Ord Janon

Julienne eyed Shemric strangely when she noted him strapping on armor before they set off into the city. He seemed to think that the increased protection would be worth the restricted mobility. She shrugged. He could be right. If he had surprised her, he was equally shocked when she emerged in her most intimidating Sith attire. She shook her head and wondered when he was ever going to accept she really was a Sith. That was for another day.

She led the way further into the city with Shem trailing at a distance.

Ord Janon was a regional ordnance depot that, like many other worlds had begun as a military outpost and then continued to protect the mostly human colonists. When it had been conquered by her Empire, the owners had simply continued to provide much the same military services they had to the Republic. Mandalorians and other mercenaries were not uncommon but the Sith were very harsh on drifters and criminals so it was a fairly lawful world. Janon City was the only major port or city of any kind.

When Julienne entered the café where she was to meet her contact, Shemric moved across the street where she could not see him but could still sense him.

She did not sense any threat in the vicinity and there was no point in him sticking around. She nearly sent him a thought, but they had not reconnected since the fight on Belkadan. Instead she sent him a message on his personal comm device. He did not question her and she sensed him moving off in the crowd.

She met Acina's agent and began to discuss the terms of the next shipment and the difficulty of the time schedule that Acina wanted to try and keep. It was fairly routine stuff and she wondered if she had gotten dressed up for no reason.

Suddenly, she sensed Shemric's Force sensitivity spike and felt very real fear from him.

Shemric? What is it?

He is here. Malgus. On Ord Janon, he said. He was waiting for us.

The sense of panic she felt at that moment was worse than she had ever experienced in her life and she tried to pull it back and send some confidence to Shem but he was very focused.

Do not engage him, Shemric! Wait for me, she said in alarm.

I doubt he is going to give me a choice, said Shemric. Come quickly. I will try and wear him out as best I can.

Shemric? she sent him and she was trying to think of all the things she would say if this was their last moment together. It would not hurt her to say that she loved him, just once.

Yes? he asked curiously.

She could not form the words and practicality won out over sentiment.

I am coming! Stall him.

Julienne stood abruptly and ripped the veil from her face. She was moving quicker than thought and sprinted through the crowded hall without touching a soul. She knocked several people down as she blasted the double doors out of her way and ran into the street. Right at that moment an aircar stopped in front of her. 'May the Force be with you' was a popular Jedi phase and she had always thought it nonsense before that moment. The human occupants cried out as she Force lifted them out of the open air cockpit and leaped into the drivers seat.

Shemric's sending was desperate and it only heightened her panic.

I love you, Julienne. I will always love you.

Shemric!

She jammed the accelerator and the horn at once and tossed people aside using Force strength she suspected she would need later. She climbed to an altitude that would get her to the field fastest and was highly illegal in this area of the spaceport. She could sense Shemric's focus and intensity so clearly that it was like a beacon and she kept the accelerator pressed down until the engine was whining in a way that could not be good. As she neared their ship, she saw the flash of lightsabers and decided she was just going to ram Malgus. She did not want to distract Shem until the last possible moment.

Finally, she sent a frantic, Get out of the way, fool! He leaped aside immediately and she flashed past him and the car slammed into the pavement and skidded toward Malgus. Julienne leaped out just before impact and used the Force to fall in Shem's direction. She felt his momentary panic until she lit next to him and offered him a hand up.

Nice entrance, he said. She pulled him into a crushing hug and kiss.

I am glad you liked it, she said. I am even more happy you are still alive. Now let us finish this.

They turned to observe the burning rubble and the dark figure that emerged from the debris, minus his cloak and with smoke curling up from his armor. He attacked them savagely and they separated to leap away in opposite directions. Their consciousnesses settled together without thought and they attacked the Sith mercilessly.

Several times when they pressed him closely, he blasted them back with such strength that there was nothing they could do but ride the shock wave and come back at him. The fight went on that way until he used brute force to pull Julienne off her feet and hurled her toward Shemric. She could see he was going to try and catch her and yelled, Attack him!

He obeyed her and dodged so that she flew through the air and landed hard to skid along the permacrete. She wrenched her shoulder but pushed to her feet and tried to lift her arm. It was numbed but not dislocated so she staggered back to the fight where Shem and Malgus were both on the ground. Shem tried to strike him and was blasted away just as Julienne arrived in a controlled slide to land a strike near the Sith's knee. He tried to blast her with lightning but she dodged and came at him again just as he rose.

She attacked from an angle that would allow Shem to come from the other side and she held nothing back as she pulled on the Force desperately to strengthen her strikes. As Shemric closed on him from the other side, Malgus put out a hand and send another blast of lighting to toss him back yet again.

With Shemric out of play, Malgus turned his full force onto her and she could not withstand it. Step by step she retreated. He was not quick but every blow felt like a hammer to her exhausted arms. She saw Shem hurl a javelin but Malgus somehow managed to sense it and dodge allowing Julienne to score a score a strike to the thigh that brought a howl.

They centered him again and rained blow after blow on his defense until Malgus tried to blast Shem with lightning. She sensed rather than saw Shem take it in and then send it back into the Sith Lord. Malgus stiffened and turned to Shem in shock. Julienne leaped forward and thrust her silver blade into his back and then stepped back to watch the man's smoking corpse fall to the pavement. It was burned and barely recognizable. Shemric was making retching noises next to her and fell to his knees. She doubted he was as accustomed to the smell of electrified flesh.

She stood looking down at Malgus until Shemric joined her.

I have to admit some surprise that we survived, she said.

True enough, he agreed. He was very strong.

That was nicely done at the end, she said. You gave him no chance to adjust to the new threat. He shrugged. I think I have come to depend on my ability to absorb or deflect many Force attacks. Fighting him without it nearly got me killed several times over.

Nearly is not dead, she said and let out the equivalent of a mental groan, it is just very sore and burned. You used it at the right time to win. The way you always win. She knew he would think it odd that she was so admiring of his ability to always win, but she send him fondness anyway. Maybe I become stronger at accepting the truth around you, she said. Only in facing truth can you improve.

They became aware then of the sirens. Let us not leave him here, suggested Shemric.

She nodded and pulled a mobile device out of a pocket to snap a quick image.

"What was that for?" he asked in surprise. She tapped at the screen for several more seconds before nodding to herself and then meeting his gaze.

"Proof of task completion," she said.

Together they dragged him aboard and into a lock before hastily starting the ship systems and lifting off. The port authority hailed them several times but did not send anyone after them as they climbed out of the planet's atmosphere. In a few short minutes they were in hyperspace and they sent Malgus' body into the void. They sat quietly without speaking for a time before Shemric broke the silence.

"Soooo, how long do you plan on keeping me around now that the job is done?" he asked.

"Until after our vacation," she said.

He started. "We are taking a vacation?"

"Yes, we are," she said.

"And where are we going?" he asked.

"Somewhere we can rent a tropical island with sandy beaches to soak up the sun," she said. "And jungles to conceal our lightsaber training."

"It sounds lovely," he replied with sarcasm.

"Zeltros, to be exact," she said.

"Really?"

"Yes, doesn't everyone aspire to afford a vacation to Zeltros once in their lifetime?"

"Are you going to be capable of taking a vacation?" he asked.

"We are going there to train," she said.

"Of course we are," he said glumly and that brought a laugh from her.

"Well, we will have plenty of time for swimming in the ocean and soaking up rays," she said, "but I must be better than ever when I return. Acina promised me ascension."

"And that will invite challenges?" he asked.

"Many."

He looked concerned for her. "It has been a goal for so long it hardly seems possible," she said. "No more than one out of twenty who begin the academy manage to achieve it." She laughed at the expression on his face and when he looked offended, she held up a hand to placate him. "Oh, relax, there is not some strange rite of darkness that will turn me altogether evil. A master simply declares his apprentice capable. It will change some things, but not others. Acina will become my patron, but new Lords are still tools. New Sith that break away from their master do not often survive long. I plan on surviving and growing."

They went to the infirmary after that and tended their various and sundry wounds. The worst was a fractured wrist that Julienne refused to let him heal immediately.

"You need rest as much as I," she said. "I can handle a bit of pain for a couple of days." They both took painkillers and fell asleep quite quickly.