CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Betrayal. Throughout his career, Argen had seen it happen. But he never thought it would ever happen to him.
"Admiral Kan-Rann!" he shouted into his comlink as the Tyrant pounded firepower on the Vengeance's hull. "What in the worlds are you doing?!"
"Just following my orders," Kan-Rann replied as his flagship advanced towards Argen's ship.
* * *
Thrawn watched the firefight from afar. Almost all of the remaining Imperial forces had halted their retreat to watch the two Star Destroyers exchange fire. He found the battle surprisingly amusing, like it was a fight on a children's schoolyard.
However, much like a schoolyard fight, it was becoming quite boring. He signaled Pellaeon to fire on Vengeance and, without argument, the captain ordered the Chimaera's bridge officers to fire on the other Star Destroyer.
* * *
Toah could hear footsteps marching down the cell block corridor. The Dark Jedi were most likely returning to check on their captives, and likely heard the fight that had occurred earlier. Toah raised his lightsaber as Han and Chewbacca sabotaged weapons from a nearby security closet, after the Wookiee had tore its door off.
Soon enough, Sedriss, the other six Dark Jedi, and a group of stormtroopers came marching down the corridor. Chewbacca roared and charged towards the unsuspecting Imperials, ignoring Han's shouts of protest.
"I must say," C-3PO said quietly as the Wookiee knocked down Sedriss and the others. "One day, that Chewbacca will bite off more than he can chew."
"Let's hope he'll chew enough," Han muttered as he, Toah, and the others made their way through the beaten stormtroopers.
* * *
Sidious was laughing like a mad man as the Imperial fortress began to encircle his citadel. Leia could not find a way to escape, for Lumiya and Flint kept their eyes glued to her. Suddenly, a large Wookiee came crashing through the door leading to the hall Luke took Chewbacca and the other through. Behind the Wookiee came Toah, Han, C-3PO, and R2-D2, aiming their weapons at the Emperor and his two acolytes.
Sidious immediately ceased laughing and scowled. "Apparently, Skywalker was not as strong as I thought..."
The Emperor raised his hands and prepared to unleash his Force lightning when Han fired a blaster bolt at his hands. As Palpatine screamed in rage, Lumiya and Flint charged towards his enemies. Toah used the Force to send Flint flying away, but was struck down by Lumiya's lightsaber-whip. Leia ran towards the female acolyte and sent Lumiya flying away as well.
"Get to the hangar!" Han shouted to the others, and the six of them made their way out of the throne room.
Within the hangar, they found the Millennium Falcon confiscated and surrounded by the crimson-armored guard known as Atha Prime, whom they had seen earlier when Sedriss had led them to Sidious' citadel. With him were twelve other guards with similar armor and force pikes.
Noticing Han and the others, Atha Prime called out to the other guards, "Seize them!" The twelve guards charged, stun poles and even axes raised high above their heads. They apparently had underestimated Chewbacca, and soon, all of the crimson guards were on the ground, unconscious and in pain.
Atha Prime looked down upon the defeated guards nonchalantly. His scarlet eyes then turned to Chewbacca and his companions. "Well fought..." he muttered, a hint of cowardice in his voice. He then slowly stepped aside, allowing the heroes to board their ship.
The Millennium Falcon's engines ignited and it took off, shooting into Byss' orbit and jumping into lightspeed.
* * *
It was done. The Vengeance had been destroyed, and Argen and his crew were now nothing more but dust in space. True, Thrawn had lost another part of the old Imperial Fleet, but he had much more to worry about, such as what to do now that Palpatine had betrayed them.
Perhaps, he thought, the best solution was to depart into the Unknown Regions or the Outer Rim and scatter across the galaxy. After that, Thrawn had no idea what to do next, except build a new, yet smaller empire.
It may not succeed, Thrawn said to himself, but neither did the old Empire.
After punching in coordinates for the Esstran sector, the stars began to streak against the Chimaera's viewport as it headed into hyperspace.
* * *
It was not long after the Empire's retreat when the Millennium Falcon leaped out of hyperspace and landed in Coruscant's capital city. Waiting outside the Senate Building were Chief of State Mon Mothma, Senator Borsk Fey'lya, and General Lando Calrissian.
As Han, Leia, Toah, Chewbacca, and the two droids walked down the boarding ramp, Mothma was the first to greet them.
"It is good to see you are all right, Senator Organa," she said. "We feared the Empire would have attacked Naboo."
"Technically, they did," Han said with a disgruntled sigh.
"We were captured by them," Leia explained. "They took us to Byss and we found out something truly horrific.."
"And that is...?" Borsk Fey'lya inquired.
Leia took a deep breath before saying, "Palpatine has returned."
An air of shock wrapped around them. After a few minutes, Borsk managed to find his voice. "That is...unfortunate."
"There's more," Leia said, starting to tremble. "Luke's gone. Palpatine...he turned him to the dark side..."
"No..." Lando murmured. "There's no way he could've...no...."
Borsk sighed sadly. "These truly are dark days for the New Republic. We'll need to find a new leader for the Jedi Order."
"Leia can do that," Han said firmly. "Besides, she's Luke's sister."
"No, Han, I can't," Leia protested. "I'm a senator. I can't-"
"No worries, Senator Organa," Mothma said gently. "The Jedi need you more than we do. We'll sort this out. I promise."
Lando put his hand on Leia's shoulder, smiling sadly but reassuringly. "And don't worry about Luke," he said. "We'll find him...I promise."
"We all will," Han added, with Toah, Chewbacca, and the droids giving their assent.
Lando nodded. "Trust me. With us at your side, Palpatine and his Empire don't stand a chance."
Leia smiled weakly, wiping a tear off her cheek. She looked up towards the sky and knew that, somewhere out there, hope was waiting for her...
EPILOGUE
Where am I, Luke thought. One minute, he was in Darth Sidious' 'shadow realm' with the Sith holocrons. The next, he was in a barren land not unlike Tatooine. Dark, grey clouds slowly hovered across the dusk sky, and the smell of an ocean filled his nose.
In the distance, he could hear chanting, but he couldn't make out what it was, or where it was coming from. As he walked across the rocky ground, Luke heard the chanting was getting closer and closer. He reached a cliff and looked down.
Below were at least thirteen, black-robed beings gathered in a circle. They surrounded a strange relic, shaped like an orb, which was placed on a stone podium. Luke suddenly noticed many more robed beings and realized this circle was within a large circle. The chanting eventually came to a halt and the whole place was silent.
Soon, coming through the outer circle and into the inner one was a tall figure in black, ornamental robes, and a silver helmet sat atop its head, covering its face. Once it had reached the podium, the being spoke, "Heralds of darkness, warriors of the shadows, lend me your ears!"
"Hail Lord of the Dead!" the gathered beings cried. "We shall heed what thou shall speak!"
"Excellent," the Lord of the Dead said. "I bring quite interesting news. Our friends on Korriban have told me a Sith by the name Vorath is in search of the great Beast Lord, Kal-Teraz. If this Vorath succeeds in reawakening the Beast Lord, we may have found our Sith'ari!"
The crowd cheered loudly. Once it had died down, the being spoke again. "However, even if he does become the Sith'ari, we all know who will still truly rule the Underworld..."
"All hail Ra-Sal, Lord of the Dead Ones!" the gathered being cried again. "Ruler of the Netherworld!"
Before Luke could hear more, he felt someone grab him by the shoulder. He turned around to see a bearded man standing before him, wearing brown robes.
"Who are you?" Luke demanded. "Where am I?"
The man chuckled. "As for who I am, I shall simply tell you that I am an ally. As for where you are, you are in the Netherworld, the realm of the dead."
The stranger signaled Luke to follow him. "Now come," he said. "There is much to see and many to meet." He then added a smiled. "And I know someone you will defiantly be glad to see again..."
TO BE CONTINUED...
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