An Ordinary Day

[Aela Talith]

[member="Jacen Voidstalker"]

Aela glanced back for only a brief second, long enough to catch a glimpse of what was chasing them.

Her heart skipped a beat as she was transported back to the outpost she and Jamie had explored. Her heart sank slightly, knowing now what had likely happened on this station. She remember the brutality of creatures like this, how the Alliance soldiers had been torn apart and devoured, their bodies left hanging like a scene from a horror holo. She knew that somewhere on this station that sight existed, men and women who had served loyally torn apart by beasts who knew only violence.

Her lips thinned, but she kept running.

Fighting these things would do them no good. They were outnumbered and even with the force it wouldn't be enough. So Aela sprinted as fast as she could. The force flowed through her and propelled her forward, her steps in the heavy suit thundering down the hallway. She heard her communicator crackle slightly, one of the Knights they'd left with the children.

”GET EVERYONE ON THE SHIP!” She cried at the top of her lungs, cutting off anything the other Jedi might say.

Aela knew they had to get out as fast as possible, and as she rounded the last corner she spotted the open doorway. Her lips thinned and she half jumped through, spinning on her heel and rushing towards the controls.

 

[Jacen Voidstalker]

[member="Aela Talith"]

The big one kept its distance. It must have had a token intelligence. Enough to let the small sprinters tie down and armed defenders before making its approach. Jacen took this to mean that he needed to at least give the impression of being in control or else that thing was going to rush down here and tear him apart.

His retreat went in segments. Make some ground down the corridor, turn and put some space between him and his pursuit. He really wished that Aela could have had a rifle and the training to shoot down some of the little bastards without putting a few bolts in his back. All he had brought was his handcannon. Scatterbolts were effective in the corridor but he had to run and reload at the same time. All whilst wearing bulky suit gloves.

With his head down he sprinted the final stretch. The pack gave chase and he could sense them closing too quickly.

Barrier!

 

[Aela Talith]

[member="Jacen Voidstalker"]

As soon as Jacen was close enough Aela pressed the button on the control panel. Her palm slammed down against the control, the heavy whirring of the hydraulics kicking into gear almost instantly. The two sides of the blast door began to collapse in on one another, Aela shifting to the side.

The force built within her. ”Jump!”

She shouted at Jacen, hoping he was smart enough to bound through the remaining gap in the door that would be just big enough for him to fit through.

At the same time the force that had been building up within her finally coalesced, coming together in a shimmering translucent barrier just behind the other Jedi Master. It hung within the air for just a brief few seconds, and then it thrust forward put into the hallway. The beasts screeched as they crashed against it, the sound of snapping bone ringing out.

 

[Jacen Voidstalker]

[member="Aela Talith"]

One second he saw the corridor ahead. His leap cleared the doorway. The next his visor hit the deck and his handcannon spinning across the floor away from him. Jacen looked back to see the door closing on his ankle and realised it had caught on his suit. He twisted his foot quickly and pulled it through before the doors hissed shut.

Jacen pulled himself to his feet. Age and too many battle wounds meant that after the fall he ached in too many placed. He mentally shrugged it off as he retrieved his handcannon.

"Time."

"Four minutes."

His saber was checked and he swapped out the power pack on his blaster. The motion was just a smooth reflex now.

"Can't hear..."

Thump

"...well there is the big one," he changed what he had been saying to Aela. "Those are thick quadranium. They shouldn't be able to get through."

Didn't mean they might not find another way around.

 

[Aela Talith]

[member="Jacen Voidstalker"]

Aela glanced at Jacen for a brief moment, doubt sitting in her eyes. Whatever those things were she wasn't about to discount them even one small bit. Without a second of hesitation she stepped forward, activating her lightsaber and running the blade slowly over the edges of the sealed door. The heavy metal groaned for a second, then slowly began to weld together. Aela carefully moved the blade along the door, permanently sealing it shut.

”There.” She said, glancing back at Jacen. ”Now they won't get through.”

Almost as if on cue there was another loud thump, followed quickly by the sound of sputtering claws against bare metal. Goosebumps ran up Aela’s spine, and once again she couldn't help but remember the incident on thay outpost. Her lips thinned and slowly she glanced towards the vents at the corner of the hangar bay. Her stomach began to feel uneasy.

Slowly she backed up towards the shuttle, watching the vents with an extreme amount of caution.

”You never take me anywhere nice.” Aela commented quietly to Jacen. ”Sith worlds, desert planets, haunted space stations…”

She trailed off as a metallic creaking echoed from the left.

 

[Jacen Voidstalker]

[member="Aela Talith"]

"I object..." Jacen backed away in synch with Aela. "...this is clearly an infested space station."

The metal carried noise so well. He couldn't tell if they were scratching at the reinforced door. He tilted his head from side to side as he tried to hone in on the sounds.

"Any restaurants on Borleias? I'll take you somewhere. You can dress up nicely. Like on Ylesia."

She had most certainly not been dressed nicely there, but Jacen wasn't quite done with the Castille jokes yet. A vent was ripped into pieces and two of the small ones dropped down.

"We need to hold."

 

[Aela Talith]

[member="Jacen Voidstalker"]

Her cheeks colored a bit, but pointedly she didn't startle in her embarrassment. Instead she countered with her own retort. "Too bad you missed out on the second time I wore that."

Coming from someone else that might have been less surprising, but for Aela it was a mark of how much she had grown. A year ago she would have stuttered and likely shut down entirely at the mere mention of the costume she had worn while undercover. Now however she freely brought up the second time she had been forced to wear it, when she and Adder had attempted to infiltrate the Hutt Cartel. An operation that had eventually lead to the arrest of several small-time Crime Lords.

Aela twisted slightly, turning towards the broken vent and using the force to grab the creature that had forced its way through. She pressed it back through the metal vent, throwing the creature back against one of it's kin. Half a second later she scrunched her fingers, pulling the broken metal together into a makeshift door.

"They'll get through fast." She barked, jumping back slightly as another vent just above them popped open.

One of the creatures leaped forth, screeching loudly.

 

[Jacen Voidstalker]

[member="Aela Talith"]

His golden blade flicked outwards. The tip cut across the chest of the first spawn. Jacen quickly reversed his grip on the saber and plunged it straight down to finish the job.

With only one set of doors between themselves and the ship left they had to hold on just a little longer.

"I'm not going to ask who you wore it for a second time..." Jacen said. He immediately regretted it. Just because she was apparently comfortable enough to joke about it, it didn't mean he had to escalate further to find the line.

Another poked it's maw out and Jacen slammed it backwards with the Force. It's broken body was used to hold back the others so Aela could seal another opening. They were working down the other side too.

It occurred to him that if they sealed too many openings then they might pass them by and go straight for the ship.

 

[Aela Talith]

[member="Jacen Voidstalker"]

Aela didn't have time to respond, either with a witty retort of her own or even a flash of embarrassment.

One of the creatures pounced at her, moving faster than any of them had previously. Her lightsaber flicked forward and then to the side, quickly bisecting the creature and sending a spurt of acidic blood onto the bulkhead behind her. She let out a quiet curse, half turning as she closed her fist and closed off another one of the vents. Behind her she heard the ignition of a lightsaber, one of the Knights having stepped out of the ship and moving towards them.

"Stay by the ship!" She shouted, whirling on her feet and drawing the sword from the small of her black.

The blade flashed forward, slashing through the thick carapace of one of the beasts. An odd searing noise could be heard as the blade cut through the creatures flesh, the beasts skin beginning to almost bubble as Aela cut into it and then sent a kick into it's face.

Aela growled, knowing what the reaction meant.

These were Sithspawn, no doubt to it.

 

[Jacen Voidstalker]

[member="Aela Talith"]

The corridor was narrow enough that they could stand far apart enough to have some room to swing and still cover the corridor. There was no more falling back. There was just this patch of corridor. The other side of the doors was the flimsy plastic tube that extended from the shuttle to dock. If Aela and Jacen ended up fighting there then the ship would detach with them still hanging onto the hull. One couldn't hang on to the hull of a ship as it made the jump to hyperspace. Though perhaps if the pilot was feeling creative one could perhaps stow in the retraction bay of a landing leg.

There was a very real possibility that the ship would have to detach with them both on this side of the door. Jacen was aware of that. With the children on the other side of the door it barely even registered. There was something that needed to be done. A clear path ahead. It was in these moments that he found his deepest connection with the Force.

Several more of the smaller creatures emerged and were cut down as they charged forwards. One of the darted below his guard and chitinous claws cut a deep gouge into his thigh as it was turned away with a swipe of his blade.

One low thud that reverberated through the walls and floor. Another. Then the ceiling caved in. The head of the monstrous spawn emerged above them.

Jacen drew his blaster in one smooth motion and unloaded the power pack. Its armoured hide glowed faintly where the bolts struck but the creature seemed unphased.

“Right then.”

With his palm extended outwards Jacen closed his eyes and drew the Force to him. It felt like standing in the neck of an hourglass, trying to control the flow that bore down upon him. He felt a spike of heat in his palm before a brilliant white light erupted outwards. The Force drove the beast back, its armour carapace cracking and crumbling where it was touched by the light.

Just a little longer…

 

[Aela Talith]

[member="Jacen Voidstalker"]

"READY!"​

​

The pilots voice boomed out just as Aela cut another one of the smaller creatures in half, the blade in her hand letting out an odd sort of hiss as it sliced through the Sithspawn and seared it's skin. She scowled slightly, half turning and glancing towards the bright white light that was burning from Jacen's palm.

Her scowl deepened as she looked up at the creature that was slowly fighting it's way into the hangar bay. It was larger than the others, it's carapace a different sort of color and it's eyes a deep blazing yellow. There were some qualities to it that seemed almost familiar, a Reek once, perhaps before the Sith had twisted it. Her lips thinned, wanting nothing more than to slay the thing, but she knew that wasn't a possibility now. They weren't here for glory.

They weren't even here to avenge the soldiers on board.

"Jacen!" She called out, taking a step backwards. "Leave it! Get back to the ship!"

The beasts, all of them were a threat for another day. The Pilot had called out that he was ready, the Jedi knights had ensured none of the creatures had gotten close to the ship itself, it was time to go. As much as it pained her, she knew it was what they had to do.

 

[Jacen Voidstalker]

[member="Aela Talith"]

It only took a fraction of a second to appraise the situation and decide that there was space to retreat. Closing his hand the light dissipated before another burst of telekinetic energy expanded outwards.

He managed to compensate for the limp as he walked back, but he could feel the blood soaking through. Not only would they need to stem the bleeding, but test for any contagens.

The door of the airlock closed swiftly, but it seemed to talk an eternity. He slid home a new power pack and kept firing. As it hissed shut he caught sight of the charred creature dropping to the floor and drawing itself up to well over two meters in height. Just another second to match pressures but he could hear them clawing at the other side.

The door to the shuttle slid open and he threw himself inside.

 

[Aela Talith]

[member="Jacen Voidstalker"]

Aela stood behind Jacen as he threw himself inside, the force still blooming within her.

The lightsaber that had been in her hand was tucked away in it's holster on her thigh, the sword that her grandfather had forged centuries ago still lay within her palm. The force burst from her as some of the creatures attempted to leap through the docking gangway, most of them half mutilated by blaster shots or the heavy door that had sealed shut. She wasn't trying to kill them, not this time, she only wanted them to get away from the shuttle.

"GO!" She shouted, throwing the creatures back as Allara rushed over and slammed the button to seal the door to the shuttle.

There was a brief lull, and then the shuttles doors sealed shut.

The Vessel shook violently, Aela reaching up to grab a small handle as the ship shook and backed away from the space station. Out of the viewport she could swear she saw one of the beasts slowly being ripped into the vacuum of space.

 

[Jacen Voidstalker]

[member="Aela Talith"]

Having rolled onto his back he reached for the tear through his suit. Blood was welling up and soaking into the fabric of his suit. A few inches further in and a major artery could have been severed.

A noise rang throughout the ship. Jacen looked up to see the monstrous spawn at the port through the shuttle door. Whether it could survive in vacuum for long didn't matter much. It wouldn't take long to damage the ship.

Before he could even react the younglings were on their feet. The creature was ripped from the hull by their combined power and tossed back towards the station.

"We're clear!" called the pilot.

Despite focusing on putting pressure on the wound, Jacen called up: "have we got a beacon or something we can leave behind?"

 

[Aela Talith]

[member="Jacen Voidstalker"]

Aela swept back, sliding the sword into it's scabbard on her back and putting a hand on Jacen's shoulder to stop him from moving.

"We can worry about it in a second." There wasn't really much else for them to do now. The creatures would either die in the vacuum of space or hang around there until something else came along to grab on to. None of the beasts had any sort of way to propel themselves through vacuum, and she doubted that spontaneous adaption was anything the Sith had bred into these things. She hoped that was the case at the very least.

"Take a breath." She told him, glancing back at the children. "Seela, come here!"

Aela motioned to one of the male students.

He was a young Miralan, with the trademark green skin and the facial tattoos marking him quite well. "Look at his wounds, please."

Seela was one of the few children at the Wroosti Academy who had been talented in healing. From what Aela understood he had once worked under Avalore Eden, though had eventually been sent to Wroosti due to his problems with some of the other Healers. The boy could be quite...combative at times.

 

[Jacen Voidstalker]

[member="Aela Talith"]

Jacen didn't say anything. He looked up at Aela and understanding passed between them. He was done for now. Jacen was aware that he sometimes had trouble recognising that. It would be the end of him one day.

Seela has taken a medical kit from the wall and found some scissors. He cut away the fabric and then pulled a strip of cloth free from the wound. That hurt a great deal and Jacen zoned out of what was going on around them. The noise of the pilots became a incoherent murmur.

"You could have let us help," Seela muttered.

Jacen winced as he felt a new warmth spread out. This time it was from the young Jedi's hand as it was held a few inches from the wound. This pain was almost relieving.

"Wasn't really room for five abreast back there," Jacen said quietly.

 

[Aela Talith]

[member="Jacen Voidstalker"]

Aela stood back for the time being, her fingers unfurling from around Jacen's shoulder. Concern crossed her features, but she didn't say anything as Seela began to care for the other man's wounds. The boy had deft hands to say the least. She had no doubt in her mind that he would be able to care for Jacen, at least with the limited supplies they had on board. Hopefully the idiot would be able to make it to Borleias. Her aunt Amorella wasn't around anymore, but they had medical facilities on the island.

Especially right now.

The thought was a grim and depressing one, but something she couldn't help but think of. Leaning back against the wall of the shuttle she glanced at some of the other children. Half a dozen had gathered around them, doing their best to peek at what Seela was doing.

Half the other bunch were being corralled by the Wroosti group, her own students who were a bit more mature. They did their best to try and pull the younger one from looking at Jacen's injuries, not wanting anyone to panic or see something they might not soon forget. Aela smiled slightly, not being able to help a feeling of pride that was growing in her chest. After a few seconds she turned, regarding Jacen's wound and squatting down besides the old man. "Maybe it's time for restricted duty."

Not that there would be such a thing now. The Alliance had fallen, they were on their own.

"We can get you a wheelchair." She suggested. "Set you up in the Arceneau Archives. My father knows the owner."

 

[Jacen Voidstalker]

[member="Aela Talith"]

"See this," he addressed Aela by talking to Seela. "I'm only thirty eight. You let a couple of things slip through your defences and she tries to put you out to pasture. Thirty eight. Remember Master Hidjick? No? That's because he took a blaster bolt to the knee and Master Talith had him sent to a garden world to tend orchids.

"He was thirty four."

There were a few nervous chuckles from some of the older ones. Jacen winced as he felt the skin pinching tight as Seela started to close it up.

"This doesn't feel infected," Seela said tentatively.

"Good. Thank you." he slowly turned his gaze towards Aela. "Aegist."

 

[Aela Talith]

[member="Jacen Voidstalker"]

She shrugged. ”I thought that was old for you regular humans.”

There was a few giggles behind her, but also some confused look. The kids wouldn't know of course, though she was almost positive she had told Jacen before.

Aela was not human, not the standard variety that colonized so many different worlds. She was a mix of different species, but part of that mixture granted her a life span than far outstripped those of standard humans. From What her father had told her, even morellians wouldn't live as long as she and her siblings. It was something she was inclined to believe, given that her oma was well over four hundred years old and her father two hundred and fifty.

She meant something else to them.

”Besides.” She said, looking down at him. ”It's harder to get hurt in an archive.”

He couldn't really argue with her there. The last three times they had gone to another world he had been seriously injured in some way.

 

[Jacen Voidstalker]

[member="Aela Talith"]

"Don't believe her. The council is just old fashioned about promotions so she's working her way past the older masters."

He groaned as he propped himself up on his elbows. "If I was in the archives it would probably suffer several natural disasters and all out attacks within the first month."

His throat felt slightly dry. The pain was becoming a dull throb.

"This was just a scratch," he muttered, briefing touching the hand against his shoulder. "Would someone pass a water?

"Anyway, does this mean by your standards you're still a teenager?" There was a lot of material there to use to distract the younglings from the current situation.