[member="Nine Lives"]
Sawa felt the hand on her shoulder and it was more reassuring then she had been expecting. THought of it as she breathed in the moment, allowed herself to feel something before seeing Midori who was coming to join them. Akiko was prepared for a fight as always and the princess seemed pleased with Ni-Ne's words. "Ah Nine Lives... how adorable." Midori didn't look entirely sinister though she came over and Sawa could feel a hand touching her face, tilting her head up as she looked up at MIdori whose face was filling her field of vision. The taste of fruit was there. The tanginess, the sweetness and everything as Midori kissed her.
Saw closed her eyes on instinct but her other hand went to her shoulder, across her chest as she touched Ni-Ne's hand when she felt Midori pulling away from her. A smile on her face but she looked more proud and standing there as she looked around. "Hmmm well you ceetainaly dont seem to have been ruined my sweet. I hope this cat hasn't shed on you yet." She looked from Sawa towards Ni-Ne though and waited a moment stepping back. "My day has been going well Nine Lives, I received word from my father a secret but since you seem to be such good friends with my Sawa... oh I can't handle the suspense."
Sawa looked at her then turned her head to look at Ni-Ne but flicked her eyes back. "Oh I shouldn't but it is too delicious. Your mothers ship, the one lost that brought shame to your father and family. THe Republic detected it and it is coming back, no word on who is there but o imagine the shame of returning to the palace, to your home when death wouldn't even take you for failing in your duty." She seemed to be enjoying it with a laugh. "My father said even if they have a reason, he cannot allow them to live. The entire crew will be required to preform seppuku to at least save some of their honor to keep their families from sharing this fate."
Sawa was looking at Midori who seemed proud of herself but she had to stop now... she didn't know what Ni-Ne might do or say but she rose up getting a reaction from Akiko who moved forward with a hand on her swords hilt. "That is enough Midori, leave her be." What fierceness she had soon ebbed away when she was standing there with a look on her face. Midori seemed suprrised but kept her smile on her face... but she had sen it. She knew she had seen it before Midori came at her again hand on her jaw and squeezing. "What.... you would challenge me Sawa?" She wasn't mad but she was angry and you could feel that heat radiating off of her.
"I will not stand for this, I wanted you to be mine but if you are going to roll around with this low class wretch then I cannot have you sully my name or my bed. You are dismissed from your duties as my handmaiden at court. I'll inform my father and your shame for losing this position will break his heart." Sawa was looking at her as she felt a nail digging into her face and then was being flung to the side kind of. More push so she was close to Ni-Ne and stopped there. Holding herself up with her head near the crook of her neck, arms to either side of her and she could fel her heart beating. Slow and careful, more steady then her rapidly beating heart.
"There just where you two belong, I had thought to keep you with me, to have you be mine when I am empress. I would have done so much for you but you reject me, hang and even defend a family that is almost gone. Once her father dies and she is married off to some house to some lesser lord her family will not be around." Midori stood there before turning around. "THis isn't over Sawa, I will have you even if I have to force you." Sawa waited until she was gone and was looking at Ni-Ne with a look on her face. Sawa rose up a little but she was looking at Ni-Ne and stayed there for a time.. she didn't know what she was going to do but she felt something.
Warmth and salt, a little taste of copper where she looked and her vision was a little blurry... thoughts of what was being said though when she wondered how best to speak to Ni-Ne. "I... I..." She moved forward and just collapsed her head into her shoulder. Burying her face in the skin while rubbing her eyes and wrapping her arms around her. "I dind't mean it." Sawa remained there and just titled her head up when she felt her lips graze the girls neck. Kissing for a moment and some fo the tears she had shed were there. The taste of salt and warmth was strange at first. The feeling that all she wanted to do was hold her.
Meanwhile Unaga was standing there, looking around from the battlements of Dawn's fortress as she walked with one of her yovshin generals. "Sosokan-Sama we have managed to route them and finish off the imposters." SHe gave a nod of her head with a look on her face here. "Good, what have we learned?" As she was speaking and waiting for the answer something happened, silver armored soldiers were pouring out of the FOrtresses lower levels. "Where did...." THe sealed sections, they had been told the fortress was sealed in the lower levels for safety and to keep creatures out but they were coming as she saw it.
THey were coming out of the lower levels and she was prepared for a fight. Her hand going to her blade when the woman's eyes narrowed at the first one who had rushed her. His move was clumsy.... attacking fast and swiftly yes but he was also not taking a stance before she ducked down and her blade drew out. Slashing into the belly of the armor when she felt that resistance and then give. The grunt of pain while she spun around sheathing the sword and once the hilt touched the sheath he fell over. "It is a trap, yovshin form up and defensive positions. Do not give them any ground." She was watching the others come into view but this wasn't what she had been expecting.
Across the planet Jiyoen brought the coat up to cover her face as she and observed the prison. Even in ther weather she needed the mask over her face because her eyes would freeze without them. The current temperature was about fifty degrees below freezing, with winds about thirty klicks an hour. At least it wasn't snowing right now though. Still, Jiyoen didn't like the freezing cold conditions one bit. The danger that had been coming, the news of attacks by bandits and organized rebels. It was unsettling and while Sawa had been given a position at court she had as the second sister been given a chance to prove herself.
She was wearing heavy cold-weather gear under her yovshin armor from head to toe. It was white and light-gray to blend in with the snow and ice on the ground. her hood even had thick masking for her face. The gear was supposed to be rated to over seventy degrees below freezing, and wind over fifty klicks an hour. In spite of the rating, Jiyoen's hands were freezing even with the gloves on, and the rest of her wasn't much better. She could just barely grip her swords, just barely see a few feet in front of her when they were going snow blind. She sneered a little internally to herself though. These beings were different who helped the Yovshin today.
The reason she was observing the prison was that the Tiantai slime were holding about two thousand prisoners there. The scarheads slavers weren't expected to pick them up for several more days. Offworlders coming to take the destitute fromt he siums of the Imperial and other cities around Atrisia. With a small window to act, Jiyoen, along with twenty-four Yovshin and 5 jedi on loan from the Republic, had been sent to free them and she clenched her fist. It was her chance to prove herself.. to prove that she could bring as much honor to her family as her ancestor she was named ofter. Who bested one of the emperors favorites at a tournament when she was just able to hold a sword. A prodigy.
I had to notice that Tiantai apprentice in the cantina of the Night Fortress, Jiyoen thought as she shivered in the cold but a smile was on her face. Under all the cold she was free, somewhat. The yovshin had given her a chance a task and way to advance, the Republic was a welcomed thing on Atrisia mostly because it meant there was far more out there beyond the stars and it had allowed them not to slip into obscurity. She had been healing from practice still but had authority needed from Jar'Kai and from the emperor. With the attack on The High FOrtress and its fall she had chosen to lead here while the seniors were planning how to retake it.
"I hear that about a thousand klicks north of here the temperature is all the way up to freezing," Lieutenant Akio-Sama said cheerfully from the snow next to him. She practically had to shout to be heard over the wind but it was a fun sentiment and for a moment the Yovshin apprentice pinged with envy.... Freezing sounded enjoyable compared to the jokes that he might make. She rolled her eyes eventually though when she thought about what was coming and mentally was looking to prepare herself. Her mother had been careful but their father was doing a great deal out there to prove himself to the emperor with another plan.
Jiyoen lowered the mask just a bit and felt the wind biting into her face there were legends of the wind being able to scar your face as much as any blade and with her pale complexion she was not looking to test that theory. "More like three thousand," She responded gloomily. "And the wind would still be blowing forty klicks an hour," She added as she shivered slightly from the cold again. "Now we have to get in there and out hopefully without to much trouble." She was chuckling a little more, inside she might be able to shed a layer or two and let her body heat warm herself more to fight. SHe would also be able to move swiftly at least.
The Tiantai had been easy enough to notice. The rest of the cantina's patrons were a depressed lot of sentients, no doubt from HoloNews showing the destruction that came with an actual galaxy, New Orders, new governments being brougth into the republic and empire and other groups tearing their way across the galaxy had sown. The skinny, forty something year old male human however, seemed quite content with the state of affairs. The contrast was easy to pick up with the Force for the jedi but for her it had been that he bought a round and spoke about some real credits to be made with these new changes.
At first Jiyoen had just wanted to wipe the carefully guarded but smug grin right off his face. She voiced her plans to her companions, three humans and a Noghri from the jedi order, just in case they wanted to help out. Then Lieutenant Akio-Sama had to suggest that the slime might be of the Tiantai, and therefore might have some intelligence. Military, at least but he could also be providing them information about their movements or their location within the polar regions of Atrisia. Getting a chance to try out some fo the new equipment that the jedi and republic had brought for the military units and yovshin to test out.
Or better yet things that could be given and used for aiding the Republic, helping the people or useful enough to the emperor's plans that they could get an upper hand to protect the galaxy from threats both foreign and domestic, The horde of bandits her mother had said was out there attacking villagers and Crusade like forces that had come from the stars closing in. So instead of breaking a few of his bones in a cantina fight, she had lured him outside by wherpering to him sweet nothings. He was more then hapy to come with her and she did look provocative compared to some fo the others. Still lithe and refined over muslced and serious.
It had been easy to sneak up on him and plant the idea there was a better party outside.. Then she and her friends hauled him off to a more secure area, and found out if she knew anything. Between a growling Noghri flashing her claws at him on one side, and Jiyoen pretending to be friendly from the other, he was spilling his guts in no time. THey barely had to threaten him which was kind of ah... disappointing to say the least. She had thought he would have been taught to avoid and resist interrorgation.. or something. The yovshin was prepared until he just opened up and was giving them everything they wanted and more.
It turned out that the frakkin' scum regularly delivered supplies to a Tiantai secured prison. He had just made a run, and they had about two thousand Jar'kai citizens from the outer villages and provinces. Naturally, since she reported the details of the operation to the Republic and yovshin command stationed in the region, they tasked her with the mission as small as it was. Her father was proud she had gotten an assignment though and said this was her chance to prove she was special and a cut above the others. He would have offered more advice but he was needed in his duties advising the emperor.
Luckily the fellow had told them that the prison had very little defenses, and less than fifty guards as well as a sub basement just above a large cavern that no one used because of the dangerous creatures. The prison was just a few buildings above ground slightly scattered with two basement levels. One was a command center, with an observation post above it, and a HoloNet communications antenna on top of that. They had been busy, the Republic had only just started coming to Atrisia, started to really share with them and expand within the Empire so she was impressed and could admit what a boon this would be for them to take.
The observation post was perhaps five meters above the command center, and the comm antenna ten meters above that. She mused it might be like the pit but no where near as effective. At least in some terms a prison in a frozen wasteland was still effective wherever you had it. Sneaking up in their weather gear would be a thing though, she was looking at the dangerous parts of it. Interest on her mind, interest it a few parts with the other yovshin and these... these jedi. She was not certain about them in the long run but she would hopefuly be able to use what knowledge her family had of the Je'daii when Unaga was taken by the flying temple.
The second, and largest, building was barracks for off-duty guards, and storage. The third building was access to the prisoners, who were kept below ground, in twenty hundred-person units and there there was the small landing pad she would call in reinforcements when they were needed. The Yovshin apprentice looked at her small team and focused on the area around them and moving carefully to not disturb the snow. A blizzard was going to be kicking up soon if they were unlucky and somehow... someway it would end up only getting colder. If that was even possible and she didn't want to do it or risk it.
There were supposed to be eight-to-ten guards in the command center, plus four more in the observation post. The guards rarely went into the prisoner areas, and never patrolled outside. They delivered food to the prison, and the prisoners took care of themselves. The main security feature was the deadly cold, along with the fact that none of the prisoners had any sort of footwear, and only minimal clothing. That would go a long way in the end towards keeping them in line since they would stay together huddled up sharing body heat or protecting the others. Some of the dangers the prisoners might face would prove worse.
If they escaped, they would die from the cold in a matter of minutes. Anytime the the doors to the prison area were opened, the command center and barracks blast doors were closed. If the prisoners caused problems, then their unit could be opened to the elements as well. Or they could be sent down into the cavern underneath and left to die from whatever lurked in there. She had heard some rumors about that as well and didn't want to risk them being sent in there. She didn't want to get her men or these jedi who were with them but they insisted that there were currents within the force under there in the caverns.
After observing the prison a bit, Jiyoen and her men decided on sending a small team in to take out the four guards in the observation post, and the HoloNet antenna. Then the other team would storm the command center. Between the two teams they would also keep the rest of the guards pinned inside the barracks if necessary. The Yovshin apprentice had a face though while she looked at the others there. "Alright we know the plan, we have an idea of the stakes. We've also heard the rumors that attacks are happening across Atrisia. I am not going to claim that noting is happening but we do not know all of the facts just yet."
Then Jiyoen took a deep, frosty breath and reached out with the energy built from her own anticipation. None of the guards in the observation post seemed to be looking their way. In fact, they didn't seem to be too alert at all. She continued to reach out and with her senses focused on herself and the people with her, trying, straining to make it to cover all of the way as they went quickly across the snow. Stopping just enough to reorient herself, to look at more guards where they should be. Head on a swivel in case someone decided to actually look outside and observe the group that was moving towards them.
She nodded towards Lieutenant Akio-Sama, then climbed to her feet, and began slowly moving forward in a crouch through the deep snow with her six men. They were moving into position to attack the observation post. Lieutenant Akio-Sama's team of a dozen would be following them, to hit the command center, and hold the barracks. She made careful movements like a hunter stalking with barely a crunch underfoot. The tension in her jaw as she felt her teeth grinding the feeling in her legs as her muscles strained with the motions. She wasn't tired but the adrenaline needed to go somewhere and she had it from her heart pounding.
A two person sniper and observation team was a little over three hundred meters away. Further out were two more pairs of troopers, with each pair manning a rocket launcher, and also acting as observers. The forms of each of them in the force came to him while she expanded her field of view to cover all of them. Rifle coming up and firing with silencers and a resolve to not fail her men. She felt that first burst of energy from the attack, that rush not at killing but being able to have the action and excitement. Instead of just waiting and observing, of preparing her mind and body for what would be a dangerous fight she might not come back from.
It was a lot for him to handle, but fortunately Lieutenant Akio-Sama was happy to help him out. The Noghri mostly needed everyone to stay out of their way. Jiyoen had almost sent them ahead on their own, but the Force that they used she didn't really know how to factor it and and it told her to go with them instead of Lieutenant Akio-Sama's team. There was something else here buried below the surface and while the prisoners were a priority she suspected they might end up going into those caverns later. It was a hard to explain feeling to her but in her gut or in her head.. or wherever the feeling came from.
Nearly ten minutes later Jiyoen and her team were in position. She gave her comlink a quick double tap to alert Lieutenant Akio-Sama. She received a single beep of acknowledgment, which she responded to with another tap of her comlink. Since Lieutenant Akio-Sama's team consisted of nine Humans, a Wookiee, a Devaronian, and another Twi'lek, they couldn't move quite as fast as six Noghri jedi and a yovshin apprentice. Even with the gear on she moved with speed. Eyes going around to check out some parts of it and her equipment gave her a chance to resist the cold thankfully.
When Lieutenant Akio-Sama finally alerted Jiyoen that his team was ready, she immediately signaled the Noghri attack, and dashed forward the last dozen meters. Pulling a stun blade out that would be able to knock out or kill with enough force. her touch on the trigger was more then enough to cover the fast moving Noghri as they got into position. She watched it and if they were using the force to increase their speed then this was going to be something she would want to try and learn about. SHe wssn't looking to let it well... control or improve her. It was something that could make her stronger. Ideas about what she could feel as well was there.
With the knee-deep snow pressing in on her lower legs and feet, Jiyoen wasn't quite able to leap onto the roof of the command center. She was able to get high enough to pull herself up though. Three of the Noghri stopped at the base of the wall, and propelled their comrades up. Then the second three quickly reached down and helped pull the first three up. It was a practiced movement they had all done a million times and she remained still almost not breathing until she stood like a statue. Her breathing shallow, her heart almost still and body tense. Micro movements were all there was before she looked.
While the Noghri were climbing up, Jiyoen reached out with the senses and made sure the guards in the observation post above her hadn't noticed them. They still didn't seem to be paying much attention to anything and were playing cards. That was a good thing compared to some and she was more then happy to take advantage. She could feel the other men moving about the place while the muted scents in the air came to her. Machine oils and fuel for keeping the heat going along with the scent of sweat and musk. That familiar scent of oil for the blades and the whetstones was nothing something she was keen to forget.
The most important thing was to make sure they didn't get a distress call off. The problem was, Jiyoen didn't know if the observation post could send one, or just the command center. That meant they had to take out the four Tianttai mmbers in the observation post before they had a chance, just to be sure. She mentally prepared for the two possibilities, one of them calling in reinforcements and possibly killing the prisoners and two for them to succeed and keeping them under wraps until a check in failed. THe check in was something they hadn't had time to really check as the communications were more focused to the area.
Jiyoen and her twenty-four special-operation yovshin and jedi had arrived in system in an old converted passenger liner. It could easily hold twenty-five-hundred passengers. It couldn't land on the iceball though. They had two smaller transports that would ferry the prisoners to the passenger liner. One could carry close to two hundred people. Jiyoen and her team had landed in a second transport that could carry up to forty people. The passenger liner and larger transport were hiding behind a moon three planets out. It was all waiting for them to provide communications to alert them to start coming it but they would have to balance stopping communications and using them.
A few moments later, one of the Noghri was on the ladder, her hands on the hatch leading into the observation post. Jiyoen was hanging off the side next to him. The hatch was locked, but it only had basic security. The Noghri had it unlocked in seconds. She glanced over to him, and Jiyoen nodded her head in approval. Then the Yovshin apprentice focused on the wall when she was letting herself be open to it... checking on the sensors for her armor and scanning devices. Her hand grazing the pommel of her blade, her rifle and back up combat knife. She continued to mentally prepare herself to try and be ready.
As she opened the hatch Jiyoen squatted on the ladder in preparation. She had her blaster carbine in one hand and across her chest for the noghri, attached to her combat vest with a pair of straps. The carbine was specially modified so a plasma cutter could be attached to the underside of the barrel, as a bayonet. There was a switch just above the trigger that would ignite the torch. The moment the hatch was open, she leapt up and through it, igniting her plasma as she did and tossing the carbine to the noghri. They were prepared and moving in themselves quick, silent and she though if she blinked she might miss them.
The four guards must have thought they were receiving visitors or something. They stared at her dumbly as she slashed the nearest one across her midsection with her jar'kai blades. The other three Tiantai guards eyes went wide with shock as the shots rang out from the noghri into the second one, then Jiyoen stabbed a third one in the heart. Before she could take out the fourth one, she dropped out of her chair with a hole in her chest from a blaster fired by a second Noghri coming up through the hatch. With everythign that was happening here the yovshin apprentice was checking on the status of a few more things.
"Antenna!" Jiyoen shouted as she hauled the Noghri the rest of the way up through the hatch and shoved him aside. She quickly jumped back down onto the roof of the command center. Another Noghri had already found the communications cable. Jiyoen cut through it, and anything else that looked important. Then Jiyoen let out a sigh of relief. At least now the frakkin' Tiantai guards can't call for help. Now they had to get into the command center and handle it in this case. She mentally checked herself over with a few more things. Hands unconsciously patting herself. Flexing and testing the grip on her blades.
Jiyoen dropped back down onto the snowy ground, and was joined by the two demolitions troopers. They quickly began setting up their explosives on the command center's blast doors. The Yovshin apprentice while they set up was sensing and searching inside to feel where they might be while she moved about with a gron on her face and the silvery blue saber was activated. The blade blending in with the snowy ground as she slashed it across the surface of the snow. Turnign over with most of her attention and a grin on her face. She had plenty of ideas about what they might be able to do. Until then though she was look over at it.
A handful of seconds later, the bomb was ready. The two demolitions troopers announced it over the comlink as they stepped around to the side of the command center. Jiyoen glanced around to make sure everyone else was out of the way, then joined them. She could sense nine or ten people inside, but none of them were near the doors. They were definitely alert, but none of them seemed to be panicked. Maybe they didn't know they were being attacked. Her eyes widened as she was feeling it and realizing it... she hadn't just known they were there... she had felt it... she had seen it in her mind but that was impossible.
The bomb exploded five seconds later. Jiyoen and the two demolitions troopers went back to inspect the damage. There was a crater about thirty centimeters deep, and perhaps a meter across. The demolitions troopers quickly began setting up a bigger one. A smirk on her face while she went to try and obscure them but now there was no real use hiding. The prison was on alert but the communications were cut off as they moved about. She was letting herself sink into her instincts as the fighting spirit she felt was taking over... everything felt alive and that familiar tension to her muscles was back. That grip on her blades.
Jiyoen stepped over to check out the barracks' with the jedi having them use the force while reporting... and the people were stirring. The Tiantai soldiers had to notice a bomb going off on their command center. The ones in the barracks should be coming out to see what was going on—probably with blasters firing away. The other troopers moved into positions to best breach and defend while keeping an area of fire. She gripped her blade as it sung going through the air and slashing into the throat of another. Who had ben outside.. who had been having a moment of peace to himself before she ended his life. SHe would light a candle later.
The barracks doors remained closed though. Jiyoen was about to see how her demolitions troopers were doing when she saw the doors leading to the prisoners opening. Then she felt the prisoners inside start to get very worried. The small hers of the air rushing in to the sealed rooms and the senses of the prisoners changed. She didn't fully know what to do while she moved to check but stopped briefly to think.THere was so much going on but she couldn't lose herself... she couldn't fall into the trap that was battle excitement and lust. SHe needed to be smart... she needed to be focused and that would mean taking it carefully.
It took Jiyoen a moment to comprehend what was happening. The frakkin' Tiantai commanders are going to freeze the prisoners to death! Jiyoen muttered a curse and rushed back to the command center blast doors. The two demolitions troopers had the second—bigger—bomb set. Before they could ignite it though, Jiyoen's communications trooper commed him. She told him that someone inside the command center identifying herself as Captain Tangu was trying to talk to her. She also said that she was broadcasting over an open comlink, so they could all hear her. Jiyoen thanked her, took a quick breathed to calm herself and then switched comm channels.
"This is . . . This is Jiyoen Ike of the Yovshin Royal Guard," she said over the comlink. She bit back a few more choice words. She didn't identify herself as a rank among the Yovshin either. SHe could just be a faceless and rankless member of the royal guards of the emperor who enforced his will across the planer. They didn't need to know that right now. As she spoke, she reached out with the Force to get a feel for the people in the command center. They were mostly worried, and a little scared. None of them seemed to be on the verge of panicking though. That would have to change. She had the force... she needed to accept it.
"I'm Captain Tangu of the Tiantai Order," a human sounding voice replied. "I assume you're here to free the prisoners. They'll start freezing to death in about ten minutes. You can try and save them, or continue attacking us. If you do choose to continue ther attack, then I'll make sure as many of them die as possible." That did it and she regretted only one thing... that there was only one death for a being like this captain. Death was to good for her... hell an honorable death was to good for her. She would be cursed to roam the netherworld.. or given to a demon if she had her say about it. 'Just you wait.' She thought it for a moment.
Jiyoen could feel the Force as the jedi were using it to block the cold from the entrance to the prison, but she knew she couldn't keep her focus in place long enough while they tried to ferry all the prisoners to the passenger liner—especially if the rest of the Tiantai soldiers in the barracks chose to start fighting. She felt like she could get into command center in ten minutes. The problem was,.. Captain Tangu was very confident she could kill the majority of the prisoners. Jiyoen had come here to rescue them, not win a pointless battle against some Tiantai Order thugs. She had to listen to the jedi and Force for guidance.
"Then what will you tell your foreign clients or what will your masters say when you don't have their prisoners? They will not be happy that you killed them and let yourself live." Jiyoen asked with a small smirk on her face. That definitely caused a reaction. They were very concerned about what the scarheads would do to them if they didn't have two thousand prisoners for them. "We've got a supply ship due in the morning. We'll just hitch a ride, and disappear somewhere," Captain Tangu said confidently. THat got the Yovshin apprentice a little annoyed since she was wanting to complete the mission. Also the prospect of not being able to slap this one around was something she didn't want to ignore.
Jiyoen thought a moment. Admiral Palios had made it clear she had to either rescue the prisoners or scratch the mission as expeditiously as possible. There was no way she could still be here in the morning. She certainly didn't want to spend the night freezing her butt off. It was possible she could stay warm with one of the yovshin.. but well that wasn't exactly somthing to do all the time. Then a small smirk tugged at her lips. "Piloted by a skinny human," she replied. "About forty, blond hair? Goes by the name Koddy?" The name was someone they knew from intelligence reports but she had a description.. not the real person.
There was a noticeable pause over the comlink and the Yovshin apprentice knew she had struck something. "Yeah," Captain Tangu replied fearfully. Even though they were speaking over a comlink, and she was wearing a cold weather mask, Jiyoen flashed a predatory smile, she had something now to push at and while time was ticking on the prisoners her hands motioned, her stance going very still. She went back to that tension but was allowing her bloodlust to finish this dishonorable woman.. she wanted to do more.. to smash her but she would just settle for this. She would serttle for stilling her heart and making it like crystaal steel.
"Koddy ain't coming in the morning, Captain. We've got him locked up," She told him and had a smirk on her face that tugged, pulled to be showing as humor. They needed to act fast for the prisoners but savoring ther from the man would be what would help."Ronko shavit," Captain Tangu responded in denial. Jiyoen chuckled. "How do you think we found out about this place?" She asked. There was so much going on that the atrisian gleamed internally feeling the force itself now. Being around the jedi and seeing them use it.. seeing them make it a reality she was starting to understand what could become a great part of Atrisian culture.
There was another noticeable silence over the comlink. Jiyoen could sense the Tiantai Commanderss' dread as the realization sunk in. "Frakk," Captain Tangu finally replied in dismay. Jiyoen waited several seconds before replying. "There's only one ship leaving this rock before the rest of the Yovshin show up with the assault corp." She wasn't sure exactly when that would be, but since the prison was at capacity, she didn't think it would be very long. "If you surrender, I'll allow you to be on it." She said it and it was a lie... she was honorable but she was also not one to try and give a chance like this to one as dishonorable as her.
Once again there was several seconds of silence over the comlink. "We surrender," Captain Tangu finally responded. "Good," Jiyoen replied quickly. "Open the blast doors of the command center only," She instructed her. Then everyone will walk out single file." "Yes Lady Ike," she answered dejectedly. "I guess it is true isn't it, the dragons of Atrisia.. the loyal servants of the Emperor. House Ike is everywhere but I do have to wonder what it would have been like to fight you just this once. I would have preferred to face you in combat." She said it and while sounding almost amused Jiyoen remained quiet for the moment.
Jiyoen quickly switched comm channels and instructed Lieutenant Akio-Sama's team to stay in position, covering the barracks. Then she told four of her Noghri to get ready to go into the command center with him. She wasn't about to give the Tiantai soldiers or commanders a chance to surprise her. She told the other two, and the two demolitions troopers, to handle the people coming out of the command center. Non lethally for now since they had given up... it would be dishonorable to kil them but you could possibly say that they stumbled or resisted. Not all of them but just the ones who were a problem.
As the blast doors began to open, Jiyoen's senses—including the Force—were alert for danger. The moment there was enough space, she rushed in, the noghri with their carbine and him with her deactivated plasma cutter leading the way. She immediately began sweating from the increased temperature. Four of her Noghri were right behind her and they were silent.. they were fast covering a lot more. She cold not believe how dedicated and how skilled they were at covering or handling some of the more dangerous situations. The jedi certainly had something special and she had been told they were a special type a jedi sentinel.
"Hands up!" Jiyoen spoke loudly projecting as she swept her head across the line of people walking towards them. The seven men and two women instantly stopped and obeyed. Jiyoen reached out with a hand to try and do what the jedi were doing... sense if anyone else was inside. When she reached the last Tiantai, she stopped. "Is anyone else in here!?" she demanded, pointing her rifle and plasma cutter at the woman's chest from less than a meter away and keeping it deactivated. There was a look on her face but she wasn't one to harm a prisoner like this. If they realy did attack sure but she knew she could only go so far... Tengu had called her on it.
Two of the Noghri moved past them, searching the building. "N—No," the woman answered, trembling as her eyes followed the Noghri a moment, then went back to Jiyoen's rifle and cutter. Panicky people weren't the easiest to read with the your eyes since they twitched and were far to nervous. Considering Jiyoen didn't sense anyone else though.... although she was guessing there was more to it then in the heat of the moment, she believed her. Two more Noghri kept hustling the rest of the captured Tiantai members through the blast doors. They gave a nod of their heads that there wasn't anything of risk for the moment at least.
"Do you have any weapons on you?" Jiyoen asked her in a slightly calmer voice. Willing her to answer with the look on her face truthfully. her senses searching to hear and observe the changes in her body in case she lied. "N—No," she answered, still trembling. Jiyoen reached down and opened her overcoat to cool off. "Do you know how to operate the controls for the prison and barracks doors?" she asked her. She could well let her handle it and the woman was obviously scared this was a good thing. Just the right amount of fear would keep them hopefully from causing problems for their guards in the transports.
"Ye—Yes master," the Tiantai replied, slightly more confidently. Jiyoen set her rifle and plasma cutter underneath her left arm, out of the way. Then she stepped forward and began searching the woman for weapons while one of her Noghri covered her. When she finished, she pulled out a pair of binders, and slapped them around her wrists in front of her. "Let's go," Jiyoen said, pushing her back towards the interior of the command center. She needed information and while a pilot who came here form time to time was good at first... someone who well was stationed here and knew the place and the people would work a lot better.
The woman was in her mid-twenties, several centimeters smaller than Jiyoen, with black hair. She was also a few kilos heavier than Jiyoen. Jiyoen took the woman into the control room while the Noghri swept the building for Tiantai Order holdouts. There was a stack of blaster pistols on one of the desks. The woman stayed away from them without being told. She was practically trembling with fear. The problem was, Jiyoen needed her thinking rationally for the next little bit. She still kept aware of the blasters and moved them a little unconsciously to make it harder positioning herself in a place she could strike before one got to them.
"Hey, what's your name?" Jiyoen asked her as she sat her down in a chair at the control panel. The woman stared up at him for a few seconds. "What?" she asked, holding her cuffed hands defensively in front of her. "What's your name?" Jiyoen repeated, trying to calm her with the Force. "Akiza," she finally answered. "Akiza Sena." She was giving a thought to it... trying to remember the Sena house and there was rumors of them being upstarts.. ones who got ahead less on their skill and more on their ability to be in the right facvor at the right moment but they would then just as quickly change sides politically if it suited them.
"Well Akiza," Jiyoen said as she sat down a chair next to her, between her and the blasters on the desk. "I need you to take a deep breath and relax okay. No one is going to hurt you." Jiyoen opened her overcoat all the way as she watched Akiza take a couple of deep breaths. She also sensed her calm down somewhat, although she was still highly agitated. Jiyoen assumed it was from being captured. It made the Yovshin apprentice hold on her for a moment while she reached out to sense around her and to the prisoners. The thought of them almost freezing was becoming a real possibility. A real danger but she wasn't going to say anything yet.
Before Jiyoen could say anything else, the two Noghri that were searching the building entered the room, and announced it was clear. They also told him they had found a small weapons closet that had about ten blaster rifles, ten pistols, and two E-Web heavy repeating blasters in it. They said there were some grenades and extra power packs as well. Jiyoen instructed them to take the E-Webs and anything else they needed, and have Lieutenant Akio-Sama deploy them as he saw fit. Then she had to calm Akiza down a second time. The girl seemed prone to panic and she owondered if maybe well it was kind of adorable.
"Now Akiza, I need you to close all the prison doors, but leave them open about half-a-meter, okay. Can you do that?" "Yes," she replied, leaning forward and reaching out towards the controls with her cuffed hands. Jiyoen kept alert for deception from her movements but the girl seemed willing to do as needed. The control panel was laid out in a simple graphical design. The main doors for the prison were easy to spot. There were additional doors several meters inside the main ones. Each of the twenty housing units also had a pair of doors. There were also controls for the barracks and command center doors, as well as communications.
Akiza slid the doors closed, leaving them slightly open. "I'm not sure exactly how far open they are," she explained as she leaned back. "But that should be about half-a-meter." She had a small air of confidence that the Yovshin apprentice figured she could trust somewhat at least. "Thanks," Jiyoen told her. "How many people are in the barracks?" The woman shifted uneasily in her seat and the Yovshin apprentice remained still searching with her eyes over her. "Um, I'm not exactly sure," Akiza answered. "I think about thirty-five or so." THere was a look but reassuring her with a small hand on her shoulder. 'You are doing good' she told herself.
Jiyoen had no interest in fighting nearly three dozen Tiantai trouble makers, even if she had superior troops, and position. "Can you keep the barracks doors closed from here?" She hoped while feeling a few things swirling around in her mind. "No," Akiza replied. "They can be opened or closed from here or there." She looked down at her binders, and fidgeted in them a bit. Her body tensed and heartbeat changed a little. If she was a gambler she would lose for sure. It was almost endearing as she seemed to wear her emotions and her thoughts on her sleeve. No deception but it could also be a manipulation to protect herself.
Jiyoen thought she seemed to be about to say something else, but she remained silent. The Force was prompting her to find out. "You have something else to add?" she asked firmly, influencing her with the force of her voice at the same time. "Um, there's about thirty guard droids in the barracks too," Akiza said softly. "We keep them hidden from each other mostly to surprise in case prisoners revolt." Ah there it was but she was being honest.. so that would be something and it could change the course of a fight if they got activated. Droids would be only a problem for a time though as she crossed her arms mentally.
Jiyoen's eyes went wide in shock even under the sash and mask. Frakk! In a split-second she had activated her comlink. "There are guard droids in the barracks. If the doors open, treat the forces inside as hostile. Repeat, there are about thirty guard droids and thirty-five Tiantai soldiers in the barracks, if the blast doors open, treat them as hostile." She looked at Sena who seemed defeated and thought about what she had just done. If she meant it, if she was sure of it and had been turned from enemy to asset. THen the Tiantai would kill her just as much as they would have killed her or imprisoned her. She had no where left except for them to survive.
There was a chorus of acknowledgments from her troops. Jiyoen ran through a mental calming exercise. She had two dozen special-ops troopers, with two rocket launchers and two E-Webs. There was no way she could evacuate two thousand prisoners with the droids and Tiantai soldiers/cultists whatever you wanted to call them nearby. They would have to thin the numbers and make sure everything was taken care of here so they could leave. She wasn't looking forward to the risk of more things... frak she wasn't even sure what to actually do with this girl right here who had been helping them. Sending her back was just as dangerous.
Next Jiyoen contacted the transport that they had arrived on. She ordered them to power up, and get to their position as soon as possible. Then she contacted their bigger transport and passenger liner, and ordered them to head ther way as well. The liner would go into a low geosynchronous orbit so the two transports wouldn't have to travel far to ferry the prisoners back and forth. Then Jiyoen turned her attention back to her prisoner. Ideas went around in her mind about offering her a chance a single choice in this situation. The more she helped them the deeper she would be well in the hole as it were and the deeper the Tianttai would want to hurt her.
"Let's go," Jiyoen told Akiza, taking her by her upper arm. After a few steps towards the door, Jiyoen let go of her so she could zip up her coat again. A dozen meters or so later, they arrived outside, back in the freezing cold. The sense of foreboding that came to her gut through the force. There was something stirring from the explosions and she could feel it down below. Hell she thought for a moment she had the barest flash of one of the priestesses coming to warn her. What was that she wasn't certain her father had said the jedi were friends or at least family in the sense Unaga a legendary figure had been with the je'daii.
Lieutenant Akio-Sama had moved the captured Tianttai prisoners into the prisoner area and had the two demolitions troopers and several prisoners keeping an eye on them. She had three troopers in the observation post, and two more on the roof of the command center. One of the E-Webs was just to the side of the command center, as close as they could get it and still cover the barracks blast doors. The other one was just inside the prison doors. The rest of the troopers were spread out in the snow. The sniper and rocket launcher teams were still in place as well. All and all a good set up for them to do their own thing.
Jiyoen activated the comlink that was built into her hood. Then she began issuing orders. "I want Lieutenant Akio-Sama and five people inside the outer prison doors. I want four people in the observation post. The sniper and rocket teams stay where you are. The two people on the E-Web next to the command center stay there. Everyone else I want inside the command center." A smirk was on her face as she stood next to Sena, the idea of her being there to watch this didn't cross her mind at least since she couldn't do much and was in deep. So just like an asset you had to cultivate and protect them as much as push them.
There was another chorus of acknowledgments as they moved to obey Jiyoen's orders. Instead of heading for the prison though, Lieutenant Akio-Sama came to her. "We've got quite a few prisoners inside that claim to be military. They want to help. I told them I'd pass the message along," He told her over the howling wind. Then she felt it down below in her gut and for a moment was worried about things attacking or going wrong. It was hard to explain but the jedi had been talking to them about all of it. ABout the force and how it was in all things but only so many could feel it. They were special as it were with their family.
There were ten blaster rifles and ten pistols in the command center's weapons closet, plus the blaster pistols in the control room. Jiyoen knew that military could mean anything from highly trained crack-commandos to remote reserve militia that only cleaned up after natural disasters. She didn't have time to find out what sort of experience they had, and she wasn't about to give someone a weapon for the first time in ten years if she didn't have to. She was still learning but her father had taught her just has her mother had taught her sister. Their third sister well she was going to be one for great things within the family.
"Tell them thanks, but we have everything under control right now," Jiyoen replied. "And make sure the Tiantai memberss that we captured don't cause any problems." Lieutenant Akio-Sama acknowledged and headed towards the prisoner area. Jiyoen took Akiza back towards the command center. "I want to talk to the people in the barracks," Jiyoen told her once they got back in the control room. "And tell me who's in charge over there." As she spoke, she opened her coat again, and began pulling off her gloves. She was looking at the woman and hoped that she didn't need much more to be coaxed into helping them.
"Um, it should be Lieutenant Ami," Akiza replied as she reached towards the controls. "Go ahead," she said, nodding towards Jiyoen a couple of moments later. "This is Jiyoen Ike of the Royal Yovshin Guard in conjunction with the Galactic Republic," she said over the control panel comlink. "I would like to speak to whoever is in charge of the Tiantai soldiers in the barracks." At the same time, Jiyoen reached out with her feeling to get a sense of the people in the barracks and she was starting to get the hang of this.. kind of. She could feel people now at least. It might have been something she would be able to use with more practice.
She also pulled her overcoat and hood completely off, and put her regular comlink headset back on. That left her in her cold-weather-combat jumpsuit, thick outer pants, and boots. There was silence. Jiyoen looked questioningly at Akiza, who glanced at the controls, and nodded her head in consent. After several seconds, Jiyoen repeated the message. The third time, she added, "I know you are receiving this now answer me or we will be forced to breach and take everyone out." A threat even one that might be called... they could breach and harm them but she wasn't one to really kill them without the chance for them to surrender.
"There is Lieutenant Ami," someone finally replied. "Talk." The Yovshin apprentice scoffed for a moment and spoke. "Lieutenant, in case you haven't noticed, my forces have taken over your command center. If you surrender, then you and your people can leave this rock aboard the ships heading out. If not, then you can stay and explain to the Tiantai and their foreign buyer why you don't have their prisoners." She figured that could get a look, most seemed scared of the idea of these offworlders who wielded strange and dangerous situations. Entire fleets, powers, credits in a galaxy where more could be used.
Jiyoen didn't mention that she knew about the droids. After several seconds of silence she replied. "Okay," Lieutenant Ami answered. "We surrender. We're coming out." Jiyoen listened to her words over the comlink, and did her best to sense her intentions with the Force. She was sure she was lying. She didn't feel like she had given up. She didn't sound like she had been defeated.. more that she was playing them and the look she had from Ami confirmed mentally at least that something was going to happen as she looked over at a few things here. "Better." Jiyoen stayed there though as she leaned against the table.
"Actually I need to alert my forces so they don't open fire," Jiyoen quickly lied. "I'll contact you in a couple of minutes." There was a brief pause. "Okay," she responded. "We'll await your signal." Jiyoen sensed she was still deceiving her, but not lying that time. Maybe that meant she had believed her lie. She quickly switched comlinks to talk to her troops again. Ideas of what they would be doing... of what they would have to do from here on out to properly make the plan work. She looked around flicking her eyes as mentally she had a checklist and could feel soemthing underneath it all a presence in the back of her mind.
"The Tiantai soldiers and commanders in the barracks are still hostile. If the blast doors open, treat it as an attack," she announced over the comlink. There was another chorus of acknowledgments. Then Jiyoen contacted her transport to get its ETA. The pilot told her they would be there in about three minutes. Jiyoen told him to pull up the map of the prison complex on her HUD within the ship and to ensure she knew which building was the barracks. There was going to be a part of the plan... an idea forming where she wanted to work on more of it and really give a chance to herself. Jiyoen tapped her chin for a moment.
Once that was done, Jiyoen had about three minutes to kill. One of her Noghri was by the door of the control room, and the rest were near the command center blast doors. Akiza was sitting silently in the chair, looking down at the binders on her wrists again. "So, why did you join up with the Tiantai Order?" Jiyoen asked her. It was an innoent enough question and if you wanted to understand someone... if you wanted to twist them from an asset to a loyal asset who doubted their own people becoming a traitor... well it would require some work and coaxing in the form of pressure but talking and reassurances.
Akiza paused a moment before replying. "My husband joined, and I went with him," she answered with a shrug. Jiyoen noticed she said went, and not came, implying that she wasn't with the Tiantai Order anymore. "So where's your husband now?" she asked casually, hoping he wasn't in the barracks. Akiza probably wouldn't be as cooperative after she had troopers blast her husband into little bits. It could make the talks between them or any sort of trust more awkward. She was thinking about some of the stories of legend about the different Atrisian generalsacross the planet from the days of unifications.
"He died a couple of months ago," she replied softly. "At one fo the early attacks on the Night Fortress." Jiyoen idly wondered if she had killed him when they had captured the Tiantai Order leadership and that traitor Pwoe. "So why are you still with them?" Jiyoen asked her. "Do you believe the propoganda about the emperor that much? Do you really believe that the Tiantai are going to win?" "I don't know," Akiza responded, seemingly to both questions. Which could be a big thing and a dangerous thing in the long run. THe emperor wasn't perfect but he was the emperor.. one needed to serve their master with honor.
Jiyoen could sense she really wasn't sure. She however, was very sure, at least about the outcome of the war. "The Tiantai and their allies are going lose," she told Akiza firmly. "And you'd better believe it. It is something I have seen many times and they do not stand a chance in the long run" Akiza didn't respond for several seconds. When she did, it was only to change the subject. "I don't think Lieutenant Ami is really planning on surrendering," she said. "She's really a believer in the cause." Jiyoen gave a nod internally as she was suspecting the same thing... she was suspecting that there would be danger with it.
"Me neither," Jiyoen agreed with a nod. "That's why I talked them into waiting before they came out." "Are you really an Ike?" Akiza asked her, changing the subject again. Jiyoen had only used her blades in the observation post. She had used the title Yovshin when dealing with the Tiantai soldiers. She didn't think she was famous enough to be known my sight even with her family, especially with all the cold-weather gear she was wearing. More so because all reports said she was eight hundred and to human standards she looked seventeen. The family were renowned for their loyalty and skills with blades and knowledge.
"What makes you say that?" she replied out of curiosity. "Isn't that the legendary jar'lai blade set?" Akiza asked, gesturing towards the swords with their dragonhead hilts attached to her hip and the other ones on the belt. Jiyoen gave a tight smirk, slightly impressed she had recognized it in such a location. "Yes, it is," she responded. "And yes, I am." Akiza remained silent for a few seconds. "Can't you just kill everyone in the barracks with a wave of your hand? Wouldn't that be more along with the Emperors will towards dissenters?" Jiyoen looked at her and touched the hilts of theswords as it ran over the dragonheads.
Jiyoen couldn't help but burst out with laughter. "If only but no not quite," she answered. "If a Yovshin could order a kill with a wave of their hand, we would have already won." Before Akiza could say anything else, Jiyoen received a comm. It was the pilot of her transport, telling her that he had arrived at the prison complex, and was hovering in place. She told him to stand by. With the conversation cut short for a moment she had looked down to see the hilts. The dragon heads were ivory and smooth from use but they were not ornate and big they were just carved finely into the hilts to give it a look but it wouldn't distract or impede.
While she had been chatting with Akiza, Jiyoen had been going over her plan in her mind. She was sure that Lieutenant Ami wasn't planning on surrendering. However, she wasn't quite ready to slaughter them all based solely on what she felt through the Force better yet what she knew in her gut and had gotten confirmed with Akiza's opinion. She flipped her comlink over to broadcast to all of her troops, and the transport. The terrible feeling from down below was in her stomach. The tightening of her gut had her worried about it... there was more to this.. more here and more of a danger then she could think about.
"This is Jiyoen. The barracks blast doors will be opening in a few moments. If anyone sees droids, or is fired upon, then everyone, including the transport, is cleared to return fire, is that understood?" There was a chorus of acknowledgments. Jiyoen made sure the transport crew understood, as they had the most firepower. It had a pair of starfighter-grade laser cannons, and a concussion missile launcher. Far more than enough to deal with thirty guard droids and as many Tianttai soldiers. Once she was sure everyone knew what to do, she told Akiza to contact the other Tiantai commander withint he barracks again.
"Alright Lieutenant Ami, my troops know that you are surrendering, you can come out," Jiyoen said over the comlink. "That took quite a while," she replied. "I hope you weren't setting up an ambush?" "Not at all," Jiyoen lied smoothly. "My communications equipment simply isn't working properly in the cold." "I see," Lieutenant Ami answered. "Well, if you're ready then, we are coming out, unarmed, please don't shoot us." The please made it different and if it was the thing that was a knife int he dark. If she trusted her to have honor it would be one thing.. if she expected her to betray them it would be something but she could only call it a hunch.
"We're standing by," Jiyoen replied cheerfully. The instant she finished talking, she let go of the transmit button, and turned back to Akiza. "Can you make the blast doors open faster?" she asked her. "I—I don't know," she replied, looking at the controls. "We've never tried to find out." "Well, if they try to close the doors again, make sure they open all the way," Jiyoen instructed her. "Yes Lady Ike," Akiza responded obediently. Her eyes going downcast as she seemed to be thinking about her positon and was unsure if she was going to have a place after all of this. Jiyoen had chosen perhaps a little too well in this case.
Jiyoen really wanted to be outside in the fight with her yovshin borhters and sister, but she knew she could do more here. She did start putting her overcoat and hood back on though. A moment later, she heard the transport's laser canons shooting, and a few seconds later, its concussion missile launcher. At the same time, she felt the Tiantai soldiers, commanders and droids even in the barracks dying. Even though they were the enemy, it was hard to feel so much death through the Force and it was raw. She had no context or kowledge of how to block it just that being here around the others it had sparked it and brought it to her.
The shooting was over in about twenty seconds, although it seemed like much longer. Finally there was silence. "We're going in to check for survivors," Sergeant Abashi announced over the comlink. "We're with you," someone else added. "Let's go," Jiyoen told Akiza, gesturing towards the door with her hand and reeling a little while the equipment went on. She could feel everything still.. it was like an exposed nerve to her body... the force, these jedi had awakened it and the legends of her family that they had skills... had capabilities within the force and the je'daii. The family sword that chose once a generation someone to wield it.
By the time they made it outside, several more troopers had moved into the barracks. Jiyoen had no trouble smelling parts of at least a dozen guard droids scattered about the oil an burning metal pungent, along with quite a few bodies. She activated her comlink, and began issuing more orders. The soldiers were going about fully trained and in practiced movements that were a good thing to have. The jedi were moving around as well and had been helping them set the pace, set a tone for ensuring what was down and dfeated stayed down and defeated. They didn't execute but they also didn't leave weapons intact where they could help it.
"I want the transport on the ground as close to the prison as you can get. Leave two people in the observation post and the E-Web by the command center covering the barracks. Sergeant Abashi, once your team is finished clearing the barracks building for threats, let me know. Lieutenant Akio-Sama, let's start loading up prisoners. Leave the Tiantai soldiers and their commanders for last," Jiyoen instructed them. She had a plan... a method maybe for getting them out of here. if something was down below waiting for prisoners, if it incited them then it would come and make itself known.... and the first thing it would encounter would be the tiantai.
There was another chorus of acknowledgments as they began obeying him. Then Jiyoen turned to her prisoner. "Barracks," she told him, gesturing towards the open blast doors with her rifle. As they walked, Jiyoen reached out with her hand to direct the jedi to use the force and sense to see if she could maybe get some early warning from their senses. If there were any Tiantai soldiers or commanders left still alive in the barracks. By the time they reached the barracks, Jiyoen was pretty sure there weren't any left alive though. She was looking to see what they might be able to do. She wanted to have some of the rifles while she was being prepared.
The transport set down with its ramp just a few meters from the prison doors. In minutes Lieutenant Akio-Sama had it filled to capacity with rescued prisoners. It took them nearly three hours to get all of the prisoners, plus the Tianttai prisonerss, onto the passenger liner. Jiyoen had her troops salvage as much of the weapons and equipment as they could from the barracks and command center. She had also had her two demolitions troopers blow the control room up so it couldn't be used again. She didn't want to leave anything that might be getting used here. If they left and it got retaken... then they would have to work for it.
Jiyoen waited until the very last transport to leave. It was the smaller one she had arrived on. Besides her, with Akiza, the other eight tiantai prisoners and commanders they had captured, and her special-ops troopers were aboard. There were also some containers of equipment they were taking from the prison, including one with several hundred sets of binders, stun cuffs, shock shackles, and even slave collars. It was a painful experience they might have to use to keep them calm if the time came. She was thinking of something while flexing her hands until the knuckles were white but she had the gloves on.
As they took off, Jiyoen had the pilot blast the observation post into twisted wreckage. Then she had him shoot through the open blast doors of the command center, just to make sure the Tiantai Order couldn't use the place again. The large gaping hole in the ground collapsed as a sound came from below. The Yovshin apprentice had a look on her face and turned to stare as hovering over it brought thick shadows to the scanners but in the force. She didn't know what she was doing but she could feel so much from it. This was almost overwhelming in the dangerous situation. She could fel one of the jedi near her touching her shoulde.
In the force she felt it and spoke to one of the TIantai commanders in the ship. "What is down there?" her voice was more of a growl as she could feel something down there and throughout the operation it had been twisting in her gut but now the man spoke a little scared. "We don't know we never went down there, no one does it eats everything and we keep it sealed." That got the jedi masters around her attention as she opened the door and looked down with a crouch. She couldn't allow this to become a dangerous thing to the rest of Atrisia. If it was sealed then opened now it was a threat and the yovshin handled threats.
"What are you going to do?" It was Akiza and Jiyoen looked over to her while speaking to the pilot. "I'm going down there get them to the ship and get out of here. Inform The rest of the Yovshin where I am and to send a team. Whatever is down there we can't have it getting loose." The pilot gave a nod of her head as Jiyoen jumped wrapping the force around him while she came down. The force cushioning and slowing the fall until she felt the temperature change entering the depths of the cave. She didn't know how she was doing it but she was and it was letting her survive when her senses exploded.... but she knew the proximity to the jedi and more.
The ship headed up and decloaking from the white current a slender woman in white robes stood in the transport as they headed for the passenger liner. Jiyoen and two dozen commandos had rescued just over two thousand prisoners from a Tiantai Order prison, and hadn't had a single injury, much less lost anyone. Arya moved and sat silently contemplating that. For the first time since the beginning of well this mission here, she had been impressed enough to show herself, and no one had gotten killed. After a few seconds, she began smiling and leaned back in the cabin looking at the others around it.
"Hey who are you??" Sergeant Abashi asked from the seat next to her. "I am one of the masters," she said with a half truth, quickly covering her eyes with her shawl so she wouldn't see her face. "I'm fine," she said in a clipped tone that stopped him from commenting further. The Fallanassi master would oversee the ship taking care of everything and make sure the jedi's master of the order got the information. A ship would return as needed. Her mission prepared to really work on everythign the others got to do. She wanted to protect them and several had been sent around the planet to observe rumors of the atrisian empire.
Slowly the Yovshin apprentice felt herself touch the ground and a small impact crater formed that sent a thundering crack through the cave. her rifle and cutting torch coming to her hand and the smells had changed. There was dead stuff down here, the smell of rotting meat decomposing slowly in the damp air filled the cavern and she could sense something was up ahead. The flesh on her arms and hairs standing warning of pradators, of things out there searching. There were older thing on atrisia.. the deeper you went into the planet.. the deeper you searched. Some fo the oldest histories of Atrisia were told thousands of years later.
The temperature was warmer down here and the Yovshin apprentice was actually sweating as she moved and took off the overcoat, gloves and was left standing in plain attire. The small chill from the air meeting her sweat was sending a shiver down her spine but it was still a welcome change from the restricting clothing. Here she could really move and holding her sabers. The skittering of something brought her attention deeper into the caverns while she went down. THoughts of the ancient singers... beings who appeared in the night and brought them from the depths of the world. They were ancient... some said timeless and she knew the legends.
Quickly her pace went from a slow careful walk to a small jog until she reached a drop off and looked down. There was something large and a grouping of people there. With another in between them that was being attacked, that got the Yovshin apprentice to back up and run full pace jumping with force speed into the air as she launched herself at the large creature and as it snarled, screeched and looked up towards him she felt the power between it and the man off to the side from the others. She was using a link with it before the Yovshin apprentice landed and rolled. THe sound of snow and ice crunching reminded her of stories and bone.
She moved to the ground and looked at the group around him, going back to back with a beast of a man who reeked of stale urine and blood. Then the tension went away and she heard someone shout. "Enough." The leader if she could be called that was standing at the top of an incline and Jiyoen felt the one behind him stiffen ready for more of a fight. "And who are you? Another interloper who has come to steal my treasure the god beast will devour you and I will have all of your secrets." There was a look on her face when she moved and this was something she could go with.. something she could understand... a fight.
The Yovshin apprentice reached out and felt the one in the room as the large man a marauder of the sith she could feel now charged them. The creature wasn't making a move yet but the power emanating from the man's chest... She had something on him as the Yovshin apprentice focused for a moment and disappeared into the white current to disappear. She had face zealots like ther before and now as she went into that place to fight she looked to go after the leader. Cut off her head and the others would fall. Well that was the idea but just killing her would be a challenge you had to really work on... Still if it wasn't hard it wouldn't be worth it.
Jiyoen then watched and moved with careful movements around the man as her three fought and then Andelka joined in. The beast of a man spoke spinning around in place as she searched for the Yovshin apprentice and Jiyoen's mind played out scenarios. She could leave the one sith by herself or she could help for the moment and handle it later or she could fight them all. Slowly she listened to the marauder begin to fail and she remembered what her old master told her as she watched speaking the words through the haze of snow being kicked up.. Choosing to go after all of them. She would have to make this a real fight if this was lucky.
"I saw a creature, she sat and she held her own heart in her hands, and she ate of it. I asked her, "Is it good friend?" She said, "It is bitter. Bitter. But I like it because it is bitter." Slowly Jiyoen moved as she looked at the others who couldn't hear hEr and she laughed her head tilted to the side. Slowly she grabbed one of the attackers by her tight ponytail. "And because it is my heart." Quickly Jiyoen gave a laugh a small one and threw her against the cave wall with a sickening crack. She could feel the force but she knew the power or theatricality and deception in a fight to make one seem like many and you could get the best results.
There was no real time to worry once that creature was ordered to attack she would be in trouble and attacked another slashing her rifles plasma cutter across another mans chest following through to reach the leg of the marauder. The Yovshin apprentice had two down and three threats left plus a large beast she would have to deal with. her saber left her hand to impale into the back leg of the marauder before she was attacked by the third man and Jiyoen ran. She was thinking about her fathers methods for fighting a superior force such as this.. she was thinking about the dangers that might be coming towards her with the fight.
She ran after the leader perking up with the hairs on her arm before she lept through the current and as the man looked back and around she used what flexibility she had her hand and rushed towards her back hooking her hand under the mans chin. The momentum to dig a strike of her deactivated cutter into her spine deeper at the forth lumbar in the sweet spot. Slowly Jiyoen breathed in the scent of the mans skin as she smelled the sweat and underneath the scent of fear. She was afraid now that she wasn't in control of her own senses. Quickly Jiyoen moved as she hooked her arm under Andelka's chin as she stood back to back with him and dropped to her knees twisting 270 degree's as she snapped Andelka into a backbreaker.
She crashed her knee's into the ground as the snap brought the man onto her stomach. Jiyoen quickly rolled him over and twisted sitting on her chest as she drove her fist down to her chest and found the source of the energy she was sensing now. The cool metal in her grasp the Yovshin apprentice pulled and heard what she had been hoping to avoid. "My beast attack." She didn't pause, pulling the metal to him and rolling onto her back. The Yovshin apprentice kicked as the massive creature roared and launched the man upinto its waiting maw before she pocketed the piece. It was warm and smooth in her hands with a look around.
The marauder was dead and she had killed the lone attacker as the large beast ate the man. The snapping of bones loud in the cavern, the Yovshin apprentice stood up and held out her hand as the saber returned to it and the silvery blue was out with a purple blade. She reached out with the force and was glad the others had made it out, she was hoping they got the message to the yovshin and she would be on the way hopefully. Or ther could become something dangerous while a smirk came. If this was going to be her death then this was going to be one of honor and glorious in terms. Hopefuly songs might be sung and honor gained for her family.
This wasn't going to be won by a single stroke of her blades, she could make out what the creature was now and it wasn't a good thing. One of these were dangerous and if it was down here killing things then it had been trapped. Ancient and brought to the world by beings who were equally as dangerous. She had to think of something to do now though since it might escape and with its food source gone.... Ther could prove difficult. "Well I did want to have a fight." The smirk that came on her face was more then enough while the Yovshin apprentice clenched her fists and breathed to focus. The blister pods on its back opening and releasing a scent of old death.
The jedi had faced many things and in truth she had never expected to face a behemoth such as this but it felt good. THeir tales were not just legends and rumors... things were real and that meant other things might be real. Win or lose she had to admit she was enjoying the moment as she charged to the side and thought about several duels she had been in. The music Sawa had introduced her to was playing in her head and she had to admit she enjoyed it. Then she was off and focused pushing the force into her muscles, into the very fiber of her being before the words came out to allow her hands to grip the wall. She was touching it, she was touching parts of it when she had her rifle and plasma cutter prepared.
her frantic motioned had the rifle with plasma cutter and blade releasing from her hands at the creatures eyes with a sneer and Jiyoen jumped going up high to the cavern roof as the beast jumped. Then came down with a thunderous crash almost making her lose her grip but she remained grabbing one of the stalagmites and punching it. The cracks forming before it dropped and the Yovshin apprentice went with it jumping all off towards the wall. The metal in her pocket was still cool but pulsed radiating energy almost until she landed and rolled. She was feeling the force but how and like this why.... where was the energy coming from.
The Yovshin apprentice took the piece and held it with her bare hand as she felt it then, a surge of energy into her being and it was like a jolt of energy to her system before she went off running again. The rock had crashed into one of the blisters and impaled itself but it wasn't enough damage before it roared. Now it was a matter of finding something large enough to hurt it or enough things to smack into it so they could do as needed. "Maybe ther wasn't the best idea." The doubt entered her mind but she thought about what had happened with Iella on the world and what had happened.
She hadn't been ready for that either but she had trusted in the will of the emperor and her family and went through the trials and tribulations for one reason. She was a firm believer in the power and strength of Atrisia. She wasn't afraid and there was no reason to start now as she felt it then. That lingering tendril from the creature trying to mess with him. Paranoia and fear wasn't something a hunter felt and she thought about what could happen next from all of ther. She didn't want to die but it was a real possibility when facing dangerous creatures. She would have to move and move faster before the day was over.
Then there was a pulse and coolness washing over the Yovshin apprentice from the object she had grabbed and took it out. The coolness of the metal in her hands felt strange but it was invigorating compared to other things she had touched. Whatever it was she needed to protect it from misuse while charging at the beast. Whatever it was it helped and Jiyoen dropped down sliding along the floor as the saber went at the beasts foot. She allowed herself to fully open to it, that invisible cord of her being... that hollow place she hadn't know existed as she drank in the power of the force energy itself. The object was warm and looked bright on the edge of her vision.
The plasma blade biting into it and the sizzling sound as the creature shrieked. The tendon slashed until Jiyoen rolled around to her feet before dashing backwards and avoiding the creatures tail. She could notice the beast turning slower and it was getting angered chasing after him again and Jiyoen jumped at the wall letting its head crash into the cavern wall. She used the spell again to climb and jumped holding the rifle blade out and activated with two hands as it drove down at the beasts head. SHe wanted to handle this on her own now... it was a point of pride for her to use... it was a point of pride for the yovshin to really strike at it.
Then it was screaming and slashing while she dodged with the blade digging in. her foot finding one of the beasts eyes as Jiyoen started to kick and felt the thing give away covering her boot and leg in ocular jelly. her face shown a look of disgust but the shrieking was evidence that some damage was done. She kept moving with it keeping the blade as it dug into the beast before getting bucked off into the air. Her eyes opening wide at first but then closing where she prepared herself to really build up her reserves. The object was still feeding into her... the power was there and she could fel her sisters across the planet... could feel them here and there... everywhere.
With a turn in mid air and some force energy Jiyoen came down again slamming the blade into its tail and she jumped leaving the blade just a bit jumping towards the ground. Then she was rolling and sending a force shockwave. For the first time she was glad the biting cold and chill in her bones was keeping her moving, keeping her motivated and able to move faster. She didn't even know she could do that with the force but it seemed like with the object any number of things were possible and she only had to think about it. She only had to feel the force or think about it to let the objects warm and power course through her veins.
Then she heard a sound and looked over as the large being was moving and stirring on the ground. She was also bleeding the scent of blood strong in the air as Jiyoen ran and heard him scream. The shockwave came for a moment as Jiyoen jumped up and turned over the shockwave as it came hitting her ears with a deafening ring. This was going to be problematic while the creature turned back to look towards the marauder and Jiyoen used the moment it grabbed him with the face worms. They were sickening with the sounds of the wriggling.. of the squelching where the yovshin wriggled and tried to get away from the sounds like they were crawling on her skin.
Slowly the man was set in the blister pod and Jiyoen could feel his pain in the force but couldn't do anything yet. The Yovshin apprentice reached up towards the top of the cavern and focused finding some loose rocks as she tossed kinetite blasts into it to drop on the beast. Hopefully it would help ease the beings pain more then they likely deserved with a small amount of reservation but it would be cruel to not help. SHe was resolved and careful but not cruel about things. She might think it in the heat of the moment but then it would pass and she would go back to being the friendly determined member of the House of Ike.
The rocks fell and one crushed the blister pod as the screams ended, the metal in her hand pulsing and she didn't feel tired from all of ther as Jiyoen moved about to let the wounded beast chase her. "Come on, come at me." She shouted more and more going up onto an incline and as the creature growled Jiyoen aimed a blast of kinetic force energy focuwed from her hands at the beast while her other senses flicked with her eyes sending a heavy mental assault that was meant to make it topple. The beast was strong and dangerous.. she was determined and powerful in her own right with all of the force here from the world.
The beast roared againa nd was blindly slashing as it hit Jiyoen and she was glad for the armor bodysuit as the armor protected her and she was thrown into a wall. The feeling in her chest was like a weight had slammed into it and relearning how to breathe wasn't a fun thing. Nor was the taste of copper in her mouth as the Yovshin apprentice was lifted and held in front of the beast. It was scenting her and Jiyoen growled at it... then it growled at her before she kicked its tooth jamming it down that thick throat. IF she was going to perish... she was going to go out kicking and fighting... no screams but she would make sure it knew her name.
Then she was going in to the mouth and Jiyoen could feel the heat of its breath on her face. A foul wind that made her want to pass out. Taste the decay from flesh left in its teeth and growled before curling up and landing on the beasts tongue as it chomped down missing her body. In the mouth was a tight fit while the beasts saliva got everywhere and she felt the beasts saliva matting her hair. Then it reeled its head back and she slipped going down. THe texture of its tongue was thick, slim covered and nasty.. but there wasn't enough for her to grip while she was sliding. " No no no no." Where she was going before tryingt o dig her blades into it.
This was not a good thing and as she slid down the throat of the creature the Yovshin apprentice reached out grabbing a ridge of flesh and dug her hands in. The small strain was there in her muscles while she felt the slippery saliva and other fluids but kicking to dig her boots into the esophagus was enough to hold her in place. Then Jiyoen reached out grabbing the other side while she pushed to wedge herself into position against the wall of the beasts throat with all of that meat. She was just above the stomach as the rhythmic thumping thumping of the heart before she started to formulate a plan. What could go anymore wrong?
Alright I am in the stomach of a Leviathan and alone She hoped that her message and report had been given as needed and that the jedi were on the way. Knowing Sawa she would or knowing Jiwei she would.... her father would be disappointed if by the time they came this thing wasn't dead. She wouldn't disappointed them. It mattered less who came and more that someone did so she wasn't stranded on an ice world deep in a cave. She really didn't want to have to deal with that while she calmed her mind. Listening to her breathing steady before she reached out with the force. Digging her heels and hands in more and growing stiff.
The Yovshin apprentice looked inward and deep down while sending out the force to reach anyone of the people she could think about within the span of a heartbeat. She knew what she would have to do before the objective became clear. Her hands digging in while she held the piece of metal in her hand and pushed off bringing one of the points out below to dig into and create a gash that stank of just awful things. Old death, rot and whatever bodily fluids were there. Then she had blood and gut over her face as the Yovshin apprentice climbed through into the chest cavity and she could feel the lungs of the beast inflating as it inhaled.
Then she was slashing and tearing digging her hands into the lungs as air and blood washed over her with a putrid stench, then she was carving her way through it down deeper amidst the shrieks and roars, then the choking on blood until the Yovshin apprentice found the heart. Beating rapidly and irregular. her arms wrapped around it as Jiyoen squeezed and constricted it to kill the creature. She ground her teeth in slight frustration and then it gave way and there was a roar that turned into a gurgle. Her eyes were tearing into it when she kicked to dig her boots into the meat of the creature while sucking in what clean air she could.
Then there was an impact and things fell silent, Jiyoen was laying there between the heart and pieces of lung while she took a deep breath and let go withdrawing her plasma cutter to slice and area she could climb around in. Maneuvering she made sure to dice the heart just in case and kicked until her feet met rib cage. Using that as a guide Jiyoen put the blade between the ribs and slowly started to slice through the thick underbelly of the beast. Then she could scent it under all the guts, goop and blood. That wonderful scent of chilled air and the Yovshin apprentice pushed herself forward to climb out of the beast. A gasp of air as she opened her mouth with a sharp intake.
Jiyoen was looking around as she laid there and could feel something, that same feeling from when she was a little girl listening to her mother and father tell her all about the legends their house or Atrisia itself. When she had been training in the Imperial city of Jar'kai, that same sensation of power and she looked up seeing it.. the feeling of something on her face. Thick, wet and fleshy before it trailed the gore away. Leaving a pale streak and she rolled over falling back against the creature to try and protect herself.... but that tongue wasn't what she was feeling as she looked up and saw a massive wolf. Or was it a hellhound
"Well well well... little Ike has come here now." The voice wasn't coming from the wolf but she could see it rasiing back on its haunches, eyes glazed over for a moment as the mist and whatever it really was appeared. "Seeking me out, drawing my attention by killing my pets. When will your kind ever learn. I am not one with whom you can mess and now... now you will pay the price for your.. curiosity." She coudl feel its voice not from lips but from everything around her. Jiyoen was looking at parts of the mist around the cave. She recalled the legends of Ishimura and her star eyes, who used crystals to replace her blind eyes and she could see hellhounds around the world.
Then she was being taken in the jaws of the wolf and moving, somewhere she couldn't feel as her stomach lurched beneath her, her eyes shutting through the bright tunnel before she clung to the wolf and felt the soft fur of the beast. She had been to the spirits, the priestesses but had never seen anything like this before. She had seen some of the more dangerous things that they were all going to be doing.... Then she was awake, looking over at it when she was deposited on the floor. it was like a dream at first and she couldn't believe she had realy been there... the mission, the prison, the caves.... the spirits of legend.... maybe it was all a dream.
She couldn't tell where she was, looking around the room was filled and opulent... garish in most cases but she was ale to see areas of the room in the light. Shelves of artifacts and things that were left around. The wolf was there looking at her and it growled silently but was watching her more then anything. Its eyes still glazed over while in the shadows she could sense it, something was moving against the thicker shadows showing her what they were going to be doing. "Welcome to your new life." It wasn't a dream and she was looking around seeing what she could. What legends she could partake in before the young woman prepared mentally.
She didn't have much in the way to resist, the being was older then her, stronger in ways that few others could understand so she did what was smarter. She didn't resist, she bided her time, focused on keeping herself stronger and safer so that she could learn about what they were doing.. what he was as the room she was in was something that she would want to be in. It was an artifact collection unlike anything else she had ever seen. Millions of artifacts from species across the galaxy... from eras she had never known existed. Whatever this thing was... she knew what it was... no she knew what it claimed to be what they legends claimed.
Whatever this thing was.. it was ancient or it was something else and she could see parts that had been formed later from other species. Things far older and more dangerous then what she had faced before. Legends that the spirits and the priestesses had spoken about when they touched the cosmic force. 'Ohhh' She felt one of the spirits in her head giggling.. amused at her thought of the Omnipotent beings that controlled space and time even matter being able ot make things from nothing. SHe was thinking about it and standing there while she looked around.. the legends of her family about going to a place a realm with beings like Wapoe... or was this all Wapoe pretending to be something else.
News of his daughter disappearing from the polar region, news that his wife was being attacked had brought the aging chamberlain out of his home. An old friend of the emperor... and old brother in arms and protector. He had come to se him and few could refuse him being allowed in. As the doors to the chamber opened the Emperor was in his private rooms having some tea served to him. THe man always looked more sickly as h got close, the stories that his health was failing and that it had sparked legends of what he had been doing. SOme claimed because he was allowing outsiders from the stars, others claimed it was because of what he had been doing to the ancestors.
"Matsudaria." His voice came out as he held a hand up to him. Taking it and feeling the weakened flesh. It was a strange feling but he sat down and spoke. "I have heard disturbing reports my emperor. Please tell me these are not true." THe man said it and standing there with everything serious and well defined. He waited to hear from the emperor. "It is true, there are reports of a ship returning, there are prisoners being captured in the outeer provinces, my yovshin are enforcing my will and putting down rebellions among the rabble everywhere." He stood there, stunned at first trying to figure it all out and he knew the rumors would be... it was to much at once.
"What madness have you unleashed my old friend. Your sister only wants to help you and the people." He moved to sit across from him. This was his emperor and his oldest friends but he was not so unfeeling. If his daughters, if his wife were in danger he would protect them. "SHe wants to take the throne... the same way my great grandfather took the throne from his sister and stoped the line of the empress." He said it and there was a madness to his eyes... he was serious about stopping it. "So I did what I needed to do, these republic dogs will serve to strengthen my yovshin to enforce my will, these foreign powers in the galaxy will provide credits and riches to fight back.
He gasped then... the prisoners were being sold to pay for him. "What have you done my emperor.... this is close to... to." He trailed off and there was a snort. "Who do you think made the Tiantai... my sister was gaining the support of the people. Secretly my lords and ladies whisper secret toasts to her overtaking me... they seek her to claim the throne and restore the line of the gemstone empresses. Resurrect the great empire of Kitel Phard, bring back the ancient gods and demons that were once worshiped and praised. I will not have that. My ancestor cast down the gods... he cast out the line of empresses and ,brought order to our world."
There was a look on Matsudaria's face when he stopped. "Your sister loves you, she served you faithfully and has only ever tried to help you when your health began to fail. Your sickness from when we were all children together, when we all played together, trained together." He said it and the emperor was loking at him with a mask of hatred and twisted fury. "Yes we all played and she was loved by the people, I was the weaker one and so had to become smarter. Plots within plots and so I created the TIantai, who would give an enemy, who would serve her in name but secretly they are mine. They serve my goals of ruining her."
"THis madness has to stop, you have organized attacks on your own people, your own generals to what.... to dishonor your sister?" THe emperor looked at him. "Yes, she will not be able to show her face on Atrisia... her Tiantai are slaughtering and capturing people, the Great Empire of Kital Phard shall never rise again and all who have proven disloyal to me will pay. You I protected my old friend but your wife.. she has been corrupted. She always was too close to her and the ship that is returning the captain. Her house would serve my sister and having one of our strongest ships coming back after I tried to have it destroyed they will reveal all of my plans."
He had heard enough and rose up. "THis is worse then I had ever thought it might be my old friend... my emperor. You have lost it.... we only ever wanted to protect you, to serve you but your madness, your sickness born from what happened has corrupted your spirit. Your mind cannot remember your honor." The emperor tried to rise up and maqtch him but couldn't standing there. "I am the emperor, it is my will that dictates what is right. You have always had the legends of your houses. Of house Ike whom you married into... your wife my great investigator but she never suspected the truth.. your house of Hanzo, master craftsmen and men beyond reproach."
He finally managed to stand up and the anger in his voice was what really did it. "Me... I always grew up with the legends of our golden empires past, of the line of gemstone empresses, the god empress on earth.... her great city that housed a million men all of her servants... all of them her husbands. One taken for each year of her rule and how she ascended to rule over the cosmos joining the god of Atrisia of Kital Phard itself. Leaving a rightful ruler in place who would protect the people... my great grandfather slew his sister forever staining my honor, he took a witch as his bride to make us stronger and we have ruled with true power."
"The chamberlain was saddened as he turned around. "Your ancestors blood betrayal is something we have never talked about because of the dishonor. You know as your friend I have always stood by you right or wrong but this is a madness my emperor. I need to tell you the dangers of the path you are on. You must know that your honor, your children will suffer from the gods if this is continued. Make peace please." The man seemed taken aback by that and moved up. "What do you mean... you still serve me yes? You still will kill my sister when she comes if I order it yes?" THere was a look on his face when he spoke. "Yes, I serve the rightful ruler of Atrisia."
The Star Eye was going through the airspace of the lower continent, the crew working hard as slowly Jiwai sat in the observation dome with the datacron recovered from the daiymo's tomb. The work they were doing there with Quilara on the unknown fortress to recover anything they could had yielded this while she looked at the gatekeeper. A bull of a man and powerhouse within the yovshin of old she was certain as the holographic room brought up the maps he was showing her. "When the great city fell I was in charge of taking and hiding away the treasures of the last gemstone empress." She was looking at him while the thoughts went though her head of the different things displaying itself on the map before she relaxed a little.
They were heading in the new coordinates and she hadn't gone to that far off section of the planet... Well going to some of it sure but as her meditations were resounding Jiwai let the force energies dance across her skin while she sat there in the center of the room. She allowed herself to enter a center of being while slowly and further from them they made a vertical leap to get towards the hidden Atrisian vaults. They weren't going outwards but somewhere outside the main atmosphere while she was looking over it now in her mind and felt something for a moment. The force sending her a small vision as she deactivated the datacron feeling them leap.
The travel time was not something she was enjoying now but once they reached the moon going from the planet to the other she watched and could see the beacons leading the way while now the anxious energy had her pacing. She couldn't sleep or meditate but standing there in the touched up and repaired robes the jedi had given her had granted her. A token for her family and infused with the lightside of the force.... also she realized the truth about her family didn't need to breathe as these robes were tight in the chest area. She didn't need a sarashi wearing it. The light brown robes hugging while she finished securing the utility belt and the small circlet at her ankle.
The sensation of the anklet as it worked providing a thin layer shield over her made the recycled air see a little fresher then before, her hands brushing while she secured the armband that had worked to access the one vault. The final part was the robes she and her father had found as the darker brown robes resonated with the lightsaber on the table now. Vimea's jar'kai blade and her masters robes cleaned and adjusted to fit her while she slid the collar of it up letting her shielding unit rest on her belt while she was looking over some of the things presented. Comlink and image caster, the new model toolkit as she was securing it on her wrists under the robe.
The whirring of the machines while she slid onto her thighs the tube casings in their special frame for grabbing and switching them out. Her hair in several tight braids able to be contained in a series of ribbons and set under the robes while the collar was up higher then normal as she finally got to the two blades. The first two were the jar'kai blades with sleek blackened metal casing and the distinct designs on them of the Ike house as her hands went over the interlocking center securing it on her hip. Then the twin blades while she checked the one with its engraved electrum while she secured in on her hip and then the dagger blade with the hilt crystal humming within it while both were there in front on display.
She had her gear with a small combat knife in her boot while lacing it up while checking the gas levels within it, making sure the ejection system to launch it or release the gas into something she stabbed. With all of her attention on it as they were traveling she didn't notice the system they ended up in. Coming off of the string of worlds and into the unknown sections of the moon, her attention not on the world around her but more on that facility she couldn't really see in the distance. Orbiting the moon while she started to reach out and feel it in the force, it felt wrong and strange while they were moving into orbit of the moon.
THe klaxon's blared on the ship while she was moving and getting down towards the bridge of the ship. Jiang was there and moving with her through the crew. "All hands are at battle ready positions, from the initial scans the facility ahead is warning anything off that the moon is contaminated." She knew that could mean anything but the feeling of wrongness came with the feeling of fear... fear in her body for the first time in a long time while she was moving towards it and the viewscreen displayed someone she had seen only in passing. It was a recording but the ship made sense now and given the datacron she had received from the others on things.
"Quilara." The recording wouldn't be able to respond to her but if she was out here there were only so many reasons... One thought was she was trying to get something but the other was she was trying to protect from something.... Which given her being a wildcard at times usually had the wandering ronin moving towards the shuttle as she spoke. "Runs scans of the moon we will find her and I'll head down. Monitor my vitals and if they start to fail. I want you to ensure this location and all traces of it are wiped as you are getting out of here and not returning understood." There were looks at her from the crew as they nodded and complied with her orders setting the location for the shuttle.
The quick drop down to the moon in the shuttle was a welcomed thing and she grabbed a few extra pieces of gear namely her satchel and glove. THe golden pieces glimmering at the crystal was there in her hand while she was slowly filling it on the way down. her small sigil glowing with the force energy before she was heading now towards an open area they were partially detecting human lifesigns. It wasn't a great looking place as the trees seemed fossilized and ancient, the grass while she was walking through it.. er body tense and at the ready while she was listening to the sounds all around her, the humming of the shields shields to protect it, the crunch underfoot of her boots on the grass and there was the scent in the air of amber and fear.
She didn't know what it was that was in the air while she was walking further searching and seeking with the force. For a moment there seemed to be a presence but then it disappeared almost detecting her. Given who might be down here she didn't doubt she knew how as the sounds of something large coming. There was the wrongness as she came to an edge of a cliff looking out upon a large ruin with a large ring that was glowing and pulsing purple. The sounds and feeling came to her when a large arm appeared with Jiwai looking over it while crouching near a tree getting ready to head down when there was something.
The cracking of a branch and a hand on her shoulder before she turned her head with a hand on the saber. "Stand down Ike." There was a look and she was looking up at the woman standing there in a vest with her sword on her back. One of the few people she knew who actually did wield a large sword had Jiwai nodding her head as she lowered her hand setting it on the ground while her eyes went back to the ring. "Is that a..." She was cut off when the woman spoke. "No not a hypergate like the gree made, an Infinity gate like the Kwa on Dathomir.... Stronger and serves the same purpose as these ones people learned."
She knew about the infinity gates but they were much like the hypergates, destroyed and not functioning since the system was mostly destroyed. She had her attention now though. "What did they do, this feeling in the air." Jiwai was curious looking at the writhing creature's parts going through the ruins and the feeling in the air. "You know wht it is, where Rave and myself with others handled it being summoned the first time and then a second time... These ones weren't able to fight it back. There is more of the creature out of the portal and something is powering it." That Jiwai could suspects as the infinity gates worked with the force while she knew the creature.
"Lotek'k." She said the name and the air seemed to shift while they were moving and jumping off the cliff towards the ruins. Jiwai gliding with the force as Quilara seemed to drop like a stone but was cushioned by the force and the air seemed to thicker almost with the feeling of fear and there was the smell. It was getting to feel like a dangerous place even more while she started walking with the ex sith empress keeping her body ready to fight what creatures they might encounter as her attention was on the different things. That fear in the air had her pressing and trying to keep her mental shields strong even with the sigil that they both had.
The glowing necklaces on them matched as it seemed to be protecting them, mental barriers fortified but not perfect and this was a being that was from before anything they knew. Banished by who knew what from the galaxy and locked away only to be brought forth through hyperspace windows. They were heading inside as her eyes flicked to the stones while she was moving with her attention on the rock, it knocked the stone at them as Jiwai dove to the side and her mental shield dropped for a moment letting a flood of emotion and anxiety come into her. Quilara was moving and clearing an open pathway for them as she climbed up kicking off the ground as she got inside the ruin.
She was moving with Quilara now, looking and they continued forward seeing parts of the ruins were covered in growing jungle. Area's where it hadn't seemed to die out but there was strange color in the trees outside the windows of the temple ruins Jiwai noted while she held a hand up pulling at the ambient light to illuminate the area ahead. A personal flashlight while the wrist charric was ready to be used should anything come out of the shadows at them. Quilara seemed just as tense going forward with more attention on her hand clutching the saber while they entered a room opening it up into a larger chamber.
As soon as she entered the environment changed, the chamber becoming a black void around them and even Quilara was gone while fear washed over her and clung like tar to her body. It made her body move like syrup before she was looking over some of the things there. Feeling the fear there now though she wa looking at the sight of Quilara disappearing as she stood there with a man in a brimmed hat and she was looking over some of it. "Well this is a fine mess you got yourself into isn't it? Still wish you had stayed in that prison cell and not gotten let out?" There was a paling of her face and that was impressive with a pale jedi like her.
Looking at the man as he lifted his head she reached for her saber and it wasn't there on her waist while he was holding it in his hand. The blade of Unaga Ike in her grip before she was moving to try and pull it back but nothing happened. The jedi's mastery of the force and energies something she knew all to well but also in making his enemies doubt themselves before she was moving now when he disappeared. Appearing behind her while he spoke. "Come on now you already know the answer." She was looking at her while moving around to stare with her body reacting and tensed up. "You're not really here, last I heard you had died."
"Yes that is true but you were afraid and there are only so many things a murderer fears. One is the executioner." She looked at her and had to really come to realize it, this wasn't some ghost of Unaga summoned from the afterlife it was in her head talking to her. "Ah now you're getting it." She seemed to almost be smiling and she crossed her arms while the thoughts were going through her head. She was going to have to work on some of the things they had going but she didn't know what was happening and this was meant to delay them getting to the gate and shutting it off before she moved around a little.
"This is meant to keep us away from the gate, from turning it off." She was standing here talking with herself but it was a way to try and gain insight. Her sub conscious would allow her to do much as she was trying to find a solution to getting out of this mess and wondering what had been happening to Quilara or if she was in the same place... trapped in her mind. They needed to get out and Jiwai was looking at Je'gan as the thought of facing her greatest fear was there in front of her or at least one of them while she didn't think she just be able to brute force her way out with the force. "Nope you let the fear in and now it has a hook in you."
"That is getting annoying." She blew a stray strand of hair out of her face. "Don't tell me this is your head Ike. So how do you plan to get out of here?" That was the real question while she was thinking about it. "I am thinking finding a way to face and defeat my fear in you... though killing you won't do anything. If I could it would be simple... No I am thinking of facing this a smarter way to try and bypass the real pain of it all." That might be able to help and she could see the possible reaction on its face but there was nothing there as she moved and her body was loose again, able to move while she pushed the force into herself to calm her mind.
The force washed over her as she was listening to the force over the ones now slowly appearing ion her head. She had faced the real ghosts in the netherworld and dealt with her past sins when training and being taught by the five force priestesses during their trials. She had faced her hubris, seen her temptation of being with her love again and friends... even being adored for her action but that wasn't the jedi way. It was what she needed to do while she was moving forward now letting the past be behind her, the attentions she had now while she focused on the force energies allowing her will to drive out the fear with a scream.
It was like an ice pick was being driven in her skull as the blackness faded first to a harsh light and then slowly shapes started to take form around her. the Vines and the woman standing over her offering a hand as the fog over her vision cleared. A little before she was getting raised up back to her feet. "What happened?" Quilara was looking at her as the woman spoke. "You don't want to know." Her attention was on her though as she wondered what the ex princess had seen or if she had been ensnared by the fear creature. "We can't get up to the gate there is a large slot for a key." She had a moment to think about it and wondered what could happen.
Jiwai waited until the ex princess was ready and then was moving as she held herself up moving through the ruins with the sun starting to filter in and dance with the vines that were over the things. Jiwai came to an obstruction and started clearing it as she pushed energy into the stone around her and was shifting it. The sound of moving earth as below the earth jutted out to the side allowing the obstruction to slide down into the earth to give them an opening as she was controlling the earth shaping to keep the are secured as she walked across and motioned for Quilara to follow. A small smirk on her face as she looked out onto the jungle below them.
She kept going now and felt reinvigorated as she moved along the path and came out, a large central area with another structure below them in a crater almost. The rivulets of waters that were moving around directed before pooling into a moat almost then running out of three powerful and large holes to create a waterfall. running off into the jungle and valley outside it. She could hear it thundering while Jiwai started moving quickly and securing a line for Quilara to take a sled down slower to be safe. She could fly if she slipped and was pushing the energies into the air around her before reaching the bottom.
Jiwai hovered there and made the ending while she had it so Quilara could safely get down without obstruction and have a base area. She used the time for that to study what was there as she noted some images detailing jedi fighting. The destruction of the Cron cluster and a great deal more while she was looking up at the stairs leading to a statue. Beyond the sounds of water booming out of the holes there was silence and Jiwai touched the steps as she looked up towards the symbol displayed before her. She couldn't make it out but started walking up the steps while she heard and felt that familiar sensation.
Out the corner of her eyes she was seeing the five masks for a moment before she lost sight of them and she was moving up the stairs. Her saber was at the ready in case she needed it to defend herself while she reached the top for a moment before she was looking down to see if Quilara had gotten there. She wasn't worried about the safety of her in this since it had been cleared and if the five were there they wouldn't hurt anyone. She knew they served far greater purposes while she was letting her energy flare out and was looking over the stone. She could feel the energy inside and it was covered in ornate writing.
She ran a hand over the words while they glowed just a little as she blew dust away from it and there was more power within it. Jiwai walked around the stone as she searched for an opening and plunged her hand into a hole ignoring the bugs that were crawling over her armored arm and she found it. A lever as she gripped it for a moment and pulled it with the sound of grinding gears, the stone was going into the ground as she moved her hand coming out while she brushed some of the bugs off and went back to looking at the large opening that was revealed. Jiwai grabbed the stone key and held it in her hands.
She wasn't certain what it was for but a temple in the unexplored sections of the galaxy detailing the destruction of the Cron cluster and she could feel the force energy within it while she was moving. Looking down at the bottom of the stairs towards Quilara as she slid the stone key into her pack with the roaring of something coming behind her. Jiwai turned her head to look while there was something else that had been opened showing the outline of a large Leviathan roaring. Chains snapping with a stone slab being lifted up that had trapped it. She was almost blinded by the sun reflecting off the watery moat while she started moving.
"Quilara stay back." She wasn't certain what to really say, running would attract the creature since she would be moving and that would be dangerous as Jiwai was moving now. Her energy flaring out before she was jumping up to spin and threw her z blade that activated with twin white lights slashing into the hide of the beast before it returned to her hand. The solari crystal activating with another white blade that glowed with the force energy before Jiwai came down impacting on its back with the blade slamming and slicing into the blister pods. Jiwai stood up and dug her heels in and started moving with her blade in its back.
She was thinking now, there was a brief moment in time between a leviathan like this waking up and being fully alert where it wouldn't be able to get moving. She needed to use this time to create an opening she could exploit while coming up to the creatures mouth slashing into its tendrils to sever it while she hooked the saber into an eye and brought it down and around to create a gash within its face. The damage seemed superficial as the creature was roaring and she felt it grab her, felt claws digging into the armor as it pierced getting into her shoulder with a warm sensation of blood running on her body in the armor.
Jiwai ground her teeth to not scream but was hoping Quilara was safe and secured as she distracted the creature before curling up and deactivating her saber as it was eating her. Swallowing the petite jedi whole for a moment as she was in its mouth and slashing her z blade into the tongue and throat. he roars coming up as she could feel it moving and Jiwai looking at the black gunk coming from the creature while her pack was on her shoulder and she dug into it with one hand withdrawing a small blade for last minute protection and when there was a thin membrane she stabbed it making a whole into the bile and blood filled cavity.
The creatures chest and body was huge still while she was being covered in blood and gunk but the jedi focused and breathed through the force. The air in her lungs could sustain her for a long while and with practice she had been able to go days even weeks on a single breath. Now she was focused and used the force to guide her through as the sabers deactivated and Jiwai was in an empty cavity for a moment. She could hear the pounding of the creatures heart louder and faster then ever trying to pump blood and keep up with the lose that had happened from the injuries. Jiwai gripped with her sabers a rib getting a scream.
The sound tore through her and reverberated through the creatures body for a moment while she shook her head and her hair was clinging to her face. With no way to wipe it she heard the sounds of the creatures heart and could see it over gunk covered eyes. Jiwai started climbing up the creature from the inside as she plunged the knife into the heart and felt a fresh wash of blood coming over her face. Jiwai kept her eyes closed as her blade hooked in to lift her up with one arm before she grabbed a flap that was moving. Jiwai gripped the heart more as she almost crawling into the heart and was slashing it to get a death gurgle.
She couldn't feel life in the beast but was still trapped inside as she crawled slicing and cutting her way out of the chest cavity and squeezing through some ribs while she was moving out. The jedi breathed in greedily the fresher air as she let out a gasp. The sour air in her lungs being expelled as she plopped down out of the leviathan's chest and saw it had moved a little. She could feel Quilara was there and she even had her equipment pack as she laid on the ground laughing to herself. She was pack up on the raised structure while she looked at some of the creature sprawled across the stairs.
Jiwai didn't try to move at first but she was looking at some of the things in the sky while silver wisps came around her vision before she was moving a little bit and tired. She had said there was nothing to worry about and that was true, she had made enough noise though that Quilara should know it was safe before coming back as Jiwai rolled over and was looking at boots. Her mind foggy for a moment while she was looking up at one of the jedi who she had trained when she was younger. The small atrisian girl who had been wanting to learn how to use a double bladed saber and art of movement. She could hear her speaking.
There was a look on her face and Jiwai recognized her from the realm beyond shadows as one of the ones she had failed to protect. She was leaning down and speaking as the jedi listened and tried to focus. "Oh pitiful shadow lost in the darkness, bringing torment and pain to others. Oh damned soul, wallowing in your sin... Perhaps... it is time to die." Jiwai clenched her fist at that and refused, she was many things but not going to quit and curl up to die as some seemed to want her to. Her own insecurities coming to the surface while she was crawling little by little to her feet and coughing up blood that wasn't her own.
The fear hung heavy in the air making everything seem tiring and exhausting, her movements laced with the energy expended to try and keep the fear from creeping in again. Her body moving now while Quilara seemed to have been doing more then she had thought. There were other things here, almost like large bugs with armor that had become different weapons which had the jedi padawan wheezing a little before she was moving now with her hands on her sabers. The blades activating as she could see more of the charon coming out of the ruins across from them. Quilara was a tank and her sword cleaved one in half as Jiwai moved.
Letting the force guide her movements while she was slicing through it, the stone key in her back and Quilara almost back to back with her blades slicing into one of them as Jiwai went to that place with her brain shutting off. For the moment she wasn't facing dangerous beasts she was in the moment allowing the force to move and guide her hands over her brain thinking it over and slowing her reaction times. They were moving back towards the large stone doorway that needed the key Quilara had found while Jiwai surged forward with one blade slashing into a leg while the other stuck out with her body corkscrewing to slash more into them.
Her foot touched the ground before she was still moving with the force, the motion important and keeping her ground into the speed of it all. The power of the force emanating from her sigil before once again she jumped boot coming up behind the blade as she cleave with the woman behind her. The claymore catching under her boots as Quilara pushed her up higher into the air over one of the charon slicing off a section of his head. They were making their way back and up the pathways while the creatures poured through. Jiwai deactivating on of the blade while she threw it and the twin white blades activated with a snap hiss.
She kept the blades attached for a moment before she detached them and both her and ashin went up the middle while the sabers sliced and cleaved through the pathways above them. Keeping them protected and cleared for them before Jiwai rolled and Quilara used her like a ramp to launch into the air letting black tendrils of lightning escape her hands before Jiwai came up following suit. Purple pink electric judgement arcing out of her gloved hand as it stunned for the kill from Quilara before her claymore cleaved and batted them away. Jiwai sent a wave of force energy into the walkway launching them up towards her blade until they entered the ruins.
The disc blade came back to her hand as she caught it and set it back on her hip allowing more energy to come out while she was running with Quilara back towards the large door with the sound of a thousand clawed feet on the stone. Quilara led the charge breaking through a wall with the force almost making a distorted shell of armor it looked like when she lept up grounding herself. For a moment becoming an immovable object of a tank and an unstoppable force with force speed guiding her movement. Then there was a crash and dust was heavy in the air while Quilara rolled making a Charon explode from her impact.
The woman rolled on the ground and popped up in a fluid motion as Jiwai followed an it was her turned leaping up with the force as she flew high pulling Quilara and letting jets of flame propel from her just a jump onto the roof of the chamber they had started in. Getting up higher while both of them rolled Jiwai brought her saber up slashing a spear from a charon as Quilara smashed into the room. With all the excitement of the battle now they were moving down into the hole Jiwai tossing the key to Quilara as the woman ran towards the doorway slapping the key in and getting the ancient gears to turn and open.
With the grinding of stone on stone while they stood there and waited for it to get down far enough to get through and grab the key. Before they could get up to them and through Jiwai lept as Quilara followed grabbing the key and leaving it to be smashed in the stone or hold it as they had a moment of repreave to be careful and relax... Well not relax but she was moving now with Quilara and the sense of fear was far stronger before she was moving with her attention on the pulsing and humming of energy that came from them. She didn't want to deal with the danger of destroying a gate but they needed to get it off first as the two went running.
Jiwai then saw it, the large creature and all of its horrendous look while she was looking at Quilara as the two prepared to face the massive creature. "If you can distract it I can get to those control crystals and deactivate the gate. We'll be able to at least sever part of it from wherever it is coming from and that will hurt it." There was a look of agreement was there while Quilara went off to fight the massive beast or distract it at least long enough to shut down the gate down while Jiwai was moving. The lightside of the force feeling very small with all of this darkness around but the robes were there as she activated the energy shield and took to the air to the side of the gate.
She as moving and this close to the gate Jiwai could feel the creature and her hands were working on the force to try and deactivate it as she could feel it and understand. It was tied into the death of everything here that had been killed and whatever there was she couldn't just deactivate it as she had planned. Trying to remember how best to handle it while her body was fighting to maintain its control, the fear was like a thick ocean wanting to simply crush her but she could still move while focusing the force energies into her hands while she pushed to create tiny balls of kinetite. Their forms of compressed kinetic energy distorting the area above her palms.
Jiwai raised her hands as she brought them down, the balls of energy smashing into the ring as the first smash cracked it and then slowly it was bending inwards. There were screams from the creature while it was fighting Quilara off to the side and Jiwai kept it up. Raising her arms again to direct it down and into the ring until it pierced it and she held the glove out. Palm open with massive amount of force energy leaking out in lashes almost like a solar flare. Jiwai started absorbing it as it touched the glove with her force letting the crystal charge up in one hand while the other created a large ball of Kinetite above her.
The larger ball she smashed down while the gate seemed to shudder and then there was a blast as she felt the force move into the center first with an intense pull towards the center of the ring and then it was pushing back hard. Jiwai was preparing to be smashed against a wall as Quilara grabbed her and went down towards the ground as she seemed to glow with force barrier and had them both withstanding the blast. The infinity gate detonating in a force explosion that ripped and she could feel obliterating the charon while the wormhole to wherever it was vanished as Jiwai grabbed Quilara and pushed the force energy from the battery in her and what she could into her.
The barrier shimmered and the more energy kept it strong as the blast she thought was reading like a supernova until it was over and everything was silent. Quilara standing above her while they looked at each other and rose up seeing the ruins were obliterated as well as everything else around them before she was walking and limping. The gateway destroyed and the two of them limping away as Jiwai looked at the thing twitching. "It isn't still alive is it?" She didn't know what the woman was going to say but she felt a hand on her shoulder slapping it. "We'll nuke it from orbit, only way to be sure it and the other things are completely dead."
Well that sounded like a plan and going back towards the shuttle the sensation of fear was gone at least for now. "Well I suppose whatever was in the map was lost, what was it that brought you all the way out here?" Now Quilara made sure she was sitting on the ramp of her shuttle before moving and using her sword like a walking stick. "Oh you know exploring, saving the day and finding new things or people to fight.... Still none as good as the legendary Unaga." That got a small chuckle from her while she was to sore to move now laying back. "I'll just be right here, wake me when we get back to the ship."
Quilara wasn't coming with her but the human replica droid managed to get her in as the two shuttles evacuated the planet and targeted the ruins launching tactical strikes on what remained of the terror from beyond. Jiwai saying goodbye to Quilara while she laid there in the room looking things over and watching her vitals while Quilara departed in her ship letting the two ships pass in the galaxy exploring the different and dangerous routes while Jiwai was heading off towards another set of coordinates to try and find what she could.The holocrons and maps she had managed to unlock and have worth what danger both known and unknown were out here.
Sawa sat up in her bed. After the garden with Ni-Ne she had run back to her room... scared and gasping and locked the door so no one would be able to get in there and talk with her. She didn't want to see anyone... she didn't want to risk Ni-Ne seeing her nervous and scared in this moment. She had.. shie had tried to kiss her.. she had kissed her... scared and lonely after what happened with Midori who had seen her and had a lok on her face more of indifference. Sawa didn't know what to do but she wanted to crawl back to her and not have news of her dishonor for her family by being thrown out of her duties.
"Sawa." THe knock on the door as Midori was there, Akiko opening it and covering the door before the princess was looking at her. "I saw what happened... did that little girl try and reward you for what you did?" She was still so beautiful and so angry but Sawa wiped at her eyes and remained there sitting up in her bed. Midori came over and sat down next to her. "I am sorry though, I was angry and I well I overreacted... I realize I was acting more like a petty child in front of her and wanted her to cry or go away." She said it and offered a hand touching it as Sawa flinched and looked with eyes down cast.
"You... you mean it?" Sawa was looking up at her and there was a nod of MIdori's head as she looked over at her. "Yes I did... I shouldn't have stooped to the level I did but I did so I am sorry Sawa." Sawa looked at her as Midori moved forward and wrapped her arms around hershoudlers. Kissing her cheek and Sawa buried her face in her hair. "Thank you Midori." There was a look.... "Ah ah ah my princess. We will always be friends Sawa... our parents are friends and I know many things have been getting done but I want you to remember that... I care about you. Maybe more then I shall since it is expected we both marry important political figures but we'll always have each other.
Sawa just hugged her and listened nodding her head when she smiled ot herself. Midori staying for an hour until she and Akiko snuck away in the dark. She laid there on her side and the astormech droid with her beeped. "Oh I don't know.. Midori is someone I have known for so long. We grew up together but she can be difficult and jealous. She is a princess... she gets what she wants. But Ni-Ne herself is proud and honorable.. beautiful in ways that... and so easy to talk with." The droid looked at her. "I'll explain later go to sleep." The droid was looking at her but complied as Sawa was going back to sleep and woke up on the weekend. They had free time for the day to relax and enjoy the activities around the academy.
