Nightmares

[Fatty]

Jhar jumped to the next building, and far to the right he spotted a man enter discreetly into a black durasteel door. He leapt through the air and rolled through the street into the ally way. He wasted no time knocking, and simply sliced through the door with his lightsaber. Immediately he was responded with the business ends of many, many blasters. Quickly he tossed his deactivated saber in the air, retrieved his hundreds of credits and threw them to the ground, and then caught his saber.

"A sith demon his coming here. I'm paying you to survive, brace yourselves he could be here any moment in any corner of this room. Walls are no barrier for him no more than that door was to me. I flee for the spaceport, but an able pilot would be paid extra if one could take me off this planet now." His message was made clear and felt the emotions in the room mix. Many of them doubted Jhar, those would be the first to die. Others thought to simply kill Jhar on the spot. They would soon find their shots would be placed into their heads, long before he was overwhelmed by collective fire power. Then there were those who feared death than their love of money, those would attempt to flee and die, potential pilots resided in this group. Then there are the others who were eager for the ensuing battle. They would fight valiantly, and die last. "Any takers?" Very few so much as grunted, but eventually a volunteer presented herself. Jhar was just about ready to leave, absorbing himself and his companion into the crowed and made his way to a back exit.

 

[Disciple]

Disciple bounded after the beast, before appearing through the front door as Jhar went out the back. Almost immediately the blaster rifles came up and the Jester rolled his eyes as he drew the sabers. "Now you see me...", he begins with a rising laugh in his voice, "NOW YOU DON'T!"

And with that, he disappears. Suddenly, he's upside down, literally standing on the ceiling and cutting weapons in half. Powerpacks exploding, most of the mercenaries are gone in mere heartbeats - and it's a small Force Shield around Disciple that keeps him safe from harm. Those still alive, however, immediately realized their folly and stopped firing.

The Jester wasn't a blade duelist. It was one of his few true weakness - having to fight with a blade. The Force was his greatest asset, and he injected fear into the minds of everyone in the room. Suddenly, they're all shooting each other in terror and he's laughing merrily from where he's hanging from the roof.

A sole survivor is left standing, hands shaking, a white-knuckled grip on his rifle. "Where."

"Starport.", comes the response without a missed beat.

"Thank you."

And with that, Disciple leaves out the back exit... and Force Travels straight to the Starport. Behind him, a lone blaster shot rings in the night.

 

[Fatty]

Jhar felt his presence in the force.

"Hurry up, he is near."

"But he couldn't have-"

"He, is NEAR!" He yelled at the ignorant women, placed his hand upon her back and thrust her forward. He heard him tap tapping closer, or perhaps that was an illusion he played on them. When she was unable to keep pace, he simply picked her up undignified and speed along with the force. He felt him lurch closer. Jhar strained to go even faster. He dropped her when they reached the hangar she specified. He did not stop running however towards he ship and was irrated that she took a moment to dust herself off, not realizing the danger behind them. He turned around when he reached the lowered ramp into the ship. She seemed to be frozen where she was, so Jhar screamed at her.

"What are you doing? Get the hell on this ship! He'll be here any second!" He felt that the clown was very close now. He was unsure if he could make out of the hangar without the ship being unscathed.

 

[Disciple]

Disciple walked into the hangar juggling his sabers which had yet to be ignited. "Run, run, as fast as you can....", he goads, voice carrying easily through the still air. The Noghri could try to escape all he wanted, but in the end, he'd only die tired. That was a fact. He'd nearly died once already tonight.

Now this, this was true terror. For a long time, in a place long since forgotten, Disciple had been a powerful Sith. But in that time, power was so common he was literally nothing special. It had rankled at his ego that such a thing was true. So, to actually feel that fear and terror from someone realizing they were outclassed... it was a bit heady.

It didn't mean, however, that he was quite done. Reaching out with his vast reserves of Force Power, he waits until the engines are warmed and the ship is getting ready to leave before mentally crumpling one of the engine housings as quickly as he can.

 

[Fatty]

Jhar slammed his fist against the wall, leaving behind an indentation.

"Hey that's my ship!" The girl piped up.

"In case you hadn't noticed we're missing an engine you idiot!" With that, she outlasted her uses and he sliced her down. How many times must Vader's will bring me to the brink of death? Jhar thought, and then settled on the fact that Vader was a cruel patron, and no easy life would be presented to him. Regardless of the damage engine he commanded the ship to take off, and he made his way to an escape pod. The hope was that once in, he would eject out with the few others and either escape to the depths of space or fall into the wilderness, where it would take time for his predator to catch up despite his abilities. Then of course there was the possibility that the monster would simply crush the small vessel, but Jhar felt that the clown would not go through all this effort in this game of cat and mouse, simply to end his life in an instant, when he very well could have the moment he saw him back at the politician's house. He would be followed of course, but death would not come until Jhar's spirit was completely drained of resistance.

The ship lazily leaned to one side, supported with half the power it had moments ago. This would not really be a takeoff, but it would only reach a certain point before Jhar would unleash the pods. Having picked off any useful items off of the former pilot, Jhar discovered a datapad that could operate the guns remotely, of which he set all to automatic on the now targeted Jackal. Plasma fire sounded while Jhar counted down the seconds. One of two things would happen, Jhar would postpone the inevitable and escape the Hangar, or his ship would crash to the ground right where it was, the escape pods would launch while inside the hangar, forcing Jhar to swiftly escape from the escape pod in the most ironic of situations this night, only to dual the Clown once again. Where, once again, Jhar would be wildly out matched. Finally giving up his pride, he called in several members in the area to assist Jhar. They would fight valiantly after Jhar's defeat, but alas Jhar believed they too would be murdered, and their corpses defiled. How ridiculous it was of this crazed Sith to hunt them, simply because of their name. What wrong had they done him, to deserve such treatment? How unfortunate that this mission on Naboo was that of recruitment, and thus no ranks were filled with anything greater than a Disciple. All would die today, with honor in the face of a sickly adversary. Jhar thought that Vader would have been proud of their efforts (despite his warped view of his God, who would truly be indifferent to the situation). Jhar meditated, contemplating the events that would unfold, and within those mere moments that felt like centuries in the Noghri's mind, he waited.

 

[Disciple]

Disciple turned and simply left the hangar, walking slowly more from exhaustion than anything else. Already, however, he could feel the Force starting to return to him with it's slow sureness. Sending a signal mentally to a ship in orbit, he smirks as he leaves the Spaceport completely. Kill him.

Above, floating in the void, was an ancient Harrower class vessel. It had been slipping in system slowly over the past few days, doing it's best to remain undetected by jamming sensors. Any ships that laid eyes on it had their communications blocked as thoroughly as could be until they exited the system.

It shifted on it's axis, turbolasers pointing towards the ground. A new dawn erupted through the night as the starport suddenly received an orbital bombardment - targeted squarely on the vessel that was trying to take off. Any escape pods would be tracked, and it mattered little what help the Noghri had called in.

The Jester had disappeared into the night.

 

[Fatty]

Fire rained down from the sky, lighting up the sky in a spectacular display of firepower. In Jhar's meditation, the ship exploded at half its speed. In utter surprise, he was almost engulfed in fire, and death. Of course the escape pod launched, and within an extreme stroke of luck the ship was just enough outside of the hangar, so the escape pod launched far into the sky. Jhar though sensed that would not be the end. Resisting the G-force, Jhar reached for his lightsaber. His face was contorted as he raced a battle with time. He did not think of the implications of falling so high up, he just knew that if he died, it would be more honorable than to be burned up without a fight for life. He finally reached it, and carefully activated, and burned a hole just large enough for him to fit through. The super-heated metal would leave some scars, but to survive was more important. He kicked through the hole he made and was sucked out, mere milliseconds before the escape pod behind him exploded spectacularly. The shock wave knocked the wind out of his lungs, and shrapnel embedded itself into his armor, and accelerated his fall. Soon Jhar would be a pile of guts, but first his fight with gravity would begin.

Using the force he tried to brace his fall, but all it did was spin his trajectory, sending him spinning rapidly through the air. The ground would be there any moment now, and just before reaching it Jhar sent a wave of the force in all directions. It slowed him just enough to the point where he was only falling from the height of a three story building. Jhar hit the grassy ground with a thud, and a few cracks. He groaned and then all was darkness. The nightmares were over... for now.

 

[Disciple]

Disciple looked skyward, chilled flames for eyes smoking in the crisp air of the night. It was a scene repeated around the city - for those who could see at least. Nighttime bombardments induced flash-blindness quickly in those caught looking even partially in it's direction, and many, many of the civilian populace were struggling to see right now.

Lips set into the barest of lines, but showing off his grin to the world, the Jester disappears from sight. There was no need to cloak his Force Signature, but as he moved those around him could feel the abject horror that emanated from him. An overpowering Aura of the Dark Side had many adverse affects on those nearby, and these symptoms manifested in ways that varied based upon the person they came from. Disciple's, it had been shown, was that of sheer terror.

Going through the streets, hidden from sight, he made his way to a cloaked shuttle outside the city limits and walked up it's ramp. In the forest came the snarling and mewling of tamed beasts following their master, and heavy footsteps followed the Sith up into the interior of the vessel - but there was nothing to be seen.

"I hope he's dead... and if he's not. Well, he'll wish he was."

Disciple was a man of many plans, and it was rare for him to truly be defeated even when he didn't kill those he wanted to. After all, survivors could spread the word of his presence in a way that went beyond simply finding a dead body. So far, not so bad.

 

[Fatty]

Jhar's eyes opened. It was still night time, or perhaps it was night time again. How long he had been lying in this field, he was unsure. Several hours might have passed, several days could have gone by. It mustn't have been to long, as Jhar didn't seem to be dying of thirst. Jhar attempted to rise from his false grave, but fell back down, griping his sides. Several ribs were broken, along with an ankle, and Jhar undoubtedly had a concussion. The Noghri made inventory of every wound, counting the number of debris shards embedded into his body, most worryingly a large piece sticking out of his thigh. He groaned as he used his replenished reserves of the force to force the foreign objects out, and press his wounds together tight enough to fuse themselves solid. With this, he tried to will himself up to survey the area. He was eventually able to sit up. He looked to the sky, happy to see no fire still raining down. Around him he saw the wreckage that was his escape pod and the others he had launched as a distraction. He did not sense the Jester anywhere near, which is good. He must of assumed that even if Jhar did survive the attack, that he would be prone in the wilderness. Well, at the moment he was correct. Currently Jhar was immobilized, and had no idea how long it had been since he was hydrated. He could very well have woken up to his body breaking down to the lack of water.

By the time the sun was rising, he had barely moved five feet from where he had fallen, and now he knew he was dehydrated. There appeared no immediate source of water, and the Noghri was almost deprived of hope. But as the sun rose, Jhar notice something that saved his life. Dew drops all around him! With the sudden realization that water was all around him, on the grass, in the grass, everywhere there was water for him to drink. All he needed to do was retrieve it. Which he did using the force, he meditate until he felt that his force reserves were sufficient for the job. At first the process was slow going, only gaining the exterior dew drops, which was minimal. However, after several hours Jhar was able to absorb the water from the plants themselves. When he was sufficiently hydrated, he now began his renewed efforts to stand.

It was not easy, and did not come quickly. Eventually however, sometime by the middle of the day, he was mobilized. Now his mission was the hunt. Hungry wracked at the Noghri's stomach. Food was not too hard to find, the native Shaak's would suffice in this situation. Jhar was to famished for prowess, when catching site of one of them he stealthily moved towards it and killed it with his lightsaber. He used his lightsaber to cook some of the meat, but was impatient and began to tear through the meat. It was getting dark when much of the corpse was consumed, and Jhar found himself replenished. But then Jhar's journey would find himself stuck, as now there was no starport for him to leave the planet with. His first method involved his communicator, which he found was destroyed and of now use to him. Upon this unfortunate discover, he eventually decided that where he had come from was not the only city on the planet with a starport. So, too exhausted to be mobile on foot, manipulated the will of a nearby Shaak, and used it as a mount.

On his way he reviewed the events that had unfolded in his immediate life. He was assigned to Naboo to assassinate key political targets in order to replace them agents supporting the Disciples of Vader, who would then take the force sensitives born on the planet and bring them to their base of operations, under the guise of bringing them to the Jedi. They were half way to completing the objective before Jhar's incident. But now with the orbital strike on the planet along with the assassinations of politicians, this might make things difficult for the cult in completing there objective. Terrorist attacks would out prioritize strengthening the Jedi, the cult had originally anticipated this from the assassinations they would carry out, but now with this out right destruction of government property via orbital bombardment would worry the populace so much that the puppets would be unable to control them. They would have to find a new host for the construction of Force weapons.

Jhar finally reached his destination. He stalked through the city unseen, and without further adieu made his way off the planet via a planetary ferry system. The time of terror on Naboo was finished.