FicWad

-"Why are you helping us locate your fellow Sith?" Alera asked.

-Darkana smirked as she stood with her arms folded across her chest, leaning against the ship. "Because I don't like Frell any more than you do," she answered. "besides, Jex and I made a deal: he lets me live, I lead him to Frell."

-"So you sold out another Sith to save yourself?" Alera asked, displeased by the idea.

-"Just because Frell and I are both Sith, don't think that there is some kind of camaraderie between us. If Jex kills him, I'll get a promotion, so to speak."

-"And how long before someone below you wants a promotion?"

-"That will only happen if I make a mistake as Frell has done. The Sith do not tolerate the weak. If you are not strong enough, or cunning enough, you do not deserve to live."

-"And what about now?" Alera asked. "Jex proved himself stronger than you, yet you lived. Do you believe you deserve to?"

-"There is always someone stronger, little Jedi. I survived because I was wise enough to agree to help him, rather than take a secret that I didn't value to begin with to my grave. And the only reason I haven't killed you, is because I don't want to give Jex a reason to hunt me down as diligently as he is hunting Frell, so try and be quiet."

-Alera was about to argue the point further, but she suddenly became distracted as she sensed danger nearby. Darkana seemed to sense it to and reached for her belt, only to remember that Jex had taken her light saber. She briefly considered taking Alera's, but she didn't want to risk fighting two people at once, and Alera already had her weapon activated. Darkana would just have to trust that Alera could deal with the danger on her own.

-That hope was quickly dashed as Master Frell stepped into view. The Weeguay looked at Alera like a predator that had just cornered its prey, but he was visibly surprised to see Darkana. The two of them stared at each other for a frozen moment in time, Alera, forgotten by both of them. Frell was holding his light saber, but he had not yet activated it. Darkana knew that he wasn't aware that she was unarmed and at a serious disadvantage.

-"No..." Alera said as realization struck her. If Frell was there, then Jex must have been defeated.

-Frell's attention returned to Alera, and he slowly smiled. "Afraid so, my dear. Jexel is no more, so why don't you lower your weapon and come with me. We both know you stand no chance. There is no reason to throw your life away."

-Alera's conviction faltered. Frell was right; there was no way she could defeat a Jedi master. With Jex gone, Darkana no longer had a reason to help her either. Alera had become the prisoner. She was about to surrender when Darkana spoke up.

-"If you're going to lie, at least do a credible job of it," she spat. "If Jex were dead, I would have sensed it. besides, you wouldn't have come here just to deal with some Jedi fresh out of training. My guess is that you're running."

-Alera realized that Darkana was right; she could still sense Jex's presence, and he was coming closer. She cursed herself for nearly falling for Frell's deception, but she wasn't out of the woods yet. Jex was still a good distance away, and Frell was right in front of her.

-"You always seem to insist on doing things the hard way," Frell said as he stepped forward and activated his weapon. Alera prepared herself for a fight, but Darkana stood motionless. There was little she could do in her unarmed state. Even if Alera were willing to depart with her own light saber, and she would have been a fool to do so, Frell would attack before they could make the exchange.

-Without further warning, Frell lunged for Alera, but darted away just before striking at her and went for Darkana instead. She seemed to expect the attack and held out her palm, but Frell dodged to the left before the shockwave of force energy could strike him. He held out his free hand, and Darkana was sent flying right over the edge of the landing pad, falling in the swamp below.

-With that threat taken out of the equation, Frell turned his full attention to Alera. Alera chided herself for not attacking Frell when he had been dealing with Darkana; he had been vulnerable, but she was too intimidated to take the offensive against him. Frell on the other hand, had no such compunctions about attacking her. He launched a vicious assault against the less experienced Jedi, but Alera managed to prevent him from landing a direct blow against her.

-Alera backed off, swinging her weapon to defend herself rather than attack. It was all she could do to keep herself alive without giving Frell an opening. He forced her back against one of the guard rails at the edge of the landing pad and tried to strike her down, but Alera dove out of the way just in time. Frell's blade sliced through the metallic alloy of the guard rail, melting the metal.

-The moment Alera rolled back to her feet, Frell was upon her again. He attacked her with several light blows to set her up and then knocked Alera's light saber out of her hand with a powerful strike. Alera fell backwards, landing in a sitting position with Frell pointing his blade at her throat.

-"Such a pity," said Frell as he raised his weapon to strike Alera down. Alera closed her eyes and made peace with herself as she prepared to join with the force. She had no fear of death or pain; she only regretted her failure. She opened her eyes, and Frell brought his light saber down to end her life.

-At the last moment, a blue light saber blade intercepted Frell's, saving Alera's life. Alera stared in awe at the image of an enraged Darkana, covered in swamp muck holding, Alera's weapon. Under different circumstances it would have been hilarious, but at that moment, Darkana was as threatening as death itself. She pushed Frell back and launched a relentless attack against the man, crying out in rage as she swung at him in what seemed to be a mindless frenzy.

-She attacked at blinding speed that even Frell seemed to have trouble dealing with. Alera watched the two combatants, transfixed by the level of skill that they displayed. All the time that she had been arguing with Darkana, she had thought the woman a low-level grunt. She had had no idea how powerful the Sith really was. She couldn't help but wonder how strong Jex was to have defeated her already, and he had done so without either of them receiving a visible wound.

-Darkana continued to push Frell back, empowered by her rage. Frell managed to force her blade down, and the two of them pressed up against each other, creating a lull in the action. Frell took advantage of the moment to try and reason with his colleague. "What are you doing?" he asked angrily.

-"You threw me into a swamp!" Darkana growled. "I will not be so easily discarded."

-"I do you a favor and this is the thanks I get?" Frell asked, struggling against the smaller woman. "If you had stayed down their and let me deal with the Jedi, Jex might have believed that you at least tried to save her."

-"I don't care!"

-The two of them separated and continued the fight on slightly more even ground. Darkana had lost the advantage of surprise, and Frell was feeling the constraints of time; it wouldn't be long before Jex showed up. He led Darkana away from the Nomad, and when the time was right, he leapt over her. As soon as his feet touched the ground, he took off running for the loading ramp. If he could get in the ship and close the door, then he could escape without needing to kill Darkana or Alera. Worst case scenario, he would destroy the Nomad and escape to leave the planet by some other means. At least then Jex wouldn't be able to track him.

-He was almost to the door, and it was clear that Darkana was too far behind to stop him. His foot was just about to touch down on the edge of the loading ramp when Frell was slammed in the side by an unseen burst of energy that sent him sprawling. Frell got to his feet and looked to see Alera, crouched down with her palm pointed at him like a blaster. Frell felt his anger rise up in him as the dark side took hold. His plan had been foiled by such an insignificant insect; it infuriated him.

-He stood up and was about to take care of Alera once and for all when he froze. Confused, Alera turned to see what Frell saw, and a wave of relief passed over her. Jex stood at the end of the landing pad, light sabers in hand and very upset. He caught his breath as he slowly approached Frell. The Weeguay shot Darkana a desperate look, but she relaxed her posture and deactivated her weapon.

-"Darkana, we can take him together and be done with this," Frell pleaded.

-Jex looked at Darkana, wondering what she would do. Frell did have a good point; Jex wouldn't be able to take them both on at once. She glanced at Jex as if considering the offer herself, but then she sighed, "This is your mess; you clean it up." She folded her arms and made it clear that she had no intention of interfering. Jex shot her a grateful smile before returning his attention to Frell.

-The Weeguay shot Darkana an enraged glare before shifting his gaze to Jex. Alera moved out from between the two as they approached each other. Jex's gaze was fixed of Frell with murderous intent as the two men circled each other with surreal slowness.

-"What will you do if you kill me?" Frell asked. "The Jedi will still be hunting you; you have nowhere to go. Embrace your darker nature just as you did when you killed Breck. You can't tell me you didn't enjoy it."

-"Yes I did," Jex responded. "And I'll enjoy this even more."

-Jex launched himself at Frell, yelling out a war-cry as he struck at the taller alien again and again. Frell held his ground despite having only one blade to stave off Jex's attacks. In such a cramped space, he couldn't afford to back up and get pinned against a guard rail.

-Neither Alera nor Darkana attempted to interfere as the two men fought against each other. While Alera watched with obvious apprehension, Darkana looked on with indifference to the battle's outcome. Several passing aliens stopped to observe the duel, but neither combatant paid any attention to the spectators; they were both fully focused on one another.

-Jex and Frell stood less than two feet from each other, neither one moving from their spot as their blades spun and struck against each other in a flashing lightshow at such speed that even Darkana had difficulty following the movements. In the midst of the action, Frell brought his blade straight down towards Jex's face, but Justice and Vengeance came up in the form of an X, catching the former master's blade between them.

-The men found each other deadlocked, pushing against one another in a struggle of brute strength. It was well known that Weeguay were much stronger than humans, but Jex's anger made up the slack. Realizing he couldn't push Frell back, Jex relinquished his grip on Justice and lowered his balled up fist in front of Frell's abdomen. His fingers sprang open, and a blast of the force shot out at its intended target, but Frell was too quick.

-The traitor spun out of the way, allowing the energy to pass by him. As Frell rotated out of Jex's view, the rogue saw what had been behind the Weeguay: Alera.

-The blast of energy continued on despite missing its intended target. Due to the distance, Alera had time to brace herself, but the impact still knocked her to the ground. She was not hurt by the impact, but the distraction allowed Frell to leap away from Jex and land behind the defenseless Zabrak. Frell's light saber found its way under Alera's chin, and Jex found himself in a standoff.

-"What will you do now?" Frell asked, catching his breath. "Strike me down and you sacrifice the girl, join me and you save her. For far too long you have walked the line between light and dark; time for you to choose a side."

-"I won't let you have your way," Jex hissed; his voice seething with the hatred that burned in his eyes. "You're plan for the relics ends here."

-"My plan?" Frell asked with a devious smile. "How little you understand, my old friend. It is by the command of my master that I collected the artifacts. It is he that you should concern yourself with. I can help you find him. Join me, Jex, and together we can defeat Darth Malice."

-Darth Malice, the name echoed in Jex's mind. So the puppeteer is revealed, Jex thought to himself. A Sith who commanded the head of the Jedi council must have considerable power. Jex knew that he would need help to confront such an enemy, but it wouldn't be Frell.

-Jex looked over to Darkana who watched with feigned disinterest. She seemed to know what he was thinking and nodded her consent. Jex's gaze returned to Frell as a smile crept up the corners of his lips. His eyes narrowed as he said, "I'm pretty sure Darkana can help me locate him."

-The confidence drained from Frell's face as he realized his fatal miscalculation, and in that moment, Jex flicked the two fingers of his free hand, and Justice, which had been lying harmlessly on the ground since Jex had released it, shot forward, activating in midair. The white blade found its mark between Frell's eyes and exited out the back of his grey, scaled head. The former Jedi master fell silently to the ground, and Jex held out his had to recall his weapon. The white blade returned to its master, and Jex put both of his weapons back on his belt.

-"So," Jex said as he turned his attention to Darkana. "Where do I find this, Darth Malice?"