The moment was interrupted when Commander Fox drew his blasters and vaulted over a console towards Barriss. "You traitorous-!"
Before she realised what she was doing, Barriss reached out her hand towards him and made a gripping motion. Fox stopped mid sentence and began gasping for air, dropping his weapons to grab at the invisible hands around his throat. The same way Letta had.
"Let him go, Barriss!" Luminara demanded, drawing the hilt from her belt. Barriss could feel tears welling in her eyes. All she wanted was to help the clones, not kill them! The emerald blade shot out of Luminara's hilt with a snap-hiss.
"Let. Him. Go!" her former Master demanded again.
Maybe I can just knock him out, keep him from interfering - but before she could consider it Cad Bane walked in the room behind her and casually shot Fox through the forehead. With a cry of frustration Barriss let his corpse fall to the ground.
"I'm sorry Fox, you deserved better than this." Yet another who had been in the wrong place at the wrong time. The commando droids entered, shooting at the unarmed clone technicians; their screams of pain were quickly silenced. Cad Bane opened fire at Luminara, and as the Jedi Master expertly deflected his shots Barriss jumped between them.
"No! Stop," she yelled. Bane held his fire, backing off to watch the two Jedi. "Master, I don't want to hurt you! Please, just stand aside and let us go!" Please, don't make me do this, I don't want to hurt you I don't want to hurt you! Luminara raised her lightsaber to a defensive stance.
"You know I cannot do that, Barriss. This is your last chance, put down your lightsaber and surrender!" she demanded, desperation creeping into her voice.
Barriss wanted to scream. Why can't she just see the truth!
"And why would I do that? So you can kill me on the spot? I've done terrible things, Master, but they had to be done for any hope of peace! And the fact that you're standing there ready to execute me proves that nothing I've done has made a difference!"
Luminara's stoicism completely collapsed. "Listen to yourself! What you've done is to murder dozens of innocent people and destroy your best friend's life! If you truly believe that was for the best, then may the Force help you Barriss Offee, now you are truly lost!"
Barriss raised her blade and steadied herself. Fine. "I see there's no hope for you Luminara." If I stop now I am lost.
Luminara did the same, her voice cracking. "As do I."
"So it begins." Cad Bane remarked.
They met each other in the center of the room, in a whirlwind of blue and green light. Years and years of training together had made the duo fight as a single unit, and now each of them knew what move the other would make almost before they made it. Barriss found every attack she made was useless, but so did Luminara. They were in an impasse, made worse because neither of them truly wanted to kill the other. Barriss grabbed the nearest droid, hurling it at Luminara in an attempt to stall her. But she only slashed it to pieces, hurling them back with the Force. Barriss managed to dodge most of them, but one hit her square in the stomach, nearly knocking the wind out of her. Luminara pressed the advantage, putting Barriss on the defensive. Desperately she locked her blade against Luminara's with all her strength. Behind her she could sense Bane working furiously at the control panel.
Barriss yelled at him over her shoulder. "What are you doing?!"
"My job," was the only answer he gave. Barriss stopped thinking about him for now; distractions would be her undoing. I just need to find some way to slow her down, she thought. Stall her so I can get away. Luminara's face was a mask of determination. Each of the two women were pushing against the other with all of the power they commanded, Barriss' blade was pressed so close to her she could almost feel it's heat on her skin. Finally Luminara won, pushing Barriss' blade up and slashing at her. Barriss ducked to the side just in time to avoid being killed, the blade skimming across her face instead.
A sharp agony sliced across the side of her head and she screamed, clutching the wound with her left hand. Luminara could have finished her there, but instead she hesitated, seeming as suprised as Barriss was at what she had done. Barriss couldn't believe it; Luminara had gone for the kill, just like Anakin had back in the Jedi Temple. How could she?! Her Master had fallen as much as she had, and so had all of the Jedi.
She shouldn't be suprised.
She shoudln't be.
In her pain, both physical and mental, Barriss' reservations about fighting her disappeared. Her pain was transformed into an anger, an anger that drowned out her other feelings. The urge to use it was overwhelming. It washed over her like a raging torrent and was channeled into a burst of the Force that threw Luminara across the room and through the window.
Barriss ran over to the shattered window. Below the base was on fire, being bombed by vulture droids, the defense turrets curiously inoperative. Dead clones and scrapped droids covered the courtyard like a gruesome blanket. But Barriss didn't see any of that. Her focus was on the form of Luminara struggling to her feet, exposed to attack. Do it, something whispered to her once more. Finish it. Barriss couldn't think straight, the empowering rage directed her, taking over her mind. All she could think of was her pain.
She jumped down, aiming for her Master's heart.
Luminara rolled out of the way, Barriss' lightsaber stabbing down through where she had been, melting into the roof. She pulled it out just in time to block Luminara's next attack. For the next few minutes Barriss hammered away at her former master, slowly forcing her backwards. Luminara couldn't predict her moves anymore, Barriss was swinging her lightsaber erratically, the former grace and fluidity of her strikes giving way to rage-fueled slashing. It was undisciplined, but effective. Luminara was pushed back to the edge of the roof, jumping off onto a passing Vulture droid. Barriss followed her, continuing the fight. The droid, alarmed at the two dueling passengers it had picked up, tried to shake them off. Barriss fell, landing on the orange rock of the Geonosis memorial. She got to her feet just as Luminara jumped down in front of her.
Barriss attacked again, but Luminara dug her heels into the rough surface, standing her ground. As Luminara forced her into blade lock, Barriss noticed a LAAT/i gunship flying towards them from the other side of the base.
"I have failed you Barriss," Luminara lamented.
"You've failed everyone! You and all the Jedi!" The gunship came to a stop behind Luminara and it's doors opened. The sight inside it was so startling it cut through the haze of Barriss' mind. Cad Bane stood in the troop bay, smirking at her, raising his blaster. The image registered in her mind just before a blaster shot rang out and Luminara let out a cry of pain. As Luminara fell to the ground her lightsaber fell from her hand, bouncing once and disappearing off the ledge. Bane aimed again at Luminara, and Barriss' compassion for her Master came back stronger than before, overpowering the darkness in her mind.
Oh Force, what am I doing?
"What the hell do you think you're doing, Bane!" She stepped over Luminara protectively. Bane looked exasperated.
"Here I thought I was doing you a favor, saving your hide again. Now are you getting on this thing or not?"
Barriss looked down at Luminara, who was gazing back up at her weakly, barely conscious. I tried to kill her, Barriss was horrified at herself, overcome with guilt. What is wrong with me? She was right, I have fallen, I should just let her end it now. But again, that would mean admitting that all the terrible things she had done had been for nothing. She couldn't do that. She owed it to the people she had hurt. If I stop now I am lost. She had to see who these people that wanted to meet her were.
It was her only hope.
Barriss shut off her lightsaber and whispered,
"Goodbye." Barriss stepped onto the transport, avoiding looking at her Master's face. It was too painful. If I look back I am lost.
"Good choice, Jedi." Bane chuckled to himself. Barriss glared at him and opened her mouth to respond when she heard someone else speak behind her in a bizarre alien language. Geonosian, she realized after a moment. Barriss whirled around, and sure enough standing at the back of the transport were Poggle the Lesser and Wat Tambor. They must have been the other job he had mentioned. A job for the Seperatists.
Had he been lying when he told her someone had hired him to break her out? Was she just the distraction for Luminara?
Or did the Seperatists want her too?
She whirled back around and grabbed Bane by the collar of his armor. "You told me you weren't working for the Separatists!" She yelled in his face.
"No I didn't. I said I had other jobs today. And your use is done, Jedi."
Barriss tried to respond, but suddenly she didn't have the strength to. Confused, she found herself falling onto the deck of the gunship. What had happened? Oh. The problem was suddenly clear to her. He shot me. And then Barriss felt herself falling, falling into the deep black void of unconsciousness.
