Endgame's Beginning: Chapter 18

At the Haven casino, on Nar Shadda, the smoke begins to clear from the battle. Most of the Syndicate agents depart. Fabius Kane and Donovan remain, however. They begin to sift through the wreckage of the casino. Before they can determine much, however, the calm following the battle erupts into chaos once again as word that two Death Stars are in orbit. Even worse, one is rumored to have an Inquisitor's mark on it. Fabius orders Victor, Cayvn, Gervin, and Na-soth to pick up the dropped darksider lightsabers. They hand him two regular lightsabers and a short-bladed one.

As people finally manage their way out of Haven, Fabius’ crew leaves to prep the Mayan Phoenix. Fabius pauses when he sees something glinting on Luminara, the female that he and Donovan had cut down in the previous battle. The Jedi-scoundrel notices that although she had no irises before, the color seems to have returned to her eyes. He cannot sense anything else, nor find anything on her that might have caught his eye. After a moment, Donovan looks over. He senses that the Force has totally left the corpse. Even a dying ember of Force energy should remain. Nothing remains, however. As soon as Donovan communicates this, Fabius looks around. He tells Donovan to check the others. All the other corpses seem to still resonate with the Force. They are not sure what this means about Luminara. As they look around, they realize that the would-be-Palpatine’s body is not among the dead. The Hutt’s body is also not there: only an empty armor shell remains. Remembering his earlier attempt to rob the Haven casino, Fabius connects this to the empty Sith armor he saw then. That Sith pushed his essence into the Zerrisk Math’ha imposter. Maybe this Sith Hutt did the same. Then Fabius realizes that maybe this darksider woman did that also. Her body did not disappear like theirs, but something is awry with the scenario, notwithstanding.

As the two Jedi-scoundrels depart, they hear air-raid sirens. They start jogging away from Haven. Looking up, they see a Star Destroyer lowering into the atmosphere. Still jogging, Donovan and Fabius notice what appear to be some popping lights from the underside of the capital ship. They can’t figure out what this bodes. Yet as they continue to watch with fascination, they realize that things are dropping down from the ship. They increase their speed.

Before Donovan and Fabius get far, they hear a thunderous crash and the ground rumbles under them. Both look back and see an gigantous metal cylinder has replaced the casino. The two look at each other with consternation. It slowly dawns on them that giant cylinders like this are what they saw falling from the Star Destroyer. Even as they realize this, another one lands not far from them, and the impact knocks them to the ground: shrapnel scattering all around them.

Donovan and Fabius pull themselves to their feet and start running again. Yet just as they round the corner toward the space station, another cylinder drops right on the entrance to the space station. They both fall to the ground to avoid the shrapnel. Hearing blaster fire from behind them, the Jedi-scoundrels notice that the cylinder back atop Haven has revealed hidden laser cannon turrets, which have spun out from the inside of the cylinders and begun to open fire on the departing ships. Kane calls Victor on his comlink and tells them to take off before the ship is destroyed. Kane orders them to head to Gamorr; he will call them when it is safe to return.

As they run down a side street, trying to escape the falling projectives, Donovan notices the tall cylinders have opened panels along the sides also, below the turrets, and out of side tubes other cylinders are shooting out; these projectiles are propelled forward until they strike a building or ship and detonate when making contact with whatever they hit. Realizing that they are dead if they stay above ground, Donovan suggests that they run underground, to the lower levels of Nar Shadda. Fabius looks around and reads the cityscape he grew up in. If he is correct, there should be an entrance nearby, but it is near one of the cylinders, and there is a throng of people near it. As Donovan looks around, he can see that much of the area here has collapsed, possibly falling in on the undercity.

Suddenly someone calls their names. They spin. It is a cyborg of some kind, with a long blaster rifle slung on his back. Though neither has ever met him, they both recognize the man. He looks worse for the wear, but is recognizable. It is the bounty hunter Dengar. He says the tunnels are collapsing below and offers to take them to safety. With few other choices, the Jedi-scoundrels follow.

Dengar leads them right toward the panicked crowd. When they don’t move, he fires warning shots and then into the crowd. Kane immediately demands to know what he is doing. Donovan quickly moves to shoo the people away so they don’t get killed. Shrugging, Dengar takes them around a few corners and then leads them into what appears to be a starship registration office. However, once they get inside, they realize they are in an actual spaceship, which they quickly learn is Slave II.

Inside, manning the pilot controls is Me Lyn. She looks much more battle-tested and bulked up than when last Kane saw her. There are blasts from outside. Dengar wants to leave. Me says she won’t leave without her husband. Fabius joins her in the co-pilot seat. Donovan turns back to the entrance to aid Dengar in laying down cover fire for the man they are waiting for: Boba Fett. Dengar hands Donovan a huge blaster rifle. With a smile, he tells Donovan to brace himself before firing.

Outside, the two at the door can see a man flying through the air, propelled by a jetpack, in a similar suit to Fett’s, being followed by a missile. The man turns in mid-air, spins, and opens fire on the projectile. Dengar and Donovan open fire as well; they manage to target and destroy the missile. Flying droids are still following him, though. Boba comes flying into the ship backwards, and just slides to a stop, skidding on his feet, still firing. He orders Donovan to shut the doors, and the Sluissi does just that. Me Lyn punches it.

Boba Fett takes his helmet off and reveals his plan. He wants them to head right up toward the Star Destroyer, fly under its radar, and then bust out through hyperspace. After a few well timed blaster shots, by the others, and blowing past TIE fighters, Me Lyn skirts right around the Star Destroyer, almost perfectly hugging along the bottom, up the side, and over the top, and is then gone.

Me Lyn put the controls on autopilot and joins Fett. Donovan and Fabius look at each other. The five start talking. Fett says that after finding Jabba’s treasure, he is now the richest non-Hutt in the galaxy. He’s amazed that people so rich continue to be involved in crime. He claims to have eschewed both crime and bounty hunting, now that he no longer has to do either. It turns out that Fett also has his own little organization that continues to make money. He mentions that Garindan also turned out to be a talented accountant. With all the time in the world, Fett has turned his attention to collecting all the remaining suits of Mandalorian armor. When Fabius asks why, he says they were one of the greatest warrior races of all time. He has a memory chip with over 200 suits and their locations.

Money has changed him. He has no love for the Empire. Fabius muses that someone like him could be a great asset in the fight against the Empire, especially if they filled all those suits of Mandalorian armor. Fett has heard this before. He is unswayed as of yet.

Turning to other affairs, Fett reveals that Queen Organa is in trouble. Surprisingly, Fett claims that she is a friend of both Fabius and himself. Fabius never knew. He thought they were enemies. Regardless, Fett claims that one of Leia’s servants asked him to get a hold of Kane. Leia has been put on trial by the Hapans for adultery. The penalty for which is death. She is several months pregnant, yet has not seen her husband, Prince Isolder, in much longer than that. After a few moments, Kane admits he is the father. He says the affair was over, as they both realized it was wrong. Apparently too late, however. Leia also communicated to Fett that Kane should consult with others on Belkadan for more wisdom. Fabius immediately recognizes that this means he should consult with their Jedi Master, Zyan-Krol.

Kane decides they should go to Belkadan as Leia suggests. Using the Syndicate’s hyperspace channels, he calls his followers from Slave II and tells them to report back to Kaya Tarkin, at the Syndicate headquarters. After receiving a short explanation of what is going on, Victor is understandably consternated at this turn of events. Kane wants them to report to her and see if the Syndicate will intervene or to try to help.

A few days later, as the Slave II pulls out of hyperspace near Belkadan, Fett answers a hyperspace call. It is Kaya. She says the Hapes trial is an internal struggle and they cannot interfere. However, Mon Mothma has volunteered to try and help. Kane replies that they are just arriving to talk to his Jedi master for advice. She mentions that Ace Proton and other Syndicate agents ran into a problem at the new Syndicate base that Donovan helped build. Somehow they were tracked by Imperial Elites. Luckily they managed to fight them off before their location was revealed. It turns out they were only defeated due to the work of an Imperial traitor: Major Noleen Veskrayet. Kane knows this name. He has encountered her several times, most recently on Dubrillion. He always sensed good in her. Kaya says she seems to be obsessed with Kane, though not out to kill him. Kane warns Kaya to not let her guard down; the Major is after all, an Imperial; this could be a trick. Either way, Kaya fears for the future of the station, she is not sure how the Imperials followed their agents in the first place.

As the Slave II sets down, Kane invites all in to eat and refresh themselves. However, when they arrive, such notions are instantly dispelled. There are signs of a recent battle. Kane and Donovan snap on their lightsabers. They run in. As they approach they can see blaster burns and lightsaber burns. Fearing the worst, they step inside the compound. Everything is smashed up, as if a battle took place inside also. Donovan finds a trail of blood leading up to a locker. Inside is a badly stabbed and dead Zyan-Krol. He looks to have suffered lightsaber burns.

Fabius is devastated. One who is perhaps the last remaining Jedi master is dead. Fabius asks Donovan to look into the past with his greater sensory powers. Donovan’s eyes glaze over, as he calms himself and centers on the Force. He begins to recite his vision. He can see Zyan sitting in the room, meditating. Suddenly the Draethos snaps to a stiff upright position, then steps to his feet; his lightsaber flows to his hand. A small hooded figure enters the room. They speak in some language Donovan does not recognize. Suddenly both ignite lightsabers and they begin to battle: the smaller one hopping around acrobatically. Droids also enter the room, endeavoring to help destroy the Jedi master. After enough passes, Zyan destroys the droids. However, the little man slowly begins to get the upper hand, and with a deft blow right through Zyan-Krol’s chest, deals the master a lethal blow. The assailant leans down, and his hood falls back: a green head covered in black hair, with long ears poking out, is finally visible. The villain moves around and smashes much of the equipment, then turns around and leaves. After a moment, Zyan starts to move, yet alive. He pulls something out of a desk, puts it into his lightsaber sheath, and then crawls into the locker they found him in.

Donovan bows down and looks into Zyan’s lightsaber sheath. He finds there a small holochip. Donovan activates it and light shoots forth. “I sense you are coming here,” Zyan-Krol says in the hologram. “If you are seeing this, I am dead. I don’t know who is coming, but he feels like a former student of mine. Only different. He is behind everything. He has watched both you and your brother. You and Donovan are in great danger. He is the man in Shadow.” The hologram shuts itself off. Donovan pockets it.

Fett, standing behind the two Jedi-scoundrels, mentions that he'd heard of a shadowy man traveling from world to world killing people. He always thought it was a boogeyman-type story, meant just to scare children and all that. Fabius recalls this too. They can’t put it all together yet, however. Fabius looks around the room. All items of Jedi relevance are destroyed, including his master’s holocron.

Knowing that at the very least, the Jedi master deserves a proper funeral, Kane instructs the others to build a pyre over the fallen master. When this is done, they light it on fire, and let the entire building burn in tribute to the fallen master.

The five immediately leave for the Hapes Cluster. Fabius is more determined than ever to save Leia. A few days later, they arrive. Fett makes contact and introduces them as guests of Mon Mothma. As they are all unloading the ship, Donovan and Fabius find themselves apart from the others. They both hear a voice in their heads, however. They both look and see someone in the shadows. The voice says, come over here. There is something you must know.

Kane snaps on his lightsaber. Partially hidden under a black cloak, mired among the bushes, comes forth a woman they do not recognize. She appears human, but her skin is so pale that it is practically white. She has no hair on her head, including eyebrows. She says her master knows that they found his handiwork, and the time is coming when all will be revealed. She says they have both been watched for several years now. There was a droid, assigned to keep an eye on them. The master programmed the droid to protect them. Fabius and Donovan look at each other. They already know the rest of the story: IL-1D20. Kane tells her they cannot let her go if she works for this Shadow Master. She says she knows that. The woman seems nervous, almost upset. She says she did not come here to escape, but rather expects Kane to kill her. She continues on, claiming that she is weak because she could not kill her little brother. She says the Shadows will embrace the galaxy. She says that when her master lied many years ago, that is when this all began. Kane tries to talk her out of dying. Out of believing she needs to die; he says that what these people are doing is evil. She says there is no evil. Kane says it is wrong. She says there is no wrong. Kane is like only the Dark side deals in such relativity: and that complete arbitraryness can lead only to nothingess. She claims there is no Dark side. Kane says she has been lied to, has been instructed by flawed logic. He tells her they need not come to blows. She find that unfortunate. She then explodes, killing herself.

Fett and the others come running over. Kane explains. He suddenly puts it all together. How could their every turn be found out by their enemies? How could the new Syndicate base be revealed? They must have been found out by IL-1D20’s droid network. If that droid worked for the Shadow Master, then he must still work for him. They found them here, it’s the only way they could have known. They will continue find every Jedi. They will track all resistance unless they shut down every droid.

Fett asks if to be safe, Kane is asking to shut down every droid in the galaxy.

“Yes,” Kane replies.