Hey, everybody. Back with another chapter.

Let's get to it.

Chapter 5- Identity

(June 6, 2026)

Out of his canopy, Jared watches as the planet Mustafar comes into view as he drops out of hyperspace. He and the Squadron had immediately made their way to Mustafar after their rendezvous over Mos Eisley. All of them are praying that they can find something here that will guide them towards their targets.

Jared pulls up a map of Mustafar on his cockpit display. The Alliance had just re-mapped Mustafar two years prior, so his map was very up to date.

Jared carefully looks over the map to familiarize himself with Mustafar's general layout before he calls out over the radio, "Alright. I've found the location of the ruins. Transmitting location now." He then transmits the exact coordinates of the ruins of Fortress Vader to the rest of the squadron over a secure network.

"Copy that. We'll fly in and secure the landing site for you," Jonathan says. He then throttles up with the rest of the Hammer Squadron and they dive towards Mustafar's surface, Jared following relatively close behind.

The Squadron enters the atmosphere and slow down to about 500 mph. Each of the pilots arm their laser cannons and separate to comb the landing site for any sign of resistance.

Jonathan is the first to reach 500 feet and level off to start the search. For the next several minutes, the Squadron searches for any sign of any enemies. Although they see nothing, it doesn't take them long before one of the pilots spots a Lambda class shuttle parked very close to the ruins themselves.

"This is Hammer 8. I've located a shuttle about less than a hundred meters from the ruins of the fortress," the pilot calls over the radio.

"Somebody's here from offworld. Hit it," Jonathan orders. Hammer 8 quickly turns back towards the shuttle, lines it up in his gunsight, and then squeezes the trigger. His laser cannons spring to life and blow the shuttle apart.

"Target destroyed," Hammer 8 calls over the radio.

Jonathan then gets on the radio. "Hansen, the landing site is clear, but we destroyed a shuttle close to the ruins. You're gonna have company down there," he warns Jared.

"Understood," Jared responds. He then flies his fighter down towards the site of the ruins. He reigns the SF-23 in to hover just over the ruins.

"Take over, TR6. I'll let you know when to come pick me up," Jared says as he unstraps himself. He then opens the canopy and leaps out of the cockpit. As soon as he's clear, his astro droid, TR6, closes the canopy and flies the fighter to a safe distance.

Jared draws and ignites his lightsaber, ready for anything that lies ahead. He then moves carefully into the ruins of the fortress, ready to find whoever is so interested in this place.

Jared carefully searches the ground level of the ruins, carefully looking for any sign of whatever visitors are present in the ruins. However, he sees no sign of anybody, other than some signs of recent disturbance of the ruins. After a few minutes, he finds a way down into the lower levels of the ruined fortress.

As Jared enters the lower levels, he realizes immediately how much of a dark side presence still exists in this place. He surrounds himself with the light side of the Force, focusing his attention on memories of Lacy and Brooklyn and his training under Master Plo, helping to stave off the feeling of darkness.

Jared enters the lower passages, lightsaber held out in front of him to help light the way. While surrounding himself in the Force to help stave off the darkness, he is also feeling for anything around him. Any sign of the visitors he knows are here.

Suddenly, he senses something. Just up ahead, he can sense something. He remains calm, not reacting outwardly.

Suddenly, he hears it. The sound of an electrostaff activating just off to the side. Jared immediately raises his lightsaber, easily blocking an electrostaff as it comes down towards his head. Sure enough, he sees that the staff is being wielded by a cloaked figure, with stars depicted on the robe. A second later, he realizes there is also a second cultist, rushing him with another electrostaff.

Jared forces the first staff back and kicks the cultist in the knee, making the cultist stumble back. He then deflects the second cultist's blow before it even gets close.

With just these few simple moves, Jared has already realized that these cultists are very inexperienced with these weapons and are no match for him at all. Jared quickly presses his advantage and pushes the second cultist back, rushing the cultist as he stumbles back. Jared slashes at him several times, forcing the cultist further off balance before drawing his saber back and stabbing it through the cultist's chest.

The man falls as the first one rushes Jared again. The cultist takes a wild swing at his head, but Jared ducks, spins, and cuts off one of the man's legs. The man collapses with a cry of pain, the electrostaff cluttering against the rock.

Jared kicks the staff away. He then uses his foot to turn the cultist over onto his back. Jared uses the Force to pull the cultist's hood back and then levels his saber at the man's throat.

"You belong to the cult I've been hearing about recently in the news," Jared says.

"You will not win, worshipper of the light. Only the dark side will prevail," the cultist says.

"I don't worship the light side, only Jesus Christ. But I sure as heck know how to use the light side, and last I checked, it was the light side that won the Galactic Civil War," Jared responds.

"There is chaos in the galaxy. We shall use that chaos to bring the dark side back to prominence," the cultist insists.

"You sure seem confident for a group I've never heard of before," Jared responds.

"You have heard of us. We have existed for a thousand years. We are the Dark Force!" the cultist says.

"The Dark Force, huh? Well thank you for telling me that," Jared says. He then turns and starts to head back to the surface. As he goes, Jared calls TR6 to bring his fighter down.

Jared gets back up to the surface quickly, where he finds his SF-23 hovering just about 15 feet over the ruins. Jarec climbs onto the ruins of a wall and uses it as a springboard to leap straight up, high enough for TR6 to move the fighter underneath him. Jared comes down on the nose and then clambers into the cockpit.

As Jared closes the canopy and straps himself back into his seat, he gets on the radio. "Hey, Page. Why don't you guys drop a few bombs on this place?"

"Did you find anything?" Jonathan asks.

"Yup. Two cultists. And they gave me the name of their group. I want to make a quick trip to Ossus. I want to speak to Skywalker," Jared says.

"Sounds like a plan," Jonathan says. He then contacts the rest of the Squadron and says, "Hammer 5 and 6, lay a few thousand pounders on those ruins, please?"

"Copy that, Captain," Hammer 5 calls over the radio. He and Hammer 6 then wing over and dive towards the ruins of the fortress, each dropping four 1,000 pound bombs on the ruins. The bombs impact across the ruins, blasting through them surface ruins and into the lower passages. The cultists Jared left alive is killed by the blasts.

Hammer 5 and 6 pull up out of their dives and form up with the rest of the Squadron and Jared as they all head up out of Mustafar's atmosphere, ready to make the journey to Ossus.

(June 8, 2026)

"So, this cult is known as the Dark Force?" Luke asks.

Jared had arrived on Ossus about an hour earlier. Luke had come to meet him at the entrance, and while the Squadron waited, Jared had sat down with Luke to talk about this new discovery in the case and see if Luke knew anything about this so-called Dark Force.

"Yes. The cultist I fought on Mustafar told me as much," Jared responds. He pauses for a moment, then asks Luke, "Does that name mean something to you? Have you heard of them before?"

Luke takes a second to respond before he says, "I know a little about them. Things I have learned in recent years in my explorations around the galaxy. However, what I know isn't much."

"Anything you can tell me would help," Jared responds.

Luke is again quiet for a moment before he says, "Alright. This is what I know. The Dark Force was founded about a thousand years ago. In the Sith lineage descending from Darth Bane, the third Sith Lord took an apprentice known as Darth Millenial. However, he rejected the Rule of Two, and so was disowned by his master. In response, Millennial travelled to the ancient Sith world of Dromuund Kaas. There, he founded a new dark side religion, which became the Dark Force cult. The Dark Force worships some of the same principles Sith cults do, but also some other dark principles of other various dark side prophets from eons past."

"What is their goal?" Jared asks.

"For a long time, it has simply been the worship of the dark side. However, they became more powerful under the Empire. They likely want to bring back the influence of the dark side and expand the worship of the dark side," Luke responds.

Jared is quiet for a few moments before saying, "Do they still operate from Dromuund Kaas?"

"Yes, but it's not their primary base, from what I know," Luke says.

"Do you know where their primary base is?" Jared asks.

"No. Only that it's somewhere in the Outer Rim," Luke answers.

Jared is quiet for a moment before he says, "I'm going to do my best to work with the Squadron to find and destroy the Dark Force. But we could really use your help, Luke."

"I'm sorry, Jared. I can't do that right now. I'm occupied trying to train Grogu and find other possible Padawans. And on top of that, Kelly's due any day now. She's in no state to come with me, and I can't leave her," Luke says.

Jared nods in agreement. Luke and Kelly had announced their first pregnancy six months ago, and Kelly's now full term. As a father himself, Jared can't fault Luke for not wanting to leave Kelly behind, even for something important like this.

"Very well. I have another idea for somewhere to go for help," Jared says.

"I'm sorry, Jared. You know I wish I could help," Luke says.

"Luke, don't worry about it. I'm a father too. I understand it. Just be ready to receive my call if I call," Jared says.

"I will," Luke responds.

Jared nods, then stands up with Luke. "As always, Master Skywalker, a pleasure. I'm sure I'll see you again soon enough," Jared says. The two shake hands, and Jared starts heading for the entrance to Luke's temple, his mind going through what steps he should take next.

And, I'll end the chapter there. I hope you liked this one.

So, yes. The Dark Force has shown up in this series. As I explained through Luke, the Dark Force was founded almost a thousand years before the Battle of Yavin by Darth Millenial after he was disowned by his master, Darth Cognus, and Millenial abandoned the Sith. It was a dark side cult that followed ancient dark side teachings. And they'll be the primary enemy in this story.

Also, yes. Luke and kelly are finally expecting a child. I plan for their child to be a main character in the sequel, but wanted to introduce them before the story in some way.

Next chapter will be up soon. Until it is, please leave a review, and stay tuned!