LOTF: The Hunted/Part 2

Part 2: Quarry
Yula Ardinn

Dantooine

When Yula came to her senses, she looked up to see yet another duel about to commence. An unknown figure was standing near the entrance, wielding a blue lightsaber. Facing him was the strange Sith she had been fighting earlier, and behind him Ganner was lying on the ground, motionless. Yula could still feel his and Massikus' presence in the Force, but it was weak and only growing weaker. Her instincts told her she had to get out, and fast. She turned to the wall behind her, reaching out in the Force for a weakness she indeed found. She pushed with the Force at the wall, and it came away partially, enough for her to escape through. She quickly dashed to the other side, and did her best to put the section of the wall as it was prior before making her escape.

Yula knew where the ship was landed, and quickly began making her way to it. She ran through the green fields, leaving behind the presences she had felt before but still not truly shaking the feeling of powerlessness she had felt over the last month on the run. She had felt it when Tyrral died, when she couldn't stop Bail from sacrificing himself to save her, and when it seemed Massikus was going to kill her too. Ganner overpowering him had only instilled hope in her for the briefest of moments before it was struck down again, and even now that she seemed to have escaped the chaos, she could not truly find it in herself again.

At last, Yula could see the ship growing closer to her with every step she took. After what felt like an eternity, she took her first step onto the darkened vessel, which was currently powered down. Sitting alone in the pilot's seat, she activated the ship and began to prepare it for liftoff. The hums of the ship coming to life were music to Yula's ears, but the sound was quickly permeated by that of a shot that rang out towards her. Within a second of hitting the ship, everything went dark again--someone had hit her with an ion blast. Yula decided that whoever it was, she would face them instead of hiding. She exited the ship, and for the first time became aware of the fact that she had left her lightsaber in the ruins.

She stepped out again onto the surface to find herself surrounded by a variety of what she could only assume were mercenaries of some sort. There were about a dozen of them, mostly human with one Trandoshan, each armed to the teeth and wearing some sort of gray Mandalorian-styled armor. Yula would've initially believed they really were Mandalorians, but in the center of the group stood an entirely different figure. He stood tall in an gray admiral's uniform, gazing at her with dark brown eyes and hair.

"Greetings, Master Jedi. My name is Taran Ragnan. You'll be coming with me."

Yula sensed danger in the Force as he spoke, and sure enough, as he finished speaking he quickly leveled a blaster pistol at her in his right hand. Yula quickly sidestepped to the left as he fired off a shot, but the mercenaries standing behind him immediately opened fire on her too, and Yula was quickly overwhelmed by blue flashes before everything faded.

...

When Yula finally came to, she found herself in some sort of interrogation room. It was very plain, with nothing but stainless durasteel walls for decoration, along with the chair she was bound to, a small metal table in front of her, and another chair on the other side. Taran sat in that chair, flanked by two more mercenaries, a man and a woman. Yula pulled at her restraints to no avail, and Taran grinned at her efforts. She tried to reach out in the Force, but she felt nothing. She must have been sedated. "Ah," he started, "you're awake. Let's begin." He pulled out a datapad and began reading from it.

"What do you want?" Yula asked.

"Well, I'm sorry if I've made a poor impression, but I assure you, I merely seek information from you. So tell me, who are you?"

"My name is Yula Ardinn. I'm a Jedi Master." She watched him for any sort of reaction to her statements, but he wasn't fazed in the slightest. "You and three others all met at those ruins. Why?"

"I was running from one... A Sith. Another Sith attacked me, and as I escaped there was a man... he had a lightsaber."

Taran chuckled. "Two Sith attacked you and Galen Slarwalker came to save you? That's your story?"

"Galen Slar-"

"Don't play stupid with us, Jedi. Two Sith and two Jedi walk into a temple and each comes out alive?"

"You mean Ganner's alive?"

Yula regretted her words as soon as they had left her mouth, and they only served to further infuriate Taran for reasons unknown.

"Ganner Slarwalker? Are you hearing this, boss?"

At the word "boss", Yula sensed a slight, sudden pique of interest in the woman behind Taran. Her powers were still very nullified, meaning what Yula felt was likely only a fraction of what was really happening. In truth, Yula had felt the same curiosity--who was behind all this?

Suddenly, the ship began to rumble. The two guards flanking Ragnan both nearly stumbled, but just as unexpectedly as the motion had came, it ceased. "What was that?" Ragnan asked.

"Don't know." The woman nervously replied. She also had a thick Coruscanti accent. She began tapping on a comlink on her right arm as the rumbling started again. "I'm patching us into the bridge now."

"Good. Report?"

"I-I can't tell what's happening!" a panicked voice yelled. ''"There was a ship--dropped out of hyperspace right in front of our hangars, and then we lost visuals. There's multiple explosions, but I can't see what..." ''Over the comm, Yula could hear a door slide open in the background. "What the-- HELP!!!"

The comm went silent, as the ship continued to shake. Yula's three captors exchanged glances, then each drew a DC-17 blaster pistol. "Cyana, sedate her again. We're going to the escape pods."

Cyana Bastra

"Yes, sir," she replied. She reached into her pocket and pulled out the needle containing the sedative, then quickly inserted it into Yula's neck. Her eyes immediately closed as her head went limp. Cyana then unlocked the Jedi's restraints, and began to carry her along with the help of her partner, Carn. As they walked out into the corridor, the lights began to flicker. "What the hell happened?" Taran wondered. They began moving quickly through the ship as a woman's voice rang out on the intercom. She sounded old and sinister, and spoke slowly. "You have taken Yula Ardinn. You will surrender her to us and die quickly."

Taran chuckled. "That seems unlikely." They continued down the halls, getting closer and closer to the escape pods. They now passed bodies, many bloodied, their assailants still unknown. None of them were actually clone troopers--Taran somehow had the resources to man an entire Venator with Brotherhood forces. At last, they could see the escape pods down the hall, a long hall lined with more corpses. As they approached, Cyana heard the sound of a lightsaber activating behind them.

She turned to see a female Jedi, old and tattooed, wielding a blue blade. Flanking her were several pale women dressed in red robes, two wielding bows on either side and an unarmed one in the back. Nightsisters? "Stop!" the Jedi commanded. Cyana raised her blaster at one of the Nightsisters, as did Carn. "I will not allow you to take this woman."

Cyana looked back towards Taran, who responded by placing his blaster on the back of Yula's head. "You will."

For a moment, the two groups stood there at an impasse. Cyana had no idea what the capabilities of the Nightsisters was, but she was fairly certain they could easily slaughter her and the others given the slightest opening. Cyana didn't have any other real weapons on her at the time; she did have the sedative, but it seemed unlikely she would have an opportunity to use it on anyone present.

"Very well," the Nightsister in the back sighed. Cyana could tell by her voice that this was the person she had heard earlier over the intercom. "Kill them."

The two other Nightsisters both fired in unison as the world around Cyana slowed down. She fired a shot at the witch in front of her, and looked left to see Carn leaping in front of her, dropping Yula as he fired a shot towards the other one. He took the Nightsister's shot for her as the one meant for him flew past him, hitting the wall harmlessly. Both Nightsisters dropped to fhe floor, dead, as did Yula's unconscious body.

For another instant, everyone was surprised into stillness, before the Jedi raced towards Cyana. Within a split second, she had stopped, and she looked down in shock. Cyana did the same, seeing that in a moment of pure instinct, she had managed to shoot the Jedi. She raised her blaster once more to her head and finished the Jedi off.

"NO!"

As she did, Yula suddenly rose up from the ground, knocking Cyana and Taran back with the Force. Taran flew into the escape pod, and Cyana hit the wall, dropping her blaster. The fallen Jedi's lightsaber flew into Yula's hands, and she turned to face Cyana with a face emanating with rage. Cyana saw the blaster on the floor, out of her reach, and knew she had only on chance at escaping. "YOU KILLED HER!" Yula screamed, raising her lightsaber. Cyana leapt up as Yula brought the blade down. Though she had moved fast, Yula moved faster, slicing down over (but miraculously, not on) Cyana's right eye. Cyana had swiped at her with the sedative but missed as Yula jumped back, leaving her open for another strike. Yula attacked again, slashing across Cyanas' face, leaving a burning plus sign across her face as she fell down.

Given a momentary reprieve, Cyana slowly regained her vision to see that Yula was now deflecting shots fired by Taran. Knowing the mission had been lost, Cyana quickly jumped up, dodging shots and ricochets as she ran towards the escape pod. She slid into the pod next to Taran, who immediately closed the door and ejected the pod into space. Finally taking a moment to catch her breath, Cyana looked at Taran, who was sitting against the window, facing her. He let out a relieved, exasperated sigh. "What happens now?" Cyana asked.

"I'll send out a distress signal, get one of our men to pick us up--the Nightsisters won't follow us." Taran was looking peculiarly at her, and Cyana suddenly remembered what had happened to her as the pain came back to her face. "I'll see what we have in here to treat you. Between you and me, you deserve a promotion." As Taran grabbed a medkit off the wall of the pod, Cyana took a look out of the window, towards trillions of beings impossible distances away. All those people couldn't know what they had coming, and if Cyana could complete her mission, they never would need to.

Sen Qorbin

Umbara

Qorbin's lightsaber clashed with the Sith's as they both pushed against each other. He was staring him in the face now, and saw nothing but confidence and glee in the young man's eyes. Suddenly, the man reached out with his left hand, using the Force to throw Qorbin away into one of the plants, breaking it apart as he landed on his feet. "I've changed my mind," the man stated, "I don't need these people--I only need you." He effortlessly picked Qorbin up with the Force, despite his best efforts to break free of his grip. He dragged Qorbin closer and closer to him, until they were face to face again.The man then deactivated his lightsaber and clipped it to his belt.

"This will only hurt a bit," he said. He then raised his fist and thrust it into Qorbin's face, suddenly reducing the whole world to blackness.