4 - 08 Review Part II

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15 years 10 months ago #14389 by
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Ten years have passed. Bane and Zannah are encamped on the planet of Ambria. Zannah has a flashback to her first lesson. Neeks are a small reptilian race native to the planet. Bane charges her to bring one of the creatures to him of its own free will. The task proves very difficult, and Zannah fails several times. Eventually she begins to meditate outside of the neeks cave, and one befriends her. Little by little she coaxes the neek to their camp. As they enter the camp Bane uses the Force to snap the creature’s neck.
Zannah took a moment to steel herself, pushing away the grief that threatened to well up inside her. When Bane had first given her this task, she realized, he must have known she would develop a fondness for the little neek. If she had been wiser she would have foreseen this, and viewed the creature simply as a tool – something to be used then tossed aside- rather than allowing herself to become emotionally attached. The pain she felt now over its death was a warning – a reminder that her only allegiance was to her Master. ”I see you decided to teach me two lessons today, Master.”
Zannah is on the world of Serenno, waiting to meet her lover. A Lethon Twi’lek named Kel’Dor. He belongs to an underground group that wants to overthrow the galactic senate.
Ten years living with the orbalisks have changed Bane. He is almost covered by the hard shells, only his face, feet, and hands remain untouched. His power in the Dark side grows each day, but the pain of living with the orbalisks does as well. In the time passed he has been researching how to make a holocron, and is not seeing any progress. As he puts the finishing touches on his new attempt, the holocron crumbles. Bane loses his temper, and their camp is destroyed by his rage.
Zannah and Kel attend one of his group’s meetings. Their boss is a man named Hetton, and he wants them to kidnap former supreme chancellor Tarsus Valorum. Zannah can provide the times and stops of his visit and Kel trusts her.
Zannah returns and finds the camp destroyed, and Bane in deep meditation. She informs him of Kel’s plan, but tells him they will not succeed. Bane says they don’t need to they just need to blind the eyes of the Jedi to their own plans. Zannah confronts Bane about the orbalisks, telling him they are making him dangerous, unable to control his temper and great power. She wishes he would remove them, but she secretly wants him dead. Her plan is unfolding.
Johun is now the bodyguard of chancellor Valorum. As they land Johun has a vision of impending danger. The landing pad which they just vacated is ripped apart in a massive explosion. Johun saves Valorum before he falls to his death. They are still being attacked by four beings. Johun kills one, wounds another and the third flees. The fourth is Kel. Kel is a very good fighter, and Johun only uses Form IV, the diplomat’s form, and Kel pushes him back to the landing pad ledge. Johun knows he is going to die, but he feels only serenity, ‘there is no death, there is the Force.’
It took Johun several seconds to realize he wasn’t dead. Even missing the rocks, a fall from that height should have been lethal. Yet somehow he had survived, though he was now sinking quickly into the ocean’s angry depths. The Force, he thought in amazement. He had given himself over to its power during the fall; in return it had spared his life.
Kel is not so lucky.
Zannah is on the world Carannia, and news of the attempt on the ex-chancellor is running constantly on the Holonet. While making her way through a crowded market place she is confronted by one of Kel’s group. One of his ex lovers, a Chiss named Cyndra. She let’s the woman take her prisoner, and they travel to the home of Hetton. The group’s leader. The house is large and opulent, with guards everywhere. They search her find her lightsaber, and things turn for the worse. Zannah is learning the ways of a Force witch, and she unhinges Cyndra’s mind before she can be killed. They believe she is a Jedi, but Hetton knows better. He asks everyone to leave the room, and reveals a secret to her. He is force sensitive, and his mother has had him trained for most of his life. He has been searching for a Sith master, and believes Zannah to be one. At first she refuses, but his personal guard are refugees from the Sith academy on Umbara. He tells her of Darth Belia a Dark Lord of the Sith that lived on the planet Tython. She could merge beast and machine to make deadly warriors. Zannah has her companion to help destroy Bane.
Bane is at the camp on Ambria. He is contemplating his failures, when the Force is muted. He draws his lightsaber, and the Shadow Assassins of the Academy on Umbara attack. In the distance he sees Zannah, standing alone with Hetton. Bane cuts down the assassins, and makes his move to her. Hetton steps in front, and is cut down immediately. Zannah is attacked by Bane. She has never faced him like this, he is unstoppable. She begins to reason with him and tells him of Belia’s stronghold. She sweetens the deal by telling him that she was the master of making holocrons.
Bane immediately leaves for Tython, but sends Zannah on a mission of her own. To the Jedi Temple archives, to research the removal of orbalisks.
In the wilds of Ruusan, Johun waits for the build site to be sabotaged. It is not long before Darovit appears, and Johun confronts him. They argue about the validity of the memorial, and Darovit tells Johun he saw a Sith Lord after the thought bomb. Johun captures him, and takes him to meet with the Jedi Council on Coruscant.
Bane has reached Tython. He searches the stronghold before he finds an empty room. Inside he sees the holocron. The room is not empty, it is filled with the dormant techobeasts, made by Belia. As his hand closes around the holocron, the beasts stir to life. There are hundreds of them, silent and out for Bane’s head. Destroying them is no small task, but the Dark Lord of the Sith is no small being. He fights against the beast’s and they keep coming. Bane calls to the ground, and is infected with the virus.
Zannah has reached Coruscant, and is browsing the stacks of the Temple Archive. She has taken the alias of Nalia Adollu, a padawan of a reclusive master. While she is researching the orbalisks, she is found by Darovit. He is waiting on Johun to return with Master Farfalla. Zannah knows they cannot meet, and takes him from the Temple. Johun and Farfalla return to the stacks, and find out Darovit has gone. The keeper of records tells them he left with the apprentice, but Johun knows better. The two decide immediately to head for Tython to warn Bane.
Bane is studying the holocron of Darth Belia, who was a changeling and appears as a different being each time. He learns how he fails to make a holocron. He must perform a Rite of Commencement, a long Sith spell. He also must find a piece he never knew existed the capstone. He can see a ship in the distance, it’s Zannah. When she lands she tells him that she was followed by Jedi. Bane is furious, the dark side energy in him is over flowing. They retreat back to an open room with a door at each end.
When the five Jedi touch ground they can feel the dark side energy. Johun, Farfalla, two more masters, and a knight enter the stronghold. Bane attacks with new savagery but the Jedi are under the influence of a battle meditation. Their moves are coordinated and they never tire. Zannah is being attacked by Johun and the knight, while Bane is fighting Farfalla and the other master. The Jedi are amazed at the ferocity of Bane, and his ability to take hits to the body and keep coming. Zannah is having problems with her opponent, Bane is not. He moves ever closer to the master using the battle meditation, and the Jedi know it is time to change tactics. Johun leaves Zannah, and runs to defend the others. In the commotion Zannah uses her sith sorcery and finishes her bewildered opponent with a slash to the chest. She uses her abilities to hide in the Force, and sneaks up on one of the masters and kills her. When the master falls Farfalla is distracted and is decapitated by Bane. Only Johun and the master, Worror, are left. Bane moves in quickly and slashes the throat of Worror.
Zannah felt the gathering dark side power of her Master, but in the instant before he unleashed the storm of purple lightning, Worror reached up from the floor and clutched him by his ankle. A shimmering blue globe surrounded them both as the mortally wounded Jedi released his own power in his final, dying act.
Bane is turned to a charred smoking ruin, but he still lives. The orbalisks were fried off his body, Zannah knows she must get help fast. She remembers his story of the healer on Ambria, Caleb. She and Darovit load Bane into their ship, and travel to see the healer.
When they reach Caleb’s shack, he is nowhere to be found. Zannah reaches out to the Force and finds him hidden in a secret chamber below ground. He remembers Bane, and will not heal him. Zannah pleas with him to help, ‘Your Master will never be ordinary. Though soon enough he will be dead.’ Darovit makes a deal with Caleb, and he agrees to help. Zannah must send a messenger drone to the Jedi Temple. She must tell them that a Sith Lord is alive on Ambria. Caleb has disabled the ship, and there is nowhere to run.
Bane awakens a few days later, but has no will power to call on the Force. Zannah explains their situation to him, and he begs her to kill him.
A few days later, 12 Jedi land outside the shack. When they arrive they see a head on a stick, with various other body parts thrown around. A man holding Farfalla’s lightsaber attacks the Jedi, and is quickly cut down. As the Master Jedi looks around the shack he puts two and two together. The man they killed was the Sith, and the other was the man who sent the message. In a last ditch effort the man attacked the Jedi, and fell. The Sith are no more. . .
When the Jedi’s ship leaves the ground, Zannah emerges from the hidden spot in the floor. Her Master resting calmly in his bed, she begins to repair the ship.
“You still have much to teach me,” Zannah reminded him. “I will continue to study at your feet, Master. I will learn from your wisdom. I will discover your secrets, unlocking them one by one until everything you know – all your knowledge and power – is mine. And once you are no longer of use to me, I will destroy you.”
Bane raised an eyebrow at her words, and she could tell he approved. Her ambition was good; it would give her power. Her talents and abilities would continue to grow. In time, she would challenge her Master for the right to rule, and only the stronger would survive. It was inevitable. It was the way of the Sith.
“One day I will surpass you,” Zannah warned him. “And on that day I will kill you, Lord Bane. But that day is not today.”

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15 years 10 months ago #14390 by
Replied by on topic Re:4 - 08 Review Part II
It took me a while to do this, but only because I like the book so much that I read more than I reviewed. But anyway.


Even though this one was rushed to press, I loved it. The new storyline with Bane and Zannah can go any number of places, all bad. I really like how he interacts in her training, and teaches her good and bad.

All in all, Bane is just one bad man. I hope these books keep coming, they rock.

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