{Jedi Mission} An Asteroid Too Far

[Khivas]

Being part of the Jedi Order bought with it many new opportunities to learn and do new things. Most of his life Khivas had been either a resistance fighter or Bounty Hunter, teaching and training him for a life of fighting while on the run and dealing with the unfathomably seedy and shady underbelly that was Hutt Cartels and Bounty Brokers, among other less desirable people.

One thing he was not adept at entirely was actually going to war in a full frontal fashion, and despite his past experiences, this part of war where you had to go out and scour the blackness of space for places that would make good outposts was rather new to him, downright alien one may say. "But it shouldn't be, not exactly different than setting up a safe house." Khivas thought to himself, recalling the many times his ass had been saved by the use of a safe house. "Maybe it's weird because you're not in charge of the mission...." He said to himself again, noting that he wasn't exactly in charge of it, but then again neither were the other two Jedi with him. "But that wouldn't make sense, not like I've been at the side of a group instead of the front before. Maybe it's because...." Khivas thought one more in his mind, staring at and noting the two Jedi with him, the two Jedi Knights, who were a good deal younger than he was. "Maybe I'm still not used to having children at higher ranks than me. Man I suck." He thought, thinking how it has been a little over a month since the Battle Of Naboo, yet here he was still just a Padawan and somewhat behind on his Force Skills and Knowledge. Even Rakkir had gotten ahead of Khivas a bit in the use of the Force, but the one thing Khivas still had was his technological know-how and his saber skills. That was something at least, right?

As the Neptune (the ship that belonged to one of the Jedi Knights) neared the target destination- a large asteroid that was loaded with supposedly abandoned mining facilities that may or may not be inhabited- Khivas alerted his two partners to it and called them to get ready to land, having them prep their space suits and supplies if needed. "So yea, we're coming up on the target, so get ready to touchdown and see what's there. Also, I'm going to run a scan real quick, see what's down there, just in case of course. Should be a few minutes before the full report gets back to us." He finished as he turned to face his partners. "Hopefully we won't find anything there that could be a threat to the outpost nearby, but if we do, glad to have you guys along for the ride."

"Name's Khivas by the way. We didn't get a chance to formally meet in full, been too busy on this trip. Nice to meet you guys."

 

[Andrewza]

Jake sat in the mess of the Neptune. There where 2 othert Jedi with him on this mission. A simply mission but a vital one. With there out posts abandoned the jedi needed a new home, or in this case homes. These need to be isolated to, since the battle of Naboo prooved the empire could and would strike any where at there enemy. There target was a Asteroid field. The actual base a old Asteroid mineing base was there, the order knew of it and it would make a perfect safe haven. it was isolated and hidden all but forgotten by history. The job of the Jedi was to make sure they where alone and no one else would stumble on them. Chances where that they would find no one or find some one dangerous. The asteroid field they where in was fat from the beaten path.


Jake nodded to Padawan. "Good idea on the scan but I suspect it will be of little use. They not high end and any body that makes there home here wants to remain hidden and would have gone through the effort to mask them selves. Instead Padawan, reach out with the force, what does your instincts tell you, trust them more than some electronic aid."

 

[Veloster Turbo]

An alert on her datapad began to flash, and Khelsea knew the ship was approaching the asteroid field where their mission would take place. Khelsea stood up, stretched, and left the passenger compartment where she had been spending the duration of the flight writing her report for the rebel mission she had just returned from. She had spent some time away from Jedi-related activities after the battle of Naboo for personal reasons, but now that she had worked everything out mentally and physically it was time to do her part as a member of the Jedi Order. She didn't have any set plans, but Khelsea's immediate plan was to do her best to help both the Jedi Order and the Rebellion, especially since they had similar goals.

It was general knowledge for members of the Jedi Order that they were displaced at present, with no place to call home. However, there many members of the order actively seeking out and looking for new locations to set up safehouses and bases from which the Jedi could operate. In a mission she had undertook as a padawan, Khelsea had helped Master Reland acquire a location on the planet of Tynna, but for reasons unknown to her the Jedi Order had either decided against using the abandoned building; or at least for the time being. From her briefing notes, Khelsea knew that the asteroid field near the remains of the planet Kira II held an abandoned mining facility had already been identified as an potential location for a new Jedi base. Their mission was to find out if the surrounding area harbored any dangers, and possibly identify other empty mining facilities which were suited to the Jedi's needs.

Leaving the area where she had be doing her work, Khelsea walked by the mess and saw that the other Jedi were already gathered there. She had arrived to meet Jake where he had docked his ship just in time to not be late, and since she had other things which required her immediately attention Khelsea had only exchanged brief greetings with the two other Jedi before moving to a quiet area and began to get to work. She wasn't entirely sure what the other two had been doing, but she knew that she wasn't in charge of flying and so she had taken her leave and went off on her own. Khivas was right, they hadn't formally introduced themselves to each other, and it was something that needed to be done. The better you knew the people you worked with, the easier and more enjoyable it would make the task. Khelsea had seen Jake before, she was sure of it. They might have even had said hi to each other once or twice when the Lamaredd Outpost was still operational, but that was definitely as far as their interaction went. As for Khivas, she was entirely unfamiliar with him. Perhaps he had attended the Jedi meeting on Arbra after the battle of Naboo, but she wasn't too sure. Khelsea had been too focused on other things after the battle, such as the welfare of her family, the condition of their home and other pressing matters. She had attended the meeting out of respect for the Jedi Grandmaster, but she definitely didn't stay around to socialize afterwards. Besides, it was supposed to be discreet and a very brief meeting.

She listened as Jake gave feedback to Khivas, and after they had concluded their short conversation she took the chance to introduce herself formally. She faced Khivas first, and acknowledged the tall and fairly large man. "Hi, I'm Khelsea. I don't think we've met before, but I look forward to working with you." Turning to the Jedi Knight, she introduced herself to him as well. "I think we might have seen each other before but it's an honor to meet you properly." She paused, and tried her best to make up for her lack of interaction or help during the journey to the asteroid belt. Normally, she would have loved to explore ships she hadn't been on yet, and try flying if she could. This time, she simply didn't have the time. "Also, thank you for taking care of the logistics of the trip as well. I'll make myself more useful out there, since you had to do all the work flying here. And Khivas as well, since it looks like he was helping out." After they finished introductions and greeting each other, Khelsea put her armor on before the landing procedures had been completed and got ready to disembark the ship.

 

[Khivas]

The female Jedi Knight looked to Khivas and greeted him formally, giving her name and saying how she looked forward to working with Khvias on this assignment, to which he replied "Aye, so do I Ms. Khelsea. Hopefully not too much happens here, eh?" He finished with a wink and a handshake, as his attention was drawn back to him by the male Knight.

Despite the scans doing their job, the male of the two knights, Jake was his name, insisted on having Khivas reach out with the Force to sense ahead for life, an idea, once Khivas actually thought about it, was pretty damn smart. "Should've seen that one coming." He thought to himself as a smile crossed his face, and he focused his gaze downward at the asteroid, focusing hard to reach out to that area and closed his eyes as felt around with the Force.

He was still pretty novice at using his Sense ability, but he was coming along with it these days, and was a good bit better than what he was a month ago when he first came into the Order. That said, it still took him a moment to do this, but it eventually happened; He reached out with the Force and could feel them, a presence down there in the mining facility, a group more like, but of what he couldn't tell. Snapping back to reality, Khivas opened his eyes right as the reports of the scan came back. "Negative. You were right, there's something down there and they have the tools to fool system scanners. I guess whatever's down there doesn't want to be found. I'll go get my shotgun for this one." He said as he left the cockpit to go prep his tools and gearkits, sliding his lightsaber onto his shoulder sling and his shotgun into a new holster he had fashioned on his lowerback. A quick ready-check of his armor and supplies later and Khivas was ready for whatever might be down there waiting for them.

Returning to the cockpit, Khivas said to the two Knights "Alright, ready to head down there." He said as he put his helmet on, awaiting the command to dock and leave the ship to investigate the mining facility.

 

[Andrewza]

Jake knew the answer before he asked the padawan to check the old mining facility. "Not a problem. In time you will come to trust the force before anything else. Since he did not need any armour Jake remained in the cockpit. Turning to face Khelsea he bowed his head In a greeting. "Not a problem. The young padawan was more than willing to fly. I just provided the ship."

Waiting for the landing Jake sat in meditation. Clearing his mind of every thing.

 

[Veloster Turbo]

As she got herself ready to disembark, Khelsea found herself thinking about how Jake had been teaching Khivas about the Force. Everyone had a different way of expressing themselves through speech, and teaching was no different. What Khelsea did find weird was although Khivas was the largest and oldest of the group, Jake chose to call him the 'young Padawan'. Regardless, he did provide a good lesson by telling Khivas to rely on the Force instead of the tools they ship had. It was a lesson she had taken a while to learn, and occasionally she still caught herself relying on herself rather than the Force; but it had definitely been a big improvement since she became conscious of the issue.

Khelsea's armor was actually more like an all-purpose suit, with capabilities useful for tasks other than combat situations. There were audio and video recording capabilities via a helm-mounted camera, navigation systems, up to four hours internal recycling air supply, a helm-mounted or visor-mounted lamp, and a pressurized and climate-controlled internal atmosphere simulator. The Force was a Jedi's greatest ally, but the suit provided her the ability to work efficiently and if they could provide a visual representation in the report after the mission, it'd be able to help the Jedi Council decide whether or not the asteroid belt was a good location for the Jedi Order to use as a base of operations.

The ship landed, and Khelsea waited for the others at the exit. It would be a strange and cold environment, especially since she had never explored an asteroid.

 

[Khivas]

This may come as a surprise to some, but this was not Khivas' first time on an asteroid, it was his second, third if you count technicalities, but that is a story for another time. As of right now, Khivas was faced with the present asteroid and it's abandoned mining facility, it's supposedly deactivated halls still very active upon landing and his senses telling him that there was indeed something inside inhabiting it's free space, although what exactly eluded Khivas.

That said, when the hatch on the ship opened and the outside became the same pressure as the inside, it became apparent that Khivas would not need the rebreather in his helmet. "There's air in here, good and breathable it seems. For a place that's supposedly abandoned, shouldn't be any of that in here. That, and it's awfully clean in here." Khivas said, noting the atmosphere and the fact that the hangar they docked in wasn't clad in rust or debris like a usual abandoned facility would be. There wasn't much else apart from the ship they arrived on the and Jedi standing in it, which was odd.

Abandoned facilities house creatures on occasion, left over crates, broken machinery that would serve no purpose in taking them you, junk, sometimes even bodies if the people in charge were really heinous, and all of those things, if left abandoned, should make dirt, rust, cobwebs, something that makes it very messy and not pristine. Yet, upon stepping off that landing ramp and into the spacious little area, there was no rust, little dust, and no abandoned machinery or junk. In fact it looked like it had been used not too long ago, most certainly appearing that something or someone, or multiple things, lived here.

Deciding to take a closer inspection of the area and put some of that hunter-tracker knowledge to the test, Khivas took a knee and scanned the area with his eyes, noting the ground and the secrets it kept. He could see it once he looked for it, the signs of life and use in this place, the grind lines left in the floor from heavy objects being dragged around manually, something miners would not have to do or worry about with their tools. The fact that it was clean was a giveaway, but how it was cleaned was the biggest one, as Khivas' visor picked up a common set of cleaning chemicals use to clean the decks of ships, but is usually only used on the decks of ships and not mining facilities as it was cheaper to buy a different brand, which also dried easier in an tight atmosphere of recycled air, something suited for ships, but not so much here in a widespread facility, and it showed from the light film left over. "This place is inhabited alright, that much we knew already, but it seems it's by people who have been using this as a home or base for something. Place is too big for a small gathering, so we might be dealing with something a bit bigger than your average drifters. Goes without saying, but keep your eyes peeled for traps." Khivas said to his compatriots as they all gathered in the area and he had finished his detective bit, loosening the grip his holster had over his shotgun and carefully pressing forward, ready to take on anything that might leap at him as he went towards the only exist the area had.

 

[Andrewza]

Stepping out side Jake noticed 2 things. It was clean and there was no ship. "There are people here but i suspect there are others out there so watched your backs. I am going to have R6 to jump the Neptune to safety. Don't want the pirates to destroyer it."


(sorry for short post, very tired)

 

[Veloster Turbo]

As she was making her way out of the ship and taking her first few steps on the asteroid, Khelsea's suit's sensors displayed that the asteroid had a Type I atmosphere. This meant that there was oxygen present, and it was breathable. It was rather convenient, since there was a chance that many Jedi would be occupying the surrounding area in the future. Not having to rely on oxygen generators and suits was great news.

Khelsea stepped aside to let Jake back into the ship to converse with his astromech droid, and followed in Khivas' general direction. Khelsea could feel a bit of uneasiness through the Force as she walked, making a note of their surroundings. There were definitely other occupants in this asteroid, as they had already determined earlier. They were also hiding or hidden, which wasn't ideal. However, she hadn't felt any impending sense of danger so it looked like they were safe - at least for the moment. Jake had taken precautions and their ship would be in a secure location, so they would be able to focus a hundred percent on the task at hand, and not have to worry about defending the ship.

Examining her surroundings and probing through the Force had taken some time, and by the time she looked for Khivas he had just disappeared into the abandoned facility. Khelsea jogged forward, even more light-footed than usual as the gravity of the asteroid was weaker than that of Naboo or Lamaredd, which was most familiar to her. Even without enhancing her speed with the Force, she made up ground quickly and was soon in the abandoned facility as well. Up the ramp she went, and after going through a doorway and making a short turn she saw Khivas examining the area. What she noticed was how pristine it looked for an abandoned facility. Jake had joined them as well, and Khivas expressed his analysis on usage of the 'abandoned' buildings. "You're right. The first thing I noticed was how clean the building is. Someone's definitely been using it recently. I'm gonna look through what seems to be the residence building over there. If you hear or see anything, you have me on the comms. Or even better, the Force." Khelsea double checked to make sure that the three were all on the same comm channel, and she left through the exit and split off from the other two. The residence should provide more clues, especially if there was mysterious dwellers making use of the mining facility. They had been staying hidden for a while, but Khelsea doubted that would last. Ideally, they wouldn't have to do any fighting, but most residents found in abandoned buildings were either using it for illegal purposes or were hostile because they didn't want to be found.

 

[Khivas]

Wulfgarn and Klein Klaus were not nice people. They were harsh, twisted, violent bastards, disgusting to the every letter of the word and so vile at their jobs that they found the Imperium to be too strict and boring on how far they were allowed to torture people, and when their appetites wouldn't be satisfied any further with the Sith Imperials, they deserted and went to branch out on their own. A decade and a swath of bloodied paths later, the two brothers, Wulgarn the elder and Klein the lesser, had become leaders of a very mighty pirate brigade, or rather they thought they did. What they were more akin to was a band, nay a collection of both twisted, like minded individuals and other men who were simply scared and didn't know how to leave or lacked the power to.

The Klaus Brothers ruled their small band of angry little pirates with an iron fist, and they were mentally diseased to say the least, and in their minds they were mighty, vicious pirates, elite among elites, and for the moment that much was actually true because the nearly hundred band strong of pirates, both evil men following the greater evil and lesser men who were too weak to resist definitely had a massive advantage over the three lone Jedi that just landed in their fortress.

But of course Khivas, Jake, and Khelsea did not know that, they were just three lone Jedi who knew that something or somebody was here but not how many nor what they were. At this point the pirates knew they had intruders and instead of rushing out to fight them, the Klaus Brothers would take their power driven cowardice to it's extreme and hide away, commanding the small legion of wretches to stand up for them and set up traps and ambushes for the investigating Jedi.

As Khelsea volunteered to go off on her own to investigate the residential building, Khivas grabbed her arm to hold her up for a moment, saying to her a word of warning. "Don't rush in. If these are pirates we're dealing with then they're more than likely prepared to greet us with force if they're not here now. Expect traps, watch your corners, and don't be quick to make too much of a ruckus if you engage them, we don't know how many we're dealing with yet." Letting go as he finished, Khivas issued one last bit to her before branching off on his own "And may the Force be with you. I'll be sure to contact you if something happens, but you do the same for us."

As Khelsea decided to head off and investigate the Residential Building, Khivas would look to Jake and ask him which it was that he wanted to do next. "We have a choice here," He said to the Knight. "We split up, with me taking either the mining facility or the Supply Depot, or we stick together and pick one. As I don't mind either in particular, I'll leave the choice to you, but personally I get the feeling to go check on the mining facility."

 

[Andrewza]

Walking in side the ship Jake activated his R6 droid with a wave of his hand. It rolled towards him beeping away. "R6 i want you to fly the ship a out the asteroid field and wait for more instructions. If attacked jump to Naboo." Before leaving Jake wiped the nav computer. Stepping out side again the ship powered up and accelerated out side and hit hyper space.


"I feel, splinting up is a bad idea. perhaps we should look at the supply deport."

 

[Veloster Turbo]

Spoiler: OOC Note:

I am assuming that Jake was only talking to Khivas, after Khelsea had already left.

It was weird, being talked down to like she didn't know what she was doing. After all, the trio hadn't worked together or even talked before, and Khelsea was probably just a small girl in the eyes of the other Jedi. However, she was supremely confident since she had successfully completed a similar mission in the past. She had secured a building on Tynna with Master Reland, and fought against and eliminated a criminal organization which was hidden inside. It probably couldn't get worse than that...

"I'll be fine." With that, Khelsea stepped outside and towards the residence building. She made an effort to move quietly, scanning the area for prying eyes and staying under cover whenever possible. From what she could see, all was quiet. It was eerily similar to the so-called abandoned warehouse she had cleared out on Tynna. There, the streets were quiet, and everything around was either in ruins or abandoned. As for this asteroid, civilization didn't exist here for the most part and it wasn't part of a city grid. However, the pavement was cracked and mostly ruined, and the natural formation of the asteroid's topography gave a similar feeling. It was mostly flat, so the construction of mining facilities was possible. There was of course those who were hiding, but soon the Jedi would discover them and ensure the safety and sanctity of the future Jedi base of operations. Overall, there were quite a few similarities between the two missions so far. Khelsea could only hope that they didn't need to do as much fighting as the last time she tried to secure a Jedi outpost.

Just as she crossed the last open area, Khelsea saw a flash of light coming from one of the upper windows. Could it be that someone was watching her? Or was it just the reflection of the glass... Not wanting to take her safety for granted, Khelsea took the time to scan the building once again with the aid of her HUD. There seemed to be nothing which was an immediate threat to her, but the abandoned warehouse on Tynna was the same. Besides, the Force was warning her and Khelsea was certain that there was at least one person inside. She moved away from the building under cover, and scaled up a small pipe on a nearby building. From the rooftop, she observed for a few minutes. There was no movement.

At least ten to fifteen minutes had passed since they first separated. All was quiet though. "Where are you guys now? I can't get a visual but I'm sure there's at least one person in the residential building."

 

[Khivas]

"Fair enough then." Khivas answered to the young Knight, "Supply Depot it is. I'll take point." He said, finishing the line of dialogue and moving ahead of Jake and furthering their position into the mining facility.

As the two Jedi moved down the hall, Khivas' senses kept tingling, The Force warning him of something not right, and unlike before where his sensory skills would only come out during emergencies when he least expected it, now he couldn't get them to shut off. Rubbing his temple and trying to shrug off the feeling, Khivas and Jake entered a long, windowed hallway, giving a beautiful view to the other two buildings, basking in the distant light from the system's stars. The beauty displayed by the cosmic nature of the asteroid shadowed the secret malevolence hidden inside the facility however, and upon finally reaching the supply depot, Khivas slowly and with great caution entered the building.

Upon scanning the area, Khivas could see the crates, see what was there to be found, the evidence that not only were there people living here, but they were people of ill repute. The supplies for survival were there, the standard fare to keep a small company of soldiers going for awhile, but among those supplies were trade goods, all of which were from different companies, different dates, a collection of crates big and small that showcased when and from who they were stolen. Looking down the line to his right and left was only more supporting evidence of the deed, as there were Imperial, Civilian Trade, and Rebel supply boxes all stacked right next to each other, and with the all sensory warnings thanks to the Force, the fact that this place should be collecting cobwebs yet had pristine cleaning done to it. How there should be a plethora of people yet nary a soul to be seen still. All this evidence could only lead to one conclusion for Khivas, the word leaving his mouth as soon as a single person came into his view.

"Pirates."

The person's armor was painted in a wild array of colors all culminating into a single symbol on the chest, with their hair dirty and dreadlocked and the normal bits of their clothing tattered and in ruin. In his hands was a standard Stormtrooper's blaster rifle, an E-11 model, and with zero hesitation it was lifted into the air to take aim at Khivas' head. Only Khivas' reaction was faster than what that person could hope to compete against, and before the weapon could line up a clean shot, a knife was flying through the air and lodged firmly into the hand of the pirate. A cry of pain showed that he was stunned by the hit, giving Khivas all the time in the world to run to his opponent, and in a display of vigorous grace, brought his opponent down in a spinning headlock, choking him of precious air and putting him to sleep.

With his opponent now incapacitated, a call came over from Khelsea, just in time no less as Khivas himself was about to radio her what he and Jake had found. "Khelsea," He started, "There are pirates here. No idea what they're called, but Jake and I are in the supply depot and we found stolen items; loot, merchandise, supplies, all kinds of things. On top of that, one of their own just tried to vape my head off, so be on your guard over there."

Before he could get a full reply back however, the lights in the depot suddenly went bright, the full power now supply them, and all along the catwalks roughly twenty-five feet above the two Jedi were men of multiple races, all brandishing very similar armor and outfits, and each sporting the symbol that their taken down comrade had, each with their own weapon, some unique, others not so much. Their trap was sprung, and now roughly fifty pirates drew their weapons down on Khivas and Jake.

"Well, shit." Khivas sighed, and drawing his lightsaber and preparing for a fight.

 

[Andrewza]

Jake knew they where not alone and deep down he knew they where being watched. Though he wondered if the watches knew they where Jedi.

On arriving in the supply room one could see the base was used. Not only the supplies but the place was to clean and one could see where maintaince had been done. The security camera all so have it away.

"Well if they did not know we where on board they would now." At that moment Jake got a bad feeling. Reaching out he sent a telepathic message. "Take cover"

 

[Veloster Turbo]

So they would be hunting pirates today. What didn't make sense was the fact that the pirates had remained hidden. There was no reason for them to be hiding, since they seriously outnumbered the three Jedi. Besides, they probably didn't even know that the intruders were Jedi. Khelsea continued to watch the building, and tried to figure out the reason the pirates hadn't taken the offensive yet. The most likely reason was that they were being drawn in a trap.

It was abrupt, but Khelsea could sense the sudden feeling of alarm coming from the other two Jedi. Less than a second after, several blaster bolts came out of one of the windows from the residential building and one struck Khelsea directly in the abdomen. Luckily, her Armorweave bodysuit was efficient against direct hits from light energy weapons and blades, dissipating the blaster bolt without causing damage to Khelsea. It was unfortunate, but her trump card was used up now. The pirates would know that she had high quality armor, and would undoubtedly bring in different types of weaponry more deadly and effective against her suit. Khelsea briefly considered ditching her armor, since she could use Tutaminis and protect herself just as well as her armor could. However, the armor had a large variety of tools and gave her versatility, and realized that the fight ahead required all of her attention. Tutaminis was effective, but who knew how many shots were going to be fired at her simultaneously.

There was no time to worry about the other two Jedi now. She didn't know them well, but trusted that they were capable of handling the fight they faced. She needed to move quickly, before the pirates could reinforce their defensive position at the residential building. Khelsea used the Force and enhanced her movement speed, and in a blur of movement she had covered the open area between her previous position and the residential building. With a graceful jump, she landed in a second floor room, shattering the window as she announced her presence as if they didn't already know she was there. There were several reasons she did this. Firstly, based on the pirates' actions and their defensive posture, the front door and all other entrances to the first floor was likely filled with traps. Secondly, speed was of essence and she needed to reach the pirates immediately.

Lighting up her lightsaber, Khelsea kicked down the door and moved towards the next room, where the blaster fire had originated from. As she used her lightsaber to disable the lock, blaster fire erupted. It came through the door, even before she had opened it. It was a good thing she kept her armor. Once again, they protected her and she spun out of the doorway, and two pirates at the end of the hallway appeared, firing at her. The suppressing fire forced her into an empty room, where she quietly exited via the window and jumped onto the third floor. Khelsea heard the thud of some sort of concussive grenade detonate in the room below where she just was. These pirates weren't messing around, and she needed to keep moving. She spotted a grenade, and grabbed it as she exited the room. Hearing footsteps, Khelsea trusted her instincts and rolled the grenade down the stairs and took cover, and seconds later she heard the screams and felt several pirates' agony in the Force as they had their limbs torn from their bodies, and perhaps even lost their lives. However, she had no time to rest. The lift opened and this time four pirates fired at her. Khelsea swung her lightsaber and deflected bolts back at them, and sprinted towards the lift at the other side of the hall. However, as she approached them they closed the doors and the lift took them to a different floor.

The guerrilla tactics was a lot different than what she had faced in her limited combat experience. Khelsea had experience with one-on-one combat, but usually she fought smart and if she was outnumbered, she'd look for a better place to engage the enemy. Naboo was mostly organized street fighting, which was chaotic but predictable with the aid of the Force. This time, she wasn't even sure if she was the aggressor or the defender. The enemies seemed to know where she was, always. There was never any time to rest, and it was up to her instincts. Looking up, Khelsea realized she was looking straight into a security camera. She had seen several on the way to the residential building, but assumed they were non-functional. Perhaps that was how the pirates were tracking her. With a small swipe, Khelsea's lightsaber severed the metal and wiring, disabling one of the cameras watching the third floor. "Maybe that'll slow them down."

Khelsea noticed then that there were multiple speeders filled with pirates approaching the residential building from the other side of the building. The fight had just begun. She might even need help, especially with the evasive style of fighting she was facing. The other Jedi were also facing enemies, so she would do what she could to hold these pirates off.

"I'm in the residential building. I've got at least thirty pirates about to move in on my position, and an unknown number of pirates inside the building still. I'll keep you updated."

After explaining her situation to the other Jedi, Khelsea began to look for a defensive position.

 

[Khivas]

"Well, well, what do we have here?" Rang out the voice of an older man, the tone haggard, as if their voice box had smoked too many cigars in their time. With several clanks and heavy thuds, a daunting man came into view, standing nearly seven feet tall, and wearing a very heavy, custom made armor weave coat. "Got us a couple of overly nosy idiots, eh? Damn shame for you gents. My name is Wulfgarn Klaus, and me and my boys here will be relieving you all of your po-"

In what was a big bad's speech on how pirates will be pirates and do pirate-y stuff, Wulfgarn's face suddenly went white when he glanced at the item held in Khivas' hand. "J-j-jedi?!" He exclaimed, "Jedi?! Here?! What the hell are you all waiting for?! BURN THEM TO ASHES!!!" He commanded, and all of his men opened fire on Khivas' and jake's position. "Damn, somebody hates Jedi." Khivas thought as his mind immediately went from investigative mode to combative, using the precious seconds before the enemy men got their shit together to fire upon him to analyze and come up with a plan.

This sort of thing was Khivas' bread and butter. Where other Jedi were amazing duelists or incredibly good with Force Powers, Khivas was adept at tactical encounters, finding unique ways to defeat enemies both large and small, singular or many, and this case was no exception. There were roughly fifty men in this supply depot, all armed with blaster rifles or better, some with heavy repeaters, and each one looked to have plenty of ammo to spare. Wulfgarn seemed to be cold in the face, his attitude being one more akin to a sort of panic than actual combat aggression, whereas his men had their rifles brandished and ready to go, but they too seemed to be afraid of something, but certainly not Khivas or Jake.

"Move!" Khivas yelled out to Jake as he dipped and rolled to his right, ducking behind the crates, effectively blocking out roughly sixty percent of the room from hitting him due to the angle of their attack. Pulling out two thermal detonators and two smoke bombs, Khivas latched the thermos up to the two ends of the catwalk he was under and through the smoke bombs out into the center of the room, watching as they blew up in the air, immediately covering area with clouds of thick, choking smoke. Just seconds afterwards as the men started scrambling and firing in random directions, some of which hitting their own, the first of the two detonators went off, knocking down the catwalk and allowing Khivas to run from his position and leap upwards, using the force to jump greater than normal and bounce off the wall onto the failing catwalk, where upon landing Khivas ignited his weapon and went to work on the pirates, slicing one or two then turning the saber off and moving again, evading the blasterfire that was bound to be aimed towards the green stick of light in the blinding smoke.

It wasn't long before half of the catwalk was done for, and to finish it and those on top of it off, Khivas leaped and used his grapple hook to reach the rafters near the ceiling, setting off the last thermal detonator and sending the catwalk down to the ground. From his new perch Khivas was now unknown, possessing the element of stealth and surprise, allowing him the luxury of studying the situation and finding out to proceed from here on out, hoping Khelsea was fairing as well as he was, and that Jake was more than alright in the commotion caused just now.

 

[Andrewza]

It seemed that the pirates where not expecting Jedi. This was good, it meant they did not know of there new base. After they dispatched these pirates they could blow the place up to stop it being reused and to cover there tracks. But for now Jake had more to deal with. There where 2 many to effectively deal with in the open. Instead Jake vanished from sight and moved to cover. Then started the mind tricks. It did not take a geniuses to see Wulfgarn was petrified of Jedi. A small illusion had ghostly figures with light sabers enter through open doors, this combined with Jake trying to inject a new thought in to the pirate boss "Run away" a simple though but it was a effective though. Hopefully the sight of there boss fleeing would break a few more pirates.

 

[Veloster Turbo]

There were a few windows which overlooked the direction the pirates were approaching from. They would need to enter through the main door, which meant that blocking off the main staircase was important. Khelsea used her lightsaber and melted the controls of the lift, which she hoped would disable it completely. The stairs were another issue, it would take a lot of effort to prevent the pirates from advancing, especially since they outnumbered her by a huge margin. Looking out the window once again, she saw that the the pirates were beginning to disembark from their speeders. Instinctively, Khelsea plucked a grenade from a fallen pirate, and managed to wriggle his blaster out of his grip.

Spinning around, Khelsea fired several blaster bolts out a window further to her right. With the pirates' attention on the blaster fire, she lobbed the grenade out the window nearest her and used the Force to guide it so that it rolled right under one of the speeders. After another second, it detonated, sending pieces of shrapnel outwards and lifting the speeder several feet in the air. The power generator detonated, and the second explosion rocked the building and the pirates who didn't take cover were knocked over by the force of the blast.

One third of the reinforcements down. There was still about twenty of them but at least there was a bit of progress. Khelsea finally felt like she was somewhat in control of the situation. Now, she just needed to do something about the stairs and strategically funnel the pirates towards her so she wouldn't be surrounded or overwhelmed.

 

[Khivas]

"Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit, ohshitohshitohshitohshit!"

Fear had officially gripped Wulfgarn's little mind with the aid of Jake's mind trick, and the sight of their boss retreating did indeed break the morale of the men fighting, but not enough that all of them ran away to whatever small cubbyhole they might have had as a last resort. Left and right those pirates all looked at each other wondering just what it would be that they would do next, if they should continue to fight for a man who was now leaving them to die at the hands of the big bad Jedi.

"I-I don't want to die..." One would say,

"I can do this! I can kill `em, just you watch!" Said another,

"C`mon, git yer shite together, it's just a couple of idiots with glowsticks, we got the blasters, we can handle this!" Said the last one, but the most interesting one was a young man in the back of them all, one who truly struggled with this own decision making at this crucial point in his life.

Wulfgarn was a bastard, a ripe ungentlemanly crook that ran these poor sods like a slave driver, killing any that dared oppose him, and that fear is what kept these men in line, and at the sight of watching this pirate captain suddenly flee in horror as two, just TWO men made quick work of all of these people with as much ease as a hot knife has cutting through butter. The young man decided to take back his life in that moment thanks to these two men, and in daring stance piped up and spoke out against the crowd. "Hey, screw this! I'm done with that asshole!" He declared proudly, "That guy's always beating us around and throwing us to the dogs, and this time he's leaving us to die?! Screw this, screw him, and screw anybody that's fighting for him!" He said, and raised his weapon to the ready position. "I'm leaving here, with them if I have to, and not a damn one of you are stopping me!"

In the following bit of confusion and chaos, despite Khivas' perch above the battle zone, what happened next still confuses him slightly and proved to be a very interesting turn of events even he hadn't anticipated happening. As the young man declared his sudden independence from their captain, one half of the group, Old Heads of the pirates by the looks of it, decided that young whipper snapper needed a blaster bolt shoved down his throat, while the other, much younger half decided that their cohort was correct in his declaration and rallied to him, and just like that a mutiny had occurred.

Figuring now would be a better time than any to regroup and plan a new course of action, Khivas radioed Jake and Khelsea and told them the situation that was going on, and if possible to make their way back to the initial hallways before they split up into a separate buildings in an attempt to regroup. "They're fighting among themselves now, so I think it might be time to split and pull some strings. You copy?"

------------------------
Meanwhile, Klaus Klein was sitting in the Security control unit of the facility, located in it's own little fortress of a building behind the supply depot and residential areas, watching everything that was going on within his turf. "That damned idiot..." He said to himself as he noticed his brother running away on the vid-screen, watching at the commotion/mutiny Khivas and Jake started and at cameras being knocked out as Khelsea made fools out of his men.

"I suppose I'll go handle this one myself." Klaus said as he stood up from his console, grabbing a very unique spear looking object and pressing a button on his way out, setting off the sounds of unique machinery and machinations that would spell doom for the Jedi Trio should they lose their wits.

Klaus was always the real one in charge, but tried not to stand too much in the spotlight as to make sure any assassins would target his brother instead of him, but this time it seemed he would soon be forced to take the stage as well.

 

[Andrewza]

The sudden civil war was a shocker, but Jake was glade some of the pirates finally took a stand. Jake knew that deep down no one was truly evil. Though they may need to get the rebels to take in the survivors. Hidden in the shadows Jake was able to easily move through the crowed of now fighting pirates. To keep hidden Jake sent a short affirmative telepathic message to Khivas before he easily sneaked out during the commotion. It was clear the in fighting had fast spread through the base as blaster shots could be heard through out the base.