Beneath the churning core of Zereth Prime, deep within the fusion chambers of the Planetary Forge, Serion knelt alone. Around him, reality twisted fractured echoes of time, space, and thought bent to the pulse of the Seed embedded in his soul.
It whispered to him. No, it commanded him.
Visions flooded his mind.
Galaxies not yet formed. Civilizations he had never seen. And a life his life buried under layers of artificial silence. The Seed had buried it. Suppressed it. Chained him with visions of grandeur while quietly leeching his autonomy.
"You were meant to guide this galaxy," the voice said. "You were born of me. Shaped by me. You are my instrument."
Serion trembled—but not in fear.
The Seed's will surged, trying to bind him again. Show him future after future where he was king, savior, or destroyer but never free.
And then…
Memory returned.
He remembered Earth.He remembered deathHe remembered who he was before the Seed found him.
And that truth lit a fire the Seed could not control.
The Breaking of Chains
Serion stood.
His aura surged, turning the air into ash, causing the Forge's circuitry to short and reset. Blue-white lightning cracked from his hands not Sith lightning, but a purer, cosmic energy drawn from the fabric of his unshackled soul.
"I am not your vessel," Serion growled. "I am the author now."
The Seed's voice screamed through his mind, but he reached inward, tore the tether apart burning it with his reclaimed identity and sovereign will.
The chamber trembled. The Seed fell silent.
And for the first time in eons, Serion felt truly alone and truly himself.
The Superweapon Begins
In the next hours, the Foundry awoke to a new directive.
A massive singularity chamber was constructed at the center of Zereth Prime's moon crafted from neutronium alloys and dimensional lattices. At its heart, Serion placed a tamed singularity—a black hole—contained and harnessed by technology beyond any species in the galaxy.
"The Yuuzhan Vong are coming," he said to his inner circle, holo-forms of his finest minds surrounding him. "And when they arrive, they'll see our answer to extinction."
He named it "Project Nullity."
A weapon not of superlaser or kyber, but a directed collapse event—capable of igniting a controlled gravitational rupture, vaporizing entire fleets, and more importantly, anything that existed outside the Force.
The Vong wouldn't see it coming.
The Outer Rim Shakes
At the same time, Serion's fleets moved.
Sleek vessels of Corellian and Zerethian design, built in the depths of the Forge and clad in Forerunner-adapted shielding, warped into systems on the edge of the Outer Rim—systems where the Empire's grip was weakest.
In Ryloth, they liberated slave camps.In Sullust, they disabled Imperial production lines.On Ord Mantell, they wiped out a hidden Sith-aligned Inquisitor post.
But their true stroke was the sabotage of key hyperspace lanes.
Using gravitic disruptors, Serion's fleet cast shadow wells into critical trade routes. Entire supply chains halted. Imperial reinforcements delayed. Palpatine's carefully balanced war economy trembled.
And behind it all, no clear symbol, no identity.
Just whispers of a Hidden Sovereign rising.
Coruscant – The Cracks Form
Palpatine stood in his tower, the skyline of Coruscant dark beneath the endless night. His eyes were closed. His voice a whisper.
"You've changed," he said aloud.
Anakin knelt behind him, newly armored, cloaked in shadows—silent.
"Not you," Palpatine continued. "Him. The one in the dark. The one who walks unseen."
His gaze narrowed. The Force was in flux again. Not chaotic. Not light. But something new—alien even to him.
"Send probes. Find the source. Crush it before it spreads."
He turned to Anakin.
"You will lead the counter-attack."
Anakin bowed, but his silence lingered a moment too long.
Zereth Prime – The Training Deepens
Ahsoka stood in the forge-temple, wielding both of her blades now—purple and white. Her strikes danced against training drones, which disintegrated in bursts of plasma and flame.
Serion watched with cold pride.
But his eyes weren't on her skill. They were on her mind.
"You feel it, don't you?" he said.
"Something is coming," Ahsoka replied. "Something that doesn't belong in this galaxy."
"Then we must finish your training," he said. "Because when the Vong arrive… the Jedi, the Sith, the Empire—they will all fall."