Private Cat & Mouse

[Bendak Crail]

With the Knights of Ren gained the artifact belonging to Kyrel Ren, Bendak Crail was eager to bring the weapon back to its Master. The weapon in itself the Crossguard saberstaff so strong that it wasn’t easy to grasp. The weapon filled with so much darkness, and so much rage it made his simple Crossguard lightsaber seem dull in comparison. Both himself and Jaedec Ren emerged from the underground of the ruined fortress. His scarred eyes often scanning around his surroundings as if he didn’t feel that something was right. Ever since walking into Vader’s old fortress he could feel a presence yet he wasn’t sure who or what it could have been.

Approaching the landing ramp of the Night Vulture, the brute known as Jaedec went inside as if not bothered. Bendak couldn’t shake the eerie feeling as if someone still kept their eyes on him. He gave one last look of what was going on until he simply gave one shrug of his shoulders and went inside. The Ren craft soon fired up its engines, the red glow mixing in with the atmosphere of ash and magma eruptions as it lifted off into the air and made its way once more into the ash plume clouds high into the atmosphere as it broke into orbit.

The Night Vulture roared as it made its ascent, Bendak settling into the chair once normally helmed by Kyrel. Breathing a sigh of relief as he finally seemed to relax, a sense of dread coming from the weapon on his back. His first and foremost thought was that he was happy to be away from that cursed world. Now he looked forward to going back into the Unknown Regions to link up with the Master, and perhaps be rewarded in some way. Truth be told he wondered if it was the saber or the same nagging feeling from the planet below he couldn’t get rid of.

“Set the course for hyperspace… I don’t want to be late for our Master’s prize.” Jaedec followed suit, putting in the coordinates for the Bastion of the Ren. The destination an old First Order aligned world deep in Maw space which had become home for the undead warlord. Jaedec pulled down a switch and soon the darkness of space had disappeared into a flash of light. The stars themselves appeared to stretch and everything turned blue until the craft disappeared from Mustafar’s orbit little did Bendak know that he was being hunted on this day.

Valery Noble

 

[Valery Noble]

​

Location: On-board her ship​

Ship: Factory link​

Tag: Bendak Crail ​

​

After placing the tracking beacon and planting charges near the engines of the Night Vulture, Valery had retreated back to the cockpit of her modified X-wing. Climbing on board, she locked her navigational sensors onto the tracking beacon, which would allow her to find the Knights of Ren even through Hyperspace. Strapped into her seat and with all systems ready, she waited for the Night Vulture to depart from the planet. ​

​

Watching it rise from afar, Valery waited for the moment it cleared through the atmosphere, which provided more interference so she could remain undetected. This alongside the stealth systems of her ship made it unlikely that she'd be detected since they hopefully weren't really expecting someone this well-equipped to be following them.​

​

Breaking through the atmosphere herself, Valery took a more idle position in space while she monitored her instruments closely. They had made the jump to hyperspace but she couldn't just take them down anywhere - it had to be timed just right. So she waited and roughly calculated their path. ​

​

"Aruza," she said to herself. "That will do."​

​

It was a planet they were quickly approaching, and one that Valery didn't know much about. But that hardly mattered - she was merely trying to get them down there, so she could finish the job. So when the Night Vulture finally approached, Valery detonated the charges and jumped to Hyperspace.​

​

Hoping the explosives had knocked out their hyperdrive in the system, Valery jumped into Aruza's planetary system herself with her X-wing. The S-foils immediately switched into attack position, and the Jedi Master began an aggressive approach. The plan was to give them as little time as possible, in an attempt to get them to retreat to the surface under the pressure of her attack.​

​

"Cannons locked..." Valery muttered as her heavily tuned cannons locked on. Immediately, a powerful barrage of energy blasts were sent towards the larger vessel. Her X-wing had incredible firepower in short-duration combat, which she sought to exploit as she pressured them into the direction of the planet.​

​

"You better move," she said with a grin.​

​

​

 

[Bendak Crail]

The Night Vulture roared through hyperspace. All that there was had seemed content for the moment, as he still felt the dark aura of Kyrel's harbinger on his back often tempting him with the promise of unleashing rage. Bendak could only wish for the tempting whispers to stop, for he knew that he himself wasn't strong enough to wield the blade of the Master of Ren. If one like him should try he would be overcome with intense emotion the likes of which he wasn't sure that he could even handle.

Jaedec still kept out of the controls, Bendak slowly closed his eyes as if to focus slowly on some quiet meditation for the moment. It was until then that everything had seemed quiet as the engines of the Night Vulture still roared through the blue wormhole as if nothing seemed out of the ordinary. Than his eyes snapped open as he felt something, followed by a loud boom. Alarms started to blare as Jaedec tried with his strength to get the Vulture into control. "Damage report!!!" Bendak roared in both annoyance, concern and in anger. The blue wormhole that was hyperspace had vanished in an instant leaving them once more into the cold darkness of space and the dim lit stars filled the viewscreen of the cockpit.

Smoke was billowing out of the engines as Jaedec grunted in trying to keep the ship steady. Reactivating the stabilizers to prevent the craft from knocking into any nearby objects. "One of the engines is gone, Hyperdrive is damaged, we are dead in the water switching to impulse power." He said his hands steady on the control yokes as he directed the craft to the nearest system they could find. Hoping to stop and make repairs. Bendak gritted his teeth as he looked to one of the radars on view and saw what looked to be an X-Wing approach in attack position. The ship rocked as he saw the blasts of laser fire emanating from the craft.

"Bring the swivel gun around for our guest. Make way for the nearest planatary body by all means we will not keep the Master waiting!" He said in a venomous tone while he watched as the swivel gun turned around to the engines. Firing upon the X-Wing with it's own bursts of fire. The smoking engines increased what speed it had left to the dark world below. In-between returning fire the dark ship descended through to the cloudy atmosphere before Jaedec cried. "Brace for impact!!!" He said as the Night Vulture began a violent descent staright into rocky ground with a crash that sent Bendak flying out of his seat and slamming against the bulkhead. His suspicions confirmed now that someone was after them since Mustafar.

Valery Noble

 

[Valery Noble]

​

Location: On-board her ship | Aruza​

Ship: Factory link​

Tag: Bendak Crail ​

​

Having fired a few volleys of heavy cannon fire, Valery noticed that the ship began to turn for the planet - her plan had worked. With a brief smirk on her face, she flicked a switch to activate her jammers, which would hopefully help prevent them from getting a message out to whoever they worked for or with. ​

​

But after it was activated, she spotted the swivel gun on the Night Vulture turning to take aim. She immediately yanked on the control stick and made use of the X-wing's incredible speed and maneuverability to avoid the first flashes of energy fired towards her, but a few struck the deflector shield soon after. ​

​

Valery continued to return fire and maintain a close pursuit despite the incoming fire but broke off when the larger ship began its descent through the atmosphere. She had landed a few shots, and the explosive device had likely caused some damage too - this wasn't going to be a gentle landing for them. Following from a safe distance, she watched as the Night Vulture buried itself into the ground below. She let out a soft sigh of relief and pushed her stick down to begin a landing.​

​

But before initiating any kind of landing, she decided to fly over the crashed Night Vulture, circling around its position once before taking off. She wanted the onboard survivors to know that she was still out there, and coming for them. ​

​

Valery then flew to a more secure area not too far away from the crash site, but far enough to where they weren't going to catch her in her ship. She landed, powered down the engines but kept the jammers running so they weren't going to call in for assistance. Whatever happened next, she needed to remain in control of the situation, and reinforcements would surely be a problem.​

​

"Time to finish this," she said to herself as she ensured her two lightsabers were attached to her hips.​

​

With her mind focused on the task at hand, she began to move towards the crash site.​

​

​

 

[Bendak Crail]

Bendak head was a swirl as he slowly looked up to see that the view screen in front of him showed some type of earth. They had crashed into solid ground, and already he could hear tools being fired up to fix the problem they were now currently facing. A hand placed on his head, feeling some slight blood trickle as he fastened his mask back onto his face with a hiss. “It seems someone or something is hunting us?” He mused as he slowly got up.

Looking around Jaedec was one of the Ren trying to clear the heaviest debris of the damaged ship out of the way. “It will take sometime to make sure the engines are once again ready. The important thing is the hyperdrive. It even affected the path engine. It will be much longer if a route back to Maw space if it isn’t fixed on time.” Jaedec explained plainly as he threw some debris out of the way. Bendak seemed the one most irritated. “Grrr… Hurry, I feel whatever is out there will not be so keen to wait on the repairs..”

He said, as he slowly made his way to the hatch. Upon opening the obsidian like door out of the night vulture, the artifact still whispered his name behind his back. As if tempting him to use such a weapon. Upon venturing outside the sky was darkened, it held a gloomy feel. The ground was dark, rocky as if they were in a wasteland. No signs of civilization just yet. His senses most sharp telling him something was out there. Watching him all the more as if a predator stalking his prey.

While Jaedec would start to repair the ship, Bendak would slowly make his way out. Despite the feeling that eyes were watching him. He said to himself. “I know you are out there.. try anything and I’ll burn you…” He said through gritted teeth beneath the mask. One foot slowly moving in front of the other.

Valery Noble

 

[Valery Noble]

​

Location: Aruza​

Valery: Appearance​

Outfit: Factory Link​

Ship: Factory link​

Tag: Bendak Crail ​

​

There was something strange about hunting these Dark Side tainted figures on Aruza. The planet was known for a strong stance against violence, going as far as having absolutely no murder cases for decades at a time, or even a century at one point in their history. So the idea to break this peace with her mission stung a little. But if everything proceeded as planned, the Aruzans would never be aware that she was even here.​

​

That's what she kept telling herself, as she closed in on the crash site of the Night Vulture. Much like before, she was shrouded in her Cloak and her presence in the Force remained faint. She wanted to be hard to detect until the very moment that she allowed them to find her.​

​

Valery then moved up to a slightly elevated position, right on top of some rocks, and looked down as Bendak stepped out of the ship. From a first glance, it seemed the ship had taken the intended amount of damage. She could see what the explosives had caused in the rear, where the engines were positioned. But the ship itself wasn't completely destroyed - they'd likely be focused on repairs.​

​

But at this point, they were certainly aware that someone was after them, and that must be why Bendak was moving around. He was trying to find the person responsible for their crash, so he could eliminate them. What he hopefully didn't know yet, was that she was watching.​

​

It was then that Valery began the Cat & Mouse game with him. Rather than revealing her position through the Force, she decided to Scatter her presence through the area, making it seem like she was close, but in a different area than she actually was. Whether he would fall for this, she didn't know. But one way or another, she wanted to give him the incentive to move away from the other Knight of Ren, who was currently still inside the ship.​

​

​

​

 

[Bendak Crail]

Bendak slowly moved through the lifeless surroundings there were in. The crash site had landed somewhere in the middle of nowhere far from any civilized life. His feet kept moving and he focused on who his enemy was, the problem was who he was dealing with had masked themselves well. Reaching out closer with the Force the presence he felt only caused him to stand in the middle. His head swirled around as if in a sudden confusion, for a Knight of Ren he was confused and saw that who it was was trying to deliberately confuse him. He could only grit his teeth in frustration his Crossguard blade activating as he waved it through the air. It was as if many voices spoke to him and still the direction wasn’t shown to him.

Meanwhile with Jaedec he stalked around the Night Vulture. The hulking Gen’Dai Ren had slowly made his way through to the bowels of the ship, sparks and steam were coming heavily off the engines, the hyperdrive itself was in flames. The fire surpression system in full blast trying to get it all under control. While the ship had crashed landed in an area where there were several ancient ship wrecks some almost a thousand years old. Even Jaedec was uncertain if they had the parts he would need. “I suppose I can sift through the wreckage for the parts… Our Master will not be pleased if we are to delay any longer.” He said to himself. With each heavy step, Jaedec made his way out of the Vulture to stumble in the direction of what rusted wreckage there was in hopes to salvage enough to get off world.

Bendak stopped for a moment. He had a feeling eyes were on him, watching him. He could only try to take process of elimination and try to count out each false signature, only when one had burned brightest. Only he could not tell if that’s what the enemy wanted of him. If the enemy had wanted to be found or if it was another false trail.

He only went to the unknown saying to himself. “You might hide from me, but I will find you.” He said seething as the winds howled his own dark robes billowed as if a sign of a great omen. As if this day would bring more than it’s fair share of its surprises. As he neared closer to the signature, he was unaware the Night Vulture now lied unguarded and unmanned and soon the hunter would be the hunted.

Valery Noble

 

[Valery Noble]

​

Location: Aruza​

Valery: Appearance​

Outfit: Factory Link​

Lightsabers: Link!​

Ship: Factory link​

Tag: Bendak Crail ​

​

Still watching from a distance, Valery took note of the movements of the Knights of Ren. One had chosen to leave the shuttle in favor of a search for spare parts, while the primary target was still on the hunt for the huntress. By the ignition and waving of the crossguard lightsaber, she began to develop the idea that her attempt to scatter her presence was working. He was surely able to feel her all around him, but he couldn't pinpoint her exact location. ​

​

It frustrated him, and the man of darkness showed it. But this also meant that it was finally time to move; time to strike. He was her target, and finally, he was separated from other Knight. ​

​

So as Bendak closed in on the particular presence he was following, he'd suddenly feel as if all the other scattered presences were around him. Like a circle with him in the center, and one closer to him. They began to converge on him with each step he took towards the presence that stood out. ​

​

And when he finally reached this presence, all of them faded. ​

​

It was as if all the voices disappeared and briefly left him in silence, only for a single source to appear. Stepping out of her Force Cloak, Valery appeared behind Bendak, leaving only a faint trail of smoke behind that dissipated into the wind. Her fiery orange eyes narrowed and her fierce appearance stood between him and the crashed ship. ​

​

She wanted to make sure he couldn't quickly move to get the other Knight of Ren.​

​

"Finally, we meet."​

​

With just these words spoken, the two lightsabers attached to her hips were drawn into her hands. Her thumb shifted to the switches and a moment later, two violet blades exploded into existence. She kept them low at her sides, directed slightly away from her own body, but it was clear that her intent was to kill.​

​

She wasn't here to capture, injure or do anything else.​

​

The Jedi shadow stood face-to-face with her target, ready to complete her mission.​

​

​