From her lair a little over a mile away, Nightsister Heji Ravoss gazed into a spherical glass instrument, her attention captivated by the images therein. Some might call it pondering the orb, but a more accurate assessment was that Heji was surveying her domain. The simple minds that made up the Zabrak Nightbrothers under her control had alerted her to two trespassers of particular interest to the witch.
"Dathomir provides" she mused aloud, wondering momentarily why she'd kept the habit of speaking when there was no one around to hear. The withered husks of the two former members of her coven- Hajj and Hralina- made no reply. She hadn't had anyone to talk to since she'd siphoned their life forces through an ancient ritual discovered in this very cave. The solitude didn't bother Heji, but the feeling of age did. She'd lived for several decades off of the life force of Hajj and Hralina, and once again she felt the ravages of time beginning to take its toll.
Just when she had to begun laying plans to seek out another coven, here came two potential options.
She'd tried the ritual on Nightbrothers, of course, but quickly found it was ineffective. For some reason, the ritual only worked on another woman. And based off of her experience with Hajj and Hralina, the younger the victim, the better.
She felt the buzz of curiosity as the Nightbrother she was currently linked telepathically with awaited orders. That, too, was a trick she'd learned; the simple minds of the Nightbrothers meant that she could exercise a loose control over many of near-complete control over one at any given moment. She ordered the patrol to stay out of sight and then the patrol's leader to take another look at the two interlopers. The report was more complete this time; apparently one of the women was much older than the other, while the other was just a girl.
Heji came to a decision. There were several decades of life to be harvested if she played her winning hand correctly.
Like a grandmaster surveying a chessboard, Heji began marshalling her forces into position. The plan was simple; a show of force from one flank to draw the attention of the two women, who were now picking fruit off of the trees that Heji fancied as
hers. The second group would then swoop in to take advantage of the confusion, chaos, and fright that a half-dozen barbaric-looking Nightbrothers would undoubtedly create. Heki was clear with her instructions; the older woman was expendable, but the younger one was not to be harmed.
Begin. Hegi commanded the patrol leader, then settled back to watch.
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As he scrambled after the two women, Xuko felt the now-familiar tug in his gut that told him that danger was imminent. A quick glance told him all he needed to know; the women were outflanked and seemingly unaware of the danger they were in. To their left side, a half-dozen Nightbrothers were making as if to charge, while on the right flank another half-dozen lay silently in ambush; the two groups visible to Xuko only by his position a hundred meters behind the women.
There was no time to call out or warn them; his cry might only distract them in a third direction, and besides; his breath would be needed for running. Xuko drew the energy sword at his hip as if he'd done it a thousand times before, the metal cylinder a comforting weight in his hand as the moment of action neared. The Iridonian Zabrak dashed towards the half-dozen ambushers on the women's right flank, gathering his strength and covering the final several meters in a powerful leap and igniting his blade while he did so.
The brilliant blue blade spluttered to life; a far cry from the
snap-hiss Xuko had gotten used to, and a probable sign that whatever power supply it ran in was running low. That made sense, Xuko reasoned, since he'd used it frequently since waking up on this planet- not only as a weapon, but also as a source of light in some areas. It was, however, most unwelcome timing; he might only have seconds of charge left for all he knew.
One. Xuko's initial leap ended with a powerful strike downwards, cleaving one Nightbrother almost in half and startling the ambush. He straightened up from his half-crouch, his blade already in motion as it arced through the air and passed between the head and shoulders of a second Nightbrother.
Two. Xuko pivoted quickly, wasting no movement and stabbing behind him without needing to look. He was rewarded with a cry of pain and the
thump of a body falling to the ground.
Three.
Four and Five had recovered from their initial shock and began spraying streams or red blaster bolts at him. Xuko was forced to defend himself, eventually taking both out but not before watching Six run away. Xuko briefly considered running the survivor down, but decided against it, realizing that his fight with Four and Five had cost him precious time; time that the two women most likely did not have.
Just then, his lightsaber sputtered out. Xuko thumbed the ignition switch to no avail; it was well and truly dead. Deciding instead on one of the crude blasters that the Nightbrothers had dropped, Xuko hurried in the direction of where he'd last seen the two women, hoping that they hadn't been killed by the six attacking Nightbrothers from their left flank...
Pari Sylune
SlagathorTheUnknown
