446A/N: As always, a huge thank you to those helping with lore and planning for this and my other stories.
And again, this chapter was released to those of sufficient rank on the story's Discord (it pays to talk) about a month ago. For those who support my writing, then it was released between 1 to 4 months ago (and those supporters can also access chapters that far in advance).
If joining the Discord or supporting my writing interested you, there is a link at the end of the chapter for how to do so.
3:11 The Lost Apprentice 2
… …
I was a step behind HK as we reached the main doors to the Guardian's fortress when HK stopped and looked over the doors.
"Observation: These doors were pulled from their frame by hand, Master. Whoever attacked this place was unusually strong for a meatbag."
I moved closer, noting what the HUD displayed about the deformed metal that had once been blast doors for the complex.
"Or a group of them worked together," Simvyl added as the HUD confirmed that there were multiple impressions of fingers on the doors.
The HUD reported they were generally humanoid, but the degradation caused by the weather prevented it from getting a better read on what species might have been behind the attack. The only thing it was certain of was that those who attacked were of average height based on the residual markings of their hands.
Even though the signs of battle here were old and cold, my lightsaber was in my hand though unpowered as I took the first step into the silent fortress. The Dark Side was swirling around the place and while I didn't feel that the one behind the chaos on this world had been here, I was sure that it was linked to him.
"None of them are carrying weapons," Quinlan commented as he followed me inside, repeating something the HUD had already alerted me to. He moved forward and knelt beside the body of one Guardian, a female and his hand hovered over her. "I… I feel as if I knew this one," he said gently.
"There's no clear sign of death," I remarked as the HUD processed what it could from the various sensors in the armour and what HK transmitted through the Battlenet. While none of the bodies bore obvious marks regarding their cause of death, each wore an expression of fear and pain that suggested whatever had killed them had not been pleasant.
"Commentary: There are no blaster marks on the walls, Master, suggesting the meatbags were overwhelmed before they could respond."
I looked around, trying to get a sense of what about this all felt off. I mean, beyond the fact the Dark Side had been a raging inferno when the attacks here had taken place. It lingered still, hints of the residual chaos and terror of the attacks easy to sense within the Force even if nothing about this felt natural or honourable.
"HK, hold station at the door. I don't think we're alone as we perhaps should be," I said slowly through the Battlenet, not wanting whatever was lingering at the edges of my senses to know I was aware of its presence.
"Musing: I do hope you are correct, Master. I am eager to test my latest calibrations in a live-fire situation." As he responded through our secured comms, to which Quinlan was connected via an earpiece and vibrational microphone over his throat, I continued to look over the data the HUD was reporting. Nothing about this situation made sense nor was it becoming any clearer as to how these Guardians – thirty-seven by the HUD's last count – had died.
Wanting to test a theory, though I was uncertain if it would help, I looked down at one of the bodies and activated Observe.
Korlosan Votes
Race: Kiffar
Level: 0
Health: 0% (Drained of life)
Age: Dead
Force Potential: Dead
Threat Potential: Dead
Reputation: Dead
Affiliation Loyalty: Dead
Emotional State: Dead
...
I grunted at the expected, but not welcomed, lack of any useful intelligence. Yes, learning that the body had been drained was something, but it was not particularly helpful as the Interface didn't say how or what it meant by that, nor offered any obvious indicators of who had drained this Guardian of their lifeforce. Still, there were only a handful of weapons and races that could do such a thing, which was at least a small step towards unravelling thi-
"Observation:" HK cut into my musing. "I have movement, Master. Several dozen… Correction, I am observing over a hundred meatbags converging on our location, with that number steadily climbing."
"Defensive positions!" I called out over the Battlenet even as the faint but comforting roar of my lightsaber igniting was picked up by the armour's microphones. My other hand remained free, ready to draw my beskad or summon the Force if needed.
HK slipped back inside the ruined entrance, his legs locking into position as a makeshift barrier to any that tried to enter past him while Simvyl's twin blaster pistols scanned the room, moving with his eyes in the hunt for targets. At his hip, the large blade that had belonged to his fellow Ranger, Kekda Zarkos, hung ready to be used if things got a touch too hairy.
Yet, even as I slipped into a ready stance, the HUD alerted me that Quinlan wasn't responding. Instead, he remained bent over one of the dead Kiffar. "Quinlan!" I called out again through the Battlenet. However, before he could respond or not, the HUD – fed with data from HK's sensors and those from my armour – alerted me to dozens of figures. Some were coming through the door and HK was already engaging them, but the majority leapt through the overhead remains of transparisteel that had provided natural light to the fortress when it had been active.
"Shab!" I cursed as I realised we were dealing with Anzati, which explained the life force being taken from the Kiffar. Yet as my blade swept forward, slicing through the first to dare invade my personal space, I frowned. I'd met and trained with Anzati, and while these were the same species, this group seemed less… civilised.
My feet were moving, avoiding the claws of the next Anzati to rush at me, and they paid for that by losing both arms at the elbows. The wound, however, didn't slow the attacker down and I was forced to use my free hand and toss them away, causing them to crash into another Anzati that had been trying to attack me from behind.
As I removed the head of three that came at me next in a single graceful move, I understood why these Anzati seemed different. They were attacking like animals instead of intelligent creatures, and based on the way the thin tendrils extended from their faces, it was clear all of them were desperate to eat the soup as they called it – the lifeforce or luck to others – from me, Simvyl, and Quinlan.
My blade moved with me as I slid away from the grasp of two more Anzati, their movements faster yet less controlled than what I'd trained against only a month ago. My free hand came up, the Force bending to my demands and the pair of rabid Anzati were blasted back, slamming into more of the pack.
Before any of that group could recover the blaster in my gauntlet took them out with precision fire as my feet kept me moving, adapting to attacks from all sides. This was the greatest weakness that Makashi possessed, but one I was happy to see the adoption of Ataru footwork into my style was helping to counter. A point proved further as, with a sweeping arced move, my lightsaber tasted the flesh of five Anzati even as I avoided their grasp so well that not even the cloak I wore was touched.
The HUD reported other Anzati falling steadily as HK and Simvyl exterminated the threats with intent. HK's actions were mechanically perfect while Simvyl moved with polish that showed his training over the twenty-odd months was paying off. His pistols sang out, taking out Anzati with timing and precision ensuring that no bolt was washed. That said, given the mass of creatures flooding into the fortress, it was hard to hit anything but flesh.
"OFF!"
Quinlan's shout, along with the flood of anger that roared into the Force was accompanied by a powerful Force blast that sent dozens of Anzati that were surrounding him flying backwards. One such creature slammed into my side, though thanks to the Force and the HUD, I was aware of the Anzati and was already turning with the collision before it happened.
My free hand came up, and using the Force and the strength of the motors in the gauntlet, I crushed the creature's throat, and as my movement ended, threw the husk at another of the swarm. Even as my lightsaber flicked out, slashing another Anzati in half, through the Battlenet I was alerted that while HK had easily held his footing, Simvyl was knocked back as one of the dead Kiffar crashed into his side.
A trio of Anzati rushed at him, hoping to take advantage of his stumble. However, before they or another other beast could reach my friend, the trio were pushed back; the Force bending to my will and slamming them into the wall hard enough that they splattered their blood and brains over it.
Even as I saw Quinlan lashing out, his blade swinging almost wildly as the hate he felt for the Anzati empowering his actions, I was moving. One foot slid back, causing the Anzati that had been about to strike me to claw nothing but air. Before it could recover, my blade came up, severing its head and one arm from the rest of its body.
More of the creatures rushed at me, drawn to me as pulled the Force into me, using it to strengthen and enhance myself. That drew attention away from Simvyl, which he used to quickly gun down four Anzati near to him. My blade flowed around me as I slipped around any incoming attack, yet for each Anzati I took down, the HUD reported two more surging into the fortress seeking to overwhelm us.
As much as I wanted to eviscerate every one of the beasts with my blade, to watch what little of their intelligence remained fade from their eyes, I knew that if this continued the sheer weight of numbers in such an enclosed space was going to overwhelm us.
While I and my blade danced around the Anzati, avoiding their futile attempts to grapple me and my blade flicked and swished out to mortally wound or kill any that came too close, my empty hand closed into a fist as I summoned the Force to my aid while warning Simvyl and HK to take cover.
My hand flicked open and every loose object in the room was suddenly airborne, swirling around me. Chairs, datapads, cups, random pieces of junk from the first attack on the fortress and even the bodies of those killed by us or the Anzati flew around, striking anything that moved.
Piles of Anzati were knocked over, causing cascading collapses in the still-continuing stream of them that were rushing into the fortress. I realised the sounds of bone shattering and blood exploding from bodies as a gory mess was created by my tornado of carnage. Yet, as the blast died down, clearing the area for the moment, I knew it was only a small opening before the creatures recovered, but enough of one that I could…
"AWAY! GET AWAY FROM ME!"
A second scream in a matter of moments from Quinlan was accompanied by a tsunami of fury rushing through the Force. One so strong and unexpected that I had to close my eyes to momentarily re-centre myself. With that done, and as HK and Simvyl resumed thinning the herd of barely sentient Anzati, I started cutting a bloody path to Quinlan, watching as his blade struck any Anzati it could find without a hint of grace or style.
He was attacking them with the same mindless rage and bestial fury they were using as they continued trying to swarm-rush us. The green of his lightsaber cut a bloody, brutal path of devastation through their ranks. It was working for now, but I could feel Quinlan sliding into the depths of the Force as the Dark Side gained a foothold in his mind to drag him to the pits of insanity that awaited those unable or unskilled enough to resist its siren-like lure. What made it worse was that with each move he made, with every Anzati that fell to his blade, I could see mistakes creeping into his patterns, and the sheer mass of creatures pulled towards him as he drew on the Dark Side was quickly overwhelming his defences.
"NO!" He shouted as one Anzati touched him as I moved towards him, my blade slicing one of the creatures in half. "NOO!" Quinlan screeched again as more grasped his robes.
I rushed toward him, cutting a path through the creatures as HK and Simvyl were slowly thinning the ranks of any Anzati entering the building. Yet before I could reach Quinlan, I felt the Force shift around him.
Pulling the Force into myself, I braced against the impending explosion and gathered the Force to me for what I could sense coming. I then watched as more than a dozen Anzati that had been pulling on Quinlan's robes were sent hurtling away; the Force erupting outward from Quinlan in an instinctual wave of power.
As the Anzati were airborne or colliding with others in the pack, I thrust out my hand, and tendrils of dark, malignant energy sparked forth. A grin spread across my face as I watched the lightning race through the air and strike the Anzati. They screamed in terror under assault, and as I ended my attack a second later, the bodies that struck the ground were smoking and charred: all either dead or close to it.
"Quinlan!" I snapped out, pushing the Force to enforce my words. "Get a hold of yourself!" I took another step towards him, my blade flicking out and slashing the face of an Anzati who made the mistake of entering my range. "You are in control, not your anger," I added as my free hand clenched shut, causing two Anzati to crash to the ground as the Force crushed them. "Harness and focus it instead of drowning in it!" I snarled, pivoting on my heel. The two Anzati I had been crushing were sent flying into others while my blade made quick work of three more of the deranged creatures.
Quinlan took a stumbling step forward, the way I was using the Force to empower my words slamming into his Force presence with all the subtlety of a hurricane. The look of confusion that engulfed his face, followed by the shake of his head barely registered with me as I savoured pulverising another Anzati against a wall with a Force Push. Yes, these creatures were beneath me, but after months of nothing but training and sparring across the galaxy, it was nice to finally let loose and remind the galaxy what I was capable of.
"Focus!" I shot at Quinlan as I kept moving towards him, gliding through the carnage like an angel of death. My lightsaber and the Force ensured that nothing came close to touching me. "Focus or fail Aayla."
His head snapped to me at the mention of his lost Padawan, and I saw the stupor he was experiencing fade away. With a snarl he stood, his blade exploding outwards, slashing through two Anzati that had been rushing at him. His face was still a mask of fury, but I sensed the hints that he was channelling that rage outward with basic control. It was far from perfect, but it was enough that I no longer had to worry about him falling to these pitiful creatures, and I returned my full attention to them, intent on wiping the lot of them from the face of the galaxy.
Yet just as I turned to face the remains of the herd, I felt a faint shift in the Force. Slowly at first, then within a few seconds on-mass, the Anzati turned and fled anyway they could. The four of us exterminated those that lagged, but only a few seconds after Quinlan gained control over his anger, the fortress was again empty save for us: and the mass of dead Anzati that littered the now chaotic battlefield.
"HK, Simvyl, secure the main entrance and pick off any stragglers that you can." As the pair moved to obey my orders, I turned to face Quinlan.
His face was still a mass of rage, yet I could feel the power of that blaze slowly dying with the reason for his anger. As I neared him, I powered down my lightsaber and clipped it to my belt. Both because I didn't need it now, and to show Quinlan that, if the red mist of anger still blinded his vision, I was not challenging him. As he was now, I could take him with ease – something I'd proven in the dozen or so spars we'd taken part in since Ord Martell – but there was no reason to risk a confrontation here and now if I could avoid it.
Once close enough, I grasped his shoulder firmly, though I made no move to force him to turn and face me. His head snapped up, the blade of his lightsaber coming around towards the potential threat only for me to grasp the blade with my mechanical hand. While the inside of a regular gauntlet would not be able to do that, I'd had mine altered slightly so that the palm of the beskar-coated replacement limb was exposed. It was a small risk to do so, but it allowed me to do a few things that I otherwise couldn't. Such as grasping the plasma of a lightsaber's blade without fear of losing my hand.
Quinlan blinked as his blade was held in place, and he then shook his head. I felt the pressure behind his weapon ease as he regained control over himself and as his shoulders slumped, I let the blade go. "I… I'm sorry," he said softly, looking as if he might collapse to the ground even as the lightsaber powered down. "I… it's just…"
"You hate the Anzati," I guessed which drew a nod. "Why?"
"I… I don't know," he growled in annoyance. "I… I have images of them in my head. They're attacking someone, they're attacking me," he sighed and looked away, "but it's not me. I don't understand it."
I gently squeezed his shoulder. "Once we find Aalya we'll work on a way for you to understand those memories and others, if that's what you want," I said softly.
He stared at me for a moment before nodding. "Thank you," I added as a weak little smile came to his face, yet in his eyes, I could see confusion and anger warring for control of his focus.
I returned his nod and then removed my hand from his shoulder. "I think we know what happened here," I said, gesturing at the mess around us. The HUD was reporting over a hundred and seventy dead Anzati in and around the fortress, with two more joining that list as HK gunned them down while they were nearly a kilometre from here. "Though it creates more questions than it answers," I added as I had the HUD mark out the bodies of the Kiffar for whatever ritual was involved in honouring the dead.
"Yes," Quinlan agreed as he took a step away from me. "If there are Anzati on Kiffex, why did no one know? Many are wearing torn clothing, suggesting they've been here for some time but how could the Guardians not know about this?" he spoke slowly, measuring his words as I felt the storm that raged within him slide away over the horizon of his Force signature. It wasn't gone, but for now, at least it was contained.
"I suspect that the answer might well be linked to the darkness that is slowly engulfing this world, and which seems to have ensnared Aayla." As I spoke, I knelt beside one of the dead Kiffar. "For now, we should handle the funeral rites of your people, and then see if there's anything of value the fortress' computers can tell us before heading out."
The HUD alerted me to Quinlan nodding in agreement, and then that he moved to another of the dead Kiffar. It was a gruesome thing to have to sift through this chaos for the bodies of the dead Guardians, but I would help Quinlan honour the customs of his people before we headed out. Just as I would expect others to honour those of mine whenever it was my turn to become one with the Force.
… …
… …
I examined the data coming into the HUD regarding the settlement if one could call it that, as we hiked toward it. The walls, while high, were bolted together from whatever large sections of scrap the inhabitants could find while the peaks of buildings inside had the same ramshackle appearance. "Yeah, this place looks fun," I muttered as we moved closer on our second day on the planet.
We had spent the night at the Guardian fortress as moving out during the night, with the remains of the Anzati pack no doubt still around, and whatever else existed on this world, was an unnecessary risk. Quinlan had not been particularly happy about our delay in heading out, but by the time the funeral pyres for the dead Guardians were ablaze, the sun was already beginning to set over Kiffex.
While the burning of the bodies was the main part of the Kiffar's ritual for the dead, along with some words Quinlan repeated without fully understanding how he knew them, he had also taken their badges. Once we found Aayla, killed whoever was behind the chaos here, and returned to Kiffu, those would be handed over to Sheyf so the Guardians could add them to their logs of remembrance.
During the night at the fortress, while we tried to rest in a place where less than half a day earlier we'd fought the Anzati, Quinlan told me what he knew of Kiffex. While it wasn't much more than what I'd learnt from the Holonet while we'd travelled to this system, and then the very brief warning Tinte had given us about the inhabitants, it still filled in a few blanks.
Kiffex was the sector's maximum-security prison, with any form of weaponry being illegal on the world. Contact beyond the planet, never mind to other systems, was meant to be impossible, but the Guardians had reported many messages going to and from the planet over the years. From those, and with their standard patrols, they aggressively targeted any vessel that approached the planet. Most of the time when a vessel came near the planet, it withdrew when challenged by the Guardians. Others, like the ship Aayla that had hitched a ride on, attempted to run the blockade around Kiffex were shot down, and any survivors were left to fend for themselves on the planet.
That was a brutal approach to security enforcement, but one I could see the logic for. However, the fact that the Guardians were so strict about anyone coming or going from Kiffex had me wondering if perhaps some of the prisoners here weren't as dangerous or worthy of spending the rest of their natural lives on Kiffex as the Guardians might otherwise like the rest of the galaxy to believe. That feeling had grown ever since we'd spotted the settlement.
We'd not initially intended to head toward it, as while it was recorded in the computers of the Guardian fortress, it wasn't along the path the Anzati had taken when they had run from the Guardian base. However, by late morning as the tracks the Anzati had made had grown fainter, they had angled towards the settlement before we'd lost the tracks altogether. The dust storms that ravaged this section of Kiffex removed any evidence that a pack of creatures had passed through here the night before.
With no tracks to directly follow, and suspecting we might not find anywhere else that could offer shelter tonight, we'd decided to approach the settlement slowly, taking our time to get a read on the place. Since the planet was inhabited by prisoners, of varying levels of crimes but all sentenced to live without the possibility of parole on Kiffex, the odds the inhabitants would be friendly were slim at best.
While we had moved today, I had also spoken with Quinlan again about his anger towards the Anzati. Beyond repeating what he remembered from the images in his head, he couldn't offer anything new. Since he wouldn't be able to let go of his rage towards the species, and as I felt it gave him an edge if he could harness it properly, I gently guided him in a few techniques that while not exactly approved of by the Jedi, weren't the domain of the Sith.
The teaching of the Matukai and Shapers about channelling one's emotions and the Force in and outwards was explained in a brief overview. I'd taught him the most basic meditative techniques of those sects in the hope it might help him focus for when we next encountered Anzati or found Aayla and the one behind the chaos on this world. Underlying that, however, was the continually growing belief that when the source of the darkness on Kiffex was found, I would be facing it alone. As if the Force had decided that this was a challenge to test if I was ready for what lay further down the path I was walking.
"Analysis: The walls of this location are, while seemingly chaotic, apparently stable, Master. I have already positively identified components from a dozen various starship models used in the construction. Addendum: I would add that while not intended for this purpose initially, the usage of these various sections of hulls would provide acceptable protection against most creatures and animals that might threaten the meatbags in the settlement. The wall is also sufficiently high that few meatbags or beasts could easily scale them."
"There'd better be a gate we can use," Simvyl remarked with a hint of disgust. "Otherwise getting inside might be a problem."
"Oh, we'll get inside," I replied with a chuckle. "The question is how much it costs those manning the walls to stop us."
Even as we slipped clear of the rocky outcropping we'd used to get closer to the settlement, I was already reaching out into the Force seeking answers on the number of beings on the walls, and those further inside that might rush to support those manning the defences if we were forced to fight our way inside. Now, since everyone on this world was meant to be a hardened criminal, then I had little issue with ending their sentence earlier than they might like, but we'd have to see how things played out before I drew my lightsaber.
… …
"Halt!" A voice called out from the wall when we were about thirty metres from it. "Who are you and what do you want?"
The Force had already provided me with the information that four beings were manning this section of the wall, which was less than the other gates that were possibly within reach this afternoon, and why we'd moved to approach from this location. What was interesting was that thanks to the HUD, I could see the Weequay male who had called out to me was carrying a blaster. That was odd as there should be no such weapons on the planet. Not unless they'd come from a ship shot down by the Guardians that had tried to break through the blockade around the prison world.
I stepped forward, drawing the attention of the speaker on the wall and those with them. "I am Cameron of Clan Shan of Mandalore," I started, though the need to state I was Mando'ade was a little redundant given my armour. "We are on this pitiful excuse for a world because the Guardians felt that the relatively minor infraction we committed was worthy of life imprisonment."
Through the Force, I could sense some amusement from those on the wall, though the Weequay was more cautious than those with him. "If the Guardians captured you, Mandalorian, why did they not remove your armour before sending you here?" the alien asked, and I moved my hand slowly toward my lightsaber. I would prefer to not waste the time having to fight our way into the settlement, but I could already sense the shifts in the Force suggesting that was the most probable outcome of this interaction.
"The only way the Guardians would get me to remove my armour was over my cold, dead body," I replied loudly, letting some rage slip into my tone. "While I would be happy to see their pathetic attempts to take my armour, and would enjoy sending many of their ranks to their deaths, they sadly chose to employ sense and allowed me to retain the armour.
"So why is the Cathar and droid armed?" The Weequay responded and I cursed the fact we seemed to have drawn an at least semi-intelligent guard. "The Guardians don't allow weapons on Kiffex."
I laughed loudly. "Says the one pointing a blaster rifle at my head," I fired back with a growl making clear I didn't like the gesture. Yes, the blaster he was using wouldn't even leave a mark on the beskar, but it was the principal of the thing. "And the others with him who are also armed. We found the blasters in a wrecked starship about three days north, and if you think we're just going to hand them over to you, you've got another thing coming."
I heard the dirt at my right shift before Quinlan whispered, "Are you trying to start a fight?"
"You think playing nice like a Jedi would work here? Or that they'd not shoot us the moment they realise you're Kiffar?" I replied quietly to him.
"Musing: It would at least end this pointlessly tedious waste of my time, Master. Please allow me to expedite the matter." HK's comment came through the Battlenet so those on the wall didn't hear it, yet it drew a grunt of amusement from Simvyl, and I felt a smile creep onto my face.
"What if we take them, and your armour from your cold, dead bodies?" A new voice on the wall called out as through the Force I sensed movement from behind the wall.
"You can try, but all that will get you is a quick and painful death," I responded bluntly as my hand slowly unclipped my lightsaber from my belt. There was a small growing warning in the Force of approaching danger, but even as I sensed dozens more sentients moving to reinforce the section of wall before me, I remained calm. There was the chance we could avoid pointless violence, but if there was to be a battle, I wouldn't mind as I knew I could take every one of these thugs with only slight effort, and that was before considering those with me.
"You're not getting in." That came from a new voice, which I believed had been in the group who were gathering to support the beings on the walls. "Gorto Zaga says none can enter after the gates shut and the sun starts to set."
"I want to speak to this Gorto," I shouted back, though I could sense the Force shifting around us as if hinting there was little chance of resolving this issue peacefully. "Bring him to me or I'm going to come up there and find him myself."
That drew a round of chuckles from those on the wall, and the HUD reported several leaning over the ramparts, aiming their blasters at us. "You've got guts, Mandalorian," a Human said, allowing me to place a face to the new speaker, "but there's no wghk."
The man's words trailed off as he grasped his throat, trying to understand why he was suddenly struggling to breathe. A moment later, I used the Force to pull him over the ramparts and as he fell face-first to the hard ground near my feet, I leapt, the Force empowering my limbs so that the seemingly massive walls were scaled with what appeared to be insane ease.
"Exclamation: Finally."
HK's words through the Battlenet arrived just as I landed amongst a group of nearly thirty confused thugs, pirates, and whatever else had gotten them sent to Kiffex. My blade had ignited as I leapt, and was already moving as I landed, slicing the chests of two sentients while I drove the elbow of my other arm into the face of a third thug.
Quinlan landed a split second later in the chaos and added his blade to mine while HK and Simvyl opened fire from below, picking off those on the rampart who'd turned to face myself and Quinlan. As my blade swooped through the neck of a Rodian, I turned to face the next target and saw a massive Gamorrean, easily twice my size, rushing at me with a large makeshift axe held over his head.
The alien fell to his knees a few moments later, shock and confusion on his face as he looked down at the remains of his axe and his arms on the ground beside him. A quick flick of my wrist caused the tip of my blade to slash through his spine as I moved past him, ensuring he would die a slow, painful death while I dealt with his brethren.
Two more fell to my blade before the chaos on the wall ended. As one would expect, even armed with blasters thirty-odd prisoners were no match for two Force users with little need for restraint, never mind when supported by a war droid and a trained Cathar.
I turned to one prisoner who was running away and summoned the Force to my command. The alien gave a startled yelp as they were lifted into the air. They struggled to escape the invisible restraints I placed upon them and then whimpered as I turned them around and brought them back to my side.
"Stay," I said to the alien – a rather pitiful-looking Snivvian – before moving to the outer edge of the ramparts. HK landed a few metres from me, the advanced actuators in his legs making the leap easy for him. Simvyl grunted in annoyance as I lifted him with the Force and then onto the wall beside me.
"I hate when you do that," he muttered once his feet touched the metal of the ramparts. "I could've gotten up myself," he added even as I turned back to the Snivvian.
"I know, but my way's faster," I replied only to snarl as I saw the Snivvian was not just still where I'd left them, but had soiled themselves. The way Quinlan lifted his hands to cover his face as I heard Simvyl cough, I was glad the helmet filtered external smells. Not wanting to deal immediately with the now stinking Rodian, I cast my gaze over the settlement, confirming it was as ramshackle in its construction as the walls had been. Nothing matched those beside it, and everything about the place was, while a testament to the prisoner's survival skills on this shit hole of a planet, an abomination that needed to be blasted out of existence if the opportunity presented itself.
"If you want to live, answer my questions," I said to the Snivvian, taking slow, measured steps toward it. It nodded so quickly and violently that I hoped it didn't kill itself before I had finished learning what I wanted to know. "What is this place?"
"Deadend."
I grunted at the unoriginal but appropriate name for the settlement. "Figures," Simvyl muttered through clenched teeth, the smell of the Snivvian still bothering him.
"Where can we find Gorto Zaga?" I asked the alien, ignoring Simvyl's comment.
"Th-the Black Hole Cantina."
"And where is that?" the alien shivered and looked down at the ground; almost as if it were more sacred of Gorto than me.
"Advisory: I suggest you answer my Master, meatbag. He can be quite creative in dealing with those who fail to appease him."
The Snivvian seemed to shrink in on itself at HK's words, though I could feel through the Force that the threat had worked. A moment later it turned and pointed at the largest building in the settlement. One with a large domed roof along with what appeared to be an antenna on the roof and was located almost at the very centre of the place.
"Thank you," I said to the Snivvian before waving my hand in front of its face. "Now sleep." The alien fell to the ground as if its strings had been cut, and a second later a loud, slightly irritating snore came from it. For a moment, I considered shooting it simply because of how annoying the sound was, but in the end, I decided against it simply because it wasn't worth the time or effort to do so.
"You realise that when it wakes, it'll tell everyone here what we did," Quinlan commented as he reached my side, and we walked down the steps into the settlement proper.
I took a moment to consider Quinlan's Force presence before I answered. The storm was still there, though it hadn't risked an appearance as had happened with the Anzati. Still, I could feel that it had enjoyed Quinlan's willingness to kill in battle. That was something I was going to have to keep an eye on in the following days as we sought out Aayla, and then once we found her. Unless I was massively wrong, her anger towards Quinlan revolved around the – in my opinion, entirely justified – death of her uncle Pol Secura. There was no way to know how she might react to his presence, or how he would react when she tried to kill him. Yes, there was the A Change in Fate quest to consider, but that was secondary to my desire to ensure both of them survived the confrontation that was coming.
"By which point either we'll have come to terms with this Gorgo, or I'll have been forced to assume control of this settlement," I replied with a grunt. "Neither of which is particularly appealing, though I suspect the latter is more likely given our appearances."
A slightly dark chuckle came from Quinlan and the idea that the prisoners here would want to talk with a Kiffar or a Mando'ade. "Fair enough," He said as we descended into the settlement. "I just hope this doesn't delay us in finding Aayla."
"You and me both."
… …
… …
My foot slid back, shifting my weight so that, as I deflected the trio of bolts coming towards me, they returned to their senders. As those thugs with quick enough reactions ducked to avoid being shot by their own bolts, my other arm came up. The blaster in the gauntlet sparked to life, firing away at other points in the room, ensuring the beings there remained unable to fire upon me.
A quick pivot and my blade came down, slashing a Weequay who'd been trying to sneak up behind me across their chest. As they fell back, hands reaching for the fatal scorch mark on their chest, a flick of my wrist had the blade arcing around. The blade clipped the face of the Weequay as it fell and then swatted aside bolts from another location in the large chamber.
"This is your idea of asking nicely?" Simvyl snapped as he took cover behind a large column near the door through which we'd entered about ten minutes ago.
"No," I began to reply as I kept moving, my blade bisecting a Human male that had, in a demonstration of stupidity, tried to attack a Mando'ade in full beskar with a vibroknife. "This is pest control," I added as I kept moving, dancing gracefully through the chaos that now engulfed the chamber. "If I was asking nicely, I'd have said please."
"Observation: You did say please, Master," HK remarked, his heavy blaster rifle obliterating a table one group of thugs had foolishly thought would provide cover from the dangerous droid. "Right before the Aqualish meatbag rejected your request and ordered his men to attack."
I waited for a moment to respond, focusing on using the Force to time my moves so that I slipped between the dual attacks of two thugs that came at me with vibroblades. The beskar could easily take the hits, but I wasn't going to allow scum like these to even touch it. The amount of the Force that I was drawing on to ensure this battle flowed around me was barely above what I'd learnt to channel with the Matukai, yet it was more than enough even with upwards of a hundred thugs in the room when the battle had started.
Kriff, even with the Anzati attack on the fortress I'd barely needed to delve into my reserves of the Force. The only time I'd truly displayed my power had been when I'd summoned Force Lightning to barbeque the Anzati Quinlan had tossed back with an anger-fuelled Force blast. At this point, even ignoring my armour, I could probably take every thug here while wearing Force suppression cuffs.
My blade swept around low, severing the legs of the two who'd just tried to attack me just below their knees. "Okay fine," I said, finally replying to HK as the blaster in my gauntlet shot the two thugs missing their lower legs in the chest, "this is how I go about pest control nicely," I finished as I caught sight of Quinlan moving, his blade slashing through a Rodian before removing the head of a rather large and wide Nikto.
I glided forward, my blade flicking out and slicing through the barrel a Human female was awkwardly wielding before a roll of my wrist had the tip of my lightsaber rush upwards. The tip scorched her face, causing her to fall back screaming as her hands reached for her now missing nose and eye. Yet as I turned, I sensed an approaching wave of trouble; one masked in darkness. And within that, a familiar if distorted Force presence.
"HK, Simvyl, finish this," I ordered as I turned and moved toward the door to the cantina. Quinlan rushed past me, the fact that Aayla was outside – or soon to be – overriding any other thought he had. After this was over, I'd be speaking with him about the dangers of such single-minded focus like that, but for now, I let it go. As I followed him out, my lightsaber lazily redirected a bolt back at the sender just before I crossed the threshold.
Outside was pandemonium. A flood of Anzati was rushing everywhere, attacking anyone moving. "AAYLA!" Quinlan called out as he rushed through the nearest pack of Anzati, ignoring them in his desire to get to his Padawan. Yet the way she glared at him, and the unrestrained and barely focused wave of rage that radiated from her through the Force, I could already tell their reunion wasn't going to be a peaceful one. Not when her anger reminded me so much of how I'd felt after Anakin had been taken by the Trandoshans. At least until I'd learnt to harness and focus that rage properly from Adas. I wouldn't deny that the desire to skin every Trandoshan in the galaxy alive was still within me, just that it no longer risked overriding my mind.
"YOU!" Aayla roared back as she pushed her way through several of the Anzati near her. "You killed my uncle!" she snapped as she moved to clash with Quinlan, and I noted the Anzati around her not only chose to get out of her way but that these Anzati appeared even more bestial than those that attacked the fortress.
I summoned the Force to me and moved to intercede between the pair. However, it seemed my action drew the attention of every Anzati nearby and the HUD snapped out an ever-increasing warning count of approaching enemies.
The Force called out a warning before the HUD could and I slid to one side, avoiding some sort of gooey mass that was ejected from the chest of a nearby Anzati. The HUD quickly processed that the substance was some sort of restraining method; akin to those used by energy spiders to cocoon sentients for feasting upon later. Coupled with the deranged looks on the faces of these Anzati, and the fact there was no hint of sentience behind their eyes, it seemed this was what happened to the species when they went too long without feeding or devolved. Regardless of which was the case, the now over three hundred creatures the HUD was reporting inbound for my location were an issue that I had to handle if I was to get to Quinlan and Aayla before one of them hurt the other.
The Force flowed through me, empowering me as it bent to my demands. My blade howled in delight as it swept through the air, slicing any creature that got too close. A quick pivot of my feet and hips, along with a shifting of my wrist as a single swipe slashed five of the creatures.
My feet shifted, the footwork of Ataru keeping me in motion as I danced around outstretched claws and avoided web blasts. My lightsaber flowed through the air, removing the heads of two beasts in a single effortless stroke while my other hand pulled my beskad from its sheath. Blood soared into the air as the weapon savoured its first taste of flesh today, as I cut my way through the onrushing horde.
Every so often I caught sight of Quinlan and Aayla, their green and pink blades clashing against each other. Yet, each time I tried to move towards them, more of the feral Anzati came at me, delaying my approach. At one moment, Quinlan was forced back by Aayla's rage, and she moved in for a killing stroke. Before it could land, I pushed the Force through my hand and along the blade of my beskad.
The pair leapt back, avoiding the explosion as the Force slammed into the ground where they'd been standing, but it was enough to ensure that Quinlan didn't fall. He was holding back, I could feel it in the Force, and from the glances I could grab that Aayla had altered her style. Or more likely the one who'd taken control of her and manipulated her rage had taught her new velocities.
The Ataru she had focused on was still there, but more aggressive and dangerous Juyo angles of attack were in use as well; her rage towards Quinlan granting her the strength and power needed to truly use Juyo the way it was meant to be harnessed.
As another attempt to slip through the mass of feral Anzati slipped away as they continued to gang-rush me, I felt my control slipping. These creatures were wasting my time, and the longer I delayed, the more chance one of those I was here to help would be injured or die.
Generating a few metres of room, I dove into the depths of the Force, calling forth the full capacity of it that I was capable of summoning. Instead of the fractional gathering and focusing of the Force through my body that I learnt with the Matukai, I was removing the filters and allowing the full depth of my potential to let the Force flow into me, and it was glorious.
Time slowed to a virtual standstill as I felt the Force rushing through every muscle, pore, and sinew in my body, galvanising every fibre of my being. The HUD continued to report new threats coming toward me, though the count was moving slowly as if trapped on the event horizon of a black hole. I could see the movement of every muscle on each beast near me as if they were trapped in some form of time distortion and I gasped as I understood, for the first time, the true potential I held within the Force.
I grinned as, knowing I was as ready as I would ever be, I let go of the walls I'd built around my presence in the Force, letting the full breadth of my power flood over the battlefield.
Around me everything stopped, the eyes of everyone – be they beast, prisoner, or Force user – turned deliciously slowly in my direction as they all tried to understand what they were experiencing. My grin turned into a smile that would freeze the blood of my enemies if they could see it as I started moving, intent on destroying everything that dared to even look at me wrong.
The first flickers of fear appeared in the eyes of the feral Anzati as they understood they were standing before an apex predator and that they were now my prey. Yet even as that flicker of understanding sparked in their minds, plasma and beskar were cutting a vicious, visceral swathe of devastation through their ranks.
The beasts closest to me barely moved a muscle before my blades struck them. Blood and smoke rose painfully slowly into the air as I danced through their ranks. Those after my first strikes moved more, their claws turning to either strike at me or offer submission. I wasn't in the mood for either, and as the blood from my first strikes continued its upward trajectory, more of the creatures tasted my fury and, before they even understood it, began a slow, creeping fall to their deaths.
Limbs, heads, and entire torsos separated from the rest of the body they should be attached to, moving apart slowly with the only links to the slowly unfolding chaos the streaks of red created as my beskad moved from one target to the next. Flutters of smoke rose from cauterised wounds showing the path carved out by my lightsaber as it also unleashed destruction on the beasts.
To the Anzati and the others, everything would be engulfed in streaks of red and black as my blade and armoured form moved so quickly through the ranks of the feral beasts that it would appear as if they'd been engulfed by a storm of malignant intent. The only ones who could, in theory, track my swathe of destruction would be Quinlan and Aayla, though they were again more focused on each other than me.
The pair were moving slowly, though nowhere near as slow as everyone else. Streaks of pink and green brightened the air, adding colour to the darkened aura my weapons and I created as I tore a path through the savage creatures towards the pair of force users. Aayla's entire visage was consumed by rage, by her need to make Quinlan pay for killing her uncle, whereas Quinlan had lost that edge his fury had granted him; now he was little more than an untrained Jedi barely surviving under the onslaught of one in the grip of the Dark Side.
As I neared, my blades still turning anyone and anything nearby into more pieces of the symphony of carnage I was creating, I reached into the darkness around Aayla, to both find a way to break through it so we might speak and to see if the one responsible for her actions and the mind behind the primitive Anzati was present. It took but a mere moment to find the other's presence in the depths of Aayla's mind twisting her thoughts and desires to suit his purpose.
This was the source of the same growing darkness that I'd felt ever since we'd begun to approach Kiffex. The same one who'd hidden Aayla's path from me when I'd demanded the Force reveal it to me. There was age and experience to this presence, power too. Yet at the same time, it felt weaker than it should: as if unable to fully grasp the power it should be able to wield. That was both comforting as it meant I should be able to overpower them when we met, and disappointing as I feared they would not be the challenge I wanted them to be. However, as Aayla's assault on Quinlan grew more violent, I pulled back from her mind and again focused fully on the battle taking place in Deadend.
My trail of carnage through the Anzati had almost drawn me to the pair, and it was clear that Aayla, no matter how in theory weaker and unskilled compared to Quinlan, was winning. Her strikes were ferocious; empowered by her fury and desire to kill her former master. The Juyo she was using was enhanced by her rage. Quinlan, his body knowing how to move even if his mind did not, was struggling to keep pace.
I could sense his desire to not harm Aayla, to help her. While noble it was costing him the fight, and as he was driven to his knees by Aayla's elbow, she readied her blade to finish him.
Her blade came down, a scream echoing around the settlement as she channelled every ounce of her anger into her strike, and I sensed Quinlan accepting his fate. I, however, did not and before the pink of her blade could sever his head from his body, it was blocked by the red and black of my lightsaber's blade.
Aayla blinked, her anger-enriched mind taking more time than it should to process what was happening. She continued to push down, trying to drive my blade back into Quinlan's face yet I remained firm. As her eyes shifted to me, the haze of her fury lifting enough for a faint flicker of recognition to spark there, I pushed my other arm forward, using the Force to drive her back.
She leapt with the blast, gracefully landing a few metres away from me. The move was slow to me however, and I pulled back on the power I was using so that I might try and break through the cloud engulfing her mind first before trying more aggressive methods.
"Who are you?" She snarled, her mind a jumbled mess that exposed so many weaknesses that if I was forced to fight her, I knew the battle would end whenever I wanted it to. Against Quinlan, with his past lost to him, and drawing on what her new master had taught her, Aayla would emerge victorious. However, against one as comfortable in his training as I was, and with the Force at my complete command, she was nothing more than a bug waiting to be flicked aside whenever I wished.
"Have you forgotten me as well?" I replied, making sure the voice modulator was turned off even as the HUD reported the mass of Anzati I'd just cut my way through falling to the ground dead. "Quinlan said you forgot who he was, but I had hoped you might remember me from our time at the Temple," I added as the HUD tracked the number of Anzati I'd taken out and the reactions of those who'd been far enough away to be spared the whirlwind of bloodshed I'd unleashed on the others.
For a moment, I considered removing my helmet to let her see my face in the hope it might trigger a memory. However, the faintest shifts in the Force alerted me to the folly of that idea, and how this wasn't the time to attempt such a move. Her grip tightened around her blade, both hands holding it ready to unleash a powerful strike at me.
"Jedi!" She hissed out before the Force accelerated her toward me. I stood there, watching her move, impressed with how well she channelled her fury into empowering herself. Her new master had taught her well. However, after only a few steps, I recalled the Force to me, bending it to my will and as I watched her pace slowed down remarkably.
A sliding of my foot, followed by the gentle shifting of my hips and a flick from my lightsaber was all I needed to deflect her attack and move far enough away that her secondary strike missed while remaining in place to cover Quinlan as he slowly pulled himself to his feet. "It's been over a decade since you last beat me in a spar, Aayla, and while you have skill – including what your new master has taught you – you remain woefully unprepared to engage me." My words, as intended, fuelled her rage and she moved to engage me again, the faintest hint of a flaw in her attack easy to spot.
I could if I so wished, end this duel with that flaw, but I didn't. No, I wanted to try and break through the hold the Dark Side and this unknown master had on her mind. My blade came up, the barest of movements enough to push aside her lightsaber even as I kept my beskad back, showing I didn't need it to engage her. "Search your feelings, Aayla," I said softly as my blade again pushed aside an attack from the Twi'lek. "You know and trust me."
Her blade came crashing down from overhead, seeking to slash through my skull, which showed she had no understanding of beskar and what it could do. My blade came up, deflecting the strike down and away before a roll of my wrist had my blade pressing against hers, forcing her to take a step back as I easily overpowered her stance. "Use the Force and look at me."
Through the locking of our blades – which I was only holding for my attempt to reach her – I saw her blink. The Dark Side shifted around us as the presence of her master grew fractionally weaker and in her eyes there was a faint flicker of passing recognition.
Before she could say or do anything, she stumbled back, a hand coming to her temple. "Don't listen to him," I said as I remained where I was, sensing her master trying to assert domination over her fragile mind. "Trust your instincts and search your feelings," I added as I reached into the Force, using a portion of the power I controlled to find in an attempt to sever the connection between this hidden Dark Sider and Aayla. "We're friends, Aayla. I don't want to hurt you, but I will if you leave me no choice."
Aayla looked at me again, that flicker of understanding and recognition growing stronger. However, before she could act on it a massive wave of power slammed into her mind. I stumbled back, driven from her thoughts by the actions of the one controlling her. They were strong, and I suspected, skilled in the more mental aspects of the Force. That was something I'd have to be wary of once I found them, but for now, as Aayla reset her stance, I concentrated on my friend. "No!" She snapped, her rage flooding her mind and driving away any other thoughts. "I must serve my master," She added with a snarl before charging towards me.
I sighed, though no one but me heard it because of the helmet, even as my mind analysed her form and spotted several avenues to counter. Most would result in her losing at least her hand, which wasn't what I wanted, and I dismissed those selecting another option.
A gentle shifting of my wrist and my lightsaber flicked out, pushing aside her attack without any concern for the extra strength her rage provided her. My beskad fell from my grasp as I moved my hand forward and grabbed her arm before she could counter my defensive stroke. "Sorry," I whispered as I activated a feature of the gauntlet.
"AARGH!" Aayla screamed as enough energy to down an enraged rancor surged into her system. She twisted her arm, trying to slip free, but my grasp was solid. Her blade fell into her other hand alone and she swung it as best she could, intent on severing my arm. Not wanting her to hurt herself when the blade bounced off the beskar, my lightsaber came up and clipped her attack before it was close.
With a rotation of my wrist, her blade was driven down, and I moved the tip of my blade down hers, close enough that the heat brushed over her knuckles. "Ah!" She shouted at the new burst of pain even as her blade fell from her grasp.
She fell to a knee even as her now free hand came around. I pulled my blade back, not wanting to cost her a limb and let her ineffectually punch my armour. The HUD reported the strength of her strike was more than her body weight should be able to produce, yet well within the tolerable range of the beskar to withstand.
I pushed any feelings that surged in me as I saw the pain rushing over Aayla's face from my mind. This was hurting her, yes, but it was for her own good. At least I hoped she would see it that way once free of the one manipulating her. Her hand slapped almost pathetically against my armour: each strike slightly weaker than the last.
The Force shifted and I felt the presence of the Dark Sider grow stronger in her mind. Infuriated at his need to try and control her even as she flailed in my grasp, as well as angry at him for using my friend for whatever his purpose was, I pushed back. With every ounce of power I had, I slammed into the mental probe they were using to influence Aayla; not even slightly holding back on my power, nor on what I was capable of.
The presence of the Dark Sider reeled back, and I savoured their shock and the faint hint of terror that I sensed from them before they severed the link they held with Aalya's mind. If the person was here, they might be able to keep the hold over her mind, at least if they weren't dealing with my attacks. However, they weren't, and I was, thus the control they had over her mind shattered as I blasted it away with the full breadth of my power.
"Ugh," Aayla cried as her other knee crashed to the ground and if not for my grasp on her arm, she would've fallen over. The combined weight of the charge surging through her nerves, coupled with me driving the presence of the Dark Sider from her mind broke through her rage, dismissing most of her unnatural anger towards Quinlan.
I stopped the flood of energy into her system, and she looked up at me with blurry eyes. Her mouth opened but no sound came from her lips; the combination of the energy surging through her body and the lingering presence of her temporary master being banished from her mind robbed her of her voice for the moment.
I placed my hand gently on her shoulder, causing her to tense. Yet when no surge of energy slammed into her, she relaxed. "Sleep," I said gently to her, using the Force to overwhelm her weakened mind and ensure my command was obeyed.
Aayla slumped to the ground, only my grasp on her shoulder stopping her from falling too quickly. I knelt, guiding her down as the HUD confirmed she was sleeping. Yet before I could attempt anything else it alerted me to the approaching mass of feral Anzati.
I stood with a growl, letting my power flow outward. "You shall not take her," I snarled, daring any of the beasts, or the master that commanded them, to challenge me.
As before, the Anzati froze, understanding they were facing off against something far higher on the food chain. What remained of their minds understanding that to challenge me was to invite death. I took a step forward, causing the dozen near me to, almost as one, move back, forcing those behind to move back as well.
A second later, Quinlan's blade ignited as he moved to my side, adding his presence to mine. It wasn't needed as I could already sense the growing fear in the pack of creatures; something that spiked further as the few remaining inside the cantina rushed out, blaster bolts from at least a dozen shooters forcing them to retreat.
That was the trigger as first, from the back of the pack a handful of the creatures slithered back, heading towards the walls of the settlement seeking to return to their master. Some had cocoons of captured victims on their backs, and while I could've moved to free them, I didn't. Not only did I know – via the Force and the Battlenet – that Simvyl was not among the prisoners, but those that had been captured were, in the grand scheme far less important to me than Aayla and while few deserved the fate of having their life force drained by an Anzati, they were on this planet for crimes that elsewhere might carry a death penalty. Their removal from the galaxy would only benefit everyone else.
More of the ranks of bestial Anzati crept back and then turned tail, their desire to live and escape my clutches overriding their master's demands to bring Aayla back to him. I stayed where I was, watching the pack retreat. Yes, I had an objective to eliminate as many of the creatures on the world as I could, but that was minor compared to keeping my friend safe.
Quinlan and I stayed where we were, even as HK and Simvyl led the remaining thugs from the cantina out, blasters firing at the retreating beasts. I only relaxed my stance once the last Anzati leapt over the walls, disappearing into the night, and the Battlenet confirmed that they'd gone.
At that point, I powered down my lightsaber and then after attaching it to my belt, bent to pick up my beskad. "Get her into the cantina," I said to Quinlan before continuing through the Battlenet to speak to HK and Simvyl. "Secure the area around the cantina for now. If any of the locals give you trouble, remind them as forcefully as you need that if not for us they'd all be Anzati food."
"Exclamation: It would be my pleasure, Master."
"What are you going to do?" Quinlan asked as the HUD reported him kneeling next to his Padawan, checking on her condition.
"First," I began as I walked into the field of carnage I'd caused, "I'm going to ensure that none of the beasts here are still alive. After that, I'll check in with you in the cantina in case we need to keep Aayla secured or sedated, but I won't be staying long. You can stay here with her, but I'm heading out. The one responsible for Aayla's turn to the Dark Side and these packs of feral Anzati is still alive, and I intend to correct that oversight."
… …
… …
The speeder I'm on raced forward, barely a metre above the stream I'm using as a path through the jungle I'm now in as I follow the rough directions I took from Aayla's mind before I departed Deadend towards her master: Volfe Karkko. With me, a few dozen metres back, are HK and Simvyl; the pair having chosen to accompany me instead of staying with Quinlan as he watched over a slumbering Aayla.
After securing the settlement, I'd headed to the cantina and spoken with Quinlan about her. He had wanted to wake her immediately so they could talk as he retained the belief he could get through to her without combat. I was less confident about that approach, and after debating his idea for about an hour that evening with him, I'd managed to convince him to wait.
Using supplies that I'd brought with me, I'd injected Aayla with a sedative that was meant to work even on those strong in the Force and left instructions with Quinlan to keep giving her regular doses to keep her under. In theory, he could do that for about two weeks based on the amount of the drug I'd left behind, but I felt I'd be back at Deadend within a few days.
As I needed intelligence on who I was facing and where they were located, I'd reached into Aayla's mind via the Force and, as gently as I could, extracted that information. Her mind was to be blunt, more jumbled than the most insane puzzle I'd ever imagined, which was no doubt a side effect of daily doses of glitteryll that her uncle had pumped into her in an attempt to keep her docile. The fact he had needed to do that, while Quinlan had seemingly only needed a single dose to forget everything about the last two decades suggested that the lekku of Twi'leks offered some protection against the worst effects of glitteryll. However, until either I or members of the Order spent time with Aayla to help her, I couldn't be certain if my idea had any validity to it.
Still, even with her mind being a jumbled mess, I'd managed to gather enough intelligence that I could set out the following morning – it was now approaching midday – to hunt my prey. While the exacts of where the exact location of the base wasn't given over – it seemed even sedated that Aayla was resisting, or that I wasn't as skilled as I needed to be at using the Force in such a way – I had gained a name and species of who I was now hunting.
Volfe Karkko was an Anzati fallen Jedi who had been imprisoned on Kiffex centuries, if not millennia ago, by the Order. It wasn't clear when exactly he had been imprisoned, and with Aayla's mind a chaotic muddle she couldn't confirm dates to offer any help, but I was leaning towards either not long after the Russan Reformation or before the New Sith Wars.
For the former, if it was any more recently, then I suspected I'd recall reading about an Anzati Jedi Master during my time in the Temple. Yes, it was possible the story of Karkko wasn't taught to Initiates and Padawans, but that was unlikely as the names of others who had fallen were mentioned in passing when various Jedi spoke of the dangers of the Dark Side. Dangers that while valid if one let the Dark Side overwhelm you, weren't entirely true once one learnt to take control of yourself and the Force around you.
As for the earlier date, if Karkko had fallen during the nearly one-thousand-year period known as the New Sith Wars, the odds were good that the Jedi would've hunted him down and killed him as they did for countless other Dark Jedi and Sith. What also added strength to that idea was that the prison complex created to house Karkko had, from the images I'd pulled from Aayla's mind, been overgrown by a tree that wouldn't look out of place on Kashyyyk. A tree that, even now possibly hundreds of miles from it, I could already see rising above the rest of the jungle and wondered if anyone had ever travelled there before Aayla freed Karkko as it would be something akin to a landmark on the otherwise barren planet.
My thoughts on when he was imprisoned were unlikely to be useful to me when I faced Karkko, but they'd help pass the time as we'd raced towards him on the speeders we'd taken from Deadend. What was, and what explained the presence of so many devolving Anzati, was that Karkko was an Anzati himself. From what I could pierce together from the memories I'd drawn from Aayla; he had resisted the urge to feed on the soup of others until one day deciding that a single drink wouldn't hurt and that he could resist further temptation.
To say that failed was a massive understatement as, from one of the more concise memories I'd drawn from Aayla's mind, he claimed it had taken most of the Jedi Council at that time to defeat him. Yet instead of killing him, or placing him in a secure prison designed for Force users – assuming those existed whenever all this took place – they had chosen to imprison him in secret on Kiffex.
That was, given the fact the planet was probably inhabited at the time, an insanely stupid idea, but it did prove that it wasn't just the Council of this era that made mistakes that they probably shouldn't be making. It also explained the presence of the other Anzati, all in stages of mental regression to more primitive states, on the world. They had been drawn over the years by his presence in the Force, and after becoming trapped on a planet with few sentients to feed upon, de-evolved into savage beasts. Those that had attacked the Guardian fortress must've been recent arrivals, drawn by Karkko's more powerful call once he was awoken by Aayla, with them attacking in their need to feed.
"Observation: The creatures continue to watch from a distance, Master. I believe they are ensuring we head towards their master so he might attempt to kill us."
I smirked under my helmet at HK's remark as he moved behind and to my left. The HUD was tracking the movements of dozens of feral Anzati as they tried to remain hidden in the jungle around us. As HK said, they were keeping their distance, but not all of that might be by design. I wasn't reigning in my Force presence as much as I normally would, and those who had been involved in the attack on Deadend would recall that presence and choose, regardless of what their master commanded them to do, to stay back. Animals they might be, but they weren't mindless automatons.
If I wasn't concerned about the mass of beasts that might remain under Karkko's sway, I would've left Simvyl and HK with Quinlan to retain command of Deadend until I dealt with Karkko. Hells, I had initially asked them to remain behind anyway, however, neither had accepted the instruction. HK because he knew I was heading into battle and wanted to participate, and Simvyl because he understood that I'd need others to deal with the Anzati while I fought Karkko. Throw in the objective to kill as many of the de-evolved Anzati I as I could, and taking them along had been an easy decision.
"They know that coming any closer means their death," Simvyl commented, giving words to my earlier thoughts about why the beasts were staying back. "After what we… well, you really did in Deadend, those that remain understand not to challenge you."
I grinned at the comment. "What can I say? I was inspired to take out the trash," I replied with a chuckle. The final count of dead Anzati in the settlement had been a touch over five hundred, with me personally being responsible for about half of that number. HK had taken care of about fifteen per cent of them while Simvyl took out another ten per cent.
"Evaluation: Your performance last night master was worthy of myself. The way you carved a path of carnage would have drawn the Creator's praise."
"Why thank you, HK," I responded with a smirk even if I knew he meant Revan when he had been a Sith Lord and not the man who'd married Bastila Shan. Or at least, that was what I assumed. "However, I think the beasts are also staying back because Karkko wants them to. He wants me to come to challenge him; seeing like I do as a test of his might. He thinks he can defeat me, and then feast on my Force potential to finally have the power to take his army of Anzati to Kiffu. It's all bantha-poodoo mind you, but it's what's guiding his logic."
"You're sure that's his goal?"
I grunted at Simvyl's question. "He hasn't struck me as anything more than your typical Dark Jedi. He wants power and expects to use force to get it. For that, however, he needs to be stronger and that's why the Anzati that attacked Deadend took victims instead of feeding on them there and then as they tried to do with the outpost.
"That attack was designed to take out the Guardians: The only threat to him on the planet. Deadend was expected to be a feast for him to regain his power. However, we kriffed up that plan and so now he's turning his focus to me. If he escapes Kiffu the Guardians can't stop his army of beasts, to say nothing of one as strong in the Force as him."
I looked forward, my gaze drawn to the tree that marked the location of Karkko's command centre. That he had turned his prison into his base made sense as it was located deep in the jungle, surrounded by Anzati he'd easily bent to his will even while imprisoned, and hard to approach from almost every angle.
Closing my eyes for a moment, I reached out into the Force, checking that I could still sense Karkko ahead of me. He was there, and as had been the case since this morning, seemingly growing stronger with each passing minute. No doubt that was because he was feeding on anyone his army of creatures had brought him in preparation for facing off against me. I suspected that if not for my approaching presence he might've held off on feeding on every sentient he had imprisoned, but there was little I could do to help those poor souls, even with a Quest objective to try and save as many as I could. Even if I hid my Force presence as fully as I could, he would know that I'd be coming for him and feast on the life force of those he held in his command centre. The sooner I reached him, the more chance there was that some of the prisoners might survive, but I wasn't expecting to find any alive once we…
I frowned as, unexpectedly, I sensed a subtle shift in the Force. One so slight that if I'd not been reaching into the Force to confirm Karkko's presence was still where it should be, I'd have likely missed it. I slowed my speeder and gently reached out into the Force, but not towards where Karkko was but to my sides seeking to find the source of the odd shift in the Force. It was just about familiar, yet at the same time it was clear that whoever was here was trying to hide their presence; seemingly wanting to approach Karkko without him or the beasts under his command being aware of what was happening. If only I could…
There.
My head snapped to my right as I felt another faint shift in the Force; enough that now I was looking for it, I not only had the rough location of the source, but I could determine it was someone I'd met before long enough to become familiar with their Force signature. "Shab."
"What?" Simvyl asked, suggesting my curse carried over the Battlenet. Or he was just wondering why I'd slowed down.
"We've got company," I replied as I used the HUD to mark the rough location of the person I'd sensed on a map for others to see. "There. A Jedi," I explained as a mark about fifty kilometres to our right appeared.
"Isn't that a good thing? I mean, someone else to help with facing this fallen Jedi."
"Contemplative: Based on how the Master has fought so far, the powers he has displayed and might need to use against this Dark Jedi, I speculate that the Master is reluctant to have a Jedi nearby to observe his actions."
"About covers it," I responded to HK's answer to Simvyl's question. "That's T'ra Saa," I explain as I track her movements through the Force cautiously, not wanting to draw her towards me. Through the HUD I can spot a few dozen feral Anzati near her rough location, but none seem to be aware of her which is an indication of how well she's masking her presence, and how lucky I was to be able to be at the right moment to sense her presence without giving away mine.
T'ra Saa stopped and I felt the faintest of probes reach into the Force from her. I pulled back fully, locking down my Force connection to the best of my ability so that, if all went well, she'd be unable to sense me. For a moment I wondered how, if she felt my presence, she didn't know it was me but then I remembered that when I'd met her around eight years ago, the Interface had been filtering my Force signature, making me appear distant and weaker than I truly was. While I'd changed dramatically with my training since Naboo, it would be the loss of the Interface filtering the Force that would be causing her the greatest difficulty in determining who I was. However, I knew that wouldn't last, particularly if she was nearby while I fought Karkko. If that happened, and as HK said, I was forced to use everything I knew to defeat the Anzati, then she'd know I was drawing on the Dark Side and report it to the Order. That would cause all sorts of problems that I'd rather avoid for the time being, so I needed a way to…
"HK, I need you to divert and delay her," I said as I realised I had the perfect method to, if not kill, then at least hamper a Jedi. Now, I didn't want T'ra Saa dead, not unless I had no other choice, but I understood that if she were there when I fought Karkko then as soon as he was defeated she would turn against me. While I was powerful, I wasn't ready to take on a Jedi Master; particularly not one with centuries of experience who could probably fight to a standstill, if not defeat, many of those who sat on the Council. "Don't try and kill her, or get close to her. I don't want to risk losing you for that. Just… do whatever you have to, from a distance, to ensure she doesn't get to Karkko's location until after I kill him and Simvyl and I leave."
"Assurance: She will not cause you a problem, Master. Addendum: I am looking forward to testing a Jedi of this era to see what their capabilities are."
"T'ra Saa is one of the best in the Order, so if most things don't work don't take it personally."
HK scoffed. "Indignation: I am a droid, Master, not a weak meatbag. If my methods are ineffectual, I will simply be forced to craft more ingenious solutions to countering Force users." With that, he angled his speeder and moved off. Not directly toward Saa, but on a vector that would ensure he could cut her off without actively engaging her.
As I watched him vanish into the jungle, I looked back at Simvyl. "Are you okay with this?" I asked him. Yes, he had sworn himself to me, but the Antarian Rangers worked with the Jedi, and with this action, I was making it clear to him that my path wasn't going to remain linked to the Order's for much longer.
He was slow to respond, the conflict inside him easy to read after so many years travelling together. Loyalty to the ideal of the Rangers warred with the oath he'd sworn to me. "I… I understand why you're doing it," He eventually said slowly. "You've never been what one would expect of a good Jedi," I chuckled in my helmet at hearing that again, "and I've long since understood you don't intend to stay with the Order for much longer. I don't regret swearing my claws to your side, it's just… this feels like actively working against the Jedi and the Republic and that this point is coming sooner than I expected."
"I'm the same, and by having HK delay her, we might be able to keep our goals aligned with the Order's for a short while longer. However, I think I've known deep inside, perhaps since before we ever met, that my path wasn't the one the Order currently walks. I've never been able to be the sort of Jedi the Council and others wish me to be. For a time, I had hoped to just become something of a rogue or grey Jedi – as in one who, while still a Jedi, follows the will of the Force or their own path instead of the orders of the Council. Yet after Naboo, I knew that wasn't possible." I turned back and grasped the accelerator of my speeder. "I'd just hoped that the separation wouldn't come this soon," I finished as I twisted the accelerator, causing my vehicle to rush forward as fast as it could. "And that it didn't have to happen like this."
… …
… …
As the former prison but now command centre for Volfe Karkko came into view, buried as it was under the massive roots of the tree that had overgrown it, I whistled. "That's older than I expected."
The HUD was scanning the structure, and while an exact date wasn't forthcoming as it couldn't be certain of the effects of ageing and weather erosion that had afflicted the building, its rough estimate was a little over two thousand years old. That certainly aligned with the sight of a tree overgrowing a multi-storey building with its roots while the rest of the tree stretched up far above the jungle and confirmed my feeling that Karkko predated the New Sith Wars was accurate. Why the Jedi Council of the era hadn't chosen to kill Karkko, or at least lock him in a proper prison designed for Force users, I couldn't say, but it seemed I was now forced to correct their mistake.
I slowed my speeder as we reached a large open expanse in the swamp; one covered in a muddy bog, cautious that there might be a threat hidden within. Skirting the edge of the bog, we neared the temple, it and the tree that had grown over it looming larger with each passing second.
"They're getting closer."
I didn't need to look back at Simvyl to confirm his words, the HUD reporting the same thing as the feral Anzati moved around us, blocking off any chance of escape we'd have without having to fight our way through their ranks. Given the HUD had failed to discover more than a few hundred at any one time, I suspected that if needed I could handle all of them by myself. However, that wasn't why I was here.
"Hardly a surprise," I say as we race around the edge of the bog. "Their master wants us here, and unless I miss my guess, they want us to head up that big, wide-open set of stairs."
"You mean the one with no cover, and from which they could swarm us from any angle?"
"That's the one," I say as we finish passing the bog and enter the last few hundred metres to Karkko's command centre. "Which is why we're not taking it," I said as I angled my speeder towards a smaller entrance the HUD had located. "I'm using that one." That entrance was barely wide enough for more than two people to enter side by side, was a point the feral Anzati seemed to be coming and going from, and for which not much of the inside was known. Either from the HUD or from what I'd pulled from Aayla's memories about this place.
"That's better," he replied as he followed behind. "Much easier to defend. The only issue is the Anzati gathered around it, and no doubt inside as well. They're going to want us to head to the main entrance."
I chuckled darkly. "They're welcome to try and stop me going where I want."
"Stop us."
I slowed my speeder and looked back at Simvyl. "I'll be facing Karkko alone," I said slowly but firmly.
Simvyl laughed. "I know that. I'm not stupid enough to think I can take on a Force user when they go all out. Kriff, I can barely keep up with Anakin at times when he really gets going and sinks into the Force. What I mean is that while you face Karkko I'm not staying outside and dealing with these feral Anzati. I've not got a death wish."
I grunted as I realised I'd overreacted for a moment. "Fair enough." Simvyl was a capable warrior, one that had grown stronger over the last few years, but he at least knew his limitations. Oh, asking him to hold a position, even one as seemingly defensible as the cave entrance we were heading for against hundreds of Anzati was going to be a challenge, but it had better odds than him facing someone like Karkko. "Once we're inside you'll find a point to bunker down while I push on, hopefully removing any of the beasts that might try and sneak up on you, and take out Karkko."
"What about any of those taken from Deadend?"
"For now, there's nothing we can do," I replied as our speeders slowed further. The Anzati around us were growing restless, not liking that we weren't heading toward the entrance their master wanted us to use. "Karkko's getting more powerful by the minute, no doubt feeding on any prisoner he has. Once he's dead, if there's time, we'll look for others but I'm not expecting much luck with that. If you find anyone, leave them for now. I don't want you exposing yourself to attack trying to help them."
"Understood."
I stopped the speeder and slipped off. The beasts moved closer, massing in a feeble attempt to stop me from entering the complex where I wanted to enter. I smirked under my helmet, as I drew my blade. The faint howl of the lightsaber igniting was accompanied by me releasing some of the hold I kept on my Force signature.
Many of the beasts shuddered, and a sizable number took a few steps back. Those were the ones who survived Deadend and understood what I was capable of. I'd likely have to remind them and teach the others, to gain entrance to the passageway I wished to enter from, but I knew they'd not be able to stop me, or even really slow me down.
They weren't the target, just bugs on the windscreen that needed to be swatted. However, the more I took out now, the less I'd have to try and find afterwards, if time allowed, for the linked objective of the Lost Apprentice quest. Plus, even if as I suspected I couldn't take them all out, thinning the herd would make them less of a threat to the Guardians once they returned to control the planet and monitor the prisoner population.
It only took a few minutes, and around another hundred dead feral Anzati, for Simvyl and I to reach and then enter the passageway. I reached out with the Force, wanting to ensure no creatures were hiding inside in an attempt to flank my friend as he held our escape point. A few were found, and those close enough to be dispatched were efficiently taken out with either my blade, the blaster in my gauntlet, or judicial use of the Force.
With the area cleared, I turned to Simvyl, watching as he pushed crates and boulders together to form a temporary foxhole. I quickly assisted him by moving several larger objects, including sections of the complex that had broken loose over the years because of plant growth or damage done by the Anzati, so that he had a readily defensible position to await my return.
"Here," I said to the Cathar as I pulled a pouch from my belt and handed it to him. "Place these around at any weak points you find. I'll do the same as I move ahead," I explained, knowing the pouch I'd just given him contained about a dozen thermal detonators. While killing Karkko and as many of the feral Anzati, and then rescuing any prisoners were the goals here, I had no intention of leaving this place standing after we left. It stank of the Dark Side, but not in any way that might be considered natural or healthy. No, this place was a vile corruption of the Force that needed to be expunged.
Simvyl placed the pouch down beside him as he moved into the created cover, though his focus remained on the entranceway we'd just come through. As I moved deeper into the complex, I heard his blasters open fire, the Battlenet reporting the fall of a trio of the beasts that had tried to assault his position. He would have to work to stay safe, but I had faith in his training and ability to handle the challenge.
Slipping into the next chamber beyond the one connected to the entranceway, my blade flicked out and bisected two Anzati on either side of me in one elegant, flowing motion. As their bodies fell to the ground, the HUD scanned the array of cocoons in this chamber. Most had the heads exposed, allowing the HUD to link many to faces it had scanned in Deadend; however, none were moving, and I could feel the Force's revulsion at how they had died. Instead of being allowed to return to the Force, their life force had been drained, preventing them from returning to the cycle of life as it was in this galaxy.
Moving deeper, I passed through two more chambers, each as full of lifeless cocooned corpses as the first. The handful of creatures that were in the chambers bore my wrath for their part in the abomination that had happened here while I placed explosives as I went, trusting the HUD to mark potential weak points in the structure Perhaps I was using too many detonators, but I had over fifty in my Inventory and wanted no part of the complex to remain after Karkko was dead.
Eventually, I reached a fork in my path. One route led deeper into the caverns under the complex, with more cocoons inside, the other led upwards into the former prison, and to where I knew Karkko was waiting for me. Reaching into the Force I tried to sense if anyone in the next chamber was alive, but felt nothing. With a sigh, I took a handful of detonators from my Inventory, placed them around the chamber, and then tossed several more into the next chamber.
With that done, I began my ascend towards the Anzati Dark Jedi above, my mind and body ready for any threat. As I ascended, I felt something twisted brush against the defences around my mind. I growled and enhanced them, ensuring that Karkko couldn't slip into my mind and learn something he might use against me. However, I didn't unfurl the entirety of my power. No, that reveal, even if he'd felt it remotely when I'd taken out his horde of feral beasts and freed Aayla from his control, I wanted to wait until I could see his face before I let him understand just how outclassed he was.
The stairs were in better condition than the chambers I'd just come through, and the signs of degradation and overgrowth by the tree became less prevalent the higher I climbed. It seemed that even while in stasis Karkko had generated enough of a residual twisted presence in the Force that it interrupted with the natural growth of the jungle. As the climb continued, I wondered why the Jedi who had imprisoned Karkko had gone to this extent to create a prison for him. It made even less sense than the decision to imprison him on Kiffex and then forget about him, or at least made things more confusing as the lack of logic involved here was staggering.
Soon I emerged at a door, and I knew that he awaited me on the other side. The door slid open slowly, the ravages of time causing the system controlling it to take a few seconds longer than ideal to react to my presence. The chamber that greeted me as the door slid open was one filled with smoke, though not enough that it in any way impeded vision even if I wasn't in my armour.
Stepping into the large chamber, one that reached at least three stories in height – again, another odd design choice for a prison – I saw large pipes, each easily the thickness of my thigh, running towards a central round platform. On that platform, using a chair that clearly wasn't part of the original decor, sat my target.
Volfe Karkko looked like any healthy Anzati should, though the beard he wore was straight out of the handbook for stereotypical villains. Now, perhaps it was fashionable during his era, but to me, it reminded me of those worn in many older action movies from my former life.
I walked towards him slowly, my hilt in my hand but not yet powered, studying the man through the HUD and with Observe.
Volfe Karkko
Race: Anzati
Level: 37
Health: 95%
Age: 132 (2300 linearly)
Force Potential: High
Threat Potential: High
Reputation: None
Affiliation Loyalty: Volfe Karkko (100%)
Emotional State: Intrigued/confused.
Volfe knows you are the one who took Aayla Secura from him, and while that angers him, he is intrigued by the power he senses within you.
He had expected Quinlan Vos to arrive with other Jedi, yet you fight with the brutal efficiency of a Sith, and he wonders if you might be a better apprentice than Aayla.
However, he is unsure what to make of your arrival while wearing armour that, while unfamiliar to him, is similar to that worn by Mandalorians in his era.
...
"You are the one who took my apprentice from me," Karkko commented as he sat on his chair on the platform, leaning forward slightly with a slight frown as he looked me over. The platform was, based on the device in the ceiling, where he had once been imprisoned, and I assumed he was using it as his throne to mock the Jedi who had made the Force-awful decision to imprison and then forget about him millennia ago.
"She was never yours," I replied softly, keeping my feelings out of my voice. I could have the HUD modulate my voice, but it wouldn't matter as any emotion that slipped into my tone would be sensed by him through the Force. I took another few steps toward the platform, cautious as something felt off about this entire encounter. As if I was being allowed to approach far too easily by someone who had to consider me a threat.
Karkko leaned his head on one hand as his eyes roamed over my frame. "You are the one I felt take her from my control and defeated my legions. You have power child, the likes of which I admit I have not felt before, yet it is clear both by your actions and your choice of attire confirms that you are no Jedi." His head tilted and I felt him brush up against my mental defences again. "Your armour is of Mandalorian design, is it not?"
"It is, though I suspect it's different from what you remember," I replied calmly even as I reached out as subtlety into the Force as I could, trying to put a finger on what felt off. There was no great warning from the Force or immediate danger, nor a reaction of Danger Sense to an imminent threat, yet I couldn't escape the feeling that something was amiss.
Karkko chuckled, the large nose that was semi-common of his species shifting oddly as he did so, and then leaned back in his chair. "Interesting."
He stood slowly, moving carefully to not appear a threat even if I knew he most certainly was. "Interesting," he remarked as he gently leapt down from the platform on my side yet still a good ten metres away from me. "Your power is far beyond that of the Twi'lek," he continued as he moved closer yet angled to my right as if trying to slowly circle me. I turned with him, keeping my front aimed toward him so it would only take the slightest of shifts to get into a duelling stance. "I can taste the Dark Side within you," he said as he unclipped his lightsaber from his belt. "Yet you chose to free the Twi'lek from my control instead of simply killing or breaking her as I would expect." His head tilted to his left. "Who is she to you?"
"A friend," I replied honestly.
Karkko nodded, though he already seemed disinterested in Aayla. I watched as he paused. "Ah, but where are my manners," He said before giving a very regal-looking bow. "As you are no doubt aware, I am Volfe Karkko. Formerly a member of the Jedi Council until I saw through the lies of the Order, and you find yourself in what was once my prison but is now my inner sanctum."
"Cameron Shan," I replied, not bothering with any more details.
"Shan?" Karkko repeated slowly before tapping his chin. "Ah yes, I recall that name from the Twi'lek's thoughts; some that were unbecoming for a Jedi I might add," he continued with a chuckle. "How deliciously ironic that in freeing her from my control and coming here to confront me, you have denied yourself the chance to see if she might now act on those desires now that the false teachings of the Jedi no longer afflict her thoughts." He paused and chuckled. "Well, not unless…"
"Unless what?" I asked, already suspecting where he was going with this. "Not unless I join you and take her as my slave?" I grunted and shook my head. "Sorry, but if I was ever going to learn from a Dark Sider it wouldn't be some pathetic fallen Jedi such as yourself."
Karkko's lips thinned before I felt a mental probe brush against my mind. "Ah, so the Sith are still active in this era. How interesting."
I was glad my helmet was on, masking the momentary shock that he had pulled something from my mind, despite my best efforts to shield it.
"The Twi'lek was unaware of this, but that is hardly a surprise. The Sith would never show an interest in one destined to be a slave when far more powerful and delicious potential apprentices exist." His lightsaber ignited with a snap-hiss.
"Before I drain you, I will pull your knowledge of the Sith and the galaxy from your mind."
"If," I said gently, my blade igniting. The roar of its energy filled the chamber, its colour drawing Karkko's gaze—and a flicker of surprise.
"If?" he asked, cautious now as I eased into a Makashi opening stance.
"If you defeat me," I clarified with a smirk he couldn't see, but one I let him feel through the Force. "Which, from what I've seen so far, is about as likely as the Jedi welcoming you back to the High Council."
Karkko's lips twitched, his only outward reaction, but I felt a ripple in the Force—and then he was upon me.
His blade swept in a wide arc toward my arm, a strike meant to test rather than kill. A flick of my wrist guided it past, deflecting with minimal effort. He rotated, his blade flowing seamlessly into another strike, this one faster, aimed at my ribs. I stepped back, letting the tip burn through empty air.
He was testing me, as I was testing him.
A third attack came, faster still, a sweeping cut toward my shins. My blade dipped low, catching his and guiding it up and over my head in a controlled arc. He had power, but I had precision. I remained in Makashi, giving no hint of the other forms in my arsenal.
Another attack came, flowing from the missed stroke before. This one moved even faster; a low sweep designed to bait a reaction. With a flick of my wrist, my blade dipped low again, guiding the attack up and over without allowing him an opening. While his moves were crisp, they lacked the sheer aggression and deadliness of Maul's strikes, which reassured me. Karkko was powerful, but he was no Sith Lord.
He leapt over me, flipping midair in a flawless Ataru velocity. I pivoted, blade rising just enough to deflect any errant strike. As he landed, he shifted into Juyo, drawing upon the Force to augment his speed and strength.
"You've been trained well," he admitted. His stance coiled with barely restrained aggression. "However, I can see the flaws in your stance and know the weaknesses of your style. Which I will use to defeat you and then feast upon your soup."
I stayed silent, weight balanced, waiting.
He lunged. A feint. I sensed it before he moved, remaining still, waiting for the real attack. His blade drove forward, seeking a decisive strike. I turned, one foot sliding back, guiding his blade away with a minimal flick of my wrist.
His attacks intensified. Strength. Speed. Ferocity. But Makashi was built for this—for control, for counters, for precision. A subtle pivot, a shift in weight, and his strikes found only air.
Another opening appeared, and I took it, though this time only the edge of his robes were burnt by my blade. Still, another moment of proof that I was the better combatant which only fuelled the desperation that I felt growing within Karkko.
Sensing he was losing, Karkko roared, infusing the Force into his scream. I braced and was driven back a few meters by the power of his rage, yet even as he sought to use that, I was ready.
His blade came in, bound for my heart. Guiding it away was easily doable, but in the time that would pass between the beats of a butterfly's wings, I saw another path.
Karkko's eyes widened as my hand first moved towards his blade, and then grasped the heated plasma with ease, stopping his momentum in an instant. His lips shifted, and confusion echoed in the Force but before he could ask how I'd grasped his blade, my lightsaber drove forward, burying a good third of the blade in and through his gut.
He grunted at the sensation, which turned into a pained moan as, with a flick of my wrist, my lightsaber rose, searing a deadly arc through his chest and then out his side.
His lightsaber slipped from his grasp, though for a second before it turned off, it remained secure in the grasp of my mechanical hand. As it fell, I stepped forward, catching the hilt in my hand and then igniting the blade.
Karkko stumbled back, the hand that had been grasping his blade moving to the long, fatal wound on his side. He slumped to a knee, looking at the wound in shock. As his head rose, and his eyes saw me, I moved closer, both his blade and mine ignited and in my hands.
His lips moved, and the arm came up. Whether in a desperate plea for mercy or some final act of defiance, I didn't care. My blade flicked around, severing his arm at the elbow before, wanting to ensure he was gone, I used his blade to remove his head.
The body slumped to the floor in a heap as his skull, shock and fear forever locked on his face, bounced off the ground and rolled away.
I stepped back, depowering both blades and smiled at the headless body at my feet. He had dared to think he could be my master, that he was in some way more powerful than I. That failing, along with what he did to Aayla, ensured this was the only outcome that befitted him.
I stood there, the Force shifting and bowing down to me, savouring the moment of victory. Of the proof that all my work since Naboo had been worth it. Yes, I wasn't ready to take on most Jedi Masters, to say nothing of the Council or the Banite Sith, but I had my proof that the path I had chosen and the choices I'd made had been the right ones.
As the moment of relishing my victory passed, I knelt, wanting to see if Karkko kept anything of value in his robes. At the same time, I sent a signal to Simvyl that Karkko was defeated, and that we'd soon be moving out.
Finding nothing of worth on Karkko's corpse I stood and moved what the HUD suggested might still be working computers in the chamber. The process that the Jedi of that ancient era had used to imprison Karkko while old might hold some value, and there might well be files there that could be of use. I'd also be making sure the systems were purged so that, if T'ra Saa arrived and had time to examine the complex before it exploded, she'd not find any recordings or sensor readings of anything I'd done since I'd come into range of the complex.
As I walked away, and after clipping both lightsabers to my belt, I called upon my training with the Shapers, and then the fury that burnt within my soul. Pushing one hand back to Karkko's body, the HUD reported it being engulfed in flames fuelled by the Force which would again, if she arrived with time to spare, further prevent T'ra Saa from knowing what had happened here. The flames shifted to the Anzati's head and then arm, reducing everything to ash.
As I used my gauntlet's system to access the complex's ancient computer systems, I reached out with the Force, hoping to sense anyone who was not an Anzati still alive in the place. However, I felt nothing beyond the faint hints of the various Anzati that had served Karkko, in all their stages of de-evolution, ambling around unsure of what to do. The more bestial one of them had become, the harder it was to sense them within the Force, even when drawing on the darker elements of it for help.
It was as I pulled back from that search, the minimap of my Interface marking as many of the feral Anzati as I could locate, that a signal came in from HK through the Battlenet. He had been forced to pull back from delaying T'ra Saa. The Neti Jedi Master had finally slipped through whatever delays and distractions HK had deployed to keep her from my current location and she was now moving at great speed towards the complex.
Understanding time was of the essence, I ordered Simvyl to get to the speeders and then, with the Force surging through me, raced around the chamber and elsewhere in the complex, deploying thermal detonators at points the Force felt would ensure the maximum amount of destruction.
By the time we left, this complex would have but seconds of existence left, and the threat it had created to the prisoners on Kiffex, and to the Guardians who monitored said prisoners, would be gone. Along with, I hoped, most of the Anzati that had been drawn to Karkko's prison and service.
The threat he posed was over. It was now time to check on Aayla and Quinlan, contact the Guardians then leave this planet. Hopefully forever.
… …
… …
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