Chapter 15

After a couple of days of intense healing, Leo was okay to go back to his training. He had completely forgotten about asking Ranzel about his pride. Instead, he was intent on his learning, and on the Force around him.

He had no idea just how incredible his rate of healing was, especially considering how much he was used to the Force. Ranzel was however, but he left Leo to heal alone while he went about his duties searching for information.

While Leo rested between healing, he had plenty of time to think back over everything; his childhood, his mother – back on Xircamede, the children at the Temple. With the Force on his side, and the utter concentration of the sleepless trance, he could reach out and settle on any memory and happily realise exact details as though the image were still before his eyes.

Soon he was better enough to consider training more. Ranzel had found a very old remote droid on one of the market stores on Pentusar, and had spent about two hours rewiring it to be a training module, instead of merely acting as interior defence.

When Ranzel had a moment free from his searching for information, he set the remote up, activating it with the Force. The little thing twitched into life and rose into the air, hovering before Leo.

Hesitating, the Padawan glanced at his Master. "What do I do?" He asked.

"It'll attack you as soon as it's warmed up. You must defend yourself against it. The art of the Jedi is in defence, not in offence. Attacks, unless in true self defence, can only be in anger. And you already know what lies further upon that path."

Leo nodded and took his lightsaber from its place, bringing it defensively across his chest. He raised his eyes to the remote silently.

"When I deem you ready, you'll have to fight it blindfolded," Ranzel warned softly. Leo nodded his understanding. Now he knew that the Force came better in such detachment, it was easier to realise Ranzel's reasons for forcing such conditions. If he could feel the remote instead of see it, then he would lose a lot of his restraint – particularly if he had to fight in bad circumstances or complete darkness.

Closing his eyes and holding his breath, Leo was subjected to a momentary surge of that same proud feeling as it rose in Ranzel for a moment. He endeavoured not to be distracted by it, because in that same instant, the remote made its first move.

It plunged to one side, rolled and rose, firing low at Leo's side. Dipping the tip of his lightsaber, Leo managed to deflect the blow, but only just.

The remote retreated, and he opened his eyes to look up at it, surprised at what he'd done.

"Do not be so amazed, Leo. You have been managing similar feats for a while – although not in the same way."

Leo nodded and closed his eyes again, taking a deep breath and focusing on the Force around him. He could feel the remote; almost see it in front of him. A whirling of engines sent it rising up in front of him, and Leo quickly lifted his weapon, blocking a blow above, and then another behind him as he twisted fully to defend himself from it.

The remote seemed to be frustrated now. It spun back in a quick circle, but Leo was already ahead of it, taking a series of blows in his step – his lightsaber absorbing the energy.

"Very good," Ranzel said softly. "You can feel it now. I never imagined you would succeed so quickly."

So that was it. Ranzel was proud of him, because he had learnt so easily the ways of the Force. Perhaps he had, Leo mused. After all, he had only been in this environment for a short time.

After another ten minutes of hard work with the remote, Ranzel ordered Leo to stop and take a shower, and then go back into the trance for two hours. Obediently, the younger bowed and went to do just that, happy with the bound forward that their training had taken.

Ranzel was gone when Leo slipped back out of his meditation. He had felt him go but not rose himself, although it was somewhat early for him to awake. Sleepily he reached out with the Force, trying to find out what had woken him. The feeling that he found was instantly sobering; a clinging darkness that seized around his heart, overwhelming in its power.

Leo was on the bridge within seconds of his rising. Whatever it was, it was big, and dangerous. He activated everything he could, instantly, then sank down into the pilot's chair.

He had to quell his panic, he realised. It would do no good to be caught unawares. Relaxing, he let himself focus on everything he had learnt, the calm knowing of the Force around him settling. With his concentration the feeling of darkness increased. It was a choking terrible feeling, sending out tendrils that crawled around his heart and clung to him, trying to take him.

Filling himself with the Force and focusing on driving back that darkness seemed to hold it at bay though, and Leo could manage that at the same time as reaching out with the Force. The darkness wasn't in the bay, and a glance at the controls affirmed that. The station…it still had its own dark patches, but nothing as severe as what he felt now. No…that particular darkness seemed to come from overhead – which meant…

Leo's hand was already on the controls. Bringing up the planetary sensor grid, he could instantly see the ships in orbit. A few taps to the controls identified friend from foe, and he finally realised that the source of the darkness must be within the ships themselves.

Glowing in bright red; the Universal danger colour: was a giant ship, flanked by two smaller ones. The largest of the ships was a long, elegant V shaped image on the display, like an arrowhead. It sent a tremor of fear through Leo, which he struggled to suppress, because it seemed to make the darkness within him fight all the harder.

They were here for him. They must be. Whoever was up there, creating such an evil presence was here for him, and the creeping feeling around his heart confirmed it.

Tense, Leo sat in the pilot seat, struggling to settle the turbulence within him. Ranzel needed to return, and they had to go – quickly. His hand hovered over the control which would start the ship's ascent.

That was when the voice came. It sang with the power of the Dark Side – every single word trembling with the sheer strength of it. Leo had to hold his breath to focus, striking down a sudden wave of nausea and fear that filled him. He had to fight it, because if he let it win, the darkness would close around him; consume him.

I can feel you, came the voice; strong and true.

Leo suddenly realised he couldn't breathe. He closed his eyes, focusing more on controlling himself.

You will be mine, insisted the voice.

"No," Leo replied loudly. To the room it felt stupid. Without thinking he reiterated it, sending the negative back through the connection fearlessly. I will not be a puppet for the Dark Side.

He must have managed to throw off the speaker, because whoever he was, he went silent, and seconds later Ranzel appeared in the bay below them. He had his lightsaber out, and he was deflecting bolts that came from within the caves as he retreated.

It was obvious to Leo that Ranzel had found himself in a little trouble. The source of the trouble appeared seconds later after him. Soldiers in battle armour seemed to be firing at him erratically as he backed towards the ship. Desperate to help, Leo turned to the controls, using his left hand to open the ramp of the ship as Ranzel reached it.

His right hand worked swiftly over the panel. If he could get the canon working, he could take down the soldiers. He pulled up the screen, shifted the console into position…

Close it! Ranzel, this time, and Leo had his hand on the ramp control instantly, shutting it behind the Jedi, while his right hand went for the command stick.

Leo instantly had the weapons to bear within the bay, and this apparently was enough to make the troopers back away. Ranzel came in beside him and grabbed his hand, forcing it from the controls. "No. If you fire that in here, the walls will deflect it. They absorb smaller shots harmlessly, but a larger one would bounce back and take out the ship."

Ranzel forced Leo to relent the controls and then cycled through a few commands with stunning speed. Watching, Leo could only assume that he was hacking the docking bay computer systems, because seconds later the doors into the caves locked down, and the hatch above them began to open, instantly killing the Imperial villains that hadn't managed to escape.

Leo was still struggling to turn away the feeling of creeping darkness seeping through him, but Ranzel managed to get them into the air without his help. But that was about as far as he managed on his own, because a pair of ships suddenly made their appearance, sweeping over the top of the Spaceport at high speed.

"Looks like they were expecting an escape attempt," Ranzel murmured, and Leo lifted his eyes to the screen. The ships were coming in at full speed, while the Renzucon was still accelerating steadily.

"I don't fancy taking on those Destroyers, the Intergalactic Battlestar least of all. We'll skim the planet's surface, but it'll mean holding off their fighters until we get the planet between us and their tractor beams."

Leo nodded and took up the weapons controls once more, bringing up the correct viewpoint to focus on the fighters. They were silver ships, with twin engines on either side which looked a lot like razor shells. On the inside there seemed to be a pivot, with a smooth, egg shaped pod in the centre. As they changed direction, the gravity brought the pod round, so that no matter the tilt, the pilot was always upright.

"Fighters," Ranzel offered, to Leo's unasked question. "These ones are adapted for gravity flying. In a vacuum, the pods are static."

Nodding, Leo brought his hand onto the controls. Somehow, seeing into those pods through the black glass made it more real somehow. There were real people in there, doing their job – and killing them would be his only escape.

Steeling himself, he took aim on the first fighter. Two shots that hit, but no critical hit. The ship whirled, returned upright and rose again. Leo didn't look at the main screen to see just where Ranzel was flying; he found he could predict the change in direction well enough and easily adjusted to the change of angle with the motion of the ship, training the weapon on the fighter he'd been tracking before.

Eliminate it, and then think about the other one, he told himself. It would be more effective than flicking between them.

The ship whirled back into position, and a quick blast took out one of the engines, sending it skittering off across the barren rock.

"More ships joining in the fight," Ranzel warned, but Leo could already feel them. He tensed ever so slightly, and then returned to what he was doing, taking a few shots at the approaching fighter, each missing in turn.

"Conserve your canon. I can't give you any recharge now. We're depending on speed to get out of this."

Leo bit his lip and closed his eyes. If he had to save his charge, he would have to do this a different way. One hand resting on the controls, he concentrated on the Force.

It was difficult, because he had to work beyond the feeling of darkness that crept within him. The darkness wanted him to reach out to the life force and snuff the life out of the opposing pilot. He fought the urge valiantly. Instead, he sought out the ship's engine, trained his weapon on it with his eyes closed, and fired.

The ship spun and crashed in the same way, grinding to a halt on the planet's surface. There wasn't any time for congratulations. Leo could feel a part of that massive darkness approaching him – it was somehow more familiar than the feeling he got from above.

A wave of understanding hit him violently. It was the same feeling he'd had that first time he'd come into contact with the Empire…and that could only mean one thing. The smooth black fighter that they had witnessed on the way to Xircamede was joining the fight. He could feel it now, streaking closer, and leading in turn, a team of eight other fighters.

So this was the Sith he had come into contact with before, come to wreak revenge upon him and Ranzel?

Leo turned to the display panel, glancing quickly at the Battlestar and frowning. They were close to the horizon now. Just a little further and Ranzel would be able to start his ascent. It was necessity that Leo hold them off long enough.

Turning back to the image, Leo looked steadily over the slim shape of the dark fighter as it approached, his fingers braced on the trigger.

Another feeling was discernible in the darkness now, a bitter hatred that sank a cold knife into his belly. Something he or Ranzel had done had made this particular Sith so furious with him that he had pursued them like this. It was obvious that extreme caution was needed.

Shocking Leo in his suddenness, despite the connection to the Force, Ranzel whirled to the right, sending the ship spinning over itself. A shot from the nearest fighter missed them, and Ranzel swooped under another attack. That clarified something important. They were in range, and the serious fighting had begun.

Settling on the Force once more, and trying to strike away that bitter hatred and cold anger from his body; Leo began to go back to what he was doing. He tracked the enemy fighters with his mind, followed them with what he had learned, and when they showed any flaw, shot at them. But they had obviously been trained well. Each shot was well earned sharpness, and even then they sometimes missed with a sudden last minute swerve out of range.

Obviously used to fighting Jedi, Leo considered, privately.

The Renzucon suddenly began to bank upwards, spinning again to avoid a flurry of fire. One of the fighters had missed the change of direction, revealing his vessel to attack, and Leo took him out with three shots across his retreating flank. A glance at the scope beside him told him that there were still five more fighters and the leader, and that he had little more than a quarter of his canon charge remaining.

"We just have to get far enough from the planet to avoid the effect of gravity on the navi computer," Ranzel said, an odd sense of calm in his voice. Leo could feel the serenity flowing through his Master, the connection to the Force that so far had held the ship together.

The ships were still pursuing, but now Leo had hope on his side. He turned on them, and only took the shots when he was sure to be aiming true. He couldn't waste the canon now, especially when they still needed to run the navi computer through.

In mere seconds the Renzucon burst out through the thin, toxic atmosphere into the black depths of space, and Ranzel advised: "Give it fifteen seconds, then hit the navi computer."

Leo nodded, flicking his eyes down to the screen again. The black fighter was advancing upon them, and he bit his lip. It wouldn't want to lose them into hyperspace again – he assumed it would be an embarrassing failure.

Twelve, thirteen, fourteen, fifteen – his mind told him, and his hand snapped over to hit the control on the navi computer. It was already set for Cantauri. Beyond that, it would have to find satisfying numbers.

The first two numbers loaded immediately. And then they began to take longer, as it decided on the best course to take through the star map. Leo turned his attention back to the fighters. The black one was moving erratically – far too fast for his weapons to track. It plunged and rolled, but its mass provided cover for the fighters behind it too, and all Leo could do was watch them come closer.

"Hurry," he hissed softly, more to himself than anything else, before focusing one last time. His heart was beating frantically in his chest, and he could feel the darkness there still. It was haunting, but he ignored it, clinging instead to the Force, and letting the warmth spread through him. No…he was not afraid. He could defend himself.

Leo felt the fighter level its weapons directly on the Renzucon's engines. There was nothing he could do. It fired, and he reached out desperately to try and stop it, knowing full well that it was impossible. This was it then. The end…