Power and Betrayal: Chapter 14

"I knew it would come down to one last stand. Face me!"

Havoc squad had finally caught up to Rasmus Blys, the corporate executive who had led this organized refusal to surrender to Republic control. He had retreated to a larger laboratory which had eight of the isolation capsules holding more altered Flesh Raiders in stasis. But they no sooner laid eyes on him when he immediately armed his weapons--along with some sort of experimental energy shield--and challenged them to a confrontation.

"Rasmus Blys!" Colonel Corvioch called out as the rest of the team took up defensive positions. "By order of the Supreme Chancellor of the Galactic Republic, you are hereby ordered to cease hostilities immediately and surrender yourself into Republic custody. If you stand down now you...."

The executive was already firing and had even tossed some sort of magnetic device at Captain Jer'ell that attached to his armor and used energy pulses to try to short out his electronic systems.

"Firing...."

On his order, Havoc Squad opened fire. Jer'ell and Mereana both closed in to minimum range to maximize their weapons' effectiveness, while Kendsel activated his assault cannon and fired a special round designed to weaken defenses. Jer'ell quickly returned the executive's favor by using a powerful electrical attack of his own. All four moved as one into positions where each would have a clear shot at the target and at the same time the Colonel would have a clear shot at his three squad-mates for medical support.

And it turned out that Blys' energy shield was more than up to the task of repelling the firepower. But apparently it also doubled as a stealth field generator, and he simply . . . disappeared.

But the team was prepared, and soon all four soldiers had deployed specialized sensors designed to defeat stealth fields.

"Come on out and play." Jer'ell taunted. "I got this here rifle butt that wants to get to know your head real up-close and personal."

The sensors worked quickly, as their quarry soon reappeared on one side of the room near one of the capsules.

"Feisty, aren't you? Bringing contingencies online!" he said, while manipulating some sort of remote control.

Within seconds, one of the capsules opened, freeing its Flesh Raider captive, who promptly started attacking the squad.

Jer'ell, not to be outdone, had capitalized on the the brief time when Blys was invisible to arm, pre-load and charge his portable missile launcher. As soon as he had a target lock, he shouted, "Take it to the FACE!" and fired a series of small missiles from the cannon mounted on his shoulder.

"Kendsel, same as before?" Corvioch asked.

After a moment's contemplation, Kendsel responded, "Yes, that's a TG-5 blue one. Look for a capsule marked 'EK-8' and break it loose. That'll be a red one."

"I'm on it." Mereana said, breaking off her attack on the executive and checking the other capsules for a suitable candidate. Meanwhile, Kendsel began firing on the Flesh Raider that was already loose.

"You hear that, Tubby?" Jer'ell shouted into Blys' face. "We already know how to shut down your little family reunion here."

A few seconds later, the newly-released Flesh Raider was being drawn compulsively to his nearby counterpart. As they came into full contact, they both exploded into a thick, smelly puddle of ooze.

"Colonel?" Jer'ell shouted triumphantly. "How's about we make it a PARTY!"

"Do it." Corvioch responded.

Mereana began opening up the remaining six capsules, deliberately alternating between the TG-5's and the EK-8's so that they'd self-destruct as she went.

After she'd opened up the fourth one, she noticed that Kendsel wasn't firing and was instead standing motionless, staring straight ahead as if looking at something millions of light-years away.

"Code 4-C, Colonel." she reported. "Looks like a bad one."

'Code 4-C' was what the squad called it when Major Kendsel zoned out momentarily due to an unexpected Force vision--an in-joke that he had 'gone all Forcey' and/or that he was 'Foresee-ing' something about to happen. They always found it remarkable that whenever this happened, rather than act like a sleepwalker and become a easy target, he did his absolute BEST shooting (or flying) and had this incredible sort of luck where no one who tried to shoot AT HIM could actually hit him.

They also knew from experience that the longer it lasted, the more complicated (and usually catastrophic) the thing he was seeing was. Normally it would only last a few seconds, but this one had already gone past 10 seconds or so which meant that it was definitely going to be something dangerous.

Mereana dispatched the last two Flesh Raiders and returned to attacking Rasmus Blys, slowly whittling down the power on his energy shield.

Regrettably, Rasmus Blys refused to surrender, and his final act before his death was to activate some sort of advanced security system he called "The Vigilant."

It was about twenty seconds later that Kendsel re-emerged from his 'Code 4-C', a total of over 4 minutes--the longest amount of time by far that they'd ever seen him remain 'in the zone' like that. When he did, he just fell to his knees screaming and shaking his head.

Mercifully, the screaming didn't last long, but he remained in a panicked state, muttering random disjointed words and phrases that didn't make any sense.

"NO!" ... "Dina!" ... "you can't" ... "switching" ... "not this time" ... "motion" ... "destroying everything" ... "darkness" ... "can't see" ... "no future" ... "the Force" ... "nexus" ... "Dianiss" ... "corruption" ... "HOW?" ... "not possible" ... "so...much...damage" ... "curse"

"Well, this 'Vigilant' is gonna have to wait." Colonel Corvioch said. "And if it can't, then Garza can just find another team to send in. We're returning to base, NOW."

Pain.

In that moment, it was all Dianiss knew. It was her entire existence.

It was physical pain: a white-hot burning fire that engulfed her from head to toe.

It was emotional pain: fear of failure, remorse for her failure so far, self-doubt that she couldn't actually save Galadina, shame over having totally lost that sense of strength and determination that made her a Jedi, fear that she was destined to become like her mother, fear that she was doomed to live up to her origins as a Sith, fear that her true destiny was to be a destroyer of life rather than a healer.

It was the only way, she'd told herself. Was it? Would it even work? All she could do was channel that power, and hope that she'd soon be able to feel Dina's presence through the barrier.

Despite having done this sort of Phase Walk before, Dina found it remarkable how it still gave her a shiver to actually DO it. The other thing that felt odd was the pain she felt in her right leg, which she had actually forgotten about.

It'll be fine. Kari will patch it up soon. But right now I have a job to do.

She had used stealth before doing the Phase Walk, and it had--as she expected--placed her at that spot right behind the Sith . . . and, coincidentally, right next to the holocron.

I just need to keep him busy long enough for Dianiss to do her big nasty Sith thing, and then I'll be back out of here.

Her presence here in stealth was confusing him, but she was a long way from being fully hidden from his awareness. That would be okay. In fact, it would work to her advantage until it was clear for her to emerge.

"There is no escape from..." he started to say, but trailed off as he spoke. Clearly he was unprepared for what had just happened.

She quickly snatched up the holocron in her hand and moved as quickly as she could toward his collection of sabers that he had been wielding against her.

Round One was arguably a draw. Round Two definitely went to him.

But by now she'd had all the time she needed to work out what to do for Round Three.

It was time to change the rules. Round Three was going to be a completely different game.

"Hey! Darth Iocus!" she shouted as she reappeared. "Look what *I* found."

When she knew he could see her she began casually tossing the holocron back and forth between her two hands.

"The Teacher!" he shouted, indignantly. It was like back on Oricon when she had taken the crystal from the top of the throne of Dread Master Bestia: it was the ultimate taunt, the kind of endless distraction that would continually keep him off his game.

But that was only the first use she had for it. As the hoard of lightsabers came for her, she brandished the holocron like a weapon. "Careful there, Little Creature." she said, knowing it would anger him further. "You wouldn't want to accidentally destroy the Teacher yourself with one of those blades, now, would you?"

As she expected, his blades pulled back whenever they got close to the holocron. Whatever else he had in mind for her, it did NOT include damaging the holocron in the process.

Ironic. I'm using this holocron as a weapon now, putting it in as much danger as I can, deliberately putting it at risk of being destroyed--but I'm actually doing this to save it from being destroyed. If this Sith only knew what all we've gone through to acquire this artifact, he'd call my bluff in a heartbeat. But he won't.

The blades circled around, trying to surround her. She kept alert to their locations, keeping herself in constant motion so that she would not give him an opening to attack.

"I have some bad news for you." she said to him, this time calm and self-assured. "You are going to die. I am going to kill you. It will happen in about eight minutes, and there is nothing at this point that you or I can do to prevent it. Use the Force. Seek out a glimpse of your own future. See for yourself."

THAT should slow him down for a bit. Now I need to eliminate these sabers from the equation.

Dina concentrated, taking advantage of his confusion over her words. Hopefully he was even trying foresee his immediate future. She needed that moment to carefully observe her opponent's Force aura--and how he was using the Force to connect to these weapons.

It was unusual for a Jedi--or Sith--to use telekinetic powers to directly manipulate a lightsaber, except in the most rudimentary way. But something at THIS level? She'd certainly never encountered it before personally. In fact, she'd never even encountered stories of anything like this in any of her studies.

But it made a certain amount of sense in this case. This Sith had lost his left hand to a classic Cho mai mark of contact that severed his wrist. His right arm and shoulder had suffered injuries as well, and although Dina would be the first to admit that she was no Jedi healer, to her it resembled electrical burns over the entire arm and a Shiak stab mark through the shoulder. NONE of his wounds appeared to have received any real medical attention.

She diverted her attention off the Sith and his blades for just a moment to confirm something that she remembered from before. Yes, there it was: this "Teacher", if indeed those were her bones, was also missing her left hand. That would explain why he feels so connected to her--and protective of her.

Okay, when learning to THROW a saber, we're taught early on to imagine that our hand is still on it, still holding it, still controlling it. Is THAT was he's doing? Let's find out....

Still holding the holocron in her left hand, she summoned Truthseeker to her right hand and activated it single-bladed. Evidently his frustration at not being able to activate it himself had caused him to discard it on the floor, as she knew he would.

After clashing against a couple of his sabers in a few defensive feints (still using the holocron as a sort of shield), she found the opening she wanted, and made her move.

Attacking the saber directly to destroy the weapon itself--a Sun djem strike--was an obvious tactic that she had tried from the start. In fact, it's such an integral part of her dueling style that she just does it instinctively without having to put any real thought into it.

No, this time she tried something different. Instead, she diverted her blade into a Cho mai strike, cutting BEHIND the saber hilt through thin air--the type of strike that would sever the arm holding the saber if the saber were being physically held by its wielder.

He made no real effort to prevent this strike, but as she made the 'cut', she could feel the slightest of resistance in her own saber. The strike caused the saber to shake suddenly and violently, enough that she had to back away quickly to avoid its sudden wild convulsion.

She couldn't hold back the smile from her face. "Got you." she whispered to herself.

Okay, THIS could be a problem. she thought.

Being in proximity to this kind of electrical power was both exhilarating and frightening at the same time. She could feel this tingling sensation over her entire body. But that wasn't the problem.

Her orders were to observe but not interfere--which she always hated. Once the Jedi party had found the entrance to the Academy, she estimated that following them inside carried an unacceptably-high risk of discovery. Besides, she didn't need to. The one RIGHT thing that Prowler and his men had done when they had Dianiss in custody was to attach a micro-reflector to Dianiss' lightsaber.

The micro-reflector was a tiny, flat device the size of newborn baby's pinky fingerprint. It was nearly undetectable due to its small size (assuming it's been hidden cleverly enough), light weight, and the fact that it has no power source of its own for any sort of scanner to detect. But any time it receives a particular coded signal on a particular frequency, it would use absorbed energy of the signal itself to respond with an echo signal of its own. It was short-range for sure, with that range limited by how much power one could use in transmitting the activation signal.

It helped a lot that the structure was made from stone and contained very little metal or other active electronic devices that would interfere with the signal. Once she had figured out that Dianiss was headed towards the center of the compound, she deployed her ship's remote spy satellite directly over the tallest peak and got the confirmation she needed that it was indeed part of the compound's interior.

So she'd chosen to climb up the side for a better view. She had found a good spot from which she could observe just in time to see the Twi'lek (whom she'd ID'd as Kari'arra, a known associate of Dianiss) jump off the side of the big rock in the middle and then fly back up to the entrance shelf--and recognized that this 'flying' was actually Dianiss' doing.

Master Sig-lapp was lying along the wall near the bottom like a rag-doll. Nothing much to observe from him. The notion that he's a lot more trustworthy when he's unconscious like that brought a smile to her face.

But since then, things had gotten serious. There was another unknown subject there, a male Sith, and the group was fighting him. Well, the Miraluka (whom she'd ID'd as Jedi Master Galadina) was fighting him, but she didn't look like she was fighting to WIN.

Then some sort of shield--the likes of which she'd never seen before--went up that blocked all her instruments. That prompted her to start recording the whole scene in high-resolution. Guardian Angel would definitely want to see this.

The Twi'lek had tried to remote-control her ship, but that wasn't going to work.

I suppose I owe her an apology for that.

When someone--most likely Dianiss--brought down some obviously-not-naturally-occurring lightning, it had no effect. Then the Twi'lek administered some sort of stim to Dianiss, and HO - LY - KARK.

This new lightning blast was evidently what happens when Dianiss uses Lord Kallig's power. It was, in a word: breathtaking.

Was that tingling sensation even safe?

Thankfully, her equipment was all properly shielded from high-level EM interference--standard practice in Imperial Intelligence. (In the Empire, there are a lot of Sith, and most of the Sith just love using Force lightning. So if an agent didn't want to have to be replacing all her equipment every other day, that equipment HAD to be shielded.)

As she looked down with her spotting scope, she expected to see this shield get obliterated under the monumental amount of power that Dianiss was bringing down on it.

But it was holding.

This could definitely be a problem.

If this Sith is actually powerful enough to go toe-to-toe with both Dianiss AND Aloysius Kallig, then Dianiss could actually be in danger here--and with or without do-not-interfere orders, Guardian Angel's Directive #1 was always to ensure Dianiss' safety (...which, he specifically added, meant NOT to shoot her).

So interfere she would.

She tapped a button on her earpiece, powering up the weapon on her spy satellite. Already in position, it only required a few seconds to charge to full power, aim at the precise spot she was looking at through her targeting contact lenses, and fire a series of powerful ion blasts down on the center of the crater, adding its own firepower to the massive lightning strike.

As it fired, she quickly assembled her anti-Jedi railgun and set up to take a shot at the Sith if the opportunity presented itself.

Looking again for her opening, she eventually caught the opportunity to clash against another of his blades, then loop her own saber around and under it so it made an upward wrist-severing Cho mai strike against the imaginary wrist that was wielding it. The pain he felt when she'd made that 'contact' was anything but imaginary.

This time, knowing that the attack would stun him momentarily, she followed up with a fluid spin that brought Truthseeker--now behind the Sith's saber--back towards her and through the other saber, taking him completely by surprise and cutting right through it.

That left eight sabers to go.

Dianiss was still pouring on as much power as she could channel, but her strength was waning.

The Night-Night Annie serum was running through her entire system, and more and more of Kallig's power was required to fight off the poison that--if left unchecked--was working to attack her nervous system and paralyze her.

"It's something we worked out as a fail-safe." Kari was trying to explain to Kinnan despite the roar. "To prevent her from losing control, she takes this powerful, fast-acting neuro-toxin. It weakens her in a way that forces Lord Brimstone to focus his attention on keeping her alive."

"You're playing a dangerous game of Brinksmanship with Dianiss' life."

"Well, . . . maybe." she responded with a shrug. "It's a lot harder to kill my Annie than you think. Plenty have tried, even succeeded . . . it didn't really take." she added with a casual shake of her head.

"What?!?"

"But if you'd seen the alternative like I have, you wouldn't think for a microsecond that THIS is the quote-unquote 'dangerous' option."

After she'd destroyed two more blades with the loop-under strike, he'd started countering it by using a different blade to block the strike. Just like before, he was learning.

But so had she. When the next opportunity to strike came, he moved another blade in position to block her strike. She responded by diverting power to the Cordus blade, deactivating the Primus blade entirely as she continued the strike, and leaving him with nothing to block.

Immediately, she diverted power back, activating the Primus blade again behind his blades. This Trakata 'Pass the Blade' maneuver definitely caught him by surprise, and she was able to seize the advantage enough to attack the phantom wrists of both sabers, and quickly destroy each of them.

Four more, and then I can finally close the book on this craziness.

"That's not good." Kari said, mostly to herself, while doing a diagnostic medical scan of Dianiss.

"What's not good?" Kinnan asked.

"She's starting to overcome the effects of the poison without my help. She's building immunity."

"I REALLY don't understand why you're TRYING to kill her! Isn't she your friend?"

"She IS. That's why I'm here keeping her alive in spite of the poison. But I'm having to cleanse out less and less of the toxin myself, and her condition is stabilizing on its own. Before long, she won't NEED me to help her at all."

"So?"

"Once she gets ahead of it--and it looks like she will--she'll just get stronger."

"Again, so?"

"Trust me, you DON'T want to find out."

The Trakata trick allowed her to eliminate one more weapon from his arsenal, but with fewer blades to handle, his control of each one became more precise and more skillful.

In fact, at three blades, he seemed to reach a tipping point between using them collectively in a swarm and actually wielding them independently--to the point of even using three different lightsaber forms.

He kept one blade directly between the two of them, and handled it in a very precise defensive style that was clearly Form 3: Soresu.

A second double-bladed saber spun rapidly and moved around her in an erratic pattern. This one she recognized as Juyo, Form 7.

The third blade followed her movements, looking for an opening to strike at her. She couldn't be sure until it actually made a move, but from the caution it seemed to be displaying, she guessed it was most likely using Makashi, Form 2.

Well, Master Zedemm, she thought to herself, I know you trained me in the right way to do this, but I'm running out of time.

Using the Force, she tripped another switch inside Truthseeker so that it would remain activated if she let go of it, and threw it directly at the Soresu saber as a distraction.

On release, she activated another switch that, like before, diverted power from the Primus blade to the Cordus blade--but this time the blades continued to switch back and forth rapidly but erratically, which caused it to move in a wobbling trajectory that was difficult to follow. She was betting that he'd need to devote his full attention to blocking it, especially since he wouldn't really be able to predict which blade would be active at any particular moment.

She then took a quick deep breath and held it, using the Force to surround herself in a defensive way, creating a thin but ultra-strong barrier against her skin that could withstand nearly ANY form of attack, at least for as long as she could keep from breaking it by exhaling.

She used those precious seconds to toss the holocron up toward her opponent in a gentle arc toward his head, to free up both hands and distract him even more. Then she reached out and grabbed at the other two lightsabers, grasping one in each of her bare hands . . . BY THE BLADES.

It was a dangerous, even desperate maneuver, but she summoned all the will that she could so that the Force would make her hands completely resilient to the cutting energy of the lightsaber blades.

With the double-bladed staff in her right hand, she held the other saber in her left hand still and cut through the hilt, destroying it instantly.

As that blade deactivated, she brought her left leg upward and clenched her muscles tightly the way she would in unarmed combat. With the last of her oxygen fading, she smashed the hilt of the double-bladed saber against her leg just above the knee, shattering the hilt into a half-dozen pieces with a gasp of air and another deep breath--just in time for the blade to disappear from her grasp.

Meanwhile, he had managed to successfully deflect her thrown blade, but it took him three tries and he was too overwhelmed by everything else that was happening to 'grab' Truthseeker for himself. Instead, he had turned his attention to catching the holocron telekinetically and holding it out in front of himself.

Turning her head up to face her opponent, she simply said in a cold tone of voice, "Five minutes left."

She used both hands to reach out with the Force. With her right hand, she pulled Truthseeker back and deactivated it, but didn't bother catching it and let it drop to the ground behind her. With her left hand she pushed out HARD against the holocron, projecting it directly forward like an ancient cannonball where it nearly made contact with his stomach. As he pushed back against it, she simply used his own power against him, pulling it back towards herself and catching it deftly in her hands.

Time was still not on her side, but the job she came here to do was almost complete.

One saber left, and one minute to go. Gotta hurry, Dina. she thought to herself.

"That's better." Kinnan said out of the blue.

"What is?" Kari asked, keeping her attention on Dianiss' medical condition.

"I've finally been able to electronically compensate for the distortion--most of it, anyway--and I can see Master Galadina through the barrier more clearly now. She's holding her own against our new 'friend' quite admirably." he answered. ". . . and she has the holocron." he added with admiration in his voice.

"Dina might LOOK like a helpless little thing, but she's hard to kill too. It didn't really take for her either. What's she doing?"

"It looks like she's systematically destroying his lightsaber arsenal."

"Good. Dianiss will be immune to the neuro-toxin in another minute or two. We just might need Dina to protect us from her."

"Are you deliberately trying to worry me?" he asked, frustration starting to show in his voice.

Kari said nothing in response.

Dina made one last push to eliminate his final saber. Reaching out with the Force, she grabbed at time itself, pulling it away from him and making it harder for him to manipulate, slowing his reactions.

His last saber was acting purely defensively, and with him slowed down like he was she had the opportunity that she desperately needed to concentrate on the location where she stood, and make a strong imprint and connection to that spot.

Before he decided to go on offense instead, she once again held her ground and blasted him with another barrage of hundreds of tiny rocky projectiles.

When she'd done this before, he had needed to use his entire saber arsenal to deflect them all.

But this time, he only had ONE saber left to work with.

He moved it quickly and with impressive skill, but there was no way he could block all of them. Many of the stones pelted him directly, but Dina had focused the majority of them on the saber hilt itself. Her ploy was rewarded when the hilt was battered enough that the housing cracked open, exposing the crystal for a brief moment before it was jostled out of alignment, shutting off the blade.

Okay Dina, the job's done. It's time to get out of here.

"It's all over for you." she said calmly. Then, with an edge in her voice, she added, "...in four minutes."

She'd have to time this just right . . . again. Calling on the Force to blind him to her location, she moved away from that spot towards where Truthseeker had landed. He was confused by the sudden use of stealth but she didn't want to give him the chance to find her. She gave her saber a gentle push with the Force to slide it across the ground so that it would come to rest on top of the red circle in the center of this rock formation--right where she would need it to be.

One more time. Phase. Phase now.

And once again she moved through time to that special, chosen location--and once again the Force pushed her forward in time to where she belonged, but AT that location.

"She's destroyed the last saber, but seems to have disappeared. He's yelling something about not being able to escape. It's odd that I can't detect her." Kinnan reported.

"That's great, but I think I need you to watch Annie now with your Force senses." Kari said. "She's fully immune now, and I'm not sure how else to describe this, but I can feel her slipping away."

Continue to Chapter 15 . . . .