"Look out!" Per'dra roared, as she sent a wave of the Force crashing into the surrounding assailants. They staggered backward, and a few of them even fell flat on their rear ends. This time, the Knight ignited her saberstaff for real. In the heat and chaos, she wondered how in space they knew which ship, and which ship's crew, to track. Voleran, she concluded between parrying attacks.
Corsail ducked behind cover and let out a spray of blaster bolts in the direction of the enemy. Did someone tip them off? He wondered. He saw a sniper aiming at Vlalkor's head and let a blaster bolt fly in his direction, the bolt hit it's target and the sniper fell down motionless
"Theres another group of them behind that building to the left!" He shouted, "Someone focus on them!"
Zarev managed to finally get to his feet as he rolled under the volly of blaster bolts and brought and dropped into an offensive stance.
"You made a big mistake not killing me when you had the chance." Zarev said quietly as he advanced towards the assassin who force pushed Vlalkor back into a wall, knocking the blaster rifle from his hands.
The assassin smiled and threw back the hood and Zarev's eyes widended in shock.
"Avelra?" He didn't get a chance to say anything else as she grabbed him with the force and lifted him into the air and began to crush the life from him.
This can't be true...or possible for that matter. She disappeared nearly a year ago I can't sense...anything from her. I can't sense the darkside or the lightside in her.How is this possible?"
Zarev's vision was begining to go dark as he felt his ribs begining to crack under the pressure.
"Avelra...S-Stop this. Don't you remember me?" he asked her as his voice cracked.
Per'dra noticed Zarev being levitated by one of their numerous attackers, who appeared to be female. She was crushing his ribcage through the Force, and it was fortunate that the Knight knew a Form IV, or Ataru, acrobatic technique. Within nanoseconds, she had closed the distance between herself and their enemy, and without another word, Per'dra slashed her sabers downward.
The assassin's body, now split into a top half and a bottom half, stopped moving. Her head and torso unceremoniously, and bloodlessly, tumbled to the ground because the heat from Per'dra's blades had cauterized the wound. As sickening as this attack had been, it was only half of what she'd done to Pfon Urazhai on Korriban. "OOF! Are you all right?" she asked Zarev as his body collided with hers. He had been in the air, but "what goes up must come down..."
Light had been moving since the ship landed. He noted which buildings were firing on it, and climbed to the roof of one without the aid of the Force.
He cut a hole, using his newly repaired one-handed silver lightsabers, a couple feet bigger than he was in each direction. With the announcement of a yelp from below as the chunk of roof he had cut fell onto one off the assailants, he jumped through the hole. There were only three in the uppermost floor of this building, and one lay bleeding on the floor under the neatly cut section of the roof.
Light, not stopping to question the two uninjured bad guys, cut their sniper rifles in half, kicked one out of the window, and, spinning, sliced the head off of the other. The injured one began screaming, and quickly found a saber near his throat. "How many more of you are there in this building? Answer and live." Light questioned without pity, mercy, or remorse in his voice. The soldier began blabbering, and Light deciphered it as "Five on the floor below, seven on the floor below that. Twelve total. Lower floors are unused and the stairs to the unused floors are trashed and barricaded."
The man's blabbering quickly stopped as a boot hit him in the head. Light lifter the section of the roof off of the man, leaning it against the wall. He started to move towards the stairs, but 5 men armed with blasters and machine guns were coming up them.
The stairs were narrow though, so only two could get a clear line-of-fire at a time. Light deflected the first two bolts, one of which nailed the assailant who had fired it in the skull. He went down in a heap, his allies stepping over his body as it slid down the stairs limply. Four left, Light was forced to deflect more bolts before he quickly finished them. None surrendered, down to the last. Seven more in this building. I hope the "squad" is doing okay. He hadn't thought there would be quite so many, nor a Force-user amongst them.
Tatooine spaceport
Outside hanger Three
"OOF! Are you all right?"
Zarev had simply watched in horror as Per'dra had killed Avelra but he knew that she had had no choice but to do it. He could feel a few of his ribs had been cracked and one of his lungs was seriously hurting him. he turned to Per'dra and nodded even as a single tear escaped his eyes.
"I'm fine." He said quietly as he staggered to his feet and barely managed to send a few blaster bolts that had been fired back into the building they had been fired from. There were fewer of them than there had been earlier.
"We need to get rid of the ones firing at us from the building. And I might be wrong but we may have an ally in the building. There are a lot less blaster bolts being fired. I'd help...but one of my lungs is really hurting. Can you take care of them?"
Hord jumped out of the ship and onto the ground. The few assailants that were present were hiding in the buildings, like cowards. The one on the left was supposedly causing the most havoc, so he ran towards it and entered the basement. There he saw three thugs run towards him. He Force shoved all three of them, smashing them into the wall with sickening bone-crushing force.
He rent apart the makeshift barricades that were blocking his entrance, but the stairways were trashed, and others were completely destroyed. So instead, he found a hole in the rubble and Force jumped through it. When he reached the area where the stairs weren't destroyed, he saw two other thugs. Before they could even grab their weapons, Hord used the Force to drain the life out of both of them - utterly destroying them.
***
Kif jumped into cover and attempted to shoot at the assailants in the building. However, he failed to bring any power packs with him - and his blaster pistol was dead. Son of a... he cursed to himself.
Light had finished killing off five of the bad guys when the last two turned to the lower stairs. They were unprepared for this new threat and were easily overwhelmed through the Force. As they were drained of life, Light saw their attacker come up from the stairs. Light swung a saber towards the figure with a single word on his lips, "Sith".
He was prepared to launch further strikes when he saw the face of his adversary. A familiar face, but with the wrong eyes and attitude. Varik usually didn't go around using Dark sided Force powers, and his eyes were blue, last I checked...
He moved back a couple steps, still prepared to battle, but subtly changed to a defensive stance. He had plenty of room to operate, now squarely in the center of the room, as all the furniture had been moved to the sides, making it easier for the fire team to operate.
"We need to get rid of the ones firing at us from the building. And I might be wrong but we may have an ally in the building. There are a lot less blaster bolts being fired. I'd help...but one of my lungs is really hurting. Can you take care of them?"
"It's a good thing that I had one of the loyal Jedi Masters teach me more about advanced Force healing techniques between my last mission and now. Lie down, and I'll cover you." Per'dra, in the depths of her anxiety and concern for Zarev, did not notice how this statement might otherwise be taken by someone with a more worldly mind! Therefore, she wrapped her arms around her ally without passion, closed her eyes, and began to radiate warm and salubrious Force power into his chest cavity. She sensed agonizing pain underneath Zarev's rather unshaken exterior, and it was this torture to which she addressed herself.
Corsail dropped back behind cover to recharge his blasters, "That should do it." He said, stuffing a energy pack into both of his blasters. When he came up to start shooting again his jaw dropped, He saw Per'dra wrapping her arms around Zarev. Corsail stood staring in disbelief, "What in the-" A blaster bolt scraped Corsails shoulder. "Arghh!" He quickly dropped to the ground dodging the rest of the blaster fire.
He cursed to himself. Blasted jedi, their going to get us killed. He thought. He jumpped up ignoring the pain coming from his shoulder, he let out a cone of blaster fire making their enemys duck behind cover.
He saw Varik run inside the building. Maybe I'll get lucky and someone will put a blaster bolt through his head. He thought to himself.
"It's a good thing that I had one of the loyal Jedi Masters teach me more about advanced Force healing techniques between my last mission and now. Lie down, and I'll cover you."
Zarev's eyes widened for a moment before he finally understood what Per'dra was doing. He fought as hard as he could to try and keep the pain from radiating out in the force, fearing that the smallest disruption in the force would throw one of the squad off and get them killed by blaster fire.
"Thank you..." Zarev muttered quietly as he felt a bit of the pain go away. He was still hurting very badly but he knew he wouldn't die as long as Per'dra helped him.
Zarev saw that one of the attackers was taking aim at Per'dra who apparently was so focused on saving his life that she didn't notice him.
Zarev's used the force to summon a blaster from one of the fallen attackers to his hand and fired it three times, the first two shots missed the attacker but the third hit him in the shoulder. Zarev winced in pain. Even calling on the force was starting to hurt him now.
"This will only take about ten more seconds. Thanks for your help, Zarev..."
Per'dra entered a very deep state of concentration, despite (or perhaps because of) her fear. She'd always heard from the other Jedi Masters that fear was a path to the Dark Side, but how could her overwhelming desire to save Zarev's life open the doorway to becoming evil? She couldn't see it, especially as she felt his pulse beginning to regulate itself once more. There. Nice and even.
"How many attackers are left? Can you tell?" she asked her wounded comrade.
"How many attackers are left? Can you tell?"
Zarev nodded slowly and reached out and sensed three more people in the immediate area with hostile intentions. Two were located in the building but the third...The third was getting closer and closer but he couldn't see him. According to his senses, the third attacker was right next to them.
And then it hit him like a blaster bolt.
Stealth field. The third one must be using a stealth field.
Zarev looked behind Per'dra and noticed a slight shimmering in the air. It looked as if a slight outline of a person was raising a weapon.
"Behind you...There's three of them" He whispered painfully. "One of them is right behind you."
Zarev used what was close to the last of his strength to roll onto his side, barely managing to move Per'dra out of the way of the blade sliced into his side.
"Remain still," she told Zarev quickly. "HUHH!" That unladylike exclamation was a grunt of effort as she lifted the wounded Jedi up onto her back through the Force. The question was: why did she leave her hands free? The answer was easy enough to discover, as she sent another shockwave through the Force. Per'dra didn't want to ignite her lightsaber until getting Zarev to safety, because being so close to the heat of the blades while so weak was very dangerous. The assassin who had been wearing the stealth belt screamed as he was hurtled backward. The Knight thought she heard his spine crack as well...
Zarev was fighting to keep his eyes open even as he heard the scream of the assassin wearing the stealth field generator. He winced as he heard the spine crack. He didn't think that that particular assassin would be able to fight anymore.
"Where is everyone? Surely you and I aren't the only ones left alive."
As Zarev turned to look around for the rest of the squad, he saw that Vlalkor's rifle had been cracked and was no longer working. The Havoc Squad trooper was firing a blaster pistol at the window where one of the assassins was firing back at him.
Vlalkor grinned as he pulled a concussion grenade off of his belt and threw it at the wall of the building, he was hoping that he could knock the assassins out and question them.
The concussion grenade was halfway to hitting the wall when a blaster bolt hit it in midair, detonating it early.
"Will someone take care of the last of these thugs?!" Vlalkor shouted as he rubbed his eyes as he took cover behind a wall as he waited for his vision to fully return.
"Will someone take care of the last of these thugs?!"
Whats taking that jedi so long to deal with those thugs? Maybe he'd gotten killed afterall. he thought to himself. He let a few more shots fly towards the thug in the window, the bolts hit the side of the window sending scorching sparks into the thugs face. Corsail took this opportunity to rush to a better location where he could get a better shot.
The thug wiped his eyes and looked where Corsail was sitting to fire back at him, by time he realised Corsail had moved, a blaster bolt had blown through his shoulder. The thug cried out in pain and hit the floor. He didn't know if the thug was dead, but he probably wasn't getting back up to fight.
"How many do you think are left?" he asked to no one in particular.
"Ah, Light Fang. It has been quite some time since the last time we spoke. I see your hostility has not changed, nor your attitude.", Hord said curling his lips into a smile. "You were always so quick to accuse, to throw titles around as if they were vehicles in a typhoon. But I will not deny your unsung request for battle. I doubt anyone will notice your absence, nor care if they find your corpse."
He activated both of his violet lightsabers, their glow softly humming in the emptiness of the room.
***
Using a blaster rifle he recently found on the ground, Kif gave covering fire for Vlalkor, firing shots toward the building. One of the shots made its mark and killed one of the thugs.
"Ah, Light Fang. It has been quite some time since the last time we spoke. I see your hostility has not changed, nor your attitude.", Hord said curling his lips into a smile. "You were always so quick to accuse, to throw titles around as if they were vehicles in a typhoon. But I will not deny your unsung request for battle. I doubt anyone will notice your absence, nor care if they find your corpse."
He activated both of his violet lightsabers, their glow softly humming in the emptiness of the room.
"Hostility? You were in the midst of the enemy, using the dark side of the force. What did you expect? Titles are tools employed by sentient species to quickly denote how they should treat another object, person, or animal."
He lowered one saber, and stood a little straighter from his defensive stance.
"Besides Varik, we are allies. There's no need for either of our corpses to join those which lay in this room. When was it we last saw each other? Surely you haven't changed so much that we must fight."
"Besides Varik, we are allies. There's no need for either of our corpses to join those which lay in this room. When was it we last saw each other? Surely you haven't changed so much that we must fight."
"Lots could change within a year. I fear we have changed far too much to still be considered allies.", Hord said darkly.
He then noticed that Light had lowered one of his arms and straitened up his stance, leaving much of the upper portion of his body vulnerable to immediate strikes. He rose both of his lightsabers, and moved them in a diagonal chop - one headed straight to the area between his neck and left shoulder.
"How many do you think are left?"
Zarev reached out through the force and while he couldn't sense anymore of the thugs other than the wounded ones, he could sense something much...darker.
"I can't sense anymore of them than the ones we wounded...but I can sense something dark. Something I think I sensed once before."
He looked up at Per'dra. "Something is wrong. The assassins are not the only threat here." He turned towards the building and tried to get to his feet. "There is a dark presence in there."
Vlalkor could hear the sound of igniting lightsabers and he saw a purple light in one of the buildings. He continued watching and saw Varik advancing on someone unfamiliar with both lightsabers ignited.
That can't be good. He thought darkly as he grabbed another concussion grenade. He took aim at Varik and fired three shots at Varik and than launched the concussion grenade up towards the window.
Light moved backwards a step having forseen the attack Varik attempted. But he should know better Light returned to his defensive stance. Varik was saying dark things. He's probably depressed about something.
Light waited patiently while Varik advanced once more, sabers raised. Varik had his back almost entirely to the window, so he didn't notice the metal cylinder flying towards it, or the blaster bolts following. Light glimpsed them though, and, without shifting stances, force pushed Varik out of the way and punched the metal cylinder out of the air.
Unfortunately, it exploded only a couple a feet away, stunning the onlooking Light, but leaving Varik unhindered. Light deactivated his sabers and covered his eyes with his hands still on their hilts.
"Fool.", Hord muttered as Light pushed him out of the way - the concussion cylinder exploding near him.
"You are a desperate, wretched thing. Your enemy is staring you in the face, but you are grasping onto the hope that this is your friend Varik. This is not. Varik is long gone, any semblance long destroyed. And now.", Hord said, grabbing Light by the throat. "Now is where you will die."
***
Varik watched in horror as he was trapped within his own mind - watching Tulak Hord choke the life out of his old friend, Light. But he could do nothing. He doesn't have enough power to resist Hord. If he tried, Hord would simply destroy his mind - and he will be lost forever.
Light was trapped in Varik's grasp, as he was still dazed from the concussion grenade, and couldn't get enough oxygen to recover from it. His mind raced, but he could do little more than general motions. Somehow, he found his hands attempting to pry Varik's hand from his throat.
He murmered a single word, "Varik".
He looked up at Per'dra. "Something is wrong. The assassins are not the only threat here." He turned towards the building and tried to get to his feet. "There is a dark presence in there."
Per'dra Yllari didn't need to be told that twice--not with what she'd experienced in her recent past! Thus, she sprinted into the building and up the stairs from where the sounds of tense battle had been coming. What she beheld made her jaw hit the floor:
"Varik!" she shrieked. "What in the Force are you doing?!" Then, as baffled by the defender as well as the attacker in this fight, she asked, "And whom are you trying to kill? Is he an assassin, too? What's going on here?"
Zarev watched as Per'dra took off towards the area where he had sensed the dark presence and he sighed heavily. He hated the fact that he was stuck out here because he hadn't been strong enough to defend himself. Now because of his weakness both Corsail and Vlakor would have to protect him until the others returned.
Stop...me...
He looked up in surprise. He could have sworn that he had heard someone.
Stop...me...Can't...stop...
Alright...now I know I heard someone. He thought as he tried to reach out and sense whoever was sending the message. No matter how hard he tried he couldn't sense anyone nearby besides the others.
Kif sprinted after Per'dra, and found something horrifying - Varik was trying to kill one of their closest friends. I knew there was something odd about him., he thought. He noticed Light's lightsabers on the ground, and despite having no formal training with them, picked them up and ignited them. He ran towards Varik, lightsabers in hand.
Hord knew that his cover was blown, and he knew that Kif was running towards him. He motioned his left arm in the direction of Kif, gripping his left wrist and twisting it. He force shoved the twi'lek back, and he threw Light's body into him.
Kif got back up, and ran towards Varik again. Hord spun, and his right lightsaber horizontally cut him. "Fool.", he spat.
Kif screamed in pain as the lightsaber horizontally cut through his eye sockets. He dropped his lightsabers and collapsed on the ground, writhing in pain - permanently blinded.
With both Light Fang and Kif out of the way, he focused his attention onto Per'dra Yllari. "You are foolish if you think you can defeat an ancient Sith Lord in combat - a lesson that poor Varik learned the hard way - despite his lightsaber prowess.", Hord said, glaring at Per'dra. "I am the great Tulak Hord, the greatest lightsaber duelist of my time - and perhaps of all of the Sith's history. My power is tenfold of that of Varik - and of you."
He gripped his sabers, and advanced towards Per'dra.
Corsail heard a scream coming from the building and instantly jumped up from his cover. Varik, Per'dra, and Kif were all in there, couldn't they handle themselves? He thought to himslef. Corsail quickly recharged his blasters and sprinted towards the building.
Before he reached the door however he stopped, he pulled out his grapple hook gun and shot it up through the window. Corsail pulled on it to make sure it was secure, then ran up the wall. He reached the window and climbed through, there was no threat left in up here.
He started his way down the stairs, making sure to be as silent as he possibly could. Time to finish these last assassins off.
If there's one thing I learned back on Korriban during my trials, Per'dra Yllari thought, it's that I'd rather go down fighting than retreating! If Tulak Hord has taken possession of Varik, I wonder how complete the transformation is. If there's any semblance of my former friend in there, then Hord's power is weakened, albeit slightly. Maybe I have a chance to fight him. I won't run!
Igniting her silver saberstaff, the Knight charged, catapulting in the air toward the enslaved Jedi. Varik, if you're there, stand down and I won't kill you. Otherwise, I'm going to have to or die trying. Per'dra's eyes flashed hotly.
Hord brought up both of his sabers to block the oncoming strike. Trapped in a saber lock, Hord soon realized that Varik's natural strength wouldn't last under the tenacity of Per'dra. Hord brought up his right boot, and dropped it upon Per'dra's left knee. He then punched her in the face with the hilt of his left lightsaber.
Varik, if you're there, stand down and I won't kill you. Otherwise, I'm going to have to or die trying.
I...I...cann't...the pain..., Varik replied, hurtfully. Hord knew of Varik's attempt to wrest control, and was drawing off of Varik's inner strength - both to exhaust Varik's ability to fight him, and also to use that strength to give him an even greater advantage against Per'dra. It was horrific - Varik had no way to regain control of his body. Unless...unless if they could expel the spirit from his body. But how?
After he punched her in the face, he brought up his lightsabers to strike Per'dra's now defenseless abdomen. Before he could bring the blades down, he was struck by blaster fire. Turning around, he saw Kif, using the auto-targeting laser in the blaster rifle to desperately distract Varik. One of his hands was clutching where his eyes once used to be, and with the blaster rifle being held in one hand - the shots were wildly inaccurate.
"Amusing.", Hord said out loud, as he used the Force to lift Kif off of the ground.
He slammed him into a wall, and then slammed him into the parallel wall, before finally propelling him through a window. The unconscious body tumbled onto the ground in a bloodied heap - merely inches away from death.
Hord turned around and focused his attention back towards Per'dra.
Corsail reached the bottom of the stairway and stopped, he saw Varik smashing Kif agaisnt wall to wall and throwing him through a window. A traitor... He thought.
He took careful aim, aiming one of his blasters at Variks head and the other behind his knee. "Lets see if he can defend himself from three things at once." He whispered to himself. He knew Varik was distracted by Per'dra, now was the time to strike. Both blaster in their correct positions he fired.
Per'dra heard the blaster shots and ducked. At the same time, she threw her lightsaber in a spinning arc toward Varik, now possessed by Tulak Hord. This was a technique that was not her finest--she was far better in the mechanics of close-combat dueling--but, nevertheless, it might still be enough to throw her now-mortal enemy off guard.
Vlalkor and Zarev could only watch in horror as the body of one of the group went right through the window and hit the ground in a heap. Zarev looked up at the broken window. He could hear the sounds of blaster bolts being fired and lightsabers crashing agianst each other. But he could only catch a glimpse of the figures when they moved into view.
Zarev pointed at Kif's body. It looked like he was still breathing. "Do whatever you can to stabilize him and then get him to the medical bay aboard the ship." Zarev said as he struggled to his feet and headed for the ship. "As soon as he's aboard I'll take over. You need to get over there and stop whoever is attacking everyone."
Vlalkor saluted and reached into his belt and pulled out a small syringe and injected it into Kif's arm. He gently picked up the limp body and quickly carried him towards the ship, He passed by Zarev who was limping towards the ship.
"You can count on Havoc squad sir." Vlalkor said as he ran up the ramp of the ship.
Light watched in horror as Kif flew through the window. He had fully recovered and even helped Kif point his gun via the Force. He saw the assault on Varik and decided that, even if he didn't plan to kill or wound his friend's body, he should keep his sabers handy.
He used the Force to draw them towards himself, and they slapped his hands as he cought them. He returned them to his belt and watched as Varik, or Horde, dealt with the attacks.
He sent a message to Varik's female assailant. If he survives this, we can hold him down with the Force. If we want to save Varik, one of us may have to journey into his mind.
Traver ran to Varik, with a knife strapped to his boot, but he wondered if it would help against a lightsaber. He took a dart from his belt and put it in his pistol.
He pointed it at Varik, ready to fire. He had a knife strapped to his boot, but he wondered if it would help against a lightsaber. He took a dart from his belt and put it in his pistol.
''Stand back, whatever you are. We don't have time for dusty Sith lords.''
Hord wasn't fully distracted, however. He heard the whirr of lightsabers, and blaster shots. He raised his hand into the air, and released a Force wave - knocked everything back within a 5 meter radius.
''Stand back, whatever you are. We don't have time for dusty Sith lords.''
"How about you make me, spice junkie?", Hord replied, as he lifted the knocked-back smuggler into the air with the Force. He shook him back and forth in the air as if he was a ragdoll, before slamming him into the backwards wall.
"Who's next?", he asked aloud, advancing towards Per'dra.
In her own mind, the female Jedi Knight heard the message from her mysterious ally through the Force: If he survives this, we can hold him down with the Force. If we want to save Varik, one of us may have to journey into his mind.
In the split second after she heard Tulak Hord's threat, she responded: That's a fantastic idea, but the big question is: Will WE survive this? If Varik--er, Tulak Hord--wins, he's going to kill us all if we're not already dead... Nevertheless, Per'dra still held to her previous plan: fight or perish. If there was one thing she knew about Sith Lords, it was that they loved to prove how weak and pathetic the Jedi were. She wouldn't let Tulak Hord have that satisfaction easily! All of a sudden, she had an idea: Even though she'd been previously trained as a Consular, she'd learned a new technique since then and could cloak herself in the Force and become invisible. Thus, in a flash, she did so.
Light had sparred with Varik on few occasions, but had fought several battles at his side. He knew how well his new enemy could fight, but that he was also getting tired from the energy required to use the Force.
Light ignited his sabers, hearing the female's message just before she vanished. Knowing that she couldn't spontaneously teleport, Light approached Horde from his side, hoping to draw his attention. He sincerly hoped she wouldn't leave when she had the opportunity.
As he advanced, he began moving slower, because he moved into a defensive, but mobile, stance.
Corsail ducked as Variks forcewave sent his bolts flying back towards him. "Blast!" I need a plan, if i just keep shooting directly at him he's just going to block. He thought to himself. Then he had an idea, something that wouldn't make the loud noise a blaster would. He pulled out his grapple hook gun and fire it towards one of Variks legs, the hook wrapped around his leg and stabbed into his skin.
He wasn't sure it it was going to work, Varik was a bit bigger then him. Corsail pulling with all of his strength pulled on the gun, trying to yank Varik off his feet.
Hord noticed Per'dra surround herself in a Force Cloak. "So, you're both a fool and a coward? Your technique is imperfect - I could see your shimmer, and I could hear the hum of your lightsaber.", he said, scolding her.
"And you.", he said, pointing a finger at Light. "Standing in the corner, watching his friends get picked off - one by one. Too cowardly to accept reality - just like your vaunted Jedi Council during the Mandalorian Wars."
As he strode over to Light - he felt a sharp pain in his left ankle. He looked to see a grappling hook cut into his ankle, and he screamed out in pain as it cut into his tendon, causing to him fall onto the ground. Raising a lightsaber, he cut the rope off of the hook, and then yanked it out of his skin. He stood up - using the pain to fuel his anger - and threw the hook at Corsail as if it were a tomahawk.
Vlalkor made sure that Kif was still alive as he was placed in the bacta tank and he caught Zarev as he came up the ramp and stumbled. "Sorry sir, but your going to the medbay."
Zarev smiled slightly as he was escorted into the medical bay and sat down on one of the beds. "I agree. I don't think that I can keep going much longer. But you need to get to where that dark presence is and stop it. I have faith that you can stop whatever it is. After all, Havoc squad has gone up against force users before."
Vlalkor saluted. "You can count on me sir." He said as he turned and ran down the ramp and headed for the building where the battle was taking place. He grabbed his blaster rifle from his shoulder holster and crept along until he saw a slight shimmering in the air and the rest of the group going after Varik.
I thought as much. He's been weird ever since his eyes turned color. He thought as he pulled a concussion grenade off his belt and launched it at him.
"Take cover!" He shouted as he actiavted his armor's retractable blades and than opened up with a volly of blaster bolts.
Alright, he most likely is going to try and deflect the bolts back at me which means I have to be ready. He thought as he continued firing at him.
Raising a lightsaber, he cut the rope off of the hook, and then yanked it out of his skin. He stood up - using the pain to fuel his anger - and threw the hook at Corsail as if it were a tomahawk.
Corsail tried to duck out of its way but with the hooks hoop-like shape it managed to catch one of Corsails arm, cutting into a bone. He rolled into cover, clutching his arm.
"Take cover!"
While he was removing the hook from his arm, he heard someone shooting of sprays of blaster bolts. Did the trooper finally get here? He wondered. He leaned out from behind the crate he was using as cover and shot off a few blaster bolt towards Varik. Does this guy run off of endless energy? He thought to himself.
"Cowardly?" He's losing his grip, as he would know what I think of cowards and that I am no longer attached to the Jedi. Varik must be fighting him.
Light winced as the hook sunk into his enemy's flesh. He moved back several steps as Horde threw the hook back towards its point of origin. He heard "Take cover", and shielded himself with both his sabers and the Force in a way he had not been able to when he had been hit with the first concussion grenade.
He thought of the female for a moment, but his senses were assailed by the effects of the concussion grenade before he could look for her, though they were significantly minimalized by the protection he had hastily put up.
"So, you're both a fool and a coward? Your technique is imperfect - I could see your shimmer, and I could hear the hum of your lightsaber.", he said, scolding her.
Inwardly, Per'dra seethed. You have called me that once, and you shall NOT do so twice. Even though her technique of Force cloaking was indeed imperfect, it was enough of a distraction while Tulak Hord was pulling Corsail's grappling hook out of his ankle. She took this moment to disconnect the two blades of her saberstaff and place them on each side of Hord's neck in scissor fashion. One wrong move by this "dusty Sith Lord" and he'd wind up dead. Unfortunately, however, so would Varik, and Per'dra wanted to save him.
"Now," she hissed. "Where's my former ally, you desiccated Sith corpse?!"
Instead of redirecting the blaster bolts at Vlalkor, he redirected the concussion grenade - the blaster bolts flying harmlessly past him.
With the concussion grenade staggering Vlalkor backward, Hord lifted the soldier off of the ground with the Force. He used an advanced form of 'Force Whirlwind', as instead of the target swirling around - it had ground particles swirling around the target. In Hord's case, sand.
He used the Force to lift the sand, and used it to swirl around Vlalkor - cutting him off from his supply of air - asphyxiating him. He then attempted to condense the sand until it was merely millimeters away from Vlalkor, but it was straining his abilities. After a few tense seconds, he instead slammed Vlalkor into Light Fang.
However, he focused so much into his technique, he did not notice Per'dra until the last second - with her lightsabers at his neck.
"Now, where's my former ally, you desiccated Sith corpse?!"
"I could sense the anger emanating from you. You would've made a great Sith - especially when you were on Korriban", he mused.
"Or did you think I was asleep in my tomb? I saw you and Pfon - you killed that pretender like a true Sith would. Yet you stay with the Jedi."
He weighed the odds that were stacked against him. He's lost much of his Force energy, which means that Varik is gaining strength. One 'wrong' move by him, and Per'dra will kill him - if she has the guts. But she is foolish, she will kill her 'friend' also. However, he still has enough Force energy - one card left to play. He could collapse the walls, ceilings, and floors of the building - burying everyone in the wreckage. He could regain consciousness - leave all of them to die - and find a new body.
However, he stared at the sabers pointed at his neck.
"Ah, you stay with the Jedi because you are a coward.", he noticed her begin to fume. "Oh, did that get you angry? Are you going to kill me? No, you aren't. You're bluffing. You're too much of a coward to act on your instincts. And for what? Varik? Even if you try to save him, and somehow extract me from his body, if you make one wrong move - he will die. Do you want to take that risk? Or you could let me go, and I won't kill you all."
He knew he was bluffing about the 'killing Varik' part, but these Jedi will believe anything. The quality of Force users have diminished ever since Ludo Kressh and Naga Sadow had their childish scuffle over control of the Sith.
Or you could let me go, and I won't kill you all."
"Let you go?" Per'dra was incredulous. "What makes you think I'll trust you? It's true that Sith lie, but they don't always lie. As for Varik..." She had to think carefully. "I could say he's of no concern to me, but that would be an untruth that you'd see right through. I suppose it all comes down to this: the true Varik, as a Jedi, would sacrifice his own life for the greater good. Right now, he's buried deep within your shell--too deeply for me to pry out, if you understand my meaning! Therefore, I'm afraid I'm going to have to slay both of you. Varik? I'm sorry, but there's no way I'm going to let this Sith Lord keep his hold..."
Light caught the near unconcious body of another ally who's name he knew not, redirecting his momentum by turning while he caught the unnamed male. When he placed this ally on his feet, he was likely unbalanced because not all of his momentum had dissipated, but Light had little time for that.
He moved quickly to Varik, hearing the words of both the female and Horde. Light was unsure about venturing into another's mind, especially with a hostile presence there. He had trained briefly in the art, enough to be able to pick up on what moves an enemy was thinking about using in combat, but hadn't excelled.
"Hey, there are still more of us than him. He's not too powerful; I can see he's sweating. Do you have any skill in reading minds with the Force?" He asked quickly after her most recent words of "no way I'm going to let this Sith Lord keep his hold..."
"I could say he's of no concern to me, but that would be an untruth that you'd see right through. I suppose it all comes down to this: the true Varik, as a Jedi, would sacrifice his own life for the greater good. Right now, he's buried deep within your shell--too deeply for me to pry out, if you understand my meaning! Therefore, I'm afraid I'm going to have to slay both of you. Varik? I'm sorry, but there's no way I'm going to let this Sith Lord keep his hold..."
Vlalkor slowly got back to his feet and spat out a mouthful of sand and checked to make sure that their mysterious ally was unharmed before turning to look at Varik who was now at the mercy of Per'dra.
She can't be serious...There is no possible way that she can kill Varik even if something has taken hold of his body.
Vlalkor set his rifle for stun and pointed it at Per'dra before getting another idea and pointing it at Varik.
"I agree with him." He said pointing at the man who he had been thrown into. "I don't think we should kill Varik even if something has control of him. I say we stun him and than try to figure something else out." "Besides...as a member of Havoc squad I won't allow anyone to kill him. Whoever tries to kill him will have me to deal with."
Per'dra saw the logic in the soldier's words; however, she did not stand down. She was not going to let Varik/Tulak Hord escape on her watch! "Very well," she said slowly. "Fire, and quickly, before he has a chance to use his powers again..."
"Fire, and quickly, before he has a chance to use his powers again..."
Vlalkor nodded once and tried to fire the rifle only to have it make a clattering sound and one of the lights turned from green to red. Vlalkor sighed heavily. The sand must have wrecked something on the inside of the rifle.
"Just a second." He muttered as he dropped the rifle and pulled out his blaster pistol and set it for stun.
"Sorry about this Varik. But hopefully you'll wake up as yourself once this is done" He said quietly as he fired a stun bolt directly at Varik's chest.
"I can't believe this, you stunned him?" Corsail walked towards the group standing over Variks body. "He tried to kill everyone here, just put put a blaster bolt into his head so we can get on with the mission." He turned to look at Vlalkor, "Variks either a traitor or insane, I can't see one good reason to let this guy live."