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Synopsis:
The Jedi Academy hastily prepares
for an all-out assault. As Tenel gives the students a
crash course in ground combat, Jacen and Jaina help set
up planetary shield generators. Peckhum arrives with
emergency supplies, just as the Shadow Academy enters
orbit. Stealth TIE's drop down. One crashes, but the
other manages to blow up the shield generators.
Communications are jammed, cutting Yavin off from the
rest of the galaxy.
The Jedi evacuate the Great Temple and race into the
jungle, as Dark Jedi jump from a battle platform to the
ground. As Jacen takes Peckhum's ship (the Lightning
Rod) to try to stop the jamming, and Jaina works on
repairing the shields, Tenel and Lowie takes on the
battle platform with Tamith on it in the T-23. They only
get themselves shot down.
A bloodbath rages in the jungle. Brakiss is deliberately
trying to win this the hard way - an even match of
Imperial versus Republic, dark versus light. He openly
challenges Luke to a duel at the Temple of the Blue Leaf
Cluster. Despite a fierce battle, the Lightning Rod
gets far enough out for Jacen to send out a distress
call. It is clear the fight will be over before anyone
arrives, one way or the other. Zekk calls up a huge
storm - just as the crippled Rod blasts by. When
Raynar attacks, Zekk completely humiliates the boy,
leaving him there in a slimy river.
Qorl is fed up with Norys, a former Lost One whose
brashness and rage is outweighing his sense and skills.
When Norys concentrates on blowing up the Lightning
Rod rather than attack the academy, Qorl blows him
up. Tenel Ka beats Tamith, and she and Lowie help
destroy the battle platform. Reinforcements come in from
GemDiver Station and the New Republic, and an air war
begins. Suddenly, the Imperium's reinforcements arrive
as well.
Luke and Brakiss duke it out with lightsabers. Luke
destroys Brakiss's lightsaber, and the Dark Jedi flees
back to the Shadow Academy. Lando, realising the
Imperium is using their own computers against them,
turns the tables, and disables all the fleet's shields.
The New Republic fleet slowly wins the battle, shooting
Qorl down for a second time. The pilot heads back into
the jungle - this time to stay.
Brakiss storms into the Shadow Academy, blasts past the
Royal Guards, and finally faces Palpatine - who is not
there. It had all been a sham by the Royal Guard to
pretend Palpatine was alive. The last guard escapes and
triggers the self-destruct mechanism, blowing Brakiss
and the Shadow Academy to cinders. The final battle
occurs at the Great Temple, where a broken-down Zekk
guards the gate. It all comes down to a final lightsaber
duel - Jaina versus Zekk. Realising Zekk wants to die,
Jaina turns off her lightsaber and offers her life to
him. When he sees the Lightning Rod return to
port, barely in one piece, he begins to surrender.
At that moment the Great Temple explodes, bombed in a
final act of evil from the Second Imperium. And Zekk is
right in the middle of the explosion. Days later, the
Jedi slowly start to rebuild themselves and the Academy.
Moreover, among them is Zekk, who miraculously survived
and prepares to begin a new life. |