Breaking the Machine

[Elpsis Kerrigan]

[member="Ari Vox"]


It was not comfortable inside the container. At least Elpsis did not feel that way. Enclosed spaces made her nervy. She tried to clamp down on this feeling, not wanting to risk it bleeding over towards her comrades-in-arms. That was one of the pitfalls when you were an empath. The container was sealed. Luckily, she had her rebreather, otherwise she'd be deprived of air. Breath control helped as well.


Vaguely, she could hear noise from outside. She stiffened when she heard voices and the sound of boots. Briefly, a stab of anxiety shot through her, as she feared they had been depicted. Supervisors scanned the device, words were exchanged between them. One of them pointed out how the containers weighed a good deal more than they should, but the foremane brushed these remarks aside. Elpsis remembered that Spire had made an off-handed remark about greasing certain palms.


Then the containers were being loaded up in a huge truck. Entombed inside the storage unit, Elpsis could do little more than hang tight and wait as the containers went on their trip. Through the Force, she could sense that her comrades were close. In her mind, she whispered a silent prayer. "Great White Wolf, blessed heavenly mother and guardian, whose voice I hear in the winds, keep us safe and give me the strength to protect my comrades," she thought to herself.


She lost track of how much time passed until the truck finally reached what had to be the manufacturing plant. After the usual controls, the truck passed through the gates, the containers were offloaded and brought inside the facility. Remaining quiet throughout the trip, Elpsis directed her gaze outward, towards the minds of the drivers, guards and other Company people, following the patterns of their thoughts on a base level. Through her Force sight, she could perceive the shapes outside the containers. Presumably they were being taken to a section where the raw materiels inside the containers could be processed. We're inside, she broadcast to her comrades. For obvious reasons they could not use comms to communicate between the containers. Hearing a voice that was not their own might be disconcerting to those who were not used to it, though she tried to keep it noninvasive.


She sensed Spire's affirmation. The Zabrak commando reached for the watch-like no-show on her wrist and pressed a button, shutting it down. For a few seconds. A calculated risk, for in this very moment she sent a signal to a speeder and its disguised droid pilot, located close to the entrance. Controlled as if by remote, the speeder raced towards the factory entrance. Security guards realised something was amiss, turrets opened fire and there was a loud explosion as the craft blew up in a magnificient fireball - which also caused a fethton of baradium to detonate.


BOOM. Outside the factory there was chaos and dead, broken bodies. The cries of wounded, burning sentient beings filled the air. Inside, alarm sirens howled, orders were barked out of loudspeakers, alerting Company personnel to the apparent attack at the entrance.


The guard who had been inspecting a container was caught by surprise when the lid was opened just far enough for Spire to grab him and slam his head against the container before cutting his throat. As he drowned in his own blood, the other containers opened and Firemane mercenaries and rebels poured out. Amidst the staccato of gunfire and the whine of blasters, Elpsis emerged from her hiding place. Balls of flame had formed inside her hands and she projected the fire towards surprised guards.

 

[Ari Vox]

[member="Elpsis Kerrigan-Alcori"]

In the silence and the darkness, where Ari's hardware gave her the ability to see her comrades, the time ticked by at an incredibly slow pace. Judging by the rumble and the movement of the containers the woman assumed they were well on their way to the target. Her DRDS had returned to her suit, their cylindrical shapes protruding from the shoulders of the Mandalorian Steel armour, and as the container settled she gave her equipment a once over, there was no coming back from this point onwards.

Calm washed over the fighters mind as words seemed to coalesce from the silence around her. 'We're inside' the voice said, and given the Mandalorian's history, she recognized the technique for what it was, even felt Incendia's presence in the words as they came and fled from her mind. She sent her mind to think of her ancestors, of her father, Thor Vox, and the family she had abandoned who now lay scattered across the Galaxy. A victory here would bring some semblance of honour to her own shattered pride.

At the conclusion of her silent memento, the violent shake of a massive explosion tore through the container and rattled Ari in her heavily armoured suit. Its distance felt far away, no doubt the aforementioned attack that had been planned for the front entrance, but the Mando let the chaos of the factory take form before their container popped open and her droids slipped out with great haste.

Blaster fire overwhelmed their area, the other containers having opened at essentially the same time, and Ari's own rifle joined the chorus of blasters and bolters that tore through the unfortunate security forces located near their positions. Working like a well-oiled machine she climbed out of the container under cover of her fellow rebels and took cover nearby with an overview of one of the entrances to the area. Laying down heavy suppressive fire she caught a wave of reinforcements off-guard, their vanguard falling in the hail of blaster fire which tore through the light clothing they wore for modesty. Form, inevitably, seemed to dictate much of the security measures here.

As the remaining guards took cover where they could, more rebels joined the fray as the teams disembarked their confined transports, and Ari caught sight as a fireball loosed at one of the guards just beyond the arc she was engaging. It's heavy weight struck a guard centre-mass and Ari almost couldn't peel her eyes away as his form was enveloped by the flames Incendia had thrown, screams cut short as the air in his lungs literally fuelled the fire he was writhing within.

Madness followed suit.

 

[Elpsis Kerrigan]

[member="Ari Vox"]


It was pure bedlam. A deafening chorus characterised by the whine of blasters, the staccato of gunfire, explosions and the cries of the wounded. Unfortunate security guards were riddled with projectiles, but the loud thumping of boots on the ground indicated that reinforcements were on the way. Those security forces lucky enough to withstand the initial volleys sought cover where they could. Heavy suppressive fire greeted them as the intruders unloaded. The rebels had seized the initiative, which was decisive in any battle, but they needed to press forward fast, lest the security forces be able to overwhelm them by force of numbers.


Elpsis was right in the thick of it. Here, in the midst of battle, there was no hesitation. She did not hold back, she did not doubt. Every death that occured now, ever life she took would leave a stain upon her soul. It would be so easy to think that those she fought against were all inhumane monsters who deserved their fate. It would be a seductive path. But she had been on the other side. However, right now such thoughts could not be allowed to enter her mind. Otherwise she would let her comrades down.


So she became scalding flame.


Wisely, she left her lightsabre on her belt, rather than trying to wield it. She did not trust herself to be able to deflect blaster bolts with any accuracy, especially not salvoes. Doubly so in enclosed quarters, where the slightest negligence on her part could spell doom for her comrades. Instead she drew enemy fire as she advanced forward. With her good hand she fired a pistol, the other cast flames.


Blaster bolts burnt through her light combat suit, causing her to wince. A crimson bolt was caught by the open palm of her maimed right hand. It burnt her glove, but she absorbed the energy. A bright glow formed around her hand. Look away, that was the mental warning Ari and the other rebels got before an unnatural blast of blinding light emenated from her hand. Several guards were disorientated or outright blinded, often suffering nasty burns.


However, a concussion grenade was lobbed her way. Precognition screamed inside her mind and she bolted for cover, while pushing the explosive away. But it happened to explode on impact. The blast slammed her into the ground and she was thrown into a daze, ears ringing and nose bleeding. Guards rushing towards her and firing were mowed down by a salvoe of high-velocity as bullets as Spire made her way towards the girl, pulling her to cover. The Magnetic Repeater was rather loud, but cut through most forms of personal armour like a hot knife through butter.

"You ok, Red?" the Zabrak grunted.

"Just getting warmed up," Elpsis quipped cheesily as she regained her bearings. Her head still hurt.

"Don't overheat. Team, move. Advance by fire and manoeuvre," the Zabrak shouted to make herself heard over the macabre orchestra.

 

[Ari Vox]

The cacophony of combat was like a lullaby to the Mandalorian. Her eyes flew between targets, the tracking on her helmet having given up as their opposition surged with a new wave of reinforcements. They seemed to be coming from multiple directions, though the double sized entranceway that she covered had the most inbound. Judging the distance she stepped back and away from her cover, blaster fire and slug throwers ripping above her head in the moments just before she took off, sky-pack engaging and sending her flying across the room in a blaze of glory and return fire.

Landing in a run she put her shoulder into the far wall to stop her momentum, now resting at the double doors she had previously been covering with a small number of enemies on her side and a horde of them on the other. Dropping to a knee she gripped a thermal detonator from her rig and deployed it through the door, the device thumping and rolling a few feet before detonating in the midst of a new surge of guards. Meanwhile, the Mandalorian, full of confidence and ready to engage the leftovers in the room rose up without her blaster shouldered and ready and promptly took a blaster of plasma to the side of her armour, nearly taking it in a chink of the suit that let her twist and turn in the contorts of warfare.

The impact sent her back down to a knee, the nearby cover preventing a follow-up shot but allowing the Mando to shoulder her weapon properly and aim towards the source, peeking up just enough a few seconds later to blast back at the poor guard who'd clipped her. With gritted teeth and a newfound surge of adrenaline, she worked on the leftovers as the other rebels moved up, spurred on by words that Ari couldn't hear, the boisterous blanket of blasters and bolters rendering her comms basically deafened. Spire seemed to be controlling them well even in the maddening circus of the raging battle. Reading the course of the battle turning in their favour, she looked for Incendia hoping that the young woman hadn't fallen in the opening salvo, and it was by the aforementioned mercenary that she found her force-using counterpart.

Laid up beside the Zabrak barking orders, she wore burns across her attire, the wounds looking less severe than one might think but setting alarms off in Ari's mind nonetheless. She shifted her cover, once more focusing on the enemies beyond the door who were surely thinning out by now, and covered a movement of her rebel comrades as they moved in place nearby. Explosives zipped through the door sporadically, their violent explosions reverberating through the facility as silence descended beyond the door frame.

"On me!" The Mandalorian shouted, voice oblique and hollow but actions bold and daring as she stepped through the large portal first, wildly scanning the sectors of the room that opened up beyond her and making the nearest cover double quick.

[member="Elpsis Kerrigan-Alcori"]

 

[Elpsis Kerrigan]

[member="Ari Vox"]


For the time being, the tide of battle had turned in their favour. Such success would be fleeting. Alarm sirens howled loudly. Reinforcements would be here soon. They had to move fast. Elpsis' skull still felt like someone had applied a hammer to it, courtesy of the nearby detonation of a concussion grenade. The energy behind incoming blaster bolts had been absorbed by her, but the burns were still unpleasant. But she soldiered on like a soldier should. Unlike many a Jedi she knew that the ability to cast fireballs, swing a glowstick and move objects with her mind did not make her inherently better than those who could not. So she stuck with the team.


Hearing Ari's shout amidst the chorus of violence, she quickly linked up with her. She looked from the corpses back towards Ari, smiling slightly. "Nice shooting." The revolver in her hand sprayed guards with high-velocity projectiles. Bullets that flew so fast they would impact on a target before you heard them cut through the air. With her other hand, she drew upon the Force to rip guards' guns from their grasp - and proceed to turn them on them. The ranks of the guards were thinning as the rebels brought their firepower to bear. Light repeater salvoes created a hailstorm of multi-coloured bolts that ripped through guards or ricochetted off walls.


Bit by bit, rebels streamed into the room. When a rebel moved, a comrade provided a salvoe of covering fire, then followed suit, with their positions being reversed. The guards were pulling off a fighting retreat, blasting away as they pulled back so that they could regroup and attack with renewed vigour. Elpsis was grateful for her rebreather as a column of acrid smoke filled the air when they lobbed in smoke grenades to cover their retreat.


Meanwhile, Kora had used the circus to her advantage by slicing into a nearby terminal. Ducking and weaving her way through the circus of death, she hastened towards Ari, Elpsis and Spire. "I got the map of the facility. Follow me. I know where we gotta go. That lift can take us down," she declared, a bit out of breath, ducking quickly to avoid a blaster bolt shooting towards her.

"Let's move," Elpsis exclaimed before Spire grabbed her by the shoulder.

"How many do you sense down there?" the Firemane commando grunted. Her tone was not unkind, just commanding.

Rather than get sulky, the girl understood and focused, closing her eyes and planting her bruised hand on the ground for a moment. "Many," she spoke.

"Too many for a big-arse explosion?"

"Just the right number, boss."

"Get to the lift. Load it with timed det charges and sent it down. We use grappling hooks to get down once it's gone boom," Spire grunted. She could not say for certain, but suspected that the common security guards would just be fodder and the real challenges still awaited them. Intel had said something about prototype droids.

 

[Ari Vox]

[member="Elpsis Kerrigan-Alcori"]

As the devastation waned and the rebels made sweeping gains, Ari found herself abreast once more of Incendia, the young woman's form bent as if by some unseen pressure and carrying the newly won scars of the day upon her attire. With a compliment she let her revolver talk, it's unmistakable bark trailing the path of ruin which the rounds it fired carved.

Ari felt taken back, not only was this blind woman firing such an immensely powerful weapon, but she was firing it nearly faultlessly and striking her targets true, their forms disappearing from sight before the report had even rung out. It was impressive, to say the least and the Mando did her best to keep up.

Together the pair advanced, using their fire and movement principles to help the rest of the unit push through, and with time they found themselves nearing the main lift from which the majority of their targets had streamed. As she made to reload her rifle, Ari caught sight of the team's slicer making their way towards the group around her, and acknowledged her arrival with nothing but a blank t-visored stare.

"I got the map of the facility. Follow me. I know where we gotta go. That lift can take us down," Said Kora, her eyes looking frantic in the chaos of the firefight. The Vox simply sighed, inaudible in her helmet, and shifted back up from the nearly seated position she'd taken, ready to make a break for the next bit of cover that was afforded.

Stopping at the sight of Incendia placing her palm upon the flooring, Ari paused and waited as the words were shared between the pyro and the commander, orders coming swiftly in the revelations afforded.

"Get to the lift. Load it with timed det charges and sent it down. We use grappling hooks to get down once it's gone boom," The words were clear enough, the plan concise and commendable, so the Mandalorian made to take the next piece of cover, sliding into its protection as a stream of blasters streaked high overhead.

Behind her the rebels were advancing, their packs containing the various amounts of explosives that when placed together on the lift would take a good chunk out of the enemies below. So knowing that her only job now was to facilitate this, Ari once more rose up and let loose. High-energy blasts soared from her blaster and struck to upon her targets, clearing a gap in the enemies line which the friendly rebels exploited, their numbers surging towards the lift and sweeping all resistance before them. Within moments they ahd reached it, the first amongst them dropping down his back of high-explosives for the proper setting by the engineers that had accompanied the team.

Moments later those very men and women joined the party at the lift, and as the light counter-attack that the remaining guards on the floor had mounted dwindled, it's sporadic fire tracing through the now vacant factory, charges were set and primed all across the lift's top. Kora had jammed it for the moment, allowing time for the rebels to work, but once the thumbs up came to send it she shunted the lift back down to the floor below and waited for the fireworks. Ari meanwhile tempted fate and began fastening ropes which she spun out from a waistpouch and prepared to descend down the lift. Others around her did the same, while others still guarded their small yet deadly force.

A countdown sounded, nearly silent but audible, as the engineer in charge of the explosion marked how long the lift and charges would take.

3...2...1...

 

[Elpsis Kerrigan]

[member="Ari Vox"]


1...

2...

3...

Carrying its explosive cargo, the turbolift raced down. The moment it came to a halt and its doors opened, the assembled security guards filled the air with blaster salvoes. They realised a moment too late that the bodies they were firing at were firstly already dead, secondly their own buddies and thirdly lying on a couple explosive charges. Oh, and the timer had reached zero. This was awkward.


Boom! The explosion was loud enough to be deafening. Indeed, it caused the ground to tremble. A good portion of the turbolift was blown apart. The same applied to the corridor in front of it. Columns of smoke and dust rose into the air, while body parts flew everywhere. Good luck identifying the leftovers.


Elpsis winced, stumbling a bit when all the deaths hit her like a hammer. “I'm fine, I'm fine,“ she insisted. “First one down!“ she declared and quickly descended down on the rope she'd prepared after firing her grappling hook. There was a flicker of something on Spire's face, but she followed suit, along with the others. Down they went into the darkness, eventually reaching the floor where the turbolift had stopped. There was not much left of it.


Corpses were sprawled across the ground. Some of the rebels helped themselves to spare powerpacks, magazines or grenades. Quickly they deployed themselves in a defensive formation as laid out by Spire with jabs of her fingers. Some assumed a rear guard position, enabling them to react quickly and warn their comrades should the enemy try to sneak up on them.


Following Kora's guidance, they moved down the corridor to the left. However, after a short distance had been crossed, the sound of metal scraping across the ground could be heard. Reacting to the potential threat, Elpsis and a rebel carrying a heavy repeating blaster moved to the front. Drawing upon the Force, Elpsis gathered her energy to manifest a shimmering barrier before the team.


Enough to cover them when their opponent, a very big, mean-looking spider-like droid with six long legs and and a dull silver finish rounded the corner and rotated a dual blaster turret towards them, unleashing a hailstorm of crimson bolts with its cannon. Two standard, bipedal battle droids followed in its wake, opening fire as well.


If Elpsis had had full use of her sword hand, she could utilised her sabre to reflect the salvoes, at least to a degree. But that would require precision, especially since they were in enclosed quarters and the bolts could easily ricochet off walls. Given her disability, she was reliant on the Force. The barrier flickered as it was peppered with a storm of bolts, but it held, protecting her comrades from the first volley and allow them to seek cover. However, sweat dripped down her face and back. Her expression showed it was a strain for her though.


As the rebel with the repeating blaster opened fire and some of the bolts reflected by Elpsis' barrier impacted upon the machines, the two normal bots were pulverised and blew up, but the spider droid was suddenly surrounded by a shield. Indeed, the machine intensified its salvoes, as if was absorbing some of the energy. Of course, a molecular shield could not hold indefinitely. Enough punishment would cause systems failure. However, just as the rebels were about to unload, one of them shouted a warning.


“Battle droids coming from the rear!“ These machines were of a similar design as the huge spider bot, but less big. A rebel cried out in pain when he was struck in the shoulder and leg by absurdly sharp shards fired from a droid's flechette launcher. Bolting, Spire fired a salvoe with her Magnetic Repeater, blowing away two legs from one of the spider bots. Grabbing the wounded, bleeding rebel, she pulled him into cover. Adjusting to the attempted encirclement, the rebels split up and retaliated with ion blasters, high-projectile firearms and grenades. The party would have to eliminate these threats quickly, lest they get pinned down.

 

[Ari Vox]

With a deafening roar, the plume of fire and destruction soared through the shaft of the lift, it's tortured heated licking at the faces of the rebels who stood watching, waiting, Ari one of the very same. As it dispersed she tugged her rope and broke for the opening, chasing Incendia as the woman called out a friendly challenge and disappeared down the rabbit hole. Ari hit the edge at a full-blown sprint and used the momentum to tear across the shaft, arms opening in a swan dive as she disappeared into the darkness. Behind her several rebels followed suit, their eyes adjusting as the flames at the bottom of the shaft silhouetted their Mandalorian counterpart, her feet only briefly touching the inner wall of the shaft before she bounced off once more.

It took a matter of seconds, brilliant and immensely dangerous before she reached the bottom having disconnected her line and landed with a soft thud as her sky-pack eased the process. Weapon up the Mando scanned the devastation, her visor reading no life forms at the moment and only briefly lingering on the signs that once, only moments before, there had been dozens of men down here. All that remained were tattered uniforms, piles of flesh and gore and the tell-tale spray as their enemies were pink misted by the high explosives. She saw it all but registered nothing, the well-practised ease of it coming from years of suffering, and within seconds of landing she was posted on a piece of cover, one of the few locations left even remotely near the lift.

Behind her, the looting had begun. Necessities for the battle ahead that the Mandalorian purposely left for her comrades in arms, having kept an exceptionally accurate track of her expended ammunition and the space she had to spare. Of course one could never have too much ammunition, and some of her pouches sat empty and disused, but she didn't care to poach from her enemies unless absolutely necessary.

No judgement.

Kora made the call to take the corridor to the left, and Ari moved with them, her ACR taking point before the sound of metal-on-metal alerted her to take cover. Incendia and a rebel took the lead then and came face-to-face with a crawling monstrosity of a droid, it's six mechanical legs and dull silver finish paling with regards to its dual blaster turret. Hell became the corridor, high-energy rounds impacting against a shimmering glint of light that had appeared shortly before the droid opened fire. With a glance at the force-user, Ari could see she was deeply concentrated, figured she was the one who'd manifested the glimmering abnormality, and let loose a barrage of her own plasma at the droid before them.

Shields raised the droid took the damage and increased it's own rate of fire, causing Ari to stop and re-evaluate the current course of the fight. There wasn't much time; behind them, the rear-flank had become engaged itself, and the assembled party of rebels now found themselves surrounded at the mercy of the terrifying droids that had encircled them. Spire moved quickly, reacting to the downing of one of the rebels as the battle droids in the rear opened up. Taking her cue from the shift in the dynamic, Ari left the front droid to the other rebels and moved to take the rear guard, her silhouette appearing briefly as she scampered across the corridor and slid on one knee into cover once more.

Still, in that small amount of time her shield had activated, it's shell taking a barrage of blaster rounds as the battle droids targetted the sprinting female. Once in cover she let loose her rifle once more, catching a menacing spider droid centre mass and watched briefly as it toppled sideways, circuitry unable to support the massive damage to its form. From the under-barrel of her rifle, she followed up the initial attack with a barrage of three mini-grenades, launching each in a line across the corridor and silencing the remaining droids at the frontline, stray rounds passing through the heavy noxious cloud that had formed in their wake.

Content to leave the remaining rebels at the rear, she once more turned her attention to the front where Incendia once was.

[member="Elpsis Kerrigan-Alcori"]

 

[Elpsis Kerrigan]

[member="Ari Vox"]


Multi-coloured laser beams filled the air. Blasters whined, slugthrowers belched out rounds. While Ari and some other rebels took care of the droids that had appeared in the infiltration team's rear, the huge spider bot continued to advance. Despite being under continuous bombardment, its shell was able to tank a barrage of blaster and slugthrower rounds. Its shield flickered, as if under pressure, but held. With every shot that exited the muzzle of an energy weapon and was absorbed by the molecular shielding, its rate of fire intensified.


Of course, its shield could not hold indefinitely. The same, however, applied to the Force Barrier Elpsis had conjured. Hers gave up the ghost first. The backlash caused her to lose her footing as she stumbled. She rolled just in time to avoid laser salvoes shooting her way. Two smaller battle droids emerged and she wrapped her telekinetic willpower around one, throwing it into the other.


She found herself close to Spire, with both Firemane operatives firing a salvoe of rounds towards the inexorably advancing mechanical terror. "Don't waste blaster rounds. All you do is feed it. Use slugs or explosives if you have 'em. Spread out and hit it. Keep mobile," the Zabrak ordered grimly, peeking out of cover to take shots at the bot's legs. Her brown eyes met Elpsis' white, vacant ones. "Can you push it over?"


Elpsis thought for a brief moment, then shook her head. "Too big for me," she admitted. Her adoptive mother, Siobhan Kerrigan, would have been able to do so. At least before her stroke. After all, Mother could throw tanks and knock over walkers. Siobhan, who had defeated the present Dark Lord in single combat. Siobhan, who had freed Elpsis from her sadistic father... Stop being a wet hen. You fought in wars, you stood up to Matsu Xiangu, her inner voice chided her. As she heard a pained groan from a rebel, her mind was made up. "I'll dose it with fire. Overload it." Obviously she'd have to get close enough for that,


"Go. Kora, Grimes, covering fire. I'm gonna make it eat an EMP." High-velocity slug rounds bombarded the giant spider droid as it opened up with its blaster turrets. Sprinting, the rebels sought to evade the barrage of laser rounds coming their way as they put the droid under fire. Kora's well-oiled Boltgun Mk1 vomitted out two explosive micro-grenades in quick succession. Smoke filled the air as the explosive rounds found their target and detonated, causing a loud boom.


The droid's shield struggled under the pressure, then it charged up its cannon. A high-powered, singular laser beam erupted from it. Amidst all this, Elpsis bolted. Pulling the Force into her muscles, she ran. A Force-powered leap propelled her towards the huge automaton. Her landing was less than graceful. Indeed, she risked falling off when she impacted upon the bot's shell. For the moment she landed, the droid's electrical defence grid activated, and she received an electrical shock.


Pain shot through her, as did anger. Fire blossomed inside her hands and she dosed the machine with it. Flames could not burn through the droid's thick armour plating, at least not without continued effort. However, the thing about molecular shields was that feedback was the problem. Fire could not outright hurt the bot, but trigger the shield. Coming from the flank, Spire hit the ground. The machine swung a clawed leg at her and she winced when the sharp talons cut into her torso, but she dodged another slash, she dropped an EMP grenade, rolling it beneath the bot. To a spot where it would not be covered by its shields and where its circuitry would thus be vulnerable. In this moment, Elpsis threw herself off the bot, precognition screaming inside her mind as the feedback became too much for the shielding to bear. Overload triggered. The grenade exploded shortly afterwards. Boom. There was a magnificient flash. This should make taking out what was left of the bot a lot easier.

 

[Ari Vox]

The Mandalorian had returned to the battle raging at the front of the band of rebel fighters at just the right time it would seem. To one side were the two lesser battle droids, the ones initially pulverized when the unit had first been besieged. Noxious fumes rose from their remains and signalled their long-ago defeat, while another pair of droids wrenched and clacked and tore through each other, each trying to separate from the other in a pitiful display of misunderstanding. They'd been neutralized, seemingly thrown by a blast or by Incendia's raw power, and had essentially joined each other in all the wrong ways.

The best was the hulking shielded spider droid that lurched and slipped and tried to maintain it's fearsome appearance through the cataclysm of destruction the rebels had brought to bear. It's shielding flickered in its on-the-ropes state, unable to defend itself against the blasters and slugthrowers now being levelled against it. With a shout of a command Spire brought the beast down, concentrated firepower unleashed upon its steel form and blasting it apart with tremendous skill.

From a piece of cover just across the hall, Ari surveyed Spire and Incendia both as she popped a fresh power cell into her rifle and topped off her grenade launcher. The former looked worse for wear, blood trickling brilliantly from a gash she'd received at the hands of the walker, whilst the latter looked weary, her eyes dipping low and her chest heaving with the difficulty of breathing. No surprise really given the bravado Ari had just witnessed.

Sliding across the corridor the Mando made the most of the lull in the battle that had followed the walker's defeat, and while other rebels surged around her pressing their advantage, Ari stopped beside Spire and took a closer look at the Zabrak.

"Are you alright?" She asked, directing the bland question at both of the women, she had minimal medical supplies, two medpacs to be exact, but, for either or both of her new comrades, she would sacrifice them if it meant their strengths would be usable in future battles. From a pouch, she produced one, held it out towards the pair and waited for them to take it or leave it.

[member="Elpsis Kerrigan-Alcori"]

 

[Elpsis Kerrigan]

[member="Ari Vox"]


With the huge spider bot blown to pieces, quiet descended upon the corridor. All knew that the reprieve would not last long. They had to keep moving. Scarlet ichor trickled from the cut Spire had sustained. Unexpectedly, Ari held out a medpack. The Zabrak eyed it for a moment, as if weighing how much taking the profferred medpack would impede the mercenary should she find herself in need of it. Then she took it, removing a bacta patch. "Thanks," she spoke while applying the salve.

Elpsis shook her head. "I'm fine." She did not look it. Her eyes turned elsewhere when she heard a pained groan. "Got a wounded here," quickly she crossed the distance, finding herself in front of the soldier Spire had dragged to safety earlier. Flechettes had torn nasty wounds through his right leg and shoulder. Blood flowed liberally. He would not be able to walk with injuries like that. One hand pressed against his leg wound, with the other he held his gun. One he'd been using to fire on the spider bot to give the team cover. "Get a medpack here," she called out. "Frak. It looks worse than it is. We'll get you back on your feet," she pressed against his wounds.

"Don't be daft, kid. I'm not gonna be walkin' with a leg like this," he responded.

"Can't you work your mojo on him? Fix him up again?" Kora interjected, as she applied a bacta salve.

Elpsis looked hesitant. "No...no, I can't. Not anymore." Once she had been able to heal. Enough to get him fixed up quickly enough? Debatable.

"I'll slow youw down. Lay me down somewhere where I got cover, leave me a bandage, a stim and some spare clips."

"We don't leave people behind," Elpsis urged.

"Do as he says," Spire cut the debate short in an authoritative, commanding voice.

"Well...I guess we do," the girl sounded dejected. "He'll die if we leave him. Let me stay here with him."

"I need you upfront. We need all hands on deck and you're the big gun," Spire said flatly in a voice that tolerated no contradiction. She removed her pistol from her holster and two grenades from her belt, handing them to the wounded soldier. For a moment her expression softened. "Cover our rear."

"Go kill some Sithies for me," he responded, accepting the pistol. Kora applied the bandage as best as she could and he was moved behind some cover. Spire turned away. "Team, move out." Consternation was written across Elpsis' features. Her vacant eyes gazed towards Ari, then she fell in line.

 

[Ari Vox]

Death on the battlefield was an honour that had so far evaded Ari's reach. Here now, in the corridors of this Ession factory where weapons of destruction were mass-produced and stamped for the frontlines, this Rebel soldier would find his place amongst the stars. She paused before moving, eyes reading the rebels own through the T-Visor of her helmet and seeing at first fear as Spire moved off, replaced in short order by determination and resolve. He caught the Mandalorian's stare, nodded at her with the haunting visage of a smirk playing beneath the surface of his stone cold expression.

"Go on Mando, it's not your day," The words seemed to come from way back in her mind, though the man's mouth moved in time and carried his own voice. All at once amazed by this shaken wonder, she nodded at the martyr and moved to take off after Spire, catching the lingering look of an absolutely dejected Incendia who rested on her haunches between them. Then she too left, and Ari had little else to do than follow.

She found her thoughts drifting in the lull provided, saw esoteric after-images of silhouettes she had known in a past life and cast them aside all at once. The shadows would not haunt her now, no not while she was in her armour and still strong enough to fight. One day they would come with a forceful vengeance that would sweep the woman away like the torrent rush of a flash-flood but no, that day was not today.

[member="Elpsis Kerrigan-Alcori"]

 

[Elpsis Kerrigan]

[member="Ari Vox"]


There was no time to waste. The team made good progress. A few more guards were taken out along the way, cameras destroyed. Elpsis fell in line, moving and acting mechanically. Instincts took over. Even though she felt every death that had occured since the start of the mission. Vividly. Viscerally. Empathy was both a blessing and a curse.


Even though she had erected armoured walls around her mind. The only way for an empath to stay sane if she decided to take up arms and become a warrior. It had been easier back in those days when she was just out for herself, trying to survive. Back then she told herself that she did not care. She had not been at it though.


Intense gunfire could be heard in the far distance. That, and the silent ping Spire had received from the rebel they'd left behind, was enough to tell them that guards were on the way. Judging by intense noise, he was holding off quite a force. Enough reason for the team to pick up the pace. As they snuck into a ventilation shaft, a loud boom could be heard in the distance. Elpsis winced, took a deep breath and muttered a silent prayer as she snuck after the rest of the group.


Finally they were at the laboratories. While the rebels lined up for cover, ever mindful of the thumping of boots on the ground - getting closer and closer - Kora prepared an explosive charge. Affixing it to the door, she quickly ran for cover, giving the team the signal to brace themselves. 3...2...1...Boom. The door was blown away by the hinges. A guard who had been standing too close was turned into a pancake. Spire blew away another with a quick salvoe, precise volleys from the rest of the team took out the rest.


"Don't shoot. I surrender!" a scientist with a bald head and dressed in a white labcoat cried out, having taken cover behind a table with one of his colleagues when the explosion occured. As the smoke cleared, he slowly arose, holding up his hands. He was trembling slightly. "I'm just a researcher."


"Ari, team, secure the room. Prep the charges. Kora, download the data," Spire ordered, levelling her rifle in the scientist's direction. "Where's the plasma railgun?" Not all researchers were so easily cowed. One of them, a Mirialan female, hastened to a console. Presumably to do something nefarious to impede their quest.

 

[Ari Vox]

Ari struck with unnatural speed and aggression, her torrent of blaster bolts tearing apart guards immediately upon her entrance into the laboratory. Enough had died thus far, the factory was a minor facility in the grand scheme and the Mandalorian found herself willing the opposition to lay down there arms and just give up.

The scientists, she assumed, would do just that.

When one made to move towards a console in the middle of the engagement, Ari broke from the squad and tore off towards her, moving full tilt she slammed into the scientist as the Mirialan reached out to hit something, anything on the control panel before her. They tumbled to the side with a thunderous crash as the two women slammed into the floor, clearing away a couple of office chairs in the process that skipped and rolled across the cold lab floor.

The scientist had begun to scream, a release of pent-up fear or excitement more than any time of alarm, but when the two hit the floor she found the wind knocked out of her and was unable to catch it. Wheezing beneath the heavily armoured Mando, she struggled and fought to regain control but the soldier had the upper hand and in moments the scientist was subdued completely, bound at the ankles and wrists and muzzled to save any further shrieks of any type.

Rising back to her feet, Ari saw that the rest of the lab had been taken down, the rebels having fanned out across it and gathered up any lingering scientists. Spire and Incendia meanwhile had taken charge of one in particular, the same that had surrendered when the fire died down, and they were all three at a nearby computer where the Mandalorian joined the, another rebel taking charge of the Mirialan scientist she had taken down.

"Got what we need?" She asked, peering over shoulders as she placed herself between Incendia and the scientist, eager to leave the factory and see it's total destruction.

[member="Elpsis Kerrigan-Alcori"]

 

[Elpsis Kerrigan]

[member="Ari Vox"]


"Where's the plasma cannon?" Spire demanded again. The scientist hesitated. Getting impatient she grabbed his wrist. His face contorted in pain.

"Listen, the people I work are ruthless. If they find out that..."

"In a few minutes, this facility will get blown sky-high. It's your choice whether you make out in time or not," Spire grunted. As if to empathise her point, she removed her pistol from her holster.

"I...uh..."

"Downloaded the data," Kora interjected, having finished slicing the data contained there. Presumably she had a space USB drive.

"We can help you disappear...if you cooperate. New name, new identity, better job." Elpsis interjected, sounding strangely calm. The dark marks etched into her features made him recoil. As did the empty eyes. Feeling the conflicting emotions inside him, she pushed further, looking him right in the eyes. "You will tell us where the weapon is."

The scientist's palms were sweaty and cold sweat dripped down his face. "Alright, but you must protect. I'll have to access the restricted area..."

"Company!" Kora called out, just a moment before there was a blinding flash as a powerful explosive energy bolt was fired into the room. Sped up magnetically so that it hit like solid munition, it struck the scientist. He was dead when hit the ground. Wielding the plasma cannon that had caused such violence was a Twi'lek woman dressed in obsidian armour.

"Consider your contract terminated for consorting with terrorists, Dr Stein." She stood on the other side of the room, having emerged from a secret entrance. Immediately after firing the shot, she unleashed a powerful telekinetic wave that rippled across the floor towards the rebels. Elpsis tried to brace herself, but was struck and slammed into a table. Spire fared little better. Kora, being a bit further away, dove for cover and opened fire with her blaster. At the main entrance meanwhile, guards appeared, intent on overwhelming the band of rebels.

 

[Ari Vox]

There wasn't even time to blink. One moment Ari was watching the situation with the scientist, the next she was focusing on a movement she'd noticed by the front entrance, and then all of a sudden the entire lab was turned upside down.

"Company!" Came the call, Spire's eyes seeming focused on something across the room from herself. Then, streaking across the room came a thunderous blow of energy which struck the scientist that Incendia and Spire had been working over, his chest exploding through the back of his body, a gaping wound that saw him die almost instantly and his body crumpled immediately from sight. Words were uttered, Ari was in the process of raising her weapon to engage the new threat that had appeared seemingly from nowhere when a shockwave of energy tore across the air before her and sent her tumbling head over heels backwards.

In a flourish of nearly instantaneous jetpack ignition, the spiral was counter and Ari landed with a hard thud against the far wall of the laboratory, her sky-pack taking a heavy beating from the impact that sent her kneeling along the duracrete flooring. Firepower opened up from multiple angles as security forces once more charged and made to overwhelm the meagre rebel forces. From her knees the Mandalorian could only read chaos through the streaking bolts of energy, howling across the lab they tore Imperials and Rebels down alike and she raised her weapon to join in the fray but the trigger pull brought nothing and she wore under her breath.

Working back to her feet she drew her pistol from her hip holster and levelled her heavy blaster pistol at the nearest Imperial, a man with crazed eyes and a lunatic gait that was breaking across the laboratory towards her. One jump of the muzzle and his form dropped down from sight, shock registering across his features in the final seconds of life before the high-energy beam tore his heart to pieces.

With a heaving lunge she slid into cover, wielding the pistol with both hands for a better base to fire and to prevent the recoil from being too severe, and the battle raged on around her.

[member="Elpsis Kerrigan-Alcori"]

 

[Elpsis Kerrigan]

[member="Ari Vox"]


It was pure bedlam. With their exit cut off, the group took what cover they could from the incoming barrage of blaster bolts. It all became a blur to Elpsis. One moment the scientist had been in the process of giving in, the next a plasma bolt had torn through his back and exploded inside his chest. His innards were sprayed across the floor, along with a copious amount of blood. Precognition had screamed inside her skull. Too late. She cursed herself for being this inattentive. This distracted.


The shockwave of energy swept across the ground, propelling her through the air at terrible velocity. The telekinetic slam made her feel like something had knocked the wind out of her. Her ribs howled in protest. She had enough presence of mind to thrust out her legs and kick herself off the wall rather than get ragdolled into it. This did not make her landing upon the duracrete floor any less unpleasant. Ouch.


Blood dripped out of a wound inside her forehead. Some vials fell upon her from a shelf. She could only hope they did not contain dangerous chemicals. Either way, glass shattered on her. There was chaos all around her. Firepower opened up on all sides as the security forces tried to corner the beleaguered rebels. Out of the corner of her ethereal eyes, she perceived Spire was on the ground, wrestling with a guard. Both struggled against one another, with the Zabrak being choked until she managed to use a hidden vibroblade to stab her enemy in the in the arm and ram her elbow into his face.


Kora was still on her feet, using the cover provided in the room to evade attacks. Having equipped herself with the weapon of a dead rebel, she unleashed a wide angle shotgun blast, filling the hall with energy as energised flechettes struck four guards at once. Their pained cries echoed through the hall as the shards ripped through them, but more rushed forward, blasting away. "Grenade!" a rebel yelled, and leapt onto the deadly sphere. It exploded in a dud thull, ripping the man's insides apart, but causing no further damage. The man's suicidal bravery had saved the rest of the group.


Elpsis pulled herself together, as enemies confronted her. As enemies rushed her, she reached for her lightsabre. Willing it to fly like a javelin, she propelled it right through the skull of a guard. With blaster bolts and slug rounds flying everywhere, she moved quickly, crouching and barely avoiding another plasma shot tearing through the room. Using the Force, the director seemed to absorb or outright stop blaster shots that were coming her way. Of course, she'd only be able to do that against bolts she could see and anticipate.


The director's plasma cannon did have much AOE beyond causing a fire where it impacted, but when it hit, it bloody hurt. Elpsis found Ari amidst the chaos. "We gotta kill the queen. Separate her from her mooks. I can draw her fire so you get the drop on her." Ari's jetpack might be useful in that regard. It was not much of a plan, but, hey, it was one.

 

[Ari Vox]

As the haze of combat descended once more upon the embattled rebel forces, Ari found herself knee deep in a horribly mismatched situation. On one hand the rebels, their meagre firepower backed by a fiery force user and on the other, a massive imperial security force headed by an experimental cannon that had just blown a scientist into pink mist. For the Mandalorian, it brought on a wave of nostalgia.

Sighting in the security forces, Ari loosed volleys of high-energy plasma and watched as the opposition thinned. Around her chaos was raging, explosions rocked the foundations of the factory at almost regular intervals and bodies were falling to pieces to the staccato of their detonations. One rebel saved countless others, his sacrifice spread along the floors and across the nearby tables, smearing his fellow rebels in the violence of his gore.

Ari made to reload, her blaster racking clean at the tumbling of yet another Imperial body, when a second appeared before her, above her to be more exact, his insanity almost contagious as he flung himself across her cover and took her to the ground. Words became horrible grunts, the two armoured bodies writhing across the duracrete and scrambling to tear each other's vitals from their bodies. Hands, feet, elbows, the pair of squirming rivals utilized everything they could possibly use and in a matter of moments, Ari had gained her bearings and the upper hand.

With flowing, almost unnatural movements she shifted the Imperial beneath her and drew a heavy blade from a sheath strapped to her calf. With deft handles and no emotions, she worked the knife through and around his body, slicing through the spaces between his armoured limbs as they went limp at the damage. When finally one of his madly wrestling arms dropped limply in its guard she brought the blade higher and worked smooth across his throat a fairly deep cut that gushed luminant life that sprayed across her armour and would crust and flake off with time.

It was the last of his struggle, screams of animalistic fury and rage against his own pending doom caught in the mess of his vocal chords and gurgling out amongst the deepening red. He wasn't even fully dead as she slid off of him, Ari just acknowledged he was no longer a threat and finished the reload of her blaster, knife once more locked tight against her legs and words filtered through the disorder of the battle as she looked up from the device and into Incendia's milky orbs.

"We gotta kill the queen. Separate her from her mooks. I can draw her fire so you get the drop on her." The force-user yelled, her voice still almost silent in the deafening din of the battlefield. For her part, the Mando nodded and made a quick glance for the woman and her plasma gun. Not too far away her silhouette came through a piece of cover she'd stashed behind, the visor working overtime to find her target. With what looked like a reload completed, the enemy peeled from the cover and drew to fire at Incendia, the woman already sensing perhaps that the lightsabre user was the most dangerous opponent in the room, and Ari used the second of space to dive across the slick lab floor to a closer piece of cover.

A roar tore through the room, a callback to the opening salvo that had eviscerated the scientist who was to help them, and the plasma fired off out of Ari's vision. Before another round could be prepared to fire the Mandalorian rose up from the cover she'd taken and broke towards her target, the other woman noticing in the split second of time that this charging figure was a danger, but as Ari put her head down and went to fire the jetpack the device failed with a lurching sputter that sent her spiralling forward uncontrolled.

The added lift and speed the malfunction produced sent the blonde warrior soaring straight into the plasma wielding foe, and the round she had made to fire upon Ari's charging form was knocked off course and tore a hole into the roof above. There was a clatter that the rebels would hear, armoured bodies impacting crazedly as Ari continued with the momentum and skidded across the lab floor, while the Twi'lek woman crashed with a thud, her plasma weapon unattended a few feet away.

[member="Elpsis Kerrigan-Alcori"]

 

[Elpsis Kerrigan]

[member="Ari Vox"]


Chaos raged all around her. Explosions of violence rocked the very foundations of the laboratory. Amidst the orchestra of death, more boots could be heard thumping on the ground. Already outnumbered, the meagre force of rebels riskes being cut off from any avenue of escape and slaughtered. Fortunately, Elpsis was not the type to get wobbly when the odds seemed dire. A healthy dose of adrenaline helped. Along with good old fashioned stubbornness. She'd inherited that quality from her mothers. Not too far from her and Ari, the Twi'lek Dark Force-User was advancing, having finished recharging her high-tech plasma cannon. Her visor searched for targets, but settled on Elpsis as the empath brazenly revealed herself.


Her good hand held her ignited lightsabre. It glowed with a fierce orange light. Bolting, she charged towards the woman. Fully aware of the fact that she would be little good at using her glowstick, Elpsis felt a bit silly. However, it would draw the woman's attention. It bought Ari time to get moving. Summoning a fireball, she sent it hurtling towards the Twi'lek.


Deftly, her opponent rolled out of the way of the table, causing the ball of flame to devour a desk and cause a computer to explode. With the Force surging through her muscles Elpsis was fast, but what felt like an invisible chain wrapped around her legs. Through sheer will, she shattered the chains, but in this moment a loud roar tore through the room. She dove in the nick of time, but it was too late to avoid suffering a glancing shot. A glancing blow from a plasma cannon was bloody nasty.


It had enough punch to knock her to the ground and turn her body into a mass of pain. She felt a searing, burning pain surge through her. As she crawled over the ground, she could see that Ari had rammed the Twi'lek, bringing her to the ground. Ouch. Two armoured bodies colliding with each other caused quite a lot of noise. The Twi'lek had crashed with a loud thud that resonated across the lab. Cursing in her native tongue, the woman got up. Fury took ahold of her, and she unleashed a scalding blast of Force lightning upon Ari. Stray lightning bolts shot across the room.


Breathing heavily due to an abused rib, Elpsis tried to focus. Clear her mind from distractions. Focus on the for now unattended plasma cannon. Suddenly it was lifted into the air. Realising that the cannon was being pulled away, the Twi'lek likewise reached out with her power and tried to seize the gun while it hovered in mid-air while maintaining the electrical onslaught. A tug-of-war developed between the two, as the cannon was pulled hither and zither. Gathering her strength as sweat dripped down her face, Elpsis gathered her power to ignite the Twi'lek's lekku with flame and hopefully break her concentration.

 

[Ari Vox]

Reaching her feet just a second before the Twi'lek, Ari found herself face to face with the tainted corruption of a dark force user's essence, visible both in the dark tendrils that stretched across her features and the hue of her glowing eyes. There was no time to think, the hideous foe simply rose her hand and sparked lightning from the tips of her fingers, a brutal barrage that stopped just short of her T-Visor armour with the triggering of Ari's Vishnu shielding. It was all she needed to see.

Diving for cover she scrambled away from the lightning, noticing with terror that the shielding had dropped its main shield and was no on a backup layer. There was no time to think, so she pulled two grenades, one an ion grenade and one a thermal detonator, pulled the pins on both, held for a second and blindly tossed them back towards the force user. The lightning paused momentarily as the Twi'lek made an effort to counter the small explosive devices, but their detonations rocked the lab and knocked the table that Ari had been laying behind over, it's heavy silhouette crushing her in her armour and knocking out her wind.

The ion blast too made her HUD flicker and threaten to shut off, and from beneath the desk she grunted and tried to force herself enough space for a gulp of air. It came with an incredible effort, her body shaking beneath the weight, but she fastened her resolve with the intake of air and heaved upwards from her prone form, rising the desk up enough for her to get to her knees.

The readout on her HUD said she was suffering internal bleeding, her heart rate was skyrocketing and there were multiple broken bones to be dealt with. Still, she forced the desk off and drew her heavy blaster pistol from her hip, all shaken wonder as her weapon rattled in her palm and the HUD she peered through flickered with random intensity.

Around the lab, the battle seemed to have come to a grinding halt but through the haze of explosive residue, she couldn't tell what had happened. It was starting to look more and more like the day she had always dreamt of, the day all beings would once inherit and the day that they would cease to exist. She may just die here.

[member="Elpsis Kerrigan-Alcori"]