Chapter 2: Duel

I know that the Ebon Hawk was in KOTOR2 but pretend it wasn't for the sake of this fic.

{Alien language}

Thought

"Didn't ya' hear me ya' gits. I said get lo-" the gang member was cut off when he and his partner were blasted by Kouta and Bando.

"Wasn't that a little foolish?" Kouta asked. "Just frying them out in the open? Won't the others hear?"

"Nah it should be fine. There aren't any cameras out here so we should be good." Bando replied confidently.

Kouta hacked the keypad for the doorway and they were inside. The decor was just like it was back on Taris, but this time it was darker and had more hallways.

"Ok, first we acquire a disguise, hack the security systems then we find Tasriq and get the hell out of here." Kouta said.

"Good plan." Bando said. He turned to the fallen Vulkars they had just killed. "What about those two idiots?"

Kouta looked at them and said: "They look to be about our size and we shot them in the head so it should be good." Kouta thought further. "Come to think of it… they seem to wear typical bounty hunter armor of different origins except they attached a sort of badge to it. It seems like all we need is those badges."

"Well that's convenient." Bando said.

Kouta and Bando removed the badges from the corpses and placed them on their armor. They seemed to fit in pretty well. Kouta also took the key are from the human male's uniform as well.

The two began to walk down the hallway towards a nearby room. A few Vulkars passed by and assumed they were just another pair of thugs in their group. When they reached the room they saw that it was some sort of living room where a lot of the gang members were. There were two rodians, three human males and a duros.

When they entered the whole room went silent. The other Vulkars just stared at them. The two commandos-in-disguise slowly looked at each other then back to the group of thugs. They may have just been found out.

"{You must be the new guys we heard about.}" A rodian said.

"Yeah, we just got lost." Kouta said cautiously. He had to watch what he said to these guys.

"{Where are you going?}" The rodian asked.

"I'm supposed to be in the cell block with that senator guy, and my friend here needs to be in the security room."

"I'll take you there. I need to stretch my legs anyway." The human male said.

The human male led Kouta and Bando out of the gathering room and down the halls. The men had walked silently until the man spotted Kouta's lightsaber under the hooded cloak that covered his armor.

"Did you kill a Jedi to get that weapon?" The man asked.

"Oh yeah. They are not easy to kill." Kouta lied. "They have those crazy force powers and tactical ability."

"Damn, I'm impressed."

"If you want to kill a single Jedi using a blaster, then you'll need one with a high rate of fire, like a heavy repeating blaster." Bando said.

"Also watch out for that Jedi mind trick. It can turn your allies against you." Kouta said.

The group of three walked down the corridors of the Vulkar base in peaceful conversation. The gang member had brought up their mandalorian armor and was impressed by that as well. Anytime the conversation looked like it could expose them, they managed to shift it in a safer direction. The security turrets and droids had left them alone due to the fact that they were wearing the Vulkar symbol as a badge.

The group soon arrived at the security room. It had a huge blast door and no one was guarding it.

"So is this where you were supposed to be?" The thug said to Bando.

Bando overlooked the door and smirked.

"Oh yeah. This is definitely where I need to be."

"Alright then, just let me unlock the door for you and you should be good to go." The thug said.

The gang member stepped forward in a casual manner, showing that he wasn't in a huge hurry. He placed his hand on the scanner for a few seconds and the door opened to reveal the unoccupied security room. It had defiantly been better than the one back on Taris. Bando was eyeing the mainframe where he could really have some fun with the security systems.

"Good luck, mate." The thug said. He turned to Kouta and motioned for him to follow. "C'mon. I'll take you to the cells."

Bando watched as Kouta and the thug walked away down the halls and around the corner. When he knew they were gone, that's when he got to work. He made a b-line straight for the main console. He managed to slice into the mainframe and grant himself full acces to the facility. He looked over his shoulder and decided it was best to seal the door so no one could get in. He deactivated the hand scanner and locked the door.

"This entire building is my bitch." Bando said in a slightly excited tone. "Oh boy, what should I do first? Maybe I'll deactivate all turrets."

Bando watched on the computer monitor as all of the floor, wall, and ceiling turrets were deactivated. Bando began to go through different camera views and observed his options. He eventually came across Kouta and the thug walking down the hallway.

"Ah, kid. It seems like only yesterday I fired a gun at you."

Bando went through many different routines that would be subtle. He didn't want to give away their position and have to fight all of the Vulkars… yet. He downloaded the area schematics on his data pad, unlocked all security doors, deactivated the droids shields and even managed to sabotage the camera archives. Bando looked back on the camera feed on the screen above him and noticed a hooded figure in a private training room. He was sitting in the middle as if her were meditating.

"Who the hell is he?" Bando asked quizzically. "Ah, it doesn't matter anyway.

Kouta and the thug managed to arrive at a sort of intersection. The later pointed down the left hall.

"Well, you head down that way and the cells are around the corner."

"Thanks." Said Kouta.

"Take care, and good luck handling those prisoners." The thug said.

Kouta and the thug bade farewell and parted ways. Kouta looked over his shoulder and made sure that he was alone. When the thug was of sight, he turned the corner and saw a rodian carrying a blaster rifle, guarding the door to the cells. Kouta approached the rodian, who was looking at Kouta in a confused manner.

"Can I help you?" He asked, his hand trailing to his blaster slowly.

"I'm here to guard the prisoners." Kouta said in a serious manner.

"I wasn't told about anyone new coming here." The guard replied confusingly.

Kouta raised his hand to around chest height and slowly waved it.

"You were expecting me." Kouta said.

"I was expecting you." The guard replied.

Kouta did the same motion with his hand again.

"You don't need to worry. I'm on your side."

"I don't need to worry. You on my side."

Once more…

"I can go on in."

"You can go on in."

Kouta entered the cellblock area and stepped down to the third cell by the bottom o the steps.

"That was too easy."

Kouta looked in the cell and on the other side of the ray shield, he could see the very man they were looking for. It was Tasriq Vadras. He looked beaten and bruised but nothing severe. He was lying on the ground asleep and his breathing was stable.

"There he is." Kouta thought.

"Hey... Tasriq…" Kouta whispered.

No response.

*sharp whistle* "Tasriq." He whispered louder.

The sleeping politician began to slowly rise from his slumber and rub his eyes.

"Hey..." Kouta whispered again.

"Tasriq looked directly at Kouta, spotting his stolen badge with the Vulkar symbol on it. He assumed Kouta was another thug.

"What do you guys want now?" Tasriq asked.

Kouta looked at his badge and back to Tasriq.

"Don't worry I'm not with them." He whispered. "I'm a commando from the republic. I'm here to get you outta here." Kouta showed him his republic ID badge.

"Really?" Tasriq asked. "That's great."

Kouta turned to the wall panel next to the ray shield holding Tasriq. His hacking abilities would be more than enough to get Tasriq out. The Vulkar base definitely needed improvements. When Kouta had finished, the blue field had immediately dematerialized into nothingness. Tasriq slumped out of the cell and a sense of freedom began to envelop him.

"Ok let's go." Kouta said.

"HEY! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!"

Kouta and Tasriq turned to see that the guard from the doorway had spotted Kouta freeing Tasriq.

"Shit." Kouta said.

The thug had immediately reached for his blaster rifle, but was cut off when Kouta quick drawed his own blaster pistol on him. Kouta fired one round into his torso. Silencing him immediately. The thug's body hit the floor with a loud thud.

"That's gonna alert everybody." Kouta said. "C'mon, let's move."

Kouta and Tasriq made their way up the stairs of the cell block and out the door. Kouta checked to make sure the coast was clear and it was.

"Ok it's safe." He said.

The two slowly crept around the corner, making sure no one was there. Kouta eventually decided to call Bando and make sure the area was secure. He didn't want to raise the alarm while he was protecting the mission objective.

"Bando." Kouta said on his wrist-communicator.

"Talk to me, Kouta." Bando replied on the other end.

"Hey, I've got Tasriq now, check the camera feed and see if we're safe."

"Ok I'm on it." Bando said.

Bando checked the cameras for the detention wing to see if he and Tasriq were secure of any hostiles.

They were not.

"Oh shit Kouta!" Bando shouted in a hurried voice. "They're closing in on you! Prepare for a fight! HURRY!"

"Tasriq get down and stay close to the wall." Kouta instructed.

The politician got on one knee and crouched next to the wall, clutching the blaster rifle the guard was using earlier. He had been a soldier before but that was a while back.

Kouta holstered his blaster pistol next to his lightsaber and equipped his modified blaster rifle he had been carrying on his back. It was a modified republic commando rifle. It had been fitted with a switch for single, burst, and full-auto firing modes; a beam splitter for increased accuracy, an enhanced power cell for stronger shots and a stun function.

Kouta slapped the clip into the rifle and readied himself. He could sense three hostiles coming in from the front using the force.

A rodian, a Twi'lek male and a human male had turned the corner, weapons at the ready, but Kouta was already aiming at them. The three thugs spotted him and prepared to fire, but Kouta dropped all three of them.

"Ok it's clear!" Kouta shouted.

"Kouta I'm gonna ditch the console and meet you at the mess hall, it's on the way to the exit!" Bando said on the communicator.

"Ok I'll see you then."

Kouta and Tasriq began making their way down the metallic halls of the base. They walked past the thugs on the ground and stopped when the alarm suddenly went off. The loud buzz noise thundering through the facility. Kouta turned around and saw that the rodian had survived the shot to the stomach and he mustered enough strength and willpower to hit the alarm panel on the wall.

"{You won't make it out alive, Bantha fodder.}" The rodian said.

Kouta aimed and fired another plasma round into the downed rodian's skull, effectively ending him.

"RUN!" Kouta yelled.

Kouta and Tasriq began hightailing it out of the area. They had turned a lot of corners, passing the infirmary, the restrooms, the hangar bay (which Bando had locked down and reprogrammed the repair droids to sabatoge the small ships.) and they even passed a makeshift cantina.

They were stopped when the turned the corner to the mess hall. It was flooded with Vulkars. It was as if the entire gang was there. It was a collection of: humans, rodians, duros, Twi'lek, and even a few ithorians. They hasn't spotted Kouta or Tasriq but they had been blocking the only way out. Kouta looked around and saw Bando down the other end of the hall, who was waving to them. Kouta silently motion for him to come to him and Tasriq. Bando acknowledged the request and began to slowly sneak down the hall to them, stopping on the other side of the second hallway that led to the swarm of Vulkars. Bando was already aware of the situation.

They needed to dispatch these idiots guarding the exit.

Suddenly it hit Kouta. He would use the thermal detonators on his belt to get rid of them. He would guide them down the hallway using the Force and would detonate them remotely.

"Watch this." Kouta faintly whispered. Bando nodded.

Kouta reached for his belt and pulled out three thermal detonator grenades. He began concentrating using the force to levitate the grenades just a tad off the ground. He began to slowly move them down the hall to the group of Vulkars who were still unaware if the commandos presence. The color of the grenades didn't contrast with the floor so it would be hard to spot them.

"Careful... Careful..." Bando thought.

The grenades were in place under the feet of the center of the group. It wouldn't kill them all but it would get rid of most of them. Kouta began to concentrate on the switches on the grenades. It would take a lot of precision to pull it off.

*click*

Kouta had just activated the grenades. The thugs had wondered what that click was but gave it no thought.

3

2

1

Kouta, Bando and Tasriq hid behind the cover if the walls as the grenades detonated, killing most of the Vulkars in a shrapnel filled explosion; splattering blood and flesh everywhere.

Most of the Vulkars were dead but some of them survived. The had minor injuries and were just knocked down to the ground.

"START FIRING! PICK THE REST OF THEM OFF!" Kouta screamed.

Kouta stood up and fired around the corner with his rifle while Tasriq knelt and fired around the corner. Bando had did the same as as Tasriq and was firing in a crouched position. Kouta took a human female out by shooting her in the heart. He didn't want to kill her, but he had to. Tasriq had a bad shoulder but he managed to drop a Twi'lek male in a few shots. Bando had killed the duros on the left while Kouta fired on the ithorian that was firing prone.

Blaster fire went back and forth down the hallway in a prolonged firefight for about five minutes until the last of them were dead.

"Go!" Bando shouted.

The three of them ran down the hallway and hacked the keypad to the exit they can in. When they had exited they began to let their guard down, thinking that they had killed them all. They spotted the Ebon hawk down the road and began to walk towards it, knowing it was ready to take off. They just wanted to take off and get to sleep at this point. It's been a long day for all of them.

"Woah." Tasriq said in heavy ragged breaths. "I almost thought we wouldn't make it there."

"Don't worry sir." Kouta said. "You're in good hands."

Suddenly the door to the base opened. The group turned around to see who it was.

"The fuck?" Bando said in a confused manner. "Did we miss one?"

It was the black-hooded figure that Bando saw on the security cameras. His face was obstructed by a mask but his eyes were exposed, revealing cold, crimson eyes. He had black robes and a black cape as well. This man; whoever he was; was very intimidating.

"I saw that guy on the cameras." Bando said.

The hooded man pulled his cape back and reached for something on his waist. It was a lightsaber. The man detached the lightsaber from his belt and held it out to his side.

"Guys, start heading for the Ebon hawk. Now." Kouta said sternly. "I'll handle him."

"Ok, Kouta. Be careful." Bando said.

Kouta pulled his brown cloak back and reached for his own lightsaber. He detached it from his belt and held it out to his side as well.

The hooded figure activated his saber, sending a red beam of concentrated plasma from the hilt. This guy definitely was a dark Jedi. No doubt about it.

Kouta pressed the button on his saber, sending a blue beam of concentrated plasma out of his hilt as well.

The two lunged at each other quickly. The dark Jedi's red lightsaber swung downwards in a quick strike which was cut off by Kouta blocking it with his blue one. The blades parted then Kouta swung wide tow the dark Jedi's waistline. It failed however when he had jumped back to avoid the blade. The Dark Jedi retaliated by swinging in a slanted arc down towards Kouta, who caught the red lightsaber in a saber clash, Blue met red as the two force users attempted to overwhelm the other's strength. Kouta decided it would be best to party the enemy lightsaber. He quickly guided the Dark Jedi's lightsaber in a circular arc down towards their feet. Kouta jumped before it could sever his own legs and he delivered a middair kick to the dark Jedi's chest, knocking him back a bit, but not causing him to fall.

The Dark Jedi used the force to send a lightning wave towards Kouta but the later deflected it with his lightsaber, taking out a few windows in the nearby building.

"Who is this guy?" Kouta thought.

The Dark Jedi swung towards Kouta attempting to sever his legs but Kouta jumped and used the Force to push the lightsaber below him, sending the blade into the metal street. Kouta took this opportunity to send a Force wave towards the Dark Jedi sending him flying towards the wall but he pushed off the wall and landed back on the ground.

It was them that Kouta had realized that the attacking Dark Jedi's hood and mask had been knocked off.

His features had caused Kouta to practically pass out. The dark Jedi had a thin, young face, white hair that reached to his jawline which contrasted his menacing red eyes. But the most notable features of his head…

...were the two bony horns sticking out of his head.

"A DICLONIUS?!" Kouta shouted.

The last time Kouta had ever seen a diclonius was Lucy. That was 24,000 years ago. How could this guy possibly be a diclonius?

Suddenly, the Dark Jedi sent all four of his vectors towards Kouta. Kouta however caught them using the force. The Dark Jedi had taken this opening to throw his lightsaber at Kouta, but to no avail. Kouta had barely dodged it. He was having a tough time with this guy.

The dark Jedi released his vectors and retrieved his lightsaber. He had spotted Bando and Tasriq trying to get to the Ebon Hawk but they were still a distance away. He used the Force to send a powerful shockwave towards Kouta, enough to sending him into the wall of the base they had just escaped. The dark Jedi followed up by crumbling the entire wall above him into pieces, crashing the debris onto Kouta without killing him. The dark Jedi turned his attention to Bando and Tasriq.

He Force-jumped high enough into the air and landed in front of them. Bando raised his blaster in an attempt to kill the attacking sith but the shots he had fired were all easily deflected. The dark Jedi hauled back and punched Bando hard in the face knocking him almost unconscious. The Dark Jedi, who had yet to speak at all, smirked as the looked at Tasriq, sending a cold shiver up the senator's spine. Tasriq fired persistently with his blaster rifle but it was no use.

The dark Jedi sliced the weapon in half.

Kouta burst forth from the rubble and ran towards the two.

The dark Jedi then pulled back with his lightsaber and plunged the red, searing hot plasma beam into Tasriq's torso. The senator couldn't scream because he was in so much pain that it overwhelmed him. The senator's heavy pained breathing slowed to a stop.

Tasriq was dead.

The entire group went silent, save for Kouta and the dark Jedi's humming lightsabers.

The dark Jedi pulled his lightsaber out of Tasriq and pushed his limp body to the ground. He looked at Kouta, who was absolutely furious; so much he wanted to destroy this Diclonius, The dark Jedi simply smirked, saluted him and Force- jumped onto the rooftops and out of sight.

Kouta would've chased him down, but he had more important things to worry about. He shut off his lightsaber and ran over to Tasriq's body, examining the hole cauterized hole from the lightsaber. Bando had also managed to regain himself and he had also been angry to realize that their mission was a complete failure.

"Call it in Bando." Kouta said sadly. "Mission's a failure."

*sigh* "Alright."

"I'm gonna see what I can do about this wound at least." Kouta said "Don't want him to be buried with a huge hole in his chest."

"I guess that's fair." Bando said. "It's not like they wouldn't believe us either way."

Bando began to radio the republic headquarters on coruscant, while Kouta tried to use the Force to close the wound in Tasriq's chest. He placed his hands over the hole and began to concentrate. A blue energy field surrounded the entire cadaver, closing the wound slowly.

"Hey command..." Bando said into the communicator. "The mission was a..."

Suddenly, Tasriq's body began to gasp for air. His eyes shot open almost instantly.

Tasriq was alive again, brought back from the grave.

"...success." Bando stuttered. "I'll… call you guys back."

Kouta stared dumbfounded at Tasriq.

"Wha... What just happened." Tasriq asked.

"You were DEAD." Kouta said astonished.

"Dead?" Tasriq said slumping his shoulders.

"YES!" Kouta said. "You were dead! You had a gaping hole in your chest, your vitals were gone, you weren't breathing, your eyes were lifeless, You had no pulse. YOU WERE DEAD!"

"H-how? How am I alive right now?"

"I guess when I had used my Force Heal, I had reactivated your entire body. I resurrected you." Kouta said.

"C'mon." Bando said. "Let's get out of here."

The group of three made their way to the Ebon Hawk. They all had a long day and they just wanted to sleep. They bet that Arruna was doing that most of the time while they were in the base.

Kouta, Bando, and Tasriq had settled in pretty well. Kouta took Tasriq to the medical room of the ship to take care of any other injuries.

"Hey Arruna." Kouta said. "Take us to the coruscant galactic senate district."

"I'm on it." The blue female Twi'lek said.

She sat in the pilot's seat and took off, immediately heading for space. She looked back and saw Nar Shadaa behind her. She punched in the coordinates for coruscant and made the jump to light speed.

Later, Kouta was laying in his bed, thinking about this newfound use of Force Heal.

He had hopes for this power.

He knew what he was going to do

The very thought of it made his heart beat like crazy.

Would it work?

It's been so long.

Kouta decided to cross that bridge when he got to it. He stood up from his bed and made his way toward the central room of the ship. There he saw Bando just relaxing in a chair. They all could use a little relaxation from the whole ordeal.

Kouta took a seat next to him.

"Hey man." Kouta said tiredly.

"How's it hangin' kid?" Bando asked.

"Bando, I think you and I both know what this use of my Force powers means right?"

"That's what I was thinking about." Bando replied. "Hear me out Kouta, I think it'll work, but on the off chance that it doesn't, what'll you do?"

"Nothing will change." Kouta answered. "We'll just continue our lives as normal."

"And if it works?"

"Then it would be the greatest thing ever to happen." Kouta said with a smile.

"But they aren't ageless like us. They'll probably grow old and die again." Bando said.

"Look Bando, I have to try at least or else I'll always wonder at what could have been something amazing."

"I'm not trying to stop you, I'm telling you to think about it carefully." Bando said, looking out for his friend.

"I have nothing to lose." Kouta said. "Don't worry."

"What will we do if it works?" Bando asked. "Do we have enough room on the Hawk?"

"I thought about it, and we have just enough room for them to stay with us. They'll need us, especially in an unfamiliar environment such as the Galaxy."

"We have enough food too I guess." Bando said.

"We'll just have to make stops more often." Kouta said.

"I just hope this works."


Constructive criticism appreciated.