Author's note: This chapter's a bit more action-packed and detail oriented. Have fun!
DISCLAIMER: My name is neither George, nor is it Lucas. My last name DOES start with an L though…
Chapter 11: Temple of Shadows, Part Two
In the hallway of shadows, a small group of Jedi, Mandalorians, and Republic Elite Troopers, (RETs) prepared to make a defiant stand as all around them, the statues of past foes came to life.
Slowly, all of the stone statues started to straighten, and move. Soon, all of them stepped off of their pedestals. Their hands went to their stone waists. And strapped to them, were all-too-realistic lightsabers.
Almost instantaneously, they ignited their lightsabers and silently charged.
The infiltration team brought up their weapons, and started firing, or slashing, in the case of the Jedi.
Tallisibeth leapt forward, igniting her light green lightsaber as she tried to slash a tall, regal man with grey hair. He wielded a curved hilt lightsaber, and swiftly stepped forward before calmly sweeping aside her strike. On his chest was inscribed, "Tyranus."
Tallisibeth quickly withdrew, as the power of the man was overwhelming. He delivered slow and steady blows onto the defenses of the female Jedi. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed Master Gyntiir having problems of his own.
A grotesque Zabrak statue, a man with small horns on his head, charged towards Master Gyntiir. His face was tattooed in Sith art, and he wielded a fearsome double-bladed lightsaber, slashing and leaping about in a refined acrobatic style of fighting. On his chest was inscribed the name, "Maul."
The Master Jedi brought up his lightsaber in a quick block, and continued to do so, as he waited for his opportunity to strike. He knew that the famed Zabrak Sith had made mistakes all the time.
Tatragakh, Frayik, and Tal-vez banded together as a bald figure with long grayish blue tattoos on his face, and a cybernetic jaw. He swooped down at Frayik with a ferocious one-handed cut.
The young Padawan bravely blocked the blow with a double-handed block. As they engaged in a saber-lock, the statue screamed at him.
The scream was long, loud, and piercing, and Frayik dropped to the ground, whimpering. In the meantime, Tatragakh whipped three knives at the statue, but they were destroyed with a torrent of lightning. Tal-vez yelled for help at his brother, Jaing, but he was busy as well.
The seasoned Mandalorian Protector/famed bounty hunter had teamed up with his brother, Canderous. Standing next to each other, they faced a pale man with a few red tattoos on his face. He was bald, and oddly, wielded a cortosis shield along with a lightsaber. On his chest was inscribed, "Desolous."
He roared at the two Mandalorians, and charged, stabbing forward with his lightsaber. Canderous dodged, and smashed forward with his liquid armor suit (LAS.)
The statue hissed, and dodged, slashing down. The suit was dented, and Canderous grimaced in pain. He noticed his younger brother sparring with someone as well.
Elsewhere, as the group became separated, Geran encountered a tall, handsome man with a dual-bladed lightsaber that was oddly, blue. He had a strange symbol on his forehead, and walked with an air of arrogance. On his chest was inscribed, "Exar Kun." As he leapt towards Geran, he slashed down, augmenting his power with Sith Alchemy, an old Sith form of the Force that used spells to devastating effects.
The Jedi Warrior blocked the blow with a powerful uppercut of his own. The air seemed to ripple as the two mighty warriors clashed…
Darth Tyranus unleashed a torrent of lightning towards Tallisibeth, who blocked it with a deft slash of her lightsaber. She dashed forward, and leapt through the air, blocking the lightning, as she returned with a powerful Force Push.
The statue was smashed against the wall, in an earth-shattering collision. Before he could recover, Tallisibeth leapt forward, and implanted her lightsaber in the statue's chest.
Tyranus's head lolled forward, like a puppet with its strings cut. Then, dark shadows seemed to fly out of his mouth and eyes, as the Sith Alchemy that had fueled the statue fled the now ruined body.
Elsewhere, Master Gyntiir was dueling with the unpredictable and agile Maul. He could barely block all of his blows, as the dual-bladed lightsaber of his enemy was severely unpredictable.
However, Geran had learned his intuition in battle from his master. Even as the old Bothan blocked yet another flying slash, he realized that, while his acrobatic foe was very skilled in lightsaber combat, he rarely used the Force. Also, he was arrogant, and seemed to gloat about any and all blows.
Gyntiir used this to his advantage. After a particularly powerful blow from his opponent, he fell down, and dropped his lightsaber, pretending to pant heavily.
The Zabrak Warrior laughed, a harsh, grinding noise filled with pain and anger. As he raised his lightsaber up for one more downward stab, he laughed.
At this moment, Master Gyntiir used the Force to summon his lightsaber. Simultaneously, he whipped it around with the Force, slicing the statue in half.
The shocked warrior seemed to teeter for a minute, and then collapsed into two halves. The dark shadows in his body fled, leaving the statue a blank, glassy-eyed body. The tired old Bothan looked around while fetching his dark green saber. He was about to intervene in his Padawan's fight, but then realized that they were winning.
Malak slammed his lightsaber down onto Tatragakh's, roaring with anger. At the same time, Tal-vez and Frayik came from the back, slashing.
The statue whirled around, a storm of a spinning lightsaber. Frayik cried out as Malak found his target. His lightsaber slashed against the young Rodian's lightsaber, battering it away. His aim became a little lower, and in the process, slashed off his hand.
Screaming, and clutching his hand stump, Frayik fell to his knees, whimpering. The massive figure of Darth Malak stood over him, preparing to kill the bothersome young Rodian, once and for all.
As he was about to attack, he stiffened. The tips of five knife blades and two lightsabers could be seen from the front of his chest. He toppled down, scrabbling at his chest. After one last screech, dark wraiths seemed to fly out of his convulsing body. Then, he grew quiet, and very, very still.
Tatragakh and Tal-vez pulled up their wounded friend, and also retrieved their weapons from the statue of Malak. They collapsed on the ground afterwards, exhausted. However, Tal-vez bolted upright, noticing his brothers fighting intensely.
Jaing shot rapidly at the hissing Desolous, who hid behind his massive shield. As the ancient Sith charged towards the Mandalorian, Canderous came around from behind, and fired a few blasts at the raging warrior.
The Pau'an Sith ignored the blasts, and ignited his lightsaber. Jaing unsheathed his beskad swiftly.
Blade clashed against blade as the two warriors sparred. Desolous, while a powerful Sith in his own right, was humbled by the Mandalorian, renowned for his quick and aggressive beskad use.
However, no matter how skilled Jaing was, Desolous was even more so. The Pau'an warrior had slaughtered thousands of Jedi, and was only brought down after a fearsome battle with the Jedi Council.
Canderous came to save the day though, when he fired an accurate blast that hit the Sith in the back. He arched his back in pain, as Canderous dashed in, changing his right hand into a huge blade. He lunged forward, stabbing the Sith in the back.
At the same time, Jaing stabbed forward with his beskad, piercing through the cortosis shield, and into the Sith himself, declaring, "Beskar beats cortosis, Sith bastard."
The Pau'an screamed, as the Sith Alchemy fled his body. He collapsed, as Jaing and Canderous nodded at each other.
The Temple was still filled with the sounds of battle however, as Geran clashed with Exar Kun. Both were at the peak of their power. They had created a huge, Force bubble that nothing could enter. The massive dome encased part of the hallway, blocking any outsiders. The hallway of shadows was showered in light as the bubble radiated light.
Geran had slashed his foe's lightsaber in half, and had also pulled out his other lightsaber. They were each using their respective sides of the Force to augment their battle, and were both using dual blue lightsabers, as Kun's lightsaber still functioned.
The speed of the fighting was unrivaled, and it seemed as if 8 blades were moving through the air instead of four. Exar Kun was one of the most, if not the most, powerful Sith of all time. Geran was an immensely skilled Jedi, and although still young, possessed an enormous amount of Force potential.
Finally, the four blades came together in an intense saber-lock, Exar snarling in rage, and Geran near the breaking point as well. However, Geran knew he could not give in to his anger, lest he fall to the dark side, and have his identity revealed.
Kun broke the saber-lock, and in his extreme anger, threw one of his lightsabers at Geran.
In his calm mind, Geran knew that Kun had made his first mistake. The anger had clouded his mind, and the Mandalorian Warrior knew that the battle was his.
Dodging the wild throw, Geran sliced the lightsaber hilt in half, midair. Leaping forward, he used the Force to lift Kun up, and smash him against the wall.
Kun, with eyes of burning fury, leapt forward, and met Geran's slash. However, he only had one lightsaber, and as Geran blocked with one saber, he plunged his other blade into the fallen Jedi's neck.
Falling to his knees, Kun gurgled, and scrabbled at his neck as the light faded from his eyes. His arms soon fell to his sides, and he fell forward, the shadows leaving his body.
Geran collapsed, panting. He had used an unbelievable amount of energy in the fight. As he shakily stood up again, he was supported by Tallisibeth.
Even as the infiltration team began to relax, the ominous voice from before returned. "Congratulations indeed. These statues are known to be about ¾ as powerful as the originals. Oh, but it looks like you've had heavy losses. How sad. Just about as sad as the fact that we've just released thousands of vornskr. Goodbye."
The battered group had indeed suffered heavy losses. The troopers were decimated, and everyone had suffered wounds. Frayik had lost his arm, Tallisibeth was severely burned from lightning, Gyntiir had suffered several deep gashes, and so on.
However, no matter how serious the wounds were, all sounds were drowned out by the sound of barking and hissing. The vornskr were coming.
Geran's eyes widened, and he roared, "Follow me!" He dashed out of the hallway, as the wounded infiltration team raced after him.
The shadows seemed to leap out at Geran, and he realized that the temple truly was a Jedi's nightmare. Rasping voices called out to him, beckoning him to stray from the path. He ignored them all, and kept running.
Strange Force apparitions appeared to him, deadly foes, and monstrous beasts leaped out towards him. The Jedi paid them no heed, though he could tell that some of the weaker troopers had fallen prey, only to meet their dooms.
The team had caught up to the Master, and Zoron shot at a few vornskr that had arrived. Geran kept running.
As they neared the entrance, Geran realized that the vornskr were in front of him as well. He ignited both his lightsabers, and slashed, each blow ending with the scream or hiss of a dying vornskr. He continued to slash and stab, and burst out of the main entrance, collapsing 50 feet from the door.
As the rest of the team dashed out, Geran made sure no one was still in the temple, and used the Force to slam the doors shut, just as a snarling vornskr reached the door, teeth bared.
The battered infiltration team got up. Using a signal, Lieutenant Fhen signaled for their Hawkens to return. As they speedily returned, Geran staggered onto the ship, and collapsed into a nearby chair.
As he closed his eyes, he heard his old friend Zoron talking.
The young Mandalorian bounty hunter remarked, "Well, that was certainly interesting, right, guys?"
Author's note: Hope you enjoyed the chapter, guys! I'll be gone for a while, so I made sure to have two whole chapters for all of you to read through. I'll try to get back as soon as I can!