12
Anakin guided the ship into the main hangar of the skyhook, bringing it to a low hover over the obsidian floor. With a loud hiss, the landing gears deployed, and touched down. For a long moment, Anakin sat quietly, looking through the viewport about the hangar. There was only one other ship docked, and it was most certainly Ollo's. His face was stone, glowing pale in the false light.
"Anakin," Obi-Wan asked, dragging Anakin from his daydream. "Are you ready to finish this?"
Anakin smiled thinly. "More than you know, Master. More than you'll ever know." He spun around in his chair, and attached his light saber to his belt. "I'm glad the Council doesn't know about this."
"They will shortly. The disturbance caused by our mission will surely be sensed by Master Yoda."
Anakin stood and put his hand on his Masters shoulder. "May the force be with us, Master."
Obi-Wan smiled. "We'll get through this, Anakin."
The three Jedi Masters glided down the landing ramp onto the durasteel floor of the hangar bay. Anakin turned around and looked at his children who stood silently at the top of the ramp.
"Luke, Leia," He whispered, not fully able to speak his feelings. "Stay here and keep the ship prepped for take off."
They nodded.
"I love both of you with all my heart. Remember that."
Tears began to flow down their faces. Both felt a strange sensation that they may never see their father again. Luke was the first to wipe his tears away.
"I love you too father," He said. "And may the force be with you."
Leia, despite how much she wished, could not bring herself to say anything.
"We shall return shortly."
Ollo watched in dark silence as the three Jedi made their way through the halls and corridors of the skyhook. The mounted cameras picked up nearly everything. With a flick of a button, he could see the expression on Anakin's face as he ran by. It wouldn't be long until they met for the final time.
Exhaling, Ollo lifted himself up and walked into the main dining area where he had decided previously to wait. He took a seat at the helm of the long table, running his hands along the shining black marble. He missed Corellia, and this table made him feel at home.
It was then that the three Jedi rounded the corner and saw Ollo at the table. Anakin said nothing but closed in on his prey. He watched Ollo intensely, making certain his clone did not try to run. He kept his eyes fixed on his twin's face.
"Don't worry, Anakin," Ollo said with his head down. "I'm not going to try and escape."
"For once, Ollo, you are correct." Obi-Wan piped in, retrieving his light saber from his belt. Silently he depressed a button on the datapad at his side, aiming the camera at Ollo.
Ollo slid back in his chair, and stood. "I suppose we should finish this right now."
Four bars of plasma hissed into reality.
"I am learned in you Jedi customs, so I'll provide the first attack." He leapt onto the table and charged.
"Something's different about him," Anakin said coldly. "He's not quite the..."
"Jerk?" Obi-Wan finished for him.
"Exactly."
The crimson blade slashed down at Anakin first as Ollo flipped over their heads. Without a sound he landed behind them and spun his blade back into defensive position. The three Jedi spread out, surrounding him.
"So this is the way it ends?" Ollo asked, looking at each of them.
"You sound disappointed, Ollo," Obi-Wan retorted. "You do remember that you put yourself into this situation, do you not?" He lurched out with a downward slash.
"I do remember, and I sincerely apologize for my wrong doings." Ollo parried the attack easily, and followed up with a swipe at each of them.
"It's a little late for apologies, Ollo." Anakin leapt back, barely missing a fatal slash at his stomach.
Ollo began to viciously parry their attacks, slowly retreating from the dining room into a long corridor. "I realize that. But I do want you all to know that I'm sorry for what I've done."
Anakin found a gap in his defense, and kicked his twin in the solar plexus, sending him flailing into a wall. "I sense that the corruption of the Dark Side has left you."
"It was a sick lie that was instilled into me from birth, you must understand that." Ollo replied, rising to his feet. "And it has left me now in the worst of moments."
Another attack pushed Obi-Wan off balance, and Ollo used it to drive the Master down to the ground, all the while parrying attacks from both Afe and Anakin. With Obi-Wan sprawled on the floor, he turned his focus on the others. Before retreating once more, he kicked Obi-Wan in the face, knocking him unconscious for good measure.
They moved from the corridor into the main control room, where Ollo began to fling objects at Anakin in a desperate attempt to gain footing on the situation. A flying chair whizzed by Anakin's face, and crashed against a control panel, exploding in shower of sparks and fire. The lights began to flicker. Obviously the panel controlled the entire skyhook. Anakin realized that the spacestation may not be entirely stable after the controls were crushed. It was time to finish this.
Anakin grasped Ollo by the throat with the force, dragging him across the marble floor toward the Jedi Master. Though Ollo seemed ready to pass out by lack of air, he was actually manipulating a steel railing, sending it toward Anakin's head from behind.
Anakin sensed the railing at the last moment, but couldn't stop it. The steel connected with the back of his head, knocking him down. The room went dark, and he saw no more.
Afe looked down at the fallen Skywalker. She could sense that he was not dead, but merely knocked out. With a sigh, she twirled her saber around and prepared for Ollo's attacks.
Ollo, released from Anakin's force grasp, stood and brushed his cloak off. "Two down, and one to go."
"You'll never win, Ollo," She retorted.
He didn't reply, but grabbed her through the force, and threw her against the already crushed control panel. With a grunt, her light saber fell from her hand. In an instant, he was upon her. He tore off her mask, casting it through the air behind him. She began to cough as he punched her in the stomach. He used her flaws against her.
With a sick look on his face, he watched her fight for air, unable to cleanse it properly. She could feel blisters forming in her throat as a reaction of her allergies. After an agonizing eternity, she tried to push him away, but could not muster the strength.
It was then that Ollo felt the cold sensation of steel across the back of his head. He never saw Obi-Wan throwing the same piece of metal that hit Anakin. With a loud report, it knocked Ollo from atop Afe, and he rolled across the marble floor. Obi-Wan didn't succeed in knocking the Sith out, and Ollo took to his feet, running from the room.
With great speed, Obi-Wan ran to Afe's side. Her mask lay broken next to her.
"Afe, can you hear me?"
She said nothing, but shook her head weakly
He knew that she was going to die if he didn't do something. Obi-Wan placed his lips over hers, breathing in the air that from his lungs. With the help of the force, he tried to cleanse every breath that he took. After a few seconds, he pulled from her long enough to slap the unconscious Anakin in the face.
"Anakin, Wake up!"
Anakin didn't stir.
A claxon sounded, warning everyone of the skyhook's position in orbit. With the controls crushed, it seemed to be falling slowly into Dantooine's atmosphere, and there was no way to stop it.
"Oh, this is bad."
He hit Anakin again, and by the force, the young Master opened his eyes. Anakin stood shakily, rubbing the back of his head.
"What happened?" He asked.
"No time to answer," Obi-Wan yelled to him. "Go after Ollo. I have to get Afe back to the ship. She's suffocating!"
Anakin nodded, grabbed his saber from the floor, and began to run from the room.
"Anakin!" Obi-Wan shouted again.
Anakin stopped. Without another word, Obi-Wan tossed Anakin his light saber.
"You might need two. And hurry, we have to get out of here! The space station is falling from orbit!"
Ollo waited silently in a secondary hangar, rubbing the back of his head. It ached, and not just from the impact of the steel rod. He was tired, and wanted nothing more than to end this and return to Corellia. Soon, he realized, The three Jedi would come after him, and there was nowhere to go from here. Ollo sighed. It wouldn't be long now.
Anakin once again rounded a corner and found Ollo simply standing there. As he advanced toward his twin, he noted the sad look on his face. It seemed almost unnatural that a Sith felt remorse for his crimes. Throughout his career as a Jedi, he had never encountered any criminal that regretted his actions, at least openly.
"Why such a sad face, Ollo?" Anakin asked sincerely.
"You wouldn't understand, Anakin. You've never been enslaved by yourself. By the person you thought you were."
Anakin ignited his light saber once again, feeling the hilt hum to life. "I know how it feels to be enslaved. I was once a slave." He watched Ollo ignite his saber as well. "And I'm sorry, but I can't take you in alive."
"I understand, friend." Ollo replied.
Under any other circumstances Anakin would have spat at the term "friend" from a Sith, but he felt pity for the man. "I have to clear my name."
"Then it is a fight to the death," Ollo said in a whisper.
"Would you have it any other way?"
A smile spread across Ollo's face. "A week ago, perhaps I would have wanted to kill you. But now, things have changed. I just want to disappear now."
"I'm sorry, Ollo."
"I will say, that I wouldn't want to die by any other man's hand than yours."
"You really have lost the heart of the Sith," Anakin replied. "Your emotions convey a feeling that you know you won't win."
Ollo ignited his two shield gloves. "I just don't feel that it's the will of the force for me to win." He brought his crimson bar of plasma to his face in a formal salute. "Let us end this."
Suddenly it seemed as if the floor were giving way. The false gravity wells were failing as the skyhook began falling from Dantooine's orbit. Anakin used the moment to begin the final attack. With an exhalation of air, he lunged forward, slashing diagonally at Ollo. The attack was blocked easily by Ollo, who returned with a similar attack in the opposite direction.
A flurry of attacks ensued from Anakin's saber blade, with slashes and jabs quicker than the eye could see.
"You're really on your game, Skywalker." Ollo said, shunting an attack away with his left shield glove.
"I've never been off it," Anakin replied.
The two began battling furiously through the empty hangar, moving about in graceful arcs as they attacked and parried attacks. At length the two came together in a sizzling saber lock, pressing against each other as their sabers hissed violently. For an infinite moment they stared into each other's matching eyes. For an infinite moment they were one.
"It ends here, Ollo." Anakin said, pressing his saber blade against Ollo's as hard as he could muster.
Another fluctuation in the failing gravity wells shook the skyhook. Through the hangar bay, Ollo could see the luminous horizon of Dantooine's surface as the sun reflected off the atmosphere. He watched the golden hue spread across the planet, and knew it was his end.
The skyhook shook once more, and knocked Ollo off balance. He stumbled back and instantly felt the icy hot blade of Anakin Skywalker's light saber piercing his stomach. It sizzled, superheating his flesh. He could barely feel it. His world became a blur as he stared dumbly at the cerulean bar of plasma in his solar plexus.
Anakin used the force and tossed Ollo across the hangar bay like a ragdoll. With a grunt, the clone slammed into the far wall. Within an instant Anakin was standing next to him.
"I need evidence to clear my name," Anakin said, standing above his clone.
Ollo groaned and held his right arm up. Without hesitation, Anakin flicked his light saber and cut it off at the elbow. It crackled and fell to the floor.
Anakin leaned in and placed his hand on Ollo's shoulder. "Go unto the force with honor, my friend."
Ollo smiled and began to cough burgundy liquid. "Go, Anakin. Get out of here while you can."
Anakin was tossed back and forth in the hallways as he made his way back toward the main hangar. His head ached terribly, and he wanted to go home. He wanted to see Padme's face again. The thoughts ran through his mind as the lights began to fail, flickering several times, and falling into darkness. He knew it was up to the force to save him now.