Frostbitten Requiem

[Hakan Venttuss]

Approximately 2 Solar Cycles Ago -

Hoth Airspace

"Lord Venttuss. We're approaching the Hoth airspace." A droid voice crackled through the tannoy of his Ri-X1 Luxury Stealth Transport - the ship was cutting edge - an entirely new and innovative model from Rahvin Industries. Most of the Galaxy would probably go their entire lives never seeing one of these - as they were highly classified company vehicles with less than a handful in service, the Sith Knight received serial number 01

The sleek shape split through Hoth's airspace like an arrow through a calm breeze. "Was there a reason for you coming here?" That voice. That stupid robotic voice was beginning to jar him, the memory of all of that slave work in a junkyard - being branded by hot irons until his entire back turned purple from the scabbing - interrogation droids and other sickening methods just to punish a man who only ever asked for a decent meal. Despite his devotion to the Dark Side - the man's soul remained broken, a Kiffar so tortured he was no longer sentient. A machine fuelled by hatred and a seemingly cursed upbringing.

Damn that droid, he dealt with assembling too many of them way back when - and reminescing over the suffering dragged him deeper into his meditation. The Sith mantra repeating incessantly to the tune of a completely unrecognizable voice. Who was this? This was a voice he'd heard his entire life - but only after enduring the most gruesome part of his entire upbringing as a slave. But why him? He had other siblings who weren't slaves. And he was treated the worst of all - his compassion somehow remaining right up until the age of 17.

The young man was schizophrenic, but somehow not by birth. As if cursed to see visions, and hear voices by an unknown figure - and it seemed as if this only intensified his connection to the Dark Side.

Tremors shook his mind, as a voice faded in with enough force to give him a migraine and left with almost complete calmness.

"Peace is a l-..." -- "'Ere is only passion..." The voices started to waver, as if being shaken by an omnicient force. He knew this mantra - he was going to die by it. It was the only thing that ever applied to him. A man so desperate he accepted even the Dark Side as his saving grace, a young man who also wouldn't change that for the sake of the Galaxy.


His private quarters - an almost gothic-like chamber which housed nothing but a stone bed and a meditation area. He lived with no luxuries, and he never adopted them.

Really - Hakan wanted to escape, to find the reasons for these voices - to find out what exactly the Force was capable of. And nowhere more remote and inhospitable than Hoth.

"You're the only one Hakan..." --"Through Strength I gain pow--" Ah, different voices now - going from the unrecognizable - to the all too recognizable, the voice of his late mother. "You're not what you think you a--." - "For what you are - you deserve worse." The voices of his slave masters shook his conscience so hard he nearly fainted. Determined to not lose his grip on reality as cold sweats left his tanned skin glistening.

It was as if footage played in his subconscience now, witnessing his siblings die one by one at the hand of the Jedi - Hakan never knew why.

A knock came on his quarters, "Lord Venttuss!" Thinking it was an emergency due to it being thirty minutes since they attempted to summon him. Using the Force, Hakan slid the door dividing his quarters open. As he turned to face the subordinate, it appeared as if she brandished a green sabre. "We've been trying to summon y--You reap what you sow, Sith." The voice shifted once more. Hakan brandishing his sabre instantly, with one wave of the Djem-So form, the subordinate found herself beheaded - a swipe of panic, so much so that he grazed the ship walls and sent sparks flying.

"Save yourself..." Hakan roamed the entire ship, slaying subordinate after subordinate until blood and limbs littered the floor of the luxury transport, scarred skin from Force lightning emitting a sickly sweet odor.

The ship jerked violently, headed towards the surface of Hoth - the jerk seemingly snapping him out of his visions. He only now saw the problem he was faced with.

He closed his eyes for what he thought was one final time as the craft shattered through the thin ice and into the water. Upon hitting the water, alarms blared from within the cockpit as the entire craft filled with freezing cold water. It would be winter after winter that the craft would remain frozen.

Present Day
Unknown Space

The Blacklight had resurfaced, this time docked aboard a pirate vessel - a massive - banged up junk ship that was thankfully large enough to secure their new find.

"Does anyone even know what this is?" A Rodian spluttered - an entire crowd gathering around the ship upon its arrival on the craft. It was as if everyone dropped their duties to marvel at this weird find. "Probably worth millions." Another voice cooed. The ship was still thawing, and water was dripping onto the floor by the bucketload. Along with a thick red mist seeping through the door. "It can't be opened from outside, plus its iced' shut. Whatever's in there is in the deep freeze."

None of them knew about the sheer disturbance in the force the frostbitten Hakan was emitting from within the confines of the craft.

"It says everything is operational on the scanners though..."

(Sorry for the wall of text, I haven't done a proper post in ages!)

[member="Tai Fa"] [member="Vanja Del'Vaan"]

 

[Jairus Starvald]

[member="Hakan Venttuss"]​

[member="Vanja Del'Vaan"]​

​

The ascension (or descension) of Vanja Del'Vaan was going rather well.

She had killed in cold blood on Validusia, but it was Menicha that had solidified her usage of emotions and corrupted her print within the Force itself.

Already the path of light was slowly fading away behind her and in its stead came power.

The power to make true change in the Galaxy, to make things better.... even if the price was high. Now was not the question if she was dedicated to the cause or to the Darkside, now it was the Thirriken's hope that he would be able to teach her true control over herself and what she did.

He needed trusted partners and acolytes, not mindless beasts with no self-control.

Once again there was pirate activity and once again some of his employees had gone missing. This wasn't something that could truly be avoided, not when his corporation was now part of the greatest companies in the Galaxy. But Tai took it personally regardless and he had already tracked down the foes.

A nest of pirates active around the Mandal-Rishi area.

It was Imperial Remnant territory, but few people cared about those silly weaklings.

Vanja's eyes were closed, legs crossed as she sat on the ground of the star observatory in their frigate. Tai was perching on the seat next to her, looking down and trying to break through her barriers.

Training on the fly.

"Again." His voice cut through the silence and her suddenly hitched breath, when the Thirriken broke through her defenses and his mind flooded with shards of memories.

Her mother dying... it wasn't a true memory, if he saw it correctly. Just what she imagined sometimes... imagination was a strong current.

 

[Hakan Venttuss]

With the frozen space-craft heaving gallon after gallon of water onto the main deck, the crowd started to look at eachother with more and more confusion - until the tap of fast paced footsteps echoed through this floor of the craft. Whatever craft was approaching the pirate ship - it was doing so quietly and stealthily. It was almost as if everyone was too distracted until it would be too late.

As the heat grew, the luxury ship started to emit its' emergency distress signal, which every ship in the vicinity would be able to detect - although the deep space they were currently is was not often frequented - there was no audible alarm - just a bright red light pulsating from within the triangular cockpit.

The ominous mist however - continued to intensify - filling the already tinted cockpit even further to the point that even the flashing red distress light was engulfed by it. "It's been smoking like that for hours too." An engineer examining it commented. "Could just be a distress flare - some kind of emergency procedure. I dunno though."

Deep within - the slowly awakening Hakan was still emitting a signal of his own through the Force - as if it were a blood-curdling shriek of pain. The sensation of deep frosbite made his limbs feel brittle with searing hot pain coursing through his entire body as he used the Force in a desperate attempt to break him out of the ice block he was frozen into.

As he attempted to pry himself out - he let out a roar, his limbs feeling like they were going to break off as he pulled himself from the ice block - the luxury cruiser had a lot in terms of sound isolation - but the whirling dervish of pain and anguish could be felt by any Force user in the local atmosphere. It was also a cry for help.

Ice cracked, and so did a few bones - two ribs succumbing to the bitter frostbite. This time another wave of pain - so violent it made the ground beneath the ship tremble - and so another disturbance for any Force user in the vicinity. "Arise once more." The voices, again - one could assume he'd be more than tired of them by now. "Become the Sith you're fated to be."

The Sith frigate advanced closer towards the craft - the pirate ship bewildered by the stealth and defense systems aboard. They simply didn't have to technology to scan or counter them.

Hakan's vision wavered - burning orange Sith eyes more intense than he'd ever brandished as adrenaline overloaded his body only to be matched by the vicious and unbearable pain on deep frosbite - particularly on his exposed left hand - thankfully not the dominant one.

Dragging himself forward slowly - the visions started to fade in again this time a cloaked figure wearing a mask at the end of a long hallway - the setting looked more like the inside of a gothic church - all black with red lighting and mist. He'd seen the figure several times - but never knew what it represented.

As he made his way towards the cockpit, away from the figure he started shuffling as much as he could before attempting to drag himself to his feet - fragile at first but more sure-footed after a short while. Hopefully the ship could still make communication.
"I'm watching - Hakan. Always watchi--" And gone again.

Nothing seemed to come up on the scanners. He needed almost divine intervention unless he risked fighting an entire pirate core with the injuries he sustained.

[member="Tai Fa"] [member="Vanja Del'Vaan"]

 

[Isaac Rennek]

[member="Hakan Venttuss"] [member="Tai Fa"]​

Again

Again it felt like her skull was being pried open with crude and primitive tools. She had steeled herself, prepared, but it didn't stop her from letting out a loud, pained gasp at the intrusion. They had been at it for so long, so many times, it was as if her brain was interpreting the mental challenges as physical pain as she struggled to resist against the powerful current that was orchestrated by Tai Fa. She could not.

But each time she got one step closer. Each time she had been fighting the visions, and though every attempt seemed to get more painful she felt as if she was making progress. So many horrors he had showed her, so many of her inadequacies exposed. Yet she knew it was necessary. If he could so easily exploit these openings, well, then anyone could. She needed to learn how to protect herself. And through learning that she would discover how to tear someone apart as well.

It still felt like treading water. Like the more she fought the more she gave him to work with. But she was resilient, headstrong perhaps to a fault, and had not once given up or asked for mercy. She didn't even ask why.

Vanja had thought after all of these barrages she'd start feeling emotionally dead. She could not possibly feel this much. But Tai Fa was letting her ride through every single emotion before letting go. "That's not... My mom" she said with a voice that did not believe her.

Eyes shut she made one last effort, drawing upon what reserves she had to throw up layers of walls, steel, glass, wind, all of it, just anything to keep him out. It would've been easy if he hadn't been constantly harassing her efforts, but if he hadn't her accomplishment would've meant nothing in the end. "Your....Feathers... Are dirty"

 

[Jairus Starvald]

[member="Vanja Del'Vaan"]​

[member="Hakan Venttuss"]​

Tai was about to react, before his vision clouded with red and black and white.

The Force contorted around him, a screech ripping through the currents of control and almost overwhelming the Sith Lord, before he managed to reassert fledgling dominance over the beast. He breathed in, ragged and long, and out. Eyes closed, eyes opened and finally the Thirriken shook his head just once, to feel how much strength there was inside of him in the moment.

Enough.

"Did you sense that?" A disturbance in the Force. Strong, powerful and it screeched of hollowed pain and misery. "It seems we are approaching our target and it is more troubling than I thought it would be."

Simple pirates had been the exercise - once who had attacked his shipping convoys and who needed to be dealt with, but instead they stumbled onto something entirely else in the progress.

He dragged his eyes away from his apprentice and then noticed they had already reversed from hyperspace.

This was presumably why Tai had managed to pick up on the undercurrent within the Force.

"Come."

The Thirriken rose and went for the door - the frigate was already starting to engage the pirates by shock and awe tactics - and his destination was the hangar bay inside the ship. Within a moment the frigate had engaged its systems and the pirate ship lost all their capabilities to fight back, sensors, scans, it was all scrambled and targeting was now impossible.

Starfighter squadron was already pounding the larger ship and the next step would be for Tai and Vanja to enter at the head of a small strike team.

"Are you ready for this?"

 

[Hakan Venttuss]

"It is only through pain...That one can feel so alive..." The way the voices faded in and out so unexpectedly seemed to drive Hakan to the brink of insanity - along with the severe pain of frostbite and broken ribs to contend with. Fortunately as shattered as his two ribs may be - there was no internal punctures or anything nasty of the sort. Just searing, white-hot pain which not even the wave of endorphins could numb.

Somehow, the young sufferer felt as if all the anguish and pain he dispensed through the force - found someone, peering through the smoke of the cockpit and out of the hangar door - he saw a rapidly approaching Frigate. Just his luck, hopefully they were not so ill-intentioned as to murder an injured Sith Knight.
The pirate ship quaked upon being battered by a starfighter squadron - it would be time to make his escape from this - injured or not - it was now or never.

Gripping the wall as he tried to turn himself to face the exit ramp he felt sluggish - turns out frostbite wasn't something you could just 'walk off' - he needed serious medical attention at the very earliest convenience.

"We've got company!"
Upon first contact, the crowd around the Luxury Transport scattered, trying to man their previous positions - but it was to no avail, weapons systems were offline, radar was scrambled. They knew they were going to have to prepare for an assault. And Hakan needed to get himself in a position to fight. Hobbling his way towards the exit ramp he needed the Force, now more than ever.

"This way, Hakan..." That same figure, that same voice - only further away. It's as if every time he approached he'd distance himself more and more. He had to limp faster and faster - as if wherever that exit ramp was was waiting miles ahead of him - despite the craft only being about 20 meters long. He was running into the raised ramp itself, but he couldn't perceive it. Visions and voices so intense it threw him from the confines of reality itself. "Decide your fate, fight."--"Or flight." The ominous voice echoed louder on its' last word. He was tired of running, tired of suffering. And it'd be now that he'd fight his way out instead - even if it left him broken and unrecognizable.

Hakan tried to tap into the Force, hoping to find a way for it to inhibit the pain he was feeling - so as to not lock up so often every time he attempted complex movements. But with this level of frostbite - it became difficult. He pressed the emergency exit button near the ramp - but it the hydraulic actuators were frozen from the ice it was cast into. It wouldn't open - all that rewarded him for pressing the button was the whirring sound of the door trying its best to open, only being met by the resistance from the Hoth ice.

Now he needed the Force, more than ever. It was either here in the freezing cold cabin, or outside amongst the scum of the Galaxy - he needed to choose.

Breathing heavily - almost snarling as he spaced his feet apart from one another - finally finding some footing. Both hands pressed together in a twisted tribute to prayer, gathering up his power within the palms of his hands. With his state - it'd take just a little longer. His burning orange eyes shut to attempt to gather some kind of Zen - he needed the focus to pull of a force power with enough energy to send the heavy shipyard-grade door flying off its' hinges, literally.

Putting both hands by his side, one of which could only remain in a fist - having not thawed from the frostbite. The other a clean palm. Deep breaths as he tapped further into his power.

"Be free." And with another roar of pain, he unleashed a Force Push quite unlike one he had ever attempted before. The wave of energy clattered against the ship ramp, the ice shattered as the door snapped right off its hinges, with the slightest spin of his right palm and a push the door was sent spinning out freely through the hangar, enough to send a handful of pirates into the wall - where the only thing that met them was their crushing demise - the heavy ship door making a gruesome impact as it hit the ship-wall with enough force to rattle the whole hangar - the cacophony of bones crushing and blood dripping was all that was left of the small mercenary group obstructing him.

"What the--"

They expected contact to arrive - not contact that had been there from the start. Whatever crowd stood to protect the hangar, just looked in the direction of the ship - only to be met with the belligerent gaze of a Sith Knight. He needed the Force to counter any disability his current frostbitten state was bringing, and with a force-assisted push against the ground, he hurtled forward to the nearest foe, pulling his lightsaber into his grasp with the Force and bringing it down hard from above with the right hand, the Falling Avalanche - this time executed with a lone, unfrostbitten hand.

He'd soon discover that the Djem-So stance was very difficult to utilize without both hands, and upon executing the one pirate - he'd be presented with a hail of blaster fire. Using only the right hand he attempted to deflect as many of them back as he could - obviously not being a Sith Lord and being injured - he was still somewhat inexperienced as this.

Pain - white hot pain as a slug pinged off of the wall behind him, off of his craft and into his left hand - pretty much shattering in its' state.

If the disturbance in the force was barely noticeable then - it sure as Sith was now. Instinct prevailed as he ducked behind the Blacklight for protection - the stump of his left hand still smoking from the attack. Whereas the previous expresses of pain were perhaps just yells - this one a bloodcurdling, force-enhanced scream. One of shock, horror and absolute pain. Pain so bad he could feel his consciousness wavering - but his heart pounded like a war drum.

Where there was pain - there was rage. And if he had to fight all of them bare-handed to the death. The irrational thinking under the pain would make him do it.

"Flank him!" The commander ordered - two groups of two attempting to creep around the craft. He had to act fast.

Teeth still gritting from the loss of his weaker hand, he turned suddenly to the left, throwing his saber clean through half of his foes - turning back to Force push his other assailants way to the other side of the hangar, where they crashed into a wall - they likely wouldn't die from the impact - but it'd give him time to pull his sabre back and find proper cover.

"GET HIM!" A roar of superiority commanded. - And with that, an all too familiar ring filled his ears - that of a thermal detonator. Thankfully the Force would help him more than he thought - the adrenaline allowed him to leap behind a cargo container - soaking up enough of the blast to only give Hakan a bit of shellshock. Hakan's ship being singed from the outskirts of the explosion.

He needed help, fast.

[member="Tai Fa"]
[member="Vanja Del'Vaan"]

 

[Jairus Starvald]

[member="Hakan Venttuss"]​

[member="Vanja Del'Vaan"]​

The shuttle found no difficulty in passing through the cold void of space and finding its target drifting helplessly.

In fact the frigate made by Kuat had been acting beyond his expectations.

First the cloaking that did not need any form of true cloaking, simply using advanced jammers and cyberwarfare to cloud any attempts to detect it in outer space. Followed by its scramblers ensuring that the pirate ship wouldn't be able to use its weapons or defenses against the fighter squadron pounding it into dust. No sooner than the squadron had launched itself, the outer battle was already over - every weapon emplacement wrecked, engines turned to slag and other critical systems incapacitated as power surges short-wired them within no time.

The shuttle broke through the hangar's shielding - keeping the void of space out, but also unwelcome guests... unless they had a field disruptor that allowed them passage - while the pirates were busy trying to flush out their guest. Tai's soldiers used their lack of focus on them to hit the floor running, setting up a preliminary parameter around the frontside of the shuttle and allowing them an escape route, if the resistance was too strong for them.

They shouldn't have worried.

A nod was exchanged between his apprentice and Tai himself, it was followed by the sudden outburst of plasma rifles blasting their charges into the backs of the pirates hunting.

Chaos fueled as Tai waded himself into battle - a whirlwind of sharp edges, metal and screeching power.

 

[Hakan Venttuss]

The shuttle drifting through the hangar shielding was by far enough to distract the soldiers attempting to pry the wounded Hakan from his hiding spot. Hakan's head turned hard to peer around the container he had taken refuge in - definitely a Sith craft. Thank the stars. God knows what the Jedi would've done to him if they captured him.

The lights within the hangar started to flicker as the ship grew more and more damaged with the continued starfighter attacks - systems started to fail. The mission would certainly prove to be a success, the pirates had nowhere near the hardware neccessary to pose any sort of threat to the Sith.

Realizing his golden opportunity was staring him straight in the face. He decided he'd have to help out.

With a sharp hiss - a set of doors opened not too far behind Hakan, the sound followed immediate blaster fire towards him - sensing the danger the blasts posed to him before the door had even opened - he flipped backwards over the container in a brilliant display of athleticism despite his partially frostbitten boy - his form twirling to avoid the hail of multi-colored energy headed towards him.

Having only his right hand to use Force Powers with limited him - especially with the pain wavering his focus, with a sharp push of the Force - the container slid at breakneck speeds, sparks flying with the screech of metal against metal - his motive to essentially ram a square peg into a round hole killing several upon impact but most importantly rendering the door useless. Sparks and wires all that remained of the busted entrance - an impressive feat to move such a heavy object, so quickly and so precisely with the Force.

The adrenaline rush was fuelling him for the time being, but he didn't know how much more he could take.

Dashing ahead into the crowd that the Sith soldiers were engaging, limbs, sparks and lasers flew in all directions. Despite all the distractions the boy's mind was focused - yet full of rage. Structured, neat wrath.

Whoever had helped him - definitely looked interesting. He hadn't seen a Thirriken before. The blue saber of his apprentice however. That threw him off guard. Obviously it was just a color maybe but a color associated with the Jedi. The very same color as the first saber he ever witnessed, the one that struck down his eldest brother.

Hakan would wait for all of this to blow over before giving any thanks. He had to focus on surviving right now - and the more mercenaries that they attempted to summon from the barracks at the bottom of the craft - the longer his health would be in jeopardy.

Whoever this bird was however, was strong. The depth of his experience was something the Force was all but ready to show him. "Not here to kill me? I thought I was at the Bounty Hunter's Convention." A wry smile on his pained face - a light glace upon his feathered saviour despite his total focus on deflecting incoming blaster fire from another wave of mercenaries.

Yet their numbers dwindled, a lot of them shaken from the severity of the starfighter attacks.

[member="Tai Fa"]
[member="Vanja Del'Vaan"]

 

[Jairus Starvald]

[member="Hakan Venttuss"]​

[member="Vanja Del'Vaan"]​

It was often that Tai found himself at the edge of losing control.

When the battle rang highest, when the blood rose in the air and adrenaline flowed richly through your veins, it was in those moments that the Thirriken had a difficult time finding that same serenity he demanded of his students. Only sometimes... rarely... did the Sith Lord allow himself to let go of his tight control and to unleash the clawing beast within.

His form danced through the hangar bay and cut through the distance between the two groups within the breath of the first whisper, wings allowing him to glide on the currents and the sharp edge of his blade trailing close-by behind him.

Already Tai had called upon the Force to strengthen his legs, before pushing himself off the floor and vaulting over the first pirate coming in swinging. Little body pivoted in the air and that same sharp blade lashed out from the folds of silk and steel, sith blade cutting cleanly through armor, textile, skin, flesh and bone. The Thirriken did not wait to witness his handiwork and was already moving further into the battle.

The further he pushed in, the more the pirates and slavers pulled back, while behind him there was only a mess of clean-cut destruction and death.

"No." Tai responded, once the source of the disturbance in the Force revealed itself. It was a boy... a Sith, a hopeful one at the very least and it made the Thirriken wonder. "We came for them."

The blade deflected a blaster shot and Lord Fa frowned.

"We fight, then we talk."

Without awaiting further discussion the Sith Lord moved up, his form gracefully dancing past blaster bolts and worse, letting his blade do the talking while his troopers filled the void that death left behind in his wake.

 

[Hakan Venttuss]

The ship was a goner, that was without saying at this point. Realizing this most of the mercenaries decided to actually commit to vanquishing their invaders. It'd prove futile however. Facing a handful of Sith with nothing but small arms - it all seemed like doom and gloom for them and the blinding rage of the young Sith Knight would only hammer another nail in what would become a giant communal floating coffin for the band of space pirates. Their complacency would prove fatal for them. No one robbed the Sith and escaped.

Figuring out that attempting to fight Hakan one-on-one wouldn't be effective they finally decided on trying to crowd him. Stun batons and blasters were the order of the day here.
Before the very idea could even be entertained he held out the hand holding his saber - a bright flashing stream of lightning which boomed more like thunder than the hiss of electricity. The unrelenting force of Hakan's Sith Lightning arced from bandit to bandit, frying them with the sickly-sweet smell of burning flesh with some twitching and writhing as the lightning still coursed through their dying bodies.

Forseeing an attack from behind Hakan spun to avoid a chokehold, left leg kicking the side of of his captor's knee with such force the sound of his leg break reverberated across the ship floor. Upon even footing a knee to the stomach followed, finished by a powerful uppercut which nearly extended the bandit's neck a few inches upon contact. The pirate nearly flew, clattering hard against the ground. A swift hand eviscerating his attacker - vengeance for his attempted cheap shot.

Sharp, calculated rage.

The whizz of a stun baton narrowly skimmed across the ducking Hakan's white hair, using the Force to see a window of opportunity in his foes attacks - Low down the Kiffar spun hard with an extended right foot, sweep kicking another of what seemed to be an endless wave of contract soldiers and scavengers. Opting this time to finish his foe quicker, a sharp stab to the heart with a saber would do.

Years and years of fighting for people's entertainment gave him a knack for survival. When your life was on the line every time you'd better learn to keep yourself intact. Weapons or fists he'd dealt and received damage with either.

The brutality and fluidity of Hakan's movements was almost shaolin - a man who trained to breaking point for the sake of combat.


Despite dealing with whatever was being thrown at him, exhaustion seemed to set in. He needed to stew in some bacta, fast.

The screech of a firing rocket immediately caught Hakan's attention. Right hand out to use the force to stop it dead in its' tracks. Hakan knew rockets could fly a certain distance before exploding - and when the rocket's booster was out of fuel, he air-mailed it right back where it came from with a deafening blast.

[member="Tai Fa"]

 

[Isaac Rennek]

She was ready.

At the side of the Thirriken, walking into battle once more. Her sapphire blade ignited and the Twi'lek charged in behind Tai Fa. She made sure to cover his flank, keeping his side free of any incoming blaster fire. After he made his first impact strike, she darted off, cast away like opposing magnets. She would carve her own path. Together they made the corridor rather daunting for the opposition indeed.

Tai Fa was by far the more experienced of the two. More than once his blade diverted a bolt that otherwise would have hit her. He cut through more, faster than she could keep up with. But she played her part. Clearing the wide flank as well as swooping in to take care of any survivors that Tai Fa had missed. Mercy had little merit in the heat of battle. Negotiations were better suited before and after. During, however, she would not allow anyone to spend their last breaths lifting a blaster to their backs.

It would seem they had an unlikely ally. That was unexpected, but not unwelcome. Similar to her attitude towards their opposition, she'd leave negotiations until after the fighting was done and over with. For now it was an asset to be used to their advantage. Fa would pass his judgement as he saw fit. Yet she was wary, on guard. Because he was enemy to the pirates did not necessarily leave him friendly inclined towards them.

But the dance of blades and death continued. They would win this battle. It wasn't over, but there was no other permissible alternative in her mind. They would win and seize control. Another notch on her belt. End of story.

| [member="Tai Fa"] | [member="Hakan Venttuss"] |​

 

[Jairus Starvald]

[member="Vanja Del'Vaan"] | [member="Hakan Venttuss"]​

​

The intensity of the battle shifted moment to moment.

From heavy resistance towards pushing the fabric to its very breaking point and back again. Room to room, deck to deck, they pushed and swept the pirates away in a storm of vengeance, justice and fire. Behind them the Vigor Troopers were clearing out any stragglers, taking prisoners and securing the places they didn't arrive at in their revelry. It wasn't necessary for them either, after all that was what the troopers were there for in the first place.

"Here we are." Tai responded patiently and calmly.

As if his feather deck wasn't covered in blood, the fabric of his robe drenched in the oily texture and the smoke of scorched plasma brushing against it.

They stood before a large set of bulkdoors.

It would gave way for the bridge, which was where the leaders of the pirate coven were hiding out presumably. Already there was exhaustion settling itself into Tai's bones, but they weren't done yet.

"Your name, stranger?" Lord Fa finally asked Hakan, while wondering how to get around these things in a timely manner.

 

[Hakan Venttuss]

Hakan found it amazing how a shuttle full of soldiers could shut down a bandit ship so quickly - They were obviously highly trained soldiers for the protection of high-ranked officials. Whoever the Thirriken was was nothing less than nobility. Hakan wasn't really trying to analyze as deeply as he was - it was merely a lingering trait from his time as a Sith Assassin. Even the slightest details people neglect could give away so much.

Impatience found itself settling in within the young man - likely due to the loss of his hand. What he really wanted to see at the moment was a tank full of bacta and a set of quarters to heal in. Only the stars knew how much adrenaline was actually flowing through him right now - enough to slightly hush the excruciating pangs of hurt.

The bridge of the ship was almost bath-tub shaped inside the rest of the ship's hull - obviously designed to protect whoever was within it. Unfortunately those inside were the only people capable of protecting it with the captain's defences and crew all either dead or to be imprisoned. "I've certainly been on board more relaxing cruises..." Lightly tanned lips moved wryly. Despite everything the banter was still on point - always nice.

"Hakan Venttuss. Sith Assassin...Or former as it stands - been out for a while." He briefly introduced - "Long enough to see a Jedi travelling with a Sith, apparently." a respectful nod of the head accompanying his answer. He didn't question his motives - at least not aloud. Obviously whoever his rescuer was - occupied a much higher rung on the respect ladder. So much so that the boy felt like he'd been living under an iceberg for years to not know him. "Yourself, my lord?"

Hakan walked up towards the huge blast door, putting his free hand up against it - at first for a gentle stroke. And then a firm tap. "Reinforced. A foot thick minimum. I've seen bank vaults with less meat than this." It was hard to sense presence through it. "They're hiding something very valuable in here. Usually that means that they need a means to keep it safe in case of disaster. Set off a fire large enough and those doors will open, it's a standard emergency procedure for ships like these." He somewhat monologued- just a way to keep his train of thought together.

Using the force, he dragged barrels of fuel and canisters of volatile gas next to the nearest sprinkler he saw on the ship's ceiling. They'd need a lot - but the refuelling station had more than enough flammable substances.

It wouldn't be too long before they could finally be done with this band of savages. "What brings the both of you out here then? If it wasn't the distress signals?" He enquired - just to pass time whilst he set up his plan, barrels piled on barrels - gesturing for any soldiers or field medics to clear the area near the door.

A flash of lightning - and whoosh. A great - bright fire enveloped the entirety of the blast door - a high pitched siren wailed upon the smoke and fire being detected by the security systems - with no excess power for the sprinklers - all the craft could do was open every locked door.

[member="Tai Fa"] [member="Vanja Del'Vaan"]