Danse Macabre/Part 14

"Quickly," Second Besh ordered, abandoning the ascension gun that had brought him up the side of Anaxes Citadel. "We can't rely on the animals' thoroughness."

When Fourth Mern had come to his side, Second Besh led the run around the Citadel's great dome. There was no sign of the Anzati, but the dead snipers had been left where they fell. The jetpack parachutes had worked, then; perhaps his master would find further use for Gravo after all.

They passed the corpse of a Bith, too, and Second Besh recognized him as a Jedi, though he had abandoned their trademark peasant garb. He would have enjoyed the chance to slay the creature himself, but it was likely better this way; even a one-sided duel took time, and General Seldec would not excuse the loss of two of the Vanguard who might have been preserved. When Third Aurek and Third Herf exterminated the bug, they would be heroes of Lord Aresh's Empire. Aurek would likely even rise to the Second Rank. Second Besh was of mixed feelings on the subject, but slaying the Chancellor would certainly merit it.

As he led Fourth Mern into the turn, Second Besh's steps slowed against his will. Frowning even as his brother overshot him, he traced his hesitation back to the Force. Something was not as it should be; a glaring light shining in his mind's eye. Laying a hand on the lightsaber at his belt, he turned.

A woman in a dress knelt beside the Bith, one hand on his grotesque, swollen head. Her head was bowed in sorrow, but when she raised it, Second Besh saw she had a mask over her eyes. His lip curled beneath his own mask; another "near-Human", one of the countless aliens throughout the galaxy who mocked his species with distortion. At least the Bith had the decency to appear the alien he was.

The woman in green rose and took a lightsaber from her belt, and the Vanguardians advanced to meet her.

"Hello," she said; she sounded as though she was trying for enthusiasm but coming up short. "I'm Kenza. And you're not supposed to be here."

"I'll deal with her," Fourth Mern offered.

"This is totally not prime, guys," Kenza complained.

Second Besh rolled his eyes and waved at his brother, turning away to let him handle it. The Jedi needed to die, but there would be no honor in slaying such a simple creature. Snap-hisses and cracks of plasma rang out behind him, along with the chhh-rip of hook-and-loop fasteners rapidly becoming unhooked and unlooped. Second Besh advanced to the edge of the roof. Two ropes were already in place, and that made him frown. His contact was to have opened the office window for them and disabled its security, but why would the officer risk his own detection by coming up here to the roof?

He sensed pain behind him, and turned away from the puzzle to find another, more frustrating one—Fourth Mern was skipping sideways rather than attacking, and his left biceps smoked. Kenza had apparently discarded her flowing skirt; she wore a pair of matching emerald and black capri pants beneath, though Second Besh couldn't see the pattern clearly—she was moving much too quickly. Barely had she touched down than she flipped or cartwheeled into a new attack. Fourth Mern tried a one-handed cut at her and almost lost the hand as she pirouetted into a slash.

Snarling, Second Besh drew his blade and came at Kenza from the other side. She caught Fourth Mern in a low saber lock and held him there until Second Besh struck at her unprotected back; in an instant she leapt, kicked off Mern's chest, slapped his head sideways with a wheeling kick from her other foot as Besh's blade passed just under her arm, and turned into a flying block that knocked Besh's strike back. He had to retreat as she cut at his wrists, throwing himself back to gain distance for his usual power strikes. Mern stabbed at her spine as she touched down, but she whirled on the ball of one foot like a dancer, parried his blow sideways, then curved her blade back up, slicing his leg off at the knee. Mern started to scream, but even as his stump of a leg hit the ground, Kenza spun in a hurricane of blue fire and the screaming stopped.

Second Besh stared into those eyes that matched his own as they dulled in death, all the fire of their red and yellow extinguished, until Fourth Mern's head toppled sideways. The rest of him sat back on his heels until his body folded forward at the waist in a macabre kowtow.

Besh stepped back, knowing what was coming, and apparently Kenza sensed it too, because she sprang away just before the microbomb detonated, incinerating Mern's corpse and taking a chunk out of the roof, too. Kenza turned to face Besh, regarding him with that eyeless stare and sad smile. "Seriously. Not a good plan."

She raised her blade vertically until it divided her face and the emerald of her mask turned sapphire in the blade's light. As Besh brought his blade up to to strike, she dropped back into an Ataru guard and sighed. "Well, at least I get to dance."