:: Chapter Twenty One ::
"It is imperative he does not perish," Arcann barked at the scientist, "Continue your studies to find the correct formula but keep the man alive at all cost."
"Yes, of course, Emperor Arcann." Jarak cowered before the enlarged holo-projection within his laboratory.
He circled around the large, metallic, medical table turned upright where his subject sat strapped in and angled it toward Arcann's view.
"As you can see, he is in fine condition currently."
"Hrm." Arcann's one good eye narrowed and he leaned forward to observe the Pureblood closely.
Thickly defined scars covered Lord Scourge's torso from his navel up to his collarbones and down along both arms. Twin injection needles were embedded into his biceps on either side pumping vibrant green and blue liquids into his body and tinting his veins. His eyelashes fluttered feebly, indicating bare consciousness and as a result of previous experiments, the tip ends of his tendrils had turned black.
Contrary to what they were lead to believe though, he was in fact wide awake, as he was most of the time, and quietly listening in on the inane conversation between the scientist and his sorry excuse for an Emperor.
"Very well," Arcann approved after minutes of studying his appearance, "and your progress?"
"Minimal, I'm afraid," Jarak admitted timidly and glossed at his personal notes, "his physiology did not contain enough traces of the original process, as you know, and your father's books have told us nothing. The cure he's taken appears to be of mythical origin rather than scientific.
"We've managed to replicate his accelerated healing properties through a bone marrow extraction and synthesized a way of permanently increasing his strength. We've found a method of reversing his regenerative properties to a point of near death but we cannot seem to achieve true immortality."
Jarak hardly dared look at the holo-projection while he relayed his findings and he swallowed hard, his voice sinking to a near whisper, "We have to consider it may not be possible to repeat what your father did to this man, at least not through scientific means."
"You will make it possible!" Arcann bellowed and rose from his throne, causing Jarak to quake with fear, "Or I will come down there myself to test every failing formula on you!"
Through a squinted left eye, Lord Scourge watched the inferior Emperor prowl in a circle, taunting the scientist.
'Mindless fools,' he quietly mocked them both.
"You will find a way, Jarak, and I will become stronger than I have ever been, stronger than my father was and an immortal! This galaxy will be mine to rule for all eternity and I will do everything he could not! Have everything he never wanted me to have!"
"Yes, my Lord, as you wish, although…" the scientist hesitated and cringed preemptively, "your insistence on his survival will limit my options going forward. May I ask why he must live?"
Arcann waved his hand in a careless manner and made the one announcement Lord Scourge had dreaded for years, "His wife recently turned up in this sector of space and I may need him should she become a problem."
Lord Scourge's mind cried out and unintentionally, he rattled his restraints. 'No! Wish that my thoughts would reach you now, Sith. Turn back, go home.'
"It would appear he's waking up," Arcann pointed out, "Get to work and do not fail me!"
The last words were spat out venomously before the connection died, leaving Jarak to stand trembling still at the now lifeless holo-communicator on his desk.
He slipped on a pair of thick gloves and poured over his notes once more before he turned to adjust the temperatures of the liquids he had boiling in his laboratory. He retrieved a small red vial containing Lord Scourge's blood from one of his cooling units and returned to his microscope.
"So, your wife has arrived in Wild Space," Jarak muttered and he knew fully well Lord Scourge was wide awake, "that must bring you joy, no?"
'Joy?' He felt nothing but pain these days, as he did once upon a time before he'd taken the cure.
Four years of daily experiments, of being drained of his blood and pumped full of one concoction after another had left his senses and nervous system damaged worse than ever. He was in a constant state of agony and while in the earlier years thoughts of Eliza and their child had carried him through the horrific experiences, by now they'd become drowned out, chased away by constant torment.
All he had left were his thoughts and memories—a recollection of what her lips once tasted like, of how it felt to be loved by her but the joy and warmth he knew had to accompany those memories was nowhere to be found these days. He longed for death, a permanent end to his suffering and the anguish that had colored most of his far too long life.
"She is undoubtedly searching for you, isn't she? Is she a former immortal such as yourself?" Jarak carried on but he was ignored.
'She can't come here, she can't go to Zakuul… I'm useless to her now, to the child.'
His thoughts became all-consuming until Jarak drew near and injected his veins with a brand new mixture he'd just cooked up. Lord Scourge gritted his teeth and howled in terror. Beyond his control, his body began to spasm and convulse violently against the slab he was strapped to and he felt his skin burn, dry cracks bursting down his legs and across his back while his vision blurred.
A murderous roar erupted from his throat and while Jarak observed, feeling rather pleased with his reaction, Lord Scourge passed out, his last thoughts lingering with the wife and daughter he prayed would never find him or the broken husk he'd become.
—
Their flight to the shadowport Asylum provided ample time for Eliza and Senya to enjoy good conversation and both women shared the full extent of their truth. Knowing now that Senya was the mother of two of her greatest adversaries, Eliza had worried the woman might waver or withdraw her support if it ever came to choosing between the alliance and her children but Senya assured that no matter what, her children needed removing from power.
It had been a fine enough answer for the time being though Eliza informed Theron to keep a close watch—as a mother herself, she understood only too well the fact Senya might side with her children in the future, even when she had no intention to do so now.
Asylum itself had been in a dire state when they arrived and bodies littered the docking platform as their welcome committee. They picked up various distress calls from multiple locations and decided to split up into three groups—each group taking a different level—while Theron remained behind aboard the Vanora to manage communications and scan for nearby vessels.
"I thought you said there were only two dozen of them!" Eliza bit out and tucked into a roll, finding cover behind a stacked set of cargo crates, "This feels like a lot more!"
"They are with more, I'm sorry," Lord Cytharat called over their earpieces.
"I've got you!" Jenna rushed to Eliza's side and used her shoulder for support while she returned fire at the Skytroopers approaching. "Hell, it's like they're multiplying on the spot."
"You're telling me. Thanks."
The two women helped each other up and rushed down the corridor toward the Free Zone where they reunited with Darius, Malavai, and Me'ghan.
"This is starting to feel like a trap," Darius pointed out and spied four more Skytroopers coming their way.
"I would agree," Malavai said.
Darius and Me'ghan both shot forward, batting the oncoming plasma bolts out of the way until they came close enough to cut the Skytroopers down while Jenna and Eliza had their backs, making sure they weren't followed.
"How are things looking in your section, Charlie?" Eliza asked.
"Good for now, we've cleared the area and started escorting survivors to the landing pad."
"Alright, keep at it, we have one more sector to check here and then we'll join you."
Me'ghan ran her lightsaber through one of the Troopers and glanced over her shoulder at Eliza. "Hey so, have you told Ravage yet, about you and Theron?"
"Nah."
"Can I be there when you do, so I can watch his head explode?"
Eliza chuckled and turned the corner. "Looks like we've got just the atrium left. I'll go check it out with Darius, you guys start turning back and help evacuate everyone."
Malavai frowned and felt uneasy leaving her behind. "Are you sure?"
"Positive, we'll catch up in a few minutes."
With some reluctance, they split off and while Me'ghan, Malavai and Jenna rushed back the way they'd come, the other pair hastened their step to the large twin doors ahead.
The atrium at the center of the top floor of Asylum was barely lit, only through the skylight above came small, illuminating rays. Nothing out of the ordinary could be seen and while Eliza was certain she'd sensed something or someone, she saw no indication of another presence within the room.
"A dead end," Darius suggested, though he readily kept his lightsaber hilt in hand while he scoured the area.
"So it would seem…"
The Force signature she'd picked up on, however, grew stronger the further she stepped into the atrium and Theron's voice crackled over their comms in warning.
"Eliza be careful! Half the Eternal Fleet just appeared surrounding Asylum and they're accompanied by—"
He was cut off by a spike of interference and Eliza tapped her earbud a few times. "Theron?"
Darius spun around and rushed for the entrance. "We should go back, our two Interceptors cannot take on half the Fleet."
"Yeah, let's—"
The air around them grew thick and cold, exuding the sort of darkness Eliza had only ever felt in the presence of one other person—the Sith Emperor—and within seconds she found herself face to face with his deranged daughter.
"Not so fast," Vaylin taunted when she leaped down the rafters above and took center stage, raising her blade at Darius and Eliza, "you are the guest of honor, after all, you can't leave now."
Twirling her weapon in hand like a baton, Vaylin drew close until her amber glowing eyes pierced Eliza's. Curiosity tickled and the blonde inspected her foe, circling her like a Manka cat and quickly her gleeful demeanor shifted to one of outrage instead.
"I can sense him in you, my father! Where is he?!" Vaylin scanned the area, screwing her nose up at Darius. "And where's mother?!"
"She's at the docking bay, about to be blown to smithereens by your Fleet," Eliza managed casually as she could, "if you hurry, you might catch her?"
The blonde cackled, her lips curling into a sycophantic smirk. "And miss out on my chance to fight you? Oh, if only my dear brother could see us here now. You know, he's become rather obsessed with you?"
"Hm obsession—not an uncommon trait among psychopaths, I'm hardly surprised."
Eliza held Vaylin's attention, mirroring her prowls while she tried to maneuver the blonde into facing away from the entrance, all the while keeping half an eye on Darius hoping he'd catch on to the opportunity she was creating.
He noticed but rather than escape to get help, or get himself to safety, he seized the moment to attack Vaylin from behind. With his lightsaber roaring and ready, he lunged for the blonde, driving his blade forward but before he could land his blow, Vaylin had turned around.
It took her little effort to throw him to the far side of the room, completely opposite to the entrance, where he slammed into a monitoring station and collapsed.
"That was cute," Vaylin chuckled and shifted her attention back to Eliza, "now let's see you fly."
"Bring it on."
Instantly, the two women took to exchanging blows with Vaylin's maniacal cackles drowning out the humming of their blades. There was no poetry in their fight, no well-oiled choreography but a simple hacking away from Vaylin's end while Eliza met each swing in defense.
From a distance, Darius observed his Master while he strained to get back on his feet, desperate to assist her but no sooner than he stood up, two Knights, who'd evidently accompanied Vaylin, came out of nowhere and charged his way.
Light and quick on his feet, he made a backward somersault bringing himself and the Knights closer to the center but it seemed Vaylin did not want him crowding her own spectacle or stealing the show.
"Back off, insect," she snarled and swatted the air before her, once again sending him tumbling across the room and beyond her reach.
"Doesn't that get annoying, having such an infant tailing you all the time?" she asked Eliza and drove her blade forward, missing her opponent's ribcage by a hair.
"I don't know, but I'll be sure to ask your brother next time I see him," Eliza retorted with a grin and tucked into a roll until she found her footing behind Vaylin.
A screeching wail burst from Vaylin's throat in response and she spun around fast, taking another swing at her adversary but Eliza deflected each assault and once again both women battled for dominion over one another.
—
"I need to get to the atrium," Senya spoke in panic while everyone stood watching the Eternal Fleet through the viewport of their vessels, "if Vaylin's there—"
"Eliza and Darius will be in trouble," Praven finished for her and agreed, "I'll come with you, the rest of you figure out a way to cloak or shield us from any incoming—"
He barely got to the end of his sentence when a large monster of a warship suddenly appeared between them and the Eternal Fleet and Koth's all too pleased voice rang out over their private frequency.
"Did ya'll miss me? Looks like we're just in time, Lana."
"Koth?!" Theron exclaimed and his eyes widened, "what the hell is that?!"
"This is the Gravestone, told you this baby would come in handy."
"Can you fend off the Fleet and buy us time?" Lord Cytharat called out, "Eliza and Darius are still on Asylum."
"Sure thing. Lana, get to the Omni cannon and we'll see what this beauty is really made of."
"Let's go," Praven told Senya and the two rushed back down the boarding ramp while Koth turned the Gravestone to face the Eternal Fleet.
—
"Oww fucking hell!" Darius howled when he felt a lightsaber's burning tip slash across his face in a way that was sure to leave a scar.
He ducked, just in time, and above him, one of the Knights wound up striking his own partner down. Darius smirked at the small opportunity he'd created for himself and rolled forward between the Knight's legs, popping up behind him and before the Knight realized what had happened, Darius drove his blade straight through the man's back.
"Morons." He spat a sliver of blood at the two corpses on the floor, then leaped the railings to rejoin Eliza in her battle.
Despite being almost equal in power, Eliza was starting to lose ground in favor of Vaylin and she'd taken several blows to her body. Blood dripped down the sleeve of her shirt, a scorch mark had burned away most of the fabric covering her left shoulder and to her greatest misery, Valkorion had begun to interfere.
'You cannot defeat her alone,' he taunted within Eliza's mind, 'let me lend you my power.'
"How about you stop blocking my gift?! Why can't I access my own powers?!" She gasped for air, finding a moment of reprieve in the frozen time around her.
'Your gift is useless against my children, they share my blood.'
"Well how damn convenient for you!"
'Accept my aid or perish at my daughter's hand.'
"Never!" Eliza spat out and the room spun back into action—she only barely managed to dive away in time from another one of Vaylin's attacks.
"What was that?!" Vaylin demanded, having felt her father's presence, "Is he here? He's a part of you, isn't he? He's chosen you over us! I always knew father didn't really love us!"
"Hey you're welcome to him, please, I could do without his insanity," Eliza muttered while Darius joined at her side.
Vaylin tilted her head, making it appear she was actually taking a moment to consider the situation but then she cackled again and shrugged. "Nah, I'll just kill you both!"
She took several strides forward and gripped Darius by the throat before she flung him into a nearby support beam. "And I told you to back off!"
"Darius!" Eliza called out after she'd heard the faint cracking of bones and watched her young apprentice sink to the ground.
"You'll pay for—" she hissed, turning back to Vaylin only too late.
Before she ever got the last word out, a searing pain suddenly shot through her abdomen and the rest of her body. The stench of her own burned flesh reached her nostrils and when she looked down, Eliza saw Vaylin's purple blade pierce her stomach through and through.
She sank to her knees, dropping her weapons and clutching her stomach. Mortified and in agony, she gasped and Vaylin pulled her in, her eyes shining with joy while she retracted the blade with a menacing grin.
"Now," the blonde began weighing her options in amusement and gripped Eliza by the collar of her shirt, placing the hilt of her lightsaber to Eliza's heart, "do I kill you myself, or deliver you as a gift to my dear brother?"
"W-why give him… the honor… at all," Eliza wheezed and challenged her would-be executioner with great difficulty, "w-why… do the bidding of a man who… killed your brother and father…"
Biding time and disturbing Vaylin's thoughts was the only hope she had left now of getting away with her life and from the corner of her eye, she glanced Darius' way. She saw the young man's hand clench and flex while he struggled to regain his senses.
"H-how long… before he takes you out too? Why… why do him any," she paused and coughed violently, stretching her hand at her side in an attempt to call her lightsabers back to her, "favors?"
Her insides burned, a throbbing and sharp stinging pain radiated through her body and sickened her. She could feel her limbs weaken, her strength drain while her vision grew blurry.
"Hm, well," Vaylin stopped to consider her words and frowned but she didn't get far.
An explosion outside shook the building to its very core and above them, the skylight shattered. Thousands of shards of glass came raining down followed by heavy chunks of debris. The largest block of the duracrete ceiling was on a straight collision course with both women and Darius scrambled to his feet, desperate to save Eliza from getting crushed underneath.
With what strength he had left physically and in the Force, he ran over and at the last second separated the two women. He angled the ceiling fragment and aimed it for Vaylin as it came crashing down. Frantic and startled, the sadistic blonde jumped out of the way just in time and she stood unbalanced by the now blown-wide-open wall and cracked floor.
"You idi—" she started to scream but Darius had taken advantage of the distraction.
While Vaylin had jumped away, he'd leaped in behind her and grabbed her by the hood she wore, yanking her head back. He took his lightsaber and set it to the side of her neck before he activated the blade, killing and decapitating her instantly and he stood holding her head still while her now severed body tumbled through the floor's crack and plummeted to the endless depths beneath the shadowport.
"Eliza!" He wasted not another second and rushed to his Master's side, crouching by her and checking her pulse.
"Y-you did it…" she uttered weakly with a half smile.
She tried to get up but couldn't manage and Darius lifted her into his arms instead, ignoring his own pain and injuries.
"Eliza is injured, prepare the medbay, we're on our way," he rambled quickly into his earpiece while he began carrying her away.
"Praven and Senya are coming for you, how bad is it?" a fretting Theron asked while before his very eyes, the Gravestone fired back on the Eternal Fleet and set off a chain reaction of annihilation.
"I…" Darius looked at Eliza while he hurried his step.
Her head lay lolled back on his shoulder and she grew heavy in his arms, sinking in and out of consciousness.
"Bad, very bad," he announced.
Eliza stared at him and gave a lazy grin, growing delirious from the pain. "You're… not a little boy anymore… you're a man now… when did that happ… your Vowrawn will be so… uncle…" She drifted out again leaving Darius to frown.
"We're almost there, I see them," Praven, who'd overheard the exchange, called out while he and Senya ran toward Darius.
"Where's Vaylin?" asked Senya while Praven took Eliza from Darius' arms.
She hooked an arm around the young Pureblood to support him and Darius eyed her wearily, trying to swallow back his inclination to gloat.
"Dead."
