Before - Legends Desolation: The Fall of Darth Desolous - A Legends Short Story

Title: Desolation: The Fall of Darth Desolous
Author: Kadar Ordo
Timeframe: 3439 BBY (centuries after the events of The Old Republic)
Characters: Darth Desolous, OCs
Genre: Action, tragedy
Summary: A destructive conflict comes to a bittersweet end at Yaga Minor.
Notes: This is a short story I had brewing in my head for some time now. It's about the defeat of the Sith Lord Darth Desolous, a somewhat obscure Legends character who appeared only in the Wii version of the video game The Force Unleashed and expands on what little is provided on his backstory in that game. Hope you enjoy!

DESOLATION
​

Twelve Jedi stood on the desolate ground of Yaga Minor, lightsabers drawn, as the world burned all around them.

Above them, Republic ships engaged in combat against Pau’an vessels, lighting the night-sky with laserfire. The plan had worked exactly as Master Vissola said it would, having coordinated with Admiral Huvick to set up the trap for the Dark Lord of the Sith and his army. Surrounded by Republic capital ships coming from all the charted hyperlanes leading to the Yaga Minor system, there was no place for his minions to run. They had been cornered. Boxed in.

Surrounding the twelve Jedi and their singular foe were the bodies of their fellow Knights and their enemy warriors. None of the Jedi still standing had taken any pleasure in taking the lives of the Pau’an warriors they had been forced to killed, having been left with no choice by the situation they had been placed in.

Their foe, on the other hand, derived great pleasure from every single Jedi he had killed and would take even more from those he had yet to kill.

Darth Desolous stood before the twelve Masters of the Jedi High Council, holding his crimson lightsaber blade in one hand and hefting a heavily dented shield with the other. A cruel, mirthless grin split across his lined face, revealing rows of sharpened teeth. His black eyes were blotched with red, an aftereffect of the dark side’s hold on him.

None of the Jedi spoke to him or even made an attempt to sway him away from the path he was already set on. They all knew that he was too far gone.

Just as with his followers in the sky, there was no turning back for him now. It would all come to an end, here and now.

They waited for him to make the first move, to make the first mistake. His booted feet scraped against the dirt as he crouched down into a battle stance, raising his shield to cover his body.

Silence reigned over the scene, save for the low hum of the thirteen ignited lightsabers and the sound of turbolaser fire above them.

Jedi Master Hahkann made the first mistake. He charged towards Darth Desolous, lightsaber blade raised high as he released a guttural roar from the depths of his throat. All of the rage that he had pent up inside him had boiled over; witnessing his apprentice falling to his former master’s blade had been the breaking point.

The Dowutin Jedi brought his blade down and Desolous blocked it with his shield. Harsh laughter rang out from the Sith Lord’s mouth.

“I have taught you well, my young Padawan.”

The words sparked something in Hahkann and he raised his lightsaber for another attack. Then, an invisible hand seized and threw him to the side, just as Darth Desolous swung his own lightsaber.

“Don’t let your emotions cloud your vision,” roared Grand Master Axon Roden, his green three-fingered hand still outstretched as he held his blue lightsaber with the other. “You are giving him exactly what he wants!”

“It would be a first,” said Darth Desolous, repositioning him back into his battle stance. “Had you done so in the first place, none of us would even be here.”

“No,” rumbled Master Tolada Boor. The ancient Ithorian woman held her yellow blade in both her hands, looking tired and weak. “We would have ended up in an even worse place. The galaxy would be suffering the tyranny of the Sith once more, just as it had less than two centuries ago.”

Darth Desolous sneered. “Of course you would know, you old hag. Shouldn’t you be in your library, ‘Master Bore?’ I think you’re a bit too old to be out here fighting.”

“Enough,” barked Master Roden, pointing his azure blade at the Sith Lord. “This ends here, Dion. Whether with your death or surrender, it ends here.”

“Just ‘Dion?’” Desolous snapped. “Not even a ‘Master Sazon?’ Surely I deserve that much.”

"You deserve nothing,” hissed Master Vinthec through his breathing apparatus. “Especially not after all of the Jedi you have killed.”

The Dark Lord laughed. “Still salty over your mate’s death, are we? Don’t worry; I’ll help you join him in the Force.”

He extended his shield-mounted arm and called upon the dark side of the Force. Vinthec let out a grunt as an invisible fist wrapped around him in a tight, vise-like grip. Before any of the other Jedi could save their brother, Darth Desolous pulled the Tognath towards him and ran his crimson blade straight through his chest, laughing as he did so.

This was the mistake the Jedi had been waiting for.

As one, the remaining eleven Masters charged towards Vinthec’s murderer, even as the Dark Lord tossed the Tognath’s body aside as if it was nothing. Blue, green, yellow, and purple blades crashed onto crimson as the Jedi fought to avenge their fallen brothers and sisters.

Master Tolada Boorr was the next to fall. Violet lightning coursed through her body as Darth Desolous released his bottled rage. She had been the first to refuse him access to the forbidden secrets of the Jedi Archives, even after he had attained the rank of master.

As the Ithorian Jedi’s body crumpled to the floor, Master Caario was the next to act. It only made sense, as he had once been Boorr’s apprentice and had always been close to her. It only took a few seconds for him to be deprived of his lightsaber blade before receiving one to the chest.

Master Roden was the first to deal a blow against the Lord of the Sith. When Darth Desolous raised his shield arm, the shoehorn-headed Vurk saw an opening and drove his blade into the Pau’an exposed shoulder. As the Sith Lord howled in pain, Master Berkuss moved in to slash at his legs. Desolous moved out of the way before he could deliver the blow and proceeded to drop the shield onto the Gand’s head. Berkuss dropped to the ground and did not move again.

“Your efforts are futile!” Darth Desolous bellowed. “A thousand Jedi have already fallen cursing my name! You will soon do the same!”

“Dion, stop this. Please.” Master Ona Lesim deactivated all four of her blades. Disapproval rippled from the other Jedi through the Force, but she paid it no heed. She stared at the man who had once been her Padawan, sadness creasing her simian face. “This isn’t the brave man I once knew; the one I taught; the one I saw as like a son. What happened to him, Dion? What happened to the Jedi Knight I once knew?”

“He died,” Darth Desolous spat. “He died and was reborn!”

The Force made his shoulder wound pointless as he grabbed his former master by the neck without even touching her. With a simple twist of the wrist, the Ardennian’s neck snapped and her body dropped to the ground like dead weight. Master Roden released an anguished cry as he lunged at the Sith Lord, blade raised high.

Darth Desolous saw an opening and took it. With his one good arm, he swung his lightsaber blade at the Grand Master and carved a deep slash across the Vurk’s chest.

Axon Roden fell, and then there were six. The remaining Jedi Masters formed a circle around the Sith Lord. Hahkann, back on his feet, took point with Master Kotu Vissola on the left; to the right was the seer Niira Baelar and the healer Grulah Lanami. Finally, taking center were Master Jodon Starbreaker, Hero of Halmad, and Master Mela Seibb, Savior of Sullust.

Above them, the sky had gone quiet. The Battle of Yaga Minor was already over. The Army of Desolation had been defeated.

Yet, still, its leader laughed.

“Look at how far you have already fallen,” Darth Desolous jeered. “I can sense the hatred you feel towards me; the anger. Surely you realize by now that only by embracing the dark side can you seek to achieve that which you desire.”

“A true Jedi desires nothing but peace,” said Master Seibb. “Surely you realize that by now.”

He sneered at her. “Even when facing death itself, you still spout your filthy Jedi lies. Stubborn and persistent to the end.”

He raised his crimson blade one last time. Despite his injury, despite exhaustion threatening to consume him, his eyes still burned with the ferocity of a warrior.

“I suppose,” he muttered, “we have that much in common.”

He pointed his blade at Starbreaker and Seibb… then, reaching out with his injured arm, he seized Master Vissola with the Force and started to drag her towards him. The blue-skinned woman’s eyes lit up with fear as she struggled against the Sith Lord’s invisible grip but to no avail. Lightning crackled at Desolous’ fingertips as he prepared to—

“NO!” Master Baelar launched herself forward, her violet blade raised above her head. Darth Desolous turned to face her, contempt plastered on his face.

It was the last mistake he would make.

The energy blade cut into his chest, pierced through his heart, and came out through his back. Darth Desolous let out a gasp; whether out of surprise at being killed or at the identity of the one to deliver the killing blow, the galaxy would never know.

Baelar retracted her blade and Darth Desolous, once the Jedi Master Dion Sazon, fell onto the ground, joining the bodies of his soldiers and victims. The hilt of the blade that had killed him fell from its user’s hands, landing beside his head.

Six Jedi stood on the desolate ground of Yaga Minor, faces stained with sweat, dirt, blood, and tears, as the world went silent all around them.

 

This made my day to read. Darth Desolous was always a Sith Lord I found interesting since when I first played TFU on my PS2 as a kid. Thx for writing this