A Nightmare with Wings of Darkness

[Mara]

Red blade and blue screeched together in a shower of sparks as the Twi'lek Sith battled the human Jedi. They were similar in age, he only a few years old, but obviously one of them was showing a lot more skill, the other pure tenacity. Strengthened by whatever powers her fellow Sith was imbuing in her, Looma was still holding her own in this lightsaber duel, something she never would have imagined. And couldn't imagine, if she were to still survive. For even though she had an increase in power and confidence, if she were to falter even the briefest second, the Jedi would get through her flurried parries and blocks and would most certainly wound or kill her.

And she couldn't let that happen. Looma knew she had so much yet to live for, to accomplish. In the back of her mind lay her path to the darkside, away from the light. Her master and her training. And in his own special area back there, Caleb. If anything, she had to survive for him.

For a while they had stood there, feet immobile on the cave floor, only their torsos, arms, blades doing any moving. She had her feet set apart, one leg slightly back for balance as she swung her weapon two-handed at the Jedi. Despite the increase of dark Force power from Cho, her opponent was still strong, and she could not hold onto a one-handed grip for very long. It gave her a bit of a disadvantage, but she was making the most of it, using the strength in both arms, plus the Force, to thrust with the red blade again the enemy's blue one.

But then something changed. Not to her, but to the Jedi. Later she might have described it as a survival complex. The Jedi, thinking he would probably die down here in the caves of Subterrel anyway, gave way to any inhibitions that he may have yet been holding onto. It seemed to Looma that suddenly he got even more powerful, and fresh, as if he had just entered the fight. How could the light side of the Force be more of an ally than the dark? She couldn't understand it, but this Jedi started fighting with renewed energy.

Slowly she was forced back, her legs moving underneath her as her hands kept swinging the blade, now only blocking and defending again. Again, no longer having any time or forethought to offense or finding a way to disable her opponent. Even if she had found something close by in the cave to use telekinetically, there wasn't enough focus in her mind. To do so would cause fatal distraction. The soldiers around them moved as well, holding the circle, but the two combatants didn't notice them; they had eyes only for each other, for the enemy.

Looma knew her confidence and strength were beginning to fade, even with the help from Cho. She could not survive solely on the Noghri's power. While it helped, it had only been masking her depleted energies. Now she could feel her body fading, her muscles screaming at her, her breathing coming in gasps. But she could do nothing, as all her focus was on her red lightsaber blade and keeping herself alive for as long as possible. All her energy was going into her own survival, just as the Jedi's was. They were almost a mirror image of each other inside a distorted mirror.

With every ounce of energy she had left, she fought back, defending herself, looking for opening to attack but finding none. The Jedi was fighting with more determination than ever, pummeling her blade, the vibrations running down her tired arms. Looma knew it was only inevitable that she would collapse completely, and the Jedi would stand over her, victorious. And this small falter in her emotions allowed the Jedi just the opportunity he needed.

Blades pressed together, he pushed his blue against her red. She had gotten her feet to stop, but with the Jedi shoving on her through his weapon, it made her bend slightly backward, still trying to keep her weapon between herself and his own weapon. And then the blue blade slipped through her defenses, only for a moment and caught on one of her lekku.

The next moment was a blur, everything happening simultaneously at super-speed and super slow motion. When the blade connected with her sensitive tissue, Looma had screamed, louder than she had ever before. Never before had she felt more pain. Seeing that he had gotten in a blow, the Jedi had swung his blade back, ready to finish off the Twi'lek. At the same time, she had just reacted instinctively, not realizing what she was doing. Drawing on the Force around her, she pulled it in, and then let go, the energy exploding between the dueling pair, shoving them both backwards, through the soldiers, with Looma landing hard against a cave wall. Her vision went fuzzy and then black, passing out either from hitting her head or the pain of her partially severed lekku tip, or both.

[Karl the Unfettered]

Shard watched the fight, outwardly relaxed but quite tense inside. It went back and forth; Looma had the upper hand for a while, but then the Jedi whelp gained a burst of strength and fought back hard. The Miraluka knew what had just happened; the Jedi, realizing he was going to die this day, down in the darkness of the caves, had consciously released the inhibitions of the Jedi and was fighting with all his might. It was really too bad he would have to die, as such realizations and releasing of fetters made for excellent potential initiates.

Sure enough, Looma faltered and the Jedi got a fatal strike in, nearly severing one of her lekku; she screamed and shoved him away with the Force as he reared back. The move pushed them both backward, along with some of the soldiers gathered around; Shard was in motion before any of them could react, lunging forward to catch his apprentice and shooting the Jedi in the forehead several times with his silenced pistol. He managed to do both at the same time, somehow, and even before the dead Jedi landed he was on his feet, Looma's unconscious body in his arms.

"Get that dolt up! Now!" he shouted at his men even as he began running for the Sith's main landing shuttles. "Anyone who falls behind stays behind!" Any Jedi or Republic soldier in the way of his mad dash was blown aside with the Force, or sliced in two with a thrown 'saber; he had no time for further messing around, after all.

Meanwhile the Dominion soldiers stood around Cho, unsure what to do. "Hell, we oughta leave 'im here, he ain't nothin' but trouble," one of them drawled, kicking the unconscious Nohgri in the side.

"Idiot, he's one of the Master's favorites!" another soldier snapped, obviously a higher-ranking fellow. "Come on, pick him up and hope he doesn't gut you in his sleep!" He waved the others forward and stood back himself, impatiently tapping his foot. They grumbled but knew better than to disobey, not because of the officer but because of Shard and his strange connection with the bloodthirsty Sith. Four of them heaved him up on their shoulders and started marching for the shuttles, while the rest covered them. There wasn't much call for that, though; following in Shard's wake, it was easy to avoid enemy attention.

Farther ahead, Shard finally reached the shuttles and went straight for the one with the medical staff. "Take her! Her lekku's been partially severed!" he said sharply, handing her off to them. He did not leave for his own shuttle; he had to stay and make sure they didn't mistreat his only student.

[Mara]

Pain. Pain was the last thing she remembered before everything had gone away. Before the Jedi had gotten through her weak defenses and almost succeeded in chopping off the end of one of her sensitive lekku. Before she had involuntarily reacted with a Force push, sending her opponent away from her and sending herself in the opposite direction, slamming into what she had thought was a wall, in the last vestiges of consciousness.

* * * * *

Now she floated in the darkness, not awake, but somehow not entirely asleep either. Looma didn't know quite what was going on. The pain had left her for the moment, but everything was black around her. Briefly she wondered if she was dead and tried to remember her religious upbringing back on Ryloth and what the afterlife was supposed to be like. She failed to recall anything. In face, she really couldn't remember anything, even more present events, like what had sent her to this strange quiet colorless vacuum. She only knew who she was, in a vague sense. For the moments, memories of her family, her master, Caleb, had disappeared. All she had was an empty space where the pain had been.

And then she saw her, a bright figure coming towards her, lighting up the blackness. Looma didn't know why or how, but she recognized the figure immediately, though the last time she had seen her was over 14 years ago. It was almost like looking in a mirror as she gazed at the female Twi'lek before her. They shared the same yellow hue and purple eyes, but Looma's were brighter and darker than the light tones of her sister, Leef. Her sister who had been sold as a slave when she was but 14 years old to help pay the bills. The sister whose disappearance had totally shattered the young Looma's life.

She felt hot tears stinging her cheeks as her sister continued to slowly come towards her. How could this be? Were they both dead and floating in the Twi'leki afterlife? Looma tried to stand up herself and run for Leef but found she was stuck and couldn't move. She could only lay there and watch. Calling for her sister but no voice parting her lips.

Slowly, at the speed the vision of her sister came closer, Looma felt her memories coming back to her. The Force, and her connection to it. Everything she had learned about it at the Jedi Temple and then later at the Temple on Korriban. It came to her then that perhaps this was only a Force vision and her sister wasn't really there within arm's reach. She didn't want to believe it, and kept calling fruitlessly for her. Nothing else mattered except the chance to talk to Leef again and find out if she was okay, if she was still a slave.

Finally her sister was right there, and Looma discovered that she could move, breaking free and embracing her sister. Leef had a peaceful look on her face, but there was a slight thread of sadness below it that Looma didn't catch right away. Her sister beckoned her to follow, and so she did, walking slowly after her, back into the darkness where Leef had first appeared. She was so happy; her sister was back! So lost in these emotions she didn't realize right away what was happening to her.

Not until another vision called to her from the other side, where she had earlier been stuck, unable to go to her sister. Looma turned back and saw familiar figures there, and the memories came rushing back of her master Shard, of Caleb, of others she had met at the Temple. They all called to her, and she stopped where she was, in the middle of going to her sister and going back to her new family. Looma felt torn. Seeing her indecision, Leef grabbed her sister's arm and started pulling her away from her friends on the other side.

A struggle of wills began then, as Looma tried to free herself from her sister, not sure why she was behaving the way she was, trying to explain that she only wanted to say farewell to her friends, and then she would follow her to the ends of the galaxy. But Leef pulled back, trying to explain that if she let her do so, they would never see each other again. At the same time, her friends, Shard, Caleb, began calling for her even louder, but could not move closer to her; they were stuck in the darkness as she once had been.

Looma couldn't understand why her sister was doing this, why she must choose between the two of them, Leef or the Sith. She wanted to be with both! But obviously could not. Struggling, she did the only thing that came to her addled mind: she drew on the Force for an answer. And then suddenly everything came flooding at her. Real or not, Force vision or no, the way Leef was leading her was dangerous. She didn't exactly feel evil over there; it just felt... wrong. With tears almost blinding her, Looma jerked away from her sister's grasp and ran back towards her friends, forcing herself not to look back, and straight back into the pain.

* * * * *

She awoke with a bloodcurdling scream, breaking back into consciousness, the strange vision and dream gone from her memory for the moment as her entire focus was on the pain shooting up her lekku. Looma was barely aware of her surroundings, her vision blurred and red from the horrible pain. As the medics tried to strap her down more securely, she thrashed around, still screaming, still half out of her mind because of the the severe injury to her sensitive headtail.

All she knew was the pain; there was nothing else.




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