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Paranormalities: Episode II - Ch. 4 The Damaged

Deviation Actions

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Two weeks have passed since Zolph Vaelor’s mission to Dagobah. He has been prohibited from military activity until further notice due to psychological stress that he had been suppressing for the past six months. While Zolph continues his therapy, Luke Skywalker and Grein receive word of increased Valkoran activity on one of the planets listed in the data that Zolph downloaded from the Obelisk Data Archive and have called him over to the ops room.

“Oh no….” Grein said with worry due to the report.

Zolph entered the ops room, this time without his black jacket he’s usually seen with and with his long hair loose. “Hey guys. What are you calling me over here for? You interrupted my Pazaak match with Hiriss, and I lost fifty credits thanks to you two.”

Grein then responded. “People still play that? And don’t blame us for your loss. You know Pazaak’s mostly luck-based.”

Luke responded in turn. “Anyway, we’ve got another Archfiend to deal with.”

Zolph then responded with some enthusiasm. “About time! I was getting a little bored with Pazaak and thinking maybe I ought to buy a new single-player holo-game if I don’t have any sentient interaction.”

“Except we’ve got a problem…” Grein said.

“What is it?”

“We’re going to Korriban next.”

“What’s wrong with Korriban? Is it covered in nuclear radiation? If so, we’ll just bring hazmat suits.”

“Korriban is a graveyard world for the Ancient Sith.”

“I still don’t see the problem.”

“The planet’s got a good number of Sith ghosts, and considering what’s been happening to you recently, it’s apparent Valkor has decided to milk the psychological warfare for all it’s worth. So, I’m coming with you on this one.”

“Not that I have a problem working with you, but I didn’t ask for you come with me.”

“You never ask for assistance. And given the scenario of this mission, I’m coming whether you like it or not.”

“Why are you tagging along all of a sudden?  Are you my mother now?”

“No, but I’m certainly old enough to be.”

“Nerfshavit. You don’t look a day over thirty. Besides, we’re not even the same species.”

The purple-eyed Chiss with teal highlights in her front bangs then dryly responded. “I’m forty-one.  Also, humans and Chiss are biologically compatible.”

Zolph was baffled. Sure, forty-one wasn’t really considered old age by human or even Chiss standards, but she still looked too young to be even close to that old. “You’re teasing me again, aren’t you?”

“Not at all. Let’s not forget that Force-users age slower and we Chiss are usually in good shape, and combinations of both those things are incredibly rare.” She then switched the subject back. “Anyway, my point is you were lucky to have the Valkoran get you out of that cave, and they’re probably going back to shooting at you on this planet. So, I’m going to be your back-up on the off-chance you see her again.”

“I’m glad you’ve got my back.” Zolph then made his way for his quarters. “Let me gear up and I’ll meet you at the Manta.”

__________________________________________________________________________________________


Hours later, the Blazing Manta made it to Korriban. They flew past several statues before settling down in a valley. Both Zolph and Grein then exited the vessel and progressed through the valley.

Zolph shivered. “Is it just me, or is Korriban pretty cold for a desert planet.”

“It’s just you.” Grein answered him. “The Valley of the Dark Lords does that to non-Sith.”

"So you're a Sith?" Zolph jokingly asked.

"I've been here once before. It doesn't have quite the same effect on me now as it did the first time."

“Ah. So it is just me being creeped out. So how far are we from our destination?”

“We’ll know we’re close when we see any Valkoran troops or equipment around, or start sensing dead spots in the Force.”

Zolph’s comlink then ringed. It was Luke speaking on the comlink. “Skywalker to Vaelor: We just got some intel on the Valkoran leaders on this planet. They are Neur and Machinus.”

“So I’m dealing with two of them at once now. But that gives me a little more of a lead to finish this mission sooner. Just being on this planet’s giving me the creeps.”

“Try to find a way to keep your mind off the horrors of this planet.”

“Okay. Can we talk about…” Zolph paused as he looked at his surroundings. “The sand?”

“No.”

“Why not?”

“It’s sand. It’s just trillions of particle-sized rocks. Besides, I’m talking with my father’s ghost right now.”

“What? Does he hate sand and how it’s everywhere on desert planets?”

“Don’t. Push it.”

Zolph shrugged obliviously. “I don’t get what the big deal is, but okay.”

Grein interrupted. “Shouldn’t we be getting back to the bigger issue at hand: the Archfiend?”

“Sorry. I’ve got get to keep focused at the same time, but that itself was a good enough distraction while it lasted.” Zolph then turned off the comlink.

Moving further away from the Valley, Zolph heard a beastly howl. “I have a bad feeling about this.”

Suddenly, a large quadrupedal, black-skinned creature with glowing red eyes, three horns and sharp fangs lunged at Zolph from behind a rock and pinned him down on the ground. The creature drooled over his face before attempting to bite it off.

Zolph blocked the creature’s jaws with his prosthetic arm and then quickly snapped its jaws from in-between before snapping its neck in turn.

“Well, that came out of nowhere. What the hell is this thing?” Zolph asked.

“This is a type of Sithspawn. This particular kind is called a Tuk’ata, also known as a Sith Hound,” Grein answered him.

“So, this ugly thing is what the Valks named their new fighter tanks after?”

“Very curious considering the Valkoran are mostly against Force alchemy. I guess they both admire and fear these abominations enough to name a tank after them. But this one wasn’t an ordinary Tuk’ata.” She then examined the creature’s corpse closer, noticing several mutations as well as a familiar black goo bleeding out of it. She cautiously ignited the main blade of her lightsaber and tapped the goo, causing it to evaporate, but it reacted as if it were a living creature.

“Oh Sithspit! The Collective’s here?! I thought we quarantined them on Sleheyron!”

“I’m not sure. We didn’t really so much quarantine them as not give them ideas of what planets to invade next, because that was only a fraction of the entire Collective, and they’re probably only waiting for their next orders or setting up other staging points. Thankfully for us, Korriban’s mostly unpopulated aside from native animals and Sithspawn. And that means we’re pretty close. In the meantime, expect more of these things as well as other types of creatures like that on this planet.”

Zolph then activated his comlink and contacted Luke again as a precaution. “Vaelor to Skywalker: We’ve got a new problem. Are there any unrecognized ships – mechanical or organic – in orbit or that have entered Korriban’s atmosphere recently?”

“No. Just the Valkoran fleet, our scouts and you two. Why do you ask? Are we fighting any leftover Vong zealots that didn’t get the word?”

“Negative. We just encountered a Forceless-possessed Tuk’ata. I’m making sure our friends from Sleheyron didn’t come here.”

“We’ll talk more about this when you’re done with this mission. Skywalker out.” The transmission ended.

__________________________________________________________________________________________


Progressing further through the canyons, they fought more of the creatures – possessed or not - including Shyracks, a species of eyeless flyers that the Valkoran also named their strike bombers after. Moving further, they noticed some of the Korriban wildlife fighting with some Valkoran troopers. When the beasts were slain, the Valkoran troopers had the sense to shoot the Black Matter coming out of the Forceless-possessed beasts if it tried to move towards them.

“Yep, we’re definitely getting close to the Archfiend.” Zolph said. Moving along and passing by a Sigma-class shuttle and Behemoth-class landing craft, they noticed two Valkoran troopers standing guard outside the entrance of some elaborate ruins. “And what do you know, a pair of ruins that isn’t in designated Sith territory.”

“Careful.” Grein warned him. “These ruins still have signs of Ancient Sith influence in addition to that of the Rakata. So keep your guard up at all times, and not just physically. Don’t forget why I decided to tag along for this mission.”

After quietly dispatching the troopers guarding the entrance, they entered the ruins.

__________________________________________________________________________________________


Moving through the ruins, Zolph and Grein fought through several Valkoran personnel as well as more Forceless Tuk’ata. They eventually came into a room with only a few pillars and what looked like a sarcophagus.

“Okay, so clearly, we’re in another tomb, and it was built in a pair of Rakata ruins, but what’s it doing isolated far from the other dead Sith Lords?” Zolph asked.

He then heard a voice echoing in the room. “Jedi…”

“Let me guess: this place is haunted too.” He then saw a ghostly but regally dressed figure with red skin and spiny protrusions coming from his face appear before his eyes.

“You dare trespass into my kingdom!” The ghost proclaimed.

Rather than be intimidated, Zolph asked him questioningly. “Your kingdom? You're dead.”

“Insolent worm! I am Lord Azath of the Sith! You will show me respect! Have my people sunk so low?!”

“Yeah, they kinda have. And they’ve been defeated again… and again. From what I hear, it’s partially because you keep killing each other.”

“You dare mock our traditions?! Only the strongest shall rule and survive!”

“And the results speak for themselves. But really, are drama classes a requirement in Sith studies? So, ‘Lord’, why weren’t you buried in the Valley like the rest of your fellow Dark Lords? Did they exile you or something?”

“I sought a new source of power, left behind by the invaders that came millennia before my time. My people thought they had purged all of the invaders’ influence from this planet and made it completely their own. However, they didn’t know of this place, where a peculiarity in the Force lay. In my self-imposed exile, I sought to tame this power, but it refused to obey me. So instead, I replicated this power for my own use and became a god!”

“Wait a second. You ‘replicated’ this power? Forceless aren’t even Dark Side constructs. How did you ‘make’ them? And how could you possibly control them? They’re parasites!”

“You envy my power! Embrace the darkness and my secrets can be all yours!”

Zolph then yawned. “Meh. I’ll pass.”

“Foolish child! I offer you power, and you turn it down?!”

“I’ve tasted the Dark Side before. All I can say is it’s overrated.”

“You try to mask your feelings, but I can feel your fear and anxiety, young one. I will only offer you this once more!”

“My answer is no. I’ve already tasted it before, and I was far from impressed.”

Lord Azath then got enraged. “Very well! If you will not embrace the Dark Side, then I will make you wish you had!” He then disappeared.

“I have a bad feeling about this.” Grein said.

“What’s he gonna do? Summon more possessed…” Zolph turned around to see the same nude figure with a second layer of skin he saw on Dagobah. “Sithspawn! Not you again!” He said with fear in his voice as he slowly backed away while putting his hand near his weapons.

The grotesque apparition of Dynn Manthis then spoke to him in her distorted voice while she slowly walked towards him. “We didn’t finish our thing last time we met, Zolphy. Why don’t you ditch the blue schutta and we have our alone time.”

“I-I’d rather not be alone with you!”

Grein spoke with some worry in her voice. “Zolph! Whatever you’re seeing right now, it isn’t there! Do not give in!”

Zolph then spoke to the apparition again. “Maybe if I kill you, you’ll go away!” He drew out his blaster pistol and fired at her head, causing it to explode into black smears – showing that she wasn’t even human anymore - before she collapsed dead on the floor and melted away. “Well, that was easily taken of.” He turned around again only to see her standing up again three feet in front of him, but headless. “Shavit! I spoke too soon!”

The abomination lifted her serpentine right arm towards him and moved it like a hideous sock puppet while she spoke. “That wasn’t very nice.” Of course, Zolph noticed that she was really speaking through her abdomen, and then noticed her breast-eyes tilt upwards to look at and startle him. “Don’t you know it’s rude to stare at a woman’s chest? Of course, they never said anything about it staring back.” She then regenerated her head from the neck up. “You’re not getting rid of me that easily.”

Grein then yelled to Zolph. “Follow me! And quickly!” Grein then dashed for a corridor and Zolph followed her, getting as far away from the monstrosity as possible.

The apparition slowly walked towards him despite the fact that Zolph was running away from her. “Why are you running away from me?” She asked innocently. Of course, Zolph knew she was trying to lure him into a false sense of security and tried to ignore her.

When it seemed the two had lost her, Zolph briefly glanced behind just to see Dynn standing right behind him.

She then asked with frustration in her voice. “YOU DIDN’T ANSWER MY QUESTION! WHY ARE YOU RUNNING?!”

Zolph was briefly speechless before answering. “B-b-because I don’t want to die yet!”

“BUT I THOUGHT YOU WANTED THIS!”

Grein then got his attention again. “Ignore her! Keep following me and don’t look back!” She kept moving forward and Zolph pursued, while dodging lashes from Dynn’s arm tongue.

“GET BACK HERE!!” The apparation yelled at him as she pursued.

Several minutes later of more run-ins with her around corners of the ruins, Zolph and Grein made it to a large and completely empty room. It seemed they had finally gotten away from her.

“I think we’ve lost her!” Zolph said with relief.

But suddenly, a black arm much like the mutated Dynn’s right arm lashed at him from above and made him fall on his back. He looked up to see a pitch black ceiling with a large single glowing red eye coming from it, as well as more arms reaching down for him.

Dynn’s distorted voice then echoed through the room. “NO YOU HAVEN’T! YOU’LL NEVER ESCAPE ME AS LONG AS YOU WANT ME AROUND!! JUST GIVE UP AND ACCEPT IT!!” The arms then grabbed around him and started pulling him up towards the ceiling, which then revealed a large gapping maw ready to swallow him whole.

Zolph, feeling more hopeless than ever, yelled to Grein. “Go on without me, Grein! Just stop the Archfiend!”

While she couldn’t see what Zolph was seeing – in fact, Zolph wasn’t really being pulled off the ground to be eaten alive by a bodiless Forceless -, Grein did realize that Zolph was under a lot of psychological stress, and she tagged along for this very reason. “No!” Grein responded. “I’m not leaving you behind to die like this!” She then raised her hand towards him. Suddenly, Zolph blacked out.

__________________________________________________________________________________________


Some amount of time later, Zolph started to regain consciousness. As he came to his senses, he could hear Grein freaking out about something.

“I’m sorry, Emilin! I didn’t have any other choice! I truly wish I could have prevented this!”

Of course, Zolph couldn’t see anyone else in the room, but given what he had recently been through, he knew Grein was going through something similar and felt compelled to return the favor for earlier. He then got up and hit her in the head with his right hand, causing her to break out of her panic.

“Ow!” Grein then clutched at the back of her head. “Next time, hit me with your other arm. But thanks anyway for getting me out of that.”

“Sorry about that. I sometimes forget how strong this thing is. By the way, who’s Emilin?”

“Okay, so you apparently heard me. She’s my younger sister.”

“Wait, you have a sister? You never told me about that.”

“I didn’t exactly feel it was relevant before, but we’ll talk about it later.”

“Anyway, how long was I out?”

“About half-an-hour. I waited here to keep you from being eaten by Tuk’ata or Shyracks.”

“I was out for that long, and you waited that long just for me? But what about the Archfiend?”

“Don’t worry. They haven’t been summoned yet, and we’re actually pretty close to them.”

“I think I get it now. I’m not just incredibly screwed up; I’m subconsciously suicidal. When she died, I thought I had lost all reason to keep living. But I know this galaxy still needs me, and we’ve still got the Collective to worry about.”

“Find something else to live for besides political or religious servitude. Don’t overburden yourself.”

“You know, that’s funny. She told me that just before she died, and I’ve failed so far at doing that. Even though I saw her die and gave her a burial, I can’t shake the feeling that she’s still alive somewhere.”

“I’m sorry, Zolph, but you’ll just have to accept that she’s dead. For now, think about something else. We’ve still got an Archfiend to dispose of.”

“I’m right with you. And I should go ahead and get this out of my system: I! Hate! Sith ghosts! I hate 'em with all my hate!”

The two then moved deeper underground in the ruins.

__________________________________________________________________________________________


Just a few minutes later, Zolph and Grein had reached the summoning room, which consisted of a platform surrounded by lava illuminating the room.

Zolph spoke up. “No wonder it started getting hot in these ruins.” He then noticed a figure among the Valkoran acolytes: an albino Twi’lek woman dressed modestly in black aside from an exposed midsection. Her head-tails and ears were covered by a headband, black stockings and metal coatings on the ends.

Zolph then addressed her. “Okay, the show’s ov-…”

Zolph was interrupted when the Twi’lek turned around and enthusiastically greeted him. “Hi! Did you come to watch the arrival of Cinydra?” She had some black markings on her face and she was clearly only a few years older than him, even if she was chronologically centuries older than him.

Zolph was a little baffled. “Ooookay. That’s new. Aside from Maesterus, I haven’t heard of the Valks being that happy to see me.”

“Are you Zolph Vaelor?”

“Which of you people haven’t heard of me?”

“I’m Neur! And I am so glad to finally meet you! You’re actually kinda cute. And I was hoping you’d join our side sooner.”

Grein then teased Zolph. “Looks like you’re very popular with the girls these days, Zolph.”

“Shut up.” Zolph replied with annoyance.

One of the acolytes then got up and spoke to Neur. “Lady Neur, may I remind you that boy is here to thwart our ritual?”

“Oh, silly me! I forgot that you are our enemy!” Still cheerful, she then drew her lightsaber - which had a curved hilt with a metal spike on the end and emitted a magenta blade – with her left hand. “I’m sorry, but we can’t have you crashing Cinydra’s greeting party. Please leave now or surrender so I don’t have to hurt you, because I really don’t want to.”

“Sorry to burst your bubble, Neur, but I can’t. That thing you’re summoning is a menace. If you don’t want to kill or maim me, you can always just turn your back on them.”

“No can do, Zolph. The Valkoran are like my family. I can’t betray them after what they’ve done for me.”

“Very well.” Zolph then drew out his lightsaber. “If it’s any comfort, I promise I won’t kill you.”

“Okay, then! Just mind the lekku. I really need those things.” She then charged towards Zolph and slashed at him. The two of them blade-locked, prompting Neur to steer the spike on her hilt towards Zolph.

Zolph dodged backward to avoid being stabbed by the spike. Of course, Zolph was not used to fighting left-handed foes, so he did not know exactly what to predict move-wise. However, fighting someone with a different lightsaber type had become a little more common for him, since the acolytes he had fought in the past six months of the war had varying types such as double-bladed sabers, tonfa sabers and previously unheard of types such as lightclaws. Curved hilts had become nearly obsolete in style, so this was still unfamiliar territory for him, but that may have been the purpose of the design, and putting a spike on the end added more tricks to the table.

They clashed blades until Neur made a spinning strike, in which Zolph impulsively cut off both of her lekku at once. He then realized what he had done. “Whoops! I forget that I wasn’t supposed to touch those! Sorry!” He then noticed the fracture points were sparking and her eyes widening with madness. Apparently, those head-tails were prosthetics.

Neur then gave a wide grin and spoke. “What are you talking abou-?” She looked at Grein, who had been busy dealing with the acolytes. She then looked back at Zolph and got angry. “Who the hell is that?!”

“Grein? She was here the whole time. You’re only now noticing her?”

She then started slashing at Zolph frantically. “She’s using you! All women are users!”

“Great!” Zolph said sarcastically. “First, I have to deal with a psychotic woman spawned by my twisted imagination. Now, I have to deal with a psychotic woman in reality!”

Zolph then slashed at her left arm – but not cutting it off - in an attempt to incapacitate her, but she did not even react to the injury despite the fact she got some of her flesh burned.

“Are you even functioning?” Zolph then shot at her legs. She didn’t even try to block the shots and she didn’t even react to the wounds received from those either.

She continued to make uncoordinated slashes at Zolph. “I’m the only girl who won't take advantage of you and you kriffing know it!”

“Oh, come on. I’m not that interested in her! Hell, I’m not even interested in pursuing any relationships at the moment!” He then apologetically spoke to Grein. “No offense.”

“None taken.” Grein responded as she finished off the acolytes.

Neur then spoke again. “You don't understand! She's going to hurt you!” She then charged at Zolph before suddenly collapsing on her knees.

Neur started screaming and crying in pain, clutching at the spots not just where Zolph had wounded her, but in various other parts including her facial tattoos and lekku sockets. “My skin burns! Needles in my face! Everything hurts! And it’s so hot in here!” In the process of grabbing at the various wounds she may have received in her life, she knocked the broken lekku from their sockets, revealing the ports for her cybernetic replacements.

While Zolph wondered what was going on with the childishly violent Twi’lek, another thought crossed his mind. “Wait a second. Wasn’t there a second Valkoran leader here on this planet? I only sense Neur and Grein here.” Suddenly, he was barraged with blaster fire.

A mechanical, but male voice echoed from a distance. “Hey!”

Zolph looked up to see what looked like a robotic Nautolan with silver plating, multi-jointed legs, wrist blasters, blue photoreceptors and a lightsaber. “Well, no wonder. The other leader’s a droid?” He then flew down to the platform using built-in propulsion jets and landed right next to Neur, pointing his blasters at both Zolph and Grein.

“What the hell did you do?!” He asked accusingly.

Neur continued crying. “Cid, I’m hurting! Make it stop!”

“Hang in there, Neur. I’ll get you home soon and fix you up.”

Zolph apologized. “I’m very sorry, sir. I didn’t mean to hurt her that much.”

The droid then answered him. “Don’t worry about the part about the needles. That happened when she was little. She doesn’t react to injuries until minutes after she’s received them, and when she does react, she even feels every other injury she’s had in her life again and again. But her head-tails. Do you have any idea what those things are for?!”

“Not really.”

“Twi’leks are almost as common as humans, and you don’t know?! They’re part of her brain, you idiot! It’s bad enough that bastard Masochus keeps messing with her replacements to the point they malfunction occasionally. I don’t need some biology-ignorant kid making things worse!”

Zolph then felt really guilty. More accurately, he felt like a jerk. “Again, I’m truly sorry, Mister… um….Cid?”

“Cid Geero’s my name, but just call me Machinus. And hey, now you know something new.”

“Can I help you with her?”

“No. You’ve done enough to her. Just leave her alone right now and let me take of her.” Machinus then lifted Neur into his arms. “Besides, don’t you two have an extragalactic monster to kill?” He then flew away into a passageway and the summoning circle flashed, followed by the room rumbling.

“Damn! Cinydra! I forgot all about them!”

Suddenly, a large red-skinned creature emerged from the lava. This creature had a torso resembling a human skull – including facial features – with two large legs, a tail, and two wings that could only help it jump short distances. Coming out of the eye and nose sockets were three serpentine necks with heads that looked just like the torso on their ends.

“Is it just me, or are these Archfiends getting weirder?”

The Archfiend spoke with all four of its mouths. “Are you Zolph Vaelor?”

“What do you know: another talking Archfiend. It still feels weird listening to a non-humanoid speak Basic.” Zolph then answered the multi-headed beast. “Yes, I’m Zolph Vaelor. I’m sure you and every other fanatical lackey of the Collective knows who I am.”

“I’ve waited three months to fight you! Now you will pay for killing my sister!”

Zolph then asked puzzled. “Sister? Who?”

“Do you remember Orotice?!”

“Uh…no. I don’t know who that is.”

“WHAT?! YOU KILLED HER AND YOU DON’T REMEMBER HER?!”

“Sorry, I’ve defeated a lot of Archfiends and I didn’t get to hear the names of all of them. Maybe you can give me a planet and I’ll remember?”

“You killed Orotice on Belsavis.”

“Oh yeah! Now I remember! But you two don’t have any resemblance aside from having multiple heads.”

“But enough talk! Now you will pay for taking her life!”

“I hate to rain on your parade, but I killed her because she was going to kill many other people, including me.”

“We don’t have a choice! We either serve the Collective or it makes us serve!” The mouths on Cinydra’s three heads opened wide and glowed bright yellow and hurled three fireballs at Zolph and Grein.

The both of them dodged backward and evaluated their methods of attack while dodging more fire blasts.

Grein voiced her observations first. “Lightsabers are out of the question since he’s obviously standing in lava right now. We’ll either need to use projectiles or try to get him on the platform.”

Zolph then responded. “If he can survive in lava, he’s obviously got some heat resistance, so blasters are out of the question too. Don’t know if lightsabers can still cut through him, though. However, I’m betting his insides are pretty sensitive. The same applied to Mandoculus on Dagobah.”

Cinydra spat another fireball from his left head at Zolph, who then used the Force to redirect it right back to the sending head. The blast hardly scathed his skin, but it did cause him to flinch a little.

“Just as I thought.” Zolph then looked to Grein. “Grein, could you hold him still for me?”

Cinydra then launched another fireball from his left head.

“Now!”

Grein used the Force to immobilize the sending head while its mouth was still open. Zolph then redirected the fireball back again, this time into the head’s mouth, causing the head itself to explode and for Cinydra to scream through his remaining three mouths.

Cinydra then used his relatively small wings to hop out of the lava and onto the platform. Both Zolph and Grein jumped just before he landed so they wouldn’t be knocked down by the shockwave. “So you managed to scratch me a bit! But I’m not down yet!” The remaining two serpentine heads then shot streams of fire from their mouths, something Zolph and Grein could repel but not redirect.

His right head lunged at Grein, caught her in his mouth, and bit into her after lifting her off the ground.

“Grein!” Zolph panicked before watching Grein liquefy her entire body and slide down that head’s throat.

Suddenly, the head started choking before passing out. After that head had died, a yellow lightsaber ruptured out of the neck and cut a full circle around, separating the head from the body. Grein then jumped out fully formed.

“Oh, right! I forgot you could do that. Are you ever going to teach me how to do that?”

“Not gonna happen.” Grein answered.

“Why not?”

“Just trying to do it can be dangerous.”

The last and central then tried to bite at Zolph, who had just readied a cryoban grenade to throw into its mouth. Once the grenade landed in his gullet, the entire head froze over and Zolph decapitated it with his lightsaber, but slowly due to the natural heat resistance. However, Cinydra was not dead yet and shot a much bigger fireball from its torso-bound mouth. It then formed some eyes on the points where the smaller heads were severed. Now, he just looked a giant skull with wings, legs and a tail.

The torso head then spoke. “Fool! Didn’t you learn from fighting my sister that we only have one brain?”

“Okay, so your torso is your actual head.” Zolph responded.

Zolph distracted the creature while Grein attacked from behind, cutting his wings off as well as his tail to limit his balance, causing him to roar in anger.

“YOU WILL BOTH BURN!” Cinydra then sprayed a large stream of fire towards Zolph, but the lack of a tail and wings made him lose his balance and topple over on his back.

While he was helpless and struggled to get up, Zolph ran up to him and dropped a thermal detonator in his mouth, which it couldn’t keep closed since the way it was formed it was always at least partially open. The grenade exploded in his mouth, only frying his heart but not blowing him to pieces like it did Mandoculus.

Cinydra muttered as he lay dying, “Orotice. Forgive your older brother. But at least we’re both free now…” His eyes then stopped glowing and fell limp.

“Great. That’s two times in one day I feel like a complete jerk.” Zolph said remorsefully.

Grein stood their silently thinking to herself. “Hang in there, Emilin. I’ll try to save you as soon as I can too, no matter what it takes.”

__________________________________________________________________________________________


Later, as the Blazing Manta voyaged through hyperspace back to Ossus, Zolph and Grein discussed what they had encountered throughout the day.

“Grein, I’m very glad you stuck with me for as long as you have. If you hadn’t, I’d probably be in a mental ward, dead, or a nihilistic Dark Jedi.” Zolph complimented her.

“Hey, you don’t have to keep thanking me. I don’t even think you’re a burden. Besides, you do a pretty good job looking out for me as I do for you.”

“Thanks. Anyway, what was with that crazy Twi’lek girl and the droid?”

“What I know about the Valkoran are from scattered outdated sources, so I don’t know much about Neur, but from what I can guess, she’s relatively new compared to the other Valkoran leadership. I noticed those tattoos on her face are Nightsister tattoos.”

“Nightsister?”

“They are one of the several matriarchal groups of Force-sensitive witches on the planet Dathomir, so that means she’s less than 600 years old chronologically. But these witches practiced the Dark Side. However, from what I know, the Nightsisters were not very racially diverse. They were mostly human, aside from cross-breeding with male Zabraks that were imported later in their history and creating a new species that became endangered during the Clone War. However, I can assume she’s from a time before cross-breeding was acceptable in their culture. They may have assumed that her lekku were some hideous tumors and had them cut off to mold her in their image, inadvertently lobotomizing her in the process. And from what I can also gather by her behavior when her prosthetics malfunctioned, they may have treated her as a reject for being mixed-species, and that may be why she lashes out at other women.”

“That’s… a very messed up theory, and if it's accurate, I feel even worse for her now. But what’s the deal with the droid?”

“Machinus is the chief director and engineer for the Valkoran tech division. And in addition to weapons and droid technology, he’s also an expert in cybernetics, and that includes neural implants. And considering how protective he was of her, I can assume they see each other as a surrogate father and daughter.”

“Still, he’s quite... lively for a droid. And why does he have a name instead of a serial number?” Zolph then changed the subject. “As for the stupid ghost that traumatized me, he said he replicated the Forceless. Is it possible that someone or something created these things? And is it possible that not all Forceless are part of the Collective we are fighting against?”

“It’s a possibility, and it may explain why the possessed creatures didn’t all prioritize you as their target, and why we didn’t see any of the army creatures we saw on Sleheyron.”

“And it may explain that bounty hunter, Gestroma, if he isn’t really just another lackey of the Collective posing as a mercenary. I guess we’ll find out more about him once the Alliance has something to report about him.” Zolph then changed the subject again. “And you said you had a sister?”

“Yes.”

“You don’t have to tell me everything, but can you tell me what happened to her?”

“I lost her to the Collective some time before I met you on Sleheyron. I don’t know if she’s still alive, but if she is, I intend to free her.”

“By ‘free’, you mean kill her right?”

“Unfortunately, because as you well know already, there isn’t much else I can do for her.”

“So, that probably explains why you were so interested in the Collective before they became a public issue.”

“That’s one of my reasons. But I can’t share them all with you at this moment. We still need to report our findings to Skywalker, and there are still four more Archfiends on that list. And thankfully for you, Valkor has just wasted the best planet to use against you.”
What else would you expect from Korriban/Moraband?

Post-Production Author's Note: If I had written this around the time Korriban's new name was introduced, I would have made a joke about the name change during the Lord Azath scene. It would have had the dead Sith Lord throw a violent hissy fit over learning that the name of his planet got changed to Moraband thousands of years after his death. But since I missed that opportunity, I'm saving that joke for Masochus (which would work better for him considering how clinically insane he is).

Artwork for this chapter:
Neur - Character sheet gahmahraan.deviantart.com/art/…
Cinydra gahmahraan.deviantart.com/art/…

Episode II directory
Prologue: Raid gahmahraan.deviantart.com/art/…
Ch. 1: War Hero gahmahraan.deviantart.com/art/…
Ch. 2: Guilt gahmahraan.deviantart.com/art/…
Ch. 3: Remorse gahmahraan.deviantart.com/art/…
Ch. 4: The Damaged - You are here
Ch. 5: Resolve gahmahraan.deviantart.com/art/…
Ch. 6: Sky Battle gahmahraan.deviantart.com/art/…
Ch. 7: The Return gahmahraan.deviantart.com/art/…
Ch. 8: The Enforcer gahmahraan.deviantart.com/art/…
Ch. 9: Lab Rat gahmahraan.deviantart.com/art/…
Ch. 10: Defector gahmahraan.deviantart.com/art/…
Ch. 11: Deranged gahmahraan.deviantart.com/art/…
Ch. 12: The Messenger gahmahraan.deviantart.com/art/…
Ch. 13: The Weapon gahmahraan.deviantart.com/art/…
Ch. 14: Facade gahmahraan.deviantart.com/art/…
Ch. 15: Ancestor gahmahraan.deviantart.com/art/…
Ch. 16: War's End Paranormalities: Episode II - Ch.16 War's End
Ch. 17: The Forceless Paranormalities: Episode II - Ch.17 The Forceless
Epilogue: Compromise Paranormalities: Episode II - Epilogue: Compromise
© 2013 - 2024 Gahmah-Raan
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ZanarNaryon's avatar
I'TS CALLED KORRIBAN