Descent of shadows

[Darth Naomi]

A beep could be heard from the controls and Tiiona would open her eyes. Actually, she did not need them as it was her mental eyes that truly mattered, but she still found having them open to be... helping, making it easier to see without much of a concentration. Her hooded head would move slightly, then she would shift forward on the seat. The beep was the system signaling they have neared their destination. The ship was put on autopilot soon after she initiated the hyperdrive, so it would also finish the jump on its own as well. Sadly, she could not see the hyperspace through the window, not like people normally can. And from what he had heard it is quite a view. On the other hand, her sight had its perks as well. What she could see were three signals lighting up on the board in front of her, each indicating a drive disengaging. And then she would feel the ship slowing, not physically, thanks to the inertial damper, but in other ways. Ways she was eager to explore. In a minute the ship's autopilot would decide to establish orbit over the third planet of Prakith system. That was not something she needed, so the girl would lean forward and with a few pushes of some buttons cancel the maneuver. Then she would input landing coordinates she was given. They are going down there. Honestly, she could fly the ship herself, but it would be too much bother figuring out how this chunk of rust worked, so it was easier to just keep the autopilot on. Lucky for them, it was just advanced enough to accept something like landing coordinates.
The small freighter they have stolen would clumsily touch down on the landing pad. Belching for the last time it would fall silent as Tiiona killed the engines from the cockpit, after turning off most of the systems, which took but a few seconds, she would head towards the airlock, where she expected to find her companion, @[member="Mulak Chren"]. A couple seconds would be spent in a transitional chamber, where the outside pressure would be matched and the two could be unleashed onto the planet. The landing pad they now stood on was but a small protrusion of the fortress that now towered them. And the whole place felt like nothing she has felt before. Cuddling in her cloak, she'd start making her way through the dusty wind towards the nearest entrance. Honestly, she wasn't sure if she was expecting someone to greet them or not, but it certainly did not feel right knocking on the door themselves.

@[member="Darth Isolda"]

 

[Mulak Chren]

The Zaburak sat on a stray stool he had pulled up for himself; he did not much enjoy the luxury of soft seats, he believed that a life of such pleasant amenities would breed a weak person, one that relied on the silver of their tongue rather than the training of their blade. Resting his calloused hands on his knees with his back fully straight, he attempted to sleep. It was quite an amusing spectacle, for him at least, to imagine a singular person, on a ship of two people, one slumbering and the other being blind. Why he had chosen this ship was beyond him, but he hoped it would at least carry him in one piece to the destination, or at the minimum quickly to his grave.
However, the engine soon stopped and he emerged from his dreamless sleep, taking a few seconds before he stood up from the stool and simply made his way to the airlock, noticing @[member="Tiiona"] a few seconds later he casually brushed off his dusty leather jacket and looked his companion over once more. When he exited the landing pad he walked alongside his companion, scrunching his grizzly features in an attempt that could be either trying to intimidate the wind or protect his delicate eyes from it.

 

[Darth Isolda]

Deep within the depths of stronghold of Prakith, Darth Isolda's fingers lightly went grazing over the scrying water basin before her.

Images went dancing within her mind, of one with hair as white as snow, her face hidden in the depths of the mists.

Curious, the oracle of Vahl, delved deeper into her visions, immersing herself into the Force to farsee into the current of time.

Ah, just who was this?

A hint of a smile twisted her crimson lips. They were here.

With a single word, two acolytes of the One Sith took a step forward. The Voice of the Dark Lord gave them their instructions, although no words fell from her lips.

Without further ado, they slipped into the darkness towards the direction of the newly arrived visitors.

Spoiler

@[member="Mulak Chren"] @[member="Tiiona"]

 

[Darth Naomi]

And then eventually the two of them would meet the wall of steel, that was the gate into the fortress. Or one of them maybe, Tiiona was not familiar with the layout of the place as she was only given the landing coordinates. The gates seemed like a massive construct, not a way for them to open without at least ramming the ship into them. That, or a switch, which did not seem to be present on the outside. In a fashion which would seem like simply staring at the door, the girl would peer through, into the darkness that was behind. After a couple moments she would see someone. Two people coming their way, coming to greet them perhaps. Under her cloaked figure, her right hand would find the handle of her blaster, the only weapon she had with her at the time. It was almost instinctive reaction to her, even if the two did not seem as anything impressive or threatening. To the Zabrak standing beside her she would say silently "Someone's coming." and while she doubted it was a danger to them, it would still be better to have the man prepare and not be caught by surprise. She would stand still, until the doors were open for them.

 

[Mulak Chren]

The male had trekked with his comrade and, dare he say, had even felt his legs feel weary from all of the walking. This was not the life he had looked forward to back in the days of sitting in a cage as hearty laughs echoed around your prison.. No, he wished for a bountiful life! Perhaps this walking would be a catalyst for such events. He hoped so, at least. When the daunting wall of what seemed like steel in front of him, he gazed upon it thoughtfully, somewhat impressed, somewhat curious.. Stepping forward once more, he allowed his hand to venture upon it's surface, exploring it with a mere dropping of his wrist.. It felt.. like every other door he had ever felt. This was weird to him. He thought it would feel of evil.. Perhaps something was off with where they were, perhaps his senses were not as finely attuned as he had been led to believe with the cannon fodder that he had been served prior. Turning his head when the soft voice from his partner reached his ears, he turned his head to see two incoming figures. What a weird day today was going to be. Twisting his body towards them, one hand raised in what could appear to be a wave as a deep voice bellowed from his throat, "Hail!"

@[member="Darth Isolda"]
@[member="Tiiona"]

 

[Darth Isolda]

The wave in greeting would not be answered in kind. Instead, a different welcome was to be dealt to the trespassers.

As if perfectly in tune, both One Sith Acolytes activated their violet blades in perfect symmetry. Their eradicator masks unyielding, as they each took purposeful steps towards the duo.

Without further ado, the one to the right rushed forward with the speed of the Darkside of the Force enhancing his movements, and like a Jeco, he moved to attack with quick precise slashes at the Zabrak.

Meanwhile, the female of the pair zoomed in on Tiiona, only with her, she held out an outstretched hand, slender digits extended towards the young woman as electric arcs went dancing in the air, towards the Miraluka in a deadly cerulean arc of energy.

Spoiler

@[member="Mulak Chren"] @[member="Tiiona"]

 

[Darth Naomi]

The doors would open and Tiiona's opinion on the two messengers would change, as they would reveal their weapons, letting two steady flows of energy appear, a sound of the legendary Jedi and Sith weapon being heard. At that point the girl no longer needed to inspect their hidden expressions, their body language or anything else. The moment the male assailant lunged forward it was already clear this was no longer a friendly greeting she expected. Hopefully her alien friend would be swift enough to recognize that as well. So, as he dashed and as the female guardian raised her hand at the blind figure, Tiiona decided not to stick around and see what happens as she figured that hand wasn't being raised for a greeting or some kind. Thus, she would quickly step to her right, putting the wall by the door between herself and the one still behind the doors. Unfortunately, she was not as fast as a burst of lightning that shot from the masked female's hand, slightly grazing Tiiona's left shoulder and running down her cloak. The pain was short but quite intense, she could only imagine what a full head on hit of that would have felt like.
Now positioned behind the wall, she would be out of the line of sight from the female, but still in line to see Mulak and the one attacking him. Well, if she had normal eyes that is, being a Miraluka allowed her to 'keep an eye' on the shocking woman as well. Under the black cloak shrouding her body, her right hand would summon the pistol she had grasped previously and after pointing it at the male swordsman, she would unleash two hip shots, aimed at his right leg and other at the saber holding arm, meant to disarm. Both shots would seemingly come from under her cloak, actually putting two tiny holes in the fine piece of clothing, but war demanded sacrifices and this seemed like a small price to pay for staying on top of things.

 

[Mulak Chren]

The dazzling beams of energy made Mulak twitch. It appeared that this plan was not going to work out as he had hoped and he felt his heart crashing in his chests. If memory served right, lightsabers were a weapon that were reserved for the extremely gifted.. This truly did appear to be a daunting event. Searching the insides of his jacket for his vibroblades, the masked entity closed the gap between the two and struck for his head, causing Mulak to duck in order to avoid becoming soil, muttering under his breath, "Laserbrain.", when he had descended the two blades had revealed themselves and hissed malevolently. A slicing motion was made downwards towards the masked entity as if he was attempting to cut down curtains, much like a feline, before he rolled backwards to try and minimize the risk of a new hole in his already scarred body.

 

[Darth Isolda]

@[member="Mulak Chren"] @[member="Tiiona"]
(so sorry for the delay. I will be more prompt from now on)

One of the bolts was deflected by the male, but the other managed to strike the acolyte in the leg, provoking a savage grunt coming from under the mask. Anger went rolling to further his rage just as the Zabrak's vibroblades came glinting under the light of the sun.

Sparks flew a kaleidoscopic array of hues over the straining pair as the male acolyte attempted to shove his weight forward to push the Zabrak back.

Meanwhile, the female gave a ferocious cry of rage, long legs pounding the ground in her hunt of the Miraluka. Her wrist twisted, the purple blade hissing as she prowled, searching for the Miraluka.

Finally, she found her. That dark mask went panning over the woman, and without further ado, shot forward with the speed of the Force once more. This time, there would be no lightning, the acolyte would instead strike at the woman with her blade, charging at her with the intention of striking her from shoulder to hip.

 

[Darth Naomi]

The beast was wounded and now was just a matter of bringing it down. But that business the young Miraluka would leave to her partner as her own acolyte opponent pushed their pursuit. The purple blade wielding female's advance was observed before she actually came into the line of sight. And as such two more blaster shots would be fired at nearly point blank range when she came from around the corner, hopefully catching her off guard.

But if not, if that was not enough to stop her, Tiiona would push off the ground and jump towards the wall. Then again pushing off the wall she would unleash another volley at the acolyte. Her cloak was now truly like a Netherlandish cheese. She was going to need a new one.

 

[Mulak Chren]

The outwards slashing seemed to have caught the male, but had caused no more than a minor scratch in the males torso in an x pattern. Mulak was beginning to doubt his combat skills. However, the poor Zabrak did not have enough time to think about his inept fighting style as his foe had just slammed his body into him. He didn't expect such an attack, so brazen when sharp weapons were involved.. Tripping over his own feet, he fell backwards but recovered not too far from the male, well within reach if he was to use his legs, he thought.
Not one to actually do something to help another, his mentality was pretty singular at this given point in time. Take down the prey slowly, mount the prey, slaughter the prey. Survival. His legs kicked outwards in a sweeping motion from left to right towards the masked entity, a snarl on the face of the Zabrak with his knived hands ready to carve a new creature from the meaty doll he had been bestowed with.

@Tiiona@Darth Isolda

 

[Darth Isolda]

@[member="Mulak Chren"] @[member="Tiiona"]

The surprise volley from the Miraluka did in fact catch the Acolyte by surprise, who gave a hiss as one bolt hit her saber arm, the scent of charred flesh rising up with the smoke. It caused her to stumble, but it only fueled her rage, as an involuntary scream went ripping from her throat towards the Miraluka.

That's when the second volley of bolts came at the One Sith, only this time, due to the large amount of bolts in her direction, the female Sith was unable to completely deflect them all, having been already wounded by the earlier blaster bolt. She gave another stumble, as a red bolt of energy went ripping through her chest, causing the One Sith to fall on one knee.

Meanwhile, due to the male One Sith's brash attack, he was unable to stop his movement to avoid the Zabrak's kick, hitting the Sith so that his body went stumbling towards the right. Perhaps, in his rage, he did not realize the simple lesson to use his opponents movements against him.

For this, he would likely pay the price as this gave the Zabrak an opening should he take it.

 

[Darth Naomi]

Looks like her fight was being wrapped up, for every other shot she fired would get through the acolyte's defense and injure her. And after the big volley, when Tiiona landed, she would see the female on her knee, as the last shot had burned into her chest. And yet, she was holding the pink beam of energy, which made approaching her risky. If she wanted to conquer the enemy, Tiiona would have fired a few more well aimed shot to disable her completely, but at this point she felt doing so was unnecessary. So, instead she went for a long range finisher. After putting the gun back in its place and bringing both her hands by her hips she would fold them into fists, while inhaling deeply. She would then momentarily concentrate, the hands unfolding and rising to her shoulders, as if lifting something invisible and breath would reach its peak. And then with a single thrust of her hands forward she would command the force, pushing the foe with all her might to the wall. Hopefully the hit would render the female unconscious and save Miraluka the trouble of finishing her a second time.
Shortly after the push happened she would shift her attention to the direction of her partner's fight, which appeared to be going the same way. There was one thing though. "Do not kill him." She would say. There was no point of that, as these were too members of the One Sith.

 

[Mulak Chren]

When his foot connected he felt a calming wave wash over him.. It was like being basked in the embrace of a goddess. This pleased the Zabrak. Using the momentum from his kick to swing his entire body around to the Sith while still on the floor, his original plan was to convert the male into a female with a single fluid slice along a sacred area, but that was soon changed when he was told to not kill him. Perhaps he was their only ticket as to what was to happen here.
So instead, his knife found it's way along the hamstring of the fellow in order to disable his movement somewhat, a soothing resistance of flesh brought a grin to Mulak. When the deed was done he stood back up, dusting himself off while keeping his eyes trained on the male. "What now?"

@[member="Darth Isolda"]

 

[Darth Isolda]

@[member="Mulak Chren"] @[member="Tiiona"]

The hit did indeed render the female unconscious, flopping to the ground with a low thud. Her saber deactivated upon hitting the floor, rolling to a stop next to Tiiona's boot.

A guttural scream went ripping out of the male acolyte's mouth through the face mask as the sword went slicing through his hamstring, causing him to fall to his knee.

His chest heaved and he gave a bow of his head. His saber had deactivated, but he still held it in his hand. For a moment he was quiet, as if listening to some internal dialogue.

"Yes." came the reply, and with that, the blade came back to life, both hands wrapped round the hilt tightly as he attempted to slice the Zabrak's legs with it.

 

[Darth Naomi]

Tiiona leaned and picked up the lightsaber with her left hand. Mulak managed to disable his opponent and the girl would walk up to the two. Although the male masked guardian was on the ground defeated, she could sense the lack of consent to defeat from him, which would lead to her placing her right hand on her blaster handle once more. And good thing she did, I guess, as when the man's saber was lit and swung she was in time to react and shoot the male's hand, hopefully disarming him. It was silly really, after she told Mulak not to kill the guy. Unfortunately after this it was not her place to stop the Zabrak again and his will would seal the man's fate, unless for some reason her shots missed and her companion failed to defend against the last act of defiance.

@[member="Darth Isolda"] @[member="Mulak Chren"]

 

[Mulak Chren]

A few things crossed the males thoughts: Why did he pay heed to someone that had no rank, how was his family at the moment, and why the man in front of him would not accept his fate. It was with the buzzing that resembled a platoon of chaotic birds that Mulak felt something run down his spine.
A shiver.
As fast as an eye could blink, the Zabrak brought the hilt of the vibroblade down into the temple of the mask of the now armed and dangerous male, hopefully disorientating him enough as to not get sliced. After that deed was done, he felt another shiver.. A more feral one.. as if it was a calling. He complied.
Smashing the hilt of the vibroblade once more into the head of the masked entity, he brought the other blade's hilt also against the concealed head. It could be seen as quite a passionate endeavor, much like breaking a few eggs (In a messy manner of course) to make a rather lovely omelet. He clambered over the body of the male and dropped his weapons as the shiver intensified.. It was coursing through his blood and he was a slave to it. He crashed his fists into the shattered mask. 'This is for the pirates', he thought. He brought a bloody fist back up and made it come hurtling right back down, causing another squirt of blood; whether it was his or the mans he would never know, nor did he care. Now on top of the limp body he continued to bludgeon the face of the male that had dared go against his hospitality.. This was the Miraluka's fault. She could have got him killed! More rage boiled in the very roots of the male as he continued his brutal assault which leaved the male's face but an imprint on his bloodied hands. When he gazed down shakily he wondered whether everyone's grey matter looked like that.. He would have to find out. At the moment, he was oblivious to the material that had found it's way into the flesh of his hands, the adrenaline proving to be quite the rush.

 

[Darth Isolda]

@Tiiona @Mulak Chren


The shots did not miss, for his focus was upon slicing the Zabrak's legs off, a gutteral scream could be heard, but by then it was too late.

The male acolyte's body would lay limply under the ferocious pummeling of the Zabrak, the eradicators mask which he wore providing little protection against the vicious onslaught.

He'd long since grown unconscious, and to be frank, when one's head was being pummeled until it spat out living tissue, it was unlikely one would survive that.

The female was unconscious, but still breathing, and the air was thick with the scent of blood in the air, the sanguine liquid turning the ground black in a pool under the male acolyte.

It was then a throaty chuckle could be heard, seemingly off in the distance. This was, however, an echo within their minds by the Darth.

A singular word would resonate with power, an almost sweet painful ecstasy that beckoned from the depths of the temple before them, beyond the gates into the darkness within.

C̥͍͆͗̆o͉̊̉̏m̙̯͌̐e̴̦̲͍̣̳.̹̳̎ͣͭ̄​

 

[Darth Naomi]

Not much to be added, the guy was dead. And then they were called, Tiiona could hear the summon and would simply walk into the dark, through the open doors. It was what she came here for after all, those two were just a setback.

Leaving behind the male corpse in a pool of blood, walking past the defeated female, the Miraluka would grasp the lightsaber in her left hand more firmly in the uncertainty perhaps, of what could be awaiting her.

@[member="Darth Isolda"] @[member="Mulak Chren"]
P.S. zzzz, short, don't have much to say

 

[Mulak Chren]

The Zabrak did not feel the pain that would be laughing in his face soon enough, the adrenaline was still coursing through him. However, the possibility of insanity was good enough to cripple his feeling of power when a mysterious voice rang through his head, provoking a surprised, guttural sound to emerge from the bloodied male.

He did not like this place at the moment.. Their welcoming party was one of murder and his only order by his current companion had been one that would have made him as worthy a warrior as a Hutt. Shaking his head, he lifted the now stained lightsaber from the limp hands of the masked entity beneath him, keeping it in his hand with his other vibrodagger replaced within his clothing once more so that he would be dual wielding. However, it seemed Tiiona had an aspect different than Mulak's.. When he heard an ominous voice, his first notion was to get to the nearest ship and lightspeed away.. But hers was to follow it. What kind of Zabrak would allow a Miraluka to be seen as more braver than they? Certainly not Mulak, and so he walked alongside her after a brief jog, his grip on his weapons slippery and weak.

@[member="Tiiona"] @[member="Darth Isolda"]