Blood On Your Hands

[Aela Talith]

Serenno System
Serenno-Southern Hemisphere

"Kark!" She screamed, slamming her fist into the wall and bending the metal plate. She hadn't expected it to go like this, hadn't even begun to think that something like this would happen, but it had. "We have to get out, now."

The others nodded their heads.

This had been meant as a quick strike, a simple operation to take down one of the Slaver Counts of Serenno. The man had been despicable at best of times, cruel, evil, and by all accounts a tyrant in his little fiefdom on Serenno. He had been an avid Slaver, and due to his place on within the Great Houses many had simply ignored his deeds. Of course Aela and the Alliance had not, and when the opportunity had come, the New Jedi Order had sent a team to strike and take the good Count from his place on Serenno.

What they had not expected was someone getting their first.

Aela and her strike team had managed to infiltrate the Counts massive castle without detection, but upon reaching the mans bedroom they had found him dead.

A guard had then stumbled upon them and had immediately raised the alarm, causing the entire facility to go on high alert in almost an instant. Aela had no idea who had killed the Count, no idea if they had purposefully set up the Jedi Strike team or if it had simply been a coincidence. What she did know was that she and her fellow Jedi were now trapped within a Castle filled with hundreds, if not thousands of guards, droids, and defensive arrays.

Getting out would be hard, if not next to impossible.

Another cursed escaped her lips as she pulled herself away from the wall and slowly peaked out beyond the corner of the hallway. A hail of blaster fire shortly followed, the end of her golden blonde braid being singed by a stray bolt. Another curse escaped her lips.

 

[Eldaah Aderyn]

[member="Aela Talith"]

Well the trip had certainly been useful, far more than she had intended. Originally just a small mission to eliminate a Count of Serenno who had refused to sell his wares to the Sith and steal the data on his business had turned much more interesting when the Jedi had arrived. She had merely snuck into the castle as a new hire for the Count's staff, intentionally putting on a display of naivete and accidental sultriness that had led the Count wanting her... close by... in his bed chamber. She had shown confusion at the order but complied, giving those around her the idea she was thinking the Count just wanted to know his staff on a one-on-one sort of thing.

One poisoned kiss later, and the Count was dead on his bed and she had all his files. Job well done she had thought... until the Jedi strike team arrived to possibly spirit him away into some dark hole on Sullust or some obscure world. Well, she hadn't intended to stick around, but the chance to watch the Jedi get out of the castle was too much to pass up and she might learn a thing or two about the members of this particular team.

Being in the right place at the right time to watch everything, she had conveniently been delivering the guards in the security room their meal when the discovery of the Count was made and the guards roused to stop the supposed Jedi assassins. Being told to stay in a room full of security feeds was fine by her.

 

[Liliane]

Oh kark, oh kark, oh kark... Lilin thought as she tried her best to calm down and not lose herself. She had to pull herself together in such a situation, but it was definitely easier said than done.

She looked at the group of Jedi that had come to the mission -- many brave souls, and loyal as well. Along with Aela, one would guess they were an efficient group of people. But that didn't mean they wouldn't run into troubles. Especially if their plans were ruined by a chance like that. It was kind of weird that such a coincidence even happened. Her suspicions went so far that she even thought for a moment that all of this had been set up so that somebody could at least hold a few Jedi in hostage, if not even kill them.

Her eyes flicked around, trying to ensure she and the others wouldn't be attacked suddenly. But there was not much time to think, as it seemed the leader of the group had already nearly gotten hit.

Lilin would have cursed as well, but she thought she would work more efficiently if she remained silent and focused on what she was doing. Her thought patterns would have gotten too distracted if she were to release words of bad taste. In silence, waiting for an order seemed slightly better of an option at that moment.

 

[Aela Talith]

[member="Eldaah Aderyn"] | [member="Lilin Imperieuse"]​

​

A final curse passed her lips, and then Aela was done complaining. The situation they were in was unfortunate, and likely the story would be spun that a group of Jedi had killed the Count of Serenno, but that didn't matter right now. In the end the man had been a slaver and a tyrant, his death would not be mourned by anyone and his unfortunate end was not all together horrible. The Jedi Master would now have had it this way ordinarily, but right now she was hardly willing to investigate what had actually happened.

"Alright." She gripped her lightsaber tightly.

The end of the story was that they were trapped here, they were surrounded and they had a desperate need to figure out a way to get off planet. Their ship had likely been compromised by now, either found by the guards or targeted by the fleet in orbit, they would need to find a different method of escape. She knew that the fortress had several hangar bays, one specifically designed with the counts own Stealth Ship. That would be their best bet, perhaps their only one.

"We're getting out of here." Her lightsaber snapped into life, the bright pink blade searing as she half turned the corner. "Stay low and follow me."

They didn't have much of a choice at this point.

Aela stepped into the hallway, her lightsaber spinning forward as it caught a stray blaster bolt and sent it flying back towards the troopers. There was a slight cry as one of the men was struck in the knee, the man falling to the floor clutching his wound. In the next second Aela rushed forward, becoming a blur as she charged the troopers.

 

[Haytham Kaze]

[member="Aela Talith"] | [member="Lilin Imperieuse"] | [member="Eldaah Aderyn"]​

​

There was only one reason for Haytham to be on Serenno. That was for the assassination of the Count.

Slavery was something that Haytham meant to abolish. He may have been considered a Sith in the majority of the Galaxy's eyes, but he would cut down any that would degrade a person in such a way. There were multiple Sith in the One Sith that would condone slavery, their time would come, or so he planned. Clenching his fist, he had poked his head around a corner, only to see blaster bolts flying down the hallway as a blur took to cutting down the guards.

Garbed in the attire of the guards, his way into the Count's quarters, he made sure to keep his lightsabres on him, among his other tools that he had taken with him.

Darth Vanitas stepped into the hallway, and ignited his own lightsabre. The azure beam leapt out with a Snap-Hiss as he dashed through the dwindling numbers of guards and aimed to surprise the Jedi with his sudden presence and clashing lightsabres with her. The words passing his lips and the helmet that he wore to meet her ears.

"I have questions, Jedi."

 

[Eldaah Aderyn]

Allies: [member="Haytham Kaze"]
Enemies: [member="Aela Talith"] [member="Lilin Imperieuse"]

'Well this is interesting,' she thought, watching the video feed as the Jedi started to fight back. A masculine figure had appeared, dressed in a guard's uniform and brandishing an azure blade against the Jedi. Judging by the speed of the Jedi though, she had to only guess this was a Jedi Master. She wasn't sure what the male figure was going to do against the blonde woman, but it would at least cause an interesting scene.

The Jedi and her team would be trying to reach the private hanger here as their ride into the system had likely been found by security, and while the Count had been reviled by many... he was still a Count of Serenno. If there was one thing the nobility of this planet did when one was killed or threatened, it was close ranks and go after who had struck at them. They might be hesitant to kill Jedi, but they would still do that or detain them for questioning.

"What's going on?" she asked, playing the innocent maid.

"Count is dead, we're trying to stop those Jedi assassins from escaping," the man monitoring the security screens said absentmindedly. "You're lucky you're in here. No way the Jedi reach the security room."

"Of course not," she said.

 

[Aela Talith]

[member="Haytham Kaze"] | [member="Eldaah Aderyn"] | [member="Lilin Imperieuse"]​

​

She had enough time to raise her eyebrows, and that was it.

The man moved towards her with a rush and a flourish of his blade, the searing azure plasma hissing towards her. The Young Marshall moved as she always did, fast and fluid. The mans ought to make their lightsabers clash, to lock Aela in place, but in a small hallway filled with men holding blaster rifles that would be a death sentence. Instead of striking, Aela avoided. The Marshall moved with the grace of a ballerina, slipping to the the man's side and beneath the slash of his blade, sliding underneath his grasp and away from him down the hall.

Her own lightsaber came up, slashing through the barrels of those soldiers who were close enough to her.

She then spun around on her heel, offhand whipping up and fingers curling to seize the man with the lightsaber. She attempted to grip him with the force, seize him and them throw him against the wall with all of her might and strength.

Aela had no idea who the man was, had no idea why he was here, but he had called her 'Jedi', and that usually wasn't met with good intentions. In the back of her mind she could sense a darkness, a trickling of the evil that came with Sith. That only assured her assault, the idea that she needed to subdue this man cementing in her mind.

 

[Liliane]

Everything that followed was a huge blur for Lilin. She couldn't tell where the attacks were coming and who talked. At moments like these, people had to act on their most primitive instincts of survival. And even though she liked to think of herself as a Jedi who always kept a clear mind, that was not the case this time. It was a situation where things wouldn't go her way. Or in Aela's way. Or practically in anybody's way.

She noticed she hadn't even ignited her blade yet, so she quickly fixed that little mistake.

The light blue blade of the lightsaber whizzed up into the air and presented the room with some additional light blue glow. This was nothing like an invasion, yet Lilin could feel the risks and dangers more than in any other battle she'd been to yet.

Her blade started moving in weird patterns as she tried to defend herself and possibly those who didn't notice coming attacks. And even though the Jedi Marshall in front of the team had taken most of the attacks on her, Lilin still wanted to be useful.

[ [member="Aela Talith"] | [member="Eldaah Aderyn"] | [member="Haytham Kaze"] ]​

 

[Haytham Kaze]

The thought hadn't occurred to him that these Jedi weren't from the Silver Sanctum, but that didn't matter. In Haytham's time as a Jedi they had had quite a few Jedi 'conventions' where they talked about nothing and planned to bring down the Sith. Likely they still had them, and his mind was rolling in the direction that at least one of these people knew who he was looking for.

The Jedi moved fast, the Force was clearly aiding her.

She went past him. His teeth grinded on each other as he spun to face her, before he could close the distance however, he found himself being grasped in the Force and he weaved a barrier in the Force around him as he bounced off of the wall. Were it not for the barrier, he knew something within him would've been cracked because of how strong it was, but he landed on his feet and pushed off the wall, only so that he could push his physical limitations, his body and toning already one of an athlete, and with the Force's excellent ability at empowering a person, he moved faster and struck stronger.

He aimed to showcase that here, as his hold on the hilt tightened.

"One amongst your Jedi is corrupted."

A vague accusation. It was a bad to get her attention.

[member="Aela Talith"] - [member="Lilin Imperieuse"] - [member="Eldaah Aderyn"]

 

[Aela Talith]

[member="Lilin Imperieuse"] | [member="Haytham Kaze"]​

​

An eyebrow perked, she hadn't expected that. Aela didn't buy it of course, Sith weren't exactly known as the most honest people in the galaxy, and even though she didn't know if this man was one exactly she could still feel that lingering sense of darkness. That, coupled with the fact that he had called her Jedi and attacked her was enough to settle her on the fact that even if this man wasn't a Sith he was at least not to be trusted. It was better to stick to the plan, escape the fortress and then settle all accounts later.

"Noted." She told the man, then motioned to her team.

She called out to the younger woman, Aela's fingers flexing suddenly as she once again called upon the powers of the force. Her lightsaber twisted in her grasp, shifting slightly towards the wall and out away from herself as she exerted her strength. Her palm came up, though this time she did not grasp the man. Instead she tore at the floor around him. Aela's hand ripped backwards and suddenly the metal paneling beneath the man's feet shredded to pieces.

It didn't matter if he fell or not, that wasn't what Aela wanted. "Lilin! Through the wall!"

She signaled for the woman to cut through the metal.

 

[Eldaah Aderyn]

[member="Aela Talith"] [member="Haytham Kaze"] [member="Lilin Imperieuse"]

She couldn't make out what was being said, the video having no audio unfortunately, but she could see the typical banter between Jedi and opponent had started. She was internally debating with herself if she wanted to get involved with trying to stop the Jedi from escaping. It wasn't her mission after all. Tapping her fingers absentmindedly on one of the monitors, and earning a glare from the security officer... she made her choice.

"Sorry about this," she said, getting a confused look from the security officer before he start to gasp and choke. Hands flew to his throat trying to stop whatever it was that was closing off his windpipe. If they were discovered, she could simply claim that the Jedi killed the security officer before they went to kill the Count and she had merely been trying to help apprehend the people who killed her 'beloved' employer.

"Actually... I'm not sorry," she said, closing her hand and the man fell to the ground dead. Pushing his body out of the chair, she took a seat and patched herself into the security systems. Nothing fun or interesting, but she could open and close doors and watch through the cameras.

 

[Haytham Kaze]

[member="Eldaah Aderyn"] - [member="Aela Talith"] - [member="Lilin Imperieuse"]

He felt the build up from the Jedi, but he had already moved away from where he had been standing. The Jedi had used the Force to manipulate the panels underneath his feet. After fighting someone like Nikias who repeatedly used telekinetics to combat him, it certainly did get tiresome after the second and third time. That had been against someone who had quite obviously been corrupted by the Dark Side. This was against someone who felt as if they were a pinnacle of light.

He wasn't going through the floor.

Haytham applied the Force to his body again, and he was quick enough to step off of the panels as they started to separate, in the direction that would put him in between him and her group, but only a handful of steps closer so he could have an angle, and his right hand would lunge out to the Jedi in his immediate vicinity to release the Force violently to bounce her off of the opposing wall. They were still quite close to each other, he saw it as a way to keep the Jedi away from the rest of her group.

 

[Liliane]

The order came quickly and Lilin hadn't time to think through what she'd just heard. In a matter of moments, she was at the wall, her lightsaber's blade slid into the metal and making a way through it as fast as she could. She had had to cut through walls very few times in past, which of course meant she was not really used to the huge amounts of friction and resistance coming from an object.

After a short while, the hole looked like it would be enough to fit through, so she took her lightsaber out of the metal and kicked the wall in hopes of the cut area falling down.

She had no idea what exactly was behind the wall, so she didn't know whether she would jump right through it or wait for an additional command. She looked at the group of Jedi near her. They all seemed a little bit clueless as to what to do. Well, alright, not all of them.

"Aela!" Lilin shouted.

[ [member="Aela Talith"] | [member="Eldaah Aderyn"] | [member="Haytham Kaze"] ]​

 

[Aela Talith]

[member="Eldaah Aderyn"] | [member="Haytham Kaze"] | [member="Lilin Imperieuse"][member="Lilin Imperieuse"]​

​

The force push sent her flying back, the press of the air shoving her through the hall and sending her crashing to the floor. The young Marshall landed with a heavy thud, sliding back as her fingers dragged along the edge of the metal. She let out a grunt, steadying herself and managing to use her momentum to flip and bring herself back to her feet before she came to a stop at the end of the hall. Her head shook, the blond braid that hung down her back flicking to the side and into her vision.

"Go!" She commanded Lilin and the others.

"I'll make my way to the shuttle." She would just have to take care of this Sith problem first. "Go!"

She yelled the word again, sticking her point as her offhand came up again.

This time however there was no telekinesis. Instead the Sith would feel something beginning to crawl across his skin. The force would press in on home, rpessure building and then suddenly locking him in place as Aela used the trick that her mother had taught her, freezing the Sith in place so that her team could escape.

 

[Liliane]

Lilin looked back at Aela for a moment, thinking whether she should stay and help the woman or not. She had no idea how many Sith were in this messed up place, so it could have been a huge mistake to leave the Talith here. But then again, she was a powerful Jedi Marshall -- she was born to fight.

So the Jedi Master nodded and turned back towards the hole in the wall.

"Let's go, all of us!" she said, taking the leader position while their actual leader was away. She felt like she would have to get out of there last, ensuring everything was fine and that nobody was following them.

But she couldn't get her thoughts off of the Talith. She could feel a considerable presence of the Force and its ripples in the room, but she couldn't tell whether they were used by Aela or the Sith.

The group of Jedi made their way out of the place and broke off into a run.

"Wait!" Lilin whispered, after which she tried to make her way to the front of the line. "We'll have to be really careful."

[ [member="Aela Talith"] | [member="Haytham Kaze"] | [member="Eldaah Aderyn"] ]​

 

[Haytham Kaze]

[member="Aela Talith"] - [member="Lilin Imperieuse"] - [member="Eldaah Aderyn"]

The Jedi was thrown back by the force push. After being sent to the floor, Vanitas started forwards as the Jedi Marshall started regaining her composure. Likely a mistake, but he didn't want to kill the Jedi. In a way they were the same, Haytham knew, deep down. He presumed they wanted the same thing for the Galaxy in the end.

Peace.

But before he could actually finalize any incapacitating strikes against the previous felled Jedi, he felt a tingling across his flesh underneath the armour. It set deep within him and there was naught but confusion in his mind as he tied to figure out what was happening. In his time as a Jedi and as a Sith, he had never encountered something like this. He was frozen, by the Force no less, he knew that much about the ability. Confusion rolled off of him in waves as he tried to resist the stun.

"I require your help."

The words were forced from his lips. And he kept pushing at the bonds that held him.

 

[Aela Talith]

[member="Haytham Kaze"] | [member="Lilin Imperieuse"]​

​

Well, Yes, that much was obvious. The man was now stuck within her stasis field, contained within a neat little prison that was put only around himself. The technique wasn't a difficult one, at least not to sustain, it really only required a second of focused energy and that usually bought Aela enough time to do whatever she wanted to do next, even with a Sith Lord as her opponent. Of course the fact that the man could speak was not out of the ordinary, she only paralyzed him, not his vocal cords.

"Again." Aela said sternly, her hand slowly twisting. "Noted."

She wasn't about to deal with a Sith, not like this anyway.

The young Jedi Marshall had never really been the most trusting, even of those that claimed to be of the light. With Sith? Well, she wasn't about to make deals with any of them, even during the worst of times. It was simply who she was.

Her mother might have, but Aela had just a bit of her father in her. She knew what Sith manipulated, played games, and she knew that they could not be trusted. So why would she listen to this man? Why would she try to make a deal, especially when in just a few moment he would well be able to attack her again. The situation simply did not allow that. She could not, would not allow herself to endanger her fellow Jedi or anyone else around. "Surrender yourself to the New Jedi Order on Sullust, then you can get my help."

Aela made a motion with her hand, and suddenly the man would feel an extreme push on a pressure point within his neck, enough to knock him unconscious.

 

[Haytham Kaze]

[member="Aela Talith"] - [member="Lilin Imperieuse"]

Vanitas's jaw clenched beneath the helmet.

He forced himself to move, the muscles of his chest and biceps rippling underneath the stun as he started to move slowly, though it was clear there was struggle in his actions. Huffing, he grinded his teeth as he grew irritated with waiting. He felt a burning sensation within him, and his grey eyes centred on the Jedi Master, Aela, that's what the other Jedi had said, right? The blue beam in his left hand disappeared with her apparent 'suggestion' of him surrendering himself to the Jedi.

From his mouth exploded a force scream as he felt the Force press onto a pressure point within him. A last bid attempt at stopping the Jedi from actually incapacitating him. Being captured and later on executed wasn't something Vanitas was too keen on.

The Force was thrown from his throat straight at Aela before him. It was high pitched, yet held a low key to it as well. It tore at ear drums, any of the remaining guards ears in their helmets likely would've felt like hell. They bled, and he meant to project his raw potential in the Force down the hallway at the Jedi, aiming to use the kinetic power behind the scream to throw her through the wall behind her.

 

[Aela Talith]

[member="Haytham Kaze"] | [member="Lilin Imperieuse"]​

​

In an instant her palm flattened and turned towards the man, the force pouring into the one ability that she had trained with since she could walk. Her mind focused, her expression grew stern, and opaque bubble began to form around her. The edges of it were soft and light, it's form extending to the edges of the hall and carrying nearly to the ceiling.

The guards behind her backed away slightly, fear pulling through them as they saw the mans bellow tear and bite into the durasteel before them.

The rolling wave of power crashed into the front of the bubbled, fracturing and breaking against it. The hallway around Aela creaked and bent, warped itself into unnatural shapes as the mans roar attempted to burst through the bubble of protection. A whip of wind lashed beyond the edges of the bubble, Aela's braid flying at her back for a moment before slowly coming to a rest. The blast of the force died, and Aela lowered her palm, expression stern.

"Apparently you don't need help." The Young Jedi Marshall said as she heard the troopers scrambling behind her.

They were no longer interested in fulfilling the mandate of killing her or anyone else, they simply wanted to live. Quickly they ran away from the two force users, moving into the rooms attached to the hall and sections that lay to the right and left of Aela. She didn't want them go, didn't need to, instead she simply watched the Sith and listened to the thrum of her lightsaber.

 

[Haytham Kaze]

[member="Aela Talith"]

Haytham hadn't been rendered unconscious by the Jedi. But the Force scream certainly did have it's toll. Though not too badly, he had begun using the Force in more ways than amplifying and bettering himself physically. After all, he was to be considered capable of travelling on his own now, right? What did they call it, a Sith Knight, now. Sad to see the Sith aren't original in their namings. He thought to himself as he opened his mouth to the Jedi again, but this time not casting the Force out, instead actually speaking.

"Cut it out." He of course spoke about her curt answers. They were fairly annoying after all. Not to mention her evident need to ignore whatever he had to say because he was a Sith. "We want the same thing for the Galaxy, but we are just on different sides." At least, he thought she wanted the same thing as him. Order and peace. Peace for the entirety of the Galaxy. What was wrong with that? The first step though was crushing the Jedi under his heel... And then the Sith, but that was a story for another time.

He pressed his tongue to the inside of his cheek as he spun his lightsabre hilt in his left hand again, and if it wasn't in his hand, he'd pull it off of his belt and palm it. "I'm looking for someone from the Silver Sanctum. He owes a debt to a City." Not that much of a lie, Haytham had always been quite honest. More so now that he was a Sith and hated wasting time.

Nikias was actually from the Silver Sanctum. He did owe a debt. Or did. To Cloud Nine, that floating luxury getaway on Cloud Nine! Now would she stand in the way of what needed to be done? Which was finding out where he lived, or better yet, where he came from?

Probably would.

The sapphire beam of his lightsabre exploded outwards again.