Private Silence at the Border

[Valery Noble]

While Amani pushed forward from the rear, Valery swiftly turned around and tried her best to reach the few who were directly being targeted. But with most people scattering in their panic, it was difficult and dangerous for her to ignite her lightsaber and sweep it around. So instead, she raised her hand and with it, a pair of droids were lifted up and smashed head-firdt into the ceiling.

Valery then balled her hand into a fist and crushed their metal bodies under immense pressure she applied through the Force.

"Amani, behind you!" She then called out, as more droids jumped down, but this time behind the group. luckily, their front was still secured, so Valery did what she could to guide people there, while she hoped Amani could hold back their reinforcements long enough.

"Are you good over there?" Valery called out, this time with her lightsaber ignited. There was one more droid for her to target, and she was very quick to sever its head from her torso.

Amani Serys

 

[Amani Serys]

Amani concentrated her efforts on keeping the droids' focus away from the civilians. But her own focus became split, as Valery warned of more incoming from behind. Danger senses were flaring in all different directions, making it hard to pinpoint the threat until it was too late.

The first of them came in with a heavy punch that sent the mirialan recoiling, and dropping her saber. Though stunned, Amani was quick to get back to her feet and strike back, not bothering to waste precious seconds scrambling for her weapon. Instead she applied her martial arts training, with enhancement by the Force, to counter the follow-up strike with one of her own, shattering the droid into pieces.

"Define… 'good'..!" Amani spat, dodging a few blaster bolts to close in and demolish another droid with an axe kick. The last of them she grappled, rolling on her back and launching the droid off toward Valery, "Heads up!"

Valery Noble​

 

[Valery Noble]

Hyperspace

​

Outfit: Factory Link
Appearance: Link
Weapons: Double-Bladed Lightsaber
Tag: Amani Serys

She visibly cringed when Amani was punched by one of the droids, and she really hoped that didn't happen because she distracted her friend. But whether it did or not, she rushed after the Mirialan, who used some familiar martial arts skills to strike her way through more of them. The last one, however, she ended up grappling to the ground and the words that left her lips moments later got Valery to blink.

Heads up?

The droid was then launched in her direction and without even thinking about it, she lifted up a leg and spun around with a powerful kick. A pulse of Force energy exploded down her leg, augmenting her food on impact to shatter the droid into tiny fragments. Bakuuni Hand had always been one of her favorite things to use and practice, so destroying some evil droid with it felt pretty good.

"Come on, get up!" Valery then called back, while she retrieved her friend's weapon and tossed it over. They still had a little bit to go, and she had a feeling more droids would come.

Not long after, the group as a whole passed around another corner, and finally, the blast doors of the hangar were visible. But somehow, they had been closed. What little power was left on the station was used by the droids in an attempt to keep them out, and even though Valery could break it the same way she had before, it was still going to hinder them.

"Amani... you feel that too?" she asked suddenly, as an even more dangerous tremor struck her through the Force. Something was coming; something dangerous and it wasn't one of the droids they had already fought.

This was something bigger.

 

[Amani Serys]

Amani returned to her feet with a kip up, spinning around just in time to see Valery crunch the final droid into the ground with a kick. She dusted off her hands, and caught her staff with a sigh, "Not bad."

There was little time to relish in their victory, as more droids would no doubt be upon them if they lingered. The group regathered, making a turn for the exit. But they weren't free of surprises yet; The droids had made one more concentrated effort to halt the survivors' progress by sealing the hangar bay doors, bringing them to another halt. Worse yet, a tremor reverberated through the Force, "Yeah…" Followed by an actual, physical tremor.

The metal floors rumbled under the weight of a heavy metal footstep. A massive siege droid deployed at the end of the hall, filling the space with a cacophony of shifting gears and hissint hydraulics. As it turned to look at them, several of the more brazen survivors immediately opened fire, to which the droid responded with a low, tinny roaring sort of noise. It raised a large cannon-like arm, charging up a powerful burst of energy. Amani had a sudden idea, "Everyone get out of the way! Move!" Ideally, they would move, and at the last second she could leap out of the way. With any luck, it would destroy, or at least damage the bay door behind them.

Valery Noble​

 

[Valery Noble]

Valery smirked at Amani's comment but remained focused, perhaps even more so than usual. If it had been just the two of them, this whole encounter wouldn't have worried her at all. But now that they were responsible for so many lives, she didn't afford herself even a second of distractions. This was quickly reinforced when the two Jedi could feel a tremor in the Force, followed by a physical one that had the metal plates underneath their feet trembling.

"You've got to be kidding me..." Valery grumbled when an even bigger and more dangerous droid appeared at the far end of the hallway. But before she could do or say anything more, the other survivors opened up with their blasters. While Valery appreciated their bravery, the shots had no real effect and their enemy was now charging some kind of cannon. She felt the energy rise and stood ready to protect the group, but Amani had an even better idea.

The second she called for everybody to move out of the way Valery pushed a few survivors along and pressed herself against the side of the hallway as well. A massive blast passed right by them seconds later and struck the blast doors, which were forced wide open by the powerful weapon. "Not bad," Valery said with a wink in Amani's direction after rising back up.

"Now let's move! To the shuttle!" She called out to the others, who all began to sprint. The much slower droid was already trying to catch up as well, and while it would likely not get close, Valery feares what such a blast would do to her ship.

"Amani, can you protect the ship against those blasts while I start it up?" She knew her friend was strong with defensive skills, and perhaps she would be able to even take the droid down. But Valery had to focus on getting the ship ready, so she could not assist her best friend.

Meanwhile, the droid was already pre-emptively charging up its cannon again.

 

[Amani Serys]

At the last second, Amani leapt out of the way, feeling the heat of plasma pass her by as it struck the door instead. She rolled to the side, nodding in approval of her own plan as it proved a success. The hangar doors were forced open, freeing the survivors to make their escape.

"I'll do what I can," Amani exhaled, standing up to get the droid's attention once more. Now, it was a bit more split, having been tricked earlier by the same Jedi. Its cannon remained pointed at the escapees, but as it fired, she yanked the arm to the side with the Force, throwing the shot off course. A bit too close for comfort, but it whiffed all the same.

"How's it coming along?!" Amani asked with a sense of urgency. She launched her saber into the droid's arm like a javelin, fully getting its attention back on her.

Valery Noble​

 

[Valery Noble]

Hyperspace

​

Outfit: Factory Link
Appearance: Link
Weapons: Double-Bladed Lightsaber
Tag: Amani Serys

Valery dipped her head and squeezed her friend's shoulder before she sprinted into the ship and towards the cockpit. The survivors were looking for places to sit and hide, but Valery was booting up engines and other critical systems. It was, however, not going as fast as she would have liked. The engines on a bigger ship like this always needed some time, and all these people needing to be safe and seated didn't help either.

"Just a little longer!" She called out to Amani, who had ensured one of the droid's powerful blasts was deflected. Valery didn't even want to know what would have happened if it had struck the back of their shuttle.

The droid meanwhile had its arm impaled by Amani's weapon, but it wasn't enough to stop it. Mechanical parts in its other arm began to twist and turn, and after raising it up towards her, the smoking hot barrels of two massive flamethrowers became visible. Without any emotion or delay, a massive sea of fire erupted out toward the Jedi, looking to consume and burn her to death.

"We're ready to go! Amani?!" Valery called out, as she turned to watch the display with widened eyes.

 

[Amani Serys]

Amani kept the droid's attention on her, but in angering it, had been put in a new spot of trouble. It activated a heavy flamethrower, belching out gouts of fire at the mirialan and threatening to incinerate her.

She froze in surprise, but at the last moment raised a force barrier, allowing the flames to harmlessly streak across the invisible dome and away from her. Even inside, the heat was noticeable, causing her to break into a sweat. She barely heard the call from Valery, but when the flamethrower powered down, Amani reached out and closed her fist, crunching the weapon under the weight of the Force.

She broke off into a sprint, leaping onto the ship and sliding into the copilot's seat, "This thing has guns on it, right?" Amani asked, scanning the console for a manual trigger.

Valery Noble​

 

[Valery Noble]

Hyperspace

​

Outfit: Factory Link
Appearance: Link
Weapons: Double-Bladed Lightsaber
Tag: Amani Serys

She wasn't too surprised that Amani managed to shield herself against the flames, but she was definitely relieved. The last thing she'd ever want to do is go home to tell Alicio that his girlfriend wasn't coming back. The thought alone sent uncomfortable shivers down her spine.

"You really need to ask me that?" Valery smirked and tapped a button to activate the tactical display for Amani, which gave her full control over the forward-facing cannons. Valery then brought the ship off the ground and turned, giving her friend a perfect shot to blow apart the droid that had tried to incinerate her. "I've got missiles loaded and primed to blow this entire station to bits..." She slowly turned her head to look at Amani.

"My sensors picked up almost a hundred more of these droids." Luckily, that numerical advantage was never going to matter because right after Amani opened fire, she took them out of the station and distanced the ship enough to keep it out of the blast zone. Cluster missiles were readied and with a quick tap of a button, a swarm of missiles was fired.

"Enjoy the fireworks."

 

[Amani Serys]

Amani smirked back, and wasted no time taking the controls. With a quick lock-on, and the press of a trigger, the forward cannons fired. The droid was strong, but ultimately no match for ship-caliber weaponry, blowing it into cinders on impact.

"A hundred?" Her self-satisfied reaction was quickly turned into surprise. It wouldn't matter as far as their odds go, but it was still a shocking number to hear. Even as they were backing out of the hangar, more of the droids seemed to pour in as a last ditch effort to purge the survivors. It didn't matter, ultimately, as they escaped, and fired a volley of missiles as the station's power source. With the power gone, all other defenses were down, and so there was nothing stopping a direct impact.

The power source burst into flame, causing a chain reaction of explosions throughout the ship, fires blowing out the exhaust vents until it was ultimately too much to contain, and the entire thing blew apart. Amani sighed, and leaned back in her seat, "I was not prepared for any of that," A complete droid takeover didn't exactly reach the top of her list of expectations. "Could've gone worse, I guess." Still, a lot of people were killed by those droids. The victory still felt pyrrhic at best.

Valery Noble​

 

[Valery Noble]

Hyperspace

​

Outfit: Factory Link
Appearance: Link
Weapons: Double-Bladed Lightsaber
Tag: Amani Serys

Valery didn't look away for even a second as the station blew apart. All the droids were gone, their ship was destroyed and as far as she knew, the thread was neutralized. But it hardly felt like a victory — so many had lost their lives, and for what? They still had no answers, and it was unlikely they'd find them now. All she could do was hope that this threat was forever taken care of, even though a small part of her felt like this wasn't the end.

"Yeah... at least we were able to save some. Hopefully, they'll help the Alliance get answers." Valery let out a deep sigh and turned to her instruments with a frown on her face. She locked in coordinates to the closest medical station and looked at Amani again. "We'll drop them off there to get checked, just in case. Transports will be arranged to take them elsewhere, and everything should be taken care of."

She paused and finally smiled again, albeit weakly, "Thanks for joining me for this." She turned back to her console and finally pulled the ship to hyperspace.

[end thread]​