Chapter Ten: Duel of the Fates
There was a slight pause between Darth Maul and the two Jedi as they stared into each other's eyes. While Quai Gon and Obi Wan exerted expressions of uncertainty and bewilderment, Darth Maul's sharp yellow eyes screamed determination. The Sith apprentice lurched forward in an attempt to strike down Obi Wan. The Jedi jumped over him, blocking one side of Maul's saber.
The battle began slowly, each member of the clash building momentum for their attacks. Darth Maul kept Quai Gon on his toes, blocking two blades from the same saber while trying to kill the Sith.
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Anakin watched in horror as the blaster shots from Padmé's squads made no impact on the Destroyers. He had to help them out. He was in a battle pod, wasn't he? It had to fire something bigger than a blaster pistol's shot.
R2-D2 beeped him complaints at Anakin's slow pace.
"I'm trying to! I don't know where the trigger is!" Anakin whined. He pressed a button and the ship turned on, flashing green lights in Anakin's eyes. "Oops, wrong one. Maybe it's this one!" He flipped a switch and the cap secured itself over Anakin's head.
"Nope. Wait, here it is." Anakin pulled a stick out from its holster and pressed a knob on the top. The ship began firing at the Destroyers, blowing them up. "Yeah!" Anakin threw a fist into the air.
As the ship flew out of the room and into the air, Anakin heard Padmé's yell to her squad.
"Let's go!"
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"H?"
No answer. Connan nudged an arm with her foot.
"HK-47?"
Still nothing. Connan clenched her fists together. Æliesha howled mournfully.
"You…" Connan glared at the black-hooded man. "You killed my droid. Who the hell are you?"
"I would have thought you'd have figured it out by now." The man coldly spat.
"Why did you kill my droid?" Connan screamed, tears running down her face.
"It was a matter of logic, really." The man held a hand lazily in the air, waltzing around Connan in a circle. "If I put you in any danger at all, your precious assassin droid will come to your rescue. If I destroy the droid, I get you angry."
"Do you really want to die that badly?" Connan asked.
"My dear Revan, I am not the one who is going to die this day." The Sith Lord growled. Connan blanched.
"What did you say?" She ignited her lightsabers.
"You don't think coming here was pure accident do you? You think that the Byssual which brought you here was conjured up by a mistake?" The man laughed. "Oh, how amusing."
"So first you rip me from my world, screw around with my head and my annoyingly acute Precognition, threaten to kill Anakin, and now you kill my droid?"
"Are you angry?"
"No, I'm so happy I could pull out your guts and feed them to you."
"Then I've done my job well." The Sith Lord stepped closer to Connan. He turned on his lightsaber. "Now, let's see if you still remember the Sith ways."
He attacked.
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"It's on automatic pilot!" Anakin screeched to R2-D2. The ship flew through the air and broke the atmosphere.
"Try to override it." Anakin told R2. He put on his helmet and watched as he soared through the clouds.
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Obi Wan hadn't had time to rest since the battle started. His arms were growing limp and his attacks grew slower. Darth Maul kicked Quai Gon in the gut, sending him on his back. Obi Wan charged the Sith, who opened a nearby door. He attempted to overturn the double-bladed saber in Darth Maul's hands.
Quai Gon leapt back into the skirmish just as Darth Maul kicked Obi Wan out of the way. Quai Gon growled. Changing positions to use another form of fighting, Quai Gon stabbed at Darth Maul. Obi Wan cam back to fight and soon they were double-teaming him again.
Darth Maul back-flipped onto a walking platform as the two Jedi attempted to kill him. Quai Gon immediately leapt after him, followed by Obi Wan. Their sabers clashed together.
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Padmé ran through the hallway with her squads behind her. Battle droids ambushed them halfway through the hallway, forcing them to split and use the pillars as cover. They shot back at the weak machines, attempting to make them retreat.
"We don't have time for this, Captain." Padmé pressed Panaka.
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Anakin gaped as he spotted the battle field in space, above the huge battle ship they'd spotted when they arrived.
"Look! There they are. That's where the auto-pilot's taking us." The boy chuckled nervously. "Well, this isn't playing hero, is it?" He asked the droid. The screen in front of him buzzed.
"The deflector shield is too strong." Someone said. An explosion ahead of Anakin made a small marker on Anakin's mapping system blink out.
"Uh-oh." He gawked. "This is definitely self-defense."
A big bubble on the battle ship blew up, taking three of Naboo's fighters with it. R2 beeped as they flew past.
"Whoa, this is tense!" Anakin squealed. He covered his eyes as two enemy fighters nearly blew him up.
"R2, get us off this auto-pilot; it's gonna get us both killed." He ordered. R2 beeped his response as the screen turned from red to green.
"You did it R2!" Anakin congratulated. "Okay, let's go left." Anakin held onto the steering sticks and surged them left. The ship complied, twisting through shots and it went.
R2 beeped a meek suggestion.
"Go back?" Anakin asked. "Look, Quai Gon told me to stay in the cock pit, so that's what I'm going to do. Connan told me to use self-defense, and these people are firing at me, right?"
There were now three enemy fighters on his tail. He moaned, looking back.
"I'll try spinning. That's a good trick." He flipped himself upside down. "Whoa!"
R2 beeped a frantic reply.
"I know we're in trouble, just hang on!" Anakin growled to his droid.
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Padmé shot down another battle droid when Panaka blew a hole through the window opposite of them.
"Go!" He shouted. Padmé took off running, stowing away her gun as she climbed out the window. Half of her squad followed.
"Ascension guns." Panaka ordered. Padmé hooked hers onto her belt and aimed her blaster upwards as the others did. They shot up the building, latching the shots onto the side. Their guns pulled them upward onto another floor of the building. They unhooked the guns and replaced them with blasters. Padmé shot through another window.
"Let's get going." She ordered.
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Connan leapt into the air as the hooded man thrust his saber at her. She landed behind him, shoving one of her sabers into his back. He blocked it.
Connan couldn't tell where her hands were being placed. She was never taught to focus on where her hands were going. She focused on where his hands were and where they were placed next.
The man drove his hilt into Connan's face. She felt the bones in her nose crumble and the warm, sticky, all-too-familiar texture of blood rolling down her face. She was knocked backwards into a pillar. She wiped the blood away, groaning.
"Why do they always go for the nose?" She asked herself. "Carth's gonna kill me."
She struck at the hooded man with speed, catching him off-guard before his lightsaber could react. She brought him to his knees and stepped back.
"What will you gain from this, Darth Sidious?" She asked, twirling her lavender sabers through her fingers. "What do you hope to accomplish by killing me?"
"My dear girl, who ever said I was going to kill you?" He answered, struggling to stand. "It is not Connan Frai I want, it's Revan."
"What?" Darth Sidious attacked her again. She parried and switched to offensive as she swiped at his chest. "You want me to go to the Dark Side?"
"Exactly. With you at my side, we could conquer the galaxy!" Connan threw him backward. She pulled out her blaster and aimed it at his head.
"Old man, I held the galaxy at its throat all by myself longer than anyone else ever has or will, both in my Light Side and Dark Side times. What makes you think I'd need you to do it again?" She snarled, firing off a shot. Sidious deflected it.
"I already have much control of the Republic." Sidious snarled. "It would give you a head start."
"Bite me." Connan spat on his robes.
"Such a rude Jedi. Anyone could tell you're on the brink of the Dark Side." Sidious persuaded. Connan rolled her eyes and swung her sabers back in front of her.
"Right, and Anakin will only live to be thirty eight."
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Obi Wan slashed one side of Darth Maul as Quai Gon attacked the other. Darth Maul had it down to a pattern. Block one side while attacking with the other then switch it as he went. The Jedi couldn't get a shot on him. Darth Maul slammed his foot into Obi Wan's jaw, flying him off of the ramp. He fell a few hundred meters before he caught onto another ramp and pulled himself up.
Quai Gon stood on a ramp high above Obi Wan, still battling it out with Maul. He kicked Maul in the stomach and sent him toppling down onto his back on a completely different ramp. Quai Gon jumped down after him.
Obi Wan stared at the ramp he needed to be on, gauging the amount of Force Jump he would need to get there. He leapt perfectly, landing on the correct ramp. He ignited his lightsaber once again and bolted for the brawl.
The time-set doors in front of Quai Gon and behind Maul switched off, letting the two fighters into the small hallway. Obi Wan ran faster, trying to catch up with his mentor. The doors clicked on again as he reached them, also separating Darth Maul and Quai Gon. Quai Gon sheathed his lightsaber, glaring wryly at Darth Maul. The Zabrak tapped his saber to the force field, having no effect. He began pacing in front of Quai Gon, waiting for his chance.
Quai Gon knelt onto his knees and began meditating, drawing energy from the Force to feed his strength.
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Padmé ran through the last hallway needed. Destroyers surrounded her squad, their blasters ready to kill. The squad pointed their blasters feebly at the droids.
"Put down your weapons." Padmé ordered. "They've won this round."
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Anakin still couldn't shake that last enemy fighter. It fired at him, causing R2-D2 to shriek. A shot hit next to the droid. The ship lurched forward unexpectedly.
"We're hit, R2!" Anakin informed his droid. He began spinning out of control into an opening in the battleship. He began doing his best to slow the ship down and dodge all of the closing doors and ship around him. R2 screamed at him.
"I'm trying to stop! I'm trying to stop!" Anakin cried.
Anakin's ship came to a stop at the end of the hangar. He shook his head to get off the dizziness.
"Everything's overheated." He said. He flipped the "On" switch. Nothing happened. R2 beeped, telling Anakin to look up. Battle droids surrounded the ship.
"Oops, this is not good." Anakin sighed. He pressed the button he'd pressed back in the Naboo hangar. Nothing happened.
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"You know," Darth Sidious broke from battle again, smiling darkly at an exhausted Connan. "I'm surprised you've survived this long. Surely the tactics used in ancient times are mediocre to today's fighting methods."
"You know," Connan chided, swinging one saber and then clanging both of them together. "I'm surprised you can talk so well with your foot lodged firmly in your mouth. Hello! We invented most of the forms you're using. Did your Sith Master teach you nothing of history?"
"He taught me all I need to know." Sidious answered. "And it's gotten me far."
"So, did you do the cowardly thing and kill him in his sleep or fight him to the death?" Connan asked.
"Sleep."
"Like a true Sith." Connan shrugged.
Connan dropped her lightsabers. Her breathing became ragged and her hands flew to her gut. She fell to her knees and leaned against the pillar behind her.
"What—"
"Ah, I see one of your Jedi friends has finally fallen." Sidious crooned. Connan moaned. Pain seared through her stomach, as if someone had stabbed her with a lightsaber. She couldn't breathe.
"And now you won't be able to fight anymore. You're in too much pain." Sidious put on a pathetic sympathy look. "I suppose I'll have to take you off and remind you of the power of the Dark Side."
Sidious was nearing Connan. She groaned. He would kidnap her to his ship and torture her until she either died or allied herself with him. She couldn't do anything about it. She felt numb.
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Minutes before….
Quai Gon sat in his meditation position, patiently waiting for the doors to open. Darth Maul paced around his side, not taking his eyes off of Quai Gon. Obi Wan stood in the back, waiting for his chance to bolt and help his master.
Finally, the timer shut off and the lasers subsided. Obi Wan rushed to join his master. Quai Gon instantly took up his saber and attacked Darth Maul, who was already rearing to fight. Quai Gon spared nothing in attacking Darth Maul; he hit all the unprotected points and stabbed through the Sith's defenses.
Obi Wan stopped at the last laser as the timer switched back on. He could do nothing but watch.
Quai Gon and Darth Maul fought all around the ring of the room, careful not to fall into the middle. Quai Gon's resolve was weakening as his arms grew heavier and his attacks flew slower.
A pause in the battle ensued as Darth Maul clenched his black and brown teeth at Quai Gon, who simply glared at the Sith. They surged back into attack. Darth Maul thrust his hilt into Quai Gon's face, swirled around quickly and ran one side of his saber into Quai Gon's stomach.
Quai Gon dropped his lightsaber and gasped, falling onto his back.
"NO!" Obi Wan cried. He stared at his master, praying that he was still breathing. The life was not yet gone from him, but it was leaking quickly.
Obi Wan took a breath and became angry. He glanced at Darth Maul, who began pacing around, waiting for the lasers to shut off once more.
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Padmé and her squad were led to the throne room where the viceroys resided.
"You're little insurrection is at an end, Your Highness." The viceroy on the left boasted. "Time for you to sign this treaty and end this pointless debate in the Senate."
"Viceroy!"
Everyone looked to the doors. The Queen's bodyguard—still dressed as Queen—boldly walked up to the doors.
"Your occupation here has ended." She shot two battle droids guarding the front door and ran off, her squad following.
"After her!" The viceroy ordered. He glared at Padmé. "This one is a decoy."
Padmé sat on her throne and pressed a button. A compartment opened and Padmé handed out blasters to Panaka and his troops. They took out the remaining droids.
"Jam the doors." Panaka ordered. The viceroys were now alone.
"Now, viceroy, we shall discuss a new treaty."
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Æliesha ran to Connan and licked her face, hoping for a response. She couldn't get one. Connan couldn't move a single muscle in her body. Her Kath Hound turned, growled at Darth Sidious, and charged him.
The man ran his lightsaber through Æliesha's stomach.
NO! Connan shouted mentally. Æliesha fell onto the ground and stopped moving. A big purple blob formed under her and sucked her in. Connan attempted to scream, but no sounds came out of her mouth. She could do nothing.
Connan's head was spinning. She couldn't think straight enough to move her hands and grab her sabers. She couldn't move her legs enough to stand. She didn't even know if she had the strength to stand. If only she could put her hands in the position Darth Sidious had his in, clenching upwards, she might have been able to at least make a pillar or two fall between them and give her some time. But no! She had to have her hands on the ground, with her palms plastered into the sand.
Wait, Connan thought. His hands are clenched? What?
True, Darth Sidious had his hands curled up tightly, facing the sun. Connan gasped inwardly.
I know what he's doing. My gut is hurting enough already, but he put a Force Choke on me while I was down.
How was it that Connan could get out of Force Chokes again? She couldn't think straight enough to remember. She knew she could do it without her hands; she just needed to know what she was doing.
It was a Force—Force something. It was that thing I did to Atris that pushed her into the Jedi Enclave Fountain and turned her hair—wait. Push! Force Push.
Connan clenched her eyes shut and focused on Sidious. A red line was emanating from him to Connan. She pushed it away with her mind. It barely waved.
I've got to use more power than that. She told herself. Try again.
Darth Sidious was so close to Connan he could touch her face. She grunted, placing all of her mental energy into her Force Push. It was more powerful than she expected. She'd sent Darth Sidious flying into a pillar on the other side of the road.
Almost instantly, her arms could move about, her breathing was mostly restored, and she was on her feet. Her lightsabers flew to her hands.
"Kill my dog, will you?" She darkly threatened. "I'm going to cut you open, take out your entrails, and put them in a bowl."
"If all I had to do to get you this angry was kill your Kath Hound, I would have done it sooner." Darth Sidious threw his lightsaber at Connan.
The lightsaber stopped inches from her face. She hadn't moved an inch. She used to Force to turn it around and repel it back to Darth Sidious.
"Don't toy with me." She warned. "You'll lose."
"I agree." Darth Sidious succeeded in confusing Connan. He bowed. "Until we meet again, then."
He was gone.
Connan slammed her fist into a pillar, breaking her hand and cracking the pillar.
"You low-life. I'll enjoy killing him one of these days." She told herself. Her exhaustion then caught up with her, causing her to settle onto the ground.
"But," She said aloud. "I think I'll rest here until someone comes to find me."
She blanked out.
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Obi Wan was furious. He couldn't stand to wait behind a laser door while his master lay there dying. He igniting his lightsaber and waited for his chance.
It came.
He cried out, striking brutally at Darth Maul, fighting quicker than he ever had before. He no longer knew what he was doing, only that he was doing it. When chance came he'd pause in the battle to catch a quick breath or reorganize himself before throwing his lightsaber against Maul's once again.
He cut Darth Maul's lightsaber in half, sending one half of it down the long fall in the middle of the room. Darth Maul leapt up from the ground and assaulted Obi Wan once again.
Obi Wan knew he now stood a chance against Darth Maul, since he only had one blade left. The Jedi was kicked in the face again as he flipped backward, avoiding the middle of the room.
The two sabers clashed once more, testing each other's strength when Darth Maul's other hand came out and Force Pushed him into the middle of the room.
Obi Wan's lightsaber hung on the edge of the ring, and Obi Wan hung onto a bolt close to the top.
Darth Maul sauntered up to the middle of the room and pushed Obi Wan's lightsaber into the long drop. Obi Wan watched it fall, groaning as his arms grew weaker.
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R2-D2 beeped approvingly as the lights to the ship came back on.
"Yes! We have power!" Anakin called. "Shields up."
The battle droids tried firing at the machine, but it deflected them.
"Take this!" Anakin fired at the droids, blowing them all to oblivion. "And this!"
Anakin pulled the stick out a little more and fired three powerful shots.
"Whoa!" He gawked. The shots hit the main core.
"Oops." Anakin sheepishly admitted. He fired up the engine. "Let's get out of here." R2 beeped in agreement.
"What's that?" Rang the screen. "It's blowing up from the inside!"
"We didn't hit it." Another voice said into Anakin's screen. He smirked.
"Now this is Podracing." He called to R2. "Whoo!" He called, spiraling out of the exploding ship.
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Darth Maul crackled his lightsaber against the side of the ring, hoping to make Obi Wan drop. Obi Wan stared at Quai Gon's lightsaber.
Maybe I can reach it, he said to himself. If I can just call it and pull myself up….
He glanced back at Darth Maul, whose expression changed into a bewildered look. Obi Wan felt the lightsaber move. He grunted, pulling himself up from the long drop and flipping over Darth Maul. The lightsaber flew to his hands. He slashed at Darth Maul, cutting him in half. Maul fell down the long drop, both sides of him clanging into each other as he went.
Obi Wan sheathed his lightsaber and ran to Quai Gon. He held his master's head up off the ground in an attempt to save him.
"No—no, it's too late." Quai Gon muttered.
"No," Obi Wan shook his head.
"Obi Wan," Quai Gon stated. "Promise—Promise me you will train the boy." Obi Wan nodded.
"Yes, Master." He answered.
"He is the chosen one." Quai Gon sputtered. "He… will bring balance. Train him."
Obi Wan nodded.
"And," Quai Gon winced. "Take—take care of Connan. If you ever see her again, be civil."
"Yes, Master. As always." Obi Wan forced himself to smile. Quai Gon's eyes closed and he lay still.
Obi Wan cried for him master. There was nothing else he could do. Anakin's ship had left the hangar, Padmé was all the way on the other side of the palace, and he didn't even know if Connan was still alive.
He picked up his master and made his way outside the palace. Once outside he looked around, bewildered. That rude assassin droid that followed Connan around was in pieces on the right side of the street. There was blood not five feet from it. In the middle of the street lay a lightsaber. Obi Wan held up a hand and called the saber to him.
It looked exactly like one of Connan's sabers.
"Connan?" He called. He set down his master next to the palace. "Are you here?"
Obi Wan ran to the middle of the street, where he'd seen the lightsaber. Laying next to a building beside it was a bloodied-up Connan. Her hair was matted down with sweat and her face was covered in blood. Her hand had bones sticking out of it and the pillar next to her had a big crack in it.
She looked dead.
"Connan." He ran to her. "Connan, wake up." He pleaded.
Connan stirred, immediately wincing in pain.
"Ah! I feel like I've just been stepped on by a bantha." She muttered. She stared at Obi Wan and realized where she was.
"Obi Wan!" She tried to sit up. "What happened? Did we win?"
Obi Wan nodded solemnly.
"We won, but Quai Gon didn't make it." Connan looked away.
"I know; I felt it." She said. She pulled up the robes from her stomach. A huge purple bruise emitted from it. Obi Wan hissed.
"You should get treatment." He looked around. "Where's Æliesha?"
"I—I'm not sure. She was stabbed by D—by that guy I was fighting, and this big purple blob came and swallowed her up." Connan stood with the help of Obi Wan.
"You think it was the Byssual?" Obi Wan asked.
"I'm not sure. I'd rather not find out." She answered. "Come on, I'll bet Padmé's wondering where we are."
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Okay, two more chapters left, people! I'm sorry for the long update wait, I got really sick and couldn't get on the computer. I'll try harder next time!
I'm so excited! Two more chapters and I'll have finally finished a story! Yes! ((claps)) And I'm so sorry about the grammatical errors in the last chapter; I didn't notice most of them until I reread it after I'd published it.
Please review guys! And thanks so much for not giving up on me!
