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Force Exile VI: Prodigal/Part 10

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Selu led the way through the dark corridors of the Knightfall as they emerged from the turbolift that had brought them from the bottom extension of the ship to its main body, Milya close behind him. They both had their lightsabers in hand but unignited, ready to do battle, though both were also carrying sidearms and vibroblades. The other three followed behind. It was a quiet advance through the shadowy halls of the ship, marked only by emergency lighting and their soft footsteps. “Strange we haven’t seen anyone yet,” Milya whispered to Selu. “What’s the plan?” Milya asked. Selu shrugged.

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Selu led the way through the dark corridors of the Knightfall as they emerged from the turbolift that had brought them from the bottom extension of the ship to its main body, Milya close behind him. They both had their lightsabers in hand but unignited, ready to do battle, though both were also carrying sidearms and vibroblades. The other three followed behind. It was a quiet advance through the shadowy halls of the ship, marked only by emergency lighting and their soft footsteps. “Strange we haven’t seen anyone yet,” Milya whispered to Selu. “The Knightfall has a small crew,” Novera answered from behind her. “No more than a hundred, and most of them are likely restoring systems overloaded by your ion missiles.” They had advanced another dozen paces when Selu froze at an intersection of two corridors, holding up a fist. The others halted immediately. He cloaked himself, peered around the corner, and then re-emerged as he turned back to them. “Security checkpoint,” he said quietly. “Looks like two guards and three crewmembers, along with a pair of those droids.” “That’s the entrance to the secured wing,” Novera told him. “The central core of the ship, where we lived and trained, and where Ariada conducted her experiments. This is one of three entrances to that core.” “What’s the plan?” Milya asked. Selu shrugged. “I take the droids, you and Qedai take the rest,” he said. “Akleyn, you and Novera hang back.” They nodded in agreement. Selu closed his eyes for one second, summoning the Force to him, and then turned sharply, striding towards the checkpoint, hiding himself from view once more as he approached. Then, right at the entrance to the security checkpoint, he materialized. Arcs of emerald energy shot out from each hand, directed into two of the hulking assassin droids that Selu was all too familiar with. They convulsed helplessly as the Electric Judgment overloaded their circuits and collapsed, smoldering and lifeless. Simultaneously, Milya and Qedai rushed into view. Qedai’s hurled discblades dropped two of crewmembers while Milya put the other three down with accurate shots from her silenced S-5XS projectile pistol. The small room’s occupants were killed within two seconds, their bodies draped over the consoles or crumpled on the floor. “Easy enough,” Selu said. At the far end of the room was a hefty blast door, sealed shut. “I’m guessing that’s our next destination,” he remarked. “Cut through, or slice it?” Milya asked. “Wait,” Novera told them, walking over to one of the consoles. “I should be able to open it.” She pulled the body of one of the guards off the console, ignoring the blood spattered on the controls. Milya peered over her shoulder while Selu kept an eye on the door and Qedai watched the entrance they had just used. For his part, Akleyn stood off to the side and tried not to look squeamish at the corpses his relatives had just created with shocking speed and ease. Novera fiddled with the controls for several seconds, then input an authorization code. “Got it,” she said. “Opening in three.” Milya flanked the door opposite of Selu, waiting for it to slide open. The release mechanism whined at first, then unsealed, the mechanism pulling the two heavy panels apart. An empty, dark corridor about ten meters along and two meters wide awaited them, with another door at the end. “That one is unlocked already,” Novera assured them. Selu and Milya exchanged skeptical glances, then advanced into the corridor, alert for any trap. A narrow corridor was an ideal place for an ambush, but it seemed benign enough. The others followed in the same formation as before. Selu halted short of the door. “Enter on my mark,” he said. “I don’t sense anyone inside the room on the other side, but there is danger.” “I sense it too,” Milya added. “Droids?” “Not sure,” Selu replied, stiffening. “Let’s go.” He strode forward, his lightsaber in his right hand and shorter-bladed shoto in his left. Milya was right behind him as they piled into the room, with the other three following closely. In contrast to Selu’s premonition, the room was not empty. A single bed dominated the center of the high-ceilinged room and Ryion was strapped to it, with an array of medical instruments behind him. He was facing them, inclined slightly and looking utterly miserable, spread-eagled due to his restraints. The back wall was covered by a floor-to-ceiling mirror that Selu suspected was a one-way mirror. A stack of shelves was the only other furniture in the otherwise empty room, and only dim emergency glowpanels and two glowing green alcoves mounted near the ceiling on the near wall illuminated the chamber, casting eerie shadows across the dark metal floor. The air smelled of sanitizer and the sour smell of unwashed bodies. However, Ryion’s presence was not the most startling revelation they experienced upon entering the room. None of them could sense the Force anymore—it had been abruptly cut off. The door sealed behind them, an ominous portent. “Get out,” Ryion warned them hoarsely. “It’s a trap!” Selu scowled. “Of course it is,” he said. “But we’re not leaving you.” “How touching,” interjected a new voice. The mirrored panel at the back of the room slid aside to reveal Ariada standing there, flanked by a pair of her assassins each armed with a slugthrower pistol and vibroblade that were trained toward them and two of her Mark XII assassin droids. She had a confident smirk on her face. “To come so far, only to fall short at the last minute. What a tragedy,” she said mockingly. “If you think we’re helpless without the Force, you’re sorely mistaken,” Selu warned her, setting himself for what would be a desperate combat without any of the benefits of the Force that he normally used. Behind him, Milya and Qedai subtly slipped to either side of him, preparing to spread out and hammer Ariada’s party from multiple angles. Since Ariada’s group was clustered together, the grenades they carried could quickly turn the tide of the combat. “Stop right there, Master Kraen,” Ariada warned him. “I know what you’re trying to do.” “And if we don’t?” Selu asked even as he prepared to spring forward to divert attention from Milya and Qedai. “Then Akleyn and Ryion die,” Ariada told him. “Might want to look behind you.” Selu risked a glance over his shoulder to see that Novera, even with her restraints, had taken Akleyn’s blaster and was jamming its barrel into his ribs. Her face was stony as she stared past him towards Ariada. “I’m sorry,” Akleyn whispered. “She moved so fast.” Selu felt anger wash over him at Novera’s casual betrayal. He turned around, struggling to keep his anger hidden under a calm exterior. “Lay down your weapons,” Ariada instructed them. Selu gritted his teeth. “That’s not going to happen.” “I don’t want to kill you,” Ariada told him. “You were like family to me. But I will if I have to, and it’ll start with Akleyn and Ryion. Are you going to tell Sarth and Cassi that you got their son killed?” Despite his anger, Selu knew that she spoke truthfully. She had the upper hand, as they had not anticipated the ysalamiri cutting off their access to the Force, or Novera’s betrayal. If it had not been for those, Selu was confident that he, Milya, and Qedai could have defeated Ariada and her group, but now, he was only risking their lives needlessly. “I promise, if you surrender, you will not be harmed,” Ariada insisted. Selu looked over at Milya, who had a disgusted look on her face, but she nodded. He took that as a signal and slowly set down his lightsabers. Milya and Qedai likewise lowered their weapons to the ground. “Emerald, get the rest of their weapons,” Ariada ordered as her other two assassins spread out to cover Selu, Milya, and Qedai from a variety of angles. “With pleasure, Mistress,” Novera said coldly as she plucked the vibroblades, pistols, and grenades from Selu, Milya, and Qedai. “You’re going to regret this,” Milya told her icily. “I should have known better. Once a traitor, always a traitor.” “Yes, you should have,” Novera agreed as she yanked Milya’s prized vibroblade from its sheath. “I am impressed, Emerald,” Ariada said. “I was not expecting you to return in such a manner.” “I had to play a dangerous game, Mistress,” Novera answered obediently. “But I have brought you a great prize, one which I hope will earn your favor.” “Indeed you have,” Ariada agreed. “We will talk of this more, once these matters are dealt with.” Novera sauntered towards Ariada with her belt loaded with most of their weapons, though she retained the blaster she had stolen from Akleyn. She brushed by Ryion as she walked over, smirking triumphantly at him, which earned her a hard stare and a clenched fist in return. Once Novera was close to Ariada, she turned and drew a second blaster, so that she had one in each hand, ready to fire on Selu and Milya if they so much as twitched. “Ariada, this is a mistake,” Selu told her, figuring that he might as well try diplomacy. “All of this.” “No, Master Kraen, your mistake was coming after me,” she said. “You did not learn from Bespin, or from Yanibar—whatever you do to me, I can repay much worse. You should not have interfered.” “We had no choice, Ariada,” Selu answered. “We could not stand by while you killed thousands.” “They were acceptable losses,” Ariada replied stiffly. “Casualties of war.” “At least one of your assassins that you sacrificed? Was she an acceptable loss, too?” Milya asked. “I never meant for them to die,” Ariada countered hotly. “I would never have sent them on a suicide mission! They fell in battle, fighting for a cause they believed in.” “What cause is that?” Qedai asked. “Seems pretty different from the ones you used to follow.” “Ah, my old teammate,” Ariada said, regarding her. “Of all people, I had hoped you might understand. You fought on the frontlines of the Yuuzhan Vong War with me. You saw what I did.” “All I see is that you’ve fallen to the dark side,” Qedai retorted. “And that has blinded you. What I have seen is the fall of the galaxy as we know it, consumed by war as the eternal struggle between the light and dark side of the Force conflagrates anew. The current Jedi Order rots from within, and while the rest of the galaxy may sit idly by, I will not.” “What are you talking about?” Milya inquired. “I am talking about the future,” Ariada said. “A future that can still be saved, but only if I succeed.” “Succeed in what?” Qedai asked. “Killing thousands of people?” “Succeed in purifying the Jedi Order and setting it apart from the galaxy so it can resist the coming darkness instead of being distracted by trivialities,” Ariada told them fervently. “Succeed in stopping the conflict between light and dark from overtaking the entire galaxy once more. Succeed in creating a new hope to battle against the return of true evil. That is what should have been done, what would have averted the onslaught of the Yuuzhan Vong. And that is what I will see happen.” “In other words, she’s completely insane,” Ryion interjected. “Reject me if you will,” Ariada said defiantly. “I am willing to bear that burden if it means averting the gathering storm.” “I have seen nothing like this in my visions,” Milya replied. “How can you be sure?” “The Force has shown me much,” Ariada admitted. “But I have seen more. In the dark places of the galaxy, evil lurks, Milya Kraen, biding its time. It senses the opportunity to strike drawing near.” “And terrorizing the galaxy was the best way to stop this?” Selu demanded. Ariada sneered. “Question my methods if you wish. Your foresight and high-minded idealism has betrayed you, just as it did the Jedi Order, who, blinded by their own hubris, were manipulated and sacrificed like pawns by Palpatine. You, like them, fail to gain the proper perspective.” Selu stiffened; the fall of the old Republic and Jedi Order, which he had lived through, was a deeply personal matter. He struggled to maintain his composure, knowing that Ariada sought to goad him with her words. “Doing the wrong thing for the right reasons is still wrong,” he said thickly. “Killing thousands to stop a possible future is a reckless and evil misuse of the Force.” Ariada shook her head. “You are in no position to pass judgment on me, Master Kraen,” she said. “Your vaunted foresight and skills were insufficient to stop me before and now they’ve only led you right into a trap. You could not even see Emerald working to subvert you. For your own good, you must be imprisoned safely where your misguided altruism can no longer interfere until I have secured the future of the galaxy.” She nodded towards her two assassins. “Collect their lightsabers.” “Mistress, a word,” Novera said. “What is it?” Ariada asked. “The future,” she said, “is in motion.” Raising her blasters high, she fired into both of the ceiling alcoves that overlooked the room, shattering them. The Force returned suddenly to the room as her accurate blasterfire instantly slew both of the ysalamiri that were housed there. Simultaneously, Ryion opened the fist he’d been clenching ever since Novera had brushed by him, rolling the armed concussion grenade she had slipped him back towards Ariada and the pair of droids. Ariada’s eyes widened at the sudden betrayal. She lashed out with a vibroblade that suddenly appeared in her hand, slashing at Novera’s back, but the grenade Ryion rolled back at her forced to leap aside, cursing. Novera fell to the ground while the detonation knocked both droids back and sent Ariada flying. Meanwhile, Selu and Milya had recovered their lightsabers while Qedai summoned her discblades back to her hands. Selu dashed forward with lightsabers lit to interpose himself between Ryion and the droids. They struggled to their feet, but the Jedi Master was too fast. His lightsaber and shoto stabbed into their weak points, shearing through joints and frying their internals. The droids flailed around, trying to batter him, but Selu ducked under their clumsy blows. However, they were resilient and were apparently capable of absorbing multiple lightsaber strikes if not struck in precisely the right areas. Leaping above a vicious backswing, he impaled one through the neck and then pierced the other at the hip. Both collapsed, thoroughly defeated, as Selu took stock of the situation. Meanwhile, Milya’s whirling silver saberstaff was intercepting each of the slugs fired at her by the assassin she faced. Advancing steadily, Milya maintained her steady defense. Realizing the futility of firing on her, the assassin switched to her vibroblade, attacking with a vicious back-handed swing. Youthful speed and dedicated training allowed her to force Milya a step backward as the older woman struggled to bring her larger weapon to bear against a shorter blade at very close quarters. Sensing Milya weaken, the assassin pressed her advantage. Her blade crashed against Milya’s saberstaff repeatedly. The assassin kicked out, catching Milya inside her knee and Milya grunted in pain, falling back further. Buoyed by her success, the assassin drove forward, unleashing a series of quick stabs at Milya, who this close, was unable to fully deflect each one and had to turn and weave to avoid injury. One thrust drew blood, jabbing across her shoulder even as Milya twisted aside. Milya grabbed the assassin and threw her over her hip, allowing the younger woman’s momentum to carry her forward, but the assassin recovered before Milya could bring her saberstaff to bear, blocking Milya’s hasty downward strike high above her back. Riposting, the assassin attempted to push Milya back again with another rapid succession of blows. However, this time, Milya was more familiar with her fighting style—it was the same that Novera had used. She deactivated one of the saberstaff’s blades and gained some distance, allowing her to defend against the vibroblade more effectively. The assassin struck out aggressively and Milya did her best to respond, knowing that she only had two more steps before she was shoved into a wall. The assassin struck low and Milya countered, but the advantage of having youthful strength and speed was that the assassin could slash one-handed while her off hand struck Milya’s temple with enough force to whip her head to the side. Dazed, Milya reflexively threw up a blow that parried the incoming thrust at her midsection as she sought to clear her vision. Milya fell back another step, drawing her opponent in as her lightsaber collided against the reinforced vibroblade at blinding speed. The assassin followed, intent on lethally wounding Milya. However, though she had adjusted for Milya’s now one-bladed defense, she hadn’t expected Milya to suddenly reactivate the second blade and unleash a blazingly fast defensive velocity. One instant, the assassin was driving her blade dangerously close to Milya’s neck with one hand while preparing to smash her other hand open-palmed into Milya’s stomach when the older woman blocked high. The next, she was staring in shock at the stubs of her arms where Milya had severed her hands at the wrist. Milya stared at her foe implacably and her first instinct was to immediately run the assassin through in case she had one last desperate weapon. However, her years of training and devotion to the light side, as well as a mental urge from Selu, who she saw from the corners of her eye had just finished the droids, led her to do otherwise. Deactivating her blades, she cracked the hilt of her saberstaff across the assassin’s head with perhaps more force than was necessary, laying the younger woman out unconscious. Qedai had likewise not been idle. Out of the three, she had been the only one with the angle to see Novera slip Ryion the grenade and was therefore waiting for an opportunity to strike. As soon as the Force had returned to her, she had somersaulted forward, twisting in midair to evade the first two slugs that the assassin closest to her had fired. Recovering with both discblades in hand, Qedai spun away from the next slug, slashing outward. The assassin caught the blow on her vibroblade, but Qedai channeled the Force through her other hand as it came around to face her opponent, hurling her telekinetically back into the wall. The force of the impact cracked ribs and drove the breath from her opponent, but Qedai was just as swift on the follow-up. Reversing the direction of her telekinesis, she jerked the assassin forward. Her opponent managed to partially avert her trajectory, soaring upward over Qedai and striking out as she looked down on Qedai from above. The Twi’lek warrior was unfazed, bringing both her arms across her body up over her head from right to left. The first discblade blocked the vibroblade with a metallic clang as the assassin vaulted over her head, while the second slashed across her mid-section. The grievous wound arrested whatever control the assassin possessed and she collapsed. Qedai whirled around and hurled the first discblade to crash through her opponent’s throat even before she landed, her eyes ablaze with pent-up emotion. The assassin was dead before she hit the ground in a splatter of blood. “Everyone okay?” Selu asked as Milya knocked out her opponent. “I’m fine,” Milya said. “Present,” Qedai told him. “Amazingly, fine,” Akleyn said from where he had ducked away in the doorway while his relatives had done battle. “Ryion?” Selu asked while securing the assassin Milya had maimed and knocked out. “I’m fine, Dad,” Ryion answered. “Hell of a plan.” “Wasn’t exactly planned,” Milya told him dryly as Selu moved over to cut Ryion loose. “It was . . . Novera?” The young woman had landed face down on the floor a little ways behind Ryion’s bed. A small dark stain was beginning to pool on the ground around her. “She’s down!” Milya said, rushing over to her side. “Watch the door,” Selu instructed Qedai. In the dim light, it took Milya a few seconds to find the injury, a vicious vertical slash that had cut Novera open from shoulder blade down to nearly her pelvis. The wound was bleeding profusely. “Akleyn!” she called. “Coming,” he said dutifully. His eyes widened as he saw the wound. “Kriff,” he said, pulling on a pair of gloves and kneeling down beside her to open his kit. Novera moaned as his fingers probed the gaping slash. Akleyn swore again and began working and Milya knelt down so the young woman could see her. “I’m . . . I’m sorry I deceived you,” Novera told her. “It was the only way.” “I thought you . . .” Milya said, unable to vocalize her lack of faith to a possibly dying woman. “I know,” Novera whispered hoarsely. “You had to . . . to sell it.” “It worked,” Milya told her. “You saved us all.” “Ariada?” Novera asked. Qedai shook her head. “She got away. For now.” Novera winced. “Then it’s not over.” “We’ll stop her,” Milya promised. “You’ve done enough—just lie here and let Akleyn take care of you. He’ll have you patched up soon.” “Are you kidding?” Akleyn asked in disbelief. “I’ve seen nerf sides that were less carved.” One stern glance from Milya was enough to silence him. “Thank you,” Novera told Milya hoarsely, “for believing me.” “No, thank you,” Milya replied. “For saving us all. You fooled her.” Novera smiled thinly. “Finish it,” she said. “For all our sakes.” “I will,” Milya promised. Meanwhile, Selu freed Ryion and helped him down from the bed. “Are you hurt, son?” Selu asked him. Ryion shook his head. “I am stiff, sore, hungry, thirsty, and I have not seen the inside of a refresher in two weeks, but right now, I could run across Yanibar if that’s what it takes to stop Ariada and rescue Shara and Jaina.” “They’re both here?” Selu asked. “Ariada said so,” Ryion answered. Selu handed him a pair of pick-me-ups and a bottle of water from Akleyn’s kit. “Are you sure you’re okay?” Selu asked worriedly. “Yes,” Ryion insisted. “She didn’t do anything to you?” Ryion scowled as he administered the pick-me-ups. “Let’s not go that far,” he said. “Let’s just say it can be sorted later; I’m fit to fight.” “In that case, you’ll be wanting these,” Selu replied, handing him a spare lightsaber and the shield that Ryion commonly wore on his left hand in battle. “I’m sorry I didn’t bring anything else, but it would have slowed me down.” “It’s fine, thanks,” Ryion said, accepting the weapons and guzzling the water. “Too bad you didn’t bring a pair of boots.” “That would be with my other set of battle armor,” Selu remarked dryly as Milya rose from Novera’s side. “How is she?” “Not good,” Milya admitted. “I thought for a second that she had betrayed us, that we had walked into a trap.” “She had everyone fooled,” Selu pointed out. “Without the Force, it would have been impossible for anyone to know her true intentions. She was very clever, and very brave.” “I hope she didn’t pay for it too severely,” Milya said, glancing down to where Akleyn had sedated his patient. “Can anyone help me lift her onto that bed?” Akleyn asked. “It’d be a crying shame to have all those monitors there not being used.” Selu nodded and floated Novera towards the bed gently while Ryion stripped off the thin blanket from the metal bed and sprayed the frame down with a sanitizer solution from Akleyn’s bag. “Thank you,” Akleyn said as Selu floated Novera over the bed while Akleyn connected the monitors. “Now, I suggest you all get moving.” Blood dripped down from the floating woman to spatter on the table and Akleyn worked quickly, signaling Selu to lower her to its surface once he was finished. “One of us should stay here,” Milya said as she rummaged in Akleyn’s bag for a trauma bandage for her slashed shoulder. “Can’t leave you alone and unprotected if Ariada doubles back.” Akleyn waved her off. “Get going,” he said. “The more mayhem you cause elsewhere, the less likely you are to draw attention back here. And I personally prefer operating without blaster bolts flying past my head.” “Are you sure?” Qedai asked him. “Look, I may not be a fighter, but I’m not a coward,” Akleyn said. “By the looks of things, you’re going to need every trained Force-user you can get to stop Ariada. So get out there. Go on, Qedai. I’ll be fine. Besides, I won’t be alone.” He jerked a thumb at Novera. “Miss Tricky over here isn’t going anywhere, I don’t think. The other one’s hands are missing and she’s unconscious. I’ll tend to her when I get the chance.” “I love you, Akleyn,” Qedai told him sincerely, her voice laced with worry. “The feeling’s mutual,” he answered gruffly, burying his affection for her underneath clinical detachment. “The sooner you get going, the sooner you get to tell me again.” Selu nodded grimly. “All right then, let’s move. Akleyn, call us on the comlink if you see or sense anything suspicious.” “Understood,” Akleyn said as the others headed towards the entrance that Ariada and her party had emerged from. He glanced up at the monitors and swore at the dismal results. “You should bring a doctor,” he muttered to himself self-deprecatingly. “Kriff, Akleyn, you should have told them to bring an entire surgical team.” Selu peered through the chamber that Ariada had come through, an observation booth complete with recording equipment now ruined by the grenade blast. A door at the far side did not respond to Selu’s attempts to open it, so he simply slashed it open with his lightsaber. They emerged from the doorway into a corridor that ran perpendicular to the room. “Which way?” Qedai asked. “Judging by Novera’s specifications, the other likely prisoner areas are that way,” Selu said, nodding to the left. “The right leads toward Ariada’s inner sanctum.” “Let’s split up then,” Ryion suggested. “I’ll head for the prisoners, you go for the sanctum.” “We have another team hitting the sanctum,” Selu pointed out. “No need to split up.” He pulled out his comlink. “Master Katarn, come in. What’s your status?” “Very busy!” Kyle’s strained voice came back a second later amidst a background of blasterfire. “Tyria’s hurt. Can’t talk!” “Maybe we should go for that sanctum after all,” Selu said grimly. “Me and Qedai, you and Milya?” Ryion answered his father. “Agreed,” Selu echoed. “Force be with us.” With those terse words, they split up, Selu and Milya taking the right-hand turn that led deeper towards the rear of the ship and Ariada’s inner sanctum, while Ryion and Qedai headed left towards what they hoped where the other prisoner-holding areas. Control deck, five minutes earlier “The bridge is another fifty meters that way,” Kyle told Tyria as they made their way through a deserted corridor along the upper deck. Thus far, they had only met light resistance, and the two Jedi, along with their four YVH droids, had easily dispatched the armed crew that attempted to fight them. However, as they approached the bridge, a chill ran down Kyle’s back. He slowed his pace, indicating that Tyria should do likewise. She slowed also, drawing her lightsaber and holding it ready to ignite. They had been moving through maintenance corridors, hoping to reach the bridge largely unseen, only passing through occupied spaces when they needed to move from one junction to another. “I sense something,” Kyle whispered. Ahead of them, a heavy door sealed shut. A hissing sound filled the corridor as vapor began flooding into the chamber. Another door clanked shut behind them. Kyle felt himself begin to grow light-headed. “Fire suppression system,” he said. “They’re trying to gas us.” He pulled on a rebreather while Tyria did likewise. Kyle was about to start forward again when Tyria caught sight of a faint red light tucked away behind a bulkhead. The Jedi Master felt her grab his shoulder. “Laser mine,” she warned him, pointing to the explosive. “They mined this corridor.” “Can you disarm it?” “Maybe?” she replied. “Depends on if there are other explosives and how the proximity sensor is set up.” Kyle consulted his datapad. “Never mind. We’ll cut a hole through the floor and drop down a level,” he said. “We’re not quite above the bridge, but this is close enough. About thirty more meters.” She nodded and took up a position opposite him in the narrow corridor. Drawing their lightsabers, they ignited them and stabbed them into the metal flooring, cutting a circular hole about two meters in diameter. The durasteel disk dropped out with a clang beneath them and Kyle jumped down, Tyria and the four YVH droids following him. They were in a much wider corridor that led to the ship’s bridge, the entrance to which was only about thirty meters away. The fire suppression gas billowed down into the corridor, clouding their vision and Kyle beckoned them forward. Rounding the last corner before a ten-meter straight passage to the bridge, Kyle suddenly sensed danger. Three large silhouettes blocked the entrance and as they advanced forward, he recognized them as the lethal assassin droids that Ariada was fond of employing. They opened fire as he leapt across the corridor to take cover on the other side of the intersection, avoiding a withering barrage of repeating blasterfire that began hammering at the corners and back wall of the junction. “Ready?” Kyle called to Tyria. “When you are,” she told him, igniting her lightsaber once more. He nodded and emerged from cover with his lightsaber likewise lit and held in a guard stance, Tyria following his lead. They advanced side by side, lightsabers ready to catch the incoming fire. Immediately, the droids homed in on them, cutting loose with their blasters. When the Jedi were merely slowed and not cut down by the repeating blasterfire, the droids shifted tactics, adding grenades to their barrage. Kyle immediately sent a Force wave to knock the explosives back, but as they exploded in clouds of metal splinters he realized they were flechette grenades; effective against unarmored infantry, but useless against armored droids. He gritted his teeth and sent several blaster bolts back to their source, but the droid’s shields absorbed the impacts easily. The droids were now using all of their weapons systems and the two Jedi found themselves being funneled down a corridor filled with blaster bolts, beam lasers, grenades, magnetically accelerated projectiles, and cluster rockets. It was a kill zone, and even Kyle could not advance against such fierce resistance. He sought shelter against the protruding collar of a bulkhead, flattening himself against the wall to take maximum advantage of the half-meter of cover. Across the hall, Tyria did the same on her side. “YVH, advance,” Kyle called back to the corridor behind them. The four skeletal droids advanced in unison, unleashing a furious hail of repeating blasterfire and minirockets. The two waves of combat droids blazed away relentlessly, and the self-healing laminanium YVH droids soon found that their resilience was matched by the energy shields of Ariada’s droids. Kyle grinned as the four Yuuzhan Vong hunter droids advanced despite the punishment they were taking, charging down the corridor until they were just past the two Jedi. The opposing droids continued pounding each other relentlessly, filling the corridor with a dazzling lightshow and the thunderous cacophony of battle. “Time to even the odds,” he told Tyria as he prepared to follow their armored spearhead down the corridor into the bridge where the defenders would be vulnerable to their lightsabers in close quarters. And it was, though not in the way he expected. Tyria had just dashed forward when she sensed the dark presence behind her. She started to turn, but it was too late. Something caught her in the back of her right leg just as most of her weight was on that limb. She cried out and collapsed heavily to the metal deck, clutching her leg as blood began spurting out of a wound that punched completely through her thigh. Kyle whirled around to face the danger, lightsaber ready as he realized that somehow a sniper had wound up behind them. She was standing ready behind them, a rifle with an underslung launcher attached pointed at them. However, he did not realize that the grenade, hidden by the Force, had already been lobbed at them. It exploded with violent force amidst the Yuuzhan Vong Hunter droids, knocking two of them over and damaging the others. Kyle was forced to bring his lightsaber back to defend himself from the droids that were still firing on them. The sniper fired and a heavy slug caught one of the last surviving Yuuzhan Vong Hunter droids at the base of its skull. Sparks flew and it collapsed, twitching, as the round struck its vitals. The sniper switched her aim to the Jedi Master, who was about to be attacked from both sides. However, before she could fire, Tyria locked her lightsaber on and threw it back at the assassin. The whirling blade scythed through the barrel of her sniper rifle, tearing the weapon apart. Kyle wasted no time. Pivoting to the side and keeping his right hand with the lightsaber still batting away blaster bolts, he drew the trusty Bryar pistol he had carried for many years and fired three times. All three of the bolts caught the assassin in the chest, but they bounced off a personal shield. Kyle swore even he was forced to return his attention to defending the fallen Tyria. His comlink chirped. “Master Katarn, come in. What’s your status?” Selu Kraen asked him. “Very busy!” Kyle managed to shout. “Tyria’s hurt. Can’t talk!” However, he was granted a brief reprieve. The last Yuuzhan Vong Hunter droid, seeing its companions fallen, suddenly charged forward. “Maximum efficiency,” its ultra-deep facsimile of Lando Calrissian’s voice uttered. The opposing droids, which had been reduced to two by the steady barrage of the YVH droids, immediately focused on their charging opponent, but they were unable to bring it down in time, even after dousing it with cryospray from their third arms. The last YVH droid threw itself into the midst of its opponents and exploded with violent force. The detonation engulfed both droids and when the blast wave cleared, they were nothing but twisted metal. Kyle turned back to face the sniper, a young woman who was obviously skilled in the Force. She had recovered from the loss of her weapon and had drawn a pair of slugthrower pistols. “Now it’s just you and me,” he said. She blazed away with both pistols, sending a flurry of magnetically-accelerated metallic projectiles at him. Kyle whirled his lightsaber through a defensive velocity that caught each of the slugs on his emerald blade, incinerating and arresting them. He charged forward as the assassin back-flipped away from him. She had emptied both pistols already and when she alighted, she held a sixty-centimeter vibroblade backhanded, waiting for him. “I’ll ask you once to surrender,” Kyle told the assassin. “You first,” she replied. Kyle gave no reply, but charged forward, lightsaber swinging out in a blow that would split the woman in half. She caught it on her vibroblade and he followed up with a series of strikes that varied the zone of contact, forcing her to expend considerable energy as she parried first high, then low, then high again, then down to her mid-section. Kyle drove her back with ease, but a warning was set off in his mind as she gave more ground, nearly allowing him to push her into the scorched and blasted back wall of the corridor. He narrowly twisted aside to the right as her wrist gauntlets and kneepads fired a barrage of darts at him, throwing his left arm out behind him to add its momentum and hasten his evasion. The desperate maneuver evaded the darts, but left only his right hand gripping the lightsaber and dangerously exposed. The assassin struck out with a fierce blow that knocked the Jedi weapon from his hands. She stabbed forward for a killing strike, but Kyle continued his spin around behind her. Calling Tyria’s thrown lightsaber to his hand, he attempted to slash down at her back, but she reacted in time to parry the blow, unleashing a furious riposte that scored his left bicep. Kyle gasped at the deep cut and she immediately snarled and hacked at his face. Lightsaber clashed against vibroblade, stopping the blow short, mere centimeters from her face. She tried to overpower him, but Kyle was stronger and began forcing her back, muscling their locked blades towards his opponent. Sensing that she could not break out of the steering block, he forced her backward, pressing her into the wall. She tried to kick him, but Kyle anticipated the move and as soon she tried, shoved her further back so she was off-balance. Centimeter by centimeter, the still-locked blades were forced back closer to the assassin. Kyle could tell that the strain of maintaining the backhand grip on her weapon while holding it above shoulder level was wearing on his opponent, while his own strength was greater and his height advantage meant that driving her into the wall with the locked blades was not nearly as uncomfortable. He could see the fear in her eyes as the two weapons were inexorably forced closer and closer to her body despite her best efforts. “Forgive me, Mother,” the woman whispered. Her grip on the vibroblade faltered, and that was enough for Kyle. He exerted himself with one final effort and his lightsaber drove the vibroblade back. The keen edge was rammed into her neck with a sickening squelch. The assassin’s eyes widened with shock and she shuddered as her throat was cut open by her own weapon, blood splattering out from the wound even as she tried to grab him. A second later, though, her strength utterly failed, and she collapsed lifeless. Kyle felt Tyria suddenly pull him away with the Force. The Jedi Master flew back just as a laser mine exploded where he had been standing, showering that section of the corridor with a brilliant constellation of light as twenty laser beams lanced out from the mine, leaving dark spots across his vision. He landed easily by Tyria’s side, safely out of the way. “Thanks,” he told her. “I didn’t see her plant the mine.” “She was hiding it in the Force,” Tyria said from where she was still lying on the floor. “And you were busy.” Her words bespoke confidence, but her voice sounded weak. Kyle checked the bridge entrance for further resistance and was relieved to find that the explosion of the droids had at least temporarily managed to stem the blasterfire from that end. For now, all was quiet in the corridor. He looked down and saw the pool of blood spreading from Tyria’s leg from a wound that had completely punched through the limb. “She shot you,” Kyle realized. “Yes,” Tyria answered, her voice definitely sounding pained. “Got me pretty good.” Kyle realized with alarm that the rhythmic pulsing of blood gushing from the wound meant that a major artery had been pierced. Quickly, he stripped off his belt and wrapped it high around Tyria’s thigh just below the hip. “This is going to hurt,” he told her. Without giving her a chance to respond, he cinched it as tightly as he could, slowing the flow of blood to the wound. Tyria gasped in agony, but Kyle was relieved to see the gushing blood reduced to a trickle. “Master Kraen, come in,” he said, activating his comlink. “Here,” Selu answered. “Go ahead.” “Tyria’s down,” Kyle answered. “She was shot—I think her femoral artery was hit. I’m trying to slow the bleeding down, but it’s serious.” “You should continue the mission,” Tyria told him weakly. “Coruscant. Think about Coruscant. I’ll be fine. Stop the bombs—that’s what matters.” “Belay that,” Selu interrupted. “Milya and I are heading for the sanctum from the other end, we’ll be there shortly. I’m sending you coordinates to Akleyn’s location. Get Tyria there and he’ll take care of her. He could use someone to look out for him anyway.” Tyria shook her head. “You hate guard duty,” she quipped. “I’ll put up with it this time,” he said. Kyle picked her up, slinging her over his left shoulder like a sack of grain despite its injury. This way, his right hand would be free to defend them, at least until he could set Tyria down and handle the threat. It was not an optimal arrangement, but the Jedi Master trusted that the Force would warn him of any imminent danger. Gathering his strength, he headed back through the corridors from whence they had come.