Last time: Sasha managed to open a portal to the World Between Worlds.

Now: Will Oppie be the only one to escape?

Chapter 7- Oppie's Back

Oppie rolled backwards, off of the walkway surface, falling into the depths of the void. Above him Dracul stared down at him. The fall was slow though, like he was in a thick liquid rather than air. Around him the stars and constellations were frozen in time, the walkways hovered in the field of stars. He turned, looking at where he was heading. He had been fighting Dracul for what felt like nearly half an hour, an eternity to him. But the Dark Lords powers seemed just as diminished here, making it a fairly even fight only of wit and lightsabers.

"Running again, Jedi?" He called down tauntingly, his voice ringing in the darkness.

"Oppie!" Sashas voice rang through the space, louder still.

"Sasha?" Op said, craning his neck to try to figure out where the sound had come from. He landed on a walkway, nearly losing the grip on his sabers, and his various injuries screaming out in pain. His right tricep was burned by a lucky strike the Dark Lord had inflicted on him, and if he didn't have a few broken ribs then they were definitely bruised. Above, Dracul's helmet looked around as well, trying to find the source of the voice.

"Sasha, where are you?" He yelled into the void. Trying to figure out which of the gates could possibly be the right one. Then he saw it, far off in the distance, below him and away. A single gate that was showing something other than a blank window. He could see a blue and red saber clashing. He got up and started running for it, above Dracul also started moving. He could beat the Sith to it, he had to.

Kyr turned the trail and immediately fell back, and a withering storm of blaster bolts ran through the spot he had just been, and one grazed his shoulder plate, ricocheting off. CP Forn already had stormtroopers? Down below, from the checkpoint he had just vacated he heard the sound of his grenade exploding as the proximity fuse went off, which meant some storm troopers had just taken that spot. They were closing on him. He turned the corner again, trying to see who was there, sending his own cover fire down on the group, He took one out. He ducked back, thinking quickly.

Jumptroopers? They must have been the ones moving down in the riverbed, using it as low cover to sneak up and try to route him from behind. It had worked, the stormtroopers were advancing up the trail, and they held his next spot. He was trapped. Okay.

He slung the large rifle over his shoulder, and charged around the corner, his right arm extended. The flame projector on his gauntlet belching out a gout of flame. One of the jump troopers was caught immediately, he screamed horrifyingly as he was cooked in his armor, the plastoid making awful cracking sounds as it melted and contorted, and then his jet pack exploded. Using the distraction he brought his pistol out and turned the corner, he counted five left, and he took two out with blaster shots. Grabbing his cape with his left hand he swung it up, letting it hang in front of his body, using it as an erstwhile shield to block bolts coming from the remaining three. He took them out in quick succession. He checked for traps, and then looked back down the trail. The other stormtroopers were running up the trail, leapfrogging each other as the two would run forward, and then cover the others as they ran up. He fired off a couple of shots from his blaster and they sent their own cover fire up trying to keep him from hitting the troops.

He slung the DLT off his shoulder and then brought it up, looking back down the trail, and sprayed them on full auto.
One threw a thermal detonator up at him, and he kicked it off the side in their general direction, the explosion was something Tac would have loved.

"Tac, any word from those blasted Jetii yet?"

He responded letting Kyr know they were deep enough in the cave he couldn't get a signal to them.

"Osik!" he exclaimed, "Forn is compromised, I'm falling back to Esk!" He yelled. The stormtroopers were pushing their way up through cover and actually got a few shots into his armor. Kyr knelt so he would present less of a target, and better armor coverage. He kept shooting the troopers but they kept pushing forward, in their methodical stormtrooper way, disregarding their fallen comrades to push forward and take him out. They hit him a few times on the armor, the shots bouncing off the beskar with a metallic ping.

Behind him four more jumptroopers came up from the ravine, and Kyr activated his own rocketpack to get out of the scene, before he was enveloped front, back and above. The jet troopers followed him as he left the stormtroopers behind, they kept pushing up the trail, but kept up a constant barrage of fire at him. He tagged them and let the whistling birds take care of the jump troopers as he jumped up to Esk. He immediately settled down into a crouching position, using the cover to repay the troopers with his own storm of fire. Another lambda was coming in towards the landing field, but when it dropped its troop off it just continued in a wide orbit. Probably a commander.

"Tac, we got anything that can take out that lambda?"

Tac replied, they could but it would take a lot of ordinance to get through its shields.

"Leave it for now, harass it with the lasers when you get a chance." He shouted. Down below the troopers methodically pushed up, keeping cover fire on his position to try to keep him from picking them off. "Osik!" He exclaimed again for no particular reason as he kept up the barrage of blaster fire.

"Tac, two round indirect airburst, relay, send!" He yelled.

The colonel was dumbfounded. "Say again?" He called into the com. One of his platoon leaders was down on the ground reporting.

"Sir it's just one man, it looks like a Mandalorian!"

"How could one man be doing all this?" He asked incredulously.

"Look out a kriffing window and see for your-" The officer yelled with a complete lack of decorum, and a high degree of insubordination. The line was cut off, and Colonel Kaifsen looked at the video feed from his commander's pit in the lambda, and saw that the Lieutenant was shredded by a blast of shrapnel.

"Get me Captain Mieran, now!" he yelled at the trooper captain acting as his aid.

Almost immediately the hologram of the Star Destroyer's captain resolved itself on the small stand in front of him.

"Yes Colonel?" He said calmly.

"Sir we need fire support, the enemy force has enough fire support of their own to suppress any bombers we send in to try to take him out. I again request an orbital strike."

"We have our orders colonel." The captain said, like he was lecturing an exasperating child.

"I've already lost more than two hundred men trying to take this site, what about in-atmosphere support fire?" He said, restraining himself from losing his cool, unlike the now dead lieutenant from a moment earlier.

The captain mulled it over. In atmosphere could be dangerous, it rendered the ships shield far less effective, but there were no indications of enemy ships in the area that could truly harm a star destroyer, shields or not. It would allow far more precise fire from lower powered laser cannons as well, so they could avoid endangering the Inquisitor far easier. "Very well." He finally said. He wanted to make sure to impress the Moff, and this seemed like a very important mission to him - the kind of mission that, if brought to a successful conclusion could lead to notice and a promotion. "We will be in position shortly. The Asp will join us as well."

"Thank you sir." The colonel said. He turned his attention back to the screens.

Viran couldn't believe his eyes. Sasha had actually managed to open a fold into the space that Oppie was stuck in. However, he was distracted by her accomplishment, that he was pulled out of it by Cien. The Sith lowered her saber and stalked towards Sasha.

"Close it now," Cien demanded.

"No…" Sasha said with a clenched jaw. "No… until… Oppie is… through."

"You fool! Close it now!" Cien ordered. She then raised her saber to strike down a defenseless Sasha. "Or I will."

Sasha tensed as she was ready to take the blow as she was not closing this fold. The saber swung down toward her. Viran moved quickly. With a raise of his hand, he used the Force to stop Cien mid-swing. The saber stopped mere inches from Sasha's left shoulder, but thankfully didn't harm her. Cien cursed at him in a tongue he did not recognize. He then Force pushed her away from Sasha. Staggering to his feet, Viran moved over and placed himself between Cien and Sasha.

"Get out of my way," Cien urged as she pulled herself to her feet.

"Not a chance," Viran said before he charged forward, despite his own bruised body's protests, his blue blade ready to continue their dance.

Sasha silently thanked Viran as she continued to hold the fold open. That lightsaber had gotten way to close for Sasha's liking as she could feel the heat from it when it hovered inches from her shoulder. However, she could feel her energy wavering as this was taking too much out of her. Adjusting her stance just slightly, Sasha refocused her gaze to the opening and called out to Oppie once more.

"What?" Kyr yelled over the din. Tac had whistled something. There were blaster bolts firing off all around him, a few pinging off his beskar armor. "Say again, I can't hear you!" He yelled, laying down a stream of auto fire from the DLT towards the advancing troopers, trying to hold them off.

Tac warbled his message again, this time with the volume turned up.

"Osik!" Kyr yelled, looking up. "Osik Osik Osik!" He yelled. Another star destroyer had appeared in orbit, and they were both descending. He had no idea why they hadn't performed an orbital strike yet, he couldn't figure out what their orders were, nor why they were pouring so many resources into this battle. The Empire hunted Jedi down ruthlessly, but this was insane. Two Star Destroyers? Kitsu would never let him live this down. There was now just a stream of troop transports going down to the landing area, his only consolation was that they couldn't really land anywhere else.

"Tac, Esk has fallen! I'm falling back to Dorn. Give me eight seconds and send six rounds indirect HE on Esk!" He yelled. He got up to move and started sprinting further up the trail. Some lucky trooper sent a round into the tricep of his left arm in between his plates, making him falter for a second. He just kept sprinting, the HR mortar rounds would pay him back. Dorn was his main fallback point, it was a nice ridged overlook that gave him a view down a section where the trail zig-zagged up the side of the ravine below him. He jetpacked up to the next CP as behind him Esk exploded. He then turned, taking aim to continue his return fire.

Then he saw it, and that brought him up short for an instant. The scene from the stela, the distinctive ridgeline as the four suns sat overhead in the afternoon sky, and the two wedges descending down either side. They were the star destroyers. He didn't have time to look behind him at whoever might be peeking through time to record this scene for whoever built the temples. That meant that down below Oppie should be arriving and… there was a lightsaber fight going on? He had no idea about that.

The other thought that ran through his mind was that the scene didn't show them getting away, and they had no scenes after this, so all bets were off as to who would make it through this if they trusted the scenes up till now to guarantee their safety.

He looked down at his armor, covered in dirt and dust and pock marked with carbon scoring. The beskar was holding up, his left arm was injured. He only had eight whistling birds left, Tac only knew how much ordinance they had left on the ship. Enough mortar rounds to hold out, probably not enough AA missiles to take out the fresh flights of TIE bombers the second star destroyer could bring in. Looking down he could see a squad of troopers advancing up the trail. Nearby, from around the bend in the rockface further up the trail, he could see Tac already firing off laser bolts at an incoming flight of bombers that he could only see with magnification and highlights from the heads up display.

Screw it.

He started running towards the cliff face, and jumped, twisting in the air so the rocketpack could catch his weight, and flew down to be offensive. He was tired of falling back.

While Viran kept Cien at bay once again, Sasha continued to hold the fold open. As she stared into the darkness beyond, she suddenly noticed the slight tinge of browns and tans heading toward the opening. Tears and a smile came to her face as she started to recognize it as Oppie. The closer he got the more sure she was that this was going to work. With only a few more feet to go, Oppie was thrown off when a red lightsaber swung out of nowhere and got too close to him. Oppie staggered, but didn't stop his pace. Sasha gasped as she realized that Dracul was behind him. She knew she had to do something. Shifting her stance, Sasha concentrated on using the Force to not only keep the fold open, but also keep Dracul back.

"It's working, just one more second!" Oppie's voice called crystal clear.

"Hurry…. I… can't… hold… him…" Sasha urged as she struggled with both tasks. Her body was shaking, her energy was depleting, and her face was soaked in sweat. But she wasn't done yet.

Oppie ran as fast as he could and as he got closer to the opening, he leapt through the portal and into the cavern. He rolled to a stop on the dirt floor, absorbing the impact hard with his right arm with a sickening crunch, and still took a hit to the head as he slammed into the ground. He slowly rolled over, getting to a kneeling position, and tried to help Sasha hold Dracul back, both Jedi trying to use the Force to push him back, while Dracul kept pushing forward staggered only a little by their efforts as if fighting against a strong wind. Both Cien and Viran had paused mid fight, their attention turning back towards the portal where the struggle was going on.

"Close it!" Oppie yelled.

"You won't escape me that easily," Dracul hissed.

"Hang on, Sash," Viran said, forgetting his fight and running forward.

He rushed over and added his own powers, trying to keep Dracul from coming through.

Cien watched as the Jedi tried to prevent Dracul from coming through the portal. She knew that all Sasha had to do was close the fold, but Dracul was still too close to the opening, he might slip through as the portal collapsed. She looked on at the scene, frozen for a split second, torn between a lifetime of duty and a lifetime of torment, not sure which would triumph.

Cien rose her hands, adding her own powers to the pressure trying to keep him back, fighting against the Dark Lord pushing forward with his own might. The air in between the combatants vibrated with the power of the Force from both sides, but Cien's addition was what broke the stalemate, he was pushed back.

"NO!" Dracul's voice boomed through the whole cavern as Sasha closed the fold just in time.

The second the portal closed the back pressure from Dracul fighting their strength ended, and the Force pressure from the three Jedi and the Sith slammed into the cavern wall. The back pressure blew through the room and knocked into all the Force users, Oppie was knocked unconscious.

Sasha slammed back in the cavern wall from the blast and landed with an ungraceful thud onto her side, earning a few new bruises. She looked back towards where the fold had been to see that it was gone. She then started to pull herself up to her feet, her body shook, exhausted from holding the fold open for so long. But before she could straighten entirely, her knees then buckled from under her. Viran appeared at her side and caught her and carefully lowered her to the floor in a seated position. She reached over and grabbed his hand with hers.

"We did it… We saved Op," Sasha panted.

Viran nodded before placing a kiss on her forehead. "Well done."

Cien's voice broke the moment they were having. "You fools. He almost escaped."

"But he didn't," Viran reminded her. "Now get lost. The fights over."

"No, she still knows how to fold space and so does your Master." Cien shook her head. "I cannot let them live."

Viran released his hold on Sasha. He stood to face Cien, who had gotten up from where she landed on the other side of the cavern.

"Then let's finish this. Here and now." Viran then turned his head slightly toward Sasha. "Go take care of Op. I've got her."

Sasha nodded. "Be careful."

He smirked, "I know."

Sasha watched as Viran slowly stalked towards Cien to finish their fight. She then turned her gaze to Oppie who was lying unmoving on the floor. Scrambling over to his side, Sasha quickly shrugged off her pack that she was still wearing. Tearing it open, Sasha started pulling out the medpack. She pulled out a vial of bacta, putting it into a syringe and injecting it into Oppie's neck. She then slowly rolled him onto his back to a quick exam of all his injuries so she could take care of the serious ones first.

The ground under him felt hard as Oppie slowly came too. The void walkways were practically pillows compared to the ground he was laying on now. He then felt someone was applying something to the burn on his tricep. Oppie hissed at it as the pain flared. His head ached horribly and his vision felt blurred.

"Easy," a soft, familiar voice spoke.

Slowly opening his eyes, he found himself staring up at Sasha. She was the one carefully tending to his wounds.

"Sash?" his voice croaked.

"Hey, Op," she said smiling at him. "Welcome back."

"Back?" He asked. She nodded. Oppie reached up and touched Sasha's hand that was applying a bacta patch to his tricep. Her hand was real. She was really there. Then a smile tugged at his lips. "You really did it. You saved me."

Before Sasha could respond, a loud crash was heard somewhere in the cavern. The crash wasn't too pleasing to Oppie's throbbing head as he grimaced at the sound of it. Oppie then tried to look around to see what it was, but stopped when Viran rushed into view.

"We've got to move," Viran said before glancing back from where he came. "Before she finds a way out of that mess." Viran then met his gaze. The young man smiled down at him. "Hey, Op. Good to see ya."

"What's going on?" Oppie asked.

"No time to explain," Viran said. "We've got to go now." Viran looked at Sasha as he knelt down on the other side of Oppie.

Sasha nodded and gathered the medical supplies back into a pack before shrugging it on.

"Alright, this is gonna hurt," Sasha warned Oppie. "On the count of three. One. Two. Three."

Viran and Sasha both got an arm around Oppie and carefully hauled him to his feet. Once he was standing, Oppie found himself leaning against them for support.

"Let's go," Sasha said with an urgency.

As the two carefully led him to the cavern exit, he noticed the caved in pile of rocks on the other side of the cavern. He stared at it slightly confused before putting it together that this was that crashing noise from a second ago. But who did Viran trap? He wondered.

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