Chapter 24: Clash

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They decided to keep it simple.

Seth, Nova, and Maya were the only ones that were going to ride out, though Seri and Yex would alert the local forces to prepare in case they failed.

"Do you really think we can handle this?" Nova asked.

Seth thought about it. Honestly, he'd been thinking about it the whole way over. They were sitting just inside of the forest Maya said the Mandalorians were gathered in. He was anxious and worried. They were three solid fighters, and Maya was a damned Jedi. And no rookie either. Clearly, she was very powerful in the Force.

Maybe now they were going to find out just how powerful.

But he was worried about Nova, and Maya. What if something happened to them? What if he did something stupid again?

He needed to focus.

He imagined the ball of red energy in his mind. It pulsed and sizzled. He could see it clearly in his mind's eye. It let off a crimson mist and tendrils of it spread out.

"Seth?"

He focused.

"Are you listening?"

He imagined blowing it out.

"Yes," he said, feeling a bit of his tension drain away. "Sorry. Focusing. I'm not sure, but we've got to at least scope the situation out."

"Yes," Maya said. "I can sense them nearby...there are a lot of them. But I think we can handle this. If we play our cards right, perhaps we can shadow them until they locate the terentatek. They'll assault it and it will kill a lot of them. Then we strike."

"You're okay with just murdering them all?" Seth asked.

She sighed. "I wish it wasn't this way, but...these Mandalorians have proven they desire nothing more than suffering and gain at any cost."

"You really think the terentatek will rip into them that bad?" Nova asked, focusing them both on the situation at hand.

"Mandalorians are often rash and violent and angry. The terentatek is far more violent and angry. At worst, we can strike when they are distracted. But we should go now."

"We should," Seth agreed.

They left the pair of speeders they'd ridden out there in a small clearing. He and Nova moved quickly and quietly through the dense foliage of the Dantooine forest, but Maya was like a ghost. He couldn't hear her at all, and she barely pinged his peripheral awareness. That was creepy, and he was deeply glad that she was on his side. Although he'd be lying if he said he wasn't scared of her. As they made their way through the forest, Seth began to hear sounds. He listened closely. At first, they were fairly indistinct, no more specific than the fact that a living sentient was probably making them. Then they began to resolve.

He heard voices. Shouting, laughter, the occasional sharp command or retort. Mandalorians. They were crashing through the underbrush, not doing much to be silent. Probably intentional. This beast they were hunting would more than likely be drawn in by the noise. He tried to calm the rising tension and fear he felt within himself. Fighting Mandalorians was bad enough, but he also had to fight a damned terentatek?

He didn't even know what one looked like.

They pressed on through the forest and got close enough that they could make out individual phrases before Seth felt the first tremor. All three of them froze at the same time. One of the Mandalorians up ahead shouted for everyone to get ready.

Another tremor shook the area around them.

"Maya," he whispered, looking at her, "you led me to believe that this thing was not that big."

"It isn't," she whispered back.

"Then what is making those footsteps?!"

"I don't know. This definitely isn't a terentatek." Another tremor, and another. They were getting closer together now. Something, something huge, was walking towards their location. "It must be a graul," she said suddenly.

"What is a graul?" Nova snapped.

"A very large creature. We can't-"

She cut off as someone screamed, and then a hail of blaster fire began to sound as over a dozen rifles opened up. Something roared loud enough to shake the whole area. The blaster fire intensified. "We can't let them kill it!" Maya shouted, and hurried forward.

"Why not?!" Nova demanded. "Listen to that! That thing is a giant monster, and it's fighting Mandalorians! Let them kill each other."

"No! They're rare, Nova, and it isn't a monster! It doesn't go on rampages, it doesn't seek people or settlements out! It doesn't deserve this!"

Then she was gone from sight, her lightsaber drawn.

"Aw, dammit, come on!" Seth snapped, setting his rifle to maximum charge and rushing after her. Nova cursed and followed him. They hurried through the trees, the plants, branches scratching them, pulling at their clothes. The sounds of fighting were getting a lot heavier, and the Mandalorians' screams quickly turned from joyous battlelust to panic. Seth heard one particular scream getting louder and barely managed to dodge out of the way as a large man in head-to-toe blue-silver combat armor came flying at him. Instead of hitting him, the Mandalorian hit a tree hard enough that, even with the armor, Seth heard several bones break.

The man stopped screaming abruptly.

Seth hurried forward, finally breaking through the dense vegetation and into a huge clearing. He took it in at a glance. Trees all around him, a large cliff face with a waterfall spilling into a watering hole to the left, maybe a dozen Mandalorians spread out, firing desperately at an enormous beast. He finally got a good look at this graul. It was indeed huge, easily fifteen feet tall, maybe even upwards of two stories high.

It was a big, bulky thing partially covered in dark fur. Horns grew from its temples and large, curved claws out of its hands. It had huge blocky teeth that were currently covered in blood. From the glint of armor Seth saw in its grasp, he got the idea that it had just bitten a Mandalorian in half. The thing lashed out with its foot, which was as broad as a tree trunk, and hit another armored bastard with all the force of a tank round.

"Holy crap," Seth whispered as he stared up at the behemoth creature.

He saw Maya ahead of him. She gestured sharply with her hand and one of the Mandalorians was picked up and thrown with as much force as if he'd been hit by the graul. That tipped the hostiles off to the fact that they were no longer alone with the graul. One of them turned his rifle on Maya. Seth snapped his own rifle up and fired off the overcharged shot. It took the son of a bitch right in the faceplate, shattering glass and sending him sprawling to the ground, screaming. He heard Nova open fire somewhere behind him.

The chaos of the battlefield became even more confused and muddled as the Mandalorians tried to react to the new threat that had come into their midst. Seth gunned down another of the bloodthirsty bastards, hosing the armored figure down with rapid fire bolts from his brand new blaster rifle. He ducked as he sensed someone taking a swing at him from his right and barely avoided a sword. Dropping his rifle, he ripped out his own blade and brought it up just in time to defend himself from a deadly blow.

Sparks flew as their swords clashed together. Seth fought hard, launching into a frenzied attack that the Mandalorian didn't seem to have too much trouble dealing with. He fought harder, putting more strength behind the attacks, more of his rage, his hatred for the Mandalorians and all that they had done as they'd ripped through the galaxy, razing whole worlds, slaughtering millions. Maybe even billions. He beat the man's blade aside and then stabbed him through the neck. The Mandalorian let out a gurgling scream and Seth saw blood spray all over the inside of his helmet. He ripped the blade out in a torrent of blood and kicked the assailant away.

Another one was running straight for him with his sword raised, screaming, but suddenly a lightsaber flew out of nowhere and sliced his head right off. The saber kept whipping around, moving back in a tight arc, and returned to Maya's hand. Seth looked around, ready to find the next enemy, and found only the graul, stomping on the last living Mandalorian. Well, not living any longer, clearly. He raised his rifle.

"Wait!" Maya cried.

"What?! That thing's gonna kill us!" Nova snapped.

"No! I can handle it! Just wait! Fall back!" she replied.

Seth glanced uncertainly at Nova, then shrugged and fell back. Nova joined him. They returned to the treeline, weapons raised and ready in case this went poorly. It was time to see just how good Maya was when it came to this Jedi stuff. The grual let out an enraged roar and then twisted around fully to face Maya. She stood in the center of the clearing, her lightsaber switched off now. She holstered it and raised her hands.

Something seemed to shift in the air, something more felt than seen or heard. The graul took one large step towards her and the ground trembled under its footfall. Maya stood her ground, her back to them, arms raised. He thought he could hear her muttering, but he couldn't be sure. Seth stood there, tense and rigid, ready to do something, anything, if it all fell apart, which it looked like it was just a hair away from doing.

The graul took another step towards her, mouth open, looking like it was ready to bend down and snap her in half. Then something happened. It hesitated. The fire seemed to leave its eyes. It slowly began to relax. He and Nova watched in amazement as the beast's arms lowered, its mouth closed, its eyes began to lose focus. It let out a sound that might have been a whimper. Then, swaying its big head around left to right, it turned around and began clomping off into the forest. The tremors faded as it disappeared completely from view.

"Okay," Maya said, "you can come out now."

"How'd you do that?" Seth asked in wonder as he and Nova emerged into the clearing again.

"The Force, and a lot of practice," Maya replied. She turned to face them and he realized she was sweating, her face flushed. That had obviously taken a lot of effort. "I believe I mentioned that I'm very empathic. That applies to animals, as well. I have a great love of them. I don't wish to see them harmed if at all possible."

"Does that leave you conflicted about our mission?" Nova asked.

"Not really, no. Terentateks are pure evil. They are beings wholly of the Dark Side. If anything, I see ending their lives as an act of mercy more than anything else. They exist simply to hunt and kill Force sensitives, and anything else that crosses their path." She looked around at the bodies. "We should search them and then track down their encampment, see if any others stayed behind and then go deal with them."

"Yeah," Seth replied, nodding as he got control of himself again. Seeing that huge thing had really rattled him. "We should do that."

They set to work.

* * *

They found the Mandalorian's encampment without too much trouble.

Seth kept bracing himself for another assault, but after some careful surveillance they determined that the Mandalorians had indeed committed the entirety of their resources to taking down the graul. The camp itself wasn't very large, centered around an abandoned structure of some kind. There were several stacks of crates, a few land speeders, and several foldout tables spread across the clearing they'd set up shop in.

The trio poked through it, investigating their findings.

"Well," Maya said, coming out of the structure, "with the exception of items stolen from any civilians, I'm declaring everything here official property of the colony. This will definitely help. There's a lot of weapons and spare parts here."

"Are we sure that's all of them?" Seth asked.

"I'm fairly certain, but we will definitely be on the lookout for any others. We still need to figure out how they got here...but honestly, that is a problem for the planetary government. We did our part, we eliminated the threat and determined that there was not, in fact, a terentatek on Dantooine. Which I must say is quite the relief," she replied.

They went back to their own speeders and mounted them.

"What now?" Nova asked.

"Now we go back to the colony, let them know the situation, and finish preparing for our excursion into the galaxy," Maya replied.

"Sounds good," Seth said.

They activated the speeders and headed out of the forest.

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