Two Hours Later
Telona 25th, 59 ABY
Dathomir
Jedi Praxeum
"You know." Taron simply answered, addressing Edaan once he and Adari entered the communications hub. Seeing him glare daggers at him and the rest of the Temple's command staff, he recognized the look of betrayal. "Your wife told you everything, and you're mad at us."
"Standing right here, you know." Adari said, a little miffed at the neglection.
"Yes, I'm mad, and not just because of the upcoming alliance we're going to make with the One Sith." Letting out an angry sigh, Edaan clarified, "I'm upset because you were afraid to tell me the hard truth."
"Edaan-" Solona tried, only for Edaan to hold a firm hand up, before he continued,
"Do you think I'm so single-minded, so obsessed with a goal or vendetta, that I am blind to other possibilities or dangers that are concealed by shadows?" Edaan challenged. "You know I've been having nightmares of evils greater than Krayt, and now we have proof that the Sorcerers of Rhand and Daala's patrons are on the move. What I want to ask is this: Why couldn't you trust me with facing the reality of the situation."
Politely excusing a Jedi apprentice at a tactical monitor, Edaan zoomed in at a mountainous region surrounded by mist and alpha predators, and ardently pointed at it for Taron and Solona, "There, the One Sith are trying to destroy us and enable their puppeteers, and we aren't doing anything to try and stop it."
"What would you have us do?" Solona calmly asked. "If we strike at them-"
"I'm not talking about a military operation." Edaan interrupted, gagging a little at what he was considering before he corrected. "I'm talking about warning them of what's coming, and how we need to join forces to survive."
Seeing the disbelief plastered across everyone's faces, Edaan clarified, "Don't get me wrong, I hate the One Sith and want nothing more than to wipe them off the face of the galaxy. But since we have two -maybe three - monstrous evils coming after us, old grudges need to be set aside for our survival."
Seeing the resolve embedded in Edaan's eyes, Taron walked over to him, carefully appraising him, and asked, "Then how would you like to help me deliver a message to the One Sith while undergoing one of my trials?"
Recognizing the opportunity and gesture of trust offered before him, Edaan, in a rare display of formality, bowed before Taron and humbly answered, "It would be my pleasure and honor to help."
Two Days Later
Telona 27th, 59 ABY
Deep Within the Talzin Mountains
Within the Ruined Nightsister Village
Three days. That was all that remained until the joint Sith-Nightsister army finished their final stages of planning and preparations and moved to conquer this Force-rich world. Snoke had finished assembling his beast army, and the matriarchal clans had fully assembled under their shared banner with the One Sith. And leading this force would be none other than the strongest Sith alive today: Darth Krayt himself.
Destroying a network of Jedi strongholds across the planet, all the while eliminating or capturing many of their best members, would require far more than a handful of Sith scouts, a prodigy of an apprentice, and one high ranking Dark Lord working alongside the world's kindred spirits. Sheer numbers, whether they belonged to the Nightsisters or the Sith, would never not be enough to destroy the enemy's entrenched presence here, even a neophyte of Prosset's level and skill set knew that.
They needed people who could go toe to toe with the greatest threats to the One Sith, and command respect and obedience among the Dread Lord's distinct set of allies. So, who better to do so than the man who was once one of the Old Republic's greatest Jedi champions, along with seven of his best acolytes originally among the Dathomirians accompanying him to ease lingering tensions between the two dark cultures? With these Nightsisters-turned-Sith working as intermediaries between the two diverse groups, the coalition would soon be strong enough to overcome even the best of the Jedi's defenders when they launched their onslaught.
Their shared enemies might suspect that the Sith had sent agents to this world to advance their own designs, but they could not possibly know of the full extent of this infiltration and the buildup aimed against them. Secrecy and misdirection were the Sith's best weapon right now, and as much as brutes like Alora wanted to attack the Jedi in an outright battle, Sorzus had effectively disciplined the brutish Sith by challenging her to a duel. Thankfully for all, the teenaged Sith Apprentice outclassed and outmaneuvered her elder in every conceivable way.
Through a combination of superior agility, a sharp and cunning intellect, and a brilliant command of the Force that outshined most of Krayt's long-serving followers, Sorzus was able to beat the full-fledged Sith Lady to within an inch of her life, while breaking plenty of her bones through well-timed jabs, strikes, and a couple of hard stomps before the older woman had bitterly acknowledged her defeat.
It was a lesson that Alora had reluctantly accepted and most certainly would never forget, especially after Krayt took the woman's lightsaber away as punishment for insubordination and ordered her to fight with a set of the Witches' equipment once her serious wounds were healed. Utilizing an energy bow, a Force-imbued sword, and customized and expanded Dathomirian armor was a total humiliation for the Dowutin and served as an example to the rest of the alliance and anyone threatening to disrupt its fragile unity.
Even as the Sith made their final preparations for their multi-pronged attack, the Miraluka and disgraced Force Adept among them marveled at the shared purpose these groups shared in trying to establish a lasting order to the galaxy. The Nightsisters and Sith were sharing their equipment and all manner of knowledge with each other, filling Prosset with a great hope that this newfound unity would not fall apart after a new Sith Empire arose from the ashes of the Jedi-led governments. It had led to the dismantling of just about every Sith-ruled power throughout all of history, but hopefully this one would finally learn from the failures of those who came before Krayt's order.
After everything every civilization had endured over the last century, all the wars and death that flooded every corner of the galaxy, it left countless scars everywhere that eventually culminated in the return of Abeloth, the greatest evil to ever threaten the galaxy. Once the ancient abomination had devastated Coruscant and completed the Jedi's disgrace in the eyes of trillions, it had completed Prosset's creeping disillusionment with the Light Side and thrusted him into Krayt's plans for a lasting order for all.
While he might take issue with several of Krayt's tougher choices, or unsavory proxies in slavers and barbaric raiders, he agreed with the Dread Lord's goal of a firm hand guiding the galaxy into a truly unified force. The only chance the galaxy had of facing the next crisis was by working as one body. But thanks to feeling the deaths of billions of lost souls over the last four decades, trying to unite the countless worlds through diplomacy and compassion had failed utterly. Now it was time to try a stronger niche of tactics and strategies, ones only the Sith had the courage to use.
All that remained now was if this attack would provide Krayt the results and prize he desperately sought. He may not fully understand why he coveted Edaan Palpatine so desperately, but even a neophyte like him could comprehend how a powerful and charismatic Jedi like the heir of Sidious could present a great threat to whichever side he opposed. If he would not join the Sith, then he would be eliminated like the menace he was to the One Sith. It honestly was that simple, no matter what anyone, even the Dread Lord himself, wanted to believe.
Interrupting Prosset's musings, he felt a surge of bright Force energy sweep through the village, and he heard an uproar of activity and frantic movements as beasts and sentients rushed to the mountain entrance. Sensing Snoke approach him, the acolyte asked, "Trouble?"
"Maybe." Snoke warily allowed. "We have three very unexpected visitors at our perimeter."
"Who?" Prosset pressed, not in any mood for mind games.
"Taron Malicos, Edaan Palpatine, and his Keshiri plaything, and they're asking to talk with us." Snoke answered. "Lord Krayt himself will soon arrive to apprehend them."
Of all the warnings he could have been given, learning that the One Sith's targets walked right up to their doorstep was the last one he ever expected. And hearing Krayt's hulking form quickly move towards the entrance, the Dread Lord was also taken aback by this diplomatic effort.
Hurrying to serve as an intermediary with their unwanted guests, Prosset came upon a scene of complete hostility and ardent threats from his allies. Dozens of Dathomirians and their Sith masters aiming their weapons at the three envoys, along with the former's enthralled predators, all sensed the tension about to explode into outright warfare at the slightest misstep.
Hearing Krayt blaze his Force presence to the guests, hoping to intimidate them, Prosset remained silent as the Dread Lord addressed them, "So, you have come to me of your own accord."
"To warn you of a danger greater to the galaxy than our feud." Edaan began. "It all starts with your so-called allies in the Nihil Retreat and also includes Natasi Daala and a territory of Force-hating fanatics, both bent on destroying the galaxy."
Feeling Krayt's instantaneous shock before clamping it down, the One Sith's founder firmly ordered his people, "Lower your weapons, everyone."
"My Lord?" Sorzus confusingly asked, surprising all with both her doubts and their leader's orders.
"Lower. Your. Weapons." Krayt tersely repeated. Glancing at the three hostages, he assured, "I would very much like to hear what these brave souls would say that made them journey to our domain."
"It's a long story." Adari calmly warned. Turning to face the guards, she relaxedly asked, "But if we're going to do this, do you have any decent food and drink? I think we'll all need it since this tale will take a good while to tell?"
Oh, this won't end well. Prosset griped.
Coruscant
Jedi Temple
Even as Tionne observed the state of the Jedi Archives, with its self-functioning cleaning droids keeping the library in pristine condition after Abeloth and the Lost Tribe's occupation of the Jedi sanctum, a heavy pall came over her soul.
Seeing this empty hall, once considered the culmination of decades of research and recovery of countless pieces of Jedi history once being filled with vibrant minds of all ages, races, and ranks, breaking her heart.
Being barely lit from its vacancy and sitting underneath a Sith Shrine that helped cloud the Jedi's foresight for over five millennia, the Temple had been left a hollow shell of its former glory, and it deserved to be full of life again.
Hopefully, the diverse array of allies the Jedi Council assembled for the daunting task of uncovering the hidden Sith nexus would be the first step in expunging their enemies' influence from the capital world. With the handpicked Jedi-sympathetic agents of the Galactic Alliance's Historical Council, the Blackguard, Jensaarai, and miscellaneous Sith scholars reinforcing the eight Jedi on this mission, it should be all but impossible for them to fail their mission.
All that remained now was the delivery of the final member of their makeshift army from one of the GA's maximum-security prisons, and then they could begin their task. According to Chief of State Yimmon, getting the approval for the paroled release of disgraced Sith sympathizer and power broker Ingo Wavlud was proving to be a greater challenge than first anticipated.
How fortunate then, that his surviving staff were pooling many of their old favors and contacts to persuade the prison wardens to release Wavlud into the Jedi's custody. The Byss native would be on Coruscant and in Tionne's custody by the end of the week and hopefully prove to be worth this chance.
Until then, there should not be any harm in doing a few preliminary investigations into the Temple's network of underground tunnels and the old nest Tesar Sebatyne and his fellow Barabel Jedi built for their offspring before the Order disgracefully withdrew from Coruscant. There was no sense in not taking a healthy dose of initiative with their efforts to rebuild the Jedi Order's center of operations in the Core Worlds while the galaxy threatened to rip itself apart.
Falleen
Lajinda
Aboard the Mon Adapyne
"Still no response?" Allana noted to Ben and Mirta at seeing the limp form of Vestara, hooked up to two IV units and removed of her combat armor and heavy clothing to avoid any medical impediments. "Bardan's advice isn't doing the trick?"
"It's too soon to tell, but Phobar's attack did more damage to her mind than we first realized." Ben despondently sighed. "There's no telling when she'll wake up, or whatever battle she's facing inside her soul."
"Give her more time. She's stronger than anyone thinks." Mirta reminded Allana, causing the Hapan heiress to raise a skeptical eyebrow at the Mandalorian. The longstanding animosity between the two families notwithstanding, everyone involved had come to an unspoken agreement to avoid antagonizing each other and set a good example for the rest of the Alliance of Light. Whether or not the rest of their families could uphold the pact was yet to be determined, but hopes were higher than they anticipated.
"Are you telling me that for mine and Ben's sakes, Mirta, or yours?" The Jedi Knight knowingly asked.
"We all know the answer to that." Ben deflected. Shifting topics, he tried to stay optimistic, "At least we've finally got the war for Falleen under control. Won't be long now before we finish off the Sith and their people here and can hunt the rest of them down."
"What about Haxim? We can't just leave him to his own devices if he tries to renege on his agreements with abolishing the monarchy or joining the Galactic Alliance. After he disobeyed orders and made that unauthorized broadcast of his family and the Sith, can we afford to trust him with that kind of power, especially when he has the people's backing?" Mirta pointed out.
"Do we have a choice? None of us can't leave this planet in perpetual chaos for eternity. Endless war benefits no one. And we're not leaving him alone. We're going to have half a dozen Jedi and a whole garrison stationed here for the war's duration. They'll keep the interim governor honest until actual elections can be held." Allana sagely interjected.
"You almost sound like a real queen there." Ben teased, earning a genuine chuckle out of the Mandalorian.
"Don't you two have reports to go over and debriefings to attend? Neither of you can stay here all day." Allana tartly reminded before promising them both, "I'll watch over her for a little while, and let the both of you know if her condition changes."
Seeing the kind but firm glean in Allana's eyes, Mirta knew she had something important to say, and wanted complete privacy for whatever she needed to do. Respecting that wish, Mirta nodded to the Jedi heir and led the way for a reluctant Ben to follow her.
The moment the doors shut behind her, Allana sat down on the chair before Vestara, and tried to gather her thoughts.
Eventually deciding to go with her gut, Allana timidly began, "I don't know if you can hear me, Vestara, but I wanted to tell you this while there's still time.
"You took a lot from me. My best friend, my anonymity, turned me into a killer, and hurt my family, especially Ben, in ways that haven't fully healed after all these years. I honestly don't know if I can ever fully forgive you for all you put me through.
"But one of my closest friends, Edaan, believed in you to the end, and risked everything to save your soul. He even managed to help me forgive my father a few years ago for all his sins, and that wasn't an easy job.
"But I guess what I'm trying to say is this; I can tell you genuinely want to change, that you want to atone for your dark past, and more than anything, want to be with Ben again. And those simple desires can be enough to save you from the darkness trying to take back your heart and soul.
"If you ever need a helping hand, or anyone to talk to about your troubles aside from Ben, then know that I'll be there for you.
Gently placing a hand on Vestara's, Allana gave a tight squeeze before she kindly finished, "I hope you get better soon. With the state Uncle Luke's in, Ben's going to need your help coping with this mad war, and I can feel in my gut that we'll all need your help soon. Good luck, and may the Force be with you, Vestara Khai."
Having said her piece, Allana departed Vestara's room, and was not able to see the single tear stream down Vestara's cheek, a single crack in the wall that kept her mind trapped within, not realizing the effect her words would soon have on the onetime and remorseful Sith criminal.
Within Vestara Khai's Subconsciousness
She did not know how long she had been tormented by the hallucinations; time felt like it was moving at least a thousandth of its original speed. But the memories Vestara was experiencing, every atrocity she carried out to advance the One Sith's Grand Design and give her the dark power she once longed for, was trying to eat away at every piece of her soul.
From her work with the Freedom's Riches across dozens of Inner Rim worlds, to helping the Neo Death Watch assassinate resistant governors through the Mid and Outer Rim, and kidnapping hundreds of children for the Sith's training program across every sector, her time as Darth Kitai had wrought nothing but pain and misery across the galaxy. It was enough to make her weep for her delusions that she could change her ways and be a Jedi.
But somehow, something, some unseen power, had kept her from breaking and giving into her despair. Vestara sometimes thought she felt the desperate and loving brush of Ben trying to reach her. Doubts gnawing away at her, she resisted the attempt, not knowing if this was truly her first and only love or the phantoms of her lost family, teacher, or best friend.
But this new presence, one that she did not recognize, allowed her to hear everything Allana had just said to her corporeal form. And the undeserving compassion and empathy Allana gave her, after all she had lost and suffered at Vestara's hands, was enough to give her a nugget of hope, one that emboldened her resolve to break this mental prison and atone for what all she had done.
"If you truly hope to atone for all your sins, Vestara Khai, then you need to realize that the cage you've created is one of your own design from your own guilt and self-pity. And take it from a woman who was once on both sides of the Force, you will need to draw upon all your hope and strength to survive what comes next in this endless war." An elderly woman's voice sternly interrupted Vestara's vow, before a physical figure materialized before her, one with silver hair tied to her sides with pieces of jewelry keeping her hair in place, and a hood covering her eyes.
Great, another hallucination. Vestara lamented, before she remembered this woman from the memories Edaan implanted in her when she fled Kesh. This was one of his masters from the Netherworld of the Force, a Jedi-turned-Sith-turned-Force hater simply known as Kreia, mentor to Revan and Meetra Surik, onetime leader of the Sith Triumvirate, and a woman who tried to eradicate the Force from the galaxy before being slain by Meetra on the ruins of Malachor V.
"I see your memory is as sharp as I was told, Lady Khai." The specter approvingly nodded at the living woman's jolt of recognition. "Now you need to let go of the guilt you carry, and remake yourself into something different if you want to return to land of the living. You do have friends and that boyfriend of yours waiting for you, as I recall."
"How do you suggest I do that when I've been assaulted by every kind of enemy I can imagine?" Vestara pointedly asked.
Quietly gazing upon Vestara, Kreia simply ordered her, "Walk with me if you wish. It will help clear your head and give you the clarity you seek, if you know how to truly listen."
Seeing no other options and knowing this would be better than enduring the torture of her past ghosts, Vestara followed Kreia into the grey veil that followed, unaware of what mysteries or terrors lay before her.
Deep Within the Unknown Regions
Nihil Retreat
Within the Perann Nebula
On the Planet Rhand
Deep Within the Ancient Cathedral
Tor Valum, Sorcerer of Rhand, and the oldest surviving Grysk left alive among the Celestials ancient enemy vassals, wished he could see the shock and fear on the Jedi's faces when they realized how a supposedly unseen force was helping them in purging the Banite Sith's darkness from their precious Observatory. How ironic that a servant of the True Sith Empire was using his ancient wisdom of the Light Side to rid the shrine of its pathetic miasma of darkness and fill the Jedi with dread on another group of enemies emerging.
If only he could reach out and gloat to all of creation on how he and the Lich Kings were the ones to have set the stage for the temple's fall and ensure the end of the One Sith's hold over Falleen. Realizing that they owed their impending victory to a vassal of the Immortal Gods of the Sith would fill the Grysk with such dark glee to last the final century before he and his handful of survivors of his race made their grand return to the galaxy. And he especially hoped the Chiss would be the first to fall after the humiliations they inflicted on his people.
To his disappointment, this level of prolonged warfare was not what his overlords wanted or needed. At the current rate, the level of darkness and fear permeating the galaxy would not be enough to fully revive Abeloth, let alone break the final seals on the Immortal Gods of the Sith's supernatural prisons. As a result, he would let the Alliance of Light delude themselves into believing how their Jedi elders were the ones to aid them in this instance and let the two enemy factions escalate their endless war to devour more of the galaxy until it reached its glorious crescendo.
All of this would certainly give them a little more confusion and fear, allowing them to continue fueling his mistress's rebirth. And when the war reached its ultimate crescendo in the Unknown Regions, it would finish the rebirth of the ultimate incarnation of darkness.
Once his masters' plan, conveyed to him via the Nihil Retreat's most devoted acolytes of the Dark, came to full fruition, just as it had been progressing since their long imprisonment, then all that was left was to wait until the One Sith and Jedi completed their devastation of the galaxy, and their new rulers were ready to take up the reins of power. Just thinking about that inevitability filled Tor with vindictive glee he had not felt in centuries.
Falleen
Royal Palace
Aboard Ship
"You said you had a mission for the rest of us." Varrk impatiently reminded Malleus. Glancing around in the barely lit chambers, with no monitors lit and the chambers covered in a blood-red glow, the eight hunters were desperate to get this briefing done and prepare for their next big payday.
The promises Phobar made to them and the retribution they would unleash on Phasma and Oculus for their betrayal, it was the only thing that prevented the mercenaries from walking out on Malleus after his hasty withdrawal and abandonment of his assets. But when the job was done, the bounty hunters often treated as expendable assets by the Sith would get their retribution on them all, and no one would be wiser until it was too late.
Malleus, eyeing the eight bounty hunters, nodded, just as a monitor came to life, one of a Mandalorian dungeon ship appeared, the sight surprising all. Seeing the ship reminiscent of Rendilli's trademark dreadnoughts but modified to hold rogue Force Users and transport them across all four corners of the galaxy, Soonpaa and everyone else began to understand the task before them. Approvingly nodding at sensing their comprehension, he began, "We're going to launch a rescue mission of Lady Nashtah, Apprentice Sarisss, and the rest of your captured confederates."
As Ship opened a tactical monitor, revealing the dreadnought protected by seven capital ships and each of their starfighter escorts above Lajinda, Meeka scathingly denied, "No way. We are not flying headfirst into the heart of enemy territory to rescue two Sith. We'll get shot down long before we make it, and-"
Finding her lips telekinetically sewed shut, Meeka fearfully eyed Malleus and listened as he warned, "Don't presume to know my strategy, any of you. Lady Nashtah may have favored you all, but I am a far more demanding taskmaster than she ever was."
"And my plan to rescue those two will not utilize brute force, but something far more intricate and cleverer than one might think of me." Malleus simply added, before he began outlining the plan he had for rescuing the targets. And as the mercenaries heard more, they slowly felt their chances of success were far higher than the possibility of defeat.
Apparently, the so-called Hammer of the Dark Side had a more cunning and subtle mind than most assumed. A lesson the eight Jedi hunters would have to remember when Phobar gave them the gifts he promised them.