"Where are we going now, Ship?" Velk asked as the Sith Meditation Sphere piloted him out of the Korriban system's gravity well and sped into hyperspace.
To the Maw, Ship answered.
"Why?" Velk inquired. "Shouldn't we continue with the investigation back on Korriban?"
That is now a secondary concern, Ship replied.
Velk couldn't help but roll his eyes. He should have been leading Ship, not the other way around. "To what?"
The fate of the galaxy.
.
Dorvan sighed in sadness as he, sitting in his office desk, sifted through all the death threats sent by Coruscanti citizens and proposals for votes of no confidence by Galactic Alliance politicians for that Jaina Solo Fel scandal on his datapad. He never realized that such a relatively small thing such as this, even if it did violate the Jedi ban, could be blown up so out of proportion.
He was about to close up his datapad when the door to his office opened up and his Chief of Security, a male Rodian named Horass, and two fair-skinned male humans walked in.
"Chief Dorvan, we must get you to the underground bunker immediately," Horass said.
Not arguing with the Rodian, Dorvan stood up and allowed himself to be led by the three security guards out of his office, turning off his datapad and putting it back into his pocket again. "What's going on?" he asked as they were joined by Dorvan's Chief of Staff, the female Twi'lek Desha Lor, toward the turbolift down the hall.
"An invasion for Coruscant by the Chiss Ascendancy," Horass reported. "Don't worry, sir, the Defense Force will do everything in their power to-"
The Rodian was cut off from saying anything else as the five of them, who were halfway to the elevator, suddenly collapsed prone to the floor, grabbing their heads in agony.
When the pain stopped, they were part of Thuruht.
Along with everyone else in the Coruscant system.
.
Having just returned to Shedu Maad's Jedi Temple, the eleven remaining Jedi Masters walked at a brisk pace for the Council room to discuss their next move against Thuruht when they were intercepted by a worried-looking young human male Jedi Knight.
"Grand Master Hamner, you must see this!" the Knight said as he took out a datapad from his belt and activated it, showing the expressionless face of who Hamner recognized was a redhead version of Amelia Solo, Han and Leia's adopted daughter, standing in the background of the bridge of a Star Destroyer.
"This is a message to all who are not part of us yet," the girl said in a flat yet menacing monotone. "We, the Killik nest of Thuruht, now rule this galaxy. We have taken over not only the Chiss Ascendancy, the reigning power of what you all deem the Unknown Regions of the galaxy, but we have also inducted your primary government, the Galactic Federation of Free Alliances, into our collective will.
"Make no mistake, we will come for all who remain as individuals in the galaxy, and we will make you part of us. We send this message out not to frighten or threaten, but as an invitation. We invite you to join us of your own free will, for it will be the last act that any of you will be able to accomplish on your own. All those who would dare oppose us will either be part of us, one way or the other, or they will be destroyed as we see fit.
"In any case, for those who would dare to oppose us, we offer you this comfort: this is for your own good, for it will save this galaxy from utter chaos and destruction, not only from the troubles caused by organizations and governments run by pathetically flawed individuals, but from the one who came so close to destroying your galaxy mere months ago: the entity known as Abeloth, who was known to have caused the near-destruction of Coruscant during the most recent battle between the Jedi and the Sith.
"Before you do try to wage war against us, take note that we have not caused any destruction when we took the Ascendancy and the Alliance. Hence, we feel that you should not only know that we come in peace, but you should also keep in mind that resistance is futile."
With that, the broadcast ended as the screen cut to black.
Complete and total silence permeated the hall that led to the Jedi Council room. Other Jedi who had been walking through the corridors nearby had all stood still and maintained that silence.
"We're doomed, aren't we, Master?" the Jedi Knight who showed Hamner and the others the broadcast asked in a hopeless tone.
Hamner hesitated before he replied. "Not if we can help it," he said with half-hearted determination in his voice.
.
Isolated in her private bedchambers, Hapan Queen Mother Tenel Ka Djo allowed the tears to flow freely from her eyes as she grieved for her little Allana. With her datapad, which just showed her the speech that her daughter delivered for the Killiks, plopped on her side, Tenel Ka couldn't help but wonder how this could possibly happen.
She hadn't felt this kind of pain since she realized that Jacen had fallen to the dark side of the Force all those years ago. How could she have been so blind to that then? How could she have not felt Allana join the Killik hive mind now? Was there something wrong with her connection to the Force? Did being Queen Mother somehow hamper her ability to feel the fates of those closest to her?
Tenel Ka couldn't think straight; her thoughts were in such turmoil and disarray, she feared she might lose the composure expected of her as Queen Mother even under times of great duress. She felt like an unstable hyperdrive core ready to blow and take out the ship that it served. If one more thing happened to her... Never, since Jacen - Jacen, not Caedus - had died during the Yuuzhan Vong War, did Tenel Ka feel this way. Amidst all the pain and suffering she was undergoing right now, Tenel Ka couldn't help but wish that she had Yuuzhan Vong-loyal Hapan pirates that she could take her frustrations out on, just like when Jacen died by the Yuuzhan Vong's hands.
How could anyone expect her to remain cool and level-headed at this time when it was her own daughter who had just represented the enemy?