The Price to Pay

[Lavi]

He knew the blade was coming, and Haar attempted to redirect the blade away with one of his blades, but it cut into his shoulder instead. He collapsed.

* * * * *
​

Taecelle felt Haar's fall, and it gave her the strength she needed to return to her feet. Even without her lightsaber, she still had the Force. Focusing on Gareth while his attention was still on Haar, she send a great wave of Force energy to knock him away from Haar's body.

 

[Malon]

The wave from Taecelle caught Gareth completely by surprise. He didn't even sense it in the Force because his attention was too heavily focused on killing the Jedi. All he remembered feeling was his feet lift off the ground in a surge of the Force, and then he flew through air and landed hard on the ground. The attack left him dazed, but he managed to get to his feet and reactivate his lightsaber.

He could now see who was responsible for the attack; the woman had recovered. The Jedi, on the other hand was grounded; dead or unconscious. Gareth's anger at the woman returned with vigor at the attack, bringing fresh waves of dark power to him. Heavy use of the dark side was changing his eye color into a fierce yellow. Taking a Djem So stance, he faced the woman and prepared for battle.

 

[Lavi]

Taecelle made no attempt to approach the other. She readied another great wave of Force energy, and directed it at Gareth. The wind roared as the second wave surged across the abandoned spaceport.

 

[Malon]

The blast knocked Gareth's lightsaber from his hand, sending it sprawling across the ground and off the edge of the platform they were standing on. It was now a battle of the Force, one-on-one, winner take all. Gareth had both palms in front of him, holding the wave back with his palms. Gathering the Force to his own hands, he redirect the energy right back at the woman with as much malice as he could pack into it.

 

[Lavi]

Taecelle redirected the second Force wave that was shot back down at the floor, throwing up the floor platings, throwing them at Gareth. She gave another Force push behind the torrent of concrete and dirt to prevent it from getting pushed back at her.

All the while, she was telekinetically dragging Haar's body away from Gareth. His life was lingering, but fading.

 

[Malon]

Gareth powered the Force to his feet and took off towards the fallen Jedi and the woman desperately attempting to save him. He dodge the oncoming plates and used a Force push to kick up more debris, meant to distract the Jedi. While she was distracted, he used the Force to grab the two lightsabers Haar had in his unconscious hands, igniting them, and hurling one of them at Taecelle and the other straight down at Haar. A completely uncoordinated attack if viewed from anyone else, but Gareth had a reason behind his madness.

 

[Lavi]

Taecelle merely gestured, and the movements of the unheld lightsabers were stilled. They then turned towards Gareth as Taecelle directed them to engage the dark Jedi.

She did not stop in dragging Haar towards herself. There was no hesitation: the Force was guiding her.

 

[Malon]

Gareth also sent the lightsabers flying off the side of the platform with a flick of his wrist. He realized the situation he was in and realized that he had reached the point where tricks weren't going to work. Only a full demonstration of the dark side was going to affect the outcome at this point. Gathering all of his dark power and emotion into his hands, he unleashed a storm of Force lightning from his fingertips on both the fallen Jedi and the woman who was trying to rescue him.

 

[Lavi]

The lightning was indeed frightening. But she had something to protect now: Haar, her last pupil, was dying. Taecelle blocked the lightning, showing no sign of letting up. In turn, she shut out her fears. Not only was the lightning halted, but she empowered herself in the Force, sharpening her mind and attuning her pained body before lashing out against Gareth with a powerful display of the Force.

 

[Malon]

Gareth was amazed, and at the same time sickened, by the woman's power. In the Force, she looked like a complete beacon of the light, radiating with a pure white aura. It was then that he realized that, up until now, his attacks hadn't been coordinated. He was too caught up in his own arrogance to recognize the womans power. Now fatigue was setting in, but he knew he had to go on.

Stilling himself, he called upon the Force, gathering it to himself and wrapping himself within it. He breathed it in and held it whirling inside of his chest; his very being, compressing it until he could feel the spin of the planet Taris, no, the galaxy itself. He drew power from the depths of his being, until the Force itself existed to serve his will. This was the true nature of the dark side of the Force.

Now powered only by the dark side, Gareth could feel the dark pulses off of his lightsaber, which had fallen earlier and now rested several feet down on a ledge, ready to roll off into the city below. Calling out to it through the Force, the lightsaber leaped from its position, back over the edge of the platform and into Gareth's right hand.

He looked around for leverage; something he could use on the woman. She was powered, guided by the Force, but now, so was he. He began walking towards her, not igniting his lightsaber yet, only walking. Without so much as a gesture, using only his Force power, he pulled two more light poles down, both falling as if to crush the woman. Only then did he notice the red bar of plasma that had sprung from his lightsaber. With a howl more animal than human, he leaped at her with a Force-enhanced jump, twirling in air as he angled his lightsaber to strike her down.

 

[Lavi]

The light poles that Gareth threw at Taecelle were not his weapons. They became her weapons the moment they were used as such. A wave of her hand, and the flying projectiles were stopped. A second gesture, and they were flying back at Gareth, spinning with great momentum as the dark Jedi closed in with his Force-assisted leap.

She called not only her own lightsaber to her, but Haar's own lightsabers, creating a wall of telekinetically held lightsabers.

 

[Malon]

Whipping his lightsaber around him in a circular motion, still in mid-air, Gareth cut both poles in two, causing them to clank harmlessly to the tile ground. Calling on the Force, he managed to land gracefully on both feet and face his assailant. The Ospion woman clearly had the upper hand. With his perception altered by the dark side, he could see that the Jedi Master she protected was nearing death. He was only barely hanging on to his life, for what reason, Gareth didn't know.

He contemplated fighting the woman further, but realized that he required more training to do so. Sending out a distress signal through the Force, he angled his lightsaber defensively to hold off any further assaults.

* * * *​

Uubacca had sensed the Dark Lord's predicament long before he had sent the distress message in the Force. Already in the cockpit of their small transport, the Wookiee sent the ship straight up, coming up past the platform the Dark Lord was on. Immediately he saw the destruction the battle had caused. Light poles were ripped from their foundation and laying on the ground; some in pieces.

He could see the Ospion woman still standing, two lightsabers hovering nearby her. In the Force, he could feel her power. Just beneath her was the body of the Jedi Master who was barely clinging to life, probably only moments away from death. And then there was the Dark Lord, red lightsaber blazing in his right hand, not backing down for an instant. The Wookiee's lips contorted into a sly grin. Their leader was growing stronger in the dark side. He could feel it. Without further delay, he punched in a command and a panel opened in the ship, allowing the Dark Lord to leap in when ready.

* * * *​

Gareth saw Uubacca arrive in their vessel and immediately deactivated his lightsaber, clipping it to his belt. A grin of satisfaction crossed his face. Though he had failed to kill the woman, the mission had no doubt been a success. Even now he could feel the Jedi dying. Soon, it would be over. He had succeeded in eliminating a target that would no doubt catch the eye of the Republic, and more so the Jedi Order. The best thing about it is that the Dark Jedi of the Bogan would be suspected. Not his shadowy organization.

With his mission complete, Gareth gave one more crooked grin at the woman and then used the last reserves of his dark power to leap onto the platform protruding from his transport ship. Once the hatch was safely closed behind him, he collapsed and fell into a deep sleep while his Wookiee pilot got them off world and into hyperspace, headed home.

 

[Lavi]

With the dark assailant gone, Taecelle laid Haar down and attempted to heal him, placing both hands over the other's wounds. His breath was very shallow, but Taecelle placed what strength she had left into accelerating the repairing process. Haar only looked at her, weakly grasping her hand. His eyes were filled with regret: he seemed to realize that he wasn't going to survive. His lips moved, but no words escaped.

Haar's life faded without a word spoken. And tears were shed.