The Final Battle

[Josh Dragovalor]

"Darth Dragonan... Heh. It's about time they gave you a stupid name" Josh commented as he would try and crawl along the wall to get as far away from the hole as he could. Ra's telekinesis would steady him and he would be able to hop down quicker than he would have by himself, which he was grateful for. But the humor was a coping mechanism, and Josh hated to admit it... But he was frustrated. He had been frustrated ever since he'd seen that vision. And the fact he had to fight his brother, who wasn't himself and might never be... It was getting too much for even Josh to take. And how couldn't it be? Everything he had sacrificed to get him back, all that he'd gone through since... All of this just to possibly have to kill him here?

Josh would charge forward, but the Sith Lord would suddenly lash out, launching lightning in all directions that arced out. Suddenly they would home in and hit Josh dead on, causing the Jedi Master to let out a loud growl as he began to convulse. While his armor protected him from blasters and lightsabers... Electricity was not something that it did. Unyielding, overwhelming pain shot through him as he could feel every bit of anger the Sith Lord was bringing out. His body twitched and fidgeted as he could feel his own flesh burning under the robes and armor. The pain didn't stop until Ra took the Sith Lord by surprise and brought him down.

Josh lay still a moment, sweat and blood beading down his face as he would try and get his bearings. The electricity still crackled around him, causing him to continue to fidget and twitch from the effects. But as if by instinct or just pure adrenaline, the electricity would begin to be sucked into his hand as his body then began to be cloaked in electricity. Holding his head back up, the Jedi Master's eyes sparked and crackled the same as he would suddenly activate Force Speed and charge forward once more. Just as the Sith Lord would turn and try to blast Ra with Force Lightning from close range using feeling instead of sight to gauge where she was, they only managed to fire a few seconds before the Jedi Master would launch his attack. A hard fist, cloaked in electricity would rocket forward and hit the Sith in the jaw, sending them crashing into the wall. Josh's frustrations were boiling over as he would limp forward, the pain of the attack before still hitting him hard as he would continue to move forward. At this height that the ship was at, and with the holes in the ship, Josh's breathing was shallow and hard, but he kept moving forward as he would grab the Sith Lord by the head.

"LOOK AT ME!" Josh found himself screaming, not being able to hold in his emotions anymore. Several years of pain and suffering, only to have him back... Only for it to turn out like this...

He couldn't take it.

"YOU'RE MY BROTHER, DAMN YOU! I DIDN'T WANT IT TO END LIKE THIS!" He bellowed. He couldn't stop the tears that began to fall down his face. He just couldn't take it anymore. "I LOVED YOU! I SACRIFICED EVERYTHING FOR YOU! EVERYTHING I WORKED FOR, EVERYTHING I HELD DEAR, I GAVE IT UP BECAUSE I LOVED YOU! And they took you away from me, and I... I have spent all of these years mourning you, begging, pleading for a second chance... I would do it all again, if that meant I could have my brother back."

The Sith began to get his bearings back as Josh couldn't contain uncontrollable sobbing. His frustration had turned into absolute despair. He had no will left to fight, all that was left was just...

"Dad's gone, Nick... He's gone, they took him away too... You're all that I have left. I don't want to lose you, not now... Not when we're finally together again. I have dreamed for years of the day that maybe... Just maybe you were still alive somewhere... And here you are. But you don't remember me. They've taken you away again. Just... Please, I know you're in there. Please come back..."

His grip loosened, as all will was gone.

"Come back to us, Nicholas. All I have ever wanted was to be a family again... And I know that deep down, that's what you wanted too. You wanted to be free... You told me as much. Don't let them win... Don't let them take it away again."

The Sith had gained his bearings and had been staring at him throughout this, his mouth hung open. His eyes seemed to begin to change, that red hue beginning to die out... And then he reached out.

"Brother..."

"Nicholas?"

But the hand that reached out soon held something that was not another hand, but a lightsaber. The red blade would activate and pierce through a weak spot in Josh's armor, impaling his chest. The Jedi Master's eyes grew wide as he let out a gasp, blood beginning to fall from his mouth from his wounds.

[member="Riamah"]

 

[Riamah]

The electricity from the lightning attack of Nicholas covered her suit and dissipated. Even though it was created to make her appear to look like a droid, it wasn't made of metal. If he had done some sort of kinetic attack, it would have been a different matter. Luckily her takedown of him ended his assault on Josh and she jerked back slightly when he turned to zap her. Well, more than zap, but all Ra would actually feel was little more than a shock.

It was Josh's turn to come to her aide and punched his brother in the jaw to end the attack. She had no biological family of her own so had no way of knowing just what he was feeling. However, the pain and anguish were clear to her. Right now, this was between brothers and there wasn't anything for her to contribute. Listening to what was said and watching Nicholas closely, he started to change.

Not being a natural empath, the sudden spike of anger, hatred or whatever negative feeling that was fleeting through Nicholas was very clear to Ra. She moved too late though and he had already ignited that lightsaber in his hand into the chest of Josh. Not just any man though, but the one Ra loved. She knew everybody was mortal and could be killed, but had never thought of it actually happening in front of her.

Having once been a Sith much like Nicholas was, Ra knew how to use the Dark Side. Something held her back from doing it now though. She had never been the kind of person that relied on Force in her life. It was just a small aspect of her and she used it only when she needed to. Now was not one of them. At least, not to use on Josh's brother in an attack.

For the moment, he was distracted and focused on Josh. She stood up quickly behind him and with the pommel of one knife, she attempted to give him a hard enough of a hit to his head to knock him out. If it didn't knock him out, it would at least stun him. Provided he went out like a light and was sleeping like a rock, she would then turn her attention to Josh.

[member="Josh DragonsFlame"]

 

[Josh Dragovalor]

Ra's attack was propelled back just barely as the Sith Lord would launch a fireball directly at her head, hoping to incinerate her instantly. But more sounds from Josh caught his attention.

"Gh..." Gurgled from the Jedi as he coughed up blood. "Yeah, I... Had that one coming... Ahh... Chit. I... I failed you" Josh would manage out softly, between the pain. "I should have been the one to die that day. And I would have been if not for you. If it'd been me, you wouldn't be in this position. So for that... I'm sorry."

The Sith's head snapped toward him, as his eyes widened. "What...?"

"I hope you broke free one day, you know...? That's all I ever wanted. For you to have your own life, to be happy... I just wanted you to have the freedom to choose. No matter how much it cost."

Josh's breathing had begun to get lighter and lighter as his consciousness faded more and more. Nicholas stared at him, eyes wide. Those orange Sith eyes had disappeared, as blue eyes stared back at his brother in disbelief.

He found himself holding his head and starting to scream from the top of his lungs, agonizing pain shooting through his head. The Force Bellow rocked the ship once more, as the engines finally failed and the ship began to take a downturn. But finally... The screaming stopped and his head sunk low. His breathing became hurried and ragged before he suddenly screamed out in anger.

"YOU IDIOT!"

Nicholas seemed absolutely furious, but when he looked at Ra they were not with the eyes of a Sith. No, his eyes, his expression, it all showed nothing but pure desperation. Tears began to roll down his face as though he had woken up from a dream only to see a true nightmare take form in front of him.

"You, woman. You can stabilize him, right?" He demanded, his voice practically pleading. "For kark's sake, can you stabilize him?"

[member="Riamah"]

 

[Riamah]

Memories flooded into her mind as she watched. A faint one of her parents dying, then of her master and lastly of her captain. All happened in front of her eyes for her to witness. This was the same, but it was different. She had loved her parents as a child and her captain had been like a father to her, her master was different though. He had only trained and raised her but there had never been any love in their relationship. He had always told her love wasn't real, now she knew differently though and she loved Josh.

Snapping out of her haze to hear the scream from Nicholas, she knew they were in trouble. It was just the three of them on board this ship. No droids or any other sentient races. The engines finally died as that scream went off. He yelled that one of them was an idiot and she almost wanted to laugh, even in this situation. Maybe the stress was getting to her.

His request for her to attempt to stabilize Josh was met with a shake of her head. However, she would try.

"I'm not a healer. Get this ship under control and I will attempt to keep him alive."

She was sure she could keep him alive long enough to get them to the ground provided Nick was able to get the ship under control. Glancing around the bridge, her eyes fell on a locked cabinet. With the freedom to move being granted without fear of an attack from him, she got her feet under her and ran over to it. Igniting her short lightsaber, the purple blade cut through the lock and it popped open.

Grabbing some of the items from inside, she ran back to Josh and administered a few shots to him and attempted to bandage the open wound on his chest and back from the lightsaber earlier. It was going to leave a mark, but she didn't feel any anger at the moment. Just a stubborn determination to keep Josh alive.

[member="Josh DragonsFlame"]

 

[Josh Dragovalor]

"Hi Ra" Josh managed to let out toward her with the warmest of smiles from his laying perch when she approached. As if all of this wasn't happening and he was greeting her like it was any regular old day. Though despite the pains he was clearly undergoing, he let out a wince when the shots went in. "I kriffing hate those" He managed to mutter between a violent coughing fit. Josh was exerting what strength he had in order to keep himself stabilized with the Force, which would help Ra's endeavour. But he lacked the energy to finish the job alone, only keep himself alive a little longer. His vision was hazy, though he could recognize her beautiful visage no matter how blurry it became.

Nick meanwhile, was having difficulties controlling the ship. "Karking-" The redhead would growl as he would try to stabilize their trajectory. "The damn thing's busted. And I've managed to-"

Noticing something on the ship's statistics, the former(?) Sith Lord would find himself shattering the scale with his fist in a fit of anger. Heading back to them, he had to deliver the news.

"This thing's going to blow."

When had the ship become so unstable? He didn't understand how it could be about to blow up with so little dam-

And then it hit him. The bastard. Did he know he was going to turn on him? Or did he simply intend to make Nick a sacrificial lamb so that when the mission was carried out, it couldn't be traced back to him? Whatever it was, the damage to the ship had escalated the speed that it was tearing the ship apart. It had likely been meant to blow by the time Nick got off the planet, but the battle had sped up the process.

"I'll get into specifics later, but it looks like something's been tearing into the ship since before I even got here. We need to get out of here and we need to jump. If you've got your ship nearby, you'd best call it."

[member="Riamah"]

 

[Riamah]

"Sorry, my dear. Sometimes these things are needed."

There was no way for her to lessen the pain for him, but hopefully, the medicine inside his body would pick up where neither of them had the ability to help. Ra wasn't a trained healer with the Force, but she had been present on battlefields many times and had some training with there. She knew how to use a field kit and did just that for Josh. The entire time, she remained calm and collected externally. Inside though, she wanted to lash out and strike at whoever was there. That target would, of course, be Nick himself. Keeping herself in check though, she wanted to be safe on the ground before that happened.

"Do you have an escape pod?"

They had arrived on Josh's ship and he had yet to grant her access to many of its features. Calling it might be one of them. Unless...Reaching up her hand to press something on her suit, she attempted to connect with the Maekrix through it.

"Need a pickup. Josh is injured and we have one other person with us. Do you copy, HK?"

[member="Josh Dragonsflame"]

 

[Josh Dragovalor]

"Who is this? Is that you, Misses?"

The voice of HK would brim on the other end, spouting the nickname that he had given Ra. A playful nickname. It seemed the HK unit had begun to like the woman, which was a start. When she would ask for a pickup, the droid would give an "Affirmative" in turn.

The former Sith meanwhile, had been checking the escape pods on the screen. But he then shook his head.

"There are, but I refuse to use them. He would have rigged them" Nicholas would remark. He hadn't exactly been clear on the "Who" but it was clear that somebody had once had control of this ship that had rigged it to ensure that he was not getting off this ship alive. A crash would ensue and rock the ship back and forth violently, as the walls would be ripped apart to reveal that HK had crashed The Maekrix into the ship.

As the ramp would come down, Nick would walk over, staring Ra down. "Get him up. We need to go, now!" He barked as he would turn and take a running start, before leaping off the gap between the ship and the Maekrix before grabbing onto the ramp.

[member="Riamah"]

 

[Riamah]

When the voice of HK came through to her and asked who she was, she gave him the answer he expected and smiled when he gave an affirmative answer to her request for a pickup. Turning her attention to Nick as he spoke, she nodded and kept her hand on Josh. There was no way she was letting go of him. When the chance came, she would have to question him about who he was talking about.

"HK, I hope you didn't break anything on that ship. Josh will have our hides if it breaks."

She had made Josh as stable as she could through field techniques. Anything else would have to be taken care of on his ship and at the Rest.

"Don't fight. You're going to be fine. I'm going to lift you with the Force and get you on the Maekrix. Then you're going to the med bay and going to get more help than I can give you. Remind me to learn how to heal with the Force sometime."

It might be thought she was babbling, but there was a purpose to it. If Josh went into shock or started to fall asleep, he might not wake up. She needed to keep him awake and aware. To accomplish this, she attempted to keep the interaction going between them.

Doing exactly as she said she would, she focused the Force on his body and stabilized it. Lifting him up, she attempted to stay physically connected to him as she moved him to the hole HK had made for them. Once there, she needed to let go of him to get him into his own ship and jumped up to land next to Nick. Still keeping her focus on Josh, she let HK know they were all on board and to get away. Not bothering to make sure the ramp closed, she continued on to take Josh to the medbay aboard the ship.

[member="Josh Dragonsflame"]

 

[Josh Dragovalor]

"Yeah, that could be useful. Maybe that'll be something you can focus on instead of making death holes" Josh managed to joke back in turn, understanding at least that Ra was trying to keep him awake as he would struggle to keep his consciousness despite the pain, blood loss and how faint he was feeling. Eventually they would make their way across the gap and the ramp would close behind them. Josh managed to peek out the window when the ship began to move away from the enemy ship - before the Sith ship promptly exploded.

"That was a far bigger explosion than it should have been" Nick commented bitterly, glaring hard at the ship as it's remains would begin to fall down below - toward the Shadowlands of Kashyyyk.

"Bastard planned for me to be his sacrificial lamb all this time."

Meanwhile, both HK and what looked to be a protocol droid would rush to help Ra with getting Josh to the med bay. Once they were there, the protocol droid would quickly begin work on the terminal, preparing the bacta tank. Eventually, Josh would be submerged, and BL would get to work on administering treatments within the tank on top of the bacta using the terminal, knowing it was going to take more than bacta to save his life.

"How did one Sith manage to do this much damage to my Master?" HK would ask, approaching Ra. Despite it's robotics tones, HK's tone still managed to hold some clear suspicion.

[member="Riamah"]

 

[Riamah]

Soon after they had all gotten onto Josh's ship, the one they had just left exploded. Looking at Nick, Ra nodded in understanding.

"Who?"

One word, one question. She had spent time with the Sith and hardly knew any of them. To her, she had been a number, just one of many and didn't miss her one bit.

To say she trusted Nick was to be thinking wrong. He might have turned at the end after he realized he could have killed his brother, but that did not mean he couldn't turn back. She was keeping her eyes on both Josh and Nick. Not wanting to let either out of her sight, she hoped Nick would continue to accompany them to the medbay.

Josh was put into the tank with the help of HK and BL. Once that was done, HK came over to her and asked how it was possible for that much damage to be done by one person.

"Lightsaber to the chest along with a few other things, my friend."

If the droid allowed her to, she would pat him on the shoulder lightly as an offer for some consolation. She knew and understood droids really couldn't have emotions, but they could pretend they did. Attachment was possible and that was what HK and BL had for Josh. Maybe even her to an extent.

"We need to get Josh down on the ground and to the healers."

[member="Josh Dragonsflame"]

 

[Josh Dragovalor]

HK nodded at her instructions as the Maekrix would begin flying toward the Rest. Nicholas meanwhile, would stare toward his brother in the bacta tank as he began to spoke.

"My Master" He would clarify. "My Master is the one who caused my amnesia. I remember it completely now. Clear as day. I remember my brother bringing me back, helping me learn what it was like to be free... To make my own choices. It was a debt I repaid by ensuring his survival, at what I thought to be at sacrifice to my own. The Sith took me, temporarily cut off my connection to the Force to fool others into thinking I had died. They tortured me until there was nothing left of my memories but what they implanted. Memories I can now discern what is real and what is fake. They attempted to make me their weapon... Their puppet. My Master trained me until I was ready to be a Sith Lord myself... But he never intended for me to survive this. I couldn't tell you why he did what he did, but he decided that this ship would be set to explode when I attempted to drop off the virus he had created. Meant to turn the very planet against the Jedi and destroy them all.

I was meant to die. Perhaps he knew that eventually, I would regain my memories. Perhaps he knew that eventually I would turn on him."

The smallest of sadistic smiles crossed his face.

"... Too bad he didn't expect me to begin regaining them so soon. I may not have had them as clearly as I do now... But when he dubbed me Darth Dragonan, I remembered all the tortures. I remembered not what he took from me at the time... But that I knew he had taken something very important from me. So I killed him. He didn't expect a thing."

He shrugged his shoulders. "Now I know what he took. And my only regret is he isn't here so I can kill him again. And again. And again, and again, and again..."

[member="Riamah"]

 

[Riamah]

"Your master and mine sound similar. WHen he died, he wiped my mind of remembering where I had grown up and everything that had happened to me. I didn't have anybody to bring me back, but he actually did me a favor because with my memories wiped, I didn't know what I was. So lived a peaceful life for a while. The something happened and it felt like I had grown up a different person than what I was. I took a journey and my memories returned. For a while, I embraced what I had been and still remained a businesswoman. That was when Josh found me. Now with his help, that past remains, but we have a different future than what I had before.

"The Sith also attempted to make me their weapon. Forced a choice onto me and I chose to live then and not die. Josh knows this and now you do too. We can never erase what we have been, but we can put that past to rest and make a new life. It'll take time, but you have our support. I feel confident speaking for Josh."

Turning to look at Josh in the tank, Ra just hoped what she had just said would apply. What they had all been through had been rough and totally different, but one thing tied them together. His brother, the man she loved and now they needed to help him get through his injuries and recover.

Looking at Nick, she could only nod as he spoke. Such was the case with Master and Apprentice. The stronger one killed the other and took on the mantle of Master. She didn't think that would happen with Nick. He was in different company now and none of them would willingly allow him to go back to what he had been.

"Everything will be fine, Nick. Just have some faith. You can't go back to kill him again, but he isn't around any longer to do this to another person."

[member="Josh Dragonsflame"]

 

[Josh Dragovalor]

The former Sith would lower his head then, seeming to consider it all a moment, but ultimately letting out a sigh. "I'll be arrested, I'm sure. Possibly killed for my intention to commit genocide on Kashyyyk" He remarked bluntly. "There is no excusing what I have done, nor what I intended to do now. But if I am to be executed for my actions.... Then that is how it shall be. I will stand down the consequences for what I have done."

With that, he would begin to walk out, deciding to take one last walk around. "Let me know if his condition improves" He remarked. "I don't deserve it, but I would like to talk to him once more before the Silver Assembly judges me for my actions."

[member="Riamah"]

 

[Riamah]

What Nick said was true, but she didn't think he would be executed. That wasn't the way she knew the Silver's went. Usually a person was put through rehabilitation. If that didn't work, then maybe they were put into lock up. She was a work in progress, but once in a while, she fell back to her old habits and ways of thinking.

Shaking her head at him as he walked out, she didn't know if her words reached him or not.

"You'll probably be put on trial, but you're too valuable to execute."

Her choice of words were a mix of her new and old self. He asked her to let him know if Josh's condition improved and she let him go.

"I'll let you know."

[member="Josh Dragonsflame"]

 

[Josh Dragovalor]

The man shook his head. "Valuable" He repeated the word. "Valuable because of my family. Nothing more. And even that might not suffice considering the things I've done."

With that, he walked off. In the time after that, Josh would be brought to medical, stabilized and begin his recovery. Nick would be put on trial, and later placed in house arrest at the behest of his brother instead of being locked up. He insisted that Nick had done the things he did while with no memory, and that he would stake his reputation on it seeing as his brother had saved his life once before in a move that had led to all of this to begin with. That was something he felt responsible for.

Perhaps over time, Nicholas would be able to be rehabilitated as well.

[End]