#theliash

Iacho had rolled his eyes inwardly when the Master who had given him the assignment had of course strongly hinted that the Battlemaster take on a Padawan himself. But Iacho had sworn off the idea. With the ongoing war and his own issues, he felt it would be irresponsible for him to take on a student. For now, he was content to help out once in awhile to teach lightsaber combat classes.

He held up a hand and the students all stopped what they were doing to look at him. That’s when it happened. The Force screamed at Iacho and his hand flung out. His lightsaber was pulled from his belt with a Force pull and once he felt it thump into his palm, he ignited it.

The familiar woosh as a skyblue blade with a black core emerged to deflect something that been fire out of the forests of Tython at him. And then another. Soon, a rapid volley of projectiles was blocked.

“GET IN THE CAVE!” The Younglings dared not argue with his tone and they all piled inside. Iacho immediately moved in front of the entrance and with his armored attire and mask, he presented a formidable guardian. Just as suddenly as the volley had begun, it stopped. All of the Battlemaster’s senses were completely attuned as he scanned the treeline.

Then he could finally see them, their stark white uniforms stood out against the forest.  Iacho’s eyes narrowed behind his mask he considered the weapons they carried, nothing he had ever seen before. They appeared human…but did not look like Imperials.

Better question was how had they managed to get on Tython in the first place? After the attack on the Temple, security had increased significantly. Yet here were intruders. Five of them. And they looked ready to fight some more.

“So this filth will prove to be a challenge after all.” Iacho narrowed his eyes behind his mask as one of the strangers boldly moved into view. She was dark skinned human and with violet eyes that gleaned with arrogance and malice. Her stark white uniform was bare save for some black trimming and she wielded an unusual weapon. As she moved closer, Iacho managed to get a better look at it. The sword was ornate and he could have sworn that parts of it were moving.

“Who are you? And what are you doing here?” Iacho did not relax his stance, his lightsaber held in a defensive pose. He could sense the malice and hostility radiating off these intruders. But above it all…he sensed disgust.

“That isn’t important. I’d ask you to surrender quietly, but that wouldn’t be any fun.” A gesture from the woman and the other strangers immediately attacked. They seemed confident in their numbers.

Except it appeared they had not considered who their opponent was. Iacho ignited his second lightsaber and with a flurry, blocked the attacks of two of them. The other two who were closing in for melee gave howls of triumph, thinking their allies had him pinned down.

But Iacho was calm and focused. With a thrust of one hand, he send a Force push that blasted one of the ranged attackers into a tree with brutal force. He only vaguely heard the sharp crack of that one’s skull breaking on the tree. He yanked his arm back and pulled the other ranged attack toward him. That one was sent head over heels into the rock wall next to the cave entrance. By now the other two were already on him.

And found themselves sorely outmatched. Iacho was Battlemaster for a reason, considered one of the most skilled lightsaber fighters among the entire Jedi Order. Compared to him, their strikes were sloppy and slow. There would be no mercy for them, Iacho could tell they would never go quietly.

One found his hand severed at the wrist and then the blade impaling him through the heart. Iacho swung him into his comrade, sending her reeling. She died with slash across the waist, severing her in two. Iacho whirled to face their leader, who was now staring at him with wide eyes.

“I suggest you surrender stranger.” Iacho kept his sabers pointed at the ground. Faintly, he could sense the awe and fear of the students in the cave, but he ignored it. He pointed the blade in his right hand at his enemy. “One chance.”

The only answer he got was her snarling and leaping at him. Her weapon literally hissed as a faint glow enveloped the blade and Iacho barely got his blade up to block the blow. The moment the blow connected, he knew that this one was leagues above her subordinates.

It was truly a dance of death. Both gave no inch and their blows aimed to do more than just maim. Even though the stranger only used a single blade, she was holding her own against Iacho’s favored Juyo form. But she found little chance to counter under the furious barrage of blows. So far both managed to score nicks, but no solid blows.

“Why can’t filth like you just die? The multiverse would be better off without your taint!” Iacho only blinked at the woman’s vitriol. What was she babbling about? Multiverse? Did she hate Force users? It was hardly uncommon for some to be resentful of those who could tap into the Force but…

The Jedi could sense that this battle would turn into one of endurance until he did something. Especially against someone as skilled as this one. So he decided to take a risk. One blade was pulled back to create a feinted opening and Iacho hoped she would fall for it.

And she did, her bloodlust and arrogance took over her good sense and she immediately went for the trap. Just as Iacho had wanted and he almost grinned.

Almost.

Instead the arm he had just drawn back surged forward in a brutal punch that connected with the woman’s face. He could feel her facial bones break beneath the force of his strike and she opened her mouth in the start of a scream of agony.

But she never got to finish it because as soon as Iacho’s punch connected, his other arm had swept away her blade. With a flick of his fingers, his lightsaber’s blade momentarily disappeared until he repositioned it. Only this time when it reappeared, it found a new home through the woman’s heart.

Her scream turned into a gag instead, but even with this blow she was defiant. Her arm attempted to bring her weapon up to slash at Iacho but he shoved her back with a Force push that slammed her against a tree. Amazingly, she still managed to get to her feet, but Iacho felt the life drain from her even as she gave him one last hate filled glare and then feel silently forward, dead at last.

Iacho just concentrated on breathing. That had been one of the most difficult battles of his life and now with the adrenaline of battle fading away, he was feeling the strain. Shaking his head to clear it, he turned to see his three students slowly emerge from the cave.

“Are all of you alright?” Iacho made sure to keep his weariness out of his voice. The young male Twi’lek nodded, his blue head tails swaying slightly..

“We should be asking you that Master Iacho-“ The young student never got to finished his words as suddenly the stranger that Iacho had thrown against the rock wall was suddenly behind the young alien and had an arm snap around the Twi’lek’s neck. The other two students yelled and back away immediately even as Iacho brought his lightsabers up once again.

“PUT THEM DOWN! THROW DOWN YOUR WEAPONS OR I SWEAR I WILL SLIT THIS ONE’S THROAT RIGHT HERE!” The stranger’s violet eyes were wild and he seemed unhinged as he felt a blade to the Twi’lek’s throat. “NOW!”

Iacho fought back a growl. but he obeyed. The lightsabers hit the grass with a soft thud and the Jedi lowered his arms to his sides.

“FILTH ALL OF YOU! YOU WILL BURN IN BLOOD AND FLAMES! THE MULTIVERSE WILL FINALLY BE CLEANSED! AND YOUR BLOOD WILL BE THE FIRST!” Iacho’s alarm shot up when he realized that the crazed attacker was going to do what he threatened anyway. He brought his hand up hoping to at least stop the blade that even now was about to begin its grisly task.

But he never go that far. He heard the quiet sound of something slicing through the air and suddenly the crazed man’s arm was severed at the elbow. He screamed as part of his arm fell uselessly away and blood streamed from the stump that had been his elbow. As his hostaged managed to scramble away from him, there was another quiet sound and this time the man’s head exploded like a ripe melon. The body swayed for a brief moment before collapsing to the ground.

A footstep behind Iacho made him whirl around and yet another stranger stood before him. Unlike the others, this one was dressed in nearly all black. A long duster coat covered a lightly armored form and a sniper rifle cradled in the crook of the stranger’s arm. Their face was almost completed masked behind a visor, with only a mouth with pressed lips visible. The only symbol that Iacho could see adoring the breastplate of the stranger was a dark lavender eye sigil.

“Sorry about that, but I had to take a chance.” The stranger’s voice was melodious and feminine. “Are any of you seriously hurt?”

Iacho’s lightsabers were once against again in his hand as he glared at the stranger. “I am starting to get a little tired of people suddenly appearing.” His dry remark got a lip twitch of amusement from the other person.

“Peace Master Jedi, I am not the enemy. Unlike these Liash. I see that you took care of them quite handily for the most part.” The stranger’s rifle folded up as she slid it onto her back.

Liash? Is that who these people were?

“Yes, Liash. It’s a long story and actually part of the reason why I’m here.” Iacho started, had the person read his mind? “No, it was just obvious what you were thinking.” The visored gaze swept over the stunned students, who were huddled together. “If it makes you feel better, I’ll accompany you back to the Jedi Temple. We have much to discuss.”

He stirred, pretending to wake as the door to his chamber opened.  He sat up, adjusting the white robes the Liash had given him to wear--they’d taken away his old clothes long ago.  He kept his face neutral, blank.  A clean slate.  A perfect weapon.

“Alright, you.”  The woman who’d been on the call earlier stood before him, draped in a white labcoat, a clipboard in hand.  “Time to activate you.  Let’s see now, what were the code words...”

Ikki knew what she was trying to do.  Supposedly, there were code words that, when activated, would wipe his mind and put him in a state to completely obey whatever orders were given to him.  He’d let the scientists think their mental conditioning program had worked.

“Here we are...’Breakfast is served at 0800.  Bring your own toast.’”

Ikki simply sat on the bed, staring at her.

She stared back, waiting for a change.  “Is that it?”  She flipped through the pages on her clipboard some more, back and forth.  “Yes, that should be it,” she muttered.  “Now.”  The lab tech cleared her throat.  “Your codename is Dark Arms.  Dark Arms, you are ordered to report to Commander Hayes in Shuttle Bay 14 for further instruction.”

Ikki rose, slowly.  His eyes stayed locked on the woman’s face.

A triumphant smirk pulled vaguely at the woman’s lips.  She seemed pleased, as if all of her hard work had paid off.

In a flash of Darkness, Ikki summoned the blade Soul Eater to his hand.  He lunged at her, and cut off her head.

*****

The walls of the laboratory aboard the Revenant were already splattered with red by the time the ship’s alarm began to sound.  Ikki decided enough was enough.  His blade had tasted the blood of every officer in the science corps; all the people responsible for a year (or was it more?) worth of torture were dead.  He wouldn’t be morally averse to killing Liash soldiers, but he had no desire to tangle with the entire might of the Revenant.

Besides.  He knew what they were going to try to “activate” him for.  Captain Frode herself had visited him while he was undergoing his “training.”  There was a helpless colony, protected only by a base of new recruits, that they had meant for him to attack.  What he meant to do was defend it from these monsters.

Interrogating one of the last survivors of the science corps gave him directions to the ship’s escape capsules; he certainly wasn’t going to bother with the shuttle bays when the capsules were unguarded.  But the dead scientist hadn’t given him the code needed to unlock the capsule from the ship.  He was trapped.  He had no idea where in space the Revenant was situated; without a vantage point, he couldn’t even open a Corridor.

Wait.  Was he?  The row of capsules showed status red, status red, status red...all the way down the line, until one was missing.  And the one after that?  Status green.  Someone had escaped already...and left a capsule unlocked?  For him?  No...no, that couldn’t be right.  It must have been an accident.

Ikki counted it as his first stroke of luck in a long time.  He hopped in the capsule, and the automated guidance systems took over.  His destination?  Planetfall.  The colony outpost.  Perfect.

*****

The capsule’s counterthrusters kicked in just in time to keep Ikki and his pod from being skewered by an enormous tree.  Nonetheless, the capsule did clip one of its branches, sending it into a tumble on the way down.  He hit the dirt hard, ungracefully--and when the pod popped open, he did an ungraceful pirouette right into the dirt.  He lay face down on the forest floor for a bit to make sure his lunch was going to stay in his stomach.

When he lifted his head, the scent of blood and smoke assaulted his sensitive nose.  The base was right in front of him.  He heard a shout go up from the base, and bullets hit the dirt around him.

Now he had a vantage point.  Planets were good like that; their electromagnetic fields were something that Corridor users could sense, could use to orient themselves in space.  Being in outer space was rotten on the senses; it messed everything up, made teleporting almost impossible.  But now, Ikki didn’t have that problem.

A Corridor appeared in front of him; he stepped through it.  The other side came out past the guards, in the middle of the base.  And the uniforms of the soldiers surrounding him?  White, with the armband of the Black Flame.  Liash.  Liash, piling up the corpses of the Infinite Alliance military.  Boys, it looked like.  Ikki caught glimpses of the corpses’ faces; most of them looked like little more than children.