I rushed over to her.

"Galen, are you all right?"

From the looks of it she still wanted to fight, so I took out a really sharp knife.

"Would you like this to help you?" I asked her offering it to her.

[ 04-09-2003 11:01 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Jebbua Dahutt ]

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This kid-- again?!

However, at that point in time I wasn't about to look a gift ronto in the mouth. My hand trembled just the slightest as I reached out and accepted the profferred knife.

"Thanks, kid," I gritted between my teeth before hauling back and letting fly with the second blade. I wasn't as lucky as with my first strike, though; this one only managed to nick my target lightly, slicing into the sword arm of the man in the trenchcoat before continuing on to land somewhere in the tunnel behind Lo Ban.

Damn.

--------------------

But the pain slowed him down, and he was barely able to parry the Jedi's counter-attack as he backed up.

His face turned red, the smile long gone now, and snarled as he went back to the offensive with a fury. His next wave of attacks came too fast and too strong for the Jedi, his rage fueling each swing.

The Jedi began to lose his grip on his saber as Romanus advanced closer and closer, until they were practically face-to-face. In a sudden move, Romanus head-butted the Jedi hard, sending him flat on his back.

At that moment, he had a perfect opportunity to finish him off, but the Jedi was not the real target of his anger...

Without showing any sign of the searing pain that occured on his face, Romanus reached back both with his arm and the Force and yanked the blade out.

He glared at the red-head woman, saw that another man was with her, but he didn't care about him. Romanus threw the knife at her, again using the Force to propell it almost at impossible speed...

...And this time he aimed to kill.

--------------------

"AAAhhhh." I sreamed out with pain, because the blade was so far in and it kept pushing.

I fell to the floor. I tried to get back up, but manged to crawl only a little bit before I fell again. the blade finally stopped pushing in my shoudler, but it still hurt.

"Galen, get the blade..."

Then everything went black as I fell unconsisce.

[ 04-10-2003 09:12 AM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Jebbua Dahutt ]

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Alexis woke with a start. She felt pain, her brother. Alexis went to the cockpit and saw Dash still in the pilot seat.

"Dash, how long till we're there?"

Lo Ban was down. Coming to my aid.

Nothing mattered, other than that.

Something in me snapped. Something took hold of me then, something I had never felt before. I really don't think I was seeing much at all other than the extremely tunneled form of this black-coated man who even now was rounding, lightsaber in hand, to finish Lo Ban off.

I let out a primal scream of pure rage and pushed off from the rock wall, launching myself over the unconscious form of the kid, from whose quivering shoulder I yanked the offending blade as I passed. Momentum and my own fury kept me going...

Khaandon help this guy, whoever the hell he is, if Lo Ban is dead--!

...until it seemed that I too was propelled by that thing called the Force. And then-- perhaps I was at that. Perhaps it did exist for all, coming in response to the unknowing summons of common man when pushed to extreme limits of endurance, whether that endurance be physical, mental or emotional.

I didn't know. And I certainly didn't care to discuss the possibility as an investigative committee. All the sheer edges of awareness was letting me know was the fact that somehow I had found the strength to completely ignore the crippling pain in my shoulder, to yank the deeply imbedded blade out of the kid's shoulder as if I was plucking a flower, and to propel myself faster than I ever thought I could straight into the back of this... this creature who had the effrontery to put Lo Ban down.

I hit him solidly enough, but it was probably sheer surprise which made him fall beneath my slight weight.

Probably....

I rolled with him until he was on his own back, then straddled him, the blade pushed into the flesh of his neck, slicing through skin and muscle and then held there in such a manner that any movement, any movement at all, whether made by him or me, would make that razor's edge slice deep enough to impact something vital. It wouldn't take much; I could see the jugular throbbing comfortingly close to that blade as I leaned down until my face was close to his own, the sweat of terror-turned-fury now dripping down to land in his eyes.

"If you kill or harm me any further you'll never know where those data chips are!" I snarled, wanting to spit in his face, dismissing his still ignited lightsaber although not unaware of its presence. "And I guarantee that if you've killed him, then whatever slim possibility you might ever gain regarding those chips is null and void, and you'll never, ever find them!"

Somehow I managed to control the further words and epithets which were scrabbling for release and fell silent, putting my weight into the blade as well my last tattered remnants of restraint, the latter being the most difficult thing I had ever done in my life.

I was more than seeing red, and every atom in my body simply screamed for me to wrench the life from this creep. That was a feeling I found quite new to me...

...and deep inside me something was smiling at the revelation that the feeling was so completely and utterly exhilarating.

((OOC: The post which would follow this one has been deleted on 4-13-03 by its crazed author. Basically, Lo Ban revives and approaches Romanus and Galen, kicking Romanus's lightsaber out of his hand. After moving Galen off of Romanus, he then turns to challenge Romanus again, giving him back his lightsaber to fight honorably. Thank you.))

[ 04-14-2003 11:37 AM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Graysith ]

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No.

"No," I said, not quite certain even then if the word had been voiced aloud or not. I shook my head, gripped the knife more tightly.

"Not for me. Don't you dare die for me Lo Ban, no!"

I must have spoken the words aloud for their impact upon my own ears sent a corresponding chill rippling up and down my abused body. That ripple reawakened the pain, which I proceeded to then simply ignore yet again as I threw back my head and howled my anguish to the rocks which vaulted overhead.

I will not let you die for me! Live for me instead!

My wordless cry rang stridently in the confines we were in, bouncing and echoing for a great deal of time before finally silencing somewhere in the distance. Every cell in my body straining to go to his aid, I forced myself to remain where he had planted me, understanding that this was his fight, yet dying a little bit inside with each passing second that it progressed.

Not for me....

[ 04-10-2003 12:58 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Galen ]

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Ha! Won't kill an unarmed man. Honorable Jedi...stupid, but honorable.

As the Jedi "Lo Ban" was being distracted by the woman's shrieking, Romanus placed his palms on top of the ground. In a single move, he was back on his feet, though his lightsaber was not resting in his hand. Half a second later, he backward somersaulted over the two and swiftly backstepped to the third guy laying unconscious on the ground. He outstretched his hand, and the lightsaber finally flew up and into his palm.

He stood over the kid's body, the green glow of his lightsaber showering his face. The point of it was barely an inch away.

All the time, Romanus still had that evil grin on his face.

"Anyone moves, either you two or this kid, and he won't be waking up again."

"Tell me where the data chips are...NOW!"

--------------------

And through it all I could only think of one thing:

That data simply must not get into this guy's hands... if only for the simple reason that he wanted it so badly.

Not to mention the fact that once he knew that, my life -- and that of anyone else present here -- probably wouldn't be worth so much as a pile of bantha poo-doo.

I curled my lips into a snarl even as my eyes flicked to the quiet form of the kid; I clenched my hands even more tightly.

"You can go to hell and take the ronto you rode in upon with you!" I spat, quivering now with rage to see the terrorist tactics employed by this trenchcoated excuse of a man.

[ 04-10-2003 03:47 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Galen ]

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Amazing speed; simply amazing...!

--while I merely crouched to lower my center of gravity, drawing in a few deep breaths and flipping the knife into attack position. I wanted to be ready if this guy would try anything else in my direction, or at least as ready as I could ever be.

I stood with my back against the rock, waiting to see what would then transpire.

[ 04-14-2003 11:39 AM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Graysith ]

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Romanus anticipated the move, that the Jedi would recklessly attack to save the life of another. Had Lo Ban waited, he would have noticed Romanus concentrating the Force on something else...inside his trenchcoat...

He parried the slash brought down on him, but he held the Jedi's saber to the side, keeping him from bringing it up. It was then that the Force did his bidding, and pushed a silver dart out of his coat and aimed for Lo Ban's neck.

It flew fast and stabbed its target, the lethal yet slow-acting poison immediately pumping into his bloodstream.

Romanus quickly backed off as paralysis, the first step that occurs from the poison, took effect.

I now have TWO hostages.

He went into a defensive stance towards the red-haired woman, prepared for any surprise attacks she might throw at him.

"I have the only antidote. Tell me where the data is, or their blood will be on your hands..."

--------------------

"ok, but I hope we get there in time, when we get there we need to run by my house, then you need to search for my brother with the force, because i'm not that good at it... Yet." Alexis said.

"OK"

Alexis got back up and stood in the doorway.
I hope we get there in time, I fell like something bads happening. She thought.

Through the standing tears in my eyes, I still saw red.

Lo Ban...

I drew in a shaky breath, and pointed my weaponless hand at his still form.

"Why in Hell's Seven Circles should I trust you?" I seethed, the words barely choking out of my throat.

"Why should I believe that if I comply, you'll follow through and leave us alone? I have nothing to go by to warrant that; I'd trust a rancor before I'd trust you.

"As far as I know, you've killed him already... and if I give you what you want you'll kill me as well."

The hardest thing I ever did in my life was to remain thus in hellish standoff, while Lo Ban grew sweatier and more pale by the minute.

--------------------

"You pilot the ship in and I'll find Master Jebbua."

I searched the barren landscape with the force. "I've found him, and... LOBAN!!! I think they are in trouble! We have to hurry!!!"

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"At my house I have..."

She was inturrupted when the hyperspace light was blinking. She pulled back the lever and realspace revealed before them.

"Anyways I was saying, follow me to my house and you can use my mothers lightsaber that she gave me before she died."

Alexis landed the craft with a soft landing and opened the boarding ramp.

"Follow me!" she said. as she ran down the ramp and into the streets.

His eyes shifted slightly to the left, as if an insect just flew by. Romanus felt the presence of other Force-users nearby...and closing...

He returned his gaze back to the red-haired woman. "Others are coming, as well. I'd really hate to leave you here with two dead Jedi if they turn up soon. Just give me the chips, and I promise I'll hand over the antidote and be on my way."

Romanus still sensed the woman's disbelief, realizing that this stalemate is about to end real soon. "I'm a professional, and a man of my word. I have yet lied to you so far, and if your as wise in the Force I think you are, you know I'm telling the truth about Lo Ban."

"Time to choose."

[ 04-11-2003 01:22 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Romanus ]

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"Here it is, but please be careful. I don't won't you to get hurt like my brother. Now hurry, We must find my brother before its too late."

Me?!

I shook my head in sheer disbelief at that, swallowing heavily as I stood my ground.

What the hell was he talking about? I was no force user; I never have been. Sense Lo Ban's lifeforce? Only by the link he had given me...

A link along which I suddenly realized that a particular life force was yet dwindling. I closed my eyes, trembling at the choice presented to me.

Two lives for... for information that, in the right hands, could save millions... or in the wrong hands kill just as many.

Again I shuddered, actually turning my eyes inward as I pondered further.

A man of his word... yeah right. He'd give the antidote as soon as I forked over what he wanted to know... not in my lifetime, certainly, which undoubtedly would be truncated just as prematurely as Lo Ban's if I did as he asked. And if I died, that information would indeed die along with me; it was of the greatest importance that it got to the right hands....

I jerked a little with that realization, suddenly knowing that I would never follow through with what I had originally planned to do with the chips. Tears welled in my eyes as the possibility of never seeing Darra again came crashing in to impact in my heart alongside the knowledge that I was losing Lo Ban as well.

Why oh why did I ever have to have stumbled across that damned data....

I gulped again, blinked the tears from my eyes and straightened up before this guy.

"I-- I don't believe you have a word by which to stand if you tried," I finally said. "And as far as whatever truth it is you've supposedly told me about Lo Ban... well, that would be that he is not dead.

"At least not now he's not.

"I still have no cause to believe that particular paradigm will alter if I do as you ask, nor do I believe my own life would not also then be automatically forfeit. No honorable force user would use the tactics that you have; I do not deal with terrorists, nor do I believe the so-called word of one.

"You Force users believe in destinies; well. LoBan put his own life at risk to save mine; I am not going to let him die in vain, if indeed death should be the path he has to travel."

I choked to silence with that, my chin trembling, feeling as though a veritable inferno was raging behind my eyes, images of everyone I had ever loved and lost whirling about in my head as though on a runaway carousel destined for hell.

--------------------

I picked Alexis's small feminine frame up into my arms and ran as quickly as I could, using Force enhancment, to the Fighting!

I took a quick second to examine the scene.

Loban was down, Master Jebbua was down, Galen was... "GALEN" I yelled. "Get out of here. I'll handle this" That all to familliar SNAP-HISS sounded out as I brought the Yellow bladed SABER to life. I could feel the ANGER swelling in me. "I don't know who you are. But you will pay for what you have done to my friends!!!"

With almost blinding speed, I waded into my opponent, using an all out attack pattern. Mustering all of my emotions inside me to make me quicker, stronger, more agile.

Sweep Low, block high, stab high, parry, parry, thrust, parry, high sweeping arc, roundhouse kick to the solarplexes, Force push!

I had knocked him off balance momentarily.

"Leave now and you can still save face, I'll allow you to surrender, and leave unharmed." I said to the man through gritted teeth. "I'll only offer this once"

[ 04-11-2003 05:44 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Dash Kelderon ]

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DASH?!

"Quick!" I burst out as I backpedalled to get out of the way of the flashing lightsabers.

"Lo Ban's been poisoned by this guy, and he has an antidote on him! Don't let him get away!"

[ 04-11-2003 05:48 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Galen ]

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"I'll accept your offer." he said, though he was a little too late. He waited until after the surprise from his answer wore down before he continued. "Help your friends, but this one..."

Romanus pointed at Lo Ban, his body pale and still now. "He's beyond your skill of healing."

He looked back to the red-haired woman, "Galen" as the Force-user called her.

"Maybe you are right, Galen. Though I don't believe in destinies myself, perhaps this is Lo Ban's fate; to die defending the life of another. But you forgot one thing...a question..."

"What if...?"

Romanus turned around and switched off his saber. He began to walk down the tunnel behind him.

It's still not too late...and you can see now that any attempt of harm I put upon you or the other Jedi will be easily stifled. he thought, directing it into Galen's mind.

[ 04-11-2003 05:53 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Romanus ]

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"You heard the pretty Lady. Give me the Antidote. NOW! Or I promise you, that you will die a more horrid death than any poison can impart on a victim." I waited a few seconds for a reply, carefully keeping watch on my opponent.

"This is your last chance! Give me the antidote and you may leave relatively unharmed, except for your EGO that is!"

--------------------

I darted a desperate look up at Dash, then to the departing thug. My eyes fell back to Lo Ban again.

The Force--? Me?

Although it seemed lifetimes were passing, every strange incident I had ever encountered now began flashing across my eyes. The times I had been taken from Sorben, locked away and yet somehow able to reach out that Seus could find me. I remembered each and every strange, and always correct hunch that had ever come down the pike.

And really... had it been Darra alone who had forced Roan and Graysith away from me, that day long ago in the Temple of Khar Delba? Darra, yet an unborn baby...?

There was nothing for it but to leap to a conclusion resulting from a very familiar feeling niggle.

I placed my hands over Lo Ban's face and his heart, tossed my head back, closed my eyes, and began willing every ounce of life and strength and restoration into his beleaguered body that I could. I didn't have the slightest idea if I actually would manage to revive him, if I might be lucky enough to just hold off his slide into death at the place where it now was...

...or if this would do any good at all. I just knew I had to try.

[ 04-11-2003 06:10 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Galen ]

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Probably because I didn't remember my FORCE abilities until After we parted ways...

But now LOBAN was in danger and I had to help him.

"Alexis, get Master Jebbua up and see to him, I have to help GALEN and LOBAN."

I sat down beside the newest member of the FORCE using family we like to call JEDI, and helped her in the healing of LOBAN. GALEN did most of the HEALING, I just aided in isolating the poison for her to neutralize. This may take some time.

--------------------

Who, at this very moment, are healing Lo Ban, he thought, regretting showing mercy when he was at the point of his saber. Yet, something kept him from doing so...

That Jedi Lo Ban...he seemed familiar. As if I've met him before, but I didn't even heard of his name until now.

Romanus shook his head, thinking thats its best not to ponder on it until he got patched up. He was walking defeated, and he knew this for a fact. Yet he did so willingly.

A thug-for-hire, lightsaber-swinging, muscle-man he may be, but Romanus was not stupid. He knew when the odds were against him, even if half of them suffered slightly fatal wounds...

His bluff failed, even before it had a chance to work. Romanus would never have given them the antidote BUT the poison could still be destroyed by the Force. Again, the timely intervention of the Force-users kept his hostage plan from working.

Argh, there goes my job for the Empire. I'm completely screwed now...

Frowning, Romanus pulled his hand inside his coat to re-hook the saber to his belt. When the action was done, he heard something clank against the ground. When he looked down, he couldn't believe the twist fate had brought upon him.

There it was: the data chip! Resting on the wet, rocky ground of the Sullustan tunnel. Romanus, wide-eyed with disbelief, bent down to pick it up. As he touched the chip, events of the past started rewinding in his head as he saw how this could have happened:

Back when Romanus was chasing Galen, he had used his lightsaber to strike her. The blade must have sliced through her flightsuit, and the chip slipped out onto the ground. However, neither Romanus nor Galen noticed it.

After being smackdowned by Galen, Romanus performed a somersault to get to the young Jedi to use him as a hostage. As he called upon the Force to retrieve his lightsaber, the chip must have followed into his hands. He had never seen it, nor even felt it in his hand, as the grip on his saber was ever tightening.

As soon as the "vision" was done and Romanus was back to reality, he quickly picked up the chip and pocketed it. There was no smile, no hint of joy on his face. He had gone too far now to screw it up.

Before, Romanus had been walking to the Imperial shuttle. Now, he was running as if it was for his life...

((OOC: Sorry to cut this short, but if I don't, SOMEONE is going to die. Follow Romanus to "Return to Tomorrow" in the Empire and New Republic forum.))

[ 04-11-2003 07:18 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Romanus ]

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