Star Wars Infinities: FaSotS Timeline 9

Star Wars Infinities: Father and Son of the Suns (part 9)

BBY 11: In a feverish search for focusing crystals to complete the Ultimate Weapon project, Confederate agents stumble upon the moon of Jedha, regarded by the Force-believer population at large as a holy site and node for the Force. Intrigued by the inner workings of what focuses the energy within lightsabers, they learn that Jedha was a source of kyber crystals for the Jedi Order in eras past. Upon receiving this critical information, Poggle the Lesser decides to organize a clandestine effort to accumulate the crystals, rather than invoke the ire of the Republic and the Jedi Order in the midst of the current ceasefire. Special forces teams, prospectors, miners and droids across the Confederacy are offered substantial rewards to work on Jedha under the front of the Independent Minerals Mining Guild.

Kento Marek manages to trace and track down Darth Maul’s operating location: an imposing obsidian fortress on the Outer Rim world of Mustafar. Joined with Masters Kazdan Paratus, Shaak Ti, and Rahm Kota, along with Knights Serra Keto, Bultar Swan and several others, Kento infiltrates the fortress and confronts Maul within his focusing chamber, demanding his unconditional surrender and arrest to be tried by the Jedi Council, both for war crimes and for violation of the Republic-Confederacy cease-fire affords. Maul vows that all of them shall die within his “Temple to the Sith” and attacks him. Kento and the other Jedi are immediately aware of his enhanced powers and abilities as he kills Master Paratus and three Knights within moments, demonstrating that his mastery of the Dark Side was far beyond what they had anticipated. Each of them soon realize that they are in well over their heads, and attempt a tactical retreat back to the Fortresses’ landing pad. Stormtroopers close in upon their positions and force the Jedi task force to seek immediate cover, leaving Kento Marek and Shaak Ti facing off against Darth Maul.

Concluding that they must remain behind in other to save the others, Kento and Shaak Ti duel Maul together, pushed to the very limit of their combat skill. A sacrificial feint results in Shaak Ti’s fatal injury from the Sith Lord’s lightsaber, enabling Kento to stall him and sever his left hand, whilst being slain himself in the process. Master Kota and the remaining Jedi manage to escape to the landing pad, swiftly boarding their transport and escaping Mustafar. This deadly encounter serves to prove as evidence that Darth Maul has become far more powerful in recent years, and that it will require a concentrated effort to bring him down in the future.

Soontir Fel, a talented young man from a Corellian farming family, was accepted to the Republic Military Academy at Raithal by recommendation of Senator Garm Bel Iblis, shortly after intervening in the attempted rape of a female friend by the son of the director of the Allied Grain and Roughage conglomerate on his homeworld. Soontir, after months of grueling courses and exercises, soon became the rising star of his class, and becomes accepted into the Republic Starfighter Corps pilot pipeline program.

While investigating rumors of Confederate agents scouring across the galaxy in search of “something to secure an edge over the Republic in the future,” Jedi Knight Callista Masana discovers a massive construct in an uncharted star system, seemingly abandoned by its creators. Boarding the colossal vessel and slicing its computer systems, she learns that is actually an automated weapon constructed at the behest of Darth Sidious himself, simply named “The Eye,” and meant to be activated as soon as the sinister Order 66 was executed. Fearing the sheer amount of casualties The Eye could inflict if it fell into the hands of the Confederacy, Callista embarks on a one-woman battle against the automated terror’s defenses to activate its self-destruct mechanism. Despite being gravely-wounded, she succeeds in both fleeing The Eye and subsequently destroying it.

Withdrawn from the Jedi Order for many decades out of guilt for the fall and death of her daughter, along with her own fall to the Dark Side, a very-old Vima-Da-Boda resides on a barely-habitable world far from the Republic, hoping to pass away peacefully after so many years of penance. One day on a long walk across some scrub plains, she witnesses an explosion in orbit… and senses the presence of someone strong with the Force. It leads Vima to the crash-site of a transport, where a badly-wounded Callista Masana barely clings to life. Ram shackling a makeshift sled together, she ferries the young Jedi to her hut and tends to her wounds. Reaching into the Force, Vima discovers a great destiny in store for this particular Jedi, one hopeful, invigorating, and tragic.