The two couples appraised the squad of Republic soldiers. There were about seven or eight of them, looking like they'd just finished patrol and were ready to relax. Most had their weapons slung on their backs and helmets pulled off. The Sergeant leading them was evaluating Lord Kallig.
"Seems like the platoon commander was offering up some extra rewards for bringing in Sith," he declared, "Be shame to not take him up on his offer." His gaze became a leer. "Not often you see a pretty one, may have to take our time bringing her in." Revel bristled instantly and Sinn stepped forward to diffuse the situation.
"Just leaving, boys. Cantina's all yours, enjoy." As she tried to move aside the Sergeant shifted to block her path.
"I know your type, bounty hunter right?" He spat the words out like they left a bad taste in his mouth. "Not enough courage to join the real military. Hiring yourself out to the highest bidder and selling your talents. That's what whores do, right?"
Sinn stiffened. The Sergeant was pushing, trying to see how she'd react. She didn't want to give him the pleasure of knowing he'd got to her, but that last jab sunk in deep. Opening her mouth to retort, she stopped when Torian grabbed her arm and motioned at Lord Kallig with a nod. With her attention on the Sergeant, Sinn hadn't noticed the drop in temperature or the air becoming charged, she could feel it now.
Lord Kallig was perfectly still but the energy around her wasn't. Her head was lowered, the hand at her side gripping her light saber. It looked like a couple of the soldiers had also noticed the change in the atmosphere and were shifting restlessly. Poor guys, Sinn thought, wasn't their fault their leader was an idiot. They were probably hoping for a night to leave the battlefield behind, maybe get some drinks and the attention of the dancers; trouble like this would not have been on their agenda.
"Why don't we let them be, Sergeant?" One of the soldiers spoke up and the Sergeant whirled on him.
"We have them outnumbered and outgunned," he snapped, "Anyone who doesn't think we can handle them is a stinking coward. Remember Corellia? They deserve whatever we give them after that." The soldiers looked reluctant yet started to ready themselves. But when the Sergeant turned back to Lord Kallig, even he looked like he might be questioning his decision.
"Your men were right Sergeant," Lord Kallig's regal voice was under laid by something deeper as she addressed him, something that sounded older and bloodthirsty. "Should have let us be."
She raised her head revealing the fiery blue light pouring from her eyes, obscuring her red pupils. Her light saber sprung to life, flickering red and black blades with blue electricity coursing up and down them and over her hand. The only other movement she made was a slight tilt of her head to Revel, who looked like he understood immediately. He motioned for Sinn and Torian to step back before calling out to the soldiers.
"Anyone want to run, now's the time," he yelled. A couple soldiers retreated out the door but the majority stayed, backing their Sergeant. "Damn misguided loyalty," Sinn heard him mutter. The raw power being displayed by Lord Kallig stunned her and it seemed like Torian felt the same. "You should get moving," Revel said as he pushed them towards the door.
"We don't run from a fight," Torian stated but Revel kept urging them on.
"We can handle this, just meet us at the back exit."
These two are as crazy as we are, Andronikos thought as he watched Sinn and Torian grudgingly run to the back of the cantina. He appreciated that they wanted to stick around and help, but in this case they'd only be in the way. K'isha probably wouldn't need him for the battle either, but he wanted to be there in case she couldn't recover quickly enough. The air started buzzing as he watched her power grow to critical mass. Plus there was just something about watching his beautiful Sith in action, he thought with a grin.
"Take her boys!" The Sergeant's voice rang out.
As the men surged forward she leaped into the air. Falling rapidly, she slammed down on one knee, her free hand pushing an abundance of Force energy into the ground. The effect caused the floor to quake, knocking the soldiers off their feet. A couple of them recovered and were instantly caught up whirlwinds of electricity, stunning them. Andronikos noticed she was being generous; incapacitating the men used more energy than killing them.
The Sergeant got to his feet and pulled out his blaster rifle. He charged at her with a battle cry, shooting off several rounds, but she deftly swung her blade to deflect the blasts while holding her ground. Revel almost felt sorry for the Sergeant but he knew K'isha had given him enough chances, he'd dug his own grave. At the last minute of the wild charge she stepped aside. He stumbled past her and she whipped around, plunging her saber into his back. The jolt of electricity caused his back to arch before she withdrew the blade.
"I remember Corellia too, I was there when it burned to the ground," Andronikos heard her hiss to the Sergeant before he collapsed.
Any soldiers not still stunned by the effects of the whirlwinds looked on in horror. She turned to face them, energy dripping from her saber. Suddenly one side of her saber shut down with small explosion. She looked startled as she glanced at where the glowing blade had been, but her falter seemed to give a few soldiers the backbone to resume the attack.
As they picked themselves up to charge, K'isha waved her hand and an energy field enveloped her, rendering her invisible. Andronikos felt her hand grab his a split second later and the familiar rush of energy coursed over his body. Wrapped in the same field he could feel it pulsing, a sign that her power was waning and he rushed her to the back exit where he hoped the hunter and her husband would be waiting.
"Where the blazes are they?" concern ate at Sinn as she sat astride her rumbling speeder. Revel had assured them that he and Lord Kallig had it under control. Looking back she could see the logic of him pushing them out, it gave her and Torian time to get the speeders prepared. But it didn't sit right with her, running out like that. Her Renegade idled alongside Torian's Nexu, but she felt like she should be pacing. Torian shot her an inquisitive look and she tried making light of the situation.
"Still need them to find that Kingpin," she said as she shrugged dismissively.
"This isn't just about the bounty anymore," he stated instead of asking and she sighed. Torian knew her better than anyone and wasn't fooled; she had a protective streak that could span from Hutta to Tatooine. She shook her head trying to get her thoughts to coalesce.
"Don't know why. There's something about them. I can't explain it."
Even with her sentences half-formed she knew Torian would understand what she meant. She was just drawn to situations like this. It was her usual knack for getting into trouble, like turning a lil bounty on a Jedi into the whole of the Republic wanting your head on a platter. She still resented having to become embroiled in Imperial politics to clear her name. Shaking her head again to bring herself to the moment she was just about to get off her speeder to go after the pair when a low rumble sounded from inside. Any remaining patrons came pouring out and Sinn scanned the mob.
"Think we should go in after them?" Torian yelled over the commotion. Before she could reply, a familiar regal voice answered for her.
"No need," Lord Kallig intoned as she and Revel emerged from thin air, "Nothing that couldn't be handled."
Dammit, she would have to be an Assassin, Sinn groaned internally. She'd rather take on one of those blasted Sith that liked to choke you out than the ones that go invisible, that lot gave her chills. But creepy abilities aside she still examined the couple, instinctively looking for injuries. Taking care of others was a reflex and for the time being she felt these two were under her charge.
Other than some strain around Lord Kallig's eyes the pair seemed intact. But when the Sith moved towards them Sinn noticed a slight sway in her step that wasn't there before. Revel moved quickly behind her giving her almost imperceptible support, the subtle move looked designed to keep weakness from showing. Little escaped Sinn's sharp gaze, though, and she noticed another one of those indefinable looks pass between the pair when he touched her. Sinn narrowed her eyes at them trying to read the byplay when another loud rumble interrupted her train of thought.
"We should get out of here," Revel shouted over the crowd, "Whole place is coming down."
Torian snatched his helmet from where it was hooked to his speeder and jumped off. He threw it on, climbing behind Sinn on her Renegade while she signaled Lord Kallig and Revel to take the Nexu. She was surprised to see Lord Kallig stroke the sleek speeder appreciatively, even more so when she quickly climbed on first to pilot while Revel climbed on behind her.
"Follow us!" Sinn called out.
She gunned it, glancing behind to make sure Lord Kallig was behind them. But the Sith sped up to ride alongside Sinn then gave her a quick nod before falling a little ways back, just enough to follow without completely giving up the lead. Having always loved the feel of riding fast Sinn was torn between taking it easy to make sure Lord Kallig could keep up, or opening it up and letting her rip. A plasma charge made the decision for her. As a stray blast flew by her head she peeked back to see the source. Some of the Republic soldiers had regrouped and found speeders of their own. Torian shifted his arms to cover hers using his armor to protect her. Sinn worried for a moment about the pair on the other speeder until she saw they were taking a more proactive approach.
Lord Kallig lowered speed to fall directly behind Sinn and Torian. In an impressive move, Revel spun around until his back was pressed against Lord Kallig and opened fire on the soldiers with both blasters. He managed to hit the lead speeder causing it to blow and creating a road block for the others then holstered his blasters and turned back around. Definitely a pair that had worked together for a while, Sinn thought. When Lord Kallig pulled back up alongside Sinn she noticed Revel had adjusted his coat to cover both himself and the Sith, much like Torian had done for her with his armor. He lowered his mouth to Lord Kallig's ear and slow smile started to creep across her face. She moved close enough to Sinn's Renegade to be heard over the engine.
"Where are we heading?" Lord Kallig called over to Sinn.
"We have rooms at the Star Gazer Casino," Sinn replied, "We can go there, just need to catch the transport." The smile on Lord Kallig's turned positively evil as she looked back at Sinn.
"Good," she said simply, "We'll meet you there." With that Lord Kallig hit the accelerator full force and took off like a shot. Sinn was never one to back away from a challenge and followed suit. Torian's arms tightened around her and she heard him grumble through his helmet mic.
"They had better not wreck my Nexu, I like that speeder." It was Sinn's turn to smile this time.
"Then we'd better not let them."