So how about that Star Wars movie, then? It was okay. There were things about it that I liked. There were things I appreciated. There were things that made NO F***ING SENSE. It was all right for a Star Wars movie. Maybe I’ll make a blog post about it.
Chapter 11: Invasions
Hoth again. Force, why would anyone choose to make even a last desperate hide-out in such a forbidding place, let alone a base of operations? Murlesson had once mentioned ancient Sith Temples and all sorts of ridiculous things. She shouldn’t have been here even once, let alone twice. But she supposed it was a decent place to hide.
That didn’t explain why Baras was trying to hide one of the Empire’s most elite battalions there. Armageddon Battalion was sorely needed on Corellia to aid Lord Vowrawn.
Quinn had suggested seeking out Commander Edmind Slinte, Commander Lanklyn’s replacement, who was hopefully still here. And alive. Slinte was a much less confident man than Lanklyn, younger, more nervous… which hopefully meant he was less overconfident and Baras hadn’t killed him for utter foolishness yet.
She was in luck. When she had shuttled down, the base commander, a Colonel Yudrass, had informed her that Slinte was currently in the base. She didn’t have to go outside.
Ah, there was the boy, looking snappy in his higher-rank uniform. But not comfortable in it. He caught sight of her and blanched. “You. My lord. Is Darth Baras cross with me? Whatever I’ve done, I’ll undo it!”
She smirked and crossed her arms. “Maybe you haven’t heard, on this Force-forsaken snowball. Baras and I are no longer… associates. But that’s not important. I’m here on the Emperor’s behalf to locate General Greist and Armageddon Battalion.”
“Oh, I know where they are,” Slinte said. And hesitated, looking down at his boots. “But… uh… Lord Baras expressly told me their assignment is a secret. And that he’d… kill me if I told anyone.”
“You’re in a tough spot, aren’t you?” she asked, with no sympathy at all. “Because if you don’t tell me where they are, same result.”
“Dead if I do, dead if I don’t.” Slinte sighed, looking most unhappy. “But if I don’t, I’m dead right now, so I guess… I do.”
“That wasn’t a marriage proposal, Slinte,” she teased him. “But tell me what you know.”
He looked askance at the joking. “General Greist and his men have been ordered to sit tight in a cave system not far from here. Here are the coordinates.” He brought out his datapad and transmitted them to her. She grimaced. So she did have to go outside. Wonderful.
Slinte jittered anxiously at her, his fear annoying her rather than feeding her. “Lord Baras choked out Commander Lanklyn via holo. What, uh, do you suggest I do the next time Baras calls?”
She snorted. “Don’t answer. Make him come here to kill you. Do you think he would? He’s a fat old man.”
“Ah, right, right,” Slinte said, catching on. “I’ll do you one better – ‘AWOL’ has a nicer ring to it than ‘dead’. So long, my lord.”
“Goodbye,” she bade him as he trotted away, then paused. “Slinte!”
He whirled, fear sparking in him again. “Y-yes, my lord?”
“I’ll tell you where you’ll be safe from Baras’s reprisals and continue serving the Empire without being branded a deserter,” she said. “But in exchange, once Baras is dead, you will serve me.” She could use a man like him. She would just never give him any vital information.
“I’m listening, my lord,” he said cautiously.
She tapped out a transfer request on her datapad and transmitted it to him. “There. Baras won’t strike against my father until he’s lost all reason; he wouldn’t dare anger one of the highest-ranking nobles of the Kuati court. I’m giving you a demotion back down to Lieutenant: Baras made you Commander in a tantrum and I want to see more proof of your worthiness than that. But you’ll still be in the service. And you’ll be off this place.”
He stared at it, then at her. “I… I have to think about this. That’s very generous of you, my lord.”
“You gave me the information I asked for with a minimum of arm-twisting,” she said. “I expect you to be even more helpful once you serve me directly. If not-” if I fail – I won’t fail “-serving on Kuat is hardly a bad thing.”
“Th-thank you. My lord. Thank you very much.” He turned again and ran off, his steps more excited than before.
“That was good of you, my lady,” Quinn murmured from behind her.
“When he’s mine, I expect you to whip him into shape,” she answered. “Well, it looks like I must go outside after all. Would you like to trade places with one of the others, or shall I go alone?”
She could sense his discomfort with that idea. She knew he hated these extreme temperatures, and she had only brought him along to help find Slinte, but he didn’t like the idea of her going alone either. “That would be inefficient. I’ll remain with you, my lady.”
And he did look fetching in the cold-weather uniform. “Good. Let’s go commandeer some speeders from the droid and find ourselves Armageddon Battalion.”
The Battalion had been found. Akuliina came close to losing her temper at the general’s stubbornness, but namedropping the Emperor and pointing out that there was no conflict on Hoth – none worth speaking of, at any rate – brought him around without loss of life. Not that she would have batted an eye at killing him, but the Empire sorely needed competent officers, especially if he was headed to Corellia, and Quinn’s updates on Moff Broysc’s inadequacies reminded her of it on a regular basis. Quinn appreciated it too, she was certain.
She stepped off the shuttle onto the orbital station and stretched. “Much less work than the last time I was here. Won’t need to take such a long shower this time.”
An explosion rocked the station and they staggered. She frowned – the tremour had come from-
Master! Jaesa’s sense reached out to her, shot with real fear. I – we can’t hold him!
Can’t hold who? Akuliina darted towards the elevator, Quinn at her heels.
It seemed to take an eternity, and Jaesa’s sense fell unconscious before the doors opened to reveal the airlock to her ship transformed into a hellish scene of fire and still bodies.
One man stood in the centre of the destruction, a big, handsome man in power armour with tasteful Sith tattoos on his face.
She allowed herself a sinister smile. “Lord Draahg. And here I thought I wouldn’t get to kill anyone today.”
“You’re looking well, for someone I blew up,” Draahg complimented her. “Your slaves put up a decent fight, too. Darth Baras and I will put them to good use.”
“Over my dead body, of course.”
“Of course, Akuliina dear. Baras is the true Voice of the Emperor, you know. Soon he’ll claim his rightful title.”
“What a lovely reunion,” she said pleasantly, though she could feel a snarl coming on. “You did say last time it would be nice to try and behead me. I know it’ll be nice to behead you.”
“Charming,” he commented, smiling condescendingly. Oh, she was going to remove his head and chop it into unrecognizable bits. “Baras held back when training you, but he taught me everything. And Darth Vengean showed me Dark Side secrets even Baras doesn’t know.”
“I’ll show you mine if you show me yours,” she sneered, and her lightsabers hissed to life. Something else exploded, down in the bottom of the airlock. “Quinn, get the others out of here before this whole tunnel blows.” She sprang forward, almost not hearing Quinn’s confirmation, and met Draahg’s saber with both of hers, dancing away before he could bring his weight to bear.
Oh, she was angry. She was pissed. That Draahg would dare attack her ship and not her. That Draahg had found her so easily. That Draahg thought he could kill her so easily. If it was because she was a woman, she would chop off his balls before beheading him. She let the fury flow through her, building her speed, her strength, giving life to her carefully honed technique. Adrenaline rushed in her veins, feeding off the Force, anticipating his moves, feeling the danger wrapped around her, separated from her body by a hair’s breadth.
She stabbed forward viciously with both sabers and he beat her attack down equally viciously, lightsabers carving grooves through the floor grating with a shriek of distressed metal. She recovered before he could, sabers swinging forward aggressively, and he had to take a step back to maintain distance. He did have greater reach, but he wasn’t so comfortable when she got close, even though then he could lean on her. So she got close, lunging forward with a kick to his knee that did very little to the power armour. His lightsaber pinned her main-hand saber, and he loomed over her, pushing her down and back.
She slashed him across the side with her other saber and drew back. He staggered, but came back upright, his armour smoking a little. He was smiling. “Aw, you think you’re doing well. Sorry to burst your bubble, but I have a secret. I can’t be killed.”
She sneered. “Permit me to test that statement.” Even if he had extensive cybernetics done, even if he’d had weird Force rituals done to him, he was hardly immortal. Only the Emperor was immortal.
He smirked and charged. “You’ll learn the hard way.”
Quinn had returned and was going for Pierce. Only Broonmark was left; could he drag the big furry beast to the elevator? Truth be told, she wouldn’t be terribly cut up if the Talz died. But he was on the crew, and he had sworn his loyalty to her with an honour that his savage kind probably held more dear than life. He was worth a slight effort.
Her duel with Draahg was still happening far too close to her unconscious subordinates, and Draahg took an opportunistic swing at Quinn, who ducked. Not enough, but she was there, lightsabers catching the blow and forcing it back, away from her lover. She followed up with a roundhouse kick to the face. “Mine. Back off.”
“You care too much about your toys, Akuliina dear.”
She swore at him and stabbed him in the shoulder.
He snorted. “Persistent. It’s time I stop prolonging this.”
“Don’t pretend this has been easy for you, Draahg dear.”
“You truly are a lovely woman. It would never be absolutely easy.”
“You sick fool.” She caught Quinn staring as she spun. Yes, this is how Sith flirt. Count yourself lucky.
She was beginning to feel a little tired; she had endurance, but so did Draahg. No. No! More rage! Remember what he did to you! Remember what Baras did to you! It helped, and she swing with renewed vigour.
Even so, the next time their blades locked, her footing slipped. His lightsaber slashed across her side and she shrieked. Staggered backwards, clutched at her side. “My lady!” Quinn cried, blaster out, uselessly – Draahg would only deflect his bolts before mowing him down.
She’d been stabbed in the side before, and she hadn’t been as strong as she was now. She gave a terrible howl of rage and pain, leaping forward, subduing the agony with the Force and battering Draahg back. Suddenly his face had taken on that of Suhail’s, and she was screaming with loss and betrayal as well, and the Force in her voice took him off balance; she felt his Force-defenses falter as surely as he backed away from her physically.
He snarled, no more confident teasing left for her. “All right. All right. You must be the luckiest being in the galaxy. But Darth Baras will see that luck run out.”
There was no such thing as luck. “If I had a credit for every time someone I was about to kill predicted my doom…” Her voice was a hoarse growl, hardly coherent. Either she was about to fail for the first time, or she was going to do something incredible.
Draahg charged at her, and she gathered her strength and leaped high in the air, over his head, flipping head over heels before landing squarely, flinging out her hand and blasting him towards the railing with the Force. He struck it, and it broke under his weight, sending him plummeting down to the inferno blow. She heard his screams with intense satisfaction, and then something new exploded and the screams stopped.
Quinn was walking towards her, glancing over the edge. “He’ll burn to death down there. No less than he deserves.”
“Are the others… safe…” She swooned and fell sideways, catching herself on the railing, which creaked and bent ominously.
“Akuliina!” He caught her before it could give way and she could fall to join Draahg, pulling her back, into his arms, against his chest. “Your injury…”
“I’ll live,” she rasped, leaning against him. “I think. The others.”
“They’re in the station’s medbay. I’ll get you there.”
She hesitated. “Fine.”
She glared back towards the fire where Draahg had fallen… and stuck out her tongue, before letting Quinn half-drag her to the medbay. Behind them, another explosion rocked the tunnel; ahead of them, the elevator opened, and emergency personnel rushed out, brandishing fire extinguishers and repair equipment.
He could have let her fall. Darth Baras clearly meant for her to die here; had probably doubted Quinn’s loyalty and motivation. He could have. Then he would have had resolution to the conflict in his life. In his soul. A bit dramatic, but true.
But he couldn’t have. He’d moved out of reflex. She had saved him from Draahg. The way she’d screamed when she’d been hit, the way she’d screamed afterwards… it had been horrible. He hoped he didn’t have to hear it ever again.
The emergency crews hadn’t recovered her enemy’s body, but the area had become depressurized shortly after he’d made it into the elevator with Akuliina. Perhaps it had been sucked out into space.
Standing at ease, he watched her bob in the kolto tank, her white hair floating mystically about her face. Her eyes cracked open and he caught a gleam of golden glare. She was bored. He could tell already.
Beside him, Vette waved cheerfully. Akuliina waved back groggily.
Beedy-boodoop. It had taken a few days for Moff Broysc to call again. Perhaps he had actually been properly busy for once? Quinn only dared hope. He answered the holocomm and went straight to find Akuliina. “My lady, are you busy?”
“Never too busy for you, Quinn,” she said, smiling. “What do you want?”
“My lady, I have Moff Broysc on holo right now. He’s nearly incoherent. Listening to him as I have over the last few months, I can only assume some sort of dementia has set in.”
He wasn’t prepared for the girlish squeal she made. “Oh, Quinn, is it my birthday? What a dear you are. Quick, how’s my hair?”
“Ah…” He blinked. It looked fine? She always looked aesthetically attractive.
She tutted at him. “You’re no use, you like how I look anyway. Vette!” Vette’s head popped in the door, but Akuliina had already turned away. “No, you won’t do, you don’t even have hair.”
“My lady-”
She chuckled, following him out into the main hold. “I’ve been looking forward to this, Quinn. I expect it to be vastly entertaining. Do put him through.”
“What? What’s going on? Why is hair relevant?” Vette asked. “Ohhhhhh, is this – oh my word, the famous Moff Broysc?”
Emperor, no, Vette was going to mess up everything. Fortunately Akuliina was on the ball. “I know you’re almost as excited as I am, Vette, but do hush while he’s talking. I’ll answer all of your questions later.”
“Right, right! I’ll just be quiet over here.” Vette jumped onto the lounge and curled up comfortably, both hands pressed over her face in an effort to contain herself. He would have been happier if she hadn’t been present at all, but he supposed this was as good as he was going to get. He took a deep breath and released the call.
“…flew the coop!” Moff Broysc bellowed. “Your new cage will be smaller, and tighter! Coffin size! Urn size! In a locket I’ll wear around my neck!”
“He’s unlikely to stop, my lady,” he told Akuliina in a low voice. “He didn’t even know he was on hold. He’s used to me ignoring his calls entirely.”
“Oh my gosh,” Vette whispered, recording it on her datapad. He was tempted to go and snatch it from her, but the ship’s databanks were recording the call anyway. She’d have found it. He prayed she didn’t find the backlog of calls.
“Druckenwell proved my point! My glory is mine! Mine! You’re nobody!”
Akuliina snorted and stepped forward. “Moff Broysc, I presume.”
“What! Who transferred me? I see a Sith! Rodjnik! I’ll station you on Balmorra, too! Get that insubordinate fool back! Now!”
“Rodjnik is his communications officer. This is how it’s been.” He didn’t add how sorry he felt for Rodjnik. In the corner of his eye, he saw more crew members peering into the room and resigned himself to having an audience to his greatest embarrassment.
“Rodjnik, am I through? I’m through? Yes or no? I don’t see- is this broken? All I see is a Sith!”
Akuliina laughed, arms folded, one finger pressed to her full bottom lip. “This is as entertaining as I expected, Quinn. It’s like a destroyer collision – you can’t help but watch.”
“Wait now. I’m understanding this. It was you, Sith, wasn’t it? You dared to liberate the admiral! Have you lost your mind?”
“Admiral?”
“He calls me Admiral Malcontent. He seems to think that’s my actual rank and name.”
She threw back her head and laughed harder. “That’s adorable.”
“Don’t you laugh at me! Don’t you know he’s the one who lost the Battle of Talay?”
“Broysc’s earliest command,” Quinn clarified. Broysc had accused him of it before, and he’d looked it up. “Before I was born.”
“It was his blunder that allowed the escaped Jedi targets to flee Taris before the bombardment!”
“Ancient history,” she said.
“Broysc wasn’t even born,” Quinn agreed.
“He sabotaged the Glory Space Station, for crying out loud!”
“I have no idea what that is,” Quinn said rapidly in exasperation. She laughed wholeheartedly again, and there was a bit of an echoing giggle from the others around the room.
“I hear him! I’m talking! Me! His insubordination is lethal! Paralyzing! It threatens the Empire! And you! Do! Nothing!”
Akuliina’s lip curled in disgust, though she was still struggling to contain her mirth. “You need to be muzzled, lunatic. Locked away before you do any more damage.”
Broysc pointed vehemently at her. “You will not defy me! Fight his disease, Sith! Save yourself and deliver him to me for execution! Now! Are you listening?”
Akuliina’s eyes flashed. She was beautiful when she did that. “I do not accommodate lunatics!”
“Then I accuse you alongside him! Rodjnik, cut transmission! I said cut it now!”
The holoprojector went dark. Quinn sighed and turned to Akuliina. “With Broysc in command of the Third Fleet, in a position of command at all, the Empire is in critical danger. I must implore High Command to do something about him.”
She nodded, still smiling coolly. “If there’s anything I can help with, I will. I wouldn’t put him in command of a bread basket.”
“A statement from Lord Akuliina would be very beneficial. Thank you.”
“Now what are you all doing standing around?” she demanded of the others. “Show’s over. It was very entertaining, now get back to work.”
“Yes, my lord,” Jaesa said, smiling wickedly. “Why not just send me to dispose of this man? I’m a Sith, no one will question it.”
“I’d prefer to go through proper channels before resorting to such things,” Quinn said. Would rather not resort to such things at all. “If regulation is not followed in the Fleet, we are no better than the Republic.”
“Leave it for now, Jaesa,” Akuliina said. “You have more important concerns anyway.”
“That was a treat,” Pierce said. “Can’t believe a buffoon like that exists. Glad I never had to serve under him. Explains why some people are so anal.” He shot a look at Quinn which Quinn ignored. Broysc hadn’t made him a stickler for regulations, but it had made their personality conflict all the greater.
Vette bounced up from the couch, gave Akuliina a quick hug, and scampered off to the cargo hold. “Thanks for letting me watch, it was everything I ever dreamed!”
<I don’t understand. Sith has strange friends,> Broonmark said, also leaving.
He and Akuliina were left standing alone in the middle of the main hold. He restrained another sigh, held back the urge to drop his head onto his chest.
She smirked at him a little. “Well, Admiral, shall we?”
He couldn’t let on just how much that annoyed him. “Onward to Voss?”
“You’ll have to become Admiral before you make Moff,” she reminded him. “You’re not so far away from that grim fate.”
“Yes, my lady.” It still bothered him, and that she would tease him about it, too… But it wasn’t his place to protest, not now. He was on duty.
She sensed it anyway, she must have, with the vaguely sympathetic look she gave him. “Chin up. I’m sure the Imperial diplomatic outpost on Voss has excellent holonet capability. If not, then we’ll go to Vaiken as soon as we’re done there.”
“Thank you, my lady. Your support means much to me.” Don’t think. Don’t think. Don’t let her feel your guilt.
She turned to her cabin. “I’m going to prep my gear. Alert me once we’ve docked with the station.”
“Yes, my lady.”