Chapter 8 Lightsabers

`Snap-hiss.` Six crimson-armored Stormtroopers dove out in pairs facing opposite directions, filling the hall with the scream of blaster fire. The two groups of four rebels fired into the hall, but smoke from the bridge soon obscured everything but the flashes of ruby blaster bolts crisscrossing in the darkened space. Tower fired a volley of concussion grenades into the area where the Red Troopers had been. Moments later however, the grenades sailed back toward the Black Squadron's position, carried by an invisible hand. The team had just enough time to dive for cover before the grenades went off, the blast deafening and disorienting the four Rebels. The four Tantive-II Vanguards pressed their attack, rapidly firing blaster bolts into the tight space where they knew their foe to be, but a series of strange thrums sent their blaster bolts back at their originators, the crimson bolts striking them in the chests. They died with an expression of confusion on their faces.

Dinh leveled his E-WEBB and fired off a rapid volley of emerald bolts, watching with dismay as they all streaked back down the hallway to strike very near the team's covered positions. Another snap-hiss sounded in the inky blackness of the hallway behind the Black Squadron, and with mounting dread Khef turned to see a blood red blade lighting the space where the sound originated. A moment later however, he realized that the red Lightsaber's blade illuminated no Sith warrior, but instead shone it's sanguine light on a Rebel special weapons expert and a red armored Mandalorian. there was a blur of motion as Char drew his blasters, and then unleashed a stream of shots faster than any living person should be able to fire. the torrent of red bolts broke against the cyan blade of Covetous's lightsaber, but poured in with such ferocity that she didn't have time to angle them back to her attacker. She hastily began her retreat down the hallway as the Mandalorian broke into a run, his blasters leveled at her.

Covetous ducked into a side alcove, waiting for the sprinting Mando to get close enough, and stepped out to swing her lightsaber at him. With reflexes and luck, he leaned back and dropped into a slide just in time to avoid the blade, rolling to his feet on the other side of the Sith and leveling a blaster at her. Much to his annoyance, the blaster pistol flew from his grasp and landed in the long nailed grip of the red skinned Twi'lek. She swung her cyan blade and struck his side, the blade hissing and sizzling as it struggled to bite into the Beskar armor. Rapid footfalls announced the arrival of Alana, who brought her red blade to bear wit a small flourish meant to take Covetous's hand. A deft parry deflected the slice, and Covetous spun to meet her new attacker with a flurry of cyan arcs.

The remaining members of the Black Squadron cautiously advanced to the thrumming and clashing of the two lightsaber combatants ahead. Such a spectacle hadn't been seen in many years as the battle of flashes and brilliant arcs of red and cyan. The tempo of the duel soared as the two women slashed, thrusted, parried, and blocked, their fevered pace intended to keep the other off balance. Alana's companions dared not fire into the fray for fear of hitting her, so they simply formed a ring around the fevered combatants. Covetous grew increasingly frustrated, stretching her feelings toward this strange opponent, but without the telltale ripples of force that a Jedi would unwittingly release as they used the Force to guide their strikes, Covetous could only rely on her natural talent with the blade. Who was this woman who fought like a Jedi Master but had no more presence in the force than her Mandalorian companion, and who was this Mando who fought with more fury than she had ever witnessed in her life. She risked a probe at him with the force. She vaguely recalled the iron will and texture of this man, but couldn't place it while fighting this demon and her red blade. Char, meanwhile slid a Beskad, a Mandalorian metal sword with a slight curve to it, from it's sheath on his hip and thrust it rudely into the fray, slashing the Sith's exposed hip, barely missing Alana, who shot him a dirty look. He simply shrugged and pressed his assault on the off-kilter Sith, who quickly rounded on him, pulling a second lightsaber into her free hand, a very generic blue blade springing to life in her hand. she swiped for the Mando's blade, thinking to cut it in two, only to find that Beskad's could take a clash with a lightsaber with no more ill effect than becoming very hot. Alana took the second gained by the Darth's surprise to send a flurry of blows at her, all of which were only barely blocked.

Covetous was growing fatigued, her body still recovering from the extended stasis tube stay. She kept the two Melee combatants at bay with a series of sweeping circular motions from her two lightsabers, and used the force to lunge backwards down the hall toward the escape pods. Clipping the lightsaber she had long ago stolen from a Jedi named Ragewind to her belt, she extended a hand toward the two warriors, sending a cascade of lightning to dance across them. Much to her frustration, the Mandalorian reacted instantly, as though he was expecting it. `who is he?` The crimson armored foe sidestepped in front of this unarmored female companion, taking the lightning across the helmet and chest. His Beskar plates were able to diminish the effect of the lightning, but the crackling Force energy still drove him to his knees. Covetous clipped her other lightsaber to her belt, stretching out her other hand to double the amount of energy she poured into the Mando, burning through her reserves of Force energy in order to end this annoying man. She had finally remembered him as the reason for her Stasis Pod stay, and was determined to kill him where he stood.

Several of Char's plates had begun to glow dull red as the lightning heated them up, and steam was rising from him. Only a small portion of the electricity was able to force it's way through his armor's defenses, but even that small amount was enough to drop him to the floor, twitching and writhing as his muscles contracted involuntarily from the shocks. His HUD was going haywire, addled by the voltage pouring through the grounding circuitry he had installed in the suit. He watched helpless as Darth Covetous advanced on him slowly, white fire streaming from her fingertips. He spotted a small black sphere which bounced and came to rest between the Sith and himself, but couldn't comprehend it's meaning until it exploded with a blinding flash and deafening bang. Covetous stumbled back, covering her eyes, one real and one a mechanical implant, and sent an incoherent wave of force energy down the hallway, catching the Mandalorian, the woman, and another grenade of some sort and sending them flying back toward their companions. she slapped her palm against the launch button for the pod, and the hatch closed sending her tumbling in her escape pod into space.

Char recovered just in time to cover Alana with his body as the second grenade went off, slamming him with a concussion wave which nearly knocked him unconscious. He struggled to his feet, limping over to the small port hole in the door to the tube that had once contained Covetous's escape pod, gazing after her into space. She was still alive, it seemed. For a moment his mind screamed something hopeful about Sanguine, but he killed that with the coldness he usually wore, not allowing himself false hope. His HUD flickered for a moment before remaining steady, displaying a number of warning icons. The one that caught his attention was the breach in his helmet. Had he hit his head that hard when he hit? He opened the warning message and realized he had misinterpreted the icon. It was a medical alert from the armor's built in Emergency Medical Database, warning him that his `head` had been breached. That would explain the hot blood he felt pooling around the seal of his helmet. he glanced back to his display from the text and noted with some alarm that the ground seemed to be tilting and rushing toward his visor. He was still trying to puzzle out this turn of events when his world went black.