Chapter Five
By the time the fleet arrived at Rrulinn, it was one month after N'Lola's seventeenth birthday; the fleet had been delayed several times over for reasons unknown to her. It had ultimately taken more than seven months, but once they finally reached their destination, they found Rrulinn the site of an imperial freighter carrying engineers to assist in the process of building a suitable first city and prepare farmlands and pasturelands for the colonists. Admiral Golm was more than happy to cut loose the passenger-liners and reform his fleet into their typical flight formation, following which he was given new orders.
"Helm, set a course for Timora," came the admiral's instructions as he read his orders.
"Yes, Admiral," replied the sailor at the helm.
"Ricona, I will have an assignment for you on our arrival."
"I shall prepare myself," she replied, turning and departing the bridge immediately to make ready for another combative assignment. On their arrival the following day, she responded to a call to her Master's ready-room.
"Yes, Master?"
"The Empire has learned through imperial loyalists that there seems to be a Dark Jedi operating on the planet, and recent reports from local imperial sources suggest that this individual is not the only one attempting to take control of the planet for themselves. You are to ferret out these would-be usurpers and exterminate them."
"As you command, Master," she replied, turning on a heel and exited the ready-room, proceeding directly to the hangar and boarding a Curich-class shuttle and taking it out of the ship, proceeding down toward the atmosphere.
~Inform me of any unusual events amid the fleet while I am away,~ N'Lola sent to Nuav and Xuax, right as she crossed the planetary threshold. As she proceeded toward the planet, she angled her movement toward the Timora Imperial Academy, landing before a crowd of dozens of cadets during their idle time, cadets she was barely older than, if she was indeed older at all. When the shuttle landed, it was approached immediately by a pair of simple, dark blue protocol droids, each armed with an electrostaff bearing a nonlethal charge. The droids moved to stand to either side of the exit hatch, facing out toward the cadets, whose eyes widened to stare in disbelief as a young woman from their own age group walked down, though she was clearly a Bpfassh.
"Secure this shuttle. No one is authorized to board this shuttle without my express permission to do so," she said as she turned her head to look over her shoulder at one of the F4KD droids. The droid stood at six feet eight inches in height, almost exactly ten inches taller than N'Lola did, with two arms, two legs, and a vaguely humanlike body, capped with a helmet-shaped headpiece. This headpiece had a horizontal visor four inches across and one inch in height, with a faint glow of dark turquoise light behind it.
"Understood, authorization locked, protocol 177-9," replied the combat-ready protocol droid, as the hatch at the back of the Curich-class shuttle closed. Almost immediately, three young men hurried up to her, though she could tell all three of them were younger than she was, as they clamoured for both her attention and the best position through which to examine the first imperial woman they had seen.
"Is there something you require?" she asked, pausing and turning her head to look at all three of the youthful cadets somewhat critically. They seemed to be fourteen years old, with curly hair of light brown and eyes of the same, light-skinned, and another of them had eyes of green-yellow and hair having the blonde hue of the blossom of a jonquil flower. The third was black-haired with eyes of midnight blue, as light of complexion as both others, and clad in the same storm trooper cadet uniform. Not one of them was armed, as cadets, but they were all keenly interested in her. The brunette was the tallest of them, standing five foot six inches, though the other two were both likely five foot five inches, themselves.
"Sorry, Ma'am," answered the brunette of the three, "My name's Errol Renfrew. I was actually wondering if I might be of assistance to you in some manner."
"My name is Kel Shira," said the black-haired boy, in turn, "I wanted to offer my assistance, as well; I know my way around Tadarc real well. Errol was born all the way out in Radmac." N'Lola looked at both of them intently for a moment, before turning her head and looking at the third expectantly.
"Gaerin Kroth. Same motivation," he said in response to her expectant gaze, earning a slightly raised eyebrow at his gruffer, more uncommunicative nature. A moment later, a fourth male approached, though this one happened to be quite decisively the elder of all four of them, as a man of fifty-three years. A Human with greying black hair and a light complexion with pale blue eyes, he regarded her intently for several seconds before actually speaking.
"You must be N'Lola Vurkoth. I am Volthan Pate, Dean of the Imperial Military Academy of Timora," said the man in cordial greeting, "If these young men are pestering you, I shall have them removed at once."
"That will not be necessary, Dean Pate. These young men have expressed their desire to assist the Empire by aiding me in the completion of my assignment," she replied. Volthan looked to the young men intently, scrutinizing a moment, before a satisfied expression made his facial features decidedly more pleasant.
"Quite an admirable initiative you cadets have shown," said Volthan.
"Indeed," N'Lola agreed, "I will require each of them to be provided a blaster pistol."
"Of course, Lady Vurkoth, understood," replied the academy dean.
"And Dean Pate," she added, "Not one of those chintzy DL-18's." The Dean paused, and she could sense the cadets, even Gaerin Kroth, struggling a moment to contain their amusement when the Dean seemed to be admonished by a girl not much older than them.
"Of course, Ma'am," replied the Dean.
"Arm them each with a DH-18A." The Dean nodded once more, then turned and departed, while N'Lola turned back to the three cadets, who looked excited to be receiving the armament of one of the Empire's most modern military-grade firearms.
"The mission is to locate and eliminate a powerful Dark Jedi, as well as to eliminate any other insurgents that might be operating on Timora," she informed them, observing as they tensed a bit nervously in answer but were even still, readily invested in serving as her backup on the mission. A few moments later, the academy quartermaster arrived and, grudgingly, furnished a DH-18A blaster pistol to each of the young cadets, despite the fact that they were years from a potential graduation.
"Ma'am, these three are some of the best students in the academy, but I," began the quartermaster.
"I am sure they will perform admirably, and that the experience they gain accompanying me on this mission will ensure they have an impressive career with the imperial military," she replied. He looked relieved for a heartbeat, but then the gruff, six-foot-four-inch sixty-year-old covered it promptly. The man coughed into his hand, fixing dark green eyes on hers.
"I was going to say," lied the man, "I hope you bring the weapons back intact." He turned quickly, precisely, on the heels of his combat boots, and walked off at the typically precise pace of a career soldier in his waning decades. She observed him for a moment, her left eyebrow briefly lifted, before turning her attention back to the recently armed cadets and letting her eyebrow lower as they holstered their weapons and strapped them in for security.
"You will be expected to follow any and all instructions I provide, and this will likely be an assignment that lasts several days, possibly weeks. We will need to purge all insurgent forces from Tadarc," she warned, and all three nodded. She was not going to bother with minor cities, or vast tracts of open land that sprawled across the majority of Timora, she only needed to worry about the enemies in the planet's largest and most important city.
"Understood, Ma'am," replied Errol, and Kel nodded agreeably.
"Kel, what is the finest hotel in Tadarc?"
"The Ruan Hotel, Ma'am," replied Kel subserviently.
"Lead," she said with a hand motion, and he quickly moved forward to lead the way for the young woman to whom he had volunteered his submission. The hotel itself proved quite large, probably one square acre and five floors tall, with a somewhat attractive white façade around the exterior. As they reached it, she retook the lead and proceeded into the hotel first, examining the ornamental hardwood décor, moving to the counter and pulling out her Imperial ID. The Empire would be billed for the services rendered, and she had no qualms about costing the Empire as many credits as might happen to be necessary to accommodate the needs of herself and three cadets.
"Welcome, Lady Vurkoth," said the clerk at the counter as he checked the young woman's identification, "How may we help you today?"
"One room with a single bed, one room with three beds," she said, and the clerk nodded, turning and taking two keys from the wall as she turned her attention to the cadets, "You will be expected to conduct yourselves properly, and bathe daily. Coordinate your morning routine accordingly."
"Your room will be number 4-17, Lady Vurkoth. Room 2-13 is the room with three beds," the clerk said, and she nodded, turning and handing the 2-13 keycard to Errol.
"Yes, Ma'am," replied Errol, the other two nodding promptly in agreement, though Gaerin's nod had a more cordial feel to it.
"As you command, Lady Vurkoth," the jonquil-haired cadet replied. She could tell he was perhaps the most serious and ardent of the three of them. Perhaps Errol and Kel did not quite yet realize what it was they were getting themselves into, with their first experience with an actual assignment. Fortunately, none of them had brought anything in particular with them, so it would be easy to travel immediately to their first destination next, as soon as she figured out what that first destination should be. She exited the hotel until she stood in the street, closing her eyes and focusing a bit, extending her Force-sensitivity over a broader range than normal.
A Victory I-class Star Destroyer was nine hundred metres in length on the longest dimension and around four hundred metres wide from the port to the starboard. It had a maximum height of less than two hundred twenty metres, including the tower-like structure in the ship's aft section. The bustling city of Tadarc, small when compared to some of the great metropolitan centres on worlds like Coruscant, spread out over several kilometres, an urban sprawl which she was not accustomed to scanning the breadth of which. However, after nearly thirty minutes of concentration and searching, something pinged in her mind, and she looked immediately westward.
"Kel, what structures in that section of the city would be compatible with a Force-user attempting to exert control over the planet?" she asked, indicating the direction she was looking. He turned his head obediently in answer, narrowing his eyes as he looked west, and considered her request intently for several moments.
"There is the warehouse district, the sunpetal greenhouses, the…"
"Yes. A Dark Jedi is going to be hiding out in a flowerbed," interrupted Gaerin Kroth.
"…the old Timoran senate building," continued Kel, steamrolling the interruption calmly, "and a few slums, though they are rife with smugglers, cutthroats, thieves, and…"
"All the worst elements of the criminal underground on Timora," concluded N'Lola, nodding to indicate she understood where he was going with that statement. Kel nodded.
"Yes, Ma'am, precisely so," he replied, lips pulling faintly to the right with a concerned expression when he realized that was, in all likelihood, exactly where they were going to be headed.
"Let's go, then. Lead the way, I will tell you when I have a more precise idea where we're going," she replied. Kel nodded, tentatively, but if his feelings were timorous, his body was plucky, as he moved without hesitation to take the lead, and set out to her destination. Finally, she tapped Kel's shoulder and he stopped instantly, looking at her over his shoulder and waiting until she pointed northwest of their position.
"… I was afraid you'd say that," he replied to the indication.
"Great, one of the high-rise slums," said Errol, unhooking the leather strap that secured the blaster pistol she had ordered him armed with, and placing his left hand on it cautiously as they proceeded in. N'Lola put her hand on Kel's shoulder, giving a faint tug before moving in front of him to retake the lead from the Human cadet, who quickly unhooked his own blaster on his right hip and moved his hand to it. For his part, Gaerin Kroth had not shown any sign of knowing where he was, and N'Lola reasoned that he was either cool under pressure, a quick draw without needing his hand on the handle, or as oblivious as he was curt.
"Hey, little girl, I think you and your boyfriends walked into the wrong part of town," came a voice from the shadows of one alley tauntingly, between two six-story buildings that had become the core of this slum in particular. She looked out of the corner of her eyes toward the green eyes looking out at her from the shadow, her left eyebrow rising as her lips curled into a cautionary smirk. Her left hand abruptly jerked upwards, Force wrapped about the man, and she hauled him out of the shadows and into the light. The man had light complexion tinted dark by an exceptional tan, dusty blond hair in a shoulder-length ponytail, and eyes of forest green colour. She would have estimated him as twenty-six to thirty years old, as she held him four feet off the ground with a massive, invisible Force hand wrapped around his stomach. It wouldn't inhibit his ability to breathe, but it'd undoubtedly serve as a suitable warning of who he was dealing with at the moment.
"Let's be clear," N'Lola warned, "my name is Ricona, I am an imperial agent, I am not here for you. However, I will still kill you if you harass me or my squad." The cadets each tensed at the unexpected demonstration of power, even the seemingly usually stoic Gaerin Kroth, whose eyes widened just the slightest bit. As she dropped the man on the pavement, he fell harshly onto his knees, but quickly shoved himself back onto his feet and bolted down the street, away from her. She tilted her head, then, as she abruptly sensed the presence and movement of her quarry, someone Force-sensitive had felt her activity and their emanations were already approaching.
"Hide in that alley, get behind something and do not come back until I call you," she instructed, looking over her shoulder at the three of them.
"Yes, Ma'am!" replied Errol, racing into the indicated alley and quickly moving behind something that was large enough to conceal his presence.
"Yes, Lady Vurkoth!" replied Kel, bursting into motion to follow Errol even before he reached the alley.
"Lady Vurkoth, I can be of…"
"Now, cadet," she cut off Gaerin, who flinched and grimaced, but quickly hurried into the alley, although he selected a hiding place that allowed him to continue to watch the fight by peering over it.
Mere seconds later, the looming height of the Dark Jedi she had been sent to fight appeared; at two hundred twenty centimetres, he was almost seventeen inches taller than the seventeen-year-old Bpfassh. The Dark Jedi was a Kaminoan, having eyes completely black save for the smoky, dark grey irises and the same pale, grey-white skin tone, with a weight of one hundred ninety-four pounds. He was clad in black cotton in the form of ankle-length pants and a long-sleeved shirt, with a black leather belt, black leather vest, and knee-high boots of hard black leather. Attached to his belt was an unusually long lightsaber holster, from which he drew a lightsaber whose handle had a length of thirty-six inches, the polished metal surface having a glassy black sheen to it. It had a ring-shaped knot at either end of the handle, serving as the weapon's pommel and cross-guard, as he activated it to release a lightsaber with a blade of one and three-quarter metres, making it a full seventeen inches longer than her own.
Her jaw set as she drew her own lightsaber and activated it, the glow as red as the Kaminoan's long-handled lightsaber though quite a bit shorter. She had chosen the standard length, which was going to put her at a considerable disadvantage against her newfound adversary.
"I am Ricona," she said nevertheless, with unfazed bravado, "and your delusions of world conquest die here."
"Confident little runt, aren't you?" jeered the Dark Jedi, "I am Nulle Vu, and I shall break you as all others."
"Confident old ogre, aren't you?" she offered in counter, and he replied with an agitated, deadpan expression. He spun his blade, in an exhibitionistic manner, as he leaned backward, before then lurching forward to charge in her direction, booted feet striking the ground firmly. As he raced toward her, N'Lola blinked once for an unusual duration, before bringing her lightsaber around, and the air filled with a deep hum as his blade slammed forcefully down against her own. She twisted out of her current position and leapt to one side, narrowing her eyes in concentration as N'Lola waited to see if she could spot an opening that could be exploited. More importantly, one she would be able to reach, as she calmly took to a defensive posture as he swung once more, and she blocked with her own. He snarled angrily at her as she allowed him to press forward on her, forcing her to give metres at a time as he pressed furiously against her, though curving her evasion to make their path an elongated slalom on the street's pavement. Every time N'Lola moved, every two-second lull between his attacks, she focused, concentrated her power, and waited for him to make a fatal mistake.
Five minutes into their battle, the Kaminoan paused to catch his breath and scowled at her, as he had proven unable to land a decisive strike. His every cleave or slash she blocked, every thrust or jab parried, she had more skill than he wanted to admit. Finally, as she waited in a defensive posture and seemed to have spent the entire battle in the process of examining him for some reason, he reached his off-hand in her direction. A wave of Force rushed towards her, though once more, she twisted from his path, and this time, she smirked faintly in answer to his decision to breach from pure lightsaber combat to an unrestrained confrontation. Now, however, she was faced with a complication that was indeed irksome: she had to split her attention between three separate tasks of the Force and a fourth task of facial expression. Her performance had to be perfect: anything less than utter perfection and she would be dead in very short order, she was quite certain.
Her facial features transformed from a serene expression to a mask of rage breaking through, and she coloured her Force Veil with the impression of unbridled fury. Simultaneously, she extended her will and impressed upon every individual including her enemy that what they were about to see was not green but white. Then, her body moved in a snakelike forward lunge and her gauntleted right hand swept forward, electricity crackled, and a bolt of brilliant green lightning ripped forth from her palm and the Kaminoan's eyes widened as he was hit by her lightning strike. The burst sliced past his defenses and slammed into his chest, hurling him backward through the air. Immediately, she charged, rushing forward and leaping into the air, a near-vertical jump accelerated and magnified by the Force, coming down on him with a cleave of tremendous strength. As he lay flat on his back, gathering his wits in time to move his hands in defense, she twisted her blade and cut between his hands, cleaving through the lightsaber to permanently deactivate it before shearing a gash in his chest clean through to the pavement underneath.
The Kaminoan's eyes widened as his lightsaber deactivated by force, seconds before his life was terminated by the gash that sliced his heart into two sections while incinerating nearly a third of it. Then, his body went limp and she relaxed her efforts, allowing false rage to fade back into the calmness of the battle's aftermath, breathing heavily more from exertion than any attempt to curb a wrath that did not exist. It was, indeed, exhausting, to battle a Dark Jedi of such power and skill, while making certain to conceal virtually everything about the incident. She knew that Darth Fralius would know about her use of lightning, but with every observer who saw something other than white lightning arcing from her fingertips. None, certainly, had seen the brilliant sparkle of olive-drab green that had swept from her palm and the tips of all five fingers to debilitate the Kaminoan Dark Jedi long enough for her to kill him. Then N'Lola shook her head before standing upright and turning to look toward the alley.
"Come on, cadets," she instructed, before lifting her right arm to her face, tapping a button, and immediately opening a channel to the Indomitable, "Admiral. Attaché N'Lola Vurkoth, checking in."
"Progress report," came the response through the auditory transmitter of her gauntlet.
"Phase one has been completed: subject was a Kaminoan Dark Jedi by the name of Nulle Vu. Proceeding to phase two," N'Lola reported, as the cadets approached, staring in disbelief at the massive enemy she had dispatched.
"Excellently done," he replied over the communications channel, "Our sensors registered an intense electrical disturbance."
"The Kaminoan was using a long-handled lightsaber. I used lightning to surpass his reach," N'Lola replied informatively, her tone respectfully deferential.
"Proceed to phase two of your assignment," the admiral instructed a few moments later, "Imperial droids are being provided your coordinates and are being dispatched to dispose of the remains."
"Recommend security droid support. Coordinates are a wide street in a Timoran slum."
"Thank you for being attentive to the continued welfare of imperial property," replied the admiral, and then the line went silent. She turned to the cadets, motioning the way they had come to Kel.
"Lead the way back to the Ruan Hotel." Kel nodded, and quickly proceeded to lead them in that direction, at haste, more than slightly eager to leave behind this part of town and hoping the next phase of her mission wouldn't be one that carried them into a slum yet again.
"Lady Vurkoth," Gaerin spoke cordially, "I have a question."
"What is it?" she asked, giving an encouraging hand motion.
"What is the second phase of your assignment on Timora?"
"Ascertaining if rumours of an armed, militant insurgent presence on the planet are unfounded, exaggerated, or genuine," she replied.
"And if they are legitimate?" queried Errol.
"I am to determine their whereabouts, enter their planetary headquarters, and exterminate them," she replied, "Don't worry. I will leave some for you to shoot, for the sake of your own personal glory."
"Excellent," replied Gaerin Kroth enthusiastically, "I shall look forward to purging some rebel vermin from Timora." It was a good thing her face was turned away from them, as her eyebrow twitched at Gaerin's commentary. He was going to make her true goal here quite considerably more difficult, despite his scant fourteen years of age and total lack of Force-sensitivity. Nevertheless, when they returned to the hotel, she focused her attention on the triad of cadets.
"You are not to leave the Hotel under any circumstances. However, until I notify you otherwise, you are free to spend your time in whatever manner you wish."
"Thank you, Lady Vurkoth," replied Kel Shira.
"Thank you, Ma'am," replied Errol Renfrew.
"Ma'am, should we not be…" started Gaerin Kroth.
"Searching for the militant insurgents? That is precisely what I will be doing, cadet, in which task you cannot assist me," said N'Lola firmly in answer, "I selected you primarily for your ability to follow orders, and your continued presence here is contingent upon that. Continue to question my every decision as opposed to doing as told when told to do it, and I will summon the quartermaster to retrieve you with a recommendation for your immediate dismissal… assuming, of course, that I do not simply decide to kill you." Gaerin Kroth tensed at the threat, eyes widening a bit in a sudden nervous response, and N'Lola felt a spike of fear from the young, hardline imperial loyalist. She smirked at him faintly, eyes narrowing critically, veiling her inner serenity with an outward appearance of intensifying agitation. Her gauntleted right hand lifted, and the young cadet immediately backed up, lifting his hands in submission.
"Apologies, Ma'am," he said quickly, "Please forgive my impertinence." In answer, her piercing violet irises bored into him threateningly as she examined him critically, but sensed only truthfulness and renewed submission as he realized that if she chose to kill him, there were few if any who would have contested it. She was, after all, a Sith apprentice, and he had already been interviewed by an Inquisitor because of his unusually high skill, though his skills were entirely natural and came from dedication and hard work.
"Once," she warned darkly, "you have one remaining opportunity." She turned and exited the room, climbing the stairs and entering her personal suite. There, N'Lola shut and bolted the door, removed her shoes, and crossed to the bed, where she sat and crossed her legs, then focused on the Force. Her form hovered from the bed sheets, which straightened beneath her as she rose to float sixteen inches above the bed, her eyes closed, upturned palms held out to her sides with fingers crooked in relaxation. She extended her sensitivity and searched for those who were opposed to the Empire's rule, those who would actively work to disrupt the Empire's business or would actively take arms against them, dissenters either militant or otherwise. Almost immediately, she sensed the true hearts of Errol Renfrew and Kel Shira, below, but she soon picked up an increasing number of persons of variable dissent beyond the walls of the hotel. For more than eleven hours, she opened herself to the Force and allowed it to guide her thoughts and her senses, until she found what she was looking for.
Thereafter, she bathed, slept, and ate, in that order, culminating in a large, full breakfast with the three young cadets, though they ate in silence. By the ninth hour past midnight, the three cadets reported to the hotel's lobby, ready to proceed with the day's assignment, though as they stepped out of the building, N'Lola was hit by a sudden wave of intuition and her sight faded. She closed her eyes, and saw something entirely different from the bright morning sun, felt something utterly unlike the warmth of the sunlight. The sun turned black, day turned into night, and like a radar, her Force-sensitivity pinged on dozens of individuals, her sight abruptly sweeping through an unfamiliar part of Tadarc in an arcing spiral that revealed the position of armed militants. For several minutes, she stood stock-still and nearly breathless, before her body shuddered and she blinked, finding young Errol Renfrew standing in front of her with one hand on her shoulder.
"Ma'am?" came the question, "Ma'am! Are you all right?"
"Yes," she said, shaking her head to clear her mind at the unexpected vision that had been shown her by the Force, "I simply sensed a minor disturbance in the Force. Kel, lead me back to the academy, there is additional gear we will require." Once they arrived, she proceeded directly to the academy's armoury, from which she requisitioned four grenade belts, placing six detonite incendiary grenades on each, accompanied by two chepatite impact grenades. Once the belts were prepared, she held one out to Kel Shira, who immediately accepted it and unhesitatingly strapped it on, an action mimicked by Errol Renfrew when she held the second out to him. As she held the third out to Gaerin Kroth, he swallowed nervously, and she could tell he was thinking she intended to blow him to smithereens with them.
"You are going to need these to exterminate hordes of rebel scum," she said, and he sighed in relief, taking the grenade belt and strapping it on while she proceeded to strap on her own. Finally, her grenades strapped in place, N'Lola requisitioned an NGZ-9118 heavy carbine blaster rifle and a reserve power cell to bring the number of shots she would get out of it from one hundred to two hundred. The carbine held in one hand, she touched her gauntlet's button, activating the communications channel.
"Admiral, phase two is underway. There will be some unfortunate but unavoidable demolitions occurring in the warehouse district. I have discovered a large number of criminal insurgents lurking therein, and I am on my way to eliminate them now," she said.
"I shall notify Governor Kron of the regrettable development that rebels are using Tadarc's warehouse district for a headquarters," the admiral replied, though she could sense there was a dark humour in his tone, if hidden deeply. For a few hours, she delayed, waiting for the sun to near the horizon, before nodding to indicate it was time to set out on their mission.
"Let's go hunting," N'Lola said firmly as she strolled out, quickly followed by the three cadets, two nervous and one far more excited than he allowed himself to demonstrate. In truth, she was not planning to move immediately toward her actual destination, but rather to first intercept the ambush her vision had warned her about, within the city's extensive warehouse district.
"Lead the way, Kel. Our destination is the warehouse district," she instructed, and Kel nodded, before quickly leading the small squad in the direction of the instructed sector of the city. He jerked to a halt when she put her hand on his shoulder as soon as they reached it, allowing her to retake the lead and track the landmarks of her vision to the intended location. Once they arrived, she paused and sensed that they had reached the position she had seen when she had received the Force Vision, and took a moment to look around. Then, she removed four detonite grenades, stealthily moving to four precise locations and activating the reactive detonation protocol into each of them. Next, she quickly moved around to the warehouse's other entrance, taking four of Gaerin's grenades and activating similar protocols in four additional locations.
Thereafter, she entered the warehouse and selected eight further locations, and placing eight more detonite grenades with the same reactive detonation protocol. The cadets looked at her oddly, but did not contest her decisions for where to place the grenades, trusting that she had a plan and knew what she was doing. Once all sixteen of those grenades were spread out as mines, she brought them to an area of heavy metal crates filled with nonexplosive mineral ore, and used the Force to rearrange them into a G-shaped barricade. She stacked some of the metal crates above their own height, though she created three firing positions stacked four and a half feet tall with a set of three eighteen-inch-tall durasteel boxes.
"Ma'am?" asked Kel, as she created the semi-enclosed space, having enough room for the three cadets to fire in three directions.
"Remain calm, cadet, remember your training, and use your grenades only when you can see the pigment of your nearest enemies' eyes." At that, the three cadets nodded, as N'Lola sensed the approach of the soldiers she had seen in her vision, foot soldiers of the syndicate that called itself the Black Sun. Even as they approached, their soldiers took up perimeter positions precisely where her vision had shown, unwittingly perilously near the mines N'Lola placed to counter that, but she waited. As they secured the perimeter, still more took up firing positions inside the warehouse, selecting positions dangerously close to the other mines she had placed, to which they were none the wiser. Still, she waited as she stood with her back against one of the heavy metal walls of her manufactured barricade, NGZ-9118 held in her left hand and her head turned in that direction, looking out of the gateway that she made. Finally, all the pieces were on the board, with four men within the kill radius of each explosive mine, and dozens more waiting nearer than that as they waited for targets.
"Make this easy on yourselves," called a voice from a dozen metres, "I promise we'll shoot you in the head to make it quick!"
"Tempting," replied N'Lola sardonically, "However, I have a counteroffer."
"I'm listening."
"Leave now, and your men keep their lives."
"Are you hiding an entire platoon in there?"
"Nope," she replied cheekily, "three cadets and an imperial attaché."
"… seriously, that's it?" came the incredulous response, bewildered that he had been sent with so many men to kill three academy cadets and an imperial attaché. She almost felt sorry for him, for the fact he would die without even knowing the reason behind his death, though in fairness, she didn't know why he was going to die tonight, either.
"That's it. Last chance, leave now and I promise not to kill you," she replied sincerely. If he fled now, if they all did, she wouldn't kill them, but she knew three teen boys and an imperial attaché weren't going to intimidate them into surrender, much less full-scale retreat. The boys looked toward her quizzically, and she lifted her right eyebrow at them as they drew their pistols and pressed their backs against the walls beside their chosen firing positions.
"These aren't the rebel scum. They're just Black Sun thugs," she informed the cadets with a harsh whisper, "the rebels would want to capture us to interrogate us, most particularly me by threatening to torture you to death if I failed to provide information." It was a colourful lie, but an efficient one.
"I am sorry, kids, but our orders are to kill you. Maybe if you had a platoon, we'd consider your counteroffer."
"I am sorry, too," she said with a sigh of feigned reluctance, "I really didn't come to Timora just to kill off a couple hundred Black Sun foot soldiers."
"Move in!" commanded the voice, and black-clad troops moved in with precision tactical manoeuvres, which was almost impressive, in a way. They had organization and training, but so did the three cadets, who immediately set to firing their pistols as soon as they saw any. Surprisingly, both to her and the thugs coming toward them, the cadets were able to hit the moving targets with precision hits to the throat, skull, or upper torso, any of which inherently fatal, and a handful of them fell dead immediately. As enemies moved into her own line-of-sight, her left arm moved, her finger squeezed gently, and the air filled with the repeated sound of a loud, heavy thump as she fired multiple times. Each shot struck a target, throwing him a half-dozen feet backward and boring a hole in his chest or throat two inches in diameter, leaving him to land flat-out on his back, dead before reaching the warehouse floor. Even still, the Black Sun operatives were moving forward, and Kel grabbed one of his grenades, hurling it out toward a half-dozen soldiers who bore the Black Sun insignia on their chest.
As the grenade wobbled through the air, she reached with her right hand and exerted the Force, detonating it midair as one of the soldiers attempted to catch it, killing all six that Kel had aimed for. A half-second later, the eight detonite mines nearest them exploded, instantaneously vapourizing thirty-two men as the detonite explosion triggered the reactive detonation protocol of the nearest mines. A heartbeat after that, the perimeter mines exploded, incinerating another thirty-two of the thugs, spiking their casualties by seventy in the span of under ten seconds. All three cadets rotated their bodies and slammed their backs into the protective metal in answer to the unexpected sequential flashes of fire and shaking their heads, covering their eyes. She reached, activating one of Gaerin's mines and one of Errol's as she hauled them out of their grenade belts and hurled them out toward the enemy soldiers, who were still hurrying forward to engage, killing a further twelve of their number in the process. There was a moment of silence throughout the warehouse, thereafter, as the combined explosions had killed nearly every syndicate foot soldier in the building. It simultaneously ripped chunks from the outer walls around both entrances, creating a hundred-foot-wide, thirty-foot-tall arc in each wall.
"Send in the rest of the company! Several platoons have been killed!" ordered the Black Sun capo, and she felt the life-energies of dozens more men approaching. Using the Force, she leapt up in the air to land on top of one side of the durasteel-crate enclosure, giving her a panoramic field of vision. She immediately pulled the last detonite grenade and used the Force to catapult it toward one of the enemy's firing positions before they realized she had taken a new position, firing on it as it neared them. As the blaster round hit the grenade it detonated, inflicting fatal injuries on four more Black Sun gunmen before she wheeled around and began firing down on enemies in another portion of the warehouse. As dozens more men flooded in and took up firing positions, the cadets laid down covering fire which prevented them being able to stand anywhere that allowed them to fire directly on N'Lola.
As she watched them take up positions where they could exchange fire with the cadets without being in her line-of-sight, she used the Force to sense their precise positions. She could sense them massing up in positions outside the range of the cadets' ability to throw their own grenades, though they had used all but their chepatite grenades, by this point. Fortunately, the Black Sun thugs were unaware that the only grenades they had left were ones that needed to go quite a bit further than the boys could fling them. She took a breath and pulled both chepatite grenades from her grenade belt, using the Force to hold them in the air as she pulled the last grenades from each cadet and hovered them up as well. Then, she used the Force to catapult the grenades one at a time in a wide spiral around them, launching the grenades with enough strength and velocity that any impact would detonate them. As each one reached the target, the device exploded, incinerating six men in a fireball having a twenty-foot radius, leaving pools of melted durasteel and ash from the men and whatever had been inside the metal box, in the explosion's wake.
"Lady Vurkoth!" whispered Kel harshly up to her as he crouched defensively behind a wall underneath her, and continued as she glanced briefly down at him, "My blaster is expended." The DH-18A was powerful, and most of their shots had killed someone, but they would drain a power cell in fifty shots, and unfortunately, the boys did not have flawless accuracy. Still, between the grenades and the cadets' efforts, they had killed two hundred and ten soldiers of the Black Sun syndicate, though N'Lola's carbine was still half-charged. She had already fired fifty shots, but each of hers had killed a man, as she had been using the Force to amplify her accuracy by a tremendous margin. There were only thirty men left within four hundred metres of the warehouse, and she ran across the top of the crates, leaping and gliding gracefully with the Force as she began to sweep for the last of the Black Sun's thugs. Her sailing leap caught them unaware, and with a sequence of deep, heavy thumps, she exterminated them in groups of four or five at a time, until she heard the sound of the capo's voice anew.
"I don't know who you are, but come out now or the cadets die," he shouted, and as she turned her head and honed her senses, her serenity rippled with the realization that a handful of Black Sun thugs had managed to sneak in around her movements to get themselves into bargaining position.
"All right," she replied, moving to where they stood out in the open, nine in all, six of them having a pistol to the head of one of the three cadets. She slung her carbine over her back and lifted her hands as she walked out into a position where they could see her, drawing together her power as she masked her countenance with the expression of intense resentment, colouring her Force Veil with the same emotion. For a heartbeat, N'Lola closed her eyes while the power charged, before opening her eyes and focusing on the twelve males ahead of her, selectively excluding the three cadets.
"You shouldn't have done that," she warned, colouring her voice with a tone of absolute loathing, even while she could sense the approach of the rebels she had sensed during her meditation. They were curious why the imperials were not responding to the sudden explosions that woke the entire city, and six men were running through the alleys in between the warehouses, coming as stealthily on the damaged warehouse as they could. Finally, she took a breath, convinced the minds of all three cadets that when they saw blue they were actually seeing red, and channeled her calm concentration on her objective. Blue power filled her eyes, a pulse-like sound rippled the air, and the nine Black Sun foot soldiers began to crackle with cerulean embers as pale blue smoke rose from their bodies. Tentatively, nervously, the cadets turned toward the men as they heard their pistols clatter onto the warehouse floor, eyes widening in disbelief as the nine men spontaneously dissolved on the spot. Gaerin Kroth's eyes widened, his muscles went limp as he was overwhelmed by the realization the seventeen-year-old had just essentially vapourized nine men with her vision alone, and fainted standing.
"Errol, catch Gaerin," she ordered weakly, as her body swayed with weakness as the aftermath of the power consumed a massive amount of her physical strength, and waves of hunger and thirst slammed into her. However, this time, N'Lola felt no nausea: dissolving nine thugs was proved infinitely more palatable than thirteen thousand, no matter how thankful entire brigades of infantry had been to her in the aftermath of that. Errol immediately jerked from his own disbelieving stay to seize hold of Gaerin's shirt as the other fourteen-year-old simply fell backward from his standing position, slowing it enough to lay him down easily. His knees slammed into Gaerin's stomach as he fell onto him, though the unconscious cadet made no response to such an impact. He looked up toward N'Lola, and Kel abruptly noticed the same as Errol, hurrying to stabilize the seventeen-year-old: the last time had been in the heat of battle, and the associated adrenaline rush had counteracted her weakness. Here, she could now be certain they were safe enough that she did not need to remain anywhere near as energetic as she had on the battlefield.
Mere seconds later, they heard the sound of boots on the warehouse floor as four males and two females soon raced up to them, each armed with a blaster rifle. Three of the males were Human, at ages she would have estimated as nineteen, twenty-eight, and forty years; the youngest and eldest were black-haired, the younger with dark blue eyes and the elder with emerald green eyes. The youngest of their number was five feet eight inches tall, just slightly shorter than N'Lola, the while the eldest of their number was six foot two inches, about a third of a foot taller than she was. The twenty-eight-year-old had dark brown hair and matching eyes, five foot eleven inches and one hundred and ninety pounds, around twenty pounds heavier than the younger on and fifteen pounds lighter than the elder was. All three Human males had the same light complexion, suggesting they were local or from the same planet, not that it mattered much to the light-grey-skinned Bpfassh teen. The fourth male was a Twi'lek of likely twenty-four years, handsome in several aspects, with a complexion of gamboge orange and standing six foot eight inches, two hundred and sixty-five pounds of corded musculature.
One of the females was also Human; a tan-skinned girl of eighteen years, she was five foot eight inches and one hundred forty-eight pounds, with reddish-brown hair and cerulean-blue eyes. It was the last member of the squad, however, that got N'Lola's attention the most: a Leyakian. She was six foot three inches tall and a well-muscled two hundred thirty pounds, with irises of dark tangerine set against a hairless complexion of dusty yellow-green common to her species. Her head was wide with a flat face that lacked a nose, with a sharp inward angle beneath the eyes where it narrowed to the mouth, though with a humanlike chin. From the back of her head were two tentacles reminiscent of those found in a Twi'lek, albeit in a Leyakian they came to a flat ending and were no more than chin-length in all, but housed both auditory and olfactory sensory organs. On her head, she wore the traditional headpiece of her people: an oddly shaped metal cap that had a forward dip between the eyes, curving up and outward to either side over the eyes before stopping even with the wearer's pupils, then going straight back. It was two-toned, wide rimmed with a golden-yellow pentagon in the middle, which came to a pronounced V shape in the front, and though N'Lola knew that many Leyakians wore it, in fact, every adult she had ever seen did, she didn't know the reasoning behind it.
"Freeze, imperials!" shouted the Leyakian woman.
"Watch who you're calling imperials," N'Lola replied with a soft huff of breath leaving her lungs as she did, catching the Leyakian rebel by surprise.
"…excuse me?"
"Selene," she breathed the word softly, and all six members of the rebel squad jerked reflexively in response, their eyes widening in surprise.
"Apologies, Lady! We did not recognize you," said the Leyakian woman, immediately slinging her own rifle over her shoulder, as the two cadets stared blankly in consternation.
"Errol, Kel. Your loyalties are not with the Empire. These people will take you into the rebel underground, and will see to it you are provided with safety and a continuance to your training," N'Lola replied to their blank stares. She took a breath, tapped into the Force, and removed the names the two boys knew from their minds, replacing those two names with her chosen codename.
"Thank you," replied Errol, as his eyes refocused after she pulled her conscious back from his own, protecting the secret of her identity by removing the names from his recollection, all but Selene.
"I am Se Kreff," the Leyakian woman said as an introduction, stepping forward to greet N'Lola with warmth, "We had heard of an ally in the Empire, but I had not thought it to be a Jedi."
"I am not a Jedi," she replied weakly, "I am an enemy of the dark-siders, and an enemy of the Empire's evil." The Leyakian woman nodded, and looked to the unconscious cadet as Kel continued to support her while Errol had moved in with the rebel squad.
"What about him?"
"He remains with me, he is a hardline loyalist who has yet to learn the truth of the Empire's brutality, or else he simply does not care," she replied, and Se nodded in response.
"Understood," answered Se, "Is there anything you need?"
"Something to drink, and something to eat," N'Lola said in reply, "I just used up an immense amount of my energy, and I still need to get this one back to the hotel." Immediately, the Human girl hurried forward with a canteen, and produced a wrapped bar from her gear, extending the canteen to her. N'Lola's Force reserves were weak, but she could sense no hostility, and took a drink of the clean, clear water, providing herself the urgent rehydration she needed. It was only a start, she would need quite a bit more to recover fully, but it was a start in the right direction. It would at least be enough to prevent her falling into a near-comatose state from thirst and hunger. Then, she took and unwrapped the energy bar, which was a combination of dark chocolate, coconut, and peanut, enriched with sugar and salt, which would replenish at least some of her nutritional deficiency quickly. The use of the power had lightened her body by a few pounds, though she knew that was something she could compensate for in the next few days. It was always easier to put weight on than it was to take it off.
"Thank you," she replied, looking at the Human girl intently for a moment, until the slightly older girl smiled and nodded in answer.
"I had not thought to ever meet an ally so deeply entrenched within the Empire's ranks," she answered with an expression that told N'Lola the other young woman did not envy her in the least. Finally, revitalized enough to take on the last bit of responsibility she needed before she could truly rest she straightened and allowed Kel to move away, mingling in with his unintentional rescuers.
"What is a Leyakian doing so far from Leyakia?" she asked, as she focused on eating the bar and recovering enough energy for what she needed to do.
"Leyakia is a rainy, wooded world located in the N3 sector of the grid. Timora is a dry, grassy planet within the G16 section of the grid. Can you think of anywhere they're less likely to look for a Leyakian rebel captain?"
"No, I suppose not," she agreed, then looked toward the gaping holes in the warehouse, "Now, go, quickly, before imperial reinforcements come in search of me." With one quick final nod, the six rifle-armed fighters and two defecting cadets raced from the ruined warehouse, vanishing out into the darkness as she turned to Gaerin. She moved toward him, crouching to slide her hands underneath him before lifting him in her arms, turning, and starting to traipse weakly back from the warehouse district in the direction of the hotel from memory. An hour later, he groaned in her arms as they passed from the warehouse district into the well-lit street and found himself looking up at her.
"Lady Vurkoth? What happened?"
"You fainted when I defeated the last of the Black Sun thugs I could see. I went to check on you, and when I did, I lost track of Cadet Renfrew and Cadet Shira," she lied informatively, "I knew I needed to get you out of there before more Black Sun militants could arrive, so I was forced to leave their bodies behind. I can only hope your fellow cadets will make it safely back to the academy on their own."
"Thank you, Lady Vurkoth," he replied as she continued to carry him in her arms, amazed by her strength, as he wasn't that much smaller than her at all, "I think… I think I can walk now." She nodded, lowering one hand to drop his feet to the ground, and he quickly straightened and righted himself, as a set of security droids appeared ahead, coming in their direction. Finally, N'Lola was able to sit as a police droid piloted a speeder-bike up to them, having the unique variation of four seats in the back, two on either side against each other. Ferrying them back to the Ruan Hotel, he recorded N'Lola's official report on the sequence of events, but soon enough, both N'Lola and the cadet had returned to their rooms for a vital night's rest.
The following day, N'Lola focused on her own rest and recuperation, taking no strenuous action and eating large, hearty meals to make up for what the use of that ability had cost her. Thereafter, she spent several more days in feigning an exhaustive search for rebels to no avail, then prepared to say farewell to Gaerin Kroth.
"Lady Vurkoth, do you think they are dead?"
"I cannot say for certain, Cadet Kroth," she replied, "They may have been captured by the Black Sun, or they may have been kidnapped by slavers."
"Do you… think it's my fault?"
"No. They knew as well as you did the risk involved in requesting to assist me, and you performed admirably, I think," she replied reassuringly, "And it is good that you were inquisitive, by the way."
"…but you said…"
"You must not question your commanding officer in the middle of a battle, or in the middle of a mission, but outside of that, it is right for you to ask questions, to enhance your understanding of what is going on."
"Yes, Ma'am," he nodded, as comprehension dawned on him, "Thank you."
"You're welcome. Just remember, it is also important to know when to shut up and realize someone may opt to kill you if you pester them with too many questions," she warned, "Question cautiously, answers do very little good for a dead boy." He nodded, and then she turned and walked away, leaving him to his remaining years as an academic cadet, and hoped her words would sink in and bring him to the rebellion. As she headed back to the hangar, she tilted her head faintly as she heard a voice in her mind.
~A Myke has somehow snuck aboard the Indomitable. He is one of Palpatine's Dark Side Adepts, and means to challenge Fralius,~ came the voice of Nuav. She nodded, and hurried swiftly back to the Indomitable, racing toward the place where she could sense the Feeorin Admiral's presence in the hangar.
As the doors whirred opened, her face transformed to a mask of fury, her Force Veil transitioned to match it, and her entire frame rose in the air. Bounding through the opening door, one foot struck the edge of the railing three floors above the hangar floor as she drew and activated her lightsaber. As she leapt forward, she used the Force to let her glide gracefully through the air, sweeping in from overhead as the admiral turned in surprise toward the Myke that had started to approach him with lightsaber drawn. She came down hard, her lightsaber cutting the air as she disrupted the Dark Side Adept's attempt, forcing him to jerk backward in a defensive posture. As his lightsaber rose to defend, N'Lola's came down on the offense, and the force of their clash filled the entire hangar with a deep, resonating hum; a moment later, the Myke stumbled backward from the force of impact as her feet landed on the hangar floor.
"Get out of my way, whelp!" shouted the Myke, rising infuriated to his full height of an utterly unimpressive six feet and one hundred eighty pounds, only slightly taller and, incidentally, slightly lighter than her. Now five feet ten inches and one hundred ninety-five pounds with a taut musculature clearly demonstrated by her right upper-arm, N'Lola had grown into a powerful combatant.
"You are unworthy to battle my Master, cowardly worm!" she snarled, colouring her voice with indignation and rage, matching it to the facial expression and the emanations of her Force Veil in the process. The grey-eyed and gaunt-faced man glowered at her, inch-long strands of black hair gleaming in the lighting and contrasting the lightness of his skin fairly well. Behind her, Fralius smirked smugly at his would-be assassin, only serving to infuriate the Myke that much more in the process of it.
"Get out of my way, whelp! This is a battle for true masters, only!"
"Then prove your worth, worm! Face me!"
"Very well, prepare to die, you insolent pup!" Then, the Myke gripped his lightsaber with both hands before lurching forward to make a sweeping chop toward her. She blocked, using the force of the impact to spin around and rotated her entire body, delivering a powerful roundhouse kick to the side of his head. The power of her kick launched the Myke from his feet to land face down on the metal panel of the hangar floor, but even as he pushed himself up on his knees, left palm and right knuckles with the lightsaber still in his hand, she swept forward. He looked sideward at her, eyes widening in surprise, as she seemed to whip forward like a blur, her left leg rising to deliver a powerful kick into his stomach, hard enough it knocked him up into the air. Her right hand swept through the air with a whoosh, as she delivered a powerful uppercut that caused him to rotate lengthwise in the air as it thrust him away from her. As he landed, she was already moving forward again, feigning a seething rage as she brought her lightsaber around, where he only barely managed to block it, stumbling backward in the process.
"Pathetic fool," she derided as she trapped his blade against her own before her leg snapped up and slammed her heel into his sternum, hurling him backward again. He slammed into the metal panel on his back, laid out flat by her attack as his blade hovered above the floor with his landing. She scowled intently at him as he used the Force and launched himself off the floor into a standing position with a defensive stance, then launched a blast of lightning from his free left hand at her. Her focus heightened and her feigned rage deepened, as she rotated her body and brought her right hand around, catching the lightning with the cybernetic metal glove through the discipline of Tutaminis. His eyes widened in surprise as he channeled an increasingly intense burst of white lightning against her, though N'Lola simply continued to absorb it, rejuvenating herself of the damage done by her recent use of Deadly Sight to rescue the cadets from the Black Sun's foot soldiers. Her body radiated a luminescent white aura as he continued until his breath failed, and he gasped and stared at her in disbelief.
"How do you come to be so strong?" exclaimed the Myke in consternation, twenty years her senior yet with far less focus or power. He had thought himself a master, had thought himself adept in the ways of the dark side, but he found himself now stymied by a mere Sith Apprentice.
"My Master is clearly superior to yours," she observed with a condescending sneer, modifying her Force Veil to have a combination of rage and arrogance, though she felt neither, "I would ask you to deliver a message to your master… but you will not see him again!" She burst forward once more, and as he lifted his arm, bringing his lightsaber around to defend himself, her own free hand moved to intercept with a wave of Force. His arm twisted sharply about, a loud bony snap filling the air as her lightsaber came down uninterrupted, cleaving him from the right shoulder to the left knee, killing him instantaneously without damaging his lightsaber. As he fell to the ground, she used the Force to seize his lightsaber for herself, claiming it as a trophy in the typical manner of a successful Sith.
"Pitiful fool," Darth Fralius smirked at the dead Myke, then looked to his apprentice, "Your timing is quite… unmatched, my faithful apprentice."
"I sensed a disturbance in the Force, and knew my Master was in potential peril," she said, before reciting the Code of the Sith with which she was keenly familiar to maximize her success in this infiltration and deceiving the Feeorin Sith Lord.