Private Bringing them back home

[Valery Noble]

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Location: Shuttle
Appearance: Link
Outfit: Factory Link
Weapon: Double-Bladed Lightsaber
Tag: Iris Arani

"You got your gear ready?" Valery asked as Iris joined her inside the ship. Unlike their usual transportation, this shuttle was far more heavily armed than others they had taken, and there was clearly a reason for that. Tython was just behind them, but there was so much to do in its aftermath. Almost too much for the Jedi, who were scattered, in lower numbers, and many were still licking their wounds. But Valery had never been one to stop for anything, and today she was bringing her Padawan along on a mission of great importance.

"I've been tracking a Maw prisoner ship that's heading back to their territory," she continued to explain while she guided Iris into the cockpit of the ship. "They're all POWs from the battles on Empress Teta, Xa Fel, and probably Tython as well. A lot of our soldiers, but the rumors are Jedi as well, which... I am not quite sure about." She sat down and began to strap herself into the seat as systems booted up slowly.

"The ship itself is not heavily defended, and they won't see us coming either. My plan is to board it and capture it so we can bring our people back home. I expect some resistance inside and a lot of the prisoners have likely been treated poorly. So while I need you with me to fight off their guards, I'm especially going to need your healing skills for whoever needs it there."

"As you know, that's not really my specialty..." she smiled somewhat sheepishly.

The ship's engines powered up, and just about everything seemed ready for departure, "Do you have any questions or comments? We have time before we arrive, so ask anything you need to know."

 

[Iris Arani]

Iris nodded once, idly fixing her pack. Checking over her lightsaber. It'd been a little while since she last went out on a mission with Valery, but nothing had changed, right? Though, the Padawan no longer had her pack of paints. Instead her pack was full of various medical supplies she might need to treat the injured. They didn't need paint, after all. She tilted her head though, watching her Master look.. Nervous?

Then reached out to pat her shoulder with a confident smile.

"We got this, Master. I heal, you fight."

Valery Noble

 

[Valery Noble]

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Location: Shuttle
Appearance: Link
Outfit: Factory Link
Weapon: Double-Bladed Lightsaber
Tag: Iris Arani

Valery chuckled when Iris patted her shoulder and nodded, "You know, you're a lot stronger than you give yourself credit for. We fight together, but when you find people injured, prioritize helping them, and I'll keep you covered," she said with great determination. There was no way Valery would ever allow anybody to hurt her Padawan if she could do something about it — Iris was almost like a daughter to her.

But she also needed to let go enough so Iris wasn't too sheltered, and could grow in skill and confidence to hold her own in tough situations. Today was going to be another challenge that would hopefully offer her more experience with it all.

"When we get close, I'd like you to either use the Force or detailed life sign scans to find us the best docking port. I'm going to hit them a few times from different angles, but it would be better if we didn't run into all their defenses right out of the docking gate," Valery continued as she finally took the ship into hyperspace, and on a direct course for the prisoner's ship. It wasn't going to be a long trip, but they had time to discuss final details if necessary.

"If one is closer to the people in need of help, that would also be a priority."

 

[Iris Arani]

A small, paint covered BD unit hopped up onto Iris's shoulder, trilling happily in the process. "Don't worry. Domxite will help, too." She was all smiles, reaching up to pat the droid's head. In turn, the droid just seemed happy. Well, the gem that controlled it within did. Colors bright as the day sun echoed from the metallic case. There'd been an agreement between Iris and Domxite after everything with Thalia. They'd no longer be used a Lightsaber, but in turn they'd be given a body to use.

Well, they were still using the same body from before. Even had the lightsaber housing if Domxite ever needed to defend themselves. But they'd stay fully autonomous so they couldn't just be taken away again.

"Think you can hack the scanners?"

Domxite nodded once before hopping off to jack into the current shuttles systems. Remotely start slicing through the Maw's sensors to get a more accurate count, which Iris would translate.

".. Most of the bodies are in the holding cells. There's twenty throughout the ship otherwise. Around.. Thirty? In containment. The closest hanger is.. Domxite?"

Domxite's head swiveled and projected a layout. Lighting up enemy positions, the cells, the closest dock.

"We should go here." She pointed not to the closest, but the one farther away. "With most people. Pull their attention. Then slip into the closest one with the medics to get the people out. Make it seem like we're going for the bridge instead of a rescue."

Valery Noble

 

[Valery Noble]

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Location: Shuttle
Appearance: Link
Outfit: Factory Link
Weapon: Double-Bladed Lightsaber
Tag: Iris Arani

"Hey, you're not supposed-" she just sighed in defeat as the little droid already sliced its way into the scanners to get access. These shuttles weren't exactly her property, so to get into its hardware or software like that was... questionable. Something she was definitely going to leave out of the mission report when she returned.

Valery then looked at Iris as the report came through from the Maw's scanners, and she quickly forgot about the droid messing with her ship. It was a detailed scan that allowed them to better help those people —it made her not care about altering their sensors or hacking into systems even though they weren't supposed to.

"That's quite a lot of prisoners; more than I thought. It'll be a tight fit but we got this," Valery said as she downloaded the map from Domxite into her vambrace's tactical computer. Her attention then shifted to Iris as she proposed a plan, and Valery could only smile in response, "That's a great plan, Iris. I'm going to knock their engines out, and then we'll board."

The Keshian Master grinned and while Iris readied herself, she dropped out of hyperspace and activated her weapons, "Iris, can you get on the other gun?" Valery asked. A small escort of fighters quickly responded and moved to engage the Jedi in their shuttle, but Valery was already focusing on her main target before it could escape.

A first salvo struck the prisoner ship's engines, causing it to slow down. But those enemy fighters were getting closer and moved to get behind the two Jedi.

 

[Iris Arani]

Gun?

Gun, right! Iris scrambled into the other turret after standing there for a few moments. Right. She figured they were going to be more quiet about this, but that didn't work. They weren't in their xwings. Ah, she should've thought that through more. Criticizing herself only for a moment. Then the guns were on, with Domxite on her shoulder no less. The two were already in synch, as if they hadn't been just apart for months.

Their guns went off, picking off target by target to keep the coast clear.

"We should be good to move in, master!"

Valery Noble

 

[Valery Noble]

​

Location: Shuttle
Appearance: Link
Outfit: Factory Link
Weapon: Double-Bladed Lightsaber
Tag: Iris Arani

With Iris and Domxite moving to control the other gun using their synchronization, Valery didn't even worry about the enemy fighter escort anymore. She focused her frontal fire against the bigger ship's engines, and after several attack runs, it was completely dead in the water. Important systems such as life support were intact, but there was no way this thing would move using sub-light engines or hyperspace.

"Great shooting, Iris!" Valery called back as the space around them was cleared. She finally activated communication jammers to make sure the prisoner ship could not call in reinforcements, and continued her path to the docking port Iris had picked out as starting point. Without any real effort, the shuttle docked and all the seals activated to make sure they'd have atmosphere.

"I don't sense anybody directly behind the doors, but be on your guard. Droids are much harder to detect, and they could have those as defenses," Valery commented. They'd still create danger pulses in the Force, but it wasn't always easy to feel them. Slowly, she then opened the blast doors and when she could slip through, she found herself in an empty hallway.

Alarms were going off onboard and there was a great deal of fear and anger they could sense. Or in Iris' case — she could see those darker colors swirling all around them.

"Right this way," She continued after checking the map on her vambrace, and they quickly began to move... only to hear footsteps up ahead soon after. About a dozen signatures in the Force approached, "We got trouble coming."

 

[Iris Arani]

Iris paused beside Valery, her odd colored eyes scanning through the Force. Watching, feeling. A threat was here, but for who? On what? .. Ah. Jedi Killers. Domxite tucked away on her back, out of the way for the coming fight. Dozens were here. From before?

They left the prisoners with a couple. The bridge still had it's forces. They were going all in on killing their boarders. The Padawan snapped on her blue saber, gripping the hilt in one hand as she brought up the com device on her wrist. Brought up the display. "To the left, then right. We can lure them around corners and into tight spaces. Make them come to us, then run when there's too many."

Then she ran in the direction she spoke of. Towards the bridge, sort of. It went clearly towards the bridge, but was also leading them to the brig below. Hopefully enough to be confusing. "Let's hope they don't figure it out."

Valery Noble

 

[Valery Noble]

​

Location: Shuttle
Appearance: Link
Outfit: Factory Link
Weapon: Double-Bladed Lightsaber
Tag: Iris Arani

"Sounds good, we'll wait for them up around that corner there," Valery said in return as she began to follow Iris through the ship. It was important that they dealt with the incoming attackers before reaching the brig or any space with prisoners, else they'd risk them getting caught in the heavy fire that was likely going to erupt.

As much as avoiding conflict was something she'd be in favor of, they could not endanger the prisoners.

"Wait up here," Valery finally called out as they took two corners and could feel a group of guards coming up towards them. She held her ignited violet blade up, took a deep breath, and waited for the last possible moment. A droid was the first to get around the corner with a blaster drawn, but it was swiftly decapitated by Valery's lightsaber.

"There they are, blast them!" Another called out but because they were in a tight corner, only a few at the front could even hope to open up with their rifles. This made it easy enough to deflect the bolts, and gave the two Jedi a chance to advance as well, "Let's press forward, Iris!" Valery exclaimed as her blade cut through the rifle of a guard.

 

[Iris Arani]

So there were droids. Iris's eyes narrowed in focus before she slipped past Valery. Her blade cut up, through the chest of another droid before she slipped back around, behind Valery. Darting in and out where she could to assist her master without actually getting in the way or exposing herself for too long. She knew her limits. And more importantly, she could see through the colors enough to know the perfect moments to help.

And stop, for that matter.

More were coming. She slipped back, turning. "Fall back, to the next point!" And ran to lead the way there before they ended up overwhelmed.

Valery Noble

 

[Valery Noble]

​

Location: Shuttle
Appearance: Link
Outfit: Factory Link
Weapon: Double-Bladed Lightsaber
Tag: Iris Arani

Valery had always been a Jedi who developed powerful Force bonds — the one with her husband being by far the strongest and most unique one. But those with her Padawans were behind that, and they were more than strong enough to allow really good coordination. So with Iris weaving in and out of the fight, Valery hardly had to consciously focus on it.

She knew when Iris moved to engage, and when she retreated back.

"I'll cover the retreat!" Valery called back as Iris disengaged and led the way back. She moved close behind, but slower so she could keep her lightsaber steady and deflect any bolts that were threatening to catch them from behind otherwise. But soon enough, she reached the other point with Iris and took a deep breath.

"I'm going to knock them down to the ground when they get close. Be ready to follow up, but disengage if they threaten to overwhelm you." There was no time to say anything more, they were getting closer. With the Force drawn into her, Valery jumped around the corner and struck the floor with her hand, sending a wave of powerful Force energy across it. Once it connected with the group of attackers, they were thrown around violently.

It was just a matter of cleaning up now.

 

[Iris Arani]

"Okay."

Iris didn't need to be told twice about Valery's plan. She could see it in the colors. She spun on a heel the moment they reached their second choke point, lifting her blade up in both hands. Pointing it towards where she could feel the Maw coming from. For a moment she didn't move, poised like a spring. Then, as soon as Valery knocked them over, she was on them.

With subtle elegance she brought her blade around. She'd done a lot more training with Makashi, going so far as to make it a daily routine to go through her forms and turn drills into muscle memory. She was small, she wasn't as strong as others. But she was quick. Through control she could fight.

Her blade flicked up, catching one of the Maw's waraxes as it came her way. Parrying it to the side before her blade slipped forward under their guard. Piercing their chest before she slipped back. Jumped further after a couple steps to create the space she needed to stay from being overwhelmed by that which remained. But that which remained weren't enough to warrant another retreat.

"Let's finish this, master."

Valery Noble

 

[Valery Noble]

​

Location: Shuttle
Appearance: Link
Outfit: Factory Link
Weapon: Double-Bladed Lightsaber
Tag: Iris Arani

"Let's finish this, master."

Iris didn't have to say that twice. After she expertly followed up on Valery's Force Wave, the enemy numbers had dwindled significantly, and the remaining droids no longer stood in any meaningful formation. Their only strength right now was that they didn't experience true fear and chaos the way normal soldiers would have.

But regardless of what they were thinking or planning, it would be over for them soon.

With Iris right by her side, Valery ignited her blade and dashed through the enemy line of droids. Using her momentum alone, she dragged her blade through a pair of droids to disable them and swept at another to sever the head from its torso. Valery then spun around with lightning speed and struck at another to make its power packs explode.

Of course, her senses were following Iris as well, but she wasn't helpless. Her commitment to her training and all the hard work she put into it was showing — the droids stood no chance.

"I think that's the last of them," Valery said as she stood tall and looked at the remains of the droids. "Lead the way to the bridge?" she then asked Iris, who she believed would handle such responsibility well.

 

[Iris Arani]

When the last fell, Iris let her blade extinguish. Let out a breath. Turned from the bodies she and Valery had laid out. Part of her was still not okay with taking lives, even if it meant saving others. But, well. Saving others, that's what the Padawan focused on. And promptly shook her head at her Master's suggestion. "The prisoners are in the brig. We should split up. You take the bridge, make sure they don't do anything bad. I go make sure they don't try and kill the prisoners."

Valery Noble

 

[Valery Noble]

​

Location: Shuttle
Appearance: Link
Outfit: Factory Link
Weapon: Double-Bladed Lightsaber
Tag: Iris Arani

It was a good idea.

Valery considered it while she looked around at the bodies of those they had stuck down. Luckily, most of them were droids, so they hadn't actually taken out living beings with them. But there were a few guards as well, and killing them, despite their brutality towards others, was never an easy thing.

"Splitting up would be good but..." she looked at Iris and that protective side of her kicked in. However, Iris was not a helpless little girl tagging buildings anymore. She had changed a lot, and with that came more responsibility and trust to handle problems alone. "You're right, I'll head for the bridge and cause some trouble."

"Hopefully I can draw some attention away from the prisoners, so you can more easily attend to their injuries. Either way, stay in contact if you need help, and I'll see you soon," she smiled and quickly moved away with the hilt of her lightsaber drawn into her hand. The path to the bridge was a longer one, and she wanted to avoid the most obvious elevators, so she took the long way around through the maintenance shafts.

Hopefully she'd be in time to support Iris.

 

[Iris Arani]

Iris nodded once before taking off in a run towards the brig. There was a mix of emotions in her. Some of it wanting to prove that Valery's trust in her wasn't misplaced. But most was just wanting to help the people there. She could feel the fear. The colors stained so grey and dull. Her sprint down the hall slowed as she passed by the corner, into the room. And what she expected was what she saw.

A Maw soldier, holding one of the injured hostage. Barrel of a blaster against her cheek. Iris's gaze narrowed as she ignited her blade. Which only had the man click his tongue. "I wouldn't do that, Jedi. Just stay there, or I'll blow off he- Hey I said don't move!"

Iris could see it in the colors. He wasn't going to shoot the hostage. The girl was as much his shield as his bargaining chip. If she died, there was nothing stopping the Jedi. So Iris stepped forward, both hands gripping her blade. The desire to stay alive. That's what she was banking on. And the Maw figured it out. He growled under his breath before turning the blaster towards the Jedi, firing away haphazardly.

"Fine! But you can't cut me down! I'll just sho-eh?"

The Padawan had moved after the first shot. Right for the two. A calm expression stayed on her face as she thrusted out her blade. Through the hostage, and the Maw soldier behind her. Both had visible panic before a sudden exhaustion hit. Without a sound the two fell, Iris catching the girl to lay her down as she extinguished her blade. No visible wound was there.

For good reason.

She turned her gaze to Domxite on her shoulder, smiling. "Let's tend to the wounded, okay?" The alternate crystal in her saber couldn't harm. Only exhaust. Knock out. Together with her reunited friend they'd go about tending the wounded, Iris only pausing to click on her com.

"Brig secure."

Valery Noble

 

[Valery Noble]

​

Location: Shuttle
Appearance: Link
Outfit: Factory Link
Weapon: Double-Bladed Lightsaber
Tag: Iris Arani

After climbing her way through the maintenance shafts, Valery ended up inside the hallway leading up to the bridge. Its large durasteel blast doors were already closed and behind it, she could feel several presences waiting for her. Most were in a formation around the door, likely with their weapons ready to attack the Jedi they knew was coming for them.

Others were further in the back — likely the ship's captain and other officers who weren't exactly the best at handling fights themselves.

"Hmm..." she looked the doors up and down and considered her options. Burning through with her weapon was definitely possible, but it would take time and alert everybody that she was about to break her way in. Another option was to use the Force, but it would still give them a lot of time to retaliate. So instead, the former Jedi Shadow slipped into her Cloak and slowly phased through the doors to end up on the other side.

...

"She's out there, we saw her climbing up." one of the soldiers said inside the room.

"She should have been here already." an officer replied.

"I am here," Valery finally said as she stepped out of her cloak right near the unarmed officers. Without giving any of the guards time to respond, she then raised her hand and sent them all flying up against the ceiling, before slamming them down. She yanked their weapons away from their hands with a final pull and left them all there. It would have definitely hurt and caused some injuries, but none were dead.

"I suggest you both surrender," Valery then continued, as her fiery gaze shifted to the Captain and his first officer. They reluctantly agreed, knowing they had no way to fight her.

<Transmission> "Iris, how are things over there?"

 

[Iris Arani]

:: We're fine here, Master. You? ::

Iris wiped the sweat from her brow as she looked over those that remained here. Thankfully there were no life threatening wounds. Why, the padawan didn't dare to think about. She turned her gaze to the still unconscious maw soldier who was now resting in one of the cells, a frown on her lips. :: I have a prisoner. ::

Valery Noble

 

[Valery Noble]

​

Location: Shuttle
Appearance: Link
Outfit: Factory Link
Weapon: Double-Bladed Lightsaber
Tag: Iris Arani

In the past, Iris' message that all was well may have brought Valery relief — now she just smiled. She knew she could place her trust in her Padawan to handle her part of the mission, and the young Keshian had proven that once again. If there was one thing that could make a Jedi Master proud, this would be it.

"Doing alright but I may have more than one prisoner..." she looked around at the dozen or so unconscious figures around her and blinked. "They aren't too badly injured, but let's check on them to be safe." She did, after all, smash them into the ceiling and back against the ground with some considerable force.

"I don't think I'll be able to move all of them though. Can you bring your one prisoner and the others to me? We'll then make sure our prisoners are treated before we depart."

 

[Iris Arani]

"Mines inside one of the cells. I'll bring the refugees up, look over the ones there, then bring them down to the brig for lock up." That'd probably be the best thing, at least for the two Jedi to handle these guys. Without killing anyone else. With that in mind she glanced to the formerly injured and nodded. With them in tow, sans a soldier who wanted to act as a guard for the Maw currently locked up, Iris would bring the group to the bridge.

There, most would find a place to relax. Some would hover around the unconscious maw, armed with blasters. More soldiers, it seemed. Iris and Domxite would go through, just making sure no one was close to death.

"They seem banged up, but okay."

Valery Noble