EPISODE II
Chapter 3: Remorse

In pitch-blackness, Zolph Vaelor could hear what sounded like a heart-monitor.

"Ughh. What happened? I feel like I've been punched in the head by a Wookiee. I'm surprised I don't have any brain damage." Zolph thought to himself.

As he started waking up, he noticed he was no longer in the cave and now lying on a medical bench in an infirmary. He then realized his eyelids were still intact and his prosthetic arm was still attached. He looked around to notice the heart-monitor hooked up to him and several Valkoran troopers and medical personnel in the room.

"Valks!" Zolph panicked at first, prompting the heart-monitor to beep faster. "You're not taking me alive!" He tried to reach for his lightsaber, only to notice none of his equipment was there. The lone Valkoran soldier in the room – who Zolph recognized as Sergeant Will "Phoenix" Helms – pointed his rifle at Zolph.

"Oh no! I've already been beaten to death by an astro-droid with my own spinal cord! You are not killing me a second time while I'm here!" The trooper warned Zolph.

The head medic – a light red-skinned Twi'lek male whose entire head save for his head-tails were obscured by a surgical hood - then yelled at Helms. "Phoenix! Pointing your gun at him is not going to calm him down! Besides, we've already been giving him sedatives and stripped him of his weapons. And don't you think he's been freaked out enough already?!"

Helms then lowered his rifle and apologized to Zolph. "Sorry, kid. You know me. Just a little paranoid since the whole universe seems to have it out for me. Besides, this thing was only on stun. And before you ask, you are not a prisoner."

Zolph calmed down. "Where am I, anyway? Last thing I remember, I was in a cave, had my arm torn off, my eye-lids cut off, and almost killed by… something I'd rather forget."

The head medic then answered him. "We found you in that cave freaking out about something, but we didn't see anyone or anything else in there. Juga then hit you in the head to calm you down, and now you are in our encampment on this planet. Even when you were unconscious, your heart rate was going crazy. Glad it's stable now, because I was just about to do surgery on you, and I really hate doing surgery on conscious patients."

"For a while, I thought I was dead. How long have I been out?"

"You've been asleep for pretty much the rest of yesterday."

"I don't usually find myself saying this to you Valks, but thanks for saving my life."

"I'm not the one you should be thanking. Commander Juga went into that cave despite all the horror stories I heard about it and brought you back here. He's waiting outside to talk with you, and he's got your equipment too."

Zolph got up on his feet and unhooked the heart monitor.

"Easy, there. You almost died from a heart attack. I wouldn't get my blood pumped up just yet if I were you." The Twi'lek changed the subject. "And I heard you talking in your sleep. Something about Commander Manthis?" The head medic then removed his surgical hood.

"You heard? Yeah, she and I were really close friends before she sided with you guys. What do you know about her?"

"I served with her a few times and she helped me out a few times, too. I even treated her arm when you cut it off."

Zolph suddenly got angry. "Are you Masochus?! If you are, she died because of that replacement!"

The medic got angered in response as well. "Don't you kriffing dare compare me to that skinless butcher! Masochus is no medic. He's an ex-Sith Lord and a sadist that experiments on people for thrills – even our own men, dead or alive." He then calmed down. "And I know what arm you're talking about. I placed a standard cybernetic arm on her, but apparently that bastard overrode me without my notification and replaced it with that abomination. If I were in charge, I would've had that thing removed. I'm sorry for your loss. She was a good kid."

Zolph was now calmed down. "And I'm sorry for getting mad at you, Doctor…um…."

"Just call me Beneska."

"Thanks, Beneska. I'm going to talk with your boss now." Zolph then left the infirmary.


Outside the infirmary, Zolph saw several parked walkers and tanks, some troopers practicing their marksmanship at shooting range to keep themselves from becoming too much like the Imperial Stormtroopers of old, and some Shadow Troopers sparring to keep in shape. He then noticed Juganak standing patiently next to the compound barricade and walked up to him.

"I sense you're doing a lot better now." Juganak responded as Zolph approached.

"You've probably already figured it out, since almost every Jedi or ex-Jedi I've talked to yesterday has been pestering me about it. So I might as well just spill it now: I've been taking missions twenty-four-five just to stay away from the academy and avoid being questioned about what happened with me on Krantisi."

"Denying the truth will not ease the pain. In fact, it only makes it worse. The Dark Side is strong in that cave. Whatever you saw in there may have been an apparition, but it was real enough to you. It would've killed you had I not gotten you out of there. I get the feeling that probe droid lured you in there knowing about your insecurities. But that's not what I called you out here for." He then handed Zolph back his lightsaber, blaster and the battery for his arm's strength enhancer.

"Why would your droids try to lure me to my death when you didn't even want me in there? And that reminds me: Why did you tell me take out your own droids? And why are you now treating me like a guest after trying to throw a starfighter at me and attacking Mount Yoda?"

"That's what I want to talk with you about: those weren't my droids. Valkor has become suspicious of traitors in the ranks, so he's been sending those probe droids as glorified security cameras. If I destroyed them myself, he'd be onto me like a Mynock on power cords. But if they were destroyed in a freak accident or by the enemy, it wouldn't confirm anything to him. Of course, I had to make it look like I was doing my duty when they were destroyed."

"You're planning to betray him?"

"I think he's the one deceiving us all. As a Miraluka, I can see the Force, and I don't see anything resembling the Force from Valkor at all. Instead, I see a monster. He's not like any creature from this galaxy."

"Then why are you trying to summon Mandoculus? Don't you know how dangerous that thing could be?!"

"Yes, and that's why I'm summoning him: So I can kill him."

"Is that really necessary?! Because that's also incredibly risky! If he kills you instead, he will wreak havoc on the galaxy!"

"These summoning rituals aren't a case of releasing these creatures from an interdimensional prison. They're actually opening hypergates for them to travel between galaxies. If we just destroy the gates or undo the rituals, the Archfiends will just be unable to get to our galaxy for the time being; they'll still be alive and wreaking havoc elsewhere."

"I still think it's an incredible risk with high stakes, but if he is summoned, I will aid you in slaying him."

"The Rakata temple is close by and we've already cleared it of most of the traps, but the summoning ritual is almost finished. Follow me."

Zolph then followed Juganak to the temple.


As Juganak led Zolph through the alien temple, Zolph questioned the muscular blind man.

"So Juga, if you're against Valkor, why are you still working for him?"

"Solo rebellions never work, boy. You need to build up support before you can pull them off. Besides, you don't just openly betray Valkor and live. Some survivors from Manaan and Krantisi tried to decry him, only for them to never be heard from again afterward."

"You're not the only one against him. Maesterus is doing it too."

"I already know my former pupil is opposing him."

"Pupil?"

"Like Maesterus, I'm also around four-thousand years old. Before we took the names we have now, he and I were once members of the old Jedi Order, and I was his master."

"What's your excuse for living as long as he has? You don't look like a Forceless host. And what is your real name, anyway?"

"Argem Nylek, but you can still call me Juga. As for the longevity, I and several others were in cryostasis. Now getting back to my story: Sometime after becoming a knight, he became a master to the man you may know as Arcidus. After the Mandalorian Wars, he was expelled from the Order not only for participating in that war against the wishes of the Council, but for being romantically involved with another Knight, who was also a co-apprentice with him under my wing and expelled along with him."

"Why was the old Order against falling in love? That's almost inhuman."

"Believe me: Even achieving the rank of Master, I never really bought into that ideal either. The Order didn't so much prohibit it as discourage it. We didn't enforce celibacy and prohibit marriage, but the romantic attachments that come with it can breed the possessive behavior that fuels the Dark Side, as history has shown time and again."

"Maesterus didn't seem that Dark Sided to me."

"He never was. He never let his romantic attachments get the better of him, even after his expulsion, but the Council did not want him to set a bad precedent for our younger students. Unlike a lot of other Jedi who joined the Mandalorian Wars, he never joined Revan and Malak's Sith Empire. Before the Jedi Civil War kicked off, I and a few others that revered him – including his lover and Arcidus - tried to follow him for various reasons, and we then found him, came across Valkor, and helped build up the Valkoran Empire. Of course, Maesterus and the lover had a child sometime after the founding, but she left while she was still pregnant for some reason and has not been seen ever since. But if your existence is anything to go by, that bloodline is still alive."

"How did you know I was his descendant? And what is his real name?"

"I may not visually perceive the universe the same way you do, but I'm still able to catch some similarities between you and Seferin."

"And who was his wife?"

"That's not for me to tell you."

Zolph then gave an unconvinced response. "Nerfshavit."

"All I can say is she is no longer with us, and whether she continued to cheat death after leaving us is something we have yet to confirm. And we don't have time to talk more. The summoning site is close by."

The duo proceeded further, eliminating and bypassing any other leftover ancient guardian droids and traps.


The two eventually reached the dimly-lit summoning chamber and noticed two masked Force acolytes performing the ritual near what looked like a balcony overlooking a nearly pitch-black arena.

Before they could enter, Juganak stopped Zolph in his tracks.

"Wait." The dark-skinned Miraluka responded as he stopped Zolph.

"What is it?"

"My regiment and I may secretly despise Valkor, but there are many others that are fanatically loyal to him, especially some of those that were born in his empire. Case in point: those two acolytes. So let me go first."

"Very well. Do your thing, Juga."

Juga entered the chamber and addressed the acolytes. One of them then turned towards him and kneeled.

"Lord Juganak."

"Spare me the kissing-up. I am just here to check on the ritual."

"You've arrived just in time. Lord Mandoculus should be here within the next minute."

Zolph then came through the chamber doorway speaking dramatically. "And I'd like to thank you, big guy, for unwittingly bringing me here to kill him!" He then ignited his lightsaber.

Juganak ignited his emerald-green lightclub in response, with the acolytes igniting their lightsabers as well.

"Zolph Vaelor?! Here?!" One of the acolytes panicked. "You're a fool if you think you can defeat Mandoculus the Destroyer!"

Zolph yawned. "And how many of these Archfiends have you successfully summoned without me killing them?"

The summoning sigil then glowed, followed by the chamber shaking.

"He's here! Mandoculus the Destroyer! Emperor Valkor's will is done!"

A light briefly shined from the arena below their location. A large hand suddenly emerged from it, grabbed one of the acolytes and dragged him down screaming before there was an audible crunching sound.

Afterward, the hand returned, followed by another one and the rest of the creature – a black twenty-three-meter tall, scaly and muscular biped with quills on its back, a head between its shoulders, and no visible eyes. Of course, only its upper body was visible. It then revealed its two red crystal ball-like eyes to be in its shoulders.

"Lord Mandoculus! We are honored by your arrival." The remaining acolyte then pointed towards Zolph. "I'm sure you know what to do with that brat with the ponytail and black jacket. Kill him!"

The behemoth then spoke in a deep echoing voice – and in the process, revealed a third eye hidden in his toothy maw. "Tiny man tell who I squish? Tiny man go squish!"

"What was that, my lord?" The acolyte asked with confusion before Mandoculus crushed him into a red paste in anger.

"By the Force, what did they feed you?!" Zolph asked in awe of the creature's size. This was the largest Archfiend he had seen so far. Thinking about the eye inside his mouth, he then asked. "And how the hell are you able to eat?!"

Juganak then answered. "I don't think he even needs to eat."

"The wonders of nature…."

Mandoculus tried to smash Zolph with his fist. He barely avoided getting splattered. The creature repeatedly tried to squish him, only for him to dodge every time.

Mandoculus was getting irritated. "Stop! Moving! I need to kill you!"

Zolph responded in a slightly annoyed tone. "I don't know…. Maybe that's why I keep moving?!" He then slashed at the creature's hand, only for his lightsaber blade to bounce off its thick skin.

He then asked himself with annoyance. "Why is just about every other thing I fight resistant to my lightsaber? Has nature suddenly become one with every cortosis deposit?"

Mandoculus spoke again. "Tiny metal man and black goo say kill you. If I not kill you, black goo not let me move body." He tried to crush Zolph again, only for Juganak to dash right under his fist and catch it. The imposing Miraluka then twisted the Archfiend's wrist.

The poorly-speaking Archfiend roared in agony. "The pain! The pain! I not want more pain!" He then quickly closed his mouth shut, as if his eye were a very sensitive body part.

Juganak then uprooted one of the stone pillars on his level and battered the Archfiend, causing him to react in pain again. He then spoke to Zolph.

"Apparently, he doesn't take strong physical damage or internal damage very well."

Zolph drew out his blaster. "And I know of a body part that is usually exposed and very sensitive." He dodged another one of his blows before shooting him in the eye on his left shoulder.

Mandoculus clutched at his shoulder in pain. This provided Zolph with an opportunity to shoot at the eye on his other shoulder too. He was then clutching both of his shoulders.

"Can't see! Eyes hurt! The pain!" Mandoculus then reluctantly opened his mouth wide, with his third eye popping out on a prehensile tongue-like stalk. The eye then glowed brighter than usual and started haphazardly firing lasers from it.

As Zolph and Juganak dodged or deflected the lasers, Zolph responded with shock. "Okay, that's new. I never thought I would meet a creature that had laser-vision."

"It's a big universe, kid." Juga responded.

Once Mandoculus's shoulder-eyes recovered, he withdrew the third eye back into his mouth and closed it again.

"Apparently, he's very protective of is third eye if he doesn't want to use it unless provoked." Zolph then fired his blaster at his shoulder-eyes again, getting him to expose the stalked eye again.

This time, Zolph jumped onto the eye and stabbed into it with his lightsaber. He roared in even more pain than before as he leaked some red mist from his glass-like eye. "No more! No more!"

Juganak gave an unnerved response. "Why do most beings value having eyes again?"

Suddenly, the beast fell on his knees and started clutching at his head. "Don't hurt me! I do as black goo say! Don't trap me in head again!"

Mandoculus got up on his feet again and popped out his mouth eye, readying it to fire. He then spoke in a more intelligible speech pattern.

"That stupid, cowardly hedonist! All he's really good for is taking punishment and breaking things! I don't even know why we chose for this oaf to be an Archfiend!"

Juganak then jumped up to the creature's eyestalk and pulled him down to the floor, immobilizing him. "Now, Zolph!"

Zolph readied a thermal detonator and remorsefully said, "Don't worry. It'll be over soon." He jumped into Mandoculus's mouth – prying it open with his mechanical arm so it wouldn't chomp down on him even if it meant biting off his own eyestalk – and shoved the grenade deep into his throat.

Zolph crawled out of his mouth and got away from the creature as he exploded into many pieces, with the blast incinerating most of the blown off parts in the process.

Juganak then walked over to Zolph. "We make a pretty good team, kid."

Zolph then responded to him remorsefully. "Yeah, except this fight left a really bad taste in my mouth. Mandoculus may have been willing to kill me like the other Archfiends I've fought, but unlike them, he was only harassed into doing so. After meeting Belluzub and hearing what he said as well as another incident, I thought all of the Archfiends were truly monstrous. I guess that's not always the case."

"I know it's not easy to kill these things, especially when you realize that the shells the Forceless are using are sometimes innocent beings, but we don't really have much of a choice if we can't find a way to undo the possession. Sometimes, we have to get our hands dirty."

"You kinda sound like someone else I know."

"I would like to meet this someone if the time comes when we're no longer fighting." Juga then changed the subject. "Speaking of which, you must leave now. As far as the war is concerned, we're still officially enemies. And I'd like to look further into what Valkor's up to and continue to see if I can build up some more support against him. So please understand if I start trying to bludgeon you with a tank or such next time we meet."

"I understand. Later, Juga." Zolph then left the temple.


After traveling through the swamp for a few hours via a speeder bike borrowed from the Valkoran camp, Zolph was shot down by an anti-vehicle rocket and sent flying off his bike. Zolph was then greeted by none other than Besh Squad.

He scolded the squad leader. "Dammit, Xad! Are you trying to kill me?!"

Xadisall Varessi, the Mirialan squad leader, then apologized. "Sorry about that. Boltz's new turret is programmed to only target Valkoran vehicles and droids.

Boltz, the Gand engineer, apologized as well. "Boltz is sorry, too. Boltz is still programming it to be able to recognize exposed riders."

Zolph accepted the apology. "No hard feelings. So what are you guys doing here anyway?"

Xad spoke again while Patcher, the Nautolan medic, treated any wounds Zolph may have received from the blast. "General Choi lost contact with you ever since you went deep into the swamp and he also sensed the Archfiend's arrival. So he sent us down for search and rescue."

"Well, I'm glad he sent someone to look for me. And he doesn't need to worry about the Archfiend. I already took care of it."

"And what were you doing driving a Valkoran speeder anyway?"

"I had a temporary alliance with some internal dissidents, so I was borrowing transportation from them."

Bad Kitty, the Cathar heavy weapons expert, got a little suspicious. "You're lucky you didn't get close to Mount Yoda before we shot you down or you'd be dead. You haven't sabotaged us, have you?"

"We just teamed up to kill the Archfiend, so don't get your mane in a rough."

Xad spoke again. "We've got a transport ready to go back to Mount Yoda, and the General would like to hear the good news."


After reporting to General Ven Choi, Zolph and R9-C4 returned to the Jedi academy on Ossus and met up with Luke Skywalker and Grein.

"Well, I'm back from Dagobah and another Archfiend down. So where am I going next."

Luke answered him. "You're not going anywhere for now."

Zolph asked with a puzzled look on his face. "Excuse me?"

"We need to talk about your…chronic hero habits."

"Oh…that. What about them?"

"I sensed your anguish while you were on Dagobah."

"What are you talking about?" Zolph asked in denial.

"You went into that cave, didn't you? Well, I've been in there too."

Zolph then responded honestly. "Yeah, and you probably know the hell I was going through in there."

"You also never told me about what happened with you on Krantisi. And I know you've been constantly out in space just to avoid talking about it."

Grein chimed in. "Zolph, it's time you stopped denying the truth. You know it happened."

Zolph started to tear up. "Okay, I'll tell you what happened: Remember Dynn Manthis? I was forced to kill her. But it's more complicated than that. You remember that Forceless arm I told you about? It possessed and mutilated her body while she was unable to do anything about it. It would've been win-win for the Collective regardless of what happened. Either the parasite would have killed me using her body or it would've broken me if I survived. The latter happened, and I wanted to get revenge on the Valkoran for taking everything that mattered to me. If it weren't for Grein here, I never would've come to my senses and gotten that last chance to speak with her."

Luke then followed up on Zolph's confession. "You had a strong attachment to her. I can see why you didn't want to think about it. When we come across grim truths, the first step is usually denial. But what happened in the cave?"

"I was attacked by her, or rather an apparition of her as that Forceless shell. However, this was not like the Dynn I knew. It was like she was in full control of her body, and she was psychotically possessive of me. She would've killed me had some internal dissidents within the Valkoran not come to save me."

Grein chimed in again. "I thought you reconciled with her. That's why I chased you into a Fortress Tank, after all."

"Yes, Grein. She did forgive me for what I did. However, I haven't forgiven myself, and I don't think I will anytime soon. I more or less caused this to happen to her by cutting her arm off in the first place. I thought that after six months, I would've gotten over it, but apparently, suppressing it has only made it worse."

Luke continued. "Zolph, you are going to be off-duty until further notice, and that is not a request. Grein had already agreed with me on this before you got back."

Grein added in. "Sorry, Zolph. It's for your own good. Live warfare isn't really the best form of therapy."

"I understand why you want to keep me here, but what about Seefor? I'm worried about what she'll do if she doesn't see any action."

"Don't worry about your droid. Artoo has just talked to her and it turns out she doesn't necessarily need violence to stay entertained. She just needs to have fun. Also you're not necessarily being confined to the academy. You're just not going to get involved in the war again until we need you, and we will let you know if there are any Archfiends that desperately need your attention."


Zolph headed for his living quarters - which he had not touched in quite some time - before he was stopped in his tracks by Hiriss Moraana.

"So that's why you've been away most of the time."

"Were you eavesdropping on us?"

"I won't lie. I was."

"And this concerns you because….?"

"Dynn Manthis was my cousin. I also helped get her into the academy after those criminals orphaned her on Coruscant."

"Well, that does somewhat explain the uncanny resemblance and why I mistook you for her when I was leaving for Dagobah, but you're not the same species."

"I'm actually half-human. As you might expect with most near-human species, Mirialans and humans are biologically compatible. They're not all that different aside from range of skin tones. But that's beside the point. I really wish you would have told us as soon as it happened."

"If I had known you were related or who you were, I probably would have told you instead of trying to suppress the truth. If you're mad at me for killing her, I won't hold it against you."

"Don't worry, I'm not. You did what you had to do, and I know she would've rather died than be helpless again. If anything, I have more reason to be mad at this Collective for turning her into a monster."

"I'm surprised you even believe what I've said about the Forceless Collective."

"Let's not forget that in the previous galactic war that only ended about two years ago, we were fighting extra-galactic aliens with organic technology and a masochist religion, and they weren't even the first recorded encounter with unusual phenomena. It's usually the more narrow-minded Force users and non-Force users that refuse to acknowledge the possibility of their existence."

"Good point."

"Anyway, I'm sorry for your loss. I guess I'll be seeing you around more."

"Likewise."

Zolph then headed for his quarters.