Why did everything have to be so complicated? Why did everything need to escalate to bloodshed? Draca had seen more than enough of it to fill a lifetime. He shuddered looking back at all the atrocities he had seen and witnessed in his young life. The screams and cries of agony that sent shivers down his spine.
This was no different.
The reflection of Eos City was a battlefield not unlike the invasion of Arx a couple of years prior. He had stayed behind the front lines. He observed what the Children were doing, and it felt…
Wrong.
And when he heard that a recon team had been captured, he knew very well what fate awaited them. He knew what kind of hell they would be subject to under the malicious intent of the Shadowseers.
He had to help them. It didn’t matter what side they were on. No-one deserved to suffer like that. There had been too much of that already in this galaxy.
His thoughts were broken by movement below him. He gazed down from the rooftop he was perched on. There was a green-skinned Nautolan furiously typing away on a datapad like her life depended on it. Wait, was that Aylin?
It was! His hearts skipped a beat seeing someone he recognised.
Then there was… what even was that thing? It looked more machine than Shistavanen, twisted and vicious. It tore through several of Draca’s Children of Mortis cohorts, fangs bare.
Were they here for the recon team? They had to be. What other explanation was there?
However, in the Ethereal Realm, the Children of Mortis were never far away. The pair were quickly surrounded on all sides, as well as above. The Shistavanen seemed eager to go down fighting with the blade in his hand. The Nautolan frantically waved her arms in the air as once again they were attacked.
Draca’s eyes widened when he watched the Shistavanen completely butcher them.
This presented Draca with an opportunity. If he played his cards right, they could save the recon team, and no-one would know he was involved.
He leapt down, doing his best to ignore the bloodshed that surrounded him. He gingerly approached, the eyes of the Shistavanen locking onto Draca like sharp daggers.
“H-Hello? My name is Dra…”
The Force rang through Draca’s mind as his throat came within inches of being cut by the Shistavanen, his Sith dagger pressing against his skin. Gazing into the beast’s eyes brought a kind of terror Draca had rarely experienced.
“You have the stench of the enemy on you,” the Shistavanen claimed, readying to strike Draca down.
His arm, however, was grabbed by Aylin.
“Wait! Masakado stop! He’s not the enemy!” Aylin’s head turned towards Draca. “You… You aren’t the enemy, right?”
Draca shook his head as best given his circumstances. He wanted to speak, but all that came out were choked garbles amidst the thudding of his hearts in his ears. He could feel himself going lightheaded, the ringing in his ears getting louder.
“Fine,” Masakado growled. Releasing his grip on Draca.
The young Zabrak released the breath he didn’t realise he was holding and rubbed his throat tentatively. “There’s a building nearby that’s holding your team. We go in, and we get them out. Together.”
Masakado was watching him closely, and Draca didn’t blame him. Even Aylin seemed apprehensive, though she masked it by being her usual, jovial self.
“Right!” She clasped her hands together. “Lead the way!”
People were not to be trusted. No matter how much they pretend to have your best interests at heart. Masakado’s life was proof of that, and Draca was no exception. He could be leading them into a trap. Was this even where the team had been taken?
“Draca,” Masakado growled, his hand hovering over the dagger at his hip. “Did you collect anything from the recon team?”
Draca slowly reached into his pocket and pulled out a small datapad. “Yes, but it’s useless. No charge.”
“It has all the information we need. Give it to me.” Draca didn’t need asking twice, and placed the datapad into Masakado’s cybernetic hand.
Masakado placed it to his nose and began sniffing at it rapidly, then handed it back to Draca and proceeded in the direction he had indicated.
Draca dropped a few metres behind Masakado and lowered his voice to a low whisper. “What was that about?”
“He has a great little doggy nose.”
“Ears, too,” warned Masakado. He had learned enough. Draca’s directions did, indeed, lead in the direction of the team. He was on the scent now and Draca had proven that his information was good.
The scent led them to a small building like Draca described, with a small team of guards surrounding it.
“We could go in quietly, or we could fight them head on,” said Draca in a low voice.
Stealth required coordination and precision, and Masakado had only just met Draca. The training wasn’t there. Stealth would just turn into full-on combat anyway.
Aylin grinned as she raised her anti-armour rifle. “I’ll blow a hole in the wall so they can escape.”
So stealth was well and truly out of the window. But the plan wasn’t terrible. Masakado drew his sword. “After the shot lands, we charge.”
The bolt from Aylin’s rifle exploded against the wall of the building, leaving a smouldering hole and panicking guards. Masakado drew his sword and charged, alongside Draca who wielded two blue lightsabers. In a state of disarray following another shot from Aylin, the guards offered little resistance. With ruthless efficiency, Masakado cut them down while Draca leapt and flipped from one to the other.
When the last enemy fell, Aylin came running to join them and the recon team came crawling out of the hole she made.
“Thank you,” the first one said between deep breaths. “I thought we were gonna die in there.”
Draca and Aylin helped the team get back to their feet as they crawled out of the building. Masakado kept his sword in his hand constantly scanning for threats. “Did you retrieve any useful information?”
The soldier that was first out of the building explained what the recon team had seen on their mission to the Fortress. He told them of a secret entrance on the north side, with a short distance to a terminal that could open the front gate. Once the front gate was open, the fortress would be vulnerable to a full-frontal assault.”
“Good,” said Masakado when the scout had finished his report. “Locate General Zentru’la. Tell him we’ll open the front gate.”
“Where do we find him?”
“In the middle of the biggest fight.”
“Guess we go to the secret entrance then,” Aylin said as she looked off towards the side the soldier had pointed them towards.
The other two nodded and they quickly moved off towards the door. Once they got closer Maskado stopped them and listened.
“Stay.”
Both Draca and Aylin looked confused at each other and before they could blink they heard some droids short circuiting.
“Come here.”
“Is he really using dog commands on us?”
Aylin chuckled and moved on, “Better not think too long about it.”
Draca shrugged and together they got to the secret entrance. The Nautolan pulled out her spikes and started to slice the door. The locking code was almost too simple, as if they thought others wouldn’t find the entrance. She shrugged and with a flourish opened the door for them.
“Be ready, I don’t trust doors that open this easily,” Draca said.
“We should be fine, we got murder puppy and your Space Magic.”
Masakado growled at being called murder puppy which got returned by Aylin’s big grin and a helpless shrug.
The team went on. Going from safe spot to safe spot. For a Fortress it was eerily quiet.
“There it is!” Aylin said happily as she spotted the console that would open the door.
“And there went our cover…” Draca sighed.
The Nautolan hopped over towards the console and started typing away on it, completely forgetting that they were in enemy territory and that they would still be much in danger. That realisation was quickly brought to her as a bolt nearly hit her head.
“Oi! I’m working here! Do something about it.”
Both Draca and Masakado jumped into action to defend their crazy slicer. The quietness from before was broken into a cacophony of blaster shots and buzzes from lightsabers.
A small group of soldiers had gathered on a rooftop and opened fire at Aylin. A sudden jolt told her to move out of the way just before she would have been filled with holes.
“Gah!” she yelped and then looked up towards the group. “Go annoy someone else!” she yelled at them with a move of her hand as if to shoo them away. To her surprise she knocked them all off their feet and then grinned.
“Go away!” She yelled again at a different group, moving her hands again. It gave her the same result, the soldiers were sweeped of their feet.
“Cool,” she said as she looked at her hands.
“A little help here!” Draca desperately cried as he felt overwhelmed. He somehow couldn’t call upon his Force powers as much as he wanted.
“Draca! Look what I can do!” Aylin yelled as she came running for him. With a sweep of her hand she moved a load of crates towards the soldiers who all scrambled to get into safety.
“How is this possible?” the Zabrak asked.
“No idea, but this is cool!”
“Control yourself, Aylin, it’s not a cool toy or something.”
“Less talking, more slicing!” Masakado growled over the noise.
“Yeah, yeah. Spoil sports,” Aylin muttered as she went back to the console and waved her arms to knock more of the soldiers over.
Muttering, she got back to work on the gate. Most of the fighting had died down or they had been scattered enough to not really form a danger anymore. Each time Aylin would ‘feel’ someone trying to shoot her she would just sweep them away.
“Aaaannnd ooopen!” she said as she pushed the last button. The large gate slowly opened and revealed a large counter force gathered at the other side with Zentru’la among the lines.
“Now the fun really begins!”