Star Wars - Shadow Invasion

Episode 7: Extinction

The time had come for the decisive battle. General Shore had summoned as many heroes from past conflicts as had been available. But there were also many new faces among the illustrious group that had gathered in the large conference room aboard the frigate “Recreation” which had served General Shore as his new command ship after the cruiser “Endurable” had been destroyed.

Ewok-scout Cookie and her partner, near-human explorer Larson, had volunteered as soon as they had heard that the general was looking for someone to enter the heart of the shadowlands. Their friend Dr. Shi Ravak had also been among the first to respond, as well as Dathomirian shaman Alexis. All four had been part of the original expedition to planet Grond that had brought back the shadow scourge almost a year ago and therefore felt responsible to put things right again. Jedi-apprentice Eric Mitanni, who had accompanied Cookie, Larson and Dr. Ravak on some of their expeditions before and whose lightsaber was a gift from guardian Anpu, just like Dr. Ravak’s lightbow, joined them as well.

These five brave heroes were assigned five Republic commandos including a demolitions expert who would be bringing along a fair amount of detonite to blow up the center of all shadow activity in the Zulow-sector: the defective jumpdrive-core that had been ejected from the derelict Vitiation-class supercruiser “Harbinger of Doom” after the Battle of the Eclipse and that had fallen through its self-generated portal and hit planet Grond where the impact had split reality into a light- and a shadow-world.

That had been the birth of the shadows and the expedition team around Cookie and Dr. Ravak had accidentally brought some shadow beings back on their damaged starship. Now they were about to get back there and bring it to an end. Strike-team Aurek was completed by Zabrak Ana and Nautolan Maeve who had worked as prostitutes on planet Uprilia where the shadows struck first, and they also had been among the first wave of inhabitants that had come in direct contact with the shadows. Since then they had established themselves as leaders of the resistance, and after the rest of the populace had been evacuated to another planet they were eager to draw the line as well. To elevate their chances of success the group received five prototypes of a newly developed ray gun that was able to fire concentrated ultraviolet light that would burn all shadow creatures in its firing arc.

Strike team Besh was the crew of the Nebulon-B frigate “Deliverance”. After the frigate had received a hit to the bridge, the same as the “Recreation”, which had killed the previous captain first officer Damien Blaze-qui had assumed command and had led the ship securely through the remaining battle and back to safety. For this feat he was promoted to be the new captain of the “Deliverance”, and his first mission as ship’s commander was to transport the light freighter of team Aurek safely through the blue nebula which protected planet Grond in the center of the Zulow-sector from outside viewers. This was a dangerous task as the nebula consisted of ionized particles that could disable or damage an unshielded ship within seconds if it deviated from the safe path.

Since the scouts that General Shore had sent in had reported that the bulk of the remaining imperial fleet of Admiral Ralin had formed a blockade around the only known entry point into the nebula the general had assembled as many warships as possible in this short time. The captains of all capital ships were linked into the meeting via holo. These were assigned the designation of strike team Cresh: the Corellian CR-90 corvettes “Star Duster”, “Screaming Mynoc” and “Corellian Dream”, Nebulon-B frigate “Aurora” and dreadnaughts “Steelhead” and “Vindicator”. Admiral Kaler of the Royal Alliance of New Alderaan had come with his flagship, Vitiation-supercruiser “Dark Horizon”, and had brought along all warships that the RANA could spare at the moment: Victory-class star destroyers “Firestorm II” and “Venerous”, as well as Imperial-class “Steadfast” and “Invincible”.

Strike team Dorn consisted of the Republic starfighter squadrons, including “Blue Squadron” led by Captain Su in her heavily modified YT-1300 freighter “Red Crane”. The eccentric pilot had spent the last few months and many credits earned through advertisement deals to upgrade her ship yet again. Now she felt ready to battle the imperial scourge and their flagship “Reaper of Life”. Next was freshly promoted X-wing pilot Captain Jen Tanut and her “Sentinel Squadron”, human X-wing pilot Captain Kir Donla and her mixed “Sunburn Squadron”, as well as the famous “Wild Squadron” led by Captain Reena Arrowwind.

Lastly, strike team Echo was introduced, consisting of the RANA starfighter squadrons. They were led by the newly promoted “First Starfighter of the Alliance” who was now presented: General Jaaron Arrowwind, long time TIE-hunter ace of the imperial space forces – and older brother of Captain Reena Arrowwind. Reena’s face turned white as she received the news, and when he called her “baby sister” in front of all the other commanders she had to resist the overwhelming urge to jump at him through the holo and strangle the living daylights out of him.

After all commanders had been introduced and assigned to their respective teams General Shore explained the battle plan: The combined fleet would attack the imperial blockade at the nebula’s entrance to open a corridor for the “Deliverance” so she could jump in and bring her precious cargo to the heart of the nebula. Then the fleet would try to hold this point as long as possible to allow for their safe return. The “Deliverance” was to bring strike team Aurek as close to Grond as possible so they could land, traverse into the shadow world and fight their way to the jumpdrive core. There they would blow up the core to destroy the power nexus of the shadows in this sector.

While the gathered crews were still discussing the tactics the holo suddenly switched to another channel which showed former prime minister of Uprilia, Clennor Mastarshan, who had been one of the first beings to be possessed by the shadows. His Eyes were black with little swirls and a purple glow, which to the veterans of this campaign gave away that he wasn’t simply a shadow soldier or shadow commander, but something higher up in their hierarchy. His voice was barely human and sent chills down the spines of Cookie and several others as he mocked the combined forces and threatened them with the destruction of the whole galaxy. On the other hand he offered a generous position in one part of the future Shadow Combine ruled by him if someone would be willing to convert.

But everyone present stood their ground and declared that they would not falter before his eyes, but soon come for him personally. He laughed and said that he’d be expecting them before he separated the connection. General Shore held a short motivational speech and wished everyone good luck and that the force would be with them. Then everyone went to their ships and took off.

When the combined fleet of New Republic and RANA emerged from hyperspace the remaining ships from Admiral Ralin’s imperial fleet already waited for them: Victory-class star destroyers “Poisonous”, “Decay”, “Torment” and “Venomous”, Imperial-class star destroyers “Exterminator”, “Disruptor” and “Undoing” as well as the flagship, Vitiation-class supercruiser “Reaper of Life”, looked menacing and ready to shred the attackers apart. Surrounded by their TIE-fighter squadrons they had blocked the only known entry point into the blue nebula and waited for General Shore’s first move.

The general had also staged a formation with Victory-class star destroyers “Venerous” and “Firestorm II” taking point. The latter met a swift and brutal fate as the “Torment” launched an immediate forward strike and rained destruction upon the not well prepared “Firestorm II”, ending it in a big fireball.

This proved a huge trial for the attacker’s tactics and morale, as the empire attempted to divide their enemies. It took the Republic and RANA ships a few minutes to recover from this blow and carry the fight to the empire. As a consequence, the “Venomous” was destroyed, but there still was no corridor for the “Deliverance” to enter the nebula.

Then, Admiral Ralin had the “Reaper of Life” use their space-folding jumpdrive to appear behind the rows of the attackers to break their backline while his star destroyers pushed forward between the attacking ships and forced them into close combat. He almost managed to blow up the aft-section of the “Dark Horizon”, but frigate “Aurora” moved to intercept the barrage and was vaporized instead.

All the while the starfighter squadrons fought for their lives. Captain Su managed to lead her “Blue Squadron” successfully and with few casualties through the battle and even managed to take a few shots at the bigger targets. The same was true for Captain Kir Donla of “Sunburn Squadron”. Captain Jen Tanut managed to cut the losses of her “Sentinel Squadron” even further, and Captain Reena Arrowwind and her “Wild Squadron” fought almost flawlessly and only lost one single ship.

Her brother, General Jaaron Arrowwind wasn’t so lucky or his pilots were not as able as their counterparts. From the four TIE-Hunter squadrons under his personal command, “Rapier Squadron”, “Mace Squadron”, “Axe Squadron” and “Lance Squadron” there were not enough surviving pilots to form a single squadron out of them. Even though his squadmates were dying and they were all fighting desperately he could not stop mocking his little sister by shooting a bogey from her tail and informing everyone on open channel that he once again had saved her ass. Shortly after she got his back by charging headfirst at his TIE-Hunter and firing while spinning wildly at the two enemy TIEs that had been sticking to his exhaust-stream. When he screamed and demanded an explanation – again on open com frequencies – she asked calmly if he hadn’t realized that she had just saved his ass.

The battle waged on, but only when the attackers started to concentrate their firepower they were able to destroy the “Torment” and the “Exterminator”, thereby opening a flight corridor for the frigate “Deliverance” to enter the nebula.

As soon as Captain Damien Blaze-qui saw the opening he ordered a course correction and activation of their hyperdrive. During the short jump he transmitted a motivational speech to his crew via intercom and reminded them that the fate of the galaxy now rested in their able hands. The crew was so swept away by this statement that every last crewman worked to his max and shields, propulsion, navigation and weapons systems were trimmed to the optimum.

This was direly needed, though, as the ionizing nebula could render smaller ships helpless with ease and the electric charges assaulted the shields of the “Deliverance” constantly. But the shields held and the frigate could continue her journey without delay. Shortly before leaving the nebula five small dark ships appeared, but their shadow orb weapons were also unable to penetrate the frigate’s shields. Instead, they proved a great targeting practice for the gunnery crews of the “Deliverance” who made up for not having been able to join the battle outside by swiftly dispatching this threat.

During the fight the frigate’s holo-transmitters picked up another message from the “Shadow Prime”, embodied by prime minister Mastarshan. He tried his best to distract and discourage the crew with mockery, threats or promises. When the attempt to cut off his communication failed Captain Blaze-qui drew his blaster pistol and shot the holoemitter so that it went out in a burst of sparks. Despite, or maybe because of his coolness the crew cheered their captain and were even more willing to follow him into certain doom.

When the “Deliverance” entered an orbit around planet Grond whose blue sun placed a distinct and cool aura upon the scenery Captain Blaze-qui gave order for strike team Aurek to take off.

This was what Cookie and Eric had been waiting for and with a blaze of sparks from their landing gear they dusted off the hangar in their YT-1300 freighter they had called “Lightbringer”. They set a course for the planet and tried to locate the approximate area of the portal with their scanners. Since the portal had already granted them access to the shadow dimension on their last visit that was their best chance to get to the damaged core. Unfortunately, strong magnetic interference from the charged atmosphere of Grond rendered their sensors nearly useless. So they requested support from the “Deliverance” and their crew was able to guide them to a rough area, so Eric and Dr. Ravak could sense the portal through the force. Eric set a course for the portal site, but the ship got into strong turbulences.

Suddenly, prime minister Mastarshan appeared on their holo displays and tried to irritate or manipulate the team to go against their own. Convinced that he could impress the enemy leader the same way he had impressed the people on Wefreon by letting his lightsaber float telekinetically in front of him and thereby demonstrating how steadfast he was, Eric used the force and let his weapon float in front of him. Later he would claim that his lightsaber had activated itself and beheaded him, but the others noticed that his lightsaber hilt fell to the floor and his eyes started to cloud up with black nebula.

Out of instinct Larson grabbed one of their special UV-ray guns, yelled at Cookie that she closed her eyes and Dr. Ravak instinctively did the same, so nobody else was affected. Larson then pointed his ray gun at Eric’s eyes and pulled the trigger. The Jedi-apprentice screamed and woke up from his hypnosis, but his eyes were temporarily blinded. Dr. Ravak screamed at Larson that he should not use the ray guns against their own people, but Larson was utterly convinced that he had just saved the whole mission.

Dr. Ravak led the blinded Eric back to the lounge where she tried to heal him with the force as good as possible, so he would regain at least part of his vision. It succeeded and Eric could make out the outlines of his surroundings, but both knew that he would need extensive treatment afterwards to be able to fully see again. Dr. Ravak also suspected that in his attempt to feel the portal through the force Eric had involuntarily launched the equivalent of a flare in the force so that the shadow had found him in the first place.

Meanwhile Cookie set down the “Lightbringer” on the sandy, foggy wasteland that was the remains of the planet’s light side. Then they geared up, left the ship and locked it up tight to they would not bring back any more shadow creatures this time. Then they set out for the portal.

Meanwhile the front lines at the nebula’s entrance had changed. In their fruitless attempt to crush the lines of the attackers the imperial ships had strayed too far from their blockade, and so the ships of the Republic and RANA had navigated around them and now controlled the entrance point and became the defenders. Relentlessly the imperials attacked the now defenders who were equally determined to hold their position. While both supercruisers battered each other with barrages from their main cannons the imperials concentrated their fire on the dreadnaught “Vindicator” which lead to its destruction.

Spurred by this loss the defenders retaliated and in turn concentrated their fire on the star destroyers “Disruptor” and “Poisonous” which erupted in flames. The lines of the imperials were broken and a few meddlesome Republic fighters were already proclaiming their impending victory, as Admiral Ralin requested assistance via holo. Mere seconds later five more ships materialized from their shadow dimension. They looked menacing with their glossy black surface and long spiked or tentacle-like protrusions that grew outward from their main hull. Thick purple energy beams were spewn from their midsections and gravely damaged some ships. Other, smaller shadow vessels were attacking the starfighter squadrons and put more pressure on the joined forces of Republic and RANA.

Back on Grond Eric attempted to compensate for his lack of physical sight by using the force and set his danger sense to trigger on any hostile movement. Unfortunately the place was close to the dark side and so he saw attackers and dangers everywhere. So he decided to drop his danger sense again when he entered the portal. On the other side his now overly sensitive eyes could see better through the darkness and so he stayed alert. It was also his task to mark their way back to the portal with glowsticks so they would be able to get back fast.

Half the group was already used to the sights on the other side of the portal, although it seemed to have gotten worse since last time. The newcomers on the other hand were slightly discouraged by the sight of the dark, purple sky, the twisted and gnarled trees, the slithering plants and the mutated primeval beasts. The dark side fauna showed its deadly face when a giant tyrannosaurus broke through the foliage and died in the crossfire of the group.

Shortly thereafter two giant worms pushed from the undergrowth and attacked the group. Concentrated fire seemed to work here as well and both fell to the ground, dead, with their four-sectioned mouths only a few meters apart, so that they formed a grizzly path that the group had to take due to time limitations. Fortunately the group was on edge and so they could evade the two tongues or smaller worms that sprang from the mouths and finish them off as well.

When they emerged from the jungle onto a clearing they ran into a stampede of some stegosaurs that had been crazed by their mutations, and now even the trained and hardboiled commando troopers made mistakes. Two soldiers ran in the wrong direction and were surprised by the stampede. One was trampled to death by the creatures, while the other, the group’s demolitions expert, was impaled on a long horn and dragged along. Alexis tried to get him to safety with telekinesis, but it was too late and she could only salvage his backpack with one half of the explosives. Even though they had split them up and Eric had carried the other half, the backpack of the demolitions expert contained the detonators without which the detonite would have been useless.

After a twenty minute walk they reached their destination, the crater formed by the impact of the jump drive core of the “Harbinger of Doom”. When they had crossed the edge they could see that all three rings of the magnetic containment field still rotated, but they made horrible noises that probably came from dirt and decay in the mechanical parts. The core’s condition had definitely gone worse and even without their intervention it probably would not last long anymore.

Bevor they could place their explosives one last obstacle moved in their way: prime minister Mastarshan himself had been waiting for them and now fought relentlessly. He shot purple-black lightning from his fingertips and burned one of the commando troopers to his death. The rest fired back, but it was no use as his dark energy absorbed all the blaster bolts. The supreme shadow laughed and mocked them once more, while at the same time he offered them mercy if they decided to join him in his shadow dominion.

Alexis called to the force and formed pointed projectiles from the dirt that rained down on the supreme shadow, and they seemed to have made an impact, but then he pointed at her with his hand and she was lifted from the ground struggling helplessly while he strangled her. Dr. Ravak shot at him with her lightbow and was able to distract him enough for Eric to close the distance and strike with his lightsaber. The head of Mastarshan rolled for a few meters and then stopped, an unbelieving expression on his face, while his body dissolved into purple-black shadows that sank into the ground where he could gather for another attack.

Deep in thought Dr. Ravak told the group what she had been thinking the whole time: The cave paintings of the Ewok-ancestors that they had discovered during their first visit to Grond had foreseen this event and had recorded two possible solutions: one had been the stabilization of the anomaly through a second energy core which they had done last time. The other one was the destruction of the jump drive core which would result in a black hole. The archaeologist took her datapad and called up the recordings of the Ewok cave. The painting of the second option had no energy core on the light side to stabilize the whole construct. She realized that if their mission was to be successful they had to go back and destroy the light side generator before they could blow up the core. And they had to be successful, otherwise the shadows would soon reign over the whole galaxy.

The team was determined to prevent this and while Larson was able to show his talent with explosives by rigging the detonite at the jump drive core the rest of the team secured the site against attacks from outside. Unfortunately the timed detonator had been damaged when the explosives specialist had been impaled and a quick test made it clear that the radio signal for the remote detonator was useless due to atmospheric interferences. The only possibility was a manual set-off via deadman’s control.

Downcast the team members looked at each other’s faces as they realized that one of them would not be going back. Several hands reached for the detonator, but Dr. Ravak was fastest. Then Ana stepped forward and took the device from her hand, saying that the archaeologist still had a whole life ahead of her. Ana, on the other hand, had grown up on Uprilia, had worked as a prostitute because that had been her only chance to make a living. Now her planet was cast into the shadow realm, most of her friends and acquaintances had been devoured by shadow beasts or killed by the oppressive regime of prime minister Mastarshan. She had used up all of her strength to get the rest of her people to safety and see this through to the end. This would be her final legacy.

Spontaneously, Dr. Ravak hugged the other Zabrak and Cookie felt heartbroken as she had to say goodbye. The Ewok cuddled Ana as long as she could and wouldn’t stop crying. Lastly, Maeve hugged her former colleague and the group set out for the journey back.

Just when they were about to leave the crater one of the commando troopers shouted out a warning and the next moment he was shred to pieces by a shadow beast. Several more beasts emerged from the surrounding darkness and pounced the group. Desperately they fought and could shoot down all but one beast. This one was a mutated feral cat, like the ones they had defeated on Uprilia, and the beast was fast and agile and evaded the blaster bolts. With a fierce growl it jumped on Ana and ripped its claws across her body before it was hit by one of Dr. Ravak’s light arrows and died.

Quickly, half the group returned to Ana who was badly wounded and coughed up blood. Desperately Eric and Alexis looked at each other since both could use the force only to heal themselves, not others. Then Dr. Ravak laid her hand on the Zabrak’s wounds to stabilize her. Ana urged them to go as long as she could still hold the detonator. Maeve announced that she would also stay and make Ana’s last minutes as comfortable as possible. Cookie shed more tears as she cuddled up to Maeve as well, while the others said their goodbyes. Dr. Ravak saluted them with the old Jedi-saying that the force would be with them. Then the group moved fast back to the portal.

Meanwhile the space battle had reached its final phase. Several more shadow vessels had materialized along their outer flanks and closed in on the joined fleet of Republic and RANA. The second wave was even larger than the attack cruisers, but of similar design. The shadow-dreadnaughts cut through the defenders with their purple beams as if they were made of butter. The last Victory-class star destroyer the RANA had brought, the “Venerous” had nothing left to defend itself and was sliced into pieces. In addition, another shadow-vessel appeared whose dimensions outclassed those of an Imperial-class star destroyer. The “Supreme Shadow” was still holding back, but soon it would strike and there was nothing to stop it.

General Shore called to all ships to hold on and buy team Aurek more time. He then ordered his command ship, the frigate “Recreation” to attack the shadow-vessels. Captain Su who had hoped for an opening to directly attack her nemesis, the “Reaper of Life”, but to no avail, now ordered her squadron to concentrate all firepower on one of the shadow ships. She took the lead in her “Red Crane” and after her first torpedo had broken the attack-cruiser’s shields she destroyed the unnatural ship with her second shot. She cheered loudly and her squadron cheeringly fell in behind her as she emerged from the cloud of debris to take on the next enemy.

But despite this small victory the starfighter squadrons were greatly outnumbered and especially the RANA-TIE-squadrons suffered heavy losses. The shields of the capital ships were about to collapse, and General Shore as well as Admiral Kaler knew that their forces would not last much longer against such an assault. The commanders hoped that their commando team would hurry up.

At the same time Cookie and the other members of strike-team Aurek had arrived at the portal. Despite the darkness and the hostile vegetation the way back had been easy to find thanks to the intelligent placement of Eric’s glow sticks. They had to fight another batch of beasts and the last commando trooper was torn apart by another dinosaur before it fell to the blaster fire. Then they had reached the gateway between the two halves of the planet, jumped through and followed the glow sticks on the other side back to their ship.

All the while Maeve had held the head of mortally wounded Ana on her lap and had caressed her hair while Ana had apologized for getting her into this whole story. Then they heard a hiss and Meave rose to her feet, alarmed, and drew her blaster pistol. She had always despised violence and weapons and had only rarely ever used her blaster during the past months, but now was the time when it counted. These beasts couldn’t be allowed to get through to Ana before the rest of the group was ready on the other side!

With a battlecry the Nautolan began firing on the shadow beasts, and it was hard to tell if it was purely her desperation or if she had been a natural with the blaster pistol, but most of her shots hit the mark and so more and more shadow beasts fell to her blaster bolts. Until the power cell was empty.

In the meantime team Aurek had unlocked the freighter, and Larson helped Dr. Ravak secure the boarding ramp while Cookie and Eric ran to the cockpit and Alexis jumped into the gunwell to charge up the main laser cannon. When Cookie gave the signal the ramp was pulled up and the “Lightbringer” took off. Quickly it crossed the few kilometers of disctance to the reactor and took up firing position. Alexis concentrated and let the force flow through her body to improve her aim. They only had this one shot before they had to dust off. She aimed carefully and pulled the trigger.

Maeve threw away her empty pistol and looked back at Ana who smiled at her. The Nautolan smiled back and pulled a thermal detonator from her pocket. “I love you, sister!” she said, activated the detonator and ran into the incoming masses of shadow creatures. They ecstatically jumped the young woman and ripped her to pieces with their claws before the explosion of the detonator ended them, too.

At the same time something on the light side of the planet seemed to have broken. In shock Ana looked at the spot where Maeve had blown herself up and spoke her name one last time. Then she died from her wounds and the detonator slipped out of her hand. The deadman’s control activated the detonation of the jump drive core. The outer ring was blown to pieces and the inner rings were damaged so that they failed as well, terminating their protective function. The magnetic seal broke and the singularity was set free in the shadow zone, and it immediately devoured it whole.

In the light world Cookie and Eric had pulled the throttle immediately after the shot and went straight up through the atmosphere. Behind them, two separate shockwaves spread from the core, a light and a dark one, but they were too fast and would reach them soon. Larson ran to the engine room and tried to sauce up the power just enough so they could ride the shockwave of the event horizon.

The frigate “Deliverance” had been on stand-by the whole time and now maneuvered into position so the freighter could straight up fly into the main hangar. With the help of the repulsors as a break cushion Cookie and Eric managed to safely land the “Lightbringer” in the main hangar and the “Deliverance” immediately jumped into hyperspace. Fortunately, the gravitational distortion caused by the new black hole took them back to normal space a good distance away from the planet. Behind them the black hole expanded its influence and began pulling the nebula towards its center. Onboard the frigate the engineering crews worked full time to distribute all resources to the critical systems in the best way possible to prevent their ship from being caught in the gravitational pull of the black hole.

Outside the nebula a different spectacle could be observed. At the same time the jumpdrive core exploded on Grond the life essence of the supreme shadow and all his minions in the whole sector which he had controlled, ceased to exist. One by one the shadow cruisers and dreadnaughts broke off, began rotating uncontrollably or rammed into each other. While General Shore still wondered if this truly meant the end of the battle, all shadow-vessels blew up, until only three enemy ships were left: Victory-class star destroyer “Decay”, Imperial-class star destroyer “Undoing” and the flagship “Reaper of Life”.

Onboard the “Reaper” the black veil vaporized from Admiral Ralin’s eyes and he blinked, unsure as to what exactly had happened and what the exact date and time were. Then he inquired about the status of his fleet, and when he learned that he had only three ships left and was greatly outnumbered he ordered an immediate retreat. A few remaining TIEs managed to get back onto their respective carrier ships before each of the capital ships took a different flight path and the “Reaper of Life” activated her jumpdrive. Captain Su recognized this and sent a whole volley of torpedoes after her as a parting gift so that they vanished together with the cruiser in a rift.

Then the battle was over and everyone was observing the entrance of the nebula to wait for the return of the “Deliverance”. Sensors showed a massive energy surge and a gravitational anomaly inside the nebula, and minutes went by with anxious hope, until finally the sensor station of the “Recreation” reported an object leaving the nebula. When the “Deliverance” broke through the nebulous clouds and reverted to normal speed it was greeted by thunderous applause.

The blastwave of the event horizon, however, stopped at one point inside the nebula and then retracted to its center while pulling in a good portion of the blue mass. Further observations confirmed that the black hole had taken on a mostly stable state and began to slowly pull in and devour the enormous amount of gas and debris of which the nebula was made up. That process would take centuries before enough matter was devoured so the black hole would be visible from the outside. A warning beacon was placed at the entrance to prevent travelers from accidentally entering the nebula.

After the wreckages and debris of the space battle had been searched for survivors or their mortal remains the joined fleet of New Republic and RANA retreated back to their staging point. On the next day General Shore and Admiral Kaler as well as their crews commemorated the fallen, honored the survivors and celebrated their victory. Especially the heroic deeds of Ana and Maeve were honored and remembered.

Epilogue: What remains…

The heroic sacrifice of the two women did not go unnoticed by the Lord-Regent of the Royal Alliance of New Alderaan, and so she had her artists create two holo statues for display at the palace in their honor. In addition she invited all participants of the battle to New Alderaan to celebrate their victory and present each with a medal created specifically for this occasion. Besides the heroes of strike-team Aurek, Cookie, Larson, Alexis, Eric and Dr. Ravak, the fleet commanders, captains of the capital ships and squadron leaders were among those who received the medal of the Zulow-sector from the hands of Lord-Regent Alicia Thul of Alderaan. They also received a medal of bravery from the New Republic, represented by special ambassador Terence Mo’Ore to honor their deeds.

Inspired by the official announcement of Jaaron Arrowwind as the First Starfighter of the RANA his home planet of Lengnaar which was located in a neighbouring sector pledged its allegiance to the RANA, complete with all remaining ex-imperial personnel and starships. This way, the arrogant pilot had accomplished what his sister had planned all these years: The planet was free from imperial rule and part of a strong alliance. Only that she had planned for Lengnaar to join the Republic. With this clever move her brother had cemented his influence in planetary politics and at the same time the bounties on her head had been left in full effect, thereby preventing her return while he was celebrated as savior of Lengnaar. He had outplayed her to the fullest.

It was therefore bittersweet irony that brother and sister – each with their family crest proudly on their respective faction’s uniform – for the first time in years stood reunited next to each other while the Lord-Regent presented them with their medals, and at the same time they were separated by differences the size of entire worlds.

So it was only a small comfort for Reena when General Shore stepped forward and thanked her for her loyal services as commander of the “Wild Squadron” in many important battles throughout the last years and announced her promotion to the rank of Major.

While some of the heroes really enjoyed the festivities and took advantage of the fact that the guests of the Lord-Regent had their every wish fulfilled, others loathed the whole hustle and bustle and retreated from the crowd of admirers and bootlickers. Alexis, Cookie, Larson and Dr. Ravak took the chance to say farewell as soon as possible without affronting their host. They took the “Lightbringer” back to Kintoran II where Alexis built up a memorial shrine for Ana and Maeve. She looked for a small grove a bit outside the Republic base and used mostly natural materials to make a sort of stone altar and stacked up two small piles of stones each with the top stone representing one of the first letters of their names, A and M. She then had her own medal of the Zulow-sector encased in transparent plastic and placed it on the altar, together with some other small memorabilia. Cookie, Larson and Dr. Ravak liked the gesture and visited the shrine regularly to commemorate the two brave women who had fought their entire lives to make a living and at the end had given their lives to purchase peace for the galaxy.

The End.