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Legends of Darkover	By : SWOTBWOT Category: Star Wars (All) > Crossovers Views: 3427 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Star Wars, Star Trek, or Darkover. I am not making any money off this story.

Chapter List
- 1-Legends of Darkover
- 2-Chapter 2
- 3-Chapter 3
- 4-Chapter 4
- 5-Chapter 5
- 6-Chapter 6
- 7-Chapter 7
- 8-Chapter 8
- 9-9
- 10-10
- 11-11
- 12-12
- 13-13
- 14-14
- 15-15
- 16-16
- 17-17
- 18-18
- 19-19
- 20-20
- 21-21
- 22-22
- 23-23
- 24-24
- 25-25
- 26-26
- 27-27
- 28-28
- 29-29 & The End
- 17
- 18
- 19
Chapter 18
-oOo-
“Oh my,” said Kenobi after a glance at the Sith, the troopers, and the grapple droids. “This is going to take some work.”
“Padawan!” Qui-gon shouted, his eye drawn to the tower. “Hold off the droids! I'll handle Inculcare.”
The tower spat out chips of rock. The building swayed, and was buried in a vast cloud of dust. Inculcare nodded in satisfaction, listening to Catriona's despairing cry.
“Shall I fire again, my lord?” Berhrns asked. “The tower's still standing.”
“What?” said Inculcare sharply.
Berhrns had spoken the truth. The wind settled the dust cloud somewhat, showing a building that looked suddenly much older than before, pockmarked with damage, but the tower was still intact. It had been rebuilt following the great laran wars, and its makers had intended their creation to withstand deadlier assaults than this.
“What's the matter, Leron?” a voice drawled through Inculcare's wristcom. “Primitive piece of stonework a little contumacious today?”
Inculcare bared his teeth.
-oOo-
Nonetheless, the attack had succeeded in breaking the circle. “Domna Ysabet!” Catriona cried again. She sensed telepaths thrown to the floor by the concussion. A hard, nauseating blow broke the laran link as Domna Ysabet hit her head. The keeper lost control of the matrix, and as the surging energon rings dropped, the power of the circle dissipated.
“I have to join them,” Catriona said to her companions, “and be the keeper now, but I cannot shield you while I make the switch.” She shut her eyes as she tried to force her mind into the distant stone that powered the circle, melding with the stunned and hurt, trying to revive the energon rings. Danilo was still tugging her along, and she stumbled forwards, barely aware. Just as Regis took her other sleeve, Inculcare fired his blaster.
The shot struck Catriona squarely in the back, and she fell unconscious. Regis swore. Danilo scooped his cousin up, his run transformed into a slow wobble as he strained all his muscles to carry her. They had almost reached the tower, and were only a few strides from the door. Before Inculcare could fire another shot, a streak of energy caught Danilo and tumbled him to the ground, sprawling on top of Catriona. Tyranus lowered the laser rifle sight from his eye, smirking with satisfaction at his shot.
Quickly, Inculcare assessed his problem. Tyranus' three troopers might capture the Darkovans before the droids could. He gave the Force a twitch. A wave of the now-copious dust blew right into the eyes of Tyranus' men. They yelled and cursed, trying to shield their faces with their arms.
Regis had one second to make a decision. All his feelings screamed to save his paxman first, but the Sith could not be allowed to have a keeper. He grabbed Catriona by the shoulders and dragged her, stumbling backwards over the first stone step of the tower, then another, jerking her with great heaves across the worn stone threshold. His vision fell into darkness as he entered the dusty building, its lights doused and broken.
“Berhrns, prepare for a fast pickup. I want those natives,” Inculcare said into his wristcom.
“My lord, the Jedi are almost upon you,” Berhrns replied.
“What!?” blurted Inculcare. He found himself dodging a vicious lightsaber sweep that would have cut him in two if it had struck one second earlier, with Qui-gon Jinn, of course, at the other end. A brown figure streaking past the corner of his eye had to be Kenobi racing for the tower. Furious, Inculcare knew this meant disaster.   Qui-gon's saberplay was just good enough to delay him, if not defeat him. The High Inquisitor threw himself backwards out of Qui-gon's reach with a Force jump, needing one second of time. “Droids, take the natives prisoner immediately,” he hissed into his wristcom. “Berhrns, load the droids.”
Qui-gon followed him with another Force jump, sticking close as a burr. Neither man spared another glance from that moment on, moving too fast, too intent on the electronic scream of sabers meeting with a shower of sparks.
Obi-wan saw Regis running out of the tower for Danilo, and shouted an alarm. A droid had slipped into the tower behind Regis, and it emerged with Catriona. “Zandru's Hells!” Hastur cried when he saw what Obi-wan was pointing at.
“Don't!” Obi-wan shouted, for Regis leapt wildly at the droid and landed on its back, straining at its metal arms ineffectually. Another pair of droids approached, reaching for the young man. Obi-wan picked them off with a blaster and Force jumped. “Off!” he shouted at Regis. The second Hastur hit the ground, Obi-wan decapitated the machine with a swing of his lightsaber and caught Catriona with one arm, all the while concentrating on generating a Force bubble to protect himself and the Darkovans from Tyranus' blaster shots. He'd practiced this many times under Qui-gon's tutelage, fighting inside a Force bubble, but the protection had its physical limits--
“Dani!” Regis shouted wildly. “They've got him!”
Two of the troopers had picked up Danilo and were making off with him. Master! Obi-wan cried through the Force. Though Jedi telepathy was not as clear as Darkovan, Qui-gon caught the alarm and fired off his response. -Hold off Inculcare, I'll rescue him.-
“An order easier given than obeyed, Master,” Obi-wan groaned. He was picking off grapple droids and firing at Tyranus, while keeping an eye out for the rapidly approaching Inculcare, and he still had to consider the safety of the unconscious girl at his feet, as well as that of Regis, who had--
--just run off in pursuit of Danilo. Unarmed, of course. “Damn it all, Hastur!” Obi-wan cried in despair. “Can't you stay put for once! Master, Regis has--”
“I see,” Qui-gon shouted as he tore past. “Just hold Inculcare as long as you can!”
With a booming woosh over their heads, Captain Norboarth landed the Tulak Hord and lowered its ramp. Tyranus looked about urgently. Burdened with Danilo, his troopers were lagging behind. Qui-gon was almost on them. “Ganrax!” Tyranus ordered one of the troopers, “assist me!” The Sith lord Force-leapt and landed right in front of his former apprentice, blocking the way.
Qui-gon squared off, only to be distracted by a stream of curses from Regis, who'd been seized by a stray grapple droid. Tyranus' eye also went to the Darkovan, and his expression was curiously wistful, the gaze of a man who didn't have control of his droids at the moment, but wished he did. “Ganrax, stun the boy and take him.”
-Blind,- thought Qui-gon. The Jedi master summoned a great flash of white light. It did not affect Tyranus, who was shielding himself with the Force, but the Sith lord hadn't been the target. Ganrax yelled, covering his eyes. -Ionize,- thought Qui-gon. A jolt of Force struck the droid and shorted it out. Thrashing, Regis managed to wiggle his way from the droid's frozen grip.
“Get behind me,” Qui-gon ordered, but he had not counted on the extent of Regis' fury and determination. While the Jedi traded saber blows with his old master, the Darkovan snatched up a sizeable rock and brained the stumbling Ganrax with it. As the trooper fell, Regis plucked the man's blaster from him and sent shots at Tyranus that were, as far as the Sith lord was concerned, unfortunately well-aimed. He could feel his Force barrier weakening. The fight had reached its pivot.
Tyranus Force-leapt again, shouting, “Take off!” into his wristcom even as he landed on the Tulak Hord's ramp. The ramp swung up, clamping tight against the ship's belly.
“No!” Regis screamed, throwing himself at the interceptor. Qui-gon had just enough time to seize Regis by the arm and swing them both down an incline, knowing the Tulak Hord's thrusters would be going off and guessing what would happen next. The Jedi master concentrated hard on generating a Force barrier, covering Regis with his body. The grass around them burst into flame as the ship deliberately revolved and hovered over them, sending the temperature up hundreds, then thousands of degrees as it slowly lifted off. Even with the barrier, the two men felt the sweat run like streams over them in the kiln-like temperatures. They gasped desperately for cooler air.
The ship took off with a lateral burn and the blinding heat vanished. Qui-gon jerked Regis up. They ran, for the air around them was still superheated, and Qui-gon only dropped his Force barrier once they were safely away from the charcoaled ground.
“No, no, no!” Regis sobbed, his voice breaking. “They've got Danilo.”
“We'll rescue him after we finish off Inculcare,” said the Jedi master.
A huge disruption in the Force, seething and chaotic, caused Qui-gon to break off in alarm.   The Jedi master gazed at the tower, and felt disbelief.
“What in Zandru's Hells is that?” Regis exclaimed, impatiently clawing the tears from his face.
“By all the Gods,” whispered Qui-gon .
-oOo-
When Qui-gon took off after Tyranus, Obi-wan knew his master (and necessity, to be fair) had once again dropped an almost impossible task into his lap. He was outclassed by Tyranus, but he was really outclassed by Inculcare. He stood in front of the prone Catriona, balancing on the balls of his feet, ready to catch the tiniest move in the other man.
Inculcare laughed. “You actually intend to try me? YOU?”
“You needn't be so rude about it,” Obi-wan retorted warily through the glittering wall of his bubble.
Inculcare's face became somber and he tugged off his glove, exposing the metal of his artificial hand. The deliberateness of the gesture made Obi-wan swallow. He caught the message from the intensity on the other's face. -This is what your master did to me, and this is what I'll do to you in repayment.-
The High Inquisitor balled up the metal hand, and with no warning, swung his arm like a whip. Force lightning leapt from the hand and struck the protection bubble, destroying it utterly.
All Obi-wan knew was that he was lying on the ground several feet away, his ears ringing and his vision shimmering, too dazed to understand, except--
“Take her,” said Inculcare blandly, motioning to a grapple droid. The droid heaved Catriona up, and the High Inquisitor was lifting his wristcom to his mouth to give another order when the droid unexpectedly went dead and let go of Catriona. She slid bonelessly to the ground.
Instantly, the High Inquisitor was scanning the scene. Kenobi was lying on his side, too stunned to have reacted. Qui-gon was dueling Tyranus, too preoccupied to have halted the droid. Ditto for Tyranus. Then who--?
In the doorway of the tower stood an old woman. Her gray hair was bloody from a head wound, and her fingers trembled with tension, but there was no fear on her wrathful face.
-Offworld filth ,- came the icy thought, pushing its way into the High Inquisitor's mind. -You think to steal my daughters, destroy my tower, and murder me? Learn that I too, am a mistress of the lightning.-
A bolt of lightning came streaking down from the clear, cloudless sky. Inculcare felt the electrical charge rise, the hairs on his arms standing. He threw himself aside and created a Force barrier, but the blast knocked him flying anyway. He plowed face-first into the earth, all the energy of his barrier drained to nothing. For a moment he did not move, except to cautiously inch his wristcom towards his mouth. “Berhrns, lock on the tower, fire full power. LEVEL. IT.”
A thundering noise indicated that Berhrns had started his run. Inculcare sat up and spat, eager to witness the death of this old woman who had literally made him eat dirt.
The noise alerted Obi-wan as well. His eyes were shut and all the nerves in his head twinged with pain, but he could feel the approaching swell of the ship through the Force and the anger of Inculcare. An inspiration appeared in his half-jellied consciousness. He Folded Space, gathering it around the racing ship, and made the ship jump out again on the other side of the tower. At, however, a much lower altitude.
The explosion lit up the landscape even through his closed eyelids, and made the nauseating throb in his head become migraine-like for a moment.   Wasn't there something he could do with the Force about the headache? Healing, wasn't it? When he could open his eyes, he saw the Ragnos had made one damned impressive crater.
He rolled over and said, “That was pretty good.” For a second he was confused by the man in Jedi clothing.
The other man did not seem to appreciate the sight. His face was very flushed in the light of the burning ship, and he stared fixedly at the crater. Then he began to breathe harshly and deeply, like a man struggling with an asthma attack.
/Force rage ,/ Yoda's voice lectured Obi-wan from a distant time, /yes, is a Sith power of the greatest danger, prelude to attacks most devastating. Sit up, youngling. Your attention, where is it?/
/Sorry, Master Yoda. It's just that I've never seen Master Kravold really lose it before. It's a distracting sight./
Obi-wan's mind cleared. Inculcare was channeling his hatred, pulling it out of the Dark Side like a vast network of webbing, wrapping it around himself, thickening and growing. The Force itself began to warp around the man under all the weight, and then Obi-wan felt the rip.
He stood up, shouting for Qui-gon. “Master!”
Inculcare let out a throat-splitting shriek of pure, frothing hate. Out of the tear came the Dark Side of the Force. It flowed out with sickening heaves, with a hum that was too deep, low and distorted, vibrating like it would shake the planet apart. Moving and heaving, it flowed towards the tower.
Fear, that sensation the apprentice had fought so long to conquer, came welling up. The Dark Side felt like insects crawling across his face, eating pits deep into his skin from a thousand points, needle-like pains screwing into every nerve, into his terrified stomach, into his skull.
-Wormhole,- a voice said in Obi-wan's mind. He was unsure whether it was his own thought or his master's. He was half in Force trance now, having shoved himself there by powerful effort of will. -But this is no ordinary wormhole, Master,- he tried to reply, -it's the Dark Side.-
-It is like a living thing,- pronounced a woman's voice.    Obi-wan could not tell who had spoken.
-I'll Fold it elsewhere. -
-Padawan, NO!   You CANNOT Fold this! Not the Dark Side itself. It will destroy you!-
“I must try,” Obi-wan said aloud, unsure if his master heard. He was deep in Force trance, feeling the globular creeping mass come closer, unable to stand its discordant mental noise, so like a swarm of locusts.
-NO!-
He'd never disobeyed a direct order from Qui-gon, but this time he had to. He reached out to Fold and found his grip confused. There was no way to grasp the thing. /The Light Side,/ he intuited, /use it to seize the mass./ He summoned the Force, making himself stay calm, trying not to flinch as he reached out--
-Do not,- said the woman's voice sternly. -This is my task, not yours.-
Obi-wan didn't bother to reply.
Qui-gon was racing with all his speed, intent on his padawan's back. The universe could hang in balance, and he knew his duty as a Jedi knight, but he would still try to save his reckless fool of a padawan, first. But his padawan was too quick. Obi-wan let out a shocked sob as the essence of his Force touched the mass, and he collapsed.
Something shifted, and the writhing mass was smaller than before.
-Do whatever you intend,- Qui-gon sent to the unknown mental voice. -I'll distract our enemy.- Inculcare was frozen in concentration. Qui-gon's lightsaber cut across his back, searing his shoulder. Only the High Inquisitor's reflexive jump saved him from worse damage.
“You can't stop it,” Inculcare said. The High Inquisitor's lightsaber was a blur in his human hand.
On the steps of the tower stood Domna Ysabet, drawing on the energy of her personal matrix. Brutally, she struck out at the other members of her circle when they tried to join her. -Back!-
-Let me help,- another voice raged. It was Regis.
-Stay out, Hastur.-
The dark mass had almost reached the steps. She held out her palms. They flowed with energy, and she thrust them into the mass, her narrow face as hard as wood.
The lightsaber duel was cut short by a violent implosion. Both Qui-gon and Inculcare were flung off their feet. Qui-gon felt his Force barrier torn away from his body, disintegrating under the massive load of Dark Energy. He tumbled in a confused way, the stones and dirt moving with him. Tree branches cracked, and the wind banged hard against his eardrums. Qui-gon balled himself up, knowing how to fall from a thousands spills, but he could not control his motion or protect himself with the Force. He slammed hard against the side of the tower, and his right arm bent wrong for a second. From the crunch, he knew he'd broken it. All motion stopped. He concentrated on reducing the pain with the Force, and made himself sit up.
The writhing mass was gone. On the steps of the tower an old woman was sprawled, still with death. The forms of Obi-wan and Catriona were lying nearby, covered with leaves and grass.
Inculcare was rising to his feet. The tip of his lightsaber was directly under Qui-gon's chin.
Not good. His own lightsaber was several feet away.
However, Inculcare's weapon shook a little. Qui-gon noted this, at the same time he noticed Regis standing behind the High Inquisitor, taking aim with a blaster. Hastur fired. The bolt struck a Force barrier and dissipated.
“You little bastard,” said Inculcare in even tones, not bothering to look around. The blaster exploded in Regis' hand, peppering Hastur with hot shrapnel and sending the Darkovan stumbling backwards with a gasp of pain.
Qui-gon's lightsaber shot towards its master, only to be seized in midair by a metal hand. The hand had flown off Inculcare's wrist. It resisted Qui-gon's Force command with more than mechanical strength, and propelled itself back to the High Inquisitor, snuggling into the dangling sleeve and reattaching itself.
Qui-gon raised an eyebrow. This was a gesture that had often annoyed Darth Tyranus back in the day, and it appeared to work just as well on Inculcare.
“I find it fitting that you will die by your own weapon, by this hand,” said Inculcare coolly, activating Qui-gon's lightsaber. “Since you gave both to me.” The lightsaber moved too fast to be seen, the gesture of an expert swordsmen.
With it, Inculcare cut Qui-gon's throat.
Or would have, if the energy blade hadn't died abruptly. Inculcare's face went still, and Qui-gon, with that annoying timing, raised his other eyebrow.
Regis was holding out his matrix, the stone blazing blue, his bleeding face fixed in concentration. Hastur had blocked the energy of the Adegan crystals in both lightsabers.
So angry was the High Inquisitor that he contemplated summoning another Force storm, though it might cost him his life.
-No, one drawing on the Dark is enough, for now.-
Inculcare went still. The mental voice was strange to him. It belonged to no one in the vicinity. For a second he ignored both Jinn and the Darkovan boy. The voice reeked powerfully of the Dark Side. An ally?
-You've vanquished the witches and brought your enemy to bay. You impress me.-
-Who are you?- Inculcare thought in return.
-You already know my name. Haven't you been seeking me for a year? I dwell beneath the Temple of Zandru. You will not need the witches if you have me. You have shown yourself to be a man of great power, but I can give you far more, much more.-
Warily, Inculcare felt out the direction of the voice. It was coming from the Forbidden City.   Suspicious, he asked, -And what is your price?-
-I give myself freely. I have lain quiet under this earth for too long. I desire--use. I desire a life to live, other lives to devour. I desire conquest. I was made for conquest. So were you. We match perfectly, do you not sense it? Feel my essence. My darkness is your darkness. I am your property, to use as you wish. You can have anything you want once you take me for your own--the deaths of the men around you, the body of the girl to please you.-
The voice was incredibly strong in the Dark Side, and the rich, vast sound of it was drug-like, tempting, almost sexual in its allure, but that was all he could discover about its nature. Inculcare hesitated. As if to give him a sample, the darkness washed over him for one second. He tasted it on his tongue, felt it all over his body. He craved it with every sense he possessed, full-bore. He must have it, take it NOW.
-You dawdle? You reject me? You fear me? Then I must give my powers to Darth Tyranus.-
That decided the High Inquisitor. -I accept.-
-But there is one task you must perform to gain me,- the voice replied. -You must kill--
“Sever Force,” whispered Qui-gon, guessing the High Inquisitor to be too weak to resist after summoning the Force storm. He did not know why Inculcare was suddenly distracted, but it had given him an opening.
Inculcare snarled. The voice had fallen silent. Both lightsabers were dead, and his connection to the Force was temporarily gone. All his Force powers were unreachable and he was too exhausted to break Qui-gon's command. His living hand shook in fury.
He could not even take the time to kill the Jedi here. That would risk letting Darth Tyranus beat him to the Temple, and anyway he wasn't sure he could do it in this state.
The lightsabers tore themselves out of his hands, flying to Qui-gon. The cold look in the Jedi's eye seemed almost mocking, malignant, through the distorted heat in Inculcare's mind.

He whipped the metal hand off his arm and it flew at Qui-gon's face, tearing. The Jedi deflected it with the handle of his lightsaber, but the hand latched onto his throat.
“Qui-gon!” Regis shouted, running towards the High Inquisitor.
“NO!” the Jedi master ordered. He was holding the hooked metal fingers off the surface of his throat by the Force. They strained and tried to clasp, but Qui-gon's control did not relent.
“He's got his lightsaber back,” Regis warned, hovering just behind the Sith. Inculcare had used Qui-gon's distraction to snatch it away. The hand suddenly left the Jedi and darted for Regis. Qui-gon threw Hastur out of its path with the Force, sending the surprised Darkovan to the ground. The hand barely missed him. Then it curved around in the air and chased after its master like some insane mechanical bird. Inculcare was gone, racing for the Forbidden City.
-oOo-
- 17
- 18
- 19
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Legends of Darkover