Step in, hold your breath, and hang tight (Underground/OS Resistance)

[Coren Starchaser]

If there was one place he felt at home, it was in the cockpit. Right now? He wasn’t here with his ship, the Tachyon Rising was on the Dawn Treader deep in Levantine Sanctum space. He and Jared were discussing a few things his son was doing and Coren had no idea how he felt about it. The leader of the Starchaser clan and the former leader of Warbird Wing did know that he needed to get out and get to work. He was working on exploration trips, but right now? The Underground needed him.

The One Sith was moving on the galaxy and while he loved their Imperialism, they needed to be put in check. The Sith and Yuuzhan Vong working together? That was not going to end well. As soon as the situation crossed his datapad, he set out to make sure he could do something to help. The Event Horizon was prepped and ready and he knew that he needed to not bring attention to the vessel. The Dawn Treader had tracking on his fighter and he knew that should his fighter get destroyed he’d be only a few hours away from rescue.

The Horizon came through the galaxy by the way of the Fringe Federation, as Coren had spent most of his recent time over in the Unknown Regions, working through this hyper trail. She was waiting in orbit around the nearby world Cuvacia. He took his Rassilon and 6 of the Cutter-class interceptors from the Horizon The other five were waiting with the ship. On top of that, he had taken two of the freighters. The Horizon’s hangar was made to take 12 fighters, mostly used for thrill rides, but able to be employed for combat, and had room for about five or six light freighters and shuttles, depending on the way it was organized. The shuttles were mostly used for bringing guests, and tourists back and forth from the ship for their training and charter trips back to wherever they were going. Well, that was when the vessel wasn’t called by Coren to assist with breaking through the hyperlane.

She had a lot of missions to do.

Two of the freighters, Silk Tachyons, had accompanied the group for this trip. And that was where they were now. Coren was hoping that the silence of the mission and coming in with small vessels was going to be all they needed. The orders were out, Coren and his two wingmen would take one Tachyon down, and the other five vessels would wait just a small microjump from the area. Close enough to come in for support, or should the worst happen, take the mission and get it done.

He knew they’d be going to Fondor, but the trick was meeting with the Khommite refugees. They were supposed to be at the spaceport, but who knew. Landing his fighter, and disconnecting from his fighter, he shook his head. Gold Mode was fine for this trip, but on the way out? He figured Black might be needed. Looking to the freighter, he nodded. “Stay here, keep your engines prepped.” To the two Underground pilots from the Cutters, he nodded towards the bar. Flight helmet was resting on his seat, and on his hip was his Power-9, and shoto lightsaber. He didn’t know how bad this would get, but it was the One Sith nearby.

 

[Sage Bane]

Like a man possessed, Sage Bane stalked through the Crystan spaceport looking for a particular group of scientists who would soon learn to deeply regret their life choices. According to an increase of "chatter" provided by his half-brother and slicer for the One Sith, Cryax Bane, some Khommite cloners had decided to flee their subjugated world and seek safety on the Omega Protectorate world of Fondor. The One Sith did not take kindly to losing such valuable assets, and Sage was here to set an example.

The Knight eschewed his usual conspicuous black robes for dandyesque street clothes over armorweave underclothes. His velvet suit was much less likely to make the refugees scatter like Nuna at the sight of him. The Knight had a lightsaber clipped to his belt and on his hip was an electrowhip, both weapons hidden by a long pin-stripped waistcoat. Sage branched out with the Force to see if he could detect any unusual disturbances or sensations throughout the space port. Two things came back: One was a dark sided presence nearby, a signature that definitely piqued his interest. The other was a cluster of fear. The refugees were here and their anxiety tasted so sweet.

Sage smiled, savoring the thought of rounding up the refugees, and putting them in front of a One Sith tribunal. He would mercilessly cut down anyone who tried to stop him.

Bloodshed was mandatory. Tea-bagging was purely optional.

[member="Coren Starchaser"]

 

[Coren Starchaser]

Coren Starchaser wasn’t sure what was going to happen here, but he knew that he was ready to deal with Sith, so long as they didn’t throw one of their power hungry Masters at him. He was still working on connecting back to the Force, and it wasn’t as strong as it used to be. But it was getting there. He knew what he could do, and what he was capable of. But in combat? If he was away from his fighter he was up a particular creek without a paddle, though he could slow people down long enough to get everyone else out of there.

He could, theoretically, slow a Sith down, let his wingmen take the scientists and get off world. He’d join back up with them once he broke away from the Sith. If he broke away. But he had no dreams of dying here tonight. He would do what it took to get the mission done, but that didn’t mean he was going to throw his life away. He wasn’t a Jedi, after all. Nor was he a Rebel, he was just here to kick the Sith in the teeth once or twice.

The nice thing was that Coren knew a few tricks through space and could mostly make new routes on the fly. No way he’d be taking main routes with valuable cargo to Fondor, nope, he’d go the long way, no one was in a hurry so long as the cloners were safe. And clones really bothered him, so even if they were unhappy with the travel arrangements? Well, they could shut up and eat MREs.

Starchaser made his way into the bar and nodded to his pilots. They’d watch the door, and listen to see what they could find. The man reached out to see what he could sense. He knew enough to sense the people he was close with, his squad mates, pilots, friends, but he was looking for fear here. The man knew his skills in psychometry, and well, adding that to his knowledge of the Force and how to drain people? He could find emotions. He grinned, wondering if the other Forcer found him yet. That was interesting. Steal them right out from under the Sith?

Could this job get any better? He looked back at his team and held up a finger, they'd understand what it meant. Move. Fast. Find the Khommites and get to space.

[member="Sage Bane"]

 

[Sage Bane]

Sage followed the strong dark sided presence to a nearby cantina, where he lurked nearby, just out of sight. There were a few men milling about right outside the cantina. Their tense body language and furtive glances gave them away. These were lookout men. From the pocket of his waist coat, Sage pulled The Hated Hand, a focus imbued with powerful Sith magic. He bent forward the fingers of the wooden focus with a crack, and after a few whispered invocations, Sage spun an illusion of himself. A perfect doppelganger, that was indistinguishable from the real thing. Even his Force signature matched. Acting as Sage's eyes and ears, the doppelganger strode into the bar, and ordered a drink. Every now and then, the illusion gave a sidelong glance to the handsome young man who was radiant with the dark side.

The doppelganger thanked the bartender for the drink, but did not pay for it or drink it. That would call for additional telekinetic powers, and Sage did not want to drain his energy. The illusion continued to wait and eavesdrop on the men. He suspected that it would soon give him the confirmation he needed to murder every last one of them.

[member="Coren Starchaser"]

 

[Spark Finn]

[member="Coren Starchaser"] [member="Sage Bane"]

The blond slicer's head bobbed next to Coren's side. She checked the readouts one more time on her datapad. "Scramble codes are ready. Secure channels between transports are up and....that dude over there seems to be checking you out," without looking up from her datapad, she elbowed Coren lightly in the side. "two o'clock."

She took another swig of her skinny-bean vanilla free-trade latte.

 

[Coren Starchaser]

He’d make sure he got the Khommites out of here. That was why he took this mission, he knew he could do it. As stated, being this near to the Sith? That was just making it more fun for him. The trick now was just getting them out of here. He had made a quick order of a shot of tequila, top shelf, and nothing from Rodia. He liked his drinks hard and his bass down low… Or was it beats hard? Right, Coren wasn’t Marek but he did enjoy the occasional (or more than occasional) trip to dive bars. And this one? Was something. He started watching the bar, trying to get a read on the refugees, and that was when he heard Spark speak.

The blonde hipster was around him so much lately that it was second nature for him to respond without even realizing she was paying him half-attention, with her nose in her datapad. And to be honest? He didn’t mind the companionship at all. Just that she was this close to Sith space made him feel like she was meeting her fears.

“Two…?” He muttered before giving a quick look, and using the mirror behind the bottles to watch the being. He reached out with the Force… What was… Sith? Here? He looked to Spark and held his drink up to his mouth, blocking his lips from the mirror and his hand was between he and the other Forcer. “Might be getting hairy here. Can you find them?” He’d send her to safety, instead of keeping her here for the fight, if there was going to be one.

His reaction to feeling watched was to spool the Force up around him, ready to do what he could.

[member="Spark Finn"] [member="Sage Bane"]

 

[Sage Bane]

Sage's doppelganger got enough of what he needed to convince the Sith Knight that there was something suspicious going on, especially when he heard the bespectacled female talking about scramble codes and secure transports. If he was wrong, well, it wasn't like he hadn't killed innocents before. It was a bit late to start having a conscience at this point. His eyes snapped open and his illusion dissipated, to the stunned dismay of the bartender who had just served him a drink. The Sith Knight put his focus in his pocket and gripped the hilt of his saber. With a snap-hiss, the red blade thrummed to life.

He shot towards the bar like a comet, and once he reached the entrance, he lashed out quickly with his lightsaber. Sage's preferred form was Ataru and for a sneak attack such as this, it was pure perfection. Swinging his saber in a blur around his body, he began to bisect people with impunity, including the pilots keeping watch. There were screams and several dull thumps as body parts hit the floor. Horrified bystanders began to run off in all different directions. A few blaster shots came zipping towards him, and once deflected, Sage came stalking into the bar, his lightsaber blazing in his hands. Sage raised his gaze to the Force user he had identified earlier. His eyes flashed back and forth between the young man and the nerdy blonde female.

"State your business here," he growled. His eyes flashed a blood red for an instant, as he continued.

"If you tell me the truth, I might just let you and the cute girl live."

[member="Coren Starchaser"] [member="Spark Finn"]

 

[Spark Finn]

[member="Sage Bane"] [member="Coren Starchaser"]

Face scrunched-up like a soured-pickle between the disappearance of the man she thought would be Coren's future date, the screams, and the appearance of the same man who was clearly a sith. She doubted the red-eyed nerf even recycled!!! The invisible bubble of protection in the force that began to blossom suddenly stopped. Her chance at protecting some of those innocents around the bar and perhaps those outside were long gone.

She set the empty cup of the latte on the bar top.

In answer to Coren's last question. "I'm on it. You good with handling your admirer?"

She didn't answer the sith's question, leaving that up to Coren. But the technopath did reach out invisibly with the force, trying to disable any sort of comm/transmitter/communication device the sith might have on his person. It would buy their team some more time. What was left of their team.

 

[Coren Starchaser]

So much to worry on. So little time. One thing that was true about Coren Starchaser was that, despite being a self proclaimed Dark Jedi, he did care about those under his charge. When he felt the life extinguish from the pilots that flew down with him, is when he truly understood something was wrong. The doppleganger disappearing? It bothered him, but he was the man who was living in the Unknown Regions. He’d flown from one end of this galaxy to another, saw a lot of weird chit, but didn’t believe there was one all powerful Force controlling… everything..

The one thing that separated him from the majority of the Wardens of the Sky was that the bodies falling, the ones that weren’t his? They didn’t phase him. They were fodder, and collateral damage. He didn’t care. Didn’t know them, wouldn’t get a chance to know them and there was nothing stating that he needed to. When the Sith stepped in, he spared one glance over his shoulder.

Stalling an enemy? That was what made Coren Coren. “I’ve got this.” It was whispered but the way he pushed the Force at [member="Spark Finn"] let her know he was fine and to get on with the mission. Not her fight and he wasn’t going to sacrifice her.

“My business here is my own, Sith.” He looked at the foe, pulling his shoto from his belt. This was going to be a bit tricky, and if there was ever any time for him to create a new, full sized lightsaber it was now. Frak… Still, the orange blade, a crystal from the aquatic caves of Corellia, sprang to life and he stepped into the opening stance of Djem So. Let them live? Like he had a choice.

[member="Sage Bane"]

 

[Sage Bane]

"It's going to be that way is it?" asked Sage, raising a haughty brow at the male Jedi.

"Fine, it's your funeral," he sniffed. "The question is, who wants to go first?"

The Sith Knight switched his lightsaber to his right hand as his left hand began to transform. His sleeve ripped open to reveal layers of his flesh peeling away like a Mandalorian orange, and soon, his arm metamorphosed into three amphistaves attached at his shoulder blade. A bead of sweat formed on his brow, and on his face was a grimace. Exposing his Yuuzhan Vong biot was always agonizingly painful, the steep price to pay for such powerful Vong technology. The serpent-like tentacles whipped around furiously, incensed by the earlier bloodshed and wanting more.

Instead of attacking the Jedi, he moved in a blur towards the thin girl with the horn-rimmed glasses. His saber looming threateningly near, the trio of sentient tentacles whipped out, attempting to coil themselves around the young woman. One sought out her arm, another tried to weave itself around her leg. The last one went straight for her throat, undulating around her slender neck. Their mouths hissed in unison. One bite from one of the amphistaff heads would inject his victim with lethal poison.

"Looks like its gonna be you, darling," he cooed with a devilish smirk.

[member="Coren Starchaser"] [member="Spark Finn"]

 

[Spark Finn]

[member="Sage Bane"] [member="Coren Starchaser"]

As she heard Coren's words and felt his power of reassurance, she became slightly distracted by the horrified but fascinating, scientifically speaking of course, sith's transformation. Gross because of fleshy snake-things. Interesting because of all the variables. Like, did the dude have to feed them? Did they keep him up at night? Could they learn binary?

Blue eyes widened beneath glass frames as they attacked together, in a blur, at her.

Thunk. Thunk-thunk.

Maybe that smirk would disappear off his face as his pets rammed into her invisible force barrier. Reminded her of that space tube video of the tukata running into the reinforced glass door. Ouch.

She back pedaled. Those direct hits already made some holes in her shield. Lips pursed into a thin-pale line as she turned her techno-force brain to the circuits in his lightsaber hilt with intentions of overheating the core.

 

[Coren Starchaser]

Coren Starchaser had made his way clear around this galaxy several times. He was a Warden of the Sky, he was a captain in a paramilitary strike force, a pilot for the Underground and he was a member of the Levantine Frontiers Corps, but nothing in his experience prepped him for watching Unicron smash into Cybertron for whatever this abomination was. The arm was three amphistaffs? What were the Sith doing with the Yuuzhan Vong? Sure, Coren had a great respect for symbiotic organisms and the way the Living Force showed itself through the flora and fauna of the galaxy, but this? This was unnatural.

He’d have cybernetic implants, sure, but those were not something else attached to his body. The abomination was going after Spark? No way. He had his lightsaber in hand, recently extinguished with this turn of events, and pulled a quick draw with his off-hand on his Power 9, aiming directly for the amphistaffs. He didn’t need to kill anything, he just needed to pull agro. Coren Starchaser, the professional kite.

“Hey!” He shouted and took another shot in the man’s direction. Really wishing he brought his scatter gun. “Fugly! C’mere.” Right, that’s the way to make friends Coren. What was step two?

[member="Spark Finn"] [member="Sage Bane"]

 

[Sage Bane]

Sage's black leathery amphistaves bonked right into some kind of invisible barrier around the frightented girl, and it whipped them into a frenzy. Sage's sentient, but feral pets weren't the brightest bulbs, and despite their failed attempts at reaching her, they kept slamming into her Force barrier over and over until Sage mentally ordered them to karking stop it already. Connected as one, Sage felt what they felt, and right now their actions were giving him a big headache.

At the same time, he felt a light, electric shock from his lightsaber hilt as it began to spark and smoke. The red blade soon dimmed and extinguished, useless in his hand. He dropped his puzzled gaze to it, turning it over in his hand. Confusion turned to rage as he flung it to the side where it clattered onto the cantina floor. Ok, now he was getting angry.

"I'll deal with you later, four-eyes," he snarled at the girl.

At the male Jedi's taunts, Sage whipped his head around to face the other man, a murderous glare brimming behind his light brown eyes. The Knight's Vong tentacles reared up, turning their attention to their new opponent. The creatures were resistant to most weapons, even lightsabers, so the Jedi's shots did very little to them. Sage extended his human arm, palm facing upward and curled his fingers towards himself. It was an obvious attempt to pull the foolish young man in towards his waiting embrace.

[member="Coren Starchaser"] [member="Spark Finn"]

 

[Spark Finn]

[member="Coren Starchaser"] [member="Sage Bane"]

The blond-slicer continued her retreat, hip knocking a bar stool to the ground with a clatter. Most of the patrons had fled by now or were hiding. Heart-rate settled back to something closer to normal as the sith's attention and his malevolent beasts turned their attention elsewhere. Forehead wrinkled in a scowl at his insult.

"Yeah, real original snake arms," she huffed under her breath and began edging her way along the wall, toward the door. Blue-eyes darted between Coren and the sith as she moused her way closer to the exit. She tried telling herself Coren would be fine.

She had a mission to complete.

 

[Coren Starchaser]

Was it a Master-Apprentice thing for Spark and he? No. Coren did care for the blonde and he would make sure she had the time she needed to get clear. There was a mission to be done. As for stepping in to draw the attention from her? That was just smart. He wasn’t going to let someone go after the cute blonde. She was under his protection whether she understood it or not. Or whether he understood just what that meant coming from him. He’d get her free, he’d take on this monstrosity and make time for the mission to get done.

And of course, there was Spark doing her techno-Force thing. A small grin crept across Coren’s face as he looked at the lightsaber. He tossed his Power 9 towards the door, he wasn’t going to need it here, this was going to be something else, hell, [member="Spark Finn"] might need it more than he did. Orange shoto still in his hand, he switched it to his off hand.

Taking a deep breath to center himself, he pulled all the thoughts he had, the anger for the Sith, their oppressive control over the galaxy, the way they destroyed his life, changed it, altered it without his say so, the way they have gone off after innocents, and done unspeakable acts to those he now considered central to his crew, he called all of these seductive powers to himself. It was dark, it wasn’t evil, but it was dark, it was passionate, it was angry… “Me, come to you? You have got to be kidding me.”

With that, he reached out to the Force, his gunslinger-blue eyes darkening, not fading to yellow, but definitely darkening, the color of storm clouds over a troubled sea, and he extended his free hand and his Force essence at [member="Sage Bane"]. The tendrils, arms of the Force, of the dark side were reaching out for the monstrosity, the one with the damaged signature in the Force. Coren may not be able to affect the arm, but sure as hell he can take down the being that it was attached to. These tendrils would reach out to Bane, to his essense and wrap around him, tugging, pulling, sapping that which he was, both in the Force and in health.

 

[Sage Bane]

Out of the many flaws that the young Knight possessed, one of the biggest was his ego. When out of the corner of his eye, he saw the bony blonde scurrying towards the exit, he remained unconcerned. She would be pulled back into his grip as soon as he was done severing the male's body into tiny pieces. It was a shame to waste such a handsome face, but the blue-eyed stranger was Jedi filth who was presumably aiding and abetting One Sith traitors. Pretty or not, he had to die, and so did his beautiful blonde counterpart.

Suddenly, Sage felt tired. His energy began to pour out of his body like a broken levee. His body began to droop, and his Force pull demanded more Force power than he could give. His thoughts flashed to Melori Raaf who he fought in this year's One Sith Acolyte Tournament. She had drained him of his power just like this. Sage knew how to dispel the power, but as he began to wheeze and cough, he wondered: Could he learn the power from its wielder?

The Sith Knight's human arm lowered. His hand clutched his thigh as he doubled over from exhaustion. The black leathery tentacles attached to his shoulder sagged along with him, a docile as kittens. Despite Sage's physical distress, Force tendrils burst from his mind, seeking entry into the Jedi's labyrinth of grey matter. He knew that using Mentalism would feed the Jedi's drain, but it would be worth it if he could unlock the secrets to the power.

[member="Coren Starchaser"] [member="Spark Finn"]

 

[Spark Finn]

[member="Coren Starchaser"][member="Sage Bane"]

Coming to the threshold of the door, she did the hardest thing she'd ever done. She turned to leave. She hesitated a moment, just a moment, as she fought to keep the horrified look from marring her pale features. She had no doubt what Coren was doing was necessary but it was also dark. The darkest she had ever seen him.

Feet caught on the downed bodies of her fellow Undergrounders just outside of the door. She gulped back the bile that threatened to rise from her throat and broke into a run for the spaceport, gangly arms and legs pumping hard. The Khommites. She had to find them. And soon.

 

[Coren Starchaser]

Tendrils, there had to be a better term for what he was doing. Having spent enough time around [member="Spark Finn"], the Corellian could feel her… was that fear? Of him? She was going to have to learn that this was no him. Not a standard Coren. This was the Coren that showed up when it needed to. When he was needing to get a job done and was faced with insurmountable odds. He needed to become that which he fought.

The hunter becomes the hunted.

There was nothing he could do for her now. He was involved here, he would handle clearing the air between them later. If they both survived. His attention was dragged momentarily away from the battle, and with his lack of mental defenses? The monstrosity known as [member="Sage Bane"] was going to be able to gleam that bit of information, just how deep Coren cared for the blonde from him. That was before the Starchaser turned up the heat. He was digging into the target’s aura, pulling the Force, pulling the darkness that fueled this foe.

And it was going to only keep Coren sustained, keep him energized. His focus was on the pull and not on the invasion. He had no clue that Sage had snuck past his lack luster defenses and into his mind until it was too late. A dark grin found Coren’s face. That strengthened their connection. Something he could use to his advantage.

And did.

 

[Sage Bane]

Deep within the Jedi's mind, Sage sifted through his thoughts like sand, panning out some nuggets of useful information. His name was Coren Starchaser, he carried a torch for the little blonde thing, and he was indeed aiding the Khommite cloners. He read Coren like a book, but personal facts and life stories were merely light reading for Sage. What the Sith Knight wanted to sink into was knowledge. He needed the Jedi to continue draining him. Enough for Sage to learn the power himself, but not enough to stop his heart.

Sage fell to his knees, unable to stand. His tentacles lay limply at his side, their sentient heads staring up at him with forlorn eyes. No longer hissing or snapping, they cried out in his mind, begging him for help in their strange, esoteric language that he somehow understood. It was the first time in his life that he felt a wan sympathy for those cursed creatures. However, he could not listen to their hounding voices. He needed to find that knowledge.

Somewhere deep in the synapses of Coren's brain was a mental dossier on the power, and once it was spotted, Sage leapt on it. He siphoned the knowledge into his mind, and when finished, used his last vestige of Force power to hit Coren with a Mind Shard. If Coren was unable to resist Sage's mental attack, his concentration would be broken, and his mind would be racked with pain. Like a migraine from hell, it surely would bring him to his knees if not knock him out completely.

[member="Spark Finn"] [member="Coren Starchaser"]

 

[Spark Finn]

Gulping down air like a fish out of water, her frazzled blond-haired self made it to the spaceport. And it was definitely rush hour. Workers and passengers elbowed their way through unloading bays and throngs of people. Her heart sank.

It would take her forever to find these people. She wasn't any good at psychometry. Perhaps it had to do with her preference of spending her Friday nights glued to the holonet or diving into a hyperdrive rather not than going out and socializing.

Still catching her breath, speckled-face looked up. She spotted them. No, not the refugees. Security cameras! Her eyes in the sky.

With a tired smile on her face, she scrunched into a fairly quiet nook in the spaceport. No time to find a hook-up and do this the old fashioned way. She'd need to use the force again.

Mentally, she found the feed and wired herself in. Eyes moved between semi-hooded lids as she mentally navigated the different angles and vantage points. Searching. Searching for that precious cargo.

She just hoped Coren could continue with the whole buying time bit. She didn't want to run into snake-man anytime soon.

[member="Sage Bane"][member="Coren Starchaser"]