Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night

[Nate Phantoms]

Gently swaying to the right, a blaster bolt screamed past his face, nearly a inch away. "Surprise." Monotone voice broke the silence between the men, His orange and purple light-sabers hummed to life, swaying once again as a tree behind him exploded from the blaster bolt.

Moving forward casually, he walked as if nothing was happening, like they weren't out numbered or surrounded. Approaching the oncoming front, he sidestepped, bringing his saber up to deflect a bolt back into the user, slashing at a tree, effectively slicing it and the native behind it in half. Now, the majority of the frontal assault was directed towards him, as he drew closer and closer.

It was then he got a view of the natives. Tall, pale humanoid beings resembling elves. Dark war paint or tattoos covered their bodies, some wearing what appeared to be skulls as masks. Such said masked ones seemed to be the most brave, or foolish.

They drew their weapons, blades and pikes gleaming in the low light, battle cries being heard over the sound of blaster bolts. Still walking steadily, he smiled grimly, spinning his saber in his hand before moving to attack.

[member="Anya Loma"], [member="Yula Knezevic"], [member="Dax Fyre"]

 

[Dax Perl]

The forest around them erupted into chaos. The seven glowing blades worked frantically, bodies moving back and forth, avoiding the glowing red, green and blue bolts aiming to swiftly end their lives. Dax's own orange and yellow blades swiftly and deftly span around him, beautiful arcs of light in an otherwise horrifying scene of skulls and tools of death. The tree which Nate had struck at began to topple, loud cracks sounding as the few intact fibers snapped and gave way. The wooden column struck the ground with a thunderous crash and suddenly the bodies, the blaster fire, their adversaries all disappeared in an instance as if they never existed.

"What the feth just happened..."

[member="Nate the Bounty Hunter"], [member="Anya Loma"], [member="Yula Knezevic"]

 

[Anya Malvern]

[member="Nate the Bounty Hunter"][member="Dax Fyre"]

Her saber spun as she swung back a few shots, one native had the guile to charge, she looked and rushed at him as she kicked him back then flipped over him as she sliced back against the man slicing him in half as she growled then stood as she deactivated her blade and sighed

hpmh stupid savages thinking they can fight me....IM THE SCARLET FLAME I!..

She stopped realizing what was happening and cleared her throat

 

[Klesta]

This was one of those occasions where I wished that the Commonwealth didn't somehow accept the services of the troops I brought in tow on Alexandria, or otherwise didn't allow some detachment from Maladon's men to be here with me: I can only do so much on my own. True, I did them a favor by betraying the Sith Order on Yutan, but backup would have been well-appreciated here, she thought. The majority of the frontal assault might have been redirected at [member="Nate the Bounty Hunter"], but Yula realized that the enemies that she were facing were 1) wearing skull masks and 2) crushed under a falling tree. Also [member="Anya Loma"] smashed back a charging native, and sliced said native later, but to return to the positions of the other three, she was forced to jump her way out of this mess: already she could be made to feel the embrace of the dark side, so using it to jump back to the rest of the party was not a big deal to her. Even then she deactivated her lightsabers before making the jump: the remaining hostile natives are crushed under the tree.

 

[Nate Phantoms]

Jumping over the fallen log, he held his saber above his head, only to find nothing there. Looking around, a heavy sigh could be heard through his helmet. Deactivating his saber and jumping back down. Moving to stand behind Dax, he spoke.

"I don't like this."

[member="Yula Knezevic"], [member="Anya Loma"], [member="Dax Fyre"]

 

[Dax Perl]

"Me neither..." the Rogue Master muttered, sabers still quietly thrumming in his hands. The man gestured with his head becak to the clearing behind him. "Let's gear up, I don't wanna be caught with my pants down. Armor and weapons, get 'em. Only what you can carry." The Rogue backed up, not willing to turn his back on the forest before him.

The crumbling ruins behind their ships now made Dax far more anxious than they had before. They could easily hid within them hostiles, lying in wait to ambush them...and yet, it still called hauntingly to the Rogue. Blast it all...

"Two people on guard while the others grab gear and don armor. I'll watch first." he ordered.

 

[Klesta]

"The natives seem to be equipped with a wide variety of small arms, perhaps due to some organization that isn't centralized" Yula told the others while she realized the weapons left behind close to the tree were of so many different makes.

Only take what I could carry? The enemy expected us to come tramping these forests with vehicles... I'll just take the particle beam rifle, she thought, while picking up said particle beam rifle and realize that... oh the feth, there wasn't a particle beam rifle: it was an hallucination. A real particle beam rifle would be a little heavy, heavier than the MM100/101s on which she trained for basic marksmanship, but this item has nothing on the MM115 in terms of weight; she had to remember the marksmanship lessons she had to take on Alexandria not long after the Black Tie Syndicate attacked. True, she trained on the MM100 or MM101, but blasters or particle beam rifles are different beasts for long-range shooting, whereby the bolts will fly slower and straight. Yet she was seeing [member="Dax Fyre"] back up... and [member="Anya Loma"] being not far behind or [member="Nate the Bounty Hunter"]. It took Yula a while to realize that the dark side still hold some hold on her, and may have been the basis of those hallucinations, even though she wasn't using the dark side to do the sorts of things people would normally associate with the dark side. So she would simply back up, oblivious to the call of the dark side lurking nearby, and pick up the one MM101 she used for training, laden with a combat load of 7.62x51mm armor-piercing slug rounds, that is, one magazine already loaded and five extra magazines, with 38 rounds apiece.

 

[Nate Phantoms]

"I got watch as well." Standing beside his friend, his mask stayed un-moving, visor reflecting the dim light as thunder rumbled, rain soon pattering against them.

"Next... snowflake I see is gonna get a knife through the temple."

[member="Yula Knezevic"], [member="Dax Fyre"], [member="Anya Loma"]

 

[Dax Perl]

"Just a knife?" the Rogue joked, "Seems rather mild of you Nate. Woulda expected you to tie them to the ship and go to atmosphere." Actually...now that Dax thought about it, that was a very good threat...and certainly an interesting one to carry out...The Rogue decided to keep that in the back of his mind, in case it ever came in handy.

The wind blew through the tree and falling buildings, the whisper of leaves echoing in the buildings. The slightest hint of a ghostly voice reaching their ears as they stood, facing the tree line, sabers dutifully glowing in their hands. "What the hell do you think those...visions were?" he asked his friend.

[member="Nate the Bounty Hunter"], [member="Anya Loma"], [member="Yula Knezevic"]

 

[Klesta]

"It's entirely possible that we are dealing with Force-ghosts here, and we might have run into a whole graveyard of them. There used to be some combat happening around these parts, or at least could have been"

With five magazines of armor-piercing ammunition to be strapped on the utility belt, along with her slugthrower, as per standard Commonwealth protocol, she proceeded right into the temple ruins, with her assault rifle on her hands, where [member="Nate the Bounty Hunter"], [member="Dax Fyre"] (and presumably [member="Anya Loma"], too). But often Force-ghosts could come and go: sometimes they can make people relive scenes of their deaths, at other times it can haunt locations like in these ghost stories. The Hapan dark-sider was a little... disconcerted. She made such an effort to fight... illusions? For what she knew she could easily be compelled to fight illusions: worse still, Sith illusions. She was reminded that the protocol to fight Sith always included slugthrowers and armor-piercing ammunition. Hopefully I should not waste my bullets out there, she thought, while being reminded by the Force that her experience of combat is limited and most of it was at a command level, from the confines of a combat vehicle, rather than as infantry. And she also heard some ghostly voices, too.

 

[Anya Malvern]

[member="Nate the Bounty Hunter"] [member="Dax Fyre"] [member="Yula Knezevic"]

Anya looked around to see the dead enemy before she stopped and shook her head, it was gone, she took a breath in to calm gerself, the hold of this planet with her was not helping at all, she didn't wanna lose herself right now at all

She didn't move, she was already armored up as good as she could...mediym armor and her chest under wrap, made everything fit better, she looked to the other three

whatever it was I don't like it at all...but we must be careful

 

[Nate Phantoms]

"That's all I'm willing to lose." A deadly tone being heard in his voice, he stuck out his hand, willing his rifle and sword to come to him, both soon spinning through the air towards his open palms. Turning to see his new apprentice walk right into the temple, he sighed, calling the force to push him forward at the speed of light, stopping in front of her, dark visor looking down at her.

Holding up his hand, she would presumably walk into it as she would have no idea he was coming. Most likely, she would stumble back a bit, worst case scenario she would fall right on her behind. Either way he intended to speak.

"Patience is a virtue... especially when you're dealing with the unknown. Rushing ahead is what get's good people killed, and if you continue, I will not feel so inclined to warn you." Stepping aside, she could move as desired, her path no longer barred by his broad frame.

[member="Anya Loma"]. [member="Yula Knezevic"], [member="Dax Fyre"]

 

[Dax Perl]

Dax shook his head as Yula moved alone towards the city ruins behind them. "I'm grabbing my gear. Y'all better still be alive when I come back." he said to the others as he boarded the Dawn. He was grateful that Anya had come. Not only because she'd brought all their gear aboard the Dawn but her presence. One more person he knew he could trust.

In his old room, now Anya's, he donned his armor. The Fading Cloak fell around him in like shadows. His sabers, clipped to his belt, the tools with which he dealt death. The slugthrower and rifle his method of dealing peoples fates from a distance.

He paused, looking at the grisly icon of death in his hands. The bare metal dented and scrathed from where it had saved his life so many times. The horrid face that had been the last vision of so many. He donned it once more.

[member="Nate the Bounty Hunter"], [member="Anya Loma"], [member="Yula Knezevic"]

 

[Klesta]

Yula might have been the first to go towards the city ruins, following the embrace of the dark side around the ruins, but she was still wearing the standard-issue Commonwealth flight suit, made with armorweave. Not the best armor, but it will have to do. She didn't like the looks of it either, so she returned to the positions held by [member="Nate the Bounty Hunter"], [member="Dax Fyre"] and [member="Anya Loma"]. Perhaps it was a bad idea to go scout ahead, but at least I've got some information that might be useful on a precautionary level, she thought.

"We are dealing with natives who use Force-ghosts for cover: I believe the ghosts and other hallucinations are distinguishable in the Force over the natives themselves"

 

[Dax Perl]

As Dax stepped out of his vessel, a demon given physical form, he shook his hed in disagreement. The man had dealt with a few too many Force Ghosts in his day. "I don't think so. Force ghosts have a presence in the Force. A much larger one. Usually you can feel either extreme malevolence or peace. I expierenced neither...I think this is something else entirely." What though, Dax was at a loss...

[member="Nate the Bounty Hunter"], [member="Anya Loma"], [member="Yula Knezevic"]

 

[Nate Phantoms]

No longer interested in their quarrel, his mask turned back towards the ruins, something calling him out with urgency. The wail sounded far too familiar, a voice he had come to love and cherish dearly, but one that should've been halfway across the galaxy.

Pleadingly, the voice begged him to come closer, the sounds of weeping bouncing off the walls. "...Tsubasa?" Worry was replaced with anger, soon coming to realize that if it really was the young woman, she and her mother would be in danger. Moving towards the ruins, a single saber ignited, purple blade humming angrily. Pace quickened as the cry's became more desperate, completely forgetting about his fellow associates and friend. Vaulting over a fallen pillar, the man spun around a corner, following the dying sound of his loved ones.

Coming to stop in a open courtyard, presumably in the center of the ruins, his two loved ones sat chained in the center, tears leaving streaks in the dirt on their faces. Rushing forward, he reached out...

Only to have them disappear into wisps of smoke. Another hallucination. This time however, two shapes were left out. A canine of some sort, spines running along it's back as it snarled, and equally pale elf like humanoid by its side. Instantly, the beast charged, an inaudible command coming from its master. Not expecting it, the man soon found a pair of jaws biting down on his forearm, tearing at the flesh and cloth.Pushing the beast off from on-top of him, a strong kick connected with the animal's neck, the purple blade soon following suit.

Looking up, thunder crashed above, illuminating the pale silhouette of the opposing native. Standing, he pointed his crackling weapon at the elf, the universal sign for any type of confrontation. "What are you." No response, just a blank stare. "So be it. I'll beat it out of you." Deactivating his weapon, the man charged.

[member="Dax Fyre"]

 

[Dax Perl]

Dax swore loudly as Nate suddenly turned and ran of, "Hold up man! Where are you-damn it!" The Rogue chased after the Bounty Hunter, his own orange blade at his side as he followed in pursuit. All two quickly Nate disappeared into the ruins, turning some corner and out of sight. When Dax reached the last turn he looked around in slight bewilderment, his friend a sudden ghost. Then the whispers came, and the Master whirled around to face the unseen voices. They came from all around, quiet wisps of a forgotten language. "Oh you gotta be fethin' kidding me..." Dax muttered quietly as he brought his saber up, turning in a circle.

An abrupt yelp pierced the whispers from behind Dax. That had to be Nate. The Rogue took off running towards the distant sound, vaulting over a fallen column, rolling and popping to his feet prepared to kill whatever was nearby. No need...the corpse of some wolf-like creature lay on the ground, Nate standing not far off a woman in his grip, her feet dangling off the ground, pinned to a wall, her hands grasping at the hand around her throat. "Who's your friend?" asked the man carefully.

[member="Nate the Bounty Hunter"], [member="Anya Loma"], [member="Yula Knezevic"]

 

[Klesta]

Perhaps it is something other than a Force-ghost, then. True, neither were particularly malevolent or peaceful... she thought, before seeing [member="Nate the Bounty Hunter"] following voices up until she arrived at a courtyard in the center of the ruins. But getting there was not a pleasant experience: the debris course really tested her agility, especially since she was being hounded by some hallucinations herself, in such a manner that she had to vault over fallen pillars and other debris on multiple occasions. On top of that, there were some sounds of weeping being experienced, too. But said voices didn't belong to [member="Dax Fyre"] no more than they belonged to [member="Anya Loma"]. Also, she was unable to make sense of those voices either. She was circling around the ruins, only to find a dead canine creature laying on the ground, with an elven creature close to the dead creature. And now some yelps that sounded much more familiar pierced the air around her, which meant that the others were close. She asked the others while they are within earshot:

"Poodoo: what is it that these natives use to cause hallucinations? Is that some spore? Or something these canine creatures, or the native elves, produce to mark their territories?"

 

[Nate Phantoms]

Not turning to look at his friend, he growled out from underneath his mask. "Friend is putting it mildly." He had claw marks around his wrist and down his forearm, most being non-distinguishable between animal and human. Releasing his grip on the woman, she fell, gasping for air as she crumpled onto the floor.

Pulling his pistol from it's holster, her pointed it at her forehead, uttering one word. "Speak."

[member="Dax Fyre"]. [member="Yula Knezevic"]. [member="Anya Loma"]

 

[Dax Perl]

Dax nodded to Yula. That actually was a possibility. Dax knew of some species in existence who were naturally telepathic. Maybe not to the degree of producing hallucinations...but maybe the natives of the planet were? The Rogue looked over to the woman as she crumpled to the ground, coughing and rubbing her neck, angry red marks standing out against her ashen grey skin.

"Do you speak Basic?" he asked, kneeling next to the woman, removing his mask. She lifted up her head to look right into Dax's eyes...and spat into his face. "Fage skata!" Dax wiped the spittle off his face and stood, "I'll take that as a 'no'."

The man replaced the mask on his face once more and turned to look at the Bounty Hunter, "I could always just wrench the knowledge from her head." he offered.

[member="Nate the Bounty Hunter"], [member="Anya Loma"], [member="Yula Knezevic"]