Flagship of the Galactic Republic Army's Second Systems Army main fleet, the Hunter Class Battlecruiser Endurance.
Jedi Master Mace Windu sat cross-legged in his meditation chamber, his eyes closed in meditation. Yet his tightly shut eyelids trembled violently, cold sweat nearly soaking his entire body. Even the mechanical prosthetic in his left eye spun wildly up and down, its motor emitting a low whine.
He saw Master Yoda standing before him, covered in blood...
He saw Darth Sidious standing atop a mountain of Jedi Knight corpses, laughing wildly...
He saw Darth Malthael extending a withered ghostly claw from that boundless darkness...
He saw Depa Barris coldly drawing a blood-red Lightsaber and slashing at him!
Finally... he saw himself... a mangled version of himself, covered head to toe in wounds... He raised one hand, seemingly trying to grasp that unreachable light, but his broken body could no longer support him. The moment he moved, his entire body collapsed and came apart, leaving only that blood-red mechanical eye as if to prove he had once existed...
"Gasp...!" Mace Windu abruptly opened his eyes, only to realize that at some point he had drawn his weapon. His purple Lightsaber was already activated, its plasma blade humming softly.
He quickly deactivated the Lightsaber, clutching his forehead as he panted heavily.
A dream?
No! Jedi Knights did not dream! This was a revelation granted by the Force!
Mace Windu looked down at the robe drenched in cold sweat, then rose and walked toward the bathroom. As he walked, he stripped off his robe and the fitted garments beneath it, revealing his dark, muscular body.
Yet on that intimidating body, brimming with explosive power, his entire spine had been replaced with machinery. Segments of silver-white mechanical vertebrae opened and closed rhythmically with his breathing. The mechanism