Battle in the Fallanassi village

"You shouldn't have come. Really, you shouldn't have."

- Akanah Norand Goss Pell, possessed by Abeloth

A battle took place in a Fallanassi village on the moon Pydyr in 44 ABY between the exiled Jedi Luke and Ben Skywalker and members of the Lost Tribe of Sith against the dark side being Abeloth.

Prelude
In 43.5 ABY, several Jedi Knights began to fall prey to a Force psychosis caused by the dark side entity Abeloth, who lived in the Maw. Meanwhile, Jedi Grand Master Luke Skywalker was exiled from the capital planet Coruscant and the Jedi Order for dereliction of duty during the Second Galactic Civil War for allowing Jedi Knight Jacen Solo to fall to the dark side of the Force. Skywalker embarked on a quest with his son, Ben, to retrace the steps Solo took on his five-year sojourn following the conclusion of the Yuuzhan Vong War in hopes of determining the cause of his fall to the dark side.

During their travels, they discovered that Abeloth was the source of the psychosis, and soon after battled a strike team of Sith from a Sith Tribe on the planet Kesh, who were planning an invasion of the galaxy. In 44 ABY, the Jedi captured the strike team's sole surviving member, Sith apprentice Vestara Khai, but they were soon after confronted by a Sith fleet under command of High Lord Sarasu Taalon. Taalon lied that the Sith's apprentices were suffering from the same condition as the psychotic Jedi Knights, and suggested that they ally in order to attack Abeloth. The Skywalkers warily agreed to the conditions, and took part in a mission to Abeloth's planet in the Maw, where the Sith betrayed the Jedi. Nevertheless, Luke defeated and appeared to kill Abeloth, and the Sith and Jedi repaired their alliance in order to investigate more into her origins.

They soon discovered that she had survived, however, and their alliance again erupted into violence. Abeloth took advantage of the chance to flee the world, and the Skywalkers, again with Khai in tow, took off after her. They eventually tracked her to Pydyr, a moon of the planet Almania. There, Khai managed to send a message to her tribe, letting them know of her position and calling in reinforcements. Meanwhile, Luke questioned the pacifistic Force-sensitive Fallanassi organization about Abeloth. Although the Fallanassi Akanah Norand Goss Pell denied to admit that they were housing Abeloth, the Jedi remianed suspecting. However, a Sith force under the command of Taalon and Sith Saber Gavar Khai&mdash;Vestara Khai's father&mdash;soon arrived and forced the Jedi to take them to Abeloth. Following a dive into the Pool of Knowledge Force nexus on Abeloth's planet, Taalon had begun to turn into the same kind of being as Abeloth. He told the Skywalkers that he wanted to learn what he was becoming, but that he would still kill Abeloth.

The battle
The allied forces traveled to a Fallanassi village on Pydyr, fighting their way through the village's illusory defenses, and losing one Sith shuttle, the Obuuri, in the process. Upon arriving in the village, they were confronted by Abeloth, although she appeared to them in the form of Pell. The Sith began to take Fallanassi hostages and demanded Pell to tell them where Abeloth was hidden. When she refused, the Sith killed one of the Fallanassi, Eliya. Akanah then used the White Current&mdash;the Fallanassi's perception of the Force&mdash;to create illusions of phantoms attacking the Sith, driving them insane. The act made Luke certain that the being before them was indeed Abeloth in Pell's form.

With all of the Sith&mdash;save Vestara and Taalon&mdash;temporarily disabled, Abeloth took Taalon to a gathering hall to converse with him, and Khai and the Skywalkers followed. Luke tried to convince Taalon that Abeloth was trying to play the Sith and Jedi against each other, but the High Lord desired too greatly to know what he was becoming. Luke began to maneuver to gain the best possible positioning to attack, but Taalon realized the Jedi's intentions and opened battle himself. In the ensuing fight, Luke managed to kill Abeloth's body. However, as she died, she gave possession of the body back to Pell, who asked for Luke's forgiveness. As Luke rejoined his son in the battle against Vestara and Taalon, Abeloth reappeared in the form of Callista, one of Luke's former lovers.

Abeloth quickly overpowered the weakened Luke, and Taalon moved in to kill him, but Abeloth prevented him form doing so. She expressed her desire to make Luke suffer as she and Taalon had suffered, and Taalon agreed. She knocked him unconscious, and by the time he awoke, Taalon had captured Ben in a Force net and was conversing again with Abeloth. Taalon then began feeding off of dark energy from Abeloth's tentacles, invigorating him and giving him strength. Luke reached out to collapse the hall's ceiling with the Force, and despite being choked by Abeloth, succeeded. The roofing pummeled them all, and Abeloth's grip on him weakened. Vestara used the distraction to jump forward and quickly kill Taalon in order to prevent another Abeloth from coming into existence. With his death, the net holding Ben to disintegrated, and the Skywalkers again began to fight with Abeloth, both of them without their lightsabers. However, Khai threw Luke her lightsaber and shot Abeloth with Force lightning. Weakened and overwhelmed, Abeloth repulsed Luke with the Force and then fled.

Vestara revealed to the Skywalkers that she had only killed Taalon to prevent him from turning into another Abeloth-like being, and suggested that the Jedi prepare themselves to be taken into Sith custody. However, Luke used the Force to awaken her father and subsequently mentioned that Vestara had done a good job of killing Taalon. Shocked at what appeared to him to be a betrayal of the Sith, Gavar moved to confront his daughter. She quickly knocked him out and fled with the Skywalkers, knowing that the Sith would not forgive her actions or give her time to explain them.

However, as they made their way across the village to the Skywalkers' vessel, the Jade Shadow, the Sith began to recover from their visions, since Abeloth had already begun to leave aboard Ship, a Sith Meditation Sphere. Master Vhool was the first to confront them; he ordered that Vestara to start up the Jade Shadow and that the Jedi wait while he went back to find Taalon. As Vestara started the ship and brought its blaster cannons to bear, a wing of StealthXs sent by the Jedi Order on Coruscant, accompanied by Captain Booster Terrik's Star Destroyer, the Errant Venture, arrived and opened fire on the Sith. Vhool, meanwhile, discovered that Vestara had killed Taalon, and rushed back out to reveal the betrayal, but she opened fire on the Sith from the Jade Shadow. The Skywalkers were able to make it safely on board and the StealthXs forced the Sith to retreat.

Aftermath
Rather than stopping to rest and recover from their wounds, the Jedi and Vestara continued hunting Abeloth. Luke believed that a recent recovery amongst the psychotic Jedi back on Coruscant was due to the fact that she was being kept weakened and on the run, and he did not want to risk losing that advantage. The Jedi eventually cornered Abeloth on the planet Nam Chorios, with the Sith hot in pursuit.

Appearances

 * Vortex