Val was worried. The strange feeling had not left him, growing more intense the deeper he and Chiko descended into the world engine. Their route had been circuitous and there had been a few close calls with rebel patrols and engineering staff as they'd moved closer to the reactor. Their battle armor was now a liability, one that Val wished he had eschewed before the operation. His understanding had been that the majority of hostile forces would be Zyllovian, a species made distinct from humans by their orange-red pigment and four arms. Val was surprised to discover that seemingly half of the garrison consisted of humans. Their infiltration efforts would have been much simpler if they could pass as rebels themselves, but their armor made that impossible and it would be more trouble than it was worth to attempt to remove it.
He ducked around a corner as another patrol jogged past, heading for the ongoing battle unfolding outside. Val hoped that the Imperial commanders had not committed to a full attack in the confusion. Chiko tapped his shoulder, urging him on. He moved, crossing a short distance to an adjoining corridor. Chiko followed after as they approached the final stretch leading into the reactor room. Val halted at the final turn, reaching out to track the life around him. There were two rebels standing guard at the doorway, both of whom were extremely bored. Val turned to Chiko and spoke quietly, "Chem darts." he said. Chiko nodded, pulling free two of the small darts and handing them to Val.
He readied himself, reaching out through the force to place them precisely in the space. With some effort he raised the darts from his hand and propelled them around the corner at great speed. The pair of projectiles struck home, embedding themselves in the flesh of the two rebels. There were two quick yelps of surprise, then a clatter as they struck the floor in unison. "Oh my!" a voice cried out. Val gave Chiko a confused look, but she was already moving. He realized an instant later what had occurred.
Chiko didn't hesitate in dismantling the protocol droid. Val watched in stunned silence as she went about the task with methodical calm, bare-handed. She ripped the droid's processing unit in a single vicious strike that tore through metal and wire as if it were a blade through flesh. What was most disturbing to Val was how quiet it had been. He caught up to her a moment later as she was dragging the destroyed bot into a secluded corner behind a crate. Val moved the other bodies as she stood panting, obviously exerted by her previous attack.
"How did you do that?" He asked, suspecting it was some sort of force enhancement. Chiko smiled playfully, "Oh this is a precious moment." She said, relishing knowing something he did not. Val frowned in annoyance, then turned back to the reactor entrance door. He bent down and checked one of the unconscious rebels, finding an old-style keycard. He held up the card with a smirk. Chiko returned one of her own, "Quaint." She said, checking the other rebel.
Val moved to the doorway controls sliding the card into the slot. A low beeping tone accepted the card and the door slid open with a hiss. Val stepped through, entering a narrow corridor leading toward a distant light. Chiko was at his side a moment later, her lightsaber now palmed. Val drew his own, stepping down the corridor after withdrawing the keycard. Chiko hit the interior control panel, the door closing right behind them.
Val moved quickly and quietly toward the terminus of the hallway. The reactor came into view slowly, the scale of the tumultuous fusion core was something of tremendous splendor. It was as if a small star had been captured in metal and plasma. The sparking energy emanating from the central reaction was the fire that had reshaped life on this once desolate world. It was like looking into the beating heart of the future. Val forced himself to turn his attention back to task, despite the spectacle unfolding before him.
Chiko moved ahead to a control panel. It was as they'd planned for, thankfully. They'd arrived right on schedule. Val began preparing the attack signal as Chiko began the long shut-down scram sequence. It would take a few minutes at least for the monstrous energy storm to be reduced down to standby. Val placed the signalling device in front of Chiko. "Activate it when the reactor drops below 50% output." He said. Chiko looked up with a smirk, but whatever clever jab she was about to take died in her throat.
Val dove instinctively as Chiko pulled him down and away. The lightsaber passed over them in a swirling arc. Val rolled to his feet and ignited his own weapon. The green blade of the enemy's lightsaber was descending upon him as he struggled to regain his footing. His enemy was a hulking Iktochi man, his face concealed behind an armored visor of grey durasteel. Two pointed horns protruded just below the mask threatening to skewer Val if he was not careful.
Val drew his opponent's next strike downward, pinning the saber into the floor plating, sending sparks cascading across the floor. The Iktochi tried to kick Val back to free himself, but Val was faster. It didn't send him reeling, but the bigger man was off balance as Val's own kick landed. The Iktochi stumbled a few steps but recovered. The two opponents stated each other down for a few seconds, standing still as they planned their next moves.
A howl of rage drew their attention. Val spared a glance in its direction, finding Chiko locked in a vicious battle with two opponents wielding vibroblades. Val fought back his momentary panic as he turned his attention back to his own plight. The Iktochi moved forward deliberately, moving in medium strides with good balance. There was a scream of pain from Chiko's direction as Val took up the attack.
He feinted high then twisted into a long lunge aimed for the Man's chest plate. The Iktochi countered well, battering his stab away and turning the momentum of the block into a glancing strike that sparked off of Val's armoured shoulder. Val winced as it grazed his flesh, knowing that if it were not for his pauldron the battle would have been over then and there. The sting of his failure made him cautious, he fell back to reassess his opponent, but the Iktochi was too intelligent to allow him that.
Val matched each of his opponent's strikes, but was not nearly as strong as the bigger man. Even worse, his opponent had a reach advantage, standing a head taller than Val. The Iktochi attempted to disarm Val with the same glancing wrist strike that Val had been taught by Korta. He seized the opportunity to reverse and his blade found purchase on the Iktochi's right flank. Blue-red blood vaporized at his weapon's touch, sending a sickening burnt iron smell in its wake. His opponent lashed out wildly, nearly catching Val through his neck before stumbling past him and collapsing to one knee.
Val wondered if the strike had touched the man's vitals. If Iktochi physiology was similar to human, the liver and kidney may have been ruptured. A scream from his right heralded the approach of a new opponent. Val barely had time to turn before she was upon him. Her vibroblade was barely perceptible as it flashed in a flurry of blows so quick that Val relies entirely on instinct to weather through. He made a split second decision, hoping his armor would stand up to the attack.
He deactivated his saber, lunging forward to grab her sword arm by the elbow. She landed a single glancing blow that sparked off of his shoulder before yelling in surprise as he wrenched her into and arm bar. She twisted with the momentum and managed to flip free, but lost hold of her blade as she did so. Val flopped his newly acquired sword around and leveled it at her. "No!" The Iktochi roared in pain and desperation as it attacked Val from his flank.
The man was slow now, clumsy and losing strength quickly. He stepped back, evading the wild strike. The second whipped out immediately with surprising speed and Val reacted unconsciously, catching the saber's blade with his own while simultaneously driving the vibroblade's tip through his enemy's chest. Blood coated his hands as the larger man coughed behind the mask. Val let go of the vibroblade as the man fell, the weapon lodged too deep to easily pull free.
Val turned back to the woman but was pushed off of his feet before he could complete the maneuver. He flew back, feet sliding across the floor as he fought to remain standing. He recovered in time to see Chiko deliver a final blow to a kneeling man, sending him crashing to the floor, lifeless. She didn't see the woman approaching from behind green lightsaber descending toward her exposed back. No. Val thought, reaching out to grasp the enemy before she stole Chiko away.
The woman flew back as Val wrenched her away in mid air, but the enemy's blade reached Chiko, sending her down hard in a shower of sparks. Val ran forward as the woman rolled back into a low crouch. She had just enough time to recover a sloppy guard before Val descended upon her. His mind was empty as he rained his first flurry of blows upon her, probing her defense for the inevitable weakness to reveal itself. She matched him at each turn, both of them cold and calm as they danced to the death.
She leapt back, drawing on the force to reach a scaffold adjoined to the reactor. He followed, the rush of energy propelling him up to meet her, blade flashing. The sparking energy of the world engine threatened to drown the sparking discharge of their contending blades. All was light and fury as he chased her across the gantry. Then the opening arrived and he committed to it.
She stumbled against an uneven panel, a simple mistake that should have spelled her doom were it not that Val had already committed to his killing strike. He stumbled over her as his momentum carried him forward, striking the gantry rail and cutting through. The entire tenuous structure began to crumble as the ramshackle construction came apart in the wake of his lightsaber's passing. It was not far to fall, but he was poorly prepared and landed hard on the metal floor. He struggled to rise, breath refusing to enter his lungs. A shadow fell over him and the sound of a lightsaber's hum. He turned in time to see her, the green blade raised high in a killing strike, but unable to defend.
A bolt of red energy struck her from behind, boring clean through in a flash of white. She stumbled forward a step before turning to the source of the blaster fire. Kavos fired again and again, forcing her back as she wildly deflected the incoming shots. In a flash of blurred motion she fled, heading through a doorway into darkness. Val crawled to his knees, retrieving his weapon before looking across the ruin wrought by the battle. Chiko was sitting up now, her armor smoking.
He stood slowly, moving toward her as Kavos said something he couldn't quite make out. "Chiko." He managed weakly as he kneeled beside her. She was in pain, the blade having reached her through the armor. A long dark channel smouldered from collar to mid back, marking its passage. "Val?" She asked in confusion. "What happened?" She added, entranced. Val hoped that was a result of the armor's medical suite applying painkillers and not something more serious. He laid a hand on her, careful to avoid the wounded area. He sensed her pain and channeled his energy into discovering the source.
Nothing immediately life threatening had been hit, though the tissue damage would require a long stint in bacta. "You took a hit Chi." He said calmly, "But you're going to be okay." He said, hoping his assessment had been thorough enough. Kavos was staring at the hallway that the woman had fled down, blaster at the low ready. Chiko looked up at him, "I don't feel alright." She said faintly. Val held on to her, turning to Kavos. "Activate the beacon, the reactor should be close to terminus." He commanded. Kavos backed up to the controls, eyes scanning the room as he did. Val wasn't sure why the man had come to the reactor room, but was certainly not angry that he had. "Thank you Duor." He said as he held Chiko, whom had now fallen into unsconsciousness as the sedatives flowed through her bloodstream.
"You were late to the rendezvous, so I came to ensure the mission was finished." Kavos explained as he activated the beacon. He turned to Val, a questioning look in his eye, "Who were they Val?' The navy officer asked, worry apparent in his voice. Val wasn't certain, but there were a few possibilities, none of them boding well. "Rogue Knights perhaps." He said, feeling deeply that this was not the case. Kavos looked back to the controls a sickly expression on his face, "Traitors." He said, his voice full of disgust.
Val looked down at Chiko, then to the two dead men. He laid her down gently before rising and moving to the Iktochi, the blade still buried in its chest with a growing pool of dark blood beneath it. Val leaned in, removing the mad to reveal the placid face of his departed foe. The man's lifeless eyes stared blankly into the distance, a disturbingly serene look across his aged features. Her master, he thought before turning and walking to the other dead man. The man's visor was cracked, revealing the flesh of his face beneath. Val removed the mask, disbelieving what he had seen. It was a man of Val's age, his skin deep blue with red pupil-less eyes.
"Watch over her Kavos!" Val said as he moved to chase the blood trail. "I will!" Kavos shouted back, knowing that Val would not leave her side were it not vital. The red eyes were forever burned into his mind, the same eyes that had stared down at Chiko from the darkness of the Adrass palace crypt.
She was slowing, the space between the bloody footprints was growing closer together as the woman's stride grew shorter. She had made for a hangar bay constructed from an unused exhaust corridor that stretched out into a far away cavern that exited into above the sea. He'd caught a glimpse of her just before she entered the bay, racing to catch her before she could board a craft and escape his grasp.
"Surrender!" He screamed, wanting her alive. The answers he needed were escaping him. He rounded the corner, a door shutting in his path. He ignited his lightsaber, cutting through the door as hastily as he could manage. The entire complex was now shaking under the barrage of turbo laser fire as the Imperial military began its assault. He finished cutting through, then stepped back and collected his strength, expelling it toward the door. It shifted inwards before falling to the deck with a earth-shaking crash.
Her ship was a relic, seemingly of Correllian design, though not a model he recognized. She was halfway to the open ramp as Val stepped through the hole. He raised a hand seeking to pull her back toward him. She turned suddenly matching his strength. The two contested, the air and space between them compressing and shifting as they fought to break the other. It was an absolutely even contest. Val stepped forward fighting, the first step was the most difficult. With each consecutive step toward her he felt her power failing.
She screamed in frustration and pain as he moved forward undaunted. With a last effort she expended what remained of her strength in a single moment, pushing him back a single step. She drew her saber stepping forward to attack. Val met her, locking their sabers in a guard before redirecting the blade of her saber into the ground. He turned away, bringing his blade up and across her hand, striking the saber's hilt. She fell back as his blade continued up, striking her across the mask. She fell facing the ramp, away from him. He moved quickly holding the saber to threaten should she attempt something desperate.
She held the broken pieces of her master's lightsaber in trembling hands. "Surrender!" Val said his voice full of frustration as he struggled to catch his breath. She turned, her mask shattered. Val froze as he recognized her. She was younger than him by year or so, with a dark complexion and hair so black that it captured the light from his saber entirely. He knew this woman, he had seen her face before. The feeling was so vivid that he lost all sense around him. "Who are you?" Val asked, leaning in, his face contorting in confusion.
She took a chance, pushing him back with a reserve of strength he had not expected, a scream of agony escaping her lips. For a moment he was lost, tumbling like a leaf in a wind storm across the hard metal of the bay. "Damn it." he managed as he skidded to a halt some meters away. She was already up the ramp, the ship rising from the deck. He made to leap for the ramp but came up short as it blasted forward, sending him sprawling back.
The second rise from the ground was far more painful than the first. "Ow." he said to nobody in particular as he climbed onto shaking knees. Footsteps echoed from the corridors behind, the sound of blaster fire growing dimmer at their approach. He turned in time to see a squad of Stormtroopers sweep through the ruined doorway. They lowered their weapons as soon as they recognized him as a Knight, the leader approaching him. "My lord." the sergeant said, giving a quick salute. Val returned it quickly before removing his helmet. "A ship just escaped through this cavern." he explained, pointing half-heartedly to the long tunnel behind him. "Send a message to have it tracked and intercepted, quickly sergeant." he stated calmly but urgently.
The sergeant moved quickly, calling a comms officer and transmitting the message as quickly as could be expected. It would be too late to catch her, but maybe they would get the ship's credentials, enough to track her. Kavos arrived a few minutes later, relief apparent on his face. Val waved for him to follow as he began the long trek out of the facility. "How is she?" Val asked immediately. Kavos expression was reassuringly placid. "Probably already in a bacta tank, the first friendly troops reached us only a few minutes after you ran off." Kavos said, some curiosity in his voice. The question was implicit, but Kavos was a thorough man. "You didn't chase her at first." He observed leveling his gaze at Val, "What changed your mind?"
Val considered it for a moment, unsure what he should share of Chiko's past given the possible connections so recently discovered. He considered the nature of his friend and a gnawing guilt developed as he made his decision. "I think it's better that this matter be handled by the order." Val said, hoping his friend would not take offense. Kavos shrugged, seemingly unaffected, "Understood." He said professionally. The response stung Val, he'd hoped to be informal with at least one of his naval peers.
"I need a shower." Val said, the totality of the last few days of battle crashing down on him as he reflected. Kavos laughed, "I didn't want to say anything..." he said, averting his head and wrinkling his nose. "You're no better." Val said, pushing the officer playfully. "Whatever you say, my lord." The last part was said sneeringly. Val was mortified, "You heard that?" He asked. Kavos smiled genuinely as he responded, "I hear everything."