Week 12: Consecrated
(VECTOR comics – Celeste Morne)
Saint
He heard the snap-hiss of her lightsaber only seconds before she appeared, brandishing the yellow blade. Planting her feet strong in the stance of a warrior, she stood between the monsters and the children huddled behind her.
"There's too many," he yelled. "My men will be here any minute to blast down this wall. You cannot fight them off alone!"
Her voice was calm over the snarls and growls. "I have to try, Commander."
The rakghouls kept coming and he cursed his drained blaster. "It's a suicide mission, Morne!"
"Maybe. But I'm a Jedi. And this is what I do."
Sinner
Dark Side power poured from her, unleashed by the Sith talisman around her neck. She'd known the Force her entire life, but never like this - never the raw rush of pleasure and pain coursing through her veins like narcotic flames. She opened her eyes and monsters stood where human soldiers had just been, still wearing pieces of their armor.
"What have you done, Celeste?" Zayne's horrified whisper dropped her to her knees and she clawed at the talisman, retching.
"I couldn't stop..." She panted. "Couldn't control it." Reflected in a patch of ice, her eyes glowed red. "Please...kill me."
Savior
She fell against the wall and Zayne caught her, struggling not to jerk his hands from her burning skin. Power thrummed through her and bled over into him. Dark power. Oppressive. Suffocating. He could drown in it. Instead, he gripped her even tighter and pushed his own power into her. Everything light. Everything good he could think of...
and the Dark retreated as her eyes faded from yellow to blue.
"Come on, Celeste. I think I know how to keep you safe until we can get you free of that thing."
He pulled her down the corridor toward the stasis chamber.
Killer
His bare hand brushed her neck and she shivered under his power as he touched the talisman, his eyes boring through the metal.
"Will you do it?" Celeste asked hoarsely.
Cade withdrew his hand, slipping it back into his glove. "Yeah. I'll destroy it. And the pet Sithy ghost."
"How?" She needed to know.
He shrugged. "Everything breaks. You just have to know where to strike."
She exhaled, releasing a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding.
"How do we get it off you?" he asked.
"When the time comes," she looked him dead in the eyes. "You kill me."
Martyr
"You sure about this, Morne?"
The air whipped around her as she turned to face Cade. He held his lightsaber hilt loosely, studying her.
"The living Sith here have given Muur power and I...will soon lose myself. I am a Jedi, but four thousand years is long enough for one mission. I wish now only to go into the Force with my soul intact." Closing her eyes, she licked dry lips. "Remember your promise, Skywalker. The galaxy will be safe from him when our work is done."
The blade pierced her heart painlessly...and Zayne's voice called her through the wind.