Private Trouble on Yavin 4

[Cadere]

Spoiler: OOC

Forgot your CC lmao

"Don't ever let someone tell you that you are not bold."

The Kiffar cast him an over the shoulder look and simply smirked. Cas crouched down and tended to the kids, making sure they were okay as Mathieu relayed a plan, listening intently as he did so. When the Morellian concluded, the Kiffar stood up and turned round to meet his gaze. This was a loaded choice since both options had pros and cons, and, if executed wrong, could prove even more of an issue.

For once in a rare moment, Cas closed his eyes and opened his mind and spirit to the Force. The Jedi Knight would allow the mystical energy force flow through him, guiding his instincts and aid him in choosing what may be the best path for them - it worked in mysterious ways after all. A few, brief moments, would pass before Cas would open his eyes once more and lock eyes with the Padawan. He folded his arms and inhaled deeply before letting out a long exhale "Alright..." taking a moment to glance at the kids, he summoned them with a gesture. Lifting Rix onto his back and holding Zena's hand once more, he returned his brown gaze to Mathieu and nodded with a determined look "Do it."

Once Mathieu had done what he needed to do and it went pitch black - with the only light coming from outside. "Can't see a damn thing" Cas whispered harshly, opening the door quietly with the cooperation of the Force. Now, they needed to be quick and careful and with the little light that broke in from the outside, Cas was able to navigate and guide himself and the kids through the area of crates and cargo which would eventually lead them into a long. dark hallway that only led one way. Looking through the darkened hallway, he could make out a large archway leading into... what he surmised as the main hall. Although, what lie inside was completely unknown to him.

Placing a single step forward, the Jedi Knight quickly felt a chilling wave of coldness wash over him. Causing not only him, but Zena and Rix to shudder as well "Kark..." he muttered, before gritting his teeth and mouthing a 'Sorry' to the kids - assuming they could see his apologetic face as well as his lip movement. If the kids felt it, he assumed Mathieu felt the coldness too and because of that, Cas didn't feel the need to tell the Padawan to stay alert. Quietly continuing through the hallway, Cas noticed something odd - the Kiffar expected the Sith to now be on alert and on the way to backup their generators or at least check on the four guards that hadn't reported back. Although, there was no sign of them coming. This was beginning to feel like some sort of trap.

Finally entering into the archway and inside, the main hall, the lights returned. Not only that, they were surrounded by a dozen Sith troopers as well as a small amount of Sith acolytes. Behind this small army though, was an imposing and seemingly powerful Sith Lord stood at the edge of some steps overlooking their subordinates. "I'll admit Jedi, I am impressed with your tenacity." his voice was modulated through the mask, but the arrogance behind it could still be heard "Of course, your arrival wasn't at all unexpected. It was only a matter of time before word would get out we made it from Voss." Cas' eyelids lowered, complementary to his current scowl "That so? How'd you know we were here? All that time wasted sneaking around could've been put to better use smacking you around." Cas' gaze remained thoroughly glued to the Sith Lord, who chuckled and clapped his hands together "I have my spies, proficient in masking their signatures within the Force. Just like you two are apparently, they followed you all the way up until you arrived at the Temple. As to why we let you sneak around? Well, let's just say I wanted to put my Apprentices up to the test against real threats." the Kiffar chuckled and rolled his eyes "I'd say you'd need to do a better job training them. Their skills? To be desired."

"Yes, well, duly noted." he shrugged before glancing to one of his men and nodding "Kill them. If the children live, great, and if they don't... well, they weren't Sith material anyway." the Sith Lord commanded, waving his hand in a gesture that signalled to enact his orders.

Mathieu Brion

 

[Mathieu Brion]

A nod. And with that, the Padawan acted, pressing a few buttons before the machinery slowly started to grow silent until the generators were finally turned off completely. Figuring that they could make it harder for the Sith to turn them back on again, Mathieu took a powerful grip on both sides of the console and rested a foot against the bottom of the machine. And then he pulled. It was a quick manoeuvre, and while it did make some noise, the doors thankfully isolated it enough for anyone outside not to notice.

Not having let go of the panel, Mathieu also experienced difficulties in navigating. Thankfully, Cassie lead the 'charge' which allowed Mathieu to simply concentrate on following him instead of finding a path on his own. A Sith would probably have frowned on the Padawan escaping challenges like that. Luckily, he was no Sith.

The Sith did make their presence well known as there was soon a notable shift in temperature. At least, that was what it felt like - but if it was just a trick the dark siders made his mind play on him, he did not know. At any rate, it was most unpleasant. His 'backpack' was still deep in unconsciousness, it was preferable, really - because having to worry about another being would only make things harder, especially since some calls might have been a bit too close for comfort.

Eventually, they reached the main hall, just in time for the lights to turn back on. The large Morellian stayed silent, but internally, his mind was utterly confused. Who with their senses intact would bring two power generators and then also backup generators to an old temple on Yavin? Was there more to this base than it appeared? Mathieu didn't know, but it was cause to be mindful of what followed. But then - that was not important now, seeing as there was a rather immediate threat right in front of them.

For most of the conversation, Mathieu stayed silent. If he was alone, he would probably have taken a more careful approach in how he chose his words. But this was not a time to show any conflict between himself and his friend - they were allies in this and it was, admittedly, deeply satisfying to see Cassie snap back at the senior Sith.

As the Lord ordered his minions to attack, Mathieu leaned in to his friend, letting out a brief whisper "Leave them with me" he glanced down at the kids before continuing "I'll be the anvil to your hammer" With that, Mathieu activated his reflex enhancing stims and dropped into a defensive Soresu stance, one which he was very familiar with, seeing as it was the form he practiced the most. The blue blade ignited as he stared into the mass of enemies, counting more than 12 in total.

And then it began. A flurry of bolts came raining down upon them as the lesser Sith started their charge. Even when using his honed self-enhancement skills, dealing with the incoming bolts was a challenge. It only took a few seconds before a few bolts slipped past his defence. But Mathieu wouldn't allow anyone behind him come to arm and managed to block the bolts with his heavy armour instead of letting them hit something more soft. Sometimes, it paid off to be so much larger than average.

Even though the Padawan had no intentions of doing anything other than defend, the incredibly mass of bolts raining down on him all had to go somewhere. Most of them went into distant walls, the floor or a pillar - but one of them seemed to hit a lesser Sith while another hit one of the troopers. It was fortunate, for Mathieu was in pure survival mode as he tried to withstand the onslaught of bolts and soon Sith. He just hoped that Cassie would be able to make something happen, because at some point, his armour would falter.

Cadere

 

[Cadere]

Without hesitation or as much as a single thought, Cas ignited his lightsaber with a twirl of his hilt. The Force charging through his veins like voltage, the Jedi Knight was ready to fight everyone in this room or at least die trying to make sure Mathieu, his 'backpack', and the kids get outta of here alive. However, the Padawan quickly reminded him he wouldn't be alone in this relieving him of having to worry about the kids, allowing the Kiffar to go on the offensive. Having utter faith in Mathieu, he knew the kids would be in safe hands. Casting the taller Morellian a sideways glance, he smirked "Is that even an analogy? Do anvils even-- nevermind." he quietly snickered.

His brown eyes quickly scanned the enemies in front of him shortly before they opened fire, Cas quickly formed a plan in his mind to take out the infantry first as quickly and effectively as possible. Then began the burrage, Cas channelled the Force through him like electricity, invigorating him and boosting his physical properties. In a burst of Force speed and with his reflexes and muscle fibres being enhanced by the Force's energy, Cas deflected every blaster bolt that came his way. Moving like a bolt of lightening, he appeared as a yellow flash to the naked eye just before stopping in front of a group of Sith troopers. While he hated what came next, it was their only option for survival.

The Jedi Knight spun around 360 degrees like a whirlwind, cutting through those in his path before somersaulting over the collapsing bodies of the three soldiers he'd just killed, avoiding the blaster fire from two troopers standing either side of him and engineering their mutual deaths as their two blaster bolts clipped the other. There was no time for quips or incessant talking, too much was at stake and he needed to be the focused weapon Mathieu and the others needed him to be. Landing on the floor with a roll, the Kiffar stopped on one knee before twisting his body around to meet the troopers that had decided to focus their attention on him, blocking their blaster fire and redirecting it into their chests.

Then came two Sith acolytes with their crimson lightsabers, striking in Cas' direction with perfect coordination. The Jedi's natural reflexes allowed him to quickly roll backward before using his arms to propel himself into a backflip, hurling his lightsaber at one of the Sith while he was mid-air and holding his arm back ready to recall it into his right hand. The sudden lightsaber throw caught the acolyte off guard, skimming his shoulder but managing to block the rest of the attack with his lightsaber. Landing once more, Cas was met with a surprise small burst of Force induced lightening from the other Sith - while it had enough force to knock Cas off of his feet, it wasn't a fatal blow, a stun at best.

Grinning, the Kiffar extended his left arm, sparking with tiny bolts of stored electricity before opening his metallic palm and unleashing an electrical output through his finger tips. Unsurprisingly, this caught the two off guard and stunned them momentarily, buying Cas enough time to get back up to his feet and bolt toward the two Sith. Switching his lightsaber into his left hand, the second the Jedi Knight was in between the two still recovering Sith, Cas sliced the acolyte's entire arm off with an underhand strike before dropping to one knee and swivelling his hips to the other acolyte beside him and bisect them in a swift, blink and you'll miss it, horizontal strike from his left to right.

The hair on Cas' arms stood up, his body responding to the shift in the Force. Their confidence was faltering, with Cas' unrelenting offense and Mathieu's impenetrable defense as well as their dwindling numbers. The troopers, and even the acolytes were growing weary, and because of it they were beginning to get sloppy. Wouldn't be long now until this was all over, and the Sith presence in this area would be cleared out. With that, Cas reached out to the distracted troopers and gripped them with the Force, closing his fist and pulling his arm back and with it came three more soldiers, stuck together like magnets, hauling their way to Cas. When they were close enough the Jedi Knight cut through the three soldiers like butter.

Mathieu Brion

 

[Mathieu Brion]

"Cassie?" his voice was confused and had a slight shiver to it - almost sounding as if he had just been betrayed. The Knight's comment really did throw him off "There is definitely someth-..." he was cut off mid-sentence. The defence of the expression would have to happen another time - for now, the Sith forces started to attack.

Mathieu noticed how the stream of bolts was reduced rather drastically and it was very fortunate as he really had a hard time coping with defending against so many attackers at the same time. Still, a large number of bolts were coming his way and by chance once more, another trooper was hit by his a bolt from his own team as it came flying at him at random. Had there been fewer attackers, Matheiu could have been better at directing the bolts towards his foes but right now, his priority was survival.

When there were five troopers left, the main bulk of the hostile Sith seemed to arrive by him and those he protected. Cassie was not left alone, however, and was attacked by two of them himself. The large Padawan trusted his friend and glancing over to him, he saw how the Kiffar had gone on the offence against his foes and seeing the five Acolytes on their way to him, he realised that it might be necessary for him to do so too, just to thin out their numbers.

All five acolytes did not arrive at the same time with two arriving just before the other three. Just as they were about to reach him, Mathieu brought his blade up over his left shoulder in a firm two-handed grip before swinging it with strength that had no equal. As he did, he was hit by two bolts by the chest, one by the stomach and another by his leg - the pain was immense, but his armour had kept them from doing any real damage. The Acolyte who was targeted by the attack, arriving at the front, raised his blade to intercept the blue lightsabre but the efforts were futile. His arms folded, appearing as if they provided no resistance at all and with that, he was cut both by his own blade and Mathieu's.

The Padawan didn't let his momentum stop. Before the already defeated acolyte hit the floor, he had already allowed his blade to continue the path as an extension of the original swing, arriving by his right side where the other Acolyte were just in time to intercept his blade, blocking a deadly attack mid-swing. Their blades were locked - but once more, making use of his superior strength, Mathieu let go of his blade with his left hand and maintained the stalemate with his right arm alone. Quickly his left arm then reached out towards the Sith and took hold of his hilt. Surprise and fear could be seen in the Acolyte's eyes as he felt how his own blade was being pulled from his hands. Mathieu couldn't afford a tug-of-war, however, he needed to get his defences up against the other Sith in a hurry. With that, he sent a powerful kick at his immediate foe, causing massive internal bleedings as he staggered back into one of his allies before collapsing to the ground.

Now standing with a red and a blue blade in his hands, Mathieu looked quickly went to the defence. Any slash from a lightsabre could be deadly and he did not want to rely on his armour here - for it had gaps and required him to be an active defender to work effectively. Fortunately, the troopers had started to shift their attention to the Knight - the risk of them hitting one of their own if they fired towards Mathieu was far too large. Soon, their blades started to clash. Even with his well-practiced Soresu, Mathieu was forced to slowly take steps backwards as three opponents attacking at the same time was simply too much for him to handle. The second blade was both a blessing and a curse - for he definitely needed it in order to block when multiple attacks were coming in from different directions at the same time, but dual wielding was not something he had spent much time practicing which meant that his form was worse.

What made things worse was that yet another acolyte was charging his way, making the situation even more dire. Not sure of what to do, Mathieu started to mix in powerful counter-swings for when he intercepted the blades of his foes, more often than not causing them to risk cutting themselves as their arms folded - they had seen what happened to their ally earlier, however, and often staggered back instead. The method proved to be effective as it put some fear of counter attacks into his foes and gave the Padawan a longer pause between attacks from each individual Sith. Still, when the last Acolyte arrived, he knew that he would need Cassie's help - for taking on four attackers at the same time was simply too much. "Anytime now, Cassie!"

Cadere

 

[Cadere]

Cas had heard Mathieu's voice call out to him as he lunged toward an unsuspecting trooper, his distance and speed being enhanced by the Force's voltage. Reaching out with his free, right arm the Kiffar gripped the trooper's soldier and flipped over him, while mid-flip, Cas swung his lightsaber upward and cut through the trooper's shoulder and severed their blaster wielding arm. "One step at a time Mat!" Mathieu had this, well, he could hold up for the time it would take for Cas to rid these final few troopers. However, he'd take some of the heat off of Mathieu for the time being.

The Jedi's entire body faced the remaining Sith troopers as they reigned fire at him, deflecting the bolts with his lightsaber Cas pivoted his torso in the direction of Mathieu and the Sith Acolytes. His free arm reached out to as many of the Acolytes he could clasp with the Force, feeling the current of the Force energise in his palms Cas' hand formed into a claw and his arm jerked back. With it, two of the Acolytes came flying in his direction. As they sailed through the air, the Jedi Knight took the opportunity to clear the four remaining troopers charging toward them as he zig-zagged, avoiding blasterfire with his Force enhanced reflexes, or just deflecting the bolts with his lightsaber.

Once closed in with the four troopers, Cas quickly cut them down with singular strikes of his lightsaber, respectively. Although, he hadn't anticipated how quickly the two Acolytes would be on him. From the corner of his eye, he saw an attack coming his way and Cas quickly called upon the Force to surge through his body to help him evade this attack in an impossible timeframe. Lunging to his side, Cas managed to avoid death but not getting tagged, the Jedi Knight grunted as he felt the Acolyte's blood colored blade cauterize the skin of his shoulder. Landing on the ground with a roll, he clutched at his smoking shoulder and fortunately, thanks to the slight protection from his armor his wound wouldn't cause any longterm complications.

Once he landed the Sith were quickly on him, darting toward Cas with their blades ready to strike. Surging through his thighs and calves, the Force aided the Jedi Knight in propelling himself over the Acolytes as they dealt a strike toward him. With his arm still in pain from the previous attack, Cas relied on his Kiffu Guardian training and not a second after landing behind the Acolytes. Jumping, he spun in the air to deliver a powerful kick at the Acolyte closest to him with his heel. Not only did he hear the grotesque crunch as his boot connected with the Acolyte's jaw, he felt it dislodge the moment his foot contact. Instantly the Acolyte dropped to the ground, either knocked out or in unbearable pain - at least until the Dark side would make him turn it into a strength.

The second Acolyte quickly retaliated with a burst of telekinetic energy, knocking Cas off his feet and sending him backward through the air. Colliding with the floor, Cas grunted before quickly rolling backward and stopping on one knee to see the other Sith coming directly his way, leaping through the air, weapon arm wound back ready to deliver another attack at Cas. The Kiffar's muscles tensed as he prepared to get up and continue fighting but his wound was beginning to play on him...

Mathieu Brion

 

[Mathieu Brion]

His defence was proving to be solid as the fast efficient moves to deflect and redirect most of the incoming attacks was good at countering most of what they threw at him. And with the occasional powermove to strike hard as he went to block an incoming sabre, resulting in enough recoil to knock his foe back. It was needed, seeing as it could remove a foe from the fight for a few seconds before they managed to get back and into a useful position.

Still, he was in a dire position. Normally, Mathieu would choose to manoeuvre if he got into a position like this one. Where he was forced to only defend against an overwhelming flurry of attacks. But now, that was nearly impossible - for he couldn't move to the sides, it would expose the children - and worse, when he tried to move back, he sometimes noticed that they were right there, hugging his leg or standing so close that he would bump into them before really getting anywhere. To make matters worse, one of the times he suddenly discovered that backing away wasn't possible, Mathieu had to pay the price as he then allowed them to get a clean strike against him. Fortunately, he didn't loose more than the red sabre he had picked up from the Sith, but it was still a blow, seeing how important it was in his defence against so many opponents.

Just as Mathieu was about to send a powerful swing to block an incoming attack, both foes on the left side were pulled away. It was Cassie, it had to be. Mathieu reacted quickly and continued the swing, transforming what had been a purely defensive measure into an extremely aggressive offensive power attack. The Sith who it was directed at managed to block it with his blade - but his arms started to fold - it was at the nick of time that his feet left the ground and he fell back. Mid-air, the dark sider deactivated his sabre and hit the floor rolling away from the Padawan.

Broad shouldered, built like a tank and clad in heavy armour, the large Morellian then turned to the remaining foe. The Sith was still in a frenzy and kept his attacks up but it would not be long before Mathieu started to once more transform his blocks into attacks in and of themselves. With his foed forced to back away with every attack that Mathieu made, he soon started a steady and fast push, walking forth whilst leveling more attacks against his opponent. It was becoming increasingly clear that evasion was the only real way to avoid the onslaught but it was equally clear that the Sith was tiring.

The powerful strikes kept being dished out and his foe kept folding. Until suddenly, another blade joined the fray. The Sith who approached him was not the one who got thrown back earlier. This one had a dislocated jaw and a blood drenched robe. A contest of power then started as the lone padawan, enhanced by years of training, his stim and a good understanding for self enhancement pushed back against his two foes. Just as he was about to gain ground, he heard a young shriek. It was the children who had spotted the one who got thrown making his way towards them. It was Mathieu's fault that they were exposed, he had pushed too far and he knew that. It was something he would have to dwell on once this was all said and done but now, his focus was on salvaging the situation. "Run to Cassie!" he screamed, causing the two children to start running in a wide arc as they hoped to avoid the other Sith. Of course, the one who had already set his sights on them would pursue the two children and he could not be allowed to succeed.

With a sudden move, Mathieu moved back two large steps and turned to throw his lightsabre at the pursuer. It hit its mark, killing the man almost instantly. But Mathieu was not as skilled in telekinesis as he might have hoped - the blade would not return to him at this range and the two opponents he was fighting wasn't about to let up. When they had practically reached him, a green lightsabre ignited. it was the blade of Purin Mill Se Loach - the Jedi whom he had failed to save on Onderon. But her blade had always protected him well, unfairly giving him a favour which he had never been able to give her. It tore on him every time he used the weapon but if it wasn't for it, he would have been slashed by two lightsabres instead of blocking them.

It was another contest of strength and just like last time, Mathieu backed away a couple large steps. The Sith weren't about to let him get away with the same trick twice, however, and quickly charged towards him with attacks from different angles. Instead of staying, Mathieu channeled the force to allow him to make an impressive leap towards the foe that faced his friend. Coming from behind, Mathieu intentionally refrained from stabbing the man, hoping to spare his life. It was only when he got up that he noticed that the foe's lungs had collapsed under the large Morellian's weight and the force he arrived with from the leap. But there was no time to worry about that now, instead, he turned around, now standing side to side with Cassie "I'm starting to get a little winded" he said, a clear understatement as he was in fact very tired.

Cadere

 

[Cadere]

For the time being Cas would have to ignore the burning sensation he felt in his shoulder, rolling backward he transitioned into a backflip once his pushed himself off of the ground with his cybernetic arm. Landing in a crouched position, narrowly avoiding the Sith's attack. Forced onto his back foot Cas went on the defensive, defending himself with one arm against the Acolyte who was now the aggressor and sending strike after strike toward Cas, trying to break him down. Thankfully, the speed provided by the FF-CAR1 stacked with the Force enhancing his reflexes Cas was able to keep up with the Acolyte's ferocity.

Hearing Mathieu's voice in the distance, he managed to pick up the Padawan ordering the kids to go to him. It was time to switch roles, and switch roles they did. Inbetween one of the Acolyte's attacks, Cas threw his weapon arm forward and connected his blade with the Sith's before he can engage with another attack. Engaged in a blade lock, the natural strength from his cybernetic arm allowed him to hold down the stand-off, at least temporarily. After Mathieu had managed to cut down one of the Sith who went after the kids, they were able to continue on their way to Cas. Seeing them draw nearer, he knew he'd need to distract the Sith for the time being and so, he'd use his best weapon.

"That outfit would look fat on me, but you? You pull it off nicely." he grinned. The Sith's bloodlusted expression softened into that of bewilderment "You-- what?" Cas' quip had completely caught the Sith off guard. Allowing the kids to get behind him. Eventually, his rage returned and the Sith resumed attacking with intense brutality. The Kiffar continued blocking, countering and dodging the incoming attacks with his single arm but he began to grow wear. Between one of his arm's being out of commission, being forced onthe back foot and having to defend Zena and Rix - it was beginning to overwhelm him.

Thankfully though, Mathieu was there to absolve him of all of his problems quickly. Leaping and landing on the Sith with his hefty weight and stature. He was sore and fatigued all over, once his adrenaline began to slow down. Cas looked down at the flattened Sith under Mathieu's boot and snickered "Oh yeah? I'm on my second wind..." an obvious joke, glancing passed Mathieu he saw the remaining two Sith Acolytes come their way prompting the Jedi Knight to frown "We just wanna take a break, can you just beat yourself up for a couple minutes while we catch out breath?" he called out to them. Obviously that didn't work. "You take one and I take the other?" Cas pulled out a healing stim from his belt and shook it slightly in Mat's eyeline "I got two more, want one too?" if Mat answered yes, Cas would hand him one before jabbing the small cannister into his injured arm. Within seconds, the pain in his arm subsided and he was able to move it good as new - at least until it wore off.

With his now painless arm, Cas threw his arm forward and unleashed a small burst of telekinetic energy directly at one of the Sith Acolytes. The Jedi Knight then broke into a sprint, calling upon the Force and allowing it to surge through his body once more like electricity, rejuvinating him for the time being. Leaping over the Sith Acolyte he hadn't pushed, he twisted his body and spun in the air before diving toward the ground landing with a forward combat roll. As the Acolyte he pushed regained his bearings and began to stand up, Cas was already on him, unleashing a flurry of strikes that appeared as a yellow blur to the naked eye. With the Force electrifying him, his speed was intense and simply began to overwhelm the Acolyte before he eventually made a mistake allowing Cas to cut through his torso with a downward diagonal slice. Assuming Mat had finished off his own 'dance partner', all that was left was the Sith Lord.

Mathieu Brion

 

[Mathieu Brion]

And there they stood. The two friends, side-by-side as they faced the last two Acolytes. Mathieu smirked upon hearing Cassie's joke "In that case, I'll leave these guys to you then" As the Knight started speaking to the approaching foes, the young Morellian stood back. He had been rather happy to let his friend do most of the talking. In a way, it was similar to how he operated during his time as a Mercenary - he wore heavy armour and carried a big gun - it got the message across. Showing Cassie his palm, Mathieu shook his head "I'm good" he said - while he was tired and hurting from all the blasters that had hit his armour, it was nothing he couldn't handle - while painful, it was not really injuries which required emergency treatment.

Soon after, the fighting begun once more. This time, Mathieu stayed back as his friend pushed on with an impressive intensity. He had already allowed the safety of the kids to be compromised once and was not about to let it happen again. Instead, he stayed back, close to those whom he needed to keep safe while displaying a solid defence in his well-practiced Soresu. No deviations were made like he did before - he didn't implement any power attacks or sudden disengages, instead he simply held his ground. It was harder than expected, seeing as his foe produced a most unpredictable flurry of attacks along with faints and and bluffs with her facial expression. It was a good show of Form VII and something which the Padawan was not used to facing. Now that the two were alone, she was able to show off a broader skill-set than before and with the Jedi on the defence, she had almost free reigns to set up her attacks.

Suddenly, a high-pitched squeak could be heard as the Chadra-Fan finally woke up "AaaAHhhh, help! What is happening? Why am I fighting?!" for the sound to come so suddenly and from such a close range, it was quite the pain the ears, causing the Padawan who carried him to winch "Ouch, pipe down, will ya?" he asked - there was no animosity in his voice but his rather pressed situation meant that there was no room for pleasantries either. The little alien spoke once more, this time with the large Jedi's ears in mind "Sorry! I take it by that green sabre of yours that you're actually saving me, aren't you?" he asked, just as Mathieu managed to block the red sabre coming dangerously near them after almost misreading a faint. A snicker could be heard before he continued "You are busy, I see. Anyways, I am Tabli!" while the Chadra-Fan's introduction seemed to be a bit poorly timed, Mathieu had other things on his mind and let out a simple "uh-huh" as he fought on. But it was starting to get noticeably easier as his 'backpack' wrapped his legs around his side and put his arms on his shoulders, sharing the weight of carrying himself and making him more stable which allowed for freer movements for the Jedi.

There had been a number of close calls when Mathieu finally caught his opponent's sabre to their side, forcing her to either maintain a sabre lock or risk being cut as she retreated. This time, the broad-shouldered Padawan refrained from pushing her away. Instead, he let go of the hilt with his left arm but still maintained the lock. Concern spread in the acolyte's eyes as she still felt that he had more power behind his blade than she had behind hers but it would soon disappear. For making use of his free limb, Mathieu quickly sent a jab at her temple, knocking her out completely with the punch. "Yes, yes! Just like on Nar Shaddaa!" the enthusiastic cheer by his new ally was a welcome one, although the last part was a bit confusing. But now, a greater challenge would emerge - or at least so he thought. Mathieu looked over to Cassie and then to the Lord who had just watched his entire troop getting knocked out.

Cadere

 

[Cadere]

For a moment, it was over. They did it. The hard part was over... or, considering what they were about to face, it was the easy part. Cas allowed his shoulders to slump as he released a few breaths. Exhausting was beginning to creep in but his brave face remained, weakly grinning he threw Mathieu a quick thumbs up. The sound of clapping reverberated through the main hall, forcing the Jedi Knight to turn his head and face the Sith Lord, elevated on the stair top he was applauding the two Jedi for the 'show' they'd given.

"Very nice, very nice. I'll be honest, I thought you'd last a while but I didn't think you'd survive! Your tenacity has the makings for good Sith." his modulated voice said with atone of genuine acclaim. "It's a shame that--" Cas pounced at the Sith Lord "Man, you love the sound of your voice more than I do!" as the Jedi Knight flew through the air at a high velocity, he raised his lightsaber upward ready to deal an overhead strike. In the few seconds between him leaping toward the Sith Lord and actually attacking him, Cas noticed something odd. He hadn't reached for his lightsaber yet... he... simply stared at Cas as he approached. Was he that confident that he didn't feel the need to draw his blade yet? Even at the speed of Cas' approach?

His questions would immediately be sated once Cas came down on the Sith Lord, slamming his lightsaber down like a blunt object. The impact sent tremors down his organic arm. His brown eyes caught a glimpse of the Sith Lord, who'd managed to block his attack without the use of a lightsaber. "How the--?" genuine shock escaped his mouth as his blade remained firmly locked on top of the Sith Lord's vambraces whom he'd layered one over the over to form his defensive guard. Pulling away, Cas readied to attack once again but the Sith Lord's reflexes were fast... faster than Cas had anticipated. Throwing his arm out in Cas' direction, a storm of Force conjured lightening shot out of the Sith's finger tips and danced across Cas' body. Reaching every muscle, bone and nerve in his body causing the Kiffar to wail in pain.

The force of the lightening was fifty times more intense than the one the Acolyte had hit him with earlier, and was so powerful that it threw Cas off of his feet and launched him across the hall. Colliding with the duracrete floor, the Jedi Knight rolled across the floor before landing on his front, back smoking from the blast. Groaning as he felt his muscles twitch, his entire body was on fire and his bones ached - his nerve endings felt as if they'd been fried off. So much so that temporarily he couldn't feel his limbs "Uugghh, are my feet still attached...?" he groaned weakly, attempting to push himself up off the ground before collapsing back down.

The Sith Lord's crimson double-blade made a snap hiss ignited at both ends, his head whipped over to Mathieu... and the kids. With a twirl of his lightsaber, he crept down the stairs and slowly began to approach the Padawan "Hopefully you're more of a challenge than your smoking friend over there."

Mathieu Brion

 

[Mathieu Brion]

How evil. They had just come out of the fight hurt and exhausted while the casualties on the enemy side were staggering. At the same time, the Sith Lord stood up there with his satisfied smile and amused clapping. It was provoking, how he didn't seem to care about the losses of those whom stood close to him. In fact, it seemed like Mathieu cared more about them than he did. And then the rant - it was fortunate that Cassie cut it short for it was becoming unbearable. Tabli seemed to have his mind on something else as he let out a snappy series of beeps and chirps "But Kiffar, why would you like his voice more than he likes it himself?" It was poorly timed and certainly seemed to undermine the Jedi's position but Mathieu still wanted to burst out laughing at it, only barely managing to contain it as his lips twitched in amusement.

Little else was said before the Knight charged at his dark sided foe. It was so fast that Mathieu didn't quite follow and only started running a few moments after Cassie had already taken off. But even now, Mathieu hesitated, not wanting to put too much distance between himself and the kids.

The opponent displayed an impressive Mastery of the force, managing to fend of a lightsabre with his hand before using it to fire lightning at the Knight. Letting out a silent sight, Mathieu had to come to terms with the kind of foe they were facing, it was not his speciality.

By the time he arrived, Cassie had already been disabled, at least temporarily. Opening with a thrust, Mathieu found his attack caught by one end of the dark sider's weapon. But he was still marching forth to force the Sith back. With this momentum, he kept pushing, throwing another swing at the Sith - and then a second one and finally a third one. But the Lord seemed experienced in dealing with foes similar to Mathieu as his footwork allowed him to avoid being wherever the large Padawan aimed to strike. Drawing his own sabre, the lord continued to display his Mastery and started to redirect Mathieu's attacks, rendering them relatively harmless without using too much energy.

"Get off!" he hollered, resulting in a slightly confused expression by the Sith. The Chadra-Fan was not confused, however, and quickly started working on releasing the straps that held him to the Padawan's back. Mathieu swung at his foe once more but again, his attack was merely redirected. Before long, the weight on his shoulders vanished as Tabli managed to hop off. But it didn't seem to help in the least as the Lord then went on the offensive, launching a flurry of four attacks on Mathieu, quickly forcing him to back away whilst desperately defending against them.

It was clear that he was at a disadvantage and it became abundantly clear when the Sith used a telekinetic attack to bring the you Morellian into the air, levitating him whilst laughing. In comparison to the lord, it almost seemed as if Mathieu's force defences never even existed. With the flick of a hand, Mathieu was hurled into the wall on the right side of the room. The Jedi could only count his lucky stars that he had reinforced his body - for the impact was powerful enough to crush the stone wall which he was sent against to create a small hole to the next-door room. His body was hurting everywhere when he suddenly felt the force jerking him in the opposite direction. Being sent to the wall on the left hand side of the room, he once again braced for impact - but it was more brutal this time, resulting in a loss of consciousness. The Sith let out a most entertain cackle as he watched the Padawan and a number of fragments from the stone wall fall down to Cassie, threatening to hurt him in the process.

Cadere

 

[Cadere]

Ngh... come on, Tynen...

His body continued to ache all over and his muscles continued to twitch from the lightening's intensity. Cas struggled to find feeling in his body as the pain numbed everything else. Dragging his arms across the floor, spreading them out and placing his palms firmly on the ground. The cold touch of the duracrete surged through his hands, that was good, some feeling was coming back.

... Get up...

He commanded himself as he placed all of his strength in his arms to counter gravity that shackled him to the ground. Cas' biceps tensed, he felt muscle spasms course through them as he continued allocating his strength to force him off of the ground. Although it wasn't enough, the Kiffar collapsed to the ground once more... quicker than he managed to push himself off the ground.

You're a Jedi Knight... for crying out loud...
You've fought Bryn... Sith Lords... the lot...

He gritted his teeth, fingers curling into fists. This was getting annoying now, why wasn't his body listening to him?! Then he heard it. The clash of lightsabers aggressively rung through the spacious hall coupled with the sound of crying. Rix? Was that... Rix? The Jedi Knight needed to get it in gear now. Uncurling his fists, Cas' placed his palms on the ground once more. Then he heard a crashing sound in the distance. Was Mat okay?

You're... ngh!... body's... been through the ringer, Cas.
Mat... Mat needs you right now...

Cas bent his arms to and once more attempted to lift himself up. His muscles were still sore and twitched, but he ignored the sensation and fought through it. The Jedi Knight reached out to the Force, calling upon its Light and energies to surround him and flow into him. It shot through his body like a current, while he still felt everything he was feeling currently, the aid of the Force energised him. Giving him the stamina to continue pushing himself up and then hold himself in place.

It'll... gah! Take... a lot more than Force lightening to keep you down...
So... get your... Force-sensitive tuchus up... and... help. Your. Friend!

Using the muscle in his left thigh, Cas urged his leg forward and stabilised himself on a single knee. The Force as well as his own will would keep him going, and as he readied himself to stand up, a loud crash was heard above him and following that small pieces of rubble fell beside him. Instincts took over and he rolled forward, narrowly avoiding Mathieu as well as the bits of rubbles collapsing onto him. "Mat! Are you--?" momentarily reaching out, he sensed Mathieu was okay... alive at least. Throwing his arm out to his side, Cas summoned his lightsaber toward him before turning toward the Sith Lord who let out an amused chuckle "You're still kicking? Color me impressed, Jedi. I hit you with enough juice to put down a Rancor." "Yeah, I'm all kinds of stubborn." his gaze was elsewhere though, while his body faced the Sith Lord and remained alert, he looked for the children and wondered that, in the midst of the chaos, they found somewhere to hide. He could only hope...

Without warning, in a blitz of Force-enhanced speed, the Sith charged towards Cas and stopped right in his face. This forced the Jedi to back away as he raised his lightsaber near to the side of his face, blocking an attempt at decapitating him "Why the mask? Are you horribly disfigured under there? Or is your natural face just not intimidating enough?" Cas was forced to go on the defensive, not his preferred position, but this Sith packed a punch and his strength in the Force was largely unknown. Right now, he couldn't take any risks. Fighting against the soreness his body radiated, Cas blocked, dodged and weaved out of every attack that was thrown at him "I get it, I do. Look at me, I'm gorgeous. Do you know how hard it is to intimidate someone with my gorgeous looks?" he continued to quip but the Sith wasn't taking the bait, ignoring Cas' attempts to annoy him.

Mathieu Brion

 

[Mathieu Brion]

Everything seemed to be blurring together. Regaining consciousness was not always a fast process and from what little his senses could start to pick up, nothing made much sense. His sight was blurred and the rubble that was still dropping down onto the floor and onto his armour made daft suppressed sounds upon impact. Mathieu was well-trained and had numerous layers of protection in both his armour and in his Ashlas Guard along with the reinforcement which the force provided his body. Even then, he was hurt - it was not much of a surprise, seeing as how he had been throw with wall-shattering effect.

With his experience as a Mercenary and then spending plenty of time on the field of battle as a Jedi, Mathieu was well accustomed to pain. He had good capacities at recovering from taking a blow, but this was on another level. Pain coursed through his body, growing sharper and more intense as he tried to move. A pained gasp and heavy breathing followed as he struggled to get up on his knees. Slowly but surely, his senses were returning to their full capacities.

Lightsabres. As he returned to the world, the young Morellian slowly started to become aware of what was happening. Cassie was back at it and so was the Sith. At this point, it was clear that his efforts would have to be doubled - seeing his friend on the defence was a rare sight and with the skill of their foe, it was obvious that it couldn't be allowed to continue for long. Not without his own involvement. But once more, moving in his weakened state was nigh on unbearable. With continued deep breaths, the Padawan tried to find peace and shifted his focus to the force. It was his ally and with it, he started to push the pain away, step by step, until he could finally move - but it did not stop there, for its invigorating effects would continue bringing him back to full strength. His advanced techniques in self-enhancement laid the foundations of the technique he used - but in truth, he did not truly comprehend it himself. It was another one of those times where trusting in the force had proven to be vital.

Grabbing his sabre on his way up, Mathieu ignited its green blade and soon reached out through the force to summon his other lightsabre. Igniting both at once, he entered an offensive Shii-Cho stance with which he would join the fight. Coming in from the side behind his friend, Mathieu launched an overly aggressive flurry of strikes against the lord, applying plenty of his natural strength in the process. "You talk way too much" he chirped, not bothering to throw a glance to Cassie whom the comment was directed at. Hopefully, his series of attacks would give the Knight the breather he needed. After a few series of moves where the Lord was pushed back, the tides of battle seemed to turn. For where Mathieu had once been pushing, he was now being pushed back instead. It soon reached the point where he tossed the green blade to Cassie - he was a much more adept defender in his two-handed Soresu than dual wielding Shii-Cho. Once more, the large Padawan found himself at a disadvantage but the seasoned defender made sure to be more opportunistic with his counter attacks, ensuring that it would be harder for the Lord to manipulate the force to beat him.

Cadere

 

[Cadere]

An emerald flash darted passed Cas' peripheral, forcing him to react instincitvely and move to the side and avoid a potential attack. Turning his head to get a better view, he realised it was Mathieu who came to the Knight's aid and forced some of the heat off of him "Enjoy your nap?" he teased. Grinning at Mathieu's comment, Cas quickly retorted "It's a talent." Mathieu's attack thankfully granted Cas a much-needed breather with enough time to gather his bearings. The Jedi Knight rushed to the Sith's flank and began attacking him from there with quick and aggressive strikes, however, it didn't seem to bother him all too much as he defended against Mat's frontal assault as well as Cas' flank.

Seeing the emerald saber come his way, Cas quickly reached his arm out and summoned it in his free hand. Jar'Kai wasn't Cas' favourite way to use a lightsaber, but he'd had enough experience from being trained by Sakadi as well as training Yenna. Immediately, he continued his offense. The Sith Lord was valiant in both his defense and offensive counters, catching Cas off-guard at times. The young Jedi Knight was reputable when using a random and unorthadox method when it came to attacking, deciding now would be the time to completely lean into that 'talent'. After being staggered backward by the Sith, who continued aggressively attacking Mathieu, Cas twirled both lightsabers and darted toward the Sith.

Once close enough "Hey! It's my turn to attack you!", he feinted an attack with the green lightsaber before striking toward the Sith's torso with his yellow blade. It worked, to an extent, the Sith tried to block Cas' feint only to quickly change course and defend against Cas' actual strike, leaving himself open long enough for Mathieu to attack. Following his first attack and hopefully Mathieu's, Cas would surprise the Sith by leaping over him and strike at his shoulder with his amber blade. The Sith would be hit regardless, if he raised his lightsaber to block Cas' strike his torso would be open to another attack from Mathieu, but if he remained focused on Mathieu his shoulder would be injured by Cas.

Regardless of what happened, the Sith Lord would silently grow frustrated with Cas as seen by his sudden diversion of attention onto the Kiffar. Landing on the Sith's opposite flank, the Sith immediately began attacking Cas "Whoa!" he quickly blocked threel attacks, appearing so fast they looked like a single one. The Jedi Knight defended against the first two with both lightsabers before backflipping out of the way of the final one "Okay, trying to kill me is fun and all..." the frustrated Sith Lord managed to disarm Cas' lightsaber which was launched metres into the distance, forcing him to rely on Mathieu's for now.

"I'll give you this, I'd rank you pretty high on my 'Toughest Sith I Ever Fought Ever' list. Which--!" he ducked, avoiding strike aimed at his neck "--Is a compliment, seeing as I've fought my fair share!" he continued to quip, hopefully buying Mat the time to flank.

Mathieu Brion

 

[Mathieu Brion]

Cassie may have been talkative, but he knew what he was doing, for the faint followed by the real attack put their foe in a real tricky position as he used both ends of his sabre to fend off the attacks, leaving him exposed for a good amount of time. Being a used Soresu practitioner, the large Padawan was far from unfamiliar with taking the chance when the enemy's defences slipped or they made a mistake - and his friend had just created such a position. With a quick move, he swung his blade to the Lord's side. A lightsabre block was nigh on impossible but their foe was not a push-over. Releasing the blade to only hold it with one hand, he managed to block Mathieu's strike with his wrist. It was an incredulous sight but the fight raged on, leaving them little time for reflection.

Once again, the Lord resumed his two-handed grip, twirling his sabre around to produce a bit more space for himself until he once more launched an intensive offensive against Mathieu who defended against the two red lasers that came at him in quick succession. The Knight exploited this well, launching himself over the Sith and managing to cut at his shoulder from above. The dark sider let out a pained grunt but his rage seemed to keep growing.

Turning on Cassie, Mathieu tried to get more hits in - but unlike his friend, the Morellian was not quite as good at the attack and found his blade blocked with simple but elegant moves making use of the dual blades. It resulted in the Ataru specialist eventually being pushed away, allowing the Sith to once more turn on Mathieu - but not before forcing Cassie to duck away from his blade as he turned. But this time, Mathieu was well prepared and had already begun his offense. With powerful attacks, he forced the Lord to either redirect the incoming strikes or avoid them completely seeing as blocking was unrealistic with the strength that was summoned by the large Padawan.

One particularly well directed attack from the side forced the lord to try to block, bringing his own red blade dangerously close to his face. Releasing his sabre with one arm, Mathieu struck at the Lord's throat with an open hand, first forcing the foe to cough violently. Then, his iron grip wrapped around the foe's throat as he raised the man off of the ground. It was an impressive display of strength where his foe could either choose suffocation or being struck by the Padawan's blade while at the same time, exposing him to Cassie. Naturally, the Sith thought of an escape and swung the other end of his weapon towards Mathieu's arm. Not keen on loosing it, Mathieu quickly withdrew his arm, allowing the Sith to gracefully fall back down.

A counter offensive was promptly launched, once more leaving the lord exposed while sending a series of five fast thrusts and one slash mixed in against his current target. Something was off - for unlike earlier, the broad-shouldered Padawan didn't feel quite as threatened when defending and even started throwing in more counter attacks as his focus on the fight increased. It turned out to be a clever play as the Lord already seemed to have identified Mathieu's weakness. With his increased combat focus, the Sith suddenly summoned an impressive amount of energy to levitate the attacking Padawan. But instead of throwing him at a wall, the Sith would try to throw Mathieu at Cassie.

Cadere

 

[Cadere]

As Cas ducked, he found himself caught by a hard Force-enhanced kick to his abdomen by the Lord as he turned to re-focus his attention on Mat. The force of the kick sent Cas a few metres back, forcing him to roll backward on the floor once he landed in order to stabilise himself. Stopping on one knee, he watched the brief engagement between Mathieu and the Sith Lord before getting up and charging toward them. "Keep him there, Matty!" Cas hollered, rushing over to the Padawan and Sith while glimpsing the Lord in Mat's grip.

Leaping toward the Padawan and Sith, in order to close the gap quicker, he witnessed everything. The Sith escaping Mat's grip, Mat's counter offense and the Sith regaining his bearings. Cas landed a few feet away as the Sith gripped Mat with the Force before hurling the Padawan at the Jedi Knight. Reacting quickly, he threw his arm out and quickly took control of Mathieu's form with the Force and slowed down his velocity. While he was still in the middle of being thrown, Cas slowing down Mat's momentum meant his landing would be less harsh than it originally had been.

Rolling under the slowly falling Padawan, "We really gotta work on your Force defenses!" he quipped as he passed under Mathieu. Reaching the other side, the Sith was ready for him - immediately attacking Cas with a downward strike forcing the Jedi Knight to throw his blade upward and engage in a blade lock. Forced onto his knee he was at a disadvantage, however, thinking quickly Cas quickly turned himself into a metaphorical lightening rod. Channelling the a large portion of the Living Force into him and around him before expelling a violent telekenetic ripple. Normally, this would fling a simple target out of the way but this was no simple target. The force from Cas' repulse sent the Sith Lord a few metres back but his feet remained glued to the floor as he skidded backward.

Quickly getting up, Cas would try to keep the pressure and darted toward the still skidding Sith. Green lightsaber dragging across the floor as he sprinted, green sparks erupted from the duracrete just before he lifted the blade up and launched a horizontal attack, then following it with a rising diagonal strike. All enhanced by his natural speed. The Sith Lord was once more on the backfoot, struggling to keep up with Cas' speed - the Jedi Knight took the opportunity to leap and perform a spinning kick at the Lord's helmet hoping to daze him. The moment his boot connected, Cas landed back on the ground and continued his assault, spinning around, Force enhancing his speed, and sending another strike with the lightsaber toward the Lord's helmet. The Sith Lord jerked his head back where only the tip of the lightsaber met his helmet, the lightsaber slid across carving through the helmet.

That seemingly scared him, the Lord's demeanour immediately shifted from calculated and aggressive to unsure and defensive. Cas continued on, hopping into the air and feinting a jab toward his head, forcing the Sith to raise his lightsaber to block. Landing, Cas quickly rolled, curving around the Sith and jumping upward, spinning in the air and striking the Sith's back. "You okay, man? You're not going as hard as you were earlier." Cas quipped as the Sith yelled in pain, spinning around and swinging toward Cas vertically. Ducking, Cas struck at the Sith's abdomen forcing him to release a bloodcurdling howl of rage. "No matter how powerful the Dark side makes you, all these injuries are gonna add up eventually." Cas was then blasted with a blast of telekinetic force, sending him hurling backward. "SHUT. UP." the Sith yelled.

Mathieu Brion

 

[Mathieu Brion]

Mathieu felt how he suddenly slowed down in his flight. It was obviously not the doing of the Lord who had nothing to gain by doing so - it had to be Cassie coming to his rescue. Naturally, the Kiffar sent a verbal jab at him in the process causing him to fire back "I could've taken the hit!" being rather well aware of the fact that Cassie would be hurting a lot more than he would if the two of them collided. Naturally, it would have been suboptimal if they were to collide at all.

When Mathieu landed, his fellow Jedi had already blasted their foe telekinetically, sending him back a few metres. His friend was not using the 'hammer and anvil' tactics which he had been talking about. Instead, he seemed to have decided on using overwhelming force and for the time being, it seemed to be working as the Lord's demeanour and stance shifted from how it had been before. While Mathieu joined in and threw a few stabs and slashes at the foe, it was clear that he had trouble keeping up with the Knight who was clearly superior on the offensive. After all that they had been through, it was hard to deny the satisfaction which he felt when Cassie managed to get a couple more hits in towards the Lord's helmet, meanwhile, Mathieu's attacks kept getting parried or evaded.

It was impressive, seeing how far the Knight had developed. His movements were fast to the point where it was difficult to keep up with him. From what he observed, the speed and creative attack angles were key to inflicting the two grave wounds that followed, one to the back and another to the front. The fact that the Sith was still standing was equally impressive as such injuries inflicted by a lightsabre would have most people falling over - not only because of the pain, but also because of their failing bodies. Perhaps this one was particularly skilled at channeling his rage - for he certainly had plenty of reasons to feel it right now. Maybe it was what fueled him to blast Cassie away.

With his ally temporarily absent, it once again fell upon Mathieu to push on. They had covered for one another a number of times already, evidently working rather well together. The former Mercenary advanced on his foe carefully, sending directed but conservative strikes to his opponent. At this point, Mathieu had no interest on being the one who attacked and was happy to see how his more careful approach seemed to embolden the Sith into attacking. Whereas he had previously struggled, Mathieu was now defending himself confidently as the flurry of attacks came down upon him. Not only had they been fighting for long enough so that he could get a grasp of the opponent's attack patterns, the foe was also heavily injured and while Mathieu had enough stamina to keep going for a while, the foe did not.

Launching into an Ataru attack, the Lord put the handle of his blade by his abdomen and launched at Mathieu with a frontal attack. The Padawan blocked it, giving the Sith momentum to bounce off of the blade and spin 200 degrees to attack with the other end of the sabre behind him. It was an attack which he had performed before and which had caused the Jedi defender to struggle. But this time, the attack was performed by an utterly drained foe, acting slower than he did before. Where he had earlier been fast enough to come around with the second attack, Mathieu proved to be faster this time, promptly slashing through the Lord's torso as he turned, effectively preventing the second strike from ever happening and killing the foe, almost instantaneously.

Almost as a statue, he stood still, hovering over the body of the Sith upon having won. It was clear that what truly defeated the opponent was how worn he was, especially after taking so many hits from Cassie. Still, it was Mathieu who had struck the killing blow and while he knew - logically - that he had done nothing wrong, it still felt bad. The Lord had produced such a large and significant presence of anger, rage and irritation. His sudden death made itself well known in the Padawan's mind. A few moments passed by before he managed to centre himself "Cassie!" he hollered with a tired voice "Are you alright? Rix? Zena? Tabli?" he looked around, hoping that the others were alright. The small alien appeared with quick steps, insisting that he was alright before then moving to the children whom he had been with for the duration of the fight.

If Cassie seemed to be OK, Mathieu would look out over the chamber, now littered with more than a dozen bodies. The destruction and death they had caused was horrendous but deep inside, Mathieu knew that it was probably the best possible and somewhat plausible outcome. "I hope the others have the sense to surrender" he said and added "Anyone wanting to do it after seeing this might as well take up moisture farming on Manaan."

 

[Cadere]

Cas' back slammed into the floor, the force of the telekinetic push still causing him to skid across the floor. He let the back of his head fall to the ground as he let out a long groan "I've got 'im on the ropes." Cas mumbled to himself as he slowly and painfully sat up. The Jedi Knight grinned once he saw Mathieu re-engage the Sith Lord. The Morellian was a stubborn one - or persistant. Eager to get back in the fight, Cas got back up to his feet and summoned both Mathieu's green lightsaber as well as his own into both hands.

By the time Cas had made it over to Mathieu, it was already over - Mat had dealt the finishing blow. Watching the smoke rise from the killing wound, Cas glanced at Mathieu before glancing back at the body. "Nice!" he exclaimed, bumping him with his elbow, Cas could sense the conflict within the Padawan - knowing his aversion to taking lives. Cas was the same although, he knew sometimes the circumstances can't be avoided. The Jedi Knight, would try and make Mathieu feel better... or at least take his mind off of it "I mean... I did most of the work though, but I'll give you the credit."

Cas then glanced around the area, looking for the kids "Kids! You okay?!" he hollered joining Mathieu. The Chadra-Fan and kids would emerge from the hiding places visibly okay, but emotionally that was a different story. At least they weren't harmed. Wandering over to the kids, he kneeled down and placed a hand on each of their shoulders, smiling at them, "I'm glad you two are okay. Not long now until you can see your mom again, promise." Cas then turned his head to Mathieu's "backpack" and sent him an approving nod "Thanks for looking after them."

Despite their alignments within the Force, Cas could still feel the small wound within the Force as a result of all the deaths suffered today. Closing his eyes, he let out a sigh but chose to move on. If left unchecked these Sith would have continued oppressing the settlers as well as kidnapping Zena and Rix, and who knows what else. Although it may feel like it at the moment, ultimately what they did here was a good thing. Getting back up to his feet, Cas made his way over to the Sith Lord's corpse and crouched down over it, examining the vambraces he wore. "Huh. These are pretty neat, lightsaber resistant and all." the Kiffar took hold of the vambraces attached to the Sith's wrist and called out to Mat "How unethical is it to take these off of him? I mean... he doesn't really need them anymore, right?" Cas called out to Mathieu.

Regardless of Mathieu's opinion, Cas unclipped the vambraces before attatching them to his wrists. Standing up again, Cas answered Mathieu's question "Who knows. Sith are always hollerin' about proving they're the strongest and blah blah. Killing us would probably elevate their ranks." he surmised "Although, I could be wrong." the Kiffar shrugged - oddly having a feeling that the remaining Sith wouldn't be a problem going forward. For whatever was left, would probably flee with their tails between their legs. Summoning the kids over with a gesture, they came and hovered around the Jedi's leg "Hey, you mind if you guys walk the rest of the way? I'm exhausted." they nodded and simply held his hands as they all began to make their way back to the colony.

They had done good today, Mathieu continued to surprise Cas, the colonists would now be safe and he sensed the Force was strong with the young silings. Glancing down at them, he smiled, having an inherant feeling that this little adventure was their first steps into a larger world.

/END/​

Mathieu Brion