Chapter 13

Okay, this will not be completely impossible, thought Thera. Finding herself surrounded by a large, crowded mix of Humans and Duros, she stretched out her feelings in the Force to try to measure how collectively hostile they were. She had followed a nimble Duros into the warehouse, finding it mostly empty, but then something yanked her into a large clearing inside, where she now stood, the center of hostile attention.

"Well, if it isn't Thera Tykos," shouted a Human, "or is it Darth Thera by now?"

Thera didn't know the man, except for his name, Zerrod Goran, but she could recall having to defeat him before in order to be recruited by the Sith. He was force-sensitive, she remembered, creative, but sloppy.

"Do you remember me?" he grinned at her. "I'm ready for you this time," he said, calmly, daring and taunting. "I hear your brother's back in town, too. He's not real happy with you right now."

Jev is here! she thought. That cannot be right, she wondered. She felt the Force rush through her as random shouts began, and then she was knocked from her feet to the ground by a flying fifty gallon drum. Realizing the effectiveness of the distraction with his words, she rolled along with the drum, directing it out of the way with the Force.

Thera came to a stop, and someone immediately pulled her hair while a couple of Duros grabbed each of her legs, and two Humans her arms, pulling on them as if intent on pulling her apart, and someone wrested away her lightsabers telekinetically. She struggled to use the pain in her joints the way her brother had taught her, and began to feel strength return to her. She twisted her body violently forcing each hold on her to readjust. Seizing the moment, she grabbed limbs of the Humans with both hands, reaching for pressure points. She managed to find one, weakening the assailant almost instantly. She shrieked and used the Force to hurl the assailant into the Duros pulling her hair. The other three, sensing her growing advantage with her struggling, began to run keeping their three points of her body outstretched, dragging her toward Zerrod, who seemed to be their leader.

The shouting continued as he came into view, and she managed to notice him holding a vibrosword smiling real big at her. She closed her eyes and balled her fist. Her free arm burned with pain from friction against the ground as she used it to elevate her head as she was being dragged. Stretching out her feelings, the energy of everything around her in the Force began to materialize in her mind. She felt Zerrod as he leapt high through the air at her.

Thera opened her eyes, tightened her abdominal muscles, and tensed her body knowing her assailants would hold her tighter while her free arm shot out toward Zerrod, closing above her to strike, and sent a nudge with the Force to shunt his attack safely away. She managed to shift her center of gravity as she moved, the change in the angle of her body surprising the two Duros holding her legs. They looked back to see what changed, only to feel Thera's shins against their jaws in the next instant, forcing them to free her entirely. The two Duros, knocked off balance only slightly, quickly regained fighting stances. Thera spun on her back kicking her legs and swept the feet out from under the Human left holding her other arm captive.

Sensing determination in the crowd of thugs around her, Thera leapt high into the air, arcing over Zerrod, placing him between her and the rest of the combatants. She landed atop a large, metal crate that began moving. She managed to maintain her balance but noticed several smaller objects – boxes, droid parts, and random tools – sailing toward her telekinetically from many different directions, but targeted at varying elevations. They expect me to jump, she managed to realize, seeing many of the objects cutting off any useful trajectory.

The first few objects approaching from the frontward direction Thera easily warded off with the Force. But then she felt a barrage of objects pummeling her body, knocking her down from behind and the side before she could focus sufficiently to defend against them. Sharp pains set in quickly, but she knew she had to move soon sensing several individuals around her using telekinesis against her. Zerrod jumped and landed near her on the crate and delivered a kick to her ribs along with a Force shove that rolled her along the slotted surface of the crate, scraping and scratching her, tearing through parts of her bodysuit, until she rolled over the side falling out of sight to the ground.

Thera lay dazed, struggling to avoid fear in spite of pain and broken bones and overwhelming odds. She struggled harder to focus her pain with the dark side to give her strength to give battle to Zerrod whom she felt slowly approaching, laughing with others of his group shouting victoriously. She painfully rolled onto her back in time to see him emerge above the edge of the crate, smiling at her.

He chuckled and said, "I'm sorry, Thera, for taking so long." He poised his arm holding his vibrosword, "I'll end this for you now." He leapt high into the air, his vibrosword held above his head, clearly intending to pounce, when a bright green, humming light severed his arm and promptly disappeared.

Not sure what had happened, but clearly seeing a new advantage the moment after it happened, and a stunned expression on Zerrod's face, Thera managed the strength with the dark side to roll into position from the ground to plant a Force-enhanced kick square into his ribs, audibly cracking bones, and slammed him into the side of the crate, from which he promptly fell lifelessly to the ground. The burst of strength left her, though, as quickly as it came. She crumpled back down, rolled to her side and curled into a ball of pain.

Thera tried desperately to sense the rest of the mob, wondering what she would be able to do next. She felt a sense of shock from the rest of the gang, but it was for something else, not her. She could hear a lightsaber in action, accompanied by shouts and screams, and several things crashing and breaking. She caught glimpse of a Duros flying through the air in a downward direction, passed the crate she'd fallen from, landing in a roll, clearly limp as herself, unable to move much. Then his body lifted into the air and sailed back out of sight from the direction it came into view.

Thera struggled to breathe evenly as she felt the sense of malice slowly dissipate. Quiet gradually set into the warehouse, except for the lightsaber hum. She could feel whomever it was sensing her in the Force, and then approaching her. She felt fear set in as she struggled to discern the intent of her pursuer, but this being was skilled with the Force and able to shield its thoughts. She exerted herself to stretch back out onto her belly, only managing to barely hold her head up by her forearms. She saw a male Human appear, hidden beneath a black, hooded cloak, carrying a green bladed lightsaber. He walked until he stood a few meters from her, extinguished his blade and stood silently looking at her. She could only see his feet and the bottom of his cloak because it hurt too much to look up at his face.

"The Force is with you," he said, thoughtfully, "but you clearly still have much to learn."

She didn't recognize his voice. He stepped over to her and gently helped her roll onto her back, giving her the chance to look at him. She stared with mild amazement into his eyes, remembering the same face from the hooded figure she watched leave the cantina earlier.

"You're a Jedi," she said weakly.

"You're a Sith," he said curtly.

Thera sighed, adding frustration to her pain, "was a Sith," she corrected, dropping her gaze into a blank stare.

"Be still for a moment." He placed a hand on her forehead and held another above her chest.

Thera closed her eyes, and felt strong Force currents course through her body, a mixture, she was able to discern, of light and dark Force energy, but mostly light. She felt strong, physical tingling internally, pain slowly leaving her body, and gradually she was able to breathe more easily, more relaxed. When the only pain left was from contusions and sprains, he removed his hands and sat back cross-legged.

Sensing that he was waiting for her, and feeling more energetic, Thera sat up, almost with a start, and stared at the Jedi suspiciously, and then slid herself cautiously away from him until they were about a meter apart. She sat, legs bent, her arms draped around her knees. She felt mildly self-conscious as she noticed how badly the legs of her bodysuit were shredded. It wouldn't serve her purposes anymore, but that could be handled later. The Jedi sat quietly, patiently matching her stare. She felt a deep sense of calmness about him, more than she had ever felt in any other being.

"You want something from me," she said at last.

"Only a few questions."

"Then will you kill me?"

"Only if I need to."

"What do you want?"

He tilted his head slightly, glancing away momentarily, than back at Thera, "What happened to the Human you know as Lord Matthster."

"Lord Matthster," she repeated trying to hide her shock, knowing she was failing at it. Lord Matthster, my recruiter! How does he know...

"He and I were companions," he said, smiling, as if reading her thoughts. "We are both Jedi Knights."

He is telling the truth, she thought, but that is not right...

"Your thoughts betray you. Search your feelings, and listen to the Force. You know it to be true," he said cryptically. "I lost contact with him," he went on, "and I need to know why, and the Force has led me here to you for the answer."

Thera sat silent, feeling a sense of remorse and sadness. She had fallen in love with Lord Matthster. She almost felt ashamed, and somewhat confused. A Jedi! Lord Matthster... and him, this Jedi, he saved my life... She began to feel resentment, wondering if his only motive for saving her from the mob was for questioning; perhaps he will kill me. She began to feel angry at herself for feeling vulnerable. Deceived by one, saved by another... what next? Joining forces with them?

"I feel the conflict within you," he said interrupting her thoughts, concern evident in his voice. "You are very talented with the Force, Thera," how dare he use my name, "but the dark side has its limitations, along with a harmonizing price that eventually must be paid."

Thera looked down, filling with anger.

"As a Sith, you harvest strength and power from the dark side with your emotions and pain; the dark side is your ally," he continued. "It serves you well while you suffer under the weight of loss and anger that brew within you right now. Continuing on the path of the dark side will lead you to vengeance for your loss, which will consume you in such forms as greed and lust, leading to greater chaos that will necessitate greater power to overcome the accompanying fear of losing that power. Ultimately you will gain greater power, but it will be required for you to survive, rather than serving you as a viable virtue to simply live for."

She buried her head into her knees, "He was killed," she said, changing the subject, not knowing what else to say, afraid that she might follow after this Jedi if she let him continue on with his dogma.

He sounded anxious, "By whom? How?"

Thera sighed and spoke into her legs, and began fighting tears as she replayed the memory for him in restrained emotional confusion, from the compromising of her mission, to the revelation of Matthster being a Jedi, to being branded a traitor, to her brother, Jev, behaving strangely, to being chased by a whole galaxy. She felt anger and fear build as she spoke. She tried to channel her anger into the Force, but she found herself unable to focus.

Suddenly, Thera felt his hand rest gently on her shoulder. How did he get this close? She grudgingly allowed his touch to soothe her tension.

"Don't let fear stand in your way," he said, "and thank you, for telling me what happened." He stood next to Thera, reluctance now in his voice, "I'm sorry, but the Force calls me another way, now. You have a different path from me, and you have company near." She looked up in realization, He's right; I can sense it! He disappeared, both physically and in the Force, as mysteriously as he had appeared, but then she heard his voice echo from somewhere in the warehouse, "Do not fight your destiny, Thera, listen to the Force!"

She stood up slowly, feeling the bruises take their toll, but much less than earlier, thanks to the Jedi and his Force healing. She noticed her lightsabers sitting neatly, side by side, where the Jedi had been sitting. As she scooped them up, she tried to sense more about who was coming. She recognized the presence as the same from the Sith ship they encountered, but it didn't feel like her brother as she had hoped, especially after hearing that he was around somewhere, here on Roon. Something else felt familiar about the presence. As she turned to face her visitor, the memory became clearer a mere moment before a figure in Sith Robes stepped into view.

"Lady A'pratti'ka," she said with a mixture of confusion, apprehension and relief.