Kuallue finds himself in a dark, cave-like structure, with a mix of rocks and twisted durasteel. In front of him is a vast labyrinth of twists and turns, like warped hallways, where he cannot see an end. Faint, distant light shines into the cavern from behind him, but shadows cover every crevice.
Slowly he finds himself advancing deeper, searching, for there is an allure of something in the depths. He presses onward without conscious thought, and he carefully rounds a corner. Then he sees it.
Almost the entire cave is dark at this point, yet there is an object floating in the distance, visible as if by some unknown light source, or perhaps merely revealed to him via the Force. At the end of the cave is a wounded or dead body, dozens of blaster bolts cracking through the armor over it. It is scorched and battered, but he recognizes it instantly: General Grievous.
"Finish him," whispers a voice from the shadows, soft and alluring.
He cannot help but comply, and his chamber advances toward Grievous regardless of his own will. As he goes towards where the voice came from, he senses it, and he realizes that it belongs to none other than Sadiya Keldon.
Her thoughts, her nature, reveal themselves in the Force, and he can sense darkness. There is only selfishness and wrath, and prying into her mind is like peeling a good-looking fruit to reveal a gross, rotten core, full of maggots. He finds himself suddenly recoiling, and he tries to pull himself away from the disgusting vision.
Suddenly, he is back in the hotel, an expectant Keldon staring at him. Reality floods back to him, as he remembers the conversation of the past few minutes: She had confronted him for coming to Bandomeer and trying to take down Grievous alone, and she offered him the opportunity to work together in their shared quest to destroy the Separatist holdout in Selbar.
"You've seen something," she states, though the tone of her voice makes it clear that she is curious about what exactly he saw.
He cannot unsee his vision of her; as he looks at the general, his mind overlays the image of a corrupt Dark-sider. He tries to sense into her mind in order to affirm the vision's veracity, but her barriers are strong, and he cannot sense anything without a more direct, intrusive mental attack.
He has no desire to do that, so for now he has no choice but to trust the warning given to him in the vision. He conveys to her his apologies, and in the most polite way possible, he suggests that it may be prudent for them to work separately. Sadiya furrows her brow and turns away from, pacing back and forth in consideration. In response, he again reminds her that he has no problem with the clones and her doing her plan, it's only that he wants to do his own attack in addition to it.
"Your mysterious ways," she begins, "are concerning to me. Rogue allies are not the kind of people we want here in the military. If you will not collaborate, it is best you leave Bandomeer." The clones advance a step closer, and her hand drops down to her lightsaber.
He again promises not to interfere in her operations and even offers to give her updates as he makes his plans, but it seems to have no effect on the skeptical General, who only shakes her head. She then sighs, and threatens, "You don't want me to do this the hard way."
He considers lying to get her off his back, but he knows she would see past his deceptions or keep such close tabs on him that he couldn't accomplish anything. Plus, Uyuo never would've approved; she was always so unfailingly committed to honesty. Failing to fulfill the promises he made to his dying family is out of the question, and he would rather die than live with the knowledge that he failed to stop Grievous. Collaborating is almost the only option, yet he cannot forget what the Force showed him just a few minutes ago.
He contemplates more, and the silence drags on. He can see General Keldon getting restless, for she wants an answer from him, and she wants it now. But Kuallue can't give it to her. Perhaps the best outcome would be to escape this situation entirely, getting away from the Republic forces and fleeing, but given Keldon's powers and her clone reinforcements, that seems like a long shot. He must talk his way out of this one, but he has no answers. Keldon's restlessness is increasing, and it is palpable in the Force. She begins to fidget, then pace back and forth.
Suddenly, he realizes that it isn't about waiting for his answer, that something else is taking up her attention. He stretches out his senses, and the first thing that he notices is a clone trooper, receiving some kind of information, probably from his HUD, and he is clearly very engrossed in it.
Suddenly, the clone's emotions shift from being intrigued to being panicked. He shouts, "General, a message from HQ!"
Keldon's eyes widen with realization, and at almost the same time, she and the clone trooper shout, "They're attacking!"
As Grievous flies his speeder through the forest, it seems that the Republic forces as well as Kuallue have left their speeder, for both are unoccupied in a parking lot outside a hotel. Unfortunately, the hotel seems to be a sturdy brick building, so simply destroying the whole thing with the meager lasers on their speeders isn't exactly feasible.
Going inside is less than ideal, as it would cost them their aerial advantage and give their quarries time to react. He considers various possibilities quickly, before ultimately the problem solves itself: A Celegian is clearly visible through a window on the first floor. I have you now.
"In the window," he hurriedly shouts over comlink as he flies towards it. He launches a concussion missile, but the time it takes to launch is longer than he had expected. In the second of delay, he adjusts the course of the speeder, which sends the missile slightly off course.
It hits just above the window, shattering it and knocking down part of the ceiling, but the room's occupants are all clearly unharmed. At the last second, Grievous yanks the speeder to the right, avoiding a collision with the building, and his gunner spins around the turret to open fire. The STAPs, trailing him, also hurl laser bolts through the open window, but he cannot see the results as he zooms away from the building. After a few seconds, he spins around to make another pass at attacking, now slowing down the speeder.
His turret spews laser blasts accurately through the broken window, but he can tell that Sadiya and the clones seem to have left the room. Only Kuallue is left, who looks to be pinned as he takes some small degree of cover behind a bookshelf. Grievous readies another concussion missile, this time more familiar with the style of launcher.
The angle it launches at, the time it takes, the velocity, he remembers it all from last time, and he is prepared to get it right this time as he narrows his focus on the Jedi. The missile has a decent size blast radius, so it doesn't have to be perfect, just get through the window.
Just as Grievous gets ready to pull the trigger, the Arrow-21 is suddenly rocked by collision and hurled sideways. Grievous doesn't even notice where the missile went as he tries to control the speeder's sudden roll. He hears a loud smash as it flips upside down and the turret scrapes across the ground. Next, it lands nose-first, which hurls Grievous through the transparisteel viewport at the front, and he rolls across the ground before coming to a halt.
After a second to come to, he finds himself operational with only dents in his armor, although the speeder is flipped, probably totaled, and the Meerians inside are likely dead as well. In any case, none will be of immediate help. Curiously, he notices a demolished STAP behind him, right where the collision occurred. Those stupid droid pilots! I had a shot, and that droid not only ruined it, but destroyed the whole speeder as well!
He reaches for his lightsabers and begins to approach the room on foot, also using his cybernetic implants to order the droids over comm, "Destroy General Keldon's speeder before she can get back in!"
I just have to hope that they can handle that to prevent escape, then I can go in and take them out personally. Grievous is no slouch of a pilot, but it is far from his forte, and he would much rather fight his enemies face-to-face.
Back on Kalee, this is how we fought. It is so much more personal than being inside a vehicle, for he can feel the frigid Bandomeer air, smell the smoke from the demolished speeders, and advance by his own power, running toward the building.
Suddenly, an unmanned STAP flies overhead, toward the window. For a moment, he is confused, then it hits him: Kuallue is using the Force to throw the STAPs! He crashed it into me! It's a clever little trick, probably necessary when you can't wield a lightsaber. Perhaps this Celegian has found ways to make up for his physical shortcomings with other strengths. Which makes it even more important to take him out now.
With several speeders destroyed and many on the other end of the building trying to prevent Keldon's escape, Kuallue is no longer under fire and free to move from his hiding. He steps toward the unoccupied STAP, which now hovers right in front of the window.
Grievous sprints towards his target, but Kuallue manages to move surprisingly quickly as well. The tank containing the Celegian has no arms with which to grasp a speeder's controls, only four short legs at the bottom, but the Jedi manages to rotate himself sideways and grasp the speeder with these feet. To Grievous's surprise, the speeder then starts to move.
It is slow carrying such a heavy load, but Grievous is again just a hair too late. He swings once, only for the STAP to pull Kuallue just out of reach. It begins to ascend, and Grievous follows. He leaps up, swings, misses, and digs his claws into the face of the building.
Once more, he leaps, but it is futile, and Kuallue is a dozen meters above him. He lands on the ground hard and considers his options. Kuallue is escaping, and Sadiya is probably escaping as well, but in a different direction. An impressive escape by the Jedi, clever indeed.
"Report on the pursuit of Keldon," he orders, considering which quarry is more likely to be caught.
"There was a pilot waiting in the speeder," reports the droid. "It took off before it could be reached, and its shields now present difficulties."
"And Keldon?" he asks. If she's on the speeder, we have little chance of catching her. If not, it's a maybe.
"Unseen," reports another droid. She can play hide and seek for long enough to stall until reinforcements arrive. We don't have the firepower to bombard or to stop her speeder. We've failed. But Kuallue is still a viable quarry.
At last, he orders, "Bring me a STAP and keep me updated on the pursuit of General Keldon."
As he mounts the speeder, he orders again, "Two STAPs shall follow me, the rest can destroy Keldon." Pursuing Kuallue is probably the safer option, as the Republic reinforcements will almost certainly converge on Keldon. However, he probably doesn't need too much help anyway.
A lone Jedi will not present problems to me. No tactical dejarik games this time, just him. Just a good old-fashioned speeder chase. He can see Kuallue in the distance, and he bears his lasers down on the Jedi, who avoids them by swooping down into the forest.
Grievous and his wingmen are gaining ground, but Kuallue, like so many Force-sensitives seem to be, is a savvy pilot, and his weaving through the trees makes it hard to get a clear shot. He doesn't even have arms or tentacles anywhere near the controls, but he must be able to move them via the Force.
Grievous's concentration is interrupted by the comlink, where a droid reports that, "General Keldon has boarded her speeder and is returning towards the city. Republic reinforcements are incoming."
The failure is frustrating, but there's nothing he can do about it now. "Disperse," he orders after a moment's pause. "Flee and attempt to return to Selbar."
They're going to tell me about how foolish this was when I get back. But as long as we can take care of Kuallue, it will be worthwhile.
However, that may be easier said than done, as Kuallue reaches a clearing and slows down. It's a strange move, as he has less need for agility in a spot with no trees, but Grievous soon realizes why.
He and the droids are still in the forest, and Kuallue, who now requires little concentration to fly, can use the Force.
Something like a mighty wind pushes all three of them to the right, and one of his wingmen immediately crashes. Grievous attempts to steer left to counteract this, but the power of the Force is too strong, and he is on a collision course before he slows down and veers right.
Now he's off course, and Kuallue takes advantage of the confusion to swing around and zoom past Grievous, back into the forest. The droid atop the third STAP is thrown off, meaning it is now just a one on one.
Grievous digs his toe-claws into the speeder, wanting to avoid suffering the same fate, and he takes off in pursuit. This Kuallue is a wily one. When, not if, I catch him, it will be a delicious victory indeed.
He futilely opens fire a few times, but he's too far behind at this point. Another issue he has to consider is that the Republic is probably currently tracking him, so flying high above the trees, clearly visible, is less than ideal. If Kuallue does it, I will too. But I need to shoot him down quickly and be done with it before I dip back down into hiding.
He pursues Kuallue north, away from Selbar, and he knows that at some point soon they'll run into the edge of the plateau. There are many strip mines to the north of Selbar that would offer little cover, so Kuallue would probably want to avoid this. He prepares himself for the possibility that his quarry may be turning around soon, which would give him a clear line of fire to almost certainly end the chase.
However, Kuallue suddenly drops down off the cliff, as if not expecting the drop in terrain, or as if he has a plan to handle his adversary as they descend. Grievous follows a bit slower than he was before, hopefully ready for anything. What he was not expecting to see was an unusually large bovine creature climbing the steep incline, right in his path. He tries to pull up, but he can't help but have the tail of his speeder knock into the creature's back.
It's probably worse for the animal, but the collision isn't good for a STAP either. That Kuallue no doubt used the Force to lure it right here in this one spot that I couldn't see!
The bottom part of the speeder has many of the essential parts, particularly the stabilizer, and Grievous finds his vehicle now flailing wildly. Kuallue is sailing away with no cover, so Grievous would be lined up for a clear shot, if only he could maneuver.
He squeezes the trigger in vain, doing everything he can to line up his cannons. With such an erratic vehicle, it would be an impossible shot for any normal human, but Grievous is far more than that. Kuallue is again turning around, zooming back toward the edge of the cliff, and once he reaches that safety of the trees, Grievous's damaged speeder will have little chance of keeping up. Grievous misses to Kuallue's right.
He fires again, this time missing in front, all while yanking on the controls of the speeder, desperately trying to take back control. Kuallue is almost there when Grievous fires his third shot, and by some miracle, the cyborg General connects.
Now, both speeders are damaged, so they have a much fairer fight ahead. Grievous has regained control of the vehicle for the most part, although it still tends to swerve uncontrollably if he jerks the steering too hard. Once he goes back upwards, he can tell that Kuallue is much slower, flying on just one engine. Now more optimistic about his odds, he tries to open fire, but his own path is still too inconsistent to have a quality shot, and the unstable steering is making it hard enough just to stay alive. Kuallue is close, but Grievous just can't finish him off, and he has to slow down to avoid colliding with one of the larger conifers, thus creating more distance between the two of them.
As he re-accelerates and heads back around the tree, Kuallue has seemingly vanished. He can hide but he can't run. The only way for him to actually win would be to outflank-
Grievous spins and suddenly notices the faint whir of a STAP passing by him to his right, trying to get behind him. Too late, he tries to spin his own vehicle around, but Kuallue is already firing. Thankfully, two of the shots miss, and none hit his STAP, but one hits Grievous in the shoulder and the other in his midsection. His armor seems to absorb both, which lets him keep going for now.
Grievous pulls up, ascending above Kuallue's line of fire and backflipping the STAP before coming back down right on top of the Jedi. Kuallue turns his own STAP, pointing it towards the incoming Grievous, and the two widowers each unleash their laser cannons upon the other. Grievous manages to dodge the first shot, and then the whole conflict comes to a sudden end as he lands a direct hit in the middle of Kuallue's STAP, which is torn apart by a brilliant explosion. Kuallue himself is knocked off the vehicle, launched backwards toward the ground. Victory at last!
However, he again finds himself in telepathic contact with Kuallue, just as he was when they were on Obroa-skai. This time, however, Kuallue seems to almost mirror the general's feeling of triumph, as if to say that somehow what Grievous did was not enough.
For a moment, Grievous is confused. What has he accomplished? He should be easily defeated now. His confusion comes to an end a second later, when he realizes exactly what Kuallue was so proud of.