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Valery Noble
Gil expected there to be more talking.
In all the stories he had been told and read, the betrayer often had so much to say during the climactic battle. The clash of good and evil, the combating ideals and goals that had to be expressed not just in action, but in word. The villain would take every chance they could to turn the hero to the path of evil, or the hero made one last desperate attempt to bring the fallen back to the light. Those were the stories everyone knew, the stories people loved to tell.
The battle between Gil and Crawl was silent.
Lightsaber clashed against lightsaber, the blades of light moving so fast they seemed to blur in the air as the two former comrades battled. Gil had looked up to Heron Crawl like an older brother, and he had thought Crawl had seen a similar bond within Gil. Perhaps that had been the case at one point. A brotherhood that had saved both their lives half a dozen times in their shared journey’s across the galaxy.
Now, Gil only saw hatred in the fallen Jedi’s eyes. They fought across the length and breadth of the laboratory, sparks flying from their blades as they sought to gain an advantage over the other. Crawl was a master of Form VII, an aggressive style that kept him pushing Gil back. Rage fueled each blow as it descended against Gil’s Form IV defense. Gil had never been able to beat Crawl in their practice duels in the past, but Gil could sense something was different this time. Gil could see and feel Crawl growing tired. The fallen Jedi was old, older than Gil had realized until that moment.
Gil flipped over a bank of terminals, tucking into a roll to avoid a series of quick slashes from Crawl as he came up. He had a chance to win this if he could hold out long enough. Crawl could sense it too. The man’s entire attack had focused on trying to overwhelm Gil and end the duel quickly. The seemingly endless stamina Crawl had once displayed was gone.
Just as Gil was preparing to go on his own attack, a new threat emerged. His senses screamed at him, and he spun on the spot just as the snap hiss of another lightsaber was ignited. Jen Wielder, armed with a blue lightsaber of her own emerged from a corridor leading into the laboratory. Gil deflected her first blow easily enough, but doing so pushed him dangerously close to Crawl. The advantage he had hoped to claw out of himself vanished as he engaged both Dark Jedi in a retreating duel.
The sound of blaster fire began to echo into the laboratory as the duel continued, and a flash of realization struck through the combat miasma that gripped him. Valery. The pirates must have found her. Blocking another strike from Crawl, Gil shot his hand out, sending a burst of Force energy out that hurled Jen backwards as she tried to capitalize on the opening. She flew into one of the floating tanks, shattering it and soaking the floor in the gurgling red liquid. She struggled to stand as Gil pressed his attack against Crawl, moving towards the exit he thought the blaster fire was coming from.
Gil had to get out of this duel. If he could regroup with the Grandmaster, the Sword of the Jedi, then they would be able to win the day. Kicking out, Gil went Crawl stumbling backwards. He then turned and leapt over the bank of terminals again. He landed and found Jen in his path, a snarl stuck to her face as she launched herself at Gil. She was a clumsy fighter, but what she lacked in skill she made up for in raw talent and speed. Their blades locked half a dozen times as Gil tried to disengage until, finally, they locked together, and a battle of strength began between them.
“
Where did you get that blade,” Gil demanded, his voice strained from the effort and tired from the duel.
“
You aren’t the first Jedi to come snooping around here,” Jen said, her cruel smile plastered in red as she disengaged from the lightsaber lock. A wave of Dark Side energy began to form behind Gil, and he began to turn to face Crawl. Jen moved forward to stop him, locking blades once more as they spun in place, Gil now facing Crawl across the room. The Dark Jedi had discarded his lightsaber, and his hands worked around a growing orb of dark, pulsating energy. As Gil watched, the orb grew larger and larger, before Crawl flexed his fingers and the orb flashed first into a super like shape, and then vanished from sight altogether. Crawl brought his hand back, and hurled the energy.
Jen was directly in the path of the Darkshear. Her chest vanished in a spray of visceral matter that painted the walls all around them, but that was not the final target. The Darkshear continued its path, through the Dark Jedi’s body and struck Gil’s exposed right arm just below the elbow. Agony flared through Gil. It was a pain that he had never felt before; not just physical, but almost spiritual in nature as the Dark Side energy from the attack flooded into his body from the wound.
Gil’s lightsaber and arm fell to he ground next to the still spasming body of Jen. The blade deactivated, and the only sound left in the room where Gil’s screams of agony as his body, and his soul, were torn apart.
