Reuniting With The Rangers (Antar)

[Cai Sanis]

Cai bit his lower lip. "A Sith?" he asked. "That would explain the dark presence and the apparent organization and tactics of these pirates." He thought about everything he had scene and let his mind flow back to the earlier times. "The tactics are consistent with what we've seen from the Sith Empire in the past." A shiver ran down his spine as he remembered an old mission where he ran up against the Sith led by one of their vicious knights. It was a slaughter.

 

[Jaxton Ravos]

Jaxton continued on as the padawans and Cai followed him in. The sith was closer, he could feel it.

"If the Sith becomes too much I want all of you to run and get the hostages out." Jaxton said as he took a left fork, following the trail of the lightsider he was tracking with his mind.

 

[Ashin Varanin]

Boolon stumbled through the clamoring hostages, to the gate of the bars that walled off this portion of the cave system. Lightsabre glows emanated from around a bend in the cave. He filled his lungs and shouted, double throats buzzing.

"Jedi! The Empress is here!"

 

[Gorba the Hutt]

The killer whale lumbered through darkness of the cave. Packed dust and rock beneath his feet formed a solid surface that shuddered slightly with every step. Subtlety was not Hion's forte.

A pirate sprang out of the darkness, attacking Hion with a vibrosword. The Herglic unleashed a hum of massive proportions which vibrated the cavern's ceiling. He had not sensed the pirate. Hion swung a T-21 toward the pirate. Not to shoot. The barrel of the gun struck the pirate full in the face. Bone shattered and the pirate sailed backward, slamming into a wall before sagging to the floor in a heap. Hion hummed once. Death was not pretty.

A thundering voice filled the caverns. Hion took two gigantic steps backward? The Empress? Here?! His big black eyes became hard obsidian.


"I shall assist you, Master Ravos. I believe I may be of assistance."

 

[Cai Sanis]

Cai lurched a little bit as the Ithorian screeched. It was horrible piercing Cai's ears. The Empress. He steeled himself and readied for the coming confrontation. "Did he say empress? What is the Empress doing here?"

Cai didn't hesitate, he was Echani and probably the best suited to facing to the Empress in close combat. He darted froward ahead of the group and called back, "watch my back, I'm going in!"

 

[Ashin Varanin]

Pirates had their uses. These particular ones, largely, did not, but Her Majesty had raced a certain Ithorian Jedi Shadow to find a specific artifact in their treasure trove. It was a Sith amulet, not an especially powerful one, but an amulet nonetheless. Surrounded by dead pirates in a cave full of treasure -- things had gotten tense just now, some time after they locked up the Ithorian -- Ashin examined her find.

But her cold, cold presence couldn't block out the approaching Jedi from her mind. She grimaced and finished strapping the amulet to her left forearm.

Misunderstandings abounded.

She sat back, surrounded by dead pirates, and waited for the Jedi to enter the treasure room.

 

[Jaxton Ravos]

Jaxton looked at the whale and sized him up for a moment. He was definitely strong, and he had some nice weapons on him as well.

"Alright, but if things change and I tell you to go you go." Jaxton said as he saw the Echani dart forward.

"Dang it!" He said. He wasn't a telekinetic, he couldn't cover him.

"Cover the echani Herglic!" He ordered and ran forward to meet the Echani by his side.

 

[Cai Sanis]

Cai was first to enter, saber drawn. He stared at the woman with daggers in his eyes. "Why are you here?" he demanded to know. "Scratch that," Cai thought about what to say. It was like a Holovid, "release the Jedi, or else...."

 

[Ashin Varanin]

"What, the Ithorian? It was either kill him or let them lock him up with the rest. Long story." Her Majesty looked around at the dead pirates and shrugged. "And an irrelevant one. Feel free to cut open the cells. I just wanted my amulet."

 

[Gorba the Hutt]

Hion thundered in behind Cai, leveling his T-21s on Ashin and giving the Echani's statement some real oomph. Staring down the barrel of two light repeaters was a sobering thing. Hion's webbing hovered near the trigger, ready to open up a stream of firepower. Sith Empress or no, the site was intimidating. She sat in a pile of dead pirates. Hion couldn't tell if she had killed them or not. His vision began to tunnel and he knew he was dangerously close to going over the edge.

"Hauum. I cannot remember whether or I fired 1,891 shots, or 1,892. It would probably matter if I did not have a backpack power generator. You will pay for your crimes, Empress of Evil."

 

[Jaxton Ravos]

Jaxton tried not to laugh or flinch as both Cai, a Jedi Knight, and the Herglic, a Jedi Padawan had just threatened the Sith Empress. They weren't ready for this, Jaxton was basically the lead. Taking a Makashi stance he jumped forward and attacked.

"You'll not win this day Sith."

 

[Cai Sanis]

Cai stared at the Empress. "You killed all these people, you took these hostages." He didn't get angry, he'd seen this unfold so many times before that it had become a way of life. Scum killed scum and took innocent lives. "Your crimes are unforgivable." Although his cousin Spencer saw something in this woman. He frowned as he saw Jaxton jump in.

"You will face trial for what you've done!" He charged and added his attack to Jaxtons...

 

[Adonari Cinn]

A sway in the force shook A'donari. He snapped his head around in the opposite direction. Something was wrong. What was happening out there. "Do you feel that?" he asked Mairra. "Hurry. We're needed somewhere else. Restate the the message to converge three miles south of this location!" he shouted while taking off and sprinting back to his ship.

"I'll meet you there if you can keep up." He shouted back to the Padawan.

He knew what this meant but this feeling had to be taken seriously.

 

[Ashin Varanin]

Ashin defended deftly, using pirate bodies as mobile barriers to intercept Jaxton's flickering Makashi stabs and Cai's more kinetic, flashy, holovid-worthy assault. They would be forced to cut their way through assorted bodies to reach her, and the corpses provided cover from the Herglic's repeaters.

 

[Jaxton Ravos]

Seeing the Empress's strategy of using the corpses to defend herself, Jaxton screamed out to the Herglic and the Echani

"Cai to side. Herglic shoot forward." Jaxton said and gathered all of his muscles and Force and jumped over the barrier and accelerated himself downwards to the Empress in a spiral of force.

 

[Cai Sanis]

The bodies flew up in front of Cai. He smirked as his saber few in every which direction preparing to dazzle his opponent with effective echani strikes, and then he realized, cutting through the bodies was stupid. With the force he concentrated on his legs and jumped sailing over the wall of corpses and flipping so his foot touched the ceiling. Using telekinesis he latched onto the ceiling and held himself there as he slashed down at the Empress. Now Hion had a clear shot...

 

[Marcus Tritum]

While the other three engaged the Empress, Lysander moved to rescue the hostages. He slipped past the combatants and headed deeper into the cavern. He sensed the lightsider still alive. Good. The Merchant of Suarbi dashed forward at a sprint, his legs on fire and his capillaries screaming at him in outrage. He disregarded them. His body was only flesh and bone, but his resolve was of the heart. He would save these hostages. Or die in the attempt.

Three pirates stood guard in a dimly lit cavern over the huddled hostages. Lysander moved with the grace of a Jedi. He raised his blaster and fired, taking down one of the pirates amid spurting blood and screams of agony. The other two rounded on Lysander and unleashed their powerpacks, tibbana gas converting into plasma before it leaped forth from the barrels of their guns, hot and steaming and shattered rock. Lysander dived for the ground, feeling a bolt graze his flesh and burn like hot iron. As he dived he fired again, twice, kneecapping the first pirate and hitting the other in the groin. The both fell screaming.

Lysander stood, wincing and clutching a hand to his side. He strode forward and dispatched the two pirates with blaster bolts to the head. If he let them live they would just end up harming other people. Lysander could not allow that. He turned to the Ithorian and the other hostages.

"Good people, follow me and I will lead you to safety."

 

[Gorba the Hutt]

Hion blinked at the wall of bodies. Then he squeezed the triggers. Bolts of plasma shredded the bodies, punching through dead flesh and bone to spray out the other side the mass of flesh. Hot plasma screamed and the T-21s began to heat up. Smoke rose from the barrels. Plasma bolts spewed incessantly forth as Hion fired, holding each stock against a shoulder.

"HAUUUUUUUUUUM!"

 

[Ashin Varanin]

Three attacks incoming, each moderately insane and utterly cinematic.

Ashin took one step to the left. A subtle Force grip affected nearly everything in the room, twisting fate just slightly.

As Jaxton came down, he fell into the upside-down Cai's angle of attack, then into Hion's stream of fire. The only weapon that even got close belonged to Jaxton, and Ashin spent precious momentum blocking his strike as she continued her sidestep, then backflipped behind a gigantic pile of gold coins and assorted loot.

An equally gigantic Force push turned every coin into a bruising projectile. She sent the treasure flying.

 

[Gorba the Hutt]

And the treasure promptly sped into the bodies she had previously lifted as they began to fall. Hion ceased firing and charged forward, no longer using his T-21s as blasters, but giant metal tubes with which to beat an Empress over the head. His steps rocked the cavern and he shouldered his way through the falling bodies, sending them careening through the air. Muscles bunched up and tightened as he bent at the knees before jumping forward, both T-21s held above his head as he leaped high into the air and came down at the Empress from a different angle, bugling a war cry despite the coins which peppered his blubber. The coins rebounded, not able to gain purchase through Hion's immense hide.