Endgame's Beginning: Chapter 16

Assigned to work on a new Syndicate base, Donovan had gone separate ways from his fellow agents. But after having a disturbing dream, the Sluissi finds himself drawn to the moon of Nar Shadda, where he grew up. Surprisingly, as he tracks down the source of the darkness he felt in that dream, Donovan meets with Ace Proton and Spid Dövan, who are there with two others: Jens and Sendaar. Jens is a Hapan noble, who seems to be working with the Syndicate also, and Sendaar is a blind Force-user of some sort who wears a thin armor and is adorned with lightsabers. (Ace and Sendaar were drawn to Nar Shadda by the same dream that Donovan had, though neither mentions it.) They all somehow arriave at the doors to the Haven casino at the same time. Suddednly, Donovan, recognizes it as the casino he tried once to rob with Mojo Xax. Donovan is even more skeptical when Jens tells him that the manager of the Haven casino recently sent thugs to attack her and the others.

The Syndicate agents all decide to enter the casino. There, they soon find Raka’an the Hutt eating with his entourage in a VIP dining area. They approach cautiously, wary of Haven security. Ace is able to read the lips of some of the entourage. The Hutt seems to be upset about a failed attempt to capture some woman. Ace tells Donovan that they must be referring to the failed attempt on Jens. However, just then, someone pulls a curtain over the area. After five minutes or so, the screen is pulled open. The near-human manager is gone at this point, although the others remain. As they continue to watch, the Hutt suddenly stops his entourage from eating, and then they all get up and leave the area.

At nearly the same time, Fabius Kane and his crew arrive at Nar Shadda aboard the Mayan Phoenix. Fabius has had the same dream as the others, and felt equally compelled to follow its call. Trying to get as much advance knowledge about the situation as he can, Fabius checkeds the local Nar Shadda news en route to the Smuggler's Moon. In so doing, he learns of several incidents on Nar Shadda; not just the usual murders, but people being chased around by Haven security. As he approaches the moon he can sense his old friend Donovan. Worried, Fabius also realizes that he feels his friend's presence where he feels also the greatest darkness. Thus, he and his crew quickly land and disembark. Then, armed to the teeth, he and his followers fearlessly stride into Haven—despite the fact that Fabius has guessed what Jens and the others already know: that Raka’an is a dark Force user.

As Fabius walks in the door, looking around with his crew, Ace spies him; the Space Adventurer also realizes that the Hutt could not have seen Fabius entering from where he sat. Yet Ace surmizes that the Hutt may have used his dark powers to sense the scoundrel-Jedi’s presence. Ace quickly goes over to Fabius, and the other Syndicate agents follow. They all quickly introduce the new people and exchange stories.

Fabius asks Ace if he came here because of the dream. Ace denies it. Skeptical, Fabius uses the Force to make him admit he was there (which Kane knew because he saw him in his dream). The others tell Kane that the Hutt is after him. Jens wants to speak elsewhere, but when they try to leave, they find that the doors are locked. Regular people start to realize this also, and a slow panic begins.

Fabius tries to open the door with the Force, but he cannot manage to move the reinforced security door. Thus, he tells most of his crew to take care of the people who are starting to freak out that they cannot leave, while he orders Gervin to blast through the door. While Fabius takes care of this, Ace and Spid pursue the Hutt up a staircase to the high stakes area. After a short talk, where Jens asks Fabius if he truly declared war on the Empire, and he admits as much, Jens, Fabius, and Donovan decide to back them up. Sendaar, meanwhile, walks over to the bar, assessing the situation. Seeing Gervin fail to blast open the door, he moves back that way. He ignites his lightsaber and tells the others to get out of their way. Slowly, he starts to carve through the blast doors.

Reaching the top of the stairs, Jens’ droid opens to reveal hidden storage compartments; she quickly arms up. Fabius follows suit, withdrawing his lightsaber; Donovan pulls his heavy blaster out of his holster. The three enter the high stakes area as patrons run past them, evacuating. Ace and Spid are already up there, taking measure of two ornate stone doors, which look rather out of place in the casino. Nonetheless, the doors do seem to fit with the assorted relics that decorate Haven.

As all five Syndicate associates ready themselves for something to come out of the doors upstairs, Jens notices screams coming from downstairs. When they turn around, they can see people reacting to something. Only Sendaar, below, can discern what this new threat is: a group of dark force users wielding lightsabers. (One of them, seems to have some sort of force whip instead). The dark group seems to be engaging random persons in the crowd. Some in the crowd look ready to fight back, but others look innocent.

Spid takes off, activating roller boots, and slides down the railing; Donovan follows him, bursting down the stairs with Force-enhanced speed. Fabius, and Jens follow their comrades, running into battle. Ace flips off of the staircase and comes up blasting at a long-haired human holding a lightsaber and firing force lightning into the crowd. Only angered by the blaster bolts, the man fries Ace with force lightning. Sliding to a stop just beside this dark Force-user, Spid lunges for the human’s lightsaber, and though suffering a nasty slash in doing so, the Ortolan snares it out of the human’s hand. A second dark Jedi, wielding two lightsabers, turns to meet the oncoming Syndicate associates and slashes Spid also, leaving a shallow burn mark across his shoulder. Feeling the Force, Ace trusts that his friend will be okay to deal with this dark Force-User, and fires again on the human darksider.

Jenz follows Ace over the stairs, leaping with blaster in hand. Yet, upon landing, she pauses. Jens is the only one to recognize the human darksider. He appears to be a younger version of the former Emperor Palpatine. To her side, Donovan, running from the bottom of the stairs at Force-enhanced speed, opens fire on this darksider also.

Fabius, having calmly walked down the stairs, letting the Force flow through him, telepathically communicates to his crew to take cover and concentrate their fire on a single darksider, whomever comes closest to them. Fabius then turns the corner around the stairwell and engages the fray, flanking the would-be Palpatine: swinging his lightsaber and just slicing into him.

Despite being surrounded by enemies, the darksider human seems enraged most by the loss of his weapon; he ignores the others, and uses his malevolent Force-powers to choke Spid. Donovan retaliates with two more blaster bolts. Meanwhile, the darksider with two blades lashes out again at Spid. Realizing the Ortollan is being attacked from all sides, Jens unloads on this dual-lightsaber wielding villain to protect him.

The female with the force whip joins the heated battle, lashing out at Ace, but misses; Ace spins and fires on her with two true blaster bolts. On the periphery of the melee, another darksider with a shorter blade moves upstairs towards some sort of commotion, and Sendaar has engaged a metal armed woman, whom Fabius, out of the corner of his eye, recognizes as Arden Lynn.

Realizing the long-haired human male is at a disadvantage without his lightsaber, the dark Force-user with two lightsabers tosses one through the air. Yet before the human can react, Fabius swings his lightsaber twice, fully basking in the Force, and hurts the human badly. Nonetheless, the darkside human leaps through the air, catches the lightsaber, and lands on the balcony above. There he joins the short-bladed darksider as the Hutt and his entourage pour out of the stone doors. Wasting no time, Jens sets a thermal detonator to minimal timing, and lobs it up after him. A thunderous explosion ensues.

Ignoring the escaped long-haired human male, Spid punches the one who had tossed the lightsaber to him with his vibrogloves. Rotating to the formerly dual-lightsabered warrior’s flank, Fabius puts his full power into one powerful lunge: feeling the Force and connecting just perfectly, Fabius catches him unaware and slices the darksider in half with his lightsaber.

Meanwhile, the woman with the whip again lashes at Ace, this time connecting, while making cyptic, bragging comments: that she is Luminara, and something about defeating the Emperor herself. Nonetheless, Ace again returns fire, even as Donovan turns and fires on her also. Across the room, as Sendaar and Arden Lynn continue to battle, the blind Sendaar finally senses an opening and makes a critical strike, with his lightsaber, cutting through her from her shoulders to her waist.

Seeing that the battle is lost, the darkside woman with the whip tries then to surrender. Ace, thinking that everything is in hand, runs upstairs to investigate there. However, not trusting the woman, Donovan blasts her twice with his heavy blaster pistol. Following his lead, Fabius steps toward her and swings into her with her lightsaber. Spid does not attack, but does pick up dropped her force whip.

Knowing that her comrades have fallen around her and are even those above were possibly dead from the explosion, the darkside woman leaps and tumbles out of the fray, in an effort to escape. , Fabius, however, matches her agility, and dives after her, coming out of a roll at the same time, and slices her with his lightsaber as he rises to his feet. The woman somehow survives the strike, and takes off at Force-heightened speed. Yet feeling the Force, Donovan matches this burst of speed and fires his blaster again, this time dropping the woman, ending her would-be menace forever.

Up above, Jens and Ace duck just as another explosion goes off. When they pull themselves back up and take a look around, they find that all those up there are dead. The Hutt’s Sith armor is empty, and they are not sure if he escaped or is gone forever.

Fabius surveys the battle scene. Three darksiders lay on the ground, each clearly dead. Citizens, still trapped, lay cowering behind overturned tables. He calls over his followers, and the four men erect a perimeter around the others, who come together for a quick exchange of what they know. Jens tells Fabius and Donovan that the Hutt was the one who generated the dark energy they felt in their dream.

In talking, Jens also explains that the long-haired human looked like the former Emperor Palpatine. Donovan, Fabius, and Spid, who have interacted with the cloned Wilhelm Tarkin, realize that this long-haired human was very possibly a clone of the Emperor. What confuses them then is the fact that the Emperor Palpatine was using a lightsaber. However, if the current Emperor is a Force-user, they do not find it hard to believe the former one was too.

But who were the darksiders with this perhaps-Palpatine? What were they doing there? And what were their plans? The question most pressing, however, was whether this Palpatine had more back-up clones and if he would return with a vengeance.