The Devil Takes Hold

[ShadowWalker]

This was it, the moment he'd been waiting for. After three long years of tracking, searching, hoping against all odds he'd finally catch up to him. And now here was his moment. He'd finally caught up to Draco. He'd finally got him to where he could try to talk some sense into the lost Jedi. And yet, now the times were grim as ever. Draconis had lost himself into the dark side of the force, and threatened to form a Force Scion. He couldn't let him complete the ritual. John just sighed as he was close to another death defying mission, maybe even a chance to rejoin his squad. Blake knew that they had to do this. He grabbed his Heavy Repeater Blaster, and walked towards the ramp. It was time to get this over with. John put his helmet on, the memories of his squad with him. He grabbed his Blaster rifle, and walked to the off ramp. His mind hardened, his iron will taking hold. He wouldn't let anyone down, and since he was acting squad leader of the team sent to take down the power core, he remembered the one phrase he kept close to him. "First one in, last one out, even if it means leaving in a body bag," John loaded his rifle, and Blake spun up his repeater as they mentally steeled themselves for what was to come.

The ramp hissed as it lowered and John, Blake and Phiro readied themselves for an all out assault. Blake and John stormed out rifles raised, getting ready to dive for cover against oncoming fire, when, nothing came. The hangar was empty, sizeable, and quiet. Save for a ship that had been here long before theirs, an expensive yacht by its looks, the hangar's only occupants was the invading force that Phiro had assembled. John looked over to Phiro, and saw that look in his eye. He was so close to his objective, he wouldn't fail this time. He sensed the doors that Draconis had taken, and jogged over to them, as he spoke to John, more or less shouting at him.

"Get your team together and rig this station to blow,"

John just shook his head at the Jedi, he was going to get himself killed. He spoke simply.

"Aye aye, stay alive sir,"

Phiro didn't bother responding, in fact, he didn't even bother waiting for the others to get to him before he got to the doors. Draconis couldn't get away this time, he had to stop him. Reaching the doors he used the force to rip them open, as he called out to the group that was to be following him.

"Hurry we don't have much time!"

 

[Sisk_Renelo]

Sisk moved into the station, alone, his right hand holding his Beskad, and his left gripping a ripper pistol. He had left the gunship and his fellows behind almost ten minutes before, and had been moving steadily through the halls, his blade stained with the blood of the cultists who had been stupid enough to get in his way. Checking the chrono is his helmet, he was sure that Delmon should be placing charges right about now. And according to the schematics, he should be reaching the other group soon. A cultist ducked around the corner in front of him, and Sisk's blade flashed, separating the Rodian's head from his shoulders, not even breaking stride. A door stood in front of him, and Sisk hit the open button with the butt of his pistol. It slid open, and Sisk stepped into the hangar the other's had landed in.

That blasted Jedi had just ripped open a far set of doors, and was hollering something unintelligible at the group behind him. Sisk zoomed in, and his mind went cold as he recognized one. "Xanthus." The thought was angry, menacing, and Sisk swore that if the assassin moved in a threatening manner, he would take his head. But he forced those thoughts aside, and used a quick burst from his jetpack to get him to the door, landing in a near sprint near the twisted metal, and passed through the door, following the Jedi. "This is so sloppy. No corners, not cover, nothing. I can't believe he's made it this long." But Sisk was there to ensure the Scion did not surface, and to save the people of the galaxy from a fate worse than death. He would sacrifice anything, including himself, to stop it.

Cultists moved in from all directions, and Sisk's pistol barked constantly, every shot felling an enemy, every stroke a kill. The pounding in the back of his skull was getting worse, and it took great effort to push it away. Through all this, he kept his eyes moving, looking for any sign of the holocrons that would enable this dark ritual. He didn't care how many dark users were here, by the end of this they would all be nothing but dust, their dark teachings destroyed.

 

[ShadowWalker]

Phiro rushed through the hallway, leaving the battle that was quickly forming in the hangar and surrounding halls. He rushed down the halls as he followed his twin's trail. He didn't bother with anything else as he rushed forward and finally found his brother standing in a room, that was vast, and not very clearly lit. He could make out chains in the far wall, and from what he could see, the room was quite large in all three dimensions. He stopped cold in his tracks as he looked at the beskar'garm clad twin, and called out to him.

"Draconis!"

The figure, Draco's head snapped up to look his brother in the eye under his helmet. He looked at his twin as he spoke coldly, almost like he was dead.

"Hello brother,"

"Draconis, stop this madness!"

"What madness brother? This? This is not madness. It is power. So much power, my new master will show me so much,"

Phiro was aghast at the comment. He couldn't be this far gone. But he felt something else call to him. To destroy his brother. He had to give him a chance though.

"Draconis, I will give you one last chance to stop this, and turn from this path. It will only lead to your demise, now let go of this, come back Draconis,"

The figure paused like he was considering the offer, but then spoke again, and as he spoke, something stirred in front of him. It was a body, which cracked loudly as bones snapped back into position and it stood up unnaturally. Phiro could feel the force working through it, but otherwise this body was dead, a husk. It was the Crusader that Weiss had sent.

"Now dear brother, it is you, all of you that will die if you do not try to appease my new master, and me. Your power will become one with mine, and I shall grow stronger. Kneel, submit to me, as you know that you were always inferior to me,"

Phiro's fist clenched as both of his lightsabers flew to his hands, but didn't ignite.

"Draconis, that was your last chance. I will not submit to the dark side, nor you. You'll pry the force from my cold dead body before I submit to you,"

"Then prepare to die!"

Phiro muttered as his lightsabers ignited, and he began his sprint towards his brother.

"I was kinda hoping you'd say that,"

He rushed forward as his lightsabers spun through the air, and he watched as his brother pulled the double bladed lightsaber to his hand, and his single blade to his other. The crimson double blade ignited as he threw it through the air, it spun as it headed straight for Phiro's head. Phiro dropped to his knees and slid underneath the double blade as it sailed past him, and he watched the husk sail over him as well, heading straight for Sisk. He pushed himself to his feet with the force and brought his lightsabers up to meet Draco's single blade. Draconis growled at Phiro as he held him with the single blade, and then pushed him back with the force, intending to impale him with the double blade on the return arc. Phiro spun and deflected it to the side with his lightsabers, and the double blade flew back to Draco's hand. He deactivated and put away his own single blade, and held his double blade before him as he waited for Phiro to make the first move. The fight had begun.

 

[Sisk_Renelo]

Sisk's beskad was already moving, and Sisk sidestepped, allowing the husk to sail past him. As it did, he slashed downwards, severing the things head from the rest of its body. It flopped to the floor, and The Mandalorian turned back towards the two brothers. His eyes narrowed inside his buy'ce,and with his left hand drew his pistol, sighting down it quickly and firing more from instinct than anything else. The two husks rushing for Phiro's back dropped, and Sisk advanced, the pistol steady, and his beskad held in a reverse grip.

"This is exactly why you needed me along." Sisk's eyes were cold and hard behind his t-visor, and with another step he brought himself equal with the Jedi. His readouts were flashing at him, and with a quick look, he identified why. The Holocrons being used to fuel this dark ritual were arranged in a meaningful symbol in the middle of the room, the tops open and emitting a red glow. If you listened close enough, he was almost sure that there was an almost audible scream emanating from them.

Sisk wracked his brain, sifting through all of the information they had forced him to absorb in the Jedi Temple when he was young. If he remembered the lessons about holocrons, they could be destroyed, but only with a sufficiently powerful strike. Well, Sisk was carrying enough firepower on his person to kill a small army, and that should be more than enough. He raised his beskad into a defensive position in front of him, and slowly slid his pistol home. With his now free hand, he pulled a pair of thermal detonators from his belt, hiding the movement with his body as he surreptitiously armed them, setting the fuse for 30 seconds.

"Phiro, keep him busy." The words were quiet, meant to only be loud enough for his ally of convenience to hear them. "I'm going to break left, and try to deal with those holocrons. Keep some distance between you and that little stockpile of his."

 

[ShadowWalker]

The Jedi was too busy dueling with Draco to hear the words as the two traded blow after blow, parrying each other's moves as the force began to flow through each, speeding their movements, and causing their blades to become a blur, and hum loudly as they dueled.

However, the husk that fell with a thud to Sisk's decapitation, didn't stay "dead". Instead after the Mandalorian moved past it, the husk reignited its lightsabers and advanced on the Mandalorian, its headless form holding twin crimson blades as it advanced more cautiously, and then raised it's left blade for a strike to come across the Mando's abdomen, as its other blade was readied to deflect a counter blow from Sisk. Their hum would be loud enough to tip the Mandalorian off that the Crusader wasn't dead yet.

Meanwhile Phiro and Draconis were fighting rapidly, spinning as their blades met each others as each warrior fought for an edge, any edge that could be used to gain the upper hand. Draco used the double blade well, like a master as he fought with moves that he shouldn't know, but did. But Phiro was hardened enough in his own form to be able to go toe to toe with his possessed twin, and matched him as the two viciously struck at each other, and from any outsiders view the two's fight, they appeared to be dead even in skill. And they'd be right. Finally Draconis and Phiro locked blades together as they fought to overpower each other with strength, and Draco finally got the upper hand.

Using his much larger affinity to the force, Draconis fueled his strength and his rage to send a shove through Phiro to cause him to fly back and slam into the bulkhead. Phiro dropped to the ground with a thud, and crawled to his knees as he tasted blood from the impact. Phiro realized that he needed something to counter his brother's strength. He looked up and spoke to Draconis.

"So is this what you want Draconis? To become a monster, to be a slave to the dark side of the force?"

His brother paused as he looked at Phiro with malice and felt his rage build even more.

"I AM SLAVE TO NO ONE!" He roared as he charged at his brother, the double blade slicing through the air as it spun and readied to split Phiro in two.

Phiro leaped into the air and landed on a durasteel I-beam going across the ceiling. Draconis was right behind him in this maneuver roaring as his rage overtook him, and Phiro continued to speak while dodging and parrying his brother's blows.

"And yet you are a slave to your rage and fear Draconis! You let this madness seep into your mind to overcome you when it promised power and control. But you are not in control!"

Draco roared his reply as he sent a sweep that Phiro had to leap over to avoid.

"I am in control, my mind is my own! I choose to obey my master!"

"Are you? Are you really? Is that what you've become then? A mindless, savage, angry freak!"

Phiro could tell his words hit a nerve when Draconis roared and sent a force wave at him, and using his more fine control over the force, Phiro planted himself to the beam, and parted the wave around, redirecting only part of it. Draconis was charging quite angrily as he held his blade to the side and prepared to unleash another bitter assault onto Phiro.

 

[Dmitri]

Aboard his ship, Geist sensed that Sisk was aiming to destroy some of the holocrons. Zabic hadn't yet retrieved them yet. He did not want them destroyed. They contained too much information. He couldn't control Sisk at this distance, but he could connect with his mind. He sent a telepathic message to Sisk.

'I'm neutralizing the effects of the holocrons,' Geist telepathically informed Sisk. 'It matters not if we destroy the holocrons now. Draconis has already obtained the information he needs. Help Phiro first. Do you want him to fail? His opponent is one who's immersed himself in the Force. He cannot hope to achieve victory alone. If he is not stopped now, it will matter not if the holocrons are destroyed; Draconis would have already won.'

He hoped Sisk would abide by his warning. In truth, it was full of truth. Geist regretted not going to Lacrima himself. Phiro would have a hard time combating Draconis alone. Geist hoped that Drakus would get an opportunity to give assistance to Phiro if needed. Alas, both he and Drakus were occupied with taking over the Gnaij, the pirates' flagship.