The wave of Force-borne lightning swept through the outer yard of the DDF Redoubt, plumes of fire erupting as fuel sources ignited. One armored transport took flight, sailing several stories high into the sky before the cold grip of gravity seized it once more. The transport smashed into the ferrocrete road and crumpled like a can under its own weight, sending rending shards of shrapnel careening through the assembled force. Many were slain outright by just this collision, while others were caught by the wave of lightning itself or the resulting explosions.
The yard was reduced to a debris-strewn field, wrecks littering the ground where the beginnings of counter-offensive had just been staged, and as the smoke cleared death and silence reigned. Inside the Redoubt, Vahn stood slowly. He held his side, wincing from the biting pain from several impacts as he was thrown about by the raw concussive force of the eruptions outside. A trail of sticky warmth scrawled down the side of his face. He was shaken, but still functional. He'd taken cover inside the building, and it had held but he could see the cracks forming in the structure around him. Time to leave.
Then the air sang once more with crimson blaster bolts. The exchange was thick; blaster fire raining down from windows in the squat ferrocrete structure, from the few remaining men out in the yard, and popping from the darkness within the open maw of the garage. There were even a few lances of blood-red light emitting from a nearby alley where a soldier had sought cover. The storm of fire raked across the Sith positions, a suppressing enfilade with surprising volume. There were still many DDF present that had some fight in them.
A single object emerged; more a dark, matte-blue blur than anything else, screaming through the air out of the redoubt’s garage. Vahn clutched the handles of the speeder bike hard enough to make his knuckles whine in protest as the vehicle roared over the skyway inches below past the position of the Sith Troopers and his new friend Elav. He made sure to angle strongly away from the Sith just to make it more difficult to track him..
The advantage to having a military force that doubled as a police force, is that sometimes you apprehend street racers, and sometimes you “acquisition” illegally modified speeder bikes. There really is no such thing as luck.
In moments, Vahn was joined, as in his wake a half dozen other speeders, some refitted version of the age old Arrow-23s ripped out of the garage after him, smashing through debris and wreckage on their way out of the yard. These were slower, but more well armored, and each armed with a mounted blaster cannon that could make mincemeat of almost any civilian vehicle that needed to be stopped. They quickly formed up into a convoy behind him, following Vahn’s trail even as he screamed ahead as fast as he could push the engine and repulsors of the bike.
“Go! Go! We’ll hold them here!” the voice coiled in his memory, drawing tension in his heart. He had made promises…. And just as easily he had to break them. He would make peace with this later.
For now he had one destination. The ominous horror, that devouring presence that had tormented the boundaries of his senses was inside the capitol. The capitol shields were down. Who knows how many of the defenders were still alive.
The fight was still going on. That was a cold relief. He could see Master Tionson still dueling, the DDF were still rallied in places, still fighting for their lives against the Sith invaders. There was still hope. There’s always hope. He pivoted, banking hard so that his speeder bike screeched into a hard turn that saw him shooting straight towards the capitol building and the sense of overwhelming dread that had been clouding him all this time. The small convoy of armored speeders followed moments behind.
Vahn didn’t even wait for the bike to slow before he leapt free onto the steps leading into the building. He landed firmly onto his feet, and instantly broke into a run, long loping strides taking him through the path of carnage that lead into the building.
He pressed his comm link, and soon his voice crackled across any Jedi or DDF comms in the area. Along the way he had seen bodies, drained of life, and now a great many soldiers had been dispatched all at once. His jaw tensed as he followed his senses, the ever present hunger leading him down the halls.
“This is Jedi Knight Vahn Berand. This is an urgent call for aid. Help is needed at the capitol. A Sith Lord has penetrated the inner defenses. The capitol is increasingly untenable. Evacuation recommended,” Vahn said, his voice tight. He changed the frequency of the comm link to speak just to his newly acquired comrades in arms.
"How would your leaders get out? Where would they go?"
"There are tunnels under our feet. We can get out of the capitol into any direction. They're probably already heading down. From there, well...." Parrix trailed off.
"We'll deal with that problem when, if, the time comes, now get somewhere safe, we might be needing those speeders," Vahn replied.
Parrix walked Vahn through the capitol over his comm link. Guiding him along corridors, down dusty steps until he came to a secured door; not unlike what you would find on a starship. Vahn turned the hatch, and the pressurized seals slowly popped open. He was instantly confronted with a number of terrified faces from many different worlds. Odd how universal the expression of fear is amongst disparate species.
"Yes, I'm the one you heard on the comms. Alright, we're getting out of here," he announced, already moving to activate the aperture of a sealed entryway that lead into the tunnels below. "In you go, important dignitaries first,"
The yard was reduced to a debris-strewn field, wrecks littering the ground where the beginnings of counter-offensive had just been staged, and as the smoke cleared death and silence reigned. Inside the Redoubt, Vahn stood slowly. He held his side, wincing from the biting pain from several impacts as he was thrown about by the raw concussive force of the eruptions outside. A trail of sticky warmth scrawled down the side of his face. He was shaken, but still functional. He'd taken cover inside the building, and it had held but he could see the cracks forming in the structure around him. Time to leave.
Then the air sang once more with crimson blaster bolts. The exchange was thick; blaster fire raining down from windows in the squat ferrocrete structure, from the few remaining men out in the yard, and popping from the darkness within the open maw of the garage. There were even a few lances of blood-red light emitting from a nearby alley where a soldier had sought cover. The storm of fire raked across the Sith positions, a suppressing enfilade with surprising volume. There were still many DDF present that had some fight in them.
A single object emerged; more a dark, matte-blue blur than anything else, screaming through the air out of the redoubt’s garage. Vahn clutched the handles of the speeder bike hard enough to make his knuckles whine in protest as the vehicle roared over the skyway inches below past the position of the Sith Troopers and his new friend Elav. He made sure to angle strongly away from the Sith just to make it more difficult to track him..
The advantage to having a military force that doubled as a police force, is that sometimes you apprehend street racers, and sometimes you “acquisition” illegally modified speeder bikes. There really is no such thing as luck.
In moments, Vahn was joined, as in his wake a half dozen other speeders, some refitted version of the age old Arrow-23s ripped out of the garage after him, smashing through debris and wreckage on their way out of the yard. These were slower, but more well armored, and each armed with a mounted blaster cannon that could make mincemeat of almost any civilian vehicle that needed to be stopped. They quickly formed up into a convoy behind him, following Vahn’s trail even as he screamed ahead as fast as he could push the engine and repulsors of the bike.
“Go! Go! We’ll hold them here!” the voice coiled in his memory, drawing tension in his heart. He had made promises…. And just as easily he had to break them. He would make peace with this later.
For now he had one destination. The ominous horror, that devouring presence that had tormented the boundaries of his senses was inside the capitol. The capitol shields were down. Who knows how many of the defenders were still alive.
The fight was still going on. That was a cold relief. He could see Master Tionson still dueling, the DDF were still rallied in places, still fighting for their lives against the Sith invaders. There was still hope. There’s always hope. He pivoted, banking hard so that his speeder bike screeched into a hard turn that saw him shooting straight towards the capitol building and the sense of overwhelming dread that had been clouding him all this time. The small convoy of armored speeders followed moments behind.
Vahn didn’t even wait for the bike to slow before he leapt free onto the steps leading into the building. He landed firmly onto his feet, and instantly broke into a run, long loping strides taking him through the path of carnage that lead into the building.
He pressed his comm link, and soon his voice crackled across any Jedi or DDF comms in the area. Along the way he had seen bodies, drained of life, and now a great many soldiers had been dispatched all at once. His jaw tensed as he followed his senses, the ever present hunger leading him down the halls.
“This is Jedi Knight Vahn Berand. This is an urgent call for aid. Help is needed at the capitol. A Sith Lord has penetrated the inner defenses. The capitol is increasingly untenable. Evacuation recommended,” Vahn said, his voice tight. He changed the frequency of the comm link to speak just to his newly acquired comrades in arms.
"How would your leaders get out? Where would they go?"
"There are tunnels under our feet. We can get out of the capitol into any direction. They're probably already heading down. From there, well...." Parrix trailed off.
"We'll deal with that problem when, if, the time comes, now get somewhere safe, we might be needing those speeders," Vahn replied.
Parrix walked Vahn through the capitol over his comm link. Guiding him along corridors, down dusty steps until he came to a secured door; not unlike what you would find on a starship. Vahn turned the hatch, and the pressurized seals slowly popped open. He was instantly confronted with a number of terrified faces from many different worlds. Odd how universal the expression of fear is amongst disparate species.
"Yes, I'm the one you heard on the comms. Alright, we're getting out of here," he announced, already moving to activate the aperture of a sealed entryway that lead into the tunnels below. "In you go, important dignitaries first,"
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