The Path Diverges (Republic Dominion of Onderon/Dxun)

[Padak Arciso]

Dxun
Idej eht

When the fighting started, Padak had no choice but to duck behind a ruin. He had no lightsaber of his own, having yet to travel to Ilum. He began doing what he could. As enemy snipers shot near him, he sent a chunk of rock flying back with the Force. He didn't want to grab a blaster, as he was a horrible shot at a distance. He needed a lightsaber. Thankfully no Jedi had been hurt yet, but at the same time it left Padak without any weapons but the Force. He hesitantly poked his head up, looking for @[member="Darron Wraith"] . He saw him fighting off snipers. Padak saw the blaster bolt deflected by his Master, and sent a chunk of ruins at the sinper's general direction. He tried sending a message with the Force.

"Master....need help....no lightsaber."

 

[Kaia L'cwa]

She walked, not far behind her Master, but something didn't feel right to her. No matter how the others talked, she couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong, and she couldn't stop looking everywhere. She paused in her walking and sniffed at the air. What she smell disturbed her and she mewled a little forlornly. Death. She smelled death. But not death in the sense that someone had recently become deceased. It was death in the sense that it was planned. This place reeked of the darkside, but it also reeked of very real scents. Adrenaline, anticipation, trepidation, anxiety. She traced a finger in a circle, claw drawing against her thigh. She was nervous. Not just nervous about what she felt, but nervous that she wasn't ready for what was coming.

But it was too late. Things changed in seconds. Artillery fire began to rain down around them and she panicked for a moment, standing in utter shock at the devastation. A blaster shot came so close to hitting her that some of the fur on her cheek was singed. That was enough to snap her out of it and she reached around to her back to pull the discblade free. Just in time, too. One of the Sith was coming down at her, his saber swinging to her head. She brought the discblade up to class, and the cortosis shorted the mans saber. Kaia danced in and slashed her blade at the mans shocked face, cutting a line from forehead to left cheek. The Sith clutched at his face and fell to the ground. Kaia felt no remorse as she killed him.

Turning again, he saw some of the others run off to deal with the towers. Even their ships were starting to turn and fire on them. She heard her Master's orders and turned towards one of the ships. She could stay and fight, but the ships needed to be dealt with. Rearing back, she slung her blade, guiding it telekinetically to fly through the air and slam into one of the gun pods on the side, shattering the glass and slamming into the chest of the gunner. He died and she recalled the blade to her hand before dashing towards the ships. I will work on the ships, Master. Please stay safe. Her words drifted through the Force to Darron. In the heat of the moment, she'd forgotten he didn't like her to call him Master.

 

[Sal Katarn]

Brown eyes flicked between the enemy hostiles. Kill box. Seth's heart began racing. The next few moments transpired in what seemed like slow motion. He dropped to the floor, barely ducking beneath a sudden barrage of blaster fire. Lances of red energy spattered into the expeditionary force. People started dying. Puffs of pink mist filled the air as ancient slug throwers wielded by unseen snipers began to take their toll. Blood spattered onto Seth as a dead soldier nearly fell on him, scarlet rushing from his open neck like a river. Shorn rolled onto his back and withdrew his blaster pistol. He lay just next to one of the transports. On top of the transport, a manned E-web blaster repeater was laying death into the Republic troops with a stream of plasma. Taking careful aim, Seth pulled the trigger twice. Two bolts spat forth and slammed into the Nikto who manned the E-web. They tore through flesh and bone, charring them to black. The Nikto fell off the transport with a grunt.

All around Seth the battle raged in full force. Strange beasts had joined in with the Sith to attack them. The company was swiftly being overwhelmed. Shorn may have been genetically enhanced to fight at the peak of human potential, but he was no Jedi and he definitely could not turn the tide by himself. At least, not on the ground. Seth scrambled on hands and knees back toward his starfighter.

Some catlike beast rushed toward him. He felt a sudden pain in his sides as its claws dug in, forcing him to the ground. He elbowed its face, then moved his other hand up underneath his arm. He fired multiple shots into the creature's neck. It collapsed onto him with a dying cry. Blood seeped from its neck onto his flight suit, making it slick. Shorn kicked the dead beast off of him and raced for his starfighter. His lungs heaved as he traversed the distance at great speed, his genetic enhancement lending him the agility of an athlete in prime condition. The tall grass whipped at his face. It stood between hima nd his starfighter. Seth pushed onward, blinking rapidly as the grass smacked uncomfortably into his neck, face, and hands.

Behind, he heard multiple animals rushing, he fired blindly backwards to deter them. He made it to the rail of his starfighter and grabbed hold with determined fingers. Something tore at his leg. Pain lanced through Seth. He kicked it in the face and it fell to the ground. A blaster bolt came out of nowhere and scorched the starfighter's hull next to his hand. They'd noticed him.

Hurridly, Seth opened the cockpit and jumped in. More blaster bolts slammed into the starfighter, but they did nothing more than leave a few inconveniencing dents. Shorn activated the shields and the sublight engines, which roared to life with a high pitched whine. He jammed on his helmet and the HUD blinked to life. He ignored the blood seeping from his sides and leg that began to soak the interior of the fighter. The tall grass bent as Seth's U-wing lifted off the ground. His starfighter shrieked triumphantly into the skies. This was where Seth belonged. Above the battlefield, looking down. Here, he could see it all and act accordingly. He jammed the yoke down and began a dive for the combating group. His weapon systems blinked online. A large contigent of beasts were attacking the left flank of the expeditionary force. Seth swung his fighter's nose toward them.

The tri-pronged starfighter screamed as it traversed the ground at an increasingly low altitude. The twin heavy lasers of the starfighter opened fire as Seth held down the trigger. The massive jets of plasma slammed into the ground, throwing up pillars of dirt, grass, and the flesh of the beasts who disappeared beneath them. The starfighter soared past and Seth turned to glance over his shoulder. His strafing run had cut a swathe through the beasts, freeing up the left flank of the expeditionary force. Hopefully their commander could rally them.

Shorn's attention now turned to the snipers who hid amidst the roofs. He spotted several clustered together and squeezed the trigger. Lancets of energy ripped through the hidden hostiles, hurling two off the roof with the force of the explosion.

Before Seth could eliminate the others, something clanged against the left wing of his starfighter. His head swiveled in alarm and he found a large, winged reptile latched to his port side wing. Seth sent his fighter into a barrel roll and managed to shake the creature loose. He glanced forward in relief, but his eyes opened wide in alarm once more. A whole swarm of the creatures rushed over his starfighter, their bodies slamming against the interceptor's hull. Cockpit covered in reptiles, Seth had zero visibility. His starfighter's altitude began to steadily drop as the weight of the reptiles bore him down. Shorn's eyes flicked to his heads up display. He diverted power from his weapons system and activated his SLAM overdrive. Sublight engines roared as they were flooded with power. The starfighter shot upward, shrieking through the dense, humid air of Dxun. Seth continued to climb until he reached upper atmosphere. He watched with relief as the lizards either dropped off of their own accord, or fell to their deaths, wings frozen.

Shorn sighed in relief as the last one fell off. That was close. Suddenly, a missile lock alarm shrilled high in his ears. He glanced at his radar and paled. An entire hostile fighter wing was showing on his display. Uh oh.

 

[Darron Wraith]

Dxun

Darron was deep in Vaapad, his blue and green blades a whir of energy as he calmly batted away each strike from the crimson blades around him. The Jedi Master appeared to be surrounded in a sea of red as his blades matched the intensity of his foes. For each strike the threw, he deftly blocked and parried. Each time their defenses rose he was there striking and stabbing at them as he and the trio engaged in the dance of death in the middle of the battle. All of the darkness of the area was feeding into Darron as he focused their own energies back on them, each time they upped the ferocity of their strikes the Jedi Master replied in kind. Battle raged around, yet the Jedi Master was the eye of the storm, and his deadly calm was a stark contrast to the ferocity going on around him.

It wasn't lost on him when Rosa joined on him, he noted her amazing blade work. She was using Ataru as it had been intended, and in his mind's eye he could see her leaping over and dodging her opponents power strikes. Good, she learned well. I couldn't be more proud of her. She took one of his opponents as he now had the two burly Sith Masters who came at him in the powerful strikes of Djem-So. His blades were a blur of energy as the blades hissed and moaned off of each other. Slashes came from both sides and Darron simply dodged or leapt over or around them. Their power was formidable but the Jedi Master met them head on each time, and looked like a man among boys in the process. In his mind's eye he saw Jedi Knight Karen Roberts commandeer one of the transports and he allowed a slight grin.

Karen, please take out the artillery guns first if all possible. The transports can be dodged but we are sitting ducks for these stationary guns.

Back into his dance of death, he was suddenly hit with a communication from his Padawan, Padak Arciso. Force, the boy doesn't have his lightsaber yet. Reaching out with his senses, Darron immediately found him and in mid-strike threw the deactivated lightsaber he had been using as a replacement to the one he gave to Rosa. Padak, use that blue blade well and please be careful, he sent the message as the hilt landed in the Padawan's hands. Armed with only one blade now, the Jedi sent a powerful force push out to get some distance from his opponents. Darron managed a few deflections from stray blaster bolts as he readied himself for what was to come next. Kaia interrupted his reverie by confirming his orders, and he quickly replied before going back into Vaapad. Kaia, be careful, and do not call me Master....

The first Sith charged, and Darron met him head on, their blades hissing at each other as they pushed against one another. He could feel the veins in his neck throbbing as he held his ground and pressed his blade against the darksider's blade. The Force showed him the other Sith Master trying to maneuver behind him. The Force told him when to move, and without question Darron rolled out of the way as the Sith Master impaled his comrade straight in the chest. With a quick pull of the Force, Darron pulled the dying Sith's lightsaber hilt to his hand and activated the crimson blade. Not the best weapon, but I must make due I suppose. Now armed, he charged the other Sith. His blinding speed soon overwhelmed the Sith Lord before him, and as his guard dropped Darron followed through on his feint even though the man's blade wasn't there to block it. The smell of burnt flesh filled the air as the Sith's head fell to the ground and his body fell to it's knees before collapsing.

He managed a quick glance in Rosa's direction before moving towards the center of the park they had been in, the temples surrounding the Jedi. His green and borrowed crimson blades worked feverishly to block blaster fire as he tried to set up a defensive position for the ambushed Jedi. All Jedi I haven't given orders to do other tasks, to me now, it's time we take the fight to them!

 

[Jsc]

Dxun
@Jedi

Another transport exploded into flames as Karen exhausted her torpedo count. The wind blew across the smashed cockpit as she responded to Darron's call for Artillery Duty.

"...Heh."

She smirked underneath her helm and threw her transport forward. Charging headlong at the artillery positions. She wrapped the stick up in the safety harness and opened the rear hatch. Leaping from her seat she rounded down the cabin and jumped out the back of the transport vessel. The large vessel which came crashing down on the first of the Artillery placements in a ball of flame.

Roberts drifted down over the rooftops and rolled to her feet. She transfered all her kinetic force into the rooftop to custion her landing. Splitting the rock in several places with a loud crack. She only smirked and began running towards the second emplacement. However, a large creature with a massive wings began to soar over-top her sprint.

"Gegh? What is..."

With a scream and a lunge the creature smashed downward onto the building. Karen was forced to roll to avoid it's talons. The beast was a Drexl. And it was not happy at all.

"Feh!"

Her Disruptor was too small to damage the beast. So she ignited her saber-staff and threw it like a spear. Bursting the weapon right through the beast's chest and pushing it flying out the creature's back. The winged creature was stunned enough by the blow that it disengaged to go and die elsewhere. Karen simply closed her eyes and summoned her blade back to her like a boomerang.

"Heh! Now. ...Time to finish off those guns!"

She made a mad dash for the last of the Artillery pieces. Mindful of the chaos around her.

 

[Padak Arciso]

Catching Darron's lightsaber, Padak jumped into the main battle, using a chunk of rock as a shield with the Force. He activated the glowing blue blade, feeling the Force resonate through it and him, he swung at a priest, who cried out in pain as his chest was sliced. The wound wouldn't kill him, but it would keep the priest out of the fight.

An artillery blast knocked Padak off of his feet, and the large chunk of rock fell nearby,peppering him with dust and grit. Pulling himself to his feet, trying to clear the ringing in his ears, he heard his Master's message. Shaking his head, he Force jumped over a damaged wall, landing near @[member="Darron Wraith"] .

"Fun, eh Master? Much better than those probe droids!" he said, as he blocked a blaster bolt.

He then called on the Force, lifting a chunk of rock from the ground, and flung it at an artillery unit. The projectile missed, but it hit below the cannon, damaging the tower it was on. Unfortunately, calling on the Force near the center of the Sith temple was probably not the best idea for a Padawan. He felt the nausea hit again. This time it was strong enough that he nearly collapsed, and a priest took advantage of the opportunity and fired at him, hitting Padak's shoulder.

"Argh!"

 

[Elara Hulis]

Despite having some help from a few Jedi, Elara quickly felt overwhelmed by the number of dark siders and beasts before her. She was quick to block the brutish attacks of these Sith worshipers, yet she continuously felt pressured. Her blue practice blade managed to make contact with several of her foes, yet all it did was shock and slightly scorch them.

Feeling as if she required a true weapon to deal with the challenge ahead of her, Elara attempted to steal a weapon from one of the Sith just as Darron Wraith had. As more Sith began to focus on her more skill comrades, Elara soon found herself in a one-on-one bout against a young-looking cultist with a crimson lightsaber. A swift skirmish ensued as Elara continue to whack at the Sith with her practice saber. Though her strikes were not lethal, they whittled down the constitution of the cultist to the point that he dropped the lightsaber.

Without hesitation, Elara stretched out an open hand toward the lightsaber and called upon the Force. Through telekinesis , the weapon shot toward Elara. When close enough, she grabbed the dark colored hilt and ignited it. A red glow washed over her face as faint smile formed. Her head turned back toward the cultist that lost his weapon. With one stroke, Elara slashed at his head with her smile morphing into a frown. Then, her blue practice lightsaber made contact with his temple - her attack's intention being non-lethal. The cultist immediately collapsed due to a concussion and would have been no harm for the rest of this conflict.

Immediately after the cultist fell to the ground, Elara deactivated her practice saber and clipped it to her belt. She had little skill in fighting with two lightsaber blades and felt confident enough to fight with a real one - despite its blade being red.

Looking up, Elara saw a way for her to reach the rooftops with ease. She ran toward a few crates stacked up near the wall and used them to boost herself up. With ease, she managed to get to the top of a building which was on the opposite side of the field as Karen Roberts with the Jedi being in between.

Before her was an anti-aircraft gun. Its operator seemed to be observing the battle, waiting for any sign of Republic reinforcements. The operator noticed Elara too late. The Padawan was already rushing for this new cultist when he noticed her and attempted to draw his blaster pistol. With a single swing, Elara dismembered the hand that held the blaster. The operator began to back up in fear, which made Elara respond by simply pushing him off the roof with a little nudge of the Force.

Once the operator had been dealt with, Elara turned toward the AA gun. She saw a power cord that ran from the gun, across the roof, and down the side of the building she stood on. With ease, Elara severed the power cord - causing the gun to go limp. One turret down, many more to go.

 

[Davin Jusik]

Jusik's men responded to the closing of the heavy stone doors the best way they knew how. High powered very portable explosives.

Davin didn't even need to give the order, his soldiers did it immediately. By the Force he loved being in the Military.

His soldiers pushed in, killing the few who'd been left to guard the door and pushing further into the building, reaching a large ornate staircase. Half went to assist @[member="Delila Castillon"] and the rest helped him secure the staircase and hallway proceeding it. Davin's men moved silently throughout the upper levels, clearing room by room with bayonets and a few gunshots. If the Supreme Commander was on this level he would be able to here the approach of the Infantry by the occasion friendly gunshot and screams of the enemy.

 

[Judah Dashiell]

@[member="Flint Pherson"]

"Copy Commander".

Sweat started to collect around the neck of his flightsuit. This was the young pilots first real dogfight. There were always sims at Academy, mock dogfights in the sky. However not it was life and death, not pass or fail. Flipping the X-Wing around, Judah followed the rest of his squad the enemy fighters. According the helmet chatter they were all but antique, no match for their modified X-Wings.

Before he knew it the Squad was in the thick of things, energy bolts flying all around him.If he made it out of this alive it was going to be a miracle. Keeping a finger on the trigger for his own weapons, Judah joined in the fray, weaving in and out. Soon he was on the tails of the enemy, firing in rapid succession before the pair broke away and was on his own tail.

 

[Flint Pherson]

Expeditionary Fleet
Charging Atmosphere
@[member="Judah Dashiell"]

The lights on the bridge of the flagship ran red as sparks flew out from the ceiling. The walls shook with every missile blast the massive vessel took.

"...Report!"
"Shields holding Admiral! But just barely. Many of their bombers are getting through and we are absorbing as much missile fire as we can hold."

*boom*

"Bring us into the Atmosphere and warn the hangers. It's going to be a rough drop. Com's!? ...Where are my IFF's?"
"Tracking friendly units at the rural Temple site. Just here ma'am. It's the 73rd and the procession troopers. They say the Commander has been captured."

"Damn it. This wasn't an invitation. It was a trap."
"Admiral. Jedi forces are engaging hostiles on the moon as well."

"Well we can't be in two places at once. We'll have to rescue the Supreme Commander and the 73rd. Then we'll pull away and get to the moon. Tell the hangers to stand by. ...How are our Fighter Numbers?"
"Holding ma'am. Even outnumbered at least three to one, our fighters are giving them hell."

"Keep coordinating our Turbolaser blasts against the enemy's flight trajectory. We'll make them fly right into our guns."

*boom* *boom*

"...Shields at 20% Admiral! But we're losing frigates fast. Their shields are not as strong as ours and the Ondi bombers are blowing them to bits."
"Understood. Push through!"

"Admiral! Lieutenant Michaels says he can rig the missile tubes to explode their payloads in a proximity detonation. He wants to use it against the enemy bombers around the ship."
"...How long?"

"Already prepped ma'am!"
"Then do it! ...Com's. Warn our Flyboys. Then fire all the capital missiles in ten seconds. And let's pray they don't rip us apart too."

The Star Defender unleashed a large volley of missiles against the nearby enemy fighters. Friendly pilot were advised to bug out. Within only moments the dark of space around the Salvation-Class vessel was lined with white plumes of flame. Knocking aside many of the circling vessels that threatened to break her shields in two.

"Volley success Admiral. Skies are clear around the ship and our shields are already recycling!"
"...That's one down. A thousand more to go."

 

[Gezzo]

Gezzo soared through the air towards the temple; the men behind him were armed with Jetpacks. It was a unique request made by Gezzo to have his men armed with jetpacks, one that was accepted due to Gezzo’s unique biological make up. The battle was already in full swing, blaster fire and artillery were tearing the planets surface asunder. The Geonosian was to enter the temple from a balcony at its peak, leading his unit downwards and trapping the enemy between two advancing forces.


Gezzo could see the balcony past the rising smoke in the air, on it stood four figures guarding the entrance. It seemed that these “white guards” were not as naïve as they looked, they obviously suspected a tactic like this. In mid flight, Gezzo unhooked the traditional Geonosian spear that hung on his back. Drawing his right hand backwards, Gezzo took aim as he flew, a skill longed honed from warfare on his home planet. With the force of five humans, Gezzo sent the spear flying through the air and towards the closest target. The spear flew straight and true, impacting its target like a bullet and piercing right through him. The guard that, was Gezzo’s victim, hung backwards in suspension on the staff that had gone straight through and now rested on the stone floor of the balcony.


“Fire!” Gezzo yelled in booming click in his native tongue. His warriors, who had long learned the clicks meaning, opened fire on the remaining guards. Gezzo joined in the pelting storm with his own sonic blaster, the combined fire obscuring the small balcony in a dust bowl of debris. Gezzo and his men did not stop to wait for the debris to clear, instead they charged right in. There was few more burst of fire before the smoke cleared, but when it did Gezo could see that the fire storm had claimed every guard as a victim. Smiling at the sizzling corpses, Gezzo turned to his men with eyes burning hotter than the bodies with primitive blood lust “Move!” Gezzo shouted in rough basic, firing his sonic blaster at the door and easily blowing it into confetti of stone shrapnel.


This temple would burn, just like the hives on Geonosis……

 

[Delila Castillon]

@Davin Jusk | @[member="Gezzo"] | @[member="Flint Pherson"]

War droids. Just the sight of them made her stomach drop. Sheer numbers and force were no match for such machines, it took wits and strategy. Regaining her composure and quickly, Delila fanned out with Bravo Company, soldiers were finding cover behind the pillars,stairs and corners closest to the back exit. The roar of battle was deafening, the Captain sure she was going to have hearing loss come days end.

With many of the heavy gunners up front providing cover, it allowed Delila to control the battlefield. She had Bravo Company spread in a slight semicircle, leaving the entrance they had just blown open in case a retreat needed to be made. The War Droids were putting up an excellent fight and killing off a good number of her soldiers. The calls for Medics were drowned over the noise inside the stone Temple.

Working her way over to Sergeant Malik, Delila needed her skills now. Pulling the young Zabrak female behind a pillar, Delila got close to the techs ear, yelling orders. In no way was she being rude, it was simply the only way to hear.

"Malik, we're going to blow up those pillars." The Captain pointed to four pillars supporting the balcony, pillars that lie directly behind the war droids. If they could collapse the entire area on top of the droids it would greatly push the battle in their favor.

"Gather the Techs. Start bombing away"

With the command, the Explosive Expert for Bravo Company got to work-rounding up her techs from the front lines. Using cover fire provided by the heavy gunners and second line of infantry, a volley of grenades and thermal detonators were deployed at the base of all four pillars.Shortly before the explosives went off, Delila heard explosions in another part of the Temple. Delta Company must have arrived.

Delta Company's explosions had barely stopped when Bravo Company's discharged, creating a wave of heat and dust, along with a roar of sound. It wouldn't be until the dust settled would they know if their plan had worked....

 

[Flint Pherson]

Temple of the Nine
Meeting the Queen
@Davin Jusk @[member="Gezzo"] @[member="Delila Castillon"] @[member="Maelion Liates"]

"Some invitation. Feh."
"Oh do try to relax Commander. Even as we speak your Fleet is being torn to pieces by my Royal Pilots. Sadly. There will be nothing left for you to go home to. Your men will be trapped on this planet and made... Examples of. Haha. And it won't be long before my brothers hear of my deeds. Oh no. I'm afraid Commander that this sector will never belong to the Republic and it's short-sighted doctrines of peace. No. Very soon. All the Galaxy will serve the Dark Side of the Force. Very soon you, will bow before us."

"Ya know. Very soon, I'm going to break out of these pretty little cables. And then I'm going to show you people just what the Dark Side really looks like. Though a hole in your tiny little skulls."
"Oh my. How amusing. But I dare say you'll make for a wonderful public sacrifice. Don't you think so too Archbishop?"

"Your Highness. The coup of the Military did not go as planned. The General is running behind and there are a ravenous number of Republic soldiers already in the Lobby. Please. We cannot stay here another instant."
"Silence! I am the Queen Matriarch. You will do as I say. The War Droids will deal with the Republic procession."

"Your Majesty. It is not just the procession. They have brought a whole division of soldiers with them. I must protest. We do not outnumber them anymore."
"What!? ...Damn it. Well. It appears I've underestimated you Commander."

"Heh. Not me. You've underestimated the most elite fighting-force in the galaxy. ...Tsk tsk tsk. Bad little Queen. Who's gonna save you now."

A bolt of Sith Lightning arched from her long black fingers and struck the Supreme Commander to the earth. He would have shouted in pain if his lungs would have allowed him to do so. Instead Flint simply groaned from the shock and lurched around on the floor as the smoke billowed off him. Being struck by lightning was not a fun experience. At all.

"...Silence churl! You will not speak to your betters in such a way."
"Your highness. They have broken through the front door! We must escape."

"Very well. Axart. Vitnab. Keep your Sith Knights here and delay them through the door. The Commander and I will be taking the tunnel to the River."
"Understood Queen Matriarch. Our lives for the Krath. Death to the Xenos."

"You two. Grab that thing, on the floor. The General will want him alive."

Five beings then left the throne room by a secret exit. Leaving only the remaining Priests of the 'The Shining Cloak' to guard the door. They ignited their crimson lightsabers and awaited the Republic Troopers to breach the entryway. The Sith were ready.

But unknown to the Queen, the Archbishop, and the large Jade Soldiers carrying the burnt Supreme Commander. A certain replica assassin droid had already discovered this exit. And this marble passageway had many dark corners to hide.

 

[Gezzo]

The air sizzled around the Geonosian as he and his company began their assault downwards through a narrow corridor where the men had to practically stack onto each others backs to shoot at the enemy. Gezzo was at home in these conditions, in the War of Corruption the largest battles took place in hives where most the interiors consisted of mainly corridors no bigger than this hallway. His men were a different story, they were not trained in any of the formations regularly used by the Geonosians for these conditions and this made it difficult for Gezzo. This and the fact that many battles resulted in the use of melee weapons, which his men were also not effectively trained in for these conditions. Already his unit had taken four casualties and they had barely made it through the door. The main opposition his unit was facing were softies, Republic slang for non-droid targets.

With a series of loud clicks and whistles, Gezzo shouted orders to his troops "Front line stay down! Mid line stay crouched and back line stand straight!" . His troops would receive his orders by way of translators, but without training trying to get them into formation would be like trying to teach a Nerf to ride a unicycle "Stay stacked! Don't break formation!" . Plasma rounds were barely missing the Geonosian, who was in the front line firing his sonic rifle into the crowd. The green pulses were unique to the firefight as he brought the rifle against regulations, but the weapon was doing a superb job. It impacted the targets like a freight train and crushed their bodies inward like an aluminum can. He had the power turned down to a much lower setting than the one he had used to blow the door down with, but even at the lower setting it caused absolute devastation.

"Grenade out!" Gezzo heard from on the front line men right before a thermal detonator arched through the air and over to the stacked enemies who were scurrying over each other to get away from the advancing wall of fire. The explosion rocked the hallway and kicked a up a storm of dust and debris that washed over his comrades like a wave. The sound of rocks falling preceded the sight of them doing so, as did the yelling of hostiles who had survived the explosion. When the grey smoke and cloud of debris began to settle, the hall in front of the unit was revealed to be covered in horrific gore. It reminded the Geonosian of his homeworld, and deep inside him he could feel primal urges beginning to take over. The sight of such violence was bringing out the true warrior in him, the need to kill and fight that was breed into him when his genes were altered in that lab. Without a flinch he began to execute the survivors one by one, grinning as their head exploded into a red and pink mess.

When the last of the survivors had been dealt with, the bug spotted a ventilation shaft in the ceiling. It was small, much to small for a fully armored soldier to crawl up into, but for the unarmored Geonosian it was no problem. "Continue assaulting down and meet up with Bravo, i'm going to take a look see." Gesso said in his native tongue as he hovered up to the shaft, grabbed the cover and tossed it off and crawled into the darkness beyond.

 

[Maelion Liates]

Maelion's progress had been rather quiet and uninterrupted. Whatever the Onderon Queen and her thugs might be good at, they had little in the way of modern tech. Thus the HRD had found her way into the tunnel. Taking cover in a shadowy niche of the river path, Maelion waited for the guards and the Queen to pass, then stepped out behind them. Her blasters came up and shot down the man carrying @[member="Flint Pherson"]. The bolts smacked into the Jade Guardian, and he fell with a terrible scream.

Now the Queen and the priest faced Maelion. "You think you can-" the Queen began.
Maelion did not have time for speeches, so she fired right at the woman. Unfortunately, it wouldn't be that easy with this one, as she deflected the bolt away. From her hands came a blast of crackling lightning. As the energy crawled over her, Maelion twitched, but stepped forward, relentless, unstoppable. Her blaster fired again, and the Queen had to stop her attack to defend herself.
Maelion jumped at her, wrestling with the woman, and soon got an advantage, even with the slight paralysis caused by the lightning. However, the Queen blasted her again, and the priest stabbed her. Turning, Maelion threw down the Archbishop and stomped on his neck. There was a crack and a gurgle. Looking back, Maelion found the Queen had fled down the tunnel.

Still twitching and dragging one leg from the after-effects of the lightning, she looked down at Flint. "Sir...you have sus-sus-sustained injury," she said. Her skin and clothes were burnt, and metal could be seen under her skin in several places. Still, she was on her feet, even if the Queen had escaped.

 

[Rosa Gunn]

Dxun
The force flowed through Rosa as she leapt and spun around the Sith, the blue blade a blur as she pushed the offensive driving him back, trying to find an opening in his defence as she slowly began to lose herself in the fight, no longer seeing but feeling the sith in front of her, her empathy projecting to envelop him, sensing his fear as she began to again the upper had hand. Another leap, a feint, a thrust. Pain, his not hers. Rosa blinked, suddenly seeing the blue saber had driven through his chest, she deactivated the blade as he sank to his knees, his eyes wide with shock, fear resonating from him to crash against her in waves.

"I'm sorry." she whispered, here hand reaching out to touch his face. A stray blaster bolt slammed into him knocking him from her fingertips and into the ground. Shaken, she was snapped back to the battle around her. Reactivating the blade in her hand she began furiously batting blaster fire aside, a strange ache in her soul. she had killed him. She had killed the sith.

Darron's command made her move, jumping from one fallen rock to the next she bounced across the battle field again, picking up one of the huge stones behind her she threw it towards the priests with the force scattering them, and giving them a few seconds of reprieve from blaster fire. She landed lightly on Darron's other side, not meeting his eye, afraid that if she did the emotion she was barely keeping under wraps would come spilling forth. The battlefield was hardly the place for that discussion.

His padawans comment drew a spike of anger and sorrow from her, but she held her tongue, only just.

 

[Flint Pherson]

Temple of the Nine
A Queen who Flees
@[member="Maelion Liates"]

"...Sustained injury eh?"

He threw off his helm and took a few deep breaths. He didn't feel so hot right now. He kinda felt like, well; he kinda felt like how Maelion looked right now. Dragging.

"Heh. You ain't looking so pretty yourself. Heh. ...Now. Ugh. Help me up." *urk*

He leaned against the wall as his body dealt with the dehydration common to being electrocuted. Feeling like a fish out of water.

"Let's grab the grenades from off those soldiers belts. We'll blow up the Sith Knights behind us and catch up with the 73rd. Two birds. Two grenades each. Heh."

Flint touched his wrist com and brought up the IFF's. They were close now.

"Come on Agent Liates. Give this old man a hand. We're still got a battle to win."

 

[Maelion Liates]

Maelion hauled @[member="Flint Pherson"] up with one arm, holding him up and dragging him back up the path. They had their grenades ready, and when they reached the top of the ramp into the Temple. Maelion leaned Flint against the wall and found the internal door controls.
With a hiss they ground open, much to the astonishment of the Sith who were guarding the door. This was not to last as Maelion tossed the grenades in. She'd set them to impact detonation, so when one of the Sith tried to bat it back with the Force it exploded in their face. As Flint tossed in his grenades too soon all but one of the Sith were down, and this last one fled.

"@[member="Delila Castillon"], @[member="Davin Jusik"], I have found the Commander. Please bring a medical team, he has sustained injuries."
Maelion herself arranged her hair around her face so the tell-tale glint of metal wouldn't show where possible....

 

[Gezzo]

Clink, clank, click, click, clank

The Geonsoian was squeezed shoulder to shoulder in the vent as he made his way into the unknown. Perhaps this wasn't such a good idea on the bugs part, by the time he finally popped out somewhere the Republic could be gone and the battle over. It seemed like he had been crawling forever and the vertical drops he met lead him to suspect he was much lower in the temple than he had started. He supposed he would just try and enjoy the fact that he was in a cramped space like back home again. It was about this time that the bug heard something clattering below him, it sounded like running, and by the sounds of it it was a very light creature. Gezzo quickly crawled his way to the nearest grate and looked through it to the ground below. He was slightly ahead of whatever was making the noise, so he did not see anything immediately. That's when he saw a woman high tailing it down the a tunnel, it looked like she had a lightsaber in hand. Gezzo hissed quietly and looked ahead of him, the shaft took a unexpected vertical jump, there was no way to get ahead of her quickly, if he hoped to catch whoever this was he needed to pop up behind her.

Quickly Gezzo lifted his hand and slammed it down on the grate, his strength knocking the metal covering right out of its place. Like a flash of lighting he dove head first into the tunnel and used his wings to beat the air and keep him from breaking his neck. The woman turned around and it quickly became evident that she was a darksider when she launched in arch of lighting in Gezzo's direction. He barely dodged the attack and clung to the left wall of the tunnel with his sticky palms, drawing his spear in the same motion. The darksider tried to redirect her attack and hit the bug, but he launched from the wall like a missile, using his wings to propel him down the tunnel. His spear was out in front of him, but as he got close the darksider swung at the bug, clipping his wing and sending him spiraling to the ground. Gezzo impacted the ground and tumbled a few feet before coming to a rough stop about four yards from his target. He stumbled to his feet and took a glance at his left wing, it had been cut in half and was sizzling as the wound burned slightly. His wing would be useless to him now, they were made to grow back but the cauterization would see that this was impossible.

Gezzo turned his gaze to the female darksider in front of him, his anger rising as the fact his wing was destroyed fueled him. "You will die her darksider, no one takes the wing of a warrior and lives to tell the tale!" Gezzo yelled in his native tongue. He held his left hand at the base of the tip of the spear and his right at the back and grabbing the bottom of it in an underhand fashion, this was the way of the Geonsosian warrior. He had been taught to fight with his spear in this fashion since he was a youngling, his stance and holding of his weapon perfected by his race over hundreds of thousands of years for fighting in the close spaces of their hives. He would strike at her with quick, violent movements, there would be no twirling or fancy deflections like the way most Jedi and Sith fought. There were only two things, life and death, his enemy and him and every strike would be meant to end his opponent in one swift attack. With one leg back and the other forward he studied the stance of his opponent, who looked at him with disgust

"You disgusting overgrown insect, I will crush you!" the darksider, a Queen unbeknownst to Gezzo, yelled. As soon as the words left her mouth Gezzo, leaped at her, driving his spear up towards her face. It was easily deflected but that was not unexpected, the reason for the way he held his spear was for this exact attack. Just as the spear made contact with her blade, he drove his left hand down and brought his left hand up high above his head and lunged it forward, turning his upward attack into a drill meant to impale his enemy at the waist. The darksider saw this at the last minute and moved, but the spear still slid cleanly across her thigh, opening up a wound that cut to the bone. The Queen stumbled back, a cry of pain suppressed as she tried to regain hr footing. The placement of the attack had not rendered her immobile and no major arteries or veins were cut. IF she was not a force-user she would bleed out eventually, but Gezzo suspected she could still survive without medical attention long enough to kill him. Even so, the slight victory brought a pride to the Geonosian, who readopted his stance

"No darksider, you are not a true warrior, and you will die like all the rest of the Sith who curse this galaxy."

 

[Darron Wraith]

Green and red spiraled around the Jedi Master as blaster bolts kept being shot back to their original owners. Judging from what he was feeling in the Force, the majority of the Sith were retreating back to the inside of the temple. They where hoping that the beasts of Dxun, and their weapons and transports would thin the ranks of the Jedi, it was a cowards strategy. Yet the problem with cowards was that most were smart, and though no losses had been taken yet, the combat was beginning to take it's toll on the Jedi forces. Darron was in the middle of it, they eye of the storm. Every bolt sent his way was carelessly deflected right back to it's sender, every explosion was dodged. The Jedi was fully within the Force, and he was a blur of motion as he worked around and within the assembled group in the center of the walkway. Pride threatened to swell in his chest as he noticed his students more than holding their own, a testament to their hard work. He quickly squashed that thought though, as another rose to the surface.

I can fight like this all day, but can they?

The question formed was a good one, after all Darron was used to this. In fact it was originally why he hadn't been too pleased with being sent to Dxun in the first place instead of going to aid the Mandolorians. Instead Master Teferi had opted to go do that while sending Darron on what had originally been meant to be a diplomatic mission. Guess the wise one knew was he was doing after all, a smile crossing his face as he deflected another blaster shot. The Grand Master had a way of making decisions at first that seemed to run contrary to conventional wisdom yet in the end they had worked out. Darron made a mental note to apologize to the aged Jedi Grand Master upon their return from their respective missions. He noticed another drexl fall to his blades as he was in the middle of his reverie, yet the Master continued to work.

All Jedi, begin to use your powers as diversions. They intend to thin our numbers from the skies, we can't let that happen. Should any be able to get up to the remaining two towers it would be greatly appreciated.

Darron felled another Sith apprentice with an errant strike of his blade as the foolish woman tried to ambush him from behind. His parry had intended to only blow her strike, yet she had foolishly lowered her guard. He briefly mourned her loss in the Force as he started to work his way to the very front of the group, all the while dodging the fire from the few remaining transports above them. "Rosa, cover my back while I do this. Padak, try to keep that last snipe occupied so that I can see you become a Knight alright?" His tone was serious yet slightly playful as he marched to the forefront of the group all the while deflecting everything coming his way. He managed a wink towards Rosa, and a smile at Padak as he finally reached the point he had intended to be at all along. Quickly he deactivated his lightsabers and clipped them to his belt, all the while allowing the Force to flow heavily into him for what he was about to do.

"Size matter's not Darron, with the Force anything can be achieved."

Master Teferi's words filled his head as he extended his will and senses skyward to the transports, he visualized his senses wrapping around them like hands. In his mind's eye he could feel it being done and the Jedi Master worked quickly to avoid putting his charges in any extra danger defending him. He wasn't going to try and pull them to the ground, the time required for that wasn't available, and he wouldn't dare endanger those who had volunteered for what was originally a diplomatic mission. Instead, he took advantage of the tight formation they where hovering in. Sometimes subtlety combined with amazing focus had incredible results, and right now the Jedi Master was going for that approach. With great concentration and force of will the ships began to move closer and closer in on each other. Their thrusters whirled and screamed in protest as within a few seconds the transports began to get painful close, until they were touching. Blue eyes intently focused on the results in the heavens, Darron pushed further and the Force came to his aid like always.

"To save lives, there is no more of a noble pursuit Darron."

The Grand Master's teachings rang in his mind once more as Darron's focus turned to those he was with and it only made him push harder against the transports. What where thrusters and turbines against focus and the Force? As the thought crossed his mind, explosions ripped across the sky as they flew into each other and started to fall from the heavens. A smile started to form on his face as he re-drew his blades..until a wave in the Force light years away had hit him. The Jedi dropped to his knees as pain rocked him.

Oh no....