Ask Quarrels on Quermia

[Varyn Atrix]

Per my new OP template, thread is death enabled​

Varyn had never been to Quermia before, but it was ironically the second time the planet name had crossed his desk recently. A lush, garden-like world, Varyn was glad that it was actually a nice planet to go. Unfortunately, the reason they were coming this way was less than desirable.

Cultists, dark side corruption, terror attacks. It was classic Imperial Knight work, and it actually made Varyn feel right at home in some... really weird way. Sometimes he wondered how his life had taken such a strange turn.

He disembarked from the Imperial shuttle already dressed in his bright red armor with his sabers hanging from his belt. A part of him wondered about the wisdom of wearing armor on a job like this, but at the end of the day, he knew it was just him looking for an excuse to wear plain clothes. He preferred them and the anonymity they offered, but this was about representing the Empire and providing people with a sense of security. And for that, the armor had a purpose that was more than just pragmatic covering.

The sun was high in the sky already, and a gentle breeze carried over the landscape, wiggling the various bushes and flowers. A small village could be seen in the distance, and at its edge he could see the reason they had been sent here. Two of the buildings looked like burned out husks with a small area of scorched earth all around it. He could imagine the bodies were there, too.

He reached out to the Force and let it flow in around him, feeling the pain and fear that hung in the air. It was a familiar "scent" and foreboding at that.

It feels very wrong here, he said. He had never worked with Vena before, but he had seen her around the training facilities before. He was looking forward to getting to know more of his fellow knights in the field, though.

 

[Vena Lann]

[OOC - Threads with me are always death disabled]

The Imperial Knight armor somehow felt too restrictive as she stepped out into torch-like sunlight. For the past week she had been reading, learning and meditating on her copy of a Dathomirian Book of Shadows and while she was no closer of actually doing shadow magick, she almost looked the part regardless. "Oof it's bright out here," she complained just before her partner, or rather superior, Knight-Captain Atrix made a statement on a lingering dark Force presence.

Trying to seem professional, Vena, too, reached out in the Force and felt the same sensation of pain and fear. It didn't feel foreboding to her, though.. it felt.. strangely powerful through the dept in which it permeated the living Force. "I feel it," she pointed in the direction of the burned out husks that had once been buildings, "Warrant a guess it's stronger over there?"

Without waiting for confirmation from the Knight-Captain, Vena started making her way over to the village on foot. She had fought and killed Sith Cultists before during the bureau's fake holocron operations and liked her chances of two Imperial Knights being able to deal with whatever cultist was out there terrifying the non-force sensitive natives. She couldn't wait to find out what exactly these cultists worshipped, whether or not they had crude unrefined sensitivity and managed by more luck than skill to open an ancient forgotten holocron. Or, which was more likely, they were just a band of lunatics using the name of the Sith Devil to mask their inner wickedness.


@Phoenix

 

[Varyn Atrix]

Well, yes, that too, he said as she mentioned how bright it was out here. He had to blink to clear away the light shining in his eyes but they quickly adjusted.

I bet it is, he agreed, heading off in the direction of the village. The first of the Quermians crossed his path only a few minutes in and he found himself staring at their necks. It was so... vulnerable. He couldn't imagine having a neck that long. Weren't you just so prone to being strangled at any given time? Well, most people weren't in his line of work either.

Gazes followed them as they made their way onto the main street, and he found his eyes sweeping over everything, not just the site of the attack but the village as a whole. That was when he saw the signs of more remote damage. Not as severe, but areas wardened off by cautionary tape likely set up by whatever they had for a marshal here. He vaguely recalled reading about ties between the planet and the Jedi in days gone by. He wondered if any of those connections had spawned whatever cult was here now.

Seems this wasn't an isolated incident, he said, nodding toward one of the other quarantined buildings.

That was when the marshal appeared. He looked like a regular gunslinger with a blaster strapped to his hip, a badge on his chest, and a comical-looking hat sitting atop that long-necked head.

Ah, Imperial Knights. An pleasure. I'm Marshal Ragrun, he said, extending a hand to both of them in turn.

Glad they sent someone familiar with this kind of things. Bit outside my wheelhouse if I'm honest, he said.

@Eccles

 

[Vena Lann]

There was a slight uncaring slipping into Vena's mind as they walked up and through the village, surveying the damage from a distance. Something told her that the scent, which didn't seem to be much stronger here than it had back there with the shuttle, wasn't as sinister as the locals or the Imperial Security Bureau had thought it'd be. The arrival of Marshal Ragrun was perhaps the most surprising thing. "Marshal?" she asked as she shook his hand and watched him nod in confirmation, "Why isn't there a peacekeeper in charge here?" Quermia had decided to remain an Imperial world after it had been given the choice by Grand Marshal Altaïr Din. They chose to stay, which Vena found admirable, but that meant the Imperial Security Bureau's peacekeeper division was the one that enforced Imperial law on Quermia and not this.. she looked at the man's long neck, this Marshal.

The Quermian looked at her for a moment and then pointed towards one of the two houses that had been burned down, "That used to be the peacekeeper's office," he said and as Vena turned towards it she noticed a pair of flowers on the ground next to the cautionary tape. "They asked me to pick up my old duty as Marshal and wait for," he turned towards Knight-Captain Atrix, whose rank-insignia would be clearly visible, making him the highest ranking Imperial. "well, for you."

Well, kriff. Whoever these cultists were had the audacity and skill to take out the local peacekeeper unit? That meant they were more capable than Vena had been ready to give them credit for. She soundlessly thanked the Force that Knight-Captain Atrix had been an accomplished and well-trained Sith Champion before, because if this cult could take out the peacekeepers then she knew she would've been hardpressed to take them on alone. "Tell us about the attack, Marshal," Vena continued, not letting the Quermian lose track of why they were there, "and show us the bodies."

"Right," Ragrun motioned for them to follow, "It happened last night. I was still awake, you see-" he bend down a little as he walked and tapped his left leg, "-old wound from the inva-" suddenly he stopped trying to explain, for they all knew it was a wound he'd endured during the Imperial invasion of the planet some years ago. "Anyway, the fires started without warning and immediately grew to engulf the buildings." they reached the cautionary tape and the long-necked Quermian held it low so everyone could step over it. "By the time I limbered up and got outside I noticed some folks fighting on the other side of the village, near the fires, but by the time I arrived" the last world trailed as he stepped through where there used to be a door and they all looked at the bagged up bodies of four humans.


@Phoenix

 

[Varyn Atrix]

Varyn couldn't quite help his eyebrow from rising as he listened to this story. Nothing was ever simple for him, was it? No. The answer was a very decisive no.

It explained why no Peacekeeper reports had been filed and why contact had been lost with them. That was disconcerting to him more than possibly anything else. Varyn's eyes narrowed ever so slightly as he watched that Marshal's face. Alien minds were always more difficult to read, and while Varyn wasn't directly pressing or invading the man's mind in any way, often times that wasn't necessary in order to pick up the fleeting helpful hint. In this case, however, he wasn't getting much of anything useful.

So you were physically unprepared to quickly respond to the issue at hand? Varyn asked, rephrasing the statement he had just made in other - but still accurate - words. He didn't really listen to the man's answer as he let his eyes sweep over the bodies gathered. His fingers tapped against his chestpiece as he thought.

No cameras, no surveillance equipment. What a backwater place, he thought to himself. Having been born on Coruscant, being out in a place like this was still strange on some level.

They headed off into the mountains over there. I took a few shots at them, but they disappeared into the night. I heard the hum of some repulsor engines off that way, he said, motioning in the direction of a clearing.

I wonder if we could lay a trap for them. Get some tracking devices on them if they come back, he thought to himself. They've got to have had help. Maybe even this Marshal's in on it. Former invasion injury, he's gotta have a grudge right? he thought to himself. No doubt the answers would come with time, but he could already almost see it playing out in his head like a bad holo.

@Eccles

 

[Vena Lann]

Vena's eyes followed in the direction the Quermian motioned and then her eyebrows dropped into a heavy frown. "Out of character for cultists," she concluded, "This feels more like the first part of a local insurgency." it was eerily similar to how the Oracle had connected various small insurgency cells into a bigger movement that struck at more ambitious targets than a local cell would ever have been able to pull off alone. As she mentioned the word 'insurgency' the Quermian marshal flinched, "I can assure you in this village we're all loyal imperial citizens," he quickly said, but Vena wasn't listening to it and made her way out of the remnants of the peacekeeper station.

"We need to requisition some speeders," her words didn't trail but it was obvious she was deep in thought as she said it, "to get up there." she motioned to the same mountain range that the Quermian had motioned to. It was their only lead to find out if there was an insurgency at play here, or if it was simply a remarkably well-organized cult.

Judging from the manner they had killed the peacekeepers and the Dark Side presence that lingered, there was no way this cult followed the religious ways of the Jedi Order, which meant that somehow they had missed a Sith when they culled them from the Imperial territories. She turned towards the Knight-Captain, knowing he had been an important Sith Champion before and wondering whether he was the kind of man to have spared his friends and knowingly let them hide here on this planet.


@Phoenix

 

[Varyn Atrix]

Varyn said nothing immediately, instead letting his eyes focus on the Marshal. The Knight-Captain had many skills that ranged from dueling to espionage and infiltration. He was a skilled liar, and good on the fly, but one skill he had never really developed was the ability to read people as well as he would have liked. It was probably his general preference for being alone that drove that part of his life, but it wasn't doing him any favors at this point.

Was the Marshal lying? Possibly. He was tempted to see if they could get some Peacekeeper interrogators to come in for support, but not yet. Certainly not until they had more information.

The Peacekeepers should have had some speeders that we could use, he said, making his way over to one of the vehicles near the destroyed base. If he noticed Vena's skeptical gaze of him, he didn't seem to show it. Instead, he set about checking the speeder over carefully. He had history of bugging and sabotaging things, and knew where to look for listening devices, trackers, or bombs.

It took him nearly twenty minutes, but eventually, he was satisfied that there was nothing wrong with the speeder and climbed inside.

The trip gave the two Knights a few minutes to talk without interruption as well.

This cult has far reaches, he said. It reminded him of Centares in a way: corruption rooted in deep that needed to be pried out and uncovered. Maybe Vena was right: maybe it was an insurgency. Or maybe it's a cult raising the insurgency. Or maybe it's Sith, he thought to himself. But surely the Sith were smart enough to stay out of this area, weren't they? There was a whole galaxy out there and with the NR and FWA collapse it was ripe for the seizing.

The Sith did decide to meet on Junction, though. A Sith setting up their own joint cult-insurgency here would be... well, it'd explain a lot, he said.

@Eccles

 

[Vena Lann]

While Knight-Captain Atrix spend twenty minutes(!) checking whether or not the speeder bikes had been sabotaged, Vena decided to head over to the village's comms station. Most hamlets had one of them so they could send and retrieve long-range message outside their own system. Usually it meant that they could watch the HoloMovies that made it through the heavily-censored Imperial HoloNet. Today Vena wanted to use it to establish a direct line with the Imperial Security Bureau. Marshal Ragrun was kind enough to show her the way.

She wasn't a net-specialist by any definition, but she wasn't a complete idiot neither and managed to ping the ISB headquarters on Raxus. "This is Imperial Knight Vena Lann," the line was silent for a while as they cross-checked her name, her active mission and the location from which she called in, "Local Peacekeepers of Quermian Quadrant fourteen-dash-B, deceased. Need replacements, plus additional numbers. Threat Level is Beta, Sierra dash Two." whoever was on the other line ran the codes and issued a short message that the new threat level was confirmed and peacekeepers would arrive the next morning at the latest. Vena wondered if it was Designation Control who was relaying the information personally as the operator's replies were almost droidlike repetition of different codes and encryptions. It was a stark reminder that the Sith weren't just dealing with former Sith like Varyn Atrix, but also with the might of corporate and security-driven totalitarism that was sure to overwhelm and expose everyone that even tried to breach its perimeter.

Eventually she returned to Knight-Captain Atrix and they sped off away from the village on their requistioned speeders. "They seem disorganized," Vena replied as Varyn started musing out loud, "the Sith, I mean. Some go in hiding there, others start cults here. It's like they don't follow the Dark Lord." Not like she did, anyway. It was hindering the Sith Order's return to prominence, yet at the same time would save it from feeling the consequences whenever a single Sith and their cults was destroyed, captured and interrogated.


@Phoenix

 

[Varyn Atrix]

As they zoomed along toward the top of the mountain, Varyn couldn't help but think that he was glad they weren't hoofing this themselves. At first he didn't connect that she meant the entirety of the Sith were disorganized, but as she elaborated, he nodded.

He thought about Vahl. It had been a long time since he had seen her now, and he honestly hoped he'd never see her again. He knew how that would go if their paths crossed, and fighting someone he had once been close to wasn't something he was leaping at. But he would do it if he had to. How times changed.

It took a whole Council to keep the Sith Empire together, he said. A single Dark Lord is going to have a hard time herding all those lothcats, he said. Vahl had had the position thrust upon her before she was truly ready for it. He didn't know if she would bring them together or die trying, but he knew there was no ridding the galaxy of the Sith. He was sure that Sith would rise up with a single, unified purpose again, and when they did, they'd come for the Empire. All he could do was hope that the IAF and the Imperial Knights were prepared enough to bring them down.

After a few minutes more, they neared the top, but the foliage became thicker and the vehicle couldn't pass through.

Hmm, I guess we're going to have to do the rest on foot, he said. It would be exceedingly unfortunate if they ended up getting killed before their reinforcements arrived.

He reached back and gripped both of the lightsabers on his belt to make sure they were positioned correctly before deciding to simply pull one of them free and hold it in hand. It made him feel better, and something told him they were rapidly approaching a problem point.

He ducked under a branch, and the impression of enemies nearby grew even stronger, forcing him into a crouch as he looked out over the foliage ahead of them. Kriffing bright red armor, he thought to himself. It was not the ideal camouflage and he was almost tempted to smear mud all over it to help him blend in. He knew it probably wouldn't help...

@Eccles

 

[Vena Lann]

Hearing the Knight-Captain respond to her own assessment by mourning the loss of a council and comparing the Sith to lothcats, made Vena feel like this subject was much more commonplace for him than it was for her. It made sense, considering his past, but she felt somewhat uncomfortable being compared to a lothcat. She also realized that she being a Dark Lord was more than having immense power, something she didn't really think about before. Darth Tempest's sheer power had stunned her, made an impression on her that the Dark Lord could snap her like a twig and only let her life as long as she remained useful. In fact, what Vena realized now, is that the highly individual Sith that rose to a position of councillor or Dark Lord suddenly needed to learn how to lead others, plan strategically, control assets and maintain a credit flow to pay for everything.

In short, Vena realized that if she ever wanted to acquire powers similar to those of Darth Tempest, then she needed to study more of the Imperial principle. No one was better at the bureaucracy of maintaining a large Empire than those who could do it without the Force. There was no threat of existential power that could tear off your limbs. The current Emperor stayed in power because he was good making himself indispensible to the Imperial War Machine, its economy and its progress.

"Are you saying Sith are too individualistic?" Vena replied a good few minutes after Varyn had made his comparison and they were already stepped off their speeder bikes. "Is that why we've been able to hunt them down so effectively to begin with?" she watched Varyn take his lightsabers, plural, and suddenly felt a bit naked in having just her one clipped to her belt. Due to the everpresent Imperial Security Bureau, the Imperial Knights had always trusted on superior intelligene and reinforcements when hunting down a Sith Champion. The Fake Holocron plot that Vena had been part of had been a prime example of it. The ISB made the holocron and put a tracker inside and all the knights had to do was follow the blip on their personavs and kill whoever had the holocron in their possession. Vena wondered how it would be if the Sith Order had its own security bureau...

Vena saw Varyn starting to crouch through the foilage and followed his lead. There was something in this area that felt similar to the scent they sensed back at the village and as they crouched closer they suddenly noticed two.. humans.

Dressed in white robes with on their back a shining sun on a horizon, most likely to mean dawn, drawn crudely in what seemed like blood. Both humans had vibro-swords in their hands and a single speeder bike was parked nearby. Most likely this was a forward guard post.

@Phoenix

 

[Varyn Atrix]

Varyn's mind had turned to other things, and he almost forgot about their earlier conversation when Vena brought it up again.

Hm? Oh, he said, trying to pull his thoughts back to that conversation again. Were the Sith too individualistic?

Maybe, he said. It was a topic he probably could have sat down and talked about all day, but they didn't have that luxury now. If they got organized and got themselves all together... he said before clearing his throat. Then it would come down to the Imperial Knights to go toe-to-toe with them, and a lot of people would die. It was... inevitable.

Then we'd have a real fight on our hands, he said.

As they continued creeping through the foliage, Varyn drew close enough to see the markings on the cloaks and the blood they seemed drawn in. The weapons in their enemy's hands. One of them looked over in their direction, and Varyn didn't move. He held deathly still, clenching down on the saber hilt in his hand.

Humans. Two. Armed. Blood. Cultists? the words flowed through his mind as he tried to put them together. He motioned for her to take the one on the right and he moved against the one on the left. He took several quiet, deep breaths and counted down with his fingers so Vena could see.

When the final number was gone, Varyn darted forward. He reached out with the Force to grip his target, raising his arm up before hurling it toward the ground. The guard was slammed into the floor, and Varyn was on him in a heartbeat, gauntleted fist swinging around to slam into his face hard enough that his head bounced off the dirt. Not dead, but definitely having a bad day. And hopefully in one piece enough that they could ask him some questions.

Roll: 17/20 for not being spotted @Eccles

 

[Vena Lann]

As Varyn darted forward, so did Vena as she used the Force to grip the other cultist around his throat and yank him towards her. He struggled to prevent being pulled towards the Imperial Knight as he watched from the corner of his eye how the Knight-Captain punched his fellow cultist unconscious. The hopelessness of his situation weakened his struggle and as Vena approached him to a mere two feet, he all but went limp and his knees buckled.

After Vena released her grip he fell down to his knees to gasp for air. "Tell us what we want to know," the Imperial Knight began, "or we kill you and ask your friend next." she motioned for the unconscious cultist spread out on the ground just as he seemed to regain consciousness and softly coughed out some of the dirt that was mixing in with the blood from his nose.

"Ahh, Imperi-" he began and quickly felt the palm of Vena's had collide with his right ear as she smacked him for seemingly wasting her time. "You haven't asked me anything!" he cried, almost breathlessly as the streaks of bruised skin started to appear on his threat. She had grippid it harder than she had realized, but it had made an impression on the cultist.

He was also making a fair point. "The attack on the Peacekeepers office. Was that you?"

The white-robed cultist nodded, "The only way they know how to keep the peace is by murdering innocent people. So yeah," he suddenly looked up towards Vena with a surprisingly confident grin, "we gave them a taste of their own medicine."

"Imperial Peacekeepers don't kill innocents," Vena replied, her eyes narrowing as she contemplated whether she should punish the man for speaking lies about the Empire while her superior officer stood beside her. A perfect chance to demonstrate her supposed devotion to the Empire.

"Lies, she said she witnessed it. Korriban, Dromund Kaas, Rattatak, Zion, Exegol. All peaceful places, innocent people. The Empire murdered them." as he spewed information, Vena turned her frown towards Varyn. This man had obviously been both an idiot and brainwashed by someone who claimed all these historical Sith planets had been habited by innocent people the Empire had killed. No doubt he believed the Sith Order's champions to be innocents, then.

It explained a lot, but perhaps the Knight-Captain, who had considerably more experience with the Sith, had more specific questions to ask...

OOC: 11/20 for interrogation
@Phoenix

 

[Varyn Atrix]

Varyn stood aside as Vena performed her interrogation, and it was clear from the man's statements that he had been fed a steady stream of lies and misinformation, and Varyn wasn't going to break him of the notions. There was no point in reasoning with terrorists.

How many of you are there? he asked, moving his hands lightly to give the man's mind a nudge in the Force to detail more information.

Kriff you, I ain't telling you anything about the others! She'd kill me for a traitor, and I'd deserve it, the man said and Varyn had to resist the urge to roll his eyes.

He moved to tie up their prisoners, and return to deal with them later. That was two down, and he had to guess from what the man said that "she" was their target. With luck, if they killed "her," the rest of the sheep would scatter. He would guess that "she" was a Sith.

He started hoofing it shortly thereafter, continuing to head further up the mountain, and it didn't take long for them to find results. The sentries weren't stationed far outside the camp, and he could hear the hustle and bustle from within.

From what he could see, it was less than ten people, and he could immediately tell who "she" was. A woman likely somewhere in age between Varyn and Vena was dressed in all black and just screamed "I'm a Sith."

@Eccles

 

[Vena Lann]

Vena followed Knight-Captain Atrix further up the mountain and like him spotted what appeared to be the main camp. There were less than she had anticipated. Only eight of them, with seven wearing blood-smearched white and one woman in black. No doubt her eyes would show bright yellow or orange, signs of unabated dark side corruption. Trying her best to hide, she snuck up to Varyn and unclipped the lightsaber from her belt. "Head off the snake?" she asked, intentionally warping the expression to denote using one's lightsaber to chop off the Sith's head. "I'll draw their attention."

She snuck away from his position for a bit and then stepped into the light. "I'm looking for medicine," Vena smiled as she ignited her white lightsaber and instantly used the Force to pull one of the white-robed cultists closer. "and I hear-" she brought her lightsaber up and slashed down on the cultist, who only barely managed to block it with his own vibro-sword. "-you know where Darth Tempest is!" she brought her lightsaber up again and started choking the cultist with the Force before using the distraction that offered not to slash down on his vibro-sword again, but to thrust it underneath straight through his ribcage.

The woman in black suddenly started laughing and as Vena turned her head towards her she spotted the clear orange eyes of Dark Side corruption. That meant this Sith couldn't be reasoned with. She was too far gone to follow instructions and fall in with order. "Tempest?" she laughed, "she is not the real Dark Lord." for unbeknownst to both Vena and Varyn, the Sith Order had actually split up in multiple factions. It would be very valuable intel if they could manage to get this unreasonable Sith in alive.

@Phoenix

 

[Varyn Atrix]

Varyn gave a silent nod, glad to see that their minds were in one place. It wasn't that Varyn liked to handle everything with a lightsaber, but sometimes that was just the easiest and most efficient.

As she drew the attention of the group away, he moved around to one of the flanks in the hopes of bringing down their quarry quickly. He knew his own skill and he knew that most saber duels ended in a matter of seconds. Typically, he came out on top... typically.

He was fairly confident that Vena could hold off the cultists for several seconds.

She came out swinging, and everyone did, in fact, find it very distracting.

For his part, Varyn didn't waste much time. He pulled both of his sabers out and leapt forward, only igniting them as he closed to within striking distance of the Sith. To her credit, she was quick, and she narrowly managed to block his opening strike.

Her laughter and mockery fell dead on her lips, and Varyn didn't stop his assault, using the other saber for a quick follow up from the other side and then another and another. If they could take her alive, then he would, but he wasn't exactly making it a priority, unfortunately. Dead was better than escaped, after all.

@Eccles

 

[Vena Lann]

The presumed future Lord Commander of the Imperial Knights did not disappoint as he moved to action and as he occupied the Sith, her cultists seemed too afraid to engage with the man who could go toe-to-toe with her in single combat. Thus, naturally, they decided to move on Vena first.

Tossing the dead body away from her, Vena assumed a defensive stance and used the Force to pull and push the cultists so she could maintain a one-on-one situation at melee range. As she sidestepped with her knees slightly bent, using the footwork that the Fencing instructor on Serenno had taught her, she maneuvered herself constantly before finally engaging one of the cultists directly. She lunged and swirled the tip of her lightsaber around the cultist's vibro-sword, forcing him to block nothing but air before the tip burned its way through his ribcage and with a fierce slash went out at his left. He fell to the ground twitching unvolunatirly and died seconds later.

"I was trained by Master Bar Ferdi," she explained to the confused looking cultists who had never seen a refined Serenno dueling style. "and I am Knight Lann," she smiled as she did a mock salute with her lightsaber, "remember that during your last moments alive."

She suddenly used the Force to pull one of the cultists closer by his sword-arm and as he struggled and was forced to open up much of his backside to Vena, she plunged her lightsaber through it and let it slide as the man was bisected and fell in two lifeless pieces to the ground. Only four cultists now remained... four cultsits and their Sith leader.

@Phoenix

 

[Varyn Atrix]

It was a rapid exchange of blows between Varyn and the Sith. She sent a blast of energy at him, and his hand came up to block it, slamming into the barrier and causing them both to stumble back before he renewed again.

He struck diagonally from her right, forcing her saber up to block before a thrusted feint at her belly. The blade found purchase only narrowly as she turned to the side, but the smell of charred flesh still filled the air.

He kept a bind against her blade, pressing downward even as his other saber swung around, slamming into the upper end of her blade with the strong of his second. The leverage caused the saber to pop from the woman's hand, flinging up into the air where he caught it with a quick flick of his wrist.

The shattered hilt fell to the ground, but she wasn't finished yet. Her rage and pain poured into the Force and flowed through her fingers as pure blue lightning. Varyn matched her talent, though, letting the Force flow through his sabers to empower the crystals. Blue lightning mixed with the orange sabers to provide an odd and unappealing glow as he seemed to "catch" the lightning, holding it for a moment before sending it launching back at her.

It struck home with power, scorching her skin and knocking her to the ground all but dead.

@Eccles

 

[Vena Lann]

Two of the cultists wisened up and nodded at each other a bit too obvious for Vena to miss, so when they suddenly attacked in tandem she was quick to reply. Using the Force to augment her ability to jump, she dodged them both and landed back on the ground just as the Sith unleashed her lightning on Varyn.

For a moment the four cultists grinned as they observed her great power, but then something happened that they didn't held for possible; The Knight-Captain parried the lightning with his orange sabers and send it back to her. Their mouths fell open as the Sith fell to the ground and the smell of scorched skin and flesh spread all around her. "Good work, Knight-Captain Atrix," Vena revelled in the stupified faces of the cultists and did her best to imprint the speed and calculated efficiency of Varyn Atrix. One day, sooner or later, she would join the Dark Lord in her fight against the Empire and have to face off against this man. The most powerful knight there is.

"Drop your weapons," she said as she retook a more serious position, angling her lightsaber to prepare for an extended lunge, "Or perish."

The four cultists hesitated for a moment, but any conviction they held had been burned away like the flesh on their unconscious leader. All four of them then dropped their vibro-sabers. Vena was disappointed, but by forcing them to undergo a trial the Empire would be able to set an example, give the Quermians a morale boost and give the families of the slain peacekeepers some sort of peace.

@Phoenix