Foolsof the Old Republic II
What happens when four Star Wars fans get sucked into the game they're playing?
"Come on you son of a bitch! Get him! Hey Atton, do something useful and MOVE!"
"Beth, they can't hear you," Justin said.
"Dammit!" Beth threw down the controller. "I would have won, but no. Atton and Disciple decided this was the time to sit back and chill out."
"And what, you think you could have better?" Brennen said.
"I bet I could have." Beth looked at the others, her brother Justin, and their two friends Brennen and Johnny. "Come on, think about it. You don't think that in such a position, we couldn't have kicked complete and total ass?"
"Ya. Actually I do." Johnny leaned back. "In fact, I wish we were the exiles in this game."
"Be careful what you wish for."
"What the hell was that?" Suddenly Beth, Justin, Brennen, and Johnny felt themselves getting pulled by some strong force. Right towards the TV.
"What the hell's happening!" Justin yelled. The four of them tried to hold onto the couch, but to no avail. They flew towards the TV. Beth braced herself, expecting to crash into it. However she felt nothing. For a moment everything was dark. Then suddenly they reappeared in another room and slammed into the ground.
"Holy Hell," Johnny said quietly.
The four of them pushed themselves up. Beth glanced at the tanks that surrounded them. There were five, four of which had someone in it. The last one was empty. Weird. She'd never seen these types of things before...Well, except for one place...
"Is it just me, or does this place looked oddly familiar?" Justin asked.
"You know what it looks like?" Beth started, but was interrupted by Brennen.
"No, why would I know that?"
"If you'd shut up for a second and let me finish, I'd tell you what it looks like!" she snapped. "It looks alot like that first scene in Knights of the Old Republic II."
For a moment they were silent, thinking this through. Then Johnny said, "You know, she's right, it really does."
"Wait wait wait, did you just say she was right?" Justin said. "Beth's never right."
"Oh fuck you!" Beth shot back.
"But Johnny's right," Justin continued. "It does look like Star Wars."
"Screw you, I said that."
"If that's true, then we must be on Peragus 2."
Suddenly, a strange voice ran through their minds. Awaken.
They looked at each other. Then it said again Awaken.
"Uh, we are awake," Brennen said.
They listened for the voice again, but there was nothing.
"Huh." They looked at Johnny. "Well, this proves it doesn't it? That must be Kreia, the old Jedi who turns out to be a Sith."
"Wrong," Beth said. "She was always a Sith. She just pretends to be a Jedi."
"That's basically what I said Beth, you just rephrased it."
"You rephrased it!"
"Oh Jesus, you two shut it!" Justin yelled. The two of them slumped and bowed their heads.
"Sorry."
"Ya, our bad."
Justin shook his head. "Come on, let's get out of here." He turned to the exit. "Do the doors open automatically in Star Wars, or am I thinking of Star Trek?"
"Test it out," Beth suggested.
"Ok." He turned, picked her up, and pitched her at the door.
"Shit!" She covered her face, but luckily for her, the door opened automatically, and she flew straight through, and slammed into the wall on the side.
"Ow..."
The other three were laughing so hard they could barely breathe.
"I'd hit you but I think my ribs are broken."
Justin stepped forward, trying to control himself but failing miserably. "Sorry."
"You are not."
"Good point." He broke out in laughter again as Beth picked herself up slowly.
"Did you break any ribs?" Brennen asked.
"Sorry to disappoint you, but no. I am, however, in a great deal of pain. It's only that that's stopping me from ripping your lungs out of your ass." That shut Brennen up immediately.
"So where do we go from here again?" Johnny asked.
"The morgue. There we'll find a seemingly dead Kreia. Let us go!" They started walking down the hall. The morgue wasn't far from the medbay, which was a bit of an insult, like putting a graveyard right next a hospital. The door opened automatically here too, which was lucky because Beth was used a test once more. There was no wall right outside the door here however, so she merely skidded along the floor. She leaped up and walked over to the seemingly dead old woman.
"Ok Kreia, gigs up. We know you're alive, wake up!" Nothing. Beth grabbed her by the shoulders and shook her. "Wake up!'
"Beth..."
"WAKE UP!" She started slapping her face.
"BETH!"
"What?"
"That's not Kreia. This one is."
"Oh." Feeling stupid, Beth dropped the body and turned to see Kreia already getting up. The old woman eyed them.
"And who are you four?"
"Brezu Cheli, at your service!" Brennen said immediately.
"Uh, Jaise Lynion," Justin said, grinning.
"I am Jonny Lorenti!" Johnny announced.
They turned to Beth. She looked from one to another.
"Uh...I'm Beth." Clearing her throat, she straightened herself up, trying to look more important. "Master Beth."
"Ooh, impressive," Brennen said quietly to himself.
"Bite me Brezu."
"It was your voice we heard, right?" Justin asked Kreia, but before she could answer Beth jumped in.
"Well duh. You've played the game as much as we have, you should know."
"Beth, quiet!" Johnny said. "You're making us sound like crack addicts!"
"Ya dude," Brennen added. "They don't know it's a game."
Kreia looked at the three of them warily. They grinned at her sheepishly, then turned away. Kreia shook her head, and turned back to Justin.
"Yes, it was my voice you heard. Your mind must be a willing one. Or have you been trained for such things?"
Justin opened his mouth to answer, but this time Brennen jumped in. "Trained? Whoa, are you telling me we're Jedi? Sweet!"
Johnny snorted. "Oh come on guys." He stretched out his hand. "You telling me lightning's about to-"
Lightning flew from his fingertips. Beth jumped to the side to avoid being fried. "Watch it asshole!"
"Sorry," Johnny said, staring at his hand.
"Sweet!" Brennen said excitedly. "Let me try that!" He threw his hand out.
Beth went flying back into the wall. Brennen laughed. "Oh my God, that was so cool! Can I try that again?"
Beth stood up slowly. "I'd rather you didn't-" She slammed back into the wall. Brennen laughed again. Feeling dazed, she wasn't so quick to stand this time.
Justin shook his head, then stretched out his hand, using Force Heal. He wasn't sure how he knew how to use it, but decided not to ask questions. Beth, feeling better, got up. If looks could kill, Brennen would've died nine times at the look Beth gave him. Luckily, Justin intervened.
"Guys, let's just pretend the last few seconds didn't happen." Turning away from the confrontation between the two, he looked at Kreia, deciding to continue the story.
"We used to be Jedi. We aren't anymore." He glanced back at Brennen and Beth, who were giving each other the look of death. Uneasily, he turned back to Kreia. "Can we get out of here?"
"I cannot go yet. I am too tired."
"Too tired my ass," Beth muttered, never breaking her staring contest with Brennen.
"Well, we'll go find a way off this place. We'll come check on you later. Come on guys." He walked out of the room, Johnny behind him, with Beth and Brennen trying to find a way to walk and keep their eyes locked at the same time.
The four of them stopped at a door. Justin listened. "Hear that?" he whispered.
"Nope," Beth said. "My God you're ugly Brennen."
"Hey, you're no Miss America."
"Ya, cuz I'm Canadian."
"Well, you're no Miss Canada either."
"You two shut up!" Justin snapped, straining to hear the source of the sound he'd heard before.
"Ah, chill out," Johnny said. "It's probably just some of those mining droids that went berserk."
Justin rolled his eyes. "Is that really a "just" scenario? We don't even have any weapons!"
"We have Beth," Johnny pointed out.
"What, you mean we're going to us her as a projectile or something?"
"No, we are not," Beth said, still not looking away.
"We'll just use our Force powers then," Johnny suggested. "And not on each other," he added to Beth and Brennen, who ignored him and continued to glare at each other.
"All righty then," Justin said, then grinned. "I'm gonna do that thing Obi-Wan does with the doors in the second and third movies." He made a sweeping motion with his hand, and the door flew open.
Two mining droids raced at them, firing like a five-year-old with a machine gun. Which means wildly and without accuracy.
"My turn to use the Force!" Beth called. Not breaking her gaze with Brennen, she opened her mouth and let out a loud yell. The droids flew against the wall and smashed. Justin and Johnny looked at her in surprise.
"That was a wicked Force Scream," Justin said.
"Thank you."
Brennen shrugged, keeping eye contact. "Wasn't that great."
"Says you," Beth retorted.
Johnny started rummaging through a footlocker in the corner of the room. "Guys, look what I found!"
"No," Beth and Brennen said.
"There's four swords in here!"
"Well pass one," Beth said, holding out her hand. Johnny shook his head, and threw one to her. It clunked her in head before landing neatly in her hand. She gave no signs that she even felt the sword hit. Johnny handed the rest around, then they continued walking down the hall. Justin seemed overly excited about the sword.
"Look at me, look at me! I am Swordmaster Jaise Lynion, with the power to destroy the Sith!" With that he began swinging it around like he was fighting some sort of enemy, complete with sound effects.
They finally reached the Communication's Blister, with Justin still waving the sword about like an idiot, with Brennen and Beth still refusing to break eye contact, and with Johnny watching them all thinking "How did I get caught up in this?"
Justin managed to put the sword away long enough to look at the computer. He scratched his head, thought for a moment, then turned to ask the others for their opinion on the matter, but paused when he saw Beth and Brennen.
"Uh, how long are you two gonna keep that up?"
"Until time stops," they replied.
He shook his head, then caught Johnny's eye. The two of them nodded. Johnny grabbed Brennen, Justin grabbed Beth, and the two were pulled away from each other.
"Hey!" Beth yelled.
"I could've won!" Brennen said angrily.
"We don't have time for that kind of crap." He turned back to the computer. "Anyone have any idea how this thing works?"
"I don't know," Beth said. "I can barely operate the computer we have at home." Johnny and Brennen muttered their agreements.
Justin stared at the machine, then something clicked. "Wait, don't we have to get that Atton guy first?"
"Oh ya," the others said.
"Well let's go get him!" The four searched the place for the room that held Atton.
"There!" Johnny said, pointing.
"Is there a shield around it?" Beth asked as they approached the room.
"Let's test it!" Justin grabbed Beth once again and threw her at the door.
Beth slammed into it, and strangely enough the shield broke.
"Huh," Justin said.
"Ow."
"You ok?"
"Absolutely not."
"Well, you're not slurring your speech. You must be fine."
The four of them walked into the room and saw a man in his earlythirties standing in a holding cell. He looked over at them.
"And who the Hell are you?"
"Your worst nightmare!" Beth laughed maniacally. Atton looked at her warily.
"Beth, shut up." Brennen smacked the back of her head. She quieted down.
"Um…Ok." They looked at Atton. "Will you guys let me out, or are you so crazy that I'd be better off in here?"
"Oh, we're crazy all right," Beth said.
"Really crazy," Justin added.
"Super ultimo crazy," Brennen put in.
"Ultimo crazy?" Justin and Beth looked at him.
"Ya. ULTIMO crazy."
"We are not," Johnny said to Atton. "Do you know how we get you out?"
"I don't know. I think I'll just stay here." He kept his eyes on Beth, Justin and Brennen, who were all laughing insanely.
"Nonsense," Johnny said. He walked to the side of the cage. "Is this the button?"
"Ya," Atton answered. "Though I would prefer you didn't open it."
Johnny pressed the button anyway, and the shield around the cage disappeared. Atton stepped out worriedly, keeping his eyes on the other three, who were now dancing in a circle, chanting some song.
"Guys, will you stop it?" Johnny said, frustrated. "You have any idea how hard it is to convince people we don't belong in an asylum when you're doing a war dance while singing a battle chant?"
"Five bucks on very," Beth said. Johnny shook his head. "Does that mean I'm wrong, or that you're tired of me?"
"No and yes," Johnny told her. "Now come on! We gotta get that computer working!" He led the four others out.
When they reached the Blister again, Beth pushed Atton to the computer, saying "Time for you to start pulling your weight around here!"
He shook his head, and started pressing buttons. They waited. Suddenly he swore and slammed his fist into the keyboard.
"Someone locked the whole place down!"
"Shitty," Beth said.
"Can we call anyone on the Comm?" Justin asked.
"Feel free to try," Atton said, stepping away from the computer.
Justin stepped up to the Comm and yelled into it. "Hey! Anyone alive down there?" The others jumped.
Suddenly there was a series of beeps. Everyone looked at the comm. Justin leaned towards it. "Hey, uh, droid. We need a way off this rock. Any ideas?" More beeps. "Uh, sure?" Silence again. Justin flopped down into a chair and brushed his hair back. "Well, get comfortable. This could, and WILL, take awhile."
Beth and Brennen both went for the only other chair. Inevitably, a fight broke out between the two. Justin, Johnny and Atton sighed.
"Well at least we've got some entertainment," Johnny said.
Two hours later….
"Damn man, what's taking that damn droid so long?" Justin looked at the console. Beth and Brennen had broken the chair during their fight and had decided to merely glare at each other, and that was not nearly as interesting as them fighting. Johnny had fallen asleep long ago, and Atton wasn't much for conversation.
Justin leaned back. "So..." He looked at Atton. "You...fish?"
Atton looked at him wordlessly, then turned away. Justin sighed. Well, he'd tried. Really, he was sick of Atton. Even Beth could be used for conversation, though you could guarantee the conversation would go nowhere. Still, it would pass the time.
Suddenly, a door down the hall opened. For a moment, Justin and Atton merely stared at it. Then Justin stood. "Guys, up and at 'em." Johnny woke, rubbing his eyes. Beth and Brennen looked up at him.
"Where are we going?" Beth asked.
"Beth, you've played the game. We're going into the mining tunnels."
Atton jumped. "Wait wait what!" He shook his head. "Look, you may be Jedi, but do you have any idea how dangerous it is down there? You're going to get yourselves killed! Not that I really care of course, but I don't want to have to escape alone."
Brennen stood, stretching. "Oh no worries. Just a few hundred crazy mining droids with God knows what else, such as HK units and Dark Sith Lords and-"
Justin slapped a hand over Brennen's mouth, grinning guiltily at Atton, who was now staring at Brennen incredulously.
"We're going now," Justin said. "NOW!" He snapped at Brennen, who looked at those he was gonna pick up where he'd left off, Justin grabbed him by the ear and led him out. Beth followed, happy that someone was in pain besides her. Johnny shook his head once again, but walked after them.
"Uh oh," Beth said, stepping back from the opening.
"Oh what now?" Johnny said, exasperated.
"I really hate elevators. It creeps me out to think that the only thing keeping you alive is a thin cable, and that put together with my fear of heights makes riding the elevator shitty."
"Get in here!" Justin grabbed her and pulled her in.
In the mining tunnels...
"Well this place certainly is boring," Justin said, looking around.
"It's a mining tunnel. How glorious did you expect it to look?" Beth pointed out.
The mining tunnels were merely a series of, of course, tunnels that went in every direction possible it seemed. The four of them spent half an hour fighting down one hallway, which seemed to be loaded with mining droids, just to find a dead end. They then spent the next hour trying to find their way through the place, just to end up once again at the elevator. Tempers ran short, and before too long they broke into a furious battle. The swords, luckily, lay where they had been dropped, so no one sustained serious injury.
After another two hours, they finally came across an HK unit, who walked up to them.
"Statement: It is a pleasure to see you alive Master, after all the-"
"Cut the bullshit," Beth said immediately. "We know you can bypass the voice lock in the computer, so give us the code and no one gets scrapped."
"Confused Resignation: Uh…Very well Master. The code is-" Beth stuck a voice recorder near his face. His voice changed abruptly to a man's voice. "-voice lock 23056." He changed his voice back. "Statement: There. You happy? Now go away!" He wandered away.
"Nicely done Beth," Johnny said.
"I wish I could do that in the game. Now let's go find the door." The four of them start searching.
"There!" Brennen pointed. The others looked.
"Yep. That's it all right." Justin tapped the door with his knuckles. "But it's sealed shut. We need to find the terminal to unlock this bloody thing."
"Oh ya," the others said.
"Is that it?" Johnny asked after a few minutes of searching. Justin walked over.
"Yep. Ok Beth, take that recorder thing you have and put it near this thing."
"I've played the damn game Justin. Or should I say Jaise."
"Yes you should."
"Anyway, I've played the game, I know what to do."
"That's a surprise."
She ignored him and put the recorder near the machine. The code bleeped out, and Beth pressed a few buttons. A door opened nearby.
They looked in. It was a small room, with nothing but four spacesuits sitting in the corner.
"This must be the airlock," Brennen said.
"What are the chances that there are four of us and four suits?" Beth asked.
"Um…Really really good?"
"Well I suppose."
"You two shut up," Justin said. "Let's get going. If there's four suits, then we're lucky, and I'm not about to bitch about our luck."
They put the suits on and Beth walked to the terminal next to the door. Well, she tried anyway. She fell over about half way there. Justin shook his head and helped her up. She tried to make it to the terminal again, and succeeded this time. She pressed a few buttons.
"Airlock Sequence Engaged."
"I'm surprised Beth managed that," Johnny said.
"Screw you."
"Maybe you have a high computer use."
"If so, she might be useful to keep around," Brennen added.
"Ok enough," Justin said as Beth turned to Brennen and Johnny. He couldn't see her face, but he could guess her expression. That of death. The airlock doors opened, and the four walked onto the walkway thing on the surface of the asteroid.
Suddenly Justin, who was leading, stopped abruptly. Johnny slammed into his back.
"What's wrong with you?"
Justin pointed ahead. "What's that junk coming out of that tube in the asteroid?" The three others looked. Some sorted of pinkish gas was gushing from a tube.
Beth explained. "Well, according to my memory of the game, that would be fuel. We better hurry by it. Once in the game I stood and stared at it, and I think I started to lose some health."
"Why were you staring at it?"
"Cuz I wanted to."
The four continued their trek across the asteroid's surface. Suddenly Atton started talking through the comlink.
" 'Bout time you started coming up on the scanners, I think I lost you for a bit there. But it says you're outside of the facility, that can't be right."
"Why don't you try looking up?" They could see him through the window of the Communication's Blister. He glanced up.
"What the Hell are you doing out there!"
"Just taking a nice leisurely walk," Beth said cheerfully.
Atton shook his head. "Even for Jedi you're crazy." His head snapped back to the console. "Oh Goddammit, what now!"
"What is it?" The four of them asked.
"Something's sending in a docking code."
"Ya, we can see it," Johnny said. The five of them watched as a huge Republic ship sidled up next to the asteroid. Beth grinned.
"Saw it coming."
"Well of course you saw it coming. We all did."
"Come on," Justin said gesturing for the others to follow him. They ran, well, hobbled would be the better word, it's hard to run in spacesuits, down the walkway and into the airlock by the dormitories.
They took off the spacesuits and walked through the other door. Immediately five droids rushed at them, but with Johnny's force lightning, Brennen's force push, Beth's force scream, and Justin's force choke(which truthfully did very little as droids don't breathe) they managed to make short work of the droids.
The level was pretty boring, with only a few droids to fight. When they reached the elevator back to the Communication's Blister, they found it locked. Beth showed off her great computer skills by smashing the console next to the elevator and it opened immediately.
When they reached the top level they greeted by Kreia's old, creviced face.
"We have to leave. Now."
"Why?" Johnny asked. Beth answered for Kreia.
"Because there's a Sith Lord on that Republic ship, remember?"
Kreia looked at her oddly. "How do you know that?"
"Uh, felt it?" she said. Kreia looked at her for a few seconds, then shook her head and walked off towards Atton.
"Smooth, Beth," Justin congratulated.
"The Force is strong with me."
They followed Kreia to Atton, who was looking at Kreia with surprise. And perhaps some disgust. "And who are you?" he asked her.
"She's Kreia, some old Si—Jedi." That was close. Justin, Brennen and Johnny looked at Beth uneasily. "Now come on, we gotta get outta here. There's a Sith on that ship, and if he catches us, we're screwed."
"Come now Beth, surely you of all people could take on Sion?" Before she could reply, however, Kreia jumped in.
"How do you know his name?"
They stared at her. There was a silence for a few seconds. Then Johnny said, "Uh, oh, is that actually his name? What a weird coincidence, cause Sion also means 'that jackass' in, uh, Maelstrom."
"And what is Maelstrom?"
"Uh, a language from….the Unknown Regions?" he offered. Now everyone was staring at him.
Then Brennen said "Ya, exactly, we learnt when we travelling the borders of known space."
"Yep," Beth put in.
"Oh ya, right, known space," Justin added.
The four of them grinned innocently at Atton and Kreia, who were staring at them as though wandering whether to take them seriously or run away. The two looked at eachother, then Kreia shrugged.
"Ok, if you say so. Now come on, we really have to get out of here."
"Uh, how?" Atton asked.
"There's a ship in the hangar bay," Beth said. "We can go into the ship that docked here. When it docked, I saw a tube thing from the ship go into one of those tubes that fuel was coming out of. We can cross through the fuel lines into the other side of this place, which will be near the hangar bay. Then we can grab the ship and get out of here."
"What?" That's insane!" Atton said.
"It's our only choice. Come on!"
The six of them ran off. "At least we should have a clear run to the-" Atton, however, was cut off by a mechanical voice.
"Query:And where do you think you're going Master?"
They spun around and saw the HK unit from before, the one who'd given them the voice code.
"Son of a kath hound," Beth said.
"A kath hound?" Brennen asked.
"Well, why not?"
"Statement: I suggest you stay here Master." There was a threatening tone to that voice. The four of them had expected that though.
"Let's take that bastard out!" The four of them leaped at the droid, propelled by their force power. It was so sudden, both their allies and their enemy were stunned. Justin rammed his sword through the HK unit's torso. Beth went for his legs. Brennen slammed the sword into it's side. Johnny grabbed the droid's head and wrenched it off, roaring triumphantly like a wookiee.
"System's failing Master," it crackled, then toppled over. The four of them laughed, staring at the head in Johnny's hand.
"Let's see that, Lorenti," Beth said. He passed it to her. She opened the head and, using her new repair and computer use skills she'd received when they entered the game, tweaked it to say "Master Beth rocks. Do what she says."
"You heard the head," Beth said. "Do what I say."
"Shut up," Brennen said. "You gonna throw that away or what?"
"Nah, I'm gonna screw around with it so it follows me around like a Remote." She grinned.
"That would be cool," Justin agreed. The other two seemed to be considering the possibillities of having a HK head following them around.
"You four are damn crazy!" Atton exclaimed. "You dived at an Assassin droid and ripped off it's head! You get any crazier and I'm sending you to the loony bin!"
"Oh you love it and you know it," Brennen said. Atton snorted.
The six of them ran down the hallway leading to the door to the Republic ship and entered it. They slowed down inside, taking their time to explore. Beth was already working on the HK head as much as she could without tools. Justin shook his head. Before it seemed she couldn't even tell the difference between a wrench and a screwdriver, and now she was trying to make a head float with her hands.
There was silence for a while as they tried to find the bridge. They'd decided to find the navicomputer so they could get the asteroid drift charts, or else they'd be crushed trying to get out of this hellhole. Suddenly, however, Johnny stopped. For a moment he merely stood there. Then he whipped out his word and stabbed the sword at the air over Beth's shoulder. She leaped to the side, pulling out her own sword. Johnny had stabbed a man right in the face. A man who had not been there a second before.
"We're under attack!" Brennen shouted. The others pulled out their blades as four more of the Sith assassins appeared.
Beth placed the HK head on the ground, then stood over it protectively. The assassin leaped at her, and she used force scream. He flew back, crashing into the wall. She leaped after him, but he dodged, and swung his sword at her. She ducked, and the sword hit the wall. She slammed her left hand over it, stabbed at him with her other hand. He released the sword and jumped back. Beth took her hand away from the wall, and his sword clattered to the ground. She paused.
"A Jedi doesn't strike a defenseless opponent," she said. She dropped the sword. "But there are always loopholes!"
He ran at her. She did the same. At the last second she dropped, and he tripped over her. She spun as he picked himself up. He grabbed both of the swords off the ground, grinned, and rushed her again. She filled her lungs and screamed agaIn. He flew back, slammed into another wall, and Beth heard a loud crack. The assassin crumpled, and did not move. Beth shook her head, smirked, and grabbed her droid head, then both of the swords from the assassin, one of which she put in her belt loop.
Justin grinned. His first battle. The assassin paused, uncertain. Justin's size seemed to make him uneasy. Justin ran at him, sword already swinging. The assassin, given no other chance, raised his sword. Justin smashed it out of the way, and the assassin had to duck to avoid being decapitated. He dodged backwards, almost tripping over his own feet in his haste to get away. He was terrified now. He turned to run, but Justin was having none of it. He threw a hand out, and the assassin stopped suddenly, clutching his throat. Justin let go before he died however, and walked up behind him slowly. The assassin had fallen to his knees, but as Justin approached him he stiffened. Justin noticed, and stood still. The assassin spun on his knees, sword out, trying to slash his knees. Justin was ready. He jumped in the air, over the sword and stabbed down with his own. The assassin tried to avoid it jumping back again, but wasn't fast enough. It sliced into his gut and pinned him to the ground. Justin raised the blade once more and cut the man's head off.
"You lose."
Brennen tossed the sword to his left hand, and threw out the other, using force push. The assassin raised his hands instinctively, thinking he was throwing something, and was slammed into the wall. Brennen paused, unsure if he should rush the man or not. The assassin took the chance and dived at him. Swearing, Brennen jumped to the side. He turned, lifting the sword just in time to impale the assassin on his blade. Ther light left the man's eyes, and he slumped. Brennen pulled his blade out, scratching his head.
"That was easy. Just my damn luck."
Johnny straightened himself up, making himself look taller, and roared a loud, bone-rattling war cry. The assassin shook, looking scared out of his wits. Johnny swung the sword, and assassin snapped out of it just in time to dodge, and started edging away. Johnny, however, grabbed him by the back of his shirt and threw him. While he was in midair, Johnny flung out his hand. Lightning flew from his fingertips, and the assassin yelled. He dropped to the ground, his clothes smoking. Johnny stepped forward. Fear made the assassin stand again. He raised his sword shakily. Johnny slashed at him, smashing the blade near the hilt. The assassin stared at his broken weapon in horror. He dropped it and ran. Johnny threw the sword, controlling it with the Force. It slammed into his back, just behind his heart, and he feel, dead immediately. Johnny summoned it back, grinning.
"Never run from Master Lorenti."
Panting, the four of them looked at eachother. Atton and Kreia stared at them, stunned.
"Wow," Atton said. "I didn't know Jedi fought like that."
"Ya, we rock," Brennen said, wiping off his blade.
"Oh ya," Beth agreed, inspecting the droid head for damage.
"Thanks for the help, by the way," Justin said to Atton and Kreia. They shook their heads.
"The way you were fighting, I think it would have been better if we stayed back," Kreia said. "Now let us continue on." She motioned ahead of her and started walking.
Beth made a face at her as they followed her. The four of them talked about the battle excitedly. No one really heard anyone as they were all talking over each other, but the fight had really pumped them up.
Surprising, they found no more enemies on the ship. Brennen said they were probably scared, which was agreed on by everyone. However, they were just reaching the engine of the ship, and the ship's fuel lines, when suddenly Beth felt a chill go down her spine. All of them stopped, feeling uneasy. Then, as one, they turned. Down the hall, they saw a man standing there, looking at them. Beth shivered. She knew it was going to happen, but it was still creepy.
Kreia stepped forward. "I will handle this. I am not defenseless." She took out a vibroblade and walked towards the man. She looked back at them. "He cannot kill what he cannot see, and power had blinded him long ago. Run. I will join you shortly." With that she ran off, and the door to the hall way closed.
The five of them ran to the engine room, andthey immediately headed for the fuel line. Atton stopped.
"Whoa, we're not really going through the fuel lines are we? That's crazy!"
"It's our only choice," Beth saids impatiently. "Now quit being being such a womp rat and let's go." The four of them ran forward, and Atton went after them reluctantly.
It was dark in the fuel line, and luckily the ship seemed to be done refueling, because there was no gas. Beth was in the lead, but she would regret that as she slammed into something in the darkness.
"God, Hell and blood!"
"God, Hell and blood?" Brennen stepped forward. "That's a new one."
"I just hit something!"
A small light appeared in front of them, and there was a quiet beeping. Beth stared.
"T3-M4?" she asked. The little astromech droid bleeped. "Sweet. You ok?"
It let out a series of beeps, bleeps, and dwoos. Brennen stared at it. "Hey, I understood that!"
"What'd he say?" Justin asked.
"He's talking about the HK unit."
Beth grinned. "Did it look like this?" She held the head forward.
T3 made a dweep noise. "He says yes," Brennen translated.
"Wanna come with us T3?" Justin asked.
Dweep. Brennen nodded.
"All right, let's go then," Beth said. She started forward, then said "After you Justin. You hit the next droid." He grinned and led them forward.
Back in the Peragus Facility, they immediately headed for the Hangar Bay. They had to fight a few droids, but mostly it was quiet. They finally reached the Hangar Bay. But there was a locked, and broken, door blocking them. They turned to Beth and T3-M4.
"Can you fix it?" Justin asked. The two of them inspected the door. After a few minutes they turned back to Justin.
"It's missing a vital conduit, as I suspected," Beth said. T3 beeped his agreement. "Luckily, I grabbed one from the ground when we were in the fuel line." She produced some sort of component from her pocket. Justin shook his head as Beth and T3 began fixing the door. It didn't take long. Before they knew itthe door slid open, and they ran for the ship.
The five of them stared up at the ship. "Sweet," Beth said.
"Come on," Atton said, hurrying up the ramp into the ship. They followed him, grinning.
Atton was already in the cockpit firing up the engines. The four started calling rooms and beds, and were startled by the sight of Kreia sitting in a chair calmly holding her wrist. But there was no hand on that wrist.
"Kreia, what happened?" Justin asked, though he knew full well what had happened.
"Not now," she said. "We must leave."
They felt the ship rise up. Beth ran into the cockpit, and sat in the co-pilot's chair, helping with the take-off. They zipped out of the faciltiy and into open space. But their troubles were only beginning.
End Of Chapter 1