Chapter 7
They stood in a long hall that ended in a door to the right and continued around a corner to the left. Emergency lights and klaxons lay dormant on the walls, having been disabled by R5.
Momla strode toward the door on the right purposefully, opening himself to the Dark Side. His face twisted into a snarl as he filled himself with an uncontrollable rage. He gestured toward the door as he approached and it withdrew into a recess in the wall. Two guards turned toward the door, startled at the sudden motion. Their eyes grew wide as they caught sight of the demonic looking Sith bearing down on them.
They raised their blasters and the enraged Momla lunged with a growl. His blade arced wide as he landed low to the floor, two halves of blaster rifles falling to either side of him with a clank. He sprang back up, cutting up across one guard, and continued into a spin that brought the lightsaber around and plunging into the second guard’s face before the two halves of the first fell to the floor.
Momla turned and strode out of the room and back into the hall.
Shar, Yin and MP went to the corner on the left and started down the next hall. Halfway down they saw two guards round the corner of another passage. Their apparently jovial conversation cut short as shock crossed their face and they fumbled for their blaster rifles.
The three Sith started towards the guards when a door to the side of them opened as they passed. In a blur, MP ignited his staff and cut the top of the Gamorrean’s head off before he even registered what he was seeing. The alien’s body dropped heavily and MP stepped over the corpse into the side passage as Yin and Shar continued down the hall.
The guards barely brought there blasters to bear when they fired full auto, praying something would hold back the visions of death coming for them. Panic ripped into them as one of the bolts slammed into the Kel Dor mid chest and the energy washed over him, sinking into his flesh, absorbed.
Yin closed on the first guard and opened his belly with a quick low stroke. Shar brought his hand up and closed it into a fist as the second guards neck snapped loudly and he fell away, dead.
His metal feet ringing off the steel floor, MP5 marched down the hall to the first door he saw. The droid touched the activation panel and the door slid away with a hiss. Inside, a Weequay lay snoring softly on a cot, oblivious to his coming end. MP5 brought his thrumming blade down onto the sleeping guard and through the bed, cutting a gouge out of the floor.
Some sought a killing strike in hitting a vital organ or component of the target. MP5 found it more effective, and somehow satisfying, to simply cut the target in two or more pieces. He had yet to find the organism or machine that could effectively continue after such damage. Indeed, such was the case with the parts of Weequay and cot at his feet now. He liked to call it ‘The Rule of Two’ as he thought it an amusing pun.
MP5 heard another door open and turned to see a Gamorrean emerge from an adjacent room, the alien’s blaster leveled at him. MP dove to the side of the small compartment as energy bolts crashed into his metal frame. Sparks flew and molten carapace sloughed to the floor as the guard emptied his rifle at the droid. Another guard emerged groggily from another door and immediately woke up at the sight in the hall. The man ran past the blaster wielding guard and out the hall door as MP5 closed on the now empty Gamorrean.
The alien squealed and tried to run back into his room. MP5 struck low and cut the guards legs off at the knees, cutting another gouge out of the wall beside him on the follow through. The Gamorrean rolled over onto his elbows and tried to squirm away as MP5 split him in two from shoulder to waist. ‘Textbook’ thought MP5.
He killed the next waking guard as he opened his door, slamming his saber into the Rodian’s chest and pulling it out through the screaming guard’s side. The last one, apparently still intoxicated from the night before, never even woke up. MP5 ensured it would stay that way.
Momla heard blaster fire around the corner down the hall. He drew the Force into himself, filling his limbs with it’s implacable energy. Power burned within him and he burst forth like a shot.
In the front room of a second wing of holding cells, four guards fired indiscriminately down the hall on full auto, sending dozens of bolts of energy toward Shar and Yin at the other end. Two of the guards would spend their ammo as the other two would reload to keep up a constant barrage of fire.
“For Grinnak’s sake, keep firing!” ordered the Rodian commander. He was desperately trying to hold the men’s discipline together when a blur flew around the corner. “Shoot it!” he screamed, “Shoot -” His voice suddenly silenced as his snouted face left his skull. The other guards looked over to see Momla standing over the commander’s corpse and charged him. Shar and Yin ran to get in on the butchering.
Momla deflected a force pike and plunged his lightsaber into the guard’s hip. A dagger punched into his side as he pulled his lightsaber free. The second guard brought his knife back for another strike aimed at Momla’s ribs. His arm came forward and dropped to the ground, severed at the shoulder. Yin finished him, decapitating the guard’s head on the return swing.
The wounded Guard grabbed at the wall for support, his ruined hip no longer able to support his weight. Momla walked up to him and pushed his saber blade into the man’s head.
Shar brought his blade down in an overhead swing at the third guard. But the man was quick with adrenaline and the saber only cut into his leg as he side stepped the strike. Committed to the attack, Shar’s face was open, and the guard brought his fists into Shar’s nose with a two handed swing. There was a loud ‘Crack!’ and Shar’s white face was stained red with exploding blood as his nose broke. He stumbled back into the wall as the guard limped down the hall, desperately trying to get away.
Another Rodian commander, wondering what the hell all the noise was, appeared at the end of the hall. “Run!” the wounded guard yelled to him as he limped down the passageway. Instantly taking in the sight and the sabers, a look of intense desire for self preservation crossed the Rodian’s face and he ran for the entrance to the base.
MP5 was coming out of the now empty guard’s quarters when he saw a Rodian run past. He entered the hallway and saw the Rodian round the corner and out of sight towards the blast door. He turned back toward the direction the Rodian had come from just in time to see a limping guard round the corner and look at him with an “Oh poodoo” look.
The four Sith proceeded down the main corridor to a large blast door. Three more guards appeared around the corner further down the hall and opened up with their blasters.
“I’ll see to this.” said MP5, jamming his saber blade into the locked blast door. Yin nodded and he, Shar, and Momla ran towards the guards.
The guards retreated down the hall towards a third set of holding cells and took up positions to keep up the firing.
Yin and Shar went through a side door as Momla charged the holding cells. Drawing the Force into himself again, he leapt, somersaulting into the air. He landed in the middle of the astonished guards and set into them with his blade.
The first one pitched over, his intestines spilling onto the floor as he died. Momla ducked under a clumsy attack with a bayonet and cut the legs off the second guard. As the man fell screaming to the ground, the third guard charged, plunging his knife into Momla’s gut. The Sith brought a heavy backhand across the guard’s face, knocking him back. Fueling his rage with the pain, Momla struck out with his saber in a backhanded hay maker, slicing the guard open from neck to groin.
Like a storm of destruction, Yin and Shar swept through the supply warehouse. The first one to see them, a Nikto, died with a scream on his lips, Yin’s unforgiving blade freeing his head from his shoulders. They moved from room to room slaughtering as they went.
MP5 had just cut through the blast door when Yin, Momla and Shar returned.
“Tednal is inside.” MP5 stated.
As they went through the door Momla nodded, “Then our mission will soon be at an end.”
The wide corridor beyond was empty. They walked to the end and saw that half way down the adjoining passage a great blast door stood open on the left side. Shar felt something unfamiliar and dark brush his senses and he looked to Momla.
He said, “I sense it too.”
Shar and MP5 stormed into the audience chamber beyond beyond the great blast door. The Force lending him speed, Shar punched his fist toward three of the five Nikto guards inside before they could fire their weapons. A wave of Force energy sent the guards flying into the wall with a bone breaking crack. One of the guards stopped moving completely while the others were knocked senseless.
MP5 charged the other two guards, slicing the end off the first ones blaster as he brought the opposing end into the second Nikto’s face. As the faceless Nikto fell dead, the other one ducked inside MP5’s arc and plunged his vibro blade into his leg. Sparks flew and MP5 kicked the guard in the chest, sending him into the wall.
Momla ran into the room with Yin and charged toward a pale woman standing behind the Nikto, dressed in a heavy black uniform and great coat. She drew her blaster and fired at Momla. He dodged and leapt, but a number of bolts found their mark. To Momla, the woman reeked of the dark side. But she was untrained and unfocused. She was no Sith. He drew upon the Force, focusing it into his hands and caught the barrage of bolts on his open palms, the energy bolts dispersing harmlessly upon them. The woman eyed the charging Ithorian and smiled, dropping her blaster and drawing her vibro-ax, swinging it in a figure eight before her.
Shar moved to flank the Force user, when he felt a tremor in the Force. He looked to the back of the room and saw Tednal Corga. The Bith had taken cover behind a dais and fired with twin blasters at him. He tried to leap out of the way, but Tednal’s aim was true.
Shar knew it was a killing shot, and soon he would be dead. Fate wanted his life and he raged against it. The natural order meant nothing, Shar’s vengeance would not be denied. With a terrible force of will, Shar wrenched his destiny back from ruin. Against all that was natural he flew out of the path of the blaster rounds to land mere feet from Tednal. Incalculable rage contorting his face into the incarnation of hate itself, Shar raised his hand toward the crime lord and began to squeeze.
Momla struck first, the weight of his lightsaber giving him the advantage of speed over the dark woman. His blade bit into her shoulder as she quickly dodged to the side. Smoke curled up from the wound as she brought the great ax around at him. Momla felt her draw on the dark side, pushing her strength into the realm of the superhuman. Her ax crushed into his right side just below the armpit, splitting flesh and crashing through bone. The blade ruptured his lung and burst out the front of his chest, barely missing his hearts. Momla fell to the floor, darkness threatening to engulf him.
MP5 finished the last guard with a stroke and looked up to see Momla fall. A door opened behind the dark woman standing over Momla and a Feeorin emerged shooting at Yin as he crossed to engage the woman. “Rav” said MP5 and started toward the woman in support of Yin when something crashed into his side sending the droid tumbling. MP5 instantly recovered, looking up to see a Nexu beast lunge at him.
He rolled back and kicked out, his solid metal foot connecting with the lunging animals jaw and resulting in a satisfying crunch. The Nexu fell to the floor and instantly pounced again. As close as it was MP5 had to bring his staff around as a blunt weapon. It rang slightly as it smashed into the side of the Nexu’s head. The beast fell to the ground again and rolled onto it’s feet just as MP5 brought his blade down onto it’s back. The Nexu fell in two spasming pieces upon the floor. MP5 was reminded of his Rule of Two philosophy.
Yin leapt at the dark woman with a high strike. She ducked it and came up with a sidelong strike at the Sith. Yin flipped back, kicking out as he did so and hitting the woman in her jaw. She stumbled back and recovered herself.
The Sith felt her drawing upon the Force and laughed, “Pathetic schutta, you know nothing of the Dark Side!”
Rage boiling within her, the woman growled and lunged at him.
Yin began drawing the Force into himself, focusing it and bending it dangerously to his will, “Allow me to enlighten you.” He reached out with the Force and ripped the ax from her grasp, the weapon flying to the front of the room. He channeled the Force into his strike and his blade parted her head from her neck.
Rav looked at Yin and the droid coming toward him and all confidence left him. He broke out in a run and disappeared into the hall outside the audience chamber.
Yin and MP5 looked down at Momla to see he was still alive and concious. “The Force is strong with you.” said Yin as MP5 helped him up.
“My determination is even stronger.” Momla wheezed, “As is my hate.”
They turned to see Shar approaching them, Tednal’s corpse sprawled on the dais behind him.
“Come on dammit!” screamed Rav, “Hurry up!” The two guards stood just in the doorway, firing into the welded blast door. Lan Ree sat curled against a wall inside, still sobbing softly. Rav stood inside the room next to the terminal, trying desperately to think of some way out. There had to be something. Something he’d missed. ‘Come on,’ he thought, ‘ you haven’t lived this long to die because of a locked door. Think! What the hell are those things, anyway? They damned sure aren’t Jedi!’
Suddenly, the two thugs fell away dead as they were cut down from behind. Startled, Rav looked up at the reapers before him and begged, “Please.” They stepped into the room and Lan Ree yelped. MP5 walked over to the Gran and lit his lightsaber.
Lan looked up at Yin, “But you said you would set me free.”
“We are.” replied MP5 as he plunged the saber into him.
Yin looked at Rav and the pirate felt his heart go cold. “You are not meant for death this day.” Yin said, “We have spared you for another purpose. This organization is now yours. Given to you, as is your life, by us and those we serve. Remember what you have seen this day, for there will be others like us who will call on you in the future, seeking repayment for the gifts given you. Be certain you are considerate of these requests. It would be a shame if you proved “unappreciative”.”
His lightsaber igniting with a hiss, Yin stepped toward Rav. Shar lifted his hand toward the Feeorin and said, “To ensure you remember.” Rav felt his body go rigid and struggled uselessly against the iron like force restraining him. Yin drew the point of his saber slowly across Rav’s left eye in an “x”. The Feeorin screamed in pain as the organ burst and the skin split, burnt and blistered around the energy blade.
Yin stepped back and said, “It would be a shame if we had to give you this lesson again.”
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