Attack on Dantooine Outpost: Dude Where's My Darksaber?

[Valen Pelora]

The rotunda was quickly devolving into chaos. Mandalorians famously did not play well with others, they were agents of disorder. One Jedi was an unceremoniously forgotten corpse. The Guardian who was shot in the knee had managed to retreat back into the safety of the Stronghold. He would live fight another day. Ten Guardians still pressed against the Mandalorians, five of their fellows rushing to their aid. The walls were closing in around the misplaced intruders.

Talia’s surprise attack was effective. Blaster bolts were batted away, but her saber flashed through the torso of an unluckily placed Guardian. Her partner quickly followed. They found themselves surrounded by 4 Jedi, Talia was their truest target. One of the Jedi attempted to distract Dak by ripping at his legs with the Force, and slashing left to right across his stomach. Talia would find a blade swinging diagonally for her right leg, a blade swinging horizontally for her left arm, and a blade swinging down at her right shoulder.

The Mandalorians providing cover still had to deal with the 5 Guardians closing in on them. One fell, but 4 others moved closer and closer. Two broke off to fight the particularly large Mandalorian. He would have to contend with a Jedi attempting to hold him in place with the Force, and a blade aimed at piercing his chest. The High-pitched Mandalorian could choose between continuing to provide cover or ignore one yellow blade thrown to plunge into his chest. The second Guardian batted three bolts back at the strange man.

The Five Guardians easily batted away the bolts shot at them by the Mandalorians covering the rear, they moved ever closer to the rotunda.

OOC: 5 will arrive in the Rotunda next round.

 

[Sreeya]

She couldn't help but laugh at Dak's outburst, returning a quip through her comms, "You wouldn't like me any other way!" Talia was happy to see the saber catch them by surprise, her sunpear more or less taking the face off the Jedi behind the one she cut down. As she dropped down to the roll, she momentarily came close to the dead body of the Jedi she cut almost in half. With sleight of hand, she planted a thermal det under the fallen Jedi’s robes, knowing in the throes of battle, the man would lie forgotten.

As she came up again, she kept fighting, whirling the saber around and shooting anyone she could. By making herself a target, she could tell they were all closing in on her. She glanced to the side, noticing that some of them were slowly breaking away from the larger group to go towards the Mandos to the back.

Talia saw the sabers coming in from all angles, and she knew right away she wouldn’t be able to block everything. She saw a blade coming for her shoulder and pivoted just enough to give herself room to swing her own saber. Talia caught the incoming saber and whirled her saber down in a half moon arc, intersecting with the saber coming towards her leg on the same side. By pushing the shoulder incoming saber down, she forced the Jedi holding that saber to almost come in the path of the other, and they would have to disengage as a result.

However, she winced as she felt a saber cut into her left arm, crying out in agony. It had been some time since she had taken a direct blow from a saber, and it reminded her just how bad it hurt. The blade cut through her armor like butter, searing into her flesh and making it more difficult to use her arm.

Talia acted swiftly, ignoring the searing pain for now. She needed to move before the Jedi broke away too much from this group. She muttered two words into her comms privately to her Mandobros to tell them to back the hell away, “Boom city,” With that, she activated her jetpack again, whirling backwards from the giant cluster of Jedi and back from the ones that were advancing across the rotunda.

Throwing grenades at Jedi from afar never worked, and she purposely planted it discreetly while being closely engaged. As she allowed some distance (and she kept shooting at them to ensure they would focus on deflecting vs. following), she remote detonated the thermal det right in between the group of Jedi. The explosion would be big enough to clear out the core Jedi, along with the 4 Jedi that were advancing. However, it would by no means take them all out and the Guardians were still coming.

“Keep pressing!” She hoped the blast would clear a path for them to keep making their way down to the lower levels.

@Phoenix @Arclight @Insalius @Ecclessey @Loco @Valen Pelora

 

[Phoenix]

Dak had to roll his eyes at her comment, though he knew it was also true he said nothing. Instead, he had to stay focused on the Jedi at hand. Fighting Force users was never easy and even less so when distracted.

One of the Jedi ripped at his legs, knocking him onto his back even as a slash came in. He brought the saber around, catching the strike just as it grazed against his left arm but stopped the advance from doing any more damage. Meanwhile his other wrist cocked to give him a line of fire on the Jedi. With his saber already locked up with Dak's, the Mandalorian squeezed the trigger, pistol bucking harshly in his hands as it unleashed a trio of bolts under their blades.

He scrambled back, not even yet standing and using his boots to push himself across the floor of the enclave, preparing to slap in a fresh powerpack. He was back on his feet in a moment, continuing his trip away from the bodies as Talia prepared to detonate.

At Caed's warning, Dak knew they couldn't stay here longer. Talia's grenade detonated with a booming that would no doubt wake the whole temple but surely not defeat all of their enemies. If there were more Jedi coming behind them, staying around to fight until the whole enclave came down on them wouldn't be the answer. With Taila's distraction from the grenade, they had the best opportunity they were going to get.

His eyes darted across the room, looking for a path to escape. It was then that he noticed the hole in the ground created by the thermal detonator. So that's why the ground shook so much. Right where it had detonated, there was a hole maybe two meters in diameter where the floor had collapsed inward under the pressure of the detonation.

In the hole! he growled into the coms. He didn't know where it went, but they were trying to get to the archives and this was the general direction. More importantly, it wasn't in the middle of the Jedi guards. He dropped down, the impact of the 10 foot drop traveling up through his legs and causing him to groan. @Insalius @Sreeya @Loco @Ecclessey @Valen Pelora @Arclight

 

[Insalius]

Tal had been so focused with protecting Talia's flank and back that it wasn't until it was almost too late that he saw the lightsaber heading for his chest. Reflex took over, making him drop to his knees while twisting his torso to try to let the weapon sail past. He wasn't quite fast enough, though, as the searing beam carved through his armor and gashed his left shoulder as it passed. The feline hissed in pain and tried to block it from his mind. This wasn't the first time he'd been hit by a lightsaber and it wouldn't be the last. Still, it hurt like all hell was in his shoulder and until it was treated would definitely affect his movement in the arm. Thankfully it wasn't his primary arm for either blasting or swordplay.

As he watched the explosion decimate the Jedi around Talia, the Nav'ir made sure to memorize the simple deception technique that had made her grenade so effective yet had made his nearly disastrous. Whenever he had fought Jedi before it had been usually alone and in prepared battlegrounds, utilizing tactics that would give him an advantage without thought of others in a team and usually against only one or two Jedi. He should have realized that he was out of his usual comfort zone, but he felt so strongly about being a part of this family that he had told himself he would endure and adapt. It had proven harder than he thought and it had nearly been deadly. He had to get better, and soon.

Dak's order was one he had to follow, though it also made the most sense to Tal as well. Sprinting towards the hole, he jumped down just as he hit the switch for his jetpack for just an instant. It had been something he'd used before, using a very short burst to slow descent and prevent damage from falling from a high place. He made sure his jetpack didn't interfere with any of his team, very self-conscious of them now, and when landed he aimed his blaster up at the hole he had just fallen from. He would only fire if he saw a Jedi attempting to harm his team or jump down, wanting to continue to give covering fire as he had been originally ordered. The safety of the team was paramount to him now, knowing that their original objective would best be accomplished by giving Talia and the others whatever support he could.

 

[Rimrald]

He was late, not like him to miss a fight but that's what happens when you forget your fuel pods in the ship and have to go back. Hobbling like a girl in heels jumping on one foot as he ran to catch up to the group hearing the dismay and assuming the fight was in full swing.
A'donii slipped the fuel pod into his jumpers and continued on towards the sight of blaster bolts being flung in every which direction only to see the rest of the group vastly out numbered, he activated his gauntlet and rocketed forward producing the two halves of his mag-staff and locking them together in time to stick his landing and strike a guardian with his back to A'donii.
Fwoooomp
The staff came down on the guardians back with a crackle of electricity and the force of the blow sent the guardian reeling. Waiting for the man to regain his footing A'donii readied his stance as the guardian came back to fight him, dancing around the lightsaber strikes and blocking the ones that came close A'donii called out.
"Sorry i'm late, didn't hear about the plan until you guys were already underway then I forgot some gear and I was even more late!"
Fwoooomp Fwoooomp
A'donii was locked in combat with the temple guardian blocking blows from the sabre against the cortosis weaved staff while delivering jabs and blows with electrical shock to the guardian. Getting aggravated at the skill of the force user, A'donii was surprised as this was his first go around with a glow bat wielder and he was impressed but it only soured his mood. He never was fond of those staunch force users always with some grand idea or idealistic goal. Gritting his teeth and striking even more furiously he shouted at the being.
"This waist cape is bothan! And i'm going to rip that saber from your dead hands and cut your friends to pieces with it you galactic hippie freak!"
A series of blows to the mag-staff were deflected as were A'donii's attempts to best the guardian, he quickly spun the staff deflecting the blade from the guardian and activating his jumper's into a bicycle kick motion sending the hopefully dead man flying across the floor.
"Got one!" A'donii grunted as he landed on the ground sheathing his staff halves and readying his carbine for the next foe. He felt as if he hadn't fought a foe like this in some time, hopefully there aren't any seriously skilled enemies or A'donii felt he would be in some serious trouble if he had to go one on one with a Jedi. Following quickly into the hole and activating his jumpers as he got closer to the ground he landed softly and looked around awaiting an order.

 

[Loco]

What in all the ascendancies loca great scheme was this ? In all her time in law enforcement on Sposia, and even in her short bounty hunting experience, Shrasa had never experienced anything like this. There was now a dead Jedi guardian she had just shot in the face laying on top of her dead, as the rest of the melee swarmed beyond her. Taking the moment of respite she was given to let her vision focus, Shrasa reloaded her weapon and tried to get a bearing on the situation around her. She had just managed to focus in on the Jedi swarming their strike team leader, Talia, when the woman's ploy exploded, vaporizing a number of their enemies.

With a grunt Rae pushed the body off of her and scrambled to her feet as Dak called for everyone to go down the explosions resultant hole. She waved her carbine around wildly as she stumbled about, tripping over things she saw just before her feet did. She registered the latecomer battling the jedi chasing the team with his staff, and she could have sworn she heard a personal call being made amongst the melee, but with the ringing in her ears she couldn't be sure. Shrasa made her way toward the whole and, as the other jumped through without a care in the world, the Chiss hesitated. Holy frack that was a drop.

Shrasa dropped to her butt, scooted to the edge, and swung herself over, hanging on with only her fingers at this point. She uttered a quick prayer to her ancestors, and, watching the stragglers of their group engage their pursuers, she dropped. After a dramatic half second of freefall the bounty hunter turned Mandalorian struck the ground fifteen feet below with a curse. She'd never understand how these people wore jetpacks all the time. Heights like this would be the end of her.

 

[Eccles]

"I love you, brother, but I must report this denunciation of the Mand'alor. With your history as Imperial-" The Holocall ended with a loud bang and dust and stone suddenly flew over Lorr's head as he ducked further behind the fountain. "What the-" he muttered in frustration as he fired some more shots at the Jedi at the group's rear and turned his head to see what was happening with the rest.

A large hole -no doubt caused by a thermal det- adorned the once pristine floor and his companions all jumped through it to escape the seemingly countless Jedi Guardians. Lorr looked around at the approaching Jedi and realized that he was almost all alone. "They said it would be a simple smash and grab, but no-" he suddenly left cover and dashed for the hole, "-they failed to account for the literal army of-" he jumped through feet first, "-crazy saberwielding circus acrobats of magical magilore." The landing on the floor below was less than ideal and Lorr had to go into a roll to avoid a serious injury to his legs. Luckily, he wasn't wearing a jetpack.

 

[Valen Pelora]

Master Vokar had to shield his eyes as the video monitors flashed brightly. A sickly spike of death pulsed in the Force. As the monitors quickly compensated for the unexpected explosion, his eyes scanned the carnage. Rel recognized the familiar blast pattern of a thermal detonator. These were not run of the mill Mandalorians, not by a parsec. He had underestimated their skill. The Guardians were hardly beaten. The Temple was still filled with the loyal protectors of the Temple. He needed to reassess the situation before committing more resources to the cause. The feed focused on the hole descending into the depths of the Temple.

“Where does that lead?” He waited for a response. “Lower levels, it is near the vaults.” Rel frowned. There nothing in the vaults the Mandalorians could truly use. The holocrons were filled with knowledge that would not interest them. “What do we keep in the vaults besides the holocrons?” He tried to remember what arcane artifacts were kept below. “We will get a list, quickly, Master Vokar.” The Mandalorians had to be after something, but what. His next move was simple. “Pull back.” The Guardians would quickly retreat, fading into the shadows of the dark Stronghold.

They would allow the Mandalorians to travel into the depths of the Temple. It would appear as if the Jedi were ceding the intruders a victory. They would have no reason to suspect otherwise. This was an area the Jedi knew well, their counterparts not so much. As soon as the last Mandalorian was through the hole in the floor two Guardians would appear and quickly cover the hole with sheet of durasteel. They would quickly work to seal the sheet over the hole. Two more Jedi would join them to stand guard, their senses extended. The Mandalorians would be allowed to wonder the labyrinthine lower levels of the Temple for a time.

 

[Sreeya]

Talia saw the hole form from the explosion, and she heard Dak’s voice come over the comms to tell them to jump inside. She wasted no time, rushing back towards the place where she skidded back from. The floors were slick with blood, limbs and guts strewn everywhere from the explosion. The temple had turned into a complete warzone, and she heard a ringing in her ears still from the boom.

Without a word, she hastily dropped to the levels below in a crouch, wincing from the pain in her arm. She glanced over at Dak, “I’m useless with my left arm. You might need to babysit me a bit more than usual,” She grinned beneath the helmet. Talia hadn’t parted with him on exactly great terms during their last encounter, but she hoped he could set that aside while they were in the middle of a mission.

“Keep moving! There will be more Jedi coming!” She glanced up, seeing the silhouettes of the Jedi gathering above, “I hope some of you guys brought some serious explosives, because we’ll need to improvise another way out,” She grimaced as she kept moving, her left hand hanging limply on the side. She had to put the rifle away, opting for a pistol she could use with one hand.

For the moment, they didn’t come across any abrupt opposition and that only roused suspicion. She knew the Jedi were more curious than anything at this point. They would focus on trapping them instead of engaging, as that was the intelligent thing to do. Why keep throwing bodies at the enemy when you could trap and corner? Talia looked over at all her brethren, hoping she didn’t doom them all.

They traversed through hallways and corridors, led by a schematic provided by Caedryn. Talia shot the console next to a set of double doors to make them fly open. This also ensured that the Jedi couldn’t remotely close the doors behind them. The next room appeared to be the archives, filled from floor to ceiling with various artifacts. Talia whistled as she took sight of the vastness of the library, “Shit, we can loot this whole joint and sell it and no one on Mandalore would go hungry again.”

She turned back to Shrasa (@Loco ) and A’donii (@Rimrald ), “Stand guard at the door. Jedi will be trying to trap us,” Talia looked to the rest of them, “If any of you have some ideas for a way out, go find us one or blow a new hole. The rest of you help me find this kriffing saber," She looked at Caed, grinning, "You can't use your Force voodoo to just magically know where it is, can you?"

@Phoenix @Insalius @Ecclessey @Valen Pelora @Arclight

 

[Phoenix]

Dak slipped his pistol and saber away, swinging his rifle up as he pushed himself back to his feet with a groan. Talia landed next to him moments later and he glanced over to hear her quip. After their last run-in, he'd been somewhat confused, but she seemed to be back in spirits? He'd want to get to the bottom of it eventually, but for now there was business to be done. Well, I guess I'll have to stick close by then. And you'll have to stop charging in or no victory... cigars, he said, not being able to quite hold back his own smirk.

They came into the archive room and he knew that whatever they were looking for had to be down here somewhere. They would need some time hands to look but they also needed to find a way out. Dak could probably accommodate that. I'll find us a way out of here... or make one, he said, planning to have to blow a hole to get out.

He immediately took to the walls of the room, looking for weakest and strongest points throughout. He was no architect, but he knew a thing or two about blowing things up because he loved explosives. He set one of his dets down at the far end of the room, ready to blow on his command. Live ordinance. Fire in the hole in 3, 2, 1, he counted down for the rest of the group before another detonation erupted. It blasted through half the wall with the other half still in tact. So he set a second detonator, holding it to detonate so there wasn't an outside hole until they were ready to leave, giving no indication of their exit point to the Jedi potentially outside the archive. @Insalius

 

[Insalius]

The pure size and clutter of the Jedi Archives was a thing of wonder for Tal, looking around as his superiors gave their orders. Nothing jumped out at him as useful or interesting to him personally, however, as all the items just screamed Jedi to him. To be fair, the reason they were all there anyway was to claim a special lightsaber, though there was a personal meaning to it for him and his Mandalorian brethren. His skills weren't in the field of searching, however, so instead of just cluttering up the search for Talia he decided instead to join Dak in his preparations for their escape.

Making sure to take cover from the first explosion, Tal moved to a position where he could cover the exit they would create in case there were any enemies waiting for them on the other side of the wall. He seemed best at the moment in providing covering fire so he would stick to that plan unless the need for his sword skills came about. He kept drilling into himself that he wouldn't screw up again like he did above, thankfully the skills of the others had overcome his blunder. Now was the time to prove he could be a good soldier, a member of the team, and so he'd focus on what skills he had to compliment the mission. If it was just covering their backs then he would do so, and with gusto. Even if his left shoulder still burned with pain from the lightsaber nick.

@Rimrald

 

[Rimrald]

Heeding the order called out to him A'donii removed himself from the archive search and posted at the entrance, taking note of the blast he peaked around the doorway before re-entering to make sure there wasn't a followup blast. Positioning himself against the opening and bracing his carbine on his armored gauntlet he formed a sturdy triangle with his body to maximize his accuracy for the expected counter attack, taking a moment to look at the unfamiliar mandalorian(@Loco ) A'donii could see the burn mark on his armor.
"Listen, don't let your mistakes from earlier cloud your ability they brought you along for a reason." Taking a breath he felt comfortable with his words of encouragement "If they get close, pull back i'll set off my detonators and we can take the fight into the archives but we have a good long hallway to shoot these fish in a barrel." With that A'donii produced his thermal detonators and placed them against the architecture in the hallway as a means of hiding them from plain sight and creating a chain effect upon detonation. Quickly returning to his previous posting he picked up the same stance and focused in on the passage ahead, with one final quip. "Don't sweat any of this, you can only die once."

He knew what the group had come for, the saber that belonged to Mandalore but for once A'donii was having his doubts. How many saber wielding robe wearers actually were here and how pissed are they that the group just turned a bunch of their friends into minced meat plus to put the cherry on top we just blew a hole in the wall of their "memory chest". His stomach began to turn but he knew he had to focus because the lives of the occupied part of the group were in his and the Mandaloiran to his sides hands.

 

[Loco]

Shrasa nodded affirmatively to Talia's command- relieved that she could mostly hear normally again- and settled in behind a pillar where she could watch back the way the group had come. She took a knee, propping her blaster up to point down the hall and balancing it in the crook of her arm so that she could use her hands to lift up her helmet. She was hoping some fresh air and a swig of water would help chase away the lingering spots in the corners of her eyes. The cool, damp air of the temple archives filled her lungs as her helmet facemask came off, and she took the opportunity to look around with naked eyes as she fished out her water can. This place was magnificent! She wasn't sure what exactly a holocron was or how to read it, but she relished the opportunity to try. Even failing that, these Jedi kept actual paper books down here, and even more stacks of old data-punch cards- Shrasa had never seen either of those things outside of the great library of Csillia.

The rush of battle was quickly being replaced with uneasy suspense, the Chiss thought as she finished her drink and slipped it back into her belt bag. Pulling her helmet back down, she readjusted to her HUD view, and glanced at the other Mandalorians guarding the back, then at the others exploring the archives. She hoped they had a plan for getting out of here, because other than making mental notes on what to grab on the way out, Shrasa was just along for the ride at this point. Who knew what other defenses the Jedi had down here, or what reinforcements they might be bringing in? They certainly weren't just sitting up there on the surface going back to business as usual, sipping tea or whatever it was that Jedi did all day, while the raiders mucked about in their archives. She had a feeling they'd be fighting again soon enough...

 

[Valen Pelora]

“Wait, what as that last one.” Something had piqued in Rel’s mind. A fragment of a memory lodged in the depth of his early years. “Um, the Darksaber.” Rel very nearly rolled his eyes. Years of careful control prevented the involuntary maneuver. Who in their right mind would name anything remotely impressive the Darksaber. He wracked his brain for anything he remembered about the weapon. He knew it was created by the first Mandalorian to be welcomed into the Jedi Order. The pioneer had managed to create a stunningly unique blade that had never been recreated. The saber was as dark as its name suggested. When the creator had died, the Jedi had placed the unique weapon in the vault.

Rel seemed to remember some outcry from the Mandalorians over ownership but he assumed that had all died down. “Does it have any special um” he searched for the right word “properties.” The answer came quickly. “Besides being black? None, Master.” Rel nodded. It had to be what the Mandalorians were after, but the Force only knew why. Some misguided liberation mission most likely. “Seal the entire lower level. Flood the archives and lower level with knock out gas.” There were no Jedi in the lower levels this late at night, especially after he had put the Stronghold on alert. “Once the gas clears send 10 Guardians to pick up our guests. Make sure they stay on high alert just in case the gas leaves a few kicking.” Master Rel Vokar nodded. That should end it.

 

[Phoenix]

Dak gave another warning and hit the second detonator, blasting a hole in the wall and out of the chamber. By now, the others should have found the saber - with any luck - and Dak stepped through the hole. It was eerily quiet in the new room and Dak glanced around, seeing a staircase and making his way over toward it.

A quiet hissing reached his ears and his rifle swung around where he saw the air take on a slightly hazy look in the distance. Gas! Everybody out! he ordered into the coms, seeing that they needed to get out of here before it reached them. He tossed his last detonator at the door at the top of the stairs, careful not to blow the stairs up in the process. He hit the detonator at just the right time and it detonated, blasting away the upper half of the door out and part of the wall above.

He swung his rifle up, firing a pair of bolts through in case any Jedi got any ideas. Everybody out! We need to get out of the temple! he urged them on, trying to prompt them to get out of here before they were finally trapped. He was out of detonators - though the rest of the group wasn't - and he didn't fancy blasting open any more doors.

OOC: @Sreeya said to skip her. @Insalius

 

[Insalius]

The words of his fellow teammate helped calm him down immensely, knowing that despite his mistake he really did still have a place with them. Though his loyalty to the others and their mission hadn't wavered, Tal found that he was now even more invested in their success and the survival of all of them. He would have many things about his methods that he would have to reconsider, especially after seeing how versatile thermal detonators could be. His own ordnance was more to distract and obscure, though now he could see the utility of such an explosive option in situations other than just combat. He seemed to learn something new at every turn with this crew.

Dak's warning sent a shiver down his spine, looking around until he saw where the gas was beginning to enter the room. His shoulder gave a pang of pain, though he was more worried at the gap in his armor and the vulnerability to the gas it would give if it caught up with him. Tal ran to catch up to the other man, keeping just enough away to be unfazed by the explosion that opened a part of the door and wall. He cursed not having another such explosive himself, opting instead to aim his blaster at the new gap and fire at any Jedi he saw that tried to get in to them. If he couldn't give more utility in opening the path, he would at least do what he could to cover those who would be able to do so. He was focused on distracting or killing any enemy he saw if able, crouching down to stabilize his aim and to make himself less of a target. He also kept an eye on the gas, not wanting to get so involved in the firefight that he got knocked out.

@Rimrald

 

[Rimrald]

Hearing the call over the comms he quickly stood from his position and turned to follow the rest of the group retreating for the newly formed hole in the wall. The blast having rattled him even though hearing the warning and bracing for it, explosions never sat well with him but he knew he didn't have time after hearing the call that gas was seeping into the room. Knowing his helmets filtration system was working he wasn't sure if it would keep him safe from whatever this gas was, panic beginning to fill him he followed close to the group as the door was blasted half open he joined in the blaster fire that was aimed for the door in an attempt to dissuade any new comers to the fight. Knowing he didn't have any more explosives he hoped there wouldn't be any more instances where they needed more boom, he also hoped this venture hadn't been for nothing and that they'd found the item they were after.