Hey, everybody. Back with another chapter. This will begin the events of the Battle of Exegol. And boy, I hope you guys are gonna like what I've got planned.

Let's get to it.

Chapter 87- Exegol

(March 27, 2053)

In the cockpit of the Millennium Falcon, the four occupants are completely quiet. Ben and Rey are monitoring the controls and flying the ship. In order to make sure that the First Order and the forces of the Dark Empire didn't know about the routes that the Hood had plotted to Exegol, they were instead going through the route that the Hood had taken when it first travelled to Exegol, which took them through the nebula partly surrounding the Exegol system. Ben and Rey have been extremely alert as they fly the Falcon through the nebula. Behind them, Jaina and Ronen are sitting in the passenger seats, Jaina watching the sights of the nebula out of the viewport while Ronen monitors the navicomputer for them. Meanwhile, Anakin is down in one of the dorsal-mounted laser turrets in case they get attacked when they arrive at Exegol.

"Skywalker, we are good to make that brief jump in 30 seconds," Ronen calls out.

"Alright. Standby," Ben says, reaching forward and resting his hand on the throttles.

The seconds pass in silence before Ronen starts counting down, "Alright, clear in 4, 3, 2, 1, mark."

Ben pushes the throttles forward, and the Falcon jumps to hyperspace. Ben counts down the seconds, then pulls back on the throttles, and the Falcon drops out of hyperspace again. And out of the viewport, Exegol comes into view.

The sight before them takes away the breath of everyone in the cockpit. The planet is mostly obscured by reddish colored clouds, and what little is not is bare and rocky. Lightning flashes routinely light up the clouds on the planet.

But of greater awe to them is the fleet that lies over the planet. Outside the atmosphere is a massive fleet made up of former Imperial warships. The bulk of the fleet is a force of over 2,000 Imperial I and II class Star Destroyers, but the fleet also includes hundreds of Dreadnaught heavy cruisers and hundreds of Procursator class Star Destroyers, and several hundred larger capital ships, including Onager-class Star Destroyers, Sovereign class Super Star Destroyers, Bellator class dreadnoughts, Allegiance class dreadnoughts, Vengeance class dreadnoughts, and Mandator III class dreadnoughts. They have also been joined by a fleet from the First Order, including 50 Resurgent class battlecruisers, several new Dominator class battlecruisers, almost a hundred Imperial-II class Star Destroyers, one of the brand-new Falchion class dreadnoughts, a Mandator-IV, and several dozen cruisers and frigates

Down within the atmosphere is the fleet of the Dark Empire. The backbone of the fleet is an improvement of the Imperial class: the Imperial-III class Star Destroyer, which featured upgraded shields and 50 percent more firepower. There were also over a hundred dreadnoughts with a long, thin hull, with a strange, hooked bow and a structure jutting down out of the stern. Several hundred more ships of light cruiser size of a very alien design. FInally, the pride of the fleet was a force of 160 Xyston-class Star Destroyers. The Xyston-class was a development of the Imperial-class, but 50 percent bigger. The main difference was the existence of a superlaser-type weapon mounted on the underside of the vessel. This weapon was different from the superlasers found on the Death Star or the even the Enterprise. Because the smaller Xystons didn't have the power needed to generate a blast that could destroy the whole planet instantly, these weapons were designed to generate a massive beam that would bore through the planet's surface to the core and then either explode the core or cripple it (depending on the composition of the core). Either way, it would render the planet uninhabitable.

And finally, at the center of the Dark Empire's fleet, is the flagship of the fleet: an improved version of the Executor class Super Star Destroyer. In all, the Dark Empire's fleet numbers over 3,000 ships. Combined with the fleet over the planet, almost 7,000 ships have been mustered.

Everyone in the cockpit sits in stunned silence for some time before Ronen finally speaks up. "Well, this is it. And at least some of the former Imperial ships still look out of shape," he mutters.

Ben quickly recovers from the shock of the sight of the massed fleet and he calls out, "Anakin! Stay ready!"

"You got it!" they hear Anakin call back.

"Rey, you handle weapons," Ben says. Rey nods and arms the concussion missile launcher and the fixed laser cannon in the front of the ship.

Ben noses down and begins his descent towards Exegol's surface. Everyone is on high alert, waiting for the fleet to start trying to attack them. However, there is no sign of aggression from the fleet.

"They're letting us land," Ben mutters as they near the atmosphere of Exegol.

"Yes," Ronen mutters. He pauses for a moment, then says, "We can't let our guard down, not even for a second. Who knows what surprises Palpatine has for us down here."

The Falcon finally descends into Exegol's atmosphere. As it does, everyone on the Falcon feels a deep, unearthly chill settle over them, and Rey almost gasps aloud. The flood of the dark side is beyond anything any of them have felt before. Even more than what Ben and Rey felt on Korriban. The dark side is incredibly strong here on Exegol. Everyone quickly clears their mind of almost everything, focusing on their mission here and on something positive in their life to keep them rooted in the light.

"This place is an abomination," Ronen mutters.

Ben descends through the cloud layers and into the lower atmosphere. As he does, he realizes just how much Exegol has been affected by the presence of the Sith. The landscape he sees looks like something out of literal hell.

"Yeah, this place looks like it belongs to the Sith," Jaina mutters from her seat.

Ben focuses on scanning the surface of Exegol. And soon enough, up ahead in the distance, he spots a massive shape looming out of the mist. Ben throttles up and closes on the unidentified structure. As they approach, the mists clear, revealing the structure to be a massive citadel, shaped like an upside-down, truncated pyramid.

"There," Ben mutters. He guides the Falcon in to a careful landing outside the citadel.

After Ben sets the Falcon down and shuts down the engines, he stands up and motions for the others to follow him. They make their way to the passenger bay, where Anakin is waiting for them.

The five of them stand there for several moments before Ben says, "Everyone. This is it. None of us have ever faced a mission like this. Palpatine was already powerful before he was defeated on the Death Star, and he's shown he has the ability to survive death via transferring his spirit. He's had over three decades to grow his power, and we have no idea what new tricks he might have mastered. On top of that, this is his turf. There's no telling what kind of traps he may have set, and what kind of surprises he may have in store for us."

"We have to win here. We have to put an end to Darth Sidious for good. If we don't, our fleets may not be able to destroy Palpatine's fleets, and there's no telling what would happen after that. This is the culmination of 5,000 years of wars between the Jedi and the Sith, between good and evil. It's time to put an end to it at last," Ben says. He then looks at his cousin and his friends. "Are you with me?"

"I'll always follow you, cousin," Jaina says firmly.

"And you can count on me," Anakin says with his usual cocky grin.

"I've been waiting for this day for decades. I'm with you to the end of the line," Ronen says, gripping his lightsaber tightly.

"Alright. Then let's go," Ben says.

Together, the five of them leave the Falcon and begin to march towards the citadel. As they do, they see that the massive bulk of the citadel is resting above the ground, supported by massive pillars along the edge of it. As they walk under the citadel, they quickly spot a massive platform up ahead.

Ben and Rey lead the way over to the platform. As all five of them get on the platform, it shakes slightly, then begins to lower, revealing a massive, underground portion of the citadel carved out of the planet's crust. As they descend towards the floor of this underground portion, they see that this platform is suddenly surrounded by massive statues. Looking at them, they quickly guess that the statues are depictions of influential Sith Lords from throughout their history, as they are able to spot a statue of Naga Sadow amongst them.

Finally, the platform comes to a stop on the ground. Immediately, the group sets off, following where the dark side side feels stronger to them. As they walk, they can see vast carvings along the walls of the corridor, and fissures in the rock, leading deep into the planet's crust.

Suddenly, they spot movement up ahead of them. As they come to a stop, they are surprised to see the remaining Knights of Ren up ahead of them. Six of them, all clad in their usual black uniforms and wielding their unique weapons. Then, they hear a shuffling behind him. Turning around, they spot five individuals coming up behind them. These individuals are dressed in uniforms that look almost exactly like those of the Emperor's Royal Guard from the Imperial era, but colored entirely black. On one shoulder, they can barely make out the insignia of the Dark Empire, and on the other shoulder, there is an insignia that looks similar to a skull. Ben feels like he's seen that design before, but can't think where. These figures seem to be armed with Force pikes. That is, until red lightsaber blades erupt from one end of each of their pikes.

Anakin steps forward to get between the group and these mysterious warriors. "Shadow Guards," he mutters. He had heard tell of the Emperor's Shadow Guards during his time in the ASAT Team, but there were never any concrete reports about this mysterious group.

Ronen steps forward between the others and the Knights of Ren and hefts the hilt of his lightsaber. "Skywalker. Take your wife and cousin and go on. We've got this."

"Are you sure?" Ben asks, not wanting to leave Anakin and Ronen behind.

"Trust me, Ben. We've got this," Anakin says. The blade of his lightsaber springs to life a second later, followed soon after by the two blue blades of Ronen's lightsaber. And, with two simultaneous war cries, Anakin and Ronen charge at their enemies.

Ben only hesitates for a single second before he races off down a side corridor, Rey and Jaina following close behind as behind them, Anakin and Ronen begin their duels.

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

So, quick note for this. In this universe, instead of the weird red guards we saw in the movie that were basically just Sith troopers with fancy uniforms that showed no particular promise or skill, in this universe, the Emperor is employing Shadow Guards as his guards on Exegol. For those who don't know what Shadow Guards are, they were a subsect of the red Royal Guards in Legends. If a Royal Guard demonstrated Force sensitivity, they were taken by Darth Vader to be trained in the dark side, and were made a Shadow Guard. The Shadow Guard actually rarely accompanied Palpatine, and were mostly used to hunt down Force sensitives, particularly dark side users. In the Force Unleashed games, the Emperor tried to use Shadow Guards to kill Starkiller after he went rogue. I decided to use Shadow Guards here simply because they would be a lot more interesting and make this more difficult. Plus, I needed skilled warriors who could prove a challenge for Anakin since I knew Ronen and Anakin together could easily destroy the remaining Knights of Ren.

Next chapter will take us to the beginning of the space battle. It'll be up soon. Until it is, please leave a review, and stay tuned!