Chapter 42: Purge

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They reached the end of the office complex without running into any further problems.

Seth had very serious doubts that this would last, though. It sounded like a war was being waged beneath the surface of this uncharted island on Lotus Prime, and again he found himself dangerously close to feeling sympathy for the Sith. Having to fight these things was pretty awful. But they'd brought it on themselves. Then again, how many of them here were just soldiers? Techs? Probably most of them.

Did that make it okay? At this point he sure didn't think so. But how many of them had gotten in under false pretenses? Or genuinely didn't think the Sith were that bad? Like, they actually thought it was a matter of ideological differences, and they thought stuff like the Dark Side and blowing up Taris and mass slaughter were just Republic propaganda? He didn't know if he could ever stop hating the Sith, but a begrudging kind of sympathy might not be out of the question. He pushed these thoughts away as he heard a whirring noise coming from up ahead, something mechanical, and it set his internal defenses on edge.

"Wait here," he whispered.

They were now in the hallway that the terentatek creature had come from, nearing its end, which terminated in an open door. He crept up to it and peered slowly into the room beyond, ready for anything. Ideally, anyway. Another transition room and their next real stop waited. It was a security checkpoint that had been shredded by what looked like a huge assault. He spied a pair of assault droids patrolling the area, and felt a cold stone settle into his gut. They were definitely of a higher grade than the ones he'd killed in the tunnel.

They sported blades and flamethrowers. Even as he was watching, something shrieked wildly and dropped from an overhead ventilation grate into the room. The nearest droid slashed out with a terrifying speed and chopped terentatek clone into two parts, slicing through its upper chest. As both halves hit the floor, the other droid turned to join the assault and they both loosed sprays of fire onto them.

Well, there was no time like the present, Seth thought as he found himself wondering when and if he should attack them, and lobbed another fragmentation grenade into the room. It landed between them and they both immediately twisted around to face him. He shouted as a hot blast of fire jetted out at him and he fell back.

"Droids!" he called, rushing back towards the other two.

He joined them as an explosion ruptured, then skidded to a halt and whirled around, rifle raised. Almost immediately, one of them emerged in the hallway, and the other was right behind it. They didn't look all that damaged.

"Oh crap," he muttered, and opened fire.

Nova and Maya joined him, Maya blasting away with the pistol she carried. They peppered the droids with blaster bolts, hosing them down and laying as much as they could into them. But these things were built tough. As they drew close enough, both droids opened up with their flamethrowers, forcing them back.

Maya cursed and then suddenly threw her lightsaber at them. It twisted through the air and sheered expertly and cleanly through one of them, making a diagonal slice and chopping off its head, right arm, and part of its chest. The thing stumbled as her saber arced back around and then cut off the head of the second one as it came back to her waiting hand. Both of them staggered, firing their flamethrowers randomly now, before collapsing into a heap of twitching metal. With a grunt, Maya sent a blast of the Force down the hallway, extinguishing the flames.

"Come on," she said, and hurried on.

Seth and Nova ran after her. They managed to make it through another crossroads, and then down one other hallway before they ran into another problem. As they approached the end of the corridor, something shrieked wildly and then a surge of blaster fire responded. The shrieking took on a different quality and abruptly cut off. The blaster fire fell away.

"Wait," Seth said, and got up to the door. He peeked slowly around the frame and into the room beyond, just managing to catch sight of a few dead terentatek creatures and the fact that it was a security center before a fresh array of blaster fire stabbed out from a ceiling-mounted turret. He cursed and fell back, barely managing to avoid the barrage of deadly energy.

"What is it?" Maya asked.

"Turret mounted on the ceiling," he replied.

She frowned. "Get an overcharged shot ready. I can temporarily disable it with the Force," she said, hurrying up to the other side of the open doorway.

He nodded and thumbed the overcharge feature. As soon as the weapon finished humming and was ready, he again nodded tightly to Maya. She focused intently, then hastily leaned out and gestured sharply into the room. There was a loud crackling sound, then the telltale whirring of something losing power. As she pulled back, making room for Seth, he leaned back around, aimed, and fired. The overcharged shot nailed its intended target, and the turret burst into a ball of sparks and twisted metal. He did another survey of the room, this one less hurried, and saw that, for the time being at least, there were no immediate threats.

He went in first and did a more thorough check, then called in the others once he was sure there was nothing lurking. It was definitely a security center, and it had been ripped to shreds. There were a good dozen bodies of the smaller terentateks scattered about, mixed in with a half-dozen base personnel, who had also been torn to shreds. There was a lot of blood. Seth thought about it for a moment. There were three other ways out of the security checkpoint and he was seeing the map in his head. Left led to a storage area, and right led back to the main corridor where they wanted to go, and dead ahead would take them through some infirmaries-

A bolt of blaster fire seared past him as the left door opened up.

Seth shouted in anger and surprise as he twisted and snapped off some return fire. He took a Sith soldier right in the faceplate and the silver-armored son of a bitch flew backwards into three more. Cursing loudly, he opened fire as he strafed.

"Get the right-side door open!" he screamed.

"On it!" Nova shouted.

Maya took up a stance in the middle of the room and began deflecting blaster bolts with her lightsaber. She was shockingly good at it, not just deflecting them each time, but almost always deflecting them directly back at those who had fired the shot. Seth got down behind a desk as he sent off a fresh volley of return fire. He put down another two Sith soldiers, but he could see another dozen of the bastards coming down the hallway at them. Great. He shot out the faceplate of another Sith soldier and then ducked down to avoid incoming fire.

"Where are we, Nova?!" he yelled.

"Almost there!" she snapped back.

He leaned out from behind the desk and fired off some burst-fire, peppering the soldiers at the front who still hadn't managed to find cover in the hallway. He shot one man in the chest and took out the knee of another, and managed to get glancing blows on another two. One man went down as a deflected blaster bolt hit him in the neck. Seth popped out from behind cover twice more, managing to down another three silver-armored troopers, before a glancing blow winged his right shoulder and knocked him on his ass.

"Nova!" he shouted.

"Got it!"

He twisted around, looking at the opening door while reaching for another grenade, one of his last at this point, and preparing to cover their retreat, when he actually saw what was behind the closed door.

"Nova, get back!" he screamed.

A pack of terentatek creatures was charging down another corridor.

"Maya, Force blast the soldiers!" Seth screamed as he primed his second to last grenade and hurled it at the terentateks. "Nova! Come on!" he roared and sprinted for the door at the front of the room. He heard the incredibly odd sound of a powerful rush of displaced air as Maya released a solid wall of the Force into the soldiers, knocking them over like bowling pins and buying them precious seconds. He slammed into the door controls and found them unlocked. Punching the open button, he prepared himself for some fresh horror, but the way ahead of this door was clear.

"Through!" he yelled as he spun around.

Maya and Nova slipped through the door. He made sure nothing was on their ass and caught a glimpse of the tide of terentatek creatures, largely unaffected by the grenade, surging into the room. He leaped back and slammed his fist on the close button, then punched the lock button. A second later, he heard something slam against the door, and a second after that, he heard several voices begin to scream in terror and agony.

Well, at least they were fighting each other.

"Go! Go!" he shouted, turning and sprinting from the door.

The trio ran down the length of the passageway. He knew the door probably wouldn't hold for all that long and he furiously thought about what the next best path to take was. This would take them through the infirmaries. The door at the end of the hallway was open and it led into a bright white room. Seth could already see huge red splashes in there. Great. He kept booking it, preparing to close another door behind them. He made it into the room and-

"Damn!"

Something grabbed him and threw him to the white-tiled floor. He heard Maya scream his name and he managed to get onto his back, attempting to grab hold of whatever it was that had him. It was strong. And then he realized that one of the terentatek things had pounced on him. His rifle had been thrown from his grasp and there was no way he could reach for his knife or pistol.

"Close the door!" he snarled as he fought with it, but it was obviously a losing battle.

The creature was shrieking wildly in his face, tusks threatening to rip his flesh off, when suddenly it shuddered violently and then went rigid as he heard Maya's lightsaber hum. Now that it wasn't actively grabbing him anymore, Seth rolled it off of him. He saw that Maya had already turned away from him to engage yet another one. Nova was shutting the door, closing off their previous path. He saw his rifle had landed a few meters away and scrambled after it, listening to Maya fight. He snagged it and then surged to his feet just in time to see Maya stab the creature through its face. They stood there like that for a moment, almost looking statuesque, frozen in death and murder, it transfixed on her saber.

Then she ripped it out and the thing slammed to the floor.

Something banged violently against the door Nova had just closed.

"Dammit!" she snapped. Up ahead, at the other end of the long medical bay they had come into, was another closed door, and something banged up there too, causing a deep dent to appear.

"That isn't going to hold for long," Maya said.

"This is too much," Nova groaned.

"We're almost there, we have to keep pushing. Come on," Seth replied, and hurried over to a door in the right wall. He opened it up and shot a pair of Sith soldiers in their faceplates, killing them instantly. Behind them, down a hallway and in another transnational chamber, a battle was occurring between two small armies of combat droids and terentatek beasts. There had to be two dozen of the things killing each other in there.

"That's where we have to go," Maya said softly.

"Yeah," Seth muttered. The control room was through there and down one more hallway and they'd be there. "This is gonna hurt."

"Maybe we should wait for them to thin each other out..." Nova murmured.

"I think we should go now, while things are so chaotic," Seth replied.

Nova sighed, then looked at Maya. "I guess you're the tiebreaker? Although you said Seth has operational control of combat situations."

"I'll listen," Seth replied. "Believe me, I don't want to do this, but chaos can be your ally."

"I think Seth is right," Maya said.

Nova sighed. "Well, I'm not gonna back out. I'm game if you are then."

"Let's get it done," Seth said, and raised his blaster rifle. He grabbed his last grenade as they started making their way down the corridor. "Maya, you think you can clear us a path using the Force?" he asked.

"I can try," she replied.

"Okay. I'm gonna throw this grenade, once it goes off, do it."

"Check."

They reached the end of the passageway and he tossed the grenade to the left, then pulled back. He counted down in his head, and as soon as the grenade blew, sending a blast of flames and burning metal fragments everywhere, Maya stepped out, raised her hand, and released a solid wave of the Force. He heard several solid thuds as droids and terentateks went flying.

"Go!" she shouted, raising her lightsaber and rushing off. Seth went out after her. Nova brought up the rear.

It was chaos.

There was a path, but already he could see it closing. They rushed across the room, and almost managed to make it to the door on the other side without a problem. Almost. One of the droids stepped into the path and took a slash at Seth. He was quick enough to step out of its path and avoid some serious damage, but not quick enough to avoid the blow altogether. The blade was incredibly sharp, and cut down across his ribs. He yelled as he felt it bite through his armor and uniform, cutting a burning line of pain through his flesh.

He stuffed the blaster rifle in its mechanized face, inasmuch as it had a face, and unloaded. He was worried it might not be enough, but evidently he hit something sensitive and the lights immediately faded from the thing's sensors. They made it across the room and hit the corridor running. Well, that was that part out of the way. Now they had to actually get into the damned control room. And of course the door at the end was closed.

If they couldn't get it open in time...

"Nova, get ready to get the door open!" he snapped, knowing she had the best chance.

"Ready!" she called back.

They cut the distance between themselves and the door down until it was nothing, and he punched the open button. It buzzed, indicating it was locked. Cursing, he strafed out of the way to give Nova access while spinning back around. Looking back the way they'd come, he saw that another pair of the terentatek miniatures were coming down the passageway at them at a brisk pace.

"Do it fast, Nova," he said, aiming his rifle. The energy cartridge was running low. He charged all of the remaining energy into a single shot, aimed, and fired. The brilliant burst of energy sailed through the air and hit one of the terentateks in the face, ripping away half of its skull in a burst of charred flesh. It dropped to the floor and began thrashing violently, mindlessly. There was something hideously disturbing about the sight.

Maya threw her lightsaber towards the second monster, decapitating it, where it went to join its brother in the awful dance of the not-quite dead. The saber came twirling back around to her and she caught it effortlessly. That was one of the more impressive feats that he had seen the Jedi achieve, given he knew that you wouldn't just get a deep cut if you grabbed it by the blade by mistake. So far, he had yet to see one screw up the move.

Another three terentatek creatures appeared at the end of the hallway, and the sounds of conflict were rapidly dying down. It seemed like the organic nightmares were winning.

"Nova?"

"Almost! Almost!" she snapped.

Seth hastily reloaded and opened fire, trying to stall them. Maya threw her saber again and chopped the arm off of one of them. That didn't seem to slow it down too much. If anything, it seemed to enrage the creature and it surged towards them, shrieking. Seth gritted his teeth, squeezing the trigger, hosing them down since they were such easy targets at the moment, trying to slow them down as much as possible.

"Done!" Nova yelled, and he heard the door open. He tossed a glance back over his shoulder and saw Nova slip in through the door, then he saw her shout and raise her pistol, then open fire. Crap! There were Sith inside! Of course there were. Maya slipped in and he saw her leap forward with her saber drawn. Seth turned and ran to join them, then hastily closed and re-locked the door behind them. Turning back around, hoping that Maya and Nova had whatever the situation was under control, he caught a faceful of silver-armored fist.

Seth cried out as he was knocked right off his feet and yet again landed on the floor, seeing stars wash across his vision. His hand was already going for his pistol and he managed to rip it out, aim and blast out a shot as his vision shifted back into focus. He managed to get a shot right through the broad chest of the soldier that had attacked him. The big guy toppled forward onto him. He grunted again as the dead weight fell onto him. That was happening way too often recently. He pushed the body up and off, shoving it, and staggered once more to his feet just in time to see Maya slash violently through the last remaining Sith trooper.

"Okay, we need a solution fast," Nova said as one of the terentateks slammed into the door.

Something was flashing red not far away. Seth looked at it. "I think they were just about to initiate a solution..." he murmured.

"What is that?" Maya asked. "What's...a Neutron Purge?"

"Very, very deadly," Seth replied. He hurried over to the console and typed in a few commands. Immediately, a sheet of solid metal slammed over each of the exits.

"What's that? What's happening?" Nova asked.

"Don't worry. Protection. The Sith had a neutron purge as a final option here. Basically, it's a wave of energy that's going to shoot through the facility and kill...everything. Everything that isn't in this room."

"Including the droids?" Maya asked.

"Yeah, they won't be able to stand up to it," Seth replied. He hit a key. The lights dimmed suddenly and a loud whining began to fill the air. Distantly, he could hear the sounds of the terentatek creatures trying fruitlessly to get in, though he knew that given enough time, they probably could get through even that reinforced door.

"Is this, uh, safe?" Nova asked.

"Well...look at it this way: I can't stop it now," Seth replied.

"You-you asshole!" she snapped.

He pointed to another screen. "You see that?"

She glared at him, then followed his finger. "Holy crap, what's all that?" she asked, looking at a holographic display of the floor they were on.

It was swarming with red dots.

"Each of those red dots is a terentatek clone or mutation or whatever they are," he replied.

"There's over a hundred of them..." Maya whispered.

"Okay, fine," Nova muttered after a few seconds. "We'd better survive this."

"I find myself in agreement," Seth replied, then winced as his chest wound sent out a pulse of pain, reminding him that it existed as his adrenaline high lapsed.

"Let me see that," Nova said.

While she helped him, Maya walked over to the display showing the base. She began typing and the display changed.

"You keep getting hurt," Nova muttered as she took off his chestpiece and began to slather on some kolto. "Seri isn't the only one who gets upset about this."

"I mean, what do you want? An apology? I sure wasn't trying to get sliced by

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