Star Wars The Old Republic: The Hero Of Tython

ACT 4 THE ETERNAL THRONE

INTERLUDE – YAVIN 4

THE TEMPLE OF SACRIFICE

The night sky was illuminated by the Temple's radiant beam as it surged in to the cosmos from the Temple's base, all the way through. Darth Jadus stood tall as he conjured its power in an attempt to accelerate its preparation. He grunted as he turned an unleashed a volley of lightning behind him. It was absorbed by a coalition of red, blue and green sabers. They all charged at him as he drew his own red blade. He rushed to them, fuelled by the Temple's dark energy.

Jadus launched Bleklendo and Blekshoni against a distant pillar and flung Opilio out of the structure, but Skori darted out to catch her. Kira and Scourge met the Dark Lord in combat. They were astounded by his unbelievable power, but that was exactly why he had to be stopped. The sacrifice could not proceed. Kira and Scourge worked in unison as they wore Jadus down before Jadus conjured another blast of lightning that sent them both flying away. He laughed as he surveyed the destruction he had wrought. With the temple's power, this was only a taste of what he could unleash later.

Jadus turned to meet the gaze of a pair of red eyes. 'Cipher. Fitting you should be here. Behold, the true depths of my power.'

'You won't live to fulfil your ambition, Jadus.'

'Pitiful little Chiss. My ambition is infinite.' He opened his hands to send lightning at her, but it was a hologram. He furiously looked around as he looked for the real Cipher. A canister of toxins rolled to his feet as it exploded in a green cloud. He coughed and spluttered as his helmet was unable to filter them out. A poison dart struck his thigh as his vison began to blur, and blaster bolts began to fly at him from every direction. He had lost his sight and it felt like he was losing his mind as he swatted them away in a 360 degree radius.

A few snuck through as his defences against the unorthodox began to fail. He let off a surge of force and the cloud of toxins quickly dissipated as Phelatra was left exposed in the open, stunned. Jadus pulled her towards his crimson blade, yanking her blaster rife away as he did so. but as she hurtled through the air she threw her shiv at his shoulder; it nestled deep and tore through his muscles as it entrenched itself in his flesh. Phelatra pounced on his back with her second shiv and attempted to rend his flesh, but Jadus grabbed her and threw her to the floor. He drew his red blade as he mercilessly aimed it at her heart.

A rocket struck his chest and sent him backwards. Somehow alive, he looked down at the smouldering crater in his chest and laughed. He ripped the knife from his tattered shoulder as he beckoned Mandalore forth. Skori drew the darksaber and flanked by Opilio, began to engage the Sith in combat. Using her jump jets and armour's thrusters she mounted an unorthodox assault. Jadus was thrown off by his opponent's mixture of attacks and Opilio's ordnance support. Seeing an opening, he grabbed Skori and held her in front of a plasma wave from Opilio's blaster, rendering her armour vulnerable as Jadus shocked her and threw her aside like a ragdoll. He pulled Opilio's blaster from her and tried to stab her, but she activated her plasma shield and began to fight the Sith lords with nothing but her fists.

She had the better of Jadus, dazing him and landing hard blows consistently, but a dark lord such as himself could withstand so much more. He grabbed her by the throat, overpowering her as he drew her knife from her belt, making her stare at her impending doom before attempting to drive it in to the side of her neck. He dropped her as an emerald blade flew past his arm, nearly severing it. He kicked the prone Commando and sent her flying across the floor. Bleklendo and Blekshoni stood with Kira as Scourge came up next to them to challenge Jadus. The Sith responded with a beckon and pulled the darksaber to his left hand, standing en garde in black and red light.