by the Sith's hands while the latter fought simply because she wanted to make him suffer.
At least that was what Judicar told herself.
When those two minutes met their end, Jacen finally broke through Judicar's defenses as she parried her lightsaber off to the side and levelled a punch to her gut with his mechanical hand. Judicar doubled over in pain, opening her up to a knee to the face that sent her stumbling back to her full height and a few steps behind her. As blood dripped from Judicar's nose again, Jacen struck out at her with a downward bisecting cut, which she instinctively blocked in a dual grip; but the Jedi reached out with his mechanical hand again and smacked it upon the Sith's left one. Judicar screeched in pain, prompting her to retreat a couple steps before she blocked a skewering strike; Jacen caught her blade once more and kicked up at her other hand, causing her to stumble back another pace as she yelped in agony. The Jedi sent a strike meant to cut off her left kneecap, and though she caught that, Jacen leaped up and used his free hand to send a telekinetic shove to her right kneecap.
Judicar then collapsed to her back in pain; but just as Jacen landed, she used her good leg to catch the Jedi in the solar plexus and send him flying back yet again. This time, he landed in a tuck-and-roll back over his shoulder while Judicar struggled to stand up with a fractured leg; still, she was ready for his incoming slashes and allowed herself to be backed up to the building's threshold behind her. Once she was a few inches away from it, Judicar used her free hand to reach out to the door directly next to her and fling it to Jacen's head, right where he had been struck by that half of the desk in Sal-Solo's office building.
Unfortunately for Judicar, Jacen was ready as he erected a full-body Force-shield around himself, deflecting the door away from himself before he extended it outward and sent the Sith flying back out the doorway behind her.
Then, before she could push herself back to her feet, Jacen Force-reeled her back into the building so that they were out of sight of either Corellian or Chiss snipers. Judicar swiped up at his neck, but he dodged it before he struck down at her lightsaber, severing it at the blade emitter.
Desperate, Judicar unleashed a doubled torrent of Force-lightning from both her hands, which caused Jacen to stumble back as he tried to absorb the attack on his lightsaber. When the Jedi stood his ground again, the Sith placed more effort and concentration into the attack until her opponent stumbled back and lost control of his lightsaber completely.
As the Jedi weapon dropped to the floor, its owner fell to his knees under the relentless lightning. That torrent, however, decreased in power as Judicar focused her right hand to target Jacen's 'saber; in only five seconds, the pommel exploded, leaving only the fractured pieces and the Corusca gem exposed.
But thanks to the mild reprieve of Judicar dividing her attention between electrocuting Jacen and destroying his lightsaber, the Jedi was able to push himself away and crash himself through the door of an abandoned apartment unit. He sprawled upon the floor and tried to gather his strength back up through the Force again, even as he heard Judicar stumble forward from the hallway outside.
When she appeared at the threshold, Jacen pushed himself to his feet and fired a doubled burst of Electric Judgment to counter Judicar's Force-lightning. They stayed in place like that for a quarter of a minute before Jacen redirected a part of his own current to the floor near Judicar's feet; as he took in some of her own lightning, prompting him to kneel again, that section of floor blew up into wooden splinters before Judicar's face; several of them even embedded themselves there.
As she stumbled back to grasp at her face in shrieking agony, Jacen forced himself back to his feet and charged at her. And though she saw him coming, she couldn't react in time before he punched her across the face with his natural hand, sending three wooden splinters through her cheek. She collided against the wall behind her, opening herself up to his blows, several of which she tried to absorb with the Force.
After enduring so many of his own attacks, Judicar blew him back with a Force-wave of her own. Against the pain of her fractured leg, she launched herself at him and began pummeling him with a flurry of her punches and kicks, screaming in both rage and pain as she drove him back into the apartment unit. He was able to physically deflect some of her own blows up until he was finally driven up to a wall; by then, she elbowed him in the nose and struck him multiple times across the chest.
Jacen then broke Judicar's attacks by smacking both of his elbows down on her forearms at once and headbutted her in the nose yet again. By that point, a particularly thick spurt of plasma erupted from her nostrils, and her nose had been crooked out of place as she stumbled back. And by then, Jacen simply punched her back out of the unit over and over again, spraying chunks of wooden splinters and globs of blood everywhere.
Judicar soon became so weak and disoriented that she couldn't summon even an iota of her Force-power to defend herself before she tripped over the ruined section of floor and collapsed to her back in the hallway outside.
When Jacen stood over Judicar, who was on the verge of losing consciousness and perhaps even falling into death, he panted in both fatigue and anger. He grabbed both hands by the collar of her tunic and pulled her up so that she was just swaying in his grasp while on her feet.
"Why, Jaina?!" Jacen cried, tears mixing with the blood that fell from his own face. "Why did you do any of this?! You were better than this! How could you?! HOW COULD YOU?!"
He then shoved her back to the wall behind her. "After killing the World Brain, Aunt Mara, and all those other people on Coruscant and the Venture, you would dare threaten my family?!" He seethed and hesitated before he said, "You... you... you are not my sister anymore."
As he maintained his grip on her collar with his natural hand, he lifted his mechanical hand up into a fist, ready to bring the killing blow upon her.
"Jacen, stop!"
He halted his progress and looked over to the building's threshold. There, his mother, who called out to him then, stood along with Han, C-3PO, Cakhmaim, Meewalh, and Jedi Knight Jaden Korr.
"Stay out of this, Mom!" Jacen found himself calling out. "She's not Jaina anymore! She's a monster now! And I'm going to make sure she-"
He was then flung away by a gesture from his mother; he skidded down the hallway on his back while Judicar collapsed to her haunches.
Jacen struggled in place as Leia Force-pinned him to the floor; her face was scrunched in effort.
"Let me go, Mom!" Jacen insisted as she neared him. "This has to end! She wants to kill Tenel Ka and Allana! She wants to-"
"Jacen!" Leia interrupted loudly. Then, in a much quieter tone that starkly contrasted with the effort on her facial expression, she said, "It's over."
"But, Mom-"
"It's over," Leia said emphatically.
Jacen was going to protest again as he looked past to the downed Judicar. But by then, her battered and beaten form was levitated by Jaden's Force-grip up into the air by a meter and a half.
Then the two of them locked eyes, and Jacen once again saw the brandy brown in his sister's. And when he did, he didn't see any of the anger or hatred that fueled Darth Judicar's power.
He only saw the broken person that his sister had become.
Only when he realized that did he feel Leia's Force-grip on him ease into nothingness. She then helped him back to his feet before she led him back to the others, collecting the remains of both his and Judicar's lightsabers along the way and placing them into separate pouches on her belt. And by then, Jacen finally noticed that it had been a while since he heard either laser or charric fire come from outside this building; it must have been when he Force-reeled his sister back in here, he thought distantly.
When he stepped outside with his parents, the two Noghri, Threepio, Jaden, and the defeated Sith in the latter's Force-grasp, he saw the two dozen or so Chiss who still lived kneeling on the ground around them with their hands behind their heads and their weapons lying several meters in front of them. The surviving Corellians kept their blaster rifles trained on their surrendering enemies just to make sure that there wouldn't be any tricks.
So it really was over, Jacen thought. The war, Acheron, Judicar, everything.
As he spared another look at his beaten sister, he realized that now was the time to pick up the pieces of their lives.
Edit: Thanks to Colo Kid for pointing this out: Jacen's lightsaber used a Corusca gem, not a kyber crystal, which was further supported by Wookieepedia when it came to the article on this specific weapon.
