CHAPTER XIII: ORDEAL BY FIRE

Lady Kaliah had been unconscious for many days and her mind was blank when she woke up. But then the painful thoughts of her thirty minute sexual encounter with Syrenia came flooding into her mind. As a Seer she was no longer pure. Syrenia had defiled her body. Kali felt filthy and un-clean. Yet the Fantax pleasure drug was slow to wear off and Kali’s mind was drifting.

At first she was dazed but then an intense pulse raced through her body and she convulsed forward in pain. The first sight she saw was the Sith Seer Syrenia staring into her eyes. “Remember me?” whispered Syrenia wickedly, ready to enjoy more lust for pleasure AND revenge.

Kaliah knew she was the Kyrie of Na’Baiya and the Sith’s best Seer, the one they called Syrenia, Lord Rexor’s Dark Mistress. The deviant defiler. “Yes, I remember” Kaliah said in a weakened voice. “Good, because tonight you will remember everything and you will reveal to us the secret pathway you discovered and your secret vision.” That said, Syrenia hit the Lectropole chargers again and Lady Kaliah screamed in pain, her body convulsing wildly. The crowd cheered but Lord Rexor waved them to silence as the stadium audio-invasors amplified every word spoken.

“Why are you doing this to me?” begged Kaliah. But the only response she got from Syrenia was a sharp right-handed blow to her mouth which split open her lower lip. She was bleeding now. Syrenia was smiling as she licked her lips, ready for more wicked pleasure. “Any other questions?” mocked Syrenia.

Syrenia was enjoying every minute of the Whill Seer’s pain and jolted her many more times. Each time she increased the voltage and Lady Kaliah screamed out in agony which was broadcast all over Tirahnna as well as over Elysia.

The Sith were cruel and they wanted the Whills to know that they would soon be destroyed, starting with the Queen’s daughter. A massive GCN probe com carrier was sent to the Inner Rim to bring the scenes of torture to that sector of the galaxy.

On Elysia, even as the Amber Commandos were to depart for a rescue mission they knew it was too late. With every scream of Lady Kaliah the Whills wept. The Queen collapsed and needed urgent medical attention. Every planet inside the Inner Rim wept as Lady Kaliah was tortured live by the Sith.

Kaliah tried to relax her body so that her mind could again reach out to the force but Syrenia would not allow it. Kaliah begged her to stop the pulses. Syrenia smiled and said surprisingly, “alright my dear, perhaps you’ve had enough of that.” The Lectropoles were turned off, and Lady Kaliah went limp for a moment.

Inside, images were flooding her mind and Syrenia was reading them, but they were only of pain. Syrenia then approached Lady Kaliah and brought out the Fire Whip. Hitting a switch, the whip came alive with red cutting rings on low strength, but enough to cause great pain. Kaliah foresaw what was going to happen and started to weep. Syrenia thought to herself, how pathetic these Whills are. They are weak while we Sith are strong. A Sith female would never cry in a situation like this. I myself would spit in the face of my torturer.
 
Lady Kaliah closed her eyes knowing what was to happen. This angered Syrenia who tore her white pleated lanium dress to shreds revealing Lady Kaliah’s exposed breasts, stomach, arms, legs, and back. She was practically naked with only rags covering her. The crowd again roared in jubilation as the Whills on Elysia tried to look away. Syrenia had shamed her publicly and now she would lash her forty times like a common criminal.

The first strike was the hardest as Kaliah was cut wide along her midsection. Her agonizing screams filled the galaxy as she was lashed about the arms, legs, back, face, and torso. After twenty minutes enough blood had dripped on the balcony floor to pool under the Lectropoles. At this, Lord Rexor said, “ENOUGH!” Lady Kaliah’s pleated lanium dress was drenched in blood. They had become bloody rags.

For Bo’ the pain was equally intense. He loved Kali and seeing her in pain was tearing his heart apart. He wanted to kill every Sith in sight but he had to rescue her somehow and he had to do it alone. Heartbroken, Bo’ ordered Kailen back to the Falcon, “You can’t help me if the ship is not ready and waiting for us to depart with Kali. Go back and ready the Falcon, kill any Sith that stands in your way.” Bo’ was crying inside the Kyrie helmet and Kailen knew it. “You can’t save her Bo’- she’s already dead” Kailen cried.

But Bo’ was determined to rescue her no matter what the cost and without thinking started running towards the stadium that was several miles away. In the background he could hear Kailen calling to him but his heart was racing to save Kali. He couldn’t even think and after running several blocks with the heavy rifle he dropped it in despair. He remembered the glow Kali had on Na’Baiya and how she had blinded the Sith with light. How was it that she could not do that now? What was the source of that power, the power to live and save lives? Bo’ searched his heart and although he was not a very spiritual man he was on his knees in a courtyard searching his heart. Everything inside of him cried out for help. She must live, Kali must live, there must be a way.

Just then Bo’ heard a strange sound coming from behind a large enclosure near the courtyard. These were the rumored stables of the Sith mounts known as hursas, those reserved for the Dark Masters and military commanders. The hursas were fast four legged animals with a soft mane and long tail that a person could ride upon. Bo’ had never seen a real hursa- on Elysia they had mechanical mounts called Mechquin that resembled the fabled hursas. Maybe this was an answer to an unspoken prayer.

Bo’ entered the stable and there were rows of hursas all tied to magnapoles. One magnificent black Hursa was already geared-up with impulser bits and carried two armed stowage carriers on its back with KA-47 Hailstorms already holstered. Bo’ read the nameplate on the magnapole “Dark Beauty” and he literally jumped at the chance that this might help rescue Kali before it was too late. He said a prayer before mounting and then released the mag-lock to the pole.

The hursa quickly exited out into the courtyard and Bo’ prayed that he could operate the impulse controls like the Mechquin of Elysia, He had once rode one as a boy on JunKar when an Whill military commander had visited. Now he would give it another try with a real hursa.

Slowly he pushed down slightly on the impulse buttons and the hursa started to gallop. A little more and it picked up speed and then he closed his eyes and pushed down all the way. The hursa bolted through the courtyard and out into the city streets with great speed. Bo’ was elated and knew that a tug on the left impulse line told the hursa to go left while a tug on the right meant to turn right. Releasing the buttons and pulling both lines back the whole way signaled a stop! It was all coming back to him and he raced through Hael on the back of the hursa hugging it tightly. Dark Beauty’s race through Hael had caught the attention of the local spy probes and they followed in pursuit. The laser-brand ID of this hursa belonged to Supreme Commander Max-Kyller and a Kyrie was riding it unauthorized.

Bo’s Kyrie helmet suddenly flashed a warning message on his visor display for him to stop, but Bo’ kept riding like a strong wind up to the stadium that loomed in front of him now. He could see the steps leading up to its entrance but suddenly a piercing alarm went off in his helmet ordering him to stop and identify himself.

Now three probes were gaining on him as the Sith Capital Control Troopers were massing in front of him… but Bo’ didn’t care. He was filled with determination that nothing would stop him so he cast off the Kyrie helmet and grabbed one of the KA-47s from its holster. Without trying to aim Bo’ turned backwards and fired at the lead probe- a direct hit into its Magic Eye and it exploded into the street, sending debris flying. Several Control Troopers then opened fire but Dark Beauty knocked them aside or trampled them as Bo’ shot down probes two and three with the precision of a Bothan sniper.

The Grand Stadium’s steps were in front of him and he grabbed the impulse lines and slowed the hursa down. By the time the hursa was climbing the steps Bo’ was firing at every Sith in his path. It was if his hands were being guided by an unseen force because he never missed. Every Sith that crossed his path fell and he was heavily out numbered.

When he entered the stadium his instincts told him that he should ride a repulsor lift. Shocked Sith moved out of the way as the armed stranger on a hursa guided the animal into a the large repulsor lift. “What level?” asked the automated lift sensor. “Lord Rexor’s stand”, Bo’ answered coldly, twin KA-47s at the ready. The corner spot-scanner then came on and read the dead Kyrie’s holo-identification disc plate. “LEVEL SIX” came the response as the spot-scanner alerted the balcony Kyries of the stolen hursa’s rider inside the lift. Six Kyries turned to investigate… but then Lord Rexor was about to speak… they hesitated…

Inside the stadium, Lord Rexor, the Dark Master dismounted his Levitator Throne and approached Lady Kaliah who was near death. “NOW, YOU WILL REVEAL TO US THIS SECRET PATHWAY YOU HAVE DISCOVERED AND TELL US ALL THE VISION THAT YOU HAD. SYRENIA HERE WILL READ YOUR MIND AND IF YOU LIE YOU WILL CERTAINLY DIE!”

Kaliah looked into the faces of the angry Sith crowd and summoning her last strength she told them about the pathway, “Darkness rules the vastness of space, but light always leads a path to destiny” she quoted from the Journal of Hope. “The Light of All Life created life everywhere and in return that life created a life force that has the power to rule this galaxy for good or for evil. Either one of our races can reach out to this life force with clarity of mind and spirit but only the pathway of light will prevail in the end, for the pathway of darkness leads to destruction”.

All the Sith remained silent as she spoke, but Syrenia wanted to mock her. “So what IS this light you speak of? How can it be obtained?” Syrenia inquired with vengeance and murder in her mind.

Kaliah then spoke with the utmost clarity, “The light is of the heart and it is selfless LOVE, therefore the Sith will NEVER find the pathway to light from which all life came. YOU are lost forever in darkness and although you may discover how to manipulate the life force for evil, in the end YOUR RACE will PERISH forever. That is the truth and the holy vision. THE SITH ARE DESTINED TO PERISH!!! “, she screamed with all her strength and then fell unconscious.

Syrenia knew that what she had spoken was true and in her wicked heart she desired to kill the Whill Seer with great urgency.

With evil fury and rage she marched behind Lady Kaliah where her Fire Whip was still lying right next to a black obsidian case. She opened that case and pulled the two Fire Blades from it. Slowly she removed a module from both and inter-connected them. Lifting Lady Kaliah’s bloodied face she looked into her weak eyes and said with burning hatred, “THIS is all the LIGHT we Sith need and it was made from crystals of the Blood River. THIS is OUR light and it will soon spill YOUR blood, Seer. It will be YOU that will PERISH!” Syrenia raised the crimson fire blade high in the air. She was going to cleave this Whill abomination in two.

Lady Kaliah saw the burning red light of the Fire Blade through the salty blood in her eyes and gave her life over to the living life force. She surrendered all.