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.
