Broken Bonds (Nikoj)

[Ols]

The man reaching out to Noah was the trigger. The talking was over. Raphael did not even have time to respond. He had to act. Now. People complained at Jedi inaction; how wrong they were. It was a misguided perception, born of the few who could spew their bad press, their propaganda about the galaxy. No, it was in moments like this that the Jedi showed what they truly were. They were guardians of peace. They were the protectors of the republic. It did not matter what Noah was saying. Him leaving with the darksider was never one of his options. Which was why Raphael would now do something he had hoped he would not have to.

The arm with his datapad began to drop as Noah spoke. His thumb flicked forward and pushed a button that would send a signal, a ping, to a number on his instant-contact list. As his arm continued to fall, the other began to rise. Quickly, he let the force course through him, and as his arm became level with his shoulder he lanced it outwards and a powerful wave of force energy burst outwards. As an expanding semi-circular ripple, it cracked through the debris and would send the other three, Nikoj, Noah and even Valena flying, away from Raphael and away from each other. If Nikoj did try to hold on to Noah, the latter's shirt may rip, or the former's shoulder may dislocate, so powerful was the wave of energy.

Breathing deeply and surveying the blast as it pushed onwards and smashed into the far walls, leaving cracks in them, he spoke, "You're going nowhere."

 

[Sreeya]

Val was none too happy at being just as surprised by the wave. She was knocked backwards, the force of the wave almost knocking the wind out of her. However, she knew it was a necessary procedure, although she personally would have preferred a force push or pull. The knight brushed herself off, Raphael having piqued her curiosity.

She had expected the Jedi Master to operate like the Jedi she had grown up around. They would resort to discussions and pleading, attempting to get both sides of the story and generally letting things go out of their control. Raphael, however, appeared to have more of a brash line of thinking not unlike her own. She felt it was an appropriate time to bring her true personality out. Things just looked much better for the Jedi.

"I was hoping it wouldn't come to this.."

In truth, Val was rejuvenated, finally put in a situation where she could apply all her training. Her hand immediately brought up her saber hilt, although she did not ignite it yet. Her eyes were on both Noah and Nikoj. She silently hoped they wouldn't have to fight Noah, but so far it did not appear they had any other options.

 

[Insomnium Savant]

Beautiful force. This was just what the man had been hoping for, anticipating. Something that Nikoj loved about the lack of dynamic within the Jedi, was that they taught against instinct; focusing more upon mediation, meditation and other such devotion based prattle. Thus, seeing one of them so openly use offensive Force maneuvers both endeared the man somewhat to the Dark Jedi, while simultaneously filling him with the revulsion that the order itself was filled with utter hypocrisy and barely buried false intention.

The truth of the matter was that the other man had no clue who he was. Sure, Raphael could make guesses, could rationalize why it would be okay to attack him; but there was no reason for it save for some instinct and hunches. Ah, but instinct was the nature of the Dark Jedi, not the other way around.

Content in the knowledge that the Jedi were only going to be as he had envisioned them; the man released Noah, summoning up the thinnest of fields just before him, so that the raw energy didn’t wash over him, and so that it would blow him back on his heels towards the escape vehicle; and towards the darkness. He was only a scant few feet away from the speeder, which was roughly the size of a HummBike, but with a narrower frame, and a sleek black.

He didn’t bother to announce where he was, having called forth what he recalled of his force concealment lessons during the comedown from the shock of power that Raphael had decided to unleash. Such irrational behavior was neither becoming of; nor conducive to the ends that the Jedi seemed to be going for. Nikoj idly wondered if the council would kill their young padawan should he continue to show such rage in his heart. Probably.

Kicking a leg over his small speeder, he let the small engine come to life with a hum that was about as turbulent as a fluttering butterly. With any luck, Noah would be smart enough to go along with the Jedi so that he didn’t get eviscerated. And, though the Dark Jedi loved a good fight, he knew all too well the home field advantage that these people had; and he wasn’t nearly as suicidal as he would have liked for them to believe.


~Nikoj

 

[MidnightSavior]

The hypocrisy of it astounded Noah. Jedi taught peace, that violence was a very last, desperate resort. Yet here stood a member of the Council, blatantly using brute force to accomplish his goals. The man sought to force his will on Noah, and that, he knew, was of the dark side.

A single second before the wave had hit him, his protosaber jumped to his hand and ignited. The wave of energy shoved him back, further away from the other man than he would have liked, but still he remained standing. Without hesitating, he twirled his weapon around his head, slicing off his Padawan braid. Instead of allowing it to fall to the ground, he levitated it to the two Jedi. "***k you, Jedi," he growled as the braid fell at Raphael's feet.

He knew that he could not fight these two. He would lose, and most likely die, if he attempted it. But he would not be forced onto a path he did not choose because the Jedi wanted to throw tantrums.

He said nothing, waited no longer, but fueled his body with Force, tapping into his internal reserves of energy. Feeling himself spurred on by the Force, Noah jumped, leaping across the distance between himself and Nikoj, landing nimbly in the seat of the speeder behind him.

Was this man he was about to go with evil? Yes. Of that, he had no doubt. But at least the Bogan were honest about what they did, unlike the Order he'd grown up in.

 

[Ols]

He was shocked. Literally shocked. The force of the wave would have sent an elephant flying. A Jedi Master would have been taken off their feet to ride the wave. Indeed, Valena, a capable (if young) Jedi Knight, had gone flying. Yet, unexpectedly, amazingly, both this Dark Jedi, who looked relatively young, and this inexperienced, virtually untrained (formally untrained, that was) padawan, had both stayed on their feet, with minimal fuss, and barely travelled at all. Raphael was unable to comprehend what had happened. Had his ability with the force evaporated? Or were they teaching padawans tricks that even the most experienced masters did not know? Raphael was halfway considering to suggest the Jedi council bypass this kid's training - if he was so powerful as to brush off that burst of energy like a swatted fly, it seemed he would be able easily outclass any of the councillors when it came to skill and power. It seemed unreal to the Jedi master.

Yet he had little time to stand and observe. The Dark Jedi was jumping onto a speeder bike, and would surely be making his escape, and the padawan was yelling expletives. Yeah, the padawan was really demonstrating the rationality and maturity that would convince Raphael he should simply let him turn his back on the closest thing he had ever had a family on the whim of this strange and unknown Dark Jedi and an extremely far reaching hunch about the location of his master. The padawan had flicked on his lightsaber. Raphael did not stop to think about whether the kid was just cutting off his padawan braid in one last act of childish rebellion, or was planning something worse. He jumped, both his hands raised, at Noah.

The padawan braid levitated and flew past Raphael's frame, mid-air, and landed in front of where he had been standing a split second before. An excellent display of control and technical ability under intense pressure by the untrained padawan. Apparently they were losing an unrealised prodigy, not just a padawan of their order. The kid turned and made as if to run or leap towards the speeder. He did not get far however. The time he had taken to cut his braid and fling it at Raphael was more than enough for his force propelled lunge to send him clattering into the padawan as he tried to jump. Tackling the younger man, Raphael was extremely careful in his aim of his forward hand, the first contact grasping the wrist of the padawan's weapon hand, and as they crashed onto the floor, a fair distance from the speeder, he made sure his grip was made of iron, to stop the padawan trying to slice him with his archaic protosaber.

Hopefully he would only need to restrain him for the second or so it would take Valena to cross the distance and help him disarm the raging padawan, and he knew that in making this choice, to keep the padawan, he may well have given up opportunity to capture the Dark Jedi.

 

[Sreeya]

Val had leaped right after Raphael. There was a strong compulsion to run after the dark Jedi for her, as he appeared to easily get away. However, she was a recently Knighted Jedi and knew that any particularly brash actions on her part could be looked down upon by the council...especially since one of its members was right here.

She couldn't help but wonder exactly what the Jedi Master was thinking. He had moments where he burst into activity, yet his focus appeared to be on the padawan and not the dark jedi. In her eyes, it was the Dark Jedi that was the main concern. With him captured, they could take the time to interrogate him. Val was too young to understand the thinking of councilors, and she did not pretend to know. For now, the young Jedi would simply have to accept these things.

The knight landed by Raphael and Noah by the time he had been tackled. Val wasted no time in igniting her saber and carefully getting a good angle. The saber sliced down and through Noah's power cord, the one that connected between his power pack and the hilt of his protosaber.

 

[Insomnium Savant]

The Padawan was leaping right for him. Just wonderful. After having gone through a great deal of difficulty to both conceal himself on his conveyance, he was somewhat perturbed that the man had so easily shorn through his work. Or maybe it was just dumb, brilliant luck. The kriffing jerk.

Luckily, the Jedi Council member intercepted the man mid-leap. Of course, Nikoj would have loved to drag an Acolyte back with him to Ando Prime, but he wasn’t about to do so with someone that the Jedi were working so hard to take back to their Temple. He surely wasn’t going to attempt it when the Jedi obviously had a description, possibly other ways to identify the former Padawan. The journey wasn’t his anyway. If Noah wanted to get to his former Master, then it would be his job to get to her on his own terms.

The man didn’t look back as he took off. He didn’t see Val slice her saber through Noah’s power chord. He didn’t see anything that transpired afterwards, because he was busy attempting to lose himself in the traffic of Coruscant. Sure, there was a sliver of a chance that the Jedi could catch up to him at his ship, but he’d had the foresight not to have it registered at a space harbor; so them being able to identify it and get to him was almost a minimal chance.

As it was, his shopping trip had been cut short, and he wasn’t exactly the happiest man alive. However, with two horrible experiences on Coruscant under his belt, he likely wasn’t going to be returning anytime soon.


~Nikoj

[[OOC: If I progressed too far for a single post, please feel free to tell me.]]

 

[MidnightSavior]

Noah cried out as he felt his body hit the ground, pain etching it's way up his back. Before he could even think about attacking the man with his saber, the female Jedi knight leaped over to them and sliced it's cord, severing the connection almost instantly.

As the protosaber flicked out, he felt like a part of himself had gone with it. The blade was more than just a weapon for Noah, it was an extension of himself. He wanted to scream, to fight, to punch the woman in her face. But as he saw the Dark Jedi speeding off, he lost his will to fight.

The anger in him died, replaced by an over-bearing agony. Zinthra was gone, and his best lead on finding her had just disappeared. He didn't struggle, didn't bother to fight the two Jedi that were now apprehending him. All he could think about was where his Master could be, and whether or not she was still alive.

"I'm sorry," he whispered, his words meant for Zinthra, though he knew very well she couldn't hear him. His head rolled back, hitting the ground as his eyes slipped shut. He didn't care what happened to him anymore. Right now, the Jedi could take him wherever they wanted. It's not like he had anywhere else to go.

 

[Fyrefly]

Meanwhile, on the other side of the ruins in a semi-rubble-free, half covered area that was serving as a temporary hanger, Adhara Selrain was reclining in the pilot's seat of a shuttle that Raphael had requisitioned that morning. He was quite busy today but had taken a moment to explain that they were looking for Zinthra's other padawans. On the chance they found one, he was going to send her a message and she would run pick-up duty.

She would have much rather brought her own ship, but the Fortuna only had seating for two, so it would be somewhat impossible to fit a padawan in there, unless he wanted to sit on Raphael's lap and breathe portable oxygen.

This ship wasn't horrible though, she reasoned, for a shuttle. It was a rounded, beetle-shaped thing with fins. Shields and hull strength were excellent, and its maneuverability and top speed weren't half-bad, either. But the lasers really were nothing to write home about. Adhara was flicking through the manual on her datapad at that moment, trying to figure out where the main energy system's board was to rectify that particular problem. She highly doubted she would overload anything, and it would be good practice in case she actually had to hotwire one of these things in a pinch someday.

Her studies were interrupted by a beeping from her datapad. Raphael. She flicked the display over to the message, but it was empty. That was somewhat concerning. She somehow got the feeling this wasn't supposed to be another "Find Your Master" exercise. Not if there was a lost Padawan to pick up. The only other conclusion she could figure was that he was somewhere or doing something that wouldn't allow him the time to write a message. And that really was worrying.

She powered up the ship, turning on it's commlink just long enough to report, "Master Caelestis' shuttle departing," to the hanger chiefs, before lifting off and starting to circle the ruins in a slow spiral. She risked shutting her eyes for a moment, and reached out with the Force to try and locate her master. There was something there, off in the distance, but she wasn't sure, until a huge wave hit her and made her brain feel like it had been rattled in her skull. That was him all right, and whatever he was doing didn't seem to be going well if he was making waves like that.

Adhara punched the ship to a higher speed and skimmed off into the distance, keeping about ten feet off the ground so she could locate him visually. Less than a mile and there he was, and there was a speederbike rapidly moving away. Probing it with her mind caused her to almost vomit, it was so cold and...wrong-feeling. Her first encounter with the Dark Side, and she didn't like it one bit.

She could clearly see Raphael, another Jedi, and one who looked injured, and brought the shuttle closer to them. Extending the boarding ramp, Adhara watched the speederbike, trying to decide if she liked the idea of following it or not. But if there was the chance it had to do with one of the padawans, especially if it was Astor...she would have to follow. She kept her hands on the controls, quietly trying to acquire a target lock on it while waiting for her passengers to arrive.

 

[Ols]

The speeder carrying the unidentified man kicked into life and began speeding away, and Adhara was there, right on cue. Raphael wasted no time, keeping his grip tight on Noah's wrist in which he held the now defunct protosaber hilt. He practically dragged him onto his feet and hoisted him forwards onto the ramp of the hovering ship that had come close to pick them up. Stepping up just behind him, he hurried the pair of them into the main chamber of the ship, knowing Val would be right on their heels.

Without really thinking about exactly what allowances he would need to make to keep Noah secure, he called out to Adhara in the pilot's chair, "Follow that speeder bike. Do not let it out of your sight."

The chase was on.

 

[Insomnium Savant]

Nikoj he heard the distinct sound of a ship powering up off to one side as his dark coloured speeder carried him down the street that he had taken to get to the temple. At first, the man thought that perhaps it was just some kind of coincidence, but then he mentally upbraided himself. Safe thingking was dead thinking, and regardless if the ship had nothing to do with the Jedi behind him; he wasn’t about to take the chance. Thus, with a gruff command into the bike’s navigation system, he reached for his blaster.

The only good thing about Coruscant was its size and the total coverage by buildings. The entire planet being a city allowed him some of the safety of narrow dark alleyways, shadows, and traffic. He wasn’t about to lead the people directly to his ship, and certainly wasn’t going to let them identify him using his luxury cruiser, so he’d be intent on losing them first before making his proper getaway; that was, if they were actually going to follow him. If not, precautions never hurt.

Thus, his first move was to accelerate. He wouldn’t likely be able to outrun a ship, but he could certainly get the hell out of dodge.

Meanwhile, back at the site where he had left, his small bird companion, Grimme rested in the oversized letters on the side of a building. With a fierce kaw the thing ducked its head into its wing, quickly falling into a slumber; unnoticed in the commotion and awaiting further orders from the Dark Jedi companion.

 

[Sreeya]

Val had sensed Adhara's arrival before she had come by. However, that did not mean the Knight knew exactly what was transpiring. For all she knew, they were simply taking Noah back to the temple. The Dark Jedi running away constantly nagged at her thoughts and she had half a mind to simply tell Raphael to take Noah back while she pursued the Dark Jedi.

She watched as Noah was shoved onto the ship. Val knew that this journey would not be an enjoyable one. The Knight grimaced as she was beckoned to follow. Extinguishing her lightsaber, she made her way onto the ship, her eyes on Noah the entire time in case he made any sudden movements. Raphael's order to Adhara to chase the speeder perked her interest. So they were chasing the Dark Jedi after all!

Val took a seat as the ship prepared to chase the man down. With Coruscant as busy as it was, it would be no easy feat. She looked out the window, sighing.

"I'm going to need a drink at the end of all this.."