Sand.
"It gets into everything," Anakin once said. He was so right. Vickie was glad to have packed goggles and a scarf in her bag. She felt like a character out of Road Warrior with the scarf wrapped around her face.
She sped across the desert on Mike's bike. Not long after dawn, she had sensed the Dark Lord. It was as if he was calling her. She wasn't one to ignore something like that.
The dark sense took her into a rocky area that really reminded her of Tunisia, where Uncle George had filmed the Tatooine scenes. She followed the sense to a valley. Looking over the edge, she saw a large cavern built into the side of the hills.
She turned the speeder bike off and crouched at the edge. "Hm, quite the setup he has there." She pulled the binocs from her bag and looked into the cavern. There were several speeders along with a few speeder bikes as well. Guards stood at the edges of the opening and several patrolled the area. "This is not going to be easy." Looking up at the setting sun, she grinned and moved back to the bike.
Darkness falls quickly in the desert. Vickie didn't have to wait long for her cover to appear. The crescent moon rose behind her in the eastern sky. Using the Force to cloak her approach, she quickly scaled the hill down into the valley.
At the bottom, she waited for two guards to pass before igniting her lightsaber on a low setting. "Say goodnight, Gracie," she whispered as she sliced through their chests. The setting was low enough to shock their systems and render them unconscious. She quickly removed their blaster rifles and with a telekinetic push, threw them up on the ridge.
"Two down, more to go." With a determined sigh, she headed towards the cavern.
She dispatched the two other roving guards before getting to the cave opening. The two standing there looked bored. Quietly, she slipped up behind them and put them to sleep. She took their rifles and set them on stun.
Making her way to the other side, she noticed these two guards were a bit more adept. They had noticed that the roving guards were missing. Using a speeder to block the view, she lined one up in her sights and fired. A blue blast departed the muzzle of the rifle and quickly sped towards one of the guards. It hit him square in the back, pitching him forward into the sand. His companion quickly turned in her direction only to see another blast slam into his chest.
"Outside guards dispatched," she muttered to herself as she retrieved their rifles. Using a trick Josh Nolan had taught her, she removed several key parts of the rifles and left the remains in one of the speeders.
Two sets of eyes watched Vickie as she so expertly snuck through the array of speeders. "I want her, Master," one said in a decidedly German accent.
The dark cloaked figure admired the young Jedi's approach. She was being silent and none of the humans could see her, but he had the Force. "You are but a padawan. Besides, she has much more experience with the Force than you."
The young man looked surprised. "But Master, she would make a wonderful apprentice. I can feel the Dark side within her."
The Sith clasped his hands in front of him. "Yes, it is there, but it is repressed. You are not strong enough to release it." He stood and waved to his apprentice. "Come. I will surprise her in the main cavern."
Beyond the garage area, Vickie found a series of tunnels. She quietly slipped down them, following her instincts. They led her to a large, open cavern. She looked around, seeing nothing much. Suddenly, her danger sense warned her. She was barely able to get her lightsaber up into a defensive position as a long, red blade came down towards her head.
There was a feral grin on the dark haired, olive skinned man's face. "A bit slow there, Jedi," he said in satisfaction.
She instantly recognized him. "I may be slow, Sith, but at least I didn't die."
They both backed up and began to circle each other. Off in a dark corner, the Sith's apprentice watched. He wanted to be the one to fight her. Unfortunately, all he could do now was wait.
"So, what do they call you around here?" Vickie asked as she thumbed her blade to a stronger setting.
"Sahhar," he snarled. "It means..."
"Magician, how appropriate."
"You speak their language." He moved from side to side, looking for an opening in her defense.
"No, but I can translate using the Force. Seems it works a bit differently here on Earth." She lazily spun her blade in a counter- clockwise circle.
He thrust to her left as the blade cleared her legs to the right. She stepped aside and countered with an uppercut. He easily blocked her blade and pushed it away. "What made you seek me on your own? Wouldn't it be easier with backup?"
They thrust and parried, maneuvering around the cave. "You're a Sith, I'm a Jedi. It's the natural thing to do."
He chuckled and stepped past a lazy thrust. "I think it's because you wish to be accepted by the group, but cannot. You know they treat you differently."
Vickie missed a step and stumbled, Sahhar's blade cutting through her shirt under her arm. "Perhaps, but I am different. I have the Force."
"Don't they? Isn't there one now who talks of fey and elves, yet wields the Force in an unusual way? Don't you regret them and what they have become and you are merely a Jedi?"
She stopped moving and looked at him. "How?"
"I know everything about you, young Jedi. Especially how unwise you are to lower your defenses!" He thrust towards her chest.
She snapped out of her confused state just in time to block the killing blow and push the blade aside. "You almost had me. I know what you're doing. You're trying to get me to feel my anger and use it. Well, that is not going to happen."
"Too bad. You'd make a wonderful apprentice." He renewed his attack, pushing her across the cave. She retaliated with all the strength she had. "You're pathetic. Your lightsaber skills are novice."
"And you think you're so great." She attacked him hard and fast. Their attacks drove them around the room.
Sahhar got in a shot on her left leg. Vickie grasped the cut with her free hand. He took the opportunity to knock her lightsaber from her hand. She screamed in pain as her blade flew away. The next thing she knew, she was flying through the air and slammed into the wall of the cavern hard.
Her sight blurred as she tried to focus on her opponent. She looked for her lightsaber, but couldn't find it. A dark figure appeared before her just as she lost consciousness.
A spark flared.
It flared in the darkness where two outcroppings met and shadows pooled together. It flared in the hand of a hunter, tracking his prey across a barren desert, hunting her to save her life and her soul. It flared at the end of a cigarette, the light briefly illuminating black gloved hands and a mess of long, tangled hair. The hunter drew deeply on the cigarette, his eyes shut behind the flame. One drag, and then both match and cigarette fell to the ground. A booted toe squashed their fiery life, their faint embers flickered briefly as a long trenchcoat stirred the air around them as the hunter passed them by.
To the hunter's right, a guard fell to the floor, clutching his head. The hunter let the rock slip from his fingers as he passed the fallen man, staying deep in the shadows as his eyes tracked the next guard in line. This one was swaying groggily, his rifle at his feet, all appearances suggesting that he had only just awoken. He slept again soon enough, and the hunter continued his approach.
One by one the guards fell at his approach. He paused outside the compound, his gaze falling upon the remains of its construction. A few seconds later, two scaffolding pipes in his hands, he was on his way through the opening and into the bowels of the earth.
The hunt continued.
All around him, he could feel it. He almost felt as though he could reach out and touch it. His quarry had come this way, had sought her own prey, had bled nervous tension and anxious stress in her search.
He paused at an intersection, his face blank as he tried to decide which way to go. The echoes that Vickie had left behind were so strong that neither way was obviously the one she had taken. Both ways spoke of equal use, the little sand that had been brought down on people's boots having been swept to the sides of the passageways. He looked left and right, and let his eyes slowly close, his senses tingling as he anticipated the chances of being attacked from behind.
There. He turned left, and began to make his way along the passageway. Faintly, almost imperceptibly, he could hear the hissing of lightsabres coming together, sparking off one another. He followed the sounds, the worry he felt for his friend threatening to override the professional demeanour that Sci had drilled into them during their training. He swallowed hard, choking back the concern he felt for Vickie, but Mike knew that when push came to shove, he would not be able to stop his heart ruling his head.
The fight blazed below him, Vickie and her opponent moving back and forth easily as their lightsabres blurred between them. Mike could see a third figure in the cavern below, hiding deep within the shadows in the same way that Mike had done a few minutes beforehand. Mike wondered why Sahhar kept a guard around. Surely he didn't need one, not if his powers were as impressive as Vickie believed them to be.
Looking away from the half-hidden figure, Mike focussed his attention once more on his friend, who seemed to be holding her own against the Sith Lord. Then Mike realised something, and half stood, wanting to call out to Vickie, but wanting as well not to distract her.
Sahhar was toying with her. Even as the thought formed in Mike's mind, it was too late. The ruby blade flashed downwards, and Vickie screamed as a red mist erupted from her leg. She staggered lamely backwards, and Sahhar swept her lightsabre from her hand, its purple light stuttering to nothingness as it left its master's grip. The Dark Jedi waved one olive-skinned hand, and Vickie went flying through the air. Mike's hands tightened on the scaffolding poles and he rose upwards from his half-crouch, ready to dive forwards and fight for his friend's life.
The shove came at the precise moment at which Mike was off balance. He staggered forwards, his foot slipping on the rim of the ledge on which he stood. Toppling over, his mind flashed over a move he had been taught by Shalla Nelprin, many months before. As he fell, he tucked himself into a ball, hands protecting his head and neck, his shoulders and thighs taking the worst of the impacts. Still, he hit the ground hard, the sudden landing jolting the breath from him, the scaffolding poles clattering noisily to the ground by his side.
He climbed to his feet, fastidiously brushing the dust from his clothing as he did so. He refused to acknowledge the man in front of him or the glowing red blade that hummed gently, seductively in his hand. His eyes flickered to one side, noting the empty shadows where someone had earlier been hiding.
"'Always two there are,'" he quoted. "'A master and an apprentice.' Maybe you can help me there. I always had this theory that Palpatine and Sidious were different people, or at least that Sidious was Palpatine's clone or something. I don't know, you're not old enough to remember the Clone Wars, are you? Because, well, you look kind of young to be a Sith. I'd put you around, what, late teens? Mid 20s? You must have heard the stories when you were growing up."
Dust removed to his satisfaction, Mike turned his back on the Sith Lord and hooked a scaffolding pole with toe of his boot. Flicking it up into the air, he caught it easily in one hand, and then turned to face Sahhar again.
"I guess that was your apprentice up there. I underestimated you. You're not from around here, are you? Well, of course neither am I. But I mean you're not from this planet, are you?"
The Sith stood silently, his eyes fixed on Mike's face, his face impassive. Mike could tell he was cold and calculating. He guessed the Sith was scanning him for the Force.
I wonder what the scan is telling him?
"Not much of a talker? Well, that's okay. I can talk for both of us. I had something I wanted to say before your apprentice interrupted. Not very good manners, really, and if he's going for the big villain effect then you might want to tell him that a hand over my mouth and a knife at my throat works wonders. Otherwise I might think him uncultured and, well, a bit of a waste of time. Anyway," Mike said with a deep breath. "Challenge."
He threw the pipe across the cavern and watched it drop at the Sith's feet. He turned and kipped up the second pipe, satisfied to hear the Dark Jedi's lightsabre deactivate behind him. He turned around again, the pipe held in both hands, a tingle at the back of his mind as he prepared to face a foe that would almost certainly kill him.
Sahhar held his pipe lazily, almost dangling from the tips of his fingers. "I could kill you now," he said flatly.
"It speaks," Mike muttered. "Yes, you could," he said more loudly. "Not much satisfaction in killing me, though, is there?"
"Correct," Sahhar replied. "Instead, I shall let my apprentice kill you."
There was a scuffling sound behind Mike, but he didn't turn, didn't acknowledge the apprentice as he made his way down from the ledge from which he had pushed Mike moments before. The young Sith made his way to his master's side, and turned to face Mike.
He was a young man, Caucasian, not even out of his teens. Mike's eyes narrowed as he studied him.
"What's the matter kid, did you fail the American Idol audition or something?"
The boy scowled, but Sahhar raised a hand.
"Dueling with the Jedi cow was barely of interest to me," he said. "Fighting you would be less than that. My apprentice has longed for a chance to show me how far his learning in the Sith arts has progressed. You, who cannot touch the Force, will not be a challenge, but I shall at least give you your choice of weapons."
"Bo staffs," Mike said at once. "Or at least these pipes."
"As you wish," Sahhar replied. He released the pipe by his side and moved his hand. The pipe hovered in the air before sailing gracefully out from under Sahhar's hand and presenting itself to his apprentice. The boy took it, his gaze still fixed on Mike's face. Sahhar stepped back and the boy fell into a combat stance.
Mike leant his own pipe against his shoulder and let his coat slip from his shoulders. He flexed his muscles, his eyes locked on the apprentice's. He took the pipe up and spun it easily around his head. "What do they call you?" he asked, as he feinted forwards one step.
The apprentice said nothing, matching Mike's dart forward with several steps forward of his own. He looked comfortable with the pipe in his hands, waving it once or twice, keeping the weapon moving to give Mike something to keep an eye on other than his opponent.
"Do you have a name?"
The apprentice dashed forward three steps, bringing the end of his pipe down on the end of Mike's. The vibrations resounded through the metal and Mike was grateful for the padded gloves he wore. He spun in a circle, moving a few degrees to the right of where he had been standing.
"His name is Darth Hierce," Sahhar announced from his position at the edge of the cavern.
"Hierce?" Mike repeated as she shuffled to his right. "Hierce? Dude, you need to get yourself a decent publicist. Hierce?"
The apprentice attacked fiercely, his pipe crashing down blow after blow on Mike's. Mike parried each one, tempting the young Sith closer and closer. He just needed one good shot.
But Hierce backed off just as he was about to step into range. The apprentice threw a frustrated glance at Sahhar, who shook his head.
"Hey, are you helping him? Because that's not fair, you know. I mean, Dark Lord of the Sith is all very well, but if you're cheating at a game then you may as well just be kids in the playground." Mike paused. "Well, I suppose Hierce here is, right kid?"
"Dummkopf," Hierce spat, swinging his pole down in a crashing blow that Mike took on the centre of his own pole without much trouble.
"Ah, you're German," Mike grinned. The blonde hair and blue eyes were decidedly Hitler youth. His maneuvering had finally brought him to a place where he could see Vickie. The sight of his friend was enough to wipe the grin from his face. She was slumped on the cavern floor, her body totally still, a trickle of blood oozing from the wound on her leg. Distracted, he almost allowed Hierce through his defences, only raising his pipe to parry the young Sith's attack at the last split second.
"Ah, screw this," he muttered, spinning on his heel and bringing Hierce back in front of him. Pushing thoughts of Vickie temporarily from his mind, he attacked methodically, silently giving thanks for the way in which Sci, Shalla, Vickie, Kelly and Kell had all pushed him to work on his fighting skills. So many months practicing with his double-ended lightsabre made wielding staff-like weapons seem like second nature. He could tell that the young Sith, however, was not at home wielding such weapons. At one point, a look of apparent panic crossed Hierce's face, as though he had forgotten what he was supposed to do next.
A blow to the lower right got through the Sith apprentice's guard and left him hobbling on a sore ankle. The next swing caught him on the hip, and a third clipped Hierce's ribs, doubling the young boy over and making him drop his pipe. Mike hesitated, seeing the teenager crouching in pain. He was unwilling to finish the fight in cold blood.
He's just a kid. Just some teen who probably ran away from home and is in way over his head.
The hesitation was nearly very costly. Hierce rose up from his crouch, grabbing Mike's pipe from his loosened grip and swinging it upwards, catching Mike under the jaw, and sending him sprawling backwards on the floor. He was barely able to avoid Hierce's next blow and struggled to one knee as Hierce advanced, the pipe in his hands, ready to thrust forward, driving Mike's nose back into his face.
Mike reacted instinctively, bringing his arms up, clenching his fingers hard against the palms of his hands. Three one-foot long spikes shot outwards from his gloves, spearing the pipe and pinning it against Mike's fists. Hierce, in his surprise, let go and staggered forward. Mike rose sharply, the pipe catching Hierce in the stomach and, as he staggered backward, slamming hard into his shoulder, dislocating it. Hierce let out a cry of surprise and pain, dropping bonelessly to the floor as Mike brought the pipe up sharply under his chin.
The claws retracted and the pipe dropped to the floor. Mike dashed across the cavern to where Vickie was lying. He dropped to his knees by his friend, laying two fingers on her neck. Her pulse was there, not strong, but not weak either. As he watched, she took a breath, shallow, but no apparent problems. He could have almost believed her asleep rather than injured.
Behind him, a lightsabre snap-hissed into life, humming gently in the cool, dark cavern. Mike felt it hissing as it was laid alongside his head.
"My apprentice is young and not yet truly schooled in the ways of the Force," Sahhar replied. "Had you faced a true Sith, then you would not have emerged victorious."
"I believe you," Mike replied. "You could take my head off now and there's not a thing I could do about it."
"Correct," Sahhar said. "And yet that would be unsatisfying. You bested my apprentice, more by luck than by judgment, but I am still curious as to how you would fare against me."
"You mean, we both won our first fight, so we have to fight each other?"
"If you wish. I believe you said something about a challenge? I propose we make it for this failed Jedi's life."
"In that case. . ." Mike erupted into motion, pivoting out from under Sahhar's blade and rising, his own lightsabre igniting and slashing upwards, the yellow-purple blade aiming to split the Sith from waist to throat.
Except Sahhar moved with a speed unmatched in Mike's experience. His own blade caught Mike's before it had moved more than a few inches upwards, and then it in turn flashed up, forcing Mike to throw himself backwards rather than have the ruby shaft slice through his head.
Mike rolled with the movement, turning it into a creditable backward roll. He felt the tingle at the back of his mind as he stood upright, watching Sahhar approach him.
The Brit dropped into a defensive crouch, his right leg forward and bent at the knee, the left pointing straight behind him. His lightsabre was in his right hand, held out behind him, its point angled toward the floor. His left hand came up, fingers pointed at Sahhar. He turned the palm over, fingers curling and straightening slowly, beckoning the Sith onwards.
The challenge was accepted. Sahhar picked up his pace slightly, bearing down on Mike with something approaching anger in his brown-green eyes. He brought his lightsabre up, a feral grin on his face as he entered dueling range.
"This won't be a challenge for me," he sneered. "You can't even touch the Force."
"I think you will find," Mike said, rising to stand upright, his lightsabre held loosely at his side, "that that is what will make me a challenge."
The two men moved with synchronous grace, their blades crackling and hissing as they clashed once, twice, three times before they backed off.
"You duel well," Sahhar conceded. "You keep your emotions in check, unlike this one," he sneered at Vickie.
"She taught me," Mike replied. "If you ever faced her on her best day, she'd hand you your arse in a basket."
"A shame that we will never find out if this is true," Sahhar replied, sweeping his lightsabre low. Mike blocked, using the momentum to push himself up and backwards, landing with his back to the wall.
"And already you are penned in," Sahhar sneered. He brought his blade up and over his head in a powerful swing, but one that gave Mike plenty of time to anticipate. The blade bit deep into the cavern wall and Mike was already moving, ducking out from under the 'sabre. When Sahhar stopped the swing, Mike jumped onto his arm, pressing down as he pushed off, hearing the Sith grunt as something popped in his wrist.
Mike turned the jump into a forward roll, from which he pirouetted upward, turning as he rose so that he had his back to Vickie and his gaze on Sahhar as the Dark Jedi pulled his lightsabre blade free of the wall. Mike felt the tingle in his mind once more, and knew that he couldn't afford to let any of Sahhar's blows pass. He had to protect Vickie with his life.
Sahhar came forward, murder in his eyes and a bruise already forming on his wrist. Mike grinned defiance, his mind trying to come up with a way he could stall the Sith Lord long enough to get Vickie clear.
Sahhar's blade flashed once, twice, a third time. Mike barely blocked the first two attacks, and once again found himself diving backwards to avoid the third. With Vickie behind him, however, he stumbled and tripped over her prone body. He swung wildly upwards, blocking Sahhar's crashing downward blow a few centimetres short of his nose. Both his hands were locked on the handle of his lightsabre now, straining as Sahhar forced the locked blades downward, millimetre by millimetre. Then, suddenly, Mike grinned, momentarily disconcerting Sahhar and allowing Mike to force the blades backwards by a few inches.
"What is so funny? You are going to lose," Sahhar growled, once again throwing his full weight behind his blade. Slowly, the crossed blades made their way back towards Mike.
"Oh, nothing," Mike replied. "It's just, I know something that you don't know."
"And what exactly is that?"
"I know that my lightsabre has two blades." Even as Mike spoke, his fingers tightened on the handle of the lightsabre, squeezing in the right places to trigger the change that made the handle elongate and sent a second yellow-purple blade erupting from the far end, searing across Sahhar's thigh and making him hiss in pain. He broke the contact of the blades, staggering backwards as he clutched at his wounded leg.
Mike pressed the attack, scrambling upright and firing off a series of three strikes with the twin blades. Sahhar struggled backwards, limping on his wounded leg, and frantically blocking high, low, high as he went. Each time Mike struck, Sahhar's lightsabre vibrated hard in his hand. The Sith barely appeared able to hold onto it as Mike fired off another blow that made Sahhar stumble backwards and drop to the ground. Mike towered over the prone body, his lightsabre poised to slam through Sahhar and into the cavern floor below.
Despite the perilous situation, Sahhar grinned.
"What, you've got some big surprise keyed up I suppose?" Mike asked.
"Yes," Sahhar said. "And no."
"It can't be both," Mike replied, steeling himself to deliver the final blow.
"Oh, it is," Sahhar said. "You see, my lightsabre has a second blade as well."
Too late, Mike noticed Sahhar's lightsabre had a much longer handle than was usual. From the lower end spat a second ruby blade which Mike felt brush agonisingly over his calf, searing through the leg of his trousers as easily as it did the air around it.
"As for what isn't a surprise. . ." Sahhar hissed.
Mike felt as though he'd run into a brick wall. He was thrown across the cavern like a baseball smashed for a home run. He landed in a heap, almost exactly opposite Vickie on the cavern floor.
Sahhar entered his field of vision, glaring down at him. "I am a Sith Lord," he snarled. "Did you think I couldn't use the Force? Or that I wouldn't simply because you couldn't?"
Mike looked up at him. "Oops," he said, scrabbling around in the dirt beside him for his lightsabre. He didn't dare take his eyes off Sahhar, but he needed a weapon. As he stared up at the Sith Lord, he felt the tingle at the back of his mind again.
A weapon. Any weapon.
Sahhar raised his double-ended lightsabre over his head, preparing for the killing blow. Mike stared him resolutely in the eye, determined that when death came, he would face it as bravely as he could.
The ruby blade flashed down. Mike willed his eyes open, and so just barely saw a purple flash in his periphery vision. There was a streak of light, and then a flash as something intercepted Sahhar's blow, the recoil knocking the Dark Jedi back a few paces. Mike felt something drop into his lap. He looked down, and Vickie's lightsabre lay there, deactivated but unquestioningly the savior of his life. Mike stared at it dumbly and then snatched it up, rising in one fluid motion and tapping the activation stud. The blade snap-hissed to life, reaching for Sahhar as Mike moved forward to press the attack.
Sahhar scowled at his opponent. He swept his hand about in a gesture that raised a head-sized rock from the cavern floor, sending it soaring through the air. Mike stopped it easily, slicing it in two and watching the two halves lose momentum and drop harmlessly to the floor.
Sahhar spat defiant curses at his opponent, leaping forward with his lightsabre ready, the blades twirling in mid-air. But Mike picked off each strike easily. He felt the tingle at the back of his mind once more as he swept Sahhar's lightsabre to one side and swept his own blade upwards, leaving a long cut along the Sith's jaw line. Sahhar cried out in confusion and pain, and then darted backwards, opening the distance up between himself and Mike. He waved his hand again, and Mike felt the tingle once more in the back of his mind as a much larger rock raised unsteadily into the air and flew towards him.
Mike held up his hand. The rock stopped in mid air.
"Impossible," Sahhar whispered.
"Apparently not," Mike said. "By the way, this is how you do it."
Mike flung out his hand, and the rock reversed course, speeding across the distance between Mike and Sahhar and slamming into the Dark Jedi with enough speed to send him sprawling.
Mike moved forward, bringing Vickie's lightsabre up over his head, ready to bring it crashing down on Sahhar and end the threat that the Sith Lord posed to Mike's home planet. He swung, but his blade was intercepted a few inches from its destination.
Hierce had awoken. He was standing wearily, both hands shaking as he held Mike's lightsabre between Mike and Sahhar. The blades hissed as they fought against one another. Sahhar struggled backwards, climbing to his feet and using the Force to bring his own lightsabre to him. He ignited one of the blades, and advanced on the standoff wearily, his wounds bleeding still.
"Just stand still," he said. "Jedi or not, if you move, then you die, if you stand sill, you'll die, but at least it will be quick. You may be good, but myself and Hierce together can take you."
Mike felt the tingle again. He stabbed his finger down twice on the trigger of Vickie's lightsabre, and the blade died. Hierce staggered backwards as the resistance against his blade cut out, and Mike waved his hand at the young apprentice. He flew forward, cannoning into Sahhar and sending them flying.
"What about if it's two on two?" a weary voice said from behind him.
Mike looked up, and saw Vickie climbing to her feet, a steely look in her eyes. Looking back, he saw Sahhar snarl in frustration and bring both hands together above his head then snap them down to his sides. There was an ominous creaking overhead.
"Oh, no way," Mike muttered, looking up. Cracks were appearing in the high ceiling of the chamber. He was frozen for a second and then he looked back to see Hierce and Sahhar backing toward a passage on the far side of the cavern. Mike scowled at the sight of Hierce fastening his lightsabre to his belt, but as the first rocks started falling from the ceiling, he knew there wasn't much he could do about it.
Vickie appeared at his side. "Come on, conduit," she said. "It's time to get out of here." She winced as she put weight on her left leg.
He caught her before she fell and began half-dragging her from the cavern. From the look of concentration on her face, he could tell she was holding back the ceiling until they could get free. Hooking her lightsaber on his belt, he picked her up and carried her out. Once they cleared the opening into the tunnel, the ceiling collapsed in a heap, dust flying everywhere.
They both coughed at the red spray of dirt. Leaning on each other, they made their way back to where the speeders were. Mike climbed into one and pulled out a medpac.
"So, why'd you call me conduit back there?" He tossed her some cleaning supplies as he sat down to work on his own cuts.
She took out a knife and ripped the leg of her pants and tore it off to expose her wound. The cut was deep and her leg was nearly red with blood. She poured the cleaning solution over it and hissed in pain. "Sure, focus on the important stuff. . ." she hissed. " I called you conduit because that's what you are."
"Er, what?"
"You act as a conduit for me. You did it in Paris when I was unconscious, and you did it again now. Through you, I can see when I'm out cold, and I know how and when to use the Force. It's that mindlink we share. Her leg was slowly returning to normal color as she cleaned off the blood. "And I wonder if it's just me, or could you do it with Josh as well. It's like there's a Jedi shaped hole in the universe where you are, and the Force lets me use it to see when I can't see."
The events of the fight came flooding back into Mike's mind. "Well, if you hadn't come here on your own, you wouldn't have been unconscious. And if I hadn't followed you, you'd be dead!"
Vickie shrugged as she took a bacta patch and placed it over her cut. "Better me than the rest."
His eyes narrowed at her flippant attitude. "Do you really think nobody cares about you? My coming here really was a mistake if you think that."
She wouldn't look at him. He was right and she knew it. "I'm just trying to see if I'm worthy enough to be a part of this group anymore. My Jedi abilities aren't needed anymore. Without that, I have nothing to give."
"Dude, could be more wrong?" Mike asked. "If you go, then the heart of the group is torn away. Who else cared enough about Becki to try and help her over her heartache? I mean, okay, you didn't use much of the grey matter, but that's cool. So long as you've got me around to do your thinking for you, then we're good. Besides, who else can I trust to fly my ship when I'm in bacta?
"Anyway, who says your Force abilities are useless? You just stopped a mountain falling in on itself, remember? You see Cochran doing that? Hell, I bet Farmboy himself would have had trouble with it."
Despite herself, Vickie smiled slightly. "You think?"
"Straight up," Mike replied. "And if you're right, and we can use this link we have to fight as well as telling when one of us is feeling down, then that's another plus. Besides, I just thought of another reason for you to stay with the group."
"What's that?" Vickie asked.
"Hierce has my lightsabre," he replied. "You're going to help me get it back. And until you agree, you don't get yours back."
Vickie eyed her friend balefully. Waving a hand, she used the Force to pull her lightsabre from Mike's belt. It dropped gracefully into her hand. Mike pouted.
"Keep doing that and I'll cut the link."
"You wouldn't dare," Vickie said.
"Why not?"
"There's about a dozen guards out there," she said, finishing painting ryll on the cut on her leg. "I think I can get past them on my own, but you'll need me to get through."
Mike snorted. "I got in, didn't I?"
Vickie smiled. "Yeah, but this time when I go through them, I won't knock them out. I'll make them angry."
In fact, it wasn't at all hard to get past the guards. They were all dead.
Vickie and Mike moved from one corpse to the next. Each one revealed the same results.
"Choked to death," Vickie sighed. "And no fingermarks."
"Sahhar," Mike growled. "And that little sod Hierce, too," he added, pointing at a corpse that had been slashed from navel to throat. "Can we do anything for them?"
"No," Vickie shook her head. "We'll get Sci to call in SACUL when we get back."
"You're coming back, then?"
"For now," Vickie said, mounting one of the Terra Group speeder bikes. Mike climbed aboard the other one.
"For now will do," he replied. They opened the throttles on their bikes and began moving toward the path leading out of the canyon. They had barely gone ten metres when they felt the ground beneath them shaking.
"Earthquake," Vickie hissed, but Mike shook his head.
"No. It's explosions, beneath us, controlled ones. Sahhar must have set a bomb to go o-"
He was interrupted by a great gout of flame erupting from the entrance to the compound. They watched from a safe distance as one by one the vehicles each erupted into flame. Vickie counted them as they went off.
"Less one speeder," she said. "He ran again."
"Not something the Sith are known for," Mike pointed out.
"A strategic withdrawal, then," Vickie replied. "He underestimated us, and we may even have put a dent in his plans, but he'll be back."
"Won't just be the two of us next time, though," Mike said. Vickie smiled at him.
"No, next time we'll have Zee around too."
"Great. She can tell us how many languages we're going to get our rear ends kicked in."
"Some of them will be alien languages though," Vickie said as she turned the speeder bike away from the fire. "You have to admit, after all this time, that's still pretty cool."
"That's why you're coming back? Because of alien languages?"
"No, it's the pancakes."
"Well, that's okay then."