Star Wars: Fate of the Jedi: Apocalypse

by Troy Denning

  “As though she were feeding on it?” Luke asked.

  Dorvan opened his eyes and thought for a moment, then nodded. “Yes,” he said. “Exactly like that. She was feeding on the fear.”

  “We’ve seen that before,” Luke said. “On Pydyr, Abeloth seemed to be creating an aura of fear so she could draw on the dark side energies it released. We’re fairly certain it’s how she rejuvenates herself.”

  “A Force being that feeds on fear?” Dorvan looked through the viewport, out over the battle havoc that filled Fellowship Plaza, and shook his head in open despair. “In that case, Master Skywalker, you had better kill her soon—while it is still possible.”

  “That’s what we’re doing here, Chief—trying to figure out how,” Kyp said. “What else can you tell us?”

  “Nothing more about taking Pagorski’s body,” Dorvan said. “I’m afraid my memory after that is … well, muddled. But I think you should hear what happened when I killed her.”

  A dozen brows rose, and Saba Sebatyne sissed and slapped her palm on the arm of her chair. “Thank you, Chief. This one needed a joke!”

  Barratk’l shot a furry glower across the table at the Barabel. “I think the Chief is serious, Master Sebatyne.” She turned to Dorvan. “Yes?”

  Dorvan nodded, but shot a self-deprecating smile in Saba’s direction. “Master Sebatyne has every right to laugh,” he said. “You see, Abeloth wanted me to kill her.”

  Most of the beings at the table once again began to look at Dorvan as though he were having a breakdown, but Kyle Katarn merely cocked his head in curiosity.

  “I’m afraid we’re not really following you, Chief,” he said. “Why would Abeloth want you to kill one of her bodies?”

  Dorvan shrugged. “Maybe because it was wearing out, or maybe because she was going to enter the computer core anyway,” he said. “All I can tell you is that I stole a hold-out blaster and put a couple of bolts through her head. The next thing I know, I’m flying into a wall—and I discover that she has manifested herself out in the computer core. I realized later that the whole thing was just a trap for Ben.”

  Luke shifted forward in his chair. “For Ben?” he asked. “What makes you think it was just for Ben?”

  “Because Ben is the one they took.” Dorvan looked over at the Horns, then said, “But maybe you should ask Valin or Jysella. They were in a better state of mind than I to make that judgment.”

  “There’s no doubt about it,” Valin said, stepping forward. “Looking back, Abeloth was trying to isolate Ben from the moment we started down the corridor. She could have taken us all out along the way, but she wanted Ben alive.”

  “I’d even say that she might have been driving us toward the computer core just to set up Ben’s capture,” Jysella agreed. “Everything was timed to the millisecond, then once she had Ben, she left the rest of us alone.”

  “Which isn’t to say she actually let us go, in case anyone’s wondering,” Valin said. “She just left us to the Sith and didn’t expend any more of her own effort on us.”

  Jaina understood the need for the clarification. Valin and Jysella Horn had been among the first Jedi Knights to become infected with the Force psychosis when Abeloth began to reach out from her prison in the Maw, and they had actually become her spies for a time. Fortunately, they had been cured after Abeloth’s defeat on Nam Chorios, and everyone assumed the cure was complete. Still, had the Masters known where Abeloth was hiding when they were preparing to storm the Temple, the Horn siblings were the last two Jedi Knights they would have sent in with the initial wave.

  “And Abeloth didn’t reach out to you at all while you were inside the Temple?” Cilghal asked. “You had no episodes of paranoia or confusion?”

  “We didn’t say that,” Valin replied with a grin. “We’re still trying to figure out why she took Ben and ignored us. It seems kind of suspicious.”

  “I think I may know the answer,” Jaina said. She turned to Dorvan. “You said the body you killed in the computer core was wearing out?”

  “That’s right,” Dorvan replied. “She was pretty emaciated by then.”

  “And this was Roki Kem’s body, correct?”

  “That’s right,” Dorvan replied. “Didn’t I say that?”

  “I just wanted to be sure.” Jaina looked back to the rest of the table. “When I spoke to Tahiri Veila, she mentioned that Pagorski’s body was deteriorating, too. In fact, Tahiri said the only reason she and Fett survived was because Abeloth didn’t want to kill Tahiri. She wanted to trade Pagorski’s body for Tahiri’s.”

  “Of course,” Cilghal said. “Pagorski and Kem weren’t Force-users. Their bodies would not tolerate so much Force energy.”

  “That doesn’t explain the focus on Ben,” Kyle said. “If it was just a matter of being a Force-user, Abeloth could have taken Valin or Jysella—or one of her Sith servants—just as easily. It’s something else … something that makes Ben special.”

  “Well, he is a Skywalker,” Kyp Durron pointed out. “The grandson of the Chosen One.”

  “And Jaina is a granddaughter of the Chosen One,” Luke countered. “I’m more inclined to think it has something to do with Shelter. Maybe Abeloth just wants him because he withdrew from her touch when he was a toddler.”

  Kyp shook his head. “Sorry, but no,” he said. “Jaina is Han’s daughter just as much as Leia’s, and that means only one parent is a Force-user. Ben is the son of two parents who were both very strong in the Force. No offense to Jaina, but Ben has Special Destiny written all over him.”

  Luke’s face fell, and Jaina could tell by the silence that followed that he saw the wisdom of Kyp’s suggestion—as did everyone else at the table. Abeloth had gone after Ben because of what Ben was … and that meant she had something special in mind for him.

  “Okay,” Luke said at last. “Abeloth wants Ben for a reason. Any ideas what that might be?”

  A chirrupy voice spoke out from the wall behind Jaina. “No specific ideas,” Tekli said. “But the time has come to discuss what we learned about Abeloth from the Killiks.”

  “By all means, if you think it will help.” Luke waved Tekli and Lowbacca toward the open space on the other side of the table, then turned to the rest of the attendees and explained, “Jedi Lowbacca and Tekli have just returned from a mission to learn what the Killiks know about Abeloth. I understand that Jedi Thul was forced to remain behind in exchange for the information, but from the little I’ve heard about it, they have uncovered some very interesting history.”

  As Tekli stepped to the table, a sudden jolt shook the room, then quickly diminished into a series of sporadic shudders. Dorvan and several of the non-military personnel began to eye the floor with uncertainty and fear. Nek Bwua’tu merely cleared his throat and muttered something about a blasted groundquake, but Jaina—and no doubt the other Jedi in the room—felt the wave of fear that came from the Galactic Justice Center. When she looked out the viewport, she saw that fissures had begun to appear in Fellowship Plaza’s undulating deck, and now there were long columns of smoke rising through the cracks.

  “Maybe we’d better rush that strike on Pinnacle Platform,” Kyp suggested, “before the Galactic Justice Center collapses into the undercity.”

  “Don’t you mean before we finish a proper evaluation of the battlefield?” Nek Bwua’tu countered. “Rushing into a fight half blind has never saved a blasted thing, son. We’ll all be better off if the Masters stay here and do their jobs. You’re leaders. And leaders are supposed to plan and think—not rush into an ambush every time the enemy does something unexpected.”

  Kyp’s eyes widened at the admiral’s harsh tone, but he accepted the admonition with a graceful nod. “Valid points, Admiral. I yield to your wisdom … and Master Skywalker’s orders.”

  “I agree with Admiral Bwua’tu,” Luke said. “I’ve had my fill of walking into Abeloth’s traps. We need to finish this briefing and come up with a plan.”

  Luke nodded to Tekli, w
ho was standing at the table, barely tall enough for her short-snouted face to appear above the edge. Behind her, Lowbacca loomed over the entire group like the furred giant he was, holding an oversized datapad in his hands.

  Tekli cleared her throat, then said, “Given the time constraints, this will be a brief summary of what we have learned. See-Threepio is currently loading a full videographic account of everything we discovered into the Jedi Archives.”

  “Thank you,” Luke said. “I’m sure that will be helpful if we need to explore Abeloth’s history in more detail.”

  Tekli looked up at him out of a single eye. “Trust me, Master Skywalker, you will need to explore it.”

  She snapped her fingers, and a panel of carved stone, done in low relief, appeared on the display. The image depicted a jungle paradise, with a steep valley wall in the background and a swamp in the foreground. In the middle ground was a clearing with an erupting geyser. Three ghostly figures were floating in the vapor cloud: a luminous-looking woman, a craggy warrior type, and a gaunt, bearded man with a fatherly bearing.

  “This is a panel from the Histories of Thuruht,” Tekli explained. “The Histories detail—among many other things—the birth of a family of Force entities whom the Killiks call the Ones. The young woman, they call the Daughter.”

  As Tekli spoke, Lowbacca changed the image to another panel. This one depicted a pale-haired woman running through a forest in full bloom, followed by clouds of butterflies and swarms of Killiks.

  “The Daughter seems to be associated with the light side of the Force,” Tekli explained. “The Killiks could not explain the exact nature of the association, but my best guess is that she is an embodiment of its nature.”

  Lowbacca changed the image again, this time to a panel depicting a powerful-looking man in dark armor, marching through a dead forest.

  “The Son is associated with the dark side of the Force,” Tekli continued. “Again, the Killiks were unable to explain exactly what this means. But it seems obvious that he embodies its devouring, deadly nature.”

  Lowbacca tapped a key, and the datapad showed a panel with a river meandering down its center, dividing the luminous forest on one bank from the dark forest on the other. In the back of the image, a gaunt man was standing on the balcony of a cliffside monastery. He was looking out over both forests, his arms spread so that one hand was suspended above the dark aspect and one over the luminous.

  “The Father is the Keeper of the Balance,” Tekli said. “There were several other panels showing him trying to keep the peace between the Son and the Daughter.”

  “I see,” Luke said. “And these beings—the Ones—are they the Celestials the Killiks claim to have served in the past?”

  Tekli shook her head. “I don’t believe so, at least not the way you mean,” she said. “Thuruht says they are what the Celestials become.”

  “And what does Thuruht say the Celestials are?” Corran asked.

  “They don’t, really,” Tekli replied. “They claim it’s impossible to explain the Celestials, because no mortal mind can grasp their true nature.”

  With a long groan, Lowbacca noted that the Killiks believed the Celestials were in the Force. But they were adamant about saying that the Ones didn’t emerge from the Force, because the Force was all around us, in us, and was us—and any being with two brains could clearly see that it was impossible to emerge from what one was. Tekli translated for those who didn’t understand Shryiiwook.

  “Soooo …” Kyp sighed. “The usual Killik mugwump.”

  “Well, it did make some sense at the time,” Tekli replied. “Perhaps it will seem more logical in the video record.”

  “No doubt,” Kyle said. “But you said this would help explain Abeloth. Are we to take it that she is this Daughter? That the Son was able to draw her over to the dark side?”

  “Not at all,” Tekli replied. “To understand Abeloth, you need to think about what’s missing from the family.”

  “You mean the Mother, of course,” Luke said. “Abeloth is the other parent?”

  Tekli snapped her fingers again, and Lowbacca changed the image on the datapad. This time, the panel contained a new figure, a young woman barely older than the Daughter, with long flowing hair, a wide smile, and twinkling eyes. She was obviously supposed to be some sort of servant, for the Son and the Daughter were looking away while they held glasses up to be filled from an ewer in her hands. But the Father was looking at her with obvious warmth, returning her smile as she poured for him.

  “Abeloth is the servant who became the Mother,” Tekli said. “At first, she seemed to bring joy and harmony to the family.”

  As Tekli spoke, Lowbacca ran through a series of images depicting Abeloth keeping the Son and the Daughter busy with games and chores, doting on the Father, even stepping in to channel the Son’s destructive energies into useful tasks. Before long, she seemed to be a full member of the family, eating at the Father’s side and holding her glass for the Son to fill.

  “But as time passed, Abeloth seemed to age while the rest of the family stayed young,” Tekli explained.

  The image on Lowbacca’s datapad showed a much older Abeloth, one who appeared old enough to be a proper wife to the Father. The next panel portrayed an aged and wrinkled Abeloth, standing at one end of a small temple complex—a complex that resembled exactly the one in Jaina’s dream of Ben and Vestara fighting.

  The Force roiled beneath a powerful wave of astonishment and shock, and Jaina looked over to find Luke and all of the other Masters studying first the image, then one another, and she realized that she was not the only one who had experienced the dream. Whether they had all seen the same fight was impossible to say, but it was very clear that every Master present recognized the temple complex.

  Jaina felt Luke reaching out in the Force, radiating a sense of calmness and patience, and she quickly understood the message. Say nothing until the meaning grows clear.

  The images on Lowbacca’s datapad continued to advance, now showing the Father arguing with the Son and the Daughter, gesturing wildly while boulders and six-legged lizards whirled through the air around them.

  “As Abeloth aged, she appears to have become a disruptive influence,” Tekli said. “We think she may have been growing resentful of her mortality, since the rest of the family never seems to age.”

  Lowbacca changed the image on the datapad, to a panel that showed an elderly Abeloth sneaking a drink from the Font of Power while the Father hurled Force lightning at both the Son and Daughter. In the next image, a much younger-looking Abeloth was swimming in the Pool of Knowledge, looking sly and defiant as the Father used the Force to pull her from the water.

  “In her desire to remain with her immortal family, she did the Forbidden—and paid a terrible price.”

  Lowbacca tapped a key, and a new panel appeared on the datapad. In the heart of the temple’s courtyard stood a much-changed Abeloth, her hair now coarse and long, her nose flattened, and her once sparkling eyes so sunken and dark that all that could be seen of them were two pinpoints of light. She was raising her arms toward a cowering Daughter and a glowering Son, with long tentacles lashing out from where her fingers should have been. A furious Father was stepping forward to shield them, one hand pointing toward the open end of the temple and the other reaching out to intercept her tentacled fingers.

  “The Killiks call Abeloth the Bringer of Chaos,” Tekli said, motioning for Lowbacca to lower the datapad. “They seem to view her as the counterpart to the Father’s role as Keeper of the Balance, and associate her with strife and violence.”

  “Am I understanding you correctly?” Eramuth Bwua’tu asked. “Are you saying that Abeloth is some sort of war goddess?”

  “That would be a great oversimplification,” Tekli replied. “The Killiks claim that war is part of the galaxy’s cycle of change. As they explain it, sometimes war grows too powerful, and that’s when Abeloth comes—to destroy the old order and make room for a new one.” />
  “So you’re saying Coruscant’s destruction is part of some Celestial Plan?” Dorvan asked. He looked pointedly out the viewport. The smoke rising through the crevices around the Galactic Justice Center had grown so thick that it was starting to drift across Fellowship Plaza, obscuring even the majestic pyramid of the Jedi Temple. Then he glared back across the table at Luke. “That the Galactic Alliance has no choice but to accept its destruction?”

  “There’s always a choice,” Luke said. “Remember, this is the Killiks’ view of the galaxy. And we know that Abeloth has been imprisoned before.” He looked back to Tekli. “Why don’t we move ahead to what we know about stopping her.”

  Tekli’s tiny ears pivoted slightly outward. “Unfortunately, Master Skywalker, I don’t believe the Killiks are going to be much help in that regard,” she said. “At least not to us.”

  Lowbacca contributed a long rumble, explaining that while Thuruht’s entire purpose of existence seemed to be imprisoning Abeloth, they needed the Ones to guide their efforts. From what he and Tekli had surmised, the Son and the Daughter agreed on only one thing—that it angered them to see Abeloth destroy civilizations they had spent millennia cultivating in their own image. Eventually, the pair would form a pact and emerge from seclusion to stop her, and Thuruht expected to spend the next century or so building up its numbers so the hive would be ready when it was called into service.