The Rebel Faction

As the silent warrior advanced, Dacian's gaze became appraising. He held his position for agonizing moments, wavering only from shooting pains. When at last the two met Dacian managed only to feebly block a single swipe of his opponant's lightsaber. The force of the blow was great enough to stagger him and cause Dacian to stumble back a few paces.

It was plain this would be no battle, for all Dacian could do in his defence was waggle his lightsaber feebly in front of him to try and fend his opponant off. This was no deterrant at all. Dacian limped slowly backwards while the implacable Adrian gradually closed the gap between them. Dacian's back finally brushed up against a wall, leaving him trapped and helpless.

The canny young man was not without tricks to play. As Adrian raised his blade to strike Dacian thrust his own into the wall behind him - piercing the fire suppression system and compressed atmosphere tank. Gasses and foam flooded outwards and added to the haze in the hallway, becoming a thick, concealing fog and knocking the two combatants away from the leaking wall.

Dacian collapsed on all fours, struggling to control his breathing so that it did not give away his position. He switched off his lightsaber and with the remainder of his strength began to crawl away.

Whether he could get far enough, fast enough, remained to be seen.

It didn't take a genius to tell Dacian's plan wasn't working. Even as he scrabbled helplessly away, he could hear the Jenassai warrior approaching with eagle-eyed accuracy. The Force guided every step, so thick in the air it was impossible to miss. Its hand was so strongly at work it was unclear if the intruder's actions were even his own.

Dacian obviously needed more time, and had precious little to secure it with. He did see the door to the medical bay, however, and knowing it was lockable meant he might buy a precious minute or two. He crawled desperately in through the door, and with a mighty effort reached up and slammed the electronic lock. It sealed behind him immediately.

Against an experienced slicer, the door lock might have held for a few minutes.

Against a lightsaber, Dacian had bought perhaps thirty seconds.

Dacian gritted his teeth against pain and got to his feet once more. Casting his eyes around the room for something to help him, he settled on the waste chute. He stumbled over to the chute and popped it open. The uninviting smell of incinerated rubbish floated up. Dacian grimaced.

Then again, there was a reason they installed safety controls. Dacian turned to a small control panel and switched off the incinerator. With nary a look back he climbed halfway in, only to pause.

It was painful, and he was burning precious seconds - he dared not look at the door least it blast open any moment - but Dacian took the time to drag over a canister of compressed gas. Then he climbed back into his chute and waited.

"You don't even know who I am!" Dacian snapped hoarsely. No idea if anyone could hear him.

What met him was the grim glare of Dacian, half into a disposal chute and aiming a tube of compressed gas towards him.

With no comment greater than a scornfully curled lip, Dacian swept his sabre through the top of the canister and sent it hurtling in a gout of releassed pressure towards Adrian - as well as filling the room with a thick, white, frosty fog. Pausing not to admire his handywork, Dacian slipped into the chute and let it slam closed behind him. Once it was shut, he used his sabre to weld the door closed behind him and deactivated his blade.

He found himself propped up in a chute, looking down at the deactivated incinerator. The garbage incinerator and airlock release mechanisms must have been among the non-vital systems Zeetee had shut down, which explained why he wasn't being sucked into a fiery doom. Still, Dacian's limbs were weak and the garbage chute hadn't been designed with easy navigation in mind. Silk's personal designs rarely left one entirely without means, however - he knew the value of a quick escape. As such, Dacian managed to feel out hand-grips left in the side of the chute and began to climb.

The waste chute itself didn't run too far, the ship simply wasn't big enough to support its own sewer network. What it did lead to, however, were the air vents, the gaps between walls, the smuggling comparments, and all the little places the canny young warrior might be able to hide. As he inched along the crawlspace, he found a vent from which he could look into the hazy, cloudy medlab.

In the middle of the gas cloud he could see that dreadful humming blue beam, probing, testing, constantly on guard. Against so vigilant a warrior no surprise attack could be possible. Then again, there were... other avenues of attack.

From his concealed position, Dacian summoned up what strength he could to clear his throat and take on a definite tone. "Who are you, warrior?"

Crawling along the vents, Dacian found another grate from which to peer into the smokey haze - yes, the intruder was slowly making his way to the garbage chute. Not long now.

He heard his foe's answer, frowning at it. "I am not a servant," Dacian declared. "Not for other men, and not for your master either."

He picked his way slowly around the room, slinking as quietly as possible through the narrow vents to avoid giving away his position. Dacian's opponant, on the other hand, stood tall and proud with lightsabre forwards. Having cut through the door, Adrian would surely be upon him soon. Dacian needed to stall him even just a little longer.

"It is right you call yourself a servant, but maybe you should consider pawn. Tell me, what crime have I committed that you hunt me so?"

Dacian crept along narrow vents and air shafts, peering through grates at the progress of the Jenassai warrior through the ship. Every cautious step, every strike at obstacles in his path, brought the intruder closer and closer to the vent system wherein Dacian lurked.

"I see you have no answer," said Dacian, slithering from vantage point to vantage point. "Is that because you think me unworthy to speak with, or could it be you have no answer?"

Another short silence followed before Dacian pressed his point further home. "You do not. A servant has no reason to obey their master's order, they simply do so. Yet you are empowered with the Force - it's hard not to notice its glow - surely that makes you better than a murderous errand boy?"

As Dacian followed the intruder, the distance between the two continued to shrink, with only the wall and a few meters of vent crawlspace now separating them. "I do not know you, and yet by your words and actions I would guess you style yourself a 'servant of the Force'. If that is true, know that you are less than a fool if you will so blindly carry out its will in this matter. You cannot possibly understand what it is you do."