Rivalries

[Honor Harrington]

Honor leaned back in the navigator's chair of Logan's ship and rested his feet on the dash. The journey from Utapau was relatively short; just a simple jump across the Hydian Way and Honor, Kyrton and Logan had spent the majority of the time recovering from the minor wounds they had recieved.

"Any news yet?" Honor asked aloud and Logan turned from the pilot's chair with a wry smile.

"Well, the spy we left behind reported in as we were emerging from hyperspace. Apparently a New Republic light cruiser entered orbit around the planet and began conducting detailed scans. The Yuuzhan Vong evacuated as quickly as they could, only barely avoiding a 'diplomatic' incident with their little cease fire."

An expression of disgust covered Kyrtons' face. "If Fey'lya had any guts, he'd hit the Vong right now. What does he think is going to happen."

Honor shrugged. "Who knows what the Bothan's playing at, and, frankly, that's besides the point right now. Why are we here?"

Logan grinned at Honor on the cockpit reflection. "Well, I'm glad you asked Honor."

Were Honor still a young child, he might have stuck his tongue out at the Sith.

"This, this is a training exercise though," he continued. "There's an old mining facility-damaged and non-operational for at least three decades. I'm going to drop you both off at two separate parts of the facility. You'll make your way to the goal."

Kyrton raised an eyebrow in surprise. "Do you really except this to be a challenge?"

Honor leaned forward with a laugh and slapped it on the shoulder. "That's what I'm here for."

Kyrton grinned. "That's what I meant."

Logan nodded, kicking the shuttle into a hover over a stream of molten lava. "Honor, you're up."

Honor nodded, grabbed his lightsaber and walked to the lowered ramp, surveying the ground before him. Nothing jumped out as a potential landing point-sans molten lava-but he supposed there had to be an answer somewhere.

"The fun begins now," Kyrton remarked from behind him then shoved him out the ship. "Good luck!"

[Honor Harrington]

Despite the fact that Honor was in fact plummetting to his death, he still took the time to twist in mid-air and throw a force push at Kyrton, shoving the man off his feet farther into to the ship. Satisfied with his retribution, Honor turned himself back over to contemplate the lava that was rushing up towards him.

Fate-or the Force-had other things in mind apparently as Honor spied a small service droid that was floating down the river. Grabbing out with the Force, Honor pulled the droid underneath him for a relatively safe landing. At least, that was what he believed until the droid began to sink deeper into the lava.

"Ah sithspit," he muttered, even as he created and extended a force shield around him. The "bubble" protected him from the lava lapping at his boots and even from the oppressive heat."Now what?" Honor asked himself quietly, now that he was no longer in immediate danger.

Eyeing a rocky surface within leaping distance, Honor propelled himself into a Force-assisted jump and landed on solid ground. Stretching out with the Force to get a sense of his location, and that of the mining facility, Honor set out on a fast run towards his objective, and Kyrton.

[Cryslah Orion]

In Crys Orion’s opinion, the only good thing about Mustafar was the fact that there were no scarheads here. Not even they were crazy enough to want this place. Although she wouldn’t haven’t minded pushing every scarhead in the galaxy into its lava rivers. Other than that, the place was good for nothing besides getting stranded on.

Which was exactly Crys’s predicament. She was stranded here and purposely. It was punishment for getting caught attempting to steal another pirate’s take. It was a miracle they hadn’t slit her throat; instead they’d just knocked her unconscious, bound and gagged her, and dumped her on Mustafar to die a slower and more miserable death. They’d been so contemptuous they’d even tossed her backpack next to her when they’d dumped her as far away from any facilities as possible.

Wondering for about the ninetieth time where in the krif Dek was, Crys trudged across the hellish landscape making her way slowly towards the mining facility. It wasn’t easy going even for someone who had the assistance of the Force. Crys had to constantly rub the sweat out of her eyes so she could see clearly because one false step could send her tumbling straight into the lava. She’d long since stuffed her cloak into her backpack. The last thing she needed was something to keep her warm. Yeah, warmth wasn’t a problem, but water sure was. She didn’t know if the mining facility was even open, but there had to be some water source there. If it was broken she’d fix it. Then she’d see about finding a way off of here. Then she was going to kill Dek.

She knew what he was doing. Never one for sentimentality, Dek believed in the law of natural consequences. If she was stupid enough to get caught, he was going to let her suffer for her own stupidity. Dek probably thought her predicament was real funny. She’d show him funny.

Why do I stay with him? Crys asked herself even though she knew the answer. Dek hadn’t given her a great life, but it had been something – and a lot better than where she’d probably have ended up on her own. Crys was about the least naïve person in the galaxy. She’d seen enough female slaves to know what happened to young, pretty female children with no protectors. She hadn’t been born under a lucky star by any stretch, but it had been a lucky day for her when she’d crossed paths with Dek Sizaris. While there hadn’t been much of the kindness of his heart motivation for taking her in, Dek had never been cruel to her either.

And he taught me a trade. Crys laughed to herself. Yeah; thief, bounty hunter, small-time pirate. What a life.

It was a life that had seemed to suit her just fine. She liked the challenge of out-thinking her mark and winning. Only it wasn’t much of a challenge anymore. It had been creeping on her for some time that she wanted more, but what that more was, Crys just didn’t know.

Just then a shadow streak past her, and Crys clamped down on her Force presence out of reflex. She also hid herself behind a boulder, and tracked the ship visually. To her surprise it hovered, the hatch opened and the ramp lowered. Then a man came flying out of the ship.

Well at least I got dumped on dry ground.

Crys watched in ghoulish fascination, expecting to see the man plummet into lava river. To her complete shock, he twisted in midair and made a grabbing motion with his hand. Instead of hitting the lava, he landed on a service droid -- which immediately began to sink. But then it didn’t and Crys realized he was using the Force. Within seconds he was safely on the riverbank and moving away at an inhumanly fast pace.

Which was all very interesting, but it sure didn’t make a difference to Crys’s predicament. With Forces senses on full alert Crys crept out of her hiding place and picked up her trek where she’d left off. She desperately wanted to get away from Mustafar and a ship that could do that had just arrived. But all her survival instincts told her to stay away from these people. Whoever they were, they were crazy.

But as she trudged along, she couldn’t get the image of what the Force strong stranger had done out of her mind.

[Honor Harrington]

Honor drew the Force more heavily into himself, driving it to sustain his body as he cut across the steaming surface of Mustafar. After perhaps an hour, the mining facility that was his objective finally peeked above the horizon. Honor picked up his pace, ensuring he'd arrive even sooner and he nodded in satisfaction as he finally came to a stop in front of the facility.

Honor had long since shut down on his presence in the Force and he assumed Kyrton had done the same. He did extend his senses in the hope that Kyrton might have been overconfident but nothing leaped back out of him.

Eyeing the front door, Honor checked it in the Force for any hint of danger and nodded in appreciation as he felt the mines located just inside the door. Kyrton probably hadn't grabbed mines before departing which meant this was Logan's work. Apparently he didn't want to just pit his two apprentices against each other but he had to try and kill them remotely too.

Trotting around the side of the building, Honor began searching for another entrance into the facility. Spying a balcony on the center floor, Honor leapt up part way, using the Force to stick him in place while he twisted and jumped again, landing safely on the balcony. This door, unlike the front entrance, appeared to be safe and Honor quickly sliced a hole into it, allowing him entrance.

Honor turned as if to survey the bleak landscape one more time but his eyes caught on a small figure dashing through the landscape. A quick extension of his force senses revealed nothing as the person was apparently hiding themself in the Force. As the figure drew closer, Honor began to make out an important detail or two: primarily that she wasn't Kyrton.

Leaping back to the ground, Honor hid himself behind the rock and waited until the stranger was significantly closer. Upon hearing the sound of her feet crunching into the dirt, Honor leapt over the rock towards the girl. While in mid-air, he threw a Force push into the girl, throwing her to the ground, then landed above her, lightsaber active and ready to finish her.

"Care to explain why you're following me?" he asked quietly.

[Cryslah Orion]

“Oh, don’t flatter yourself.” Crys snapped back contemptuously as she stared up at his face and the lightsaber she couldn’t miss. “I don’t know and I don’t care why you’re heading to that facility, but I’m going there to find some water. I’ve been stranded here for days, but at least I didn’t get dumped into lava river.”

“Saw that, did you?” The man responded and Crys thought he was amused. Heck, he probably was. After all it hadn’t hurt him any -- which just added to Crys’s opinion that there was craziness here, and she was best off avoiding the whole business.

Except he had this whole Force thing going on about him, and she really wanted to know how he was able to do what he did.

“Look, all I’m interested in is getting in that building and finding some water. Can you give a good reason why I shouldn’t be allowed to do that?” She reasoned, hoping he wasn’t too crazy.

“As a matter of fact I can. The door’s boobytrapped with bombs.”

“Of course it is.” Crys sighed and despite the man looming over her with the lightsaber, she pulled herself up into a sitting position. “Story of my life. Well, got a plan for getting around that?”

[Torin Borasia]

Crouching here in a control room wasn’t usually Torin Boriasia’s idea of fun, but this wasn’t supposed to be fun. He was on Mustafar after all. Kyrton had contacted him discreetly and told him to be here on this lava infested planet. He’d told him where to be and what to do. He was to get here to this control room and wait. That part of the mission was easy. He had landed a small transport here a short time ago and gotten into position.

Now all he had to do was wait for Honor and then attack. He wasn’t sure what Logan had going on but considering Kyrton had told him to attack Honor when he saw him here, it must be a big deal. After all he was sure that the man who had captured and trained Honor could handle him on his own. Although he had noticed rarely good skills in what he had seen of Honor as he continued to get stronger. Plus the man was already a fully trained Mandalorian so that was enough to deal with on its own.

No matter what he thought though he would sit and bide his time until the time came to attack. Then whatever was going on would swing decidedly in Kyrton’s favor because Torin was planning on having a grand effect on this little party as soon as it called his name.

As he changed sitting positions he went into a bit of a meditative state to prepare himself for what was to come. He turned the black ring on his right hand with his thumb as he did sometimes when he concentrated. Kyrton had told him that he had to be ready instead of just jumping into battle, to concentrate and prepare then unleash the force in a storm. He continued to extend his force awareness outward as he continued to turn his ring.

[Honor Harrington]

Honor gave a short laugh. "I always have a plan and I don't think I'll have any trouble accomplishing it. The question though, is what do I do about you?" He moved the lightsaber towards the girl slightly, eliciting a hum out of the blade.

The girl wisely remained silent and Honor titled his head as he considered her. She had spirit, that much was clear and thought she was afraid (and naturally so), she hid it well. Judging from what little sense he was getting from her, this girl was a survivor; anyone who wanted to kill her would have to go to great efforts. And she might be useful Honor concluded. She probably wouldn't last very long in a straight up fight but in a fight with Kyrton, Honor would take all the help he could get.

"How about this," Honor finally said as he shut down the lightsaber. "You help me with what I'm doing and not only will I not kill you, but I'll take you off this heat-crusted rock."

"And what exactly do you need?" the girl asked, clearly interested by the offer.

Honor grinned. "Inside that facility is another force user. At some point, he and I are going to have to fight. It's as inevitable as the lava flow from this planet's core. And when that time comes, it never hurts to have an ace in the hole."

The girl considered for a moment, then nodded, extending a hand. "Done; the names Crys by the way. Now, how are we going to get into the building?"

Honor took the hand and laughed. "Honor, and you see that balcony on the second floor or so?" Crys nodded. "Good," Honor continued, gripping the Cry's hand tightly. "Don't fall off."

Crys opened her mouth to ask what that might mean but any question was lost to the wind as Honor hurled her up to the balcony with the Force. The moment her arm was ripped from his, he jumped after her, using the Force to propel himself as well.

Crys landed on the metal balcony sideways, eliciting a groan as she impacted. Honor landed moments later, dropping into a low crouch. "Ready to go now?"

---

Kyrton stalked the corridors of the mining facility, his senses alert for the slightest disturbance, the most miniscule hint of activty that might alert him to Honor's presence. The Mandalorian was resourceful, Kyrton had to give him that. Of course, whether that was the result of his previous training or Kyrton's own was up in the air, at least as far as he was concerned.

Still, perhaps Kyrton had trained the Mandalorian too well, he had never dreamed Logan might maneuver the two of them into combat; if he had, Honor might suddenly find himself missing minor yet critical lessons in training. Ah well, at the end of the day, Kyrton would simply be that much more skilled in the eyes of his Master. Especially if he had his own back-up plans in place.

Raising a comlink to his mouth and speaking quietly, Kyrton addressed an old apprentice of his own. "Torin, are you in position? Be prepared, I sense that our target is in the facility as well, and he may have a surprise or two of his own."

[Torin Borasia]

The question from his old master brought Torin out of his meditation with a start. He reached for the comlink and spoke quietly.

"Kyrton this is Torin, I am in possition. I know Honor is a force to be reconned with, but Kyrton, I am ready. Really ready."

Torin's blood started rushing and he could feel his pulse pounding all over. This battle was close to happening now and Honor would be surprised when he saw Torin coming his way.

Satisfied to look for a signal from Kyrton or come out when he felt the time was right, either way he was prepared better than ever now. The thought of what was coming brought a predatorial grin to his face and he moved from a sitting possition to a crouch and waited in the shadows.

[Cryslah Orion]

Crys rolled onto her knees and gave Honor a baleful look. “Next time just tell me where to go. I could have made that leap myself – and with fewer bruises.”

She got a grin in return for her pains, and a motion to get up and followed him. Crys made a face behind Honor’s back, but kept quiet and Force-shrouded as she slipped inside behind him. They stuck to the shadows as they made their way through the facility. To Crys’s eyes the place seemed to be all metal and industrial and heavily damaged at that. When they came to a junction with three hallways leading off of a large hub, Honor stopped, looked around and nodded.

“This will do.” He quietly told Crys. “Go hide, and wait for my signal.”

Crys nodded and found what had once been some kind of control console, no longer functional. Like just about everything else, it was damaged but it suited her purposes exactly. The base of the console wrapped around the sides, hiding her, while she could see out of the various cracks that were a result of whatever had caused all the damage to this facility. She crouched inside, watching and waiting, all her senses on alert.

She didn’t have long to wait. She picked him up before he’d even made an appearance, a cocky fellow so sure of himself he didn’t bother to dampen his Force presence. Peaking out, Crys saw a tall, well-muscled male advancing with lightsaber in hand. He stopped some ways away from Honor with a smirk on his face.

“So, now the real fun begins.” He challenged Honor and the two men advanced towards each other like prowling sand panthers.

[Honor Harrington]

Honor grinned as Kyrton walked quietly into the contol room, his lightsaber already ignited in his hand. Honor activated his own blade in response, the two glowing blades casting shadows throughout the room.

"So, now the real fun begins," Kyrton said with a quiet laugh as he began slowly walking towards Honor. "Somehow I knew shoving you into the lava wouldn't be enough to kill you."

Honor laughed as he began circling Kyrton. "I'll admit, it was a bit challenging. I am a bit disappointed by your booby-trapped entrance though; it doesn't take a genius to figure that one out."

A flash of confusion crossed Kyrton's face and Honor felt a matching sentiment. If Kyrton hadn't set them, then perhaps Logan? He gave a mental shrug; the object Logan had tasked them to recover was in this room and only the survivor would be allowed to collect it.

"You know," Kyrton said idly. "When last we dueled, I do believe that I defeated you handedly."

Honor shrugged. "When last we dueled, I had but a shadow of the power and ability I have now."

Even before Honor had finished speaking, he leapt forward towards Kyrton, enhancing his natural speed with the Force. Kyrton's blade snapped up and met his, blocking Honor's attack, then disengaging and whirling to bisect him from behind. Honor jumped over the blade, then extended a hand and sent a blast of kinetic energy at Kyrton.

The force of the energy threw Honor backwards and he ducked into a short flip to land on his feet. The blow had taken Kyrton by surprise, and the Cryth had smashed into a control panel.

"Not bad," Kyrton said with a cough. "But you'll have to do far better then that."

With that said, the man raised a hand, sending strands of lightning shooting out. Honor brought his blade up in a quick swipe, using it to deflect the initial attack and allow him time to focus his energy on creating a Force shield around him. The lightning skittered along the edges of the shield, draining it and requiring Honor to feed more energy into it but holding.

"Impressive, most impressive," Kyrton replied, letting the lightning die out. "But you are not a match for me yet."

Honor let the shield fade then dashed towards Kyrton again, using the lightsaber as he would use his beskad. Short, heavy strokes that, when used successfully, denied a lightsaber the room it needed to cut.

"You know," Honor said as he and Kyrton's sabers flashed around them. "The last time I fought like this, the Force gave you the advantage. This time," Honor continued as his blade lightly slashed across Kyrton's thigh. "You don't have that analogy."

Kyrton used the Force to shove Honor backwards and laughed. "That may be," he said. "But I always have others."

The Cryth made a quick flash of motion with his hand and then leaped forward to attack Honor once more, intent to engage and occupy him.

[Torin Borasia]

From his crouched position Torin watched the duel begin with subtle taunts and gestures and escalate into quite the impressive show of force powers from both sides. He was very well acquainted with Kyrton’s ability but he had to admit as he moved into a squat and stalked forward, that Honor’s force powers were substantially better than he had thought.

Torin figured it probably surprised Kyrton some as well as he watched his old master thrown backwards into a control panel. Torin was getting closer and getting tired of waiting for that signal. It was about time to jump in no matter what.

Just then he heard Honor say something about Kyrton not having the advantage this time that he had last. When Kyrton responded with a confident laugh and powerful force shove then said, “That may be, but I always have others,” Torin knew felt and knew it was time.

He twirled his lightsaber once in his grip and leapt with assistance from the force landing just to the left of what appeared to be a surprised Honor.
As Honor took a few steps backwards Torin thumbed the activation switch on his lightsaber, twirled it around into a reverse grip and up into a standard block with his wide balanced stance, “It seems Honor, that the advantage is ours once more.”

With that Kryton stalked forward and Torin began to follow giving his lightsaber a confident twirl along the way.

[Cryslah Orion]

From her hidden vantage point Crys kept a careful watch on the duel, and waited for Honor’s signal. So far he was definitely holding his own, so Crys bided her time, and tried to figure out exactly what was going on here. Honor and his opponent were fighting for real, but something about it didn’t feel right to Crys, almost like it was contrived. Then suddenly it took a turn towards the deadly. A second opponent leapt into the fight against Honor, and Crys mentally saw her ride vanishing. Without waiting for Honor’s signal, she sprang, landing right in front of the newcomer, her weapon fully extended and whirling a furious onslaught.

Her opponent smirked and struck, and nearly stumbled when his lightsaber failed to cut through her weapon and strike her. Crys didn’t hesitate. Weaving a defensive wall with her Force-embued weapon, Crys drove her opponent backwards, away from Honor, her weapon weaving attack patterns through the air; it’s momentum simultaneously shielding her from attack while keeping Torin on the defensive. With a deft dodge, Torin interposed his blade into the attack pattern, halting the weapon’s twirl and forcing Crys onto the defensive. But as she used both weapon and agility to dodge the man’s lightsaber, she continued weaving her blade, slowly building its speed until she could take the offensive once more.

Crys was good, and the only real weakness in her chosen style was the draw of energy required to maintain it. Not use to fighting a Force-warrior, Crys was drawing deeper on her own Force strength than she ever had just to keep up with Torin. Narrowing down her focus, she honed in on her enemy and excluded everything else except the fervent hope that Honor end his duel soon so he could help her finish this one.

[Honor Harrington]

Even before Honor could turn to face the new threat from his rear, Crys jumped into action, her unique weapon extending and blocking Kyrton's surprise. A few moments of observation was enough to convince him that the girl could hold her own and Honor redoubled his attack on Kyrton.

The four duelists battled fiercly, using all manner of tricks in their aresenal to outwit, dupe and destroy their opponents. In the end, however, it seemed that they were simply too evenly matched. Though each had there fair share of cuts and wounds, none had succumbed or showed any sign of defeat.

Honor blocked a hammer strike from Kyrton then began to respond, only to find himself unable to move. His eyes, locked on Kyrton, saw the same response within his opponent, somehow, against all odds, they were literally frozen solid.

A quick check of his Force senses told Honor all he needed to. Logan had entered the room, trapping his apprentices in a stasis and throwing the two unexpected "apprentices" against one wall.

"Enough," he said quietly. "I will not have my apprentices killing each other. Save it for the Vong."

With a wave of his hand, he released the stasis, dropping Honor and Kyrton to their knees.

"Yes, Master," they both replied more than unhappily.

Nodding satisfactorily, Logan turned to face Crys and Torin. "Interesting," he said quietly to himself. "It seems you both have reached out in efforts to best the other...most interesting." Logan turned to face Kyrton and Honor once more. "Train them, make them weapons against the Vong. It shall make you all stronger."

With that, he turned and left, returning to the Cryth shuttle and sure that everyone else would follow. These new apprentices would throw a little twist into his plans, but nothing he couldn't account for.

[Torin Borasia]

Torin knew Logan's voice when he heard it and hearing it made sense of the Force power that had thrown him backwards so hard that it could have scrammbled his brains.

A glance around the room after Logan had said something about training them and then walked out, showed the other three had been stopped by Logan's entrance as well.

One glance at the unknown Woman across from him reminded him of what an intense duel he'd had going before Logan showed up. He had thought that himself and Kyrton were about to show Honor a few things about teamwork when she had suddenly leapt out with what looked like a Wan-Shen or something close to it and began driving him back.

Torin knew he had very good and some would say excellent at times skills with a lightsaber, but he had never trained or fought against such a weapon. That and the fact that she had used it skillfully had resulted in a stalemate of sorts with them both taking some advantage here and there just to lose it again.

They had gone back and forth until everything had been stopped so there was no way to know how it would have turned out.

But that was over now he guessed.

The real mystery, in spite of Logan's orders, he thought as he held his unlit but at the ready lightsaber to his side, was what in the Force would happen now?

[Cryslah Orion]

Crys slowly raised herself to a sitting position, struggling to make sense of all that had just passed. Her head throbbed where it had struck the wall, but she was pretty certain her first instincts had been correct: these people were crazy. What had she gotten herself into? These people were powerful Forcer users, they were dark, and their leader was more powerful and darker than all of them. She was in way over her head.

And had she heard him correctly? Had he just taken possession of her as if he had a right to do that, and handed her over to Honor as some kind of apprentice? And they were going to fight the Vong? They weren’t just crazy – they were crazy dangerous. They were either going to kill her or get her killed.

Self-preservation was Crys’s foremost instinct and it cleared her fog faster than anything else. She raised her head and looked straight at Honor where he was still kneeling on the floor. Her look was pure defiance.

“You are all insane. I’m not going anywhere with you.”