The Fall of Korriban: Destruction of the Temples

[Valen Pelora]

The Great Temple on Korriban stands as the black beating heart of the Sith Order. It has housed the great monsters who sucked the life from the galaxy. Murderers. Sycophants. Coruscant has never been the soul of the Sith. Korriban has always been their home, the Temple a monument to their power. The strength of the Sith is failing and with it the strength of the Empire. If the Temple falls, the Sith will follow. Break their heart. Break the Empire.

The Jedi Order was not broken on Ziost. Their convictions were only made more real. The Great Temple on Korriban sits alone in a valley of terrible darkness. The Sith know we are coming, but it does not matter. The Defenders are entrenched but it does not matter. The full strength of the Jedi Order has landed on Korriban. The Soldiers of the Light, the Jedi, and all of their artillery have come to the Temple. It will be brought down. Our forces have massed at the head of the valley. The commander of the assault, a venerable Bothan Jedi, can be heard speaking over the coms. His name, General Ba’zu.

“Brother. Sisters. They ripped out our heart, let’s go rip out theirs.” A simple command was given and the war began. Ba’zu had his orders. He knew how this had to end.

OOC: Death Disabled.

​

 

[Fantasy Liver]

"Yes, General. Making my first pass now." Moku commed over to his Bothan superior from his Antarian Starfighter. The nomadic Rodian Jedi liked Ba'zu as a person and certainly respected him as a military leader but talk of ripping out the Sith's heart sounded a little...bloodthirsty to Moku. Perhaps he had gone soft in his travels but in his mind, the Jedi should be here to help stop the threat of the Sith and not for any misguided revenge plot. Oh well - he had travelled too much of the galaxy to let someone else's views or a poor choice of words to affect him. Ba'zu was in charge and, whether it was moral or not, the Sith did have this coming.

"This is Quartz Leader. All fighters report in." Moku commanded as his Antarian Starfighter ripped through the sky and blasted its cannons at any Sith defenders that he saw on the ground. Quartz Squadron was a small fighter sqaudron made up of less than a dozen Antarian Rangers and their ships. While Moku was hardly the greatest pilot among the Jedi, his Force ability and the fact that he had a starfighter on him earned him the rank of Quartz Leader. He hoped his piloting skills would be enough. The smallest squadron on the battlefield, Quartz Squadron had been delegated the task of supporting the infantry troops by picking off Sith targets on the ground.

"Call out any targets you need us to hit!" he instructed his fellow Jedi over his ship's commlink, trying to calm his mind as the battle began around him.

 

[AutoFox]

Korriban was a dead thing, so far as X3R could surmise.
The droid was ancient, and had fought on many battlefields. This was not the first time he had fought alongside Jedi, and though their "Force" was not a thing he - with his entirely mechanical form - could sense or manipulate, it was something that he could recognize. He had seen the Force perform miracles, and he had also seen it used for great evil.
And from what X3R could see, from the way his Jedi comrades reacted to the place, the droid could tell he was standing on a world every stone of which was an atrocity of the Dark Side.
Looking up, he watched as a flight of Jedi starfighters swooped overhead, on their way to provide close air support against the enemy positions ahead. Behind him, the thunder of giant guns echoed through the valley, their shells raining down on the low, ugly pyramids which were the temples of the Sith.
And as usual, X3R was marching into the thick of things.
The dry, choking dust swirled around the ancient droid, kicked up by thousands of marching feet. The Jedi, obviously, were the leaders of the operation, but countless non-Force sensitive support personnel marched with them into the chaos ahead; X3R, normally a mercenary, had come to join them.
Deep in the oldest, most irrational part of his cognitive matrix, he knew he had to be there at the end.
X3R was old, very old, and this was not the first war against the Sith he had fought in. Stretching back thousands of years, to a time even before they called themselves Sith, he had seen the horrors they had inflicted on the Galaxy. He had seen planets burn. Had seen sentients destroyed in ways too hideous to describe. All to sate the appetite for power shared by nearly all who wielded the Dark Side.
Every so often, the Light would push back. The Sith would be driven back to some obscure corner of the Galaxy, and stew for a century or so, plotting their grand revenge.
The cycle repeated itself over, and over, and over.
But this time was different.
X3R was standing on Korriban, the dark heart of the Sith Empire. No Jedi or Republic army had set foot here before, as far as the droid could recall.
If the Sith had been driven back this far, there was a chance that this time, maybe they would not recover.
This time, it could end.
X3R needed to be sure of that. And so, he strode into the seat of the Dark Side, ready to tear it down with blasters, heatbeams, his bare manipulators.
Whatever it took.

 

[Valen Pelora]

They had finally come, the foolish followers of a dying religion. Oh, the Empire had taken blows from the Jedi the last few months but they would survive. The Sith could not be ended so easily. Korriban was their home. The true bastion of their power, the greatest Darkside nexus in the galaxy. It would not fall to the foolish Jedi. The Great Temple had never felt the caress of the Light. No Jedi would enter the Temple. The Empire was ruled by a Sith, but the Order was devoid of true leadership. There were no more Darths. No more great and powerful Sith Lords. They were dead and gone. The Inquisition remained. They protected the Temple.

Ferras Zo’lara was a great beast of a man. He was heavily armored head to toe, a billowing white cape attached at his shoulders. Scars crisscrossed his ugly visage. He was the best the Templars had to offer and he commanded the defense of the Great Temple. He was seen as a brute but behind his dark eyes was a keen tactical mind. Ferras’ command center was high in the Temple where he could step on the balcony to see the valley of the Dark Lords. A massive holo-map depicted the advancing forces. It had begun.

“Sir, a squadron of Jedi fighters are harassing our encampments.” His mouth was a hard line. “Have the turbolaser batteries target the fighters, launch our own squadron from the rear landing pads. (@Fantasy Liver).” Ferras walked to the balcony to watch the advancing army. The Darkside flowed heavily through him. Arterially fire would begin to fall where the strange droid was hunkered down (@AutoFox).

 

[Fantasy Liver]

"I'M HIT!" the cracking scream of Quartz Four rang through the comms of her squadron as her fighter plunged into a nearby rock formation. Moku grimaced as her life force was extinguished but he could not let it distract him. This was a battle and it would do no good to fixate on the first of what would inevitably be many casualties. Right now, the turbolasers that had downed Quartz Four would need to be dealt with.

"Quartz Two, Quartz Three, you're with me. Stay low and help me blow up the support structures of those batteries - it should send them toppling. The rest of you, fly around and draw their fire away from us." Moku commanded, steeling his mind for the task at hand.

"Quartz Leader, while we're drawing their fire, should we go after that sensor dish? It would make it a lot harder for those batteries to hit us." Quartz Six's Sullustan voice rang out. Moku nodded enthusiastically, though he knew nobody could see it. The Rodian found himself thankful for his squadmates - he hadn't even noticed the dish.

"Good idea Quartz Six - once you see an opening, take it out!" Moku said, confident that their plan could swiftly knock out the turbolaser threat so they could better assist the ground troops below. Unfortunately, his hope was soon shattered when his own sensor relayed that a multitude of enemy ships were headed their way. Sighing, Moku let the Force flow through him and let his piloting instincts control his craft.

"Quartz Two, Quartz Three, maintain your course and blow those support structures. I'm going to break off and deal with these fighters." Moku said as he pulled his fighter up sharply and flew straight towards the approaching Sith vehicles. Spinning his starfighter violently, Moku set off all his concussion missiles and then blasted away at the Sith fighters with his cannons, hoping his spinning and barrage of fire would keep him alive. The longer he kept them occupied with him, the more time he was giving his squadron to fulfill their missions.

They would not find him an easy target.

 

[AutoFox]

@Valen Pelora @Fantasy Liver

"Incoming!!"
Around X3R, organic infantry scattered for cover as counter-battery fire shrieked by overhead, seeking out Jedi artillery positions. So too did heavy shells impact around where the great droid stood, kicking up gouts of sand and shattered stone.
The huge mechanical, not fast enough to run to cover, knelt down and hunched up as much as his articulation would allow.
He was not sure if the artillery had merely missed - he was not so large a target at this range that the guns would focus on him specifically - or if some Jedi in the ranks had used their power to shield him. But, as the dust settled, X3R rose, battered and scratched by flying chips of stone, but otherwise undamaged.
And now, as much as he ever was, angry.
His cranial turret whirred as it scanned around. This type of war was what the droid had been designed for, a massed assault on dug in infantry and static defenses. He recalled fragments of memory files from another age, when he had stood with legions of his fellow war droids, marching across a muddy, blasted hellscape against soldiers wielding archaic slugthrowers and heatbeams...
A blaster bolt spanged against the droid's chest, and he abruptly focused on its source.
There were the lines.
The Sith were no fools. They had dug themselves in well, and their trench system would be a tough nut to crack. But X3R had been built to fight in trenches. Built to approach them, built to sweep them, built to take them.
He raised his arm and fired his blaster cannon. Far away, a soldier foolish enough to poke his head above the trench pitched backward into it.
X3R raised an arm. His voice boomed, half his own words, half an oath he had taken what felt a thousand lifetimes ago.
"IN THE NAME OF THE LIVING FORCE." He thundered. "IN SALUTE TO XIM, WHOSE FIST SHALL ENCLOSE THE STARS, AND WHOSE NAME SHALL OUTLIVE TIME."
The name, that of a long-dead pre-Republic warlord for whose service X3R had originally been built, would be unfamiliar to anyone listening, but in the heat of the moment the droid spoke it anyway.
"LET US GO TO YON TEMPLE, AND RAZE IT UNTO DUST."
There was a roar from the Jedi ranks, and X3R began a plodding run at the trench before him, arms raised, blasters and heatbeams flashing...
Today it would be ended.

 

[Valen Pelora]

Ba’zu stared at the carnage unfolding before him. The deaths in the force hammered at his mind. He shut the pain out. This was their sacrifice. They would lay down their lives to pull the Temple down. A bright emerald blade was alive in the Bothan’s hands. His eyes titled skyward as fighters began to engage. Ba’zu casually flicked on his com link. “Jedi Moku, we need air support immediately. The Temple’s hangars are lightly garrisoned. Their main force is engaging the Home Fleet.” Twelve fighters stood between the Jedi and air superiority. Jedi Moku would have to deal with all of them. The Sith fighters recognized the leader of the squadron and began to focus Moku’s ship. (@Fantasy Liver)

--

Ferras growled in the back of his throat. The fighters were an annoyance, but a potentially costly annoyance. His eyes snapped to a portion of the battlefield. There was a strange looking droid standing among the rumble of a bombardment. Odd. Ferras trusted nothing that could survive such an assault. He flipped on his com, contacting 3 Marauders. “The droid near your position. Kill it.” He stalked back into the Temple. (@AutoFox)

 

[Fantasy Liver]

"Quartz Squadron, on me! Let's blow these jokers..." Moku muttered in his comm, struggling to keep his fighter in the sky, having suffered numerous damage from his charge into the Sith fighters. As his squadron linked up with him, they all maneuvered themselves so that they were behind the Sith fighters and started lighting them up. One, two, three, four fighters blew up until the Sith spun around and scattered, dispersing Quartz Squadron. Moku winced as Quartz Two took a sharp turn trying to chase after a Sith fighter and careened into the husk of a destroyed Sith battery.

However, Quartz Two was not the only member of the squadron having trouble staying in the air. One of the Sith fighters had recognized Moku's fighter as crippled and belonging to a Jedi and began painting its hull with laser fire. Moku's head jerked around with every hit and he hit his comm transmit button.

"Quartz Squadron! Quartz Squadron! I need backu-" Moku's words were cut off as his head was slammed involuntarily into the dashboard as the Sith fighter blew his left wing off. Not seeing a whole lot of options before him, Moku found his instincts overriding his body and executed a maneuver that he had once seen at a Correllian airshow once. He hit the eject button on his fighter, sending him flying through the air. Then, spinning around so that he was facing the Sith fighter that had shot him down, Moku hurled the impact grenade attached to his belt at the fighter before gravity caught up to him and he plunged to the ground.

The grenade exploded right on the cockpit of the fighter and the Sith pilot plunged into the ground and exploded, seconds after Moku's fighter did the same. Using the Force to cushion his blow, Moku still landed pretty hard on the ground. Right near a certain droid allied with the Jedi.

"X3R!" Moku shouted, pointing to the three charging Marauders, the Rodian Jedi adopted a Soresu stance and tried to position himself in front of the droid to keep the Marauders off his back, hoping the droid could blast the Sith while he kept them occupied. He was an adequate Soresu practitioner but he did not favor his chances against 3 Maruaders for very long. Using Soresu and a series of hand-to-hand combat moves he'd learned, Moku would keep these three busy as long as he could.

 

[AutoFox]

(Sorry for the wait, guys!)
@Valen Pelora @Fantasy Liver

X3R turned briefly as a Rodian Jedi he recognized landed in front of him. His attention was quickly drawn to the approach of three figures wielding crimson lightsabers, approaching at a run.
He turned back to Moku, giving a nod.
"Sword and shield maneuver. I shall fire, you block."
It was not the first time X3R had fought beside Jedi, and he knew how best to do so. As Moku took up his position before him, the ancient war droid swung up his arms and opened his palms, heatbeam projectors beginning to glow.
"Now."
The blaster cannons on X3R's forearms began to fire, bolts of green lancing out at the approaching Sith. As predicted, the Marauders parried and deflected the blasts easily enough...
...but then, the droid unleashed his other weapons.
What looked like tight beams of fire lanced out from the droid's palms, the heat transmission igniting the air within its guide field. One of the Sith, busy deflecting a blaster shot, shrieked as the beam impacted his mask, melting the plastoid and fusing it to his skin. A blaster bolt caught him in the chest then, throwing him backward, and a second heatbeam blast caught his robes aflame.
The droid then turned to the remaining two attackers, fire and plasma streaming over Moku's head as the droid engaged his foes.
"They are closing range! Be ready!"

 

[Valen Pelora]

The Droid and Jedi Moku had finally found one another. Unfortunately, for the odd pair that union came in the middle of a hornet’s nest. The three Sith Marauders were only the beginning of what the two intrepid do-gooders would have to face. Assuming they survived fighting the hardened warriors, the battle was dissolving into chaos. As one of the Marauders died, 5 Imperial Troopers would crest a hill. They would immediately recognize the hostile Jedi and his strange Droid companion. The five troopers would begin to fire as the two Sith Marauders stalked forward.

--

Elsewhere, the clearly defined lines of battle were quickly disappearing. It was a slog. There was massive attrition on both sides as the deadly march towards the Great Temple continued. The Sith were entrenched deeply but heavily outnumbered. They would fight and die to a man. The Jedi were taking difficult losses as they moved towards their final target. It was no longer a clearly defined battle. It was chaos, and death was consuming all comers. @AutoFox @Fantasy Liver

 

[Fantasy Liver]

Panting with the effort of even continuing to stand, Moku surveyed the ever-increasing chaos of the battlefield. The first Marauder had been dealt with by Moku’s robotic companion. The Rodian Jedi had managed to temporarily disengage from the effort of defending against two Sith, with the smoke from the droid’s blasters providing an excellent screen cover. Using his temporary reprieve to his advantage, Moku commed his squadron.

“Quartz Ten! Fire on my coordinates!” He ordered, recognizing Quartz Ten’s distinctive red paint above him. Quartz Ten confirmed and Moku waited for the remaining two Sith to appear after the dust had settled. He didn’t have long to wait. One came from behind while the other leapt up above him to his right, wielding a double bladed lightsaber. Hoping madly he didn’t die, Moku leapt as high as he could away from where he’d been standing. Befuddled, the two Marauders were easy targets for Quartz Ten’s barrage of laser cannon fire.

Quartz Ten’s blasts disintegrated one instantly and grounded the one with the dual bladed lightsaber. Dashing over to the downed Marauder, Moku reluctantly but decisively beheaded her. He didn’t have time to rest on the laurels of his victory as one of the Sith troopers in pegged him in his shoulder. Swearing, Moku got down and deflected the bolts away from him.

“X3R! Deal with them!” He called to the droid

 

[AutoFox]

(Sorry for the wait, guys!)
@Fantasy Liver @Valen Pelora

X3R watched as Moku set upon the Marauders, the skillful work of Jedi close air support putting paid to one of them, while Moku finished off the other.
And then the Jedi was hit in the shoulder by a blaster bolt, and went down, raising his lightsaber in time to deflect the stream of walking fire that a group of advancing Sith troopers were laying down at him.
"X3R! Deal with them!"
The lumbering droid did not have to be told twice. He swung his heavy arm cannons around, bolts lancing out to strike down two of the troopers immediately. X3R plodded forward, stepping around the injured Jedi and letting the comparatively feeble bolts spang and fizzle on his heavily armored carapace.
He was not designed to fight Sith or Jedi, but this was an enemy against which he was infinitely competent.
He had to hand it to the black-armored troopers; their discipline was admirable. When they saw their blaster fire was having no discernible effect, they switched to heavier weapons; a thermal detonator bounced off X3R's chest and landed at his feet, which he paused to kick away, only to have the three remaining troopers rush him. One of them tried to put a blaster directly in the droid's face, but was driven to the ground by a burst from X3R's head-mounted automatic slugthrower, then trampled by his heavy armored feet; a second was backhanded away, the front of his breastplate made concave by the ancient war machine's powerful blow.
The third was grabbed and lifted off the ground by his helmet, struggling for a moment before the sizzle of a heatbeam was heard, and his helmet began to burn and melt, the body going limp before it was tossed to the ground.
X3R turned his gaze back toward Moku.
"How fare you, Jedi?" He inquired in his even, electronic monotone. "Is your injury severe?"

 

[Fantasy Liver]

@AutoFox

"I'm fine..." Moku grunted at the droid's inquiry, giving a nod of thanks to his mechanical companion. While he was technically supposed to be leading the starfighter squadron above, Moku really wasn't sure what he was expected to do now that his ship had been shot down. Fortunately, he wasn't stumped for long. Given that he was a capable but not extraordinary combatant, Moku always liked to rely on unconventional combat tactics in order to secure victory. He saw a way to do that here.

Earlier, Quartz Six had expressed a desire to take out the large sensor dish that was supplying the Sith with detailed stats about Jedi fighters. While Moku had been a bit preoccupied with his own battle, he saw that Quartz Six had succeeded as the sensor dish had toppled, creating a very crude and makeshift ramp up towards the high command center of the Temple where, unbenownst to Moku, Ferras Zo’lara was. It wasn't quite large enough to reach the command center but if one was crazy or desperate enough, one could climb the sensor dish and find a way up there.

Moku was at least desperate enough. He hoped he wasn't crazy.

"X3R! You see that sensor dish? If you're up for it, we might be able to cut a path there and climb up it in order to reach that balcony up high. Looks like some kind of command center." Moku said. If his droid companion was up for it, he'd charge for the large dish and try to climb up it. If not, he'd still head towards the dish but slower and with more of an emphasis on blocking any laser blasts that might make his way towards him.

 

[Valen Pelora]

Ferras growled as he surveyed the scene unfolding before him. The Sith were falling. He could not deny the truth creeping closer to his doors. The Great Temple was the apex of Sith power, the blazing beacon of their Order. He was the steadfast protector of their legacy. He would fail. Ferras knew in his heart this over. The Jedi had overwhelming numbers and the Empire had over played their hand. They had forgotten who they were, what they were meant to be. They were ripping each other apart, shredding the Empire at the seams.

He did not have the men to defend the Temple. There were no true warriors left in the Order. They were dead or fled. Ferras turned to look back out over the battlefield. He could sense a powerful Lightside aura pulsing. No doubt it was the Jedi commanding the assault. He was more concerning with the pesky droid and intrepid Jedi creeping closer to the Temple. He was just about finished with their foolishness. He turned to two of the remaining elite Templar he had by his side. His hand shot out towards his targets. “Kill them.” The Great Temple would fall, but the Jedi would pay dearly for their victory. @AutoFox @Fantasy Liver

 

[AutoFox]

@Valen Pelora @Fantasy Liver

X3R looked to where Moku indicated, the light of Korriban's harsh sun glinting off his scarred, battered armor. His peripheral battle computer crunched numbers and made recommendations, but the droid ignored most of them.
"You are faster than I." He said, taking in the dish and judging whether it would take his weight. Just barely, but that would be enough. "I am with you, but you will have to precede me. I will give you fire support."
Around them, Jedi forces were beginning to overrun the network of trenches, pillboxes and other fortifications the Sith had prepared. Losses, X3R saw, were appalling, and the Sith were fighting like demons to defend this last center of their power.
The sooner the command center fell, the fewer dead the Jedi would later have to mourn.
"Go!"
X3R plodded forward. He could not run, truly, but he could stride impressively. As he moved, he suddenly saw two dark figures appear at the top of the dish.
"Caution! They're sending more at us!"

 

[Fantasy Liver]

@Valen Pelora @AutoFox

"Come on then!" Moku shouted at the approaching couple of Templar. He was starfighter-less, grenade-less, and tired from the battle. But he had the Force and his saber and that would have to be enough. He fell upon the Templar with his familiar, if rudimentary, knowledge of Form I. The fast, sweeping motions of his bladework was ideal for hitting multiple opponents but once his foes pressed a fiercer counterattack, he slipped back into Soresu. He was keeping them at bay for a few seconds and locked blades with both of them for a few, tense seconds.

Using the blade lock to his advantage, Moku roared and grabbed one of the Templar by his robe and threw him down the sensor dish for X3R to finish off. The other Templar looked slightly worried at this and Moku deactivated his lightsaber, breaking the saber lock between the two opponents and causing the Templar to stumble. The Templar was steadfast though and quickly put his saber up to block his face and torso, preventing Moku from making a kill. The Rodian Jedi, thus, settled for kicking the Templar in the groin. Leaving his opponent temporarily stunned and hoping that X3R had capable enough programming and weapons to deal with the stunned Templar, Moku leapt up to the command center.

"I've been around the galaxy too long to believe you'll surrender but this is your one chance I'll give you!" he called out to those in the command center, pointing his saber at Ferras.

 

[AutoFox]

@Valen Pelora @Fantasy Liver

X3R stopped the first sliding Templar with a foot, glaring down at the struggling Sith for half a moment before raising his foot and stomping back down, hard. The desh paneling of the sensor dish buckled and the Templar was punched straight down through it, the already fatal wound from the droid's blow proving irrelevant upon the Sith's impact with the ground far below.
X3R plodded up the dish after Moku, stopping to grab the stumbling second Templar by the shoulder, holding him long enough for the unfortunate sentient to look up and see the droid before he was flung with X3R's considerable full strength, sailing off to be dashed on the side of the temple.
The droid continued, stomping up to finally join Moku, aiming his arm-mounted cannons and heatbeams in at the personnel gathered in the Sith command post.
"It would give me great satisfaction," he intoned, "if you were to disregard my friend's request."

 

[Valen Pelora]

General Ba’Zu was covered in the dust of Korriban. His robes were tattered, blaster bolt marks dotting his armor. The Bothan’s Lightsaber was shining brightly in his hand. Darkness was slowly fading from the surface of Korriban. He grieved for the dead, but his mind was focused. The Jedi forces were nearly at the gates of the Great Temple. Their artillery hammered the sides of the massive construct. Soon, they would be within the Sith’s most ancient structure. Ba’Zu’s eyes darted towards the center of the Temple. Two brave souls had made their way towards the overlook. He knew the Sith commanded from the balcony, if it fell the Temple would fall. He ordered his forces to press on.

--

It was over. The route was on as the Jedi finally broke through the Sith lines. There was nothing left to do but die. He would take as many Jedi with him as possible. They would feel the cost of their victory. Ferras’ two ruby red Lightsaber sprung to life in his hands. He turned to go confront the Jedi. He did not have to go far. The pesky Rodian and strange Droid found him first. They had made their way to the command center, they were terribly outnumbered. Ferras was hardly alone inside the Temple. 10 troopers, and 3 Templar remained. He laughed at the Jedi and the Droid.

“Welcome to the Great Temple.” A wicked smile curved across his face. “I would offer a tour, but a certain General is waiting for me, I would hate to be late.” The ten troopers began to immediately fire at the droid. The three Templar stepping near them to bat away any blaster bolts the construct may fire. Ferras looked at the Jedi and rushed forward. He was only 3 meters away and the Force augmented his speed. He swung his right blade at the Jedi’s hip from right to left. He swung his left blade at the Jedi’s chest from left to right. @Fantasy Liver @AutoFox

 

[Fantasy Liver]

@Valen Pelora @AutoFox

Moku did not wait for Ferras to fall upon him. The Sith's speed was impressively augmented by the Force but so were Moku's instincts. He had a split second to react and he took advantage of it. Leaping over Ferras, Moku spun around as quickly as he could and aimed a stab at Ferras' torso. He would then fall back into his familiar Soresu form to block any trooper fire or any consequential counterattacks that Ferras might take, should the stab not prove especially fatal. He would be as defensive and economical with his movements as possible, trying not to tire himself out more than he already was. This would be a battle that would test his limits to the extreme and the slightest misstep could be disastrous.

Slow. Steady. Let your opponent make the first mistake, for when it comes to saberplay, the first mistake is often the last mistake.

He could hear his Quermian master's words echoing in the back of his mind as he prepared to do everything he could to survive. He hoped that X3R's logic processors were of the finest quality and were working hard to think of a way to end this battle swiftly.

 

[AutoFox]

@Valen Pelora @Fantasy Liver

X3R lumbered forward, the combined blaster bolts of the ten Sith troopers sparking and fizzling against his armor; normally, hand weapons had little effect on his thickly armored chassis, but the shear volume of fire was beginning to have an effect, and the droid's armor began to show wear, accumulating carbon scoring and glowing pock-marks.
But forward he came. Slower than he might have, but relentless.
The droid raised his weapons, trying to aim past the two Templars shielding the troopers, but a bolt was quickly swatted back at him, impacting one of the arm-mounted blasters. It sparked and fizzled, its power cell ruptured, and X3R detached it hurriedly, the overloading weapon landing at his feet before detonating with the force of a small thermal detonator.
X3R toppled backward, hitting the floor with a sound and an impact that shook the room. The Sith and the troopers, thinking surely they had knocked out the fearsome war machine, advanced...
But X3R sat up.
One of the droid's arms was mangled, hanging useless at his side, and X3R's entire side was pitted and scorched by the explosion. But his other arm, still bearing its weapons, raised...
...and fired over the heads of the Sith.
One Templar was taken by surprise. A heavy ceiling fixture came down on top of him, crushing the Dark Sider and killing him instantly. The second reacted just in time to save himself, raising his arms to push with the Force, holding back the tons of rubble the droid had sent tumbling with a well-placed shot to a structural support. He saved about half the troopers under his bubble of will, the rest being crushed along with the less prescient Templar.
"You would think," X3R said as he slowly returned to his feet, "that an order dedicated to the destruction of the Jedi, and all they stand for, would know what to expect from a being trying to counter a lightsaber."
The Sith was not given the chance to retort. As he focused on shifting the tons of rock, a heatbeam lanced out, striking between the eyes and dropping him. The troopers, having had the presence of mind to get out of the way, avoided the rubble the dead Sith had been holding back, backing away from X3R with their expressions of abject terror almost visible behind their helmets.
X3R began to once more plod forward...