Not stopping there, the assassin recalled his lightsaber to him, evading another blast from a scattergun as it flew into his hand. The two children screamed, terrified wails of fear for their mother, even as the Sith streaked towards them.
With her arms underneath both her siblings, Tan'ya had to shrug them off to reach her lightsaber, and that crucial fraction of a second would have cost her life, if one of the House Guard didn't interpose himself between her and the Sith.
...
The man died on his feet, lightsaber piercing his chest and emerging from his back, but even as it did he clung to the Sith. There was the clack of a breach closing, as one guard loaded his scattergun and raised it to fire on the Sith, who turned, putting as much of the dead guard as he could between him and the next shot.
When it hit, some of the grains from the blast still pierced his exposed hip, but the pain didn't seem to slow him down as he wrenched his lightsaber free and surged forward across the room, only to stop and pull back to evade a blast from a different guard.
For a moment, it seemed like the guards assembled in the garage may have been able to kill the intruder. The seven of them all had scatterguns, and the seven of them all faced a target caught in the open with no cover. Even if he was a Sith, he wouldn't be able to evade forever. Then the Sith threw his lightsaber in a spinning arc, guided by the Force aimed at neck height.
All the House Guards were well trained and saw it coming, quickly rolling out of its path, but in that crucial half a second they weren't firing, the assassin was able to close the distance. His foot lashed out with such force that the heel shattered one guard's helmet and sent him flying away to fall limply to the floor, while another whipped out his blaster pistol and fired.
The Sith barely evaded that, calling his lightsaber back to his hand, but was tackled to the ground by another guard, who shoved a buzzing vibroblade into the Sith's chest. The guard raised it for another stab but the Sith grabbed his wrist and twisted. The blade fell from the guard's hand, and the Sith snatched it from the air and buried it in the guard's neck.
Seeing his friend, another guard shouted the name of his village as he pressed the activator on a grenade and threw it. Tan'ya saw the explosion coming, and threw herself over her siblings to protect them from the shrapnel, but needn't have. The Sith easily snatched it from the air with the Force, and launched it back into the guard's chest with the Force. It exploded, taking him out and the man next to him.
Realising they were all armed with grenades, the Sith smirked, using the Force to depress the activators while it was still on the belt of another Guard. The man managed to snatch it from his belt and throw it away, but the assassin just whiplashed it back into him.
The Sith reached out to do the same thing again, but Tan'ya used her own control over the Force to resist him. He let out a surprised gasp as she was able to overpower his hold with the Force, and thrust the grenade towards him. He just barely threw up a wall of the Force to protect himself, but one of the two remaining guards took the chance to shoot at him with his blaster. The assassin just recalled his lightsaber and deflected the blast away, his face covered in burns from the heat of the grenade.
With a pained grunt, the guard who'd been knocked down earlier got to his feet. He whipped the smashed helmet from his head, and threw it at the back of the Sith where it struck the back of his head. Blood poured from the assassin's open head wound, and he reached out with the Force to throw the man into a wall where he impacted with a wet crack, and fell to the ground, unmoving.
Seeing the Sith with the lightsaber again, the two remaining guards tried once more with the scatterguns. He threw up a wedge in the Force, blocking most of the spray but getting nicked across his head and arms. Tan'ya, seeing a chance, launched herself across the room to strike at him while his back was turned.
He deflected her attack, turning to face her with his eyes blazing. Seeing the princess in danger, one of the remaining guards didn't hesitate, he charged forward, tackling the Sith away, even as his head was carved apart. At the sith's feet fell a primed grenade that fell from the dead soldier's hands, and he tried to whip it away with the Force, but Tan'ya held it in place against his will.
The explosion sent her flying, but she was armoured unlike her foe. She stood up, looking over to see that he was still alive but his cybernetic arm had been almost completely destroyed, trying to contain the explosion. She turned, hoping to see the last guard was preparing some final trick, but she saw him dead on the ground, the shrapnel having punched several holes through his armour.
The wounded assassin at last turned to face her, and Tan'ya stood alone, the only thing between him and her siblings.
The lightsaber she summoned back to her hand felt almost worthless, as she watched him prepare to deal with her.
"You have a very violent mind for a Jedi." A low, bass voice hissed. "Nothing at all like your Master."
The assassin was speaking to her. It took a moment for her to connect that he was the one that killed Sifo with the knowledge that he was now mocking her with it. A spark of anger flared in her mind, but she ignored it.
"Why?" Tan'ya demanded. If only to buy time for a moment. Reinforcements were coming down the tunnel.
"Oh, you don't know?" The Sith asked, barely able to contain his contempt. "Your Father betrayed us, girl. He was our servant long before you were born, and long after. Your whole fledgling empire was never meant to be anything but a wedge to break up the Coruscant Temple. Sifo came too close to the truth, so Dooku arranged for me to have a little alone time with him."
"That's a lie!" Tan'ya snapped back at him.
He sneered at her. "Just imagine what I'm going to do to mommy Athemeene, sweet Madalee, and little baby Ideon. If Kenth was here, I'd kill him too, but I promise you. I'll be watching, and waiting, and when he leaves the New Temple I will find the moment. You and your family are nothing but a speed bump in our plan, a chance to spite your worthless Father."
She could scarcely believe what she was hearing. The hatred and savagery of the Sith was insane, irrational, and totally pointless. He'd injured himself gravely on this mission, and he didn't even seem to regret it at all just for a chance to hurt his foes.
"You won't hurt anyone." Tan'ya hissed. "I'm going to put you down, dog."
"Oh?" The assassin smirked and pulled one of the scatterguns to himself from across the room. He pointed it at Tan'ya, and she had a second's to realise that though she was wearing armour, her siblings were not, and she was all that stood between them and death.
Without thinking Tan'ya hurled herself forwards, trying to block more of the pellets with her body as the murderer fired. Tan'ya vision was consumed by sparks and smoke for a brief second, and she felt like she'd been slapped in the face, but wasn't dead just yet as she brought her own lightsaber up to strike.
Her mastery of the art was massively incomplete, she wasn't even a padawan yet and so he deflected her strike with a dismissive flick of his wrist that nearly wrenched the blade from her fingers. The only thing that kept her from dropping the weapon was the grip she had on it with the Force. His lightsaber flashed out, clipping her at the shin. The only thing that saved her leg was her armour, though she was sent sprawling to the ground, feeling the heat burn her skin even through the plastoid. The dark sider loomed above her, swinging his blade down and striking for her neck.
Tan'ya's raised her arm just in time for the armoured vambrace to take the blow, and pushed out with the Force to try and throw him away, but he just leaned into the attack, smirking as his own telekinesis formed a wedge shape in the Force to disperse the worst of it. Gritting her teeth, Tan'ya doubled down, intensifying the waves of the force she was sending at him.
Metal plating peeled up from the garage floor, lights on the ceiling shattered, and the smirk on that monster's face was at last wiped from his face as he began to slide away from her. His control of the Force broke, and with a snarl he was flung away, to backflip and land, regarding her hatefully.
Though it was fatal to look away from an opponent in a fight, that second of breathing room was the only chance Tan'ya had to turn her head and check her brother and sister. She almost couldn't help herself, turning her head to quickly glance to make sure they were okay, and was horrified by what she saw.
Ideon sat there frozen wide eyed in a spreading pool of hot crimson that was leaking from Madalee's head. She lay face down on the metal deck, unmoving, as the Tirra'taka pawed at her, crooning miserably.
...
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