[The Kathol Outback]: Dominion of Kal'Shebbol

[Nate Phantoms]

Objective: how many people do I have to try and rescue?!?!
Location: currently watching Z, while worrying about BB and Kimiko
Allies: [member="Bryce Bantam"], [member="Zetha Vesh"], [member="Kimiko"]

With no response from Bryce, he was on the brink of losing it, just letting it all out, and the result would be catastrophic, to both allies and enemies. His vision was blurry, and he didn't care who saw his tears, Bryce was his best friend, and he was already devastated, but this, his death would be the ultimate game changer.

He turned, searching for the one person he knew could probably help Bryce. "Okay, here we go buddy, just hang on...please" Gently pulling his friend up, he took off, searching for [member="Kimiko"]. When he found her, she was bleeding, and appeared unconscious. Still bride carrying BB, he knelt down and rolled her over gently, feeling for a pulse. "Not you too, come on, I need you" He waited for a response as he shaked her softly. Then he heard Zetha scream in pain, and he was torn, who needed his help more?

That was when he made his choice, one that might've put three lives in danger.

 

[Julius Sedaire]

Location: Kal'Shebbol Orbit
Allies: TKO // [member="Mara D'Lessio Merrill"]
Enemies: Gentech
Objective: 4
Post: 3

"Bullet Time, that's about the only trick up my sleeve like that, and it ain't an easy one.... We boarding, or we turning this thing into a hulk?"

All weapons were trained on the bridge or the engines, the hyper-drive being well and truly scuttled. A turn about brought everything to bear, and the sleek and foreign ship faintly hummed from it's pilots eagerness. An eagerness perhaps a bit unseemly and over much in sharpness. But Julius pushed aside the nagging doubt at his own darkened leanings and licked his lips from their dry, cracked state as he readied defensive measures if need be, because he could see those in Gen Tech who might still be functioning as being rather irate that their ship seemed to have just been disabled by a teleporting yacht.

Hhmmm... There's an idea for a cruise...

 

[The Great Narrator]

Objective: #2
Location: Gate's of Sarne's Palace
Allies: Gentech and the Slasha Hoard
Enemies: [member="Bryce Bantam"] | [member="Lok Munin"] | [member="Matthew Robinson"] | [member="Kimiko"] | [member="Zetha Vesh"] | [member="Nate the Bounty Hunter"] | [member="Runi Verin"] | TKO S&R, etc

The wounded Alpha took great pleasure in the fear filled screams of his latest victim and wrenched her arm back even harder. Feeling her arm contort and tendons tearing under his grip he pulled her in close till his rancid breath cold be felt of her neck. Taking his free hand he placed it around the sheaking woman's neck and squeezed till he could feel the pulse beating under his mighty grip.

"Little foolish girls should not play among men. You should be at home, tending the fire and bearing children for their masters. You need to be thought a lesson silly woman, one I will teach you..."

In one concise movement, he with all his might pulled her pinned arm to his left while pulling the rest of her body to the right. If Zetha was not able to somehow slip his grip however, it might just be enough to rip her arm from the socket.

 

[Singularity]

Objectives: 1 and 2
Location: Arena ruins
Allies: [member="Runi Verin"], [member="Nawago"], [member="Matthew Robinson"], [member="Nate the Bounty Hunter"], [member="Zetha Vesh"], [member="Bryce Bantam"], [member="Kimiko"], [member="Astrid Santii"], [member="Ria Misrani"], [member="Ula Kaddo"], [member="Lok Munin"], [member="Bexel"], [member="Tilzi"], [member="Astrid Santii"], TKO and S&R
Enemies: [member="Cronas Plagueborn"], [member="The Harbinger"], Gentech
Post: 3


Activating his thrusters, Singularity launched across the room; sending himself forward and to the right, dodging blaster fire. As his hands touched the ground, he tucked his legs underneath himself; turning his landing into a roll. Using his momentum, he continued forward until his feet were touching the floor.

Reaching down he gripped his weapons hilt with his right hand; then launched himself upward into a standing position. As he stood, the droid drew his vibro-sword and swung up and to the right, slashing into his first opponent. Grabbing his vibro-knife with his left hand, he launched it at the second palace guard to his left; where it impaled itself in his face.

Pushing past the corpse of his first opponent, he immediately took a blaster bolt in his chest. Singularity rocked backward slightly from the impact; allowing his final opponent to fire another blast into his chest. Activating his back thrusters, he jumped forward. Closing the distance, he activated his right thrusters, narrowly avoiding another blaster bolt. Reaching his adversary the droid thrust his vibro-sword forward; impaling the man in the chest. Withdrawing his blade, the man crumpled to the floor.

Looking around the room, Singularity observed each of the bodies for a moment, quickly confirming that they were indeed terminated. Sheathing his sword, he walked across the room and leaned down; gathering his knife. Reaching across the body he also collected and holstered a blaster pistol.

Standing up he walked across the room towards the entryway. Before leaving the room he paused for a moment, checking the hallway for enemies. Finding no sign of others, he took a step forward into the hallway; hearing multiple explosions go off underneath him. Sprinting across to the other end of the hallway, he walked out onto a balcony to see what had happened below.

Or that's what the droid thought was going to happen. Instead the floor fell out from under him.

Quickly recovering, Singularity activated his thrusters to bring himself upright and began actively using them to avoid the larger of the on coming debris, as he plummeted the last two stories to the crumbling arena floor.

Twenty feet from the ground he activated all of his thrusters at once slowing his decent to a safe velocity. Touching the ground he began sprinting towards the room the female had entered. As he approached the room, the floor caved in thirty feet ahead of him; creating a large gaping hole that took a score of Arena guards down with it.

Increasing his movement speed, Singularity jumped out above the hole; activating his thrusters to maximum output. Just before reaching the other side he felt two of his thrusters deactivate prematurely. Performing a system check, he noted that they had short circuited.

Dropping down onto the other side of the schism, he looked up to see part of his destinations wall crumble to see the female he'd been trying to reach. Standing with her was a male of similar organic makeup and what appeared to be a overgrown organic hairball.

Making his way towards them he saw the males lips move. He was unable to hear his words but was able to make out two words from the movement of his lips.

"Outback" and "Rescue."

He appeared to also be part of the group he was looking for. Or, he was looking for them; like singularity.

As the droid moved forward to meet with them, the man raised his hands and a transparent blue sphere grew around them; deflecting some descending debris. How had the male done that? Singularity observed no technology within the room capable of creating and maintaining a force field. He would have to speak with the male after this if they managed to leave this place.

Sprinting past the walls remains, the droid stopped just outside the sphere. Raising his hands in submission; the droid spoke. "Greetings organics. I am known as Singularity."

"The ship I was on was commandeered by pirates and I was brought to and have been here in this place against my will since then. I have been waiting for an opportunity to present itself that would allow me to leave this place. When I heard the message broadcast through the palace, I escaped and have since made my way here. By my calculations you are either with the ones doing the rescuing or are the ones to be rescued. Our goals are mutually beneficial and I offer my services to aid in our escape. May I please come within your protective shielding?"

 

[Rach Tarvus]

IGNORE THIS.

 

[Sor-Jan Xantha]

864 Years Earlier...

He was hyperventilating.

He felt himself being pushed back into a restraint seat. General Xantha had led the rebels through the star destroyer to an auxiliary ship in the main hangar, allowing them to make a daring run from the newly forged Empire.

It hadn't gone well for them. Of those who'd fought back against the Clone Troopers, only a handful still remained. Their ship had taken a beating before it could make the jump into hyperspace, and now they were emerging from out of lightspeed out of control and crashing onto a world they knew nothing about.

3Y427 was there. The only other clone cadet who was still alive. Securing the straps that locked the other boy into the emergency landing harness, 3Y427 used their training to try and talk to 3X744. Try to get him to control his breathing.

There were tears streaming down Three's face. 3Y427 leaned in and their foreheads touched. It was a moment where the two shared the same thought, the same wish that they were back home. That they'd never left Kamino.

The ship bucked hard. Three found himself hanging by the straps as he was pulled upward. He reached to grab 3Y427, and felt the boy slip through his fingers.

Vanished into the abyss as the ship blacked out.

The sound of his own breathing filled his ears like a roar of thunder.

And then everything became nothing.

+ - + - + - + - + - + - + - + - + - + - + - + - + - + - + - + - + - + - + - + - + - + - + - + - + - + - + - + - + - +​

Present Day...
Post 8 of 20 35
Objective 2/4: Be All That You Can Be
Location: Sorbiss Valley (Secret Hangar)

He really didn't want to know what he was wading through.

Trudging through the mud, the muck, and something else that was undeniably human waste, the small Clone Trooper held the blaster carbine over his head as he passed through the sewer which ran beneath the empty field above. The pipes from the pump room above ground provided some orientation as he progressed through the deep, dank, and dark.

Sounds trickled in. Echoes. Whispers. Voices traveling down drains and through the pipes that jutted from out of the walls of the sewer. Pinpricks of light led the boy to what appeared to be a manhole cover. It took a few seconds before he could get it to budge. Striking it at one end with a thrust from the butt of the rifle to dislodge and loosen the cover.

Sliding the cover out of the way, the boy peeked his head above ground in order to check the surroundings. At first glance, a boiler room of some kind. Stepping back down, he heaved the rifle up through the hole and then set it on the ground. Then, his hands free, he reached down to unzip the coveralls he was wearing.

There had been three one-size-fits-none cheap, military grade coveralls in the pump room. The kind of thin, plastic-y suit used by government agencies for environmental clean up. He figured they'd been there for a reason, so he'd donned one before he'd gone dived into the cesspool. Shaking and shimmying his way out of the suit, he reached up to pull himself up so that he was seated on the ledge, his legs dangling over the sewer, as he pulled his legs and feet free of the coveralls.

All things being equal, he didn't intend on leaving the way he'd come in.

Grabbing the rifle from off the floor, the boy clung the carbine across his back and then reached down to his hip to un-holster the DC-17 hand blaster. He clicked the pistol off safety as he saddled up to what he assumed was the exit. The door pulled away as the boy tensed, ready to level and aim the weapon. Outside, the sound of mechanical pumps echoed, as a sterile, white environment of empty corridors awaited him outside.

Satisfied there was no one outside, the boy slid the door shut and turned back toward the interior of the room. If this was a boiler or maintenance room of some kind... perhaps there was schematic or diagram of the base?

 

[Kimiko Taiyou]

Objective: 2 (trying not to die herself)
Location: Outskirts of Sarne's Palace
Allies: [member="Lok Munin"] [member="Bryce Bantam"] [member="Matthew Robinson"] [member="Runi Verin"] [member="Nate the Bounty Hunter"] [member="Zetha Vesh"] [member="Bexel"] [member="Ria Misrani"] [member="Ula Kaddo"] [member="Tilzi"] [member="Naamah Aesham"] [member="Nikola Ticon"]
Enemies: [member="Harbinger"] [member="Cronas Plagueborn"]

Her hazy mind was literally shaken awake as Nate prodded her before a familiar flash of red hair caught her eye,"Master!" she immediately reached up, as if her hands new what to do.

She helped Nate lower him to the ground, her eyes scanned the near lifeless form, finding the sight heart wrenching. The world around her seemed to fade into the background as Kimiko's hands felt for a pulse and her ear lowered to Bryce's chest, finding the faintest of heartbeats...she counted herself lucky, but he needed a miracle. That is when a thought crossed her mind...

She adjusted her position beside Bryce, kneeling in a praying position and sitting back on flattened feet. Green eyes looked up at their companion, pleading with him,"Master Nate, no matter what happens, promise me you'll get both of yourselves out of here."

Her attention turned back to Bryce and she placed her hands over him as her eyes closed. She focused her thoughts and slowed her breathing, trying to let those thoughts of the person she cared for flow from her and into him. It was agonizingly slow, but after several moments, the full force of her attempt hit her, feeling the warm rush leave her own being and seemingly transfer to the targeted individual.

Her seeming transfer was ended abruptly as her body could not sustain anything more at that point and she fell limp from her trance, draping over Bryce and gasping for air with her eyes still closed.

The sound of one nearby in distress caused her eyes to open and find Nate once again,"G-Go...Nate..." Kimiko could barely squeeze between labored breaths awaiting to feel the results of her attempted healing...

 

[Zetha Vesh]

Objective: Kill this guy/survive
Location: Outside the palace
Allies: [member="Kimiko"] [member="Bryce Bantam"] [member="Nate the Bounty Hunter"]
Enemies: [member="Cronas Plagueborn"]
Posts: 6

The man behind her twisted harder on her left arm, pulling it away from her body. Her mind went hazy, cloudy from all the pain. But she knew she had to beat this guy. She had to kill him. Else BB will never be free of his treachery or pain. And she wouldn't either. As he pulled on her left, she opened up her right hand. With every fibre in her being, every fibre that wasn't being torn to shreds, she called on the Force. Reached for it. Desperately craved it.

Everything happened at once then. Zetha screamed out in agony as her left arm detached from her body. At the same time, the smooth metal of her lightsaber connected with her right hand. Still screaming, she turned in the direction her body was being pulled and activated her lightsaber. The glowing red beam shot forward just in time to connect to Cronas' neck. The blade would slice through his skin, muscle, bone, coming out clean on the other side.

Over the span of the next minute, five thumps would smack against the ground. First was Zetha's arm, landing out of its old user's view. Next was Cronas' head, falling from the clean-cut neck, followed by the rest of the imposing body. Her chest heaving and her breaths heavy from exertion, Zetha deactivated her lightsaber, letting it fall to the ground. Zetha's own sweat-drenched body was the last to fall, collapsing in a heap. Her vision was growing blurrier, her head felt like it would float right off her neck and into the air. The spot where her left arm should be burned. Z opened her mouth, crying out for whoever was out there that would help her. Her voice was raspy, quiet...losing strength. "Bryce..." That was the first time she called him by his full name. Was he even still alive? She couldn't feel his presence anymore. "Nate..." Nate was fine. His presence was strong and bold. He was close. He would help her.

He would help her...

Someone help her...

 

[Lok Xiangu]

Location: Tunnels
Objective: 2
Allies: [member="Runi Verin"], [member="Kimiko"] @Anyone I missed
Enemies: [member="The Harbinger"]
Post count: [4/25]

"Alright, Ru-Ru," the youngster said to his companion as they continued to trek through the tunnels. One thing that he did know was that if he want to get a girl's number or possibly have them like you back, then he had to annoy them with the little things that would imprint him in their memory banks. Like right now with him calling Runi a name that sounded that she despised of heavily. No doubt was he going to get a punch to the face due to her Mandalorian heritage, but his mind registered it that you got the girl to like you back...in most cases, really.

They came to a halt when their guide came with a satchel and presented it to them. The Mandalorian took a look at it and could hear a beeping noise coming from it. He mentally insulted the men for their stupidity to bring back something that produced a noise like that. The Munin thought that stupid people knew what the satchel really was, but the men that brought it was just something else. Before he could act the female Mando's reflexes reacted and went to work to dispose of the explosive before it could him, her, and other members of the team out. All she did was unnatural and assumed that it was the Force that helped her which shouldn't really surprised him due to some of his adopted father's friends that had access to that mystical power such as Draco and Anija.

Thanks to Runi, everyone was safe but that didn't mean that everything went smoothly well. Bedrock from the foundation of the palace and the arena which then blocked off the path that they were on. They could demolish it with explosives of their, but alas the Search and Rescue didn't had a demolitions team.

"Any other ideas before we use the hole that we just made," the youngster asked before they made the obvious decision to continue by using the destroyed sections of the palace and the arena.

 

[Sor-Jan Xantha]

Kal'Shebbol
Post 9 of 20 35
Objective 3: Fly the Friendly Skies
Allies: [member="Elaine Thul"] | [member="Jorus Merrill"] | [member="Orion Trex"] | [member="Kira Vaal"]

Strafing over the top of the corevette, the YT-2400 shot outward in a long burn toward a small moon.

The co-pilot beside him braced a hand against her mouth as the devil-may-care youngling spun the ship like a top as he twisted the flight path into a corkscrew turn that angled the ship to approach the moon from below. Coughing, and obviously restraining the urge to burp up still more bile, the woman managed to snap, "You wanted us to start shooting... shouldn't you be flying toward the enemy?"

As the boy worked the controls, a stubby finger was pointed toward a flashing red screen on the console between the two. "Shields are failing," the boy commented, without looking away from what he was doing. "We need to shut down the generators to allow the system to recharge."

"What's the refresh rate?"

"Forty-five seconds."

The lady cut a dark glare over at the boy. Now, he couldn't be all that certain, but he was starting to get the impression that she didn't really like his ship all that much.

And, at times, he agreed with her.

"A minute without shields!?"

Rolling his eyes, the boy managed to restrain himself from making the point that, technically, forty-five seconds was not a minute. "Smugglers don't usually stand and fight, sweetheart!"

"Jedi aren't usually smuggling!"

...said the woman who'd obviously never met Qui-Gon Jinn or Quinlan Vos. No, seriously, he appreciated when someone who wasn't a Jedi told the kid who WAS a Jedi, and HAD BEEN a Jedi for longer than she'd been alive just who and what and how Jedi were supposed to be like.

That wasn't annoying in the least.

What happened to the days when people just thought Jedi were a myth? "Well then I guess we're all workin' outside of our comfort zone today, Gladys!" the boy tossed back flippantly.

"It's Giada!"

The young Jedi just blinked, turning his head to look at her for a moment. "What, like, seriously? 'Cause I just made that up..."

Shaking her head, the woman's eyes took the risky glance outside the canopy. As she did, her eyes grew wide with horror as she yelled, "MOON!"

"Huh?" His eyes off the space in front of them, the small Anzat turned back to see a small moon that wasn't looking very small at the moment. In fact, it was larger than life. Pushing down on the flight controls the light freighter performed a sharp dive, skirting along the crater-pitted surface of the moon as it narrowly avoided a collision. Blaster bolts flew past the canopy, as a trio of GenTech fighters pursued the ship out to the moon.

Adjusting the headset, the boy tapped the comlink. "This is the Alderaan Queen. It's getting a little warm up here... how you guys doin'?"

 

[Bryce Bantam]

Objective: #2
Location: Outskirts of Sarne's Palace
Allies: [member="Lok Munin"] | [member="Matthew Robinson"] | [member="Kimiko"] | [member="Runi Verin"] | [member="Zetha Vesh"] | [member="Nate the Bounty Hunter"] | TKO S&R, etc
Enemies: [member="Cronas Plagueborn"] | [member="The Harbinger"] | Gentech forces and "The hoard"

The blood and fluid that was filling his lungs now began to retreat, commanded by the force given will of his friends Bryce was brought back from the brink. He eyes crusted shut with dried blood and tears began to stir. Commanding them open Bryce found himself still on the field of battle. His mind still foggy from his near death experience his struggled to make sense of his surroundings. Lying next to him was Kimiko bleeding from a wound on her head. Above him was Nate who looked concerned and had a look of shock as he watched an unknown sceptical.

Grunting hard he commanded his broken body to sit up a little and is he did he bore witness to moments of the battle between the Hoard alpha and Z. In almost stark disbelief he watched the brut wrench Zetha's arm from her being but not before she was able to take his head from his shoulders. It was a surreal moment, one that seemed to play out in slow motion and as the body parts of both fell lifelessly to the ground just as Bryce found the strength to pull himself to his feet.

Grabbing Nate by the shoulder he motioned to Kimiko saying, "Get her back to one of the transports, then come back for Z..."

Before BB had even finished his sentence he was stumbling toward her, single-mindedly determined not to lose another friend.

 

[Nate Phantoms]

Objective: get everyone back to safety
Location: outside the palace
Allies: [member="Bryce Bantam"], [member="Kimiko"], [member="Zetha Vesh"]

Still in shock, he watched silently as Kimiko did her work, bringing Bryce seemingly back to life. He was overwhelmed, not knowing what to do. Then he heard Z's cry, and he turned, watching with disbelief as her arm was torn from her shoulder, and yet she managed to decapitate that brute. Seeing Bryce rise and begging to honor towards her, he rose after feeling for Kimiko's pulse. Still not completely satisfied, he jumped up, running to Bryce.

"Whoa, easy there buddy, you're not going anywhere," for effect he planted his hand on his chest, stopping him. "You aren't in any condition to be running around, so as the only un-injured person, and your friend, I am telling you to get yourself to the ship, I can carry both Z and Kimiko." He saw the look he received, but he pressed on. "Bryce, I almost just fethin' lost you, and I'm not about to go back there, so I'm now ordering you to get your green ass back on the ship." There was a lot of emotions running through him right now, and they were all directly related to BB, worry, anger, sorrow, joy...all of the good ones. He knew that Bryce would understand, he's not stupid, but he was trying to push through something that wasn't meant to be.

"Go, I got this." Giving BB one last hard stare, he took off, jumping over trenches and corpses, he finally reached Z. Things were bad, she was bleeding, a lot. "Okay, Zetha, look at me, focus on my voice. I need to cauterize the wound or you'll bleed out before I can even pick you up...it will hurt... extremely." He looked down at her, holding her head straight as he pulled out his canteen. "You might need to hit me, and that's okay, just don't bite your tongue." He grinned down at her as be snapped the top of off the canteen. Thankfully, his saber staff was already out, but he had to be quick in order to save her. "Okay, are you ready?"

 

[Jorus Merrill]

[member="Darron Wraith"] [member="Solan Charr"]

12/30

In the fulness of time, the Underground dropship -- a Niathal-class shuttle of Mon Calamari design -- touched down on Keshiri soil, not far from His Majesty's palace. Beyyr eyed the Jedi Master who'd accompanied him, gripped an overhead strap, and pulled himself upright. He adjusted the belt of his heavy arri'ryyk, then touched the hatch controls. The hatch hissed open, depositing the Wookiee general on Kesh proper, or at least a landing pad thereof. His tiny, floating translation droid followed.

He shielded his eyes against the Keshiri sun, squinting at whatever welcoming committee His Majesty might have sent.

"Grrr."

The tiny droid cleared its throat. "I have the honour of introducing Beyyr of the Claatuvac Navigators, a general officer within the Underground, seeking an audience with His Majesty Solan Charr, King of Kesh. I also have the honour of introducing Jedi Master Darron Wraith, once Grandmaster during the days of the united Order."

 

[Aithne Charr]

[member="General Beyyr"] [member="Darron Wraith"]

Solan was the only one standing there when the two would leave their ship, watching as the droid introduced the men with a smile and his hand reaching up to press his glasses against the bridge of his nose while the droid spoke.

When he had heard of the ship heading towards the planet, he had been surprised by the fact of its arrival considering that he had not thought the Outback were interested in the galaxy outside of the Kathol Sector, more surprised when it was him they were coming to meet. Of course, that was the reason they had been cleared to land at his palace itself rather than in one of the community spaceports or even having been directed to Gyn where most off-world business was done these days. Tahv had become the governmental body for the planet, but was nowhere near the political, cultural, or economic leader on the planet, atleast not anymore.

That was when he smiled as the droid finished and he looked over the two individuals with a smile. "Im sorry if for asking, but any weapons larger than a sidearm or your saber will have to be left on your ship or atleast handed over to the Palace Security for now. Everyone who lands on Kesh is expected to follow this law and only the Military itself is allowed to carry anything over a sidearm... even the King has to follow this law."

Solan smiled, his own hand resting on the saber as he spoke to the Wookie. It wasn't a measure of hostility though, as one look at him would tell the opposite in seconds as he stood there. He was dressed in trousers and a leather jacket while he stood there, looking far more like a random spacer than a palace guard, which is normally what people assumed he was. The King himself was probably the last thing that they expected the man infront of them to be.

 

[Runi Verin]

Objective: #2
Location: The Tunnels > Gladiatorial Pits
Allies: [member="Lok Munin"] | [member="Matthew Robinson"] | [member="Astrid Santii"] | [member="Nawago"] | [member="Singularity"] | [member="Ria Misrani"] | @TKO
Enemies: [member="The Harbinger"] | Palace Guards | Unsound Structural Engineering
Post Count: 5

Almost lost beneath a fine layer of dust and powdered debris, the figure of Runi Verin stirred back into life once more, conscious yet mildly stunned by the shockwave that had swept her from her feet. A testament to a decent set of armour. It might not have been beskar, but it was obviously up to the task nonetheless. It had kept the kinetic backlash from painting the walls with her sorry shebs. Kept them from ending up roasted, too.

It was the sound dampeners in her helmet that took the worst beating, however. Automatically kicking in to save her from being deafened, they had reduced the skull vibrating cacophony to something more akin to a muffled roar. Even then it was still enough to elicit a shrill ringing in her ears. She fancied she could smell the faint whiff of overloaded electronics permeating through her buy'ce. Although she couldn’t entirely rule out that it wasn’t just her, mildly chargrilled from the heat.

Not that she could complain. She was pretty sure that smouldering pile, half crushed beneath solid bedrock and duracrete foundations, was their guide. By comparison, a little ringing and a little light cooking barely registered on the grand scheme things.

“Not unless you feel like digging,” Runi replied to the younger Mandalorian as she dragged herself to her feet, ignoring the faint protests and pleas her battered body made for remaining on the floor just a few minutes longer. In an ideal world she might have listened to them; being blown up warranted a little consideration, after all. Yet as Kal’shebbol was apparently oh so willing to testify, this was far from an ideal world right now and the its underground warren of tunnels were the last place you wanted to stick around if the ceiling was set on raining down. “So much for the distraction team allowing us a smooth ride in. That was either one hell of a coincidence or someone tipped them that we were coming. Either way, every guard in the palace must’ve heard that.”

She moved to surmount the debris leading to the gladiatorial pits as she spoke, pausing only to cast a quick appraising glance over her shoulder at the rest of their party. All present and accounted for (save for the Togruta that slipped away somewhere in the kafuffle of the landing zone), they appeared as lesser mirrors of her own dirt covered form. A touch shaken, yet still eager and loaded for bear. It seemed the S&R were just as professional as their reputation suggested.

“I don’t know about you, but I ain’t sticking around to see what answer they give, ‘lek?”

 

[TC-91]

Objective: 1/2
Location: Gladiator Staging Area
Allies: [member="Astrid Santii"] | [member="Singularity"] | [member="Matthew Robinson"] | [member="Runi Verin"] | [member="Lok Munin"] | @OtherTKO
Enemies: [member="The Harbinger"] | Gentech
Post: 4

Barely even beginning to think about whether he wished to confront the guards or not, the ceiling began to crumble directly above him. Immediately following, a man broke through and landed on his feet before rolling off. Nawago grimaced in pain, before preparing to attack the man, believing the man to be a typical guard. However, he quickly eased up after hearing about the rescue group's arrival within the palace.

Looking to the side of the room, he noticed a droid beginning to approach. He hadn't cared to investigate how it entered, but it was good knowing that another prisoner was willing to escape. The droid would have been of great help considering that he managed to fight his way through the hallways of the palace alone.

"At least we finally have a chance to get out of this tomb. I hadn't expected the liberators to breach the palace until much later."

He remembered back to the conversations about liberation between the other pit fighters and slaves, and realized that there hundreds of others who were still in custody and probably being watched by guards. The worst outcome immediately popped up in his mind. They could have been getting executed to prevent testimony in the future; to lower chances of no one finding out what the fighters were put through. Most likely, this possibility was just Nawago's mind being flooded with stress, but anything was possible. With every minute passing, more deaths were imminent.

"We need to release the other fighters as soon as possible. Most of them are innocent people who have been forced to kill to survive. The guards had just simply seen us as savages and thrown us in the arena to fight for entertainment."

 

[Bryce Bantam]

Objective: #2
Location: Outskirts of Sarne's Palace
Allies: [member="Lok Munin"] | [member="Matthew Robinson"] | [member="Kimiko"] | [member="Runi Verin"] | [member="Zetha Vesh"] | [member="Nate the Bounty Hunter"] | TKO S&R, etc
Enemies: [member="Cronas Plagueborn"] | [member="The Harbinger"] | Gentech forces and "The hoard"

Before Nate bounded over to Zetha BB met his friend's stare and in silent objection just nodded and let Nate go to Z. He was in no condition to argue, but still had a strong impulse to help. He was just hardwired that way. As he lumbered back to Kimiko those Volunteers that lived and now secured the area look at the young man with quite admiration. They understood he may not be perfect but any leader willing to lay his life down for his men was granted at least the respect of those who they commanded.

Bryce on the other had only looked back with a face of hardened pain. He still felt the burden of his mistakes and that was compounded further by the dull suffering every nerve in his body felt. Kneeling down next to Kimiko he began almost mechanically dressing the wound on her head. If he had any force powers left to offer her he would have tried to close the wound further. Instead, he tried to lift her but his leg broken by Cronas would not allow it.

Anger grew anew in Bryce as he felt his own weakness, and hated it. It was in this moment he vowed to never be weak again. He would dedicate his life to growing stronger and helping other. That vow began with Kimiko and summoning his anger for strength, he fueled his body with that to make it obey and lift the young girl that had saved him. With Kimiko in his arms, he limped toward the waiting medical transports, determined to prove to himself he was worthy of the trust others put upon him.

 

[Jorus Merrill]

[member="Solan Charr"] [member="Darron Wraith"]

Without comment, Beyyr unbuckled his sword belt and passed it to another Wookiee inside the transport. He already missed the comfortable weight of the ultrachrome arri'ryyk blade. A ryyk was your basic Wookiee weapon, culturally comparable to a sidearm - but it was, like him, big. No need to cause a kerfuffle. Besides: if his security was threatened, Master Wraith would be a good bit more useful than a chunk of metal.

"Welp welp."

"To business, then," said the tiny droid briskly. "The Underground wishes to establish formal relationships of peace and cooperation with the Keshiri people, Your Majesty."

 

[Ria Misrani]

Location: the Gladiator Arena // Arena Administration, 2nd Floor
Allies: [member="Ula Kaddo"], [member="Naamah Aesham"], [member=Tilzi], [member="Nikola Ticon"], [member="Bexel"] ; Kathol's Resistance Fighters
Enemies: GenTech Experiments | [member="The Harbinger"], the Horde
Objective: #1 // Bust Up the System
Post: 5 / ??

Ria had never run so fast in her life, and that includes her most recent tango with Siths. Things were crumbling behind her and she found a small path to her left and decided to take it. Debris crumbled past her and as she looked around she saw a light, creeping down from where she was that illuminated down on a ladder.

A ladder going back up to the ground level, and that's what she did, she managed to climb up onto the dirt of the gladiator arena. "Gigi!" Ria shouted, "Gi!"

"Here!" Gigi calls out, the busty redhead is injured but she's holding onto her blaster cannon limping away from where they were. "We've got more people locked up, and I think Gavid found another terminal over there." Dust kicked from around them and she could hear fighting by the gates but did little to give it any mind. "You alright doll?"

"I've got a bruised bum, but I'll be fine." She winced while walking, it was probably a little more than bruised.

Gigi chuckles, "well then I'll be sure to kiss it better."

"Thanks love." Ria replies in return, as she and Gigi meet up with Gavid, "how'd you do?"

Gavid shakes his head, "not much better, me arms' broken, but I think you're friends are okay." He gestures toward [member="Ula [/FONT][/SIZE][SIZE=14px][FONT='lucida sans unicode']Kaddo[/FONT][/SIZE][FONT='lucida sans unicode'][SIZE=14px]"], [member="Bexel"], and @Tilzi. "Dunno who set that explosion but whoever they were, definitely wanted to see an end to this, fast."

"Said the command center is up there?" Ria gestures up to the now dilapidated third floor.

He nods, "yeah but, we got a lot of people trapped in these cells, the Arena's Administration Office is here." Gavid leads them around back up to the second floor where they had busted through earlier and where some fighting was still taking place. Ria is brought into an office that has since shifted with the tunnel explosions.

"Right, I need to get some sort of communication back out to the teams on the front." Ria might've yelped when she sat down but sucked it up as the computer came back to life. She ran routine commands and dug into the databases. She started with the easy things, as she got into some of main screens, such as unlocking the other containment cells that had once held those like the wampa [member="[/FONT][FONT='lucida sans unicode']Nawago[/FONT][FONT='lucida sans unicode']"] and even perhaps, [member="Astrid [/FONT][FONT='lucida sans unicode']Santii[/FONT][/SIZE][FONT='lucida sans unicode'][SIZE=14px]"] from here she moved on to any remaining defensive structures.

Gigi stood by watching over Ria who turned things at the Palace Gates in favor of the TKO's operations so that perhaps [member="Bryce Bantam"], and [member="Lok Munin"] if he was about, would have things easier. She sifted through various camera feeds, and she could see more GenTech guards were coming so she set of electrical traps where she could and managed to get into the Gladiator communications rings, and anyone still in or around the tunnels would at least be able to hear. "I've got an exit for you guys but I'm gonna need you all to leave these tunnels, I'll be flooding them soon."

Which meant she'd have to find the pump system, and while Ria concentrated on slicing through the system, Gavid had other ideas. "You're a nice girl, Ria, really but I can't let you do that."

"Wha?" Ria had asked she could see Gavid's reflection on the computer monitor in front of her and dodged his strike, grappling his forearm as Gigi took her blaster cannon and hit him over the head. He pulled Ria down from her chair and a struggle began.

 

[Zetha Vesh]

Objective: Survive
Location: Outside the palace
Allies: [member="Nate the Bounty Hunter"] [member="Bryce Bantam"] [member="Kimiko"]
Posts: 7

Her world was a blur. Someone was standing over her, kneeling down next to her. "Bryce..." she whispered before her vision cleared a bit. "Nate..." she corrected herself as she listened to him. What was he saying? Focus on him. She was. But she just wanted to sleep. No. Focus. Focus on his words. She nodded. The pain in her side had become dull. Was it lessening, or was she just getting used to it? Focus on Nate. Cauterize the wound. She nodded.

He asked her if she was ready. Ready for what? Oh right, cauterizing the wound. "Nate...." she whispered out, feeling herself drift off. "Is Bryce okay?" She blinked, forcing herself to stay awake. "I'm ready..."