A Poke in the Eyeball (ATTN: The Ancient Eye - OPEN)

[Itash Mecetti]

Allies: [member="Kaida Taldir"] | [member="Tristram Senan"]

Enemies: [member="Kainan Wolfe"]

Tash looked on over at the cloak that seemed to be moving on its own accord.

A glance was exchanged with Taldir.

There hadn't been any mention of a ceasefire during the shortburst transmission. It had been mildly garbled, but the intention had been relayed quite clearly. "...got...situation...you can...trash...joint." There wasn't much to decipher there. Unless Jorus himself started screaming in his earpiece to stop... Tash was going to assume their orders still stood.

Kaida knew that.

The decision passed through them without needing to exchange words. Just the look. Right before Itash turned back to Wolfe, his mercenaries had already started shooting.

No warning, no honor, just straight up execution and taking advantage of the momentary truce.

Itash shrugged at Kainan. Might have been apologetic, might have a What can ya do? Either way his mind traversed the space between himself and the enemy's crowd, doing exactly the same thing he had done in the air.

Whispering lies.

 

[Kaida Taldir]

Allies: [member="Itash Mecetti"], [member="Tristram Senan"]
Enemies: [member="Kainan Wolfe"]


The apparent commander of the warship confronted them. With him he'd brought a large force of minions, who'd levelled their automatic slugthrowers at the boarders. Kaida was certain she felt the presence of at least one trained Sciian among the group. She could also feel Sciia emanate from the commander.


They were given the classic choice to surrender or die. The commander spoke of a ceasefire. Kaida had received no such message. And she'd been through too many games of thrones among her own people to be the trusting sort. The decision was made without wasting time with words. No delay, no witty banter or parlays. She was not the type.


She had no problem with taking advantage of the fact that the enemy had left the initiative to her. Slugthrowers had one advantage over blasters. They were more difficult, though not impossible, to block with a lightsabre. That's what made them popular among Jedi hunters. By contrast, they were of very little against most suits of armour, for even basic stormtrooper armour could tank them, unless they were very powerful, e.g. high-calibre, armour-piercing bullets.


But that's why she wore sealed phrik armour and carried a phrik shield. While Itash reached out with his mentalism and whispered malevolent lies into the heads of the enemy, Kaida drew upon her cryomancy. Power writhed inside her, as the air super cooled. It manifested outward in a super chilled cone of ice, shooting out to freeze and ideally pierce enemies. The radius of the blast was broad and it was fast, hopefully making it more difficult to evade. Essentially it amounted to using the Force for something akin to a powerful cryoban blast.

 

[Tristram Senan]

Location: Shroud's Flagship
Allies: [member="Kaida Taldir"] [member="Itash Mecetti"]
Enemy: [member="Kainan Wolfe"]

The lift trip was rather pleasant so far. Everyone was pretty quiet and no one smelled especially bad. They didn't have any music playing so everyone had to hear everyone else breathing which was the only down side. All in all, Tristram was enjoying it as he kept drawing power into himself. He needed more. What he needed was as much as possible built up before those doors slide open on the bridge. He didn't know what they were going to face up there and he wanted to be ready. He also didn't want to drop again like earlier because that could get him dead. There was no fear of death within him but he couldn't imagine this lot here fairing so well with force users roaming around the ship. He didn't know where they were all at but he could feel them. For all he knew they were all on the bridge waiting.

It was taking a few minutes, but eventually someone in the group spoke out. " Almost there. Two more levels." Tristram replied back more to bring himself back more to the present moment than anything else, " Roger. Ready yourselves friends. The fun part is about to begin." Some shuffling and clanging followed. It felt excited and a little anxious inside the lift. They were as ready as they could be. As soon as Tristram felt the ever so slight jerk that told him they had arrived he opened up his eyes. Metal slide to allow the image of a bridge full of crewmen going about their tasks. As soon as this sight hit his eyes, he unleashed as wide and large an arc of electric judgement upon them as he could muster. A bellow escaped his lips as he pushed to hold it with his quickly depleting pool. These people wouldn't die from it but they certainly would have a hard time staying conscious.

 

[Kainan Wolfe]

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Attn: [member="Kyle Raymus"] | [member="Seras Rose"] | [member="Solan Charr"] | [member="Tristram Senan"] | [member="Coren Starchaser"] | [member="Rekha Kaarde"] | [member="Miko Spar"] | [member="Jorus Merrill"] | [member="Ever Dawnracer"] | [member="Kiso"] | [member="Itash Mecetti"] | [member="Kaida Taldir"] | [member="Sor-Jan Xantha"] | [member="Taeli Raaf"] | [member="The Matador"]​

• 1st Fleet
  Engaging Resistance Forces

Ships Deployed:

• 1x Valiant-class Star Destroyer (Dark Star)
• 4x Admonitor-class Light Cruiser
• 4x Arquitens-class Frigate
• 6x Chiselhead-class Assault Corvette
• Total Starfighter Count:
  5x TIE/Reaper Sqadrons
  1x RZB-12 Bomber Squadron

Tristram's assault on the bridge was not entirely surprising, but the Dark Star was never designed to deal with this kind of assault. The crew only had minutes to prepare a defense as the enemy force hijacked the turbolifts and made its way to the bridge and without Wolfe's personal access codes, the turbolifts could not be overridden.

When the doors to the turbolifts opened, chaos ensued. Electric Judgement was a frighteningly effective ability and the unprotected crewmen had no means of opposing the attack. Soldiers fired indiscriminately as their limbs twitched from the electricity coursing through them, blaster bolts flying in every direction as the men lost their ability to control their own bodies. Control panels exploded, both from the electricity and from stray blaster bolts. The only one able to somewhat resist the attack, was the single Warden on the bridge and even he was not unaffected, only managing to remain upright but otherwise unable to do anything else. Most of the crewmen just collapsed.

Down in the cargo hold, Wolfe was engaged in a mental battle with Itash Mecetti, putting all of his efforts into resisting the mental attack. His soldiers did not fare any better, either, milling about in stunned confusion as the mercenaries opened fire on them. The defenders fired back as best they could, but at this point, it was hard for them to even decide where the enemies were, so many of the slugthrower rounds just flew wildly away from the targets.

The only one at home and comfortable in this insanity, was Tsesh Ovrak, Wolfe's Rodian Sith bodyguard, a notorious serial killer who's only reason for resisting the mental attack, was that he was already insane. He dashed forward to attack, but was caught in Kaida's cone of ice and his armor suddenly became a massive disadvantage as the joints froze, halting his attack.

Wolfe felt the bone-chilling cold and sandpaper-on-skin sensation of the blizzard, snapping him out of his mental battle with the enemy. His eyes fixed on Kaida and Itash and a look of disappointment settled on his face. "I gave you the chance to avoid violence. I gave you my word that you would not be harmed and you respond by massacring my men? You are no better than the Jedi terrorists who would kill hundreds of innocent civilians on Winter, just because they are incapable of admitting defeat," he said, his voice sorrowful and low as a mixture of rage and disgust built up in him. "Where is your honor!" he shouted at them as he raised the midnight-black blade of his lightsaber in a defensive Soresu stance.

 

[Itash Mecetti]

Allies: [member="Kaida Taldir"] | [member="Tristram Senan"]

Enemies: [member="Kainan Wolfe"]

Tash tilted his head.

Wolfe was a tough target, tougher than the Tapani would have assumed at first. He could keep him in place... but breaking his spirit wasn't easy and then just before his strength would have eviscerated sturdy resolve, Kainan found something within himself and pushed him out. Some of Itash's men, some of the rebels, fell as well in the violence.

This did not bother him.

They had known what they were signing up for. Some of the wounded were pulled back, before the wall of Thyrsians resettled itself. They were professional in death and in life.

"Honor?" Itash mulled those words as his own lightsaber was ignited. "Ask your men what good your honor did them." Cruel and to the point. The Tapani would not let himself be lectured by this one. Honor had no place on the field of battle, nor in the rooms and galas of the Tapani. That much had become clear to him from a very young age.

Once more his mind lashed out towards Wolfe- not in a way to destroy, but to distract.

To give Taldir an opening.

 

[Kaida Taldir]

[member="Itash Mecetti"], [member="Kainan Wolfe"], [member="Tristram Senan"]


The Star Destroyer commander was right about one thing: Kaida had no honour. To her, it was a fancy word to excuse stupidity. Idealistic notions were quickly burnt out of anyone who had fought in the game of thrones the Eldorai Star Queens so loved to indulge in.


To call the machinations at the Court of Courts Byzantine would be an understatement. And she was officially out of feths to give. A bone-chilling cold had filled the air. Furious counterfire emanated from the ranks of the commander's soldiers, though the precision varied due to the web of lies affecting their mind.


Some mercenaries fell, so did some of the defenders. In the meantime, Kaida advanced. Automatic slug rounds came her way. Her lightsabre was obviously no good deflecting them, but they collided with her shield. Some bounced off the solid phrik, others were blocked. One grazed her.


The Rodian Knight, whose aura radiated insanity and bloodlust, seemed to have been immobilised by the ice, so she ignored him. Should he manage to reenter the fight, presumably the Tapani could deal with him. Instead, she went straight for the commander.


Feet firmly planted on the ground, shield ready to block or bash if needed, she struck with her lightsabre. Her attack was two-fold. She began with a stabbing thrust towards Kainan's neck. This was a feint. For in the middle of this motion, she swung her weapon out and down at his right hip, aiming to cut through it. Should her strike hit in the intended manner, her opponent would have trouble walking.

 

[Tristram Senan]

Location: The Bridge of Wolfe's flagship
Allies: [member="Kaida Taldir"] [member="Itash Mecetti"]
Enemies: [member="Kainan Wolfe"]

The bellowed continued to roar out of Tristram's throat as he held the electric judgement up until he was completely emptied. As he finally let up, his breathing became heavy and labored. His ears began to buzz and his vision blurred as he tried to catch his breath. He felt like he had been hit by a speeder as blood steadily dripped to the floor from his nose. The emptiness was back. It was as if his center was nothing but a void surrounded by a shell of pointlessness. He was in no condition to press the engagement, but he couldn't stop now. Despite all of his being seeking solitude from the matter around him, he began to look around and take in his situation.

It took several seconds, but his eyes cleared enough that Tristram could see his circumstances. The enemy forces were all either paralyzed or out cold from his attack. A few had even been hit by blaster fire. Was that his group's doing? He looked back towards those he led here and frowned as his breath continued to try to return to him. Several lay dead around the lifts and even a few in it. More were injured from blaster fire. Seemed the chaos had taken it's toll on his side as much as it had the enemy's. He said as best as he could, " Move the bridge crew that is still alive to the nearest escape pod and then launch it. Be sure to remove that one with the lightsaber's weapon first too. After let's secure the bridge and tend to the wounded." He didn't know what they said to him in response and he even had to hope he said what he thought he did. The ringing in his ears was too strong for anything else to get through. From the way they moved though it seemed the ones who had gotten lucky during the chaos were not happy but were going about doing as he asked. His rodian friend had even taken charge of things despite having been clipped on the side of one of her arms by a stray shot.

Tristram tried to move, but dropped to a knee hard. As he had a new bruise added to his body, he began to realize how much worse off he was than he first thought. His attack had overloaded his own nervous system. His limbs were completely numb and it was a struggle to get even the slightest movement out of them. On top of that it seemed he had taken a shot to his left shoulder and been clipped in several places that his leather didn't cover. He had taken a particularly bad hit to his right leg as well. The numbness he just had to wait out but he could already tell he was going to be limping for a few days after. He got sat on the floor a little more roughly than he would have liked, but it was all he could do. His only option was to wait it out and pray that no new person with a weapon showed up. He couldn't really defend himself in this state against more than a baby.

 

[Joy]

Attack on the Kuma

Part V

An emergency seal slid into place around the airlock. The corridor slowly began to repressurize, but Smallgrin and his corsairs were busy.

Ben charged the woman who looked to be their commander. He held a plasma torch in his left hand and a disruptor pistol in his right. Holding up the pistol, he fired a single shot toward [member=“Kiso”]’s right leg, hoping to make her dance. The disruptor bolt, capable of putting holes even in beskar and phrik, would go straight through her leg if it hit.

 

[Kainan Wolfe]

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Attn: [member="Tristram Senan"] | [member="Itash Mecetti"] | [member="Kaida Taldir"]​

• Dark Star
  Valiant-class Star Destroyer

"Theatricality and deception are formidable weapons against the mind of the uninitiated" - Unknown​

​

Kainan Wolfe was in a difficult position. Locked in a battle of the mind with the mercenari Itash Mecetti, while his companion, the Eldorai warrior Kaida Taldir lashed out at him with her lightsaber. Wolfe was an experienced fighter and the past two years had given him a more than passable grasp of lightsaber techniques which combined with his tricky nature, could make him a dangerous opponent. It was only because of these factors that he managed to survive the Eldorai's attack. He saw the feint coming in time, as it was a tactic which he often employed, himself. There was something in her posture and movements which betrayed her true intentions to him. So, Wolfe ignored her thrust and instead swung the lightsaber in a defensive Soresu arc, connecting with her blade just before it connected with his side. Only just.

The Tapani mercenary's mental attack had managed to distract Wolfe, almost to the point of disaster. If that had failed, Wolfe would have anticipated the Eldorai's attack earlier and managed to deflect it entirely, as it was, he found himself in a saber lock with his opponent, in an extremely delicate position.

Meanwhile, up on the bridge, a different kind of drama was unfolding. The rogue Jedi Tristram Senan had taken control of the bridge with a motley crew of drunks and ne'er-do-wells and was in a position to potentially scuttle, or vent the ship, killing everyone inside. Instead, it seemed that he had chosen to treat his enemies fairly and had ordered his men to move the bridge crew into escape pods. The XO of the ship, a middle-aged man named Jacob Presley, had just recovered from the Force-induced daze of the Jedi's attack, at least enough to be able to make sense of the situation and speak with his captors. "I do not know who you are, but you treated my men with honor," he said, his voice still shaking as he struggled out of the grip of the fighter who was dragging him. "I am Lieutenant Presley, XO of this ship while the Lord of Shrouds is off the bridge. I am prepared to surrender this ship to you, provided our men are granted quarter. Let's put an end to this bloodshed," he said, leaning against a console.

 

[Kaida Taldir]

[member="Kainan Wolfe"], [member="Itash Mecetti"], [member="Tristram Senan"]


Her opponent demonstrated some skill with the blade. His lightsabre connected with hers, just about keeping her lightsabre from cutting through his leg. While she hadn't sliced through his hip, she'd learned a bit about his reaction time.


Rather than deflect her attack entirely, he was locked in the classical sabre lock with her. These tended to happen during lightsabre duels. In a cheesy holovid, this would have been the moment for one or both duellists to monologue by elaborating on the supposed supremacy of their respective philosophies or simply throwing taunts at each other.


Kaida was not the theatralic type. Or fond of chatter, truth be told. She'd never seen any value in what some called Dun Möch. So instead, she went on the offensive again. However, she did not try to break the lock and attack him with her lightsabre again.


Instead, the assault came from elsewhere, for her left hand still held her phrik shield. It was extremely tough, sturdy, but light enough for her to hold it in one hand. While primarily a defensive implement, it was also really good at hitting things. So she attempted to shield bash Kainan right in the face.

 

[Tristram Senan]

Location: Bridge of Wolfe's flagship
Allies: [member="Kaida Taldir"] [member="Itash Mecetti"]
Enemies: [member="Kainan Wolfe"]

There was still some buzzing and his vision slightly blurry, but Tristram's head was starting to feel better. His late master had warned him about the backlash of using powerful force abilities back to back like he had. She had told him a lot of true and wise things when she was training him. The Sith would pay for taking such a great person from him... from the galaxy. His hatred had flared up there for a moment. He had it under control now. His body was still numb, but seemed the pain of his wounds were starting to overcome it. Pain was good. It reminded him that he was still alive. For the moment. Hopefully he would stay that way.

As he listened to the sounds of his companions taking care of his orders, Tristram was addressed by someone. Seems the enemy was beginning to recover from the electric judgement. He turned his attention to the man. The XO of the ship eh? He tried to pull the force into him, but where before was numbness now was screeching pain. His head was a thermal on the verge of exploding. Bad idea. Very bad idea right now. He flinched and stopped immediately. Instead he forced his body to move so that he was back onto his feet. The pain and effort of the action not clear on his face as he did. No, all they would see was grim determination. On his feet he looked to the man. One of his now sober friends had a weapon raised and ready to fire. Tristram waved them off without taking his eyes off of his enemy. They wanted to surrender so long as they got quarter. He could work with that.

Tristram said in a level tone to the XO, " Presley was it? We have the ship already. You will unconditionally surrender unless you want me to have them start shooting folk. If your rousing they must be too. If you want to avoid that and the rest of the ship's crew getting either ejected into space or locked into a room with no air I suggest you do exactly what I'm about to tell you." A pause. He wanted what he said to have a couple of seconds to sink in and see on his face that he meant every word of it. " You will get on the ship coms and order everyone on board to evacuate to escape pods immediately. You will inform them also that the ship belongs to Captain Nighthawk now and anyone who doesn't follow orders will meet the fate I told you about earlier. No tricks on your end or theirs. Understood Lt. Presley?" He pointed to his companion by the com system to get it prepped while he continued to stare down the XO. The man knew his choices and it was on him to decide the fate of the rest of his people.

OOC: I'm really sorry for the delay. I got distracted with faction stuff on another character and it slipped my mind I still owed you!

 

[Kainan Wolfe]

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Attn: [member="Tristram Senan"] | [member="Kaida Taldir"]​

• Dark Star
  Valiant-class Star Destroyer

​

Lieutenant Presley's eyes drifted away into the distance as he considered the offer for what seemed like an eternity, before finally responding with a slow, barely perceptible not. "Very well," he spoke to the Rogue Jedi. "I find these terms acceptable," he said, pressing a few buttons on a console. Then, he spoke a few words, too quickly for anyone to stop him "Computer, execute Contingency Plan Fifty-Three, authorization Presley-dash-one-gamma-niner-four."

A flat, metallic droid voice answered back via the ship's intercom, announcing a dreaded message, before proceeding to trumpet an alert. "Self-destruct sequence initiated. Reactor overload in twenty minutes. All personnel, abandon ship."

Presley's eyes fixed the Jedi, a triumphant look on the man's face. "This is how we will proceed," he spoke in a matter-of-fact tone. "Your troops will allow the crew safe passage to the shuttles and escape pods without interference. I shall remain behind with you and once everyone of my people has safely exited the ship and reached a safe distance, I shall deactivate the self-destruct sequence. If any of your men interfere with the evacuation, I will let the ship explode. If you vent any section of the ship, or otherwise harm any of my crew members, I will let the ship explode. Have I made myself clear enough?" he asked, also broadcasting the words via the ship's intercom, to make sure everyone heard him clearly. So, the man decided to take precautions, in case the ship's captor proved dishonest in his offer to allow the crew to escape.

Down in the cargo hold, Wolfe was locked in a difficult struggle against the Eldorai woman. She did not break the saber lock, opting instead to attempt a shield bash, which Wolfe countered with a telekinetic blast, followed up by a second one aimed at the floor in front of him, pushing himself away and landing several meters back. Then, the ship's computer blurted out its ominous message.

Wolfe straightened and raised his arm, flashing a series of quick military hand signals to his men, who broke off their attack. "Well played," he spoke to the woman and her companion. "It would appear we are at an impasse. Very well, I will allow you to take the ship, provided you abide by the terms my XO has just broadcast over the intercom. Be warned, however, should you break these terms, I will make sure you die on this ship along with the rest of us," he said to her, he and his troops backing away and making a stand at the entrance, waiting for a response

All throughout the ship, crew members rushed to evacuate, moving to the escape pods in an orderly fashion. Before long, tiny pods began shooting away from the metal behemoth, into the cold, dark vacuum of space.