The Sanctum Stands

[Dutch]

The creature’s counter-attack came in the form of Archeri sacrifices, and a push of telekinetic energy at the Darth. It didn’t matter. She was already dead. A heartbeat after the first two fingers flicked forward, so did his ring-finger follow. The third lightsaber ignited with a SNAP-tssss, but instead of another wheel, lanced out in a golden streak. It shot through a gap in the Twi’lek’s assault, the various desks, chairs, paperweights and other office paraphernalia useless to stop the lightsaber which buried itself directly into the middle of her forehead.

She dropped, limp and quite deceased with a wrought-iron lightsaber hilt still stuck in her skull. The objects that would’ve been projectiles dropped and scattered everywhere near her, leaving an almost clear line of clutter well away from where Solis still stood holding out his hand, his own side of the hall still immaculate and clean. The pair of lightsabers still spun in the air where they had cleaved Archeri flesh, their distraction had worked perfectly. He curled his fingers one-by-one, as if beckoning his lightsabers, and they all drifted eerily back to the Zelosian. The three weapons found a slow orbit around the Darth, who was distracted by a disturbance in the Force.

Solis didn’t feel Keres anymore.

But he did sense Aurelius, as his brother’s presence bloomed, and another, heavy with the Archeri stink, rose to greet it. The Zelosian was certain Onin could handle whatever was thrown his way, but if Keres really did fall… With a swift motion he retrieved his datapad, and keyed up the port’s security systems again. There was still one last thing he needed to activate, and it did seem the Cartel had more toys for him to play with. And the droid options available were quite tasty.

“Optional nonlethal rounds? Oh, I don’t think so…” Darth Solis chortled as he queued up every murderous option available on every possible droid, from the basic monitors to the full blown riot models.

“Let’s change the beat…” He added as several holding pods hissed open to reveal gleaming, blaster toting machines flying Hutt colors. The Sith nodded at the renewed ringing of weapon fire throughout the port, satisfied by the needed reinforcements. His still searing eyes watched as the droids around the administrative level marched around in a defensive formation, and waited until none of them were near.

His semi-translucent obsidian mask turned as he pushed with thought, reaching for his fellow Darth. Far from his strong suit, Solis brushed his presence into Aurelius’, reassuring his own reinforcements were coming- and getting a dot on the other Darth's location. The datapad would be put back in its pouch, and the final lightsaber flipped from his belt to join the other three in their otherworldly orbit. It came alive with the iconic snap-hiss! of a Jedi-made lightsaber, the emerald blade sharp and clean.

Darth Solis raised his arm, palm facing downwards, and the quartet of lightsabers snapped to point their blades towards the floor. A clenching of said hand caused their orbit to increase in tempo, soon a blur of humming blades and flashing light. He lowered them with his clenched fist to bite into the floor, quickly carving a perfect circle around the Sith as he dropped with it, then again on the floor below that.

Then again.

And again...

[Ash]

Adrenaline coursed though Darmid's veins, paralleling the very Force itself as him and Nieraan met finally, his spear batting away at the others lightsaber. Before he could land the attack, however, a blast of the force from the Sith's other hand, caught him. Most people would attempt to resist it, but Darmid did not.

Instead, the man jumped back with it, allowing the blast to carry him away, but on his own terms. At the same time, Darmid began to collect a huge amount of energy himself. Shattered glass twinkled around the falling Chorus member, being attracted to his spear tip.

Darmid landed lightly meters away from Nieraan, and the man crouched, holding his spear in his right hand. When he was at the lowest point he wanted, the man thrust forward with his weapon, sending the force collected in it forward. The bullet of wind and glass and energy was meant to push and throw Nieraan off his guard and balance.

His true attack came immediately afterwards. It was something that the former Sith had very ever rarely did: a blast of Force lightning. The arcs of electricity were tinged with the same purple as his eyes as the blast channeled for the opposing Sith.

Darmids face was blank: no emotion, no feelings. Someone nearly acting as a puppet at this point: a powerful puppet with invisible strings. He didn't say anything as he began to ready himself for a new attack, gaining an offensive stance and moving forward again.

[Rugs]

Aurelius stood, stance light and ready for motion as his blast carried Darmid back. For all the motion, he was no fool. The turncoat was moving with the Force, rather than being blown away by it. Nor were his senses blind to the Force swelling around Darmid. In the rush and noise of the greater battle swirling around them, it would have been harder to track, had Dardmid been farther away.

But here, so intimately engaged in combat, it was like a sunrise cresting a hill. Not for the first time, he grinned as Darmid touched down, glass swirling around him.

The blast of the Force came suddenly, but not without warning. Aurelius raised a hand casually, letting loose a push of his own that arced forward in a pointed wedge. It did little to stop Darmid’s attack, but that had never been the point. The blast split before him, shunted to either side and leaving a trail of dust and clattering glass in its wake. Aurelius’ kama stirred in the wind but was otherwise undisturbed.

His senses screamed at him as a blast of violet-tinted lightning erupted from Darmid. He raised his blue lightsaber, catching the blast as it seared the air between them. Beneath his mask, he grinned, showing both of his fangs.

“Close,” he said as the blast ended and Darmid advanced once more. “But you’ll have to do better than that.”

Kamirille had been far more brutal in her abrasive, abusive training. He’d hated her — still hated her — but she’d molded him into something that wouldn’t fall to the likes of some prodigal Sith. Aurelius sneered as Darmid pushed forward.

His hand, still raised from blocking the lighting, clenched suddenly. The Force, at his command, rushed forward to Darmid’s neck, closing like a vice grip, as Aurelius sought to arrest his advance and strangle the life from him.

---

Far above, the Incorrigible, an Imperial light cruiser, raced after an Archeri capital ship that was careening through Nar Shaddaa’s smoke-hazed atmosphere toward the spaceport. The two ships traded heavy blows — red lasers tore at the Archeri ship’s Force barrier shields as its heavy crystal projectiles pushed the Imperial shielding to the limit.

They burst through the floor of the clouds, lightning the thick smoke that filled the twilight air around them. In the distance, the second Spire loomed out of Nar Shaddaa’s cityscape, top hidden among the clouds. Below, the spaceport was ablaze with laser fire blasts of the Force as the coalition fought desperately to root out the Archeri.

A volley of proton torpedos roared from the Incorrigible’s bow, following twisting trails through the air as they slammed into the Archeri ship. The bright purple barrier flickered with the impacts and shuddered away.

A turbolaser landed true as the ships lumbered over the spaceport and bright molten crystal rained down from above as the brawl continued.

[Ash]

Darmid wasn't surprised that his little lightning attack. It may have worked on lesser force users, but Neriaan had always been a stubborn one. Still the attack was close. Darmid kept up his attack even as the other Sith spoke. Dead eyes simply gazed forward, purple seeming to take them over at this point.

Suddenly, Darmid began to feel a pressure close around his throat, trying to collapse his wind pipe and kill him that way. It was something extremely... Sith. Classic Sith. Above them, ships clashed, lasers ripping and melting through armor. Torpedos aided this, and suddenly the area got much more dangerous.

Though this could be advantageous to someone like Darmid, who was quite talented at the defensive arts of the force. Darmid collected force energy around his spear like before, using it as a focal point, and fired the push through it, condensing the air, right at Nieraan.

That wasn't all though. Using the force as a shield, he deflected darts of molten metal at the Sith, directing the hellish rain from over him and further onto the enemy Sith. He gave some an extra push or angling them, getting them to fall to his feet as well for splash damage. That would cause a big enough gap for Darmid to close in and kill this enemy. Or turn them, as he still hoped to.

[Dutch]

The ceiling above the dueling Firrerreo would suddenly buckle and belch flaming Archeri wreckage, creating utter chaos as the alien bulkhead crashed through the port like it was made of paper. Rubble muddled with the dead tumbled and scattered everywhere, while foreign fluids poured from crystalline formations to mix with the port’s destroyed utility systems. Water and fiery fuels alike gushed from the variety of pipes which stuck out like twisted metal bones, their flow barely heard over the cacophony created by the battle which roared anew throughout Kalai Ri’ Biro.

One particular pile of burning debris near Darth Aurelius began to rumble, pebbles and bits of crystal chimed down the duracrete as a large chunk suddenly shifted. It would burst from the pile to crash into pieces upon the ground, and a second burst would shower flaming wreckage high into the chamber. Bits still tumbled through the air as Darth Solis would suddenly rise from the hole he had created, the Sith’s dueling leathers wreathed in fire as he eerily floated to stand a few steps behind Aurelius. The eyes which locked onto what was once Darmid Ua Duibhne were every bit as bright as the flames which still clung to the mantle of Solis’ shoulders, even through the obsidian shaded mask. A snap of his gloved fingers would ignite the Darth’s presence, suddenly heavy and dark as it slid out from under the pile of rubble from which he had just come from.

With it came a quartet of igniting lightsabers, all four suddenly spinning to life from the rubble in a spray of sparks and flack. Each weapon would snap to Solis' sides; emerald, crimson, cyan and golden blades angled towards the lancer with a menacing hum. Yet as much as the Zelosian wished to shred the traitor asunder, he could feel a swell of the Force turning his attention the the massive hole caused by the starship wreckage, and the chattering presence which began to push down it towards the pair of Darths.

“Hold him, brother. I’ll be along soon.” Solis said in his eerily mechanical voice, the undercurrents of his usual Imperial crispness tainted by what sounded like a second tone; this one deeper, more eldritch in delivery. The Sith stepped from Aurelius to better angle himself to face the chasm above, and his quartet of lightsabers followed uncannily behind him.

[Rugs]

The Force acted at Aurelius’ command, weaving an iron grip around Darmid’s throat. Given time, it’d nearly drop him to his knees — or it would, if Aurelius’ grip didn’t keep him hanging there. If the High Archon refused to relent, it’d choke the life from the turncoat.

But things were rarely so simple in a battle, and the roar of cruiser engines overhead was as much a call to motion as Darmid’s push in the Force. Aurelius let the push move him back, using the Force to keep his balance as he retreated a few steps. A great glob of molten metal came crashing down, throwing sparks and flame around it.

Aurelius sneered as he noticed some of the bits of debris changing directions toward him and tsked loudly, more annoyed with than concerned about Darmid’s efforts. As he knocked the bits of flaming debris away, the ceiling over them suddenly collapsed in as a massive piece of Archeri wreckage crashed through.

Aurelius leaped waved a hand, a blast of the Force paring flaming ruin and falling dust that fell near him. He could feel Solis’ coming before his fellow Darth arrived, drifting down in the new hole above them.

“So you’ve come to join us,” he said as Solis look up a position behind him. Aurelius twisted his lightsabers, renewing his grip on the gold and blue blades as his brother in arms took position.

“Hold him?” Aurelius grinned beneath his mask. “Brother, I’ve barely begun to toy with him.” As Solis advanced away, Aurelius’ attention returned to Darmid. His poise, his manner, was that of the instructor on Korriban or Dromund Kaas, waiting for a student to impress him.

“Come Lancer,” he said, mockery biting at Darmid’s old Sith name, “let’s see what else you’ve got.”

[Ash]

The force choke around Darmids throat cut off quickly enough, his blast of the force was enough to get the other Sith to release his grasp. The rain of fire and liquid metal didn't hurt either. Nieraan deflected it, but Darmid wasn't on the defensive. He needed to be aggressive against his former friend.

But he held back. The lines in the force tugged at the man, and he held back. Another someone in the force showed up. Or was about to. Lancer didn't budge, his lightsaber held point down in a lazy manner. His left hand was set on his hip.

From somewhere behind Nieraan came Solis, a Sith that Lancer had little contact with. He knew some of his skills, but wasn't prepared to fight him. Or normally would have been. A soft chuckle escaped Lancer now, him slowly undoing some of the extra armor hanging off of him. The armor skirt like armor fell off first, then a few extra pieces around the arms and legs with the aid of the force.

"Two on one. And thats.... six lightabers in all? Against my little spear? I need to step up my game a little."

A cylinder appeared in Lancer's left hand, popping in from around his back. The short spear extended, a stubby lightsaber igniting in a golden yellow color. It was just shy of a meter and a half from end to end. Another quarter shorter than lancers current 2 meter spear in his right hand.

"I hope you dont mind if I bring out some new toys. I may have collected a few weapons from fallen Sith and Jedi alike."

While talking, Lancer had been building the force behind his now levitating short spear, as well as his own body. It was time to be a leaf on the wind. he fired off his short spear right at Solis's center of mass as fast as he could manage, his goal, which was unlikely was like a blaster, but with much more force. This would hopefully distract the Sith for a moment. At the same time, he dashed forward as fast as he could towards Nieraan, adjusting his angle of attack and taking him to the further side of the two Sith. His spear whipped around, using reach to try to tag the Sith with a glancing blow to take at least an arm out of the fight.

Speed. Agression. Multiple lifetimes of experience through the Chorus. Even with experience, Lancer was up against two very high ranking Sith who had more blades than him. He had the short end in terms of numbers all around. If Lancer could get Solis to use all four of his sabers to stop and drop the short spear, and if he could tag Nieraan here, even a glance, things would start to get better for the one man spear user army.

[Dutch]

The Lord Inquisitor didn’t even look at first as Lancer’s aura betrayed his intent, and gloved fingers would snap timed with the Archeri agent’s attack. All four of the Sith’s lightsabers would spin rapidly with the sound, their hum harsh as the spear ricocheted harmless off them in a short shower of sparks. Without breaking his stride, nor the flashing whirl of his weapons, Darth Solis held up a single finger and wagged it as if chastising an acolyte. He did turn his mask to peer over the still smoldering shoulder of his leathers back at the tosser, the searing rings of his eyes piercing the obsidian veil.

“Don’t be hasty, dearest Darmid.” The Sith crooned, his tone oozing superiority. He turned his attention away from the agent, and back to the colossal chasm above him. The pressure of an approaching Archeri swarm sang through the Force, their tainted tone filling the hole above as they neared. Solis snapped again, and the lightsabers would suddenly buzz to a perfect stillness at his right side in a blur, now taking a cross formation. With a bloom of his presence and a lift of that hand the cross would begin to rotate and rise high above the Jade Pillar. It stopped just within the bounds of the cavity, and another snap of his free fingers willed the cross to spin mercilessly quick.

Just in time too, as the flood of Archeri creatures arrived. Instead of the wide, gaping portal to flood from, the monstrosities would find the Darth’s rotating quartet of lightsabers. They were butchered in droves as sparks and twisted chunks of meat rained down from above, their alien shrieks drowning the Imperial concerto the Sith hummed once more. Solis worked to easily dispatch Lancer’s would-be reinforcements with but a few casual motions, trusting in the Force- and Darth Aurelius’ more than capable abilities to protect him.

[Rugs]

Aurelius snickered darkly. “You’ve needed to step up your game since you set foot on this field, runaway,” he jeered as Lancer stripped armor. “You had your chance when I was alone.”

Darmid was stronger than he had been, with the Archeri poison amplifying his presence. Yet Aurelius’ talents were forged and honed in the crucible of his mother’s cruel teachings. His might came from within, not as a blessing from some unfeeling other. He smiled cruelly beneath his mask. “For all your extra strength, the best you can hope for is to match me,” he took motion as Darmid charged, zipping in at him.

The Force screamed within him, like a river near to overflowing pressing against its banks. Yet Aurelius’ will hardened to iron, unyielding. The Force was his tool, to follow his command. He was not a Jedi, to passively follow its guidance.

His lightsaber licked out, flaring with a sharp crack as gold met Darmid’s attempted strike and turned it away. “And all it cost was your will.”

Aurelius lifted a hand and the Force reached out as his command and pulled, on Darmid’s body with such strength that the concrete beneath him buckled and cracked. At the same time, his presence reached out to Solis, a tap alerting of what was to come.

“But now your time is running out, little lamb.” The Force heaved as Aurelius stepped back and pulled his hand, letting the weight of his power pull against Darmid with the intention of hurling him Solis’ way.

The duracrete beneath Darmid’s feet came free in chunks, hurtling through the air toward Solis’ whirling lightsabers — the same fate that awaited Darmid if he couldn’t escape.

[Ash]

Lancers attack was aided by Archeri which decided to make a push against the Sith. They decided to go after Darth Solis, leaving a minor gap for him to deal with Neiraan. Lancer halted his run and jammed back to jab at the Sith a few times, his fairly standard attacks being turned away fairly easily. Lancer jumped back after a few more attacks.

Then it happened.

There was a detonation in the sky, and a mad scream was fired through Lancers head, and his voice joined it. The sound of pain and loss was extreme and it threw off the controlled force user for a few seconds.

Those seconds were all the Sith were needed. Lancer couldn't concentrate for a moment as the control waned for a few moments. When his true self came to the surface it was too late. His footing was gone and he was f;ying through the air towards whirling lightsabers. He was powerless.

One took his left arm right below the shoulder, a second singed his right bicep, causing his spear to drop, which it was the only reason that arm was saved. A third slash bit deep into the left side of his chest, just below his nipple and out where his arm once was. Then the throw was finished and he went tumbling off into the oblivion that was waiting for him.

[Dutch]

A massive explosion roared and drowned out the drum of battle, the Archeri shrieking horribly in unison on cue with it. Dust and rubble from the ceiling rained as the port shook in aftershock, but the pair of Sith stood strong as the enemy still attacked. All in vain, as Aurelius easily held Lancer at bay and no amount of sacrificed Archeri could breach Solis’ barrier. Their spindly limbs and gristly innards were sprayed across everything, and the Jedi within the Darth couldn’t help but feel sorry for them, but before Solis could follow that train of thought any deeper a tug in the Force pulled him to shift. The projectile that was duracrete and Darmid suddenly blurred past him, and directly into the grinder formed by the lightsaber quartet.

The Archeri push from above ended with their agent, seeming to finally recognize their futility against the two Imperial champions. Every creature shrieked louder, the cacophony almost unbearable in the Force as they fled in unison throughout Kalai Ri’ Biro. Then it ebbed, their taint in the Force began to recede, and with it Solis could feel himself breathing easier without the oppressive omnipotence enveloping everything.

Darth Solis would snap his fingers, and the lightsabers would cease their spin in unison. The same hand lowered with a ripple of beckoning fingers, and the weapons hissed off before drifting towards their master. Now in a slow orbit encircling the Sith, the quartet glinted in the ragged lighting of the wrecked port. Careful to not tread on anything too chunky or wet, Solis stepped towards his brother, but stopped when he saw Lancer’s severed arm among a pile of dead Archeri parts. The Darth nudged it with a booted toe as a slow chuckle followed, and he turned to regard Aurelius.

"Archeri till the end, eh?" Solis said with insolence, his tone almost rueful, but not for those who knew him well enough.

[Rugs]

It was a grim satisfaction that filled Aurelius as he saw that Darmid’s defenses, his doomed clawing and fighting against his inevitable end, finally failed. A twisted smile crossed his face as the former Sith careened into Solis’ blades, and it only deepened as the lightsabers struck true. The runaway Sith lost an arm and went careening out of the port, tumbling down and down into the depths of the undercity.

“Pity,” Aurelius said as the light from a colossal explosion in orbit washed over the city, shining like a violet star gone supernova. The Archeri in the spaceport screamed and howled through the Force, for once retreating as the Singing Spire fell apart. Yet what the Firrerreo heard above it all was the sound of Darmid’s spear falling to the ground with a loud, metallic clangining that echoed across the suddenly-empty port.

It rolled across the ground, coming to a rest near his feet. Aurelius regarded solis from the corner of his eye as he deactivated his gold and blue lightsabers and returned them to his waist. He was vaguely aware of his men, who’d stayed back during the duel, approaching with Scyllos at their heels.

“I expected more of him, really,” he said to his Sith brother, looking at the pit Darmid had plummeted into. He sneered beneath his mask, looking at the maimed and twisted corpses of Archeri. “At least he could go with whatever dignity he had left instead of turning into one of those... creatures.”

Scyllos nudged against Aurelius’ leg and gave him a look that said he was petulant at being left out of the fight. Darmid’s arm soon caught the Tuk’ata’s attention and he grabbed it in his powerful jaws and slank off away from the group, as if anyone were going to steal it. Aurelius rolled his eyes at the loud, wet crunching that followed.

“We are done here,” he said, sighing. But the battle raged on, even if Kalai Ri’Biro. He could hear gunships overhead — another wave of coalition forces arrive to secure the port and set it up as command and provisioning outpost to support the rest of the ground operations.

“My Lord Aurelius.” Captain Sarden, his rank noted with a golden symbol on his dark armor, stepd forward from the rest of Aurelius’ squad. “During the fight, we learned that Lady Keres’ strike force... ah...” he hesitated, picking his words carefully. “They were overwhelmed, my Lord.”

Aurelius turned from Solis to the captain, a brow raised. “And Keres? Is she dead?”

Captain Sarden shook his head. “I... No one is sure, my Lord. There’s been no sign of her since her force was defeated. We’ve since secured the hangar, but no one can find any sign of her.”

Aurelius pondered for a long, silent moment, then turned to Solis. That the Archeri had broken one of the Empire’s pillars was no small thing. “It seems, brother, we have word to take the Empress.”