A New Hope

[Spark Finn]

[member="Rook"] @Coren Starchaser

"Yeah, armor-y," blue-eyes flicked briefly to [member="Rook"]'s face or rather his visor....assuming he was wearing a helmet thing like Coren. #dudesandtheirarmor #armorlyfe The gangly-blond bolted behind him, invisible force bubble catching any stray shots from behind from those troopers aiming at the pair. She leaped over the base of the turret and ducked down behind the barrier.

Thin shoulders bobbed up and down as she gulped down some oxygen.

A squadron of Final Order men broke their cover near the temple doors and raised their guns at the trio of Galactic Alliance members. Blue-eyes widened. Sandy-brows furrowed in concentration. The technopath wove the force through their blasters and with a loud POP their weapons started to smoke. Unfortunately, one of them un-shouldered a grenade launcher and pointed it in their direction.

#feth

 

[Coren Starchaser]

His shields lit up as he took a shot to them, grinning, he turned around. Looking up, he saw his target. The sniper nest. He knew that Spark would stay out of harms way, and was hoping that [member="Rook"] would stand up to what he’d expect from someone joining a cause such as this, protect your team. Protect them, they’ll protect you. He took a few shots at the soldiers before getting to his feet and moving to the turrets. Once there, he got next to them, using one for cover. There was a tingle as he could sense https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AWigCggVv2Y]electric feel[/url] to them. Good. Power.

Placing his left hand, his flesh hand, on the turret, he reached into himself. He was trying to set good examples of fringe groups for the Jedi, so the ones who really used the dark side could get away with it, and was working on almost… retraining himself. People could stun droids, why not drain the power from them? Right?

That was what he was doing, and his energy shield was flashing from blasts as he took several more shots, causing soldiers to take cover, but not scatter.

Looking over to where [member="Spark Finn"] was, he grinned, and really, if she could see that? Girl’s glasses turned her into Hawkeye. Okay, was that enough fourth wall breaking? He took a breath, concentrating for a moment and then there was no Coren to be seen.

 

[Placeholder 0133]

It all happened in a half a second. It was that thin sliver of time he and his brothers had been trained to expect in the middle of a conflict. It was the only one that mattered. One of the figures in white slung a grenade launcher over his shoulder, and took aim at the trio. Rook did not thing, he reacted.

He charged the bastard.

The Stormtrooper, likely not wishing to turn both himself and his allies into a smoldering ruin, hesitated. That was all the former Dreadguard needed. Roaring a string of curses at the top of his lungs, Rook slammed a shoulder into the poor sod's chestplace.

Kark! That hurts!

The man was sent stumbling back. Rook was designed to be superior to these warriors. They were accidents. He was designed. His armor was what some recognized of the old Dreadguard gear from the later days of the Confederacy, and the early years of the Republic's adoption of the program. It did not so much as bend. The stormtrooper's allies turned on him. Some reached for their handguns, others charged.

Rook just squeezed the trigger. His rifle was no deece, but it did the job. His earliest victim fell back with two smoking holes in his head. A second met with a similar fate. The third managed to tackle Rook to the ground. They wrestled with one another, throwing punches and kicks that did little more than glance along the other's armor. Then Rook's wrist-mounted vibroknife changed the game. He slammed it into the joint where his left arm met his torso. It pierced the thin material, flesh, bone and tissue. His opponent screamed and flailed wildly at Rook's helmeted face. He was silenced when the knife was driven across his jugular.

"Thanks for the save there Blondy." He quipped, momentarily caught up in his bloodlust. If there were other soldiers, he wouldn't have the time to stop them from shooting him. "Name's Rook, by the way."

[member="Coren Starchaser"], [member="Spark Finn"]

 

[Jacen Voidstalker]

[member="Aela Talith"] [member="Relit Vandal"] [member="Cyril Grayson"] [member="Quinn Michaels"] [member="Chevu Visz"]

With Starchaser's group pulling focus from the Stormtrooper patrols, the main Jedi strike team soon came to the break in the treeline on the far side of the woods. A square black ziggurat reached up into the sky above them. It was clearly a new construction, the smooth surface of the fresh alabaster catching the light. It reeked of the darkside of the force. Then a figure appeared at the widest opening. He silver mask turned their way, as his scarlet saber came to life.

The figure did not advance, but stepped slowly back into the temple, beckoning the Jedi to follow him. The red glow of his saber lingered against the walls for a moment, and then there was no sign of him. Jacen looked to his comrades. It seemed the Sith would not meet them on the open field, but wanted to draw them into the Temple itself. The place reeked of the dark side, permeating the very fabric of the Force with its taint. He took a moment to swap out the power pack on his rifle, before taking his Occluder hand-cannon in his off-hand. The short range scatterblaster could tear a whole in most things at short range, and might just surprise a Sith in those tunnels.

"It's going to be an ambush, keep tight and keep your wits about you," he said with a firm nod. "Coren," he said into his comm. "We're going in the east exit. If they managed to cut off our retreat we'll call you in."

 

[Asahara Velin]

While Asahara was pinned down and wounded the advance of the troops drew the fire from her position and gave her the slight movement needed to move back into the Canopies of the trees crawling through intense Blaster Fire. The crawl was slow and intensely painful, her shoulder was sporting a serious injury that would no doubt take bacta to heal and that was not a luxury she could afford right now. Making her way back she noticed the Rail gun was still where she left it. Alliance soldiers backed up her position as she stood to a kneeling position clutching her wounded shoulder and her E-11 Blaster in her left hand. Her arm was not useless however, the shoulder wound although deep and causing an immense amount of pain would actually move about letting her know that the wound was not deep enough to rupture muscle which was a welcome thought.

Getting up she grabbed a back of thermal grenades and started chucking them at least 10 yards with her good arm, which also happened to be her left arm which was not her main hand. Her Blaster in her right hand fired from the hip in a crazy spray that could't even hit the broadside of a moisture evaporator on the brightest day but it did it's job of keeping the Sithies pinned and backed off. Were they Sith? One Sith? First Order? Who cares they were baddies and they needed to die. The Detonators were not as crazy as the spray as their explosions did manage to catch some advancing or retreating troopers giving the Alliance the Power to push back. "They are falling back! Cover me!" Asahara dropped everything and made a run back to the rail gun, explosions left and right and trooper fire popping up at her sides as Alliance troopers kept the enemy Pinned down.

Once she got the Rail gun and swung it's strap she screamed as her shoulder protested the Motion of bringing the Gun to Position and letting rip a volley of blaster fire that began mowing down the resistance. On Cue the Boys who gave her cover fire now moved to her position and chucked thermal detonators watching them explode before charging behind the Blaster fire of Asahara, They were gaining ground and had the enemy on full retreat.
"For The Alliance!" She screamed while charging behind the Soldiers in unison, they must have thought this Twi'lek quite the nutjob, to their credit, she kind of was. The Enemy being chucked thermal detonators fell back to a more enforceable position however, giving their backs to a charging enemy brought them more than their fair share of casualties.

[member="Jacen Voidstalker"] @Rook @Coren Starchaser [member="Spark Finn"]​

 

[Placeholder 04]

Cyril was not sure what to make of the figure. Some form of Dark Side adept, to be sure, but were they really dealing with Sith? He certainly hoped not.

The Jedi Master cast Voidstalker a worried look as the figure made its way back into the temple. They were being baited, and the Jedi had little choice but to walk right into the trap. Part of Cyril was wondering why they couldn't just bomb the place from orbit. The other part of him had all the reasons why they couldn't - there were people inside, some likely prisoners of the Sith.

Still, orbital bombardment always made life so much easier.

"Something tells me they're not very happy to see us." Cyril grumbled. "We should go in first. Let the other folks go in behind us," he paused. "I assume this isn't your first big-evil-temple-dive?" He lofted a brow.

It certainly wasn't Cyril's.

[member="Relit Vandal"]

[member="Jacen Voidstalker"]

[member="Chevu Visz"]

 

[Jacen Voidstalker]

[member="Cyril Grayson"]

"I don't tend to frequent them outside of large scale invasions, no," Jacen replied. He pictured a maze of meandering tunnels running through the ziggurat, red sabers appearing at every turn. In all honesty, he was far less optimistic about getting out than reaching the artefact. He could sense its taint and follow that trail, but on the way out that same Dark Side energy would cloud his senses.

As he reached the threashold, he kept his orange blade before him. His left hand held the handcannon, ready to fire a spread of bolts at anything that crawled out of the darkness. Mentally bolstering his resolve one last time, he stepped into the shadows.

Spoiler

OOC: Pilots, feel free to break off and bring down a Final Order freighter of weapons:

Spoiler

]

 

[Spark Finn]

[member="Rook"] [member="Coren Starchaser"]

Aaaaand, Coren disappeared. Thin-lips pursed in semi-exasperation. #suchashowoff But at least she and this Rook-dude weren't splattered to bits across the deactivated turrets. The slight-blond carefully side-stepped across the stationary bodies from Rook's handiwork, grimacing slightly.

Totes glad that nerf burger was eaten like, way earlier.

"Spark. Spark Finn. I guess I owe you a drink or some red-razzle gum or something." The dude saved her life, too. Invisible force bubble shifted out slightly, covering them both for a second. With a resolute push, black-rimmed glasses were nudged up the bridge of her nose. Blue-eyes narrowed as she turned her attention away from Rook and concentrated on the locked and closed blast-doors.

"Get ready, Armor-y."

With a jerk of her chin sharply to the left, a loud CLICK-POP resonated through the woods as the doors became unlocked and with a SNAP-HISS, they slowly began to grind open.

Yeah, whoever was inside wasn't gonna be happy.

 

[Coren Starchaser]

Maybe before they noticed he was gone, maybe not, but definitely almost instantly, the commander in the SpecOps of the Galactic Alliance’s military had appeared a good distance away, up on the top of the ziggurat. He had his light repeater firing and aimed at the snipers. They didn’t expect it, well, not the first one, but Coren took the team out before the other two started moving. A few steps and he switched to his scattergun. A quick blast and they were taken down before they could really train a shot on Coren.

He grinned as he heard [member="Jacen Voidstalker"] call over the comms. “Roger that. We’ll see what we can do about the doors for you. Spark?” Because she needed a call sign, but it would probably be her name. Gotta love this galaxy. Switching to focus on his team, [member="Rook"] and [member="Spark Finn"], he looked at them. “Snipers down, can you guys secure the doors?”

He looked around, that took a bit out of him, at least for the Force. “And find me a way down?”

 

[Relit Vandal]

"Big evil temple dive..." He said as he ran up behind the progressing Jedi, [member="Cyril Grayson"]. Taken a blaster scrape to the left arm, he was busy mending it until the force could allow healing. Though with the outward aura put off by [member="Adele Adonai"], he was consistently mending and evenly so. He could barely feel it now. If these beings were truly evil, Relit couldn't be sure. They were corrupted with the darkside, a festering wound if ever there was one. But that wound isn't necessarily good or bad, merely tainted and requiring treatment. Just as the Jedi could sit and call the Sith evil, the Sith could turn around and claim the very same thing. It had already been done in the past.

Good or evil, it didn't matter in such subjective terms. What was true was the power of right over wrong, the conscious effort to consider the well being of others. And if the Sith, assuming these were Sith, showed anything: it was that they cared only for themselves. Maybe, maybe they were evil.

"I try to avoid these temples as much as possible..." Zelosians had trouble seeing in the dark but it wasn't fear that prevented his apprehension. It was merely the necessary confrontation that would follow. One that he would perform as needed. Following [member="Jacen Voidstalker"] in through the threshold, Relit held the violet saber down in a defensive dove tail fashion. His left hand, the conduit for the force, began to pulse. He recalled a time with Vastille, attempting to assuage the purpose of this power. And when that couldn't reflect any semblance of success, Vastille returned to the basics. Certain tree species put out chemicals from the root, to destroy competing vegetation in an effort to survive. When we can succumb to the inevitability of our demise, we can realize that growth around us is better for all. We can do the exact opposite of that tree.

Plant terminology and symbolism, always the most apt way for a Zelosian Jedi to learn. And from his presence, a weak offset of Force Valor would counteract the diminishing powers of the darkside taint imbuing the temple, reducing the success of a sneak attack or ambush. If only for the moment, as he was still feeling the depletion of the plant surge prior to their entrance.

 

[Jsc]

Fleet
Bait n Switch
w Rapier Squad, Shield Squad

Direct confrontation was seeming useless at this point. That ISD simply did not want to die. Luckily for Blue Squadron, their Battlemeld had enlightened them to the plan. Pull the ISD away and then super over and smash a heavy freighter. Fascinating.

~/ "Roberts, we got voices in the void. That's our que."

~/ "Understood Two. All Blue Squadron, this is Blue Leader. Disengage and rally to me. We are going dark. Circle Eight and keep it turning. Here we go."

Blue Squadron was shifting. Splitting ways with their B-Wing buddies. As both sides began a quick shift in tactics. Blue Squadron disengaged from the melee and pulled back out into satellite range. They did a Sweeping Eight Formation to keep the Interceptors off their tails and shuffle the deck a bit as they withdrew. It was a time consuming effort but necessary when the other guys have faster ships. Thank goodness the ISD let them go easy. Eventually, finding themselves all alone out in the black of space with nothing but crispy shields to show for it.

Roberts rallied the troops and let them break from the Battlemeld. They checked ships and did a quick inventory on torpedoes. When everybody was good to go, they saddled up and began a long swing wide of the red zone. Finally hitting super cruise and pitching around towards the heavy freighter. Sure. They'd be late to the party but still golden in firepower. Oh no. They weren't finished just yet.

Now. Let's just hope this heavy freighter was stupid enough to stick around with an active battlefield on HUD. If so, these morons were going to walk right into a pounding. Ha.

 

[Jacen Voidstalker]

The corridor was long and straight, with no artificial lighting. Deep shadows obscured alcoves and side corridors branching off. He advanced cautiously, never letting his feet leave the ground by more than a few inches. The last thing he wanted was to try and react to a surprise attack off-balance.

The inevitable ambush came at a crossroad. He saw the shape flit through the darkness. The bundle of robes stretched out to take the form of the man as the Dark Side adept charged forwards. At least four red lights emerged in the darkness as they attacked.

Jacen moved to engage the Sith straight ahead, raising his handcannon and hoping for a swift resolution. Instead it was pulled up from his grip with surprising strength. It seemed they had a real fight on their hands. He dropped his weight a few inches, bringing his golden blade across his body in an aggressive two-handed block. The red and gold met and sparks crackled across the alabaster slabs in a myriad of colours. They held position there for several seconds, sabers locked and faces just inches apart.

[member="Aela Talith"] [member="Relit Vandal"] [member="Cyril Grayson"] [member="Quinn Michaels"] [member="Chevu Visz"]

 

[Placeholder 04]

Cyril was not entirely pleased with the situation. Temple diving for relics and such was one thing. Running inside while Sith awaited you was an entirely different venture. One that often had you leaving with one less man on your team. With a grumble, the Jedi Master followed after Relit and Jacen. "That's probably a good plan." He mumbled in reply to the Zelosian. He'd parted his lips to speak further when the Sith were upon them.

The crossroads provided a bit of room, but not enough for Cyril to perform how he wished. Jar'kai would end up wounding his allies more likely than his enemies. He thumbed his mother's lightsaber and clipped it to his belt; just as one of the acolyte's fell upon him. In any other situation, Cyril would have had little effort in riposting the strike, but he'd been caught a bit off guard. The crimson blade glanced off the side of his own, and then the acolyte was flailing. He had some semblance of a proper form, but lacked the experience to put it to any use.

It was a simple thing to repel the acolyte's advances. Cyril twirled his weapon to send the acolyte's arm high above his head, leaving him open. The Jedi Master moved to disarm him via removing his hand; until a second blade met his. One of the other acolyte's had picked him out as a target. Together, the two Sith adepts assaulted his defenses. Their sloppy use of their weapons provided Cyril a particular advantage - it took little thought to repel their blows - yet the two of them together made it particularly difficult to get a strike in without killing either one.

It would be a waiting game.

[member="Jacen Voidstalker"], [member="Relit Vandal"]

 

[Placeholder 0133]

"That'll be Balmoraan Bluesky, Spark." He grunted as the gangly-thing of a girl turned on the doors. He could have gotten through the thin layers of durasteel with detonite tape, but the force saved time and resources. He nodded at the blond as the doors began to open. A hand fell to one of the few thermal detonators that hung from his belt.

You didn't do a breach without a bit of reassurance that whatever was on the other side was having a terrible day, too. He moved to press his back against the wall alongside the door. He flicked on the detonator and hurled it through the gap the second it was wide enough for his hand to fit through. There was a moment's silence as the orb of death rolled into the room beyond, and then the explosion shook the walls. Rook thought he might have heard some kind of muffled screaming. It was hard to tell amidst the chaos.

"Door is secure sir. Your girl's got some fancy tricks. Just jump off the side. You bathrobes should have some natural lift." He quipped into the comms. Once the doors parted, he would move inside, rifle at the ready to mow down whatever resistance might have remained. There were bodies, but the only movement he caught a glimpse of was a man in white fleeing further into whatever you'd call what they were assaulting.

Rook took aim, and fired. The man fell with a hole in his back. "My rifle's got two modes. Up close and personal, and bang, you're dead."

[member="Coren Starchaser"], [member="Spark Finn"]

 

[Adele Adonai]

TO ALL ALLIANCE FORCES NEAR THE FLEET AND SLOWLY GROWING TOWARDS THOSE ON THE GROUND.


Seemingly deep in the throes of her meditation, A'dele seemingly would block off all outside interference. She appeared to be completely and utterly focused in upkeeping the morale of the Alliance Forces within the reasonable scope of her meager abilities.

She was sitting in a seiza style, her legs tucked neatly under her, the white and silver threaded Voss robe cowl hiding the gossamer blonde hair and the ridges of her horns under the fabric, leaving only her pale lightly tattooed visage free for inspection.

Her head was dipped slightly as if in prayer, her hands lightly resting on top of each other, the hilt of her saber under her delicate fingers. There was the fainest layer of sweat upon her face, damp in growing exertion. Yet her breathing would remain steady, and her mental push would direct that web, that sphere of influence, to grow wider.

More and more auras of life would bloom in her mind. Voices. Heartbeats. Their lifeforce. Each and everyone she mapped upon that mental web, tracing the threads like a spider carefully tending to it, testing the vibrations, joining links.

​

There is no passion, there is serenity.​

​

There is no death... ​

The young Zabrak's strength lay in complete and utter stillness. For hours upon hours of meditation spent in the Room of a Thousand Fountains had made the young woman from Onderon into a mental pillar of strength.

She did not move, she did not falter. No. She simply did what she did best. Meditated within the Force.

There is the Force.​

 

[Aela Talith]

Aela ran as fast as she could.

The other's had made their way into the Temple, had begun to push into its insides just as planned. She had taken a more obscure route. Her lightsaber blazed, its bright pink blade sliced through tree limb after tree limb, cutting the underbrush of the jungle and forging a neat path for her to follow. She moved as fast as she could, rounding the temples structure almost on a set path.

She became a blur, a flash as she dashed through the jungle and cut through the undergrowth until suddenly she came to a stop. Sweat beading on her forehead, her chest rising and falling with panted breaths, she stood before the second great wall of the Sith Temple, the one guarding its back. She sighed, closed her eyes for a moment and pressed her open palm against the flat of the cold stone. Her hand moved, groping at the outline duracrete until suddenly she found what she was searching for.

Her hand moved, replaced quickly by the heated blade of her lightsaber.

The blade punched through the wall in an instant, gripped by both of her hands. Slowly, she began to carve a path into the temples wall, circling her saber as fast as the plasma would allow.

 

[Spark Finn]

[member="Rook"] [member="Coren Starchaser"]

Rook did a bang up job. Literally. Pale-fingers waved in front of her face, to clear out any of that smoky-air. She snorted at Rook's comment to Coren. "Doesn't that fancy armor have a jet pack or something? But don't break anything. I'll see if I can open a roof access once I plug into the systems. Hang tight."

Course, she could be opening up a plasteel hornets nest ready to charge Coren. #hebetterbeready There was a control panel on the wall. In went the datapad plug. "Rook. Make sure I can still buy you that drink. I gotta do some techno-force stuff and my surroundings get kind of lost."

She trusted him to have her back and stop anything deeper in the station.

Mentally and through the force, she plugged into the structure's systems. Firewalls were bypassed with some forceful nudges and mental re-wiring. Now this place? In the circuits? She could stay all day long.

#thisismyjam

A door near Coren further below on the roof opened. Several turrets on the other side of the structure targeting the Jedi were silenced. Alarms blared for a second before she cut them off.

 

[Jacen Voidstalker]

[member="Aela Talith"] [member="Relit Vandal"] [member="Cyril Grayson"] [member="Quinn Michaels"] [member="Chevu Visz"]

As they reached the limits of their strength, Jacen realised he had greater reserves than his opponent. Enough that he could drop back an inch, feigning and attempt to break contact, before putting the full force of his shove behind his blade. The Sith was caught off balance. Jacen shifted his right foot out and changed the angle. The Sith was sent stumbling towards the wall of the corridor. Jacen followed up with a telekinetic shove. It wasn't enough to take the cultist from from his feet, but it did put some space between them and the other combatants.

It took just a couple of minutes of duelling, for Jacen to understand that he outmatching this cultist. Once he'd tested the Sith to his limits, he knew, both from experience and the Force that there was no outcome possible other than his victory. Conservative in nature, he kept his balance as he force the Sith's defences out wide again and again. He stretched him to the left, and then to the right. One final aggressive slash was followed up by a sudden thrust to the chest. The long fight was over in just a heartbeat.

 

[Jsc]

X-Wing Smash!
Laying out the Heavy Freighter welcome mat
w Shield Squad, Rapier Squad

Blue Squadron dropped out of super at just the right moment. The GA had already engaged the First Order H Freight and was making her pay the hard price for sticking around this warzone just a moment too long. Roberts ignored the musing thoughts to worry about The Hope and decided it was best to just DPS the hell out of that ship. After all. A good defense is a good offense.

~/ "This is Blue Leader to squad. Opening the meld now. Reach out with your senses and join me in the void."

~/ "Roger Blue Leader. Coming to you now."

The eight warriors entered the meld and connected the chain. Now strung together throughout time and the Force, Blue Squad was ready to bring the pain. No more words needed to be spoken as their minds were united now. Just eight quiet warbirds entering the fray. Eager to show these Imperials what happens when you let X-Wings fly right up your tail pipe and blow your engines straight to hell.

As the first torpedo made it's target shine, Karen could help but smile. It almost felt like having fun.

 

[Coren Starchaser]

He shook his head, hearing [member="Rook"] over the comlink. “I ain’t a Jedi, soldier.” He laughed, sure, there might be a bit of truth, like when [member="Sage Bane"] referred to him as a Jedi, but no, Coren Starchaser was just that, himself. A Force users and a military man. “Just get the door open.” Looking out, he was wondering if the Jedi were going to be needing his help or not. Time would tell. Making his way to what he suspected was the other door, the Corellian checked the scene once more.

“Door’s open. We will see you in a moment.” Silly compounds, but this was why he brought [member="Spark Finn"] along. Sure, her backside might be good too, but feth that, if Coren was going to let her run into battle before he was. “Jedi team, we’ve got the turrets down, need any help out your way?” He was being friendly, okay? Besides, the stairs were pretty empty so far, but he was going to wait to see if [member="Jacen Voidstalker"] needed him before getting pinned again. There were Sith around, there were going to be Final Order soldiers, and he knew that the trio were going to have to handle at least one saber wielder.

So be ready.