Star Wars: The Soul of a Sith

Chapter 21

                 

            It took very little time for Kalethian to come upon Sakar's flag ship.  His pawns were working very hard fighting one another, and Kalethian's perceptions absorbed every facet of the battle.  The surprise attack had failed.   Sakar had anticipated correctly what Ren's companions would do and had taken precautions. The cybernetic man was orchestrating a battle involving the mandalorian army and the small vessels at his disposal.  Neither side had the upper hand, though Dalvin and Cathock were holding back from a full assault on the Sith vessel since they did not know where their precious Neeka was within.  Kalethian could feel her though. 

            "Hmmm, I'm going to hypothesize based on the fact that you're flying right now that you aren't Ren anymore," the cybernetic man's voice said through Ren's wrist computer.

            Kalethian smiled.  "That is correct."  Out of all the beings he had pulled into his web of pawns, this Dalvin was the one potentially the most useful, and perhaps most amusing to keep alive.

            "Well, ancient one, did Ren surrender his body for nothing or are you going to help us get our Neeka back?"

            Across the battlefield, Kalethian sensed the cybernetic man enter in the first half of the command to detonate the explosive in Ren Blakthar's wrist computer.  "You cannot kill me with your weapons, clever as they are, and if you try anything I will kill you."

            "Exactly what I would expect to hear from a newly resurrected Sith lord who can't figure out how to get an explosive off his arm before it detonates."

            "Hah!" Kalethian chuckled.  "I'm only warning you because in a moment you will have your precious Neeka back, and then you may decide it best to try to end my existence.  It would be a horrible mistake for you and everyone else on this planet."

            "Mentally filed," said Dalvin.  "Now, about getting my precious Neeka back."

            "Yes," said Kalethian.  "Draw all your men away if you care to save them.  This will only take a few seconds."

            "Understood."

            Almost instantly, the two ships ceased attacking the great Sith vessel, and very shortly after that the ground troops began to withdraw.  Kalethian did not wait to see whether they were all safe before he willed himself up in front of Sakar's ship perhaps twenty meters in front of the hull.  Suspending himself thusly, he reached out to the minds of every officer aboard the ship and whispered: "This is Darth Kalethian.  I have killed your master and now I am going to kill all of you.  I have no interest in your surrender, but if you would not die like cowards then fight me now for your lives."

            He waited the few seconds necessary for the shock to set in over the men.  It did not take long for they were in the midst of battle and their minds were already set to fighting.  Then he felt the guns begin to lock onto him and he smiled.  In his new young body, he felt passion he had not known since his own youth thousands of years ago.  His heart burned wildly for the simple, visceral thrill of fighting and killing, and he saw no reason not to slake his urges. 

            Eight plasma canons - each capable of liquefying dura-steel armor - fired at Kalethian at once.  He made no move to dodge, but held up his hand and willed a curve in the quantum field around his form.  The blasts moved at light speed toward him. For a flash of an instant he saw a brilliant ball of red light envelop him as an enormous stream of deadly particles flowed harmlessly around him and sprayed out in many different directions at once.  It was over in the blink of an eye, and as several strips of the planet he had stolen burned down beneath him from the stray particles, Kalethian hovered calmly in the air, gazing at all of his victims.