Survival With A Pyne

[Cenric Marus]

[member="Mariya Pyne"]

Cenric let out a grunt, unfurling his arms from around Mariya and taking in a breath as some of the pain from his side came back. The adrenaline helped, but the weight of Mariya crashing against him had sent a surge of agony shooting up his side. His eyes scrunched for a second, but he managed to keep himself composed enough. Fingers tightened, and then finally he stood up all the way again. "You're right."

He glanced behind them, seeing that they had entered some kind of hallway.

Perhaps the rest of the hangars were linked via a central walkway, something that would help them out immensely. Before he'd left Cedric had given him a map of the station, but remembering it now seemed to be almost impossible. He glanced around for some kind of sign, though unfortunately the place was entirely empty. Scowling he stepped away from The Smuggler and wandered over towards the lightsaber hilt that was now laying on the floor.

As soon as he scooped it up something dawned on him.

He'd used the force!

Without meditating, without sitting around for half an hour thinking about it...he'd used the force to pull Mariya through the door. His fingers wrapped around the hilt of his lightsaber, his other hand coming up so that he could look at his palms. A bright laugh escaped from his throat, a look of joy passing over his features as he marked his small achievement.

Completely unaware that he would look like a mad man to Mariya.

 

[Mariya Pyne]

The laughter caught the brunette off guard, and as she turned to face Cenric, holding his lightsaber and cackling, she raised an eye and cocked her head to the side in a confused way. “What in all of the galaxy could you possible find funny right now?” Her nerves were shot, she had almost been shot, he was shot. They were not likely to escape this. What could he find amusing about any of that?

She thought perhaps he was starting to lose his sanity under the pressure. He wasn’t a full Jedi after all.

Maybe he had a few loose marbles up there.

”Can we go? I don’t think the SIth are going to share in your laughter if they catch us.”

Or they might, but for much different reasons.

”We’re still not safe, and I doubt those doors will hold them forever.”

[member="Cenric Marus"]

 

[Cenric Marus]

[member="Mariya Pyne"]

"Oh." Cenric said as Mariya snapped him out of his daze. "I uhh."

The elation that he had felt quickly sank away as the weight of everything else going on sank in on him. She was completely right of course. They were still on this station alone, no help, with more than a thousand Sith Troopers probably looming just beyond the next doorway. There was a time for laughter and joy, but right now probably wasn't it. Curling his fingers around his lightsaber Cenric took a deep breath and turned, glancing at the blast doors before he fell into step besides Mariya.

He glanced at her briefly, his face flushing as he tried to explain himself. "That was...I've never actually moved anything more than a rock before."

Cenric admitted to her quietly as they began to make their way down the hallway.

Mariya was without a doubt the largest thing he'd ever moved with the force. She herself was pretty small, but for Cenric the accomplishment was a grand one. Even on Janimere he hadn't been able to use the force like that. It was an odd moment of pride betwixt all of this Chaos, and the young padawan couldn't help but feel slightly pleased.

Perhaps he wasn't the worst Jedi in the galaxy after all.

 

[Mariya Pyne]

“Well I suppose it’s good that it worked. I much prefer being on this side of life.” The side with far fewer blaster burns in her chest was most certainly preferable. “But we really need to go. We’re in some real deep poodoo here, and we’ve got very few avenues out of it.” Hopefully they weren’t running straight into a trap on the other side.

”You think they sent any of those red skinned folks with the red lightsabers with them? My sister fought one back home and it nearly killed her.” She turned her head and looked wearily at Cenric the injured Jedi walked. “And she’s trained, and wasn’t injured...” Her voice trailed off, not needing to conclude her point as to what the outcome would likely be in that case.

Mariya certainly wasn’t a match for that Sith, and from what she knew of Cenric, he likely wasn’t either, even if he hadn’t already been shot.

[member="Cenric Marus"]

 

[Cenric Marus]

[member="Mariya Pyne"]

Red skinned folk? What the hell was she talking about? ”Zeltrons?”

They were more pink than red admittedly, but it was really the only thing he could think of. Red lightsaber clued him in on the fact that she was talking about Sith of course, but mentioning the skin color seemed a bit weird to him. As far as Cenric knew the Sith Empire didn't have many Zeltron Sith Lords. They tended to be a more peaceful folk, resolving conflict with their pheromones rather than bashing things with the force and conquering planets.

Besides that, he hadn't figured Mariya would be a racist. For some reason the thought upset him.

”I'm not sure.” He told her honestly. ”On a fleet that large there's undoubtedly at least One Sith, but I don't think it will be a Zeltron.”

That just seemed unlikely. The Empire was composed far more of regular humans than it was even their species close cousins. Their Dark Lord was human after all. Aliens didn't tend to get very far in that sort of environment. ”But...youre right.”

He commented quietly.

”We should avoid them no matter what. Though if we do encounter one…” Cenric took a breath as they walked. ”Just run, leave it to me.”

 

[Mariya Pyne]

Mariya laughed, “He wasn’t a Zeltron! He had red skin, and these gross tendrils coming off of his face. He was ugly. I’ve seen Zeltrons before, I’ve never seen anything or anyone like him.” As the two approached the next set of blast doors Mariya pulled free her rifle once more, readying it in case there were another group to welcome them just beyond.

”He was a ruthless killer with no regard for anything or anyone. He came to Naboo specifically to kill my sister, and then me too.”

Upon reaching the door Mariya stepped to the left side of the entryway, waiting for Cenric to press the release button on the panel to the right of the doors. “You open it and I’ll check.” She had the gun, and wasn’t shot. She was more suited to checking if it were safe or not. Not to mention but Mariya wasn’t quite sure how long those cloaking devices were good for, but she’d rather conserve the battery for if and when it was really necessary.

[member="Cenric Marus"]

 

[Cenric Marus]

[member="Mariya Pyne"]

Cenric raised an eyebrow. ”If you say so.”

The Padawan believed her, he had no reason to think that she would lie, but he'd never heard of a species with red skin and face tendrils before. There were red Twi'leks of course, but their lekku came from the back of their heads, not the front. Devaronians were also red, but tall horns and their oddly forked tongues made them stand out enough from most other humanoids enough that Mariya would certainly not have mistook them.

Either way, whatever she was describing certainly sounded like a Sith. At least how they acted anyway. He frowned for a moment as he stepped up next to the door, stopping and then looking at her. ”Wait, why did he come after your sister? And then you?”

She was just a merchant. Had she stolen something valuable to the Sith?

No, she'd said that he'd come after her sister first. It didn't make any sense for it to be something Mariya had done if her sister was the original target. Especially if the man wanted to outright kill her.

Cenric wasn't the most wordly guy, but he wasn't an idiot.

 

[Mariya Pyne]

It was right then that it dawned on her that she’d been telling Cenric a lie for the better part of their time together thus far. She paused, staring awkwardly at Cenric for much longer than was due, trying to come up with a good reason for why Vrak had attacked both of them. Her mouth was partway open, as if she was about to speak, lost in a daze, until finally she shook her head and looked at Cenric again.

“He came after her because she had fought him and left him alive on another planet. He wanted to kill me because I was an easy target.”

She hoped that was enough of an explanation that he wouldn’t question it further.

With her rifle she gestured towards the door so that he would hurry up and push the button, and hopefully drop the conversation.

[member="Cenric Marus"]

 

[Cenric Marus]

[member="Mariya Pyne"]

Now he could tell something was off. Before hed been too distracted by her forwardness, the way she carried herself, and honestly her looks, but he was paying attention this time. The way that she moved her body. The slight fidget to her stance and the eagerness to move on from the conversation were all tell tale signs.

Her words might not have been an outright lie this time, but there was definitely something wrong. ”Why was he after your sister?”

His tone wasn't hostile, but most definitely suspicious.

There was something off about this and Cenric didn't want to move on ahead through the station until he figured it out. For all he knew Mariya was some kind of Sith agent. The likelihood of that was super low of course, but there was definitely something off.

He wasn't moving until she explained herself.

 

[Mariya Pyne]

“Do you honestly think we have time to talk about my sister right now with a fleet of Sith and an army of them on board the station right now? You want to talk about her now?” She glared at the Jedi, What is wrong with him!? We need to get OUT OF HERE. Mariya stepped the few paces over towards Cenric, lifting herself up on the tips of her toes to gain a couple of inches closer to him. “We don’t have time right now to play twenty questions! Not unless you want to see what happens if they catch us!”

The brunette leaned past him, pressing her finger against the button herself. The sound of locks releasing and the hiss of the hydraulics surrounded them as the doors parted ways, her fierce glare shifting from Cenric to the large, expansive room beyond.

Immediately she shouldered her blaster and started to scan the room, ignoring the Padawan while stepping cautiously inside.

It was eerily quiet.

[member="Cenric Marus"]

 

[Cenric Marus]

[member="Mariya Pyne"]

Cenric scowled at Mariya as she opened the doors and stepped inside the nect hangar bay.

There was definitely something she didn't want to share with him, though what exactly that was he had no idea. Before he could further press the issue however Mariya stalked forward and walked away from him, cutting off any questions that he could ask her. He could have sworn that she let out a ‘hmpf’ as she stepped away from him.

Lingering for only a moment Cenric followed after her, quietly speaking. ”We’re not done with that.”

As he said the words there was a slight racket, the hydraulics of the doors behind them freaking loudly as they slowly began to fall closed. Cenric’s head turned, swiveling to look back for just a moment. The hallway was empty, and neither him nor Mariya had touched the panel inside of the hangar bay to activate the door again.

”Somethings wrong.” Cenric said as he stepped forward and odd sort of buzz ringing in his head. ”Get behind me.

His fingers tightened on his lightsaber hilt.

 

[Mariya Pyne]

They were as done with that conversation as done could be. Definitely as long as they were still on this station. Mariya had no desire to let him play investigator with the situation as it was. What good was knowing that her sister was the Queen of Naboo, that she wasn’t just a merchant, or rather, a smuggler, and, sort of a princess? The Sith wouldn’t care, that much was certain. And she didn’t want to know what it was like to be vented into the vacuum of space, or worse, tortured.

The moment the doors began to close she too spun instinctively around and aimed the blaster towards the doors, though they had already sealed shut before she had an opportunity to check for bodies.

None of the doors previously had closed on themselves, meaning this was most definitely done remotely, and that meant this was definitely a trap. She cursed in her native language and began looking around the room, ignoring Cenric’s demand for her to get behind him. He was the one who needed protecting now, not her.

”They found us.”

Not that it needed saying.

[member="Cenric Marus"]

 

[Cenric Marus]

[member="Mariya Pyne"]

A large door on the opposite end of the hangar bay slowly fell open The heavy disaster parted to reveal a figure standing just beyond. This time they didn't wear one of those odd suits, instead they were garbed in a jet black robe. A hood settled on their head and an odd sort of steel mask rested on their face, obscuring any features that might have been telling.

I'm their hand Cenric could see a small silver cylinder, likely a lightsaber hilt.

Out of the corner of his eye he saw that Mariya didn't move as she told him to, instead choosing to stay put. He scowled slightly and moved in front of her, fingers wringing around the hilt of his lightsaber. The odd buzzing inside of his head grew louder and louder, his heart thundered in his chest. Small beads of sweat formed on the back of his neck.

He wasn't ready for this.

It was a fact he was well aware of, but what else was he going to do? Hed brought Mariya into all of this, he had to protect her.

 

[Mariya Pyne]

Mariya looked towards the figure at the far end of the room. Between them, off to the side were a few docked starships, their left, the large transparisteel viewport that the hangar bay control tower used to authorize and clear ships for that bay. Strewn about the floor were the same crates and containers as the other bays had been, abandoned by their workers.

Cenric stepped in front of her, despite her clear disagreement with being protected by a Jedi that wasn’t even a Jedi.

The doors behind had closed, which Mariya was certain were now locked, trapping them within. She was also certain this person was not here to greet them warmly and offer them a way out, at least, not one that ended in their favor. There was no point in waiting, they needed to get through here, and that meant going through whoever was blocking their way. Bounding towards one of the containers the brunette tucked herself partway behind one, and immediately opened fire on the Sith with half a dozen blaster rounds sent hissing towards their enemy.

[member="Cenric Marus"]

 

[Cenric Marus]

[member="Mariya Pyne"]

A bright red lightsaber burst into life, the bolts flying towards the Sith immediately being flung back directly towards where they had come from.

Cenric let out a string of curses.

Panic flooded him in no small amount, reaching through his entire body and nearly paralyzing him. Where Mariya had jumped into action, Cenric couldn't help but freeze. He felt a wave of dread pulsating from the Sith, a stark sense of death and fear that seemed to stick to his very skin.

The young Padawan felt bile enter his throat.

Then instinct took over as one of the hilt Mariya had fired was redirected at him.

Almost as a natural movement Cenric ignited his lightsaber. The bright blue blade jumped into life just in time to be met with the blaster bolt. Energy surged as the two met, Cenric batting the charged tibanna away from himself and into the nearby wall. A breath filled him, and then he snapped from his paralysis and charged forward.

There was only one way to get out of here, and it was through that Sith.

 

[Mariya Pyne]

He’s going to fight him!? IDIOT.

She caught him out of the corner of her eyes as he raced forward, her head ducking behind the container as the Sith rebounded her shots towards her. The crack and hiss of the shots colliding with her cover forced a moment of flinching from her, but she quickly turned back and aimed once more for the SIth, firing another seven shots directly at him as Cenric charged towards him.

Mariya didn’t have any fancy weapons, no Force abilities, not even a lousy grenade at her disposal. Hell, she didn’t even have more ammunition. Once that rifle was empty, that was the end of the game for her, aside from her pistol, of which she carried a single spare magazine.

Looking around there wasn’t much she could use to her disposal, however one of the ships docked did have defensive turrets. No way the Sith could repel those, right? She hoped not. Problem was it was dangerously close to him, and she would need to get inside before he carved her in half like a Nerf steak.

Waiting for Cenric to pass by her she then ran towards the next container, taking cover in hopes to make it to the ship just as the two engaged one another. There wouldn’t be a way to warn him of her plan without alerting the Sith, so she had to hope luck was on her side.

[member="Cenric Marus"]

 

[Cenric Marus]

[member="Mariya Pyne"]

He did the only thing he knew how to do in this situation, and that was attack.

There weren't many lessons that Cedric had taught him yet, mostly just the basic stuff. Still, he'd been one of the best students at the Temple, capable of holding his own against even some of the Jedi Knights. That had only been with no injuries and when he'd fought at his absolute best...but still. He raced across the hangar, bounding over several crates and causing his side to flare up with pain. The padawan ignored it, heading directly towards the Sith and hoping Mariya would do as he said.

All Cenric needed to do was distract him, all he needed to do was buy enough time for her to escape. The padawan didn't even consider that she might do anything else.

Bright blue clashed against red in a flurry of sparks, and almost as soon as it happened Cenric knew he was outmatched.

Lightsaber combat, much like sword fighting was almost a dance. There were steps to it, maneuvers. Each participant flowed into the other, clashing together and moving through certain forms and styles almost predictably. There was an art to it, something that could be read and seen. For Cenric it was all too obvious. The way the Sith had moved to counter his blow, the slight crook of the man's wrist as he'd come up to meet his blade.

It spoke of expertise far beyond the Padawan's years.

Yet he still attacked, because it was the only thing he could think to do. His lightsaber swept back, then forward, then low, each slash coming in quick succession.

 

[Mariya Pyne]

The instant she heard the two lightsabers crack against one another, a sound she was familiar with since Jamie’s fight with Vrak, she bolted forward and towards the modest ship docked just a few meters away from Cenric and the Sith he was engaged with. Both would surely see her, it wasn’t at all subtle, nor was she trying to be.

Unfortunately it was too dangerous to try and help Cenric by firing at the creepy masked figure this close, so she had to let the two do what they did, hack and slash at one another and hope that Cenric wasn’t the one on the floor by the time she got to the starship’s cockpit and weapon systems.

Luckily for her the ramp was open as she bounded upwards, without even looking behind.

If she could reach the guns, hopefully she could blast him into space dust and the two could get lost before more of them arrived. If they only sent the one Sith to kill or capture them, surely they weren’t expecting the two to actually escape, or kill this guy. Maybe he was their leader! Wouldn’t that be something? Shooting him dead in the hangar and escaping.

[member="Cenric Marus"]

 

[Cenric Marus]

[member="Mariya Pyne"]

The Sith met Cenric's every move almost before he made them. Red clashed against blue again and again, the Padawan's lightsaber being caught at every turn. The man moved with ruthless efficiency, sliding his blade high and low, almost taunting Cenric with how easy it was for him.

Frustration bloomed within the young man, his hands tightening on the hilt of his lightsaber as he tried again and again to breach the Sith's defenses.

He had no idea how many minutes passed, he didn't see Mariya moving onto the ship, too enthralled within the dance of combat. The Sith turned his head once, spotting the young woman and shifting only slightly as Cenric attempted to use the brief distraction to strike. His lightsaber thrust forward, stabbing empty air as the Sith suddenly dashed to the side and swiped his own blade low. A curse left the Padawan's lips, his blade twisting just in time to catch the bright red beam.

A chuckle left the Sith, and then suddenly his other hand came up.

Cenric felt a powerful push of the force, and then suddenly he was thrown against the wall. A loud thump echoed as crashed against the bulkhead.

"Pathetic"​

The distorted voice of the Sith resounded from behind his mask, as he stalked forward to finish Cenric.

 

[Mariya Pyne]

Inside the ship Mariya was thankfully familiar with the model, charging forward, leaping up and onto the ladder that led to the raised cockpit of the ship. Four steps, two of which she skipped on her way up and finally she made it. Beneath her Cenric and the Sith fought, though the sound of their weapons clashing was now muted. Nothing but flashes of light, both blue and red, cast shadows over the ground.

One, Two, Three, her fingers hit several switches, Four, Five, Six, several more, Seven, Eight! And finally the engine roared to life, echoing in the hangar bay and sending sonic vibrations through out the deathly silent expanse of room. Her eyes flicked forward to see Cenric now against the wall, on the ground, and the Sith making his way towards the Jedi.

Okay, okay, now where are —Ah! She spotted the controls on the opposite side and slid her way over, pulling up the holographic terminal to see the room beneath the turret. Three taps on the screen and the laser cannon powered up. Okay you karking piece of bantha poodoo, let’s see your fancy little sword deal with this!

With a loud whir, the turret screeched, and Mariya held the trigger down as an ear piercing squeal left the twin barrels of the turret, bright blue beams of heavy cannon fire firing in rapid succession straight towards the masked figure as he made his way across the hangar bay, having ignored the girl.

[member="Cenric Marus"]