As Darkness Falls (Part 2)

Hello, all! Happy New Year! It's time for me to continue with the second part of the Hope Skywalker series, As Darkness Falls. For all you newcomers, here's a rundown of what's happened so far:

Hope Skywalker, daughter of Luke and Callista, has just been devastated with the news of her friend Kirana Ti's death (which was committed by the Anzati vampire, Jerriko). She, Callista, and Tenel Ka have taken her body to Dathomir for a proper warrior's funeral. Meanwhile, the first faint stirrings of the Death Seed plague has begun to appear in the galaxy, and the evil Hutt Beldorion is up to no good on Nam Chorios.

If you're a newcomer to this story, here's a link to Part 1

And now, Part 2 of ADF begins to unfold...

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Korriban was a lone, barren planet, located within the outer fringes of the sparsely populated Horuset System. To some people, it was much like other planets in the universe; empty, desolate, and not even worth bothering to see. To most people, however, especially those in the New Republic, it was a planet of ancient, dark evil, a world that was absolutely forbidden to see.

For Korriban had, thousands of years ago, been the stronghold of the Sith.

The Dark Lords of the Sith, though long since dead, had left a dark shadow over the galaxy that would never go away. Starting with Freedon Nadd, the Sith spread death, terror, and destruction, which continued for centuries until the final Sith Lord, Darth Vader, was vanquished in the battle of Endor. Although the Sith Order was now gone, decades after Vader?s death, the memories of their terrible campaigns remained, and would most likely continue to do so until the end of time.

Korriban, before the time of the Sith, had been a dry, miserable planet of deserts and canyons, and very few life-forms. The largest inhabitants of Korriban had been a dangerous species of creatures known as tuk?ata, who prowled the mountains unmatched as they hunted for their small, helpless prey. A small mound of ruins had been the only structures on the planet, built eons ago by an ancient order of cat-like creatures for purposes long forgotten. During Freedon Nadd?s time, the Sith Lords, having suffered a defeat at the hands of the Jedi Knights, had landed on the barren world, and made it their home. Using slaves captured from various worlds, they soon built a fabulous succession of temples, the most magnificent of which were found in the Valley of the Dark Lords. Each Sith Lord received his or her own temple, and sacrifices were made every day. At its worst, the floors of the temples were soaked in the blood of hundreds of victims whose hearts had been torn out.

The Sith Order, however, suffered a fatal blow after Exar Kun instigated the Sith War, one of the worst wars in galactic history. Kun squandered thousands of warriors in his quest for personal power, which eventually shattered the order, scattering the remnants in various parts of the galaxy. From that point on, the Sith would never be amassed in large numbers again. There would be only two, the master and the apprentice, which continued until Vader killed his master, Emperor Palpatine. The galaxy, having finally extinguished the last flame of the Sith, could now live in peace.

Until now.

A single small ship emerged from hyperspace, its design and purpose unknown to other space dwellers. On its silver-hulled side was stenciled Reliant. It soared unseen through the blackness of space, its destination the ancient Sith world of Korriban.

Beldorion the Splendid sat alone in the cockpit, deep in thought as he piloted the starship with the Force. The desert planet was slowly encompassing the viewscreen, showing him an aeriel view of the Valley of the Dark Lords. His synthdroids would be awaiting his arrival in the valley, hopefully with the ?cargo? already prepared. If not, they would pay dearly with their lives.

The Hutt smiled as he watched Korriban unfold before his

 

Uppers! More coming later tonight.

 

Well now we're getting back into the thick of things it looks like. So Beldorian has interest in the Stronghold of the Sith. He can't be up to no good, though I'm sure his plans will become clearer in time.

And Dannik is still out on the loose. No chance he'll acceidently slurp some tainted soup by any chance? No I didn't think so. Well he'll just have to go the regular way, scewered on somebody's lightsaber.

Greatr to see part deux up. Can't wait to see what our heros have been up to.

 

Thanks, Rokangus! And yep, Beldorion's plan will slowly but surely be unraveled (we won't know for sure what he's up to until Part 3).

In the meantime, time to re-introduce our heroine...

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The trip back to Yavin 4 on board the Shapeshifter consisted mostly of silence and gloom. Callista sat at the pilot's seat, navigating the small freighter through hyperspace, while her daughter, Hope sat next to her, watching the Galactic News on the Holovid, not really listening to anything in particular. Tenel Ka was back in the cabin, no doubt practicing with her lightsaber, as she always did when she needed time to herself.

Hope listened with only half an ear as the Calamarian reporter spoke of a disease of unknown origin spreading in the Outer Rim. She could have cared less about it, though; her mind remained on Dathomir, and of the friend they had left behind forever.

The last few weeks had been among the worst and best of Hope's life. Her good friend, Kirana Ti, had been reported dead on Knossos almost two weeks ago, along with an entire colony of people. The worst--and scariest--part was that no one could discern how any of the people had died, save for Kirana Ti, whose neck had been snapped broken. Whoever had killed her had been a person of tremendous strength, if he or she had been able to best a powerful Jedi Knight as she had been.

Hope, and the rest of the Jedi Academy, had been torn apart by the news of their friend's murder, and she had cried more than once since then. Her body had been delivered to Dathomir, Kirana Ti's homeworld, where it was given a proper burial, just as she would have wanted it.

As saddened and grief-stricken as Hope and everyone else was, perhaps nothing could compare to what Kirana Ti's daughter, Arian, had gone through. Out of everyone who had known Kirana Ti, Arian had been the least-prepared for the tragic news. Hope could still remember when Arian had finally broken down and cried in Hope's arms, after days of furiously bottling up her emotions inside. Hope knew that it would take a long time--perhaps even more than a lifetime--for her friend to recover from this ordeal.

However, in the midst of the grief, something truly wonderful had happened to Hope during her turbulent stay on Dathomir. When she and several others had gone to assist the Misty Falls Clan in a private war they were waging against an army of primitive, but deadly, beings, Hope had met a young man there by the name of Cyron. The two had instantly become attracted to each other, and eventually resulted in Hope's first kiss ever. Cyron was the comfort she had desperately needed in a time as terrible and horrific as that had been...even if Callista had not approved of the unexpected relationship.

Now, though, just as she had done with Kirana Ti, Hope had left Cyron behind on Dathomir, promising that they would soon meet again. Hope made a mental note to call him as soon as she was settled back on Yavin 4.

Even though it was two days since Kirana Ti's funeral, Hope's mind was still a roiling ocean of burning emotions, ranging from grief to despair, from denial to reluctant acceptance, from anger to a need for vengeance. She kept picturing how Kirana Ti's death may have been played out: she could imagine her friend's determination, followed soon by fear as the realization that she was going to die sank in, of her killer's deranged, maniacal laugh as he viciously broke her neck--

Hope had no idea how it had truly happened, nor did she think she ever would, but one thing was for sure: her friend's murderer would not go away unpunished. Someday, she was going to find out this person's true identity, and when she did...not even the Force itself would be able to hold her back when she ripped out the bastard's throat.

Hope took a deep breath, letting the Force flow through her, as her father had always taught her, but it did little good. There was no way she was going to rest when Kirana Ti's killer was still at large, probably waiting in t

 

Hm....I wonder what all this is about...

Great post, 15! Luke and Callista Forever!