Chapter X:
The rescue
Kylo Ren activated his lightsaber. The door closed behind him with a hissing sound. Mira glanced back at Kyle, this time there was no question about their allegiance. Knowing their opponents harsh, uncontrollable power, they had to fight as one to survive the encounter.
"You can't run away this time," Kylo stated. The brilliant light of three sabers brightened the room around them. The Knight's anger formed a horrendous aura around him. One so strong that even Mira feared what would happen next.
"And neither will you," she stated firmly, as if the words would wash her fear away.
"I won't need to. I will crush you two just as I did the rest of your order. And then Luke will be next," he continued. Mira tried to dismiss his words, being far too familiar with this crude technique. All Jedi sought power in harmony, and aggravating their anger could easily lead to actions they regret. Even for her.
"Come on, give it a shot," she darted, keeping the lightsaber on the defense.
Kylo raised the blade above his head, and initiated the attack. The strike came strong, yet not unexpected. As the blade swung towards her, Mira stepped out of its way, and counterattacked with a swift blow to the leg.
Kylo reacted quickly, stopping the attack with the crossguard of his saber.
As the two blades collided with each other with raw power, Katarn initiated an attack. The Jedi launched himself against his foe, but Kylo stopped him in the air, holding his hand towards him.
"Pathetic," the Knight said, and then pushed Mira back with his saber.
She quickly retreated, but not fast enough to avoid the next attack. Kylo wasted no time for the counterattack: he struck towards his opponent's neck with impossible force, and she could only stop it in the last possible moment with the green blade.
Despite the swift action, the strike's power proved to be too much for her. The red blade ripped Mira's lightsaber out of her hand, and sent her down to the cold floor. Kylo stepped to her, raising the saber for the final strike.
As the saber rose, she glanced at Kyle, but he had no chance to get out of his grasp.
Lacking all other options, she rolled out of the blade's way, causing it to strike the ground beside her. Before Kylo could raise the weapon again, Mira jumped to her feet, and punched Kylo in the face, neglecting the metallic helmet on his head.
The sound of shattering bones filled the room, Kylo stepped back, trying to regain his balance. Neglecting the pain from her damaged hand, Mira called the lightsaber to her with the Force, and continued with the attack.
By the time Kylo could regain his balance, the green blade strode towards his face without warning. By the time he raised up his saber, Mira had already cut into the helmet, only to be stopped before reaching her opponent's skull beneath it.
For a moment it seemed like they reached a stalemate. Mira kept her eyes on Kylo, focusing all her anger and desperation on the blade. If she could push it only a few inches further, the Knight of the First Order would be no more.
She wanted to take a step ahead, so it would help to breach the gap, but it was too late.
The next moment, seemingly impossible force grabbed Kylo, pushing him to the door. The knight dropped to the floor unconscious, the tri-blade rolled out of his hand, only to be stopped by Kyle's foot.
She was shocked to see him between them. In the heave of the fight, she forgot about him almost completely.
"Not bad, Mira, not bad at all," Kyle nodded. "How do you counter this trick anyway?"
"Never seen it before," she shook her head.
Kyle nodded, and started off towards Rey. As he took the unconscious child into his arms, Mira shot another glance at Thrawn. The hologram watched them with undisputed attention, analysing every movement of their fight.
"It's over, Thrawn, you can go back with that ancient rust bucket of yours to what's left of your Empire," Mira darted. He could only hurt Thrawn with words, thus she used those freely.
"Over?" Thrawn frowned. "From where I stand, it seems like this only poses a minor setback to an incredibly successful plan. The New Jedi Order is almost completely eradicated, the head of the First Order will soon follow, not to mention that his apprentice lies at your mercy. Which is quite vague, as I imagine. As things stand, I merely need another subject, and I will be able to continue my experiment. Do you think you will be lucky enough to stop me again?" he asked with an expressionless face. "By my estimation, you and the remainder of the Jedi will be all dead by then," he added, then the hologram disappeared from the room.
"Snoke…" Kyle broke the unfolding silence. "Luke must have been trying to stop him."
"And if he is Tenebrae, then he will get to Rey anyway," she concluded. If that ever happens, Luke would never be able to fight her. Even if he could, it would completely break him.
"So we are going?" Kyle asked.
Mira nodded, and started off towards Kylo's unconscious body.
"What are you doing?" he asked as she strode past him.
"I'm finishing what you started," she was ready to ignite her lightsaber – only to be stopped by a hand on her shoulder.
"This is exactly what Thrawn wants," Kyle said calmly, as if she was not standing above the man who almost completely eradicated the New Jedi Order.
"I don't care," Mira stared at him with anger.
"It won't make it any better," Kyle continued. "Just look back at the surgeons. Did that change anything?"
"It didn't," she answered, shaking her head.
After a deep breath, she put the weapon away, and started off towards the exit. Kyle followed her with haste. If they wanted to stop Luke, they had to reach him yesterday.
It took several minutes for Kylo to regain his consciousness. By the time that happened, both of his opponents were gone. Once he stood up from the ground, he hit the wall with his fist in order to ease his anger, shattering many fingers on its surface.
"The wall is a tedious opponent. If you are to gain some ground against it, I suggest using your lightsaber," Thrawn broke the silence, standing in the observatory with an expressionless face.
"You let them leave with the kid," Kylo answered.
"Quite the contrary. While you failed utterly at your objective, I merely decided to use the new circumstances to my advantage. The rift between the remaining Jedi is far larger than I expected. Yet some form of unison still remains within them."
"So they will aid Luke against my master," Kylo nodded.
"With the vessel out of our control, I urged them to do the opposite. They are to prevent Luke from killing Snoke, which would both prevent a useless shift of power between Tenebrae's flesh puppets, and elevate the rift between the Jedi to an unprecedented level," he stated.
"If my master lives, he will kill me," Kylo snapped, knowing very well the consequences of his actions.
"I already lured your flagship with considerable reinforcements to the system. From his perspective, it might seem as you were engaging my forces. Just as a good puppet would do," he explained. "Besides, the possible gains surely outweigh the risks by far. The growing rift within The New Jedi Oder might lead to an unexpected change in its structure. The Order itself might even disband in its entirety, replacing it with something far more useful against our mutual foe."
"So what? You would just throw me away like that?" he darted. Even if everything goes as planned, it would be incredibly difficult to convince Snoke about the nobility of his actions. "What kind of ally are you?"
"I'm not," Thrawn stated. "Stabbing my associates in the back stands far from me. I persuaded the Jedi to spare you, and granted you an opportunity to leave this place without fearing from your master. But as soon as your ships arrive, my generosity comes to an end. From that moment, you will be a foe just like any other."
Kylo froze. They were in this together, and while Thrawn didn't stab him in the back, he did betray him in every other degree.
"Why?" he asked a moment later.
"As I told you, our allegiance came out of necessity, and not of mutual interests. Now that we no longer require each other's expertise, there is no reason for us to continues our cooperation," he answered. "May the best commander win."
The hologram disappeared, and Kylo knew, if he was about to survive, he needed every advantage he could get.
Thank you for reading this chapter! I hope you enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed writing it! :)
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