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| - "I will lead them into a new Golden Age of the Sith, restoring them to their long-forgotten ancient glory, and recreating the True Sith Empire, which would this time stretch across the galaxy, and vanquish the puny Jedi once and for all... everyone will then know true power, the power of the Dark Side, with no Jedi left to poison people's minds with misguided, narrow teachings!" Said the Sith lord Darkon, during an argument with the Gatekeeper. "Assuming they are worthy, of course." He continued. "As Desann states: 'The Force is not a shield to protect the useless, but is in reality a weapon, to empower the worthy.' I, Lord Darkon, fully agree with that statement!" "No. The Force is many things." Said the Gatekeeper. "It is a powerful ally, a terrible foe, a good friend, a hated nemesis, an ancient power source that only I have ever took the time and patience to fully master, both Light and Dark. But there is one thing The Force is not: The Force is not a weapon. The weapon itself lies in it's user. When I first created The Force all those years ago, I did not intend it to be just for the worthy. I created it as something we could all believe in, find happiness in. But in the end, I was the only one who found happiness in The Force. The rest of you found greed. Jedi and Sith were supposed to be Allies. Not Enemies. Greed tore everything I made apart. Every Jedi and Sith alive today is a direct descendent of those I swore to destroy. My parting words to all you Force users out there: Watch your backs. The Gatekeeper of the Force is coming for you!" "You may have created the Force, but I have subsumed it to my will! The Force is my servant, and you no longer have any influence over it. Do not place yourself in the way of the Reborn True Sith Empire!" The Sith Lord replied. "Wow, it must suck to be a force user." Said the Mercenary, Ty294 "I use slugthrowers and everyone knows force users are defenseless against them! Tehehehehe.... Although you don't need to worry Gatekeeper, since I'm working for you. By the way, how much are ya payin' me anyway? Remember, I'm a mercenary." "Hmmm, how's 10,000 credits per Force User sound?" Asked the Gatekeeper, "Don't worry about where I'll get the money. I've got my ways." "As for you, Darkon," He said, turning back to the Sith. "I've dealt with your kind before. Soon, you will realize that you are in way over your head. Everything regarding the Force that has ever transpired has done so according to my design. I do, in fact, have influence over it. And I can shut off the Force to you, and the rest of your kind at any time. I can also drain your powers and transfer them to me and MY allies. By the way, have you ever heard of... the Uberweapon?" "The out-of-control A-Wing....?" Said the Merc, trying to lose the tension. "Sorry, wrong uberweapon. 10,000 per forceuser sounds good. I'll soon be able to buy myself a Corellian Corvette; I've always admired them." Darkon cut in, ignoring the mercenary, "In fact, I have. I am the 'Uberweapon', as the Dark Side of the Force is my servant... the only 'uberweapon' I need! Also, if you could truly shut the Force off to my kind, I suspect you would have done so by now. Far more shall be required than empty threats to intimidate me..." "Fact of the matter is," Said the Gatekeeper. "I don't want to be the only one to use my greatest creation. It would be too easy to destroy you. I enjoy a good challenge. And turning off the Force would make you nothing more than a normal human being. If you were one, that is. Heh. Enemies like you complete me. You make me realize that there is something left to do in life. I thank you for that. However, upon return to your base of operations, you will find a note on the front door. It will say: "If you wish to keep your breakfast, do not open this door." Inside, will be the gutted bodies of your friends, and your allies, and your soldiers. Not a drop of blood left. It's almost as if something... or someone... just drained the very lifeblood from them. That will be a small example of what I can do. So go ahead. Return to your base, young one..." "Excellent! Now that I have infused the gutted remains of my minions with pure dark essence using my Juggernaut force parameter matrix, they have became perfect warriors of the Sith. Undead, unliving, they do not know pain, fear, or any type of mortal weakness, as pure vessels for the Dark Side. In fact, they are the first step towards the Sith'ari - the perfect being. You fancy yourself the supreme being, Gatekeeper. You shall live to regret that presumption, when you are kneeling at my feet, and offering your loyalty to the invincible True Sith Empire, and the birth of the New Sith Golden Age. I have foreseen it..." Undaunted, the Gatekeeper replied. "...As I have foreseen your downfall. Ty294, 1,000,000 credits for Darkon's head!" "I'll make you a better offer, 294. You will be empowered with the Dark Side, and will be made a general of my Sith armies, if you discover and provide me with the Gatekeeper's exact location. Yes, you do not even have to take him down. Leave that part to me..." "Sorry Darkon," Said the merc, "I'm not in this for power and prestige, I'm in it for the money... And cause I enjoy killin'. Besides, when I commit to a contract, I always see the job through..." "Think about it... power and money go hand in hand... and since you will be a supreme general of the Sith Empire, I can guarantee that your appetite for killing will also be fulfilled. After all, the Sith have no lack of enemies! Honoring a contract is all well and good, but not to the point that it gets you killed. Every cunning assassin should know that. Consider your options carefully..." "So, you have no knowledge of the Light?" Said the Gatekeeper, disregarding the previous conversation. "That is very foolish of you. You come at me with your force lightning, if you're lucky I don't hit you with Lightning Trials. I'm damaged and weak after a long battle, as are you. I use a combination of the Light and the Dark to completely heal myself. And if you continue to resist, then I will have to put on my real face, and show you what true power looks like. I'll have to go back to being Kiro. And if that happens, you will be caught in a trap, you will not be able to leave, and you will not be able to do anything as everything you have ever cherished is destroyed, and finally, you are, as well..." "Oh, no, not at all... I would not use Force Lightning. I have far outgrew such a fledgling, easily countered power. I come at you with Force Destruction, and as you perish in a massive explosion of pure dark power, you realize your fundamental mistake at last: You have underestimated me, a True Sith Lord. Underestimating an enemy has been the last mistake of far too many individuals throughout history..." "Indeed." Said the merc. "Considering the imminent clash between the two of you, it may be time for a lowly mercenary like me to bow out. I'll just collect to cash owed for the scores of Darkon's troops and officers I've already killed and be on my way..." Lord Darkon suddenly finds himself incapable of using any of his powers or drawing any energy-related weapons. "This is your final warning, Darkon. I've shut off the Force just to you. Now surrender yourself and your armies to me, or I will destroy you." The Gatekeeper forks cash over to Ty294 as well as a free Corellian Corvette. "It's the least I can do. Oh, and you'll find that corvette rather hard to shoot down, due to the reinforced hull and additional weapon hardpoints. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm off to the Uberweapon to launch a raid of Commenor." The Gatekeeper attempts his famous vanishing act between two pillars of fire, but the pillars suddenly collapse, and he falls unceremoniously to the ground. As his powers leave him, he seems stunned that his shutting off the Force to Lord Darkon seems to have had a negative feedback effect on himself as well. "Now do you finally understand what I mean when I said that although you are the creator of the Force, I have subsumed it to my will? You may have depowered me, but you have also depowered yourself! Once again you underestimate me... So, your choices are twofold: restore my power (and yours), or we shall settle this contest the old-fashioned way, mortal combat, without the Force." The Gatekeeper put on his mask, and as he did so, the sky went black and fog rolled in covering the area as all things living around him start to wither and die. "I do not need the Force to deal with you." He said as he slipped out of view into the fog, "I believe you have underestimated me. I anxiously await your arrival. I foresee a great battle... ... And a terrible ending for you..." Feeling that something bad is going to happen, JulioC equips his Nanosuit. "So, you hide from me... and your desperation compels you to cleanse a planet from all life. No doubt thinking that I shall perish in the same manner... but even deprived of the Force, my will is too strong to succumb to your feeble efforts, Gatekeeper! Cling to your tricks if you wish, but it will make no difference in the end..." Lord Darkon's speech was interrupted as he gets a distress message from his flagship, saying that a 7 foot, 400 pound masked and mysteriously armored monster of a man is slaughtering the crew at an alarming rate. Before the transmission can conclude, there is a massive explosion, followed by static, and then a voice came over the speaker. "The loss of life on the planet is collateral damage. That is what happens when you push me too far. Now, your flagship is destroyed, your home planet blockaded, your fleet destroyed, your armies wiped out. You are completely alone. Meet me at JulioC's location. We'll kill him, then battle it out... If you still wish to fight me, that is..." Captain Deadmerit mused to his first officer Deathdragon. "Perhaps it's a good thing we're watching from the sidelines in my New Republic ship. I think we'll just stay where we are. No need for The New Republic to get involved. We have conflicts of our own to deal with." Deadmerit thought for a moment before speaking again. "I am glad to say that the New Republic doesn't want any involvement in the stalemated battle between Darkon and The Gatekeeper. To me, the Jedi and the Sith are overrated at best." Deadmerit attends to looking over his weapons stockpile on his ship. "You're probably gonna regret saying that, Deadmerit." Deathdragon says. "You're probably right, Deathdragon."
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* Even as the Gatekeeper's voice fades, Lord Darkon felt the dark power reinvigorating him. His Force connection had been restored. "Sometimes collateral damage is necessary." Darkon called out into the mist. "I may have lost my assault fleet, along with my flagship, the Sanctity Of Pain. I really liked that ship, I shall make your demise that much more painful for that. However, that is all I lost. Most of my armies are undead Sith spectres by now, which cannot be killed, all you have destroyed are the few regiments of conventional troops I have not yet transformed, no major loss to me! Your relentless exertions of power, however, have drained you to the point that you can no longer maintain your block of my Force connection. I am at my full power once again! Not only that, but I was able to sever the feedback before the restoration could affect you... you are still without the Force! And from the feedback, I have learned how you can sever the Force from someone, and can now shield myself from that effect... My orbital battlestations and Secondary Defense Fleet have overpowered your pitiful blockade forces, wiping them out, and I have dispatched several of my most elite Sith Spectres to JulioC, and they are empowering him even now... so he can aid me when the time for a climactic battle with you comes. Unlike you, Gatekeeper, I do not underestimate my enemies... or fail to make use of potential allies! So yes, I shall meet you at JulioC's location...and together, we shall destroy you!" The Gatekeeper laughed. "Actually, I restored the Force to you. I decided to let you have your full strength for when we fight. As for you learning how I shut off the Force, I have more than one way. I actually have more than 6,000. Also, those blockades were ships that went out of date 5,000,000,000 years ago! I don't care about them! They are expendable! As is JulioC! I look forward to wiping him out along with you whenever you decide to get here. By the way, where are you? Your Spectre's arrived, and got slaughtered. I never saw Julio or you." "Of course you did not see Julio... I did not intend for you to see him. The Spectres empowered him and made him invisible, while he drained and suppressed your self-regenerative abilities without you even noticing. Now he is concealed, ready to strike again when you least expect it! Upon their demise, the Spectres' power reverted back to me, strengthening my powers..." The wall behind the Gatekeeper shook until it crumbled, and the Sith lord stepped over the ruble, before he continued. "Even as a massive explosion collapses the wall behind you, and I, Lord Darkon, enter the scene..." Julio's voice comes through Darkon's comm. "I'm not invisible because I've been empowered with the Force, I'm invisible because I've been empowered with a Nanosuit, and I intend to use it to help you, Darkon." Darkon smiles, just before unleashing deadly sight on his enemy. The Gatekeeper's skin begins to superheat beneath his armor, and he loses balance, causing him to fall to his knees in pain. Suddenly, an A-Wing emerges from hyperspace and, speeding and spinning at an incredible rate, smashes into the bridge tower of Darkon's Secondary Defense Fleet Flagship, causing the entire ship to explode. The resulting massive explosion causes extreme damage to all nearby craft. The comlink crackles to life as the Mercenary, Ty294's voice is clearly heard. "That's just a thank you gift to the Gatekeeper for the Corvette! Sorry 'bout the mess Darkon! Ha ha ha ha!" Using Ty's distraction, the Gatekeeper rose to his feet, and spoke to the Sith lord in front of him. "Impressive, Darkon. Let's see how you handle THIS." He said as he fired a soul draining spear. A red energy aura in the form of a massive spear hit Darkon square in the chest, lifting his feet off the floor, and sending him flying backwards into a wall. Not missing a beat, the Gatekeeper turned to Julio, grabbed him by the neck, put an arm over shoulder, grabbed his waistline with other hand, and lifting him him into the air, just before slamming him to the ground with all his might. The nanosuit's systems overloaded, as a result of the unchained Dark Side energy flowing through it. The Gatekeeper took a step back from Julio, and heard Darkon's voice behind him. "YES!" The Sith cried out. "Pain only empowers me further, Gatekeeper!" The Gatekeeper turns, only to be met by a stream of Force lightning, sending him to the ground, engulfed by electricity. Darkon stops the lightning, and charges towards his opponent. The Gatekeeper leaped to his feet to meet the dark lord, but was too late. A loud cracking sound can be heard as Darkon's foot collided with the Gatekeeper's neck, causing his enemy to fall to the ground, paralyzed. The Gatekeeper slowly opened his eyes to see the Sith leaping into the air, towards his body...
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