“Where do you think they expect us to put the Force?” Anders’ sarcasm was evident if not by his tone of voice, then by the coy smile that stretched across his face.

Yes, it had taken some convincing to get Cassandra to approve of the chosen team, but Anders was proud of it.

First, you had both himself and Aphotis; Taldryan leadership who had worked well together previously.

Shanree had proven himself to Anders in the Playground and was likely to be a valuable asset.

Jade was rising through the ranks and it was about time he took on a more higher profile mission. The same applied to Circe, who had been there in Cloudhaven when Meshita perished.

Anders wanted to keep an eye on her.

Jorm, of course, was here, as always, representing his own interests in Chyron and as a gesture of goodwill, given these negotiations were likely to affect Chyron too, was invited to attend.

Dasha was here as their slicer specialist, should the need arise.

The biggest wild card was Morax. Receny returned, he was an unknown, though a dive into past Taldryan records had proven his lethal efficiency.

The fact that there was not a Human in sight in this team made things all the more amusing and dangerous at the same time.

Dasha was tip tapping away on her tablet as usual, already preparing to slice into nearby communication systems and anything else she may come across.

She didn’t seem to bothered on the ordinance order since her’s were hidden on her person… minus the obvious tablet in her hands. But well, she might pass off as some adopted daughter innocently paying video games, right?

Hearing what <@837236610684813342> said, she nudged the Chiss with a small bag of what originally would look like Marbles, handing in the small satchel to him should he take it.

Anders raised a curious brow. He had heard of Dasha’s machinations with Aylin before and was naturally suspicious. Surely, she wouldn’t?

He took the bag and had a quick glance. It was.

“Of course…” He groaned and passed her back the bag.

Dasha’s ears seem to lower slightly, saddened, this one wasn’t going to be fun. The satchel disappeared quickly under her cloak where who knows what else may be hidden…

Having just returned to the Clan, Morax had no clue why he had been picked for this mission. Diplomacy was not his forte, by any longshot. Now he was on an uncomfortable mission with members of the Clan he didn’t even know. The Anzat had done some very quick research on the other members so he could at least know their names beforehand.

Morax watched the exchange between Anderson and Dasha with hidden curiosity but gave it no further thought. Seemed to him like they were stuck with an adolescent obsessed with sprakly things that needed a babysitter. Not his problem he thought to himself as he fiddled beneath his robes to give one last check to ensure his lightsaber was safely hidden and secure.

For now Morax would do what he did best. Observe and stay quiet.

Shanree went down the line of delegates in the shuttle. They would be arriving shortly and he needed to make sure to distribute some last second updates to most everyone– some of them he just wanted to tease a little.

Dasha sat sullenly until he walked up to her, “Dee, if I see any glitter anywhere in this ship You will be cleaning it up with your sonic toothbrush and I won’t let Zakai make excuses for why he should help.”

She saw his grin and returned it, radiating good humor in the Force. Shanree smiled at her and patted her shoulder as he walked on. Next was Morax. He noted the man’s uneasiness and pulled him aside.

“Listen, I know this mission is a bit last second but I need your head in the game. You’re in charge of watching over Chancellor Na’trej… He’s not going to make it easy for you so you’re going to have to be insistent that this was part of the deal in bringing him along– Taldryan provides for his security.”

Morax nodded, so Shanree smiled warmly at him and clapped him on the upper arm, “Good man.”

Next was the Vice-Chancellor. Anders studied the SAG Agent as he ambled up to him. There was a history here between them, one not built on friendship but it was certainly mortared in trust in the other’s capabilities. 

Shanree nodded an implied salute, rather informally, to the Sith, “Sir, everything seems to be in order. We’re ready to disembark once we arrive. You remember the Panic Word we agreed upon?”

Anders cooly replied, “Pickle.”

“Excellent, you or anyone else says that word and I begin immediately extracting the entire delegation back to Caelus post haste”, Shanree looked over his shoulder at Governor Tir’eivra, “Can you try one more time to get her to conceal some of her arsenal? It’s going to cause a protocol issue.”

“I’m well aware”, the Vice-Chancellor said with resignation.

Circe just stood there at the side, with her arms crossed and her face hidden under her helmet, her green blue chameleon armour seeming to shimmer in the dim light of the shuttle. The glances didn’t escape her though, neither did the what was being said. At least her rifle gave her reassurance as did the gift of disappearing from sight.

Feeling Anders’, stare she looked back towards him. “Something on your mind?” she said evenly.

Jorm shook his head ever so slightly, finding delight where he could in the soft jingle of his bejeweled braids.

For frack’s sake, Big Girl, he thought in the direction of absent Cassandra, between Dasha and the Shank Skank, you don’t need me here to solve the situation in acid. Add two brooders in full armor, a new guy, and your prick-in-command, and I look like the sane guy.

He adjusted the sleeves of his white suit, ensuring that the muzzles of his ZK projectors stayed well hidden.

“So,” he spoke up with his trademark skewed smirk, “any bets on how long the bunch of us can make them play nice? My money’s on ‘until Anders or Alaisy open their mouth,’ honestly. And that is only if Dasha can keep her finger still for so long.”

Anders glanced to Circe first and foremost. It was true that both Jade, Jorm, and Alaisy were there, his last pilot had died protecting one individual. That individual was the Sephi Force Wielder sitting just a few feet from her.

“Meshita.”

His answer was blunt and cool like the sharp blade of a sword in winter.

“The Chyron Chancellor clearly has a warped sense of humor. If you bothered to do any research whatsoever, Mr. Natrej, you would know that negotiations are most likely to fail the moment they lay eyes on us. We,” Anders gestured to every individual. “Are, as far as they are concerned, aliens. Parasites, and vermin. Lesser beings to be eradicated or subjected under their boot. None of us are Human, or at least not completely Human any longer.”

Anders spared a glance to Alaisy. “And I can assure you all with certainty that this was completely intentional. First impressions are important in analysing a potential ally or enemy.”

<@414705077484257280> <@417336769181122562> <@188018248241905664>

“So you came here to start the war yourself, huh? Could’ve been honest from the get-go.”

Anders mulled over Jorm’s comment for a moment mostly because it was, in fact, true to a point. He wanted nothing more in this moment to see the Human League brought to its knees and eradicated from the galaxy. Justice demanded retribution. However…

“Their fear is derived from what they fail to comprehend, what they see as different both externally and internally frightens them. The unknown breeds contempt. Contempt creates malice, and malice forces the need for retribution.”

The Vice-Chancellor let the pause occur for the moment. In truth, the Human League leadership might not have even been xenophobic to begin with, but used the tactics to rally the Humans in the Dalicron System to their cause. It was a matter of just how much that ideology had spread amidst the lower ranks.

“I have no doubt that our hosts will attempt something nefarious. That is part of the reason this specific team has been selected. The question is simply when and how? Until that moment comes, we are not to engage in any violence. We must appear to be the ones to defend ourselves and not as the perpetrators of aggressive action. Is that understood?”

Jorm raised an eyebrow while he held Anders’ gaze, then shot a heavy glance at Dasha’s datapad before nodding to the other man.

She’s your problem, blueberry, he thought to himself.

“The reports I’ve seen state that Dalicron’s core worlds fell into poverty. They don’t state why. Care to enlighten me?”

As conversation started to flow between the members, Morax wracked his brain about whoever this Chancellor Na'trej was that he was now charged with protecting. Shanree had played it friendly, but the Anzat got the feeling he was being put on babysitter duty.

Let the other Anzat babysit this Chancellor, he thought to himself. Morax was sizing Jade up, recognizing him as older than he was, though lower in the Brotherhood pecking order it seemed.

Morax stopped brooding and gathered his wits as he waited for the reply to the question his protectee had asked.

“That, my dear Chancellor, is what we are aiming to determine.”

Anders placed his hands behind his back and straightened his back like a typical Coruscanti aristocrat.

“I do, however, have a number of theories. A military coup requires weapons and manpower, both of which cost an abundance of credits. Their public executions of alien species will likely add to the financial stress. On top of this, many of those aliens will have had businesses within the economy. The loss of said businesses will likely have put a strain on the banking clan and drowned the sector into a recession, thus leading to the poverty you mentioned. Of course, I am only speculating, and we should aim to discover the source of their plight once negotiations are underway.”

“Either your reports are inaccurate or you’re twisting it. The written word claims that the core world’s poverty gave rise to the Denosians, not the other way around. So, again. What changed back then? Or don’t any of your guys read the Financial Times or whatever’s published out here?”

It didn’t surprise Circe that that was on his mind, but there was little she could change about the outcome of what happened. She had used her healing gift a few times already to save her. She didn’t understand much about the Mandalorian culture and wasn’t even sure if that was part of it, but she made the choice to jump in between her and the blasterfire from the droid. Meshita saved her life at the cost of hers, it was her choice to do so.

Shaking her head slightly to clear it from the memories she focussed herself again on their mission, one that probably would go wrong as well…

My, oh my, wasn’t Jorm the astute one?

A smile stretched across the blue-skinned man’s face. “Perhaps I am as you so poignantly phrased, twisting it. Regardless, you of all people should know not to believe everything you read. What cannot be ignored are the crimes against sentient species that are being committed every breathing moment this is allowed to continue. We are sent to negotiate and see if we can bring an end to the bloodshed, but as I have already stated, I do not believe they will co-operate willingly.”

Anders took note of Circe shaking her head.

“Is something the matter?”

<@417336769181122562>

“No, everything is fine. Just hoping that it stays with negotiations and not explosions,” Circe said as she glanced towards the much younger Sephi.

<@417336769181122562> Meanwhile, Dasha’s ears are dancing around in a chain of emotions as the young Sephi was already attempting to plot down what she can do.

Before any conversation could continue, the cracking of a communication system sounded.

“This is The Dominion’s Wrath, requesting clearance codes. I repeat requesting clearance codes,” the voice of what sounded like an Imperial from the days if the Galactic Empire sounded through the shuttle.

Anders stood straight, folding his hands behind his back. He took a deep breath. It was time. The Dark Side would be his ultimate ally here.

“Tell him the codes have already been transmitted ahead of our intended meeting.”

It was time to see if the Denosiasts were as good as their word. A long, prudent pause started to concern the Vice-Chancellor when the communications crackled again.

“Codes accepted. You are cleared to land in Hangar Bay Three.”

This was it, the moment of truth. Their shuttle began to shudder and shake violently.

“We’re caught in a tractor beam!” The pilot screeched.

“This is standard procedure. Nothing to be concerned about.”

Anders grit his teeth. It wasn’t like they could do anything now. He turned to the rest of the team and spoke clearly;

“Brace yourselves. Be prepared for anything.”

Jorm snorted.

“If the rest of them is as amateurish as their tractor beam operator, we’ll have them eating out of our hands despite bringing Anders.”

Shanree grinned at the nervous joking about but used his own anxiety to check straps, gear, and his uniform one more time. They needed to make a good first impression here and that would start by the Denosians meeting a well-prepared delegation of diplmats and thier entourage.

As the people around him discussed the situation and what was likely to happen next, Jade hung back just enough to be part of the group, without truly being part of the group. He’d read the briefing on the shuttle ride, but he was still stepping into a delicate high tension situation he knew little about with people he had never met whose goals he wasn’t even sure of.

This certainly wasn’t how he’d expected his day to go. Regardless, he was here now and it was in his best interests to try and aid those he’d arrived with. With this in mind, he had quietly kept his attention on the conversation in an effort to piece together all the moving parts.

He put his hand to his face and stroked the hair on his chin for a moment before stepping closer to the group to speak.

“To clarify the situation, let me try to summarize. These people are your enemies, and you would like nothing more than to start a war, but you are under orders from your government to instead use diplomacy to find a peaceful resolution. So ordered, you created a team composed of people who would give your Senate the appearance of a good faith effort, but would actually trigger the war you want without you seeming the aggressors. Does that about sum it up?”

“My, it appears our newest friend is quite perceptive,” Anders smiled at him. “Of course, Cassandra would prefer a peaceful resolution. I am not inclined to agree with her on this matter. However, we are under her strict orders, for however long they last.”

Or however short, as the case may be.

Jade pondered the response for a moment before raising another question.

“Is it assumed by those who sent you that this will go smoothly, or do we have instructions for when we make them aggressively hate us?”

“It is hoped, pointlessly, by those who sent us. Should we be subject to aggression, we will respond as necessary.”

Granted, that hadn’t been what Cassandra had said to him, but she wasn’t here, so they were his orders, not hers.

Satisfied, Jade simply nodded before stepping back to where he had previously been standing.

“Carry on then… Chancellor, was it?”

“Vice-Chancellor,” Anders corrected. Who knew? Maybe he would be Supreme Chancellor one day?

From a whole sector away, Cassandra shivered as if something bad had occurred or was said. An omen, perhaps…

Dasha stayed somewhere in the middle of the group as they walked. Ears up and scanning in case they catch something interesting to listen to.

Straight down to business? No questions regarding the composition of the team, nor the species involved? Interesting. This old Human wanted to make no contact of any sort with them, or so it seemed.

“A pleasure to meet you, Mr. Reede. I hope your superiors have not been waiting long.”

He attempted to glean the man’s inner thoughts. Perhaps it was the situation, the stress, the constant and incessant clicking and clacking, or the Dark Side refusing to answer him, but he felt a small headache form before he cut the attempt short.

Morax followed behind Chancellor Na'trej, still peeved at being the babysitter. However, he took his charge seriously and immediately started doing what he was good at. Gathering information.

Morax reached out with the Force to inspect his surroundings. He was overwhelmed with uneasiness and numerous dark whispers that tugged at him, telling him things were very off. Due to the enormity of the hangar and hundreds of staff walking around, he was unable to pinpoint exactly where the danger could be, or what.

The Anzat immediately went into full alert, and looked around, perking his ears and trying to listen to his surroundings. He was able to pick up intercom chatter through the cacophony of the commotion.

“Man, when is our lunchtime? I’m starving,” someone said up on the higher deck.

“16th Armored Division please report to the mess hall for your meal allotment.”

Elsewhere he heard a man sobbing behind some random crates. Through his blubbering and sniveling he was able to make out the following, “She left me man, for my cousins cousin, can you believe that? And he isn’t even Human.”

“23rd Commander Canolli to Deck 47. 23rd Commander Canolli report to Deck 47.”

As the old man continued walking and they began to reach the end of the Hangar, Morax heard something else, a request.

“XO Briggs to the bridge please, XO Briggs to the bridge.”

He didn’t really know if any of this was important, and it only seemed natural that on a ship this big there were many moving parts. Though it seemed odd that the XO wouldn’t have already been at the bridge to oversee their arrival.

The Anzat turned his attention to the group and tried to keep his voice low enough to not be overheard by the old man, yet make himself clear to the few around him.

“Anyone know who XO Briggs or Commander Canolli are? Also, why is the 16th Armored Division here if this is supposed to be a diplomatic mission?”

Jorm shrugged the question off.

“This is a Resurgent, they usually operate with something along the lines of fifteen Legions - almost one-hundred-and-fifty-thousand ground pounders. Just because we are here to talk doesn’t mean they toss everyone off their warship, does it? I know I wouldn’t do it either.”

He leaned his head to the side in thought for a moment as he contemplated the other half of the question.

“No idea about Briggs, but the other guy makes me hungry,” Jorm concluded.

Circe followed silently, keeping an eye on the people around them as they proceded further. She also kept an eye for shadows to could come in handy for her if the need arised.

“If you were hungry, you should have eaten before we left,” Anders scolded. How ridiculous was it to expect that they were capable of nourishing themselves as required?

Circe was, of course, eyeing anywhere she could turn her talents to. He kept an eye on that one. What was it Meshita saw in her?

“Mr. Reede. I must ask what you think of Human League activities down on Trexxa. You must be very proud.”

Of course Reede didn’t hear him. The Human looked old enough to be a living fossil.

“Adequate,” Anders answered. The question was benign, though he did not want to reveal too much without getting an answer to his query first.

“I will ask again; What are your impressions of the circumstances occurring on Trexxa?”

Jorm chuckled.

“Anders, maybe you should’ve eaten something before we landed. If you had you’d have the brain fuel to recognize when you’re being played,” he condescended towards the Chiss.

“As for you, flagpole…” he turned to Alaisy, “you’re even worse. Lead on, Reede.”

“Oh, you know. Mostly alien species as a result of the lynching that has been occurring here in this sector. I believe Chyron has seen an influx as well. Not that you can tell through that overgrown jungle of a moon these days,” Anders half-smiled.

Shanree listened and remained quiet. It was not his place to interject, but he found the reports coming out of the Human League’s worlds revolting. He possessed a strong natural sense of equality and egalitarianism, he’d fought the Empire to combat their xenophobia and here it was riling it’s ugly head once more.

Unlike the others Shanree saw with the Force, not with eyes. He tried studying the Denosian officer with his force sight but found the man to be a confusing jumble of emotions that he couldn’t quite identify.

That concerned him.

As the diplomatic team had moved from the shuttle through the port and into the meeting room, Jade had quietly remained just at the tail end of the main group. This wasn’t his fight and he didn’t want to present himself as though he were part of..whatever these people were part of. That could only cause trouble; for both him and them. No, he was just here to observe this “diplomacy” so he could return to his business with this strange tall woman.

And yet, he couldn’t help but sense that this was going to end up being much more than he had bargained for. With this in mind, he kept pace behind the rest and kept focused on the conversation more than his surroundings as to continue his effort to remain on top of what was happening, though this perhaps proved to be a mistake.

This was the team they sent? The vice-chancellor had confirmed that his goals were at odds with whoever had sent him, but that still meant that whoever that was had picked this team. This team whose every word was sharp and yet somehow directed towards each other rather than their mutual enemy. This “diplomatic” team that couldn’t stop bickering amongst themselves like children. Jade couldn’t help but think that the Republic they represented must be quite a mess.

Regardless, his life was the one being threatened by what currently seemed to be the incompetence of these folks, and that wasn’t something he could idly allow. After they had settled into the room for a moment, he moved up from his position and even past the others to stand next to the elder human, and addressed him with enough volume to ensure there was no doubt he was heard, but not quite enough to be offensive.

“There is something about the sound of your own starfighters rushing past that raises the spirit, isn’t there? I can see how you could be so proud. And also of the activities of the Human League down on Trexxa as well, no?”

This was not the reaction Jade had wanted, nor even remotely expected. His response was quick, but purposely gentle. He reached his hand out and lightly touched the shoulder of the older human, enough to indicate the attempt to gain his attention without causing alarm at the weight of his touch. He then spoke again, quieter this time, but still audible enough for the old man to hear. His tone was gentle without any touch of harshness in it.

“Forgive me sir, I’m not actually with their Republic. I’m just a man who happens to be here. Why do you shake so?”

Anders folded his arms behind his back, settling into observing the proceedings unfold as ‘negotiations’, if they could be called that, underwent with Reede.

Indeed, they were certainly up to something. He’d allowed himself to be irritated by the evasion if his questions. Jorm was correct, of course, that they were being played, but that was just more evidence, in the blue-skinned man’s eyes, of the justice that needed to be enacted.

Little by little.

Bit by bit.

The story will unfold and the foundations will come crumbling down.

He had a gut feeling about it.

Morax let out a sigh before reaching out to the old man and tried grabbing him by the shoulder. However, the old man was faster than the Anzat had anticipated and his hand swooshed past through empty air, as if he was swatting a fly. He watched in embarrassment as the older Anzat, Jade, had the same idea and lightly tapped the old man on the shoulder which seemed to get his attention.

Asking his question, the old man seemed to ponder again. Morax lost his temper and the shame of being unable to stop an older, slower, human bubbled up inside of him.

“Listen here old man. You’re wasting my time and you don’t want to get me started on how valuable my time is to me. I think it is only fair as our esteemed host that you answer the question we have all kindly asked you. Perhaps you should answer the question before some of us start to think you’re hiding things from us. And we don’t want these negotiations to start off on that note do we?,” he asked as his voice barely contained his anger and frustration.

Frakking politics, why was he sent on this bloody mission he thought to himself as he looked at Reede.

Jade’s demeanor changed quickly, a subtle but noticeable shift to anyone paying attention. In the length of a breath before the old man could react, he moved himself between the representative and other Anzati, flashing the latter a reproaching glance before facing the representative again.

“I’m sorry, I don’t know why they… are the way they seem to be. I understand your desire to leave.”

He then leaned in and whispered only to him.

“Damn alien lovers, am I right?”

Dasha looked up at the old man putting on the cutest pout she could muster with her ears laid back like a puppy.

Reede’s eyes squinted, almost like he was about to sleep until his head suddenly ly craned from Jade, to Morax, to Dasha. He didn’t say anything, but just… stared.

He was clearly suspicious.

“That will be all for now, Mr. Reede,” Anders said before the tensions could escalate further. “I thank you for escorting us. You may inform your superiors that we are ready to meet with them as soon as they are.”

Reede gave a small nod and a ‘hmph’, but otherwise said little else as he left the room, the doors hissing shut behind him.

Anders closed his eyes for a fraction of a second, connecting his power in the Dark Side to the minds of everyone in the room, interweaving them like the web of a krykna.

“You can all hear me now. This gives us a method of communication without the need to speak. No doubt they are listening to us. With that said, we are attempting to look like the innocent party here. Please do try to refrain yourselves from grabbing anyone who irritates you. At least for now.”

<@417336769181122562> <@77213354619318272> <@726917162136109117> <@179267754145218560> <@494180472713248788> <@188018248241905664> <@414705077484257280>

Jade bristled almost imperceptibly at the mental intrusion before turning to face the Chiss. He tossed an irritated glance to Alaisy briefly before mentally responding.

“It’s clear that you were expecting foul play of some kind, but even accounting for that, there is something even more at work here.”

He let it remain unspoken, but Jade’s concern in the effectiveness of this group was only growing. He began walking the room, looking it over thoroughly for anything out of the ordinary that might catch his eye.

Shanree joined in, “I got the feeling— Reede was playing for time. If their diplomats are merely running late, why did he keep changing the topic?”

Shanree was a military man who’d spent decades around other very similar personality types and they were generally very straightforward people, punctual to boot. If someone was running late, they’d merely pass the word along before it became an issue…

“Something stinks here, but I can’t put my finger on it yet”

It seemed like the upper class in Taldrya had no issue with invading each others privacy and forcing their thoughts onto others, nor the lower class, as he first heard Anders, Jade and then Shanree. Interesting to note, and something Morax would keep in mind.

“It seems we are being played, I agree with Shanree. The XO was late to the bridge when we had already boarded. That’s quite odd. Perhaps we can use this lull to figure out our next moves, as we are all clearly not on the same page. I for one am still very interested in finding out what and who is on deck 47.” the younger Anzat added his thoughts to the group.

Circe’s head turned ever so slightly towards Anders when she heard his voice in her mind.

Don’t worry about that. She thought back.

Stepping to the side so she was in the shadows she made herself melt away in them. She didn’t care if they missed one of them, much less if it irked them, but she would keep an eye on all of them.

“Nothing curious about the XO being in the bowels somewhere. When I held the post, I was constantly whipping departments into shape,” Jorm added to the mental discourse and stepped up to the window.

“47 is very far down and probably rear of the hangar. Vehicle bay or bilge. Something to do with his unit or their petty crimes.”

Shanree took the opportunity to walk about the conference room as they waited in seeming silence. He studied the electronics built into the conference table, the walls of the room, and reached out with his sense to see if there was something they weren’t aware of. The ship around them was busy with the routine of its daily business. He could feel the attention of small cameras that watched the room on him, and them all, as he walked about

Dasha didnt really need to say anything with the innocent look she was giving the old man, hoping to seed some emotional conflicts. How could this thin-looking stunted-Elf looking alien possibly be a threat?

A prickle ran down Shanree’s spine, a momentary warning of what was to come, *“Gas, gas, gas.”

He took a few deliberate, deep breaths and then held it.

Anders felt it before he heard it. His eyes widened, Shanree’s warning screeching in his mind.

“And there it is!”

Dioxis gas, highly deadly if inhaled in a large enough doses. He took a deep breathe, closed his eyes, and allowed the innermost darkest recceses of his mind to emerge at the surface. When he opened his eyes, the Sith amber crusted them, and he uttered one word. Just one through the telepathic link he’d formed.

“Pickle.”

Jorm shrugged and focused on his skin, closing pores and forbidding heat to leave hardening cells.

“I’ll go for the balls,” he said out loud and casually drew his lightsaber to plunge it through the armorglass. Between the cold of the void and the solar heat, the panel shattered into a million pieces, and the pressure difference sucked the Kiffar into space before an emergency blast panel shot down to seal the room again.

Bitter, biting cold crashed in on him, biting into his prepared skin which refused to yield his prescious innards and warm breath to the void. Flying frakk, I missed this rush!

His left hand, still clasping the cane he’d brought, shot out towards the still close Star Destroyer and facilitated the mental grasp of telekinesis, tethering Jorm, arresting his flight, and reversing his direction.

Let’s go a little lower… and then carve my way to engineering. Put that degree to use!

Dasha signed and hit a button on her tablet to start her programs that would start slicing into whatever systems it could. Probably primarily communications.

The word rang in his ears.

”Pickle”

Shanree was a man in motion in an instant. He was between the troopers storming the room and the rest of the delegation. He brought his hands together in clap before him. An invisible hand was about to swat both troopers into the bulkhead behind them when the room exploded into a cacophony of mayhem for one horrible moment. 

“I’ll go for the balls” Shanree heard just before the transparasteel viewplate separating the conference room from the vacuum beyond shattered. 

Jorm was sucked out into space before the blast shutter could shunt into place. Everyone in the room was suddenly grabbed off of their feet by the sudden rush of atmosphere racing towards the hole in the ship’s hull. The shutter sealed the room again almost as quickly as the window had vanished, but the room still experienced the tremendous rush of air towards the hole in that moment. Shanree fell across the conference table behind him, hitting his head on its polished surface but buffered by his helmet. The two troopers who’d rushed in had been pulled forward and off of their feet, and were now groaning and trying to get back to their feet.

Shanree groaned inwardly and rolled on a side with some hurried effort. He grabbed for a lightsaber hilt over his shoulder as he saw one of the two troopers picking himself up off of the deck and looking for his weapon. He fumbled the hilt, his head still spinning from the Force of hitting the table, and and it rolled off of the conference table and onto the ground next to the trooper. There was a moment when the helmeted man’s attention was grabbed by the length of Wroshyr wood hitting the floor beside him, and then he met Shanree’s eyeless gaze. In the same heartbeat they lunged for the weapon

Both men’s hands landed on the saber hilt at the same time

Meanwhile, the second trooper, seeing the struggle, leapt to his comrades aid and attempted to wrap his arm around Shanree’s throat in an attempt to choke him.

The arm snaked around his throat from behind. Years of experience kicked in as Shanree threw an elbow backwards, then jack-knifed his entire body and rolled to the side violently. The Trooper behind him, having just tensed his arm around the SAG Agent’s neck, was pulled over him and dropped onto the deck with emphasis. He felt the arm loosen in that moment from behind him and he tore himself free, scrambling to his feet. His movement had wrenched the Lightsaber out of the second Trooper’s grip and was now firmly in Shanree’s own hand, and he now stood over both Troopers laying on the deck.

Anders recovered just as Shanree floored two of the troopers. These imbeciles! They had attacked them and they would pay the price with their lives!

Still, they were at a disadvantage. Let’s see if he could do something about that…

He began to chant in the language of the ancient Sith, beckoning their power to enter their minds and coerce them to lesser actions. Half of the troopers became affected.

That was certainly a start.

The viewport shattering had caught him off guard and thrown Jade off his feet. Reflex activated instantly, and he used the momentum of the sudden force to twist his body enough to land back on the ground in a crouch. He sprung back to his feet just in time to see the two troopers open fire at their respective targets, but that was all the warning he needed.

The soldier firing at him did so with trained precision, putting Jade on the defensive. The Anzati bent his torso with both arms straight out to duck the first shots before leaping up and over the rest in an acrobatic flip that landed himself directly between Alaisy and the troopers. He’d heard her cry and seen the shot, and he certainly hadn’t come through all this just to see her go down.

He stood tall and his eyes flashed his namesake color as he threw his arm out towards the two troopers. Sparks crackled at his fingertips before two distinct brilliant streaks of green lightning flew from them, lighting up the room in a brief emerald glow. The troopers struck by the blast were brought to their knees as a thin, light green smoke rose from where the bolts had impacted.

A mistake. One that Jade was prepared for. Before the explosive had even hit the ground, it had already reversed course and flew back towards the one who threw it, this time with significantly more force. It struck Jeff directly in the chest, knocking him off balance and sending him reeling backwards into another trooper behind him. The detonator exploded just as the two of them crashed to the floor together in a violent cacophony of light and sound.

The younger Anzati watched as Jade took control of the skirmish and completely obliterated a few of the troopers.

Not bad at all.

Morax felt the Force sweeping through the room as many things happened at once, other Force users drawing upon its power to prepare their own attacks. He could feel it tugging at each one of them, as if urging them to open themselves to it as one, and not individually.

Morax listened and tried to focus on weaving the source of their power between them, interlinking them to each other so they could better coordinate and play off of each others strengths whilst protecting their weaknesses.

At first it seemed as if Morax was able to make it work, briefly feeling a surge of battle awareness, but the poison still lingering in his body hadnt lifted the fog that hung over his brain, causing the younger Anzati to lose concentration almost immediately.

Shanree saw movement in his own way outside of the room. He looked up to see a man, in the Force, holding a weapon. Shanree quickly understood the man was already affected by something that clouded his mind, but he could also see that the man was raising the weapon and preparing to shoot randomly.

Shanree spun to the side, but the Trooper he’d flipped over himself earlier had shifted and Shanree stumbled. A bolt of crimson energy slammed into the soft of his left shoulder unpleasantly. His nose was filled with the acrid smell of burnt synthetics from his body armor, which was accompanied by some heat that lingered in the material until it disapated after a few moments. He knew from experience he was fine, but he doubted the light armor would do that for him again.

Another one of Anders’ victims to the mind shenanigans ongoing watched as his comrades were slaughtered one by one.

Not him.

He reached for the electrical baton at his hip, activating the weapon. He sulked forward, every step feeling like treading through a miasma as he targeted what he assumed was an easy kill.

He thought wrong.

Even as the electrical sparks made Co tact with Anzat flesh, Morax remained upright and conscious. Determined and resilient.

What we’re these aliens made from!?

Circe had seen enough of the nonesense around her and lifted her rifle, taking aim at one of the men who had still hadn’t done much. Taking the shot she hit him full on, but as a result her shadows weavered around her, revealing were she is for a moment before fully hiding her again.

Quickly she moved from her position to keep them from guessing were she was.

Dasha flew into a bolted-down chair in the temporary gas-purge and held on for dear life before it was sealed. Shaking some of the wooziness from her head, she sat under the table and behind a chair to hide herself as she got to work on her tablet, attempting to slice her way into the ship’s network and comms system.

Her ears twitched as she noticed the repair bots nearby. Taking advantage, she’d dart under the conference room table to plug her tablet into the nearest repair bot to download credentials and start her cyber attack.

The void’s chilling embrace burned its way through Jorm’s skin just like the Dioxis in his lungs burned it’s way out.

That won’t do. Begone, you scallywags, this here temple of a body is only big enough for my own ego!

His will reasserted itself and drove the cold back outside, coalesced the poison into an acrid marble that Jorm contemptuously spat out.

That’s better. Now where am I?

The telekinetic tether he’s thrown had persisted, maintained almost as an as an afterthought, and drew him back towards the ship - near the double prow, almost far enough forward to land between the tiers. A glistening trail of glass shards and frozen air hightlighted the way back towards the erstwhile trap, further illuminated by flashes of blaster fire inside.

Have fun with that.

His trajectory led a little lower, near the lower ledge of the destroyer’s port lateral trench, which was perfectly fine with Jorm. He switched off his saber and stowed it again before his feet touched the ledge, a gentle impact in the ship’s weakened artificial gravity, barely extending past the hull.

The cold was still present, but instead of invading him again, it embraced him like a soft, tailored glove. The screaming in his lungs had subsided and made place for a feeling of control and purpose. And he still had his pimpin’ cane, which was nice.

Allright, enough dawdling.

Jorm turned toward the rear of the destroyer and broke into the loping run of the moonwalkers to cover the rough mile of distance to his target as quickly as possible, hugging the hull as he did.

Frustrated Shanree activated his lightsaber I. Hand with a snap-hiss. He plunged the emerald blade into the Trooper at his feet, the one he’d flipped over himself. The emerald blade disappeared into the man’s plastoid armor with a squelch

Shanree tried to drag the saber across his body to the second trooper, but that man saw what was coming and rolled away successfully

That was quite enough of this nonsense! The entire situation had gone to Hell in a handbasket faster than a mynock tore at starfighter cables.

Aequitas summoned his curved hilt lightsaber, the black blade erupted from the blade, the crimson hue illuminating the trooper closest to Morax’s helmet.

The very last thing that trooper ever saw was the pair of bloodied eyes polluted by the taint of amber iris’. The lightsaber swung through the trooper’s neck, severing their head from their shoulders.

The final trooper realised she stood alone, one against seven, all her comrades deceased against the the ragtag group of alien scum.

“Kark… NO!” she raised her weapon. “All of you stay back!”

Jade’s eyes widened, he inhaled a deep breath of non-toxic air and broke into a sprint towards his target. The Trooper fired once, twice, then a third shot with the Anzat ducking, weaving, and sidestepping each until he closed the distance. With a fast sequence almost too fast for the naked eye, he brought her down, disarmed her, and rendered her unconscious with a hard blow to the back of her neck.

Crimson eyes burned with the amber intensity of a sun as Anders glanced around at their defeated foes. He retracted his lightsaber and corrected his ruffled attire.

“Excellent work, everyone. Now, we mu-”

He was cut off when an explosion followed by intense vibrations along the floor sent shockwaves through the Force.

He grabbed his saber again, igniting it. There was no-one else here. Where had that come from?

“I do,” Aequitas’ eyes narrowed. “They just killed everyone aboard our ship. <@77213354619318272> can you confirm on the nearby terminal?”

Anders gestured in the vague direction of a computer.

There was a momentary quiet in the conference room after the fight and the distant explosion. Shanree took a deep breath and expanded his awareness, and what he felt caused his heart to drop. Anders was correct.

“We need a new way off of this ship”, he went to the open door and peeked down the corridor in both directions, and then seemingly up at the ceiling and the floor, “The ship’s company seems to be ready for us to make for the hangar below, or the bridge above us.”

“Which way has the more significant numbers?” Anders asked.

Dasha plugged into the nearby terminal and tapped away quickly, bringing up the footage of the hangar they had the ship parked recently. She quickly also hit the record button to save the footage to her datapad.

The Chiss Sith connected the dark tendrils of his mind to the Chyron Chancellor.

‘Mr. Na'trej, can you hear me?’

<@414705077484257280>

Circe sighed as she looked towards the others. She would have agreed with Anders if it wasn’t space they had to deal with after wards, or the amount of ships outside

“Circe,” Anders requested the older Sephi’s attention.

She looked towards Anders, “Yes?”

“Excellent work,” he said. “And that goes for most everyone here as well, but we are not out of this yet. We must remain vigilant.”

“Definitely up, they really don’t want us reaching the CIC.”

Shanree took another glance around him with his perception and added, “we really do need to pick a direction and start moving. Vice-Chancellor, make the call and I’ll start leading them.”

‘Mr. Na'trej, can you hear me?’

The message dropped into Jorm’s mind uninvited and somewhat shakily, but it interupted his mental replay of modern Huttese opera nonetheless, so the Kiffar tuned his caller right in.

‘KUBA, KAYABA DEE ANKO~~’

The Sephi blinked at the remard the Chiss made, she would never have expected praise from him for just doing their job

‘Huttese Opera? As much as I am delighted to see you are a man of certain culture, I instead come to you with an objective.’

‘There is no such thing as an objective when we are all aptly subject to subjectives, be it our own or those of people with bigger guns.’

Anders resisted the urge to sigh and roll his eyes. How best to get through to Jorm from what he knew about him in their limited interactions?

‘Do you want to kill something or blow something up?’

‘You know, I’m on a rather enjoyable starlight walk with an undeniably spectacular view right now, with some light murder and a cataclysm or two in delightfully close future. What distraction from such pleasures would you offer?’

‘I am positive that the view is tremendous. If it is light murder and a cataclysm you seek, perhaps I can provide you with sufficient entertainment. Do you recall the tractor beam that pulled us in when we first arrived?’

‘A fitting entry point for the awful excuse of hospitality the staff of this establishment provides, although the operator in question could make a career out of sucking. Zero-point-five stars out of the million I can see from just here.’

‘Then perhaps you can do something to improve the scenery? Once the tractor beam and its operator are destroyed, we will bring a ship round to collect you and you can admire your handiwork from a distance.’

Anders then turned his attention to Dasha, still plugged in to the nearby terminal. “Miss. Talus, can you provide me a schematic regarding the location of the tractor beam?” <@77213354619318272>

Next, to Shanree. “I gave the codeword for an evacuation and that is exactly what we shall do, Mr. Argentin, and that is precisely what we shall do. First, we must disguise ourselves.” <@494180472713248788>

Seeing Aphotis don a Human League uniform was rather remarkable. The Chiss made a point of studying that symbiote that she wore. A quick glance down the hallway and he discovered a supply cart. With the Force, he pulled it towards them and gestured for his fellow Sith to dump them in. It would be part of their cover.

The biggest problem was Anders. For Shanree, one of the fallen troopers armor would fit, but the Chiss was an inch too tall. Any discrepancy would arouse suspicion.

That was when he found the pair of stuncuffs in the cart he had summoned to them. He mentally groaned, but what other choice did he have?

“I will have to be your prisoner,” he announced, deactivating his lightsaber and clipping one of his wrists in the infernal device.

‘I could do that, but I could just as well simply call in my own people. You’ll have to sell me on your idea.’

Anders looked outside of a window, seeing the collection of Star Destroyers that were gathered around the Dominion’s Wrath.

‘You could call in your people, certainly. Though, you and I both know that they will likely be destroyed before they get anywhere close. I know how much you despise pointless actions, Mr. Na'trej. Besides, would you not glean some entertainment from doing it yourself? The rush, the chaos of dealing a heavy blow whilst giving us the advantage? Perhaps it is time, given the circumstances, that you introduce them to your darker side, Jester.’

‘You think too small, Blueberry. I’ve got some explosives and an awful lot of knowledge about starships, in particular Imperial designs, so take a hot guess: what’s the biggest show I could pull off?’

‘I have no doubt you can perform the biggest explosion possible. Your exploits in Scholae Palatinae are testament to the fact. However, if we intend to vacate this ship, we will need a more focused effort.’

Anders inhaled a deep breath through his nostrils as he clipped the second handcuff, binding him.

‘For whatever it is worth, Jorm, I admit my wrongdoings in this endeavour and apologise. I am not a diplomat. I am an Inquisitor and despite my belief this situation would have occured anyways, and I stand by that, my choices have not aided our objectives both in my actions and the team members allocated. However, I am still the Vice-Chancellor, and I am responsible for ensuring this team survives to return to the Caelus System. That includes you, but I need you to play this game with me, rather than against me.’

Dasha gave a quick nod before using the previously used credentials to obtain a map and if possible blueprints as if the droid was going to do maintenance work.

Jorm did not have the spare air to laugh out loud, but his mental space reverberated in an expression of amusement that wozld have made Jabba the Hutt proud.

‘Oh my, Anders, is that a trace of humility? Did someone put you in handcuffs or how did you come around? Tell me later, your treat. I’ll do some setup work… and when the time is right, I’ll demote this bucket to asteroid. That won’t keep though.’

A small trace of a smirk appeared on the Chiss’ face.

‘Actually, that handcuff statement is more accurate than you might expect, but as you said, we will discuss that later…’

Anders looked over the layout that lead to the Tractor Beam station, along with a map of the fastest route there.

“Excellent work, Miss. Talus.” <@77213354619318272>

Anders transmitted the mental images to Jorm.

‘You should be able to see the location of the tractor beam and the fastest route there. Give them Hell, Jester.’

Anders then turned his attention to his immediate contingent. “I look too clean. There is no sign of a struggle. You will all need to roughouse me some if this is to be believable.”

<@417336769181122562> <@188018248241905664> <@726917162136109117> <@494180472713248788> <@77213354619318272> <@179267754145218560>

“However, any serious injuries I endure will be accosted tenfold. Understood?” Anders narrowed his eyes on them.

Dasha tilted her head and wondered if it was wise for her to ‘roughhouse’ Anders considering her style isnt meant to make appearances, but instead to be effective.

Anders peered at the weapon. No doubt Tir'eivra was going to enjoy this.

“No, That will not suffice. The charge must be on. Why else would they use it? I can take the shock.”

He straightened his posture and braced himself.

Considering her slender frame, one might have not expected Alaisy to wield the amount of physical strength that she did. Anders was not prepared for the first hit that struck him. He didn’t know what hurt worse; the physical force of the baton or the subsequent shock that followed. It sent his heart pounding into his ears.

The second felt like the most intense and sudden migraine he’d ever experienced. He almost didn’t hear Tir'eivra’s command to lower his head.

But he did, and he begrudgingly followed her instructions. He did ask for this, after all.

The weapon clanged against his head and he shut his eyes, doing his best to ignore the ringing in his ears as he grunted and growled. The Chiss steadied his breathing and slowly pulled himself to his feet.

“Yes. Take my weapon and put some tears in my robe. Then we shall be capable of proceeding once everyone is in their attire.”

He visibly winced as he spoke, pain jolting him with each word.

Morax grimaced as he all but felt the three quick but brutal hits. His respect for the Chiss grew, seeing what he would go through to complete a mission. Thats someone he could follow into battle, but would also need to keep careful tabs on. Making a mental note of this, he also couldn’t help but feel a tingle in his heart as he had watched Alaisy bonk the Chiss with pinpoint precision, a smirk on her face and without hesitation.

It seemed like she knew her way around humanoid bodies.

Once the tears were in place, Anders truly did look a state. The signs of an ‘apparent’ struggle were now evident on him.

That would do nicely.

Everyone, sans Anders of course and Circe, who had chosen to stalk the team through the shadows, had adorned either the Human League uniform available to them in the supply cart, or the troopers armor that they had just defeated.

It was down to personal preference, really.

The team began to move, passing by several Human League officials as Anders was ‘escorted’ towards the hangar bay. Shanree brought up the rear pushing the supply cart with them whilst Morax and Jade kept up front, pushing the Chiss whenever necessary to keep up appearances. Dasha hung at their side, tapping away at the datapad which mapped out their way back to the hangar. Aphotis, being as tall as she was, naturally drew a few eyes, though a quick, hard glare silenced any thoughts the Humans might have had.

Guided by Dasha, the team reached a small turbolift and barely managed to cram inside. Forced to listen to the abhorrent elevator music, they were relieved when the rush of cold hangar bay air wafted across their faces as the turbolift doors open.

The Chiss gave a quick glance around at the available craft, seeing the one that they had arrived one smoking and in ruins. The skeletal frames if the crew were dragged out and piled on top of one another.

They will pay for that.

But not yet. Not now. Justice will come when it is ready.

Instead, there was a Lamda shuttle being prepped with supplies, likely heading towards the nearby planet of Trexxa.

“There,” Anders muttered, gesturing as best he could towards the shuttle.

The team began to make their way towards it when they were halted by members of the 23rd Human League Legion.

“Halt. What is going on here?” The Commander inquired in a demanding tone.

<@417336769181122562> <@179267754145218560> <@77213354619318272> <@494180472713248788> <@726917162136109117> <@188018248241905664>

Jade stepped forward and looked the commander in the eye. Mind tricks came naturally to Anzati in order to feed without issue, even for those without the Force. This was like riding a speeder bike for him.

“New orders from above.”

After those words he drew on his well of power and directed it into his gaze.

“We are to take this prisoner to a secure location. And you sir are to come with us to ensure things go according to protocol.”

An officer to interrogate would likely be of value. It was an easy thing to slip in.

The Commander’s breathing seemed to steady, the rifle in his hand lowering by a handful of degrees.

“Understood…” he said, his tone monotonous. “This way…”

The Commander escorted them over to the shuttle which was still being filled with supplies. However, there were a couple of soldiers that had watched the exchange go down and were now highly suspicious and began to follow the team from behind.

Morax noticed the duo of troopers walking towards them as he scanned around.

Two troopers coming up on our left. Let me deal with this, he mentally told the group as he turned around and tried locking eyes with the trooper closest to him.

Watch this and learn Jade, this is how you make people obey you, Morax thought specifically to him.

The two troopers stopped a few steps away from the Anzati, a bit confused as to why the group had kept moving but the Anzati hadn’t.

In fact he wasn’t moving at all, only staring at them. Waiting.

Bob approached the Force user first, thus sealing his fate. Through the stormtroopers mask, he saw the humanoid make eye contact with him, chills went through his spine and he immediately knew something was wrong. He tried to aim his blaster and move his lips to form words of alarm, yet his body would not function as he wanted.

Fear rose up from his gut, rapidly traveling through his body and into his mind as he unwillingly turned towards Jax and pointed his blaster at him. Bob tried to scream a warning, stop his finger from reaching for the trigger, anything to warn Jax. It was all for naught as his body was no longer his own.

The high pitched scream of the blaster bolt rang through the hangar bay as it raced through the air and straight towards Jax.

Morax watched, with furious concentration on keeping the trooper under his control, as the other trooper miraculously dodged the blasterbolt from almost point blank range.

“Bob, what the kark are you doing?” the other trooper roared, equally shocked at his quick reflexes in dodging the blast and that his companion had taken a shot at him. Raising his own blaster towards Bob, Jax kept a careful eye on him as the commotion drew the attention of others.

Frakk, ofcourse I pick the wrong bantha poodoo trooper to control. Morax sighed inwardly, but focused on keeping control over the trooper, trying to buy time for the team to get closer to the transport ship.

Of all the imbecilic…

They were drawing far too much attention. Something had to be done. The moment the Commander slipped away inside the shuttle, Anders harnessed his darkened powers. He weaved the tendrils of the Force into the Jax’s mind.

He broke through the Human’s mental defences and forced him to drop his weapon before holoball tackling his fellow trooper to the ground, wailing on him with fists as the crowd gathered. Some placed bets whilst others tried to intervene and break up the fight.

Now was their chance to slip aboard the shuttle…

Morax saw the Force surrounding the second trooper in a similar way he was controlling Bob.

The Anzati began to shuffle his way towards the shuttle, careful not to break his control over his trooper.

Bobs mind was reeling, unable to comprehend what was happening to him. His mouth opened, air passed his lips and formed words, but they were not the ones he wanted to speak.

“You…ate…my…Gungan…Gooberfish DIP!” Bob shouted the last word as he slammed his elbows down onto the back of other troopers helmet, before rolling over and attempting to stand up straight. His foot had already extended outward, awkwardly making it look as if Bob was in the shape of a letter K, and struck out towards the stomach of his companion. Their armour protected them from most of the blows, no real harm was being done to each other.

The clown show was drawing attention to itself from across the hangar. Shanree glanced around and decided this was going to be their best opportunity. From under the helmet of the trooper’s helmet he’d donned, he whispered loudly to the Taldryanites around him.

“Its time to go. In orderly fashion– make for the ship”, he pressed them ahead of him and waited to bring up the rear as he carefully scanned the area around them.

As they appraoched he began resolving an idea of what awaited them inside the vessel. He could feel, predictably, someone focused on a task sitting in the cockpit and Shanree assumed that would be the pilot. Slightly aft of him were two men; one’s mind was funny and only had one overriding emotion, while the other was a mix of confusion, misunderstanding, and anxiety. That was likely the mind tricked Officer from earlier and someone he outranked trying to figure out what was going on.

Shanree spoke through the mind link they shared, *“There are two hostiles seated in the supply compartment, one in the cockpit. Circe, make us welcome. Quick and quiet if you please. Jade, you follow her in.”

He jostled Vice-Chancellor Anderson’s shoulder with the blaster he’d picked up from the dead trooper to maintain appearances.

<@417336769181122562> <@726917162136109117>

Dasha… on the other hand… attempted to access electronic communcation devices in the ship.

Circe smirked as she stepped inside the shuttle, easily bypassing the others holding Anders. Moving further into the ship she spotted the two Shanree was talking about in the supply compartment.

Quietly she moved up behind the first one and with a few quick fluid moves she folded the person into a need heap of folded human, the man barely registered what happened to him before it was to late. The other man startled and breathed harder in surprise as he only saw glimmers of green swooshing through the air. He clenched his fists as he tried to break free from his trickery.

As soon as she was done with the officer she moved on towards the pilot who was so focused on his work that he didn’t even heard the commotion of the man being folded up. Turning the chair quickly she pulled the pilot from his chair. The pilot shrieked in surprise as he got pulled from the chair and struggled to break free, but Circe was to quick in her movements that he couldn’t get a hold on her and instead ended up quickly on the ground, folded up just like his fellow teammate in the supply room.

“Done,” was the single thing she said when she was done. She moved back towards the officer, who was now breathing as if he had run the length of the Star Destroyer and shook her head slightly.

“Finally…” Anders glanced to the Commander as he entered the shuttle and released his hold on Jax. The Commander in his sight was fighting against Jade’s suggestions. No Mind Trick lasted forever and it was only a matter of time. “Can someone get this infernal contraption off of me?”

He raised his handcuffs.

Circe tilted her head slightly, her blue painted eyes staring at Anders for a moment as if concidering to keep them on his wrists, before stepping towards him and fiddling with the handcuffs, finally opening them.

The two troopers were arguing with each other as Morax released his hold on Bob, and sprinted towards the shuttle.

Jade followed Circe into the ship at Shanree’s behest, hanging behind to allow her room to do her job. He gave a small smile of approval at her efficiency as she removed the two current occupants as problems before sliding past her and into the pilot’s seat. He didn’t know if any of them could fly and he didn’t really care; he wasn’t particularly keen on putting his lives in their hands again.

He turned to Circe and gestured to the commander still under the effects of his mind trick before speaking and releasing any hold on him still present.

“Do the honors? I’m sure your bosses will be eager to chat with him.”

The younger Anzati hopped aboard the shuttle, turning around to make sure they hadnt’t left anyone behind, anyone important at least. It seemed like he was the last on aboard.

*Lets get this tincan outta here,“ Morax said as he continued watching for anything that could go wrong before they pulled the ramp up.

Silent as a ghost and just as fleet Jorm closed in on the port hangar bay, using diverse outcroppings, antennae and maintenance handholds to climb upwards. Along the way, he took note of heavy cabling running in recessed trenches, impervious to incoming turbolaser fire under the heavy brow of armor but delightfully exposed to both mechanics and maniacs operating on the hull, and Jorm had never been much of the former.

Upon closer inspection the cables were impeccably labeled, and Jorm wasted no time in applying half of his detonite to the torso-thick monstrosity labeled ‘Port Tractor.’

He bit his frozen yet flexible lip and drew his lightdagger for the next part - cutting open the isolation with the short, blue blade and bending a double handfull of superconductive fibers to touch the hull.

That’s one, he thought to himself and continued his approach. He repeated the process with a cable labeled ‘Port Hangar FF Anterior,’ listening in to the mental chatter all the time, before taking position on the outer hull, a few meters from the tractor control booth set into the upper hangar wall.

‘Ready when y'all are.’

Dasha’s ears drooped as she listened to the human’s radio chatter. She stated tk others on the ship, “We’re getting more company soon…”

With that she went to the windows of the ship to try to spot where they would be coming from while taking note easily visible furniture and items in whichever parts of the ship.

Jade hopped into the pilot’s seat, which was, thankfully, appropriate, given the rest of the team had about as much piloting skill combined as a paper aeroplane. He started by closing the ramp, then ignited the thrusters and shields as tbe Lamda shuttle ascended in the air.

Jade ignored the calls from the troopers coming below them.

<@726917162136109117>

With a push of a lever, the thrusters of the shuttle roared as the Lamda maintained a steady pace towards the exit. Dasha had successfully lowered the beam and now it was just a question of whether the Commander would play ball.

Circe kept her gaze on him, unnerving him as he spoke into his comms;

“Omicron to Lamda. Code is green. I repeat, code is green.”

There was silence for a few moments before the comms crackled. The Commander spoke again.

“Omicron to kappa, sleet is clean. Bird 558009 is up to the mark.”

Another short silence before the comms crackled again.

“Omicron to pi, signature is marked. Ready to pass.”

“Copy that. You are granted permission to pass. Safe passage, Omicron.”

The Shuttle emerge out of the Dominion’s Wrath. So far so good. No sign of the tractor beam. Yet.

“Mr. Hext, please bring us around the side of the destroyer,” Anders pointed out of the cockpit, gesturing the direction he wished to go. “We have a Chancellor to collect.”

That was a point. Anders had felt the need to aid Morax in his manipulation of the troopers back in the hangar. He’d had to cut the telepathic connection he held with Jorm.

Anders closed his eyes. Thankfully, reconnecting his mind repeatedly to those he had done so previously became easier the more it was attempted. He’d reestablished the connection just in time to hear Jorm loud and clear.

‘Ready when y'all are.’

Anders smirked.

‘Very good, Mr. Natrej. It will not be long before they realise something is amiss. We are closing in on your location. You may fire when ready.’

<@414705077484257280>

Jorm saw the shuttle and felt the Force-attuned presences aboard without conscious effort as Anders made contact again.

‘Closing in,’ he echoed, ‘As in turning right around. Blueberry, stop acting without adult supervision. Bolt!’

Through his fingertips he could feel the hum of the nearby tractor emitter charging, immediately followed by the blue cone of energy enveloping the returning shuttle.

Either they assume an emergency and play it safe, he theorized as he crept closer to the operator booth’s outside window, or the commotion finally raised their hackles. Anyway…

Jorm politely knocked on the window with his cane and smiled at the two men inside. Somehow, the view of a casually suited foreign Chancellor looking in from hard vacuum caused them to recoil and point at him. So much for decorum.

His mental fingers, unimpeded by such trivial things as matter, reached through the glass and pulled the sliders governing power settings into their foremost position. Jorm felt the hum escalate to a howl as the tractor beam radically escalated in strength.

He didn’t want to stay around for the climax. A quick hop brought his heels to the window, then he jumped into space again, aiming for the shuttle - but something felt wrong. Something slowed him.

Crap. Beam scatter.

Snatching his com, he decided to do something about it - and with a press of a button, the world went white-blue as the previously sabotaged conduits ruptured and dumped enough energy to forcibly move a large corvette directly into the hull in thick, snaking arcs of lightning.

Anders remembered from Dasha’s datapad the layout and a rough estimation of where Jorm would be. Where was he? He’d seen, as had everyone, the damage the Jester had inflicted.

Something had gone wrong.

“Mr. Hext, fire upon tbe ship there,” Anders pointed to where he wanted Jade to shoot.

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The flight began rough as Jade adjusted to the situation, but he stabilized his hand in time to roll the ship around while making sure the attempted rescue wasn’t jeopardized further. He turned both dual laser cannons onto the target the Chiss identified before opening fire with a stream of shots that each landed on target.

Whoooooooooooops. That went off better than expected!

Jorm found himself half blind and cartwheeling through space, star-speckled black trading places with star-less black every few seconds, which he found only mildly amusing.

Right, so where are these muppets now…

Bright green flashes shot through his vision.

Oh. There.

Extenting his hand, he once more extended his somewhat shaky mental grip to a starship today.

Seeing Jorm cartwheel out into space was a sight straight out of one of those comedy styled holofilms. The Chyron Chancellor even held the maniacal grin on his face.

“Everyone, hold your breath.”

Anders retreated to the rear of the Lamda, activating the level that lowered the ramp. The whoosh of air escaping into the void of space. Almost threatened to pull him along with it, though he held on to the metal support beam at his side and held out his hand, wrapping his telekinetic grip around Jorm.

A headache formed in the corners of his head, and yet, he pressed on with summoning Jorm into the ship. With tbeir telekinetic grips combined, the Kiffar accelerated faster than expected. Anders barely sidestepped Jorm’s flying frame as he flew inside the shuttle with great speed, threatening to crash.

Circe noticed just in time what was happening and held out her hands to catch Jorm with her telekinetic grip before he would end up as a pancake against the bulkhead. She released her grip on him once he was safely stopped and nodded slightly in a greeting.

Jorm raised his cane in greeting to Circe before turning for one last look at the chaos he’d wrought.

Dominion’s Wrath was eerily lit by tendrils of electricity still dancing across the hull, while the usually illuminated hangar deck had disappeared behind emergency blast doors upon losing its force field. Only towards the bow and bridge above, normal lighting occured.

Jorm squinted his eyes in search of corpses and debris - there would be quite some from the hangar - but the shuttle’s ramp closed and a faint hiss heralded the return of atmosphere.

The warm air immediately clung to Jorm’s void-cold clothes and condensated into a sheet of ice he wasn’t about to tolerate.

With a tap of his cane on the shuttle floor the Kiffar expanded his mental grasp once more and blew the ice out of his clothes, then condensed it into a snowball which he passed on to Anders.

“Here, you need this more than I do,” Jorm finally released his breath.

With the ramp raised, Anders took the snowball. He wasn’t going to lie, the cold object felt nice on his skin. Csilla was a lifetime away, and Anders had barely any fond memories of his homeworld, but the cold was something he always appreciated.

Alas, the ice began to melt in his hand and brought him back to the task at hand.

“Excellent work. That includes everyone. Mr. Hext please-”

Anders stopped when he saw the flashing lights upon the central console next to Jade. Now, he was far from an expert pilot, but he’d been on enough Lamda shuttles to know what that particular set of flashing buttons meant…

Low fuel.

Blast it! There was no way they were getting back to the Caelus System with this. This vessel was likely only designated for a one way trip down to Trexxa. Which was what they had to do now. They would be sitting ducks here.

“Change of plans. Mr. Hext, take us down to Trexxa. We will secure a new vessel on the surface. Our Commander friend here will aid us in that endeavour.”

“I-I will!?” The Commander sputtered. “Please! I’ve already done so much!”

“You have,” Anders peered over him. “And you will do as we say. Or else.”

Phase 2

If there was any scrambling to stop them, then the Human League had failed miserably with their organisation. It made sense in a way. They had all the power they possessed, but what was the point if they could not use it effectively?

Still mostly disguised, the Taldryanites (and Jorm) descended into the heart of the hive, so to speak. They broke through the atmosphere and landed in Palikir City Spaceport.

Loud banging was heard on the side of the ship along with muffled shouts.

“Open up! We gotta get these supplies out ASAP.”

Jorm, still digging out explosives from the very same supplies, gave Anders a nudge.

“Yo, mindmaster. Why don’t you tell these bozos that this ain’t the shuttle they’re looking for?”

“It might work on them, but what about everyone else outside?” Anders inquired.

“Come on! Open up!”

With a sigh, he relented. “Fine. Lower the ramp, Mr. Hext. Ms. Orvar, please hide in the shadows until such a time that you are required. Mr. Darkblade, Ms. Tir’eivra, and Mr. Argentin, on my flanks. Ms. Talus, be prepared to hack into their communications.”

<@417336769181122562> <@179267754145218560> <@726917162136109117> <@188018248241905664> <@494180472713248788> <@77213354619318272>

Morax sighed. This mission was just failure heaped upon failure and it seemed like there wouldn’t be an end to this just yet. Now stranded on a planet that the Anzati knew very little about, he felt uncomfortable and out of his element. His resolve wavered slightly as the fatigue began to settle in. Gritting his teeth, he shook his head and positioned himself on Anders left flank.

Dasha was way ahead of the order and had been tapping away using the credentials she found on board to try to gain access to the Human’s systems.

Circe nodded and disappeared from view, pulling the shadows around her to hide from sight.

The ramp lowered and a large, bulky Human with a double chin walked forward with his head down and his head in his datapad, completely oblivious as to who, or what, was in front of him.

“Alright, let’s get these carts out and down into the mines. Times-a-wastin’ an’ all tha-”

He finally glanced up, seeing, first and foremost, the blue-skinned visage of Anders flanked by an array of what looked like Human League Troopers.

“Wha-What the!? Commander!?” The burly Human took notice of the Commander.

“Sir!” The Commander blurted back. “These aliens! They’ve-”

The troopers escorting the burly Human, two of them, raised their blasters.

“That’s enough out of you…” Anders said.

The dark tendrils of the Force wrapped around the two troopers, bringing them under Anders’ command. The burly Human, however, had a stronger willpower. The more he spread his influence, the more difficult it became to hold his Mind Tricks.

No matter.

“Leave. There is nothing to see here. You will forget all about us.”

The troopers nodded and left, leaving the burly Human alone in the cage full of hungry sharks.

Jade stood from the pilots seat and followed slowly and behind the vanguard. He stood quietly and watched the vice chancellor take control of the peons will. They lowered their weapons as expected, though the larger one’s demeanor hadn’t shifted as it should have. He gave a brief sigh before focusing power into the mind of the resisting officer, finding purchase quickly and easily thanks in part to the Chiss’s initial attempt.

“You received a memo that we’d be here with the shipment for the emergency transportation of this alien scum” he said as he walked behind Anders and gave him a firm shove. “You will now wait outside the shuttle and forget the commander inside.”

The order was obeyed unquestioningly at his firm command of the man’s will. Jade turned back into the shuttle, moving with purpose towards the commander who he swiftly grabbed by the arm and dragged further in, out of sight of anyone outside the ship.

After moving as far into the shuttle and away from outside notice as he could, the Anzati tossed the commander forcefully forward, causing him to hit the wall and slink to the floor. Disoriented momentarily by the unexpected turn of events, the soldier blinked several times in quick succession before looking up at his assailant. The expression on his attacker’s face told him all he needed to know, causing his eyes to go wide in fear.

Jade took two deliberate steps forward with the intent of snapping the man’s neck quickly, but something caused him to pause. Something had made itself visible for a moment to the Anzati’s senses, something that didn’t make sense. He reached out curiously with his mind, feeling what he could of the cowering craven at his feet. It was there, where it shouldn’t have been. A connection to the Force, and a surprisingly deep one at that. He couldn’t have known, Jade thought. He must have lived his whole life completely oblivious to the untapped power within himself. Unfortunate for him, for more reasons than one.

As Jade’s intentions shifted with the sudden revelation, so too did his demeanor. The small ring of orange at the edge of his iris grew in size, swallowing the crystal grey with brilliant fiery tendrils that smothered any warmth his eyes may have held. The gentle, light way he carried himself was gone, making way for a stance that seemed almost predatory.

The shift was not lost on the soon to be victim, and while he didn’t know what was about to happen, his fear was palpable. He remained frozen as his killer descended upon him with malicious grace, unable to resist as strong hands gripped the sides of his head. The physical sensation snapped him back to life, but it was too late. The grip that held him in place was too strong to offer any resistance.

The fear intensified as helplessness set in. It turned to abject horror as he watched two thin, small, tentacle like appendages creep out from beneath the Anzati’s beard, one on either side of his face. He couldn’t even let out the scream that was so desperately clinging to his throat, begging to be released as those same tendrils inched towards his face.

The scream was choked back into his lungs as the two proboscises slithered into his nostrils and made their way painfully and disgustingly into his brain cavity. The next thing he felt was the sensation of suffocation; unable to breathe through his nose and still fighting the scream that had stuck in his chest.

The doomed man’s eyes darted around frantically as he flailed desperately and hopelessly against the alien who was close enough to be the only thing in his field of vision. They rolled into the back of his head as the true pain began. The agony was unlike anything he could have perceived before as his brain slowly began to be liquified and drained from his skull. Involuntary and deeply intense memories of his life flooded his awareness in waves before disappearing, forgotten, into the soup that brought nourishment and strength to Jade.

The dying man maintained his awareness throughout. The unimaginable mental anguish of his very being slipping away as well as the pure physical torment of having his brain violently sucked and slirped out of his still living skull were too much for what was left of his mind. As his personality itself fractured away into shattered shards of what it once was, eternity passed within his awareness. Pure unadulterated madness gripped him as his vision faded to darkness. The last thing he ever saw were two glowing molten orange eyes dripping with hunger and malice. As even those slipped into shadow, the last of who he was and ever would be slipped away; nothing but a brief meal for the devil himself.

Jade stood when it was over, retracting his proboscises back beneath his beard. The orange cover of his eyes retreated, giving way to that crystal they were before. He blinked several times before dropping the corpse he was holding, face still frozen in terror. He wiped his face briefly before turning back around to exit the shuttle as though nothing had happened, rejuvenated, refreshed and feeling stronger than ever. He would never think about the commander ever again.

Jorm’s attunement to the Force was much more based on instinct than on formal training, and so the mix of excitement, fear and hunger that entered his awareness unbidden lured him forward where he witnessed an Anzat feeding for the first time in his life. No wonder they’re hunted to extinction, their table manners are atrocious.

“Hasn’t someone ever taught you that picking your nose in company is a no-go,” he asked drily, “and much less anybody else’s?”

Jade smiled innocently at the remark, his personality instantly returning from the all consuming hunger.

“Come now, haven’t you ever needed a light snack during a long day? As far as manners go, I’d call it no less rude than interrupting a man’s attempt to dine in private.”

“Funny that you ask, I run long days much better on an empty stomach. No distractions from getting shit done. And there’s a lot of shit still waiting. So, did you learn anything from him? Or does any info get lost in the chewing?”

“No, he was just baggage now that we have a bigger fish. Man turned out to be force sensitive, something that is valuable in soup. I had just planned to quickly kill him.”

Anders felt the terror, the pain, and the justice being enacted through the Force. Despite the gruesome display, he was not going to stop it.

This Human was associated with the Human League. By association, he was responsible for the deaths of countless alien species.

He deserved his fate.

“If we require information, I will need only a moment to extract it from a living target,” Anders stated. “For now, we should-”

“Help me!”

The sound of a woman’s shrill voice cut him off.

“Quiet, you alien filth!”

There seemed to be a commotion occurring right outside the shuttle.

“I agree,” came the bodiless whisper from Circe.

She looked to those she could see outside the shuttle and wondered where this ‘alien’ was.

Outside the shuttle, a family comprised of a male Devaronian, a female Pantoran, and their hybrid child were rounded up. They were quickly reprimanded of all their possessions and valuables and told to hold their hands in the air.

The mother was a fraction too slow, and received a backhand across her cheek for insubordination. The Devaronian, large and intimidating, lunged out at the trooper that dared attack his wife and was struck with the butt end of a blaster rifle for his trouble.

“Alien scum! No-one will miss your kind when you’re gone! We were gonna wait until we had an audience, but screw it! We’ll do this now in front of your bitch and child, shall we!?”

The blaster rifle nozzle was pressed against the Devaronian’s head, the child screaming for their daddy.

As soon as the hatch was open enough for Circe to take aim at one of the guards, she took it. Aiming at the one looming over the mother she took the shot. The guard hadn’t even time to register what happened before slumping to the ground, part of his head missing.

Those close to Circe only saw a shimmer of her appear when the shot was loosened and then disappear completely from sight again.

Jorm rolled his eyes and tore another crate labeled Explosives open, but found himself sorely disappointed by finding unmixed precursors instead of ready-made charges.

Yeah sure, waste my time.

The Grand Inquisitor still felt slightly fatigued, but the adrenaline rush of having seen Jade feed gave him a momentary focus as he gathered the Force around him. His earlier attempts had failed, but now the Anzati was focused on getting out of here in one piece.

Weaving and wrapping the Force around his team members, linking them together to Morax, he was able to focus the Taldryanite minds on the task at hand.

At the same time, Morax was reaching out and attempting to befuddle the Human Leagues minds and thoughts. Instilling in them, at the same time, doubt and an overconfidence in their skills to handle situations. Disurpting their abilities to coordinate properly which would help ensure their defeat.

The Anzati was able to cover a decent portion of the spaceport, affecting the minds of many and already causing minute coordination problems on everyday simple tasks the Human Leagues military presence at the spaceport was doing.

Shanree was reaching an emotional breaking point. Remaining quiet while one of the Team’s members devoured a person’s brain, seemingly to no one else’s disgust, had really set him on edge. Seeing the flagrant abuse heaped upon the Non-Humans was his snapping point. He snarled as he hurled himself off of the Shuttle’s ramp, in time with the Mandolorian woman Circe’s blaster fire, towards two unsuspecting Human League soldiers watching on.

Preternaturally fast, he cleared the distance between himself and they. Shanree had a moment’s fleeting warning that he was about to trip. He felt as if Morax had placed hands under his arms and had helped him keep his feet. The SAG Agent came up behind the Troopers and assailed with his Wroshyr wood fighting sticks. With loud cracks to their helmets, they collapsed to the ground without protest.

The chaos undoing across the spaceport alerted nearby forces. Stealth was now off of the table. Reinforcements were arriving in the form of jetpack troopers and normal ground forces. Each equipped with thermal detonators, blaster rifles and electric batons.

An alarm began to klaxon followed by soldiers racing to the spaceport in response. Shanree never slowed his roll and raced towards a squad pouring out of a nearby hatchway. The the lead soldier saw him and shouted, raising his blaster to the ready. His buddies reacted as well, swinging their muzzles around to confront the Taldryanite charging towards them within unbelievable speed.

Shanree was in an among them before they could pull their triggers. His Wroshyr wood hilts popped to life, an emerald blade of coherent light emerging from the tip of each without a noise. He dragged the blade in his left through the abdomen of the Soldier who’d first shouted. He speared the second through the chest and spun, causing both weapons to cleave through the second and a third. The Fourth man stumbled backward as Shanree’s shoulder slammed into his center mass. The SAG Agent used the brief window to block a blaster bolt fired by the Fifth man, behind him, into the Sixth. He finished off the squad by crossing his arms and throwing both of his sabers– one into the Fourth soldier and one into the Fifth.

It was all over in several heartbeats. Shanree filled his lungs with large, heaving breaths as he looked around and saw that the rest of the Team was now similarly engaged. He called his weapons back to his hand.

Justice.

It was like a craving that refused to be satisfied. The lowlife troopers had attempted to kill an innocent family for nothing more than the circumstances of their birth.

No more.

The Dark Side surged within. His eyes burned an amber so intense that it was like staring into a hot sun. Aequitas emerged, hungry and desperate to inflict the pain tbey so rightly deserved. The two jet troopers circled above like eagles whilst the four at ground level readied their blasters, aimed, and fired.

A black core lightsaber blade illuminated by a crimson glow deflected each blaster bolt away from him with a practiced ease worthy of his status as a Sith. He coiled the Dark Side and wrangled it telepathically into all six of their minds, creating a violent screeching sound that disorientated them for a moment.

“You are nothing,” Aequitas spat with all the hatred his heart possesed.

Lightning lanced from his fingertips, coiling around the four troopers on the ground. They each dropped to their knees, their cries of anguish singing a sweet song to his soul.

With his lightsaber he decapitated one, two, and then Force pushed the third into the fourth. The pair soared off of the edge of the platform and towards their doom.

Then, there were two. Aequitas focused his power on the first of the jet troopers, taking over his mind. How pitifully weak they really were. He forced the trooper to fire upon his comrade before shors could be fired.

As the last one left, Aequitas had a special exit from life in mind for them. He forced them to soar into the air and retrieve the thermal detonator in their hand.

“What are you?” Aequitas asked. “Tell me what you are.”

The jet troopers activated the explosive, keeping a tight grip on it in their hand. “I… am… scum…”

Those were their last words as they were blown to bits in the air. He turned to see Shanree had just finished executing his lot, and others were similarily engaged.

Dasha’s ears pinned at the sight of the threatened family get already noticed the rest of the team has noticed the situation too. Though, any move would likely expose them…

So the stunted Sephi used one of the previously stolen credentials to access the Human’s network and inject a communication jammer that also took out nearby cameras as if they were EMPed.

She looked up an noticed a nearby other shuttle thankfully out of the way. Her ears perked up as she quietly dashed over to start gaining access to this new craft only making small detours to collect more Human credentials on edge of the mini-battlefield. With Human credentials at hand she worked on opening the ship up in preparation for her team and potentially the family too to board for their escape.

Circe smirked and stalked forward, keeping the shadows around her before she unleashed a volley of shots at a group of guards going for them. Three of them got struck right in the chest and fell over. The others were more lucky and got a chance to shoot back, even if they couldn’t see exactly were the shots were coming from.

The Sephi kept moving and shooting at them, taking out more of them as she moved. The last one got lucky and shot her, hitting her shoulder and dropping her shadows around her. Gritting her teeth she shot back at the guard and took him out. The pain in her shoulder made it hard to pull the shadows around her again, so she just kept moving and hid behind some containers.

Darkblade had barely had time to lock away the battle meditation into a part of his mind so he could focus on whats going on around him before chaos erupted. Troopers had suddenly appeared and opened fire in the group. Morax watched as Shanree, Chancellor Na'traj and Anderson were surrounded and assaulted by no less than six troopers.

As he debated on who to help, the Anzati also came under assault and was forced to reach for his lightsaber. The silver, brown and black snack covered hilt felt very familiar to him as he calmed his mind and focused on what was about to happen.

The troopers opened fire all at once, two from the air as they jumped up with their jetpacks to provide additional angles of incoming fire, whilst the other four troopers closed the distance and tried to corral Morax back into the shuttle. Deflecting the incoming fire was easy, his defenses were almost as impenetrable as that of a Master. The Anzati patiently took steps back up the shuttles ramp into the ship until he was barely out of sight, forcing the six troopers to come after him in three’s up the narrow ramp.

The first three charged up the ramp, feeling they had the advantage and not realizing their peril. Overconfidence washed over them as they competed to be the first onto the ship. As one trooper pulled ahead of the rest he was immediately met with Morax’s lightsaber through his chest, barely registering what had caused him to suddenly stop as he slumped to the ground. The other two charging up the ramp couldn’t register in time what had happened to their comrade as the Anzati fell upon them just on top of the shuttle ramp. A single overhead sweep with his silver bladed lightsaber allowed for the quick beheading of the two other Human League troopers.

The final three troopers were a bit slower, and suddenly their minds clouded with doubt, replacing the overconfidence they had felt just moments before. The two jet troopers were the next target, Morax could sense them above him as he took off into a run out of the ship, back into the shuttles ramp and into the battle. Deflecting more incoming fire into the ground, he leaped towards and over the final ground trooper, extending his blade with a downward slash that carved through the helmet of the enemy.

Four down, two to go

As he landed behind the now dead trooper, the final two were forced to turn around in air to get their sights back on the agile Anzati.

Morax called upon the single most painful memory within him that would fuel his next attack with ease. As the emotions welled up inside of him threw his left hand out towards the flying troopers.

“She had no right to leave ME,” he spat out the words with hatred that could have even made a Grand Master pause for just a moment.

Lightning erupted from his left hand and arced up towards the troopers. When it reached them their screams could be heard loud and clear throughout the spaceport, before they fell to the ground as nothing but burnt carcasses entombed in their armour.

Jorm stuck his nose out of the shuttle just as soon as a dozen of eyes was ready to take aim at him, but he wasn’t having any of that nonsense.

With a quick shake of the wrist he let his left suit sleeve ride upwards and expose the muzzle of the flamethrower hugging his artery.

He held eye contact with a Corporal and flashed him a smile with entirely too many teeth as the flamer’s pilot light ignited. Then Jorm lashed out.

A half-second burst produced a tongue of flame almost ten meters long, in itself a great reason not to be in this place at this time, but the Denosians weren’t so lucky today.

Within Jorm’s control, the usually untouchable spear of fire bent and coiled as if possessed by a mind of its own, and proceeded to launch itself at the troopers.

The first was the Corporal who tried to dive out of the way but was set ablaze nonetheless as the inferno changed direction and grazed over him from heel to head.

The tree men behind whom he had intended to dive turned in shock and each got lashed around shoulders and neck in quick succession, leaving burning fuel on their shoulders and faces.

All four died quick yet screaming until they suffocated, spasming until the end. The two remaining men, opposite from their boss’ escape attempt, thrust their blasters into the Kiffar’s direction and let loose with reckless abandon and panicked screams.

Yet fueled and guided by the Force, twirling his cane like a drum major, Jorm merely danced between the hailstorm of blaster bolts, contemptuously closing in on the troopers as he did.

The stream of fire split in two and orbited Jorm closely for a moment, then the prongs shot forwards and forced themselves down his assailants’ throats, burning them from within and turning their screams into flickering lights and smoke.

The advantage had been lost all over three insignificant strangers. Compassion had its time and place, but here it was a weakness that unnecessarily threatened their escape. Jade rolled then closed his eyes while giving a deep sigh. If he didn’t know better, which he didn’t, this team seemed to want to make things as hard as they could on themselves. Nothing to be done for it now though, he supposed.

As everyone else had already leapt into action, Jade stood at the top of the boarding ramp looking out over the battle. Scanning it briefly, he watched a group of soldiers come in from a side passageway to flank some of the fighters. He let out a loud whistle from the side of his mouth that pierced the error and echoed throughout the hanger. Those engaged hardly seemed to notice, but the newcomers turned to find the source of the noise, only to see the Anzati looking directly at them. Jade hopped down from his perch, rolled his neck and stretched his arms as his enemies took aim.

Using the Force to fuel him, he moved at the same moment they began to fire, and had already cleared the sizable gap unscathed before they could see if their shots had landed, much less fire another round. With lifetimes of experience, he lept up into the air angling himself down and twisting both legs around towards the first trooper. He wrapped them momentarily around the mans neck, touched the floor with both hands, and then used them to push back up while using the new momentum to hurl the man around and into one of his allies.

Correcting course midair, he used one hand this time to push himself up, reassert his body’s position, and land back on the floor in a crouch. Alarmed at the speed of the attacker, a third soldier fired wildly trying to follow the acrobatics. He successfully aimed at the assailant as he landed in a crouch, but by the time the blaster was fired, Jade was already gone, having leapt up on with force assisted leap into the air, directly at one of the troopers who had launched upward with his jetpack.

The jet trooper clearly had not anticipated this and was unable to launch a quick enough defensive measure. Jade grabbed the man by the neck and angled him downwards before throwing him towards the two soldiers already knocked down. The jetpack only increased the force with which the man struck his companions, and landed directly on the jetpack itself as intended, causing it to spark and sputter before exploding into fireworks that enveloped the three men on the ground, and knocked another soldier close by stumbling backwards, wounded.

The Anzati, still freshly rejuvenated and empowered by his recent meal, seemed to almost float the ground in a perfectly controlled landing before instantly breaking forward in a dash towards the now off balance soldier. The other two left had been taken aback by the speed and ferocity of their opponent, but these trained men had now snapped back to the action and began opening fire. Jade called up an emerald green translucent barrier that almost seemed to have smoke rising from it as he continued his rush forward, absorbing any shots that came too close.

As he came near the man just recovering from the explosion’s force, he jumped up, empowered his right fist with the Force, then threw all his weight and momentum into a midair strike, landing his gauntlet fist near the bottom of the soldier’s face. The helmet cracked and bent inwards from the force of the blow as the soldier went stiff immediately and collapsed to the ground.

The remaining two continued firing with one now launching himself up and backwards on his own jetpack. Jade broke into another run, sliding under the small arms fire. He called out to the force, summoning it to drag the airbound man between himself and the incoming fire. The ground trooper couldn’t see what was happening in time, watching in horror as his shots tore through his friends armor and body and causing him to crumple into a pile on the floor.

The lone remaining soldier looked down at the corpses around him, then up up at the man who’d killed them all like it was nothing that was now staring directly at him. His fear caused him to choke up for a moment and he turned to run, trying to get back through the way he’d come into the huge room, but Jade wasn’t feeling charitable today.

As the man tried to run for his life, he felt pain wrack every muscle in his body as tendrils of acrid viridescent electricity wrapped around his body from behind. He found himself unable to move, paralyzed as the energy fried him in mere moments, leaving naught but a scorched husk of armor on the floor with smoke rising from the corpse inside.

Having finished off the group, Jade then turned to take in the status of the rest of the battle.

With the swathes of enemies defeated for the moment, this was their chance to escape.

Anders pointed towards the family. “Grab them and we shall leave it once! Ms. Talus has secured another vessel!”

He gestured over towards the TIE Reaper where Dasha was busy slicing into its security systems.

Anders then focused on Circe. “Are you injured?”

<@417336769181122562>

“I’m fine, it’s just a scratch,” she said as she got up and started to move towards the new ship.

She kept her rifle ready for anything that might have come their way, even if it hurt to keep the rifle up and steady.

Jorm didn’t wait for the others and just entered the Reaper, planting his butt in the pilot’s seat as a matter of course after witnessing Jade’s earlier flying.

“Nice prep work, Little Thing,” he called out over his shoulder as the security protocols melted away before his eyes.

Let’s see… oh who are we kidding, it’s a TIE. I’ve flown interceptors back in CSP, I’ve flown Chyrons T/A’s, and this bucket just has more leg space and its own oxygen.

His fingers flew over the controls with returning familiarity and woke the ship in quick order.

Grabbing the *TIE*pical steering wheel, Jorm lifted the craft a few centimeters off the ground.

“All aboard who dare, we’re gonna seek us something that’ll shoot real guns at us!”

It was only a few centimetres, but it would ascend quickly. He had no doubt that Jorm wouldn’t wait around for them. With a gesture powered by the Force, Anders wrapped a telekinetic grip around the father, mother, a child and tossed them into the Reaper. It wasn’t the softest landing in the known universe, but they would be fine.

Then, with a single leap, Anders jumped and perched himself on the ramp, his hand outstretched to the other members of the team. He made a promise to get them home, and that’s exactly what he intended to do.

“Come on!” He yelled at the top of his lungs.

Morax sprinted towards the ship, fear gripped his heart as he didn’t want to be left behind. He watched in amazement as he saw Anders grip the family in the tendrils of the force and fling them into the ship. If the situation weren’t so dire, the Anzati may have laughed at the comical sense of it all.

With a bound and a leap, he made it onto the ramp and went straight towards the family to get them back onto their feet.

Jade joined the group heading quicky towards the shuttle before hesitating at the ramp. Their mission was over, he had more than fulfilled his end of the bargain with Alaisy and he could collect on her end another time. For now, he had other matters to attend to, and trusted more in his own abilities than any of theirs.

“After all that, try not to get yourselves blown up on the way out!” He yelled before stepping backwards off the ramp, turning, and sprinting through one of the hanger’s side passageways.

Circe also made into the ship safely. Once inside she lowered her weapon and sighed as she rested against the construction.

“They’re aluminum coffins with oversized engines and a few popguns to make the contents feel good. Just my kind of joyride.”

Jade was a madman, but he was a talented madman at that. If his overconfidence in his ability got him killed, then that would be his problem.

With the team and family, barring Jade, on the shuttle, the ramp closed, allowing Jorm to break off into the Trexxa atmosphere. It wasn’t long before the fleet of Star Destroyers was visible as if forming some form of blockade. Starships started to emerge like ants from a nest, but it wasn’t enough. They weren’t organised, and Jorm had experience flying a Reaper.

With a push of a lever, space around them turned into ur streaks. They vanished into the whirling vortex of hyperspace, bound for the Caelus System.

Even before the group could return, the reports coming in from the Frelos sector were…unnerving, to say the least. The video footage even more so, causing Cassandra to sit in her office with her hand rested firmly on her face as she watched.

Calls were already coming to her office from the Administration Council, as well as various senators and delegates from Saijo and Seitia. She prayed they had something useful and were on their way back, as this was quickly turning into potential public relations nightmare otherwise.

As more came in, she had no choice but to begin making her way from Taldryan Tower towards the Senate Complex in the north. These were not meetings she was looking forward to, but ones that at this point had to be had.

She knew one thing though. Anders had a lot to answer for. She had placed trust in him to do things the diplomatic way, and yet she saw none other than the volatile madman who had been nothing but a thorn in their side standing right beside him.

For once in her long Jedi life…she was angry.

Left alone in the cockpit and with nothing to do, Jorm had plenty of time to recapitulate the day’s events - every word, every action he had witnessed - and draw conclusions, none of which he liked.

Option one: The Denosians planned to murder us from the start. Major stupid, leading us on would’ve bought them more time before Cass unleashes the fleet. But then again they’re racial supremacists.

Option two, Anders wanted to start shit despite what Cass yaps in public. Very likely, otherwise he would’ve left the Shank Skank home, and most others to boot. For Frakk’s sake, I was the only one who even bothered with a suit!

Option three: all of the above. Splendid, just splendid. But I’m the crazy one, huh?

The Reaper’s hyperspace communication system was barebones, but functional, and so Jorm sent a text to the one person who could and maybe even would narrow his suspicions down.

“Cassandra. Bullshit aside: Did you send this merry band of misfits to start that war? Because your people absolutely delivered. Peace and caution never stood a chance against Anders’ Assaulters. Love, J-Money.”

Morax was exhausted. The diplomatic mission had been a failure, no thanks to his part. He looked for a place to sit but the rescued family had occupied the better seats. Maybe he could find a spot in the cockpit.

As he wandered over he saw Jorm piloting the ship, though not doing much at the moment it seemed.

Standing at the entrance to the cockpit, Morax attempted small talk.

“Not a succesful diplomatic mission eh? We not only botched it and left carnage in our wake, not mention you destroyed part of their ship, we also left someone behind,” the Anzati said cautiously.

“Depends on what your boss calls "success,” and I’m not sure definitions match throughout this tub,“ Jorm replied.

"As for leaving someone behind… his choice. You heard him same as me. If anything you should watch for cheap real estate popping up on that float, haunted houses and such.”

“What are your thoughts on all this? I’m not sure what to think. Why send us on a diplomatic mission when most of us aren’t even qualified? I’m baffled as to why I was sent. My skills in diplomatic resolutions are well known, in the fact I don’t do talks unless someones strapped to a chair and doesn’t want to talk,” Morax confessed.

“Looks bad for peace, doesn’t it? Hell, I’m not known for my flowery words either, but Cass couldn’t keep me away without risking me riling on the press. Joke’s on her, I’ll do it anyway.”

Jorm shook his head.

“Take it from a Chancellor, one that happens to rule more people than some sectors have inhabitants. Some conflicts are inevitable, and some you make inevitable because not fighting them undermines you. This one’s a little bit of both, and starting it earlier gives Taldryan the upper hand in ready ships, trained hands, stockpiles… striking the Denosians while they’re still patching themselves up.”

The Kiffar retrieved a flask from his jacket and offered it to the Anzati.

“But good ol’ democratic sunshine lovin’ Cass can’t just send the fleet to braid our neighbors with a million mallets, can she? She’d look like the agressor. She’d need the Denosians to strike at Taldrya first. She’d need bait.”

Morax took the flask, opened it and took a swig.

His throat was assualted with an overwhelmingly burning sensation as the liquid went towards his stomach. The Anzati sputtered and coughed, not used to such strong beverages.

“Thanks,” Morax was able to say between coughs as he handed the flask back, “I think I’ll stick to Soup.”

He pondered on what the Chancellor had said.

“But why mask it as a diplomatic mission to us? I’d think honesty would have gotten Cassandra further with us than the mess we left behind for her to clean up. I think heads are gonna roll for this. I don’t like being used as a pawn,” Morax said sternly as he felt the liquid from the flask enter his belly and spread out a warm comforting feeling throughout his body. He relaxed slightly and decided to take a seat on the floor.

“Your roll in this is also something spectacular, since you kriffing destroyed a part of their ship,” he chuckled.

“Oh come on, that was justified and proportionate self defense,” Jorm replied smugly and took a small sip before stowing the flask away.

“As for Cass’ motives… hell, I dunno. Might be she really meant good. Last I heard this team was assembled by Anders, wasn’t it? Question is if he stuck to her vision or follows his own.”

Morax grinned slightly and nodded in agreement.

“You did catch us by surprise, and to be honest, it was pretty….badass,” Morax complimented. He was starting to like the Chancellor. Perhaps it wouldn’t be so bad to be the babysitter again if they ever went on missions together again.

The possibility of Clan leaders being at odds with each other and trying to undermine each other hadnt really been something the Anzati thought about. Taldryan was a reputable Clan in the Brotherhood.

A brotherhood within a brotherhood

“Good observation. An even better question.”

Morax felt his eyes begin to droop. The buzz of the booze and the battle fatigue began to set in. Feeling comfortable enough around the Chancellor, Morax closed his eyes for a bit and tried to get some shuteye.

Circe rested a hand on her shoulder and poured healing energies into it, mending the blaster wound. Even with her attention to her healing herself she followed the conversation between them.

She herself had also wondered why sending them would have been a ‘good’ idea. Any way she looked it now brought more work for them.

For now she would wait to see how things would turn out