With a roar of his own, Spike and Nexu clan charged at the oncoming Sith forces, many of their number wielding Lightsabers of their own. All around the Dragon, duels and pitched battles raged, the cat-woman fighting with her Lightsaber in one hand and using the claws of her other hand to inflict horrific damage, while Zule was already engaged in a pitched Lightsaber battle, both opponents seeming to dance around each other as they duelled backwards and forwards across the floor of the senate hall, the senators still frozen in a state of paralysis.
Darting forward, Spikes Lightsabers flared into life as he brought his Lightsabers down towards one of the red warriors, only for a blue bladed Lightsaber to come between him and his red foe. The Lightsaber instantly sparked memories, and Spike looked along the blade, his eyes settling upon the Zabraak wielder.
“Nice to see you again Spike.” Quinlay spat, venom dripping from his voice.
“Quinlay?” Spike asked in surprise and confusion as he held his blades on the blue Lightsaber, unable to do anything due to the shock.
“I owe you a rematch.” He snarled, before lashing out with his knee, smacking Spike in the stomach and catching him off guard. Like that, the duel was on.
Fending off another attack, Spike tried to get back on the offensive by swinging is second blade at Quinlay’s leg, only for the Jedi turned Sith to lift his leg over it, converting the motion into another kick to Spikes shin, almost sending the Dragon sprawling. If Spike had been a lesser species, the duel would already be over. Spike was not normal though, and he would not be beaten easily.
Snarling, Spike darted forward, spinning his Lightsaber around so the blade was along his arm. As he had predicted, Quinlay moved to block the blade of the Lightsaber, but the blade was not the only part of the weapon.
With a grunt, Spike slammed the rear of the blade into Quinlay’s chest, the blunt force finally stopping his offensive, and forcing him to stagger backwards and Spike bore down on him.
Swinging his Lightsabers in wide arcs, Spike forced Quinlay to move long distances to block the attacks, and keeping him occupied and unable to regain the moment that he had been blessed with before. Finally, Spike lashed out with his tail, spinning and tripping his opponent up. While he was still falling, Spike channelled the force, and with a roar, threw Quinlay across the room, smashing him into the pedestal that Ulic had been on just minutes earlier.
Taking the time to look around for a moment, Spike caught sight of Solaris, his master slashing left and right at a pair of the red warriors, their axes standing up to her blows and keeping her from attacking either one of them. Quinlay was still dazed and on the floor after slamming into the stone pillar, but that wouldn’t last long, and when he got up, he would be coming after Spike again.
A voice sounded out across the hall, the commanding tone cutting through the din of the duels going on. For some reason, Spike felt compelled to look upwards, and from the look of things, the other warriors, both Jedi and Sith, felt the same, all eyes travelling to the pulpit of the Supreme Chancellors seat, eyes settling on the scene unfolding at the top. Supreme Chancellor Sidrona was suspended above the ground, held up by Exar Kun, whose fingers were digging into the man’s skull. Blood was dripping down and landing on the warriors underneath as Kun put more pressure on the aliens head.
“I just wanted to say that you, and the whole Republic Senate are irrelevant. The Jedi Knights have coddled you for centuries. You are outdated and ineffective…puppets to tradition…” Kun sneered, and to Spikes horror, Sidrona opened his own mouth, speaking slowly, as if every word was causing him unbelievable amounts of pain.
“We are…puppets…irrelevant.” He groaned.
“The Sith empire will rise again, and we are the spark!” Kun proclaimed.
“We…are…the spark.” Sidrona intoned.
“The flames will wash over the crumbling Republic and consuming all your works, establishing the glorious days of a long lost golden empire far greater than any of us can know.”
“Greater…than any of us…can know.” Sidrona said weakly, the blood dripping from his head slowing. Spike knew that this was not a good sign, and wanted to intervene, but found himself enthralled by the macabre spectacle.
“You can choose to be part of this rebirth, or you can stand in our way, we will succeed either way.” Exar Kun said, before releasing his grip on Sidrona, the Supreme Chancellor dropping towards the floor, still twitching slightly as the last vestiges of life slipped from his body. It wasn’t fast enough though, and Sidrona fell to the floor, the fall killing him before he could bleed out.
“We did this all to show how ineffective and useless the Republic is. We don’t want your cooperation. The Republic is not even part of our plan.” Kun said, turning and making his way down the stairs.
“No!” Spike screamed, finally being released from the spell he had been under, and running over to the dead body of the Supreme Chancellor, only to be intercepted by Quinlay again, his face bleeding and his eyes full of rage.
“Stand still!” He roared, his Lightsaber igniting again as he sprang at Spike, causing Spike to igniting his own blades, catching the blue blades on his own purple and white blades.
“What happened to you?” Spike growled, pulling the Sith in close, keeping their blades locked together.
“Exar Kun showed us the way.” Quinlay snarled back, trying in vain to release his Lightsaber from in between Spikes blades. “All I had to do was free myself from Ionra.”
“What happened to her?!” Spike roared, weathering another blow from Quinlay’s knee, refusing to let him go without knowing what caused Quinlay to turn to Exar Kun.
Quinlay screamed, forcing Spikes Lightsabers apart with a strength that the Dragon had not expected from the Zabraak. Almost instantly, Spike was flung back, skidding across the floor as Quinlay advanced towards him.
“Pathetic.” He spat. “Kun was right, the Jedi are weak, and your Republic is as corrupt as the order.
Spike staggered to his feet just in time, as Quinlay was once again on him.
Both men came together and brought up their Lightsabers. The blades sparked as they collided with each other, making an odd small ringing sound. Both men stepped back and circled each other. Spike could see the longing for blood in the Zabraak’s eyes. Spike stepped back allowing the man’s blood lust to drive him. Quinlay fell towards the expected pattern and jumped at Spike, the Dragon allowing himself to push him back.
Spike kept his body relaxed, while Quinlay brought up his shoulders, preparing for another strike. Tension was visible in both of the men’s jaws as they tightened into grimaces. Spike took a step back and controlled his breathing, just as Quinlay jumped at him again, bringing his Lightsaber across Spike’s chest, only being stopped by the smallest of margins. The man snarled and lunged at Spike again, but Spike again stopped his blade and pushed his shoulder into Quinlay’s chest, pushing him back across the room and following closely.
The two men circled each other again, both panting hard as they stared at each other. Quinlay jumped at Spike again and pushed him to the ground, but Spike planted his foot into Quinlay’s stomach and shoved him back. Even as he did so however, Quinlay lashed out, catching Spikes wrist and grabbing Elusive from his grip, ripping the Lightsaber from Spikes grip as he stumbled backwards.
Avoiding a slash from the two Lightsabers now arrayed against him, Spike stuck his hand out, tugging a Lightsaber from a fallen warrior and igniting the blade just as Quinlay attacked again, holding the green blade in a reverse grip. Spike couldn’t see who the Lightsaber had belonged to, he couldn’t even tell if the warrior had been a Jedi or a Sith, but right now it didn’t matter.
Quinlay bellowed in rage as he attacked again, both opponents raining a flurry of blows on the other, each one barely being parried or countered before the next one was coming in. Letting out his own roar, Spike slammed his head forward, knocking Quinlay back. Quinlay relinquished his grip on his Lightsabers as he clutched his face, before removing his hands, one eye now nothing more than a bloody mess as massive cuts streaked across his face. Letting out a feral snarl, Quinlay charged at Spike, using the force to augment his speed as he ducked beneath the Lightsabers and slamming into Spikes chest and knocking him to the floor.
Both men fell to the ground, Spikes weapons skidding from his hands as they sprawled across the floor. Quinlay jumped on Spike’s chest, latching his hands around the Dragons neck and squeezing, trying to strangle Spike.
For a moment, Spike struggled against the iron like grip of his opponent, before bringing his fists down on the man’s arms, forcing him to relinquish his grip, and allowing Spike to roll on top of the man, bringing his fists down on the Zabraak’s faces, reducing it to a bloody pulp.
Spike rolled off the man, panting heavily, and sighing in relief as he saw Quinlay’s chest rise and fall. He didn’t want to kill him, and was relieved that he didn’t, as well as being impressed by the aliens resistance.
Shakily, Spike got to his feet, looking around the room as he retrieved his Lightsabers with the force, drawing the blades into his hands. As he watched, Spike saw Exar Kun crossing blades with a red alien creature, somehow his simple wooden quarter staff holding up to the powerful slashes being unleashed on it.
As Spike watched, Exar Kun took a step back, a cocky smile stretching across his face.
“Time to make this more interesting.” He sneered, thumbing a button on the hilt of his Lightsaber.
Instantly, a second blue blade erupted from the Lightsaber, catching Spike completely by surprise. He had never seen such a weapon before, and by the look on the red aliens face, neither had he.
“Do you like the modifications I made to my Lightsaber, master?” He snarled, before lunging forward again.
Unable to gaze at the duel anymore, Spike ignited his Lightsabers again, diving at a group of warriors attacking Solaris and catching them by surprise. In a few moments, Spike was by his master’s side, fending off attacks before dishing out some of his own, unleashing gouts of flame mid attack to force the warriors to move to where he wanted them to so he could cut them down quickly and efficiently. In a few seconds Spike and his master were free from attacks. The red alien however, was not.
Even as Spike watched, Exar Kun slammed his double blade Lightsaber into the wooden staff, the weapon finally splintering, offering no resistance as the Lightsaber buried itself into the aliens shoulder, cutting deep and felling him without a word.
“VODO!” Solaris screamed, sprinting forward, only to be beaten to the punch by the cat-woman.
“Kun! Murderer!” She screeched, forcing her way through a group of warriors, only to be thrown backwards by a small gesture from Kun.
“Stay out of this Sylvar.” He said simply, before turning to Ulic and the Mandalorian who was standing beside him, treating the Jedi as if they were beneath his concern. “It’s time for us to leave, the Senate members may think they are running things, but they are only acting in a shadow play. We are tired of serving their weakness, and we will work toward our own ends from now on. The Sith Brotherhood controls the galaxy.”
With that, he turned and swept from the hall, his acolytes and minions following close behind him. Spike made to follow them, a snarl gracing his lips, only to be stopped by Solaris.
“Master?” Spike asked in confusion, looking at Solaris, his eyes also watching as Sylvar crouched low over the robe that had once been occupied by Master Vodo, clutching it tightly to her chest as she sobbed. “Why are we not following them?”
“We couldn’t do anything.” She said softly, holding Spike back.
“We can try!” Spike yelled back.
“No! We can’t!” She bellowed back.
“Get off me!” Spike yelled, ripping himself from Solaris’s grip at looking at his master with rage in his eyes. “This is Coruscant! If we can’t defeat him here, then where can we?!”
“It is not the right…” Solaris began.
“SPIKE!” Came a voice from behind the dragon, and Spike turned just in time to see Quinlay rising from the floor, sprinting towards Spike with an unbelievable amount of rage coursing through his ruined face.
Spike snarled, and unleashed a gout of flame, covering the Zabraak in fire, and causing him to drop to his knees screaming, before collapsing, nothing more than a charred corpse. The whole attack had taken less than three seconds.
“We are Jedi!” He shouted, even as the senators began to be released from their immobilised state. “We are the protectors of the Republic!”
“You are a Padawan!” Solaris bellowed back. “You know nothing of warfare!”
“No, I don’t.” Spike nodded. “But I know that we cannot allow Exar Kun and the Sith to act with impunity, and attacking the capital at will.”
“Your Padawan is forceful.” Cat said, walking over to Solaris and looking up at Spike. “And what of Ulic? He is part of the Sith. Would you kill him?”
“I…” Spike began.
“Would. You. Kill. Him?” Cay enunciated.
“He needs to be stopped.” Spike replied. “If that means killing him so be it, but it shouldn’t come to that.”
“Spike. The temple. Now.” Solaris growled.
For a moment, Spike thought about defying his master, before his shoulders slumped, the adrenaline that had been coursing through his veins slowing, and allowing Spike to think clearly once more.
“Of…of course Master.” He bowed, before turning and walking out of the room, the rest of Nexu clan looking after him in a mixture of shock and sadness, but not following him.
Spike would have to walk the path to the temple alone.