Inside Talus and Mezem continued their saber duel. Talus started as the aggressor as he sought to dispense Mezem before his Apprentice could get inside. Mezem had time on his side so he stayed in a defensive style that made victory impossible for him but it frustrated Talus completely. After about two minutes of constant offense Talus had to change tactics. It was clear the Apprentice would join this fight after all. He had to conserve energy for the two on one portion that was destined to arrive. He kept the fight near the entrance no more than a few paces away from where they entered. The apprentice would have to travel the full length of the building outside and then again inside to join the battle.
Both he and Mezem could hear noise coming from outside. The noise turned Mezem into a more aggressive fighter. Any interference must be help for Talus. He couldn't wait for his Apprentice. It was Talus now who entered into a defense style designed to drag out the duel as long as possible.
#
The soldiers started to approach Norah Kae but Graven called them back. In the flurry of activity they had all failed to notice Anise closing rapidly on their position. The red and black blur flew right passed them and came to a sudden stop standing in the exact position Talus was standing when their bond was broken. Graven's eyes widened.
"She's still alive!" he exclaimed.
Anise studied the area around herself with her chest heaving under labored breath. She pushed out and found the source that severed her bond. Her body turned to face Graven. At the sight of Graven Anise's eyes faded to yellow and her face twisted with hate.
The four remaining soldiers looked to Graven for an order but he was no longer interested in them. He focused on himself, gathering his strength. The four soldiers all started firing in rapid succession, their default action to attack. Anise's arms shot out to her sides and a ball of purple and white energy surrounded her, deflecting all the shots away. Graven formed a shield around himself. Realizing finally they were abandoned the soldiers tried to retreat.
Anise levitated off the ground as more energy brightened the light surrounding her. Arcs of energy leapt from the edges of the circle striking each soldier dead in turn. She continued to drift closer to Graven. The arcs of power hit his shield but didn't penetrate it. The energy around Anise swirled, changing shape like a tornado in front her hands. When the bubble finally broke she dropped back onto the ground and directed all her power at Graven. The streaks of light obliterated the shield and tore into his body throwing him backwards several yards away.
Graven silenced, the bond with Talus returned. Anise stood still. Lenora could sense the panic in Anise subsiding. Her own strength started to return as well. She pulled herself up using the shuttle for balance. The Dark Side surged around them all. Anise was channeling power into Talus again.
In the sudden quiet outside the warehouse the muffled sounds of a ferocious lightsaber duel could be heard. Lenora sprinted for the door and typed a code in to open it, the date her sentence was over.
Inside, the nature of the duel had changed yet again. With the Force Bond restored Talus could dispatch both of his opponents easily but he did not. He feigned weakness retreating from the onslaught of Mezem and his apprentice.
Lenora ignited the violet blades and rushed to join the fray. She went right for Mezem. Her strike pulled Mezem away from Talus and he turned to face his new attacker. The combined strength of Norah and Talus forced Mezem to retreat and disengage momentarily. The Apprentice suddenly found himself fighting alone. Talus quickly drove saber from his hand and with a Force Push sent him tumbling backwards. He rolled up onto his feet and recalled his lightsaber.
A moment of calm passed as all four warriors took the moment to size each other up and understand the new balance of power. Talus pointed at the Apprentice which Lenora took as a command. She crossed between Talus and Mezem and approached her opponent.
Talus decided he would get his wish after all and kill Mezem himself. Lenora moved closer to the Apprentice but waited for him to make the first move. She started spinning her lightsaber between her hands at a slow pace preparing for the assault.
Mezem nodded towards his apprentice. He wanted them to attack together. He hoped to overwhelm one of them and return to a two on one. Mezem never made it back to engage Talus.
When the Apprentice stepped forward to attack Norah the slowly spinning blade turned into a violet circle of light. One side deflected his red blade away and the other side passed between his arm and body, severing his arm at the shoulder. The circle's angle changed passing between his other arm and body. Without slowing down the violet circle turned parallel to the floor and Lenora spun on her forward foot bent over at the waist. Her blades slashed through both of his thighs and when she came out of the spin her blade slashed across his neck. She stopped instantly standing upright with an arm extended holding her saber right where it finished the killing blow.
Mezem retreated a half step and watched his apprentice tumble to the ground in a pile.
There was another pause in the battle as Norah took a position flanking Mezem. His rage boiled over. Mezem lashed out not at Talus but at Norah. He slashed at her throat. She deflected his blow and leaped in the air and spun around trying to knock his saber from his hand with one blade while the back swing nearly decapitated him. Mezem barely managed to keep the grip on his saber and had to drop to the floor to save his neck.
Talus lurched forward with an expertly timed stab. Mezem locked sabers and tried to drive Talus back but he was too heavy for Mezem to budge. He lashed out in a series, first at Talus then at Norah. He anticipated the bounce from her deflection would add to the speed of his next attack at Talus. Sensing his intention Lenora simply turned off one side of her weapon and spun under the blade. Talus anticipated her tactic and aggressively struck out. Mezem used all his strength to stop the fatal stab at his throat. He was defenseless as Lenora finished her spin and reigniting the blade, drove it through his back. The blade burst from his chest, stopping only a hair's breadth from Talus' armored chest.
Lenora wrenched her blade from Mezem's body and ducked under Talus' unnecessary blow that severed Mezem's head.
Talus and Lenora simultaneously powered down their weapons and without a word exited the warehouse.
Anise was still standing exactly where Lenora saw her last. Movement just passed the dead soldiers turned Talus' and Lenora's head. Graven regained consciousness. His body was riddled with burn marks and parts of his robe were smoldering. He crawled towards them in obvious pain.
"Darth Talus," Graven begged with his hands together then he crawled closer to them. "Please, you must listen to me," he said with a hoarse voice.
Talus glared down at him. Lenora circled the Sith to stand behind him. Her defenses were up. She wasn't about to let him hit her with whatever that was again.
"Do you really think you have anything to say worth listening to?" Talus said in an icy tone. Graven shrunk lower on his knees, ignoring Norah Kae entirely.
"Yes, just think of how much use I could be to you. The plots I know of, the contacts I have."
"All of which you've used against me."
"This was politics, Darth Talus, nothing more. I was forced to choose. I thought I had sided with the winner. I was wrong. It is you who will be victorious. You will be on the Dark Council. Use me, I beg you."
"Is your loyalty so fickle, Graven?"
"My loyalty is to the strong. In this it is unwavering."
Talus turned his back on him and thought for a moment. He wanted to kill Graven, obviously, but he did have an enormous amount of information. Not that he could trust anything Graven would give him. The thought of locking Graven in a cell to bleed him for information and kill him at the first sign of falsehood was pleasing. It was risky, perhaps too risky.
"That's a tough call Graven. I can think of few people who deserve death more than you."
"I understand but this is emotion talking, Darth Talus. Logic must prevail. I'm more valuable to you alive."
"I will let my apprentice decide, if she…," Talus' words were cut off by the sound of Lenora's lightsaber ending Graven's existence.
Talus turned around to see Graven's corpse collapse onto the floor.
"That was rather decisive."
"He's a Sith. The Sith are my enemy," Lenora declared.
"Naturally."
Talus boarded the shuttle. Anise wouldn't move so Lenora lifted her up and carried her onto the shuttle. The pilot and co-pilot met Talus near the entrance. They tried to explain they were not part of the plot. They didn't get much of an explanation out before a single slice from Talus' blade ended both their lives. Lenora didn't react. She just put Anise down and moved to the cockpit to fly the shuttle back to base. Talus called ahead and ordered the arrest of his chief of security. Talus would handle the interrogation himself.
