Common Ground

[Choli Vyn]

[member="Trextan Voidstalker"]

[SIZE=9pt][ Negative. ] Choli's voice crackled back; only for the pilot to add in. [ We have incoming calls for aide, looks like about a klick from where we are at. ][/SIZE]

[SIZE=9pt]That was about the time that Choli got a good eyeful at the Thrall Herders and warriors. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=9pt][ Oh feth. ] [/SIZE]

[SIZE=9pt]With word from her co-pilot, Choli activated and prepped to arm the ordnance systems on the U-Wing. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=9pt][ Going to provide you cover. We will need to get through these fast!] whatever was going on deeper in the bazaar, it was big. Really big. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=9pt]The U-Wing went roaring overhead, and true to her word, she provided cover fire against the first wave of Thrall Herders and warriors. However, they weren't going to make it easy.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=9pt]No, Choli was about to get an upfront and personal look at just how damaging Yuuzhan Vong technology could be.[/SIZE]

 

[Trextan Voidstalker]

He heard the roar of the U-Wing, saw it's swept back profile cut across the sky. Then the sound of the heavy repeater. From down here he could see the smoke and debris thrown up by the fire, but not the enemy.

"Sergeant, there's a call to push into the city. There's something going on there. I can feel it."

Most soldiers would have attributed a novice Jedi's feelings to battle nerves. Not the scarred. His 'feelings' had found them abandoned by the First Order on the battlefield of Kaeshana.

"Understood. Fosh, get back to command and see when those reinforcements are coming?" Raun called over the squad net.

Blaster fire started. Green bolts over Trextan's head. He moved back into the doorway and look d for any signs of the Yuuzhan Vong. The Force was eerily silent. He couldn't feel their battle nerves, their aggression, not their passing into th Force. Nothing.

"They're breaking atmosphere now," Fosh called.

Trextan heard a buzz. A black shape slammed into the wall beside him. A beetle almost the size of his palm had lodged itself in the wall, penetrating a few inches into duracrete.

He looked up. Chazrach scouts. Short, reptile creatures that moved quickly to test their lines. Hopefully the U-Wing had thinned them out. They charged for the house and Trextan stepped out.

His lightsaber snapped to life. The reptoids kept coming, driven on by their herders. If the air support could destroy those most of the chazrach would scatter.

He planted his left foot and swung down, stepped back and thrust out at the second. Both chazrach fell away, quite dead. Tr xtsn heard a buzz.

A dark shape moved in his periphery. His right arm came up with superhuman speed and the lightshield flared to life. It hummed as the chazrach bounced off.

"Huh."

 

[Choli Vyn]

[member="Trextan Voidstalker"]

[SIZE=9pt]Choli swung the U-Wing into a loop; there was something weird to it all. The Force flowed within her, helping her enhance her senses in being more aware of her environment, but there was something [/SIZE][SIZE=9pt]off[/SIZE][SIZE=9pt] about who they were fighting. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=9pt]"Just what are those things?" truth be told, there was a bit of alarm running through Choli's veins. Taking over the gunner's controls, the pilot prepped for providing cover fire. As she leveled off, she caught sight of the Alliance forces in the ground clashing with the chazrach. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=9pt]"Alright..I don't know [/SIZE][SIZE=9pt]what [/SIZE][SIZE=9pt] you are." Choli added, narrowing her eyes behind the yellow tint. "Let's see if you can handle this." [/SIZE]

[SIZE=9pt]Flipping the toggle off the safety, the pilot sent a volley of fire. Choli was right. At least there was some sort of damage done as the area was cleared out. Now it was time to move. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=9pt][ We are going to need to get into the bazaar!.] she said, moving to bring the U-Wing back down for a pick up. [/SIZE]

 

[Trextan Voidstalker]

Trextan poked his sweat-soaked brow between the two pilots as they cruised into the city. There was a deep chink in the front of his armour where a chazrach had caught him with one of those wickedly curved bone knives. He was breathing loudly from the exertion. There was a more positive, determined demeanour to the young man. They'd passed their first test.

"You were right," he said to Choli. He didn't specific at which point; she had been about several things. That wasn't why he'd moved up to the cockpit and left The Scarred restocking their ammunition behind. He would perhaps have smiled if something wasn't making his hairs stand on end.

The sleek U-Wing cut a path between two tall buildings. Below them Alliance forces were now moving to try and contain the threat. Keeping the civilians safe was the top priority now.

"Can you feel that?" He asked. "No don't go east," he said suddenly. "I couldnt sense anything from the Vong, but there is something dark down there," he added quickly, pointing towards their right. The Force was almost becoming a maelstrom around that point, the influence of the dark side palpable.

 

[Choli Vyn]

[member="Trextan Voidstalker"]


[SIZE=9pt]Can I feel it? [/SIZE][SIZE=9pt] That was the issue. It made her skin crawl; gave her a sense of uneasiness that only increased with every passing second. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=9pt]The Force went rushing over Choli again, instinct guiding her in the direction as [/SIZE][SIZE=9pt]Trextan Voidstalker[/SIZE][SIZE=9pt] 's voice came echoing in. His voice was breathless, sweat beading upon his face and his long hair askew. Eyes bright, he practically shoved himself between the two pilots.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=9pt]"I got it Voidstalker," [/SIZE][SIZE=9pt] Choli added, Navy training having her shift into the standard use of last names. Her attention was on keeping them airborne and trying to figure out what was that build up of energy. It felt dark, twisted, a churning sensation of --[/SIZE]

[SIZE=9pt]"I have a bad feeling about this."[/SIZE][SIZE=9pt] She uttered under her breath, aiming to the right. Straight ahead was [/SIZE][SIZE=9pt]Dredge[/SIZE][SIZE=9pt], a dark figure where the Force just kept building.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=9pt]"I swear if we crash..." [/SIZE][SIZE=9pt] she added, [/SIZE][SIZE=9pt]not my fault this time. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=9pt]"Is that a friendly?"[/SIZE]

[SIZE=9pt]"Negative." Well, the best foot forward in her book was to, well, shoot at it.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=9pt]"Preventive measures,[/SIZE][SIZE=9pt]" her thumb went flicking over. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=9pt]The laser gun sent a shower of green bolts downrange to the figure, straffing to potentially hit at it from above. [/SIZE]

 

[Trextan Voidstalker]

The figure vanished in a cloud as the laser cannon fire turned the road into a cloud of debris. Trextan's head bobbed up and down between the pilots as he tried to spot the figure. He couldn't see anything.

Choli did not seem to mess about when she was at the helm of a ship. He could almost feel her focus like a knife edge, but could it was hard to sense anything about the growing dark. Preventative measures indeed, but he had a feeling this wasn't done yet.

"Bring us down," he said. He face backing out from between the two pilots. He took great care moving into the passenger hold, feeling the ship dip and bank.

"Sergeant, we have some kind of dark Jedi. Dangerous. Right in the middle of the bazaar."

Trextan's knew they didn't like that news. But he also knew that they would follow Trextan where ever he went now. It seemed he was already going to have to ask them to follow him into a pit of the nether world.

They didn't even touch down, just coming to hover two feet above the ground. Trextan jumped down first. Behind him Raun barked out orders. The Scarred split into two man teams, some spreading out and working their way through the bazaar, others looking for elevated positions in the nearest building.

 

[Choli Vyn]

[member="Trextan Voidstalker"]

[SIZE=9pt]The Rogue had every right to have felt as if something bad was going to happen. In fact, [/SIZE][SIZE=9pt]it did.[/SIZE][SIZE=9pt] [/SIZE]

[SIZE=9pt]Choli had barely delivered the Scarred and Trextan to the ground, their voices mere echoes within her headset. Here she was, bruised, mind completely wiped of whatever had occurred to her the past month and already in the thick of it. There were Yuuzhan Vong and who Force knew what else around the Bazaar, and while reinforcements were coming from Elrood, Sullust, and local Kathol territory, it was still a hot zone for the native of Tatooine.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=9pt]Maybe adrenaline rushes and high stake risks were all she knew. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=9pt]Either way, the U-Wing had roared its engines to ascend once more up to the skies, hoping that they could at least counter whatever was down there with more aerial attacks. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=9pt]Yet it was too late. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=9pt]Time seemed to slow then, as the churning, sphere of Darkside power seemed to grow and pulse with a life of its own. It was a writhing, almost living entity, straining as if a malevolent fetus within that dark womb, straining and tugging to be let out. Then, all at once, it did. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=9pt]The Force blast went ripping out in all directions, the water breaking as what [/SIZE][SIZE=9pt]Dredge[/SIZE][SIZE=9pt] had birthed torn asunder the immediate area. Choli was fast, but she wasn't fast enough. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=9pt]The blow caught the U-Wing, the girl's hazel eyes shifting into pick black as her hands came up. The Force went surging through her, but it wasn't enough. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=9pt]From the ground, all one could see was the dark waves of energy and flames as the U-Wing spun out of control, one wing blasted away while the tail spun it down into a death spin, falling towards the ground. [/SIZE]

 

[Trextan Voidstalker]

Jacen remained seated, his pale iridonian companion having floated away on a breeze of camaasi silk. Trextan didn't really want to sit in the grass but he lowered himself to the ground opposite Jacen. Trextan walked more softly, spoke more quietly than he had before. He was still raw from the lesson he'd been given the other day, when Jacen had soaked up every insult and swing of a blade he could muster. Only when Trextan could barely stand did his father speak, telling him truths that pained him to the core.

“Why did you fail to strike me?” Jacen asked.

“Because you're more powerful that me.”

Jacen chuckled. “That's the easy answer isn't it? You assume there's some intrinsic quality i have that you can't overcome.” He pursed his lips and shook his head. “You have more potential than I ever had. Unfortunately just as headstrong as i was. What you lack is control and that can only be learned slowly.”

Trextan frowned. Already Jacen was frustrating him again. “You moved faster than me…”

“No, I just made sure I wasn't where you were swinging your blade. Internal control and focus. Think of those Teras Kasi artists you see, enacting a routine at the top of a narrow pole. It's like that, bit on the inside. The Force can be hammered to your will, but it takes fine control to truly become a master of it. Like spinning plates. Inside your mind you're keeping four or five going at the same time, perfectly balanced. If any start to wobble everything comes apart. Control and balance. But of mind not body.”

Trextan scoffed.

---

On his knees, Trextan had his right arm anchored to the ground to hold him steady as the bazaar was ripped apart. His lightshield and Force barrier kept the worst of the shockwave from tearing him apart. He looked up and saw the U-Wing spiralling out of control. Did they all have to die here just for doing the right thing? Trextan turned to the Force for answers.

The plates stopped spinning. The poles fell away and they hovered in perfect balance.

His face was blackened, the tips of his hair singed away. Yet there, in the epicentre of destruction wrought by the dark side, everything was suddenly clear to him.

He reached up his left hand towards the rapidly descending shuttle. His fingers splayed open, then snapped into a fist as he tightened his grip. The U-Wing slowed its spin, the second wing falling free as it clipped a building. A plate started to wobble. The spin of the ship came to a halt.

For half a second the U-Wing descended nose first, the cockpit pointed right at Trextan kneeling in the maelstrom. Then it turned away, keeping the glass away from the waves of raw energy. Trextan made no sound, have no outward sign of the exertion. But as the U-Wing slowed its fall another plate started to waver. A burst of light cut through his shield and scorched his armour.

It wasn't a soft landing, the struts all crumpling under the strain, but it was it was a landing. The frame of the U-Wing held together.

“There.” Trextan murmured. He dropped his left arm. The lightshield flickered off and his barrier dissipated a moment after. The young Jedi vanished in the next wave of light.

 

[Choli Vyn]

[member="Trextan Voidstalker"]

[SIZE=9pt]Every pilot had trained for it; death spins that is. There were ways for a pilot to trust in their instruments so they could work themselves out of it, but with one wing already blown to bits and the rest of the blast taking panels, electronics, and glasteel out in the intense rush of heat, there was nothing Choli could do. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=9pt]No amount of training could save her for the ticking time bomb she knew would lead to her death. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=9pt]Chloe had taught Cho the more advanced tricks when it came to emergency procedures, but even then this was out of left field. While the Force had heightened her senses and danger sense bloomed the instinctual reaction to send a shimmering yellow sphere around her, and her co-pilot, sheer nausea from the spin and sudden plummet were terrible for keeping her concentration. Even more so after having just awoken not some hours prior on a hospital bed. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=9pt]It was a good thing that she had nothing in her belly because even her intense training was twisting and knotting it. A dry heave came, her helmet cracking against the side wall. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=9pt]poodoo, this was it. This was --[/SIZE]

[SIZE=9pt]Then something extraordinary occurred. The Deadspin slowed. No that couldn't be right. Feth, everything happened so fast. What was up or down, who knew. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=9pt]Her leg was pinned, and blood trickled down her temples. The edges of her vision grew foggy, and by the time it was over, Choli had succumbed to darkness.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=9pt]Then came the sudden crunching and thudding sensation of the U-Wing hitting the ground as that very same energy that knocked her out of the air went ripping back into [/SIZE][SIZE=9pt]Dredge[/SIZE][SIZE=9pt] himself. [/SIZE]

 

[Trextan Voidstalker]

He woke in a field of wheat. Waist high, the strands moved gently with the swirling breeze. It took a moment to realise what made this place feel so alien. Nothing troubled him here, there was no emotion. Just peace.

Near him the wheat parted. An instant later a faint silhouette filled the space. It wasn't human, or anything. Just an impression of a person. Female perhaps. The wheat around her shifted as if she'd brought her own wind. It danced and swayed. Trextan could feel echoes of fear and panic, but they could not touch him here.

Another appeared, then another and another. Soon he was surrounded by them and the land was no longer peaceful. The maelstrom whipped around them as the figures murmured and cried.

Slowly the wind started to die down, the flow returning to a gentle breeze. The one who had appeared first slowly faded. Trextan felt a final gust of wind and then they were gone. The wheat where they had stood just becoming part of the flow once more. One by one they faded away, yet he knew that in some respect they were still here.

There was another cry. This one more visceral. He could feel this fear, it gained traction on his thoughts. He became suddenly aware of his own pulse, his own breath. He knew he would not be joining the others he had seen.

Dark shapes appeared in the field around him. This time more defined, yet paradoxically more distant. Women were running, screaming. Something else loomed and where it walked the wheat turned black and died. A familiar presence tinged in pain.


I have to leave here, he spoke to the wind.

It is not your time, it replied.

---

Ironic that as he blinked the dust from his eyes he found that it was his artificial arm that responded. Whilst the other limbs merely protested at the weight holding them down his prosthetic tossed aside a market stall frame as if it were made of paper.

"...Young Voidstalker, … current ...?"

The earpiece crackled and then died out. There was screaming, panic. The weight of thousands of deaths weighed upon him, but at least they were with the Force now. Much of the clarity he had held was fading away, but he was certain that in some way he had witnessed them rejoining the Force that bound all living things.

His metal hand came down, palm open, onto the ground and he lifted his chest up. His mouth was parched, grit coating his tongue and mouth. He tried to speak but could manage nothing more than a croak. Freed from his weight, his left arm finally responded. It ached as blood rushed back into it, but he managed to get both arms down to drag himself out from under the detritus.

The battered U-Wing loomed before him. The sense of clarity was gone, but his purpose was clear. His legs were more shaky than Choli’s had been back at the hospital, but he managed to crawl and stumble his way to the door. It didn’t respond.

Using the hull as support he made his way up to the cockpit. He wiped away the dust and pressed his face to the glass. They were in there, both alive still, but neither moving. With a growing sense of anxiety he raised his artificial arm. The viewscreen gave way to a single blow and he used the metal arm to brush away any glass.

“Cho!” he tried to shout, but it ended up just a croak. Trextan crawled through, over the console and down into the cockpit. The other pilot had gone with a chair into the hold behind, but the rogue was pinned under a collapsed console.