Duel in the Ziggurat

The Duel in the Ziggurat was a multi-way lightsaber battle inside Ara Merquise's Fortress, pitting the Merquise Syndicate and its allies, the Royal Guard of the Golden Empire, against the Dark Lord of the Sith Tulak Hord, who was possessing Merquise ally and former Imperial Knight Reiko Kaytana.

Background
After several uses of the Force to resurrect others from the brink of death, Reiko Kaytana's mind began to fracture, plagued by vague imprints of the minds of those she had saved. This mental chaos, combined with her tapping the dark side of the Force without sufficient training in its use, drew the attention of the restless spirit of Tulak Hord, an ancient Dark Lord of the Sith. Using Reiko's degenerating mental state, the long-dead Sith subtly began to infiltrate her mind, at first appearing as simply one voice in a welter, but gradually asserting himself more.

Alluria Quinn could see the changes in her comrade, and was concerned for both Reiko and her son, Nagarian Sakaros, whom Alluria had been charged to protect by her former master. Reiko resisted any attempts at being help, and her demeanor became increasingly aggressive, to the point that she savagely attacked and beat up Jarek Solios during what was supposed to be a training exercise.

While Quinn and Solios were still pondering how to help their friend, four Royal Guards of the Golden Empire arrived—Jira Seezhli, Breek Zagrev, Khoro`ly`ooho`sh`lyhoo, and Vem. Nagarian's sister Rin had sensed some vague danger to her brother and dispatched her Guards to protect him as needed indefinitely. When Reiko snapped again, she was cornered and overpowered by three of the Royal Guards, who coaxed her into revealing the presence of Tulak Hord in her mind and all but forced her to use her telepathic link with Rin to call for the Sith queen's aid.

Outmatched
Rin promised to come personally to Reiko's assistance, so Hord knew he had little time to act. On the day Rin was supposed to arrive, he took full control of Reiko's body, possessing her completely. The possessed Reiko attacked an unsuspecting Alluria Quinn, who barely managed to block the flurry of blows. In life, Hord had been the finest swordsman in the history of the Sith species, and even confined to Reiko's body and working with her weakened left arm, he retained his knowledge of the Jedi arts and was more than a match for Alluria alone.

Sensing his love's peril, Jarek raced across the ziggurat to her aid, and both Breek and Jira responded as well, sensing that Nagarian was in danger. Ordering Vem and Khoro to stay with Nagarian as a last line of defense, Breek threw herself into the battle, Jira joining her, just as Hord stabbed Alluria through the chest. Jarek attempted to come to their aid, but he was so enraged at seeing Alluria injured that his furious attack failed entirely—he managed only a single swing before Hord sidestep and impaled him through the kidney and out his stomach.

Left alone to battle the Dark Lord, the two Centurions attempted to use their different styles of Djem So and Makashi to off-balance their enemy, but even together they were no match for Hord's lightsaber expertise. He half-amputated Jira's sword arm after only a few exchanges, leaving Breek to battle him alone, her increasingly desperate parries barely keeping him at bay.

Reinforcements
Meanwhile, Rin Sakaros had arrived at Nar Shaddaa with a squad of her Massassi soldiers. When she was close enough to sense what was going on, she ordered her soldiers to pour on all speed, and dove out the half-extended ramp of her shuttle before it had even entered the hangar bay of the ziggurat. Not stopping to address queries from the dockhands, she sprinted through the pyramid toward the site of the duel.

Sensing the much more dangerous threat approaching, Hord smashed Breek aside with the Force and escaped down a turbolift seconds before Rin entered the same hallway. The queen analyzed the injuries of her allies briefly, then ran to the turbolift. Knowing it would take too long to pursue by using the route she had taken up, Rin simply ripped apart the floor beneath her feet with the Force, tearing a hole in each level and chasing the turbolift down. Arriving on the throne room level a second before the turbolift doors opened, Rin confronted her possessed friend, offering the Dark Lord a chance to leave Reiko's body unharmed. He refused, and the battle was joined.

Allowing herself to be driven into the throne room so as to avoid civilian casualties in the halls, Rin was able to match her enemy blow for blow, but her desire not to harm Reiko hampered her fighting skills and kept the duel evenly matched. She briefly tried to overcome Hord with Force Insanity, but though the elder Dark Lord's morale wavered, Rin's power was so great that she began to drive hundreds of people in the ziggurat into a whimpering panic and, even worse, began to sap Alluria and Jarek of their will to live. Breek telepathically begged the queen to stop, and Rin was forced to abandon the attack before she did more harm than good, putting the duel back on even footing.

Gradually realizing that she would not be able to triumph over her enemy without fully unleashing her abilities, and imagining what horrors would await her young brother if she failed, Rin at last reconciled herself to killing Reiko and abandoned any attempt to avoid harming her. Free to employ her full power, she quickly broke down Hord's defense, slicing Reiko's lightsaber in half. Before her enemy could react, Rin threw her own weapon aside, seized Hord's wrists, and bathed her enemy in a vicious barrage of Force lightning. Hord tried to retaliate in kind, pain fueling his power, but Rin had sufficient practice in Vaapad to be able to return Hord's attack on him, suffering only mild burns. With her enemy weakened, injured, and distracted, Rin dove into Reiko's mind, forcibly ripping the spirit of Hord away from Reiko and sending the former Dark Lord spiralling into Chaos with a scream.

Aftermath
Though drained by her confrontation with Hord, Rin went to the aid of her fallen comrades. Cutting open her arm and palms, she let her regenerative, half-Qua blood spill onto Jarek, Alluria, and Jira's wounds. Jarek and Alluria were saved from death and recovered enough for healing in a bacta tank, while Jira's arm was mended almost completely. However, this cost Rin nearly half her total blood volume, and brought the queen alarmingly close to death herself. At Breek's instruction, all the combatants in the duel were taken to the Ziggurat's medical facility and treated for their injuries.

Freed from Hord's influence but gravely wounded by Rin's final attack, Reiko was left to heal in mind and body. When she regained consciousness, Rin assisted in this process, using her powers to install light mental barricades in Reiko's mind. Though the blocks would not keep out a determined attacker point-blank, Rin was confident that they could at least thwart any more long-distance attempts at possession from Korriban.