Hey, everybody. Back with another chapter. Hope you like this one.
So, this one is gonna feature a pretty important operation by the Terran Alliance. Hope you like what I do here.
Let's get to it.
Starpottergeek: Yes, the Chimaera will be repaired. Not sure when I'll finally show the Chiss.
Drax715: No, Thrawn will not become the head of the Terran Alliance at any point.
Chapter 54- The Dark World
(July 31, 2016)
"Coming out of hyperspace…now," the pilot of the Pathfinder shuttle says as he pulls back on the hyperspace throttles.
Behind the pilot, Calvin watches as the blue of hyperspace disappears, and up ahead, the darkened planet Korriban comes into view up ahead.
Calvin stares out of the viewport at the planet. Then, he hears someone come into the cockpit, and turns to see Serra keto walk up beside him. Although she had retired to live a normal life following the Clone Wars, she decided to return to duty to serve as a leader in the Terran Alliance Armed Forces during the leadup to the Imperial attack on Earth. She had been chosen to help lead this mission.
Seeking to find any information that could help them defeat Darth Vader and the Emperor, the Terran Joint Command had decided to mount an expedition to Korriban, the ancient homeworld of the Sith. The purpose of the expedition was to recover Sith artifacts for study to give the Alliance further insights into the Sith, as well as to see if the Empire had established any kind of presence on Korriban.
Although they did not believe there was any major Imperial presence on Korriban, if there was an Imperial presence at all, the Joint Command was not taking any chances, and had sent the best they had for this mission. Leading the mission was Serra, Calvin, and Colonel Gates of the ASAT team. The team under them was made of 10 Zulus, 6 Deltas, 6 Spetsnaz, and four men from Clone Force Five: Fives, Echo, Jesse, and Wrecker.
Despite the fact they believed there was no significant Imperial presence on Korriban, going to the planet was very unnerving. All of them had done extensive research on Korriban and its history in preparation for the mission, and even all of the Zulus, all of whom had extensive training to suppress fear and unease, were nervous about going to Korriban, knowing that even without any Imperial presence, it would be a dangerous place.
"Time to landing?" Calvin asks.
"Twenty minutes," the pilot says.
"Good," Calvin says. He and Serra then turn and walk back out of the cockpit and into the passenger bay. There, the rest of the team is waiting in silence.
"Alright, team. We've emerged from hyperspace, and we're 20 minutes away from landing on Korriban. Gear up," Serra says. The men all nod and start checking all of their gear and their weapons.
Gates walks over to Serra and Calvin. "Any sign of any Imps?" he asks.
"No ships over Korriban, and no sign of any major installation. If there are any Imperial forces on Korriban, they're not very numerous," Calvin responds.
"Good. Hopefully this will be an easy mission," Gates says.
"Nothing will be easy on Korriban. There will be parts of the planet that will try to kill us. It is dangerous for me to even be in its presence, so strong is its influence in the dark side," Serra says.
"Why did you volunteer to lead this mission then?" Gates asks.
"Despite the danger from the dark side, I felt this mission needed a Jedi to lead it to protect against some of the dangers of the planet. And I will do whatever is needed to help remove the threat of the Sith forever," Serra says.
"Well, we're glad to have you on the team," Calvin says, making Serra smile a little.
The team finishes its preparations and waits in silence for the shuttle to land. Finally, they feel some turbulence, and then they feel the shuttle set down. Then, the pilot calls back, "We're on the ground! You're clear!"
The boarding door opens and the ramp comes down. Very quickly, the team storms out of the door and down the ramp.
Once outside the shuttle, all of them stop and slowly take a look around at the landscape of Korriban. To say it is a wasteland might be an understatement. Jagged rocky landforms dot the landscape. They can feel the heat, and the fierce wind blowing. In the distance, they can see sandstorms. More than that, every member of the team, even those who aren't force sensitive, can feel the pure evil and darkness that permeates this place.
"This place gives me the creeps," one of the Deltas.
"Can't argue there, American," one of the Spetsnaz says.
"I kinda want to go back to Earth," Wrecker says nervously.
Everyone is quiet. Then, Calvin pulls out one of his lightsabers and ignites it. The glowing silver blade seems to shine brighter than normal and alleviate some of the feeling of darkness.
"I know this place is unlike anywhere we've ever been. But we have a mission. Let's finish it, and then we can get the h*** out of here," Calvin says.
Serra looks around at the team. "Alright. Separate squads. Head for the target buildings. Keep in constant radio contact. Alsakan, Lawrence, keep a lookout for any Imperial forces," she says.
"Yes, ma'am!" The men all say, and they separate into their different squads, with eight going with each of the three leaders, and Lieutenant Colonel Lawrence and Major Alsakan flying off to take up a lookout position on the top of a large nearby hill.
The three teams head north, to the Valley of the Dark Lords. As they enter the valley, and see the towering temples and tombs built into the mountains on either side, the feeling of unease and darkness intensifies. The further they walk into the Valley, the commandos begin to feel an increasing urge to turn back. However, they remember their training and suppress their fear as best they can, and press on.
Finally, near the end of the valley, the teams split. Serra leads her team into one of the temples, while Calvin leads his team into another, and Gates leads his team into the temple at the end of the valley. The temple that holds the tomb of Darth Bane.
As Gates and his team enters the Temple, they can feel the chill intensify. Gates pulls out his lightsaber and ignites it to give the team a bit more light. The men, including four Zulus, two Deltas, and two Spetsnaz, attach small flashlight to their weapons and switch them on.
As they enter the main part of the temple, they see a massive stone sarcophagus at the end of the hall they've entered, and behind it, a massive statue.
"Who is that?" one of the Spetsnaz asks.
"The ancient Sith Lord Darth Bane. He was the last survivor of the near destruction of the Sith a thousand years ago, and created the Rule of Two that the Sith follow now," Gates says.
Everyone is quiet for a moment before Gates says, "Alright. Spread out. Teams of three. If you see anything, call it in." The team nods, and splits into smaller teams of three.
As the other two teams head off to the side, Gates and the two Deltas with him examine their immediate surroundings. One of them sees some glyphs written in the runic language of the Sith. Having studied the language of the Sith as a military interpreter, he kneels down to start reading the glyphs.
However, right as he pulls out a notepad to start writing down what he can understand, a powerful chill suddenly falls over them. The three of them freeze, and all look at each other. "What is that?" one of the Deltas asks.
Gates looks grim. "They're here," he says.
In a nearby temple, Calvin is examining a holocron he just discovered. Suddenly he feels the sudden chill. The two Zulus with him swivel their heads around, confused. "Even I felt that. What is that?" one asks.
Calvin grows serious. "It's the dark side," he says before turning and spring out of the room.
Back in Bane's temple, Gates looks all around the main room, as do the two Deltas, with their weapons raised. Then, they hear a grinding. Glancing to the end of the hall, they see the tomb of Darth Bane sliding along the ground away from them, revealing stairs descending through the floor.
Then, a dark from appears through the hole in the floor. Then, Darth Vader appears, slowly ascending the stairs into view.
The two Deltas aim their carbines at him, but with a motion of his hand, Vader uses the Force to yank the weapons away.
"Get the others and get them out of here. Get the others. Leave Vader to me," Gates says. The two Deltas move to grab the rest of the team and get them out of the temple as Gates moves towards Vader, his green lightsaber shining brightly.
Vader walks forward towards Gates, drawing and igniting his lightsaber. "You have come a long way to die, Terran," he says.
"Took the words right out of my mouth, Vader," Gates says, spinning his lightsaber once in hand before he sprints towards Vader.
Gates, stabs his saber at Vader's chest. Vader easily deflects the blow and strikes at Gates' head. Gates easily ducks and swings his saber in an upwards slash, but Vader deflects the saber away.
Gates follows this up with a downwards slash aimed at Vader's head. Vader brings his saber up to block Gates' blow. The two sabers meet with a fierce crackle.
Gates struggles against Vader, trying to push his saber down as Vader holds him off. "You won't win, Vader," Gates says.
"Perhaps. Perhaps not. But you won't live to find out," Vader says. He lets go of his saber with one hand and uses the Force to send Gates flying back.
Gates quickly recovers and gets back to his feet. He charges towards Vader, slashing his saber at Vader's hip. Vader blocks it and stabs his saber towards Gates' chest, but Gates dodges aside. Vader follows up with a slash towards Gates' shoulder, but Gates blocks it.
The two exchange a flurry of blows. Vader slowly pushes Gates back, but Gates is mostly holding his own.
Then, Gates deflects a slash from Vader. He swings his saber up and tires to bring it down towards Vader's neck, but Vader blocks it, and the two sabers crackle. Again, Gates struggles against Vader, but Vader holds him off.
Then, going a bit unorthodox to his usual style, Vader lets go of his saber with one hand, then clenches his fist and punches Gates in the chest. Gates stumbles back, feeling one of his ribs break from the force of the punch. Then, before he can react, Vader drives his saber through Gates' stomach.
Gates' eyes go wide as the saber enters his body, and he drops his saber. He then collapses to the ground.
Vader stands over him, feeling dark triumph. Then, Gates smirks a bit and says weakly, "If you thought I was a tough opponent, went until you face him."
Vader then senses someone behind him, and hears a lightsaber igniting. He turns around and brings his saber up just in time to block Calvin's silver bladed saber.
The two sabers clash, crackling loudly. Vader looks at Calvin and asks, "Who are you?"
Calvin smirks and says, "I'm Calvin Adams. I'm sure you've met my dad. And if you ever thought he was a great warrior, I'm more dangerous than he ever was." Then, he quickly ignites his second saber and swings it at Vader's exposed left arm. Vader tries to draw his arm back, but Calvin's blade manages to cut through his armor near his elbow.
Vader growls and tries to swing his saber at Calvin's head. Calvin deflects it with ease. He then spings a complete 360, bringing his sabers towards Vader's waist. Vader manages to block them, but Calvin quickly separates his sabers. He swings one at Vader's chest, which Vader blocks, but Calvin then follows up with a strike from his other saber towards Vader's leg. The saber cuts through the side of Vader's leg, causing Vader to groan and stumble. Calvin follows up with a roundhouse kick to Vader's chest, knocking the Sith Lord flat on his back.
Calvin leaps up to bring his sabers down on Vader. Vader responds with a blast of power from the Force that sends him flying back through the air. However, Calvin rights himself in midair and lands on his feet.
Vader gets back on his feet and reignites his saber, just as he says Calvin charging to re-engage him. Calvin stabs one of his sabers at Vader's chest while slabbing his other at his lower stomach. Vader deflects the saber aimed at his chest, but the other manages to penetrate his stomach about an inch.
Calvin slashes several times, alternating between using one saber and using both sabers. The ferocity of his attack forces Vader back and back. Vader tries to block the incoming blows, but finds he can't keep up with Calvin's speed. He is quickly agreeing with Calvin's statement. Calvin is a fiercer fighter his father ever was.
Finally, Calvin slashes at Vader's non-sword arm as Vader is trying to block a slash aimed at his hip. Calvin's saber cuts over halfway through his arm just under his elbow. Vader growls angrily, while also recognizing that it is clear this is a fight he can't win. Deciding to end the fight, he raises the arm just damaged, reaches out with the Force, and uses it to pull a massive amount of rock out of the ceiling.
Calvin looks up as he sees the rock start to fall. He quickly runs away from Vader to avoid the falling rocks. He is just able to avoid being crushed by massive debris.
Taking a moment to regain his bearings, Calvin gets back to his feet and turns back towards Vader. However, to his dismay, Vader has vanished.
Calvin curses, then remembers Gates. "Alex!" he cries out as he runs over to where Gates is lying.
Dropping to his knees beside Gates, Calvin looks over his wound. "You're gonna be okay," Calvin says to Gates.
"No, I'm not. I know it. Don't lie to me," Gates says with a bit of a chuckle. He pauses, then says, "Tell my family I love 'em. And make sure the Empire pays for everything they've done." Then, he closes his eyes and takes his last breath.
Calvin looks down at the face of his brother in arms, then bows his head, clenching his fists angrily. After years of service, the forces of the dark side have finally taken one of the ASAT team.
After a minute, Calvin gets on the radio. "Lieutenant Colonel Gates is down. Everyone, grab what you can and get you're a**es back to the shuttle," he says. He then reaches down and picks up Gates' lightsaber, putting it on his belt. He then picks up Gates' body, and walks out of the temple.
Calvin walks carefully along the Valley of the Dark Lords to where the shuttle is waiting. As he walks around the side of the shuttle towards the boarding ramp, he finds the men have formed an aisle leading to the door. As Calvin walks past them towards the door, they salute, their final tribute to Gates.
As Calvin gets into the shuttle, he finds Serra waiting for him. Serra looks at him sadly and says, "Gates was a good man. He will be greatly missed."
"Yes. He will," Calvin says.
The rest of the team quickly get on board. Despite the mission having kind of ended in disaster with Gates' death, they were able to recover some holocrons, photographs of Sith inscriptions, and some other artifacts that seem to have some significance.
Finally, once they're all aboard, the shuttle takes off and heads out of the atmosphere.
Calvin walks into the cockpit right as the shuttle makes its jump to hyperspace. Right as he does, the transmission the pilot just made activates, and his father pops up.
"Hey, dad," Calvin says.
"How did the mission go?" Adams asks.
"We got some holocrons and pictures of inscriptions on the walls of some of the temples. But…Vader was there for some reason. And because of him…we lost Gates," he says.
Adams is quiet for a few moments before he says, "Well, that's really bad news. I'll contact his family, and alert the Joint Command and the Council of Five."
"The Empire has to pay for all they've done, dad," Calvin says.
Adams' expression is dark as he says, "They will, son. They will."
And, I'll end there. Hope you liked this one.
So, the ASAT team has finally lost a man. I felt it was something that needed to happen eventually, given how powerful Vader is, and that I didn't want to maintain an image that the ASAT team is invincible. I also wanted to show Calvin's first fight with Vader. I hope I can have Calvin face the Dark lord at least one more time, but we'll see.
So, I have news for you all. On Thursday, September 10, I will post the first of my EU stories in this series. It will be about how 9/11 occurred in this universe, and how some of the events of that day differed a bit from what happened in real life. It will be titled "When the World Stopped Turning". I will post the first chapter on the 10th. Then, chapter 2-7, all of which take place on 9/11, will be posted on the 11th, with about a chapter every hour or two. I hope you're excited for it. I won't be posting an update to this story to announce it's up, so you'll have to keep an eye out for it.
Well, until I get the next chapter of this story up, please leave a review, be watching for the side story, and stay tuned!