Outer Ring. Sith space. Horuset System.
Space station.
751 DBYA.
13 years before the Mandalorian Purge.
At the same time.
The Jedi.
Once again thrown against the wall and practically pinned to it, the woman thought that she was not fighting a battle, but was simply being mocked!
This Hutt lover of heavy armour was simply throwing them around like some kind of younglings, i.e. children and half-wits!
Master Jedi!
The woman with faded hair growled in dissatisfaction when she was thrown back by another Force Push. It didn't do any particular harm, and it was much less advantageous to disperse it than to take a blow, and since all the Jedi gathered here quickly realised this, everyone had to fly around the wide corridor of the station.
However, it wasn't wide enough for the six masters and knights to take advantage of their numerical superiority.
...And that damned Sith, there was no doubt about it, hadn't even activated his lightsaber yet!
The Jedi had never experienced such humiliation.
Not even when she was defeated by that old little green goblin during her Padawan days!
Then, of course, it became clear that he was a Jedi Master from the Jedi Council, which made Valey Tallin feel ashamed... And, unexpectedly even to herself, she became Yoda's apprentice.
...But this enemy was not a wise and generous Jedi, but a hated Sith, who were thought to have been destroyed!
The eternal enemy of the Order, who so easily puts them in humiliating positions with the Force alone.
"Fight with all your Force, Sith!" exclaimed one of Vaili's comrades, the young knight Lai'sa, who belonged to the Torgut race. A beautiful sensor, but still a young Jedi. Even after receiving her unforgettable title of Jedi Knight and passing all the necessary Trials, she was still too young and hot-headed, which is why the representative of the predatory race fiercely rushed at the Sith.
She too was hurt by the mockery, but unlike the more experienced station commander, she was unable to restrain her urge to attack her seemingly defenceless opponent.
Yoda said that the current generation of Jedi relied too heavily on technological weapons, forgetting the main and most powerful ally of any member of the Order — the Force.
The mask's wearer agreed with her teacher more than ever before, so after watching the Torguta fly back in the direction she had lunged, she began to concentrate mystical energy in her hands, and the sword disappeared in the blink of an eye.
"Finally, someone from your bunch has done something appropriate." The Sith did not fail to notice this moment, looking at her with surreal green eyes. All records stated that with such a gigantic aura of the Dark Side surrounding their enemy, even against the backdrop of this star system, the Sith's eyes should have shone like two suns.
But no.
Instead, his calm eyes reflected only arrogance and contempt for everyone around him.
He did not even hide his feelings, surely praising the Dark Side and belittling the Light Side, as all adherents of the former love to do.
"H-h-ha-a-a!" — the woman exhaled sharply as the Sith once again scattered the Jedi with bare Force pushes, primitive but incredibly powerful.
Ordinary intelligent beings and even droids would be swept away like toys, turned into broken dolls. But the Force flowing through the Jedi's bodies protected them from such unpleasant effects of their enemy's cold and palpable Force.
But the exhalation was not the only thing that Valey released from her body.
The light of the Force revealed itself to the combatants.
A giant flash of light illuminated the entire corridor, strengthening the Jedi in every way and at the same time weakening the Sith...
In its original design.
However, although the Jedi, including Vayle herself, received the enhancement, the Sith did not suffer any weakening, managing to avoid it with the help of a green mist surrounding her body.
The experienced Jedi Master widened her eyes, for despite her lessons at the Temple, she could not understand this variation of the Force. It was definitely not the Living Force, and yet it was not the Dark Side... Something in between. Something else, something...
"It's the Wild Force, or Ichor." — Interrupting Tallin's thoughts, the Sith boasted, turning on his unusual lightsabers again. "I, Darth Doom, invented it. After all, I am aware of some interesting features of the Light Side that weaken its eternal enemy... Don't you dare interrupt my explanation, worm!" — the Sith suddenly barked when the pair of Jedi Masters, who were inseparable in Veili's eyes, attacked him during his speech, apparently deciding that it was a good moment for a surprise attack.
"We've heard enough of your nonsense, Sith!" — exclaimed the large woman wielding a purple-bladed lightsaber, along with her partner and his double-bladed sword, as they lunged forward in a long jump, trying to reach the supposedly unarmed Dark Side adept.
"No one dares interrupt Darth Duma! No one!" — said the Sith in a tone overflowing with discontent and indignation, and the Dark Side around him swirled with new power.
Enveloping him in a giant whirlwind and crushing the metal of the station around him, the Force abruptly expanded its boundaries, throwing back those who had jumped forward and forcing the rest to grit their teeth from the strain, trying with all their might to stay on the floor so as not to follow their comrades, who were tossed into the air and only then managed to land on their feet.
"So... Wild Force... Are you going there too?" — said the steel-clad monster with a distinct tone of contempt and venom in his voice, this time flashing two suns instead of the frosty green that had been in place of his eyes earlier.
Valey did not stand still, and after recovering from the Force's light, she used its power and rushed at full speed towards the motionless enemy, exposing both blades for a suitable attack that would sever his right arm.
The Jedi Master did not expect more from such a powerful adept of the Dark Side, deciding not to aim for the neck or other vital organs. Alone, she would not win, which meant she had to systematically weaken her powerful enemy, acting as if she were on a hunt, similar to those conducted by her aristocratic family from Alderaan.
Her actions were supported by the other Jedi, who directed the myriad pieces of metal debris that had accumulated during the battle at Darth Duma.
The multitude of metal fragments of various sizes did not harm the Sith, but clearly limited his view with the dust they kicked up — the Jedi were not particularly fond of cleaning up the old station that had been hanging near Korriban for four centuries.
"Idiots." — was all the Sith in armour said about their actions, clenching the fist of his right hand menacingly.
She hadn't even reached half the distance to her target when her opponent's metal fist flashed with cascades of Force lightning striking in all directions.
Tallinn only managed to catch a glimpse of the mighty figure, whose green robes were pockmarked with numerous holes from the steel debris, before ducking sharply, letting the numerous bolts of lightning pass over her, which intensified sharply and struck in all directions with double the power.
The other Jedi, who also tried to rush forward and close the distance, were forced to put their lightsabers forward, blocking the extremely powerful flashes of artificial electricity.
Catching one such flash with her crossed blades in a defensive gesture, the woman was forced to gasp and retreat back to the metal wall of the passageway, for the Dark Side striking her and gradually weakening the effect of the Light Side was incredibly powerful.
So it was no surprise when an explosion of pure Force, caused by the Sith's free hand, completely scattered all the Jedi along the corridor, throwing some of them into a circular room in the centre of the station, where there were training areas for lightsaber sparring.
"Heh..." — the Jedi Master grinned at her idea. "Activate the Alpha-Omega-Beta protocol!" — she exclaimed to the entire hall, using the letters of the old Tionese alphabet, which was one of the many regions of the galaxy... And her homeland.
"Hmm! Familiar words..." — the Sith who followed her in muttered thoughtfully, watching as metal droids, sparring partners for the Jedi, activated all around them.
Armed with training swords, the droids quickly replaced them with real lightsabers, and the Sith did not interfere, merely glancing at them with his cold, green eyes.
More skilled in fencing and more durable than the security droids, the training droids began to close the distance to the Sith.
Surprisingly, unlike the Jedi, they did so with ease.
Taking advantage of the fact that their torsos were not connected to their legs by metal, but by a complex network of magnetic and anti-gravity systems, along with cyber crystals that created a scarlet energy beam in place of their stomachs, the droids began to hack at the Sith at breakneck speed.
Or rather... They tried.
Again.
Somehow managing to be incredibly agile even in their armour, the Sith easily dodged all attacks with a certain grace. All admiration immediately vanished when the Jedi Master's mind realised that it belonged to a vile Sith, whose legacy she, as one of the Dark Ones, had sworn to destroy by any means necessary.
"Beautiful mechanisms. I can't believe that such fools as you are capable of inventing them." — The Sith shook his head... With some outrageous ease, he caught the plasma blade with his gauntleted hand.
"Don't touch them, you vile Sith!" — exclaimed the restless Torguta again, joining the droids' attempts to attack the Sith.
"Keep talking, someday you'll manage to say something intelligent!" — the Dark Side adept suddenly laughed, and only now did the Jedi realise that he hadn't just been standing there all this time.
He had been preparing something extremely powerful, which now manifested itself in his hand as a blade of pure darkness. It looked more like a shard of glass and had no hilt, but it gave off the darkest and most terrifying glimmer of the Dark Side that the Jedi had ever felt in her entire life.
Fortunately for the Jedi, the blade did not strike her, but with unprecedented ease cut the droids' torsos in two, causing them to fall in useless piles of metal. Their legs also lost control as a result, falling with a clang onto the metal floor of the station.
"Argh!" However, the trooper who had come too close to the Sith paid for it.
To her horror, she began to watch as black veins spread across her severed left arm... Judging by the knight's face, the pain was so intense that she dropped her lightsaber and collapsed to her knees.
"Lai'sa!" — cried the second Jedi knight in their group, who, judging by his face, clearly did not want to lose a second brother in the Order, as the first had died at the very beginning of the battle.
Clenching the hilts of her swords, the owner of the mask cracked in battle began to channel the Light Side through her body, healing minor wounds and muscle strains, while calming herself mentally and not allowing her emotions to escape.
But they demanded revenge for their grumpy selkat, Kri'van. He was... a good friend to her, responsible and intelligent, despite the ten-year age difference. He was practically her deputy.
Entrusting their comrade to a knight of the human race, Elmor Tashkent, also a former member of the Tion aristocracy, the four Jedi Masters began to cautiously circle the Sith, who stood still. All their previous attacks, either alone or even in pairs, had proved humiliatingly ineffective, so without consulting each other, the Jedi masters, who had once trained their own apprentices and therefore understood each other without words, decided to use the Force Quadrant.
This special positional technique allowed the group of Jedi to connect through a mental-empathic network and act much more effectively as a team, understanding each other's intentions before they were even formed in their minds. As a result, their teamwork improved to an incredible level, allowing them to deal with much stronger opponents.
This technique was old, half-forgotten, and therefore incredibly complex. Even the most talented knights and Padawans could not master it. Only masters who had gained experience in understanding intelligent beings, including through teaching, could do so.
Like most Force techniques, especially those of the Light Side, the Quadrant was invisible to the untrained eye. Only those who could use the all-pervading energy of the Galaxy could confidently sense the use of such a technique, which is why for many isolated but powerful enemies, the sudden increase in the power and coordination of the Jedi came as a surprise.
Deadly.
Unfortunately, the Sith was the most gifted of all.
That's why the Jedi masters who rushed forward quickly realised that long-range Force had an undeniable advantage over lightsabers, which required close contact. In this situation, it was impossible to let go of them, as there was too great a chance that a master of telekinesis such as Darth Doom, who was clearly not one of the fallen Jedi, would simply intercept the blades.
"You... Are you always this stupid, or is today a special occasion?" — said the Sith, clearly disappointed in those around him, concentrating a green mist around them... Which caused the Jedi to stop abruptly and jump back.
A painfully unpleasant sensation emanated from this... Wild Force.
"Your cheap tricks with the Dark Side won't help you defeat us!" — said the fourth of their group confidently, also a Jedi Master, but belonging to the Miraluk race.
"To call my designs cheap tricks... You must have considerable courage." — admitted the Sith as the green mist began to draw into his body. "Or considerable stupidity, which is more likely... In your case!" — barked this Darth Doom.
And he didn't just bark.
A whole Roar of Power burst from his mouth, staggering the representative of the eyeless race and forcing him to step back, losing his concentration. Filled to the brim with the energy of the Dark Side, which literally made the surrounding air vibrate, a Force Rip caught up with their comrade.
He rose into the air, and his body began to tear, break, and contract simultaneously before their very eyes.
"No!" — cried the station commander, but in the next moment she was enveloped in the golden glow of the Force Barrier, which covered her body like a dome.
Only at the last moment did she and her comrades manage to react and block the enemy attack with the appropriate technology. The same could not be said for Philias, who was losing concentration with every new wound, preventing him from using any kind of defence.
A little more and he would have been torn to pieces if the surviving Jedi knight, who had been watching over the merchant and had been practically forgotten by the combatants, had not knocked the Miraluka master aside with a Force push.
The Corellian Jedi chose this moment to jump from the ceiling directly onto the Sith.
Having seen this creature clad in mighty steel during her meditation, the Jedi was still seriously afraid of her enemy... But she was not from Corellia, the home of the most famous adventurers in the entire Galaxy, for nothing. And in the Temple, she had been taught to stand firm for her fellow Jedi.
However... That wasn't enough to win.
There and then.
Darth Doom.
Although I assumed that the Jedi, who had secured herself on the ledges of the ceiling and concealed herself as much as possible in the Force, had simply decided to survive the slaughter, thereby taking the logical course of action for her level of power and the Force...
It turned out that I was wrong.
Well, such things happen in my life. It would be foolish to deny it, and I'm not an idiot.
However, I simply took my opponent flying towards me with her lightsaber at the ready and knocked her back with my free hand, causing her to painfully slam into the metal of the station and bend it.
How boring it is to fight idiots who don't learn their lessons and try to get close at any cost.
It was time to end this circus, because it wasn't going to give me anything more. No interesting moves followed from these, ha ha, Jedi masters.
And just as I was thinking this, when I was about to finish off the Jedi who had seen me in the Force with Lightning Bolts sparkling between my fingers, a figure in a half-destroyed mask decided to show its true power, apparently giving up all restraint.
"Not bad." — I commented with my lips on the supersonic crack, but I still didn't use my lightsaber.
Even such an unusual spectacle was not a reason for me to use this vulgar weapon.
Instead of another Force technique, I demonstrated something that the Jedi had forgotten in the heat of battle. Technology.
The palms that stood in the way of both lightsabers met with rings of plasma and shot at both lightsabers, forcing them to change direction. However, at her speed, which forced the Jedi to bend the metal beneath her feet, she couldn't manoeuvre or change the position of her hands.
That's why I slipped between both lightsabers, and my opponent literally impaled her mask and face on my steel fist. The momentum of her movement, which she couldn't stop or slow down, couldn't be cancelled.
There was a loud crunch, but the Jedi and the strongest opponent here turned out to be strong enough in that part of the body that only the sounds of breaking, crunching bones and cartilage could be heard, and there was no echo of death in the Force.
In any case, the main obstacle had been temporarily removed, which meant that only a couple of worthy opponents remained.
The Padawan and the knight who had taken the place of the masters were not worthy replacements. The remaining pair, consisting of an imposing woman and the owner of a double-bladed lightsaber, quickly learned of my irritation and disappointment with the strength and intelligence of the Jedi who had gathered against me.
Unless I overpowered them to the limit, Lightning and Force Push could be blocked or dispersed.
Separately.
But what if they attacked simultaneously?
This requires greater control over the Force, the Dark Side of which was not a quiet stream, but a powerful rush of hot water trying to break out and undermine its own resistance, but... My intellect is capable of more than such tricks, ha ha.
That is why the Jedi, who had begun to block the Force Push and disperse it, were unable to block the Force Lightning entirely, which in its most destructive form swept through their bodies. Only unlike the previous ones, these streams, sparkling purple, literally vaporised the fabric, steel and flesh they came into contact with.
"A-a-a-a-a-a-a!" — The Jedi immediately squealed like pigs in a slaughterhouse, which is what this huge, round compartment of the station had become for them.
It didn't matter how good they were at fencing. It didn't matter what fighting style they used or what tricks they could perform in close combat. The Force didn't give a damn about their skills, because they were just a substitute for losers who couldn't use the Force properly. Not a universal option for the gifted, not a faster and more effective way to kill an enemy, but just an atavism that should not be used by those who truly want to comprehend the Force.
And I had been demonstrating this to the Jedi all along. Even if it was before their death, they had to understand it.
However, their frantic attempts to attack me with pieces of plasma showed me that I had overestimated the intelligence of my opponents.
They were not Iron Man, Captain America, or T'Challa, aka Black Panther... They weren't even Reed Richards.
Their understanding of the obvious was at a much lower level than that of almost all the heroes who managed to defeat me with a combination of incredible luck and at least some level of intelligence other than zero.
That's why the hearts of the disfigured pieces of flesh, fabric, and light armour that the Jedi had been turned into soon stopped beating forever. Even the best healers of the Light Side couldn't revive them. For its opposite had sucked all the strength out of their bodies.
The four Jedi died quickly.
"You-u-u-u-u!" — a lisping cry rang out from behind, and in the next instant I was forced to expose the steel round plate on my shoulder armour to the lightsaber and dodge slightly to the side, allowing the plasma to cut a small groove in the metal.
Of course, the woman who had attacked so recklessly and unexpectedly, losing her mask, paid for it with her life, which was instantly burned by the Lightning of Power, the very universal means of attack and defence that the local gifted people mistakenly call light swords, but the fact itself...
They managed to hurt me a little.
It cost the lives of four masters, three knights and one Padawan.
My self-proclaimed and now dead teacher would have called it an excellent result.
However... Considering that these are clearly not the strongest representatives of the master rank, and that there are also magisters and the grand master who heads the Order... All of this points directly to the fact that in the event of an attack by a strike force of the strongest representatives of the Light Side, I may not survive. After all, I would never run away from some Jedi...
Therefore... I must increase my own power.
To do this, I will have to force the plan involving the rabble recruited by my subordinate and play cat and mouse with the Jedi in the Sith Space. For sooner or later, despite the systems jammed by my ship, the Jedi will discover the destruction of this station.
Yes, destruction. Complete destruction. For only that can cover all traces of what happened, not even a battle, but a simple massacre, and it is for that very reason that I headed straight for the reactor station.
Of course, I didn't forget to take all the lightsabers as trophies, dismantling them with the Force and throwing away half of the kyber crystals.
Let them think that the rest scattered throughout the system and that it wasn't exactly the Dark Side adept who killed all the Jedi... And not some crazy ship with enough firepower to destroy all the deflectors and weapons through which the Jedi so arrogantly let me pass.
This will further confuse the trail and prevent a pursuit from forming. And even if there is one, since I plan to stay in the Sith worlds for a while, it won't be very focused. The Jedi will be looking for more than one target, but for everything that could have destroyed the station.
Finally, after these practical considerations, I had walked slowly enough to reach the reactor compartment.
Using my strength to break down the iron gates blocked by the station's alarm, I walked straight up to the large sphere behind the transparistal glass. An interesting thing, by the way. It's not glass, but transparent steel, which in some cases is even stronger than the durastal commonly used in the Galaxy.
That's probably why the main part of the reactor was protected by this type of shielding.
However... The explosion will do everything for me, and its power will be much greater than transparent steel can withstand.
After all, it was possible to set the explosion to release the blast wave much more instantaneously, making the flash faster and brighter.
Plugging my datapad into the reactor's computer with a cable, I was surprised to find that it was well protected. The Jedi were clearly more tech-savvy than most intelligent beings in the galaxy, despite their apparent technological backwardness and use of melee weapons.
But what could they do against my brilliant intellect?
Only buy time.
And I had plenty of that, having spent some of it on destroying the Jedi.
"And... that's it," I commented briefly on the end of the hack, ignoring the notes of satisfaction that slipped into my voice, and made several important moves that started the irreversible process of destroying the reactor.
Not wanting to take any unnecessary risks, I used Force Speed to rush through the station and return to my ship.
And no, I wasn't running away. I was just saving a valuable spacecraft with a disguise that I hadn't been able to recreate yet due to lack of time. And this is the only one of its kind, so... Risk is out of the question here. It's necessary for my plans, no one saw it, which is why I was able to cowardly leave the station that was about to explode.
The station shook, was covered in a bright flash, and its debris began to be pulled towards the planet.
Sooner or later, they will circle in orbit and rain down like metal on the desert surface of the planet, full of abandoned tombs and temples, the remnants of ancient grandeur that I intend to touch. But that will be after I take many valuable things out of here.
Not far away, a second ship carrying the remnants emerged from hyperspace. Finally, its hyperdrive, much worse than mine, brought it into this system.
"Begin descent," I said briefly to the Dumbroids and the small demolition expert via the communication link, watching as the pilot droid of my ship began to descend onto the desert planet according to my command.
Corriban awaited me.
***
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