Star Wars Roleplay: Chaos

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Invasion Return of the Jedi | GA Invasion of TSE's Korriban/Felucia Hexes



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Location: Korriban, Sith Academy​
Equipment: Jedi Armor, Jax's Lightsaber
The Sith's words were garbled by the shell shock Jax was experiencing at the moment. He was still on his knees, the anger inside of him subsided and all he could do was blankly stare at Aveline's crumpled body. She seemed so peaceful perhaps All that he heard was that he wasn't a Jedi. "I've been telling myself that for the past 12 years there's nothing you can say that I already told myself," Jax replied his lower lip quivering uncontrollably closing his eyes tight tears were still coming out. "I thought that I could redeem myself," Jax said digging his nails onto the coarse, rough ground. "I thought I had a second chance! But I fracked up again! I'm a failure!"​
Jax slowly crawled towards Aveline, cradling her body and holding her close like a mother holding her newborn. "It should've been me you've killed!" He wailed rocking her body back and forth. "YOU SHOULD'VE KILLED ME DAMN YOU! I DON'T DESERVE TO LIVE!"​
The man wept. "I gave into my anger, I was reckless once again, I'm a loser! I'm so sorry Aveline! If you can hear me! Please Aveline just know that you were the best person to come into my life! You've made me believe that life is worth living again! Oh Aveline! I just hope that you can forgive me please Aveline!"​
Jax slowly reached over to kiss his Padawan's forehead before he closed her eyes and gently placed her down. Jax remained despondent slowly accepting the reality of the situation. He now had nothing. There was nothing left to live for. Except to avenge Aveline. "Wait for me Aveline," he whispered. "I'll be joining you as soon as I take care of her."​
The Sith was trying to allure him, to tempt Jax with the promise of preventing Aveline's death. But it was already done, Aveline was gone because of Jax and it was something that he needed to accept. "There's nothing left for me now," Jax said in an calm voice as he wiped his tears. His Lightsaber remained on the ground, he felt at peace and calm reaching a mental state eqivalent to being in the eye of a storm. Power churned inside him, around him.​
"But to defeat you Pom Stych Tivé! Though my heart has been shattered, a fierce power stirs inside of me!"​
Jax's body began to glow, his entire body was immersed in light. Jax did not feel that he was calling on the force, he was the force, he can see everything, and do anything. He merged himself with the force and achieved a state of calm.​
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"I am Jaxon Thio!" he said in an ethereal voice. "And I have become one with the force!"​

 
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I C K Y
J E D I
P O O D O O

TAGS:
Aveline Cuiléin Aveline Cuiléin & Jax Thio Jax Thio
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She has the Jedi now! His emotion suddenly became his obsession!

Death…
Anger…
Regret…

Just like the Dark Lord Carnifex described!

There is nothing left to do but slip Jax into the Netherworld! Pom shall bind him there until he forgets every last pathetic selfless desire!

Her potion still in hand she heard his voice as he labeled blame upon this nightsister for his actions! Her seething escalates, "You miscreant! The lot of you! Never taking responsibility for the actions of your own hands!" How this Nightsister detests the lot of them (save 2) for all the same reasons!

"No good shall ever come from you lot!!" They teach their children from lies! To themselves, they lie about the death they render! "Arrogant cretin!"

At that moment even Pom realized she does not want this ignoramus to join her among the Darkside of the Force. "May you rot in mediocrity!"

And at that some stench of the Light of Ashla oozed out of his sorry existence. She has no idea how it happened, when she understands him to be so very lost in his ignorance and deflection of guilt!

'This cannot be!' she thought. She would soon be blinded by the detrimental profusion. Her eyes widened in horror. 'How can some lowly ill-taught Jedi disturb the natural Darkside Nexus of Korriban?'

The Mother-to-be felt nauseated, as she felt the light burn the surface of her flesh.

"GET OFF MY PLANET!" she shrieked at the intruder! Pom inhaled of the Nexus like a readying dragon. She thrust her arms out before her and braced her legs under her, as she redirected a massive wake of Darkside Energy from the planet, towards the Jedi. It swirled around the deceased and drew the Padawan back from the next life, just to torment her further!




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IN A STATE OF ONENESS
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Location: Korriban, Sith Academy
Equipment: The power of the Force
Jax could feel Pom's entire being shake with fear when she saw him fuse with the force. It was though she understood what this power was and what could it do to her. The rays of light that beamed from Jax's entire body the burning Pom's flesh as she retreated from him in a panic. The being known as Jax remained at Aveline's side. With just his presence alone, Aveline's fatal wounds began to fade reducing it to scar tissue. Jax felt new life coming back to his apprentice as he remained at a calm state.​
Pom sealed the deal by using her dark magic to bringing Aveline back from the brink of death. She thought it was to torment Jax but in reality it accelerated what he wanted to do which was to save Aveline. It turns out that Pom truly had no idea who she was dealing with. In a desperate attempt to get back at Jax and Aveline, Pom summoned as much dark energy that she can muster and unleashed it on the two of them. Yet with a simple raise of his bight hand, Jax dispelled the attack dissipating the dark side as though it never existed.​
"All the power that you possess," Jax replied in a tranquil tone his voice echoing the many Jedi from the past. "Is nothing compared to the power of the force. It is like an Ant trying to take on a Giant."​
Jax continued to stare at Pom feeling another presence inside of her: A child. To avenge Aveline would be fruitless as not only that he would be killing her but killing an innocent. Already too many people have died today there was no need for more violence. "I am giving you a chance to leave Nightsister," Jax declared. "You are with child and I have no desire to harm him. Leave this planet in peace we do not need to fight each other any longer."​
Even though Jax was one with the force, he hoped and prayed that Pom will take the deal. For her child's sake.​

 
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I C K Y
J E D I
P O O D O O


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Temper raged within the Nightsister. Surely the rest of the Sith felt the Darkside wane where she stood. The chaotic energy she is so accustomed to existing amongst, calmed right here, and only right where she stands. Korriban herself would certainly not be altered by any manifestation brought forth today. Jedi would continue to detest the Nexus, very much alive. The Force is greater than this Jedi could even imagine. He would crumble under the never ending spell of the Darkside. Pom felt the wicked Ashla twist inside her core. Even her unborn responded in fear and distaste!

'How dare Jedi come here!'

It continued to touch her, engulf her. Repulsive it is. All the more she hated the Jedi. If she did not hate them enough before, she surely hates them henceforth!

'Because of you, Jax Thio, a mortal enemy is born this moment. Your kind will be stopped. You shall not live on Korriban!'

She can withstand its presence, with her arsenal of potions; but her unborn son, she could not shield from such an onslaught. Ashla permeated through to her bones! The unborn's tender state of existence became threatened by the wicked Jedi. The Nightsister did not turn away because of his words of insistence. He is WRONG, and Pomstychtivé faced him head on!!



From behind her, the Nether tore open revealing the abyss. Hands plunged through the porthole as the Wanica Coven Nightsisters gripped hold of their Matriarch and stole their Mother away from where she boldly stood. They must protect her budding offspring from the sickly Jedi terror. They knew, that if they lost him, how Pom would grieve bitterly.



The seed of Lord Darth Carnifex Darth Carnifex would have this miserable sensation memorized and he shall seek to snuff it from existence throughout his lifetime, stemming from the moment of his foretold birth.

'Jax Thio...jedi scum.'




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Location: Korriban Sith Academy - Library
Writing With: Bernard Bernard

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Objective: Sabotage
Foe: Darth Daiara Darth Daiara
Jedi Strike Team Vos
\\> Zaavik Dagoth, Allyson Locke
Face to Face
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The blip of a radar punctuated the silence periodically. The expected note, the same low-pitched pulse as it ever was, faded into the hangar control room's background like wallpaper. The officer leaning against the radar machine barely noticed the noise as it went off, time after time after time, again and again without fail.

"Hey Xin, catch the game last night?" Strata came in as the door opened and closed again with a quiet swoosh.

"Sure have," the officer perked up from his station.

"The Grotworms owned that arena. Showed those Shyracks what for, they did."

"Yeah, lost me a solid fifty credits is what they did," he sighed and turned back to the circular radar motion.

Strata's arrival and shift start usually marked a turning point for radar duty, though not today.

"You bet against them?" He continued as he took his seat. "What lazerbrain bets against the, and I quote, 'most winningest team in the entire history of Huttball'?"

"This one."

Xin let himself sink into his chair in an exaggeration of his defeat. As he did, however, the radar produced a loud whine, causing him to startle. His elbow slipped beyond the radar's table, and his face fell face-first into the console. The screen produced a loud crack that made both officers jump in their seats.

"Sithspit!" Xin yelled.

They spent the next few moments in silence, staring intently at the radar machine.

The whine was gone. The radar broke.

"Chit, chit, chit!" Xin cursed. He started flipping switches and hitting buttons all over the console. Strata leapt from his seat and knelt beside the machine. The two fumbled around it, scrambling to find a way to restore its functionality.

"What in Corellia's Seven hells was that?"

"I don't know! I don't care! I'm dead, man! Dead!"

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The X-Wing's modified landing gear stuck to the rock better than ten metric tons of deadweight should allow. Its cockpit depressurized with a hiss. A relentless hail of sand knocked against the canopy. It gave way to the deafening howl of the raging storm as the canopy lifted, instantly covering the cockpit's inside with a thin layer of red dust.

Bernard didn't mind. Most of it wouldn't stick anyways. With one hand on the seatbelt, and the other firmly grabbing the cockpit's side, he positioned his feet against the edge of the control panel. He took a breath through the cloth wrapped over his lower face and pushed against it as hard as he could.

His legs kept him trapped against the stiff cushioning of the seat, pinning him in place. He let the breath out and tapped the seatbelt release. Immediately, gravity kicked in, but his body didn't budge from the seat.

He didn't linger in the sense of relief for long. Carefully, he grabbed the side of the cockpit with his now free hand and began to release the tension in his legs.

His grip was firm, and with cat's grace, he lowered himself out of the pilot's seat and beyond the cockpit's sides, until his body swayed in the wind outside the flipped X-Wing. Seeing the starfighter upside down, stuck to the underside of a cliff face, filled him with a certain amount of anxiety. He glanced away from it, towards its nose tip, then beyond at the cliff itself.

The orange-red stone became his first sight of the Sith's homeworld. He felt a small part of him deflate at that realization. In all his years of anticipation for this moment, he'd never envisioned the first glimpse of the Sith's ancestral homeworld like this. Throughout his youth, he assumed his first glimpse of Korriban would include a battlefield of some sort, not what amounted to a big rock.

It was cold too. The holos made Korriban look like a superheated desert, with a relentless sun that looked to break the planet's inhabitants more than it wanted to give warmth. But the wind flowed in frigid streams around his fingers, numbing them to the touch of the cockpit.

He took it as his cue to keep going.

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His fingers, still burning from the frigid air, were slowly regaining some feeling as they held the access panel. Taking as much care as his numbed fingers allowed, he placed the cover back into its socket to seal away the entrance again.

It slid into place with a quiet click, and the wind's whine faded to a low hum. Sand finally stopped streaming into the tunnel. A cloud of it already cast dancing shadows in the dim, red glow of the ceiling lights as it settled on the floor. The target was somewhere at the end of this length of corridors.

Taking what might be his last moment of calm for a while, he shook loose all the dust from his clothes in the process and began to check his equipment. He'd been prudent enough to keep the charges hidden beneath his navy blue overcoat, along with his lightsabre. The matte black weapon wasn't the sabre he had built as a Padawan, that one had disappeared into the oceans of Brentaal, rather it had been the sabre of a long-dead ancestor.

But it was unlikely to see any use today, not that he had ever used it before. Instead, he unholstered two blasters. They were heavy models with low fire rates but packed a serious punch. He'd also gone to great lengths to mod both with a noise reduction field specifically for this mission.

Satisfied that his equipment was in order, he started down the corridors.

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He dropped to the floor without causing a sound between two holo-bookshelves at the back of the library.

Bernard found himself on the second floor. The library hall was vast and filled to the brim with all kinds of forbidden texts and sacrilegious knowledge. This was his target, the future of the Sith.

With a quick push through the Force, he slid the panel over the access tunnel entrance above him and crouched against one of the massive shelves. He holstered one blaster and reached into his overcoat to pull one of the explosives free. The cylinder fit neatly into his palm, with a flat side that held a magnetic hook.

He regarded it for several moments. Up until this point he'd never actually held anything akin to it, especially not while deep inside hostile territory.

But he shook away that thought and went to work while the library was still empty.

The charges weren't very complicated to set up. The magnetic hook attached to a wall or shelf and a few taps activated the timer and primed the explosive. The timer ensured that, even in the event of his death or capture, the charges still went off. That inevitability was far from comforting.

Once the last one was in place and doubly checked it was time to proceed to the second part of his mission. For that, he would have to head to the central information storage.

He started backtracking to his point of entry but froze in place a moment later.

The library's doors swooshed open just below him, and the sound of footsteps echoed, along with voices.

"You just wait, when I become a Sith I'll show that traitor Irveric Tavlar what we can do!" The voice was too high-pitched to belong to one of the warriors or the security forces.

"And that coward Ryv Karis too!" Another of the group giggled.

Bernard didn't dare to move in the shadows above.



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Location: Korriban Sith Academy - Library
Writing With: Bernard Bernard



The library's doors swooshed open, the Acolytes' footsteps echoing off the high ceilings as they walked in.

"You just wait, when I become a Sith I'll show that traitor Irveric Tavlar what we can do!" The voice was too high-pitched to belong to one of the warriors or the security forces.

"And that coward Ryv Karis too!" Another of the group giggled.

"Oh shut up, will you?" Aradia snapped. "Have you even faced a jedi? Have you seen what they can do?"

Wilic rolled his eyes, nudging the other. "Aradia thinks just because she was at Bastion she's the new shit."

The giggling girl scoffed. "Clearly not, since she lost the place."

A hiss slipped between her teeth, the elder ginger cutting in front of the younger two. "In case it has escaped you nerf-brains, I was not the only Acolyte at that fight. Look around, do you see any of them here?"

She cocked her chin, her brow raised in challenge. The implication registered between the two, their taunts withheld as they looked her over. She could feel their doubts. She had them too. How could a girl of her size and standing have been one of the few to survive the purge? She let their imaginations run wild, crossing her arms as she took charge. "We're not here to fight. We have our orders, secure the library and rejoin the others. The ship leaves in twenty. We need to get these artifacts out of here, or you'll be facing more than the wrath of a Jedi."

She turned on her heel, her hair snapping through the air as she started for the upper level.

"And for your information," she called over her shoulder. "I already am a Sith. Unlike you, I have a Master." The corner of her lips quirked up. She turned away, ascending to the second floor with quick, light steps.

"...Who's her Master again?"

"Hell if I know. You get the south side, I'l-"

Their voices faded out as the three split ways. Aradia's heart pumped rapidly in her chest, the thrill of telling them off diminishing as she was left to consider the implications of what was happening. The NIO were here again. To slaughter them all, no doubt. Anger rippled through her, their very existence enough to leave the once timid girl fuming as she walked briskly towards the back door.

She had not let go of what happened on Bastion. How could she? Her whole Academy had been purged. Countless faces, friends and foes alike, had been stripped from her life in the blink of an eye.

And for what? Why?

She would get that answer today. She would not be going on the evac ship with the others, not that there were many of those to even be had. Most of their numbers were out there-- fighting. But better the bottom of the barrel waste their energy escorting out the valuables while the useful placed themselves on the frontline. She would take her place among their ranks shortly. Anticipation drummed through her, her hands shak-

She stopped short, her thoughts freezing as she found herself faced with a crouching boy, hidden between two shelves.

"..."

Her ridged features snapped away from him, a nudge of intuition bringing her attention to the metal charged lodged an aisle away.

"Chit," she breathed. The darkside surged, her fingers clenching as strings of the force tried to yank the shelving down on top of him.

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Objective: Sabotage the Academy
Foe: Darth Daiara Darth Daiara
Jedi Strike Team Vos
\\ > Status Unknown
Silent Running (On Dangerous Ground)

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Bernard stood pressed against the side of the bookcase with both blasters raised. His body was flat against the shelves, half-obscured by shadows in the dimness of the library's red and blue lights.

The library was supposed to be empty. Team Rhysode had deployed in advance of the others specifically to cause a sufficient distraction. Yet, there were Sith in the library now. The venerable Master Asmundr Varobalder 's influence had waned enough that Bernard couldn't sense the other Jedi team, and there wasn't enough time to reach out and confirm their fate. It appeared he was flying solo now, for the most part.

His fingers tightened their grip around the blasters' leather. He went into this mission expecting no backup. The risks were no different than when he was still a kid hiding from the Sith in the Core all those years ago, except this time, he was serving a cause greater than sheer survival.

The voices underneath him trailed off and grew quiet. The group of acolytes walked away. He noticed the detonator's red light still blinking at the edge of his vision. With any luck, the kids would be out of here before the detonators blew. He'd chosen the incendiary charges for structural damage, not anti-personnel use.

Bernard took a deep breath. This mission was for the good of the galaxy.

Right?

Footsteps to his side took him by surprise. The Sith had split up while he was too distracted to notice. He glanced to his right. Blue eyes stared back at him.

"Chit."

The bookcase toppled next to Bernard. Priceless tomes and holobooks slid free and clattered onto the floor. Bernard jumped back a pace, barely in time to avoid a particularly dense tome that hit the ground where he'd knelt. The bookcase crashed into another one that stood in the same row with enough momentum to send it toppling over as well. More books flew loose as both bookcases toppled, then another one, and another until the entire row was crashing. A cacophony of books and metal erupted and filled the library with chaos.

Bernard leapt towards the bookcase falling between him and the Sith. Before his feet touched the shelves, he brought his blasters together and flipped their mode levers against each other in a practised motion. With a quiet click, they locked into stun setting.

The edge of a lower shelf in the bookcase became the tightrope he needed to cross to reach the Sith. He teetered on it for a moment as the shelf finally came to a stop with a crash, but his Jedi senses kept him from slipping as it made impact.

The Sith had set the pace of their exchange by landing the first blow, forcing him on the defensive. If he didn't prevent her from following up, his chance to retaliate might pass him by for a while and time was a precious commodity now.

Without aiming his shots more precisely, he fired a salvo and started off bounding across the bookcase.

Blue rings of energy left each blaster in quick succession and shot ahead of him, towards the Sith. They were wide and hard to dodge at close distance, even for a trained Jedi, but a Lightsabre would make short work of them. Still, even the most skilled practitioner of Shien had difficulty retaliating when faced with an overwhelming volume of blasts.

Bernard intended to take advantage of that very fact. In particular, because the Sith had reached for the Force when she'd found him. This reaction, in a dangerous situation, implied a preference for it. For younger Jedi, and he hoped Sith too, this preference usually indicated a weakness with Lightsabre techniques.

If Bernard was lucky, and his hypothesis proved correct, he could eliminate the first Sith before the others arrived to help. The continuing collapse of bookcases was impossible to miss, and it was only a matter of time before he found himself facing three opponents.


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Location: Korriban Sith Academy - Library
Writing With: Bernard Bernard


He was wrong.

Aradia squeaked, twirling to the side and raising a wave of discarded artifacts before her. The makeshift shield absorbed the shots, pages going up in flames as she found the chance to pull her-- A gasp cut through her, a burning impact sending left leg numb. She collapsed to a knee, the stunt bolt disabling the limb.

She pulled her borrowed saber, it's red length illuminating the dim space. The books dropped. She caught the last few bolts with the blade from her fixed position on the ground. Even compromised, the acolyte proved proficient with a blade. Kaalia Pavanos would accept nothing less.

There was no space for thoughts in the furious attack, both jedi and sith caught up in the sudden flurry. Footsteps flew wildly towards them, two leather claud teens surging forward to--

Aradia dropped her guard, waisting a precious moment to force push them back.

"Bomb. Go!"

The two scrambled for their footing, neither needing more than a hot moment to comprehend her words ... before leaving her where she laid. Aradia thought nothing of it, her attention turning back to the jedi who would level the place where he stood. A desperate sheen hit her eyes, her retaliation coming in the form of a telekinetic grip wrapping around his body. She tried to pin him where he stood, preventing an escape.

"Undo it," she demanded through her teeth, the concept of time weighing down on her.

Exactly how long did they have? Seconds?

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Objective: Sabotage the Academy
Foe: Darth Daiara Darth Daiara
Jedi Strike Team Vos
\\ > Status Unknown
Go!

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There wasn't much of the shelf left when the Sith fell to one knee. One out of two dozen were far from great odds, but now that he managed to pierce the Sith's defences doing so again wouldn't be as hard.

Bernard kept pressing his advantage. Another volley of stun bolts lit up the chamber as he pulled the triggers in random patterns in an attempt to keep the Sith from settling into her combat rhythm.

The Sith answered the volley with her lightsabre. It ignited behind the shield of tomes before it fell apart. She slashed at the rings as they sped towards her, the blade's crimson hue shifting to purple whenever it cut apart blue bolts.

Bernard cursed under his breath. His deductive abilities did not measure up against an opponent who was his equal. He couldn't remember the last time he had faced another Force User over the recent few years. Worse yet, he barely had a few steps along the shelf left to decide on how to press his advantage.

Hurried footsteps rang out towards them. The Acolytes had finally caught up. Their arrival made Bernard's odds for a clean getaway plummet.

"Force-forsaken-," another curse escaped him and, for the briefest moment, he chided himself for having developed the habit of smearing the Force's sanctity so readily over his tenure with the Marshals.

The Sith seemed equally surprised about the acolytes' arrival. She had turned her attention away Bernard to warn the two newcomers, even going so far as to shove them with the Force, effectively nullifying her numbers advantage. It took Bernard by surprise. He had expected the three to jump at the chance of killing a live Jedi, especially here on Korriban. He was too short on time to dwell on the sudden contradiction, more importantly, too short on shelf-length. He would have to improvise. He hated improvising.

The prospect of advancing towards a sabre-wielding opponent with nothing but blasters made him nervous, but it was also his best opportunity to bring their fight to an expedient end. With his last few steps on the shelf's edge, he crouched low in preparation of another leap. Once he felt his boot bend on the shelf's end, he pushed off it as hard as he could.

Only to fly into what felt like a wall. Bernard's entire body was seized just after he had made it off the bookcase in a telekinetic grip. The sudden lack of control over his own body caused him to fly helplessly in a parabolic arc and right onto the floor. He tumbled over, and one of his blasters fell free from his hand. It slid alongside him on the durasteel floor until he crashed against metal guardrails, saving him from a steep drop down into a set of tables, but not his blaster.

"Undo it," the Sith demanded.

He scoffed.

The impact still had him shaken, and his opponent's power still bore down on him.

With a grunt, he concentrated on his own abilities enough to reestablish the protective Force barrier around his body, at least in part. Enough to force his blaster up and train it at the Sith. The barrel trembled in his hand as he glared at the Sith on the other side of it.

"Why should I?" He shot back. The words didn't come easy against the telekinetic grip.

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Location: Korriban Sith Academy - Library
Writing With: Bernard Bernard


Her situration was precarious-- wounded and trapped before a bomb that would go off at any moment, Aradia was aware she was staring down her death.

The presence of the darkside bore down on her, it's whispers gaining fervor as it begged for her to dig in. Use me. We can save them all. Korriban, of all places, brought clarity to its voice inside her. It would be so easy to surrender herself to it. She had done it before.

But she didn't want to be that monster again.

Below them, doors slammed, telling Aradia that her sacrifice might very well have given her peers a change to live. Maybe... just maybe-- they'd have enough time to warn the others too. That was a step further than she had done for the last Academy. And she didn't need the power to do it.

Kill him.

Her extended hand shook, the grip on his core tightening as the confliction twisted across her features.

'Undo it.'

"Why should I?" He rebuttled

"Oh hell, I don't know, because you'll murder everyone?" She scoffed angrily, the grip on him tightening. For a moment it constricted, threatening to crush ribs and squeeze the life from his body. It felt good, not unlike-

The dead solider's faces flashed through her.

She flinched, the hold on him releasing. The darkside burned through her, pulsing and aching for its release. She found herself bent over, clawing at the ground for control. "Please," She uttered, desperation hitting her tone. "This isn't right."

Kill him.
I need him.
You have me.

Do I?

A Sith controls the dark side, a slave is controlled by it. - Kaalia Pavanos


Every tick of the clock backed her further into a corner, but she wasn't ready to give into it yet. She forced herself to disconnect from the energy pulsing through her fingers, the girl claiming autonomy over herself once again. This would be done on her own terms.

Flames erupted over the exit, the bitter heat blocking his path out. She looked up, hair sticking to sweat as she panted on the floor. "You will undo it. Or you will die here too."

"A bunch of kids lost to war,"
she retorted bitterly. "If that's who you want to go down as."

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Objective: Get out alive
Foe: Darth Daiara Darth Daiara
Jedi Strike Team Vos
\\ > Status Unknown
In the Flame

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"Oh hell, I don't know, because you'll murder everyone?"

Bernard opened his mouth to retort, but just then the telekinetic grip breached the last defences he had.

His muscles strained and spasmed as his body contorted. The blaster in his hand twisted out from between his fingers and clattered to the floor. His bones threatened to shatter and organs to burst. For a brief moment, he could hear his heartbeat louder than anything else, the organ hammering in his chest in a desperate attempt to save the rest of the body. Then it let up, as quickly as it came.

A burst of adrenaline pushed out his panic. Dazed, he gasped for air, coughing and wheezing, as though he had just been pulled from a river. He managed a curse in between the coughing, and slowly composed himself enough to remind himself of the danger opposite him.

Contrary to what he expected, the Sith had fallen over, voicing words that never reached him. She seemed shaken, but by what Bernard couldn't tell. One of the other acolytes must have sabotaged her moment of triumph to claim glory for himself. Sith were infamous for their betrayals, but that meant-

His hand gripped the missing blaster tightly. The fingers curled into a fist, trapping only empty air.

A sudden jolt shot up his spine as the situation sank in. He kicked himself away, shoving his back into the railing behind him. Every bone in his body protested as he pushed himself up to his feet against the metal bars, breathing heavily from the exertion.

Fire suddenly burst from nothing at the exit.

He shot a concerned glance towards the detonators.

They still blinked in their unchanging rhythm. Something else had caused the flames.

"You will undo it. Or you will die here too. A bunch of kids lost to war, if that's who you want to go down as."

Several moments passed between them. Bernard opened his mouth to respond but closed it again a second later.

He wanted to feel a lot of emotions. There was a Sith right before him, threatening his life. An avatar of the darkness he stood against with every fibre of his being. He wanted to hate her. To feel that righteous anger that had driven him all his life. To wield it, and destroy the darkness for the light.

How often had he imagined himself face to face with a Sith, ready to slay them without hesitation? For Force's sake, he'd already struck down a Jedi under suspicion of dark side corruption. He'd wielded righteous fury like a blade unwavering in its purpose then. But now that he stared down someone overtly, unapologetically Sith he was struck with indecision. Why couldn't he just do what he'd always wanted to?

But the Sith before him was nothing like the Sith he knew. He wanted to believe that the compassion she displayed was only a facade. That she did not really care for anyone's life but her own. Yet, she didn't run, nor had she killed him. He wanted to believe it was only a deception, created to some nefarious end, but he could sense that her concern for other people appeared genuine. His Marshal's gut feeling pointed the same way. He knew, too, that the detonators would kill many, if not in the initial blast, then from the fires that would spread. When he'd come here he had believed that to be for the best, but now, faced with other Sith barely older than him, with many more like her all over the academy. Whatever fate had brought them here, he couldn't justify taking their lives without at least giving them a chance. That was the way of the Jedi, wasn't it? Arbiters of justice, not executioners, right?

"Sith are supposed to be selfish, you know," he said with the barest smirk.

He brought his glove up to push some strands from his face.

"Had to be the one Sith who's not evil to the core, eh?"

He sighed and produced the matte black lightsabre from his coat, slowly. He held it up for the Sith's approval.

"I'll need this to do as you ask, so don't get any ideas about doing any of," he circled his finger vaguely in the Sith's direction as he coughed heavily, "that, again."

Slowly, he limped towards the blinking detonator, making sure to give a wide berth to the Sith. The casing itself needed to be removed delicately, else the mechanism inside might be damaged and blow. With a steadying breath, he lined up the lightsabre with the detonator. His hands trembled. This was not how he expected to use the ancestral blade for the first time.

He reached out to the Force to centre himself. Its invisible energy coursed through his entire body and he felt like he'd taken a plunge into a bacta tank. His muscles eased their tensions, washing away alongside the dull ache in his bones. Korriban's discordant chaos silenced the cacophony within his mind as the Force sang its soothing melody. Its song became his anchor.

His finger pushed on the activation switch, on the verge of bringing the sabre to life. The switch gave him more resistance than he thought it would. It seemed to be stuck. He pushed harder until he pressed on it with all the strength his hands could muster.

Then it clicked and the sabre roared to life with its cyan glow.

But the song was gone.

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Location: Korriban Sith Academy - Library
Writing With: Bernard Bernard


"Sith are supposed to be selfish, you know," he said with the barest smirk.

He brought his glove up to push some strands from his face.

"Had to be the one Sith who's not evil to the core, eh?"

Aradia's lips caught in a snarl. "Is that what you really think of us?" Don't get her wrong, she knew the type he spoke of. She had met them. But someone so twisted was rare in her experience. Less common even than the cruel slave masters that had made up her childhood.

There was evil everywhere in the galaxy. She found it shallow to pin that on her people as a whole. Anything to justify this hate war of theirs.

Was she the naive one, or him?

HIs sword hilt reflected the light of the fire, its reflection refracting in her wary gaze. Her saber jumped back into her palm, held tightly pointed at the ground. They might have had a truce, but she wasn't stupid. She let him move towards the bomb unmolested. Truth be told she wasn't sure she could replicate that if she tried. The power of this world brushed heavily against her mind, imploring her to sink in. She ignored its song, focusing on him instead.

"Have you ever stop to consider that maybe you're the evil ones? You don't see his attacking your schools and blowing up the students-- you know like maybe, just maybe-- we're just all trying to survive out here?" She wasn't doing much to help him concentrate, but she rattled on regardless.

The words had boiled in her for so long, it felt good to level her case to her tormentor.

A part of her still be believed she could make them understand.

A weird ripple echoed through the force, leaving her to freeze. The purple light pierced the detonator panel, sparks flying out around him. She braced at once the explosion, but it's lethal force never came. She waited with baited breath for something to happen. ... Then leaned forward, straining to catch sight of the boy's face.

"Everything alright over there?"

The indicator light faltered.... then kept blinking. The fried panel was beyond amends. The hair on her arms slowly rose, a bad feeling stirring through her.

"Don't tell me you fucked it up," she whispered, possessed by the sudden, fervent need to piss.


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Objective: Get out alive
Foe: Darth Daiara Darth Daiara
Jedi Strike Team Vos
\\ > Status Unknown

The System Only Dreams in Total Darkness
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His heart was heavy. The lightsabre still burned its brilliant blue, but its glow had faded. The blade was at once too bright and too dull. The hilt he held barely registered beyond the weight and the cold sensation of its metal. Now two lightsabres were the same, that was true, but never did Bernard think the difference would be so drastic.

What he was holding wasn't the sacred weapon of his ancient order, but an over-glorified tool. It dug deep into the detonator's shell. Where it pierced the casing, the metal turned a bright yellow, melting and bubbling under the lightsabre's heat. Within the inner layers of the explosive's hull, it severed the central connector between the detonating mechanism and the timecode reset failsafe.

He saw the effects it had. He understood the implications from observation of where and at what angle the lightsabre had pierced the shell casing, but he could not feel the blade's effects. Not like he had before when he wielded his first sabre.

Maybe it was just a lack of familiarity?

"Have you ever stop to consider that maybe you're the evil ones? You don't see his attacking your schools and blowing up the students-- you know like maybe, just maybe-- we're just all trying to survive out here?"

The Sith's words brought back the Academy he was in, the extremely dangerous explosive in front of him, and all the Sith who stood between him and the X-Wing.

He switched the lightsabre off and glanced over to the Sith.

"Everything alright over there? Don't tell me you fucked it up," she asked.

"We're the evil ones? Did you already forget Muunilinst, Mygeeto, Scipio? All bathed in nuclear fire because your leaders didn't deign themselves to let those people be free of their tyranny?

"Or maybe you've already forgotten what the Sith did to the Jedi of the Core ten years ago?

"I was a youngling back then, you know," his fist tightened around the lightsabre, "I lost everyone, too," he continued, but his voice had lost its intensity

He glared at the Sith for several long heartbeats. She seemed distant. He could see her, but it took a moment to register that she was indeed right there, in front of him.

"We don't have time to get into that, not now. It can't be defused. Not in the amount of time we have left," he said.

"You need to go."

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Location: Korriban Sith Academy - Library
Writing With: Bernard Bernard


"We don't have time to get into that, not now. It can't be defused. Not in the amount of time we have left," he said.

"You need to go."

The color drained from her face, the flames around the doors faltering.

"What."

Her breath caught in rapid puffs, the girl unable to intake and bring a fresh wave of oxygen to her brain. For a flickering moment she suspected he had done this all on purpose and she had been the fool that played into the plan. Her jolting thoughts ruled out the paranoia as quick as it came. He was sending her away.

He could have kept fighting her.

Honestly, she wasn't sure she could have handled him if he did. Her stunned side weighed heavily on her thoughts. But it all changed nothing. He had made a vital mistake.

"What have you done?" she uttered, her voice containing the fiery judgement of a thousand suns. She tried to stand. There was no dignity in the desperate scramble, nor the effort it took to pull her half-stunned body onto one leg. If there was no time to defuse it, then there was no time for her crawl out. She held herself up by the ends of a tipped over bookcase, her hair sticking to her face. The burning light of the fire was all that lit up the space between them. It caught her features sharply, exasperating her horror.

"You've condemned everyone!"

The situation raced through her, her panic building. None of it mattered now. Not the war, nor the murders, nor the injustices she sought to end. Just like Bastion, the noise faded away.

The only thing that mattered was surviving.

The fire over the doors snuffed out. For a moment there was only his sword and her ragged breath.

The darkside surged through her, so poignant she could only gasp. She felt electrified. Energy shot through her palms, outstretched. It'd blow him back, its dark mass wrapping wildly around the bomb. The energy coiled and hissed and slithered, condensing into a tight ball that just might ... maybe... contain this one blast.

It was a demand that left the Acolyte gasping, her body arching and bowing under the power that overwhelmed her . She found herself on her knees, tears streaming unfelt down her face.

"Please stop."

But it wouldn't. Despite her denial, it had its hold. She couldn't fail. She was failing.

"I can't do them all," she protested, though who she was speaking to anymore remained unstated.



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Objective: Get out alive
Foe: Darth Daiara Darth Daiara
Jedi Strike Team Vos
\\ > Status Unknown
Bridge of Sighs

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"What," the Sith started.

Her breathing quickened. She tried to stand but only managed an awkward display of impaired motor controls.

"What have you done?"

For a moment, Bernard didn't see a Sith in front of him but a person in distress. Marshal instincts kicked in. He started a step toward her.

"You've condemned everyone!"

The words stung. Bernard winced. There was a lot of guilt he carried, more after today. Meditation wasn't going to cut it for that.

"I know," his words were too quiet to be audible.

Before he knew what was happening, a wave hit him like a speeder truck, and his body shot backwards, too fast to maintain balance. He tumbled over onto his back, left bewildered from the sudden attack.

How did she ...?

"Please stop."

Bernard fought himself up to his feet against the dizziness that rang in his head, staggered once, and started towards the Sith again once he caught his balance.

"I can't do them all."

He unwrapped the overcoat and approached, kneeling beside the woman.

"Yeah. We need to get out. There's not enough time left," he said, slipping into that detached, half-reassuring, and rehearsed tone of an officer of the law. He lifted the overcoat around the Sith, weary of dropping it on her shoulders before he was absolutely sure the sudden weight wouldn't just worsen her current state.

"Listen, we need to go."

She could feel it burning through her veins as he approached her, driving her insane as she tried to contain it. He lifted her up. They had no choice, they had to run.

There were more bombs.

Korriban lived inside of her, the fever rising as it sang for her to surrender. Her head lulled into his shoulders, the battle within unseen as he carried her for the halls. Her lips moved fervently, her whispers unheard. Not again, no- She was going under.

Blue eyes faded to red as they moved through the temple of the dead.

The stun shattered from her limbs, the weight he carried growing lighter. The cost of her new strength stopped mattering. Time ticked in the back of her mind, her renewed focused tunneled into one thing-- survival. They approached an intersection. She grabbed his sleeve and wordlessly jerked him to the left.

"I have a way out."

And she did. He just wasn't gonna like it. Left- right, up- any moment now and they were dead. They spilled into a hanger, the final evac ship full of vital artifacts revving to leave. Faces turned to gape. Aradia turned on Bernard and pulled his gun out of his belt. The barrel hit underneath his chin.

She took it off of stun.

"If you want to live, do as I say," she hissed, vibrant red eyes looking up at him intensely.

"Aradia?" Came the familiar female voice.

"Get in the ship."

"What is a jedi doing here?"

"He's going to answer my questions."
 
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LOCATION: Korriban, Sith Academy
EQUIPMENT: Meditation Amulet, Cosaint Bracers, Simple Jedi Robes
TAGS: Jax Thio Jax Thio Pom Stych Tivé Pom Stych Tivé

Searing pain hit her. First in the chest, then it spread all about her. Aveline had closed her eyes, but the attack had been no less real because of it. Nor was there a mystery as to who had done it. Jax had struck her down. The pain abated. It left her body, taking with it any care and concern of the world. There is no death... There is... Aveline's vision darkened. She fell.

Even as she thought she was dead, her spirit wrestled with visions. They came over her in flashes that felt like they lasted for hours, but it was all over in a span of minutes spent on the cold, unforgiving floor of Korriban. Her former Master, her father, something- no someone else. A woman, much like her. Blonde, but her face veiled in shadows. There was a fire around her, but the embers did not burn her skin. The vision faded again.

Aveline's eyes slowly opened... She had the ground's view, and the first thing she spotted apart from sand grains were the boots of Pom and Jax. Her mind still felt like it hadn't caught up, she was still drifting in and out of consciousness. Was Jax... Shining? Dreaming. I am dreaming. Her eyelids were too heavy, and they soon fell over her vision once more.

Next time they opened there was only one set of boots; those of Jax. The sorceress was gone. She felt warm, somehow. Was Jax still glowing? It didn't seem real. Was she a ghost? Perhaps that was just how the living looked like to a ghost...

She didn't know. She didn't understand. She just wanted to go home.

 


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Location: Korriban, Sith Academy
Equipment: Damaged Jedi Armor, Jax's Lightsaber
Jax didn't need to attack Pom, a portal opened up behind her while she decided to commit a fancy form of suicide by charging directly at him. Multiple arms yanked Pom away from the battlefield just as she did something reckless. Before she was pulled away, Jax could hear her thoughts swearing vengeance upon him never resting until he is dead. The last thoughts Jax read from Pom was her calling to a Sith Lord: The Emperor of the Sith Empire Darth Carnifex Darth Carnifex saying that her unborn child will have Jax's named ingrained onto him as well. He wasn't surprised and in fact Jax was expecting it, vengeance was the way of the Sith. As soon as the portal dissipated, Jax felt himself returning to his normal form. He immediately collapsed landing on his knees and panting heavily. "What?!" he said in between gasps of air. "Was that?!"

For the briefest of moments, Jax completely surrendered to the will of the force and he became it. People, past and present became him, became one it was as though Jax was unstoppable. "How did I do that?" Jax felt his entire body shaking as his vision began to blur. He was on the verge of collapsing but Jax couldn't lose consciousness just yet. The Galactic Alliance signaled the retreat and he could sense Aveline beginning to stir. "Aveline," Jax's voice came out hoarse his throat itching as though they've been raked across sand paper multiple times. Sill on his knees, Jax slowly crawled towards his Padawan.

"Aveline....." he held the young woman in his arms shaking gently. His heart stopped seeing the massive horizontal cut that pierced through her chest tears threatened to fall out from his eyes again. Taking deep breaths, Jax held Aveline tight and blinked the last of his tears away, guilt overwhelmed but he had to displace it for now.

"She needs me," Jax mumbled grabbing the inactive Sith Holocron as well as his lightsaber using the force. "I fracked up with Aveline but I can still make things better."

Yet Jax had a gift of hurting the people he loved.

Placing the items on his belt, Jax lifted Aveline in a bridal carry and began to run deeper into the Academy. The Alliance already made a full retreat which likely left the two of them marooned on this force forsaken planet filled with pissed off Sith. "I think there was a Sith Starship at the roof of the Academy," Jax muttered as he entered an elevator punching in the location.

The Elevator went up faster than what Jax anticipated, he tried not to dwell on himself becoming one with the force nor the fact that he struck down his own apprentice. All that mattered was getting out of here, his heart thumping Jax took a look through the window. Much to his surprise there were still some skirmishes going around in isolated areas of the Sith Academy. Shocktroopers and Sith warriors and initiates were engaging each other with the Shocktroopers gaining the upper hand. Stone faced, Jax watched as red lightsabers began wink out as boys and girls younger than Aveline attempted to wade down troops only to be shot to death by the troopers. Jax even saw Sith warriors coming to defense of two young Sith intiates one of them on the verge of death defending them from Shocktroopers cutting them down with relentless precision.

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(OOC: Hope you don't mind if I use your pic. Darth Daiara Darth Daiara ? :) )

"What the frack have we become?" Jax said shaking his head a bit. "We're killing kids now?!"

Star Wars ROTS Album Escape From Utapau - YouTube

Mercifully, the elevator reached the top and shook the disturbing thoughts and ran towards the nearest Sith starfighter. Placing Aveline in the back, Jax punched in coordinates and warmed up the engines. "Don't worry Aveline," Jax said. "I'm getting you home back to Kayshykk and away from me." Hearing the whine of the engine, Jax used the controls lifting the fighter and flew as fast as he can out of Korriban. A cry nearly left Jax throat as he felt his hands shaking. "Frack me," he said feeling hot tears on his cheek while trying to control the starfighter. "Why am I always like this? Why is it whenever I have something good in my life, I mess it up?"

Yet the force still blessed him with an unknown power life always had a messed up sense of humor when it came to Jax. Maybe he should've followed his promise and just explored the galaxy. Master Oda would've been still alive, Aveline would never have met Jax he would never have ruined their lives that way. When Jax and Aveline were out of the atmosphere Jax entered the coordinates as he made the jump to lightspeed. "I'm so sorry Aveline," Jax said witnessing blue streaks as the ship zipped deep into the Galaxy.



 
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Objective: Get out alive, don't betray the Alliance
Foe: Darth Daiara Darth Daiara
Jedi Strike Team Vos

\\ > Status Unknown
It's Never Over (Hey Orpheus)
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A metallic click drew his glance down, but before he could make out the source, his chin hit something cold and circular that pressed into his skin.

His hand instinctively reached for his blaster, but he froze as the Sith stepped into view, glaring.

"If you want to live, do as I say," she hissed. Some madness seemed to take ahold of her eyes.

Bernard's spine tingled in that uncomfortable way whenever his nerves kicked into overdrive. He was acutely aware of the flush of warmth through his arms and legs as his heart started to pump blood with greater vigour. Beads of sweat began to coat the inside of his palms, and he felt the sudden need to swallow.

"Aradia?" The voice came from inside the transport. In his heightened state of alert, he drew the connection to the acolyte in the library. He shifted his gaze from his captor to the transport. The kid he saw had to be a teenager still.

"Get in the ship," Aradia, he assumed, said.

With the barrel of a blaster to his chin, he didn't much want to argue. Especially not when there was a live bomb closeby, and the fuse was too short to get to his X-Wing.

He followed the Sith's lead into the belly of the transport ship. His movements were careful and slow, an attempt to match her pace.

"What is a Jedi doing here?" The other acolyte asked. He was of a similar age as his friend. Both wore dark tunics with purple trims that resembled dyed Jedi tunics.

"He's going to answer my questions," Aradia answered, drawing Bernards gaze back. His face was tense, but he didn't let it betray anything other than an undivided focus.

The transport's hangar bay door hissed and sealed itself shut, and the lighting shifted to a burgundy that Bernard only knew from emergency lights, but that seemed to be turning into a common theme in Sith construction.

"Listen, Aradia, ..." he started. It was a calm tone, reassuring. Nothing about it shifted from the Marshal professionalism drilled into him throughout the academy, despite the discomfort his nerves fed his senses.

His entire body was tense. The overcoat's fabric chafed against his shoulders with every rise and fall of his chest. Several strands of hair had come loose from his braid and now stuck to the side of his face. Each beat of his heart sent a wave through his whole body that made him feel both powerful and powerless with the cold metal of a blaster barrel pressed against his chin. He couldn't remember the last time he'd felt so alive.
 
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Location: Korriban Sith Academy - Library
Writing With: Bernard Bernard

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Objective: Sabotage
Foe: Darth Daiara Darth Daiara
Jedi Strike Team Vos
\\> Zaavik Dagoth, Allyson Locke
Face to Face
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The blip of a radar punctuated the silence periodically. The expected note, the same low-pitched pulse as it ever was, faded into the hangar control room's background like wallpaper. The officer leaning against the radar machine barely noticed the noise as it went off, time after time after time, again and again without fail.

"Hey Xin, catch the game last night?" Strata came in as the door opened and closed again with a quiet swoosh.

"Sure have," the officer perked up from his station.

"The Grotworms owned that arena. Showed those Shyracks what for, they did."

"Yeah, lost me a solid fifty credits is what they did," he sighed and turned back to the circular radar motion.

Strata's arrival and shift start usually marked a turning point for radar duty, though not today.

"You bet against them?" He continued as he took his seat. "What lazerbrain bets against the, and I quote, 'most winningest team in the entire history of Huttball'?"

"This one."

Xin let himself sink into his chair in an exaggeration of his defeat. As he did, however, the radar produced a loud whine, causing him to startle. His elbow slipped beyond the radar's table, and his face fell face-first into the console. The screen produced a loud crack that made both officers jump in their seats.

"Sithspit!" Xin yelled.

They spent the next few moments in silence, staring intently at the radar machine.

The whine was gone. The radar broke.

"Chit, chit, chit!" Xin cursed. He started flipping switches and hitting buttons all over the console. Strata leapt from his seat and knelt beside the machine. The two fumbled around it, scrambling to find a way to restore its functionality.

"What in Corellia's Seven hells was that?"

"I don't know! I don't care! I'm dead, man! Dead!"

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The X-Wing's modified landing gear stuck to the rock better than ten metric tons of deadweight should allow. Its cockpit depressurized with a hiss. A relentless hail of sand knocked against the canopy. It gave way to the deafening howl of the raging storm as the canopy lifted, instantly covering the cockpit's inside with a thin layer of red dust.

Bernard didn't mind. Most of it wouldn't stick anyways. With one hand on the seatbelt, and the other firmly grabbing the cockpit's side, he positioned his feet against the edge of the control panel. He took a breath through the cloth wrapped over his lower face and pushed against it as hard as he could.

His legs kept him trapped against the stiff cushioning of the seat, pinning him in place. He let the breath out and tapped the seatbelt release. Immediately, gravity kicked in, but his body didn't budge from the seat.

He didn't linger in the sense of relief for long. Carefully, he grabbed the side of the cockpit with his now free hand and began to release the tension in his legs.

His grip was firm, and with cat's grace, he lowered himself out of the pilot's seat and beyond the cockpit's sides, until his body swayed in the wind outside the flipped X-Wing. Seeing the starfighter upside down, stuck to the underside of a cliff face, filled him with a certain amount of anxiety. He glanced away from it, towards its nose tip, then beyond at the cliff itself.

The orange-red stone became his first sight of the Sith's homeworld. He felt a small part of him deflate at that realization. In all his years of anticipation for this moment, he'd never envisioned the first glimpse of the Sith's ancestral homeworld like this. Throughout his youth, he assumed his first glimpse of Korriban would include a battlefield of some sort, not what amounted to a big rock.

It was cold too. The holos made Korriban look like a superheated desert, with a relentless sun that looked to break the planet's inhabitants more than it wanted to give warmth. But the wind flowed in frigid streams around his fingers, numbing them to the touch of the cockpit.

He took it as his cue to keep going.

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His fingers, still burning from the frigid air, were slowly regaining some feeling as they held the access panel. Taking as much care as his numbed fingers allowed, he placed the cover back into its socket to seal away the entrance again.

It slid into place with a quiet click, and the wind's whine faded to a low hum. Sand finally stopped streaming into the tunnel. A cloud of it already cast dancing shadows in the dim, red glow of the ceiling lights as it settled on the floor. The target was somewhere at the end of this length of corridors.

Taking what might be his last moment of calm for a while, he shook loose all the dust from his clothes in the process and began to check his equipment. He'd been prudent enough to keep the charges hidden beneath his navy blue overcoat, along with his lightsabre. The matte black weapon wasn't the sabre he had built as a Padawan, that one had disappeared into the oceans of Brentaal, rather it had been the sabre of a long-dead ancestor.

But it was unlikely to see any use today, not that he had ever used it before. Instead, he unholstered two blasters. They were heavy models with low fire rates but packed a serious punch. He'd also gone to great lengths to mod both with a noise reduction field specifically for this mission.

Satisfied that his equipment was in order, he started down the corridors.

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He dropped to the floor without causing a sound between two holo-bookshelves at the back of the library.

Bernard found himself on the second floor. The library hall was vast and filled to the brim with all kinds of forbidden texts and sacrilegious knowledge. This was his target, the future of the Sith.

With a quick push through the Force, he slid the panel over the access tunnel entrance above him and crouched against one of the massive shelves. He holstered one blaster and reached into his overcoat to pull one of the explosives free. The cylinder fit neatly into his palm, with a flat side that held a magnetic hook.

He regarded it for several moments. Up until this point he'd never actually held anything akin to it, especially not while deep inside hostile territory.

But he shook away that thought and went to work while the library was still empty.

The charges weren't very complicated to set up. The magnetic hook attached to a wall or shelf and a few taps activated the timer and primed the explosive. The timer ensured that, even in the event of his death or capture, the charges still went off. That inevitability was far from comforting.

Once the last one was in place and doubly checked it was time to proceed to the second part of his mission. For that, he would have to head to the central information storage.

He started backtracking to his point of entry but froze in place a moment later.

The library's doors swooshed open just below him, and the sound of footsteps echoed, along with voices.

"You just wait, when I become a Sith I'll show that traitor Irveric Tavlar what we can do!" The voice was too high-pitched to belong to one of the warriors or the security forces.

"And that coward Ryv Karis too!" Another of the group giggled.

Bernard didn't dare to move in the shadows above.



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Location: Korriban Sith Academy - Library
Writing With: Bernard Bernard



The library's doors swooshed open, the Acolytes' footsteps echoing off the high ceilings as they walked in.

"You just wait, when I become a Sith I'll show that traitor Irveric Tavlar what we can do!" The voice was too high-pitched to belong to one of the warriors or the security forces.

"And that coward Ryv Karis too!" Another of the group giggled.

"Oh shut up, will you?" Aradia snapped. "Have you even faced a jedi? Have you seen what they can do?"

Wilic rolled his eyes, nudging the other. "Aradia thinks just because she was at Bastion she's the new shit."

The giggling girl scoffed. "Clearly not, since she lost the place."

A hiss slipped between her teeth, the elder ginger cutting in front of the younger two. "In case it has escaped you nerf-brains, I was not the only Acolyte at that fight. Look around, do you see any of them here?"

She cocked her chin, her brow raised in challenge. The implication registered between the two, their taunts withheld as they looked her over. She could feel their doubts. She had them too. How could a girl of her size and standing have been one of the few to survive the purge? She let their imaginations run wild, crossing her arms as she took charge. "We're not here to fight. We have our orders, secure the library and rejoin the others. The ship leaves in twenty. We need to get these artifacts out of here, or you'll be facing more than the wrath of a Jedi."

She turned on her heel, her hair snapping through the air as she started for the upper level.

"And for your information," she called over her shoulder. "I already am a Sith. Unlike you, I have a Master." The corner of her lips quirked up. She turned away, ascending to the second floor with quick, light steps.

"...Who's her Master again?"

"Hell if I know. You get the south side, I'l-"

Their voices faded out as the three split ways. Aradia's heart pumped rapidly in her chest, the thrill of telling them off diminishing as she was left to consider the implications of what was happening. The NIO were here again. To slaughter them all, no doubt. Anger rippled through her, their very existence enough to leave the once timid girl fuming as she walked briskly towards the back door.

She had not let go of what happened on Bastion. How could she? Her whole Academy had been purged. Countless faces, friends and foes alike, had been stripped from her life in the blink of an eye.

And for what? Why?

She would get that answer today. She would not be going on the evac ship with the others, not that there were many of those to even be had. Most of their numbers were out there-- fighting. But better the bottom of the barrel waste their energy escorting out the valuables while the useful placed themselves on the frontline. She would take her place among their ranks shortly. Anticipation drummed through her, her hands shak-

She stopped short, her thoughts freezing as she found herself faced with a crouching boy, hidden between two shelves.

"..."

Her ridged features snapped away from him, a nudge of intuition bringing her attention to the metal charged lodged an aisle away.

"Chit," she breathed. The darkside surged, her fingers clenching as strings of the force tried to yank the shelving down on top of him.

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Objective: Sabotage the Academy
Foe: Darth Daiara Darth Daiara
Jedi Strike Team Vos
\\ > Status Unknown
Silent Running (On Dangerous Ground)

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Bernard stood pressed against the side of the bookcase with both blasters raised. His body was flat against the shelves, half-obscured by shadows in the dimness of the library's red and blue lights.

The library was supposed to be empty. Team Rhysode had deployed in advance of the others specifically to cause a sufficient distraction. Yet, there were Sith in the library now. The venerable Master Asmundr Varobalder 's influence had waned enough that Bernard couldn't sense the other Jedi team, and there wasn't enough time to reach out and confirm their fate. It appeared he was flying solo now, for the most part.

His fingers tightened their grip around the blasters' leather. He went into this mission expecting no backup. The risks were no different than when he was still a kid hiding from the Sith in the Core all those years ago, except this time, he was serving a cause greater than sheer survival.

The voices underneath him trailed off and grew quiet. The group of acolytes walked away. He noticed the detonator's red light still blinking at the edge of his vision. With any luck, the kids would be out of here before the detonators blew. He'd chosen the incendiary charges for structural damage, not anti-personnel use.

Bernard took a deep breath. This mission was for the good of the galaxy.

Right?

Footsteps to his side took him by surprise. The Sith had split up while he was too distracted to notice. He glanced to his right. Blue eyes stared back at him.

"Chit."

The bookcase toppled next to Bernard. Priceless tomes and holobooks slid free and clattered onto the floor. Bernard jumped back a pace, barely in time to avoid a particularly dense tome that hit the ground where he'd knelt. The bookcase crashed into another one that stood in the same row with enough momentum to send it toppling over as well. More books flew loose as both bookcases toppled, then another one, and another until the entire row was crashing. A cacophony of books and metal erupted and filled the library with chaos.

Bernard leapt towards the bookcase falling between him and the Sith. Before his feet touched the shelves, he brought his blasters together and flipped their mode levers against each other in a practised motion. With a quiet click, they locked into stun setting.

The edge of a lower shelf in the bookcase became the tightrope he needed to cross to reach the Sith. He teetered on it for a moment as the shelf finally came to a stop with a crash, but his Jedi senses kept him from slipping as it made impact.

The Sith had set the pace of their exchange by landing the first blow, forcing him on the defensive. If he didn't prevent her from following up, his chance to retaliate might pass him by for a while and time was a precious commodity now.

Without aiming his shots more precisely, he fired a salvo and started off bounding across the bookcase.

Blue rings of energy left each blaster in quick succession and shot ahead of him, towards the Sith. They were wide and hard to dodge at close distance, even for a trained Jedi, but a Lightsabre would make short work of them. Still, even the most skilled practitioner of Shien had difficulty retaliating when faced with an overwhelming volume of blasts.

Bernard intended to take advantage of that very fact. In particular, because the Sith had reached for the Force when she'd found him. This reaction, in a dangerous situation, implied a preference for it. For younger Jedi, and he hoped Sith too, this preference usually indicated a weakness with Lightsabre techniques.

If Bernard was lucky, and his hypothesis proved correct, he could eliminate the first Sith before the others arrived to help. The continuing collapse of bookcases was impossible to miss, and it was only a matter of time before he found himself facing three opponents.


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Location: Korriban Sith Academy - Library
Writing With: Bernard Bernard


He was wrong.

Aradia squeaked, twirling to the side and raising a wave of discarded artifacts before her. The makeshift shield absorbed the shots, pages going up in flames as she found the chance to pull her-- A gasp cut through her, a burning impact sending left leg numb. She collapsed to a knee, the stunt bolt disabling the limb.

She pulled her borrowed saber, it's red length illuminating the dim space. The books dropped. She caught the last few bolts with the blade from her fixed position on the ground. Even compromised, the acolyte proved proficient with a blade. Kaalia Pavanos would accept nothing less.

There was no space for thoughts in the furious attack, both jedi and sith caught up in the sudden flurry. Footsteps flew wildly towards them, two leather claud teens surging forward to--

Aradia dropped her guard, waisting a precious moment to force push them back.

"Bomb. Go!"

The two scrambled for their footing, neither needing more than a hot moment to comprehend her words ... before leaving her where she laid. Aradia thought nothing of it, her attention turning back to the jedi who would level the place where he stood. A desperate sheen hit her eyes, her retaliation coming in the form of a telekinetic grip wrapping around his body. She tried to pin him where he stood, preventing an escape.

"Undo it," she demanded through her teeth, the concept of time weighing down on her.

Exactly how long did they have? Seconds?

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Objective: Sabotage the Academy
Foe: Darth Daiara Darth Daiara
Jedi Strike Team Vos
\\ > Status Unknown
Go!

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There wasn't much of the shelf left when the Sith fell to one knee. One out of two dozen were far from great odds, but now that he managed to pierce the Sith's defences doing so again wouldn't be as hard.

Bernard kept pressing his advantage. Another volley of stun bolts lit up the chamber as he pulled the triggers in random patterns in an attempt to keep the Sith from settling into her combat rhythm.

The Sith answered the volley with her lightsabre. It ignited behind the shield of tomes before it fell apart. She slashed at the rings as they sped towards her, the blade's crimson hue shifting to purple whenever it cut apart blue bolts.

Bernard cursed under his breath. His deductive abilities did not measure up against an opponent who was his equal. He couldn't remember the last time he had faced another Force User over the recent few years. Worse yet, he barely had a few steps along the shelf left to decide on how to press his advantage.

Hurried footsteps rang out towards them. The Acolytes had finally caught up. Their arrival made Bernard's odds for a clean getaway plummet.

"Force-forsaken-," another curse escaped him and, for the briefest moment, he chided himself for having developed the habit of smearing the Force's sanctity so readily over his tenure with the Marshals.

The Sith seemed equally surprised about the acolytes' arrival. She had turned her attention away Bernard to warn the two newcomers, even going so far as to shove them with the Force, effectively nullifying her numbers advantage. It took Bernard by surprise. He had expected the three to jump at the chance of killing a live Jedi, especially here on Korriban. He was too short on time to dwell on the sudden contradiction, more importantly, too short on shelf-length. He would have to improvise. He hated improvising.

The prospect of advancing towards a sabre-wielding opponent with nothing but blasters made him nervous, but it was also his best opportunity to bring their fight to an expedient end. With his last few steps on the shelf's edge, he crouched low in preparation of another leap. Once he felt his boot bend on the shelf's end, he pushed off it as hard as he could.

Only to fly into what felt like a wall. Bernard's entire body was seized just after he had made it off the bookcase in a telekinetic grip. The sudden lack of control over his own body caused him to fly helplessly in a parabolic arc and right onto the floor. He tumbled over, and one of his blasters fell free from his hand. It slid alongside him on the durasteel floor until he crashed against metal guardrails, saving him from a steep drop down into a set of tables, but not his blaster.

"Undo it," the Sith demanded.

He scoffed.

The impact still had him shaken, and his opponent's power still bore down on him.

With a grunt, he concentrated on his own abilities enough to reestablish the protective Force barrier around his body, at least in part. Enough to force his blaster up and train it at the Sith. The barrel trembled in his hand as he glared at the Sith on the other side of it.

"Why should I?" He shot back. The words didn't come easy against the telekinetic grip.

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Location: Korriban Sith Academy - Library
Writing With: Bernard Bernard


Her situration was precarious-- wounded and trapped before a bomb that would go off at any moment, Aradia was aware she was staring down her death.

The presence of the darkside bore down on her, it's whispers gaining fervor as it begged for her to dig in. Use me. We can save them all. Korriban, of all places, brought clarity to its voice inside her. It would be so easy to surrender herself to it. She had done it before.

But she didn't want to be that monster again.

Below them, doors slammed, telling Aradia that her sacrifice might very well have given her peers a change to live. Maybe... just maybe-- they'd have enough time to warn the others too. That was a step further than she had done for the last Academy. And she didn't need the power to do it.

Kill him.

Her extended hand shook, the grip on his core tightening as the confliction twisted across her features.

'Undo it.'

"Why should I?" He rebuttled

"Oh hell, I don't know, because you'll murder everyone?" She scoffed angrily, the grip on him tightening. For a moment it constricted, threatening to crush ribs and squeeze the life from his body. It felt good, not unlike-

The dead solider's faces flashed through her.

She flinched, the hold on him releasing. The darkside burned through her, pulsing and aching for its release. She found herself bent over, clawing at the ground for control. "Please," She uttered, desperation hitting her tone. "This isn't right."

Kill him.
I need him.
You have me.

Do I?

A Sith controls the dark side, a slave is controlled by it. - Kaalia Pavanos


Every tick of the clock backed her further into a corner, but she wasn't ready to give into it yet. She forced herself to disconnect from the energy pulsing through her fingers, the girl claiming autonomy over herself once again. This would be done on her own terms.

Flames erupted over the exit, the bitter heat blocking his path out. She looked up, hair sticking to sweat as she panted on the floor. "You will undo it. Or you will die here too."

"A bunch of kids lost to war,"
she retorted bitterly. "If that's who you want to go down as."

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Objective: Get out alive
Foe: Darth Daiara Darth Daiara
Jedi Strike Team Vos
\\ > Status Unknown
In the Flame

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"Oh hell, I don't know, because you'll murder everyone?"

Bernard opened his mouth to retort, but just then the telekinetic grip breached the last defences he had.

His muscles strained and spasmed as his body contorted. The blaster in his hand twisted out from between his fingers and clattered to the floor. His bones threatened to shatter and organs to burst. For a brief moment, he could hear his heartbeat louder than anything else, the organ hammering in his chest in a desperate attempt to save the rest of the body. Then it let up, as quickly as it came.

A burst of adrenaline pushed out his panic. Dazed, he gasped for air, coughing and wheezing, as though he had just been pulled from a river. He managed a curse in between the coughing, and slowly composed himself enough to remind himself of the danger opposite him.

Contrary to what he expected, the Sith had fallen over, voicing words that never reached him. She seemed shaken, but by what Bernard couldn't tell. One of the other acolytes must have sabotaged her moment of triumph to claim glory for himself. Sith were infamous for their betrayals, but that meant-

His hand gripped the missing blaster tightly. The fingers curled into a fist, trapping only empty air.

A sudden jolt shot up his spine as the situation sank in. He kicked himself away, shoving his back into the railing behind him. Every bone in his body protested as he pushed himself up to his feet against the metal bars, breathing heavily from the exertion.

Fire suddenly burst from nothing at the exit.

He shot a concerned glance towards the detonators.

They still blinked in their unchanging rhythm. Something else had caused the flames.

"You will undo it. Or you will die here too. A bunch of kids lost to war, if that's who you want to go down as."

Several moments passed between them. Bernard opened his mouth to respond but closed it again a second later.

He wanted to feel a lot of emotions. There was a Sith right before him, threatening his life. An avatar of the darkness he stood against with every fibre of his being. He wanted to hate her. To feel that righteous anger that had driven him all his life. To wield it, and destroy the darkness for the light.

How often had he imagined himself face to face with a Sith, ready to slay them without hesitation? For Force's sake, he'd already struck down a Jedi under suspicion of dark side corruption. He'd wielded righteous fury like a blade unwavering in its purpose then. But now that he stared down someone overtly, unapologetically Sith he was struck with indecision. Why couldn't he just do what he'd always wanted to?

But the Sith before him was nothing like the Sith he knew. He wanted to believe that the compassion she displayed was only a facade. That she did not really care for anyone's life but her own. Yet, she didn't run, nor had she killed him. He wanted to believe it was only a deception, created to some nefarious end, but he could sense that her concern for other people appeared genuine. His Marshal's gut feeling pointed the same way. He knew, too, that the detonators would kill many, if not in the initial blast, then from the fires that would spread. When he'd come here he had believed that to be for the best, but now, faced with other Sith barely older than him, with many more like her all over the academy. Whatever fate had brought them here, he couldn't justify taking their lives without at least giving them a chance. That was the way of the Jedi, wasn't it? Arbiters of justice, not executioners, right?

"Sith are supposed to be selfish, you know," he said with the barest smirk.

He brought his glove up to push some strands from his face.

"Had to be the one Sith who's not evil to the core, eh?"

He sighed and produced the matte black lightsabre from his coat, slowly. He held it up for the Sith's approval.

"I'll need this to do as you ask, so don't get any ideas about doing any of," he circled his finger vaguely in the Sith's direction as he coughed heavily, "that, again."

Slowly, he limped towards the blinking detonator, making sure to give a wide berth to the Sith. The casing itself needed to be removed delicately, else the mechanism inside might be damaged and blow. With a steadying breath, he lined up the lightsabre with the detonator. His hands trembled. This was not how he expected to use the ancestral blade for the first time.

He reached out to the Force to centre himself. Its invisible energy coursed through his entire body and he felt like he'd taken a plunge into a bacta tank. His muscles eased their tensions, washing away alongside the dull ache in his bones. Korriban's discordant chaos silenced the cacophony within his mind as the Force sang its soothing melody. Its song became his anchor.

His finger pushed on the activation switch, on the verge of bringing the sabre to life. The switch gave him more resistance than he thought it would. It seemed to be stuck. He pushed harder until he pressed on it with all the strength his hands could muster.

Then it clicked and the sabre roared to life with its cyan glow.

But the song was gone.

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Location: Korriban Sith Academy - Library
Writing With: Bernard Bernard


"Sith are supposed to be selfish, you know," he said with the barest smirk.

He brought his glove up to push some strands from his face.

"Had to be the one Sith who's not evil to the core, eh?"

Aradia's lips caught in a snarl. "Is that what you really think of us?" Don't get her wrong, she knew the type he spoke of. She had met them. But someone so twisted was rare in her experience. Less common even than the cruel slave masters that had made up her childhood.

There was evil everywhere in the galaxy. She found it shallow to pin that on her people as a whole. Anything to justify this hate war of theirs.

Was she the naive one, or him?

HIs sword hilt reflected the light of the fire, its reflection refracting in her wary gaze. Her saber jumped back into her palm, held tightly pointed at the ground. They might have had a truce, but she wasn't stupid. She let him move towards the bomb unmolested. Truth be told she wasn't sure she could replicate that if she tried. The power of this world brushed heavily against her mind, imploring her to sink in. She ignored its song, focusing on him instead.

"Have you ever stop to consider that maybe you're the evil ones? You don't see his attacking your schools and blowing up the students-- you know like maybe, just maybe-- we're just all trying to survive out here?" She wasn't doing much to help him concentrate, but she rattled on regardless.

The words had boiled in her for so long, it felt good to level her case to her tormentor.

A part of her still be believed she could make them understand.

A weird ripple echoed through the force, leaving her to freeze. The purple light pierced the detonator panel, sparks flying out around him. She braced at once the explosion, but it's lethal force never came. She waited with baited breath for something to happen. ... Then leaned forward, straining to catch sight of the boy's face.

"Everything alright over there?"

The indicator light faltered.... then kept blinking. The fried panel was beyond amends. The hair on her arms slowly rose, a bad feeling stirring through her.

"Don't tell me you fucked it up," she whispered, possessed by the sudden, fervent need to piss.


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Objective: Get out alive
Foe: Darth Daiara Darth Daiara
Jedi Strike Team Vos
\\ > Status Unknown

The System Only Dreams in Total Darkness
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His heart was heavy. The lightsabre still burned its brilliant blue, but its glow had faded. The blade was at once too bright and too dull. The hilt he held barely registered beyond the weight and the cold sensation of its metal. Now two lightsabres were the same, that was true, but never did Bernard think the difference would be so drastic.

What he was holding wasn't the sacred weapon of his ancient order, but an over-glorified tool. It dug deep into the detonator's shell. Where it pierced the casing, the metal turned a bright yellow, melting and bubbling under the lightsabre's heat. Within the inner layers of the explosive's hull, it severed the central connector between the detonating mechanism and the timecode reset failsafe.

He saw the effects it had. He understood the implications from observation of where and at what angle the lightsabre had pierced the shell casing, but he could not feel the blade's effects. Not like he had before when he wielded his first sabre.

Maybe it was just a lack of familiarity?

"Have you ever stop to consider that maybe you're the evil ones? You don't see his attacking your schools and blowing up the students-- you know like maybe, just maybe-- we're just all trying to survive out here?"

The Sith's words brought back the Academy he was in, the extremely dangerous explosive in front of him, and all the Sith who stood between him and the X-Wing.

He switched the lightsabre off and glanced over to the Sith.

"Everything alright over there? Don't tell me you fucked it up," she asked.

"We're the evil ones? Did you already forget Muunilinst, Mygeeto, Scipio? All bathed in nuclear fire because your leaders didn't deign themselves to let those people be free of their tyranny?

"Or maybe you've already forgotten what the Sith did to the Jedi of the Core ten years ago?

"I was a youngling back then, you know," his fist tightened around the lightsabre, "I lost everyone, too," he continued, but his voice had lost its intensity

He glared at the Sith for several long heartbeats. She seemed distant. He could see her, but it took a moment to register that she was indeed right there, in front of him.

"We don't have time to get into that, not now. It can't be defused. Not in the amount of time we have left," he said.

"You need to go."

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Location: Korriban Sith Academy - Library
Writing With: Bernard Bernard


"We don't have time to get into that, not now. It can't be defused. Not in the amount of time we have left," he said.

"You need to go."

The color drained from her face, the flames around the doors faltering.

"What."

Her breath caught in rapid puffs, the girl unable to intake and bring a fresh wave of oxygen to her brain. For a flickering moment she suspected he had done this all on purpose and she had been the fool that played into the plan. Her jolting thoughts ruled out the paranoia as quick as it came. He was sending her away.

He could have kept fighting her.

Honestly, she wasn't sure she could have handled him if he did. Her stunned side weighed heavily on her thoughts. But it all changed nothing. He had made a vital mistake.

"What have you done?" she uttered, her voice containing the fiery judgement of a thousand suns. She tried to stand. There was no dignity in the desperate scramble, nor the effort it took to pull her half-stunned body onto one leg. If there was no time to defuse it, then there was no time for her crawl out. She held herself up by the ends of a tipped over bookcase, her hair sticking to her face. The burning light of the fire was all that lit up the space between them. It caught her features sharply, exasperating her horror.

"You've condemned everyone!"

The situation raced through her, her panic building. None of it mattered now. Not the war, nor the murders, nor the injustices she sought to end. Just like Bastion, the noise faded away.

The only thing that mattered was surviving.

The fire over the doors snuffed out. For a moment there was only his sword and her ragged breath.

The darkside surged through her, so poignant she could only gasp. She felt electrified. Energy shot through her palms, outstretched. It'd blow him back, its dark mass wrapping wildly around the bomb. The energy coiled and hissed and slithered, condensing into a tight ball that just might ... maybe... contain this one blast.

It was a demand that left the Acolyte gasping, her body arching and bowing under the power that overwhelmed her . She found herself on her knees, tears streaming unfelt down her face.

"Please stop."

But it wouldn't. Despite her denial, it had its hold. She couldn't fail. She was failing.

"I can't do them all," she protested, though who she was speaking to anymore remained unstated.



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Objective: Get out alive
Foe: Darth Daiara Darth Daiara
Jedi Strike Team Vos
\\ > Status Unknown
Bridge of Sighs

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"What," the Sith started.

Her breathing quickened. She tried to stand but only managed an awkward display of impaired motor controls.

"What have you done?"

For a moment, Bernard didn't see a Sith in front of him but a person in distress. Marshal instincts kicked in. He started a step toward her.

"You've condemned everyone!"

The words stung. Bernard winced. There was a lot of guilt he carried, more after today. Meditation wasn't going to cut it for that.

"I know," his words were too quiet to be audible.

Before he knew what was happening, a wave hit him like a speeder truck, and his body shot backwards, too fast to maintain balance. He tumbled over onto his back, left bewildered from the sudden attack.

How did she ...?

"Please stop."

Bernard fought himself up to his feet against the dizziness that rang in his head, staggered once, and started towards the Sith again once he caught his balance.

"I can't do them all."

He unwrapped the overcoat and approached, kneeling beside the woman.

"Yeah. We need to get out. There's not enough time left," he said, slipping into that detached, half-reassuring, and rehearsed tone of an officer of the law. He lifted the overcoat around the Sith, weary of dropping it on her shoulders before he was absolutely sure the sudden weight wouldn't just worsen her current state.

"Listen, we need to go."


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Location: Korriban Sith Academy - Library
Writing With: Bernard Bernard


She could feel it burning through her veins as he approached her, driving her insane as she tried to contain it. He lifted her up. They had no choice, they had to run.

There were more bombs.

Korriban lived inside of her, the fever rising as it sang for her to surrender. Her head lulled into his shoulders, the battle within unseen as he carried her for the halls. Her lips moved fervently, her whispers unheard. Not again, no- She was going under.

Blue eyes faded to red as they moved through the temple of the dead.

The stun shattered from her limbs, the weight he carried growing lighter. The cost of her new strength stopped mattering. Time ticked in the back of her mind, her renewed focused tunneled into one thing-- survival. They approached an intersection. She grabbed his sleeve and wordlessly jerked him to the left.

"I have a way out."

And she did. He just wasn't gonna like it. Left- right, up- any moment now and they were dead. They spilled into a hanger, the final evac ship full of vital artifacts revving to leave. Faces turned to gape. Aradia turned on Bernard and pulled his gun out of his belt. The barrel hit underneath his chin.

She took it off of stun.

"If you want to live, do as I say," she hissed, vibrant red eyes looking up at him intensely.

"Aradia?" Came the familiar female voice.

"Get in the ship."

"What is a jedi doing here?"

"He's going to answer my questions."
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Objective: Get out alive, don't betray the Alliance
Foe: Darth Daiara Darth Daiara
Jedi Strike Team Vos

\\ > Status Unknown
It's Never Over (Hey Orpheus)
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A metallic click drew his glance down, but before he could make out the source, his chin hit something cold and circular that pressed into his skin.

His hand instinctively reached for his blaster, but he froze as the Sith stepped into view, glaring.

"If you want to live, do as I say," she hissed. Some madness seemed to take ahold of her eyes.

Bernard's spine tingled in that uncomfortable way whenever his nerves kicked into overdrive. He was acutely aware of the flush of warmth through his arms and legs as his heart started to pump blood with greater vigour. Beads of sweat began to coat the inside of his palms, and he felt the sudden need to swallow.

"Aradia?" The voice came from inside the transport. In his heightened state of alert, he drew the connection to the acolyte in the library. He shifted his gaze from his captor to the transport. The kid he saw had to be a teenager still.

"Get in the ship," Aradia, he assumed, said.

With the barrel of a blaster to his chin, he didn't much want to argue. Especially not when there was a live bomb closeby, and the fuse was too short to get to his X-Wing.

He followed the Sith's lead into the belly of the transport ship. His movements were careful and slow, an attempt to match her pace.

"What is a Jedi doing here?" The other acolyte asked. He was of a similar age as his friend. Both wore dark tunics with purple trims that resembled dyed Jedi tunics.

"He's going to answer my questions," Aradia answered, drawing Bernards gaze back. His face was tense, but he didn't let it betray anything other than an undivided focus.

The transport's hangar bay door hissed and sealed itself shut, and the lighting shifted to a burgundy that Bernard only knew from emergency lights, but that seemed to be turning into a common theme in Sith construction.

"Listen, Aradia, ..." he started. It was a calm tone, reassuring. Nothing about it shifted from the Marshal professionalism drilled into him throughout the academy, despite the discomfort his nerves fed his senses.

His entire body was tense. The overcoat's fabric chafed against his shoulders with every rise and fall of his chest. Several strands of hair had come loose from his braid and now stuck to the side of his face. Each beat of his heart sent a wave through his whole body that made him feel both powerful and powerless with the cold metal of a blaster barrel pressed against his chin. He couldn't remember the last time he'd felt so alive.


"Shut up."

She weaseled the saber out of his hand, the barrel of the gun pressing harder into his chin as she did so. The gesture threatened immediate injury for his resistance. Not that it would get him anywhere. He was outnumbered on a ship full of sith.

She belted his saber, the drag of takeoff weighing down on her joints as she shoved him into a bench. She lowered herself across from him, the blaster held confidently at her core. It remained aimed on him, even when a sudden shock wave hit the ship. Alarms blared, the standing Acolytes slamming into walls and each other.

"What was that?"

Aradia braced herself against the ship wall, her splayed out feet keeping her grounded. The force screamed out the chaos. She flinched, the wash of darkness threatening her feeble control.

"That. Was the Jedi." Her fingers turned white on the blaster, the weapon shaking.

"Chit. The bomb? Felicia's still down there! And Dim."

"Should we go back for them?"

She held Bernard's gaze, unwavering as the ship righted and the countless lives snuffed out underneath them. "They're dead."

 
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