The Icarian Legacy Collected Edition: Brave Souls - First Strike (Volume 3)

by Kocho Trajchevski

  Lightning exploded from his arm and hit the ghost. At first it seemed to pass through it but then the ghost shrieked.

  “You will bow to me. You know what I came here for.”

  The ancient Sith looked at him.

  “From the ruins of the old a new Sith order will be born. From the ashes a new empire will rise.”

  As he finished the sentence a small hidden draw opened up. Inside it he found what he was looking for.

  He sat down on the ground and opened himself to the force and touched the holocron with it. He moved slowly, methodically.

  The holocron glowed and then it opened his knowledge.

  As he started studying he lost track of time.

  He absorbed the knowledge, learning the ancient forgotten secrets of the Sith Lords.

  When the final lesson was transferred the ancient Sith bowed.

  “There is nothing more I can teach you. My knowledge and the knowledge of all who came before me belong to you now.”

  Then the image faded away. As it did the holocron stopped glowing.

  He tried to touch it with the force but felt nothing. He knew the holocron was dead. He absorbed its essence. He stood up and staggered. He felt week.

  He tried to guess how long he was down here but he found nothing to tell him.

  For a moment he closed his eyes and drew on the force.

  As he did he felt a presence.

  He turned and looked at the drawer.

  Something was inside it.

  He took out the small box and opened it. A red Crystal shined from within. He took it out and smiled. His smile echoed through the tomb.

  He slowly took out the blue crystal from his light saber and placed the new crystal inside. As he activated the blade it threw a crimson red light around him.

  He deactivated it and headed for the exit. As he came close he felt the presence. The two hounds were still here. But now they were bound to his will. And outside he could feel two more, a Jedi and someone else.

  He knew who it was and in that moment he knew what his final test is. He could feel that the transformation was not yet complete and now he knew that this was his final test. A predatory smile appeared on his face.

  It was a price he would gladly pay.

  He threw back the cape and came out.

  “I hope you didn’t wait long Lenir.”

  He then turned towards the other side.

  “You too Yuthaara, come now there is no need to hide.”

  The young Jedi smiled as the Twi’lek came out and descended from the hill.

  “I wondered when you will come down from there.”

  Yuthaara carried his light saber in his hand. He moved slow constantly watching both of them.

  “I told you on Onderon that you should turn back Lenir.”

  The knight looked at him.

  “And I told you I can’t Master Phanius.”

  Phanius watched the Jedi. From the corner of the eye he also watched the Sith Lord. He could feel that he was ready to attack. It was something he couldn’t allow. If Lenir died he would die by his hand. The Twi’lek was strong, but not nearly strong enough to challenge him.

  Lenir saw the Sith lunge.

  He activated his light saber and prepared for the attack but it never came.

  The Sith lord suddenly stopped, and he could see the pain on his face as some unseen force struck him. He spasmed and then flew back.

  As he hit the wall the hounds came out and flanked him.

  He could see the fear in his eyes.

  He turned to Phanius.

  The former Jedi Master looked with sadistic pleasure as he gave the command and the hounds tore in to the helpless Twi’lek. He screamed as they tore in to his flesh.

  “Phanius stop this madness.”

  Phanius looked at Lenir. As he did on some unspoken command the two hounds left the bleeding twi’lek and returned to the cave.

  Lenir saw that he was badly hurt but still alive.

  Phanius came forward and passed by him. He looked at the Valley and the tombs of ancient sith lords.

  “There is so much power here Lenir, power waiting to be unleashed, looking for a new master.”

  Lenir warily moved beside him.

  He could feel the darkness inside the former Jedi but he knew he had to try.

  “It’s wrong Master. It’s the lure of the dark side. It is the same darkness that you fought to destroy in the past. You are a Jedi. Protector of …”

  Phanius smiled.

  “You wanted to say the light young knight.”

  He turned and looked at Lenir. As he did Lenir noticed the reddish glow of his eyes.

  “There is no light or dark Lenir. There is only the force. And I’m its messenger.”

  “Then come with me before the council and tell them your message.”

  Phanius turned.

  “You have one chance Lenir. Join me. Let me help you see the truth.”

  Lenir stepped back.

  “You know I can’t do what you ask of me Phanius.”

  Phanius exhaled.

  “You stand no chance young knight. Don’t make this choice.”

  “There is nothing to choose Phanius.”

  Phanius smiled.

  “You are right Lenir. There is no choice…there is just my will.”

  He pointed with his hand.

  “You followed me to Yavin 4, to Ziost and here. All are worlds filled with power.”

  “The power of darkness, forbidden knowledge and malice…they filled you with dark passion and evil conviction…”

  Phanius smiled.

  He turned and looked at Lenir.

  “You’re wrong Jedi. They are filled with power, there is no passion, no purpose, and there is no knowledge, not anymore. There is nothing but ruins, nothing but power and ruins, and Me.”

  At the last word Phanius lunged.

  It was almost a perfect strike. But Lenir expected it. He was a master of Soresu the third form and the perfect defense as well as Djem So. But there was no way he could use the offense. Not against this attack.

  He knew Phanius was a master of all seven forms. He just hopped that he would last long enough to anger the fallen Jedi and force him to make a mistake.

  He blocked a strike to his legs and then jumped clear using the force to hurl one of the unsuspecting hounds at the newly risen Sith Lord.

  The Hound shrieked as it flew. Phanius was surprised for just a second before slicing it with his light saber neatly in half. Lenir used the distraction to force push him to the wall. As Phanius fell he attacked at once using all he had.

  Phanius was stunned by the onslaught and tried to retreat but struck the wall behind him. The green blade made a small cut to his left arm.

  Anger filled him from the humiliation. He focused it and lightning exploded from his hand. The Jedi jumped back deflecting it with his light saber.

  Both opponents stopped for a moment to take a breath and to study each other.

  Lenir saw the crimson red blade and knew that Phanius was lost.

  “You were a member of the council Phanius!!!”

  “Phanius is gone Lenir.”

  A sarcastic smile appeared on Lenir’s face.

  “Who are you then…that you have so soon forgotten that name.”

  Phanius smiled.

  “What do you see young Jedi. What did you see on every world you followed me to?”

  “Ruins…destruction…emptiness.”

  The Sith smiled.

  “That is my name Jedi Knight. I’m Darth Ruin Lord of the Sith and what you saw is what I will bring to all who oppose me.”

  Ruin lunged. He feinted a strike to his abdomen but Lenir read the strike and blocked the one that was directed to his chest. A furry of strikes followed each aiming at a death blow. He could feel his strength weakening. It was not just the power of the former Jedi master but also the power of this world. Its dark energy drained his life force.

  He cou
ld feel it slipping away.

  He immersed himself in the force calling for its help. He felt it reviving him, giving him strength.

  He blocked another strike to his head and launched a counter attack that forced Ruin back. He was about to strike another blow when he felt something coming from behind. It saved his life as he jumped aside and the second hound missed him by millimeters. He struck with the light saber and decapitated it. But that attack proved to be his undoing as lightning struck him. He spasmed as the energy washed over him burning every part of his body. He was lifted in the air and flew backwards in to the stony wall. He felt ribs crack as he struck.

  He summoned what force he had and rose again blocking the next force lightning.

  But he knew that it was over.

  Ruin lunged and this time Lenir couldn’t stop him.

  He tried his best and managed to block the first four strikes but the fifth took his arm and his light saber.

  He felt the blade pierce his chest.

  As life left him Ruin spoke.

  “You told me to speak to the council. When the time comes you will be my message.”

  As the Jedi died he could feel that his transformation was now complete. What began years ago the first time he felt the touch of the dark side was now finished.

  The galaxy had a new Sith Lord and it would do his bidding.

  As the Jedi fell Ruin turned and approached the twi’lek.

  “Your wounds will heal.”

  Yuthaara watched the Sith Lord. He knew what Darth meant. And he knew what this sith lord wanted.

  Unquestioning obedience from all, and he knew that he will have his.

  “Yes my Lord.”

  Ruin turned and looked one last time at the dead Jedi.

  “You have a ship.”

  It was not a question.

  “Yes.”

  “Good, bind your wounds and then take his body. There are others out there. The time for hiding is past. We will reclaim what was once ours; I will have what is mine by right.”

  “Yes my lord.”

  “DO you bow to me?”

  Yuthaara rose and looked at Ruin.

  He could feel the dark force. It was stronger in him than ever before. He was a Dark Lord. He was a Darth.

  He kneeled and bowed his head.

  “Yes my Lord. I’m yours to command Darth Ruin.”

  A smile appeared on Ruin’s face.

  It took them almost half a day to reach Yuthaara’s ship. It was an old sith stealth corvette, long time pass its prime.

  They took Lenir’s body with them.

  Ruin said that he would be the message and he planned to keep his promise.

  The stealth ship rose silently and disappeared from the planet and the system without anyone noticing it.

  No one knew it yet but the forces of darkness where once again on the move.

  And soon the Sith would be strong enough to strike.

  Stargate Atlantis

  The return of hope

  Prologue

  8000 b.c

  2400000 light years from the Milky Way

  ”This will be my final report.“

  She froze at that moment and looked at the picture hanging on the wall of her cabin.

  A much different woman was looking back at her from it.

  The woman looked barely in her twenties, but the looks were deceiving. She was far older, her people had long lives. All Lanteans had.

  Long blond hair was neatly stroked and was covering her shoulders. Full lips, and beautiful blue eyes, filled with confidence. She was smiling. She looked so filled with hope.

  But the picture was of another time.

  It was taken before the fatal contact of the scout ship Argea in the Kesselian Sector, before the contact with the enemy of her people, the enemy of all life.

  She instinctively touched her hair. The hair was a mess just like everything else.

  Her blue eyes now showed only despair, sorrow. The joy she knew she had back in those moments when the picture was made was gone now. There was only sadness now, sadness that filled her very soul. Sadness and pain, pain so great that she could feel it as it ripped her heart to little pieces.

  Her face was now serious and haggard.

  The blue eyes were suddenly filled with tears.

  Someone would say that commander didn’t cry, and for the future generations, the civilizations that that would think of her race as the one that touched the very sky, the limits of creation itself, I would have been a surprise, but her reaction was normal for a human being that lived to see the end and destruction of all she ever knew and the death of everyone she knew or loved.

  The tears came not because she was weak. They came because the loss was simply too big for a single person to be able to bear, too big for anyone to contemplate. It was to devastating for any person that felt it and saw it to be able to stay the same as before.

  Trillions dead, all that knowledge, all history, all the achievements that were made in the last several million years, it was all gone, gone in less than a hundred cycles, in the blink of an eye.

  But her greatest pain was not for those that died, it was for those that lived, for their descendants. For those whose fate was now worse than death itself.

  The Wraith looked at the humans the same way humans looked at cattle. They were their source of food, the source of their power, their life force.

  The memory of the way they fed made her shiver.

  “Lantea is dead.”

  That thought replayed in her mind over and over.

  She knew from the history of her people that it was not the first time that her race had suffered a disaster like this. Only then the enemy was a disease that made them flee the same galaxy where the ships under her command were heading now.

  Her destination was the galaxy her people called Avalon. They were heading towards the ancient home, the ancient home of her people, of Atlantis, the planet that each Lantean knew, the world her ancestors named Terra, Terra Atlantis.

  But what had befallen her people now was much worse, and it was far more painful.

  It hurt more because it was the result of their over confidence, their pride, because they were not prepared, and because they were too passive. It hurt much more because this loss meant the loss of all future generations in this galaxy, and not just the generations of her people, but of every other race.

  The reason was simple.

  The Lanteans had achieved the pinnacle of civilization a long time ago. They were at the greatest heights of this part of existence and were already starting to enter the next one when they discovered the way to ascend. The ascending was open to all and it was already well on its way long before the war came. It was a gift that was now withheld from those left behind. That was the greatest loss of all.

  The road they were on now was a one way trip. She knew deep in her heart that no Lantean will return to the galaxy that they left behind, the galaxy she called home.

  She knew that no one will ever read her report as well, because after the hyper drive failed the speed the maximum they could reach was light speed. There was no way to break the barrier. And with that velocity the distance was simply too great.

  Avalon was 2400000 light years away. The expanse between the two galaxies was just too big. Even the road back was impossible, as they already crossed more than 600000 light years from the moment they broke the barrier and left the galaxy they called home.

  No this was a one way mission, a trip in to the future in the endless void between the two galaxies. No one knew even if the cryo pods would last that long.

  She looked in the mirror and she wiped her tears with her hand.

  She took the pad and continued writing.

  “Captains log, final entry, date twenty three days since the fall of Lantea.

  This will be my final entry in this diary. It has now been twenty three days since we left Pegasus, twenty three days since the moment we started on this path. Seventee
n days since the day we broke the barrier and entered the intergalactic void between the galaxies.

  In the last eleven days every ship has suffered defects of our hyper drives. All efforts to repair them have failed, so we were forced to continue our trip at sub light speed at 0.99% the speed of the light. From the fifty six ships that started on this journey, forty two will carry on. As of this moment there are fourteen Aurora class battle ships, three cruisers, and twenty five civilian transport ships…

  Total population at current is eleven thousand seven hundred and three, just under twelve thousand from population that numbered in the trillions.

  It is my hope that some of the other fleets managed to leave the galaxy. Every member of the crew deserves the highest praise for their dedication and super human efforts considering the situation. All efforts to establish contact with other ships have failed up to this moment. That leads me to the conclusion that this fleet was the only one that made it out.

  Before we exited the galaxy we received news that the evacuation of Atlantis was under way. The city is submerged at the bottom of the ocean in the vain hope that one day in the future some of our descendents will come back to reclaim what was once our greatest achievement.

  I have no information about the battleship Tria that was headed towards Lantea. It is my hope that they made it in time or if not that they managed to flee the galaxy. I have no doubt that Helia will make it.

  The last of the crew members of Ilias and the other ships are now in their cryo pods. Soon I will take my place among them as well in the vain hope of the day that we will be found or will reach our destination.

  The fleet is now under control of the artificial intelligence of Ilias.

  This is the final report of the commandant of the Battleship Ilias.

  EONA LARIS.”

  As she spoke the last words she sighed. It was the final thing that was left to be done, her final task, before she left herself in the hands of fate.

  She stood up and arranged her hair and her uniform in front of the mirror. She exited her cabin and went directly to the bridge. She cast one last look of bridge and the chair that was her home for the last seven years. Her eyes spoke the words that she couldn’t say, they spoke her goodbye.

  She walked for several minutes through the empty, silent hallways. She enjoyed the silence but she also missed the days when these corridors were filled with people and life. It took her a few minutes to reach her cryo pod.