The turbolift doors parted open to a wall of red lightsabers that awaited them, ready to clamp down on the Jedi. Fane used the Force to push the Sith away; Shadie sent an onslaught of lightning towards them; Knarf stomped his good foot on the ground, before performing a barrel roll, using the Force to shake the ground, further bringing Sith to the floor. He came up in a low crouch and slashed at several legs. It didn’t bring him joy to do so; every time he thought he felt a stinging pain in his leg right where it had been severed. He slashed about, killing several Sith.

Shadie sent more lightning, and it danced across multiple blades. One of the Sith hit Knarf’s beskar armoured head. The armour protected him from the hit, but the lightning on it shot through his body and he trembled from the shock. Fane pushed the Sith away from him. Shadie stopped the lightning.

‘Sorry!’ she said.

Knarf looked up at her. His helmet hid his smile of reassurance, but he knew Shadie could feel it. Knarf rolled again and jumped high into the air, landing on one of the Sith. He used the Force to push him towards another. Their blades melted into each other.

‘Heh! I just killed two Sith with one…’ he searched for the word. He saw Fane smile slightly. ‘We’re making progress,’ he told him. Fane nodded.

Fane drove his aqua blade into a Sith, and Knarf used a similar tactic, pushing another Sith towards the protruding blade, and then another. Fane pulled out his lightsaber from the three Sith, who fell dead on the floor.

Shadie thus far had had her lightsaber ignited as a single blade; she extended the other half, killing a Sith in the process. She twirled her lightsaber about, and with a flurry, brought down the last of the Sith warriors.

The three of them stood, looking at the dead Sith before them.

‘Does Relsor not care at all about his followers?’ said Fane.

‘Followers of Kromus, my eye,’ said Shadie. ‘Kromus may have been a monster, but he was a calculated one. He selected a few who would be willing to sacrifice themselves for him, but he knew the importance of numbers. You remember how when we assaulted his flagship the Sith retreated? Their mission had been to isolate Knarf with the holocron, and then to ensure we reached Kromus. They retreated every time they either achieved their goal or saw they would not survive.’

‘Same thing happened with Gourd’s Sith,’ said Fane. ‘When they assaulted Coruscant, they retreated there as well.’

‘I can’t believe that Relsor would be so trivial with his uncle’s Sith,’ said Knarf. ‘Somehow I don’t see Relsor allowing his Sith to die so easily. These are clearly acolytes and trainees, but still, it doesn’t make sense.’

Someone coughed somewhere. Knarf’s eyes shot to a corner in the room. There was a Sith moving, trying to get up. He pointed towards him. Shadie walked to him and used the Force to lift him, without choking him.

‘Speak to me, Sith, and tell me, who is the lord you serve?’

‘I serve the one and only Emperor,’ replied the Sith.

‘Who is your Emperor?’

‘We do not know his name.’ The Sith acolyte winced in pain. ‘Nor does the Dark Council.’

Shadie scowled confused. ‘Dark Council?’

‘I serve the Sith Empire,’ the injured Sith told them.

‘Then what are you doing here?’ asked Knarf.

‘The alliance with the True Sith.’

‘Do you realise,’ said Fane, ‘that Relsor is using you and doesn’t care if you die? Are all these Sith whom we killed here from the Empire too?’

The Sith nodded. There was something oddly familiar about him, but Knarf couldn’t quite place where he could have possibly seen this Sith before.

‘I am sorry,’ said Shadie, setting the Sith back down. ‘I have few enemies in the Sith Empire. They leave me alone and I leave them alone. I have no desire to kill the Empire’s Sith. My enemy is Relsor and his followers.’ Shadie shook her head. Knarf knew she preferred to keep her opponents alive if and when she could. ‘You are injured.’ She passed a hand over his wounds. ‘They are not fatal. You will survive.’

‘Why, one would think you were going to let me live.’ The Sith grinned, hopeful.

‘I am. But in return you must do something for me.’

The Sith studied her for a moment. ‘What can I do for you?’

‘Find a way to contact the Dark Council and tell your masters that Darth Shadie, who is now Jedi Master Eidahs, has no qualms with the Empire as of yet, and as long as they stay away from the Republic and from Mandalore, we will not pursue battle with them. However, if the Empire is now part of the True Sith, then we will have a problem and I will be forced to retaliate.’

The Sith nodded. ‘Consider it a deal.’ And with that he hobbled away.

‘I’m confused,’ said Fane.

Shadie looked at him. ‘If there is dissent between the Sith Empire and the True Sith, then the alliance will crack. Relsor will not care for the Empire’s resources as long as they provide for him. We get the Empire to walk away from their alliance and Relsor is not as strong and powerful as he thinks he is.’

Knarf smiled. That was his Lady all right, thinking strategically towards the future.

Shadie looked ahead and pointed. ‘That way,’ she said.

Continue reading Chapter Nine

Read the Epilogue

Catch up on previous Star Wars Fan-Fiction from the Shadie story series.

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