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Elite
Riyo gently kissed Barriss, trying to ease her worrying. Damian hovered off to the side, meditating in silence, his lightsaber hovering in front of himself, deactivated. Ahsoka had her helmet resting on the control console beside her, keeping the rest of her armor on as she also meditated. Damian finally opened his eyes, wrapping his fingers around his lightsaber before setting his feet down, staring out the window again.
"What do we do?" Shaeeah asked from where she, Jek, and Enfys were waiting off to the side in silence.
Damian looked to Ahsoka just as she also stirred from her meditation. "Ahsoka and I will face the main bulk of the force. We'll head for the flagship. But we definitely can not win this fight with just us and the Wraith, as much as I love that ship. We'll die if we try."
"So what do we do?" Jek asked.
"Anyone who can't use the force is taking the Wraith and escaping at the first chance," Damian said. "I'll detonate the station as planned."
"They're out of range," Barriss said. "Ghaar knew you'd blow it up and told the Toonee Clan how far to stay away."
"How many Toonees are there anyway?" Riyo asked, staring at the sphere of ships around them.
"There are six dozen or so Toonees," Damian said. "All of them are extremely nasty Trandoshans who are extremely good at killing. The Toonee Clan prides itself on being good at it. However, the bigger problem is the Toonee Clan's private army, making up the rest of the people on the ships. Each Toonee commands a crime organization, like a super-sized gang, that's trained better than most militaries. Each gang numbers around two hundred."
"Fuck me!" Barriss snorted humorlessly. "Fourteen thousand four hundred troops, each ready to kill us."
"You're forgetting Ghaar's forces, which are also present," Damian said. "By estimation, Ghaar has roughly sixteen hundred troops in total, not counting the skeleton crew guarding the station."
"Skeleton crew?" Ahsoka asked. "Christ. Any more Gen'Dai?"
"Jesus I hope not," Damian groaned.
"You two fought a Gen'Dai?" Barriss asked.
"Yeah," Damian said. "It's dead. I'll tell you about if we survive."
"So grand total, roughly sixteen thousand and change," Jek said. "The three of you cannot fight that alone."
"Yes we can," Damian said, scrolling through an inventory list before stopping and stepping aside. "This station has antimatter bombs."
"Bullshit!" Barriss said, staring at the list before paling. "Damian, if there are nukes here..."
"Yeah," Damian nodded. "They're probably rigged to blow."
"Can we stop them?" Ahsoka asked.
Just then, R3 began to beep rapidly.
"You're sure?" Barriss asked.
R3 beeped again.
"What?" Damian asked.
"He says he scanned the antimatter bombs, as well as the station's normal ammo supply, five times each, including remotely using the Wraith's sensors," Barriss said. "None of the ammo or missiles are rigged to explode. Ghaar actually left them for us."
Damian nodded. "I'll rig them to explode with the station. It'll boost the blast radius and should hit all of the ships, so long as they don't break formation first. it won't be enough to destroy them, but it'll definitely disable a few. The debris will probably take out a few too."
"And how will you escape?" Jek asked.
"We'll steal some of the Toonee Clan's shuttles," Ahsoka said.
"What are they waiting for?" Jek asked. "They're all just sitting there."
"They're giving us time to prepare," Damian said. "The Toonee Clan love to fight, so just blasting the station and being done with it isn't their style. If nothing else, they'll send half their private army in to kill us in person."
Jek nodded.
"We need help," Barriss said. "If we can get the Wraith away, they could try to find help."
"No," Damian said. "They can survive. Us three, on the other hand..."
He stopped, staring at one of the ships, one slightly larger than the others, though the entire armada was mismatched, and that also had the Toonee Clan's crest painted onto it. That was the flag ship.
"They're on that one?" Ahsoka guessed.
"Probably, yeah," Damian nodded. "As I was saying, us three are going to be extremely busy."
The others nodded.
"You'd all better come back to us," Riyo said.
"We will," Damian said.
They all headed to the hangar and Jek and the others boarded the Wraith, along with the two astromechs. Before she got on, Riyo gave Barriss one last kiss for luck before leaving. Barriss sighed, looking to Damian and Ahsoka.
"Tell me we're going to survive this," Barriss said.
"We're going to survive this," Ahsoka said, extending her white lightsabers blades, having retrieved them from the Wraith and having added her green and yellow crystals to them to increase their intensity, allowing them to cut through things easier. "Probably."
She put her lightsabers away as the Wraith turned on its cloaking tech, its panels all beginning change, reflecting an image from the opposite side, turning them invisible. Then, Damian held up a small control pad and pressed the big flashing button. The autopilot from all of the fighters and shuttles from the entire station engaged, a cloud of ships taking off from the station and scattering, drawing the Toonee clan's fire instantly, covering the Wraith's escape. Damian watched carefully, seeing the Wraith become visible again, only to almost immediately jump to Hyperspace before anyone could shoot it. He sighed, tossing the control pad aside.
"Alright," Damian said. "Now the fun part. Time to detonate the station and-"
"They're coming," Ahsoka reported, everyone looking out of the hangar at a cloud of shuttles closing in on the station from all sides, including one from the flagship, on which Damian could sense Ghaar and the Toonee Clan's head, Vedok Toonee. He was, by all accounts, arguably Ghaar's Trandoshan counterpart. They'd both be very dangerous.
"Get to the control room," Damian said. "Disable the control console, then get to the reactor."
Barriss nodded and turned, sprinting away from them. Damian turned, sprinting into the station, heading for the nukes, Ahsoka just behind him. They sped through the hallways rapidly, taking turns so fast that they ended up having to run along the wall a couple of times from skidding too wide. Finally, they slowed to a stop in a room where the nukes were all standing in the center of it, more ammunition around them. Damian quickly pulled out det-cord, beginning to wrap it around first the ammunition, then the nukes, wiring all of the separate lengths of the explosive cables together, then wiring them to a remote detonator, which he had the controller for with him. Once he was done, he stepped outside, shutting the door and using his lightsaber to weld it shut. They both took off at a run again, taking the elevator to the reactor, then hurried out onto the platform where Barriss was waiting.
"You ready?" Damian asked.
"No," Barriss said. "We're about to have to fight a full army in this tiny little walkway."
"No," Damian said. "The army's going to take over the rest of the station. The ones we're fighting will be the elite guards, Ghaar, and Vedok Toonee."
Barriss nodded. "What should we expect from Vedok?"
"Pain," Damian said. "I'm not sure what he has for weapons, but expect it to beat your lightsabers."
Barriss nodded just as the station shook violently. They all looked around before turning back to the front. After a few more minutes, the elevator dinged. An explosion ripped its way out of it, sending the doors spinning across the catwalk in the blink of an eye, only to be deflected by Damian's Force Push. A moment later, the explosion parted before them as well. As the flames ended, several people walked forward to meet them. One of them was a PROXY droid with black armor plating and an Empire emblem crossed out, Dulheif Ghaar's insignia painted on below it. One of the elite troops was a Gungan, of all things, with a Gungan Personal Energy Shield in one hand, and a sword with electricity flying over the blade in the other hand. Another of the elites was an Angel with a shining, white, curved, short sword in each of her hands and dark brown armor that looked like leather. The last elite troop was a Pantoran woman with purple lipstick, her purple hair in a braid over her right shoulder, gold irises, no facial tattoos, unlike the rest of her species, a blue jacket, a white shirt under it, tight black pants, and brown boots. Damian instantly knew why Dulheif Ghaar had her as one of his elite troops. She had bought her way there as much as getting trained enough to be there.
Behind the four elites, Dulheif Ghaar was standing beside Vedok. Vedok's only distinguishing feature from the rest of his race was the scar down through his left eye, which had turned entirely red from blood filling it, and a scar wrapping around the front of his neck from a failed attempt at slitting his throat. He wore Mandalorian armor, and had a pair of electrobatons. Strapped to his back, however, was a completely illegal T-7 disruptor. Dulheif Ghaar, on the other hand, had his prized cannon in his hands. It looked like a normal rifle, contrary to its true nature. It had a pistol grip on the bottom of it, in place of a barrel was a long rectangular section that was open with the top wall disconnected from the end for about six inches, then alternating connected sections and open sections, each about an inch wide, heading back toward the sight. Damian, having seen the weapon, and what it could do, before, recognized the would-be barrel as a particle accelerator that empowered every shot and also sped them up. Under the particle accelerator was an angled foregrip, and the normal-looking buttstock, which did a perfect job of disguising how amazingly effective the buffer was.
"You're sure that rifle's as deadly as you say?" Barriss asked.
"Yes," Damian nodded. "It's his pride and joy, and he almost bankrupted his entire criminal organization having it made."
Damian glared at Ghaar, who chuckled inside of his stylized Mandalorian helmet. Unlike most, which had a "T" visor to see though, his had a "Y" with a breathing apparatus below the visor, red for most of it, black leading up from the top of the visor, and a small antenna sticking up from the left side. His armor was also Mandalorian Iron and every bit the indestructible juggernaut suit Damian and Ahsoka were wearing. The chest piece had overlapping plates reaching down from his shoulders, thick pauldrons, a jetpack on his back, Mandalorian Iron plates running down his arms and legs, Mandalorian Iron groin protector, magnetic boots, and a wrist-mounted rocket launcher. One his back, slid through a slot in the jetpack specifically created to hold the sword, was his second favorite weapon. Its handle was long enough for two hands, but it was light enough to be used with one, as Ghaar usually did. The blade was black and curved backward slightly to the point at about two feet.
"He'll be a problem," Ahsoka said.
"He's mine," Damian said. "You and Barriss will deal with Vedok. Do not underestimate his speed."
Ahsoka nodded as the four elites began to advance. Damian crouched, extending one of his lightsaber blades. He had always hated the elites. No matter who they were, they were always sickeningly loyal to Ghaar, and they were always a pain in the ass to fight, even during training.
"This is the guy we're looking for?" the Pantoran asked. "He's a pussy for wearing a juggernaut suit."
"Excuse me?" Ghaar asked.
"Oh but yours is necessary," she said hurriedly. "He's got a lightsaber, after all."
Ghaar grunted. "Just kill him already."
The Gungan acted immediately, leaping forward and slashing downward at Damian, who deflected the blade, then slashed at him. However, the Gungan deflected the blade with his shield before slamming a kick into Damian's chest, launching him backward. Damian flipped, landing on his feet as the Angel and Pantoran both reached Ahsoka, the Pantoran brandishing a pistol in one hand and a knife with electricity streaming over the blade like an electrostaff. Damian moved to help her, only for the Gungan to slam the shield into his face, flipping him backward. Then, as Damian opened his eyes, he shouted in fear, using the Force to launch both himself and Ahsoka back to Barriss before flipping to his feet, extending his second blade and stepping in front of Ahsoka as he separated his lightsabers. There, standing beside the Gungan, was the last Sith Stalker, the one that had been a surprisingly helpful thorn in Damian's side for so long.
"It's not really him," Ahsoka said, stepping up beside him. "It's the PROXY droid."
Damian glanced past the Sith Stalker, realizing that Ahsoka was right. The droid was gone, and Damian couldn't feel the true Sith Stalker's suffocatingly evil power. He sighed in relief, keeping the blades separate as he prepared himself to fight. Ahsoka sped past him as the Gungan leapt into the air and the droid charged. The Gungan slashed downward at Damian from above as the droid stabbed at him. Damian spun, deflecting both blades before slashing at them. The droid leapt away and the Gungan moved to block the blades, only for a blast of the Force to explode out of the first blade to hit the Gungan's shield, launching him off of the platform and into a bundle of power cables off to the side. The moment he touched them, there was a sound like a small explosion and electricity coursed over his body for several seconds as he blackened, beginning to smoke, before finally falling. Damian turned back to the droid in time to block its lightsaber with one blade, then one of the Angel's blades with the other. She slashed the other at him and he spun around it, deciding not to test his armor.
He leapt back from it just as Ahsoka twisted the Pantoran's gun hand sharply, making her drop the blaster, then stabbed her. She staggered backward as Ahsoka pulled her other lightsaber back to herself, and Ahsoka turned, charging at the Angel. Damian deflected the droid's lightsaber and shoved a hand at him, sending him flying backward as the Pantoran collapsed against Ghaar, struggling to hold herself up.
"I'm...sorry...my love," the Pantoran said. "For...Forgive me."
Ghaar didn't even respond. He simply squeezed his rifle's trigger, the blast exploding through the Pantoran's abdomen in a hole four inches across, her body sailing backward and dropping past the platform. Damian grit his teeth. That bastard. He turned his eyes back to the droid as its form began to shimmer and change. Damian cocked an eyebrow just before the form solidified again. He was somehow even more terrifying now. His head was bald with a suit of heavy armor painted black on his torso with huge pauldrons, eyes with blood red sclera and glowing yellow irises, pale skin with what looked like cracks, or maybe dark veins, spread over his scalp, and a breather mask wrapped around his neck with the mouth piece sloping up over his nose. His lightsaber was largely black with silver rings between the grip and emitter, then a pair of thick flat blade-like sections on either side of the red blade.
"Am I supposed to know who that is?" Damian asked.
"I am Darth Malgus," the droid said in a rough, scratchy voice. "One of the greatest lightsaber duelists of all time, and one of the former Great Lords of the Sith from the time of the Sith Empire."
"Oh, well that's just...terrifying," Damian said.
"I was given the relevant data to use this form by the Emperor prior to Lord Ghaar repurposing me," the droid said. "I was originally programmed to train the Inquisitors."
"Well, you didn't do that well, so I'm not worried," Damian said.
Just then, Ahsoka landed beside him, breathing hard. The Angel stepped up beside the droid, one wing missing but seeming no more angry than normal.
"Are you okay?" Damian asked.
"Yeah," Ahsoka said. "She's quick."
"I'm about to have my hands full, I expect," Damian said. "Be careful."
Ahsoka nodded and both charged, their opponents doing the same. Ahsoka sped ahead of Damian, leaping over the droid and slashing at the Angel and Damian slashed at the droid a moment later. However, when his lightsaber met the droid's, the droid spun instantly. Damian swore as the droid's lightsaber sparked across the armor on his back. Damian staggered forward, then spun, raising his left lightsaber to block the droid's, only for the sheer strength on the blow to knock the lightsaber from his hand. He yanked it back to himself instantly, flipping over the droid and reconnecting the handles, leaving it as only a single blade, then turned swinging with all his might, his blade meeting the droid's. He grit his teeth, struggling to hold the droid's back. Apparently, the droid was able to alter his strength and speed according to his form, and Darth Malgus was a true monster. Damian leapt backward, holding his hand out to the side for a moment before sweeping it toward the droid, a massive chunk of the wall tearing free and speeding toward him. The droid slashed upward, his lightsaber splitting the chunk completely. Damian's jaw dropped. That was damn-near impossible.
"I am curious," the droid said. "If this is all you are capable of, why is it that you warranted the employment of so many Sith Stalkers, when any others would only warrant Inquisitors? And how did you manage to defeat so many?"
Damian blinked before taking a long breath, centering himself and extending his second blade. Then, he charged, the droid moving to meet him. As their blades clashed again and again, it quickly became apparent that the droid was much better than he had let on so far. Damian fought him as he was for several more seconds before kicking him backward and separating his blades, adopting his well-practiced stance. The droid lunged, striking at him rapidly and Damian deflected the strikes, striking back when he could. Suddenly, he felt like he was just starting out fighting, struggling to hold his own against Ahsoka again, or trying to fight the original Sith Stalker. He spun and slashed at the droid, and the droid deflected it upward, then stabbed outward at him. Damian flipped over it, spinning and slashing at him, only for the droid to block the slash. He grabbed Damian by the wrist and Damian flipped, landing on one foot before blasting a Force Push into the droid with the other, sending him blasting into the wall of the reactor room. The droid sat there, head hanging limply for a moment, before suddenly raising his head, glaring.
"I see," the droid said. "That's why."
Damian glanced at Ahsoka and the Angel, who were still going back and forth, neither gaining the upper hand. When Damian had said the elites were dangerous, this had not been what he was expecting. These two were terrifying. Suddenly, the droid exploded out of the wall, streaking across the room again and landing in front of Damian, beginning to fight in earnest. Damian focused, fending him off as best he could, but the droid wasn't playing around anymore. A strike slammed into his chest. A few more blocked strikes and one hit the armor plate protecting his manhood. Then his back. His right thigh. His left forearm. Left shoulder. Finally, a stab drilled directly into the face of his helmet, sending Damian staggering backward and Damian stopped himself beside Barriss, gritting his teeth. This wasn't good. The droid was terrifyingly good. If not for his armor, he'd be dead multiple times over by now.
"What do we do?" Barriss asked just before Ahsoka landed beside Damian, panting but having finally beaten the Angel.
"We'll do what we did against the Sith Stalkers," Ahsoka said. "We'll fight together."
"I still have my ace," Damian said.
"Not yet," Barriss said. "Save it for the other two."
Damian nodded and the three of them all charged. The droid sprinted forward, slashing at Damian, only for him to drop into a slide, slashing at the droid's legs. The droid jumped over his lightsaber blade, bringing his lightsaber around to knock both of Ahsoka's aside before landing in a roll, moving to stab Barriss. Before he could, Damian spun, yanking a hand backward, the droid's lightsaber arm jerking backward. Barriss brought her lightsabers down at the droid, but it spun around her, slamming a kick into the back of her head and throwing her forward. Then, he turned, beginning to fend off Damian and Ahsoka. Both covered for each other as much as attacking, allowing them to hold the droid at bay, though with one lightsaber he was holding his own against all four of theirs, so it was still a bit annoying. Finally, he knocked two of their lightsabers into the air, only for them to both shove their hands at him, blasting him backward.
They caught their lightsabers again, only to stare as the droid flipped, shoving both hands backward and firing a concussive blast from each hand, skidding to a stop almost instantly before holding out his hand, his lightsaber handle streaking sideways back to his hand, the blade extending in reverse grip. Damian stared at the droid for a moment before nodding slowly.
"Alright, I'll say it," Damian said. "I want one of these things."
Ahsoka nodded. "Agreed. But first, we need to deal with this thing."
Damian nodded and they sprinted forward. Ahsoka reached him first and slashed at him, only for him to deflect her blade with his own, then punch her. She staggered away and Damian began to slash at the droid rapidly. The Droid deflected his strikes rapidly before moving to stab at his head. Damian leaned to the side, but instead of stabbing at his head, the droid slashed upward and deflected Damian's attacking arm using the armor plating. Then, the droid's lightsaber flipped around behind his back in time to block both of Ahsoka's before the droid slammed a kick into Damian's chest, a concussive blast going off and launching him away, simulating a Force Push. Barriss caught Damian and hurled him back at the droid as he pressed Ahsoka hard. At the last second, the droid spun, his lightsaber blocking both of Damian's, Ahsoka diving out of the way. Then, Damian fired a Force Push out of his lightsaber blades, blasting the droid and sending it flying. Just as it hit the wall, Damian's lightsaber reached it in a blurred disk. However, the droid's arm flashed out, deflecting the blade before he again exploded off of the wall at Damian as Damian pulled the lightsaber back to himself.
Just as he caught it, he felt the same presence as had guided him to electrocute the Gen'Dai. His body reconnected the lightsaber, and when the droid slashed at Damian, Damian turned, allowing the blade to skip off of his own before spinning around the droid and stabbing backward, driving the blade through the droid's chest. The droid staggered forward before his projected body faded and his actual sparked several times before collapsing.
"What was that?" Barriss asked. "You started glowing."
"I...I don't know," Damian said. "It...it felt like I was being...guided again. Like when we fought the Gen'Dai." He looked to Ahsoka, who nodded.
"Well, whatever spirit is possessing you is being extremely helpful, so I won't complain," Ahsoka said.
Damian nodded, turning to their last two enemies. "Your turn."
"Hardly," Ghaar snorted. "Why risk defeat when instead you can cheat?"
Then, he blasted the catwalk in front of himself three times, blasting it apart. Damian swore as he and the others fell. He pulled the other two to himself, then flipped over, preparing to cushion their landing, only for a bolt of electricity to arc off of a cable beside him, blasting into him and robbing him of all feeling.
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