[Sith Mission] Warriors lost to time and space.

[Taz]

[OOC Thread]

It was nearing dusk on the temple grounds. The sun set on the jetting mountainous rocks the surround the massive complex. As the warmth of the hostile star gave way to the chill of the growing shadows. The large doors of the temple's starport sprang to life, opening itself to the growing darkness. Standing at the breach of the opening doors was a lone Crusader, a recent graduate from Ziost he had made his way to Korriban for a change or atmosphere and to assist in instruction a small class of acolytes.

The Duro wasted little time on the planet. Arriving on Korriban that very morning, he was quick to requisition a Imperial assault lander for the trip. The Crusader's plan was to rendezvous on Kashyyyk with another small class from Coruscant. That plan quickly changed as an alert came over the Holonet. An Investigation team on Kuat looking into MandalMotors had been attacked by terrorists. The number of dead and wounded were climbing. Classes were to be placed on hold and the small group was now to join the efforts to hunt down those responsible.

The Crusader decided not to update the acolytes until they made Kuat. He wanted see how they would react, to test them in real battle. As the ship was prepped and fueled for launch, the Sith moved to the rear of the shuttle and waiting at the ramp for his warriors to be.​

 

[Vexillar]

Though he himself would do little here, he was coming nonetheless. He didn't announce this to the Crusader...because he simply didn't need to know. Not to mention, he wasn't in the mood for any argument, protest, or brown nosing. He simply wanted to get this over with. He had spent many days and hours with Alaisia. She was charming, sure, but that also meant he was spending what freetime he had with her. Meaning he got little down time. Mornings and afternoons were time for his Apprentice, evenings were for Alaisia. This was the division, so his sleep schedule was a little...well non-existent. Which irritated him, but what could be done. He signed up for this, so he'd do it. So when Alaisia had been selected to go on a mission with some new meat, he jumped at the opportunity. Not so that he could watch her progress, or steal the show.

But because he could sleep.

He walked over to the meeting point, and the Duro looked a bit more than...typical. Stern face, rugged exterior, but Raith could sense his anxiety building. Poor thing. He seems ready to jump out of his skin. Ertichu chuckled in his head. Raith knew she didn't care for the lad and could feel the ghost's scorn and malice for him. That was her, he felt little either way. He remembered his first time leading Acolytes off into the unknown. Wasn't exactly the easiest thing to do. "Which Acolyte are you? Odd that you can hide your signature from me..." Eezeo giggled that Binary chuckle that sounded like a bunch of beeps in various tones. Raith stepped up onto the ramp and simply took a seat, collapsing with a sigh. "Wrong 'A', Crusader. I'm an Arcanist." The Duro lost his composure for a moment and seemed a bit flushed. Raith waved a hand. "Ah. No. Back to your duty. Not here for any reason that concerns you. Act as if I'm not even here..."

Of course the Duro was a bit confused...why was an Arcanist here on a simple mission with a bunch of Acolytes? But the subject had been closed to him, and he wasn't exactly in a mood to push the bill, so he simply turned back around and waited for the actual class.

 

[Officer Griddlez]

Kree had been practicing with his new lightsaber for the past couple of months, getting used to the double-bladed saber and it's mechanics while also focusing on his single blade abilities. The more he trained with it, the more familiar he became with it; the more it became a part of him as much as it was a tool for survival.

This would be his first actual class session, where he would be learning various subjects including but not limited to swordplay, and he was actually a bit nervous. This meant there would be others there, too. Having little interaction with others was a flaw of his, as he shied away from others for the better part of his life. Now Kree was going to have to train under a Crusader, and chances are others would be present as per usual. The anxiety was building up in Kree's chest, creating a dull ache in the center of his chest. This is just an exercise, he thought to himself, just concentrate on the here and now. Worrying too much about this is bad. Kree could tell that concentrating too much on what if's would cause him to make mistakes; potentially fatal ones.

Before leaving his small four walled room, Kree patted his belt. His two lightsabers were there, dangling next to each other against his left upper thigh. Reaching behind him, underneath his coat, was his short curved dagger. It was mainly used for utility purposes, but should the need arise, it could make a most gruesome mess out of someone. As Kree made way for the door, he just barely remembered something important. Quickly turning around and throwing his coat on his mat, he picked up a backpack. As he lifted it, the audible sloshing of water made the pack dance in circles for a moment before settling down. Putting his arms through each strap and checking the mouth tube that allowed him to suck out the water for any leaks and blockage, after satisfied with the fact that nothing was wrong, he slid back into his dull grey coat. Pulling the hood over his long blonde hair, he began walking at a brisk pace to the Port.

The Crusader Kree was meeting appeared to be a Duros, standing inside the Imperial Assault craft. Stopping a few meters away, the Duros spoke: So, you are one of the Acolytes. I am Daevon, the Crusader that will be working with you.

I'm sure he sensed me coming. My anxiety hasn't died down much, but it's useless contemplating such things right now. Ignoring the growing sense of uncomfortability, Kree replied in kind. "Pleasure to meet you, Daevon. I go by Kree," Pausing for a moment, he noticed that behind the Duros sat a man in an oddly intriguing mask that had no eye holes. "I am Kree. Apologies if I seem a bit antsy, I'm just curious about what we'll be learning." After saying that, Kree realized that he just told the Duros his name twice. A minor mishap, on his part.

"Yes, you've mentioned that." The Duros replied, referring to the fact that Kree said his name twice. Looking down at the ground for a split second, a bit humiliated, Kree looked back up at the Duros as he continued. "Just have a seat inside the Assault craft. Once everyone is here, we will take off. When we are close to our destination, I will inform you of what we will be doing," the Crusader looked at the unmoving Kree, "run inside now!" He shooed.

Kree chose the seat closest to the cockpit, to the right. Inhaling slowly and deeply, he began to empty his mind. In order to get his anxiety under control he made the good decision to meditate.

 

[Sierrien]

Her left hand shook as she stood in front of the mirror in her room, trying to calm her nerves. She could only hope the other acolytes would be feeling something similar; it was her first mission, and she thought it might be so for some of ther others as well. At least her first major assignment. And she hadn't even been told what it was, simply received a summon that had woken her up and made her hastily get ready. It was only once she was fully clothed and had her Lightsaber that she had paused to look in the mirror. Her hair was something of a mess today, so she took a moment to calm herself down and smooth out her hair with some water. That looked much better, she thought, as she tied it up in to a ponytail where it wouldn't bother her. Then she was out the door and looking for the right hanger she needed to be at.

She arrived shortly enough, as it was easy enough to navigate this place, and found a Duros crusader standing just outside a shuttle, doing his best to look imposing. For Lairiel, it was working. She gulped as he stared at her, and then he even spoke. "Well, which one are you, then?" She was quick to answer, finding some strength somewhere deep inside and keeping from squeezing out as she did. She was a scary Sith, she swore! Telling herself that didn't tend to help much, but it helped enough. "Lairiel Ruanthor." She kept it short and sweet, and then when he nodded and made a motion for her to get on the shuttle, she did so quickly.

She first saw a man in a mask, and she had no idea what to make of him. He didn't look like any acolyte she'd ever seen, but then acolytes came in all shapes and sizes and it wasn't like she had met every Sith acolyte there was. She shifted her eyes to the other occupant, sitting up near the cockpit and looking either eager or nervous - or perhaps it was both? She nodded a greeting to each in turn as she climbed on and moved to an empty seat, as far from both as was possible. She wasn't really one for human interaction either.

She paused, a slight look of panic on her face as she looked down at her legs; seeing pants, she relaxed. Good, this wasn't one of those nightmares where she showed up to her first mission without pants. Things were looking good so far.

 

[Alaisia]

Alaisia sat on the edge of her bed, double-checking everything in her head to make sure that she didn't forget anything. Dressed in her flight-suit, she looked more like a pilot than an acolyte... but that was probably for the best. She laughed inwardly and shook herself to control a sudden wave of panic. The mission had come quickly and caught her off guard. She hadn't spent much time on Korriban and much of her evening time had been spent in short training sessions with V.

She took a deep breath and stood up, hoping that she hadn't forgotten anything. Hurrying out, she managed to see the shuttle waiting for her and (she assumed) the other acolytes who were going. The Duros crusader waiting at the entrance watched her as she walked forward, trying to stay as calm as she could. She was getting used to being surrounded by acolytes and crusaders... but she was still nervous. She couldn't just erase her past, nor forget it...

"Third to arrive," the Duro said as she neared him. "What do they call you?"

"Alaisia," she said. She waited until he motioned toward the craft to hurry past him and onto the shuttle to find a seat. She saw V's familiar form once she got onto the shuttle but decided to leave him alone. He hadn't told her that he would be here and, she assumed, it was for his own reasons. She wasn't going to ask either. So she took a seat further into the shuttle, giving the other two acolytes some space as they didn't seem to be in the mood to interact.

 

[Taz]

The sun was risen and fallen once more before he had finished his lesson with Lady Sunsinger. She had put him to the test as well as another acolyte who could care less about. Those were things to dwell on for another time, for now he was late. He didn't expect to be summoned by both the Duro Crusader and Lady Sunsinger. Perhaps a wiser acolyte would of politely declined one or the other due to timing. Virion thought different. Taking the Lady on her offer first, he was how late and more then a little beaten and bruised from his contest with the young Celessa.

The old swoop he borrowed from the temple managed to make it to the motor pool near the hanger. He knew well enough of the Sith and there temple school that if he was not there in time he would be left behind. If that were to happen he could likely face a harsh punishment for wasting the time of the Crusader, and if he knew the Master Spell Caster... Virion trembled a little. "I'd rather face another pack of Sith hounds", he muttered as be ran from the bike toward the hanger.

---

The Duro stood at door a few minutes more after the rest were done seating. There was little time to wait for any stragglers and he would prefer to arrive Kuat before the reinforcing Imperial fleet got all the action. Not for the experience the acolytes but rather himself, not to mention he knew little about the Archanist and would prefer not to have the man blame him for the wait.

Just as he was about to turn and make his way up the ramp he his force sense felt a tremble. "It's about time", he spoke not even looking at the young hybrid. Who seemed to be aiding himself with the speed of the force to get to the shuttle in time. "Normally I would of left you behind, but today is you're lucky day", reaching out his arm to point in the direction of the rest sitting and waiting on Virion. He didn't even allow the boy to speak, rather almost walked threw the boy on his way to the cock pit as the ramp closed. No sooner was the cargo door closed, the Crusader launched the tiny vessel and set a course for open space.

---

Virion took a seat just before lift off. As he faced the rest of the passengers he was taking back to as he set eyes on the Master resting his head at the seat just across from him. For a split second he thought to say hello, then he remembered his last conversation with the man. Though it ended up bringing him to Korriban it wasn't before the spell caster nearly turned him into a mindless zombie via a mental assault he never expected could be done with the force. Instead Virion sat and waiting for some other poor sod to disturb him, or at least break the odd silence.

 

[Vexillar]

The Arcanist flashed both Alaisia and his 'Little Rancor' a smile as they boarded. Pleased to see they made it before they took off. He yawned a bit and walked off into the cockpit. He slumped down next to the trooper who was flying, returning the head nod of a greeting. "Get us there safely...I have a...feeling." It was true, his stomach was in knots and he felt a small headache coming on. Things he got before events went south. He looked back at the students. There's little chance that they could feel anything, so he'd have to...inspire them. The Duros, however, should be able to handle himself. If he can't then why was he here?

He reached out to the minds of all the Acolytes on board and spoke. Be sure you're securely strapped in, Acolytes. I don't expect this to be an easy trip...Oh, and don't tell our Duros friend. I want to see how competent he really is... The Arcanist retreated from their minds, not in the mood for senseless questions. He wanted to sleep while he could. And that's exactly what he did. He told the pilot he wasn't to be disturbed for anything short of a life or death situation, and then proceeded to drift off into lala land.

 

[Officer Griddlez]

The ship was now in flight, and the silence in the ship was starting to bother Kree. Not due to lack of socialization between the others, but due to the fact that there wasn't much noise to drown out his nervous thoughts. Luckily, his meditation has helped with that so it wasn't much of a problem anymore. The ship was just an Imperial Assault craft, so other than rows of seats and mostly empty weapons racks, as well as the passengers, it was empty. Should I say something? Kree sighed, wondering whether or not to strike up random conversation with the other passengers.

Be sure you're securely strapped in, Acolytes. I don't expect this to be an easy trip...Oh, and don't tell our Duros friend. I want to see how competent he really is...

That thought ran through Kree's mind. But he didn't think that? It was a thought that came to his mind and wasn't his... The puzzling expressions on Kree's face was obvious. I'm not going crazy am I? In any event, Kree followed the voices' suggestion. Checking the the straps that criss-crossed his abdomen, giving them a firm tug, and making sure the padding behind and to the left and right of his head would actually brace them he relaxed a bit. Considering that the voice in his head used "acolytes", Kree assumed the others got it as well. Telepathy. That's what that voice was. Kree hadn't learned that one yet, taking a mental note to learn that once he finished up his other skills. One step at a time, I suppose.

"So uh... " Kree quietly said, with short-lived renewed vigor to break the silence, trying to form proper words. Simple conversation was not exactly his greatest skill. Still, nothing came to mind. Either he couldn't remember how to speak, or he forgot his entire vocabulary in an instant. Whatever the case was, he dropped it. Kree pulled his hood further over his head, trying not to catch the eyes of the other people. The last thing I need is to make an ass out of myself.

 

[Sierrien]

Silence worked for her. She had watched the last acolyte be all but thrown in the ship, and then no on had broken the silence that permeated the ship as it took off, finally enroute to their destination. And perhaps some answers as to where that destination was and why they were going there, since she at least had no idea what was going on here. So she simply sat in the seat she had chosen and studied the other occupants visually, without lingering overlong on anyone in particular in case one of them was the easily offended type.

The voices in her head started acting up again, and though this paerticular one had a new standard viewpoint than any of the others she usually had talking to her, she mostly tuned out what it said. Her subconscious gnawed at her though, and she frowned slightly as she thought over what it had said. Why would it refer to her as multiple people? The voices always knew it was her alone in her head. Alone with them, at least. Yet this one was also offering warnings, which was in the norm. It must just be her mind trying to trick her again, she decided. Nothing to worry about. Someone started to speak and her eyes shifted towards Kree, but it seemed she must have imagined that he had said something, as when she looked over he was simply pulling his hood up more and remaining silent.

On the other hand, she noticed he had just decided to strap himself in to his seat, and that was just after the voice had spoken in her head. That was odd. Or perhaps it was simply that she had subconsciously noticed him strapping in and then her subconscious had created the voice to tell her that she should do the same. Things were getting quite confusing in her head, today. She crossed her arms loosely in front of herself and leaned back in her chair, not giving that voice the satisfaction of her doing what it wanted. They were a spacecraft full of Sith, what fool would think it wise to attack them? Unless they were headed out of Sith space, which she didn't think was a mission she would be selected for.

Her eyes shifted to the other female on the shuttle and studied her, finally. Curiosity was starting to get the better of her, but before she acted on it she shifted her eyes to the latest member of their 'squad' to arrive, studying him until she was curious all over again. Her hand moved up, thumb and forefinger rubbing lightly at her eyes as she tried to focus on something else. She didn't need to nitpick about every little thing and wonder what it meant. She could be content not knowing things for once. Dark and empty, were they there yet? Her hand moved back down to cross again, and then with a sigh she broke the silence. Okay, she needed to know things. "If we're going to work together, it might be beneficial to know names to call each other. I'm Lairiel." That would do for now, she thought, to at least temporarily sate her curious mind.

 

[Alaisia]

The last acolyte had arrived and the ship had taken off before Alaisia finally calmed down. She was still nervous now, but not nearly as anxious as she had been before. The fact that V was here didn't ease her worries though. This would be her very first mission and she half hoped that he wouldn't interfere too much. She wanted to show that she could handle herself. So when she saw him make his way to the cockpit, she sighed inwardly. It was beginning.

A moment later, though, she heard his voice in her head. Be sure you're securely strapped in, Acolytes. I don't expect this to be an easy trip... Oh, and don't tell our Duros friend. I want to see how competent he really is... So it wasn't sent to just her. The other acolytes would have heard it too. Her suspicions were confirmed when she saw the acolyte sitting nearest to the cockpit strap himself into the seat.

She followed suit, waiting for the others to follow the instructions. Moments later, she heard the acolyte who had strapped himself in say something, but it was barely audible to her. She stared at him, waiting for him to continue, but turned away when he pulled his hood further up over his head.

Instead, the acolyte sitting between Alaisia and the one who had made a noise spoke. "If we're going to work together, it might be beneficial to know names to call each other. I'm Lairiel."

"I'm Alaisia," she said, nodding to Lairiel. She was curious to learn more, but not enough to ask. Nor was she going to offer up any more information about herself than needed. She worried for a moment that one might ask her about piloting but pushed it away as she turned her focus back to the present.

 

[Taz]

The last acolyte the young hybrid met tried to best him in a duel. He was sure if it was to the death not only would he of lost a hand he may of very well lost his life. Thus he was not in a great hurry to make friends. However the silence was near defining, as if each were afraid of dying by the spoken word. The Master's sudden movement did not ease the acolyte. Though Raith had very little in common with the other Sith he had met thus, he was not in a hurry to learn another "lesson" from the Miraluka.

Sure enough however, the man was in his mind once more. This time with a warning. If he lacked faith in the Duro's ability then why not teach the lesson himself and skip the middle management. At any rate the young man knew better then to ask to the Sith Master why. A lesson that still made Virion shutter a little at the thought, or perhaps explosion of emotion as it were. "As you wish spell caster", he replied in kind telepathically. Bowing his head just a touch as he did so before glancing to the two women who dare break the silence. "Virion Morrak", he spoke. Imposing himself into the sudden conversation.

---

The Crusader could sense the force moving between the young students, unaware however that it was the ability of the Archanist that started the waves of ability moving threw the shuttle. He thought to question what they were up to but was quickly distracted by the sudden alarm in the cockpit.

"What that...", the imperial pilot didn't get a chance to finish his displeasure at the screen. With the display message of 'WEAPON LOCK..EVASIVE MANEUVERS'. They were well within the Sith/Imperial space and using a hyper space lane with all the proper codes being transmitted.

 

[Vexillar]

The Arcanist was clearly doomed to a sleepless life...this displeased him.

He was stirred awake by strong ripples in the Force, a signal, a warning, a tale of danger soon to swoop down upon them. He immediately left the cockpit and strolled out to the students and the Crusader. The man looked at him a moment and bowed his head. "Time for a group lesson, everybody. How to Avoid Dying 101." He was tired though, that much was pretty obvious really. The few minutes of sleep did nothing for his body other than remind it what it needed the most right now. Their ship began spiraling around as alarms rang, and the creaking of their hull didn't sound too good either as they dropped out of hyperspace suddenly and without warning. Raith steadied himself as they were hit once. With a wave of his hand, the only Acolyte to not secure herself in the seat was suddenly secure as the bindings came to life and held her in place there. The Duros looked visibly confused by this mess, but Raith was obviously in no mood to answer his curiosity. "Crusader, we need a barrier. Now." The Sith stumbled to attention as they were hit again. "Pilot! Lose them!" He shouted angrily, to which they were hit once more. By the sound of the explosion, they had just lost an engine. This was confirmed shortly afterwards by their sudden descent downwards. Raith could see their attackers split off, but he could still feel their collective malice.

They weren't done, they were just waiting.

"BARRIER!" He shouted to the Duros, his patience was wearing incredibly thin. The Crusader raised his hands and Raith joined him. Though the Arcanist himself, admittedly, had never used this technique before, he had more power than the Crusader. Power that he could add to strengthen the protection. Of course the impact would still probably kill the Crusader who would take the brunt of the damage. "Acolytes, remain seated, don't fuss, and don't panic. The Force will guide you all to safety..." There was an explosion in the cockpit as systems went nuts and short circuited, the pilot screamed for a moment before silencing himself. This wasn't going to be a gentle impact at all...The barrier protected them though, and it was Raith's goal to at least have the Acolytes be safe and sound upon their sudden landing.

 

[Officer Griddlez]

As soon as Kree was about to speak his name and finally break the awkward sensation he put himself in, the alarm sounded. He tried looking at the terminal next to the pilot as it was flashing an excessively vivid warning sign, but before he was able to actually read it the shuttle began lurching left and right, performing various evasive maneuvers. The only reason the ship would need to perform such reflexive maneuvers was if it were under attack... Not good. The man in the mask began speaking calmly, albeit with great irritation. One of the engines went out after another loud crash rang through the hull making the ship lose speed and altitude. They were definitely falling, and the masked man began calming the other Acolytes down.

Calm. That wasn't exactly a feeling throughout this ordeal, as far as Kree could tell at least. Everything happened quickly, and the rapidly deteriorating situation sprawled before him wasn't exactly registering in his head as dangerous. It was something he's felt before, and that familiarity calmed him down a bit. Both the Crusader and the Masked Man were clearly manipulating the Force, that much he could tell. The cockpit began sparking as the pilot screamed for a split second and stopped. A series of small explosions rung out in the cockpit, creating a ringing sound in Kree's ears as the shuttle was violently convulsing on its way down. Down to where was something he'd hopefully find out soon. With all of the shaking, pitching and yawing of the shuttle going down some of the weapons-racks that held rifles for use by troopers started escaping the racks, flying every which way. One such rifle flew straight towards Kree, but the way it was angled prevented him from dodging it without unstrapping himself. A loud thump resounded from his forehead, and then there was nothing.

His forehead now had a large lump and he still couldn't hear much other than ringing. There was that awkward silence again. Now of all times, he actually had something to say. "Before I was so rudely interrupted, I'm called Kree." Due to the micro-explosions going off right next to him, he couldn't tell if he was shouting or not. He did in fact shout that. Kree hoped that everyone was alright, or at the very least alive.

As he was glancing towards the cockpit, he saw something that almost shocked him. A part of the shuttles infrastructure, a thick metal tube was imbedded into the hull a few inches from his head. Once again, I should have died.

 

[Sierrien]

Her eyes shifted towards the man in the mask as her returned to the room they were all in, and then announced that they were in for a lesson. How to.. wait a second, that didn't sound like a class she had signed up for! Her eyes went a little wide as she stared at him, trying to figure out if he was being serious or not. Then ship started to spiral and take evasive maneuvers, and she quickly learned just how serious he was. The sudden motion propelled her out of her seat, but with a bit of help from the Force - the masked man's, not her own - the straps pretty much came to life and snagged her back down, then latched themselves in to place. Okay, she would owe him a 'thank you' later for that, because without it she would have been bouncing around like an idiot and gotten rather battered and bruised. An explosion rocked the ship then, and she amended her previous thought to include her own possible death had she not been strapped in. But now really wasn't the time to dwell on that possible death, now it was instead time to dwell on their possible death because the ship exploded. From the sounds of it, they had just lost an engine, too. This was really not looking good.

The masked man took quick charge, ordering the crusader who had been supposedly in charge of this to.. well, do whatever 'barrier' meant. She assumed it must be some Force power she didn't know about, and she would have to hope it could protect against missiles, because otherwise they weren't going to be making it to a crash landing. No, they'd likely be space dust instead. She much preferred the crash landing scenario, where they were only likely screwed instead of definitely screwed. Her eyes moved towards the masked man again as he told them all not to panic and to remain seated. Well, she could certainly check off 'stay seated', but she was extremely unaware of how she was supposed to not panic in this situation. The Force would guide them, yes. But it could be guiding them to their deaths, for all they knew! And though panicking would of course do nothing at all to alleviate the current situation, it was something that currently came naturally to her. At least when it seemed that she was about to die, anyways. Not to mention - a spaceship crash. The same way her parents had died.

Panic was certainly something that she was doing. Such a similar situation to the thing that had first traumatized her and caused so many problems in her head was just too much. Her eyes were as wide they could be as she looked around wildly, not able to focus on anything for more than just a moment. She started to hyperventilate as well as the panic really set in, her form struggling to get out of the seat or just get somewhere that was not on this crashing ship. Thankfully she was still strapped in so she wouldn't actually be able to leave her seat, but all rational thought had left her and she had even started to cry, fear prevalent in her slight form, easily seen and felt through the force. Hopefully it wouldn't distract from the two who were trying to save all of their lives.

 

[Alaisia]

Still glancing around curiously at the other acolytes, Alaisia wasn't surprised when the last to arrive gave only his name. She waited for the final acolyte to say his name, but he still only gave up silence. Instead, she turned inward and started to meditate. If this was to be a long trip, she wanted to keep control of herself. She opened her eyes quickly, though, as she heard someone walk into the back of the shuttle from the cockpit. She tried to hide her surprise as she saw V... and then struggled to fight her own panic as he explained their next 'lesson'.

She didn't have time to dwell on V's surprise re-appearance as the ship rocked violently. The other female acolyte, who hadn't strapped herself in before, was suddenly strapped in. Whether it was by her own Force or someone else's Alaisia was not sure, but she was glad to see it nonetheless. It still did nothing to ease her fears as the ship rocked yet again. She felt ripples through the ship as more missiles hit and she forced back a wave of panic. Again, she was in a situation where people might die. Yet again, she was helpless...

Fear seared through Alaisia again as the ship jolted again, just in time for her to hear V speak once again. "Acolytes, remain seated, don't fuss, and don't panic. The Force will guide you all to safety..."

It was easier said then done, especially with the other female acolyte across from Alaisia visibly hyperventilating (and even crying). This felt too much like her crash on Manaan. She doubted that the planet they were headed for a crash landing on would be as water-covered as that planet, which only made her fear worse. She started to gasp as it grew hard to breathe and struggled again to control the fear threatening to take over her. She glanced at the other acolytes, and then at V, before closing her eyes and retreating within herself to try to control her raging emotion.

 

[Taz]

He needed only speak his name and doom seemed to follow. The release of his lips seemed to spark something in the Maraluka. Not so much panic, as a call to action. The Master Sith seemed to move with a purpose he hasn't seen on Galtea. The sudden alarm sounding kicked in about the moment the tremor in the force did. He was not yet in tune enough in the ability to act before reacting but the words from his recruiter incited the young man to reach out.

The hole thing happened in a flash, but seemed like hours to the young man. Raith taking control over the crumbling situation, demanding action of the Crusader. The other humanoid male demanding his name be known before the end came. One girl about to crumble long before the ship made it's end, and the other seemingly turned to prey or meditate and except what was out of her control. All the while the spell caster doing what most would think did not come natural to Sith. He was attempting to save them, not just himself, but most if not all of them.

"Barrier" he repeated as the Duros moved with the speed of a Huttlet. Finally erecting the force barrier as ordered. The Arcanist, doing what he could to fuse his own ability with the Duros'. Virion could feel the building force energy. Could feel the struggle of both men.

"I will not die here, I will not die like this....in this durasteel tome", Virion bellowed with anger. "Don't just sit there fools help them", he continued.

The young Zabrak hybrid reaching out with his arms guiding his own will of the force. He wasn't totally sure if he was doing it correctly but he did was he could. Flowing his own force energy to add to that of the other two. Finally the last explosion rocked the tiny ship. A bone chilling scream came from the cockpit before the shuttle nosed into a descent.

---

The chasing vessel broke off for the moment seeing it's job done for the moment. The now engine less shuttle burst into a ball of fire as it entered the atmosphere of a tiny un-named swamp covered moon on the edge of the Perlemian trade route. The force barrier just strong enough to hold the ship together before the crash.

On entry the collided with a small cropping of trees, separating the cockpit. The remains were send into a cartwheel like spin ripping off the wings and engines and finally disintegrating most of the remaining hull. The sheer force of the crash causing the remaining living passengers to be cast in many directions.

The Duros, dead. The Arcanist beside him near the original impact site. The acolytes Kree and Lairiel, a few hundred yards away cast in the mud and muck along with the wings and other odd parts. Finally the two students of the Arcanist, Alaisia and Virion. Still in the body of the shuttle. Hanging at the edge of drop. A body of water waiting below.

 

[Vexillar]

The explosion rang all around them. It was brutal, violent, they all would have certainly died without the aid of the Crusader protecting them. Raith didn't have to find him to know he was dead, something of that magnitude didn't slowly drain his powers and life, it ripped it out of his body with gusto. Raith's own body was incredibly weak as well, his pool of power all but empty, and he could barely do anything besides lay there. He could sense them, however, the Acolytes. They were safe. His leg felt warm, but it took him a moment to realize it was his leg. He tried to roll over but when he did a roar erupted from his mouth summoned by the wave of pain that coursed through his body. He was fully awake now at least. Looking down slowly he cursed as he saw a rod poking through the very leg that caused him such trouble. He didn't dare try to expend anymore of his power to heal the wound, The best he could manage was to lay there and hope one of the Acolytes came to first. He didn't even know what planet they were on. Eezeo beeped a few times, and a small gasp slipped from the Arcanist lips. "E-eezeo?" The Miraluka asked weakly.

The droid crawled into view. He didn't look too good, a little banged up, but he was operational. "Eezeo...find th-the Acolytes...Need pro...visions a-and shelter." His body was now going into shock, wonderful. He didn't have much time. He cursed at his change of heart not to create a medical droid last month, it would have helped him out incredibly here. Now he had to rely on a remodified assassin droid, some Acolytes, and well that was about it. He had to get this wound taken care of before he lost anymore blood. "W-wait...Eezeo. The bar. Out." Was all he could manage. The droid obeyed without question, wrapping it's metallic tentacles around the bar and yanking it out without hesitation. The Miraluka grunted but embraced the pain. He welcomed it, and forced it to close his wound. Drawing on the final moments of the Duros, what suffering the Acolytes felt, his own damned fate, he forced the wound to mend through Dark Side Healing, a sickening sound emanating from his leg as flesh and muscle knit back together. He was tired, but he couldn't sleep now, if he rested he'd be in danger of losing control. He had to meditate. The Fanged God, Bogan, would see him to safety. So he rolled over onto his back and that's what he did, dismissing Eezeo to gather the others, the Miraluka just looked up at the sky. He bathed in hatred, wrapped himself up in hate, the Fanged God was a cruel master, but he was a good one to those who knew how to respect him. "Get us off rock..." He mumbled under his breath.

 

[Officer Griddlez]

Something warm was irritating him. It had been for not too long now, he just didn't know what it was. Gently pressing a hand against his forehead, he felt the liquid oozing out of the wound. Wiping the blood out of his eyes, he sat up. His all but speedy, rigid motion to sit upright caused him to keel over from the pain. Kree was on his back again; blood seeping out of the fresh wound above right eye. He didn't remember getting that wound, the last thing he remembered was getting a face full of E-75 blasters from the weapons racks. The welt it gave him was still there, in the center of his noggin. Something in him began to rise through his esophagus causing him to slowly turn over on all fours and vomited. The sour taste of bile and stomach acid almost made him vomit again but he held back. It was a bad idea to upchuck his last meal. Wiping his matted hair, covered and stuck together in congealed blood, he saw one of his fellow Acolytes. A meter away from him was Lairiel. Inching towards her in a painstakingly slow pace he finally reached her. He could still feel her presence; she wasn't dead. That was good. Placing and on her shoulder he began lightly shaking her.

"Hey... w-wake up. We've got to... move."

Carefully trying to speak so as not to eject everything in his stomach, he gave up. She was unconscious for the time being. This is annoying. Wiping dirt and grass off his hand onto his coat, he reached for his wound again. This time, he was gathering his pain and using it to picture his wound closing up. He pictured the sinews of flash reconnecting, the blood no longer flowing profusely out of his head, and imagined that it was closing. The wound did heal... sort of. Healing wasn't currently his specialty but it did somewhat close. It wasn't bleeding, and it was relatively lose. All that was there was pain and a deep scab. Trying to stand up was hard, his equilibrium was thrown off and he fell down a few times before he was able to stand upright. The scenery around him was dense jungle and soft earth. Humidity caused his clothes to cling to his skin from the excessive sweating. The ship was not too far from him, and it was in shambles. Hull fragments were scattered around him and various electrical components were half buried in the mud. One such mud covered object happened to be Kree's pack which was at one time stuffed with extra rations. A habit of his was trying to pack a feast into a small bag so he could eat relatively whenever he wanted. The pack was a few meters away, and as he trekked through the mixture of mud, blood, and ship parts he reached it. It was scorched, and shredded, and barely a third of the contents were undamaged but covered in mud.

After emptying the inedible protein bars, he crept back over to Lairiel. She was still unconscious, so he gently placed the torn pack on her stomach and gently picked her up. In case she had some serious cranial trauma, he really shouldn't pick her up; but leaving her in the mud wasn't exactly a good idea either. Cradling her, he kept his balance on the way to the ship. It wasn't really a ship anymore, though. Just a mass of twisted metal and blood. Now just a few yards away from the ship, he noticed that it was on a ledge. One wrong move or an error in judgement and the thing would surely fall down. Even more fretting was the cockpit... or lack thereof. Last he knew, it was right next to him. Now it wasn't even attached to the ship. How the hell am I still alive? But they had a Crusader with them, and unbeknownst to him also a master. Metallic whirring came form the ship, and seconds later a droid popped out. It appeared to be an assassin droid; which he remembered seeing on the ship. It survived too.

Laying Lairiels' unconscious form on the soft earth, propping her head up with his pack of rations he silently stepped towards the side of the ship. It was about to tip. Any sudden heavy movement would cause it to keel over the edge and plummet into the water below. There was life in there. Two people were still inside. Getting on his knees, Kree got into a meditative position. Mustering up all the pain in his rigid body, absorbing the sense of pain from those around him, and projecting it towards the ship he began his attempt at lifting it. After multiple tries to no avail other than metallic creaking, he began verbally cursing his inability to get the ship further back from the ledge.

He needed help.

 

[Sierrien]

Panic that she couldn't control had taken over her fragile mind; voices in her own head going crazy. She couldn't keep track of what was real and what wasn't. Then she didn't have to anymore - there was an explosion, and then darkness took her. Her body was thrown from the wreckage, and it was lucky that the ground was so muddy and swampy as it would at least somewhat cushion the blow. Her left arm was broken as she rolled to a stop, but even that didn't wake her right away. She was laying there for - she didn't know how long when she woke up the first time. In reality it was only a few moments after she stopped, but it was only a brief flit of consciousness before she fell back in to the darkness. She didn't hear the other acolyte who had landed near her stirring, or retching either. No reaction came for his shaking even, but once he picked her up she would let out a groan as it shifted her broken arm. Finally she was put down again, oblivious to the other Acolyte's plight of trying to pull the ship back from the cliff.

Her eyes would slowly open though, and her left hand moved towards her broken right arm. That didn't bode well; her left had was the one that she had issues with sometimes. Now she wouldn't be able to use her right arm for a while. And that was assuming they were going to live, anyways. She remained laying still besides that, feeling the odd 'pillow' underneath her head and staring up in to the sky. She was trying to figure out what had happened. They were in a ship, and then.. nothing. Her mind had blocked out what exactly had happened from a certain point until when she had just woken up in pain. And it was a decent amount of pain - she had never broken an arm before, and now was wishing she still had not experienced a broken arm. She was also cursing herself for not taking the time to learn how to use the Force to heal. Even as a Sith, it was clearly an invaluable tool. She wasn't sure if she'd have any affinity for it, but even a crappy healing would be better then no healing, she was pretty sure.

On the bright side, she could at least feel that the bone hadn't broken her skin, or really broken apart too badly. It was perhaps just a really bad fracture instead of a break, so despite being exceptionally painful, it at least wasn't life threatening. She had a hug headache as well, just like everyone else was probably going to have from hitting their heads a few too many times in the crash. And she knew it was a crash, even if she couldn't remember any details and didn't know how she had come to be laying exactly here with some kind of pillow set under her head. Her eyes closed and she let out a groan - and then they opened again. Wait, she had remembered a detail. Hadn't someone been shooting at them? And shouldn't that mean that whoever had shot them down... could be approaching right now to either finish them off of capture them? She certainly wasn't in a position to fight back. She wasn't sure how anyone else had fared yet, but she assumed no better.

She slowly sat up, a loud groan leaving her as her left hand came up to catch her head, rubbing it for a few moments before she looked towards the acolyte on his knees, clearly meditating and trying to.. she had no idea what he was trying to do. Meditating for some reason. "H-hey.." She called out to him, needing to clear her head a bit by getting some corroborating facts about what had happened. "Were we shot down, and.. if so, any signs of them coming after us now?"

 

[Alaisia]

Throbbing. Everything hurt as Alaisia came to. That was the first thing she was aware of. She could feel something warm and wet dripping down her arm. The second thing she noticed was creaking. It wasn't a big creak, so she didn't see it as that important. Groaning, she opened her eyes to find herself still belted into her seat. She glanced at her arm and saw a long gash running across the back of her arm, just below her elbow. It was bleeding, but not horribly so. She pressed her other hand over the wound, hissing in pain as it throbbed, and glanced around to view the rest of the shuttle... or what was left...

Across from her, the last acolyte to arrive was still strapped in like her... but the other two were gone as were V and the Duros who had called them on this 'mission'. More worrysome, the entire cockpit was missing. It had been a miracle they had stayed here in the shuttle. She wondered for a moment about the others, worrying if they were alive or not. She wished she was able to sense other Force Sensitives beyond her little self-taught 'bubble'. All she knew for certain with this was that the other acolyte with her was not dead. And for that she was relieved.

"Hey," Alaisia said, gasping as her chest erupted in pain. She was sure to have bruises where the belts had kept her safe. Safe but bruised. She paused for a moment before trying again. "Are you okay?"

She waited for a response but when she didn't receive one she decided to try to unbuckle herself. She struggled against the belts but something had crushed the buckle. She bit back a yelp of pain as she moved her arm to get a better grip to tug and tried shaking it as well. After a couple moments of nothing she tried shaking herself, moving back and forth within the belts to see if she could try to find a loose spot to slip through. She stopped, though, as the ship started to creak louder.

"Hey!" she yelled at the other acolyte, coughing as her chest erupted in pain again. "Please wake up!"