Chapter XX: Battle Lines
A heinous muddle of oppressive knowledge gripped Kherev Ra'shah like the jaws of a Krayt dragon as the distinct vision beneath his closed lids withdrew. He moved like lightning, jumping to his feet, his eyes open now, wide and disconnected. He took in the suddenly alien landscape around him. The unfamiliar walls slowly registered as the walls of a cave; a cave on Ryisyyyk; the cave where they were hiding from the Sith –
His survival instinct kicked in: a remnant of his brief childhood in the Bear Clan of Shili. He launched into a controlled run, his strides long like a cheetah's. He was soon out of the cave, bathed in sunlight, but he did not slow; his eyes darted about in a confused, erratic motion, until at last they found the Togruta's allies and settled on Aaron. Kherev sprinted towards him, skidding to a sharp halt, and gripped his shoulder hard; so hard, that Aaron could feel the Jedi Knight's fingernails digging through his robe, down to the skin beneath.
Aaron turned and did a double take. The stoic, controlled expression that usually washed Kherev's face clean of emotion had been replaced by a raw panic. His forehead glistened with sweat, as did his head-tails and montrals. His irises were bright red – something that Aaron was beginning to recognize as a sign of stress in the Togruta.
Aaron's voice spoke for him before he could collect himself. "What happened?"
Kherev's throat was dry. "I saw something," he said in a tight, hoarse growl. "I believe it was a vision."
At that, Thirty-nine snorted and looked away. He had no respect for the vague premonitions of Jedi magicians. Dreams were dreams, unworthy of the significance that the Jedi seemed to ascribe to everything.
Julia, on the other hand, knew the power of visions, and she was not about to start doubting them in these dire times, when they needed premonitions more than ever. She gripped Aaron's arm with sudden urgency, as if to say, Stay calm.
Aaron felt his heart pound as he recalled his own vision: a vision that he had understood all too late. He could see it all now, as vivid as if it were happening all over again – Alk's fading gasp; Rach'ta's yell of denial; the anger that had sizzled across his own flesh...
Aaron screamed, "What did you see, Kherev?"
"The Sith," Kherev said. He dropped the two words like plasma mines.
"Here?" Aaron pressed.
"Yes!"
"Nearby?"
"I don't know!" Kherev ground his teeth together. "He was talking to a clone, called... called..." Kherev squeezed his eyes closed. "...Hotshot..."
"My commander?" Thirty-nine wheeled around like he was ready to kill someone. "How in the galaxy did you –"
"I have no idea!" Kherev screeched. "But your commanderwas with the Sith. And he's coming after us: today!"
"The clones or the Sith?" Aaron asked, his voice dropping an octave.
Kherev bit his lip so hard it bled. "Both."
Aaron's gut felt hollow. His legs felt locked in place, his bones like cold durasteel. "You're sure?" his voice said, but it felt like it came from someone else.
"Positive," Kherev said. "Now stop your babbling and get to the cave. Now!"
...
Darksaber's strike force marched towards the gray-misted mountain range of Ryisyyyk in perfect formation.
"Spread out," he ordered. "Search anywhere that may be providing concealment for Padawan Earthshaker, and kill him. But be sure to bring his body to me when the deed is done. In pieces, if you must."
"And the woman?" muttered one of the clones.
"Padawan Star is not a woman, but a child, and a child eaten alive by her own fear. I will finish her myself."
The clone nodded. "Yes, sir."
Darksaber turned his attention to the rest of the soldiers before him. "Spread out! Leave no crevice unsearched." The warrior made a fist. "Time is of the essence."
The clones nodded. They obeyed their orders to the letter, breaking off into individual squads. But when Hotshot's Phoenix Squad turned to go, Darksaber stopped them.
"You will come with me. I desire that you witness exactly how the Dark Side punishes its enemies."
"Forgive me, my Lord," Hotshot asked, a nervous shake in his voice, "but you know the location of the Jedi?"
"I know the whereabouts of the girl," Darksaber snarled. "The traitorous clone will likely be with her. It is Aaron Earthshaker that may prolong our stay on this planet, according to the Emperor's instructions to me."
"Thank you, sir."
"Now that is quite enough of your idle curiosity." Darksaber motioned to Phoenix Squad. "Follow me," he said, and began to move towards a specific cave in the distance.
Hotshot nearly shuddered at how well their master seemed to know his way. But he did not ask any further questions.
Questions get you killed.
...
The trio of Jedi (and Thirty-nine, as well) were far back in the cave, and entirely silent– so silent, in fact, it was as though they had already accepted their own deaths. There was a kind of brutal serenity about them that they had all felt before, more than once – a sense that the end was imminent, but could perhaps, maybe, be beaten back for a time.
Really, Aaron reflected, I've felt like this much too often, lately.
Suddenly, there were voices at the mouth of the cave. From deep inside the tunnel, Julia struggled to catch the words, as did her allies.
"Is this it, my Lord?" said a distant voice identical to Thirty-nine's.
"Yes. She is here," roared another voice. A voice that must belong to the Sith.
Thirty-nine white-knuckled his gun. Aaron and Kherev quietly stood, seizing their lightsabers, ready to activate them. Julia didn't move even a fraction of an inch. If she lost her self-control, she knew that she would give them all away.
The Sith continued, "I will enter first. Do not fire until I tell you."
And then there were footsteps.
"They'll box us in," Aaron mouthed.
Kherev nodded gravely. Thirty-nine flipped open the targeting scope of his blaster. At last, Julia stood up, slowly, and grasped the hilt of her lightsaber.
"It's pitch black in here," said a clone.
"Use your night vision, Droid-bait!" another instructed.
"Right..." Droid-bait sighed. "Everyone: night vision, on."
There was a low murmur of electronic devices being activated.
"I don't see the Jedi," said a clone's voice.
Carefully, methodically, Julia shifted her balance, raising her lightsaber hilt to a ready stance.
"Hey, wait!" a clone's voice called. "What's that over there?"
Kherev nodded to his allies and mouthed, Now.
In seconds, there was a flash of deep blue light – Aaron's lightsaber – immediately pursued by a burst of vivid, electric blue that was the sword of Julia Star. Then there was a brighter flash of muted yellow: Kherev's saberstaff.
Blinded for a single moment too long, the nearest clones stumbled. Kherev sent a wave of the Force in their direction, and they flew back like cardboard from the impact. One landed so hard, his helmet's visor cracked. Neither he nor the others stood up.
"Three Jedi?" a soldier gasped. "But there was only supposed to be –"
"Take them down!" the Sith roared from the cave's entrance.
Blasterfire exploded, ricocheting in the confined space. Red, blue, and yellow light illuminated the blackness with rapidly changing patterns. Clones were cut down left and right – some impaled, others beheaded, a few struck cleanly across the chest.
Kherev leapt between the walls, a red-orange blur in the heat of the battle. Aaron charged in head-on, killing any clones that he could reach with his lightsaber, all the while throwing the remainder into each other. Julia hung back, deflecting blaster shots and using an occasional nudge of the Force to keep the clones away from Thirty-nine, who had promptly opened fire.
It was total chaos.
Screams echoed as countless soldiers fell dead. Lightsabers buzzed and hummed. Blasters spat out wild plasma bursts, adding to the cacophony. The enemy clones were breaking formation as panic took over, allowing Kherev to tear through their front line. Several tried to take advantage of this by running at Aaron, but he made quick work of them. Those that dodged his blade were immediately felled by Julia Star and Thirty-nine.
Outside the cave, Hotshot activated his wrist comlink. "Squads three through eight, do you copy? We've isolated the resistance. Send backup, pronto."
...
In what felt like hours – although it was only the next few minutes – the troops in the cave were utterly decimated. But victory was short-lived.
As Aaron and Kherev dashed out of the bloodbath, tailed by Julia (who was still doing her best to guard Thirty-nine, even as her sprint became a fatigued run,) the other clones came into view.
If the Jedi were forced back into the cave, they might never come out alive.
Aaron was in the lead. He broke into a sprint, his every heartbeat reverberating in his ribcage, his allies in tow. But Julia was falling behind. To her left, she heard a heated voice demand, "After the others! I will finish the girl."
In the same second that she realized the girl could only mean her, Julia Star found herself snatched up from the ground by an angry darkness, and the air was crushed from her lungs. She chocked on a scream, and then she was flying back. Light vanished as she was tossed through the endless corridor of the cave, past the scattered corpses of fallen clones, past where the Jedi had crouched in wait, somewhere even further in. She hit the floor with a sickening crash. There, she lay limp, gasping. Somehow, she still held her lightsaber. Its unwavering hum sent vibrations through her whole body.
The evil voice of the Sith called from the cave entrance. "You have caused me must angst, Julia Star."
She shuddered and pulled herself first to her knees, then painfully to her feet. How does this... thing... know my name? She set her teeth and squared her shoulders. "I have no quarrel with you, stranger."
The disembodied voice answered her out of the shadows. At every syllable, the Force itself seemed to quake violently with repercussions. It was a voice that would sound at home in the prisons of the Underworld.
"Foolish child! Do you know what you have done?"
"We have not betrayed the Republic," Julia stammered. "There has been a mistake. Some kind of trick!"
There was a chuckle. "Your government is of no concern to me."
"Whom do you serve, then?"
"I serve the power you deny," the monster replied, louder. It was getting closer.
"Enough riddles!" Julia shouted. "Tell me who you are, or else you merely breathe out empty threats."
The shadow laughed once more. It was a hard, merciless sound, casually amused. "I am many things," he said. "I am hatred and jealousy, fury and deceit. I am the spawn of the Dark Side. But you, mortal, may call me by name, as such is the way of your people. My name is Darksaber."
The footsteps of Darksaber sounded nearer and nearer.
Julia swallowed. Her flesh was cold, though she was drenched in thick sweat. The hairs on her arms and the back of her stood on end, forming goose bumps along her skin. Her heartbeat and breathing – in perfect synchronization – seemed deafening. She shivered, and somehow spoke.
"Show yourself."
Darksaber's tone was almost pleased. He spoke every individual word with weight, as if each one were a sentence in and of itself. "As you wish."
About two yards from Julia, a low hiss pierced the air, followed by a low, steady hum, as a lightsaber of midnight black slid into existence. The hilt of the blade was held loosely in a gloved hand. It gave off a pale, unfamiliar light, like that of a full moon. Illuminated by this glow was a being garbed in a long, hooded cloak that concealed his face.
Julia got the feeling that she wouldn't have wanted to see it, anyway. She raised her own weapon, angling it away from her body in defense. "I have fought Sith before."
"I am not a Sith."
Without warning, the black blade whirled forward. Sparks flew as it sizzled and crashed against Julia's block. Her heart racing out of control, she spun out of Darksaber's reach. "I will not die today."
"We will see," Darksaber purred.
He struck again, unleashing a complicated combination of strikes. Julia desperately repelled them. When she saw an opening, she thrust her palm forwards, pushing her foe away with the Force. Undeterred, he came back all the more ferocious. Julia ducked this time, trying to sweep his legs out from under him. But Darksaber leaped and swung down.
Julia rolled out of the way, and the slash missed. Barely.
Spinning round like a cyclone of pure power, Darksaber lashed out with a kick aimed at Julia's side. That connected. With a groan, she dropped to her side, and then looked up in horror to see her enemy's blade descending. She parried frantically. Drawing in the Force, she leaped to her feet.
They began to circle, each watching the other, and for a brief moment everything was crystal clear, crisp and raw.
This far back, all was dark. The only light came from the pair of lightsabers. At the moment, the weapons had paused, briefly still. The air smelled of smoke, mixed with the pungent odor of dead clones' corpses – a stench that wafted from the front of the cave.
Then the moment shattered.
Faster than Julia could blink, Darksaber lunged.
A/N: I promised you an update, and here it is. More is written, and will soon be published, I promise. Now, I ask you one question: I'll be revealing a twist in the next chapter. Have you noticed anything odd about my descriptions of the cave where the Jedi have been hiding?
Please review! :D