Chapter 28
THRONE ROOM; TRUE SITH DREADNAUGHT: BANE
Zak dodged left quickly, just in time to avoid being beheaded by Darth Devess's slashing lightsaber. He then dashed backwards up the stairs as quickly as he dared without tripping over himself.
His duel against the combined fighting styles of Darth Nemuritor—formerly the Zak Arranda of this world—and Darth Devess—formerly the respective Jaina Solo—had been going for over an hour now. This in itself caught Zak by surprise entirely.
He could sense the presence of Commander Jace Solo on board the Bane now, and Jace's uncle Luke Skywalker was boarding just now. So far, the first stage of the plan he had devised with Luke Skywalker and Admiral Ackbar had gone well. Zak couldn't sense at all within the minds of either Sith Lord that either of them knew of Jace's presence on board. Surely, by now, the rest of the ship had been alerted.
Perhaps Zak's plan to distract the Sith had worked better than he'd planned. He expected, though, that they were toying with him. He knew that Nemuritor was a lot more powerful in the Force than he was; he had accumulated training from Brakiss as well as the holocrons of several Sith Lords. In comparison to the few years of training Zak had under Luke Skywalker, and the handful of months under Darth Pravus, as well as the knowledge he'd ripped from Pravus's mind as he'd killed him, it was a lot.
Perhaps, he thought briefly, he had been much stronger when he'd touched the dark side those years ago. Perhaps he'd been able to use all the knowledge he'd ripped from Pravus, and used it well and without remorse. But now, most of that knowledge, and most of that power, was out of his reach.
Darth Nemuritor launched himself up over Zak's head then, landing behind him and swinging hard at the back of his legs. Zak twirled his lightsaber and flicked his wrist so that one of his golden blades was put into place in time to block the strike. He twisted the Sith's weapon away and spun on his left foot, kicking out at his other self and catching him square in the chest.
Nemuritor staggered only a couple of steps, but that was enough. Devess dashed up the steps to catch them and rushed at Zak to pick up on the temporary opening available to her.
Whenever Zak was granted a temporary—very temporary at that, the way this fight was proceeding—lull, he reached out with his feelings. It was a desperate bid to find out what everyone else was doing, and whether every step of the plan was falling into place.
He didn't have to go far in his sensing to touch the mind of Jace Solo and Han Solo, who had just cleared out the main hangar bay on board the Bane. They were now locking it down in preparation as another pair of Republic shuttles came closer and closer, full of marines. Luke Skywalker's shuttle had just landed and was undergoing the shut down procedures before anyone departed to join in the fighting. Jace had lost a few men in the initial boarding, but it appeared as though less and less True Sith marines and security were being sent to the hangar. Zak determined that they were setting up checkpoints at regular intervals within the halls and corridors to slow the advance of the Jedi boarding party.
There were only another two Dark Disciples on board—a third had been killed by Jace Solo in the hangar minutes ago now. Those two were sticking together and hurrying to the throne room to stand beside their leaders.
Zak's own friends, Jacen Solo and Talesa Valara, were already far from the battle. He'd sensed that they'd escaped the system in a Republic shuttle piloted by the Keyan Jace from this world. He hoped that they were heading back to Cab'uL Tuar, and home. He could have stretched his thoughts further, if he wanted to divert critical attention away from his current situation. He thought better of that, however, as it would put himself at a disadvantage, which he would rather not do.
He really missed home. He missed his own Jaina, and Allina, and his sister. He missed the Skywalkers, Catoxle, Tenel Ka, and even Lowbacca—though the Wookiee had left the Praxeum nearly a year ago. He even missed the newer students that had arrived only weeks ago with Keyan Jace and his apprentice.
If Zak was honest with himself, he wasn't sure one bit if he would survive this encounter with the Sith. True, he had his ace safely hidden away for the right moment, but he realised all too well that he might not be given the chance to use it.
Zak had been in fights for his life like this before—against Darth Pravus on Coruscant, against Allina on Yavin 4, and against Alitha on Navii Lya Prime. But in all of those instances, he had had some kind of help.
Against Pravus, he'd had Luke Skywalker's help, and then the assistance of the dark side that had slowly crept upon him without his realising it. Against Allina … well, she hadn't even truly sought his death. She had only been seeking to incapacitate him so that she could take him away. She had only wanted her father by her side, and that's how she viewed him whether she knew the truth of her origins or not. Against Alitha, a year past now, Zak knew his life would surely have been forfeit if not for the timely arrival of the mutated Jaina Solo.
But this time, he was truly forced to see how good his ability to defend himself was becoming. Jace Solo and Luke Skywalker were too far away to be of any help to him, and his friends were possibly heading home.
Staying behind had been so incredibly risky, but Zak felt that it would pay off in the end. He was sure that Jaina Solo could be swayed from the dark side, if he was given the chance to try it. But neither Sith was exactly forthcoming in that respect.
Devess lashed out at him with the Force, and Zak dived to his left and switched off both blades of his lightsaber before landing in a roll. He felt the electrical storm slam against a console, rupturing conduits and causing the entire panel to explode in a bright flash.
He pushed himself back to his feet fast and switched his lightsaber back to life. He twirled it around his fingers and brought the hilt to rest in his hand behind his back with one blade tip pointed to the floor at his side.
"You must realise how pointless this confrontation is," Darth Nemuritor said, approaching Zak from the left while his lover circled around to Zak's right. "You must know that you cannot win, and that you are only delaying the inevitable. Why not just lay down your weapon and accept your fate?"
Zak didn't respond in words. He sensed the Sith's next movements and shifted his position to swing his lightsaber up to meet the crimson blade of his other self's weapon. He took a single step forward to put himself between the two Sith, and then brought his weapon's other blade slashing down toward Devess's ankles. She forward-flipped over his lightsaber and then absently struck out behind her to swat it away.
Zak continued on, and ran the length of the platform to the guardrail on the far end. His course was slightly off, however, and his misjudged a dip in the platform that had been caused by a series of too-low strikes of both the Sith intended for his legs minutes earlier.
His foot caught the dip, and his ankle twisted awkwardly; he groaned as he stumbled the rest of the distance to the guardrail. He slammed heavily into it, and, since it was only waist-high, the forward momentum of the rest of his body pulled him over the rail.
He gripped the rail tightly with his left hand, letting his lightsaber hang loosely at his side in his right for the few seconds that he swung from the rail. Then he released it entirely and fell to the lower deck, making sure to catch the fall mostly in his good leg.
Fire crept up his leg from his sprained ankle, and he pushed the pain aside. He hurried forward, stopping when he was halfway to the thrones. Then he turned to see if the Sith had followed.
He watched as Devess leapt high over the rail in a somersault that brought her to the foot of the stairs. Nemuritor leapt without the somersault and landed beside her. Both of them held their lightsabers prone …
They froze, looking up at him with an expression that Zak could only describe as shock. Then Zak realised that they weren't looking at him at all, but rather beyond him.
He chanced a look over his shoulder and out through the massive viewport just in time to see two of the nearest True Sith warships exploding in simultaneous fireballs of almost-supernova brilliance.
A massive ship barged its way through the dissipating fireballs, its hull dark and bristling with weaponry that fired in any direction that presented an enemy target. Some of those guns were trained on the Bane, Zak soon realised as the deck shook beneath him with diluted impacts. Two smaller ships escorted the massive one; an Imperial II-class Star Destroyer branded with the sigil of the New Republic, and a Mon Calamari MC80-B cruiser.
But when Zak realised that the Bane's batteries were not returning fire on the encroaching Republic ships, he smiled. Jace Solo's primary mission had been a success.
"WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?" Nemuritor roared angrily. He advanced up the stairs in a flash and swung his lightsaber madly toward Zak's face.
Zak ducked under the first swing, jumped a lower second, and then brought his lightsaber around his body to block the third, fourth and fifth strikes in rapid succession. Devess approached from his other side and swung at him just as quickly.
It was at that moment that Zak realised just how much they had been holding back. Their strikes now were powerful and fast—too fast for him to keep track of with the naked eye, so he had to rely heavily on the Force to alert him to the movements of each Sith before they were made. It wasn't easy, though, and moving around to avoid strikes he couldn't get his lightsaber to in time was made only more difficult by the growing fire in his ankle.
He knew that he wouldn't last long on it, in the state that it was in. But then, he thought, maybe he wouldn't have to.
He kicked out behind him when he felt that Devess's lightsaber was far from the danger zone and caught her on the chin. His foot connected with enough force that she flew backwards and slammed headfirst into the back of the nearest throne—her own, ironically. Singlehandedly, Zak manoeuvred his lightsaber directly into the path of Nemuritor's lightsaber.
He flicked his wrist. A syringe slipped into his palm from the hidden strap around his upper arm. He used the Force to yank the cap from the small, thin needle at the end of it before he thrust out with all the Force-imbued speed and strength he could muster. The needle punctured the skin on the left side of the Sith's neck. Zak depressed the plunger control, and the thick, bluey-brown liquid inside made its way down the core of the needle and into the Sith's bloodstream.
Darth Nemuritor screamed in rage and lashed out with the Force. Zak readied himself for the assault, half expecting to be flung across the room by it and crushed into a bloody smear against the durasteel wall. Instead, the effect was minimal, at best, and Zak let it roll over his shoulders with a neutral expression. He pushed out with the Force himself in retaliation, and the Sith was sent flying backwards away from him.
The back of his head caught the guardrail of the upper platform, and he fell to the deck, unconscious. Movement behind him alerted him that there was still one Sith still a danger to him. He spun around to face her and instinctively lashed out with an electrical storm.
However, it seemed that she had decided to assault him in the same fashion, and the two attacks met in the middle and grew, and grew. Zak shielded his eyes with his left hand, still clutching the now-deactivated lightsaber, while continuing the assault with his right.
The Sith faltered, and the built-up energy flew straight at her, enveloping her in electrical arcs that popped and crackled over every inch of her and her black robes. Material was singed, skin was burned.
Devess screamed under the assault, and Zak instantly put a stop to it. He didn't want to kill her.
When the bright arcs died, he saw that the Sith was on the deck in a heap at the foot of her throne. She was breathing heavily, and he was grateful that he had been able to stop when he did. He approached warily. Though he sensed no danger from her, he was careful anyway in case of deception. After all, he only hoped that she was redeemable. When he reached her, he dropped to his knees and grabbed her by the shoulder. He turned her over onto her back so that he could see her face.
Jaina Solo looked back up at him with eyes that were not the sickly yellow of Darth Devess. They were the deep and mesmerising brown that he knew from his own Jaina. She grimaced as a surge of pain flared up inside her, and the left side of her face twitched uncontrollably—an after-effect of the attack he'd just unleashed against her.
"Are you OK?" he asked her.
She coughed violently for a few seconds, and drew a deep breath. "I am now," she said with great effort. She sighed, and drew a couple more breaths before she continued. "Did you kill him?" There was sadness in the question, longing.
"No," Zak said.
"What did you do to him?"
"Courtesy of your brother's medical research team on Coruscant," Zak said with a weak smile. "They developed a serum using Ysalamiri DNA that temporarily removes a Jedi, Sith, or other such person from the Force. They were kind enough to let me test it out on your lover. None of us actually expected it to work."
"Jacen?" the woman said softly. She closed her eyes, and a tear formed at the corner of one. Zak couldn't resist the urge that hit him, and he brushed it away gently with his thumb. "You're leaving?"
Zak nodded. "I have to get back to my own universe. I just couldn't leave without helping your family. They were so desperate to have you back. They've spent your whole life looking for you."
"They have?"
"Yes, they have." He sighed. "Things may not be easy for you. But if you're willing to try it, they've guaranteed your safety."
Zak sensed her thoughts racing through her mind at that moment. The same self-doubt that he had experienced after his brief stint on the dark side was mirrored in her now. The difference now was that Jaina knew fully what she had done, and she could remember each and every last atrocity she had ever committed in the name of her lover and their Order. More tears welled up in her eyes and Zak brushed them all away before helping her to her feet as best he could.
Zak looked her over to assess her strength, and when he was sure that she could stand on her own, he released her and stood back. But when he turned to walk away, she reached out and touched his arm in a way that made him shiver. It reminded him so much of the Jaina Solo he knew and loved.
"She's very lucky, you know?" she said quietly. Zak turned his head and looked at her. Her expression was uncertain now; reflective and guarded. "You tell her that from me. She's lucky to have someone who would go to such lengths for … any incarnation of her."
Zak inclined his head towards the unconscious Sith a bare few meters away from them. A grim smile crept upon his lips. "If he had chosen a different path, I don't doubt he would have been the same for you."
But even as he said it, he sensed the truth in her. Even though he was Sith, Darth Nemuritor had gone out of his way plenty of times for his lover. He had risked his life so many times to protect her. He had made her an equal to him within the Order of the Sith, instead of subjugating her beneath his will as Sith typically did with one another. He had truly loved her.
But even though he understood all that, he couldn't help but see it as a perversion of the relationship he shared with his own Jaina Solo. The love they had was pure and untainted. His own darkness, safely locked away within the deepest recesses of his mind, could not touch it, could not change it, could not part them.
And with that thought, he nodded to the woman that stood before him and made his way over to the lift.
The last he saw of the throne room before the doors hissed shut between them was Jaina Solo on her knees on the cold, durasteel deck. Her unconscious Sith lover was cradled in her arms, possessively, gently. And she wept silently over him.
