Fate of the Force: The Dark Resurgence: Chapter 1

Fate Of The Force: Dark Resurgence.

Chapter One.

“And I get to live” Wyyrlok added, appealing to the leader, he felt he was close to something great, something powerful, all he needed was to get to it and the mercenaries would unknowingly help him.  

“Ha! Of course you do” The leader laughed as he holstered his modified blaster pistol. “Now, I don’t trust my boys to keep you company, so Mister…” He motioned for Wyyrlok to state his name.

“Kell Douro” Wyyrlok answered, the name was not a random one, his ancestor - Darth Wyyrlok the First, had sent an Anzati warrior out to hunt A Powerful Jedi Knight who was the apprentice to the legendary Jedi master Kyle Katarn.

“Well, Dr. Douro, seeing as how you are an expert on the Rakata, you’ll be joining me and a few of my boys here on our plundering of the station. But first a set of rules, you try to escape off of this station, we kill you, you make a wrong move, we kill you, if your contact turns out to be a fake, we kill you and most important rule of all, You follow my every word, you don’t move, you don’t talk, you don’t even piss unless I give you the okay. Is that clear Doctor?”  Wyyrlok resisted the urge to grab the Pirate by the neck and pull him to his feet, he didn’t like being ordered around, but he would play along – for now.

“I understand “Wyyrlok drew on the force and in the mind of pirates, he made himself look as pathetic as possible, he had been using the force to mask his sith markings from the pirates since the beginning, the task would have strained most, but he was stronger than that and his talent with illusions was nearly unrivaled within the One Sith Order. This was nothing to him.

“Good, oh and my name is Alek Kurs, Captain Alek Ors. Let’s move out shall we?” Alek looked to his men and motioned for his men. “Alright boys, I want all you poor kirffing bastards at your best, we’re looking to salvage valuable tech here, so unlike our other stints, this one requires a bit more digging, I don’t need to remind any of you that this stuff is worth thousands, so you if break something and I’ll throw you out the bloody airlock! We clear?” All of the pirates stood in salute and replied the same thing at the same time

“Yes sir!”

“So Doc, where are we staring our search?” Alek inquired, Wyyrlok could feel the excitement oozing off the pirate leader, were it not for his illusions, he was sure Alek would be able to see Wyyrlok’s own excitement at discovering what hid in the darkest corners of the station.

“That door” Wyyrlok lifted his hand and extended a single clawed finger at the door. “My droid ran an analysis based on the information we recovered, that door should lead us to…” Wyrrlok paused for a moment, extending his senses outward and all over the station, searching for the power he had felt resonate off the station when he had first arrived in the system.  It had changed when he had first set foot on the station and when the pirate had entered, it completely disappeared. And finally he found out it, it was feint, a whisper that required a great deal of focus to be heard. And finally, Wyyrlok spoke.
“That door will lead us to our destination”

“How can you be sure, doctor?” Alek was not entirely trusting – almost wary, of Wyyrlok, it amused him.

I ran an analysis on the station and based on the schematic I found while on a un-charted world, both the armory and the center of the station will be past that door” Wyyrlok turned to Alek and stared into his eyes and whispered “You can trust me” Slowly Wyyrlok felt the words bounce around in Alek’s head, confusion and mis-trust was replaced with certainty and a lust for credits.

“You’re right, I’ll trust you – for now, at least, but make a bad move and I’ll put a shot right between your eyes Doc!” Wyyrlok smiled, the mind trick had worked, subtle manipulation would be a powerful tool in his current situation and the chagrian intended to make full use of that weapon.

“Of course, I do not intend to die here Captain, I will be at my best behavior” Wyyrlok’s smile widened when he sensed the human relax, letting his guard down and exposing his weakness, he will have to exploit that later – after he finds the source of that dark power.

Hours passed, Wyyrlok observed the pirate leader and his men as they worked to find a way to open the door, they had decided not to use explosives as that would most likely end up destroying any valuables on the other side of the door, they tried to use conventional technology to open the door, using hacks, but not even the Tech specialist could pry open the door, she had stated that the door seemed to reject everything she could throw at it, code slices, hacks, overrides – everything. Troublesome Wyyrlok thought. If this continues, these mercenaries will become aggravated and I – A Sudden pressure in his mind cut off his train of thought, Wyyrlok closed his eyes and placed a hand on his forehead, the source of power had not been active since the mercenaries had landed, but now, it felt as strong as it had from outside. A firm hand took hold of his shoulder and shook him – through the force, Wyyrlok had sensed that it was the Tech Specialist – a female Zabrak. Wyyrlok shook he head and spoke. “What is it?”

“We’ve broken through the door, the captain wants to you to guide us to the armory” eagerness oozed from the Tech specialist – from all of the mercenaries, their thoughts filled with visions of a life of glamour and credits. How amusing.

Wyyrlok made his way to meet Alek and his men at the door, he found the man standing, arms collapsed and holding two blaster pistols, one a highly modified variation of a Clone Wars era blaster and the other a standard hold-out pistol – the former designed as a pistol sized blaster rifle capable of blasting holes through droids and organics, the latter designed as a last resort weapon.  Wyyrlok raised an eye brow. “Expecting trouble?” he asked, unsure of the situation himself.

“I’m always expecting trouble, Doc” Wyyrlok nodded and turned his attention to now opened door.

“We don’t know how” The Tech Specialist stated almost as if she had read his mind. “One moment, I was sitting moving some things on my Hacking module and then bam! It opens up”

Alek snorted and cocked his pistols. “Lady Luck is smiling on us, let’s not stand around and ask questions.” He whistled his men over, from what Wyyrlok could tell, these were his top men, all veterans of war –and armed to the teeth.  Alek turned to two of the six soldiers. One - a tall man, with dark brown eyes, black unkempt short hair, a beard and an imposing physique, nicknamed Fives and the other – a Deveronian of average height, wearing full body armor – Cinnegar armor, this man was named Erka. “Erka, Fives! You two take point” The two men nodded. “Ay-El Es, Keelah, you two will be watching our flank” The Cathar and human pirates both nodded. Alek turned to the rest of his men and spoke loud enough for all of them to hear. “Listen up! This could be our greatest find, so I’ll be checking this beauty out personally, I want you all to stay here and guard the ship, while I’m gone, Slice” He placed his hand on the Tech Specialist’s shoulder. “Slice is in charge, if I hear that any of you bastards disobeyed an order from her, I’m going to use your hides for target practice! Are we clear?!”

“Sir Yes sir!” the men replied in unison.

“That’s what I like to hear!” Wyyrlok, smiled at the man, impressed by how his show of military authority. Alek turned to the Chagrian. “What?”

“I am simply impressed, it’s not often that a researcher such as myself gets to witness such a display of power” the large man let out a loud laugh and simply brandished his weapons.

“Are you ready Doctor?”

“I have been for the past three hours” Wyyrlok found himself smiling at the man – a genuine smile.

“Ha! Good man”

------

Fives and Erka took point, large heavily modified E-11 rifles in hand, both men moved in a half crouch, expertly – albeit crudely, maneuvering themselves from one part of the wall to the next, both silent and focused. Could they be Commandos perhaps? Wyyrlok mused; he looked to the two other men covering Alek and himself, the Cathar – Ay-EL Es –stayed close to his partner, Repeater blaster held close to his body, while the human cradled his sniper rifle as it were a child.

“Where’s the armory, Doc?’ Alek whispered, moving ever so slowly – as if he were sneaking around a pack of sleeping Kath Hounds. The corridors were unnaturally empty, no signs of struggle, no blaster scorch marks, no weapons – just emptiness. “Doc!” Alek whispered again.

Wyyrlok closed his eyes, his mind flashing back to the facility schematics he had found on the uncharted world.  “We are close” Wyyrlok finally said, his eyes still closed – feeling for the feint whisper he felt a moment ago, a sudden pulse of power caught his attention,  the powerful felt different, No longer passive, yet not quite aggressive.

Wyyrlok felt another pulse of power run through the force that forced him to return back to reality, this time; he had felt the source of power – barely. “Through here” he finally said. “The armory should be through this area”

“You’re certain”?” The large man known as Fives asked

“I am rarely wrong” Wyyrlok replied, it was taking a great deal of effort to keep himself for slaughtering the men that held him captive.

Another current of power shuddered through the force.

Wyyrlok’s eyes were a flame of determination, something was calling him, and it was guiding him to the source of this power “Through here!” Wyyrlok ran past Fives and Erka moving too fast for the eye to see.

“What the hell” Was all Wyyrlok heard as he ran.

With each step he took, Wyyrlok felt the pulse become more powerful and noticeable, he had heard tales of the Jedi Master, Jaden Korr, a jedi who had fought against a powerful Rakata entity, a being made up of pure dark side energy.  The legends state that Korr fought that being and survived. Years ago, Wyyrlok’s own master, Darth Krayt, had joined forces with the Jedi and together they had slain an entity more powerful than anyone had ever seen, Wyyrlok couldn’t help but wonder if the being that his master faced was the same one that Jaden Korr ha – Suddenly a tremor through the force stopped him dead in his tracks, Wyyrlok reached for his blades – an act based solely on instinct –and cursed when he realized the situation. Perhaps, it would serve me well to keep my fangs sheathed. He told himself.

-------

“I want you three to go off in the same direction he went through and bring his hide back to me, I want him alive, I doubt he’ll be of any trouble to you all. Bring him back or don’t come back at all, understood?’

“Yes sir” The three men saluted and went off on their way. Alek turned to see his friend – fives, pacing back and forth, the man had been his friend for years, it seemed only natural that Alek make the man his second in command. “Is something wrong?”

“That sniveling coward!” Fives roared “I knew I should have killed him when I had the chance!”

“Would you relax?”  Alek said, before he could continue, Fives let out a mocking laugh and cut him off.

“Relax?! Have you been smoking too many deathsticks Alek? That bastard just left us in the dirt how can we -

“Look, he’s not going anywhere, we have his ship and there aren’t any other hangars here, he may know this area, but the only way off this station is through here and he knows it” Alek looked around, patting himself and searching his pockets until he finally found what he was looking for. “Ah, there you are beautiful, been awhile since I last smoked one of these, hey Fives, you got a lighter-“ Alek turned back to face his squad leader, only to find a dark being standing where his friend should have been, the darkness was a swirl of darkness and ghostly shadows, it’s body was surrounded by small bolts of lightning. Alek’s eyes widened when he saw that the shadow held another being – the victim gasped for air, kicking, screaming and struggling to break the grip of the creature – It was Fives.

“Drop him you kriffing huttspawn!” Alek quickly drew his modified blaster rifle and his blaster pistol and let loose a barrage of red blaster bolts, the shadow seemed impervious to the volley of energy that it was hit by; it paid no attention to him and instead, turned its attention back to Fives and stared into Fives’ eyes. A burst of electric energy encircled Fives’ body, forcing the man to shake violently, in less of a second, the man was dead and his body smoked and smelled of burnt skin.

“What in the name of –“ Alek lowered his pistols and in that instant the foggy shadow turned to him and threw the charred body of his friend at him with tremendous force, bring the Pirate leader down on his back and drawing a gasp of pain from him. “Son of a-“ Alek pushed his dead friend off his own body and pushed himself to his feat, running towards the hangar and firing wildly at the darkness. “Slice, Mar! get the engines- ” Energy silenced the mercenary leader, a blast of power hit him directly in the back, breaking his spine and sending him flying across the room with the great force.

The tech specialist turned to see where her leader had called her, but instead of seeing him, she saw a ghostly apparition, its eyes were glowing red, lightning oozed from its body, cocooning it in a case of untouchable power, her eyes widened, horror, despair and fear took hold of her instincts. She reached for her blaster, but it was already too late.

The entity extended a ghostly hand towards the Zabrak, a dark power surrounded her body, coursing through her veins, organs- both vital and non-vital, pain shot through her, her body felt as though she was being slowly crushed, her bones, her heart, every single fiber of her being was being crushed under this hold, she screamed in agony

------

The forced passed through Wyyrlok like a shockwave, bringing the Chagrian sith lord down to his knees, his head felt like it was about to crack under the pressure of this newly found dark power, his Illusion was broken. What in the name of Korriban was that!? The pain in his head intensified, despite his best efforts, he could not find the source of this painful power. Instead, his senses brought him the dim signatures of three non-force users, well armed and with the intent to subdue him; Wyyrlok pushed himself to his feet and turned to face the direction from where the three men were coming from. Wyyrlok quickly put up his illusionary force screen and smiled as the men came out of the shadows. “Gentlemen” He began “How kind of you to join me, where is the good capt-“Another shockwave of power went through Wyyrlok, bringing the big man down onto his knees, he hissed. The three men stared at him, blaster aimed at the Chagrian, his image was fuzzy –disrupted, as if he were a hologram with a low signal, his body went from a skinny and meek scientist, to that of a powerful, broad and tall man with tattoos all over his body.

Sith Tattoos.

“Those are the markings of a Sith!” Erka – the Deveronian, proclaimed. His eyes filled with horror. The two men turned to Erka and back to Wyyrlok.

I suppose there’s no use in hiding it any longer. Wyyrlok called one his twin fangs to his hands, the hilt shot at him like a bullet and ignited. Terror came from all three men, they had obviously heard tales of sith, but never had they met a master swordsman like Wyyrlok. “Surrender now or suffer the consequences” The Deveronian fired. Without thinking, Wyyrlok batted the away the fire with ease, forcing each bolt away at random locations, except for the last, Wyyrlok redirected the final bolt back at Erka and angled the shot so that it would hit the Deveronian right in knee, the man screamed in pain, the other two men quickly brought their blasters and shot at Wyyrlok, the sith lord dodged every single bolt with ease, moving faster than either man could perceive. “I grow tired of this!” Wyyrlok extended his hand towards the two men; lightning came from his hand, sending the two men flying backwards into wall. After a moment, the lightning stopped and the two men laid there unconscious and smoking, skin charred. A shudder passed through the force – his senses heightened, the power he had felt had – his eyes widened, the realization sunk in, two words, low and shaky, escaped from his lips. “it manifested!” Blaster fire and screams of horror forced the Sith lord to turn back to where he had just come from. What is this creature? Wyyrlok asked himself. Suddenly, all around him, he felt the horror of the mercenaries, were this a different situation, Wyyrlok might have smiled and left them to die, but the Hangar was his only way out and he dared not press onward to the center of the base – to the source of the power. Wyyrlok settled himself in the force, feeding on the mercenaries’ fear and began to run towards the hangar – he moved past the corridors in a blur, stopping only to see the smoking and charred remains of that fool – Fives, something inside the Chagarian twisted, it was not the flesh that shook him – he had seen the dreaded force lightning technique applied to a unsuspecting opponent and had often employed the technique himself, it was the fact that Fives – a man wearing mandalorian armor – an armor supposedly resistant to the effects of the force, was now mere flesh and bones, his armor had melted away under the intensity of the attack, whoever or whatever this thing was, it was extremely powerful  - perhaps rivaling Wyyrloks own master. Shaking the doubt and fear from his mind, Wyyrlok continued.

He now wished he had not.

In front of him stood a dark and smoking apparition, cocooned in sparks of lightning, it’s ghostly hand extended, Wyyrlok followed the direction of where the force demon was aiming and found a young Zabrak woman – the tech specialist, Slice, kicking and screaming, through the force he felt her fighting to stay alive, horror overwhelmed her other senses, but she still fought on. How interesting. The Dark Lord closed his eyes, he fed off the pain, terror and darkness around him, the death that surrounded him, corpses old and new fed his power and in that moment, Wyyrlok came alive. He opened his eyes, breathed in, reached out towards the demon and let loose a blast of power. The beast screeched and stumbled backwards onto its knee, its grip on Slice had disappeared, she fell to her knees and coughed, tears streamed from her eyes, whether it was from amazement or shock, Wyyrlok did not know.

The beast was beginning to come out of its daze. Through the force, Wyyrlok linked himself to the young girl and probed her mind, unlike the others – the supposed ‘best’ soldiers, the girl was untouched by the instinct to run, she knew she would not survive and she had accepted her fate. Wyyrlok frowned at this. A dead slave is of no use to me. Drawing on the force, Wyyrlok felt her and he made sure she felt him

listen to me the girl looked upwards and all around her, searching for the voice.

What the…? Am I go- Wyyrlok cut her off and spoke

calm yourself, it is I, Kell Douro, the scientist.

The girl looked around until her eyes saw the crimson glow of his blade. What? You don’t look anything like-

There Is no time to explain, this beast will kill us both unless you help me, even now I can feel it regaining power, so help me or we both die on this force forsaken place

Slice took hold of her blaster pistol and nodded.

The beast had regained its footing, anger poured from its core, it searched for its attacker and him crouched, scarlet blade in hand. The demon aimed its hands at Wyyrlok and unleashed a torrent of black lightning; Wyyrlok called his second fang to his hand and ignited the hilt, he formed an X with his twin blades and just barely caught the blast of dark energy, in the corner of his eye, he saw the young Zabrak fire at the force abomination. “No!” he said through gritted teeth. “Prime the engines of my ship, I will distract it GO!” The girl needed no more convincing; she let loose another clip of blaster fire on the beast as she sprinted towards the Dark Fang –Wyyrloks personal ship.  

Drawing on the force, Wyyrlok dulled the pain that shot through him as he defended against the stream of lightning, with great effort he batted the lightning aside and sent it flying into the nearby wall. The creature growled and lashed out with a Telekinetic blast; Wyyrlok brought both of his hands up and met the creature with a blast of power of his own.  His muscles strained under the weight of the demon’s power, sweat covered his face, his arms shook; the pressure was too much, if he did not do something he would fall soon.

His mind raced, he had no way of beating this creature - a thought passed through him; he had no way of beating this creature. That’s it! Wyyrlok pushed forward, he withdrew one hand, instantly the pressure and power intensified, the act of fighting back, pained him, but he would rather be pain than die. Wyyrlok reached for his arm bracer and pressed one single button – the one that activated his droid – 89-T0.

The droid activated, it had been offline and hidden within a secret compartment within the ship walls ever since the Mercenaries had arrived. Though they were solemnly used for live combat against Jedi anymore – due to Krayts emphasis on live combat training, the droids were a match for any Jedi or Sith and were very often employed to test the skills of the young and eager One sith members . Wyyrlok had taken 89-T0 as more of a protocol droid, than a training one, yet it still had served him well. The droid opened the secret wall panel and found a young female managing the ships engine, she turned at took aim at the droid. “Stop or I’ll” The droid ignored the Zabrak and headed out to battle.

Wyyrlok could not hold any longer, the demon’s power was too much, he crossed his arms out in front of him forming a shield to protect himself from the more destructive damage of the blast, the shield had worked. He looked towards where the beast had stood, it seemed drained? Seizing his opportunity, Wyyrlok unleashed his own force lightning on the beast, striking it directly in the chest. The beast shrieked and fell to its knees. Good, now would be the perfect opportunity to- Wyyrlok’s train of thought was stopped abruptly as a small tug from the force warned him of something -  his eyes widened, he quickly extended both of his hands and blasted the beast with a surge of cackling lightning.

It did not hit the beast, it was not meant to.

The demon had been gathering energy, it was never drained, it had fooled him and were it not for his force enhanced senses, he was positive he would have been nothing more than flesh and bones. His blast had just barely caught the beast’s dark power, though the act had saved him for instant death, now the Dark Lord and the Demon were locked in a battle of force lightning, one a storm of black and incomparable power and the other might as well have been a spark from a hydro-spanner.
Wyyrlok fell to his knees, his arms still held outward at the beast, but it was futile, he was draining, whatever he had left was drained in that last ditched effort to meet the Demon’s relentless assault.

The activation of a lightsaber forced him to look up, it was his droid, and in its hand was the cool hilt of a lightsaber, the yellow light was a welcomed sight. The droid took aim with its empty and fired a stream of rockets at the beast. The projectiles staggered the beast and forced it to withdraw its assault on Wyyrlok. The dark lord rose to his feat and joined his droid in the counter attack; he took hold of the rubble around him and threw it at the beast as his droid continued its merciless attack. The rubble and the explosive projectiles forced the beast back onto a wall, directly under the walkway Wyyrlok had used hours ago, not wasting any more time; Wyyrlok ignited his lightsaber and threw both of them in a spinning loop, the fangs struck the supports of the walkway and brought it crashing down onto the beast.  “T0, it is time for us to take our leave, keep firing at the hellspawn as we make our retreat, lets go!”  In a flash, both Wyyrlok and the droid dashed towards the Dark Fang, Wyyrlok and the droid moved as fast as they could, becoming a blur of red, black and silver as they made their way back on the ship. “The engines are primed, we need to go”

“Not yet!” Wyyrlok turned back to the boarding the ramp and saw that the creature was recovering, he turned to see the freighter the mercenaries had boarded the station on. I may not be able to kill you, but I will make you feel pain! Settling himself deep within the force, Wyyrlok took hold of Freighter, his arms shook under its weight, but he held onto it, feeding on his anger and pain, with one powerful push, Wyyrlok tossed the ship at the beast and held it in place, he felt the darkness around him grow stronger, fear, anger, pain all surrounded and empowered him – it was not this place that fed him, it was his own power and finally Wyyrlok felt truly whole.  

The ship began to lift off from the ground. “Not yet!” he repeated. He fell deeper into the force, in it, he saw the fall of the One Sith under Krayt, the price his obsession with that Skywalker child would cost and in it, he finally saw the only way he could save it. A voice spoke to him, a voice that had once visited him in a dream -a Vision and finally he understood. “Two there should be; no more, no less. One to embody power, the other to crave it.” He opened eyes and on that last word he made of a fist out of both of his hands, a shower of flame and metal was all that followed that ancient mantra. The freighter and the Demon were no more.  Now I understand my lord, this heretic must be killed and only I can do it – Only I can reestablish The Rule of Two. Wyyrlok turned to the young Zabrak and his droid. "Take us back to Korriban -  we have much to do."