Private Chains Broken

[Valery Noble]

Zygerria

​

Outfit: Factory Link | Wedding Ring
Weapons: Double-Bladed Lightsaber

Valery watched from the shadows.

Zygerria always had a tight grip on its slaves, but the last few days had seen an uprising of a troubling scale. She still wasn't sure where it started and who lit the spark, but entire city blocks were taken over by former slaves. They have armed themselves with weapons acquired from the Zygerrians and barricaded the streets to keep the slavers away. But despite their early success, they knew it wasn't sustainable either.

They couldn't hold back an entire planet and also get off-world.

For that reason, Valery had traveled to the planet and word of her actions was starting to spread. She was arranging ways to get off-world and helping individuals escape the city and go into hiding. It was a slow process, but having once been personally exposed to the suffering of slaves, Valery wasn't going to allow anything to stop her efforts. She worked tirelessly for days and nights, hoping she could even make a small distance.

But she knew time was running out.

The Zygerrians were slowly gaining the upper hand and mustering even more of their forces to strike down anybody involved. The people who had lost their freedom were on a timer, and she was doing her best to save as many as she could.

Darth Malum of House Marr ​

 

[Darth Malum of House Marr]

Part of him was in constant contest over a singular question, should he really have been surprised at how difficult it was to have this opportunity right before him?

On one hand, certainly, his target was among the most well known in the galaxy, amongst the most dangerous too, as he knew first hand, of course it would be difficult to lure her out into the open.

On the other hand, truly, for one who controlled one of the most competent and largest spy networks in the galaxy, it was grating that it had taken this long for an opportunity like this to come.

What grated even further was that it was not an opportunity of his own making, despite the fact that he was able to find her location, seemingly her presence being across multiple worlds, multiple systems, it had taken luck, for her to finally come to a place where he had purchase.

Zygerria.

So close to the Caldera, and as far as he could tell her, she was isolated.

Still, he was rather miffed by all this, the only comfort he had… that it had at least been by his own efforts, his last trip to Zygerria, that had established the seeds that alerted him to her presence.

Of course, now was the waiting game, the Zygerrian upper classes were inching closer and closer to a victory, and though he had narrowed her presence to this world.

It was still a whole world to search for, and this would be unfortunately, a time where he was facing a foe, not only dangerous, who had beaten him in the past, handily so.

But too one who held a skillset that was all too familiar to his own.

Hiding both from the naked eye and the unnaked, gazing at the makeshift barricades which the slaves had hastily put together.

He would need to wait.

He would need to rely on her being a Jedi.

And he would need to hope… it had been a long time since Yavin, he had risen higher than perhaps he deserved, but as a member of the Dark Council.

He would have to be victorious.

“So, save them, Sword of the Jedi, show yourself.” He whispered to himself, watching as the slaver’s forces pushed forward, watching as the enslaved fell, more and more bodies dropping, as the minutes passed.

Their sacrifice would not be in vain.

Valery Noble

 

[Valery Noble]

Zygerria

​

Outfit: Factory Link | Wedding Ring
Weapons: Double-Bladed Lightsaber

Valery couldn't sit by and watch any longer. The slavers were threatening to break through, and if they did, everything would apart. Despite their best efforts, these former slavers were largely uncoordinated and untrained. Many of them were malnourished, sick, or physically not in the best shape either, so a prolonged fight was never going to end well for them. They'd be overrun and either killed or sent back into cages after extensive punishment and torture.

She needed to step in.

Seemingly from thin air, the Jedi Master suddenly appeared behind the slavers. Two violet blades igniting announced her presence, but before they could turn and open fire, she was already upon them. She stabbed and cut her way through the enemy with precision and fast-paced attacks, leaving a trail of bodies, but very little suffering. These slavers were monsters, but she would not cause unnecessary harm.

She was making it quick.

"Fall back! Set up new defenses and stay together!" Valery ordered the former slaves, who were both surprised and grateful with the Jedi Master helping them

She was going to buy them some time.

Darth Malum of House Marr ​

 

[Darth Malum of House Marr]

There she was, Malum’s pupils dilated, the red of his irises taking up more visage, as a shark smelling blood in the water, his feet moved before he commanded him.

His heart already beginning to beat at the tempo of wardrums, the blood flowing quickly, as muscles awakened rapidly.

Battle was here, which meant the precipice of victory or defeat would be decided in the next few moments.

Still, as time seemed to slow around him, as wraithlike he advanced, invisible to all the senses, he could not help but marvel at the sight before him.

She was an efficient killer.

There was an absolute ease, a confidence, there were no wasted movements, barreling through the rear of the slavers, a force once at the moment of victory.

Now looked like it was about to rout.

All the while the slaves rallied, following her command despite of, or perhaps because of their awe. An orderly retreat called, as orderly as slaves could manage, as they fell back to another defensive line.

Such was the power of the Sword of the Jedi.

Such was the power of the woman who had defeated him.

Such was the power of the woman who he would need to defeat today.

His footsteps held the gravity of quakes, each movement an epicentre which only he could feel, as he reached into his robes.

Three Shikkar blades, black glass held between his fingers.

She was distracted, he was hidden.

He could would end this in the opening move.

Swinging his arm forward, launching out of his hands with the pull of a catapult, out from his invisibility, the Shikkars sang as they sailed through the air.

Their target, in the midst of her victory.

Valery Noble

 

[Valery Noble]

Zygerria

​

Outfit: Factory Link | Wedding Ring
Weapons: Double-Bladed Lightsaber

Valery's breath left her lips, as she felt a sudden tremor in the Force

Surrounded by slavers and former slaves, it pulsed and formed a huge contrast. The people she struck down were not strong in the Force, and all she sensed from those ahead was a strange mix of anger, pain, sorrow, and hope. She spun around on her heels, ready to face the danger she sensed, and watched as light reflected off of the incoming blades.

Like a lightning bolt, Valery moved with both speed and randomness, dodging her way around the first two blades that would have otherwise punctured her back.

The third, however, left a cut along her right cheek.

Valery hissed at the sharp pain and felt the blood it drew running down her cheek. But she had taken much worse without falling and turned to face her new enemy with a bright fire in her eyes.

"Coward," she scoffed. "You shouldn't have done that." Valery drew her double-bladed weapon into a guarding position and looked him in the eyes. She remembered Darth Malum of House Marr from their last encounter. He had changed — grown stronger — but she wasn't the same either.

She wasn't afraid.

"You've chosen the worst time to get in my way."

Darth Malum of House Marr ​

 

[Darth Malum of House Marr]

He had foregone his mask for this encounter, it was not the action that was most efficient, or advantageous, but the act had been made for a singular purpose, that was altogether far sweeter.

To show the Sword of the Jedi, the face of the one she had beaten.

The face of the one who conquer her.

Yet, gazing into those golden orbs, that same colour which he had seen among so many of his Sith compatriots, eyes aflame, bearing down upon him with the anger of one interrupted from their mandate.

He could not help but wish for the security of his great ancestor’s face, real or not.

Yet, witnessing the blood flow down her cheek, the blood drawn by his act. He could not help but know he made the right choice.

He may not have defeated her in the opening move as he has naively hoped, but that only made this far more… interesting.

A dark chuckle echoed along the streets in which they stood, the slavers given the barest relief, as their saviour flickered into view, a noble and aquiline face, holding glimmered ruby red eyes, framed by draped raven locks that reached his chin.

Armour that did not belong to him, but armour that belonged to them, his Mistress was silent thus far in his mind, but her presence remained as strongly as ever.

Her power flowing through his veins.

“Coward?” He parroted back, mockingly, a twinge in his voice, and a curve of his lips, “Coming from the one who hides behind their husband, that is rich indeed.”

His hands reached to his back, grasping around the Beskar hilt of his Sith Sword, the steel hissing as it was bared, darkness seeming to flow out of in waves.

“Despite your worthy goal, I imagine there is not a better time for me to stand in your way, Grandmaster,” He put himself into a wider stance, the precepts of Makashi flowing through him, “Rest assured, your slaves shall be protected once this is over,” Ali- Darth Strosius would not have it any other way.

Of course, for the slavers, a clear indication that this new player, was hardly on their side.

For Malum that mattered little.

Lightning coiled around his fingers, running along the hilt, up the crossguard, up to the blade itself, a white lightning that burned so hot that it burned flesh off the bone.

Pointed directly at the foe before him.

It shot out like a blasterbolt, the strands like spiderwebs, to ensnare his foe.

Valery Noble

 

[Valery Noble]

Zygerria

​

Outfit: Factory Link | Wedding Ring
Weapons: Double-Bladed Lightsaber

"I don't hide behind him or anybody," Valery said, her eyes focused intently on his. "I stand with him and others who fight for the right cause. Something you Sith can learn from — that poor Apprentice was left to suffer because of your terrible coordination," Valery jabbed back, referring to Trayze and how he had only nearly escaped from dying that day.

It was a strength she always believed the Jedi had over Sith.

Unity.

"They don't need your protection," Valery replied. She was aware that much of the Sith Order and its followers opposed slavery, but she didn't trust them. She never would.

"And it won't be necessary." She drew her blades up, feeling the intense surge in the Force as Malum drew on its power. The weapon he held was not entirely uncommon for Sith, but the way he used it wasn't as ordinary. Lightning danced along the edges of the blade, crackling towards the tip until he released it at her.

In response, Valery raised an arm and extended the palm of her hand. The Force opened within it like a funnel, siphoning in the lethal energy through Tutaminis. But with so much raw power, it was no easy feat. Arcs of electricity jumped around her hand, stinging and burning her arm despite most of the energy being absorbed.

But she had her reason for it.

"You're going down." Valery pushed out her hand and all that energy she had absorbed was released at once. Not in the form of lightning, but a powerful wave of pure Force energy that ripped up the ground and lashed out at him like a tsunami.

But as the two began their battle, something else stirred in the city. The Zygerrians were more than aware of the ongoing battle, and already sending out more of their troops to start surrounding them.

Darth Malum of House Marr ​

 

[Darth Malum of House Marr]

It was Malum's turn to scoff, even as that rapidly turned into a scowl as her words bit. Bringing up his cousin, his Trayze Tesar , amongst the few who he would consider a brother, that in Malum's weakness, in his hubris, he had brought him into a battle against perhaps the two strongest Jedi of the current era, perhaps beyond it too.

It was low.

But they would go far lower before the day was done.

"You could have fooled me," His voice took on the quality of a snake, the words strumming along the wind with the enunciation of the S-sound, "You say you stand beside those of virtue, to fight for what is virtuous, but what do the Jedi know of it? Those who on the one hand have grown so militant in their so-called defence of the light, and on the other hand, though who have grown so passive in their view of their galaxy, that they allow evils to continue with naught more than a glance?"

The lightning continued to pour out of his fingers, continuing to follow along his blade, pressing deeper as if fangs to attempt to cut through her defence. There was an odd familiarity in this early move, as the smell of singed flesh came across the air, he was reminded of Yavin, as he had been reminded time after time.

It had been like this then as well.

But if only he could break her defence... even as he felt her take in further and further his power.

Which would break first?

Her words made it so it would be him, how she said it.

As he fueled her further.

He hissed as the vaunt of lightning tapered away, as he took a step forward, and heaved a great breath, pulling the darkness around him as if they were whisps in the air, out of nothingness the blackness were made manifest, three Spears of Midnight Black, spouted out of inky depths, rotating on their own axis, as his breath continued to grow graver, "And you believe yours is sufficient? You who proclaim yourselves the arbiters of what is right and good in the galaxy, yet one needs to look only in worlds like here, like Nal Hutta, like Tatooine, to see what evils the Jedi allow to persist!" He narrowed his eyes as her words continued, he did not need the word of warning to know her counterattack was to begin.

As more Darkshears sprouted out of him, as the predators circling their prey, forming around her, waiting for his silent command.

As she moved first.

His eyes widened, as he let loose his spears, all aimed towards various parts of her form. All the while realised, he had closed the distance too much, and with so much energy in the blast rapidly coming towards him, there was no guarantee he could escape out of the way. Letting out a narrow hiss, the Force propelled his feet forward, as he leapt back from the massive energy wave, that ruptured through earthen soil, even sending up some of the corpses which the Sword had left in her wake.

He was right.

He had been too close.

He ground his teeth, as he felt himself being taken by the blast, letting out a groan, as his body was swept up by the edge, his head slamming back against the wall, feeling thick viscous liquid running down his back, as by now.

The adrenaline was pumping, even as his vision grew delirious, such that he did not even consciously recognise the arrival of more Zygerrians, his grip on his blade only firming, as looking through the bleariness, feeling his raven locks caked in red, he looked for Valery Noble .

 

[Valery Noble]

Zygerria

​

Outfit: Factory Link | Wedding Ring
Weapons: Double-Bladed Lightsaber

"If you believe we've allowed evil to continue, you must have been asleep when the Maw and Mandalorian Enclave crumbled. When the Bryn were taken down, or when the New Imperial Order fell." That was the last she'd say about it. His usual attempt to point at parts of the Galaxy that weren't doing well and blame the Jedi for it didn't land. She felt no responsibility for the existence of crime and people being willing to cause harm.

She only felt sorrow, that it seemed so impossible to stop it all.

Her thoughts did not linger on it for long, however. Focus was demanded by the continuous surge of lightning that flowed into her, as well as that dark shiver she felt when Darkshears were starting to form. While invisible to the eye, she had encountered it many times before. Its insidious nature was a unique echo her senses would never miss.

But he was not the only one with a powerful connection to the Force. All that lightning that had flown into her body was released at once, alongside the movement of the Spears of midnight black. The ground was torn open and the Sith Lord was caught in the blast, but Valery wasn't quite in the clear just yet.

As those lethal spears moved in for the kill, Valery slipped into the Force, phasing through the weapons of pure darkness that would have otherwise torn her apart.

When the smoke of her blast finally cleared, Valery was standing, her arms burned and her cheek covered in blood, exhaustion visible but her strength as potent as before.

"You have much to learn," Valery hissed with venom in her voice. But before she could speak again, she felt a sudden tremor of danger, and turned to swat away an incoming blaster bolt. Another burst through the cloud of dust, and was promptly swept away into the air. Then another, and another.

Too many were drawing closer, surrounding the two Force Users while they opened fire relentlessly.

Darth Malum of House Marr ​

 

[Darth Malum of House Marr]

Her words rang in his ears, yet as was the nature of such a thing, in the daze of his mind attempting to recuperate itself into normalcy the ringing in his drums only diluted the words with every repetition into a mush that could not draw comprehension.

Alas, the time for words was at end.

Alas, he knew that from the very beginning this duel had begun.

He shook his head as red eyes found her, she was tiring, but he was not in much better state, even as light and darkness whipped against each other invisibly through the air.

For her burned arms, and cut cheek, he could feel the blood trailing down his neck.

They were not pacing themselves well.

For him, this was not going to plan.

Yet, when had it ever gone to plan?

He was far too used to saving his chestnuts at the last moment from burning asunder, that was his way, it was not the right way, but it had not failed him yet.

He stilled for a moment.

The same danger the Jedi felt unknowingly to him, everpresent to those who were touched by the Force. The red kyber crystal hissed into life, as through the Sith steel, the plasma blade protruded out, and with the dignity that was known by this ancient noble weapon.

Murder was consecrated.

The blaster bolts sang, only for the discordant melody of deflection to herald their wake, as through the smoke and dust, Zyggerians fell onto the dirt and sand.

It seemed he had two enemies.

He could at least remove one from the board.

Gripping firmly on the Beskar hilt, the Sith Sword was swung around his arm, deflecting bolts, defending the form of their master, as he commanded the Force to his will.

And along the Steel’s edge, flames grew hot, a fiery orange transitioning to a near blinding white, settling upon a pale blue.

His red pools shimmered with the power of darkness.

As the flames burst out of the blade, burst out of him, in all directions.

A haunting screaming melody rising through the air.

Valery Noble

 

[Valery Noble]

Zygerria

​

Outfit: Factory Link | Wedding Ring
Weapons: Double-Bladed Lightsaber

With the arrival of the Zygerrians, Valery's focus turned away from the wounded Sith Lord. He was still the greatest singular threat, but even untrained slavers could be trouble when they appeared in great numbers. To stop this uprising on their planet, they sent just about everything they had. The first wave consisted mostly of simple foot soldiers, armed with blasters but trained so poorly that the Jedi and Sith easily cut through their efforts.

Their blaster bolts either deflected away or returned to the source.

But within minutes, their brutes and elite units began to flood in, armed with a variety of weapons. From simple blasters to melee weapons of all sorts. Vibroblades, shock whips, and swords to cut their enemies apart.

It was starting to get overwhelming.

Slowly, Valery was backed up towards the Sith Lord, forcing her to keep her senses on him as well. If he backstabbed her now, though, he'd be entirely surrounded and guaranteed to fall.

"You can't fight us all!" a voice then called out through the chaos. "Put down your weapons!"

Darth Malum of House Marr ​

 

[Darth Malum of House Marr]

"Tch," Malum breathed out, deflection had felled the first wave, his flames had felled the second, yet the enemy had still not broken, and as far as he could tell, the Sword of the Jedi was still standing, if the discordant reflection of blaster bolts was any indication.

Yet, she was fast becoming far from the greatest threat at this moment, oh certainly, of all the individuals on the board against him, she was the most threatening, but quantity did always seem to have a certain quality of its own.

The Zygerrian grunted, blood pooling around feline lips, before dropping to the ground with a great thud. The Sith Steel seemed to bubble and boil the blood of the wound, as it was through a mighty effort pulled through the body, the newly made corpse.

The slavers were proving far more of a threat, far more than an annoyance than he would have liked.

Who had known a sentient foe to lose so many men so quickly, and not break and rout?

He hissed as another bolt flew past his ear, if there was any advantage to be held in this situation it was that the gunners kept their distance, blind by the dust kicked up into the air, and cautious to hit those which ventured in blind to find them.

Still, the pure quantity of fire made just dodging an impossible, the Force was the only remedy which allowed him the foresight to bat away any threat.

As Zyggerian corpses piled around him, and he ventured deeper into the desert.

The opportunity to escape was always there, with the Force bent to his will, he could rip right through Zygerria to anywhere in the galaxy, bending time and space around his form without regard.

Alas.

As he found his back pressed against that of the Grandmaster of the Jedi, an unsaid truce called against a far greater mutual threat.

He had never been one to fail at his objectives.

He narrowed his eyes as the voice of the Zygerrian broke through the battle, Malum swinging forth again, sending another blaster bolt flying through the dust.

"And how many of your men are you willing to let be butchered in testing that theory?" Malum shouted through the dust, knowing, that the woman behind him could choose to make the wrong decision at any moment.

Knowing they would need to hold out, until, hopefully, the slaves made a counterattack.

Otherwise, Malum might need to consider grabbing onto the Jedi, and teleporting both of them out of here.

...Which would only reignite their duel.

Valery Noble