Chapter 13: Paladina
"Mother Goddess, who gave faith and form to our people, hear my prayer. Helio and Ocenana, Great Lovers, grant me your courage and passion. Geosi and Aerion, honored siblings, grant me your logic and wisdom. Sun, Stone, Wave and Wind, watch over me, and see me to the eternal sea…"
Avaryss smiled.
She stood in the shadows of the old warehouse. She kept her presence small in the Force, and did her best to remain silent.
Not that her prey would have heard her over the din outside.
She listened to the prayers of her enemy, wondering if she understood that she would not leave this place alive?
Avaryss glanced at the window, she could see the flashing lights of the security speeders, hear Glasc's voice on the loudspeaker.
She almost shook her head.
Did the general actually believe the girl was going to surrender? If so, he didn't understand the Force…
…he didn't understand these Paladina. Though, she couldn't blame him too much.
She knew too little about them as well, but that was why she was here.
She took two more careful steps, she moved like a Tukata on the hunt, her every movement that of a skilled and seasoned predator.
She was most pleased.
She feared that she would never get back into fighting shape. It had taken her time to get her form and figure back after giving birth to Andur. She had doubled her training regimen in the last two years, worked herself to the point of exhaustion, not only to lose the last of the baby weight, but also get herself back in fighting shape, training two hours a day, five days a week with her saber.
Now, she thought, I get to see just how good I am, and how good the enemy is.
She shivered with excitement.
She had killed Force sensitives before. Jedi Padawans, knights, and masters, Sith hopefuls, acolytes and masters, but…this hunt was something new, something…unknown.
Her hand tightened on the hilt of her lightsaber.
She…had never fought a Paladina, left that pleasure to her underlings, and they had done well, but today…today…
She licked her lips in anticipation.
Today… she would bloody her own hands.
Today, she would slay a Paladina.
IOI
She had been on her way back to the palace from Sanctuary Base when the alert had come through. It had come through the security channels but had been forwarded to the Sith commanders on the ground in the capital city.
The troopers had identified a Paladina during when if their security sweeps. The Bann Jedi had slain three of the security men, but not before being marked by a probe droid. The probe had stayed out of range of the Jedi's weapon, but continued to track it from a safe distance.
The Paladina had fled into the ware house district near the city docks, fled, but gotten trapped when two Sith army groups, and five Bann security teams descended on the distract from all sides.
Avaryss had diverted her course from the palace, and arrived to find General Glasc, Lord Dustyn, and Xen ready to send in the troops and slay the lone Force wielder.
Avaryss had been pleased.
It was nice to see that her men were taking her orders seriously. She had told Lord Lyrhan that she wanted the Paladina exterminated, and he was taking steps towards fulfilling that order.
Of course, as she touched down, she got another idea, one that was infinitely more useful than simply sitting back and waiting for her soldiers to return the body to the palace.
"Secure the area," She ordered, "No one in, no one out."
She smiled hungrily then.
"I'm going in. I will deal with this Paladina scum, myself."
Her announcement had shocked her loyal servants. They had all protested, tried to convince her not to go.
"You are the crown, master," Xen reminded her, "You should not put yourself at such risk."
"The executioner is right, my lord," Glasc agreed, "Let us handle this problem."
"You can't do this, Prime Minister," Lyrhan insisted, "You can't…"
She silenced the three with a cold and withering stare. Her eyes falling on Lyrhan the hardest.
I can't, she thought.
No one tells me what I can or cannot do! I rule here, and I do what I like, when I like.
Yet, she didn't say that, she chose to be more…diplomatic.
She turned to her fellow Sith first.
"I'm not the crown," she said, " I WEAR the crown, and sometimes it is necessary to remind my people why I do. "
She looked at the warehouse, she could feel the Force within, the Paladina gathering its strength for the coming assault, likely hoping for it. A squad of troopers caused a lot of noise, and chaos.
Maybe the Jedi thought to use that chaos, to disappear among the smoke and flames.
The dark lord would not give it that chance.
As for Lord Dustyn, she had still not forgotten how he tried to drug her the other night. He needed to see this as well.
The Sith were superior to the Bann.
He needed to realize that.
"I will do this," she said to him, " I MUST do this, and besides, I have not been hunting in a very long time. I fear that I'm getting out of practice."
She turned to the entourage that had accompanied her from Sanctuary Base. Six royal guards and Blyss, who was now acting as her serving girl.
"Understand this, young Blyss," she said, " A lord must never be afraid to get her hands dirty. All must understand that we are perfectly capable of dealing with our enemies' face to face. If one is to rule, then one must not shirk one's duty."
"Yes, mother," the girl said dutifully.
She turned then to her red guards.
"Four of you will remain out here, if anyone seeks to countermand my orders before I return, slay them."
She then motioned for the remaining two to follow. They would not interfere in her fight with the Paladina, but they would cover her if those outside attempted any treachery.
It was a risk she was taking, she knew that, but it was a calculated one.
The Paladina had been on the rise lately. The attack on the grand temple, their slicing into broadcasts, informing the people not to lose hope.
She would have the truth of what was truly going on before killing this Bann Jedi. She might even learn the location of Princess Bayla Istillo's secret base.
Such knowledge would be extremely useful right now.
Too many questions had filled her mind these last few weeks…
…it was time to seek her answers.
IOI
She came upon the Paladina in the back of the old warehouse, her back to the Sith, her hands raised in prayer.
A young woman, as the reports had said, dark skinned with braided shoulder length black hair, streaked with blue and green. If Avaryss had to guess, the Jedi was about ten years her junior.
Rain's age, she thought, a padawan then?
If so, she was already doomed.
Avaryss gaze wandered over the small area, the Bann had carved out a little nest for herself among the huge packing crates, a sleeping mat, a small battery powered stove for cooking, and a small metal shrine honoring the elements and the deities of this world, so that the Bann gods could hear her prayers.
Avaryss almost laughed.
She guessed the gods weren't listening, not if the Sith had finally run this little one to ground.
She felt the desire to simply draw her blade and attack, but held that desire in check.
She saw no reason to release the beast, not yet.
Not when there was still information to be gained.
The girl repeated the prayer like a mantra, Avaryss listened with a sneer.
She found the Banns' faith amusing.
She knew a bit about their religion, and where these people had come from…
They liked to think they sprang from a mother goddess who sacrificed herself to bring them and their gods to safety on this world, the truth was far more complicated, and when she learned it, she understood why both Darth Hecaetus and Darth Revan had sought out this world.
The Bann had not sprung from some core sleeper ship like most of the human worlds that dotted the core and the mid-rim. No the Bann were descended from Pius Dea Crusaders, butchers that had slaughtered their way across the stars some six thousand years ago.
The Mother Goddess the Bann referred to was the Goddess of the Pius Dea, a cult of xenophobic humans that took over the Republic, and ushered in a millennium of genocidal slaughter of all alien races they encountered.
In that era, the Republic had been far more blood thirsty than the Hutts, the Sith and the Rakata combined!
According to the historical records Avaryss had read, the Pius Dea had been defeated when the Jedi and the Hutts allied together with resistant elements within the Republic Navy. Together the three had ended the threat of the cult by destroying the Pius Dea's cathedral ships, sabotaging their hyperdrives and sending them into unstable hyperspace routes, never to be seen again.
At least, two of those cathedral ships had survived that trap, had somehow found some way to emerge from hyperspace, but in doing so, had crashed on a world surrounded by singularities and other anomalies.
Bantoon.
The Surviving Crusaders had scattered across the islands of this planet, abandoning the wrecks of their fallen ships. Over the millennia, their religion had evolved, they still worshipped their mother goddess, and were distrustful of aliens and outsiders, but the true Pius Dea faith had been lost, evolved into the Bann religion that now existed.
The thought that such butchers would survive, and some even become a sect of Jedi amazed her.
The Bann were ambitious and manipulative, they should have accepted that.
The light had no place here. They should have been HERS! They…
"I know you are there, Reevan," the girl called out to the shadows.
"Do not call me that," the dark lord snapped, "Revan was a traitor to our people, and deserved his traitor's death."
"A Sith calling someone else treacherous," the Paladina answered, "How curious."
She rose with a sigh.
"I felt your presence that moment that you entered this warehouse."
"How perceptive of you," Avaryss said stepping into the light, letting the girl see who it was that had come for her.
Let her see her face of her empress, and be afraid. Realize that death had come for her.
The Bann didn't respond as she hoped.
She smiled.
"I'm surprised you would face me alone," she said, "Don't all you dark side cowards hide behind legions of fools?"
Avaryss frowned.
"You do not know me, girl, do not underestimate the true power of the dark side."
The Bann, again, didn't seem threatened.
"It takes strength to deny the dark side. Only the weak and impatient embrace it."
The dark lord sneered.
Jedi arrogance at its finest.
She would enjoy gutting this one.
The Bann stepped away from her shrine, she whispered another prayer under her breath.
"My death will grant you nothing. We will continue to resist your rule, continue to teach and prepare our young for the day when the shadow falters. The darkness may hold our home, but the night cannot hold off the dawn forever."
Avaryss spat.
"Spare me your dogmatic simpering, girl. Know that you face Darth Avaryss, Dark Lord of the Sith, and Empress of the galaxy."
The Paladina snorted, not impressed by her enemy's titles.
"And you are?"
"I am Paladina," the girl answered, "My name is my own, and I will not give it to you, not offer up my family and those that I love. You are a butcher of innocents, you slay husbands, wives, and children. When I fall, it is only my life that will be taken."
Avaryss laughed.
"We will learn much from your genetic scan, your body will reveal who you were, and doom those that you are trying to protect."
The girl shook her head.
"There will be nothing for you to examine. I've made sure of that."
The Sith Lord paused.
The memory of Jas Dar Bynn disappearing into the Force came back to her.
Could this girl do the same?
Had something that Jas Dar Bynn taught them gave them such an ability?
Were they that strong in the Force?
If so, they all needed to be exterminated!
The Sith would suffer no rival.
She would suffer no rival!
Yet, as she considered this, another thought came to mind, one far more delicious.
Why destroy when you can recruit.
The whip had not worked, perhaps the open hand would be more…agreeable.
Power was to be possessed.
Perhaps the power of the Bann could be hers.
"A Darth is death given form, but why should it be your death?"
She drew her lightsaber, but didn't ignite it.
The Bann's remained on her belt, along with the dueling blaster the Paladina all carried.
"You wish to save those you love? You would like to see them again?"
"Of course," the girl responded.
"I can make that happen," the dark lord promised, "Your ways are not the ways of the Jedi. They look down upon you, as they did upon the Dark Jedi forebears of the Sith."
She smiled seductively.
"You could come with me, learn the truth about what I want on your world. You could save your people, lead them, if you so desired. You could be the one that bridges the gulf between the Sith and the Paladina. You could be a hero to this world!"
The girl chuckled, and shook her head.
"Perhaps I will be remembered as a hero. The hero that destroyed Darth Avaryss, and freed Bantoon."
She smiled.
"How long will your sycophants be able to hold us if you are gone?"
Avaryss sneered, angered that the girl would dismiss her generous offer.
"Is that why your people attacked my grand temple? Were you trying to kill me? Did your Princess Bayla order my death?"
"The dark side has clouded your mind. WE have heard nothing of Princess Bayla in years. As for your foul temple, we did NOT attack it…"
Avaryss listened, both with her ears and the Force.
She realized something in that moment.
The girl was not lying.
The Paladina had not attacked the Grand Temple. The recording, someone had wanted her to think it was them. The Bann Jedi would not have complained if it had been destroyed and her killed, but…
The Paladina picked up on that realization as well.
"The dark side drives you to betray each other, and it always will. That is why you will lose, Your Highness. You have no unity, one cannot rule over so many, not without unity among your followers. You have already lost."
Avaryss snarled.
Paladina scum.
It was not the dark side that doomed the Sith, it was the unguided mistake that was free will and choice.
Death knell, and Hecaetus' keys, would fix that, all would be one, they would be bound to her vision for the next thousand years. Her bloodline would rule over everything, because everything would be a part of them.
Her hand tightened around her saber hilt.
She had made the offer, and been rejected.
There was only one fate for this Paladina scum now.
"If you will not turn," Avaryss declared, "You will be destroyed."
"I have always died in this place; the Force and the Gods knew that."
The girl shook her head.
"I am not afraid."
Avaryss had heard enough.
She struck.
"DIE!"
Force lightning flashed from her fingertips; crackling bolts of blue violet lightning filled the shadows.
Filled the empty shadows.
The Paladina was gone, moving.
Avaryss turned…
…and found herself under attack.
A silver white lightsaber blade hummed to life as the girl drew her pistol.
The dark lord raised her blade to parry the bolts.
The Paladina fired, not at her, but at the wall and the ceiling.
Avaryss laughed, until she heard the ricochet.
The ricochet, and the dark side screaming a warning in her ears.
Suddenly she was surrounded.
Blaster bolts bounced all around her, every one she parried bounced back either from the Jedi's blade or some other reflective surface.
The dark lord gasped in surprise as the Paladina engaged. She attacked not with a Jedi saber form, but something more aggressive.
Avaryss only just avoided her death, only just.
Mandalorian, she realized.
The girl…
…she fought with the techniques of a Mandalorian!
Where had the Paladina learned that?!
The Mandalorians were not without a talent for killing Force wielders that is why the Sith used them so often. They had developed their own blade style to counter the lightsaber disciplines. The only reason why they had not been more successful was that they didn't have the Force to enhance those skills.
The Paladina did not suffer from that weakness.
The dark lord found herself fighting for her life.
Her Soresu held. She wove a wall of red light against her opponent, but could not go on the offensive. When the girl was not swinging her lightsaber, she was firing her blaster, when its power was exhausted, she fell back. The Force pulling a fresh power pack from her utility belt, slapping the pack in as the Sith tried to go on the offensive, holding her off.
Avaryss tried a Makashi swipe, but the girl blocked it with her wrist, she didn't lose her hand though, a metal bracer stopped her…
A beskar steel bracer!
Blaster bolts continued to ricochet around the room, it was as if Avaryss was surrounded by a team of shooters.
She was shocked.
This was a child, a single Paladina!
She could not be this strong. She couldn't!
As if on cue, her red guards emerged from their places, the two she had left to keep an eye out for treachery while she was having her fun.
Fun, she thought, she had nearly died in that first pass.
She had underestimated her opponents.
Why had she not heard of the skills of the Paladina, why had her people not included any of this in their reports.
The guards pushed the girl back, giving her time to recover, she would have been angry, but they had saved her from her own mistake.
She would rebuke them later, when they got back to the palace.
The Paladina was no easy prey, though, she wove her blade, keeping the elite's pikes at bay. When one kicked her blaster from her hand, and the second tried for a killing blow, the Paladina spun around them evading their weapon, and lashing out with her blade.
One of her guards tried a kick to the girl's head, only to lose his leg. She Force pushed him into his fellow guard, and sent both sprawling. She recalled her blaster to her hand as the remaining functional guard staggered to his feet. He fired his own blaster at her, only to have her deflect with her blade even as she fired three shots of her own.
Again, not shooting at the guard himself.
Again, the blasts ricocheted. They caught him in the back, and in the neck right where the weak spots in his armor were.
The guard when down in a tumble of useless armor.
Only then did the Paladina turn her attention back to the Sith.
She was breathing hard, Force exhaustion starting to set in. Yet, her eyes remained cold, and determined.
"Now," the girl asked, "Where were we?"
Avaryss didn't answer, she couldn't…
…she was too full of rage.
Rage against her servants for sending her faulty reports on the Paladina's capabilities. Rage at the loss of her guards, they were not easily replaceable, not yet…
But most of all, rage at herself.
She had come here thinking this was a game, a distraction from her duties as a planetary leader, and she could have died, because of her servant's stupidity.
She didn't like that.
Her eyes narrowed, their yellow color glowed brighter, as the world became tinged with red.
She looked at the Paladina, as her strength continued to build.
She had learned what she came for, and now…
…now was the time to finish this.
The very ground beneath their feet rumbled.
The Paladina reached out with the Force, trying to sense what the dark lord was doing.
She need not have bothered.
She was about to see.
A shipping crate flipped through the air, flying at the girl's head.
She ducked, only to be struck by one of the dead guard's force pikes.
She stumbled as Avaryss continued to watch her.
Paladina trash!
How dare you refuse my offer!
HOW!
DARE!
YOU!
In her mind the dark side whispered.
You were foolish to engage in a comedy of lightsabers with this one. Your powers go beyond mere skill with a blade.
You wield terrible power!
USE IT!
She listened to the dark side's urging.
She reached down deep within her, into the very heart of darkness!
She let it lift her up, turning her fury into a lethal storm.
A storm directed at this young fool before her.
The girl staggered as she was struck again and again, no longer was she fighting crisply, now she was just trying to shield herself from the maelstrom.
Avaryss smiled, a smile of a hungry predator.
"Where were we?" she called out.
"Right here, worm. You are about to die…"
The dark lord cackled.
"Enjoy it!"
Avaryss drew the heat out of the very air using it to fuel her power. Her breath came in white puffs, as more and more debris swirled around her tormented enemy.
Her lips turned blue as she was hit again and again.
When the end came it came suddenly.
Something struck the girl in the ribs, cracking bone. The severed leg of the royal guard hit her in the face causing her to stumble. Her Force shields finally failed.
Avaryss reached out, her hand twisted into a claw.
She lifted the girl up, and began to slam her against the heavy crates again and again.
When the first one shattered, she sent the girl flying through where it was, to hit hard against the wall. Her lightsaber tumbled from her grasp, as the Sith pulled her back. She lifted her up again and again, slamming her against the stone floor with more and more raw force!
Blood splattered from her mouth as her lung punctured, and again Avaryss slammed her down…
…again…
…and again…
…and again.
Only when the Paladina's back was broken did she relent, only when she lay wheezing on the floor of the warehouse did the dark lord finally let the storm die down.
She approached the wheezing broken thing at her feet. she pulled the girl's saber to her hand, snapping it on her belt.
She was invigorated, destroying this one was just what she had needed.
Glorious!
Delicious!
Avaryss raised her lightsaber, its blade humming like a nest of shadow wasps.
"It didn't have to go this way," she said in a mocking voice, "You could have been the first of your kind to join me, but now…now…"
She sneered.
"Now, you are nothing!"
The girl whimpered, and looked up with tears in her eyes.
"The…the gods," the girl coughed, spitting up blood, "The gods are still with me."
Avaryss sneered.
"Still you resist? Still you keep faith in your false gods."
The girl nodded, and gave her a bloody smile.
"They brought us together. They wanted me to kill you."
The dark lord snorted.
"You are broken. You can't win!"
The girl lay back and stared up at the lights, Avaryss could sense her presence in the Force fading.
"I was never going to win," she murmured, "But…"
She shuddered in pain. Avaryss needed to get closer, wanting to hear what fool's hope the girl still clung to.
She looked up at Avaryss and smiled.
"I'm going to take you with me."
She held out her hand, and with the last of her strength, she drew her blaster to her hand. She had only one shot left.
She raised it, again not pointing at her enemy.
Avaryss looked up, and saw it.
The large fuel tank now exposed by her Force storm, a tank that was leaking fuel, and fumes.
Her eyes widened.
NO!
Darth Avaryss ran!
Yet even then, she heard the Paladina's final words.
"For the goddess."
The girl fired.
Avaryss felt it when the blast hit, the complete absence of sound, and then.
KA-WHAM!
She cocooned herself in the Force, but even then, the blast wave lifted her in the air.
The Dark Lord of the Sith screamed silently as she was pushed through the doors by the explosion.
The dark side was with her though, it allowed her to absorb most of the energy, the heat, the kinetic energy of the debris.
It enriched and empowered her, even as flew through the air like a leaf in a firestorm!
She adjusted her flight in midair, turning it from a tumble into a controlled flip. Much as she had done as a girl on Oridanna.
Even Keera Lylos would have been awed by her skill.
She flipped over once twice, and then…
…she was out.
She came down lightly on her feet, her ears still ringing from the explosion.
She…she could hear nothing. Even when General Glasc was standing in front of her, shouting to be heard over the ringing.
"What?" she called out.
He repeated himself.
"WHAT?! I can't hear you!"
She rose and dusted herself off, she cast a low-level life drain spell, targeting her many minions.
The soldiers gasped as she took days off their pathetic lives, but still…why not?
Their lives were hers after all.
They were mere nerfs to her.
They existed to serve her.
"Mother?"
She looked to her right, surprised to see Blyss standing there, unaffected by her spell.
Unsurprising, the dark lord knew.
The girl was stronger than most gave her credit for.
"Mother, are you okay?"
Avaryss nodded.
"I'm fine girl," she purred, reveling in the life energy she had just devoured.
Such a heady sensation, she…she had missed it.
She missed the purity of using the dark side on the battlefield.
She had found nothing so…invigorating.
She looked down at the street, all around her, her soldiers were slowly staggering to their feet, still dealing with the after effect of her feeding off them.
Even Glasc and Xen.
She looked down at her former student with disdain.
Of all of them Xen should have known better, she should have been stronger. She was a Sith after all.
Again, she shook her head.
The girl remained…such a disappointment.
Hopefully, Rain would turn out better, her and Blyss both.
She looked down at her little girl, so strong, despite her innocent face.
"Did…did you find what you were looking for mother?"
Avaryss nodded.
Yes, she did.
She now knew that the Paladina had not attacked the great temple.
She now knew she had rats in her house.
She smiled wickedly.
She was looking forward to exterminating them, it would be fun.
Yes.
Very fun indeed.
She looked down upon Glasc, the general was drooling on the tan cobblestones, burbling to himself.
She kicked him lightly in the ribs.
"On your feet, general, you still have duties here!"
He nodded, and murmuring pathetically staggered to his feet.
Blyss gave her an arched look.
"I think your spell was a little more than our allies could handle, mother."
"Maybe," Avaryss shrugged, "Regardless, they still have their duties."
She looked over her soldiers, and the Bann security people.
"ON YOUR FEET! I COMMAND YOU!"
Slowly, they obeyed, some leaning against each other, others sobbing weakly against the patrol vehicles.
She sneered.
Mundanes.
"Have a caretaker crew summoned, General," she ordered, "they will take over until our forces here are ready to resume their duties."
He nodded dumbly, saluting, to make sure she understood.
She looked towards the burning warehouse with a frown.
The girl's body had likely been vaporized, a shame.
It could have revealed much about the remaining Paladina.
Oh well, you couldn't have everything you wanted.
If anything, she hoped the girl's death had been sensed by the rest of the Paladina here, it would serve well, she believed.
I killed one of you with ease.
I will kill the rest just as easily.
"Come Blyss," she said, motioning back towards their transport.
She had had enough fun for tonight.
Now…it was time to get back to work.
"Yes, mother," the girl said following in wake.
She left them then, her loyal soldiers, some barely staying on their feet.
The sight sickened her.
Soon, she thought to herself.
Soon she would not have to rely on such specimens, soon she would have all the soldiers she wanted, and would ever need.
Soon all would be hers.
She shivered with anticipation, still feeding off the life energy she had absorbed, and the adrenalin from the fight.
The temple was nearly done, everything was going to plan, even with the rats in her house.
She would find, and silence them.
They could not escape none of them could.
It was almost over…
Soon, she promised herself.
Soon.