Many thanks for everyone who has stuck with me so far. I will finish this, I promise!
The first few shots missed, but that last one singed her right lekku. Mission dove for the only nearby cover available in the hangar: some neatly stacked footlockers and various storage containers. She was furious for being caught like this—outsmarted by Ordo, of all people, in her area of expertise. She glanced at the security cameras: the rapidly blinking lights on them indicated the devices were off-line…which meant the images displayed on the terminals were being supplied from somewhere else. Now she realized the camera feed of the Hawk was a fake, but she should have figured it out sooner. How did Canderous manage that? How did he even think of it? How'd he get in here anyway if Carth deactivated the passcard and instructed T3 to ignore the big chuba-face? Mission had too many questions she wanted answers for, but a ricocheted bolt near her foot brought her back to the current predicament. She'd have to wait to find out how he managed all this—she honestly didn't think the old Mandalorian had it in him.
She peered around the boxes. Jolee was still near the bay door, his hand outstretched towards a small group of Sith troopers. They seemed to slow down, but not completely stop. He then closed in on them, his green lightsaber a blur. She quickly looked away, and saw Bastila with her yellow-hued staff twirling about, deflecting blaster fire while taking on a dark Jedi. Mission scanned the room and found Juhani, who had made it the furthest in to the hangar: she was single-minded in her attack. She was heading for Canderous, ignoring everything and everyone along the way. Canderous blasted away at her, but missed each time. He ended up doing more damage to his own side: troopers fell en mass on either side of Juhani as his cannon firecontinued dancing around her.
More soldiers and Jedi poured from the hold and rumbled down the ramp. Mission sheathed her vibroblade and unholstered the small blaster Jiara had given to her back on Taris. She aimed at the loading ramp; Canderous was in her sights, but she couldn't do it. She moved slightly and picked off a trooper as he stepped into the docking area. Mission ducked back down and leaned against the footlockers.
"Hey," she breathed, studying the containers. "This looks like mine!" In fact, she recognized all the boxes and lockers. "This is our stuff! It's all here except for Canderous's and…"
She peeked up again towards the ship, looking into the windows of the cockpit and along the visible side of the crew quarters. Her breathed sucked in sharply as she made out the unmistakable form peering through the window. "Not gonna happen!" she vowed under her breath. She crawled to the side of the furthest footlocker and took aim: another shot, another Sith down, but the path to the Hawk was far from clear. She instinctively reached to her stealth belt, but there were just too many Sith to try to sneak past, not to mention Ordo blocking the foot of the boarding ramp. She lined up her pistol and fired rapidly at just about everything, but the barrage alerted them to her position; blaster bolts hailed down around her. Without warning, a grenade sailed over the containers. Mission turned and watched it roll to a stop at her feet.
Jolee busied himself with a small group of troopers who had been standing guard off to the left of the door. He slowed them down and began to drop them with two-handed swings of his saber. He looked up at Bastila as she engaged a Sith Jedi—master by the looks of him. Jolee sent a wave of energy at the man, who seemed to be getting the better of Bastila. He was stunned for a moment—enough time for Bastila to connect with both sides of her saber-staff in a master flurry.
"We are gonna need back-up," he said to her as they watched more Sith flood from the Hawk and swarm around Canderous. "Okay, so how many did they pack onto the ship? I felt crowded with just us!" he yelped in disbelief.
"Hopefully the port authorities will send their guards," Bastila shouted back to him over the din of blaster fire and the buzz of their sabers. "They must know of the trouble by now!" she said as she took up an attack on an approaching trooper. Jolee did the same. "I'll flank to the right," Bastila offered.
Jolee nodded. "I'll go left…Juhani went right up the center, as usual. Fool girl. Can you see her?"
"No, but if you see Canderous, I am sure you will find her," Bastila called back as she began to slice her way to the right side of the hangar. A grenade blast sounded somewhere behind her; she felt a slight push from the explosion, but she was too preoccupied with battle to take notice.
Her prey was within striking range; Juhani leapt up, both her lightsabers braced for a power assault. Neither one missed; the dark Jedi before her crumpled into a motionless heap at her feet. Juhani jumped lightly over him and continued towards Canderous. Even more Sith appeared from behind him, an endless stream of enemies rushing down the Hawk's boarding ramp. But Juhani barely acknowledged them; her eyes were locked on Canderous. He too had trained his stare at her. She deflected his cannon blasts with ease.
"You are mine, Mandalorian!" she shrieked as she closed in on him. "For Cathar!" she cried as she bounded upwards, another power attack in the making. Juhani tried to position herself in a way to defend against his cannon's aim, her sabers crossed in front of her to deflect any shots.
"Not today, sister!" Canderous yelled back at her.
Instead of taking aim to shoot, Canderous took hold of his repeater and swung it like a bat at Juhani's legs. The motion was unexpected and caught her in mid-leap, throwing her off balance. As she tried to regain control in mid air, Canderous hammered her in the ribs. The wind knocked from her lungs, and the sabers from her hands. He quickly kicked away the hilt that landed next to him; Juhani landed on her hip and floundered to a graceless stop.
She struggled quickly to gain her feet and held up her palm at Canderous; but he was already on her, his right fist swinging. She saw it too late to avoid and tried to deflect the blow aimed at her chin. She thought at first he had somehow missed, but the punch landed lower, in her ribs, the same spot already tender from the earlier contact. Canderous had redirected his attack—he had feinted to her face, and when she defended, he went low to his intended mark. She caved in to her left side, her ribcage crushed. Wounded and without her weapons, she was no match for him. She had never seen him in hand-to-hand combat, but she should have realized he would have been a master at it. She had not met him with the respect he was due on the battlefield. In the farthest corner of her mind, she had the nagging feeling that her miscalculation was deliberate; she had held back against him, and her mercy would cost her.
"Sloppy, Juhani," he sneered at her. "You're better than that."
"Do your worst, Mandalorian scum!" she spit. Again she raised her hand at him and began to draw the Force to her. Canderous swatted her arm aside, then crashed down on her collarbone with his elbow. She felt her right shoulder slump and her arm fall useless and numb as the snapping sound echoed in her ear. With her left arm, she began to push herself up from the floor, a task made all the more difficult by the blistering pain shooting from her ribs.
"Stay down, dammit!" he yelled at her, planting his boot in her stomach and pushing her back to the ground. A blaster shot ricocheted near her head. Canderous reeled around and pinpointed the shooter. "This is MY fight!" he shouted, punctuating his words with a single sniper shot. The offending trooper folded into a bloody lump and slid down the ramp. Taking the hint, the rest of the contingent herded away; they had better targets anyways. Republic soldiers began to filter through the docking bay door.
Bastila was completely winded; the endless barrage of Sith was taking its toll. Her reserve of Force energy was just about depleted, used primarily for healing herself from the stray blaster wounds she suffered, and she was simply unable to focus on drawing more power to her. The darkness was oppressive, surrounding her, beckoning, making it difficult to find what little light remained in the area. She struggled to resist the invitation, but it was so tempting. The amount of energy there, waiting to be used…she could easily end this battle quickly. She could practically feel the warmth of the electricity streaming from her finger tips in bright branches of lightning. She knew she could control it, bend it to her will to do as she desired…and she desired to end this fight. How was that wrong? How was that of the dark side? Just a small amount, a slight touch into the vast source around her; that was all she needed. That did not mean she was falling, or giving in; she was just being smart. Using their own tactics and Force power against them was a delicious irony, and the thought of giving them a taste of their own medicine made her smile. Why hadn't she thought of this sooner? Why cling to a fading light? Dark energy swirled around her. This was madness to disregard the advantages it offered…simply because of a childish fear based in ignorance. So a group of old fools made an edict without ever knowing what they preached against, and everyone is expected to listen to it? She had experience with the dark side, she knew how to manipulate it, understood its power and the abilities it granted. She could take down everyone before another shot was fired, before they even knew what happened. This was for the best. Why could only she see that? This was the answer, and it was so clear, so obvious.
And so wrong.
Bastila suddenly found herself again and centered her mind on her teachings. The darkness here was amazingly persuasive; it seemed to speak directly to her heart, and in her weary state, it was difficult to fight it off. She tried to block it as she spied a group of Sith gathering to the side of the ship who had not noticed her. Just as she made for them, she heard the hangar doors unlock and slide apart. It was with tremendous relief that she realized reinforcements had arrived. The mass of troopers she had been heading towards thinned away as they regrouped and directed their efforts towards the Republic soldiers near the hangar doorway. Rather than follow, she darted for some storage cylinders and ducked behind them to rest and catch her breath.
The constant fighting made minutes seem like hours. From her vantage point, she saw far fewer dead and wounded on the ground than she had imagined there would be. Surely she had fought more than that! She counted maybe thirty Sith total still fighting, some ten or so on the floor, wounded or worse. Carbon scoring and scorch marks were everywhere, and the smell of spent plasma burned in the air. Bastila leaned back, breathing hard, choking a bit at the smoke that filled her lungs. They were outnumbered, ten-to-one, so it was understandable she would feel so overwhelmed. The echoing noise in the small hangar, the acrid discharge from the blasters, the smell of melting durasteel and burning flesh…combined with the darkness all made her head swim in total confusion. She looked around to the other side, searching for Jolee; through the smoke and crowd, she could not spot him. She turned her attention towards the ship, hoping to see Juhani.
She was unprepared for the sight that greeted her.
Canderous hovered over a listless form that lay crumpled at his feet. Bastila concentrated harder on his victim: a distinctive spray of beaded hair had fallen loose from its usual ponytail and draped haphazardly across the face. Canderous nudged the body with the toe of his boot, then began to bend down towards the figure.
"No!" Bastila yelled out.
Canderous stood and briefly turned in her direction: Juhani's limp form dangled helplessly in his arms. Bastila summoned her strength and sent a stasis wave in his direction, but there wasn't enough power left in her. Canderous ignored her, shifted direction, and tossed Juhani out of his way, beyond Bastila's field of vision.
Horrified, Bastila sprang from her cover and charged at the Mandalorian.