The Sith’s Hard Time Sentence

[17JosephLC]

“You do realize there are many non-Human Mandalorians, right?” Isabella pointed out with a raised brow.

Any other conversation was cut short by the drawing of a red lightsaber, and a wave of power from the Dark Side. “Sith,” Isabella proclaimed, calling on the Light Side to buffer away the Darkness. “How many times do we have to defeat your kind before you do the smart thing and stay gone?!”

[Hrtofdrkns]

The Sith charged her, leaping up and over her at the last moment and slashing at her from behind.

[17JosephLC]

But the Master intervened and blocked the attack.

Isabella twisted around and went on the offensive, attacking the Sith with masterful precision. She tried to keep the Sith’s attention on her, so the Master could strike at his openings.

[Hrtofdrkns]

"Why do you care what happens to them?" He asked as he countered and parried. "They are monsters. The galaxy will be better off without them."

[17JosephLC]

“There are millions of innocents among them! Children and babies! Besides, no whole people can be punished for the actions of a small handful,” Isabella proclaimed as she went on the offensive with her saberstaff.

[Hrtofdrkns]

"You are a naive fool to believe that!" He hissed, using The Force to throw her backwards. Meanwhile Gavin was behind the control console trying to stop the countdown.

[17JosephLC]

She used the Force to shield herself, only sliding back a few feet before going back on the offensive. “And you are a mad Sith! The Mandalorians are not an army!” She ran forward and locked blades with him. “They’re not even a nation. They’re a culture, an idea,” she explained to the Cathar.

Breaking the lock, she Force pushed him back into a wall. “And ideas are impossible to kill!”

[Hrtofdrkns]

The Sith slid backwards, but quickly recovered. "Kill everyone who holds them and ideas can die." He replied, giving her a grin that was anything but reassuring. "Fear can wither a culture too, by making those who hold ideas you don't want too afraid to pass them on." He held out his left hand, his eyes glowing red.

"Let me show you..."

Suddenly Isabella felt raw terror rising from within her as her worst nightmare played out before her eyes.

[17JosephLC]

“That doesn’t stop them from having them, and others will always have similar ideas and thoughts,” Isabella countered, glaring at him. “The galaxy is too big and has too many people to wipe out something like the Mandalorians.”

She gasped, hands going to her head. Taking a knee, she saw the painful death of everything she knew and loved… but life continued on. Calling on the Light Side, she burned away the Dark Side-induced visions and stood strong once more, looking impassively at tbe Sith. “You see, that is something you Sith don’t understand; fear is weak. Because fear is in illusion. Danger is very real, but fear is a choice. I choose not to be afraid. You have no power over me, Sith. Now surrender while you still can.”

Her little speech saved to both distract the Cathar and give Master Gavin the time he needed to stop the virus.

[Hrtofdrkns]

Taking advantage of the Sith's distraction, Gavin finally managed to stop the countdown.

As an automated COUNTDOWN STOPPED rang out the Sith briefly lost his concentration in his contest of wills with Isabella. For just a brief moment, she saw into his mind.

She saw his pain, his fear, his loss that utterly consumed him, until all he could think of was a final death where there would be no grief, where everything would finally, mercifully end.

It was enough to move anyone to tears for his pain. But then she caught just a glimpse of what ran deeper within his soul, what he truly was, what he had done to countless beings and would do to countless more if he was not stopped. It was horror almost beyond her imagining.