The Rebel Faction

Silus ran. Invisible ropes of the Force rippled behind him, binding together, ripping apart and twisting around each other like some living net. Silus ran, partly to reach his destination but mostly to keep himself from colliding in that mess behind him he had created.

More threads of the Force shot out from him as he ran, tying themselves into the wreathing mass behind him. Sweat blurred his vision and he was nearly falling from the strain of maintaining it all.

Oh Force, I really hope this works, he thought. Through the sweat, he could see the cliff edge coming up. Gritting his teeth, he forced himself harder. The cliff age flew towards him, his feet touched the edge...

... They jumped.

Ohshitohshitohshitohshitohshit, Silus thought as he watched the ground begin to race towards him. He focused, and invisible ropes from the mass following him shout out and gripped him. Silus closed his eyes to blink, and opened them to the ground still racing towards him.

Come on, come on, he mentally shouted as he tied more of the ropes around him. The world slowed down, but not nearly enough. Silus cursed, pulling more ropes toward him and fastening them. To the Force sensitive, it would be like watch the universe's ugliest flying squid.

More ropes stretched out from him, slowing his fall. The focus of keeping it all together was causing black circles around his vision. Silus's breathing was heavier.

One more rope shot out from him as he neared the ground. He was going to still hit it hard, and he was going to hit it fast, but at least not enough to injure him. Much.

The Jedi's eyes went to Rac and his little group. He wondered if they knew he was about to get the drop on them?

Zarith sneered as the little dug issued demands to him. Zarith had tried his best to be nice, to be reasonable, but apparently this miserable little creature thought he was in a position to issue unreasonable demands. What idiot shows the money and says how much he would pay before even seeing the merchandise? Only a moron would do such a thing, and Zarith was not a moron. He also didn’t suffer such insults lightly.

Zarith was about to tell Rac as much when he felt something approaching from above. He looked up and spotted what could only be the Jedi he sensed falling relatively slowly to the ground. Zarith snarled. Nothing about this mission was going as he had hoped. It was time to go to plan B.

Zarith opened himself to the force, allowed the dark side to flow through him. He sent a push through the force aimed at Rac’s little bounty hunter who was fleeing with his master. It should be enough to send the hired goon sprawling for a moment, and that was all he would need. Zarith unclipped his lightsaber and launched himself into the air, back flipping to land in front of Rac, his lightsaber blade at his throat.

“I tried to do this the nice way you insufferable worm, but you wouldn’t play along. You would have left happily and with quite a bit of money. Now all you will get to leave with is your miserable life, if you cooperate. You will have the artifacts brought here, where they will be loaded onto my ship. Then you and I will take a little trip to somewhere where I can drop your miserable carcass off. Any tricks, any deceptions, and you WILL die. Do you understand that my little dug friend?”

Silus struck the ground and collapsed instantly to his knees with a grunt.

"Shoot him! Shoot at that Jedi!"

Several blasters were pointed at him. Silus indicated the lightsaber in his hand.

"If I wanted to, I could kill you all right now. I'd have no regrets about it. I've had one hell of a day and frankly dismembering the lot of you and leaving your corpses on your planet doesn't worry me at all. But I'm going to be nice and suggest, listen carefully, that you don't try and shoot me. That way you'll be happy that you're alive and I'll be happy I didn't have to slaughter every last one of you, eh?"

The mercenaries hesitated. That moment was all Silus needed. Zarith had chosen to make his move.

The man moved with the typical arrogance of Sith, aerobatics and flash just to cover the same amount of ground that could be accomplished with a few easy strides. A lightsaber appeared, blade snap-hissing out of the emitter and appearing mere centimeters from the dugs throat. There was no doubt in Silus's mind that this man was a Force user of some kind.

The both exchanged words, arrogance countering arrogance until Rac pulled a comm link. The mercenaries parted.

Great... someone wants me to play "tool" again.

Silus walked calmly to the little group. He nodded a quick greeting at Zarith. He couldn't see Silus's smirk through the Jedi's mask.

"You really aren't good with people are you, Rac? First you try to kill me, and then you make whoever this is angry. Not, no doubt, that it takes much," Silus said.

His turned to Zarith, "I say you kill him. It's what you - Sith, yes? You certainly act like one - Sith do, isn't it? And then I'll deal with you because that's expected of me, I beat you, destroy these artifacts that are not nearly worth all of this damn trouble and go home. You wake up, kick his corpse a few times and do whatever it is you do. Everyone leaves happy. Well, except for Rac."

A slight grin crossed Zarith's face as the Jedi approached and spoke up. At last someone who was worthy of even talking to, to facing. Rac was an insect, and insect who thought he was far more powerful and important than he was. But this Jedi understood the power of the force, what it could do. Even though they were sworn enemies, Zarith felt far more comfortable talking to the Jedi Knight than to Rac.

He turned to face Silus, his blade still at Rac's throat. "Killing is one of many things the Sith do, Jedi. The death of this miserable creature does not benefit me in the larger picture, despite whatever personal pleasure and satisfaction it may bring me. I did come here for the artifacts, but it sounds more and more like this was a pointless mission. I would be satisfied with the destruction of the artifacts, which would keep them out of Jedi hands. After that, I would like to kill the Dug, his Boba Fett wannabe bodyguard, and his worthless army of mercenaries and droids. While I am always ready for a duel, I did not come here for one, I would be happy with us both parting under some sort of truce, after fighting through the Dug's men of course. If I don't get the artifacts, I feel someone has to pay for dragging me out here and dealing with this lowlife. I think you can understand that."

"Of course, you are a Jedi, and your order seems to hold life in some sort of high esteem, so I have my doubts over whether you will agree to this plan. I can not agree to your plan, as I have no intention of being defeated this day. We can simply duel now, but I would very much hate to see the Dug win out because of that. Perhaps you have another plan?"

Zarith had heard what Rac had said, but he cared very little. The creature continued to inflate his importance. He glanced back at the alien. "I suggest you keep quiet Dug, important people are talking here. And if you think losing the artifacts will stop me from killing you, then you are dead wrong. Also keep in mind that you don't need all of your limbs and body parts to continue living. You would be surprised what kind of pain the body can suffer before it gives out."

Silus's lightsaber spun in his fingers, forward and back. It made a metallic clink whenever it met the metal fingers of his left hand.

The Jedi was giving a show of thinking. If the only alternative to continuing the conversation was try to sabre his way past Zarith, Rac, and his armed bodyguards, Silus was going to delay it as long as he could.

"No, I don't think I want to fight you, Sith. It would be a waste of my time." Silus smiled behind his mask.

"Well, Fegal, it seems you have to make a decision. Both of us want the artifacts... or both of us would be willing to destroy them to keep them out of the hands of the other. You are a businessman, so I doubt you like the idea of losing a chance at profit, eh? He, however, seems to have a lightsaber at your throat. So you're going to have to... make a choice..."

Silus's voice trailed off. Soldiers, a mixture of mercenaries and droids, were appearing in groups of dozens around them, while shuttles carrying even more hummed past.

"Fancy that," he murmered, "I wasn't expecting that one."

There was a snapp-hiss and a red blade ignited.