[Short Stories] - [Gamer] - Bane of the Sith (Kevin Anderson)(1), Star Wars - Books And Short Stories
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Star WarsGamer MagazineN 3Bane of the Sithby Kevin J. Anderson;Illustration by Stan Shaw###############################################################################Like a thrown dagger seeking its target, the Valcyn stabbed through hyperspace, a lone survivor racing away from the site of the battlefield massacre.All of the Sith Lords were dead after their last stand on Ruusan... all except one. The insidious "thought bomb" set off in a glorious suicidal gesture by Sith Lord Kaan had also obliterated all of the Jedi Knights under Lord Hoth's command. Every Force-user on Ruusan had been annihilated, warriors both light and dark. But there were other Jedi Knights abroad in the Republic - - and now the Brotherhood of Darkness was extinct. Except for Darth Bane."You are a coward," said a hollow spectral voice beside him, loud and hot in the closeness of the sleek ship's cockpit. "You have failed me and Lord Kaan and all your Sith brothers."His knuckles white as he gripped the controls of the Valcyn, Darth Bane curled back his lips, showing clenched teeth. His eyes were wide and hunted as he navigated through the convolutions of hyperspace, fleeing toward what he hoped would be a refuge... and a new beginning.Beside him, occupying no space inside the blade-shaped spacecraft, sat the avatar of Sith Lord Qordis, a man wrapped in shadows. He crackled with black dark side energy - - the evil residue of a dead man.Qordis turned his long ghoulish face toward Bane. His eyes were embers of fire wreathed within inky hollows. The specter pointed an accusing talon-like finger at Darth Bane. Reflections of his remembered obsidian-encrusted rings glittered in the cabin light."No, Master Qordis," Bane said, a large man hunched in the cockpit. "I am not craven. I have done only what was required. Someone had to escape, so that the flames of dark lore would not be extinguished completely." His head was shaved smooth, his scalp blotched with discolorations. Bane's jaw was firm and square, his eyes as large as lanterns. His body was muscular enough to intimidate any foe, but the accusing spirit of his Sith Master made even the burly Sith Lord's resolve turn to cold water."You abandoned us, Darth Bane.""No, I intended only to protect the legacy of the Sith! I must carry on the work of Darkness, or else all of our existence, the entire Brotherhood, will be forgotten." Trying to concentrate on his ship despite the looming presence beside him, Bane studied the coordinates. He worked the Valcyn's controls, and the ship plunged out of hyperspace, as if a surreal vacuum had broken around it. The slim spacecraft dropped into star-studded blackness, circling downward with its own momentum, augmented by powerful thrusters.Darth Bane descended into the harsh, bright light of the Onderon sun. In this solar system, only one planet was habitable - - Onderon itself - - and it held a grouping of four erratic moons, including the beast moon of Dxun.There, perhaps, he could redeem himself and mitigate this disaster.Bane pressed his cold lips together, muttering quietly as he wrestled with his guilt. He had told Lord Kaan the folly of his "thought bomb" plan, had disagreed with the tactics of such complete and destructive surrender. On the blasted and corpse-strewn battlefields of Ruusan, he had argued against the mass suicide of the Sith Brotherhood, even if it meant dealing such a blow to the Jedi Knights. A poor bargain, he had insisted, raising a gloved fist inside the war pavilions where the angry and wounded Dark Lords thought only of revenge against his comrades.But, as they had done for so long, the Sith followers were more interested in their private squabbles, trying to step on each other's shoulders merely to gain status for themselves. Didn't they see what they were doing to their glorious dark dreams? Darth Bane had watched it happen. Even while the Brother-hood of Darkness faced total defeat at Ruusan, still they were more interested in personal glory than in uniting against the common enemy.They had been vanquished for their folly. Bane was glad to be away from fools with too much power..."Excuses and self-justification," said the ghostly avatar of the dead Lord Qordis, who had been annihilated on Ruusan, like all the others. "You were always a disappointment as a student, Bane. My other trainees followed orders, but you questioned too much. You refused to do what was necessary, and you never bothered to finish your training." Qordis seemed to grow larger, until the Valcyn's cockpit could no longer contain the angry spirit. "Now how will you complete your mission?""I always do what is necessary, for my survival and for the benefit of the Sith," Bane muttered. "But none of you would listen to me." The Valcyn plowed through interplanetary space, cutting its way toward Dxun, where Bane hoped to find a new future for the Sith. "Now you are all dead, and at last I have a chance to recreate the Sith in the proper way."The leprous green moon hung directly within his navigational circle. Though squeezed and cracked by tidal stresses, Dxun was overgrown with a cancerous covering of wild life-forms, twisted jungles infested with predatory creatures more horrific than any Jedi Knight could ever imagine. Bane had heard of the moon's long dark side history and hoped to find a place of refuge here on Dxun.When he looked beside him, he saw that the specter of Lord Qordis had vanished. He breathed a sigh of relief as he began descending into the beast moon's gravity well, wondering where he would ever find a safe landing place in the nightmare of foliage below. His relief came too soon. "You will not get away unpunished!" Qordis's words boomed into Bane's mind. Sparks flew like fire geysers from the Valcyn's control panel. The engines gasped as if they'd been strangled, then gave out with a disheartening thunk. The damaged craft rattled and shuddered as it dropped through the air like a wedge-shaped stone. All the ship's systems had gone completely dead.Bane struggled to reignite his thrusters, attempting to squeeze just a little more energy from the repulsorlifts. The hull heated to a cherry red as the Valcyn tore through Dxun's atmosphere. Lightning crackled around him. Storm explosions hurled his ship from side to side."Curse you, Lord Qordis," he said in a dry throat.As the treetops rushed up at him, he fought back his panic, cast away his helplessness, and used a desperate snatch of Sith powers. The dark side energies buoyed his failing craft just enough so that it crashed into the treetops with slightly less than lethal force.Branches splintered. Leaves burst into flames from the friction of his passage. The Valcyn's hull tore open, shredded by the sharp boughs. Darth Bane shielded himself with all the Sith power he possessed, forming a cushion against the impact.The Valcyn broke through the forest canopy and slammed into the soft, mucky ground. The careening spacecraft ripped a long furrow and uprooted trees and plants, setting them afire behind him.When the ship finally came to rest, Darth Bane found himself intact, though the ship itself would require months to repair - - if he even had the capability at all. Weak, and yet revitalized by the very fact of his survival, Bane pried his way out of the damaged spacecraft. The smoking hull burned his fingers as he climbed free. He dropped to the uneven torn ground.The lone survivor of the Sith carried a supply pack and his hook-handled lightsaber, nothing more. He stood with his hands on his hips, surveying the furious jungles of Dxun, and contemplated his next step. He would be here a while.Lightning continued to roar overhead like shattering electric crystal. He stepped away from the crash site into slashing rain in the black of night. He didn't know where to go... other than away from the ruined Valcyn. The beast moon seemed to be crouching and ready to spring.Igniting his lightsaber, he trudged into the jungles, using the throbbing blade as a machete against the fang-clawed vines that writhed at him. He sliced through a thicket, but the foliage only grew denser, more resistant. His nostrils flared with anger as he strode forward, hacking with each step."You cannot hide out there, Bane."He turned to see the avatar of Lord Qordis towering over him, ethereal yet vengeful. Bane lashed out at his dead teacher. "A Sith does not hide." He struck furiously with the lightsaber again, clearing a large tree in a shower of sparks. "I feel no fear."Behind him in the morass of undergrowth, a loud boom ripped through the jungle. A pillar of fire erupted, vaporizing more of the oily foliage. A shockwave from the exploding fuel cells and cracked engine core flattened the forest for a hundred meters around. Smoking shrapnel, hunks of metal hull plates hammered around Bane like a meteor shower. Now, nothing remained of his damaged ship but a smoldering crater sizzling in the cold rain.Angry, Darth Bane turned to the smug dark side avatar. "I see you don't intend to make this easy for me.""I intend to make it deadly for you." The evil spirit barked a harsh laugh, then dissolved into the jungle shadows.Bane shored up his determination and pointedly refused to look back as he pushed into the wilderness of Dxun. He thrashed through the jungle, which never seemed to give him three steps without fighting back. The ground beneath his feet trembled from the moon's tidal instabilities. Ominous hunting noises filled the jungle, and Bane remained on his guard. He knew the dark and bloody history of this place and was aware of his own peril.Eons ago, the beast moon of Dxun had shifted in its erratic orbit until it came dangerously close to the parent planet. During t...
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