Aspects of Light Creating Choices of Survival.

[Seraphina Shel'tah]

Sera approached the series of bacta tanks and looked in to each body while it rested. Each person looked worse off than the last. And as she stepped forward to observe the final victim she stepped lightly on the key card before looking down and noticing its' presence. Scooping it up into her hands she examined it for a few moments before fitting it into the card slot for the bacta tank. If I deactivate the tank...It may raise an alarm. Though I have little else to go on.

Peering her head back into the main chamber to ensure that nobody else was wandering the halls she returned to one of the bacta tanks and activated the locking mechanism. The tank began to depressurize and drain, the tank itself releasing the lock so that the inhabitant would be freed. She stood guard while the process completed. It was far from being a silent series of events, and so may very well give away what was happening if anyone were near enough to hear.

Come on...Come on... The Knight would continue waiting until the tank was drained and hatchway released, before opening the tank to take hold of the man inside. "Can you hear me? What is happening here?" She figured they may not have much time, and may need to risk simply cutting through the remainder of the other tanks if time became a limited commodity.

[member="Raien Keth"] | [member="Fyor Nayus"]

 

[Fyor Nayus]

Out went the door revealing one highly drained, blind Lorrdian. At first his calculating mind remained calm, analyzing the situation. Being this long since his capture, the Sith had taken his eye sight, and without his implants or his visor he wouldn’t see again. Fyor didn’t know who had opened the tank, but in the force they felt nothing like what he’d come across before. “Highly in your debt madam, why if I could stand I would, surely…” and he fell out of the tank, dropping forward to either rest against the Jedi, or the floor whichever came first. The Lorrdian's voice was chipper, yes because that sarcasm was all that had kept him sane.

"Experiments, Jedi, force users. Conducted on their bodies, their minds, highly irregular, I thus far have not deduced why."

He was having trouble breathing without the respirator from the tank, his words were disjointed, just how many years had he been in it now? Beside him, [member="Natalya Selanne"] was wildly thrashing around in her own chambered tank, while a small blue Twi’lek named Tadietti had her face was pressed up against the glass, hopefully pleading with her eyes but not daring not to say a word, she couldn’t have been more than fourteen. So far nobody else was aware Sera was here yet. The furthest away, one royally ticked off spider creature, a Charon was waking up from Natalya’s thrashing. In the force you could almost feel what might happen ahead of time if it did wake up in its own tank.

Fyor coughed struggling for that breath, raising a shaky, weak hand to a nearby table. “Key.” He coughed, pulling himself over to it, obviously extremely weak on his legs. He’d been here the longest of all of them, almost, and the modifications the Sith had made to his body, specifically his senses showed it.

Another choice... five tanks left, nobody aware of her, but the noise was increasing, there was a flicker of the lights oddly... perhaps nothing?

[member="Seraphina Shel'tah"]​

 

[Seraphina Shel'tah]

As the man fell forward Sera quickly moved to intercept his collision course with the floor, catching him and gently setting him down to a seated position. "No need. Sit, rest. Gather yourself. I am here to help. I am Sera, what's your name?" She listened as he spoke. Short words that formed the idea behind what was going on gave her the inclination that this place was chalk full of terrible Sith creations, and the remnants of their unnatural experimentation. "I will get you out of here. Tell me, do you know anyone else who is trapped here? I saw a number of tanks, some of which appeared to have occupants. We don't have much time though, I saw someone come down here shortly before me, and I can feel their presence, and that of another further in."

She looked around, noticing the other two frantically moving and looking about. Helping Fyor over to where he was wiggling she assisted with him obtaining the key, before looking back at the others with the flickering of the lights. "We're running out of time. I can't search around for every key that will open these tanks. If I am to get you all out of here, we need to act quickly." Taking the one available key, she wandered over to where [member="Natalya Selanne"] 's tank was, and deactivated it. Though she did not wait for the female's tank to empty and release her, instead, walked to where the other Twi'lek was, reaching out with her mind into the girl's own, warning her to brace herself and get to the back of the tank. As she did, with one quick, fluid motion her green saber rose from her hip and activated,slashing the glass in the tank in two separate areas, to make for a large opening, spilling the entire contents to the floor.

If they had been undetected up until this point, that may likely change now. That was anything but discreet.

[member="Fyor Nayus"]

 

[Fyor Nayus]

What happened next was… interesting.

The second tank opened, and the lights went off, was someone playing a game?

When the third tank was cut, red emergency lights came on, and alarms sounded. Tadi’etti fell into [member="Seraphina Shel'tah"] 's arms, the young blue twi’lek was limp, and her future was in the balance. She was breathing but fading, and needed help. She would probably make it thanks to the timely intervention however.

[member="Natalya Selanne"] was immediately out, thrashing wildly at anything and everything like a caged animal, which she felt like, being locked up here forever. The wildling threw herself out of the room, tossing tables and anything else out of the way. That didn’t at all match what happened next when the huge spider-like Charon got loose, smashing its own tank, and barreling straight into [member="Niaana Ren"] who was about to pounce. The two of them were sent off in a ball rolling around the other side of the room, equipment dangerously thrown about. The huge spider Charon was letting 6 months of rage loose now it saw its chance, and the small Echani Sith would be hard pressed to avoid its pinning legs just impaling her.

“We should away, my good lady, I am most certain our hosts while they would find your company de…”, Fyor coughed, struggling to stand, he was weak that was obvious, “delightful, they have no tact at all in small talk.” He pulled himself up on the table, and over to the nearest tank, fiddling with the controls, he couldn't see what he was doing, but he knew this room inside out unfortunately, and machines he was almost a genius with.

The cyborg female and the male human were left, and Fyor was trying to check their status. “In the finest traditions of my own best advice, run, the others need you more.” He was willing to sacrifice himself again, for a few seconds trying to get the container opened.

Because in the room now, everyone could feel it, a second or so more and [member="Raien Keth"] would arrive.

Charon

[member="Seraphina Shel'tah"]​

 

[Seraphina Shel'tah]

"That certainly can't be good." She exclaimed as the lights flashed and the alarms began to sound. Schutta! She knew that time was of the essence from this point forward, and she would need to be quick if she were to save the Jedi trapped here. "We need to get you out of here, now. We're out of time." The Twi'lek watched as [member="Natalya Selanne"] began thrashing violently around the place. Her mind stretched out and pierced against the girl's own. There was no time to whisper and attempt to calm her. She pushed with a violent force in an attempt to subdue the woman, to knock her unconscious through telepathy's power of sheer will. If she couldn't be quiet and calm, she needed to be subdued for her own good. If that failed to work, Sera would reach forward with telekinetic hands and Force Pull her quickly toward the group.

"We need to go." She turned to [member="Fyor Nayus"]. "Are you able to walk? I'm not leaving you here. I will take care of your hosts, and free the others. You need to get out of here."

Sera watched briefly for a moment as the Charon wrestled with [member="Niaana Ren"] on the ground, attempting to kill the smaller Sith female who had led her to this complex. She scoffed, knowing full well she couldn't let the girl's fate be sealed by some giant insect. With a quick flick of her wrist, Sera's purple saber ignited in a flash and was sent hurling through the air towards the Charon at lightning speed. If the blade failed to succeed in its' mission, it would hopefully at least give the girl enough time to squirm away from the beast. Another dark presence was approaching, and there was no time left to ensure the girl's safety.

Sera recalled her saber and began assisting the others by carving through the controls to the bacta tanks and assisting the others with their escape.

[member="Raien Keth"]

 

[Kylraya]

Wearing furs, silks and leathers. Natalya was lost down here in what she saw as this metal cavern, sneezing with her allergies to the artificial. Imagine living for a year with those allergies, and that’s what she felt like, that and being caged up for as long! Living her life free in the wilds, being stuck here had sent her slightly crazy for a bit. Sera had settled her a bit but being so cut off from everything natural was driving her nuts too. Scooping up a crawling fuzzy predator, and letting it rest on her palm. A shadowlands predator, venomous and deadly, the ball of fuzz was lethal but looked completely harmless. That was just fine, he was cute to Natalya. A welcome break to hold something natural in her hand! Even if its main thought was, when am I eating, can I eat your fingers? She was already communicating with her pet in her own way.

[member="Fyor Nayus"] was stumbling around blind, but assisting out the injured. His comment about running was obviously an exaggeration and a flare for the dramatic, because between the two of them, her and Natalya were helping move padawans that were either asleep, or injured out of the way.

The Charon felt the saber pierce its side, this was a very, very old creature that had often been locked up in Sith hands, more than once while it awaited their judgement, long periods of hibernation often followed before it was brought out again, never before by this Raien Keth though. As the Jedi pierced its side, the charon howled out and flew straight into the wall, off the girl and started ripping things out of the way to get out, making a hole… thankfully for [member="Niaana Ren"], Sera had saved another. Thankfully? Niaana didn't understand at all, someone had saved her? She'd be punished, and feared that. The Sith Assassin hissed and rolled out after the Charon, climbing up through the roofs rafters, that just left Sera, face to face with the approaching Sith Knight.

Fyor was in no shape to help anyone fight and regrettably was only able to assist the prisoners. Natalya on the other hand, looked to Seraphina as she was helping others out their doorway, struggling to get them up with her, "help?" What she meant was, do you need help. She was not a conversationalist, not unless you were an edan tiger, a sandhawk or another of her pack, but she wondered if Sera needed a hand?

[member="Seraphina Shel'tah"]​

 

[Raien Keth]

Dead sister locked away in his chambers at the heart of this place behind him. Forward he had been drawn. Darth Surtr hated interruption. Hated was light a word for the singleminded emotion that barreled the table in front of him out of the way, loathing moving like a freight train crushing outward toward the one who dared stand on his ground. Metal bent, wires twisted and lights popped.

Here he had purpose, the Jedi should know better.

Barely anyone was of note to the sheer Sith pride and certainty of the Sith code that Raien Keth stood within, when you were of note, you often wished you weren’t. With the multitude of plans within plans in Raien Keth's head, the chessboard of life he laid out before him to seed conflicts throughout the galaxy, he had no time to spend on others, and even less tolerance of delays!

In his laboratory. This was not the old sanctuary of old, not the gleaming city or vaults full of Sith artefacts, sith experimentation or his travels into the Sith code that it once was, but it was still hallowed darkside ground. A Jedi had dared… dared to stand before him here.

"You dare." The rasping rebuilt voice of a thousand wounds bled outward.

Stomping metal boots carried the betrayer forward, the burning runic robes carved of pain and suffering, dead familes, dead sith and dead jedi burned outward into ruby lightening arcing outward from his hand. One of the male jedi prisoners attempting escape, was pulled up into the air, his back soon smoking. He would kill every last living thing here, while the Jedi [member="Seraphina Shel'tah"] watched, until it was her turn.

[member="Seraphina Shel'tah"]​

 

[Seraphina Shel'tah]

Sera watched as the Charon shrieked and stumbled out and away, while @Nianna Renn scurried up and out of the chamber through the ceiling rafters. She hadn't expected the Sith girl to thank her, or even to stick around. She half expected the girl to turn on her and attack her for the mere thought of coming to her aide, being a Jedi and all. All in all Sera assumed that was the best outcome that could have come to be. And so she pressed on, disregarding the smaller Sith girl as she departed.

Looking over to [member="Fyor Nayus"] and to [member="Natalya Selanne"], she sensed another, more powerful darkness approaching quickly. "We're out of time. You two, take the others now, take them and get to the surface. Do not turn back, don't wait, just go. Get them and yourselves aide. I will handle your...host."

With that she took a number of paces forward, her saber that had made its' flight returned to her hand just as [member="Raien Keth"] strode into sight. Knocking things out of his way like a stampeding bantha, he spoke two threatening words to the Jedi Knight, while her expression remained emotionless, unmoved, and entirely unsurprised by his unchecked anger and aggression. All Sith were more or less the same when it came to blows, fury and rage pouring from their bowls, hatred dripping from their tongue, and for what? Their obsession with shooting lightning out of their fingertips and creating perverted beasts.

The Twi'lek looked on as one of the other Jedi were electrocuted to death, or something painfully close to it. There was nothing she could have done to save him, but the others, the others she would save. Her wrists flicked the twin blades of her sabers into a combat ready stance, interjecting into his pathway which would take him towards the other retreating folks. "I dare, Sith." Her face would turn to a sour scowl, looking at the opposing Knight.

 

[Raien Keth]

The others exited, even pulling the fallen Jedi with them, climbing or helping to climb the outer walls, given how tired some were, injured or carrying each other it would take some time for them all to get out, you could hear their calls behind Sera. Behind Sera was exactly where Raien was headed, straight through her to make good on his promise.

Raien Keth hadn’t stopped, his footsteps or momentum rarely halted in life, a sense of deep paranoia at staying still too long lest one of his many enemies catch him off guard. One of worth to kill head? Such thoughts barely had time to enter his mind, as another table was resonated up and up and up, shattering into metal shards, as it flew forward toward its intended victim. Some came predictably, some would miss, and others might bounce or deflect at unexpected angles. What did Raien do? Carry on walking, heavy metal steps going to roll right over the Jedi intruder.

Fury yes, but deeply focused, like she was facing a very old opponent, one who had taken many, many lives, crushed pressure in the depth of his loathing, not mere anger that was a surface emotion. One more Jedi for the runic fire that burned on his robes, fuel for the furnace. He felt what she sensed too, because it had happened twice now recently. Was anger threatening to get the best of him once again, as with his duel with [member="Judah Lesan"] ? Was he just a fledgling Sith that didn't know better? The loathing pressed down into him, forming a hard iron core of sith certainty at the center.

[member="Seraphina Shel'tah"]​

 

[Seraphina Shel'tah]

Stepping forward and into the pathway of [member="Raien Keth"], her right hand would extend. The brilliant purple beam snapping at the air, as if beckoning to him. Her left hand remained low, the green hue of the sister saber pointed toward the ground at ease. She glared at the Sith Knight as he continued his war path, content to slaughter anyone and anything in his way as he proceeded. Anger fueled his emotion, overtaking any semblance of humanity or reasoning. It was a far fetched dream to try and talk him down, reason with him, or otherwise neutralize the situation without a fight. But she was a Jedi, and her morality dictated her momentary demand.

"Stand down. Surrender yourself and you will not be harmed. I will give you this opportunity to prevent further pain."

The Twi'lek would not waver from her position between the Sith and the fleeing Jedi. She would defend them to the end if necessary, or the very least until they were all out, and safe. Hoping that the situation would be resolved peacefully, but understanding that most Sith were little more than maniacal murderers, she held little hope for the proposal, and readied herself for his inevitable attack.

 

[Raien Keth]

The shards of metal had missed Seraphina, this deep loathing at his own weakness and inaccuracy bred further contempt for the surroundings and made the next resonation attack twice as vicious. The floor underneath her feet would begin to speed up, combustion about to happen, vibrating quicker and quicker to unsettle her stance and ground. Raien always attacked the stance, always tried to unsettle his opponents to give his Djem So the edge of pressure and his fighting style stronger balance.

“Prevent Pain….” His voice bit down on the word, the litany of wounds across his body, very real markings of battles endured were brought to bear, pain was a long ally of the betrayer, his body betrayed first of all on his path to the Sith Code.

The Sith Knight’s heavy braced limbs were by no means fast, but he was almost on top of her now with his steady walk, and as the metal floor beneath her shattered upwards, exploding to attempt to pierce her feet, Raien brought his saber down atop her in Djem So, in two hands, to attempt to crush her into it, or she could move away and let him have his prize. The voices of those outside desperately pulling each other up the hole behind her, "they are mine, as are you."

This entire room was one metal tin can, there were so many potential weapons in the combat circle, she might be lucky to walk away with any legs left. Raien’s focus on the same combat circle deepened, the room in this case, creaking pressure in the air, as his eyes began to narrow behind the artificial mask, all this pressured focus on her.

[member="Seraphina Shel'tah"]​

 

[Seraphina Shel'tah]

Sera was well familiar with the art of the small, and the manipulation of an object or material to turn against one's own opponent. She'd suffered greatly at the hands of Darth Ferus several times and had a keen sense of the use of this treacherous ability. The feeling of the ground vibrating about her position was cue for her to move immediately, and with [member="Raien Keth"] approaching she knew that an attack was imminent. With a momentary burst of speed, enhanced by a small draw on the Force, she forced her position backwards in time for the projected shrapnel to harmlessly erupt upwards towards where she stood only a moment ago.

When Raien brought his saber down in a powerful swing her hands crossed to form an 'X' to block his swing. The anticipated might was still underestimated, and her knees bent furiously under the power of his strike. Her left bearing more of the weight than the right, and her height shrunk slightly underneath the Sith. A snarl came from her as she grimaced against his impressive strength. A straight on combat like this was not something she would be able to triumph against. She had to buy the others time to finish escaping, if nothing else.

"They are free. They will escape. It is done. Don't make me kill you."

Lowering her right hand momentarily as the purple saber deactivated, the crackling of her single green blade against Raien's began to lower closer towards her. Though she had planned for that, and calculated enough time to perform the act of escaping his reach. Locking on to a nearby desk her hand extended outwards, grabbing hold of the object with tendrils of mental energy, pulling it violently towards the two of them at high speed, before disengaging from the man and rolling backwards as the desk was sent hurtling closer to them. As she rolled back her secondary blade would again ignite in preparation for his continued assault.

[member="Raien Keth"]

 

[Raien Keth]

The desk hit the Betrayer head on, half caught in force levitate, half a bruising his knee, and with another rush of energy, half roar of the force, half physical exertion. Raien didn’t throw it directly at her, because she could just do the same to him, he threw it down towards her legs and the ground, so that if she tried to reflect it instinctively, it was going to bounce in front of them. Forcing her back, always back, but then she wanted to be back didn’t she?

Or did she?

This time he pulled at the doorway not her, to crush and bring some of the ceiling down behind her, the beam carrying the load on the archway began to creek and sway, if he couldn’t have them, she wasn’t going anywhere, she would take their place. There was of course one other alternative exit that a handy enraged Charon had made in the far wall, but that was behind him…

“All your compassion will do here is be your end, and your beginning.”

She was going to be cut off backed against the wall…

And with that the roof doorway came down behind her, metal beams, rubble... Now she wasn’t fighting for them, she was fighting to survive, and he was waiting for her to jump, so he could swing high…

“Now we see what you really have.” Echani eyes watched to learn of the galaxy ahead of him, what had transpired since his reawakening. She had heart, spirit, potential, time to see it freed.

[member="Seraphina Shel'tah"]​

 

[Seraphina Shel'tah]

As the desk was hurled towards her lower abdomen and legs the Jedi Knight leaped back a few meters away from the splintering pile of wood as small pieces of shrapnel exploded out from beneath it, a few loose chips of wood dug into her boots and cut her legs a bit, even managing to imbed themselves into her flesh a few times over. Her eyes winced with the brief stinging of pain from those small pin needles as she landed. Her head cocked to the side as her eyes shot a glance back behind her just as Raien destabilized the ceiling and rafter. While the beam hadn't yet collapsed, some of the debris fell towards her head. Rather than leap forward into the Sith's grasp she pulled forth a Protection Bubble to surround herself from the weight of the falling debris.

"Compassion is a virtue which you cannot perceive because you have been so blinded by darkness and hate that it is an incomprehensible emotion. Your tainted heart will wither and die long before my will breaks, Sith."

With that her shield faded from existence and she charged forward toward the awaiting Sith just as the roof collapsed behind her, sealing that exit and at the very least ensuring the others' escape from this hell. Her sabers ignited and ready as she lunged forward, slashing in an X formation toward his waistline before reversing the blades in her hands and slashing back from the direction she had come. If she were to escape, she would have to play his game for now.

[member="Raien Keth"]

Spoiler

I apologize for taking forever to post! Please PM me next time I seem like I am neglecting!