Open Behind Enemy Lines

[Hannibal Grayza]

Hannibal's head turned slightly with the rest of him, his left hand saber moving behind Sevrin to intercept the stream of lightning. It impacted and grounded on the brilliant green blade, lacking enough power to push through. The young Councilor's face was set with cold determination, that strange light behind emerald eyes like twin chips of ice. He'd encountered Vyrassu before of course, once indirectly and once more directly here on Sullust when she faced Max.

His lava attack had also been deflected back. Hannibal's right hand pushed forward to send the few pebbles in the center forward yet again, this time with more power and speed more akin to molten bullets heading for her chest. Then his hand dipped down to redirect the momentum of the remainder toward the ground, the projectiles impacting in a wave of hot stone droplets that sent up dust and ash between the two sides.

Hannibal kept close to Sevrin in order to best leverage his skill at defense while the other man concentrated on his own abilities. He didn't know precisely what he was doing but something was going on to need that much focus. The Councilor would do his job.

"I regret your choice," he said in a remarkably even and chilly tone toward Vyrassu, the Force flowing into and through him like a slowly swirling blizzard. Before when he fought Sol Puara he was a Knight. When he was last on Sullust and was struck down by the Eternal he was a Master. Now he could face Vyrassu on relatively equal footing.

"May you find peace in death."

@Sreeya @Phoenix @Isen @Morse @Fantasy Liver @Nefieslab

 

[Isen Ramm]

Surveying the battlefield, Isen took note of all the goings on, and especially wanted to put his eyes on the Sith. He felt that ultimately this battle would now be won or lost by whether the green and blue lightsabers were still glowing against the obsidian backdrop of Sullust or the ominous red blades of the Sith. Zathria appeared to be taunting the sister Sith, and Hannibal and Sevrin both wanted to give their full attention to the Dark Councilor. A wise plan, but Isen saw the bolt of lightning fling across the battlefield. It appeared that Grentan wanted to even the odds.

Isen liked the odds just as they were, and besides, he came here to strike at and fight Sith, not foot soldiers.

Taking off at a sprint, he new it was possible that the turret could turn on him as Jedi were high-value targets, but he also know that even without using the Force, he was athletic, and by using the Force to increase his speed, he would be a very hard target for someone manning a heavy gun to hit. If that wouldn't be trouble enough, using the Force, he would attempt to turn the muzzle of the E-web turret in the direction of Grentan. This would serve a multitude of purposes if successful. First, he hoped it would take some pressure off of the two squads he had led to this juncture- one front line squad and one flanking squad. With Drow also covering, Isen had high hopes that the Sullustan rebels would make great progress. Second, it would put some pressure on the Twi'lek Sith to prevent his advancement until Isen could meet him on the battlefield. Third, he wanted the male twin to know it was Isen that would be causing him trouble. He wanted his full attention.

Whether Isen was successful or not with the turret, he would send a push of the Force, a hard push, directed at the Twi'lek brother. It was a push designed to send him backwards and further away from the lava. Isen wanted no cheap victories. He wanted the message to be sent to the Sith loud and clear- the Knights of the Order were more than prepared to bring lightsabers to a Force fight, and they were damn well determined and equipped enough to win them.

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[Vako Yizok]

"Ah frell!" Vako yelled out. "Incoming!" He yelled out over the intercom.

The scanners had told him all he needed to know, with a rapid and screeching alarm that pieced his years. His wings twitched behind him as he leaned forward in preparation for what was occurring. It was multiple missiles that would be streaking in, something that Vako would have an impossible time avoiding both. He continued to rain the autocannon fire at the adversary, but that was not going to be remotely enough to stop what happened next.

Vako ceased fire, and swerved the tank back in a jerking motion. So rapid was the movement it may have struck "friendly" forces that were around him. But that was less Vako's problem since he was inside the heavily armored vehicle. The motion worked... one one rocket, which impacted the ground, throwing burning heated metal into the armor, denting it.

This only worked on the first.

The second missile struck with a violent impact. Vako felt the tank list hard to the right, as one of the vehicles repulsor pads gave out.

Sparks flew as the vehicle dragged, and by accounts from outside it may have been a death blow, as the vehicle powered down and rest on the ground with a serious dent.

Inside however, Vako had powered down the reactors. He was not going to be able to take another hit easily, and he was more inclined to cut his losses. There was a battle going on outside, and he was safe in an armor plated shell. He did not have a dog in the fight, was simply a giant target that as far as he could tell, had done his part to pay back the debt.

And so Vako let the tank lay there, dead. And Vako remained, clutching his rifle and looking out the forward viewports, watching the battle as if from a window, waiting for whatever the next best move was.

From within he yelled out over the top.

"Reactor's down! I'll have them up in one minute! Just get them away from me!"

 

[Sevrin Valtiere]

Sevrin could sense that Hans arrived near him to take the more direct position with Vyrassu. The Sephi had a very tricky role to play and he couldn’t be interrupted. He placed his trust in the Councilor, focusing entirely on his part in defeating Vyrassu.

He called upon the Force to tap into an art that many Jedi didn’t practice, but had become a part of his toolkit as a shadow. Sevrin applied morichro to the advancing Sith Lord, aiming to slow down her body functions. His attack was focused on controlling her breathing and rapidly slowing it down to give her the sense of drowning.

This is where the attack took all of Sevrin’s focus, leaving him entirely vulnerable to any incoming attacks if Hans didn’t defend him. He injected images into Vyrassu’s mind to go with his attack. The combined effect would give her the sense that she was being Force choked by the twins. She would gasp for air and she would see the twins in her mind.

Sevrin closed his eyes and deeply focused to pull off the attack, rooted in place. He could only hope that Hans keeping her actively engaged would convince her that the twins were capitalizing on a quick window to kill her.

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[The Gatekeeper]

As a Jedi Knight, Drow would obviously react to save the Sullustians flanking, however he could only react to an attack that was already underway. The flanking Sullustians would be decimated by the unexpected turret fire, all but five of the Sullustians torn apart by the barrage and Drow’s attempts to turn the turret would be frustrated. Unlike spinning a tripod gun, Drow was attempting to wrestle against motors and metal designed to be resilient and perfectly controlled.

His attempt to tear the turret from the armoured vehicle is slower than he might have expected due to its nature as an armoured attachment, allowing Vermill’a the chance to counter Isen’s attempt to move the e-web turret with the Force, leaving Isen to deal with a trio of heavy blaster bolts from the e-web and a shot each from 7 troopers to his back as he focused on the Push against Grentan. While Grentan would appreciate being spared friendly fire, the Push would catch him in the side just as Hannibal’s blade caught his blast of lightning meant for Zevrin. The Sith Twin found himself suddenly airborne, though temporarily before he thrust his left hand out, using the Force to right himself and land on his feet, albeit with a skid as he was now turned to face Isen. Grentan growled and took the time to spit in Isen’s general direction even as he drew his saber up in his right hand and started gathering the Dark Side to his left.

Her counter to the turret eventually torn from the transport and thrown her way was similar to Zathria’s own counter to the door, using her lightsaber to cut it apart before it could hit her. Zathria herself was able to evade the blaster bolts from the troopers and jumped down from the top of the transport to slice her lightsaber into the cockpit. The blade would bite in deep, cutting through the legs and thigh of the driver, who screamed before dying, the blade continuing on its path to carve through the steering mechanicals of the transport, grounding it and beginning a small cockpit fire. In answer to the challenge, Vermill’a would close the distance to Zathria, going for a quick downward slash aiming to cut Zathria in two down the centre, vertically, as her saber was still in the cockpit causing the damage.

With the first salvo of their limited supply of rockets having tasted some success, the troopers grabbed the launcher that had been dropped by the dead man before quickly reloading. As the rest of the troopers agreed to leave the Jedi around the transport to the Twins, they instead re-focused their fire onto the Sullustians on the ridge. The ridge was providing them cover however so the executive decision was made to remove the ridge. One trooper from each end of a transport (only two) brought up their reloaded launchers to fire a missile each. This time a "dumb" missile so that they would fly straight and true at the ridge while their allies laid down covering fire with their blasters. The two rockets were aimed at opposite ends of the ridge to each other as well, to try and spread the damage but also in an effort to stop the Jedi from being able to stop both of them as it would require them to split their attention and, yet, somehow not give up their power on either rocket.

Across the battlefield, Vahn’s jump and, sudden, aborted arc was perplexing to the droid for all of half a second before it adjusted its aim to continue firing another volley at the Jedi as he landed, another volley of four shots. As the Jedi would advance, the droid would focus fire on the Jedi’s legs, knowing that the Jedi were an enemy that could block straight shots but they were limited to the range of their sabers. Aiming at his feet would force Vahn to commit to a stooping guard – of course this was the intention of the droid at least.

Vyrassu was many things and insane was definitely one of them but weak was not. As a Sith Lord who had ascended to the council of The Eternal she had focused on some of the higher mysteries of the Force. She had noticed Sevrin putting images into her mind but she had not taken the time to remove them. However when Sevrin split his focus between two different, taxing, abilities she was able to fully see them both and she snarled as she pulsed with the Force.

Pulsing her connection to the Dark Side, the Council member would violently push Sevrin back into his own mind and body through a combination of her power and her own skill with mental techniques. She might not have known the details of Morichro but she knew to push Sevrin's own connection out of her.

With her pulse, however, she paused in her physical motion as she split her focus as well. She could have, potentially, diverted the lava again but she didn't. Instead she turned her body so that her left side was facing the renewed assault by Hannibal and let the lava pelt her, coating the left half of her body with a hasty Force Barrier. As it got close however, she drew the heat from the projectiles with Tuaminis, leaving the blobs of lava to be stone by the time they impacted her, leaving dozens of nasty bruises for sure but not actually burning her as intended.

"Cease with your infernal prattling Jedi! Always with the TALK and the LIES to hide your weakness!"

She flicked her left hand out, flames erupting from her outstretched fingers to rocket toward Hannibal and Sevrin, the heat from the lava fueling her Force Flames.

@Sreeya @Phoenix @Mr. Teatime @Morse @Fantasy Liver @Isen @The Steel Stag

 

[Zathria]

Zathria wasn't entirely sure what the impact of her little impaling trick was, but based on the screams it wasn't anything nice. She winced slightly at the thought, preferring to save lives instead of taking them. But she couldn't focus on that now. No doubt the Sith was closing in on her and... right on cue.

The Sith rounded the transport and Zathria's blade pulled free in an instant, blocking horizontally against the Sith's vicious downward blow. She fell back and to her own right diagonally along a straight line as she did so, forcing the Sith into a once more offensive stance as she "retreated."

In fact, what happened was as the Sith would advance, Zathria's left hand shot out and pulled the flames from the cockpit out in whoosh with the Force that would hopefully blast the Sith full in the face with scalding flames, catching her by surprise. Meanwhile, Zathria's saber was always ready to defend against another assault.

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[Isen Ramm]

At a dead sprint and fresh off of his Force push, Isen did not have time to get in position to deflect the first couple of shots or even track them well enough to do so. He lept high and forward so as not to stop his momentum toward the brother but also to avoid the first two shots of arms fire which zipped harmlessly beneath him. By the time he landed, a lightsaber hilt was in his right hand and he deflected the remaining five shots back in the direction from whence they came. They would be in the general area of the shooters, but whether or not Isen had deflected them with the precision to take out one or more of the gunners, he was unsure. He was generally pretty accurate at deflecting bolts, but that was when he was either stationary or walking and the targets were more or less in front of him. Here, he was deflecting shots from the side, and he was sprinting.

But for the turrets? Isen wasn't about to try and deflect heavy blaster bolts. Isen changed his speed, zigged and once again, lept and somersaulted to avoid the three heavy blaster shots from the turret. Isen's feet landed gracefully, his eyes fixed on the Twi'lek, but his stride never broken. There was a stream of lava between the Sith and the Jedi, the same flowing lava that Sevrin had tried to pull the Sith into just moments ago.

The young Jedi knew he had to be careful. He was good with the lightsaber. He felt if he could close the gap safely, he would be victorious if it came down to skill with a lightsaber. The issue was crossing the lava. Isen couldn't stop running, however. He had to remain a moving target in case the guns and turret kept him as their target. So, despite all the warnings and horror stories of Jedi and lava, Isen tempted fate. If he was to square off against Grentan, he must.

Out of his sprint, Isen jumped, using the Force to go as high and as far as he could, attempting to leap over the moving stream of molten rock. At his peak, Isen could see the Twi'lek with a lightsaber in hand and appeared to be gearing up for some Force trick.

Isen desperately didn't want to be just another lava statistic on the cork boards back at the temple on Yavin. Hopefully, he could counter whatever Grentan had up his sleeve.

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[Vako Yizok]

The moment was here now. Vako could see it. The battle was proceeding around him. There were Jedi swinging sabers of light at each other, cutting down troopers and Sith alike. Sullest workers were rallying with rifles into a tired fight with their Sith trooper counter parts, matching desperation and passion against cold calculated training. The sounds were immense, the roaring was intense, and it was in every direction. Fires burned, blasters blazed, and thunderous echoes of explosions continued to wrap on the battlefield for the soul of Sullest.

But meanwhile Vako was clutching a rifle in a dark slab of armor that lay lifeless on the ground. Far enough to now just look like a dead shell on a battlefield, free of light and dulling all sounds around him. He watched as the battle had just continued on and left him behind.

"Perfect." Vako muttered to himself.

He did not have a dog in this fight. He did not even understand why he was there. He had been a momentary boon to the Jedi's forces, more then they likely could have hoped for otherwise. But there was no pay here. No benefit. Vako had come to steal Sullest industry secrets, not free its work force. The best he could hope for was for his Jedi jailers to look the other way as he moved along. Not an expunged record. Not a free ride. Just a nod.

Well Vako was going to beat them to it, and come out heavy... Tank heavy.

Vako fluttered back to his chair and fired on the reactors for the Tank. It whirred to life, entering its default state with the cannon swiveling for travel. The repulsor on its right was damaged, and Vako diverted as much power to keep it off the ground. The edge ground sparks and got maybe an inch off the ground on the forward right edge.

But that would be enough.

Vako kept the cannon stowed, and did not reactivate the cannons. This was his time. He rotated the tank profile back in the direction of the exploded facility. He could see the immense damage it had taken, and shook his head.

"I've been too long as it is. Best be taking my leave."

The edge of the exploded facility provided an avenue of escape. Away from Jedi doing battle, and away from the workers rebellion that would soon be at his rear.

"Alright, let's see what you can do." Vako said, engaging all forward thrust.

"Yahhhhhhhhhh!" He yelled, as though he was directing a beast he was riding to move. The Tank engaged forward power and exploded forward. 90KMH were possible, and he was likely only to make 80 with the damage. But when the tank barreled forward nothing was going to stop it. Vako assumed he may have struck a worker or two on his way out, but that did not bother him one bit.

With a rush he was on the opposite side of the facility, the battlefield far behind him. He went straight towards the fence, and smashed through, and out into the streets. He kept the lights off to avoid as much attention as possible... but he was not a tank in traffic, headed right to the safehouse he started in.

"Slaggs! It's Vako." He yelled into his comm to his goons that were probably getting ready to leave him behind. "Fire up the engines. We're headin' offworld, nice and heavy."

And with that Vako's moment in the sun of the revolutionary sun came to an end.

 

[Drow Venn]

"Damn it all!" Drow swore, every one of his attacks having been countered by that damn Twi'lek Sith. Even more angry now that his attempt to save the Sullustans had failed, he grabbed a Sullustan with a rifle close to him.

"Lay down some covering fire for me! I'm going to take out that Sith!" Drow ordered. The Sullustan nodded and gathered what Sullustans remained behind the ridge. Drow raised three fingers and began a countdown. Three...two...

One.

Drow began sprinting as hard as he could towards Vermill'a, saber and blaster in hand. Behind him, he could hear the Sullustans following his command as they fired upon any Sith trooper in the area that could be trouble for Drow and that included the Sith troopers with the rockets. Even though only a handful of Sullustans remained, a stream of blastefire was far easier to squeeze out than one rocket and unless they took cover or a miracle happened, those rocket troopers were going to get hit.

For his part, Drow raised his E-11 and squeezed off five shots at Vermill'a, well in range and having an easy target since the Twi'lek was currently distracted by Zathria; the Sith's back facing Drow because of this. Drow sprinted as hard as he could, conscious to deflect what bolts may come his way. When he got within twenty or so yards, he'd leap into the air (assuming Vermill'a was still alive) to bring his saber down in an overhead slash on Vermill'a

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[Hannibal Grayza]

The lava attack was attenuated quickly and well, leaving nasty bruises rather than cracked bone and burned flesh. Impressive but not entirely unexpected from the mad sorceress. Hannibal had briefly observed her usage of heat, flame, and lava during his last visit.

Emerald eyes narrowed as Vyrassu approached, her hand sending out a stream of flame toward Hannibal and Sevrin. Hannibal moved his lightsaber out from behind the other Jedi and his right hand came up once more, calm and fluid, breezy, relaxed. The air around him shifted as he stepped forward, and for a moment there was only the laziest little circle of wind around his feet.

It suddenly picked up and rushed toward Vyrassu in a concentrated aerokinetic gale that picked up the black sand along its path, meeting the flame to push it back toward the mad sorceress and away from the two Jedi. As Hannibal walked steadily forward, fingers curling and wrist twisting the winds would follow suit, stealing the fire and beginning to whip it into a burning and volcanic dust-filled cyclone closely around her if he was able.

"I defy you," he replied icily to her ranting, green gaze hardened and focused. "The Eternal will not save you this time."

@Sreeya @Nefieslab

 

[Vahn Berand]

Proper swordsmanship was as much about footwork as it was the whirling blue arc of his saber before him. His stance was wide, but agile, shifting his position with each pass. He narrowly dodged the blaster bolts kicking up smoke and ash at his feet, back pedalling and losing some distance with the DT droid. The spread of bolts kept him on the defensive, continually losing ground as he kept up his defenses, saber at the ready for any stray bolts.

Vahn breathed softly, and focused on the Force and his foot-work became a dance. He moved, whirling in the space before the droid with preternatural speed. His body seemed a dark grey blur as his feet kept up a constant inertia, barely touching down between each seemingly random, evasive step designed to confound the droid. It became a contest; between Vahn’s strength in The Force, his ability to predict the incoming bolts kicking up debris around his feet, and the advanced computational speeds of the DT unit. In time, bit by bit he picks up his advance, constantly building his inertia as he closes the gap between Droid and Jedi.

Then, while maintaining his speed he slips to the side, hopping laterally while he pulls his lightsaber up above his head. Vahn would throw his hands forward, flinging his saber threw the air so that it was flinging end over end towards the DT unit. He switched his focus from maintaining the constant acceleration to gripping his lightsaber with a firm, telekinetic grip that exaggerated the acceleration of his throw, the blade spinning fast enough to seem like a azure buzz saw that honed in on the Droid. Upon contact, the blade would shear through armor and circuity alike easily, splitting the droid in half diagonally across the torso from shoulder to hip.

His focus would then shift, the Jedi Pulling the silver and black lightsaber back into his hand to maintain his defenses once more.

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[Sevrin Valtiere]

Sevrin felt the Sith Councilor push back against his mental attacks. The woman was significantly more powerful than him, and he felt a mental blast from the retaliation. The Sephi grunted in pain, dropping to his knees at the sudden attack. However, Hans was luckily quick to react, interrupting and splitting her focus.

Sevrin was just as quick to react, glancing up from his crouched position as he saw the aerokinesis whirl around her and push the flames back. The Sephi channeled the Force into a more offensive move, drawing from the fire that surrounded her. While the flames spiraled her, Sevrin drew from the heat and dry air to heat up her body. It would be directly on her skin and clothing, searing and cooking her. She would be forced to either attempt to repel Hans’ and the spiral or focus more internally at the burn that was directly heating her up.

The Sephi focused his energies on the intensity of the inferno attack. Her skin would turn red within moments and she would have the sensation of being directly burned. The goal was to completely incapacitate her and be vulnerable to any follow ups from Hans.

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[The Gatekeeper]

Vermill'a growled in anger when the Jedi blocked her overhead strike and acted out on her anger. She could feel the Jedi pull at something with the Force but she didn't care so long as the Jedi hurt so she thrust her free hand out, beneath their struggling blades, to send a point-blank blast of Sith Lightning into the gut of the Jedi. The downside, of this, of course, was that she was using the Force already when the Jedi lashed out with fire.

Turning her head, Vermill'a screamed in rage and pain. Even as she jumped back with the Force, the flames still impacted, burning at the left side of her face. Her jump saved her from the first two of Drow's rifle shots and she was able to recover enough to bat the other three down into the dirt between herself and Zathria to threaten the other woman's legs to keep her back as Vermill'a kept walking backward, kept seeking to create room. The left side of her face was raw and bloody from the burn the stretched from her jaw to the base of her leku. Even her left eye was not spared, currently streaming tears down her face as she called upon her rage and pain to fuel her rather than hinder her.

Sight out of the left eye was painful but possible still and Drow was more to her right than behind (the transports had been side-facing to the ridge after all and he had charged down from the ridge). Backing up had further assisted, helping her keep both of the Jedi in her sights. She gripped her lightsaber tighter even as her hate and pain swirled around her as the Dark Side sustained her power, even as he ate away at her.

--

The Sullustians on the ridge continued to fire down at the troopers, though without someone to coordinate their efforts the untrained fighters were not quite as effective as they could have been. A deep rooted desire to see their people free was a powerful motivation to fight but it did not magically conjure up skill from nowhere.

Even so, the sustained fire rained down on the troopers and one of the Sullustians was cheered by his fellows when a lucky shot clipped one of the launchers themselves. The resulting explosion vaporized both the trooper and the weapon, along with one of his fellow troopers as well.

However, the expression of victory was cut short when the second rocket was launched without issue, blasting apart a large chunk of the base of the ridge. Rather than aiming for the Sullustians, the rocket was aimed below them for the specific task of breaking apart their cover, causing a large section of the ridge to come tumbling down. Sullustians atop that part of the ridge were sent rolling down the ridge, where they were gunned down as they tried to get their feet back underneath them.

With Grentan and Isen engaging, the troopers that had fired on Isen disengaged, avoiding their returned fire by moving out from their original positions. They dragged the e-web turret with them, repositioning to open fire along the ridge, the heavy blaster fire beginning to chew straight through the ridge that remained; taking out both cover and those using it though it needed to focus fire to destroy sections of cover at a time.

Along the other side of the battlefield, Sullustians and Troopers alike noticed that the Ion-cannon equipped tank suddenly fired up to life again. Rather than continuing the fight however, the tank immediately started accelerating to its top speed, aiming to get far away from the battlefield. No one was in a position to stop it and none of the Imperials truly wanted to, for fear it would turn back around to fight again.

--

The droid aiming at Vahn's legs could not actually be frustrated - its programming did not allow it to feel such an emotion. Still, the droid was not about to let the fancy footwork of the Jedi distract it from its main mission of ending his life. The directives given by the controller of the DT Unit was to destroy the Jedi who sought to combat her and it would see it done.

So when Vahn jumped to the side, the DT unit followed the Jedi’s motion fairly easily - the Jedi hadn’t jumped very far and hadn’t jumped out of sight at any point. The droid smoothly rotated and opened fired again with another burst of four blaster shots grouped around the chest just as the Jedi sent his blade flying through the air.

The droid was not capable of complex evasion so it didn’t, the lightsaber would cut through the droid just as the blaster bolts were almost upon the Jedi - his blade roughly 20m away from the bolts now all but atop of him while he was focusing on turning said blade into a close approximation of a buzzsaw.

--

Isen was able to avoid the blaster bolts of varying caliber sent his way and Grentan grinned despite himself. Despite his hate for Jedi and everything they stood for, everything they represented and everything they protected? He loved the prospect of a decent fight more than he hated them.

A part of him wanted to use the Force he had been gathering to Push Isen just enough to stall any forward momentum just at the apex of his jump, so that gravity would send the Jedi tumbling down into the lava below. Another part of him begged him to send the Jedi flying back over to 'his' side of the lava pit with a blast of lightning from his fingertips.

Instead he did none of that.

His free hand began to damn near vibrate with the power he pooled into it, brought under his control as his eyes flashed. Holding his saber in his right hand, he brought the blade up to stand vertically in front of him in a Makashi salute to the Jedi who had just landed.

He did something rather unlike a Sith... he waited for Isen to land and recover his footing.

"Make ready, Jedi!" he barked out firmly, "I would have you prepared. I would have you at your best when I strike you down!"

--

Though the Knight had withdrawn the active component of the mental attacks from her mind, Vyrassu was not freed of the lasting effects. Even now her gaze would dart to the closest (relatively) of the twins, Grentan, and she had to force herself to focus back on the Jedi and their efforts against her. The simmering resentment and hatred that had been stoked toward the twins didn’t die down even if she knew, intellectually, that it had been implanted.

Knowing something didn’t stop the feelings and she would likely be a danger to the younger Sith should they come close enough to interact with one another.

Her attention returned to both Sevrin and Hannibal with an almost audible snap as the heat began to ramp up, the ash and fire flickering and dancing around her. They cast her in moving, roiling, shadows that made her eyes appear even more sunken and flaming than they were before. Even as the heat began to take its toll, burns beginning to form along her outer limbs wherever her robes didn’t cover first.

She endured it as she pulled the Dark Side to her, taking the pain as it grew and grew with every second passing. Lashing out with her power, she flung a telekinetic burst outward from her with her power even as embers started to flicker to life at the edges of her robes and the ends of her hair, sending the ash and flames around her outward in all directions. If she had her full focus and no other pains, she might have been able to direct the outlash but as it was, such precision was not possible for her currently.

The pain from the continued heat and pressure she was under, she tried to find a way to release. A Force Scream echoing across the distance into the minds of those closest to her (Sevrin, Hannibal), the physical scream tearing at her vocal chords, the deadly heat taking her open mouth as an opportunity to begin almost scalding her throat. It would slam into the minds of the two Jedi with every ounce of hatred and pain she was currently feeling, attempting to will them into drowning in the same emotions that wracked her.

A disruption.

A disruption that she knew would not kill the Jedi or even halt them for very long.

A disruption that had caused her more physical and emotion pain to add to the damage she had already sustained.

It was at this point that she demanded Death. Death needed to be dealt to those who had managed to hurt her as much as they had and she would settle for nothing less. If she was defeated here, she would accept only Death, she would not be paraded around as a captive of a Jedi – especially not these Jedi. Roaring in outrage, she launched herself toward the two Jedi, her lightsaber low in her right hand to her right side, before she would take an upward diagonal swing at Hannibal. As she crossed the distance, she would twist her left hand, a second saber dropping into her left hand and igniting as she ran.

The second saber she would keep at her left side for now, knowing she would need it to keep the other Jedi (Sevrin) at bay. He was slightly to one side of Hannibal, meaning that she would reach the Master first so he was who she focused the first attack on but her mind was already awhirl – she needed to become Death and pain if she was going to fight them both. Already her motions were noticeably slower, her pains catching up to her, the burns that were beginning to gather along her limbs stretching muscles and skin tight, keeping her from her full flexibility.

@Sreeya @Mr. Teatime @Phoenix @Fantasy Liver @Isen @The Steel Stag

 

[Drow Venn]

In a previous time, Drow would have offered the woman a chance to surrender. He knew firsthand that just because one walked down a dark path didn't mean that one couldn't turn back from it. But, this was war and Drow knew war. You offered mercy to those already beaten and right now, Vermill'a was not beaten.

Drow decided to go for the simple, not wanting to draw this out any longer than it needed to be. He stepped forward and slashed at her chest. It wasn't unblockable and, in fact, it wasn't supposed to be. If Vermill'a made the move to block Drow's swing to avoid being bisected, that meant that her saber was unable to block a blaster bolt. So, once Vermill'a made contact with his own blade, Drow would use the blaster in his other hand to fire at her upper thigh.

@Nefieslab @Phoenix

 

[Zathria]

Zathria managed to yank the fire free and avoid being bissected by the woman's initial strike, but as her saber came around to block the lightning, it was just a hint too slow. She had expected a saber strike and received a lightning strike instead.

It struck the Jedi in the belly, leaving a fern-like pattern of burns across her skin immediately beneath her clothes and knocking her back and off her feet. There was no danger of the Jedi being hit by the deflected blaster bolts now that she was several feet even further away from the Sith.

She tried to push the pain aside as she pushed back to her feet, saber reigniting in her hand. A brief look at the Sith woman told Zathria she was in bad shape, and a probe of the Force told her that it was perhaps even worse than she looked.

Drow had closed in on the other woman now and was making an attack of his own. Zathria lunged forward, closing back in and intentionally going wide to remain in as much of the woman's now-blind side as possible.

She was wary of staying away from her Jedi opponent as she delivered her own saber strike at the woman's left side at kidney level. It was a horizontal strike and was made primarily with the upper third of her saber blade. This distance would allow her to stay within striking range of her opponent but likely outside the range of Drow's blade in the event that something went wrong with her partner's own attack.

@Fantasy Liver @Nefieslab

 

[Isen Ramm]

The Kiffar landed on the other side of the lava cleanly and unobstructed by the Sith. It appeared he wanted an honorable fight. Isen could respect that. He nodded to the Sith in agreement. No cheapies. Perhaps one of them would die well this day. Isen noticed the Form II stance and knew that his best route would be Djem So, a natural weakness to Makashi. But, Isen didn't want to give that nugget away. Besides, Form IV and its acrobatics may be the best way to avoid whatever Force energy the Twi'lek had growing in his left hand.

Isen ran at him somewhat, but slightly angled away, slightly to Isen's left, the Sith's right. He didn't want the lava to be directly to his back should he get Force pushed unexpectedly. Using the acrobatics of Ataru, Isen lept forward still angled slightly away from the Sith, but barrel-rolled in the air back toward him. He would give a Force push of his own directed at the Twi'lek before his feet hit the ground. Because Isen was using the Force to run fast and do the acrobatics, the Force push wouldn't be overly strong, but he directed it at Grentan's left hand, an attempt to disrupt whatever he was planning there. If everything went as planned, he would land within striking distance of the Twi'lek Sith with his momentum still moving into him. If uninterrupted, Isen would spin as his other hilt flew into his left hand after the Force push and in a smooth motion, Isen would continue the path of his left arm presenting a backhand swipe from right to left just below the waistline, quickly followed by the right lightsaber coming slightly over the top but still right to left angled to target Grentan's left shoulder and to exit his left hip.

@Nefieslab

 

[Vahn Berand]

The exchange of fire forced Vahn to break his connection with the spinning saber at the last possible second before impact. The half-second delay on his saber’s dead-switch carried it through, shearing through the armored droid to leave it tumbling in pieces. His saber deflected off of the droid as it fell apart and went clattering across the ash black ground below some yards away.

At the same time, Vahn focused, twisting his body in the air while using a telekinetic pressure to torque him further out of the way of the droid’s final barrage. It was enough to twist himself out of the way of two of the bolts, but the remaining glanced off of the armored plates in his robes. The ablative armor sizzled, fragments shearing off from the heat and pressure of the bolts. There was a sudden biting pain across his chest and back where he had narrowly threaded the needle between two bolts that broke his concentration. He was left wheezing, the raw kinetic punch of each bolt having squeezed the air from his lungs like a vice while dropping him limp to the ground.

Vahn rolled, his world pain and confusion for a few moments before he slowly gathered his senses again. Come on, Vahn. Get up. You’re not dead yet. You still have a job to do. Get UP.

The Jedi stood slowly, unsteady for a few moments before he came to a jog. The armor plates in his robes had taken the brunt of the damage, but he could feel the angry lingering pain of his wounds uner them. There was still a job to be done, and he could see the growing battle between Sevrin, Hannibal, and the Vyrassu just ahead. He needed to help them. Vahn raised one hand as he moved towards them, and his saber leapt from its resting place to settle neatly into his hand. The azure blade then snapped into existence with a familiar, calming hum.

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[Hannibal Grayza]

The build up of power from Vyrassu did not go unnoticed by the Councilor. He couldn't actually see her through the swirling of flame and ash but rather than dying from the heat her presence began to build, and Hannibal wasn't terribly enamored of that idea.

He also didn't intend to sit idle after forming his burning whirlwind. Sevrin intensified the heat and Hannibal closed his first, fire, ash, and black sand collapsing inward toward her in the moments of focus in the hopes of worsening burns or scorching eyes with heated particles and the flame itself.

A moment later the scream came and along with it a wall of telekinetic power. Hannibal released the wind and flames and turned his hand to the side, sinking down and bending his knees to plant himself in place. His hand pushed forward to angle the winds once more, keeping the ring of pushed-back flames away from the two Jedi. Of course that wasn't the real trouble so much as the mental attack that joined along with it.

Hatred, anger, and madness, heated and furious, met with simple cold. Hannibal's mind was winter, an indifferent chill tempered further by the void it had last met on Sullust. There was little there to grasp at and it was difficult to see. That Vyrassu had gone for a brute force attack worked well in her favour compared to manipulation, but Hannibal was also inherently resistant to mental assault to some degree.

This didn't stop it from keeping him occupied, face set and steeled and teeth grit, extending his defense to Sevrin as well to weather and attenuate the attack. Hannibal was entirely still during the scream and for a little after, split defense and required focus leaving him with no ability to prevent her moving in, and now with a fantastic new pounding headache.

Vyrassu rushed in next and Hannibal angled his left hand lightsaber to guard, taking a half step back with both feet and swinging down to meet the blow mid-blade. He pulled his shoto off his belt into his right hand at the same time, up in guard close to his body in defense, ready for the next move or friendly followup.

@Sreeya @Nefieslab

 

[Sevrin Valtiere]

As the telekinetic blast, along with the fire and the scream all came their way, Sevrin knew it was time to shift away from his other attack. Vyrassu was in agony and she leaned into that to lash out reactively. Nothing she threw was precise and the Jedi would capitalize on that. The Sephi channeled the Force and assisted Hans in deflecting the incoming blasts to keep the Councilor from taxing more energy than needed. With the efforts of both Jedi, the attack would be repelled without depleting either of them.

Sevrin drew his saber to his right hand as Vyrassu charged in to engage Hans, the councilor first in her path. The Sephi caught Hans stepping back and drawing a second blade which would likely force Vyrassu to pivot slightly to engage. Sevrin pivoted around the Sith’s left flank to end up slightly behind her left shoulder blade.

From there, the Sephi swung in with a horizontal slash from his right to left aimed at cutting through her hip. Even if Vyrassu spun to engage him, he would be outside her guard with his blade layered above hers and with Hans blocking her trajectory from the other side.

@Nefieslab @Morse @Mr. Teatime

 

[The Gatekeeper]

The battle between the trained Sith troops and the supremely motivated Sullustians was beginning to reach a stalemate. Each side was able to pour on the fire, the troopers with higher precision than the Sullustians but the Sullustians with greater numbers. In the end, what would tip the balance one way or another was the Force Users.

As much as both sides of Non-Force User combatants would argue that they didn’t need space wizards to do their fighting for them, it was unavoidable that the Force Users were force multipliers. Rather than needing to wear the other side down through attrition and risky moves, one side with friendly Force Users would be able to dominate the other.

That isn’t the say that they sat on their hands while the Force Users battled but there was an almost unspoken confirmation that they would not be rushing into charges or similarly risky tactics without Force support.

--

Complicated applications of the Force were quickly becoming Vermill’a as she burned through more and more of her focus and willpower to keep herself moving. Thankfully for her, an E-11 blaster carbine being pointed in her direction was not subtle and batting the barrel to the right, sending the blasts wide, with the Force didn’t require a whole lot of focus or power. Catching Drow’s blade against her own, she pushed back and to her right with both feet, furiously backing up quickly to avoid being impaled by Zathria’s own saber.

Her gaze through her left eye was still blurry due to the tears and the tearing of the flesh at the bottom of her eyelid but she was able to just, barely, see the glowing saber being thrust in her direction. Her quick motion managed to pull her body back enough that the saber didn’t stab into her guts so much as the tip scored across her skin, searing a line along the side almost an inch deep.

She cried out in pain and outrage (how dare the Jedi scum cut her?) but it was all she could do to try and evade. Backing up quickly, she was on the back foot in more ways than one, specifically both physically and mentally.

Metaphorically?

Metaphorically she was being chased, having barely managed to avoid being thoroughly impaled by Zathria’s blade. It was a frantic, almost instinctive Push that she sent Zathria’s way, attempting to keep her back as she batted at Drow’s saber to knock it upward before flicking her own saber forward in a thrust to try and impale Drow’s right lung.

--

Grentan watched as the Jedi landed and took a second to center himself, giving the Sith twin a nod of understanding. It seemed, then, that the two of them were to engage in a duel rather than something as chaotic and messy as a battle. Grentan was glad of it not because he doubted his ability to win in a messier, dirtier, fight but because he wanted anyone watching to know that he won without the need for any tricks or underhanded moves.

His skill against the Jedi and he would live to tell of it.

A spinning leap from further to his right hand Grentan frown as he backed up quickly, evading the Force Push sent his way by jumping back to avoid it. Focusing on the spinning Jedi's blades more than the Push once he had evaded it. Stepping back further as Isen landed, he stepped back to avoid the slash from the left-hand blade and brought his own lightsaber down against the Kiffar's right-hand blade, using Isen's spinning momentum to assist as he pushed down on the blade to knock it off course from hitting him. As Isen's blade would be pushed down by the tip of his own, Grentan would thrust his blade forward while it pressed against the length of Isen's right hand blade.

With the blade lowered, Grentan's thrust would slide his lightsaber across the edge of Isen's right-hand blade to thrust the tip at the Kiffar's right eye. With the spin, Isen's left-hand blade would be further off to the other side of Isen's body, unable to deflect the counter even as Grentan used the Force to Pull Isen toward him, using both the Force and his own counter-thrust in an attempt to pierce through the Jedi's skull.

--

The Force wrapped around her slightly as she charged, creating a small wind-tunnel through which she ran at her command. It did nothing for the heat and even as she ran more of her skin began to crack and blister but it kept the dust from her eyes, kept her from being unable to actually make her mad-dash. Everything she was as a Force User was focused inward, trying to keep her going as she enhanced her body with speed and power - draining her connection to the Force with every movement, every second she pushed through pain.

Her lightsaber came up from her right, slamming into Hannibal's guard with perhaps more strength than the councillor would have expected. As their blades cackled with barely restrained power, she did indeed spin her body with her slash, using the turn of her body to put more effort into the slash at Hannibal.

It had the added effect of keeping her twisted between the two Jedi, allowing her to spot the movement of Sevrin moving around her left side. The lightsaber in her left hand span in her hand to point downward, the blade igniting in time to catch Sevrin's horizontal slash aimed at her hip before it could land, catching it just behind her back.

However the spinning motion required to do so was something she would have had trouble accomplishing in the best of health. With the accumulated wounds, especially along her left side, she was not at her best by a long shot. At the end of the spin, she planned to continue her assault with another twist but her left leg gave out beneath her at the knee. Unbeknownst to her, one of the 'bruises' from the rocks launched by Hannibal was actually more of a fracture and the burns along the underside of her leg made it now better.

Slamming down onto one knee, she growled in panicked anger as suddenly she was all-but prone before he enemies, holding one of their blades back with each of her own and needing to twist at an uncomfortable angle to even do so. Still, she refused to die on one knee, using all of her strength remaining in her right arm to abruptly push Hannibal's left-hand blade upward towards his own chest to keep his own arm between his shoto blade and her. As she did that she pushed up with her right leg, to stagger up to her feet while trying to re-orientate herself to keep them both in front of her.

She just... she just needed space. Room to move without them hounding her from blindsides and the like.

She just needed more room to breathe, to be able to catch her breath for the first time since she had arrived.

Spoiler: OOC

Let me know on discord if something needs clarifying or if you want to discuss a part of the post guys

@Sreeya @Phoenix @Mr. Teatime @Isen @Fantasy Liver @The Steel Stag