3:11 The Lost Apprentice 2

  I was a step behind HK as we reached the main doors to the Guardian’s fortress when HK stopped and looked over the doors.

  “Observation: These doors were pulled from their frame by hand, Master. Whoever attacked this place was unusually strong for a meatbag.”

  I moved closer, noting what the HUD displayed about the deformed metal that had once been blast doors for the complex.

  “Or a group of them worked together,” Simvyl added as the HUD confirmed that there were multiple impressions of fingers on the doors.

  The HUD reported they were generally humanoid, but the degradation caused by the weather prevented it from getting a better read on what species might have been behind the attack. The only thing it was certain of was that those who attacked were of average height based on the residual markings of their hands.

  Even though the signs of battle here were old and cold, my lightsaber was in my hand though unpowered as I took the first step into the silent fortress. The Dark Side was swirling around the place and while I didn’t feel that the one behind the chaos on this world had been here, I was sure that it was linked to him.

  “None of them are carrying weapons,” Quinlan commented as he followed me inside, repeating something the HUD had already alerted me to. He moved forward and knelt beside the body of one Guardian, a female and his hand hovered over her. “I… I feel as if I knew this one,” he said gently.

  “There’s no clear sign of death,” I remarked as the HUD processed what it could from the various sensors in the armour and what HK transmitted through the Battlenet. While none of the bodies bore obvious marks regarding their cause of death, each wore an expression of fear and pain that suggested whatever had killed them had not been pleasant.

  “Commentary: There are no blaster marks on the walls, Master, suggesting the meatbags were overwhelmed before they could respond.”

  I looked around, trying to get a sense of what about this all felt off. I mean, beyond the fact the Dark Side had been a raging inferno when the attacks here had taken place. It lingered still, hints of the residual chaos and terror of the attacks easy to sense within the Force even if nothing about this felt natural or honourable.

  “HK, hold station at the door. I don’t think we’re alone as we perhaps should be,” I said slowly through the Battlenet, not wanting whatever was lingering at the edges of my senses to know I was aware of its presence.

  “Musing: I do hope you are correct, Master. I am eager to test my latest calibrations in a live-fire situation.” As he responded through our secured comms, to which Quinlan was connected via an earpiece and vibrational microphone over his throat, I continued to look over the data the HUD was reporting. Nothing about this situation made sense nor was it becoming any clearer as to how these Guardians – thirty-seven by the HUD’s last count – had died.

  Wanting to test a theory, though I was uncertain if it would help, I looked down at one of the bodies and activated Observe.

  Korlosan Votes

  Race: Kiffar

  Level: 0

  Health: 0% (Drained of life)

  Age: Dead

  Force Potential: Dead

  Threat Potential: Dead

  Reputation: Dead

  Affiliation Loyalty: Dead

  Emotional State: Dead

  ...

  I grunted at the expected, but not welcomed, lack of any useful intelligence. Yes, learning that the body had been drained was something, but it was not particularly helpful as the Interface didn’t say how or what it meant by that, nor offered any obvious indicators of who had drained this Guardian of their lifeforce. Still, there were only a handful of weapons and races that could do such a thing, which was at least a small step towards unravelling thi-

  “Observation:” HK cut into my musing. “I have movement, Master. Several dozen… Correction, I am observing over a hundred meatbags converging on our location, with that number steadily climbing.”

  “Defensive positions!” I called out over the Battlenet even as the faint but comforting roar of my lightsaber igniting was picked up by the armour’s microphones. My other hand remained free, ready to draw my beskad or summon the Force if needed.

  HK slipped back inside the ruined entrance, his legs locking into position as a makeshift barrier to any that tried to enter past him while Simvyl’s twin blaster pistols scanned the room, moving with his eyes in the hunt for targets. At his hip, the large blade that had belonged to his fellow Ranger, Kekda Zarkos, hung ready to be used if things got a touch too hairy.

  Yet, even as I slipped into a ready stance, the HUD alerted me that Quinlan wasn’t responding. Instead, he remained bent over one of the dead Kiffar. “Quinlan!” I called out again through the Battlenet. However, before he could respond or not, the HUD – fed with data from HK’s sensors and those from my armour – alerted me to dozens of figures. Some were coming through the door and HK was already engaging them, but the majority leapt through the overhead remains of transparisteel that had provided natural light to the fortress when it had been active.

  “Shab!” I cursed as I realised we were dealing with Anzati, which explained the life force being taken from the Kiffar. Yet as my blade swept forward, slicing through the first to dare invade my personal space, I frowned. I’d met and trained with Anzati, and while these were the same species, this group seemed less… civilised.

  My feet were moving, avoiding the claws of the next Anzati to rush at me, and they paid for that by losing both arms at the elbows. The wound, however, didn’t slow the attacker down and I was forced to use my free hand and toss them away, causing them to crash into another Anzati that had been trying to attack me from behind.

  As I removed the head of three that came at me next in a single graceful move, I understood why these Anzati seemed different. They were attacking like animals instead of intelligent creatures, and based on the way the thin tendrils extended from their faces, it was clear all of them were desperate to eat the soup as they called it – the lifeforce or luck to others – from me, Simvyl, and Quinlan.

  My blade moved with me as I slid away from the grasp of two more Anzati, their movements faster yet less controlled than what I’d trained against only a month ago. My free hand came up, the Force bending to my demands and the pair of rabid Anzati were blasted back, slamming into more of the pack.

  Before any of that group could recover the blaster in my gauntlet took them out with precision fire as my feet kept me moving, adapting to attacks from all sides. This was the greatest weakness that Makashi possessed, but one I was happy to see the adoption of Ataru footwork into my style was helping to counter. A point proved further as, with a sweeping arced move, my lightsaber tasted the flesh of five Anzati even as I avoided their grasp so well that not even the cloak I wore was touched.

  The HUD reported other Anzati falling steadily as HK and Simvyl exterminated the threats with intent. HK’s actions were mechanically perfect while Simvyl moved with polish that showed his training over the twenty-odd months was paying off. His pistols sang out, taking out Anzati with timing and precision ensuring that no bolt was washed. That said, given the mass of creatures flooding into the fortress, it was hard to hit anything but flesh.

  “OFF!”

  Quinlan’s shout, along with the flood of anger that roared into the Force was accompanied by a powerful Force blast that sent dozens of Anzati that were surrounding him flying backwards. One such creature slammed into my side, though thanks to the Force and the HUD, I was aware of the Anzati and was already turning with the collision before it happened.

  My free hand came up, and using the Force and the strength of the motors in the gauntlet, I crushed the creature’s throat, and as my movement ended, threw the husk at another of the swarm. Even as my lightsaber flicked out, slashing another Anzati in half, through the Battlenet I was alerted that while HK had easily held his footing, Simvyl was knocked back as one of the dead Kiffar crashed into his side.

  A trio of Anzati rushed at him, hoping to take advantage of his stumble. However, before they or another other beast could reach my friend, the trio were pushed back; the Force bending to my will and slamming them into the wall hard enough that they splattered their blood and brains over it.

  Even as I saw Quinlan lashing out, his blade swinging almost wildly as the hate he felt for the Anzati empowering his actions, I was moving. One foot slid back, causing the Anzati that had been about to strike me to claw nothing but air. Before it could recover, my blade came up, severing its head and one arm from the rest of its body.

  More of the creatures rushed at me, drawn to me as pulled the Force into me, using it to strengthen and enhance myself. That drew attention away from Simvyl, which he used to quickly gun down four Anzati near to him. My blade flowed around me as I slipped around any incoming attack, yet for each Anzati I took down, the HUD reported two more surging into the fortress seeking to overwhelm us.

  As much as I wanted to eviscerate every one of the beasts with my blade, to watch what little of their intelligence remained fade from their eyes, I knew that if this continued the sheer weight of numbers in such an enclosed space was going to overwhelm us.

  While I and my blade danced around the Anzati, avoiding their futile attempts to grapple me and my blade flicked and swished out to mortally wound or kill any that came too close, my empty hand closed into a fist as I summoned the Force to my aid while warning Simvyl and HK to take cover.

  My hand flicked open and every loose object in the room was suddenly airborne, swirling around me. Chairs, datapads, cups, random pieces of junk from the first attack on the fortress and even the bodies of those killed by us or the Anzati flew around, striking anything that moved.

  Piles of Anzati were knocked over, causing cascading collapses in the still-continuing stream of them that were rushing into the fortress. I realised the sounds of bone shattering and blood exploding from bodies as a gory mess was created by my tornado of carnage. Yet, as the blast died down, clearing the area for the moment, I knew it was only a small opening before the creatures recovered, but enough of one that I could…

  “AWAY! GET AWAY FROM ME!”

  A second scream in a matter of moments from Quinlan was accompanied by a tsunami of fury rushing through the Force. One so strong and unexpected that I had to close my eyes to momentarily re-centre myself. With that done, and as HK and Simvyl resumed thinning the herd of barely sentient Anzati, I started cutting a bloody path to Quinlan, watching as his blade struck any Anzati it could find without a hint of grace or style.

  He was attacking them with the same mindless rage and bestial fury they were using as they continued trying to swarm-rush us. The green of his lightsaber cut a bloody, brutal path of devastation through their ranks. It was working for now, but I could feel Quinlan sliding into the depths of the Force as the Dark Side gained a foothold in his mind to drag him to the pits of insanity that awaited those unable or unskilled enough to resist its siren-like lure. What made it worse was that with each move he made, with every Anzati that fell to his blade, I could see mistakes creeping into his patterns, and the sheer mass of creatures pulled towards him as he drew on the Dark Side was quickly overwhelming his defences.

  “NO!” He shouted as one Anzati touched him as I moved towards him, my blade slicing one of the creatures in half. “NOO!” Quinlan screeched again as more grasped his robes.

  I rushed toward him, cutting a path through the creatures as HK and Simvyl were slowly thinning the ranks of any Anzati entering the building. Yet before I could reach Quinlan, I felt the Force shift around him.

  Pulling the Force into myself, I braced against the impending explosion and gathered the Force to me for what I could sense coming. I then watched as more than a dozen Anzati that had been pulling on Quinlan’s robes were sent hurtling away; the Force erupting outward from Quinlan in an instinctual wave of power.

  As the Anzati were airborne or colliding with others in the pack, I thrust out my hand, and tendrils of dark, malignant energy sparked forth. A grin spread across my face as I watched the lightning race through the air and strike the Anzati. They screamed in terror under assault, and as I ended my attack a second later, the bodies that struck the ground were smoking and charred: all either dead or close to it.

  “Quinlan!” I snapped out, pushing the Force to enforce my words. “Get a hold of yourself!” I took another step towards him, my blade flicking out and slashing the face of an Anzati who made the mistake of entering my range. “You are in control, not your anger,” I added as my free hand clenched shut, causing two Anzati to crash to the ground as the Force crushed them. “Harness and focus it instead of drowning in it!” I snarled, pivoting on my heel. The two Anzati I had been crushing were sent flying into others while my blade made quick work of three more of the deranged creatures.

  Quinlan took a stumbling step forward, the way I was using the Force to empower my words slamming into his Force presence with all the subtlety of a hurricane. The look of confusion that engulfed his face, followed by the shake of his head barely registered with me as I savoured pulverising another Anzati against a wall with a Force Push. Yes, these creatures were beneath me, but after months of nothing but training and sparring across the galaxy, it was nice to finally let loose and remind the galaxy what I was capable of.

  “Focus!” I shot at Quinlan as I kept moving towards him, gliding through the carnage like an angel of death. My lightsaber and the Force ensured that nothing came close to touching me. “Focus or fail Aayla.”

  His head snapped to me at the mention of his lost Padawan, and I saw the stupor he was experiencing fade away. With a snarl he stood, his blade exploding outwards, slashing through two Anzati that had been rushing at him. His face was still a mask of fury, but I sensed the hints that he was channelling that rage outward with basic control. It was far from perfect, but it was enough that I no longer had to worry about him falling to these pitiful creatures, and I returned my full attention to them, intent on wiping the lot of them from the face of the galaxy.

  Yet just as I turned to face the remains of the herd, I felt a faint shift in the Force. Slowly at first, then within a few seconds on-mass, the Anzati turned and fled anyway they could. The four of us exterminated those that lagged, but only a few seconds after Quinlan gained control over his anger, the fortress was again empty save for us: and the mass of dead Anzati that littered the now chaotic battlefield.

  “HK, Simvyl, secure the main entrance and pick off any stragglers that you can.” As the pair moved to obey my orders, I turned to face Quinlan.

  His face was still a mass of rage, yet I could feel the power of that blaze slowly dying with the reason for his anger. As I neared him, I powered down my lightsaber and clipped it to my belt. Both because I didn’t need it now, and to show Quinlan that, if the red mist of anger still blinded his vision, I was not challenging him. As he was now, I could take him with ease – something I’d proven in the dozen or so spars we’d taken part in since Ord Martell – but there was no reason to risk a confrontation here and now if I could avoid it.

  Once close enough, I grasped his shoulder firmly, though I made no move to force him to turn and face me. His head snapped up, the blade of his lightsaber coming around towards the potential threat only for me to grasp the blade with my mechanical hand. While the inside of a regular gauntlet would not be able to do that, I’d had mine altered slightly so that the palm of the beskar-coated replacement limb was exposed. It was a small risk to do so, but it allowed me to do a few things that I otherwise couldn’t. Such as grasping the plasma of a lightsaber’s blade without fear of losing my hand.

  Quinlan blinked as his blade was held in place, and he then shook his head. I felt the pressure behind his weapon ease as he regained control over himself and as his shoulders slumped, I let the blade go. “I… I’m sorry,” he said softly, looking as if he might collapse to the ground even as the lightsaber powered down. “I… it’s just…”

  “You hate the Anzati,” I guessed which drew a nod. “Why?”

  “I… I don’t know,” he growled in annoyance. “I… I have images of them in my head. They’re attacking someone, they’re attacking me,” he sighed and looked away, “but it’s not me. I don’t understand it.”

  I gently squeezed his shoulder. “Once we find Aalya we’ll work on a way for you to understand those memories and others, if that’s what you want,” I said softly.

  He stared at me for a moment before nodding. “Thank you,” I added as a weak little smile came to his face, yet in his eyes, I could see confusion and anger warring for control of his focus.

  I returned his nod and then removed my hand from his shoulder. “I think we know what happened here,” I said, gesturing at the mess around us. The HUD was reporting over a hundred and seventy dead Anzati in and around the fortress, with two more joining that list as HK gunned them down while they were nearly a kilometre from here. “Though it creates more questions than it answers,” I added as I had the HUD mark out the bodies of the Kiffar for whatever ritual was involved in honouring the dead.

  “Yes,” Quinlan agreed as he took a step away from me. “If there are Anzati on Kiffex, why did no one know? Many are wearing torn clothing, suggesting they’ve been here for some time but how could the Guardians not know about this?” he spoke slowly, measuring his words as I felt the storm that raged within him slide away over the horizon of his Force signature. It wasn’t gone, but for now, at least it was contained.

  “I suspect that the answer might well be linked to the darkness that is slowly engulfing this world, and which seems to have ensnared Aayla.” As I spoke, I knelt beside one of the dead Kiffar. “For now, we should handle the funeral rites of your people, and then see if there’s anything of value the fortress’ computers can tell us before heading out.”

  The HUD alerted me to Quinlan nodding in agreement, and then that he moved to another of the dead Kiffar. It was a gruesome thing to have to sift through this chaos for the bodies of the dead Guardians, but I would help Quinlan honour the customs of his people before we headed out. Just as I would expect others to honour those of mine whenever it was my turn to become one with the Force.

  … …

  … …

  I examined the data coming into the HUD regarding the settlement if one could call it that, as we hiked toward it. The walls, while high, were bolted together from whatever large sections of scrap the inhabitants could find while the peaks of buildings inside had the same ramshackle appearance. “Yeah, this place looks fun,” I muttered as we moved closer on our second day on the planet.

  We had spent the night at the Guardian fortress as moving out during the night, with the remains of the Anzati pack no doubt still around, and whatever else existed on this world, was an unnecessary risk. Quinlan had not been particularly happy about our delay in heading out, but by the time the funeral pyres for the dead Guardians were ablaze, the sun was already beginning to set over Kiffex.

  While the burning of the bodies was the main part of the Kiffar’s ritual for the dead, along with some words Quinlan repeated without fully understanding how he knew them, he had also taken their badges. Once we found Aayla, killed whoever was behind the chaos here, and returned to Kiffu, those would be handed over to Sheyf so the Guardians could add them to their logs of remembrance.

  During the night at the fortress, while we tried to rest in a place where less than half a day earlier we’d fought the Anzati, Quinlan told me what he knew of Kiffex. While it wasn’t much more than what I’d learnt from the Holonet while we’d travelled to this system, and then the very brief warning Tinte had given us about the inhabitants, it still filled in a few blanks.

  Kiffex was the sector’s maximum-security prison, with any form of weaponry being illegal on the world. Contact beyond the planet, never mind to other systems, was meant to be impossible, but the Guardians had reported many messages going to and from the planet over the years. From those, and with their standard patrols, they aggressively targeted any vessel that approached the planet. Most of the time when a vessel came near the planet, it withdrew when challenged by the Guardians. Others, like the ship Aayla that had hitched a ride on, attempted to run the blockade around Kiffex were shot down, and any survivors were left to fend for themselves on the planet.

  That was a brutal approach to security enforcement, but one I could see the logic for. However, the fact that the Guardians were so strict about anyone coming or going from Kiffex had me wondering if perhaps some of the prisoners here weren’t as dangerous or worthy of spending the rest of their natural lives on Kiffex as the Guardians might otherwise like the rest of the galaxy to believe. That feeling had grown ever since we’d spotted the settlement.

  We’d not initially intended to head toward it, as while it was recorded in the computers of the Guardian fortress, it wasn’t along the path the Anzati had taken when they had run from the Guardian base. However, by late morning as the tracks the Anzati had made had grown fainter, they had angled towards the settlement before we’d lost the tracks altogether. The dust storms that ravaged this section of Kiffex removed any evidence that a pack of creatures had passed through here the night before.

  With no tracks to directly follow, and suspecting we might not find anywhere else that could offer shelter tonight, we’d decided to approach the settlement slowly, taking our time to get a read on the place. Since the planet was inhabited by prisoners, of varying levels of crimes but all sentenced to live without the possibility of parole on Kiffex, the odds the inhabitants would be friendly were slim at best.

  While we had moved today, I had also spoken with Quinlan again about his anger towards the Anzati. Beyond repeating what he remembered from the images in his head, he couldn’t offer anything new. Since he wouldn’t be able to let go of his rage towards the species, and as I felt it gave him an edge if he could harness it properly, I gently guided him in a few techniques that while not exactly approved of by the Jedi, weren’t the domain of the Sith.

  The teaching of the Matukai and Shapers about channelling one's emotions and the Force in and outwards was explained in a brief overview. I’d taught him the most basic meditative techniques of those sects in the hope it might help him focus for when we next encountered Anzati or found Aayla and the one behind the chaos on this world. Underlying that, however, was the continually growing belief that when the source of the darkness on Kiffex was found, I would be facing it alone. As if the Force had decided that this was a challenge to test if I was ready for what lay further down the path I was walking.

  “Analysis: The walls of this location are, while seemingly chaotic, apparently stable, Master. I have already positively identified components from a dozen various starship models used in the construction. Addendum: I would add that while not intended for this purpose initially, the usage of these various sections of hulls would provide acceptable protection against most creatures and animals that might threaten the meatbags in the settlement. The wall is also sufficiently high that few meatbags or beasts could easily scale them.”

  This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  “There’d better be a gate we can use,” Simvyl remarked with a hint of disgust. “Otherwise getting inside might be a problem.”

  “Oh, we’ll get inside,” I replied with a chuckle. “The question is how much it costs those manning the walls to stop us.”

  Even as we slipped clear of the rocky outcropping we’d used to get closer to the settlement, I was already reaching out into the Force seeking answers on the number of beings on the walls, and those further inside that might rush to support those manning the defences if we were forced to fight our way inside. Now, since everyone on this world was meant to be a hardened criminal, then I had little issue with ending their sentence earlier than they might like, but we’d have to see how things played out before I drew my lightsaber.

  … …

  “Halt!” A voice called out from the wall when we were about thirty metres from it. “Who are you and what do you want?”

  The Force had already provided me with the information that four beings were manning this section of the wall, which was less than the other gates that were possibly within reach this afternoon, and why we’d moved to approach from this location. What was interesting was that thanks to the HUD, I could see the Weequay male who had called out to me was carrying a blaster. That was odd as there should be no such weapons on the planet. Not unless they’d come from a ship shot down by the Guardians that had tried to break through the blockade around the prison world.

  I stepped forward, drawing the attention of the speaker on the wall and those with them. “I am Cameron of Clan Shan of Mandalore,” I started, though the need to state I was Mando’ade was a little redundant given my armour. “We are on this pitiful excuse for a world because the Guardians felt that the relatively minor infraction we committed was worthy of life imprisonment.”

  Through the Force, I could sense some amusement from those on the wall, though the Weequay was more cautious than those with him. “If the Guardians captured you, Mandalorian, why did they not remove your armour before sending you here?” the alien asked, and I moved my hand slowly toward my lightsaber. I would prefer to not waste the time having to fight our way into the settlement, but I could already sense the shifts in the Force suggesting that was the most probable outcome of this interaction.

  “The only way the Guardians would get me to remove my armour was over my cold, dead body,” I replied loudly, letting some rage slip into my tone. “While I would be happy to see their pathetic attempts to take my armour, and would enjoy sending many of their ranks to their deaths, they sadly chose to employ sense and allowed me to retain the armour.

  “So why is the Cathar and droid armed?” The Weequay responded and I cursed the fact we seemed to have drawn an at least semi-intelligent guard. “The Guardians don’t allow weapons on Kiffex.”

  I laughed loudly. “Says the one pointing a blaster rifle at my head,” I fired back with a growl making clear I didn’t like the gesture. Yes, the blaster he was using wouldn’t even leave a mark on the beskar, but it was the principal of the thing. “And the others with him who are also armed. We found the blasters in a wrecked starship about three days north, and if you think we’re just going to hand them over to you, you’ve got another thing coming.”

  I heard the dirt at my right shift before Quinlan whispered, “Are you trying to start a fight?”

  “You think playing nice like a Jedi would work here? Or that they’d not shoot us the moment they realise you’re Kiffar?” I replied quietly to him.

  “Musing: It would at least end this pointlessly tedious waste of my time, Master. Please allow me to expedite the matter.” HK’s comment came through the Battlenet so those on the wall didn’t hear it, yet it drew a grunt of amusement from Simvyl, and I felt a smile creep onto my face.

  “What if we take them, and your armour from your cold, dead bodies?” A new voice on the wall called out as through the Force I sensed movement from behind the wall.

  “You can try, but all that will get you is a quick and painful death,” I responded bluntly as my hand slowly unclipped my lightsaber from my belt. There was a small growing warning in the Force of approaching danger, but even as I sensed dozens more sentients moving to reinforce the section of wall before me, I remained calm. There was the chance we could avoid pointless violence, but if there was to be a battle, I wouldn’t mind as I knew I could take every one of these thugs with only slight effort, and that was before considering those with me.

  “You’re not getting in.” That came from a new voice, which I believed had been in the group who were gathering to support the beings on the walls. “Gorto Zaga says none can enter after the gates shut and the sun starts to set.”

  “I want to speak to this Gorto,” I shouted back, though I could sense the Force shifting around us as if hinting there was little chance of resolving this issue peacefully. “Bring him to me or I’m going to come up there and find him myself.”

  That drew a round of chuckles from those on the wall, and the HUD reported several leaning over the ramparts, aiming their blasters at us. “You’ve got guts, Mandalorian,” a Human said, allowing me to place a face to the new speaker, “but there’s no wghk.”

  The man’s words trailed off as he grasped his throat, trying to understand why he was suddenly struggling to breathe. A moment later, I used the Force to pull him over the ramparts and as he fell face-first to the hard ground near my feet, I leapt, the Force empowering my limbs so that the seemingly massive walls were scaled with what appeared to be insane ease.

  “Exclamation: Finally.”

  HK’s words through the Battlenet arrived just as I landed amongst a group of nearly thirty confused thugs, pirates, and whatever else had gotten them sent to Kiffex. My blade had ignited as I leapt, and was already moving as I landed, slicing the chests of two sentients while I drove the elbow of my other arm into the face of a third thug.

  Quinlan landed a split second later in the chaos and added his blade to mine while HK and Simvyl opened fire from below, picking off those on the rampart who’d turned to face myself and Quinlan. As my blade swooped through the neck of a Rodian, I turned to face the next target and saw a massive Gamorrean, easily twice my size, rushing at me with a large makeshift axe held over his head.

  The alien fell to his knees a few moments later, shock and confusion on his face as he looked down at the remains of his axe and his arms on the ground beside him. A quick flick of my wrist caused the tip of my blade to slash through his spine as I moved past him, ensuring he would die a slow, painful death while I dealt with his brethren.

  Two more fell to my blade before the chaos on the wall ended. As one would expect, even armed with blasters thirty-odd prisoners were no match for two Force users with little need for restraint, never mind when supported by a war droid and a trained Cathar.

  I turned to one prisoner who was running away and summoned the Force to my command. The alien gave a startled yelp as they were lifted into the air. They struggled to escape the invisible restraints I placed upon them and then whimpered as I turned them around and brought them back to my side.

  “Stay,” I said to the alien – a rather pitiful-looking Snivvian – before moving to the outer edge of the ramparts. HK landed a few metres from me, the advanced actuators in his legs making the leap easy for him. Simvyl grunted in annoyance as I lifted him with the Force and then onto the wall beside me.

  “I hate when you do that,” he muttered once his feet touched the metal of the ramparts. “I could’ve gotten up myself,” he added even as I turned back to the Snivvian.

  “I know, but my way’s faster,” I replied only to snarl as I saw the Snivvian was not just still where I’d left them, but had soiled themselves. The way Quinlan lifted his hands to cover his face as I heard Simvyl cough, I was glad the helmet filtered external smells. Not wanting to deal immediately with the now stinking Rodian, I cast my gaze over the settlement, confirming it was as ramshackle in its construction as the walls had been. Nothing matched those beside it, and everything about the place was, while a testament to the prisoner’s survival skills on this shit hole of a planet, an abomination that needed to be blasted out of existence if the opportunity presented itself.

  “If you want to live, answer my questions,” I said to the Snivvian, taking slow, measured steps toward it. It nodded so quickly and violently that I hoped it didn’t kill itself before I had finished learning what I wanted to know. “What is this place?”

  “Deadend.”

  I grunted at the unoriginal but appropriate name for the settlement. “Figures,” Simvyl muttered through clenched teeth, the smell of the Snivvian still bothering him.

  “Where can we find Gorto Zaga?” I asked the alien, ignoring Simvyl’s comment.

  “Th-the Black Hole Cantina.”

  “And where is that?” the alien shivered and looked down at the ground; almost as if it were more sacred of Gorto than me.

  “Advisory: I suggest you answer my Master, meatbag. He can be quite creative in dealing with those who fail to appease him.”

  The Snivvian seemed to shrink in on itself at HK’s words, though I could feel through the Force that the threat had worked. A moment later it turned and pointed at the largest building in the settlement. One with a large domed roof along with what appeared to be an antenna on the roof and was located almost at the very centre of the place.

  “Thank you,” I said to the Snivvian before waving my hand in front of its face. “Now sleep.” The alien fell to the ground as if its strings had been cut, and a second later a loud, slightly irritating snore came from it. For a moment, I considered shooting it simply because of how annoying the sound was, but in the end, I decided against it simply because it wasn’t worth the time or effort to do so.

  “You realise that when it wakes, it’ll tell everyone here what we did,” Quinlan commented as he reached my side, and we walked down the steps into the settlement proper.

  I took a moment to consider Quinlan’s Force presence before I answered. The storm was still there, though it hadn’t risked an appearance as had happened with the Anzati. Still, I could feel that it had enjoyed Quinlan’s willingness to kill in battle. That was something I was going to have to keep an eye on in the following days as we sought out Aayla, and then once we found her. Unless I was massively wrong, her anger towards Quinlan revolved around the – in my opinion, entirely justified – death of her uncle Pol Secura. There was no way to know how she might react to his presence, or how he would react when she tried to kill him. Yes, there was the A Change in Fate quest to consider, but that was secondary to my desire to ensure both of them survived the confrontation that was coming.

  “By which point either we’ll have come to terms with this Gorgo, or I’ll have been forced to assume control of this settlement,” I replied with a grunt. “Neither of which is particularly appealing, though I suspect the latter is more likely given our appearances.”

  A slightly dark chuckle came from Quinlan and the idea that the prisoners here would want to talk with a Kiffar or a Mando’ade. “Fair enough,” He said as we descended into the settlement. “I just hope this doesn’t delay us in finding Aayla.”

  “You and me both.”

  … …

  … …

  My foot slid back, shifting my weight so that, as I deflected the trio of bolts coming towards me, they returned to their senders. As those thugs with quick enough reactions ducked to avoid being shot by their own bolts, my other arm came up. The blaster in the gauntlet sparked to life, firing away at other points in the room, ensuring the beings there remained unable to fire upon me.

  A quick pivot and my blade came down, slashing a Weequay who’d been trying to sneak up behind me across their chest. As they fell back, hands reaching for the fatal scorch mark on their chest, a flick of my wrist had the blade arcing around. The blade clipped the face of the Weequay as it fell and then swatted aside bolts from another location in the large chamber.

  “This is your idea of asking nicely?” Simvyl snapped as he took cover behind a large column near the door through which we’d entered about ten minutes ago.

  “No,” I began to reply as I kept moving, my blade bisecting a Human male that had, in a demonstration of stupidity, tried to attack a Mando’ade in full beskar with a vibroknife. “This is pest control,” I added as I kept moving, dancing gracefully through the chaos that now engulfed the chamber. “If I was asking nicely, I’d have said please.”

  “Observation: You did say please, Master,” HK remarked, his heavy blaster rifle obliterating a table one group of thugs had foolishly thought would provide cover from the dangerous droid. “Right before the Aqualish meatbag rejected your request and ordered his men to attack.”

  I waited for a moment to respond, focusing on using the Force to time my moves so that I slipped between the dual attacks of two thugs that came at me with vibroblades. The beskar could easily take the hits, but I wasn’t going to allow scum like these to even touch it. The amount of the Force that I was drawing on to ensure this battle flowed around me was barely above what I’d learnt to channel with the Matukai, yet it was more than enough even with upwards of a hundred thugs in the room when the battle had started.

  Kriff, even with the Anzati attack on the fortress I’d barely needed to delve into my reserves of the Force. The only time I’d truly displayed my power had been when I’d summoned Force Lightning to barbeque the Anzati Quinlan had tossed back with an anger-fuelled Force blast. At this point, even ignoring my armour, I could probably take every thug here while wearing Force suppression cuffs.

  My blade swept around low, severing the legs of the two who’d just tried to attack me just below their knees. “Okay fine,” I said, finally replying to HK as the blaster in my gauntlet shot the two thugs missing their lower legs in the chest, “this is how I go about pest control nicely,” I finished as I caught sight of Quinlan moving, his blade slashing through a Rodian before removing the head of a rather large and wide Nikto.

  I glided forward, my blade flicking out and slicing through the barrel a Human female was awkwardly wielding before a roll of my wrist had the tip of my lightsaber rush upwards. The tip scorched her face, causing her to fall back screaming as her hands reached for her now missing nose and eye. Yet as I turned, I sensed an approaching wave of trouble; one masked in darkness. And within that, a familiar if distorted Force presence.

  “HK, Simvyl, finish this,” I ordered as I turned and moved toward the door to the cantina. Quinlan rushed past me, the fact that Aayla was outside – or soon to be – overriding any other thought he had. After this was over, I’d be speaking with him about the dangers of such single-minded focus like that, but for now, I let it go. As I followed him out, my lightsaber lazily redirected a bolt back at the sender just before I crossed the threshold.

  Outside was pandemonium. A flood of Anzati was rushing everywhere, attacking anyone moving. “AAYLA!” Quinlan called out as he rushed through the nearest pack of Anzati, ignoring them in his desire to get to his Padawan. Yet the way she glared at him, and the unrestrained and barely focused wave of rage that radiated from her through the Force, I could already tell their reunion wasn’t going to be a peaceful one. Not when her anger reminded me so much of how I’d felt after Anakin had been taken by the Trandoshans. At least until I’d learnt to harness and focus that rage properly from Adas. I wouldn’t deny that the desire to skin every Trandoshan in the galaxy alive was still within me, just that it no longer risked overriding my mind.

  “YOU!” Aayla roared back as she pushed her way through several of the Anzati near her. “You killed my uncle!” she snapped as she moved to clash with Quinlan, and I noted the Anzati around her not only chose to get out of her way but that these Anzati appeared even more bestial than those that attacked the fortress.

  I summoned the Force to me and moved to intercede between the pair. However, it seemed my action drew the attention of every Anzati nearby and the HUD snapped out an ever-increasing warning count of approaching enemies.

  The Force called out a warning before the HUD could and I slid to one side, avoiding some sort of gooey mass that was ejected from the chest of a nearby Anzati. The HUD quickly processed that the substance was some sort of restraining method; akin to those used by energy spiders to cocoon sentients for feasting upon later. Coupled with the deranged looks on the faces of these Anzati, and the fact there was no hint of sentience behind their eyes, it seemed this was what happened to the species when they went too long without feeding or devolved. Regardless of which was the case, the now over three hundred creatures the HUD was reporting inbound for my location were an issue that I had to handle if I was to get to Quinlan and Aayla before one of them hurt the other.

  The Force flowed through me, empowering me as it bent to my demands. My blade howled in delight as it swept through the air, slicing any creature that got too close. A quick pivot of my feet and hips, along with a shifting of my wrist as a single swipe slashed five of the creatures.

  My feet shifted, the footwork of Ataru keeping me in motion as I danced around outstretched claws and avoided web blasts. My lightsaber flowed through the air, removing the heads of two beasts in a single effortless stroke while my other hand pulled my beskad from its sheath. Blood soared into the air as the weapon savoured its first taste of flesh today, as I cut my way through the onrushing horde.

  Every so often I caught sight of Quinlan and Aayla, their green and pink blades clashing against each other. Yet, each time I tried to move towards them, more of the feral Anzati came at me, delaying my approach. At one moment, Quinlan was forced back by Aayla’s rage, and she moved in for a killing stroke. Before it could land, I pushed the Force through my hand and along the blade of my beskad.

  The pair leapt back, avoiding the explosion as the Force slammed into the ground where they’d been standing, but it was enough to ensure that Quinlan didn’t fall. He was holding back, I could feel it in the Force, and from the glances I could grab that Aayla had altered her style. Or more likely the one who’d taken control of her and manipulated her rage had taught her new velocities.

  The Ataru she had focused on was still there, but more aggressive and dangerous Juyo angles of attack were in use as well; her rage towards Quinlan granting her the strength and power needed to truly use Juyo the way it was meant to be harnessed.

  As another attempt to slip through the mass of feral Anzati slipped away as they continued to gang-rush me, I felt my control slipping. These creatures were wasting my time, and the longer I delayed, the more chance one of those I was here to help would be injured or die.

  Generating a few metres of room, I dove into the depths of the Force, calling forth the full capacity of it that I was capable of summoning. Instead of the fractional gathering and focusing of the Force through my body that I learnt with the Matukai, I was removing the filters and allowing the full depth of my potential to let the Force flow into me, and it was glorious.

  Time slowed to a virtual standstill as I felt the Force rushing through every muscle, pore, and sinew in my body, galvanising every fibre of my being. The HUD continued to report new threats coming toward me, though the count was moving slowly as if trapped on the event horizon of a black hole. I could see the movement of every muscle on each beast near me as if they were trapped in some form of time distortion and I gasped as I understood, for the first time, the true potential I held within the Force.

  I grinned as, knowing I was as ready as I would ever be, I let go of the walls I’d built around my presence in the Force, letting the full breadth of my power flood over the battlefield.

  Around me everything stopped, the eyes of everyone – be they beast, prisoner, or Force user – turned deliciously slowly in my direction as they all tried to understand what they were experiencing. My grin turned into a smile that would freeze the blood of my enemies if they could see it as I started moving, intent on destroying everything that dared to even look at me wrong.

  The first flickers of fear appeared in the eyes of the feral Anzati as they understood they were standing before an apex predator and that they were now my prey. Yet even as that flicker of understanding sparked in their minds, plasma and beskar were cutting a vicious, visceral swathe of devastation through their ranks.

  The beasts closest to me barely moved a muscle before my blades struck them. Blood and smoke rose painfully slowly into the air as I danced through their ranks. Those after my first strikes moved more, their claws turning to either strike at me or offer submission. I wasn’t in the mood for either, and as the blood from my first strikes continued its upward trajectory, more of the creatures tasted my fury and, before they even understood it, began a slow, creeping fall to their deaths.

  Limbs, heads, and entire torsos separated from the rest of the body they should be attached to, moving apart slowly with the only links to the slowly unfolding chaos the streaks of red created as my beskad moved from one target to the next. Flutters of smoke rose from cauterised wounds showing the path carved out by my lightsaber as it also unleashed destruction on the beasts.

  To the Anzati and the others, everything would be engulfed in streaks of red and black as my blade and armoured form moved so quickly through the ranks of the feral beasts that it would appear as if they’d been engulfed by a storm of malignant intent. The only ones who could, in theory, track my swathe of destruction would be Quinlan and Aayla, though they were again more focused on each other than me.

  The pair were moving slowly, though nowhere near as slow as everyone else. Streaks of pink and green brightened the air, adding colour to the darkened aura my weapons and I created as I tore a path through the savage creatures towards the pair of force users. Aayla’s entire visage was consumed by rage, by her need to make Quinlan pay for killing her uncle, whereas Quinlan had lost that edge his fury had granted him; now he was little more than an untrained Jedi barely surviving under the onslaught of one in the grip of the Dark Side.

  As I neared, my blades still turning anyone and anything nearby into more pieces of the symphony of carnage I was creating, I reached into the darkness around Aayla, to both find a way to break through it so we might speak and to see if the one responsible for her actions and the mind behind the primitive Anzati was present. It took but a mere moment to find the other’s presence in the depths of Aayla’s mind twisting her thoughts and desires to suit his purpose.

  This was the source of the same growing darkness that I’d felt ever since we’d begun to approach Kiffex. The same one who’d hidden Aayla’s path from me when I’d demanded the Force reveal it to me. There was age and experience to this presence, power too. Yet at the same time, it felt weaker than it should: as if unable to fully grasp the power it should be able to wield. That was both comforting as it meant I should be able to overpower them when we met, and disappointing as I feared they would not be the challenge I wanted them to be. However, as Aayla’s assault on Quinlan grew more violent, I pulled back from her mind and again focused fully on the battle taking place in Deadend.

  My trail of carnage through the Anzati had almost drawn me to the pair, and it was clear that Aayla, no matter how in theory weaker and unskilled compared to Quinlan, was winning. Her strikes were ferocious; empowered by her fury and desire to kill her former master. The Juyo she was using was enhanced by her rage. Quinlan, his body knowing how to move even if his mind did not, was struggling to keep pace.

  I could sense his desire to not harm Aayla, to help her. While noble it was costing him the fight, and as he was driven to his knees by Aayla’s elbow, she readied her blade to finish him.

  Her blade came down, a scream echoing around the settlement as she channelled every ounce of her anger into her strike, and I sensed Quinlan accepting his fate. I, however, did not and before the pink of her blade could sever his head from his body, it was blocked by the red and black of my lightsaber’s blade.

  Aayla blinked, her anger-enriched mind taking more time than it should to process what was happening. She continued to push down, trying to drive my blade back into Quinlan’s face yet I remained firm. As her eyes shifted to me, the haze of her fury lifting enough for a faint flicker of recognition to spark there, I pushed my other arm forward, using the Force to drive her back.

  She leapt with the blast, gracefully landing a few metres away from me. The move was slow to me however, and I pulled back on the power I was using so that I might try and break through the cloud engulfing her mind first before trying more aggressive methods.

  “Who are you?” She snarled, her mind a jumbled mess that exposed so many weaknesses that if I was forced to fight her, I knew the battle would end whenever I wanted it to. Against Quinlan, with his past lost to him, and drawing on what her new master had taught her, Aayla would emerge victorious. However, against one as comfortable in his training as I was, and with the Force at my complete command, she was nothing more than a bug waiting to be flicked aside whenever I wished.

  “Have you forgotten me as well?” I replied, making sure the voice modulator was turned off even as the HUD reported the mass of Anzati I’d just cut my way through falling to the ground dead. “Quinlan said you forgot who he was, but I had hoped you might remember me from our time at the Temple,” I added as the HUD tracked the number of Anzati I’d taken out and the reactions of those who’d been far enough away to be spared the whirlwind of bloodshed I’d unleashed on the others.

  For a moment, I considered removing my helmet to let her see my face in the hope it might trigger a memory. However, the faintest shifts in the Force alerted me to the folly of that idea, and how this wasn’t the time to attempt such a move. Her grip tightened around her blade, both hands holding it ready to unleash a powerful strike at me.

  “Jedi!” She hissed out before the Force accelerated her toward me. I stood there, watching her move, impressed with how well she channelled her fury into empowering herself. Her new master had taught her well. However, after only a few steps, I recalled the Force to me, bending it to my will and as I watched her pace slowed down remarkably.

  A sliding of my foot, followed by the gentle shifting of my hips and a flick from my lightsaber was all I needed to deflect her attack and move far enough away that her secondary strike missed while remaining in place to cover Quinlan as he slowly pulled himself to his feet. “It’s been over a decade since you last beat me in a spar, Aayla, and while you have skill – including what your new master has taught you – you remain woefully unprepared to engage me.” My words, as intended, fuelled her rage and she moved to engage me again, the faintest hint of a flaw in her attack easy to spot.

  I could if I so wished, end this duel with that flaw, but I didn’t. No, I wanted to try and break through the hold the Dark Side and this unknown master had on her mind. My blade came up, the barest of movements enough to push aside her lightsaber even as I kept my beskad back, showing I didn’t need it to engage her. “Search your feelings, Aayla,” I said softly as my blade again pushed aside an attack from the Twi’lek. “You know and trust me.”

  Her blade came crashing down from overhead, seeking to slash through my skull, which showed she had no understanding of beskar and what it could do. My blade came up, deflecting the strike down and away before a roll of my wrist had my blade pressing against hers, forcing her to take a step back as I easily overpowered her stance. “Use the Force and look at me.”

  Through the locking of our blades – which I was only holding for my attempt to reach her – I saw her blink. The Dark Side shifted around us as the presence of her master grew fractionally weaker and in her eyes there was a faint flicker of passing recognition.

  Before she could say or do anything, she stumbled back, a hand coming to her temple. “Don’t listen to him,” I said as I remained where I was, sensing her master trying to assert domination over her fragile mind. “Trust your instincts and search your feelings,” I added as I reached into the Force, using a portion of the power I controlled to find in an attempt to sever the connection between this hidden Dark Sider and Aayla. “We’re friends, Aayla. I don’t want to hurt you, but I will if you leave me no choice.”

  Aayla looked at me again, that flicker of understanding and recognition growing stronger. However, before she could act on it a massive wave of power slammed into her mind. I stumbled back, driven from her thoughts by the actions of the one controlling her. They were strong, and I suspected, skilled in the more mental aspects of the Force. That was something I’d have to be wary of once I found them, but for now, as Aayla reset her stance, I concentrated on my friend. “No!” She snapped, her rage flooding her mind and driving away any other thoughts. “I must serve my master,” She added with a snarl before charging towards me.

  I sighed, though no one but me heard it because of the helmet, even as my mind analysed her form and spotted several avenues to counter. Most would result in her losing at least her hand, which wasn’t what I wanted, and I dismissed those selecting another option.

  A gentle shifting of my wrist and my lightsaber flicked out, pushing aside her attack without any concern for the extra strength her rage provided her. My beskad fell from my grasp as I moved my hand forward and grabbed her arm before she could counter my defensive stroke. “Sorry,” I whispered as I activated a feature of the gauntlet.

  “AARGH!” Aayla screamed as enough energy to down an enraged rancor surged into her system. She twisted her arm, trying to slip free, but my grasp was solid. Her blade fell into her other hand alone and she swung it as best she could, intent on severing my arm. Not wanting her to hurt herself when the blade bounced off the beskar, my lightsaber came up and clipped her attack before it was close.

  With a rotation of my wrist, her blade was driven down, and I moved the tip of my blade down hers, close enough that the heat brushed over her knuckles. “Ah!” She shouted at the new burst of pain even as her blade fell from her grasp.

  She fell to a knee even as her now free hand came around. I pulled my blade back, not wanting to cost her a limb and let her ineffectually punch my armour. The HUD reported the strength of her strike was more than her body weight should be able to produce, yet well within the tolerable range of the beskar to withstand.

  I pushed any feelings that surged in me as I saw the pain rushing over Aayla’s face from my mind. This was hurting her, yes, but it was for her own good. At least I hoped she would see it that way once free of the one manipulating her. Her hand slapped almost pathetically against my armour: each strike slightly weaker than the last.

  The Force shifted and I felt the presence of the Dark Sider grow stronger in her mind. Infuriated at his need to try and control her even as she flailed in my grasp, as well as angry at him for using my friend for whatever his purpose was, I pushed back. With every ounce of power I had, I slammed into the mental probe they were using to influence Aayla; not even slightly holding back on my power, nor on what I was capable of.

  The presence of the Dark Sider reeled back, and I savoured their shock and the faint hint of terror that I sensed from them before they severed the link they held with Aalya’s mind. If the person was here, they might be able to keep the hold over her mind, at least if they weren’t dealing with my attacks. However, they weren’t, and I was, thus the control they had over her mind shattered as I blasted it away with the full breadth of my power.

  “Ugh,” Aayla cried as her other knee crashed to the ground and if not for my grasp on her arm, she would’ve fallen over. The combined weight of the charge surging through her nerves, coupled with me driving the presence of the Dark Sider from her mind broke through her rage, dismissing most of her unnatural anger towards Quinlan.

  I stopped the flood of energy into her system, and she looked up at me with blurry eyes. Her mouth opened but no sound came from her lips; the combination of the energy surging through her body and the lingering presence of her temporary master being banished from her mind robbed her of her voice for the moment.

  I placed my hand gently on her shoulder, causing her to tense. Yet when no surge of energy slammed into her, she relaxed. “Sleep,” I said gently to her, using the Force to overwhelm her weakened mind and ensure my command was obeyed.

  Aayla slumped to the ground, only my grasp on her shoulder stopping her from falling too quickly. I knelt, guiding her down as the HUD confirmed she was sleeping. Yet before I could attempt anything else it alerted me to the approaching mass of feral Anzati.

  I stood with a growl, letting my power flow outward. “You shall not take her,” I snarled, daring any of the beasts, or the master that commanded them, to challenge me.

  As before, the Anzati froze, understanding they were facing off against something far higher on the food chain. What remained of their minds understanding that to challenge me was to invite death. I took a step forward, causing the dozen near me to, almost as one, move back, forcing those behind to move back as well.

  A second later, Quinlan’s blade ignited as he moved to my side, adding his presence to mine. It wasn’t needed as I could already sense the growing fear in the pack of creatures; something that spiked further as the few remaining inside the cantina rushed out, blaster bolts from at least a dozen shooters forcing them to retreat.

  That was the trigger as first, from the back of the pack a handful of the creatures slithered back, heading towards the walls of the settlement seeking to return to their master. Some had cocoons of captured victims on their backs, and while I could’ve moved to free them, I didn’t. Not only did I know – via the Force and the Battlenet – that Simvyl was not among the prisoners, but those that had been captured were, in the grand scheme far less important to me than Aayla and while few deserved the fate of having their life force drained by an Anzati, they were on this planet for crimes that elsewhere might carry a death penalty. Their removal from the galaxy would only benefit everyone else.

  More of the ranks of bestial Anzati crept back and then turned tail, their desire to live and escape my clutches overriding their master’s demands to bring Aayla back to him. I stayed where I was, watching the pack retreat. Yes, I had an objective to eliminate as many of the creatures on the world as I could, but that was minor compared to keeping my friend safe.

  Quinlan and I stayed where we were, even as HK and Simvyl led the remaining thugs from the cantina out, blasters firing at the retreating beasts. I only relaxed my stance once the last Anzati leapt over the walls, disappearing into the night, and the Battlenet confirmed that they’d gone.

  At that point, I powered down my lightsaber and then after attaching it to my belt, bent to pick up my beskad. “Get her into the cantina,” I said to Quinlan before continuing through the Battlenet to speak to HK and Simvyl. “Secure the area around the cantina for now. If any of the locals give you trouble, remind them as forcefully as you need that if not for us they’d all be Anzati food.”

  “Exclamation: It would be my pleasure, Master.”

  “What are you going to do?” Quinlan asked as the HUD reported him kneeling next to his Padawan, checking on her condition.

  “First,” I began as I walked into the field of carnage I’d caused, “I’m going to ensure that none of the beasts here are still alive. After that, I’ll check in with you in the cantina in case we need to keep Aayla secured or sedated, but I won’t be staying long. You can stay here with her, but I’m heading out. The one responsible for Aayla’s turn to the Dark Side and these packs of feral Anzati is still alive, and I intend to correct that oversight.”

  … …