Chapter 42

The Chaos Wars:

Return of the Chosen

"And yet I'm sitting right here in front of you. Besides with all the other things like other dimensions and daemons becoming more than mere myth why not just add in the revival of the dead"

Anakin Skywalker to Leia Organa

------

The briefing room of the Decisive was a large octagonal chamber with its walls made out of dark grey transparisteel and its floors made out of black marble, a large view-port was situated on the far wall showing Korriban and the star dreadnought resting in its orbit. Within the chamber was an octagon shaped briefing table with the small tip of a holo-projector nestled in its centre. Sitting in the eight chairs were Luke Skywalker, Leia Organa, Han Solo, Jaina Solo, Jacen Solo, Tahiri Veila and finally the black armoured form of Anakin Skywalker.

"So then" Leia said, her face set in stone "How exactly are you alive?"

"We're not sure" Anakin replied as he took of his helmet, gaining several gasps from those in the room who had never met him before. Luke sat there stunned, instead of the badly burned face that he remembered on the second Death Star there was a man who looked around his age with a ruggedly handsome face, tanned skin and intelligent ice blue eyes, his curly hair reached down to his shoulders and was a dirty blonde "But I believe that it had something to do with the birth of the second eye of terror"

"What do you mean?"

"Well you all know about the galaxy-wide effects that took place after the thing came into being right?" he asked, gaining a collection of nods from everyone around the chamber, including Luke who nodded with a slight grimace, it was the same time that Mara had vanished "How known after-effects included a massive increase in wormholes, daemons appearing across the galaxy and a mass of shockwaves that made every psyker, both of the force and of the warp feel its effects"

"Of course" Leia replied, her face still set in stone but her emotions boiling over like a volcano.

"Well it appears that another result was that the lines between the living and the dead has been shattered" Anakin replied "The dead are returning to life"

"You can't be telling the truth" Leia replied, speechless but defiant "That's impossible!"

"And yet I'm sitting right here in front of you" Anakin pointed out "Besides with all the supposedly impossible phenomena like other dimensions and daemons becoming more than mere myth why not just add in the revival of the dead"

"Anyway the netherworld is under threat from this second eye just as much as the living galaxy" Anakin continued "It's infested the Chaos region of the force like a cancer"

"Chaos region" Jaina repeated "Isn't that a region in the afterlife where all of the evil beings go when they die?"

"Exactly" Anakin replied "Sith Lords, Dark Jedi and others of the like reside there after death"

"Which means that the forces of Chaos now have a foothold in the Chaos region" Luke said, grimacing at the thought "And a pool of dark side talent to draw from"

"Well said Luke" the elder Skywalker replied "And the arrival of an unknown entity has upset the balance of the force. I am here for two reasons, to help you to stem the tide of the Chaos invasion and to look for my fellows"

"Your fellows" Leia asked with a raised eye-brow.

"People have been vanishing from the netherworld without a trace, just vanishing" Anakin replied, his tone both grave and worried "Many of whom were friends of mine in life. I have betrayed them already in my lifetime, I will not betray them again Luke"

"How many of you are there" Han found himself asking.

"At the moment there are two hundred of us" he replied "Along with a number of soldiers and naval personnel. We control a strike force made out of thirty old Venator star destroyers, another thirty Providence Carriers, three Eclipse star dreadnoughts and finally the Executer"

"Eclipses" Luke asked in disbelief, remembering the 17km long black painted behemoths that smashed through the New Republic Fleets during the latter stages of the Galactic Civil War, one thing that he remembered the most was the superlasers built into their spines "How did you get your hands on those?"

"The Emperor kept several worlds and shipyards in the unknown regions" Anakin explained "These facilities were kept secret to the extent that only myself, Palpatine and the Grand Admiralty knew of their locations. He kept these stores just in case the Yuuzhan Vong managed to break through the combined Imperial Starfleet and spearhead into the Galactic Core"

"You got these ships and weapons from these shipyards" Leia asked.

"Just from one of them actually" Anakin replied, drawing several looks from the others surrounding the chamber "There are several others in the unknown regions, some have weapons and ships that weren't even officially entered into the Imperial Starfleet like several Tie prototypes and a few newer star destroyer, star cruiser and dreadnought models. Plus a few more interesting designs"

Luke was deep in thought, his mind trying to decipher the new information that was delivered to him. The Jedi Orders small numbers may have been bolstered with knights and masters who not only had experience in battle but knowledge of the orders history as well, even though the way their numbers had doubled seemed completely impossible he was taught by both Obi-wan and Yoda that with the force anything was possible. Along with it the possibility of acquiring ship and weapon designs that the emperor, Darth Sidious would have used as a backup against the Yuuzhan Vong armadas if his main fleets and armies couldn't contain them also had promise. It was known that Palpatine knew of the Yuuzhan Vong since before the Clone Wars, hence the reason why the Core and Inner-rim worlds were so heavily defended by clouds of defence platforms and armadas of starships. Something that was considered unorthodox for a handful of rebellious worlds, yet another reason why the Galactic Civil War lasted for just over two decades, from 2BBY all the way to 19ABY.

"Who's among the missing" Luke asked suddenly, when his father didn't answer he leaned closer, gaining several thoughtful glances from his family "Father, who is missing?"

Anakin messaged his temple and brought his ice blue orbs on Luke's similar coloured eyes, those eyes showed worry and sadness that made Luke fear for the worst "A handful of the missing individuals are people whom I would consider family but there is one in particular, Luke…its Obi-wan"

------

The smell of recently spilled blood and rotting flesh forced him out of his state of unconsciousness, having the same effect on him as pneumonia would have. He forced his tired eyes opened and made them focus, the first thing he saw was a solid black floor, caked over with several dry, multicoloured layers of blood. Screams of pain and agony brought him out of his trance, making him wince and involuntarily shiver, the smell of death around him made him sick but all that came up was water.

"Hey" a familiar voice said, her tone weak and hoarse. He forced himself to look up to see a familiar old friend across from him. Her skin was a cerulean blue with two long head tails bobbing down her nearly bare back, she wore nothing but torn and tattered rags that might have been robes and her once unblemished blue skin was covered in bleeding scratches, burns and cuts. What made his heart ache the most were her eyes, once a deep brown and full of life were now dead and practically lifeless. She was hanging almost two meters in the air, held there against the blackstone walls by rusted chains and shackles that were clamped around her wrists. On closer inspection he found himself in the same situation, his wrists shackled and his bare feet dangling a few inches from the floor.

He forced himself to look at the entire chamber, there were others shackled to the walls of the prison cell. Some were dead, their bodies hanging limply against the walls like sick decorations, others were either dying or in the same shape as Aayla with cuts, grazes, burns and bleeding scratches covering their bodies. Some he recognised and breathed a sigh of relief to see them still alive.

"Aayla" Obi-wan managed, feeling his own voice being hoarse but he ignored it and looked at the younger Jedi who he considered one of his oldest friends "Aayla, what happened to you. Are you alright?"

She tried to chuckle at his question, but broke out hacking and coughing instead, coughing up blood which dribbled down the corners of her mouth and dripped from her beautifully sculptured chin. Aayla Secura, Jedi Knight, hero of the Clone Wars and the woman that people were telling stories and creating legends about, even today looked like she had been attacked and toyed with by an enraged Wampa.

"Aayla don't try to talk" Obi-wan said "Put yourself into a healing trance"

"I try Obi-wan" she replied "But every time…every time…I come even close to falling into the trance…they come"

"Who" Obi-wan replied, seeing tears fall down the blood stained checks of his friend, he had never seen Aayla look so frightened before and she had looked the likes of General Grievous in the eye "Aayla" he repeated "Who?"

"Me"

He forced himself to look up at the voices owner, a female creature of a race he had never seen before, her figure was unnaturally slender and her skin was a smooth pink with long dark purple hair and pitch black eyes. Wearing skimpy leathers that wouldn't even be considered a bikini, the coiled up form of a black, bladed whip hanging to her waist and a pair of ragged featherless wings wrapped around her that reminded the Jedi master of a pair of wings from mythical creatures like dragons. She grinned evilly at him, showing rows of dagger like teeth, stained red with blood.

"Welcome to my playground Jedi" she said, her silky, seductive voice making him shudder "Try and last longer than this pitiful creature" she then dropped the dead form of a Rodian Jedi that he didn't know at her feet, blood spilling out of deep wounds and gashes in his chest and face, creating yet another puddle of blood on the already blood soaked floor, she then pointed a long nailed finger at Aayla and smiled "You were so much fun toying with my dear that I think I'll have fun with you again"

The Twi'lek Jedi didn't even struggle anymore; she just had no more energy, no more fight left in her as a pair of truly repulsive, hunchbacked creatures hopped towards her. Obi-wan closed his eyes and searched for the force, found it, revelled in its warmth and comfort before channelling it through him and unleashed it upon the demons heading towards his friend. The force blast hit the closest one head on, sending it flying across the chamber and slamming against the far wall at bone shattering speed. As it slumped to the floor he unleashed another blast of energy at the second daemon, sending it to meet the same fate as its comrade.

Breathing raggedly he regarded the feminine demon at the other end of the chamber with a steady stare, she was surprised for a moment before smiling wickedly, he took that chance to speak "Stop picking on those who can no longer defend themselves. You want someone to toy with…try me!"

Her truly evil grin seemed to get even more evil "Alright mister Jedi. I guess I can have my fun with one of my favourite toys later" she sneered as a pair of heavily armoured warriors passed by her and moved towards Obi-wan. He shivered involuntarily, the smell of blood and death was worse from these two marines than from the very chamber itself.

Aayla

Yes

I'll draw her fire for a little while, you put yourself into a healing trance he strengthened his psychic voice, so that all of the force-sensitive's in the cell could hear him as the warriors roughly undid his shackles and dragged him out of the chamber. All of you, put yourselves into healing trances. If we're going to escape we need everyone able to at least move.

"Jedi" the female whispered into his ear as he was dragged to her "You have courage, let's see how long that will last. My name is Ra and I am known as a Daemon Princess" she hissed on the S, flicking a snake like tongue into his ear which made him shudder, force what had he gotten himself into this time.

Short, I know and sorry but it's just a prelude to the next chapter. Pulling away from the war at large for a little while and concentrating on the Jedi, the next chapter will be called, Into the Black Eye. Just wondering did I get the scene for a Chaos stronghold right or was I off, was it evil enough and so on?