I felt it before I saw it. There was the sharp pivot from performance to violence in the commander's mind. His focus sharpened, followed by a tightening of his breath, his mind flattening into a single line, playing out the scenario in his head... Draw, shoot, and then run. He wasn't thinking about his father anymore, of course. He wasn't thinking about his world either, only about himself.
"Don't," I warned, my blade angled low at the moment, its indigo-colored light overpowering the room's natural colors along with Vila's twin orange sabers.
Dhar smiled with only the top half of his face.... and then he moved.
The concealed drawer under the table popped with a magnetic chirp as he knocked his ringed finger on its surface. I didn't need Force-powers to stop him as I'd already felt the line of his intent. I already stepped forward, slid my saber a handspan, and cut the table apart, along with the drawer's lip, with the tip of my blade. The wood veneer and durasteel track parted in a smooth, smoking line, unable to stop the advancement of a lightsaber. From its hiding spot, the pistol tumbled out anyway, knocking against the underside... And to my surprise, Dhar wasn't shocked by what happened... Instead, like a trained killer, he snatched it with a nimble stretch of his hand and fired before the barrel cleared the table, using the moment I split it open to shoot at me from under the table.
Not that it worked, as I deflected it, the bolt bouncing away and exploding into the crystal panels next to us, splashing a dozen rainbow-colored shards across the floor.
Vila was also moving, turning around, and facing the guards coming in from behind us.
She stepped into the shot line, aimed at my back, her wrists rotating, the blades in her hand becoming nothing but a blur. Four more bolts sparked off her sabers and pinwheeled into the ceiling, causing more fragments to rain down in glittering dust all over us. Perra Len gasped and dove for cover behind her chair, while Old Berrin just sat there, his eyes clouded over, not even reacting to the ensuing chaos.
"Security!" Dhar kept shouting, backing toward the arch, pistol tracking me. "Assassins in the chamber! Protect your commander!"
"You're not a commander," Vila said flatly, and swept a series of bolts back into the floor an inch from the incoming guards, jerking them to a halt, registering that the one they faced was a Jedi.
[Dry Advisory: Reinforcements inbound. I have locked the corridor doors and disabled the freight lift. Addendum: You still have six meatbags with guns arriving via service hatch in twelve seconds. Query: Shall I vent the atmosphere?]
"Non-lethal, HK," I hissed, stepping forward, standing between him and his father, to keep Dhar's line away from Berrin. "And don't vent on anyone."
[Put-Upon Sigh: Fine. I will let them breathe.]
By then, Dhar fired again. I let Makashi's footwork take over my movements. There were no flourishes, no significant actions, just a change of angle and a small step through the shot and a flick of my wrist. The bolt pinged from my blade and burst against a statue, as a priceless artifact hissed and sloughed like wax as the bolt went through it.
Meanwhile, Vila used the force to rip the weapons from the guards, slicing them apart as they flew toward her, and then she moved to close the distance between her and HK's signal to intercept the newly arriving six armored troopers, who were pouring into the chamber.
"Down!" Perra screamed, "Stand down! Commander—!"
They didn't even hear her, and they only saw orange lights as they began firing.
Vila flowed forward like water, her blades taking the bolts and sending them into the ceiling, into the floor plates, into the thick columns that held up this shrine of obtuse wealth. A trooper advanced too far, being overzealous while using his repeater blaster. Vila simply pivoted, deflected multiple shots with one swipe, and let his shot ricochet back across his shoulder plate. Then, to the trooper's own luck that she wasn't a Sith, she stepped in and cracked her saber's back into his helmet with a short, but brutal velocity. He collapsed with a wheeze, very alive but going nowhere, probably suffering a proper concussion.
On the other hand, I was making sure Dhar was focusing on me. He'd swapped grips, dropped his center of gravity, and produced a shock baton from his sleeve with his off hand. It was almost... funny. Did he... want a go at me? All the feelings I got from him screamed... that it was the case. Why...?
Not that I could try and guess it as he fired twice. I reversed my hilt and lifted the blade to flash-cut the bolts aside. Then, the baton came in low for my knee. Useless... I stepped a fraction to bleed the arc, then I turned my blade vertical as a barrier, and let the baton skitter along my saber with a shower of white sparks. He recoiled as the feedback buzzed him through his glove, while I didn't even flinch, nor did I blink, staring down at him throughout it all...
"Drop it, Dhar," I muttered. "You're done."
"Am I?" he snarled, and went for my throat with the pistol as if it were a blade.
With a sigh, I parried the barrel, striking it with the flat of my hand. I felt the heat of the last shot still in the metal, but I ignored it and I went ahead, grabbing and twisting his wrist while I stepped inside his reach. He slammed an elbow toward my ribs. I let it slide past, and as I did, I hooked his ankle with mine, swiping his leg. He went down, hard, his breath exploding out in a loud curse, landing on the floor. Throwing his hands up, letting go of the pistol, it skittered across the polished tiles, spinning under the fallen half-table.
He then threw the baton toward my face, which I simply hit and sent flying in multiple directions in multiple pieces. Then... my saber struck out and hissed, stopping an inch from his throat...
"Stop," I said again, still just as calm and unbothered. Even my breathing was quiet and unbothered.
Behind us, the now only three troopers who kept standing from the six, tried to flank Vila. She felt it... But this time around, unlike in her past, she wasn't the one running away... she was the one hunting. Instinctively, she rolled, flicking one blade down to sweep the lead trooper's legs from under him. It wasn't a killing blow, but she stopped trying to persuade them... it was time to cripple, as a leg parted from its owner the next moment. As it was happening, another one fired a shot that she gave him back with one flick before she stepped inside his guard, and hammered his neck with the heel of her palm. He folded like a sack of grain. The last one had the sense to backpedal and keep firing... but it was useless. Vila slid his way to him on the smooth floor as if it were ice, and cut his arms off before he joined his friends on the floor.
"Perra," I called, because she was peeking over the fallen table, eyes wide open, "get Lord Dhrune under the table and stay there. Do not move."
Her fear was honest, I could tell. She nodded so quickly that her braided hair, which looked like a crown, wobbled, and she wheeled Berrin behind the half-table with shaking hands.
[Cheerful Update: I have been discovered. Statement: I like a classical shootout.] HK's voice came in, and in the background, I could hear him firing his own weapon. I just hoped he remembered to stay... non-lethal.
"How—" Perra began, but then decided she didn't want to know.
Dhar used the moment I glanced towards Perra, trying to run. He rolled to his side, but I had had enough, so I stabbed my blade into his left leg, crippling him. He writhed, panting, cursing, and crying like he was dying.
"Hands," Vila ordered, appearing next to him with a set of cuffs in her hand. "You are coming with us now.
Hearing the handcuffs coming out, Dhar snarled and tried to bite her, like a rabid dog. In response, she punched him in the nose with full force, and I heard something breaking... yeah... I bet he was seeing stars now. But he kept attacking the moment his eyes readjusted. He spat and went for a knee to her chest, which Vila flowed around and flipped the man on his back in a motion so clean it could've been a dance. Then, the cuffs clicked, and he was officially captured.
"Enough," I said softly, leaning close, using my mind to connect with his, suggesting it, "It's over."
"Nothing is over," he hissed, rolling onto his side to glare, a smear of blood on his lip from his nose. "Not while Mandalorians circle our sky! Not while you play at judges on someone else's soil! Fuck you, Jedi! Fuck you!"
It seemed that his unbelievable rage and anger were making him immune to Force persuasion... which was something I never knew could happen.
"Save the speech," Vila groaned, standing and hauling him to his knees with one hand like he weighed nothing. "You tried to shoot us in the back while hiding behind your father... You don't get speeches, you scum."
"Perra," I said, softer now, "call medical. These men need a bath of bacta..."
"I... Yes," she said, and then, eyes wet, she tried explaining herself, tapping away on her wrist-mounted device, "I didn't know. I truly didn't. I thought... We all thought... that the Mandalorians were..."
"Perra." I met her gaze, trying to soothe her feelings. "Help the people on your floor. We'll handle the rest."
She swallowed in answer but nodded, and got to her feet, moving to check pulses and remove helmets from faces so they could breathe more easily. Old Berrin, as if becoming lucid again, peered over the table edge, blinking owlishly.
"Is it… finished?" he asked, the voice of a man who has woken up on the wrong stage and found himself in the middle of a play.
"For now," I told him, and meant it.
[Contented Report: Main turbolift secured, injury count: 11. Dead: 0. Regrettable, but perfect mission parameters worth more than kills.]
Ignoring HK's report, Vila yanked Dhar to his feet. He winced as his leg couldn't handle his weight. Yet, he still tried to square himself...
"You are assaulting a duly appointed—"
"I'm done listening," I said, because I could feel him searching for a new narrative, and I wasn't going to let him find it. "You'll get to talk when we're aboard our ship and the Mandalorians are listening too."
Then, I let out a burst of thoughts from me, connected to him, and sent him into a confused state. He didn't fall unconscious... but he now looked like his father most of the time... bewildered.
"Kael," Vila murmured, and flicked her eyes to the lifts.
"Yeah, time to go," I said, "HK, new plan. We're moving the 'guest.' Can you give us a path?"
[Enthusiastic Guidance: Sending the main lift up. Take it to the starting floor. From there, left, thirty meters, service hatch G-12. I will open it on your approach. The freight catwalk is clear. I will paint you a clean corridor with red lights for drama.]
"No drama," I said.
[Disappointed Processing: …Green lights, then.]
As we moved, dragging the muddled 'commander' along, Perra looked like she wanted to say something else, but I saved her the trouble.
"Perra, listen. Transfer Lord Dhrune to a secure medical room with a lock that only you can open. Anyone who tries to move him without us, stop it. We will try to smooth things over with the Mandalorians, but until then... Keep the old man alive and safe."
"I..." She blinked, confused and terrified and earnest all at once. "Yes. I... yes. I can do that."
"Good." I tilted my head at the pile of very expensive debris and ruined artifacts. "And… sorry about your people's.... stuff."
"..." She looked at the wrecked museum pieces and actually laughed, a short, shaky little chuckle. "They were hideous," she said, and wiped her eyes with the back of her wrist.
By then, we were off, hauling Dhar between us. He made it awkward, of course, because he wasn't in complete control of his faculties. We slipped through the designated route as instructed by HK. The service hatch G-12 slid aside as we approached it, revealing a narrow catwalk behind that stretched into the station's interior, where pipes and cables made up its internal systems... above deep chasms.
[Helpful Aside: Do not look down, meatbags. There is nothing down there except a long drop and the sound of your regrets.]
"HK," Vila said, "you're an artist but not in a good way."
[Smug Statement: I know.]
At the last turn before the docking spur, the whole station shuddered. Not the violent kick of weapons fire, it was, per the feeling, a slow pulse of thrust and systems cycling, trying to come back online. Still, my stomach went cold for a heartbeat until HK supplied more context as to what was happening.
[Status: External standoff is still unchanged. Mandalorian elements are holding the outer vectors in place. Timer: Forty-one minutes since the hour began. The beskar-wearers will want a trophy soon...]
"We are bringing it," Vila said, gazing at the back of Dhar.
Finally, not that long later, we hit the last hatch. It opened on the docking spine that led toward our bay, and HK was there, ahead of us, almost looking like he was smiling. He was enjoying this...
[Gleeful Statement: A surprise party.]
"What?" Vila asked, and as I looked...
A squad rounded the far corner between us and the ship... Of course they did. Our eyes met at the same time as they saw two young Jedi dragging their 'commander.' For a moment, they froze, their brains trying to reconcile uniforms and realities. The sergeant's eyes went from my blade to Dhar's cuffs to Vila's expression and did the math, which I could feel confusing him.
"Stand down," I said, my voice calm, my lightsaber still, as I reached out with the Force, connecting to their minds. Although levitating things weren't working... It seemed this part was coming to me as easily as breathing. "We are taking a suspect into protective custody for parley with the Mandalorians. You shoot, you start the war, and you will all die."
It was working... All of their weapons were being lowered, and then the speakers crackled all over the station. For a moment, I thought it was for nothing... But then Perra's voice came through.
"Alpha-Nine, stand down. New priority: Medical to diplomatic ring, security lockdown lifted on G-sector corridors. Repeat, DO NOT ENGAGE the Jedi. That is an order!"
With that, we were cleared and walked past them without hesitation. We hauled Dhar into the cargo bay, throwing him next to where the R7 was, leaving it for HK to guard.
As for Vila and me, we headed to the cockpit and I began calling the Mandalorians... Hopefully, this will be enough...