Nancora Badlands
West of Axio City
35 ABY

“INCOMING!”

Clouds of fire lit up the horizon. The ground trembled with a shuddering quake from a nearby bombing run by Collective B-Wings.

“They’re battering down our shield battery, check the damages!”

Along with their ground forces, Locke Sonjie and Jurdan Krennel had deployed a temporary shield for their strike team.

The other teams had not been so lucky. Blaster fire from an uncontested squadron of Collective Z-95 Headhunters peppered the scorched earth. Soldiers screamed as they were sent sailing through the air.

While things looked grim, Jurdan and Locke were not alone. Koji Keibatsu had fought his way valiantly alongside Tasha'Vel Versea. They were also fortunate enough to have a less-than pleased Dark Lord of the Sith on their side, too.

Muz Ashen Keibatsu’s pale face glowed from the glare of his twin golden-hued lightsabers. His awareness of the battlefield around him came as easily as drawing breath, allowing him to process the information around him with an intellect that many overlooked in the shadow of his prowess as a warrior.

The Grand Master knew that they were expecting air support from their navy. He also knew that they seemed to be late to the party despite checking in after the Brotherhood forces had broken through the Collective fleet to push planetside. He knew they were currently counting on Scholae Palatinae forces to flank from the northwest while a full scale frontal assault was carried out by the combined forces of Arcona and Odan-Urr from the south. He also knew that Plagueis and Taldryan had been quiet from cross-Brotherhood communication, but were more occupied with the enemy than fighting or scheming against the other Clans.

Unite them, a voice echoed in the back of Ashen’s mind. He ignored it, focusing instead on the battle in front of him—not the one behind.

The fighter squadron overhead screeched through the air as it came around for another run at the Sadowans' shields. The translucent corona of blue-white light shimmered as it began to bleed into dangerous flashes of red.

“I’ve got a bad feeling about this,” Koji Keibatsu commented to the side of the Grand Master.

“The air support will make it,” Muz spoke, his voice clear and confident over the din of battle. “Short of that, we have everything here that we need to advance.”

“With all due respect, brother,” Koji said, his words carefully chosen. “I don’t see how even your blades will be able to—”

The squadron of Headhunters circled around for another pass. The shields whined in protest at yet another blaster barrage. They would not hold for much longer.

Muz quietly deactivated his weapons and glanced callously up at the encroaching aerial targets. He began to walk forward, letting the hilts of his golden lightsabers float casually back to their respective loops on his belt sash. His boots treaded across the dry, cracked ground as he made his way wordlessly towards the edge of the Sadowans' shield battery cover.

“Muz!”

The cries fell on deaf ears. The former Grand Master passed through the threshold of the failing shield.

Click here to read the full 15 page finale to GJWXII: Retribution

Written by: Marick Tyris.

Additional contributions: Satsi Tameike

Artwork by: Maximus Alvinius

Summary

• We open with Clan Naga Sadow on the battlefront. A strike team consisting of Locke, Jurdan, Koji, and Tasha deploy a mobile shield generator to defend against air attacks. They are trying to push towards the capital city of Axio.
• As the shield starts to falter, Muz Ashen decides to take matters into his own hands. Using a feat only available to a Grand Master, Ashen takes down the enemies lead starfighter with a tempest of Force Lightning. With the enemy fighter squadron in disarray, they are easily picked off by friendly air support and are able to push forward.
• At a nearby Technocratic Guild factory, Daicen (Bubba), Kelly, and TuQ’uan are investigating a research facility. Dacien senses a disturbance in the Force, which leads to the facility detonating. (As Daggo was instructed to do by Rath in chapter 5). They escape thanks to some fancy footwork. Dacien is getting too old for this poodoo.
• In disguise, Marick Tyris hacks the Collective database to provide data for the Inquisitorius. He manages to disable the unguarded shields for the rest of the Brotherhood, then takes his leave.
• With the shield generator down, an Arcona/Odan-Urr strike force assaults Axio City and the Collective Command center.
• Satsi recognizes that the resistance is not as strong as it should be. Starts to get an uneasy feeling. Turel and Satsi realize and discover that the Collective is already pulling out of Nancora.
• The Collective lured the Brotherhood to Nancora to then launch covert raiding strikes against each of their respective homeworlds. Odan-Urr’s location remains hidden for...reasons.
• Taldryan has already started to pull back its forces. They make a retreat back to their (soon to be claimed) home system.
• Turel and Satsi argue over whether to tell the other units of what’s going on.
• Turel wants to inform the other units since it’s the right thing to do. Satsi says that their own units and families are more important. In the end, Turel’s pleading and rhetoric convinces Satsi to concede.
• Sith Bloodfyre returns to the Tarentum fleet. He receives the distress signal from Turel. BF considers his options as Ranarr and Admirla Hades debate the validity of the Jedi’s claims. After weighing the variables and information in front of him, BF decides it’s a good idea to retreat back home to protect Yridia II. After some nifty maneuvering, Tarentum makes it to hyperspace.
• Braecen Kaeth and the Scholar forces repel the Collective into a retreat, claiming a victory for the Empress. While trying to treat a wounded soldier, a fatigued Braecen is unable to stop the collapse of a falling shelter.
• Braecen is saved by former Sith-turned-Jedi Aura Ta’var. Since the Force is all about lifting rocks, she saves Braecen and the soldiers, who do not make chase after her as she escapes.
• Aura makes it back to the Odan-Urr evacuation forces. Archenskov explains that there is still work to be done, and the battle is far from over.

Conclusion

This brings Great Jedi War XII to a close. The grading itself was done in record time, thanks to around the clock work from the Dark Council. It was truly an honor getting to work with that team, and think that while this fictional element was delayed, the overall product we delivered was worth the wait. I am a big believer in doing things right instead of rushing things. We learned a lot from this as a club, and as organizers, but I hope everyone takes away the positives and looks at anything negative as a stepping stone to future growth as a club.

All details of Great Jedi War XII will be colaesced into the Twelfth Great Jedi War wiki page. This will include newsposts that were made, a summary and links to each chapter of the main story, and a link to the competitions themselves. The lower half of the article features the Heros of each unit, the members that went 100% participation, and the scores of the respective units. It also covers rewards and payouts.

Thank you to everyone who helped in auxiliary ways to make all of this happen. I am confident with the level of documentation we maintained throughout this process, and hope it provides stable groundwork for future Vendetta and Wars. Super special thanks to James for implementing Factions, and all the other emergency code-work he put into play to help us execute.

Most of all, thank you to Sarin and Mav, for making this happen. The GMs take a lot of heat, but without them, the club would not be able to push out this scale of events or activity.

Thank you to everyone who participated, came out, and supported the event, even if you had your own reservations. We appreciate it. Thank you for your patience, and I hope you enjoy the Finale.

-W

One More Thing

Don’t forget, The Collective Chronicles are still ongoing. There are 4 really easy competitions to do, and they give you the chance to create characters that will become a part of the Collective. This means they will have chances to be used in fictions. The winning character(s) will be featured in fiction in some manner.

Seriously guys, this competition is designed for you. I’ve got ~7 entries for each category, but know we can get more. The more characters we get, the more the Collective will feel like something you the members helped create. Otherwise, it’s just me coming up with my own characters I come up with on the train.