"Can't this thing go any faster?" Mistress Shivana growled clutching both her blaster and her Lightsaber very tightly.
"Sorry Mistress but we'll put people's lives in danger!" The driver said as he drove the car downwards to avoid another flying car.
"Fine but every second counts Marshal!" Shivana said and resisted the urge to take control of the car herself. If they didn't get there in time there is no telling what they might find. Vane was powerful yes but Andross was has one of the most evil and sadistic minds in the galaxy, knowing him he'd have more than one trick up his sleeve. Even if things were looking good for Vane, they could change in a heartbeat.
'I'm coming Vane, just hold on my love.' Shivana thought as she clutched her weapons harder.
~X~X~X~X~
The last of the nine Sith fell as all nine of the floating combating Lightsabers pierced his body. He let out a weak whine before the light in his eyes glazed over.
"Lord Andross." He whined and collapsed on top of the lower half of his fallen comrade who had perished moments before him.
"Your turn Andross." Vane said and wiped the sweat forming under his muzzle.
"And take advantage of you in this state? You must be exhausted from all that concentration and slaughter." Andross laughed, not a bit fazed from the fact his followers were cut down before his eyes. He had no feelings for them, no care for their fate and if they died, well, they were replaceable. If he had to he'd gladly sacrifice any and all of his followers to achieve his ultimate goal. The Dark Lord moved towards the shuttle but the silver Lightsaber blocked his path.
"I'm not done yet, not even close." Master Vane said as he breathed a little lighter. He had to protect Fox, he was his responsibility and it was his fault for the little vulpine even being here.
"Very well then." Andross said and ignited his Lightsaber. "I'll destroy your little toy and then I'll destroy you."
Before Andross could make a move however, the silver Lightsaber made the first strike and went for the Dark Lord's head. Andross easily blocked it and quickly changed the terms on the flying saber. Andross had used his follower's battle to calm himself down, gather his wits and harness his anger. The silver Lightsaber came within inches of being cleaved in two multiple times because of Master Vane's fatigue. After a few minutes Andross began to grow impatient.
"Enough of these games Vane." He said and jumped back, out of the saber's reach. "Give me the boy or I'll-"
A hissing sound interrupted the Dark Lord and a small form stepped out from the shuttle's ramp. The boy felt confused and a bit frightened but yet he stepped out of the shuttle with hopes to find answers to the multiple questions reverberating in his head.
"Ah, there he is." Andross hissed.
"Fox get back on the ship!" Master Vane exclaimed, showing emotion for the first time the whole fight.
"M-Master? What's going on?" Fox stuttered when he saw the grisly sight. Bodies were everywhere, several Lightsabers were floating without someone holding them and a dark and sinister figure with a Lightsaber almost as red as Fox's dads.
"Fox just get back on the-"
"MASTER!" Fox shouted and went for his Lightsaber as the dark figure made his move. In a swift and blurring move Andross destroyed the silver Lightsaber and charged the sitting Jedi. Before Fox could touch the hilt of his saber Master Vane was the Dark Lord's hostage.
"Don't move boy or I'll kill your master!" Andross snapped as he held his humming blade close to Vane's neck. Fox froze instantly and almost stopped breathing. He didn't know Master Vane for very long or very well for that matter but he respected him very deeply and did not want to see him killed.
"Now Vane, deactivate the other ones and let them fall." Andross growled smugly.
The yellow mask stared at the ape and a small chuckle came from behind it. "Why? I could kill you just before you kill me."
"If you do you'll kill not just me, but the boy, yourself, and anyone within a two block's radius along with me." Andross growled. "If I die the bombs in this room will detonate."
"But if I don't kill you you'll kill me and then you'll twist the boy with your simple minded evil then the whole Lylat will perish." Vane retorted.
The Dark Lord began to chuckle. "You know master; I don't think you'd be willing to sacrifice the boy to kill me. Your own life you'd sacrifice it in a heartbeat just to kill me but his life?" Andross said and shook his head. "You would never let him come into Death's hands."
Fox's muzzle was hanging; did that man just call Vane master? Why was he here and why was Master Vane fighting him if they were once master and apprentice? The young vulpine waited and watched fearfully what was going to happen next. Was Master Vane going to kill the man and forfeit their lives? Fox didn't want to die but he didn't want to become a Sith either, he'd rather be a Jedi. In the end Master Vane caved in, the Lightsabers switched off and fell to the ground each making a metallic clunk. Fox almost breathed a sigh of relief but this predicament was far from over. Everything around him seemed to melt away, the bodies held no value or fear for him and all that mattered was Vane and his life.
"Now then, Fox." Andross said before clearing his throat and then smashed the butt of his Lightsaber hilt into the back of Vane's head knocking him unconscious instantly. Andross made absolute sure he was down by feeling his mind before continuing. "I have given you ample time to experience the Jedi. Will you come with me willingly or will I have to force you?"
Fox blinked rapidly. "That voice." Fox muttered. "You're the one that spoke to me before I left my uncle's house!" Fox growled.
"Yes I was the one."
"Then you'll already know my answer!" Fox snapped.
"Are you sure? Because with one flick of the wrist your Master dies and I will take you by force." Andross growled.
"Go ahead and try!" Fox growled and pulled out his green practice Lightsaber. Even if the Lightsaber was on a lethal setting there was no way he would be able to win but Fox wouldn't go down the dark path without a fight.
The Dark Lord laughed sinisterly. "Put your blade away boy. You are no match for me!"
"That so?" Fox asked as a small, confident smile spread across his face as he slowly walked towards Andross and Master Vane.
"One more step and your Master dies." Andross growled when Fox was only fifteen feet away.
"You kill him and I kill you." Fox growled back, the tone of his voice absolute. If he had to, Fox would kill Andross, he was ready to kill and he had done it before without any negative repercussions to him or his psyche.
"With your little practice Lightsaber? That thing couldn't cut butter let alone my head off." Andross cackled. Fox growled and his little muzzle curled up showing all his white, sharp, pointy teeth.
"Just watch, I'll push you so far I'll send you into next week!" Fox snapped and lifted his hand with another Force power on his mind.
Before he could put his plan into motion Andross lifted his own free hand and Fox was sent spiraling in air back to the ship. The little vulpine slammed hard into the floor and let out a yelp of pain. He rolled but gradually came to a stop two feet from the ship and his Lightsaber had escaped his grasp in the turmoil.
"What an arrogant, brash child." Andross chided with a small satisfied grin on his face and looked down to Master Vane. "Just like his father."
Fox growled as he struggled to get up, his body ached and his head was excruciating but he didn't care, that man said something about his father whom Fox knew nothing about. Fox's hands moved to hoist himself up but they grazed something. Before it could roll away into the darkness the vulpine snatched it up and found it was the Lightsaber with Master Vane's crystal in it. This made Fox wonder why he wasn't disarmed before he was taken here. He knew he was taken here secretly because he had no memory of being on the move or getting here. As for the other Lightsaber, that was lost somewhere in the darkness and if he went looking for it he'd leave himself exposed to that evil man.
"Is that all? I know an apprentice with more push then that!" Fox snapped as he wiped a small trickle of blood that had been leaking from his nose down to his muzzle and neck.
A fierce scowl replaced the smug smile on the ape's face.
"You impudent little wretch! You're first lesson will be one in respect!" Andross spat as Fox limped forward, his blue Lightsaber humming in his right hand.
"Oh really?" Fox growled as he stepped within ten feet of Andross and Vane. "Well I've got a lesson for you. I'm full of surprises!" Fox shouted and lifted his hand more quickly this time. Before Andross' hand could rise up past Fox's waist a storm of lightning shot from Fox's palm. The Dark Lord barely had enough time to shield himself with his Lightsaber.
A few seconds after Fox unleashed his power he had to stop, his left hand was being very badly burned and if he wasn't careful he might lose it. As Fox lowered his hand down Andross made an immediate counter attack that Fox had no chance to see coming. The ape's knee collided with Fox's muzzle, then as Fox's body began to fly back from the impact his body immediately stopped and was hauled back into Andross' fist.
"You know I am really tired of you and your attitude." Andross scowled as Fox coughed up blood and fell to the ground. The little vulpine was on the ground and before he could think Andross' boot stomped right onto his chest. The vulpine tried to move the boot off his chest but he wasn't strong enough. Andross was slowly crushing the life out of him and enjoyed the torment the little pup was going through. Nobody treats him with such disrespect and goes unpunished, Fox was lucky he was as gifted with such a high level of Force sensitivity or he would have been killed because he'd be a useful tool once his training was complete.
Just as Fox was about to pass out from lack of air Andross removed his foot but the beating was far from over. The ape picked Fox up by his tail and when Fox was off the ground Andross sent him flying across the room with a powerful toss. Unlike the last time Fox hit the ground, he hit a piece of the debris from Master Vane's and Andross' fight.
Fox's vision flickered black and white like static on a television screen as his head swam with pain and desperation. He was on the border of falling unconscious and he tasted blood as it dripped out of his muzzle. The young vulpine groaned and tried to roll off of the severed half of the metal crate but his body refused to move. Despite everything though, his blue practice Lightsaber was somehow still in his hands. Fox didn't even know how he held onto it for this long after the beating he received, not that it mattered though, it wasn't going to help him much if it couldn't kill.
"Do you see the price of your insolence? I am the Dark Lord of the Sith Andross. This is just a taste of the pain I can and will bring to you if you so much as raise your voice to me again!" Andross panted as he strode to the broken fox. "Now my young apprentice, will you join me willingly or must I bring your life into a Hell worse than any demon can imagine?"
"What… what do you know about my father?" Fox said after spitting blood out of his mouth onto the floor.
"I know so much about your father yet nothing at all. Why? Are you finally curious about him and what a bastard he was?" Andross cackled.
"I already know he was a bastard," Fox growled and grinned "but at least he isn't a pussy like you. Go fuck yourself! I'll never join you or the rest of you Sith Firefeken hermaphrodites!"
The little vulpine had just dropped a bomb and it landed on the Dark Lord. How could this boy who was only ten years old, barely able to use the Force just yet, lying beaten and bloodied be so stupid and impudent to call him that. The things Andross had done would turn all of Fox's fur white if he even heard about them. Yet this boy was so defiant, so full of pride and arrogance he would throw his own life away just to have a final laugh.
"Well," Andross said as he shook with rage "before you die there is something I will ask of you, a favor if you will."
"What?" Fox growled as his hand clenched harder on his Lightsaber, this would be his final fight, his final stand, he'd go down swinging.
"Tell your bitch of a mother that I'm sending your father to her after I kill you. She will be so happy, it's a same I didn't get to see her smile before I killed her. She only screamed and cried."
The red blade fell slowly towards Fox. The vulpine's heart was pounding, his eyes were dilated, his blood boiled and he pulsed with anger, hatred and pain. He loved his mother, he loved her so dearly and what Andross had called her was unforgivable. The voice in his head began to stir once more, telling him what to do and he was all ears. Fox ignited his own Lightsaber and swung to deflect Andross' attack but he swung just a second too late. Blood sprayed onto Fox's face. The Dark Lord's Lightsaber deactivated as the severed hand released it from its dead grip. There was a shriek unlike any other; it was the shriek that the damned in Hell make when they realize where they are. That shriek chilled Fox to the core and was permanently etched into his mind.
"You…" Andross raged and breathed jaggedly "You!" Andross said before Fox's body exploded with pain. A current of red lightning burned Fox's body, some parts of his fur was smoldering and his scream was barely audible over the lightning.
When the lightning ended abruptly Fox thought he was dead but was disappointed to look up and see the Dark Lord standing over him with his left hand raised and his right hand missing. Fox let out a little moan before the lightning returned. Andross was toying with him now, he was far past the point of blind rage and everything didn't seem to matter anymore. Fox didn't matter, the vulpine's unlimited potential didn't matter, his own hand didn't matter and weeks of planning went up in flames. The current ended again and this time Andross found his words.
"You're going to die now Fox. I don't care anymore, you will die and no one, not Vane nor any other Jedi will save you." Andross said before plunging Fox into an inescapable world of torture.
Minutes crawled on as hours and Fox was driven to the lengths of insanity. The pain was unlike anything he had ever felt, he couldn't think, he lost control of his entire body and the cold sweet embrace of Death slipped away just before it could take him. He wanted to die, he wanted it all to end but he was powerless to do anything let alone kill himself. Andross smiled and admired his handy work. The little vulpine was so prideful and arrogant a mere moment ago but now he was broken, beat and scarred.
"I grow tired of your screams little youngling." Andross said and willed his Lightsaber to his hand. It shot out of the dead hand lying on the floor and ignited the second it touched its master's live hand. "Good bye-"
A loud bang echoed throughout the dark room and light from the sun finally shone in from a large hole in the west wall. From the hole came a sea of blue, green and yellow lights as all the Jedi Masters on Corneria flocked into the room.
"No!" Andross cursed and attempted to end the vulpine before making his mistake but his red Lightsaber met a blue one mid flight.
"I don't think so Andy." Mistress Shivana growled and threw the ape back with the Force.
When Andross hit the ground he managed to land on his feet. "Shivana!" Andross spat.
"Andross!" A voice called out from the wall of Jedi Masters. Andross looked over and saw the bulldog Rand leading the Jedi column with a smug look on his face.
"And Rand." Andross spat. "Tell me, what brings you, Shivana and the rest of the Jedi Masters out this fine day?" The Dark Lord said casually as if he wasn't the least bit worried.
"To bring you back to the light, dead or alive." Rand replied.
"Afraid not Rand." Andross cackled. "I'll be taking my leave now, my business is done here."
"You're not going anywhere Andross." Shivana snapped as she ran at the Dark Lord.
"SHIVANA STOP!" Rand barked causing the white wolf to stop midstride.
"What an obedient little wolf pet." Andross commented. "You sensed it didn't you Rand?" Rand growled in response. "Then I'll be off but know this, the next time I come to Corneria there will be an army behind me so vast it will blot out the sun from orbit."
"Stop right-" Shivana shouted but was cut off.
"Let him go Shivana, if we kill him this whole place will explode and if we fight him without the intent to kill he'll certainly strike us down." Rand growled.
"But he's weakened!" Shivana protested as she watched the laughing ape stalk off into the darkness. A door opened within the darkness and closed when the Dark Lord passed through.
Shivana tried every technique she knew on how to keep calm but none of them were working. She could not believe they just let the greatest enemy of the Lylat slip out of their clutches without so much as an effort to keep him. The she-wolf deactivated her green Lightsaber and growled in her throat.
"I need help over here!" someone shouted behind Mistress Shivana. Immediately the she-wolf ran to assist the man but found that the caracal didn't need her help but someone else did.
"Fox!" Shivana gasped when her eyes fell onto the poor little vulpine. He had burns all over his body, his fur was missing in several places, he was covered in blood and he wasn't breathing. Without another second's pause Mistress Shivana placed her hands on Fox's chest and set to work.
"Someone tend to Vane and the bomb." Shivana growled as she focused intently on keeping Fox's little heart beating.
~X~X~X~X~
Andross smiled as his private shuttle sped off into space. The hyper drive would be slow but he couldn't take a warp gate to Venom without attracting attention. A small smile spread across his face despite the grievous humiliation he had befallen. He was more surprised then angry, he'd survived a Jedi Master ambush and maybe (if they didn't deactivate the bomb in time) killed some. Once he was out of the Lylat he dropped out of hyperspace to relay a message. After an hour's wait a link was established. A man appeared on the small projector and nothing about him wasn't twisted. He had no fur yet he was a member of the canine family (either a dog, fox or wolf) and his skin was a grisly blackish grey color, like a log that had been in a fire too long.
Andross bowed deeply. "Master, my mission is complete."
"What have you to report?" the man said with a voice like gravel rubbed against sandpaper.
"He is most definitely one of the keys to our plans." Andross smiled.
"Good, once we find the other, no Jedi or army will be able to stand in our way. Return to Venom, I have another task for you my apprentice."
Andross bowed his head. "As you wish master."
AUTHOR'S NOTES~~~ Hey guys, chapter eleven should be up soon, if I can get it done before Sunday. For those of you wondering why I was absent for so long, well to put it simply since the day I started writing stories I hadn't taken a break. So for a long year or so I've been writing and trying to balance everything else in my life. Now after a short break pages are flying out of me faster than the flying monkeys out of the wicked witch of the west's castle. Anyways hope you enjoyed and if you see this story back at the top of the list Saturday then know that chapter eleven is up! BYE PEEPS!