Chapter 6: Departure from Sulon
As Zeno, Dur, and Kyle ran towards the hanger, they began to notice that many more of the light fixtures were becoming active. As they exited the small hallway into another catwalk, they emerged above the production area.
Seeing many pieces of droids that had yet to be constructed, and some that were completed. Over two-dozen Destroyer Troopers lay inactive, as well as some of the other two droids they had seen schematics for. Kyle stopped, looking down onto the droids.
"We need to do something about these things…" Kyle said. Dur nodded, and Zeno glanced down.
"Should we destroy them?" Zeno suggested. Kyle tiled his head, and took in a sharp breath. Shaking his head, he looked onward towards the hanger.
"No, I think maybe we could send someone from the New Republic to maybe reprogram them to serve the NR Military. It'd be better strategically speaking…" Kyle said, trailing off as the sound of beeps and whistles came. Looking down, the Jedi saw that the eyeball-like droids were activating. Feeling a surge of the Dark Side, Zeno looked to where they had come from. There stood the man, robed in black.
"That was a very admirable performance you all showed." He said, clapping mockingly. "Truly, I wish those Shadow Troopers could be just a little less pathetic compared to you. It would make our plans so much easier." The man said with a smile.
"Who are you?" Kyle shouted. The man let out a high-pitched, although sinister laugh. The Jedi's hands slowly moved towards their Lightsabers, and gave each other a glance.
"My name is Darth Idrajit. I am Sith. That is all you need to know." Idrajit said with a now straight-expression. Suddenly, the eyeball droids flew up, and surrounded the Jedi. With a nod from Kyle, the Lightsabers flashed to life. Laughing, Idrajit Drew his Lightsaber. The design of the handle was curved, a throwback to older days. Igniting the red blade came to life, and the droids began to fire their blasters, which jutted out from their front.
Zeno and Dur did their best to block the blasts, while Kyle walked towards Darth Idrajit. Readying their blades, they faced each other, each with a fierce look of determination on his face. Then, Their blades met with a crash, and with blinding speed, they furiously attacked each other.
Kyle was an accomplished swordsman, and while he had fought against many types of Sword fighting, he had never encountered the style in which Idrajit was trained. The Sith Lord used only one hand, and instead of making direct blows, and using direct blocks, he would parry often, and feint even more. Kyle was fighting a losing battle, for he knew that his stamina could not last against this style of fighting.
"What is wrong Kyle Katarn? I had heard that you were one of the best the Jedi Order had to offer." Idrajit said slyly, as thrust his blade at Kyle. Kyle breathed deep, flipping back, and landed with a grunt. Idrajit smiled, and took another step forward, and swept his blade down towards Kyle. Raising his blade, Kyle locked the red and blue sabers together. Pressing against Idrajit's blade, Kyle pushed the sabers to the side, leaving Idrajit seemingly open to attack. The Sith Lord, however, raised his free hand, and used the force to send a blow directly into Kyle's face, knocking him back.
"You're good, that's for sure." Kyle said. As he stood back up, Kyle wiped the blood that had started dripping from his nose. Raising his blade, Kyle took his ready position again. Idrajit laughed, and raised his blade as well. Zeno and Dur, having just finished taken care of the last of the droids, ran up behind Kyle, sabers at ready.
"I see this fight has become somewhat unfair." Idrajit said. "We shall continue another time, Kyle Katarn." The Sith lord hissed, and pointed his blade at the Jedi Master. "With that, I bid you farewell." With a bright flash, Idrajit vanished, leaving the Jedi perplexed. They shook their heads, and Zeno placed his hand on Kyle's shoulder.
"Master Kyle, are you alright?" Kyle nodded, and then turned around. Extinguishing his blade, Kyle smiled.
"I'd appreciate it if you called me Kyle. I hate those formalities." Kyle said breathing deeply. Zeno and Dur laughed, and they extinguished their sabers as well. "Shall we depart this place?" Kyle said. Zeno and Dur nodded, and they continued along the catwalk. Zeno pulled out his comlink, and hailed Leye and Travik.
After a few seconds of static, Travik's voice burst through. "Please tell me you need pick up, because we are ready to get outta' here!" Travik said hurriedly. Zeno raised his eyebrow in surprise, and then sighed.
"Yes, that's exactly why we called you. Come now." Zeno said. "Can you track my comlink's coordinates?" Zeno asked hopefully.
"Yeah, yeah, now just stick to one place, preferable some sort of open area." Travik said. "And please, be ready when we get there."
As the Jedi ran along the catwalk, the encountered many more of the eyeball droids, but they were simply meant to be a hindrance, the Jedi dealt with them easily enough. As they emerged into the hanger, they saw that it had been sabotaged so that no one could enter, or exit, with a ship. They also felt a disturbance in the force, so they kept their hands on their Lightsabers.
They jumped down to the ground level from the catwalk, and noticed that there were many bodies of Droids as well as Stormtroopers lying near by. It was as if the droids had rebelled against their master. There were many Stormtroopers. Though no droids, who had wounds that were clearly inflicted by a lightsaber.
Suddenly, Cargo bay doors opened from the opposite side of where the Jedi were, and an entire battalion of the modified Battle Droids marched through. These battle Droids were equipped with Blasters on both arms, where any sort of a "hand" would have been.
As the sabers once again burned the ozone, The Jedi began to deflect the blasts from the many droids. As the droids continued to fire and approach the Jedi, Zeno knew there was no way they could fight their way out of this unscathed. Zeno shook his head, as he started to cut down the droids that got close to him. Then, he realized that there was a Stouker Concussion Rifle lying free near the catwalk they had emerged from. Zeno deactivated his blade, and used the force to bring the weapon to him.
Sliding his saber into his belt, and then readied the Concussion Rifle. Finding his target, he took aim, and fired. The blast went straight into the center of the Battalion, but Zeno was already aiming towards his next objective. Firing again, he watched as the blast knocked the closed hanger door open. Zeno tossed the weapon away, then nodded to Kyle and Dur.
The Jedi ran, and as they ran they had to dodge hundreds of light bolts coming from the droids behind them. As they neared the Hanger door, the Twin's Gambit descended into view. The ramp lowered, and the Jedi stepped up into the ship. Kyle looked back however, and as he deflected the bolts, he couldn't help but sigh, even as he continued onto the ship.