LOTF: Ganner Slarwalker/Chapters 17-19

Ganner
After making sure all systems were working properly, I took a moment to look down at the red and black surface of the planet where it all began. Where Ganner Slarwalker died and Darth Massikus took his place. Why there?

I supposed an answer would reach me shortly. The drop pod counted down the seconds until I reached the surface, and I thought I could faintly see the drop pod with my equipment in the distance, but it was hard to distinguish it with such a dark background.

My first objective was to secure the Umbaran airfield. If anything could shoot the HQ down, it would be there. With any luck, however, it'll be just like I left it. Following that, I was to keep the area on lockdown and wait for the Brotherhood forces to rendezvous. The temple wasn't far and I could use the help in the assault. Hopefully, Eclipse protocol would be ready by then, but the Sith had proven to be quite troublesome thus far and we couldn't take the risk.

The surface was coming up. I braced for impact.

Maricus

Umbaran Sith Temple

"This is Ganner. The airfield is clear. There's some artillery here but it's offline and we can probably use it ourselves."

Behind me, Varad asked, "Tell me, my student, what should we do next?"

"Send some acolytes over to the airfield, to watch from the shadows. We'll evaluate their forces and strike accordingly once they think they've settled in."

Varad chuckles, and said, "You heard him. Get the acolytes out there."

Siri
"THROUGH POWER, I GAIN VICTORY."

Yet another training droid. I'd gone through the Sith Code dozens of times, and the machines kept coming. They weren't getting any stronger, either. It jumped in the air, staff raised to stab me, and I took the advantage to simply Force push the staff of the last robot through its chest. I sensed danger behind me, and as the robot fell I used the Force to grab the staff, turn, and barely stop myself in time from decapitating Maricus.

"Well, well. You might make a Jedi slayer after all."

"To what might I owe the honors?"

"Ganner Slarwalker is alive and he is coming. We will kill him, or he will kill us all."

"As you wish, Master."

"And when this is all done, we will point our guns to Varad."

Ganner
The airfield was all clear. A few anti-air guns and tanks that someone had tried to repair was all that was left of the Umbaran airfield. I activated my comlink. "It's clear. Come on down." Like a meteor shower, drop pods began to rain in, quickly deploying a local Brotherhood field base. Out came Ranulph, Hans, and many Brotherhood mercenaries. As they set up, I decided to meditate. All around me I sensed a strong Dark Side presence. In fact, it felt literally all around me....

The Shadow Assassins were upon us.

Varad
I activated the voice modifier.

"Dylan, this is Atom. We're moving eastbound towards the Temple. The airfield has been overrun by Sith assassins. Go ahead and light up the airfield, over."

"Atom, from my screen, you guys haven't moved a bit."

"The enemy must be running interference of some kind. Trust me, we're outta there."

"Copy that, initiating Eclipse protocol..."

The moon was blotted out by the space station as it began to glow purple.

Ganner
As the world went black, I felt a lot of danger. Then, the grey fog became red. Dozens of crimson lightsabers surrounded us on all sides. I reached out in the Force to find Siri, but quickly pulled back when I realize the Sith weren't the danger here.

It was the station.

The sky turned purple as a prototype superlaser prepared to fire. Jedi, mercenaries, patriots, and Sith alike took just a second to look to the sky and see the oncoming storm. Then each ran their separate ways. As I head edinto the thickness, I turn in time to see the purple laser hit the surf-

Truth
Ganner

I woke up, quickly adopting a battle stance, though no one was around. In fact, the planet seemed almost serene, like it was untouched. The moon wasn't blocked. In fact, there was no evidence a fight had even occurred, and certainly no craters. Out of the corner of my eyes, I saw movement and began to follow it. It was 4 Jedi.

Could it be..? No, it was impossible.

I had to know. I followed them.

They were running in the direction of the Temple, though I couldn't make out who they were.

After making sure they weren't followed, they stopped in a clearing to rest and wait. I approached from afar, and it was them. It was me. I kept my distance, fearing what interference would reap. Just as I remembered it, Yula was the first one to notice.

"Guys, what is this?"

She pulled some small metal scrap out of the ground, and almost immediately I could feel darkness emanating from it. At her touch, it began to hover on its own, pulling other metal scraps out of the ground all around it, the darkness building the entire time. Finally, it formed a small pyramid. A Sith Holocron. They were all speechless with faces of sheer surprise as it began to fly off into the distance.

After another exchange of glances, they followed it.

They followed it down the path as I observed. As they turned the corner they stopped in awe.

The Holocron flew into the door to the Temple. I knew what came next.

"Ganner, it's me."

It was an illusion of the Dark Side. Without thinking, I- that is, the other Ganner- sprinted to it at full speed, before the others could react. I pressed my body against the door.

"Listen, we'll get you out, okay?"

"Ganner, don't! It's a trap!" Yula's voice rang out. But it was already too late.

Before my eyes, the door of the Sith Temple opened to reveal a group of silhouettes. Left to right: Maricus, Talzin, Massikus in his old body, and Varad.

Both groups activated their lightsabers and Varad leapt at my past self. Unlike last time, I didn't black out. Varad's strike was strong, but my past self stood his ground in blocking it, defiance in his eyes.

"RUN!" He yelled.

Then he unleashed a bold flurry of attacks as the others hesitantly ran. I didn't know I was capable of putting up such a fight, holding off Varad, Maricus, Siri, and countless other Sith. Only when Massikus stepped in did I finally fall. As past Ganner lost consciousness, the world began to turn black, except for one person: Talzin.

"Impressive, is it not? She asked. "I'm sure you're very confused. Let's continue."

When I came to, I was in the room where it happened. I saw myself bound to the tablet. I saw the pain and the fear in my eyes- eyes that looked at me, but through me.

Talzin and Massikus stood in front of him, as they had before.

"Something was helping him out there, I'm sure of it. And getting in his head is the only way to find out what." He was talking to the Nightsister as my senses came back.

"Massikus, are you sure?" she asked. "We can hold on to him for a while longer, your current host isn't in the worst shape."

Massikus replied. "I need him now. You saw what happened out there. I'll need that kind of power to hunt down the other three."

He concentrated on past me. I knew what he was doing.

"We can send the Assassins after them-"

"Who? Saris? He'll be caught or worse for sure, and we'll be exposed. We are not yet ready."

Funny how that worked out.

"There are some who would think otherwise."

"It's final." He walked onto a slab adjacent to mine with the same bindings, and activated them using the Force. With a sly grin on her face and her hands glowing a vibrant green she moved towards him and place her hands on his temple. He fell asleep quickly, and she turned to past me, her hands now red.

"You, unfortunately, don't get to sleep. But don't worry; in time you will play your part." He tried to escape, but he was too weak. While he was squirming, she put her hands to his head. I knew what was happening now. Past me lost consciousness again, but this time the vision didn't end. The world froze and Talzin turned to me.

"Tell me, how did you fight them?"

"I-I don't know. What is this?"

"This is where you learn the truth. There was not one ritual performed on you, but two."

"It was an ancient ritual. Only the wisest and the strongest could perform it, and only one in trillions could be the recipient. The ritual was meant to amplify the Force potential in a being; primarily the Dark Side. Even a decent Force wielder could lay waste to entire planets with the power offered by it. Uncovering it was among my kind's greatest accomplishments within the last generation. However, I have seen visions of the futures that lie ahead, and I have seen what Varad plans to do. Somehow, he learned the ritual, made an army, and with you as his second in command, he conquered the galaxy. It would destroy the balance of the Force. But this path is a farce, for here you are. In another future, the ritual I perform on you doesn't go how it is meant to. You gain the power but not the darkness, and you lose the memories of how to use it, even past memories if by some chance you did what was necessary."

"And what was necessary?"

Around us, the world once again returned to the duel outside the Temple.

"You have to let go of your tethers. You have to plunge into the Force itself, without Light or Dark, ready to die for the cause you fight for. You give yourself entirely, and you receive true power in return."

The battle started anew, with Varad attacking me.

"RUN!" As their lightsabers met, the Ganner of the past gave himself to the Force with one goal: Save the others. There was no code that mattered now, only allowing them to escape. As we reached the point where Massikus subdued me, I saw Talzin's hands lightly glowly, her lips quietly whispering some sort of spell to weaken me. Massikus wasn't the one who had really taken me down.

"Why now?"

"Because the ritual of power has been used on someone else. And Varad is going to use him to bring raise hell. He'll be able to find every Force-user in the galaxy with the potential, build the army, and civilizations will fall. We can't allow that, now can me?"

"No. Send me back."

"As you wish, but know this: Only with your life will the curse of the Binding ever truly be lifted from the Galaxy."

''The wind howled around me, in a raging snowstorm. A world of white, of snow, seemingly empty. I trudged through the frost of the planet where I would die. Somewhere in the distance, out of the storm, another shadow walked towards me. A shadow I had not seen for a long, long time.''

Throughout the rest of our conversation until I re-entered the material world, the hiss of her lightsaber, the one meant to kill me, rang through my ears.

"Tell me, Talzin, why are you really doing this?"

She smiled.

Annihilation
As I regained consciousness, the first thing I noticed was the burning. I could hear it, I could feel the flames, and I could smell it. I opened my eyes, and I saw the source. Though I couldn't see the crater, a massive mushroom cloud hung over the sky. However, I didn't have time to worry about it.

I needed to know if my friends were safe. I let my mind dive into the Force.

I could sense thousands of beings on the planet, including Ranulph and Hans. I could sense Siri, and Varad, and Maricus, and I could sense the one the ritual was being performed on as I sensed him.

I could feel their fury as they sensed my presence back. They knew what was coming.

"To preserve the balance. There can be no Dark without the Light."

"I don't need to have amplified Force powers to know you aren't telling me everything."

The path to the Sith Temple, and likely the rest of Umbara, took the explosion hard. In many places, the ground was broken and lava had surfaced. If this place wasn't so remote, it would've been nearly impossible to cover this up.

''"Indeed you don't. But, even now, you are not ready to learn the full truth." ''

"Then we'll meet again?"

"Of course."

Getting closer by the second, I sensed an Acolyte ahead. Obscuring myself with the Force, I quickly dispatched her with my lightsabers and moved on. The less Sith I had to deal with, the better. Finally, the temple was in view. It's definitely taken damage.

Dozens of Sith were gathered around as Maricus gave them the orders that sent them to their deaths.

"Acolytes, our finest hour is upon us. Even in the face of Death itself, the Force will carry us to victory. However, there remains one man who would have this victory ruined, have our years of study for naught. Ganner Slarwalker must die tonight."

Amongst the crowd I spotted Siri slipping away. As I began moving, a massive ripple flew across the entire Galaxy, and I halted.

I knew his presence in an instant. In the Force, he reached at me, full of the malice he had borne in the past. "Massikus," I whispered in disbelief. It was too late. From behind the temple, a shuttle took off into the night. He was gone.

For a second I stopped, unsure what to do. "Ganner," Ranulph's voice rang out over the comlink, "What happened?"

"He's back."

The link went silent. I'm pretty sure he was cursing.

"We'll figure something out. Take down the Academy."

"Copy that. Ganner out."

I slowly approached the Assassins from the front, dropping my camouflage and opening myself up to the Force again. Siri was scared, the others less so. They must not have known what I really was. They were in for a rude awakening.

They drew their weapons. I did the same. Both sides stopped for a brief moment, and I picked an Acolyte at random and charged them. The surprise, combined with my swiftness, was a lethal advantage. Briefly stunned by my attack, the other Acolytes froze and I took this time to knock off a couple more. They finally recovered, and two more jumped at me, one from in front and one from behind. Completely disregarding the one behind me, I lunged at the first, catching him in mid-jump. Really, it amazed me that these people were ever threats to me. Siri was still among them, though I was too caught in the fight to tell which one she is.

Obviously aware of the threat I posed to them at this point, the remaining Sith formed a circle around me, connecting themselves with purple lightning. I didn't know what the point of this was, and I was not sticking around to find out. I pulled the blade of my latest victim into my hand with the force and threw my lightsabers, one left and one right. As they hit and killed two more Sith (about 2 dozen left) I pounded the ground with the Force. The blast knocked all the Sith in the area off their feet, and their chain was broken. I pulled my lightsaber from the corpses and slowly looked around the fallen Sith as they regained their composure. "Who's next?" I asked. One Sith actually began to run away away, but I Force grabbed him and brought him back, slowly turning him back towards me. The Sith were all stunned with fear, I could feel it. It only made me stronger.

For a moment, there was absolute silence. They knew they'd lost. The question was, what now?

One by one, they dropped their sabers. Even Siri. I could sense her fear. I was not the man she was supposed to kill, the man she deceived. I was someone else. Something else. She knew what was coming. Tapping into the Force again, I feel each of their lightsabers. Gripping them but not yet moving them, I dropped the Sith and walked towards the Temple's entrance. As they watch in bewilderment, I activated all the sabers and sent them all hurtling toward their targets. As long as a single one of them lived, no one was safe. Siri and the other Sith became one with the Force.

I was in.



Immersing myself in the Force again, I felt everyone in the Sith Academy, most of them unimportant. It felt rather empty, probably because of the Eclipse and the fact that I just killed most of them. However, I could feel Maricus and Varad. They were way in the back of the temple. As I began walking towards them, I looked around. Lava was flowing everywhere, overflowing the trenches that had been laid for it. Just goes to show why you don't mess around with lava. Almost as if she wanted to further prove this point, another assassin leapt out of the shadows behind me. I didn't even both turning as I redirected her into the molten rock. Really, I was steeling myself for the fight ahead. Walking ahead more, I extended my senses out and listened to Maricus and Varad.

"...He ran?' "

"Talzin said he had amnesia, that he didn't know who she was and he ran off to try and remember. A side effect of taking so long to bring him back."

"Varad, we don't have time for this. I can't feel Siri."

"That's Master to you."

"Against Ganner, we're practically on the same level."

Turns out ancient Sith rituals to make you into a murderous superweapon are good for your self-esteem.

"....Do you think Xux can take him?" "He has to."

"Then maybe our deaths have a purpose."

Finally, I found the room. It was partially destroyed by lava pouring in at the corners of the room. The rest was very dimly lit, to the point where I almost couldn't make out my targets. The details of the room didn't matter, though. My attention was on the two people responsible for the hell I'd gone through and back to make it this far. Varad Zagg stood before me, seemingly having not aged in almost two years. His face projected a sinister confidence, but I could sense his fear. Beside him was Arek Saris- Darth Maricus. He was tired, beaten. Still, like Varad, he was projecting nothing but power and readiness. Funny; that's what I should've been doing. Their lightsabers were already activated, their crimson glows illuminating the two Sith. A few training Magnaguards and higher Sith Acolytes stood behind them, ready to jump in and help them. I activated my sabers, turning the colors of the room into a battle between their own light and mine, as deep as autumn itself. Pretty metaphorical. For a second, like old times, we both examined the other. "Hello again. It's been a long time since we've last met, Varad."

"Ha! What would you remember?"

"I remember how Talzin knew that what you were planning would destroy everything. I remember her plan to stop you, and it seems to be working."

This caught him far off guard, and I lunged at him. He quickly dodged out of the way, and I too dodged just to the right of Maricus' blade. They were impressively in sync. So began the duel.

Varad threw his saber, and I kicked it at Maricus. While he was unarmed, I rushed Varad, but Maricus quickly Force pushed me off to the side. Though I was easily stronger than either of them, these two were very well coordinated and it was clear the easy part wouldn't come until one of them was dead. Or, maybe, until Battle Meditation was broken? I took a second to look at our spectators. Indeed, they were more than just watchers- they were helping Varad and Maricus. Maricus threw Varad his saber, and I pushed it out of the air again, directing it through the chain of Sith. Varad being disarmed and weakened was a massive advantage and I needed to capitalize on it. I jumped at him again, saber raised above my head but pointed downward to stab him. I sensed Maricus jump to intercept, and suddenly, I shoved my lightsaber back. Just like I expected, between the hilt and the ends of my saber, stood a stunned Maricus.

I deactivated the weapon, and turned towards him. With Maricus out of the way, I quickly unleashed a mental barrage on Varad, stunning him briefly enough for me to watch Maricus' demise. His yellow eyes were wide, and he looked down in shock just before collapsing. I activated the saber in my right hand, ready to end his misery, when he gasped, "Wait. Please..." I knelt down and he leaned in close and whispered weakly.

"Massikus was already gone."

Then Darth Maricus finally died in my arms.

I turned to Varad, who was gripping his head, and grabbed him by the throat. I throw him across the room into a wall, sprinting across with my lightsaber poised for the kill when he raised his hand and weakly slowed me. He coughed. "I could have saved the galaxy. No more wars, no more politicians, no more corruption."

"You're wrong. It was pure corruption."

He laughed. "From my point of view, the Jedi are pure corruption."

"Then it's a good thing I'm not a Jedi." I gave him a quick death, and his body and head toppled to the floor separately. As the adrenaline wore off, I stood there, catching my breath. The Sith Academy was destroyed. All that remained was Talzin and Massikus, and it would be over. Again I was reminded of my vision of the icy planet where it all would end. Where could it be?

I supposed I could die later. It was time to finish off Massikus. as I left the temple, I looked into the sky. At long last I had my revenge, but I felt a great darkness, and I knew that it was not over.