The things we do for a few credits

[Crystal]

Crystal listened to his response, and was not surprised. However, the mission was not a secret and those that wanted to come could have. She simply went along to ensure that Siara didn't get herself killed in the process. Captured was a temporary problem. As Cameron said, she just had to stay alive. That, she could do.

Now to wait. It would be at least four days before their comrades would arrive on the world, maybe even five if there were delays. Crystal had their communication device to monitor their communications. It was getting dark already, so she doubted they'd be coming for her now. Hopefully the snow would deter the jungle's predators, though none would be deadly to her considering she was in a tree and would be able to kill anything that approached without revealing her position.

So, for the moment, and until she sensed someone approaching, she sat in mediation. Hopefully until first light of day.

[member="Siara Vorru"] [member="Vladimir Kirov"] [member="Cameron Centurion"] [member="Zoey Marix"] @The Rest of the Crusade and Silver Jedi

 

[Siara Vorru]

(I am advancing things a little so we can get to the fun bits, we will assume Hasjo’s hunt for Crystal was unsuccessful despite their best efforts she was just better at eluding them.)

Sitting in her cell Siara could only wait, watching the patterns of her captors and their habits. They didn’t seem all that well equipped to be prison guards, no doubt they didn’t often have prisoners in their cells. If they did these particular soldiers didn’t spend much time on this particular duty they were clearly anxious to get out and hunt for Crystal and that preoccupation just made them that much more predictable. For now though she would bide her time, if Crystal was going to call for help reinforcements would come soon enough and that would provide exactly the distraction she required for an effective escape. Until that time she would just gather as much information about these men and whatever relief came over the next few hours and days.

A four days and multiple unfruitful interrogations later Siara was most anxious to get out of this cell, her captors seemed more anxious than ever to be somewhere other than in this room ensuring she didn’t escape even though she hadn’t shown any sign she was even going to make an escape attempt.

[member="Hasjo Hallu"] [member="Cameron Centurion"] [member="Crystal"] [member="Zoey Marix"] [member="Anaudius"] [member="Soliael Devin Talith"] [member="Amorella Mae"] [member="Azlyn Ike"] [member="Iella E'ron"] [member="Rasu Gan"] @Anyone else interested from SJ or Crusade

 

[Azlyn Ike]

[member="Siara Vorru"] [member="Vladimir Kirov"] [member="Cameron Centurion"] [member="Zoey Marix"] [member="Crystal"]

Azlyn was coming to help her master, the whatever between master and student was there she was sure of it and it didn't do well to lose your teacher early on in training that seemed to screw others up. So helping crystal and making sure she was safe with the others was the goal she had almost stowed away in the back of the ship to do... not that she needed to usually meek and diminutive was often overlooked while she spoke. "We're coming master."

 

[Cameron Centurion]

The Nemesis reverted to realspace just over four days after departing the Exocron system. Cameron was already on the flight deck of the AlAT/i, seated in the navigator's chair near the back. It gave the Sith Lord direct access and control over the vessel's many communications and scanning systems. Quickly, he entered in the appropriate frequency for [member="Crystal"]'s communicator. Just as he was about to transmit, he thought better of it and elected to dispatch a message to her datapad. No large capital vessels had departed with him - though he knew that two cruisers carrying members of their armed forces were likely only a half day to a day behind. So...unfortunately they wouldn't be getting any focused scans of the planet.

As the pilots continued to race across the system towards Cholganna proper, Cameron attempted to ascertain the location of the Priestess.

Initial forces have arrived. Need to know your position and a rough estimate of Deimos [member="Siara Vorru"]'s position relative to yours. Quickly. ETA planetside thirty minutes.

 

[Crystal]

Crystal's data pad beeped, alerting her of a message. Cameron was nearly there, which was a relief. Her muscles ached from maintaining her position in the trees. She'd only moved around a little to determine her position and keep her scent moving for the predators.

Quickly, as requested, she tapped back a message.

I am one kilometer south of the wreckage we came to salvage. The wreckage is approximately 5 kilometers North of Siara's ship. I am located approximately one kilometer away from Siara's ship. Siara's presence is a great distance away, but still there, South of her ship. I can't imagine that they walked to their base, as her presence moved much too quickly. I believe they were using transport ships, so it could be a few hundred kilometers from my position. I will move to Siara's ship and meet you there.

Crystal would wait until she could sense Cameron's presence before booting it toward Siara's ship.

[member="Cameron Centurion"] [member="Siara Vorru"]

 

[Cameron Centurion]

Cameron read the response swiftly before calling out to the flight crew. "I'm forwarding you coordinates. I want a tear-drop nap-of-the-earth approach to confirm the presence of any hostiles, then egress south and insert one click southwest of the coordinates." The Sith Lord's fingers danced over the console as he entered the information into the navicomputer and made it available to the pilots. "I'd prefer not to be shot out of the sky too."

Things didn't always go as planned, however.

[member="Crystal"] | [member="Zoey Marix"] | [member="Azlyn Ike"]

 

[Vladimir Kirov]

The sensor net reacted to the approach of the Crusade ship as well as Crystal’s movement through the jungle towards the ship the patrols had identified as belonging to the woman they had in custody at their base. They had not been able to get aboard the ship yet but there was still a team of techs there trying to slice the security system guarded by a few squads of Sixth Battalion marines and they would present a challenge for anyone who dared approach without clearance.

Meanwhile back at the base the sirens sounded bringing the entire battalion to an alert status, Vladimir and his Alpha squad amongst them. During his off time over the past couple of days the Hapan man had been honing his skills, he would not be bested by a force user so easily again. They may have all their tricks but he had years of experience. The call had been put out days ago to Voss requesting help hunting for the rogue force user they had yet to capture but Vladimir had not met anyone who had responded to the request, he had been rather busy with his new responsibilities.

[member="Hasjo Hallu"] [member="Iella E'ron"] [member="Rasu Gan"]

 

[Crystal]

Crystal slowed her approach as she neared the ship. She didn't want to make too much noise. It was likely they already knew she was on the move and thus were on alert. Silently she jumped into a tree where she could see the ship. She couldn't see all the squads, but she could feel their presences. As she waited for Cameron's ship to touch down, she counted them.

And she communicated to Cameron telepathically. ~Twenty Eight hostiles, four of them are unarmed at present and trying to break into Siara's ship. Awaiting your arrival dear.~

[member="Vladimir Kirov"] [member="Cameron Centurion"]

 

[Cameron Centurion]

"Lord Centurion...we are detecting movement in the vicinity of the objective."

The Sith Lord could only smile in response, offering no words. Unfortunately, he could not be exactly sure if the situation in the ground...otherwise he would merely lay waste to the planet's surface. In fact...he likely still would once the two females had been...recovered.

Following a series of very fast, aggressive maneuvers, the Nemesis made an abrupt approach to an identified landing zone. Repulsorlifts engines rocked several trees in the vicinity as the massive vessel made an aggressive last minute flare to stop it's horizontal velocity. At the same time, the flight crew managed the descent down to the ground, leveling out just prior to the struts compressing on the surface.

Activating the internal announcement system, he sent swift orders. "Deploy security teams." Based on the scanners, Cameron judged them to be just over a click from Siara's ship. Tapping his earpiece communicator, he informed Crystal. "We're enroute." Exiting his vessel, Cameron left instructions for the vessel to have all security protocols activated. He then dispatched two of his four-man recon teams to scout the area and setup fallback positions should they become necessary.

 

[Vladimir Kirov]

Reports of another ship landing near the where they had discovered the woman’s ship had Vladimir concerned. Command had not been all that clear what they should prioritize other than the defense of the base so he took it upon himself to gather Alpha squad a few pilots and a few drop ships to go and retrieve the team. They had no use for the ship and if the other ship was carrying hostiles which they could presume was the case they would likely go there first no doubt with numbers that outweighed their own out in that particular part of the field.

Mounting the dropship with his squad the Hapan man checked his equipment quickly as they departed, they would have to be quick to get there and back. They didn’t want to get caught out in the field when they would no doubt be needed back at base, if the people on the ship that had just landed was somehow allied with the women they had attempted to arrest If this ship carried allies of the woman in custody there would be no need to face them out here in the field where they could possibly gain the upper hand. Vladimir had little doubt they would come to see them soon enough in their own home as did command apparently because they were ordering everyone to defensive positions within the compound for now.

The dropships came in for a landing near the woman’s ship Alpha squad joining the other two squads in a defensive position as Vladimir approached the techs. “Abandon the slicing effort, rig it with explosives it holds no value to us anymore anything it’s navicomputer could give us we can get from the woman eventually anyway.”

The techs got to work while the dropships stayed nearby keeping the engines hot for a quick extraction should they be engaged.

 

[Azlyn Ike]

[member="Cameron Centurion"] [member="Crystal"]

Azlyn listened and as they arrived finally she moved, staying silent and exiting between the teams to not muck up their movements. She was here but she wasn't going to expect much while she reached out for her master. Letting snow come around her and standing low to the ground with her head jerking back and forth. For a moment she actually pined for Asylen to be around and with her as if anything a second apprentice of Crystal's here could prove valuable.... or she could find a way to leave her buried under the snow after the enemy stabbed her in the back. Creeping low and with the white electrum hilt in her hand.

 

[Siara Vorru]

Having sat in the her cell rather compliantly over the last few days the people that had captured her had become complacent originally four soldiers had been assigned to watch her around the clock, now they were down to two at any one time. Siara had watched them closely just waiting for an opportunity and she wouldn’t have to wait long, the alert status drew away the second guard obviously off to respond to whatever emergency required the attention of the base personnel. She could only guess but if she had to she would assume reinforcements had arrived in some form but she couldn’t count on them coming for her, she wasn’t all that important to the Crusade in the long run they could hire another mercenary to replace her.

Stepping up to the bars she rested her wrists in the binders on the edge of the cross bar, it was a narrow gap but certainly wide enough that it gave the small mercenary some play to move her arms a little. She looked at her guard, he was a big man and his armor made him that much more imposing but she was undaunted this was her chance and she wasn’t going to lose it on indecision.

“Could I trouble you for some water? I am awful thirsty.” Siara asked politely and softly.

“You can wait until someone comes in an hour or so.” The soldier replied without even looking at her, his annunciator making him sound almost like a droid.

“I know the next meal is scheduled to be soon but with this alert I am afraid I will be forgotten, you wouldn’t want me becoming sick on your watch would you?” Siara asked plainly.

“Fine, give me your cup.” The soldier ordered as he approached holstering his blaster, exactly what Siara wanted to see. She reached her cup forward and as he got close enough she acted quickly swinging both arms at the same time striking the man across his relatively exposed throat causing him to buckle over and grab at his throat. She smirked as she wrapped the binders around the man’s neck hauling him as hard as she could back against the bars. She mounted the cross bar and holding her grip firmly against his throat.

“Open the cell or I will give a little kick and we will see if your armor keeps me from crushing your throat. Either way I am getting out of here.” Siara ordered confidently as the big man struggled to free himself. She may not be big but she had leverage on him and he wasn’t going anywhere. He kept struggling but the futility of the struggle really was starting to set in for the big man.

The soldier reached for a blaster with his free hand trying to keep the binders off his throat with his other hand while Siara kept hauling backwards. She spotted his movement, she pushed her weight to one leg drew the other back and kicked his hand as he gripped the blaster jamming it out of reach and across the room. Panic began to set in for the soldier as he couldn’t get access to his other side to reach for his knife and he was losing air quickly the struggle sapping him of what little energy he did have.

“Fine, I didn’t want to kill you but you chose the hard way.” Siara planted her feet firmly on the cross bar let up just a little bit and then kicked backwards crushing the man’s trachea sending him crumbling to the ground in a big pile of armor as she let him go. She took a moment to recover before reaching through the bars and recovering the key to her binders releasing them off her wrists. She massaged the joint briefly as she searched for a key to the cell. She knew he had some way of opening the door as he had done it a few times when she had been taken for interrogation.

Spotting a remote the mercenary reached for it, it was hard to get the man kept it on his utility belt and the way he had fallen had made it mostly inaccessible to her. She pressed hard against the bars her fingertips catching the remote, she fumbled for it catching it just enough to activate it. The door to the cell opened just slightly and Siara smiled triumphantly. No doubt someone would see what had happened soon enough, even with the entire base on alert and distracted by other matters someone would be monitoring security feeds.

Getting to her feet Siara pushed herself out of the cell grabbing the blaster she had kicked away from the floor nearby. She didn’t know where she was going so that was going to complicate things that much more not to mention there would likely be soldiers crawling all over the place, if this base was as big as she anticipated that was a lot of people she would have to evade.

[member="Crystal"] [member="Cameron Centurion"] [member="Azlyn Ike"]

 

[Crystal]

Crystal looked up as she could hear the Nemesis approaching the surface. It was still a fair distance from her position, but that was fine. She could draw a few of the squads away, she was sure. She rustled some branches to the East of her position for a few seconds by using the Force to pull the branches and then push them.

Then she jumped down from the tree and headed west around the ship, making sure to make enough noise to draw others. At top speed she whipped by the trees. Then, she changed directions to head toward Cameron and his teams.

[member="Cameron Centurion"] [member="Siara Vorru"] [member="Vladimir Kirov"] [member="Azlyn Ike"]

 

[Cameron Centurion]

As the recon teams moved into position, Cameron began receiving reports of [member="Crystal"]'s movement towards their location. They rally hadn't landed far from Siara's ship at all, so it would be obvious to just about anyone that hiding was not high on Cameron's list of priorities. Then again...even a modicum of distance could be beneficial should hostilities erupt.

The Sith Lord's earpiece crackled briefly before being replaced by the sound of The Lord Crusader's voice. Apparently, the warriors of Ithari had just arrived into the edge of the system. It would be some time yet before they were open Cameron's modest strike team. A thin smile touched his features at the recognition. Quite perfect timing. Withdrawing a datapad, Cameron notified the Blade [member="Zoey Marix"] of their arrival on Cholgana as well. He had no idea what her progress was at the moment.

[member="Siara Vorru"] | [member="Azlyn Ike"]

 

[Azlyn Ike]

[member="Cameron Centurion"] [member="Crystal"] [member="Siara Vorru"]

Azlyn listened and moved quickly until she stopped hearing the snow crunch in the distance. Her body tensed, the muscles going into that state of ready for fight or flight and she waited until one of the teams came. She could feel her master closer and looked upon the mend surrounding her from under her bangs. The force flowed over her limbs and when one came close to her her lip twitched. A movement of her arm and flick of the wrist brought her hands up as she jumped. Hands grasping his head and coming into the air she turned getting a snap and twist.

The other men held weapons at the ready before she moved coming down and landing on one rifle and tilting her head. "Hello" the words came out while she kicked him in the face hearing the snap of his head and a gush of blood painting the snow. They were between her and her master, that made them an enemy and she jumped off the gun into the snow crab walking until she could kick another. Her senses locking onto each of them while his kneecap buckled, his scream coming out until she punched his throat to silence him. "One left."

Azlyn rose up and jerked her hand slapping his rifle to the side while she stalked towards him feeling the force collect for her. She looked through the bangs and locked eyes in a predatory half grin until he tried to move and then she was upon him slamming both hands into his ears like they were cymbals and bringing her hands to grip his ears, she ripped them with a scream sending his face into her knee. As he went to the ground she turned her head letting a small gust of wind touch her hair and blow it. THen she was moving to meet with her master as her footfalls became light and quiet.

 

[Vladimir Kirov]

(Lets be careful I don’t have anyone out and about patrolling away from Siara’s vessel so it would be impossible to kill any of them without engaging the entire group. Also their gear includes a helmet so some of these actions would be impossible without first taking those helmets off. Otherwise I will put them into position and give an explanation for the helmet coming off.)

As [member="Crystal"] raced through the treeline it made enough noise and quieted the local fauna enough that it drew the attention of a few of the soldiers. A fireteam of them separated from the rest of their squad following the noise in the direction it was headed. They moved quickly until they got to the treeline reporting their progress as they went. They slowed as the entered the jungle’s edge, crunching slowly and quietly through the fresh snow searching for the source of the noise. They moved in tandem through the thick jungle until a small white woman jumped one of their team killing him before they even had the chance to react a second member of their team was down. The last two opened fire trying to follow the movements of [member="Azlyn Ike"] but she was much too fast.

“We have been engaged by a new hostile force user two team members down alre…..argh….” The line went dead after the cry of pain as the man’s throat collapsed under her blow.

The last soldier brought his weapon up training it on the woman only to have it slapped away as he tried to fire. His weapon flew away as the women demonstrated a strength beyond what he would expect such a small woman would be capable of. He reached for his sidearm and tried to bring it to bear as the woman closed the distance. He stumbled slightly as he backed up falling over himself his helmet coming off. He got up again just in time for the woman to close the rest of the distance. She took his head in her hands swiftly and before he could even consider bringing his weapon to bear on her she slammed his head into her knee an entire fireteam was down in a matter of seconds.

Back at the ship the comm message only solidified Vladimir’s resolve to get these men out of here. “Abandon the explosives, we will fall back to base where we can fight on our terms.”

The drop ships sped up their engines as the teams started to board quickly, they would not be facing the enemy just yet, not until they had superior numbers. Vladimir was last onto the vessel as the enemy continued their advance. “We are coming back to base we have been engaged, we can officially consider the intruders hostile.”

[member="Zoey Marix"] [member="Cameron Centurion"]

 

[Crystal]

Crystal's plan to encourage the squads to split up in search of her had worked as well as it could, considering that her apprentice had engaged them prematurely. That wasn't a good thing, because they wouldn't have the element of surprise now. But, she wasn't one to cry over spilled milk, so she simply sighed as the unfriendly teams began to flee the area in their drop ships.

~Get back to the ship. Now.~ She instructed [member="Azlyn Ike"] through the Force.

She continued to Cameron Centurion's ship in a hurry, figuring that they would be persuing the fleeing drop ships. However, that was up to her ex-husband to decide...

[member="Vladimir Kirov"] [member="Siara Vorru"]

 

[Cameron Centurion]

As the sounds of conflicted erupted in the jungle, Cameron's silver-green gaze found the eyes of the man closest to him. "When did I instruct anyone to engage?"

The man stammered a reply, clearly expecting an outburst from the Mask of Aatrox. "It was not one of ours, My Lord."

Cameron snarled. The apprentice that had invited herself onto his ship. As much as he really wanted to deal with the fool, he had more pressing concerns. There would be no need to take off in immediate pursuit of the fleeing ships. Their base had been identified from the sky, and they already possessed the location. No. For now, they were just waiting on [member="Crystal"]. Tapping his earpiece communicator, he dispatched a message to the flight crew of the Nemesis. "Unpack the speeder bikes and prepare for immediate departure. We will require a distraction."

Ignoring the affirmative response, Cameron's silver-green eyes turned briefly to the heavens. As the nature of his dark presence flooded the Force and the environment around him, dark clouds began to form overhead. A smile adorned his lips as the first strands of sheet lightning began to illuminate the sky. Returning his gaze to ground level, he looked to the man at his side. "Push the coordinates of the base detected earlier to the recon teams. Tell them to start the fires...and advance on the objective. Remain covert once on the move.

Time was no of the essence. Once the fire erupted, it would quickly rage out of control as it ate the forest alive, unchecked. They would need to be well on their way shortly thereafter. Thanks to the efforts of [member="Azlyn Ike"]...all bets were off now.

 

[Crystal]

[member="Cameron Centurion"]

Crystal arrived at Cameron's location just in time to see his light show start. She tilted her head back and smiled. "I went with a snow storm, but this works too." Then she looked forward slightly to look at him. "Sorry I'm late. I thought I'd split them up so that they'd be more vulnerable, but it seems that was for nothing now."

She listened as he gave orders to the man beside him. "So what do you need me to do?" There wasn't time to play games now. And it was easier to ask what she was doing than to get a lay out of the plan, since time was of the essence, there was no sense wasting it.

 

[Vladimir Kirov]

Returning to base successfully without being trailed by enemy forces a good sign Vladimir felt, but he wasn’t but he wasn’t pleased to find their hostage had broken free of her cell and was apparently still loose on the base. He would have to take a team and hunt her down himself it seemed because he couldn’t risk her getting into a critical system on the base and wreaking havoc at an inopportune time not with an obviously dangerous and determined enemy knocking on their doorstep. “Go re-equip and rearm before joining the details at the walls. Our guests will no doubt be joining us soon.”

Reloading his own weapon Vladimir started into the base heading for the security station, this woman had eluded them so far but she wasn’t being all that stealthy she was showing up on cameras all over the base, he figured if he could get a sense of where she had been he would be able to figure where she was headed. He had apprehended her easily enough the first time, he had little doubt he could do it again. He stepped into the security station and started reviewing the camera feeds quickly getting a sense that she didn’t have a clue where she was going.

[member="Cameron Centurion"] @Crystal @Azyln Ike