"We're leaving tomorrow, but before we do I have to ask Master Vane if I can see Uncle Charlie, I have to see him before I leave no matter how he's going to react when he sees me again. Oh crap here she comes."
Fox pressed stop and shoved the audio recorder into his suitcase right as Krystal walked out of the bathroom but in his rush the vulpine slammed his fingers in the suitcase and let out a pain filled yelp.
"What are you doing Fox?" Krystal asked when she saw him trying to get his fingers out of the suitcase.
"Nothing!" Fox groaned as he tried to rip his fingers out of the suitcase but to no avail. Krystal stood by watching until after five minutes Fox still hadn't freed himself. With a heavy sigh and a roll of her eyes Krystal opened the suitcase. "Thanks." Fox said burning red with pain and embarrassment.
"You know you'd be dead without me?"
Fox nodded his head. "Yes."
"You know you're completely helpless right?"
Fox nodded his head some more. "Yes."
"I mean you can't even get your own fingers out of a suitcase!"
Fox nodded his head some more. "Yes."
Krystal gave Fox a suspicious look. "And of course you know you're going to carry my bag right?"
Fox nodded his head again. "Yes- hey wait!"
"I knew it! You weren't paying attention to me! Were you!" Krystal growled.
"Well kind of." Fox said scratching the back of his head.
"Kind of? How can you kind of listen to a person?" Krystal snapped.
"Well I was hearing your voice but not what you said. I'm sorry all right? I was just thinking." Fox grumbled and stood up.
Krystal shook her head. "Sometimes Fox; I wonder how you've made it this…" slam "far." Krystal said when Fox closed the bathroom door on her. "HEY DON'T IGNORE ME! I'M SCOLDING YOU!"
"Okay Mom!" Fox said from the other side.
"What are you doing in there anyway?" Krystal growled. "Wait, never mind! I don't want to know!"
"Taking a sh-"
"I SAID I DIDN'T WANT TO KNOW!" Krystal said and kicked the door. "OW! OW! OW!" Krystal shouted and started jumping up and down on her uninjured leg and with each jump the lesson of 'don't kick metal in anger without any shoes' sank in.
Fox opened the door to the bathroom and almost laughed when he saw the distressed vixen. "Krystal are you okay?" Fox sniggered.
"Oh yeah Fox, everything is just full of baby Banthas and sunshine- OF COURSE I'M NOT OKAY!"
Fox sighed. "All right come here." He said and walked over to her. Without telling her and without her consent he picked her up off the ground.
"Hey! What are you doing?" Krystal shouted right next to his ear.
"Going deaf." Fox growled and set her on her bed.
Krystal growled at the vulpine. "I could have done that myself!" She growled as she started to tend to her foot with the Force. Fox watched her while she worked, she was so concentrated and focused that he temporarily felt inferior. It was a fact that Krystal was better than Fox in swordplay, Force wielding, meditation, studies and almost everything else but Fox didn't feel that way. He knew he was going to get better and within a few months he'd be at her level or higher.
Finally the vixen let her foot go but it was still painful and tender. "I need to keep it elevated for a while. It's going to hurt on the way to Papetoon though." Krystal scowled more to herself then Fox.
"Here, let me see." Fox said taking her foot in his hands.
"Hey what are you doing! You'll mess it up wor- … oh… oh wow Fox!" Krystal gasped when Fox began to massage her foot making it feel better with every rub. He had an amazing touch and it felt like her Force healing only it was better. His soft, warm, careful hands seemed to know her pains even before she did and would ease into them by rubbing around them before moving in for the numbing kill.
"Is that better?" Fox asked after a good twenty minutes of therapeutic rubbing but his question fell upon sleeping ears. The orange vulpine realized the blue vixen was out cold and he could see a small yet distinguished smile on her face. Even in her youth, in her sleep, after what had happened between them and even though she was his rival Fox thought she was beautiful as much as he tried not to. Since the day his eyes became awestruck by her appealing magnitude he could never fully convince himself otherwise. As much as they fought (and they fought a lot), he was glad she existed and lived with him.
Fox watched her sleeping for a whole hour as he thought about her and what she meant to him. Without her he'd most definitely have failed or given up by now, she could rile him up with a look and he loved every second they were on leveled terms and didn't fight or squabble. When Fox had enough he moved to get some sleep himself but he noticed the vixen was shivering in her sleep.
'She must come from a warm planet to shiver in her sleep like that.' Fox thought to himself as he walked over to his bed and grabbed his own blanket. Without care for his own comfort Fox draped his blanket over Krystal just because he didn't want to disturb her rest, wake her up and put her under her own blanket.
"Sleep well Krystal." Fox said walking back to his bed and then shut off the lights.
~X~X~X~X~
The night sky was shrouded in clouds but the full moon managed to occasionally find faults in the cloud curtains. A single man watched and waited for the signal in the sky. The cold autumn night didn't faze the man; he was too focused on the task and the mission at hand. All around him the city's life was visible, hover cars flying all around him in an orderly fashion, the massive skyscrapers' lights clicked on and off as people woke or went to sleep but the most conspicuous sign of life was the people. Even at one in the morning people were out and about shopping, going to work, hanging out with friends and one person within the masses of people was handing out fliers to a concert.
Finally the signal was given in the form of a fiery wreck overhead. People turned and were shocked; a traffic collision was so rare that getting hit by an asteroid while planet side was gastronomically higher. The man grunted to himself and dialed the number he was supposed to. When the call went through he saw a small cloaked and hooded man standing in front of him on his wrist com.
"The teams are ready my Lord, they await your order."
"Very good Captain, execute order sixty four."
"Yes sir." The Captain replied.
"And Captain, I only want the boy, kill the girl." The Dark Lord growled before cutting the feed.
The Captain ruffled his feathers, that wouldn't be a problem; he'd been looking forward to paying that little bitch back for taking his arm and killing Kessler. As for the boy, he wasn't given any orders for the condition of the boy. Once more the man typed in a number he was ordered to.
"All teams proceed to the destination, operation sixty four is a go." The man said before hanging up and started walking towards the Jedi Temple.
~X~X~X~X~
Krystal woke up early because of the strange smells. She knew what the scent was, it was Fox but it so close to her. Quickly Krystal leapt out of bed fearing the little cretin was in her bed but it was only Fox's blanket that she smelt. The young blue vixen looked to the orange vulpine. He didn't look cold as he laid there asleep, in fact he looked rather happy.
'Fox… I fear I'll never understand you.' Krystal thought to herself. As she made preparations to start her day Krystal stopped when she remembered she was leaving this lifeless city. There were billions of people living on Corneria but there was hardly a real flower anywhere. Growing up on Cerinia she had seen thousands of flowers all of which she adored but her favorites were the Sun Roses which were such a deep and beautiful shade of orange.
'They should be in bloom by now.' Krystal thought sadly to herself as her eyes began to wander while she sat on her bed. 'Their orange petals will unfold into such brilliant manifolds. I wish I was home. I can almost see the flowers… almost.'
Fox began to stir and his snores were slowly quieting. The young vulpine was the heaviest sleeper Krystal knew and he had a definite snore that was rather loud but so hilarious she couldn't be angry at him if he woke her up.
'He'll wake soon, and then it won't be quiet anymore.' Krystal sighed in her mind. Fox was tolerable at best, he was cocky, arrogant, headstrong, and a complete klutz but he did have his good features like... like….
'Hmm, why do I tolerate his existence?' Krystal thought to herself. She thought for a long time and came up with one simple answer. 'Because Master Vane expects me to.'
"Mm." Fox groaned which brought Krystal back from her thoughts. The vulpine slowly opened his groggy eyes and groaned again. "What time is it?"
"It's almost one thirty Fox." Krystal replied. "Why don't you go back to sleep?"
Fox sat up and shook his head. "No, the nightmares…" he mumbled but his mind trailed off.
"Nightmares? About what?" Krystal asked becoming a little curious. Fox often had nightmares but none that were bad enough he didn't want to go back to sleep.
Fox groaned and rubbed his eyes. "Nothing, I just dreamt that the Temple came under attack while we all slept."
Krystal frowned. "What else happened? Who attacked the Temple?"
Fox shook his head and got out of bed. "People in dark robes and they had red Lightsabers. It was terrible; they killed so many students before they got to our room. I woke up after that."
"And where were the Masters and the guards?" Krystal asked.
"I don't know but there was a loud siren going off. It sounded like a fire alarm or something." Fox said as he ignited his green practice Lightsaber to practice some more. He really didn't want to go back to sleep for fear of the dream starting back up again so he decided to do some Lightsaber drills.
"It was probably the lockdown alarm… Fox I'll be right back I've got to check on something." Krystal said and left Fox to his practicing before he could say anything.
"Could you bring back some breakfast- oh you're gone." Fox said to himself and started going through the drills with one Lightsaber. Once he managed to complete the drill entirely without any screw ups the young vulpine pulled out the blue Lightsaber from his suitcase.
'I wonder if what Master Vane said was true. I think it'd be really cool being a dual wielder; it'd also be pretty unique.'
Fox didn't see very many students or Jedi with more than one Lightsaber, Krystal had an especially long hilted Lightsaber but other than that it was the same as the others. Fox began to run through the drill again only this time he would add the second swing of his offhand. Within moments Fox noticed the dramatic increase in precision and ease. It was almost like he was destined or made to dual wield Lightsabers. After a while Fox began to feel tired again and when he felt he had trained enough the tired vulpine went back to bed.
'I wonder what Krystal's up to.' Fox thought as he yawned and then succumbed to exhaustion.
~X~X~X~X~
Krystal stared frightfully at the door. She wondered to herself if she dare knock on it. The only reason she was at Master Vane's quarters was because she got a very bad feeling when hearing about Fox's nightmare. Closing her eyes and gathering all her strength the vixen raised her arm to knock. Her knuckles barely touched the door as she knocked.
"Come in." Master Vane said within which made the blue vixen jump. Placing a hand on her heart Krystal opened the door and walked in quietly.
"M-Master Vane?" Krystal whispered into the darkness.
"Yes Krystal?" Vane said in his same emotionless voice.
"I'm very sorry to wake you so late Master-" Krystal was saying but Vane interrupted her.
"No, I was awake and besides if you must see me don't worry which hour it is. Now why are you here?" Master Vane asked and then the lights came on revealing a room filled to the brim with books, Holocrons, chairs stacked on each other, rocks varying in size from pebble to boulder and a bed where the Master was lying down on gazing at the ceiling through his mask.
"Well you see M-Master I uh… no Fox had a nightmare." Krystal said but was still frightened she was intruding on her Master.
"Oh? What about?" Master Vane asked.
"Well, he dreamt th-that the Temple fell under attack and many students were killed by Sith warriors." Krystal answered.
Master Vane sat up and stared at Krystal. "How interesting. It's tonight then is it?"
"I know it sounds silly Master but the way he said it… I am really worried." Krystal said as she fidgeted with her night robes.
"Well Krystal you should be." Master Vane said getting off his bed.
"Master?" Krystal asked confusedly.
"Tonight there is a plot to secretly assault the Jedi Temple, kill as many students in secrecy as possible and escape undetected with a prisoner." Master Vane said walking towards Krystal.
The vixen's muzzle was hanging. "M-Master how do you know this? Shouldn't we alert the guards or the other masters?"
"No, it is not their business; I will take care of it personally." Master Vane said as he brushed past Krystal.
"Then let's go hunt some Sith scum." Krystal growled eagerly as she reached for her Lightsaber. Before her hands grazed the hilt she began to feel very sleepy. Her blue eyes shut and she fell to the floor but her body did not make contact. She floated to Master Vane's bed and was gently laid down by the unseen Force.
"I'm sorry Krystal, not tonight. You are still young and I don't want you to die needlessly. Besides, they are expecting me and no one else." Master Vane said before turning off the lights and leaving his room.
~X~X~X~X~
Not a creature was to be seen in the Great Hall that night. The cleaning robots which were usually maintaining the Great Hall were no where to be seen when at night was when they were busiest. The massive structure columns cast deep, dark and massive shadows where whole armies could hide inside it. Finally the moon receded back behind the clouds allowing the darkness to spread and nearly envelope the entire Great Hall. Like ghosts a dozen figures ran through the shadows without a sound. Their robes didn't even rustle as they dashed towards the younglings' quarters and when the reached door they talked with their hands.
The leader gave three signals and the other eleven nodded and flattened themselves against the wall. The leader reached within his robes and pulled out a Lightsaber but did not ignite it, he just didn't want to run into a trap completely defenseless but it was the Master's plan and they never failed. Quietly the leader opened the large double door to the younglings' quarters and quietly snuck in followed by his team of highly trained Sith Assassins. As the last Sith Assassin stepped inside there came an emotionless voice from the darkness.
"Welcome gentlemen."
"AMBUSH!" The leader shouted as he activated his Lightsaber. His squadron followed their leader's lead and activated their own Lightsabers. The twelve red Lightsabers lit up the apprentices' quarters slightly but all the lights were out and their maximum sight distance was thirty feet at best.
"What do we do sir?" A tall cloaked figure asked as he held his Lightsaber out as far as possible to increase the distance the light would cast out.
"Hold together, don't let these Jedi scum get the jump on you."
"Yes Captain." The man said but began to shake. For some reason he felt like Death itself was waiting for him in the darkness and was speaking to him.
"Gentlemen, if I wanted to I could kill you all with a single stroke of my Lightsaber but your lucky the Master told me you were coming tonight." Master Vane said as he emerged from the darkness with the small sleeping body of Fox in his left arm.
"Who are you?" The Captain snapped as he readied himself for a quick and merciless killing.
"I am the insurgent the master sent in to make sure all the defense systems were deactivated and the guards were relieved of duty." Master Vane said as he stopped ten paces from the Sith assassins.
"You? But-"
"And if you wish to escape with your lives we should leave immediately before the window of opportunity I made closes." Master Vane interrupted.
"Wait we're not just gonna trust you right off the bat! How do we know you aren't some Jedi pretending to be the informant?" The Captain growled.
"You want proof?" Master Vane asked before he lifted his hand unleashing a storm of lightning onto the wall. Amazingly none of the apprentices came out of their rooms to see what happened. "Is that enough proof?"
The captain shuddered; he hadn't seen so much lightning since he watched the master punish the man he succeeded.
"All right, I believe you… so what's the plan now?" The Captain asked nervously.
"Now we leave and we fall back to the extraction point before someone discovers us." Master Vane said as he brushed past the assassins.
Without the Captain's permission the assassins followed Vane out of the Apprentices' quarters.
~X~X~X~X~
"Krystal help me!" Fox cried out as blood gushed out of his body from several cuts and open wounds. The vulpine was trying with all his might to remain conscious and sitting up but his strength faded with every drop of blood that left his body. As much as she wanted to help him Krystal could do nothing to help him, she was rooted into her spot with fear.
"Fox I… I can't." Krystal cried as she watched the closest thing to a friend she ever had slowly die before her eyes. Sure he was hot headed, sure he was reckless, sure he was rough around the edges but when he looked at her with those gorgeous green eyes he was perfect.
"Please Krystal…" Fox begged and started to cough up blood "I need you!"
Krystal's eyes bulged out like saucers when she saw the ominous black figure approaching Fox. Before she had time to call out to Fox it was too late and a Lightsaber as black as sin pierced the small vulpine's body and heart.
"FOX!" Krystal shouted reaching out for him before the darkness swept her up and out of the dream.
The blue vixen woke with a start and nearly jumped out of bed the instant her eyes opened. She felt bad, really bad, like something horrible was happening right before her eyes and she could not or would not do anything about it. Krystal quickly got out of bed and realized where she was but had no recollection of how she got into Master Vane's room.
Not wanting to get caught in his room without permission she quickly left and decided to check on Fox. When she left the room she discovered that the sun had raised and a bunch of people were out and about already which meant Fox was probably still asleep. For some reason she felt worried about him and had an annoying itch that would only be scratched once she checked on Fox. As she walked she began to move faster and faster until she was almost jogging. The people she passed in the Great Hall saw the vixen and quickly got out of her way when she came running at them full sprint. Something was driving her to get to Fox and check on him and she couldn't do anything to resist. Finally she came to her and Fox's room and caught her breath before opening the door.
"Good morning Fo-" Krystal said but stopped midsentence when she realized Fox wasn't in the room. 'Maybe he's in the bathroom.' Krystal thought and bolted to the bathroom. Without knocking she barged into the bathroom door but he wasn't even in there. Krystal began to panic; she started breathed shallowly and quickly.
"Fox, where are you?" Krystal whined to herself like an abandoned kit.
~X~X~X~X~
"So why did we risk so much to capture the little prick?" One of the assassins asked, he still had his hood on and under that he had a mask to cover the scarring he got on the wrong side of a backfiring fusion cutter.
"I don't know but he must be important for the Master to come pick him up personally." Another assassin replied, he had his hood off but had his mask on and would keep it on until the mission was over so he could protect his identity.
"So how did you manage to get us in without any security problems?" The Captain asked Vane who was sitting away from the group of assassins. Master Vane and the assassins were hitching a ride in a shuttle that was taking them to the farthest side of Corneria from the Jedi Temple and the inside of the shuttle was like a smuggler ship.
"It was easier than you'd think; I reprogrammed the cleaning robots, Force persuaded the guards to patrol away from the Great Hall and then I deactivated the security cameras to the younglings' quarters." Master Vane responded.
"So are you like one of the Master's special agents or something?" The Captain asked and itched his face with his metallic hand right beside his beak. He wished he could have caught that little blue bitch who took his hand but there was always next time.
"You could say that." Master Vane said and folded his arms. "Did you say that the Master would be meeting us here on Corneria?"
"Yes he told me so just before we infiltrated the Jedi Temp-" The Captain was saying but stopped mid sentence when his throat began to constrict like someone was choking him. He reached to pry the hands away from his neck but there weren't any there. His eyes darted towards his team; they were all in the same predicament.
"I'm sorry gentlemen but I can't have anything in my way when I reminisce with my old student." Master Vane said before he crushed the Captain and his crew's necks with a loud combined crunching sound. Their bodies dropped and crumpled onto the floor. The smiling mask eyed their bodies and then looked away. From there Vane got onto the floor, sat down and began to meditate. If his old student was going to be there than he'd have to be ready.
~X~X~X~X~
"Fox, Fox, Fox." Krystal whined to herself as she hugged her legs. She never felt this way before; she was feeling lost and beyond help. She wished she could just wake up from this nightmare and find Fox sleeping in his bed across from hers. Why she was feeling this way was beside her, she didn't like him all that much to lose her head if she couldn't find him. It was almost as if she was being made to feel this way or she was feeling what someone else was feeling.
"What am I going to do?" Krystal asked herself. "I can't find Master Vane and I can't find Fox! Who else is there that I can trust?" Krystal said right as she came to the answer. "Mistress Shivana!"
Immediately Krystal jumped off of Fox's bed and ran to the door. She didn't wait for it to open all the way and squeezed out before running full sprint to where Mistress Shivana most likely was. Krystal was like a sapphire blur she moved so fast. Some people didn't even see her but they felt the wind she kicked up running. She didn't stop running until she burst into Mistress Shivana's classroom and threw everyone off balance except for the white arctic wolf who was standing on one hand.
"Krystal? What is the meaning of this?" The wolf asked as she held her stance.
"Mistress… Shivana!" Krystal panted.
Mistress Shivana sensed the distress in her and in her voice so she got down from her hand stand and said "Class carry on, I'll be back soon. Krystal, come with me."
"Yes Mistress I'm sorry for barging in like this but it is a real emergency." Krystal said with a respectful bow.
"I understand Krystal." Mistress Shivana said as she walked out the door with Krystal at her side. They didn't say anything until Mistress Shivana had taken her to her quarters and closed the door behind her. "So Krystal what seems to be the problem?"
Krystal didn't respond for a moment; she was so drawn in by Mistress Shivana's room. It smelt so sweet and heavenly, the carpet between her toes felt so soft and plush, the fountain in the corner of the room made the perfect white noise and the room was finely decorated with comfortable chairs, a wooden desk, a soft warm looking bed and a rock bed with rocks ranging from pebbles to dresser sized boulders.
"Oh, um… Mistress Shivana I can't find Fox and last night when I went to go see Master Vane I fell asleep, the next morning he was gone and so was Fox." Krystal said as Mistress Shivana moved to her desk and picked up a kettle on it. She placed the kettle on a heater on the desk and almost instantly it started to whistle so she took it off and poured Krystal and herself a cup of tea.
"Well perhaps they are off on a training exercise; I remember you and Master Vane went off on several of those without warning." Shivana said as she handed the cup to Krystal which she drank graciously.
"Thank you Mistress. I don't think that is the case though. We're leaving today and before I went to see Master Vane Fox woke up saying he had a nightmare that people in dark robes attacked the Temple while everyone slept which is why I went to go see Master Vane, I thought that fox might have had a vision." Krystal reported.
"Interesting." Mistress Shivana said and took a sip of her tea. "I wasn't informed the Temple came under attack last night though. The last time a Sith even set foot in this temple was when Darth Necrosis was sentenced almost two hundred years ago."
"Oh." Krystal said and her ears and tail drooped. "I'm really sorry for wasting your time then Mistress."
"No Krystal, if you feel so strongly about it I'll see if I can't get a hold of Master Vane." Mistress Shivana said. The arctic wolf put her cup down on the desk by the bed and started dialing on her wrist com.
"You'd do that for me?" Krystal asked completely astonished that Mistress would take this much time out of her day for her, a lowly worrisome apprentice.
"Of course Krystal," Mistress Shivana said as the call went through "I'm curious as to what my old friend is up to if he… that's odd he always picks up when I call."
"Is something wrong Mistress?" Krystal asked. Krystal didn't know very much about phones or wrist coms so she didn't realize that Master Vane sent her to voicemail.
"Maybe… Krystal what did Master Vane say to you before you fell asleep?"
"He said there is a plot to secretly assault the Jedi Temple, kill as many students in secrecy as possible and escape undetected with a prisoner." Krystal reported.
Mistress Shivana blinked rapid fast. "That was tonight! I thought it was tomorrow! That little Sith rat!" She shouted.
Krystal stepped back. "W-What do you mean Mistress."
"Vane you fool!" Mistress Shivana growled and ran to her desk. She rummaged through a few drawers before she pulled out a small hold out blaster. "Krystal you stay here at the temple, find Master Rand and tell him to alert every Jedi master and tell him Master Vane's old student is here on Corneria, he'll know what it means."
"But Mistress I want to go to! I'm worried about F- Master Vane!" Krystal whined.
"No Krystal, if you go you'll most certainly be killed. I know you are the best of all the younglings but what I and Master Vane are about to do requires a lot more than you have right now." Mistress Shivana said and ran out the door.
Krystal fought to keep from tearing after her but Mistress Shivana left her with a most important task. "Please Mistress; bring them both back alive and safe."
~X~X~X~X~
The shuttle began to slow and then coaxed to a stop. The trip had taken several hours but that was to make sure that the shuttle wasn't being followed and to keep off the local law enforcement radar. Once the shuttle stopped it began to drift into a large storage facility wherein the doors closed sealing off the natural light. Two men in dark uniforms stood just off of the landing pad in the large barely lit room, both were carrying very heavy Automatic Repeating Laser Rifles but their weight was made up for their exceptional lethality.
The two men waited patiently for the Assassin team to come out with the prisoner but it wasn't long until they got impatient and walked up the loading ramp into the ship. The second they were on the ship and out of sight there came two thuds from within and Master Vane walked out of the ship.
The masked man breathed in, he felt like the air was poisonous and he resisted the urge to cough.
"I know you're out there, I feel your anger and I can feel the evil within you." Master Vane called out to the darkness all around him. Then out of the darkness came a heart gripping laugh.
"Masterfully done Vane. Not very many can kill even one of my best men." A cackling voice said with the same power to strike fear into the hearts of men women and children as Death itself. "You seem to grow even more powerful every time our paths converge. Fortunately this will be the last time that happens."
"Where is he?" Master Vane asked as a lone figure emerged from the darkness.
"He is not here; I haven't seen nor heard from him in some time. He really was a gifted young man but you led him astray and he alone paid the consequences… what a pity." The figure snapped. "Why? Did you wish to reminisce with your star pupil?"
"By star you do mean the only one of you who ever showed any potential? Then yes." Vane retorted, still even now showing no emotion.
"Potential! I have amassed an empire! I have built my armies! I have turned your brothers against you! And I control the Force-"
"Only half of it, you still have much to learn. Did nothing I teach you sink in to that thick head of yours?" Master Vane asked. "It takes both to reach your goals but you are too corrupted to walk on the path of Light for whatever reason. Without both sides you'll be a weak little traitor."
"I'LL SHOW YOU WEAK!" The man shouted before he flew to Master Vane with his red Lightsaber lit. Master Vane didn't move from his spot, he awaited the attack expectantly and just before the figure was about to cleave him in two, a blue and the red Lightsabers collided bringing the figure to an immediate halt.
"Is that all you got Andross?" Master Vane asked.
"Oh I haven't even started!" Andross cackled.
The Lightsabers groaned together as Master Vane was pushed back. Within an instant he was on the defensive, Andross hacked and slashed with relentless fury and eloquent grace. Their Lightsabers were like red and blue blurs in the surrounding darkness and collided over and over. When the flurries ended the two men stared each other down.
"Enough of this master." Andross growled. "Give me the boy and I'll let you live."
Master Vane breathed in and deactivated his Lightsaber. "You can have him," Vane said putting his Lightsaber away "if you can take him."
Before Andross could respond a vast storm of lightning shot at him. The Dark Lord barely had enough time to put his Lightsaber up to block the deadly storm. The lightning coming from Vane's hands was seemingly limitless; he held Andross back for a good five minutes before the Dark Lord was able to retaliate. Acting fast Andross jumped back, switched his Lightsaber off and held up his hands to absorb the lightning.
"Very good Andross." Vane said when the lightning started to disappear into the ape's hands so he ended it. "Maybe you did learn a few things from me."
"Are you done? Because now it's my turn." Andross said as large rectangular objects began darting towards Vane. The masked man didn't even move from his spot, he held his ground and with six cuts and four slices the objects no longer posed a threat.
"How about this than?" Andross growled as three Lightsabers ignited behind him and hovered towards Vane.
"Just three?" Master Vane asked as he stepped forward with his Lightsaber in hand. "I would have expected at least five by now."
"JUST DIE!" Andross shouted but Master Vane had gotten under his skin and his concentration was shot. Master Vane quickly disposed of the three Lightsabers by cutting their lenses off when their blades were an inch from his neck.
"Now it's my turn again." Master Vane said as he sat down on the ground.
"What are you-" Andross said but stopped when he saw the ten Lightsabers float out of Vane's robes. Three red, three green, three blue and one silver Lightsaber ignited simultaneously.
"This fight is over, surrender." Vane mumbled.
"Never!" Andross growled.
"It's either that or death." Master Vane said as the Lightsabers closed in.
The ape stepped back. He was no match for this technique even with all his prior training. Vane was far more powerful than him but he wasn't nearly as sinister or conniving as him.
"Execute order sixty six." Andross chuckled and behind him nine more red Lightsabers ignited behind him. Their lights revealed several people ready to fight and die for their master. "I'm surprised you didn't feel them earlier. Are you losing your touch?"
"Maybe I am, for a moment there I thought you had brought along with you a bunch of Gizkas." Master Vane retorted.
"We'll show you who's a gizka!" One of the Sith warriors growled from behind Andross. "We're ready Master."
"Then show this Jedi what true power is." Andross said resulting in the nine Sith warriors charging the Lightsaber line.
Beads of sweat crawled down Master Vane's neck as he held each and every one of them off. It was taking his most absolute concentration to hold them all back but as the minutes rolled on they themselves were beginning to tire and it only took one mistake for them to get cut down. The first to fall made the mistake to leave his left flank open and one of the Lightsabers dueling another Sith immediately darted to him and cut the feline in half. She screamed for a moment but she died fairly quickly. Another man stumbled on her body and his chest was pierced by a red and blue blade.
All but one Lightsaber was dueling the Sith warriors and that was the silver one which was waiting patiently for the Sith Lord.
~X~X~X~X~
The young vulpine's body stirred and his eyes began to flicker open. He felt strange, cold and wet. For a moment he thought he wet himself in the night and he would have died of embarrassment but it thankfully turned out to just be sweat. Once Fox confirmed it was sweat he looked around and began to panic again. He had no idea where he was or how he even got to be in this strange metallic room.
Fox got up off of the couch and began to walk through the room, there was a table with a couch around it, some chairs and holo-projector to watch T.V. on. Not knowing if he was in space or not Fox began to look for the bridge. He opened a door on the left side of the room and found the lavatories. From there he moved to the door on the right of the room but it was locked and no matter how hard he tried it wouldn't open. So he tried the door next to the couch.
"All right some progress." Fox said nervously when he found a dark room with two chairs he guessed were pilot's chairs. The windows were covered by their protective metal shields so he couldn't see outside. "Where in the Hell am I?"
Fox sat down in the pilot's chair on the left and started fiddling with the control pad on the chair. He started pulling up files but none of them gave him any clues. As he was about to give up he found the ship's galactic map.
"I'm still on Corneria?" Fox blurted out when he asked for his present location. Figuring it was safe Fox decided it was all right for him to leave the ship and have a look around.
AUTHOR'S NOTES~~~ Hey guys, hope you enjoyed! Guess what? I finally made some more pictures! This one is of Fox as a Dark Jedi… only problem is I can't post it on because apparently there is pornography on and the library computers hate that. So I had to make a account, the link is on my profile page. I am not saying Fox will become a Sith I just thought it would be cool to draw him in a Sith outfit. It's in pencil though but his Lightsabers I did color red. The reason I don't color him is because it would look like a five year old colored with his feet. And speaking of feet he doesn't have them because I can't draw feet, I try but until I don't fail like Panther (hate him still) I won't draw them. Anyways I hope you enjoyed (I really do ;) and we'll see what happens next chapter!
(P.S. Anyone catch both of today's 64 references?)
