If At First You Don't Succeed

[Rasu Gan]

Rasu had left the Padawan behind, relieved knowing that his life wouldn't be at risk if he too ventured into the cavern system below. Having only a glow stick providing a meager amount of light, the Jedi Master continued deeper into the tunnel system, erecting mental tendrils of her own conscious, that swirled in front of her, slithering over every inch of tunnel, creating a mental image in her mind. Great stalagmites began to sprout from the walls as the Shi'ido ventured further, making her journey that much more difficult, with Rasu having to shuffle through the tight path that was made. The natural spears felt wet and slimy as her body slid past, no doubt leaving a dirty smudge upon her robes. It was going to happen eventually, she thought, ignoring the slightly disturbing feeling along her torso and keeping her mind focused on the path ahead.

The presence of Asaak remained close in the back of her mind, acting as a reminder and a beacon, one which she was slowly but surely closing in on, the woman's torment would soon be over. As she continued to navigate her way through the cavern system, she caught sight of a small glow ahead of her, building with each step she took. Hurrying in her pace, Rasu was surprised to find the floor evening out with each step, the stalagmites becoming smaller and smaller until all were gone, allowing the Shi'ido to continue at her pace without having any to move around the obstacles. Doors and rooms began to become visible, as Rasu neared the source of the ambient light, a small, flickering ceiling lamp. Staring quizzically upwards at the bulb, Rasu was suddenly plagued by a tingling at the base of her spine, alerting her to incoming danger.

Without hesitating, Rasu leaped into the air, grabbing a hold of the lamp as blaster bolts flew past her original position, lighting up the dark tunnel behind her as it carried on down the cavern. Looking down, Rasu caught sight of a pair of defensive turrets, their barrels aimed now upwards at her. Leaping into action, Rasu dropped down from her position, at threw her ignited lightsaber towards the pair of droids, slicing both in half as the weapon flew by, creating its yellow disc of deadly energy. Calling the weapon back to her palm, Rasu went over to inspect the sizzling heap of machinery, looking up at the large hulking door that they seemed to have been guarding. Rasu could feel nothing behind the door, nothing at all, no evidence of life could be sense behind the large hulk of a door. Yet Rasu couldn't help but question why the turrets would be placed here of all places if nothing of value remained behind. Well she would find out one way of another.

Placing her hands on the door, she wasn't surprised to find it locked, the hinges not even rattling as the Shi'ido tried to pull open the metal panel. Sighing, Rasu took a step back, reaching out with both hands towards the metal slab, drawing the Force around her outstretched palms. Bringing them back slightly, Rasu pushed outwards, sending a large surge of Force energy into the door, causing it to shudder and dent, but it still remained in its hinges. Repeating the motion, another dent was made in the thick metal. Pelting it with clump after clump of Force energy as another dent was made in the door until it resembled some weird abstract art museum piece rather than a solid door. Bringing her hands up for one final gesture, Rasu made sure to infuse enough energy into this final shove, pushing outwards as dust and grit was caught in the invisible energy bullet. Making contact with the door, it was flung off its hinges, flying into a large white hallway beyond, crashing into a group of security droids on the other side.

Walking through the sizzling mess, Rasu did not stop to check her surroundings, having immediately latched on to the presence of [member="Asaak Tey"], now sensing her more clearly being within the Force immune complex. Sending waves of relief and hope towards her student, not caring that [member="Evelynn Zambrano"] and [member="Nemene Talith"] would detect her own presence, Rasu broke off into a sprint, rounding the many white, pristine of corners of the Sith hideout, sabers both ignited, one for each hand. Blaster bolts zipped over her head and shoulders from behind, causing the Shi'ido to turn and catch the bolts on her blades, redirecting them back to the source, leaving the droids a sparking heap, as she continued her run. Closing in on her student, Rasu scooted round another corner, before coming to a halt in front of one final door. Not even hesitating, Rasu drew all her desperation and adrenaline into her final force push, releasing all her pent up emotions into the door.

Without a single effort, the door was flung off its hinges and crashed against the opposite wall, making a loud bang as it collapsed on the ground. Running in, Rasu turned her sabers on the pair of Sith, aiming both at the blonde who seemed to be turning some sort of vice now strapped around the Togruta's waste. Pushing out with the Force, she hoped to fling [member="Evelynn Zambrano"] away from the tool before any more pain could be inflicted upon the woman. "Get away from her!" she growled, moving slowly over to Asaak keeping her weapons trained on both Sith. It was time to get her Padawan off this planet.

[member="Moroi Wareyasui"]

 

[Louise]

This was Nemene's area of expertise.

Evelynn would happily melt into her own world of pain and pleasure, turning that crank as if it was second nature to her. Her sister could talk, plant that seed of doubt and fear into the Jedi's mind and let it grow, let those twisted roots become buried. Let pain become twisted vines that grow along the walls of your very being. Just give up. Give in.

Of course, only after you've let me have my fun first.

Unfortunately [member="Rasu Gan"] had not received this memo and came bursting into room like an impudent bantha. Rude! Of course, when The Silent Sister is so steeped in her fantastic world of agony it takes a little moment to snap out of it. It was an entirely different state of being, you know. It's good to let yourself get carried away once in a while. I suppose you wouldn't understand, it's a Sith thing really.

So the mute was flung, colliding with the table of toys and sending hooks and blades alike scattering to the floor. That was going to leave a bruise, doubly rude! Immediately the blonde bounced back, and with a look of pure maddening glee upon her features sent said sharp objects shooting from off the floor and in the direction of the Jedi saviour.

I'd rather not! How about you stay a while?

[member="Asaak Tey"], [member="Nemene Talith"], [member="Moroi Wareyasui"]

 

[Lira Dajenn]

The minute that Nemene realized what was happening a blade fell form her sleeve and into her hand, a small razor tipped scalpel sharp enough to cut through bone.

When the Jedi Master burst into the room screaming and raging at the two Sith Ladies Nemene bristled, watching as her sister was flung across the room helplessly. She wanted to move to attack Rasu, but knew that such a thing was foolish. Instead she remained behind Asaak, watching as her sister prepared to counter attack the woman.

“It looks like you won't have to beg after all.” Nemene whispered into Asaak's ear as she snaked her arm with the scalpel around the Jedi padawan. “A pity. I was looking forward to it.”

Then the Queen of Rattatak wrenched the scalpel across Asaak's throat. She sliced into the womans flesh and cut deep across her neck, spilling blood onto the floor and all over the Togruta's body.

The wound was not deep, she would not die for a few minutes. It would give Rasu Gan a choice, fight Nemene and Evelynn, or let her apprentice die. The two Queens had used the same tactic before, and they found that with Jedi, it always worked.
[member="Rasu Gan"] [member="Evelynn Zambrano"] [member="Asaak Tey"]

 

[Aeron Zambrano]

At first she thought the waves of relief and comfort were a hallucination. She had felt not even a glimpse of the outside world the entire time she’d been deep within the complex so the only way she could be feeling such a thing was –

That was when her Shi’ido Master burst in to the room. The pain of two broken ribs was making her dizzy, but she still took a bit of pleasure in seeing [member="Evelynn Zambrano"] tossed through the air and on to the very instruments she’d selected from so delicately. But ever the master of her tools, Asaak watched helplessly as the blond tossed dozens of sharp, deadly objects through the air at [member="Rasu Gan"].

No, no…not helplessly.

Something about opening the door to the force immune room had deactivated its properties, allowing the women to battle unhindered. Asaak was but a Padawan, and weak in her broken state, but she couldn’t leave her Master to fight by herself. She reached out with the Force as hard as she could, trying to give energy to a force barrier that might aid her Master in protecting herself.

But it seemed the moment she began her efforts there was a whisper in her ear, hot breath, a soft metallic perfume that crossed between feminine and bloody.

There was almost no pain when the knife tore across her neck. Perhaps it was just because she was already so weak (don’t think, don’t tally up what they’ve done to you, how they’ve used you like a canvas, a practice easel to discard without so much as a thought, tossed like paper to the wind) but she wasn’t even aware of what happened until she looked down and she was red. The blood was dark, poorly oxygenated and the last vestiges of her consciousness as she started bleeding out reasoned that she must have torn through the jugular. That was some kind of luck – if [member="Nemene Talith"] had severed the carotids instead, Asaak would have been dead in sixty seconds, her brain starving from the lack of oxygenated blood. But regardless of such small and questionable strokes of “fortune”, Asaak was dying.

She was…dying. Her body was heavy, stiff with blood drenching her front. It seemed impossible that all of that was coming out of her. There was a whistling, a strangled sucking sound that she realized absently was coming from the gap in her throat.

It was strange to be faced with mortality, though she supposed that had been her choice when she’d taken up with the Jedi Order. She had known the risks. And she knew what needed to be done now.

Let me die, forget about me. Peace for this Galaxy is more important – erase them so they may never hurt anyone like they’ve hurt me.

They were words she thought over and over as darkness clawed at her vision, hoping her Master...her friend, would hear her. If she died there, in that white, white room so far removed from all the things she knew and loved she would find peace knowing that Rasu had gone on to stop anyone else from ending up the same way at the hands of the two sister Sith. Images flashed across her fading mind: of the grasslands of Shili, of the vast cityscape of Coruscant in all its golds and purples and blues, of Tython with its brilliant woods and crystal lakes – anywhere but where she was now. She thought of the first time she’d met with Rasu Gan, a nervous young Togruta who’d felt immediately at home in the Shi’ido’s presence, and forged a friendship she had promised herself would last until the last moment she drew breath.

There was some measure of comfort in seeing that through.

There was a flare of despair, a last maddening turn of her stomach as she thought of Moroi. All the things she’d wanted to say – lost, trapped behind her teeth and tongue!

And in that last moment, in perfect silence before her eyes closed and she slipped in to unconsciousness, she swore she could feel his mind in its entirety.

[member="Moroi Wareyasui"]

 

[Moroi Wareyasui]

Moroi was a poor Jedi, that much was getting more and more abundantly clear with each passing second. He was emotional, headstrong, proud, aggressive, passionate and, as of but a few moments ago, quite deceitful and insubordinate. Master [member="Rasu Gan"] may have known that telling him to stay at the ship was a complete waste of time, it wasn't hard to determine how Moroi felt about [member="Asaak Tey"] if one had but seen how he looked at her, and it'd be beyond silly to believe he would actually stay at the damn ship when the woman he cared so very much for was being butchered and tortured so close to him. There was nothing in this galaxy that was going to keep Moroi from getting to and saving Asa, he didn't care how much stronger everything else was, how weak he was, how ridiculous the odds were, or really much of anything outside of saving his friend. As soon as Master Gan was out of sight, Moroi took off like star cruiser, dashing straight for the Sith Complex. Masters of Evil and the Darkside or not, there was a strong chance that, whatever species they were, that they required oxygen. That meant that there was a very good chance of the structure having ventilation that Moroi could potentially exploit. It did not take long to find where the air was coming in to the structure and then even less time to infiltrate the ventilation system. Normally, there'd be a more descriptive account of his intrepid adventures through the air ducts of a Sith torture factory, but at this point he was making too many people wait and he didn't quite have the time for such an account.

So, with a quick fast forward through the epic duct crawling montage, Moroi found himself positioned directly above the ongoing hostilities below him as a severe sense of foreboding seemed to rock through his body. He felt Asa below him, he also felt the Sith and he felt Master Gan's power as she burst on to the scene. It was honestly pretty terrifying, or it would be if it were directed at Moroi. Before he could finish admiring the Jedi Master, grief struck through him. He wasn't sure if it was their force bond at work or if it was simply just him feeling a fellow Jedi have her throat cut, but dread and terror struck Moroi, followed swiftly by panic. The boy quickly withdrew his dual, green shotos and dug them in to the metal panel below him, pivoting on the sole of his shoe and dragging the lasers around in a circle rapidly before his body weight forced the severed circular piece of metal to give way, dropping Moroi in to the room. With his feet still on the piece of metal, Moroi pushed down on the edge, causing the metal circle to tilt forward as his opposite foot roughly pushed against it, rocketing the metal down and toward the back of the head of [member="Evelynn Zambrano"] while Moroi's eyes trailed down to [member="Nemene Talith"] and the scalpel in her hand...covered in his friends blood. He wasn't sure if Master Gan would be able to feel it, what with the intensity of the moment, but Nemene would be able to feel the sheer hatred that was rolling off of Moroi, the loathing that occupied every fiber of his being and the fact that all of it was channeled at her. The cooler head prevailed for the moment, and his thoughts returned to rescuing his friend, his feet landing with a dull thud in front of Asa and on the ground before his body sprung forward, the twin lightsabers lashing out at her bindings and freeing her from the restrictions on her movement. This was the part of the plan that wasn't really thought out though, he wasn't a doctor and he had absolutely no idea how to save her or even if he could afford to move her in her condition, but it was a little bit too late to worry about that right now. They were definitely dead if they stayed there, and only probably dead if he tried to make a run for it. Catching her once gravity caught up with her, Moroi would try to make a break for it, hoping against hope that Master Gan could occupy their attentions.

 

[Lira Dajenn]

Nemene didn't really react to the boy cutting down his friend from the restraints. Of course doing so would only worsen the trauma of her throat and accelerate the bleeding, but she doubted that the boy knew that. Her eyes drifted over to Evelynn, then to the other Jedi in the room. She shrugged slightly, watching as the boy attempted to drag the Togruta away.

“Evelynn.” Her voice was serene calm. “Time to leave.”

The Sith Lady raised a single palm and unleashed a massive wall of Force Lightning. Bright purple sparks jumped and covered half of the room. All the while the Queens of Rattatak took a dozen or so steps back against the far wall. Nemene pressed a small plate, and a piece of the wall moved away, shrinking into a stark white hallway.

That was the thing about the two of them, they planned ahead. They thought about every scenario, every fight. When Nemene and Evelynn tortured someone, there was always another way out.
[member="Rasu Gan"] [member="Evelynn Zambrano"] [member="Asaak Tey"]

 

[Rasu Gan]

Everything was a complete blur, both on the exterior and interior of the Jedi's body. Her mind was in turmoil, her common sense and Jedi instincts fighting for control over her growing hatred. All because of the Sith. Rasu let loose a malicious grin as she watched the Sith woman fly across the room, crashing into her table of tools, before catching sight of the other, a scalpel or small blade in hand as she moved towards her Padawan. Oh no you don't! Reaching out with the Force, she stretched out towards the Sith, before quickly reacting to the danger sense flooding the base of her spine. For a split second the blades seemed to hover in mid-air, their momentum coming to a halt by some invisible force before faulting a collapsing to the ground, their progress having been stopped.

Rasu only stared, startled that she had come so close to near death and having only just been saved. A loud crash caused her to break from her thoughts, watching in sheer shock as Moroi feel from the ceiling, riding a hunk of charred metal as it fell near the blonde. Rasu knew that the man had abandoned his post by the fighter, but had not expected such an entrance from the human, expecting him to have rather followed her from a distance instead of finding his own way in. Immense hatred and fury filled the room, leaving Rasu confused as to where the source was located, however her attention was caught by the growing pool of thick red blood, seeping down from her Padawans slit throat. "ASAAK!" Rasu screamed, turning on the attacker with sheer fury in her eyes.

Rasu only raised a hand as the violet strands seeped the room, catching the forks of lightning within her palm as it glowed, the destructive energy being absorbed into a bright orb of purple light around her wrist. Such was her fury that she had not even considered the safety of the two Padawans, trusting that Moroi could handle the stray lightning that might come there way. The electric strands slowed her down long enough to watch the two Sith escape through a panel in the wall, the panel sliding back down and appearing as if it had never been there to begin with. Angered, Rasu flung the orb of consumed energy at the hidden panel, causing it to be flung from the frame, taking the surrounding wall with it. Leg muscles tensed as the Jedi Master prepared for a chase, knowing that scum like the two Sith could not be left to escape, although this thought had not been processed, relying only on her pain and hatred that fueled her want for revenge. However her mind was drawn back to Asaak, her last conscious thoughts, echoing through her mind as her eyes fluttered closed, and her body became limp.

The Shi'ido paused to take one last look at her student, her mind in utter turmoil as it remained conflicted over her want for revenge or the safety of her dear friend. Without hesitating, Rasu bounded over to the limp form of the Togruta, her hands outstretched as they began to emanate a soft green glow over the wide but thin gash across her throat. The Jedi Master was no adept in healing, however she had been taught to know the basics, having been raised and trained during an era of war. Rasu allowed her essence to flow into the wound, manipulating the blood cells to clot and cease the flow of blood from the frail form of Asaak. This would be all she could spare, having still kept the signatures of the two Sith in the back of her mind, tracking them down as the continued their escape. The glow dissipated, allowing the Shi'ido to rise, adrenaline continuing its course through her veins.

"This'll be all I can do, use the extra time to get her to the ship, there's a first aid kit there." she said, already moving towards the gaping hole in the opposite wall. "Don't wait for me. I know you won't but just in case." she said, before taking one last look at Asaak's features. Please be okay, she thought before rounding the corner and breaking into a sprint down the pristine hallway, calling on the Force to enhance her speed as she closed in on the twin aura's of the fleeing Sith.

[member="Nemene Talith"] [member="Moroi Wareyasui"] [member="Asaak Tey"] [member="Evelynn Zambrano"]

 

[Louise]

It was time for their trademark. Observe in delight, ladies and gentleman as the red red krovvy will now spill forth from the Togruta's lovely little ne-

Wait! What?!

Surfing down from the ceiling came a boy, fuelled by the purest of terror and panic, he also came bearing a flying sheet of metal which would have been likely to knock the frail blonde out had she not batted the panel aside with the force in the last possible second. The scene unfolded before her, and it was only Nemene's cool tones that brought her out of the spectator sport.

Grand idea. It wasn't the best of ideas to be lingering around here now that the cavalry had arrived.

The pair disappeared into their secret passageway, and for a moment the Sister Queens of Rattatak had gotten away with it again. For a moment. Welcome to the maze of white. The clinical passage. To her sister she sent a brief message as they fled, regarding the lone Jedi that they hadn't quite managed to shake off just yet.

Sister, we've made a friend!

Their pursuer also received a telepathic message. Nobody likes to be left out of the loop after all. Her icy tones would intrude upon the woman's mind with a venomous hiss.

...and where do you think you're going?

[member="Rasu Gan"], [member="Nemene Talith"], [member="Asaak Tey"], [member="Moroi Wareyasui"]

 

[Lira Dajenn]

“Well we would be reminisce not to entertain her.” Nemene said to her sister with a grin.

She gripped the lightsaber on her hip, drawing the long saber-staff and igniting one side of the blade. Hot Orange plasma sprang to life with a snap and a hiss. As the blade jumped into being Nemene twisted herself in a single running step, sliding for a few moments and turning herself towards Rasu. As soon as she was facing the woman she let out a cackle of a laugh.

Her off hand came up, and a spark of purple force lightning flowed from her fingertips. It was hardly powerful enough to kill, but the spark would do quite a bit of damage if it struck Rasu, and if not...well it would distract the woman long enough to allow Evelynn to do something else.

This would be fun.
[member="Rasu Gan"] [member="Evelynn Zambrano"]