The ruined remains of an Imperator-class Star Destroyer and a duo of Mon Calamari cruisers, along with broken bits of Galactic Alliance fighters and Nephil Razors, drifted serenely in high orbit over Coruscant. Gravity would eventually pull the debris down into the planet's atmosphere where most of it would be digested by fire.

Also in high orbit was an Infinity Gate like the one currently at Dubrillion. Conventional Yuuzhan Vong vessels along with Leviathans proceeded to exit the ring of asteroids from the side facing away from Coruscant.

One of the forward view-skins on the bridge of the Sushchnost Gryzt'ador depicted an utter monstrosity of a world. Coruscant truly was a planet sized city. Most of the hideous artificial structures were in great disrepair. As those machine loving tsups deserve. Were it not for cursed made things, Yun Yuuzhan would never have been compelled to make a pact that would eternally damn his soul.

"So this abomination was the tsentr of this infidel infested galaxy," Mol Ech commented, disgusted.

"It is from this planet sized monument of adultery that the divine infection shall fester," Yun Yuuzhan declared. He would murder this realm, just as he had been murdered. "If this is to be our launching point, we should learn about it." His green eyes darkened some as he drew the power of the Aether and reached his depraved mind down to the world below. There were many sentients below, most of whom lived beneath the artificial surface.

As Yun Yuuzhan brought his perception yet further into Coruscant's recesses, he felt a brief flicker. It was scarcely noticeable, like a grassmite. Yet it was powerful and unmistakable as the dark side of the Force. There was fear and anger. He could use this. His left arm seemed to move of its own accord. He walked over to the view skin depicting Coruscant. He tapped where he felt this presence. The oval-shaped flap of skin reformed itself to show a close up. "Take the bridge, Mol Ech. I must go down there."

Yun Yuuzhan exited the bridge, fingering a nodule to gain access to the outside corridor. "Come," he ordered the two warriors outside the bridge before they had a chance to even acknowledge him. He led them, at a run, to a lift pod which quickly brought them to the hangar. He gathered several more warriors, including Naz Ca, on his way to a transport. The craft obediently opened both sets of fangs to admit the group. "I shall pilot," Yun Yuuzhan said, going to the pilot's station at the rear. "I know where to go."

Within seconds the glossy onyx colored transport was blasting out into the starry void. "I should not have to remind any of you that once this transport opens its maw I am to be referred to as a god," Yun Yuuzhan said.

"And we are your divine warriors who worship you," one of the warriors said sarcastically.

"Hail to the Yun who cut off chunks of his own flesh and cast them into the Void to create the entire universe," Naz Ca intoned. Some of the other warriors chuckled.

"Yes," Yun Yuuzhan encouraged, "do your laughing now, before we land. Anyone who ruins this ruse shall be cut into pieces that shall be scattered about. And we shall see if a universe can truly be created from that." There was more laughter. "Two warriors must remain with the transport."

The craft shook gently as it hit Coruscant's atmosphere. He could sense the dark side signature far below... It now felt like two. And they were Vong. Fascinating.

The craft rapidly reduced its speed. Three double segmented arms extended from the bullet-shaped transport, one from the top, and two more a third of the way around. A sort of straight stinger tipped each arm. Purplish crackled upon each stinger before three energy beams converged together upon the remnants of a fallen building. Dust and debris billowed up into the air.

The transport pulled in its arms, and slowed down some more, just before vanishing into the grayish cloud. Half of the outer fangs pulled back to make an alternating patter as the craft slammed into a large piece of ferrocrete. Those fangs hammered back while the others hammered forward. This all happened at lightning speed as the craft began chewing through the ferrocrete and other materials.

...

Few would have lived in Coruscant's lower levels out of choice. Most had been born here, while others had fled here for one reason or another. Eternal twilight dwelt at these depths. Natural light, of any kind, was a fantasy. The light here was jaundiced and darkened with grime. It illuminated a bleak world of beige and gray, where buildings stretched up further than the eye could see, forming great canyons and chasms. Less ancient structures were stacked upon the more ancient. Foundations of much larger buildings were supported by smaller, older buildings. So extensive was all this construction that it actually caused Coruscant's underworld to have its own climates and weather patterns. Some areas even had clouds and storms. Machinery thumped and thrummed, beeped and buzzed, and caused great duct work to whistle and wail. Armies of droids, whose masters had long since perished, worked tirelessly to maintain this beast.

Tsetti Kwaad cared nothing about all this at the moment. The young woman could feel the rage building as she and her friends continued to run. Behind them cthon yelled out commands, while their hive rat steads shrieked for no reason at all.

"It's a dead end!" her twin sister, Enzetti, called out.

"Fight!" Tsetti ordered. The four Yuuzhan Vong spun around, and poured green or red fire from their high powered blasters. While such things were an abomination, they were keeping her and those she loved alive. A cthon cried out as a blast burned through its shoulder. A hive rat collapsed to the ground as several shots tunneled into its face.

Tsetti spotted a large piece of permacrete. It leapt into the air and crashed into the head of another hive rat. There was a sickening crack as the creature's skull was fractured. Its pair of cthon riders jumped off as their dead stead collapsed onto its side. She fired at the pair of cthon. One took a fatal shot to the chest, while the other ducked behind the fallen hive rat.

The three remaining rats were now surging right into the midst of the Yuuzhan Vong. Tsetti experienced a sense of foreboding. She rolled away as a rat leapt by her, right at Chung. The young woman grabbed it in the Force, but its front leg was too long and its claws dug deeply into the man's chest. Tsetti screamed, as she felt him die, and the rat was thrown several meters.

Before even returning to her feet, she opened fire on another hive rat. But her shot merely grazed its shoulder. Her second shot destroyed the beast's left eye. Her third shot was nonexistent; the blaster was... dead. Aided by the Force Tsetti chucked the weapon at the rat's other eye. She extended her hands out in front of her. Wrath exploded from her fingertips in the form of indigo fire. It fell upon the giant rat, singeing flesh and causing the creature to convulse.

Distracted as she was by the rat Tsetti didn't notice the creeping duo of cthon until they were right behind her. The young woman spun around just as the two sprang at her, knocking her to the ground before she could rain lightning upon them. A laser blast burned through the air and bored through one of her assailants' heads. She shoved the remaining cthon away, and scrambled to her feet. A shot to the chest took that one down.

Tsetti turned toward her rescuer, Naeron, just in time to see the rat she'd Force thrown earlier barrel into him. Bones broke and his limp body crumpled to the ground. Unconcerned the overgrown rodent charged toward Tsetti. Tears streaming down her face, she raised her arms toward the rodent. Mere sparks were all the exhausted Yuuzhan Vong could muster. The young woman pulled a knife from a sheath on her left thigh. She knew it wouldn't...

It was then that a truly horrific presence chose to reveal itself. It unleashed a power darker than anything Tsetti had ever felt upon the rat. She almost pitied the creature as its right flank caved in and bones were shattered; the impact hurled it several meters, onto a pile of rubble. That same dark power twisted a cthon's head completely around, nearly beheading it. The remaining cthon and their hive rats began screaming and shrieking as Yuuzhan Vong warriors in full crab armor maimed and killed them. Whatever power this was, it was not the Force.

Tsetti's thoughts went to Enzetti. She spotted her sister in the midst of a trio of cthon. As she ran to help her twin a bolt of onyx colored lightning sizzled through the air, and tore through the chest of one cthon, and then another. Enzetti slit the remaining one's throat with a knife. Recognizing that the fight was essentially over, the two sisters walked over to each other and held each other tightly.

Tsetti noticed that dreadful presence again, and felt her sister tremble. The owner of that presence stood nearby, crushing the last rat's skull with a large claw. Atop his head, like a pair of horns, were similar smaller claws. He turned toward Tsetti, his eyes full of pure darkness. But the blackness soon dissipated, revealing fiery green eyes. Armor paneling pulled away from his face, onto the top and sides of his head, along with his cheeks and chin. "Be not afraid, my daughters," soothed a startlingly loving voice."One is often fearful when encountering the divine. I am Yun Yuuzhan, and I have come to save my people."

Tsetti was dumbfounded. Yun Yuuzhan was here, standing before her. His presence was still terrifying, but she'd never encountered a god before, let alone the greatest of them. Simply eliciting tremendous fear didn't mean one was evil. "What are your names?" Yun Yuuzhan inquired softly.

"Tsetti."

Her sister turned around, and stared at Yun Yuuzhan a long moment. "Enzetti... Kwaad."

"We're identical twins."

"That is why you seem to share a life presence," Yun Yuuzhan reasoned. His expression saddened profoundly as he located Naeron and Chung. "My sons," he murmured mournfully. He walked over to the former and knelt beside him.

"That's Naeron Hul," Enzetti said. Neither she nor Tsetti could restrain their tears.

"You may rest now, Naeron Hul." Yun Yuuzhan went to the sisters' other fallen friend.

"Chung Sei," Tsetti said.

"You, also may now rest, Chung Sei." Yun Yuuzhan went back to Naeron, and gently took the blaster from his lifeless hands. He took a brief moment to examine the weapon. He pointed the muzzle at a dead hive rat, and carefully pulled the trigger. A green energy beam burned into the rodent's belly. It was so surreal to see the Creator of the universe handle and actually use a weapon of the infidels. Yun Yuuzhan returned his attention to Tsetti and Enzetti. "The infidels make very effective weapons. You and your friends used them to survive."

"We didn't know what else to do," Enzetti confessed, her voice cracking slightly. Tsetti squeezed her hand.

"I do not condemn you for this. While such constructions are profane, good can still be done through them. But my divine army has weapons that are just as effective." Yun Yuuzhan glanced down at the blaster. "Still, this abomination shall be studied to see what can be learned from it. If we are to destroy the infidels, then we must understand them. We must look upon the abomination." He handed the weapon to one of his soldiers.

"We know quite a bit about abominations," Tsetti commented.

Yun Yuuzhan laughed pleasantly. "Indeed. You live within one. I must hear more of this. But first let us depart from this wicked place."

"What about Naeron and Chung?" Enzetti wondered.

"We shall take their bodies, and lay them to rest elsewhere. They are my children. This cursed world is unworthy of them. A transport waits nearby; it shall take us to my vessel." A pair of warriors tenderly scooped up Chung and Naeron's bodies. "Walk beside me, my daughters," Yun Yuuzhan invited.

"Thank you for saving us," Tsetti said, as she and her twin took position to his left.

"It is why I have come, my child." Yun Yuuzhan placed a loving hand on her shoulder. He then reached past her and placed an affectionate hand on Enzetti's shoulder. He proceeded to gently guide the girls onward, and his warriors placed themselves protectively near the sisters. Enzetti seemed slightly ashamed of herself. "What troubles you, my beloved?"

The girl glanced downward. "We have no mutilations."

"Those are merely outward signs. What matters to me is what is on the inside. Is your soul mutilated?"

"I honestly don't know," Enzetti responded, beginning to cry.

"Are you devoted to me?"

"Of course," both sisters answered in unison.

"Then your souls are truly mutilated," he assured them. "There is much I must teach you. You both have realized that I do not use the power of the Force."

"We have," Tsetti said.

"I use a power called the Aether, which comes from myself. I wish to give this power to you, also. It would take some time for you to wield it effectively. But once you have mastered the power of the Aether you shall be transformed into divine warriors for my army. The Force is not what it seems to be. It tries to hide what it is. It is divided against itself because it is division. And it seeks to divide. But I do not hide my true nature. My power is unity, and I seek to unify."

A shiver spread through Tsetti's body. "We both use the Force."

"But not the light side; that is what truly deceives. You shall feel my power in much greater strength when we reach my vessel, the Sushchnost Gryzt'ador. You shall likely be terrified, and your every instinct shall tell you to resist this power."

"We can't receive your power if we fight it," Tsetti reasoned.

"That is correct," Yun Yuuzhan said. "And here's our transport." He gestured toward a glossy onyx colored craft tipped with an almost conical mass of fangs. The fangs parted, and the twins followed him in. "I would like to hear of your lives," he went on after he and the sisters had sat down. The trio spoke the whole time as the transport made its way back to Yun Yuuzhan's Leviathan. It was surreal, leaving the nightmare that was Coruscant. She and Enzetti had been born there, and now she knew they would never return.

"We are here," Yun Yuuzhan announced at last.

Tsetti felt a sense of horror and despair as the transport's fangs parted. She and her twin embraced each other. "Don't fight it," Enzetti reminded her.

"Let it empower you," Yun Yuuzhan added. He guided the girls into the hangar. "Welcome aboard the Sushchnost Gryzt'ador." Tsetti felt nauseous and short of breath, her every instinct screaming at her. She and Enzetti should have remained on Coruscant. They'd have been better off if the cthon and their hive rats had slaughtered them. Yun Yuuzhan wasn't...

Tsetti took a deep, steadying breath. She would not listen to the lies her own mind was trying to tell her. She gripped her sister's hand. "Come, Enzetti. We must embrace our destiny."

"I long for both of you to see what wonders await," Yun Yuuzhan said. "There is much work I must do. Perhaps you would like a tour of this vessel?"

Enzetti nodded enthusiastically.

Yun Yuuzhan turned toward a warrior in deep green, earthy colored crab armor. His eyes were a piercing orange. The lower right leg resembled a scorpion tail. The stinger served as a foot and reddened at the tip. He sported a snake head in place of a left hand. (desc)"Naz Ca, would you be so kind?"

"Of course, Yun Yuuzhan. I would be delighted."

"Save the bridge for last, and have Mol Ech teach my precious daughters some things."

Yun Yuuzhan jogged over to the nearest lift pod, and took it up to around the middle deck. Down a few corridors and he came to the stomach area. He opened the door through the back, coming into the spherical chamber that had once housed the tsentr. The yammosk eyed him with curiosity. "We must find my ancient foe." He sat down cross legged and pushed his mind outward to the creature; his consciousness expanded as he became one with it. Yun Yuuzhan stretched his enhanced perception through space, searching for a great power wielding both sides of the Force.

There were many planets powerful in the Force, some in the dark side, others in the light side. There was even one clothed in both, but it was not Sekot. Yun Yuuzhan's foe was very wise; it surely knew he and his army had arrived. It was hiding. He couldn't look for Sekot directly. He had to seek out the residue of its presence.

As he continued his search he felt a flicker of the light side. No, not one flicker, but many tiny ones. People. E'thinaa Fiur had told him of light side users called Jeedai. These Jeedai would surely give aid to Sekot if able. Yun Yuuzhan would simply kill them first.

!

"You made the right decision, Corran," Luke Skywalker assured the younger man. "As Jedi Grand Master, you'll often have to make decisions like this."

"We should move up the wedding," Irisia's hologram suggested into the ensuing silence. "I sense that things are about to become chaotic."

"If they haven't already," Corran piped in.

"More chaotic," she clarified.

Luke stood up from his chair. "Before we all go..." He turned to Corran. "Well you can go."

Corran feigned a hurt expression. "May the Force be with you, Luke."

"May it be with us all." Luke waited until he'd left the ops room, and then turned his attention to his fiance. Her likeness stood up, and wrapped holographic arms around him. Luke returned the embraced and, of course, felt nothing in his arms. He kissed Irisia and felt nothing on his lips. It was an odd feeling, or lack thereof. Luke reluctantly let go of her. "I love you, Irisia."

"I love you, also, Luke." And with that she was gone. He frowned, as a sense of foreboding welled up within. He shook his head, and jogged out of the ops room. He arrived at the Errant Venture's flight deck to find a Jedi apprentice Force lifting a matte black astromech into the droid socket of a matching StealthX.

"There you go, Master Skywalker," the four armed Cudro-Ji lad said. "May the Force be with."

"Thank you," Luke said, before climbing into the open cockpit.

...

A warble woke Luke from a dreamless sleep just seconds before the gray void of hyperspace slowly pulled apart into needles, and then shortened to pinpricks. There was no telltale flash of light as the matte black StealthX slowly reverted to realspace, just over the dark side of the moon, Centax-2. Dread coiled itself around Luke's soul a he felt the horrific stain of the Aether hanging over Coruscant. It was far worse than what he'd sensed from the Nephilim; they had merely existed in the Aether.

But Luke could sense that many, if not all, of the beings here could actually use the Aether's power. That certainly sounded like the True Yuuzhan Vong. How in the worlds they could have gotten to Coruscant already without anyone having noticed he could not fathom. He reached out to Corran. Vong!

Luke then focused his attention on the StealthX, and imagined its silhouette breaking up. He then pulled at the starlight and trapped pinpoints of it upon his StealthX like gnats on a spiderweb. Making sure to keep his Force signature small, he cautiously pulled away from Centax-2. The StealthX's R-10 astromech, Arty, warbled nervously. Hundreds of ships floated above Coruscant.

Among the more conventional Yuuzhan Vong ships were the Leviathans. They all seemed to be the size of large Star Destroyers. Each one was unique. They resembled dried out sea creatures. Luke thought back to the Leviathan Tahiri had described, as it had been before the fall. It grieved his soul that such beautiful creatures had been so utterly corrupted. Now they were just corpses.

Vessels were stretching and vanishing in flashes of light. But the light seemed somehow wrong. Lifeless and dull. Fleets of ships were moving out in multiple directions. The invasion had begun in earnest.

"Give me a close up, Arty." The little droid chirped obediently, magnifying the awful scene. The enemy ships were moving away from something in their midst. It appeared to be an enormous ring of asteroids joined together by golden energy beams. Ships were coming out of this ring. So that's how they got to Coruscant. There had to be another ring like this somewhere. Well that certainly explained Luke's earlier sense of foreboding.

This was a good time to leave. Luke cautiously began heading away from Centax-2's gravity well. His danger sense shrieked at him, and he blasted forward. He briefly took cover behind a chunk of debris, and then moved on to another just as a hail of purplish energy obliterated the first. Luke rolled the snub fighter to fly through a massive piece of a Mon Cal cruiser. There was a dull glow of violet energy partway through that shook his StealthX. While their stealth capabilities were a Force-send, these craft couldn't withstand the same abuse as their X-wing cousins. Fortunately the deceased cruiser had taken the brunt.

Luke was back in the open seconds later, jinking and juking. Pale purple and undiluted evil rained down all around him as he blasted onward. The surface of Coruscant loomed ever larger; he'd been heading there without realizing it. But he knew it was the Force guiding him; he wouldn't have made it to hyperspace.

The fighter bucked as more enemy fire grazed it. Arty squealed and went silent. Poor little guy. And if Luke didn't do something brilliant soon, he'd be a goner, too. Fire began to lick the failing deflector shield, as the StealthX made it to Coruscant's atmosphere. No longer useful, Luke let his illusion fade away. A third shot grazed his shield, reducing its strength to eleven percent. One more hit and that would be it.

In addition to amethyst death rays, flaming bits of debris that trailed smoke were falling to Coruscant. Surrendering even further to the Force, Luke veered over and into one of the smoggy tails. Just like during the strafing run on the first Death Star he ignored the sensor equipment, which was currently useless anyway.

Luke sped forward while angling out of the tail, and placed his fighter in front of the artificial meteorite. Several minutes later had pulled away. He pressed the eject button, causing small explosives near the canopy's hinges to blast it off. A parachute billowed out, yanking the seat out.

Luke pushed against the flames with the Force, preventing them from consuming him. The parachute slowed him considerably, allowing the falling debris to overtake him. Fortunately the smoke trail seemed to keep him hidden. When the seat was a dozen or so feet above the ground, he removed his restraints. He jumped down, using the Force to cushion his landing. Luke spotted a partial building nearby and briskly walked over to it. He smiled upon finding a chair, and sat. It was only then that the exhaustion started setting in.

"What now," Luke grumbled as a fresh feeling of foreboding welled up within.