A New Dawn

[Vrak Nashar]

[member="Neesa"] | [member="Irid"] | [member="Taheera Sollo"] | [member="Jamie Pyne"]

Prisoners began to flood into the command center just as the Naboo Guards, Taheera, and Neesa all arrived upon the prison. A small smirk twerked his lip as he slowly stood, peering at the different men and women that all wore the same orange jumpsuit as he.

There were humans, a few gungans, and oddly enough even a besalisk. A small smile twitched as he looked at them all. Vrak didn't particularly care what their crimes had been, didn't particularly care who they were or what they did. For now they would be his tools, the instruments of his escape. The prison's alarm was blaring by now, sounding out over and over again as Vrak stepped forward and directed his new band of soldiers. "Kill everyone you see."

He had no idea that Neesa was on the station, so his orders made perfect sense.

As he moved forward, stepping towards the exit of the command center something caught him. His lips thinned for a moment. It wasn't a message, not exactly, more of an impression.

Irid.

Had she heard him? He frowned for just a moment as he tried to focus upon the small line within the force, gathering himself and realizing that she was approaching. He could feel her presence, pushing forward towards Naboo. He smiled slightly, and then slowly closed his eyes. The swamps.

The echo would ring through her mind.

I will come to you. He sent an impression of the swamps of Naboo, one spot in particular that was near the prison, something that he observed when they'd first landed upon the planet.

 

[Neesa]

The section of the prison containing the docking area was still relatively secure. No prisoner or guard came to block her passage in the area. The red lights span, casting long, shifting, foreboding shadows down the lengths of the corridors. No natural light down here, the murky waters had absorbed it all.

She approached a guardhouse and the sounds of the melee started to reach her ears. The tunnel widened. A transparent bubble in the middle houses two guards who were scurrying between intercoms and a row of screens showing the carnage going on inside. On either side of the bubble the way was blocked by a set of bars and a shimmering field. One of the guards noticed Neesa.

“Thank the Force. This is getting out of hand. Where’s the rest of the riot control team?”

“Coming,” Neesa replied. “Open a gate.”

“Need two of you and your ID cards to open one. Get the rest of the team in here quickly!”

Neesa kept on walking. She could see a situation that could not be resolved diplomatically. She planted her left foot and brought up the carbine she’d taken and fired. The guard looked in shock at the small smouldering mark on the transparent barrier right before his eyes.

“Damnit,” Neesa muttered, letting the carbine hang free on its strap. She raised her right hand and her fingers drew out a small rune. Her fingers burned the very air as they went, leaving a rune hanging in the air before her. Fingers straightened and she pushed her palm through the mark. As soon as she did a blast of dark side energy leapt forth and burned the barrier away. It was slightly taxing, Neesa was still working on the art. Apparently the Sith of old had been so powerful they could vaporise and entire person with blast.

The guard reached for a comm-unit on the console. There was a hiss. He saw a flash and looked down at the bloody stump of his hand and a wickedly curved sword embedded in the console. A fraction of a second later and Neesa had despatched the two and opened the gates. But she did not leave immediately. She unfurled a map of the facility and smoothed it out on the console, looking up at the projected views from internal cameras. Nothing in the isolation wing but bodies. A pale finger traced out a line of destruction on her map as her eyes went from monitor to monitor.

She almost missed him moving through the melee as prisoners garbed in orange tussled with guards in blue and black. She scanned the controls in front of her, looking for the number that corresponded to the wing.

“You’ve made a mess,” her voice came over the loudspeakers in Vrak’s location. Unfortunately she had no audio in return. Not that she could have heard his voice over the rolling battle. “Two levels up, towards the east. Gate Three. I have a transport to the surface.”

 

[Jamie Pyne]

Jamie leaped into the submersible, roof sealing shut atop her as her fingers tapped a few buttons, hands shaking as she nervously and hurriedly pressed the controls forward, sending the bongo into a quick dive. Thankfully the ocean was a relatively simply thing to navigate, leaving little in the way of things to crash into or lose control of. There was little chance of an underwater battle, and unless she accidentally pressed the release button, she would be safe from the pressure of the ocean.

The trip itself would take about fifteen minutes, leaving the blonde plenty of room to decide how to actually handle this. It was likely that Vrak had already killed a portion of, or the entirety of the guards stationed there, as well as freed some of the prisoners during his escape attempt. She had received no further communication since the first which only served to strengthen that belief.

As the vessel approached the facility attached to the reef it was clear that most of the power had been disabled, leaving the emergency generators running. A pit formed in her stomach as she neared the docking bay, entering her clearance remotely so to open the doors promptly. With a small splash the ship emerged within the hangar, notably beside another. For a moment Jamie looked it over, but decided whoever had docked was either dead already, or helping Vrak escape.

The path ahead would lead in Taheera's footsteps.

[member="Taheera Sollo"] | [member="Vrak Nashar"] | [member="Irid"] | [member="Neesa"]

 

[Taheera Sollo]

[member="Jamie Pyne"] [member="Vrak Nashar"] [member="Irid"] [member="Neesa"]

A firm grip encircled the blaster now in her hand. Two stun rings embedded themselves into the chest of the chiss that was trying, unsuccessfully, to kill her. He went down in a blue-heap. Myrtle-ellipses snapped to the door ahead as she heard a muffled voice. It was coming from the same room she sensed him. Were those the loudspeakers?

She frowned, then allowed her senses in the force to expand....searching.

Vrak certainly wasn't alone. Since the prisoners were only wearing jumpsuits, the blaster (on stun) was fairly effective at carving a path toward where she sensed Vrak's pulsing signature of darkside rot. The power pack was running low as she got to the door and lower as she stepped through. Myrtle-ellipses zeroed in on the red wearing orange.

"Vrak. Don't do this," she called out above the sounds of chaos. It would be the last warning the healer would ever give him. Not even a full warning because no sooner had she said the words, her hand snapped forward and released a wall of invisible energy toward him in the form of a force push.

 

[Vrak Nashar]

He heard the echo of Neesa's voice reach through the facility even as the other Prisoners pressed forward.

His lips thinned slightly at the familiarity of the tone, his eyes following on one of the loudspeakers. He wondered briefly exactly where she was, though in the end he supposed that it didn't really matter. There was blood yet to be spilled, and his escape needed to be assured before he could think of anything else. He pressed forward alongside the others, using them more as human shields than anything else. They were a tide of bodies, nothing less, nothing more.

Vrak stepped forward, then another voice called out to him.

The Pureblood half turned, his head wheeling about to spot the Jedi Healer on the other side of the chaotic hall. A small perk curled at the corner of his lips, fingers tightening as the wall of the force rushed towards him. Instead of pushing back Vrak simply leaped to the side, jumping behind a pillar that bore the brunt of the impact. He watched as two of the prisoners went flying, the crunch of their bodies against bare metal ringing out as the Sith Spun.

He scowled, but didn't try to fight the Jedi.

He was weak, weaker than he ever had been. This wasn't the place. He needed to reach a submersible, and from there head towards Irid. Without a word Vrak dashed towards the hall towards the hangars.

She would be waiting for him, along with Ryal.

 

[Neesa]

Neesa felt the Force move. Reacting to the touch of one who knew to manipulate it. Not one of the dark though. There was a fine line to walk now. She wasn't here to pick fights or try and challenge them. Vrak had been held in an isolation room for months. Getting him out was the only thing that mattered.

The black uniform wasn't helping. The prisoners were driven. More than they should have been. Two rushed right at her, heedless of the fact that she was well armed and they carried nothing. She left their bodies in the hall.

Both blades in hand, she came to a halt at the stairs. Neesa couldn't understand why there were windows here. All they showed was the utter darkness of being held below hundred metres of murky water. How utterly depressing.

Would I have had the tenacity to hold together in isolation for all this time?

She ignored the question for now and headed down the stairs.

 

[Jamie Pyne]

There. She felt it. She felt him. Weak as he was, she would never mistake the feeling of dread that he brought about him. Jamie could practically smell his hatred. She knew there was someone else here, someone familiar, at least an acquaintance of sorts. A follower of the light. That was somewhat reassuring, though what they were doing here was hardly a question Jamie could answer as well. For now she simply carried onward, rushing through hall after hall.

A few of the prisoners she knocked back, down, or out entirely. They were of less concern to her than Vrak, namely because they could be rounded up quite easily by the common guard. Vrak though? If he got off world there was no easy way to find him. The moment she entered the chamber where he had been held she cursed, finding it devoid of the man. She cursed, stamping her feet against the cold floor before turning and rushing out towards the central tower.

If there was anywhere else he would be, it was there.

[member="Vrak Nashar"] | [member="Neesa"] | [member="Taheera Sollo"] | [member="Irid"]

 

[Irid]

Her heart-rate rose as his voice pierced through her mind once more. It was a peculiar blend of excitement, hope and even fear. The first two of course, garnered by the plain fact that they had found him, and that it meant that her journey would not end here. The latter was granted by the mere act of his voice, Force-embued ringing through the girl's mind so abruptly. Fear was instinctual.

Without hesitation Irid strode to the cockpit to give Lord Nashar's instruction to the pilot. There was a certain difficulty in trying to translate a mental imprint of where to land when Irid herself had never before set foot upon this world. Swamp near prison was quite a vague directive.

Still the Acoltye further sought the presence of her Master. Growing ever closer to his location made the task easier, and traces left of his presence in her mind only added a trail left to be followed through the Force. There was a growing frustration that she had been so incapable of finding him in the first place, that she still required the Sith's aid, even in his own time of need.

Had she not been working hard enough? Not trained enough? It seemed as if it was all that the former-slave did.

Then there it was.

Like a small beacon caught in the horizon. A flash. A presence, foreboding just as it had been when she saw him for the first time upon Zygerria. He was here. He was alive. She could feel it.

It wasn't long before their ship had touched down upon the swamp, Irid waiting, almost feverishly before the ramp as it descended into the ground. Unfortunately the woman's eagerness to find her Master was somewhat curbed by his instruction. He would come to her.

And she would have to wait.

All that the young woman could do was try to relay a message in return. Perhaps beyond her abilities, but perhaps not.

We're here.

---

[member="Jamie Pyne"] | [member="Neesa"] | [member="Vrak Nashar"] | [member="Taheera Sollo"]

 

[Taheera Sollo]

[member='Irid'] [member="Jamie Pyne"] [member="Vrak Nashar"] [member="Neesa"]

Teeth ground on the inside of her green cheeks as Vrak slipped out of the hall. Booted-feet pushed off the ground as she ran after him, the force push having cleared a path through most of the wild prisoners. Dipping into the river that was the living force, her muscles strengthened as her speed quickened.

Reflexes relied on the force as it guided her to weave and dodge between prisoner fists, grabs, kicks, and legs. She didn't fight the tide; the mirialan moved with it. And there. As she was submerged in the force she felt beyond Vrak's presence. Two more, a kindred spirit of the light and another practitioner of the dark.

Hand took out her blaster as she aimed a stun ring down the hall at Vrak's fleeing form and fired.

 

[Vrak Nashar]

[member="Neesa"] | [member="Irid"] | [member="Taheera Sollo"] | [member="Jamie Pyne"]

A curse escaped him as he half turned, his fingers curling.

The force rushed through him for the first time since he had been released from the restraints. It was a small spike, a powerful surge that came like a roaring tidal wave. The joy of it, the pure bliss of once again holding that powerful was nearly enough to send him toppling to the ground. Yet the adrenaline within his veins, the beating of his heart and his need for escaped kept him standing. The Pureblood whirled, shifting his weight and grasping one of the other inmates with the force.

Vrak hurled the man into the stun blast, letting the other prisoner fall to the ground with a loud thud. A curse escaped him, and then he reached out.

BURN IT! His voice would ring in the head of his apprentice. BURN THE SWAMPS!

He didn't care how she accomplished it. The force, explosives, it didn't matter. He needed a distraction, something that would pull attention away from the prison, something that would draw the eyes of the Naboo and force them to look away.

Irid was the only one who could do that. The only one who could distract them.

 

[Neesa]

[member="Vrak Nashar"] | [member=Neesa] | [member=Irid] | [member="Taheera Sollo"] | [member="Jamie Pyne"]

As the ethereal spectre of death itself she emerged from the tight, winding staircase. Ghostly pale fingers clutched her reaping scythe: a slender scimitar. It whispered death as it came out and around at the two nearest prisoners. The motion was so quick as to be little more than a glint as the blade caught the light. They fell away, orange stained in red as they were collected by the Force.

Scarlet and green. Prisoner and pursuit. She spotted the mirilian as she moved with the tide and prepared to fire another shot. Neesa raised one hand and changed the flow. Three prisoners near Taheera yelped as they were pulled from their feet. All three suddenly moved through the air towards the Jedi as human missiles. Vrak’s orders still rang out in their minds, they would snatch and claw at her and try to drag her down if they collided. Neesa would have liked to trade blows in a more personal manner, but the situation didn’t permit such an indulgence.

She didn’t say a word to Vrak; there was no need at this point. The fact that she remained at the base of the stairs told him this was the way out. Narrow eyes watched the Jedi closely as she prepared to cover their retreat.

 

[Jamie Pyne]

The spark of darkness splintered through the air around her. A familiarity that she dreaded to ever feel again. A scowl soured her expression as she ran full tilt ahead through the unconscious and dead left in the wake of both Vrak and Taheera. She could feel both getting closer. She could sense the dismay in the other Jedi, and the anger and hatred from Vrak.

There was another however. Something foreign, alien to her. It shared a darkness like Vrak, but she had yet to encounter this one. Rounding the corner she finally spotted the girl, "Taheera!" Jamie's voice echoed across the walls as she caught sight of the veiled woman by the stairs and Vrak nearing the spire. "VRAK!" There was nothing but disdain as the name left her lips, though her legs continued to carry her forward, fingers curling around the hilt of her sun soaked lightsaber.

The blonde's own hand extended out, as if attempting to grab the pureblood from afar and pull him back off his feet and slow his retreat.

[member="Vrak Nashar"] | [member="Irid"] | [member="Taheera Sollo"] | [member="Neesa"]

 

[Irid]

There was a sharp physical flinch as once more her Master's voice exploded throughout her mind, it was enough that even Ryal noted the girl's reaction, knowingly immediately what had called it. The Sith Pureblood looked to Irid, her stare expecting that his communications were to be passed on.

“He wants us to burn the swamps,” Irid said quietly, suddenly noting how strange the soft, wet ground was beneath her feet.

The former-slave, in perhaps limited imagination or lack of skill wasn't entirely sure about how to start a swamp fire. She was not accustomed to equipment that might have done so, nor versed in skills that would have enabled such destruction. It was likely that eventually the young woman would have found a way, however in the case of such urgency she was so very thankful that Ryal was here with her.

“Very well.”

Lord Nashar's Handmaiden was well enough versed in the Force that this didn't offer much of a challenge. Aiming crimson fingers high towards the tops of the trees arcs of forked blue lightning leapt forth from the tips, striking the top branches above them with malice. The Pureblood did this once, twice and then a third time, striking various trees that surrounded their small clearing and thus starting the fire that he demanded.

Now it was all a matter of time.

---

[member="Jamie Pyne"] | [member="Neesa"] | [member="Vrak Nashar"] | [member="Taheera Sollo"]

 

[Taheera Sollo]

[member="Neesa"] [member="Jamie Pyne"] [member="Irid"] [member="Vrak Nashar"]

She felt the shift in her path like an ocean goer would suddenly feel the shift of the ocean tide as it went back out, sucking and lapping against the skin, threatening to pull everything out and under. Frustrated gaze left Vrak and traveled upward to the new, dark presence. There was eye contact for a second before she was forced to slow and stop her pace and focus on the surrounding threat.

Two prisoners collided in front of her - where she would've been. Kneeling down, she sent the third over her shoulder and onto the ground.

A blonde-form ran past. "Jamie!" The mirialan responded to her own name as her own feet found purchase and she straightened again, weaving through the prisoners and falling in step with Jamie. Reaching out with the force, she sought to wrap an invisible binding around the legs of Neesa as if to pull her down and block Vrak's path up.

 

[Vrak Nashar]

[member="Neesa"] | [member="Irid"] | [member="Taheera Sollo"] | [member="Jamie Pyne"]

His lips formed into a snarl, his teeth sinking into his tongue as he felt the force wrench at him. His frustration immediately built, and then exploded outwards in a blast of the force. The bindings that Jamie had sought ensnare him in instantly snapped, shattering in an instant.

Instead of running however he fell forward, crashing to the ground with a thud. "KILL THEM!"

His voice boomed throughout the station, reaching into the minds of the prisoners and reverberating again and again. Almost instantly, as if a switch had been flipped, the prisoners broke into an almost bestial state, reaching out and doing their best to go after anything and everything they could.

Blood began to fall from the prisoners themselves, they tore at one another

Chaos ruled as Vrak crawled forward towards the submersible.

 

[Neesa]

She felt the Force convulse from being dragged by both the Light and the Dark. Their pursuit seemed quite determined to put Vrak back in his cell. Neesa had no intention of joining him for her troubles. A telekinetic grip tightened around her ankles and she fell onto her elbow besides Vrak.

She would have sworn, but had already began to mumble something under her breath. As Vrak started to crawl away she finished the incantation.

Taheera, Jamie, Taheera, Jamie.

She stored their names and appearances away from another time. The air faintly shimmered before her right palm as she brought it up. She chose the green target. A blast of pure dark side energy erupted from her palm in the form of a scarlet beam. Neesa smirked. It would strike the woman or the wall behind her. Whether the bolt seared flesh or put a hole in the hull of the prison and started this level flooding did not matter to her. As she broke free of the grip and ran after Vrak she only wanted their pursuers to be delayed.

 

[Jamie Pyne]

The chirp of Taheera's voice behind her as she charged forward carried through the air but was largely ignored for the time being. Vrak was everything in that moment. Enemy, objective, goal, purpose. His escape would endanger everything she knew and loved. Her family, Naboo, the Jedi, everything. He was a vile wretch that required a lifetime of bindings for his trespasses. Whoever this other dredge was that had come to see to his freedom would have to be dealt with separately, investigated and interrogated.

If Vrak got off Naboo she would be hard pressed to find him unless he slipped up or made himself known.

The slimy little Sith wriggled free of her ensnaring, shifting the intents of those prisoners still running wild. Several turned to her, brutes as they were, and attempted to maul the young Jedi. A piercing red erupted through the chest of one and continued on towards what Jamie assumed was the emerald skinned woman behind her, though there was hardly time to warn her. If it had been directed at Jamie, she would have likely been struck dead.

A wave of Force energy sent her assailants onto their rears as she continued to chase Vrak and his new companion towards the exit.

"I will hunt you to the very ends of this galaxy Vrak!" She shouted after him, venom in every syllable she spoke.

[member="Neesa"] | [member="Taheera Sollo"] | [member="Vrak Nashar"] | [member="Irid"]

 

[Taheera Sollo]

[member="Jamie Pyne"] @Neesa @Vrak Nashar

Eyes widened as Vrak's accomplice shot something malevolent from her palm. Body heaved to the right and she felt her center tip. A sharp burning pierced flesh and cloth as it grazed on the outside of her left arm, continuing on to bury into and through the underwater prison wall.

Aww, feth.

A fist came swinging toward her head and then a kick as the prisoners began going wild. Arm came up to block the punch. Stomach caught the kick. Brow furrowed as she concentrated and quickly constructed a protection bubble. Tattooed-face finally lifted, clearly in pain as she watched Jamie pursue Vrak and the other even as they disappeared from view. The empath dug deep and quickly sent subduing emotions to the wild and erratic prisoners blocking Jamie's path and undoing what Vrak had done.

There was also the flooding.

Water already pooled at her ankles.