EPISODE II
Chapter 5: Resolve

One month has passed since Zolph Vaelor's mission to Korriban, and staying away from the frontlines for an extended period of time has actually eased his mind significantly. In the meantime, the Valkoran have attempted false leaks of Archfiend locations on other planets heavily tainted by the Dark Side such as Dromund Kaas, Bogden and Malachor III, but scouting efforts by other Jedi have confirmed that they were all just bait for trying to torment Zolph. Over time and with enough social interactions between people like Luke Skywalker, Grein, Hiriss Moraana and R9-C4, he has gotten past his subconscious suicidal thoughts, but now the Valkoran have launched a campaign on another one of the planets on the list: Onderon.


Zolph met up with Luke and Grein in the academy's war room. To his surprise, Hiriss was there too.

"Hi, Zolph," the half-Mirialan greeted him before noticing the surprised look on his face. "What's with that look on your face? Are you being tormented by hallucinations of my cousin again?"

Zolph answered. "No, and so far, it's only been in Dark Side-influenced areas that she's tried to kill me, and to be honest, the nightmares are actually becoming less frequent. I'm just surprised to see you in here of all places."

"I'm a Jedi, Zolph. I still have a responsibility to peace-keeping, so I'm not really as much of a slacker as my recent time here seems to imply."

"Oh yeah."

Luke then interrupted their conversation. "If you kids are done, we've got a new mission, and as you would've guessed from me calling you here, Zolph, the Valks have prioritized another location on that disc: the Onderon system."

Zolph responded. "Alright, but this isn't another false lead into a Dark Side-tainted planet, is it? As you well know, their bastard of a leader has been trying desperately to weaponize those planets against me."

Grein chimed in. "There isn't much to worry about this time, Zolph. There is only one particular area in the system tainted by the Dark Side, and that's the tomb of ancient Sith Lord, Freedon Nadd, which is on the jungle moon of Dxun. Speaking of which, the Valkoran seem to be launching their attacks on Iziz from there."

"So I take it that our Archfiend summoning site is on Dxun?" Zolph then followed that up sarcastically. "Fan-kriffing-tastic! More psychological horrors to deal with!"

"If it's any consolation, it's only one part of that moon where the taint is, and if you're lucky, you may not have to go through Nadd's tomb."

"You're not coming along again?"

"I came with you to Korriban because I knew it would be too much for you to handle on your own, but I can't look after you all the time. No one can get through every part of their life on their own, but like I told you in the earlier days of the war, some challenges you will have to conquer on your own. Sorry if I sound like a schutta, but a tainted tomb is nothing compared to a planet, and said tomb may be the ultimate test to see if you can overcome your fears. It shouldn't be too much of a problem since you've experienced far worse last month."

"You know, Grein, some people – especially those really overprotective parents - would protest your teaching methods since they're nearly 'sink or swim' in process…"

"But a good teacher makes sure that her students are prepared to handle some challenges on their own."

"And that's exactly what you're doing." Zolph spoke to Luke again. "But what's Hiriss's role in all this?"

"While you're on Dxun, Hiriss is going to help the Alliance forces on Onderon."

Hiriss then spoke. "I believe someone in the Valkoran Empire may have doctored the data you got from Charros to deliberately mislead you into believing that the summoning site is on Onderon, but the heavy activity on the moon says otherwise."

Zolph responded. "Now I'm starting to get the feeling that Arcidus deliberately let me steal that information from the archive before faking his own death. Speaking of leaders, who are the bigwigs in-charge of this campaign?"

Luke answered. "General Choi is leading our forces while Machinus leads the Valks."

"So Machi's in charge, huh? Since I've already met him before…" Zolph then showed an electromagnetic pulse grenade. "I've got a little present for him now that I know what he is."

Grein then replied sarcastically. "Good luck with that. I hear Machinus's combat capabilities are nearly on par with any Force users, and given that he's a tech expert, he's probably too smart to fall for EMP grenades." Grein then recalled some other information useful to the mission. "Before you two head out, I've got some other information on the Archfiend you're dealing with in case he makes it to this galaxy. Unlike Cinydra, Fafniros can actually fly, so you may need to fight him via starship if he gets here."

"Noted. Now let's get out. We're not making progress standing around chatting."

Zolph and Hiriss then headed for the hangar.


Much later, both of the academy's students arrived in the Onderon system – Zolph piloting his prototype X-Wing along with Seefor and Hiriss piloting a T-65XJ3 X-Wing. They saw several Alliance and Valkoran ships skirmishing with each other, but grouped with the Valkoran ships were ships not of their design.

"I've never seen those ships before, but they're clearly not Valkoran." Hiriss told Zolph. "I'm guessing they've hired mercenaries again?"

"Those aren't mercs, Hiriss. Those are Kur'Ada ships."

"You mean those crazy Force-disconnected Miraluka carrying out a crusade to purge the galaxy of Force users?"

"Yup."

"Then why are they helping the Valkoran then? Aren't their leaders Force-sensitive?"

"Never met a hypocrite before?"

"I was just about to say something along those lines."

Seefor then chimed in. "Seefor = Kill cyborgs?"

Zolph answered the droid. "No, we're to eliminate an Archfiend. The Kur'Ada are just a nuisance."

"Seefor = Disappointed. / Seefor = Kill Archfiend?"

"From what Grein told us, this one can fly, so you might get the chance to."

"Objective = Satisfactory."

Suddenly, a squadron of the Kur'Ada's Glaive-class interceptors teamed up with some of the Valkoran's Firaxa-class starfighters started swarming both Zolph and Hiriss. "Heads up!"

"Now would be a really good time to split up!" Hiriss said.

Both he and Hiriss split off to head for their respective destinations while they fought off the fighters: Hiriss to Onderon and Zolph to Dxun.


As Zolph approached the jungle moon's surface, he spotted a pack of Behemoth-class dropships taking off, pretty much notifying him of where the Valkoran had placed their staging grounds, and a lead to where the Archfiend temple is. However, before he could get close enough, he was greeted by the typical MAAD Pod battalion, forcing him to fly away from the camp.

"Again with the damn MAAD pods!" Zolph complained. "They never let me get the job done sooner!"

Seefor then chimed in. "Zolph = Not let C4 have fun. / Zolph = Cheater."

"Just find the closest place we can land without getting shot down, okay?"

"Landing = No problem. / Moon = Covered with craters."

As Seefor looked for the closest clearing, Zolph received a transmission on his communicator, and the source of the transmission was actually close by.

"Varessi…Vaelor….Captain Varessi to Zolph Vaelor."

"Xad?" Zolph responded with surprise. "What are you doing here on Dxun?"

"General Choi got word from Skywalker that the Valks may be using the moon as a staging ground, and that there may be another Archfiend there. So he sent me and Besh Squad to do some scouting. Since I assume you're here about that, just follow the transmission source to find us."

"Gotcha." Zolph then spoke to Seefor as he ended the transmission. "Change of plans, Seefor: find the closest clearing to Besh Squad."

Zolph then followed Besh Squad's coordinates.


After landing at the site, Zolph got out of his fighter and had Seefor stand guard and protect the fighter from any immediate threats, considering the carnage she inflicted during the Battle of Dagobah.

As he moved through some of jungle passageways, Zolph was suddenly ambushed by a pack of Bomas, large green-scaled lizards with tusks. Zolph drew out his lightsaber, but before any could attack, the Bomas were gunned down. He then looked to see it was Besh Squad who took them out, with all their guns warm.

"You guys sure do love your dramatic entrances, don't ya?" Zolph asked the band of misfits.

"Well, you're one to talk." Bad Kitty said back to him.

Zolph noticed someone else with the squad: a female pale-skinned Kyuzo with long black hair, several scars, a cybernetic eye and armed with a sniper rifle, a heavy blaster pistol, a combat knife and the customary Kyuzo utility hat. "I presume you're new to Besh Squad?"

Xadisall answered him back. "Zolph, meet Spectre, our sharpshooter and stealth specialist. You've never met her before, but she's actually been part of Besh Squad for a long time. In fact, most people don't even know that she exists."

The pale Kyuzo then greeted Zolph with a simple "Hello."

"Not much for words, I see. I could understand where she would've been on Dagobah, but why wasn't she with us on the Doomsayer infiltration?" Zolph asked.

Spectre then answered him with a rhetorical question. "How often do you see my people serving major military powers?"

"Good point. You probably would've stuck out like a sore thumb." Zolph then spoke to Xad again. "Anyway, Squad, what have you gathered on this area?"

"The Valks have set up a staging ground near the tomb of Freedon Nadd."

"Figures." Zolph said with a sense of dreading. "I'm guessing Nadd was another power-crazed Sith Lord who sought to harness the Forceless for his own use, and that's why he had his tomb built around Fafniros' temple."

"Actually, I consulted with General Choi about this, and it turns out Nadd's tomb wasn't always on Dxun. The ancient Jedi Master Arca Jeth relocated it here from Onderon after it and Nadd's spirit were corrupting the Onderonian Royal Family. However, the General also theorizes that Jeth may have relocated the tomb to this specific area hoping to mask the Force Wound with the Dark Side aura since he might not have known how to properly dispose of it and didn't want a power that was possibly worse than the Dark Side to fall into the wrong hands."

"Well, that may explain why I'm having trouble sensing the Wound, because I've noticed the temples' auras are barely noticeable compared to the Forceless themselves."

"Also from our intel reports on getting to the area: Aside from the wildlife, the Valks have stationed a few Rancor tanks and assault droids outside the temple. As part of the typical jungle patrols, they've sent a few Shadow Troopers, walkers, and Tuk'ata tanks. Of course, the Kur'Ada Equalists have dedicated some of their forces down here too."

"You think I wouldn't have guessed from seeing their ships in the space battle above us. Anyway, thanks for the leads. I'll be heading for Nadd's tomb now."

"We've softened up the defenses a little, and Spectre will provide some cover fire for you when you get within the tomb's limits."

Zolph then continued his trek through the stormy jungle corridors, fighting off other predators including the cat-like Maalras and occasionally, the bulky Zakkeg, which as he observed was capable of toppling a Gundark walker.


As Zolph got closer to the tomb, he was attacked by squads of masked Kur'Ada warriors, who bore a large single photoreceptor – the details of what they look like without the masks best left unknown since they never naturally had eyes to begin with - and were mostly melee specialists, often preferring to use cortosis swords. Zolph, having fought with their warriors before, quickly drew his blaster and disabled one of their photoreceptors. However, even when blinded, they were still a threat, because the warriors were trained to fight with their photoreceptors deactivated and enhanced their other perceptual senses. Despite their training for fighting Force-sensitives, they were still no match for Zolph and were quickly dispatched.

Getting into the boundaries of the tomb, he noticed other third-party transports in the clearings aside from the Kur'Ada's Hatchet-class gunships. Before he could step out of the corridor, he caught the scent of methane and could hear what sounded like a gas leak behind him. Before he could react, a Skakoan Commando ambushed him from behind and grappled him, getting ready to self-destruct. Zolph struggled to break free of the pressure-suited alien's grasp and threw him a few feet away before he exploded.

"GAH! I hate it when they do that! I wasn't expecting the Skakos to be here!" Zolph said while panting. "Why these guys are willing blow themselves up despite being mercenaries is something I won't ever completely understand."

Zolph then fought his way through the Valkoran encampment while Spectre attacked from the shadows, and made sure to take out the Skakoans first so they wouldn't try to suicide-bomb Zolph.

After going through the massive defense force, including a Manticore-class war droid, some more Kur'Ada warriors and their Halberd-class battle tanks, Zolph entered the tomb of Freedon Nadd.


As Zolph moved past the entrance of the tomb, he could feel the presence of the Dark Side much more clearly. He then activated his comlink.

"Vaelor to Besh Squad. I've made it into the tomb."

Over the comlink, Zolph could hear Bad Kitty laughing maniacally as he gunned down Valkoran troops with his assault cannon. "I SAID 'MEOW'!"

"Is he always like that?"

Xadisall answered him. "Only when he's in intense firefights. Otherwise, he's usually pretty tame. Anyway, we've got the entrance covered, and we're taking out the MAAD Pods."

"Good, because I may need a quick airlift should something happen in here. Vaelor out." Zolph then turned off his comlink and fought his way through the tomb.

Within a few minutes, he got to a large door. He tried to cut it open with his lightsaber, but a mixture of various lightsaber-resistant alloys in the door kept him from doing so.

Zolph sighed in annoyance. "Looks like I'm gonna have to override the locks... like I usually do."

Before the large door were two branching pathways, both guarded by Kur'Ada warriors. He took one of the paths and fought off the warriors. Moving through two corridors and fighting off a few Shadow Troopers, he eventually reached an ancient computer terminal.

Since the terminal was very old, Zolph did not even need to perform any complicated computer slicing techniques to access the systems, and overrode the lock systems on the large door in the main lobby. "Well, that was easy."

Suddenly, a surge of lightning burst from the terminal and channeled into Zolph's skull for a few seconds. However, he didn't feel any electrical currents going through his body, but he knew something was wrong. "Okay, that might not have been painful, but I still have a bad feeling about this."

He turned around, and predictably, saw the grotesque apparition of Dynn Manthis standing right behind him.

"Hello, Zolphy. Did you miss me?" The apparition asked in a deceptively innocent tone.

However, he wasn't quite as fazed by her appearance as he was on Dagobah and Korriban, and spoke back to her with his arms crossed. "Of course; Dark Side mind tricks. And to answer your question: No, because you're not the Dynn I knew, and I kind of saw you coming."

The apparition then responded with disappointment while stroking his face with one of her mandible-fingers, and they felt somewhat slimy. "Oh come on. Can't you be a little happier to see me? Or show some other emotion?"

Zolph promptly slapped the hand away from his face. "If you're trying to make me uncomfortable, you jumped the Sarlacc on Korriban. If you're here to make me kill myself with my own brain, you're failing miserably."

"'Jumped the Sarlacc', huh? May I remind you that I'm part of you?!" Zolph's mental integrity then slipped a little. "I'm not here to kill you, because you don't have a death wish anymore." Zolph then regained some of his composure before losing it again. "But if I wore out my welcome, then why am I here right now? By the way, I brought some friends."

Coming out from behind the walls of the terminal's booth were what looked like Forceless-possessed versions of his friends and allies, including Luke, Grein, Hiriss, General Ven Choi and Besh Squad. Knowing that Dynn isn't real, Zolph tried to break the illusion by attempting to contact Besh Squad on comlink, but he didn't get a response.

"Don't even bother. They're standing right in front of you."

"Join us!" They all said in unison.

"But none of them would join the Collective! Oh, and Boltz does not refer to himself with first-person pronouns, singular or plural." Zolph responded

"Who said they joined by choice?" The apparition asked him before lifting him off the ground by his neck. "Just accept it, Zolph. This is fate. Will you join them and embrace the darkness, or will you be all alone in death?"

"Fate?" Zolph coughed. "I couldn't join them even if I wanted to! I'm immune to you parasites!"

"But they aren't. It will just be you, and the whole galaxy will be against you should you refuse this offer."

Zolph then calmed down and smiled smugly at her. "You want an answer? Here's my answer: Kriff! You! The future hasn't happened yet!" He then pulled his lightsaber from his belt and sliced the apparition in half, freeing him from her grasp even if it only stalled her. "And the nice part is it can change depending on our actions."

The other Forceless apparitions approached him with their weapons readied.

"The same goes for the rest of you. You are just possibilities that can be prevented." He then released a Force shockwave that incinerated them all. Of course, the Dynn apparition predictably regenerated behind him.

"DO YOU THINK YOU'RE GETTING RID OF ME THAT EASILY?!"

"No, but I'll just keep cutting you down until you go away, you ugly hag." Zolph then ran from the terminal room and made his way back to the previously locked door.

"DON'T YOU DARE TALK THAT WAY ABOUT ME?!" Zolph didn't respond back. "HEY! I AM TALKING TO YOU!" The apparition tried to lash her arm tongue at him from behind, but Zolph quickly slashed it off when it wrapped around his right arm.

Zolph then responded in a mocking tone. "AND I AM NOT LISTENING!"

Zolph moved through the hallways, continuing to cut down the apparition as she ambushed him from around the corners.


As Zolph got past the large door in the main hall, the hallucinations stopped harassing him, and he heard his comlink ringing. It was from Xadisall.

"Hello?" Zolph answered.

"Vaelor. You just tried to contact us and we responded, but you didn't answer back for five minutes. What's going on?"

"You'd think I'm crazy if I told you."

"My C.O. is a barely-trained Jedi, I fought against some dogmatic aliens with organic technology, all of my squadmates have unusual backgrounds, and now, look what we're fighting against besides the Valks. I'll believe almost anything you have to say."

"I had a hallucination, and during said hallucination, I saw several Forceless-possessed people I knew, and you and your squad were among them. I tried to call you to confirm if they were fake or not, but I didn't hear a response from you, hence why I didn't respond back until now."

"Ah, so that explains the crazy talk we heard. Well, at least no one had to knock you out to keep you from killing yourself this time."

"Wait, who told you about that?"

"General Choi, of course. He told us just in case it got that bad.

Bad Kitty interrupted the conversation. "And we were just about to head into the tomb to save your butt." He then lamented. "Thanks for ruining our fun."

"That's too bad, because I've already had an absurdly strong Miraluka hit me in the head hard enough to put me in a coma and I'd rather not get a concussion from a Cathar doing the same thing, but I am glad to have heard your voices and that you thought to come in here. Anyway, continue keeping a look out, and if any of those MAAD Pods are still intact, man them. We might need them pretty soon."

"Understood. Besh Squad out." The comlink transmission ended.

Zolph eventually made it into the room where Freedon Nadd's sarcophagus and a large reflecting pool lied and fought off a group of black-armored Kur'Ada elite warriors. They were a little more challenging than the standard Kur'Ada warriors, as they tend to also use ranged weapons such as blasters and explosive throwing knives in addition to their swords, but nevertheless, they were still no match for Zolph.

Zolph then looked in the sarcophagus and only saw a mummified corpse inside, presumably Freedon Nadd's. He wondered what was inside that was worth guarding. Looking around the burial chamber, he then noticed a lever. He pulled it, and the water in the reflecting pool started to lower; turns out the pool was a lot deeper than it looked – specifically thirty meters - and at the bottom was what looked like a passageway, possibly to the hidden Archfiend temple that the tomb was placed here to mask. Zolph then wondered if Arca Jeth deliberately left a path that can be opened so someone stronger could destroy the source of the wound.

Zolph then jumped down into the bottom of the drained pool and entered the passageway.