Private This Ancient Autumn World

[Salamander]

Abandoned Project Warlock Facility, Kiva

Kiva was barren. Black rocky terrain covered the entirety of the planet, giving it the appearance of an obsidian marble floating through space. The Type I atmosphere remained breathable to humans, devoid as it was of even the slightest microbe or spore that would indicate life. The oceans too were empty and appeared a dull gray in the dwindling light.

The remains of a research facility remained undisturbed decades after its abandonment. Built into a rocky cliff face over the silvery sea, the metallic white buildings reflected the sun as it set over the lifeless horizon. There were no windows built into the facility, for there was nothing outside worth seeing. It was as silent as the grave.

But the quiet was soon to be disturbed by the arrival of a vessel. As it landed on the planet’s surface, kicking up dark dust, shapes on the ground became visible, moving rapidly away. The unnatural beings darted into the safety of caves and other dark places where natural shadows dwelled. But once night fell, they could venture out again and stalk the unwelcome visitor to their beautifully dead world.

Subject 73 Red​

 

[Subject 73 Red]

Salamander

Red walked down the cargo ramp out of the ship, looking around. Well, Arimanes had been right, this place was lifeless and barren. Despite that, the air was still breathable. Huh, that's strange. An odd phenomena, most likely because this planet had once been full of life, so that the air was still trapped here, or perhaps there were some sort of microscopic photosynthetic microbes that were still producing oxygen. Whatever the case, Red was just glad he could still breath here, he took off his helmet and looked around.

In the distance, he could see his target, the abandoned research facility, most likely undisturbed for many years. He had searched for Kiva for quite sometime, and he somehow managed to get hold of a decades old Imperial map, managing to locate Kiva on it. Red had been surprised he had been so lucky, or perhaps the Force led him to it, or maybe his investigative skills came through once again. Whatever the case, he was just glad he found the damn place.

Red looked around, he didn't see any sign of any other life in the area, not even those wraiths that Arimanes had mentioned to avoid. Weird... Whatever the case, it sounded like he didn't want to deal with them. So, he approached the research facility. Reaching one of the doors, it was closed shut. It wouldn't open, probably because there was no power. Red pulled out his lightsaber, and cut through the locking mechanism, which was set to emergency override, since there was no power, so it went to its default setting, which was to lock. With the locking mechanism destroyed, Red pulled open the door, and walked inside.

 

[Salamander]

The air within the facility, sealed from the outside world for decades, had a stale mustiness to it. After prying open the door, Red would find himself walking down a long hallway. The lights overhead had long since gone out due to the power generator’s failure, but the floor and walls remained a pristine, sterile white that would reflect any light thrown at it, even low-level flashlights.

Scanning for lifeforms or reaching out with the Force would show no signs of any other living presences nearby. The facility seemed to be totally deserted, and had been for some time.

At the end of the hallway, there were three directions available—left, right, or straight ahead.

To the left was another much longer hallway lined with closed doors. Red would have to cut through each of them to get inside, unless he could find the facility’s main power generator and get it back online.

To the right was a single door connected to an inert computer terminal. A label over the door read “Administrator’s Office”.

Straight ahead was an open door leading to a large room. Though it was dark, the silhouettes of several tables, chairs, and couches could be seen inside. If he shone his flashlight around the room, he would realize it was a lounge halfway through being converted into a children’s playroom—faded crayon drawings in childish scrawls were still pinned to the walls, and various toys, electronics, and books had been left abandoned on the floor and strewn among the furniture. From the looks of things, the end of Project Warlock and shutdown of the facility had come swiftly and without warning.

Subject 73 Red

 

[Subject 73 Red]

Salamander

Red looked around the interior of the facility. He put on his helmet, and activated the light on the side of the helmet. The walls and floors shown the light back at him. It must have been even worse when the lights had been actually on. He looked at the scanner on his HUD. He didn't see any life forms on the scanner, and he couldn't sense anything through the Force. He seemed to be in the clear.

Red looked around. He walked down the hallway, and came upon the three different directions. He looked down each of them. Three paths, one of him. He would have to choose. Good thing Red could handle two at once. He brought a little help. he pressed a button on his gauntlet, and a pit droid sprang off of the latch on the back of his armor. It landed on its feet and looked around. "Whoa! Red! What are we doing in this creepy place?" The pit droid asked him.

"We're searching, Pitt. I need your help. We need to split up to cover more ground. You go down that way," Pointing to the hallway to the left. "See what you can find. I'll go this way," He pointed straight to the open room. "Tell me if you find anything." Red finished explaining.

Pitt nodded. "Got it, go down the spooky hallway all on my own." The little droid said sarcastically.

"Just get it done." Red told him.

Pitt gave a sigh, and walked off down the hallway to the left. Pitt turned on the light in his eye so he could see better. He approached the lock doors. "Great, this is gonna take forever." The little droid gave a small groan, then activated the blowtorch on his right arm, and started burning through the first door.

Meanwhile, Red walked into the open room, looking around. He could tell that it was some sort of lounge, but looked as if children had half-converted it into a playroom. Red stepped over the toys, electronics, and books on the ground. He saw the crayon pictures on the wall, and knelled down in front of them, looking at them. He felt a pang of sadness, and nostalgia. This all reminded him of his home, of the labs back on his home planet. Before he knew it, he was caught in his memories, feeling guilty, remembering his childhood, and all the experiments. He shook his head, snapping out of it. A book lay next to him, and he picked it up, examining it. Red looked around the room from his crouched position in front of the drawings, seeing what he could find.

 

[Salamander]

The first sealed door Pitt burned through led to a small examination room, similar in style to a dentist’s office. There was a reclining chair attached to an overhead light, and a table that held various tools and medical devices. Screens hung on the walls for displaying medical data such as X-rays and brain scans, along with a medical computer. Of course, everything had gone dark.

Pitt would realize that if he was going to be able to access any files left behind, he would have to get the power going again. The question was, where was the power generator located? Would he have to cut his way through every single door until he found it?

Most facilities like this one would keep their power generator in a specific place, somewhere out of the way and yet easy for workers to access. Underground, perhaps…

As the droid left the first room and headed further down the hall, looking for a floor hatch, the playroom in which Red had entered suddenly seemed to buzz with activity. Not electrical—he would feel it in the Force, like a spike of energy snapping him out of his guilty nostalgic reverie.

Shadows seemed to move along the floor, though there was nothing physically there to cast them. They moved away from the light of his flashlight, darting into darker corners. These were the wraiths Arimanes had spoken of. They had been on this planet for some time—ever since the Kivan Genocide, in fact. Whatever had killed all life on the planet eight centuries ago had caused the Kivans to become trapped halfway between corporeal life and immaterial death. Despite this, they could interact with Red, raking wispy fingers over him, their touch like breath prickling against the back of his neck. They could talk, too, in thin rasps and threadbare whispers, ghoulish hisses and ghostly wails.

“Stranger… why have you come to this place?...”

“...What business could you have here? There are no graves to rob... no tombs to plunder...!”

“Leave us in peace… we have already taken our revenge against the one who destroyed our planet… but we will guard ourselves against you too, stranger...”

Subject 73 Red

 

[Subject 73 Red]

Salamander

Pitt looked around the first room, noticing all of the medical equipment. It sort of looked like that doctor organics went to for their mouths and teeth... What were they called? A d.... A den... A mouth doctor, yes, that was it, a mouth doctor. It was a mouth doctor's office. Pitt saw the medical computer; that could be useful. Of course, all the power was out. How would he get it back on? Well, the generator, of course, but where would that be? There were so many doors here!

Pitt thought for a second. Well, he would put it with the rest of the utility stuff, out of the way of the rest of the building. Which probably meant that it was underground. Perfect. Even further into the creepy darkness. Pitt exited the room, and continued down the hallway, looking for some place where he could go down.

Red's instincts perked up when he sensed something through the Force. He jumped to his feet and turned around. He saw the shadows moving across the room, and shined his flashlight towards them. They seemed to avoid the light, and prefer the shadows. Good to know. These must be the wraiths Arimanes had been talking about.

“Stranger… why have you come to this place?...”

“...What business could you have here? There are no graves to rob... no tombs to plunder...!”

“Leave us in peace… we have already taken our revenge against the one who destroyed our planet… but we will guard ourselves against you too, stranger...”

Red looked at them. "I'm not here to cause any trouble, and I'm certainly not here to harm you. My business here is to find out what this building is, what happened here, who were the people who used to be here, and where said people went." He told them calmly, trying to use some of that Jedi diplomacy he somewhat learned. Sure, after one incident in Peaceful Negotiations that got him removed to that class and sent to Aggressive Negotiations, but he still knew somethings. Like how to be polite and respectful.

"Can you tell me what happened here?" He asked them.

 

[Salamander]

In the playroom, the wraiths peered at Red without eyes.

“This place… it is a monument to progress… built on the ruins of a monument to destruction.”

“The ones who built it wanted to repeat history, but not to kill… to create…”

“The head of the facility, we remember him… Arimanes Bosch… He worshiped the ones responsible for our deaths…” A hissing spread across the room, loathsome noises punctuated by moaning. “He wanted to go further than they had… accomplish the one thing they could not… solve the riddle of the Force… But he didn’t believe in the Force… he believed in Borborygmus Gog, and Mammon Hoole…”

“Mammon! Mammon! Mammon!”

The name swirled around Red as though caught in a maelstrom, spoken by many voices, one right after the other.

“We let him live… he was willing to die, but he was not the one responsible… it was Gog who obeyed the Emperor’s orders and released the weapon…”

“But if we had killed Mammon, he never would have gone on to have a son… his descendant would not have plucked Arimanes out of poverty and given him an education… Arimanes never would have known what they tried to do, couldn’t have become obsessed…”

“He came here to finish what they started!”

Nightmarish screams of rage and regret punctuated the revelation. The shadows tore at themselves, rending their half-corporeal bodies into tatters.

"The children... he did these things to children... like the child Gog made in his lab, the ruins this one was built upon... Eppon, the one we could not kill..."

“No!” One voice cut through the cries. “He didn’t make the children to be weapons! He made the children because he wanted to know the secrets of the Force!”

“Yes… he came to understand… but at what cost?”

“The Sith would have made weapons of them anyway.”

“The Sith came…”

“The Sith are here…”

The lights came on as Pitt got the generator working again, sending the wraiths fleeing for cover in the darkness outside. Everything the generator powered, including lights, computers, electronics, and the numerous automatic doors leading to various parts of the facility suddenly began to work again. It wouldn’t last long, however—maybe an hour, probably less. They didn’t have much time if they were going to investigate the facility's computer database.

Subject 73 Red

 

[Subject 73 Red]

Salamander

Red listened to the wraiths speak and answer his questions. They talked about people who's names he didn't recognize, but he did recognize the last name of one of them. Hoole... So, one of Inanna's ancestors, huh? Then, the wraiths started yelling out the name Mammon, and Red realized why they sounded pained when they said the name Mammon. Like they had said, Mammon had wiped out their planet, along with some other guy named Gog. But they had

“He came here to finish what they started!”

Wait... Arimanes came here to finish their work? The wraiths screamed out in rage, and Red felt the force of their anger through the Force. Red himself wanted to join them in their anger. Arimanes only made the experiments... because he just wanted to solve "the riddle of the Force"? He hadn't even believed in the Force, just in his "heroes", who caused so much pain and suffering? Kark... that was bad.

“No!” One voice cut through the cries. “He didn’t make the children to be weapons! He made the children because he wanted to know the secrets of the Force!”

Well, it obviously hadn't mattered if Arimanes hadn't made the children to be weapons, they were made into weapons anyway. The Originals, which Red decided to call the experiments that Arimanes had created, and the Second Generation, which Red had decided to call him and his experiments, they had been made into weapons anyway.

“The Sith came…”

“The Sith are here…”

Upon hearing that the Sith were here, Red was alarmed. They were here? Oh god. They weren't the only ones that had decided to come here. Red was about to ask the wraiths about that, but then the lights came on, and they ran. Then, Red's commlink buzzed.

"Hey Red! Guess what? I activated the power!" Pitt said proudly.

Red sighed, slightly miffed that Pitt had interrupted him. "Alright, keep on looking, and Pitt, be careful, we're not alone here."

Red turned off his commlink. He looked around the light playroom one last time, then exited the room. This time, he went to the right, and approached the terminal connected to a door. He turned it on.

Meanwhile, Pitt ran back down the hallway to the mouth doctor office. He ran inside, and ran up to the medical computer. He just barely managed to reach the computer, and turned it on.

 

[Salamander]

The computer outside the Administrator’s Office required a password to access, although it could be bypassed by a skilled slicer. If Red couldn’t slice through it, he couldn’t unlock the door to the office, and would have to cut his way through.

Pitt meanwhile would find the medical computer fairly easy to access… and bearing the signs of having been hastily wiped. What few scraps of data he could copy and download were badly corrupted and not much use. There were snatches of information about medical tests and personnel, but it was as if someone had gone in and burned all the documents and files related to Project Warlock, albeit without complete thoroughness.

As the little droid worked, he may or may not have noticed a subtle ripple in the air behind him as a figure wearing a stealth field generator entered the room. Red would not be able to sense this individual, as they had masked their presence in the Force.

The stealth-clad figure approached Pitt silently, then suddenly reached forward, aiming for the droid’s power switch. They would try to shut him down so that he couldn’t alert Red to the danger.

Subject 73 Red

 

[Subject 73 Red]

Salamander

Red saw the password prompt pop up, and Red sighed. Nothing could ever be that easy, could it. He hadn't seen a password just lying around anywhere, even Arimanes wasn't that stupid. Red pulled a small cable out of his right gauntlet, and attached it into a slot in the terminal. A couple seconds later, the HUD on his visor then activated it's infiltration module, and a whole ton of information appeared in front of Red. This was going to be a pain. He wanted to get in here silently, in case the Sith were nearby. And so, he began the tedious work of splicing the terminal.

Meanwhile, Pitt downloaded the information from the medical computer that still remained. Whoever had tried to wipe these files hadn't done all that great of a job. Which meant an easier job for Pitt! "Red, I'm sending you some information." Pitt said over the comms.

"Copy." Red replied back, still focusing on splicing the door.

Pitt sent the medical records to Red, then shut off the medical computer. In the reflection, he could see a strange ripple right behind. Almost like... almost like someone was using a stealth field. Pitt turned around instantly. "What the-! Red! There's someonnnnnnnn-" Pitt said, getting cut off as his power was turned off.

Red had just finished splicing the door when Pitt signaled him. The door slid open, and he retracted the cable back into his gauntlet. He heard Pitt over the comms speak, then cut off, his signal turning off entirely. "Pitt? Are you there?" Red asked, and was concerned when he received no response. Usually, you couldn't get Pitt to shut up and leave you alone, but now he was quiet, and nowhere to be found. "Pitt come in." Red said again.

Still, nothing. Panic started creeping into Red's voice. "Pitt! Answer me! Are you there?" He asked. And, once again, no response.

Oh no, no, no, no, no, no. Pitt was missing. Not Pitt, anyone but Pitt. Red couldn't lose Pitt. Red looked between the now open office, and further down the hall, in turmoil about what he should do. Then, Red took off running down the hall, away from the office, towards the path that Pitt took. Pitt was more important than some information, and Red wouldn't leave him behind.

Red ran down the hallway, and turned into the corridor that Pitt had entered. Red slowed, then stopped, looking around. Where could that little idiot be?

 

[Salamander]

Deactivating her stealth field generator, Thetis Suzerain was waiting for Red as soon as he turned the corner. She ignited her lightsaber and held it at the ready, assuming a defensive position.

Behind him, Red would also feel a void in the Force coming toward him at a rapid pace. If he turned to see what it was, he would glimpse another female figure, a woman with pale skin and black hair cut short wearing a suit of light armor. Wielding a vibroblade, she stalked toward him from the other end of the corridor.

“Surrender now,” Thetis said. “Your droid has not been harmed. Don’t force us to get rough with you, Red.”

Even as she spoke, the other woman suddenly lunged at Red, pouncing on his back. With a snarl she tried to bite his neck. If he didn’t manage to throw her off immediately, he would feel sharp fangs puncturing his skin, followed by a feeling of lightheaded paralysis...

Subject 73 Red

 

[Subject 73 Red]

Salamander

Red saw Thetis, and stopped. "Thetis..." Red growled. He moved himself into a battle position, standing at the ready. Thetis took up a defensive stance, Red saw this, and moved into a wider stance. Then, Red heard something behind him. He tilted his head slightly to the right, so he could still keep an eye on Thetis and look behind himself. He saw the other woman holding a vibroblade. Red hoped that meant that she wasn't a Sith, then. Only two? Red was disappointed, he expected more.

"Long time no see, Thetis," He said to her. "Not after that last encounter, where you barely managed to escape. Thanks to that Mandalorian, of course." Red continued, talking about their first encounter. He was taunting her, trying to get her to make the first move.

"I've been hunting, and tracking you and your master ever since. But you probably know that, don't you?" He asked.

"So, who's your new friend? Aren't you going to introduce me to your new girlfriend?" Red asked her, still taunting her.

Red slightly turned his head to the new person. "Hi, I'm Red, an old 'friend' of Thetis, but I'm guessing she's told you about me already." He told her, then turning his attention back to Thetis.

“Surrender now,” Thetis said. “Your droid has not been harmed. Don’t force us to get rough with you, Red.”

Red was about to reply, but then the woman behind him lunged at him. He had been tensing for this. It was a good move against anybody else, but against Red, it was a bad idea. His hyper reflexes kicked in. The woman jumped onto his back, perfect, he had her right where he wanted her. Crossing his arms behind his back, he flipped backwards, as he did so, he activated the flamethrowers in his gauntlets, burning the new woman with his gauntlets. At this range, it was completely impossible to miss. As her grip weakened, he pulled her over his shoulder, still in mid-air, and flung her across the room at Thetis. Red landed on his feet, ready for a fight.

"Guess we're doing this the hard way, then," Red said, grinning. "Good, cause I don't know any other way. You might outnumber me, but I outskill you, Thetis. Your girlfriend, however, I don't know. But let's find out." He said. Red pulled out his lightsaber, and activated it.

"Now, I'm only going to ask this one time. Where. Is. Pitt?"

 

[Salamander]

Thetis merely moved out of the way to avoid the other woman as Red threw her off. "Not to worry," Thetis said. "Daphne here is more than capable of matching you..."

Flames sputtered as Daphne rolled her body across the floor, putting them out. She was on her feet a moment later, still clutching her vibroblade. Her flesh was badly burnt. But as they watched, her blackened skin began to grow back. The regeneration was slower than it could have been, thanks to the heat of the fire, and she showed no sign of being in pain, but the sight of her skin bubbling and wriggling was quite horrific. It was clear that she was not human, and her absence in the Force seemed to indicate she wasn't a living being either.

Thetis kept her gaze trained on Red. “Your droid is in the room behind me, shut down,” she said, stalling to give Daphne a moment to recover. “It means nothing to me. I’m only interested in stopping you. You’re nosy, Red, and you need to learn how to mind your own business.” She smiled grimly and began to circle around Red. “I’d rather not have to be the one to teach you that lesson. Leave this place and halt your investigation into these matters, or I’ll have no choice.”

Her lightsaber flashed as she swung overhead in a wide arc, but it was meant only as a distraction. On Red’s other side, Daphne aimed a slash at his middle, followed by a swing at his neck, and then a kick aimed squarely at his chest, all in rapid succession. Thetis was indeed outskilled by Red, but Daphne’s superhuman reflexes, speed, and physical strength rivaled Red’s own. Perhaps they even surpassed his—and she didn't appear to be fatigued in the slightest by the exertion of combat.

Thetis stepped away from them, drifting to the side. She still held her lightsaber, but it was more as a defensive measure. Daphne kept coming at Red with her vibroblade, fists, and feet, seemingly unstoppable. Thetis knew she only needed to wait for Daphne to wear Red down, then go in for the kill… although given that she had been ordered to take the Jedi alive, perhaps that was a poor choice of words.

Subject 73 Red

 

[Subject 73 Red]

Salamander

Red watched as the woman got back up, off the ground. Thetis called her Daphne. Her flesh was badly burned, but then it started healing and growing back. The woman appeared to not even have felt anything. What the hell was this woman? She had no reaction to either the fire or her flesh piecing itself back together. Red also couldn't feel her through the Force. Was this a droid? If it was, this was decades in front of any technology at the time. It would be so advanced that nearly no other droid would even be close to it. Weird.

Thetis said that Daphne could match Red, and Red didn't doubt it. This thing was way more advanced than anything Red had ever faced before. When it lunged at him, he could tell it had a ton of speed and power. "I'm guessing Daphne here is the dominant one in this relationship." Red quipped at her. Thetis said that Pitt was in the room behind her. Red didn't know if she was lying or not, or if she had done something to Pitt, but for the time being, it provided him a small bit of relief.

“It means nothing to me. I’m only interested in stopping you. You’re nosy, Red, and you need to learn how to mind your own business.”

Red smiled. "Yeah? Well I'm only interested in stopping you and your master. Ever since I found out that you were experimenting on children, and when I found out who your master really was, and who Nimdok really was, I've taken a... personal interest in this strange conflict. If anybody is nosing, it's you, this is the closest thing to a personal matter that I've ever had. You should already know everything about me. You know I'm a genetic experiment, and you must know that Arimanes' research was built upon to help create me." Red said to her.

“I’d rather not have to be the one to teach you that lesson. Leave this place and halt your investigation into these matters, or I’ll have no choice.”

"You know, I could say the same to you, except that I am really going to enjoy teaching you a lesson." Red told her.

Then, Thetis swung her lightsaber overhead. Red sidestepped it, and saw that Daphne was doing an all-out attack. A blade emerged from Red's gauntlet, and blocked her vibroblade attack. She then aimed at his neck, Red brought up his arm and blocked the attack, but then she also aimed a kick instantly after. Red threw his lightsaber in the air, then he did quick backwards handspring, avoiding the kick and bringing his foot up on Daphne's chin, then he sprang up within half a second, grabbed his lightsaber, then slashing it down at Daphne.

This girl was crazy! She was just as quick and strong as Red was! Red was instantly amazed by her. This woman, who was possibly a droid, equaled Red in his strength, speed, reflex, and combat abilities. Finally! A worthy opponent for Red to fight! Most of the time, the people he usually fought didn't even come close to his skills, but she did. Like the scientists and many of his superiors put into Red's soldier report, an experiment could only be stopped by overwhelming force, or an equal. And here was Red's equal. He felt respect towards this woman/droid for having such skills. And... wait a second. Was he... smitten by the enemy?

Chit Chit Chit Chit Chit Chit Chit Chit Chit No No No Kark No Oh Chit No CHIT Red thought.

It was true, though. He was quite amazed, and kind of smitten, by this thing that could rival him. This wasn't good. Red kept up the fight against the woman/droid/whatever she was, not showing his inner turmoil, not even faltering for a second, and keeping up the high-speed, high intensity fight against her.

 

[Salamander]

Thetis sensed something change in Red, although she couldn’t quite tell what it was. She assumed it was fear, seeing as Daphne’s skills must have come as a jarring shock to him.

Daphne didn’t let up for a second. She kept going, hardly flinching when his boot connected with her chin. She deflected his lightsaber with her vibroblade and stabbed at his shoulder with one hand, the other forming a fist that she drove into his gut. Before he could even react to the blow, she had spun around, leveling a brutal slash with the blade across his middle that, if he couldn't evade it, would tear a horizontal gash through the top layer of his armor, if not cut all the way through to bare skin.

Her goal was to overwhelm Red. But if he tried to retreat from her, Thetis would be there, her lightsaber at the ready to push him back against Daphne, whose tireless onslaught would continue without so much as a moment’s hesitation.

Subject 73 Red

 

[Subject 73 Red]

Salamander

Red continued the fight, not slowing down for a second. He was actually enjoying this, this intense, brutal fight that would leave most normal people dead in a couple of seconds; he was actually enjoying it. He had never fought against someone this hard, without leaving them on the floor either dead, critically injured, or seriously maimed. And here was this woman, who was meeting Red blow for blow, who could regenerate, who apparently couldn't feel pain,move as fast and hit as hard as Red, and basically meet Red right at his skill level. He had never had as much fun as he had ever had in his entire life, except from his special forces work, where he had to face overwhelming odds all the time, but he had never faced an equal; one, single opponent who could meet him in the middle.

She stabbed at his shoulder, and Red grabbed the blade, but before he could do anything else, she threw a punch at his gut, which connected. The moment Red let go of the vibroblade, she sliced it at his middle. Red just barely managed to twist himself to avoid it, the blade just barely slicing across his armor, leaving a small scrap on the armor.

As the blade quickly moved, Red grabbed it with his armored hand. It cut into his hand, but caused a small bit of damage. Red then twisted her arm, and dragged her forward. Instantly, his right foot was within her guard, but his goal wasn't to trip and then flip her. He stabbed his left gauntlet blade into her chest, and then used her arm as leverage to slice it across her chest. Simultaneously, he twisted his foot up to wrap around the back of her leg, then he dropped himself into a roll, still holding onto her blade. He went under her legs, and then when he sprang up, he threw her across the hallway.

As she flew away, Red used both the Force, and the sonic weaponry built into his gauntlet to hit her. He summoned a large amount of the Force to Force push her, and used the sonic weaponry in his gauntlets to amplify the force of the hit. Interestingly, she didn't seem to be quite that effected by the Force push, but it did still do something. The sonic weaponry used to amplify the attack seemed to do a bit of damage, however. Interesting.

As Daphne flew into a wall. Red laughed in delight. "Yes! Oh, this is great! I'm having so much fun! I've never been able to do that move before because most people died instantly! Oh, but you don't! You don't even look like that hurt you! This is amazing! I've never had this much fun before, ever! Come on! Let's do it again!" He said. It was true, he was having the best time of his life right now, fighting Daphne. He had never fought a single person this hard for so long before! Usually, he had to fight this hard for a long time on his own against a large amount of normal people, but against her, he could just fight a single person. He knew that eventually, he would run out of stamina and get tired, but that might not be for a bit, and for now, he was having a blast fighting this woman.

Yep, he was definitely smitten by her.

 

[Salamander]

At this point Thetis was merely a spectator watching Red and Daphne fight. He was not afraid, or else he wouldn’t be laughing so gleefully. In fact, he almost seemed… Thetis shuddered at the thought that crossed her mind, but continued to watch the battle.

Daphne actually managed to land on her feet after Red threw her across the hall, her boots skidding across the floor. His telekinetic push was indeed dampened by her resistance to the Force, but the sonic did some damage. Luckily, her current configuration and armor made up for it enough that she didn’t go into immediate shutdown. Her flesh writhed disgustingly as her body healed the wounds to her torso.

She could keep going indefinitely, waiting for Red to succumb to exhaustion. Or she could try something different and hope that it would speed things up a little, bringing the fight to a close.

Glancing at Thetis, she nodded. Thetis raised an eyebrow… then used the Force to toss Daphne her lightsaber. Daphne caught it in her free hand and charged at Red.

The lightsaber is a difficult weapon to master, yet Daphne seemed more than capable of wielding it with greater skill and finesse than Thetis herself. The clear blade hummed menacingly as she attacked Red. With the lightsaber she struck at his more armored torso and head, while with the vibroblade she aimed for his arms and legs, which were by necessity less protected to allow him freedom of movement. The blows were incredibly fast, brutal… and if Red made one wrong move, he might lose a limb. Or two. Or three.

Their orders were to bring him in alive, but not necessarily fully intact.

Subject 73 Red

 

[Subject 73 Red]

Salamander

Red watched as Thetis threw her lightsaber to Daphne, who caught it and charged at Red. Interesting. It seemed as if Daphne could use a lightsaber, and was pretty good at using it. Now things were heating up. Daphne swung the lightsaber at Red's torso. Red flipped his lightsaber to where he was holding it upside down in his hand. An unorthodox tactic, but it allowed Red to better block her strike. His blade intercepted her, the two lightsabers clashing against each other. Then, Daphne swung the vibroblade at his limbs. Red sprung the blade in his left gauntlet and quickly moved it to intercept her strikes. The sound of the metal clashed against each other competed with the sound of the lightsabers striking each other.

Red moved his left arm quickly, blocking her strikes with the blade in his gauntlet. She hit fast and hard, so Red hit back fast and hard, not giving an inch. The fight was fast and intense, and any normal person watching would lose track of the battle by the ferocity and speed of the two combatants. Red then sliced his gauntlet blade down Daphne's arm, plunging it deep into her. Then, he launched his own attack, slicing and striking at Daphne with his lightsaber with alarming speed, flipping his lightsaber back to where he was holding it upright, then flipping it in his hand while attacking her, giving him that extra speed and mobility in his attacks, while keeping the same force and power behind his blows, and keeping complete control over the lightsaber, preventing it from getting knocked out of his hand.

Then, he pulled his gauntlet blade out of her arm. After his lightsaber attacks, he threw a knee to her gut, then grabbed her and rolled backwards, pulling her with him. When she was angled down the hallway above him, he used his arms to spring up, pushing her down the hallway through the air. She would be back soon, so Red had better get moving. Red lunged at Daphne this time, attacking her, making quick, consecutive, powerful moves with his lightsaber at many different areas of Daphne. Red pulled out his blaster rifle and threw it into the air. The blaster flipped in the air as Red pressed the attack. Then, he hit her with another Force push, just enough to push her back a bit. He then caught the blaster rifle in his left hand, and aimed it over his shoulder, back at Thetis. He fired four times, the four shots headed right on target, as Red could still sense where she was in the Force. Since Thetis had exposed herself by throwing her lightsaber, that gave Red the perfect opportunity to attack her.

He then turned his blaster rifle at Daphne, and fired three shots. He didn't expect them to hit her, as he expected that she would be able to block them, but that was just a distraction. He threw his rifle aside, and pulled out his grenade launcher. He quickly aimed at her and fired the launcher.

Fwoomp Fwoomp Fwoomp Fwoomp Fwoomp

The grenade launcher fired five shots as Red pulled the trigger five times. The grenades flew down the hall at Daphne, then landed at her feet. The moment they made contact they exploded. Red put the grenade launcher aside, waiting for her next move.

"Come on! Let's go more!" He yelled gleefully, still having the time of his life fighting her. For some reason, being in mortal danger for Red was fun.

He was starting to get tired, and sweat was starting to form. He wouldn't be able to keep this up forever, but he could keep it up for some more. He was having way too much fun to quit now.

 

[Salamander]

Thetis was not an expert in Tutaminis, or else she could’ve absorbed the blaster bolts. One of them singed her shoulder. She darted into one of the other rooms and closed the door, successfully evading the explosions from the grenade launcher.

The room she found herself in was unexpectedly large, dominated by a black pod that stood at the center of the area. Thick tubes and wires ran along the floor, all of them connected to the pod, which she realized had to be some kind of birthing chamber. Thetis frowned. Her master had always been adamant about only using machines and technology to birth his Children, not living females. He told her once that it was because his mother had died giving birth to him. But here was one such machine, in the very facility where Messala had been born...

Daphne meanwhile dove behind a corner to avoid the heat of the grenades. Pieces of metal clattered to the floor as her body rejected the shrapnel that had hit her, her malleable flesh sealing shut over the wounds.

At Red’s gleeful shouting, she smiled. “You think this is fun?” she asked, speaking up for the first time. Her voice didn’t sound mechanical or droidlike at all—on the contrary, she sounded quite human. The smoke from the grenades shrouded her from view as she moved out of cover. “Wait until you try this!”

She appeared suddenly in Red’s sight, barreling out of the smoke. The vibroblade was pointed toward him, intent on running him through. The lightsaber meanwhile was going to slash at his other arm. As she drew nearer, at the last second she suddenly switched the positions of the weapons—the blade twisted down toward his right leg, aiming to cut the tendons behind his knee, while the saber flashed up to gore through his left shoulder. She had tricked him.

Subject 73 Red

 

[Subject 73 Red]

Salamander

Red noticed that Thetis ran into one of the rooms and shut the door. Well, at least that removed one enemy from the fight. It wasn't the most dangerous enemy, that award went to the unstoppable Daphne, but it certainly did make the fight even. Red listened as Daphne spoke for the first time, and grinned. "You bet I'm having fun! No one has ever lasted this long in a fight against me, and no one could ever match my speed or strength, but here you are, meeting me blow for blow! This is awesome!" He replied.

Then, she emerged from the smoke, lunging at him. The grenades seemed to have had little effect against her, she had already regenerated. Her two blades were pointed at different sides of him, which Red got ready to defend against, but then, at the last second, she switched positions of her weapons, now aiming for different areas. She had done a fake out! Clever, Red was liming her more and more by the minute. This left Red with a split second to avoid the attack. With her vibroblade aiming for his right knee, and the lightsaber aiming for his left shoulder, this left little places for him to dodge, but Red was good at finding alternate ways. Then, he jumped a little bit off the ground, turning to where he was parallel with the ground. He spun a couple of times, hitting her blades, blocking her from making any moves as he spun at such a high speed. Then, he landed on the ground, in a kneeling position. His lightsaber holding back hers, and his right foot was stomped down on her vibroblade. Then, in a quick, jabbing motion, he stabbed his left hand up. His gauntlet blade stabbed into her midsection. "Nice move, but you left the gap in the middle wide open. Which allows me to do this." He said, then, he twisted his lightsaber, making it to where hers was facing back towards her. Then, he used her vibroblade to slide to the right, pointing her lightsaber towards the ground, with his only centimetres from her chest. He then twisted around, slashing his lightsaber across her midsection. He then used both feet to kick her in the back and away from him, as he used her as a springboard. He landed in a roll and came up on his feet, turning back around towards her, ready for the fight.

Sweat was starting to build up in his helmet, and it was starting to get hot in it. He took off his helmet and put it on the ground. He smiled at her. "You having as much fun as I am?" Red asked her.