Remember that it is the actions, and not the commission, that make the officer, and that there is more expected from him, than the title.
—George Washington
The Way of the Krayt Dragon is the twenty-ninth installment in the Untitled New Sith Wars series by Sakaros. As Mali Darakhan prepares to renew hostilities with Valin Aresh, Narasi Rican works to develop a new understanding of war from the inside.
Opening Crawl[]
Excerpt[]
| Source: The Way of the Krayt Dragon | Attribution: Sakaros |
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"I was at Allanteen, but my part wasn't really the big battle," Narasi mused. "Oh, and while we were on Darkknell—" She trailed off, and her sword hand fell onto her lightsaber hilt before she understood why. When she realized her ears had twitched right, she turned her head that way and stretched out with her feelings. "Do you sense that?" Zilq followed her gaze, and her gaunt face sharpened her expression when she frowned. "Yeah. Something feels off." "Let's check it out." Zilq kept pace, but asked, "Should we call our masters?" Narasi heard raised voices as they skipped down a flight of steps together, but she shook her head. "Nah, it doesn't seem that bad. You'd probably better do the talking, though." "Me? I mean, I will if you want, but you're probably better at this; your master's the diplomat." Narasi snorted. "Yeah, well, even out in the Rim, most people don't like being lectured on how to be better by a Zygerrian." Just as Narasi spotted a cluster of students and other civilians where the campus met the rest of Gardamme, the unmistakable crack of a blaster shot echoed off stone and transparisteel and turned the growing crowd babble to screams. Narasi had her lightsaber in hand in an instant; Zilq copied her two seconds later. "This, on the other hand, I am probably better at." | |
Segments[]
Appearances[]
| Characters | Creatures | Droid models | Events | Locations |
| Organizations and titles | Sentient species | Vehicles and vessels | Weapons and technology | Miscellanea |
Characters
Dramatis personae
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Other characters
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Creatures
Droid models
Events
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Locations
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Organizations and titles
Hypertech Industries (Mentioned only)
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Sentient species
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Vehicles and vessels
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Weapons and technology
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Miscellanea
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Plot Summary[]
Reunited with Mali Darakhan aboard the Coronet's Jewel, Tirien Kal-Di asks his friend for a twofold favor. The time has come for his Padawan, Narasi Rican, to study Form V, and as Mali is among its greatest practitioners, Tirien asks him to train her. Narasi is also suffering the aftereffects of a traumatic vision she shared with Tirien in Kaleth, on the ancient Jedi world of Tython—a vision of the vast span of galactic war, past, present, and future—and Tirien asks Mali, a seasoned Jedi general, to help Narasi come to terms with it.
After Narasi and Tirien abort a diplomatic mission on Ketaris when they are targeted by bounty hunters, Mali sets Narasi to infantry training, planning to embed her with a field unit for combat. First Dorn, the Vanguardian commander of the Supreme Modality stronghold at Cademimu V, assumes that a renewed Republic assault is coming and plots to counter Mali. When Narasi completes her infantry training, Mali deploys her unit to capture Phaeda; Tirien remains behind, though Kenza Rowkwani and Coldos Tosyn go as Jedi support. Narasi succeeds on the battlefield, though Coldos comes to her aid in a duel with a Vanguardian, and Mali sends her to officer training.
As Narasi trains, Mali puts together a major campaign dubbed Operation Liberator, which is intended to topple Modality control over multiple systems and clear the way to the critical hyperspace junction at Agamar. The Vanguardians on Cademimu brace for the attack and First Dorn plans to lure Mali into a trap by playing along with his black psyops. When Narasi completes training, Mali brevets her to the rank of ensign and gives her a Republic Marine platoon to command. Narasi works to bond with her troops, as well as her XO, Ensign Gade Wiesht, and her first sergeant, Gunnery Sergeant Rook Sord. Mali plans to send Narasi's Marine battalion to Cademimu V as he targets multiple worlds in diversionary strikes. Tirien is also dispatched with a Marine Force Reconnaissance unit to infiltrate Cademimu ahead of time and assassinate the Vanguardian leaders.
The advance team succeeds in part, though several Marines are killed, but Second Aurek escapes to command the battle. As the Republic lands units piecemeal, Narasi leads her platoon through a grueling few hours of battle, sustaining multiple casualties before they take out an anti-repulsor battery, allowing their comrades to establish an invasion corridor and land in force. As Tirien crosses the capital city to join the siege of a major prison and death camp, Narasi's platoon infiltrates a tank factory to rescue the company commander and first two platoons. They succeed, though Narasi is drawn into a duel with Second Aurek and two other Jedi; the Jedi narrowly prevail with the aid of one of Narasi's squads. Elsewhere, the Republic siege of the prison succeeds when Jedi gunfighter Marius Zyndec defeats Third Cresh. Tirien discovers to his bafflement that Mali is not at Cademimu, while Mali himself takes the fight to First Grek on another planet.
After six days of battle, Cademimu surrenders to the Republic, while Tirien and Narasi recover aboard the Coronet's Jewel. They journey to Agamar, the world Mali captured from First Grek, where they find Mali suspicious of his triumph, wondering whether Valin Aresh is planning something even more devious they simply have not seen.
Behind the Scenes[]
Sakaros nicknamed this installment Call of Duty: New Sith Wars. The "Federation Day" mission in Call of Duty: Ghosts inspired parts of the infiltration of the Cademiman Cultural Tower.
Mali tells Narasi about running into a band of Tusken Raiders and a krayt dragon on Tatooine; his and Ainar's mission to Tatooine was first referenced in The Liberator.
Shout-outs:
- Mali's line that "all warfare is based on deception" comes from the first chapter of Sun Tzu's The Art of War.
- Mali thinks he looks like "a Marine who'd gone to Jedi camp", a reference to a fan-fiction work by Goodwood.
- First Dorn tells Tirien (about his Force Recon garb), "Take that ridiculous thing off." Snoke gave the same command to Kylo Ren (with about as much contempt), there also discussing a mask that hid the subject's face.
- Tirien and First Dorn trading barbs in High Galactic was inspired by the Latin faceoff between Doc Holliday and Johnny Ringo in Tombstone. First Dorn's reference to "Tinetti's Eighth Principle of Sokan" is a nod to the duel between Westley and Inigo Montoya in The Princess Bride, when the combatants discuss the teachings of various fencing masters; in a further (although inverted) reference, both men switch to fighting left-handed when they take injuries to their right arms.
- "Find a way or make one", the motto of the 99th Rocket-Jumper Division, is also the motto of the 1st Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division (Light Infantry).
- Marius's reflection that he had a "terrific pain in the front of his head" is a reversal of Franklin D. Roosevelt's last words, "I have a terrific pain in the back of my head."
Sakaros chose Mali's birthday randomly many months before writing The Way of the Krayt Dragon, and nailed down Narasi's only when writing Revenge of the Jedi. Zygerria's 436-day rotational was invented even further back, in Danse Macabre. The fact that Mali's birthday and Narasi's Zygerrian birthday fell on the same date was a pure coincidence so inordinately unlikely that Sakaros felt compelled to both keep it and incorporate it into the narrative, so it became the go date for Operation Liberator.
Mali's speech before Operation Liberator was heavily inspired by General Dwight D. Eisenhower's order of the day for the invasion of Normandy during World War II. The full text of that speech is here. The Normandy landings were an inspiration for Narasi's experience early in the Battle of Cademimu V.
Narasi's final words to her Marines before entering the fray on Cademimu ("LET'S GO!") were inspired by a Soldier's recollection from The Army Officer's Guide which illustrated good leadership: "Captain Greenwalt never said, 'Get going!' He always said, 'Let's go!'"
The code Murc gives Tirien to access Cademimu's conduit lines, 9-0-7-3-0, was The Way of the Krayt Dragon's word count up to that point; the addition of chapters on the second draft changed that, but Sakaros kept the code the same anyway.