734. Hoth: King's Lair - Raezyr

When Raezyr emerged from his steam, the ship was already in hyperspace.  He found his brother in his normal seat, nursing an ale.  On the table was several more, with just a few empty.

"Well?"  The larger Sith asked.

Trychon didn't make eye contact, which wasn't unusual due to their bond.  His facial expression was a bit more rare, as he was clearly upset.  He popped the top off of one of the bottles on the table and slid it across towards Raezyr's normal seat.

Raezyr closed the distance to the table and caught the bottle as it reached the edge.  He took a drink before grabbing an empty tankard to pour it in and sitting in the chair.

"Well?"

"One."  Trychon gloomily whispered.

Raezyr repeated the word back to him as a question. "I don't get it."

"One ship."  Trychon finally made eye contact.  "One ship got out of the second group.  That's all."

Raezyr looked down at his large mug.  "Could be worse."

"Could be worse?  Could be worse?"  Trychon laughed, though his voice was cold.  "Things could always be worse.  We specialize in that."  He downed the rest of his drink and watched the foam settle and dissipate at the bottom.

"We frelled up, Raez.  Bad."  He shook his head as he grabbed another two bottles, sliding another across the table after opening them and pouring one for himself.  He didn't notice or didn't care that his brother hadn't finished his first drink.

Raezyr waited patiently for his brother to continue.

"This whole kriffing mess was our fault."

The big Sith took a swig from his drink and eyed his older sibling questioningly. "How so?"

"We got complacent, Raez. We got so secure and relaxed that we forgot we were vulnerable. When Tyr and Anya ran off on their own, we should have gone after them. We should have tracked them down to the ends of the Galaxy, and either made them pay for their betrayal or at the very least ensured they could never tell a living soul where we were.

"Instead, we let them go, trusting that two frakking Sith who were angry with us and too stupid not to draw attention to themselves could wander around the Galaxy until the Jedi finally caught up with them and that they would not give us up to save their sorry asses," Trychon said through clenched teeth. "No, this was our fault. 

"On top of all that, there's the fact that when the inevitable Republic arrival finally happened, we had no better escape plan that to scatter like a bunch of Kowakian monkey lizards. No, there had to have been something we could have done differently on that end as well.  Had to be."

"Trych, if you want to play that game, I can do it too," Raezyr responded. "And it all goes right back to the Jedi, in the end. Had they taken a young girl into their Order... had they not murdered my Master... had Tyr's Jedi father given two shakes about what happened to him... had that Padawan not stuck her damn nose where it didn't belong... none of this would have happened. Don't you agree?

"I don't know," Trychon responded. "What I do know is that we let ourselves grow weak, and left ourselves open to attack out of some sort of misguided feeling that we were beholden to someone other than ourselves. What I know is that it won't happen again. It's you and me versus the Galaxy."

In silence, they raised their glasses to each other and to nobody in particular, hoping that they weren't raising them in honor of a friend lost forever.

After a few minutes of silence, Trychon spoke up.  "Damn... I just realized that I was so caught up in analyzing what went wrong that I never bothered to ask:  How did you fare?  Or rather, how did the Jedi fare?"

"Well, the fish did better than I would have liked...."  He paused to rephrase his answer.  "I mean, I completely obliterated her, but she was annoyingly ok with it.  Took her way too long to call her alien buddy down to help."

Trychon chuckled before Raez continued.

"By the time he came down, I wasn't ready for him.  He's quite a bit stronger than the girl, and he uses a double bladed saber.  I was already pretty spent when he landed, and I didn't realize it.  Add in the storm and cold... I wouldn't have lasted much longer.  Honestly, he would be a strong opponent even on a fair battleground."

"Here's to next time!"  Trychon raised his glass again, and struck it briefly against Raezyr's, "And to not believing in fair battlegrounds!"

"Uh... yeah," Raezyr added. "Next time!"  

Then he took his turn staring into the dissipating froth at the bottom of his mug while trying to ignore the nagging doubt in his head.

The hesitation wasn't lost on Trychon either.

733. Hoth: King's Lair - Trychon

Trychon worked furiously on getting the ship airborne again.  He'd needed to set down briefly to let Raezyr onboard, and he was sure he'd set a personal record for shortest landing period.  Now that his brother was safely in the ship, he could really put the Jet Razor through her paces again.

He'd have loved to have taken his time and a few more shots at the Jedi, but the space battle didn't seem to be going very well, and that meant that they could have company very soon.  The blue-skinned Jedi who was still fighting would have been a hard target under the best of circumstances, and he couldn't see where the other had gone.  He'd been forced to settle for a short strafing run and a few quick shots on the landed fighters.  With any luck, he hoped they'd freeze.  Slowly.

Raezyr appeared at his side as the ship accelerated towards the far side of the planet.

"What are you doing?"  Raezyr gasped, as he pulled off his helm.  "We have to engage the Republic to get the rest of the crew out!"

"Too little to late, bro."  Trychon pointed to the long range sensors.  "It'd likely be over by the time we break atmo.  We have to run."

"But..."  Raezyr wanted to debate the point, but he saw the look on his brother's face as the shields failed on his prized possession, the Sith Stalker.  The ships were nearing the edge of the gravity well, and it was going to be very close.

"How long until we're clear?  Can they catch us?"


"Only if they have another fleet waiting on the other side of the planet."

"I'm going to go take a hot sani-steam."

-----------------------

Moklam couldn't hide his smile as he sat in his command chair, watching the final enemy ships being tractored into his docking bay.    One small shuttle had tried to make a last minute dash to escape, and had in fact made it to hyperspace.  Unfortunately for them, there had been an explosion of some sort right as they entered hyperspace.  Without knowing what exactly had exploded, their fate was up in the air, but it didn't look good.  The rest of the pirates surrendered without further issue.  He would look forward to taking them back to Coruscant for punishment.  He could never erase his errors and the taint on his career that the pirates and Sith had created.  He had now done the next best thing though and that was to bring them, or at least some of them, to justice.  A victory counted as a victory.

Though he was troubled by the lack of response from the Jedi, they were technically not in his chain of command.  One ship had escaped to the far side of the planet as they had rounded up the pirates, and he could only hope that the Jedi survived the encounter, as one or both Sith clearly had.  Still, it wasn't his responsibility to bring in the Sith, as the Jedi had reminded him countless times.  Only if it coincided with the rest of the battle, which it only had briefly.

His Lieutenant cleared her throat to get his attention before him the early battle reports.  He thanked her with a nod and perused the numbers.  Minimal damage to both capital ships, expectable losses to his fighter squadron strength, and that was despite the brief incursion with the Sith.

Yes, things were going quite well for him now.  The Republic Navy was very 'What have you done for me lately,' and with limited incursions lately, this would prove very handy for him.

-----------------------

Not long after, a shuttle craft set down on the deck of the landing bay inside the pirate base. Several Republic Commandos rushed down the loading ramp, reported to a superior officer, then marched off down a corridor.

Two Jedi, wrapped in emergency thermal blankets walked down the loading ramp a moment later and took stock of their surroundings. Everything was in disarray. Stacks of crates which had probably stood neatly stacked not long ago now lay strewn about. Gear had been dumped on the floor in the pirates haste to escape their impending capture.

Val had been impressed with his companion. She had taken a brutal beating from the Sith warrior she had faced, but most of the damage had been superficial. He had not only assaulted her physically, but mentally as well, and he was proud that she had not broken, even when it looked like the end was inevitable. She truly had recovered from her near fall to the Dark Side and was now stronger for it.

As far as her physical well being, he could feel the Force flowing through the Nautolan, using the power of the Light to heal and repair her wounds, supplemented by the bacta patches. Still, he knew he'd probably have to insist she spend some time in a tank in the med-bay for good measure.

The Chiss was brought back to the present as a young Twi'lekki commando walked over to them. "Master Jedi, I think there's something you might want to look at," he informed them.

"What is da situation, Lieutenant?" Nal Talla asked as they followed him to whatever it was he wanted to show them.

"There was minimal resistance from the few criminals who had been left in the base, ma'am," the soldier informed her. "Our ground forces sustained no loss of life and only one trooper was injured. Enemy forces sustained two killed and three captured.

"There was however, one body dead before we landed," he added. "Her body is right over here." He turned the corner, rounding a shuttle where three body bags were laid out in preparation to be loaded. He indicated the one closest to the ship.

Val knelt down and unzipped the bag. Somehow he knew what he was going to see even before he laid the flap of the bag open. The blond hair was disheveled, the skin was pale, cold and clammy and the blue eyes were now milky and glazed over, but both Jedi immediately recognized Anya Tachi.

"She matched the description of one of the Sith scum bags you were looking for," the lieutenant said. "We weren't sure though, since she was dee oh ay."

"Yes, dat's her," Nal confirmed. "Tank you, Lieutenant." The young man saluted and walked away.

Nal looked at the puncture wound in Anya's abdomen, and her thoughts were taken back to her friend Nylan. She thought it was ironic that their death wounds looked eerily similar.

It surprised her a bit to realize that she no longer felt the smoldering anger when she thought of her friend's death, but instead a sense of longing for the company of her friend. Maybe she was finally ready to let it go, especially now that Nylan's killer was no more.

"I guess we should send her remains back to Dantooine to be buried," Val said aloud.

"I tink she still has some distant relatives back on Corellia," Nal reminded her friend. "Despite what she became, dey might like a chance to make deir peace wit her."

Val looked up at the Nautolan's thoughtful face. I bet she makes a great Jedi Master someday, he thought to himself.

732. Hoth: King's Larir - Raezyr

The Sith ship started moving straight toward the Unity, acting as a shield for half a dozen fighters, shuttles and freighters. It had been able to keep the Republic fighters at bay just long enough to allow the second round of escaping ships to assemble and now was going to make another run. Captain Wash Moklam had no intention of letting it succeed.

He had felt bad, denying the Jedi any back up fighters when they had given chase to two ships back down into Hoth's atmosphere, but that had been the deal from the moment they had jumped into system and realized who they were actually dealing with. The Jedi would take care of the Sith and any ships they might have, while Moklam and his task force concentrated on the Pirates. Of course, had he actually had any fighters to spare, he would have sent them.

Their main hindrance so far had been their orders to capture prisoners first, but finally, they had gotten some decent sensor readings to go along with the Jedi's previous assessment. No life forms were detected aboard the small Sith capitol ship.

"Concentrate all firepower on that cruiser!" Moklam ordered. "Turn it into slag, then resume ion cannon fire on the rest of the enemy vessels," he added. Up until this point they had been relying on the ion cannons, but for some reason it seemed to have little effect on the big ship. In return the ship's accurate turbo laser fire had been able to keep most of the Republic fighters at bay.

Within moments, concussion missiles and proton torpedos began streaking from various Republic ships toward the Sith cruiser. Explosions lit up the view screens on the bridge of the Unity as the ordinance slammed into the shields of the enemy vessel.

Still, the ship came on, cannons blazing in the blackness of space, spouting darts of green in all directions.

Captain Moklam watched as it came on, the distance between them closing rapidly. This time his ship and the other Hammerhead-class cruiser, the Protector, were ready for the suicide-like run. Neither ship needed to take evasive action. Instead, they continued to pour laser and missile fire into the enemy.


For a moment, Moklam thought it just might break through as it's shields seemed to be holding up to salvo after salvo. Then all at once, missiles no longer detonated just prior to impact but began striking the hull instead.

"It's shields are down!" cried an ensign at a sensory station, and loud cheer went up from the entire bridge crew.


Moklam sat back in his command chair, breathing a sigh of relief as he watched gouts of flame and debris pour from the gaping holes which appeared in the surface of the vessel which had vexed him during two separate engagements now.


Quickly, the guns aboard the Sith cruiser quit and what was left of the ship began a slow tumble toward deep space, having been knocked off it's course by the explosions and no more engine power to correct it.


"Ignore that ship," Moklam ordered with a slight smile. "Neutralize the remaining enemy craft with ion cannons and issue an order to surrender."


He listened with satisfaction as calls began to come in, asking to surrender even before his orders had been carried out.


The Twilight Stalker continued to tumble out into deep space, even as it began to break apart. Moklam watched as it did so. It wasn't exactly what he had hoped for, but a win was a win.

731. Hoth: King's Lair - Raezyr

Raezyr suddenly poured on a flurry of unexpected attacks, driving the Chiss Jedi backward but the momentum lasted only a moment. He tried to infuse himself, draw more energy from the Force, but his last burst had drained him.

Quickly the tide began to turn. Val, sensing that his opponent's fatigue was beginning to overwhelm him, began to make his own careful, well-chosen attacks. The impact was immediate and Raezyr began to give ground as the Jedi's thrusts and strikes came at him from what seemed like all sides at the same time. His two lightsabers moved quickly, but not as fast as the Chiss' double-bladed weapon.

Val's precision strikes weren't aimed to kill, but rather limit his opponents area of maneuverability, drive him back and force him to surrender if at all possible. "Raezyr, please listen," he pleaded. "There's someone you should meet and listen to. Even Tyr would beg you to listen. It will change everything you think you know." He tried to subtly manipulate Raezyr's mind with the Force. He doubted a full on mind trick would work, but hoped the Sith might be tired enough that something like that might at least allow the human to receive what he said with an open mind.

It was of no use. Despite his physical exhaustion, the big Sith warrior's mental defenses were strong although he gave no indication of having noticed the subtle attempt. Raezyr managed to laugh and even speak between panting for air. "As if I'd listen to you, a brain-washed Tyr or anyone else who might spew Jedi or Republic propaganda."

The talking distracted Val's opponent and he landed a well-placed kick to the Sith's midsection, sending him flying backward into the snow. He had hoped the move might disarm Raezyr, but no such luck was to be had.

Raezyr tried to draw on the Force to help him leap to his feet, but it was gone. It was taking all he could muster just to keep his mind focused on anticipating the incoming attacks. He scrambled clumsily to his feet and stood swaying as he flicked the switches on his blades, igniting them once again.

Val allowed a momentary reprieve, and the Sith looked around to take stock of his surroundings. For the first time he realized how hopeless the situation was. The edge of the cliff was only a few meters behind him now and all three ships were on the other side of  Jedi. He estimated his chances of getting past the big blue Chiss, but they were nil. No matter which direction he broke, the Jedi could easily cut him off from escape. He thought about trying to leap over his opponent, but he was too tired. The ability to draw on the Dark Side had all but left him.

He glanced over his shoulder toward the edge of the precipice and into the white invisible depths beyond, blotted out by the driving wind and snow. Raezyr had see this place before when the visibility was good and knew it was hundreds of meters to the jagged rocks below.

The Jedi tried one more time. "If you won't listen to me, listen to logic," Val proposed. "You can see there's no escape, but don't throw your life away. If you will lay down your weapon, there's always a chance you can escape and live to fight another day."

The midnight blue helm of the Sith shook back and forth signaling no. "I'll escape, and we'll meet in combat again some other day... but I'll never surrender to a Jedi," Raezyr said, spitting the last word like a curse.

Suddenly he spun on his heels, ran and dove over the edge of the cliff.

"No!" Val yelled, extending his free hand as if to catch the airborne Sith. He moved forward a few steps, then stopped. He began to sense that something wasn't right. He took few steps in retreat from the edge of the cliff just moments before he heard the whine of the repulsor lifts, then spun on his heels and ran.

The Jet Razor lifted from below. Val looked over his shoulder to see the armored Sith sprawled out, clinging to the dorsal section of the hull. Lasers lanced out from the ship's cannons, the sound roaring as the snow exploded all around the Jedi.

And as quickly as it had appeared, the ship was gone, disappeared into the raging blizzard. Val stood up and took stock of his situation. All three fighters had taken severe damage. They wouldn't be flying any time soon.

The big Chiss ran over to where Nal Talla lay, crouching down and gathering her into his arms. He could still feel her life force, and it was much stronger than he had expected. She looked up at him. "Did we save him from himself?" she asked.

Val smiled one of his rare smiles. "Not today, Nal. Not today."

730. Hoth: King's Lair - Raezyr

Her answer only infuriated him more. He gathered the Dark Side and wrapped it around the Nautolan's throat and slowly began closing off the air she needed to breath. She had thrown up a pathetic attempt to block it, but in her condition he had blown right through her Force defenses. He planned on dragging this out and he was going to enjoy every minute of it.

A calm voice with a steady, even tone came from behind the Sith warrior over the howling wind. "Raezyr... release her."

Raezyr hadn't heard the ship land, but somewhere in his subconscious, he had felt the approach of another being, one sheathed in the pathetically weak light side of the Force. Unfortunately, he had been too wrapped up in exacting his revenge on the first Jedi to take more notice. "Touching that you should come down and witness the final moment of your little friend here," Raezyr said over his shoulder. "Although it is strange that you should be so eager to have your turn to die, Jedi. I thought your Order taught you more patience than that." He closed his grip in the female Jedi's throat even tighter.

The other Jedi must have sensed it because Raezyr felt the being behind him go tense, as if preparing an attack. Quickly he thrust out his palm and released a wave of Dark Side energy into Nal's body. She flew backward and slammed into the side of her fighter. The impact was forceful enough to pulverize a nerf, but he hand no time to investigate what happened to her. Instead, flipping forward while twisting and drawing his blades. He had just enough time to ignite them and block the powerful downstroke of the big Chiss Jedi as he completed his leap.

--------------------

Val could feel the life force slowly ebbing from Nal. If she were to be saved, he had to act quickly. He was unsure of exactly what was happening, but he could feel sickening taint of the Dark Side flowing form the armored Sith into his friend. She clearly didn't have much longer.

He still suspected some sort of a trap. If not, why had the Sith not killed her yet and allowed him to approach on foot to within ten meters. He stopped and said something, hoping to change Nal's fate, hoping it wasn't sealed already.

The reaction from the man whom Master Solumi suspected was his grandson was about like Val had expected: a snide retort and then further torturing of Nal. The big Jedi did the only thing he could do and propelled himself through the air, igniting his lightsaber and bringing it down on the Sith.

Raezyr had reacted unbelievably quickly. Val had fully expected his attack to be blocked, but he hadn't expected the Sith to take the time to lay one last devastating blow on Nal. Val only knew she was alive because he hadn't felt her death through the Force.

He stood briefly, his blade crackling against the Sith's crossed lightsabers, and then the fight began in earnest.

--------------------

Raezyr was tired. He had expended way more energy on the Nautolan than he had expected. In fact, he had hoped to draw energy from her fear, but had ended up using his own as he desperately sought to elicit a reaction from her. No matter, he thought. He'd make quick work of this one, then rendezvous with Trych and get off this ball of ice.

He furiously rained blows upon the Chiss, who slowly gave ground under the assault. For a moment, if felt almost like fighting against his brother since they both used a lightsaber which had blades that extended from both ends of the unusually long hilt, and since he could often push his sibling into defense mode as well.

It took only a few moments for Raezyr to realize that he was gravely mistaken. This Jedi was much more skilled than his brother, and this defense mode wasn't a desperation tactic to save his life. The parries and blocks were too deft and too sure to be anything but a passive form of attack. The Jedi was going to wait and let the Sith tire himself out, then end it when his opponent was too fatigued to go on.

Raezyr quickly changed his tactics to a more balanced attack, rather than try to over power his foe with powerful blows. He was already too tired from the first fight, and he cursed himself for underestimating this foe who was vastly superior to the last one.

The Jedi noticed the change in tactics as well, and it was obvious that Raezyr couldn't win. "Raezyr, everything you've been lead to believe is a lie. Surrender. Come with me and I can show you the calm and peace you've been seeking," the blue Jedi said amidst his calm defense.

The Sith snarled beneath his helmet. He spat out the Sith code: "Peace is a lie, there is only passion!"