AUTHOR'S NOTE: This chapter contains multiple depictions of mass genocide, weapons of mass destruction, graphic violence and mutilation, and psychological torture. Reader discretion is advised.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN: SERROCCO & THE CATHAR MASSACRE (Part 6 of a lot)
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The news channels were all abuzz in the Republic and across the entirety of the Outer Rim Territories. Taris had finally fallen under siege from the Mandalorians, and it didn’t look as though the Republic were going to be able to repel them. All of the Jedi had been recently pulled from Taris by the Jedi High Council following a recent tragedy with the deaths of several of the Padawans there, presumably by one of their own, so there were none to aid on-surface when the invasion came. This happening so soon after the destruction of Serrocco had made it a dark time for everyone.
The Republic was growing desperate for a way to defeat Mandalore the Ultimate’s growing army of Mandalorian neo-crusaders. Likewise, the Revanchists were growing desperate to find a means to be able to officially enter the war. It seemed as though their entire effort thus far had been running from shadow to shadow trying to do what they could, but not be caught doing it.
“Halin?” Malak said gently, tapping on the doorway to the chamber in which the Revanchist had been meditating. “There’s someone on the Communicator… says they want to speak to you directly…”
It was then that he noticed how pale she was. Sweat was pouring from her temples. Her body was stiff and she didn’t seem to be breathing.
Not again…. Swiftly, he went to her, kneeling down and taking her hands. They were like ice. “Halin! Halin, you need to snap out of it! Focus on my voice. Open your eyes… Dammit, Halin, open your eyes!”
Finally, her eyes flew open and she gasped for air. Malak gave a sigh of relief. It must have been another vision. He didn’t like how frequent they were growing, and they were taking a toll on her both physically and mentally. He wasn’t sure how much longer she would last if this kept up… When she had decided to first set out, she seemed to have attracted the attention of some sort of dark power. Slowly, whatever it was that she had awakened was trying to take hold of her.
“Calm down,” he said, wrapping his arms around her and pulling her close, as he had when he had seen her on Dantooine the night that she had decided to leave. “What did you
see?”
“Space,” she said, softly. “I saw space…”
“And what else was there?”
“Asteroids…. Debris…. And strange creatures….”
“Creatures? What sort of creatures?”
“I…. I don’t know…. I had never seen anything like them before…. It was like some sort of an eel, or a snake…. But they were massive! And they lived in open space… They filled me with a sort of dread, though I wasn’t sure why at first. They had seemed to be asleep…. But then, there was a light…”
“A light?”
“Yes… It looked like… Like some sort of a dying star…. And when the creatures felt the light, they began to awaken…. And when they did… When they did, they began to
feed… They consumed everything… everything in sight…. And then…. And then they traveled further… deeper into space. They were approaching systems… systems I recognized… Inhabited systems with billions of people…”
It was at this point that he could hear tears threatening to fall from the way that her voice broke. He held her tighter. “Shhhh…. Did you hear the voice again?”
“Yes… It started when they approached the system, but you broke my trance before I could make out what it was saying….”
Malak was somewhat relieved that he had come when he did. Who knew how much worse it would have been had the vision continued… It seemed to him that this voice was the thing that truly terrified Halin, even more so than the visions themselves…
“I’ll tell the person calling that you’re unable to respond at the moment…”
“No…. No, if they’re trying to speak to me directly, then maybe it’s important. Maybe it will finally be something to turn things around for all of us…”
“You’re in no condition to receive calls right now. You look like death…”
“They don’t have to see me,” she protested, pushing her way out of his arms. “I’ll wear my cloak and over holovid they won’t notice a thing!”
Malak sighed. He’d wished she would have stayed like that a little bit longer, there in his arms. These were stressful times and having her so close made him feel a little better. He hoped that he made her feel just as safe as she had made him feel.
He watched her pull herself up. Her legs shook at first, like a newborn animal that was trying to stand for the first time, and so he put his arms out to catch her in case she were to fall, but she managed to stabilize herself on her own. She pulled her cloak from where she had lain it and put it on, pulling its billowing hood over her head. Neither her face nor frame were visible when she was like this. She was like some sort of specter of a figure, ambiguous, yet unquestionably authoritative in appearance.
“Come, Malak,” she said. “Put me through with the caller… did he give his name?”
She was already walking toward the communications array and so Malak was left with no choice but to follow. “He said he represents Lord Adasca of Arkania, and says he has a proposal for you, but that he could only present it to the Revanchist leader directly…”
What he didn’t tell her was that he had claimed that he was the Revanchist when the call had come through, but that his lie had not been believed. He’d hoped to save her from the trouble by doing so, but the ruse was seen through immediately. Apparently the caller had anticipated that the Revanchist would not be so easy to reach, and suspected the falsehood when he’d first answered.
The Revanchist sat in the seat at the communications array and pushed the button to accept the call that had been on hold. A hologram of a Duros Male flashed before her. “Ah, greeting, Revanchist Leader. I’m so happy that you have decided to accept my call,” he said upon seeing her cloaked figure. “My name is Eejee, and I’m calling on behalf of Lord Adasca of Arkania.”
“So I’ve been told,” the Revanchist replied. “I’ve heard that he has some sort of a proposal for me?”
“Yes,” the Duros replied. “He insisted that I only give the invitation to you directly.”
“A bold request, given that he has chosen not to call me himself.”
“The Lord apologizes, but he has been busy entertaining a special guest as of late, and has had little time, so as his secretary I’ve been keeping up with his business work as able.”
“What sort of an invitation is this?”
“To view a new weapon that has been in development.”
Halin further paled under her hood.
A new weapon… The timing of it all… It
must have had something to do with what she had seen in her recent vision.
“And just what sort of a weapon is this?” she managed.
“I’m sending over files with the details now. It’s quite an interesting thing, really… You see, Lord Adasca wants to be certain his project does not fall into the wrong hands… He’s asked me to contact specific groups who he think might be responsible enough to control such a thing.”
“I see… and who else has he contacted about this?”
“Now now, that information I am not at liberty to disclose freely. If you wish to see, then I suggest that you consider meeting us in the Omonoth system in five days time aboard Lord Adasca’s flagship, the
Arkanian Legacy. We look forward to meeting you in person,
Revanchist.”
The transmission ended and data was displayed from what the Duros Eejee had sent about the weapon in question. Halin removed her hood so she could more clearly view the information. Her apprentice could sense the disturbance in his friend and Master and moved closer to view the information with her. It was information on a species of large space-dwelling beasts called ‘Exogorths.’
“It’s just as it was in my vision…. I have to go,” she said, standing.”
“Halin, you can’t. You’re still recovering…”
“I
told you what I
saw, Malak! If those things are there as he says, and if someone were to release them into an inhabited system…” She stopped. She couldn’t bear to think of the results that might come from such a thing. “I have to go…”
“No you don’t,” Malak said firmly. “You’re staying put—
I’ll go!”
“Malak, don’t be ridiculous. You heard already. Lord Adasca is only willing to deal with me directly…”
“He sent his secretary to call us. I say we return the favor. I’ll say you were busy with other matters and sent me in your place.”
“It’s too risky. If we fail…”
“It’s too risky for you to go on your own! Send me on the
Williwaw with Fiolli to pilot. We don’t need a large group for the task.”
“Malak, no! My decision is final!”
“Any chance I could bribe you?”
The woman gave him a look of disbelief. “
Bribe me? Malak, you can’t be serious. We’re not kids anymore and this isn’t any time to be playing around! Now as your commanding officer and as your Master, I am telling you no!”
“And as your
friend I am telling you that I won’t let you go running off again when you’re too weak to fight back if something goes wrong.”
“I can fight just fine if I have to. As I recall, the last time we sparred I had you bested after only a few minutes.”
“The
last time we sparred,” he said, growing rather exasperated with her persistence, “you weren’t barely coherent from the after-effects of your visions! You’re not going!”
“Just watch me!”
“Halin, don’t make me do something we’ll both regret…”
The woman laughed. “Are you threatening me?”
“No,” he said, using the Force to pull her closer to him and swiftly applying pressure to a point on her neck, rendering the woman instantly unconscious. “I’m making you a promise.”
He set her back into the communications array chair and downloaded the data from the Consul regarding the information from Lord Adasca. He knew he would be in for an earful when she woke up, but it was for her own good. He would go to the
Arkanian Legacy and see exactly what this proposal from Lord Adasca was all about…
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The
Williwaw was regrouping with the
Stalwart Nightingale after Malak’s meeting with Lord Adasca on the
Arkanian Legacy. Things certainly hadn’t turned out the way that anyone had expected during the deal. To Malak’s surprise, the other parties invited by Lord Adasca included not only the Republic Military’s Admiral Karath, but Madalore the Ultimate himself! As expected, things went very much awry…
However, as badly as the situation there had turned out, what Malak was dreading even more was his return. He’d not spoken to Halin since leaving on the mission, and given the circumstances of his departure, he couldn’t imagine that she would be very happy to see him again. Whatever he had imagined couldn’t have possibly prepared him for the sort of welcome which he received.
The fire in her eyes when he saw her was unlike any which he had seen in her before. And despite their obvious difference in size, he could not help but to feel intimidated. She marched straight up to him and slapped him across the face.
“Ack!” Malak exclaimed, rubbing his cheek. It would seem as though she had finally recovered from the Serrocco vision. “What was that for!?”
“For being a disrespectful nerf-herder!”
“I missed you too,” he muttered.
“You know, in a
real military setting, a stunt like that would have you
spaced!”
Malak rolled his eyes. “Guess I should feel lucky I have such a benevolent Master then… Are you feeling better now?”
She turned away. “You know, I would have been fine, going on my own…”
Malak sighed, “Somehow I doubt that, Halin… I’m almost surprised I’m even back myself after how things went there. Mandalore himself was there.”
With this, Halin’s eyes widened and she swiftly turned back to him, practically lunging at him as she grabbed the utility belt suspenders of his body suit and pulled his face closer to hers so as she could look him in the eye.
“
Mandalore the Ultimate!?”
“Yes,” he said, slightly dazed by the ferocity of her reaction. “Lord Adasca called him there under a flag of truce. Apparently he wanted to see who would offer him the best price for the weapon that he’d been able to develop.”
Halin paled and let go of him. If Mandalore were to get hold of such a thing…
“Please tell me….” She stopped, afraid to finish her thought.
“No… No, Mandalore doesn’t have it. No one does. One of the scientists responsible for its development seemed to have a higher moral ground than the rest of the bastards involved… Sacrificed himself playing hero by baiting the creatures away to some part of the unknown regions,”
Halin breathed a sigh of relief. “I suppose things turned out for the better then… Whoever the scientist was, he’s saved more lives than he probably could have imagined… It’s a shame we never got to meet him… He will be remembered though as a hero of the Republic…”
Malak nodded. “I didn’t come back empty-handed though.”
“Oh?” she said, raising an eyebrow.
Malak pulled something out of a bag that he had been carrying with him and tossed it to Halin. “Catch,” he said.
She caught the thing, which was a rust red colored droid head of some sort.
“Lord Adasca had several of the things aboard the
Arkanian Legacy and they attacked us at some point. They resembled the model I found you schematics for a couple years back, and so I thought you might be interested. Consider it an apology present.”
Halin examined the droid head. The memory core still seemed to be intact. With such a thing, she could probably study the droid enough to replicate one should she choose. The war was growing more and more complex with every passing day. Any advantage that they could gain would be for the better…
“Don’t think I’m letting you off the hook that easily,” she said to him, looking up from the droid head.
“Wouldn’t dream of it,
Master” he said, bowing to her in a mocking fashion.
Halin rolled her eyes. “All right, nerf-herder, you’re on probation. Any more stunts like that and I’ll have you spaced for real.”
Malak grinned. He liked it when she was spirited like this. It reminded him of how she had been before they had left to form the Revanchists. And even though she had claimed that Halin Chan was dead, for a while, it felt as though he had Halin back there beside him.