Elemental

[Jacen Voidstalker]

[member="Aela Talith"]

As awareness returned to Jacen he began to wish it would actually just leave him alone. His right eye refused to peel open. It felt as if his mouth was filled with rocks, metallic tasting rocks. A quick inspection with his tongue revealed that two teeth were missing.

“But what if they contacted someone first?”

“We're at light speed.”

An instinctive shake of his head did no good. That only aggravated the pounding headache. He was in a small, dark room. Hands bound and back pressed to the wall. The sound of voices from the door barely registered.

“But if they call ahead or get a ship ahead of them?” That voice was low, guttural.

“Then we expedite matters…” a smooth tone. Condescending towards the first speaker.

Aela! Where was she? Not on his left. He craned his neck around as far as it could go. He sighed in relief. Blood matted hair was stuck to her face, but she was breathing. Memories started to come back to him. They'd done the work, followed the clues. Gathered the evidence before they'd stuck. They'd taken every caution because at the end of the day no Jedi was invincible. There were bounty hunters out there who ate Jedi masters for breakfast.

“Erm?”

“There are twelve thousand souls on board this cruise ship. We can make our point here if we need to. Be prepared.”

Footsteps. Silence. He remembered they went down to the lower maintenance deck where the biological weapons were being smuggled. They were highly attended with the Force. Two guards confirmed their fears and we're incapacitated. Then someone had come from behind. A blinding white flash. Someone outside of the Force otherwise they'd have sensed it coming.

“Aela.” A harsh whisper. He'd woken up in this same room some time ago. They'd been asked what they knew, who they were with and other questions. They had stoically refused to answer any of them. They'd been beaten until they'd lost consciousness. At least she was here. The next time they came to ask things could go worse for them. Especially her.

If he could pull his binds apart… But he couldn't even…

The things around his wrist slithered. Tightened. Well, that explained their assailant and the source of the bio weapon they hadn't been able to track down. The dark side was here too. That second voice. He'd hear it whispering when the others had asked questions. Feth, the voice had been right. An Alliance ship couldn't overtake the luxury cruise liner and pull it out of hyperspace but an Alliance task force would be waiting. But that left over ten thousand people on board as hostages.

 

[Aela Talith]

[member="Jacen Voidstalker"]

"Ugh." Aela groaned as she slowly felt herself coming to.

Had she realized what had happened she likely would have stayed quiet, but her memories were a dense fog and her mind wasn't exactly working right. She frowned slightly as she tried to move her hands to her head, attempting to cradle it and make the aching pain go away. She shifted slightly when she left tight rope around her wrists, a solid tug of her hands telling her that she was tied to something. Her frown deepened, and slowly she opened her eyes.

Hair was in half her vision, stuck in place by dried blood.

Through a haze of blonde she managed to peer around the room, bright orange flailing about in half a panic as she searched for Jacen. When she found him she relaxed slightly, though not by much. Her head tipped towards the binding on her wrist, finding that they were some sort of rubbery cord. She frowned and then peered over towards her fellow Marshall, an inquisitive look on her face as she tried to remember exactly what had happened and how they'd gotten into this situation.

She remembered...

Nothing.

As she tried to recall detail, any detail at all, of the last few hours or so she found her mind completely blank. The last thing she could recall was the briefing of their missions, the fact that they had gathered evidence...and then nothing. She frowned slightly, leaning back against the wall only to suddenly flinch, finding a massive wound on the back of her head.

 

[Jacen Voidstalker]

[member="Aela Talith"]

Jacen didn't see her react to the wound. The swollen, right side of his face wouldn't allow that eye to open and his head was turned back towards the door. He might have recalled the human who had administered the kick and the beration he'd received for knocking one of the prisoners out. Jacen might have been thankful that she'd missed the last ten minutes of interrogation, but being sent unconscious by concussion wasn't something the brain was supposed to take.

"Aela,” he repeated softly. “Talk to me.”

It was followed a sharp hiss. Just another gentle tug had whatever was binding his hands pulling tight to the point of abrading skin. After leaving his hands still for a few seconds it relaxed. The vong probably enjoyed these.

They needed to escape, but nothing obvious was visible. It was a plain room without more than a base coat of paint on the bulkheads. A pipe ran across the wall opposite them, whilst the outline of the door was visible to their left. That was all. It didn't matter if they had been drugged or where just woozy from the blows to the end. The result was that he was having difficulty stretching out his senses through the Force. He needed time to centre himself. Time he likely wouldn't be afforded.

 

[Aela Talith]

[member="Jacen Voidstalker"]

"My head hurts." She said quietly. What had caused the wound on her head she couldn't say, though it likely was one brute or another that had knocked her out. She frowned for a moment, looking over at Jacen who looked as bad as she felt. Her head was still foggy, though there were patches of memory slowly floating back to her. A frown pulled at her lips as she tried to think, lulling from side to side for a moment as she collected herself and pulled it together.

"I'm alright." Aela said quietly. "I think."

There was no real way of telling for sure, not without a medic, but at the very least she felt like she wasn't bleeding anywhere. The wound in the back of her head ached but it at least seemed to be coagulated, something to be thankful for. The rope at her wrist hurt as well, though she was able to ignore that pain for the most part.

She shifted slightly.

"We have to get out of here." Stating the obvious wouldn't help, but quickly she began to fidget, fingers reaching down to tug and pull at the bindings.

 

[Jacen Voidstalker]

[member="Aela Talith"]

"Yeah, we'll get out of here," he agreed, trying his best to sound positive. Not much seemed to deter Aela; she was a determined soul. That didn't preclude him from being encouraging.

He tried to focus, to sort through what was real and what wasn't. To try and put the pieces together.

"There was a Yuuzhan Vong. I think. But not in their armour." He fell silent for a moment. He could still talk, so his jaw probably hadn't been broken. However, it certainly wasn't comfortable. "I think my binds are a biot," he said, turning his shoulders to place his hands in view of her.

 

[Aela Talith]

[member="Jacen Voidstalker"]

She peered over, still fidgeting.

"Mine just a cord of some sort." Aela wasn't sure if that was sexist or if the Yuuzhan Vong had only one of whatever biot was holding Jacen. Either way she took it as a good thing, the odd length of rubber holding her in place being somewhat easier to work around than a living creature keeping her in place. She frowned for a moment as her digits managed dig into one of the knots, longer fingernail spacing some of the cord. "Weird since i'm the stronger one."

A joke...probably. "I think I can get out."

She let out a slight growl of pain as the bindings cut into her wrists, blood beginning to drips. Yet she knew that they had to get out, and thus she began to pull a little bit harder. She could feel the knot beginning to give way, and then suddenly it fell free.

A small bit of excitement entered her, a smile crossing her bruised and cracked lips as she slowly began to undo the rest of the bindings.

 

[Jacen Voidstalker]

[member="Aela Talith"]

"Yes, well..." He trailed off as he rolled onto his side. Jacen fell silent for a few moments as all the various pains with their different shades combines to paint a vivid picture. The master took slow breaths through his nose to try and force the welling nausea back down.

"I'm imagine wrestling that drexl of yours gives you biceps to die for," he grunted as he started to try and work his bound wrists under his feet. Amateurs. Cheap, fundamentalist amateur terrorists with some very dangerous backers.

"And a smell you could die of," he tacked on. Looking down at the biot wrapped around his wrists he gave a slow shake of the head. He'd need a blaster or welder to kill it to get it off. Even a small struggle tightened the thing and it felt as if it had the strength to shear his hands clean off. He explained as much to Aela.

Now for the door. Or waiting for the door to be opened. "We can head for security, get the guards and some weapons from the lockers." Unfortunately their captors were already moving. Small teams heading to quietly take the bridge and security stations.

 

[Aela Talith]

[member="Jacen Voidstalker"]

"Malfegor does not smell." Aela said as the bindings finally fell free.

She stood up almost immediately, her head spinning as she realized that she might have done so a bit too quickly. Her hand reached out and touched the wall, Aela steadying herself for a moment as she tried to catch her breath.

"Maybe find some bacta." She said quietly, looking over towards Jacen. "For both of us."

They could head towards security, but she doubted that whoever had taken them was just sitting around. Her suspicions were immediately confirmed as the Starship suddenly underwent a violent, and rather sudden shake. She could feel the odd lurch in her stomach as they fell from hyperspace, the overhead lights suddenly shutting off and replaced with bright red alert signals. Her eyes popped open, and she was about to say something when a message over the intercom interrupted her.

"Attention Ladies and Gentlemen. We have taken the ship."

"Not exactly subtle are they?" She asked Jacen as she slowly moved towards the door of the room, the man speaking over the intercom continuing an odd sort of tirade that told passengers to gather within the grand hall or face execution.

 

[Jacen Voidstalker]

[member="Aela Talith"]

"No, no they're not," Jacen replied. He decided not to respond to her firm contradiction on her pet. Clearly not an area for humour. Planting the soles of his boots on the ground, he pushed his shoulder into the bulkhead to right himself. Ever since he'd joined the Alliance he'd spent more time being rehabilitated that studying the Force. His stubborn resolve and inability to back down cost him greatly. But how many lives had been saved for that minor cost? Maybe if he was as quick as Aela the cost would have been smaller.

"We get patched up, armed and secure the weapon," he groaned. Whilst he would be punished by the biot for it, he could still fight with his hands bound.

"I hope they left the amateurs to guard us and sent the professionals to deal with the security station," he said as he moved up to the door. The Force still wasn't responding properly. Certainly not enough to break the locks on the door. But there was someone on the other side of the door. Not a Yuuzhan Vong.

"Get ready."

He knelt down beside the door and focused. His brow furrowed in concentration.

Check on the prisoners..

There was a click as the door was unlocked.

 

[Aela Talith]

[member="Jacen Voidstalker"]

An odd look of bewilderment crossed her features as the Guard beyond the door immediately turned towards them. The guard wore armor, not the clothes of a thug, it was a deep crimson red, segmented plates lining his chest and crawling up his shoulders. There looked to be latches for a cloak, though no such garment adorned his shoulders. The guard stepped forward immediately, lunging towards Jacen with a double edged vibro-blade.

Aela jumped forward.

While the wound in ehr head made touching the force difficult, she could still feel it somewhat. Her hand pressed out and then yanked back suddenly, gripping the vibro-blade and tearing it from the guardsmens grasp. The soldier let out a yelp, but expertly recovered and almost instantly moved into a Teras Kasi stance. Aela acted before the man could counter her, slipping within his reach and grasping his arm to yank him forward. For a moment they flowed through combat, and then Aela managed to snap his wrist.

There was a startled cry of pain, and then The young Marshall pressed down.
With a another solid pull, assisted by the force she yanked the man forward and kicked the back of his legs, bringing him to the ground and sending a knee to the back of his head.

The armored guardsmen dropped to the ground with a heavy thud and the sound of clattering armor, Aela's chest heaving as she took in a heavy breath of air and shot Jacen a rather bewildered look. She had been expecting a thug, an amateur...not...whatever the hell this man was.

 

[Jacen Voidstalker]

[member="Aela Talith"]

Jacen crawled on knees and elbows to the side of their guard. There was a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach that things were spiralling even further out of control. Even trussed up and beaten he had confidence in his abilities, he had Aela beside him. But perhaps they were really out of their depth. He could end up responsible for...

Jacen shook it away. The beating had out chinks in his armour through which malicious anxieties crept.

"Good take down," he commented at a whisper, just for the point of talking. He took the side-arm and comm from the man. The comm was still active, but it was a high tech model. Jacen knew his comms. They'd be crypto locked out of their system as soon as they knew it was compromised.

Taking the pistol he tested out sighting down it with his hands bound from one knee. He could manipulate the binds to give him a reasonable grip, but he wouldn't be able to do a thing with a pike. Who carried a damn pike?

"We'll shoot through this thing when we're a distance away," he said looking at his wrists. Then he saw just how much blood caked the back of her head. "Medical room a few decks up."

 

[Aela Talith]

[member="Jacen Voidstalker"]

Aela scooped up the force-pike. It was an odd weapon, and there was a reason she had mistaken it for a double-blade Vibrosword. Hefting it for a moment she frowned, then looked over towards Jacen with concern plastered across her face. "Do you recognize the armor?"

It reminded her of...something...but she couldn't place it.

The pike slowly collapsed into the handle as she stepped over the man and towards the door. Medical would be the best bet for now. Some bacta and maybe a stim or two would perk them right up enough to actually put up a fight if they ran into any more of these guys. Her head poked out into the hallway first, eyes slowly wandering around to make sure no one was moving around the deck in a slow patrol. Eventually she settled on the fact that no one was around and stepped into the hallway.

"He knew Teras Kasi." That wasn't something an ordinary thug picked up on the street.

She let Jacen take the lead since he had the Blaster Pistol, though she kept the button on the activator of the Force-pike just in case.

 

[Jacen Voidstalker]

[member="Aela Talith"]

“Whatever the armour is, I've not seen it up close before,” he whispered. Jacen fell silent as they left the room. He'd seen soldiers from several regions in red armour before but never up close. A nagging voice at the back of his head suggested a particular memory but it remained hazy.

Fortunately he didn't need all his faculties right now. Urban combat and ship to ship actions had been drilled into him over and over. However, he was used to working with a small fire team to clear decks and buildings room by room. His sidearm stayed up, smoothly swinging back and forth to check the angles. This lower maintenance level was dark and cool. A mesh of pipes crossed overhead and occasionally strayed down the walls. Condensation dripped to elephant tread deck keeping him on edge.

Krrrk. The comm unit. “Jago, we're sending Do’rekh down. When he gets there bring them up to the cells on E deck.”

Jacen didn't know exactly what radio protocol they were following. In fact it didn't sound like any. He muffled the link with his blood-soaked shirt.

“Acknowledged.”

A moose drew his attention and he swung about, stepping back past Aela. Perhaps fifty metres back down the corridor someone appeared and marched back towards the room they'd been kept in. They weren't spotted but Jacen kept his blaster levelled. Despite the pain his hands didn't shake at all. The figure was clearly Yuuzhan Vong, but clad in a maintenance worker's uniform with a light repeater on his hip. Odd.

The terrorist turned out of sight and Jacen came about and broke into a light jog. “Next stairwell,” he whispered.

Krrrk. “Jago is down, they have his comm.”

A red light appeared on the unit as it was locked out and Jacen tossed it away. He shouldered open the door to a stairwell and checked up from behind the sights of the pistol. It looked clear.

 

[Aela Talith]

[member="Jacen Voidstalker"]

These definitely weren’t amateurs. They were trained, well trained, and apparently had the wits to know when to report things and shut off communications lines. It was worrying in truth, Aela and Jacen had no idea who or what they were dealing with. Had no idea if their enemy knew about them or knew more than them, and that made this all the more dangerous.

She let out a heavy breath.

This entire thing had gone south fast, and as she slipped into the stairwell she couldn’t help but wish for something a little bit more simple. Why couldn’t this have turned out to just be a nice cruise? She sighed and headed up the stairs, Jacen following along with her as they moved as fast as they could.

Three floors went by quick, and in a matter of minutes both of the Injured Marshall were standing within the abandoned medical bay.

The Thugs, or whatever they were, hadn’t bothered to guard it, likely thinking that their first move would be to head to the armory. For a moment she wondered where the medical staff was, though the answer was obvious considering the earlier announcement over the intercom. She scowled for a moment and then began to rummage through storage cabinets.

Aela looked for bacta patches and injectors. ”Look for stims.”

She told Jacen. They would need something to keep them going.

 

[Jacen Voidstalker]

[member="Aela Talith"]

"Tens of thousands of civilians on board. With a biological weapon. It's a big ship for them to comb if we move fast." He reached up to the cabinets and scoured them as quickly and quietly as he could.

"Can't use the lifeboats whilst we're in hyperspace," Jacen said. He'd been about to add more when he got his first good look at the back of her head. That was quite a lot of blood and certainly not all of it was old and dried.

He found a strip of what he'd been told to find. Each plastic wrapper on the strip contained a clear vial that contained a few mils of lime green fluid. Peeling one open he tipped out the disposable stim and bit the cap off, spitting it onto a surface. Jacen placed the rest of the strip down near Aela and turned his head aside.

It hissed as it was pressed into the soft flesh of his neck. He could feel the ice run through his veins and then the kick when it started to do its work. Throwing the empty vial away, he turned back to Aela before appraising what they had on hand.

“Sit on the trolley facing the door please,” he said.

 

[Aela Talith]

[member="Jacen Voidstalker"]

She complied with no hesitation.

There was no time to argue or really do anything else, only what was best for the both of them. They had no idea who they were up against, and unfortunately for them their enemy knew a lot more about the situation than they did. She shifted her weight slightly as she sat herself down. Her head still spun slightly, but hopefully that would clear up soon.

”Best shot is to reach the bridge.” They would be searching now, but that just meant they had to be a bit more careful. These men were obviously well trained, and that meant they shouldn’t make any grand assumptions about what they were going to do or what they were planning.

”It could very well be that they’re planning to spread the pathogen.” She pointed out as Jacen began to apply the bacta, wincing slightly from the pain. ”Release it and use the people on board as carriers.”

But why?

They needed more information, both about this group and why they were on board this ship. She frowned for a moment and then curled her fingers into a fist. ”Let’s grab one of them.”

Interrogation wasn’t her strong point...but it seemed necessary.

 

[Jacen Voidstalker]

[member="Aela Talith"]

"Agree. They'll hole up tight on the bridge if we had a damn clue what they were going to do it might open up some options. Right, head and jaw still for a moment."

Talking caused him a significant amount of pain. His jaw ached, but didn't seem to be broken. Lips were swollen, especially around the missing teeth. Jacen took a few precious seconds to wash down his hands with some antiseptic gel. Calloused hands used to blaster and lightsabre were remarkably delicate as he peeled her hair away from the wound. There was still fresh blood, but first the pads of his fingers traced the back of her head. He knew all too well how stubborn a determined Jedi Master could be when civilians were on the line so he decided to check she hadn't fractured anything. Fortunately it seemed not.

"This is going to sting," he said. He unsealed a packet of a thick, bacta-based wax. With his index finger he scooped out a large glob. He ran his finger down the length of the gash and then used his thumb to press it down. The stuff was often used by sports players to quickly seal a bleeding wound. Jacen then found a gauze, again treated with something to aid healing. He placed one hand on her forehead and then applied pressure for a few seconds. She didn't bleed through it so he left it in place and picked up a roll of bandage to keep it there.

"I don't have time for ice, but I'm gonna need both eyes," he mumbled. "Need something to bring down swelling."

 

[Aela Talith]

[member="Jacen Voidstalker"]

She winced with every touch. Pain wasn’t something that you ever really got used to, and even after all her years of fighting she still couldn’t help but flinch. Shifting slightly she looked around the med-bay for something that could help his eye.

”Hang on.” She told him. ”I’ll see if I can find something to help us.”

Treating wounds wasn’t exactly her speciality, though there would probably something laying around that could help. She shifted slightly, her wounds already feeling slightly better. She popped over cabinet after cabinet until, shaking her head. They didn’t have time for ice, but they also weren’t in a hospital.

This was the med-bay of a cruise liner. ”You may just have to let me do most of the fighting.”

She said quietly, tossing him a snap cold-pack.

 

[Jacen Voidstalker]

[member="Aela Talith"]

Jacen caught the back gratefully and cracked it and pressed it to the right side of his head. Beneath it he tried to prise his eye open. He could only imagine how it looked right now. A search found some anti-inflammatory gel that suggested not being applied to broken skin and some capsules. He ignored the medical warnings and took both. Neither were particularly potent brands. This was just a little room with basic supplies to deal with common injuries. He imagined it dealt mostly with self-inflicted wounds on drunk party goers.

"Either they'll confine the passengers to quarters or gather them together. That means either the main dinging and entertainment hall or the swimming/leisure zone." The latter was a great dome on the ventral hull which they kept to a balmy temperature. There were interconnected pools and lounging areas. Seemed a daft idea to Jacen to lounge in the starlight or the swirling vortex of hyperspace, but each to their own.

"We could do with getting somewhere to watch them, pick one out. I'm starting to get some sense of the Force again. Enough to sense that its being disturbed," he added in an ominous tone. Though there was only so ominous you could get with the way his mouth and jaw were. "How's your pistol shooting?" His was very good, but his aimed with the right.

 

[Aela Talith]

[member="Jacen Voidstalker"]

”I’ve never shot a blaster.” She said with a shrug. The weapons were...inelegant to say the least, and although Aela had plenty of combat training, blasters had never really been a part of the regiment. Hers had always been more with lightsabers, swords, the force, and things of that nature.

She shrugged.

”I’ll be fine with this.” She wagged the force pike at him. ”My heads starting to clear.”

Her way of saying that the force was becoming easier to use once more. Aela stil wasn’t at her best, far from it in fact, but she could at least concentrate enough to push and pull things again...or so she thought at least. The bacta helped quite a bit, and she was sure that within a few minutes she would feel well enough to fight, for a little while at least. ”There must be a security room before the bridge.”

One that would likely be occupied.

If they could capture it and silence the guards within...two birds with one stone. They could interrogate whomever was manning the security room and use the consoles within the room itself to get a better picture of what was going on throughout the ship.