Chapter 49

For the next month after the meeting, there was a silence that descended upon the Galaxy. No news of any attacks had spread and the fleets had yet to move. Many believed that the two factions had agreed to a truce or one had surrendered to the other. It was only the 6 factions that had been at the meeting that knew that this was the silence before the storm. And as if they had spoken about it at the same time, both sides attacked at once. 

An entire fleet owned by the Black Sun appeared above Nod Kartha and began engaging their defense fleet in battle while another fleet controlled by the Hutts made a move on Maramere. 

Thanks to the support of the Yautja, the fleet above Maramere far surpassed the expectations of the Hutts. They wanted to retreat when they saw that they were outmatched 3 to one but the gravity wells kept them in the system and unable to retreat. This group was forced to fight a battle with the mentality that there was nothing but death ahead of them. Half of the attackers instantly lost all morale while the others began battling like madmen since they had nothing to lose. 

The battle on Nod Kartha was different, however. The planet was mainly defended by an orbital shield with only a single space station acting as its defense. But the Black Sun would learn that these defenses were more than enough for what Jial had planned for them. 

The space station was built with durability in mind. It was created to force those attacking to focus all their strength on it but even after 10 minutes, they had barely broken through the first layer of the ship. 

Thanks to information given by the Grey Knights, Jial was able to create a new material that could withstand large amounts of damage and was relatively cheap to build compared to materials like Beskar. The only downside was that it took a long time to produce this alloy. 

But thanks to that, Jial was able to build space stations around each of his planets that could withstand an entire fleet's assault for several days without giving out.

While the Black Sun fleet was attacking the station, one of their ships suddenly crashed into another and caused them both to be destroyed along with various fighters near them. 

"What the hell was that?" the admiral in charge of the attack questioned. "Do these bastards have some way to control our ships?"

"Unclear, Admiral Sharp. We did not receive any communication from them," one of the men on the bridge reported

"Tsk. Tell the other ships to spread out their formation. If any ship gets too close to them, they are allowed to open fire on them. Pull the bombers and fighters back so they can engage any ship we lose control of."

"Yes, Admiral Sharp," the person responded. But as they tried to send out the message, they noticed that their communications had been cut off. "Sir. We seem to be unable to send any messages to the other ships."

"What?" the man was perplexed

Just as he was about to say something else, he saw two more ships crash into one another. The ship received message after message asking them what was going on but they were unable to send any messages out to give orders to the others.

Just as they were beginning to panic, there was a loud explosion. After finding out where it came from, one of the staff pulled up the live feed. A hologram appeared in the middle of the room showing the situation in the hangar. 

From the hologram, they could see several droids that were about 3 meters tall tearing through their forces. These droids had arm-mounted slug throwers, heavy armor, and a melee weapon in their hands. No matter how much their soldiers fired on the droids, none of their blasters were able to deal any damage. Even the rockets proved ineffective at slowing down the droids who just walked through them while creating a scene of carnage. The slug throwers tore through several soldiers before destroying the walls or damaging the ships behind them. 

"Shit! Deploy the Jedi and have them stop those droids!" the Admiral ordered. The Jedi were originally supposed to be deployed straight to Nod Kartha's surface but he needed to use them immediately. 

In the hangar, the Grey Knights were tearing through the Black Sun forces without any trouble. All of their weapons were too weak to damage their Aegis Power Armour. The Storm Bolters on their wrists were more powerful than even the rockets that the men used while their Force Weapons were capable of cutting through even the toughest of metals.

"Now that we have the hangar taken care of, let's make our way to the bridge," Kaldor ordered his men

This was the tactic that Jial had given to them in order to be able to spread his forces as best as possible. The Grey Knights were able to teleport large distances which allowed them to raid enemy ships easily and cause massive damage. Numbering only 6 including Kaldor, they were a small but elite squad that could wipe out entire armies head-on.

Just as they were about to leave the hangar, three figures wearing black cloaks appeared in the hangar. The figures removed their cloaks, revealing their tan and brown robes underneath. 

Kaldor saw the 3 newcomers appear before he sneered under his helmet. 

"Go to the bridge. I'll handle these heretics," he told the other Grey Knights

The others agreed over their comms before charging through the door next to them while killing anyone who got in their way. One of the younger Jedi wanted to go after them but the eldest Jedi held up his hand to stop him. 

"Don't. This droid is far stronger than any of us can handle alone. We must work together," the Jedi Master told the other

"Droid? You all are mistaken," Kaldor told them before removing his helmet, revealing the face of an old man. He then hung the helmet on his back while holding his sword in one hand and shield in the other. Blue energy began to surround his sword as the veteran knight prepared to engage the Jedi. 

The three Jedi ignited their lightsabers while slowly moving around Kaldor and circling him. Once they had completely surrounded him, the trio all rushed forward to attack. 

Kaldor dropped his shield before releasing a bolt of electricity with his free hand which instantly vaporized the Jedi that came into contact with it, causing fear to grip the hearts of the other Jedi and for them to falter. Neither had seen Force Lightning so powerful.

When they faltered, Kaldor did not. He turned to face the other younger Jedi before a wall of white fire appeared in front of him. The wall surged forward like a wave and consumed the Jedi. The Master could barely hear a scream before it ended. When the flames disappeared, not even the corpse of the younger Jedi remained. 

The Master let out a shout of rage as his eyes turned yellow. Unknowingly, he had fallen to the Dark Side of the Force. But at that moment, he did not care. All he wanted to do was kill Kaldor and get revenge for his apprentice. 

The Jedi charged ahead while slashing his blade wildly at Kaldor. The knight blocked each blow with his own blade. The Titansword was one of the most powerful weapons that the Grey Knights possessed in their universe, passed down from leader to leader. It was capable of slaying even the mightiest of demons, not to mention receiving the blows of a single fallen Jedi. 

"Nothing more than a heretic that has lost his mind," Kaldor commented. "Don't worry. I shall end your suffering."

Kaldor began to actually fight back before swiping with his sword. The force behind that one swing was able to send the Jedi across the hangar and crashing into the wall. 

Almost all of the bones in his body were broken and he was unable to stand. The last thing that the Jedi saw was a vortex of purple energy surrounding him. After that, the Jedi's body was no longer there. Both his body and soul had been purged from reality, never to be seen or summoned by anyone. 

"Hmph," Kaldor did not feel any joy in killing the Jedi. Instead, he felt pity for them. The power that they had believed in was far too weak to even be called a cultist. 

The leader of the Grey Knights saw his body being surrounded by a blue light as he was about to be teleported once more. 

"I wonder how many more of these ships we will have to crash before they finally get the message and leave," were the final words he spoke on the ship before disappearing in a flash of light before the ship tore through 2 smaller capital ships and detonated. 

--- Llanic and Magravia ---

While the Hutts and Black Sun attacked two worlds under Yautja protection, Jial had ordered his forces to attack the two worlds that belonged to the Hutts in the Karthakk sector. Llanic was a known smugglers den and had control of the largest trading route in the area while Magravia produced a unique type of spice that was used by many mercenaries and bounty hunters to increase their reflexes. 

If got control of these two planets, that would grant him not only control of the smugglers in the area but also get him control of one of the Hutts most valuable products.