* Chapter 1 *

"Admiral! Sensors just registered an explosion on Coruscant!"

Admiral Mo'Ari whirled around to face the sensor officer who had spoken. Every other crew member on the bridge of the Alliance Star Destroyer Reliant turned as well, taking their eyes off of their various stations. Commander Mek Dain, who was standing next to Mo'Ari on the command walkway, noticeably flinched.

"What kind of explosion?" asked the admiral. "Where?"

The officer typed some keys on his computer console, and his eyes widened in shock. "It was at Obsidian Towers! Everything within a four-block radius is on fire!"

"Four blocks?" Mo'Ari repeated, aghast. Obsidian Towers was one of the best hotels on Coruscant. Its popularity meant that it was the center of a bustling neighborhood filled with entertainment, dining, and shopping venues. If an explosion had engulfed such a large portion of the galactic capital, there could be potentially tens or even hundreds of thousands of civilian casualties. "Any idea what caused it?"

"No, sir. I can analyze the sensor data to try and find some clues."

"Do it," Mo'Ari commanded. Turning his head to address the rest of the crew, he added, "Everyone else, be on high alert. If this was an attack, we should be prepared for more."

Everyone on the bridge verbally acknowledged his order and set about their respective duties. Mo'Ari had total faith in his crew, but the circumstances were not ideal. The Reliant had sustained significant damage during the recent Battle of Gederon and was confined to Coruscant's orbit while it underwent repairs. Although most of the primary systems were back online, the ship was not at a high enough operational capacity for Mo'Ari to be comfortable taking it into combat. Plus, the ship was currently manned by only seventy-five percent of its usual crew complement.

Normally, Mo'Ari would not be overly concerned about an explosion on-planet. There were thousands of military and civilian personnel on the capital planet who were prepared to quickly respond to such an emergency, whether it was an accident or not. Also, the Reliant was only one of dozens of ships that made up Coruscant's defense fleet, so there would be no need to worry about any possible attacks from orbit. Except these were unusual times. The Galactic Alliance was currently at war with the New Sith Order. The Sith had been responsible for the devastating defeat at Gederon and the near decimation of Mo'Ari's fleet, courtesy of a powerful new battlecruiser called the Leviathan. The possibility that they were also responsible for this explosion was too strong to ignore.

"I need to get back to the surface," Mek stated.

Mo'Ari shook his head in disagreement. "You're safer up here until we know what we're dealing with."

"I'll be just as safe in my office as I am here."

"We don't know that. What if there's another explosion, and the defense base is the next target?

"What if this ship is the next target?" Mek countered. "It would not be good for you if the Supreme Chancellor's son died because you kept him from escaping an attack."

Mo'Ari resisted the urge to roll his eyes. Mek Dain was stubborn to the point of being rude. The fact that he was the son of Chancellor Don Dain only made it worse. It was as though he thought his father's position gave him special privilege. "This ship's defense systems are fully operational. If we were attacked, you'd be safer here than on the planet.

"I am the commander of the Coruscant Defense Force. If this is an attack, I need to go down to the planet to oversee its defense."

"You can do that from here," Mo'Ari pointed out. "The communications system is fully repaired, and the holotable in the command salon will give you a full view of everything at once."

The Gran bristled, his three eyes narrowing in their stalks. "I will command from wherever I see fit, Admiral. Now, if you will excuse me, I need to get to my ship." Without another word, he turned on his heel and began to head to the turbolifts at the rear of the bridge.

Mo'Ari shook his head in resignation. He knew it would be pointless to argue with Mek. It would be easier to just let him go, even if it put him at risk. If anything happens to him, he thought, at least the security recordings will show that I tried to stop him.

Just before Mek reached the rear of the bridge, the doors slid shut in front of him. "What?" He pressed the wall-mounted button to reopen them, but nothing happened. He turned around to reveal the furious expression on his face. "Open these doors!" he demanded.

"They should have opened when you pressed the button," Mo'Ari responded with a tone of confusion.

"Admiral," called an officer. "The whole ship just went into lockdown. None of the doors are opening."

"What?" A sense of danger prickled Mo'Ari's senses. "On whose orders?"

The officer shook her head, dumbfounded. "No one. The system just did it on its own, but I'm not registering anything that would trigger an automatic lockdown."

"That wasn't supposed to happen!" Mek exclaimed. Startled and confused by his outburst, Mo'Ari turned to face him just before the Gran tried to hide his shock.

Although he was overreacting, Mek had a point. A Star Destroyer does not just decide to go into lockdown for no apparent reason. Something was going on. And Mo'Ari had a bad feeling that it was related to the explosion on Coruscant.

The door slid upward to admit Ahsoka Tano. The Togruta Jedi Master strode briskly into the room, her brown cloak billowing behind her. The Tactical Operations Center of the Jedi Temple was a large, circular room ringed with various computer consoles, each with the ability to connect to multiple systems, such as communications, sensors, the HoloNet, military feed, and more. The center of the room was occupied by a single large, circular holotable that could display a large number of holographic images at once, allowing those present to see everything that was happening. It was very useful in assessing and dealing with catastrophic situations.

Such as the one that had just arisen.

Nearly twenty Jedi were already present when Ahsoka, the acting Grand Master, arrived. Among them were Jedi Masters Kenth Hamner and Octa Ramis, standing next to each other in front of the holotable. They bowed their heads to Ahsoka in acknowledgement as she joined them.

"Report," she ordered. "What's happened?"

Kenth gestured to the holotable, which was currently displaying a large area of a Coruscant neighborhood with towering skyscrapers and smaller buildings that were no less impressive. However, most of the buildings were obscured by thick, black smoke. The visible structures around the smoke were on fire, their durasteel shells scorched. No people were discernible at the hologram's scale, although Ahsoka feared there were thousands.

Kenth explained, "A few minutes ago, every building within a four-block radius of Obsidian Towers exploded. Coruscant Fire and Rescue just arrived on the scene. Unfortunately, we don't know anything else at the moment."

"Do we have footage of the explosion?" Ahsoka asked.

Instantly, the hologram flickered, and the smoke and fire disappeared. Every building was untarnished and gleaming in the morning sun. In the center of the image were three identical hundred-and-fifty-story-tall buildings, whose footprints were shaped like equilateral triangles with rounded corners. The skyscrapers tapered slightly towards their flat roofs, which were still sizable. The towers were arranged side by side with the center one facing the opposite direction, such that their outer edges formed a trapezoid. They were connected by an elevated trapezoidal outdoor plaza at the one hundredth floors that wrapped around and between the three buildings. The entire complex was called Obsidian Towers after the skyscrapers' black durasteel rounded edges and outer walls comprised of tinted transparisteel panels.

Ahsoka watched as flames burst through the windows of the skyscrapers and at least a hundred of the surrounding buildings simultaneously. She felt a heavy pang! in her heart at the instant she saw the explosion. Obsidian Towers was not a government or military installation; it was a hotel for innocent civilians who had done nothing to deserve their fate.

"Open a channel to Chancellor Dain," she commanded.

The Jedi manning one of the consoles obliged, and, within seconds, a hologram of Chancellor Don Dain, sitting at his desk, appeared in front of Ahsoka's face. While the elderly Gran's facial expression was difficult to read, Ahsoka could sense his deep concern. "Master Tano," he addressed her. "I assume this is about the explosion at Obsidian Towers?"

"Yes, Your Excellency." She got right to the point. "This was no accident; this was an attack by the Sith." At once, every Jedi in the room whirled to face her in alarm. Even the other Jedi Masters appeared shocked by her statement.

Dain was equally stunned. His three eyes bulged wide, his goat-like snout hung open, and his fin-shaped ears perked up. "Sith?" he repeated. "Are you sure?"

Ahsoka nodded. "Earlier this morning, we apprehended a Sith who infiltrated the temple. When I interrogated her, she told me that the Sith were about to launch an attack on Coruscant. That was only a couple minutes before the explosion."

Dain exhaled sharply. "How? How did she get into the temple?"

"We're still investigating that," Ahsoka said simply. "But right now, we need to focus on stopping this attack."

The chancellor remained silent for a moment, processing this information. Then he asked, "What else did she tell you about the attack?"

"Nothing. She claimed not to know anything about it, except that it was coming."

"She could be lying," Dain pointed out.

Ahsoka frowned as she thought back to her interrogation of Vestara Khai. The girl had been terrified—that much Ahsoka could sense—but what exactly had terrified her was unclear. She claimed that she had been harboring doubts about the Sith and that she wanted to come clean in order to save lives. Ahsoka thought she had seemed genuine but sensed that the girl's feelings were all mixed up. She did not tell Dain all of this, however. Instead, she said, "I'm not so sure of that."

Dain sighed. "Then this could just be the beginning. There could be another explosion, or an invasion, or… anything."

"I agree. Which is why I urge you to get to your emergency bunker until this is over."

The Chancellor nodded in agreement. "Yes, yes. I will do that. Do you know when Master Skywalker will be returning?"

"When last I spoke to him, he indicated that he would not be back until tomorrow. I will try to contact him to let him know what's happened, but he may be difficult to reach. In the meantime, I will oversee the fire and rescue efforts at Obsidian Towers and be on the lookout for signs of other Sith activity. If anything else happens, the Jedi will coordinate with the military and law enforcement to deal with it as quickly as we can. I will keep you updated."

Dain nodded again. "Very well. I will contact you when I reach the bunker. Until then, I leave the situation in your hands, Master Tano. I trust you can handle it."

"We can," Ahsoka confirmed, referring to the entire Jedi Order.

As soon as Dain's hologram disappeared, Octa opened her mouth to speak. "A Sith here? How did this happen?"

"And how is this the first we're hearing about it?" Kenth added.

Ahsoka hesitated before answering, "I will explain everything to the council later." This was not only because there was a bigger crisis at hand. Ahsoka was also not yet ready to discuss the details of what had happened. She did not want to pass judgment on Ben Skywalker until she had spoken to his father about it first.

Speaking up, she addressed everyone in the room. "Everybody, listen up. We all have a lot of questions about what's going on. And trust me; I want answers just as much as you do. But right now, our priority is preventing further loss of life. I want fifty Jedi who are not otherwise engaged to go to Obsidian Towers and help with the search and rescue. Make sure they have their comlinks on at all times. If the situation changes, I need to be able to order them wherever they are needed most. Every other Jedi on this planet needs to be ready to respond to a crisis at any moment.

"Get me a secure connection with the Defense Force, the Defense Fleet, law enforcement, Fire and Rescue, paramedics, and any public address system. Route everything to the holotable so I can see everything at once. And watch the HoloNet for any chatter about what's going on. I want to be the first to know if anything changes."

She decided to conclude with a brief encouraging speech. "We are Jedi. We are committed to keeping the peace and protecting the citizens of the Alliance. Right now, we are needed more than ever. And I know every single one of you is up to the task. May the Force be with us all."

At once, everyone got to work carrying out Ahsoka's orders. Within moments, the entire Jedi Temple was bustling with activity. Turning her attention to Kenth and Octa, she said, "If the Sith attack again, I'm betting they will hit another civilian target. We should come up with a list of possible targets and send Jedi there immediately. If we're right, we may be able to stop more attacks before they happen."

Nothing was responding. Not even the comm system, so Mo'Ari had to rely on personal comlinks to communicate with the rest of the Reliant. Without access to the crew directory, it became a game of finding out who knew whose comm frequencies, causing a severe delay in contact. Everyone was reporting the same thing; the entire ship had locked its crew out of every system.

"All right," he announced, "we're going to have to do a full shutdown of the entire ship. Once we reboot everything, we should be back in control." Turning to one of his bridge officers, he said, "Get in contact with someone in the reactor room and tell them to prepare to manually shut it down on my mark. Then have someone check to make sure the backup generators are functioning so that we don't lose life support."

The officer acknowledged and got on her comlink to ask various people if they knew anyone who worked in the reactor room—or, at least, anyone who might know someone who worked there.

All the while, Mek Dain was pacing frantically back and forth in front of the sealed doors that separated him from his means of escape. Mo'Ari wished the commander would show less anxiety in front of his crew. The last thing he needed was for anyone to feel demoralized in the middle of a crisis. He decided to say something to try to calm him down.

"Commander, I understand you're nervous, but panicking isn't going to solve any of our problems."

"I wasn't even supposed to be here," Mek responded, ignoring Mo'Ari. "If my father hadn't forced me to come, I wouldn't be in this situation."

But the rest of us still would be, the admiral wanted to retort, so stop being so selfish and show some respect. He knew saying these words would only inflame Mek even more, and that was the last thing they needed. Choosing his words carefully, he replied, "We'll get you off the ship as soon as we reboot the system."

"And how long will that take?" Mek asked, still pacing.

"Normally, it would take upwards of fifteen minutes. With the comm system down, it will take longer. But I—"

Mek unexpectedly pounded the bulkhead with his fist. "Damn it!" he snarled. "Damn Sith!"

Mo'Ari's eyebrows shot upward in surprise. "Sith?" he repeated. "You think the Sith did this?"

Mek's demeanor abruptly changed from anger to fear, and his peach-colored skin took on a reddish hue. "I-I…" he stuttered, "I-I-I don't, I… I just assumed…"

The admiral's surprise morphed into suspicion as Mek fumbled for an explanation. But before he could question him, he heard someone call for him.

The officer in question was staring wide-eyed at his console, holding his hands in the air as though he was afraid to touch anything. "Admiral, the weapons systems are coming online!"

"What?" Mo'Ari hurried to look at the technician's screen and sharply replied, "I thought we were locked out!"

"We are!" the officer exclaimed. "I'm not doing this, sir!"

"Then who is?"

"I don't know, sir, but our weapons are powering up!"

Now Mo'Ari allowed himself to panic. The weapons systems could not be activated by accident or a glitch. Someone had to have taken control of the system—which likely meant that same someone had to have locked the crew of the Reliant out of it.

"Oh, no no no!" the technician stammered. "We're targeting the other ships in the fleet!"

Mo'Ari gasped in shock. Someone's hijacked my ship and is using it to attack the rest of the fleet! His mind whirred, searching desperately for a solution, a way to stop this catastrophe before it started. Without control of the system, none of the emergency shutdown procedures would work. And by the time they finished manually shutting down the systems, it would be far too late.

There was only one option left, and it was his last resort. He hated the idea of sacrificing his crew's lives like this, but if it saved the crews of the other ships, it would be worth it. "All hands," he announced, "prepare for self-destruct. Tell the reactor room to blow the core now."

A stunned silence fell over the crew, broken almost instantly by Mek. "You're going to blow us up?!" he cried.

"It's the only way to save the other ships," Mo'Ari calmly explained.

"No! There has to be another way!" To the crew, he shouted, "Belay that order!"

"Do not belay that order!" Mo'Ari quickly countermanded. Turning to Mek, he growled, "Are you really so selfish that you would sacrifice tens of thousands of Alliance soldiers just to save your own hide?!"

"I am the commander of the Coruscant Defense Force!" Mek answered indignantly. "Everything would fall apart without me! Soldiers are expected to give their lives for the greater good!"

That did it. Mo'Ari lost his temper then. He grabbed Mek by the collar of his uniform and slammed him against the bulkhead. "You little…"

"The shields are down!" he heard someone yell. And then the entire Star Destroyer rocked violently, throwing everyone to the floor.

Before Mo'Ari could get back on his feet, the ship rocked again, causing his arms to buckle. As the ship continued to shake, he managed to stand up quickly enough to find his balance. He clumsily made his way to the panoramic forward viewport. What he saw then horrified him even more than the Leviathan.

Every single Star Destroyer orbiting Coruscant, charged with protecting the galactic capital, was now firing at each other, including the Reliant. And they all appeared to have their deflector shields deactivated, for every green turbolaser strike tore into a ship's hull. Explosions blew chunks of metal in every direction. But the worst part was, civilian ships had been caught in the crossfire and were attempting to evade the torrent of turbolaserfire. Some of the smaller personal craft managed to survive, but the larger transports never stood a chance.

Mo'Ari watched heartbroken as, one after another, ships began to explode, killing the innocent people on board. He watched as holes blossomed in the hull plating of his own ship, allowing cargo, starfighters, shuttles, droids, and—yes—even people to be blown into the vacuum of space, where they tumbled lifelessly into the void. He watched as another Star Destroyer succumbed to the turbolaser barrage and, with a massive explosion, split into two halves that both began to drift towards the planet below. Had he turned around to look, he would have seen computer consoles explode in the faces of the crewmembers who manned them, burning their faces and setting their uniforms on fire.

He squeezed his eyes shut, unable to stomach the sight of it any longer. Tears leaked down his face as he imagined the violent deaths hundreds of thousands of people were no doubt suffering at that instant. He fully expected to join them himself any moment now. Either the Reliant would explode, resulting in a quick, fiery death, or a well-placed shot would punch a hole in the bridge, venting everyone out into space where they would suffer a slow, agonizing death. He prayed that he and every single member of his crew would suffer the former. All he could do now was wait to see if his prayers would be answered.

"You can see now even more Fire and Rescue ships arriving at the scene," said the voice of the newscaster. The holoprojector displayed aerial footage of Obsidian Towers and the surrounding area as several ships flew into the smoke. "This suggests that the fires are much more severe than we originally thought. We do not yet have any confirmed casualties, but we will keep a running tally as reports start coming in."

The entire Solo family watched the Holonews from across the room. Jaina Solo lay in her hospital bed, the back end inclined enough for her to see the hologram. She had only moments ago awoken from a coma, having sensed the deadly explosion through the Force. Her father, Han Solo, stood to one side of the bed while her mother, Leia Organa-Solo, and niece, Allana Solo, sat in the two chairs on the other side of the bed. All four of them stared at the footage, too stunned to speak.

"I'm just going to come out and say it," said Han, breaking the silence. "I think this was an attack."

Leia nodded. "I agree. With everything going on, this can't be a coincidence. I've seen too many tragedies like this, and most of them were caused by someone else." As a former leader of the Rebellion, Leia had witnessed numerous acts by the Empire that led to the deaths of entire populations, either directly or indirectly. One such act was the destruction of her homeworld, Alderaan, by the Death Star. Later, as a New Republic diplomat and Jedi, she had witnessed even more tragedies, including the devastation of worlds by the Yuuzhan Vong.

"It doesn't seem possible," said Jaina. "An explosion that big would have needed a huge bomb. How could the Sith get one onto Coruscant without anyone knowing?"

"They must have had a spy," Han speculated. "But even then, I can't imagine them smuggling such a big bomb into such a crowded place. I think we might be dealing with something different."

"Shouldn't we be helping?" asked Allana.

"I'm sure Master Tano is already sending Jedi to help," answered Leia.

"But what about us? Shouldn't we be doing something?"

Under lighter circumstances, Leia would have smiled at her granddaughter's selflessness. "We should, but we need to be patient. We should wait for orders from Master Tano in case we are needed elsewhere. Besides, the Jedi Temple is much closer to Obsidian Towers than we are, so the other Jedi would get there first. And," she turned to look at Jaina, "we just got back together again. We should stay that way as long as we can."

The HoloNet newscaster announced, "We now turn it over to Pippia Yangaron, our field correspondent."

The hologram flickered as the view switched to a green-skinned Falleen woman standing on a Coruscant street with smoke from the explosion in the background. Behind her, people were running out of the smoke and disappearing from the holocamera's view. "I'm here just under a kilometer away from Obsidian Towers," she said. "The smoke you see right behind me gives you an idea of just how big this explosion was. You can also see people fleeing from the explosion. Most of the people I've talked to say they were just outside the blast radius when they felt the explosion. As you can imagine, they are understandably shaken by their near-death experience."

A figure emerged from the smoke right behind her. Before the Solos could register the person's appearance, it swung an object at Pippia. The next thing anyone knew, her head was flying out of the field of view while her decapitated body staggered and stumbled to the ground.

Allana let out a terrified shriek and buried her face in Leia's chest.

"What the hell was that?!" Han exclaimed.

Barely a second went by before the hologram switched back to the new anchor, who was staring in shocked silence, his face gone pale. But it had been just enough time for Leia to take in the murderer's appearance. It had been a humanoid alien with red skin and two long tendrils extending from his high cheekbones. He wore black armor and wielded a blaster rifle with two ax-shaped energy blades protruding from either side of the barrel.

"The Sith," Leia breathed. "They're here."

Talk about beginning the story with a bang!

Thank you for reading this chapter! If you have any comments or questions, please leave them in your reviews or private messages.