EPILOGUE
Frozen moon, UR-2212-GR system, Unknown Regions
“I’m already starting to regret offering to come along….”
Jaden Korr ignored Khedryn Faal’s grumbling as the two of them, along with Marr Idi-Shael, made their way through the Imperial research base. From the looks of things, nothing had been touched in the two years since their last visit to the moon. Abandoned equipment and other materials still remained in the same spots where they had left them, indicating that no one else had been to the moon after they had left. Of course, Jaden had been around long enough to know that appearances could always be deceiving.
They made their way to the lab where they had found recordings left behind by the scientists that had worked at the facility. From what Jaden could recall, the recordings had indicated that the facility had been under the jurisdiction of Grand Admiral Thrawn and was being used as a test site for Force-sensitive clones, made from the DNA of various Force-users. It was where the strange community of clones—consisting of the likes of Seer, Runner, and Hunter—had originated from. The clones had also been made using the DNA of Emperor Palpatine himself, which made Jaden wonder just how involved the Emperor had been with the project or if it had been entirely Thrawn’s passion project.
Upon reaching the lab, Jaden had Khedryn stand guard outside while he and Marr ventured in. Approaching the main computer, Jaden switched it on and began to sift through in search of any stored recordings that he hadn’t already seen two years ago.
“Amazing that anything in this facility is still operational,” Marr remarked as he looked around the decrepit building.
Jaden frowned as he looked down at the computer. “It’s gone.”
Marr looked at him. “What?”
“The footage… the recordings… they’re all gone.”
“Maybe they’re corrupted—”
“No, they’re all gone! As in someone went in here and erased them all.”
Khedryn poked his head into the room. “What’s going on?”
“The recordings that we found here last time… they’ve all been erased. It must’ve been done manually.” Jaden stepped away from the computer as if it was cursed and shook his head. “Someone else has been here.”
Khedryn started cursing up a storm while Marr tugged at his goatee. “Question is, are they still here?”
“I don’t want to stay around to find out,” Khedryn said. “Let’s get back to the ship before—”
Jaden did not hear the rest of Khedryn’s words as he was immediately attacked with a pounding headache. He let out a cry of pain as he fell to his knees, clutching his head as the room around him warped away. The coldness of the room was replaced with a humid heat, and the smell of lava and sulfur filled his nose.
“Jaden, stay back!” a familiar voice rang in his ear. “Please… don’t… hurt me!”
Fighting against the pain, Jaden managed to open his eyes enough to see the scene unfolding in front of him. He saw Rosh Penin, his friend from his days as an apprentice, standing in front of a lightsaber-wielding figure. He recognized the location around them as Taspir III, with this moment being the time when he had nearly given in to the dark side and killed Rosh. However, the lightsaber wielder was not him—at least, he did not recognize them as himself. Rather than a human male, the figure was instead a Twi’lek woman, her eyes blazing with anger.
“Jaden!” The voice of Kyle Katarn echoed around him. “You’re better than that! Don’t give into your anger! Rosh is telling the truth!”
But the words of his master was not enough to stop the Twi’lek from cutting down Rosh in cold blood. Jaden opened his mouth to call out Rosh’s name only for his headache to renew its assault, and he cried out in agony instead. As darkness curled around the edges of his vision, the Twi’lek turned to face him, her lightsaber now a violent shade of red. As she stepped towards him, her appearance began to drastically change, taking on the shape of a Zabrak, and than a blonde-haired human. She then knelt down and brought a hand to Jaden’s chin, forcing him to look up.
“Yes,” the woman said, her voice as cool as the ice on the moon. “This is him. This is the Iteration.”
Jaden gasped as he came back to reality. Taking the place of his female self was a figure cloaked entirely in black, robes and scarfs covering their face. Other cloaked figures were standing nearby, holding Khedryn and Marr hostage. As two others came over to pull Jaden up, one of them spoke to the one in front of Jaden.
“What shall we do with these two?”
The cloaked female inclined her head to look at Marr and Khedryn. “The Cerean is Force-sensitive,” she said after a moment. “He might be of use. You may dispose of the other.”
Jaden’s eyes widened. “No, wait—!”
Before the words could even leave his mouth, a scarlet lightsaber blade ignited and pierced through Khedryn’s chest. The pilot’s eyes briefly went wide before his entire body went slack. Marr cried out his friend’s name before the cloaked acolyte holding him put a gag over his mouth.
“Take them both to the ship,” the leader of the acolytes said. “We’re almost done here; just a few more loose ends to tidy up.”
“Who… who even are you?” Jaden croaked, his voice weak from anguish.
“We are those who have waited in the shadows for countless generations. We are those descended from the original darkness, the First Shadow. After watching endless victories and failures, it is time for us to reveal ourselves and bring forth the Final Shadow. We are the Eternal. We are the true Sith.”
One of the acolytes stepped forward to put cloaks over Marr and Jaden’s heads. The last thing Jaden saw was the leader of the acolytes as she pulled back her mask and revealed her face. He felt his heart sink like a rock at the sight of it.
“And our day of revenge is at hand.”
TO BE CONTINUED
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