Goooooood morning, Hypori

[Laira Darkhold]

I turned out of the alcove and moved quietly towards where the two beings were. The smoke demon manifested physically in front of me, in the doorway. It turned into a monster, easily the height of a wookiee with burning red eyes like coals. The horns on its head seemed to twist and move, and the hulking monster filled the doorway. Lets see how they deal with the smoke demon. How long would it take them to realize physical attacks were pointless, or would the demon fade one of them out of existence? It roared and lunged into the room as I hit the doorway behind it.

The woman's mind was the one I had been playing with, lets see how she enjoys something a bit more direct. I was a few paces behind the demon, but I decided to go a head and fire an Ion beamer at her left leg, the elongated white beam passing harmlessly through the smoke demon, who had no nerves to effect anyway. <Don't be scared, Chevu... It will be over quickly> the little girls voices said giggling and laughing. She was off balance, and hopefully the demon could occupy the man long enough for me to debilitate the girl.

Now that I could see her I recognized her from Onderon. Sneaky minx. Maybe someone would pay to have her back in once piece, well physically... there was no way I would sell her back without leaving her with a horrifying case of PTSD, maybe some schizophrenia as well. Thoughts for the Future. In my own voice I snarled from behind the demon, my outline rippling. "You have a son... maybe more than one. I wonder how they will fair." She didn't need to know that I would never harm a child, this was supposed to make her angry. Angry people made mistakes.

[member="Coren Starchaser"] [member="Chevu Visz"]

 

[Tmoxin Temi]

Tmoxin blocked the soldier's blaster bolts with her lightsaber. "Drop your weapon and surrender!" ordered Tmoxin as she continued batting away the gunfire.

"Director Salurra, please put that individual in stun cuffs." The Hapan executive was fueled by a determined, dark energy and a slight annoyance that her trip here had been waylayed by this firefight. She still couldn't locate Draco or vice versa after she activated her armor's tracking circuitry. This was unlike him, and Tmoxin was becoming worried, although she tried not to show it. But it didn't take her long to realize something was severely amiss in the hallways of Innote Q. She could feel a malevolent presence making its way around the facility. Draco could easily fit that bill based on what she had seen him conjure up on Christophsis.

"Lt. Flaa, I'd like you to come with me upstairs. But I'll understand if you want to stay here until this interloper is fully secured."

The Hapan Dark Jedi was herself rusty with giving orders. Why merely a few months back she would be playing drill sergeant with Lt. Flaa right about now. But her time as an executive in an extremely non-Hapan galaxy had softened her rigid, military edges.

"Are you following?" she asked, already at the door, poised to find Draco. "Once this is over, a stiff drink is in order."

It was never too early to start planning cocktail hour.

[member="Carten Flaa"] [member="Draco Vereen"] [member="Kyber Salurra"] [member="ST-2387 'Patriot'"]

 

[Judah Lesan]

"No, I'm coming. I might do something stupid if I don't."

The pilot followed the Dark Jedi as she suggested something about a drink later. Now she was speaking his language. Carten hadn't had a stiff drink in a while by his standards. Carten had worked to remain sober so he could impress the Techno Union ambassador. However if she was going to drink with him, then it was all good.

"Go ahead, and we'll make sure we have time for a drink or several after. I've got some whiskey stashed. I may or may not like a drink now and then."

Right, so Carten took another look of her hips and rear as they exited the room. He took point though and went up the stairs. He didn't know where they were going, but until he was told otherwise they made motion to where [member="Draco Vereen"] was. Now he was playing the cocky flirt to hide his pain. In truth drinks with a pretty woman was intimidating because if he got drunk he had no idea what he'd say. Actually he knew. He'd spill his guts about his wife and daughter.

"Where are heading, and what do I need to know?"

[member="Tmoxin Temi"]

 

[Tmoxin Temi]

Tmoxin had no qualms about drinking on the job. For better or worse, she used to be the Security Director of the Red Ravens, and drinking at odd hours came with the territory at times. The Hapan wasn't a spice dabbler, nor an adrenaline junkie. But she did have a fondness for Corellian wine. "Like all officers should," she said. When she was Commander Temi, she spent many a nights in her favorite Anaxes Officer's Club, whiskey in hand, laughing and flirting with the grizzled old Admirals who had seen more blood, sweat and tears than she ever had. Or hopefully ever would.

She concentrated as they moved up the hallway, still littered with dead Innote Q employees and security guards. Such a waste these lives, thought Tmoxin. Lt. Flaa was turning out to be fairly easy to work with. But once they got into a really tense firefight, that's when the true mettle would be tested.

"We're going up. A few flight of stairs," she said, walking to the end of the other hallway where the emergency stairwell was not damaged. That's where the strongest concentration of dark energy was. A placard on the highest floor read Research & Development. Tmoxin didn't fling the door open just yet. She only listened, with Lt. Flaa at her back.

"Do you hear anything?" she whispered to him. It was dark with only the red glow of the exit sign illuminating their faces.

[member="Carten Flaa"] [member="Draco Vereen"]

 

[Chevu Visz]

Chevu scrambled off of Coren's prone form and then studied him, making sure he'd snapped out of his trance. Her brow furrowed deeply. She could feel the taint of the dark side growing nearer, a feeling not unlike the room closing in. Whatever it was it had found them.

"Sith Illusions I think? There are dark siders here." Chevu didn't know what else they could be. She'd been trapped in them before on Gos Hutta, and knew how pervasively real the waking dream could feel.

The Mirialan began to unplug her Datapad when the ion beam connected with her leg. She cried out as her nerve endings were stunned, forcing her to her knees amid the taunts of those fraking children. Then another voice came, and she turned to face the owner.

Thick wisps of black smoke filled the room, swirling into a humanoid shape. A Siqsa. By the core, she'd never seen one before, but from what she knew it preyed on its victim's worst fears. Sure enough the creature spoke to her, mentioning her children.

Wide-eyed she froze in abject fear. What was going to happen to her children? She dared not move a muscle lest the creature do something to them.

[member="Coren Starchaser"] [member="Draco Vereen"] [member="Tmoxin Temi"] [member="Carten Flaa"]

 

[Coren Starchaser]

He was trying ot focus his mind again, Chevu was there, she was talking to him. Coren nodded. Good thing she was here, those ideas.,, Terrible to have brought up. He was a bit more focused now, ready, waiting, and searching. He grabbed his datapad and started to pull the data, Lexi was breaking down a firewall and started to load locations of equipment into it.

And that was when he saw the shot and the heard the cry from his apprentice. On his feet and heading to her quickly, he looked around, orange blade igniting, not that it was going to do him much good, but most people that weren’t also carrying a saber would back away when one was out. The orange heat hummed as Coren edged himself closer to Chevu.

“Where’d it come from?” That was when he heard the voice. The pilot turned to his student. “Move.” From there, he’d turn to the voice.

Shuffle​

The galaxy was aflame. Fondor was falling, Thyferra was collapsing to the boot of a Sith battalion. Sullust was getting the brunt of the attack.

Chevu was on the world, on the capital, with him. The one who was controlling the Sith, controlling the Vong. The one he would never trust.

Shuffle​

Real world. His apprentice was in danger, he shook his head, he needed to stay here. Not anywhere else.

But that was when the medics came in. “He’s slipping again.” Coren looked up, there were people in the room. Doctors, Kelly, Kaia, Jared. His wife was here? She was gone…

“But you’re not… here?” He said, looking out to the blue sky outside. Where was he?

“Stay with us, Coren. It’s going to be fine…” The hand from his late wife touched his arm. “Come home.”

There was struggling. What was happening?

Shuffle​

He grabbed his hand with his free hand, taking a step back. "Stay out of my head!"

[member="Draco Vereen"]
[member="Chevu Visz"]

 

[Laira Darkhold]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w3vOV3Dr21E​

I could feel a familiar presence closing. I found her mind and sent her a quick message. I was stalling, using fear to freeze my opposition long enough to get some back up, and it seemed like perhaps it was finally here, but did I really want support? Did I want to risk her if I could drop both of them alone, even if it cost me. <Tmoxin, don't be afraid.> She wouldn't be able to see me well, but the big demon made of smoke and evil and resonating with the Dark Side, that she could see clearly. Certainly knowing I was here and being able to see it would help her decide what to do.

It seemed that the man was coming out of the Demon's mental grip, which wasn't good. I hadn't been able to break the other one just yet which meant for the next moment or so, I was alone. Fire and smoke it is then. "Get him." I said aloud, the demon's form rippling as it howled and charged forward reaching with razor sharp, incorporeal claws. I wasn't an expert on how they effected people physically while being mostly insubstantial, but it happened. It also made the door clear for me to advance as well. I couldn't take the both, even with the Demon's help once they realized what was going on, but I could certainly injure them both.

I pushed forward, inside the room, ducking to the left as soon as I cleared the doorway, and then I had a neat plan for the two of them to play with. First for the fire. A blink, proper eye movements, that's how HUD's worked. From the shoulders of my translucent outline white hot fire erupted filling the space between me and the man that stood there, shards of burning metal, sparks of fire, and a wave of heat. To die in fire, that was the goal, and if that was the plan, there needed to be fire and spectators. It would bode well if Tmoxin's last memory of me was of killing a pair of Jedi alone, against the odds. Pulling the pins on a Force Breaker and a Flash Bang, I dropped the pair on the ground before me. Blinding flash in three, two...

"Your mind is fun though."

[member="Tmoxin Temi"]
[member="Coren Starchaser"]
[member="Chevu Visz"]

 

[Judah Lesan]

Carten stopped at the door. Why weren't they going in? Tmoxin put her ear closer to it, as did he when asked what he heard. His brow scrunched as he set his attention to focus on the scratching noises he heard on the otherside. It was odd. Whatever it was, Carten knew it wasn't military. He hadn't trained for this, so his bounty hunter instincts were going to have to kick in. Stepping back from the door, he nodded.

"I think I need a bigger gun," he teased.

Whatever was behind that door, Carten knew he was going to have to aim for direct kill shots. This wasn't a containment mission anymore, not even a rescue. The building was under attack by a hostile force, and it was time to take out the source. They didn't need a plan for this. It was kill, or be killed. The goal was to leave alive. Yeah, if they made it out Tmoxin owed him a drink, hell she'd owe him a lot more than a drink. Orders were orders, but they didn't have to meet at this particukar building. That was on her.

"I can't tell you what it is, but the plan is simple I think. So, you taking point like last time?"

He looked at the holster, and padded his uniform.

"I don't have a lot of ammo on me."

[member="Tmoxin Temi"]

 

[Kyber Salurra]

Kyber nodded to Tmoxin before retrieving a pair of cuffs out of his belt. "We have a force user and two soldiers, let's not put up a struggle here shall we?" Kyber said in a half-intimidating half-bored voice through the mic of his helmet as he went over to cuff her. After that was all settled he'd nod to Tmoxin and the other guy as they left, the Trooper well in custody. Knowing he couldn't let this one out of his sight he stayed behind with the prisoner, hands on the troopers cuffs at all times. He unholstered one of his pistols before going to take of the Troopers helmet. Without a helmet on the prisoner would think twice about escaping, after all, a blaster did nasty things to bare flesh.

// [member="Carten Flaa"] // [member="Tmoxin Temi"] // [member="ST-2387 'Patriot'"] //

 

[Tmoxin Temi]

Draco's familiar voice told her not to be afraid, but Tmoxin knew from her training with the Dark Jedi Master that when he said that, there was normally a feth-ton to be afraid of.

"I doubt you'll need ammo for what is in that hallway," she said. She felt the malevolent force much stronger now, but it was not Draco. She knew his Force signature well by this point. Furthermore, she wasn't sure if any of them were in control of the very powerful darkside magic that was taking place on the R & D floor.

"Lt. Flaa, I'm not trying to be overly dramatic, but if I'm knocked unconscious or taken out of the fight somehow, I want you to grab my body and run. Do you not stay and fight this thing alone. If we are to both live, you need to follow those instructions."

With that foreboding warning, Tmoxin opened the stairwell door. They would see the towering, blackness of the Smoke Demon entering one of the rooms, and Draco right behind it with a blinding flash of fire spewing from his body.

And then pilot and Dark Jedi heard a loud explosion. Tmoxin wanted to run to Draco's location, but the Smoke Demon did frighten her, despite Draco's warning. She didnt know much about Sith sorcery but did know that this manifestation of the darkside was unpredictable and extremely dangerous. She glanced back at Lt. Flaa wondering how he would fare around all of this black magic. If it terrified the Hapan, by the maker, the pilot must be frozen in fear right about now.

[member="Carten Flaa"] [member="Draco Vereen"] [member="Chevu Visz"] [member="Coren Starchaser"]

 

[TK-2387]

[member="Kyber Salurra"]

Jerking her head away from the soldier, she turns to glare at him with a cold fury. They may take her weapons, her freedom, even her life. But while she was alive, she would NOT let them see her face without her consent. It was who she was, the armor. She was not some grunt, nor was she a mercenary. She was a Shadow Trooper (Not to be confused with Dark Troopers) of the Imperium, and her armor was her identity! Its what sends fear into the hearts of rebels and hostile soldiers alike, makes her more than human!

"Do not remove my helmet. Do not touch it, not while I am alive." She snarls out through her helmet's external speakers, letting her venomous anger drip into her words.

[member="Tmoxin Temi"]
[member="Carten Flaa"]

 

[Kyber Salurra]

Kyber sighed at the Troopers hostility and jerked her cuffs with a bit of force to remind her of her situation. "Listen, soldier. Either you take off your helmet or I take out my knife and slice the ligaments in your knees so you can't run away. It's your choice." and it really was her choice. Kyber didn't want to get his blade bloody over some random prisoner, but he would if he really had to. He was stuck with guard duty after all and was not appreciating it. He assumed Tmoxin and the other man were having quite some time searching for the other intruders while he was stuck here babysitting. Although, now that he knew Tmoxin was here that'd make it easier to communicate.

Kyber changed his visor to thermal once again briefly to get a good image of what was going on before turning it back off just as quickly. Seems there was still a lot of commotion. Maybe if this trooper could be detained in one spot by he could join in the festivities once again. Only time could tell what was in store for Kyber, he just hoped today wouldn't be boring.

// [member="ST-2387 'Patriot'"] //

 

[TK-2387]

[member="Kyber Salurra"]

"To get my helmet off of my head, you may as well kill me. You're not taking it off. Period." Shaking her hands slightly as if to get his attention, she looks over her shoulder to her cuffed hands, who were also in his grasp. The fact she was surrounded should have made it obvious that she wouldn't even try to run away. They should know that she wasn't that stupid, the schuttas... With a grunt, she looks back forward, not saying anything else to the Techno Union guard.

Her predicament was... unwanted, to say the least. She knew there wasn't anyway she was getting out of this, not unless she wanted to call for basically a small rescue operation from Imperial Marines... something Kara may have to do in order to get out of this.

(( Would the owner/owner's be alright if I tried to call in an IC rescue for her from my Faction? She has her ways. ))

[member="Tmoxin Temi"]
[member="Draco Vereen"]
[member="Coren Starchaser"]
[member="Chevu Visz"]

 

[Judah Lesan]

Flaa had no clue what the woman was going on about. He wouldn't need ammo for what was in the hallway? There were few things which Carten could think of which ammo was useless, and his mind would have never thought of a smoke demon. Dammit, Carten really disliked sorcery. He was a traditional imperialist. He tollerated the use of the force, but did not see it's place in the galaxy. The faction he was aligned with used it though, and he had been conditioned to resist the mental intrustion of force users whether it was a mind trick, or as direct an assault as an illusion. That wasn't what bothered him, however.

Carten was bothered by what Tmoxin had said. If she were to collapse he was to grab her body and run. Now usually an invitation to grab a hot woman's body was something the Lieutenant would not hesitate to take advantage up. He may be a widower, but the man still had needs and wants. It was rare he acted them because of the memory of his wife, but he was not compeletly able to resist the charms of women.

"If this is not survivable then our best strategic action is to get the hell out of here," Carten said with a very military mindset. It was better to live to fight another day than to die in a battle you knew was unwinable. "I take it you want me on your six for this?"

He knew there was no changing her mind, so he wasn't going to try. Instead he watched as the door was pushed open and they went in to face the massive smoke demon. The pilot was rarely afraid of anything, but right now, he wasn't overly concerned that if he crapped his pants that he would die of embarassment. It was massive, dark, evil, and unpredictable. He had no clue how they were going to kill this thing.

[member="Draco Vereen"] [member="Coren Starchaser"] [member="Tmoxin Temi"]

 

[Chevu Visz]

"Move!"

There were no more childish rhymes. Only her Master's voice, as clear as a klaxon's blare, urging her to move. The Mirialan reacted, strafing quickly to the left. Through the smoky visage of the demon, she saw him, the armored Dark Jedi, lifting his hand to unleash another wave of attacks on the pair. This was no rent-a-cop. Unholy hell was unleashed in the room. Fire. Grenades. A fracking smoke demon. The word overkill was clearly not in his vocabulary.

Chevu tried to gather up the Force, but felt empty of it. Shut off. Why wasn't it working? Cursing she pulled two Force-imbued discblades from each hip and flung them at the man, aiming for the place where his helm intersected with his chest plate. With no connection to the Force, the discblades would not return to her as they usually did, but she hoped that at least one would get lodged in his neck. Following that attack, she pulled her blaster from its hilt and began firing at both the smoke demon and his owner. Smoke and heat began to blaze as an inferno filled up the room.

Feth! Couldn't Coren do that space folding thing and get both of them out of here? Or was his connection to the Force also fracked?

Guess they could always go out the window.

[member="Draco Vereen"] [member="Coren Starchaser"] [member="Tmoxin Temi"]

 

[Coren Starchaser]

Damn this guy was fast. Coren Starchaser was a teleporter, for Skywalker’s sake and he wasn’t even moving this fast. He was trying to keep up with everything that was going on, but it just felt like a blur. The smoke demon came at Coren and he was on the move. Starchaser was, first and foremost, a pilot, and a spacer. He wasn’t a Force user by thought, at best, he was a Force user by instinct. And when the Demon came at him, he took the hit to the arm, slashes through his vest and underlying shirt, blood trickling and staining his shirt.

For the most part, he was unscatched, aside from the sting in his right arm. Fething animals, the dark siders, all of them. He shook his head and using his left hand, grabbed out his blaster, taking an off hand shot at the man that was coming at him. He could feel his apprentice, her terror from the attack, from everything going on.

Getting the drop on them was going to give someone a little bit of an advantage, and with the way Coren was trying to shunt the demon away, because there was more immediate danger to the person who pulled him out of that dreamscape, he was moving. Fire, he could feel the heat, and the Force instinctually wrapped around him. And he moved.

He ran for when the fire and metal hit him, he was knocked, knocked against the window, where the airspeeders were zipping. Rolling, relying on his physical body and the energy he absorbed to keep him moving before collapsing to the pain, he grabbed a chair and made to throw it, as the grenades went off.

 

[Laira Darkhold]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_DZ6wGbSYvY​

​

And that is how the fight started. Grenades flashed, blinding and deafening for a second, anti-flash and noise cancelling gear saving me from prolonged damage, but still loosing a second, alone, trapped in my helmet. Blocking stuff like that out was probably something most Force Sensitives could probably do with concentration, but that wasn't something I had ever learned. The goal was always overwhelm with damage types and overload their senses and disorient them. That made killing and disabling them a lot easier. The Smoke Demon was covering me from the man, Tmoxin was hopefully coming to back me up, or at least watch me. I could stand her spectating.

Danger sense wailed, and I saw the two disks coming from the woman. The first hit high, glancing off the shoulder plate, the second however caught my throat as I tried to spin off to the side to avoid taking it full on the center. The kinetic force of the disk hurt, causing me to choke and cough for breath. Not good, but better than being out right dead I guess. With the air knocked out of me, I went down, completing the spin by landing on my back. No doubt the disk would leave a nasty bruise and I was pretty sure it had damaged something in my throat from the copper taste in my mouth.

Fight. Adrenaline swarmed through my veins, charging me. I needed to get to my feet. I needed to be stable if and when they charged. From my back, I rolled to one knee, vision swimming from the sudden lack of oxygen and blood to the brain. Left arm up, cryoban gun out for the man. Well, cold it is. The spray of icy liquid lashed outwards at the man with the orange saber, fog from the rapid change in heat of the room roiled from the spray of nitrogen. I had a cheesey line like 'Chill Out' or 'Why don't you Cool off' but that witch of a woman had busted up my voice box.

The Smoke Demon rushed was mostly a big scary distraction. These kids needed to gut it before it literally faded them out of existence or well... they would be gone and done. The burning coal like eye's glared daggers into the man with the orange saber as it rushed for him, claws outstretched.

[member="Coren Starchaser"]
[member="Chevu Visz"]
[member="Carten Flaa"]
[member="Tmoxin Temi"]

 

[Tmoxin Temi]

"Yes, stay behind me," she said. With her scarlet saber ignited now, they moved towards the room with careful precision. Amid the sounds of grenade blasts, she rounded the corner into the room. Draco was on one knee in the center of the room. The smoke demon appeared to have two intruders cornered, but with the smoke and the darkness of the demon, she couldn't tell what type of soldiers they were, only that there was a human male and female Mirialan. Tmoxin went left into the room, skirting around the dazed officer.

The male had a chair in his hand and by the looks of it was about to throw it out the window. Using Telekinesis, Tmoxin tried ripping the chair from his grip. She wasn't going to get too close because of the smoke demon but by the maker, she didn't want these two to get away. It was likely that just outside that window a get-away speeder was waiting for them.

"Lt, take the woman," Tmoxin shouted from her place on the opposite side of the room.

[member="Carten Flaa"] [member="Draco Vereen"] [member="Chevu Visz"] [member="Coren Starchaser"]

 

[Judah Lesan]

Take the woman, how the hell was he suposed to that when there was a giant smoke demon in the room. Carten was way out his element here, so he pulled out his pistol, and fired a couple of warning shots at the Mirialan. The demon looked like smoke so the bullets would go through right? Well if he was wrong the damn thing was about to get pissed off. At least being there to back up the owner of the building, the three of them could pin down the intruders right? Were the going to capture them like they had the other? If they could also deal with this dark side monster thing. The galaxy was just getting too weird. It wasn't Portland.

"You just make sure I don't have to deal with whatever that thing is.... what the hell is that thing?" If we make it out of this thing, you owe me way more than a cocktail hour, Commander Temi."

He was nervous and scared, and not hiding it well. He'd never faced a monster before, and was almost in a panic. His military training eventually kicked in, but not until after the initial shock. Hopefully [member="Tmoxin Temi"] didn't think him a coward. That would not help his chances on getting past drinks and onto other things.

[member="Chevu Visz"] [member="Draco Vereen"] [member="Coren Starchaser"]

 

[Chevu Visz]

Chevu had no idea if her discblades hit their mark or not. The whole room flickered with fire and smoke so thick that she could barely make out the shapes of her enemies. Or her master. Suddenly, through the orange-yellow haze, the Mirialan Knight saw a few splashes of red. Coren! There was blood his chest.

“NO!” Chevu screamed. He was hurt. This was getting bad.

Desperate to get out of the deathtrap, Chevu felt her feet involuntarily moving backwards as flames crawled towards her. A few more shots rang out, accompanied by additional voices, one male and one female. Backup had arrived. Her back thumped against the clari-crystalline window. The floor they were on soared ridiculously high over the ground, but the pair was cornered. Dull panic thumped in her chest as the smoke closed in, completely obstructing her view of Coren.

With an angry cry, Chevu turned and unleashed a powerful telekinetic blast aimed at the window, shattering the clari-crystalline pane. The wind whipped through her hair as cold air sucked out the thick smoke. She could see again, breathe.

“Coren! Window!”

She grabbed a grappling hook from her gear belt and hooked it carefully to the rim of the window. Scrambling down the shrincord rope, Chevu began to rappel down the side of the building, a straight vertical drop. It was a crazy move, but she wasn’t going to die in that deathhole of a room. She only hoped that Coren heard her.

[member="Coren Starchaser"] [member="Tmoxin Temi"] [member="Draco Vereen"] [member="Carten Flaa"]