The moment I said that the place had been woken up, the chamber itself changed.
The lights that had been turned on began to increase in intensity, bathing everything in a bright light that almost eliminated any shadows to hide in. The ground beneath our boots trembled faintly, then did it again, this time being more pronounced as the entire ruin seemed to groan while the main generator got up to speed once again. From somewhere came the hiss of steam escaping from probably a broken pipe, along with the grind of stone meeting metal from some tunnel... somewhere. It was raising the hair on the back of my neck...
"We need to go," Vila agreed, already yanking me away from the control panel. Her grip on my arm was firm, and it helped ground me, as probably she also realized that the effect of this damned place made my eyes a bit glassy and my reaction... slower. She was right, of course... I wasn't at a hundred percent, and her grip helped keep the panic clawing at the back of my brain at bay. "We need to find our Masters. Now. Move!"
"Y-yes." I nodded, following her without any arguments.
Of course, HK was already in motion, his photoreceptors scanning every flicker of movement as he exited the chamber, taking in the much brighter, open space with one glance.
[Statement: Agreed. This facility's reactivation is not only catastrophic but statistically suicidal if we remain longer than five minutes. I can sense multiple energy sources being reactivated. Clarification: Droids.]
That was enough bad news... So we ran.
The halls we had crept through on our descent now were also pulsing with energy. Some of the ancient lights flickered, some even popped, but most of them continued to burn brightly, illuminating the corridors and making them look, at times, identical. However, worse than the feeling of getting lost were the sounds. Clanks, whirs, the resounding, echoing thump of something mechanical coming after us, right on our tail.
We didn't get more than thirty meters out from one of the side corridors we took before the first of them appeared. This one was no longer the clunky, degraded versions we had fought earlier. No... Even if its outer shell was showing signs of rust and discoloration, the one appearing was much faster and deadlier. HK was the one who reacted first, raising his looted firearm, letting out a shot, piercing the head unit, making it fall over... But... More were coming.
They wielded bladed polearms charged with crackling, violet energy, and some had the same carbine-like weapon that HK found and used a moment ago. Great...
"Oh, for the love of-" Vila cursed and ignited both of her sabers as there was no other way out of here but through the droids.
I mirrored her, my own blade igniting with its reassuring snap-hiss, somewhat helping in pushing down the panic that wanted to control me.
[Enthusiastic Observation: New combat parameters confirmed. Engaging!]
HK raised the ancient Rakatan carbine in its hand one more time, much more used to it now after getting used to its recoil with just one shot. The weapon, this time around, barked like an angry hound dog, hurling rapid bolts of dark red laser shots that ripped into the leading droids, tearing a similar, molten hole through its chest and sending it crashing into the wall.
The others didn't even pause... not that I expected them to feel anything, really. Instead, they spread out, creating a less clustered target for HK and simultaneously trying to encircle us all.
Vila wasn't going to let them do that, so she rushed forth and met them head-on. She was a blur of motion for a brief moment as she dashed into the center of their formation, her hands moving at different speeds, performing two completely different sets of attacks from Ataru, showing her mastery of the form. Her sabers flashed brightly as they began cutting through their metal shell with enough precision to prevent any type of counter opportunity on their end. She spun low next, carving one droid in half at the knees, then backflipped over another, slicing it apart with twin crossing arcs, creating an opening for us.
I stepped in beside her immediately, catching an incoming blow with a tight Makashi parry. It was aimed at her blind spot, but she knew I would be there. Of course, I would be... So, I smoothly redirected the polearm's energy into the floor before riposting with a clean thrust through its core. One down. I can do this... I began ignoring every feeling trying to enter my mind, and I solely latched onto Vila's movements instead, letting her speed and style drive my instincts. I was almost like becoming a droid myself... but it was working.
We fell into a rhythm very easily.
Every time Vila disarmed or staggered one, I was there to finish it. Then, every time I created an opening by blocking one that was going after her, she flowed into my move like water, dismantling the droid as if it were made of clay. But that was not all. Behind us, HK advanced with flawless speed, matching ours, firing with deadly precision. His carbine howled with every shot, blowing off limbs, heads, or torsos with dispassionate efficiency.
"On the corner! To the left!" Vila shouted, ducking under a sweeping strike and slamming her foot into a droid's midsection, using the Force to coat her body and send it flying. "We're getting boxed in!"
She was right. Glancing around, coming out from my battle-trance-like state, I could see more droids pouring in from the side passages, coming like a mechanical tide, their optics glowing with the same malicious red intent that made HK so unique. Damn...
In the end, we were backed into a wide platform, surrounded by a set of ancient consoles that flickered as some incoming shots from the droids hit them, as well as those that we weren't able to send back to their sender in time. There was no exit behind us, only a dead drop into shadow, going deeper into... somewhere. Damn it!
"We stand here!" I called out, stepping in front of Vila to block an overhead strike as the droid's pistol only sizzled when it tried to fire at us. The thing didn't even flinch as it discarded it, moving in for the attack with a knife-like weapon. Not that it would connect as I dropped low and sliced through the droid's legs, then kicked its upper half off the ledge.
"Hah! So be it!" Vila laughed between two laborious breaths as she pivoted and slashed out wide, catching two in a single flowing sweep. But there was no fear in her voice, only ample fire that made me also smile.
"It is not a bad death if you think about it!" I chuckled, reflecting on two incoming bolts, watching as a droid fell backward as a result.
"No, it is not," Vila agreed, using a force push to send two tumbles down the ledge, "But I would have preferred to die in a comfy bed, snuggling up to someone I love!"
"Sorry..." I muttered, making her glance at me just for a moment, but it was enough to see the smile in her eyes.
"Apology accepted."
As we were talking, HK moved behind us, drawing a second weapon from the hand of one of the fallen droids. It looked to be a bladed bayonet attached to a compact secondary rifle. He toggled both simultaneously, as if he had already handled these types of weapons for centuries. With a simple thrust, he impaled another droid with the blade before blasting its head clean off with a snapshot.
[Statement: Your combat synergy is marginally impressive for Meatbags. But you suck at probability counting. Encouragement: Please try not to die. I do not wish to carry both corpses after we killed them all.]
"Gee, thanks," Vila growled, barely dodging a crackling energy staff, slicing the owner of it into two. "Can't you hack them or something?!"
[Statement: I am trying. Their programming is unknown, and I have an issue cracking their firewalls.]
However, I have examined the situation multiple times by now, and it hasn't been good either time. Maybe it was really the end, huh? The enemy kept coming; they were relentless. Yes, we were efficient—perfect even—but we weren't invincible, not against these numbers. How many of these bastards were still there? Haahh... Too much, I guess. How the hell did any rebellion succeed if they had these many robots... wait... could they have hacked them? Not that it mattered now...
It was a mistake letting my thoughts wander, as my reward was that a strike grazed my right side. Pain flared sharply at once, short and instantaneous, traveling into my brain before I could fix my stance. Instead, I gritted my teeth and pressed forward, sending my saber through its torso, not even looking if I was bleeding or not.
"Force lighting would be good right now... Especially against droids, eh?" I hissed, but I could see Vila's body twitch, hearing the pain in my voice. But she couldn't turn around to take a look or even answer. Instead, she stepped before me, concentrating to the best of her abilities to take the pressure off me.
And then, just as a trio of droids cornered us against the edge, blades raised high to give us a finishing blow, actual, warm light exploded through the corridor. From where I stood, I could see three figures charging in, becoming a cyclone of lightsabers, glowing blue and red.
"Finally..." Vila sighed, deflecting one blade, while I managed to block the second as the third was blasted apart, along with its owner, by HK's carbine.
Master Ben's saber was like a comet made out of blue light, smashing through the droids like a force of nature. Each step was backed by the full power of the Force, sending shockwaves around, throwing the droids away like leaves in a typhoon.
I saw as Vestara moved forward beside him, eerily in sync with him, her red blade looking like a whip with how fluently it flowed in her hands. She was the same type of fury as Master, but with less destructive force behind her. Still, she was moving with the same fluid aggression that Vila used, only refined and brought to the pinnacle.
And behind them, Kyle Katarn was the thunder to their storm.
Vila's master moved like an executioner, each blow brutal and final for any droid trying to flank their group. He didn't move as fluently as Vestara or Ben, but every step was refined by his experience. There were no wasted efforts, not even a tiny one; if he moved, a droid had been dismembered. While his saber cut droids like wheat, his free hand blasted the others back with raw Force waves that shattered their metal bodies like they were made of glass.
"Kael! Vila!" Ben called out as he caught sight of us, "Fall in behind! Hurry!"
None of us hesitated. Vila just grabbed my wrist and pulled me forward as we jumped, going straight over the fallen droids, landing in the clearing that our Masters tore into the droids with godlike speed and power. I barely had enough time to react and use the Force to lift HK so he didn't need to tumble through the wreckage, pulling him alongside us. The moment we landed...
We joined the battle formation of our Masters.
With them leading the charge, the droids couldn't keep up, and the pressure on us was lessened considerably. I could watch how Vestara vaulted over two, slamming one into the wall and pinning the other with a downward strike. How Ben swept low, spun, then reversed his grip and stabbed backward without looking, yet finding his mark. Master Katarn? He threw his lightsaber like a discus, cutting through four droids in one arc before summoning it back with a flick of his hand. I have to learn that...
Still, we couldn't just gawk, as we also had our roles. I fought beside Vila, syncing my strikes with hers once again. She glanced at me once, looking at my injury, seeing that it didn't look too deep, or at least, it didn't bother my movement at the moment.
"We live another day, huh?"
"Maybe more than one," I gasped, parrying a last desperate blow from one of the droids. "Lucky us... eh?"
"Less talking!" Master said with an order as we kept moving, "This way!"
"Yes!" we nodded, not arguing... he was right. We can talk once we are out of here...