Private In Shadow, Sabers Clash

[Khosza Ren]

Zoro Laha Station
Over Naboo

While the great tournament of Jedi took place in the biodome of the station, a ship docked itself into a lower section. An old Nu-class shuttle, bearing a registration that seemed to denote belonging to the now-fallen Galactic Alliance. The landing gear hissed as they connected with the ground of the docking bay.

Security officers surrounded the ship, stood at attention. One man came foward, insignia denoting the rank of captain.

"Crew of the Nu-class, please disembark!" The Captain called out.

The gangplank lowered with mechanical sound. Three figures revealed themselves, all dressed in dark outfits and fearsome masks. One was discernible as a male Twi'lek, another had the reptilian frame of a Trandoshan, yet their leader was vaguely humanoid. The Security team immediately raised their blasters.

"Identify yourself!" The Captain barked at the mysterious men

"Easy, friend...." Their leader put his hands up, "My name is...Squall. The tailhead is Mestrab, and my scaly comrade is Ssakarr."

The respective named bowed their forms at their introduction. The Captain and his team remained under suspicion, blasters drawn.

"We're members of the Jensaarai." 'Squall' explained, "Here for the Tournament."

The Captain paused before speaking once more, "Turn over your weapons for inspection."

There was tension in the air as 'Squall' carefully unclipped a black, cylindrical handle from his belt and offered it in an outstretched hand. A lightsaber, no doubts about it. The Captain moved forward to inspect the weapon. That's when 'Squall' activated it, a red beam extending from the hilt and into the Captain's chest. The Security began to open fire, chaos ensued.

The leader of the dark warriors slashed through the security guards with his lightsaber. Ssakarr joined in with a weapon akin to a Lasat bo-rifle, electrocuting the opposition. The Twi'lek produced two weapons in his hands, like hand-held saws: Zeison Sha discblades, now twisted to more sinister ends. The carnage ended once the last guard fell.

"To me, my knights." The leader summoned them, extinguishing his lightsaber for the time being, "Keep moving toward the Crystal Chamber. Silently, if possible..."

His helmeted gaze moved over to the Captain's corpse. A light blinked on the man's gauntlet. A silent transmission. The leader made a small laugh.

"Though I suspect that the Hurricane may be upon us sooner than expected."

With that, the Knights of Ren began their advancement.

Jonyna Si | Rayia Si ​

 

[Jonyna Si]

TAGS: Khosza Ren​

Jonyna herself had been busy all day setting this up. It wasn't often that she was this busy these days, most days now she was casually analyzing Imperial patrol patterns, not coordinating jedi from across the galaxy. Not anymore.

The jedi master couldn't help but feel like she was back in the days of the NJO. It was easy to slip back into that mindset...

Had it not been for what came next.

Her world was shaken by the sudden beeping of a comm. WSR security forces had taken to greeting the guests, but Jonyna had known it was a risk, even inside of High Republic Space. Something was bound to go wrong, but the Rebellion needed allies. They needed to trust the High Republic could keep the station safe.

That all went out the window when Jonyna saw the call.

Sith on board.

It didn't take her more than a few seconds to grab her gear. Jonyna was always a bit of a paranoid one. She kept her holster belt on at all times, felt more comfortable with it on than with it off these days.

Rushing down, she made a point to cut off the bridge. Jonyna was always a paranoid one, but that came with a level of ingenuity. She didn't pretend to understand the ins and outs of tech, but she knew how tactics worked. She knew how to make cut off points. Funnels. The station was set up that way on purpose. The Arms that attached the landing stations always had a single connecting point to the rest of the station.

On that bridge, she stood. Waiting.

 

[Rayia Si]

Jonyna Si Khosza Ren

---

Whilst the Tournament certainly had attracted many patrons, Rayia herself wasn't one of them. The scent of metal wafting from the station and the roaring of the crowd was already causing a mild throb in her temple. It would only be made all the worse if she was to join the throng of patrons crowding around the Tournament's state. That many bodies, that much motion, always set her nerves on edge. It didn't help that she could pinpoint every single movement due to her Felacatian senses. Thus, Rayia had chosen not to subject herself to it. She had instead squirrelled away in the most remote location she could find aboard the station. That being one of the maintenance accessways that led off the hangar bays. Ships were ferried in and out as more and more visitors were eager to participate or spectate the event, so it wasn't entirely isolated. But the noise and sensations of movement were deadened enough and sparse enough respectively that Rayia didn't feel like the pressure was needling her head like a vibroknife.

An ear quirked as she saw her communicator light up. Voiceless, and yet its message could not have been louder. There was an altercation in one of the hangar bays. Sith had made it on board. Rayia brought up a map. Based on where the captain would have been stationed and her own position, Rayia was near a path that would take her to the right of the central bridge. Given that all foot traffic routed through that location, it was inevitable that whoever these adversaries were they would need to take the bridge in order to progress to their objective. She would assume that her mother would be aware. Jonyna had plenty of combat experience, and well... Rayia hardly needed to inform the many time war hero and rebel about setting a trap. Nevertheless, Rayia decided to ping Jonyna's communicator if only to ease her mother's mind; a silent signal that she was aware and making her way to flank their opponents before engaging. Rayia began to weave her way forwards quietly across the deck plating of the various corridors. Her sense of motion helping to detect and avoid individuals traversing the hallways adjoined to her own.

 

[Khosza Ren]

The Knights of Ren traversed the pathways heading towards the rest of the station from the hangar. Along the way, they gleefully slew any opposition that found themselves in their way. "Squall" soon began to notice that the pathway began to bottleneck into a single position. A bridge that was a one-way passage that connected the hangar section to the main portion of this Force-forsaken space station.

"Clever." Came a begrudgingly impressed tone from "Squall"

And then he saw her. Jonyna Si, on the other side of the bridge like a sentinel. The mere sight of her caused the Force to change around him. He was a creature of the Dark Side, no doubt. But his presence seemed to be drenched in such hatred that it brought an unnatural cold to one's soul. Oh yes, this was a meeting long overdue. The leader of these Knights seemed to stare her down from behind his helmeted face.

"Ah, bow your heads, boys!" He mocked, "We're in the presence of a legend."

The Trandoshan and the Twi'lek companion both laughed at the jeering. Yet their leader did not hold any mirth, feigned or real. He began to pace slowly, back and forth. Like a caged beast, sizing up its challenger. His focus never left Jonyna.

"The Eye of the Storm. Firestarter. Jonyna Si" "Squall" growled, "Let's just see how truthful the legends are."

The leader of the dark warrior once against retrieved his lightsaber, its red blade crackling to life. He took a stance, a form that any practitioner of lightsaber combat would recognize. Saber held parallel to his face: Djem So. This was no mere wannabe dark sider, as he had be trained by someone who knew the Jedi arts. His companions followed suit, the Trandoshan activating his bo-rifle's electrostaff mode and the Twi'lek reading his discblades. The waited with baited breath, seeking who would make the first move.

Jonyna Si | Rayia Si ​

 

[Jonyna Si]

TAGS: Rayia Si Khosza Ren​

The silent ping from Rayia was enough to ease her mind, as she waited.

Waited for what came next.

Three sith warriors, of which lay many dead already. A Twi'lek, from the planet she had called home for many years. A trandoshian, a mirror of her old friend Odfrex, and finally someone she couldn't identify.

She had no idea who this was, but she knew when she was being mocked.

As the armored sith spoke, Jonyna silently reached for her blades. As his lightsaber ignited, she reached not for her own, but for Sally, the white light of the blade balancing the sudden rush of darkness.

"I don't know who you are, but I know when someone is trying to get my attention. Chose your next actions wisely, Kuun."

Jonyna didn't act. While she had foregone the training Kahlil Noble had taught her, of not striking first, she knew better than to underestimate an opponent. Thrusting forward into a 3v1 would be a mistake...

Instead, she waited. Waited to see what they did. If they wanted to move forward, they'd have to get through her.

And that wasn't happening any time soon.

 

[Rayia Si]

Jonyna Si Khosza Ren
(Please forgive the delay)

---

The fact that Jonyna hadn’t responded to her ping told Rayia all that she needed to know. Well, that and the fact that she could quite literally feel the individuals creeping in to surround her. She paused at the threshold to the other side of the bridge, stopping short before coming up behind them. Still, Rayia trusted her mother to recognize what the enemy was trying to do. For they were enemies, based on the venom in the leader’s voice. He masked it decently well behind bravado, but Rayia could still tell. There was an unmistakable way it seeped into every word that caused Rayia to grit her teeth.

Rayia settled into a stillness of her own. It was fairly evident that Jonyna wanted the intruders to act first here. That suited Rayia just fine, since it was clear that the leader was practically seething. Angry people tended to make mistakes. Rayia was counting on that fact now. She was counting on the fact that the others would be so enraged, enamored, and occupied with the swelling Dark Side that her presence might go unnoticed.

Rayia pulled the massive Felacatian crossbow she had kept from her time with the tribe out of her pouch. Quietly as she could, she began to pull the string back and nocked a quarrel to the string. Rayia doubted she would get more than the opening shot at this distance. But she would take any advantage she could. Even if her shot was deflected, it would create an opening. An arm length steel bolt flying towards you tended to be very eye catching.

 

[Khosza Ren]

"Ah nu Kuun" The leader of the dark warriors responded, "We are Knights of Ren!"

He had spoken Catharese too perfectly. His words were accented in a way that only someone who grew up around Cathar or its colonies would. It was almost taunting in the way that he spoke it. Whatever his group's objective with the Force Crystals, this moment was one that was extremely personal. The leader made the first move with a charge seemingly towards Jonyna, keeping measured distance from her. His Trandoshan counterpart joined in the assault on the elder Si, moving his electrostaff in a style similar to Juyo's saberstaff form.

The Twi'lek initially began in the same direction, but something caught his eye. Furious eyes stared in Rayia's direction. The Twi'lek, with aid of the force, slung one of his discblades in her direction. The weapon spun like the circular blade of a vibrosaw in the air, serrated teeth seeking out flesh to bite into. This action was not unnoticed by the lead Knight of Ren.

"Family's all here, eh, Jonyna?" He mocked once more, "Good. I've been waiting for a reunion like this for a very long time!"

The dark, masked warrior spoke in riddles. Hints towards who he was, but without revelation. Yet, his heart burned with a vendetta that had be boiling for years. Yet, he was biding his time until the right moment to reveal the truth.

Jonyna Si | Rayia Si ​

 

[Jonyna Si]

TAGS: Khosza Ren Rayia Si​

Reunion.

Her mind raced, while she watched them charge. She wasn't going to let them through. The electro staff weilder would be a problem if left to his own devices, so he'd be her first target. Her tail slipped out of her coat, Paul poking out and firing a barrage of electrified bolts towards him. If nothing, it would put the Trandoshan on the back foot.

Then she could focus on the masked figure.

Reunion. And he spoke her language, in a way that definitively indicated that he was from her home. A Cathar Sith...

He claimed not to be one, but a Kuun was a Kuun. He might not practice the Sith Code, but he was still a Monster who has killed three people. Snuffed out three lives for no reason.

As he charged, she held Sally tight, the blade of her own making waiting to strike, while in her other hand her mother's blade, her ancestor's blade, the lightsaber Lucy was held in front of her.

Any attempt to attack her would be met with extreme prejudice.