Mistral, Imperial Space

Sith Fortress

The fortress was on high alert. An entire battalion of Imperial troops and heavy assault droids was in motion, surging towards the invaders threatening from the central hanger bay. They traveled along the corridors that lined the ancient bastion, some of these passageways newly constructed, others of timeworn stone and marble.

Along one such conduit, a squad of Imperial Marines trotted forward, backed up by a pair of assault droids. They were several levels up from the main floor and heading for the cargo elevators when the leading sergeant held a warning hand up.

The veteran troops quickly halted their progress and spread out, blaster rifles unlimbered and at the ready. All could easily ascertain the scattered remains of a pair of security droids at the next junction and the charred walls that indicated a recent battle.

The sergeant gestured the droids attached to his squad forward while he reported the situation via his helmet comlink that was tied into the local network. "Control, this is squad twenty-eight, Ninth Marines. Come in."

There was a hiss of static before a harried voice finally came across. "This is Aux Control Three, wait one."

"Are they serious right now?" a corporal spoke up incredulously. "We're all on alert here and they bloody well told us to wait one?"

"Suff it, Corporal," the non-commissioned officer growled. "Keep an eye out for-"

He broke off as the assault droids, having reached the intersection, abruptly disintegrated under a withering barrage of fire.

"Shavit!" the sergeant barked out. "Squad, deploy! Control, come in Control, we're-"

Several silvery cylinders rebounded off of the far wall, skittering towards the soldiers before exploding. Hardened blast armor cracked and gave way to the force of the thermal detonators, sending many of the Imperial Marines to their fiery and agonizing deaths.

The sergeant, flung to the ground by the blasts, ripped his damaged helmet off while coughing from the acrid smoke that filled the corridor. His gaze traveled up to view a figure striding through the haze, wearing white armor with incongruous pink highlights and cradling a massive autocannon.

"Oh, no," he breathed, futilely scrabbling for his rifle.

The smoke-filled hallway was bathed in crimson light as the blaster cannon opened up, searing away what was left of the veteran troopers.

Another armored figure, this one in blue and gold armor and carrying a blaster rifle, chuckled mirthlessly as he surveyed the scene from behind the first one. "Haar'chak, Nora, you going to leave any for the rest of us?"

The Republic trooper giggled, slinging her cannon back over her shoulder and pulling her grenade launcher around. "You want a piece of the action, gotta keep up with me, Jaune."

"Yeah, I think we're okay with you two taking the lead still," another voice called out from the direction they had come. A blonde mane of hair poked around the corner, followed by wide lilac eyes. "Sithspit, remind me never to piss you off, okay, babe?"

As Yang edged cautiously forward, she was followed by a rail-thin Mirialan male in dark green robes. Ren kept his lightsabers in his hands but left them unlit, probing out with both physical senses and the force to detect further threats. "There is another group moving up," the Jedi apprentice warned quietly. "Smaller, but still in the direction we need to move."

"Whelp, let's go give 'em a nice warm greeting!" Nora replied cheerfully, striding forward while checking the ammo count reading for her microgrenades. "Ohhh, nice, let's try incendiary next…"

"Nora, nayc, let's not start a fire in the fortress where we're staging a rescue, gedet'ye?" Jaune implored while sighting down the barrel of his rifle.

"Oh, fine, you're no fun at all…"

Just then a clatter of boots heralded the next group of soldiers. So far the small incursion force had been lucky enough to face only disorganized opposition, the majority of the response directed towards the Mandalorians in the central hanger. Coco and her team were admirably fulfilling their job as a distractionary force, but it couldn't last forever.

The first few soldiers who turned the corner didn't even have time to react before Jaune took them apart. Rapid blaster shots, precise and deadly, brought them down quickly. Several ranks back, the Imperial troopers finally reacted and tried for some semblance of cohesion, but they were subsequently thrown back into disarray by the concussive blast of Nora's high-explosive grenade.

Yang ducked as a billowing cloud of dust and debris sailed overhead. "Um, maybe it's just me," she murmured anxiously. "But I think bringin' the fortress down on our heads is kinda just as bad as settin' it on fire, yeah?"

Nora snorted softly, the electronic filtering from her helmet making it into a harsh buzz. "Everyone's a kriffing critic today…"

"Love ya, babe!"

At that, the trooper giggled once again, her humor restored. "Aww, love you too, blondie!"

"You two have the most interesting relationship," Ren observed quietly.

"Yeah, maybe," Yang conceded. "But we make it work."

More booted feet sounded, echoing from the walls. "Ren?" the Mandalorian in front called out tersely.

"In front and behind," the Jedi calmly returned.

"Right… Shab, the last group must have gotten a call off." Jaune turned his head to regard the pair bringing up the rear. "We keep moving forward, lek?"

"Don't you worry about us," Yang replied with a tight grin. "We can keep up."

And then the corridor erupted into pandemonium.

Ranks of disciplined troops poured around corners from all sides, filling the hallway with multicolored beams of cohesive light. Ren ignited his blades, swinging them around with a smooth precision that prevented any of the fire reaching his comrades from the rear.

Yang crouched by the Jedi's side, heavy blaster out and responding to the attack. Her lips were peeled back in a snarl as she rapidly fired her weapon. In the back of her head, she was quietly panicking at the delays, hoping against hope that they would still be able to make it to her little sister in time.

Hold on, Ruby, we're coming…

Up front, Jaune and Nora presented an armored bastion against the incoming fire. Hits scored dark streaks across their paint jobs, but they remained steadfast as they took apart the opposition. Jaune grunted as one bolt impacted directly against his chest, but he shrugged it off and continued to answer the barrage with his own fire. At his side, the shorter figure cradled her assault cannon, Magnhild, once again and rained death upon their foes.

Eventually, the fire from ahead started to ease. "Move!" Jaune barked out.

As one, the armored pair started forward, one sure step at a time. Ren and Yang began easing back as well, keeping close together as best as they could.

From behind, two assault droids stepped over the fallen corpses of the garrison soldiers, heavy autocannons spitting out deadly fire. Yang gave a yelp as she ducked down, and even Ren let out a worried grunt as he increased his efforts to deflect the attacks.

The blonde Corellian dropped to the floor on her stomach, letting her blaster pistol land next to her as she reached behind her back to withdraw another pair of silvery orbs. She flung them forward, grinning widely as the EMP grenades wreaked havoc with the targeting and fire systems of the droids. Quickly picking her sidearm back up and returning to a firing position, Yang managed to pick them apart before they could recover.

And then the group of four paused, an eerie silence filling the hallway.

"We get them all?" Yang called out hesitantly.

Ren nodded slowly as he lowered his emerald-green lightsabers. "I believe so, for now, at least."

"Elek, then let's pick up the pace," Jaune answered, sighting down his rifle again and moving forward steadily. The other three strode along, stepping over the remains of their opposition, pieces of bodies and droids littering the floor.

They got perhaps another thirty meters down the hallway when the Mandalorian held up a gauntleted hand. "Wait… Ren, what's that ahead?"

Yang narrowed her eyes as she peered over the armored shoulder of the blond man. The lights ahead seemed to fade away into some sort of darkness like it was somehow absorbed by a tiny black hole. "Ohhh, that does not look good," she murmured.

"Indeed." Ren walked past the group with calm determination, his hands out to his sides and grasping his unlit lightsabers. "Please remain back."

The Jedi came to a stop about ten meters ahead. His right foot drew back as both of his lightsabers ignited. His shoto, the shorter-bladed one, was in his left hand in a reverse grip, while the longer blade was held in a high guard. And there he waited, still as a statue.

After a few tense moments, movement finally appeared in the darkness. It coalesced into the grinning visage of a raven-haired Zabrak Sith Lord, the inky shadows pulling into him and forming his swirling robes that writhed like a living thing.

Wordlessly, the Sith pulled a long-handled lightsaber from the blackness and ignited it, crimson blades extending to either side.

The two regarded each other steadily, Jedi and Sith, before abruptly launching into combat.

Yang sucked a breath in as she observed the speed at which the pair dueled. Her blaster pistol was held at the ready, but she wasn't sure if she could manage to hit the right target with the way they were flying around.

Even her inexperienced eye could tell, however, that Ren was rather badly outmatched.

The Mirialan whirled about with a dexterity inherent to Force-users, but he was being hard-pressed to keep the deadly red blades at bay. A few times he attempted a kick out at the Sith Lord's midsection or knee, but his opponent would already be in motion, causing the Jedi to hurriedly return to the defensive once more.

"Jaune," the blonde Corellian murmured anxiously.

"Elek, I see it," he responded, his electronically-filtered voice quiet and tense. The blue-and-gold armored man had his rifle by the barrel in his left hand while his right was filled with a blaster pistol, tracking the Zabrak's erratic movements. "Waiting for a shot."

Just as he finished the sentence, his finger tightened on the trigger, sending a pair of bolts out towards the Sith. Both missed, but only barely, and had the unfortunate side-effect of gaining the attention of the powerful Dark Lord.

With a spinning flourish, Darth Tyrian kicked off of Ren, staggering him, and then whirled in towards the other intruders. With an almost negligible flick of a blade, the blaster pistol was sheared off, narrowly missing the softer underarmor of his fingers, before he darted back to re-engage the Jedi apprentice once more.

"Shavit!" Yang snarled as Jaune quickly shook his hand out, allowing the mangled remains of his sidearm to fall to the floor. "That vaping Hutt-spawn is toying with us!"

"Troch, that was pretty much telling us to stay out of it for now," Jaune grumbled, hefting his rifle and sighting along the barrel. "Shab that."

Evidently, the Sith realized his warning would not be heeded, or perhaps he merely tired of the game. In any case, within another heartbeat, Ren let out an anguished shout. His deactivated shoto dropped to the floor... along with his hand.

The Mirialan fell back against the wall, shutting off his other lightsaber as he painfully cradled the stump of his left forearm against his chest.

With a manic grin, the Zabrak turned towards the remaining three intruders.

He didn't make it a single step before he was under assault by a furious barrage. Nora let out an enraged shout as she pummeled the Sith Lord with intense fire from Magnhild, joined by the blaster rifle fire from Jaune. Most of the shots, though, were ably deflected by the spinning red blades.

Yang paused before joining in, her eyes narrowed. With a flash of insight, she aimed down low, at the concrete beneath Tyrian's feet. Sure enough, the shifting footing caused the Dark Lord to stumble slightly.

Rather than give them an advantage, however, it only seemed to irritate the Sith. With a resounding howl, a wave of dark energy blasted outwards, sending the group to the floor. The blonde's blaster pistol went skittering across the ground as she lay there on her back, gasping for breath.

With the protection of their armor, both Nora and Jaune managed to recover quicker. The pink-hued trooper was the first to stagger to her feet to meet the Dark Lord who was cackling maniacally as he advanced. She received a saber strike to her helmet for her troubles, causing her to collapse once again, unable to see through the ruined viewport.

Yang lifted her head up, but any concern for her lover was overridden by her own predicament. Tyrian was steadily approaching towards her, giggling as he dragged one of the tips of his dual-bladed lightsaber against the floor.

She let out a panicked squawk as she tried to scramble backward, but then another armored form interposed between herself and certain doom.

Growling, Jaune took several hits to his beskar vambraces before bodily tackling the Dark Lord. He tried to head-butt the Zabrak but the deranged Sith tucked his head in first, causing his helmet to rebound off of the tough horns atop Tyrian's head.

"Fall back!" Jaune yelled desperately as he grappled with his opponent. But before Yang could make any move at all, the Mandalorian warrior was flung away with a crackling burst of dark lightning, ending up writhing and twitching on the ground several meters away from the blonde.

Yang glanced desperately between the fallen Mando and the still-recovering Trooper, knowing it was up to her now.

One solitary, unarmed Corellian.

"Whelp," she sighed, turning to stare the approaching Sith Lord in the eyes. "Been a good run, I s'pose." She clenched her cybernetic fist and readied herself to launch upward, futile an effort as it may be. But there was no kriffing way she was going down without a fight.

Tyrian had only taken another step forward, his face full of malicious glee, before a spinning bar of emerald light sailed past and through the space where his neck previously was. The Zabrak's head hit the floor with a muffled whump before the robed body followed to collapse into a boneless pile.

The lightsaber was called back into Ren's hand as he gave a pained grunt, his green skin pale and sweaty. Once his weapon was deactivated, he sagged to the floor again, eyes closed wearily.

"Oh," Yang breathed, at a momentary loss from how to deal with the revocation of her death sentence. Her head slumped back to rest against the floor and she stared up at the broken lights on the ceiling, blinking slowly.

Then her vision was filled with a round face and turquoise eyes, framed by a sweat-matted bob of orange hair. "You alright there, blondie?"

"Yeah, fine…" she murmured. "Um, go see to the others, okay? I'll just be a sec."

It took her a bit longer than that to finally get moving. Nora and Yang worked together to get the wounded members of their team sitting upright against the wall and next to one another.

Jaune was recovering steadily, though his legs didn't seem to want to function just yet. His helmet lay at his side, its circuitry fried to a crisp, while he cradled his recovered blaster rifle.

"You two go on," he ordered curtly, grimacing slightly from the lingering pain. "I'll keep watch over Ren and hold the exit here, lek?"

With a heavy sigh, Nora left her ruined helmet next to the Mandalorian and then stood upright, hefting her arsenal of weaponry. "Don't go playing the hero, now, alright?"

Jaune chuckled wearily. "There's no word for that in Mando'a. Don't worry, I'll be fine."

"You sure about that?" Yang probed, crouched down in front of the pair.

"Troch, I can handle this aaray, er, pain. Not going anywhere."

"Yang."

The blonde looked over curiously to her Mirialan friend who seemed to be barely clinging to consciousness. "Yeah, Ren, what can I get for you?"

The Jedi shook his head slowly, instead extending his hand out. Resting in the palm was his longer-length lightsaber.

"Take… this. You'll know… who needs it… at the proper time…"

"Oookaaay," Yang drawled uncertainly, carefully picking up the weapon. She looked the handle over briefly, noting the simplicity of its design, incongruent with how deadly it was in the hands of the right person. "Um, can't give me any more to work with than that?"

Ren merely shook his head again before closing his eyes once more, sagging back wearily.

The blonde received a reassuring pat on the shoulder as she stood back up. "It's a Jedi thing, you get used to it," Nora smirked.

With wordless nods, Yang and Nora turned and began to stride off down the hallway. They paused when Jaune called out once more.

"Hey," he rasped out. "K'oyacyi, vode."

The two women shared a tight grin, recalling past language lessons with their Mandalorian friends. In Mando'a the phrase k'oyacyi had several meanings, such as a simple "cheers". The literal translation, though, was to come back alive.

"You too, vod," Yang replied steadily. "K'oyacyi."

At that they took off, trotting down the path they knew should bring them to the central tower.

"So," Nora panted lightly, jingling with every step. "Sounds like they're making regular Mandalorians out of us after all, huh?"

"Eh, could be worse things," Yang chuckled, her blaster pistol held in a ready stance in her left hand. Her artificial right was clasped around the lightsaber where it was secured to her belt. She was a bit fearful of losing it, not just because it belonged to her Jedi friend but also because of the importance he'd placed on her getting it to their destination. Kriffing Jedi and their bein' all mysterious all the time...

The pair came to an abrupt halt at a fork in the passageway. They looked at each other, perplexed.

"Do you remember if this was supposed to be here?" Nora inquired mildly.

"Nope. You?"

"Nope."

"I was afraid of that."

"Well, shavit. What now?"

The blonde let out a sigh, closing her eyes briefly before regarding her lover with solemn eyes. "We gotta split up."

Nora grimaced but nodded in acceptance. "Alright, well… You'd better karking stay alive, you hear me, blondie?"

"I hear ya, babe," Yang chuckled. She ignored the burn in her eyes as she closed in for a brief but intense kiss. "Love you," she whispered as she pulled back.

"Love you, too," Nora replied just as quietly, her turquoise eyes shimmering.

Without another word, the pair turned and sprinted off in opposite directions, each sending a desperate plea for the Force to look out for each other.

Dramatis Personae (in order of appearance):

Yang Xiao Long - Human female from Corellia. Smuggler, talented pilot, and droid tinkerer.

ZW-31 - Yang's custom astromech droid.

Ruby Rose - Human female from Corellia. Smuggler, skilled mechanic, and gun nut.

P3-NY - Ruby's astromech droid.

Lady Salem - Rattataki female. Sith Lord and advisor to the Emperor.

Lady Cinder Fall - Human female. Sith Lord Inquisitor.

Darth Hazel - Sith Pureblood male. Sith Lord Warrior.

Darth Tyrian - Zabrak male. Sith Lord Inquisitor.

Emerald Sustrai - Twi'lek female. Sith Marauder.

Mercury Black - Human male. Sith Warrior.

Weiss Schnee - Echani female from Eshan. Mandalorian bounty hunter.

Pyrrha Nikos - Human female from Alderaan. Mandalorian bounty hunter.

Jaune Arc - Human male from Mandalore. Mandalorian bounty hunter trainee.

Hei "Junior" Xiong - Human male from Tatooine. Gangster and information broker.

Melanie Malachite - Devaronian female exiled from Devaron. Bodyguard and assassin.

Miltia Malachite - Devaronian female exiled from Devaron. Bodyguard and assassin.

Blake Belladonna - Half-Cathar female from Cathar. Jedi Master.

Lie Ren - Mirialan male from Makeb. Jedi Apprentice to Master Belladonna.

Master Ozpin - Human male from Coruscant. Jedi Master and Council Member.

Nora Valkyrie - Human female from Ord Mantell. Republic Commando.

Neptune Vasilias - Devaronian male from Nar Shaddaa. Migrant Merchants' Guild.

Sun Wukong - Zabrak male from Nar Shaddaa. Grifter, middle-man, thief.

Coco Adel - Human Female from Coruscant. Mandalorian bounty hunter.

Fox Alistair - Miraluka Male from Nar Shaddaa. Mandalorian bounty hunter.

Velvet Scarlatina - Mirialan Female from Nar Shaddaa. Mandalorian bounty hunter.

Yatsuhashi Daichi - Human Male from Balmorra. Mandalorian bounty hunter.

A/N: I am so, so very sorry it has taken me this long to update. The past couple of months have been rather… complicated. Endings and beginnings, all the while I've been trying to keep myself together mentally and emotionally. I'm working on getting back into the swing of things, back into writing mode so I can concentrate on this story and finish it out strong. Be patient, please, we'll get there. I have the next chapter done and under review, should be up the following week.

Anyway. So, this being a Star Wars story, of course, there has to be dismemberment. What, you though Yang's counted? Hang tight, as the action continues next chapter!

Stay shiny!