On the Wings of Valkyrie

Chapter CLVII

Well, Luna thought to herself as she sent a rather respectfully powered blast of chain lightning through the enemies surrounding her, this is novel.

She imagined the damage must have been extraordinary, especially for those closest to the origin—her in other words—but as was usual with Palpatine's abominations, they appeared to not feel a thing. Except for some of the ones who had apparently had one too many shocks to the heart in the past few minutes, as they were dropping to the ground from heart attacks and being trampled by their brethren who continued going after Luna.

The former Sith apprentice continued her deadly dance of blades, never staying in one place for longer than a moment as she deflected, stabbed, slashed, and dodged around the red sabers of her enemies. Luna had to use the Force to allow her to all but have eyes on the back of her head, ready to react to any attack be it a saber or a blast from an Imperial stormtrooper. She needn't be so aware considering her armor, but an idea had formed in the back of her mind, and she needed to be as aware of what was behind her as she was of what was in front of her for it to work. Combat as complicated as this wasn't exactly the best time to invent a new trick, but Luna was willing to give it a try. Vader would probably disapprove, but it was unlikely anyone would bother telling him.

Luna went into a blade lock with four separate Hands at once, two against one on each blade, strength of their weight and all the darkside they could gather behind their weapons. It was a testament to the ex-Shadow's own strength that there was even a lock in the first place, that her sabers didn't bend back toward her despite the assailants. But she could only meet them with equal power, not greater.

It was why Luna had been avoiding any and all blade locks since the battle began. While in one, the girl was all but a sitting duck. Her armor of course protected her for the most part, but her head was still bare. And in a fight as chaotic as this, it was hard to protect one's head during or coming out of a blade lock.

Now or never, Luna released as she found herself unable to break the blade lock without allowing herself to be open. She called on the Force as several Hands launched themselves at her, all aiming to liberate her head from her neck. The red blades came down....

And six lightsabers snapped to life, catching the incoming blades and holding firm against them. Luna called upon the Force further, shoving her enemies away to orient herself as the red lightsabers of the fallen Emperor's Hands floated around her mocking wings, almost like Darth Traya, though with more sabers and all the color of blood.

The Hands had clearly not anticipated this move. Luna, for her part, wasn't all that sure she could keep it up as she had to concentrate on the position of all the blades and make sure that they remained in place even when meeting an enemy's weapon. The concentration required for even one saber was difficult enough for most people, let alone six. Even Darth Traya only wielded three blades with the technique, and she left her hands—well hand technically—free.

But it did give her several more weapons that could guarantee a proper headshot.

Luna dove back into the fray, swinging her lightwhip as she blocked with her saber, sending the floating blades at her enemies. Some dodged, others didn't. The girl didn't care, carving her way through her enemies mercilessly as her whip bled red and her eyes blazed gold.

~*~

"Not to state the obvious, Princess, but—"

"I have eyes, Han!" Leia shouted as she managed to disarm one of the Emperor's Hands and kick him in the face. The Smuggler blasted the guy in the head before the Sith had hit the ground. Unfortunately, this did little to assist them considering there were still far more Hands than an army of Rebels could handle. Leia swung her blade between the nearest two, waiting to see which of them would attach first. Han was dual wielding, a stolen saber in his off hand, but that didn't mean the Princess was about to leave him to fend for himself. "See if you can reach Ahsoka! We need her down here!"

"I've been trying!"

"I haven't seen you trying!"

"I told what's-his-face—Rex—to get her down here."

Far enough, Leia thought to herself. The two of them were acting as the army's arrow, leading them. The Rebels behind them had slightly less to worry about than the couple did.

Further conversation was uninterrupted as the Hands attacked, and Leia found herself being surrounded by yet another flurry of strikes and blocks.