The Liberator is the fifteenth installment in Sakaros's Untitled New Sith Wars series. Mali Darakhan makes good on his vow to return to Milagro, but finds winning the battle far easier than winning the peace.
Opening Crawl[]
Excerpt[]
| Source: The Liberator | Attribution: Sakaros |
|
Day 3 of the Liberation of Milagro Blaster fire rained down on Mali Darakhan from the top of the stairwell, but his blue blade sang in the air and turned back every shot. Chips of duracrete splintered off the walls under the force of reflected blaster bolts and the air filled with smoke. One by one the shooters dropped as their own shots returned home; two recognized the futility of their assault and launched themselves at Mali, trading death by blaster fire for death by lightsaber. A shooter vaulted the railing above, but Mali didn't even turn; he heard a choke and a crunch from behind him. Glancing back only once he had struck down the last gunman, he saw Aldayr holding the dead man by the throat with his cybernetic arm, the back of the shooter's head crushed against the wall. Aldayr pitched him over the railing to obstruct the stairs below and gave Mali a nod. Mali took three more flights up, then almost ran Aldayr over in his scramble backward—the next line of defense was not a desperate rearguard of sentients, but war droids packed in as tightly as their bulk and armament would allow, all firing much faster than sentients ever could. Clomp, clomp echoed down the hall as they advanced. "Bring 'em down!" Mali ordered. Aldayr's lightsaber snap-hissed to life and hummed upward, but rather than the whirling, dopplering boomerang of a spinning double-bladed lightsaber and the sizzle of split electronics, Mali heard a persistent hisssssssss and caught an acrid smell that accompanied the smoke descending from above. He looked up in time to see Aldayr's lightsaber hovering in midair, cutting out the metal stairs themselves; before he could do anything but widen his eyes, they buckled under the weight of the droids and came down in a squealing, smashing commotion. A few sparking, blaster-tipped limbs stuck out of the ruins two floors below; they fired aimlessly until Aldayr's lightsaber swooped down to silence them. Aldayr brought his weapon home to his hand and deactivated the blades. "By 'bring 'em down', I actually meant the droids, not the stairs," Mali noted. Aldayr shrugged. "Didn't you say inclarity in orders has been the ruin of too many battle plans?" Mali rolled his eyes and grinned. "Let's go." | |
Segments[]
Appearances[]
| Characters | Creatures | Droid models | Events | Locations |
| Organizations and titles | Sentient species | Vehicles and vessels | Weapons and technology | Miscellanea |
Characters
Dramatis personae
|
Other characters
|
Droid models
Events
|
Locations
|
Organizations and titles
|
Sentient species
|
Vehicles and vessels
|
Weapons and technology
Miscellanea
|
Plot Summary[]
[Note: Though the events of The Liberator are told in non-consecutive narrative, they occur in this order.]
Jedi Knight Mali Darakhan, leading a campaign against Valin Aresh under the overall command of Master Elata Cazars, receives a call from his own former master, Ainar Zylorus, alerting him to Vedya Gasald's conquest of Allanteen Six and its shipyards. Realizing Corellia feels increasingly endangered by Gasald's encroachment, Mali journeys to Corellia with his apprentice, Aldayr Nikodon, where they persuade the Diktat and the Corellian Council to lend them three hundred warships of the Corellian Sector Fleet for a campaign to retake Milagro, a crucial production center for Gasald's war machine. Mali subsequently builds his fleet to nearly eight hundred capital ships with contributions from the Republic, Duro, and (through the aid of Tirien Kal-Di and Raven Kaivalt) the Tapani sector. Balancing the competing demands of the commanders of each contributing force, Mali nonetheless creates a successful battle plan and takes Milagro in a three-day blitz, killing Lord Halicon Karzded in the process.
In the wake of the invasion, Mali and Aldayr root out the last Sith resisters and work to contain the damage of the battle and the economic impact of Milagro's sudden isolation. Mali persuades some leaders of the Milagro Resistance to come in from the cold, and Zemma Rufos becomes the transitional Prime Minister of Milagro. As Milagro prepares for parliamentary elections, the transitional government sets up a war crimes tribunal for collaborators and the sole captured Sith Lord, Kysl Ssron, while worrying over the influence of the mysterious Pastor Jeh-Kro. Mali struggles to keep all the moving pieces working while grappling with the distant Republic. After a local police officer is murdered, Raven Kaivalt hunts the culprits and winds up bringing in Nal and Kadelle Chun, who agree to work with Mali; Kadelle joins his circle of advisors.
Mali brings in Jedi Shadows Haleya and Trajan to spy on Jeh-Kro, whom they suspect of harboring secrets in addition to his opposition to the vote. As Master Cazars pressures Mali to return forces to her campaign and ensure Milagro joins the Republic, Mali is forced to get creative in providing for Milagro, sending raids against nearby Sith systems and hiring privateers to harass Gasald's shipping. When Kysl Ssron escapes confinement, Mali and Aldayr recapture him, but the Milagroans fear the consequences if he escapes again; under pressure from his advisors, Mali reluctantly invokes his military authority to condemn Ssron to death and executes him.
Terrorist attacks and disruptions continue as the elections approach. Haleya and Trajan spy on Jeh-Kro and his followers and kill them all, later reporting to Mali that Jeh-Kro revealed dark side Force powers and attacked them. Zemma Rufos is elected as Prime Minister, but the victory is soured by news of Jeh-Kro's death. Fearing reports of Jedi murdering political dissidents could upend the fragile peace, Zemma agrees to withhold the report from the public while the Judicials investigate. Milagro votes to join the Republic.
When Kenza Rowkwani kills Valin Aresh's apprentice, Eviar Seldec, Master Cazars at last orders Mali to send back some of his fleet; he dispatches Aldayr as well. Aldayr discusses his romantic interest in Narasi Rican with Mali, who is supportive, but counsels Aldayr to secure his Knighthood first. The Republic dispatches Khofin of Knylenn to Milagro as a civilian administrator; Mali, Nal, Kadelle, and their assassin droid D-T0X save Khofin from an assassination attempt. Guerrilla attacks continue in the weeks that follow, especially when a suicide bomber accuses the Jedi of murdering Jeh-Kro.
Aldayr wins Corellian Bloodstripes in the north while Mali grapples with the "Second Resistance" and struggles to reconcile his desire to help Milagro with Khofin's more deliberative approach. As the situation starts to boil over, the Chuns leave Milagro. After a young Milagroan Navy recruit is crippled by Resistance guerrillas, Mali finally reaches a breaking point and declares martial law to bring the new Resistance to heel. As he prepares to depart for the Aresh front, he finds his honors from the Milagroans hollow, and is horrified when Master Cazars calls to report that Aldayr's fleet was ambushed by Aresh and Aldayr's own ship went down and is lost.
Behind the Scenes[]
The Liberator's shout-outs include:
- When Mali enters the fire execution chamber in search of Aldayr, he asks, "Are you all right?!", and Aldayr replies, "I got a little cooked, but I'm okay." Biggs Darklighter and Luke Skywalker have the same exchange during the assault on the Death Star in A New Hope.
- Eldrin dar Grosskis's repeated suicide message ("Get out of my head") is a shout-out to Doki Doki Literature Club!.
- Mali's statement, "If I'm going to hand down the sentence, I should be willing to swing the blade," is a nod to Ned Stark's philosophy in A Game of Thrones.
- Aldayr's description of his victory over a Vanguardian in a duel (a facial strike with the hilt of his saberstaff, followed by a blind reverse lunge) is the same way Darth Maul killed Qui-Gon Jinn.
- Sil Kadych's parting command to Mali, "Go forth and conquer", is a phrase of such disputed origin that Sakaros will not speculate on it; suffice to say it's a shout-out to someone who said it before.
The Liberator is the first installment in the series in which Darth Alecto does not feature in any way (not even a mention of her name). Tirien Kal-Di appears by holo, while Narasi Rican is heard but not seen over the same holo.