Star Wars: The Old Republic: Fatal Alliance (52 page)

Still
it fired, though.

"You
and you, " Larin said, pointing at two troopers at random, "with
me. "

She
grabbed a belt of explosive charges and leapt out of the trench. The
troopers followed, running hard for the base of the tower. The
emplacement was already busy tracking multiple targets. Hopefully
three more would escape unnoticed.

Halfway,
they were targeted. The trooper on her right went down, blasted up
his middle by pulses of purple fire. Larin and her sole companion
dodged left, and the next wave went wide. Then it was targeting the
grenade launchers again, and they reached the base unharmed.

It
was ten meters across and as solid as a mountain.

She
gave half the charges to the trooper. "One every two meters, set
to blow on my command. "

He
nodded and set off, moving around the base in the direction opposite
hers. When they met up, they retreated as far as they dared and
dropped flat. The emplacement didn't seem to notice them. It was
firing upward, at something she couldn't see.

She
pushed the remote detonation switch, and debris exploded over their
heads. The top of the tower leaned, began to fall.

Then
a much brighter flash came from behind her, and the ferrocrete ground
bucked. Larin glanced back and saw a large mushroom cloud rising from
the rendezvous point. It had been hit by heavier munitions than she'd
seen in play from the hexes before. Either Xandret's droids had
evolved again, or they'd knocked something from above off-course.
Maybe, she thought, that was what the emplacement had been firing at
right before she'd destroyed it: bombardment, deflected just enough
to hit the invading forces.

It
was going to take ages for the dust to settle, but at least the comms
had cleared. She got up and put out a call for all officers to report
in.

Hetchkee
spoke up from the other side of the dome, and one Imperial
lieutenant. No others. No Major Cha.

A
silver shape flashed through the clouds above, glinting in the sun.
"Is that you, Stryver?" she called. "Tell me what you
see up there. "

"One
of the major subspace sources is right under your feet, " the
Mandalorian replied. "Why put it so far from the CI?"

She
didn't know the answer to that question, and the comm dissolved into
static again before she could ask him anything else.

She
signaled her trooper to follow her back to the trench. The rest of
the squad had re-formed and were packing up the launchers,
preparatory to moving elsewhere. Larin didn't know what her next
objective should be. Keep taking out towers? Try to find the others?
Without Major Cha, it was going to be difficult to coordinate
everyone who remained.

As
she hastily considered her options, the black surface at the bottom
of the trench shifted. She looked down at her feet and saw a ripple
pass through the rubbery black material. It shifted again, and a deep
subterranean groan surrounded her.

"Move,
" she told the squad. "If this whole thing is a door,
then..."

The
world fell out from under her before she could finish the sentence.
She lunged and barely caught the nearest edge of the trench. The
black surface had dissolved as though its molecular structure had
suddenly changed from a solid to a liquid. Two troopers fell into
blackness, firing at nothing. Their shots ceased after less than a
second.

Larin
hauled herself out of the suddenly bottomless trench. Another groan
shook the air. The opposite walls lurched apart. Ten meters, twenty
meters. She was standing with half the squad on the edge of an
ever-widening trench. On the other side, the rest of her troopers
receded into the distance.

The
dome was unfolding, sliding finger-like segments of roof into deep
recesses at its edge and releasing a vast upwelling of warmer air.
Tendrils of fog sprang into being, mixing with the smoke and creating
strange shapes all around her. She looked down, and saw something
huge and indistinct stirring. Whatever it was, the hexes must have
been building it nonstop, using all the prodigious resources of the
metal- and energy-rich world.

"What
is that thing?" one of her troopers asked, loud enough to be
heard without a comm.

"I
don't know, " she said, "but those look like
repulsors-there, around its edge. "

"It's
a ship, shaped like that? Where are its engines?"

A
crazy thought occurred to her. "Maybe there aren't any. "

The
troopers looked at her like she was talking gibberish.

The
segment of dome they were standing on was nearing the edge of the
roof.

"We
can't stay here much longer, " she told what was left of the
squad. "I advise you to get ready to jump. "

"Down
onto that?" asked one, pointing at the object rising toward
them.

"I
think it's a skyhook, " she said, bracing herself, "so we
won't be going down for long. "

CHAPTER
39

Shigar
stepped out of his jet-chute harness and stared in horror at the
bubbling, bright red lake where his intended landing site had been.
He had watched the furious, equator-bound descent of the transport
while riding down in its wake. Its impact had sent a shock wave
through the complex maze, which buckled and then subsided into the
fluid beneath. Everyone on that maze had been swallowed. There were
only a few late arrivals left, standing around the edge of the crater
like him, staring down into the death of all their hopes.

Master
Satele had been in the maze, somewhere, with Eldon Ax. Shigar had
tried calling his Master via both the suit and the Force, but
received no response to either. All he could see moving were hexes,
bobbing and swimming through the red tide, apparently unharmed. Three
surviving cannon emplacements fired at anyone in range, to little
effect.

Darth
Chratis had descended with him and landed not far away.

"Not
only must I seek a new apprentice, " said the Sith Lord, red
lightsaber standing out at his side like a standard, "but it
appears that you are in need of a new Master. "

Shigar's
grief and frustration found a target. "You made this happen, "
he said, turning away from the awful view to confront the ancient
enemy of the Jedi Order.

"Not
I, boy. "

"The
Emperor, then, with all his dreams of murder and domination,
slaughtering his way across the galaxy. "

"I
don't see the Emperor here, do you?"

"You're
mocking me. "

"Because
you deserved to be mocked, boy. You are naive and sheltered, thanks
to the nonsense your Masters have fed you. The true face of the
universe frightens you, and you fall back on that nonsense to explain
your fear. Only a child closes its eyes when frightened. Look around
you and grow up. "

Shigar
felt his hackles rising, even though he knew Darth Chratis was trying
to get exactly this reaction from him. "You can't deny that the
Sith stole Cinzia Xandret from her mother. That's what led us here. "

"Lema
Xandret was brilliant and mad. She is the one to blame, Shigar. Or
Stryver, for not letting the matter rest. Or you. "

"Me?
What did I do?"

"It
was you who brought the matter to your Master's attention. "

"Stand
back. " Shigar activated his lightsaber. Darth Chratis was
getting entirely too close. The red of his blade matched the lava and
the sky above. It looked to Shigar like the whole world was turning
to blood.

Darth
Chratis stopped five paces away, a contemptuously amused expression
on his withered face.

"Blame
the Emperor for all your troubles, if you must, " he said.
"Blame the Empire as a whole. Given the chance, would you
explain to all of them how they have been so very wrong? Would you
address the Sith, and the ministers, and the troopers, and the spies?
I fear they wouldn't listen to you, not even the people you might
imagine to be on your side: the oppressed, the disenfranchised, the
dissidents. There are fewer of them than you imagine, you know. And
to the rest you are the enemy-you and your Jedi and your Senate. They
curse your name just as you curse ours, for the loved ones they've
lost at your hands, for the goods stolen by your privateers, for the
many hardships they've endured. You'll never win them over with your
words, with your nonsense, so you'll be forced to kill them all. How
does that sound to you,

Padawan?
Do you fancy yourself the greatest mass murderer in the history of
the galaxy? If not, perhaps you should, for that is the path you are
heading down. You and the Emperor-no different at all. "

"You
lie. " Shigar backed away, even though Darth Chratis had made no
physical move. The weight of his words was threat enough.

"That
empty litany will not protect you now, boy. Not from yourself. "

"We
fight you because you are evil. Because you are slaves to the dark
side. "

"All
those billions and billions? Would that the Sith were so plentiful. "

"You
have seduced them, twisted their thoughts. They obey you because they
fear you. "

"Is
the Republic so different?"

"We
have laws, safeguards against abuses of power..."

"We
have laws, too, albeit different ones, and the Emperor is the
ultimate safeguard. There can be no miscarriage of justice under his
rule, for his word is law. Where is your precious justice on
Coruscant? How has the Republic benefited from your leaders' inept
fumbling?"

Something
blossomed in Shigar's mind like a flower: a flower of certainty,
growing strong and sure in the darkness of the hour. He felt as
though years of history had condensed to this moment: the
reappearance of the Empire and the Mandalorians; the sacking of
Coruscant and the fragile treaty that restored it to a greatly
diminished Republic; the Annexation of Kiffu and the subjugation of
his people.

It
boiled down to him and Darth Chratis

"You
are the source of every bad thing that's happened to the galaxy, "
he said. "That's why we have to fight you. War is inevitable,
just like people say it is. There can be no lasting peace with the
likes of you. "

"You
are more like us than you care to admit, " Darth Chratis
snarled. "I am offering to save your life, boy. Join me as my
apprentice, and I will open your eyes for good. There can be no peace
because peace is the lie. Strength comes only from conflict, and for
there to be conflict there must be an enemy. That is the truth that
lies behind your Masters' teachings. Acknowledge it, embrace it, and
you will understand why you can never serve them. "

Shigar
steadied his lightsaber in a tight, two-handed grip.

Darth
Chratis's deep-set eyes glittered. The tip of his lightsaber didn't
move a millimeter.

Shigar
watched it closely, waiting for the first blow to fall.

The
Sith Lord laughed, a dreadful cackling sound all at odds with their
circumstances.

"Do
you think I intend to kill you now, boy? You forget: we have a truce.
Unless you plan to attack me, and I am forced to defend myself..."

"I
ought to attack you. Any kind of alliance with the Sith is flawed at
its heart. Master Shan should never have agreed to it. "

"It
was her suggestion, remember-and see how it has trapped you? Obey me
and the truce holds. Attack me and the truce is broken. " Darth
Chratis chuckled. "Which is it to be?"

Shigar
wavered on the verge of acting. He could feel the need for it
simmering in every muscle, every nerve. The Force was ready. It
filled his veins like lava, burning hot.

He
thought of Larin saying, You're thinking too much.

His
lightsaber moved as though of its own accord, sweeping forward into
Darth Chratis's reach with an almost delighted hum. Their blades
clashed together once, twice, three times, and the Sith edged back a
step.

"Yes,
excellent..."

Shigar
didn't let him talk, pressing him with another combination of moves,
staying light on his feet for the inevitable responses, feeling with
every instinct, every breath, what must be done. They danced together
along the lip of the crater, in full view of the surviving members of
the attack force. No signals went up; no word to disband the
alliance; comms were down, so the joint assault of Sebaddon went on.