Session export: Uskil: Uncharted III [Envoy Corps]

Remy decided it best to not broach the topic of chain of command. She felt she had a grasp of where all of her… allies stood in comparison to each other, but Darkness hung like a miasma around them, especially the tall woman. She felt like filth made flesh to Remys Senses. People like this tended to bristle at the idea that someone had authority over them without some barbaric blood combat, and Remy certainly already knew her place.

At the bottom, as usual.

It didn’t matter. Duke Draconis was here, so she could just follow his lead and hopefully she would get through all of this without being used for some Sith sacrificial ritual.

Remy was doing her best to follow in Mousa’s path, trusting more to their pathfinding skills than to her own ability to sneak. The uniforms unnatural coloring was barely not quite stark against the foliage, which almost made her regret wearing it. Almost.

“Is there anything we are trying to save? Data, specimens, prisoners? Or are we just confirming destruction of everything?”

Even though Aphotis was intimately familiar with Uskil by now, the variety of the area still made every visit feel new and exciting. When you are as tall, slender and dark side infused as her, there’s little nature can do to stop you. Dense grass? Trample it. Trees? Slip between them or cut them down altogether. Rocks? Pin your heels in them for that extra grip, or shatter them.

Subtlety? A great test for the ones surrounding the black-clad Sith. The hissing produced by her mask alone was enough to get twitches from the rest of the team. It gave her great pleasure feeling that chill down her spine whenever someone gave her a glance. Gazes were always answered with an immediate response from her aura—tendrils of inky darkness whipping back to amplify that same sensation, but laden with deep rooted fear and a strange allure for those who were susceptible to it. A gift bestowed merely by being present.

Some of the greatest challenges had presented themselves on Uskil and it always made the tall woman come back for more—especially when the area was uncharted, nothing enraptured the long-tailed witch more than collecting new experiences fraught with danger. .

Behind a domed visor, electric-blue framed by sharp liner scanned over the team. She was going to see Alex Draconis in action, that was bound to be amusing, they were nothing alike, but, somehow, they did seem to see eye to eye about a fair few things—now to find out if he was all talk, or offered more to back himself up.

The Lieutenant Colonel Losa was here too, likely for his medically inclined skills that he was listed as in the Taldryan’s personnel files. The wrinkles and tan on his face showed experience, or a lack of skincare, Aphotis wasn’t sure. It always surprised her how the most qualified seemed to neglect their own temples the most.

The white furred Mousa, where did she hear, or read that name before? If Darth Amorak appointed them, however, it must have been for a good reason.

Rasilvenaira StormRaven was right next to them, it was somehow hard to pick up on her, like the wind, a ripple in the shadows, or a bird of prey. The picture fit her name, though. Easy to miss, yet likely detrimental to do so.

Then there was one like nettle, a pale, dark-haired woman with bright crimson eyes, there was nothing that clicked about this one. She had an aura that burnt away at her second skin like star-light itself, but so much more subdued. The Sith was going to have to loom over this one if she had the chance. Aphotis ran over the Envoy files via her HUD, Remalia Manvar.

’Jedi’.

She felt her cheeks press against the nose-cup of her mask as she grinned, feeling the compressed air she inhaled heat up. Her tail flicked wildly from one side to the other.

This was going to be a fun ride.

Narman tugged at the collar of his armor gently while he listened to the troupe discuss the mission. It had been some time since he needed to use this set, and even after having it tailored to account for his extra mass, a few sections were still a little snug. He eyed his squad members out of his periphery with fluctuating levels of curiosity and suspicion, watching their individual movements and mannerisms carefully. He was unfamiliar with most of them, but being thrust into a new team with little information was nothing new for the Doctor. Since joining the Taldryan Republic, and by extension the Brotherhood, the teams had only gotten more diverse. Even the ‘witch’(though he was still uncomfortable with the term, however accurate it may be) Aphotis, who he had seen on occasion in the Senate chambers on Port Kasiya, was an enigma far beyond his own capabilities of understanding. He found it was best in these situations to fall back into his military training: follow orders and don’t ask questions.

Rasilvenaira stayed near Mousa, easily keeping pace with them. She was dressed in all black and had her hair tied back in a ponytail to keep it out of her face. A trained assassin, she’d learned the art of stealth and subtlety from an young age. A veteran of many conflicts, she had served Scholae Palatinae well for almost two decades. Still, her wits were as sharp as her well honed daggers. Keen dark eyes studied her team mates when they paused to discuss mission details.

Death and destruction was nothing new to her, and she had come prepared to hold up her end of the mission. She stayed focused, the mission was simple. Just as Mousa had said, ‘This hunt ends today.’ The thrill of the hunt had always been the best part of her occupation. Though sometimes she did claim to be retired, it didn’t take much persuading to get her to join a mission like this. It was dangerous, yes. But it would also be exciting, and the thought of finally achieving the goal of ending this mad scientist overshadowed the danger.

The taste of a hard earned victory was always sweet. Glancing at her team mates again, she knew some of them by reputation, others were unknown to her beyond their basic introductions. Still, she would do her best to help them all stay alive, while doing so for herself as well, naturally. Years spent as a thief and assassin had helped her develop a very strong sense of self preservation.

She tilted her head to glance up at the sky, it was clear. Clouds would have offered more shadows for cover. However, she’d managed to hone her uncanny ability of shadow walking to an art form, and day or night, she’d find any shadow to hide in that she could. Finally, she looked back to Mousa, arching one brow in question. The objective was clear, what was left to discuss? They needed to get moving.

Alex strode confidently through the forested area, the matte black of his armor sometimes seeming to meld with the sparse shadows afforded by the tree-lined canopy. Honor and Glory were slung loosely at his hips, ready to be drawn swiftly at the first sign of danger. Every sense and tool he had at his disposal was on high alert as they came closer toward the last known position of their target, doubly-so because among this team was one of his own. While Remalia had not been under his command for long, to Alex one day or one decade made little difference - his people were his people.

A slight smile broke through beneath the helmet as Remalia spoke up, focused and professional as always. While this was their first time working together on a mission, the young Echani’s reputation far preceded her from the reports he received from his subordinates.

Glancing over the rest of the team, Alex considered. While he had not yet had a chance to interact with Aphotis in anything but a social setting, he had the sense that she was more than capable. Among the others, he had even less familiarity. He recognized in one of them the bearing of a man with a career of military service, and the other moved with the practiced silence and grace of a trained shadow. If push came to shove, it didn’t seem like he’d have to carry the fight himself it seemed, though as usual it seemed like he may have to provide the bulwark to prevent any heavy hitters which may be among Watenka’s monsters.

“Wonderful day for a pleasant stroll through the woods, is it not?” The convivial tone of his voice stood in stark contrast to the impending seriousness of the situation.

A flock of remotes gathered around the large Spider Probe Eye-ronic and slipped under its triangular wings. The droid took a moment to gather the data from each of its children, before it searched for a safe crevice to hide in between the storm-ridden border and that of the arid and dry part of Uskil.

Flickering crimson light radiated off an exclamation mark on the Sith’s HUD. Aphotis swiped through the various images using nothing more but brain-waves rippling through the Force.

‘Ah, those bulbous blaster-soaking floaters again. I should have expected them,‘ she returned her appreciation for Eye-ronic’s assistance via binary.

With little caution the tall woman walked up to the white-furred Mousa and exhaled.

Hiss

Judging by the twitch and fur standing up, it seemed to catch their attention.

“There are a few patrolling ID-EG-0’s on the perimeter. From what I recall, they tend to be quite the meatshields, minus the actual shields. Hit them hard and fast, that will do it.”

“I need to acquire a better vantage point to survey the field.” Narman grunted in response to his two squadmates before approaching a nearby tree. Where some may have droids or the Force to aid them in scouting, the Lieutenant Colonel had only his eyes. He tested the first few branches for stability before beginning his ascent. Climbing was a regular part of his fitness regime, so he made short work of the challenge. Once he had reached a sufficient height, he wrapped his legs around the trunk for balance and retrieved his macrobinoculars from his pack. Scanning the target location, he first noticed the defense droids that Aphotis had already identified. Combating droids was never his strongest trait, so he hoped the other members of his squad were better suited for taking them out. In the center of the clearing sat a terminal attached to a power converter. No, something else. Narman zoomed his macrobinoculars in closer and could see that the wires weren’t actually attaching in the correct locations to the terminal. Beneath it, he could just make out a faint seam. Content with his information, he quickly scurried back down the tree to brief his team.

“I’ve identified the likely entry point. In the center of the clearing there is an access hatch disguised as an auxiliary power converter.”

“All well and good for how tough they might be,” Alex’s casual drawl came out in a low rumble as he attempted to keep the volume down so as to not draw an alert from the droids, “but there is a pretty clear path through them. They have limited sensor range, and whoever designated their patrol paths is far from a tactical genius.” As the droids proceeded on their patrol loop, Alex slowly moved his hand about, indicating the clear path the group could take to slip through unnoticed.

“If we are precise in our timing, we can make it to that access hatch without having to engage.” Such a suggestion coming from a heavily armored Mandalorian drew a couple confused looks, a response Alex had grown more than used to over the years.

“True supremacy in the art of war is to defeat your enemy without having to fight,” was the only explanation offered.

As the others move to speak to droids or slink off into the underbrush, Remy stands completely still. A bit away from the clearing edge, there was a small opening in the damp leaves that revealed one of the drones, slowly hovering in circles, keeping it’s silent vigil over the entrance to the lab.

She had seen plenty of drones like this before, but these were… different. She could almost feel them. Her usually flat gaze narrowed as she willed the Force to let her see the irregularities of these things. Augmented. Imbued. These were not normal, but with a thought, she picked out a single part and blinked.

Stepping over to her Duke, she laid a hand on his shoulder before he could busy himself as well.

“Your Grace, the antennae and transmitter on the tops of the domes are vestigial. A strike to the eye cameras will disable their ability to call for reinforcements, as well as their sight. The hulls are otherwise reinforced, and may not be destroyed in a single blow.”

Report given, in a voice low enough that only Alex could hear, Remy stepped back into her hidden place, waiting for the order to move.

“Though I would prefer to avoid combat with the defense droids if possible, it does not seem likely. One or two may be able to infiltrate without detection, but the odds become increasingly worse as the group size increases.” Narman said in a hushed tone, turning his gaze toward Alex. “If a fight must be had, surely it would be better to attack preemptively? Once we reveal ourselves we will need to move quickly to prevent our target from escaping.”

Alex sighed and leaned his helmeted head against his hand. He thought he had been quite clear, but there was just no helping some people.

“If you are so thoroughly determined to find an excuse to attack the droids and alert our prey before we even set foot in the facility, then by all means go ahead and I will not stop you. I will even lend my talents to the assault. But at the same time I assure you the path I laid out is completely clear of the patrol routes of these sentries, so unless there is some other means of detection set up - a possibility I do admit is not entirely unlikely - if we just stick to the plan a small group like ours could easily slip through unnoticed to the hatch you indicated. There are six of us, it is not like I am suggesting we sneak in a battalion.”

Rasilvenaira listened to the two men and rolled her eyes at them and then turned to the rest of the team.

She spoke in a sharp whisper, “If we stand here all night arguing over what path we’re taking we might as well go walk out there naked and give it all away right now. If we can get past the droids to the access hatch without engaging the droids, then let’s get moving. Otherwise we’re going to have to make fighting them damned quick because the second we give up our presence, we start the timer on how fast we get to the target before she gets away again. Make the decision and stick to the plan.”

She pulled the hood of her cloak further over her head to shadow her face. Then she seemed to vanish into thin air, only to reappear next to Mousa.

Electric-blue eyes glinted with a wild, unsettling gleam. Aphotis pitied the droid with mocking laughter that was only emphasized by the muffled modulation and hissing of air from her facemask. A few steps of her long legs placed her right before the ID-EG-0, looking down at it with disdain.

She did not wish to find out if it could miss point blank, so she placed her large hand on the blaster and ripped it clean off. A pinata of wiring spilled out and the tall woman used it to pull at its internals. The sad, weeping beeps and boops made it enjoyable for her to extend the suffering for longer than necessary. There was a method to the sadism and madness. While its hull was being torn apart, the pieces that came out were dropped, neatly and color coded, each module separated from the other.

The best part about the hands-on approach here was that she could feel everything, and she hoped that illustrious connection to the Force was included in that as well.

Narman ran low and quick, clearing the opening and sliding behind a gathering of rocks and brush adjacent to the terminal. Two of his squadmates filed in behind him, but loud clanging of metal from their Mandalorian ally alerted him to a wrench in the plan. He turned back to look just in time to see three of the droids closing in. Without skipping a beat, the Lieutenant Colonel stood and vaulted over the rock in front of him. He whipped his blaster pistol from its holster, leveled its sights on the glowing red eye, and depressed the trigger, exhaling in unison with the bolt firing.

Rasilvenaira remained cloaked as she moved from her place by the bushes. Narman and Alex seemed to have things in hand. So she shifted her position to support Remalia in case she was needed and if she got an opening against their foe she’d take it.

The droid seemed to somehow sense her through the cloaking, turning its red eye on her. She chuckled and dropped her cloak and ignited both of her silver bladed lightsabers, dropping into a ready stance. She glanced at Remalia and hoped the girl would take advantage of her distracting the droid.

Remy had never been good at stealth. Her goal had always been as little death as possible, and she found that enemies in the back line tended to surrender if you were loud and violent enough with the enemies in the front. Regardless, the Duke wanted it quiet, so she would do her best. That made it incredibly poetic when she turned around to see him surrounded as a result of his heavy armor.

As always, Remy moved into action without a sound or pause, reaching to the small of her back to pull out her blaster with her right hand and her saber with her left, which ignited with a hiss and a flash of pale blue light. Firing a few shots at one, more to take its attention than to actually wound it, she was passable at best with ranged weapons, she lept to spear another through the eye with the glowing blade. It speared neatly through the center eye, but the reinforced and Force infused hull threatened to test her grip, so she kicked off the droid.

It didn’t fall. Somehow she had stabbed the thing all the way through but hadn’t hit anything actually important. Her eyes narrowed and she moved in as close as possible to both give it and the others difficulty on getting a bead on her.

The instant the droids turned hostile, the twin blasters were in Alex’s hands almost as if they had teleported there. The swiftness of movement and readiness was a thing that could only have come from a long history of battle, an instinct of violence burned deep into the soul.

Barely sparing a glance at the readouts within his helmet feeding him targeting data his arms swung about with an ease and grace that seemed to belie his earlier lumbering which had caused this situation in the first place. A gentle squeeze of a firing stud and a bolt of ripping hot Tibanna gas erupted forth from the mouth of Glory, sizzling through the air and just over the shoulder of Remalia. It flew close enough that the slight hairs on the side of her face curled back from the heat as the blaster bolt headed toward its target.

Not even pausing to confirm the hit, Alex was already shifting his weight, depressing the small button on Honor to send the last bolt’s twin toward the unharangued droid still somehow believing itself capable of menace despite the events of the last few seconds.

“While I do appreciate the backup, please do not hurl yourself into danger on my account.” Even though his helmet hid his features, his tone of voice carried clear the borderline irritating grin which must be plastered across his face at the moment. “I may be getting on in my years, but I can still more than hold my own in a scrap, and wager I can take a wallop and bounce back at least as good if not better than you can.” He spun his blasters in opposite directions around his trigger fingers as he slipped back into an easy ready position. “And stow the ‘Your Grace’ shit, at least on the battlefield if not permanently. Right now I am just another ground-pounder, same as anyone else.” <@147021450706944000>

As Remys floating cover collapsed in a wreck in front of her, she smoothly transferred her attention to the other two drones, which both already seemed to be sputtering.

“As you wish, my lord,” she directed at Alex, “But danger is where my purpose lies.”

Under the blaster fire and small explosions of glass and metal, she had no idea if he heard her. However, as she marked the last two drones in her mind, she noticed a whir coming from the downed droid. A thin rising tone that she almost immediately recognized as some sort of explosive dead-mans switch. Likely the internal battery dumping into capacitors that were far too small, given that an actual purpose made explosive probably wouldn’t be giving warning like this. Regardless, it didn’t take much thought to conclude that she would just need to do what she always did in a fight; charge in and let her training and the Force sort the rest out.

Rasilvenaira closes in on the second droid aiming to slice through its hull with both sabers, but as she strikes the droid moves in a blind panic and manages to dodge her attack. She growls under her breath and mutters a curse at the droid and readies herself for another attempt.

A flash of crimson illuminated the air as a bolt flew at Narman. He dove to his right into a roll, but felt a searing heat radiate out from his shoulder as it grazed past. He continued his roll, using the momentum to pop back up to his feet. The Doctor gritted his teeth from the pain, leaning up against the platform to steady himself as he took aim once again, taking note of the explosion from the felled droid.

‘Have to take it down before it moves any closer to the others.’ Narman gripped the handle of his WLD-5 Peacekeeper tightly, squinting one eye closed as he lined the sights up with the partially damaged droid. He depressed the trigger twice more in rapid succession, a pair of bolts ripping through the glowing red eye of the droid and sending it crashing to the ground in a heap.

Remy lept forward again, lunging over the smoldering wreck of the first droid to get to the second. She stabbed again, trying for the already damaged central eye, but the drones panicked wobbling caused her to jump past it entirely. Without missing a beat, she spun, clenching her fist and casting out a heavy ball of Force beyond it, the momentum slamming the droid with an invisible backfist. It flashed to the fence and slammed into a post, crumpling the weakened shell and making it’s internal batteries burst into flame, rather than detonate.

Remy stood up from her crouched position and, Sensing no more of the imbued droids, retracted her saber with a hiss.

“Are you too injured to progress?” She asked to Narman, “I know you are a medic, but I have some bacta if you require it.”

The twin pistols were returned to their holsters with a flourish as the heavily armored Mandalorian strode toward the hatch which had just slightly popped open. Turning to face toward the rest of the group and adjusting his footing to walk backwards, he spread his arms wide with palms facing toward the sky.

“I did say if we stuck to the plan we would not draw their notice. I did not expect I would not be able to, and for that much I apologize.” Pivoting on one heel without breaking pace he made his way up to the hatch, adjusting his bracers as he examined it. “Looks like we have popped the lock alright, should not be too much trouble to make our way in now.”

Turning toward the forested area where he had seen the sparking of what he assumed to be another droid earlier, he called out. “Door is open, and we should soon be set to make our way in. Feel free to join us whenever you wish, tall, dark and spooky!” <@188018248241905664>

It did not take more than a few steps to reach the group, she was practically near the entrance anyway. Aphotis had no doubt the droids would have given the rest of them trouble. An eye twitched as she heard Alex’s call. The plan was to let the squad in on the Doctor’s whereabouts after all.

The tall woman’s tail flicked back and forth wickedly. She was not going to tell them, not even that Shelby was waiting for their arrival.

“Draconis, greetings once more.” The Sith inclined her head at him and the rest of the group to acknowledge their presence and her own re-appearance, but the eyes behind her visor were filled with anticipation as they glowed more brightly.

“Well then, take a peek, whenever.”

The black-clad woman could never resist a quality trial… and what good would that be without the element of surprise.

“Thank you, I have some here,” Narman replied, still grimacing from the wound as he used that arm to retrieve his own medpac. “Hold on to yours, we may still need it.” For a medic of his experience, it was becoming far too common that he be the one hurt during a mission. While he tended to his injury, he addressed the rest of the group as it gathered by the entrance.

“Excellent work, everyone. I knew you all were skilled, but it’s always good to see it in person.” Though he hadn’t known most of these individuals before today, just being selected for this team was a testament to one’s ability. Having multiple Force Users present didn’t hurt, either. The Lieutenant Colonel turned to Mousa and motioned towards the hatch.

“Do you have any intel on what is waiting for us down there? With the target alerted, increased resistance is likely.”

Remy steps up behind Alex again, speaking quietly.

“My lord, I have a battle droid with an excessively high powered blaster waiting just inside the woods. If it is your wish I can bring it in with us or send it back to the ship.”

She stands at parade rest, waiting for orders. It is unclear whether she didn’t understand the intention behind the Dukes order for familiarity, or if she is just being willfully ignorant. <@102435651189743616>

“Now where would be the fun in that?” Alex’s jovial tone continued to heavily conflict with the rather dangerous situation they found themselves in. He firmly gripped the hatch and pulled it the rest of the way open, peering inside and scanning with the sensor suite of his armor for what may lie beyond.

“I suppose perhaps keep it on standby in case we need assist with an extract, but if I am being perfectly honest,” he continued to rattle on as he stepped through the hatchway, “I prefer to take point myself.” He turned to look back at the rest of the team over his shoulder. “After all, what is the worst that could happen to me?”

Rasilvenaira glanced down the access shaft and around at her companions. “Well, we have to move fast, so let’s get moving. Stand here talking too long, the Doctor is going to get away, again. We can’t let that happen. So, Alex takes point, I’ll cover the rear to make sure nothing sneaks up on the rest of you.” With that, she cloaked, vanishing from sight. “I’m ready to go.”

‘More modified droids, of course.’ Narman thought to himself as he peered past his compatriots out the doorway. At the angle he stood there was only one of the droids visible, and he examined it as best he could. The weaving of organic material into its frame was astonishing, if not a little grotesque. Nothing he wasn’t used to in the field. Hopefully these droids don’t also have self destruct sequences.

“Let’s try and leave one intact, if we can.” The Doctor requested of his squadmates as he drew his blaster pistol once again. “I’d like to inspect one up close.”

As the cannon raised, Alex stepped further into the doorframe as if on instinct. He squared up, his already broad armored form seeming to almost swell to fill more space so as to ensure that no stray blaster bolt could make it past him and possibly harm someone else on this team. The yellow energy crashed against the pitch dark breastplate of his armor, dissipating harmlessly as the battle-hardened Beskar did the job it had done countless thousands of times before.

Not even acknowledging that he had taken fire, the veteran Mandalorian calmly drew his pistols which had barely had a chance to settle back into their holsters. Raising Honor he squeezed off a quick shot as he pushed forward, attempting to shove his way into the room through the droid in front of him if necessary.

Rasilvenaira uncloaked just long enough to reveal her plans to her companions with a couple quickly signed gestures. Then she vanished from sight once more to slip into the shadows of the room ahead, working her way around behind the droid. The second she got in position she lunged forward, cloak dropping as she ignited her sabers and stabbed them both through whatever part of the droid she could hit and then yanked them out hard, hoping to cause as much damage as she could both ways. Then she quickly deactivated her sabers and cloaked again to cut down the chances of a counter attack by the droid. She remained in the room however, simply moving back against the wall to be clear of any shots or attacks forthcoming by her teammates.

Narman watched his Mandalorian ally push through the door frame to engage the droids and felt the rush of wind as Rasilvenaira, hidden from sight, followed suit past him. Reluctant to get himself shot again, the Lieutenant Colonel held back for a beat, shifting over to the left to get a better vantage point into the room. One of the organically modified droids had managed to wrap its unusually strong limbs around Alex and hold him in place. Narman moved into the space, planted his feet and raised his blaster pistol, leaning against the rough wall for additional stability. He lowered the sight at the shoulder joint on the grappling droid and fired off two quick bolts. They both struck true, the first releasing the grip it had on his ally and the second ripping through the layers of metal and other questionable materials in a shower of sparks and debris.

These Rodurge droids were familiar enough, stronger, tougher and ironically more akin to meatbags. The team was doing well, so it was time to speed things up a bit. Narman was quickly becoming core to their squad as he wrested the droid loose from Alex.

“I suggest you sidestep to your left, Losa.”

It was a needless warning as Aphotis towered over him. Electricity crackled and crawled over her slender arm like a serpent as she aimed her claw at the ‘wounded’ droid. Nails turned white-hot, and destruction burst out as easily as exhaling.

Click

Clack

The Sith backpedalled non-nonchalantly as the Rodurge spasm-ed and let out warped mechanical screams, before collapsing on the floor with a loud clang.

Seeing the lightning arcing off the giantess’ fingertips, Remy wondered, not for the first time, if she was really on the right side. Surely anything supported by people- no, monsters like that deserved to be ground to dust and forgotten by time. No matter, for now the enemy was also irredeemable.

She darted forward, her saber extending again as she drew her cane in her other hand this time, instead of her pistol. Remy brought her saber down on the right elbow of the mutated battle droid as it turned to search for Ras, severing it with a hiss. Drawing her other hand back, she swung sideways with her other hand at the things knees. Her cane was basically a facy durasteel bar with a handle, so it wasn’t surprising when the left knee joint smashed hard enough to fly apart, and the other was deformed enough to barely bend.

Remy almost turned to face the others when she heard a high, grating voice from the piece of metal, which had apparently caught itself on its knees with its one remaining hand.

“W-haAT Iss withhhhhh todAAAY?”

She turned back, wary as it seemed to be grasping, for it’s augmented blaster or something to swing with she didn’t know.

As soon as the canister dropped, Alex immediately recognized it for what it was. Setting his targeting system to keep track of the retreating Rodurge, he closed his eyes tight and clenched his jaw in order to cause pressure in his ears. As the flashbang went off, he was unfazed due to his preventative measures.

The louder their screams, the less attention you should pay to them. The dying were always desperate. It were the other senses that had to be on high alert. Aphotis turned to look in another direction as she heard a round metal object rolling their way. Her helmet’s auditory receivers dampened sound coming in as if she were prepared for sleep. Her mind focused on the melancholic beauty that was the dark side of the Force.

Thunk

The canister made a muffled bang as if it exploded underwater. Her visor turned pitch-black as the room filled with light.

Hiss

The Sith exhaled with a long, drawn out breath.

’Oldest trick in the holo-book, I hope the squad expects thermal detonators next time.’

The tall witch ran her palms over each of her facemask’s seals just, in, case, and continued breathing from her air-supply. Then, as the brightness dimmed, she inspected the rest of the group.

Narman heard the familiar sound of a rolling metal explosive canister just a second too late, enough time to shield his eyes from damage, but not enough to protect his ears. The concussive blast rattled his head and threw off his equilibrium, forcing the Lieutenant Colonel to lean against the wall to stay upright. He took a few deep breaths and recalled his years of training; after a moment he was able to push through the worst of it and reassess the situation. The last of the droids had fallen back and two new targets were taking its place, one already engaged with the Mandalorian, swinging sharp bladed claws wildly into his Beskar armor. Narman fired a few bursts at the creature with his blaster, but even the few that struck merely dissipated into its carapace. With the pattern of escalation growing, he was beginning to regret not bringing a more powerful weapon.

As the skittering creature came toward him, Alex remained calm. Even as its scything claws swung out and tore loose the shoulder and bicep plate of his armor, his hands didn’t shake and his resolve stayed firm as he brought his blasters to bear. After all, he had been in far worse situations against far more dangerous creatures - though admittedly he was not sure just how dangerous this beast might be. Surely it could be a scant match for a terentatek or a greater krayt dragon, and he had most walked away from those encounters.

As all four barrels of the twin blasters came around on the creature, there was the briefest flash of pity in his heart. Not enough to stop him from smoothly depressing the firing studs, mind you, but at least the momentary contemplation of whether the creature were even sentient enough to understand the fate that it now faced.

Rasilvenaira stayed cloaked until she saw the beast attacking Remi and injuring her. Growling in frustration and pure done-ness with these beasties, she rushed forward drawing both light sabers and stabbed the creature leaving a trail of damage along the carapace.

“Pick on someone else you ugly reject from a science lab.”

Normally she wouldn’t make such a lame taunt, but she needed to get the creature’s attention off the injured Remi so she could reach safety to be treated for her wound. She clearly succeeded in making the creature angry as it spun to face her fully, forgetting its previous target.

The tall Sith tilted her head, the color of the creature’s blood was intriguing to her. With a flick of her wrist, Aphotis blasted a dark side current towards it. Malignant, chaotic thoughts were interchanged with the wish to inflict a specific type of searing pain. The beam of electricity warped from cerulean to a more rose-tinted as she tried to match its hue with the pink ichor. She would have kept the chain of energy crackling for longer if she didn’t have so much fun with it.

Remy took advantage of the rest moving forward, retracting her saber and raising the hand to her wounded shoulder. She was augmented to be resistant to poisons, but she was made to be mass-produced, and complete immunity would have been far too expensive. Thankfully, the Force would always provide. Blood sprayed out of the wound for a moment, at least most of the contaminated liquid splattering on the floor.

She had been wounded, and anything less than perfection is failure. The only thing left is to correct the mistake.

She caught its attention alright. Somehow the creature wormed its way towards the tall Sith and swiped with one of its massive claws. It was deceptively fast.

Aphotis jumped to the side, her heart beating in her neck. Then its other claw used the momentum to slash into the woman’s waist. A spike of pain erupted as two layers of skin were torn through, cutting deeper and further through her flesh underneath. Her tail reached for a knife and tried to stab the beast’s eyes to get the limb out of her side.

It was to no avail. The witch staggered backward, clutching at the wound, gushing blood mixing with white fluid. It turned the same kind of pink that the creature exuded earlier. She grit her teeth, her mask hissing as she let out a mix of a groan and a manic laugh.

‘Ironic.’

. The next feeling followed immediately—an immense hunger as the lesion throbbed. The dark side beckoned and her aura blackened. Her vision turned white and her ears rang as she gasped for the next breath of air.

Her free hand reached for anything to draw vigor from.

The first mutated creature continued its assault on the heavily armored Mandalorian, clawing and now jabbing with its barbed tail. Narman was familiar with poisons enough to know that a strike from the tail of these Cratakiti would have lingering effects beyond the wound itself. Remalia as well had received an injury from the tail of the second creature, but before the Doctor could offer his aid she drew the poison out herself. He watched with a mix of curiosity and awe as the most heavily saturated blood sprayed out of the cut with just the use of the Force.

‘What a useful skill to have in the operating room.’ He thought to himself as he turned his attention back to the threat ahead. Though his blaster seemed to have little effect the first time, he steadied himself and aimed for the maw of the Cratakiti, hoping the carapace was weaker there. He released a flurry of bolts, the first few deflecting off its swinging claws, but a couple bolts found purchase. The creature reared back in pain and released a guttural screech that echoed around the chamber.

Rasilvenaira surged forward, channeling all her anger and annoyance at these creatures into her strike. She slashed at the stinger with one saber, slicing it off and earning a roar of pain and rage from the beast as she stabbed it with the other saber, doing a little more damage to it.

Pulling back, she returned to the shadows, attempting to cloak once more before the creature could lock on to her.

The chittering blur of tail and claws continued to thrash at the armored man, despite all the punishment it had been absorbing from the team. Its vicious stinger lashed out, at first deflecting off the solid beskar of his chest plate but that very same deflection allowed its follow-up jab to slip right through the shoulder plate which had previously been dislodged and bite into the flesh beneath. A shriek emitted from the creature in elation as it felt its vile barb find purchase, but rapidly grew into one of panic and alarm as its victim seemed unbothered in the slightest by this. Instead, muscles tensed to trap the stinger between suddenly rigid, firm and unyielding meat. No matter how it tried to pull back, it found it could not extract its tail from its foe.

“Not today, you miserable little insect,” Alex hissed out as he felt the briefest burn of the venom beginning to spread. He gritted his teeth and hardened his will, ignoring whatever impact the poison may have long enough to place the barrel of Honor directly into one of the gaps in the carapace earlier opened. A quick squeeze of the firing stud, and the floor beneath the Cratakiti was painted in ichor and guts as its feeble last twitches finally ceased.

Pain carried her forward, leading her claw towards the creature that had so brazenly wounded her. Flesh began to weave and coil, until it reformed as it had been before. It was enough to satiate her hunger, even before the aching subsided, but it was not enough vigor to reform her entire second skin. Part of her abdomen remained exposed, with tendrils of black slowly coiling over her porcelain.

At least she had not feasted upon an ally.

Turning away from her bloodied shoulder, Remy was about to leap back into the fray when the air in front of her turned white. She could still kind of see the enemies, and could still feel where that blasted droid was, but knew that her already weak blaster skills would be futile. Briefly, she considered using a wall to leap over the new enemies and flank, but that would be foolhardy at best. Her heart was pounding, her teeth clenched, she wanted nothing more than to run in and trust to the Force again, but… no. She was obviously too weak to take down even these creatures by herself, and she couldn’t get stronger if she was dead. Instead, she reached down and located the smoke grenade, casting it down to confound the enemies attacks instead of her… allies was too strong a word. Circumstantial coworkers, maybe.

She flexed her damaged arm and ruled it was still functional. It was a good idea to not immediately sever it. Now to find an opportunity to rejoin the fight.

Narman was forced to cover his face to prevent from coughing as a cloud of smoke erupted around them, obscuring the view of the approaching line of troopers. Then, just as quickly as it appeared, the smoke shifted, following its source back the way it came. The canister rolled past the first ‘modified’ trooper in the line, leaving him exposed. Its armor was heavily damaged, but wrapped in vines and tendrils that seemed to hold it together. With his blaster still raised, the Lieutenant Colonel rattled off a series of bolts down the ramp. The trooper moved with inhuman speed, first dodging right, then left, avoiding each of the individual bolts as they came.

“We need to keep pushing forward, we’re sitting ducks here.” Narman suggested through gritted teeth, beginning to show signs of frustration with the enhanced capabilities of their enemies.

Rasilvenaira stayed cloaked as she moved forward along the wall to flank and get behind the first trooper. As she got close enough she dropped her cloak to make her attack. She lunged and stabbed at the trooper’s back. Her first strike hit true, leaving a vicious gash across the trooper’s back. Unfortunately the trooper lurched just enough to the side that her second saber barely grazed the armor it wore.

She quickly moved back, attempting to recloak before it could lock its sights on her.

No sooner had their last set of enemies gone down than a new set arrived to replace them. This time, at least, they seemed to be more normal soldiers in nature…at least as normal as anything down here was likely to be. While the weird semi-infested nature of their appearance was a bit odd, Alex quickly shrugged it off as soon as they began engaging in typical troop tactics. As the cover of smoke filled the room, he began readjusting his armor to try to refit the dislodged plates and return it to fit condition. A hail of blaster fire peppered him as he did so, initially scattering off the solid beskar but eventually managing to dislodge one of his bracers. Grumbling, he bent down to pick it up, resecuring it over his wrist as he patiently walked toward the troopers, shaking his head slowly in disapproval.

Immediately Alex began to scramble back as the axe came out. While he was confident that his armor could withstand a blow from the weapon, it was still a little more than he was looking to take on just at the moment. Moving backwards in the tight quarters was no easy feat, and his unsure footing allowed the trooper to land a solid strike on the Mandalorian’s abdomen, sending him back yet further to find the cavern wall. The armor held, but the impact definitely tenderized something beneath and that was going to slow Alex down just a bit.

Remy had barely finished making sure her shoulder wouldn’t be hemorrhaging when one of the troopers shot one of their heavy weapons at her. Too slow, once again. She moved her torso to the side, but failed to fully evade, the lance of light scorching her other shoulder as the mutant retreated behind the shield of an ally. Remy loosened the grip on her saber, resisting the usual urge to dive in for stafty in chaos. Instead, she clenched her fist and slammed it back, the Force mirroring her motion on the back of the set riot shield, sending it skittering over to her.

As Narman hustled over to her side from Alex, she stomped on the bent edge of the shield to flip it up into her hand for cover.

“I am much more accustomed to solo assaults on lightly defended targets. I have not had much experience with coordinated action on prepared well armed opponents.”

She positions herself to let the medic treat her more heavily injured arm while still holding the shield to give as much cover as she could get it to.

The black-clad woman saw an opportunity as the Jedi made the shield a non-issue.

Using her height advantage over the six foot monster troopers, Aphotis raised her crimson blade and shoved it right into their head. Superheated plasma burnt through flesh and whatever mass of organic tissue was present under that worn down trooper helmet.

Already digging through his medpac for his bacta spray, Narman watched as one of the troopers approached Alex with a laser axe and connected with his abdomen, sending a shower of sparks off the Beskar and forcing the Mandalorian back a few paces. He made a mental note of the strike before applying the bacta spray to the gash on Remalia’s arm beside him. He worked quickly and methodically, with all the care and precision of an experienced battlefield medic. He nodded a confirmation to Remalia before abandoning the safety of her repurposed riot shield and shifting over behind Alex. Again fishing through his medpac, the Lieutenant Colonel reached up and tapped on the side of the Mandalorian’s helmet.

“This could hurt quite a lot.” He informed his ally matter-of-factly as he produced a long sedative syringe. With a practiced eye, he located a weak point in the armor and jammed the needle forcefully through the gap. He released the sedative carefully, ensuring only enough to numb the area was released, but not so much as to hinder his movement. Content with the dosage, he retrieved the needle and jammed it back into his medpac.

“Thanks for the patch up, doc. I feel as good as new.” If Alex had felt any pain or discomfort from the injection it wasn’t remotely evident in his speech or demeanor. There was a certain grim mirth to his voice as he slowly pivoted and faced toward the trooper brandishing the laser axe.

“I will admit, you caught me by surprise pulling a melee weapon like that,” as he spoke, he slowly walked toward the trooper, spinning his twin blasters as he went. “But now that I am well settled, if that is how you want to play it…” The blasters stopped spinning, Alex gripping them firmly by the barrels as the handles stuck out from his hands. The trooper had the briefest moment of confusion before the handle of Honor struck soundly across the temple of his helmet. The ringing blow spurred him to action and he managed to dodge the follow-up blow from Glory.

She should have known. Even sticking an entire blade of super-heated plasma through the head of one of these monstrosities did not end them. Instead of keeping the offence going, she contemplated the creature’s potential weak spots.

Massive mistake.

The beast lunged at her with its limbs. It was not only fast, but also surprisingly limber. Aphotis miscalculated its reach and felt a sharpness in her thighs. Blood gushed out. It wasn’t done with her yet. Somehow it knew, or saw what she had attacked it with and aimed for her arms.

The swipe slashed into her upper arm, cut into her ribs, scraped and scratched over her durasteel waist belt and seeped into her other arm. She might as well have been butter.

Air became heavy to breathe and her vision became clouded and colored as crimson as her blood. Her heart pounded in her throat and she clenched her fists. She scowled, and instead of trying to recover from a safe distance, she clawed back at the monster. The darkness took her side and siphoned what warped life there was present from its unnatural font of power, towards her.

Like coils, tissue reformed. Her alchemical living latex swirled and tightened around her lesions and sewed them closed. Like a wounded animal, her tail swiped out with devastating force. It was as if all of the muscle in her body was concentrated in the lash of her extra prehensile limb. Her symbiotic skin amplified the strength as it knocked the trooper prone.

The white noise ringing in her ears began to subside. She realised her suit would require some time to cover the large amount of cuts and contusions she had sustained.

Something deep in Narman’s mind screamed at him to move. He instinctively shifted to the left, turning his head just in time to see the bright, hot glow of a blaster bolt nearly scorch his eyes as it passed. Then blinding pain erupted from the side of his throat, forcing him to the ground for cover. The Doctor reached for the wound and found a deep gash carved into his neck, warm blood pushing past the cauterized flesh and pouring down his hand and the front of his armor.

As Narman moved away from her cover, Remy turned her mind to offense again. Finally. At the very least, this shield could be a safer way to fight, but… she had always trained for maximum mobility, and shields didn’t really fall into that category. Luckily, even without training she could use one as a ram.

She thumped the ground once to test the weight, and focused to let the Force flow through her legs as she allowed her senses to line up the two troopers in front of her. In a blur of motion, she close the distanced in a single stride, slamming the shield forward, but the first target had fallen backwards from the damage it had already sustained, its head the only thing making contact. That head, however, sat on a weakened neck, and was sent flying from the force of the blow, thumping harmlessly off the other mutant behind it.

Not wanting to push her luck, she lowered herself slightly, bracing her new shield as the original owner had done and hoping it was strong enough to weather the souped up blasters these monsters carried.

Prone on the floor and using his allies’ advance for cover, Narman held a wide swatch of gauze to his neck that was already stained crimson. Surprisingly, he had made it through his military career largely uninjured. Even in this brief moment, without the ability to examine it, he could tell this scar would be with him for a long time - that is, if they made it out. As the Doctor dug through his pack once again, he heard the sound of something rolling on the floor; fearing another explosive canister, he looked up just as the helmeted face of a trooper rolled past. His fingers found a roll of adhesive and he furiously wrapped it around his neck, exhausting the entire roll to ensure a tight fit. Then he used the wall for support and pulled himself to his feet.

A couple good hits had landed, and in particular a strike across his helmet left Alex reeling for a moment. Shaking his head for a second while he squinted his eyes, the ringing in his ears managed to quiet down enough for him to feel back to himself. A wide grin was hidden behind his visor and he once again raised his blaster pistols, handles forward.

“Not bad, for somebody who looks like they woke up this morning on the wrong side of the grave,” muscles tensed as he cocked back the arm holding Glory, “but now it is my turn again!”

The crack of the impact, blaster handle against helmet, resounded through the room. The follow-up swing with Honor was even louder, coming from the opposite direction. The strike caused the trooper’s head to twist at an unnatural angle, and his infested body crumpled to the ground like a plasticine sack of potatoes. Tossing both guns into the air with a spinning flourish, Alex caught them back in firing position and refocused on the one remaining enemy.

Alex braced himself, knowing there was no way he’d make it out of the blast radius in time. As the explosion went off, first the shockwave tipped him back on his heels, then the blast itself caught him full-force in the torso sensing him careening back into the wall with a resounding clang. His beskar held strong, keeping the flesh beneath safe, and a raucous, guttural laugh burst forth from deep within him.

“Hell of a ride, that was!”

The shriek was enough reason to get away. Aphotis grabbed the dark side by the collar and willed it to empower the muscles in her legs. Like initiating hyper-space travel, her momentum jumped from zero to a hundred. Her vision became one giant blur as she felt the ground connect with her boot. A concussive boom followed her tail.

An object stepped in front of her path. She launched into it at full speed, claws held in front of her to break the fall.

’Narman Losa.‘

The impact knocked the wind out of both of them. They fell hard, landing on top of each other. Razorsharp nails dug into Losa’s shoulders as he took the full brunt of the force. Spikes from her ponytail cuff cut into and scraped over his face until his chin was glued to her visor. The Sith reigned in her tail before the blaze raged over them.

Hiss.

Aphotis slowly lifted her head up, flicking her long black hair back. She peered down at Narman with a menacing, deadpan stare.

<@344514349345275904>

Rasilvenaira saw the trooper charging and knew nothing good could come from that. Then when she saw the thermal imploder she cursed under her breath and turned to sprint back the way they’d come, hoping to get out of range before it went off.

Once it went off and all the dust settled, she recloaked and moved forward checking on her companions. Well at least one good thing had infact come from the imposion. The third trooper was finally dead. She breathed a sigh of relief but assumed that things were far from over, they had a long way to go before reaching the doctor, if she hadn’t already managed to slip away.

Remy stood ready to block any incoming shots, but from the words and steps of the last mutant, she could tell she wasn’t the target, and that the blasters weren’t the intended weapon.

More explosives.

She did her best to quickly step to the side and reset her shield, but realized as the last beeps of the weapon sped up that she would have to rely instead on strength. She quickly tried to fortify her legs and set her body, but the explosion still launched her backwards, almost slamming her head into the corner where the craggy cave wall met slitted metal floor. She lay there for a moment, trying to determine both if there were more targets, and if she had any dangerous wounds.

Nothing. I’ll count that as a success.

Resting his hand on the wall to steady himself, Narman shook the temporary haze of sudden blood loss from his mind. He exhaled a slow breath and felt his heart rate steady. As he turned to re-engage the fight, a series of unfortunate events happened in quick succession. First, the near-blinding light of a close proximity thermal detonator explosion. Not a good start. Then the initial shockwave hit, buckling the Lieutenant Colonel’s legs beneath him. Before he could fall, however, a deep and powerful sense of dread filled his entire body. Time seemed to crawl in that moment. A dark Force moved at him, far greater than that of a thermal detonator, and there was nothing he could do but be annihilated. A collision and then darkness.

Pain. Every part of Narman screamed. He could tell he was on the floor once again, but he was unable to move. It felt like a weight was sitting on top of him, holding him down. He blinked his eyes open. Though initially blurry his vision quickly came into focus. Dominating black mask and cold blue eyes staring into his soul, his own blood dripping down on his face. The Witch. Narman would rather take the explosion. Unsure of what to say, he choked out:

“Sorry.”

The Sith let out a long, drawn out sigh as she pushed herself off of him. The various scrapes and gashes stung. White fluid turned black and formed stretchy coils over the openings in her alchemical skin, stitching wounds back together.

’Why did it have to be the useful one…’ she thought to herself as she crossed her arms over her chest.

Her tail swished at Narman, focusing dark side energy under his back that pushed him back onto his feet.

“Stand upright, Losa. Tend to your own flesh.”

Aphotis expected to be over the ‘incident’ with Narman Losa by now, but the blood in her veins kept boiling. The sheer darkness that radiated off of her was reabsorbed by her second skin and used as fuel to regenerate. This time she was going to stay at the back, less chance of something similar repeating itself. She trailed the group almost subconsciously as piece by piece her porcelain skin was covered by the shiny black.

Rising back to her feet, Remy knocked the shield to test its remaining durability and tossed it to the side, leading to a large chunk breaking off and skittering into the wall. The blasters the troopers were using were similarly destroyed by the blast and she contented herself by drawing her blaster to her empty hand once again.

Seeing Duke Draconis already marching off ahead, Remy stepped quickly to catch up and reached out with her mind to search for what laid ahead. She knew that even the most basic security drones had been imbued with the Force, so she should be able to find them as well as any living targets.

“Medic Losa,” she called back just loud enough to be heard, “the last droid is in that offshoot tunnel, hiding, if you still want one functional.”

Turning back to her front she lowered her voice further, “My lord, it seems that our targets last guardian is something big. Likely an augmented or Force infused monster of some sort, and it is possible she has standard pattern droids as well, however unlikely. Stacking up on this bridge is likely to end in a throttled position.”

Narman adjusted the wrap around his neck as the group moved together along the plankway, opting to stay behind the heavily armored Duke and his skilled subordinate. The narrow path opened up to another wide platform and Remalia called back to him the location of the final droid, hiding down a side tunnel to the left. He nodded in reply, and while the Doctor was grateful she had considered his request from earlier, currently he was a lot less concerned with examining one up close.

“Thank you, but I think it’s best if we eliminate it by any means necessary. There’s no reason to leave it just to flank us later.” He squeezed the grip on his blaster pistol as he spoke. Looking ahead to where the plankway narrowed again, he inspected the pool of liquid below. Something about the way the light was refracting off the surface gave Narman an uneasy feeling. Though he wasn’t quite sure, the placement of the generators suggested a chemical reaction taking place.

“Stay out of the water below. There is a high probability of significant injury.”

Rasilvenaira fell back to stay close to Mousa, she would cloak when the group started moving. Her own thoughts echoed those of her companions. The droid needed to be dealt with so it didn’t catch them from behind, and the water didn’t even smell right, much less looking right. No way did she want any part of that slogging mess.

“I can help take out the droid so it doesn’t come up behind us. Then I’ll take rear guard as you guys move out. I have to agree, stay out of the water, it doesn’t look or smell safe.”

Narman nodded a silent agreement to Rasilvenaira, drawing his blaster pistol from its holster and beginning to slowly edge down the side pathway behind her. He watched as the form of his ally faded from view, only the faintest shift in the light before he could no longer track her movement. Such a powerful skill on the battlefield. There were technologies that could replicate the effect, sure, but to achieve near invisibility with only the Force amazed him still. He was ever grateful to be fighting alongside this team instead of against it. As he neared the end of the path, the Lieutenant Colonel turned back to the rest of his compatriots.

“This pathway is all clear.” He called out slyly, stealing a glance in his periphery for any movement, friend or foe.

Rasilvenaira faded from view, blending into shadows as she cloaked once more. She led the way down the passage way, keeping just a couple steps ahead of Narman. As the droid began to move to attack him, the Sith made her move.

Lunging forward as she dropped her cloak, her sabers instantly igniting and lighting up the passage. Silver blade hummed angrily as she struck out at the droid. Her first blade severed a leg, and the second severed the head as the body toppled to one side. She walked up and kicked the torso for good measure, then huffed as she backed away. There was no movement, so she was satisfied.

“One less thing to worry about. Let’s get moving.”

The instant the catwalk began to move in an unexpected way, Alex’s eyes narrowed. The distance to the section that was not dropping was great, but he felt confident he could manage it. The thuds of his armored boots on the already rattling catwalk reverberated through the cavern. One, two, three… and just as the metal platform contacted the water and began to spark, a flying leap which seemed near-impossible for someone so heavily armored as the veteran Mandalorian willed power into his calves and thighs to hurl him through the air. He landed easily at the far end, seemingly not even breaking stride as he stepped down with his left foot, then his right. Any illusion of grace was instantly shattered as he pounded his thighs with his fists.

“Ooo, ooo…pins and needles…ooo!”

Remy lurked behind Alex, mostly watching for the large creature she could still sense around the bend. Sandwiched between the man in clanking metal and the monster in constantly squeaking rubber, it was obvious that stealth was no longer a priority. She could probably run around-

Electricity. She wasn’t exactly trained for acting under electrocution, but she was experienced with it at the very least. Before she even noticed the walkway moving down, she was in the air towards one of the large generators and landed on it with a heavy thud that slightly dented the outer paneling. Not wanting to fall, she lept forward with the same speed and crashed down on the remaining walkway with her weapons ready.

Seeing the other two also finding their own way, she stamped her foot to try and get back the feeling before she needed it again.

Aphotis’s legs moved before she had truly felt the metal shiver and creak. The dark side guided her to the other side while her muscles had already functioned by instinct. Only the landing was left for her to calculate.

Clang

The heavy boots warped durasteel on impact, but she remained upright and in full control.

Hiss

Rasilvenaira gauged the jump, backing up a few feet to give herself a running start, she gathered the Force within her to push herself farther as she leapt. She landed on the other side, tucking into a roll before regaining her feet and dusting herself off.

Looking back across she motioned to Narmon. “Come on, Jump and I’ll pull you the rest of the way over.”

Flashing a cheeky grin, she added, “I promise I won’t drop you.”

The familiar groan of shifting steel echoed off the walls in this subterranean chamber as the middle section of the platform descended into the water below. Narman watched with a hint of frustration on his face at the successful execution of yet another trap. Though Rasilvenaira had been stranded with him, she easily cleared the gap, aided by the Force, and offered that same assistance to him. He gazed down into the water, noting the tiny sparks of electricity arcing between the metal bars of the platform, and gulped hard.

“I’m trusting you. Please don’t.” The Lieutenant Colonel replied to his shadowy ally, stepping backwards a few feet, then turning to address Mousa. “We will complete the mission and capture or eliminate the Doctor. Perhaps there is a way for you to return this platform to its original state, for our exit.” He nodded and then sprinted toward the edge, full speed, and leapt with all his strength. Soaring across the gap, Narman watched Rasilvenaira close her eyes and extend her hand. As his body started to descend toward the water, another Force pushed him up and over, clearing the last few feet. Without any semblance of control, he tumbled down and landed face-first on the platform, though he stood quickly and brushed himself off.

“Thanks for the lift.”

‘More, more, more! Of course there was more.’

The tall Sith peered around her, electric-blue darting between ‘friend’ and foe.

‘They should have been ready by now,’ Aphotis thought to herself as her tail pressed the hilt into her claw.

“Wake up! We have more abominations to take care of,” her voice was laced in dark enthusiasm.

Her free arm rose up, aiming the vibronails on her fingertips toward the pale, toothy monsters.

Click

The witch placed a boot forward and flicked her wrist. Electricity burst out of the claw with crackles and a low rumble. A cascading beam of energy leapt off of the first target and seeped into the thick hide of the next.

Crack-hum

Crimson plasma flared from her lightsaber hilt as she flourished it.

Narman held back as his allies engaged the beastly enemies, Alex the hulking Rathtar-Rancor hybrid and Aphotis the pair of screeching Vornskyr, respectively. Those targets seemed a little beyond a simple blaster pistol, so he focused his aim at one of the troopers flanking the gene spliced monster, firing off a series of bolts. However, the massive form of beskar between them proved more difficult to shoot around than the Lieutenant Colonel had presumed, and none of the shots found purchase.

The rumbling of the ground as the colossal beast approached was only matched by the trembling of the Mandalorian warrior as it came into view. The energy being put off by Alex could’ve lit Arx for a year as his blasters leapt to his hands and he charged forward with a whooping yell.

“Find the biggest shabuir in the room and show him you mean business!” His blaster bolts spattered harmlessly against the creature’s hide but they weren’t fired with the intention of doing harm. Instead, they served their purpose of drawing the monster’s attention to him as he got as close to it as he dared - and he dared pretty damned close. Now he just had to wait for his opportunity. There was oh-so-much mouth for this thing to gape open, and no matter how armored the outsides might be, the insides were always soft and squishy and susceptible to blaster fire for anyone daring or stupid enough to try for them.

For a moment it was all Remy could do to resist leaping past the ensemble of monsters in front of her. This image, a scientist bent over their work, not even paying attention as their creations gave their lives in defense… it was something she had seen in dreams and visions for years. But this was not the right villain, one far less important. Even so, it looked like whatever the woman was doing was almost complete, so this needed to be fast.

She first considered simply smashing the computers from here, but reasoned that was likely to either be countered, these creatures were all Force infused, or wouldn’t do enough damage to end it immediately. Changing focus to the Rathcore, she thought of diving into its unarmored maw and carving it up from the inside. But who knew how far down those teeth went, not to mention throat muscle strength or stomach acids. Finally, she looked over to the side path with seemingly fewest enemies. Gritting her teeth, she charged into the slog.

The strange armored white canines moved forward to meet her, and cursed lightning lept between them as the Dark Side’s puppet thrust out a hand. Still sickened that she was even in the same system as powers this vile, Remy wove to the side swinging her saber, nearly severing one of the rightmost beasts leg. Moving the other way in a bid to juke it and move past, she carried the momentum with her cane, crushing the same joint in the opposite direction and severing the limb the most opposite of neatly. It bellowed in response, obviously not too hampered by the loss of but a single leg.

The gargantuan foot of the Rathcor swooped down toward Alex. Inside his helmet, the heavily armored Mandalorian’s face split into a grin as he raised both arms above his head, crossed at the forearms. The impact kicked water up in a spray from the force, but the man didn’t budge so much as an inch. The beast, confused at the sudden stop of its downward stomp, tried to push harder but found no more give than it had on the initial attempt.

“Ha! Stronger than you have tried, and not a one has managed to crush me yet!” With a flourish, Alex shoved back the foot and repositioned, twirling his blaster pistols as he faced down his gigantic foe. “You will have to do better than thaAAAAAA-” His bravado transitioned directly into a shout of surprise as he found himself bound in tentacles and hauled bodily into the air.

With a loud click, Aphotis stepped forward, ready to seep the crimson blade into the shivering beast before her. A shiver ran from her shoulders. Over her neck. Trickling down her spine. She had to correct her posture. The dark side’s eerie voice echoed through her skull, telling her she was wrong. It felt as if her claws were moved, a pressure pushing on each digit. Her wrist twisted with a sharp wringing sensation. One thought was erased and replaced with another reality. Had she hesitated? An error that was overruled. She conceded her will.

‘This better be important.’ The Sith responded to the Force as her stance changed—not something she allowed often.

Red light painted her silhouette as she placed the superheated plasma in front of her. A bolt struck her blade. She willed it toward her target, but, yet again, the dark side intervened. A second projectile crashed into her lightsaber. She wondered if the avoidance of pain was worth the obedience. This was a price that the dark side would be eager to see returned.

Hiss

‘A sum in the form of chaos will be repaid in full.’

The witch was going to shuffle the deck of cards the next time an opportunity presented itself. A drastic, creative and unexpected action was needed to change fate. Her tail tapped the Envoy satchel under her backpack.

’The explosives. Yes.’ A smile formed in her eyes as malicious thoughts found a way to please the dark side.

Electric-blue darted towards the hulking monstrosity. It had to go. Any thoughts of preserving her allies went out of the window as the intent to satisfy the dark side overrode everything.

Her slick black tail unclipped the bag and coiled around a round object. Her long appendage slammed the explosive into her palm with an audible smack and unfurled elegantly—ready to aid her balance.

Both claws twisted the orb. Seeing Alex Draconis struggling against its mighty tendrils only amplified the urge.

Click-clack

She pointed at the rathtar-pretender with her empty hand and aimed the device at it’s huge gaping mouth-hole. This was going to be amusing, even if she missed.

Set to maximum prejudice, Aphotis threw the thermal detonator with all of her might.

Clunk

Gulp

The beast appeared to swallow the object like a good puppy, until it began to clamp down on it with its oral muscles, regurgitating with awful gagging sounds. Clearly it needed some assistance. The Sith clenched her claw, raking through the Force with malevolence. An invisible power pressed down on both sides of the abomination’s throat. Peristaltic movement brought the explosive down, deeper and deeper—even wiggling it to get past all its resistance.

Her tail curled in anticipation.

Expecting danger from the creatures she was fighting, Remy barely managed to evade the lance of light coming from another one of those mutant stormtroopers, burning a slash across the inside of one of her thighs. Rolling to the side, she brought her saber up to deflect a second shot into the ground. Three out of four limbs damaged, she couldn’t keep this up for much longer.

Alex felt the shudder of the explosion from deep within the beast ripple through the tentacles and braced himself. As soon as he felt the constricting grip start to loosen he tensed his muscles and began to twist in the air, bringing his blaster pistols swinging through the air to orient on the mutant trooper that had taken position behind the now-fallen monster. The motion was smooth, almost practiced, as if this were an ordinary Tuesday activity for the ancient Mandalorian as the superheated plasma ripped forth from the barrels. One whizzed past the helmet of the trooper, striking the wall next to him and causing him to slightly lean away from the resulting sparks. The second bolt bore true, striking in the gap between chest plate and shoulder armor to sizzle away at flesh and mutated growth.

With a last jerk in the air, Alex arranged his body as it closed the last few inches to the ground so that he could land solidly on his back, dispersing the impact across the widest possible surface area so it did little more than cause a brief moment of discomfort as his armor shifted a bit from the impact. With a whipcrack of his legs he was back to his feet, blasters at the ready and seeming none the worse for wear from his recent bout with the giant beast.

He called back over his shoulder toward Aphotis, “I am marking that as an ‘Assist’ for me on my record sheet!”

Narman shifted to the left, past the erratically flailing tentacles of the smoking Rathcore as the last of its life energy faded. Having been shot multiple times already during the course of this mission, he was careful to maintain a position behind his hulking Mandalorian ally as best as he could. With the enemy targets quickly dwindling, the Doctor focused on his core conviction of healing, holstering his blaster and retrieving his medpac once again. Sliding up next to Remalia he noted the numerous injuries she had received, but he concentrated his efforts on the most severe. After exhausting the last of his bacta spray, Narman retrieved a length of gauze and wrapped it tightly around his ally’s wound. He then addressed the rest of the group:

“My medical supplies are running low. We need to finish this.”

On one knee, Remy had to remain on high guard with the two nearest enemies flanking her, and her leg so unreliable. She was considering trying to wrestle the dog-thing when the medic showed up again, muttering as he slapped a spray and bandage combo on her blistering burn, before scooting back to not expose himself too much.

“Honors, medic,” she said as he retreated, and stood back up, taking note of the monster behind her obviously seeming distracted by the Dark-tainted.

Well, she didn’t want to help them, and they likely didn’t want help. Instead, she began walking towards the trooper that had been blasting at her, first grabbing one of his feet with the Force to pull it out from under him, then rocking her fist forward like she was trying to set a record for a right haymaker in the dojo. There was a loud crack and skittering of rocks as it was blasted flat on the floor.

“Forward! The target is running out of pawns!”

Electric-blue eyes behind darkened transparisteel locked onto a device that was clipped on a trooper’s belt. The Sith’s hand clenched. Only her index finger jutted out from her fist. A single jolt sparked out of the vibronail. Pure dark side energy forked towards the incendiary grenade. The trooper ignited in a ball of fire.

Aphotis raised her hand towards the corrugated tube of her mask.

Hiss.

Over the armored shoulder of the Duke Draconis, Narman saw the shape of another droid lumber into view from around the corner. This one’s base model was the B2 battle droid, but again it was clearly heavily modified, both mechanically and organically.

‘Let’s hope this is the last of her defenses.’ He scanned its form with a trained eye, searching for any potential weakness. As it moved from the shadows, the Lieutenant Colonel spotted several points of softly glowing red light, likely connection points for the droid’s power couplings. “Aim for the red connection points and the droid will be disabled.” Narman relayed to his squad as he moved forward and raised his blaster pistol, firing off a series of bolts at the droid.

Her tail flicked several times as she deliberated her next move. Then Narman spotted what her eyes did not. Aphotis knew he would show his value after his less than elegant displays. Pain has a way of bringing that out of you.

“Excellent, I see them.” She replied to Losa.

An arm stretched out, electricity erupting from each nail. The Sith then leapt forward, slashing through the weak spot and coming to a halt with a controlled slide.

She was alone. That scientist was finally by herself, and Remy knew this was her best chance to stop any of this from going anything further. She took a step that seemed painfully slow as she began flooding her body with the Force, a shaking heat radiating from her chest. Another step as her teeth gritted and her eyes opened wide, their red light growing brighter. With one last step, the Force almost took control and she lept, spinning, over the B2.

Stop the work

The only thought in her mind. That computer, that woman, both fragments of the mission that must be shattered as soon as possible. Landing, Remy readied her weapons and charged, low and fast.

Remy couldn’t hear anymore. It didn’t matter. The Force guided her movements now, and it only saw the woman in front of her and only thought of the mission at hand. With a quick zig and zag to throw off blaster fire that didn’t come, she barely had time to register the look of surprise on the doctors face before grabbing the back of her neck and throwing her bodily onto her equipment.

Neck. Thigh. Armpit.

Her saber flashed through every killing stroke before thrusting through the heart, the glowing tip an inch from the monitor behind the fresh corpse.

She wanted to destroy it all, This library of mutation and corruption. Her blood sang in motion. To move, to attack, but… it was over.

With an effort, Remy let the Force drain from her as her saber retracted, falling gracelessly with her back to the metal, and watched the last of the combat across the room.

As he saw Remalia rocket past toward the doctor, Alex smiled to himself. Mind on the mission, he thought to himself, as he continued his job of distracting the heavy hitter. Apparently either the ineffective shots he was firing at the hulking battle droid or maybe just his general cocky attitude drew its ire, and the armored form moved to charge him. A stray shot from Honor struck a spark from the cavern wall, momentarily distracting the Mandalorian. By the time he had cleared the stars from his eyes, the modified B2 droid was nearly upon him. Stepping back a half-step as he brough Glory to bear, Alex’s confidence was rewarded as his bolt struck true, striking the last power node of the droid and causing it to shut down…mid-stride to close with him.

“Aw hell,” he managed to bark out before the full mass of the heavy droid slammed into him and knocked both of them to the ground. As his limbs flailed from beneath the now-inert droid, a distinct crackling sound began from somewhere deep within its chassis. The limb flailing intensified as the crackling grew in pitch before finally reaching the crescendo and suddenly…ceasing? Firmly planting his hands against the torso of the droid, Alex shoved with all his might just as the circuitry inside gave its last efforts and erupted, bathing the bodies of droid and Mandalorian alike in a wash of flame and concussive force. Shrapnel scattered in a small burst as the back of the droid blew out, and Alex’s limbs splayed out like a heavily-armored starfish beneath the overblown paperweight. Weakly, one arm lifted and gave a thumbs up toward the rest of the group.

“I am okay,” came a cracking, raspy voice amplified by the systems of the Mandalorian armor. “Somebody get that data transfer stopped…”

A conflicted feeling bubbled up after the giant droid collapsed. Remalia had taken the kill from her. The Sith blinked twice, trying to decide whether she was disappointed or pleasantly surprised.

Alex’s raspy voice shook her out of it. Despite Draconis’s flippant personality, there was truth and urgency behind his warning.

Aphotis made her way around the mechanical mess and stretched out her arms, engulfing them in a storm of electricity. A strong smell of ozone permeated around the crackling jolts. She let out a deep sigh as she fanned out her claws.

Lightning forked toward the science station and coursed through each and every wire. Plastifilm and metal melted, screens shattered and consoles burst into flames.

Hate surged through the tall Sith, biting at her, her heart pumping blood through her veins with the heat of magma. The witch clenched her teeth, keeping the stream of dark side power going for as long as she willed it.

Her long tail caressed her shoulder, pulling her back. An eyebrow twitched and the tempest settled down. Instinct and rational thought conquered. She was so close to aiming that total annihilation at the one who killed the Doctor.

Hiss

Narman stood with his blaster pistol outstretched, the smoking tip of the barrel still orange-hot. Other than the arcing of lingering electricity and the occasional burst of sparks from the destroyed machinery, the area was quiet and calm. He holstered the weapon and stepped forward past his Mandalorian ally pushing the depowered B2 frame off his body. He approached the heavily damaged communications equipment but kept a few meters back from Aphotis, fading adrenaline no longer masking the uneasiness he felt merely being in her proximity.

“Was the upload prevented?”

Pain

Remys teeth clenched again as pain poured into her back from the machinery behind her. It wasn’t directed at her, wasn’t as focused as she was used to, but she had felt this pain before, long ago. With great effort, she managed to pull herself forward and up on her cane, rising just as the cursed lightning finished destroying the arrayed computer equipment.

Duke Alex survived it seemed, which was good. The medic was injured, but seemed to still be standing. The shadow was lurking as it seemed she always was. But it was a true travesty that the disgusting leech was still standing in its shiny black skin. Remy briefly considered trying to remove that stain while its back was turned but… truth be told, she probably wouldn’t be successful. Just another failure to add to the list.

“It looks so, medic Narman. The minimum threshold for mission success has been achieved. We should probably evacuate before any dead mans switch activates.”

Using her cane for its intended purpose, Remy begins to move back the way everyone came, exhaustion shaping her posture and movements.

With a final grunt of effort, Alex managed to shove the carcass of the battle droid off of him, sending it clattering to the ground at his side. The gold and silver ornamentation of his armor was covered with soot and scorch marks - likely the main plating as well, though hard to tell against the matte black - and where visible the body suit beneath the armor was tattered and somewhat shredded from the blast it had taken. Slowly rising to his feet and dusting himself off as best he could, he saw the sparking remains of what had been the computers down the corridor past the body of the doctor.

“Not to put too fine a point on it,” he casually drawled as he stowed Honor and Glory at his hips, “but this is not my first time tangling with a mad scientist, and it is often their proclivity to rig their operations to self-destruct as soon as their heart stops beating. I would recommend we exit the vicinity post-haste.”

The disk made up for everything, after all, it had been a long journey to get to this point. For it to all be for nothing would have been such a waste. The muscles in her tail twitched and cramped from the overexertion. Aphotis could hug the Ryn she had taken it from, for it had repaid her a thousand times over. Somewhere within the Garden of Trepidations, the soul stirred, a smugness radiating off of it.

Electric-blue stared down at the Jedi with menace and pity. There was a method behind the Sith’s actions, a warning. The Witch raked her claws through her Garden, dancing along the bookcases full of fear. Consulting her Council of Dread. Wading through the tar-lake and staring at the melancholy of the Statues of Sorrow. Loss, anger, hate, jealousy, greed, aggression. All of it power in the right hands.

’What are Jedi afraid of?’

Inky black tendrils seeped out of the tall, masked woman, lashing out towards Remalia. Like tree roots they infested the gray matter of her mind. The Sith wished to leave a permanent scar—it was a gift, but for Jedi, poison, dementia. The roots would use the dread as nourishment, feeding, twisting, tasting, festering.

<@147021450706944000>

Remys mind was swimming. Between the constant flow of Force through her body and mind, the poison still sliding through her veins, and the several burns, she was too slow and weak to resist when the leech wrapped its profane tendril around her and pulled her free of the doomed cave. When she was dropped back to the ground, she almost didn’t have the presence of mind to rise. Almost. But when she began, and looked up at the monstrosity that hadn’t taken the opportunity to backstab her, she froze. Her pulse quickened again, teeth clenched, and eyes began gleaming with red light, as if she was letting the Force take control, but she didn’t feel the usual surge of strength.

Instead, she felt like she could see her own mind, like a planet of perfect white, invaded by the Siths alien slime. Where it touched, the white receded like fog, revealing what lied beneath the surface. Red razors of metal and stone, like the teeth and claws of a beast, barely contained and gnashing to be free.

Stumbling, Remy got to her feet, her eyes blazing, but otherwise not showing the impact on her mind. This creature was trying to use its Darkness to shake her conviction, to convince her that she held hatred and fear like it did. Illusions.

“I was not born, parasite,” Remy said, igniting her saber and flexing her other arm, the push of Force into it causing pain, “I was made. Crafted to be an empty blade, free of guilt and will, the perfect judge. My life holds no value, but your death is a moral imperative.”

Remy took a step forward, but then, something tore. Her arm went limp as the Force’s strength finally outstripped her own bodies ability to keep up. She fell to a knee, but continued to try and hold her saber at the ready, slow and shaking as she tried to regain enough strength to approach.

And just like that, Alex was there. He levered himself in in such a way that one of Remalia’s arms was draped around his neck and shoulder so he could help her to her feet. Smoothly, in the same motion, his hand reached around and deactivated her saber before they made it all the way up. In a low voice, bypassing the armor’s amplification so only the Jedi could hear, he whispered.

“Today is not your day to die, young Knight. And if you try to take her on as you are now, you will die. Even if it is as you say and your life has no value, I cannot allow that for one under my charge.” The concern was evident in his tone, along with the clear strain of some deep hurt carried behind the usually jovial personality. “Another day, another chance will come - one where you are not so drained, she is perhaps not so much at the peak of her power. Her day will come, as it does for all of u- …most of us. Live now so you can be there on that day.”

“Intriguing,” the Witch’s voice was low-pitched, smooth and sultry, an index finger tapping the mask where her chin would be.

The mix of fear, sadness and disgust fused together into a complex bitter-sweet flavor. Aphotis’s Garden would shape it into a wonderful projection one day. One of great beauty, a flower that would bloom on the darkest day. It would live its own twisted life like the fragment of a soul. In a way she had granted the Jedi a great boon, if she were to ever conquer that fear. But, if it was left to fester, it could infect others, like a wave of ever expanding gloom.

The dark side placed a hand on her shoulder, radiating a chill that heightened the black-clad woman’s awareness. An act of unexpected chaos had been treasured and claimed as a victory. The pendulum shifted for the day, its appetite sated.

She retreated from Remalia, too enraptured by the by idea to mind Alex’s proximity. The Sith had her suspicion of what it was about when the plasma blade retracted.

There was a glint of admiration in her glowing electric-blue eyes. No Jedi was truly empty, but it was they strove for. A foolish endeavor, one that made their fall all but certain. Would this one learn her lesson, recognise a path for herself? Aphotis’s tail flicked so fast that it created a fluttering whistle. The curiosity of this one’s path was almost too much to bear.