Chapter VII:
Sigil
Noeya rushed to the Mentor's private chamber on board the Savaya. By this time, they left Tria hours ago, gliding swiftly in hyperspace towards the Seka homeworld. Her master wanted nothing more than being restored to his full strength, thus the ceremony itself was assured to be a short one. The Mentor hated the fame; he only cared about results.
For this reason, Noeya knew that her master wouldn't mind her rushing into his cabin with the most important stone in the galaxy. As the door opened, the old man stared at her, sitting in his chair with an expressionless face.
"Good," he said, glancing at the stone. "Put it on the floor, I shall do the rest."
Noeya did as she was ordered, placing the stone on the red carpet in the middle of the room. By the time she did that, the Mentor got up from the chair, and placed himself in front of the relic.
"Now observe," he said as he closed his eyes, endeepening his connection with the Force.
The stone glew red, casting impossible light over the cabin. She immediately put her hands in front of her eyes, knowing from firsthand how easily it could take her eyesight away.
"You can open them now, sweetheart." She didn't hear the Mentor's voice. It was someone else. Someone dead.
Noeya opened her eyes, and witnessed the impossible. Sigil stood in front of her, the thin, bald, yellow-eyed man, who was executed by Jaris Fenn for unleashing the Mentor and Harmony upon the galaxy.
"Missed me, little redhead?" her old master said with a grim smile on his face. "Of course you did. Everybody did. But right now we have more important concerns than me being me."
"How...?" Noeya asked, then she could speak no more. She desperately tried to articulate the words, any words, but they never came out of her mouth.
"Don't interrupt me again," Sigil said after he muted the apprentice. "But to answer your question: the Mentor merged with my remains, both body and mind. We became one, and since I'm much more appropriate to this age than that old monolith, we decided to use my form instead. I mean I chose it, we are one after all."
Noeya tried to answer, but he didn't let her do so.
"Now where I was... Ah, our concerns. We have a war, we have Fenn's little brat storming the ship, but I think Rya is the most important among them," Sigil explained.
"Storming the ship?" Noeya frowned. That was the last thing they needed.
"That schutta is still mad at me for killing her sister, and she is now on the bigger side of the galaxy, convincing people to gather their strength against us. I can easily stop Mira, or whatever she throws at me, but the whole galaxy is another thing," Sigil explained, walking up and down in the room. "I can't stop everybody at once, and they are out of my reach anyway. We have to think really carefully about our next move."
The combat alert's mechanic sound filled the room within the friction of a second. Whatever approached them, it had to be deadly and determined to stop them – otherwise they wouldn't dare to take on a ship like this in hyperspace.
"Oh, well, Mira is here," Sigil sighed.
Noeya felt the pressure peel off from her larynx. She could talk now.
"I will deal with her," she promised to her master. Sigil seemed to be just as powerful as the Mentor was, and if they were really the same person, then following his orders was her only way for survival.
"Actually, I have a better idea."
Mira stood at the bridge as the Shadow Queen approached the battlecruiser in hyperspace. The Savaya's long, robust body grew bigger by the second, slowly turning its enormous plasma cannons towards the invader.
"You can begin," Leana ordered.
Most Naboo corvettes had no weapons, nevertheless, the Shadow Queen was armed to the teeth. Leana ordered six trian beam cannons to be placed on the ship, two at the front, four on the sides of the corvette. Now that she gave the order, the cannons fired as one, unleashing a blaze of deadly lasers upon their foe, only to be neutralized by the enemy's shields with a sudden glow.
The Savaya returned fire within a friction of a second. At first Mira thought, they weren't prepared to fight a ship this size, but she was dead wrong. The Savaya's defense cannons finished their turn towards the Shadow Queen, unleashing hundreds of small beams upon their target. As the corvette glided out of their way, a pair of rail guns opened fire on the ship, threatening it with certain doom.
They missed, yet this was only a friction of what the Savaya could do.
"They are preparing to launch torpedoes," the captain reported with a frown on his face.
A plasma bolt hit the ship, causing intense tremors on the bridge. The lights flickered for a second, yet they quickly returned. The shields held, at least for the moment.
"Get on top of that bastard!" Leana yelled. "We are bringing this fight to them."
"How do we get passed the shield?" Mira turned towards her, then glanced back to the sight of blazing guns and lasers.
"We launch our own torpedoes," she answered.
The Shadow Queen turned towards the back of its prey, firing eight modified proton torpedoes on the target area. The warheads went through the shield with ease, colliding into the ship's thick armor.
The explosion tore off almost every inch of duranium protecting its inner deck.
Almost.
"Prepare for landing! They won't be able to target us in that hole!" Leana ordered, and the ship quickly flew into position. "I go for the stone, you go for Noeya, the crew will protect the ship."
"Alright," she nodded. Leana could handle herself, she knew that very well. The guards will probably do their best to keep the ship under their command, and they were specifically chosen for that purpose. Thus, the only liability was her, the girl who was supposed to defeat Noeya Adane.
And she had to deal with her quickly. However heroic the guards would fight, the Savaya could stop at any moment, unlashing hundreds of fighters upon them, or perhaps even worse. If they were to do some serious damage, they had to do it fast and they had to make their escape even faster.
The Shadow Queen descended into the hole in the thick layer of armor. A small, circular tube descended from the Naboo corvette's hull, linking with the Savaya to drill through its remaining armor.
Mira waited until the drill's mechanic sound ceased to oblivion, and made her way towards the tunnel.
"And Mira," Leana grabbed her shoulder.
She stopped.
"I know she is your friend, but you probably have to kill her."
"I know," she nodded.
Numerous ropes hung from the tunnel in order to provide a passage for the invaders. Mira was the first to descend, in the constant screaming of the alarm, she saw no enemy in the narrow hallway illuminated by red light.
Leana and her bodyguards descended a minute later. The rest stayed on the ship for now, including Carlos, since it seemed easier to defend it that way.
"The sensors are picking up the Stone's location," the broker stated. "But we have no clue about Noeya."
"I can feel her presence, she is on her way, coming from the East," she pointed towards the other end of the corridor. "I don't advise you to go there,"
"Don't worry, we won't," she nodded. "May be Force be with you," she said after taking a step or two.
"Good luck," Mira nodded, and went onward.
She strode through the corridors one after the other. The first one was empty, as well as the second one – just like the third one. Something was not right, yet Noeya's presence grew stronger than ever.
"You sure you want to go forward?" Noeya asked.
Mira ignited her lightsaber, and cut through the Sith with a vicious blow to the chest.
"It's the fake me, genius," the Sith smiled. "I just gave some advice so you could stay alive a bit longer. Not like you are about to live long though."
She walked past her, entering the next corridor, but someone else greeted her instead of her of her old friend.
"Sigil..."
Mira stood in front of him like she had seen a ghost. But deep down she knew the truth.
"What? You thought I would miss the party?" the old man laughed as he approached her. Strangely, Sigil had no lightsaber.
"You killed Ann, you kriffing bastard!" Mira raised her voice, igniting her lightsaber.
"You wanted to do it too, remember? But you got over your """bad""" years quickly, didn't you? You lacked the resolve to be who I am, and you became so distant from yourself that you were denied to be what I have become," he said as he stopped two steps from her. "Such a shame. You could be my nemesis, but what did I get? The good old pathetic you..."
"I am your nemesis," Mira stated, raising her lightsaber to his face. She wanted to be brave, yet she had no idea what would happen if she were to strike the new Mentor.
"If you were, we could actually fight each other, but we can spare at best," he shook his head.
Mira stood in front of him in silence.
"Don't believe it? Come on! Strike me!" Sigil yelled, encouraging her assault. "Come on..." he continued, but Mira stroke at his head with the saber.
The blade didn't even scratch his skin.
"Now, that's what I'm talking about!" Sigil added.
Mira looked up, and she froze. This wasn't a fight for the Mentor. It was just a child's game he played for the sake of killing time.
"Got scared, didn't we?" Sigil laughed at her face. "Come on, attack me!"
She took a deep breath, and tried to chop his head off. Sigil caught the blade in the air, negating the impossible heat radiating from the weapon.
"That's all you got?" Sigil shook his head in disbelief.
Then he slapped her on the face.
She was too scared to do anything about it. At least for the first time. When Sigil wanted to slap her again, she jumped back, feeling the warm blood in her mouth from the previous strike.
"You can't stop me, but you could join me," Sigil continued. "Wait... Actually, that seat is taken by your little friend."
The old man approached her, and she took one step after the other, trying to keep her distance from him. At one point Sigil vanished. She didn't stop until she ran into someone. Without a thought, Mira swung the lightsaber behind her back, stabbing the blade into her foe.
"Mira..." Leana gasped.
"No!" she cried out.
The broker changed back to Sigil, the blade rested effortlessly in the old man's hand. He slapped her again, and Mira spun in the air only to find herself on the battlecruiser's cold floor.
"You can't win. Why don't you die already?" Sigil asked.
Mira jumped up from the ground and cut him again. The effect was the same as it was on the previous occasions.
"And now what, little Mira?" Sigil asked with a wide smile on his face.
"Now we fight, until one of us dies," Mira said with anger, gliding the lightsaber behind her back.
She knew she didn't have a chance against him. There was only one being in the galaxy who could fight the Mentor as an equal combatant. And at this point, no one knew where she was.
At least as far as she was concerned.
Thank you for reading this chapter! I hope you enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed writing it! :)
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