Chapter XVI The Trap - Lord Cineratus
With a hiss, the hatch popped open and slid off the side of the shell to reveal the dim, dusty, and destroyed interior of the home I had just landed on. Pez shot out of the capsule and spun his red eye back to stare at me angrily. After a few breaths, I realized that I had forgotten to take the antidote and fumbled for the medkit. I had just injected myself and was able to breathe freely when a piece of the roof came down and smacked the floor a few feet away from me.
"Zweep-click," Pez chirped sharply as his eye scanned the broken ceiling above us.
"Yes, we need to get out of here," I agreed. Reaching into the capsule, I grabbed my satchel and checked my belt for my saber before moving across the room toward the exit. I managed to get out of the main room and into a hallway before a flashlight beam zigged across the wall at the far end. In a flash, Pez turned on his headlights and slid his mini-blaster out and I had my saber out and ignited.
"Whoa, easy," came the electronically translated voice from around the corner. The flashlight spun to illuminate us. "I'm with the good guys."
"Bleep," Pez gave a warning, swishing back and forth alertly.
"Tseebi, I presume?" I said as I waved at Pez to back off.
"Yeah," she said as she came into view, wearing a breathing helmet over her head. "Are you all right?" she asked as I stood unsteadily and looked back at the dust billowing out of the room we had crashed into.
"I got knocked around a bit falling through the roof, but I'm alive."
"We'd better move out. This area is abandoned because of the conflict, but your landing might have caught the attention of a Republic patrol."
I shut off the lightsaber and stepped closer to her. "Lead on then," I said with a gesture to the door. "Pez, turn off your lights and put away the blaster."
"Bleep," he eyed Tseebi closely.
"She's on our side and we're trying to be sneaky." I wondered again why I needed to explain myself to a droid. "Can you dim your eye glow?" I asked
"Zwip," he nodded and toned his eye down to a barely visible point.
I stepped forward and motioned for the Rodian to lead the way. She turned her flashlight off and led me out into a dimly lit alley. The strange orangish atmosphere was turning mauve and red as dusk set in over Queshaaga. We crossed several streets and through a few uninhabited backyards until she stopped at the back of what looked like a dead-end alley.
"Over this wall is the industrial complex your friends are holed up in. This is as close as I have gotten without risking detection. I know there is at least one mercenary assassin team with eyes on the complex. You won't get twenty steps before they know you're there."
"Why haven't they gone in and taken out the apprentices yet?"
"I don't know. The zone's been quiet for as long as I've been monitoring it. Maybe they are waiting for someone."
"Yeah, most likely me," I said wryly.
"If you think it's a trap, then why are you here?"
"I don't know, to be honest. The apprentices helped save my life several days ago, and I feel I owe it to them. I was hoping to get to them before they got into serious trouble."
"The fact that assassins have been in position for hours and nothing's happened is suspicious," Tseebi stated softly.
"It is," I agreed. The more information I gathered about the situation, the surer I was that Kaal and Corrin were being kept alive to lure me in.
"I'm no fighter," she replied with a shake of her head, "I wouldn't be much help if you wanted to fight your way in."
"I wasn't expecting that of you, but I could use a distraction."
The Rodian looked at me while thinking. "I don't have anything that would make a distraction, except me that is."
"No, it's too risky."
"If your landing got the attention of a patrol, maybe we can use them to spring the trap?"
"That's a good idea," I replied in agreement. A Republic patrol would certainly not be friendly to Imperial assassins. If I could get the two into a firefight I might be able to slip through to the apprentices. "How long before it gets dark?"
"Another half-hour would be my guess," Tseebi replied as she looked up at the sky.
"That's too long to wait," I mumbled. "Pez, I want you to fly up and observe the roads leading to our landing site. Check to see if any military teams are looking around." As I spoke I pulled out the HUD glasses and put them on. "Back up to the end of this alley before you rise over the wall, and be careful not to get detected."
"Bleep," he chirped softly before drifting back down the alley we had snuck into. When he was far enough away from us, he floated upward to give me a bird's eye view of the surroundings. I flicked on the glasses and observed the complex through Pez's infrared vision. There was an open storage yard surrounding the main building. It was likely that all that open space was under the watchful eye of the enemy. I could Force run across it, making it difficult for a high-powered blaster rifle to hit me, but I did not know what I was running into. Pez spun slowly, giving me a view down the last street we crossed before the back alley. Both directions looked quiet.
"Move to the next street over," I ordered the droid softly.
Pez drifted over several houses on a diagonal from us until he hovered over an intersection. Doing a slow rotation he gave me a view in all four directions. Everything still looked quiet. We repeated the pattern on numerous streets but did not find any patrols.
"I'm not coming up with anything," I sighed.
"This area of town was abandoned months ago because of the fighting close-by," Tseebi replied, "Republic patrols are sporadic. We may not run into one."
"Pez," I whispered, "come back and put your eye on the complex behind me again."
"What are you thinking?" Tseebi asked as she watched me.
"I can't wait here forever. I think I'm going to make a run for it." I moved to the base of the wall and stretched my hand out to the complex beyond. Focusing in the Force, I tried to get a sense of what was there. After a moment, I began to sense a Force presence. The echo in the Force seemed to be some distance away and below my feet; underground. There must have been a basement to the main building. I was not very capable of Force sensing, and could not tell if the Force essence I sensed was the apprentices. Also, I had difficulty sensing any other life forms. If the assassins were out there, they were doing a good job of disguising themselves. Opening my eyes again, I saw Pez's aerial view of the complex in the glasses. No sentient forms appeared in the infrared scan. Again, if they were there, then they were well camouflaged. The top of the building next to me was just below the wall that formed the back of the alley. If I got up on the roof of the building then it would be easy to drop into the compound.
"Pez, come back to me," I ordered as I turned to Tseebi. "I'm going in, and I don't want you caught up in the action. I think you should move out."
"Okay," she nodded, "Commander Trey wanted me to lead you to the safe house for extraction. Here is my com code," she reached her wrist forward towards me, "you can use it to find my location. I'll head to the safe house now."
Agent Tseebi had disappeared down the shadowy alley. Pez watched her retreat from us and then turned his dim eye back to me. I wrapped my cloak around myself, crouched, and then Force jumped onto the roof of the building next to me. Once on the roof, I knelt below the small parapet along the edge of the building facing the compound. There was still some light in the dusk of the Quesh day, but the building I was on was in shadows, as was the open area of the complex beyond the wall. No blaster bolts came at me, which meant I likely made it onto the roof undetected.
Pez drifted up next to me and through his camera, I could see into the compound in infrared. Everything still looked quiet. "Bleep?" the droid queried softly as he drifted close to me.
"I'm going to jump down and run into the building beyond this wall," I explained softly. "I want you to stay here and monitor the area. Pan your camera back and forth so that I can detect anything moving."
"Click-warble-bleep-zwip," he argued.
"No," I hissed, "I'll be fine. I need you to stay here and keep an eye out." I could see his beady little eye focused on me intently and got a bad feeling. "Pez, do exactly what I'm asking, for once."
"Zwip-click-beep-duooh," he replied with a slow shake of his head.
"I know what I'm doing, and I'll be safe." I pointed my finger at him. "Stay," I hissed.
"Click-click-zwip-zwip-bleep," Pez continued to argue.
"I don't know what's waiting for me, but I have to go in there to save the apprentices."
"Bleep-click-bleep-beep-duooh."
"What do you mean they know we are here?" Pez turned his eye toward a section of the compound, and in my glasses I looked but did not see anything. "I don't see anything." A little marker came up on the HUD in the night sky on the far end of the compound, but I still did not see anything. I shook my head, and Pez magnified the image ten, and then one hundred times. Above the opposite wall hovered a recon droid. The image was fuzzy and dark, but it seemed like the droid was focused on our position. I shrunk down below the parapet and motioned for Pez to get down too.
"How long have you been aware of this?"
"Bleep-click-bleep."
Pez had just noticed the recon droid moments ago. There was a possibility that the enemy droid had not discovered us, but it was just as likely that it had. It seemed strange that the assassins had made no move to attack us if they knew we were here. I closed my eyes and reached out in the Force for a moment. Nothing in the compound seemed to have changed. I took some deep breaths and thought about what to do. There were only two choices, abandon the apprentices or proceed with the rescue. My mind flashed back to the moment I woke up in the Fury's med bay after being killed by Darth Thanaton. Corrin's face was staring down at me intently, fear and worry in her eyes. Kaal and Corrin had helped revive me after the fight, and according to Andronikos, they worked pretty hard to bring me back. I owed them my life. Our time together had been short and hectic, but there was no doubt that the apprentices needed and respected me. I was everything to them after Zash's death.
The apprentices and the Intrepid were all I had left. My only mark as a Sith Lord. If I ran away and left them . . . "I'm going in," I whispered to Pez as I opened my eyes and looked at the hovering droid. "Stay here and keep an eye out."
Before either of us got any impulse to change plans, I wrapped my shrouding cloak around myself again and bounced up over the wall. I strengthened my leg muscles with the Force in order to absorb the landing and came down in a crouch at the base of the wall. I was in shadow and did not sense any threat in the Force. So far, so good. The space between me and the building was open and lit by numerous security lights. Even in a Force run, I would be visible to anyone watching the area. I would likely have to dodge at least two sniper shots before getting into the cover of the building. Glancing up the wall to where Pez was hiding, I reached into my cloak and drew my lightsaber but kept it unlit.
I was bracing to make my run when suddenly a loud squeal came from over my head and I looked up to see Pez shooting out from the wall with his little blue afterburners blazing. Why I thought this moment would be different and the droid would behave, I had no idea. Cursing myself, I broke into a Force run and headed toward the building. Pez trumpeted ridiculous noises and twirled around erratically in the air above the compound, doing his best to create the weirdest and most laughable distraction I had ever seen. Strangely, not a shot was fired. The compound stayed completely quiet. I made it to the entrance and slipped into the cover of the building. In the shadow of a wall, I looked back and noticed several armed figures shifting positions around the perimeter. They had let me enter the building without a fight.
"Pez, damn you, get in here!" I said into the com as I stepped through the open doorway into an alcove. They knew I was coming and allowed me to pass. It was definitely a trap, and they were using the apprentices to lure me in. The droid zipped through the open door just over my head and stopped his crazy noises. "What the hell is wrong with you? Can't you listen to one simple instruction?"
"Bleep," he pipped, seemingly pleased with himself.
"They let us in," I popped his bubble, "and you should be thankful, otherwise you would have gotten another blaster bolt in the head!" I looked around the entryway and noticed a set of stairs to the right.
"Click-blip-zwip-twibble-beep-duooh," the droid replied.
"Of course it's a trap and we're in danger," I said as I waved an angry hand at him. "Just stay behind me and out of the way." I moved to the stairwell, knowing that the Force echo was below me.
We descended several flights of stairs into a dimmer lower level hallway with industrial piping and electronics raceways along the ceiling. I noticed several mercenary soldiers eye me from adjoining hallways before ducking out of sight. At least a dozen enemies were corralling me, and they were going to leave me alone as long as I moved in the direction they wanted. Pez made soft warning sounds to let me know he was not happy with my plan as we proceeded, but I did not see any other choice if I wanted to help the apprentices. It was a setup, and I was now in their trap. The way to keep Kaal and Corrin safe was to perform as expected, so that is what I did. The mercenaries had to be trained to fight Force users, but I sensed little fear. They were overconfident, and that made me worry.
Then I felt a surge in the Force, followed by a saddening pulse that made me shudder. A Force user had just died; one of the apprentices. I hurried my pace down the hall when a second, more traumatic pulse surged through me. I broke into a run towards the sense of sadness, beginning to realize that I was too late. The hallway ended with a turn and then large double doors. I activated the doors, and when they swung inward a large mechanical room came into view beyond. Lying on the floor to one side were the two apprentices. Their murderer standing over them with his red lightsaber still lit.
"Beep-Duooh," Pez mourned in the air behind me.
Rage filled me when I gazed on the severed forms of Kaal and Corrin. I then looked at the man standing over them. He was clearly a Sith Lord, though I did not recognize him. A quick glance backward revealed that the mercenaries had closed in to block my exit.
He stepped away from his victims and eyed me coldly. "Darth Thanaton wasn't sure about the rumors, Lord Kallig. It appears that they were true." He followed my eyes to the fallen apprentices. "A waste, I suppose, but a direct command from Darth Thanaton."
When he looked back at me I could sense my fate was to be the same. All my efforts to hurry to their aid had instead brought me into an efficiently laid trap. I only had myself to blame. Ever since being selected by Darth Zash, it seemed as though I had lost the ability to evaluate situations effectively. Somehow I had gotten into the terrible habit of over-estimating my plans and capabilities. Now I would have to face a Sith hand-selected by Thanaton to kill me.
"Lord Cineratus," he continued to speak with a slight nod. "We have not met before. I'm sorry that it has to be under these circumstances."
No, you're not, I thought to myself as I studied his confident face. He had shown no compassion for Kaal and Corrin, whom he murdered moments ago. It was a task he had to complete, just as my demise would be. There was no time for me to feel remorse or regret for the apprentices because I had a duel to fight in moments and needed to focus in the Force for preparation. My body and mind were slightly better than they were when I woke up less than a day ago, but I was nowhere near full strength. The effects of the drugs in my system made me sluggish as I began to collect the Force around me. This would not be an easy fight, and a foreboding began to settle over my mind. The ghosts were deeper in my soul and strangely aloof, as they had been like that since I had spared the Jedi Master at the enclave. That was bad because I knew I was going to need them.
Lord Cineratus was measuring me up as well. "You aren't going to say anything?" he added curiously.
"What?" I replied bitterly, "thank you for killing my apprentices."
"It was nothing personal, you should understand that. I mean you dispatched Darth Skotia much the same way, didn't you?"
"That was Darth Zash's idea, and he threatened me personally. Kaal and Corrin were no threat to you."
"Regardless," he shrugged, "we are Sith and have a duty to uphold."
"Duty, really?"
"Please," he scoffed, "Darth Skotia and Zash? Attempting to kill Darth Thanaton. I'll not take moral judgment from someone who has left death and destruction in their wake."
"All three of them tried to kill me!" We glared at each other for a moment. "If you don't threaten me, I will not raise a weapon against you. You are free to leave."
"It doesn't work that way," he sneered.
"So you're Thanaton's puppet."
"I follow orders, something you wouldn't understand."
"Right, some sort of corruption that infected me from Zash, or an abstract Sith tradition about destroying an opponent's power base. You do realize that those excuses are convenient to Thanaton, right?"
"I'm not here to negotiate with you."
"Of course not. You wouldn't want to have to think for yourself. You don't care about the reason for killing fellow Sith? An order from on high is good enough for you?" He simply continued to sneer at me. "You are the reason that the Sith always fail. You, and Thanaton, and people like you who kill anyone in your way without purpose."
"Are you going to whine and complain as you die, or will you strike your saber and fight me like a true Sith." Lord Cineratus' Force aura surged outward as he stepped forward, much larger and intense than mine.
Pez let out a warble and whizzed over our heads with his mini blaster out. He spun back and started shooting little red bolts at the Sith attacking me. Unfortunately, Lord Cineratus simply blocked several bolts, and then Force pushed the droid away until he bounced hard against one of the pipes running along the ceiling and ricocheted against several more before falling to the ground.
Pez had given me a moment, and I sought to unleash the swirling anger at my core, but it felt contained and somehow muted. Igniting my lightsaber, I called inwardly to the ghosts that had helped me before, but they were silent. My opponent swept his saber casually across the space between us, giving me an easy couple of parries. I tried once more to gather myself, realizing that I could not fight him in my current state.
"What's the matter?" he questioned, recognizing my difficulty. He attacked with a few more lazy slashes. "I think Darth Thanaton has overestimated you."
I attacked him then, hoping that getting into combat would ignite my Force reserves. There was a quick conversation of blades. We both stood our ground and held our own. In the Force, his aura was swamping mine, making it difficult to sense his moves and prepare counters.
My weakness made him grin. "All too easy," he announced as he raised his saber.
We entered a fencing frenzy, our blades whipping in flashes of light around our bodies. I was moving too slowly, his Force will was overwhelming me and I would lose if I did not come up with a counter soon. Lord Cineratus was an excellent sword fighter, and I would have complimented him if he wasn't trying to kill me. Where are you! I screamed inwardly at the ghosts, if he kills me you will be stuck on this horrible planet. I was not sure of that, but I knew I needed their help. I attempted to call up Force lightning, not feeling any sense of the ghosts, but before I could Lord Cineratus attacked with an elegant block and counter which cut off my saber arm just below the elbow. I spun away, stunned and in agonizing pain, looking at my opponent in shock as he came toward me for the killing blow.
In that sort of disembodied moment, I realized that it would be over soon and that I might for the first time in my life have peace. Would it happen like that? So quickly after all the fighting and struggles I had come through. Then, finally, with my arm laying on the ground some distance away and death approaching me, the anger welled up in my chest, propelled by the searing pain from the stump of an arm. It escaped my chest with a scream, not the pitiful squeal of a dying animal, but the primeval throat tearing roar of a beast without hope. The hate and bitterness of everything I had endured in my pathetic life surged out of me in that wail. I would not go quietly from the horrible life I was given; I would not surrender!
Suddenly the Force lightning that I had sought moments before was at the fingertips of my remaining hand. It sprung forward almost before I willed it to, bringing my opponent to a stop as he used his saber to absorb the Force energy. He smiled at me, knowing that in moments my lightning would dissipate and he could finish me. I screamed again at his smugness, raged at the stupidity of Darth Zash for putting me in this position, and roared at the spiteful fates that had pushed me down such a cursed path. Powered by the rage the lightning surged outward, becoming a storm around me. Scintillating pain seared through me and I could smell the scent of burning flesh, but the torrent arched around Lord Cineratus' defenses and made him back away. His grin was gone.
Then, the ghost of Lord Zavros was with me, drawn by my unbridled rage. I could feel his sickening fury blend with mine as he helped me control the Force lightning, pushing the storm beyond my frail body so that it would not consume me. When it was stable, a spinning turbulence of purple ball lightning hovering around me, I used Force pull to draw the saber out of my dismembered hand and ignited it anew. I couldn't stop howling, the fury inside of me was loosed and would not be tamed. That black hole in my soul radiated hate like the x-ray jets of a quasar and propelled me forward. Wiping that overconfident smile off his face was not enough. I wanted my arm back. I wanted revenge for my lost apprentices.
Lord Cineratus grew concerned. The raw Force power I was wielding should have burned me up, and he struggled to understand why I was suddenly more formidable. He tried to circle me for an opening, his crimson saber twirling. I lunged at him, my blade jabbing toward him. He parried easily and moved to slice me in two, but Lord Zavros had warned me about the move. Out of the stump that was my arm I saw a ghostly hand emerge, Lord Zavros' hand. Lightning burst forth into Lord Cineratus' exposed chest and face, and he stumbled back in shock, his saber missing me wildly. I sensed the Sith spirit inside me cackle as he continued to pour lightning into my opponent. He recovered with his saber to absorb the lightning, but I anticipated that too and lunged forward with the point of my saber boring into his shoulder.
He spun away from me then, just as I did him moments before. The reversal was poignant, and I was going to make sure it was permanent. I surged forward into a quick block and parry sequence before blasting him with lightning again. This time he responded with lightning of his own, creating an arcing confluence between us. Lord Zavros canceled our lightning, letting Lord Cineratus' energy get absorbed by the storm swirling around me. He tried to duel me again, hoping to overpower my left hand, but the lightning swirling around me made it difficult for him.
"How have you done this?" he groaned as he backed away holding his shoulder. Fear was creeping into his eyes. "The Force, it is like an open wound inside you."
I was beyond talking and moved toward him with lightning coming from the ghost hand aimed at his head. Lord Cineratus blocked the energy easily and backed away again. I was no good at fighting with my left hand and needed to end the fight quickly. Lord Zavros understood that, helping me fight with my left hand as I closed the distance on my enemy. We traded several cuts and slashes, one that I almost missed a block on. The ghost wanted me to engage my Sith opponent and get him focused on my lightsaber. As we battled, the ghost helped me draw forth a massive Force blast that struck Lord Cineratus before he could counter, throwing him hard into the wall across the room.
I Force leapt across the distance onto my opponent before he could get up, my blade crashing down on his just above his face. Lord Zavros blasted him with lightning from the ghost hand, and while he was stunned I flicked my wrist to slide my blade quickly down his until it contacted the hilt and cut through. Lord Cineratus screamed in pain as he lost fingers and tried to roll away but with a howl of rage I directed the lightning storm swirling around me into him, the purple energy coursing over and through my fallen opponent. He was left twitching and thrashing on the floor. I tried to calm the battle fever, but the darkness inside was out of control. Impulsively, I slashed out with my saber and cut off his arm where he dismembered me, but that was not enough to sate the rage. Fear crept in as I sensed my lack of control, feeling like the black hole inside me would consume everything. Strangely, I even felt a moment of reservation from the Sith spirit that had just aided and abetted me.
I screamed again over my fallen opponent, my body shaking and my voice hoarse. "You sick fucking monster!" I raged. "You kept them alive long enough to draw me here!" I pointed at the dead bodies of my apprentices.
"Call me a monster?" he spat up at me, still writhing in pain.
I slashed at him, cutting deep into his thigh. "Bastard! You cut off my arm!"
"Thanaton was right, you are an abomination!" he raged back at me.
I stabbed him again. "Thanaton doesn't know me, and neither do you!" I screamed. Someday, you will fear me! echoed through my mind. "You are a murdering, soulless fool! Death is too peaceful for you."
Lord Cineratus attacked desperately then, lashing out at me with Force lightning and catching me in the face before I could block it with my saber. The pain made me go mad, and I hacked him into pieces. The room began spinning and my heart felt like it was beating out of my chest when I backed away from my defeated opponent . The realization of what I had just done overwhelmed me; I had become the monster that I feared. The rage was not done, though, there was too much inside me.
As I worked to tell my fingers to shut off my saber a shudder quaked through my body. I screamed again, but this time in anguish. The Force surged out of me uncontrolled, and the floor and walls shuddered with me. Suddenly, I was terrified of myself as another surge in the Force burst through me, a blast that bent the walls and ceiling out and cracked the floor under me. The power of the Force was overwhelming, radiating through me and out of me in uncontrolled surges. It was tearing me apart; I could feel my body being consumed by it. Chunks of concrete and piping fell around me from above, but the surges in the Force kept anything from hitting me. The debris hovered and slid away like I exerted some form of anti-gravity.
Thankfully, mercifully, my physical form could not take anymore and I blacked out. How long I lay on the floor of that destroyed room, I do not know. My hearing returned first, and I heard voices. I began to panic, thinking that the assassins were coming to finish me off. Weakly, I shifted my arm, realized that I still held my saber, and ignited it. Shaking, and blinking unfocused eyes, I turned my head toward the entrance, seeing several blurry figures hovering at the doorway.
"Easy now," I heard a voice, "we're here to help."
I slashed my saber toward the voice, still panicked and disoriented. "Leave me alone," a strange, hoarse voice rumbled out of my chest. Like a wounded animal I tried crawling away from the noises, puffing myself up and waving my saber to scare them away.
"What the hell!" another voice exclaimed. "What happened here?"
"Back off Yoms, the Sith is out of it. I don't think she knows we're friendly."
"Beep-duooh," I heard Pez tone softly from somewhere outside of my vision.
I couldn't crawl any further, the pain was too intense and I lost control of my body. After a moment figures appeared over me, looking down. I raised my hand to strike them with my lightsaber, but the weapon was gone.
"Click-zweep-Bleep," Pez toned again mutely and I heard a scraping and clanking sound coming toward me. The men looked at the floor behind me.
"What's that?" one of them said.
"It's her droid, looks like it took a beating."
"Not as bad as her. God damn, she's a mess," the second one whispered.
"But alive," the first voice responded. "Better go get Bevry with the medkit, make it quick." One figure left and I tried to scream at the remaining one but all that came out was a moan. "We're going to get you help." The man soothed. "Lie still, it's going to be all right."
"Assassins," I mumbled, "Tseebi . . ." The rest of my words were incoherent.
"Tseebi's safe and the assassins are dead. We were sent to clear the area." The man leaned over me, his image still unfocused. "You need to save your energy and be quiet now, all right? You're going into shock, and I don't want to lose you."
My hearing was failing, it almost sounded like he cared about me. "Why," I mumbled.
"Shh," he hushed. "Dammit, Yoms, what's taking so long?" he hissed.
I lost consciousness after that.