Behind Enemy Lines [Republic Remnant - PM to join]

[Mereel Vaun]

A sore sensation reverberating through all of his joints compelled him back to consciousness. The first thing he noticed was a giant crack now inhabiting the center of his helmet visor. Mereel popped off his helmet, and crawled across the ground to retrieve his rifle. After grabbing the weapon, he slung it across his back where the jetpack had previously been, and slowly stood to his feet, the smell of charred trees and armor - his own armor - hung thick in the air around him.

As he began walking toward the cave mouth, each step brought pain anew. With his helmet now off, he could make out two forms still alive at the edge of the cave mouth, one Belizarius, and the other a Gen'dai he didn't know.

He unclipped the flask from his belt and took a hearty swig as he limped towards the duo. The fruity blend soothed his soul as his body's nerves cried out in agony.

As he approached, he limped over the remains of several mercenaries, and took special note of Belizarius' heavy breathing and frantic eye movements. Mereel had witnessed the phenomena before in soldiers, but had never seen it in a Jedi before.

The man seemed to teeter on the edge of having a total breakdown.

"Udesii, vod. Easy.. "

He extended his flask of tihaar to the man, a stabbing pain came with his right arm's movement, "Drink. It helps me after engagements.."

"I don't know what happened here, but we need to press on. The Order entrusted us with rescuing Pra'act."


He pulled the DL-18 from its holster with his left arm, and thumbed the safety off. There was no way he was going to be able to use his rifle in this state. "I intend on completing that mission, come on."

It wasn't a pep talk, it was a reminder of their duty. Mereel limped into the mouth of the cave.

[member="Belizarius Krusi"] | [member="Tekikyskei"]​

 

[Belizarius Krusi]

Belizarus did take a swing, it's not that he didn't drink but usually that was while on mission. Mereel was right though, he was a Sentinel and if he didn't act another life could be lost and no more lives were going to be lost today if he could do anything about it. He was a Jedi Sentinel and this is what he was trained to do. After taking the swing and seeing the limping Mandalorian.

"You can't be serious, you need to rest" He got himself back properly onto his feet and looked into the cave, there was still fear in his eyes "Your not going to do any good in there in your current state. Take care of the few survivors that we have remaining" and the next part was where he sounded the most unsure "I can handle this"

Then he started to walk in and overtook Mereel, if he followed that was his choice but at this point he just wanted this to all be over. As he turned left and was about to turn right he felt the mercenaries in the next chamber. They were obviously doing one last ditch defense to keep them out, he could probably kill them.... quickly and easily but that wasn't the Jedi way. This was not so much an act of righteousness but obligation.

"I am only going to offer this once, I've already disarmed or had to kill quite a few of your friends today. I don't want anymore blood to be shed.... Surrender" he felt a strong presence from his leader at this stage, he knew it was a strong chance they'd reject his offer and because of this he had his lightsaber at the ready.

Bandits in an enclosed space... they wouldn't stance a chance against him. He had come too far and watched too many good people die today to allow them to stand a chance against him. What was it he read in a book about a really old Jedi Grandmaster? 'Do, or do not. There is no try'

[member="Mereel Vaun"]/ [member="Tekikyskei"]

 

[Mereel Vaun]

Mereel remained where he stood as Belizarius offered the mercenaries a final out. Silence was the only response to the fellow Jedi's plea for peace.

Mereel sighed, and slipped his helmet back on, the cracked visor once again occupying the center of his vision. "I've already sorted everything with the survivors ner vod. They know what to do if things go to osik. Everything is fine back there, here though..."

In a show of bravado entirely performed just to encourage his compatriot, Mereel slammed his left fist against his armor's scarred chest piece. It hurt like hell, but the pain coupled with adrenaline coursing through his veins added a layer of venom into his voice as he spoke, "Tome - we do this together. "

He holstered his pistol, it wouldn't fire fast enough to take down a dark Jedi, but his rifle could give him a slight chance if Belizarius went down in the fight. He pushed all thoughts of defeat from his mind as he painfully pulled the rifle from off of his back and held it against his shoulder. "Lead on, I'll be right behind you."

[member="Belizarius Krusi"] | [member="Tekikyskei"]​

 

[Belizarius Krusi]

"Alright, well... let's see how this turns out"

He closed his eyes, focusing and feeling with the force. He activated his lightsaber and continued to focus deeply getting ready for what was in the next room he moved around the corner as the first shots came before him all his instincts yelled into his head 'slugshot!' as he entered the room he quickly found himself having to dodge rather than deflect. As he dodged he quickly felt and assessed the room. They were three mercenaries and a dark presense damn it... that must be the Dark jedi.

Belizarius had fought Dark Jedi before but that was when his master was alive and they were working together. He had never faced one without the support of another trained Jedi to assist him. In a enclosed space like this the slugshot was the better choice for weapon but he still had some tricks up his sleeve as rolled behind a crate then used the force to send the crate flying at one of the mercenaries which sent them flying backwards and crushing them against the wall. Though force throwing this crate meant that he was now without cover and slugshot came his way, he attempted to at least block it with his saber but all that managed to do is melt the projectile and send it flying into the side of his clothing where it quickly burnt through the cloth and burn small parts of his torso.

Him focusing before though was an attempt to try and ignore any possible pain coming his way. Though for the first time he realized that using these old robes was probably not going to be extremely useful in such engagements. he ducked behind another crate and this time used the force to create a small whirlwind that collected all the dust in the cave and started spinning it around. All this dust being thrown up would hopefully give him time to figure out how to kill another.

This still didn't help him develop a plan for dealing with the Dark Jedi but he was happy that at least until now he seemed to be happy to get the mercenaries to try and finish him off. He didn't know if he could manage to take on the Mercenaries and the Dark Jedi....

[member="Mereel Vaun"] / [member="Tekikyskei"]

 

[Mereel Vaun]

Mereel followed in the wake of the Jedi's warpath. Adrenaline was coursing through his body, and the pain of his previous injuries was replaced by a numb excitement - a primal thrill of the hunt.

He ran past Belizarius and dropped to a crouch behind a crate. He trained his rifle at the center of one of the mercenaries in the room, just in time to witness Belizarius hurl a crate at his target. He pivoted his rifle and trained it on another mercenary further back in the room, then Belizarius released a whirlwind of force energy that stirred up all the dust in the room, rendering his vision almost useless.

He tried switching his HUD to display thermal signatures, but it didn't work. His helmet must have been far more damaged then he had realized. He reached out in the force, trying to feel for lifeforms. He thought he could sense someone standing in the far right hand side of the room. He trained his DC-15AB on the target and fired a concentrated burst of three blaster bolts.

Spoiler

Force-aimbot roll:16

The first azure streak received no response, but he heard a mercenary screaming after the second and third bolts sailed from his rifle. Two down, three to go.

[member="Belizarius Krusi"] | [member="Tekikyskei"]​

 

[Hard Contact]

Veralas​

__________________​

​

All Veralas saw before the whirlwind reduced their vision was a single man and a Mandalorian. What a pitiful rescue party.

With his sight diminished, Veralas was still able to see blue fire coming from one of his opponents. He didn't react to the blasterfire, the mercenaries would be able to handle the Mandalorian if they were worth their pay. The Jedi was the only threat to his Master's plan.

With his saber ignited, Veralas leapt through the whirlwind. He was now in striking distance of the Jedi.

Veralas raised his crimson blade above his head and brought it down with savage strength in an attempt to cut the Jedi in half.

​

[member="Belizarius Krusi"]​

Devok - the Merc Captain​

__________________​

Devok watched as the crimson saber of his ally cut a path through the dust. Not to be outdone in kills, the mercenary Captain donned his thermal goggles. There were only two foes in the chamber, and Veralas was already engaged with the Jedi. That left Devok and his last man to deal with the Mando.

"Jenson, leave the Jedi to Veralas! Target that buckethead!"

"I can't see him sir!"

Devok groaned, "I'll handle him myself."

He aimed both of his slugthrowers at the mando's head, which was slightly sticking out above the crate. He pulled both triggers, and four slugs headed directly for his target's head.

[member="Mereel Vaun"]​

 

[Belizarius Krusi]

He was hoping the Dark Jedi would stay back but that was too much to hope for, Belizarius could easily sense the Dark Jedi though and was quick to lock his saber to block the blow which instantly made all the dust fall to the ground as now his focus was completely on this Dark Jedi and trying to stop this saber while also still crouched on the ground. It was time to see if that extra training over the last year had paid off but also the Dark Jedi had made a miscalculation... he didn't fight like a typical honorable Jedi.

"I am not going to be that easy to kill" using all his strength to keep the lock in place, Beizarius reached out with the force for a crate nearby and pulled it towards the Dark Jedi to ram into his side. Though because he was trying to repress his fear his concentration was not all it should be and unlike the crate which hit the mercenary earlier this would probably simply push the Dark Jedi off him rather than throw him against a wall. He had to focus, he had fought Dark Jedi before and this man no matter how powerful he was... was no Sith.

[member="Mereel Vaun"] / [member="Tekikyskei"]

 

[Mereel Vaun]

Mereel chuckled a little under his helmet as metal slugs harmlessly dinged off of his helmet and fell to the floor, with the dust now fallen back to the floor, he looked directly at the older man wielding two slugthrowers, "Never fought against beskar'gam before, ner vod?"

Realizing that slugthrower-merc was literally not a threat at all unless he shot him in the joints, Mereel turned his rifle toward the second to last merc in the room, and he held down the trigger. A ruthless barrage of ten azure bolts cut the man down. Mereel was no longer thinking of himself as a Jedi and a Mando, right now he was just a hunter, a primal being with a primal goal: kill or be killed.

[member="Belizarius Krusi"] [member="Tekikyskei"]​

 

[Hard Contact]

Veralas
__________________

The saber lock was broken by a crate flying towards him. Veralas jumped back with the assistance of the force to try to dodge the blow, but was caught on the leg as he did so, he tumbled through the air backwards, flying over the crate [member="Mereel Vaun"] was taking cover behind. Instead of feeling shame for being so easily hit by a crate, the Dark Jedi felt angsty anger.

"Two of us can play pointless Telekinesis games, Jedi." Veralas launched a vicious force push towards both the Mandalorian and [member="Belizarius Krusi"].

 

[Belizarius Krusi]

Belizarius chuckled nervously after he was pushed back making him tumble over the crate he was just hiding against... 'well I should have seen something like that happening' he thought as he collected himself and got back onto his feet. Lightsaber out he gets into a traditional Soresu stance pointing at his enemy. The only chance he had was if he made the Dark Jedi come to him.

"If there is one thing I do like, it's playing games" the nervous tone in his voice was be pretty obvious but in a cave filled with rocks, dust and crates there would be plenty more opportunity to simply throw things at this Dark Jedi. If the Dark Jedi thought he was stupid enough to engage him by relying on his lightsaber skills. Belizarius knew that in a outright fight he wouldn't have the advantage. He was focusing on the ground below him as he prepared to send a massive gush of dirt and pebbles towards the Dark Jedi when he charged next.

[member="Mereel Vaun"] / [member="Tekikyskei"]

 

[Mereel Vaun]

As Mereel turned his rifle toward the final mercenary, a wave of force energy sent him flying through the air.

He landed on the opposite side of the crate Belizaruis had been toppled over, and much like his compatriot he quickly sprang to his feet.

Unlike his compatriot however, his weapon was not still in his hand. The rifle had remained on top of the original crate he had been taking cover behind. The dark jedi was standing directly by it now, and the mercenary stood only a couple of feet away from the aforementioned crate.

Mereel reached out in the force, and began pulling the rifle slowly toward himself.

[member="Belizarius Krusi"] [member="Tekikyskei"]

 

[Hard Contact]

Veralas​

Veralas instantly recognized the lightsaber form the Jedi adopted. Soresu was a defensive form, he had to strike the Jedi down swiftly or it would be a battle of attrition.

"Fool, you will only prolong the inevitable.

Veralas got up, reignited his lightsaber, and used the force to assist him in a mad dash toward the Jedi, his lightsaber aimed at the man's torso in an attempt to run him through.

[member="Belizarius Krusi"]

Devok​

The Mercenary Captain wasted no time. He fired six shots at the rifle floating through the air towards the mandalorian, and the weapon fell to the ground with a thud.

"May not do a lot of good to your fancy armor, but they still work against your blaster it seems.

The mercenary captain slowly retracted the vibroblade from its sheath on his waist. "I'm gonna gore you for what you did to ol' Jenson over there.

With fire in his eyes, the Captain slowly walked toward the Mandalorian with his blade ready to strike.

[member="Mereel Vaun"]

 

[Belizarius Krusi]

This was exactly what Belizarius was hoping for, in a quick move he launched his hand into the air and all the dust, pebbles and small rock around the Dark Jedi flew up immediately in front of him and then sent the crate next to his feet flying at them in the hope of putting the Dark Jedi off balance. He was confident this would at least distract them long enough to go on the offensive.

He charged forward also going on the offensive as his movements started to reflect more Ataru, this was a form he was far less confident in but had been practicing it heavily in the hope of eventually becoming better at offensive fighting. Using what force power he could muster after his previous two feats slid down and started sliding on the ground taking a swipe at the Dark Jedi's feet. He was hoping such a drastic change of form and tactics would hopefully throw them off balance.

He couldn't rely on Ataru on anything more than these short burst though, if they starting clashing their sabers then Belizarius would be forced into a more defensive position. The important thing was to keep some distance.

[member="Mereel Vaun"] @Tekikyskei

 

[Mereel Vaun]

Under his helmet, Mereel arched an eyebrow at the merc, "You want to fight up close and personal, huh?"

The wristblades on both of his gauntlets sprang out in an instant, "It's your funeral pal."

He lunged forward at the man, his right blade aimed at the mercenary's jugular.

 

[Hard Contact]

Veralas
__________________

The dirty move completely halted his force-powered sprint, and he stopped to rub the grit out of his eyes. He hadn't been expecting the Jedi to throw around the dirt in the room again, but he had been expecting another crate to be thrown at him, and he pushed the box away with a force push of his own. The crate's new trajectory caused it to go sailing toward the Mandalorian fighting Devok, but he didn't stop to see if it hit its target.

He refocused his attention on the Jedi just in time to see the man take the offensive. The Jedi slid to the ground and aimed a lightsaber swipe at Veralas' feet. Veralas sprang back from the strike, but in doing so he angled his knee ever so slightly to be struck by the Jedi's blade.

Veralas cried out in pain, but he didn't retreat. He advanced once more upon the Jedi, feigned a jab to the man's left side, and then directed an actual strike toward the upper left half of the Jedi's torso.

[member="Belizarius Krusi"] | [member="Mereel Vaun"]


Devok

__________________

Without much effort, Devok side-stepped the Mandalorian's lunge for his neck. He spun the vibroblade around in his hand and slammed the blade against the Mandalorian's right gauntlet. He caught one of the Mandalorian's blades at its point of origin, and the blade came off and flew to the side of the room with a clunk.

"Have to be quicker than that."

Devok brought the blade back around, and slapped the Mandalorian across the side of the head using one of the flat sides of the weapon. Before he could get in another blow to the armored figure, a crate hit the Mando in the side of the head that his sword had just contacted, and the man went reeling to the ground.

[member="Mereel Vaun"]

 

[Belizarius Krusi]

Belizarius had only a moment to react, he went to block the feint but when the Dark Jedi changed his attack it caught him by surprise, he moved out of the way but it did give him a reasonably deep cut down his chest burning through his robe like it was nothing. Belizarius was in pain but he saw the opportune moment to strike and kicked his leg out at the enemies bad knee and swung his blade around with both of his hands putting all his physical strength into the blow at the Dark Jedi's head meanwhile shouting "Oh just die already!". Going on the defensive would waste time and he couldn't afford to do that as he was afraid for Mereel's safety and that of Pra'ct. He also needed to end the fight because he knew that most tricks only worked once with other force users.
[member="Mereel Vaun"]

 

[Mereel Vaun]

As Mereel toppled to the floor from the attack of the mercenary and the flying crate, he realized something of vital importance: he was now on the ground only a foot away from his own blaster rifle.

He didn't stand up, instead he crawled away from the mercenary on his hands and knees, if he dived to grab the weapon, there was a good chance that the mercenary would try to stab him.

There's another way.

He cleared his thoughts and slowed his breathing. He pulled the weapon towards himself with a wave of force energy with a speed he had never before demonstrated when using the force for telekinesis.

He grabbed the blaster rifle out of the air, fell around on his back, and held down the rifle's trigger. A volley of blue blaster bolts sailed toward the mercenary.

[member="Belizarius Krusi"]​

 

[Hard Contact]

Veralas and Devok​

--------------------------------​

Veralas was feeling arrogant now - he had inflicted a grevious wound on the Jedi's chest. The battle was almost won, and his Master would surely grant him the force power of his captured Jedi.

But something was wrong, the Jedi continued standing in opposition to him. Due to his sudden state of shock, Veralas didn't see the Jedi's kick at his struck knee before it was too late. The kick broke bone, and Veralas began to fall, but before he could react, before he could regain his footing, his head was sliced into horizontal halves by [member="Belizarius Krusi"]'s lightsaber. The Dark Jedi was no more.

In the same moment, only a few feet away from Belizarius, a volley of azure blaster bolts riddled the mercenary captain's face, and the man fell over backwards, dead.

[member="Mereel Vaun"] | [member="Belizarius Krusi"]​

 

[Belizarius Krusi]

Belizarius just stood there for a solid 20 seconds staring at the Dark Jedi, he felt like normally this would be the time to fist pump the air and shout in celebration but then.... the pain started. All of a sudden the burns in his torso and the slice on his chest started to hurt immensely to the point that he was blinded by pain.

He collapsed to the ground trying to hold in the screaming, he had been injured before but never like this and trying to focus away the pain just wasn't enough. A lot of his strength was spent defeating that Dark Jedi and he had very little left. The adrenaline had worn off.... Belizarius though was trying hard to collect himself and calm himself in the hope that he could finish this mission. What took about 5 minutes seemed liked hours but eventually he was able to collect himself.

He didn't know force healing, he was used to being able to treat himself but he honestly thought he wouldn't of been injured like this considering the size of the team that originally arrived but in the end it was always a possibility and in future he needed to be better prepared. What Jedi doesn't think to bring medication when fighting a Dark Jedi?

Still laying on the ground he said to Mereell "ok, let's go and find Pra'ct" in a tone that showed he was still clearly in pain, he started to push himself up and he was extremely wobbly but after a few seconds seemed to find himself. His robes were a complete mess covered in burn marks and slices... he definitely didn't look very impressive but at least he still had a head attached.

[member="Mereel Vaun"]

 

[Mereel Vaun]

Spoiler

With a groan, Mereel got up to his feet. He beat his chest hard with a gauntlet a few times and focused on his fear of what they would find in the next chamber. It was a desperate attempt to keep his adrenaline flowing, an attempt he knew wouldn't work until he felt endangered.

He emptied his pretend fear, all he felt at the moment was sore - sore and tired. For the first time since the duel had began, Mereel took a good look at [member="Belizarius Krusi"]. The man had a terrible gash on his chest, and he looked rather disheveled. He realized he probably didn't look in fighting shape either. The crack in his helmet's visor returning to the center of his vision and thoughts.

"I'll take point. My armor can take hits from a saber.. think you've already got in your licks for the day ner vod. " Mereel's words sounded hollowed and lifeless as he spoke. His pain had finally begun to seep into his voice.

He probably should have taken point earlier, but Belizarius had far more energy than him when the two had entered the cave. Now, he wasn't so sure. He lead the two of them further into the cave system. Nothing came to oppose them, but he could feel something dark in the force nearby. He knew it for what it was, the presence of a darksider.

He could sense something else though, a fainter presence. It felt like a bulwark against the heavy air of the darkness, he had to be sensing Pra'act. "We're close."

As he uttered the words, the two men came upon a fork in the cave. One path lead off to the right, another tunnel ran straight ahead. Without a second thought, he continued his march straight until the two men were on the threshold of a large chamber. The floor here was different from that of the rest of the tunnels. Instead of being just rock, he saw cobblestone layered together under the dim light of eight torches spread out across the walls, illuminating the chamber.

Directly ahead of where the two men had entered, there was a staircase leading up to a level platform at the far end of the room. On top of the platform was a strange crystalline formation, that jutted out of the ground to form a spike. Next to the strange spike, Mereel saw the silhoutte of Pra'act dimly outlined by torchlight. The Jedi Knight was bound at the hands and feet, and was hanging by a chain attached to the roof of the chamber at some point in the darkness above.

He didn't see anyone else in the room though. With his DC-15AB rifle raised, he began cautiously walking to the other side of the chamber towards Pra'act. As he drew closer, he stopped in the middle of the room and pointed toward the chains holding Pra'act up, "You're going to have to cut him down with your saber Belizarius.. I don't have anything that can cut through that."

[member="Belizarius Krusi"]​