Disclaimer: Joss, WB, UPN et al. own Buffy. LucasArts, LucasFilm, and George Lucas own Star Wars. Michael A Stackpole owns the intellectual rights to 'I, Jedi'. I do not own those things, but I do own the concept of the Arii'Marr, and Aruno Baas.
Title: Sunnydale Jedi: Chapter 10 Interlude…
Author: Paradigm Shifter
Feedback: It's what makes this story continue. You like, tell me. You don't like; tell me. But be gentle. I have a fragile ego.
Rating: PG-13.
Notes: The 'Interludes' are a look into how the story is going back with Obi-Wan and the others in the Star Wars Universe. Things are moving quickly, and Ta'ania is learning…
Note 2: fanfiction.net forces my hand. I need to remove the last chapter, (which was a note pointing to a side piece in the Star Wars section) so they wont blast my account. I can't remove that chapter without loosing reviews by the bushel, so here's a teaser to the next major part of Sunnydale Jedi. Enjoy!
*
Yoda saw the battle begin. The Force would not allow a Master such as he to not witness the beginning of a battle between light and dark such as the galaxy had never seen. Even in the days of Ulic Qel-Droma and Nomi Sunrider, the Sith had never been so strong. Clearly, they had worked hard to form a power base that would be unbreakable.
Yoda nearly wept at the sight of Mace Windu and Adi Gallia being swamped by Sith…
…and then his vision was ended.
Only terror and fear for those who had become his friends remained.
Fear leads to Anger… Anger leads to Hate…Hate leads to the Dark Side…
His mind whispered to him. Not since his duel with Dooku had Yoda been so concerned.
Gripping his gimmer stick tightly, Yoda made a firm decision. He would have to help his Knights…
…for all the help they could give themselves would but cause their downfall…
*
Mace and Adi were back to back, surrounded by Sith warriors. The Jedi had quickly been pushed back, and the Sith now had a solid foothold in the Archives. The Armour that Mace had found on Yoda's urging gave the Jedi and edge, but it was one that was quickly being blunted by fatigue and sheer, unrelenting numbers.
The Jedi were trying valiantly to break through the press of Sith to get to Adi and Mace, but as fast as they made headway, they were pushed back.
Mace was sent spinning as a mass charge by Sith took him by surprise, leaving Adi Gallia's back unprotected. Of course, with no one at her back, she was again allowed full range of movement and used it.
Having learnt from her duel with Xander that two light-sabers were better than one, she cast her eyes about, looking for a blade. The only ones freely available were those of the fallen Sith, and she felt physically ill as the dark siders blade touched her hand.
The blade spat and hummed to life as she thumbed the power switch, and watched as it burnt its way through a Sith who was standing too close. He screamed as the blade burned its way through his stomach, and it abruptly ended as Adi yanked it out.
Red and Yellow, in a swirling mix fought its way through the Sith. Like a deadly spinning top, one which had it's own power source and would never run out, Adi ducked in and out of large groups of Sith, leaving bodies and limbs, separate in her wake.
A light-saber kissed her armour, and she prepared for the painful sting of the blade on her flesh.
It would be hard to tell who was more surprised, Adi, or the young Sith who had attacked her, when the blade flickered and died on contact with the cortosis ore within the suit. The sudden loss of the blade, and the resistance to forward movement that the contact would have given threw the Sith off balance. Adi looked at the young Sith, and saw nothing but hard, unrelenting hatred toward the Jedi burning in her blue eyes.
Her? Adi risked a look down, and was surprised to see it was indeed a she. No time for that now.
Continuing her dervish like spinning, Adi whipped the blade through the Sith's neck, and moved on before the head hit the floor of the Archive.
For the rest of the battle, Adi continued to see the eyes of that girl in her mind. The look in her eyes, no fear, only anger and rage, as she stared into the face of her executioner.
No one in the battle saw a single tear wend its way down Adi's cheek, before it too was gone into the maelstrom of violence that the Archive had become…
*
Mace Windu, taken by surprise, was forced to abandon his position at Adi's back. He was quickly swamped by Sith, who, like him realised that in such close quarters, lightsabers would be just as dangerous to them as to the Jedi they were trying to take down.
Where Mace had fallen soon became a great pile of living, attacking bodies, all intent on being the one to kill a master such as Windu.
Mace for himself, was merely struggling to breath, knowing full well that the sheer number of bodies piled on top of him would soon be his downfall.
He groaned in pain, before managing to squeeze out a few painful words to the Sith grinning down at him with dark red stained teeth. It wasn't blood, as a normal person might have thought, but a statement to all who saw that he served the Dark side of the force.
"You're an ugly bastard, you know that?" hissed Mace as the Sith's hand came clawing for his eyes.
He turned his face away as the hand got too close, but found the fingers forcing their way into his mouth. Mace bit down hard, and was rewarded by an anguished scream and the hand being swiftly withdrawn.
Perhaps too swiftly, as Mace spat out the small amount of flesh that was left in his mouth.
"Urgh. You taste worse than you look!" He took as deep a breath as he could with all the weight on his chest. "Now, GET OFF ME!"
The Force explosion flung the pile of Sith in all directions, flinging them high enough in the air to come into contact with the ceiling of the Archives high above.
Sith and Jedi alike stopped for a fraction of a second at the sudden occurrence, and the sight of either their comrades or enemies being hurled in all directions.
Mace stood, unsteadily, and breathed deeply for a second, before his eyes widened and he ducked as one of his ex-students brought his saber across at Mace's head height. He spun on the balls of his feet to see the now headless corpse of a Sith warrior behind him, balancing unsteadily before collapsing to the ground.
Mace looked back. "Thanks." He swallowed. "I thought you were going to take my head off for a second there…"
The nameless student smiled, before calmly running through another Sith that got too close. "Nah… I might have hated your constant lectures, but you weren't that bad."
"And here was I all this time, thought I was interesting!" Mace laughed despite the situation, and his saber leapt up to his hand and casually blocked a slash aimed at the other Jedi.
"Thanks." Was the only thing he said before moving off back into the press of bodies.
Mace surveyed the scene. There seemed to be as many bodies as there were live fighters now, but still more Sith were pouring in through the breached Archive doors. Surprisingly few of the bodies were Jedi, however. The only Jedi casualty that Mace could see lay at his feet, his deactivated lightsaber inches from his hand. Mace recognised the face, but couldn't put a name to it.
Turning his mind back to the battle, Mace gestured to the fallen Jedi's saber, and it sprung to hand. Flexing his fist around it, to get a feel for a blade he did not make himself, Mace noticed a small dial on the blade.
It was dual phase. Mace smiled grimly. That would give him the edge over any Sith he encountered.
Perfect.
*
