You Keep What You Kill

[Valkren Calderon]

"Just..Watch the face, alright Jedi?" Valkren laughed as he slapped his chest pad several times before leaning over into a bruiser-like stance, the rest of his marines laughing at the statement.

Stance was everything, an experienced fighter could tell that the Sergeant's style was that of a brawler. When fighting with his fists, he goes for devastating punches. He'd leave his body hunched over, his right foot forward with his left foot to the side and back. His form was evident of the basic Republic combat training, with alittle bit of an addition of his own. Valkren would wait until the Jedi got in range, and once he did, he'd throw out his right arm slightly, slapping/grasping at the back of the Jedi's neck. However, the Sergeant wasn't aiming to grab on and go for a take down already, he simply wanted to see the reaction of the Jedi. He wanted to see how he'd react to a simple grapple.

(Short post, apologies.)

[member="Travot Ravenna"]

 

[Travot Ravenna]

A brief flicker of curiousity flashed through his eyes as he processed the man's comment. He has a certain bravado...this one...The jedi gingerly approached the man, expecting some of attack before it actually happened. He didn't fully see the other man's arm reach out to him, but he felt something briefly brush up against his body. As he felt the force being applied by the grapple, he didn't hesitate to move with the force being applied to him. Travot had never been one to resist a motion against him, as part of the philosophy of Soresu that moved from lightsaber combat into his hand to hand style. Instead, the man momentarily sank towards the ground under the force before ramming into the sergeant's body in something of a bull rush, hoping to drive back the man physically into a wall or other object. It was more of a bulgerball move than a martial arts technique, but he guessed that the battlefield was not a place for stylistic purity. Travot trained as fought, and fought as he trained.

[member="Valkren Calderon"]

 

[Valkren Calderon]

The Sergeant was caught off-guard, his right hand onto of the Jedi's neck, while his other arm went to wrap around the bottom part of his neck. He wasn't aiming to choke him, just keep pressure so he had something to work with. Valkren desperately skidded along the ground, trying to gain a foothold as he approached the wall behind the pair. Eventually he'd gain a foothold, leaning over the jedi slightly with his arms wrapped around his upper torso and neck. Travot got the upper hand, and he had a strong start. However, Valkren had the upper hand..He had been in more bar fights then actually firefights.

Valkren pulled a risky maneuver, letting his legs fall out from under him, attempting to pull the Jedi down with him. This way, if it'd work, Travot would fall onto his stomach, with Valkren ontop of him. The soldier might of just gotten the upper hand if it would've worked.

[member="Travot Ravenna"]

 

[Travot Ravenna]

Travot blinked as he felt all of [member="Valkren Calderon"]'s mass on top of him. You never know what will happen in a fight...He felt his legs begin to waver under the man's weight and movement as he found himself toppling headfirst towards the floor. He pushed off with his left foot but kept his right foot still, twisting his torso that he would land on one of his sides, rather than his belly or back, yet he was unsure where the soldier would end up. Rather than trying to resist the fall, he moved to absorb and disperse the impact across his whole body by extending his arms and legs to hit the floor at the same time as body. In doing so, he would lessen the sharpness of the physical impact. As his body hit the floor, he moved his body to recover into a defensive stance.

 

[Valkren Calderon]

The Sergeant rolled from his position as they landed on their side. Impressive, he countered that well. What was he saying? Ofcourse he countered it well! He's a jedi! Valkren got back into a defensive stance, not lunging forward to attack. He'd push himself to his feet if not provoked and lean over in the same previous stance. He'd slowly take a few shuffles to the side, circling around the small arena the marines made for the two.

"I'd say the score is One-One..What do you say, Jedi?"

[member="Travot Ravenna"]

 

[Travot Ravenna]

Travot nodded and briefly cleared his throat, "I would agree-"

"Mister Ravenna," impetuously stated C-5PO, "this is highly unprofessional-"

But a disembodied voice boomed over the Warspite's intercom, "Attention all personnel, we have a potential security in bulkhead 11. All available units not on guard duty should report to bulkhead 10 immediately."

A frown creased Ravenna's face as he turned to [member="Valkren Calderon"], "It looks like we might have a problem to deal with...are you boys ready?"

 

[Valkren Calderon]

Valkren smirked as he got a response from the Jedi, before hearing the intercom spit out, interrupting their little sparing match. The smirk dissipated for a moment; he was enjoying their session.

The smirk suddenly reappeared, looking back to his ex-opponent. "My men are always ready, Master Jedi."

The four other men would smile and nudge each other. Two of them turned to the other, doing some elaborate fist-bumb/handshake that looked way too complicated to follow. "Just lead the way, Jedi."

[member="Travot Ravenna"]

 

[Travot Ravenna]

Travot nodded, only to realize that he did not know his way around the Warspite. The man had been on several other Republic warships before, but never one of the rare Noble-classes. Just as he hesitated, he saw a fireteam of four soldiers run out of a nearby room in the armory. Travot quickly fell in behind them, eying their armored forms. They run towards danger without hesitation, and yet they do not have my powers...He felt a feeling of admiration and respect well up in him. His hand dropped down to grasp the cold hilt of his lightsaber. He drew it, but did not activate its blade for fear of accidentally smacking the ship or anyone around him with it. Several corridors and doorways later, the fire team in front of him came to stop in a large and began to mill around a large room with a bunch of other marines. Among their ranks, Travot could saw a heavy weapons team setting up a pair of shielded E-webs to cover the doors that were labelled "B-11". An armored figure pushed aside several nearby marines to approach him and [member="Valkren Calderon"]'s squad. A quick glance at the marine's armor suggested that he was an officer of some sort.

"You there...are you a jedi sir?"

"Well...I am..."

The armored officer glanced at the soldiers around the jedi, with his helmeted visor focusing on the sergeant.

"Sergeant Calderon, master jedi, take your soldiers over there to that maintenance hatch."

"Ah...sir?" questioned Travot quizically.

"Jedi," half-muttered the officer, "everyone's focus is on the blast doors and the normal entryways...but I want to see if we can slip in advance team without anyone on either side of these walls to see what's going on it. Think you can guide this group ahead, sergeant? I want intel first and foremost. Whoever's in there managed to take down the holo-cameras in there, though our boys are working to get them back online. They're probably professionals, maybe even elites. Right now, we're blind, and that needs to change fast. Any questions? If not, you better get that maintenance hatch open somehow...try not to damage it too much...it is our ship, after all..."

 

[Valkren Calderon]

Valkren nodded, pushing through some of his men as they began to turn around toward the weapons. He'd slip his Z-6 Rotary cannon, compressed, over his back. Next, his rifle, which he simply held with his right hand. He grasped his helmet with his left hand, pulling it on over his head. "Power up, Saber team." He'd state, his visor turning a shimmering blue as it addressed all the friendlies in the room. His team followed suite; one of his assault specialists, O'Connor, also grabbed a Z-6 Rotary cannon. The soldiers all followed behind the Jedi until they reached the storage area of the docking bays.

All of the Sergeant's fireteam snapped off quick salutes as the officer approached, lowering them back to their rifles without being put at ease. Calderon listened to the commands of the officer before nodding. "Looks like you're following us, Jedi." He smirked, lifting up his left hand and directing with two fingers toward the maintenance shaft. With that command, the four moved around the Jedi and commando, moving to take position near the maintenance hatch. Valkren followed after them.

"Doesn't have a console on it, so I can't slice into it. Michaels, torch it."

"One fried door, coming up." The commando said before crouching infront of the hatch, slipping out a welding-like tool. Although, this tool wasn't meant for welding. He went to work as an orange flame burst out from the end of the tool. He began going across the middle of the hatch. Valkren looked to the Jedi, a grin from ear to ear would rest on his face behind his visor. "It's going to be dark in there. If they knocked out the cameras then there's a good chance they've knocked out all the power in there. We've got visors, so we don't need to use flashlights to give away our position..What are you using?" He'd ask as Michaels was working.

He'd be done very soon, and then Saber team would take the lead.

[member="Travot Ravenna"]

 

[Travot Ravenna]

"The Force," replied Travot, "and my natural senses."

While he couldn't see behind the men's helmets to see their faces, Travot could almost imagine that at least one of them had an incredulous look on their face. Not that I'd blame them...I bet it's a lot nicer to be able to have the technology to see veryone without having to rely on your own skills for something as simple as seeing...but that's not quite right, is it? Like most humans, Travot's primary sense was sight, he had tried to use the Force in the past to boost his hearing as well. But his success in that was sporadic, and Travot did not feel that he could easily rely on that with his life and those around him on the line. The trooper seemed to finish opening the hatch. Travot looked around the group of soldiers.

"I'll go in first," announced the jedi, crouching down to enter the shaft.

Even after spending so much time on starships, the shaft seemed somewhat claustrophobic to the jedi. The light from the room quickly faded to darkness, forcing the jedi to focus on the Force to enhance his senses. As his eyes adjusted, the darkness turned to almost dark gray walls: he was almost certain that any of the troopers behind him had better vision than him, yet his use of the Force was able to provide him enough site to not run into walls. Travot followed the shaft as it made a ninety degree turn, followed several meters later by yet another one. That's when they reached a fork in the path. He briefly halted as he turned back to the troopers and whispered.

"Which one do we take?"

[member="Valkren Calderon"]

 

[Valkren Calderon]

Valkren looked down to Michaels, who looked back up to him. They both exchanged emotionless glances with their helmets on, soon followed by innocent shrugs. Valkren crouched down, lifting up his rifle slightly as he advanced in. Next behind the Sergeant was O'Connor due to having the other Rotary Cannon on his back, followed by O'Riley, Watson, then Michaels. Claderon kept moving, stopping as soon as the Jedi turned back. He set his rifle down for a moment, angling his body in a way so the whole group could see what he was doing. He reached up, flicking on the headlamps that rested on either side of his helmet in small slits. He slid open a panel on his wrist, revealing a small device that is mainly used for slicing.

After a good bit of scanning and console commands, the Sergeant spoke up into his squad's com system, but just loud enough for [member="Travot Ravenna"] to hear him too.

"We go right and it might lead us into an observation deck for bay eleven. I say we go that way."

 

[Kal'n Drasco]

[member="Valkren Calderon"] | [member="Travot Ravenna"]

Kal'n had been on the other end of the ship when the call had come for all personnel to meet in bulkhead 10. He had been sprinting down the halls, trying to figure out where to go. He had gotten turned around once and had been forced to ask for directions. So, Kal'n was late, showing up after the team had already moved out.

He came to a sliding halt near the maintenance shaft where Saber Team and the other Jedi had entered. He looked about, seeing that others were preparing and setting up to defend against what Kal'n assumed was an invasion of some type. Military tactics were not something that Kal'n was experience with. He knew what he could and what he was capable of, but that was it.

Rather than entering the shaft he moved to where he saw several marines setting up a pair of shields to fire behind. Clicking his tongue against his teeth he figured the best thing he could do, until told otherwise, would be to protect the defensive line that was being set up.

So, in preparation he removed the straight simple looking lightsaber hilt from his belt, leaving the curved hilt still hanging there and simply waited, making sure to stay out of the way of those preparing.

 

[Travot Ravenna]

"Sounds like a plan to me," whispered the jedi.

Travot moved in that direction, taking care to ensure that he distributed his weight evenly as he walked to lessen any sounds that his walking might make. Several dozen meters later, they reached the end of the corridor. He could faintly see the outline of stenciled text. While he could only partially read some of the letters, it seemed to support [member="Valkren Calderon"]'s observation. He gently placed his hand to feel around the hatch, but with the power out in the area, the hatch seemed to be firmly locked in place. Travot drew his lightsaber, fiddled with its dial, and tapped the activation stud. A brilliant turquoise blade sprang up from his hilt and began to hum. I'm an idiot...He briefly shut his eyes, and reached out through the Force to feel for any life behind the hatch...As he reached out with the Force, he could feel the presence of two beings, yet they did not have any conscious thoughts. Knocked out unconscious, perhaps? But that doesn't mean that there aren't threats here either...could be droids. He drove the blade into the hatch, spraying the area around them with sparks. Several seconds passed before he had completely cut an outline through the hatch. He pushed it out and quickly advanced through the new hole into the room. But as he did so, he stepped just to the side of their impromptu hatch, allowing Saber Squad access to clear the room.

As he did so, the man closed his eyes, concentrating on the Force to feel out the presence of any more people. One presence not too far away seemed to also be a force sensitive among the republic personnel as well. He blinked. Maybe we can grab him to join us on our foray...He reached out through the Force to [member="Kal'n Drasco"], sending the other jedi a telepathetic suggestion to join Saber squad.

 

[Valkren Calderon]

Valkren pointed two fingers to O'Connor, bringing the same back and tapping on his chest plate. This handmotion told the other soldier to follow in behind him. Valkren crouched lower, lifting his rifle up as he slipped into the room, O'Connor following closely behind him. The rest filed in and filled the room quickly, starting a clearing motion. They spoke silently into their communication system, but [member="Travot Ravenna"] could hear bits and pieces of their words.

"Clear left.."

"Few bodies boss.."

"Room clear."

"Guards.."

"Observation window ahead."

Valkren moved to the closest wall that connected to the large window that was overlooking the docking bay. "O'Riley, O'Connor..Check the bodies in the corner, see if there's any life in those boys. Jedi, get over here and see if you can get anything with those mind powers of yours.." He'd motion his emotionless helmet toward the window. He'd meant the dark bay that was before them. The little light they had in that room was from the shimmering glow of their blue visors. The rest of Saber team went to work around the room, while the Sergeant waited for the Jedi's reaction.

[member="Travot Ravenna"] | [member="Kal'n Drasco"]

 

[Kal'n Drasco]

[member="Travot Ravenna"] | [member="Valkren Calderon"]

Staying out of the way seemed to be more difficult than Kal'n thought. Marines were literally moving all over the place. Kaln' settled for dropping back further, away from the front line. He was currently looking for an officer, he was sure that once he found one the man would know exactly where to put him.

He had found one and was just about to speak when he felt an impression. Someone was reaching out through the Force. They weren't words, but feelings mixed with a suggestion, guidance. “There we are.” He said out loud, but wasn't speaking to anyone specific. His head swiveled to where the Marine and Jedi had entered earlier.

A few moments later ad Kal'n was moving down the shaft, lightsaber in his right hand while his left was outstretched before him. Kal'n telepathically acknowledge the other Force User as he moved as quick and as silent as he could. Of course, Kal'n had never actually been trained in stealth so he simply did as best as he could.

The others had a head start on him, so he walked quickly, trusting in the Force to direct and guide him to where he was needed. It would only be a matter of a few minutes he guessed.

 

[Travot Ravenna]

"On it."

The jedi paced over to the docking bay window and looked through it. I don't see anything unusual...but that doesn't mean there isn't something there. He closed his eyes, meditating on the currents of the Force and the surroundings. His senses expanded beyond his physical body, reaching out to room next to him. Yet he could only feel the presence of one other life form. His emerald eyes fluttered open, and the man found himself staring at the Lambda-class shuttle he had seen earlier when he had brought in the Plainswalker. He closed his eyes once more, searching the area for any thoughts that the being might have, but his skill in the telepathetic aspects of the Force was limited. He could only feel a cold tension emanating from the sole figure, and a random thought about communication frequencies. He turned his eyes once more to stare into the visored helmet of [member="Valkren Calderon"] as [member="Kal'n Drasco"] entered the room.

"There's somebody in that shuttle over there," said the jedi, "but that's the only person I can detect. I'm not exactly the most experienced mind reader, but it seems that whoever he is is thinking about communications frequencies..."

Travot turned his eyes to the other jedi, "Are you any good at telepathy, per chance? I think it's worth investigating one way or the other. It's either their getaway ship, or one of ours who feels isolated and knows that something bad is going on..."

 

[Valkren Calderon]

Valkren nodded after hearing Travot's report. He'd crouch down at the edge of the window. Even if there was no one directly in the room beside them, he didn't want to risk anyone catching a glimpse of the faint glow of his visor. He'd speak into his com system as Travot turned to the Jedi newcomer. The Sergeant didn't really show much recognition to their new companion, they were onboard a republic ship, there was no doubt several Jedi on board. He wasn't surprised at all that some of them would respond to the security breach.

"Sabers, let's find a way into that bay." He'd then look to the two Jedi. "So, can your friend there find anything else?"

[member="Travot Ravenna"] | [member="Kal'n Drasco"]

 

[Kal'n Drasco]

[SIZE=medium][member="Travot Ravenna"] | [member="Valkren Calderon"][/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]Kal’n felt the Marines and other Jedi before he saw them, though, saying he saw them would be stretching it. Through the Force he could get a very poor idea of what was before him, Kal’n was skilled in the Sensing aspect of the Force, more so than he was in the other two areas. But, he was not a Master not even a Knight yet and his skill was not that refined in comparison. Still, he was better than many around his age.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]He looked around in the darkness, the Marines all looked the same to him. He clicked his tongue and approached the one that had called out to him, the Jedi. He followed Travot’s gaze out towards the docking by window and gave a nod. “I’ll see what I can do.”[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]Kal’n was already attuned to the Force, it was how he navigated the darkness. So all he did was narrow where he was searching. He imagined that it was something similar to a satellite, honing in on a specific direction. He stretched out his left hand and closed his eyes, no need to rely on his sight for the moment. He was silent for several long seconds, his head cocked to the side as if he were trying to hear something.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]“I sense… ill intent.” He spoke out load, but barely above a whisper. “Danger.” He let out a deep breath and lowered his hand then turned towards Travot. “General impressions left on the Force. I believe that something or someone out there means us harm, and I get the impression that it’s not very far away.”[/SIZE]

 

[Travot Ravenna]

Mental aspects of the Force weren't his natural strength either, though he had honed an unconsciousness awareness of danger from his travels. Yet it hadn't triggered yet, suggesting to the jedi that they weren't in danger...yet.

Travot slowly nodded at [member="Kal'n Drasco"], "We should be extra careful then. But I'm no military leader. What do you think the best way is to take care of him, sergeant?"

Travot rested his hand on the cold hilt of his newly recrafted lightsaber. He hadn't used it yet, but it was not something he wanted to use to harm anyone if he could help it. But then again, it might an imperfect stool if they were trying to be stealthy about it. He would have to think acquiring something more stealthy for such work in the future.

[member="Valkren Calderon"]

 

[Valkren Calderon]

Valkren looked between the two Jedi as his men ripped apart the room in search of a quick exit. "If it's anything like the dropships we use..We can get a hatch off of the left side of it and stick a smoke detonator inside of the wiring. If my plan works, then the OPFOR should be smoked out within seconds.."

He'd tighten his grip on the rifle in his hands, looking to his squad mates to observe their progress. "However, the plates on the dropships are tough bantha fodder. We'll need something to cut through it."

He'd look to the Jedi.

[member="Travot Ravenna"] | @Kal'n Draco