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Post by Jensin Kal on Oct 14, 2014 20:44:11 GMT -8
He brought the ship above the planet, though Jensin questioned himself as to why he had to fly the ship right now. Perhaps they needed some sort of Daughter-Father bonding moment and he couldn't help but think the girl was lucky to have a father such as him. Jensin probably wouldn't be here if it weren't for Sheamus. ''When you've reached orbit just go, i don't care where. Just - go where you think is right and that's where we will go.'' Was his last words before heading into the back during their ascent into the clouds above Coronet. So he did, setting a course then hitting the hyperdrive as the ship vanished into deep space.
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Krzesimir Viggo
The First Order
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Post by Krzesimir Viggo on Oct 14, 2014 20:55:57 GMT -8
The luxury liner, Bejeweled Star, exited hyperspace several hours after it's scheduled arrival time, though it seemed to be in pristine shape. It's passenger list held just over five-hundred-thousand names, and the ship boasted a crew of one million. The ship was painted in festive colors, and registered to a major luxury line, that regularly scheduled stops in the Corellian system. The first sign that something was amiss, was the lack of response to CFC's routine hail. The second was the slightly noticeable drift of the silent ship. All systems seemed functional, and shields were active if sensor readouts were to be believed. The ship was in fact completely intact and fully functional, it was however undeniably empty. No sign of life could be found on the entire ship. The ship continued to list, drifting slowly closer to the planet below... |
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dyvius
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Post by dyvius on Oct 16, 2014 16:01:58 GMT -8
Sometime in the past... (Private Storyline)
An inky blackness seemed to be hanging just at the corners of Keth's vision. The Jedi Knight had been surrounded by the Dark side before, but never on a scale such as this. To his trained sense, it felt like he was wading through a pool without any of the density slowing down his motor movements. It was as if his very being, his soul, was being submerged in a grimy murk of ethereal essence.
In fact, Keth was not the least bit surprised to realize the description he had just engineered was as close to the truth as he was likely to get. Undaunted by the sheer presence his next target was giving off, the Jedi continued moving forward down the corridor, quiet as a crypt and as still as one, too. The Shistavanen knew all too well that he was definitely on the bridge level, and yet there was not a single officer or orderly anywhere as far as he could tell. It did not help that his sense were dulled by the oppressive darkness trying to drown him. But like a boat on rough waters, Keth kept his Light-permeated presence floating freely among on otherwise overwhelming force, or in this case, Force.
Finally, Keth stopped before a single bulkhead door near what experience told him was the rear of the bridge deck. This door undoubtedly would lead to the Commanding Officer's chambers if unmodified from factory specifications. In this case, there was no doubt that the Sith giving off the dangerously strong essence was waiting beyond the door. The Shistavanen reached inside himself, trying to extend his awareness to the rest of the Star Destroyer and failing. He was well and truly alone against the strongest adversary he had ever faced, bar none. A small wriggling doubt crept into his mind, as he stood on the edge of a metaphysical cliff with only a dark vortex swirling before his gaze. To step off meant he would be lost to the Dark vortex hungrily awaiting him to step off from the safety and solidity of the ledge beneath his feet. His spirit swayed and Keth felt a weight trying to crush down on his shoulder, threatening to send him toppling forward unprepared to weather the plunge. The inevitability of the dark vortex stretched to him, trying to pull him in and extinguish the little raft of Light he had become amid the storm. Closing his eyes, Keth waited for the fall to come, for the end to hit him squarely and send him reeling.
The impact never came. Keth instead felt the Darkness, still oppressive on his shoulders, fail to move him any closer to falling forward off balance. The vortex remained beyond his feet, but it was not succeeding at pulling him. The roaring tempest tearing at him was gone as if it mattered not at all. And in truth, it did not. Keth felt perfect clarity amidst the storm. He felt the Light effortlessly holding the Darkness at bay. The Sith could not overcome Keth's allegiances or his training and he certainly could not overwhelm the Light side. Keth was safe, he was balanced, and he was now determined that he could face the Sith without any doubts. Whatever happened next, the Jedi Knight would not give in and he would not back down.
Either Keth would succeed in defeating whoever lay beyond the bulkhead, or he would die in the attempt. There was no other option.
Lightsaber held comfortably in his dominant hand, Keth stretched his other hand forward and summoned the Light side of the Force, no longer stifled by the Dark essence surrounding this bridge, blowing the bulkhead inward. Casually, but with a purposeful stride, Keth entered the domain beyond, prepared beyond measure to face this final challenge.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Oct 17, 2014 15:37:30 GMT -8
The luxury liner, Bejeweled Star, exited hyperspace several hours after it's scheduled arrival time, though it seemed to be in pristine shape. It's passenger list held just over five-hundred-thousand names, and the ship boasted a crew of one million. The ship was painted in festive colors, and registered to a major luxury line, that regularly scheduled stops in the Corellian system. The first sign that something was amiss, was the lack of response to CFC's routine hail. The second was the slightly noticeable drift of the silent ship. All systems seemed functional, and shields were active if sensor readouts were to be believed. The ship was in fact completely intact and fully functional, it was however undeniably empty. No sign of life could be found on the entire ship. The ship continued to list, drifting slowly closer to the planet below... "Contact CorSec, have them inform the owners of The Bejeweled Star that we've located their missing ship, apparently abandoned and unmanned, and have her holding in a stable orbit around Corellia." Her hands clasped behind her back, Lilia looks at the image of the luxury liner on her boards, debating what the best course of action is now that there is no danger of the ship crash landing. She could conceivably disable her shields with the Eurybia's ion cannons, board her and investigate the circumstances surrounding her strange arrival, or leave that to CorSec or the Sector Rangers, to prevent contamination of any evidence that indicates a crime was committed - which seems highly likely given the size of the ship's crew and passenger manifest; how so many beings could be subdued or removed from the vessel without it sustaining any discernible damage was a confounding mystery indeed.
Whatever the answers might be, Lilia decides, they will have to wait until the matter of who has investigative jurisdiction is settled. "Disengage the tractor beams, move us off to her port side, ten kilometers out, Lilia orders as she sits in her command chair, Request CorSec advise as to what they intend to do or want us to do, and let me know as soon as the owners of The Bejeweled Star have been contacted." |
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Krzesimir Viggo
The First Order
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Post by Krzesimir Viggo on Oct 20, 2014 20:03:44 GMT -8
The owners were glad it had been found, but upon learning that it was unresponsive grew pensive and even more agitated than before. They conveniently had an override code that should bring the shields down, since the system was still working, which they readily provided to prevent further damage to the vessel, not quite understanding what exactly what was happening in orbit. The company had never had problems with pirates before, simply due to the sheer size of their vessels, most pirates couldn't deal with that many defenders efficiently enough to be worth the potential haul. The owners requested that the authorities get to the bottom of this quickly, as the ship was scheduled to leave the system within 48 hours, and if they could keep the findings quiet that would also be greatly appreciated, as such news always crippled business for months on end.
The ship remained unresponsive, though the override code would work if used, the Ion cannons would also do the trick nicely. The ship is completely void of organic life, not even micro-organisms can be found aboard. However, all of the material possessions of the passengers and crew were found exactly where they should be if the owner had just left with every intent of returning shortly, having just moved in with everything still clean and organized. The only thing out of place, was the static projection of a single, almost worthless, holo-chess piece, found in the Captain's private holo-suite. All memory on board the ship had been erased and written over, with senseless gibberish. Indeed, the small program that had been left to do just that was still running for now, though using th shield override code would also cause the program to self-erase, leaving the investigators absolutely no physical or digital clues as to what had happened, much less why. The only console on the bridge displaying anything of note, was the navigation console, which showed the co-ordinates for the last jump, the one that had brought the ship to Corellia. A back track could be done, but that would lead to more dead ends, as it had jumped from empty space, which would be over looked in favor of the three possible systems none of which it had ever been to.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Oct 23, 2014 18:18:55 GMT -8
When the music stops it is the nearest Sector Ranger SEO and her team of deputized citizens with various skills and connections that finds herself without a chair; the reasoning given for dropping the investigation into the strange matter of The Bejeweled Star's fate into her lap being that the wider arrest and detention powers possessed by the SEO will allow her to pursue any leads forensic analysis of the vessel uncovers. The unfortunate SEO soon learns that her investigation is destined to remain unsolved, her team's efforts proving fruitless where finding any trail to follow towards an explanation or culprit is concerned. The sole potential clue, the holo-chess piece projected in the Captain's holo-suite, dead ending when a comprehensive search of the Sector Ranger's databases, as well as those of other agencies they reach out to for assistance in their investigation, revealing no similar calling-cards being found at other crime scenes. All that the SEO can do, in the end, is issue a inter-agency request that she be notified in the event a similar calling-card is left at future crime scenes or, given the lack of hard evidence that any crime occurred, any future similarly un-explainable incidents.
The Sector Rangers, CorSec and the CDF agree to keep the matter quiet, primarily because all three agencies know that the sheer number of missing persons involved means that, sooner or later, their relatives, friends or associates will clamor for answers and all but ensure that news of The Bejeweled Star will find its way into the public domain. The Bejeweled Star itself is, once the futile investigation has been concluded, returned to the custody of her owners.
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Krzesimir Viggo
The First Order
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Post by Krzesimir Viggo on Oct 23, 2014 20:58:00 GMT -8
Somewhere in the void of space, some hours after the conclusion of investigations and the request of notice being sent, Pawn receives a copy of the request of notice, and smiles. The Grey Court had performed flawlessly; a real rarity to be sure and not likely to be a regular occurrence he reminded himself. Still the first hand had been dealt, bid and played, and gone exactly as he had hoped it would. For all his plans and schemes and fall backs; Pawn never really expected things to go his way. That was just a terrible habit to get into and he couldn't afford to make the mistakes and errors that came with such erroneous expectations. Pawn thought for a few moments, then set the next piece into play.
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dyvius
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Post by dyvius on Oct 25, 2014 21:28:55 GMT -8
Sometime in the past... (Private Storyline)
An eerie silence pervaded the Captain's Quarters, and it was only the first time Keth had realized this soundlessly had extended even to the corridors and most of the bridge deck of the Super Star Destroyer. Having been struggling against the Dark side for most of the final leg of the journey, the Shistavanen had not realized what physical effect the pall of darkness was having. Now centered and calm, Keth's lupine senses and Jedi faculties were functioning at highly-tuned levels and he felt quite at home among the otherwise oppressive darkness.
Moving through the still antechamber, Keth found the doors within were not locked down and opened simply by waving at the activation panels, all of which were active, soon, the Jedi was past the rooms reserved for wait staff and entertaining guests, but during the whole excursion Keth tread cautiously, knowing that it was entirely possible his quarry was masking his individual presence within the ominous and unbreakable dark pall, hoping to ambush Keth. Nothing came of this caution, however, and soon Keth found that one heavily-reinforced door remained between him and what he could definitely feel served as the origin for the murky climes he was currently standing in.
Stepping to the activation panel, Keth slowly keyed the command, but the door remained closed. This one, at least, required more than cursory interaction to open, and it helped Keth believe that he was about to reach the end of his trek through the upper decks of the ship once and for all, and hopefully end this mission and the war. Knowing full well from his training and his experiences, Keth did not allow the giant white rancor in the room to pervade his thoughts. Any chance of failure, which was admittedly high taking on a Sith Lord of this much power alone, was omitted in order to keep the pure Light side flowing strongly through Keth as its conduit. It was his hope. It was his fuel. It was his chance.
Without preamble, Keth blew down the bulkhead door with a simple blast of the Force, and he was tumbling through, lowering his profile and moving abruptly so as to disrupt any prepared attempt at surprising any being to enter through the doorway. But the Jedi came up after a roll, not having been assailed, and rising from a crouch, surveyed the room before him. Mood lighting kept the entire open space, large enough to serve as both a throne room and a demonstration ground all at once, both well-lit and yet surprisingly dark. The invisible Dark side presence helped anyone with sensitivity complete the image and make the room seem even darker than it actually was. At the far end was a raised platform where a single, very heavy-looking chair sat, surrounded by a rotating three-quarter ring of control panels and information terminals. From that seat, whoever commanded this starship could easily relay orders to the bridge and monitor any number of things inside and outside of the ship without having to interact with anything outside of the Captain's Suite.
Finally, Keth's eyes adjusted enough and with a thrill of shock, he activated his lightsaber, the green blade breaking the low-key atmosphere of the chamber. Sitting in the chair, otherwise unnoticeable due to the glare of the control panels and the shadows cast by the lighting arrangement, was a figure that just nearly filled up the entire seating area of that massive throne. Clad in dull black robes and what appeared bulky enough to be armor, Keth quickly identified him as the source of the darkness and began to approach with infinite caution, lightsaber held ready but in a single-handed grip.
At first, it appeared the figure was not registering that another presence, brandishing a weapon, had entered the room. But then, Keth's thought on the matter was dispelled as the darkness trilled with activity and hostility, not permeating Keth's light side core but definitely making an attempt. Not swayed, Keth continued his measured pace forward, never removing his eyes from the throne and its occupant while keeping his senses, both physical and Force-based, alert to the entire chamber. Finally, after the passive-aggressive assault of the darkness utterly failed, a thick, deep voice spoke into the oppressive silence.
"I can sense your fortitude. And your skill. And your talent. It explains why I watched you strike down some of my best Sith Lords and why you came with others who are doing likewise even now."
Keth stopped at this. His mind racing, the Jedi realized that this Sith had watched their progression all along through the ship, had presumably felt them advancing on each and every Sith that they came across. And yet, he had done nothing but observe. Keeping his tongue, Keth wondered if the Sith would say more. He was not disappointed.
"While unfortunate, it only proves that they are not worthy of their positions. If mere minions of the Light can slay them, that is."
The arrogance in his voice was apparent, and Keth could not help but respond.
"We are anything but minions, Sith. We are the Champions of the Light, sent here to defend the people of this galaxy and purge your darkness from it."
The darkness fluctuated around Keth, never losing its malicious edge but adding what appeared to be brutal amusement. A low laugh came from the cowled figure.
"And you will fail, Jedi. We Sith have driven a dagger deep into the heart of your galaxy, and you've come to stop it long after its penetrated much too deeply. Your ambush was well-constructed, but it will ultimately fail once I dispatch you and your cohorts."
The supreme confidence in the Sith was not lost on Keth. He was not blustering, of this much the Shistavanen was certain. The figure definitely believed that he would overcome the Jedi fleet here at Corellia and would also eradicate the Jedi presence here on his flagship. The Jedi would not allow such thinking to go unchecked.
"You overestimate your chances, I think. I have every intention to end this threat right here and now, by defeating you."
At this, the malice and amusement both spiked, and the figure suddenly rose, drawing to a height that was definitely in excess of two meters. Powerful arms, clad in what looked like ceremonial, rather than functional, armor swung out from the cloaked mass of the figure's huge trunk-like torso and the dark side spiked as the figure rotated the consoles clear of him, so that he could move freely forward. Keth assumed a defensive stance, waiting to see what the Sith would do next.
The figure stopped at the edge of the dais, staring forward from the shadowy cowl at Keth, situated alone at the center of the chamber, and with a minor exertion of the Force, flipped his cowl back. What Keth saw surprised him further. This particular Sith Lord was more than that, he was a Sith in species as well. Long thought to be extinct in the galaxy, there was no doubt one specimen, massive and in full anatomical semblance, standing before the Shistavanen. Redskin and vestigial antennas all, the Sith Lord proved why his propensity for the Dark side was so strong. The Sith species, whose home planet was originally Korriban, discovered the Dark side and were effectively intertwined with it. They were no Sith who ever became Jedi, all were imbued with the Dark side of the Force to some extent. Apparently, they survived outside the galaxy, where this grouping of Sith had been expelled and forgotten and allowed to grow into a formidable force once more.
As if sensing Keth's surprise, the Sith explained.
"You have never met a being stronger in the Dark side than I, and of this I am certain. Yes, there are some others of the Sith species that exist in this very Empire who have skill to varying degrees. They are mostly engaged with many of your Masters even now. While not as strong as I, they are definitely more than a match for your friends who are undoubtedly surprised that True Sith still exist."
Keth remained undaunted. His fearlessness could very well had a part in his ignorance on the Force acuity of a True Sith, but it certainly was grounded in a firm belief in his chances of survival and his conviction that failure was most certainly not an option.
"I doubt my allies will lose so easily, or be swayed simply by the color of your skin, Sith."
The Sith Lord laughed again, and this time it was accompanied by a general strengthening of the Dark side around him. Keth braced himself as the Lord added.
"Amusing, Jedi. I do admire your ability to reach me unscathed and your courage in facing me without fear in your heart. It is a brutal shame that a being with your personality could not find in himself darkness and become useful to me and my future Empire. As such, you must die, so that I can finish what my army started."
With that, the Sith Lord reached both arms forward, palms splayed out, and released a guided torrent of lightning like a bullet from a very large gun at Keth, who, summoning the Force to himself and every ounce of lupine agility, leaped free as the dark energy slammed into the spot where he had just occupied, rattling the entire deck and leaving a scorched divot. Coming up on one knee out of his emergency roll, Keth fixed his eyes on the Sith Lord, who calmly repositioned his aim and fired again, not even slightly fazed by the sheer energy he was hurtling down at the Jedi.
And so the deadly dance began.
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dyvius
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Post by dyvius on Oct 28, 2014 20:09:04 GMT -8
Sometime in the past... (Private Storyline)
Keth moved again, as quick as the lightning that threatened to do more than damage him. The Jedi could feel the darkness within the icy blue bolts, and knew beyond a shadow of a doubt to be hit directly would be instant death. He would decimated unrelentingly. There was no doubt in the Jedi Knight mind that he was engaging in a battle for his life greater than any he had ever experienced before. Escaping death at the hands of Lord Deixar, of the Sith over Bespin, was nothing compared to what Keth faced now. And with the sharp smell of ozone filling his sensitive nostrils, Keth thought these things as arms pumping, he outran the attack of the Sith Lord standing on the dais.
The only sound in the room being the crackling of the Sith lightning, Keth had no problems zoning out the static sound and focusing on maximizing the efficiency of his every move. His center was not shaken as he, furiously sprinting for the Sith's left flank, took to the air with aid of the Force, planting his feet upside down on the nearest durasteel support beam and spring-boarding off of it over the head of the Sith, who was too slow in tracking his lightning across, missing completely. Landing softly in a crouch now on the Sith's right flank, Keth rose, lightsaber swinging, and charged forward as the Sith Lord ended the lightning streaming from his massive hands.
Summoning the Force to his legs again, Keth launched himself into a corkscrew attack trying to hit the Sith before he could fully react. But as Keth came within a foot of bringing his emerald blade home, the Sith Lord turned an open palm toward him and released a Force Pulse that hit Keth like a brick wall, reversing his momentum instantly. Like a feather in a hurricane, Keth corrected himself in mid air to the flow of the Force sending him backwards, and contorted himself to land gracefully in a crouch, lightsaber held out to the side, glowing menacingly. Looking up at the Sith, who had barely moved from his position, Keth growled instinctively and rose. Sensing that a new attack was inbound, Keth broke into a run, circling back towards the front of the dais. Behind him where he had been standing, the deck plating crumpled brutally under a missed Force blast from the Sith. Keth, taking advantage of his momentary edge, did not even turn to the Sith as he redirected his momentum sideways with the Force, leading into a leaping attack where he spun like a top towards the Sith.
This time, reacting nearly too late, the Sith Lord was forced to leap clear of Keth's trajectory to avoid being eviscerated. Keth, bringing his momentum expertly under control as his feet touched the dais, was already slicing deep furrows into the back of the throne as he stopped his spin, facing the Sith Master without so much as a disoriented second to his maneuver. If there was ever a time to be completely in control of his body and have it in sync with the Force and bring every moment of his life of training to fruition, it was now. The Sith's eyes betrayed nothing, but Keth could feel in the malicious torrent around him the surprise and mounting rage of the Sith Lord and being forced on the defensive against him. Keth let his fangs to bear in a tight grin, and the Sith was goaded forward.
Still not drawing a saber, the Sith Lord stretched forward with a wicked arc of lightning, Keth, not willing to be pinned down and play the Master's game, was jumping at an off angle, deflecting the lightning as he left the ground but spinning past it after the initial contact, aiming for a glancing decapitation as he aimed to leap clear of the Sith over his left shoulder. But his blade met no resistance as he passed what he was sure was the Master's body mass, and Keth was just contorting his body to come down out of his leaping corkscrew when a dark Force blast hit him from behind, sending him forward unexpectedly. But Keth, lupine reflexes flaring, was able to stop the tumble from being damaging and merely turned it into a forward roll that took him farther away from the enemy before springing up on the residual momentum, pivoting in mid air, and landing on the balls of his feet to face the Sith again, lightsaber held up defensively.
The next arc of lightning was already incoming, and Keth had no choice but to meet it with both hands on his lightsaber, stopping the viciously strong attack dead and absorbing it. Breath coming a little bit faster now, Keth looked past the glare of lightning meeting the blade's plasma to see the Sith gritting his teeth with the sheer exertion behind the attack to try and overwhelm Keth. But the Jedi held firm, knowing the light side of the Force was still with him, and knowing that the Sith's power was at least mitigated by his lack of speed, but only just.
Minutely changing the angle of the blade, Keth went from absorbing the lightning to deflecting it off to the side at an angle to have it crash into the side of the dais where the resulting impact jarred the Sith's footing, cutting of the stream of lightning off and sending the Sith stumbling. In this moment of reprieve, Keth was launching himself forward with a snarl, aiming to cleave the Sith across the midsection as he fell. But it was not to be, on his way to the ground, the Sith finally drew a lightsaber from his belt, activating it and meeting Keth's blade so that the Jedi continued on his way, the green blade glancing off in a flash of sparks.
Ending the leap with a roll to absorb the momentum and pivoting on his heels, Keth was turned around as the Sith Lord cartwheeled with aid of the Force to his feet, landing with a resounding thump on the durasteel floor. The combatants stared each other down from across the intervening space, but no words were shared. No, these two could feel each other in the Force well enough, and could see in their postures and in their eyes just exactly how the battle was going. Keth was suitably surprising the Sith Master, who had been utterly convinced that he was unequivocally the most powerful being in the galaxy. On the other hand, Keth was steely determination, not to be swayed by the absolute power that he felt in the Sith. If need be, he could continue to draw on the Force long after his body could not go on, if only to ensure that the Sith died here.
With a flourish of the blade, Keth charged, letting out a battle cry that was unnecessary but completely instinctual to him. The Sith Lord set his shoulders and met the rush with his own steady advanced, until the two met in a flashing clash of blades. Driven by harder strikes, Keth had the initial offensive momentum, but the Sith, also born of the same school of lightsaber combat based on his he was handling Keth's heavy strikes, both blocked until Keth's momentum was all but equalized with his before driving even harder strikes based on his more massive frame, forcing Keth on to the defensive.
Catching the weakest of the strikes so far on an overhead block, Keth looked to switch back to the offensive until the Sith suddenly drew back, deactivating his lightsaber and Keth's accompanying parry was met without resistance so that he was off balance as the Sith lashed out with a fierce palm strike, catching Keth in the ribs and sending him flying backward multiple meters to land hard on his back before sliding away even farther. The shock of the maneuver and the feeling of multiple ribs breaking caused the Shistavanen to drop his blade, the hilt clattering across the durasteel and fetching up against the edge of the dais.
Most duelists, and many Jedi would have been stunned fatally by the turn of events and the sheer pain pulsing through his chest from the broken ribs, but Keth, knowing all too well that any hesitation would kill him at the hands of this Master of the Dark Side, was already calling on the Force to send him into a back flip, bringing him to his feet. Sure enough, Keth found the Sith Master rushing forward, thinking he would have precious seconds to kill the Jedi. But Keth, assuming full control over both his body and the Force out of one part necessity and another part purpose, thrust both hands forward, Force blasting the Sith backward, where he too landed on his back and tumbled before coming to a halt a relatively safe distance away from Keth.
Shunting the pain to the farthest corner of his mind, Keth wasted no time trying to locate his errant lightsaber. Instead he drew Lord Deixar's blade and activated it, the crimson blade casting an unfamiliar light on Keth's features. The Jedi Knight barely registered the fact, however, and was already sprinting across the floor, ignoring the brutal scraping of his broken ribs on his heaving lungs as he kept his eyes focused solely on the figure of the Sith Lord slowly regaining his feet from getting the win knocked out of him.
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dyvius
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Post by dyvius on Oct 29, 2014 19:49:20 GMT -8
Sometime in the past... (Private Storyline)
A foot.
Twelve inches.
30.48 centimeters.
.3048 meters.
No matter how the distance was expressed, the vermilion point of Keth's saber came exactly that close to piercing the Sith Lord's chest and almost guaranteeing the end of this war and leaving Keth only broken ribs as proof that he had dealt the killing blow. The underhanded strike was nearly a foregone conclusion when the starship lurched, presumably from some heavy hit due to the battle outside. In the bowels of the ship, the sheer size of the vessel and the stability of the inertial compensators had nullified any of the motions of battle, but apparently being on the equivalent of one of the ship's edges was enough to translate the damaging blows.
Either way, The strike forced the Jedi Knight to miss the next step in his stride, and his next foot fall came down much later than expected, causing him to hit the deck straight-legged and hyper-extend his knee in the process, either way, still carrying forward but now uncoordinated, Keth stumbled over the Sith's body only succeeding in knocking the wind from him once more with an unintentional kick to the gut. Regaining his composure, Keth rolled forward on his shoulder, coming up on one knee and making sure his now-damaged leg was tucked underneath him. It throbbed in time to his broken ribs, now having been even further moved from the roll which compressed them, but Keth continued to repress is natural instinct to ease up to help limit the lasting damage to his body. A good healing trance would heal even the most overworked of injuries given enough time. But that required Keth actually winning this duel, anything less meant the knee and his ribs were the least of his worries.
Finally, gasping for breath, the Sith Lord got to his feet and brandished his blade, stalking towards Keth, still trying to bolster his knee with the Force to allow himself to continue the fight. Every fiber in his body protested against his piercing determination to continue, to fight harder, to hit back stronger. It was when, predatory instinct in overdrive, Keth noticed the Sith Lord limping slightly as he paced closer. To know that the fight was closer than it seemed was the only motivation he needed. Flooding his body with the light side of the Force, Keth stood up again, pushing the protests from his body away and drowning them in the cleansing wash of energy that reached to every tip of his being, giving him resolve and giving him strength.
The Sith Lord stopped, seeing Keth assume a fighting stance as if there was no injury to his being. This was one crucial difference between Jedi and Sith: believing pain fed their powers, Sith had no faculties for healing or for mitigating pain, and therefore could be equally hobbled and strengthened by injuries. Jedi were, while more susceptible to being completely incapacitated by grievous wounds, able to heal or transcend pain if they had the mastery and so could completely circumvent damage, if only for a time as prescribed by their training and acuity. Keth, knowing full well that his ability as proven by the crucible that was this war and that a spot on the Jedi Council was inevitable if he could only survive this one duel, had more than enough ability to mitigate the pain until he was completely dismembered. He would fight until he was dead, and there was nothing less to stop him.
Knowing this, pushing his body into overdrive, Keth dashed forward, summoning a Force Barrier before him as the Sith Lord tried to repel his seemingly suicidal rush with a blast of Dark energy. Seemingly shrugging off the Force blast, Keth kept on, swinging his blade up fiercely in a hope to cleave the Sith in two at the chest. The Sith Master was already summoning the Force to himself, using it to dodge clear, but Keth was still able to glance the blade off of his left shoulder as he ducked away, shearing through cloth, armor, and some organic tissue besides, eliciting an explosion of pain in the Force as the Sith Lord rocketed away in an instinctual panic. Letting the waves of sudden shock crash over and ultimately around him, Keth pursued at a brutally fast speed. If not for the Force energy coursing through his body, the already strained cartilage in his damaged right knee and the already splintered ribs would have caused him unbearable pain, the likes of which would cripple even the ordinary athlete in peak condition. But Keth came careening through the air like a dart, meeting the Sith and clashing blades without even hitting the ground. The two descended in tandem, and as soon as feet hit durasteel, they were leaping again, keeping up the trading of blows with their identically-hued blades while leaping, rushing, darting, and sprinting across the entirety of the convocation chamber, leaving glowing furrows where lightsaber strikes missed their marks and skidded across the floor, walls, ceiling, and support pillars in a manic display of hunter versus the hunted.
Finally, as the pair springboarded consecutively off of the back of the throne, rocketing upward only with the trajectory to careen off a support pole and continue towards the front of the chamber, the pattern was broken. Completely randomly, a tremor pulsed through the ship, and the support beam shook as the Sith Lord touched it, but it was enough to cause his footing to slip and suddenly he was plummeting downwards. Being of complete mastery of the Force, the Sith was easily able to correct his fall and land solidly on the floor below, but that didn't change the fact that Keth, coming just behind him, was able to correct his direction, build on his momentum, and launch as if out of a cannon at the now-grounded Sith, lightsaber whirling and throat eliciting a chilling howl as he descended like an other-worldly banshee.
The Sith Lord jumped back, trying to force Keth to lose momentum before finally giving way to immediate contact, but Keth easily hit the spot where the Sith had been with a roll that would have dislocated anyone's shoulder who was not augmented with the Force (it left a brutal bruise, regardless), springing upwards and crossing the minimal distance all too easily, was upon the Sith. Blades clashed and bodies crashed into each other with bone-crunching force and the two combatants tumbled in a mess of blades and limbs across the floor, until a timely blast of Force energy by the both of them separated them. Landing on their backs, both lost their sabers, which clattered across the floor out of immediate reach.
For the barest second, Keth could feel his mortality in the ringing of his ears from the back of his head hitting the floor, could feel his life measured by the pain threatening to return to his knee, to his shoulder, to his ribs, to his back...
...but then his sense of purpose reasserted itself. Keth, exerting the Force completely, propelled himself from flat on his back to his feet and was rushing forward towards the Sith Lord, just barely propping himself up on one elbow. In his eyes, Keth could see first surprise, then panic, and finally hatred develop. The Sith could not believe the Jedi kept coming despite everything that had happened so far. Despite both being pushed to the limit. In that brief collision, he had picked up two moderate cuts on his torso, both going deep enough only to hurt but not to cripple, not yet. And yet the Jedi was not deterred. Pain seemed like nothing to him. And for the briefest moment, the Sith Lord began to wonder if he had truly underestimated the Jedi threat. Maybe they were much stronger than he had given them credit for. Maybe his hubris would be his folly.
That thought jettisoned itself immediately from the Sith Lord's mind. He rose to his feet with preternatural speed and seized the Jedi in the Force, holding him in place despite his metaphysical and physical resistance. And then, after a brief but fruitless struggle to outright crush him where the Jedi successfully held him off, the Sith Lord's eye caught upon the lightsaber the Jedi had dropped, not laying behind where the Jedi now floated. Catching it in the Force, the Sith activated it and aimed it for the Jedi's back, hoping to impale him and end the fight.
The Sith, so caught up in what appeared to be his victory, was not aware that Keth was just a fraction ahead of the Sith Lord at the same task. Having seen his lightsaber fetched up against the dais, Keth had grasped it telekinetically and launched it straight at the Sith, green blade humming as it flew straight like and arrow.
Neither combatant saw the results of their attacks, because both were suddenly blinded by white hot pain as lightsabers entered their bodies. For Keth's, who had entered just a split-second faster, the saber rang true and plunged straight into the Sith's back, severing the spinal cord and barely missing the heart. Either way, the Sith Lord was undoubtedly paralyzed from the neck down. For Keth, because the Sith's attack happened second, the pain registered just in time to waver his focus and cause the blade to drop, piercing Keth through the side near his left kidney. It did not help that, the moment the Sith was pierced, Keth was released from his grip and fell to the ground, where the saber deactivated and fell from his body, landing beside him as he howled in agony from the critical blow.
Laying mere meters from each other, the Jedi and the Sith howled in agony. Thirty seconds passed. In that time, one howl took on a note of panic, this was the Sith. He was panicking because he could no longer move. For Keth, his howl took on a determined edge. It was one meant to motivate him to rise and finish off the Sith Lord and end the crisis. And for all he knew, his time was limited. The raw pain emanating from the Sith Lord could be alerting Sith underlings, and Keth knew all too well that he was in no position to handle anyone else, much less escape the ship.
The Shistavanen rose on hands and knees, grunting and gasping the entire time, not worried about loss of blood simply because the lightsaber had instantly cauterized the wound. But he knew it would only last so long, given that it was an injury to internal organs and blood tended to run through the torso quite profusely. Clutching Deixar's lightsaber where it had fallen beside him, Keth moved like an infant toward his opponent, who's wailing had taken on a hint of madness at the predicament of being trapped inside one's own body with no freedom at all. Another minute passed. The Shistavanen came up beside the Sith, holding the lightsaber, nozzle hovering over the red-skinned alien's heart, and looked into the manic yellow eyes of the Sith. Keth had no willpower to muster words, but instead divested his energy in holding the hilt steady and hitting the emitter switch, activating the crimson blade and driving it through the Sith's heart, silencing him forever with the stench of burning flesh and leaving those mad eyes to stare into oblivion.
For Keth, the journey was not over yet. Even as he could feel the Dark pall dissipating, Keth had to strain to keep the Force around him, to keep it from deserting him and leaving his body too weak to move.
The Jedi Knight deactivated Deixar's blade, clipped it to his belt, and began the very long process of crawling for the exit, hoping to find a medbay somewhere within the living space, or hoping that one of his fellow Jedi happened upon him while he crawled, nearly defenseless, forward. His mind was no longer forming complex thought, all that was left was to urge it forward another pace.
Forward.
Forward.
Forward.
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dyvius
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Post by dyvius on Oct 30, 2014 15:42:34 GMT -8
Sometime in the past... (Private storyline)
Jedi Master Templus Cro was retracing the steps of a certain Shistavanen Jedi Knight who had come before, one whom could be barely sensed in the Force even now. Having threatened or cajoled his way past anyone reacting to his unusual presence on his way up to the bridge level, Templus had made all haste to reach the spot where he could sense the wily Knight after a shockwave of pain and then quiet had pulsed across the ship to be felt by any Force sensitive. Luckily, it had come at a time when the various Masters and other Jedi across the ship had already finished off every Sith Lord they could feel, and many lower level Sith besides, and so Templus was able to devote his efforts to reaching Keth and lending him a hand. On the way, the other now-free Jedi were fighting or simply strolling into positions between the hangar bay and the bridge to make a lifeline of sorts to shuttle them all back to the ship for a departure as quickly and hassle free as possible. Templus had nominated himself for the task of tracking down the only unaccounted for member.
All in all, the operation had gone without a hitch. The Sith Lords stationed in personal quarters of auxilliary command bunkers across the ship fell one by one with varying degrees of difficulty. During the entirety of the infiltration and subsequent series of attacks, the Jedi numbers were only reduced by one. Master Cloud Fisher had been slain in a counter-ambush set by a pair of the Sith Lords who had very clearly committed mutiny by leaving their battle stations and preparing a diversionary defensive unit comprised of their apprentices and shock troops to lull the Jedi into a false sense of security. The attack had ultimately been mitigated by Master Starfall and Cro's own readiness, but Master Fisher was unfortunately at the point of focus of the attack and fell before the other two could effectively counter, but the remainder of the ambush went quickly, with Starfall and Cro defeating the two Sith Lords and swearing to Cloud in his final moments to finish the mission. Even now, Templus held Cloud's lightsaber on his belt as a totem where they were not able to bring his body along.
The Jedi Master came upon a blown in bulkhead leading into what could only be the Captain's Quarters. This only helped correlate the apparent: Keth had made it, alone, for Templus had already crossed paths with a battered Haska Herotyne, and dueled the chillingly powerful Sith Lord Zak had the displeasure of conversing with before their infiltration. As far as Templus could tell, Keth had survived, but for how much longer Templus was not sure. Moving quickly through the living space of the quarters, scanning with his Force senses for signs of the Shistavanen, Templus was guided along a circuitous route to what he identified as a sick bay. Laying on the floor, having trailed a trickle of blood from the doorway onward and propped up against the docked hover gurney, was a positively ragged Keth Agrav. His uniform was burned, tattered, and soiled with blood and soot as well as chemical splatter. Fur on his head and basically anywhere it was visible was singed in places.
Rushing to his side, Templus quickly probed into the Jedi Knight and determined Keth was alive, and sported a shallow heartbeat as his chest moved ever so slightly under the nearly unrecognizable soldier's uniform he wore. It was only as he took the alien in from all angles did he notice the hole that went clean through Keth's torso above his left hip. The blood seepage was clearly from this brutal, half-cauterized wound. A trauma of this size rarely remained cauterized forever due to the body's blood flow, and so at the very least the obvious lightsaber wound had kept Keth alive this long. Further inspection revealed to Templus that Keth's remaining vestiges of strength were being channeled to heal the wound or at least hold the blood loss at bay. Versed in the healing arts of the Force, Templus laid his hands on the Jedi's chest, drawing the slightest stirring from Keth but nothing more. He truly did not have long.
A scan of his presence in the Force alerted to Templus to Keth's other injuries, namely his hyper-extended knee, his brutally bruised shoulder, his cracked ribs and the subsequent torn lung linings. A score of other minor cuts, bruises, and scrapes were ignored for now, Templus knew a twelve year old female could withstand injuries of that magnitude, but calling upon the Force, Templus set to work healing all those other intermediate wounds to at least a stable condition so that Keth's body could truly focus on the lightsaber wound through his midsection.
After nearly five minutes of a silent trance, Templus let up and pulled his hands away, having done what he could without draining himself to the point of being useless. He knew the next battle was getting clear of this ship with an injured Jedi in tow. Luckily, while he thought about the strategy for escaping with an unconscious alien in tow, Keth stirred and lupine eyes blinked up at him. Templus' spirits rose to see Keth conscious.
The Shistavanen spoke hoarsely, proof of the primal screaming that had followed the lightsaber wound.
"Master Cro?"
Templus knelt down to prevent Keth from needing to crane his neck to look at the Jedi Master.
"Yes, Keth, it's me. You're alive but badly injured. I reached you just in time."
It was not hard to guess why a conflicted look crossed Keth's eyes for a moment. The events of the past few hours all came rushing back to him in brutal clarity.
"I feel a bit better than I did when I collapsed here."
Templus nodded curtly.
"I healed your other wounds to a stable level. All I've left for your faculties is that ligtsaber wound in your side. I didn't want to risk knocking myself out working on that one, I apologize."
Keth shook his head weakly.
"No, Master Cro, you shouldn't have worried about me. We have a war to win."
Templus had to smile, even grimly, at the dedication inherent in that statement.
"The strike team has succeeded, Keth. All the Sith Lords aboard this ship are dead. We've set up an extraction cordon to get all of us back to the hangar in one motion. I've come to retrieve you."
The Knight took a moment to process the information before stating very bluntly.
"He's dead, Master. The Sith Lord in charge of this Sith armada and the whole Empire lays within the main chamber. I'm certain he's dead."
Having been ready to ask the question to be sure, Templus was pleased to have the information volunteered. He replied.
"Then it's over, Keth. We can leave now. The Sith command structure should be assuredly broken, and the mop up can begin."
At this juncture, many suitably exhausted soldiers would give the typical plea to be left behind so as not to slow down the retreat. But Keth did not say this. Instead, he closed his eyes, and centered himself in the Force. As he did so, the current condition of his body came into complete focus and Keth was no longer floating in a pain-induced fog. Everything about him returned to a machine-like order and the determination with it. He reached a furred hand up, asking.
"Help me up, Master Cro. We must move quickly."
Templus obliged and gently helped the hobbled Shistavanen to his feet. Still limping slightly and obviously favoring his wound, Keth made to move for the exit, but Templus stopped him, reaching for the medical gauze sitting in a bin on the nearby counter.
"I'm going to at least patch up that wound, Keth, before we move."
The Shistavanen asked, as Templus worked to wrap the wound.
"Do you know what happened to Haska, Master Cro? I left him alone against a Devaronian Sith Lord."
Templus replied matter-of-factly.
"He won, Keth. Lost the last three inches of his tail and some scales off his thigh, but he won and is retrieving Master Katal from the healing trance you forced her into before you left her."
Keth jumped on the defensive, thinking Templus was accusing him.
"Master Cro, she had a massive concussion..."
A single held-up hand silenced the alien. Templus replied.
"I know, Keth. Your decision was the correct one. I'm simply amazed you managed to get Orian to listen."
Suitably rebuffed, Keth fell silent, and when Templus finished, he replaced the wrap and grabbed Keth by the forearm.
"You're ready to go, Master Agrav?"
Keth was also stunned by the sudden honorific. Nodding, he followed Templus Cro from the sick bay.
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dyvius
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Post by dyvius on Nov 1, 2014 14:18:20 GMT -8
Sometime in the past... (Private Storyline)
Running.
For the most part, Templus and Keth had easily left the bridge level and were very nearly halfway to the hangar bay. At that point, they had added Master Seleck Tanes to their party as they collapsed the makeshift evacuation route they had set up throughout the ship. The three Jedi had found very few crew willing to stand against them. but on the off chance they found a soldier, too willing to do his duty to a now-lost cause than stand down, he or she was cut own without pause. Judging by the feeling of the crew and the vibrations in the deck plates, the Super Star Destroyer was coming under heavy fire, presumably because the fleet was no longer being guided by the Sith Lords and they were finally losing their structure and their fighting will. It was up in the air how long the Jedi infiltrators had until the Super Star Destroyer either escaped the battlefield limping, or was destroyed by the Republic forces defending Corellia.
Since then, after meeting Haska and Master Katal, the Jedi were confronted with a concerted force of soldiers led by a few lower-level Sith, presumably the strongest or most mature of the Sith apprentices, now masterless. Requiring a few detours, the Jedi ultimately tried to outrun the soldiers and Sith apprentices trying to kill them, only turning to fight when their way forward absolutely required them needing more time. Despite it all, it did not help that Keth was still nursing the bound wound in his side and Orian was mostly cured of her concussion but skill got dizzy with too many changes in direction. Both of them were pulling heavily on the Force again, making sure they were spry enough to avoid getting shot and grabbed by telekinetic grabs by the Sith apprentices. The Jedi were confident they could turn and face the pursuing Sith soldiers and their leaders, but they were unsure if more reinforcements were constantly trying to head them off and leave them trapped. Time was of the essence, and the Jedi did not have communications to guarantee the positions of the others in the evacuation corridor.
Leaping through a hole newly cut through a corridor wall into an adjacent corridor that comprised part of the evacuation route, the five Jedi, rear-guarded by Templus, deflecting the grasping energy bolts from the enemy trying to cut them down from behind, moved quickly towards the next bend in the hallway. As they veered a hard right, Jedi Master Starfall was seen at the end of the corridor, purple saber lit. The Nautolan Master waved to them, and then abruptly turned his attention back down the path, where a sudden explosion filled the next segment with smoke and sparks. The five Jedi already running towards the cloud of smoke could already tell that the Sith apprentices had decided it most prudent to circumvent the twisting path their quarry had used to escape, and were hoping to pin the infiltrators between soldiers and themselves. The Master could feel the four Dark presences hiding in the cloud, waiting to activate their blades until the Jedi were among them.
The Jedi had other plans. As a concert, they pushed out with the Force into the cloud, shoving the smoke away as if a spring breeze was rushing through the corridor. As the obscurity vanished, so did the cover for the Sith apprentices, suitably buffeted by the Force attack. But with six highly-trained Jedi bearing down on them unexpectedly, none of them were able to activate their blades in time to stop from being cut to ribbons. Four corpses remained among the debris of the corridor wall as the soldiers they had been previously leading caught up long after the Jedi were out of sight, boarding the turbolifts that would deposit them at the hangar bay level.
After an unnervingly calm ride down in the lifts, the Jedi spilled out in a collection of combat rolls and leaping dives in anticipation of an ambush. Instead, the Jedi came up in an empty corridor with the sound of blasterfire and the hum of lightsabers echoing from the direction of the bay itself. Putting on a last burst of speed, the six Jedi burst into a defensive bunker that Sith soldiers had hastily erected out of cargo crates and other miscellaneous objects to protect themselves as they dueled with the Jedi holding a position around the hangar berth that held their shuttle and only way off the Super Star Destroyer.
Making quick work of the surprised soldiers who had not expected to meet more Jedi from their undefended rear, the retreating Jedi saw Zak, halfway along the walkway to their hangar berth with Lapay no Ryu and Gadriel'lya held the shuttle bay itself. As they ran, all panting while making sure Orian and Keth, the two finding the dash most difficult, were in the middle of the group, Starfall called out to the Jedi Knight with the golden blade.
"Zak! Let's move! We're all here!"
The youthful Jedi male looked up out of his concentration and grinned as he saw the six Jedi bearing down on him. But then, out of his peripheral, Zak saw the soldiers, all arrayed on docking berths adjacent or across the way from the section where the Jedi were stationed, turn to focus their fire on the big target: the squad of Jedi. Out of all this focus, Zak spied one specific berth of soldiers cluster around a single man holding a very large launch tube on his armored shoulder. Zak was barely able to yell out in warning before he was leaping into action, crossing back past the group of Jedi as they ran, as a single rocket leaped forward to decimate the walkway at the very least.
Tucking himself into a roll, Zak cut the rocket cleanly in half and right out of the air, the individual pieces tumbling away from the walkway and down towards the containment field for the whole docking bay. Landing gracefully down the path, Zak stood up and turned to rejoin the Jedi, looking at their backs from a distance as they resumed their run after watching his momentary heroics. But focused as he was on the safety of his friends, Zak's danger sense raced down his back just a second too late. Some of the soldiers, having tracked the Jedi that had foiled their attack, fired at him. One soldiers, either lucky or highly skilled, nailed a blasterbolt right through Zak's left shoulder. Crying out in shock and pain, Zak stumbled a pace before turning to sluggishly deflect more blasterbolts aimed his way. As if sensing he was separated from the back, more and more soldiers with clear shots aimed at the lone Jedi at the back with the golden lightsaber.
The other six Jedi had reached the shuttle bay by the moment Zak was hit the first time. Feeling his pain radiate through the Force, the Jedi had turned back to see the young Knight under fire from multiple directions. His defense was valiant, but it was not long before another shot made its way through, taking him on the right shin and hobbling him slightly. The Jedi could feel his reliance on the Force increase to compensate for the physical injury, and then Gadriel'lya was the one to snap them all back to their situation.
"On board! Now! He's giving us a chance, can't you tell?"
Galvanized into action, the Jedi raced up the open ramp where Lapay no Ryu had preceeded them, already activating the ship's systems and preparing the engines for a quick departure. Keth, clutching his painful right side as the adrenaline wore off, was the last to go. He stood at the bottom of the ramp as the Bothan Master passed him, turning back and placing a furry hand on his shoulder.
"Keth, we must leave."
The Shistavanen could not help but watch as the Jedi Knight suddenly exploded in the Force, gathering all of the power to himself, threatening to overwhelm his physical form. Keen eyes allowed Keth to see the multiple blaster wounds Zak had sustained. The Jedi was on his last legs. With a super-human burst of power, Zak leaped from the walkway into the open space of the hangar bay, aimed like a rocket at the tiers where the soldiers were firing upon him. As he landed like a wrecking ball among them, Zak spun and leaped, ducked and dived, swinging his lightsaber and lashing out with brutal Force attacks, killing soldiers and sending them running, throwing disarray into their formation. Ultimately, he was drawing all of the attention to himself and away from the shuttle. This fact hit Keth and he tore his gaze away from the amazing last stand of Zak'Nafein Caranthyr. He hustled up the ramp and hit the shutter switch just as the emergency lighting came on in the hangar bay, signifying that the whole Super Star Destroyer was going critical.
Seeing this, Keth called up to the cockpit where Lapay and Seleck were sitting in the seats.
"GO! The Destroyer's going critical!"
Lapay nodded and gunned the engines as Keth grabbed for a handhold to keep himself upright. The other Jedi, Starfall, Orian, Haska, Templus, and Gadriel'lya, were already buckled into their crash seats. As the shuttle left the bay, angling downward and away from the hangar bay, bringing up its deflector shields to nullify the potshots the odd soldier was firing, Keth couldn't help but look at the pair of empty seats as he slowly sat in his own. Two more Jedi were being claimed in this war; two of the strongest Jedi in the galaxy. A deep sadness pervaded Keth, he had grown close to Zak over the months of campaigns they had endured together, and to have him die right at the end was bittersweet. Orian, sitting to his left, laid a hand on his forearm. Keth looked up at her and she smiled sadly, but there was peace in her eyes.
"Be at peace, Master Agrav. Zak gave himself knowing he had saved us. I'm sure he was content to know it."
The second use of that title reminded Keth of what being a Jedi Master meant: mastering his emotions and turning all thoughts to duty. Expelling the sadness from him, but still acutely feeling Zak's loss, Keth replied.
"Thank you, Master Katal. I needed that reminder."
Any further counseling was cut short as Lapay cried from the cockpit.
"Everyone brace yourselves! This might not be a smooth ride! We're still in the middle of a war zone!"
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dyvius
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Post by dyvius on Nov 8, 2014 21:34:29 GMT -8
Sometime in the past.... (Private Storyline)
A week had passed since the Fourth Battle of Corellia was concluded.
The Republic had emerged totally victorious in the engagement. One the Jedi shuttle had escaped the hangar bay of the Super Star Destroyer, the flagship's lack of Sith command combined with the absence of the augment provided by the Battle Meditation of the multiple Sith Lords ensured that it was unable to defend itself against the barrage turned on it by the Republic fleet. Once the flagship had split under the concentrated fire, it started a chain reaction that led to the already battered defensive formation of the Sith Invasion Fleet being torn asunder, allowing the equally battered but organized Republic fleet to pound the Sith ships until they were no longer able to fight back. Having no compulsion to surrender, the Sith ships submitted themselves to the pounding that promptly spelled the end of the Second Great Sith War.
The next seven days had involved cleaning up the battlefield over Corellia and sending the most healthy ships to the remaining flashpoints in the Outer Rim to end the war completely. Having been given standings orders to remain engaged until the main force had reached Coruscant and won, the Sith Commanders were not aware they would never be receiving orders to withdraw or surrender, and would most likely be annihilated as the Republic eventually overwhelmed them. However, the reinforcements were hardly more than formal expressions. Between the casualties sustained by the fleet and the necessity for most of the operable ships, led by Admiral Derrel Stirk and the Matrix, to return to Duro and Fondor to liberate them from the single Sith cruisers left there, there were very few ships to actually send out to the fighting in the Rim.
In fact, only one space-faring vessel remained in orbit above Corellia, and it was one of the only ships to sustain such a heavy beating without being destroyed or completely worthless. That was the Praetor Mark II-class battlecruiser Corusca. High Admiral Rosina remained aboard the ship throughout the clean-up and reassignment process, using the cruiser, only good for use as a space-worthy command center until it could find itself in a docking structure for major repairs, as her hub to finish the direction of the Republic Fleet across the galaxy while communicating with the Fleet High Command on Coruscant.
Beyond its duties to the fleet, the Corusca was the current headquarters of the Jedi that had been a part of the mission. Having been voluntarily confined to the medical deck to recover and regroup from the ultimately successful if not costly mission, the Jedi were just now gathering as a group before the last bacta tank occupied by a Jedi. Rael Starfall stood before the tank, looking up at the furry figure still suspended within the healing cocktail. Standing in an amorphous group behind him were the other Jedi, now healed completely; the Bothan Gadriel'lya, the Kel Doran Seleck Tanes, the Barabel Haska Herotyne, and the humans Orian Katal, Lapay no Ryu, and Templus Cro. They looked on expectantly as the medical droid manning the tank triggered it to bring Keth Agrav up and back into the land of the living for the first time all week.
Indeed, once the shuttle was weaving its way through the tangle of laserfire and debris that was the battlefield over Corellia, Keth had begun to tone down on the sheer volume of Force energy coursing through his body, seeing as it was no longer useful to him. In doing so, the exhaustion of his exertions aboard the Super Star Destroyer and the toll his injuries had taken upon his body caught up with him. Sinking out of consciousness almost as quickly as the Force was leaving his body, Keth was promptly overwhelmed by exhaustion and pain and left limp in his crash webbing, practically lapsing into a coma that none of the masters could wake him from even as they docked with the Praetor and disembarked. Practically running through the corridors with Keth suspended between them, the contingent of Jedi burst into the crowded medbay, asking for nothing more than a room where they could treat their comrade. Luckily, a bacta tank was open and ready for the Shistavanen Jedi, so Keth was immediately submerged and had not been removed until this moment now.
The lid on the tank retracted and Keth's head surfaced. The Jedi bobbed with his lupine head exposed for a few seconds that dragged out indefinitely until his eyelids fluttered and ultimately opened. Cloudy eyes refocused and then scanned the room, and then Keth rationalized that he was in a medbay and it was at that moment that he noticed he was mostly naked and floating in bacta. Removing the breathing mask over his snout, Keth looked down out of the tank and saw the collection of Jedi Masters looking up at him expectantly. Grinning both wolfishly and sheepishly simultaneously, Keth pulled himself out of the tank and dropped nimbly to the floor of the room, catching himself with the Force to lighten the impact. Standing with the slightest wobble from the sudden activity after days on end of motionless, Keth waved away the medical droid attempting to admonition him; he was fully aware of his body's condition and did not need a droid to clarify anything.
A quick internal check of his body told Keth that he was in decent physical condition once more, but he could definitely tell where the lightsaber wound was in his torso, which while healed was something not completely the same as it was before. But the moment passed; there would be time for self-reflection later. Instead, Keth looked into the faces of the other Jedi Masters, those who had trusted him with their lives and his with them. But that was the pact of all Jedi, to serve the galaxy and keep the peace. And Keth was quite sure that he had helped to do just that.
Master Starfall smiled, his large black eyes gleaming. He spread his hands in a gesture of welcome to Keth, and said.
"Welcome back, Master Agrav. It's good to have you with us."
No words were needed on Keth's part as he moved to be embraced by the other Masters, but to himself, he thought quietly that it was good to be a part of them, a part of the Jedi Order.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 25, 2014 9:23:04 GMT -8
A little more than an hour later, the light freighter High Maintenance pushed its way up out of the planet's atmosphere. The ride was a little rough as the ship wasn't in the best condition, but Z'har planned to start working on it as soon as they made the jump into hyperspace. For the moment though the Mando was currently at the controls with a jedi as his copilot.
-Z'har
The drive isn't the best on her, so we will be in hyperspace for about forty hours. The top of my repair list right now is getting those scrap piles in the side hold into actual working pilot droids. After that I'll see if I can't hunt down the problem that is messing with the artificial gravity in the rear hold. Care to help me?
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Ael Jade
The Jedi Order - Corellian Jedi Academy
Posts: 1,544 
Affiliation: Corellian Jedi Order
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Post by Ael Jade on Nov 25, 2014 18:12:52 GMT -8
There were several things just waiting on the tip of her tongue, most of them were snide remarks about bolts, buckets thereof, and the likelihood of having to hitchhike across the galaxy. However, she did not say any of them. Instead, she smiled to herself, watching as Z'har piloted. When they were hailed by Corellian Flight Control she leaned forward and keyed the intercom.
Corellian Flight Control, this is the good ship High Maintenance, outbound from the Corellian Academy on a--- she paused for a second unsure what to say. There was absolutely no way she was telling them that she was going after a former member of the Jedi Academy, particularly when that individual might actually be hostile. ---data-gathering mission. This is Councilor Jade, I'll send you our outbound flight path and my verification ID.
Thank you, ma'am. Have a good flight. There was a distinct pause followed by a muffled conversation in the background before the intercom keyed on again with a belated signoff. Erm, may the Force be with you.
She smiled. "I'm not sure whether they are more amused by the ship name, or the fact that I am on it."
Droid maintenance had never been her thing, but she could always watch. Frankly, she didn't really like droids, although she had to admit they were often useful. "Why am I not surprised there is no gravity in the rear hold? However, that isn't necessarily a bad thing..." there was lots of fun to be had in an environment where one was nearly weightless, not the least of which was fighting. Whn she was a ship commander, she'd always had her crew practice regularly fighting in an environment in which the artificial gavity was 'malfunctioning' just in case they lost structural integrity and had to repel boarders in that kind of situation. It had been most intriguing. "I suppose I could supervise," she responded with a wink, since they'd have plenty of time once they went into hyperspace.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Dec 2, 2014 11:26:56 GMT -8
As the ship managed to shudder its way, barely, into hyperspace, Z'har unclipped himself from the pilot seat & started back toward the closet he had dumped the droids in.
-Z'har
For the price I got it, I am just glad it flies & doesn't leak. Anyway there is gravity in the rear hold, it just kind of flickers & shifts in ... unfortunate ways. Once I get the droids running there is plenty of other stuff to fix. Beyond the gravity plates, the topside airlock has the outer door jammed open, the laser cannon need to be to be realigned & recharged, the left side engine won't start for some reason, I am fairly sure the shields are not actually on (despite what the readout in the cockpit says), one of the landing struts won't retract, & I need to figure out where all the smuggling compartments are in the ship to make sure none of the previous owners left any problematic surprise cargo behind. Probably not in that order. & I will likely find more as I work my way through the list.
On the other hand, I got a great deal on it. It was nearly a steal in fact.
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Ael Jade
The Jedi Order - Corellian Jedi Academy
Posts: 1,544
Affiliation: Corellian Jedi Order
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Post by Ael Jade on Dec 27, 2014 9:24:39 GMT -8
"Right...in that case, probably shields first, then engine." All sorts of alarm bells were going off in the back of her mind, and the attempt to sort them into a priority list was bothersome at best, potentially deadly at worst. This was one of those times where not being a Jedi would probably have made her a lot more comfortable with the current situation on a ship that would barely fly. "You know, I have access to plenty of resources---we could probably have gotten something better. I guess I'll get started on the droids," she remarked, unstrapping her seat restraints that looked a bit frayed and getting to her feet. "Even when I was running from an Empire that wanted me out of the way I had a better ship," the diminutive woman smiled, the hint of a twinkle appearing in the depths of her emerald green eyes as she slid past her companion heading aft to the droid locker.
The next twenty minutes were filled with various bangs, thumps, clangs, etc as she rummaged through what was available and popped her head back into the main corridor with the dome of an R2 unit perched at a jaunty angle on top of her head. "Where'd you stow the tool chest?" Droid repair wasn't really her specialty, but she was good at jerry-rigging things to the point where they wouldn't explode while performing their normal tasks...most of the time. And with a couple of the droids running, their manpower would effectively be doubled. And besides, this would keep her mind off of other things, like what was waiting for them on Bimmisaari.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jan 8, 2015 10:47:09 GMT -8
The shield access panels were under the deck plating in the central ring, meaning that Z'har was currently laying on the deck with half of his body hanging into the crawl space below, which looked more like a briar bush made from cables than a functional part of a ship. Pulling himself up from the tangle he looked back at Jade. His upper body looked like someone had sprayed him with a can of oil.
-Z'har
It should be in the left side wall cabinet just behind the cockpit. Also, I've added 'untangle the cords & conduits' & 'clean the access areas' to the list of things that need to be done.
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Ael Jade
The Jedi Order - Corellian Jedi Academy
Posts: 1,544
Affiliation: Corellian Jedi Order
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Post by Ael Jade on Jan 8, 2015 13:47:18 GMT -8
"And since you have no need for sleep I assume you'll be accomplishing scads of things while I'm asleep?" she shot back inquisitively as she headed off to collect the tool chest. Several loud thumps! bangs! crashes! and curses later she returned lugging it behind her. "Ha!" She reached out and promptly levitated it the rest of the way, annoyed that she hadn't just done that in the first place. The Force didn't seem like something to be used for shortcuts in trivial matters to her.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jan 13, 2015 9:40:43 GMT -8
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