I
Kari walked the long hallway within the massive underwater Fortress Inquisitorius. She glanced to her side as she moved, looking at the unending dark ocean beyond the thick glass wall protecting the fortresses inhabitants from its cold wrath. A mighty storm raged above the ocean, the thunderous booms echoing even throughout the many halls. Within the halls, however, another storm was beginning. The fortress shook as somewhere within, several of the glass walls had shattered. Someone had begun an attack on the fortress.
Kari turned her attention ahead of her once more, taking in the sight of the tall, slender dark-skinned woman walking with haste ahead of her. Her black hair rested just above her shoulders but flowed back and forth as she began to move at a jog. The woman stopped as they entered a crossroad within the halls. Half a dozen armored storm troopers ran to the dark woman, their blaster rifles in hand.
"My lady, an enemy has broken into the fortress. We cannot confirm their number, but they seem to have split into two separate directions." One trooper at the head of the rest spoke. They all wore white armor except for the one who spoke, who wore black armor. "What are your orders?"
The woman stood silent for several seconds, eyes closed as she considered what was happening. A smile crept across her face as she opened her eyes, "Lead them toward the central chamber. I will head them off there. Lord Vader will be here shortly, and I want this finished before he arrives." The troopers quickly turned and ran through another doorway.
"Trilla, what should I do?" Kari questioned the woman, fear in her voice.
Trilla Suduri turned to the girl behind her and smiled, reaching out and running her hand through the long copper hair which partially obscured the girls face, brushing it away and tucking it behind her ear on one side before resting her hands on the girl's shoulders. The dark woman stared into the brilliantly sky-blue eyes that looked up at her, "I will go to the central chamber. The boy will seek me out and I will put an end to this. You will head off whatever help he has brought. She felt the girl's fear but smiled still, "You have trained long for a battle such as this. Do not be afraid." Without another word, she turned and ran through the doorway the troopers had gone through, the blast door shutting behind her.
Kari watched as she left. She took in a deep breath and exhaled slowly, running her hand across the side of her head where Trilla had brushed her hair away and nodded to herself, rocking forward and backward on her feet before turning toward an adjacent hallway where more rumblings of battle could be heard echoing. She picked up her pace as she felt herself nearing closer to the attacker. She reached down to her right side, taking hold of her lightsaber. The long handle had a half-ring shape running from one end of the hilt around to the bottom, which flipped around to fully circle the hilt, which ignited, a pale orange pair of blades extending from both ends. As a door ahead shook, she reached out with her left hand and pushed, shoving the blast door free of its walls. The thick steel flew toward a tall dark-skinned figure, who raised an arm and flung the incoming steel to the side of a wide chamber that she stood within, a lightsaber of an identical style to her own ignited in her hands. The blade of this, however, was blood-red.
"M..Master Cere?" Kari questioned, surprise audible in her shaking voice.
"No...not you as well," The dark-skinned woman looked at the girl before her and froze with horrified recognition. Her blade shut off and she held the weapon loosely in her stunned grip. She stepped backward as the young girl began to approach "What did Trilla do to you?"
Kari's shocked expression immediately changed to one of anger. "You did this, not Trilla," she screamed, not noticing the volume of her own voice. "You abandoned us. You abandoned her!"
"I…," Cere struggled to find her own voice over the sudden outburst from the girl before her. "I tried to save her. I…I tried to protect all of you," she frowned, her shoulders hanging in shame.
"I don't want your excuses. All I want is to protect Trilla, especially from you and your lies," Kari growled, stepping forward once more and raising her lightsaber. Without further warning, she charged. Her blade rotated on the circular hilt guard as she swung it, the blade stopping its rotation as it connected with the quickly ignited blade held by Cere.
Her attack had surprised the dark-skinned woman further, as if she could not have predicted someone who had once been as innocent as she could have changed so much. She could not let this stop her, however. She had promised to help Cal, and she could not waste more time. Blades, crackling as they connected, she pushed up and away from herself, gritting her teeth as she did, struggling with her dark connection to the force which she had shut herself away from for so many years. She pushed away, forcing Kari to stumble back and raised an arm as the girl retaliated, using the force to hold the girl's strike still mid-swing. "I am sorry," she apologized, twisting her hand, using the force to also twist Kari's weapon hand, which unclenched from her weapon, dropping it to the floor. Cere pushed with brief, but powerful force throwing the girl backward against the steel wall, a loud thudding sound of the girl's head bouncing off the wall as she dropped to the floor unconscious. "I hope one day you can forgive me, should we meet again," she whispered, turning off her lightsaber, a tear rolling down her face before she ran through another doorway.