Abattoir is the ninth installment in Sakaros's indefinitely-Untitled New Sith Wars series. Desperate to secure her failing place among the Sith, Darth Alecto descends into a hell of torture and madness.
Publisher's summary[]
Excerpt[]
| Source: Abattoir | Attribution: Sakaros |
|
Throwing herself against a tree, the sharp bark tearing into her raw palms, Alecto struggled to pull a breath of fetid air into her heaving lungs; It was less than a kilometer away now. "Hurry!" Rassan hissed. Alecto could just make out the Anzat's pale face through the fog; his bared teeth might have been a threat had his eyes not filled his face. "They're closing!" Alecto nodded, but her sides ached from the effort to steady her breathing, and where one of her ribs had cracked. She wiped a lock of her long red hair off her forehead; her fingers came away sticky and a different shade of red, though this deep in the Abattoir the wan light filtering through the trees turned every color to shades of gray. Except the phosphorescent bugs, of course; as one of them landed above her eye and began lapping at her wound, it glowed pale green. In the distance, something snarled in response. "Now!" Rassan insisted, grabbing Alecto by the elbow and jerking her away from the tree. She stumbled to her knees, squeezing her eyes shut and hissing through her teeth so she wouldn't scream. The sharp rocks had cut her knees and slit her right palm from her index finger to the heel of her hand. Everything was sharp here…everything hurt… Rassan looked past her, reeking of tension in the Force, then turned and fled. Forcing herself to her feet, Alecto staggered after him, trusting her instincts as she half-stumbled down the steep incline. A miniature rockslide started halfway down, and Alecto had to jump for it; she landed without falling, but momentum carried her forward and she bounced off a statue she hadn't seen when she jumped. Winded, she fell. Descend, she had been told. The hideous thing loomed over her in the gloom. She could not say whether it was supposed to be a native predator or some black god the Anzati had worshipped when the galaxy was young; time and erosion had warped its features into something more horrible still. The shifting mists and the pain dogging her senses made the thing's claws seem to reach for her. Rassan touched down only meters away, looking up the way they had come. "They're right behind us!" Alecto tried to follow, but the statute grabbed her. She cried out once in shock, heart pounding so hard she could feel her pulse in her neck. It had not grabbed her; her ponytail was caught in its claws. She reached back to free the braid, but now she could hear them too—the shrill screech of sharp nails on stone, the slobbering growl. Growing closer. Alecto ripped at the braid, but it only pulled the harder on her scalp. The growls grew to snarls. Alecto extended a hand and the Force pulled a rock to her grip. It bit into her bloody palm, but the sharp edge knifed through her hair, hacking enough free that she could wrench herself out of the statue's grip. But she sensed It was very close now, and the claws bit into her back. | |
Segments[]
Appearances[]
| Characters | Creatures | Droid models | Events | Locations |
| Organizations and titles | Sentient species | Vehicles and vessels | Weapons and technology | Miscellanea |
Characters
Dramatis personae
|
Darth Alecto, female Mirialan Sith Lord |
Other characters
|
Creatures
|
Numerous predators |
Droid models
Events
|
Locations
|
Organizations and titles
|
Sentient species
Vehicles and vessels
|
Weapons and technology
|
Plot Summary[]
Darth Alecto scrambles through the festering jungle of the Abattoir, narrowly avoiding death at the hands of local predators as she and the Anzat Rassan Darvash attempt to navigate the underworld of Anzat. Since Darth Vandak went mad in the aftermath of the events on Milagro, his Brotherhood of Shadows, an elite group of Anzat assassins, has deserted the Sith cause. Darth Saleej was determined to execute a daring assassination plan of which the Brotherhood was an integral part and, feeling her influence on the Council slipping, Alecto volunteered to win back the Brotherhood's loyalty. Azeroth Seji, Vandak's second-in-command who has now risen to rule the Brotherhood, defied Alecto's offers of alliance, but ultimately accepted her challenge—if she could pass through the Abattoir, the Brotherhood's proving ground, the Brotherhood would serve her. However, she must equal Darth Vandak's feat: passing all seven levels of the Abattoir, which no living being but Vandak has done.
Alecto and Rassan continue to run from predators, fleeing into a swamp where Alecto nearly drowns. When they finally reach the bluff overlooking the second level, Rassan betrays Alecto, pushing her down and causing her to break her ankle. She manages to fight off her first attacker, a feral Anzat, but is in no condition for sustained battle. She spends the next days evading the creatures hunting her with booby traps while she struggles to reach the third level. Ultimately Rassan himself tracks her down, but Alecto manages to turn the tables on him, paralyzing him and leaving him for the ferals.
The third level's identical terrain nearly drives Alecto insane, but she ultimately finds the minute switch which lets her into the fourth level. Her Force powers and Mirialan agility allow her to successfully navigate the traps and obstacles on the fourth level, and in the fifth, she simply kills a beast she is supposed to be tracking rather than spending days or weeks hunting it down. In the sixth level, however, she is confronted with hallucinogenic visions and memories of her past.
Taken from her home at six, Alecto was sent to a Sith training facility with a number of other children, where she befriended the Human Odelia Urham. The two friends trained together for two years under the lash of the Sith Acolyte Huriah, until one day Lord Warlese Oruval, Headmaster of the Sith Academy on Korriban, arrived and announced that one—and only one—of Uriah's pupils would be chosen for the Academy. Fearing Alecto's superior skills would ensure her selection, Odelia attempted to murder Alecto in her sleep, but Alecto ultimately turned the tables and killed Odelia. Oruval selected her on the spot, and at his encouragement, she adopted the name "Alecto" for the first time.
In the present day, Alecto descends to the seventh and final level of the Abattoir, where she confronts a vision of Tirien Kal-Di and duels herself. When she faces the Heart of the Abattoir, she endures the experience and survives, returning to the Temple of Shadows only to be ambushed by Azeroth, who never intended to serve her regardless of her accomplishments. Alecto manages to outsmart and blind Azeroth; when the Brotherhood pledges its loyalty to her, Alecto has Azeroth stripped naked, cuts off his Anzat proboscises, and throws him into the Abattoir to die.
Alecto returns in triumph to the Unquenchable Fire, accompanied by her new Anzat brethren, and announces their service in Darth Saleej's culminating plot: the assassination of Supreme Chancellor Phnyong.
Behind the Scenes[]
Much of the Abattoir's second level, especially Darth Alecto's "evade-and-booby-trap" survival strategy, is based on "The Most Dangerous Game".
Though Abattoir broke Sakaros's budding trend of renaming installments in the UNSWS at the last moment, Sakaros did write Part 11 the day of uploading.
Abattoir is the first story in the UNSWS in which Tirien Kal-Di does not appear (physically), and the first in which Narasi Rican does not appear since Shots Fired.