Story Base 8

Thrawn terminated the transmission with authority, cutting off Admiral Ackbar’s reply. The Rebels were fully aware that the Eclipse and the Vindicator, along with the rest of the Imperial fleet, could crush them in minutes. Thrawn, obviously, knew this too. In light of the recent battle they had fled, Thrawn had chosen to enact a temporary cease-fire, which the Rebels had been more than willing to accept. The Grand Admiral had no intention of sparing them, but he knew that in any upcoming battles he could use them as fodder. Turning from the communication holo-projector, he addressed the bridge crew.

"Send to all commands: do not engage the Rebel fleet. We are reserving our battle until the current crisis with the Octorg is resolved. We will deal with them later. Confirm receipt of transmission."

The crew hurried off to transmit Thrawn’s command, and prompt confirmations were soon flooding the command and control staff. Satisfied, Thrawn turned toward the Emperor’s force cocoon, which was now pulsing and crackling with Dark Side energy. A faint glow caught his attention, and as the glow spread across the surface of the force-sphere, Thrawn knew that something was about to happen.

With a blinding flash that made the bridge crew reel, the cocoon dissipated, leaving a much younger and powerful-looking Palpatine than the one Data had lanced with a lightsaber just hours before.

The Emperor’s eyes focused on Thrawn. "Ah, Grand Admiral Thrawn. I trust you have kept things in order during my…recuperation?"

"Actually, my Lord, some…interesting and unforeseen players have made their presence known," replied Thrawn.

The Emperor scoffed. "Don’t worry, Admiral…everything is under control now. I have made contact with an entity of pure Dark Side energy. There is nothing that can oppose me now."

Kirk’s frantic running quickly carried him into a dark and desolate region…the gibbous moon casting a surreal glow upon the gnarled and grotesque trees. As Kirk began to regain some control, he realized that he was quite lost. He felt something in his hand…looking down and opening his clenched fist, he saw a key. The key that Indy had been wearing around his neck. It was THE Key! He’d found it, must have grabbed it off Indy’s neck in his mad flight! It was the only thing in the multiverse that had a chance of stopping the Great Old Ones and the Elder Gods. They’d been searching everywhere for it and he had it! He was alone in the woods at night with the object that the most foul beings ever known would do anything to possess. He…was alone…in the woods…at night…with…

Kirk knew that this would probably be bad.

It was.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the darkness move. Almost hypnotized, Kirk turned to look as a ridiculously large swath of the dark forest suddenly came alive. Kirk squinted, and made out an eye glaring at him from the dark mass. He shuddered. But then he saw another eye. And another. Two more…five. A dozen. The thing was covered with eyes, all focused on him. Chittering sounds wafted through the darkness to Kirk’s ears…and started getting louder. Either the eyes were getting bigger, or they were getting closer. Kirk hoped they were getting bigger…but they weren’t.

As if this wasn’t bad enough, from behind Kirk came a Babel of croaking and wet-flopping sounds. His mind so fear-shattered that he couldn’t even move or speak, the good captain simply stared blankly at the oncoming horde of Deep Ones which hopped and shambled their way towards him. Reaching out with their flabby, webbed fingers, Kirk could make out their hideous features in the moonlight. Then his mind snapped completely, and he crumpled to the ground in the fetal position, rocking himself back and forth, saying "It’ll be ok it’ll be ok it’ll be ok…" and sobbing. The Deep Ones were upon him…

Suddenly, the black, eye-covered thing lashed out at the Deep Ones, and with confused barks and shrieks, they were enveloped in darkness. The chittering mouths that also covered the thing sank furiously into the screeching fish-frogs, tearing them apart. In seconds, the Deep Ones were nothing but chunks of fishy-smelling meat.

Finished, the black thing’s dark mass began to warp back around towards Kirk, who was still jabbering and sobbing in the mud. The eyes burned into him, and the tittering, fang-filled mouths arced closer…

"N’gai, n’gha’ghaa, bugg-shoggog, y’hah; Yog-Sothoth, Yog-Sothoth…" Indy’s booming voice filled Kirk’s ears. Indy, holding forth the Elder Sign, moved forward, out of the woods. The dark thing tittered madly and shrunk away.

Indy stooped and hauled Kirk to his feet. "Are you all right, Kirk?"

"uahhhhh….uahhhhhhh…what…..what…what was it?!"

"It was Bugg-Shash. It is only summoned by a dark wizard, and exists in this dimension until it has found and feasted upon its designated victim. It is a servant of Yog-Sothoth…and you, Kirk, are its target."

"What does it all mean?"

"Yog-Sothoth is an Elder God…and Cthulhu is a Great Old One. There appears to be a power struggle underway between these two groups, one in which the human race and all tri-dimensional space are the prize."

"Did you kill it? Did you kill Bugg-Shash?" asked Kirk.

"No, I merely drove it away briefly. We must move quickly…I can already hear it returning…"

42 Octorg warships dropped from warp speed and closed in on the Imperial and Rebel fleets. The Vindicator and Eclipse opened fire, along with their escort of Imperial- and Sovereign-Class Star Destroyers. The turbolasers were deflected harmlessly by the Octorg shields. The perimeter defense fighters bore in on the misshapen vessels, but the Octorg weapons reached out toward the small ships with devastating results. All were destroyed within seconds.

On the bridge of the Eclipse, the Emperor seemed oblivious to the oncoming peril. He sat in a meditative state, reaching out with the force toward the Octorg hive-mind itself, drawing on his newfound pool of living Dark Side energy. Suddenly, his body convulsed, and an evil, garbled sound began to build, echoing across the bridge. The sound became deafening, and Thrawn realized that it was coming from the Emperor!

The bleating noise subsided, and coalesced into a discernable sound…voices! The Emperor was acting as a conduit or intercom between two beings of immense power, speaking through him! Thrawn could hardly make any of it out…

"Cthulhu…you interfere…in plans…Azathoth…Elder Gods…" "Crawler…Trickster…no homage…bow to no one… chaos…""…absorb…feeding…puny flesh-things…" "…not obey… lifeform…. mine…Greys…elder sign…stalker among…""fool…Hastur…. primal force…King in Yellow…wrath..."

At this point the Emperor began screaming, and Dark Side energy began crackling around him, building into a blinding sphere which expanded until it absorbed the entire ship. 42 twisting, coiling energy strands blazed out of it and into the 42 looming Octorg ships…annihilating them.