Name-dropped Murlesson (Sith Inquisitor) again. Akuliina doesn’t know he’s dating a sort-of Jedi, teehee.
Battle music provided by MGR:R.
Chapter 8: Weakness
She emerged from Baras’s office a few minutes after she’d gone in, her face coolly confident as always, but there was something… different about her. Some sort of nervous energy was showing through her mask of control.
He stepped forward. “What is your mission, my lady?”
“Nothing any of you can assist with,” she told them. “You’re all dismissed.” She hesitated. “I won’t lie, it’s a difficult mission. You may wish to prepare for reassignment.” She grinned. “Though it’s only a remote possibility.”
If Akuliina thought it was difficult, it might be suicidal.
<But I am sworn to fight for you,> Broonmark growled.
“Not this time,” Akuliina said.
Vette looked unhappy. “Are you sure there’s nothing I can do to help?”
“It’s Sith business, Vette. You’d only provoke my target. In the extremely unlikely chance I don’t come back, Quinn will drop you off on Nar Shaddaa to be with your friends there.”
“Well, good luck, then, my lord,” Pierce said. “I’m off. Comm me when you’re back.”
“Thank you, Pierce.”
“What about me?” Jaesa demanded. “I’m Sith now, too.”
“No,” Akuliina said. “He’s out of your league right now.”
Jaesa growled and stamped her foot. “But-”
“No buts, apprentice,” Akuliina said. “I will not tolerate disobedience here.”
“Oh, fine.”
Akuliina turned to head deeper into the Sith Sanctum. He followed her. “My lady.”
She turned quickly. “Quinn, you’re not coming.”
“I know. I… just wanted to wish you luck. …Who are you fighting?”
She glanced around to make sure they were not observed, then leaned close to him. “Darth Vengean.”
His eyes widened. Darth Baras’s master, and a member of the Dark Council. No wonder she was nervous. “I understand.”
“I can beat him,” she said, flicking her wrists to loosen them up. “I am certain of it. But yes, this will be the fight of my life, I believe. I do have an ally inside, another of Baras’s apprentices; hopefully he won’t be completely useless.”
“If Lord Baras has directed you to him, I’m certain he won’t be useless. Be careful, my lady. I’ll be waiting.”
She touched his face, drawing him down for a kiss. How scandalous, a Sith Lord kissing an Imperial officer in the middle of the Sith Sanctum. But… if she didn’t come back… he didn’t mind a last kiss. “I’ll be back in a little while.” She smiled, a dark smile that smelled blood. “Oh, I can’t wait. This is exciting. I don’t care if Baras doesn’t want to face him himself. I’m going now.”
“The Force… be with you,” he offered, and watched her walk away proud and straight to her doom.
She observed the Sith bound to the interrogation rack. “Lord Draahg, yes? Akuliina Volkova.”
“Ah… Baras’s newest apprentice,” Draahg rasped. “I have heard of you. We make our move now?”
“Indeed,” she said. “I have a stim for you.” She tapped the interrogation console and the Sith fell to the floor, picking himself up unsteadily. She jabbed the stim needle into his arm and let it do its work.
Draahg was a big man, almost as big as Pierce. Handsome, too, with a clean-shaven face decorated in tasteful Sith tattoos, and neatly cut hair, though at present it was a little wild from the torture he must have been through.
He shook himself, but already his limbs were growing steadier. “I am grateful. To you, and to Lord Baras. I look forward to serving him directly once Lord Vengean has been destroyed.” He went to a locker on the other side of the room and began removing battle armour from it, clearly his own, and began to put it on, then pulled his lightsaber to him and clipped it to his belt. “We had better hurry. Lord Vengean’s power grows every second. He’s in his inner sanctum, communing with the Dark Side, channeling his rage and power. It won’t be easy to get to him.”
She folded her arms and smirked. “It wouldn’t be fun unless it was difficult.”
“I’d heard you were spirited,” Draahg said solemnly. “Nice to see you come as billed.”
“Let’s go,” she said. “I’d hate to waste time even if he wasn’t puffing himself up.” She didn’t quite like that Draahg knew about her and she knew nothing about Draahg. How many apprentices – that was, subordinates, minions – did Baras even have?
He followed her, and he rapidly seemed to be getting his strength back. Good. She wondered if that drug was something she should investigate for herself. It might come in handy.
The halls were filled with apprentices, soldiers, assassins. She took point, charging ahead and slashing through enemy resistance, and Draahg finished up those she left.
So many Sith would die here today, and many guards whose only crime was being assigned to Vengean. The Sith she didn’t care about. They were too weak to be successful as Sith. Though… she hoped she didn’t meet FimmRess here; she’d rather not kill him if she didn’t have to. She still didn’t know who his master was. No, it was the others who concerned her. This was going to leave a very large hole in certain echelons of the Empire, even if Baras moved in immediately. It wouldn’t destabilize the Empire, but it wasn’t the most favourable outcome. And the grunts were hardly a challenge, either.
She would have wished for Lord Murlesson there to aid her; she trusted him more than Draahg, though Murlesson was at least half-cracked. Younger than her, driven mad simply by being a Force-sensitive slave, a clever scheming bastard who wouldn’t balk in the slightest at killing the entire entourage of a member of the Dark Council. Hate was his tool as much as rage was hers. But he was currently engaged in his own troubles, having been locked in a power struggle with a different member of the Dark Council, Lord Thanaton, for months. The last reports she’d heard from him had placed him on Corellia. There was no way he would have gotten back in time for this.
They reached the door to Vengean’s inner sanctum and paused to collect themselves. “You are every bit as proficient as Baras said, Akuliina,” Draahg told her.
“I don’t like false praise,” she answered, nettled by the reminder that she knew nothing about Draahg except she ‘couldn’t beat Vengean without him’.
“Then believe that it’s sincere,” Draahg said. He was older than her, too. She didn’t need his condescension. He might be cute, but she wasn’t interested. That didn’t attract her anymore. “Are you ready?”
“I’m ready,” she said. “Are you recovered? We’ll take Vengean down before he’s knows what hit him.”
“I will feed off your confidence,” Draahg said.
She arched an eyebrow at him. Did he not have confidence? He was certainly strong, in his own right. It if came to a duel between him and her, it might be very close. Was Vengean really that strong that it was going to take two of them and he still had his doubts? Perhaps she should have called in Murlesson after all.
He turned away to deal with the locked door. “If I fall, I want you to know it was an honour to fight and die alongside you.”
“Chin up, man,” she told him. “All this doom and gloom is no way to win a battle.”
“You’re right,” he said turning back to her. “’Through passion, I gain strength’.”
“’Through strength, I gain power’, and therefore victory,” she completed the quote. “But I’ll go in first, if you’re still not feeling well.” She smirked at him. Turning her back on him might not be wise, but they were united in purpose for now at least.
He bowed and made an ‘after you’ gesture. “My lord.”
She laughed and entered the door.
Lord Vengean was teetering on the railing of the balcony overlooking the room below as they entered. “Ah, the apprentices of Darth Baras. Draahg, I will enjoy bleeding you anew. And you, Akuliina. Before you arrived, Baras was only a bit player. He would be nowhere without you.”
She shrugged, craning her neck to see him. “Perhaps, but I certainly have no obligation towards you.” True, she’d never seen Baras in action; the most he’d done in her presence was torture a helpless prisoner. But he’d built his power somehow. It was the same as with all other Sith. She’d added Jaesa to her own power. Baras himself belonged to Vengean – until now. Would it be hilarious if she sent Jaesa to murder Baras someday?
Vengean hopped down from the balcony, landing with a heavy thud on the floor before them. This room was wide and not so full of furniture; bookshelves lined the walls, but the centre was clear. Perfect for a fight. “Your talents are wasted on that man. It sickens me. Your master doesn’t deserve you. He’s a coward, pushing buttons from the darkness. You and I are people of action.”
Was he trying to persuade her over to his side? To lay down her arms? To ‘open her eyes’ to Baras? No, all she felt from this man was hatred, radiating from him like a radioactive aura. “Your status as a man of action is about to end.”
“You’ve been outplayed, Vengean,” Draahg said. “Darth Baras has shown the galaxy that your wits are dull and your reach is short.”
Vengean’s lip curled with contempt. “Enough! I will not be patronized or insulted. Beg me. Beg me for mercy, and I will kill you quickly.”
Akuliina laughed aloud, viciously. “I’d like to see the imbecile who takes that offer. There will be no begging.”
Vengean snarled, saber raised. “You will regret mocking me. You will both die in excruciating pain.”
She was already charging to attack, teeth bared in a horrible grin of bloodlust. With another step, another breath, she gathered herself and jumped forward with a roar, crossing twenty feet in the blink of an eye, coming down on Vengean from above.
He flung out his hand and flung her back, slamming her into the wall. She felt invisible bands constrict around her throat and spent the last of her air in a Force scream, throwing one of her lightsabers at him. Then Draahg completed his own charge, and Vengean turned to deal with him.
Akuliina recalled her lightsaber and jumped forward again. Vengean didn’t have enough lightsabers to deal with them both. And now she and Draahg were flanking him. Vengean stepped back to see both of them and she side-stepped with him. The Force was flowing through her, her blood was pumping through her, her eyes were wide with the joy and terror of battle, her teeth clenched and bared in a perpetual murderous snarl.
Vengean punched Draahg in the face and the other Sith reeled back, still less steady than he should have been. Akuliina swooped in, but Vengean had already turned to block her, pulling her forward with a Force grip and meeting her with a roundhouse kick. She barely slipped over it like a high-jumper, landing on the floor on her back, tumbling backwards and springing to her feet again. Draahg had recovered by now and joined her at her side, wiping blood from his lip with a growl.
There were no words exchanged, only a silent breath of synchronization, and then together they charged again. Akuliina outsprinted Draahg, throwing herself to her knees and skidding on the marble floor under Vengean’s lightsaber, which Draahg locked against his own scarlet blade. Akuliina stood with a whirl and attacked Vengean’s back again. She slashed his cape to ribbons, hoping to get at the power armour underneath, but Vengean turned suddenly, striking at her with all his strength, driving her back. She hopped back, defending with a flurry of strokes. He swung again and she had to cross her blades and catch his strike, being forced backwards and downwards by his sheer weight. He kicked her again and this time she didn’t see it coming, sent tumbling back over and over, landing in a heap against a couch. Vengean dashed forward to end her before her bruised ribs would let her stand.
Draahg charged faster, stabbing forward, and his blow connected with Vengean’s shoulder. The Darth’s eyes popped open in surprise and he stumbled foward as Akuliina shouted “yes!” triumphantly, rolling away and back to her feet. Vengean roared and swung his arm, blasting them both back before she could capitalize on it, and swung, scoring Draahg’s armour across the chest. Draahg cried out, clutching one arm across his chest, and Vengean raised his lightsaber.
She’d crawled to her feet, letting loose another Force scream, hurling herself forward faster than Vengean could react, impaling him with both blades at once.
Vengean gurgled harshly, falling forward with a series of jerks, until he finally collapsed to the floor with a sigh and lay still.
Draahg sagged and leaned against a side-table, panting, still covering the rent in his armour across his chest. “For years, I’ve dreamed of vanquishing Darth Vengean. Glad to have had a hand in it. He fought hard and well.” He peered critically at his wound, but it couldn’t have been too deep.
She laughed grimly, wiping the sweat from her forehead. She’d taken a beating. “You don’t get to be a member of the Dark Council unless you can back it up.” She was going to have to get Quinn to check her over in the medbay later.
“I have no delusions I would have survived this battle if it wasn’t for you. This is your victory.”
“You are very strong, too, Draahg. You managed to surprise him.”
“I always held back before. Something Baras told me to do.” He stepped closer, put a finger under her chin, tilting her face up towards him. “But together, we will be unstoppable.”
She arched an eyebrow at his familiarity and stepped back. “Your strength, my speed, and Baras’s planning? Sounds like a plan.”
He showed no reaction to her rejection of his tacit advance. “I look forward to working with you again in the future. Shall we return to our master?”
She bowed and made an ‘after you’ gesture. “My lord.”
He had to chuckle.
She lay awake in her room in her apartment perhaps a week later, staring up at the dark ceiling, completely unable to sleep. She might have made a mistake. A terrible, terrible mistake. Also an embarrassing and awkward one. She sighed in discontent.
“Something wrong?” Quinn asked from beside her, lifting himself to one elbow to look at her.
She frowned at the innocent ceiling, unwilling to answer just yet. “I… I may have made a mistake.”
“Everything seems to be in order…”
She sighed again and sat up, quickly, facing slightly away from him. “No, it isn’t. I… This might have been a mistake.”
He’d reached for her hip as she sat up, and now he stopped. His hand was warm, and she could feel all the callouses on his fingertips, but it was very still. “Why?”
She could feel the anxiety in him even if she couldn’t hear it in his quiet voice. He was worried she was changing her mind, that he had done something wrong. It was neither of those things, and she wasn’t sure how to articulate it. “You are… my weakness now.”
“I’m not sure what you mean.” But already she’d reassured him enough that his hand began to caress her hip, her scarred side; he moved closer to her to reach better.
She let him, and thought for a moment, trying to figure out how to illustrate it. “Do you know of a Sith Lord named Grathan, here on Dromund Kaas?”
“Yes, I’ve heard the name.”
“He had a son. A family. They were murdered recently, just to send him the message that he was not invincible.”
He understood what she was saying, and ceased his caresses again momentarily.
“I was the one to kill them… on Baras’s orders… but that’s not important.” She turned to glance at him over her shoulder. “I don’t want that to happen to you. Or Vette. But mostly you. The thought of you captured or killed, only to hurt me… already weakens me. Upsets me. You are one of my strengths… but you’re also my greatest weakness. Because I will go to great lengths to recover you. Or avenge you.” And they both knew how likely she was to be thinking straight during such an event, and how easily she might be led into a trap. “Or… all Sith turn on each other. It’s only a matter of time. What happens when Baras decides he has no more use for me? Or when I decide I’ve learned all I can from him? What will you do then?”
His pause this time was longer. “Hopefully such a day is still far off.”
“But it is coming,” she reminded him, a little sharply.
He drew closer to her still, sliding both arms around her warmly. He kissed her neck tenderly before he spoke. “Do you think so poorly of my capabilities, or Vette’s? Are we not stronger together, you and I? All of us?”
“Yes, though do not underestimate the Sith, but ending this would not deter my enemies and only make us unhappy again. I just… hate… feeling… vulnerable. Except with you- Ah, ah, Q-Quinn…”
“This is a risk I’m willing to take,” he murmured, deep and arousing in her ear, nibbling at the join between neck and shoulder a little. She reached behind her to stroke his hair; that was all she could reach right now. “And you?”
That wasn’t fair, asking her while making her head spin. “Yes. You are mine. …And I need you, right now.”
As they made love, his eyes were filled with affection for her, affection that she wasn’t sure how to return. All her previous lovers she’d been drawn to for their power – or only their looks. Quinn was handsome, but it wasn’t his power that pulled her in, socio-political or Force-based, it was his competence and his devotion… and the reward of his rare flashes of genuine emotion, whether it was embarrassment, or anger, or affection. Less rare now that they shared a bed (and hadn’t Pierce been snippy when it became obvious). And she knew that one thing about her that drew him was when she revealed a more vulnerable side to him, which was still pretty rare.
She could try, right? Even if this made her weak in the short run, in the long run she was strong enough to keep him in her life. She could show him a softer side sometimes in private. “Oh… M… Ma…”
“Malavai?” he asked, smiling at her.
She blushed. Force lightning, she hadn’t blushed for any reason in ages. “I can’t just say it! It’s- you’re Quinn!”
“But I’m Malavai, too,” he said, sitting up beneath her. “Akuliina.”
“Oh-” He still rarely said her name and it set her off. “Mal- Malavai!”
“Akuliina,” he whispered into her collarbone, arms tightening around her. She nudged his head until he raised it, and kissed him fiercely.
“I won’t be your weakness,” he said when she released him. “You have my word.”
“I won’t let anyone touch you,” she said, alight with determination. “You have my word.”
He kissed her again.