Star Wars: Darklight
by AB
Chapter 26
Force Consciousness
"Here they come!" Volun hid behind a rock atop the canyon leading to the valley of the Dark Lords. He, Katosh-Val and half the Coalition ground army stood in the south side of the canyon while the rest of the army had taken up positions in the canyon's north side. The Force-sensitive individuals had taken up positions in three locations. Katosh-Val, Volun in the south side's east entrance. Karos and Ravela on the south side's west entrance. Umaga and Fodelos on the North side's south entrance and Lavos with two of the Jedi to have joined the Coalition on the North side's west entrance. The rest of the Force-Sensitive individuals, ex-Jedi stood in the mouth of the west entrance.
The Sith ground army was marching towards them from the entrance to the east.
"Wait until most if not all of them have entered the canyon before revealing ourselves. Until then the Jedi below are on their own." Katosh-Val, commander of the ground assault, told everyone through their coms.
"Wish this could have happened as part of the Jedi Order… " One of the ex-Jedi Knights. "Would have been one epic battle… all the host of the Jedi against the Sith Lords of old and their armies… "
"It is happening now so let us make this stand down here in the ground while the fleet stands on the heavens above." Katosh-Val replied. An explosion lit up like a second sun. One of the capital ships' reactor core having exploded.
Volun turned his eyes away from it.
An hour later the first of the Sith soldiers entered the canyon.
"Everyone on the canyon walls stay your ground and stay quiet." Katosh-Val whispered in the com.
"Come on… get in… " Volun whispered impatiently. They watched the Sith army entered the canyon. A kilometer later those who had entered first reached the other end.
"This is all the Coalition has to offer us?" One of the Sith warriors spoke powering up his lightsaber.
The Jedi who stood in the front of the others smiled wickedly. "No, we are not alone, us 200." He nodded to his back a short, sharp nod. The others behind him turned to the canyon's entrance a few dozen meters behind him and Force-pulled on the canyon's walls.
A few seconds later it all came crumbling down behind them.
"So, we're having fun." The Sith warrior smiled.
"Oh… you have no idea." The Jedi Knight smiled back before pressing the buttons on his coms. "Katosh-Val… now?"
"Volun, fire it up." Katosh-Val told his apprentice.
"Boom bitches boom." Volun grinned pushing the button on the detonator. Most of the Sith army had entered the canyon.
The explosion sent shockwaves rocking the rubble under their feet, sending chills across their skins sealing the entrance, killing those who stood under the falling rocks.
Katosh-Val stood up firing a blaster down at the first Sith trooper he saw. "Blast 'em." He yelled in the coms. The battle had begun.
"Force-Sensitives on the canyon walls, protect the soldiers from enemy fire." Katosh-Val said through the coms.
"We're only so many up here." Karos replied.
"Do your best, or die trying." Ravela answered him. "This is it Karos. You either prove your training true or you die." She raised her hands and four soldiers flew up in the air before falling to their deaths.
The Jedi knight Force-pushed the Sith Warrior. The Sith jumped back on his feet and launched himself on the Jedi Knight who parried the lightsaber strike to fall dead from the second lightsaber the Sith Warrior powered up at the last possible second.
Two Jedi knights attacked him simultaneously locking blades while a third one attacked from behind plunging her lightsaber into the Sith Warrior's belly.
Hara was using her lightsaber to block and deflect blaster shots from the Sith troopers in the canyon floors while Varog was kneeling behind some rocks battle-meditating.
"Volun, use the Force, block their shots to our soldiers." Katosh-Val instructed him. Umaga and Fodelos used either their lightsabers or the Force to kill enemy troopers.
Twenty minutes later they all felt it. The disturbance in the Force.
"Woah… what's that?" Volun held his head in his hands ducking behind a rock so as to not get hit.
"I have never felt anything like it before… " Katosh-Val did the same. "I have felt disturbances in the Force but this… "
Karek sat on the floor of XoXaan's tomb. There was no one else alive in the tomb. He could hear the blaster fire and screams from afar.
He felt the disturbance in the Force like everyone else. Ten minutes later the door to the shrine opened up again.
Tern walked out from it. Half of him was covered in bright white light the other half in a dark glow. He walked slowly, one step after another with irregular intervals, lightsaber in hand.
"M-master?" Karek jumped to his feet. Karek knew not what to do so he stayed out of the way.
Tern stepped to the center of the room and stood there for a few moments. "Karek… follow me… stay out of my way for now."
Tern let out a breath and started walking. This time with purpose and speed.
He marched out of the tomb.
"Tern is coming, fifth bomber squadron, blast it open." Volun ordered through the coms.
"We are heading your way. ETA five minutes." The fifth bomber squadron leader replied.
"Yeah, no hurry we're only getting overwhelmed here and a possibly even more overpowered and unpredictable Tern if that's even humanly conceivable is about to smash through the other entrance of the Canyon and if this entrance is not blown to shit and freed of the rabble we created to keep the Sith army in and nicely trapped for us to kill my supremely overpowered and intensely cute boyfriend is going to kill us all… collectively and unpleasantly." Volun quipped through the coms. He deflected a blaster shot back to the trooper who fired it blasting his shoulder.
"Yeah, yeah. We know but you see we have these irritating things shooting at us." The fifth bomber squadron leader replied in mock anger.
"Tie-fighters? I'd take tie-fighters every day all day long rather than an angry Tern." Volun Force-pushed another trooper trying to scale the canyon walls.
The trooper fell to his death.
Karek walked behind Tern. He saw Tern stand behind the blocked canyon entrance move his hands up back towards his face and open them up.
The rocks levitated up in the air moved towards them and fell to the sides.
Jedi and Sith were fighting on the other side of the now freed entrance, Coalition troopers blasting and firing at the Sith army from above.
Tern just started walking again as if taking a stroll on a park.
A rocket, fired by one of the coalition soldiers on the canyon walls came hurdling at them. Dust and haze clouding the vision of those above.
Tern just flicked his wrist sending it off course. The rocket hit ground a few dozen meters away from them at a group of Sith troopers.
Moments after a Sith Assassin wielding a lightsaber jumped at him. Tern raised his hand before waving it to his right as if to dismiss someone. The Sith Assassin launched up against the canyon walls as if made of liquid.
Four different troopers fired on him. Tern didn't even bother powering up his Forcesaber, deflecting the shots back at their sources with a mere movement of his hand.
A double lightsaber wielding Sith Warrior attacked him. Tern powered up his Forcesaber exchanging blows with the woman.
Lavos could see it was not an even battle. Tern was parrying the blows of the Sith Warrior as if he was bored. He parried the Sith's blow with one end of his Forcesaber, and twisting it around quickly severed the Sith's lightsaber hand clean off. Twisting it again he cut her clean off at the waist.
Tern continued walking.
"Fuck… what happened in the valley of the Dark Lords? This guy's even more skilled now… how?" Lavos thought to himself deflecting another troop blaster shot.
Tern kept on walking and killing whoever attacked him. A large explosion rocked the canyon floor sending a spectacular fireball up in the sky as the bomber squadron bombed the canyon entrance.
"Kaa'ara… let her out." He told his sister through the coms. He switched channels. "Novus, Drakus come down to the surface of the planet." He told the same to the Jedi who had arrived and were fighting in orbit around the planet.
Ten minutes later he was out of the canyon. Karek on his rear deflecting blaster shots.
"Volun. March them out of the canyon." Tern told his boyfriend who relayed the orders to the rest of the ground army.
The Jedi stopped defending the area around the entrance to the Valley of the Dark Lords and started walking forward. As they went the soldiers would rappel down the canyon's walls and push the Sith army back towards the entrance Tern had just exited.
Ten minutes later Tern stood a few hundred meters away from the building of the Conclave's gateway. Opposite him, her lightsaber powered up and hood fallen over her shoulders stood Darth Incendius.
"TERN! Abomination of mine, failed Sith'ari and manifestation of the Dark Side… fight me! I am going to kill you." She launched herself at him as the shuttles carrying Darth Novus, Darth Drakus, a few more Sith Lords and the Jedi touched on Moraband's surface.
Tern stepped to the side and Force-pushed her away.
"It ends. Now. Your reign of the Sith Order, the Sith Order, the Jedi Order, the Force Wars it all ends now." Tern answered her powering up his Forcesaber. The black and white blades erupted from their emitters.
"What are you? Such power! I want it! I want unlimited power! You were meant to be at my ascension to immortality… I did all of this… " Tern interrupted her.
"No. You did not do this for power or for immortality. You lie even now in front of your previous subordinates and enemies. Now that you are about to lose everything." Tern looked at them and the gathering Sith and Coalition armies behind them. No longer fighting but looking at him and their Master.
"It was not obvious to me why you have done what you have done until a few hours ago when the Jedi informed us of your intentions to destroy the Homeworld of the midi-chlorians if you managed to defeat us here in Moraband."
"Oh yes? And what are my intentions then? What does a Sith Lord want if not power and a way to cheat death?" She spat at him standing up.
"Most Sith Lords yes. You, no." Tern locked eyes with her. "You killed your sister, you killed your Master acquiring their positions as leaders of the two most powerful Orders in the galaxy and kept them both fighting each other without end. When one of the two nears victory you pull back and let the other side gain some ground then repeat."
Darth Incendius attacked him. He dodged her blows before Force-Chocking her.
"You never wanted the end of the war, you didn't want either side to win. Isn't this why you abolished the rule of two in the Sith Order? Hoping the Sith would start infighting amongst them as they did in the years of yore?"
She broke his hold on her and sent a Force-wave at him. He flicked his wrist breaking it before attacking her with his Forcesaber. "It was all done, all of it for one reason. And it wasn't power or immortality."
"SHUT UP!" She attacked him blow after blow after blow which he blocked and parried with ease.
"You have been searching for something, for the Homeworld of the midi-chlorians haven't you? In the Sith archives, in the chronicles of the New Republic and the holochrons of the Jedi." Tern continued deflecting her as if in a training sparring match.
"WHERE IS IT!?" She tried Force-chocking him. "TELL ME!!"
"There have been four people who have ever known the coordinates of the Homeworld of the midi-chlorians. Yoda's Force-consciousness would never tell you. Darth Vader's did not tell you, he understood what you want with the knowledge. The shrine of the first Dark Jedi… she didn't tell you did she? No, she gave all that knowledge to me. I don't think the Celestial in the shrine below XoXaan's tomb would probably have killed you instead even if you had managed to open the door to his shrine." He avoided her Force-Choke.
"I'll kill you and I'll find it even if I have to explore every solar system in the galaxy." She yelled.
They two were the only ones left fighting. Everyone else had gathered around them forming a circle. Kaa'ara exited the Building of the Conclave as the roof gave way collapsing inside.
"You can search the whole galaxy, every system and you won't find it. The Homeworld of the midi-chlorians is not in a system. It roams the galaxy rogue. You want me to kill you don't you?" The question seemed to surprise her.
"Death is the worst thing that can happen to a living person. No, I want to live forever."
"Lies. Everything you have done has been a reaction to suffering. You are in a self-imposed perpetual suffering. It eats you inside doesn't it? That your mother loved your sister more than you? That she preferred her and prepared her to become the Jedi Grandmaster? That no one seems to enjoy or desire your vision for the future? You hate yourself as much as you hate everyone else… and life itself."
"SILENCE!!" She screamed almost deranged unleashing a flurry of lightsaber attacks.
"Hit a sensitive spot did I? You hate life. You don't want to dominate all life on the galaxy, you don't want to destroy the Jedi or recreate the Sith Empire. You did not develop the Life-Eradicators as a means to rule the galaxy. No, you invented it so you could find the Homeworld of the midi-chlorians, organisms inside all of us, inside all living things, conduits of the Force and destroy it. Fire the Life-Eradication laser on the planet and destroy all life. Including you." Tern fended against her attacks, pivoted around and Force-pushed her away before extending his hand like he had done with Darth Solus paralysing her.
Darth Incendius was in an unhinged state, tears running down her glazed eyes as she fought tooth and nail to free herself from his Force-grip.
"You will not be doing that. There is a fate worse than death. My punishment for you is not death." He told her calmly.
"THERE IS NOTHING WORSE THAN DEATH! THAN NON-EXISTENCE! YOU LIE!"
"I'll prove you otherwise." He powered down his Forcesaber and released her. In the blink of an eye she jumped up aiming her lightsaber at his heart.
He extended his Forcesaber hand parallel to the ground and powered it up closing his eyes. The blades exploded outwards only this time one was pure white covered in a black afterglow and the other one black covered in a white afterglow. The black and white auras around him mixed creating a twilight sort of Darklight. He opened his eyes revealing two orbs of Darklight, energy flowing from them.
"You are undone." He pivoted to his left, separating his blades at the last possible moment. He parried her blade using the White blade, using the black blade to sever both her hands before powering it down. He rotated full circle. Kneeling to the ground he used the powered down Forcesaber to hit her behind her knees. She fell to the ground yelling and crying. All night, all fear she might have had over her army, over those beneath her gone.
He rose to his feet powering down and unifying his two blades, walked to her front and grabbed her by her hair rising her to her knees. "There is a fate far worse than death. Regret. You will live, you will live on without your connection to the Force and be it one or thirty years I will make you regret your options and choices not through torture, no. But you will. You will come to feel soul-crippling regret. Then and only then will I grant you a swift death." Tern placed his hands on her temples and closed his eyes in concentration.
"What are you doing? No!! NO!!! NOOOO!!! STOPPP! DO NOT SEVER MY CONNECTION TO THE FORCE!! NOOO I HATE YOU!!!" She wailed and shrieked as a glow covered her body. Tern removed his hands from her head in a quick movement. The glow covering her body broke like glass shattering in pieces.
"You are no longer Force-Sensitive. You are no longer connected to the Force." She held her head in her hands yelling incoherently. She extended them, an effort to cast some Force-ability which failed completely.
Tern turned around to some of the Jedi Knights. "Arrest her. Tend to her wounds, she can harm no one anymore. Escort her to the Coalition flagship." He then turned slowly to everyone else present opening his coms to all channels and frequencies.
"Darth Incendius asked me to prove there's nothing worse than death. I proved it. Now I will prove to you all one more thing. Death's not the end." He locked eyes with Darth Novus. "Kill me."
Gasps filled the air. Volun's "No!" was heard loudly.
"Power up your lightsaber and kill me. I will not stop you. No one is to prevent him or harm him after." Darth Novus powered up his lightsaber and walking up to Tern he pierced Tern's heart in one stroke.
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