V M White Hot

[Elizabeth La Varet]

Kiraz looked at the prisoners that had been brought before her squad and saw herself in most of their faces. Command had given strict orders that no prisoners be taken. As Corporal, Kiraz had been put in charge of their execution. Swinging her blaster rifle up she moved behind the bound men and women. Her heart sank into the pit of her stomach as she fired one shot into each of the backs of their heads. They dropped one by one. Dead. Slinging her rifle Kiraz sighed into her helmet. As she turned to follow her fellow Sith one of the prisoners was standing in her way. It was one of the children. She looked up at the Corporal with a blank stare.

“Why did you kill us, Jedi? Aren’t you supposed to defend us?” The words echoed through Kiraz’s mind.

“WHY DID YOU KILL US! WHY! YOU ARE A TRAITOR AND AN EXILE!”

***​

Kiraz shot straight up in her bunk smashing her head on the bed above her. She reeled in pain and rolled out of bed to the floor, covered in sweat. Her Sith dog tags clanked against her chest. Holding her head she tried to control her breathing.

Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.

The former Jedi propped herself up with her arms and took stock of the room around her. She had no idea what time it was. Untangling her legs from the sheets on her bed she got up, the cool metal floor beneath her feet. Moving to the table in the bunk room she grabbed the alarm clock she had bought from the scrap vendor in Liyra’s Hope.

8 AM.

The ship was silent other than the howling wind and ice blowing against the hull. At night she liked to keep the ship cooler than usual to preserve power. Rubbing her hands, Kiraz made her way into the center of the ship and into the cargo hold. She pushed several boxes aside finally finding an open box of MRE’s. Grabbing one, she moved into the conference room and sat down at her spot at the head of the table. Taking a knife from the table she opened the airtight packaging and spilled the contents out before her. Taking a bite of one of the packaged crackers the former Jedi thought back to her time in the order. She thought she knew everything back then. The world seemed so much simpler when running to support Revan in the war against the Mandalorians.

Kiraz took a drink from one of the cups on the table, immediately spitting it out in disgust. Spoiled milk. Grabbing a canteen, she jostled it around and listened for liquid. Satisfied that it was full of water she unscrewed the cap and took a drink only to cough and sputter. Nope. Liquor. Clenching her jaw, she cleared her throat and sighed. Forced to get out of her chair, Kiraz made her way into the cargo hold to look for her water rations. Returning triumphant to the table with a bottle of water she filled her flameless ration heater and shook the bag with the main course in it, setting it aside to warm up. Ripping open the top of a tube of jalapeno cheese she spread it onto several crackers. Smushing them together like little sandwiches she ate them with gusto. Her main course was some sort of beef stew that wasn’t too bad. Grabbing a cup from the table she shook it to the side and tossed the contents out of it before filling it with fresh water. Emptying both the powdered coffee and powdered drink mix into the cup she swirled it around with the provided spoon. Her alarm clock went off in the crew quarters. She had converted the captain’s quarters into an armory to store the equipment she had arrived with and everything she had managed to purchase while on-world.

The former Jedi finished her meal with a meager burp, taking a long drink of her coffee electrolyte concoction finishing it off. Today was her day off, which meant maintenance of the Phalanx and tidying up as best she could of the living spaces. As the clock hit 9:15 the whirring of the reactor went up in pitch as it moved to automatically bring the ship to a comfortable daytime temperature. First, she needed to head into the settlement because today was the day Rhade said he’d have the emitter she needed from off-world. Bundling up in the only set of winter clothing she had, Kiraz wrapped her gun belt around her waist and pulled it tight. Holstering her DL-44 she moved to the boarding ramp and pressed the button to lower it. Immediately she was blasted with frigid wind and ice. She had to be quick. Exiting the ship her boots crunched onto the frozen terrain beneath the ship. Opening a panel on the outside she raised the boarding ramp and looked over to the swoop bike that had been parked right outside. Kiraz had made the right call keeping it parked in the shadow of the Phalanx. It kept the bike from being overrun with wind swept ice and snow.

With a sigh, Kiraz opened the cockpit door of the swoop bike and straddled the seat. Sealing the door, she twisted the key and after a few groans the repulsor engines roared into life. Taking hold of the controls she jetted off towards Liyra’s Hope.

***​

Kiraz lifted the goggles from her face as she entered the settlement.

“Morning, Miss Sökmen.” One of the miners said in passing.

She waved. “Morning, Jasmine.”

“Hektor is looking for you.”

“On my day off? What could that man want now?” Kiraz complained.

“You’re the only demolitions expert who knows how to use the new XL-20 charges.”

“Of course I am.” The former Jedi whined. “If you’re headed that way, just tell him I’ll be there in twenty.”

Jasmine nodded and headed off in another direction. Kiraz needed to see Rhade today. She needed that emitter. It was the only part missing from her incomplete lightsaber. She hadn’t held one in years, but the knowledge of how to build one was seared into her mind. Finally, she made it to Rhade’s shop and went inside.

“Sökmen! Just who I wanted to see!” He said from behind the counter.

“Do you have it?” She asked eagerly.

Rhade, an older looking man, reached beneath the counter and produced the lightsaber emitter Kiraz had sought for weeks. She removed one of her gloves and reached into the pockets of her winter garb and removed a wallet. Opening the billfold, she removed a thick stack of paper currency and slid it across the countertop. Rhade took the money and slid the emitter forward. The former Jedi took it and stashed it in her coat.

“Thanks, Rhade. You’re the best!”

“Anything for my best customer!” He said with a smile.

Kiraz exited the shop into the sub-zero temperatures and made her way to the mine entrance. Pressing the call button on the lift she removed the radio receiver from the wall and clicked the mic twice.

“Hektor, this is Sökmen. I’m headed down now. Lay the charges out near the breaches. Order no one touch them.” The radio line crackled as she waited for a reply.

“Kiraz? You got my message? Roger that. I owe you for this.”

“Yes. Yes you do.” She said before putting the radio back.

The lift arrived and she stepped into it and pressed the call button for the lower level and sighed, leaning up against the back of the cage as she descended into the mine.

 

[Elizabeth La Varet]

Deep within the mine the temperature was much warmer than the surface. Kiraz wiped the sweat from her brow, her Sith dog tags clanking against her chest as she twisted together the lead wires to one of the explosive charges she had set. She had a pair of wire cutters in her bra that she removed and cut the excess wire away, crimping them together. The Jedi had removed most of her winter clothing. She was just wearing her jumpsuit; the top had been unzipped and wrapped around her waist like a belt exposing her sports bra. She was covered in dirt and filth. Shoving the readied charge against the fissure in the rock bed the ex-soldier stood and took a deep breath. Grabbing a nearby canteen she took a long drink of water, moving back out of the freshly cut tunnel she was in. That was the fifth and final charge she had to set up for Hektor. She took the radio from her waist band and clicked the mic.

“Hektor, the charges are in place. Are the guys ready to detonate?”

The channel was nothing but static until he finally replied. “Yes. We’re clear. Get back to operations and we’ll set them off.”

Kiraz made her way out of the winding tunnels to the staging area where the operations center had been set up. The rag tag group of men and women who were part of the mining crew were waiting for her along with her boss. She nodded to Hektor and took the detonator from her bra. Flipping the little antennae up she punched in a series of codes. Pressing the final button the charges exploded, shaking the ground beneath them. The blast wave hit them hard coupled with a cloud of dust and debris. The miners cheered from the suspense and Kiraz smiled, putting the detonator on a nearby table.

“That should be it. The new vein should be exposed ripe for harvest now.” Kiraz said, wiping the dust from her person.

The miners went into the tunnels and within a couple of minutes radioed back that everything was good to go.

“I owe you for this, Kiraz. Take tomorrow off.”

The Jedi gave her boss the thumbs up before returning to her personal locker to retrieve her things. Once she was good and bundled up, she went to the lift and punched the button to bring her to the surface, making sure she still had the emitter on her person. Placing it inside her sports bra for safe keeping she leaned against the wall of the elevator cage and sighed. Hektor had tripled her pay for the day which meant she could finally finish her payments on the hyperdrive coupling she had put on layaway with Rhade. Installing it would mean she could finally get Phalanx back into space. She made her way to his shop and lifted the goggles off her face.

“Back again so soon, Sökmen?” Rhade said with a wide smile.

“Yep! I owe you the remainder of the money for that coupling you set aside for me.”

Rhade clasped his hands together. He loved being paid. “Good. Good. I have it in the back for you.”

He moved into the back. Kiraz took out a stack of paper currency and placed it on the counter. The shopkeeper returned with a medium sized hard plastic case. It was sealed shut with airtight rubber lining. Taking the case, Kiraz exited the store and made her way to her swoop bike. Stuffing the case into the spare part storage behind the cockpit, she mounted the bike and took off towards her ship.

***​

The temperature had dropped considerably despite it being daytime. Pulling up to the Phalanx she parked it under the ship like usual and retrieved her case. Opening a panel on the ship she lowered the boarding ramp and made her way inside, closing it behind her. Shaking off the snow and ice from her person she stripped from her clothing down to her nothing but her underwear and a white undershirt. Moving into the engine room she set down the plastic case next to the hyperdrive. Leaving it for now, she went into the cargo hold to her work bench where she had the rest of her lightsaber parts and the various crystals she was going to need. Take each part she pieced together the lightsaber, carefully setting each crystal in its’ place. Kiraz had acquired a blue color crystal and a sigil augmentation crystal to make the blade sear her enemies. Taking the completed saber in one hand she took a deep breath.

Moment of truth.

She ignited the blade and its blue beam shot out of the hilt and stopped where it was supposed to. Success! Twirling the blade around fluidly like she had never been forced to stop wielding one she accidentally sliced into her workbench.

“Guess I’m a little rusty.” She said with a laugh.

Turning it off she placed it on the bench and went to fix the hyperdrive. It took twelve hours and several minor injuries and energy burns, but the coupler was installed. Moving to the bridge she punched in a series of codes into the computer and the ship checklist lit up green across the board. It was ready for flight. With the heart of the ship repaired several of the ships automated systems came online. Including a display that told her the turrets were now charging. Collapsing into the pilot’s chair the Jedi sighed a breath of relief. Before she could truly relax her systems lit up red and an alarm went off on her radar. Pressing a button on the console a holographic display of a wing of Imperial fighters popped up.

Had they found her? Did the Sith Empire really exist here, wherever she was?

Triangulating their path, she felt her stomach turn as they headed for the mining colony. The fighter group was led by a larger craft which could only mean one thing. Sith Lords. Opening her communication console, she switched to the channel Hektor was on.

“Hektor! Come in, please!”

Nothing but static.

“Hektor this is Sökmen! Come in!”

Nothing but static.

Kiraz raced to her ready room and quickly got dressed, not forgetting to secure the lightsaber to her belt along with her DL-44. Was she ready to fight a Sith Lord? She hadn’t fought anyone with a lightsaber since the Jedi Civil War and that was before she had gotten captured. Anxiety washed over the ex-soldier as she lowered the ramp to her ship and boarded her swoop bike. She pushed the vehicle to its limit trying to get back to the settlement.

She was too late.

Billowing smoke rose into the sky cutting through the blizzard around her. She parked the bike and quickly made her way into Lyira’s Hope. Drawing her blaster, she navigated the ruined streets finding nothing but bodies. Turning the corner she found a group of Sith soldiers executing villagers. She peeked and opened fire, nailing one of them in the chest throwing him back.

“Get her! She’s the one Lord Stryfe wants!”

They opened fire forcing Kiraz to retreat around the corner. She fired blindly trying to keep them at bay. They stopped firing and it wasn’t until a gloved fist cold cocked her from the side did she know why. Stumbling to the ground she looked to her assailant to see whom she could assume was Sith Lord Stryfe and his apprentice. He reached down into her shirt and pulled at her dog tags. Blood ran down from the corner of her mouth. She batted his hand away and scrambled to her feet, her blaster ready.

“You’re a Jedi but you wear Sith Trooper dog tags. You’re an exile and a traitor to the cause.”

Lord Stryfe didn’t look like a normal human. His eyes were pitch black and his skin was covered in black runes. The same for his apprentice.

“You’re wanted, Jedi. By order of Darkseid all Jedi are to be exterminated.”

Darkseid. Who was that?

Both Sith ignited their lightsabers and charged forward. Kiraz deftly avoided their attacks, quickly holstering her weapon. She drew her saber. Now it was time to see if it would hold up in combat. Now it was time to see if she would hold up in combat. She ignited her lightsaber, its bright blue blade illuminating the area in contrast to their red ones. The apprentice came first, growling with anger. She parried his attack and made a riposte, forcing him to avoid the strike. Twirling her lightsaber, she brought it forward. Swallowing her anxiety, she went on the offensive and struck back at the apprentice. They exchanged a series of blows before managing to slice his arm. The apprentice staggered backward, keeping his saber forward. Using the force, Kiraz pulled him towards her, parried his saber to the left and ran him through the chest. Force pushing him back she removed her saber and watched him crumple to the ground mortally wounded.

Lord Stryfe growled with anger. He twirled his saber and provided the finishing blow to his apprentice before charging forward. Kiraz was as ready as she could be. She brought up her saber and blocked his advance. Slicing left across his torso he brought his saber up and caught the blow, pushing forward. The Jedi struggled to keep him back as he pushed against her, their blades connected in a clinch. Kneeing him in the groin she force pushed him away and raised her saber high above her head bring it down for a strike. Stumbling backward, Stryfe swung his saber upward and deflected her blow. In a fit of anger Lord Stryfe unleashed a torrent of lightning at Kiraz. It enveloped her and she crumpled to the ground, her saber dropping from her hands. Laughing as he did it, Stryfe tortured her with lightning, watching her crawl away.

You’ve been through worse. They used to do this to you all the time. Get up girl.

Through it all, Kiraz called her lightsaber to her side using the force, ignited it and put it between her and the oncoming lightning. Her blade began to absorb it. Getting to her feet she pushed forward, gripping Lord Styfe and pulling him to her. She twirled her saber and with one deft motion removed his hands. Twirling clockwise she cut him in half and force pushed his severed body away from her. With a sigh of relief she dropped to her knees and extinguished her lightsaber. She couldn’t rest yet. She had to clean the place of Sith soldiers.

Once every member of the Sith party was dead she collected both of the fallen Lords lightsabers and attached them to her belt with her own. Everyone in the colony was dead. They had herded the people into the mines and thrown down a thermal detonator from the look of it. She made her way into Rhade’s store and scavenged for everything she could. She took rations, water, spare parts, energy cells, and anything she could think of to use after leaving the planet. Packing it all onto a sled she could haul behind the swoop bike, Kiraz set off her the Phalanx.

***​

It didn’t take her long to store everything in the cargo hold. She parked the swoop bike in its place inside the boarding area and sealed the ship. Placing the two Sith lightsabers in her armory along with her blaster the woman went to the cockpit and sat in the pilot’s chair. She punched in a series of commands for the main engine start up and the freighter began to shudder as the hyperdrive, and the systems came to life. The Phalanx lifted off and blasted into the atmosphere and into space. Almost immediately her proximity alert warned her of incoming fighters.

I guess I’ll have to fight my way out.

Her heart fell into the pit of her stomach as he spied a Sith destroyer in orbit above the planet. It was covered in black growths that entwined it inside and out. Charging the weapons, Kiraz made her way away from the oncoming fighters, hoping she could outrun them while the computer made the calculations required to jump to another planet.

 

[Elizabeth La Varet]

The situation was dire. The Sith destroyer had used a tractor beam to pull her ship into one of its many docking bays. They had forcefully removed her and thrown her into the brig. The Sith were corrupted with something she had never seen before. Her captors had spent a solid forty-eight hours brutally torturing her. She had endured torture before, but this time was different. They beat her, drugged her, electrified her, interrogated her, and abused her. Kiraz broke down after twelve hours and spilled everything about herself. How she had served in the Mandalorian Wars, the Jedi Civil War, her time as Sith Trooper. As a reward for her cooperation, they just beat her until she was unconscious. Kiraz hobbled through the empty section of the destroyer having escaped her cell during the shift change. Everything hurt. She was certain all her ribs were broken. Clenching her jaw, the Jedi made her way to an intersection of hallways. She gripped her blaster, which she had managed to obtain from the locker in the brig and peeked around a corner. She leaned against the wall and tried to control her breathing, but she was in so much pain. The shuffling of footsteps behind her forced the woman to move around a corner and look back.

“I don’t care what you must do! FIND HER! ALIVE!” A voice echoed down the corridor.

Kiraz hobbled away in the opposite direction, stopping only for a short moment to look at the map she had acquired.

The hangar is up here on the left. I hope to hell it’s the one I need.

The Jedi hobbled her way towards the hangar but was forced to the ground as the destroyer suddenly shuddered violently. She clenched her jaw shut to avoid crying out in pain. Crawling over to a nearby viewing window her eyes widened at the sight of Venator class star destroyer. It had opened fire on the Sith destroyer. She could see fighters deploying from its sides and its nose. Kiraz pulled herself into a seated position. She could barely move. The entire destroyer shuddered violently again as the barrage of fire from the Venator peppered the hull. Individual bangs began echoing throughout the hallway and the many floors around her. She looked through the window. The Venator was deploying boarding parties via drop pods. One of those pods pierced the corridor she was sitting in, throwing her twenty feet onto her back. Wiping the blood and sweat from the corner of her mouth the Jedi pushed with everything she had and managed to sit up. The door to the pod opened and out poured eight troopers. They scanned their surroundings before seeing the injured Kiraz.

“There she is.” One of them spoke through their helmet communicator.

One of the soldiers had a red cross on his arm which she could only assume meant he was the combat medic in their outfit. The eight of them rushed over to her, the medic knelt and dropped his first aid bag to his side.

“Make sure it’s her.” One of them said, setting up a perimeter.

Kiraz looked at the medic who was prepping a stim. He jammed it into her thigh and almost immediately the extreme amount of pain she was in subsided. She felt like she was gliding on a cloud. That’s the last thing she remembered before collapsing onto her back.

“You’re losing her!” Another one of them said.

“They really did a number on her. Give me a minute.” The medic said, taking another stim and jamming it into her chest.

Tossing the empty injector, he took his flashlight and examined both of her pupils.

“She’s still with us. Let’s get her to the hangar. All her ribs are broken, she has multiple fractures, almost her entire body is covered in burns. Alert medical that we’re going to need a trauma team.”

The leader nodded. “Command, this is Bravo Actual. Tell medical to have a trauma team standing by. Our target is in bad shape.”

The medic slung his bag over his shoulder and knelt to pick up the unconscious Jedi.

“Let’s move.”

***​

Once all boarding parties had cleared their sectors and made it to the hangar bays for extraction the batteries for the Venator Star Destroyer opened a full broadside attack on the Sith destroyer. The enemy ship was torn apart by the huge turbo lasers that littered the hull of the Venator. Unfortunately for Kiraz so was her ship and all of her acquired gear and equipment. Including her lightsaber. The medic was met at the hangar by the trauma team. They placed the woman on a gurney and rushed her to the med bay.

“Let’s get her stimmed and in the bath as soon as possible. Her vitals are not stable.” One of the doctors said as they were rushing her along the various corridors.

The trauma team cut her clothing off, removed her dog tags for safekeeping, and prepped her to be submerged in a bacta tank. Another doctor injected her with various stims, tossing each injector to the side once done with it. They affixed her with a breathing apparatus and various monitoring devices before they submerged her into a giant transparent tank full of bacta. The team had given her a sedative to keep her asleep and for a while Kiraz was in the world of dreams. For the next four days the Jedi was suspended in the healing solution. There were several minor events involving her vitals that gave cause for concern, but she pulled through each one with flying colors.