CHAPTER THREE
--Over five thousand years ago--
Once the Sith shuttle had arrived in one of the Harbinger's landing bays, Relin jumped off of it and swiftly moved through the hangar, evading the sights of personnel. Once he was outside the hangar, the Jedi Master made his way towards where he presumed the dreadnaught's hyperdrive was.
As he turned a corner, he immediately came face-to-face with a security detail of four Massassi warrior. He attempted to mask himself from their sight with the Force, but the leader of the group raised their lanvarok pole arm weapon before he could.
"State your name and business," the Massassi growled.
Relin thought fast. "Er, I am Lieutenant Drassin. My shuttle just arrived with some Lignan ore, but it's suffering a leak. Could you check it out."
The large red-skinned warrior looked him up and down, taking note of the flexsuit Relin was wearing. "Who is your superior?"
When Relin hesitated to answer, the Massassi stepped towards him menacingly, pressing the tip of his lanvarok against the Jedi's neck. "Who is your superior?" the Sith snarled.
Relin knew that there would be no easy way out of this. Eventually, he said, "Memit Nadill."
The Massassi's crimson brow creased. "Never heard of him."
"He's a Jedi Master. On Kirrek."
The warrior's yellow eyes widened in realization. Fishing out his comlink, the Massassi shouted, "This is Drophan of Security Detail Five! We have a Jed-IEEEE!"
The Sith warrior was cut short as Relin's emerald lightsaber blade slashed across his chest, killing him. The other three Massassi attacked but were swiftly cut down as well.
Putting away his lightsaber, Relin quickly went down the corridor, knowing that his presence had now been discovered.
* * *
Drophan's short-lived report had reached Saes' ears; there was a Jedi on board. Glancing briefly at the infiltrator that the Sith starfighters were still pursuing, the Kaleesh said to Los Dor, "Status."
"Harbinger crew at one hundred percent, Omen at ninety-eight."
"Good enough. Prepare the jump for lightspeed." Saes turned to leave the bridge. "I shall handle the intruder."
Los Dor watched the Kaleesh Sith as he exited the bridge. Once he was sure Saes was far enough away, the colonel turned to one of the bridge officers.
"Locate whatever corridor the captain is going down and keep our cameras trained on him."
* * *
"Master, the Harbinger's about to go into hyperspace!"
Upon hearing this news from his apprentice, Relin quickened his pace, propelling himself with the Force. "I'm on my way towards the hyperdrive, Drev," he said into his comlink. "Hang in there."
In short time, he reached the chamber where the hyperdrive was being held, its door guarded by two Sith guards. Relin pushed them both aside with the Force, hard enough to knock them unconscious. He then brought out an electronic device to override the door's lock and stormed in.
Overseeing the hyperdrive were two technicians. Relin used the same technique he did on the guards to incapacitate them. He then carefully approached the hyperdrive, which was glowing blue with radiation as it prepared to put the Harbinger into hyperspace. Relin could feel the radiation poisoning beginning to infect him; he would have to make this quick.
Forcing himself through the blue energy crackling around the hyperdrive, Relin quickly attached three mag-grenades to it, setting them on a timer. Pulling away, he contacted his apprentice.
"It's done, Drev. Go into hyperspace; get away from here."
"I'm not leaving you, master," Drev protested.
"There's no time to argue! Flee now-"
"No one is going anywhere."
Relin whirled around. Standing in the doorway to the chamber was his once and former apprentice: Saes Rrogon.
"Hello, master," the Kaleesh hissed. "It's been too long."
Relin stared into Saes' eyes, which were poisoned by the dark side. "Yes, it has. Any chance I'll have better luck bringing you back up from the brink of darkness you've fallen over?"
Saes shook his head. "No more than I have to bring you over it with me." As he said this, a scarlet lightsaber blade appeared in his hand.
Relin brought out his own blade. "So be it then."
He raised his lightsaber in a defensive position as Saes lunged and clashed blades. Former master and apprentice began to duel, though Relin knew that he would not last long, what with the radiation poisoning coursing through his body. He would still need to keep up the fight, at least long enough for the grenades to detonate.
"You were always the fool," Saes said as their blades locked. "You should not have come here expecting to survive."
"I didn't," Relin retorted. "You know me, Saes. I never expect anything, for nothing is ever certain."
The Kaleesh snarled as he pushed his former master back before unleashing a blast of lightning from his palm. The attack was enough to bring Relin to his knees, though the Jedi Master quickly recovered and returned to the duel.
As he locked blades again with Saes, Relin suddenly heard Drev's voice holler from his comlink. "Master! I've been hit!"
Momentarily distracted by this, Relin did not notice Saes break off from their saber-lock until the Kaleesh spun his blade around and sliced off his former master's right forearm. Relin cried out in pain, though his screams were immediately drowned out as the grenades detonated.
* * *
Drev gritted his teeth as he struggled to regain control of the infiltrator. The Sith starfighters were still on his tail. There was no way he could lose them; it was practically impossible to perform an maneuvers.
He spared a glance at the Harbinger. The Sith dreadnaught was still preparing to go to lightspeed, as if nothing had been done to the hyperdrive. Had his master failed to attach the grenades? Had he been delayed or stopped by the Sith?
Drev sighed. He couldn't wait any longer; if the Sith forces at Kirrek got the Lignan, it would mean total chaos for the galaxy.
He spun around the infiltrator and shot towards the Harbinger's bridge. As he came closer and closer, he could see the terrified looks on the face of the crew.
Seconds before impact, he let out a hearty laugh.
No comments:
Post a Comment