Chapter 7

As the ship we were docking in came into sight I took a deep breath, trying to calm my nerves, I still wasn't sure how I was going to channel the dark side and it looked like I was out of time. I would never admit this, but I was scared. Mazer had a grin so big I was genuinely freaked out by him. Lynn had the same calm determined look he always did, my expression was similar. Our ship landed without issue, Lynn joined Mazer and I by the door; he stood in the center with me on his left. My heart pounded as we ignited out crimson blades, ready to charge as soon as the door opened. Desperate, I decided to just think something unjustified. These people were trying to kill me, they were trying to take me away from Mary, these people were trying to do something that would make Mary less safe, and that was more then enough to fill me with rage. As this thought bubbled in my head I felt the pain I had missed return, and my eyes lit up with the power of the dark side. I could feel the dock worker approaching our ship wondering why we didn't open the door on our own, I could feel the two guards about ten yards away gazing over with mild suspicion, I could feel the dozens of people wandering the hallways oblivious of the wrath about to befall them; and then the door opened.

The worker barely had time to widen his eyes in shock before Lynn flung his left arm forward and threw the man across the bay, crashing straight into the two guards who hadn't managed to even fire a shot. That was an impressive move, even for Lynn and he didn't even look winded. Lynn's eyes, which were always so calm and focused, looked like they were on fire; he was even smiling. And with a roar from him the three of us charged, the man who was thrown was limp and unmoving; one of the guards struggled to push him off of his chest while the other who only had his legs covered lifted his rifle and desperately fired. The bolt would have connected to Lynn's shoulder had he not smacked it away with his hand; this was a useful power that Master Donavin had invented where one channels a small shield of energy over there left hand and then simply moves the hand to block attacks. When one was advancing it was much easier than blocking with a light saber. Were this guard wise he would've turned his gun on auto and let loose, we still would have managed of course but it would have been much harder. He managed half a scream before Lynn decapitated him, in the two seconds while Lynn pulled his blade back to impale the other we heard him screaming into some sort of communicator.

"...JEDI, OR, SITH OR, SOMETHING FOR THE LOVE OF GOD HEL-" He went silent and limp as the blade went into this throat.

"Hey leave some for us will ya?" Mazer laughed out, Lynn actually chuckled in response. Not mocking but gleeful, it was clear that he was enjoying this immensely; he shook his head a little and looked up with a serious expression.

"Mazer stay here, kill everyone who tries to escape as we discussed. Marcus, with me." He said in a commanding voice. We ran towards the two doors that led out of the bay, from the life I sensed moving around in them I inferred that they went ahead for about eight yards before entering into a large control room, I looked to Lynn as we approached. He nodded towards the door on the left that I was closer to while he moved towards the one on the right. Just as I was approaching it I grew nervous again; this is it, there are people in that hallway who I'm going to have to kill. As the door flew open the three men who were running towards it halted their charge and raised there guns, but they didn't fire. I also halted and raised my light saber; for a moment neither of us did anything. This was bad, if they all went full auto I wouldn't be able to block, I could always kill all three of them with lightning but that would take a lot of energy and I didn't want to do that unless I had to. Then my eyes lit up, one of them pulled out a thermal detonator and as he pulled back to throw I reflexively shot a single focused bolt of lightning at it, causing it to explode prematurely. I felt a sick joy bubble inside me looking at the charred remains of the three men, but I pushed it away.

I stepped cautiously into the control room, Like the main hallway and hangar it had a grey, ugly feeling to it. In the center was a large, circular computer terminal with five or six chairs around it, I also noted four doors in the room. At that moment Lynn entered the main chamber as well, I noted that there was a blood stain on his cloak and a large smile on his face. Once he saw the room was clear he turned to me still smiling,

"Killing them with their own grenade huh? Resourceful." I grinned at the praise but said nothing, we could both feel that more were coming from two different doors but we had at least a minute before they reached us. I noticed there was a point where most of them went before coming towards us and inferred that to be the armoury. Once again Lynn nodded to me and we moved to the next hallway, this one was wider, wide enough for us both to stand side by side both in a combat stance. Feeling the larger force was coming from behind he turned around so that we were back to back. I could already see my group coming down the hallway; about twenty people at the head of which was a burly rodian, it seems they were going to try to rush me in a triangle formation. It seemed foolish to me that they would enter close combat with a sith but I certainly wasn't complaining. As they got closer it occurred to me that I a grenade would be great here if I had any. Just before they reached me I pushed with the force, not enough to knock them over but enough to take away their momentum. As they reached me I sliced and pushed again, the rodian ducked in time but the two directly behind him were killed easily. Most of the rest were knocked off their feet. The five who weren't were chopped down first, with the exception of one, the large rodian man. After killing the first four I was bringing my blade down on him only to have it expertly parried by his short, machete like blade. Panicking I thrust my off-hand forward, he avoided actual contact but I still through him about fifteen yards back. It had been four seconds. The enemies I had initially knocked down were beggining to get up and raise their weapons. Out of time I dove back so that all my opponents were in front of me and let loose a spasm of lightning on them. It don't know if it was enough to kill all of them but either way no one was getting up.

"NOOOO!" I heard the rodian scream as I did so. I looked up just in time to see him hammer throw a thermal detonator at me. It moved forward at me like a bullet, I managed to detonate it with lightening like earlier but by the time I did it was close enough to knock me off my feet. I rolled with it and was on my knees, the dumb oaf was charging straight at me. I could feel the dark side radiating from him, he must have been force sensitive. Curious I looked into his mind, Boboo?! Sera, sweetheart?! YOU BASTARD! YOU KILLED THEM YOU BASTARD! I'LL KILL YOU! As he barrelled towards me I felt a faint hint of guilt, this man had a lover too, he had friends, he had a life; a life that I was taking away. I suddenly understood why Master Donavin tells us not to look into our enemies minds. As he reached me and brought his blade up, mine shot forward cutting him clean in half; still feeling the lingering guilt I made sure to go through the heart so he'd die instantly. With that the fight was over, I stopped channeling to dark side and felt the expected crash. I felt light headed for a moment and could hear my heart beating louder than the sounds of Lynn finishing his fight. Sweat poured down my body as he turned around and gripped my shoulder.

"Go switch places with Mazer" I began to argue but it occurred to me that Lynn was a superior now, and I was tired. Grudgingly I made my way back to the hanger, once again trying to ignore the bodies me and Lynn had made of the crew. Mazer was sitting anxiously when I reached him; he even stood up and ignited his light saber when I came through the door. He then looked at me questioningly to which I just pointed behind me.

"Were switching places, go." Too excited to mock me for my state he sprinted to the door. With a groan I sat down on the ramp of our vehicle, I looked around and noticed that Mazer destroyed all the other ships, that was actually pretty smart of him. I knew better but still decided to think about the rodian I killed, it wasn't surprising that's what he was thinking; everyone I killed probably had a friend, a lover, a family. My life has priority of course but I still feel sorry for them. I buried that sentiment deep in my mind, not wanting Master Donnavin to see it. At best it would be humiliating and at worst it would be grounds for him to kill me.

I stood there, just resting, for about half an hour before Mazer emerged from the door, breathing heavy and holding some sort of meat patty in his hand. He took a bite of it before speaking.

"Lynn's working on the armoury door, he told me to switch with you." he said with a hint of envy but mostly a relaxed joy. The words were muffled by the food in his mouth and juices dribbled down his chin as he spoke. I merely stared at him for a second.

"What the hell is that?" I said pointing to his food item. At the question he examined the brownish blob as if he wasn't sure.

"Don't know, but it's meat." He said confirming my thoughts.

"Can you seriously eat right now!?" I said thinking of the carnage I had witnessed. At this he pointed a finger at me.

"Hey pal, I haven't had meat in over two years." he said taking another big bite and moaning with pleasure. I decided to stop talking to him, honing in on where Lynn was I began moving through the halls. Every now and then I would feel someone but it seemed they were all hiding; wise, not that it would do them any good. I thought maybe Mazer was half right in his thinking when I passed through the kitchen area and saw all the food. I hadn't eaten anything sweet in years; I could probably take some of this ships fruit back with me. When I came upon Lynn he was slowly dragging his lightsaber around the frame of the large metal door, sensing me approach he spoke without turning around.

"Someone locked himself in their, I'm just about in so be ready." With that the door opened and we were suddenly under a barrage of fire. We both sprinted with unnatural speed back to the nearest door to duck into. I was in front and tried to dive through when my shoulder unexpectedly made contact with the automatic door, at the speed I was moving a made a decent dent but was still left exposed in hall. Panic flooded through me as I realized we had no place to take cover from this barrage. Lynn was standing in front of me, his saber had fallen to the floor and he had both hands up desperately trying to shield against the bolts. I desperately smashed against the door a couple more times with meager results.

"HOW LONG!?" Lynn screamed trembling, he couldn't keep this up much longer.

"TOO LONG!" I yelled. He muttered something I couldn't hear over the roaring gun and after a second yelled again.

"THEN WE'RE CHARGING!" And with that we pressed forward with me running close behind him. We weren't moving very fast, I was sure that any second Lynn would fail and we would both be killed but he didn't. As we pushed through the door Lynn dove to the right, the turret followed him and I jumped around his left. All it took was one simple swing to stop the barrage, and with that we were plunged into a calm, safe, silence. It stopped so suddenly that for a moment I just stood their and took everything in, the carnage, my powers, my speed. I couldn't help a grin; because even though I was weak, I was strong enough for my goal, I was strong enough to protect Mary.