Chapter Twenty Nine
"You must realized that the young man will never stay here. He will never stay here with you. He'll leave, with his friends, back to where he came from. I have foreseen this."
"You have foreseen much, and much of that has come true. But not everything happens just because you have foreseen it." Aayla stood, with her eyes closed, tracking Sidious through the force. "And even if he does leave, what am I supposed to say of it? If it is his wish to leave, then he shall leave. I do not wish for him to base his decisions off of me."
"Ah, but you do." Aayla inhaled sharply. "I can feel it with-in you. You fear that moment. The moment that he might leave to gave back to his world."
"I do not fear. Fear is the path to hate. Hate leads to the dark side."
"Ah, yes. The Jedi warning."
Suddenly Aayla stood, spinning on her right heel, and clashed her blade into Sidious's blood red blade. "Ha-ha!" Sidious laughed, and pulled his blade back for another run at her head, then her legs, and back again. Each time she parried his blow, or leapt, or ducked.
Suddenly she kicked him back, and he leapt away, landing a few feet behind her.
Matt kicked his left leg sideways, catching Fixer in the knee plate, knocking him down, before smashing the butt of his hilt into Scorch's helmet, knocking him away. Kristy held her hands out and sucked in a breath before firing several blasts of water at Matt, knocking him around a bit, but not harming him.
As AJ, Boss, Fixer, Scorch and Kristy gathered around him, he steadied himself for a moment, and suddenly his legs were knocked out from under him, sending him flat on his back. Suddenly he was lifted back to his feet and then thrown on his face. His light saber hilt rolled away, and Rebecca picked it up. Kristy blinked. "Where's Lara?" She asked.
Suddenly there was a voice, coming from Matt. Or more precisely; next to him. Lara materialized out of the air and stood, with her foot on his back, grinning. "Just a little trick I've been working on." She said.
Aayla turned as Sidious circled her. "Do you love him?" He asked her. She ignored the question. "Ah…" He whispered. "You are not sure. But you do have feelings for him. You just haven't gotten them sorted out yet."
"I'm working on it. I've heard you don't generally rush things like that." She hissed at him. He cackled. "YES! Now you are giving in to you anger! Let it flow through you!" He disengaged his light saber and tossed it at her feet. "Strike me down! Take my place, and have your lover as your apprentice, as it was before I destroyed the Jedi!"
"Cuffs are on tight." Scorch said, taking off his helmet. AJ shook her head. "Just keep your guard up. He's a Jedi. Their full of tricks." She said, looking at Matt, who was unconscious and had cuffs on his hands, behind his back. She turned and looked in the direction that Aayla had ran off in. She sighed, and pulled her helmet off.
Sidious just smiled. "You know you want to…" Aayla breathed slowly. In. Out. Repeat. "I'll never turn." She said. Sidious glared. "Then you… will… face your destiny!" He fired out some force electricity, which slammed into Aayla, knocking her light saber from her hands.
He stopped for a moment, as she lay on the ground, crying from the pain of the shocks. "You should know… that the death of your new found friends… are on your hands. But that can be prevented…" He smiled as he looked at her. She glanced at the light saber. "Take your light saber and destroy me."
Aayla stood slowly, still twitching a bit from the electricity. She shook her head. "Never." She said. Sidious glared again. "So… be it." He murmured.
Matt's eyes opened slowly, then he went to red alert. He leapt up, calling his light saber to him from Rebecca's hands. She let out a shout of surprise. The commandos turned. "Stop, Commander!"
Matt ignited the saber, freeing himself from the cuffs. He leapt forward, kicking Fixer and Scorch to the ground, before Boss open fired on him. Matt just deflected the blasts, and sent one into Boss's chest plate, knocking the wind out of him. "Matt!" Kristy screamed. He extended an arm, force pushing her backwards into the wall.
He turned back and raised his blade over Scorch.
Sidious raised his hands. Aayla prepared herself for more electric shocks.
Kristy shook her head and saw Matt, his blade raised. "Scorch! NO!" She screamed.
Suddenly there was a ticking.
Aayla looked down.
Matt looked down.
There was a flash and a loud bang.
Then there was blaster fire.
Sidious fell to the ground. Landing at Aayla's feet. She found herself shaking, as she looked down, feeling the darkness in the force slowly drain away. She looked behind her, and AJ, Helmetless, nodded slowly.
"No!" Kristy's scream filled the entire base. Matt stared down at Scorch, who was laying on the ground, helpless. Suddenly Matt disengaged the blade. The hilt dropped to the ground. He too, was shaking as he dropped to his knees. Scorch scrambled away and got to his feet, to stand next to Kristy as Aayla rushed into the room. She dropped next to Matt as he fell backwards, his face completely blank for the next few moments as Aayla held on tight to him.
Then he blinked.
"Aayla?" He said softly. Aayla looked down at him. "Yes, it's me, Matt."
He sat up in her arms. "Kristy?" He looked around. "Boss. Fixer. Scorch. Lara." He looked over and breathed a sigh of relief. "Sis." He said, looking at Rebecca. She just nodded at him.
"Welcome back, Matt." He looked over at a bounty hunter in Mandalorian Armor. "I'm glad your back."
"Take off the bucket." He said. The Mando'a just looked at him. "AJ…!"
She sighed and removed the helmet. He smiled softly. "Thank you."
Aayla grabbed his arm and helped him to his feet. "Come on. We're going home…"
"Which is?"
"Shut up." She said, softly.
Scorch chuckled in the background.
