Star Wars : The New Sith Crisis

Third and last encounter

After Tann left the place of battle, to go after Ric, Ul Duo dragged himself from the pit under the floor, where she had ripped the tile up and maneuvered him in. His shoulder was giving him almost unbearable pain, but he was using it to strengthen himself and push himself toward the compound's med-bay. Reaching it, Ul Duo entered Itarni bio-statistics into the computer and the schematics for a cybernetic arm, the activated the med-droids and let them proceed with the operations.

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 Ric lay aboard his ship, feeling weaker than he had in all of his life. That Alpha Red virus was actually doing what the Chiss had said it would do. He could not feel the spot on his neck where the needle had entered his body, and his vision was blurring. His broken fingers had nearly healed when she stuck him with the needle, but were weak now, his near-undestructible bones, feeling brittle and frail. Ric clenched a fist, the pain causing his hand to go numb, but he still had the strength to lift his multi-weapon, and that was all he needed.

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 Tann glanced around the huge clearing in the woods, she had followed Slintronius's Force trail here, but there was nothing here. The trail had vanished. She turned her head slowly, looking for any sort of clue as to Slintronius's whereabouts, and then felt several large, sinous creatures heading her way. Tann whirled and saw four huge serpentine creatures. One eye glared at her from each monster's forehead, and the snakes slowly slithered around to flank her on all sides. Her lightsaber dropped into her hand and the blade snapped out, the glow not fazing the creatures in the least. One reared back and spit a yellow glob of liquid straight at her. Tann tuck and rolled to the side and watched the spittle strike the tree behind her, burning right throught the outer layers of wood. It was acid, and more of it was coming her way. Tann began to grab the globs of spittle out of the air with the Force, and hurl them back at her attackers, and then she heard a manicly high pitched voice coming from all sides. " Do you like my pets, Sev'rannce Tann? I brought them here especially for you. HAHAHAHA " Tann spun trying to locate the source of the voice and then dodged as one of the snakes slithered in, on the attack. Tann dodged its strike and let fly with a blast of lightning. The snake slithered aside and the lightning smashed into the ground, its heat catching some dry leaves on fire. From the leaves the fire spread to the other trees. As the flames spread around the glade, the snakes were surrounded. Sev'rannce Tann dropped the cloakinto the fire and kept in fromt of the flame, the light from her armor disguising her. The snakes were frightened and confused by her dissappearance and by the fire. They spit randomly at the flames, never coming close to her. The fire continued to burn around the grove as the serpents backed off in fear. Swirling out of the flames came the lightsaber of Sev'rannce Tann. She used the force to move it, killing every single one of them by severing their body in multiple places and chopping the heads to bits. Her armor still glowing, she emerged unscathed from the fire as the apocalyptic blaze consumed the trees in a burning fury.  Turning back to face the flames she had just emerged from, Tann whipped up a gale of Force wind, blowing the fire in a circular pattern, containing it and killing the blaze . As the last spark faded, Tann deactivated her lightsaber and hung it from her belt . Todays battle was done, she thought, watching the moon rise .

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 Ul Duo rose from his drugged state of mind, pain still knifing through his shoulder, but stopping as it reached the place where his arm had been . His bleary eyes slid to the side to see his new cybernetic arm, resting on the pallet beside him . Ul Duo sat up slowly, using the pain in his arm and head to calm his knerves . His new arm felt heavy and cold and ........ strong . Ul Duo felt the hand with his flesh and blood appendage and smiled
. It was pefect . The two lightsabers that he had given the droids were integrate totally into the new hand . Concentrating slightly, Ul Duo shifted the hand into weapon mode, the two lightsaber folding up and activating in parallel laser blades . The hand began to rotate , creating a whirlwind of light as the two blades spun like a laser drill bit . Ul Dup grinned, dispaying rows of gleaming teeth . With this new appendage, he would defeat Tann and then hunt down Slintronius and execute him . His normal lightsaber rested on a table across the room . Beckoning with his re-transformed into a hand, arm, Ul Duo levitated the weapon acoss the open gap and onto his belt .

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 Slintronius couldn't believe his good fortune . Mere moments after his medallion of power was destroyed, an exact duplicate had fallen from the belt pouch of Gronard . Concentrating fiercly, he activated its hidden abilities, the Dark Force power flowing into him . Slintronius was at the peak of his power, all of his powers regained .  He ran into the bushes, searching for the small star-yacht that he had hidden here, in case he needed a quick escape .  Ah, there it is, he thought, glimpsing the silver paint of the fashionable ship .

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 Tann sped up her pace, Slintronius had just done something that released a tremendous amount of Force energy . And he was on the verge of escaping . Leaping over a pile of fallen brush, Tann saw a small silver yacht beginning to take off . Imediately, she reacted, reaching out in the Force and tearing the engines from the ship in a hail of sparks and tiny explosions .

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Stang, that Chiss was getting annoying, Slintronius thought, watching her demolish his decoy ship . His own ship began to lift out of the trees, too late, though . Tann's attention swiveled to the real ship , and lightning flickered out, working better than an ion cannon in destroying the ships electrical systems .  Slintronius grabbed a lightsaber from the compartment behind his seat and prepared for battle .

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 Ul Duo leapt through the brush, feeling his two enemies not far ahead . One was waiting for the other, feelings of hate from both . His lightsabers activated, his cybernetic arm shifting till the lightsabers were exposed and turned on .

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 Tann laughed . That fool Slintronius was actually going to try and fight her . Her, most powerful Sith in the galaxy . His puny efforts should be commended though, she thougt . Only the day before, he was practically begging for his life .
 Her lightsaber's yellow blade activated in anticipation of Slintronius's feeble attacks .
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 Slintronius smiled inwardly, Tann thought he was still weak . Even she ought to be able to sense his new power . His lightsaber lashed out and was blocked by Tann's blade . Ah, so she wasn't quite as gullible as he thought . Her brightly glowing armor was a formidable weapon, he admitted, but nothing compared to the power of the dark side . Taking a portion of concentration from the battle, he created a visor of Force energy that filtered out the harmful rays .

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 Tann frowned when she saw how easily Slintronius countered her armor's deadly light . Whatever had happened while she was chasing him, it had obviously made him more powerful . Her lightsaber flew up and blocked one of Slintronious's reckless attacks, the fool was putting to much at stake by trusting in his new powers . Ducking beneath another blow, Tann cut into his leg with her lightsaber, the smell of burned flesh filling the air . Spinning around and countering a clumsy blow, Tann ripped his lightsaber from his grasp and turned it on him .

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 Slintronius gasped as a hidden force snatched his lightsaber from his hands and weilded it against him . Quickly, he called upon the Force to save him, launching himself up and over Tann's head, flipping in the air to land on his feet well past her . Branches, stones and the soil itself answered to his call as he used the Force to an extent that he had never reached before . A huge whirlwind , armed with the afore-mentioned debris, threw Tann away, far away .

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 Sev'rannce felt herself thrown high into the air at a speed normally reserved for starships and speeders . As the sky around cleared of debris, she saw the ground far below her . Quickly gathering the Force around her, Tann wove a web of tendrils that caught her, slowing and guiding her fall, back to planet surface . Huge flying creatures were coming at her, long teeth glistening with saliva, eyes savage and hungry for the kill . Tann looked around for her lightsaber's yellow glow, but it had been left on the ground, thrown from her hand by the powerful Force winds . She fell faster as more of her concentration left her descent and went into her armor, focusing the glow and light into a beam . Whirling as she fell, Tann targeted the foremost creature as it dove for her, and fired her light ray at its body . From wingtip to wingtip, the avian was cut through by her laser . The remaining predators wheeled and flew away, clearly dis-heartened by their leaders death . Turning again to face the ground , Tann did not lose her calm as she watched it rush up at her . Instead, she re-created her web of energy and slowed her fall . Too late, she struck the ground, not seriously hurt, but knocked unconsious by the impact .

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 Ul Duo leaped over the last heap of brush and was confronted with the sight of Sev'rannce Tann, unconscious laying in a heap over a rotted log . Sidling quietly up to her, he nudged her roughly . When recieving no response, he entered her mind with the Force and made sure that she would not wake up for a long time . Then he tossed her over a shoulder and carried her back, toward the site of Ul fortul's death . Her death would be a ritualistic execution, carried out the Itarni way . As he walked he retrieved her lightsaber, this would go by her dead, broken body, he decided .

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 Slintronius watched as the tall Itarni carried Tann into the rocky hills . Obviously going to kill her in some hideous fashion , he thought . He'd love to see her demise, but for now he had to find some way to escape .

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 Tann woke slowly, her head pounding from her prolonged " nap " and from her long fall earlier . AS her eyes began to function and focus properly, the first thing she saw was, Ul Duo crouching over a small fire . And in the middle of the fire, lay her lightsaber, its metal shell glowing red hot . That made it virtually useless to her, as the Itarni had removed her gloves and discarded them somewhere . " Ah, I see you are awake now . " Tann's attention flew back to the Itarni ." If you are wondering why you cannot touch the Force, it is because of this ." He said, holding up a small silver vial ." It is ambrox  . Made from the blood of ysalamiri and several potent plants . It has the ability to take the Forrce from an individual for several hours ."
"Does it now?" she asked groggily, still unsure about her surroundings and puzzled about how the Itarni had managed to get her. The accursed overconfidence. I must be rid of it, or it will kill me again. Still, though I may be tied here, the Itarni has no idea what is in store for him. Concentrating, not on the force, she called to mind the old self-defense she had learned at the Chiss Military Academy.  Ul Duo gestured to her bonds and said , " Bonded steel cuffs . You cannot break them with out the Force . And they will release you in thirty minutes . I will be waiting on top of that ridge and I have this ." He said, holding out a small data chip . I removed all sorts of valueable information from your mind before I injected the serum . The secrets of Quantum armor and all that . Ah yes, I know its true weakness ." He said, as Tann glared at him . " Oh and when you come, it would be wise to bring a weapon, for when I see you, I will kill you .

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Ul Duo now had a good blaxe going. He would have liked to have used the force to look into his mortal enemies mind and feel her dying moments, but a side-effect of his drug had been making her mind inaccessible through the force. Ah well, she will die. Ul Fortul will be avenged. That is enough

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Exactly thirty minutes later, as the Itarni had said, the cuffs sprang open . Tann rose to her feet . She simply had to get that data chip from him before he released the information to an enemy . Running into the woods, Tann remembered all of her combat training and stopping, picked up a small heavy branch that would suffice quite nicely .

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 Ul Duo hissed in laughter, watching her grab the branch, the fool thought she could beat three lightsabers with a stick ?Actually, he really had no clue what was going on .

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 Tann walked slowly into the clearing, Ul Duo stood on the far side and when he saw her, activated his weapons and charged, hissing madly . Tann calmly yanked on a small vine in her hand and huge log was launched from the brush, moving with such speed that the old Itarni could not dodge it and was thrown backward . Tann leapt forward and punched him in the gut and brought a knee up into his stomach , her hands played over his belt for an instant and then were gone . He hadn't noticed it, but the vial was gone. Sev'rannce Tann held it in her left hand, her right hand carrying his lightsaber. As his twin blades twirled, he roared and leapt to the attack. Tann stood back, on the defensive, and deflected his attack. She stepped forward, her blade raising his two up above his head. She brought her left hand around and smashed the vial into his mouth. The vial's stopper broke, the liquid firmly in his mouth. The shards of the vial cut his lips and tongue and the liquid seeped directly into his bloodstream. For the first time ever, Ul Duo Ushann felt the force desert him. Spinning his blades in fury, he stabbed at Tann, who sidestepped his attacka nd brought her weapon around at his neck. He blocked it and she stepped in, kicking him in the knee. There qwas an audible POP and Ul Duo staggered back in pain, his PCL broken. He fell to the ground in agony, swiping his twin blades at Tann's legs. She jumped over it and swung her blade down, the laser bouncing off of the gleaming armor. Ul Duo laughed nastily through his pain," Cortosis weave, your weapon cannot dent it ." he then managed to get himself up on one arm, his knee was now unable to move. Kicking him in the head, aiming for his neck, Tann knocked the Itarni to the side, next to a small pond . As she brought her lightsaber up to kill him, his cybernetic arm flashed up and the twin blades caught hers and spun tearing the weapon from her graspand dropping it into the pond . Tann snarled in anger and flung herself at the cybernetic armforcing the blades down into the water where they shorted out , sparking and flaming .Without a weapon, she kicked his throat. There was another snap and his dropped to the side, neck broken. The life left the wounded Itarni and he gave a final rattling breathe before falling, lying still, dead on the Byss plain. Sev'rannce Tann contemptuously rolled the body over with her foot. The fool lizard. With him dead, and Slintronius long gone, her time on Byss was done. During the fight, the fire had died. Her lightsaber hadn't cooled sufficiently to allow her to lift it, so she kicked it into the pond and in a few moments retrieved it . She retrieved her gloves and left. Soon, the planet Byss was just a hanging speck in the sky as the TIE leapt through hyperspace, bound for Bastion. It carried a different warrior than the one it had born to Byss. Her arrogance was gone, but the victories over the jedi and Itarni had boosted her own confidence. Now Sev'rannce Tann knew that, when she was at her best, no single foe could defeat her. That and the secret to Palpatine's dark prophecy made her perhaps the deadliest person iun the galaxy.

Posted by Nate at September 12, 2004 08:24 PM