We All Thaw This Coming | ORC Invasion of Rhen Var

[Darth Prazutis]

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Throne Room of the Shadow Hand, Aboard the Goliath

It was like a different world entirely.

Aboard the massive ship it was as if reality was different and down was up, in this reality the light was such a hideous, hated, foreign concept to the domain of darkness. The Sith Lord reigned absolute in its embrace a near limitless access to its power while his enemy constantly fought against it. So he relied on illusion and subterfuge to toe the line, to maintain the spiritual boundaries and distract from the all out assault. One after another more spirits emerged from each other as battle joined. When one was obliterated by the power of the dark side, struck down by his fury another emerged, hidden among them was the Jedi Master's true self. In the briefest of moments it became clear when he slammed a beam of pure light into the earth and there was a huge eruption of light. A cleaning aura of purity emerged its presence clearly visible through the sentient darkness, the nexus reacted violently to the presence of this abomination. It brought relief to the Jedi but already it was being chipped away at, the dark side surrounding it too strong. It was a spiritual shriek of agony and black rage from the nexus that felt as if it was sentient, devouring the presence of its hated foe.

A javelin of light made manifest hurled through the air its target clear through its upward arc the power of the light was devastating, toxic, fatal and reacted with disastrous results to people and things imbued with the dark sides power. In this case the connection of it with such a volatile, powerful crystal had devastating implications for everyone in the throne room. The Shadow Hand brought up a great shield of darkness, allowing the light to crash straight into it. In any other place, any other situation the light would've obliterated the shield and possibly pierced through it, not here, not in the nexus. There was a visible crack as the impact zone spider webbed. "The light withers and dies in my wake, and I will drown you in my darkness Jedi!" Prazutis said as he dropped the shield. He launched himself at the culprit who through the javelin in his hunt for the form of the true spirit. As he descended several other spirits emerged and he swung down with fury, scything them like wheat with a blade of manifested dark side energy. One by one they came in and vanished as soon as they were struck, but out of the chaos of their assault Zark revealed himself a full force punch delivered straight to the gut of the towering Sith Lord.

In any other instance the man's fist would've broken. Saziliebm-type Imperious Battle Armor was the single greatest suit ever created by House Zambrano. The heavy impervium plates ensured the armor was so durable, in an all out assault it'd take the kiss of a starship to crack its protective shell. It allowed the Lord of Lies a degree of confidence as he fought often allowing lightsaber strikes and blaster bolts to collide harmlessly against it, at the most he kept an awareness of its weak points and at the least he paid no attention at all to defense. So Prazutis allowed the strike to collide with the intent of using the mans reaching to him against him once the strike bounced off, but this was different. There was a massive surge of power and light behind the haymaker that Zark launched. It passed right through the battle armor like it was nothing no like it was less than nothing, like it didn't even exist. The blow connected with his body for no apparent physical damage, but physical damage wasn't the intention of this greater spirit.

Agony.

The blow was a fully powered explosive strike that connected not with his body, but with the spirit inside. It connected with the Sith Lords true form, the spirit that inhabited the body itself. The furious blow of light was pure, nauseating agony, a loud audible growl of pain from not the man but the spirit as the blows catastrophic damage rolled through his form. It was pain in the purest form and quite suddenly to the shock of those with eyes in the throne room and a lack of awareness, the Dark Titan fell like a bag of stone his half ton frame hit the ground with a palpable boom. In its place was a spirit, a great shadow of pure darkness clad in black robes. A pair of molten orbs with void pupils sat in the center of the hood.

Rage.

The surge of anger and hate was so great it felt like bile in the mouth, a lump in ones throat it crawled uncomfortably across ones skin. It was so strong it made ones blood boil planting disturbing thoughts of hyper violence in their minds. The Lord of Lies hands moved in an arcane pattern a low growl rumbled in an otherworldly voice from his spirit he roared through gritted teeth "WRETCH!" In an instant he flung his hands wide and a powerful darkness fell around the true form of Zark, a heaviness like something weighing him down, ensnaring him could be felt. "YOU WILL PAY FOR THAT JEDI! BEHOLD!" Quite suddenly half of the massive throne room vanished in pure darkness, while one half remained the other half shifted into what appeared to be a great, endless, mist covered petrified forest. A toxic, black tar dripped off the dark trees, its very presence brought madness. But what stood around this new world was something truly horrifying, a vast horde of monsters the likes of which were so horrifying, even the most formidable wielders of the force couldn't truly comprehend without losing their own sanity in the process. Their forms were so indescribable, so disturbing eyes could barely comprehend them. This hell was the Dreaming Dark made manifest as the group stood between two worlds. Zark would feel the grip of the Sith Lords darkness around him, its pull as he tried to drag Zark directly into the Dreaming Dark. The Sith Lords great shadow launched at him then, a blade of void energy between his hands.

[member="Zark"] | [member="Elani Zambrano"]
s

 

[Taeli Raaf]

Objective: Delve greedily and deeply
Equipment: In signature
Allies: [member="Darth Voracitos"] [member="Romi Jade"] [member="Kyrel Ren"] [member="Darth Ledgermayne"] [member="Adenn Kyramud"] [member="Ahani Zambrano"] [member="Vereshin"]
Enemies: [member="Coren Starchaser"] [member="Yula Perl"] [member="Zef Halo"] [member="Zak Amroth"] [member="Mav Vohaloveer"]

She smiled as she felt the pulse come, triggering a vision of the artifact's resting place... deeper into the city, the center... a shrine surrounded by corpses. Appropriate, she thought. She had to wonder if those that brought it here had fought amongst themselves at the end, killing each other for the prize. A subject for research at another time. And then... some nerfherder decided to call in a bombing run she guessed as explosions rocked from above... and a cascade of snow, ice, and rock came crashing down all around them. It was a whirlwind of shifting white, only the Force protecting her as she driven away from Romi and the other forces she brought in the collapse. Relying on the Kro Var watershaping she had learned from Kaalia, she was able to control her descent to some degree, at least enough not to drown or be crushed in the snow and ice.

That detached part of her mind was already analyzing who could have called it, and she was fairly certain it hadn't been the Sith forces under her command. They would know better... which could only mean...

Bloody Jedi.

Eventually the thundering came to an end, and she forced the snow out of her way. She was quite livid at this point, but in the chaos, she could sense one less light in the ruins. Good, very good. And Romi was... ah yes, he couldn't resist could he. Coren was with her. Time to end that irritation once and for all, she decided. The avalanche would have stalled any attempts to retrieve the artifact for the moment, everyone focusing on surviving such a rash decision that could have killed everyone here and for what?

In a swirl of dark smoke, she disappeared and traveling through the Force by tracing her link to Romi, she reappeared as she had on Ossus, forming from dark smoke into physical form, lightsaber in hand and a creeping coldness and darkness to meet Coren's light and heat.

"At least you admit that you didn't even try," she said to Coren, eyes shifting from their amethyst tones to the blazing yellow of the Sith. Red light erupted from her lightsaber. "Again and again, Coren, you show yourself a blind zealot with no regard for those around you as long as the ultimate mission continues."

She looked at Romi, at her apprentice.

"You only ever appreciated what she could bring to the mission, even as she suffered silently. Maybe you even lied to yourself and her that there was something more, but when it came to the choice... you cast her off as a lost soldier and continued with your obsession. Loyalty rewarded with abandonment. Strange that it is a Sith that is constantly helping her, protecting her as she grows stronger, teaching her that life is more than just a duty to the galaxy." The last bit was layered with contempt for the Jedi idea that the fate of the galaxy was more important than the lives within it. The lives they ignored, that suffered... that constantly provided a stream of recruits for the Sith and Imperial forces in the galaxy to escape the lawlessness the Jedi and their allies allowed to persist.

"Today, you're going to learn a vital lesson I tried to show you when the Alliance fell," she continued, bringing her lightsaber up into a Makashi salute. Yellow eyes blazed behind the red. "You don't know how to fight us."

 

[Darth Carnifex]

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The blade swung through the air, burying itself deep into the duracrete floor. Firmly embedded, the Emperor was unable to bring it back up to strike at the Jedi Master as the distance was closed. A fist slammed into the Emperor's midsection, drawing forth an expulsion of air from his mouth as oxygen was driven from his lungs. However, the Emperor's helmeted head turned towards the Jedi, indifference clearly implicated in the casualness of his movements despite the blow.

"A worthy effort, but futile."

With one hand grasping the pommel of his blade, the Emperor struck with the other as the full brunt of his muscular arm swiped out to his side to batter away the Jedi Master; intent on sending him sprawling behind the Emperor further into the facility. Explosions and other shockwaves of battle reverberated through the harsh metal and cold duracrete, but the Emperor again seemed indifferent to what was occurring around him in order to fixate on his current prize. With a sharp pull the Emperor tore free his weapon from the ground, shards of duracrete clattering down as they slide off the blade.

Spinning the weapon with both hands, the Emperor advanced with his twirling blade to strike at the Jedi Master with vicious viper-swift strikes of both blades.

[member="Arcanus Sunstrider"]​

 

[Jerec Asyr]

ENEMY: [member="Vanessa Vantai"]
ALLIES: [member="Dax Fyre"] [member="Kimiko Taiyo"]

TASK FORCE SCARLET:

• Commander: Admiral Sulik Aviccu, Outer Rim Coalition
• Nebula II-class Star Destroyer designated D1 (hull 75%, shields 95%)
• Majestic II-class heavy cruiser designated M1 (hull 75%, shields 50%)
• Majestic II-class heavy cruiser designated M2 (hull 100%, shields 85%)
• Majestic II-class heavy cruiser designated M3 (hull 100%, shields 85%)
• Sacheen II-class escort frigates designated K1 (hull 100%, shields 100%)
• Sacheen II-class escort frigates designated K2 (hull 65%, shields 100%)
• Sacheen II-class escort frigates designated K3 (destroyed)
• Nagata-class heavy corvettes designated X1 (hull 100%, shields 100%)
• Nagata-class heavy corvettes designated X2 (hull 50%, shields 0%, retreating from unknown ‘weapon’)
• Total capital length: 4550m
• All starfighters launched or launching (14 squadrons)

Comms reception was still, by design, down. All the way down. That hostile transmission wasn’t getting through - but coordination, apart from the details of the Starburst tactic, remained a challenge. And not just coordination.

All that to say, by the time Jerec and corvette X1 knew X2 was in trouble, the other corvette resembled a tin can. A spark and a flare told him X2 had just lost its shields, too. Good thing it remained, like the other ships, too far away for the Sith guns.

But not too far away from the unknown weapon. Some kind of MCPS, maybe? Those were supposed to be mythical. An extreme-range tensor field? A nauseated fear roiled in Jerec’s gut as he considered the stronger possibility that this was a Sith Lord at work, one strong enough to reach out and grip a starship from outside turbolaser range.

On the other hand, it looked like the weapon or Sith Lord could only target one ship at a time. X2 was in real trouble, but -- he squinted at the long-range sensors -- K2 had cancelled its retreat with the pressure off.

On the other hand, that silver lining objectively sucked. Given enough time, whatever-it-was could pick off the smaller ships one by one and kill hundreds.

But on the other hand, the Sith commander had just run out of time entirely.

Admiral Aviccu’s scarred flagship D1 exited hyperspace behind the XoXaans, as the Sith had no doubt anticipated. It did so, however, at long range, where it couldn’t shoot the XoXaans nor the XoXaans shoot it.

And it appeared in a cloud of dozens upon dozens of starfighters.

Comparable fighters poured from the other ORC ships. Two hundred fresh, undamaged attack craft, significantly outnumbering the XoXaans’ ten-squadron contingent, began to close in from all directions. The Sith pilots might have the discipline to maintain precise and risky formations while under the noise of the sustained EM probe bombardment, but that had only been half the probes’ chaotic job.

The other half was to unutterably bork both visual and sensor-based targeting of the incoming fighters, giving them real cover to close the gap without getting torn apart. The capital ships’ last wave of hundreds of EM probes offered further cover, racing ahead of the fighter formations. All of the above, sans capital ships, closed in on the Sith battleships at the heart of the bubble.

A Nagata-class corvette torpedo bomber could pull 60MGLT, comparable to a bomber. Nothing special, but enough to join the charge. As X2 peeled away to potential safety, Jerec spun X1 and dived toward the red ships.

He couldn’t do a darn thing about contacting the other ships, not with external comms down, but he routed his personal music files through X1’s intercom. He knew they felt as he felt. This had been part of the plan.

Strident war music blared out through X1’s cramped halls, representing the enemy: implacable, seemingly untouchable. Sensors indicated that, despite the ongoing bombardment from the heavy cruisers’ long-range turbolasers, no enemy ship had taken damage. Not so much as a scuff on the paint.

But as the starfighter hellstorm converged on the big ships - none of which had any gun smaller or more maneuverable than a heavy turbolaser, totally unsuitable for surviving small craft - a lonesome and defiant fiddle wove its way into the harmony.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c24zIkPnLYI

 

[Darth Ledgermayne]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DCptzvq55-E

Location: Jedi City, Underground traveling to the center of the city. Diggy diggy hole.
Objective: Receive enlightenment and peruse.
Equipment: Dual-phase Lightsaber, x2 Creeping Lignan crystals, rest in sig

NPC's: x12 Oblitus Bellatoria armed with Bowcasters, Buried and left behind.

Enemies nearby: [member="Yula Perl"] [member="Zef Halo"] [member="Mav Vohaloveer"]
Allies: [member="Taeli Raaf"] [member="Romi Jade"] [member="Ahani Zambrano"] [member="Vereshin"]


The Fell star was destroyed? This became a constant within Ledgermaynes mind now. Muffled in stone and dirt the Sith lord examined the likely hood of such a thing happening. He refused to believe it. How could an artifact of such reputed power be so simply destroyed. Doubt nawed at him eagerly without any hint of respite. The sounds from the surface were but mere vibrations in depths this deep. It never stopped. From sound to vibration and from vibration into the crust of the planet. Its very outer layer. The blue glow from force sight faded once more leaving the Sith Lord without sight in his dark surroundings. He could not see but he could feel, He felt everything. Each vibration and movement painted a fragment of a overall picture above. Through earth shaping he could in a way "see" what was going on above him and below if it came from source. For instance he clash between smugglers and a older sith sorcerer in battle. The incoming arching blast from a weapon which suddenly translated into the collapse of yet another cavern section. The The fake Fell star itself gave off faint barely sensible signature in the hands of a new holder.

Its a fake... But it that was true. Where is the real star? The Sith lord pondered his own thoughts briefly before waves of vibrations over took his sense of feeling from within the icy depths. Legions thwarted his figure, the vibrations in whole shook Ledgermayne where he rested in the earths! It rushed to his mind the immense and sudden strike that created the point of reference. The cataclysm. It was [member="Darth Voracitos"] the dark lord of gluttony and hunger himself in battle against the likes of a Jedi? From the current picture the vibrations painted the latter was on the ground on his stomach before the large sith lord. This exchange interested the Gutretee and captivated his attention in the right span of time. He was granted the "sight" to see a Jedi's last desperate moments. The words they Sith and Jedi exchanged were practically muted this far down but what came next was not. A Ship swooping in, hovering briefly and then BOOM.

A tremor. That was the source of it all. The point of reference which caused all this. How glorious. Another light fading in the over whelming presence of darkness.

" Agh." A splinter in his mind twisted cutting the picture given by the vibrations off but exchanging it for another. This time its origin was the force. Lasting only a second the Sith lord saw what appeared to be the Fell star at the center of the city. Below it the aged corpses of the many? Was this literal or cryptic in nature? And was the Gutretee the only one to receive such a vision. It was a naive hope and very doubtful. If He had seen this sudden outcry in the force then other had as well. Forcing his right foot to pivot in a shift, the dirt and rocks that surrounded against his crystalline structure retracted giving him more space. Both arms extended out forcing the earth around him to expand out further. The crystalline sith lord would need space for what was to come. The dance of a shaper began. Fists raising and lowering, bodies center of gravity shifting from one place to another and the lower section of his body flowing with a momentum. Light rumbles, shakes and tremors were given way in the localized area. Ice, stone and dirt moved clear out of the way from the walls and ground to be pushed forward. Stomping and finishing his small ritual a single crystal hand, which was his left stretched forth to the creation of a large boulder of ice and stone.

* CRACK CRACK CRACK* The sound of his fists impacting the boulder that was snug in the space sounded out and shook the surface above. The Gutretees feet submerged into the ground as the boulder in front of him blasted forward creating a new path with each punch. Practically surfing on the rock and ice the behind the boulder he manipulated, the boulder forced the creation of a tunnel forward but behind Ledgermayne the tunnel collapsed. Groans and screams of his sithspawn were silenced quickly. Progress called for the Sith alone to see to the Fell Star, Sithspawn had no place their. With each punch he grew closer and closer to the center of the city and picked up more and more speed. Like a Rancor or Reek winding for the charge.

Faster.

Faster.

Faster.

Once an avalanche started, There was little that could be done to stop it. The Fell Star would be his to give to the Sith Empire and all would be indebted to the Sith known as Darth Ledgermayne.

 

[Kingsley]

Location: The Peak
Objective: Come Up With a Plan Smash and Grab
Allies: [member="Andan Solo"], [member="Vorhi Alestrani"] (maybe)
Enemies: The Sith Empire

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"You could say that," Kingsley beamed proudly, holding up a data stick in triumph, "Pretty sure this is some kind of cargo manifest for the sector."

That wasn't all he had found, but given how emotional Andan could be at times like this the hiitian had resolved not to bring his new partner in on the plan he was brewing. Enough of the relic crate remained to make out an inventory code, and that meant there had to be more where this came from. They would never get another opportunity like this one, all they had to do was track down the source and it would be the score of a lifetime. Of course, someone as selfish as Andan would most likely want to cut their losses and get out of here.

"Come on, rrrawk!" he waved Solo over to the exit. It would be easier to ask for forgiveness than permission, "Hangars have gotta be nearby. I'm pretty sure I saw them on the way in, so follow me."

Flipping down his shades, Kingsley pumped the boomstick now in his hands.

"How bad can it be?"

The next thing he remembered, he was dashing past a legionnaire engulfed in flames. A power relay exploded nearby, bathing his terrified face in an orange glow.

"I take it back! I take it all back!" he wailed piteously, "Rrrrawk! This is the worst!"

"Over here!" Andan waved. A spray of glitter twinkled off his sleeve.

"I'm too pretty to die!"

Kingsley sprinted for the cover his partner in crime had found, indiscriminately firing his scatter gun at anyone who so much as glanced in his direction. His heart felt like it was going to leap out of his chest, but when Andan pulled him behind some rubble and he had time to catch his breath he felt a wave of terrified exhilaration wash over him.

"What did I tell you?" he puffed out his chest, "That wasn't so bad."

"If we follow this fencing," the human gestured, "we might be able to stay out of the worse of it."

They had not gone more than ten meters or so before they practically ran into two small humanoid females. Pinkskins all looked the same, but he could have sworn he recognized one of them. The feisty one with the unpronounceable name. Sherry? Shannon? Sherman?

"Nobody panic," the smuggler tilted his sunglasses, eyeing [member="Scherezade deWinter"] and [member="Celessa"] up and down, "We're here to rescue you."

It had been a while since he had been in touch with his old Black Bha'lir contacts. Did he owe them credits? He probably owed them a lot of credits.

 

[Romi Jade]

Rhen Var​

ALLIES/ENEMIES: [member="Coren Starchaser"] [member="Taeli Raaf"]​

OBJECTIVE: Light or Dark?​

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Spoiler

[youtube]

Spoiler

https://youtu.be/W0tMxqdXuCE[/youtube]

“This one is more obvious than what happened to me. That witch is in your mind.”

Mhnm

Her knees buckled, her left eye closing shut in a display of some sort of distress. She shook her head...what was even real anymore? For a second she thought maybe all of this was some sort of illusion...one meant to torment her further and play on her frustration. But...Coren seemed real, his presence she couldn't erase.

"I don't know what to believe anymore." She said almost as if she'd given up - again

She hadn't been the same since Veiere elevated her to his position when he stepped down, her insecurities became more and more real. As talented as some may have saw her, she didn't feel that way at all. And this was...all of that being thrown in her face over and over again like an endless cycles trying to force her to break.

But she could feel him manipulating the ebb and flow of the positive energies around them,

“Getting close to where you were was not possible.”

A faint glow started upon her cheek, and gradually began to create highlights across the entirety of her face. She knew what it was...

"Kill me--" if only at a whisper.

“But getting you here, now, that was possible.”

Gasp, that breath was stolen from her. She looked up in slight shock. There was a burning sensation just on the edge of her chest, and from anyone else's point of view they would see her veins swelling along her face and down to any other exposed parts of her body; they were black. They all seemed to travel upward...and soon her entire body was hot.

Her body began to convulse, like she was going to puke; she did. She began to cough up a black liquid, the contractions of which brought her down to her knees.

But then it stopped.

"At least you admit that you didn't even try," she said to Coren, eyes shifting from their amethyst tones to the blazing yellow of the Sith. Red light erupted from her lightsaber. "Again and again, Coren, you show yourself a blind zealot with no regard for those around you as long as the ultimate mission continues."

She looked up, weak. It was Taeli...

"You only ever appreciated what she could bring to the mission, even as she suffered silently. Maybe you even lied to yourself and her that there was something more, but when it came to the choice... you cast her off as a lost soldier and continued with your obsession. Loyalty rewarded with abandonment. Strange that it is a Sith that is constantly helping her, protecting her as she grows stronger, teaching her that life is more than just a duty to the galaxy."

Romi then gained a look of realization...the coughing and heaving ceased and her head whipped up to look at Coren. Was she to believe Taeli?

Then the ringing began, she started to dig her fingers into her skull.

Mnnhhmmm

 

[Republic Engineering]

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Objective: Subdue the Emperor.
Allies: Outer Rim Coalition.
Enemies: The Sith Empire.

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As my frost-kissed flesh connected with the midsection of the Emperor’s armoured form, I felt the force of my blow steal the very wind from his lungs. From a certain point of view, I suppose you could say that was a small victory of sorts. I struck a solid blow against the Sith Emperor, which is a claim that I was sure that many couldn’t attest too. However, it seemed far too easy to slip past his guard. It was if he wanted me to fall into the enraptured embrace of my own arrogance. I couldn’t say for sure what his aims were, as the towering being was genetically shielded from my limited telepathic prowess. Even my gift for prognostication was denied to me in that very moment. While the future wasn’t set, and such glimpses weren’t to be trusted, those infinite pathways offered a myriad of possibilities; which could be used to divine what was to happen next. It was frustrating, to say the least.

When my momentum carried me forward, I caught a glimpse of the Emperor’s impassive visage turn towards me; speaking with his ursine tongue. His statement was mocking at first, saying that it was a worthy effort, but soon soured mere seconds later as the admission of futility slipped past his shrouded lips. In that very moment, I was akin to a fly caught in the spider’s carefully spun web. Nearly too fast for my eyes to see, the Emperor’s armoured forelimb swept across his shoulder and took my airborne form along with it. Before my mind realized what transpired, I was sent hurtling down the access corridor towards the distant bulkhead with fresh agonies rippling throughout my entire body. Though I was connected to the Force, and empowered by its nigh-limitless energies, I wasn’t immune to the harm inflicted onto my mortal form.

What would become known as the Ironform Technique, or Force Body to conventional practitioners was a method in which a Force Wielder could push their past the limits of their physical endurance. It allowed those who performed this talent, of a sort, to jealously cling onto life after suffering an otherwise mortal blow. While the backhanded strike wasn’t lethal in any sense of the word, I was momentarily thankful that I held the foresight to allow the Force to embrace me in such a fashion. The connection between armour and flesh would’ve more painful than it was, and allowed me to keep my wits; rather than blanketing my senses with white-hot anguish. As I impacted the deck, my figure skated across the plating like it was forged from ice, before coming to a halt near the three-way intersection.

In the time it took me to jump back to my feet, the Sith Emperor rapidly closed the distance with his twinned blades dancing betwixt his ebon-hewn gauntlets. His strikes were serpentine and swift, leaving me with little room to deftly maneuver between them both without sustaining an injury or two. As fate would have it the first blade tore through sewn-cloth as it arced through the air, whilst the second bit into flesh; spraying carnelian droplets of my life’s essence against the surface of the bulkhead. First blood, was his. I didn’t cry out in pain as the blade swiped through my torso. I’d deny him the pleasure and bit down onto my tongue to ensure there wasn’t an involuntary slip. Again, the sensation was partially deadened, but I couldn’t ignore the welling pressure building behind the laceration. It’d bleed, and there was nothing I could to stem the trickling fountain; lest I wished to perish in the attempt.

Instead, I left the wound as it was, pulsating and angry, to focus on the Sith Emperor’s deadly follow through. My figure once again skated across the deck plating, as I slid away from the Dark Lord’s reach. It wouldn’t buy me much time, as the towering behemoth moved with a speed that belied his impressive size. But, the action would allow me a moment of much-needed respite. Between blowing the door open and sustaining my consistent connection to the Force? I found myself becoming more exhausted by the moment. Within an hour, maybe less, I’d be utterly spent beyond actionable recovery. As I was arrayed against such a powerful opponent, it was likely that I’d be dead the very moment I dropped to the floor. So, I decided then, that I needed to end this as quickly as possible.

Wordlessly rousing myself from the floor, I began pouring a measure of my telekinetic strength into my dominant leg. Although I wasn’t able to wield the Force like my kindred, I adapted to that disability through years of harsh conditioning. My prowess wouldn’t be held back because of the defects written into my very essence. Instead, I would embrace them, and learn to rise above those limitations. Thus, my powers would translate differently when employed in reality. As power rapidly built within the leather-bound musculature, I raised the limb with relative ease; ensuring that my weight was supported by my other leg. With the aetheric potential reaching the pinnacle, I roared and then forcibly brought my foot down to connect with the deck in a thunderous clap.

What energy I stored within my leg shot outwards, like lightning, as the boot smashed against the floor. That ethereal power snaked through the plating immediately surrounding my foot and began to buckle under the nigh-invisible pressure; before rocketing towards the Sith Emperor. I watched impassively, as the plating beneath our collective feet was torn asunder - as if the corridor itself was suffering from a localized earthquake. My action would steal the certainty of stable footing from beneath us, and probably expose the both of us to the passageways of the lower levels; doubtlessly increasing the size of our battlefield. Of what happened to the Sith Emperor at that moment? I couldn’t tell. It was possible that he lost his footing and fell down to the lower levels, or managed to jump back in time to avoid the brunt of my directed assault entirely.

All I knew, at that time, was that it wouldn’t be long until the truth was revealed.​

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| [member="Darth Carnifex"] |​

 

[Zak Amroth]

Location: Lost Jedi City
Equipment: Expeditionary Suit, Hand Cannon, Lightsaber, Backup Piece, Extra Sabers
Allies: [member="Coren Starchaser"], [member="Argis Volmir"], [member="Racket"], Trash Family ([member="Yula Perl"], [member="Zef Halo"], [member="Mav Vohaloveer"])
Enemies: [member="Kyrel Ren"] (engaging), [member="Taeli Raaf"], [member="Adenn Kyramud"], [member="Romi Jade"], [member="Darth Voracitos"]

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He felt the crumbling wall underneath his feet shift, and Zak was forced to leap down so that he was level with the man in black.

Trembling earth and a searing vision had thrown off his aim, the warning shots he had meant for his new enemy's droids went wide. They were both still recovering from a sudden psychic intrusion, but Sheriff Amroth slowly lifted his still smoking blaster when he saw that the dark knight was sending his artificial minions on a mission of there own. Somehow he felt certain that they were headed after the Fell Star. It was the same route he would have chosen, the same route he wanted to choose. In time, he vowed. Collecting the artifact would gain those strange war droids nothing if their master fell before they could return.

"Tell me boy, who are you. I wish to know the name of those who I will kill."

"I'm the end of the line," Zak answered, holstering his blaster but keeping the bio-disruptor in his off hand. He drew his father's lightsaber hilt, "I'm the guy who gave you a chance to walk away."

With a snap-hiss the energy blade cast his face in a burnt orange shadow. Though the Judge did not yet know it Kyrel would recognize this weapon. There were few like it in all the galaxy, and the hilt was unmistakably the same as the one trophy thought lost to him years ago aboard the Itsukusk. Zak raised his hand cannon, forcing the Master of Ren's attention away from this startling revelation.

He squeezed the trigger, and another lance of lightning arced toward the man in black, illuminating a landslide of snow rumbling toward them both. This entire place would be washed away in less than a minute. But the light show had drawn Zak's attention elsewhere. Off in the distance he could see the city's ancient gates and a bridge that marked passage into the city limits. The tracker spied three figures, and his gut told him one of them was Coren.

Starchaser was in trouble, and there was nothing he could do about it.

 

[Coren Starchaser]

Delay the Sith​

[member="Taeli Raaf"] [member="Zak Amroth"]​

Save Romi​

[member="Romi Jade"]​

Provide Distraction​

[member="Zef Halo"] [member="Yula Perl"] [member="Mav Vohaloveer"]​

This battle, for the mind of Romi Jade, was not going to be won by fighting, but it was not going to be an easy win. He had to directly deal with Taeli, even before she arrived here, he could feel her presence, twisting and mangling the way Romi thought. The Jedi Sentinel was not the best to correct this situation, he was a fighter, and more adept at hunting the Sith and removing the ones who were causing an obvious threat. That would grab attention and allow the ones who were more able to stick to the shadows. Ones who were more on the same field as Raaf.

His voice was not responding to Jade, but the Force was. She didn’t know what to believe? The Light would pulse hard, pushing into her shield, hopefully into her very aura. The protective, caring aspect of the Force. And when she whispered, barely anything Coren could feel, but something he could sense, to kill her?

Yes, that would be the quick and easy path. But this was a being that had conflict. He could sense it, and bring it out in her. The Light of the Force was moving, and Coren pointed one hand away from the sky and the barrier, directly at Romi, filling the wave of Force Light with compassion, his own sorrow, the feeling of Light he had been seeing around the galaxy the past few years… Hope. The galaxy was a dark place, but the force of good were uniting in a way that hadn’t been seen in millennia.

That was when the dark movement came. He could feel it. Feel her. Still, he was throwing what he had into keeping the roof up and the light on Romi. If he could burn the darkness out of her?

He turned when he heard Raaf speak, the Force still split. “Maybe in the past. Under the doctrine of the New Jedi Order. Things are different now.” New tactics, new education, and new skills. He could feel the metal of the healing amulet from [member="Celeste Rigel"]. He pulled the energy from the protection bubble and instead hurled the wall of Force energy for Taeli as he took another beat to throw more Light into Romi before grabbing for his saber pike, calling it from the floor to his side.

The team needed to find the Fell Star, and they needed to find it now. The blue blade ignited.

 

[Griet van Vliet]

Objective: Jedi Rambo
Equipment: In signature
Allies: ORC [member="Vorhi Alestrani"]
Enemies: Sith

While Vorhi found out that the enemy unwittingly compromised the structural integrity of not only the turbolift shaft, but also inadvertantly causing damage to the load-bearing pillars of the complex, including, but not limited to, the vaults containing what the prospective Aing-Tii clients sent her to Rhen Var for, a vision occurred to her about an uncovered tomb surrounded by fresh bodies in the center of the lost city. Is that some pulse sent out by some relic located deep into the planet? she thought, while realizing that she wasn't in position to get to the relic. Meanwhile, the flamer fuel tank exploded, sending what surviving legionnaires there were on the floor to panic. Plus the turbolifts that allowed enemy reinforcements access to the floor were out of commission by now, so she took the opportunity to fry the brains of the nearest group - provided there were no Epicanthix in the group of legionnaires - using Neural Storm, in hopes they do something stupid while under extreme disorientation, or induce friendly fire, or some such thing. In effect, this ought to buy her time to check out the area near the vault so that she could look for dents that Dashade left behind in their reckless charge that she could exploit. Or that she may have left behind in firing a salvo of Umbaran EM plasma.

Yet, she knew that, even though point-defense fire could penetrate or at least dent reinforced duracrete at short ranges, doing it at an angle was a risky proposition at best so she put her massive rifle back on her back before arriving to the nearest dent in the vault wall left behind by the firefight that just took place. She knew that reinforced duracrete vaults had walls much thicker than normal rooms, even with turadium lining on both sides of the wall, so she expected that, even with a lightsaber, it wouldn't be an instant operation. But she wasn't even sure she would have the required time since parts of the structure began to crack around the vault. Or perhaps I can plunge my lightsaber inside the cracks forming in the vault's walls: after what happened here, the Sith will never suspect that I'm really practicing accounting as my "regular career", she thought, realizing that, in a loud snap-hiss, the lightsaber would not just carve a hole inside the walls: the alchemy on the crystal would also make it so that the material around the crack would be eaten away over time.

 

[Zef Halo]

​

Location: Jedi City
Objective: Get my retirement plan sorted i.e snatch the Fell Star
With: Trash Fam [[member="Yula Perl"] & [member="Mav Vohaloveer"]]
Allies: [member="Coren Starchaser"] [member="Argis Volmir"] [member="Zak Amroth"] [member="Racket"]
Enemies: [member="Darth Ledgermayne"] [member="Vereshin"] [member="Darth Voracitos"]

​

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oN2Xs-MvxLw​

​

​

It all happened in a flash. Yula being in the grasp of the creep Sith, Mav firing a weapon at the latter and suddenly the ferocious shockwave bringing the whole place down upon them. New crevices opened up swallowing the rubble, along with the trash family down a slide of its own making. Within the whirlpool, the scoundrel tried to fight to get to his grandchild but to no avail until they hit rock bottom.

Wherever the hell that was.

The avalanche had sent them down and down and down. Deep within the ruins of this cursed Jedi City in a place of unnatural serenity and power that tingled even the senses of those not gifted/cursed with the Force. Zef barely escaped the natural coffin that had weighted him down on the ground, his mind completely obsessed with finding Yula and Mav.

To his luck - he found them not very far from him. Were they alive? He karkin' hoped so, otherwise...his heart was old. Maybe too old for this chit.

He stood up calling all the remains of his strength and staggered forward to where Mav and Yula lied. Had he brought him to their death? Was this the big bite he could not chew? Had he finally karked up completely? Even when he was forgiven by his own children for his own mistakes, even though they had every right not to do so?

Some things never change, do they.

His feet barely held him standing not because of injury but because of fear. The same fear that had sent him fleeing all these times, the same fear that had saved his life on more than a hundreds of times. The fear of death.

Not his.

Theirs.

"Yula...Mav..." He called out in a whisper. The bulge forming in his throat not letting his voice rise higher.

Zef Halo collapsed on his knees down before the two.

His tear stricken eyes fell down upon the gun next to Mav's body. The frail, old hand of the smuggler snatched it pointing the muzzle there where he'd never pointed it before. His own neck.

He had failed those close to him one last time.

"Wish I'd been more like you, dad..."

The smuggler's finger caressed the cold steel of the trigger. Its coldness reminded him of all the regrets he had kept inside, locked and hidden behind the facade of the ever-confident, always-right smuggler Zef Halo.

Sorry.

 

[Sol Stazi]

Location: Vehicle Bay Exterior
Equipment: Scout Armor, Autokrator Assault Rifle, SSK-7 Heavy Blaster, Combat Vibroknife, Thermal Detonators (Bandolier of 5)
Allies: [member="Kyle Farnes"], [member="Jend-Ro Quill"], [member="Arcanus Sunstrider"], [member="Tera Highwind"], [member="Janick Beauchamp"]
Enemies: [member="Kaine Australis"] (engaging), [member="Darth Carnifex"], [member="Darth Morbus"], [member="Ao Xian"], [member="Ahani Zambrano"]

---

"Kark!" Sol cursed, shielding his eyes.

His antipersonnel cannon was lit up with small arms fire, las bolts pinging off the barrel and sizzling past the duros' head. Priming its slide, he squeezed the heavy shooter's firing trigger and nothing happened. He gave the slide another rack, yelling a steady stream of obscenities, and finally the entire barrel blew. Stazi snarled at the broken down tank's disintegrated turret muzzle. Yanking his vibroknife out of the tank operator's corpse behind him, he slammed it back into its shoulder sheathe and started climbing back down off the vehicle as quickly as his wounds would allow.

"Now you're starting to piss me off," he muttered to himself, wishing he could keep hold of a functioning weapon for longer than thirty seconds on this planet.

Limping toward the two struggling Mandalorians, Captain Stazi did his best to approach from the Sith mercenary's flank. Sliding his knife back out, he tried to move as quietly as he could. With all the explosions and las fire whizzing around them, a stealth approach wouldn't be difficult, but in the chaos of a close quarters brawl there was no telling when or if Australis would check his six. Sol was getting tired of this, he had a mission to complete. Perhaps Mandalorians really were more honorable after all, because the duros would have no reservations about slitting his enemy's throat from behind.

HOME GUARD DRILL TEAM​

3 KILOMETERS TO TARGET​

​

"Strike teams are in position at the tunnel's mouth."

"Good. Keep em back for now," Colonel Sief ordered, "Last thing we need is for all of us to go in a collapse. Nonn, you hear anything?"

"Plenty," Corporal Nonn was their sonic technician. Sullustans relied on their acute hearing to navigate bedrock so efficiently, as well as specialized technology developed over thousands of years living underground, "Still on course, sir. With all this background noise its impossible to tell if anyone's waiting for us, though."

"That's what your Firelance is for," Sief patted his shoulder, "Everyone check your rifles."

 

[Taeli Raaf]

Objective: Artifact searching on hold, lesson time at the fore
Equipment: In signature
Allies: (just tagging nearby for now) [member="Romi Jade"] [member="Adenn Kyramud"]
Enemies: (just tagging nearby for now) [member="Coren Starchaser"]

More Force Light, honestly? Honestly? He might say things are different now, but by the balance, the Jedi were using the technique way too much now. Did they really think the Sith hadn't adapted to it by this point? At least Coren was throwing his protection bubble at her as a projectile to distract her from the Force Light heading for Romi. She could use her own command of the Force to take control of the projectile of energy, but it was much easier to just not be in the way. She disappeared into black smoke again and reappeared in front of Romi now, the blazing energy of the light heading directly at her now...

And as she had done with Veiere, Taeli called on the teachings she had learned from her travels. Holding out her arm that was wielding her lightsaber to draw the light into it, she used the neutral and balanced teachings of the Baran Do, the hassat-durr, to channel the light side through her and out through her other hand. For the moment she was doing so, her yellow eyes resumed their natural purple, the light escaping out of her fingers into the ice and stone of their surroundings to dissipate. Like water flowing through a channel. But she started to swirl it, harness it...

From her free hand, arcs of white lightning erupted out towards Coren as the last of the light side energies were converted into a Baran Do style of Force Lightning. Purple eyes slowly turned back to yellow as the attack left her hand, a smirk tugging at the corners of her lips.

 

[Zark San Tekka]

[member="Darth Prazutis"] | [member="Elani Zambrano"]​

​

​

"Luminous beings are we," Zark calmly intoned, allowing the whisper of a smirk at the Parasite Lord's rage, "Not this crude matter."

He raised his hand above his head, forming another shaft of Force light with which to finish off the elder Zambrano's spirit. A claw covered in pitch reached up from underneath him to grab his wrist, interrupting his throw. The celestial lance winked out of existence like a torch's flame suddenly snuffed. More anthropomorphic tendrils of smoking black ichor wrapped around his limbs, and although the Jedi spirit could now sense something terrible was coming he was for the moment powerless to intercede. In his desperation, Prazutis had used what abominable knowledge his corrupted mind had pieced together from the Gree, and opened a Tear.

"Palestar..." otherworldly voices started to whisper, just barely decipherable over a slowly building murmur, "Palestar..."

"No!" his voice shook the chamber, and the Jedi Master's entire form began to glow.

The oily tentacles recoiled as if in pain. Zark pulled one arm free, and then another.

​

His eyes went wide, and Zark's image barely managed to conjure a shaft of light in time to block the sorceress' sudden attack. He had been expecting something of the sort, but not for her to be quite so fast. Sparks flew as if her exotic katana had made contact with an energy sword, and the Jedi spirit raised an eyebrow when his lance did not slice neatly through. So it was a Force imbued blade, that was unfortunate. Just like a kyber crystal, Elani's katana was attuned enough to the realm of spirit to cause his immortal soul harm. Pressing the clash, he tried to angle her sword down and away.

"I'm trying to help you..." he managed, his weakened spirit's lance of light still vying for momentum against her blade, "Let the past die."

Finally their clash broke, and after a flurry of blows and counters Zark found himself on the defensive. She was a better duelist than he was. In life, the Jedi sage had only ever mastered the Way of the Rancor. He was no expert with a blade, but to the young Sith on the other hand it seemed second nature. The more she pressed, the more it drained his concentration, soon it would begin to weaken his other half. He believed he could restrain her with a thought, but he was so focused on avoiding impalement the thoughts wouldn't even come.

Darth Prazutis' physical form slumped to the ground, as if he had just been knocked unconscious by the invisible force he contended with. Zark took advantage of the distraction this would cause Elani to disengage, slapping her katana away and floating backwards through the air like a wraith. Deftly adjusting his grip on the lance of light to hurl it like a projectile, it flickered out of existence suddenly in his hand.

"No!" he cried out at the same time as his other half, and when Prazutis split the room both he and Elani also experienced its effects.

Driven back to the edge of his anchor to the Light, where the meditation chamber was bisected there was no trace of the circle on the other side. Nothing endured the Dreaming Dark for long. Already where once there had been the almost comforting shadow of a corrupted nexus, somehow the dead forest from beyond seemed even darker. As if it drained the color from their skin and left the world a dreary greyscale. Closer to the Shadow Hand's throne, a glowing figure appeared, and for the first time Elani caught a glimpse of the other Zark. Illuminated by his image's inner spirit, a Force shade that could only be Prazutis' soul recoiled at the Light.

 

[Anden Fancelo]

---

​

---

Rhen Var, Dreypa's Peak​

Objective: Maintain defense of Peak.​

Allies: TSE | [member="Keira Cerdulan"]​

Enemies: ORC | [member="Scherezade deWinter"] | [member="Celessa"]​

​

As blood was being spilled on the walls and floors of the massive fortress. The Captain and his communications operative were down on a knee, taking in a moment to recover their stamina. Vaak slipped his helmet off and coughed out some blood. An unusual hue but the comrade was from Rattatak. Fancelo, now brandishing some charred marks over his chest plate gave a soft pat over the man's shoulder.

"You good?" The superior officer asked, somewhat concerned.

"Yeah... I'll manage." With a nod in confirmation, Vaak followed with more. "I'm green."

The Captain passed the unequipped helmet over to his comrade. Rising up with him. "Alright, let's move." As Vaak secured his helmet, Anden was taking point. The pair walked around the corpses that was their former opposition: a squad of Coalition forces. It made Anden wonder to himself, could some of these criminals be ex-military? Could they actually coordinate with each other? It seemed that way, underestimating the opposing forces was a risk, that almost cost him a man. The mistake was somewhat amended as Vaak was treated for the moment with what little they had.

But it can hinder a soldier's function. Small factors such as injuries or pain can cause a soldier to falter in their combat efficiency. Making the mission harder. The thought process the captain had as he advanced along the corridors was interrupted by the words of jest by his comms operative.

"It ain't an Onyx mission without getting shot in the gut."

The motivation, brought a grin to the captain. It was funny too, as shown by the silent chuckle from Anden.
Eventually the two made it over to a walkway overlooking the courtyards of the facility. Looking over the conflict that continued brewing. Anden called in on his commlink.

"Teams, give me a check."

"Copy, wait one." Maxevan chimed.

"Affirm, Besh is green all around except ammo. Ammo's yellow." Carmine answered hastefully.

"Copy. Waiting on you, Aurek."

Patience was expected. After all, Aurek's positioning was placed against heavy opposition. As Vaak was coordinating with other long range operatives on comms, Fancelo was tracing his gaze over the edge of the Peak. Curious of any stragglers.

 

[Romi Jade]

Rhen Var​

ALLIES/ENEMIES: [member="Coren Starchaser"] [member="Taeli Raaf"]​

OBJECTIVE: Make a choice...​

---

---

​

---

​

Spoiler

[youtube]

Spoiler

https://youtu.be/QZsMtxomy28[/youtube]

Mhnnnmm

Through the sudden torment, she'd inadvertently took a trip through her memories. Pulled through the empyrean, the sudden flashes of what once was came full circle in her quest to fight through this.

"Never let your fear decide your future..." She soon heard the words of the ancient Bendu she met prior to this...She ran her fingers through her hair, pushing it from her face as she calmed herself. "I never understood what fear was until recently...and how easily one can fall into the trap."

And she fell hard...she set herself up. She thought she was doing the right thing ever since she'd left Deneba, but she was really running away from responsibility and everything else that would force her to grow past her insecurities. She didn't know it then...

Everything had led her down this path. The events on Mon Cala wasn't where it all started. She'd led herself astray long before that; she'd lost faith in herself.

Uggmmnn

It wasn't her choice. Romi hadn't chosen to step away from the light, she had been coerced by Taeli's deception and Sith magics; "It's not your fault..." Veiere told her.

It wasn't her choice no, but she allowed Taeli's deception to bring out her inner darkness. Romi had never been one to give in, she was always the one to keep throwing herself at it until her last breath. So why had she gave up so easily?

It wasn't like her...

“Romi… what … happened to you?” His eyes found hers, and he was reaching into the meld, immediately working, as natural as breathing for him, to push the light into it. Finding the darkness, the suffering, and pushing in calming feelings, and compassion, love, the emotions she invoked in him. And working to shield the meld from the shock.

What happened to her?

She had to make a choice.

And she did.

Her breathing picked up, letting out a profound sigh. She grimaced as if steeling herself for an unpleasant task, and then reached deep within herself. Romi had a natural affinity for molding and manipulating melds - she never went beyond they're most basic capabilities until now. Who knew what it would turn into later... A sudden spark of understanding flashed through her spirit, followed by a sense of hurt and shame; she wanted to rid herself of it completely.

Romi pulled on the pulsating energy that Coren had been pumping into her and into their surroundings. He'd pushed hard, pushing into her shield, and into her very aura. The protective, caring aspect of the Force.

Using what energy and she had left that wasn't of a dark nature, Romi began to use a hyper-focused form of ubiquitous energy on herself. Saturating herself with the feelings of hope and bolstering her strength, she simultaneously began to erode at her feelings of doubt and despair - thanks to the aid of Coren's Force Light.

Romi burned away the ominous powers that twisted her will through subtle influence. She'd freed herself from the nightmare she'd been a victim of over and over. She was able to root out Taeli's influence, combating the dark siders use of the Force by pulling the dark womans powers away from her; it caused great pain.

Ugghhh!

A metaphysical burst would erupt from her person and she fell forward, catching herself with her hands as she dug into the stone of the bridge. Seemingly gasping for air, she felt lighter...lighter than ever.

Forcing herself to look up through the shock, she saw Taeli redirecting Coren. The shadowy figure standing over her.

Romi did not have half a second to think of anything else, she looked over and reached for her lightsaber just on the floor next her. Fighting through the convulsions of having over extended herself on the force-end, she simply threw herself all into this. She rolled down onto her right hip, then came around, slashing wide and level with her scarlet lightsaber at Taeli from behind. Her blonde hair shone with reflected highlights as it lashed from one shoulder to another. Her blue eyes blazed with another sort of light, one that matched the feral snarl on her face, betraying no sense of weakness from her recent display.

She made a choice.

 

[Rekha Kaarde]

Location: Inside the Fortress, extreme lower levels
Objective: Find ORC Forces and provide support
Equipment - Merr-Sonn Blasters | Taozin amulet | paint ball rifle with balls
Allies: ORC - [member="Kingsley"] | [member="Andan Solo"] | [member="Cyran Vaas"] |[member="Arcanus Sunstrider"] | [member="Ladro"] | [member="Veiere Arenais"] | [member="Ardasz Verd"]
Enemies: Sith| some Mandalorians - [member="Kaine Australis"] | [member="Darth Carnifex"] | [member="Darth Morbus"] | [member="Janick Beauchamp"] | [member="Ao Xian"] | [member="Keira Cerdulan"] |

Warmth had finally made it back into her fingers and toes. She followed through the dimly lit halls the figure which had opened the hatch. She had her reservations about this person he or she had yet to reveal their face.

She wasn't sure what to expect but she knew from the way the tiny hairs on the back of her neck were still standing up that something was coming, whether it was a good something or a bad something she did not know.

"So um how long you been on station?"

"A lifetime it seems" the voice was raspy and old as if he had been smoking too many death sticks. "Where you taking me?" She figured if she was being taken as a prisoner her guide might not want to pull that gundar out of a hat until he had more friends about.

"Where you need to go"

"Well that's real cryptic don't you think. How about we just..." She realized that her tone echoed too much impatience, "I could use a hot drink." She hoped she had not given herself away yet.

Her guide half turned, "this facility does not support 'breaks' I would think you would know that."

"Nope, not really. Usually where I work the lights are brighter and I know where I am, and what I am doing." Her free hand motioned around, "Right now I got none of that, even Bespin offers a break. Maybe that's the problem here no breaks." The miners that came to the Underground provided lots of little details that she could use to fit in.

The figure chuckled but kept moving.

The melting snow turned to water leaving a small stream behind her as she moved. She looked back aware that if anyone else found that trail they would eventually find her, or with any luck she'd stop dripping soon and the trail would disappear.

"the junction is ahead."

"Great, then we can part company and I'll head back to my work area." Yep....yep....would she slip out of this easily, or would there be a security detail waiting.

 

[Keira Cerdulan]

[SIZE=11pt]Location: [/SIZE][SIZE=11pt]Dreya’s Peak[/SIZE]
[SIZE=11pt]Allies: [/SIZE][SIZE=11pt]TSE and Allies[/SIZE]
[SIZE=11pt]Enemies: [/SIZE][SIZE=11pt]ORC and Allies[/SIZE]
[SIZE=11pt]Tags: [member="Anden Fancelo"] [member="Celessa"] [member="Scherezade deWinter"][/SIZE]

[SIZE=11pt]There had been [/SIZE][SIZE=11pt]complications[/SIZE][SIZE=11pt].[/SIZE]

[SIZE=11pt]And those complications now meant Keira was running through the halls of Dreya’s Peak with her blaster pistol drawn, tubes running while behind her, and her helmet somewhere further within the depths. She had abandoned when [/SIZE][SIZE=11pt]part of the peak fell down the mountain.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=11pt]Oh by the dark side, force, commerian brandy, or whatever the spry Corellian actually paid homage too. She wasn’t getting paid enough for this, or much at all for that matter really. But here she was, her head pounding from a pleasant night of partying, a pistol drawn, and her ship nowhere in sight. The fighting that had now popped up throughout the entire peak had prevented her from reaching the hangar and her beloved TIE.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=11pt]Well, not like she didn’t make the attempt at least. There just happened to be a lot of big scary men with big scary guns fighting when she opened the door; Keira then proceeded to close that door as fast as humanly possible, before running the complete opposite direction as fast as her legs would take her. Unleashing by far, the most “colorful” vocabulary this side of the Galaxy while she did: you never got between a girl and her ship. Never.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=11pt]Now, she wasn’t afraid. Keria didn’t get afraid, she merely understood how to gamble to a reasonable degree. And she didn’t have enough armor or ammo to try and rush it over to the hangar and take it to space without losing an arm...or a leg...or maybe her head. And she liked her head a lot.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=11pt]And that had been how Keira spent her time, hauling it to wherever she presumed was the safest part of the peak right now. Sounded reasonably the quietest portion, less big scary guns to hurt the tiny not scary pilot.[/SIZE]

 

[Coren Starchaser]

Spoiler

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JDG2m5hN1vo

Rescue Romi and Push Taeli Back​

[member="Taeli Raaf"]​

[member="Romi Jade"]​

​

Force Light was the way to block out the darkness. But the way he was using it? No, it wasn’t about to slam into a dark sider and ruin the way the Force worked for them, this was different. Years since the events on Coruscant, Coren had a time and the chance to learn a few new tricks, and modifying the way Light worked, and what he could do with it, became a huge focus for him. The man was the warrior of the Light, and yes, it was a slippery slope, but discussions with people like [member="Tiland Kortun"] and [member="Arcanus Sunstrider"] helped him feel more tightly, the correct direction for someone with his skills.

Even his connection to the Silvers and the Covenant that found its way into the Coalition. Today he had one goal in mind, and that was breaking the stranglehold that the Sith had on Jade. But Jade was a Jedi, calling back to conversations with [member="Veiere Arenais"] that it wasn’t Romi’s choice, but what were choices were how Coren went about handling it. Now though, now he had the chance to save her. Bring her back to the light side.

The Light would rise.

He could feel it as Taeli moved, and he threw all he could into that without draining himself fully. This was essentially a reversal of what Jade was good at, the connection of the Force. He was reaching out to the other Jedi on the planet, hoping that their essence would touch his, the remains of [member="Argis Volmir"], [member="Zak Amroth"], even @Jend Ro Quill and [member="Vorhi Alestrani"]. Anyone who he knew were here for the right reasons. They were going to need to lend to the minds of Starchaser and Jade if they were to break the hold here.

The Trash Family, and specifically [member="Yula Perl"] was going to feel it too, whether he could make a connection or wake her up, he was going to try his best. They needed to push the darkness, exorcise the Sith from one of their own. And he could only get it started, because in that fraction of his own pulse to the forces, he was already turning the rest of his energy into folding space off to the side of Taeli, but close enough she’d need to give her attention to Coren rather than Romi.

All he could hope for was that his pulse to pull the dark side out of Romi before the blast of lighnting racked his body.