Star Wars: The Darkness Within

[MsFicwriter]

"Look out!" Per'dra roared, as she sent a wave of the Force crashing into the surrounding assailants. They staggered backward, and a few of them even fell flat on their rear ends. This time, the Knight ignited her saberstaff for real. In the heat and chaos, she wondered how in space they knew which ship, and which ship's crew, to track. Voleran, she concluded between parrying attacks.

[Warlord664]

Corsail ducked behind cover and let out a spray of blaster bolts in the direction of the enemy. Did someone tip them off? He wondered. He saw a sniper aiming at Vlalkor's head and let a blaster bolt fly in his direction, the bolt hit it's target and the sniper fell down motionless

 

"Theres another group of them behind that building to the left!" He shouted, "Someone focus on them!"

[Chevron 7 locke]

Zarev managed to finally get to his feet as he rolled under the volly of blaster bolts and brought and dropped into an offensive stance.

 

"You made a big mistake not killing me when you had the chance." Zarev said quietly as he advanced towards the assassin who force pushed Vlalkor back into a wall, knocking the blaster rifle from his hands.

 

The assassin smiled and threw back the hood and Zarev's eyes widended in shock.

 

"Avelra?" He didn't get a chance to say anything else as she grabbed him with the force and lifted him into the air and began to crush the life from him.

 

This can't be true...or possible for that matter. She disappeared nearly a year ago I can't sense...anything from her. I can't sense the darkside or the lightside in her.How is this possible?"

 

Zarev's vision was begining to go dark as he felt his ribs begining to crack under the pressure.

 

"Avelra...S-Stop this. Don't you remember me?" he asked her as his voice cracked.

[MsFicwriter]

Per'dra noticed Zarev being levitated by one of their numerous attackers, who appeared to be female. She was crushing his ribcage through the Force, and it was fortunate that the Knight knew a Form IV, or Ataru, acrobatic technique. Within nanoseconds, she had closed the distance between herself and their enemy, and without another word, Per'dra slashed her sabers downward.

 

The assassin's body, now split into a top half and a bottom half, stopped moving. Her head and torso unceremoniously, and bloodlessly, tumbled to the ground because the heat from Per'dra's blades had cauterized the wound. As sickening as this attack had been, it was only half of what she'd done to Pfon Urazhai on Korriban. "OOF! Are you all right?" she asked Zarev as his body collided with hers. He had been in the air, but "what goes up must come down..."

[thelightfang]

Light had been moving since the ship landed. He noted which buildings were firing on it, and climbed to the roof of one without the aid of the Force.

 

He cut a hole, using his newly repaired one-handed silver lightsabers, a couple feet bigger than he was in each direction. With the announcement of a yelp from below as the chunk of roof he had cut fell onto one off the assailants, he jumped through the hole. There were only three in the uppermost floor of this building, and one lay bleeding on the floor under the neatly cut section of the roof.

 

Light, not stopping to question the two uninjured bad guys, cut their sniper rifles in half, kicked one out of the window, and, spinning, sliced the head off of the other. The injured one began screaming, and quickly found a saber near his throat. "How many more of you are there in this building? Answer and live." Light questioned without pity, mercy, or remorse in his voice. The soldier began blabbering, and Light deciphered it as "Five on the floor below, seven on the floor below that. Twelve total. Lower floors are unused and the stairs to the unused floors are trashed and barricaded."

 

The man's blabbering quickly stopped as a boot hit him in the head. Light lifter the section of the roof off of the man, leaning it against the wall. He started to move towards the stairs, but 5 men armed with blasters and machine guns were coming up them.

 

The stairs were narrow though, so only two could get a clear line-of-fire at a time. Light deflected the first two bolts, one of which nailed the assailant who had fired it in the skull. He went down in a heap, his allies stepping over his body as it slid down the stairs limply. Four left, Light was forced to deflect more bolts before he quickly finished them. None surrendered, down to the last. Seven more in this building. I hope the "squad" is doing okay. He hadn't thought there would be quite so many, nor a Force-user amongst them.

[Chevron 7 locke]

Tatooine spaceport

Outside hanger Three

 

"OOF! Are you all right?"

 

Zarev had simply watched in horror as Per'dra had killed Avelra but he knew that she had had no choice but to do it. He could feel a few of his ribs had been cracked and one of his lungs was seriously hurting him. he turned to Per'dra and nodded even as a single tear escaped his eyes.

 

"I'm fine." He said quietly as he staggered to his feet and barely managed to send a few blaster bolts that had been fired back into the building they had been fired from. There were fewer of them than there had been earlier.

 

"We need to get rid of the ones firing at us from the building. And I might be wrong but we may have an ally in the building. There are a lot less blaster bolts being fired. I'd help...but one of my lungs is really hurting. Can you take care of them?"

[LDR]

Hord jumped out of the ship and onto the ground. The few assailants that were present were hiding in the buildings, like cowards. The one on the left was supposedly causing the most havoc, so he ran towards it and entered the basement. There he saw three thugs run towards him. He Force shoved all three of them, smashing them into the wall with sickening bone-crushing force.

 

He rent apart the makeshift barricades that were blocking his entrance, but the stairways were trashed, and others were completely destroyed. So instead, he found a hole in the rubble and Force jumped through it. When he reached the area where the stairs weren't destroyed, he saw two other thugs. Before they could even grab their weapons, Hord used the Force to drain the life out of both of them - utterly destroying them.

 

***

 

Kif jumped into cover and attempted to shoot at the assailants in the building. However, he failed to bring any power packs with him - and his blaster pistol was dead. Son of a... he cursed to himself.

[thelightfang]

Light had finished killing off five of the bad guys when the last two turned to the lower stairs. They were unprepared for this new threat and were easily overwhelmed through the Force. As they were drained of life, Light saw their attacker come up from the stairs. Light swung a saber towards the figure with a single word on his lips, "Sith".

 

He was prepared to launch further strikes when he saw the face of his adversary. A familiar face, but with the wrong eyes and attitude. Varik usually didn't go around using Dark sided Force powers, and his eyes were blue, last I checked...

 

He moved back a couple steps, still prepared to battle, but subtly changed to a defensive stance. He had plenty of room to operate, now squarely in the center of the room, as all the furniture had been moved to the sides, making it easier for the fire team to operate.

[MsFicwriter]

"We need to get rid of the ones firing at us from the building. And I might be wrong but we may have an ally in the building. There are a lot less blaster bolts being fired. I'd help...but one of my lungs is really hurting. Can you take care of them?"

 

"It's a good thing that I had one of the loyal Jedi Masters teach me more about advanced Force healing techniques between my last mission and now. Lie down, and I'll cover you." Per'dra, in the depths of her anxiety and concern for Zarev, did not notice how this statement might otherwise be taken by someone with a more worldly mind! Therefore, she wrapped her arms around her ally without passion, closed her eyes, and began to radiate warm and salubrious Force power into his chest cavity. She sensed agonizing pain underneath Zarev's rather unshaken exterior, and it was this torture to which she addressed herself.

[Warlord664]

Corsail dropped back behind cover to recharge his blasters, "That should do it." He said, stuffing a energy pack into both of his blasters. When he came up to start shooting again his jaw dropped, He saw Per'dra wrapping her arms around Zarev. Corsail stood staring in disbelief, "What in the-" A blaster bolt scraped Corsails shoulder. "Arghh!" He quickly dropped to the ground dodging the rest of the blaster fire.

 

He cursed to himself. Blasted jedi, their going to get us killed. He thought. He jumpped up ignoring the pain coming from his shoulder, he let out a cone of blaster fire making their enemys duck behind cover.

 

He saw Varik run inside the building. Maybe I'll get lucky and someone will put a blaster bolt through his head. He thought to himself.

[Chevron 7 locke]

"It's a good thing that I had one of the loyal Jedi Masters teach me more about advanced Force healing techniques between my last mission and now. Lie down, and I'll cover you."

 

Zarev's eyes widened for a moment before he finally understood what Per'dra was doing. He fought as hard as he could to try and keep the pain from radiating out in the force, fearing that the smallest disruption in the force would throw one of the squad off and get them killed by blaster fire.

 

"Thank you..." Zarev muttered quietly as he felt a bit of the pain go away. He was still hurting very badly but he knew he wouldn't die as long as Per'dra helped him.

 

Zarev saw that one of the attackers was taking aim at Per'dra who apparently was so focused on saving his life that she didn't notice him.

 

Zarev's used the force to summon a blaster from one of the fallen attackers to his hand and fired it three times, the first two shots missed the attacker but the third hit him in the shoulder. Zarev winced in pain. Even calling on the force was starting to hurt him now.

[MsFicwriter]

"This will only take about ten more seconds. Thanks for your help, Zarev..."

 

Per'dra entered a very deep state of concentration, despite (or perhaps because of) her fear. She'd always heard from the other Jedi Masters that fear was a path to the Dark Side, but how could her overwhelming desire to save Zarev's life open the doorway to becoming evil? She couldn't see it, especially as she felt his pulse beginning to regulate itself once more. There. Nice and even.

 

"How many attackers are left? Can you tell?" she asked her wounded comrade.

[Chevron 7 locke]

"How many attackers are left? Can you tell?"

 

Zarev nodded slowly and reached out and sensed three more people in the immediate area with hostile intentions. Two were located in the building but the third...The third was getting closer and closer but he couldn't see him. According to his senses, the third attacker was right next to them.

 

And then it hit him like a blaster bolt.

 

Stealth field. The third one must be using a stealth field.

 

Zarev looked behind Per'dra and noticed a slight shimmering in the air. It looked as if a slight outline of a person was raising a weapon.

 

"Behind you...There's three of them" He whispered painfully. "One of them is right behind you."

 

Zarev used what was close to the last of his strength to roll onto his side, barely managing to move Per'dra out of the way of the blade sliced into his side.

[MsFicwriter]

"Remain still," she told Zarev quickly. "HUHH!" That unladylike exclamation was a grunt of effort as she lifted the wounded Jedi up onto her back through the Force. The question was: why did she leave her hands free? The answer was easy enough to discover, as she sent another shockwave through the Force. Per'dra didn't want to ignite her lightsaber until getting Zarev to safety, because being so close to the heat of the blades while so weak was very dangerous. The assassin who had been wearing the stealth belt screamed as he was hurtled backward. The Knight thought she heard his spine crack as well...

[Chevron 7 locke]

Zarev was fighting to keep his eyes open even as he heard the scream of the assassin wearing the stealth field generator. He winced as he heard the spine crack. He didn't think that that particular assassin would be able to fight anymore.

 

"Where is everyone? Surely you and I aren't the only ones left alive."

 

As Zarev turned to look around for the rest of the squad, he saw that Vlalkor's rifle had been cracked and was no longer working. The Havoc Squad trooper was firing a blaster pistol at the window where one of the assassins was firing back at him.

 

Vlalkor grinned as he pulled a concussion grenade off of his belt and threw it at the wall of the building, he was hoping that he could knock the assassins out and question them.

 

The concussion grenade was halfway to hitting the wall when a blaster bolt hit it in midair, detonating it early.

 

"Will someone take care of the last of these thugs?!" Vlalkor shouted as he rubbed his eyes as he took cover behind a wall as he waited for his vision to fully return.

[Warlord664]

"Will someone take care of the last of these thugs?!"

 

Whats taking that jedi so long to deal with those thugs? Maybe he'd gotten killed afterall. he thought to himself. He let a few more shots fly towards the thug in the window, the bolts hit the side of the window sending scorching sparks into the thugs face. Corsail took this opportunity to rush to a better location where he could get a better shot.

 

The thug wiped his eyes and looked where Corsail was sitting to fire back at him, by time he realised Corsail had moved, a blaster bolt had blown through his shoulder. The thug cried out in pain and hit the floor. He didn't know if the thug was dead, but he probably wasn't getting back up to fight.

 

"How many do you think are left?" he asked to no one in particular.

[LDR]

"Ah, Light Fang. It has been quite some time since the last time we spoke. I see your hostility has not changed, nor your attitude.", Hord said curling his lips into a smile. "You were always so quick to accuse, to throw titles around as if they were vehicles in a typhoon. But I will not deny your unsung request for battle. I doubt anyone will notice your absence, nor care if they find your corpse."

 

He activated both of his violet lightsabers, their glow softly humming in the emptiness of the room.

 

***

 

Using a blaster rifle he recently found on the ground, Kif gave covering fire for Vlalkor, firing shots toward the building. One of the shots made its mark and killed one of the thugs.

[thelightfang]

"Ah, Light Fang. It has been quite some time since the last time we spoke. I see your hostility has not changed, nor your attitude.", Hord said curling his lips into a smile. "You were always so quick to accuse, to throw titles around as if they were vehicles in a typhoon. But I will not deny your unsung request for battle. I doubt anyone will notice your absence, nor care if they find your corpse."

 

He activated both of his violet lightsabers, their glow softly humming in the emptiness of the room.

 

"Hostility? You were in the midst of the enemy, using the dark side of the force. What did you expect? Titles are tools employed by sentient species to quickly denote how they should treat another object, person, or animal."

He lowered one saber, and stood a little straighter from his defensive stance.

"Besides Varik, we are allies. There's no need for either of our corpses to join those which lay in this room. When was it we last saw each other? Surely you haven't changed so much that we must fight."

[LDR]

"Besides Varik, we are allies. There's no need for either of our corpses to join those which lay in this room. When was it we last saw each other? Surely you haven't changed so much that we must fight."

 

"Lots could change within a year. I fear we have changed far too much to still be considered allies.", Hord said darkly.

 

He then noticed that Light had lowered one of his arms and straitened up his stance, leaving much of the upper portion of his body vulnerable to immediate strikes. He rose both of his lightsabers, and moved them in a diagonal chop - one headed straight to the area between his neck and left shoulder.

[Chevron 7 locke]

"How many do you think are left?"

 

Zarev reached out through the force and while he couldn't sense anymore of the thugs other than the wounded ones, he could sense something much...darker.

 

"I can't sense anymore of them than the ones we wounded...but I can sense something dark. Something I think I sensed once before."

 

He looked up at Per'dra. "Something is wrong. The assassins are not the only threat here." He turned towards the building and tried to get to his feet. "There is a dark presence in there."

 

Vlalkor could hear the sound of igniting lightsabers and he saw a purple light in one of the buildings. He continued watching and saw Varik advancing on someone unfamiliar with both lightsabers ignited.

 

That can't be good. He thought darkly as he grabbed another concussion grenade. He took aim at Varik and fired three shots at Varik and than launched the concussion grenade up towards the window.

[thelightfang]

Light moved backwards a step having forseen the attack Varik attempted. But he should know better Light returned to his defensive stance. Varik was saying dark things. He's probably depressed about something.

 

Light waited patiently while Varik advanced once more, sabers raised. Varik had his back almost entirely to the window, so he didn't notice the metal cylinder flying towards it, or the blaster bolts following. Light glimpsed them though, and, without shifting stances, force pushed Varik out of the way and punched the metal cylinder out of the air.

 

Unfortunately, it exploded only a couple a feet away, stunning the onlooking Light, but leaving Varik unhindered. Light deactivated his sabers and covered his eyes with his hands still on their hilts.

[LDR]

"Fool.", Hord muttered as Light pushed him out of the way - the concussion cylinder exploding near him.

 

"You are a desperate, wretched thing. Your enemy is staring you in the face, but you are grasping onto the hope that this is your friend Varik. This is not. Varik is long gone, any semblance long destroyed. And now.", Hord said, grabbing Light by the throat. "Now is where you will die."

 

***

Varik watched in horror as he was trapped within his own mind - watching Tulak Hord choke the life out of his old friend, Light. But he could do nothing. He doesn't have enough power to resist Hord. If he tried, Hord would simply destroy his mind - and he will be lost forever.

[thelightfang]

Light was trapped in Varik's grasp, as he was still dazed from the concussion grenade, and couldn't get enough oxygen to recover from it. His mind raced, but he could do little more than general motions. Somehow, he found his hands attempting to pry Varik's hand from his throat.

 

He murmered a single word, "Varik".

[MsFicwriter]

He looked up at Per'dra. "Something is wrong. The assassins are not the only threat here." He turned towards the building and tried to get to his feet. "There is a dark presence in there."

 

Per'dra Yllari didn't need to be told that twice--not with what she'd experienced in her recent past! Thus, she sprinted into the building and up the stairs from where the sounds of tense battle had been coming. What she beheld made her jaw hit the floor:

 

"Varik!" she shrieked. "What in the Force are you doing?!" Then, as baffled by the defender as well as the attacker in this fight, she asked, "And whom are you trying to kill? Is he an assassin, too? What's going on here?"

[Chevron 7 locke]

Zarev watched as Per'dra took off towards the area where he had sensed the dark presence and he sighed heavily. He hated the fact that he was stuck out here because he hadn't been strong enough to defend himself. Now because of his weakness both Corsail and Vlakor would have to protect him until the others returned.

 

Stop...me...

 

He looked up in surprise. He could have sworn that he had heard someone.

 

Stop...me...Can't...stop...

 

Alright...now I know I heard someone. He thought as he tried to reach out and sense whoever was sending the message. No matter how hard he tried he couldn't sense anyone nearby besides the others.