Star Wars_ Fate of the Jedi 05_ Allies - Christie Golden [81]
Outside the packed dirt wall that encircled the Fountain, as they had just witnessed, the guards had blasters and proper armor. But the Klatooinian guards who rushed in, crying, “Blasphemers! You will pay!” wore nothing but simple plate armor and carried spears, arrows, swords, and nets. They looked like actors in a drama, enacting some long-ago battle.
It was ease itself to mow them down, but more came—and from all sides. Turg’s laughter died in his throat when, from behind him, a net dropped over him and pulled tight. His companions swore and rushed to cut him free. Kaara, the dark-haired woman, grunted when something hard struck her, only to gasp in surprise when her armorweave began to hiss and smoke as acid started eating away at first the armor, then her skin.
Her brother Vran activated his lightsaber and freed Turg with a single precise, perfect slice of the red blade. In the same motion he whirled, bringing the lightsaber around to slay Kaara’s attacker. The Sith woman dropped to the sand, biting her lip to stay silent as the unbearable pain continued. Unable to help her, her brother concentrated on exacting revenge, cursing and letting his fury and hatred augment his deadly speed.
Marjaak glanced over his shoulder at the commotion. “Faster,” was all the Keshiri Saber said to his colleague. Anyul nodded, clenching her teeth as her muscles knotted, adding her strength and that of the Force to push the lightsaber through the crystal.
Turg, the redhead, took the offensive, rushing at the approaching Klatooinians. One of them aimed a spear right at him, the other three had swords raised. Casually, the Sith sliced the weapon in two, and did the same to its wielder and the three others who charged, sending three swords—each still with part of an arm attached to them—flying.
Arrows sang as they were released. Turg sensed them and turned casually, deflecting them even more easily than he would bat back blaster fire. They had gotten a lucky blow in with Kaara and the acid, because that had been an unexpected weapon. With the element of surprise gone, Turg and Vran began accumulating bodies. Quietly, as befitted a Sith Saber, Kaara died.
The two Sith assigned to take samples of the wintrium were sweating with effort. “This stuff is almost impossible to cut,” muttered Marjaak.
Anyul shot him an angry glance. “Tell me something I don’t know, fool,” she spat, and continued. The impossibly hard substance was finally starting to yield.
Almost … there …
ABOARD THE STARSTALKER
“SIR,” SAID THE COMMUNICATIONS OFFICER TO HOLPUR, “THE ELDERS are attempting to contact us, telling us to stand down and surrender ourselves for punishment for blasphemy.”
Holpur chuckled. “So amusing,” he said.
There was what amounted to a palace close to the Fountain, on the far west side. This was where the Elders, the governing body of Klatooine, dwelt. Holpur knew they arose every morning and looked east, to the sun’s first rays striking off the Fountain. They were no doubt seeing a quite different view now.
He called up an image of the Elder’s palace on the small screen by his chair and regarded it thoughtfully. It had no defenses. Anyone could simply march right up and bang on the entrance. What were these people thinking? He could, with the Starstalker’s weapons alone, blast it to rubble. He toyed with the idea, but he was too amused at the thought of these beings, like ants he was about to step on, yapping at him to cease and desist.
“Patch it through,” he said.
“Copy, sir.”
“… repeat, stand down! You are in violation of sacred space! We will not tolerate this!”
“Sir,” said his communications officer, “They’re sending out a distress signal. They’re trying to contact the Hutts to come protect them.”
“Let them,” said Holpur. “I know what the situation is. The Hutts have not cared much for this planet since the war with the beings known as the Yuuzhan Vong. It