Categories > Movies > Star Wars > Rogue

24

by Togot 0 reviews

Jex and Tionis fight, but Jex quickly realizes that he will need every trick up his sleeve if he wants to survive.

Category: Star Wars - Rating: PG-13 - Genres: Sci-fi - Warnings: [V] [?] - Published: 2008-10-03 - Updated: 2008-10-03 - 2965 words

1Exciting
-“No!” Jex screamed again as he watched his brother hold Alera’s limp body in his hand. Jex saw the sadistic glee on his brother’s face, and realized the truth: the brother he knew was gone. Jex summoned up the force, and threw it out at Darth Malice. The impact forced Malice to drop Alera and sent him tumbling to the ground.

-Jex rushed to Alera’s side. He already knew it was too late, but he had to be sure, had to try. He reached out and touched the side of her neck. He felt nothing. There was no pulse, no sense of life from her. She was dead. Jex’s eyes were burning, and his throat was tight. Alera had been like an annoying little sister, tagging along and nagging him to behave himself. He realized he hadn’t known her very long, but in spite of all his teasing, he had liked her. She hadn’t deserved this.

-“I should have known you were too weak!” Malice was on his feet and leering at Jex. Jex stood over Alera’s body, and he returned his brother’s angry glare. It was time to do what needed to be done. Jex pulled out a blaster riffle from his robes, aimed, and held down the trigger.

-Jex had expected Malice to pull out a light saber to defend himself or dodge the attack. What Jex hadn’t expect was for Malice to hold out a hand as if to stave off the incoming blaster bolts. He certainly hadn’t expected every shot he fired to swerve its trajectory around his target. The blaster was set to rapid fire, but Malice used the force like a shield to deflect every single shot away from him.

-When Jex saw it was pointless, he ceased firing. Malice smiled and said, “My turn.” He pulled his hand back, balling into a fist, and then shoved it forward, unleashing a bolt of force lighting. It wasn’t the erratic strands of blue electricity that Jex had come to associate with the attack. It was a single bolt as thick as a man’s arm, and it tore right through Jex’s left shoulder.

-Jex screamed in pain as the force of the attack sent him flying backwards. He felt like every nerve in his body was being burned with hot plasma. He hit the ground, sliding and rolling until he skidded to a halt, holding his shoulder with his right hand. Jex’s body was trembling from the pain, and for a moment he feared that a hole had been melted a hole through him. He took his shaky hand away to look at the wound and was surprised that his skin was only burned.

-There was a perfectly circular hole burned through his cloth the size of a fist, but there wasn’t a hole through his body. Jex didn’t have to look to know that there was a matching hole of clothe and charred flesh on his back. He looked up to see Malice standing close to his throne, waiting patiently for Jex to get up. He was standing very close to his throne, and that gave Jex an idea. Light sabers didn’t work; blasters didn’t work. How about bombs?

-Jex reached inside his robs with his right hand and pulled out a detonator. He smiled up at the look on his brother’s face, and pressed the button. Darth Malice’s throne blew apart, sending chunks of rock in all directions. Malice was knocked to the ground by the explosion, and before he could get up, Jex was already on his feet and rushing at him with Justice and Vengeance in his hands.

-Malice had gotten to his knees when the first blow struck him across his back. His black robs burned and smoldered, but his body wasn’t cut. Jex moved as fast as his wounds would allow, and he unleashed a vicious flurry of blows to his brother. Each impact forced his brother back, but not once did Malice cry out in pain. When Jex stopped to catch his breath, he looked at his brother’s robes. They were tattered and shredded, practically falling off of Malice’s form, and Jex finally saw what was underneath.

-Darth Malice was wearing some kind of black armor from head to toe. There was even a section at the back that rose up to protect the neck. The robes were destroyed, but the armor didn’t have a scratch on it. “So that’s your secret,” Jex said. He was out of breath, but he tried to sound as confident as he could.

-Malice tore away the ruined cloth from his body and discarded it casually. “Amazing material, don’t you think?” He asked as he stepped back towards Jex. “I discovered it during my travels. It’s highly resistant to light sabers. When I challenge the Jedi, it shall give me a distinct advantage.”

-Jex narrowed his eyes and said, “Too bad you neglected the helmet.” He rushed at Malice again.

*

-Darkana returned to the world and was greeted with pain. Her back hurt, and she had a splitting headache. It took her a moment to recall what had happened. When she did, she could have kicked herself. The entire time she had traveled in Alera’s company, Darkana had never considered the young Jedi to be a threat. She had considered her an annoyance and underestimated her. Darkana just couldn’t seem to get anything right today.

-She slowly got to her feet and reached out with the force. She could feel Jex and her master fighting each other, but she couldn’t’ tell who had the advantage. Alera’s presence was oddly absent. Had she left in the Nomad? No. If she wanted to leave, she wouldn’t have had to attack Darkana, and she had gone in the direction of Jex. There were only two possibilities: either Alera was concealing her presence, or she was dead.

-Darkana didn’t know how good the Jedi was at stealth, but it didn’t matter to her either way. It was time to leave. Darkana turned to head for the ship, but stopped. She wasn’t sure why, but she didn’t want to leave. She just kept thinking about Jex and Alera, and how they made her feel when she was with them. Jex teased her; Alera lectured her, but Darkana had felt comfortable around them. She thought of all the times Jex could have killed her. There had been several times when he should have killed her, and yet he had forgiven her and showed her endless patience.

-Darkana clenched her fists as she struggled with her recently rediscovered conscience. If she stood with Jex against her master, she would die. There was no doubt in her mind of that, but if she left Jex and Alera to die, she realized she would miss them. Darkana shook her head and laughed, but it wasn’t very happy. She was disgusted with herself for letting them get to her. She thought of all the times Alera had said that Darkana was trying to corrupt Jex. The irony was that Jex had corrupted Darkana.

-Darkana let out a defeated sigh. She knew she would regret what she was about to do, but still she had to do it. She turned around and ran after Jex and Alera as fast as she could.

-It didn’t take her long to find the entrance to her master’s sanctuary. She entered to the sounds of battle: the distinctive hum of light sabers, and the loud crack of them striking a surface. When she walked in, the first thing she noticed was Alera’s lifeless form on the ground. The sight made Darkana pause for a moment to wonder if she was already too late. The sound of another light saber strike told her that the fight was not yet over.

-She looked in the direction of the noise to see her master holding Jex off the ground with one hand around his throat. Malice had his back to Darkana, and seemed oblivious to her presence, but Jex saw her. He had one hand grasping at Malice’s wrist. The other held his black light saber, but Malice had hold of that wrist.

-Darkana suppressed her presence and approached her master from behind. Jex seemed to realize what she was doing because his expression changed to near panic. He was gritting his teeth and unable to talk under the grip of Malice, but his eyes seemed to be warning her away. Darkana realized the even now, on the brink of death, Jex was trying to protect her. He would rather die than have her risk herself. She was both flattered and angered at the thought of it. She took a strange, perverse pleasure from the knowledge that she was about to disobey him.

-“You know something, brother?” Malice said as he tightened his grip. Darkana froze. Had her master just called Jex “brother”? “I think it was very selfish of you to take both of our parents’ light sabers, don’t you? I think mother would want me to have hers. It’s only fitting, don’t you agree?” He tightened his grip on Jex’s wrist and twisted it until Jex cried out in pain. Darkana knew that if Jex didn’t drop his weapon, her master would brake his wrist. Jex must have realized it as well, because his light saber fell to the ground before she heard the bone break.

-Darkana set herself up for a light saber strike. She hadn’t activated her weapon yet. She wouldn’t do that until she was ready to swing. Jex’s eyes flicked to her, and then back to Malice. “You’re only winning because that armor of yours deflects light sabers,“ Jex said. He spoke through his gritted teeth, almost spitting the words.

-“Quit your whining,” Malice said with a chuckle.

-Darkana’s eyes went wide. Jex was warning her that her attack would fail. She returned her light saber to her robes, but wasn’t sure what else to do. She didn’t carry an entire arsenal like Jex, so she was forced to use the only other weapon at her disposal. She tapped into the darkness inside of herself, the well of pain that knew no end. Pain that the Jedi, and even her master had caused. She reached in and brought power out of that black abyss.

-Darkana screamed with rage and hate as she held out her hands and threw all the power she could at Malice. Lightning fired from her finger tips. They tore Malice away from Jex, and Jex dropped to the ground, gasping for air. Malice rolled on the ground, half curled in a ball as the electricity danced through his body. With Darth Malice on is knees before her, Darkana felt a brief flicker of hope. It was short lived.

-Malice held up one forearm like a shield, and the lightning was drawn to it. Malice slowly got to his feet and stood his ground as Darkana threw her power at him. She halted her attack and let her arms fall heavily to her sides as she tried to catch her breath. Malice slowly lowered his arm and stared at Darkana with cold, murderous eyes. They both knew what was coming.

-“Worthless,” said Malice as he held out is hand and aimed it at Darkana. Darkana didn’t try to get away or protect herself. She knew that she was dead. Rather than feel regretful, or angry, or bitter, she felt an odd sense of peace. There was something freeing in the knowledge that her life was about to end. Darth Malice seemed to wait for an eternity before the beam of lightning fired from his palm at her. Darkana seemed to watch it come at her in slow motion. The world had slowed down to a crawl as that that thick snake of electrical energy slithered towards her through the air. Time sped back up when Jex stepped in front of her.

-Jex put himself between Malice and Darkana. Darkana knew he wasn’t strong enough to block the attack. No one was. She wanted to throw him out of the way, but she couldn’t move fast enough. Jex held out his own palm to meet Malice’s attack. The lightning struck Jex’s hand and jolted his entire body. Darkana expected him to be thrown back into her at any moment, but then Jex did something that Darkana had never even imagined was possible. He held out his other palm at Malice, and channeled the power in one hand and out the other. He redirected Malice’s attack right back at him.

-The look of surprise on Malice’s face as his own attack struck him in the left shoulder was something Darkana would always remember. Malice’s precious armor was torn to pieces as Malice himself was sent tumbling to the ground. Jex’s hands dropped and his shoulders slumped. He was exhausted. Darkana grabbed him as he began to collapse.

-“We need to get out of here,” she said. She was startled at the look on Jex’s face. It was so slack that he seemed on the verge of passing out. He only responded to her words by turning his eyes to look at her.

-A loud, wordless yell made Darkana look back to her former master. He was clutching his damaged shoulder and getting to his feet. The look on his face was nothing short of deranged. He held out a hand, and Darkana expected another lightning blast, but Malice called the light saber on the ground near their feet to his hand and activated it. The black blade of Vengeance hummed, almost invisible in the dark room.

-Justice flew out of the darkness to Jex’s hand, and so did Alera’s light saber. Darkana hadn’t noticed Jex move his hands, but it seemed he wasn’t completely out of energy yet. Malice was clearly weakened, and for a brief moment, Darkana wondered of she and Jexel could take him. Jex’s next words dashed her hopes.

-“Get us out of here,” he whispered. His voice was so weak, Darkana could barely make it out. She knew that she couldn’t outrun Malice all the way back to the ship, not while carrying Jex anyway. It occurred to her that if she were to throw Jex at Malice, she could probably escape, but that would have defeated the purpose of her coming back for him in the first place. She couldn’t help but smile to herself. Old habits died hard. She turned and dashed for the doorway with one of Jex’s arms over her shoulders. She bounded off the ground as though she weighed nothing, supported by the force.

-As they passed through the door, Jex pulled out a small detonator. Darkana remembered the several small charges she spotted on the pillars when she entered the room. She had to hand it to Jex; the man thought ahead. He pressed the button, and explosions sounded behind them. Malice’s cries of anger and surprise were swallowed by the collapsing rocks which sealed him inside his chamber.

*
-Darth Malice stared at the pile of rubble blocking his path. His first impulse was to blow it out of the way with the aid of the Dark Side, but he came to his senses. He was weakened, and such a display of power would only make it worse. His little brother may be out of the fight, but Darkana would be a serious problem in his current state. He also had no way of knowing what other little surprises his brother had prepared.

-Malice took several deep breaths until the fire in his veins had subsided. He looked at his meditation chamber to find it in ruins. It was only a hallowed out chunk of rock, but it had been his. Jex had ruined it with the push of a button. Malice shook his head with an annoyed grin. He had thought his brother had been moving around to find a better avenue of attack. Malice hadn’t even considered someone who could use the force would resort to such mundane methods. How far his brother had fallen.

-He looked down at the dead Zabrak. At least the day hadn’t been a total loss. He deactivated his mother’s light saber and walked over to an undamaged portion of the wall. He pushed on one of the rocks, and a panel slid open, revealing a com screen. Malice pressed a button, and a man wearing a Mandalorian helmet appeared.

-“General, we need to push up our time table. mobilize the armada,” Malice said. “We shall rewrite history, and cast the Jedi into the abyss.”

-“Yes sir,” the soldier replied. “Sir, our scouts have reported a disturbance at the base, do you require assistance?”

-Malice thought about sending some troops after Jex and Darkana, but there was no need. He reached into his belt, and pulled out the artifact that Jex had been carrying. Malice had taken it from him during the fight without his brother even noticing. “Everything is fine, general. Carry out my orders.”
-The screen went blank, and Malice pressed some buttons before the screen came to life again, this time showing a hooded figure.

-“Kill the Ithorian,” was all that Malice said. He pressed the button again, and the screen went blank again.
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