CHAPTER THIRTEEN
All Anakin and the others could do was watch in awe as the large krayt dragon- which Anakin assumed was the shape-shifting creature they encountered earlier- wrestled with the cloaked being. To his shock, the latter suddenly began shape-shifting as well, morphing into a small rodent which scampered around the krayt dragon and climbed onto its back, digging its small but sharp fangs into its scaly skin.
The dragon roared, more out of ire than pain, and it used its long tail to whisk the rodent away. As soon as it touched the ground, the rodent changed shape again, this time growing into a burly, four-armed gundark. It lunged at the dragon and grabbed its two cranial horns with its large, clawed hands.
The gundark pulled on the horns and the krayt dragon let out an agonized scream. Before the gundark could yank harder, the dragon, without warning, turned into a reek, startling its adversary and causing it to fall off the thick-skinned bovine.
With a bellowing cry, the reek turned and charged towards its victim. With an upward thrust of its head, the Ylesian creature sent the gundark flying up in the air. The four-armed creature took advantage of its brief moment of airborne-ness to morph into a flying creature of this and vanish into the darkness of the Shadowlands.
"Coward!" the reek cried, its voice shaking the forest. "Come back and fight me, you coward!"
Nothing but silence was the reply.
Growling, the reek turned to Anakin and the others and said, "You should leave Kashyyyk if you want to live."
"Why should we listen to you?" Jast exclaimed. "You tried to kill us! You killed Naar!"
The reek snarled. "And I would have killed you all had I not realized who you were. Now go!"
"What do you mean?" Anakin asked. "Did you know we would come here? Do you know we're searching for the-"
His question was cut off by a loud, ear-shattering roar, followed by a tremendous earthquake. By the terror in the reek's eyes, Anakin doubted it was a natural earthquake.
"No," the creature murmured. "They can't be starting it now, not unless..."
Before Anakin or any of the others could inquire what the reek meant, the shape-shifting creature changed back into a krayt dragon, except in a larger scale and with wings.
"Climb onto my back!" the creature shouted. "Now!"
The group was hesitant at first, but a second earthquake convinced them otherwise. At once, the eight of them climbed onto the winged krayt dragon's large back, finding a protruding scale to grab onto. For a split second, Anakin thought about running to get the still motionless Levat and Avon, but the now endlessly shaking ground told that there was no time, and the Force was telling him that it was hopeless cause anyway.
Just as the dragon unfurled its wings, Lysira shouted into its ear, "You're not thinking of breaking through the Wookiee cities above, are you?"
"I am," the dragon growled.
"But what about the residents? You might kill them!"
"There's no one left to kill."
With that, the krayt dragon leaned back, flapped its wings to gain momentum, and jumped. Like a missile, the dragon shot up straight for the forest's rooftop. Seeing the wooden platform cities approaching closer and closer, Anakin closed his eyes and braced himself as they broke through them, pieces of wroshyr flying everywhere and brushing against him and the others.
Opening his eyes, Anakin could see what the changeling meant in his words. All of the Wookiee cities, including Kachirho, were completely deserted, with no sign of C-3PO, Jak Kasra, Captain Barakka, or the other Wookiees. In the distance he noticed, rising amidst the wroshyr trees, a large, claw-like object. The tips of its 'talons' began to spark and a wide, bluish beam of energy shot towards the sky, aiming for Kashyyyk's sun.
"What in the worlds is that thing?" Sev Nep cried to the dragon.
"Words can not explain," the krayt dragon replied. "All I can say is that it spells doom for the galaxy."
As they all watched in awe and despair at the event, something dawned on Anakin. "This is just how Jacen described what happened at Korriban," he said quietly. "A beam of energy shot from the planet towards its sun...and then it all vanished."
Jast gulped. "I don't like the sound of that. I think we should try to get off this planet."
"There is no time," the krayt dragon said, with a hint of sadness in his voice. "By the time you get to your ship, if it's still intact, there would be no place to go to."
"You mean we're going to die?" Lysira said, her voice no louder than a whisper. "Kashyyyk is going to...end?"
"No," said the dragon. "It's going to be teleported."
Before any of them could ask the creature to explain, a large, disk-like portal opened up in Kashyyyk's sky.
"What is that?" Jast asked, filled with panic.
Anakin saw what appeared to be a smirk cross the dragon's face. "Our ticket out of here."
With a tremendous flap of its wings, the krayt dragon shot towards the portal with its passengers. As they neared the portal, sparkling with blue colored energy, Anakin and the others simply squeezed their eyes shut and prepared for the worst....
EPILOGUE
"The Kashyyyk operation is a success, masters," the shimmering hologram of a Glorian general said to the Emperor and the Avatar. "It's a pity that the ones on Manaan, Tatooine, and Dantooine failed though, or else we'd be closer to the Reunification by now."
"Indeed," the Emperor muttered. "Let us hope that the Invasion will compensate those failures. You are dismissed, general."
With a nod and salute, the Glorian ended the connection. When the hologram vanished, complete darkness engulfed the room, save for the Emperor's glowing, lantern-like eyes.
Turning to the Glorian ruler, the Avatar said, "Has the Watcher approved of this move? To commence the Invasion?"
"Do you think I would do something without his approval?" the Emperor snarled. "Yes, he has approved of it. General Starka is preparing his forces as we speak."
The Avatar nodded. "How will we be handling the various galactic organizations? We have the Alliance, the Imperial Remnant, the Hutts, the Mandalorians..."
The Emperor chuckled. "I'm sure we can goad the Hutts into allying with us, for now. The others do not stand a chance against us."
"What about the Revanchist? Is he not a formidable opponent?"
The Emperor let out a disdainful snort. "He may have been able to take out half a legion of ours, but not a dozen."
The Glorian ruler leaned back in his seat. "And besides, if worst comes to worst, which I highly doubt it will, the Magnificence could always make his move and bring forth the Reunification on his own. And he will do so only at his time of choosing. And it will be a time of victory for us..."
His scarlet eyes glowed with malice. "...And chaos for them."
TO BE CONTINUED
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