Jedi Knight Fiach Dubh’s Missions

Fiach Dubh

Character
Jedi Order
Rank
Jedi Knight

Character Profile
Link
OOC
Corbeau
Joined
Jan 8, 2020
Messages
1,040
Reaction score
403
“Follow me!” the businessman who had clearly been the leader of their half of the party bellowed without the slightest trace of terror or even tension in his voice. He brandished a high-powered brand-new hunting weapon. He still had charges left, and he fired with slow precision: no random spraying of high-energy bolts, but surgical shots that killed or injured an ice creature every time he pressed the firing stud.

He trudged toward the base doors, not hurrying, making sure the others followed.

Fiach flanked him as they fought their way back to the sanctuary of the cave. She killed another creature. The base doors seemed immeasurably far away, but they pressed on relentlessly.

The businessman blasted three more monsters that blocked the open shield door.

As they made their way into the cave, Fiach waited in the cold outside the door, driving back the last of the creatures.

“Get in here, Jedi!” the lead warrior said. “Now!”
 

Fiach Dubh

Character
Jedi Order
Rank
Jedi Knight

Character Profile
Link
OOC
Corbeau
Joined
Jan 8, 2020
Messages
1,040
Reaction score
403
Fiach jumped into the waiting darkness. The warrior hit the controls, and the heavy door ground shut. At the last instant, the creatures pushed forward, but the relentless pistons were too powerful even for these creatures.

In the sparse light of the few functioning glowpanels, Fiach and the four survivors slumped against the hard-packed snow walls as the sudden loss of adrenaline hit them, leaving only exhaustion. Everyone trembled in silence for several moments, shielded at last in the temporary safety of walls.

Then came a scratching sound, muffled howls, and a repeated pounding from outside.

“They can knock, but they can’t come in,” the businessman said.

Outside, the monsters kept pounding, foolishly trying to find a way in, though the cave was impenetrable. Night was falling, and the temperature would soon plummet. All living creatures should be taking shelter until the meagre warmth of sunlight returned – but the narglatches were relentless. They had their quarry cornered.

A loud clang reverberated against the thick door. The creatures had clearly picked up a rock chunk…but they could batter uselessly for years without breaking through the durasteel.

The warrior leader’s gaunt face was filled with exhausted resignation. “Now would have been a perfect time to use those perimeter guns,” he said, looking pointedly at Fiach.
 

Fiach Dubh

Character
Jedi Order
Rank
Jedi Knight

Character Profile
Link
OOC
Corbeau
Joined
Jan 8, 2020
Messages
1,040
Reaction score
403
“Let’s move away from the door,” Fiach said. “That pounding will only wear us down.”

Weakly, they shuffled into the second part of the cave where Fiach had been told their terrifying story. They took stock of their weapons. Ten shots between them.

“And a lightsaber,” the businessman said to Fiach.

The Jedi pursed her lips. “Given time, we could work out some way to recharge the blasters. There must be a way to jury-rig a thermal unit or a light source to dump power into the blaster charge packs.”

The warrior leader shrugged. “If you’ve got the time and the resources and the inspiration…”

Fiach rummaged around in the scrap equipment – this was her day job for a long time before she became a Jedi.

The warrior leader squatted and took a more primitive approach; pulling out pipes and rods, he used instant-set epoxy to fasten on knife blades fashioned from metal shards. He made four crude spears. They were hopeless weapons against an onslaught from the ice creatures, but he clearly had no intention of giving up.

The businessman began to polish his rifle and barked an order to the other. “See if you can find some rations. Maybe there’s a stash deeper in the cave that we missed before?”

Fiach knew it was a fruitless task, but she also knew it would keep the man busy, which was far better than sitting around.
 

Fiach Dubh

Character
Jedi Order
Rank
Jedi Knight

Character Profile
Link
OOC
Corbeau
Joined
Jan 8, 2020
Messages
1,040
Reaction score
403
The warrior leader stood up, grasped one of his new spears, and tossed it across the room. The sharp tip plunged into the packed snow walls, and the spear hung there, quivering. “I think that’ll do,” he said.

A loud shriek erupted from deep within the cave, followed by a wet ripping sound and then a gurgling gasp. The three survivors in the cave lunged to their feet. They had taken no more than a few steps down the ice-walled corridor before a bloodied narglatch came out of the storeroom, his claws dripping, his blue-white fur drenched with fresh gore.

The remaining businessman faltered for just an instant, then he brought up his blaster rifle, firing three times in rapid succession. He hit precisely each time – the narglatch’s stomach, the centre of its chest, and its hideous head. With no more than a hollow cough, the monster fell to the packed floor with the sound of a crashing cargo hauler.

“Must have slipped in the open door while we were fighting outside!” the warrior leader said. “These monsters are persistent.”

From outside, the dull echoing thuds continued as the ice creatures attempted to pummel their way inside.

Then, to make things worse, all the lights went out.

“It must have trashed the generator,” the warrior leader said, his voice coming from the emptiness of darkness.

Fiach pulled out her lightsaber and pressed the power stud. The lilac beam crackled out with an eerie glow that illuminated the walls of ice and snow.

Then the Jedi tensed. She heard something…a scratching, digging sound. She wondered if other narglatches lay hidden in the depths of the cave? The pounding outside the shield door redoubled, and everyone turned, though they knew the narglatches could not get through.
 

Fiach Dubh

Character
Jedi Order
Rank
Jedi Knight

Character Profile
Link
OOC
Corbeau
Joined
Jan 8, 2020
Messages
1,040
Reaction score
403
Just then the walls crumbled on all sides, blocks of hard-packed snow showered down as more of the creatures ploughed their way directly through the rock and ice.

Fiach realized that the futile pounding and scratching on the outer shield door had been a distraction, something to preoccupy them, while the narglatches dug through the snow, burrowing their way into the cave. With bellows of triumph and anticipation, an army of ghostly lilac-hued monsters surged into the cave.

The other warrior grabbed a spear, but the creatures fell upon him. He went down fighting, a blurry mass of fur and claws and biting teeth – and sudden, spraying blood.

The warrior leader backed against a rough rock that protruded from the carved snow. In each hand he held one of his metal spears, thrusting and jabbing, trying to intimidate the ice creatures – but though the blades were sharp and the points long, the spears were pitiful against the bloodthirsty monsters. He stabbed and lunged, wearing a grim, defeated look as he fought – until the mass of attacking snow monsters swallowed him up. Finally, in the last instant, he screamed.
 

Fiach Dubh

Character
Jedi Order
Rank
Jedi Knight

Character Profile
Link
OOC
Corbeau
Joined
Jan 8, 2020
Messages
1,040
Reaction score
403
Fiach also put her back against a wall, slashing with her lightsaber and killing any monster that came too close, but there were too many. “Get back to the shield door!” she said. “We have to run to my ship. Try to fix it. That’s our only chance.”

With a sizzle she sliced a towering creature in two. Fiach noted dimly that the monsters had stopped pounding outside. They must have flocked to the new openings that allowed them access into the base. The front might be clear.

The businessman used his seven remaining shots, killing a narglatch each time he pressed the firing button; but that drained the weapon. He tossed the blaster rifle to the ground, then gripped the metal spear he had taken, sweeping it from side to side. He laughed, his eyes bright, his tanned face flushed. The narglatches surrounded him, and he grinned. “Come on!” he said. “Get what’s coming to you!”

And the narglatches came...
 

Fiach Dubh

Character
Jedi Order
Rank
Jedi Knight

Character Profile
Link
OOC
Corbeau
Joined
Jan 8, 2020
Messages
1,040
Reaction score
403
Trying to drown out the last gurgled screams of the businessman, Fiach fought her way down the corridor toward the shield door. She mowed down the ice creatures who threw themselves recklessly at the glowing blade and wondered just how many there were. The hunting party had suggested a small number. They had clearly been misinformed.

As she passed beyond where the narglatches had tunnelled through, the attacking monsters grew sparse, and Fiach was able to run at full speed. The shield door reflected the light of her weapon, and she ran for the controls.

She knew she would have to seal herself in the ship and hope that within just a few minutes she could rig it to blast off. These creatures could rip open the hull in no time.
 

Fiach Dubh

Character
Jedi Order
Rank
Jedi Knight

Character Profile
Link
OOC
Corbeau
Joined
Jan 8, 2020
Messages
1,040
Reaction score
403
The shield door heaved open and the dark chill struck her like a sledgehammer, knocking the wind out of her with an intense freezing blast, colder than anything Fiach could remember.

Directly outside, under the wan light of the moon, stood the narglatch she’d seen directing the others. It was blocking her escape.

The monster roared into the ice-bright night and raised one enormous paw, spreading the claws. Then it lunged for her and she cut sideways with her lightsaber.

Putting all the Force behind her swing, Fiach cleaved the snow creature in half.

The dead monster continued to growl and gurgle as it lay smoking on the threshold of the shield door.

More narglatches surged from the cave behind her and outside in the night, snow creatures stood up from the out-crops, no longer bothering to hide.
 

Fiach Dubh

Character
Jedi Order
Rank
Jedi Knight

Character Profile
Link
OOC
Corbeau
Joined
Jan 8, 2020
Messages
1,040
Reaction score
403
She sprinted across the hard-packed snow. The cold slashed like razors at her lungs as she gasped for breath, already exhausted from the battle.

The wreckage of the hunters’ ship looked ominous in the watery light, but her own shone like her only hope. As the narglatches pursued, leaping across the snow-swept rocks, Fiach ran with her last surge of strength.

Reaching the ship, Fiach hammered at the door controls. It slid open, and Fiach dived inside, then sealed the door again.

She ran to the pilot compartment and stared at the controls, stifling the sickening despair that swept over her. The controls were smashed. The navicomputer gone. The comms system ripped out. The narglatches hadn’t ruined the engines, though the cables for thrust control had been torn free.

She set to work, removing dented or slashed panels and trying to cross-wire anything, just to get them the capability to lift-off.
 

Fiach Dubh

Character
Jedi Order
Rank
Jedi Knight

Character Profile
Link
OOC
Corbeau
Joined
Jan 8, 2020
Messages
1,040
Reaction score
403
Outside, the narglatches began to batter the hull of the ship with sharp rocks. If they breached the hull, Fiach knew she could not leave the planet’s atmosphere. She sorted wires, traced connections, moving with a frantic, efficient energy that wasted not a second.She pulled out an alternative power source, which she jacked into the thruster control.

Fiach triggered the firing button, and the engines roared to life at full power. She had no directional control. The ship lurched up off the ground – and the last thing she heard from the narglatches was a long, shrieking scrape of claws against the metal hull as the ship tore away, plunging upward into the night. The icy cracked surface dwindled below her with dizzying speed. She had no manoeuvrability, just a blind ballistic take-off that hurled her into the atmosphere.

Fiach checked and re-checked what she was working with. No comms system, no navicomputer, only five percent life support.
 

Fiach Dubh

Character
Jedi Order
Rank
Jedi Knight

Character Profile
Link
OOC
Corbeau
Joined
Jan 8, 2020
Messages
1,040
Reaction score
403
As her damaged ship limped away from the creatures, Fiach desperately cross-wired systems, bypassed ruined components, and fastened vital equipment back into place, trying to repair each failure before another one occurred.

The creatures had not actually breached the ship’s outer hull, but they had caused a wealth of damage. The craft's sub-light engines, operating at barely half power, had lurched away from the frozen planet, reluctantly heaving them into orbit. The engines attempted to fail several times, but somehow struggled on.

The ship’s hyperdrive was gone, the navicomputer beyond repair. She plunged headlong into an asteroid field at the fringes of the system with only minimal shields and virtually no control over her course. The asteroids began to grow thicker around her, battering at the tiny ship.

Fiach considered using the Force to navigate. At least enough to keep her from a major collision. But beyond that?

In a shower of sparks and burned circuits, the life-support systems gasped and died. Fiach pulled components from nonessential computers trying to get the systems functioning again. She managed to boost it to ten percent, but knew it was not a long-term solution.

She shivered. The temperature had already begun to drop in the cabin.

She’d checked and re-checked every obvious solution. Which meant only one thing. She would have to seek a solution that wasn’t obvious.
 

Fiach Dubh

Character
Jedi Order
Rank
Jedi Knight

Character Profile
Link
OOC
Corbeau
Joined
Jan 8, 2020
Messages
1,040
Reaction score
403
She had allowed the ship to orbit the planet many, many times before she sensed it. A cluster of life that included the faintest hint of the Dark-side. That had to be the base of whoever was behind the kidnapping of her fellow Jedi, this entrapment of the hunters and clearly linked to the Darksider that had been plaguing her of late.

She managed to get the ship to land a few kilometres from the site she had identified and hoped it was far enough not to have been spotted when it came down. So, rested – albeit cold – she began the long walk to her destination.
 

Fiach Dubh

Character
Jedi Order
Rank
Jedi Knight

Character Profile
Link
OOC
Corbeau
Joined
Jan 8, 2020
Messages
1,040
Reaction score
403
She sensed the building as opposed to saw it. In this terrain it could be missed even if you walked straight passed it. Using her binoculars, she circled the habitation and could see no obvious entrance. But just as she was about to give up hope of finding a way in without having to knock on the front door, she spotted a plume of steam. Hot air was clearly exiting the building and vaporising when it met the cold air.

She scrambled over to the spot and saw a narrow exhaust vent. Narrow – but just wide enough for her to squeeze down. Where it ended up, she had no idea, but she remained positive and lifted the mesh off the opening to the tube and entered.

The heat was a welcome by-product of her entrance and she slid slowly but surely down until she reached a junction. Closing her eyes, she sensed where she detected bodies and went in the opposite direction. She was forced to repeat this a number of times and finally ended up in what she imagined was a laundry room. Smiling to herself, she remained still for a few moments, meditating, before now heading in the direction of the inhabitants.
 

Fiach Dubh

Character
Jedi Order
Rank
Jedi Knight

Character Profile
Link
OOC
Corbeau
Joined
Jan 8, 2020
Messages
1,040
Reaction score
403
Unlike every other time she’d met the Darksider, she actually had the element of surprise in her favour. She used the Force to dampen her aura – he would detect her if he truly searched, but she should not trigger any alarm bells in his mind unless he did so.

She made quick progress – the building was quite large and relatively deserted. Once she had to duck into a side-room to avoid someone walking past but otherwise she walked along the pristine metal corridors unmolested.

Finally, she found the Darksider. He was in some sort of a hangar – and there were a number of ships there too. Clearly this was a significantly sized base – and possibly the ringleader’s new hideout. No wonder he was happy to leave the old one behind, she mused – and considered that this facility was the main reason he came here, as opposed to the side-line in animal cloning.
 

Fiach Dubh

Character
Jedi Order
Rank
Jedi Knight

Character Profile
Link
OOC
Corbeau
Joined
Jan 8, 2020
Messages
1,040
Reaction score
403
A focus on the here and now was something the Jedi teachers at the Order repeated over and over. Yes, be mindful of the future – but not at the expense of the present.

She was starkly reminded of the fact when she felt the nuzzle of a gun at the nape of her neck.

“Please, go in, your friend will be delighted to see you.” The voice was familiar to her, the gangster that kidnapped her fellow Jedi. And the intonation in his voice suggested he knew all about her run-ins with the Darksider.

She opened the hangar door and stepped through. By now, she expected the Darksider to be ready – and her element of surprise had gone.

“It was so nice of you to come to and allow me to end your life,” he said. “I was beginning to wonder, given you ran away last time we met.”

Malice dripped from his every word. His was the kind of anger that the Jedi knew all too well about, the sort that ate a person whole and twisted every part of them until they were unrecognisable.

But, she was smart enough to use it to her benefit: she needed him angry enough to think he had the upper hand – which he possibly had, but she had to at least get him to a place of overconfidence.
 

Fiach Dubh

Character
Jedi Order
Rank
Jedi Knight

Character Profile
Link
OOC
Corbeau
Joined
Jan 8, 2020
Messages
1,040
Reaction score
403
He was stalking sideways with a dark feline grace that was oddly hypnotic and twirling the hilt of his lightsaber in his hand. Fiach’s hand tightened around the hilt on her own lightsaber, which was still attached to her belt and then forced herself to relax. She needed him to come closer. It was a bit like meditation, this waiting.

She reached out to the Force and found it waiting for her, a comfort and a source of power. She opened her mind to it and listened with every part of her that could. Then she moved, mirroring his movements across the hangar floor and taking one step back for every step he took toward her.

“Perhaps a Jedi, but still a coward,” he said. “Or did your teachers forget to instruct you how to stand your ground?”

Fiach was aware that the crime boss had left the hanger but she felt his presence just outside of the area – no doubt wishing to remain out of harm’s way, but close enough to watch the spectacle.

She felt the Darksider's rage swell within him, almost to the breaking point...but not quite yet.
 

Fiach Dubh

Character
Jedi Order
Rank
Jedi Knight

Character Profile
Link
OOC
Corbeau
Joined
Jan 8, 2020
Messages
1,040
Reaction score
403
He activated his lightsaber and quickened his steps. It was easy for her to pretend he’d caught her off guard, to stumble backward, away from his vengeful charge.

If she had calculated this correctly, he could perceive only her weakness. His anger blinded him to all else.

He bore down on her, cruel laughter scraping out of his throat, and still she waited. Then, just before she was in his reach, a familiar lilac energy sang as she activated her lightsaber and moved to engage, one last feint. He lunged forward and she took a quick step back.

He was taller than she was, even with the height she’d added in the past few years, and he was very broadly built. He was clearly very strong, and with the body armour he wore, he was a formidable opponent.
 

Fiach Dubh

Character
Jedi Order
Rank
Jedi Knight

Character Profile
Link
OOC
Corbeau
Joined
Jan 8, 2020
Messages
1,040
Reaction score
403
She focused her attention on his chest, where movement began. She felt the Force flowing through her as his lightsaber moved to and fro. She could hear its hum, a dark counterpoint to the song of her own crystals. Fiach cleared her mind of all distractions.

He struck, and Fiach deflected his blows before they fell. She read his feelings through the Force that connected them, and she tracked the movement of his shoulders, elbows, and wrists, pushing them away so that they always missed their targets. Furious, he doubled his efforts, striking for her head and chest.

What he lacked in finesse, he made up for in brute strength. He pushed Fiach back, toward the line of shipss, and she let him, still taking his measure as a fighter. When she reached the boarding ramp of the first ship, she jumped off of it, using the Force to propel herself in an elegant flip over his head. She easily avoided the frantic swing of his lightsaber as she flew over him, then landed in a crouch on the other side, ready to continue.

“Impressive,” he said.

“You’re easily impressed,” she said. “I’m only just getting started.”

She felt more people behind her and realised that word had spread about what was going on. The walls of the hangar were lined with about a dozen guards, all of them pointing blasters at her.

She ducked behind a ship, out of their line of fire, and the Darksider followed her.
 

Fiach Dubh

Character
Jedi Order
Rank
Jedi Knight

Character Profile
Link
OOC
Corbeau
Joined
Jan 8, 2020
Messages
1,040
Reaction score
403
He held his lightsaber aloft, and it began to spin. The effect was interesting – a deadly circle of light instead of a blade – but Fiach wasn’t intimidated by it. She knew by now that his entire strategy relied on overpowering his opponent. She had other options.

“What are you?” she asked. “Who made you like this?”

“I serve the Dark side,” he said, twirling his saber.

“You certainly have a sense for drama,” Fiach said and put her own saber away – no doubt the last thing he would have expected.

She reached out for him again, this time for his hands and fingers, and for the balance of weight borne by his hips and knees. She felt something alive in her, every combat lesson she had ever taught. She remembered how to stand. She pushed her opponent’s arms too far apart and overturned his balance. She remembered, and she could make him forget. He staggered back, surprised at her power over him even at arm’s length, but not yet overcome.

“I have a sense for power,” he said. “And you do not have enough to resist me for much longer, weaponless as you are.”

And then she knew she had him – for the first time since they’d met. His overconfidence was undoubtedly going to be his undoing. For that was where he was wrong. She wasn’t weaponless. No Jedi ever was.

The Jedi was taught to be the weapon.
 

Fiach Dubh

Character
Jedi Order
Rank
Jedi Knight

Character Profile
Link
OOC
Corbeau
Joined
Jan 8, 2020
Messages
1,040
Reaction score
403
He stepped toward her, close enough for her to touch. His lightsaber held off her attacks from the sides, but was vulnerable from the front. Just as she’d reached for her first crystal all those years ago, Fiach stretched out a hand.

Sensing her intent at the last moment, he tried to pull the hilt away from her, but it was spinning too quickly for him to do it. Fiach’s hand landed almost gently on the cylindrical metal, and the Force was with her. The hilt cracked at her touch.

A sharp whine reached Fiach’s ears, the Dark and Light song of the Kyber crystals struggling for balance. She realised she needed to put some distance between herself and the saber. She understood that she must have nicked the power connection that channelled the crystals inside his hilt, and now it was overloading. If he didn’t deactivate it soon, it was going to explode.
 
Top