Terminus [Siobhan]

[Qae Shena]

"Karkin' hell, ow," Qae said as he felt the slap, which was enough of a very sudden jolt to bring him back to realspace. Exhausted as his mind made him feel, like there'd been a Force Drain on him, the old methods were occasionally the best. It was enough to remind him, hey, you're still screwed, get the hell out of the place before it ate you. "Thanks."

Kalahira found its place at his side. He wasn't going to need them, not any more. He had to be fast, light, flexible - like water. And water could be just as powerful as fire, when it wanted to be - but it was a concentrated kind of power. Irresistible force. Despite that, he would have to run the hell away from a gunship opening fire through the walls, no matter how good he thought he was. Qae stayed low and ran for cover near a window, where the wall had yet to be shattered by weapons fire. For now.

The scream from behind him was enough to tell him what had happened, suddenly, as well as the view from out the window - there was a man with a laser sniper rifle there, and Qae knew what that meant. "Siobhan!" he said, shouting, even as the debris of the gunship lit up the skies still. "I got this!"

One problem. One solution.

He dropped into horse stance immediately with his right side to the window, and with a thrust of his right hand, Qae unleashed a telekinetic blast that shattered the glass of the window. Without a moment's hesitation, even as the last shards hit the floor, Qae sprinted out through that window and, in a prodigious Force Jump, flew through the air towards the police speeder and landed on the sniper with a knee, driving him to the floor of the airspeeder with a sickening, bone-shattering crunch. A palm strike to the face later and there was no way the bleeding pile of unconsciousness that was the sniper would be getting up.

Then, a leap back with the Force, and Qae surveyed the area as he landed in the crouch, and found no movement - for now. Perhaps they'd pulled back to find another solution. Without hesitation, the Master-at-Arms went to Siobhan's side to check on her. "I know you're tough as nails, but are you okay?"

 

[Siobhan Kerrigan]

Siobhan had been brought to her knees by the blaster bolt when it hit the back of her leg. As chance would have it she was so unfortunate that the sniper had managed to hit the flesh and blood one, meaning it bloody hurt. She tried to pull herself up, feeling tired out by the exertions and the energy she had spent, but before the sniper could take the shot at her head Qae had quite literally sprung into action and delivered a smackdown on the sniper, displaying his martial arts prowess.



Siobhan would have given him a cheesy thumbs-up if the situation were not so serious. The explosion caused by her grenades had broken the wings of the Gunship and as a fireball blossomed the pilot, despite his best attempts, lost control over the vessel and it went for a downward spiral, debris raining down, incidentally hitting a few police speeders that had swooped down. For now at least their opponents were in retreat, though these were technically innocents doing their job.



Siobhan pulled herself up with a groan, wincing at the burning sensation of pain and limping, but stifling a cry, though she grimaced. She forced a smile as Qae approached her, looking grateful.


"Still got all my limbs. Wifey would ground me forever if I lost one again," she joked lamely, eyeing the shattered Star of Chaos that had caused so much distress. "Thanks. What the frak was that thing? We gotta get the hell out and figure out what the frak's going on," she said vehemently, trying to draw on the Force to block the pain as she limped, moving towards the exit. Incidentally the barrage from the minigun had shredded a good deal of the wall and thus given them a rather large hole to get through.



Below them pandaemonium reigned as a few speeders had been smashed and quite a few cops had been caught in the explosion when the Gunship blew up. Were they safe now? Definitely not, for the eyes of the Lord of Change were infinite in number and he looked upon his handiwork. The city was in the grips of madness and even as Siobhan limped down, beings from across the city were coming out of their apartments, or leaving their workplaces at factories, shops, restaurants, compelled to by a will not their own, the painful chorus of voices rising inside their minds, driving them into an alien chant.

 

[Qae Shena]

"That... it had to be a Force-amp crystal. There's no other explanation for it," Qae said, by way of trying to gather his thoughts. "There are some materials and items, like some lightsaber crystals and the lambent fruit, that can pull off things like that. It had to be a focus for a very powerful form of Force sorcery."

The rising sounds from outside as Qae helped Siobhan move met his senses and together they limped out, where they could hear the voices of a thousand corrupted innocents chanting as one. It was an unholy, twisted sight. Like thralls, they paraded through the city, unknowing of what they truly did. The sounds of the old ones' voices, the spells and chants from the voices of unknowing minions, could be distinctly heard. For a moment, Qae had to pause, to take it in, to truly believe what he was seeing. he didn't think this to be real. How could it be real? This wasn't the sort of thing people did...

...nobody had this kind of power. Did they?

"I don't believe it," he murmured, standing, staring. This was power on a scale he'd never seen before.

However, there was no rest for the wicked. Qae went with Siobhan down into the city, feeling the crazy psychic waves affecting his mind, like something was trying to put him into a trance. Against untrained minds, this would have been... well, they saw the result. For a trained mentalist, however, it was somewhat easier to manage. Qae could put up his blocks and claim his mind, when the eyes were not staring directly into his soul.

"We need a plan, and we need it fast. This isn't an opponent we can just shoot and stab our way through. Our opponent is every living thing on this planet, and that's not a challenge I relish. Find the source, maybe. It's the best I've got."

 

[Siobhan Kerrigan]

Siobhan hated to admit it but her Nautolan friend was right. This was not a foe that could be fought by simply slaughtering anyone who got in their way. For one, they were fighting an entire planet.

"I do. I believe it," she said quietly as she limped down the stairs, staggering a bit. She would need to get a bacta patch on her leg once they had found something close to a safe house.
"Way back with the Jedi, Adril - my master - and I were on some remote planet. Vacation - then we found out about a darkside cult. Realised they weren't just run-of-the-mill darksiders too late. Everyone in town started hearing some voice and got compelled to leave everything and march onto the streets, us included. All marching like lambs to the slaughter, all chanting..."

"The rapture, the rapture is at hand. Many are called but few are chosen," suddenly dozens of voices, perhaps a hundred, seemed to have joined in unison as she cried out as loud as their lungs allowed to the stars. As Siobhan passed a window she could see that the street before the club was filled by a large crowd, armed with crowbars, blaster pistols and pikes. The police men who had survived the Gunship smashing into their speeders were being cornered and a vicious melee was developing. Several of the crazed civilians fell as the cops desperately fired with their blasters, but they did with smiles and chants on their lips.

"Like that," Siobhan finished. "We fell under its spell, massive beast rose up from the oceans."Broke free from its spell but...too late. Destroyed the entire city, Adril sacrificed herself killing it." Sporadic laser fire blasted a window and Siobhan furiously spun her lightsabre to deflect the incoming rounds and the salvoe fell silent as satisfying cries of pain were heard when the rounds bounced off her blade and shot back, down on the ground there were screams of pain as cops were cut down, soon drowned out by the chanting, the bodies of the fallen being dragged across the streets.

"You remember that crazy old guy from before the club. Think he was trying to...warn us." A long shot, but perhaps worth it. However, these thoughts were halted when they reached the end of the staircase and the door flung open, revealing a large throng of civilians and obviously converted policemen. Oh, frak it, Siobhan thought, even more pissed off now. The civilians were of all ages, adults, children, elderly men and women, their eyes glowed bright with an otherworldly madness that had robbed them of their senses.

"Why do you run? There is no way out of the rabbit hole," the spoke in unison, their voices sounding eerie, then one stepped forward, an elderly woman dressed in robes. "Come and embrace the unity. Ascension is near. You have slaughtered without mercy, more blood than you can ever wash off is on your hands. The Ten Thousand Eyes are watching you."

"You cannot outrun their love," another spoke, this one a young boy in a school uniform. He carried a pike that had the head of a Twi'lek speared on it, part of the lekku had been shorn off.

"You are the Reavers of Souls," a third one spoke, this one a policeman who looked bruised and had gashes across his face, as if he had just been beaten.

 

[Qae Shena]

The chanting grew louder, like the rising tide. Into the eternal sea of madness they would wade endlessly under the thrall-spell of one who had the power to control all things. Spencer didn't have this kind of ability. Not that he knew. Or not that she cared to exercise. This was malicious intent with the power to back it up - and that right there was where one could find true fear. He wasn't sure how to react to this, or her tale. The Bando Gora, truly, were evil incarnate.

"I know this is possible, but to see it in action... this is foul. Vicious. Whoever is doing this has to be stopped, and fast, before this planet really is lost."

Dramatic? Maybe a little. But also true. Terminus was on the verge of being lost to insanity and Qae would have no part in letting it happen. He could not stand by and watch innocent people be corrupted by darkness.

Qae paused, considering their options. "One of us has to open their mind to this thing. The other one has to track it to the source and take it out. You're better at killing anything that stands in your way - I vote I turn myself into a gibbering moron, and you go and take out the overlord of doom or whatever," Qae said, as way of the best plan he'd come up with so far. "I might be able to hold out long enough to make it happen. My Master trained me in mental blocks."

It was a bold plan that risked Qae permanently losing his psyche, or worse; this was a sacrifice play. Anything less, however, and they might not make it. If he was not dedicated to this plan, or unless Siobhan had something better, they were doomed to fail, then and there. Qae did not relish the chance of failing this at all. His mental annihilation was not something he wanted to see.

The throng of people before them needed to be stopped. How? How could they stop all these people? A barricade, perhaps. And he did exactly that, using the Force to close the door, and hold it shut as best he could.

"Seal this entrance and buy me enough time to enter the Force, and I'll find their mad god. Then you can show him the business end of destruction."

 

[Siobhan Kerrigan]

Siobhan seemed unusually hesitant. Normally she was a firm subscriber to the do whatever it takes line - and Roche had shown how far she was willing to go when it came to make sacrifices. But this was in an entirely different category. Qae might lose his mind forever - or if his brain was not shattered in a thousand pieces, leaving him a drooling, gibbering idiot whatever entity was behind the madness might make him its slave.

Then he would go after Siobhan. Moreover, although Siobhan would not admit it, she did not feel confident in her ability to actually beat this creature.

She had ran - like a coward from her perspective - when Adril faced the beast. To be sure Adril had told her to run...but to Siobhan it felt like abandoning her. The Primarch had beaten her to a bloody pulp before she slew him...and that was a conventional foe she could fight with a blade.

The loud chants and shouts brought her back to the present. The crowd outside them banged and hit the door, slamming axes and pikes against it, blaster bolts and bullets were shot against the windows. Making a snap decision Siobhan made a gesture with her hand to pull a table from the adjourning room, the wrecked club hall, towards them and moved it towards the door. A cupboard soon followed suit and was placed against it.

In the same moment there was a loud bang as the door was struck by an axe but it held. She plucked an explosive charge from her coat and affixed it to the wall, it was a proximity charge, then she quickly grabbed Qae and pulled him away into what seemed like a maintenance room. There was a window that would allow them to make an escape, it was quickly sealed with a tug from the Force. Another explosive charge was affixed to the wall along the door in the hall ahead of them.

"You bloody well don't lose your frakking marbles or I'll kick your arse, understand?" Siobhan grunted. "Right. And don't do any 'I'm gonna sacrifice' myself BS. Do your mentalism thing and break off once you have the bastard."

Outside the shouts intensified, Siobhan strained her senses, there were hundreds of people outside, all coming from different directions. She could really use an MK II Bolter like right about now. Perhaps a flamethrower. The psychic chorus had arisen once more, but her mind was prepared. She was prepared for mass slaughter...even against such odds. That she could deal with.
Fighting whatever abomination was the author of this madness...she was not ready that.

But if Qae was ready to face the almost certain risk of getting his mind demolished...she was Siobhan bloody 'I can kill anything' Kerrigan, so she was not going to be a frakking wet hen. Her heartbeat quickened and, feeling the pain in her leg she took a syringe from her pocket, popped it and jabbed it inside the wound at the back of her leg as she leaned against the wall. The sensation was torturous, then she felt a cold numbness before energy rushed through her...for now at least.

"Ok. Find the dick. Things are about to get hairy. Hopefully I won't have to tear down a roof," she said, hoping she sounded more confident than she felt as she was faced the wall, lightsabre in one hand, blaster in the other.
Outside the voices had arisen into a chorus, so loud as if they were trumpets before Jericho, trying to tear down the defences and bring the building crashing down asunder.