Faction The Nightfall Affair I: Secrets of the Amaxine Vault

[Vonto Slim]

/:/ Tag: Sela Basran Meri Vale ( Nearby )
__________________________________________________________________________​

Vonto had walked quite a while down the south tunnel but arrived at the last pressure bulkhead prior to the reactor sub-levels and ultimately the power core. There, he could gain a clearer insight into the facility by observing its power network and tracing those lines to the Vault, and if things went well a large reward from the Guildmaster.

Although he was stopped in his tracks by a massive durasteel door that was malfunctioning, stuck at a quarter of an inch, he could peer through the tiny gap in the door to the corridor beyond. There, it expanded into a large antechamber, lit only by the blue emergency strips and the occasional flicker of arcing conduits.

"If I was a hidden terminal...where would I be." The Duros muttered quietly, his gaze sweeping the wall in search of a concealed lever. However, a thought struck him: if he were to hide a terminal from someone, he would likely do so in plain view.

What better method to conceal a working terminal than to disguise it beneath a non-functional one? For instance, he carefully removed the durasteel cover from the terminal, revealing a secondary one underneath, this time with all its wires properly connected and powered up on the network. Before he had a chance to fiddle with the machine the soft barely auditable footsteps of Connel Vanagor drew closer.

Hands swiftly reached for the holsters hidden beneath the jacket, smoothly drawing out a pair of Compact Pistols with Electrified Bayonets in a cross-draw motion, thumbs adjusting the power selectors just one notch above the standard setting.

Instead, he set them to what the old smugglers referred to as the scream setting: output increased by thirty percent, the sound of the muzzle enhanced through specially tuned acoustic baffles, and the discharge flash intensified to nearly blinding levels. The weapons would produce the sound of repeating cannons, appear like repeating cannons, and most crucially illuminate the corridor like the dramatic entrance of a villain in a holodrama.

"End of the line, my secret admirer" Vonto's lips curled back in a manner that was not entirely a smile. He pulled both triggers in quick succession, unleashing a torrent of blaster fire into the corridor. The sound was like thunderclaps in the enclosed space, bouncing off alloy walls and durasteel ribs until the entire corridor rang with overlapping echoes.

Each shot lit the corridor in violent strobing crimson: flash on his crimson eyes, flash on the scarred ridges of his face, flash on the twin muzzles spitting fire. For three heartbeats he became a silhouette burned into negative space tall, lean, implacable, a red-eyed specter wreathed in muzzle flare and gunsmoke.

 

[Connel Vanagor]

FINDERS OF A MISPLACED VAULT
MERIDIAN
VAULT

Omega Squad Every Day Gear Locations

• Michael, Gabriel, Azrael, Sariel, Raphael, Jeremiel, Connel, Raguel
  [Any text in brackets signifies comm-link usage and not face to face conversation]
• 
  Rides
  "Enterprise" Station Ship
  Null Vector
  Speederbike
  Iron Psalm
  Gear/Armor
  Gear(“Bodycam” Datapad, UAD Drone, and Nanotech included)
  Lightblaster
  Shortsabers (“Night” and “Day”)
  Throwing Lightknives
  Force Blinding Flashbangs
  SURGICAL - CRYBERNETIC IMPLANTS
  Repli Implants that would be for the limbs
  Bonemer enhancements to strengthen structure of the body
  Muscle enhancements.
  Hemo enhancements for blood flow
  Hawkeye implants for eyes
  Advanced Medical Implant
  Scentzy
  Injected Nanotech upgrades
  
  
  
• Shadow Sanctuary - Enterprise

The pulse deepened beneath the decking. Connel felt it before he saw the door. The corridor widened slightly as it approached the bulkhead — a heavy durasteel slab frozen half-closed, leaving only a thin seam of light spilling across the floor like a blade.

He slowed.

The machine’s rhythm was stronger here. Power conduits ran thick along the walls, faint blue current flowing through them in steady intervals. Reactor proximity. He crouched slightly as he approached the door, eyes scanning the seam. Something had been disturbed here. The panel beside the door hung open.

Recently.

Too recently.

His hand drifted toward the hilt at his back—

“End of the line, my secret admirer.”

Thunder erupted.
Blasterfire tore through the narrow gap in a strobing avalanche of crimson light. The corridor exploded with sound. The first bolt struck the wall inches from his shoulder, molten durasteel spraying outward like sparks from a forge. The next carved a glowing line across the deck where his boot had been half a heartbeat earlier. Connel moved. Not back.

Forward.

The moment the first bolt flashed he had already pivoted, dropping low and rolling across the corridor floor as the next barrage slammed into the wall behind him. The scream-tuned blasters filled the tunnel with cannon-like thunder, each flash burning the Duros’s silhouette into the dark like a holodrama villain stepping from smoke.

Red eyes.

Twin pistols.

Controlled fire.

Professional.

Connel slid behind a thick coolant conduit just as another volley tore past. The pipe shuddered under the impacts, hot fragments of durasteel clattering across the floor around him.

He drew “Day”.

The Sovereign Gold blade ignited with a sharp crack of ambient energy that cut through the muzzle flashes like a second lightning storm. Not to charge. To see. The blade’s glow revealed the seam in the bulkhead and the shape beyond it — the Duros braced behind the narrow gap, pistols extended through the opening like fangs.

Clever.

Narrow field of fire.

Hard cover.

And the scream setting meant the corridor itself was working for him — noise, flash, confusion. Another volley hammered toward him. Connel angled the blade. Two bolts deflected upward into the ceiling. One skipped sideways and detonated against the wall.

The fourth clipped the edge of the conduit beside him and burst into a spray of molten fragments that rattled across his armor. He exhaled slowly. Annoyance flickered across his thoughts.

Not anger.

Just that same cold irritation from earlier. You again, he muttered under the thunder of the pistols. The vault pulsed. Besh phase beginning somewhere nearby. Heavy actuators groaned deep within the walls as the facility began sealing sections behind them.

Connel watched the rhythm of the blaster fire. Not the man. The pattern. Three shots. Half-beat pause. Two shots.

Flash.

Flash.

Flash— He smiled faintly. Then he moved. Not charging the door. Instead he stepped sideways and slammed his free hand against the exposed terminal panel beside the bulkhead. The vault reacted instantly. The power grid surged as the phase shift redistributed current through the section. The damaged door motor spasmed under the sudden load.

With a violent metallic scream the bulkhead lurched another six inches open. Just enough to change the geometry of the fight. Just enough to break the Duros’s perfect firing lane.
Connel stepped into the widening gap, golden blade snapping up to catch the next bolt in a spray of sparks. Across the threshold the Duros stood framed in flickering emergency lights, pistols still blazing.

Red eyes.

Twin guns.

And a grin that said he was enjoying this. Connel tilted his head slightly. You know, he said calmly over the echoing thunder of the corridor, I was hoping it was you.

The vault pulsed again.

And now they were both inside the machine’s heart.

Sela Basran • Meri Vale • @Nyl Shar'synda • Andromeda Demir

Personal Effects - Omega Squad Loadouts​

 

[Sela Basran]

THE MERIDIAN VAULT
GARAGE ENTRY
​

The vault reshaped itself as they watched. Doors shut, shutters closed, bridges retracted overhead, gantries swung back into default positions. Ahead, the droids patrolled near the singular exit to the north. Doorways occasionally interrupted the walls on left and right -- or what looked like doorways. They might have been alcoves or dark crates that Sela wasn't able to clearly distinguish in the dim light.

The rhythm of the power was different. It felt more intense now. "I think we can leave the gallery to anyone in it for the time being," Sela said, reaching out into the Force for a sense of it. "Which is, for the moment, no one. But if you see anything that might be of use to them, do not keep it to yourself. Your instincts are good. I think we may need to rely on them. Stay to the shadows for the moment. I am going to see to these droids. I do not think we can pass them unnoticed."

She darted forward, keeping to the shadows between the rusted out hulks of vehicles. The best bet would be to get the jump on them before they had a chance to react. If she could disrupt their ability to communicate with the rest of the facility, in theory she could stop them from increasing the security posture deeper in the vault.

The older woman crept along, hugging one wall that had become shadowed by a disused tarp, slipping between it and the wall, allowing it to cover her as it gently breezed in the cycling air like a banner. Her footfalls were deceptively silent for a woman of her age. People wouldn't know that about her; for as much as she looked like someone's slightly befuddled old auntie, Sela Basran was not to be trifled with.

The end of the makeshift tunnel made by the tarp was approaching and Sela paused, peering out. She opened herself up to the Force, trying to sense the droids. She sensed energy shifts more than the presence of the droids themselves, but that was enough. When the hole in the patrol presented itself, Sela darted through the tunnel exit and behind a crumbling wall against which a trio of heavy, industrial shelves had dominoed before coming to an uneasy resting place. Sela shifted, moved -- and her foot caught on a bracket that had been buried in the sand. She winced, jerked, landed hard against the wall.

It wasn't much, but it was enough. The disturbance caused the last vestiges of strength in the crumbling wall to give. Sela sensed it before she heard it, threw herself out of the way with more vigor than grace, ending up in a flexible crouch. And since the shelves were a more immediate danger to her than the security droids, she hadn't calculated where they had been in the moment, so they were looking directly at her.

"HALT!" the droid bellowed, its voice all sharp angles and computer, garbled by age and sand in speakers, as it pointed its staff at her. The other droid raised its blaster and immediately began to fire.

Sela's lightsaber was in her hand before the first droid spoke, its verdant green plasma blade snap-hissing to life, efficient as you please, before the second droid fired its first shot. She easily deflected the first volley, though not back to the droid. She reached into the Force, gave the blaster a yank with it. The droid's grip was too sure, but it struggled on sand as much as anyone else, and the change in inertia sent it to the ground, and it busied itself getting back on its feet.

Meanwhile, the droid with the staff came in range, sending a wicked thrust at Sela's middle. The Jedi Master turned, used her blade to slice through the staff -- no, not cut through, since it was phrik. Instead, sparks flew and it acted as a parry before Sela riposted a hard slash at the droid's shoulder. The machines were reinforced -- armored, almost -- but building them entirely out of phrik would have been cost-prohibitive. The blow sizzled through a quarter inch of armor before the droid swung again, catching Sela on the thigh with a thud. The Jedi Master grunted and drew her blade back, using both hands to make an exaggerated push, summoning the Force to give her movement authority and weight. The staff-droid make a comical squawking sound as it was lifted from the ground and flung into the remains of a truck behind it.

The other droid had managed to get to one knee, and was bringing its blaster to bear on her. Sela lunged, sliced through the blaster, rendering it useless. The droid didn't get the memo, kept pulling the trigger, until -- with a rising whine of protest -- the power back rapidly overheated and burst. Sela had turned, prepared to move, but not quickly enough. Superheated plasma exploded, and despite her best effort to shield, she felt painful burns in her back where small bits of debris had bitten through her cloak and tunic, leaving half a dozen cigarette-burn-sized holes with matching burns beneath them.

Not ideal.

Not life-threatening.

Sela turned; the droid was mostly slag now, and it wasn't moving. Good. She turned to the other droid, which was trying to free itself from the wreckage of the truck. The Jedi Master seized the Force, gathered it and with some exertion folded the rusted metal of the truck around the droid, trapping it there. When she approached, its legs were still kicking. Sela needed to disable its motivator, to stop it from communicating with the vault, if it hadn't already. She cut through the truck, finding the droid's head, and let the plasma of her blade do its work, until the noises the droid made died and its feet stopped kicking. It was well and truly lobotomized, then.

Panting with the exertion of it all, Sela deactivated her blade and turned back to Meri Vale . She raised a hand and called in a voice as loud as she dared -- really a stage whisper -- "I think it is safe now. Come. The cycle is coming and I want us to get through this next door."

Meri Vale | Vonto Slim | Connel Vanagor | Reid Brimarch

​

 

[Vonto Slim]

/:/ Tag: Sela Basran Meri Vale ( Nearby )
__________________________________________________________________________​

Vonto's smile grew more pronounced as the bulkhead screeched open another half-meter, aided by Connel Vanagor . It was wider than necessary, but just enough for him to kick the secondary terminal with his boot to fully open the chamber as the durasteel slab groaned in protest as its ancient servos grinded against centuries of rust and neglect.

Blue emergency lighting illuminated the chamber as the Duros swiftly repositioned himself, pivoting on his heel. His wide-brimmed hat reflected the light from a shadowy corner of the room while he holstered his right pistol with a practiced snap. Meanwhile, his left hand remained poised, the vambrace softly humming with stored with many surprises.

He noticed the slightly charred armor the man had on; the singed edges confirmed his suspicion that he was being followed, and it was now clear that it was a Jedi...a troublesome group of monks who always seemed to disrupt the lives of respectable mercenaries like him.

"If you're after an autograph, kid, I'm all out of those," Vonto remarked with a sigh, pressing a button on the vambrace's trigger plate.

A hiss. A plume.

The Undergauntlet Integrated Droid Carbonite Emitter spat a wide arc of freezing mist, not aimed at the Jedi but at the space between them. It hit the deck with a crystalline crackle, expanding rapidly into a jagged barrier two meters high, irregular spikes jutting like frozen thorns. Opaque gray, it shimmered under the blue lights, blocking direct line of sight while the vault's humid air fed the freeze, thickening it by the second.

Not impenetrable but enough to give Vonto the breath he needed.

 

[Meri Vale]

Meri had remained exactly where Sela had instructed, tucked deep into the safety of the shadows. From her vantage point, half-hidden behind the rusted, skeletal flank of an ancient vehicle, she watched the gallery above them begin to shift with a tired, mechanical reluctance. The bridges withdrew in a heavy, staggered motion, catwalks folding back into the stone walls like limbs being drawn inward. Automatically, her mind began to map the sequence: the left span first, then the central crosspiece, all moving in a distinct northbound progression.

The rhythm vibrating beneath her boots felt stronger now, pulsing with a deep, resonant thrum as if the building's mechanical lungs had finally started working in earnest. When Sela eventually moved, Meri did not immediately follow; instead, she remained still, her eyes tracking the older woman's careful progress through the treacherous maze of scrap and shadow. When the wall began to crumble, the sudden, grinding roar of the collapse made Meri's shoulders tense long before the dust had even settled.

The droid's voice, cold and authoritative, sliced through the chamber with a single command: HALT.

The blaster fire that followed was a violent explosion of light, bright enough to paint the entire room in a searing shade of crimson for a terrifying instant. Meri flinched instinctively, ducking lower behind the vehicle's metal frame with one hand gripping the rusted edge so tightly that her knuckles turned a stark, bloodless white. She didn't scream or run, but her heart hammered against her ribs as she tried to make sense of the chaos—the sharp whine of blaster bolts striking metal, the distinctive snap-hiss of Sela's lightsaber, and the heavy, bone-jarring crash of machinery being thrown across the room.

Through the din, Meri forced herself to listen the way she would study a building settling after an earthquake: identifying the structure first, then the motion, and finally, the silence. When the sharp crack of the overheated blaster echoed off the walls, she squeezed her eyes shut for a jagged half-second, and when she opened them, she found Sela still standing while the droid was nothing more than a ruined heap.

Exhaling a breath she hadn't realized she was holding, Meri rose carefully from her hiding spot. Her boots crunched softly in the thin layer of sand as she moved toward her companion, her gaze already sweeping the room to confirm what her ears were already telling her. The vault was shifting again, and a deeper, more ominous mechanical groan was beginning to roll through the foundations.

"The power is building again," she said quietly, her voice low and urgent as she reached Sela's side. "It's the same pattern as before, but the cycle is moving faster now. If the next phase seals this section, we might find ourselves trapped without a way to force the doors back open."

Her eyes flicked briefly toward the ceiling, where the next section of catwalk was already beginning its retraction, but then her focus dropped to the dark, angry burns on Sela's back. A flash of sincere concern crossed her face, momentarily overriding her technical focus. "Are you hurt badly?" she asked softly. Even as the question left her lips, her attention was already splitting: listening intently for the next shift in pressure and the grinding of hidden gears that would signal exactly how much time they had left before the building reshaped itself once more.

Sela Basran Andromeda Demir Connel Vanagor Reid Brimarch

 

[Connel Vanagor]

FINDERS OF A MISPLACED VAULT
MERIDIAN
VAULT

Omega Squad Every Day Gear Locations

• Michael, Gabriel, Azrael, Sariel, Raphael, Jeremiel, Connel, Raguel
  [Any text in brackets signifies comm-link usage and not face to face conversation]
• 
  Rides
  
  • "Enterprise" Station Ship
  • Null Vector
  • Speederbike
  • Iron Psalm
  Gear/Armor
  
  
  • Gear(“Bodycam” Datapad, UAD Drone, and Nanotech included)
  • Lightblaster
  • Shortsabers (“Night” and “Day”)
  • Throwing Lightknives
  • Force Blinding Flashbangs
  SURGICAL - CRYBERNETIC IMPLANTS
  
  • Repli Implants that would be for the limbs
  • Bonemer enhancements to strengthen structure of the body
  • Muscle enhancements.
  • Hemo enhancements for blood flow
  • Hawkeye implants for eyes
  • Advanced Medical Implant
  • Scentzy
  • Injected Nanotech upgrades
• Shadow Sanctuary - Enterprise

The hiss of freezing propellant rolled across the chamber.

Connel watched the carbonite plume bloom outward as the emitter struck the floor. The reaction was immediate. Frost spider-webbed across the decking, erupting into jagged grey spines that grew upward in a chaotic wall between them.

A barrier.

Not permanent.

But effective.

The carbonite thickened as it touched the humid air, crystallizing into an opaque barricade that swallowed the Duros from view. For a moment the chamber was quiet again except for the deep mechanical pulse of the vault. Cresh fading. Aurek returning.

Connel lowered his blade slightly, Golden light washing over the frost wall. He exhaled. This man was good.

Very good.

Flamethrower. Misdirection. Sound traps. Blinding muzzle theatrics. Carbonite barrier. Every move bought him seconds. Seconds were currency in places like this. But the Force whispered something else now. Not from the Duros. From above. Other presences moving through the vault.

Jedi.

Closer than they should be. The thought made his jaw tighten. Not fear. Something older. Vanagor instinct. His father had called it vigilance. Other Jedi had called it paranoia. Connel simply called it responsibility. He tilted his head slightly toward the frost barrier.

Alright, he said quietly.

Not to the Duros. To the situation. The Force flowed outward. Not violently. Not like a hammer. Like pressure. He extended his hand toward the carbonite wall. And instead of shattering it—

He pulled.

The vault responded instantly.

The nearby coolant conduits groaned as the Force nudged them just enough to fracture the brittle carbonite where it met the heated deck plating. Thermal tension spread through the frozen barrier like cracks across lake ice. A sharp CRACK snapped through the chamber. Then another. The carbonite spikes shuddered. And collapsed sideways in a brittle avalanche of frozen shards.

Not toward Connel.

Toward the Duros.

At the same moment Connel reached out again, this time not to the barrier but to the bulkhead door motor beside it. The ancient servos screamed. The door lurched fully open with a grinding roar that echoed through the chamber. No more narrow corridor. No more cover geometry. The entire antechamber was exposed now.

Blue emergency lights flickered across the room as carbonite fragments skittered across the floor like shattered glass. Connel stepped forward through the drifting frost mist.

His blade hummed softly at his side, the reverse grip like a menacing spike coming out of his arm. Not raised. Not threatening.

Just ready.

He looked toward where the Duros had repositioned. You’re good, he said evenly. No sarcasm. Just acknowledgment.

Then his eyes shifted briefly toward the ceiling as he felt the other Jedi presences approaching through the vault corridors. His gaze returned to the Duros.

But we’re finished buying time. The Force tightened subtly around the chamber. Not crushing.

Just… present.

Like gravity had increased by a fraction. Enough that the Duros would feel it. Enough to remind him that this had been a game of seconds. And the seconds had run out.

Connel lifted his blade slightly in front of him. Your move.

Sela Basran • Meri Vale • @Nyl Shar'synda • Andromeda Demir

Personal Effects - Omega Squad Loadouts​

 

[Vonto Slim]

/:/ Tag: Sela Basran Meri Vale ( Nearby )
__________________________________________________________________________​

Vonto's smile faded a bit when Connel Vanagor effortlessly shattered the carbonite wall, causing shards to cascade sideways like an avalanche directed right at him. With barely a moment to spare, he threw himself behind the closest support pillar. The durasteel column took the brunt of the hit, with some parts embedding into it with muted thuds, while others burst apart into sparkling dust that scattered across the deck around his feet.

A few grazed his protective jacket, slicing shallow depressions that stung like ice burns, but nothing vital. He pressed his back flat against the cold metal, breath steady, crimson eyes darting for the next play.

The antechamber was fully open now, the bulkhead retracted as the blue lights stuttered overhead, casting shadows as frost mist swirled in the humid air. Vonto felt the subtle press of... something. Gravity? The air itself? It weighed on his shoulders, a nagging reminder that this wasn't just a human with a glowstick, it was a Jedi, bending the rules of the universe to his whim.

He looked toward where the Duros had repositioned. You’re good, he said evenly. No sarcasm. Just acknowledgment.

Vonto's thin lips twisted under the brim of his hat. Compliments from a monk. How touching.

He peeked the edge of the pillar, pistol still in his left hand, vambrace humming with untapped options. The Jedi stood there, blade humming low in a reverse grip, golden light cutting through the mist like a beacon. Above, his sharp hearing caught the faint echoes of more boots and voices filtering down from the upper corridors of the Vault.

Like gravity had increased by a fraction. Enough that the Duros would feel it. Enough to remind him that this had been a game of seconds. And the seconds had run out.

Connel lifted his blade slightly in front of him. Your move.

Vonto exhaled through his nostrils, mind slicing through variables like a vibro-blade through plasteel. Direct shot? Deflected. Charge? Suicide. The catwalks below beckoned, suspended over the reactor abyss, leading to the spines and the terminal he needed. But to get there, he'd need another distraction. Something bigger than carbonite or blaster theatrics.

"You haven't seen all my tricks" Vonto rasped, voice carrying just enough to taunt. "Let me teach you something."

A single tap of a button on his vambrace was enough to activate his Rocket Boots, propelling himself into the high rafters of the chamber. He seized the railing to pull himself up, then unleashed a barrage of covering fire with the pistol in his hand.

 

[Connel Vanagor]

FINDERS OF A MISPLACED VAULT
MERIDIAN
VAULT

Omega Squad Every Day Gear Locations

• Michael, Gabriel, Azrael, Sariel, Raphael, Jeremiel, Connel, Raguel
  [Any text in brackets signifies comm-link usage and not face to face conversation]
• 
  Rides
  
  • "Enterprise" Station Ship
  • Null Vector
  • Speederbike
  • Iron Psalm
  Gear/Armor
  
  
  • Gear(“Bodycam” Datapad, UAD Drone, and Nanotech included)
  • Lightblaster
  • Shortsabers (“Night” and “Day”)
  • Throwing Lightknives
  • Force Blinding Flashbangs
  SURGICAL - CRYBERNETIC IMPLANTS
  
  • Repli Implants that would be for the limbs
  • Bonemer enhancements to strengthen structure of the body
  • Muscle enhancements.
  • Hemo enhancements for blood flow
  • Hawkeye implants for eyes
  • Advanced Medical Implant
  • Scentzy
  • Injected Nanotech upgrades
  
  
  
• Shadow Sanctuary - Enterprise

The rocket boots ignited with a sharp roar.

Vonto shot upward toward the rafters, coat flaring behind him as his hand caught the rail. The moment his boots cleared the edge the pistol came up again, crimson bolts hammering downward into the chamber.

Thunder cracked through the room. Flash. Flash. Flash.

Connel didn’t move immediately.

The bolts screamed toward him—and slowed. Not dramatically. Not visibly enough for anyone watching from afar to call it sorcery.

Just enough.

The air in front of him thickened under the quiet pressure of the Force. Blaster bolts bent slightly off their line, splashing against the deck and the reactor conduits behind him in bright bursts of molten light. One DID hit him in the shoulder, and the impact stung, but it did not move him.

He stood there, one hand raised loosely, “Day” angled(reverse grip) low in the other.

Almost casual.

Another bolt struck the invisible pressure field and deflected into the floor beside him with a crack. He tilted his head slightly. Sure, Connel replied calmly over the thunder of the pistol.

Just let me know when you have something to teach. A flash lit the rafters again. The Duros silhouette danced across the metal above, hat brim catching the emergency lighting like a knife edge.

Connel studied the pattern.

Rocket thrust. Balance shift. Three shots. Reposition. Professional. But predictable.

You asked earlier, Connel added, voice steady as another volley hissed past his shoulder. If I wanted an autograph...

He glanced up toward the rafters. Still deciding if it matters, I don't even know who you are..

His free hand moved to his chest harness. A small cylinder slipped between his fingers. The lightknife ignited with a sharp white spark as he flicked it into motion. He didn’t throw it straight. He threw it wide. The blade spun across the chamber like a skipping stone of light—

—and then the Force caught it.

Mid-flight. The trajectory bent sharply upward. Not toward the Duros. Toward the rocket boot. The blade streaked toward the thruster assembly with surgical precision. If his aim was true, Slim could still counter or dodge, it was not a feint, but it was not all he was doing.

Connel moved at the same moment.

Two quick strides carried him to the wall beside the bulkhead. His cybernetics answered the impulse instantly. Boot hit durasteel. One step. Two—

Then he kicked off the wall, vaulting sideways across the chamber as another burst of blasterfire tore through the space he’d occupied, Slim had the high ground. Why WOULDN’T he use it?

Midair, Connel’s hand snapped forward.

A short, compact Lightblaster barked once in reply.

Not a barrage.

Just a single answering shot.

Across the chamber, the vault’s power pulse rolled through the structure again, emergency lights flickering as Aurek phase surged into the section.

Connel landed lightly, blade humming in his reverse grip, holstering his Lightblaster. He looked up toward the rafters again. You like theatrics, he called up.

A faint smirk tugged at the corner of his mouth. I can work with that.

Above them the maintenance chamber vibrated as the reactor systems cycled deeper into the vault. And somewhere overhead—

The faint sound of other Jedi moving through the corridors grew closer.

The game was changing.

And Vonto Slim was starting to learn that the man below him wasn’t just another monk with a glowstick. Either way, he would not come out of here with anything other than his health… unless he pushed his luck further.

Sela Basran • Meri Vale • @Nyl Shar'synda • Andromeda Demir

Personal Effects - Omega Squad Loadouts​