THE VAIKEN

Kyl'thanis could hear the sounds of battle even as he ran along the corridors, following the trail of corpses. Racing out of one corridor into a large intersection, the jedi watched as Jaesa and Pyrannus came together once more. Lightsabers met and the two pressed forward, locking together. Jaesa funnelled an electrical charge through her weapon and Pyrannus leapt up and over her, distancing herself. As she landed she shoved forward with the force, sending the sith off her feet onto her stomach, her lightsaber falling out of her hand away from her. Pyrannus made to move on her but froze and spun to face the jedi. She sensed me, Kyl'thanis realized, igniting his own saber. Striding forward, Kyl'thanis entered the fray.

Kyl'thanis watched as the cathar leapt at him, the two tone blue lightsaber arcing down at him. The jedi brought up his own weapon, locking the blades together as he countered the attack. Pyrannus pivoted quickly however, weight going to one leg as she kicked the other up and about, spinning and connecting the heel of her boot to the side of Kyl'thanis' head. The twi'lek gave a loud grunt as he hit the deck plating. He had fought sith before, but Pyrannus was stronger, younger, and faster. He had already quickly gotten a sense that it was a mismatch of skills.

"Meet your death, jedi." Pyrannus said, moving in for the kill.

"You die first!"

Jaesa Willsaam lashed out with force lightning, catching the cathar on the shoulder briefly before she used her lightsaber to block the attack. Backing up, Pyrannus eyed the woman warily then cast a glance down to the jedi who was struggling back up to his feet. One on one, Pyrannus knew she could have taken both of them easily. This was not a straight up fight however, and it meant patience and caution. All she had to do was keep them occupied a bit longer. Her shoulder throbbed in protest and pain, but she had taken the measure of both sith and jedi, and neither of them were going to defeat her. Even together they were too flawed in how they fought. Her plan had worked perfectly, and now they would be nothing more than an added bonus for her master.

"Stay out of this jedi! This is my fight." Jaesa snarled, sparing an irritated glare at the twi'lek. "Why aren't you on the ship?"

"I'm a jedi, saving your sorry ass comes with the job." Kyl'thanis replied flippantly.

Jaesa shook her head then focused back on the sith before them. She's good, Jaesa admitted to herself, damn good. She had not expected the level of fight in the cathar sith. There was a skill to match her darkness, Jaesa knew. With the ship gone, there was nothing left but the fight, and if it was the last thing she did, Jaesa was determined to take the other sith woman down with her. Capture was no option, she would fall or Jaesa would die, she knew.

"She's stalling." Kyl'thanis commented, moving out of his combat stance and regarding the cathar closely.

Pyrannus smiled a feral toothy grin at the jedi and nodded. He had figured that out rather quickly, she mused. He was more the thinker, skilled and composed, a foil to the sith woman who was wild and untamed, prone to having her emotions take control and dictate her actions. This man would prove the more dangerous of the two, she realized.

"Very good." Pyrannus said, stalking left and right, lightsaber held out level and pointing at her enemies. "For all the good it will do you. You will not get off this ship."

"Watch us." Kyl'thanis said, grabbing Jaesa by the arm and yanking the sith backwards and shoving her into the nearby corridor.

Caught off guard, Jaesa gave a cry and wrenched her arm free even as she was shoved into the corridor. Golden eyes glared once again at the jedi as she turned to face him. He gave her a nod and wink. The sith had a moment to register the man's hand hitting the control panel before the blast doors sealed shut. Jaesa was left staring at the blast doors, cut off from the fight.

"Son of a…"

"Get to the escape pod! They'll be there." Kyl'thanis yelled as he turned and faced the waiting cathar.

"A bold move, jedi." Pyrannus smiled, knowing the end result was now not in question. "Come, lets end this."

Kyl'thanis turned to stare at the woman and nodded, blade coming up to salute the woman before he stepped towards her. As he moved he thought of Asha briefly, a sadness coming that he quickly brushed away. As he moved to battle the cathar sith, Kyl'thanis calmed his mind, letting the jedi code come to his thoughts, the last whispered past his lips.

"There is no death, there is only the force."

SPACE – THE WRAITH

Vette gritted her teeth and yanked on the controls of the star ship, sending the Wraith into a steep spiralling dive. Green streaks of enemy fire tore through space about them as the twi'lek went defensive. There were a dozen Mark VI Supremacy fighters tailing after them, Vette unable to shake them while also trying to keep away from the Imperial fleet dreadnaughts or the Vaiken who could lock on with a tractor beam. If one of them got that locked on it was over. Of course that's not counting proton torpedoes, cluster missiles, or a nice blast from a heavy turbo laser, Vette mused dourly.

"Feel free to shoot those bastards anytime now!" Vette complained into the comm even as she banked the craft hard right, then rolling it into another spiralling dive before pulling up hard.

"Hold this crate steady." Asha complained as she was tossed about while trying to target with one of the Wraiths lateral turrets.

"Damn bastards are fast." Pierce complained from the other turret, grunting as Vette put the ship under g force strain with her piloting once again.

Vette grunted and continued her hard evasive manoeuvres, muttering under her breath as the ship shuddered under a few stray shots that glanced off their shields. The twi'lek knew it was only a matter of time before their luck ran out. Glancing over to the co-pilot chair she eyed up the cathar who was hitting buttons and monitoring things, while trying his best not to throw up all over the consoles.

"How long till we can get to hyperspace?" Vette demanded.

"Not long, almost there." Alric growled back as the ship bounced with another blow to the shields. "Wait, we have a reading. Escape pod, vector two zero nine mark four."

Vette swore under her breath. That had to be Jaesa and Kyl'thanis, at least she hoped so. Wrenching hard on the controls, Vette brought the Wraith around sharp and hard in a bank turn that had the hull screeching under the strain. Warning lights began flashing but she ignored them, pushing the ship to its limits as she came about and then opened up the ship full throttle. She had bought them a momentary gap, but the Mark VI would close it quickly once again. It was going to be a rough time recovering their allies without getting themselves blown up in the process.

"Scourge get ready to secure that pod." Vette yelled into the internal comm.

"Copy that." Scourge said.

"Belay that." Pierce growled, already hating what he was going to say. "We can't stop dead to lock the pod up. They'll have to take the ride to the planet."

"Pierce we can't…"

"Vette get us clear or we are all going to die!" Pierce snapped far more harshly than he meant to. "We have to go."

Vette swore and banked up and away from her course, pushing the Wraith into a line away from the fleet. Alric growled a confirmation the co-ordinates were set for use of the hyperspace engine. Vette grabbed the control for it, held it and stared at her hand hovering there. As much as she had differences with Jaesa, it was much the same as with Quinn. She would gladly have died for either of them when push came to shove. Swearing loudly Vette slammed the control down activating the engine and watched the stars streak away past them. She knew Necrolis was not going to be happy about things.

Aela felt the ship lurch and then a subtle steady hum ran through the deck plating. They were clear of the danger, she knew. She was well aware of the talk over the comm system. They had rescued one of their own but two had become lost. All she could hope was the sith and jedi could work together to get themselves off planet and back to them, assuming of course both had made it to the escape pod. At the very least let them be safe, she thought. There was too much time to think, Aela knew as she sat in the medical bay of the ship. Usually it would have been one of them, she herself included, up on the medical table. In this case the table was not even in use. She had immediately gotten Quinn into the kolto tank. He had protested but weakened and battered as he was, there was little he could do but mutter at her as she simply dumped him into it. She pressed a hand to the glass, watching Quinn float in the blue-green kolto solution. He was pumped full of pain medication, kept knocked out as he was being worked on and healed. Grey eyes glanced over the injuries that were visible, before looking over to the monitor displaying his vital signs.

"How is he?" Kamthar Mantell asked as he peered in from the doorway.

"Out like a light and healing physically." Aela said softly. "I'm not sure the scars of the mind though."

"If he's tough enough to have endured that, he'll manage." Kamthar said, knowing it likely would take some time for the worst of such to pass. He had seen enough post traumatic stress on men in the battlefield. It was never easy, or pretty, but some had overcome it. Others had learned to cope with their symptoms. There were still some however, that never got over what they had been through. He could only hope Malavai Quinn was not one of those.

The mirialan republic trooper had helped get Quinn into the medical bay, and had been monitoring and ensuring the tank was optimized. Aela was thankful for the help, even if it came from a member of the opposite side. Was there even such now, she wondered? The sith glanced at the man, studying him a moment before looking back to Quinn as he came to stand beside her, once again checking on the readings and changing settings as he felt needed such. The question lingered in her mind as she realized she had fought, and could have died beside jedi and republic members. It seemed so strange that once they had been the enemy, merely someone to kill to achieve the goals of the Empire. Now they were standing together against an unknown enemy that threatened to kill them all. After all of this, Aela thought, nothing was going to be the same.

"I appreciate the help." Aela said finally breaking the silence.

"You're welcome." Kamthar said, and smiled softly. "I paid attention to my squad's healer enough, guess it rubbed off."

"We're lucky in a number of ways today." Aela answered back before moving and settling in one of the chairs in the medical bay. She was not going to be going anywhere until she knew Quinn was fine.

"Not all of us." Kamthar sighed and said back.

BALMORRA

Jaesa Willsaam watched the planet grow closer, the Imperial ships growing smaller as the escape pod fell away. It did not take long for the shuddering to start, the dull orange glow forming and growing brighter as the escape pod hit and drove through Balmorra's upper atmosphere. She had hoped the Wraith would pick her up, but watching as the ship was chased and attacked, she had realized there was no way it would happen.

Balmorra was a war zone, and honestly after all the battles and fights there, it really was nothing else. She had been here before with Pierce and Necrolis, and the knowledge she was somewhere familiar was at least comforting. They would be after her, she knew. Damn jedi, Jaesa thought, knowing he had kept her from getting revenge for Quinn.

The ride down did not take long at all. Strapping herself in, Jaesa felt the shudder of the pod crashing down. At least I hit land and not water, the sith thought as she shook off the feeling of the impact and freed herself from the restraints. Checking the rear window of the pod, all she could make out was a clear blue sky overhead. Blowing the hatch, Jaesa pulled herself out and sat on the end of the pod, golden eyes scanning about her trying to get her bearings. She knew she would not have long before Imperial forces homed in on her location.

If she was correct, Jaesa put herself near an Imperial outpost, one that might well hold an ally. That's assuming she was still in power, Jaesa reminded herself. It had been some time, and the Republic had taken hold of Balmorra a few times since last she had been here. If however, the old sith leader were still there and in charge, she might be able to help get off the planet. It was a gamble Jaesa knew she had to take. She needed to find Darth Lachris, and hope she would help based on the friendship with her master. It's not like I have a choice, Jaesa thought, hopping down and striking out in the general direction she believed the base to be.