Rising From Ashes

Chapter 17 - Fight to the Death

Author's Note: Nothing is easy fighting Plagueis. ;)

~ Amina Gila

Alema Syndulla

The Marauder nearly crashes from the lightning. It's almost embarrassing, honestly, but Tech has to put us down at a distance to keep us from going... well, supernova. Gonky can't guard the ship, but we leave him behind anyway, and the rest of us move out instantly. Everyone else will be reaching the Sith Temple soon, and we have to get there as soon as possible. The longer we wait...

But between the lightning flashing and the thunder, and the way everything is just so eerie, I don't like it. I don't miss how, for the first time, Omega presses closer to Hunter, hanging back a bit, though I sense a great deal of discomfort radiating from him, too.

Omega can feel the darkness in the Force – I've been training her a bit now and then, though she still has a difficult time actively using the Force the way Jedi do – but Hunter is being overwhelmed by the highly overactive atmosphere. I can't imagine what it would be like to feel that.

"There's going to be Sith traps here, so don't touch anything," I caution, as we make our way in through one of the entrances. We're heading to the throne room where Plagueis likely is, but what makes it so unsettling is that that's a Dark Side nexus, on a Dark Side planet. All the odds will be against us, except the twins.

"I don't like this place," Omega says finally.

"Yeah," Wrecker grumbles, "I don't, either."

"Just keep moving," Hunter advises.

Maul is in the front of the group, though I'm using my own senses, because no matter what the twins say, I will not trust this Sith. Even if he didn't stab Ahsoka and me in the back before, I don't have a reason to think he won't now, if he gets the chance and a good reason.

We're all sticking close, weapons raised, even if there's no obvious threat yet. I expect that to change at any given moment, though. There's Maul, Jinx, and myself, and a group of clones. The best of the best, yeah, but still. I'm not sure how much of a chance we have if something goes downhill.

"Do you hear that?" Omega asks suddenly.

"Hear what?" I ask, pausing and glancing over at her.

"It sounds like... whistling," she says, moving forwards, parting a bit from the group.

Jinx glances at me, expression saying the same thing I feel, that it's a Sith trap. "There's nothing there," he tells her.

"It's coming from that," she says, pointing to a towering rock structure, breaking away from the group and running towards it.

"Omega, wait!" I call, sprinting after. I can feel it, though I can't hear it like she does. "It's not real! You're hearing your own mind."

But she's moving too fast, or maybe it's just that the darkness is drawing her towards it, and she skids to a stop in front of the rock structure. Something about it feels wrong. Her shielding isn't strong, and the Dark Side is drawing her in. It's overwhelming her.

"Don't touch it!" Echo yells, but before there's even a question of that, the ground literally gives way beneath her feet, and she lets out a startled cry, plummeting from sight.

I sprint to the edge, careful to keep my distance lest the ground give out more. She's a good ten feet down, but not enough for it to be fatal. She knows how to cushion her landings. Something is... glowing red down there, emanating from something I can't see.

Except she looks eerily motionless, and the Force is twisting around her in a way I don't understand and definitely do not like. Something is shifting, changing about her.