Instead of the opening between my chest and helmet, his head meets my striking elbow, driving his face back into the ground. "Check mate." Spinning my orange bladed lightsaber, I ram the blade through his back and into his heart and the silver blade into his head. Withdrawing the pair, I deactivate them and store the hilts again before drawing both blaster pistols in their stead. "I'm getting too old for this..."

I rush out of my chamber, wearing ceremonial armor and carrying a sword. My bodyguards follow behind me, weapons in hand. I hold my blade high and give a cry “For the Queen!”.

I skid to a holt when I see Jerus standing over the dead Devaronian. “Oh, you already got him.” Noticeably sulks. “Oh well. Once again, I am indebted to a Je’and. Thank you for your service, my friend.”



Iwan and I circle each other. “You have been abandoned, clone. Your own allies have marked you as a disposable. When you die here, you will be remembered as nothing more than a failed experiment.”



It takes a lot for me to control myself. Jerus was right; Gendry was trying to get inside my head. I couldn’t let him. “It’s funny you should say that. I was about to say the exact same thing... clone!”



With a snarl, I rush in low and Iwan come in high. We meet in the middle with a flurry of blows.

I nod, looking around. "If it helps, I happened upon him trying to find Gendry. Speaking of, we can speak further at a later time, Lord Organa. That psycho is after Korre and her baby and if he gets them, the whole galaxy is in trouble." Nodding to the group, I take off at a run, heading down the path I know that Becca and Jude took. Hopefully I wasn't too late to be of assistance.

[END SCENE?]

I allow Ursa to take the offense, and I backpedal down the hall, blocking and deflecting her feral attack. I fall into the Force, going through the motions without even thinking. It is like a dance, my graceful Echani movements carrying me through each parry, dodge, and counter attack.

Through her fighting, my Echani abilities allow me to pick up Ursa’s hidden thoughts and feelings. I can sense that she is not fighting out of anger or hatred, but out of devotion to something she feel strongly about. Perhaps it is Sucal’s goals, or perhaps it is simply a devotion to Gendry. Either way, she believes she is fighting for a good cause, and that is not good.

Luckily, I can also sense her over confidence. By allowing her to think she is winning, I have drawn her into a false sense of security. I swiftly take advantage of this by finally unleashing my full abilities, knocking her blade aside and slashing up her left side. She is skilled enough to pull away as my saber slices up, saving her from any lethal injury, but she is too slow to stop me from sending several locks of her hair, as well as her left ear, spinning away from her head.



“Ahhh!” I collapse to my knees, dropping my weapons and clutching the side of my head. My fingers probe at the spot where my ear once was, and I look up in horror at the white haired woman. “I... I will not beg. Kill me quickly.” I try not to tremble as I speak.



My lightsaber cleaves through her the hilts of hers, rendering them useless. I shake my head, giving a heavy sigh before turning off my lightsaber. “Unlike your masters, I don’t kill unarmed prisoners. Get out of here, and remember the mercy I showed you. I doubt Gendry or Sucal would show you the same if you went crawling back to them a failure.”

Ursa scowls at me, but does as I tell her and runs away. Perhaps o should have taken her prisoner, but I couldn’t see the point. She was obviously not anyone of rank. Just one of Gendry’s followers. Maybe by sparing her life today, it allows her to find a better path... or perhaps not. Only time would tell.

I pull out my comm. “Jude, I’m finished up here. Did you and Korre make it out?” I wait, but there is no answer. “Jude, do you copy?” I wait longer, and when there is still no reply, I curse and put the comm away, heading in the direction they went. I pray to every god I every Alien pantheon that they aren’t in trouble.



If Becca’s fight with Ursa could be described as a dance, my fight with Gendry is a brawl. Neither of our fighting styles, my Form One and his Form Seven, involve much finesse. It is simply two angry men clashing blades.

And though I hate to admit it, he is more skilled at it than me. I spend the majority of the fight in defense mode, practically running away from him down the hall as he hacks and slashes at everything in his path. I try my best to slow him down and hopefully lead him AWAY from Korre, but I fear I won’t be able to keep this up for long.

I throw myself though a doorway that, to my surprise, leads to a sort of old church. There are statues of what I assume are Jedi standing around the candle lit chamber, and I almost immediately feel a wash of relief and a recharge of energy. As Gendry follows after me, I reach out with the Force and begin hurling chairs and benches at him. I felt bad about wrecking this sacred place, but I was confident the Jedi spirits would understand.

Slashes through the furniture as it comes flying towards me, sending the chunks of smoldering wood flying to either side of me. "Come on now! Is that the best you can do, Clone?! Chairs and tables?!" Before he can lift more, I throw a blast of lightning in his direction.



I leap out of the way, and the lightning strikes one of the statues, blowing a small chunk out of it's side. I roll to my feet and hold my lightsaber defensively, ready to block whatever attack he throws at me next.



"Pathetic! I can sense the weakness in you. You obviously didn't inherit my abilities." I cast another blast of lighting at him, this time letting it drag across the floor after him as he tries to escape it.



I try to use my lightsaber to block as I run, but I am unable to catch the full blast on my blade. A few bolts break through and hit my side, sending me sprawling into the alter at the far end of the room. The wind is knocked out of me, and I can hear Gendry's obnoxious laugh echoing across the chamber.

Before Gendry can move in, a loud battle cry rings out behind him. "For hearth and home!" And then a repulsor shield hits him from behind, sending the deranged Sith sprawling. "You are an enemy of the Sith Hunters and of House Organa and all of Alderaan. I cannot let you leave alive." A young man in functional yet ornate white battle armor stands tall, wielding his repulsor shield and a pulsing blade of strange design, electric energy running along the length of the blade. "Sorry I'm late, Mister Starsnow, we members of the Star Barrier Battalion don't get mobilized often."

I don’t reply, but I try to give a grateful nod as I stagger to my feet.



Rolls back to standing, giving the white armored Organa a menacing look. “You shouldn’t have done that. You’d have lived longer.” Throws another blaster of lighting, this time at Dren.

Raising my shield, I deflect the blast of lightning off to the side with a flick of my wrist before closing impossibly fast with Gendry, the sword arcing in at his flank from the right. However, there is clearly no Force augmentation involved, as Gendry can sense nothing from me. As he moves to block my blade, the shield strikes out, the edge connect with his gut and sending him flying. "Suppose you deserve an explanation before we get too much into this. Star Barriers are cybernetically augmented to let us match a Sith's speed and strength, subsequently, we can match a Jedi as well, though that's not important. We don't have your Force powers, but our equipment helps make up for that."

I easily land on my feet, skidding across the floor. This Dren's blow caught me off guard, a mistake I would not allow to happen twice. "A cyborg, huh? Well... I always did enjoy taking apart droids. Let's see if you are more machine than man."



"No!" I shout as I regain my footing. "Your fight is with me! No one else needs get involved!"



"Shhh!" I reach out and crush the base of the statue I'd blasted earlier, causing it to topple over on top of Iwan, pinning him down. "Quite, clone. I'll deal with you later." I spin my lightsaber and charge Dren, unleashing a flurry of powerful blows.

My shield and blade work are near flawless as I block Gendry's attacks, though a few of his blows did connect with my armor, leaving dents and nicks where the lightsaber struck and knocking the wind out of me when he started kicking and punching in supplement. In response, when he presents an opening, I punish it, using my repulser shield to deliver powerful blunt force blows to exposed limbs and torso.

I spin away, getting a few feet of distance between myself and the cyborg. Curling my fingers into claws, I violently grasp Dren and hurl him against the wall, then fire another powerful blast of Sith lighting at him. His armor was strong, but if what he said was true, a large portion of his body was cybernetic, which was notoriously vulnerable to lightning attacks.



I try to draw on as much of my energy as I can to lift the statue off of me, but I am not strong enough. I had to get free and rejoin the fight soon before Gendry escaped. This Dren Organa was skilled, but even he wasn't enough to stop Gendry alone.

I manage to get my shield up between myself and the worst of the lightning, but some of it still makes it through, not to mention that the sheer force of the blast sends me flying through the wall into the next room, where I'm slightly buried under the rubble. "Wonderful," I mutter, "I can already hear the Lord Knight reprimanding me for not waiting for my sword brother..."

I begin to stalk towards the fallen Organa. "Don't worry. Your Lord Knight will be too busy mourning you to remember your failings." Smirks. "In a way, I'm doing you a favor. Death over dishonor, as they say?" As I prepare to drive my blade through the trapped cyborg, I can hear a rumbling from behind me. I turn in surprise. "Impossible..."



I stand, holding the massive statue over my head. "We... aren't.... finished!" I throw the statue at Gendry, then reactivate my lightsaber and charge in it's wake.



I lift my hands to stop the statue with the Force, but it is coming too fast, so I bail out of the way at the last moment, causing the statue to smash into the wall and block the whole through which Dren fell. I roll to my feet just as Iwan comes crashing down at me, and I pivot in time to blade lock with him. "Persistent, aren't you, clone?"



Grits teeth, pushing hard against his blade. "For the last time." I begin raining heavy strikes down on his defense. "I'M!" slash, "NOT!" slash "A!" slash "CLONE!!!!" My final blow is powered with the Force, and to my surprise, I am able to knock Gendry backwards, sprawling onto the floor.



My eyes widen. This one was stronger than I thought. Before he can advance on me, I hold both hands out in front of me. One fires lightning and the other sends a telekinetic blast, sending Iwan stumbling away. While he is disoriented, I clamber to my feet and jump up to the ledge of one of the many stained glass windows that circle the sanctuary.

I see Gendry jump to the second level, and I follow quickly after him. As I do, Gendry throws his lightsaber end over end towards me. I tuck in my legs and spin aside, allowing the blade to pass harmlessly by me. I land shakily on the balcony where Gendry is now weaponless. Without hesitation, I charge at him again.



As Iwan comes in, I channel power to my hands. I do what I can to dodge is sloppy attacks, and those I can't dodge I deflect with my hands, which are protected by Tutaminis. I try to recall my lightsaber to me, but Iwan is relentless in his onslaught. I was lucky he had such little training or else I'd have been in trouble.

Eventually, as I sweep his blade aside one my hand, I create an opening and drive a Force augmented fist into his sternum, sending him staggering back. With a few seconds reprieve, I turn and summon my lightsaber back to my hands and activate it's crimson blade just in time to meet Iwan's acid green.



I breath heavily in through my nose, and out through my mouth. I use this moment of blade lock to look Gendry in his face... MY face. "What is your mothers name?"



Is taken slightly aback by this. "What?"



"Your MOTHER!" I push against his blade, forcing him to give ground. "What was her name!? Say it!"



Scoffs, breaking the blade lock and sweeping at Iwan's legs. "Don't waste my time!"



Leaps over his sweep, snapping my foot out to connect with his jaw. Once I land, I follow up with an overhead strike, which Gendry easily parries. "You don't know it, do you? What about your father? What's his name?" I draw upon my disdain for him, my hatred of everything he represents, and, of course, how he's practically stolen my identity. "Prove you aren't the clone! Tell me who your parents are!"

I can see the fury building in Iwan's eyes. Normally, I would encourage this in order to destabilize him. But... it's actually working in his favor at the moment. That and, strangely enough, his words. Something about what he is saying is striking a cord with me; distracting me. I try to summon more power to overcome Iwan's blade lock, but I can't focus as well. Instead, I push his lightsaber to the side just enough for me to escape and roll away.



I start towards Gendry, not allowing him much time to recover. He was still more skilled than me, but if I kept him on the defensive, I could overcome. "Say their names! Who are your parents?! Say it!"



"I don't know!" I blurt out in frustration, charging Iwan with an angry flurry of slashes. They weren't as accurate as they should have been though. My body was half a step behind my mind, or perhaps it was the other way around. I tried to concatenate on the fight, but all I kept thinking about was... growing up under Salazar Greshh' tutelage. He'd raised me for as long as I could remember, but what was before that?

A spike of panic goes through me as I realize what's happening; I'm doubting myself. This... CLONE is making me doubt myself!!

With an roar of frustration, I slam Iwan into the railing, pinning his blade to the side as I try to force him over the edge. "You're talking nonsense, you little shit! My mother and father were killed in a Republic bombardment. They died before I knew them!" I shouldn't have even entertained the topic, and I hated how desperate I sounded. "You... you were designed to trick me! Zar'kun is a clever man, but I'm not falling for it! You are NOTHING to me, CLONE!"



I deactivate my lightsaber, allowing Gendry's blade to cut through the railing, then I reactivate my blade and slash upwards. Gendry's head snaps back, and a ragged gash from the cover of his mouth to his right ear opens. He tumbles backwards onto the windowsill.

Korre, Xan and I make it outside at last. Annoyed, I bend down to look Xan in her face. "You gonna sit there the whole time? I'm sick of wheeling you around! You're slowing us down!" When she doesn't respond, I grab her shoulders and shake her. "I know you can here me! STOP PRETENDING!!"



"That's enough, Jude! You aren't helping!" I look around for a means to escape back to the Sith Hunter base. There is no speeder or ship nearby. "Oh, we shouldn't have left Iwan alone. You should have helped him fight!"



"It was him or you. I made my choice." Grabbing Xan's arm, I press a button on her wrist that signals her yacht to autopilot to our location. "We'll be out of here soon. Just hold tight."



I give him a worried look. "I hope the ship gets here soon. I have a bad feeling about this."



As Gendry struggles to stand, I walk slowly towards him. "Lyarra Starsnow. Long raven hair, brilliant blue eyes, skin pale as moonlight. Her smile was the sun shining through the trees, and her voice was the song of birds in the morning. Lyarra Starsnow was my mother's name. I remember her. She raised me until the day she died. YOU are nothing but a copy."



I stagger to my feet, my hand immediately going to the searing pain in my cheek. My jaw hangs slightly slack do to a severed ligament, and I can feel the inside of the mouth through the gash. In the slight reflection of the glass window, I look like I am wearing a permanent half smile stretching up to my ear. I scream out in pain and horror. "My... FACE!"



"No, MY face. You're just wearing it." I raise my lightsaber. "But not for much longer."



Letting my pain and anger fuel me, I reactivate my blade and charge at Iwan, slashing and him with everything I have. I don't use any form or technique. I'm fighting blindly, guided only by my need to destroy. All other thoughts were blocked out. Nothing else mattered, not even my mission to take Korre back to Sucal. All I cared about anymore was destroying this horrible doppelganger.



I give ground, forced onto the defensive. I did not expect Gendry to still have any energy left. I guess he was truly as tenacious as Zar'kun and Jerus had warned. But I still had one advantage; I was focused. While Gendry let all of his energy out, I was taking it all back in, using his own wrath against him. I almost enjoyed seeing Gendry distressed. Some deep dark part of me was feeding off of it, and making me stronger. The more he unleashed, the better I blocked, spun, and dodged.

And finally, when Gendry's rage had caused him to faultier, I raised my hand back send a powerful blast of lighting into his chest, sending him flying backwards like a rag doll into the stained glass window, causing it to shatter into a million pieces and sending the would-be Sith Lord tumbling to the ground below.

I hear a window shatter, and I look up to see somebody plummet down into the courtyard nearby in a rain of glass. A moment later, I see Iwan climb onto the windowsill and jump down after him. "That was Iwan!" I shout to Jude, then take off running in his direction.



"Korre, stop! Oh, you stupid..." I run after her, leaving Xan behind.



I land hard on the stone courtyard, covered in bleeding cuts all over my body from the shattered glass, and tingling still from the lightning blast. For a few seconds, I lay there, blinking away the darkness that threatens to plunge me into unconsciousness. Then, as my vision clears, I see Iwan jump from the window and land on his feet.

Weakly, I roll onto my stomach and reach out towards where my lightsaber landed several feet away. It begins to quiver as my telekinesis takes hold of it, and I try to draw it to me. I was not ready to lose yet. If I could only just...



Seeing what Gendry is doing, I stomp on his outstretched hand, hopefully breaking a few bones. To make extra sure, I bring my lightsaber around a sever the arm at the elbow.



Screams in pain, I pull away, staring in disbelief at the stump of my right arm. I begin crawling away from Iwan, struggling to get my feet out from under me. As soon as I plant my left foot on the stone, though, I hear Iwan's blade hum again, and feel a hot pain through my calf. I collapse to the ground once again, my left leg falling away from another burning stub.



I watch Gendry struggle for a moment, taking in just how pathetic he has become. No more smart quips or barbs to throw at me now, huh? All that power he bragged of, yet look at him now; one arm, one leg, and a scarred face.

But that was only the beginning. With the Force, I lift Gendry up by his throat and turn him to face me. "This was a long time coming! I told you I'd finish you in the end! You hurt people, did terrible things, harassed a poor, innocent young woman... and you did it all with my face!" I tighten my grip, raising him higher into the air. "I think you've worn it long enough." I slam him down face first onto the glass strewn cobblestone. I kneel down, grabbing him by the hair and begin slowly grind his face into the glass and stone.

I run up to the edge of the courtyard, stopping as I see the long smears of blood all across the cobblestone. I am horrified to see Iwan dragging a bloody, beaten corpse across the courtyard, kicking and punching it while screaming in blind fury. He hurls the body onto it's back, and I gasp as I see that it's face is completely mangled; all the flesh is flayed away and hanging ragged down it's cheeks. It doesn't even resemble a human being anymore. But the most horrible thing of all is that it isn't dead. I can see the chest rising and falling, and hear the labored wheezing of it's breath.



I kneel down over Gendry, seething with hate. I hold him by the collar as I mercilessly punch him over and over again in the pulpy mass where his face used to me. Blood and spit flies in every direction and I do everything in my power to destroy everything that makes us alike. I wanted him to die feeling all the pain he'd caused to others, and knowing that, in the end, he was nothing. Just a copy with no right to live. I continued to rain punch after punch until he would finally drowned in his own blood and die, slowly and painfully.



"Iwan, stop! Please, STOP!!" I cry out.



I hear Korre’s voice, and immediately my rage melts away. I catch myself mid punch, looking up in surprise and, as I look into her horrified face, I am overcome with shame. “Korre... I...” as I stammer for words to explain my actions, I don’t notice Gendry’s fingers wrapping around a long shard of glass. I do not sense his sudden movement until it is too late to counter, and I gasp as the shard tip plunged deep into my throat.

"IWAN!!!" Gendry immediately passes out, the last of his strength used us for one final attack. Iwan clutches at the glass shard lodged deep in his throat, and thick blood runs down his neck and from his mouth. I try to run to his side and help him, but I suddenly feel all my muscles tense up, and I can't move.



I hold my hand out, using the Force to freeze Korre in place. I can see Iwan and Gendry laying atop each other, both dying in the court yard, but I ignore it. "I'd through with playing this game. We're leaving now!" I grab her roughly by the arm and hold my inactive lightsaber to the small of her back so she knows I am not fooling around. I then drag her back towards Xan's yacht. Or rather, it WAS Xan's yacht, but now has been re-branded as my personal starship, the Ryder's Revenge. It's former owner, Xanthippe Naberrie, has been tossed out of her chair and lies in a heap next to the loading ramp.



I struggle to break free of Jude's mental control, but I can't. My body won't respond to me. I am forced to walk towards the ramp of the ship. As I go, I look down at Xan laying in the grass. "Senator..." I manage through to croak. "Help... me!"



I push Korre onto the ship, then squat down to look Naberrie in her face. "This is your fault. If you'd only done what was needed earlier, all the people who died today could have been spared... and your handmaiden would not have to suffer." With a look of contempt, I turn away, grabbing Korre once again and forcing her into one of the passenger cabins. I then lock the door so she can't escape and hurry to the cockpit.

My commlink is buzzing still. Becca Twilight is trying to contact me again. I ignore it and punch in the commands to lift the Ryder's Revenge off of the grass, and I pilot it away from Organa Castle, away from the Sith Hunter base, and away from Alderaan. As I type in coordinates for Coruscant, I bring up the ships comms. "This is Jude. I have the vessel and I'm headed to your location. See you soon, Hayden."

END OF SCENE

P.S.



After the ship had taken off, I appeared from my hiding spot and rushed to where Darth Hexxus and his doppelganger lay together. I push the one bleeding out from his neck aside and grab my master's nearly lifeless body. Channeling as much Force power as I can, I am able to preform a trick Darth Trayus taught me; opening up a small portal to envelop the both of us, vanishing us from the scene and leaving only Iwan alone behind.

END OF MINI SCENE