Chapter 7 – Doubts

Hey everyone, I figured since it's Star Wars month, I'd finish up another chapter for the only Star Wars story I'm writing. I know it's way past May the 4th, but happy May the 4th anyway! And revenge of the 5th…

This is the May.

Guest: I'm glad you like the story so far! Do you mean specific update dates or in-story dates? Updates may be kind of irregular, and I apologize in advance for that; and sorry about the typo! The "r" on my keyboard doesn't always register when I'm typing, and even though I ty to be careful about it, some typos inevitably get past me ':D

prjones339: me too xD technically, I've already drafted it out; hopefully I don't disappoint

tyuo: thank you! I will do my best xD

Before we go on to the story, I should probably warn you that there are a few violent happenings in this particular chapter. It's nothing much or even too graphic, but I thought I'd leave a note up here.

Well, I've held you up long enough; enjoy the chapter!

One Zygerrian pulled an energy whip from his belt, the crackling energy falling to the ground. He snarled, meaning to intimidate her and Ronderu only narrowed her eyes in response. He lashed the whip towards her, but she was already springing over it and had covered the distance between herself and the Zygerrian in bare seconds. Before he could react, she had punched him in the gut and as he doubled over in pain, her knee connected with his face with a satisfying crunch. Another Zygerrian charged at her, but Ronderu sidestepped him, dodged his punches to grab him by an ear, managing to swing him around and send him rolling aside. With those two Zygerrians down, that left fourteen.

Ronderu knew she could handle them.

This time three Zygerrians rushed at her, aiming to overwhelm her. She wasn't even fazed. Planting her feet firmly, she exhaled and just before they collided with her, she performed a backflip, kicking one of the Zygerrians in the process. He fell back while the other two – unable to stop themselves in time – crashed headfirst into one another. Ronderu landed in a crouch just before the controls and grinned in exhilaration.

She hadn't realised how much she'd missed this.

The remaining ten approached more cautiously, their eyes fixed in her. She glanced at each of them in turn and caught the surreptitious nod the captain sent to one of his lieutenants. He then leapt forwards, attempting to tackle Ronderu and catch her unawares, but Ronderu saw him coming and planted a foot in his face, sending him sprawling backwards. But it seemed that he had just been a distraction because then the end of a whip wrapped around her left forearm, electrocuting her. Ronderu bit back her cry of pain, gritting her teeth to block it out. Two Zygerrians approached with the aim of reclaiming the controller to her shock collar while another two broke off to man some of the controls to a side, trying to shoot down the ships attacking them.

Ronderu grabbed ahold of the energy whip in her other hand, her face still screwed up in pain, and gave it a yank, pulling the Zygerrian captain off-balance. As he fell over, he let go of the handle and Ronderu pulled it into her own hands. The Zygerrian to her right managed to land a punch to her face while she was distracted but quickly snatched back his hand, his knuckles having been sliced by one of her tusks. The force of the punch, however, turned her head to a side and she headbutted the Zygerrian to her left. The one who had punched her had begun to move away from her, but before he could put enough distance between himself and Ronderu, her hand shot out and clamped ahold of his throat. She squeezed and crushed it, letting the Zygerrian's limp body fall to the ground.

The one she'd headbutted had regained his senses, though, and with a snarl, he lunged at her and wrapped his hands around her throat, driving her backwards into the control panel. Ronderu grimaced as she slammed into the raised levers and buttons, the Zygerrian's face contorted in rage. He continued to squeeze, trying to suffocate her.

"Tell your captain," Ronderu said through gritted teeth, "that he can have his whip back."

"Wha-?"

Saying so, she shoved the handle of the now-deactivated whip into the Zygerrian's mouth just as it opened. Ronderu pressed the button on the side and activated it. The Zygerrian's eyes bugged out of his head as he screamed, the tendril of energy crackling and electrocuting him as it wormed its way down his throat. He staggered backwards and fell over, limbs jerking. The remaining four saw this, the expressions on their faces horrified. One even took an involuntary step back. A noise, though, shifted all of their attention; it was the hiss of doors sealing. They all turned and saw the Zygerrian who brought her up here – her former owner – standing by the doors, his teeth bared in a snarl.

"I have sealed the blast doors," he informed them all with a sneer. "No one leaves without me saying so!"

And then there was another noise – an explosion – and almost at once, Ronderu felt an overwhelming surge of energy through the ship before everything went dark. Shouts of confusion went up from the Zygerrians.

"What's going on?!"

"They must have used ion torpedoes – we've lost all power!"

"Try to bring the engines back online!"

"We need to restore power to the bridge…!"

Ronderu looked down in surprise as her feet left the floor. Lost all power, huh? It seemed that even the artificial gravity had been knocked out. But the darkness gave Ronderu an advantage – she could still the Zygerrians as clearly in the dark as it was when the lights were on. She braced her feet on the controls behind her and pushed off, sailing over the four Zygerrians still left, aiming for past them. Her former owner didn't see her until it was too late and she was right in front of him. He started in surprise as he finally registered her form before him.

"Consider this payback," she'd hissed, "for every family and planet you and your kind tore apart, slaver scum."

"Stay back!" He'd ordered, unholstering a small blaster from his side and pointing it at her.

Ronderu's glowing golden eyes turned from the firearm to the Zygerrian. She grabbed ahold of his wrist, her fingers tightening around it even as she pulled it down slowly, forcing him to let go of the blaster as his wrist twisted awkwardly.

"Who," Ronderu began, her voice frigid, "do you think you're tying to order around, slaver?"

She saw him quake at the tone of her voice, fear showing in his eyes. She grinned at him just before she broke his wrist. He let out a sharp exclamation of pain and tried to pull away, getting the attention of the other Zygerrians on the bridge. But Ronderu kicked him against the wall and pinned him there, planting the toes of her foot in his back even as she took hold of his head in both her hands.

"No – what are you – ?! Don't – "

But he never finished what he was trying to say because Ronderu had already given his head a sharp twist and been rewarded with a muffled crack as his neck broke. She pushed the body away. It floated away, turning slowly in the zero-gravity conditions. Reaching out, Ronderu had only just closed her fingers around the handle of the blaster drifting by when the artificial gravity suddenly kicked back in, sending them all thudding to the floor.

"Auxiliary power is back online!" Said one of the Zygerrians still faithfully working the controls.

The four remaining fighters were back on their feet in an instant, followed by the slightly more dazed captain. It was he who spotted the dead Zygerrian that lay crumpled on the floor, eyes glazed over, muscles slack and head twisted at an unnatural angle.

"Kill her!" He bellowed in anger.

At the same time, Ronderu raised the blaster she now held and shot him square in the face. He keeled over, dead before he even hit the floor.

"We're being boarded!" Exclaimed one of the two Zygerrians not fighting her.

All four lunged for her. Ronderu managed to shoot one of them in the chest before the blaster was knocked from her hand. But even bare-handed, she was not defenceless. She punched one Zygerrian in the face, ducked under a blow from another and delivered an uppercut to the third's jaw, sending him reeling backwards. Ronderu elbowed the second in the face and kneed the first in the groin. Eyes bugging out of his face, he crumpled with a soundless scream. Baring her claws, she slashed the second across his face before leaping up and kicking him into the two at the controls.

But the third Zygerrian slammed into her from behind, throwing her to a side. Ronderu twisted, landing in a crouch and eyed her opponent. Not far from him, the one she'd kneed was struggling to his feet. She decided then and there that she could handle him first. So she darted forwards and backhanded him to daze him. The other Zygerrian didn't even know what was happening, even when Ronderu had slipped behind him, standing back-to-back with him, she reached up and clamped her hands around the bottom of his head and yanked. She had proceeded to throw into the blast doors which – as she had been about to dispatch the last conscious Zygerrian – had opened with a beep.

General Grievous had turned up then.

Ronderu groaned, her attention returning to the present. What lousy timing the cyborg had; if only he had turned up later, she could have gotten away! Reflexively, her hand went to her stomach as she traced the line of the scar that stretched across it like the torn edge of material. She exhaled a sigh, trying not to remember the pain she'd endured while her wounds had healed.

The Huk who had enslaved her hadn't helped by lashing out at her with dagger-sharp forelimbs whenever they felt like it. As a result, Ronderu now possessed a multitude of scars that crisscrossed her back. Some were from the Huk, some from the Zygerrians but all fortunately hidden by her long mane of hair. She then reached up to finger the collar around her neck.

Ronderu hated it.

She longed to be able to rip it off and throw the hated thing as far as she could, far out of sight. Or better yet, smash it to pieces with something. Maybe a rock… or maybe even a Huk's head. It would be beyond satisfying to hear the metal crumple, to see the circuitry within spark and spray as it was destroyed…

She had been this close to removing it!

She'd held the controller in her hands. She'd had the power, the opportunity to remove it and fling it away. And with it, get rid of all traces of her enslavement. She could have been free. Free to do what she wanted; to go where she wanted…

Free to go home.

Ronderu buried her head in her hands. Because deep down, she had a dark, creeping fear that surfaced only during times like this – her bleakest, loneliest hours. What if she returned to Kalee and found that… that Qymaen was dead? What would she do then?

And as she huddled in a corner of the cell, she had never felt more alone.

But… if Qymaen was dead, she would know…

… Wouldn't she?

The Destroyer dropped out of hyperspace.

Ahead of it were more Separatist ships engaged in a fierce aerial battle with Republic Cruisers. To the right of the Destroyer lay the planet Felucia. Grievous knew that somewhere down on the surface of planet raged on an equally brutal firefight between Separatist and Republic forces. But he also knew that the droids were losing ground to the clones. He wondered what Jedi was leading the Republic's forces; surely not Kenobi?

"Contact our lead ship," he ordered a droid.

"Roger roger," it acknowledged.

A hologram of a tactical droid sprang up.

"What is going on here?" Grievous demanded from it.

"Sir, our forces are suffering heavy losses on the surface. The Jedi has them in the retreat." It informed him.

"Which Jedi is leading them?" He growled.

"That would be the Jedi Knight Nova Regis," it told him. "His tactics have proved most unorthodox; the aerial assault is being handled by – "

"I don't care about that!" Grievous snarled.

The hologram of the tactical droid nodded once before it disappeared. Grievous had already turned around by then.

"Prepare landing craft!" He ordered, "Be ready to send reinforcements down to the surface!"

"Roger roger."

"What will you do, Sir?" Piped up one droid.

"Kill the Jedi," Grievous muttered darkly as he strode out.

The Separatist general boarded a landing craft that was headed down to the surface. Most likely the Republic would try to stop their enemy from landing anymore reinforcements, but Grievous was confident of making it to the surface unopposed. The doors closed slowly, leaving the droid battalion within – and General Grievous – housed in total darkness until a dim red light flickered in. It didn't do much to drive out the shadows; if anything, it only made them more pronounced.

The Battle droids stood to attention in neat rows, their blasters held ready, the light bathing them the colour of blood. The Super Battle droids were mere hulking shapes in the gloom. Behind them were three tanks, their top hatches open as the droids within awaited their eventual touchdown on Felucia. And finally – behind the droids and tanks – stood General Grievous. He was flanked by his Magnaguards, having decided to recall the two standing guard outside Ronderu's cell in anticipation of the coming battle. After all, it was a secure cell; it wasn't like she could escape – she was no Jedi!

Grievous quickly banished all thoughts of Ronderu from his mind. He couldn't have them distracting him – especially when he was locked in combat. He himself eagerly awaited the inevitable confrontation between himself and this Jedi Knight. The name was not one that was familiar to him – perhaps this was one who was new to the battlefield, or perhaps just one of the many other Jedi he was yet to meet – there were, after all, over ten thousand Jedi Knights in the galaxy.

Grievous allowed himself a grim smile.

Soon, it would be time for him to test this Jedi's skills personally.

Aand that's it for Chapter 7!

So here we have us wrapping up Ronderu's thoughts from the previous chap, and her secret worries. And then there's the General headed down to the planet surface. I look forward to the next events, they're probably one of my favourite scenes in the whole story.

I can't wait to get to the next chapter, because that's when things start to fall into place. Also, when my own OC turns up! Don't worry, he's not going to be a seriously overpowered Jedi or anything like that – he's pretty average as far as they go.

This is the longest chapter so far, so expect a bit more of a gap between this and the next update – I need to get back to my other story, too.

Thanks for reading, everyone!