Star Wars: The Rogue Knight

Malevolence

Ryndellian Sector, near Naboo Star System

"Who are you?" growled Grievous.

The cyborg was looking at the newcomer through narrowed eyes. Many things may be said about the being who was hailed as the best commander in the Separatist's military. While very few of them were flattering, the one thing on which both allies and enemies agreed upon was that he was an accomplished warrior. There were few beings who could boast as vanquishers of multiple Jedi. Even less were the ones who were not Force s.e.n.s.i.t.i.v.e. Grievous was on the top of that very short list.

Thanks to countless hours of training with Dooku and IG-109 droids, he had become an accomplished Jedi killer – a fact that only served to enhance his ability as the Supreme Commander of the Droid army. Now he had the skills to easily handle most of the Order members, something at which the droids under his command were pathetic.

The warrior in the being that was once Qymaen Jai Sheelal was why Grievous did not follow his standard modus operandi where Jedi were concerned. He could feel it in what little of his flesh remained. This masked creature he was facing was a breed apart. Then the man produced a lightsaber of his own and activated it. The general's hate-filled eyes gazed at the ruby colored energy beam.

"My dear Grievous. You should recognize my kind." mocked a voice that was distorted by the armored helmet of its owner.

=RK=

I could feel the unrestrained might of the Force bubbling all around me. My blood sung with battle l.u.s.t. I welcomed the sweet embrace of the Dark side and let it slide through my body. It strengthened my limbs and made my reflexes something to be envied by even a cyborg as Grievous.

I held my blade loosely, not unlike a rapier from ages past back on my homeworld.

"I've heard that you've been trained by a Makashi master, general. Let's put that to the test!" I leered at the being which was more machine than flesh.

I surged forward. My blade sang with the sound of burning air. Grievous ran to meet me in the middle of the engine where our sabers crashed. I deflected a pair of diagonal slashes from the blue and green weapons in his hands and moved faster than the cyborg expected. I was within his guard in a blink of an eye. My left arm struck like a viper and clamped over his right wrist. That stopped a strike from his blue blade which was about to lop off my head. My Force enchanted muscles and the cybernetic strength of Dooku's pet monster strained against each other.

While that contest of strength was going on, the lightsabers in our free hands were locked in a game of their own. Energy flashed between our blades as they struck each other with the unmistakable sound of lightsabers locked in a deadly struggle.

For a few seconds it seemed that our raw physical strength was evenly matched. Technology held its ground against flesh empowered by the mystic power of the Force. However, this was not a fair fight fought in a tournament circle.

Our stalemate was ended by a crate that flew from the cart behind the train engine and swept away the cyborg's legs. Thanks to the racket the machines racing all over the monorails around us made, Grievous had no chance to hear how the container separated from the stack on which it was secured and moved directed by my will.

"Argh!" shouted the General.

I kicked his c.h.e.s.t with enough strength to dent durasteel and Grievous went sailing into the next cart. I could hear a faint hiss of pain emanating under his mask as the sack containing his few remaining organs was rattled by my strike.

Grievous found himself in a heap at the back of the cart right behind the engine. He had landed in a bunch of crates, few of which toppled over him. I followed with a Force enchanted jump. The momentum of the train speeding away under me added to my closing velocity with the general.

While I was in mid-air, the cyborg roared in defiance and used his synthetic limbs to throw away the containers under which he was buried. One of them was heading my way and it shattered over a cocoon of Force energy which I had formed around me to counter something like that. Yet the strike was good enough to slow down my approach.

Grievous jumped on his feet to meet me. My crimson blade few in an arc towards the rising cyborg. My weight and momentum combined with his unsteady stance into an unstoppable force which battered through his crossed lightsabers. His right hand was separated just below the shoulder plating protecting the Separatist's commander torso and flew away from the moving train.

Unfortunately, the loss of a limb didn't slow him down. My charge had me out of balance for a moment and I had to duck under a sweeping strike from his remaining weapon. The Force screamed a warning and I was barely able to cross my hands in front of my c.h.e.s.t as he kicked me as only a machine could. The durasteel armguards protecting my hands g.r.o.a.n.e.d under the sudden strike that fell over them. I was thrown back by the attack and was staggered when my flight was interrupted by a stack of crates which shook by my impact.

If my body wasn't enhanced by the force that would have been the end – my arm would have snapped like a twig and the impact at my landing would have left me dazzled and open for the killing blow.

"I will kill you slowly for this!" snarled Grievously and lumbered in my direction.

I snapped my left arm in a well-practiced motion and a pair of darts with a micro Ion energy cell within shot at the approaching General. His lightsaber flashed in front of him and to my surprise, Grievous managed to intercept one of the missiles which sparkled as it was slicked in two.

It was not enough. The other flew true and struck him on the right side of the armored torso. Disruptive Ion energy was unloaded in his entrails and Grievous screamed like a damned soul. He waved his left arm madly as if trying to smite an invisible assailant. Small electrical discharges ran over his armored bulk and he shook as if being electrocuted. I guess what was happening to him was similar enough.

A grappling hook shot from his left hand and, by accident or design, latched on the underside of one of the monorails that were overhead. I didn't think that he was acting consciously but that did not matter. His body was picked up by the taut metal wire attached to the grappling hook and he flew away from the train which was carrying me in the opposite direction. Before I could think things through I had thrown my lightsaber at the departing cyborg. The crimson blade hissed through the air and was guided unerringly by my will.

The train on which I was on choose that moment to take a slight turn to the right and enter a tunnel. I lost sight of my target and my concentration wavered.

"Kriffing machine!" I roared in anger while doing my best to keep my lightsaber from smashing into something.

The train engine felt my wrath and it caved in as if struck by a giant hammer. Emergency brakes activated and I had to draw on the force to keep myself upright as the cart on which I was on lurched to a sudden stop.

I jumped in the air and headed to the back of the train. I had to nearly kneel as I moved over the wagons which were at the back of the open carts. The tunnel ceiling was that low. I vaulted over the last wagon and my feet struck the monorail line. Thanks to the emergency stop, the computer controlling the train system had stopped feeding energy in it. What power that still remained in it washed harmlessly over my well-isolated armor. It was nothing compared to Sith lightning and my protections were designed to blunt the attacks of some of the most powerful Sith that existed in my time.

You gotta love genius engineers and well applied Sith Alchemy.

I ran over the monorail line back to the transport hub. To my irritation, I could see no sign of Grievous.

"Lucky kriffin' bastard!" growled in barely restrained rage.

The Dark side was whispering sweet, seductive suggestion in my ears. It would have been so easy and satisfying to let myself be controlled by my fury. It promised me power and invulnerability. I sneered at the dark seductress and wrestled control from its influence. I knew those whispers for the lie they were. I was NOT a common rabble that would be enslaved by the Dark side's d.e.s.i.r.es! It was mine to control! Not the other way around!

The Force twisted in a cloud of living shadows around me while I reasserted control over my feelings. The fury subdued to a simmering pool of anger and I could think clearly again. The Force gradually calmed down around me and I used it to guide me towards my lost lightsaber.

I found it down below, half hidden by the shadows cloaked bottom of the monorail hub. The low light vision mode of my helmet and its zoom function helped me see the hilt of my blade. A dozen meters away I could also see something that looked suspiciously like the right foot of Grievous. By the Force, I had taken another piece of that bastard! He should be easy to track down and dispose of as crippled as he was now! After a nice long chat about all of the Separatists secrets, he knew, of course. I was not foolish enough of discard such valuable intelligence source if it was possible to capture and interrogate him.

I levitated my saber to my outstretched right hand and was about to start searching in the Force for the running General when Obi-Wan called me. I cursed myself for a bloodthirsty fool! I had forgotten all about the Jedi who had let me deal with the local Boogie Man by myself. I had been so focused on my prey that I didn't pay attention to anything else. Talk about tunnel vision…

"Veil! I am with Skywalker and the Senator! We are heading to the Shadow! Anakin set the Malevolence on course towards a nearby moon! You have only a few minutes to get over here before it's too late! "

Kriffing Jedi, I seethed. At least they gave me a warning.

"Negative! I have Grievous on the run! It is unlikely that we'll have such a good chance to deal with him any time soon. I'm going after him. You'll have to pick me up from one of the hangers when I'm done with him." with that I cut off the comm.

On a whim, I wasted a few more seconds to retrieve the cut off the foot of the General. If Grievous got away because of Skywalker's stunt I was going to beat that young, impulsive bastard unconscious with that piece of scrap.

=RK=

I was running through debris lidden corridors hot in pursuit of the Separatist Army's Supreme Commander. My progress was slowed down by groups of droids which were vectoring to intercept me. At the beginning of the chase, that was not a problem. The squads of three or four B-1 droids couldn't even slow me. They wouldn't have been a credible threat even if they could shoot straight. I wondered who in their right mind would produce "battle" droids without giving them adequate targeting algorithms and optics. Or even better a build in dedicated targeting computer. It was harder to deflect their wildly scattered fire back to the unlucky little buggers than it would have been if they were accurate shots! Talk about ironies…

As I said the B-1 was just an entertaining sideshow. However, the comic relief was soon replaced by groups of advanced battle droids. They were two meters tall, heavily armed and armored metal gunmetal gray machines They rained fire upon me with their wrist-mounted dual repeating blasters.

While those things, at least at the numbers I was facing, were not even a moderate threat, they were slowing me down nonetheless. It wouldn't do for me to get careless or overly arrogant and get myself shot. I believed that my armor and shield, which I had not bothered to activate yet, would provide at least moderate protection against modern weaponry but I was not going to risk it. From what I've seen on this ship, the weapon's performance was average for mid-range gear from my time. However, that was against the materials I've seen on the Malevolence. I had no idea how it stacked against what was used four thousand years ago. And the few B-1 I blew up with my blasters was not a particularly good test. It was obvious that those things were mass produced models which were built to be as cheap as possible.

I turned around a corner and ran in the middle of a quartet of Super Battle droids. For a split second, I stared in the photoreceptors of one of the silver killing machines. Then all hell broke loose.

My lightsaber roared to life and I stabbed at the red eye of the machine that was glaring malevolently at me. My lightsaber swirled to the left and cut its way through the armored bulk of the dying droid. On its way to the next target if sliced in half the right arm of the robot I just dispatched. The second droid was bisected through the waist and its torso slid to the ground before the first two machines of the quarter, the ones I had run past as I dashed around the corner could turn around.

One of the remaining Super Battle Droids tried to backhand me with its left arm. I ducked under the strike and planted my blade in the center of the offending machine. I moved my lightsaber upward on a ninety-degree angle leaving a melted hole in the synthetic. I immediately followed with a diagonal slash which cut the last robot in two. I spun around and ran down the corridor.

The next thing that tried to stop me were a pair of destroyer droids. I could hear them approaching as they were rolling my way. They unfolded in an intersection which was in my way and were joined by four squads of B-1's. Before the dangerous machines could activate their shields I rewarded their determination to keep Grievous away from me. The moment I heard the Droideka's approaching I had prepared a pair of grenades. I lobed the Ion one at the crossroad second before it was reached by the droids. When they saw it, it was too late to do anything.

"Ouch." said one of the B-1 which had its head painted yellow. Some kind of command unit I think.

That was its last thought before a powerful Ion pulse overloaded their circuits. The still forming defensive barriers of the Droidekas were no match for the energy wave and they slumped to the ground while lightning tendrils were arcing all over them. My second grenade put a stop to that when it detonated, its blast wave and shrapnel shredding the machines. The two destroyer droids were wracked by a few internal explosions as well.

=RK=

I reached the destination of the general's way out. I found him on the other end of a large hangar that was filled with wrecked vultures, droids and various burning debris. He was carried by a pair of Super Battle droids toward a fighter that looked like something straight out of a pulp science fiction from the middle of the previous century.

I waved my right hand and a piece of smoking metal which was lying near the general's fighter shot at the Separatist's Commander and his helpers. It swept their legs from under them and the trio fell in a heap on the ground. I sent a wave of telekinetic force at a pair of B-1's who tried to stop me while chattering about how doomed they were. The flimsy synthetics hit a nearby bulkhead with enough force to splatter them all over it.

Smiling under my mask I headed towards Grievous, who was shouting to his henchmen to help him up. At a mental command, a blaster flew from my belt to my left hand and I opened fire on the two SB droids. Those were made from sterner stuff. My shots boiled craters in their armor but that did not deter them. One picked up the General and headed towards the fighter while the other moved in my direction and started providing covering fire.

I activated my lightsaber and weaved a barrier between myself and the killer robot. I continued to shoot at it and after a dozen hits on its c.h.e.s.t plate the armor gave away. Its shining, silver chassis was a melted ruin by that point. My next two blaster bolts exploded within its chassis wrecking its internal components. The SB droid fell face down on the deck like a cut-down tree.

I ran forward towards my quarry and I was shooting at Grievous and its last guard all the way. Energy bolts rained all over them. The cyborg screamed obscenities after the robot helping him few to the ground when I hit its knee joints from behind. I was already anticipating the face to face chat I was about to have with the Separatist commander when the Force screamed a warning to me.

Only a frantic roll to the right which led me behind a big piece of a blown up ship saved me from being torn to pieces by the concentrated fire of four vulture droids. The bloody fighters were in their walker configuration and advancing my way. Their wing had separated in two stick-like legs and the droid fighters were doing their best to take me out.

"Damn it I should start paying attention! That is the hangar of a Separatist ship! Of course, there will be vultures inside!" I grumbled to myself. I was acting impulsively without thinking through my actions. It was good to think that Skywalker was not around to see me! The kriffing Jedi would have had a field day at my expense after the chat we had earlier.

I looked around to see what I had to work with. There were a lot of debris and remains of unlucky fighters. My attention was grabbed by a vulture droid which was smashed by a fallen crane. I smiled. I closed my eyes and concentrated. The totaled fighter droid moved carried by invisible strings. Its twisted frame gave a protesting groan when I picked it up and used it as a battering ram against its operational brethren. I propelled it with enough velocity to crumble on impact with the leading walker which was coming too close for comfort.

The machines smashed in each other with a scream of twisting metal. They fell over a large cl.u.s.ter of burning debris. Sparks and flames danced over their broken open frames and found their way to the solid pellets of fuel with which the vultures operated. If the energy source was not being used to feed the engines of the droid that was operational mere moments ago, the flames might not been hot enough to cause a chain reaction. But as things stood they were the last ingredient needed for a colorful explosion. The impressive detonation threw the remaining three vultures to the deck.

That was my cue to act. I threw ion grenades at the two farther machines and jumped to the closer one. I ignited my lightsaber while in the air and landed on the frame of the droid next to its head. It tried to turn its cannons towards me but I put my blade to good use and stabbed it in his electronic brain. It took only a second for my laser sword to drill through the armor.

I glanced at the other two vultures. They were momentarily incapacitated. That was good enough for the moment. Then I looked at where Grievous and his fighter used to be. Only the crippled Supper Battle droid was there. And it was crawling towards me.

That f.u.c.k.i.n.g tin can escaped, damn it all to hell!

The fury was back in full swing. I glared at the droid which had helped Grievous to escape and flung my right hand at it. It rose in the air with its limbs flailing uselessly around. I made a gripping motion with my fist and its arms and legs became taut. One by one its limbs were twisted away from the struggling machine. When only its torso remained the robot gave off a piteous w.h.i.n.e before being squashed into a football-sized sphere.

I let the useless lump of metal to hit the ground and redirected my attention to the disabled vulture droids. I vent my anger on them next by cutting them to pieces with my lightsaber. I, at least, was sane enough to be careful not to ignite their fuel.

=RK=

What got me out of my snit was the voice of Kenobi who wanted to know where the hell I was. I cut at a dismembered droid one last time and answered. "I am in one of the hangars. Grievous got away."

"We have a lock on your signal. We'll be there shortly. The Malevolence is about it hit the moon."

"Understood," I grumbled.

I could feel slight vibrations in the deck. The ship was too close for comfort to the planetoid if the armored bulk of the Leviathan was shuddering.

At least the Jedi didn't let me hang and the Twilight entered the hangar in high speed. I rushed to get on board and Skywalker got us away just as the super cruiser was entering the upper layers of the thin atmosphere of the moon. At full speed.

The leviathan struck the moon with enough force to wreck a continent. It left behind a fireball that easily reached orbit. I wondered if the impact would be sufficient to cause enough tectonic upheavals and shatter the moon…