Darkness Rising

Daedra's heart was in her work, she believed in putting her soul and passion into what she did. After all, if she didn't do that what kind of pay could she rightfully expect from those that watched her? Granted most of the patrons of the club she graced her presence with were drunk but that hardly mattered. What mattered was that she put herself into the performance. That she showed herself in all the right places and could use the pole and stage to the greatest effect. Tonight seemed to be going particularly well, she'd only just removed her top and the dance was barely begun. From the looks the bartender kept giving her the credits were rolling. She could only see the physical chits on the stage around her, but she was certain that the digital counters must be getting up there as well. She wouldn't go hungry this week that was for sure. The cheering from her audience certainly seemed to prove that much. And why shouldn't they cheer? After all, she had a finely sculpted figure, forged and refined in the heat of a lifetime of training and proven in the fires of three years of war. She was beautiful and she knew it, and knew how to make men beg for her. Just a subtle touch of the Force was all that was needed and they parted with their money as willingly as Clones did their lives.
It had been three years since the end of the Clone Wars and she had not heard from her master since then. He had left on her own with nothing save the twin sabers that she'd made for herself during the course of the war to replace the one she'd lost. Of course shortly thereafter whatever had happened had happened and well...everything had gone to space. That was why she now made her living in a nightclub as a dancer, using the skills and acrobatics she'd learned as a Jedi and Commander of troops to seduce credits away from their rightful owners. Just to survive. Survive for what? She'd yet to get that far. After all, she hadn't stopped running yet. Perhaps when she finally had a place she could feel comfortable and safe in, that last part being the most important, she'd decide on what she would do with her life. Until then, surviving was her only prerogative. That, and parting men from their money. It was then, in the midst of a twirl that took her around the circumference of the pole and flipped her upside down that she felt a familiar singularity withing the Force. A presence that had once been a source of comfort and relief but had become one for terror and now annoyance. Clones.
She didn't pause in her dance, gripping the pole with her thighs and spinning around to get a full three-hundred and sixty degree view of the cheering crowd. There, by the door, a full squad. She smiled subtly. That was it? Nine troopers against her? This would be a joke. The troopers made their way through the crowd which parted around them as if the troopers were plagued...which really she supposed they might as well be. They reached the barkeep and held up a datapad. The bar tender examined it for a moment before pointing right at Daedra who ignored the gesture, it was better for now to just not pay attention to it after all and keep on dancing. No need to alert the troopers. If they thought she didn't know anything about what she was doing they might question their orders...yeah, might. The troopers had their weapons ready, all nine of them, as they turned from the bar and made their way towards the stage. This was it. She reached into their minds and felt their intent. They weren't going to ask her to come quietly. She was a target and they were going to execute her the moment they had a clear target. Well that was easily solved, she wouldn't give them a clear target.
Pausing for just a moment, she gripped the pole with her hands and then lifted off the stage in a made spin that sent her flying around the stage wildly as she held on tightly, twisting in midair to slide down the pole only to jerk upwards once again. The troopers stopped for a moment as they shoved their way through the crowd. Daedra judged the distance and did one last twirl before she let go of the pole and flew with all the grace of a cat. She sailed through the air cross her arms and summoning her sabers from their hiding places on her boots. They snapped into her hands and the two amber blades ignited and blazed furiously, lighting up the dim night club. Daedra pointed her boots at the lead trooper, both her heels landing squarely in his face and laying him flat on the floor. Her sabers jerked out to either side and slashed the two nearest Clones down. She was a blur of motion then as she rose and vivisected the fourth trooper cleanly up his groin with one saber as she deflected a series of angry bolts from his comrades into the screaming crowd.
She reached back with the Force, jerking the first Clone off the ground as she crushed his neck  with barely a thought and then hurled his corpse at her foes. The five remaining troopers avoided their flying comrade's body and got off a flurry of shots as Daedra advanced on them, swatting their shots away harmlessly.
"You don't know when to quit do you." she snarled, feeling her anger building, just as it had that first time when they'd cornered her in the rain, cold and alone after her master had abandoned her. "I don't want to kill you but if you keep coming after me I will slaughter every one of you."
They said nothing in response as she pointed one of her sabers at them, her eyes glowing with power as energy surged forth from her fingers. The lightning arced out and caught all of them in its path. They dropped their weapons and began convulsing like tortured animals as they spasmed and twitched violently. She bared her teeth and put a blast of power in their direction, sending all five of them sailing in every direction. They landed against the walls, floor, and one even flew out through the door of the now vacant club—it was remarkable how quickly it had emptied—none of them moved again. Daedra reached out with her senses and touched each of the five. Two of them were still alive. Part of her considered killing them. A dark voice she recognized all too well that told her that killing these two wouldn't matter. The Emperor would simply make more and send them after her again. She pondered its words for a moment before dismissing them. She had more important things to worry about. Like leaving before reinforcements arrived.
Why they'd sent only a single squad baffled her, but it had been their mistake and her gain. She disengaged her lightsabers and returned them to their holsters on her boots. She didn't bother retrieving her top, instead taking a dropped jacket from one of the unhappy patrons who had caught a blaster shot. She donned the thick leather coat and zipped it up as she strode past the bar.
"I quit." she snapped to the bar tender who nodded mutely.
Walking out into the city street she spied what she needed, an abandoned swoop, no doubt another gift from one of the guests who'd been too busy saving themselves to worry about their property. No matter. She mounted the bike and used the Force to trigger the engine. The swoop rose off the ground and she gunned the engine, sailing into the city's nightlife. There would be more troopers, more lives she'd need to take, but she'd survived for another night and that was what mattered. She'd survived that much longer and had that much more time to contemplate what she would live for. Her master had wanted her to live a normal, happy life, but could anyone truly live such in the galaxy as it was now? Daedra doubted it. She doubted that the Empire would ever stop hunting her, and the more they hunted her the more ruthless she would have to become. A bitter tear slid down her cheek. A tear for the passage of the person she had once been and the creation of what she was becoming. She'd stared darkness in the face and had accepted it for what it was. A part of her. It offered to her what she needed to survive and she had taken it willingly. How many more had given up rather than succumb? She didn't know. Nor did she think she ever would. Were they the braver for their choices? She didn't know. All she knew was that she would live and that was all she cared about any longer.