You step out onto the training field and squint momentarily as the sunlight hits your face. When your eyes adjust, you look around you and see the trappings common to military campuses - stout buildings with fluttering flags, a paved parade square, and heavily armed battlements. The training field itself is meticulously maintained grass that could easily act as a landing field for dozens of fighters and transports. The horizon is clear of all but trees and the ominous weapons turrets that ring the walls.

The cadets of the Taldryan Military Institute see you, tensing to attention as they notice your battle armour. They are hurriedly ordered off the field by their officers and rush into the safety of the closest buildings. You see the guards in the battlements re-direct their attention from the exterior of the campus to you, but they know not to interfere in the affairs of Jedi.

Without the bustle of the cadets and the barked orders of their officers, the air grows still and even the sounds of animals quiets. You walk to the center of the training field and wait for your opponent

“I still don’t know about this. I thought you told me nobody survived down here,” Kooki said, keeping a hold on her lightsaber.

“The distress signal was clear. With Raiju’s disappearance, I need everyone I can get in Dinaari,” Andrelious answered.

“If you’re finding someone for Dinaari, why am I on the mission with you? Couldn’t you have brought that Aleena? Or one of the veterans?” the Alderaanian asked.

“I already explained. There’s still believed to be Inquisitorius activity on this planet. We needed someone who is capable of acting as one of their agents. You’re the best in the clan at that,” Andrelious explained.

Kooki smiled. She enjoyed hearing her spouse praise her abilities. For the mission ahead, she had disguised herself with a new outfit. Her trademark purple corset gave way to a fairly tight fitting, high necked red jumper, with the Alderaanian also altering her hair colour away from its natural black to a light shade of brown.

Andrelious checked his scanner. It could detect a number of lifeforms nearby, close to the coordinates that was attached to the original distress call.

I’d have thought there’d only be one or two people. Strange that there’s a whole group.

“Can we please get on with it? This place isn’t our home anymore. It’s giving me the creeps just being back here!” Kooki announced.

Andrelious began to reply, but he was cut off as a blaster bolt slammed into the ground between the couple. They both identified it as having been fired from a sniper rifle.

Spotting the sniper, the two Sith activated their lightsabers in perfect unison, charging towards their would-be assailant. The sniper fired another two shots, each of which came a little closer to hitting Andrelious, who appeared to be his primary target.

The sniper had taken position atop the remains of what had once been a set of steps, and had neglected to make any attempt to guard his rear from attack.

Nodding over at her husband, Kooki ran to the left of the sniper’s position, whilst Andrelious strayed to the right. The sniper turned, keeping his rifle pointed in the direction of the Dinaari Aedile, cursing under his breath at his failure to end things quickly. As he continued to track Andrelious, he was caught off-guard as a metal toe-capped boot kicked his weapon’s tripod away.

“Whoops!” Kooki teased. The sniper reached onto the ground for his secondary blaster, but the Alderaanian was faster; she stamped hard on the man’s hand. The bones in the sniper’s fingers shattered beneath the weight of the furious female’s boot.

Crying out in pain, the sniper rolled onto his back, cradling his injured hand in its undamaged counterpart.

“That looks like it hurt. Let me give you something to ease the pain,” Kooki stated in a softer tone.

The sniper looked very perplexed at the change of heart, but he was in such intense agony that he didn’t think twice. He offered his wounded hand to Kooki, but his surprise was quickly replaced by horror as the woman’s lightsaber blade sliced cleanly through his wrist.

“Oh. You’re done already,” Andrelious observed, having arrived on the scene moments earlier. The fallen sniper was laying on the ground, cursing angrily at Kooki. Kneeling down, the Aedile stared straight at his enemy, as if he were trying to hypnotise the man.

“Inquisitorius trap. There’s another four of the bastards nearby,” the former Imperial explained. His Force-based interrogation finished, Andrelious wasted no time in executing the sniper, removing his head with a single slash of his lightsaber blade.

“Any more snipers?” asked the Alderaanian.

“No. And I know who’s behind this little trap. Enoch Ketcher,” Andrelious explained.

Kooki raised an eyebrow. “Enoch Ketcher?”

“He was on the Suffering during the original attack. I don’t know much about him, other than that he’s another Grand Inquisitor. Seemed to take particular exception to the fact that I remained loyal to the clan,” the former Imperial continued.

“If there’s nobody here other than this Ketcher and his underlings, I suggest we just leave!” Kooki demanded.

Andrelious nodded in agreement. The two Sith descended back down to ground level.

“You’re not seriously going to leave already? I’ve only just begun to get to know you!” a male voice boomed.

Andrelious recognised the voice immediately. “Enoch Ketcher. Actually taking part this time?” he hissed.

“That will depend. I don’t like to get my hands dirty, these days,” Ketcher answered. “You’ve already dealt with one of my men, but don’t you worry. I’ve still got plenty of backup!”

“Backup or not, you’ve bitten off more than you can chew, Ketcher!” Kooki snarled.

“Ah. The real power in the Mimosa-Inahj family. I almost want to take you one-on-one. For now, though, you’ll have to make do,” the Inquisitor stated coolly.

As Ketcher spoke, a female Twi’lek and a male Human, both dressed in the familiar clothing of members of the Inquisitorius, appeared from behind a pile of rubble.

“Corinna and Drent here have heard that you two think you’re good with your lightsabers. They’d like you to prove it,” Ketcher declared as his allies activated their lightsabers. Without further discussion, the Grand Inquisitor began to walk away from the scene.

Readying themselves, Andrelious and Kooki glanced over at each other.

You take him. I’ll take her.

An awkward silence resonated between the foursome, unsure who would make the first move. The pupils of Kooki’s eyes darted left, right and centre trying to spot her enemies’ first move. She could tell this was going to be quite a challenge, however not only did the Alderaanian enjoy a fresh challenge, but she was also rather infuriated at being back on Karufr again after all that had happened here previously. Even the air in this mostly desolate site of destruction, smelt of betrayal, loss, sadness and bitterness. Not that long ago Kooki had witnessed another home crumble to dust before her eyes, along with the bodies of innocent civilians falling at the feet of the Iron Legion following the commands of a traitor.

Andrelious could feel his spouse’s unease, but he had faith in her duelling abilities. He took a few steps back as his own apprehensions began kicking in.

I’ll take HER instead. Nothing like a bit of girl-on-girl! Grinned Kooki as she telepathically sent a message to Andrelious and giving him a cheeky look.

Noticing their enemies’ slight hesitation, Corinna engaged and lunged her saber blade towards Kooki. However, the quick-witted Alderaanian swiftly cast her glare at the female opposite her and blocked the attack.

The anger began building within Andrelious and he thrust his scarlet blade towards the upper arm of Drent. The opposing male seemed quite stunned by this move and took a couple of steps back, yet failed to block the attack in time, which resulted in a wounded bicep. The male Inquisitor yowled out in pain, but was enraged enough to continue duelling and refused to let Enoch Ketcher down.

Corinna managed to keep her focus and almost block out her fellow teammate’s cries of pain. She became even angrier too and was surprisingly feisty. She swooped her emerald blade towards Kooki. Her wrist was very supple and she manipulated her hilt to her advantage and was competently able to block and attack within quick succession. It was a tough match, even for Kooki’s secret trademark ambidextrous move.

Being within such close proximity of two hot-blooded duelling females instilled nervousness in Andrelious and Drent who were trying to maintain their focus. Despite lacking in height and being significantly shorter than his opponent, the Warlord managed to use this to his advantage and attack areas on Drent’s body that may have been harder to reach had he been taller. He was trying to resist the urge to project Force Lightning onto the Inquisitor before him, as he was full of venom and desiring serving up the ultimate revenge.

Save your energy, babe. Save it for Ketcher!

Kooki knew from past experiences her spouse would have been a little too enthusiastic to use his Force power in excess and exhaust himself. Right now they both needed to attack, but carefully as to preserve their ultimate aggression. Andrelious was conflicted, but deep down knew that Kooki was right once again and obediently obliged.

Suddenly Drent retracted his saber blade, as he and his foe heard Corinna’s voice sounding like a croaky whisper. As much as he wanted to continue duelling, he had vowed to protect her and defend the remaining Inquisitors at any cost. He started to intervene, but Andrelious elbowed him sharply in his stomach. Gasping for breath at being winded, Drent collapsed to the floor, speeding up his breathing to try and get back onto his feet as soon as possible. Andrelious deactivated his saber blade and eagerly watched his spouse interrogate her new enemy.

Kooki held Corinna against the wall with the Force, whilst her amethyst blade was hovering by the female Inquisitor’s throat.

“Now! Where is he?! Where is Ketcher hiding?” an enraged Kooki demanded.

“I don’t have to tell you that,” Corinna managed to utter, her voice still not much more than a croaking hush.

“Ok…” Kooki quietened, as she moved her saber blade away from Corinna’s throat, but still held her onto the wall firmly.

Her rival started to feel slightly relaxed.

“Tell me, do you have a family?” the female Sith asked.

“Umm…no…” stuttered the nervous Twi’lek.

Kooki resumed the previous position of her lightsaber blade, this time closer to the throat of the traitorous enemy before her.

“Then I don’t have to let you live!” Kooki hissed.

“H…h…he’s…” stammered Corinna, who suddenly felt very holistically weak.

“DON’T TELL THEM!” boomed Drent from the ground.

His female counterpart refused to speak, but as Kooki’s blade drew closer, she could almost feel the warmth of this bright lilac light approaching her. The pupils in Corinna’s hazel eyes moved to the right. It may have been slight, but Kooki noticed and retracted her lightsaber blade.

“This way!!!” she exclaimed excitedly, leaving her opponent to collapse in a mixture of fear and shock.

Drent was angry at Corinna’s betrayal and looked over at her scolding her under his breath. Yet seeing her so shaken, he actually felt sorry for her having gone through such an ordeal. But he refused to let the Sith couple escape freely. He tried to get to his feet, but his ribs still felt badly bruised from Andrelious’ surprisingly sharp elbow attack.

Drent reached out both of his hands and with each one grabbed the outer legs of both Andrelious and Kooki. The unsuspecting couple fell helplessly to the ground and Kooki’s hidden blaster slid out and across the floor, just a couple of feet out of reach. Luckily they both remained relatively unscathed, yet Drent was smugly cackling to himself. Corinna was now smiling rather pleased at the small mercy of revenge.

“HA! For us. For KETCHER!” Drent boasted loudly and proudly.

Not one to admit defeat, Kooki reached out her hand towards her blaster. Closing her eyes briefly, she concentrated hard and soon her trustworthy weapon was in her right hand. Drent was far too busy laughing to notice. With a sudden pull of a trigger, a blaster bolt shot through the air and plunged conveniently into Corinna’s head. Bursting through her cranium and damaging several brain tissues along the way, she slowly began bleeding and her respiratory system also began to slow.

Drent screamed out as his closest companion was slowly dying before his eyes. He managed to get to his feet and headed towards a now standing Kooki and Andrelious. He fumbled about on his side and reached for his hilt, but his injury and grief were just too much to make him as swift as he normally was. Kooki outstretched her left hand aggressively causing Drent’s head to fall back. She may not have broken any bones in his neck, but now his throat was fully exposed. A well-prepared Andrelious gleefully plunged his lightsaber blade into the centre of the uncovered skin.

Drent’s burst windpipe slowly began suffocating him. Corinna’s heart began to cardiac arrest.

Andrelious deactivated his lightsaber blade and clasped his hand into Kooki’s. The couple looked at each other and then at their slowly dying enemies.

“For Mimosa-Inahj!” they chorused in unison, as they headed off to locate Enoch Ketcher and finish their business on Karufr once and for all.

As the Mimosa-Inahj couple reached out with the Force in an attempt to find Ketcher, Kooki sensed a feeling of uneasiness from her spouse.

“You’re hiding something about Ketcher. Tell me!” the Alderaanian snapped.

“It’s probably nothing, but, when I first met Ketcher, during the attack on Karufr, the way he was talking about me being a father. He seemed particularly interested in finding the twins,” Andrelious replied.

Kooki’s eyebrows furrowed. “You didn’t think to tell me that he knew about our children?”

“If I had told you, you would have tried to seek him out. Enoch Ketcher is a very dangerous individual. I wanted to make sure we could take him on together,” the Aedile explained, a tinge of fear in his voice.

“I don’t need you to decide who I’m capable of dealing with! We’ll talk about this later!” Kooki hissed.

Andrelious didn’t get a chance to reply. He spotted a trio of Iron Legion soldiers approaching. He didn’t say anything; he knew exactly how his spouse would react.

Sure enough, the fuming female charged at the armour-clad soldiers. Her purple blade cleaved almost effortlessly through her targets, who vainly fired their blasters.

Stupid bucketheads. Andrelious thought.

“Coming?” Kooki asked, not bothering to check if her latest victims were actually dead.

Andrelious followed obediently, also ignoring the fallen enemies. Since he had revealed Ketcher’s apparent interest in the twins, he could feel anger and hatred surging through Kooki.

“Wait!” the Seeker called out.

“What now? Are those little legs of yours tired?” Kooki snapped.

“Hardly. Look over there. Assassin droids. I’ll bet Ketcher’s had them searching Karufr since the attack,” Andrelious explained.

“So? They’re no more useful to him than those useless bucketheads! Come on!” the Alderaanian continued.

As Kooki moved closer to the droids, they spotted her and began peppering the area with blaster fire. The Shadow backpedalled as fast as she could, nearly pulling Andrelious over when she grabbed his shoulder to get him to follow.

“Let’s try something else!” Andrelious declared as he noticed the droids beginning to move towards them.

Holding his hands up, the Dinaari Aedile tossed his lightsaber away. Kooki, quickly understanding what her husband was doing, followed suit.

The droids continued their approach, but lowered their blasters. They moved into formation around the Mimosa-Inahj couple, who were forced to stand back-to-back.

“So. My droids are too much for you?” a voice questioned. Andrelious and Kooki craned their necks to spot a man dressed in a technician’s coveralls.

“I would have loved to have added the two of you to the list of prisoners that my droids are responsible for capturing, but I’m afraid I have my orders. Still, a firing squad is pleasing enough,” the man continued, signalling to the droids.

As the droids raised their weapons, the two Sith didn’t move. It was only as their would-be executioners squeezed the triggers on their blasters that they acted. They leapt in the air together, the Force carrying them high into the air and away from the droids, who promptly fired directly into each other. On the way down, both husband and wife summoned their lightsabers back to their hands. Once they landed, they turned on the technician, who was standing open mouthed at what he’d just witnessed.

“Frakking predictable droids,” Kooki hissed, wasting no time in cutting the man down.

“I think Ketcher’s probably going to try and get away from the planet. For all his bluster, I’ve got no idea if he can actually fight,” Andrelious explained.

“So he wasn’t even down on the planet before? He sounds rather like an Imperial commander. Sure you’re not old friends?” Kooki sneered.

Andrelious ignored the barb and began to visually scan the area, looking for signs of Ketcher. He spotted movement near a JV-7 shuttle.

“Let’s go!” he shouted, beginning to sprint towards the ship.

It did not take the couple long to reach the shuttle. Sure enough, Enoch Ketcher was standing on its boarding ramp.

“So you want to take me on? I’ll remember to tell your children what happened to their parents!” Ketcher declared, smirking.

The threat was too much for Kooki. She charged in, a murderous glint in her eye. Andrelious got ready to follow, but the Grand Inquisitor was already engaging Kooki with a pair of his own lightsabers, forcing the Alderaanian immediately onto the defensive.

“You think two blades will save you, Ketcher?” Kooki hissed.

Andrelious entered the fray, attempting to drive his saber into his enemy’s back. Spinning around, Ketcher easily blocked the attack, but the distraction gave Kooki a chance to go on an offensive of her own. She tried to smash her blade past those of her target, but Ketcher easily parried the attack.

“You’re not leaving this planet again!” Ketcher taunted. Tossing one of his lightsabers to the ground, he extended an arm towards Kooki. The Alderaanian was flung away at speed, landing a dozen feet away from the Inquisitor.

“Man-to-man. Time you stopped letting your wife do all the work!” Ketcher snarled.

Though he was worried about Kooki, Andrelious had no time to check on her. Enoch Ketcher was on the attack.

Kooki opened her eyes. Her left arm hurt from the impact, but she had just about managed to avoid any further injuries from having landed as neatly as the situation allowed. Seeing Andrelious struggling, she climbed to her feet.

Time to end this!

Now on her feet, Kooki swiftly joined her spouse in the challenging duel against Ketcher. Surely two feisty people was going to prove difficult for this Grand Inquisitor. The revelation of their new foe taking an interest in their children just made Kooki even angrier and more determined to overthrow him.

Ketcher was swinging his lightsabers and managing to almost simultaneously block and attack Andrelious. She noticed her spouse was predictably aiming his attacks on their opponent’s upper body. Using this to her advantage, the female lunged towards their new enemy’s thigh, which as hoped, caused him to buckle downwards and fall to his knees. As his was scrabbling to his feet, Kooki wasted no time in mocking his downfall.

“Getting tired yet, Ketcher?” she teased.

“Never!” Enoch Ketcher scowled back.

“Bet all those restless nights with your children must take their toll on your health, Mimosa!” he continued to try and provoke Kooki’s maternal temper.

“Leave MY girls out of this!” the Alderaanian mother yelled.

“What? Your girls you left behind? Anything could be happening to them right now? You can’t protect them every minute of every day you know? The Grand Inquisitor taunted, whilst igniting his sabers once more. Kooki had slyly observed Ketcher’s saber skills and had noticed as skilful as he was and how menacing he tried to portray himself to be two weapons, he clearly had a dominant hand. She had always been one to manage to spot weakness, even in the toughest of situations and this skill tended to emerge when she was full of maternal rage. The love of her daughters and urge to protect them at all costs somehow gave her the ability to spy deficiencies in those against her. His left wrist movements were slightly weaker than those of his right counterpart. Andrelious continued to move his saber in an attempt to block the Grand Inquisitor from wounding him.

Suddenly, Ketcher swung his dominant hand and lunged his weapon towards Andrelious’ chest who tried in vain to shield his lungs from being punctured by moving his arm across his upper torso. In doing so, his enemy’s blade sliced into the Sith’s lower arm resulting in a nasty burn wound through his wrist. Luckily he retracted his blade just before it entered the lungs. However, the hilt belonging to the male Mimosa-Inahj, was now rolling beside his feet and he was in pain.

Moving her hand and foot out in unison, Kooki managed to push Andrelious out of the way into the side wall, and save his lightsaber with her steel-toe capped boots.

“You stay out of harm’s way, babe!” Kooki ordered.

“He’s mine to finish. I’ll be the one to end him!” she bellowed.

Enoch Ketcher just stood there armed with his two trusty weapons opposite Kooki laughing cockily and mocking her.

“Since it’s just the two of us now, I’ll put this one away.” Teased the male foe, throwing his saber hilt from his weaker hand to the floor, but kept it within reach.

The feisty female wasted very little time and threw her trusty hilt into her left hand and spun around and swept her amethyst blade left and right in quick succession, trying to confuse Ketcher. With a clean sweep of her lightsaber, the amethyst blade sliced through Ketcher's wrist. His hand fell to the floor with an echoing thud and dust flew into the air, as he groaned out in pain. He fell to his knees in an attempt to locate his other saber, refusing to give in. Whilst the male counterpart scuttled around on the floor, Kooki moved her leg back and with a sharp kick in the back of his head from her steel-toe capped boot, Enoch Ketcher fell unconscious. Without saying anything, Kooki picked up her spouse’s hilt and gestured a hand to him to help him to his feet. For a few moments nothing was said between them.

Looking at the seemingly lifeless body on the floor a few feet away from him, Andrelious could barely manage to speak.

“Wow!” he gushed.

Kooki smiled.

“I think we are done here.” She mused, and held out her arm to her shorter husband.

Andrelious merely nodded.

The Mimosa-Inahj couple linked arms and began walking away to head back from whence they came.

Just before they disappeared completely out of sight of the fight scene, Kooki glanced over her shoulder.

“IT’S OVER, KETCHER…IT’S OVER!” she yelled, and began laughing.

Andrelious smiled.

“You're a little scary sometimes, you know that? Brilliant... but scary.” He exclaimed.

Kooki smiled.

---

Meanwhile…

Two eyelids flickered open.

“Over for now…” stuttered a croaky voice.

Kookimarissia and Andrelious Mimosa-Inahj had made a powerful enemy in Enoch Ketcher. And they had got away with it…

But for how long?