Star Wars: Return of the Sith
10: The Ragged Edge of Disaster
By Nanaki
Kuat Drive Yards, Orbital Shipyard #12
Jerin charged right around another corner, then immediately saw a pair of feet right at the level of his visor. Jerin's brain made the snap decision that someone was trying to kick him in the head, and he quickly slid to the floor, impacting into the opposite wall with a loud thump. Only when he was down did he realize that the feet were bare, red, and dangling, rather than in a kicking position. "Ow..." Jerin groaned as he lurched back to his feet. "You just had to levitate her at that exact height, didn't you Tenn?" He complained.
"It was a complete coincidence, really." Tenn assured him. "Besides, I'm not exactly an expert at this kind of thing."
"Thanks for avoiding my injured leg, by the way." Joona smiled in relief.
"Well, it was a reflex, but you're welcome..." Jerin trailed off as he realized that he'd actually only heard her name once, and his brain struggled for a second before coming up with it. "Joona, right?" He finished sheepishly.
"Joona Sohm." She nodded, not looking offended. "And hey, I'm amazed you picked up my name so quick, with so many girls to keep track of."
"Well, let's just say say that you make a strong first impression." Jerin managed to say in a tone free of innuendo. "But anyway, let's use the Force to catch back up to the others, huh?" He turned back to Tenn.
"I'm afraid I can't do that while I'm holding her up." Tenn told him.
"Hmm..." Jerin thought it over. He sure couldn't do it either, at least not without practicing first, and there was no time for that. He could carry Joona on his back easily enough, but with the shape her leg was in, that would probably hurt like hell. Looking at her injured leg now, he thought her bandage had fallen off, until he realized that virtually the whole thing was soaked with blood. "What happened, anyway?"
"She gave me some help with Negian." Tenn summed it up.
"I ran." Joona summed it up even quicker.
"Eesh." Jerin winced in sympathy, even though he knew Joona couldn't see his face. "Well," he turned back to Tenn, "How far can you run without drawing on the Force?"
"Without the Force? About half a mile. Maybe." Tenn shrugged.
'You have GOT to be kidding me!' Jerin thought, but he didn't say it out loud. Instead, he turned back to Joona. "What kind of shape is your admiring idiot in?"
"Not great." Joona answered right away. "I don't think he gets much exercise, anway."
"All right then, let's walk. Quickly." Jerin declared, then set off down the hallway at a blistering pace, considering that he technically was walking. Tenn found that she had to break into a slow jog to keep up.
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Seco let out a ragged wheeze as he put his right hand on the wall to steady himself. He had spent nearly a minute struggling to breathe and failing before he'd finally calmed down enough to use the Force to pop his windpipe back into its normal shape. Now he groaned and made a mental note that the next time he ran up against Jerin Danar, the Mandalorian's death wasn't going to be quick.
Seco reached out with the Force to find Negian, and was disappointed by what he found. Negian's presence was still strong, but it wasn't moving. Negian was most likely unconscious, or otherwise incapacitated. To Seco's dismay, not far from Negian he sensed another presence, this one incredibly powerful, that immediately realized it had been sensed and started charging right for him. It pretty much had to be Dirk Skywalker. "Come on!" Seco complained out loud. "Just once on this mission could I get a break? Just once!"
Seco felt genuine fear at facing Dirk in his present condition, and also a great deal of anger at Jerin for putting him in this position in the first place. Both feelings were pathways to the dark side, so Seco didn't even try to supress them. By the time Dirk appeared at the end of the hallway, Seco was standing up straighter, barely noticing the rasp in his breathing.
"Well Seco, you ran with your tail between your legs the last time we met." Dirk observed calmly. "Feeling more courageous today?"
"Not exactly." Seco croaked, frowning at the sound of his own voice. It sounded like he had a bad cold. "You're a little late if you're here to help Tenn." He decided it wouldn't hurt to try to talk his way out of this situation.
"I know. You already lost your battle against her and the Mandalorian." Dirk shrugged. "I admit I was a little worried, but it seems the Force didn't steer me wrong on this one."
"Shouldn't you be going to help her then, instead of wasting time on me?" Seco wondered.
"Well, it's shockingly decent of you to be so concerned, Seco. But no need to worry. Lucia is waiting just outside of the platform in her Stealth X. As soon as she senses Tenn's presence leaving the station, she'll move to catch the ship."
Seco allowed a smile to appear on his face as he shook his head. "That plan won't work. The Mandalorian's ship is too fast."
"We'll see." Dirk calmly drew out his lightsaber and ignited its green blade. "If you're going to try to run, now would be the time."
Seco snorted and drew out his purple blade in response. "I would never leave here without Negian."
Dirk raised an eyebrow. "I'm surprised you still have that much loyalty left in you."
"Don't act like you know me, Skywalker." Seco growled. "Because you never did, and you never will! Haaah!!" Seco charged forward, spinning into a furious series of slashes that would have been too fast for most beings to see. To his dismay, a look of triumph appeared on Dirk's face as he easily parried Seco's attacks.
Soon enough, Dirk was the one doing the attacking, and Seco twirled into a series of Makashi's trademark circular parries. Seco recognized that Dirk was using the Djem So variant of Juyo, characterized by raw power more than anything else, yet Dirk was delivering his strikes just as fast as Seco was. As the two battled up and down the hallway, it was taking everything Seco had just to avoid getting his arms cut off, never mind actually winning. 'Now would be a good time to wake up, Negian.' He thought wistfully.
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Denan risked another quick glance behind him, then cursed under his breath. He was no expert on the subject, but he was pretty sure they were being followed. They were certainly drawing plenty of curious stares as they walked by, all trying their best not to look guilty or threatening. The brothel had been buried in the back of a neighborhood full of bars and restaurants that were mostly just open at night, but now they had entered a less nocturnal business district, and there were plenty of people in the corridors heading to work. Just the fact that Denan was leading a whole rainbow of Twi'lek girls would have drawn enough attention, but the fact that virtually all of them were insanely beautiful and not wearing much aside from blankets pretty much guaranteed that someone was going to call security, and soon. True, if there were any security personnel on duty now, they would have been captured already. Even so, just because there was no one on active patrol didn't guarantee that there was no one minding the comm back at headquarters.
Through the light crowd of people ahead of him in the corridor, Denan saw two Nikto striding forward with confidence. The Nikto were one of the slave species bound in permanent servitude to the Hutts, so if they were after him, chances were good that they worked for Gadran directly, and not station security. Fantastic. Glancing behind him once more, Denan saw two more Nikto hurrying up from behind. There could be no doubt now. Denan held out his hand for the girls to stop where they were. "Where do you think you're going?" One of the two Nikto in front of him asked as they closed to within five paces.
"It's not what it looks like!" Were the words on the tip of Denan's tongue, though he didn't actually say anything right away. It was even true, up to a point. He was technically a captive of the Mandalorian. Though that would sound like a pretty weak excuse right now, since Jerin wasn't here, and he doubted that the girls would have bothered to chase after him if he ran away. Still, he could pretend that he'd just been cooperating until he ran into some help, and that he'd just been stalling for time, trying to think of a way to keep everyone from escaping. He could probably get away with that too, and walk away from this experience none the worse for wear.
However, he also knew that if he did that, his relationship with Joona, whatever it might be, would be instantly over. Well, he certainly wouldn't be the first man who'd done something idiotic for a woman. "Away from here." He answered honestly. "That's all I know at the moment."
"I don't think so." The apparent leader of the Nikto whipped out a blaster before Denan had any time to react.
"You'll set off an alarm if you fire that here." Denan was relieved to realize. There were several banks in this area, and the owners didn't want to take any chances that someone might blast their vaults open. Any weapons fire around here would set off an alarm that would normally bring security running. "Besides, you don't seriously think that just four of you can capture so many people, do you?"
"Not all at once." The leader shrugged. "But definitely before they can escape the shipyards. But you're right about the blasters. Thanks." He flashed Denan a grin that didn't look friendly in the least. Then, both of the Nikto pulled out vibroknives and slowly advanced toward Denan.
Denan knew he could increase his odds of survival a good deal if he shouted for the girls to run right now, but that greatly increased the odds that one or more of them would get stabbed. Somehow, though he definitely wasn't feeling very brave right now, he just couldn't bring himself to do that. Denan went ahead and brought his hands up, hoping he could somehow manuever one into stabbing the other, then somehow taking that first one out before the other two reached him... Boy, this was not looking good.
Just as the Nikto leader began to dart forward, he suddenly skidded to a stop and tried to jump to the side. He wasn't quick enough, and the flying form of one of his comrades slammed into him, sending them both skidding down the corridor. The second Nikto that had been guarding the rear of the column came flying forward a moment later, though the final Nikto was nimble enough to jump out of the way. That last Nikto hesitated where he was, seeming to feel that he should do something, but apparently not willing to take on nearly forty beings at once, even if they were unarmed. Soon enough, the rapid thumping of armored boots arrived at the front of the column, and Jerin was charging toward the last standing guard, who quickly turned to run.
Jerin skidded to a stop on one foot, aiming the other at the fleeing Nikto. He hit the button on his belt to activate his repulsorlift boots, and although this caused him to smack his own helmet into the ceiling, it also sent the final Nikto flying even farther down the corridor than his teammates had gone. Jerin easily landed on his feet and strode calmly toward his downed enemies.
The Nikto leader managed to rise to a sitting position, hugging his torso in a way that suggested he had broken some ribs. The others remained where they were on the floor, apparently unconscious, if not worse. "Sheesh, you'd think Gadran would know better than to send so few thugs against me by now." Jerin observed calmly.
The leader looked up at Jerin through bleary eyes that seemed to have trouble focusing. "Gadran didn't send us..." He wheezed.
"What?" Jerin's posture instantly stiffened. "But if he didn't, that could only mean... Oh no." He turned to look back toward Denan. "Oh no."
"What's wrong?" Denan wondered.
"Everyone, run for the ship like your lives depended on it!" Jerin shouted. "Because they do! I'll go ahead and get the ship warmed up, but you all hurry!" With that, he turned and charged down the corridor as fast as he could go.
"What was that about?" Denan wondered aloud, barely noticing as Joona's floating form appeared next to him.
"I don't know." Tenn's voice came from just behind him. "But if that idiot is actually worried, we probably should be too."
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Back near the brothel, the lightsaber duel raged on, but Seco was on his last legs, and both warriors knew it. Fatigue was taking its toll on Seco, and his rasping breathing wasn't helping matters. Seco tried to summon up some righteous indignation at the situation, but he was now too tired to feel much more than irritation. In addition to his deadly lightsaber styles, Seco had tried just about every Force power in the book, to no avail. His attempts at Force pushing and Force choking were swatted away by Skywalker with apparently little effort, and Dirk always managed to catch Seco's Force lightning on his lightsaber's blade.
The fact of the matter was, Skywalker had a completely unfair advantage in raw power, and he was the superior swordsman on top of that. Only a true master of the dark side could hope to defeat him one on one, and Seco was not that master. Not yet. 'Damn it Negian, where are you?!' Seco thought as he desperately blocked yet another ridiculously powerful slash from Dirk.
As if in answer to Seco's thought, Negian was suddenly jumping into the action with lightning speed, his red blade heading for Dirk's neck even as he ignited it. Unfortunately, the sound of the blade gave him away, and Dirk spun around to block just in time. "Hello there." Dirk said calmly, though he did raise an eyebrow. "Now, how did you pull that off? As far as the Force is concerned, you're still in the same hallway you've been in for the last ten minutes or so."
"I may not be able to hide my presence in the Force like you," Negian said as he began striking with the tight, efficient movements of Soresu, "But I know how to misplace it."
"Negian, don't tell him that!" Seco shook his head, then started heading back into the fray. Feeling too tired to be effective with Ataru, Seco relied on his Makashi style as he and Negian came at Dirk from opposite sides.
However, instead of the desperate defensive movements Seco and Negian were expecting, Dirk seemed to relish this new challenge, striking in ways that left him more open than when he had been fighting Seco alone. Yet even so, the holes in his defense always closed up before the Sith could take advantage. Even fighting both of them at once, he was just playing around.
Then there was a sudden flurry of strikes from Negian, and Dirk was clearly on the defensive. Seco allowed himself a smile for the first time in a while. Negian had switched to Vaapad, which was his favorite style. Vaapad had been created by Jedi Masters Mace Windu and Sora Bulq more than two and half centuries ago, and today it was a forbidden, mostly forgotten style. To be truly effective with Vaapad, the wielder had to let himself draw close to the dark side, actually enjoying the fight and the thrill of defeating an opponent. For that very reason, it was now a forbidden form, and for good reason, Seco had to admit. During the Clone Wars, Sora Bulq had fallen to the dark side completely and joined up with Count Dooku, resulting in the deaths of many Jedi. Even Seco didn't know all the details of how Negian had come to learn Vaapad, but he approved. Secrecy was an important aspect of the dark side, after all.
"Tell me Skywalker..." Seco spoke as he spun into a new series of slashes with renewed vigor. "Why DIDN'T you hide your presence in the Force when you were approaching?"
"Isn't it obvious?" Dirk grinned. "To draw you away from Tenn. And it worked."
"Why do you still care about her so much?" Negian asked through gritted teeth. "She turned her back on the Jedi a long time ago!"
"Yes, because her own standards of peace and justice were far higher than the order's." Dirk answered as he drove Negian back with his own flurry of strikes. "Not because she's a rebellious idiot like you two!" Now Dirk turned to catch Seco's strike on his blade, then forced Seco's saber up and aimed a strike at his knees. Seco jumped backwards, and Dirk had a moment to catch his breath. He could probably get away from the two of them now, but he was getting a sense that he could help Lucia the most by keeping the Sith occupied as long as he could.
"Later, losers!" Dirk shouted as he charged past Seco in a Force powered sprint. Negian hesitated for a moment, apparently unsure about what to do, but Seco instantly started chasing Dirk, just as he'd predicted. 'All right Lucia, the Mando's all yours.' Dirk allowed the smile to return to his face. 'Now trying to subdue these two without killing them will be the hard part...'
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"Someday, someone will beat me. But it won't be today, and it won't be you." - Flavor text on the card "Last Word", Magic: the Gathering - Darksteel
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(Nanaki's note: I just finished reading Fate of the Jedi: Backlash, which is probably my favorite Star Wars novel since Darth Bane: Path of Destruction. While they're vastly different books, they do have one important element in common: Lots and lots of characters with Force powers. I think I'm on the right track with this story.)