Star Wars Invasion: Episode X, Chapter Three

    EDITED 8/6/2014 Decided to spare a character and kill off another.

BEGINNING OF THE END

   The squadron of T-65XJ X-wing starfighters cautiously approached the warring battle which orbited Coruscant. Behind the squadron were two Lambda-class shuttles carrying the over-a-dozen Jedi Knights that would be heading down to take part in the ground battle.

   Projecting his voice through his intercom, Corran Horn said, "All wings, report in."

   "Twin Suns Two, standing by," said Kyp Durron.

   "Twin Suns Five, standing by," growled Lowbacca, translated by his droid companion M-TD.

   "Twin Suns Three, standing by," said Tal Natura.

   Once the other eight fighters had reported, Corran was prepared to order their S-foils to be locked in attack position when a new voice said, "Got room for a thirteenth?"

   Corran blinked as he watched a gray-colored Z-95 Headhunter fly up beside him. "Jaden?"

   "You were expecting someone else?"

   Corran chuckled. "I wasn't expecting anyone. Glad to have you with us."

   "There better be a reward for this," said another voice, accompanied by the arrival of a HWK-290 freighter. "Name's Dax Goldam by the way."

   "I can't promise you anything," Corran said. "It all depends if we get out of this alive."

   To his wing-mates in Twin Suns Squadron, he said, "Lock S-foils in attack position."

*  *  *

   Members of the Senate Security Force moved quickly throughout the Senate Building, with some even going outside to ensure that the Glorians did not reach anywhere near the entrance. Cal Omas knew that their attempts would be in vain. But who was he to admit defeat?

   He, along with Senators Tian Nek, Lyria Valsk, and Zrask Kre'lis, stood crowded in the Chief of State's office, witnessing the chaotic battle through the window. To Omas, it was quite clear who was winning. He could barely see his own troopers among the swarm of Glorians....

   "This is hopeless," said Tian Nek. The Senator of Sullust was trembling from head to foot. "We might as well just surrender. We had lost this war before it had even begun."

   "Are you admitting that you are a coward?" Krey'lis snapped. "Are you that willing to just give up?"

   "Why not? It wouldn't make much difference either way."

   Scoffing, the Bothan senator turned to Omas. "Surely you do not agree with such cowardice."

   "Krey'lis, I am in no mood to debate," Omas said. "I'm just going to sit here and watch everything fall apart."

   The three senators stared at him incredulously.

   You can't," Lyria Valsk murmured. "You are our leader. You must lead us!"

   "Not anymore!" Omas snapped, the tone of his voice starling even himself. "I am done with the Alliance! Everything we have fought for has been for nothing!"

   "Pathetic, really."

   Silence fell upon them. All eyes turned to the cloaked figure who had suddenly appeared in the room.

   Krey'lis was the first to confront him. "How did you get in here? This place was supposed to be locked down!"

   "Apparently, it wasn't locked down enough," the stranger said. Without warning, he grabbed the Bothan by the neck and threw him across the room. The senator's body met the window's glass pane and broke through it, plummeting towards the ground far below.

   Tian Nek and Valsk immediately began scurrying for cover, only to be dispatched by poison darts fired from a gauntlet on the stranger's arm. The green eyes of the mysterious assailant then met Cal Omas' blue ones.

   "Why?" the Chief of State asked.

   Agent Eclipse grinned. "Because the Watcher commands it."

   A single dart was all it took to rid the Galactic Alliance of its head.

*  *  *

   "It's fun, isn't it? Watching them fight for a lost cause."

   Shadow did not respond to Umbra's comment. The two of them were standing, perched on the rooftop of the Galaxies Opera House, watching the Battle of Coruscant from afar.

   "The Chief of State is dead," Umbra then said. "The head of the Galactic Alliance has been lopped off like the branch of a tree. And with no head, the Alliance is blind to their impending doom."

   Shadow remained silent, instead listening to the cries of fallen soldiers.

   "This is only the beginning of the end," his fellow agent went on. "When the Watcher's Star Forge arrives, it will drain the energy from the gem that is Coruscant's star and in short time, this planet will go dark and everything on it will die."

   Shadow blinked, wondering if he had heard him correctly. "Including us?"

   "Of course," Umbra said, as if it were obvious. "That is the sacrifice of the Reunification. Everything in the galaxy must die so it may be rebuilt."

   He glared at Shadow. "You do not object to it, do you?"

   "Of course not," Shadow murmured, barely noticing that the ground was quaking. "Sacrifices must be made."

*  *  *

   "Has anyone seen Anakin?"

   Donhran Remker found it a wonder that he could hear his fellow Jedi, Zarin Kal, over the sound of blaster fire. "I haven't," he called back to the Kiffar, cutting down a Glorian while deflecting an attack from another. "Why?"

   "I've lost sight of him and the Exiles," Zarin replied. "Think something happened to them?"

   "I don't know, but we can't do anything about it right now. Just... keep killing Glori-"

   The ground trembled. For a brief moment, the fighting came to a halt as everyone searched for the quake's source. A larger tremor followed and the answer they sought finally came in the form of a massive krayt dragon.

   Remker smiled when he saw the young man standing on the beast's back, blue lightsaber waving. An appropriate entrance for a Solo.