Last time: Cien warns Sasha of Dracul's plan and the danger to come.

Now: Cien and Kopesh confront Dracul.

Chapter 10- Cien vs Kopesh

Kopesh insistently knocked on Cien's door a second time. The hatch slid open just as he was about to apply his fist to the metal again. Cien stared daggers at him from the open door. "Yes?" She growled.

"We need to talk." He commanded. "Now."

Cien rolled her eyes and stepped aside to let him in, taking a quick glance down the corridor to make sure his presence was not witnessed. Their rooms were in a section of the ship reserved for Sith acolytes, and made to quarter far more than the two the ship housed currently. The section was generally empty except for a few maintenance people who had to perform their tasks every now and then, but the privilege of the Acolytes was that they were above even the officers, so it gave their section of the ship a sense of isolation. Which worked in their favor since usually Kopesh and Cien tried to avoid each other as much as possible, and having suites on the far sides of this otherwise empty block made that easy. It also made a secret meeting such as this a little easier to go unnoticed. They hoped.

"What?" Cien said with a tone of voice that broached no welcome.

"When are we going to make our move against him?" He demanded. "You were at that council meeting, we need to stop him before he follows through with his plan."

"Before you interrupted me I was making final preparations for just that." She sneered at him.

"And what preparations were those?" He demanded. She had not done anything in the last few weeks other than cower in her room unless summoned by their master.

"My own." Cien said to him simply. "To share with you if it is necessary."

He held back a want to slap her across the face. "I thought we decided we needed to take him together." He sneered back.

"You're an idiot if you think the two of us are enough to take him." She told him flatly. "We need to act when the time is right."

"No, we need to act now!" He nearly screamed at her. "Every second we -" He was interrupted by an insistent, unpleasant warble that came through their communicators. They both stood frozen, looking at each other. That was a summons from him, from Dracul.

"You go first, we can't arrive together." Cien growled at him.

He couldn't help but adopt a lascivious grin as he leered at her. "Yeah, we wouldn't want anyone to get the wrong idea."

Cien slugged him in the stomach before he could even react, and he doubled over in pain. "Get. Out." She growled in a tone he had never heard before.

He left immediately, regaining some of his composure as he walked the empty corridors towards the throne room. He had never understood Cien, he never would, and he couldn't wait to have an opportunity to kill her once Dracul was dealt with. Who was she to lord over him? So she was making preparations? What could they possibly have been, cooped up in her quarters like a beaten animal these past weeks? Maybe Varden, trying to gain his support? He'd seen the way he looked at the girl sometimes, like he actually admired her. To think she would have any rapport with one of the underling servants on this ship was disgusting. Sure, Kopesh had loved to wander down to the officers' mess and the enlisted mess and hang out with the more exciting troopers at times, but some old half-wit like Varden? That was what her plan hinged on, was him supporting her? If she didn't think the two of them could take on Dracul, how could his troopers possibly make a difference?

They just needed to sneak up and stab Dracul through the heart with a saber. Even that must kill the old monster. He'd do that now, or as soon as he had a chance. To hell with Cien and her schemes.

The door to the throne room loomed before him, and he took one last breath, letting his anger outweigh his fear of what might wait inside. "To hell with her." He growled under his breath, before triggering the entrance to the door. He heard boot steps behind him, the familiar gait of Cien. He opened the door before she could arrive next to him, and stepped through. She lengthened her stride, to his great annoyance, and halfway across the throne room she was walking next to him, as cold as usual.

They both knelt before their master at the exact same time, and as one, they both said "My Lord." They shot each other hateful glances. Even now their old game was afoot.

Dracul simply regarded them from behind his mask, then spoke in a dark, low voice that carried nothing but malice. "My centuries of planning are nearly at an end. Soon the galaxy will be mine." He stated. The two acolytes still knelt, they had not been given permission to rise. "But, I am not the only one with plans." Dracul growled in the voice of death. "One of you conives to overthrow me." The silence after he stopped speaking subsumed the room as if all the air had been sucked out.

Kopesh raged, his body shaking with fury. She had never really agreed to actually take out Dracul. She had been the one to call a delay. She had been the one who always did his bidding. She was the one who had to have told him what he had proposed. She was the one who had been making preparations. Not against Dracul, against him. Dracul's eternal lapdog, she must have told him what Kopesh was planning. And his betrayer had the gall to kneel there next to him, feigning stunned silence.

"YOU BITCH!" He yelled, his fury erupting as he lashed out at Cien next to him with the Force. She brought her hand up just in time to barely deflect the grievous blow of darkside power. With a flick of his wrist he called his saber to his hand, igniting it and, with a savage scream, lept at Cien with a wild, overhead swing that would have cleaved her in two if she hadn't dodged to the side, igniting her own saber in the process to parry the vertical chop. He brought his saber over, using her block as leverage to regain his footing. She swept low, out of his reach, he thrust forward with a series of vicious chops to her midsection, which she barely reflected.

The vicious red saber light reflected the rage she fought with as well. She blocked his wild chops and thrust forward with a series of quick thrusts to his midsection that he parried with wide swings. He used the Force to push her, and she countered with her own Force push, the two energies met each other in an explosion of power that staggered them both back, sliding across the smooth, polished floor in a low position, though they kept their footing. With a roar Kopesh ran forward, and Cien simply pivoted on her offhand, staying low, rotating out of his position as she cut for his legs. Kopesh leapt just over the swing of her blade, and she sent him flying with a Force push that sent him sprawling to the ground. His saber fell out of his hand, rolling across the floor as he quickly recovered.

He pushed out, right, left, right, bottom with Force energy, trying to disbalance her. She deftly deflected each blow with the Force, and Kopesh realized his mistake - the Force was a strong suit for her, the saber was his. Kopesh called his saber back to hand, igniting it just in time to deflect a withering storm of Force lightning as Cien sent a burst at him. He used the saber to swat the storm away, and ran for the witch. She sent another burst of lightning at him, standing her ground, and he deflected it away, spinning as he approached to swat the lightning away and then to follow through and cleave her in half. She stepped back, but not far enough.

She caught his blade with the Force, stopping it midair like he had slammed it into a wall, inches from her extended hand. He hesitated for a second, not having seen this before. Cien raised an eyebrow at him and then she brought her own saber up to try and slice him through. His saber was released, and he deflected it. He rushed forward with a vicious series of chops; shoulder, shoulder, hip, hip as he pushed his attack, trying to break through her defenses. She deftly stepped back, deflecting each blow with her saber. He swung down at her head, she stopped his saber with hers, and they were caught in a vicious lock, both trying to power through. Kopesh was physically stronger, and he was forcing her blade down into her.

"You idiot!" She whispered through gritted teeth. "I didn't reveal you, you're playing right into his hands!"

With a twist of his hilt he hit her across the teeth with the pommel of his saber and she staggered back and he saw blood fly from her mouth. "Enough of your lies!" He yelled with rage, he pushed the attack now that she was staggered. She let loose a howl of her own rage and rushed to meet him.

Cien was done holding back. With all the fury of her power she met the fool with a clash of sabers, striking quickly and efficiently with a series of quick slices and he barely kept up. She stabbed for his midsection and he was pushed back, just barely moving his stomach out of the way as he tried to bring his saber around for a parry. She let loose a storm of lightning, which he used his saber to deflect again as he yelled in rage and ran forward. Cien sidestepped his clumsy rush and he barely missed her saber by inches as she pirouetted around him and brought her saber in low.

He turned back to her, both of them breathing heavily and covered in sweat now. This was a fight to the death and there would be no quarter.

With a yell he rushed her again, she used a circle parry to deflect his wild thrust, and she burned his arm. He yelled in pain and staggered back. She brought her arm up, and used the Force to try to pull him into her saber like a skewer - he resisted, using the Force to push against her, they stood, teeth gritted as they tried to keep their footing on the polished floor. And suddenly Kopesh let go, letting her pull him in as he brought his saber down to deflect her blade around him at the last second, and he punched her, in the same place where his pommel had struck her mouth earlier. She went flying across the room, he had used the Force to augment his physical strength. She staggered, under the pain of a nearly broken jaw and cracked ribs.

The dog approached her, triumph on his face as he thought her defeated. He brought his arm up and she felt her throat crushed as she was lifted from the floor. A sick, crazed smile mutated his face into something even more disgusting than usual. He stepped within an arm's length as she gasped for air, trying to breath, trying to hang on as her vision started going dark. She reached out, as if begging him, her fingers spread, gasping for her last chance of mercy.

And then her hand locked around his wrist.

Kopesh staggered, in the darkness. He stood there, his saber still in hand, trying to figure out what happened. He looked left, then right, trying to figure out how he had been transported here. Out of the darkness another figure emerged, it was Cien, fading into existence before him like a ghost.

"What is this? Where are we? What have you done!" He yelled, bringing his saber up defensively.

"You idiot!" She yelled, ignoring his questions. "This is what he wanted, the two of us against each other!" She raised her hand and Kopesh tried to use the Force to deflect, but he could not feel the darkside. He was defenseless. He went sprawling. Cien stalked forward, around him the darkness changed to a nightmarish hellscape of burning flames and pouring lava. Kopesh had no idea what was going on as she stalked toward him, he staggered back in horror.

"We might have survived this, one of us might have survived him!" She yelled. A burst of vicious lightning played out from her hand, and Kopesh felt pain as he had never felt before as the tendrils crawled over his body.

"But no! You had to ruin our one chance to defeat him!" She yelled, slamming him against a jagged rock face. He felt all his bones shatter like glass.

"Our chance to survive!" She screamed, all the pent up fury of their years of hatred, she grabbed his twisted body and slammed him into the ground before her, before picking him up and dangling him over a pool of lava. He looked on in absolute terror at the beast that Cien had become, and felt his feet and legs blistering in the incredible heat.

She held him there, cruelly over the lava as he roasted alive, trying to ignore the choking sensation she felt in the real world. His own mind filled in the details of what he thought he should be feeling and he screamed as though every nerve in his body was on fire, his legs cooking like roasts as the intense heat he imagined incinerated him.

But she swept him over her shoulder onto safe ground, the ruined husk of a man he now imagined himself to be. He still clung onto his saber, even here in this imaginary place, even with the injuries he had given himself. A pool of lava exploded nearby, she ignored the molten droplets as she strode forward.

"We have one chance you idiot! Use it!" She screamed, before she dropped out of the mind space.

Kopesh staggered backward. Back in the throne room. Cien fell to the ground in front of him in a coughing heap as she struggled to breath through her crushed windpipe. Kopesh looked at her, he had no idea what had just happened. And Dracul was standing before them both, having walked over to them while they were... wherever they were. Just a sabers length away.

Cien tried to recover from the racking cough, trying to draw breath as she struggled to get up, to defend herself. She collapsed, half off the ground as she supported herself on her left arm, and called her saber back with her right in between hacking coughs.

Kopesh was in shock, trying to understand where he had just been, what had just happened, and Dracul was standing there.

Kopesh twisted his features in a fury and swung at Dracul. Dracul's head snapped around, and with a gesture of his hand his enveloped Kopesh in a storm of red lightning. He was killed so quickly his body fell in a heap at the Dark Lord's feet, his saber clattering to the polished dark stone floor.

Dracul merely stepped away from the smoking corpse, as if it annoyed him, and he turned to face Cien fully. She had recovered, and got to her feet, struggling to stand before Dracul, trying to draw on her exhausted energy reserves to try to withstand whatever attack Dracul would throw at her.

"I wonder." Dracul said, in a voice that might almost be considered wistful, "If he ever considered that I was talking about you instead of him."

"No, I don't think it crossed his mind." She growled, igniting her saber and assuming a defensive stance.

Dracul merely looked at her from behind his helmet. His thoughts were inscrutable as always as he regarded his acolyte standing before him. The saber light was reflected in the glass eyes of his visor, playing off the dark finish of his helmet that almost looked like primitive cast iron from a bygone age. She braced herself for the red lightning, defiant to the end, but having no illusions of the outcome as she faced this monster alone.

Dracul turned away, as if she was no concern, and looked back at the corpse of his other acolyte. "I had hopes for you, Cien." Dracul finished. "Of all my acolytes, you were the least disappointing." He growled. With that, he threw his hand out, and sent her flying across the room, towards the entrance of the throne room that was so far away. She had tried to defend herself, but she was powerless compared to him, her efforts feeble.

As she slid to a halt, feeling the pain of newly bruised ribs, she staggered to her feet. Dracul merely regarded her from a distance.

And then he looked down at Kopesh. Casting his hand out, he unleashed the Red lightning into his body. Cien braced herself to deal with the risen corpse of her fellow Acolyte. After what felt like a cruel amount of time, the lightning stopped, and Cien looked on with horror. Not because Kopesh's body shambled upward like a broken corpse. But because he calmly got up. And smiled at her.

"Cien. You should join us." Kopesh said, as if entreating her to a great feast.

Cien staggered back, terrified, as her jaw went slack. She alone could have sensed the true horror of what she was seeing. Kopesh was still there, but not there. Not brainwashed; overwritten. Whatever person he may have been had been turned into something else. He wasn't a shambling, brainless corpse as she had seen so many times before, hearing the silent screams of the tiny spark that kept them moving. She felt nothing but euphoria from this… This thing that stood next to Dracul.

No, that wasn't true. There was still a tiny, tiny little spark smothered by the blissful servitude, that screamed. It screamed as she had never heard before, in terror at what was being done, confusion at what was happening, in rage at being trapped within its own mind and made to do everything against its will.

Cien stepped back, frozen, aghast at what she was witness to. The horror of the thought of turning into one of these... Thrall. And she knew with absolute certainty that she was next.

Behind her the doors opened, and blaster fire poured in. Catching Dracul off guard, Kopesh leapt to his master's defense and deflected the hailstorm of plasma bolts. Cien looked behind her. Varden was there, behind him a squad of the men who had been in her personal guard while she had controlled the Bloodstorm.

"Run!" Varden yelled, advancing into the room as his troops continued pouring fire at the Dark Lord and his acolyte. She ran through the gap between the troopers, out into the hallway. The doors to the throne room inched shut, as the men regrouped and secured their position, destroying the door panel to try to buy them time.

"We need to get you out of here." Varden said, checking the charge on his blaster as he moved down the hall. "Do you have a way off the ship?" Varden said in a commanding tone. "My Lady!" He yelled when she didn't respond.

"Yes!" She yelled back, coming to her senses.

"Then get to it, we'll hold him off." Varden said grimly as his men positioned themselves to secure the door.

"General-" Cien started, not sure what to say.

"Just go!" He said, and then turned away from her, to face the door.

Cien took a last look back and ran. Down towards the maintenance hatch that Sasha had said the ship was at. Away from Dracul.

Sasha, she yelled across mindspace, I'm heading to you.

A few minutes later the door to the throne room opened, and Varden stepped through into the room, his troopers formed behind him. He saluted Dracul crisply. "My Lord." He said.

What was once Kopesh looked between the general and at Dracul, as if trying to understand.

"Do you think that she was fooled, General?" Dracul asked.

"Yes." Varden replied without preamble.

WHOA! WHAT A TWIST! REVIEW!