Chương 33: Chapter 33: Fight for Survival
Pre Vizsla smiled in satisfaction as the feed on his wrist connected to the camera cut out, the last image being a ball of fire. His grip on the railing of the speeder tightened as the driver increased speed forward, the cliff edge leading into the quarry already coming into sight. And even being visible past the slight tint the visor in his helmet had, was a large pillar of smoke climbing out it. His smile deepened, and he couldn't help but celebrate internally.
Vizsla glanced towards the two other speeders which flew alongside the one he was riding on, each with three of his best warriors. In truth, even they were only here as a precaution, because there was no way anyone could have survived that much explosives at such a close proximity. However, considering that the man in black had stayed farther behind than the others, he may have survived in a severely injured state.
His grin deepened. It was foolproof, and he was quite pleased with himself if he did say so himself, and the success of the trap was only further proof that Mandalorians could still fight the likes of the Jedi and win. Vizsla was so confident in fact, that he had even ordered the rest of the warriors on Concordia not with him now to head to the secondary base and begin the preparations for their invasion of the Mandalore rather than back him up, as with the death of Captain Tryd those fake Mandalorians would be at their weakest.
The three speeders screeched to a halt at the edge of the quarry, all of the warriors dismounting and marvelling at their work. The entrance to the mineshaft had completely collapsed, and rubble was strewn all around the area, a few boulders even hitting the abandoned tents. Despite the signs of destruction initially pointing to a great success, Vizsla's smile dropped. Because even from the large distance between him and the tunnel's former entrance, he could still make out two figures, clear of all the rubble.
Vizsla chewed the inside of his cheek in almost worried thought. He couldn't make out the specific details of the two, however he could see that they were both laying still and unmoving. Crushing the inkling of fear that formed in the back of his mind, Vizsla activated his jetpack and flew down into the centre of their former camp, his warriors following suit with practiced lethal grace.
As he slowly approached the closest prone figure, the details becoming clearer as the smoke and dust that was kicked up began to clear away. It was the female he had greeted at the dock, still wearing her purple garb and laying splayed out on her stomach facing towards him. The lightsaber which had been attached to her belt during their previous encounter was now loosely gripped in her unmoving hand, her likely final expression of horror and pain hidden by the hood that remained in place. Scorch marks were all over her clothes as well as any exposed skin.
The smile returned as he stood over her, crossing his arms triumphantly. It felt exactly as he had dreamed it would. Him, standing victorious over a defeated Jedi or whatever the hell she was. This was it. They could win. They didn't need to take the cowards route like the pacifists on Mandalore, they could fight, they could win, they would take back their once glorious empire and culture.
"See this my brothers and sisters! The Jedi are naught but ants beneath our feet if we have taken out these interlopers and their traitor friend." He announced, garnering cheers from the warriors gathered behind him.
One of the woman's fingers around the lightsaber twitched.
Vizsla's eyes widened and he acted with a trained quickness, pointing his wrist down towards the woman, starting the command to activate the in-built flamethrower. Then something else happened. In the corner of another movement caught his attention. The second person, the one he had completely forgotten of in his shortsighted rush of victory. It was Captain Tryd, the bottom half of his body covered by stones and rubble.
And he was raising his pistol right towards Vizsla's head.
*****
Kandria struggled to breath as her eyes slowly fluttered open. Her ears were ringing, and she couldn't move any singular part of her body. Her mind was scrambled and it was almost impossible to string together what had happened with her mind still reeling from the explosion. Ah, that's right, there was an explosion. It had been… at the tunnel they were about to go into. Vancil had noticed something… and pulled her and that Mandalorian out of the tunnel.
Vancil… where was he? She couldn't move her head, and he definitely wasn't laying anywhere in front of her gaze. Perhaps he was on the other side of her where her head wasn't turned? She sure as shit couldn't form a coherent enough thought or, well, anything to successfully reach out with the Force to look for him.
Panic started to enter her mind as the full situation of what had just happened finally finished organising itself within her scrambled brain. He had saved her, again. With complete disregard for his own safety, again. The panic grew as she fumbled for the Force in her dazed state, as she was in no state to start moving around to look for him.
Her panicked state quickly vanished however as the now familiar sound of jetpacks could be heard through both the silent night sky and the ringing in her ears. The jetpacks changed into footsteps. The footsteps came closer, and closer, until Kandria could see the edge of an armoured boot within her limited vision. They were standing over her.
The person shuffled in place slightly as they simply stood there for a moment, yet they made no move to check if she herself was dead. The smugness they radiated was palpable.
"See this my brothers and sisters!" Came a man's voice, one she was sure she recognised. Her mind was filled with different thoughts though.
Did they not think of her as a threat? The panic and fear she felt was slowly beginning to filter out and be replaced with something else.
"The Jedi are naught but ants beneath our feet if we have taken out these interlopers and their traitor friend." He continued, shuffling slightly as the other sets of footsteps cheered him on, only feeding into the arrogance and confidence that oozed off of the man.
Anger. That was what she was feeling. Anger at being so often underestimated by both her enemies and allies. Anger at being considered a great enough non-threat that it warranted not even bothering to check if she was dead or not. Her grip on the force solidified, yet unlike other times when she used it, her grip was more forceful, even if it was unintentionally. She felt a new sense of power and adrenaline course through her, sending sparks of energy flooding throughout her entire system.
Her finger twitched around her lightsaber testily. The movement from the man suddenly quickened and she could tell he was aiming at her with some kind of weapon even if she couldn't see it. A movement somewhere behind her and to her right. The man over her dove to the side as a blaster bolt rang out, a flash of yellow light passing over the ground in front of her with near indeterminable speeds.
Siezing the opportunity, Kandria's grip tightened around her lightsaber and she burst forward from her prone position, like a lion leaping from hours of laying in wait. One of the Mandalorians to her left was already falling, a smoking hole in the centre of their visor being a clear tell as to the reason why. Kandria observed who was in front of her. Seven Mandalorians, arrayed in a v shape that had previously been arrayed around the man. The man in question who had just moments before been standing over her had already activated his jetpack to gain some more distance from the suddenly rapidly deteriorating situation, flying off to her right
Utilising her low position and newfound speed Kandria managed to swing her lightsaber in a horizontal arc, taking the legs off of the two closest Mandalorians. Unfortunately, the others reacted quicker than Kandria would have preferred, activating their jetpacks and flying away to create more distance as the lead one had done.
Her gaze briefly flickered back to where the blaster bolt had come from. Captain Tryd lay their, laying on his back with his legs buried in rubble. The captain was taking slow laboured breaths as he kept his gun raised, clearly waiting for the opportunity of a clear shot which was not being helped by the shaking in his hands. Already Kandria could see blood dripping out over some of the rubble which buried his lower body.
Briefly conflicted, Kandria experienced a sense of clarity she had never felt before. Tryd was doing what he could, there was no point wasting time to protect him when doing so would likely only put the both of them in danger. This surprised her to some degree at how easily she had accepted such a brutal and seemingly uncaring course of action, and she immediately suspected that the reason was this new power she had suddenly gained.
She wasn't really sure what it was, but one thing was for sure, it felt good. A small, slightly manic smile formed beneath her mask as she leaped to the side, dodging and deflecting blaster bolts as she began to weave in and out of the tents. The Mandalorians were remaining airborne, keeping their attention solely on Kandria who utilised her agility and the tents to keep herself from being gunned down.
Kandria didn't retreat though. No, instead she started to circle around the five airborne Mandalorians, forcing them to take up a sort of circular formation to keep fire on her at all times. Unfortunately for them, they had forgotten that she wasn't the only one they had to worry about. Another blaster bolt from Captain Tryd, just as accurate as the last one, hitting one of the Mandalorians square in the face, the jetpack soon careening out of control and flying out and over the quarry without anyone to pilot it.
Taking advantage of the Mandalorians' sudden shift of attention to that of their suddenly deceased comrade, Kandria chose that moment to strike. With a force enhanced leap, she jumped right towards the four remaining, the two in front managed to fly out of the way, however the two which were behind them had no such chance, Kandria's lightsaber cutting through their jetpacks and into their torsos. The two corpses fell to the ground as their method of flying sputtered out, the necessary hardware fried with Kandria's strike.
When Kandria landed, she immediately attempted to begin another leap to keep the pressure on the remaining two. Before she could though, she sensed danger to her right, one that seemed uneasily unnatural. Twirling around she barely managed to block the heavy strike from the Mandalorians' leader.
Her eyes widened in astonishment as she looked at what he wielded. The Dark Saber. It was an ancient relic of Mandalore, a lightsaber which emitted a unique pitch black blade which seemed to eat up the light around it.
Her astonishment was cut short however as the leader increased the pressure against her block, forcing Kandria to brace her block with the other hand. Then, with a brutal burst of strength, the leader pushed Kandria's blade down and off to the side as he took a step closer, using the opening to elbow her in the stomach, winding Kandria.
It took all of Kandria's remaining breath to dodge backwards and away from the follow up strike with the Dark Saber. She leapt backwards towards the remains of the entrance, putting some fair distance between them as she caught her breath with a shed of desperation. Her mind filled with panic again as she realised that the burst of adrenaline and power she had received was not as immense as she had thought, her muscles already beginning to tire and ache.
The leader did not run or pursue after her with any haste, rather he simply started to walk forward menacingly, holding the Dark Saber out to the side like an executioner walking to his next target. The two remaining Mandalorians had not remained idle either, with the remaining male landing just behind the leader and the remaining female already restraining Captain Tryd, who was only barely conscious at this point.
Kandria took in deep breaths to calm herself, yet this seemed only to agitate her mind and the new power which had flooded it. Yet, she didn't know what else to do in such a desperate situation as this one. She examined the situation once again. One Mandalorian with the Dark Saber being supported by another one with a blaster. Another one is preoccupied with Captain Tryd. All have jetpacks. Can't go on the offensive, unsure how skilled the leader is with the Dark Saber and he would undoubtedly be supported from range by the others Mandalorians. Can't remain on the defensive, will either be picked off from afar by the ranged or rushed down by the leader. Can't run, nowhere to run.
Kandria took a cautious step back, wincing as the feeling of pain returned to her stomach where the leader and elbowed her, causing one of her hands to hold it gently. She could feel the glee from the leader as she did so.
"What's wrong huh? Your little witchcraft can't help you now?" Came the cackling laughter of the leader, who stopped in his tracks and pointed the Dark Saber at her, "And here I thought you were actually going to cause problems."
Kandria grit her teeth and her eyes shifted to the sides in search of anyway out.
"But then again, what would I expect from a pair of Jedi."
Kandria froze in her tracks. Slowly, she turned her head to look behind her. There, coming from underneath the rubble, was an unending, relentless fountain of pure, unadulterated rage.
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