Beyond - Legends THE NEW IMPERIUM - The Return, Part 7: "Shadow Revealed"

SUMMARY: Grand Master Xar Kerensky has been captured by enemy forces. He is brought before their leader, the spearhead of the very Return itself. As Jedi Division forces rush forward in a desperate rescue attempt, Xar will face the most grievous trials of his life. And after this, he will never be the same...

Expect a new story to be posted every week or so (there are 21 stories completed already, 3 still yet to be written). These stories feature Maarek Stele and Kir Kanos, as well as a host of completely original characters. The majority are all-original.

If you want to read the other stories in the New Imperium Plotline ahead of time, you can go to http://www.newimperium.org and get all the resources, artwork, maps, and extra info that you might want. This epic series has been going on since around 1997 and is building toward a climactic ending with the remaining stories. As these early stories were written many years ago, please understand the quality may not be top notch, but you will find the skill level increasing rapidly as you continue reading through the series.

A final note: I would love to have other contributing writers to the storyline. If you read through the Plotline and find you would like to help by either writing side stories or doing artwork, please do contact me. We would love to have more people join in the NI and also to post on our boards anytime. Thanks!


*Formatting issues may make it harder to read on the message board. This story is also available online at* http://www.newimperium.org/archives/Chapter7.htm
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Prologue - 7 days after the fall of Varnus



"And so it happened that the ancient ones came forward once more.

The veil was pulled away, and the Shadow was finally revealed.

The Second Great War was about to begin?"

Discovered on the ruins of Tralaria,

200 years after the collapse of the Galactic Alliance





This can't be happening, Xar thought desperately. Having long since given up his non-contraction usage during his imprisonment, he used them now more as expletives than anything else. He kept his gaze down on the metal floor as he was held tightly by two fully armored guards in the antechamber. His hands had been unbound beside him. For some reason they must have wanted him free. He knew they were just waiting for him to try something, so he was going to surprise them by remaining compliant? for now. Where the door in front of him led, he wasn't certain; no one had even spoken to him during this entire ordeal. But wherever it was, he knew he was about to meet with someone. Someone important.

He'd lost count of how long it had been since he'd been taken from Varnus, but he calculated that it must not have been much longer than a week, at least. Having been served only one small meal a day during that time, he found himself standing here now, dehydrated and almost too weak to stand on his own. He knew a full-fledged search by the New Imperium would already have been underway; he just hoped they were close. Of course, he didn't have any more idea to his location than he did about the identity of his captors. They could be anywhere by this point. He knew that at first he'd been taken onboard the lead Titan of the Varnus assault force, but had been transferred at least once since then. Whether he was now on a ship or planet, he couldn't be sure. Not even on the massive Titan had there been the normal sense of space travel. Whoever his captors were, their technology was vastly superior to anything in the NI, or the rest of the known galaxy, for that matter.

His thoughts were abruptly interrupted as the elaborately carved doors in front of him slid open. A shaft of light fell over him, and unidentified sounds from the other room came in to greet him, but he dared not look up. Then he felt the guards on either side tighten their grip on him and carry him forward.

Xar kept his eyes on the ground as they moved him forward. They crossed onto elaborately designed