STAR WARS: The Heir of The High Republic-Chapter 14: Shadows in the Dark

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Aboard the Hope – Korriban Orbit

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The war room aboard the Hope was dimly lit, its holotable flickering with an array of incomplete data fragments recovered from the collapsed Sith facility. Kassy Carsen stood opposite me, her hands resting on the edge of the console, her sharp hazel eyes darting over the scattered reports and intercepted transmissions. Major Ikarus and Admiral Tempra stood beside us, their expressions grim as they took in the intelligence gathered from the Sorzus Syn site.

"This is all we recovered?" Kassy asked, her voice carrying an edge of disbelief. "A few corrupted logs and an incomplete transmission?"

I nodded, crossing my arms. "The collapse destroyed most of their records. But the Sith weren't careless. They encrypted everything beyond standard slicing protocols. Whatever they were working on, they didn't want anyone finding out about it."

Ikarus grunted. "And yet, we still have fragments. If we could decrypt this, we might get a lead on where their remaining forces went."

Tempra exhaled, rubbing her temples. "We need more than half a message and a few gutted terminals. We need a solid lead."

Kassy tapped a sequence into the console, bringing up the only salvageable line from the intercepted Sith transmission:

"Initiate the transfer to ██████... the Dark Lord demands—"

She frowned. "Whatever they were transferring... it was moved before we got there. And 'Dark Lord' isn't a title thrown around lightly."

I met her gaze. "It means their leadership is more organized than we thought. We aren't just dealing with remnants of a broken Sith Order. We're dealing with a full resurgence."

Silence fell over the room.

Then Ikarus spoke. "So what's our next move, General?"

I tapped a finger against the holotable. "We need to follow the only lead we have. The signal fragment suggests the transmission originated from within the Stygian Caldera. There's a high probability that our next target is within that region."

Kassy nodded. "That narrows it down, but the Caldera's massive. It could be Korriban's deeper ruins, Ziost, Dromund Kaas, or any number of hidden Sith outposts."

I exhaled. "Then we start with Ziost. It was once a Sith capital—one of the strongest nexuses of the Dark Side. If something powerful is brewing, it's as good a place as any to begin."

Tempra straightened. "I'll prep the fleet for departure. But we can't bring the full force in. That would be suicide if we're heading into a potential stronghold."

Ikarus cracked his knuckles. "A strike team then. We go in fast, hit hard, and get out with the intel we need."

I turned to Kassy. "You up for this?"

She smirked. "You think I came all this way to sit on the sidelines? I was trained for the front lines, Kriss. Let's move."

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Hours later, our strike team approached Ziost's frozen surface.

The Royal Harpy, accompanied by two escort starfighters, emerged from hyperspace just beyond the storm-covered atmosphere of the ancient Sith world. The icy tundras stretched endlessly below, broken only by crumbling ruins and jagged mountains, remnants of a civilization that had once rivaled Korriban in its devotion to the Dark Side.

Tracer's voice crackled through the comms. "We're coming up on the coordinates. Scanners are detecting faint power signatures beneath the ruins. Could be a hidden structure."

I turned to Kassy, who sat in the co-pilot seat beside me. "If the Sith built anything here, it's underground. The surface is too exposed."

She nodded. "Then we land and find a way inside. Let's not keep them waiting."

The Royal Harpy descended swiftly, landing just beyond a set of collapsed obelisks. The wind howled around us as we stepped onto the frozen ground, the biting cold seeping through our cloaks.

Ikarus checked his blaster. "Stealth first. But if we run into trouble... I want full permission to put these Sith ghosts down."

I smirked. "You ever known me to say no to that?"

We advanced through the ruins, our steps muffled by the layers of ice and snow. Strange whispers echoed through the Force, distant and fragmented, as if the planet itself was murmuring ancient secrets.

Kassy's expression hardened. "Something about this place feels... wrong."

I nodded. "Ziost has been a graveyard for thousands of years. But that doesn't mean it's empty."

Tracer's voice came through our earpieces. "General, we found something. A passageway beneath the ruins. Looks like an entrance to an old Sith structure."

Ikarus exhaled sharply. "Of course. It's never just a simple recon mission."

I grinned. "Come on, Major. You love a good challenge."

He grunted. "Not when the challenge involves Sith sorcery and Force ghosts. But fine. Let's move."

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The passage led deep underground, the ice giving way to black stone corridors etched with Sith runes. Flickering red torches illuminated the way, their flames eerily still despite the cold air.

As we stepped forward, the door slammed shut behind us.

The temperature dropped further, and the whispers in the Force grew louder.

Then, from the darkness ahead, shadows began to take form.

Kassy's hand went to her lightsaber. "What... are those?"

The shadows coalesced into humanoid figures, their faces obscured beneath dark, tattered hoods. Their eyes glowed faintly yellow, and when they opened their mouths, a terrible hissing chant filled the chamber.

"You... are trespassing... in the domain of the Dark Masters..."

I ignited my aquamarine saber, the glow illuminating the chamber.

Ikarus raised his blaster. "Permission to put these things down?"

"Granted."

The room erupted into chaos. The shadowy figures lunged, their spectral blades clashing against our weapons. They weren't entirely solid, yet they weren't illusions either—some ancient Sith technique that allowed them to exist between worlds.

Kassy moved fast, ducking beneath an attack before striking upward, her two blades carving through a shadow. The creature let out an inhuman wail before dissipating.

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I spun, deflecting two strikes at once, then unleashed a powerful Force wave, scattering them backward.

Ikarus fired precision shots, and though blasters weren't as effective, his ion rounds seemed to weaken their forms.

"They're getting stronger!" Kassy shouted as more shadows emerged from the walls.

I focused my mind, reaching out into the Force, searching for the source of their power. Then I saw it—a massive Sith obelisk at the center of the chamber, pulsating with corrupt energy.

I pointed. "That's their anchor! We take it down, they fall with it!"

Kassy nodded. "Then let's end this!"

As we fought our way toward the obelisk, the room shook, the whispers growing to a deafening roar.

Whatever we had just uncovered... it wasn't going down without a fight.

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