Project Penumbra

[Trenton Vinh]

Erebus and Noxus left the asteroid base, leaving it as it began buffeting violently, gravity from the black hole's fluctuations tugging it apart.
Soon it would be swallowed entirely, and all it had ever been would be gone, crushed into a singularity.

They took a small shuttle, large enough for five people.
As they navigated the black hole cluster in The Maw, Noxus noted there were more black holes in the system than before.
Erebus nodded absently when Noxus pointed out the observation.
Noxus knew they were on a mission -- a dangerous one, but he knew little else. Erebus had given him research to do, on what he believed would be useful to Noxus.

Noxus had read the files on Apotros, the mining vessel said to be nearly invulnerable. Other than its armor, the vessel was unimpressive, and Noxus questioned how it would serve the Sith.
The Apprentice asked aloud, "What do we need this ship for, My Lord?"

Erebus lifted his head thoughtfully, eyes on the stars and black holes beyond the viewport, his focus on his goal and all the steps he needed to take to accomplish it.
"This ship...it is the final piece to the puzzle; with it, I will have all I need to achieve victory."
His deep voice was listless, sounding as if his attention was elsewhere. As if he was thinking aloud rather than replying to his student.
Darth Noxus took it as a good chance to pursue his curiosity -- and to learn more of what his Master was planning.
Noxus searched his knowledge of the ship he had spent hours cross-referencing Military files and Holonews articles to find,
"Its defence is its greatest strength, its hull is nearly impenetrable. But it is hardly larger than this shuttle, what good will it do us, my Lord?"
Erebus' eyes now dropped from the heavens to his apprentice, and his voice took on a more direct tone,
"This vessel will not be carrying me to war, my student. Weapons are useless so long as the Dark Side fuels us."
Noxus considered this, and nodded, his Master didn't need direct physical confrontation to destroy his foe.
He implored, "What is your plan, Master? What must we do?"

Darth Erebus lifted a hand to silence Noxus, and said, "The recon probe is here, and it is being followed. This is where we make our first move."
He continued piloting the shuttle, accelerating as they left the treacherous black hole cluster behind. The hulking rock of Kessel drifted ahead, and nearby it, an unmarked G.A. ship chasing a recon probe in their direction.

The probe was returning to sender -- it had been deployed from the shuttle Erebus and Noxus were in, several days ago above Coruscant.
Erebus said, "When you and Raeph went to Coruscant, I programmed this droid to do some recon for me. It seems to have the information we need."

As he spoke, the shuttle chasing the probe managed to get a lock with its tractor beam. The probe slowly was pulled into the bowels of the larger ship.
Erebus smiled, "We can use their transport to our advantage as well."

Erebus opened his comm, and broadcast to the other ship, "Unidentified shuttle, you just recovered my probe. Permission to board and reclaim it."
There was silence for a moment, and a human voice replied, "Permission granted."

Noxus almost laughed; the G.A. was planning to arrest the Sith as soon as they docked. Erebus had sped things up by acting as if he was unaware of who they were.

Within a few minutes, their shuttle had docked with the unmarked G.A. ship.
Erebus stood up from the command chair and strode for the docking tube. His black robes pooled around him, he moved so smoothly it was as if he were gliding across the deck.
Noxus hurried to follow, gripping his lightsaber expectantly. On his belt was his Master's old double-bladed weapon.
They didn't need anything that they didn't have on them, so they entered the docking tube and strode its length to the other side. The airlock doors were sealed, and Erebus could sense the six men on the other side, who had weapons raised. They would offer to take them quietly, of course. But the G.A. soldiers had no idea who they were facing.
As soon as the door opened, Erebus dove through, his crimson blade weaving a war dance of destruction among the caught-off guard soldiers.
All of them died within seconds, before Noxus had even gotten his lightsaber lit.

The pair of Sith made their way through the rest of the shuttle, killing all aboard it mercilessly. When they took the bridge, Erebus took the time to introduce himself to Captain Gerd before beheading him.

With all the occupants now dead, Erebus looked around and said, "These men weren't navy or special forces. The ShadowNet was tracking the probe. Let's find out what it has for us."
They returned to the hangar bay, where the probe awaited them next to their shuttle.
Opening its data hatch, Erebus entered a keycode and the probe read aloud its data. It listed coordinates in the Coruscant system, numbers of escort ships and models.
Then it read off the only bit of information Erebus needed:

Apotros docked in hangar bay E-77 aboard space station Penumbra.

The Sith Lord smirked and with a pulse from the Force, disintegrated the probe and all its information.
He said to his silent student, "Take us to Coruscant, my apprentice."

*****

Jonathan Rohaeus met Kavan Moirai in the Coruscant underlevels, where the boy had been struggling to find food and shelter for the past few days. He was looking dirty, tired, and hungry. Jon felt for the boy, he had known what it was like to struggle for everyday, basic needs when he was around the boy's age.

Kavan was average height for his age, just shy of six feet. He had an athletic build and a simple grace that told Jon the boy had been trained one way or another.

As Jon neared the boy in the alley, he said, "I'm Jonathan Rohaeus. I was sent to help you out a bit."
The younger man seemed surprised at the statement, and asked Jon, "Were you sent by the man who helped me with the Dark Jedi?"

Rohaeus paused, realizing he didn't know the name of the agent that had been tracking the boy, but answered, "I wasn't sent by him, but he and I work for the same organization. What's your name?"

"Kavan Moirai." answered Kavan simply, and he replied with another question of his own,
"What organization do you work for?"
Jon smiled and responded, "We're called ShadowNet. We have a network of spies and intelligence operatives who help police the Galaxy and keep the peace. I'm a Vindicator, one of the elite operatives assigned to make important decisions and act as a mediator when needed."
Kavan was smart, and he shot back pointedly, "Your organization will never replace the Jedi. But why do you want me to come with you?"

Jon inclined his head and the boy followed him out of the mouth of the alley, onto the street where the bullet-shaped shuttle awaited them. He answered, "Of course we won't. We couldn't. But as a supporter of peace, I'm working to make up for what we've lost."
Kavan had obviously caught up on Galactic Politics during his time in the undercity, cause he said,
"With the Jedi being forced out, the G.A. is going to make a lot of enemies. The Jedi were one of the reasons that many people did not do anything dangerous. Many beings fear them, while others revere them."

Jon found himself in between the two, but said, "I support the Jedi, and hope they will find their way through this trial. But there are more than just Jedi out there."
Kavan nodded, "Like the Sith."
Jon shrugged and added, "Those, and others who look at The Force differently."
"Like myself." Kavan responded.

They climbed into the shuttle and took opposite seats, facing one another.
Kavan eyed Jon and said, "You look like a cop, not like a Jedi."
This made Jon laugh out loud,
"I was once a CorSec Officer." He explained, "Then I became a pilot and I fought for the Rebel Alliance. After that I did detective work and freelance work. When the Vong came, I was reinstated by the Military as a General, and I fought in the fleet battles. After that," He emphasized the word, "I became a detective once more. Then ShadowNet happened, and now I'm here."

The younger Force-User opened his palm and showed Jon an opaque crystal in it, and he said,
"My father gave this to me four days ago. It was my great-great-great grandfathers, he was a Jedi, and my dad said I would find my destiny on my own, and that it was from here on that I forge my fate. Then he left me on Coruscant, where I visited the Jedi, got attacked by a Dark Jedi, then almost starved to death in the undercity." He paused and added, "Then ShadowNet happened, and now I'm here."
Both of them smiled broadly, and Jon decided he liked this kid.

As the shuttle left Coruscant, Kavan asked, "So where are we going?"
Jon said, "Above Vandor-III is a space station that is being used as the ShadowNet's headquarters. We're going there, to get you sorted out."
Kavan nodded, "Will I get to see the agent that helped me before?"
Jon shrugged, frowning, "We might."

"You seem to know a lot about The Force for someone who isn't very Sensitive to it."
Jon shrugged, "I worked with Jedi and Force-Sensitives before. I'm not knowledgeable on The Force, but I learned a lot by watching and interacting with its users."
Kavan asked, "I was trained like a Jedi, sort of. My family line passed on knowledge of The Force for generations. I don't follow the Jedi Code, but understand its wisdom. Will ShadowNet help me grow stronger in The Force?"

Jon didn't voice his first thought:
'I'm sure Reyan would love to make you his pet.'
Instead he said, "I think so, I know a few people you could certainly learn a thing or two from."

As the shuttle neared Penumbra, another ship exited Hyperspace nearby and accelerated towards the station as well. While he watched it out the viewport, the P.A. system activated and the pilot said,
"Vindicator Rohaeus, I have been ordered to inform you that the ship nearby us is the team sent to recover the recon probe in Kessel."
Jon's eyes lit up, and he said loudly to the pilot, "That's excellent, thank you."

Seeing the curiosity on Kavan's face, Jon decided to fill him in,
"The Dark Jedi that attacked you -- his name was Devan Knorr. We have him on the station in custody, and he said that he was working with a Sith Lord. This probe may have been sent by that Sith Lord, and it was spying on us during an escort mission a few hours ago. If the team recovered it, we could gain some valuable intel on who our enemies are."
Kavan nodded, "Oh, I understand." And turned to look at the ship out the viewport as it began to accelerate past.

Kavan was very strong in The Force, the limits of his power unknown to even him. Perhaps that was why he began to feel the Dark Power emanating from the ship ahead of them.

"Something isn't right," he said absently as he struggled to watch the ship as it grew further away. Soon it vanished within one of the many docking bays on the huge space station looming ahead.
Jon looked at Kavan with concern, and Kavan struggled to explain,
"It feels like...something is wrong with the shuttle. Inside it."

"You mean the crew is in danger?" Jon asked, starting to look worried.
Kavan shook his head in frustration, searching The Force for the elusive sense he had felt,
"No...It feels like...they were in danger earlier."
Jon heaved a sigh, and replied, "Maybe they ran into someone near Kessel, its a pirate and smuggler's haven."

Kavan wasn't so sure that was it. As he fought to maintain focused on what he was feeling, he felt The Force ripple again. He shivered now, the power flowing over him and encompassing him.
He said. "Comm them. Please, I sense something terrible."

Jon obeyed and pulled out his comlink. He entered a code and spoke into it,
"This is Vindicator Rohaeus, requesting a status report on the shuttle that returned from Kessel."
A secretary said softly, "Putting you through to Docking Bay A-323, Vindicator Rohaeus."
There was silence as he was patched through to someone in the hangar bay, and after a moment of crackling static a gruff voice answered,
"This is Sergeant Fensworth, Vindicator Rohaeus, how do you do?"
Jon rolled his eyes and responded, "I'm fine, Sergeant. What is the status of the shuttle that just landed?"
The Sergeant replied, "I'm in the hangar bay looking at the ship now. Its engines are cycling down now, and the team will be disembarking momentarily. Would you like me to comm you back when we have some information?"
Rohaeus struggled to find something to say, "Uh, what is your security looking like, Sergeant?"
Fensworth seemed to be growing impatient, "Well, we have armed guards posted at all the entrances and exits, as well as the security team that inspects docked shuttles. That team consists of me and my two others."
Jon began to speak once more but Fensworth cut him off, "It seems the ramp is lowering now. Oh...By The Force..." The comm filled with noise and undiscernable shouts, and Jon bolted up from his seat, Kavan gripped the arm of his chair, staring wide-eyed at the comlink.
Fensworth's voice came back on the comm over the noise, now sounding...scared.
"Vindicator Rohaeus! The team wasn't on board! They're here!"
No more shouting could be heard, only blasterfire, "They must be here for Knorr! No, NO-" The comlink crackled with static and disconnected sharply.

Jon stared at the receiver in his hand, then looked at Kavan, who was speechless.
Whatever was happening, they had to get there -- fast.
Slamming his fist against the door to the cockpit, Jon shouted, "Full speed! Something is wrong, take us to Bay A-323, NOW!"
He rocked on his heels as the shuttle accelerated, its engines thrumming a rhythm with his pounding heart.
Kavan had been right. Something was terribly wrong, and Jon had to help them.
He dialed a new comm number and yelled into the comlink, "Reyan! Director Reyan, this is Jonathan Rohaeus! Alert security, there is an intruder in Docking Bay A-323. I'll be landing there in a few minutes!"
Reyan didn't even respond. The director was already alerting ShadowNet's security and beginning to lock the station's data systems down.
Whatever was happening aboard Penumbra, Jon could tell that it was going to be bloody.

[Trenton Vinh]

Lord Erebus stood up from his chair as Noxus landed the shuttle in Hangar Bay A-323. The Dark Lord waited patiently as his
apprentice shut down the engines.
When Noxus walked over, he was pulling on a black cloak. He said simply, "They're going to have good security."

Erebus only nodded, and said, "They cannot stop us."
Noxus knew he was right, and pulled his lightsaber from his belt. Hefting it, he used his free hand to lower the landing ramp.
Mechanics hissed and the ramp slid down, Erebus already striding down it before it touched the deck.
Noxus was a few steps behind, drawing his hood over his face like his Master.

There were ten people in the hangar, several security guards, some mechanics, and an inspection crew. As the Sith exited the shuttle, the guards raised their weapons, and the mechanics began backing away warily.
Someone said, "Identify yourself!"
Erebus didn't speak a word. His feet touched the hangar floor, and the killing began.
Static electricity began filling the room with sparking noises, and suddenly all the electronics in the room spat sparks. A mechanic screamed as he was showered in the heat, his face and exposed flesh burning.
The guards opened fire, but Noxus drew his lightsaber in a smooth motion, and stepped forward to return the bolts to their senders.
A man was yelling into a comlink, backing towards the hangar doors as his security guards were slaughtered by the Sith Lords.
Erebus moved swiftly towards the man as Noxus cut down the remaining mechanics.

As Noxus came into range of the man on the comlink, the man's voice rose in panic, and he yelled into the device, "They must be here for Knorr!"
The man toppled to the ground, The Dark Lord towering over him. He dropped the comlink and began screaming, "No, NO!"
His hysteria was silenced by Erebus' stare, when the Dark Lord pierced his mind with The Force and ripped the information he needed from it.
The man went still, his mind destroyed by the overpowering Sith Lord's intrusion.
Erebus crushed the comlink under his heel, and turned angrily to look at his Apprentice, who had just bisected the last of the Security guards.

Looking somewhat pleased with himself, Noxus asked, "Where are we going from here, Master?"

Erebus bubbled with Dark power, and the student seemed to lose his confidence as his Master said, "When you came to Coruscant, you were ordered by Raeph to kill Devan Knorr, but you failed. He is here, on this station!"

Noxus blanched, and sputtered, "I am sorry, Master. I thought I had succeeded in my mission...I threw him from a sixth floor window!"
Erebus' hand cut through the air, swatting aside the excuse,
"That agent has valuable information on our plan, and he cannot be allowed to live. I will continue with our mission, you now have one of your own. You are going to find Knorr and kill him. If you are swift enough, you will be able to catch up to me before I leave."

Noxus nodded frantically, "I will not fail this time, My Lord!"
Erebus responded, "No you will not. When it is done, comm me and I will give you my location."
The Dark Lord looked past his student, past the dead bodies, past the ship they came in on, and spotted a small shuttle heading for the hangar bay.
He said,
"Our enemies are closing in from all sides, Darth Noxus. You will only survive if you are firm in your conviction, and merciless to those who bar your path. Prove you are capable of taking my throne."

The hangar bay doors sealed shut and emergency lights began to strobe as the station initiated its emergency lockdown procedures. Erebus raised his hand and blasted the doors apart with a thought.
The two Sith went right down the hallway until they came to a series of turbolifts. Entering one, Noxus tapped the key marked: Detention Areas.
Stepping into another lift, Erebus hit the key labeled: Central
The doors slid shut soundlessly, and the Dark Lord ascended, getting ever closer to his destination...and his destiny.

*****

Jon Rohaeus and Kavan Moirai burst from their shuttle as soon as it landed. The pilots exited behind them, both jogging out of the hangar to get as far away from the bloodshed as possible.

Jon and Kavan took a moment to investigate the scene of the slaughter.
Kavan asked, "Who else could know that Devan Knorr was being held here?" as he bent down to study a trio of blaster burns on a dead security guard.
Jon was looking at a group of guards who had been dismembered and cut apart. He spoke slowly, and shivered as if fear was crawling up his spine when he said,
"Lightsaber wounds."

Kavan swallowed.
Jon said, "The Sith Lord has come to finish what he began...he's going to kill Devan Knorr and ensure we don't learn anything else about him."
Moirai asked, "But we have him right where we want him, don't we?"
Despite the corpses littered about them, Jon managed a grim smile, "There's no such thing as trapping a Sith Lord, Kavan. This man will tear us apart. But that doesn't mean we can't try to stop him -- we just need to get to Knorr first."

The two men left the hangar at a run, making for the turbolifts immediately. They rode it down into the detention levels of the ship, but the Sith was ahead of them. The lift took them to the detention left-arm of the detention facility.
The brig was shaped like a box, the prisoners kept in the cells and containment areas in the center, ringed by catwalks and guard posts. The only exits were the left and right arms of the brig, essentially long hallways filled with ray shields to prevent escape.

When the doors to the lift opened, the first thing Jon smelled was the burning of flesh. He drew his blaster and stepped into the shadowy room, his boots clanging against the steel floor.
Looking around, Kavan spotted movement and pointed.
Jon stepped over to where the young man had been pointing, and saw a guard laying in a heap against the wall, bleeding profusely from his nose. His arm was hanging at an unnatural angle, and he cradled a deep stomach wound that was oozing dark fluids.

Jon dropped to one knee and put a hand on the security officer's shoulder saying,
"We're going to get you a medic right away."
The guard's head lolled, and he tried to speak. He choked, and blood spat out of his mouth onto Jon's flightsuit.
He managed to mutter, "Too late..."
His eyes dropped to Jon's blaster, and he added, "...Please..."

Jon gazed into the man's eyes, wishing he had said anything else.
But this guard was dying, and Jon would do him the favor of ending his pain.
"Don't look, Kavan." Jon said through gritted teeth as he pressed the muzzle of his blaster against the man's temple.
The guard said, "You won't be able to stop him, either..." He snorted, and then coughed again, blood spilling down his chin. Eyes still locked to Jon's, he whispered.
"Thank...you."
Jon closed his eyes and pulled the trigger. He felt the man topple over to the side, dead instantly.

Swallowing the fury that rose inside him, Jon holstered his gun and stood up slowly. He turned to Kavan, who had been staring purposefully down the security hallway towards the detention area in the distance. Kavan had a sad smile on his face,
"I don't have to see it to sense his death, Jon...But thank you for trying to spare me the pain of viewing death."
Jon felt like he had died inside. He was numb, holding back the guilt over what he had just done in order to focus on what he had to do.

"Just keep going." He said aloud to himself, and he began jogging down the hallway, Kavan at his heels.

*****

Trenton Vinh and Jedi Master Gani Torre had left behind the Iskalloni ship, as it drifted towards its final destination -- the heart of Coruscant Prime. All aboard the stealth shuttle would melt and be reduced to gas, torn to nothing in the incredible heat and radiation, magnetic fields and nuclear discharges.

Once more in their shuttle, the pair watched the Iskallon frigate as it plummeted in-system. After they had exited the hangar bay, they had watched a dozen spherical pods ejecting into space. They had a ring of transparisteel around the upper end, and repulsors littered their hulls.

Gani Torre sent a message to the authorities on the colonies on Vandor-III, letting them know that the Iskalloni would be landing shortly, and that they would need to be rounded up and detained. He told them a team of Jedi were being dispatched to help.
Then he switched frequencies and sent another message to the other Masters at the Jedi Temple.

"This is Jedi Master Gani Torre, transmitting from my personal shuttle orbiting Vandor-III. Trenton Vinh and I are en route to Penumbra station. On the station is a Sith Lord, the one we had suspected...
We sabotaged an Iskalloni stealth frigate, and its Iskallon occupants have taken escape pods down to the surface of Vandor-III. I have alerted the authorities on the planet, and told them a team of Jedi were on the way to aid in capturing them."

Trent eyed Torre, and Torre cut the feed for a moment, explaining, "We can give them a full report when we return to Coruscant. For now I'm keeping the details...official."
Trent nodded and accelerated the ship towards Penumbra,
as it grew larger in the forward viewport. He didn't like the idea of returning to the Jedi Temple to report to the Council, but he felt like he owed Torre a favor. He had promised he wouldn't make Torre regret releasing him.

Torre reopened the frequency and finished his message,
"The Iskalloni threat is very real, but this Sith threat is the most immediate. I will give a full report to the Council as soon as possible. Gani Torre, out."

With the Iskalloni problems dealt with, at least for now, the men turned to what could be the biggest problem of all - a Sith Lord.

Trenton's brow was furrowed in anxiety, and he remarked, "So the Council suspected Paladin had broken free of his prison?"
Torre nodded slowly, watching Trenton with his piercing eyes, and responded a bit sharply,
"We would have informed you, had you still been in the Order, or in Alliance space. It happened a few months before you returned to Coruscant. The dreadnaught-turned prison that had been holding him -- specifically built to hold him..."
He paused as he tried to find the words to explain,
"A supply ship found the interior of the ship irreparably damaged. It showed signs of battle -- melted blasters with full blaster packs, security droids torn to bits. They found no bodies. Not one. There were more than sixty other prisoners, and half as many guards."

Trent struggled to keep his frustration hidden, "And you did not act on this information? You didn't think that was him escaping?"
Gani shook his head and shot back, "There was no sign that it was him, and no sign that it had been someone else. The hangar bays were empty. It could have been Drake, but it could have also been pirates or slavers or anything." He shrugged his annoyance of, "What could we have done? We had no evidence, no suspects, no witnesses. It was a ghost ship, Vinh."

Trenton clenched his teeth, and responded, "You could have done more than nothing. Further investigation couldn't hurt."
Gani had an answer ready for that, "The Jedi don't have the resources, and there's no police forces in that sector."

Restraining himself from arguing further, Trent dropped the subject as moved in for a landing at one of the docking bays, the bay right next to where the Sith ship had landed. A bullet-shaped shuttle raced in just ahead of them, barring them from landing in the very same hangar as Drake.
The shuttle pierced through the atmosphere shielding and repulsors guided it to its landing platform. As soon as it had settled, the landing ramp lowered.

Vinh and Torre grabbed their lightsabers and sprinted down the ramp, the engines cooling at their heels.
A steady, low-pitched alarm droned a slow wail through the station, and amber warning lights filled the bay with shadows. There were no guards, so the pair bolted for the exit doors. The steel doors parted as they neared and they rushed into the hallway.
The steel grate walkway had white lights running underneath it, pulsing one after another to appear as if the lights were moving down the right side of the hallway.
Following the lights, Trent and Torre sprinted to the next Hangar bay, labeled A-323. The doorway had been torn away, rammed through by an unseen blunt force. Inside, sparks poured from everything, emergency lights flashed -- and bodies covered the deck.

They were covered with lightsaber burns.

Trent closed his eyes, clenching his jaw to defend against the wave of Darkness that filled this room as he opened himself to The Force. The death was more palpable to him now, he could almost see the innocent men and women being struck down, cut apart, murdered.
He could feel their pain, their terror.
Vinh turned to Torre and said, "We have to find him, and we have to find out why he is here."

[Trenton Vinh]

Callius Reyan watched the camera feeds from his desk computer in his office, at the highest peak of Penumbra station.
His penetrating gaze studied the movements of the intruders, before the camera feeds exploded with static, disrupted by the Force Powers of the Sith.

According to the latest report he received from Security, the two intruders -- both rumored to be Sith Lords, had split up. One was heading to the central level, which was being evacuated while Security teams worked to establish a blockade. Reyan knew the teams would not stop the Sith, merely slow them.
The other Sith had gone to the lower levels, no doubt to kill Devan Knorr.
Knorr couldn't be saved now, and Reyan had more important things to worry about than the Zabrak prisoner.

Reyan was most worried about the first Sith -- the one that was heading for the central level.
Is he a diversion? Why would they split up?
The Director of ShadowNet had to make some major decisions during a security breach of this magnitude. He had access to several escape routes, and just off of his office was a private lift designed to take him to the highest security hangar bays in case his safety was at risk.
But he would not flee while innocent personnel were in harms way, even if it meant the security teams had to die in order for others to escape.

An ensign burst through Reyan's office doors, smelling like sweat and fear. He stammered, "S-sir! You have an urgent message."
Reyan nodded, and as the young man fumbled with the headset comlink, the Director asked, "Who is it?"
The young man handed him the headset, and as Callius put it on, the ensign responded, "Its Vindicator Halo, sir."
Reyan waved the young man off, and the boy rushed out the doors, and when the slid shut behind him Reyan tapped the transmitter on the headset.
He spoke into it,
"Vindicator Halo, its Callius."
The voice of the Vindicator on the other end of the line was grim, dark, and deep.
"Knorr is not the only target of the Sith, Reyan. You and I both know this. The Sith will find the way to their objective, and I know this because I know that there is more than one way to what he is after..."

Callius was speechless for a moment. Vindicator Halo was an old being, a near-human of long-life. He was perceptive...and dangerous. He always knew more than he let on, and had an instinct that always took him to the right places at the right times.
The Director wasn't surprised that the Vindicator, codenamed
'Halo', knew that Sith were attacking, so instead of questioning his sources, Callius asked, "Can you help me stop them?"
Vindicator Halo had captured Devan Knorr when he had disappeared into the Coruscant undercity. His file was a novel of incredible achievements, suicide missions and top secret assassinations. If anyone could stop a Sith Lord, it was Halo.

The Vindicator said, "I'm almost there, Reyan. I can't promise I know how this day will end, but I can promise you one thing: You have power in this situation, whether you realize it or not. What you choose to do today will have powerful repercussions, ones that will ripple and alter the future. Please make the right decisions. I am docking now, and will do what I can to help, but what is happening here is years in the making, Reyan.
Gears are turning that I cannot control."
Callius wasn't entirely sure what Halo was trying to say. He was often cryptic, but this was far beyond that. It sounded like Halo knew what was going to happen.
And he knew that Reyan's decisions would factor into the outcome of this event.

*****

Lord Erebus felt the artificial gravity shift subtly as his turbolift began to halt its ascent. When it stopped, a display above the door said the words, "Central Hall".

The Dark Lord of the Sith could sense his apprentice far below, heading for Devan Knorr, the prisoner who would find no asylum within the ShadowNet's detention center.

His student had been sloppy to allow Knorr to survive for as long as he had. It put their entire operation at risk, and the future of the Sith in peril.
Raeph had been a fool, and Noxus' fault was partially due to his previous Master's stupidity.
Knorr was a Dark Jedi, and while weak in comparison to Erebus, he had been fortunate to have been underestimated by Raeph and Noxus.
But it was of little consequence; nothing the Dark Jedi had to say would be enough to stop Erebus now. And Knorr would not be alive for much longer.

The lift doors opened, revealing the central hall in its usually incredible splendor. The high ceiling and long streets gave the appearance of being in a city, but today it looked more like a ghost town.
The only movement was that of Security Officers as they struggled to lift a heavy gun turret into its tripod mounting.
One of them spotted Erebus stepping out of the turbolift and shouted, drawing the attention of the others. One of the men charged the mounted laser cannon's power supply and swiveled the weapon to take aim at the Sith Lord. Erebus strode towards the small blockade, a meek defense made of roadblocks and riot barriers. the half-dozen Security guards had weapons, but none of any danger to a Dark Lord of the Sith.
The mounted cannon fired a high-energy particle beam, and Erebus rose his palm to catch the energy projectile. The Force swirled around him, and he channeled its power through his palm. The bolt bounced harmlessly off his flesh and rebounded at the turret operator, slamming into him and leaving a smoking crater in his chest, killing him instantly.
The man slumped over, the turret twisting on its mounting as his grip slackened, and The Dark Lord mentally pulled the trigger, fully-automatic energy fire spitting from the barrel of the gun.
With his control of the Dark Side, Erebus manipulated the turret and brought it to bear on the rest of the Security team, who had begun to flee down the street.
Erebus continued his determined stride through the Central level while the turret mowed down the men who had struggled to mount it moments before.
Heading for a large lift in the center of the large room, Erebus felt a familiar presence in The Force, one that gave him pause.
He put a hand on his chin for a moment and frowned, then continued forward, towards the elevator that would take him to his fate.

*****

"One of the Sith Lords just accessed the central lift, sir. He is ascending."
The ensign that had handed Reyan his communicator earlier was now reading reports directly from his datapad as they streamed in from various security sources.

More than two hundred civilians were in the central two promenades before the Sith intrusion. The security teams had been caught off-guard, but had reacted with swift decisiveness and evacuated all of the people to the maintenance sub-level, a long hallway that allowed machinery and engineers to move across the length of Penumbra without having to pass through the Central levels.
The people of all shapes and sizes were packed in there now, anxiously awaiting the end of the security lockdown. All of the civilians were ShadowNet employees, so they all knew something bad was happening.

Reyan was studying a camera feed showing the interior of the central lift. Inside was the Sith Lord, standing still as a statue as the lift began sliding upwards through the bowels of Penumbra.
The Director looked at the corner of the camera feed, where he could just make out the name of the floor the lift would take the Sith Lord to.
He leaned back in stunned silence and whispered, "He's coming here..."

There were two reasons the Sith Lord would come up to the very top of Penumbra. The first reason was to kill Reyan himself. The second reason, and more likely possibility, was that he was going to use Reyan's private lift to go to a high security part of the station.
But if the Sith Lord was going to do that...he wouldn't just let Callius and his assistant walk out.

"Disable the lift. You have to stop the lift! Lock it down, now." Callius burst out to his ensign. The young man turned to look at Reyan with a sombre stare, and responded,
"Disabled sir, the doors are sealed but I don't think that will stop him for long."
Callius nodded, and pressed a palm to his elongated temple, "That's alright, I just need to think for a moment..."
The young man turned back to his console and said more urgently, "Sir...the lift has been stopped at the maintenance level...there's civilians there, sir. If the Sith Lord gets out of the lift, he'll kill them all."

The Director wanted to burst out, "But if he comes up here, he's going to kill us!"
But instead he said, "We can't allow him to access this office, there is far too much secret information that we cannot risk compromising to a Sith!"
The ensign stood up from his seat and said, "Sir, I have family on this station, I can't let you risk their lives. Its them or us!"
Callius stood up as well, and in his palm was a hold-out blaster. It was set to stun, and the Director of ShadowNet fired, dropping his assistant silently.

As regret settled over his heart, Callius Reyan typed into his computer console a keyword that activated a very dangerous security protocol. It would detonate a series of miniature explosive charges throughout the lifts leading to the top levels of the station, a trump card to stop intruders from reaching the most important intel...and the most important people.
He was sacrificing lives for this...for himself.

The Director of ShadowNet opened the bottom drawer of his desk and withdrew a bottle of Corellian Spiced Ale. Forgoing the use of the glass tumbler in the desk drawer, he popped the cork and took a heavy swig, gulping five times before slamming the bottle back down onto his desk roughly.
He sobbed softly, shuddering, partially due to the bittersweet taste and partially due to the fact that he had just condemned over a hundred innocent people.

*****

The Dark Lord tilted his head in curiosity as the lift he was in froze. He pressed his palm against the door and closed his eyes. He opened himself up to the Dark Side, unraveling the mysteries of The Force in search of the answer to his question.
The answer was revealed when he opened his eyes. Someone had cut off the turbolift, but there were other ways to get to where he was going. And they had stopped him in the perfect spot.
His palm still pressed to the cool steel, Lord Erebus gave a soft sigh of exertion, The Force flexing around him and twisting the door open with a violent shriek.
The Dark Lord stepped out of the lift into a crowded maintenance hallway, where dozens of people were staring at him in silent terror. It was as if they were all frozen in time, the moment before their lives would be stolen from them.
Erebus hadn't planned on slaughtering the inhabitants of the station -- only those who stood in his way. But he had been given no other choice, so he felt no regret when his lightsaber fluttered to life, and began dancing through the air, impaling and slashing down the civilians as they came out of their trance and began screaming.
The Dark Lord strode through the bloodbath, the grim reaper walking amongst his doomed victims.
As more men and women fell, Security guards rushed forwards. Static electricity suddenly filled the room, and lightning filled the air, blinding those out of its range and scorching all those within.
The sphere of dark electric power surrounded the Dark Lord as he walked down the hallway. Those still alive pushed backwards, any straying too close to Erebus were cremated instantly.
Then he neared the other end of the Maintenance hallway, and the remaining civilians struggled to push into the lift at the far end, kicking and pulling at one another desperately.
But none would survive, as they were all caught in the path of the unmerciful Sith. And one by one, as the humans struggled to squeeze past one another, they began to burn.
Skin melted and bubbled, filling the air with the sick stench of death, and then it was over, and only Darth Erebus was left alive.
The bodies were piled upon the floor, and the Dark Side pushed the corpses out of the way of the lift as Erebus made his way to it.
Entering the lift, he tapped a key labeled, "Level E."

The doors slid shut, separating the murderer from his sea of victims, a massacre in his wake.

[Kael Serasai]

The courier vessel dropped out of hyperspace at a regulated distance from Penumbra, and proceeded toward the station. After extracting themselves from Barapha the Hutt's lavish hospitality, Kael and his crew had hastened for home; the whole trip had seemed too easy. The pirate disguise, the team of crack experts in a variety of fields... just to be handed what they'd sought. The crew hadn't taken the time to study the data disk yet, though Kael himself had spent much time alone in the galley with a portable reader, skipping through the holorecordings for anything of particular note.

"Maybe you should give that to Vilo" Lana suggested, dropping next to him on the scruffy, beaten passenger lounger. She draped an arm around him, but removed it when he tensed and shifted awkwardly.
"I think he's too busy sorting through any spare parts he can, uh, 'requisition' from this ship before we hand her back in to ShadowNet supplies" Kael said with a slight smirk.
"Yeah, but he'd be able to find your key information in no time. It could take days to..."
"We have the time" Kael snapped. "Sorry", he added, "I'm just a bit tense after that meeting. I wasn't expecting..."
He trailed off and lapsed into an uncomfortable silence.
"How do you know the Hutt?" Lana asked, when the silence turned from uncomfortable to awkward.
"She and I have a bit of a personal history" Kael offered. He didn't elaborate further, and Lana didn't pressure him for more.

"We're coming up on Penumbra" Snivik announced, emerging from the cockpit area. "There's something wrong. Kramer says they're blocking incoming comm traffic, and the station is locked down".
"That's funny" Kael said, rising to his feet. He'd shed his ridiculous armour since leaving Barapha's station, and sighed inwardly at the lack of cumbersome and unnecessary weight on his body. "We commed ahead to let them know we'd be arriving. If they were planning a lockdown drill, surely they'd have..."
"Kael?" Lana asked, suddenly on her feet to catch him as he fell backward, eyes wide and face pale, toward the deck. "Kael, what is it?" she asked, her voice rising, the red tone of her skin darkening with worry.
"Something's wrong" Snivik surmised. "Kael? Vindicator Serasai? What is it? Is the Force telling you something?"
"KAEL!" Kramer yelled, hauling himself through the corridor joining the cockpit to the passenger galley. "Snap to it, kid!"
"By the Force..." Kael gasped, flinching every few seconds as if reacting to some unseen attack.
"What's the matter?" Lana asked, bringing him to a sitting position.
"I feel pain... suffering..." Kael gasped, his eyes unfocused. "Death... many, many deaths..."

Then, as if brought out of a trance, his gaze seemed to train on Kramer, and he stood shakily to his feet.
"Something bad is happening on Penumbra" he announced, closing his eyes tight, trying to shake off the feeling of immeasurable tragedy that he'd just been exposed to.
"The station's locked tighter than a Toydarian's wallet, kid..."
"Then make an entrance" Kael snapped, pushing past the others toward the cockpit. "One way or another, we're getting on that station".
"Director Reyan is not going to like us blowing holes in his base of operations" Snivik said glumly, predicting what Kael had in mind.
"He'll live with it" Kramer replied, following Kael to the cockpit. Even with dampners active, there was a tangible lurch as Kael, who had evidently taken the helm, forced the ship from crusing velocity to full speed, bringing the engine boosters online without warming them, throwing the vessel toward the station.
"Vilo, I need you to identify the best spot on the station for creating a secondary point of access" Snivik was saying into the comm, as he too entered the cockpit.
"Whattaya meanin', Bothan?" Vilo's gruff voice came back, surrounded by the noise of firing engines. He must be in the engine access shaft. Apparently, the dug was often trying to work out how things worked. If the ship was stationary, there was no doubt he'd have dismantled it and put it back together around the crew without thinking twice about it.
"I mean, we need to..."
"He means, find a spot in the station that we can blow a hole in, so we can dock" Lana said, snatching the comm from Snivik. "Preferably unpopulated. We don't wanna go sucking our own people out into space".

As Penumbra grew larger in the viewport, Kael set himself the task of studying the station through the Force, looking for a weak point which could be exploited without damaging the structure's integrity. The last thing he wanted to do was fire open a seemingly harmless exhaust port, only to blow the station to atoms.
"The rear loadin' bay, I think" Vilo finally replied. "Is only used during routine dispatches... no ray shields, concussion missile should open it up" the Dug explained.
"Once we're inside, it'll be a different story" Kramer said pensively. "ShadowNet wouldn't leave such a vulnerable area open to infiltration".
"Just leave that to me" Kael said, assuringly. "First thing's first... Snivik, time to get in the turret".
"Obliged" the Bothan said curtly, and made his way aft to take up his customary position. Once secured, he let the others know in the cockpit.

Kael brought the ship around the station in a tight curve which Kramer would have thought impossible at this velocity; for a moment, he imagined the courier vessel tearing itself apart under the extreme stress, but when Kael levelled her out, the hull readings were still green.
"Okay Snivik, fire when ready. Lana, go prep the docking hatch" he said, and the Twi'lek hurried to comply.
"You're gonna get us into a lot of trouble, kid" Kramer said, adjusting their pitch as they came in toward the station. "I hope you're right about there being something bad happening on there, otherwise we're about to set off a whole lot of alarms and cause a security nightmare".
Kael's response was cut short by the launching of a missile, leaving a trail of superheated vapour in it's wake as it spiralled into the tertiary loading bay's sealed doors. An explosion blossomed, and was then swallowed by the oxygen-free vacuum, leaving behind a ragged hole large enough for the courier's docking ring.
"Standby, Lana" Kael said into the comm. "Initiating docking procedures".
"Ship clamped" Lana confirmed, a slight bump shaking the vessel upon impact. "Docking ring sealed tight".
"Okay, don't open the hatch til we're all assembled" Kramer said, rising and hefting his carbine, propping it barrell-up against his shoulder. "We don't know what we're walking into here".
"Immaculate shooting, as always" Snivik congratulated himself, descending from the turret controls and falling into line with Kael and Kramer. Vilo joined them momentarily, wistfully abandoning a duffel-bag which jangled suspiciously as he dropped it in the corridor.
"Okay... let's go" Kael murmered pensively, nodding to Lana to release the hatch. She did so, and red emergency lighting flooded in from the loading bay. The group shielded their eyes for a moment, then stepped through the docking ring and into the breached bay.

"It's too quiet" Kramer said, putting voice to everyone's thoughts. Red beacon lights continued to flash overhead, absent an alarm. They all listened for the sound of blasterfire, but heard none.
And then, from the ceiling and ground, turret podiums extended, and the group found itself staring down the barrells of thirty automated repeater-blasters, all primed to open fire.
"This is not a drill" boomed an automated, deep male voice. "Lay face down on the ground and remain motionless. You have five seconds to comply. Five..."
"Not good" Lana moaned.
"Four"
"This is rather inconvenient..." Snivik sighed, lowering himself to the deck.
"Three"
"Better do as the nice voice commands" Kramer said with a nod to Kael, laying down his carbine and keeping his hands raised as he, too, lowered himself to the ground.
"Two"
"I don't think so..."
"One"

The turrets opened fire at the solitary figure still standing in the bay, the same time a beam of brilliant platinum spat into existence in his hand...

[Trenton Vinh]

After exiting the turbolift, the heir to the Sith throne channeled his rage into the first security guard he had seen. Making a slashing motion with his arm, the raw power of the Dark Side sliced into the man's flesh, striking a deep wound into his abdomen. Noxus slammed his foot against the bleeding man's arm, eliciting a sharp cracking noise. The guard opened his mouth to scream,
but Noxus spun with the momentum of his kick and straight punched the man in the mouth, breaking his nose and cutting his lips and tongue. The man was on knees, and his comrades nearby were just turning in surprise at the attack. Before they could open fire or yell, Noxus shut his eyes and clenched his fists, channeling the Dark Side and the electrical systems of the room into a powerful conductor. Lightning sparked through the air, flash-frying the soldiers in their armor.
Noxus was sprinting down the security tunnel before their bodies hit the floor.

The Dark Side flowed through him, setting his veins on fire. He moved with superhuman quickness.
The lockdown emergency alarms were blaring loudly, drowning out the noise he made as he darted down the long security tunnel. Ray shields lined this hallway, if a guard spotted him and activated them, he would be trapped.

Nearing the edge of the tunnel, Noxus could sense a large number of Security guards ahead -- a full unit, guarding the detention facility.

Internally, Noxus felt satisfied by that, the fools believed Devan Knorr was the target, but he was now just the diversion.
This worked well for Darth Erebus, but it would mean a higher casualty rate for those aboard Penumbra.
The guards were meant for security and general law enforcement; they were all but powerless to stop the Sith.

Noxus waved a hand as he sprinted, and the patrolling pair of guards outside the mouth of the tunnel looked the other way as if they had heard a suspicious noise.
Within range of them, Noxus knew he wouldn't even need his lightsaber for these two unsuspecting victims.
He pounced on the closest guard, knees slamming into him from behind and dropping him on his stomach. Noxus landed crouched on top of him, knee pressed into his back. He reached down grabbed the man's jaw with one hand, and gripped the back of his head with the other. Standing up and lifting with his legs, he twisted the man's neck up and backwards, ending his life instantly.
The other guard stumbled away in surprise, Noxus was on him before he could raise his arms in defense. The Sith Apprentice slammed the heel of his hand against the soldier's nose, jarring his head back violently.
Noxus leapt forwards into the air, and slammed his palm against the man's neck, landing on the floor on top of him. Noxus' weight driving into his neck crushed his trachea with a grotesque pop.

The detention facility wasn't on full alert quite yet, but the guards would certainly spot him soon, sooner than he could get to Devan Knorr.
But Noxus could deal with that. He would strike with lightning quickness now, using his speed as an advantage.

The catwalk through the detention center was just around the corner, but Noxus paused, closing his eyes and taking a deep breath. He pushed outwards, drawing in the emotions of the facility. He could sense death -- far more deaths than the few he had caused.
Erebus must have run into some opposition. He thought with a smirk. Noxus drank in the fleeting emotions, the terror and pain and fear.
Then he began picking out the sources of the fear.
And in nearly no time at all, he found Devan Knorr, one of many terrified beings aboard this space station. One of many who would not live to remember the catastrophic Sith attack.
He had tasted Knorr's fear, in the fleeting moments before his fall out of a sixth floor window.
Noxus had believed him dead, but he had been wrong. But he would not be this time.

Like a shark tasting blood in the water, there was a spike in his adrenaline. His head perked to attention, eyes snapping open with a dark focus. Then he bolted down the hallway, moving with long, powerful strides fueled by the Dark Side.
Knorr was closer than he had expected -- much closer. He would have his prey soon.

The catwalk was an elevated hallway that branched off in both directions as it ran the length of the detention facility -- each branch led into a cell block.
This meant the only exits were at either end of this 'master hallway'.

There were many guards here, and Noxus was ready for them. He had been training so hard for so long without being able to really experience the rush of combat and the focused intensity that it brought him.
He didn't think or react, his movements precise and lethal.
His lightsaber flashed into life, a deep crimson that made bloodstains of the dim floor and walls. The guards opened fire as he came at them, one threw a concussion grenade.
These men were trained to stop prison riots against crudely armed lawbreakers. Their weapons were pitiful compared to the deadly lightsaber and incredible power of the Dark Side.
The energy bolts rocketed around the hallways, ricocheting off the waving lightsaber and rebounding around the hallway. As the blaster bolts became more numerous, the soldiers began falling to their own shots. Noxus moved quickly, his body a blur of motion as he closed in on Knorr's prison block. He didn't know what the block number was, but he would know when he had found the right one.
The dozens of soldiers in the hallway were pinned down behind crates and makeshift barricades, ducking and diving out of the way of their own shots. Noxus' lightsaber weaved a tight, defensive circle around his body to keep the bolts at bay, until he could turn down the hallway into the correct prison block.

*****

A lone man, wearing robes of black, walked down the streets of the central level, passing dead bodies at a slow stride. Numbly moving towards the large turbolifts in the center of the promenade.
It was his first time on the station, and he was sure it would be stunning on any other day.
But this town would never be beautiful to him. Not after seeing it on its doomsday.
He felt surreal, shell-shocked. He had seen bloodshed of this kind before; during the war he had seen horrifying things. Mass graves and mortar shelling, explosive decompression and suicide bombing. But moments like these are what haunts the nightmares of those who so often dream of peace.
Touching the Force here was dangerous, crippling to those purer of heart.
To Trenton, it felt like someone had punched him in the gut, and was now digging their knuckles deeply into his abdomen.
His walk was like that of a wounded man, as if he was the last man alive at the end of the world.

Jedi Master Gani Torre had refused to come this way. When the turbolift stopped on the central level, he said, "I'm going to find a way around...all we will find in there is the dead."
Trenton had nodded but knew it was the fastest way to get to Drake, who he could sense was somewhere above him in the upper levels of Penumbra.

It also allowed him to study Drake's movements. He was taking the same route his old friend had taken during his murderous rampage. Any information he could glean off the bloodshed bettered his chances of understanding the motives behind it.
The central level of Penumbra ran the diameter of the middle of the station, and was built of six meter thick transparisteel. It was meant to add beauty, but to Trenton it appeared a strange symbol: The center of ShadowNet was somewhat transparent in itself, when in fact it housed many secrets behind the pretty facade.
As the Station slowly rotated on its 25-hour rotation, the sunlight of Coruscant Prime pierced the top of the streets, dawn in hell.

When he reached the turbolifts, he tapped the call button and took a slow, calming breath. He was tired, and fatigued from the past few days.
He hadn't slept since he had last been on Coruscant, excluding the Meditative trance.
He had performed Battle Meditation, exerting himself to near his limit and even touching the Dark Side. He had done it before -- he had flirted with darkness all his life. It was tempting to fall into its arms once more, to lose himself in its release. But he knew it was addictive, and he had to be careful not to relapse. If he did, he would undo all he had worked his whole life for. He had nearly left his body in hard vacuum, dropping so deeply into The Force that his mortal shell almost entirely shut down before being retrieved by Gani Torre. Then he had fought through the Iskalloni frigate, been thrown around by its Commander...
His weakness could be the death of him if it came to combat.
He had to be careful when he confronted Drake. The two had always rivaled one another in power, they had mirrored one another for years, but it had been a long time since their last meeting. Nearly ten years...so much could have changed. He had to be prepared for anything.

Trenton wondered if Drake had something to do with the Iskalloni advance, if the two events were connected, or just coincidence. He still didn't know the identity of the Dark Sider he had battled in the Marcol Void; had that been Drake he would have known.
Trenton could sense another Dark Side presence belowdecks, and looked at the floor in surprise, as if spotting something previously unnoticed.

More Sith? It wasn't Drake's old apprentice Raeph, either. Could it be a new Apprentice? A Dark Jedi?

Whatever was happening, Drake was no doubt the catalyst; finding him meant finding the truth. The turbolift arrived and Trent entered it, tapping the ascend key.
The lift shot upwards, but before reaching the upper levels it stopped, halting sharply.
Trent looked up, panic threatening to grip him for a moment. He didn't hesitate, and jumped straight upwards, the emergency roof hatch bursting open above him. The Force lifted him higher, and he landed on top of the lift in the elevator shaft.
Looking up, he saw the nearest floor was just above him. With a have of his hand, the doors opened and he jumped once more, grabbing the ledge and pulling himself up smoothly.
He was above the Central level now, but he wasn't high enough, Drake was above him.
Trenton wondered if his old friend sensed him or not yet -- he hadn't concealed himself in The Force, but he wasn't using it actively the way Drake was. Trent could feel the dark side everywhere, it hung in the air like a static hum.
This floor had clearly been evacuated, it contained dozens of desks and terminals with headsets laying about. Trent started down the hallway at a sprint, searching for a stairwell or another lift.
Soon he found the door to the stairwell and burst through, accelerating as he began leaping up the steel stairs.

Climbing level after level, he felt Drake was moving upwards too, but at a less steady rate. Trenton would overcome him in a few minutes if he kept up his pace. But Drake was heading somewhere...if Trenton could figure out where, he could cut him off on his way, catch him by surprise...

But he had no idea where Drake was going, no clue what he was after.
He was blindly searching for a sliver of light in the dark.

*****

Gani Torre had chosen to find another route, and not follow Trenton Vinh through the central city streets. The Force had tugged at him, and he wasn't going to willingly walk past a slaughter. He was too old, had lost far too many close friends. Seeing more dead would only give him heavier shoulders, darker eyes. Darker heart.

The Dark Side of the Force was slippery, cunning. It could infect you like a parasite, latching onto emotions like guilt, frustration, regret.
It is all too get caught in the whirlpool, spiraling down the drain into the depths of despair.

Gani Torre had combated the forces of the Dark Side his entire life, but even the greatest Jedi Masters can underestimate the treachery of the Dark Side. The dark shadows can inspire others to commit atrocities of their own, caught up in the influence of the evil.

He had gone the circuitous route, planning to travel along the perimeter of the central level and take the back turbolifts to the upper levels. He had Trenton's comm frequency; they would rendezvous later.
Gani knew he was giving Trenton a chance to flee -- Gani hadn't let the younger Force User out of his sight since he captured him in the Marcol Void.

Gani was about halfway around when he heard the shouts in the distance. It sounded like a girl and several men, and the Jedi Master began sprinting towards the source as he opened himself to The Force. The Dark Side permeated everything here, but he was resilient, strong.
He rounded a corner in time to see a pair of security guards throw a man on the ground, one wielding a baton and a face twisted with rage.
There was a clustered group of roughly a dozen people pressed against a wall, all watching in fear as their friend was repeatedly struck.
The crying girl he had heard was on her knees in the middle of the road, closest to her companion who was being beaten savagely by the two security guards. Her palm was pressed to her mouth to silence her wails, but when she spotted Gani, she began pointing at him desperately. She cried out,
"Please, stop them! Help him, they're going to kill him! Please!"
Some people in the group behind her were nodding in agreement, silently begging for his aid.

Gani Torre didn't know what the man had done, but he knew it could not have deserved this brutal an attack.
He was a Jedi, and despite the Sith Lord plotting evil deeds over his head, he could not ignore the evil deeds before his eyes.
Stepping in close, he caught both security guards batons in his palms just before they could swing again at their battered victim.
Gani said sharply, "That's enough."
The two guards exchanged glances, then locked eyes on the Jedi Master, who remained firmly planted between them and the man on the ground, who rolled over in pain behind him.
The girl rushed to her feet, scurrying over to her hurt friend, pulling him to a seated position and holding him fiercely.
Gani demanded, "What's going on here?"
The security guards were unreadable, their helmet visors were mirrored, Gani Torre glared into the reflected image of his own eyes, as one guard shot back, "This guy was trying to run back into the promenade. We got the order to evacuate these civvies earlier but got caught in the lockdown. We couldn't take the main lift because the intruders were coming that way! The two of us had to hide with them, but we need to keep them in control so they don't run off and get themselves killed."

The young man was on his feet now, supported by the girl, whose face was scuffed as well. The security guards must have been getting more and more desperate as they heard their allies and friends getting killed on the comms.

"They are just as afraid as you are. Is there another way out of here?"

The other soldier nodded, "Yeah, there's the security lifts in the four corners of the city. The closest one is a ten minute walk away, and we can't risk it...I heard the screams. We all heard the screams."
The rest of the civilians were moving slowly closer to hear the conversation. Gani said, "We will get these civilians out of here, I will protect them, if you lead the way. You have my word."
The guard shrugged, his shoulder slung-rifle shifting with his movement, "Yeah, and what good is your word?"
Gani shifted his robes to reveal the silver lightsaber hilt on his belt, and said, "There is value in the word of a Jedi" He stated.
The security guard looked at his partner and said, "My life has more value to me, so you better not get us killed, man."

Turning towards the cluster of people, the Jedi Master said to the guards, "Lead the way when you are ready to go."
The girl was looking at him with a touch of surprise, "Why are you here?" she asked pointedly.
Gani said simply, "I think this is why I am here." and added, "I'm going to get you all out of here. Do you need help carrying him?"
She nodded and he moved to the other side of the young man, lifted his tender arm over his shoulder and took the burden of his weight.
He said, "Let's get moving."

The guards walked just ahead of the group of people, weapons pointing down the streets and alleys, eyes darting around searching for movement.
The group spoke rarely, moving carefully and slowly, as if they were weighed down. Gani wondered what hell they had experienced in the short time since the Sith had arrived, as he watched the people from the back of the procession, the young boy and girl beside him.
"I'm Leela, this is Nen." the girl said, "What's your name?"
Gani kept his eyes ahead, watching the fragile security guards and the innocents following them, as he replied, "I'm Jedi Master Gani Torre."
Leela was surprised, "They sent a Jedi Master here?"
Shrugging, Gani replied, "I'm just here to help out however I can. And right now that means getting you all out. I think the intruders are on a different part of the station now, so this might be our only chance to get you evacuated."
Nen muttered, "I've never met a Jedi before, but I thank you, I don't think they would have stopped had it not been for you."

Gani darkly replied, "With properly applied pressure, even a Corusca gem will crack."

As the pack moved closer to their destination, Gani Torre wondered what kind of pressure it would take to crack his resolve.

[Trenton Vinh]

Darth Noxus had found his quarry, the Zabrak Devan Knorr. The Apprentice stood in the empty hallway, alarms wailing overhead like a widow before the dead below.
His crimson eyes pierced the doorway, and he sensed the life form within -- along with two others.

Reinforcements would arrive shortly too...but he had time to savor this.

Noxus pressed his palm against the door and with a pulse from the Dark Side, the bulkhead exploded inwards.
Knorr had been seated directly in front of the door, on a chair behind a table.
The door slammed into Knorr's left arm, he cried out and dropped to the floor.
Noxus rolled through the door and spun gracefully onto the table, as the two guards rushed him with batons.
Lashing out with a kick, Noxus pounced on the closest guard, jamming his fist deeply into the security guards abdomen. The man grunted in pain, and the grip on his baton slackened for an instant.
An instant was all Noxus needed, he pulled free of the grounded soldier and pulled the weapon free. Twirling to face the other guard, he rose his new weapon in time to parry his enemy's swing. The baton reminded the Apprentice of the stun sticks he had used during his early lightsaber training. The Security guard on the ground was struggling to his knees, while Devan Knorr remained whimpering on the ground.
The only guard that was still standing lashed out at Noxus, but the Apprentice caught the incoming baton at an angle, grabbed the wrist of the attacker, and pulled hard. The off-balance guard flailed, his baton smacking firmly into the side of his own ally's head. The unconscious guard dropped, and Noxus spun on his heel, kicking the other man in the temple, knocking him out as well.
Knorr suddenly shrieked and rolled under the table, then scrambled out the door, one arm hanging slack.
Noxus shook his head, and strode out into the hallway after his wounded prey.
Knorr was trying to run down the hallway, but his limp was severe and he hobbled. Noxus caught up to him in seconds and reached out with the Dark Side.
Invisible iron fists gripped Devan Knorr and threw him backfirst into the stone wall, he gasped in pain and wheezed. Noxus strode slowly into his view, arm raised, suspending his target helplessly.
Noxus said, "No escape this time. Only death."
And then he smothered Devan Knorr brutally with the Force, crushing the life from him violently.

The dead body dropped to the floor, and Noxus turned away. He strode back the way he had come, and reached out with The Force to sense his
Master...

*****

Lord Erebus of the Sith stood in the enclosed catwalk overlooking the Hangar Bays. The catwalk ran the length of all the private hangars, housing classified personnel's personal vehicles, and top secret projects.
Such as the one he was searching for.
He was at section E-15. The E level hangar bay had over a hundred docking bays...He just had to follow the catwalk far enough.
Beginning his long walk down the seemingly endless hallway, the Dark Lord immersed himself in the Dark Side, and felt his Apprentice's power fluctuate.
He had accomplished his task -- the task he had failed once before.
But it was no matter now. He would help his student get to him faster...
He looked around at the hangar bay catwalk, and saw a faster route almost immediately.
Maintenance lifts lined the catwalk wall every five hangar bays, offering quick access to droids, repairs, and refueling. Noxus just had to take a lift leading to E-75, and it would take him right next to where Apotros had been docked.

He withdrew his comlink, and as he withdrew it from his robes, his apprentice pinged him.
Speaking into the receiver, he said to Noxus,
"You accomplished your mission in good time. Meet me at Hangar Bay E-75 as quickly as possible. Take the maintenance lifts, main turbolifts have been disabled. Be swift, our enemies grow closer."

*****

Noxus nodded in response to his Master's message, now sprinting down the security tunnel back the way he had come.
He returned his comlink to his robes as he neared the far end, the turbolifts on the other side of the guard station would take him almost directly to his destination.

But someone was waiting for him at the guard station.

A pair of blaster pistols opened fire down the cramped tunnel, and Noxus drew his lightsaber, slowed to a march, and began deflecting bolts. He redirected them down the hallway, but couldn't see his target through the smoke and laser blasts.
He summoned the Dark Side, and felt the Force in a presence up ahead.
A Jedi, perhaps?
His frustration grew as the blaster fire continued. He needed to get to that turbolift.
Calling on his anger, Noxus lashed out with the Force, and heard a cry of surprise answer his attack. He rushed forwards, into the guard station, the lift a dozen meters ahead of him. His Force-wielding foe was a young man about his age, and Noxus snarled loudly. He waved his arm at the boy and knocked him down.
The man wielding the blaster was on his feet, and he fired a trio of shots at Noxus while he pivoted behind a console for cover.
Noxus knocked the bolts harmlessly aside.
He reached out with the Force and the elevator call button pinged in response. The man turned to look at it in confusion and Noxus sprang at him. His lightsaber came to life in his hand, as he lifted his arm to cleave his foe in two.

*****

Jon Rohaeus dove to the side, barely avoiding the lightning-fast lightsaber attack. The Dark Sider turned to follow up on his attack and finish what he started, and Jon stumbled away in defense. He reached into his boot and pulled from it the Beskad Mandalorian sword. Hefting it, he swung it up in time to parry the Sith's next attack.
Kavan had been knocked aside by the Sith, but was getting up now. Kavan was still partially untrained, but his attack knocked the crimson lightsaber off course as it angled in to take off Jon's head.
The Dark Sider's face creased in anger and confusion, and static electricity arced from his fingers.
Jon fired from his hip, but his enemy deflected the bolts as he gathered his strength,
There was a soft ding as the turbolift doors slid open.
The Dark Sider unleashed his attack, and Kavan spun through the air, lightning bouncing off him as he managed to negate most of the damage.
Jon fired again, and the Sith jumped towards the lift. He dove through the doors and Jon poured fire in on him, but then the doors closed and his target had escaped.
"Kavan, are you alright?" Jon called to his young friend. The man was standing up, and nodded as he rubbed his head tenderly.
"We have no chance to stop him without lightsabers, Jon."
Rohaeus nodded and pointed with his blaster at the elevator. Above its doors were two dozen small lights, each one flashing to indicate the lift as it passed each floor,
"At least we can see where he is going."
The Vindicator pulled out his comlink and broadcast on an open frequency,
"This is Vindicator Jonathan Rohaeus. A Dark Jedi just escaped from the prison block, he is heading to the..."

*****

Gani Torre waited, stone still in the lift as it rose. He had led the group of people and their two security guards to the lifts, offering them protection while they moved to the evacuation areas.

One of the Security Guards said hopefully, "We're almost there! There's plenty of shuttles we can take from the hangars."
Gani only nodded. He could feel the Dark Side pulsing, like the huge heart of a colossus beast. Sweat touched the Jedi Master's brow, but the light side shone in his heart; he would ward off the Darkness and get these people to safety.

Then the doors opened at their destination, and Gani Torre learned that the Dark Side is truly more insidious than he could have ever realized.

*****

Trenton Vinh was waiting in a turbolift anxiously when his comlink beeped, and an all-call message rang out,
"This is Vindicator Jonathan Rohaeus. A Dark Jedi just escaped from the prison block, he is heading to the...Hangar Bays!"

Trent's eyebrows rose in surprise, and he rummaged through his robes for his comlink. He replied with, "Jonathan Rohaeus...this is Vindicator Trenton Vinh. Its good to hear you are alive and well, and thank you for the information. I'm on my way to intercept them now."

Jon's reply was also filled with surprise, he asked, "Trenton...did you say them?"
Trent confirmed, "Yes, there's two Sith on the station. I'm going to stop them, Jon."
Rohaeus replied, "Help is on the way, Trent."

The doors to Trenton's lift opened, and he bolted down the hallway. The time to hide his presence from Drake was over...now he had to catch him. The Force sped Trenton up as he raced to cut off the Sith intruder.

*****

As Erebus walked, he sensed a powerful light side presence approaching. He stopped in the catwalk, at section E-40. The lift doors opened, and a dark man stood frozen in the doorway. A group of people stood behind him, and they surged forwards to exit the lift.
The dark man's voice boomed, "Sith!" and he launched himself forwards at Lord Erebus, a blue lightsaber burning to life in his hands.
Erebus' own blade snapped to life, and he caught the attack, thrusting out with The Force, he knocked the Jedi off balance. This Jedi was strong, perhaps even a Master...but his power was nothing to a Sith Lord.
Erebus twisted through the air and cackled. The Dark Side exploded from him, and suddenly the group of people were incinerated by a blast of heat.
They screamed as they died, and the Jedi Master struggled to repel the attack himself.
Erebus unleashed another wave Force energy at the Jedi, and he was knocked against the wall of the catwalk.
Erebus pushed once more, and the catwalk's viewport shattered. The Jedi flew through the glass and tumbled down into the hangar bay far below.
The Dark Lord smelled the corpses around him, and left at a run. The Jedi Master had not expected Erebus, but he was most likely not here alone. More enemies were on the way. Time was running out.

*****

Trent slowed his run to a walk as he closed his eyes. The Force was an ever-flowing river, containing all the information and wisdom of the univererse. If one learned to look closely enough, they could see the ripples caused by people's actions. This particular ripple was like an echo, and Trenton listened carefully. He looked around at the catwalk.

Hangar Bay E-78.

He could sense Drake far ahead of him, but he was moving in this direction. Rohaeus had claimed the Sith was heading for the hangar...they were planning to take a ship on their way out. The echo in The Force told Trenton which ship.
When he looked out the viewport into hangar bay E-77, he was not surprised to see why this would be the chosen escape vessel of the Sith.

The vessel was roughly egg-shaped, sitting on its wide engines. It was wide, almost fat in appearance, capable of containing compressed gasses and materials. A mining vessel.
The armor was what made it useful. The hull was a nearly opaque gold, and when Trenton neared he could sense its density with The Force.

He had encountered vessels with nearly impenetrable armors before, some so strong they survived within the immense gravity wells of gas giants.

A Security team had just arrived, and one of them waved at Trenton, ushering him closer.
Trent threw himself over the catwalk handrail and landed nearby the security captain. He was holding a long rifle with a blade at the end, he saluted Trent and said,
"Vindicator Vinh, I am Captain Tharen, my boys and I are protecting this vessel."
Trent shook his head, "The enemies on their way are Sith, Captain, your men will be killed. Let me fight him."
The Captain shook his head, "No can do, Vinh. We have a job to do."

[Trenton Vinh]

Callius Reyan jerked up from a drunken stupor, as the subordinate across the room twitched in his stun-gun induced coma.
The comlink on his desk vibrated, rattling him with the reverberant hum. The Director of ShadowNet struggled for a long moment to sober himself. There were still intruders in his station, and in the half hour since he had made that terrible decision, he had done nothing to stop them.
He fumbled for the comlink and picked it up, tapping the answer key.
The crisp and stern voice of Lysander Lee boomed in his ears,

"Director Reyan? This is Commander Lee, hailing you from the Rapid Response Task Fleet corvette, 'Valiant'. I understand there has been an…incident. We have the station surrounded, and will stop anyone trying to escape. Do you require reinforcements on the station?"
Callius tried his best to keep his tone even and steady, "No…it’s too late for reinforcements. All my security teams are dispatched…most are dead. Little can be done on the station now, our intruders have finished what they came to do by now."
His gun hand was resting on his desk, and his knuckles whitened on the grip as he struggled with himself to keep control…to keep his emotions in check. He felt angry, at himself, at the intruders, at ShadowNet, at Lee, at everything.
Part of him wanted to put the gun in his mouth and end it here, but he didn't have the heart to do it. He realized he was going to carry this weight for the rest of his life.
Not many people could have made the decision he had made.
Callius wondered what Lysander would have done in the same situation.
Lee was still on the line, and was silent, waiting for the Director to say more, so Reyan spoke,
"I have an agent…He believes that he can stop them. I have to pray that he can, because the only men I have remaining are deployed in one of the hangar bays."

Lee simply asked, "Why?"

Reyan wasn't certain what he could trust Lysander with, but decided that he may as well be honest.
"They're guarding the ship that is going to be used for a military project."
Lee was obviously aware of the 'Apotros' mining ship and the top-secret project it was going to be used for, because he replied,
"You can't be serious! The intelligence stored in your servers is far more sensitive than project Foundation!"
Reyan shook his head in annoyance, and shot back hotly, "Project Foundation could change the future of energy production and storage, and this prototype vessel is far too important to lose. You understand what it might lead to."
Lee responded darkly, "I know what it will lead to."
Both men smouldered silently on the line for a moment, and Reyan realized they were wasting time arguing over a project that had nothing to do with the current situation.
So the Director said in a forced but even tone, "My latest intelligence report says…." He eyed his computer console and watched the blurry scrolling letters as he struggled to focus his vision, "…That Devan Knorr was murdered outside his cell…that must be why they came. To eliminate the loose end."

Lee wasn’t satisfied with that, "There isn’t a chance that the Sith would risk being captured or killed just to kill a single associate. Devan Knorr is the diversion, not the objective, Director."

Reyan was growing tired of this conversation. He turned in his chair to look out the wall-wide transparisteel viewport that offered a stunning view of Coruscant Prime.
The view was pockmarked with the outlines of frigates and corvettes, the partial fleet Lee had returned from the Marcol Void with. Reyan made a mental note to read all the reports of the battle in the Void, with the new enemy that was forcing their way into G.A. space.
But right now there was an enemy in their midst, and the Sith were just as dangerous as the Iskalloni threat.

The day was not yet done, and both Callius and Lysander were powerless to halt the unstoppable juggernaut that was Darth Erebus. They were just caught in the midst of his mysterious plan, and were just two people amongst the billions that would soon be forever changed.

*****

Kavan Moirai was an unusually gifted Force User, despite his partial training. He was still struggling to understand The Force, and was still finding himself in a huge new Galaxy.
Until now, he had felt like he had been caught in the middle of something that had little to do with him.
He had thought that running into Devan Knorr, meeting Jon Rohaeus, and coming to Penumbra had just been due to coincidence and unlucky timing.
But as he stood with Jon Rohaeus in a room filled with the dead, he felt something within that caused him to gasp.
He was right where The Force had wanted him to be, and he had a sudden flash of insight to help him realize why he was here.
What he had passed off as coincidence was truly the will of the Force, placing in his path the situations that allowed him to alter the universe around him, through his decisions and actions.
And he realized that he would have to live with those actions.

Jon didn’t notice the intake of breath, because he was cursing aloud, "Blast it, the lifts have been locked down!"
Stomping away in frustration, he poked his head through the emergency stairwell door, and looked up at the flights leading upwards, "It will take forever to climb all those stairs…and I don't even know where the Sith is heading."

Kavan had a strange talent, which he had always thought was normal. Sometimes he just simply knew how some things would turn out. He intuitively realized that he could alter and change reality with his actions. But this talent was a manifestation of The Force, and his precognitive power was far more than simply a feeling or instinct.
In his mind's eye, he watched the future unfold, and realized he could influence it.
All beings make waves in the Galaxy around them, but some leave behind a much larger wake than others. Kavan had grown up to his father telling him he had a special destiny.
This gripping rush of emotion and thought and feeling was what caused Kavan to stop Jon as he moved to pry open the turbo lift doors.

"Jon, let me have your grappling line. I can scale the turbo lift shaft faster than you can with The Force."

Rohaeus shook his head, not taking his eyes off the lift doors as he struggled to pull them open, "You'll get yourself killed, Kavan. This is a Sith were going after."
Kavan smiled at Jon, "You say that I'll be killed, yet you charge headlong after the Sith as if you will be able to stop him yourself."
As it sank in, Jon blinked, once again stunned by the odd wisdom of the young man before him as Kavan added,
He managed, "It's my job, Kavan. I have to try."
Now the younger man was shaking his head, as he pulled the grappling line from Jon's belt, admonishing him gently,
"You said yourself that you don’t know where he is going. Trust me on this one, Jon…I have to go after him."
Rohaeus could be stubborn, but his eyes lowered and he looked past Kavan at the dead security guard leaning against the wall. Jon's eyes closed, and Kavan felt the spike of emotion that passed through the Corellian as he relived the act that would be considered by any witness to be an act of mercy.
Taking a life will always be murder to the person pulling the trigger.
Jon said quietly, "I can't have your blood on my hands too, Kavan."
Kavan understood, and put a reassuring hand on his shoulder,
"Take the stairs, Jon, I will let you know where he leads me, and you can catch up. I'll be okay…I know it. Its not me that‘s in danger here."

Jon pursed his lips. He had dealt with Force-Users many times, and when they said they 'knew' something, it often meant 'The Force told me so'. He didn't like it, but he didn't, and never could understand the mysterious Force.

He could only relent, and accept that the younger man was correct. "Alright, go."

Kavan was already turning away, pulling open the doors to the lift. He looked up the dark shaft, dimly illuminated by the strobing amber emergency lockdown lights. Kavan took careful aim with the grappling gun and fired.
Jon held out the Beskad he had bee n given many years ago, and said, "Kavan…May The Force Be With You."
The younger man looked at him, took the weapon, and smiled his odd smile. The kind that made Jon feel like a student before a wise old Jedi Master who was amused by his naivety.
As he tucked the weapon into his belt, Kavan answered back, "I believe it always is."
Jon couldn’t argue with him on that, deaf to the voice of The Force as he was.

Then he was gone, disappearing upwards into the shadowy turbolift shaft.
Jon looked upwards at the ascending teenager and called out, “You better be alright, kid…I want that blade back.”
Then he headed towards the stairs, his mind reeling and his heart aching.
Kavan was far too young to be risking his life like this, and it was his fault the kid was on the station at all.
He began charging up the flights of stairs, knowing that his energy would run out and he would eventually be climbing the stairs much more slowly. But he had to try to keep up with Kavan and regroup with him as soon as he could.

*****

Darth Erebus had finally arrived at his goal. The hangar bay E-77 loomed below him, and just out of reach -- the starship Apotros. He eyed the group of security guards as they began to react to his appearance, and took a deep breath as he prepared to take their lives.

He wondered why the men gave up their lives, attempting in futility to stop him. He dropped down into the middle of the hangar just as the blaster fire began filling the room with crimson energy blasts. The Dark Lord fed off the death and despair he had caused on the station, drawing it within himself and transforming it into a dark weapon of his own. The blaster fire bounced off him, redirecting harmlessly away as if caught by an invisible lightsaber blade. Many of the shots bounced straight back at those who had fired, and those who avoided the blasts were scorched by the white lightning that appeared from everywhere at once.

The Dark Lord didn't even watch them die; he was already turning slowly on the spot, putting his back to the shuttle that awaited him. Turning to face the man who had been chasing him through the entire station, who had been fortunate enough to anticipate Darth Erebus' destination.
He had sensed him all along.

"I should have known you would be here, Trenton Vinh, so close to the very end."
His smile was almost kind, but his ink black eyes showed no warmth.

Trenton looked different than he had the last time they had met, almost ten years ago. But it was more than simple aging; he looked tired, drawn. Weakened.
And Darth Erebus was the opposite. Pulsing with energy, emitting waves of power.
He went on, “I knew you had to be alive. As long as I am trying to create chaos, you will show up to try to stop it. We spent so long chasing one another around the Galaxy, blind to the fact that we were simply balancing it all out.”

Trent responded, "We are bound together, Drake. I vowed I would stop you so long as you chased the Darkness."

The two had been friends once, many years ago. Now they could never again be friends. Both were changed men, not the same men they had been when they were idealistic youths, training to save the Galaxy as Jedi Knights.

They had spent almost ten years hunting one another, then spent nearly ten years apart, almost entirely forgetting one another.
But the Universe is cyclical by nature, and the two were destined to intersect again despite their opposite vectors. It was inexorable, as if one could not be without the other. Dark and Light. Night and Day.
Life and Death.

Lord Erebus remained silent for a long moment. He had cast aside his past, and Trenton was a part of it. But he accepted that not all of his past could be buried away forever, and that this was something he had left unfinished.
He also had not responded because Trenton had used the name Drake, a name he no longer felt any attachment to.
The name was a relic of his past.
Drake Paladin was not the man who stood before Trenton Vinh.

"I no longer chase the Darkness, Trenton Vinh. I embody it. I accepted it and overcame it, and I made the Darkness part of myself. You remain forever trapped in its orbit, a dying satellite around a black hole. Afraid you will be swallowed whole by it, fearful of embracing your greatest potential."

Both men stood, still as stone, ten feet apart, facing one another. Eyes locked. In The Force, the waves of Erebus' dark power crashed against Trenton, as if he could erode his will with enough patience.
Perhaps he could have, because Trenton seemed shaken as he said, "I do not know why you have returned, but I cannot allow you to leave this station. Not when you have taken so many innocent lives."

Erebus had a genuine smile now, "Your interference is bold and brave, but you cannot stop me this time. You allowed your better judgement to be ignored by your emotion, and pursued me despite knowing you are too weak to strike me down. Out of a sense of duty, you are willing to throw your life away."

As if the Dark Power Darth Erebus was emitting was having a physical effect on Trenton, he put an arm against the bulkhead beside him. Sweat covered him, he was breathing heavily from his exertion. His other hand remained close to his lightsaber, but Erebus felt that he would not need to draw his weapon again today, even if anyone else drew theirs.
Then as if summoned to existence by Erebus’ thought, Darth Noxus arrived, and before Erebus could order him otherwise, the Sith Apprentice roared a battle cry and attacked Trenton, igniting his crimson lightsaber.

Trent was weakened, but not helpless. His amethyst blade sizzled to life and he parried the onslaught from the Sith Apprentice, then cast him aside with a blast of Force energy.
Noxus flipped through the air, but righted himself and slid on his feet to a halt. Before he could strike again, Erebus raised a hand and stopped him,
"This is not your fight."

Darth Noxus' lightsaber blade dissipated, but he did not move, "We need to go, Master."

Trenton had already assumed this was Drake's new apprentice, and said, "Your student is strong, Drake. Someday he may even surpass you."

Erebus smirked now, Trenton was stalling for time. He must have a plan, or something. Then Erebus sensed something coming, and turned his head in time to see a blur of motion coming from the right.

*****

Vindicator Halo had landed on the station nearby Apotros and immediately had headed for the prototype vessel. He had read the reports from Jonathan Rohaeus' investigations, and suspected that the Sith were behind the recent events. The motive still eluded everyone, and their ultimate goal was also uncertain. But he knew that the recon droid had not watched Apotros land for no reason. Devan Knorr had been able to confirm that, despite failing in his part of the plan -- hiring the pirates to steal Apotros mid-flight.

Upon arrival, he had slipped inside Apotros unnoticed, watching the events outside silently, awaiting the moment to help Trenton Vinh, a Vindicator that Halo had not been introduced to, but knew of very well.

After all, the man codenamed ‘Halo’ had been originally made a Vindicator to ensure that Trenton Vinh remained in line.
But he was also an advisor for Director Callius Reyan, and often performed more personal tasks for him, ones that were not always even stored within ShadowNet’s records.

He had been waiting patiently, hand resting on the hilt of his Cortosis-weave vibroblade. He had fought Force-Users in his long life, killed them. The weapon had been an incredibly valuable asset against them, and he knew he would need it now. He knew he couldn’t stop the Sith, not alone. His best chance was to help Trenton when the fight began.
Halo’s patience paid off just enough to make all the difference.

He watched Trenton fight off the Sith’s apprentice, and decided it was time when he heard Trenton speaking, and saw the younger of the two Sith tense slightly.

Halo rushed towards the Sith Lord that had been speaking to Trenton, coming from behind as if it would make any difference, just as Noxus began to move as well.

The Dark Lord leaned away from the first strike, and dodged the next two with a graceful turn. His robes twirled through the air, uncut by the incoming blade as if consisting of nothing more than smoke and shadow.
Trenton rushed in to help, as did Noxus, and the four fell into a violent dance. Two lightsabers and a vibroblade carved arcs through the air, lightning quick. It was impossible to tell who was acting and who was reacting; their movements were so smooth and fast that it could have been mistaken for a practiced routine.

None gave ground, circling and passing between one another in a tight circle of bodies.
Erebus didn't draw his lightsaber. It was as if he was corporeal, the weapons passing within centimetres of him on their deadly vectors, but not a single blade grazed his flesh. He pivoted and tilted his body gracefully, turning and twisting around the strikes and blows without hesitation.
But the dance could not go on forever, and Erebus decided when it was time to stop the music. A blast of Force power sent Vindicator Halo spiralling away, and Trenton managed to merely recoil.
In the instant that he was off-balance, Darth Noxus seized on his opening and ran Trenton through with his crimson blade, emerging from his back and stopping there.

For a moment, everything was still. Erebus watched with interest as Noxus pulled the blade from his victim’s chest slowly. Vindicator Halo had been knocked unconscious by the blast of energy, having taken the full brunt of it, and lay unmoving a dozen feet away,

Trenton coughed blood and dropped to his knees, looking down at his wound in stunned silence.

Erebus looked at Trenton through The Force, and foresaw something strange, something much different than a grim death. The two men made eye contact, Trenton on his knees, eyes slowly glossing over. Then Erebus said aloud,
"It is time."

Noxus agreed with the Dark Lord‘s statement, and responded, "Yes, Lord Erebus."
He walked towards the ships open landing ramp.
Erebus followed him, not noticing the look that crossed Trenton's face when he heard Noxus call his childhood friend 'Lord Erebus'.
The Sith Lord left the hangar bay and entered the mining vessel, then took off into the Coruscant system, leaving behind a graveyard, and the dying man he had once, in a different life, called a friend.

*****

Trenton slumped over, feeling his wound in The Force. He had foreseen this, days ago, in a meditative dream. He had feared it, not entirely because of his impending death, but because he had no successor, no one that could take his place and defend the Galaxy from the evil that always seemed to loom over it. Someone who could succeed where he failed.

As his eyes rolled back in his head, he choked on blood once more, spewing it onto the deck and smearing his lips. His arms grew weak, and his lightsaber clattered as it rolled away.

In his wounded state, he realized had overextended himself, had foolishly believed despite all he had done in the past few days that he could stop Drake…Erebus.
Trenton felt life slipping away, and knew it was all his own doing. Had he been wiser, had he been honest with himself, he would have approached the entire situation differently, but it was too late for that now. Too late to worry about what could have been. He had lost everything.

No…he had not lost everything just yet. But he would when Erebus achieved whatever his malevolent goal was.
Trent had been in the position to stop him.
But he had been too weak.

As his hope faltered, something suddenly lifted him up. He felt his cheek press against the cool Durasteel of the bulkhead, and a tearing noise as his shirt was opened to reveal the ragged lightsaber wound beneath.

Someone yelled something, and then Trent felt The Force flow around him like a tempest.
He latched onto the feelings, realizing whoever had come to his side was strong…very strong. The presence of his power, untainted and fresh, was like oxygen to his dying flame. Trenton's eyes opened slowly, and he saw the face of a young man, who was applying a field dressing to his deep wound.

The young man said in a firm voice, "Everything is going to be okay, I'm here now."
And as Trenton drifted in and out of consciousness, he felt grounded by those words, and knew they had far more meaning than the young man who had said them realized.

Yes…You are here now. My saviour and inheritor.

Trenton Vinh was wise enough to recognize the will of The Force when it was looking him right in the face. He had the insight to know that this young man who had saved him was here not by coincidence, but by destiny. By the will of The Force.
They had been drawn inexorably together by fate, for this reason, and this moment would set them both on a transformative journey they could never have expected.
But not until they watched Darth Erebus accomplish the mission they had all tried in vain to stop.

*****

In the space outside Penumbra, two dozen vessels ranging in size from gunships to frigates orbited the station. They had returned to Coruscant in time to learn of the emergency on the station, and as per Military Order, and the role of the Rapid Response Task Fleet, Lee was in prime position to assist.
Out of the frying pan, and into the pressure cooker.

Commander Lysander Lee had been awaiting the Sith escape attempt with a small portion of his fleet from the Marcol Void. The battle had ravaged the ships under his command, but they would pull themselves together. As he stood on the bridge of this Medical Frigate, he knew that his flagship and its support vessels limped back to nearby shipyards for repairs.

Commander Lee watched on the view screen as the vessel rocketed from Penumbra, and recognized Apotros immediately.
"All ships, move to intercept, that‘s our target!"

A corvette was very close to the shuttle, and its engines accelerated to catch the fleeing ship as it pushed in-system towards its escape.
The mining vessel didn't deviate from its path, and when the nearby Corvette moved directly in the way, the two collided with a bright flash.

"Status report!" Lee shouted, as the blossoming debris blocked his view. Captain Micdunell announced,
"Sir, Apotros struck Firestorm and seems to have passed straight through her hull! Atmosphere is being vented and all systems are offline. She's been crippled, sir."
More like gutted.
Lysander cursed under his breath and felt his comlink vibrating as he ordered, "Pursue Apotros, I want tractor beams on that ship before it escapes."

He answered his comm and heard an unfamiliar voice, "Commander Lysander Lee? I'm Vindicator Jonathan Rohaeus. I am onboard Penumbra with Trenton Vinh…he's injured badly and needs immediate medical attention, please send us a med-evac shuttle!"

Lee rose his eyebrows in surprise,
"How is Vinh alive? I watched him die in the Marcol Void."
Jon's response would have been ridiculous given any less dire circumstances,
"He has a habit of coming back from the dead…but he won't be this time if you don't give him the help he needs, sir."
Lee snapped to it, dropping into a command chair and dialing orders into the armrest-console,
"Help is on the way, Rohaeus. Be quick, we are already in pursuit of the Sith."
Jon’s voice was sombre,
"You won't catch them with vessels of that mass, sir…I've seen Apotros in flight, only ships as fast as a starfighter would be able to keep up with that thing."
Lysander was unruffled, "They're fleeing in-system, they have nowhere to go but the deep core, and that would be suicide."

Jon's reply was, "I don’t think they're fleeing, Commander."
Lysander did not ask what made Jon believe that, because as he watched the image of Apotros speeding away, he knew that the man was right.

[Trenton Vinh]

For all its complexity, it is sometimes overlooked how simply The Force often works.
All is connected like a dense web, often interweaving in ways none can expect.

On this day, over a billion lives would be changed, and soon the slaughter aboard Penumbra would be almost entirely forgotten, overshadowed by a much more dramatic event.

But aboard that space station on that fateful day, the connectedness of The Force could be seen by one who examined it carefully.
Many influential beings in the same area can make the Force murky, convoluted. Like stirred up sand in a pond, it becomes harder to see into the Force, as the future is constantly fluctuating due to the actions of these beings.

Had Darth Noxus accomplished his mission on Coruscant and successfully killed Devan Knorr, the Sith would have passed through Penumbra almost entirely unheeded, minimizing casualties radically.

Devan Knorr would not have been on Penumbra at all, had he not attacked Kavan Moirai on Coruscant, and gained the attention of a nearby Vindicator.

Because of Jonathan Rohaeus’ comm call to Security Officer Fensworth in Hangar A-323, the Sith caught wind of Devan Knorr’s survival and captivity.
They altered their plan, and thus altered the future more in doing so.
The alarms set off by the prison break-in alerted the Director of ShadowNet to the Sith incursion, and his reaction was to lock down the station.

It also led him to disable the turbo lift that was carrying Darth Erebus towards Reyan's office. Instead, the Sith Lord was forced to take a different route, one that led him through an evacuation group of over a hundred civilians.
The few minutes it took for Erebus to kill them and move on put him onto a collision course with Jedi Master Gani Torre, who was escorting a small batch of stragglers and their semi-hysterical security guards to the hangars for extraction.

Had the Dark Lord not been slowed by Reyan's desperate act of self-preservation, he would have missed Gani Torre and his followers by less than two minutes.
The outcome was a dozen more beings added to the immense casualty list, and Jedi Master Gani Torre -- who managed to survive, would be broken by the weight of his failure.
His future, as murky as anyone's, was suddenly set on a much darker course, one that would change him forever.

Jon Rohaeus and the young Force-User Kavan Moirai tried to halt the escape of the young Darth Noxus, and the few short minutes they had battled altered the future as well; Noxus would remember the encounter with Kavan and the future of the two would become dangerously intertwined.

The time it took Noxus to get by the two men would also end up altering the life of Trenton Vinh, who was already tired and weakened from several days without rest after an intense battle of wills against a cunning enemy not too unlike Darth Erebus himself. Those few minutes ensured that Erebus and Trenton had at least a few moments alone before Noxus arrived and attacked.

Grappling upwards towards the military hangar bays on the upper levels of the station, Kavan would attempt to change the future he had foreseen, but instead discover that fate worked in much stranger ways than he had before realized.

Had Gani Torre not believed Trenton to be a threat to the Galactic Alliance and the Jedi, he would not have gone to the Marcol Void in pursuit of evidence to his suspicions.
And had he not done this, he would not have rescued Trenton from the vacuum, forever losing him in the black.

Later still, when Trenton Vinh and Gani Torre discovered that the man formerly known as Drake Paladin was aboard Penumbra, they left an Iskalloni Commander named Spector alive, providing him with a safe escape from his doomed ship.
Spector would intercept several crucial comm messages, and then witness the final events of this day from his escape pod. He would relay them to his Autarch as soon as he could, alerting him to the existence of Darth Erebus.

Erebus himself had a plan that would have gone far more smoothly had it not been for the actions of Callius Reyan and the survival of Devan Knorr. But he would still accomplish his life's mission and create a symbol the Jedi and the rest of the Galaxy would never, could never, forget.

As the mining vessel named Apotros rocketed towards its final destination, the Dark Lord knew it was time for his plan to come to fruition.

[Trenton Vinh]

Immediately after take-off, Erebus ordered Noxus one thing,
"Take me there. Stop for no one."
He pointed at something on the vidscreen, which showed a live feed of everything directly on the other side of the armor of the ship. Right now it showed an image of the remaining inner planets of the Coruscant system and the star they orbited.
They had already passed Vandor, and they were nearing Platoril already. Much further ahead was Revisse, the molten rock closest to Coruscant Prime.

The vidscreen was designed to look like what it replaced -- a viewport. The vessel was entirely encased in dense crystalline armor that was off-white in color. Up close, the hull almost looked as if it were frozen, like white ice, only slightly opaque.
The armor was nine inches thick, and had taken a large team of scientists months of laborious molecular-layering to pack the structure as densely as atomically possible.
Because of this, it was also nearly indestructible.

The vidscreens were integrated into the inner wall of the ship, appeared so convincingly to be mere transparisteel, that Noxus might have been fooled by the illusion had he not known better
But he had studied this ship's blueprints and design extensively over the past three days in preparation for his simple but crucial role in this plan.
Apotros was egg-shaped, and the cockpit sat in the upper dome of the ship. It had room for just four people; it could be operated by just one.
Erebus left the cockpit to go to the only other room in the ship, the central chamber.
This area was used to store the minerals and gases extracted during the mining process.

Noxus piloted Apotros as calmly as possible, but the fact that an entire army was on their heels kept his knuckles white with tension and his palms moist with perspiration.
But his anxiety gave him focus, and his furrowed brow and set jaw proved it.
He worked the controls with little effort, his course was a straight line, but he rotated the ship in a spiral to avoid some of the laserfire that the starfighters kept harassing him with.
They couldn't hope to damage Apotros, it was designed to be able to handle inhospitable conditions. The heat of a blaster shot was absorbed by the hull harmlessly. But Knorr wasn't comfortable with giving them an easy target, and he had to ensure the larger ships couldn't get a tractor beam lock on him.

He didn't have to worry about that for too long, either. The tiny vessel was very agile, and after crashing literally through the bridge of a corvette that got a little too close, Noxus knew the small fleet would not be able to stop them.
He had been able to watch as the weaker vessel crumpled before him, flash-freezing the bridge crew and tearing the ship nearly in half. And Apotros had hardly slowed, its velocity made it nearly an unstoppable force.
Erebus was going to test it against a nearly immovable object.

Noxus didn't know which would win out over the other, but he wasn't going to take any bets either, cause he didn't know the odds.

But Noxus didn't hesitate at the order, understanding his teacher knew much that he didn't.
It also assured him that they would survive it.

The small ship passed Platoril, and Revisse loomed ahead.
Behind them, the corvettes were mere specs in the dark. The snub-fighters broke off entirely, even the high-speed interceptors couldn't even keep up now.
As the ship continued to accelerate, the inertial compensators were strained to keep up and Noxus was pressed back into his chair.

In the central chamber, Darth Erebus sat in the middle of the room with his eyes closed.
He was already dropping into a heavy Meditation, his perception spreading outwards, enveloping the ship and the space beyond it. He could feel his enemies -- those who had tried to stand in his way, as he grew more and more distant from them. He tasted their frustration, the anger and sadness and all the emotions from the hundreds of deaths that lingered on the space station Penumbra.
Taking in these emotions, he exhaled his dark influence, deepening the sadness and nurturing the rage.

They were close to Revisse now. He could feel the fire of the planet surface, getting closer by the second.

He had broken all of his chains, his power granting him this -- his victory.
Now he could focus on the final stroke of his magnum opus.

So he continued to widen his perception, quickly spreading as he basked in his growing power.

The apple rots from the core.
Society suffers the same end, dying from the inside while appearing fresh without...

Exposing this rotten core was Erebus' mission.

No -- not exposing. Poisoning.
Staining the core of the Galaxy, the heart of Galactic society. Showing the masses that with a malignant heart, the entire body is afflicted.

The Jedi would be changed forever from this -- their ultimate failure staring them in the face. They would never escape the fact that they allowed the Sith to commit this act.

Not just the Sith.
This Sith.

The Galaxy would know he had done this. But exposing himself put him -- and his legacy, in grave danger.
His student Darth Noxus was strong, but there were many dangerous beings that could threaten him.
Ancient enemies, long forgotten in time.
But Erebus would make Noxus strong, stronger than himself, for he would need to be if he were to become Dark Lord of the Sith. He was cultivating his student, until it would consume him.
Or Noxus would fail, and be forgotten forever.

The Galaxy forgets that which leaves no trace.
No one would forget this act; this moment.

Reality is mine to forge. This Galaxy can be molded by my power. My will.

The air in the room was surging, a hot wind hurricane with Darth Erebus as the eye of the storm.

He could feel the trillions of beings on Coruscant now, the mass of emotions a stew of power for him to feed off of. But he had a spice of his own to add before he could begin his feast.

Apotros was in Revisse's thin atmosphere now, skimming it and carving a long swath through the murk, the hull of the vessel glowing a dull orange.
With a final burst of speed, Apotros cleared the atmosphere and was past Revisse. In moments the hull began to warm once more, but this time with the heat of Coruscant Prime, its immense size dwarfing the tiny ship that rocketed towards it.
The heat continued to build, but Noxus stayed the course his Master had ordered, and he could feel his teacher growing stronger by the moment.
In the Dark Side, he felt his Master's will, and Noxus nodded to himself in understanding.
He left the controls and let the ship continue its trip into the heart of Coruscant Prime.

There was no need for him to pilot now; Erebus would be able to manipulate the vessel if he wished, and it would be slowed by the gravity of the star as they grew closer.
So Noxus left the cockpit and climbed down the ladder into the central chamber, feeling the Dark Side swirling violently about.
The rush exhilarated him as it always did, flushing his cheeks and baring his teeth. He dropped into a meditative posture across from his teacher. He remained two and a half meters away, where the wind tore at his robes and tried to buffet him from his spot.
Dropping into a Meditation with his Master, he felt his own power swelling, and knew his Master would draw on it as he would draw on the energy and emotion of all the inhabitants of the Coruscant system.

In the Corona of the massive blue-white star, the tiny vessel was the size equivalent of a grain of sand on a beach of a resort-world.
The ovoid vessel shot like a bullet towards the outer surface of the star: the Chromosphere.
As if trying to bat the tiny vessel out of existence, a solar flare danced in vain across the hull.
The ship shot through the thousand kilometer long pillar of fire,
hull blackened but unburnt.

Turbulence rocked the ship violently, and then it slammed through the envelope of the chromosphere, and disappeared into the nuclear-fusion fire.

*****

"The ship isn't showing up on any of our sensors, sir. It appears that the vessel...flew into the star."

Lysander Lee was standing on the viewing deck of the frigate, the massive viewport before him. His eyes locked on Coruscant Prime, his eyebrows creased in worry.
He felt like he had to do something. But he didn't know what he could do now. They had lost Apotros and the Sith.

Lee responded to the aide that had spoken to him with, "Very well. The main fleet is to maintain position while our men on Penumbra do what they can to help. Send probes to scan closer to the star, and send a detachment of corvettes to go to the other side of Coruscant Prime. Inform our guests that they may join me in here for the time being. And bring a bottle of something strong."

The aide managed a smile as he left Lysander to watch the space outside solemnly.

The viewing room contained a single table and benches, some resting against the back wall. The room was for relaxation and comfort; aboard a medical frigate, it was also meant to promote healing.
The beauty of space was calming to many, but all it did right now was worry Lee.

His mind wasn't just on Apotros, it was on the Iskalloni, and the news that the newest Chief of State had been decided.
The Jedi were on their way out, and the Sith were back.

The Galaxy seemed to be getting darker by the day.

The floor at Lee's feet flooded with light as the door opened. Turning to look at who had entered, he saw the backlit figure and nodded a welcome to the teenage boy.

Kavan Moirai stepped beside Lee and bowed his head respectfully, "Thank you for your aid and hospitality, Commander Lee."
Lee's eyes crinkled as he smiled, but before he replied, the door opened again, and a man entered, giving Lee an informal salute.
The man didn't need to salute, he was a Vindicator. But he did out of respect, and because he was a pilot.
Jonathan Rohaeus said as he neared, "Commander Lee, its good to see you again. I see you've already met Kavan."

Lee nodded and offered a hand, which Jon shook. He said unhappily,
"I guess we lost them, then."
The Commander nodded and replied, "We know where they went, but we don't know why, and we can't follow them."
Jon rose his eyebrows, frowning. Confused.
Kavan pointed out the viewport at Coruscant Prime, its dazzling light was dimmed by the viewport but it was still close to blinding.

The luminous star had Kavan nearly transfixed, and he said softly, "I can still sense him." After a moment he added, "Not the one we ran into, Jon. This must be his Master."
Kavan shivered, and took an instinctual step back from the viewport.
This worried Jon, and he put a hand on Kavan's shoulder,
"Do you know what's happening, Kavan?" Jon asked.

The young man only shook his head, still watching the star with a detached look on his face.
After a long moment he said, "He's so powerful, its overwhelming. I don't know what he is doing, but I can feel his presence. Its like he's looming over me, over us, the ship...over everything."

Jon swallowed, and Lee said, "I've got the crew on this ship running scans, recon probes are on their way towards the star, and ships are on their way to the far side."
Rohaeus asked, "You think they're going to take Apotros through Coruscant Prime?"

Lee could only shrug, he couldn't presume to know what the Sith had planned.
Jon nodded understanding and leaned against the viewport; it looked like he was leaning against the blackness of space, or like the image of the space outside was painted on the wall.

He asked, "Will Apotros survive in there?"
Lee knew what the Military had planned for the stolen vessel, and said dubiously, "I cannot say for sure. I don't even think the scientists that built the ship know how strong it truly is. But those temperatures, in that gravity? I can't even imagine..."

Jon was looking at Kavan in concern, and responded, "Well at least we'll know if they don't."
Lee shared his glance at Kavan and said quietly, "Is he going to be alright?"
Rohaeus nodded, but he looked very worried, "He's strong, and smarter than you think."
Lysander said, "Aren't all young people?"
Jon grinned at that, and was glad to know that he could, despite the circumstances.

Then Trenton Vinh walked through the door, moving tenderly, and took position beside Jon, eyes immediately locking on the star outside. He said absently, "Jon, Commander, thank you for saving me."

Lee said in surprise, "I didn't think you would be up already!"
Trent looked at the Commander and said softly, "I'm not supposed to be...but I needed to see this."
Jon said, "Trent...I think you should meet Kavan here, he's the-"
Trenton knew the answer already, "The one who kept me alive on Penumbra."

Jon nodded, but Kavan's eyes were still on the star; he seemed almost in shock, the look in the boy's eyes was one he had seen on thousands of people during the Yuuzhan Vong war.
Trent said, "The Dark Lord's power is growing. For Force-Users, it can be...intense."

Rohaeus noticed Trenton was holding his stomach, he was no doubt in pain.
He asked, "Trent, maybe you should sit down..."
Vinh shook his head somberly, eyes returning to the star outside the viewport. Lee and Jon exchanged worried glances, for neither understood what Kavan and Trent were feeling.

The door opened again, it was the aide, returning with a bottle of Corellian Brandy and a tray of snacks. He looked worried, however, and as he dropped the tray onto the table shakily, he said, "Commander...the science teams wanted me to tell you that they are getting strange readings on the sensors."

Lee demanded, "Elaborate."
The man was sweating, and he tugged at the collar of his uniform, "Coruscant Prime, sir...it seems to be reacting to the ship."

Trent was shaking his head, "Not to the ship...to The Sith. Erebus...he's doing something."
Jon, Lee, and the aide all looked out at the star before them, a fist-sized orb of blue-white light from their position. Lee asked the silence, "But what is he doing?"

*****

Darth Erebus felt the heat around the outside of the ship, as if he were the quantum-crystalline armor. Unscathed but touched by the heat, his lips curled in triumph.

He began to compact his power, crushing the huge expanse of awareness he had spread, taking in all the energy and emotion of the beings he felt and whose lives were about to change.
Inside the ship, Noxus breathed heavily, stirred by the vibrating of the ship.
The Dark Lord wasn't worried...Apotros was holding, for now.
Traveling deeper into the star, the heat continued to build. This far into the star, all matter was plasma and gases, and the density skyrocketed as they neared the Core.

With the Force swirling around him, Erebus continued to compact his power further and further, crushing it together into a tiny point in the core of his own being. Atom by atom, he precisely crushed the energy of the Dark Side, like the shuttle that now housed him had been built.

The heart of the star is its source of power. This ship is just another star, a universe of its own. And I am the source of its power, the core that gives it life.
All beings are a universe of their own, and finding the source of our own power is the key to breaking our chains. Finding our core. The center; where all power is projected outwards.

A burst of energy froze the tiny vessel in place in the very center of the sun, where the only matter that existed was in atomic form, gas molecules creating nuclear reactions that produced energy that shot outwards and into space. Apotros was a white-hot orange, the tiny vessel surviving the nuclear-heat and pressure.

As the Dark Lord crushed his dark power into a singularity, he reached out to touch time itself. Taking the Universe in his hands, he stretched time out, making an instant into a lifetime. In this moment that lasted forever but was over instantly, he released some of the Dark Power he built up release in a violent burst.

Darth Erebus' body seemed to shimmer, and the space around the shuttle wavered as well.

A trillion miles away, on Coruscant, a billion people looked into the sky as the star that lit their world flickered and dimmed for a moment.

Erebus, in the core of his being, in the core of the star, felt the shock and surprise and turned it into more power; and the sun fluctuated dangerously again. Now he could feel the panic of many beings, and the fear rose.
He sucked it all into his singularity; a black hole of power sucking at all the energy it could.
Darth Erebus let himself become the embodiment of Darkness; a black hole himself. He felt as if he could pull the entire Galaxy beyond his event horizon; drag it down into himself and swallow it whole.

This is what I was made for. To tear the light from the stars themselves.

Noxus watched in fear and awe as his teacher rose up into the air. The lights in the shuttle appeared as if they were dimmed, the light being emitted was being swallowed by Erebus' dark aura. Then the light was swallowed entirely, and Noxus heard a brilliant roar of triumph and exertion.

Coruscant Prime flickered, and then disappeared. The Dark Lord released his energy into the singularity he had been slowly building, and upon his release, the suffocating black hole opened its maw to the Universe. The star around it was just the beginning. Upon gorging itself with the molten gases of Coruscant Prime, the black hole widened dangerously, the immense fury of Lord Erebus as its catalyst.

Coruscant Prime had held eleven planets in its orbit. When Erebus' power unleashed a back hole in its center, the immense gravity pulled the first three planets in, swallowing Platoril, Revisse, and Vandor-I forever. The surge pulled the remaining planets inwards, Coruscant included.
The intense tidal storms and hurricanes tore across the planet's surface, ruining buildings and toppling structures. Hundreds of satellites and stations orbiting the planet were thrown clear, others fell violently upon the world, crushing innocents and spreading firestorms.

Darkness covered the planet like never before, and when the heat of the now-swallowed star disappeared, the temperature dropped rapidly.

Vandor-II and Vandor-III slowed as the black hole stopped its rapid expansion; they were spared for now. The black hole seemed to watch them, a malevolent pupil in the heart of the system. It tugged at the nearby planets slowly. The two planets shared the same fate as their now lost sister, albeit a much slower one. They would eventually be swallowed by the vast black hole they now orbited, the long-awaited meals soon to be pulverized in the unstoppable pull of the wormhole.

Penumbra had also been buffeted by the gravity surge. Like a ship upon stormy seas, it was tossed and turned through the system, eventually settling into a long slow orbit around the black hole. Now the Director's office offered a view of the incredible act of destruction created by the Dark Lord who passed through mere hours before.

The fleet that had been watching the star mid-system had been thrown into chaos; a pair of frigates were thrown into the path of Hesperidium, one of Coruscant's moons. They crashed upon the surface of the resort satellite and were lost forever.
The rest of the ships were thrown about like toys. As the captains struggled to regain control of their vessels, none kept an eye on the scanners, and no one thought of trying to track Apotros, which had disappeared in the chaos.

All the Force-Sensitives in the system, and many that were lightyears away felt the presence and power of Lord Erebus, and they all felt it disappear in a sudden release.

And then, all that was left of Coruscant Prime was the light it had emitted hours before, the light that would take weeks and months and years to travel across the Galaxy. For years, people would be able to visit outlying systems, and if they knew just the right spot to look at the right time, they would be able to watch the star wink out of existence in the night sky, disappearing forever from the face of the Galaxy...

[Isaac]

For those who are sensitive to the ebb and flow of the Force, and count themselves among the few with the passion necessary to bring the Force to heel, distance counts for very little. And so, atop the tallest spire of the largest building on the Iskalloni hive-world, one being felt the tremors of a catastrophic event as keenly as though he'd been standing on Coruscant itself.

Metal crumpled beneath metal, Kroenen's taloned hand crushing the arm of his throne into twisted debris, and he rose to gaze out at the smog-filled skies; were his bodily functions not slaved to the micro-processors which had long kept him alive, he had no doubt his breath would have caught in his chest.
Although obscured by the pollution generated by the constant flow of industry on Iskadrell, Kroenen's artificial eye pierced the veil, seeing through the Force rather than trusting the limitations of the physical condition. Some great taint had exposed itself just now, and even though Kroenen had been made aware of the goings-on in Coruscant space because of his ever-present Spector, he had not forseen this event.

"I sense that this troubles you, Lord Kroenen" a voice said, as if from a distance, blotted out by the cacophane of emotion roiling through the Force. The voice was familliar, but from a life Kroenen had left behind in the Unknown Regions. It wasn't welcome here. He turned, his eldritch gaze fixing upon a shadow darker than all those in his chamber. His lack of surprise was evident as he returned to his throne, sagging into it, sending a wave of tiny scarab-like droids scuttling back into their recesses. Other creatures emerged, some of them partly organic, others mere cybernetic replications of lifeforms that had existed eons ago on this world, before the Iskalloni. It was as if they were drawn by this new presence, their behavioural inhibitors overridden by curiosity. Kroenen knew many such things existed in the dark corners of this world, and most of them had been created at his behest, only to be cast aside as failures. Ironic, he thought, that they should reappear at the same time as his largest failure to date.

"It does, Lord Maladict" Kroenen replied. "As do many things as of late".
"Allow me to alleviate some of these troubles". The shadow stepped forth, disabling the approaching Praetorians with a gesture, and expelling three small pyramids at Kroenen's feet. Darth Kroenen lifted them with the Force, then looked Maladict in his non-existent eyes.
"From Darth Erebus" Maladict explained. "Perhaps it is due time to restore the Rule of Two? Use these, and..."
"No" Kroenen said, the simple word silencing Maladict like a scolded child. "No, there will be no Rule of Two. Darth Erebus has changed things. Now, there can be only One..."