Eternal Sorrow

[Alexia Sturkov]

It isn't safe to be out here Jezreal Darkshard thought as he walked down the sandy streets of Tatooine. She had left a week ago and had slowly made her way here. Avoiding the Imperials had been difficult and had slowed her down. But at last she had reached the desert planet. She had told none about her journey here and had left a simple note on the nightstand next to her bed in her quarters incase anyone came looking for her there. She had come to Tatooine to meet someone; her younger brother Justin. She had not seen her brother since the day she left her home world and about and eventually joined the sith. She had received a message from her brother, asking her to meet him at a local bar on tatooine.

The Black Womprat was a small rundown building with a picture of a womprat painted above the front door. "Not the nicest looking place" She said to herself as she pulled her black cloak tighter around herself and then stepped inside.

It took her eyes a moment to adjust to the near darkness of the Tavern. A scruffy looking bartender, that resembled a nerf more then a human, stood behind the bar cleaning glasses with, what looked like, a dirty rag. At the table closest to the door a drunk snored with his face laying on the top of the table and several bottles strewn about around him. A few other patrons littered the building but it was the one that stood up that caused her eyes to widen.

The man walked over to her "Hello Jez" The man said flashing her a familiar smile "Justin!" Jez exclaimed. "You've changed so much since I last saw you". He was taller then she now, with well muscled arms and his blue hair cut short. Jezreal own blue hair was black with a few red highlights. "You've changed a lot too" Justin replied before motioning to his table.

As they sat down Justin's coat opened enough to reveal a lightsabre hilted dangling from his belt but it disappeared below the lip of the table when the young man sat down. Jezreal sat down herself and dismissed the lightsabre for the moment. "Why did you call me here?" She got right to the point. "Does a brother need a reason to reunite with his sister?" He said innocently and then paused before continuing. "Lazarus is dead."

[Alexia Sturkov]

Jezeal's mouth fell open and she stared at him in disbelief. "How could he have died? Who killed him?" She asked but in her heart she already knew. "The Imperials," Justin replied, "Half an army of them showed up at home and blasted their way into the forest and attacked Lazarus' cottage. I was at home at the time and I tried to fight my way into the forest and stop the troopers but there was just too many." His eyes filled with sorrow. "It's not your fault Justin. How did the Empire find him?" At this Justin looked down at the table top. "Because their spies followed me. Lazarus sent me on several missions against the empire, but I was too sloppy and they must have followed me back and then sent for troopers when they discovered pair of force users."

Jezreal placed her elbows on the table and then her face into her hands, "I can't believe this. I should have returned to Lazarus already, but I didn't want to leave the sith. It's all my fault." She looked up at Justin "Now what do we do?". "I called you here because I think the troopers are still following me..." He trailed off as more pain entered his eyes "Sorry Jez". She sat up straight and starred at him "You called me here just because you want me to be here when the troopers show up?" She felt betrayed and hurt. Her own brother had called her here to be a weapon to fight his battle of revenge. She wanted to kill the IMPs as much as Justin did for killing Lazarus, but the truth was such action was little less then suicide.

[Alexia Sturkov]

A commotion outside the building drew the siblings' attention. Through the open doorway of the bar they could see multitude of storm troopers standing about. The Trooper commander was saying discussing something with a green skinned rodian who, after a moment of discussion, pointed a suction cupped finger into the bar.

"Oh no" Justin exclaimed "They followed me faster then I thought they would." True horrow played across his face. "Now I am truly sorry Jez. I meant for give you a choice but now there is none."

The troopers turned and four entered the building. The backdoor blew open and several more troopers walked in, blasters pointed down. The troop commander stepped forward from the group at the front door. "Throw down you weapons" He commanded. The siblings stood up and faced the commander. Jezreal removed her cloak and outer robe, leaving her with a pair of loose fitting pants and a light, sleeveless shirt. She stood tall and determined. Without a muscle stirring her lightsabre flew off her belt and into her now extended hand. Her activated the internal switch with the force and the scarlet blade sprung to life. Justin had removed his long coat and threw it aside. His own sabre held in his hand and its sapphire blade. "I have learned much since you left Came his voice in her head.

"Fine, Die then" The commander said before stepping back and the troopers raised their weapons but didn't fire yet. Jezreal summoned the force to her and let it fill her body and soul. She could sense Justin doing the same. "FIRE!" The commander ordered and the troopers opened fire.

[Alexia Sturkov]

The Siblings bunched together, side by side. Jezreal: facing the front door and Justin the back. The crimson bolts reflected off their blades and were sent back at the troopers. The troopers started falling like flies, their bodies littering the ground. But for every trooper they killed three more entered the building. In ten minutes they where almost completely surrounded. The troopers lined up against every wall except for the one behind the siblings. Lightsabre blades whirled and spun and they blocks shots and they both moved with gracefulness, speed, and precision.

A table lifted off the ground at Jezreal's bidding and flew into the largest area of troopers, crushing them and littering the ground with more bodies. The fight went on but the troopers didn't seem to run out reinforcements. They just kept filling up the room.

Justin was starting to tire and weaken. His movements became slow and lacked the finesse they had possessed only moments ago. "I'm sorry Jez" He said just before a blast bolt got past his guard and burn a savage hole through his left shoulder. He screamed in pain and brought his sabre to the side, only to take three more to his chest. His eyes rolled back and he started to fall to the ground. Right before his body hit the floor his armed moved and his lightsabre arced up into the air and spun there.

Everything seemed to slow down for Jezreal. She was filled with horror at the sight of her brother's death, filled with hate for the killers of her brother, and anger for herself for not protecting him. All of these emotions boiled together into an rage, a rage for blood and death for those who killed her precious brother. A savage roar escaped her lips as he caught Justin's sabre from the air and reactivated its blade. She jumped into the air, blocking blaster shots as she went. She landed and released a nova of force energy flew in all directions, blowing troopers off their feet and into the walls and other objects. She ran forward, slicing troopers as she went. A aura of red light seemed to envelope her body as she dodged, sliced, blocked, and killed.

She was a whirlwind of light and death. Even as she hacked and slashed, troopers on the other side of the room picked themselves up only to have their necks suddenly broken by an invisible hand. Jezreal was fully enveloped in the force and with it she felt invincible.

But the force was burning up her up. Her body was unable to contain the vast amount of energy and it was dying, Jezreal could feel herself weakening but the aura was still strong around her. Many of the troopers had thrown down their weapons and ran from the bar but those that remained kept firing upon her. Suddenly a blaster bolt connected with her thigh, a second one to her lower stomach and then one to her chest. She fell to her knees; her lightsabres hit the ground and burnt through the floor. The trooper commanded strolled back into the building, his helmet removed as if he wanted her to see the victorious smile on his face.

Jezreal narrowed her eyes and raised hand and clenched it into a fist. The commander's chest plate crunched inwards and his eyes went wide and then rolled back. Blood gushes from the cracks in his armor and from every hole in his head. He fell to the ground and one of the troopers fired a final shot that hit Jezreal in the chest where the previous shot had hit. This time the bolt went completely through her body and blew a sizzling hole out her back. She fell forward, her sabres falling from her hands and deactivating before they hit the ground. The aura died and her vibrant blue eyes went lifelessly dark.

[Zereth Lancer]

Days earlier

Zereth was walking down the hallway of the sith palace when he noticed that Jezreal's door was partially open. He looked through the open crack and noticed no light was on and the room appeared empty. He pushed the door open and looked around. It looked normal enough but a datapad was laying on the nightstand. Zereth moved over to it and saw that the screen was still on and a not was written on the screen

Sorry for not telling anyone but I am leaving for Tatooine to see my brother. I will return soon, don't worry.
Jezreal.

"Brother?" "Zereth said to himself before glancing at the other object on the nightstand. It showed two blue haired children standing together. He identified the girl in the picture to be Jezreal and the other must be her brother. On the corner of the picture was written Jezreal and Justin. Something didn't seem right; perhaps it was a warning in the force. Whatever the feeling was Zereth bolted from the room, made a quick stop in his own, and ran to where he kept his x-wing docked.

Now, just as he was setting down on Tatooine, He felt something in the force. An immense surge of force energy, as well as volumes of hate and anger. He jumped from the cockpit of his ship and ran from the crude docking bay and into the sand filled streets. Everyone turned to look at the black garbed, long haired, and red eyed man as he ran down the street at inhuman speeds. His hair whipped in the air behind him as he moved. His hand already held his sabre hilt. He had almost reached the location of the disturbance when something else went through the force then nearly crippled Zereth. He felt Jezreal die, he felt the life drain from her and the pain that she felt. Zereth thumbed the activating plate on his lightsabre and the silver beam came to life. He ran the rest of the distance to the tavern to where a bunch of storm troopers where ambling around. On seeing the sabre wielding sith: the troopers opened fire. Zereth jumped high into the air and landed gracefully behind the troopers. He turned, crouched down, and sliced three troopers’ legs off at the knee. They fell screaming to the ground.

Zereth slashed the two more troopers down and threw his sabre at the remained one. His blade spun through the air and decapited the trooper. Zereth called the blade back and then entered the tavern. He gasped at the sight. There must have been near a hundred trooper corpses littering the ground, but what really took his breath away was Jezreal's lifeless body lying on the ground. He looked away from her body only to see the body of a blue haired young man. He recognized him as her brother. He walked over to Jezreal and using, two of his fingers, closed her eyes. He picked up the two sabres that lay near her and clipped them onto his belt. He picked up her body and slung it over his shoulder. He went outside the building and glanced around until he spotted a speeder coming down the street. With a flick of his finger the man behind the controls flew out of the speeder and into the wall of a nearby building. Zereth walked up to the speeder and laid Jezreal down in the back. He went back to the tavern and grabbed her brother's body and did the same with it.

When he came out the former pilot of the speeder was picking himself up and was about to say something when Zereth waved his hand "Go home" He instructed and the man turned and walked away. Zereth jumped into the speeder and drove the speeder straight to the docking bay. After half an hour of force persuasion he was sitting behind the controls of a cargo vessel, his x-wing sitting in the empty cargo hold. He lifted off and headed for space and activated the ships hyperdrives as soon as he was clear of the planet.