CHAPTER 14

The sensation of pain, downright suffering even, twisted and pulled at Carletta. She suddenly felt the addition of great fear of Jadus. She had every right to, if this feeling was the very power that was practically emanating from him.

'Yes, I am.' she answered, glancing behind him to notice Narta and her troops were kneeling before their master.

'Where is your master?' said Jadus calmly.

'We split up to try and find the invaders.'

'You won't find them here. I sealed them inside the floor below, my training facility, ready for whatever punishment we serve them.'

'Then what are you doing waiting here?' Carletta asked. She felt an idiot for not sounding particularly respectful, but she wasn't sure if Jadus even bothered about that. Thinking it over, she wasn't sure what sort of person Jadus was at all for that matter and she couldn't help but think that was intentional on his part.

'Because they sealed me here in retaliation, so I waited for assistance.' said Jadus. He turned around and glanced at his soldiers. 'Captain Narta?'

Narta rose to face him.

'Yes, my lord.'

'You are to join me in finally dealing with these intruders. Do you know of Matturn's location?'

'He was heading inside the vents when we split up.'

'Then he will likely find the trail. Follow my lead, all of you.'

Jadus strode inside the elevator as the rest of them shuffled along to join him in the small space. Carletta continued to struggle with the painful sensation, but she was beginning to strangely feel used to it. She wondered if Narta and her troops could feel the same, or it was restricted to people more attuned with the Force.

The short ride down was quiet and when they exited into the pitch black room, there was no shift in volume either.

Carletta almost dared to ask why it was so quiet, but she suddenly suspected Jadus wouldn't appreciate anyone making noise now. She tried to reach out with the Force instead, to sense anyone else inside, but she couldn't feel any presence. They had to be specially stealthy Sith, since she wondered if even Jadus could locate them.

'Wait.' he said, halting. They wheeled their heads around, trying to make out anything in the darkness, while Jadus made a few steps forward, reaching for his lightsaber. Next thing Carletta saw was the sudden appearance of many strips of crimson light, two of which swung at Jadus. He didn't ignite his own weapon, opting to blasting a whole storm's worth of lightning at the attackers. Carletta leapt at the new targets that were jumping from the rafters.

All her previous encounters with fighting Sith Lords had been a steady increase in difficulty. Her latest opponents however weren't slightly harder to fight, they were almost unbeatable. Carletta violently brought her ligthsaber down on one that had just landed, only to be met by a heavy kick to the shoulder, knocking her over. Her recovery was quick, but she barely escaped the lunge of the Sith's blade aimed for her head.

Careltta decided to mount the offensive, wildly twirling her weapon, seeing if she could break through the Sith's strong, almost effortless defence. Eventually, a second Sith joined in and the two pushed Carletta back with a hounding fury of such speed, she couldn't stop them from slashing her robes and pinpointing a few swings at her arms that left stinging, distracting burns. At this point, she made a move to run away, but her opponents wouldn't have it, rushing the Force to cause her to slip up again and land on her stomach, dropping her lightsaber in the process.

Making an attempt to heave herself up, Carletta felt a hard kick her face. Her mask softened the blow, but it still hurt like hell and made her tumble back down to the floor again. She glimpsed one of them raising their lightsaber to likely cleave her in two, but Carletta evaded it, rolling across the floor, grabbing her weapon and jumping to her feet. The two Sith (why was it always two?, she thought) hesitated, not prepared to see her still eager to fight them before they charged at Carletta. Yet their blades never clashed, stopped by another that landed behind them and cut both of them cleanly in half with a calm, sweeping stroke. Carletta recognised it was Matturn.

'I was handling it.' she said defensively.

'I'll be the judge of that.' said Matturn swiftly. 'Come, we still have more on our hands.'

Matturn ran ahead with Carletta following closely. She noticed her duel had taken her away from most of the action, as she saw blasterfire flying in all directions at what she counted as twelve Sith. The troops would've likely been massacred had it not been for their frighteningly formidable leader.

Jadus fought with a meticulous, calculating precision that proved to be immensely effective. By the time she and Matturn joined him, he'd slaughtered four Sith, most of whom were felled within two strokes.

'Where were you?' said Jadus, glancing at Matturn.

'Had a hard time fighting in the vents. Turns out I fight less effectively in confined spaces.'

Jadus made no reply as he, Matturn and Carletta fought back to back, countering and swinging at the sprawling, agile Sith. Carletta, however, felt a great deal more at ease in taking them on, comforted in being assisted by two powerful Sith Lords.

Narta and her remaining troops moved closer to the three, shooting very coordinated barrages of cover fire that put the attackers more towards the defensive, leaving openings to strike.

Jadus calmly, yet swiftly strolled to his nearest target and cut her up in a flicker of time. Matturn moved quicker and took his time as he faced two of them, but didn't take too long in finishing it by stabbing one with one hand and electrocuting one with the other.

Carletta met eyes with only one opponent and struck them with a strong blow, but in an instant she was backing away from the frenzy the Sith launched into, cutting into the floor and throwing sparks at her. It was frustratingly distracting, since she didn't want Jadus, or Matturn to have to come to her rescue again. They'd probably view her as an apprentice that was going nowhere, a waste of time and effort.

Her nerves steeled, she gave herself up to the power of the dark side, fuelling her with renewed anger and speed. She locked sabers with her enemy and made several speedy lunges that caught the Sith off balance. Carletta fully grasped the opportunity by landing a cut against the Sith's weapon arm, leaving a smoking burn behind. It suddenly reminded Carletta of her own burns that still pained her, only just recognising it after being lost in the moment of battle. Nevertheless, she seized the second chance as the Sith Lord flinched in pain, making two deep slashes in his chest. He fell with a heavy thud.

Several moments passed, yet Carletta stood still, panting, feeling completely spent of energy. She finally observed her surroundings to realise the battle was well and truly over. Jadus and Matturn eyed her, almost in an expectant way. How long had they been watching?

'Impressive work, my apprentice.' said Matturn. His voice bore a surprising, yet refreshing sincerity that had become alien to Carletta. 'It appears you might actually know how to properly wield the dark side after all.'

Carletta issued a slow nod in appreciation before approaching him and Jadus, who was now busy commanding his troops.

'Narta, spread out and get this ship under full control, then prepare for hyperspace, but be wary. We may have a few more survivors.'

'Yes, my Lord.'

As Narta and her soldiers scurried back to the elevator, the former Dark Councillor turned to Carletta and Matturn.

'We'll be heading to Kaas City. I have something to reclaim there.'

Jadus swept away, heading for the elevator himself, when Matturn spoke.

'For the Eradicator blueprints, I presume?'

Jadus came to a halt and stood completely still. Carletta couldn't tell what he was feeling.

'So you know of my plans?'

'Of course I do. You made a mistake, Jadus. You thought of me holding out on Illum was enough of a distraction from your little terrorist plot, but like you in a smaller way, I have some connections to the Imperial Intelligence network as well.'

'And you plan on stopping me?' said Jadus calmly.

'Wiping out Dark Councillors is not at all something I'm against, but I find it insulting when someone takes me for a gullible old man.'

'Then stop playing the role of one.'

Carletta heard Matturn make the faintest chuckle.

'You're right. May explain why you were on the Council and I wasn't. All right Jadus, you have my continued assistance. Let's get back to work.'