By the Pricking of my Thumbs (The Witchmasters)

[Asemir]

Oh, what the stravag...! was Asemir's first line of thought as he instinctively rolled from his cot and onto the floor. Ground shook with the carnage raging outside, with the roars of beasts and men and combat and explosions and flames and everything else that made up the symphony of an active battlefield. It wasn't the first time that he had been awoken from slumber by this wonderful cacophony. And since it wasn't the first time, or the fifth or the hundredth, his body went to autopilot while his mind calmly went about its business of silently complaining about interrupted sleep.

His roll transformed into a crouch as his armor reacted to the instinctive surge of the Force. The nanomachines swarmed over his exposed features, locking together to form a hard shell that sealed away the outside world. His right hand stretched outwards to catch his songblade. His lightsaber likewise danced into his left hand. The latter joined the slugthrower already mated to the hardpoints found on his armor's back plate, while his fingers wrapped around the hilt of the former.

His eyes automatically blinked and danced for the appropriate runes floating in his heads up display, and his tactical feed started to download the sensor data coming in from the compound's security headquarters. That feed ended with an error message after just a few seconds, the data having been cut off from the source.

At the same time, his ears homed in on the mess of radio chatter bleeding through the various frequencies. He caught pieces, phrases, words, but most of it was babble and expletives and completely useless. Which, actually, wasn't as useless as one would have thought. All the confusion told Asemir that the situation was hopeless and that his mission here was a bust. It was time to leave.

He half crawled, half crouch-walked his way to the back of the tiny quarters he occupied. A few centimeters of insulation and duraplast separated him from the outside world, and those few centimeters might as well have been nanometers because they did nothing to stop his songblade from slicing a neat little portal. A quick nudge with his foot, and the square piece dropped to the ground below. Asemir followed.

Around him, everything was chaos. Flames lit up the night sky. The silhouettes of men and vehicles, caught by the strobe of blaster fire, ran in confusion. With all the smoke and fire, it was useless to trust his eyes, even with the enhanced imaging from his armor. Instead, Asemir trusted the Force.

And that made him freeze. This was not good. Not good at all.

He couldn't remember the last time he had seen such an overwhelming flood of the Force on a battlefield. Perhaps it was when he had supported Ashin Varanin's bid for the throne of the Sith Empire. Or maybe it had been the final battle of Arcanix. The sheer magnitude of the Force powers raging around the compound was staggering. The brilliance of the auras. The screams through the immaterium.

And if there were that many Force users, that many strong Force users, then he was screwed. Even with the ability to cloak himself, there was no way he could escape notice. His own strength would pulse like a homing beacon. Especially since he was probably the only non-native Force user in the compound.

This was bad.

With songblade in hand, Asemir Lor'kora slipped between prefabricated buildings, keeping to the shadows as much as possible, as he tried to thread his way to the edge of the compound. Perhaps if he lost himself in the wilderness, he'd be able to return and salvage a way off this accursed world. But he knew his chances were minimal. Close to zero. Or, rather, zero.

Because he was found.

OOC:
With [member="Ember Rekali"]'s permission.

Also, I need someone to notice and thus engage Asemir. To introduce him to the hospitality of Dathomir.

[member="Alaric D'Lessio"] | [member="Fable Merrill"] | [member="Kass Zyn'meshurok"] | [member="Isley Verd"] | [member="Daedel"] | [member="Fable Merrill"] | [member="Falcon Gyndar"] | [member="Kaeda Vevut"] | [member="Edison Bulkhead"] | [member="Mia Monroe"]

 

[Fabula Caromed]

Fabula might have been caught up in the thrill of impending carnage, but there was something she valued much more than that. The sounds of battle around her were deafening, and the sights of blaster fire and rampaging reptomammals overwhelming, but she could still pick out one important little detail. Her daughter was in danger. It wasn't a lot of danger, or even from a particularly high-value source, but Fable was being assaulted by blaster fire.

While unarmored. And bad with a lightsaber.

With a mighty backhand, Fabula shattered the helmet (and likely skull) of the merc she had closed ranks on, then turned towards Fable and took a runner's knee. She breathed in deeply, then out slowly, the Force thrumming through her body. It was rarely hard for her to find an emotion to call on in battle; at the moment, fear, love, and protective fury were all on the menu, and the poor idiot soul who was threatening her daughter was in for a bit of overkill. When her legs uncoiled, there was a tenth-second delay between the space that her body was in and the air behind it. Too fast for human eyes to track, she closed the distance to the wall her Fable was on.

The Dathomiri momma bear bolted into the air a few meters before the base of the wall, her feet landing on another small building. This time, rather than crushing it with the force of her reentry, she fractured the plasteel as she launched off of it. Perfect angle, like an arrow fired from below. Her body shot upwards until her hands caught and wrenched at the upper walls' guard railing, flipping her forward in an aggressive semicircle while maintaining momentum. Two meters of hurtling frenzy later, her boots had planted themselves into the man's chestplate. The sheer force (Force) of it was enough to crack right through to his sternum before transferred momentum caught up with him, sending him flying like a thrown baseball.

Fabula landed on her back, then kipped back up to her feet and turned back to Fable with a worried smile. "Are you alright, sweetie?" Like she hadn't just transformed into a bolt of lightning and brutally murdered a man for defending himself from her daughter.
[member="Fable Merrill"]

 

[Kaeda Vevut]

[member="Alaric D'Lessio"] | [member="Fable Merrill"] | [member="Kass Zyn'meshurok"] | [member="Isley Verd"] | [member="Daedel"] | [member="Fable Merrill"] | [member="Falcon Gyndar"] | [member="asemir lor'kora"] | [member="Edison Bulkhead"] | [member="Mia Monroe"]

Spoiler

OOC:
Also, I need someone to notice and thus engage Asemir. To introduce him to the hospitality of Dathomir.

OOC
I'm your huckleberry

Kaeda slipped through the breaches in the wall caused by the multiple rancor assault like a shade, making only slight noise as she quickly scaled the wreckage up the outside, then landed lightly inside the perimeter with an agile tumble, coming up on her right knee, bow ready to be drawn. Not that anyone could truly see her, hidden behind the stygium cloak of her armor and doing her best to dissipate her signature in the force. She was aware that a person more versed in the force would still be able to feel her, but hoped that they wouldn't be able to locate her easily. It would allow her to do her most carnage.

A shape slid through the shadows, showing a good deal of aptitude for stealth. Were it not for the random dancing of flames, she might not have even noticed him. Through the force she could feel his aura, he was strong, far and above her level, but this wasn't only a fight with the force.

She drew the energy bow to full draw, let her instinct aim the arrow for a point slightly in front of Asemir's body, the violet bolt seemingly appearing from nowhere as she let it fly. The energy from the bows discharge silhouetted her for a moment as she raised herself to her feet and drew the bow again, she was ready to react to the swordsman, if her first bolt didn't take him down. She let the charge from the bow continue at full draw as she waited, causing a flickering wraith-like figure appear in the firelight and smoke.

 

[Asemir]

OOC:
Awesome. Please let me know if I'm overstepping my bounds here, and I will revise the post as necessary.

IC:
The Force screamed for attention. His peripheral vision caught movement from the shadows, followed by a flash of light. His training, his instincts, his mastery of the Force, together they all saved Asemir from a fatal misstep.

The Forgotten somersaulted forward, launching from his left foot but also assisted with a nudge of the Force. The bolt of plasma seared just past him, scorching his armor as he landed, solidly. He was moving on autopilot now. His mind didn't register what the danger was, just where it was, and he thrust his hand forward, sending a blast of Force energy in his attacker's general direction. Though there was enough power behind the gesture to knock his foe off his feet, it was undirected, unfocused. It wasn't intended to end the fight, but to buy him some precious seconds, and Asemir had every intention to use every one of those seconds to his advantage.

He pivoted on one foot, spinning towards his attacker. It took him but a moment to focus his mind and call on that familiar surge of energy, and with his songblade singing, he charged forward, intending to close the range and turn the ambush into something far more personal.

[member="Kaeda Vevut"]

 

[Kaeda Vevut]

OOC
No worries about overstepping, it's all about the story for me.

IC

Kaeda had barely a moment to let go of the energy bow's 'string' as her opponent unleashed a blast of force energy at her. Her normally unerring accuracy would have a second miss to show for it as the blasts leading edge knocked her aim askew. The bow itself was ripped from her hand and her body was flung back. The lack of the energy bow's ambient energy let the stygium powered cloak fall back in place. She had a moment to view her adversary from midair, as she twisted her body around to aim her feet at the ground. As she landed on readied legs, she drew the durasteel sword from it's back sheath with her right hand, and a single throwing knife from her leg sheath with her left.

The dust from her landing rose into the firelit air, detailing her position in the general sense. She saw Asemir charging, and behind the mask of her armor she was smiling. She threw the knife towards the base of the man's neck as she charged towards him as well, aiming a one handed sword swing for his left knee with her right hand. The strike was in close to perfect form, weight driven behind the edge of the blade with the shifting of her hips in line with her shoulder to impart as much energy into the blow as possible.

[member="Asemir Lor'kora"]

 

[Asemir]

OOC:
Same here, so I'm pretty flexible with what happens.

Also, this will probably be the last post of the night for me. And I've got a morning flight tomorrow, but I should be able to get some posts written in the morning.

Also, is that an untreated durasteel blade? No alchemy?

And, for reference, the songblade doesn't have a tech entry, but it should be treated as a super-sharp alchemical sword that's immune to lightsabers. It's sharp enough to hum when it's swung, but that's about it.

IC:

His attacker was probably a woman, Asemir saw now. More from the litheness of her form than anything else. Not that it truly mattered. Male or female, it usually wasn't a big issue.

What was an issue was her speed. She was fast. And skilled. And had Asemir been younger and without the multi-decades of experience, he probably would have missed the flick of her wrist. He probably would not have reacted in time, and he probably would have been found on the ground with something sticking out of his neck or head or body. He would have been found very still and cold. A corpse.

As it was, her speed was surprising, but he managed to flick his own wrist. That brought his songblade, Night Terror, into play, and the cerulean-edged sword batted shuriken from the air. The clang of alchemical blade on metal sang sharply through the night and was echoed by a sister clatter as the throwing knife ricocheted off into the darkness.

Asemir's charge now brought him into melee range. Brawling range. It meant that the master swordsman was now in his preferred environment, and while it meant that there would be more immediate danger, this was also his home. His battlefield. There were few individuals in the galaxy who could claim to be a peer when it came to bladework.

Night Terror sang a sorrowful note as the Forgotten brought the blade down in a tear-drop parry. It caught the woman's sword millimeters before it would have sliced into Asemir's armored leg. He felt the force behind the woman's swing, noting the strength and purpose, and knew that his opponent was suitably skilled. But that was fine. A challenge was always to be relished.

Asemir let the momentum of his parry carry him into a spin, and he swept his right leg forward, intent on hooking it behind the woman's knee. At the same time, Night Terror completed its arc to slice through the woman's back.

[member="Kaeda Vevut"]

 

[Fable Merrill]

[member="Fabula Caromed"] [member="Alaric D'Lessio"]

Double rescued. No wonder Fable had been struggling so much to deflect blaster fire - there'd been two guys shooting at her, and not just one. One went down thanks to a well-timed blaster shot, the other was hit by a humanoid meteor by the name of 'mom'. Fortuitous timing on both accounts, although Fable was pretty sure she could have taken them. Maybe she would have gotten shot doing so, but she could have - even so, timely intervention stopped her from having to risk life and limb.

"I'm fine, mom!" Fable promised, giving her mother a cheerful - if slightly exasperated - smirk. Really, there were so many other people here who needed a guardian goddess more than Fable did, and if her mother was going to demolish every opponent that Fable found herself up against, than chances were that her presence was hurting the interests of the group they were with. Every single opponent that Fabula demolished with extreme prejudice was a moment where she could be suplexing boulders at high-priority targets or whatever. "Really. I promise." The clone added with a slight bounce to her step, lowering her saber as she scouted out her next target.

Then the guy that she'd assumed had wrecked her other target ran up, panting something about being amazed! Fable assumed he meant her mother. Fable replied with a warm smile and an awkward wave, not really sure how to handle the situation besides being polite and friendly. Even in the middle of a battlefield, her natural environment, Fable was still a huge dork. "Uhh... yeah! Good timing." She agreed brightly, sounding the slightest bit doubtful of herself. "Good shooting, too! I owe you one." It seemed as friendly as they could be in the midst of storming the compound of some nebulous enemy. He seemed pretty scared, too. Maybe it was his first time fighting for his life?

Fable spotted a few soldiers lurking on the outside of the battle and crouched low, intermittantly firing on the friendly forces - target spotted, and they could likely get the drop on them. She motioned to the cute guy with the mocha skin to draw his attention. "We're going down there. Stick behind me, okay?" That should help with the fear, maybe. Hopefully. She glanced at her mother and grinned brightly. "You can come with, too, mom. Just leave something for me to do, okay?"

 

[Lina Ovmar]

Mia took the steps two at a time, an overly brave officer burst through the door at the top and she helped his momentum continue over the rails with a small application of the force. Even with the cacophony of blaster fire, she heard his neck snap as he landed awkwardly. She holstered her bolters tugging two short beskads from her back, humminh to herself as she did. They was a scramble behind the door as the attempted to barricade it.

A quick volley of blaster fire forced her to jerk her head to the left, before she planted a firm kick against the door. It moved a few inches before slamming shut again. "Come on guys, you're only making this harder on yourselves."

Another volley of blaster fire responded to her. She took half a step back and raised her hands. The door began to warp, bending inwards the hinges snapped. She paused before sending a powerful wave of telekinetic energy into the door, blasting it and whatever was behind it into the room and to the opposite wall. She smirked, reminding herself to send a letter of thanks to Siobhan for the tips. she moved in a blur of motion through the door, beskad slicing across the throat of the first officer. Shadow bounded in behind her to take the second in his jaws. The rest were pinned awkwardly beneath their own barricade. Mia ignored them.

She moved to the control panel and began to shut everything down. Communications went first, followed by the few automated defenses they had left. "Lights out." she plunged the spaceport into darkness, cutting off all power. The only source of light to them no was the stars above, something the witches were used to, and the unwelcomed guests, were not.

[member="Ember Rekali"] [member="Isley Verd"] [member="Fabula Caromed"] [member="Asemir Lor'kora"][member="Kaeda Vevut"] [member="Alaric D'Lessio"] @Everyone else i can't remember to tag

 

[Arage Bao]

[member="Fabula Caromed"] | [member="Fable Merrill"]

Suddenly another gal appeared out of nowhere. She was... bloody, but kinda hot in her own way - nope, nope, nope. These people can gorram crush you with a single gesture, look at that poor bastard there... or what's left of him anyway. A grimace appeared and passed through Alaric's facial expressions, but he managed to surpress any urge to scream - barely. See, it was one thing to shoot a man or stab him. Seeing his body knacked in two because of the sheer force?

Made ya reconsider a few things.

Like how serious you really were in the foodchain and how infinitely unprepared you were to be hanging around here.

"Gotcha!" he replied belatedly, after shooting another look at Fabula. An awkward nod and even awkwarder smile was plastered on his lips. Please don't crush me by breathing on me, please... oh, god. Can she read my thoughts? Another look was shot, but she didn't seem to notice.

Good... good.

Considering he was now running with the girl's mother too D'Lessio kept his eyes off the back of the girl. Instead trying to focus on the battlefield... though dat ass; wasn't anything wrong with it at all.

Right. Soldiers, gore, fire and scream. Where the hell was Desmond to get him through this?

 

[Kaeda Vevut]

OOC
Yup, untreated durasteel. No tech sub, but she made it herself, planning on developing her smithing abilities as she learns that what she has isn't useful in the wider galaxy. I believe that learning has begun now

IC

Somewhere in the back of her mind, Kaeda already knew that she was overmatched. She was strong, not just for a woman, a distinction that was foreign to the Mandalorian mindset, but in general. Her entire life had been spent in training to melee combat and low tech ranged combat, with the idea that one forged their own weapons almost literally pounded into her head. Her body was lithe, but her muscles were cords of beskar beneath her skin and armor. So, when her opponent not only parried her blow at the last instant, but did so in a way that negated the forward momentum of her blow to cause it to cut a furrow in the dirt at their feet, she knew she was up against a master bladesman. Inside the helmet of her armor, she smiled even deeper. These were the challenges and teachable moments that would allow her to grow in strength and skill enough to continue in her march against the One Sith.

All of those thoughts, however, were at the back of her mind, with most of her conscious self. The forefront of her mind existed only in the moment, only allowed input from her opponent and her surroundings. It wasn't only a reactive mindset, for if it were she'd already be dead.

Her connection to the force allowed her to move with alacrity that was rare in humans. She let her leg get swept up, knowing that the more deadly attack was swiftly coming behind the sweep. Her quarry completed his spin with the slice towards her back, but she wasn't there any longer. She twisted her body around in the direction of the sweep, pushing off of the ground with her remaining planet foot to send her spinning in the air parallel to the ground.

Despite her speed, however, her opponent was at least as fast, or experienced enough so as to combat her speed. The singing blade slid a scrape against her armor, doing superficial damage to the armor over her ribs, but slicing through a portion of the matrix controlling the stygium stealth field. The field fizzled away from her, leaving her starkly apparent to everyone.

She landed in a shoulder roll, coming up to her feet facing her opponent. She now held her durasteel blade in both hands, taking a sliding step forward and aiming a fast downward slash towards the elbow of his sword arm, making sure to keep her balance centered over her feet.

[member="Asemir Lor'kora"]

 

[Ashin Varanin]

[member="Anija Betna"] [member="Cennika Hawk"] [member="Daedel"] [member="Isley Verd"] [member="Eirlys Verd"] [member="Fabula Caromed"] [member="Falcon Gyndar"] [member="Kaeda Vevut"] [member="Kass Zyn'meshurok"] [member="Loxa Visl"] [member="Mia Monroe"] [member="Morgana Belcourt"] [member="Siobhan Kerrigan"] [member="Spencer Varanin"] [member="Asemir Lor'kora"] [member="Fable Merrill"]

The lights died; good, Monroe had done her work. Ember's lightsabre hummed its way through a neck, and he doused the blade, leaving this section of the encampment in darkness. Behind him, Squint rumbled a vision-enhancement spell, and Ember followed suit. He wasn't wearing his helmet. Something about the mission demanded closeness with nature, the night air on his face.

The rancor lashed out, tearing a corner off a prefab building, and Ember scrambled through the gap. His beskar hookblades slipped out of his bracers. Blood splashed over his bare hands, hot at first, then cooling into a sticky film. With Force-enhanced strength, he tore his way through locked doors. The Witchmasters were loose in the open, in the dirt streets, but inside was no refuge.

Some part of him yelled that this was wrong, overkill, but he was tired of listening. It helped that the enemy clearly knew how to fight. They just didn't know how to handle a fight like this.

 

[Asemir]

OOC:
Urg, posting from mobile is always rage inducing.

Hmm. I'm not sure how durasteel would fair against an alchemical sword. I've always imagined that it wouldn't survive too many clashes, but I may be completely wrong in that regard. ...Then again, a broken sword mid-fight may make a surprising event for Kaeda.

And I'm battling food coma from two dinners, so my apologies if this post doesn't flow just right.

IC:

Yes, she was good, good enough to use the Force to complement her actions instead of fighting against them. She landed, rolled, and immediately unleashed a counterattack, seemingly ignoring how her armor's stealth field failed around her.

Her slash was fast, aimed to take Asemir's arm off at the elbow. It almost succeeded, but a quick pivot and step forward meant the durasteel blade squealed against his deltoid armor before glancing away.

Warning runes flashed along his HUD, but they were ignored. The step he had taken had brought him within the woman's guard, and Asemir's left fist rocketed forward in strong jab straight to her face.

[member="Kaeda Vevut"]

 

[Anija Betna]

[member="Ember Rekali"] [member="Cennika Hawk"] [member="Daedel"] [member="Isley Verd"] [member="Eirlys Verd"] [member="Fabula Caromed"] [member="Falcon Gyndar"] [member="Kaeda Vevut"] [member="Kass Zyn'meshurok"] [member="Loxa Visl"] [member="Mia Monroe"] [member="Morgana Belcourt"] [member="Siobhan Kerrigan"] [member="Spencer Varanin"] [member="Asemir Lor'kora"]

OOC:

Spoiler

Sorry fr the late entry

Dathomir. The last time Anija had come here, it was to train and learn from Ember. And that wasn't the simplest of undertakings. Nor was it for the faint of heart. The assortment of people gathered on the ridge overlooking the port was... strange at best. Most of these people she at least had a passing knowledge of, mostly because of their association with Clan Rekali - with Ember. She wasn't all that well-versed in the particular details. Nor did she much care.

After Roche and Mandalore, a fire burned in Anija's heart. Some might say that the desire for vengeance was of the Dark Side. But she didn't much care. Mandalorian vengeance was an entirely different matter. The loss of a child - that was a pain she could understand all too well. As to the present company, she didn't much care who they were. What mattered was that they were here. She crouched along with the others, her dark armor glinting dully under the light of the moon. And when the signal was given, she moved forward as well, flanking Ember's rancor companion as her form flickered and disappeared from vision and sensors. In the Force, her presence diminished as well.

Her footsteps carried her swiftly across the ground, and she too felt the rumble in her chest as the rancor mumbled something. She'd not known the creature could speak, but she supposed she shouldn't be surprised. What did surprise her was the strength of the creatures roar. it echoed off the pre-fab walls of the spaceport, and rumbled in her chest like one might expect of loud music. But it didn't scare her. Instead, it only drove her forward.

As she moved, Ember's training came crashing forward into her thoughts. it wasn't so much the words... but the sensations. The rush of energy from the Force drove her forward. A few running steps and a push with the Force boosted Anija over the wall. She caught the top edge of it in her hands for only an instant. One that she used to gauge the situation below. A flash of light from the exploding garage dazzled her vision for a moment before her visor polarized to protect her vision.

After her vision had adjusted, Anija moved swiftly forward, landing in a crouch not far from where Fabula had destroyed the garage. The sounds inside the spaceport echoed from the now-crumbling walls. Walls that were being torn asunder by beast and Witchmaster alike as they moved through the area. She could almost taste the fear of the mercenaries - or whatever they were. it was a strange sensation. But not one she shied away from. And the raw power rippling through the Force surprised her for a moment. She'd not felt so many strong Force users in such close proximity for well--- ever.

 

[Kaeda Vevut]

OOC: I was thinking one or two more hits and the blade would shatter.

IC

Her arms were extended with the blade that had glanced off of her opponents deltoid armor, so while she had balance, she didn't have much to work with to defend herself with.

She saw her opponent's fist coming in as if in slow motion. She let go of the sword with her right hand and began to draw her arm back across to block it. While she wasn't worried about form right now, she still had decent form as her arm bent at the elbow, drawing for as much speed as possible.

In a melee fight, the defender often had the advantage. It was simple physics that allowed a defender to have the shorter distance to traverse. However, with her arms extended as they were, the attacker had the shorter distance in this instance.

Asemir's fist smashed into the faceplate of Kaeda's helmet. A heartbeat later, her arm impacted behind his wrist, but the full force of the blow had already been imparted, causing impact cracks to spread across her vision. Her head rocked backwards. Her braided hair was the only thing that stopped her head rattling around inside the helmet. She stumbled back a foot, her legs coming to an unsteady ready position, sword still grasped in her left fist.

Normally Kaeda would be instantly back on the offense, but she needed a moment to gather her senses, so she settled on defense for the moment.

[member="Asemir Lor'kora"]

 

[Darth Metus]

The battle, nay slaughter, continued to rage about the Dar'manda.

Then suddenly, Darkness. A low hum could be heard from the generators: the tell-tale din of powering down. This only continued to shove the odds overwhelmingly into the Witchmasters' favor. Not only were the occupants facing a rather stacked assortment of adversaries, but they were ill-prepared for the onslaught. The cherry on top? They were now fighting blind. For the Witchmasters, this wouldn't be a problem. There was enough experience in the bunch that either equipment or abilities would see them through the darkness. Yet the poor sods weren't so fortunate.

Isley's personal hunt came to a momentary pause when the lights went out. Having left his more "traditional" armor behind, the lack of a helmet prompted the formation of Paecian lyrics. At once, the darkness was far from being an issue and Isley advanced. Now, while he was perfectly fine with breaking more and more prey, there was a question that had to be answered. Just who were these people? Who sent them? The Dar'manda strived to find out. As such, his target quickly became the center of the blackout. Perhaps there, in the defacto "heart" of the port, there would be the information he sought.

Upon breaching the structure, the Dar'manda's nightvision revealed a grisly scene. That was disappointing, he had missed all the fun! Regardless, he moved deeper inside, navigating past the mess that had been made before his arrival. Eventually, he would make his way to the top, only to spot an unfamiliar face. Oh, he knew her name. He knew who she was. But he had never seen her outside of beskar'gam. That, and it had been years. If he recalled correctly, the last he had seen of the woman was during the Mon Calamari raid against the old Sith Empire.

Times had changed.

"Mia-Motherkarking-Monroe. It's been too long." he said, acknowledging her with a half-grin. From there, his attention turned to the console before her. "Find anything interesting?"

[member="Ember Rekali"] | [member="Mia Monroe"] | [member="Fabula Caromed"] | [member="Fable Merrill"] | [member="Kaeda Vevut"] | [member="Asemir Lor'kora"] | [member="Alaric D'Lessio"] | [member="Anija Betna"] | [member="Kass Zyn'meshurok"] |

 

[Asemir]

OOC:
A quick post before fourth dinner.

IC:
Asemir wasn't going to give her that moment. Honor might have dictated that he allow a worthy opponent to regather her wits. Honor may have meant that he didn't take advantage of a stunned for. But in a real fight, on an active battlefield, honor didn't have a place. Only survival and victory mattered. And that meant not letting any foe, worthy or not, recover at all.

The Forgotten didn't let up and pressed his advantage. His songblade danced in a flurry of slashes that made up for their lack of power with sheer speed and quantity. The blows were meant to probe Kaeda's defenses, to overwhelm her. To push her back. To cause her to stumble and drop her guard. To cause her to make a mistake.

And when she made that mistake, Asemir would pounce, and Night Terror would feast well.

[member="Kaeda Vevut"]

 

[Lina Ovmar]

Shadow reacted first, jumping across Isley's path with a snarl, over 100lbs of vornskr-nightstalker hybrid coiled its muscles to pounce. "Udesii." Mia spoke softly, stepping forward to rest a hand on his neck for reassurance. Grey eyes settled upon Isley for a quiet moment. It had been a long time, if the last they saw of each was when she launched a raid upon Mon Calamari...well, she'd been Mand'alor then. She died, walked through chaos, come back in a new body and declared herself Dar'manda. He wouldn't see her in armour. Not now.

Not ever.

"Hello Isley." She said finally, at her side Shadow still rumbled, unsure of the man that stood before them, she assured Isley with a grin "I wasn't here to ask questions, but feel free to pick through what remains. You might find something of interest." She used her leg to shove Shadow to one side, to give Isley a clear path into the room. "Gev!" she snapped at the hound and he finally silenced, though his dark eyes never left Isley. "Don't mind him," she told Isley "He's not great with strangers at the best of times, never mind when he's got the taste of blood, but he's well trained."

[member="Isley Verd"]

 

[Kaeda Vevut]

Inside her helmet, Kaeda's eyes widened at the sheer skill and speed that her opponent's attack came at her with. She took a quick two steps back to give her a heartbeat more of breathing room, then he was upon her.

Kaeda was in a decidedly unfamiliar place, normally she was the aggressive one, and people were taken aback by that. Here, she was on full defense. Her blade met the songblade at several places, while she dodged other attacks with shifts to the left and right, and a pair of body voids that saved her from bleeding just yet. To her dismay, however, every time her blade met the songblade, a new nick appeared along her blade. She had forged it from excellent durasteel, but whatever the other blade was made from was definitely superior. Her opponent wasn't giving her any exploitable opportunities, so she had to make a desperate gamble.

She retreated slowly as the probing attacks continued, first one step, then two, and a third. As soon as her third step settled, she pushed forward, slamming her blade down onto her opponents in a violent clash meant to stun his hand into stillness for a single breath. Depressingly, her blade shattered upon the impact, but she was already finishing her desperate move. Using the momentum of her shattered defense, she whirled on one foot, stepping behind her opponents lead foot with the other and aiming an elbow at the front/side of his helmet. The point was to try to overbalance him and throw him to the ground. If successful, she would follow him to the ground and attempt to grapple him.

[member="Asemir Lor'kora"]

 

[Asemir]

Her blade shattered, and that alone helped Kaeda more than she realized. It came as a surprise, and though Asemir reigned in his momentum and recovered immediately, the damage was done. His rhythm was interrupted and that allowed Kaeda the instant she needed to slip beneath Asemir's guard.

Her elbow crashed against his faceplate with a sharp blow. Asemir tasted blood in his mouth, probably where he bit a lip or tongue. Worse than that, the strike knocked him off balance, and he tripped over Kaeda's foot.

The Forgotten wasn't about to let a little obstacle like the loss of balance get to him, however. And, besides, getting caught on the ground was akin to certain death. He extended his left arm and posted from the ground. A burst from the Force twisted him farther away from his opponent and he landed easily.

Asemir Lor'kora slashed a salute through the air with his blade, and the nanomachines protecting his head peeled back to reveal a smiling face. He spat some blue blood.

"You are quite skilled, swords woman," he said to his opponent. A touch of respect backed his words. He gestured at Kaeda's ruined sword. "Your weapon is broken. I offer you hegira, so that you might withdraw from our duel with your honor intact. However, before you accept, I would know your name."

[member="Kaeda Vevut"]

 

[Fable Merrill]

[member="Alaric D'Lessio"]

Presumably, [member="Fabula Caromed"] realized that she had higher-value targets to handle than her fairly proficient and hardy daughter, and bounced off to address/demolish those targets with her normal efficiency. This left Fable and the bewildered-looking rookie alone up on the wall, for the moment, with a decent vantage point for the battle. Fable kept her lightsaber lit, just in case of random gunfire.

"What we're going to do is try and clear the walls of snipers!" Fable explained to her new flunkie, raising her voice so as to be heard over the sound of blaster fire, shouting, and angry rancors. She offered Alaric another bright smile to try and set him at ease. "My name is Fable - cover my six, and I'll take point, okay?" She was, after all, nigh-indestructible when compared to a fresh, unseasoned soldier. Sure, gunfire could put her down, but it'd have to actually hit something important to do so.

With her orders/suggestions given, Fable turned and bounded off along the wall, her hair bouncing merrily to match her face. Fighting alongside other people was kind of fun! The energy from the battlefield was unmistakable, a thrumming and arrhythmic cacophony that obliviated her anxiety and concerns. It was not music, it wasn't white noise, but it was something to lose herself in.

Once they reached the first tower along the perimiter of the wall, Fable threw open the door only to be met by a soldier carrying a rather nice blaster rifle. As his finger squeezed the trigger, Fable doused her saber and lunged forward, dipping down only to drive her shoulder into the wrist of the man - as a result, his shot went high, scorching the wall above the door. Flowing like water, Fable wrapped her arm around the man's main arm, put her foot behind his, and pushed forward with her enhanced strength, tackling the guy to the ground in an instant of graceful, brutal violence. He had a moment to struggle before Fable, straddling him, swiftly broke his arm and knocked him unconcious with a headbutt.

Presumably, the sniper or two in the tower above them would be poking their heads down to see what all the fuss was about, now.