Form IV: A Dangerous Dance.

[Wei Wu Wei]

Wei glanced over at Palara, then Alexia. Qui-Gon did say Form IV had trouble against multiple opponents, but he didn't think he'd find out about that so soon. There was only one thing for it: keep them divided, and make sure they couldn't both attack him at the same time.

Wei cartwheeled around Alexia so she stood between Palara and himself.

With no time to waste, Wei ramped up his speed and strength, offering several brutal spinning slashes to the Darksider. Head, body, legs, body head. Predictable,but Wei had to see how well Alexia could cope.

[Palara Iscandar]

Inquisitor Iscandar was beginning to understand why many Inquisitors simply dispensed with a call to arrest and attacked out of hand; no one ever listened to it anyway!

With closed eyes and an indrawn breath, Iscandar pushed out with her left hand and released a wave of kinetic energy from her hand, what she'd heard called a "Force Push". She followed behind the wave, running and igniting her lightsaber, she hoped to pass by the embroiled combatants and only remove their hands.

Inquisitor. Squad will reach your position in five minutes.

Iscandar settled her breathing and swung down at first Alexia, and then Wei's hands. If it worked, the fight would be over.

[Alexia Sturkov]

The Imperial was forgotten as Wei maneuvered around and behind her, forcing Alexia to turn to face him. She raised her hands, preparing further telekinetic powers to deal with him once more. Or would have, but she was struck from behind by force energy that was not her's, sending her sprawling to the ground off balance and surprised. Looking up quickly, she saw the Jedi closing in and from behind she could sense the Imperial coming just as quickly.

There was no time to think. Only to act.

Pulling all the telekinetic power she could muster, she released it all violently in all directions. The force wave ripped through the air, sending nearby objects flying away from her.

[Wei Wu Wei]

Wei had only begun to bring his weapon into line to block Palara's attack when he found himself flying through the air. Wei got up, shook his head, brushed the dirt and dust off his shoulders and out of his hair.

The former Jedi looked about the festival, and quickly realized something: Wei was standing on the wooden roof of some decorative pagoda.

"This is starting to get really really," he paused to release a gusty breath "old."

Wei could see his fighter from here. He wanted to run. All the confusion was perfect for a good clean getaway. But he did promise Qui-Gon.

"Fine."

Wei stood above it all. He took in the entire situation and decided to face his circumstances with settled determination. There was no going home until it was all finished. He singled out Palara where she landed. Wei repeated his prior leaping mortar shell attack on the Inquisitor. Perhaps if he could take her out of the fight, he could quickly follow through and defeat Alexia.

[Palara Iscandar]

Iscandar landed adroitly, but needed a moment to right herself; it cost her, as Wei's attack nearly bowled her over, as unprepared for it as she was.

She spun out of the way of the devastating downward slash, but Wei's lightsaber continued on another deadly arc through the air toward her. She hastily mounted a defence, but the power of the attack staggered her and caused her to take several steps back, feverishly attempting to regain her equilibrium and the initiative from this frustrating situation.

"Hah!" she shouted, pushing at Wei quickly and somersaulting out of the zone of death directly in front of him, spinning and facing the unknown Adept; likely a Dark Adept, if she had to guess.

She firmed her stance and cast a quick glance back at Wei, realizing she was stuck between the Jedi and the Dark Adept; both of whom seemed to be highly trained. She was once again forced to play a waiting game until her squad of troopers arrived.

Only with this game, she was outmatched, and losing meant death.

[Alexia Sturkov]

As the storm dissipated, Alexia pulled her hands from over her head and looked out on the world. The Jedi hurtled overhead, and she tensed for the end, but instead he flew on and a look over her shoulder saw him clashing with the Imperial Agent. Seeing an opportunity, Alexia dragged herself to her feet. Initially crawling from her fallen position until she could pull herself on her feet.

By the stars, she was exhausted. Out of shape and practice, this fight had already cost her everything. Her considerable power was more than enough for those not of the force and would have suffice against just the Jedi, but fighting two at once was more than she was capable of. And she knew it now all too well. There was just one option. Retreat.

Moving away from the other two combatants she felt she had almost made it away without notice before a shout from behind caused her to look over her shoulder to see the Imperial had re-positioned herself between Alexia and the Jedi. She was still in this confrontation, but that only meant that she would continue to back out of it. She was not going to surrender. Not this time.

With her hands raised up and ready to cast another spell, her feet backed her up one step at a time, pulling her nearer and nearer to the closest building.

[Wei Wu Wei]

Wei looked over Palara's shoulder and noticed Alexia trying to run away. His eyes narrowed. He couldn't leap over Palara and reach Alexia too: The first time Wei performed his locomotive jump, it had been a long one, not a high one. The second time Wei had a height advantage from the pagoda. Perhaps he had chosen the wrong target for his renewed assault.

Wei advanced on Palara, spinning and slashing at her while he sidestepped around.

When he made it around the Inquistor, he began to backflip towards the Darksider. Palara and Alexia exchanged places in his vision: The former right side-up, the latter upside-down. The former Jedi closed with Alexia after a few rotations. He moonsaulted overhead, keeping his saber held up to protect his head as he jumped over her. On the other side, he feinted with the saber and followed up with a sort of shoving kick with the hope of putting Alexia more in harm's way.

"Don't run," Wei said, sounding uncharacteristically snide. "I thought a Sith's fear was supposed to be strength, not a jelly-legged motivation to run like a rabbit."

[Alexia Sturkov]

There was a whirl overhead, and she tried to outrun whatever was moving over her, but the Jedi landed in front of her all the same. She raised her hand, ready to blast him away, but he was ready, and a kick send Alexia backwards and on to her back. Rising into a sitting position, she looked up at the Jedi. The exhaustion showing clearly on her cracked face.

"There is no victory in defeat. Even Korg teaches that much." She hissed through clenched teeth, her face conforming from a mask of exhaustion into a visage of rage. There was no time to think. Only time to do. Her lightsabre flew from her wrist again, blade igniting in midair as it sailed straight at the Jedi. But it was just a distraction, a trivial attack to stop him from finishing her off before she could lift herself up on one hand while the other pointed at his knees, blasting him right in the legs with yet another force push.

She spun on her buttocks and turned her hand at the approaching Imperial, throwing another blast at her to keep her at bay. Alexia was running out of energy. Only the darkside and her own hate for these two was continuing to power her.

[Ben Merasska]

WHY? Everytime I go to supposedly one of the most peaceful planets in the galaxy, and there's still people trying to kill each other with laser swords and blasters! I'm out. Tell the Naboo tourist board I ain't giving a good recommendation either.

DELETE PLEASE

[Palara Iscandar]

Inquisitor Iscandar wasn't caught off guard, but she had committed herself to a full sprint at Wei, and couldn't shift her moment in time; Alexia's push caught her full on and threw her into a stall.

That proved to be a momentary obstacle, as the Imperial stood and shook off the debris clinging to her. With an expression of determination, she performed her own running jump on Wei, seeing that the other was attempting to retreat.

At the apex of her leap she somersaulted and used the momentum to unleash a much strengthened downward slash onto the Jedi, and whirled around him.

She didn't have time to check her wrist chrono, nor did she have the breath to spare on contacting them to ask, but she hoped her squad arrived soon.

[Wei Wu Wei]

Wei shifted, knocked away the lightsaber, and allowed the force of Alexia's telekinesis to give him momentum. He cut at her. Then Palara showed up.

The Force Cripple pancaked to the ground to avoid the Inquisitor. When Palara whirled, Wei spun up onto his feet. Wei followed Palara around in face-off mode. This was endless, and something needed to give.

Then the stormtroopers showed up. Wei groaned. He was tiring out. He needed to leave. The stormtroopers would handle Alexia. He just needed to get to R4 and his starfighter.

"R4, let's go. It's time to leave."

Wei performed a gigantic backwards leap towards his escape craft.

[Alexia Sturkov]

She had nothing left to give, and could only watch the Inquisitor launch herself at the Jedi, and the Jedi leap away. She wanted to do something. Drag the Jedi down with her in the least, but she was exhausted. Her entire body was soaked from perspiration and her hair was sticking to her face. All she could do was curl her legs up underneath her and wait for the end.

[Palara Iscandar]

"Surround ze woman, bind 'er, and bring ze ship!" Inquisitor Iscandar shouted, watching Wei make his way to his ship. She took a deep breath and leapt for the starfighter, landing and wheeling her arms to keep her balance.

Taking the most stable stance she could, she brought her lightsaber down to disable ship and cut off her long-time foe's method of escape.

"Surrender!" she called above the growing wind. "Let us end zis destructive conflict!"

[Wei Wu Wei]

R4 howled when Palara's lightsaber started to scar the hull of the craft. Wei grabbed Palara by the back of her shirt and tossed her back. Wei could feel himself growing angry.

"You talk about ending destructive conflict, but you try to destroy my spaceship? If I get to choose to end a conflict, then give me a choice to make! Don't expect me to get penned in like a bantha and roll over whenever you snap your fingers! Coercion doesn't create peace! If it did, your Empire wouldn't have to fight a full-blown rebellion!"

[Alexia Sturkov]

Alexia wished she could say this was the first time she had been surrounded by Imperial troops, but that would be a lie. In a past life she had met her end in a setting similar to this. It was a bitter reality to face that situation twice. However, this time she was forced to the ground and her hands locked in stuncuffs. It was a much more agreeable outcome than being blasted into oblivion. She still fought back, but what energy she had was spent and she could barely rock herself against her captors much less put up any kind of fight.

The sense of helplessness was overpowering. In the distance she could just barely make out of the blurry shapes of the Jedi and Inquisitor fighting atop a starfighter. Such a little thing had gotten her in this mess. She could have just passed by, let the Jedi go without harm, and still be able to count freedom among the privileges she controlled. Instead she was bound for an unknown fate at the hands of an organization that was not exactly prided for it's caring hands.

[Palara Iscandar]

Iscandar could feel the truth in Wei's words; she hated that. It was so maddening to feel the truth in the Inquisition and the truth in this enemy of the Inquisition both at the same time, it confused and disoriented her. She hated feeling as if she didn't know what she was existing in relation to, like a planet spinning in nothing.

She retained her physical balance quickly, and brought her lightsaber down once more, pointing it at him while the winds around them picked up.

"Any way I can, I will fulfil my mandate, Jedi," she called over the engines and wind. "Surrender!"

--------------------------------

"Come on!" one of the black armoured Inquisitorial troopers said distinguishable only by the black and red pauldron on one shoulder, gesturing to the others. Above them a large black ship hovered and landed in the now empty plaza, and a ramp opened.

"Get the prisoner into the one of the cells," the black pauldroned Trooper ordered, his helmeted visor turned toward the vanishing Inquisitor and Jedi. "We have to keep up with the Inquisitor. Load up and I'll order the pilot to bring us up alongside the fighter."

[Wei Wu Wei]

"I won't give ground to you. The more you try to dam me up, the more I will flow around you."

The former Jedi looked at R4. "Go now!"

The little droid goosed the thrusters. Wei leapt for the cockpit. As he arced towards the opening canopy, the Force Cripple turned and swung a parting cut at Palara's face.

Wei hit the top of the ship next to the cockpit. He rolled into the pilot's seat, strapped himself in, and prepared for the wobbliest atmospheric exit he had experienced in a long while. "She hit the port stabilizer, didn't she?"

Yes.

"Can we fix it?"

Yes.

"That's good."

You've been drinking.

"What? I don't--"

You've been drinking. Readings in the cockpit indicated ethyl alcohol, where there was none before. You've been drinking.

"So I had one beer."

You promised to have none.

"What?"

You made a promise not to drink. You broke your promise to me.

Wei could feel his irritation at this droid that was judging him. How would a droid understand the kind of stress Wei was going through? How could this droid understand the pain of loss Wei felt?

Suddenly, reflected in the little droid's photosensor, Wei could see his face. His angry face. Wei sat back in the seat like Alexia had Force-pushed him into it. The breath left him, and he could smell the alcohol. Cheap beer might have been nice, but now Wei could smell it on his breath and in his clothes. He could sense the aftertaste in the back of his mouth. He felt disgusting. In a way, he was.

For the first time since Wei had picked up a bottle of booze to numb his broken heart, Wei Wu Wei felt ashamed.

[Alexia Sturkov]

The hands grabbed at her again, and she pushed against them for a moment before she was lifted off the ground and dragged through the air to the waiting shuttle. She said nothing. There was nothing worth saying. She could have sworn vengeance and death upon them, but such a promise felt so empty from this position. Resisting was not going to help her in any way. Not now. At best she could hope to negotiate with them, and that was a hard position to take with a blaster hole in your chest.

They pulled her into the ship and tossed her into a cell and locked it behind her. Ha. This structure would never hold her if she had any strength left. The force could tear a hole right through this construct. They were just lucky that the Jedi had been there to wear her down. Her strength would return, in time, and then she would renegotiate this situation.

[Palara Iscandar]

She watched the Jedi fly off through the atmosphere, a look of frustration on her face. She was enjoying her meetings with Wei Wu Wei less and less as time went on.

She turned and jumped down to the ground; the Inquisitorial troopers, as if sensing her mood and the turn the conflict had taken, stopped and stood at attention as she came up to the corvette.

"Ze Jedi 'as escaped," she said shortly. "Prepare ze ship for launch. 'is ship is damaged; 'e cannot travel too far. We shall follow."

The Trooper saluted.

"We have the other adept incarcerated within the ship, Inquisitor," the Inquisitorial sergeant said. Iscandar frowned, suddenly remembering the other combatant.

She strode up the loading ramp and into the ship, stopping in front of the cell. She paused, before gesturing to the two troopers at her side. The door slid open, and they entered, with the Inquisitor a step behind.

She regarded the adept for a moment, and finally broke the silence in the cell.

"Bind 'er to ze wall," she commanded. The troopers pulled the woman back to the wall, where four shackles abruptly popped out and opened. Both her arms and legs were placed within the shackles, which sealed with a hiss of hydraulics.

"Go. Tell ze pilot we are transporting a prisoner to ze Citadel," she said, keeping her eyes on the adept, her face still studiously blank.

[Alexia Sturkov]

All thoughts of escape went straight out the airlock as the troopers doubled back in and this time secured her to the wall with shackles more solid than she was capable of breaking easily; even at full strength. They even went as far as to bind her legs, and with each closing clasp and each clicking lock her hope for freedom diminished.

All she could do was glare back at the Inquisitor.