Open Sullust Springing Lieutenant Aran

[Talak Rand]

Talak wasn't one to waste an opportunity, and he didn't. The fact that she managed to keep track of opponents at either end of a hall was impressive, but that couldn't last long. Sooner or later she would mess up one of her parries. As the stun bolt flew past them both, Talak took advantage of her split attention.

When she turned to look at Crix and yank him toward her, the left saber activated and swung down, aiming to take her legs out from under her. His right blade blocked her backhand strike to his body. Focusing on the opposite direction, she had little chance of reacting to the attack let alone avoiding it with both of her hands occupied. Even a jump was precarious given the low ceilings of a hallway. Limited maneuverability.

He didn't hate Ana, even after everything, but he couldn't let her stop him from getting to Trys. Each moment wasted fighting her was another moment the Jedi were risking their lives.

Get Trys! he barked at Crix. Even if Crix had to make for one of the side halls and get around Ana, he had to get Trys out. Talak was confident in his own ability to hold off Ana.

On the off chance that Ana was still standing, Talak was at the ready and would continue to drive her back away from the cell.

I don't want to fight you, Ana. Get out! he said. This assuming she could walk. @Painus @Nefieslab

 

[Drow Venn]

Probes might have been sent out by the Sith from the fortress but any other fighters would have a bit of a delay since Drow's attack went unchallenged and undefended. The laser blasts fired into the hangar would have caused enough delays in its own right but a proton torpedo would have scrapped some fighters and possibly led to fires or a series of other explosions. Needless to say, the Sith hangar was in disarray and no other fighters would be taking off anytime soon. Satisfied that he could at least do that, Drow was disheartened to see that the Interceptor still hadn't pursued him, choosing instead to go after Izel and Isen.

Drow clucked his tongue nervously, his heart racing. Thoughts of fear and of doubt started overwhelming him before he set them aside with his Jedi training. The storm in his mind became a calm brook as he quickly weighed his options. With his attack run on the turrets and hangar successful, there wasn't too much more he could do the fortress itself without risking unncessary lives or the life of Talak or Trys as they hopefully made their escape. He could strafe the Eternal but given what happened the last time, Drow worried that the accursed monstrosity would just redirect his laser blasts and torpedoes against his fellow Jedi. Strafing the other Sith forces carried the same problem. All those options discarded, Drow took the best option available to him.

He then angled his Y-Wing towards the Interceptor. If the enemy ship didn't want to engage, then Drow would. Since the Interceptor was slowing down significantly, it was an easy shot for Drow to make. Wiley would have to either evade the ion blasts sent from the Y-Wing's turret or go forward with his attack and get hit.

@Darasuum

 

[The Eternal]

Insolent child. Even these "Jedi Masters" were nothing. Playing at being heroes and denying the true power of the Force. They would know and understand the full power of the Dark Side even if it was the last thing they ever did.

An arc of lightning shot out from the Eternal's hand, tearing into Hannibal as it flung him back, aiming to send him into the lava. It could sense the incoming Jedi trying to get back to their own, and it wasn't about to allow that. The Jedi Master was undoubtedly out of the fight, and the Eternal began to shift its focus back toward the approachers as they drew closer.

The skies began to rumble once again, roiling clouds forming in the sky as the Eternal drew on its rage and hatred. They would be driven back from its fortress. They would learn their place or they would end in lava and blood. @Mr. Teatime

 

[Preef Callo]

Preef had hardly seen his shot impact the Jedi when he picked up a bolt in his peripheral vision coming towards him fast. He quickly dropped himself on his left side, legs first and sliding through the ash narrowly avoiding the bolt as it flew overhead. He immediately knew who had taken a shot at him, after all, he was responsible for pinning the human down and separating him from the group of jedi.

Meanwhile the Eternal's hand crackled lightning and Preef's previous target was done for, leaving the rodian open for a new course of action. With the Dark Lord of the Sith positioned between himself and the other Jedi, Preef quickly pushed off from the ground and ran left. This way he'd approach the sniper, who was still lying on the ground and looking through a scope, but as long as he didn't run straight for him it would be damned difficult to adjust position and follow the rodian accurately through the rifle's scope.

This wasn't all Preef did, though. He didn't get known as one of the best gunslingers in the Five Syndicates, maybe even the best, if he couldn't shoot and run at the same time. Prepared to dodge another incoming bolt, Preef nevertheless aimed his own blaster and shot towards the human's rifle (@darkrei9n). The intent was clearly to make it impossible for the senator to continue being a threat by taking out the rifle, or at least preventing him from firing it accurately.

 

[Crix Aran]

People throwing up a hand didn't usually mean anything but when they were Sith it meant something was going to rush up and hit you. Usually right in the face because they were dirty fighters every one of them! Still, he had been focusing on aiming when she threw her hand up at him so he had less than the best chance to get away from it. Trying to throw himself to the side to avoid it, he got clipped on the shoulder and he went spinning backward.

That was totally going to bruise like a karker!

Still, it wasn't enough to put him down, not when his mom was so close! Instead he grimaced and realized he was going to be a little stiff with his blaster... hopefully he wouldn't need to try and shoot someone else in the near future or, if he did, he could swap hands because that arm hurt to move. Bruising was gonna be a karker, like he thought before.

Cursing, he saw her trying to mess with him again and this time he was ready. He jumped to move back round the corner he had originally come from, breaking the line of sight to avoid being yanked over to her. Why did she keep doing that?! Was he a rock to be thrown around or something?

Ugh the sooner he could get round her the better.

"I KNOW Talak but she's blocking the karking door!"

Honestly though, he trusted that Talak would do something about that.

He would kneel down to be lower to the ground than when he went round the corner, using the cover to sheath the knife and move the gun to the other hand, leaning out low to fire another stun bolt at the Sith's torso instead of her legs this time (teenagers could totally learn their lessons) from the other end of the corridor that Talak was coming from. That way even if he missed very badly it wouldn't hit Talak - he wouldn't want to have to tell his mom that story.

@Painus @Phoenix

 

[Darth Vyrassu]

There was swelling of sadness in the Jedi. A hint of anger too, in him and in the tone of his voice. She fed on his emotions, though the air was filled by the very Dark Side itself and it fueled her greatly.

She didn't answer his pleas. "Do you feel that?" she asked instead, as the Dark Lords clouds roared overhead. "The power in the air... the fear and pain of your friends."

There was not much to distract her when the Jedi reached out. She prepared herself when a burst of sand and soot engulfed her. The assault controlled by a Jedi (@Reyn) in the distance. A few sharp rocks caught up in it cut her, otherwise the sand and soot did little to bother her. Vyrassu sent a wave of energy—a repulse—around her. Sending sand, soot and the lava sent at her at the same time by Maxims, bursting outwards and away. Though the Darth did not stop after the repulse, she reached out and ensnared Max with the Force.

Her stasis would only be able to hold for a short time. Perhaps a handful of seconds, but it'd prevent him from immediately closing the gap between them. It also left him open to attacks from others.

@Nefieslab

 

[Izel Thral]

With her focus fixed on the dark councilor Izel didn't see the Force push coming, especially not from the Sith she considered out of the fight at this point (@DarkSaber ). The Vratix took it like a punch to the gut, gasping in surprise and pain as she was pushed backwards. Her feet struggled to cling to the rocky earth as she slid back, doubling over for a moment and clutching her stomach as she tried to get her wind back. Panting she looked up, spotting the dismembered Sith lying on the ground quite a ways a way, sensing his hatred and malevolence as he raised a blaster to fire two shots at her. His determination was impressive, but she was well out of range of his blaster, the shots going wide with her barely needing to move at all.

The attack did her one favor though. With her focus no longer solely on the dark councilor she could sense the interceptor pilot (@Darasuum ) returning, focusing his malicious intent on both her and her apprentice. Looking up she saw the fighter incoming, as well as Drow's Y-Wing tailing him (@Fantasy Liver ) and gaining. Alright, if he wanted so badly to be the focus of their attention, he would receive it.

"Isen move!" She warned her Padawan (@Isen ) before using a Force augmented jump to leap out of the way of the incoming strafe. Upon landing she turned and shouted again. "With me! Stasis!" Holding an interceptor would be no easy feat, but with her efforts and her apprentice's combined, she figured she could slow the fighter's movements enough to allow Drow to finish it off. Raising her hands the Vratix lashed out with the Force, trying to halt the interceptor's movement as it passed by.

 

[Nykoria Tallis]

The F word wasn't nearly enough to describe how bad things were. I didn't know it back then though. There were reasons not to give up on hope yet. The Sith were out of their fortress, Izel and Isen were getting close, we were about to even the odds... Pffft, "even the odds" my purple rear! I just didn't know what the Eternal could do. Or rather, it hadn't fully sunk in yet.

With Izel and Isen helping Max, and my shot at his adversary hitting nothing but air, I had to make a choice. It was an obvious one: help Hannibal. I think he'd hate to admit it, but he was outnumbered and outmatched there. So yeah, I never stopped rushing towards the site. There was some distance still between me and the inevitable jump to the battleground across the lava stream. So I wouldn't take that jump just yet.

...​

First things first: the guy without the legs (@Nobody) blown away by my previous push still attempted to use the Force. When I sensed a wave of his Force energy blowing by my side—too narrow and precisely-focused on Izel to hit me—I was already lining up my shot and taking the final steps to get within the shooting distance again. After all, the stun pistol had never left my right hand, and I never stopped approaching.

While he was taking aim and shooting at Izel—a futile attempt, given that Izel was even farther than me—I stopped to take my own shot at a seemingly-immobile target. Then another one half-a-second later. A heavy stun charge from the M3—two, if all goes as planned—had to put that matter and the Sith to rest. Believe me, we had bigger problems.

...​

And by bigger problems I meant the Dark Lord of the Sith, who was shooting lightning at Hannibal (@Mr. Teatime). Its power was immense; the dark side was literally pouring through the Sith's hand. It's fueled by emotions, you know, and all Zeltrons—even those who can't hear the Force—are VERY sensitive to such things. So believe me when I say that the arrogance in that thing was something else entirely. I never thought I'd say that, but that spoiled and annoying cheerleader from Coruscant high school has nothing on the Eternal's vanity.

And its rage... Kriff! Zeltrons are taught to lock themselves out of the emotions of others, or else you'd be living someone else's life. Jedi too are taught to keep their own emotions and anything they pick up in check. I had to go through both. It was impossible to fully ward off the Eternal's rage. All I could do was try my best.

The skies above were boiling again; so was the lava below; it felt like even the blood in my cheeks was boiling. The only bright side was that it helped me cope with fear. Yes, Jedi do fear, believe me or not. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise. It's all about overcoming it, or at least not letting it rule your actions. And mine was one of the most foolish ever attempted. Are you ready for it?

I shot at @The Eternal with my M3. Yes, with a stun pistol. Right at the torso. Don't judge me.​

It seemed like a pretty clear shot! You know, with the Dark Lord being preoccupied with zapping Hannibal and then trying to bring down the thunder again. It had stopped once, when our Y-Wing tried to blow up that karker. Some evidence that the Dark Lord wasn't as omniscient and all-powerful was comforting.

I just wish I had kept my cool to shout something witty at it. Like "Hey, karker, kriff your forecasts!" No, doesn't work? Alright. The truth is, I weren't fully myself at that point. If I ever experienced "going with the flow", that would be it: legs run themselves, the lightsaber still ignited and ready for a flourish to knock away any stray blaster bolt.

I guess that's why Jedi have such rigorous training: to have the body develop reflexes. Maybe I had let the Force take over my actions for a moment. But all I had to really focus on was taking aim, pulling the trigger, and holstering my gun. Somehow, I knew it wouldn't decide the outcome of the fight.

Besides, aren't you even a little bit curious how the Eternal would defend itself? It hadn't drawn a kriffing lightsaber yet, but I had no illusions: the two previous shots must've alerted it. Surely, the stun bolt would just dissipate on impact, freeze mid-air, or fly through the karker. Then again, I doubt that it'd even expect such crude and uncivilized weapons to be used against it. Might even take it as an insult. In short, do not repeat at home.​

@DarkSaber, @Mr. Teatime, @The Eternal

 

[Isen Ramm]

The teenage Padawan also felt that familiar signature in the Interceptor (@Darasuum ) coming back for another pass. And, Isen supposed, that was good tactics. It would been folly for him not to try to finish the job. Isen was a bit more in his element on the ground however, and he had his teacher and mentor, Izel Thral to help out besides. Isen Force jumped up and to the left and used a technique he had first tried in the forests with Izel Thral in their first meeting. As he reached the peak of his jump, He Force pushed on the immovable ground, and allowing him to get an additional surge away from the blasts. He had gotten much better at it since he first tried it back at the beginning of his training with the Vratix. He landed gracefully in time to hear Master Thral (@Reyn ) say, "With me! Stasis!"

"Yes, Master!" Isen yelled back over the noise. These sorts of techniques weren't in Isen's wheelhouse, but he was getting better at them with Izel's teaching. They absolutely were her strengths, and she amazed Isen regularly with her creativity and power in the Force. To Isen's advantage, her teachings were filling in the deficiencies in Isen's Jedi repertoire. He would be a well-rounded Jedi, he was confident in that, if he listened to her and did as she said. With Izel being off to one side of the Interceptor, and Isen trying to hold and pull on the other, he was hopeful that not only might they slow the Interceptor down, but perhaps prevent sudden evasive maneuvers to either the right or the left.

 

[Hannibal Grayza]

THEME​

All things considered, Hannibal could be having a better day. If it was just the Sith and the gunner he was pretty sure he could at least cause them trouble, but with the Eternal locking him down there wasn't much he could do. The Dark Lord's focus was too sharp to squirm out of and too powerful to peel off quickly. The Light answered the Jedi Master's call to defense almost automatically as the masked Eternal's intentions shifted toward the more directly malicious.

Hannibal was pretty sure the attack was going to suck. But that didn't mean he was going to give up so easily. If one thing could be said with certainly by those who had come to know him well, it was that the young Jedi's casual grins and jokes masked an unyielding will and determination. If he was going down he was going to throw in a cheap shot on the way to the floor.

Even as the durasteel bands of the Dark Side cracked and fell away a bolt of lightning screamed toward him from the Eternal's outstretched hand. Too quick to dodge, too powerful to block or deflect. Attenuate was the only real choice. The Force rushed into and through him, coiling around his body and the ground beneath. His guard shifted slightly, injury across his ribs screaming in protest at even that slight movement, but it would have to do. The real question was how to get the retaliatory strike in. Where was an opening? The Eternal's defenses were solid iron, layers upon layers. Unless..? The lesson from the Grandmaster, words from long, long ago, was far more spiritual than Hannibal usually liked, but perhaps it was worth a shot. He trusted the Force to guide him.

Time seemed to slow. Crackling bolts of eldritch power burned the air before him, and at the moment of barest contact, as the Eternal's intent connected him with Hannibal, he made his move. The only move he really had. The Jedi Master's mind struck out toward the Eternal's, the last resort of a coiled snake facing its end.

I DEFY YOU! his thoughts echoed as he tried to thread the needle of his own strike in the tiniest defensive gap. Thoughts, feelings, sounds, smells, colours, pain, love, duty, the barest moments and snippets of memory, everything all at once rushed through. It could be best described as psychic static, a flood of complete nonsense to widen the gap before he got in. It resolved into a reflection of how Hannibal himself saw the Force, and how it saw him.

The chaos of voices and colours and sensations that weren't really there, the way a battlefield felt through his connection to the Living Force, the countless echoes of life and death. How it really felt to be intimately part of the energy of life in the galaxy. Hannibal attacked the greatest evil in the galaxy with the concept of empathy, if even it could be called an attack at all. He showed the Eternal exactly what he was fighting for and why. Showed them what it meant for him to fight and kill.

Hannibal's presence froze solid, arctic and still, tempered determination and focus all on the Eternal itself. Frost covered everything, every thought and feeling and fleeting sound muffled within a fortress of ice, and Hannibal tried to freeze the Eternal along with it. To slow their thoughts and their focus, bind it even for a moment in the indifferent chill, bury them in cold. He showed them that despite what it meant for him, his intent was pure and clear. The intent to kill the Eternal, unburdened by hate or anger. It was an impersonal feeling, indifferent. The cold didn't care about the Eternal, just that it needed to die to allow spring to return.

Then the attack fully struck him. Unbridled energy impacted his emerald blade, but the attack had too much power and control to be grounded so simply. Bolts moved down the blade and outright avoided it, striking him directly. The Force defended him, serving as an ablative armor that partially absorbed the blow, but it still burned him. It snaked across his skin and through muscle, scorched holes in his armour and carved smoking furrows in flesh. He was able to keep it away from anything too important and send some into the ground, but that was all he could do. The power built up in that moment more quickly than he could disperse it even with how much he was taking, and his defense failed in a second's time.

The coursing lightning broke through his guard and burned through his lightsaber, sending Hannibal flying back through the air toward the river of lava. Just a moment more, c'mon, c'mon he thought weakly, giving everything he had left to ride the momentum of the attack farther than the Eternal had intended to throw him. It didn't need to be perfect, but it would have to be enough. The currents of the Force guided him over the molten stone, the heat added new scorch marks to his armour, before he fell somewhere behind it.

He landed hard, the burned and shattered shell of his original lightsaber falling out of his grip as he rolled, then slid, to a stop. There he lay, smoking and still on the ashen ground beside his weapons, presence in the Force nearly vanished from sight and sense.

@Phoenix

 

[The Eternal]

Everything was still. Few in the galaxy saw the Force as the Eternal or subjected it to their power in the same way. It could feel the Jedi attempt to penetrate its mental defenses. A cold hoping to consume the flaming rage of the Eternal. But what he would find was not a frozen Eternal but an empty void of darkness. It consumed all it touched, the frozen sheets of cold were simply absorbed into the darkness as it consumed all else that it touched.

Passing down the same path that Hannibal had opened came a rushing torrent of darkness into the Jedi's mind. He would not only see but feel an entire planet destroyed, snuffed out in an instant. Death on a scale he had never before felt. He would be able to feel the fiery, burning rage that threatened to engulf everything it touched while also sucking in all that it could consume. It was darkness unlike any Hannibal had previously experienced (@Mr. Teatime).

The moment ended before Hannibal had even moved a few feet. The Eternal could sense the violence in the air, the intent to harm, and saw the bolts from the Jedi it had already planned to engage, fired at a different target. When the shots transitioned to the Eternal from the far Jedi, the Eternal's lightsaber was already there, sweeping up from belt and activating in a single motion as it came to hand, slamming into the bolt, dissipating it as if swatting a fly (@Catbert). An attempt to put off the storm swirling in the clouds above?

You don't want a storm? Then watch your friend die.

Its other (left) hand came up and scorching lightning tore out of the appendage and toward the Jedi Master (@Nefieslab) who had been ensnared by the Dark Councilor. He, too, would suffer the agony of the lightning that had even burned out the saber of the last Jedi Master. If death didn't seize him, incapacitation would. Against the might of a Councilor and the Dark Lord of the Sith, he had little recourse. His friends across the river of lava could do nothing to save him now. He was alone.

 

[Nobody]

The marauder curses as he realizes the Jedi (@Izel Thral) is out of range; she takes the shove but barely notices him as she turns to focus on a Jedi starfighter. Of course, he doesn't notice that; what he notices is the other Jedi in his line of sight leveling a blaster at him as he pulls the trigger.

The terrain is perfect for battles like this; it has rocks sitting nearby whenever one might feasibly need them. As she pulls the trigger, he starts to drop on his back (his legs weren’t giving much leverage anyways) and prepares to roll towards a boulder a mere foot away. The first bolt flies right over where he would’ve been; his right hand is already outstretched in her direction, lightsaber in its grip; he ignites it just in time to block the second from hitting his position.

After continuing to roll with the momentum of igniting his saber, he's in a safe camping position behind the boulder (about three feet high) and peaks out, lightsaber still ignited, to aim in her direction. She’s turned her focus to the Eternal who, more or less, laughs at her foolish attempt; he takes advantage of any distraction she might have as he goes for Max. He de-ignites his saber (she might try to smash him with his own boulder, how sad), and spams the trigger, ready to duck back if she starts shooting.

6 shots later (assuming nothing interrupts his continued attack), all aimed towards her legs, hopefully she will be lying on the ground in pain, unable to continue in the attack. She seemed to be confident in his inability to escape the bolts; nevertheless, she most likely wouldn’t be surprised by his shots. It’d been at least three seconds in between the bolt deflection and his first shot, so she’d have time to adjust.

The Eternal is closer now, and he's not worried about melee attacks taking advantage of his lack of appendages. He keeps his right hand ready to prevent his boulder from moving around in a most unfortunate manner, happy that at least she’s in range. A distraction is all he's going for; who knew, maybe she wasn’t paying attention.

@Catbert @Phoenix ​

 

[Wiley Winnz]

​

The interceptor was slowed but still traveling at high speed. Slow for Wiley who traveled at 115 MGLT on average was not the same for everyone else. But, when a jedi put their mind to somethin they could really focus, even if it was going to get themselves killed. The jedi he targeted moved away from their rocks and decided evasive manuevers was the choice. "AhaHAHAHaaa!" He laughed at seeing them try to avoid getting blasted by his casual havoc.

THEME ​

There was a sensation, the type that he didn't much care for, deceleration. A ping came on his scopes, it seemed the Jedi weren't he only ones that could be too focused at times. The Y wing that had been elsewhere and ignored by the marauder up until this point. But now its signature came up behind him and it was getting target lock with its ships computers. "BLOODY-" He jerked to the side in the hopes of his own evasive maneuvering but that would prove a mistake as even the padawan and exerted veratix's attempt at halting an entire starfighter would have some affect. A lucky shot from the Y-wing @Fantasy Liver ) would knock out one of the engines to Wiley's A-9, causing one of its engines to immediatly go out and the ship begin to tip and nose dive directly towards @Izel Thral and @Isen Ramm .

Wiley had his own consequences to deal with. Hitting the ejector seat he angled his chair back and his head facing more towards the sky as his own body, lighter and with the momentarily delayed thrust, would be angled forward more as he knew from experience falling down wasn't the only danger. The man tried to focus on the ground flying just meters beneath him and the line of dust that must be leaving just from his own wake. Even with all of that he focused on enhancing his own resilience and reaction to minimize damage while the chair did most of the work. An ejection was meant mostly for space and when one was high enough in the atmosphere and with how fast he tended to travel, slow was relative. It doesn't count as high ground if there's no bloody ground!

@Isen @Fantasy Liver @Reyn

 

[Preef Callo]

Preef watched as his shot struck the barrel of the sniper's rifle and melted it shut (@darkrei9n) and he immediately came to a halt. The human was on the other side of a lava river neither of them could cross, totaling a distance of 20 meters between them. Whatever the human tried now would make no difference, so Preef stopped running and while he kept the man in his peripheral vision he turned back towards the Eternal.

It looked like the Eternal and the crazy chick, who Preef remembered was called a Darth by one of the soldiers inside the fortress, were picking off the Jedi one by one with ease. The rodian figured he'd helped, but --- the kriff!? One of the starfighters that had been dogfighting in the atmosphere was hit and going down fast, right smack towards the jedi. As it collided the ground shook and the explosion send a cloud of ash around the place of impact. Karking Frogs, the whole field was one big mess of dead jedi, spouting lava and a crashing spaceship wouldn't help make it any less dangerous.

He knew he was only about twenty meters from the walls right now and about the same distance from the Eternal, so the rodian cast one last look at the human. "They might find your charred corpse tonight," he sighed and shook his head. If this was supposed to be a terrorist attack then the Jedi were awful at it... Preef couldn't quite figure out what other reason the Jedi Order had to go this deep into Sith Space with such a terrible plan. "Or maybe you manage to escape," he shrugged now, deciding he didn't much care either way.

"Oh who am I kidding?" he cried as he raised his blaster towards the human again and pulled the trigger. The bolt would fly accurately across those twenty meters to hit the man's right shoulder (@darkrei9n). He wasn't going to let anyone get away with taking a shot at him. He was karking Preef Callo!

 

[Ana DAmico]

Ana quickly found herself overwhelmed by Talak’s advance. Paying attention to the child in the hallway brought with it miseries of its own, and she soon found herself caught in an extremely disastrous situation. The ignition of Talak’s second blade set off alarms in her head, and she acted without fully grasping the situation. His second saber went low, and she went high; she was short, so aiming at her legs meant that he’d need to swing a little lower than usual, allowing her a very limited opportunity to jump over the blade and avoid a quick figure shortening.

Crix broke her line of sight and she elected to ignore him entirely; what could some teenager do in a fight against trained Force users? She had better things to worry about, so she focused entirely on Talak. With how quickly she had to respond to the sudden introduction of a new saber, plus the small confines of the hallway, she had little room to maneuver. Talak's second blade passed harmlessly beneath her, but to avoid a quick follow-up backhand to take her legs off anyways, she landed at an odd angle and threw herself back. Ana cried out in mild pain at the impact and stumbled backwards onto the ground.

She prayed she had enough time to get back on her feet before Talak advanced for the killing blow. If this were the case, she’d scramble back along the deck and drag herself up using the wall for support, lightsaber held in her free hand and pointed at Talak. ”You could have had everything!” she spat at him, ”The empire you wanted. That we wanted! Was she worth the deaths of so many?” She didn’t press any attack, but rather remained on the defensive, nursing her tweaked ankle.

A maelstrom of negative emotions battered her, amplified by the overwhelming darkness of the planet and the Eternal’s proximity. Jealousy, hatred, and fear found themselves occupying her thoughts, and all she could focus on was the betrayal she felt. Talak had started her on this twisted path before throwing it all away and seeking redemption, and for what? A diseased Order and a galaxy tired and afraid of the Jedi-Sith conflict? He wanted stability and order, and he threw away his chances at it, prolonging the conflict between their sects. It could have been solved so simply, and yet this was where they now found themselves.

She didn’t even care about this fight or about the woman she was stopping him from reaching. She was angry and afraid; angry at Talak for having the gall to come here and afraid of what the Eternal might do to her if she failed. Desperately, she clung to the power radiating from this world to stay strong, even though she knew that this was a losing battle. She wasn’t the swordsman Talak was, and the limited confines of this hallway made it difficult to do anything beyond engage in melee and put herself between her foe and the prisoner.

It was all just a cosmic joke to her. The Force was toying with its little pawns in some unknown grand scheme.

@Phoenix @Nefieslab

 

[Maxims Tionson]

He could feel it.

He could feel all of the fear and the pain and he knew, he could acknowledge, that some of it was his own. But his fear of breaking his own rule against killing was nothing compared to the fear he felt for his friends. It urged him own, it urged him to push through the repulse even as it buffeted him with it's power and the debris it had picked up.

Urged him to break on through and to just Kill the Enemy. He had hamstrung himself the entire fight, not fighting with the intention of killing her and now it had cost him, cost his friends, dearly. The Dark Side was there, scratching at his mind insistently as the repulse ended and he started molding the Force into a noose as he did so.

The Dark was patient, whispering encouragement to him to do it. To slip it around her neck and Break It. To kill her to protect Hans and Kori and Izel and the others. To kill her because it would be a better distraction for Talak. To kill her because She Took Nash Away From Him!

It was that last thought that made him release his hold on the Force, let the noose break apart before it ever formed as he was suspended by her stasis technique. Nash was gone and it had hurt like hell and likely always would but he was a Jedi and he knew that Nash was a part of the Light now and would always be waiting for him - so long as he stayed within the Light. Instead he started to resist the stasis, intent on going back to his fight and disarming the Darth who seemed to favour the Force over bladework.

But then it hit and he would be lying if he said he had no idea what hit him - he had felt the presence of the Mask on Mandalore and suddenly it didn't matter what he was planning on doing. All he could see was white and all he could hear was the screeching of lightning.

He thought he was screaming but he couldn't hear it and his entire body was rigid, locked in place from stasis and lightning at once. Then the stasis was released and he was flying through the air like he was launched from a cannon, soaring through the air in an arc that sent him careening into the distance.

Landing brought no reprieve from the pain - he felt the crunch of his ribs even though he still couldn't hear it. Twitching without any thought, Max managed to open his swollen eye to look down at himself, to look down at the results. He couldn't see the Eternal or anyone else from where he had landed so he could only look at himself. His armour melted to his right side from the force and the heat of the lightning, robes stuck to electrical burns all up his right arm.

And his right hand, split in two.

The lightsaber in his right hand had exploded outward and rather than shredding his hand totally, his grip had been too tight due to his muscles locking up from the stasis and the lightning. Instead it had split his hand and forearm up along the length of the bone, to his elbow. His thumb, pointer finger and pinky remained but the middle two, and a large canyon of flesh, was just gone all the way up to his elbow.

Two halves of his forearm and hand twitched in different directions to each other and Max could hear himself scream this time.

@Dread @Phoenix

 

[Crix Aran]

He was more than a little bit out of his depth here - he really needed to get training soon - and he couldn't help but feel like a liability here.

But it was for his mom.

As Talak advanced on her, Crix holstered his blaster pistol and drew his knife as he ran along the hall. Rather than try and interfere with the situation Talak was dealing with, he instead reached the cell and started on the lock. It was part metal and part machinery like most locks were these days but it was more physical than he thought.

Cells this deep into the lair of the beast probably didn't need to be built like bank vaults.

He broke the lock with the subtle guidance of the Force guiding his instincts and his desperation driving him to rake the knife harder against the lock than he had thought possible. It broke and the cell opened - leading to Crix practically spilling into the cell as he scrambled to her.

"M-mom! Mom oh... oh Force mom please be alright... I'm sorry!"

Tears were already streaming.

"I'm sorry mom it... it's my fault! You gotta be okay...!"

His voice was scratchy, hoarse, as he reached for her.

@Sreeya @Phoenix @Painus

 

[Tycho Berand]

Tycho dropped the rifle, letting it rest from his shoulders on its sling. The damn Rodian had to be eliminated. He swore he could hear the Rodian bragging about how they had him dead to rights then the sound of blaster fire striking his rock once more as he shifted into better cover. He took a minute to peek at the Rodians position before he reached into the pouch containing the thermal detonator and waited for a lull from the Rodian before arming it and tossing it. In a smooth motion he drew the blaster pistol from its holster and braced himself on the opposite side of the rock where the Rodian was shooting at, while shouting to his comrades. "Thermal out!"

He immediately unleashed on the Rodian (@Eccles ) with his blaster pistol, letting off five shots. Why the Rodian would leave cover to come at him he would never know, but now he had the advantage over to the crazy Rodian standing out in an open field. Ducking behind cover the senator took the opportunity to glance back over at the melee taking place. It did not look good for their side, although the interceptor in the air going was good news for their escape. Tycho keyed his own commlink to the astromech in his X-Wing. "Bring the ship around, I think we're about to retreat from this fight." He peeked out to glance at the status of the Rodian, letting out a wild shot before slipping back into cover. Keying his commlink once more, this time over a guard frequency he hoped the Jedi would be listening to, "May I recommend a retreat? It appears someone just lost their lightsaber and I'm no longer keen about these odds."

@Eccles @Catbert @Nefieslab @Mr. Teatime @Isen @Reyn

 

[Talak Rand]

She had managed to evade his strike, and the saber met nothing but air as he continued to advance. She fell back, stumbling slightly as she landed, but Talak was not going to toy with Trys's life at this point. Not when he was this close to the goal. The left saber flashed out once again and he advanced toward her.

I tried to get you to come with me. To leave, he said. Her words cut deeper than he wanted to admit. There were people here risking their lives for this, and that meant he had to succeed or die trying.

Is this the Empire you wanted? he asked. Her saber was pointed out toward him and his own extended out, tapping against hers slightly in a probing attack. He would continue to advance before swinging laterally, looking to pin her saber to the wall before thrusting forward to force her back once again.

He didn't really want it to hit her, though it would if she didn't retreat. On the off chance that she managed to free her blade to strike him, he was ready to deal with that if necessary.

@Painus @Nefieslab

 

[SenatorRosannaSnowel]

Rossana was too slow! Damn it Ro, almost there! The female Senator continued her sprint, closing the distance as horror abounded all around her. The Jedi were losing numbers fast, one was cut down, two more barely dodged an explosion. Rossana was sick of losing, they needed to even the odds. Turn the tides-but they also needed to escape. The anger that began to build in her a moment ago ceased as she realized she’d need to be working WITH the force, not against it, she felt peace-not light nor dark, she felt the force. Inside of her, inside of her allies, even inside of her enemies. The redhead’s blue eyes narrowed with determination, she could see the Sector Ranger (@Tycho Berand ) have his gun blasted shut as he cowered behind a rock, thankfully soon she was right next to him, just as the disguised Senator called out “Thermal out!”

The metal explosive device began to sail through the air. It would presumably hit the ground near Preef, but now at peace with herself, at one with the force. With the dark voice that had been plaguing her silenced, she smiled as she realized she could help the wounded ranger, so she called out to Tycho, “Here’s a boost!” Her hands outstretched, she pushed outward, using as much force as she could to slam the metal ball of a bomb forward in the direction of the rodian sharp shooter’s chest. (@Preef Callo ) The device began to soar the through the air at a much more accelerated rate, the rodian would have no time to react before the metal device would slam into his chest, presumably slamming him to the ground.