Master Ellen stood with her Padawan, Aerandir Ancalimé, and her good friend, Falco Volt in the chill wind. The entrance to the crystal mines yawned behind them like the mouth of some giant creature. Her turquoise blade blazed amid the stark white of the surrounding landscape.
She straightened when she saw four Sith heading in their direction. 'This is it,' she thought. Falco and Aerandir spread out to either side. Falco was young for a Knight, but he had proved himself on more than one occasion to be an excellent swordsman. His blue and purple sabers shone brightly amidst all the driving snow around them.
The warrior on the left side of the group split off towards Falco, her red blade turning the snow from white to pink. Her dark cloak billowed around her in the rushing wind. Falco could feel her anger and hatred of him as he readied himself. She charged without warning, her blade coming in high. He ducked away from the strike, her blade passing his ear. Kicking out, he knocked her off her feet and she landed hard on the frozen ground.
Bursting to her feet, the Sith lunged at him, over-extending her reach. Falco's blue blade intercepted her arm before her blade could touch him, and she lost the arm as well as her blade. She howled in rage, and shoved at him with the Force. He caught himself after he had travelled only a few feet, and set himself once more as she came at him with her blade once again. He sidestepped, and sweeping his blade around, he felt her spirit depart as her lifeless body fell to the frozen ground. He paused a moment, honoring the warrior she had been, and then turned to help his friends.
Ellen was battling it out with two Sith, her turquoise blade a blur as she pushed them back from the mines. The Sith were doing there best to distract her in order to retrieve some of the crystals. Aerandir intercepted the last warrior, just as he reached the mine entrance. "And just where do you think you are going?" he asked. The Sith sneered at him. "I go where I please young one, and it pleases me to have some of those crystals."
Aerandir set himself, his blue-white blade held in a low guard, the tip aimed at his opponent. "Not if I have anything to say about it!" His fear melted to be replaced with a calm resolve. No Sith would lay a hand on the crystals today. He charged the Sith, his blue-white blade whipping around. Their blades crashed together as they struggled for position. The Sith shoved hard, sending the young Padawan flying backwards. Aerandir hit the ground hard, and rolled. The Sith stalked toward him, his crimson blade held low. Aerandir looked up, and barely brought his blade up in time to fend off a strike aimed at his head.
The Sith used his superior positioning as he forced Aerandir's blade back towards him. The young Jedi fell back, and rolled aside, causing the other's blade to impact the ground in a shower of steam. He turned again, lashing out with his foot to catch Aerandir in the ribs as he rose. Aerandir doubled over, pain blossoming in his side as he felt something give. The other grinned maliciously, sensing the Jedi's agony.
"I can feel your pain...Let it fuel you, rise above the weak..."
The Padawan smirked a little, in spite of his pain. "I think not..." he straightened, and as he did so, all trace of pain left his face. He charged the Sith, his blade held high in a two-handed grip. As he reached the other, he swept his blade down, bisecting the Sith from shoulder to hip as the dark energy exploded into the Force.
Ellen could feel when the Sith fighting her student was defeated, and she was amazed at the amount of power he displayed. He always had functioned well under stress. Falco joined her in the fight with the last two warriors, his twin blades moving in counterpoint to her bright turquoise one.
Both Jedi became as one mind as they fought, their moves complimenting the other's. Falco batted aside his opponent's blade, bringing his blue blade up to follow through. The Sith seemed confused, as if he had never fought someone weilding two blades before. His moves became clumsy and slow as he worked to break Falco's defense.
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Jason limped over the frozen landscape, leaning heavily on Callista. 'We can't fight like this', she thought. "Jason, hang on a minute, let me look at your side..." She stopped and helped steady him as he lifted the edge of his tunic.
There was indeed a chunk of tissue missing from his side. She crouched a little, to get a better angle, and focused the Force around the wound. Muscles began to heal and repair themselves and she set a temporary shield around Jason and herself. Once the skin had closed over, she stood up. "Good as new, bro."
"Yeah, what's that sis? It still hurts like i been trampled by a herd of bantha's!"
Jason tried to pull on a smile. "Thanks."
Callista grinned. "I only hope you can keep your good humor..." She frowned. "We should go help Steffan.." She rose again, steadying him. Jason looked over to Callista, "Hows he doing?"
"Not good... Even one of the best swordsmen of the Order has his limits..." She could just see them over the next rise. Making her way towards them, her attention was focused on Jason. "Are you going to be alright, Ja?"
"I'll live," he smiled, trying to hide his grimace. "You get on ahead and help steffan. I'll follow up as quick as I can."
"But... Ja, you can barely stay standing, much less hold your saber steady..."
"Go," Jason looked into her eyes, "Steffan needs you now!" She nodded, with one more parting look at Jason, then turned and ran. Now that Calli had finally gone Jason stopped hold back the pain he was still in. Looking around for something to support him he found a large piece of metal from some long-abandoned droid. Wrapping some cloth round it Jason used it as a form of crutch. "Hmm much better." Jason tried that boyish smile of his.
Callista felt a wash of pain over her link with Jason, and stumbled. 'Oh Gods, Jason...' She looked up to find her path blocked by four Sith, and she paled slightly. Hobbling along trying to look ahead Jason suddenly felt a wave of dread come over Callista. "It's ok focus," he said quietly.
Sitting down on the ground, Jason closed his eyes and let go, bringing his connection with Calli closer. Callista felt the nudge from Jason and straightened, squaring her shoulders as she faced them. "You are in my way, move aside..." Her voice was firm, but the Sith would not be swayed. They each drew a saber: purple, orange, yellow, and red.
Callista drew her own blades, setting herself as the four warriors fanned out. Her violet blades sprang to life as the four began to close on her, boxing her in. She sensed their intent a moment before they moved, and like she had during her classes with Steffan, she opened herself and the Force came pouring in.
Purple struck high, while Yellow's blade came in low from the other side. She jumped, and twisting in the air, until her body was parallel with the ground. It was then that she lashed out. Her right foot snapped out, catching Purple across the face. She felt his nose give from the impact, and he went down, his hands over his face.
She felt Yellow's blade bite the ground, and heard a curse escape his lips. Flipping over, she landed hard in a crouch. Purple rose in front of her, his face covered in blood, and his rage making the Force boil. His saber flew into his hand, activating as it came. He raised the blade over his head, striking down towards hers. She reacted instinctively, and spun to the right, separating his head from his shoulders in one sweep of her blade. The head impacted the ground with a wet thud, and the rest of his corpse followed a heartbeat after.
The remaining three closed in, cutting off her escape. Yellow moved first, coming at Callista from behind. She ducked under the blade and back flipped away, coming to her feet with her sabers blazing. Turning, Callista moved away from the group, but found Yellow blocking her way once more. The other's saber swung low, aimed for Callista's legs, as she jumped above it, her twin blades whipped out towards Yellow's chest, only to be blocked by Yellow's blade.
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Steffan parried again to the side and brought his foot around to deliver a roundhouse to the Elder's jaw. He quickly assumed the guard position again as Malus staggered back and glared at him.
"You know you can't win this fight, Malus," Steffan told him. "Surrender."
Malus sneered. "You are overconfident, Master Karrde." He used the title like it was a filthy word.
"You remember the first rule," Steffan said as he blocked another strike and manhandled Malus to flip him around into the snow drift.
"Never take on an opponent unless you expect to win."
Grunting, the other rose to his feet once more, snow causing his robe to look bleached.
Steffan kept his eyes on him, but felt the struggle Callista was having. 'This cannot continue any longer'. A grin spread over the other's features as he sensed Steffan's line of thought. "That one does not deserve the pleasure of living, she betrayed us..."
"Malus, you know as well as I that it all comes down to choice," Steffan told him as he held his blade high. "Sometimes, it just takes longer to make the right one."
He grunted. "Be that as it may, she still defied her oath..."
"As she did with ours," Steffan said, relaxing himself for the next move. "We can forgive...can you?"
"I cannot..." He lunged at Steffan, forcing the other back before he found himself face first in a snowdrift again. He rose, snow drifting slowly from his robe as he came at Steffan, the anger evident in his face. Steffan reacted without thought, his blade seeming to move on its own as he spun aside, and then whipped his blade around. He felt the other's Dark energy explode into the Force as he passed.
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Callista felt the Elder's passing wash over her, and it made her skin crawl. The three remaining Sith seemed to almost go mad as their master passed onto the Force. They rushed her, their blowns fuelled by anger and hate, they wanted her dead.
She felt Jason lending her strength through their link, and she touched his mind before diving into the raging river of the Force. 'Thanks, Ja...'
Her presence winked out for a second, and then it was if a star had gone nova in the center of the group. She exploded into motion, her sabers moving so fast it seemed as if a solid wall of violet light. surrounded her.
Yellow came at her again, her blade weaving in lazy circles, trying to catch Callista off guard. She saw right through it. Forcing the other's blade down, she punched her squarely in the jaw. The other passed out, but Callista felt something give in her right hand.
Red and Orange stepped over the limp body of their comrade, the glee evident in their eyes. She knew that they had every intention of seeing her dead today. She kicked out again, intending to catch Red in the chest, but he caught her ankle and twisted, flipping her over so that she landed hard on her back.
The saber flew out of her left hand as she fell, skittering across the ice, she reached for it, summoning it with the Force, but winced hard when Orange planted his foot against her wrist, forcing it against the ground. He shook his head and grinned, raising his blade above his head for the final blow. In that moment, Callist moved faster than she ever thought possible.
Her saber moved as if it had been shot from a cannon, guided by her mind and the Force, it whipped up from where it lay across the ice, and proceeded to bury itself in Orange's chest. Scissoring her legs around, she knocked his feet from under him.
Red rose above her, his crimson blade casting an ominous glow over the area. He too readied himself for the final strike, but was unprepared for what followed. Callista once again had possession of both her blades, and she batted his saber aside, and sunk both of her blades into his chest. His body fell forward, and she shut down her sabers and stepped away. Then promptly collapsed. Her body was shaking, she had never felt the Force so strongly before...it had filled her like an empty glass waiting for water.
Jason stood up. Transferring that much Force energy takes it toll on anyone. Looking over to where he expected Callista to be, all he could see was a crumpled body on the ground. 'How could I have been so wrong', he thought. Summoning what little strength he had, he ran to Calli's side.
Placing a arm under her shiulders raising them up so she rested on his lap, "Don't you leave me like this, you Bantha brains!"
She turned her head, "Ja..?"
"Don't do that!" Jason looked stunned.
"I feel like an X-wing landed on me..."
"Come on, we gotta get out of here and check on the others. Can you read them?"
"Malus is gone..." her voice trailed off. "Steffan's alright, the others are..."
"Are what, Calli?" Jason asked as if he wasn't sure he wanted the answers.
She struggled to focus. "They're ok..." She struggled to sit up, but lacked the strength. "Ja, help me, please..."
Placing an arm under Calli's shoulder, he helped to raise her to her feet.
She wavered for a moment. "I don't know if I'll make it Ja, I'm so tired..."
"I ain't gonna carry no dead weight so you better stay awake!" Jason responded. He then placed the palm of his free hand on Calli's forhead. Closing his eyes he tried to give what little energy he could spare himself.
Her eyes opened, and they were clear. "Thanks... Let's go find Steffan."
Looking back, Jason reached out his hand that he had just removed from Calli's forehead and called all the lightsabers that were lying around to him. Slowly filling a backpack of them and slinging it over his shoulder.
"Ja, those are Sith sabers...What are we gonna do with them?"
"Make sure no one else uses them and destroy them completely. I know what you were thinking!"