Post by Gabe© on Apr 14, 2007 18:48:32 GMT -5
"...the time has come. Execute Order 66."
Snap-hiss.
"She's over here!"
Gasping for breath. Pain, like a red hot knife, slicing into fatigued muscles. Focus! Gasp again as heartbeat thunders in eardrums.
"Blaster her!"
The report of heavy weapons. Elite soldiers, once friends and now bitterest of foes...betrayal. Heartbeat skipping when a tree just a dozen feet away explodes in a cloud of vaporized wood.
Chancellor...Emperor Palpatine, declared Jedi to be an Akk Wolf in Shaak's clothing. Lies! Betrayal!
Dark resolve. Kill him.
Time to stop this chase.
Time to end it all.
She slipped behind a massive tree and paused, her eyes narrowing as she extended her will. Moments passed before she detected each and every clone trooper that had been ordered to pursue her. Let them come, she thought. They will only be the beginning!
She let her anger wash over her, cleansing the toxins from her muscles; giving her the energy to go on. Her eyes glittered with anger at the Jedi for being weak enough to allow this. Anger at the Sith, at the people, at the Senate..
Weakness was all around her, but she wouldn't let that stop her revenge.
"My scanner isn't picking her up anymore," one of the troopers said quietly. "She just vanished!" The trooper cursed, knowing it to be nothing but a Jedi trick, cloaking one's life signs using one of a half dozen techniques. The Jedi had to be nearby, or the motion detectors that floated in the air all throughout the forest would have picked her up. That suggested she was nearby, hidden...and dangerous as only a cornered creature in fear for its life could be.
Each trooper tightened his grip on his firearm, a trickle of uneasiness slipping through the cool professionalism that each had pounded into him since they were all floating in cloning tubes. That uneasiness only caused each and every one of them to redouble their alertness, their muscles hair-triggers ready to move with the reflexes of Mandalorian warriors.
She dropped from the foliage overhead, her lightsaber blazing as its monotonous drone was suddenly audible. As each trooper turned and looked up, the very sight of her eyes, blazing with murderous intent, was enough to crack the armor of their training. Fear, real fear, was felt. She sensed that fear, which gave her power. Gave her the ability to survive this confrontation.
The first trooper, the one upon whom she dropped down upon, fell to the ground as the Jedi's lightsaber clove him two. The smell of charred flesh rose up in the Jedi's nose, causing her to grin with pleasure.She would not be weak. She would find Palpatine. She would end this before it truly began.
"Fire!" the clone commander screamed as he squeezed the trigger of a massive light repeating blaster cannon. The trees around the troopers and the single Jedi lit up, exploded, or simply caught on fire as blaster bolts struck them mercilessly. The Jedi dove, spun, rolled, and flipped, the power of her rage driving her on like a starving wampa who sighted a wounded tauntaun. The power of her rage, however powerful, was unmatched by the skill upon which she wove her lightsaber. Each move was precisely controlled, yet the appearance of chaos allowed the enemies around her no insight into her patterns, no chance to create a defense.
It appeared to each and every clone trooper, as he felt that lethal blade remove arms, legs, heads, and upper torso, that she had a dozen arms and a dozen blades. Like she was a creature bred to slay, to destroy. As the clone troopers died, they saw not a Jedi, but a monster. It was enough for her, for the fear to remain until the bitter end, for it to empower her and give her the strength to go on when even Master Yoda would have fallen beneath his enemies.
"Enough!" a voice boomed, filled with power and command. The Jedi stopped, as did the troopers that still survived. They all turned to a source of that order, a tall warrior who had a gauntleted hand on the side of a tree. Power, unbridled and filled with a hate that dwarfed that of the Jedi, shone fully on everyone present. "Commander, you will order your men to withdraw. There was no chance for you to defeat this Jedi. I will deal with her."
"But Lord Vader," the clone commander said, "What is so special about this Jedi?"
"This Jedi," Lord Vader said as he stepped away from the tree and ominously drew his lightsaber, "Is the last master of the greatest lightsaber style. Good day to you, Master Depa Billaba."
Depa Billaba sneered as she seemed to bask in the hatred of Lord Vader, using his power to replenish her own energies. It was the greatest ability of a user of Form Seven..or Vaapad. The ability to use every weapon, every advantage, of the enemy against him. Her sneer faded as her eyes narrowed. "Skywalker," she said in a voice that echoed with contempt, "I will see you on the ground, writhing in pain by the end of this fight." Her body shifted as she slipped into the Vaapad stance, the Force shimmering around her as Vader's black armor lit up with her focus. Her surrounding faded, becoming mere extensions of her will, to be used to her advantage.
Vader approached, activating his lightsaber and raising his blade up to the Djem So position. He had heard stories of Master Billaba's fighting prowess. It was said she surpassed Mace Windu himself when it came to the Vaapad form. This knowledge both worried and thrilled Vader, for the worthwhile challenge was all he could expect for the rest of his days. Padme was gone. His children lie unborn. There was nothing but this for him. "I no longer go by that name, Master Billaba. Now prepare to join your master in Hell."
When Master Depa Billaba attacked, it was with the focus that only a Jedi Battlemaster could possess. Her eyes were twin receptors, focused on Vader with every rod and cone concentrating on his stance, the position of his thumb on the hilt of his lightsaber, the slightest shift in his feet. Her body seemed to flow, finding the perfect balance between Light and Dark.
For the first time since his battle over a year ago with his former master, Darth Vader felt true fear.