Shhhhshshhhhh.....
The sound of rain.
What had started as a drizzle had turned into sheets of hammering water, endless and furious. The noise rolled through the shield dome, a thousand soft explosions every second as liquid fired down from the sky hit the pink barrier surrounding the farmhouse.
It was dark—really dark. No moonlight, no starlight. The heavens had been swallowed by black smoke and ash. The occasional red beam originating from orbit hitting something far and distant. The fallout from the orbital bombardments mingled with volcanic ash clouds, turning the night into a suffocating blanket of ink.
The only thing visible were the silhouettes.
Red eyes—hundreds of them—burned in the distance like embers scattered across a field of oil. They flickered, glowed, multiplied. Every so often, lightning crawled across the clouds, and for a heartbeat, I could see what the eyes belonged to.
They weren't identical.
Some still carried a vague trace of their former selves—humanoid Verdaran shapes, skin sagging for some others completely without, jaws dislocated, flesh ballooning and folding over itself. Others had gone beyond that. Things that no longer belonged to any category of life. They twisted and pulsed, too fluid to be bone, too solid to be sludge—organisms half-decayed yet impossibly animated.
It was the kind of sight that could break a mind if stared at too long.
One of them lurched forward into the faint pink glow of the shield—its upper torso crushed and inverted, ribs flaring outward like claws. Its head was gone. In its place, a swollen orb of red muscle blinked once where a heart should be, a makeshift eye glistening in the chest cavity. Below it, a new mouth flexed open, breathing through the absence of lungs.
I exhaled slowly. "This doesn't look good," Bolts said, his voice trembling through the comm. "Shield integrity at ninety-nine point nine percent and holding," Roger added, tone clipped and professional. Somehow, that didn't make me feel better.
Out in the black, their numbers multiplied. Dozens of glowing eyes became hundreds. Hundreds became thousands. Each step closer revealed more crawling, clawing silhouettes pressing against the limit of the shield's light.
I felt it then—fear. The kind that didn't creep but slammed through my spine and nested in my gut. The kind you feel when your brain catches up to the fact that the things outside want you, personally, dead.
I could leave. I could walk into my ship, take off, and watch this dying world burn beneath me.
But something held me here. A tug at the edge of my consciousness—quiet, insistent. The Force.
It coiled through the storm like a living current, whispering through every droplet of rain, every gust of wind that hit the dome. The planet itself was screaming with all kinds of negative emotions. Pain, loss, suffering, dread, agony, and more. The energy field shuddered like a wounded animal, alive but wrong, twisting under the weight of death saturating its soil and oceans.
I could feel it, crawling across the surface—through the forests, through the dead cities, into the water.
A Force maelstrom.
I'd heard of them—The Sith had once drowned worlds in death so profound that the Force began to feed on itself, permanently becoming a place of dark side power for eons.
I walked to the window, staring into the endless swarm beyond the light. Their eyes followed me—every one of them, unblinking. Pure Hunger.
The rain intensified. The ground shook with the thunder's rhythm. And somewhere out there, beyond the hills, a low, resonant howl rolled through the night—a sound not made by lungs but by something that had learned how to mimic life.
I felt the Force move through me again, whispering at the edge of thought. It wasn't telling me to flee. It was telling me to watch.
I pressed my hand to the cold glass and whispered, "It's going to be a long night."
I walked out onto my wooden porch and just… stared.
The rain hammered the ground so hard it looked like the soil itself was boiling. The sound wasn't white noise anymore—it was a thousand tiny impacts rattling the air in caked layers. Beyond the glowing curve of the shield, the landscape writhed. Too close.
Something in my gut twisted—instinct warning me that the longer I stared, the worse things would get. The Force pulsed with it too, a quiet pressure in my chest that whispered you're wasting time.
And yet, I couldn't look away.
A hilt materialized in my right hand. A blaster in my left. The motions were automatic. Reflexive. My mind already running the math of survival.
I allocate five to everything except charisma, watching my stat display flicker across my vision before fading out. Nothing left to give, I needed every stat.
Then—deep breath. Time to gamble.
I reached into my inventory and summoned all of them. Two dozen corpses spilled out in a sickening heap, the wet slap of limbs hitting the wooden floor echoing through the storm. The smell of decay bloomed instantly, sharp and metallic.
My MP drained in a flash as I spread both hands wide and forced the necrotic energy out of me like a wave. Blue light spread through the corpses. One by one, eyes flared open—glowing like candles beneath still flesh.
They twitched. They rose.
The soft blue glow coming from my newly spawned undead was almost comforting in the moment—almost. Perhaps it would've been if they weren't completely useless.
They formed a defensive ring around me, movements sluggish but protective. Their dead eyes turned toward the shapes pressing against the shield. Something inside them recognized the monsters as enemies.
"Computer!" I shouted over the rain. "Can we funnel one of them in here? Preferably a smaller one!"
"It is possible to allow individual hostile entities within the perimeter," the AI replied, voice calm as static. "However, hostile numbers are increasing exponentially. Such a tactic will not reduce overall density."
"I didn't ask for a probability report," I snapped, sighing as I steeled myself. "Do it."
Without a verbal acknowledgment, a section of the shield flickered. For a fraction of a second—just a blink—it went transparent, and something crawled through.
Too fast to see.
The shape was small, four-limbed, drenched in black rain. It hit the dry soil under the shield in a wet bloody splatter and lunged forward in a blur of motion. Before I could react, one of my undead stepped into its path—too slow.
The creature jumped onto its throat. Weak flesh tore instantly. The sound was obscene—wet grinding and tearing like a blender chewing through meat. The undead weakly retaliated by clawing into the creatures sides.
"GET IT! GET IT!!" Bolts screamed from inside the house, his voice cracking over comms. "Hold it steady" Roger said coldly, taking aim with surgical precision. A red line flashed across the rain and—crack!—the shot hit, blowing a fist-sized hole in my undead's shoulder instead of the monster.
The creature didn't flinch. It just kept eating.
My lightsaber ignited in a flash—fwoosh!—the amethyst glow bathing the porch in violet haze. Shadows danced along the rain like burning oil. I took one step forward—just as my undead's head fell off.
The creature leapt again. Straight to the next one.
The second undead swung its arm in time, catching the blur midair. For half a heartbeat, they wrestled—rotting fingers gripping sinew and claws tearing flesh. The creature chewed through the undead's arm, cracking bone between its teeth.
Then, to my surprise, the undead bit back.
Its remaining hand clamped down on the thing's spine and dragged it toward its own mouth. Teeth sank in—rotted gums grinding over moving meat. A grotesque parody of combat.
They bit. They tore. They screamed soundlessly in each other's faces until the undead's arm snapped off and it fell backward. The monster seized the opening, sinking its claws into the corpse's throat.
The blue light in the undead's eyes flickered. Then went out.
Even with chunks of flesh missing from its body, the creature didn't slow down. It sprang at me—no hesitation, no pain, just raw, rabid instinct.
I swung.
The lightsaber hissed through the rain, a violet arc that split the night. My precognition flared instinctively despite the obvious attack.
The blade met flesh.
The creature was cleaved cleanly in half. Its upper body hit the wet boards and slid toward my feet, claws twitching even as its legs thrashed several feet away. The stench of burned meat mixed with rot and ozone, rubbing against my antennae.
For a heartbeat, I stood there in silence, rain hitting the shield, the hum of my lightsaber buzzing like a nervous heartbeat.
The glow from its eyes faded away while I let the panic drain from my system, the tremor in my hands finally settling.
"Target neutralized," Roger confirmed, his tone still maddeningly calm.
Bolts peeked around the doorframe, his optic sensors whirring as he stared at the bisected corpse. "Master," he said after a moment, "perhaps you should summon more battle droids…"
I blinked. Then I sighed—hating myself for not coming to that conclusion first.
"Good idea."
One by one, the B1 battle droids materialized around me—fifty of them in total, their frames clanking themselves into position as they took formation. These weren't standard issue either; each one bore subtle Irken modifications—reinforced plating, upgraded blasters, improved battle tactics.
My PAK linked to their droid brains instantly, establishing a hive connection. I felt the faint buzz of fifty machine minds syncing under my command—like the static hum of controlled lightning.
I exhaled slowly, the faintest spark of confidence creeping back in. "Alright then," I muttered, "maybe a bigger, slower one this time."
Without a response, the shield flickered again—just for a breath—and another silhouette stepped through.
This one was different.
It moved upright, bipedal, but its back and shoulders crawled with motion. Dozens of wet, wriggling appendages trailed behind it like living ropes, slapping against the ground with every step.
"Open fire!"
The droids obeyed instantly. A chorus of blasterfire lit up my property, each bolt hissing through the air and slamming into the creature's torso. The monster staggered—each impact slowing its momentum, but it didn't stop.
"Focus on the legs!" I shouted.
The barrage adjusted, every droid lowering aim. Blaster bolts chewed through the creature's knees and thighs, flesh evaporating under concentrated fire until its legs gave out. It crashed into the mud with a wet, sickening thud—but even then, it kept moving.
The writhing appendages sank into the soil, pulling its body forward inch by inch.
I raised a hand. "Hold fire."
The droids ceased instantly, smoke still curling from their barrels.
Behind them, my undead lurched forward.
They fell upon the crippled creature like feral dogs, a tangle of limbs and teeth. The sound was worse than the sight—chewing, tearing, bones popping like knuckles. The creature's tentacles coiled around one of my servants, crushing its ribs before another undead tore that same tentacle free.
They kept tearing. Biting. Ripping.
The fight dragged on painfully long, the glow of red eyes flickering between the pile like dying embers—until finally, they dimmed out.
For a moment, nobody moved. There was silence
Then—
Ding. Skill Progression: Raise Undead (Lv 1→2).
The sound was almost comforting all things considered.
I stared at the notification.
Then at the mutilated remains of my undead servants.
Then at the creature they had just barely managed to kill.
"...This isn't so bad," I lied to myself.
Only 4 of my undead from the dogpile of flesh were able to stand, the creature killed and crippled the rest.
"Compu—"
I felt something. A touch on my mind...
A warning...telling....telling me..... to leave.NO...TO ESCAPE!
The sensation sharpened.
"COMPUTER PREPARE MY SHIP! BOLTS! ROGER! GET INTO THE SHIP!"
The sir unit saluted in a heartbeat and got to work while bolts jutted in startled surprise before nearly tripping over himself to get to the ship.
Immediately a presence made itself known, a strange aura in the distance.
Far away.
But approaching.
The Force twisted around it.
I wasn't taking any chances.
Normally, curiosity would've gotten the better of me.
I would've activated Force Sight.
Looked around.
Investigated the mysterious Force presence approaching my home during the middle of a planetary apocalypse.
Not today.
Absolutely fucking not today.
I turned and ran.
I bolted into my Vederan-styled home, my feet pounding against the wooden floor as I crossed the familiar rooms I had spent nearly a year living in.
The house I'd built.
The identity I'd created.
The farm.
The political career.
My life.
I knew it was temporary but All of it suddenly felt very temporary.
I reached the hidden entrance and threw myself into the underground transport tube.
Wind screamed past my antennea as I descended toward the underground complex.
Dropping into the Hangar I saw bolts barely boarding the craft while the S.I.R. unit was already seated in the pilot's chair, hands moving across the controls as the ship's engines slowly began to warm.
"SHIELD INTEGRITY: NINETY PERCENT."
The computer's voice echoed throughout the underground facility, the bases lighting shifted a bright red with it.
I used my PAKS spider legs and dropped into one of my ships seats, the platform beneath my ship raising up
The enormous circular hangar mechanism carried us upward through the underground structure.
The hatch above us began to separate.
"Computer, what's hitting us?!"
"HOSTILE ENTITY IS COMPROMISING EXTERNAL SHIELD."
That wasn't possible!
Sure a bunch of corpses rubbing themselves up against the shield would eventually drain its energy, but that would only drain a fraction of a percentage!
My ship emerged into the night.
Only the external shield stood between us and the apocalypse.
And that's when I saw it.
It was hard to miss to be honest
Standing in the distance, surrounded by thousands of writhing corpses, was something enormous.
Nine feet tall.
A mass of swollen, glowing flesh illuminated against the sea of red eyes and darkness.
unlike them it still held humanoid form. Its body wasn't constantly twitching. Its limbs weren't randomly mutating.
I saw it slowly pull its muscled fist back in a prepared stop before punching straight into the shield.
SHOCK!
The entire shield rippled.
"SEVENTY PERCENT."
My jaw dropped.
The creature's fist remained pressed against the pink energy barrier.
Streams of glowing energy.
Thin rivers of pink light flowed out of the shield.
Into its hand.
Up its arm.
Across its body.
The monster began glowing brighter.
I felt the change through the Force.
The creature's presence expanded.
Its power nearly doubled in an instant.
More importantly the force tipped into me what i was looking at. A MAGICAL UNDEAD MONSTER POWERED BY THE FORCE!
"Oh, you've got to be fucking kidding me."
Then I felt something else.
Recognition.
although completely unrecognizable from its former form its presence felt only the tiniest bit like the homeless Vederan i had come across some time before.
The crazy bastard rambling about the end of the world.
That asshole! he couldn't just have died normally like the rest! he left some kind of seed of his former conscious nestled in the monster and turned into this THING!
The creature began to prepare for another hit
"Roger! fly us out of here! COMPUTER SHIELD DOWN, SELF DESTRUCT!
"Acknowledged"
The pink shield descended away before the very monsters it kept out. Suddenly thousands of undead monstrosities made their way onto my land. A black wave of red orbs spilling across my property.
The fifty B1 battle droids reacted immediately.
Blaster fire erupted across the field.
And the force sensitive monstrosity brought its attention onto me just as my ship began to lift itself off the platform.
Its lips slowly pulled back.
Not quite a smile.
But close enough.
Fuck.
Below us, the zombies began overwhelming my B1s.
Several droids disappeared beneath piles of writhing flesh. Others continued firing until hands grabbed their rifles, their legs, their heads—dragging them down into the swarm.
Then the creature's legs began to glow.
Bright neon pink energy erupted around its muscles.
The ship finally accelerated upward toward atmosphere when the creature bounded with strength straight toward our ships direction
Either it was incredibly calculative—
Or that bastard had just used some form of Precognition to calculate exactly where we'd be.
"OH, COME ON—"
BOOOOOOM!
It impacted the hull heavily and the ship shook violently. For one horrible moment, I felt true, honest-to-God fear.
Bolts screamed with panic while Roger just flew steadily and didn't react.
The creature began crawling across the exterior. Massive claws scraping against Irken metal. Then it reached the cockpit.
The creature raised its fist.
And punched the windshield.
THUNK.
Nothing happened.
It punched again.
THUNK.
The glass vibrated.
But didn't crack.
I stared.
The creature stared back at me.
Then punched again.
THUNK.
It was still powerful.
I could feel that through the Force.
But Irken spacecraft were designed for war.
Its physical strength wasn't nearly enough to break through the cockpit.
For several seconds, nobody said anything.
Then—
"HAHAHA!"
I threw my head back.
My hand pressed dramatically against my chest as relief flooded through me.
"Oh, thank God."
I actually laughed.
As long as we kept accelerating and broke through the atmosphere, we'd eventually shake the bastard off.
Though at the same time it dawned on me that the creature was weak against physical barriers and it had some type of energy draining ability...
Like an energy vampire.
The ship's hull was stopping its attacks.
But—
It needed physical contact with an energy source.
lost in my thoughts the ships alarms suddenly sounded
"Master, fleet weapons are locked onto us" Roger's voice remained perfectly calm.
"EVADE!"
Panic hit me again. The ship immediately jerked sideways. Why would we suddenly be locked onto!? We should have a Vederan civilian transport signature. They should see a civilian vessel.
The answer just as easily came into my head, the planet is under quarantine. There's no rescue! They're killing everyone trying to get off it!
"Oh, that's not good."
A blinding red glare illuminated the cockpit. Roger pulled the ship hard to the side. Bolts and I were thrown violently into the side of the compartment. Roger remained perfectly seated. His mechanical hands never left the controls.
Before either of us could recover—
Another hard evade hit us throwing us to the other side.
BOOM!
The entire ship lurched.
Warning lights exploded across the cockpit.
"portside thruster hit, we're spiraling"
Oh.
Wonderful.
I immediately summoned my PAK legs after hitting several directions of the bulkhead. Metallic spider-like limbs burst outward from my PAK and stabbed into the walls of the compartment.
I held myself steady.
Bolts did not.
He continued flying around the interior.
"MASTER!"
"GRAB SOMETHING!"
"I'M TRYING!"
The ship spun harder. The world outside became a blur of darkness, smoke, fire, and distant flashes of orbital weapons.
Roger remained seated.
Perfectly still.
Perfectly calm.
"Impact in twenty..."
He paused. My stomach dropped.
"Nineteen."
I looked toward the windshield.
The ground was getting closer.
"Eighteen..."
The alarms continued screaming. Bolts slammed into the ceiling. The Force-sensitive monster remained somewhere outside. The ship spun uncontrollably.
And Verdara—
The dying world I'd helped destroy—
Rushed up to meet us.
"Seventeen..."