Author's Note: I'll keep the talk low, enjoy the chapter!

Also, I do not own SAO or Star Wars.

Chapter Twenty-Six - Clash of Old Friends

Kirito shot forward with impressive speed as his twin red blades swirled around him in a vortex of channeled Sith energy. He tried to saw off the ends of both Thinker and Yulier's weapons, but the two Republic Troopers were quick to roll out of the way and divide from the attack. Thinker charged on his swirling Gatling gun, and let a host of bullets loose on Kirito as the nimble Force user dodged and ducked out of each laser.

Meanwhile, Yulier kept her shock gun aimed low to the ground in an attempt to catch Kirito's feet as they landed. The would-be Sith's touches were so delicate, however, that even as they hit the ground no dust cloud or sand kicked up from his uplift. Kirito turned to roll over a swarm of bullets from Thinker, then tossed his left saber like a boomerang toward Yulier to try and slice her gun in half, but the veteran female soldier took a second roll dodge down the slope to keep herself out of danger.

Thinker started to think outside the box, and quickly chucked a flashing light blue thermal detonator toward the ground as Kirito landed for another assault. The explosion flashed in the middle of the battlefield, and suddenly Kirito's feet were stuck to the ground in a great shape of ice. Frosted spikes shot out from the ground where the grenade exploded, and Kirito felt his muscles thin out as the cold substance kept him firmly planted on his spot. He yelled out in frustration while Thinker charged up his gun, but the brash Sith trainee sliced the thick sheets of ice clean open with one of his sabers, and lunged forward to take out the Republic commando once again.

Kirito slashed forward with a cross cut from his blades, but Thinker ducked, and butted the approaching enemy with the back of his rifle. Kirito flipped over his opponent's body, and rolled over the hill, but quickly earned his feet again as he shot up for a third assault.

Yulier shot several rounds in his direction, and now knowing that she had the more-powerful shot, Kirito took his eyes off the man, and aimed them directly for the woman. Thinker noticed, and reloaded his rounds to blast the dark Jedi into oblivion, but as he let loose his first shots, Kirito raised one of his hands, and summoned a large vortex of air and sand around Thinker's person.

The Republic Commando coughed through the fit of dust, but his partner was luckily a Republic Vanguard class. Yulier sent out a small grey droid, which let off a powerful vibration along with a pulsing blue light. It cleared the sand from Thinker's view, and allowed both Republicans to lock down their enemy.

Kirito smiled at the gesture. "Wow. I hope you're writing all of this down for a new video on MMO Tomorrow, Thinker. It outta be a pretty grand episode."

"How do you...?!" Thinker was totally in shock as Kirito called out his real-life profession. "You really do know us back in the real world...that still won't keep you from Amun-din!"

Kirito flipped over several rocks, completing several back-to-back acrobatic moves to avoid Thinker's rampage of bullets. Yulier tried to follow with concentrated shots from her own gun as Kirito made his landings, but once again the elusive Black Swordsman of Sword Art Online had just enough finesse to keep himself alive.

When Kirito landed, however, He felt a rumble take his feet, and noticed Thinker and Yulier shaking against the ground's quakes as well. Kirito leaned over to see what was going on in the Republic's valley campsite, and the realization left him in shock.

The Sith Empire had made its advance. Red lightsabers were down there clashing against blue and green, while laser bolts flashed across the sandy dunes of the camp. Several Republic shuttles exploded as Sith fighters came low for assaults, but the Republic was able to counter some with return fire from their own ships.

"No!" Thinker yelled out in rage. "The Sith ambushed us at our own camp!"

Yulier agreed as she left her sights off Kirito for just a moment. "This is bad. We need to pull whatever troops we can to secure our own assault. Let's take this kid into custody and get back to the real fight."

"You will do no such thing."

Thinker and Yulier froze, and a bizarre smile crossed Kirito's slightly demented face as Asuna the Sith Lord strode over the other side of the hill to join the three old friends in their confrontation. Her curved lightsaber was now lit, and with a twirl of her blade, the Empire's Wrath readdressed her new foe.

"You'll be lucky enough to leave this planet with your lives. I may make an exception if you provide me with intel on the Republic's operations, though."

"We're not telling you anything, Sith!" Yulier charged her gun again, and shouted over the rocky field to confront her new enemy. "We'd never betray our own faction with a threat like that!"

"I'd hardly call it a threat." Asuna was still smiling, despite the impending battle that was about to unfold between the four old friends. "Think of it as...well, buying your own lives."

"That little bitch lied to us!"

Klein sat behind the main controls of the Pina as he barrel-rolled out of the way from several large blaster canon shots sent from an Imperial juggernaut. The weighted Smuggler transport was very limited with the amount of maneuvers it possessed, but Klein and Silica had skilled enough hands to make it do what they needed in order to stay alive.

Silica hated feeling a bit smug inside, but she tried to deliver her best line as they avoided enemy fire together. "I hate to say I told ya so, but...you should have just left her alone."

"Oh, come off it!" Klein yelled back. "You're the one who sent me in there to talk with her! Besides, the only reason you didn't want to go see her was because she scared you!"

"She's an enemy!" Silica blasted back. "Why would you take engineering advice from an enemy?!"

The Pina flipped out of the way again now, as several Imperial fighters launched a barrage of shots for the back of their enemy's hull. The tail end of the Pina was only swift enough to avoid half of them, taking the other chuck of shots to its shields as they weakened with every hit.

"We need to get out of here, like now!" Silica was delicately holding onto her own controls as she tried to help Klein steer the vessel, but the cocky co-pilot continued in his attempt to take over the flying from there. After a little bit, it dawned on her that Klein was actually a pretty impressive pilot.

"Yea, I'll agree to that...in fact, watch me!"

Klein slammed down on a large lever to his right, and watched as several stars started to streak across the screen of the windshield. However, just as they tried to jump to lightspeed, the engine of the Pina stalled once again, leaving them stranded for a second time in a row.

"Watch that!?" Silica yelled, disappointing herself for believing in him for a mere second. "You made me watch you fail a second time!?"

"Uh-oh." Klein kept his voice rather low this time. "I think we're in trouble."

"Duh!" Silica barked back as a small fleet of Imperials continued to chase them. "We need to locate a friendly system immediately!"

"I think we're in trouble." Klein stood and ran for the door, totally ignoring Silica as she took full control of her own ship from there. The red-haired maniac shuffled through the rest of the ship in a rough walk as he held onto every object on the wall that he could grasp.

Finally, he managed to make his way to the engine room, but what he found was totally bizarre.

Lisbeth was working beneath a floorboard trying to make repairs to some part of the engine. She had a thick workman's mask over her face, and shot off bright blue sparks from her tools as she emerged to the surface to greet the befuddled Klein. "Took ya long enough to find me here."

"You little..." Klein grabbed her from the floor hole, and shoved her into a wall, grabbing her neck with his own hand. "You tricked me into sabotaging my own engine, didn't you!?"

"AGH! What are you talking about, you ass!?" Lisbeth choked out her words as she clawed her way from his hands. "Put me down! I told you everything you needed to know ta fix your stupid problem!"

"The power coupling!?" Klein retorted. "Was it really even broken!?"

"YES!" Lisbeth freed herself, and smacked his hands away. "You switched the wrong one out, though. By the time I noticed, you already received your trouble."

"Trouble by your friends." Klein snapped back. "Quite the fleet they mustered for a single-person rescue mission."

"Apparently they're your friends too, you dummy." Lisbeth kept her snappy attitude in-tact. "Aren't we all friends in the real world, or something?"

"You are the absolute worst." Klein tried to make his open repairs alongside his enemy as they both shook from the vibrations of gunfire hitting the side of the Pina.

Lisbeth took a tool from Klein's hands, and tried fixing a new part of the machinery. "Your motivator is busted! The Imperials on Corellia must have sabotaged your engine if it has these many issues wrong with it!"

"What the hell is a motivator?!" Klein argued back. "Agh, these aren't real ship parts, are they?"

"Ugh!" Lisbeth growled as she tried to fire on the motivator for the hyperdrive. "Of all the idiots in the Republic to take me hostage..."

"Why the hell would you be trying to help us if your friends are chasing us to get you back!?" Klein threw his hands in the air, and gave up helping her just to receive a response.

Lisbeth turned with a look of fire still existent in her eyes. "It'd be safer for them to just blow me up with you, than to risk me leaking secrets about Darth Rosario's army. Why save me when silencing me saves the rest of the faction."

"Your friends would really do that?" Klein lowered his energy to come down to her level. "Damn...that's way too harsh."

"Why do you care?" Lisbeth stopped for a moment and turned her head. "The Empire does what it takes to win. If I die, then so be it. Keeps you guys from winning the war."

"Don't talk like that." Klein argued with her even more, but with a leveled head this time. "You're still an important player to them. You have to be. They can't just treat you as expendable and expect to move on. What good's winning a war if you have no friends to celebrate with."

"Easy for you to say." Lisbeth stopped her work altogether and crossed her arms in her miniature retreat from the conversation. "Stupid Republic..."

"Klein! Get up here!"

Both workers stopped their discussion and listened to Silica's loud callout as the large crashes stopped hitting the hull of the Pina. Klein leapt out of the hole, and Lisbeth followed after him as they made their way into the cockpit. Both were greeted by a swarm of Republic cruisers on the horizon, and an all-out dogfight broke out in their field of vision as two enemy fleets collided into one battle all surrounding the tiny Pina in open space.

"All we have to do is fly toward the command ship, and we're saved!" Silica rolled over several more laser bolts, and greeted a few Republic fighters to her sides as they escorted her and the others to safety.

Lisbeth crossed her arms and turned to the left in a residing fashion. Klein, on the other hand, raised his fists in the air and hollered with a joyous glee.

"That's what I'm talking about! Score one for the Republic!" Klein gave Silica a congratulatory high-five, and turned to deliver a rather smug smile to his enemy captive.

"Ya see? When friends are in trouble, they always have people to count on to get them back to safety. You Sith air-heads could learn a thing or two."

"Whatever, Ass...you do know the likelihood of this happening wasn't in your favor. The odds were..."

"Eh eh eh..." Klein wagged his finger, and took Lisbeth by the shoulders to walk her back to her cell. "To quote a very wise man...never tell me the odds."

Lisbeth turned her head down in further anger, but also did so to cover her flushed red face. Klein continued to smirk, and directed his prisoner through the door as the Pina approached a friendly hanger, but as they left the cockpit, the empty-minded Smuggler caught up to an original thought.

"Wait...how the hell did you escape the brig, anyway!?"

Kirito felt his blood begin to boil as his mind settled into ease with the arrival of Asuna. His thoughts were consumed with the passion to fight, and as his unofficial master charged forward to strike against Thinker, Kirito kept his blades high to combat Yulier as well.

"Agh!" Yulier threw down several explosive shots from her rifle, then spun out of the way to dodge Kirito's red hacks. She drew a large combat knife, and tried to hit his chest, but the brave Force warrior sliced the metallic weapon in two as Yulier threw the discarded pieces into the ground.

Kirito raised both of his weapons, and slammed them down hard on his enemy, but Yulier switched on a bubble shield to defend against his insane attack. She released a pulse explosion from her body as well, which sent Kirito flying away from her position, and gave her time to readjust her stance.

Yulier tried to catch her breath, and Thinker noticed this as he sent an incendiary bomb toward Asuna to stall her hand. He then powered on a support item to recharge Yulier's health and stats to their full power, which gave her more time to switch out her ammo.

Kirito rushed in even faster than before, and sliced a missile from her gun clean in half as he directed the point of his right-handed weapon for Yulier's face, but the crafty Republic Vanguard used her bubble shield again to save herself.

Asuna was smiling throughout most of the fight. She barely paid any attention to Thinker and his retaliating gunfire, and kept most of her focus on her newly aligned protégée. Whenever the Republic Commando sent out a fiery blast from his self-held canon, the Sith Lord took her free hand, and swept the fire around her form to keep her untouched. She was also able to use her right hand to deflect all the regular blaster fire from his spinning gun, which gave her all the focus remaining to watch her new apprentice in action.

Kirito, meanwhile, had Yulier right where he needed her. The valley erupted in a blast of fire as the two warring factions slaughtered each other inside the Republic's base-camp. Kirito had no mind to pay for the attack down below, and used all his strength and energy to bash at the bubble shield defending his foe. His eyes lit with a slight tint of rage, and Yulier knelt down to the ground to secure some of her energy needed to hold out the shield. She feared the worst was about to deliver itself onto her fate, but just as Kirito raised his sabers for a new blow, a yell took the field.

"Agh!"

Kirito turned to see Asuna had taken too much of her time watching him and his fight with Yulier. She was too excited seeing him nearly ready to deliver a final blow that she somehow managed to get her foot caught by a rock as she slowly retreated from Thinker's fire shot. Her weapon bounced away from her hand, and before she could channel any energy to retrieve it, a loud scream came from her vocal cords to signify her own danger.

"NO!" Kirito launched his right saber toward their confrontation, and pierced the chest of Thinker with the red blade of his weapon. The defeated Republic commando released his trigger finger, and fell to his defeat as Asuna lied before him with her mouth totally agape.

Kirito was frozen for half a moment, then drew his hand back as he regained control of his primary weapon. Yulier screamed uncontrollably as her beloved husband fell to the Sith duo, and her shield powered off while tears rolled down her pathetic eyes.

Kirito just stood in silence, now focusing in on Yulier, and only her. This broken friend of his had just lost her spouse, only because he tried doing the same to his beloved Asuna.

"Do it." Asuna was standing behind Kirito now, with her own saber powered down and in her hand. "Kill your friend, Yulier. Like you did Thinker."

Kirito's blades were crossed at the neck of his defeated foe, Yulier. Her tear-soaked eyes looked up at the mighty foe before her, and a small sob came from her lips as she tried to collect any memory she had of the distressed boy, Kirito. She was told they were friends in the real world, but the menace now threatening her with death looked like a total stranger to her watery recognition.

Kirito collected his breath, but could not bring his hands together as he lingered with Yulier's life on the balance. He looked at her, and let more anger swell through his body. Just then, the girl brought her hands to her neck, and Kirito noticed she was choking on air as she tried grasping for a lasting breath.

Kirito soon turned around, and caught a very angry Asuna looking into Yulier's eyes. Her hand was raised, and a tight grip was shown on her left hand as she held her fingers in a strategic way. Finally, she closed her fist, and let Yulier fall to the ground, noticing several large manufactured explosions happening from the Republic's machinery down below.

Kirito dropped his swords, and fell down to his own knees as he attempted to shed a tear for his fallen old friends. He had no idea what came over him for the duration of his fight, but either way, Asuna Yuuki proudly sheathed her weapon, and turned to the smoke-filled valley off in the distance.

"Kirito...you just took the life of a close friend, a loved-one dead by your own hand out of anger, and not self-defense ...Congratulations, you're now a true Dark Lord of the Sith."

So Lisbeth really might be breaking her Dark Side funk? I wonder what her secret is...

Also KIRITO NOO! He had to kill some of his old friends yet again (remember, he's now taken out Eugene, Sakuya, Yulier and Thinker. Meanwhile, Asuna has taken out Siune, Jun, Recon and Leafa.)

I finally finished all the current English copies of the SAO light novels, which means I'm finally (and technically) caught up on all-things SAO! I can't wait for Spring 2020 for the next volume to be translated...I guess I don't mind waiting...

Until Next Time!