It's His Galaxy (And We're All Living in It)

The First Date

Milo stared at the scene in front of him in horror. It was like something out of a nightmare. A Dark Lord of the Sith in his ship with a lightsaber to his friend's throat. He wished he was dreaming. It would have been so much easier. All he would have needed to do was wake up.

Fortunately, Sara had more grasp on the reality of the situation than he did, because she immediately threw her electrostaff at Śfard. She missed her completely, of course, but the distraction was enough for Amanda to elbow Śfard in the face, stunning her briefly. With the lightsaber temporarily gone from her throat, Amanda tried to wrestle it out of Śfard's tentacle to no avail. Śfard used another of her tentacles to smack Amanda so hard that she flew across the room, hit her head on a wall, and fell to the floor, unconscious.

Zack pulled out a pair of blasters, one from a hip holster and another from a shoulder holster and started firing away at Śfard, who deflected every shot with her lightsaber. Milo was not good at reading alien expressions, but his meager skill in that area combined with the impressions he was getting through the Force was giving him the very confusing belief that some part of her wanted Zack to succeed.

That part of her, however, was not getting a say, as most of her was filled with a horrible, all-encompassing fury that just got worse with every shot Zack fired. The strange part was that Milo didn't feel that this fury was directed against Zack. If he had to hazard a guess, he would have guessed that Śfard was angry at herself. Sith Lords were known for their hatred and anger, but Milo had never heard of a Sith Lord who directed that fury inward.

One of the shots ricocheted wildly off the walls and landed in Zack's thigh, sending him tumbling him to the ground. Milo swore under his breath. That had been a one in a million occurrence, which meant only one thing: Murphy's Law had screwed him over. Zack was alive, and a cursory look through the Force showed Milo that his wounds were not life threatening, but he would be out of the picture for the immediate future.

Śfard stalked towards Sara, who backed up, looking absolutely horrified. She had never seen Mechanus's darker moments firsthand; as a non-Force-sensitive, he pretty much ignored her most of the time. She was experiencing what the dark side looked like up close for the first time, and Milo could sense the terror pouring off of her.

"STOP!" Milo shouted. "Let her go. Let them all go. It's me you want, right? Let's keep this between the two of us. Please."

He was not expecting his plea to work. Sith Lords were well known for their penchant for sadism. Someone like Śfard probably would enjoy torturing Milo's friends and family before she killed Milo. But much to his surprise, Śfard said, "Go. Before I change my mind."

"I can't just leave you here!" Sara protested.

"Zack needs medical attention," Milo retorted. "If he's not treated, he'll bleed out and die!" It was a little bit of a half-truth. It would be an hour or two before Zack's condition got that bad, but Sara didn't need to know it. She hesitated for quite some time, but she eventually carried Amanda and Zack out of the Hawk.

"What did you do with Melissa and Baljeet?" Milo asked, not expecting an answer.

Again, Śfard surprised him. "The human female and the droid? I incapacitated them both and locked them in the storage room with the disabled protocol droid." And then, without warning, she lunged at him. It was a classic Makashi move. Not surprising for someone who had been taught by Darth Pistachion.

But Śfard wasn't the only one who was capable of surprises. It hadn't just been ancient artifacts that Milo had been shopping for, but also lightsabers. While he didn't find one, he did find something similar: A Velmorian energy sword, a ceremonial weapon traditionally used by Velmorian nobles in honor duels. The energy sword operated on the same principles and using the same technology of a lightsaber, but it wasn't capable of the same raw power as a lightsaber. It could stand up to a lightsaber's attacks, but it didn't have the same cutting power. If Milo had tried to use brute strength to overwhelm Śfard, he would have been doomed.