Chapter Two
Aayla flew through the air for what seemed like an eternity. She reached for the speeder. And missed. The speeder was out of her reach. Free falling, inwardly cursing herself for her stupidity, Aayla reached out through the Force, searching for a way to survive.
Aayla angled herself forward angling herself towards a bright yellow taxi speeder. She landed heavily on the roof, almost winding herself. The human inside screamed, trying to shake the Jedi Master off. Gasping for breath, Aayla pulled her lightsaber from her belt. She angled it downwards and a blue fountain of energy shot out. She moved the blade in a circular motion, carving a hole in the roof and dropping in.
'I'm sorry for the inconvenience sir, but I'm commandeering this vehicle,' With a push of the Force she sent the driver hurtling out the side and onto the roof of a building.
Of all the times I could lose my sanity, why now? Aayla asked herself. She reached out through the Force again, searching for the assassin. She didn't have to. They found her. The silver speeder came up from behind Aayla's hijacked taxi like a Correllian Viper. And opened fire. Aayla cursed and swerved wildly trying desperately to evade the hail of blaster fire. She jerked the controls left and made a sharp turn round a building then pulled down into a steep dive. The speeder matched her moves effortlessly, never faltering. And it was gaining on her.
Aayla's ship rocked unsteadily as a a bolt nicked it. She gritted her teeth. Her mount was severely outclassed. Damnit! I need to land, I can't win with a taxi against their speeder. She went down into another dive aiming to land on a nearby rooftop. BANG! An explosion of flame, a direct hit sent here corkscrewing downwards. Aayla pulled up desperately trying to regain control. And she crashed.
The speeder collided into the revolving top of a tower. An opera performance was being held and the singer was busting out a high note when Aayla's speeder crashed through the wall in an explosion of glass, durasteel and flame.
Needless to say, that high note reached a whole new level.
Aayla crawled out through the windshield of the burning wreck. She collapsed onto the ground, breath coming in short gasps. Her hand went to her side, blood flowing from a deep wound. Her vision was starting to blur. Civilians ran scattered around, screaming, trampling each other as they rushed towards the exit doors. And the glass wall in front of her exploded. The silver speeder hovered in and landed softly. Aayla's lightsaber flew to her hand and ignited. The speeder door flipped open and the Twi'lek assassin calmly stepped out. He did look like Pol. But he was different. Much taller, easily 7 feet tall, lean and heavily muscled. He looked like Pol 20 years ago. And darkness emanated from his eyes.
'Ah, hello little cousin. It's me Cirus. Don't you remember? How long has it been? I've lost count. But one thing I am sure of. I will make you pay for killing my father. Your Uncle Pol Secura.'
Through the shock of his statement, Aayla noticed in the back of her mind, that unlike most Twi'leks, Cirus spoke Basic fluently with a slight hint of a Coruscanti accent.
'That…that's impossible…Pol didn't have a son….,' Rasped Aayla.
'Ah, but he did. After mother was taken by Jabba the Hutt, Father couldn't bear to have me around. I was a blight on his good name. Not wanting to cause more pain, I ran away to the night side, where I could be alone. And I met some very interesting individuals.'
For a moment, Aayla felt a wave of pity wash over her, and her face softened slightly, but she pushed the pity away, hiding it deep in her heart. He was a criminal and she needed to show no mercy. Then there could be time for pity.
A lightsaber handgrip flipped out of his cloak and into his hand. One of the Jedi Knight's lightsabers. A sky blue blade ignited. 'Shall we begin?' With a malicious smile, he lunged.
Aayla barely met his strike her arm bending backwards from the strength of the blow. Their blades locked for a second, crackling with energy, before she dodged back, spinning round for a counter strike. She ducked under his follow up slash and sliced here own blade at the back of his head. Cirus parried the slash whirling to the side and swung a quick slash at her legs. Aayla jumped over the shot, flipping over Cirus' head, but he was already there, blade held out, reaching for her.
Aayla turned it away from her with her own blade and backpedaled furiously, blocking a hail of lighting blue stabs, her blue blade flashing in a defensive velocity, countering each one of Cirus' strokes. A cage of blue light flashed around the two dueling twi'leks. They wove in and out of each other, whirling and slashing, a deadly dance that only one could survive.
Cirus was relentless, his attacks hammering against Aayla's guard, finding her every time she dodged and evaded him. Blunt and to the point, he used the simplest moves and added an amazing amount of power and effortless control and speed. Aayla held her own, fighting with the natural grace gifted to her species, moving like a dancer, swaying in and out, ducking, dodging and striking with blinding speed and precision. But it just wasn't enough. Cirus was slowly gaining the upper hand.
Cirus kicked Aayla back and pressed his attack. Aayla parried his slash and spun her blade in an arc, forcing his blade away. She went for an ankle sweep, but Cirus easily jumped over it and stabbed down at Aayla. She barely managed to roll away and sprang to her feet, chopping at Cirus' neck in the same movement. He turned away Aayla's backhand with one arm, and used the other to punch at Aayla. She used her free hand to grab him by the wrist, their blades still locked together at the side. For a moment they struggled, wrestling for control, then Cirus, with arms and blades still locked, hurled Aayla back using both his body and the Force, and slammed her into the side of his speeder.
Aayla's breath left her and her lightsaber clattered to the floor. Cirus stabbed his blade at Aayla but she moved to the left slightly and the blade was buried deep into the speeders side. He tried to move it out but Aayla wrapped her arm around his, keeping it locked there. He tried to wrench his arm free but Aayla held on for dear life and thrust her elbow into his chin. Instead of pulling back, Cirus slammed his shoulder forward into Aayla's stomach, lifting Aayla's feet of the ground and crushing her to the pod. Aayla cried out in pain as her abdomen was crushed. He wedged his forearm into her stomach, keeping her in the air, legs dangling. Cirus tilted his head forward whispering into Aayla's ear.
'Is this the best you can do Aayla? After years of training, I would have thought you had gained some skill. Besides murder of course.'
Desperate, her voice going thin with strain, Aayla said, 'We don't have to fight Cirus! I don't condone what I did, but I have learnt that vengeance is a path that will only lead to suffering! We need to talk!'
With a feral roar of rage, Cirus pushed Aayla up against the speeder harder. Blood bubbled out of Aayla's mouth as her ribs were slowly crushed together. She jerked her knee up into Cirus' stomach. He grunted and replied with a savage headbutt that opened up a gash above Aayla's left eye, blood trickled down her face. She went limp, her eyes rolled backwards, in another galaxy of pain. Cirus smiled and tilted his head back for another headbutt. However he fell away and released Aayla, howling and clutching at his groin. Aayla had fired her knee again, but this time in between his legs. Aayla collapsed to the ground, sucking in breaths of air desperately. She slowly got to her feet and put a hand on the speeder to steady herself.
She couldn't keep this up much longer. Cirus was like no one she had ever faced before. His sheer power was massive, each strike took all of Aayla's strength to return, and his Force aura was brimming with the dark side. But he wasn't using the Dark. It was using him. He was the victim.
Cirus raised his arm, still doubled over with pain, and a long, heavy durasteel table powered by the Force slid across the floor towards Aayla, leaning against the speeder. She jumped up and landed on the table just as it collided with the side of the speeder, visibly denting it with an impact that would have cut her in half.
Cirus' blade flashed out and cut off twolegs of the table in a single swipe. It pitched forward and Aayla slid down. Towards Cirus' deadly saber. However, on her last legs, she used the Force to speed up her slide and she used the momentum to drive her boot right against Cirus' face, flipping him backwards.
Wasting no time, a surge of the force sent her lightsaber flipping to her hand, bringing it to life, and another carried Aayla over Cirus' head and onto the hovering stage in the center of the room. Cirus landed on his feet from the kick in perfect balance. He stared up at Aayla mockingly.
'Will you ever learn that running does you no good?' there was hint of anger in his voice.
Cirus leapt corkscrewing in the air towards Aayla, blade held in front of him. She swung her lightsaber intending to sever Cirus' head in mid air but a nudge of the Force bent him under the blade and he dived forward rolling to his feet on the hovering platform.
Aayla raised her blade to strike again but an explosion of agony coursed through her and her legs no longer seemed to be able to support her weight. She crumpled to the ground. Aayla gasped as she hit the ground and looked down at her leg. What the-? While rolling, Cirus had gashed Aayla's leg. A deep smoking cut ran along her right leg from her thigh to her ankle. Aayla opened her mouth in a silent gasp. Oh. Through a haze of blinding pain, she saw Cirus stood over her panting.
'You will never realize how long I have waited for this.' He said softly, almost mournfully. Aayla closed her eyes as his sapphire blade plunged towards her throat.
SLASH! A green lightsaber flew through the air liking a whirling missile and struck Cirus' saber hand centimeters before it reached Aayla. Cirus' hand fell to the ground, smoking. A howl of pain erupted from Cirus and he collapsed to his knees. Kit Fisto's blade spun back into his hand as he leapt into the scene.
'Aayla, are you alright? What happened?'
Aayla was beyond hearing. The last thing she saw before she lost consciousness was Cirus severed hand still holding his lightsaber. Then darkness took control.
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-Suggestions and review please, and yes I know I suck at car chases