Private Eye of the Storm

[Penny Rasalas]

Kain effectively stormed the station like a force of nature himself. The table he thrashed effortlessly into the soldiers firing on him toppled them like bowling pins, sending stray blaster fire at odd angles through the air and the table itself. To say they had the upper hand in this battle was a gross understatement, but the lingering soldiers guarding the station and desperately trying to survive the nightmare outside still outnumbered them, and could potentially turn the tide against them, if key players were neutralized. Heavy casualties would be sustained regardless, but they couldn't claim a victory just yet.

Kain reached out to Cyprian as he was engrossed in rewiring the console. The table was likely the least of his concern now, but it would quickly become priority whether or not he saw or felt it coming through the Force. With a bang, it launched. If he noticed, and turned in time, he would see the table soaring back through the air at him with a crack down the middle that almost split it in two.

An unforeseen Force user might have been suspected, but Kain would sense he was the only one in the facility. Rather, the angry woman lashing him with panicked and foul words was the source. Words he wouldn't understand, unless he spent a fair amount of time on a planet named Azar-Anil. Except for a couple... The familiar and judging words "dark Jedi trash" cursed him in an accent as she charged him right behind the table. Oblivious to her own hypocrisy.

Whether he thrust it out of the way, broke through it, or was hit by it, she was in his face in the next moment. He would soon realize where the power came from, and it certainly wasn't her average, yet toned arms. Her legs were bionic, and capable of their own tricks. Right now the only one he'd have to brace for was a flying kick to his chest. Normally it wouldn't be such a concern, especially for an ex-Jedi, but if this kick caught him unaware, it would literally crush through his sternum and pulverize his heart--if he was without a chest plate of sorts. The durability of his armor was unknown to her, but she didn't care. All she knew was that they were all going down, and she was angry her remaining minutes would be spent here, alone. The last place she wanted to be.

Penny was angry, too. More like enraged. Not at anyone in particular, just at the inescapable pain that only seemed to become less tolerable by the second. One little spider-thing was all it took. Even after its demise, the damage it inflicted continued to ravage deeper into her back as its toxic venom lysed through cells and destroyed indiscriminately every type of organic structure it encountered. If the effects reached her spine, she was done.

But it didn't matter. She wouldn't live much longer anyway.

She forced her eyes open as she grimaced in pain, missing Cyprian scramble out of the tank, but having just enough time to react to the incoming fire. There wasn't anything to see with her own eyes beyond the shadows of swiveling gun barrels as the second targeted her through the Nagnol, but she sensed it coming. An eruption of power that would leave nothing left of her to bury, if it struck. Agile and quick as she was, there wasn't time for her to flee to safety, not unless she had her own rocketpack.

Penny roared in an adrenaline-fueled war-cry, and braced for her abrupt end in a flash of light as turret and cannon fire released. So quick she didn't even have time to feel angry at the thought that she would die before she could exact revenge against her treasonous fiancee--wherever he was. A hand raised in front of her, but not with the intent to Force push. She drew the Force into her, crafting her own invisible, defensive shield in defiance. It wasn't an entirely conscious effort. She didn't believe she had the time to conjure the focus for the level of power she would need to deflect what was coming, but pure willpower proved her wrong. The earth around her flared and showered chunks of dirt, rocks, and even misplaced body parts of fallen soldiers as the turret swept past her. The cannon blast that could have leveled a bunker engulfed her in blazing light, the last thing she expected to see.

But it wasn't the last. The energy bowed around her, encasing her, but not touching. Flecks of debris and dust and mangled gore flickered around her, creating nothing but abstract noise as she failed to process anything that was happening for a moment. She sensed nothing but the pressure of the blasts hitting her. Pushing into her like the weight of an ocean trying crush her on the sea floor. Somehow, her shield did not fail.

When the sweep of death had passed, and a brief pause of silence came before Cyprian's descent, Penny stared into space. The hand hovering in the air shaking as the shield faded, and she felt a release that nearly sucked the spirit from her body with it. She felt suddenly, incomprehensibly light weight. The pain in her back continued its infectious spread, but the sensation was little more than a dull, meaningless warning to her senses now. She tried to stand, legs wobbling awkwardly and knees shaking. By the expression on her face and the look in her wide eyes, she was shell-shocked and utterly drained, and suffering from more damage than she realized. Regarding the scenery around her as if none of it should be real. That's what happens when you think you're dead.

Then he came. She caught him in her peripheral as Cyprian loomed closer, heavy mace that pulsed with its own destructive energy in hand. Her wild eyes watched him without fear, and she breathed a single word through a wicked, teeth-baring grin. Teeth speckled in pink froth caused by unseen damage. "Reaper..." The golden light of her saber crackled at the tip as it swept the ground, igniting and melting unidentifiable substances it crossed. She turned in his direction as if she were ready to face him.

Cyprian Ichar Kain Aldore

 

[Cyprian Ichar]

​

As expected, the enemy Forcer survived the strike, though not by evasion as he had predicted. Rather, the woman had tanked the artillery with some sort of barrier, the invisible dome only given definition by the energy and explosions that bent around it. Lights and fire soon dissipated, revealing a bloodied but smiling woman looking up as she still wielded her blade.

She was bound to keep him occupied for longer than he had hoped, he could already see it now.

Everything was now up to Vintalion (Commander of First Company) and Captain Aldore to achieve the primary objective.

Perhaps in another instance, he would have enjoyed such a lengthy contest, but he was on a tight schedule. It was going to be balls to the wall the moment he hit the ground. In fact, he struck even before touchdown a few meters out of the reach of her saber, launching his mace head. As the spiked head hurdled toward her chest like a cannonball, dagger-sized shrapnel all around her wobbled for a moment before shooting up toward her midsection to bisect her.

In the background, a cheeky Emberline gunner nearby thought to take advantage of the situation to take a pot shot at Cyprian, but while aiming, the shallow depression where he lay was remodeled into a full crater by a grenade lobbed by the remaining autonomous tank. At the same time, its primary and secondary turrets whirled around, still serving up death to enemy grunts.

If the point wasn't already made painfully obvious, this was a duel between Cyprian and Bubble Girl.

Penny Rasalas Kain Aldore

 

[Kain Aldore]

Kain's eyes widened as he turned and blew the table away, he saw the and girl his instincts kicked into overdrive there was only one thing he could do, using the force Kain raised his right hand pushing her momentum down, then with his other hand he threw himself backward to lessen the blow from her legs, still connecting he bounced off the console and scrambling to his feet and taking a few breaths, he could tell by that iron smell her legs were mechanical, that was the only explanation, his blaster lay on the console on the other side of her.

"I'm no jedi" he took a step back, thinking about his options, they needed the reinforcements not wanting to take the time and deal with her he tried going for the console again, the girl repeatedly getting in his way. The door behind him opened recognizing the presence, it was the commander, but the person in front of him wouldn't go down from just being shoved into the wall, he'd have to waste time.

"commander go to the console and attach the thick and thin white wires to the button beside the ripped-off panel, once it gives you conformation, hit the button, I'll deal with her"

Kain took off his jacket exposing the flight gear rigging and his lightsaber inturn, unclipping the now broken latch he let the straps fall to his side's, but he didn't take the saber off its resting place, he nodded gesturing in her direction

"I'll make you a deal, and It's a simple one, walk away or you won't be walking anytime soon. You're a mercenary I can tell, think about it these people, Emberline, they've already lost its a just matter of time before there's no one left to pay your wages. Sit down and wait till I'm done, and I swear I'll take you to the closest spaceport with enough credits to get wherever you want."

His pacifist was showing, but really he needed to shut off the storm shield, and having no opposition was the easiest way to get that done. Kain was hoping she would respond positively but wasn't sure she'd respond at all. he readied himself for the worst of outcomes and stood fast watching every twitch she made.

Cyprian Ichar Penny Rasalas

 

[Penny Rasalas]

Spared the deadliest force she could inflict on him, Kain's defense pulled her down like a magnet, and he none too graciously bounded out of reach. She steadied herself once more on her feet, poised to come for him a second time, but something compelled her to wait.

Bold and persistent though she was, Zosma had no death wish. Unlike Penny, she feared and loathed her own inevitable death, but it was disguised by her anger and brashness. She opted for offence now based on her belief that they were all going to die regardless. Fleeing wasn't an option, especially with those flying armored assholes spewing living ammo outside. She had stayed idle inside the station as long as she could, but the sights and sounds from beyond their failing fortress sounded like a violent apocalypse, and shredded morale.

Initially, she meant to give him no indication that she spoke his language fluently, but it became clear in the way she paused and listened to him that she understood. The hawkish gaze that followed him was skeptical, distrusting. Looking as if at any moment she would launch another strike.

When the 'commander' entered, she sneered openly, glancing from them both to Kain's dormant lightsaber, to his discarded blaster. Unwilling to back down it seemed, but thinking... That was a good sign.

"I lost my legs once, and now I am stronger. You will not stop me from walking..." She proudly snarled in response to his threat, conceding to his language. Yet the commander moved to the console to finish their work, meeting no interference from Zosma, though the tension was palpable. She watched him take Kain's place and manipulate the wires, knowing exactly what he meant to do. Teetering from overt hostility, to contempt, to doubt and reflection. The weighted pause that followed began with uncertainty, and slowly melted into something that would make Kain find it a little easier to breathe.

He was a Force user. He was capable of killing her, if he really wanted to. That uncomfortable fact did not escape her. In that sense...he was probably telling the truth. Though she was not Force sensitive in the slightest, he didn't seem deceitful to her. If it was in his best interest to subdue her, then what he offered was the perfect incentive to gain her cooperation. She just couldn't understand why. It was...unusually benevolent.

"My friend is...out there." Somewhere. Penny was alive. She had to be. For how long, she didn't know...but she knew she was bound to be one of the last ones standing. That girl didn't know how to die. She had cheated it more than once already, to Zosma's bewilderment. Must be a Force thing she didn't understand.

"I will leave you be, if you let her come as well. She is a Force user like you, with a gold lightsaber. I don't know where she is, but... This place means nothing to us." She finished with a curt, though reluctant nod.

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Penny couldn't recall when she last felt like this. Simultaneously exhilarated and strangely removed from reality. Something that might happen with the right kind of illegal substance, or some other form of biochemical alteration. Physically, she was weakened. The stunts she just pulled took a toll on her, combined with the ongoing damaged she suffered from that creature, and enduring a direct hit from a cannon.

If she directed her focus inward, she would know that she was, in fact, dying. There was no time to heal wounds, no time to meditate and regain her strength. This battle was a vicious whirlwind that offered no respite. All she could do was dance until she could no longer hear the music, and so she danced. Her body a marionette on fraying wires, propelled through sheer force of will.

It would all catch up to her, but for now, there was an advantage to feeling so lightweight and free. The Force felt so close. So easy to bend and manipulate.

Penny watched the dense, barbed mace fly towards her before her opponent touched the ground. Strangely, it appeared to move more slowly than it should have. Giving her the illusion that she had plenty of time to react. She didn't know why that was, only that she was unconcerned as she darted to the side before it's weight and concussive effects could shatter every bone and rupture every organ in her torso. Regaining control of the quick and stealthy fighting style she was versed in.

The focused but powerful shockwave reverberated through her, but she wasn't close enough for injury. At the same time, the environment came to life around her, nearly slicing her in two, but she was fast enough to avoid a lethal hit. A piece of shorn metal clipping her hip with enough force to carve into bone.

Without a pause in her movement, she sprang through the air directly at Cyprian with surprising speed, taking the small opening she had. The molten glow of her saber spearing towards him, while that invigorated grin held firm. The pink froth oozed red now, and her left hip flowed a wash of crimson down her leg. If he simply dodged her, she would crash to the ground, finding a landing more difficult to nail than a launch, as her legs caved beneath her on impact.

Cyprian Ichar Kain Aldore

 

[Cyprian Ichar]

During the next exchange, the woman showed more respect for Cyprian's attack, dodging his ball of death instead of throwing up another barrier. Also, a good thing as she surely would have been impaled by the shrapnel she mostly avoided, which now harmlessly shot into the air. Without delay, she pounced him, that same silly grin stuck on her face

The woman was aggressive to say the least. Frenzied even. He wondered in her mad dash, that she had considered how little she knew about him or his weapon. If she had, then he doubted she would have taken such a leap.

Now she would get a better idea, though as the mace head flared with destructive walls of disruptor energy and violent shockwaves unleashed by the repulsors. It was as if a grenade had just gone off at her back. The woman had made enough clearance that such lethal waves wouldn't immediately disintegrate her, but she'd definitely feel an energetic kick of sorts in her rear that was likely to derail whatever she had in mind.

Explosions behind, and now, borrowing a page from Bubble Girl's book, summoning a barrier for a direct collision course at the front. Except this barrier cast was made of a vortex of condensing air and the thick Nagnol gas he had released earlier, instead of pure Force Energy. It wouldn't be unlike hitting a swirling duracrete wall.

She was caught between a rock and a hard place.

Penny Rasalas Kain Aldore

 

[Kain Aldore]

Kain tensed up, her tone was hostile, he cupped his hand prepared to focus his power on her legs, but after watching her Kain could tell she was already considering it, that for those few seconds her pride for combat ability was greater than her preservation of life. she was contemplating and he expected another condition.

After she mentioned her friend Kain took a few breath's relaxing his arms as they fell to his side, he was preparing to crush her mechanical legs at a moments notice and was thankful for not having to go forward with the act, she was tough and doing something that drastic made him think it would kill her determination, a rare mindset in this day and age. He nodded at the mention of her friend honestly he would spare the rest of the men out there under the condition of surrender, but that wasn't his call, however, he was relieved it was that simple, finding her friend mercs like him stick out like sore thumbs in a combat zone, and he was all but confident until she mentioned the girl with the yellow lightsaber.

Kain's eyes widen as he rubbed his sternum and with haste began walking backward "Deal" he nodded "if anyone approaches you, tell them you're with Capitan Aldore, they won't touch you" Kain pulled the blaster to him as he holstered it, tapping the commander on the shoulder and pointing out a fuse he needed to pull before sprinting off towards the door, attempting to stop Cyprian before it was too late.

Kain ran back through the ramparts as he saw the two engaged with each other and it wasn't in the girl's favor.

"CYPRIAN STOP!"

An Emberline member saw him running the Soldier began turning around and raising his blaster, Kain's arm went up and the bolt was slapped away with the force and shoved the member clear off the bridge, summoning his blaster to him once again he was dispatching them as fast as possible as he moved out of the enemy ranks towards the two calamites on the field

"BOTH OF YOU STOP DAMN IT, WE HAVE A TRUCE"

Cyprian Ichar Penny Rasalas

 

[Penny Rasalas]

The reaction the Force user gave her was unexpected. Eyes lighting up in alarm, he tapped his chest curiously and back-peddled out of the vicinity as if he just realized he left the stove on in his ship. Zosma didn't know what just happened, but an uneasy feeling came over her. Hell--the uneasy feeling never left. This whole area for a square mile or two was a death trap.

Stiffening, she almost yielded to the sudden urge to run after him. Something wasn't right. But she didn't... Proud and protective as she was, she was not careless enough to think she would survive long if she exited the building. Instead, she reluctantly stayed put. Choosing not to glance around at any of the dead or dying Emberline soldiers that littered the floor, as she stood near the commander. Even prepared to defend him now, should more of their own forces haul in guns blazing.

She almost felt bad, switching sides like this, but her only motive now was survival. Was that so wrong? No...but it was a little awkward.

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The force of the blast behind her effectively smashed Penny even harder into the vortex shield he had conjured between them. Something she couldn't avoid, or counter, at the speed she was moving. The impact was inevitable, but the added antigravity push enhanced the crushing weight when she hit. Her lightsaber glance off the side and twirled into murky, Nagnol space, gold light snapping out of sight.

Crumpling to the ground, the physical shock seized her nerves temporarily. Strings plucking free from the marionette. But she wasn't dead yet...

Penny breathed harshly, knees continuing to shake as they sank into the dirt at his feet. Finally, she stole a second to spit some of that metallic froth from her mouth, though in an unfitting gesture of politeness, or respect, the bloody goo fired off to the side, rather than at Cyprian.

"You're a son of a queen." She said as though it were a simple fact, and a delirious laugh followed. "Should have been on your side..."

She could feel it now. The acute and slowly enveloping taste of death. Blood and fluid seeped into her lungs, and her labored breathing was no longer efficiently keeping up with the oxygen demand of her body. Not even now did she attempt to heal. It would be pointless.

The blow had erased the grin from her face at first, but now the crook of a smirk was inching back. A hand reached blindly into the air beside her, and her lightsaber boomeranged back into her grasp with a little thump. Penny looked up at him, and the blade ignited one last time.

Somewhere in the distance, she vaguely heard a man yelling, but he was a speck on the periphery of her radar.

((When Kain is running from one place to the next, this be his theme song.))

Cyprian Ichar Kain Aldore

 

[Cyprian Ichar]

It was done. The defiant saber jockey had finally fallen in submission.

Not without a few choice words for him, though. Should have been on his side? Was she even really an Emberline, or one of the legions of mercenaries they had picked up as of late? It would make sense if so, he couldn't recall them possessing many if any Force Users. His kind were few and far between, mostly hoarded by the Jedi and the Sith for their perpetual (un)holy wars.

Feeling no threat, he dissipated his barrier, and recalled his mace head, the ball flying over her head back to its base. Still, he kept Soleil active, just in case she forced him to mash her into the mud. Not to mention the battle still raging around them, but at this point it was more of a massacre with the Emberline completely shattered.

"I am Cyprian Ichar, Lord Commander of the Balarac, and you...were in my way."

He spoke with a dispassionate tone, not a single hint of animosity emanating from his being. None of this was personal for him. The defenders at the base were simply an obstacle that had to be removed, one step among many in achieving his personal goals.

Before he continued, he heard the shouting of Captain Aldore. His helmet amplified and cleaned up the sound like it had with the enemy Forcer prone on the ground.

Cyprian Stop...Both of you stop...We have a truce...

A truce between the Balarac and the Emberline? If true then...that was an excellent development. Ammo wasn't cheap, and he wasn't much a fan of wonton slaughter. He was a violent man, to be sure, but his violence always had a point.

Sometimes, it was best to let a beaten man kneel.

He waited until Kain came near before speaking - at this point they were relatively safe as the threat of the tanks warded off would be attackers already in a panic. All the while, he never turned his head from the female Forcer straining to smile once more.

"A truce is certainly welcome...provided that my terms are met. The Emberline present will surrender completely, and they will not interfere with the deactivation of this station. In return, they will be treated to no more harm under my custody. Not even the Unionists will be able to touch them."

Better that a third party hold the Emberline, than the Unionists, who were embittered and personally invested in their demise after years of brutal civil war.

"Good terms I think," he continued, directing his words at the woman.

Kain Aldore Penny Rasalas

 

[Kain Aldore]

Kain came running towards them throwing and blasting Emberline member like ragdoll's

"no not them exactly",

But to Kain's surprise, the troops around him were bowing to the demand dropping their blasters, Kain had seen it before, terror in men, honestly he was surprised they could all hear Cyprian, but that wasn't it, it wasn't surrendered, but defeat those men were admitting too. He kept on his way, any Emberline who wasn't heading the end of the battle would simply get a good piece of rubble to the head. Finally, he reached Cyprian as the storm shield started to give, it seemed the commander had figured it out.

"Congrats Cyprian that was all you" He gestured back towards the mass of troops suffering humiliation in defeat but rejoicing in the life they still had. holstering the blaster and slowing down taking a few breaths

"I was just referencing to her" He pointed towards Penny" I had to make a deal in order to get this very angry woman much calmer so the Commander could shut the Terraformer down without resistance."

Picking up a MedPAC off a fried corpse Kain looked down at Penny handing it to her and gesturing towards the Building "Your friend is quite the sensible person, she just single-handedly stopped the slaughter" Kain then pointed to the now clearing sky while looking at Cyprian "Mission accomplished?" he wiped the sweat off his forehead his anxiety level lowering drastically knowing he kept his word, he wouldn't have been looking forward to fighting the raven-haired girl back inside was the outcome any different.

Cyprian Ichar Penny Rasalas

 

[Penny Rasalas]

Though it was activated, the lightsaber never swung for Cyprian. Judging by the tired, but accepting look on her smirking face, it wasn't because she didn't anticipate the consequences. She was simply stopped from expediting her own demise in the nick of time. His detached response caught her off guard, drawing hesitation in her own pending strike. Based on the savagery they stormed their station with, and the perversely effective psychological warfare they employed, this was the last thing she expected to hear.

"Lord Commander..." She repeated with a wet-sounding chuckle. "I guess I can accept defeat from--" Cut off by Kain's hasty arrival, Penny listened. She'd been so focused on the man in front of her, that it took the Captain being practically on top of them for her to turn a cheek.

Truce. Now that had a nice ring to it. Penny couldn't claim to be surprised that Emberline would eventually beg for a truce. Not after what they all suffered through. This had devolved from a battle into a massacre in record time. What did surprise her, again, was this 'Balarac's' agreeableness.

Perking up at the description of her favorite tinker-tot, Penny couldn't help but twitch an eyebrow at Kain as he mentioned Zosma. He never said her name, but he didn't need to. So it seemed that once again, Zosma found a way to save her hide from a violent end. This time, with a downpour of fire and flesh-dissolving arachnids between them, on the opposite sides of a warzone with no end in sight. Her level of dependability was truly uncanny. She'd have to give her a raise for this. Oh wait, she was broke...

A med kit was graciously tossed to her before her mind could even touch on such a luxury, but she caught it distractedly. At the same time, the golden ray of light that hung like a buzzing lantern in the thick fog snapped out of sight, signaling her submission. Her fingers worked of their own accord to open it while her mind drifted elsewhere. Some mixture of exasperation and hilarity taking hold.

"Forgive me, gentlemen..." She began in a strange tone of diplomacy, the adrenaline high starting to trickle down now, though she still felt its effects, "But a slaughter is not something you generally anticipate to be influenced by peace talks. Slaughters, especially ones this brutal...they end when there's nothing left to kill." Unsteady as she was, Penny willed herself to rise to her feet, letting the med kit drop to the ground as she removed the only item she wanted -- a bacta syringe.

"But by all means... Take us into custody. I could use the vacation."

"Cheers." Holding the syringe up, she gave it a little wiggle, and then jabbed herself in the arm with the needle. There would need to be more than that, but whenever she had the chance to sit down and fully relax, she would meditate and sort through the rest of the damage then. For now, the bacta would stop the imminent death promised by the necrotizing toxin that had managed to lyse its way into her lungs.

Cyprian Ichar Kain Aldore

 

[Cyprian Ichar]

As it turned out, the truce only extended to the Forcer in the mud, as Kain displayed with a violent exchange between Emberline soldiers. However, enemy troops began to surrender nonetheless.

"Sir," the Third company major called. "Emberline are ceasing fire, holding up their hands in surrender. They say someone in the station called them off. How should we handle it on the perimeter?"

"Let them surrender. Collect their weapons and march them all back to the frigate. See that everyone who requires first aid receives it."

There was another reason to let the Emberline live: convenient living shields. If enemy reinforcements came before the Unionists reached planetside, they would think twice before committing fratricide. That was a quick way to shatter morale among the greater force.

Gradually firing ceased until there was only the sporadic pop of gunfire. In time, even the soft patter of rain ceased, shafts of light breaking through the dissipating clouds of Nagnol and smoke. His eyes remained glued to the woman who could kill him with a single thought, even as she mended her wounds, but in the corner of his vision, he could see the sky beginning to clear up above them.

They had succeeded, with surprising minimal losses. It was testament to the speed and discipline of his soldiers, and the talents of Captain Aldore. He wasn't just an ace, but one apparently gifted with the spoken word. Good qualities to have.

As for the woman she had...spunk, and some potential as a potent Force User. There was still the matter of the unaccounted technique she had used to ruin his tank. Now she was still alive to explain it, and seemingly compliant enough that he didn't have to beat the truth out of her.

"Vacation..." Cyprian chuckled, relaxing his stance in triumph. "Miss Smiley, you have a tab to work off. About...7 million credits I'd reckon. Unless, you're prepared to replace my main battle tank right now."

She had cut straight through the interview process with their duel, and now they were at the final offer. A gig perhaps much more haphazard but also rewarding than whatever she had been doing on this mudball.

He addressed Kain at his side.

"As for you...you deserve a drink. Perhaps the whole fething bar. Pilots like you don't pop up everyday. Would be a shame if I snagged you away from the Zelean Union."

Kain Aldore Penny Rasalas

 

[Kain Aldore]

Kain nearly choked on air when Cyprian mentioned the price of the tank, holding back the chuckle of disbelief he so badly wanted to let out. Grateful the battle was over, Kain was feeling a sense of pride one he hadn't felt in quite a long time.

Looking at the girl who essentially just got the best deal she could possibly find, Kain furled his eyebrows in thought, she was brash and definitely strong, she knew what she was doing with the force, he had felt what happened to the tank, His eyes wandered to her lightsaber, now just as curious about her, that lightsaber was built by someone who knew what they were doing, she was not Jedi nor Sith but definitely trained. He was just as curious about Cyprian, who were they it wasn't his place to pry but definitely questions he might have for later.

The offer cyprian made to her was sound. These people, Balarac, seemed to help those who couldn't help themselves, he liked that, it reminded him of his late mentor. Knowing his job was complete, he thought about his shop, he wasn't helping people in the way he wanted there, but what could he do, join an army who would send him to pointless territory disputes and care less about their civilians and more about what space they had no, not again.

His head turned to Cyprian, interest piqued at the mention of a drink, he could definitely use one, Kain still wasn't sure they had made the landing, it happened so fast, but more importantly, Cyprian mentioned the Union. Kain shook his head and with a more relaxed poster responded.

"Don't think they'd care, I came and volunteered services for this mission after hearing the situation back on Corellia, I have no loyalty to the Unionists, I am at your disposal"

Kain interlaced his fingers and began tapping his thumbs together, Was Cyprian trying to hire him, what about his shop, honestly it didn't really matter, he had others working there that could watch over it, Kain trusted him, he could tell Cyprain was a decent, strong, and decisive person by the show of mercy that was just displayed.

Balarac huh, What would he get into, freedom fighting, sabotage, Starfighter skirmishes, hell maybe fighting Sith or even Jedi, he'd do it though, these people on the outer rim were forgotten relics to the rest of the galaxy too engulfed in the bigger issues to notice the smaller cracks in the hull of this very fragile state of society, But if he could do anything this might just be it.

Kain made up his mind if it was a job that Cyprian was offering, he would accept, wanting to learn more, and help who he could, this was seeming to be the place and people to do it with.

Cyprian Ichar Penny Rasalas

 

[Penny Rasalas]

The bacta began working in short order. Releasing its steady, healing properties systemically as it flooded into her bloodstream. The only problem was, though it would take time to discover, bacta couldn't neutralize the toxin enmeshed in her own decaying flesh. The healing serum would merely buy Penny time, without taking care of the source. For now, she endured silently as the pain crept to the forefront in the wake of her fading adrenaline rush.

"7 million, huh..." The girl spared a thoughtful glance to the subdued machinery. Nah, subdued wasn't right...she put the entire thing out of commission. it didn't need a tune up after that blast. It was about as good as scrap metal now.

"I guess that puts my own value a little more than 7 million. Sounds like you just earned yourself an upgrade, Lord Commander Cyprian. I'm your tank now." A much fainter smile met him when she faced him again, true to her new nickname, but it was still packed with sass. Just low-key sass. With a wink, to boot.

What, was she supposed to be upset? Assuming he was being serious, working off a tab was better than drifting into the Force itself. She wasn't afraid of death, but she preferred not to embrace it just yet.

Glancing to the ship captain, Penny leveled him with an appraising stare. Eyes drifting over his own light saber, and back up to his face. "So... You flew that thing?" She tilted her head in the direction of their war-torn ship. He didn't need to answer, it was mostly rhetorical, and it showed when she gave a slow nod. "You've got balls, coming down here like that...but now I know why. My mechanic can help you fix it up, if you need more hands. You already met her."

Penny put her hands on her hips, took a moment to swivel around and take in the gory chaos around them as flames continued to lick along the landscape, and injured soldiers screamed and wailed. Yeah. She couldn't wait to get out of here.

"Alright, I'm going to... I'm just..." She turned her head and coughed, bloody mucus and digested tissues expelling from her mouth, making it a little easier to breathe for a minute. "...I'm gonna go sit down. Let me know when we're leaving, yeah? ...Thanks..." Penny took a few wobbly steps away from them with a sigh, and then abruptly collapsed back into the dirt.

Cyprian Ichar Kain Aldore


((Keepin' it short and sweet. Good game, boys! I enjoy a thorough ass beating. That...sounds suspect. Don't read into it.))

 

[Cyprian Ichar]

And just like that, Cyprian's menagerie of saber jockeys grew exponentially as they accepted his offer. The Balarac's ranks were made up of several Force Users, but none quite like these two. The lightsaber was nearly exclusive to the Jedi and Sith as their signature weapon. He was curious about their lives before their convergence on this particular battlefield.

"Then it's settled...Captain Aldore, let's make your rank official. You are now an officer within the air corps, with all the benefits and privileges that entails. I'll see to it personally that you're properly compensated by the Union."

He wasn't quite sure how well they could compensate Kain, though. The rest of Isonov was likely to fall like dominoes in short time, his helmet radio already abuzz with jovial comms from orbit now that the sky was clearing. His pilot friend deserved at least a statue or two.

Penny wobbled to her feet and lurched about, as if to prove something, but only after a few steps she was right back in the mud.

Holstering his mace, he approached her side, observing her broken body as if he was studying fresh blooms in his garden.

"As for you, Aspirant, my first order is that you...well you're already doing it now. Thanks."

((This will be my last post in the thread. I think it's a wrap. Great job guys. ))

Kain Aldore Penny Rasalas