Star Wars CLOSED Knights of the Last Republic

IC: Darth Wyyrlok
Attention of a God

His power was a challenge for the greatest of Sith Lords.

Here, on this cradle of Empire, he would birth the Sith Eternal Empire, and take it all.

His focus was entirely upon Eleanor, for he expected her, as the plucky hero, to enact some whipcrack sarcasm, some masterful stroke of victory, when he was stabbed at. An attack in the Force, enough to shatter the psyche of a lesser man, but for him it was even now, still, pain upon pain, upon pain. He dropped to one knee, and perhaps that would have been an opening Leonias had he not been barrelled to the desert floor by a thrashing form. It was a person seeing red, and it was such a narrow, lightsaber-thin intention that Wyyrlok had barely noticed it with his pain.

Catching a half-a-dozen blows frantically on his lightsaber, he slid to the sandy dune and spun around, hissing. Standing above him was Kylo Ren, the Master's prodigy. Well; one-off. With a fork of his tongue the Chagrian stood, and Kylo Ren peered at him with molten eyes.

Through him.

His chin tilted up, and away, and he regarded the newcomer.

Wyyrlok did also, his twin blades ignited.

"Jaina Solo Fel," growled Kylo Ren.

His face was exposed, but it was resolute.

He didn't need a mask.

Everything in his pose, his cape, his dark armour, it would evoke the imagery of Darth Caedus.

His older brother.

Wyyrlok looked to Jaina, looked to Kylo Ren, looked back to Eleanor. As long as she lived, his control of the GEMINI hive mind would be incomplete; his Eternal rule would be forever threatened. She had to die.

Ben's gaze swept to her, but it was all Kylo Ren.

His eyes were feral; alien.

With Jaina here, with Wyyrlok here, with Kylo Ren here.

This was the last moment.

TAG: @Lady Belligerent, @TheSilentInfluence
---
IC: General Pryde
The Battle of Korriban

The last moment was the precise thought going through his mind.

Grimacing at the three-way engagement going on above the planet, Pryde saw twenty four Resurgent-class Star Destroyers and their support ships struggling against the hundreds of Eternal Fleet cruisers, and the motley array of Echani and other vessels, all Imperial designs that far outstripped them.

Hux leered at Pryde. "It's almost as if you want us to lose."

Pryde allowed venom to barb his gaze. "The Supreme Leader is on the surface; we must protect him until he has either secured control of the GEMINI hive mind or destroyed whoever is commanding it."

"And the interlopers?" Hux indicated the forces of Vincent and also the Sun Guard.

The Eternal Fleet was firing in an utter haze, damaged in some unspeakable manner, clearly, but the ships could steer, and they began launching into ramming speeds. TIE/SF fighters unloaded their missiles at engines, and were swatted by the bulk of the larger droid warships. The prototype TIE Barons and TIE Silencers were quick enough to avoid the surprisingly fast GEMINI propulsion, but there weren't many of them. At least half a dozen impacted with enemy ships, but at least they weren't First Order ones. Such were the Eternal Fleets' numbers that even with catastrophic losses they would prevail, but that was not a fight Pryde thought the Supreme Leader wanted to have.

"Call in reinforcements."

Pryde loathed to have to expose anymore of the First Order Navy to this mess, but it had to be done.

TAG: @Kev-Mas_Colcha, @Kahn_Iceay (combo, finale)

OOC: This game is to end relatively shortly, in a post or two. Let's get this done, my friends. You've all done stupendously.

 

IC: Kylo Ren
Battle of Korriban

The blade sung through Wyyrlok, focused as he was in cleaving and defending against an attack upon him from above -

Kylo Ren watched it, watched him fall, felt the buzzing landing craft of the Eternal Fleet fall into confusion, the warships in orbit become completely unable to coordinate.

They were done here.

He didn't need to piece together the mess.

No, he simply needed to leave.

For a long moment his eyes looked at Eleanor, and Jaina.

His Jedi partner... and his sister. The third; the Sun Guard.

"Ben Solo is dead. I killed him. I'll kill the past, too - the Jedi, the Sith, the Rebels."

His chin tilted upwards.

"Only the Supreme Leader remains."

He gestured, and the Valley sides collapsed towards them.

The man paid it no heed, striding away towards the nearest ship he could commandeer or fly. Kylo Ren had his comlink in his hand. "General Pryde, retreat. I don't want to waste anymore time on this."

The First Order fleet was fully enmeshed by this point, and Hux glowered, for the Allegiant General had just called for reinforcements! They'd have to wait to see if any ships had jumped before they departed, or risk ships arriving and being destroyed.

Eternal cruisers began to flee, and others still began to fall victim to the jamming and digital invasions led by the Sun Guard and Echani forces.

It was becoming a rout, one which the combined forces had won.

The Battle of Korriban was over.

There was a glimpse for Jaina, that she could leap over the tumbling sand, and engage her brother -

Or she could help save her and Eleanor and the Sun Guard Leonias from the dunes crumbling upon them -

The orbiting fleets could press the advantage, increase their losses, but also everyone else's -

Was it about winning the battle, or ending it?

TAG: @TheSilentInfluence, @Kev-Mas_Colcha, @Lady Belligerent, @Kahn_Iceay (singles)

 

The sands were not held back by Jaina; no, she leapt after Kylo Ren.

They swept in, submerged Leonias, and Eleanor too.

For a moment she was caught beneath that weight, crushed, driven into shadow.

In those dark depths she saw her old Master.

Octa Ramis.

“You did it, Eleanor.”

Her hand touched her old apprentice’s face.

“You did it.”

Light flowed from her to Eleanor and a hand would reach for hers through the grains…

… it was her mother’s, Madelyn

As the skies were filled with burning ships, the Force sparkled - not lightened, but lighter.

A victory had been achieved today…

TAG: @TheSilentInfluence (updated TAG)

 

IC: Jaina Solo Fel

There was no hesitation, Jaina leapt over the collapsing walls of the valley. She had to get to Ben before he turned tail and ran.

Her leap landed her firmly on the stable sand closer to the wayward Solo. She was holding the hilt of her lightsaber, but the blade wasn’t ignited…yet. If only she could convince Ben to stop this nonsense, maybe she could save one member of her family.

Jaina finally spoke to her little brother, “get over yourself, Ben, I thought you stopped playing dress-up with Jacen’s clothes years ago.” She gave him the famous Solo crooked grin, but her heart wasn’t in it. This was another chapter in the same story, her brother dabbled in the Dark Side and he won’t turn back. The lust for power and control is too great.

Am I really any better? Jaina knew it wasn’t very Jedi-like to have left Eleanor and Leonias to save themselves, but this was a rare chance to confront Ben. She could try to qualify her decision, but the truth was Jaina lived on the edge of her own darkness.

“How about you take off the mask, and let’s talk. I’m willing to listen, even though you seem hellbent on killing everyone within your reach.”

He turned; maskless, but not the neutral facade of disdain that was her skin since the destruction of his helmet a few weeks before.

Ben Solo’s face was slack, his eyes dull, and Kylo Ren wore it like a ooglith masquer. He had only a passing resemblance to her youngest brother.

“Lord Caedus understood what had to be done. What had to be Changed. That the past had to die.”

His lightsaber was not yet active, but it was in his hand. “Lord Vader spoke to me; he knows that I am his chosen successor. The one to finish what he started.”

A sniff. “You’re not even a Jedi anymore. None of you are. Only one of you has that will. The rest of you are too darkened by the hypocrisies you embrace…”

He spat. “Skywalker tried to kill me!”

“Do you even hear yourself?” Jaina argued back, “you sound like a spoiled brat, oh! Wait. You’re behaving like one.”

Jaina folded her arms, “you’ve lost any shred of sanity now, Lord Vader spoke to you indeed… Lay off the death sticks and spice, Benny.”

Maybe Ben was suffering from some form of mental illness, there had to be a reason for both of her siblings to go so far off the rails.

Ben smiled back at her, but it was a sickly, arrogant bastard of an expression, one she’d seen on her twin. “I’ve heard him. I communed with his mask, inhaled his ashes, drew upon the Dark Side and Vader anointed me his heir.”

Actually, it was probably worse than Jacen.

He hadn’t wanted to become their grandfather; Ben wanted to. Darth Caedus had tried to save the galaxy… Ben wanted to burn it. The intention was different; the result the same… but for some reason it mattered.


A writhing darkness appeared, and Jacen became evident. No; Caedus; his eyes were yellow. Not yellow. White. Blazing White Eyes


A glowing blue; younger, frozen in his sixteen year old face. Anakin.

“Sister,” Caedus said.

“Jaina,” breathed Anakin.

Ben snorted. “A family of four. Which one of us is Light? Which one Dark?” A skittering malice. “Which one Balance? Which one Chaos?”

Jaina scoffed, “you’re looking at the Goddess of Chaos, little bro. I was raining chaos against the Yuuzhan Vong while you were still clinging to Mom’s skirts.”

She shook her head and tried to ignore the figures of her dead siblings. Her gut reaction was to trust nothing at the moment.

“Balance? That’s a joke, right? I don’t believe in that, show me a time when there’s been any balance in the universe,” she shrugged. “You’ve been communing with the wrong gear, maybe try finding Grandad Vader’s pants, then you can be a man.”

Jaina was intentionally goading Ben, but in truth, she was angry and it felt good to insult him.

Ben glared at her.

His blade did a double-snap hiss.

The angry red lightsaber, and then the pinions.

"I wasn't allowed off Yavin 4 because I was the youngest. By the time I was old enough, Anakin was already dead!"

He seethed.

Anakin held out his hands. "Peace, Ben. It's a good thing."

"Oh yeah," Caedus drawled. "Definitely. If he'd been a little bit more younger, Luke would have put him in the Maw with the others!" He chortled.

"Says the also dead man," seethed Ben. "You killed the only member of this Force-awful family who understood me."

"So I did," the eldest Solo child was amused. "But if you're Chaos, Jaina, that makes me Dark, and Anakin is definitely Balance, we all know Luke was going to pick him as the next Grandmaster, that makes Ben over there Light."

"HA!" Ben laughed, all malice. "I'll show you light."

And he launched at Jaina, inverting his blade so he held it backwards and he could rush her without worrying about the pinions. His fighting style was unlike anything that Jaina would have ever seen before. It was unique, just like him. But so was she.

She was the Sword of the Jedi.

Jaina summoned her blade and attempted to parry his attack, and with her blade pressed against his she pushed with all her might, “nice blade you’ve got there, how does that broken crystal work to your advantage?”

She took a breath and used the Force to try and shove him back. He was so much bigger than her in both height and weight, but she was small and lithe. Her blade slashed at Ben’s neck as she leapt over him.

Ben met her blade, and when she disengaged and flipped, dove forward so her blade cut air.

He rolled up to his feet and pointed the blade at her, his sight going down it.

Behind them, the sands consumed Eleanor and Leonias -

"I'll show you," he snapped.

He kept his feet light, advancing with his blade forward.

“Show me, Ben…”

It occurred to Jaina, once again, that maybe her sanity was slipping. Korriban was a toxic environment where you practically tasted the Dark Side, it imbued everything. She crouched and as soon as he was close enough she feinted a leap, but instead jump kicked at his leg.

She couldn’t spare a glance at Anakin or Jacen because they could have easily been a trick to divide her attention, and she had no doubt that Ben wouldn’t kill her if he was given a chance.

“Because of you, Ben, I never want kids. You were a horrible little kriff.”

Without looking, she called out to Jacen, “you’re the funny one in our family, how am I doing?”

"I lost my sense of humour at the hands of Vergere," he said with a shrug. "Remember?"

Anakin shook his head. "Come on, Jaina, Ben. We don't need to do this."

The kick took him in the leg and he dropped to his knee, but swung his blade up and caught the in-seam of her leg as it drew back; a nick. Ben sprang to his feet and back off. They'd each taken a hit.

He snarled. "The Skywalker and Solo legacy ends with me. I will be the last Skywalker."

He threw up his hand and a stasis field sought to seize her -

“Damn it, Ben!” Jaina cursed him and leaped high, then she landed hard and rolled to her feet. “What do you mean, you’ll be the last Skywalker?” She was furious now, not as much about the stasis field as the obvious jab about Ben Skywalker. “What have you done with Ben?”

Her brother, Ben, was gone. This man looked like Ben, but his soul wasn’t Ben’s. How had they failed him? Another Solo child was dead, and who was to blame?

“I don’t want to kill you,” her voice was controlled and monotone. “I do not want to…but, if you harm Ben Skywalker? I will.”

She felt the sting from where his blade had grazed, and it gave her a euphoric rush that Jaina embraced, it fueled her as she rushed Ben at full tilt. Her violet blade was a blur as she used a Force push to try and press Ben to the ground.

If one thing didn’t work, then maybe a feint would…again.

The Force blow caught him and sent him skidding back, but he gestured and deflected it into one of the side tombs, shattering it. His hands weaved, grabbing the stones that had been loosed and hurling them at his sister.

“I don’t care about Ben Skywalker. His father is dead. He was never a real Skywalker!” He spat. “Vader was - Vader is. Anakin Skywalker killed Darth Vader, but Vader survived - his darkness speaks to me. ME!” He snarled. “Kylo Ren, Darth Caedus - we’re his true heirs.”

He was mad.

Mad as mad could come.

Anakin and Jacen vanished.

There was nothing more to say.

Jaina pushed the stones aside to tumble away behind her. She had extinguished her lightsaber and stood a moment in silence.

Her brother was gone.

She’d been through this before and it damn near killed her.


Tag: @Sinrebirth

 

Before

IC: Kylo Ren
Exocron Wastes

There were a variety of napalm-like detonations, and the genetic traces of what had been present was erased in short order.

It was a fail-safe, and Kylo Ren raged through the woods, as Pryde and Hux had watched.

He drew his hood up to conceal his expression; his self-loathing.

Someone had hid something from him.

Him, the Supreme Leader of the galaxy.

He could sense Snoke, but Snoke was dead.

"Dead!" He snapped.

"Oh is he?"

Kylo Ren resisted the urge to spin around.

He was in control.

"Who are you?"

"I am Vergere," she said simply. "Who are you?"



The Supreme Leader turned slowly, not giving into the dramatics of the... Fosh.

His hand immediately clawed, and she was yanked towards him. She pawed for her throat.

"The neck..."

Kylo Ren looked at her, emotionless, even as she hissed.

"... in my species it is..."

He stared.

"... especially weak -"

Snorting, Kylo released her.

His dominance was shown.

"Do not trifle with me."

"I would..." she breathed harshly. "Never do so, Supreme Leader."

"Tell me what Snoke was doing here."

"Surely you could tell he was malformed? Unnaturally born?"

He didn't have anything to add.

"You killed him, yes, and he is dead," Vergere simply confirmed. She gestured towards the fire. "But his genetic material was stored here. You sensed that, and now it's been destroyed."

"By who?"

"Why, Eleanor Magnus."

Kylo Ren flinched as if stabbed.

"Why would she do that?"

Vergere stroked her chin. "Why? Because she was experimented on here, by a Sith Lord."

Kylo Ren glowered. "The Sith are dead."

"Are they?" Vergere said, drily. "Did not a Dark Man come to the aid of your Uncle not three years ago?"

He turned to go. "I don't care about pretenders. I'll destroy them both - the Jedi and the Sith."

She peered at him. "The past?"

"The past."

He stalked off, and Hux and Pryde took a look at her, and then left.

Vergere wondered about the boy. He was no Jacen Solo. He wasn't interested in philosophy, or sentiment. He was merely interested in power, and using it against anything that deepened the hole in his soul. Kylo Ren wasn't malleable, and he was much older than when Vergere had held Jacen in her grip.

"Perhaps I picked the wrong Solo."

A shrug, human-like.

"No, the Jedi kept Ben from the horrors of war. Skywalker saw the darkness in him from an early age... they would never have allowed me to isolate him... it seems as if he placed his claim on Ben Solo from much earlier than I on Jacen..."

A rustle.

The First Order had left, but the Resistance had caught up, following along.

Leia was here, and Vergere would have pursed her lips if she had them.

But she was going elsewhere... tracking down Aryan Graul, seemingly.

And was that...

Her.

Vergere bound around the trees, and appeared to be peering up, as if she hadn't sensed the woman coming up behind her.



"I can sense the Force in you, who are you?" Rey spoke, slowly.

To Be Continued...

 

IC: Leia
Arriving

The First Order retreated, and the Resistance caught up.

She had a new member, one Aryan Graul, but the Jedi she had hoped to find weren't on Exocron any longer.

Rey spoke of a bird-like alien she had met, and Leia could only harden herself to the possibility that Vergere was alive.

Did Vergere know?

Leia resolved to keep her away from the Fosh.

If it was Vergere... she had no intention of allowing her to sink her claws into anyone else.

Darth Caedus may have been completed by Lumiya, and shaped by his visions of the Throne of Balance thanks to Abeloth... but it was Vergere who broke him, took advantage of the guilt Jacen had felt after the death of Anakin Solo...she'd seeded Caedus within Jacen. Han had spoken of it, when they resolved to... kill their son.

He couldn't do it again, with Ben... but even then, Han still tried.

The wound was so fresh, but Leia wasn't going to be broken by it.

With no Han... no Luke...

It was time for her to have a discussion with Jaina.

She was here, on Korriban, a world that we didn't want to be at - ever.

The Eternal Fleet was dispersed, crippled, dormant - whatever had happened was over, and Leia had barely been able to keep pace with it. Bunduki; Chandrila; Exocron. They'd been busy on Corellia before now, and the Millennium Falcon was only so fast. With the team settling on Ajan Kloss... Leia and Rey and Poe and Finn had gone after whatever the First Order was chasing across the galaxy. Poe had an X-wing and BB-8, and Chewbacca and Finn had the pilot seat.

"Poe, can I let you talk to Vincent? I know Echani ships when I see them."

"Roger, roger," he said. Leia smiled. He was much more focused now. After Crait, he had learned.

Leia absently wished it hadn't cost them so much.

The Falcon headed to the surface.

Towards Jaina...

... and Eleanor and Madelyn.

Whistler had already kept them up-to-date, and Chewbacca was already looking forward to restoring the Pulsar Skate.

Whether Jaina would wait, and stay, she couldn't say.

Madelyn had her own ship, but Leia hoped the two Mandalorian-Jedi would join the Resistance, or at least be able to offer them a safe-haven on Concord Dawn.

They had a lot still to do.

This victory? It wouldn't change everything, but it was a start.

TAG: @Lady Belligerent, @TheSilentInfluence, @Kahn_Iceay (combo opportunities for the finale(s))

 

Combo with the amazing Sinrebirth!

IC: Jaina Fel
Korriban

Jaina Fel sat on an outcropping of rock next to her camouflaged X-wing. She’d kept up the maintenance on it mostly to have something to do in this forsaken hell, and she’d spent time rooting out various reptiles that found their way into exhaust vents.

The Sword of the Jedi wasn’t in the best place emotionally, and she’d chosen to exile herself from her own family while trying to figure out what to do about Ben. Jag understood, and he left her alone, so why
didn’t her mother extend the same courtesy?

Out of nowhere Leia turns up on Korriban? Jaina thought it was hardly a coincidence and had steeled herself against whatever her mother was coming to say. She tried to think of what advice Uncle Luke would have given her, and that only made her laugh. Jaina remembered getting into mischief as a kid, and then when she was caught by Leia, Luke or her dad would tell her to run and hide.! “Run, kid!” Han’s voice echoed in her mind, and Uncle Luke had shown her how to hide.

“If only it was that easy now,” she said to herself as she watched the Falcon settle down onto the surface of Korriban. Jaina stood and waited until the engines were powered down before she slowly walked towards her parents ship.

The ramp dropped, and Leia stood at the top. She looked at her only daughter. At the killer of her son. At her only remaining child on the side of light. Leia didn’t know what to say.

When she threw herself into the Resistance, it fractured a family already damaged by Ben. By Caedus. By Mara’s death. By Anakin’s death.

The Jedi academy and its many students; gone. Kam, Tionne, too, and others.

Ben became Kylo Ren.

Luke exiled himself after losing a second nephew to the dark side.

Han left with Chewbacca.

Jagged rushed to Bastion.

Allana was sequestered on Hapes.

Luke’s Ben left on a obsessive quest to hunt down Vestara Khai.

The First Order emerged, revealing the name of their true enemy.

The Galactic Alliance ceased to be, no longer bridging the New Republic and Imperial Remnant.

The Jedi Council disbanded; what was left of it.

The surviving Knights were hunted.

Only Leia and Jaina remained.

Leia threw herself into the Resistance; into the good fight; into her work.

But Jaina was an adult, far older than Leia had been when she was captured aboard the first Death Star. She needed her own path, after all. And Leia had no intentions of encouraging Jaina to kill another sibling.

Caedus wasn’t Kylo Ren; there was no good in Jacen at the end. But Ben?

Ben she still believed that they could save.

All of this passed between Jaina and Leia, and Leia still did not speak.

“Hello, mom,” Jaina decided she would break the ice and went to put her arms around Leia. After holding her close for a moment, Jaina took a step back and sheepishly said, “I can’t imagine how bad I smell, sorry ‘bout that, but the Sith don’t seem to have any sanistream houses around here.”

Jaina walked off and affectionately patted one of the Falcon’s landing struts, “it’s good to see this old girl, she’s a survivor.”

Bypassing the reference to her smell - it was rank - Leia squeezed her back, a little stiff, but unsurprisingly. "It's good to see you, you're a survivor."

She smiled, lightly, but still asked. "Your brother was here, I understand."

That’s her mother, she cut straight for the power cable. “Yes,” Jaina sighed, “he was here. Don’t worry, I didn’t kill him,” she said without a bit of the lighthearted Solo humor.

“He was determined to fight, so we did,” she held her hands up in a gesture of a person who was bored with the situation. “He’s obsessed with your biological father, and we won’t be able to reason with him. He is lost.”

“He’s obsessed with Vader,” Leia said firmly. “Not Anakin. As awful as he was, he did pass into the Force. He’s not going to be talking to Ben.”

Jaina’s icy side came from her, with the sharpness of Han’s wit. It made them clash, but he also made Jaina warmer than Leia. It was maddening, just like Han. Tart humour about killing Jacen didn’t play out well.

Killing Caedus, Leia reminded herself.

Caedus had killed Jacen years before they realised.

Leia pursed her lips. “Did you feel what happened with your father? With Luke, too?” She had no idea where Jaina had been for the last three-odd years.

Jaina’s forehead creased, “yes, of course I felt them both,” she answered curtly.

Kriff.She immediately felt bad for being snippy.

“I —I’m sorry mom.” Jaina awkwardly put her hand on Leia’s arm and squeezed. “Ben has to be stopped, but I don’t think I can do it this time.”

“Rey will do it,” Leia said. “She’s connected to Ben, I can’t work out how, but she’s been able to reach him - beat him, even.” The woman stepped up to Leia, looking a bit abashed.

“Hi, I’m Rey.” She held out a hand to Jaina.

Jaina shook the younger woman’s hand and gave her mother a curious glance, “uh, hi,” she said.

Had her mother come all this way to tell her that this little more than a child would deal with Ben? It felt like there should be a punchline coming, or maybe Jaina was mental from all the time she’d been on this forsaken rock.

“Ahh, you didn’t come for me did you? You came to find Ben and I just happened to be here,” Jaina shouldn’t have been surprised.

Rey shook her head. "No, we were chasing down Eleanor Magnus, a former Jedi Knight. She had some connection to a genetic project to rebuild the genome of the Outlanders, a group of heroes that could command that droid fleet." She pointed up into orbit, the dozens of slithers of ships evident.

"Kylo Ren was chasing down the same connection. There was a Chagrian in the middle of it all."

"Amedda," Leia said unhappily. "If only I'd know he was pulling his own set of strings."

"And we were side-tracked on our way by -"

"Rey," Leia said, firmly.

"What, Master?"

"Not right now." Leia winced, unsure what was worse. The near mention of Vergere, or her use of Master.

“Master?” Jaina asked her mother in dismay. Leia might as well adopt the kid, since it was clear they were flying around the galaxy on adventures together.

“I’m really busy, mom,” Jaina said stiffly, “and I can tell you’re busy with your apprentice, so I’ll see you around.” Jaina turned and walked in the direction of her covered X-wing.

Leia reached over and grabbed her arm. "Wait, Jaina." She spoke up. "Artoo?"

A droid rolled over, tweetled a greeting, Threepio tottering after her. "Mistress Solo! It is a pleasure to see you again. It overwhelms my emotion circuits with joy!"

"Can it, Threepio," Leia said. "Artoo, give Jaina the coordinates to the First Jedi Temple. If Luke left anything behind, it'd be there." Her eyes focused on her daughter. "I'm really busy too, Jaina. But I've not seen Ben for years. Most of the Masters are dead, but I haven't felt Ben go. Not like I felt Luke... or your father..."

She was referencing Ben Skywalker, of course.

Rey beetled her brow briefly, but kept quiet.

Artoo rolled over and popped out a data-disc for Jaina with a boop.

Jaina took the disc and looked at her mother, “Ben hides in the Force,” she reminded Leia, “he’s done that for years since Jacen taught him how.”

She looked at the disc in her palm, “it will be good for me to get away from here, the darkness seems to seep into your soul after a while.”

Jaina looked over to Rey and waved, “good luck, and keep an eye on my mom. She’s always getting herself into sticky situations.”

She waved to Threepio, “it’s good to see you too, you and Artoo try and stay out of trouble.”

Rey smiled. “I’ll walk you to your ship.”

“Rey…” Leia cautioned.

“It’s fine.” She went to link arms with Jaina. “Girl-talk.”

Leia was going to speak up when Threepio wanted to let her know how Poe’s discussion with Vincent was going. “I’ve a playboy to speak to.” Her tone was stern. “Giving him the Eternal Fleet seems pretty dangerous.”

“Ermm, okay,” Jaina replied to both her mother’s remarks and of Rey taking her arm. She really didn’t want to be touched by a stranger, after being estranged from her family and friends for so long. Rey seemed to insist on physical contact, which left Jaina no option but to sigh and walk faster.

“You might as well go ahead and tell me, she’s not stupid,” plus, Jaina thought, when had Jaina ever been much for girl talk?
Jaina stumbled as she found herself frustrated that she really wasn’t sure what that even meant. She wondered if hanging out with Sharr and Piggy on the roof on Borleias counted? ’Hold on, am I really comparing planning sessions to girls gabbing about clothes and boys?’

No, using her brain with experts like the Wraiths had to have been time better spent. It was definitely far more pleasant than listening to this, little more than a child, babble.

Jaina thought she really could have used Sharr and Piggy’s advice right now.

“Vergere,” Rey said, simply. “She was on Exocron.”

Jaina stopped in her tracks.

“Vergere? You’re sure?”

“Yes,” Rey said simply. “She said she knew Jacen - Ben’s older brother. Leia didn’t want to talk about his siblings. Said that Ben was my focus. But you’re here now.”

“I heard that Vergere died in an A-wing crash. But I don’t think anyone saw her in the cockpit - before, or during.” She paused. “Leia said that Vergere spoke to everyone after she was gone. Somehow she had retained a presence, but everyone just thought she showing off a skill she knew and nobody else did, which is something Vergere would do.”

Rey visibly swallowed. “She said Vergere was a Sith, and she corrupted Jacen, like Snoke corrupted Ben.”

“She tortured Jacen, and he was never the same,” Jaina said quietly. “Is that what my mother didn’t want you to tell me?”

“Yes,” Rey said. “She said that you’d go off after Vergere. She wanted to give you a mission before you did.” Another hesitation. “I think what happened with Jacen still hurts her. In a different way to Han, or Master Skywalker. It’s deeper; I think that’s why she’s pushing me to save Ben, not kill him.”

“Darth Caedus started this war, some people whisper,” Rey said carefully. “That his tyranny weakened the galaxy so that the First Order could weaken it. Some people think he found it in the Unknowns and apprenticed himself to Snoke.” She pursed her lips. “I’ve only been involved in this fight for a couple of weeks but I heard about it in Jakku, a little.”

Jaina rubbed her hand over her face, “Ben is lost, and my mother is wrong because there’s no saving him.” She glanced back over her shoulder to where Leia stood, and wondered if she needed to go ask her why the hell she thinks this child could save Ben. Her mother was dangling the kid out to be another victim of her brother’s villainy.

“Rey,” Jaina sighed, “I wish I could share in my mother’s fairy tale of Ben coming back to the family, but I’ve been up close and personal with him. He’s lost…and he will kill you too if you’re not careful.”

Vergere was a whole other issue and Jaina needed some time to think about that.

Rey nodded, albeit sadly. "I thought he could be saved, but he handed me over to Snoke anyway. And even when he turned on Snoke, and we worked together to defeat his guards... Ben still wanted to rule the galaxy. He just wanted me to do it with him." Rey shook her head. "He had every chance there and then to turn on the First Order. But he didn't. He killed his Master and took his place."

The woman bit her lip. "I don't think he wants to be saved. He wants to be Kylo Ren."

Jaina couldn’t help but feel concerned for the young woman. Rey had an innocence that her brother would likely exploit, but Jaina could only do so much. “I don’t think I can be the one to stop Ben, Rey,” Jaina confessed, “there’s not a day that I’m not haunted by having to kill Jacen.”

Jaina held up the disk that Artoo had given her, “is this my mother’s idea of busy work to keep me away while you two deal with Ben?”

"No," Rey said, sadly. "Master Skywalker is gone, and he had artefacts and personal effects he would have left with the Caretakers."

She looked aside slightly. "I don't trust myself there. The Island has... a balance within the Force, but there is a darkness too, and it appealed to my need to know more about my parentage." Rey shrugged. "I was abandoned on Jakku."

The younger woman produced two halves of a lightsaber, complete with a shattered Kyber Crystal. "I want to focus on repairing this." To Rey, it was Anakin Skywalker's last Jedi lightsaber. To Jaina? It was Aunt Mara's lightsaber, gifted to her by Uncle Luke.

Today was a reminder of everything they'd lost as a family, seemingly…

Jaina wouldn’t tear up, but the hurt was there.

“I’m sorry you were abandoned,” Jaina murmured. She wondered what sort of parent abandons a child anywhere, much less on Jakku.

“Where are you guys headed from here?” Jaina asked, hoping to not hear more about her family.

Rey wondered. "We've a mission to Minfar. We have just been chased from Ryloth and Mon Calamari, so we'll need to stay on the run." A shrug. "Rebel Alliance days, and all that. We've not found a new base yet, but Leia has a few ideas - some old planets she kept back in-case."

"I have some Jedi texts from Master Skywalker, so I'll continue my training to become a true Jedi."

A weak smile. "What about you, after the island?"

A true Jedi, Jaina wondered what that even meant, or was it even worth it. Being a Jedi certainly didn't help her kill Caedus.

“Me?” Jaina asked, she honestly wasn’t sure. “I’ve got a few possibilities, but nothing is definite yet.”

Leia and Rey seemed determined that she go to this island, maybe there would be a nice beach, she could use a bath in the ocean and a nap in the sun.

“What the kriff are you even talking about, Rey?” Jaina had tolerated this long enough. She’d played nice with Rey, truthfully it was for Leia’s benefit, but now she wondered what they were playing at.

“A true Jedi? Will living like a goody two shoes, praying to your kyber crystal, and avoiding any attachments work? Is that a true Jedi?” Was Jaina insulted, no. It was Rey’s innocent enthusiasm that was grating on her nerves.

She scoffed, “I get it, I’m being shipped off to this damned island, but you know what?” Jaina asked in irritation, “I hope there’s a nice beach on this island, because the first thing I’m going to do is strip down and clean up. Then I’ll nap in the sun while my flight suit dries. Or did you and Leia have an itinerary for me?”

Rey stiffened. "No. We didn't."

She looked down. "I heard that you'd been hurt by what happened to you. I'm sorry that I remind you of that." The woman was young, not even twenty - but still older than Anakin had been when he died; and younger than Jacen when he fell. "I didn't want to upset you more with Han and Master Skywalker gone too."

Rey looked aside. "Did you want me to tell your mother anything?"

Jaina shook her head, “I’d tell her myself if I did,” she didn’t need a messenger. The coms work two ways, but Leia was probably too busy to check on her daughter.

Rey pursed her lips; hard.

"Alright then, Jaina. May the Force be with you."

They were by a ship, and Rey didn't care to extend the conversation any longer.

At that, she walked off, the two-halves of Mara's lightsaber in hand.

Jaina scowled and watched Rey walk away, she wondered if she had ever been that naive.

Then she realized what else bothered her, Ben should have his mother’s lightsaber, not a total stranger.

Tag: @Sinrebirth

 

And so what came to pass was done and said.

Eleanor Magnus, by dint of destruction of the mad, bad science of the Exocron Monolith, was, for a time, the living incubator of the Outlander's DNA - much of it, anyway.

The rest was held in the tomb of the Braesen'thor, and also one Vincent Mikaru.

It could be said there were others who held the genetic code that could command the Eternal Fleet.

But the experiments came together in a singular vial that tempted Darth Wyyrlok I to betray his distant Emperor, after decades of service. Mas Amedda will be succeeded by his daughter, who becomes the second of his name...

Thanks to the scheming of Darth Traya III, the so-called Vergere, the threat of the Eternal Fleet under the command of the Sith Eternal will not come to pass...

Now the GEMINI droids that make up the crews of the Eternal Fleet have their own destiny to decide again.

Leia Solo picks up the breadcrumbs of the trail, including the damaged man known as Aryan Graul...

... Jaina Solo, having contributed to the final battle in-spite of the antagonism that Caedus gave her, will head to the place where Luke Skywalker died and come to terms, perhaps, with the death of Anakin, Jacen, Mara and her father... one final time.

On the hidden world of Exegol, Darth Sidious is unconcerned, even with the loss of a Snoke...

... he has plenty to spare.

Eleanor Magnus has saved the galaxy.

The Knight of the Last Republic.

The New Republic has fallen.

The Resistance remains.

They will, one day, spark the fire of hope, and tear down the First Order.

Thanks to this miracle day.

And many more miracle days to come.

But this miracle belongs not to Rey, Poe or Finn, but to her.

What will tomorrow bring?

Eleanor may be living out her life with Asteria...

... Vincent and the Colcha's may very well be preparing for the future...

... perhaps Kyp will set forth his own legacy into the galaxy...

... perhaps Ashban's dark fate will ensnare more than just himself...

... Aryan may find his path is not with the distrustful Resistance but elsewhere, to the loftier heights he aspired to decades ago...

... and Jaina Solo will have to one day face the loss of her mother and last sibling...

But the Eternal Fleet will remain.

And one day, it may prove all that stands between them and another great threat.

One day.

Maybe.

May the Force be With You, always.

 

Thank you to everyone who contributed to this game; it has been a blast.

Of course, it follows up in the Legacy Trilogy, with Star Wars: Episode X: Duel of the Fates, but it moves forward besides in Episode XI: The Hidden Temple as well... and in other places, no doubt.

Special thanks to our star, @TheSilentInfluence, and our first main cast additions, @greyjedi125, @Kev-Mas_Colcha, and @Kahn_Iceay.

The cameos from @Adalia-Durron, @HanSolo29, @E. L.Knight and @Lady Belligerent were brilliant additions to their respective beginnings, middle, and ends of the game, and immensely appreciated.

The Eternal Fleet originated in the Old Republic MMO RPG, and during it, one third sought independence when given the chance, while the remainder two thirds were destroyed by a superweapon based on the same technology. It followed that the Sith Emperor of that era, a Darkness once named Tenebrae, would take both the Sith Empire he seized control of, and the Eternal Empire he founded, and combine them as a third Empire with the surviving True Sith legacy in Red Space; the Sith Eternal from the Rise of Skywalker.

Our shadow villain, with Mas Amedda, the Chagrian toady that stood besides the Republic Chancellors and later Emperor Palpatine in the Prequels was merged with Darth Wyyrlok I to expand upon a powerful character of the same species, and this interpretation has been seen time and time again in my games, from Resurrection, set some thirty years before this game (originally), to the AU series Twilight of the Force, where Amedda went from lame reluctant Emperor to scheming mastermind. Here he is much the same, but overshadowed by Palpatine for many, many years. If you want to see more of him, he is a recurring character set just after the Battle of Jakku in the Dark Reach series of games.

But this was designed, as was fairly obvious, as a short, compact game based around the same idea as the Knights of the Old Republic games. One main character with a mystery, rebuilding the Jedi in the face of a grand Imperialistic Sith regime. Eleanor Magnus became the star of the show, and she and her Padawan and her wider family are deeply important to the wider lore seen in all of the above games.

A true main character.

So thank you all of you, to allowing me to append to your stories, to your characters, to your pasts and futures.

I look forward to seeing all of your characters again, and in the future.

You are all a font of positivity, and I appreciate it grandly.

May the Force be with you!

 

Fin