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Chapter 11
The youngling gasped harshly as she recognized the robe the person in front of her wore: It was a Jedi robe.
"You thought a little youngling like you could spoil our well-designed plan?" the voice coming from under the hood was cold but feminine, and that reminds Virgille of –
"Ma-Master Lal'mar!" she gasped in disbelief.
"Nice guess, Mira." The newly arrived person lowered her hood with a slender hand, and grinned joyfully at Virgille, "Thanks to your assistance, or we wouldn't be able to track you three before you were captured."
Virgille winced, "I don't have the slightest idea of what you're talking about."
"Really?" Lal'mar's beautiful smile remained, but somehow that made Virgille shudder, "Then let's try again. Do you remember I've once asked you to find the datapad I lost?"
Virgille swallowed: "I guess so…" she glanced around, tried to find help. But Qui-Gon was focused on his duel with Roga, and Obi-Wan was still surrounded by the Zephyrene soldiers – neither of them seemed to notice Lal'mar's arrival.
"Then I recalled I had left it on the ship Master Jinn and Padawan Kenobi were going to leave with, and you rushed to the ship to fetch it. Accidentally, you weren't fast enough to get off the ship before it took off." Lal'mar continued with her attractive smile, "Well, that wasn't an accident at all, you know, Mira. I intentionally left the datapad on that ship and pretended to finally recall it when it's been already too late to fetch. In other words," her bright blue eyes sparkled, "I wanted you to stay onboard and join the mission."
"No! It's not true!" Virgille yelled desperately, "You've told me to forget about that datapad because it was too late!"
Lal'mar chuckled merrily, "Because I knew your personality too well, Mira – I was very sure that you would rush to the ship and try to fetch the datapad for me, no matter how late it had been."
"Why did you want me onboard?" Virgille frowned.
"Because I needed you to carry the micro signal transmitter for us."
Virgille's face went pale instantly, "There's a signal transmitter on me?"
"Sadly yes…I put it in your tunics when I patted your shoulder that morning" Lal'mar mock-sighed, "Or you should say 'was', because you lost that transmitter when you were being chased by the Rancor."
"So you were using me all along!" Virgille shouted, feeling beguiled, "You've used me as a tool to catch Master Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan!"
"Well…" Lal'mar inclined her beautiful head with amusement, "that's what you were treated most kindly by me for: to be handy when needed. You are honestly not a talented youngling, and there isn't anything special in you except your easy-to-trust-others personality – which was the reason I chose you to reach my purpose."
"But I trusted you!" Virgille barked angrily, "You are a liar, and you've made me a liar, too! I thought I knew you, but now I see I was wrong! You don't deserve to be a Council member! You are only a filthy Dark Side scum!"
Lal'mar smiled, "There, there, Mira. No need to get so grumpy – calm yourself down a little bit and we could finish this mess as soon as possible."
Virgille's grip of her lightsaber tightened, and she thanked the Force for not letting it fly away when she was struck by the lightning.
"Good…good…my Apprentice." Darth Sidious stepped down from his position and walked to Virgille and Lal'mar.
Lal'mar bowed her head with respect, "Please forgive my delay, Master."
"Forgiveness given." Darth Sidious grinned, "You have done quite a satisfying job, my Apprentice, and this youngling could have ruined our efforts, had you not stopped her."
"Thank you, my Master." Lal'mar bowed her head again, "I believe this youngling should be destroyed as soon as possible."
Virgille gasped, and reminded herself of Master Yoda's lessons, hoping to postpone her death.
"Very well then, you may kill her now." Darth Sidious grinned wickedly.
Bolts of lightning shot from her fingertips towards Virgille, and Virgille jumped back to her feet to avoid the blow. Then she kept moving around to make Lal'mar hard to aim correctly.
"We are not playing 'hide and seek', Mira." Lal'mar said coldly, "Stand straight and fight me."
"Speak for yourself!" Virgille scolded, "You're the one who's always cheating!"
"Is that so, my dear Mira?" she laughed, "But that's why cheaters always win."
"Not completely!" Virgille retorted and evaded a new blow, "Some cheaters lose tragically!"
The continuous lightning caught Obi-Wan's attention, and his eyes widened as he saw who the attacker was.
"Master Lal'mar?" Obi-Wan murmured as he gave a soldier a high kick, "I can't believe it, she's in the Council, for Force's sake!" He held his breath when Virgille narrowly avoided another attack from Lal'mar, "I'd better help Virgule!"
He extricated himself from the beset difficultly and ran to the exhausted youngling.
Obi-Wan was stopped by Virgille's roar abruptly: "Turn back, TURN BACK!" she yelled as her escaping direction was clearly towards the rescuer. The Zephyrenes after Obi-Wan all whispered and flew away – their Ruler had gestured to them not to interfere with the Sith's matter.
"Leave that Jedi coward for now," The Sith Lord commanded to Lal'mar as Virgille ran away from her attack range, "The Reine Crystals are safe under my protection, the young Jedi won't be able to approach. After Qui-Gon Jinn dies, killing those two will only be a matter of time spent. You will let us be rid of Qui-Gon Jinn at once – that Zephyrene general will only waste our precious time."
"Yes, Master." Lal'mar nodded briefly and strode to the battling pair.
Qui-Gon parried another blow from Roga, and stepped back a bit, panting fiercely. The duel seemed to be never-ending, but Roga didn't even gasp.
Roga suddenly spread his wings wide and flew up into the air and adjusted his electrostaff. Then he swooped down with high speed, directly on Qui-Gon. Qui-Gon held up his lightsaber, ready to parry the strong strike.
Roga was struck by waves of blue lightning all of a sudden, and he fell to the metal floor with a yelp. His electrostaff laid beside him, and he braced up himself a bit with his elbows and stared at Lal'mar in confusion and anger.
"What are you doing?" he gritted his teeth hard and hissed in pain.
"Your part is finished, General. My Master needs someone to end Qui-Gon Jinn's life more…efficiently." Said Lal'mar impassively.
The Ruler's glass-like eyes narrowed with enragement and he glared at Darth Sidious briefly, who was paying attention on the two young ones. Roga had always been one of his most faithful servants, and now he was injured by the Sith themselves, his so-called ally.
Qui-Gon gaped at the Council member, "You are with them?"
"Oh, of course, Master Jinn." Lal'mar smiled charmingly, "Quite appalling, isn't it? Does my appearance here stimulate something from your…what did Master Yoda call it…lost memory?" She tittered a little.
"Yes." Qui-Gon ground his teeth; he gave Roga a short glance with the corner of his eyes and sensed the bones of Roga's wings were broken by the lightning. Roga tried to get up, but failed completely for the pain on his wings.
Qui-Gon returned his focus to the Council member – now he knew what the missing part of his recovered memory mentioned by Roga was, and that was also the hidden danger he'd felt in the dungeon. His wiped memory had recovered completely the moment Lal'mar offered her smile – he had seen that scandalous smile in the same laboratory before: After he woke from the coma caused by the accidental explosion, he had witnessed the usage of the Reine Crystals to Zephyrenes which was as a heater, and decided it was time to take his leave. Then when he was heading out to leave the fortress, he sensed a disturbance in the Force all at once. He followed the Force's guidance and reached this hidden lab, he the observed the lab from a piping as he did moments ago. What he saw had stunned him – hundreds of Reine Crystals were combined to one another on a colossal mechanism, and they were beaming with white light. The Zephyrenes around the mechanism seemed to be doing some experiments with the purplish crystals, then he heard voices talking. He shifted his position and saw the Ruler of Zephyrann and the Council member Master Lal'mar were discussing something with a low voice. With the Force-enhanced hearing, Qui-Gon listened to their conversation quietly. He heard they were saying something about the crystals could generate a kind of ray.
"It is most powerful when it is within the united, we believe their beam would be able to form the ray." The Ruler stated seriously.
And then the odious smile appeared on Lal'mar's fair face, "My Master would be pleased to hear that."
Qui-Gon knew there was something wrong with the Council member, and then he caught the attention of a guard. The Zephyrene guard immediately let out a high-pitched roar and the entire fortress was stirred.
Before his memory was wiped, the Zephyrenes had carefully healed his wounds utterly. And then they wiped all his memory concerning the things happened after the manufacturing chamber's accident and laid him back to the position where he had once lied unconscious for some time because of the accidental explosion.
Minutes later, he waked from the coma again – but the coma this time was caused by the memory-wiping process. All he could recall was that he was struck to unconsciousness by the sudden explosion. Then he got up and left the fortress to return to Coruscant and reported to the Council that there was no malice in Zephyrenes' special energy.
"If I were you, I wouldn't hurt the Ruler's underling like that." Qui-Gon commented contemptuously, "You are supposed to be on the same side."
"Well…" she inclined her head leisurely, "we are on the same side – except he's been a bit too absorbed in dueling because of his soldier's nature, and that will only delay our plan. Besides, he isn't of much use to us since he never really agrees with the plan, nor can he do the experiments. So…as you see, he is merely a general – the Ruler won't be needing him anymore if we find him a new and better substitute."
Qui-Gon sneered, "I'm afraid you have underestimated the Ruler – it seems he doesn't abandon his underlings lightly."
"That doesn't matter at the moment." Lal'mar's patience was wearing thin, "A little too far from the main point, are we, Master Jinn?"
She abruptly started the attack with her yellow bladed lightsaber, and Qui-Gon parried it just in time.
After Virgille got away from Lal'mar, she joined Obi-Wan the so-called rescuer to run further. But they noticed instantly that all the other soldiers had flown away, and Lal'mar wasn't after them, either. They confusedly turned around and saw Darth Sdious standing in front of the united Reine Crystals, gazing at them evilly.
They glimpsed aside and found Lal'mar ready to shoot down Roga. After flash of lightning, the Zephyrene general fell down and crashed to the metal floor. His eyes did detect the lightning bolts, but it was too late for him to avoid since the shooter herself was out of the detecting range.
They gasped at the sight and watched Qui-Gon and Lal'mar converse briefly and begin a new duel. Obi-Wan held his breath as he knew perfectly how fatal a lightsaber can be more than an electrostaff, not mentioning it was now in the hands of a Council member.
"We must help him!" Obi-Wan said with fluster, "He's too exhausted to fight Lal'mar!"
"But how?" Virgille asked, equally hasty, "She's a big cheeky cheater! And we must get passed that evil old monster first!"
The roar of the engine told it was running faster.
Obi-Wan's eyes widened in horror, "And what about those crystals? We must smash them."
Virgille rubbed her chin grandmaly, "Hmm…maybe we should first save Master Qui-Gon, then smash the crystals. Look, Master Cheater is much faster than the generator. Now the problem is: How are we going to pass that old guy?"
"Uh…" Obi-Wan contemplated, "Maybe we can distract him, and take the opening to get through. Now we need a bait."
"You are truly a brave young man, Obi-Wan," Virgille bade him her respect with a salute, "I'll make sure your statue will be located at the Temple front gate, in memory of your sacrifice." She promised solemnly.
"Wait a second!" Obi-Wan interrupted, "Who says I will be the bait?"
"Um…" Virgille patted her temple, "You?"
"No!" Obi-Wan barked, "I mean something NON-LIVING!"
"Oh…" Virgille was a bit surprised, "Then…where are you going to find that bait? Borrow those soldiers' thermal detonators again?"
Obi-Wan's eyes lit and he clipped his lightsaber to his utility belt, "You're a genius, Virgule!"
"I always am." Virgille waved her hand smugly, though she didn't have the slightest idea of what Obi-Wan was talking about, "And it should be Virgille. Oh, by the way, I don't think that old guy will let himself be blasted by the detonator."
Obi-Wan was busy checking the dead Zephyrene soldiers' belts, not listening to Virgille.
"Hey! I'm talking to you, Mister!" she frowned like a grandma and talked like a grandma, still holding her lightsaber hilt in her right hand.
"Whatever." Obi-Wan responded absently.
"How rude!"
"Got one!" Obi-Wan held up a thermal detonator, "Let's move on, Virgule."
"Virgille!"
They proceeded to Darth Sidious cautiously, and the Sith smiled, "Trying to shatter the crystals again, young Jedi? Or you're trying to save your Master?"
"Both!" Obi-Wan threw the activated thermal detonator hard to the floor before himself and grabbed the shocked youngling's hand immediately to avoid the explosion.
The detonator exploded instantly, causing the metal floor shaking violently.
"Are you crazy?" Virgille whispered frightenedly, "You're supposed to throw it at him, not US!"
"Then he would direct it back to us before it explodes, moron." Obi-Wan whispered back impatiently.
"That's exactly what I was trying to tell you when you were looking for the thermal detonator, idiot!" Virgille chided, "But you're even crazier than I thought! This is suicidal!"
Before the detonator's explosion, Obi-Wan had already taken Virgille away from the affected range, so when it explodes, they took advantages of the widely spread fire sparks caused by the explosion to conceal their leaping onto the piping over their original position.
Now they were crawling along the piping noiselessly, trying to pass Darth Sidious from above.
"I think he's gonna sense us." Virgille swallowed nervously, as they were getting nearer to the Sith Lord's overhead.
"I hope not." Obi-Wan held his breath unconsciously and kept moving quietly.
Suddenly, Obi-Wan sensed the danger and took Virgille's hand at no time, yelling: "Jump!"
At the same time they left the piping, the piping itself blasted instantly – Darth Sidious had used the Force to detonate it.
As their boots touched the metal floor, Obi-Wan was struck by bolts of blue lightning abruptly. He stumbled and fell down on his stomach – the Sith Lord's lightning was far more powerful than Lal'mar's.
"I honestly admire your prowess, young Jedi." The Sith grinned broadly at the panting Padawan, "But you're still too young to compete with the Lord of the Sith. Now, you will be destroyed." He held out his arms and his fingertips pointing to Obi-Wan.
Virgille gasped at the sight before her – though her body was sore after that abrupt jump and she had no idea where her lightsaber went, she knew she must do something, anything.
Darth Sidious' grin widened, his eyes focused on Obi-Wan, blue sparks began to emerge from his fingers –
Virgille stormed to his side and bit his wrist hard with her teeth without hesitation. The Sith cried in pain and glared severely at the youngling clinging to his left wrist. With a surge of the Force, he shoved Virgille off him fiercely with anger.
Virgille crashed to the floor in front of the Sith's feet with a yelp, and when she looked up, Darth Sidious was smiling ruthlessly down at her.
"You little fool, you thought you could defeat me, Darth Sidious, with those barbaric weapons of yours?" his hysterical laughter sent a chill through Obi-Wan's spine as he watched Virgille gasping helplessly before the Sith Lord, he tried to reach his lightsaber on his belt, but he found it had already been charred by the lightning. A wild grin split the Sith's face, "So long, little Jedi, you will now die before your friends…"
"Don't!" Obi-Wan implored desperately.
Qui-Gon heard Obi-Wan's despaired plea as he knocked Lal'mar to the metal wall, he turned his head at once and saw the young ones groveling on the floor before Darth Sidious, who was now shooting his lightning at the screaming youngling.
He turned back in time and parried Lal'mar's blow. Their blades locked and the Council member lifted one hand a bit and shot bolts of lightning to Qui-Gon. Qui-Gon jumped aside, avoiding the shot.
Lal'mar shot lightning towards him again, and Qui-Gon deflected the bolts with his lightsaber. He used this opening to Force-shoved her to the floor and called the electrostaff beside Roga to his right hand and cast the staff straight to the Sith with the gathered Force.
The tip of the electrostaff which was sparkling with purple electricity hit the Sith Lord's chest off guard severely, who gasped at the sudden pain and shock, and it knocked him off his feet to hit the beaming crystals behind him.
The united Reine Crystals shattered all at once under the strong strike, and they exploded with shards of crystals sputtering and waves of energy erupting.
The working Zephyrenes around the mechanism stepped back quickly as the vast ray generator started to explode part following part, after the blow of the Reine Crystals.
Virgille stared at the exploding generator in awe when Obi-Wan finally got back to his feet and dragged her away from the mechanism hurriedly. On his way, he met Virgille's lightsaber and clipped it to his utility belt, next to his burnt saber hilt, since Virgille clearly wouldn't spare any mind to her lightsaber, as she still couldn't tear her stare from the generator.
The next moment, the whole laboratory began to shudder tempestuously.
The Ruler commanded with a high voice: "The erupted energy of the united crystals has destroyed the main pillars of the ground level – it is going to collapse. Abandon the ground level!" He then let out an august roar to warn the entire fortress.
All the Zephyrenes spread their wings and rushed to the gate, and the wounded soldiers were carried by their comrades.
The Ruler himself flew down to his faithful General Roga and folded him up immediately, and then the Ruler carried Roga in his arms and flew towards the gate as well.
Qui-Gon watched the Zephyrene Ruler's back as he left the laboratory with Roga, thinking perhaps the Ruler would change his mind after all this was over.
Suddenly, he sensed a disturbance and turned around instantly to parry Lal'mar's saber blade.
Lal'mar's fair face twisted in madness, "YOU TOOK AWAY MY TRIUMPH!" she screamed as she continued her battle with Qui-Gon.
Her attacks had become fierce and wild, her eyes looked as if they were going to pop out. Qui-Gon was already too tired to fight the skilled Council member, and his pace could no longer match hers.
Soon Qui-Gon was kicked to the metal floor and Lal'mar pointed her blade to his chest. She panted, a satisfied smile occupied her face.
"Master!" Obi-Wan shouted as he was looking for his Master through the escaping Zephyrenes with Virgille, who had finally come back to awareness again from the generator's explosion fright.
After all the Zephyrenes were out of the laboratory and the lab went back to silence, Obi-Wan heard the humming sound of a lightsaber. He was terrified to find that Lal'mar was prepared to ram her lightsaber through Qui-Gon's chest.
"May the Force be with you, Master Jinn." Her sardonic smile faded as she pulled back her lightsaber slowly to gain enough space to run the yellow blade through –
Lal'mar halted and gasped sharply all of a sudden with a blue blade exposed itself through her chest. She sank down to her knees feebly and collapsed to the cold metal floor of the shaking laboratory, revealing the pale and frightened Padawan not far behind her. His right hand held out, the clear posture of just having thrown a lightsaber.
"Master!" Obi-Wan cried as he rushed to his Master's side and dropped down to his knees to hug Qui-Gon tightly, "I was so worried, I thought I was gonna lose you."
Qui-Gon embraced him back gently and whispered soothingly into the Padawan's ears, "It's all right now, Obi-Wan, everything's going to be all right..."
Obi-Wan pulled back and apologized from the bottom of his heart, "I'm truly sorry I was arrogant enough to lead Virgule into danger and let Darth Sidious catch us. I didn't mean to cause you any troubles, I was only trying to help –"
Qui-Gon held up one hand to stop him, "Obi-Wan, you didn't cause me any troubles. To tell the truth is, Lal'mar couldn't have been defeated without you." he rested his forehead against Obi-Wan's, "You've saved my life. Thank you, my Padawan." Qui-Gon's warm smile made the younger man's cheeks burn.
"Ahem," Virgille cleared her throat loudly, "I don't want to intrude, but the whole place is falling down, and we are probably the last three people on this ground level." Her eyes fell on the dead Council member, she gasped and picked up her lightsaber from Lal'mar's body, complaining: "You used MY lightsaber to KILL people? That's unbearable! How could you ever borrow other's lightsaber to create terror without its OWNER'S permission?"
With a blare, a large piece of metal crashed onto the floor beside them.
Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan looked around with Virgille immediately and found the metal blocks of the ceiling were beginning to fall off around them from the top.
"We must get out of here at once!" Qui-Gon said to the young ones and led them to escape from the trembling laboratory through the falling metals and pipings.
To be continued…
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