Survival, Dark Times 2

[hk47fan]

Wey

"You all are lucky that I was with a special demolition team for so long...we had to learn alot about wiring," Alsia said as she leaned down and began to work on the wires that were beneath the force field cages that they were locked in.

I gulped. I was about to dredge up something that I never wanted to touch again.

"You...you are my adoptive brother," I slowly began, still staring at him. "And I know more about your past than anyone except Ni, probably...I was adopted by your mother when you were only a year old. As you know, I...I have Force power. Force power that I try to stay away from....it controlled me when I was younger...and..."

I turned away as the incident came up in my mind again.

"I....I ended up killing her."

Marlena

Mona and I continued the fight, and it only got more ferocious by the second. She slashed at me yet again, I backed away, but as her arm came in front of me, she hit me hard in the nose. I felt it crack.

I crouched down, and swung my lightsaber toward her heel. It hit it dead on, and she began to fall to the ground, but as I stood, she grabbed onto me. She pulled herself up, and pulled on my hair. I nearly screamed out, but kept myself under control, and hit her in the face as hard as I could.

She released me, and I spun around. Blood was smeared on her face, and I was sure that it was smeared on mine, as well.

I rushed forward, and my lightsaber hit her thigh. She immediately hopped backwards, recovering from the hit, but within two seconds, she was back at me again. Her blades cut through my upper-chest...I narrowly dodged her slicing right through my neck.

I could see more blood pouring out now, and I was feeling myself weaken slightly...but that wouldn't stop me, and Mona wasn't in top shape anymore, either.

She wasted no time in taking another shot at me, this time hitting my rib. I moaned in pain, but took this chance to strike her elbow with my saber. She scowled in pain, and kicked me right in the stomach, where she had hit me earlier.

I held my lightsaber up to block her next attack once again, and it worked. We were locked once again.

She stared right into my eyes....our eyes were as locked as our weapons were for a moment. The seconds that it lasted seemed like hours...I saw how much she looked like Sora and myself. How she was a perfect cross.

That couldn't change anything, though.

I walked back, breaking the lock, and raised my lightsaber to take another stab at her.

However, she used the split second that my lightsaber was high in the air to her advantage. She slashed through me repeatedly with her sword...I screamed, my stance broken, and she proceeded to give me a very hard shove with her foot.

I collapsed to the ground with a large thud, bloody and near unconsciousness.

Mona had defeated me.

[Rain]

Li

What? I couldn't believe what I was hearing!

"W-what!?" I stammered again. None of this had seeped in yet. "You... you killed my mother?! Why!?"

[hk47fan]

Wey

I turned back into him, a face of disdain and horror in front of the teenage boy. Alsia stopped to look at me in a brief moment of surprise, but turned back to continue working on hacking into the force fields and shutting them down.

"It...it was an accident. Like I said, the Force...it practically controlled me. I didn't mean to kill her, it was just...one time I accidentally released too much power on her. She died from that, and I've hated it ever since...thats why I've stayed away from Jedi as much as possible. Thats why I've tried to stay away from the Force and be a bounty hunter, but I just keep getting pulled back in." I explained, shaking in the process.

"And then...there was you. I panicked...I was in such a frenzy, I just...I took you and gave you to an orphanage." I finished.

Marlena

I was on the floor, and everything was a blur above me...I could vaguely see Mona, but she had just about knocked me out. My thoughts were drifting....I thought of Scout...Nait...Stephen...my newborn grandchildren...Sora...Declan...all of my friends...

However, as I saw Mona looming above me triumphantly, Declan's words during training came back to me...

"You're lying there...." he said as he stood over me. "You are beaten. Remember my voice....they think they've won! And as sure as they're a coward they will try to kick you. But because you know what they'll do...you'll be ready, and you'll be smiling inside."

I saw her raise her foot, I could feel it coming towards me...

But I was ready.

My eyes snapped open as I tried to get alert again, and as her leg came right up to me, my own legs twisted around hers...her eyes widened in shock, and I rolled over, causing her to topple to the ground.

I rose up, as roughed up as I was, and could feel my Force power returning. I brought my lightsaber to me with the Force, and looked down on my daughter.

She used hate to fuel her...it was what gave her so much energy and drive to do everything that she had done up to this moment.

Two could play that game.

I called upon the Force again, but no, I didn't do what she did. I didn't use petty loathing and some foolish need for revenge to fuel me...I used the love that I gave people. The love that they gave me. I thought of all the friends and family I had, and let their love and my love alike pour into me.

I embraced it as much as I could, and it came through at all sides. It was like an explosion in the Force as I felt it empower me and give me the strength to go on. Give me the strength to survive and fight.

Mona could not stop me now.

I watched her raise up, looking at me with so much anger, but I didn't shoot the anger right back like some would. I charged forward, and attacked like I had never attacked before. I felt the power flow through me as I constantly slashed at her. She tried to block me, but it was no use...now I was more determined than ever.

I knocked both swords out of her hands, and I could feel the fury growing inside of her.

She darted to the ground, grabbing the blade that was the closest by her, and launched towards me at top speed.

I wouldn't allow this to continue on.

I reached out my hands, feeling the Force so strong inside of me, stronger than ever, and thought of all the people that deserved good lives...all of the people that had decency, all of the people that had the heart that Mona didn't, all of the people that cared for me as much as I cared for them.

Declan...

Scout...

Nait...

Han...

Leia...

Bria...

Lando...

Naos...

Padme...

Wey...

Sora...

Li...

Sem...

So many others...

Finally, as she came within inches of me, I let out a Force blast so powerful that it sent her flying backwards. She went hurling through the air, only coming to a quick stop when she hit the wall...she then slumped down. Still awake, but too injured to go on.

I approached her.

"This is over, Mona," I told her.

[Junk Angel]

Sem

What the hell where they talking about. Killed Li's mother? What how? What did the bitch dig out again. And why does it have to come now. I want to be as far away from the jedi as possible. But Li needs someone.

[Rain]

Li

"An... an orphanage?!" I exclaimed, still deep in confusion. I wasn't exactly angry at Wey. Well I was, but it wasn't a hatred kind of anger, it was in fact more a frustration. I couldn't remember any of this, and that's what really got to me. "So you killed my mother, and you threw me in an orphanage... then just ran off? Why?"

[hk47fan]

Wey

I sighed...I thought I would never have to face this. I really thought that if I just tried to stick away from the Force and be a bounty hunter, I wouldn't have to face it...but somehow, strangely enough, our lives had been drawn together.

"Again, I panicked. I wasn't exactly an adult, so its not like I could raise you myself...not to mention, I could've just hurt you like I killed her. It was the best option. A horrible one, and if I could go back and change her fate I would, but it was the best option...and as for running off, I didn't want to stick around because I was too scared. I didn't want anyone to know, and I wanted to put that life behind me." I explained to him.

Marlena

I looked down at Mona. She looked up at me...I doubt that I broke anything, despite her slamming into the wall, but the fight definitely couldn't continue, which was for the best. She gave me a long, hard stare...I couldn't tell whether it was a stare of fury and anger, shock, or something else.

"What are you waiting for?" Mona hissed, in a monotone. "Kill me."

I felt my nerves well up again, slightly, as all the thoughts came rushing back.

She has to die.

Everyone has acknowledged it. She has to die. I have this rare chance.

Very slowly, I reached for my lightsaber again...as I did so, I continued to look right into her eyes. She stared right at me, but suddenly, I saw some emotion in them....but it wasn't emotion of sadness or anger. In her eyes, I saw a hint of that smugness that everyone knew so well.

And then it hit me.

She wanted me to kill her...Mona wanted me to kill her just like this, so in her last moments, she could be fufilled knowing that she made me fall far enough to kill an unarmed opponent.

I let go of my lightsaber.

"No," I simply told her.

"What?" Mona asked in complete shock.

"I am not going to kill you, Mona," I told her, shaking my head in disgust. "Because I'm not like you. I don't kill mercilessly...when people are lying at my feet, beaten, I don't kill them like you do. I am far above that."

I could see the shock in her eyes now...she was so surprised that it radiated off of her in the Force.

"And I know what you are doing," I continued. "I know that you want me to kill you. You want to die because it will remove you from the universe and prove to you at the same time that you got me to murder you. I don't need to kill, Mona, I don't have that thirst for it like you do...I am stronger than that. Maybe Sora isn't, but all I know is that I am."

"You stupid dumbass," Mona growled.

"And I'm not going to capture you, either...because I know that will just give you a way to keep interfering in our lives and torment us. Even from a courtroom or jail cell, I know you can do that. As hard of a time as people like Sora are going through, as off as he's been acting, I am not going to let you continue to torture him." I explained to her.

With that, I turned to the exit. "Goodbye, Mona, I'm finished with you." I told her.

However, as I was walking towards the door, I stopped. "You know," I said, twisting my head to look at her one last time. "Things could have been different. You act like what Ivy and Sonas did to you made you some psychopath for life....in truth, Mona, it didn't. Once you got free, you could have turned your life around...you could have come found me. I would have believed you, I would have taken you in, then you could have found Sora...it didn't have to be like this. We could have arrested Ivy and Sonas. You could have turned your life around. Instead, you decided to waste an entire lifetime, a lifetime you will never get back, on filling yourself with hatred and making some master plan to fill us with just as much hatred as you."

I gave my daughter one last, long look. "And it won't work with me...I don't hate like you do. You want me to despise you so much so that I can strike you down in some kind of anger. Well, its not working....I refuse to hate you, Mona. I can't say I love you, but I won't waste time hating you and wanting you dead."

Finally finished, I made my exit, deciding to find the others.

[Rain]

Li

I was angry, no doubt about that, but I sensed a certain sincerity in Wey's voice and his body language. And it all seemed to click into place. I had always wondered why he was so anxious about utilising the Force, and I remembered when he had that encounter with those bounty hunters back on Nar Shaddaa.

"I..." I began, but there were no words really. I didn't know how to reply. "I see." I simply said. "Well, I may not know about my past, but I know what you are like now. And although it will take me a while to get over what you have told me, all that really matters is who we are now."

I glanced at Alsia who was still working on the wiring. She was making good progress. "Right now we have bigger things to worry about..."

[hk47fan]

Wey

I nodded. "You're right....thank you. We do need to get off of this ship. I'm not sure where Mona went off to...she still could have something up her sleeve." I said, looking down to Alsia.

"Almost done..." she muttered.

I heard footsteps coming this way, and I whirled around to see Marlena. "Marlena? Where's Mona?" I asked.

"She...she's not dead, and she's not captured. I know it may seem odd, but she wanted me to kill her...I couldn't give her the satisfaction, and I have this feeling that if she was captured, she could torture us easier than she can while on the loose, but for now, she's too injured to actually attack us. I bested her in a duel." Marlena explained.

"Good going, Marlena...not sure why you didn't bring her in, though." Alsia said, messing with another wire. After a few more seconds, the force fields finally went down. "There!"

[Rain]

Li

"Great!" I said, truly delighted to be out of that compacted space. But we still weren't out of the krayt dragon's den yet. "Sounds like Mona is out of the way for now, so should we get going?"

I heard the snap hiss of a lightsaber igniting and turned to see Serra with one of her green lightsabers at the throat of some woman. "Trying to sneak up on us, eh?" She said forcefully.

The woman held up her hands. "Easy, Jedi."

"It's OK!" Uli Divini said coming up behind her, supporting another woman. "She's with us." Behind him came Daron Aethel, Naos Redgrave and two more women. I noticed the one Uli was supporting, whom I was guessing was Mona's other prisoner, and one of the other women. I was almost sure they were at Narduk's palace. They probably were, but it looked like we were all in the same sailbarge now.

"Heh, chill out Serra!" Daron laughed, "You could hurt someone with those!"

"Don't tempt me Aethel." She said as she put her lightsaber away.

"So are we good to go?" I asked.

[hk47fan]

Marlena

Alsia looked around, like she was making sure that all of us were here. "Okay...I think everyone who lived is here. Lets get out of here before we lose anymore people." she said.

"Where's Mona?" Allison asked.

"Not dead, not arrested, but you won't have to worry about her...she's out of the way for now." I assured her.

"Thank the Force," Allison said with a breath of relief.

"Now, lets go!" Naos said.

We all nodded, and began to make our way out...

Lady in Blue

I walked through the halls of the ship, more furious than ever. How could this have happened? My plan was almost complete...almost, but then Marlena didn't kill me. The fool.

I saw a few remaining guards in the corridor...I was now at a side of the ship near the escape pods.

"Lady, everyone else is dead, what do we d-"

"Join them." I replied, taking out my blaster and shooting them all down.

I scowled. I looked to my right as I entered another room, and saw a security console. It had some emergency controls on it, as well as another surveilance system.

"Lets see what last damage I can do from here..." I muttered, walking over to it.

I activated the cameras to see everyone running through the ship together. Even Allison...and apparently Jenn, Jan, and Arthren had come to join the party. Li and Sem were also free.

Not for long.

It looked like they were near the center of the ship. They wouldn't get any farther.

Li and Sem were in the very back of the group. The rest all entered a room, and Li and Sem weren't far behind..

But right before they could get inside, I pressed a button, and the door slammed shut, sealing itself. It was too strong for anyone to blast open, and there was too much metal protecting it for them to even try to hack into it.

Grinning in spite of the circumstances, I turned and headed for an escape pod.

[Junk Angel]

Massive safety doors suddenly crashed down. Normally to prevent the venting of air from unafected sections of a ship, now to divide groups.
No one expected anything like this to happen.

Sem held to Li's shoulder for a moment in a sign of support and then became the practical one again. The door closing must mean something and it usually never meant anything good.
She tried to listen to the noise of gushing air but couldn't hear any. Maybe the hull wasn't breached, maybe the meaning behind these doors was completely different. She didn't know, but it didn't mean that she wouldn't be looking for a way out.

[Rain]

Li

I could here the others shouting on the other side, but the doors were too thick to make out what they were saying. I grabbed my lightsaber from the middle of teh room, where Mona had left our weapons. I activated it and hit the door, it simply deflected my strike.

I looked at it. It definately wasn't cortosis, and I highly doubted that they could make a whole door out of phrik. "Beskar..." I said to Sem, "Mandalorian iron from Mandalore. Looks like we'll have to find a way around to the others."

I paused and went deep into the Force, searching for one of the otehrs to make contact with. I quickly found Naos, and began to speak to him through the Force.

Master Redgrave, it's Li. There's no way through this door, we'll have to find our way around to you.

Serra

Our lightsabers and blasters were ineffective against the door. We were now separated from Li and Sem, and the noise of an escape pod was distinctively clear.

"Mona has left the ship!" I exclaimed, "That means we are in big trouble. We can't just leave Li and Sem."

"If Mona is up to something then they won't make it round in time." Arthren Mall said, eager to get going.

"Hey, didn't you hear her?" Daron expressed defensively, "We aren't leaving them."

Then the woman who's name I hadn't caught spoke again. "Arthren is correct. There is no point in false hope. But there is another option. Our ship, the craft we came in on, is located on their side of the ship. If we can somehow get them to hear us we could let them know."

[hk47fan]

Naos

"Li has contacted me through the Force," I told them. "I can send him a message back telling him to go to your ship."

"Is there some way we can get to them? Any way?" Marlena asked.

"You've seen this ship," Allison answered. "Its like a maze...it'd take too long. All the guards may be gone, but Mona and Xizor could send more people after us within no time."

"He didn't take too lightly to our shift in sides," Jan said. "And we all know how much Xizor hates betrayal."

"We have a transport on this side of the ship. Li and Sem can take yours, and the rest of us can get on ours." Alsia said, finally figuring out something that works for us all. "Once we're both off this ship, our transports can just meet up and we'll switch passengers."

I nodded.

Li, those women that used to be with the Black Sun have a ship on your side...you can go to it, and we're going to all go back to the ship that we came in on. We'll meet up with you once off the ship and switch passengers. I explained to him.

I looked to the others. "Its done."

"Then lets go!" Alsia yelled.

Lady in Blue

My escape pod was not a normal one...there were several normal escape pods on that ship, the ones that crashed into planets. However, there was one that had been specially designed by Xizor for these occasions if he ever encountered trouble.

This escape pod was like a small ship. It could fly itself, and head to other destinations, and also had a nice weapon system.

As I flew away from the ship, I stared at it.

My revenge on my mother was the one thing that had failed. I was still quite satisfied with everything else I had accomplished, but Marlena had gotten away unscathed.

I stared at the ship for a long moment. Marlena, Li, Sem....fierce enemies of mine that were still on board, along with the traitors like Allison, Jenn, Arthren, and Jan. Plus that idiotic NR team.

You know what...I see no point in letting them live.

I fired a missile at the ship.

[Rain]

Li

I recieved a message back. I turned to Sem. "Alright, those women that joined the group have a ship on our side. We need to get there, now."

We began running down the hallways to find the ship. Just then the whole place shook.

Sone

I barely kept my balance as the place shook. Someone fired on us. "Mona..." I said under my breath. Behind me I seen Arthren lifting herself to her feet. She seemed to have a busted lip. Everyone else seemed alright. "We need to get going!" I said with urgency.

The group began to disperse toward their transport. Arthren spat out some blood and gave an angry glance towards Marlena. "Would it have killed you to at least knock her out!" She said in annoyance. Then she sighed. "Forget it. Let's just get the hell off this damn ship!"

[hk47fan]

Marlena

I shook my head. Perhaps I should have expected this, but I still knew what I did was the right decision. "You know as well as I do that Mona doesn't stay down for long," I told everyone. "But this is probably something out of anger. She's mad that we are all escaping, and-"

"And being the bitch that she is, she just wants to blow us all up now. Yeah, no surprise there." Allison finished.

"Just forget what we could've done to Mona, we know how she works, lets just do what Arthren said and get off the ship!" Alsia shouted.

We continued to run as fast as we could, but the ship shook again as we entered another hallway. We all were thrown against the wall as we felt the ship began to turn.

"Crap," Alsia muttered. "Its taking heavy damage."

Yet another missile hit it and we felt the ship shake once more.