EPISODE III:
Chapter 2: Allies
One day later…
After explaining what they encountered on Blenjeel and receiving approval from Headmaster Luke Skywalker on Ossus, Zolph, Hiriss and Seefor arrived in orbit of Barsemic, an oceanic world which had a small blockade of Seferite warships positioned in relation to specific hyperspace routes.
Once controlled by the Valkoran Empire, Barsemic fell into the hands of the Seferite Order following its fracturing. Traveling here was a new experience for Hiriss and Seefor, but Zolph remembered coming to the system during the first year of the Valkoran War. Back then, his mission was to infiltrate Maesterus's now-destroyed flagship, the Doomsayer, while it was undergoing repairs in an orbiting shipyard. Of course, Zolph had never been down on Barsemic's surface.
As per Seferite protocol, a squadron of Firaxa-class starfighters swarmed around the Manthis before her crew received a transmission from Admiral Morda on the Obliterator-class Star Destroyer, Liberator.
A stern, but welcoming female voice came from the Manthis's communication terminal. "This is Admiral Sonia Morda. I know your vessel is one-of-a-kind, Vaelor, but please transmit your transponder codes and identify yourself. We need confirmation your ship isn't stolen or being impersonated."
Zolph immediately entered in a few keys on his terminal before addressing the Admiral by voice. "Admiral Morda, this is Zolph Vaelor and Hiriss Moraana of the Jedi Order. We've come to discuss important matters with Supreme Commander Arcidus personally."
"Good to hear your voice, Zolph. That means you haven't been killed or possessed yet." Morda answered back. "Please proceed to Docking Bay 16 on Galode Island. I will inform Arcidus of your arrival."
The Firaxa fighters dispersed and the Manthis made a beeline towards Galode Island.
The Seferite base was divided upon several islands, each serving a specific purpose. These islands served as residential, commercial, and industrial sectors as well as a civilian space port. Galode Island – distinguished by its towering command center – was dedicated to the Seferite Order's administrative and military activity. As they approached Docking Bay 16, they passed over a statue of Maesterus - depicted in full armor and a cape - in a triumphant pose. For both symbolic and pragmatic purposes, the stacked wings he had late in his life were omitted. This artistic decision was made on a similar principle to the organization changing its working title, the Knights of Maesterus, into the Seferite Order.
After landing their fighter in Docking Bay16, Zolph, Hiriss and Seefor disembarked to be greeted by a squad of Seferite troopers. Commanding them was Barabo Desilijic Veuro, a Hutt that was, to the surprise of almost anyone outside the Valkoran and Seferites, a lieutenant of the Black Guard. Like all Black Guards, he wore full body armor except for his gastropod underside to allow him better movement and carried a plasma staff. As befitting his position, he was thinner, more muscular and had longer arms than the average Hutt, but was still large and bulky enough that he needed to consume more food than the standard humanoid.
Barabo addressed his guests with a deep voice in fluent Basic. "Welcome back to Barsemic. Did I get that right? You never actually set foot on the planet's surface before…" The Hutt then refocused himself. "Anyway, it's so good to see you again, Zolph. And I see you brought some guests."
Seefor chirped dryly at the ornate Hutt. "R9-C4 = Humbled by legless, fat man's acknowledgment of Seefor's existence."
Zolph scolded Seefor. "And with that, you are staying at the ship." Zolph then turned his attention back to the Hutt. "It's good to see you again, too, Barabo. These are my partners, Hiriss Moraana and that mouthy droid who thought she could get away with insulting you in binary, R9-C4."
"I don't mind the droid. It's normal for droids that go without frequent memory wipes to have sassy personalities. Although your droid has a special flavor to her." Barabo then inched his faceplate towards Seefor. "Yes, Seefor, I can understand every beep of yours. Common language studies are part of the Black Guard training regimen."
Seefor whistled apologetically. If she made that comment towards any more stereotypical Hutt, they would most likely demand she be turned to scrap on the spot.
Hiriss greeted Barabo in turn. "Nice to meet you, Barabo. How do you and Zolph know each other?"
Barabo answered Hiriss. "Even though I've been part of the Black Guard for centuries, I first met Zolph when he came to the Doomsayer to prepare for Ockla Prime with Maesterus." The Hutt sighed with sadness. "It was a day of great progress, but also a harbinger to a day of great loss. Getting back to what's at hand, our Supreme Commander has received word of your arrival. I guess what you're here for is too sensitive for a holo-call?"
Zolph answered. "You guessed correctly."
"In that case, I won't press you any further and keep my big mouth shut." Barabo then gave an order to one of the accompanying troopers. "Sergeant Kalre, please escort the Jedi to Arcidus's office. I need to report back to Captain Helms."
Zolph was surprised to hear that name. "Wait, Captain Helms? As in Will Helms? He went from trooper lieutenant to captain of the Black Guard? If so, that guy has climbed up a lot in just a few years."
"You got that right. A man who can't stay dead is an excellent choice for a bodyguard and special forces unit. Anyway, you shouldn't keep Arcidus waiting."
Minutes later and after a shuttle ride to the command tower, Sergeant Kalre had brought Zolph and Hiriss face to face with Arcidus in his private office, sitting behind a desk topped with an unsorted mess of datawork and a mug of caf. Unsurprisingly to Kalre, Arcidus was still wearing his goggle-eyed breath mask. However, he sometimes wondered if Arcidus sometimes drank the caf through his mask's filter.
"Uh… hello, Aik…Arcidus." Zolph swapped out his name choice at the last second to sound more professional in addressing the leader of the Seferite Order. "How's it going for your group."
"Not so great, Vaelor. It's still a mess." Arcidus answered. "We've lost several more bases, the Collective knows where most of them are, this one included due to them being former Valkoran worlds, and Kuat Drive Yards keeps trying to find excuses to sue us."
"I'm surprised they are still in a position to make lawsuits considering what the Vong invasion did to their planet, but I guess that doesn't make a difference when they are one of the galaxy's wealthiest shipbuilding companies." Zolph commented. "Besides, you can just settle that by selling another Fortress Tank like you did with your war reparations."
"As impractical as they are, they can still be stripped down for better uses, and we don't have that many left. Even then, KDY's executives are just one of the many war-profiteers who own senators that are trying to provoke us back into war with the Alliance."
Hiriss chimed in. "As they learned from the Vong, a war against the main government and an extragalactic invader that has no need to buy their products isn't as profitable for them. Even more so since the Collective can easily steal or synthesize their own weapons."
"But I know you have another reason for being here besides small talk and corporate politics." As Arcidus changed the subject, he silently ordered Kalre to report back to his squad and closed the door to his office.
"Take off that mask, Aiken. You don't need it." Zolph bluntly demanded. "All it does is make people outside the Seferites think you're a Darth Vader wannabe. And your scars aren't that ugly either."
Aiken breathed out with hesitation. "Very well. This is a private meeting after all." Aiken undid the laces on the back of his mask and removed it alongside the headcloth. He was a brown-skinned human male in his mid-twenties with short, black hair, blue eyes and some permanent burns all over his face.
This wasn't a new sight to Zolph, but Hiriss had never seen Aiken Cremas unmasked until now.
Hiriss playfully made a playful catcall in response. "Rawr. Now I know why you really wear that mask." She nudged Zolph and whispered to him. "Can't you pretend to be a little jealous?"
"You got that idea from Leia, didn't you?" Zolph whispered back.
Aiken sheepishly responded with denial. "I have no idea what you're talking about." He then forced them back to the subject. "Private matter, please?"
"Sorry. Discussions tend to go on tangents whenever I'm around." Zolph apologized. "Anyway, for starters, we encountered a possessed Force user by the name of Cina Onae on Blenjeel. She wore a helmet that looks almost like Valkor's and was armed with an archaic, lightsaber-like weapon. Have you had any run-ins with such a character?"
"I haven't had reports of anyone like that. What about her?"
"When I fought with her, she told me she was from Valkor's homeworld and was one of his oldest followers. At the same time, however, she seemed to only be interested in testing my potential with Force channeling, and she got what she wanted when I fought Terraris again."
Aiken was caught off guard and did a spit-take with some of the caf he was drinking. "Hold the comm. Terraris?! Didn't you kill him?"
"Not so loud, Aiken. That's the part I'm trying to keep private. Which brings me to my second topic: The Collective is apparently resurrecting Archfiends I killed. As for Terraris, yes, I killed him, and I'm pretty sure he's going to stay dead after what I did to him the second time."
"Are you sure it wasn't just another powerful Planara Manos? Because I find the notion of the Collective bringing back the dead hard to believe."
"When you were once part of an ancient conspiracy, associate with other strange characters and your appointed guard captain is an undying man, we're way past the point of skepticism. To answer your question, Cina explicitly called Terraris by name and I could sense that it was him."
"Valkor always liked playing mind games with you, and his servants may be continuing the tradition. But if true, I can already see why it's a politically-sensitive topic. The good news is most of the summoned Archfiends didn't have any living eyewitnesses besides us."
"It's the few that had other witnesses that are the ones we need to worry about. If word gets out that there are supposedly-dead Archfiends running around, the Collective gets some ammunition against our governments for attempted censorship and many more desperate followers. But getting back to the topic of Cina, I think she may be our key to defeating the Collective for good. If we can capture her alive, she might help us reach the Collective's home galaxy."
"It sounds good in theory, but the question is if she's willing to cooperate. Valkor is known to fully possess traitors unless they are immune to it or he still has use for them."
"Which brings me to my next point: her willingness to sacrifice an Archfiend to test the Silver Seraph would be considered treasonous since I'm a priority target for the Collective. So, I theorize her immunity is at least equal to Seferin's and she is playing the long game."
Hiriss added to Zolph's assessment. "I'm a bit pessimistic about this plan too, but we've already failed almost every attempt at capturing a Levioth. Those that were captured self-terminated before they could be studied and worse, gave away strategic locations to the rest of the Collective. We're no closer to understanding how the wormholes work, let alone being able to use them for ourselves. It's risky, but we're running out of options."
"You've made your point. Since Juganak, Machinus, and Neur are away doing their own investigations, I'll request that they keep an eye out for Onae." Aiken conceded. "Do you have any further details on what she looks like beyond what you described before?"
Zolph described in detail. "She is fully-armored, really tall and well-built. Her primary colors are black, gold and red. Like I said earlier, her helmet almost resembles Valkor's save for a few minor details. And her weapon of choice is a double-bladed glaive that works just like Emilin's lightscythe." Zolph then changed the topic. "Speaking of Emilin, how's Grein doing? I haven't seen her since she decided to tag along with you."
"She's alive and well, but still recovering. Currently, she's making her rounds over at the Shrine of Heroes on Cryptola Island."
"So, not much has changed since then." Zolph responded somberly.
"Not entirely true. She still mourns for those she lost, but she has recovered enough to keep going." Aiken then made an offer to Zolph. "I understand that this is your first time formally visiting Barsemic. Would you and Hiriss like to take a tour of the city?"
"We'd love to Aiken." Hiriss replied. "I always wanted to know more about the Valkoran-Seferite culture beyond the military, political and occult matters."
"You'll only find what you're suggesting in the Seferite Order now. What's left of the Valkoran Empire is an authoritarian cult that has no real respect for such things, even if they claim to uphold those values."
Suddenly, a frantic droning sound came from the communications terminal on Aiken's desk – a sound usually indicative of an emergency.
Aiken immediately answered the terminal. "This is Arcidus. What's the situation?"
A panicked voice came from the terminal, which Zolph recognized as Admiral Morda. "Commander! A single Forceless transport just bypassed our fleet and is making its way to the surface!"
"Damn! Send a squadron to intercept it!"
"We're already working on it, Commander. The wormhole appeared near one of the gaps in our blockade and they sent a few decoys to throw us off. We'll try to correct our mistake, but we need you to be ready in case anything else goes wrong."
"Understood. Continue holding your position, Admiral, but spread the fleet out a little to cover the gaps. We have no idea where the rest of their attack force will pop out."
"Orders received. Admiral Morda out." The transmission ended.
Aiken then slammed the emergency alert button and an automated public announcement blared across the city. "Emergency alert: All civilians take shelter. All military personnel report to your stations."
Aiken sighed. "Once again, the frequency of incidents like this is why the term 'planetary blockade' is usually hyperbole. Even if the Collective played by the rules of hyperspace, we don't have enough ships to cover all the routes to this system." He then addressed the Jedi. "Zolph. Hiriss. I know you didn't plan for this, but we could really use your help. My guess is that transport is headed for the power plant. Captain Helms is stationed there, but since there's a delay between his reincarnations and where they happen isn't always consistent, he won't be able to protect the generators on his own if he's the only one standing."
"What about the residential and commercial sectors?" Zolph asked. "The power plant is such an obvious target for pre-assault sabotage. They might go for your civilians first, not to mention there possibly being sleeper symbiotes among your people."
"Armogeist is currently stationed in the residential sector and since Grein should be reporting back in, I'll assign her to the commercial sector. I'll help as I see fit. But if the power plant goes down, our city's shield and automated defense systems go down too."
"Got it." Zolph then activated his comlink. "Seefor. I need you to provide some air support. A large-scale Forceless attack may be imminent."
Seefor replied. "R9-C4 = Already ahead of Zolph."
"I though I told you to stay put!" Zolph berated the droid.
"Zolph = Incorrect. / Zolph's previous order = Stay with ship. / Current action = Within parameters of previous order. / Besides = Seefor predicted that Zolph would give order for air support in response to PA."
"Touché. Well, keep doing what you're doing." Zolph ended the transmission and spoke to Hiriss. "You said you wanted a tour, Hiri. It's just going to be more action-packed than we thought."
"But we're going to start with one of the more culturally sterile parts." Hiriss replied dejectedly. "Oh well, I guess we have to work before we play."
Moments later, Zolph and Hiriss arrived outside the industrial sector's power plant via shuttle. They witnessed Barabo, a few other Black Guards and Seferite troopers fighting against a group of beak-masked Forceless disciples armed with rifle-pikes in front of the decomposing corpse of the Loderoach that deployed them. Despite the casualties among the Seferites, Barabo was holding his own, proving to be surprisingly agile for a Hutt. Barabo ended the fight by literally throwing his own bulk onto the last disciple.
As the Jedi approached Barabo, they watched the crushed disciple's arm spasm before he stopped moving. They gave the Hutt an aghast look.
"He asked if I was going to sit on him to death. So I obliged." Barabo nonchalantly replied. "Or are you just surprised to see a legless tub of lard like me fight so well?"
"I guess we shouldn't be considering Maesterus didn't just pick anyone to be a Black Guard. It's more like you broke our expectations." Zolph answered. "But that's not important now. Was that the entire raid team?"
"Sadly, no. Their leader and a few more charged into the plant while these goons were holding us off. The leader looks like some anthropomorphized extinct arthropod with too many syllables in its name in any language. He rolled up into a ball and plowed through the security force like a blood-frenzied Colicoid. He's also blast-proof."
"We need to hurry!" Hiriss chimed in. "The city defense systems aren't going to last with something like that tearing up the place!"
"We'll continue keeping watch out here. Given that the interception force was stalled out of nowhere by a squadron of Eyewings before they could kill that transport in time and I caught some amphibious disciples making their way to the sea, I have a bad feeling about this."
Zolph and Hiriss immediately rushed into the power plant. Zolph was also disappointed once again to be reminded that even if the Loderoach was salvageable, they were still dependent on Levioths for creating wormholes to travel through.
Inside the power plant, Zolph and Hiriss fought their way through more disciples in addition to Black Matter soldiers. None of these two types of grunts proved much trouble for the Jedi, but they still posed a threat to the sub-generators and the Jedi had to hold back their power to avoid completing the Collective's mission for them.
Eventually, they reached the chamber housing the primary power generators, which were spaced feet apart in rows, but several of the generators were already damaged or had their protective casing knocked off, and the bodies of Seferite troopers littered the floor. Inside, they noticed a Black Guard, Captain Will Helms – unmistakable from other standard, humanoid Black Guards by his trademark Phoenix symbol on his pauldrons – fighting against a hunched-over, Forceless-possessed insectoid with curved, tusk-like mandibles almost as long, but thicker than his arms, an armored carapace with blade-like fins on his spine and a crustacean tail.
Helms jabbed his plasma staff into the creature's torso with barely any effect. The creature then grappled Helms with his mandibles, somersaulted along the floor with the man in his grasp and threw him into one of the remaining active but exposed generators. The voltage from the generator electrocuted Helms to death before his corpse fell to the floor.
"Looks like we arrived just in time." Zolph addressed the creature before he could start tearing the other generators apart.
The creature turned around with a look of fear in his eyes even the possession symptoms couldn't mask.
"The Demon is here?!" The creature panicked in click-filled Basic before shifting to a more overconfident tone. "We weren't planning on you being here, but we shouldn't be surprised that you are, seeing that you two are on better terms with these traitors than your own government."
Zolph retorted. "You're right. You shouldn't be surprised. And we're not blind to the fact that the Collective is trying to take advantage of our own political shortcomings." He and Hiriss drew their lightsabers. "And we also knew your strike team would go for the power generators."
The creature then let out a series of clicks unmistakable for chuckling. "Do you really think those laser swords are going to hurt us? We are Armaloch. We are invincible."
Hiriss rebuked Armaloch's boast. "That's awfully big talk coming from a minion. And even though it didn't do much, that little cut Helms left in your chitinous hide and that frightened look you gave Zolph earlier say otherwise. Besides, we know someone who is technically invincible, and that isn't hyperbole."
"If you're talking about Vaelor, we already know about the Silver Seraph. And seeing how much chaos it leaves in its wake, we know he wouldn't dare turn into it in here, especially with how much mental fortitude it takes to keep control over. So, that gives us the advantage."
"As powerful as both the Berserker and Seraph are, I wasn't talking about Zolph."
Suddenly, Armaloch was sidelined by a high-powered blaster shot to his underbelly, in the exact same spot he was grazed by Helms minutes earlier. He turned to his left to see a Black Guard armed with a blaster rifle at the bottom of a stairway.
Even though the shot hurt him a little bit, Armaloch mocked the Black Guard. "Another one? Just how many of you want to die today?"
This guard, whom Armaloch did not recognize as Captain Helms, retorted back. "We only met less than five minutes ago and you already don't remember me? That's just harsh." Helms immediately pointed at the Phoenix emblem on his armor before pointing at his own corpse.
"Impossible! You're not even part of the Collective! How can you cheat death without our Emperor's blessing?! And now that we think about it, why didn't he take interest in you in the first place?"
"Let's just that as a simple grunt for most of my career, I was beneath Valkor's notice."
"Sadly, you have just sealed your fate… again!"
"I don't have any illusions of beating you myself. I'm just a distraction."
Suddenly, Zolph and Hiriss struck their lightsabers against Armaloch, prompting him to block with his right arm. The plating on his arm stopped the blades from immediately cutting it off, but they were slowly boring through. Armaloch pulled his arm towards himself before swiping it against the Jedi, knocking their lightsabers out of their hands. They were sent flying towards one of the generators, but they each applied a light Force push to break their flights and not damage the generators in the process.
Armaloch tried to roll towards Hiriss while she was still trying to get back up. Before he could run her over or grasp her in his mandibles, Hiriss used the Force to try to stop him in his tracks. However, this didn't hold Armaloch for very long, and he continued rolling at the same speed once her hold broke. Once he was close enough, Hiriss instinctively used the Force to cause him to fly over her and right into the generator behind her. This action resulted in damaging the generator, but it also electrocuted Armaloch in the process.
As she and Zolph called over their lightsabers, Hiriss immediately apologized for her accident. "Sorry about that. But at least we've found a more effective weakness."
Armaloch repeatedly clicked his mandibles again. "But you don't have many generators left. Regardless of whether you kill us or not, this power plant will fall."
Zolph and Hiriss's situation didn't look good. They were far from the strongest Jedi to have lived under normal circumstances. If they were particularly strong in the Force and had the mental and spiritual fortitude for it, they would be able to conjure Force lightning without either endangering their own lives or tapping too deeply into the Dark Side.
Zolph pulled out his comlink and contacted Aiken. "Arcidus, we could really use your help right now. We've got a heavily-armored, lightsaber-resistant enemy, and we don't have any way of killing him quickly without tearing the power plant apart."
Aiken replied. "I've got my own problems right now. We were both right about what needed protecting. Some Forceless were spotted attacking the civilian centers and they've got a lot more air support than we thought. I'll try to get to the power plant as soon as I've trimmed down their numbers and let Veeseven take over from there. Just keep trying to hold him for as long as you can."
"Understood. Vaelor out." The transmission ended.
Armaloch smugly clicked his mandibles again. "We see what you're trying to do. We may not have anticipated you being here, but we were already aware of Arcidus's power… and his relative inexperience at being a leader."
"So that's why your plan was to attack both the civilian centers and the power plant at the same time. Still, that doesn't explain how you managed to get the rest of your attack force past the blockade when they only detected one transport plus a few decoys entering the system." Zolph pondered.
"You have a brain. Figure it out."
Zolph remained silent for a bit, before making a conclusion.
Armaloch made a mocking guess. "We think you've come to suspect there's a spy or traitor in your fleet?"
"In any other war, that would probably be the most logical conclusion, and sleeper symbiotes are a possibility. But this isn't an ordinary war. We already know your wormholes don't work exactly like hyperspace, and under all that occult flair, I've seen the Valkoran use similar portals for bringing Archfiends here. So, I'm going to make a guess that the wormholes can work even inside gravity wells, and that your forces are just toying with us by dropping the transports in orbit first."
"You have great intuition, Vaelor." Armaloch complimented Zolph before changing his tone. "But that intuition won't save you!"
Armaloch tried to grapple Zolph with his elongated arms, but Zolph lept over his attempted embrace and landed right behind the arthropod. Armaloch quickly turned around, lunged at Zolph and tried to catch him in his mandibles. Zolph immediately dropped down on the floor and reactivated his lightsaber, slicing into Armaloch's underbelly and tail as he passed over.
Armaloch was injured, but still alive. "It looks like we underestimated you, Vaelor. That actually hurt."
Zolph replied. "I just applied my previous experiences with armored arthropods to you and tried to go for a spot that's already been worn out. It's a miracle you survived that."
"Even if we die here, the Collective will be victor-!"
Armaloch was interrupted by a concentrated, fiery blast behind him, setting him on fire and causing him to scream in pain. As Armaloch was burning, he turned around to see a black-clad figure wearing a mask with red goggles.
"Ar-ar-Arcidus!" Armaloch exclaimed fearfully.
Armaloch tried to roll away from the scene, but Arcidus raised his hand, led his target, and generated another blast in the creature's path. Once Armaloch landed on the blast point, he was stopped in his tracks and set ablaze. He screamed in agony for a few seconds before collapsing into ash.
"That was a lot more torturous than I would've preferred." Aiken commented as he looked at Armaloch's smoldering remains. "If I wasn't trying to preserve the generators, I would've used a more powerful blast and incinerated him instantly."
"You and me both." Zolph replied.
"And me three." Hiriss chimed in.
Zolph continued. "Anyway. Your timing was excellent."
"We have your droid to thank for that." Aiken informed him. "If not for her, clearing the skies would have taken a lot longer."
Hiriss commented. "Seefor's a pain in the ass sometimes, but she's very reliable where it counts." She then looked to Helms. "And you did your part well too, Captain."
"You're too kind, Moraana." Helms answered with self-deprecation. "I was dead weight once you wizards came in."
"But until then, you kept Armaloch from completely destroying the plant. So we have you to thank for that."
Aiken informed the Jedi duo further. "We're not quite done with the Forceless yet, but it should be smooth flying from here now that the plant's safe."
Suddenly, they were interrupted by rumbling followed by a loud bestial roar.
"I have a bad feeling about this." Hiriss nervously responded.
"Don't tell me that is what I think it is." Zolph responded in turn.
Aiken's comlink rung, having received a message from Barabo. "Commander, you and the Jedi better get out here!"
"Understood, Barabo. We'll be there shortly." Aiken replied before switching off the comlink and looking to Captain Helms. "Captain, get to work on fixing this place up. We need our power grid fully functional as soon as possible."
While Helms ordered for a maintenance team, the Force users immediately made their way for the entrance.
Zolph, Hiriss and Aiken exited the power plant and met up with Barabo's squad. Out in the ocean, they noticed a dark, colossal, reptilian humanoid with glowing red eyes in its shoulders and hair-like quills running down its back.
"Oh, fierfek." Barabo cursed.
"Another one already?!" Zolph exclaimed.
"I take it that's an Archfiend?" Aiken asked Zolph.
"Archfiend. Specifically, Mandoculus."
"I've heard about him. So how do we kill him?" Aiken asked as he watched some Shyrack-class bombers futilely shower the beast in ordinance, only to do scorch damage to its nigh-impervious skin. Some of them were swatted down or crushed in its fists like papercraft.
"When I fought him on Dagobah, his weakpoints were his eyes and his insides." Zolph answered before pointing to the protective lenses strapped over Mandoculus's shoulder eyes. "But it looks like Valkor took note about the first one. Mandoculus may have been a dimwit, but he was at least smart enough to not expose the eye in his mouth unless shooting lasers. So forcing him to open up is going to be a bit trickier."
Aiken issued an order to his forces over comlink. "Fighter squadrons. That monster's weakspots are its eyes, but do something about the lenses first."
"Can't you just fry him?" Hiriss asked him.
"I can't generate a burst that big. If I could incinerate even the largest targets, I would have easily destroyed the Ragnirathan and Maesterus, Gravlek and many more would still be alive today. Even if I could, it would take a lot of restraint and willpower to prevent collateral damage."
Zolph sensed something unusual about Mandoculus. The body was familiar despite being even larger, but the presence was not. Zolph remembered vaporizing the original's brain with a thermal detonator. His extreme pain-sensitivity, more child-like nature, and that he had to be bullied into serving the Collective was undesirable enough that his symbiote completely took over in his last moments. And from what Zolph observed of his fighting style, this new Mandoculus was significantly more intelligent. More likely than not, this Mandoculus was a clone conditioned to be loyal from birth.
Zolph immediately contacted R9-C4. "Seefor, I need you to come pick me and Hiriss up. We're going to do something about that monster." Aiken did the same for V7-L20.
Seefor replied. "R9-C4 = Being tailed by bogies. / Orders = Ill-advised."
"Damn. Get here as soon as you've shaken them off." Zolph ended the transmission. On the flipside, Veeseven was free to pick up Aiken. "Now if only there were any lesser Forceless nearby…"
Suddenly, an Eyewing charged for the group from above and peppered them with blaster fire. Once the Eyewing got low enough, Zolph jumped on top of it and punched his mechanical arm into its back. As the creature was grounded from the impact, Zolph started absorbing enough Black Matter as was necessary for the situation and for his body to handle before jumping off its back. The Eyewing was still alive but weakened, until Aiken incinerated it.
"Are you sure you're not going to turn into the Berserker again?" Hiriss asked him as his body started channeling with the Force.
"Seraph or Berserker, I'm out of options right now." Zolph was immediately engulfed in a bright light before transforming into the Silver Seraph.
Zolph immediately took off the ground and flew for Mandoculus.
As Mandoculus approached the shore of the residential sector and was peppered with artillery blasts, Zolph used the Force to throw him away from the shore and back into the sea. The impact of his landing caused massive waves, but they were far away enough that the city wasn't in danger of flooding.
As Mandoculus got back up on his feet and a storm started to brew, Zolph addressed him. "Mandoculus. Do you remember me?"
Mandoculus replied in a guttural voice. "You're Zolph Vaelor. Of course, I know you. And I will crush you like an insect and these traitors will soon-!"
Mandoculus was interrupted by Zolph throwing a self-generated energy blast into his open mouth.
"Nope. Just as I thought. You may have his genetic material, but you are not the original Mandoculus. Not only was his Basic poor, I can't imagine why the Collective would want to bring him back."
"The original was an imbecile and an overly sensitive coward. But his body is still useful to us."
The Mandoculus clone tried to smash Zolph between both hand, but he dived into the water before launching out of it underneath Mandoculus's throat and upper-cutting him with enough force to make him fall over. However, Mandoculus got up again quickly, grabbed Zolph, and shoved him underwater.
As Mandoculus tried to drown Zolph, he failed to notice that the Silver Seraph didn't have a visible mouth or nostrils, and as such, he didn't even need to breathe. Zolph naturally created an energy blast to break out of his grip. Once free, Zolph charged for the lens on Mandoculus's left shoulder, formed two energy blades, and cut the chain straps holding the lens. With the straps destroyed, the lens fell off and the eye on Mandoculus's left shoulder was exposed. Zolph promptly jabbed his blades into it until the eye was blinded.
"I'll give you credit. Making the lens and chains out of phrik was a good idea. However, I can cut through even lightsaber-resistant material." Zolph taunted him.
Mandoculus immediately grabbed Zolph with his right hand, and this time, held him in front of his mouth. Mandoculus's throat-concealed eye exposed itself and extended out on a stalk. It started glowing brightly, preparing to fire a high-powered laser.
Suddenly, a Corellian YT-3200 freighter flew towards Mandoculus's blind spot and fired some concussion missiles at the stalk. This attack distracted Mandoculus long enough that Zolph broke free and repeated his previous process to blind the right shoulder eye.
With both shoulder eyes blind, Zolph flew in front of Mandoculus, who was forced to expose his main eye, but not without having his eye-laser fully charged. As Mandoculus fired, Zolph used the Force to collect the laser's energy and slowly generate his own projectile from it, eventually dwarfing Mandoculus. Zolph then threw it back at the Mandoculus clone and completely vaporized him.
"And that's a wrap." Suddenly, Zolph began to feel his moment as the Silver Seraph was ending. "Karabast! Couldn't this have happened after I landed?!"
In a flash of light, Zolph reverted to human form in midair and started plummeting towards the ocean. As Zolph prepared to break his fall, the YT freighter from earlier – which Zolph recognized as the Blazing Manta - positioned itself underneath him. Out of the emergency hatch emerged Hiriss Moraana, who also used the Force to help soften Zolph's landing.
"That was amazing, Zolph. You turned into the Seraph like it was no big deal." Hiriss said.
"I wasn't under too much stress at the time, and I was mostly focused on protecting this planet. If I get cocky, I'd risk turning into the Berserker, so once again, this isn't something I can easily do." Zolph answered. "But enough about that, what are you doing on this ship?"
"Seefor was preoccupied, but she still had Grein's comm channel. So she requested Grein to come pick me up."
"I see. Speaking of Grein, I'd like to go see her now."
They both descended into the emergency hatch.
Entering the Manta cockpit, Zolph came face to face with a female, purple-eyed Chiss at the controls. Grein didn't look like she had aged a day. However, the teal in her front bangs was starting to fade, and due to the stress of the war, she had little time to dye her hair again.
"It's been a long time, Zolph. I've missed you a lot." Grein responded.
"I missed you too, Grein." Zolph answered. "So how's it been going for you?"
"The war is no closer to ending, and we have a lot of work to do. But judging from what I saw out there, we still have a chance of winning."
"What will you do when this is all over? You've spent several lifetimes trying to fight the Collective and you have lost a lot of the things that mattered most to you, including your parents, your sister and your husband."
"I haven't thought that far ahead. But you, Hiriss, Aiken and the other Seferite leaders mean the entire galaxy to me right now. Perhaps I'll have a place in the new Jedi Order since they seem less corrupt than the old one. Or perhaps we'll start a sect in the Seferites."
"That's a good goal strive for. Even I sometimes wonder what I'll do after this is over."
Minutes later, the Forceless invasion was thwarted and Zolph, Hiriss and Grein met up with Aiken at his office.
"Sorry I dragged you into this mess." Aiken apologized to his guests. "Sadly, this isn't the first time the Forceless have attacked Barsemic, and they'll keep attacking until it falls."
"Then why haven't you and your people evacuated yet?" Zolph critically asked.
"You make it sound easy. The Rebel Alliance had the luxury of keeping their bases away from populated worlds when fighting against the Empire, and that made it easier for them to run when discovered. I'm running what's left of an empire, and not all my people are willing to abandon the homes they've known for many years, and some are just tired of running. Before the Battle of Ockla Prime, we tried to get our people to flee the planet, but only three-fourths of them were willing to leave their old lives behind. Parts of that other fourth were either killed in the battle or are now servants of the Collective."
"I figured Seferin was only telling most of the truth when he told me about the evacuation. But I had no idea the death toll was that bad, and he sure threw out a lot of responsibility on your shoulders. I'm so sorry."
"Don't be. This was the result of a Valkoran-Seferite cultural problem."
"Anyway, let's talk about future security for this planet. I think I discovered that the transportation wormholes the Forceless use are just like the Archfiend portals. They can open up in gravity wells, and that's how the rest of the attack force snuck past the fleet."
"We already figured as such from the previous attack, and we've been trying to make the best of what little resources we have." Grein commented. "However, they haven't attacked with an Archfiend before."
"Since you're the one who taught me about the Archfiends, Grein, I'm sure you know that one was Mandoculus… or a clone, rather." Zolph told her. "And you probably know why we're maintaining public silence about the resurrections of dead Archfiends."
"But almost the entire base saw that thing."
"But most of the galaxy doesn't know what the individual Archfiends look like. So ignoring cases like Fafniros and Harphscor, we should be safe for now."
"I wouldn't get too ahead of yourself, Zolph. What's to say a former Forceless disciple here isn't a sleeper agent and won't leak this incident onto the HoloNet while providing credible sources?"
Aiken then interrupted. "Sleeper symbiotes are to be expected and we should keep our eyes out for them, but we've both agreed that trying to actively search them out is almost impossible even for Force sensitives. And we don't want such searches turning into witch hunts on our own people. Whatever the case, protecting our people is going to be a lot harder from here on out."
Hiriss chimed in. "Being Supreme Commander isn't an easy job, especially when you're fighting an enemy that is nigh-impossible to predict like the Collective."
"And especially with only one year's worth of experience. But enough of the stresses of my role. You two deserve that tour I was about to give you before the Forceless attacked. I'll give you any reports I receive on Cina Onae when you get back to Ossus."
