Destiny Eclipse/Chapter VIII

-- 6 ABY --

Kinyen – Outer Atmosphere
Xander awoke from a deep sleep to hear the long awaited pinging that indicated they were leaving Hyperspace after four long months of hopping from uninhabited system to uninhabited system. They had lived mostly off supplies in the craft, but occasionally there had been a small out-post, no fuelling or repair stations, in one of the systems recorded as having no planet to sustain life.

As Xander glanced out of his bunk-room, he watched with mild humour as Jysek, only half dressed and desperately pulling on his shirt bolted down the hall, racing for the cockpit. It was well known by all spacers that you never had to pull the lever, and that the safety override pulled a craft out of Hyperspace as soon as it got close enough to a large gravity-mass. It was safer, however, when merely pleasure cruising, to manually cut out of Hyperspace.

As Xander felt the smooth bump that indicated they had pulled out of Hyperspace and into the Lortan system, he made his way at a calm pace into the cockpit to greet Jysek. He watched in feigned seriousness as Jysek bounced around the cockpit, checking read-outs and dials, flipping switches, pushing buttons rapidly, and pulling levers.

“So we’re finally here,” Xander said, yawning and scratching his scalp in contentedness.

“Yeah, and we’ll be lucky if those folks back at Kinyen Security didn’t figure out where we were headed, make the journey in half an hour, and wait in ambush for us. Hopefully they’ll be to preoccupied by the crims that Jedi brought in when we left.”

From the way Jysek immediately shut up, Xander could tell he had said something he hadn’t meant to. “A Jedi? On Kinyen? And you didn’t tell me? Jysek, you know how much I want to become a Jedi like my Grand-Father, why didn’t you tell me?”

Jysek opened his mouth as if to speak, but closed it just as quickly. He turned away from Xander, as if in shame, “Because I know I’ll never be a Jedi, and that as soon as you reach their hide out, you’ll dump me for your Master, then your Apprentice, then another Apprentice, and so on.”

Xander walked over to stand by Jysek, and placed a reassuring hand on his friend’s shoulder. “Jysek, I’ve known you nearly all my life. I would never dismiss you or leave you behind you should know that. Besides, I heard the Jedi Temple employs non-Force Sensitives to work as mechanics and such, so we could still spend plenty of time together.”

Jysek’s face brightened almost immediately, “Really? That would be awesome! Now, the only trouble is finding their Temple. Maybe some locals here will have heard of them.”

“Only one way to see,” Xander said, grinning.

Kroprulu – Military Debriefing Room
“We will launch the attack in little under an hour. It will take possibly twenty galactic standard minutes to reach our target,” Empress Dell said, using a laser pointer on the Galactic map. “High General Crusher shall lead the assault on the planet’s surface, and Grand Admiral Astra’s forces shall attack from space. Lords Astra and Crusher personally, however, shall fight through the streets on the ground. Lord Zero and his Hands are already in place, and shall provide assistance if necessary.”

Crusher and Astra nodded, glancing at each other and grinning like young boys, not the hardened warriors they were. Although Astra was primarily a naval officer, he had asked to help lead the assault on the ground to touch up on his hand-to-hand combat skills that he had let go in the years past.

“Very well my Empress, we are ready to leave as soon as you see fit.” Astra said, bowing before the wise Empress of the Empire. Astra was eager to teach the men serving under him, including a young boy of only thirteen, Lanik.

“Very well, men. Set your course for Lorta.”

Bakura – Jedi Temple
Shatterpoint flowed smoothly over the grass in the outer Temple grounds, taking in the tranquillity of the life surrounding her, and soaking in the radiant warmth of the midday sun.

Suddenly, an invisible cloud seemed to pass over her inner consciousness, and she took a sharp breath.

“What is it?” Her secret husband, Jedi Master Koras said, concern written over his face, as he placed a hand over hers.

“I feel a great disturbance in the Force. Something terrible is going to happen on Lorta. I must leave, immediately.”

“But wait, you can’t go alone, I’ll accompany you. I’m sure we can bring in some aerial support to aide you if this becomes dangerous,” Koras said, turning and speaking rapidly into his comlink, before putting it away again

“It is settled. Four Blockade Runners and eight Corvettes are being diverted to help you. If it is as dangerous as you say and I feel, that may be not enough,” Koras said, his eyes darting over his wife’s concerned features.

“Just having you there for me is more than enough,” Shatterpoint said, smiling gratefully. “Thank you,” she said, leaning over and kissing him on the cheek.

“We must leave at once,” Koras said, rising to his feet immediately, as Shatterpoint rose to follow him.

Lorta – Surface
Two hours later, Xander and Jysek were on the surface, their craft, dubbed the Escapee after their exploits, was being repaired, as they wandered through the city. To replace their lost weapons at Kinyen, Xander and Jysek had each bought a vibroblade and vibrosword, which could reputedly stop even a lightsaber if angled right.

Xander and Jysek had had a few practicing jousts, and were pretty confident that they had mastered the swords as well as could be expected after owning them for less than an hour.

As they sat in a tapcafe, Xander felt a nudge through his slowly developing Force senses that something was wrong. He couldn’t place it, but it felt like a horrible vibration at the back of his teeth, and it felt bad.

He caught a glimpse of three men wondering the other side of the street, their cloaks done up tight, concealing their faces, but Xander caught a sense that they were involved in something bad and big.

He whirled, drawing his vibrosword just as the first explosion went off two blocks away, and the three men drew ruby lightsabers.

As Xander and Jysek raced towards them, Xander realised that one of them was hardly a man, not even as old as Jysek, but that the other two were powerful in the Force, their presences dominating his mind, making him feel minute and worthless.

As they spun towards him, he slashed fiercely, surprised that he heard one of the men grunt and fall back in pain.

“Defeat them Crusher. Show Lanik the true powers of the Dark Side,” he said, as he deactivated his lightsaber, tending to his gaping wound in his side. It would have killed an ordinary man, and the man must have been poorly trained or over confident to have allowed such a costly first strike.

“Lanik, eliminate this fiery youth, I’ll take the older one,” snapped the man Xander assumed must have been Crusher. He gulped as he glanced at the young boy, marching fiercely forward, brandishing his fiery blade.

Lunging forward, Xander pivoted on his right foot, aiming to the boys left, before quickly feinting to the left before placing a strike at the boy’s face. It was like he had known only one of the strikes would ever have hit, and he anticipated the strike precisely, raising his blade, and sending the Vibrosword glancing away, and sending pins and needles shooting through Xander’s wrist.

He stumbled back, momentarily, and leaped forward again, smashing his blade into his opponent’s hoping to defeat him with raw strength, pushing the boy’s blade back, and forcing him back a pace, before disengaging, and striking again, this time to the left.

The boy spun on his feet, blocking the blow, although Xander could see that this deflection wasn’t as easy as the first. He felt a sinking in his stomach as he saw the boy smirk, lift one hand from his lightsaber, and send blue tendrils of agony shooting through Xander’s body.

Xander struggled to remain conscious, gazing coldly into the boy’s face, pushing with his mind, as if will power alone would prevent the attack from draining him of all his energy.

“You have much potential,” Lanik murmured, “Join me. Join the Sith, and we can rule the Galaxy!”

“Never,” Xander said, breathing heavily, as he pushed his vibro-sword back up, watching in satisfaction as the lightning conducted upon its surface, instead of his body, running along it instead.

“Very well, you leave me with no choice,” the boy said, raising his hand. Xander felt the air leave his lungs as he was flung backwards by an invisible force, unable to prevent it.

Xander couldn’t even feel his back smash into the wall as he slid to the ground. Lanik stood over him, gloating. “Now, you will feel the agony of loosing your arms, then legs, and finally your life,” he snarled, slicing down hard with his blade, severing Xander’s left arm. Biting his lip to stifle the scream, Xander felt tears roll down his face, as he heard the boy laugh sadistically above him, and finally the scream tore through his lips, echoing through the streets, as everywhere men, women and children fell to Sith Soldiers.

Near him, he watched foggily as Jysek fought on viciously, pushing Darth Crusher back. With a surge of panic Xander realised the man was toying with Jysek, and, as Jysek parried a blow, watched Crusher disarm him, and hold his lightsaber to Jysek’s throat, speaking words Xander couldn’t hear. As unconsciousness gripped him, Xander heard the haunting sound of another lightsaber igniting, and a flash of purple, and then he heard and felt nothing else.