Attack on Tython - The Mess Hall

[Clayton]

​

"We're going to bomb the temple..."

"The Jedi have grown into a monstrosity, we...can't affiliate with them anymore..."

Silence as they rode through hyperspace, the small passenger hold of the vessel lit only by a dim, flickering light.

"It's for the best. And we need your help. To fight."

More silence. A question. Why?

"You're crazy enough to store grenades underneath a furnace, you're crazy enough to help us."

Was he?
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________


Tython, 5 minutes before detonation of Shae's bomb



The Temple was peaceful, Valek would grant them that. But then, Tython was far from the front-lines. He looked over to Kex, who was showing the Jedi Temple's "guest" around. Right now, they were approaching the mess hall. He had seen the training room, the meditation chambers, now they were making their way further in. All part of the plan.

Valek didn't like the plan.

He had been promised a bar fight. He had refused to carry explosives. He would fight, he would stand for those that couldn't stand for themselves, but he would not detonate bombs. Valek had arrived in his favorite fighting get-up. He had a rolled bandanna tied across his brow, a tank-top covering his sort-of-pudgy torso, cargo pants held up by a rough-spun cloth belt, and combat boots.

He looked like a thug, and had an extendable pike slung across his back. But he had helped save a Jedi. Kyrene had vouched for him, said that he was a good man, and that he wanted to talk to the man in charge. All these things were true, there was no deception there. He had his own misgivings, and he felt out-of-place in the temple. Valek figured that even if he wasn't here for a brawl, he'd have felt out-of-place. Perhaps that was an indicator of the problem.

As they entered the mess hall, Shae's voice crackled through the comm link. She was giving a speech. Valek tuned it out, he hated people that gave speeches. They were boring. He reached down an unscrewed the cap from his hip flask and took a long drink of the verdant liquid. If he lost today, he would get burned alive. Might as well make himself a little more flammable. The alcohol rolled down his throat and into his belly. It would be enough to keep him going unless the fight dragged out, which it very well could.

The fly buzzing in his ear ceased talking, and moments later a distant explosion reached their ears. The few people in the mess hall stood up in surprise and fear. A bombing so close to home? A bombing against them? No, it was the Jedi that carried out bombings, not the Other Side. Valek looked to Kex and nodded. He reached behind his back and with a flick of his wrist, and a pressing of a button and the phrik-alloy pike extended to full-length with a metallic rasp. "ALRIGHT, IT'S SHOWTIME!" he shouted wildly as he brought the pike around into a combat-ready position.

Valek was not force-sensitive, he was not trained in the ways of handling a lightsaber. Yet he was closer to the common man that he was here to represent than the people who were supposed to be.

He was no Jedi, no Sith. No Accord mercenary, no senator.

He was Valek Naa the Drunken Master, and he stood for the common man.


@Bardan Kex @Carthage @Cainhurst Crow

 

[Bardan Kex]

As he had led the so-called Drunken Master through the halls of the Typhon Temple, a place that he hadn't been to in years, Bardan could hardly believe he had agreed to this plan. It was insane, foolhardy and worst of all it reeked of the Sith. Still, Kyrene and Alex had asked for his help, asked for him to take a stand along the others against the hypocrisy of the Jedi Army and though it was an endeavor that was bound to lead them to darkness he had agreed. As they walked he took the opportunity to gaze at the Jedi as they went about, some of them smug an air of precieved superiority oozing from them as they looked down their noses at Valek for not being sensitive in the force, yet others seemed oblivious, content to live in their own world. Both types bothered Bardan, who even as a Padawan had striven to be among those with out the force, to bridge the gap, to show that they weren't so different, that they weren't inherently better, just different. It made him glad he had never come back, that he had turned his back from this path when they had left him for dead.

A voice echoed through his comms as the pair entered the mess hall, it was Shae the ringleader of this attack. He had been with Kyrene when she had stopped on Korriban to rescue the woman, she had been injured laying in the shadow of the now ruined Sith Pyramid, even through the lingering pain of the dead and dying Sith he could feel her anger and hate as Alex and Kyrene had helped her aboard the ship. There could no turning back for her, he could tell that much. He let out a bemused chuckle as she began her speech, they had already agreed to be here, why sell it to them again? Perhaps she was selling it to herself, maybe she wasn't as far gone as he had assumed. At his side the Drunken Master seemed to not be paying attention to words buzzing through their comms, focusing instead on his flask. Bardan could relate with that need to drink, he knew when they were done he'd need to refill both of his flasks.The part of the speech that mentioned the mysteries of the Sith turned his stomach more than the thought of what they were about to do, and the part where they would be their own masters made him laugh, he was already his own master, and if they turned to the Sith they'd just be exchanging one group of corrupt leaders for another. He cleared his mind, there was no time for that debate, only the mission at hand. The speech ended and moments later an explosion rang out barely shaking the room, but the Knights and Padawans with in the mess jumped up in a mix of surprise and fear. Returning the nod the man beside him had given him, Bardan drew his pistol and lightsaber. With a snap-hiss the golden-yellow blade ignited, several of the Jedi turned to look at Bard, who was fully kitted up with his weapons and armor, perhaps now realizing that the armored Mandalorian was not one of them. As Valek shouted something about it being show time, would level his pistol at the crowd and open fire.

 

[Cainhurst Crow]

Djura flexed his left hand, a numbness to it that he was working on getting used to still present as he worked the cybernetic limb to pick up a glass of water. He carefully began to raise it towards his mouth, working to keep the limb under control and carefully pressured as he finally managed to take a sip. He let out a sigh of relief as he let it down, glad to see the medics had done a good job at synchronizing the prosthetic limb to his nervous system. Even if it would take him some getting used to, it was almost like he hadn't lost his hand at all, a phantom feeling with his uncovered hand making it feel as if it were still there, and yet not. Every time he looked at it, it's plain metallic color clashing with his brown colored skin, the illusion was broken and he was reminded of what he'd lost.

Djura Volfe had come to Tython to recover from his injuries at Telos. The wounds from his battle leaving him one arm down, and with doubts in his heart about what it was he stood for, and what it was he fought for. The jedi had done things, things he was not proud of, in service to the jedi order and to do what was ultimately right for the galaxy. He watched some of the padawans and younger jedi milling about, discussing things with one another, and was reminded of what he'd experienced in his youth. A young sith apprentice taking his eye and nearly killing his master, after feigning being an innocent victim in need of help. For most of his time, he was certain that killing the sith, stamping the dark side out in all its incarnations, was the right thing to do. That it was not the jedi way, but the way things needed to be for the protection of others.

Now however, he wasn't so sure. Perhaps he had been wrong. Perhaps killing everyone who'd ever fallen under the sway of the dark side, made him little different from those he swore to vanquish all those years ago. Perhaps his master had the right idea when he left the order all those years ago, seeking to rekindle his connection with the light side, and bring reform to the order as it stood.

'It doesn't matter much now...' Djura thought as he set down his glass, glancing his eye towards two new arrivials with a raised brow. A mandalorian, and someone who looked like a vagabond. He wondered what they were doing here before he looked back down to his own table, 'When I slew my master, I was convinced it was the right thing to do. Perhaps I was wrong all these years. But dwelling on it won't change what I've done...' He resolved as he went to stand back up, glancing down to his hip towards the unusual looking saber that hung at his waist. 'All I can do is move forward, and try to do what's right now. For the jedi, for the people, and for those I could have saved...' he thought.

The sith lord he killed on telos, had probably had it coming. He'd taken up his saber when one of his own had been broken badly by the sith's partner. A partner who had turned out to be a man of honor and conviction, and who had shown the same level of determination and drive to help his fellow comrades that Djura would call any jedi to feel. The encounter had changed him, made him re-evaluate what it was he defined as good and evil.

'Do not strive to simply complete a mission or achieve a goal...' The words of his master echoed in his mind, 'Strive to always do what is right, and always help those in need...' He remembered them well as his hand tightened and he made his way out of the mess hall. 'After all, they are the ones who matter the most in this world...'

The feeling of an explosion shuddered through the temples grounds as Djura suddenly stopped in his tracks, his eye widening as he wondered what was going on. That was when he heard someone shout, and the air within the room became much more tense as he began to turn around.

'Never forget, young Djura. We are all just one man, in the end...But if we work together, and work to defend each other in our times of need...'

He saw the vagabond drawing his weapon, a metallic pike as he assumed some sort of ready stance. His companion mandalorian drew his weapons, a blaster and a saber, as Djura began to feel himself moving, reaching down to his belt as he drew his new saber, the heavy weight for some reason feeling natural in his grasp as he drew his weapon, channeling the force into his legs and he bolted forward.

'If we do what we can to help one another, and be there for each other...then there's truly nothing we cannot achieve. Even if it seems impossible...never stop helping your fellow man.'

Djura's burst of speed saw him appear a good 10 feet in front of Kex, the crimson blade of the sith saber hissing to life as he slashed at the incoming shot, sending it heading for the pike wielding drunken master as he drew his second saber, his shoto blazing to life with its fire orange glow as he shifted it into a reverse grip, holding it ready to catch the next shot and aim it towards kex as he barked out an order to his fellow jedi.

"Get out of here and get the Temple Guard! Find anyone else in need of help and get the younger students to safety!" He ordered as he glared daggers at Kex, a look of resentment crossing his face as he clenched his jaw as he shifted the position of his legs to give himself a more solid stance, "I'll hold these two at bay."

 

[Nirn Pirta]

Nirn was visiting her home temple for the first time in weeks. She had fought multiple sith in that time, one Barabel who was more of a brute than a force weilder, and the extreme opposite of him, a sith Sorcerer. Both of them got away, but she considered both of them victories. Inside the temple, she had her shorter pike slung diagonally over her back as she walked through the corridors towards the mess hall. It would be her first tasty meal in a while, but she had been keeping up with her health. She was still trying to improve her constitution, something that may have been permanently damaged by her childhood.

She had fallen in a few meters behind an odd pair, a man in mandalorian armor and a man in what seemed to be casual wear. Just as they reached the mess hall, the temple shook, a muffled explosion making its way to her ears. seeing the two men in front of her whip out weapons, and one of them fire into the crowd, she could surmise what was going on- the temple was under attack. She unslung her pike, running forwards quietly, making sure to make no noise. She could possibly take out bout of these men if she did things right.

When she got in range, she swung hard at the mandalorian from the back of his right shoulder to his left buttock, activating her lightsaber at the last possible second to keep her element of surprise

 

[Clayton]

Valek saw the man with the prosthetic limb. How could be not? It was an oddity reaching for a weapon. The gray metal stood out, as did the fact that Djura was charging at them fast. Faster than a human should be able to. Valek did not pause to ponder what he should do, what his partner might do, or how he should react. The pike was a formidable weapon, he was already in a position ready to react to an attack, and Valek was not unused to working with staves.

Djura was almost upon them, and as his red blade sprung to life (a trophy from a sith?), Valek was also reacting. He may not have had the benefit of force-assisted speed, but neither did he have a great distance to travel as Djura had done. And travel might be the wrong word, his movement was more of a swift, controlled fall. He pushed off with his right foot and a second later his left knee touched the ground and his right foot hit the floor with a slap-thud as Valek thrust the pike forward and up at a slight angle. The simple lunge and thrust added a good four feet to his effective reach, and with the length of the pike itself, Djura had unfortunately placed himself well-inside striking distance, and unfortunately made the easiest target he could by running directly at a side-by-side pair when one was wielding a pike.

So it was that a second after Dura reached his 10-foot distance that the tip of Valek's pike slid below the slashing saber as it impacted the blaster bolt and, barring a miracle even for a Jedi, plunged into a new home just below the sternum. Djura had readied himself against the blaster shot, he had already just struck hard to deflect it at Valek, which now whizzed over his crouching body. If anybody was behind Valek, they would have a very bad day. Without another weapon already out, Djura's ability to block the pike was nil.

 

[Bardan Kex]

They moved quiet, he'd give them that much, whom ever this Jedi was that had been trailing them. They had made a critical mistake however in not masking themselves in the force, and really who here would have done that? Bardan guessed that perhaps whom ever was coming up on them had simply looked at their attire and figured that neither of them would have been trained in the Jedi arts, it was a simple mistake to make and one his former master had taught him to take advantage of.

"I FEEL YOU CHILD!" he'd yell. He clutched his golden light saber in a duelists grip and pivoted deftly, remaining in nearly the same position he had been before, his blade would rise meeting the Jedi's own as she ignited it. His right arm, now towards the feline woman, would rise along with the heavy blaster pistol in his hand. The weapon would bark twice, one shot into the woman's stomach as he raised it and the other into her sternum as he leveled it. At near point blank range, combined with the unweildy length of the Jedi's weapon in the corridor she still stood in, as well as his relative control of the blade, it would be extremely unlikely for her to evade either shot.

@Cainhurst Crow

 

[Cainhurst Crow]

Djura had drawn his shoto the moment he'd slashed at the blaster shot, out of instict to quickly block the next shot when the pike head came sailing at him, coming just under his red saber. The orange bladed shoto struck as he held it in a reverse grip, striking against the pike to send the blade away from his gut and sailing past his side. Djura winced a moment as his eye went wide, the pikes blade cutting the side of his robe and grazing his flesh, a trickle of blood flowing from the cut of his skin as he realized how close the strike had come to ending him. He hadn't expected Valek to be able to cover this distance so quickly, and the shout of his partner drew Djura's attention to see the mandalorian, as Djura shoved out both his arms quickly.

His hands were clutching his sabers still like fists as he focused his efforts to force push both his opponents. He aimed to force push Valek into one of the tables of the mess hall, and for Kex to be shoved off his feet as Djura then took a few steps back, his eye going back towards Valek's direction as he thought on how quickly he'd managed to nearly kill him. He was aware of the wet and warm sensation as the blood from his grazing wound stained the lower part of his damaged robes, as he didn't look and kept his focus on the two in front of him. Djura contemplated what it was he should do, seeing how the man had already proved unpredictable in the near death experience he'd had, and his other opponent was still an issue. If he focused on one, the other would likely try to sneak up on him from behind.

With that decided, Djura raised his sabers, holding his shoto in a low guard and his full length saber in a high guard, his eye going between Valek and Kex as he decided which one of them he would focus on, "Who are you two?" He asked as he took on a Shien defensive stance, not able to hide the anger in his voice at their brazen attack, "Why are you doing this!?" He demanded.

 

[Nirn Pirta]

Nirn would have been killed if it weren't for the man shouting. He did so before he even turned, so she had time to abort her attack, leaping backwards to the right, not only creating distance between the two, but narrowly dodging his first shot as well. As it was, the shot, while not entirely accurate, it still grazed her left arm, causing her to wince heavily, the smell of burnt fur and skin filling the air. She readied herself to dodge a possible second, but the man's aim was thrown off by a force push. She hadn't noticed that she had an ally. She heard him shout. "Who are you two? Why are you doing this!?"

She grimaced at his words. "Don't distract yourself trying to speak. We can question them once they're subdued. The Temple Guards will be here soon. Just focus on survival." she said, getting ready to dodge again in case another bolt came towards her. This would be a defensive fight, and she knew it. But hopefully she could last long enough for the aforementioned Temple Guard to arrive and capture them.

 

[Clayton]

Valek heard Kex shout, so he ducked his head at look at the world upside-down. Someone had been sneaking up on them. Valek felt himself being lifted and thrown backwards, towards the person now backpedaling. Crap. Stupid Force. Valek was thrown into the hall and landed near Nirn, his back facing her, but he had already seen enough to know what to do as he half-stumbled backwards. Valek stepped back and pivoted in close to Nirn. He brought his pike around with the pivot, parallel to the floor, not to stab, but to pin her against the wall as she started speaking. "Don't distract yourself trying to speak-" Her own pike would be too large to bring the lightsaber part around at this close distance, just like he couldn't stab her with his end. But he could use his advantage of weight and strength to trap Nirn against the wall even if she tried to bring the haft of her pike up to block to deflect, and so that's what he did. She couldn't go forward into him, she couldn't go away from the wall unless she wanted to get knocked off her feet by the pike, and she couldn't go the opposite way as the pike reached further along the wall. Assuming the pin was mostly successful, his right knee would come up to drive into her solar plexus (or ribs, depending on positioning) and drive the air from her while his head snapped forward to smash into Nirn's nose (or jaw, again, depending on positioning). "Good advice," he said after his attack.

 

[Bardan Kex]

The Jedi was quick, that was for sure, from close range she'd managed to almost completely dodge his first shot and likely would have barely been touched by the second. That is if the other Jedi hadn't hit him with a force push throwing his aim off and pushing him forward. As the world tumbled and he ended up on the ground momentarily he'd see Valek end up closer to the Jedi that had attempted to attack from behind (and to his surprise appeared to be a Knight rather than the Padawan he'd assumed her to be), trusting his ally to deal with her he'd change focus to the other attacker, the pair shifting their targets. Coming up from the floor now facing the Jedi who had force pushed him and close to the wall on his right side, Bardan would hold his lightsaber up and out to his left, intending to make it difficult for anyone to approach him or get around him to Valek on the left side. Simultaneously he'd reach out through the force attempting to pull Djura's feet out from under him. Should the attempt be successful he'd fire a shot into Djura's right foot.

 

[Cainhurst Crow]

Djura looked towards where Valek was, seeing the jedi who he'd tried to help end up getting attacked by the man as he snarled at him. A flash of anger surging inside of him as he saw his fellow jedi in trouble. "Let Her Go!" He yelled, though he kept in place and kept up his defensive stance as he looked towards the mandalorian who'd been knocked down by his earlier push. Djura did his best to keep himself calm and under control as he spoke, trying to get some information out of these two.

"You two. What do you hope to even get out of this? Attacking the temple like this. Trying to butcher and slaughter padawans and younglings...you were sneaking in practically unnoticed, yet you choose to reveal yourselves here..." He said as his eye narrowed towards Kex, pointing a saber in his direction as he held firm, "You two...how much are they paying you to murder the people here? Or perhaps your here to serve as a distraction for the rest of your group...or maybe you two just like spilling blood." He said, as he watched him getting to his feet and moving towards the wall, his eye going towards his saber before glancing towards his left side, just catching the motion for a force pull as Djura braced himself.

Djura focused on keeping himself firmly to the ground, his feet sliding a few inches as it ground against the stone floor. Djura gritted his teeth and resisted the pull, an impulse in his mind to strike back at his foe in the same way popping in his head as he reared back his arms and threw both of them forward, sending another push at Kex, this one intent on slamming his hard into the wall. He winced in pain from the cut on his right side, the stain growing a bit as he quickly resumed his position of guarding with his left hands short saber, mindful of the injury to his right side and not wanting to risk using that arm to block unless he had to.

'That attack they got on me earlier...I have to endure it for now. I cannot let these two have their way with my comrades. I won't allow it!' He thought to himself as he held his right saber down near his hip, held outwards as he focused his energies, raising his arm as he spoke, "If you think you can come here, and kill people as you wish. You're dead wrong!" he shouted while he threw out his clenched fist, as if to make another push. However, nothing happened, as Djura instead now reached out with the force to try and grasp the saber in kex's grip and pry it from him, disarming him of at least 1 weapon. 'Let's see you predict this...someone like you, doesn't deserve to use a weapon like that!' he thought darkly in his mind.

 

[Carthage]

Nirn saw the man and his pike sail in her direction, and as he went to pin her to the wall, she ducked underneath his pike, her small stature coming in use once more, and instead of trying to bring her saber to bear, in one fluid motion twisted her left wrist, extended that arm, deactivating the currently lit end and activating the second, and taking two small steps back, effectively flipping her pike to where the now dead end was facing away and giving her the ability to strike him with the newly lit second end, which she did with 3 quick jabs at his torso. One at his gut, one at the base of his ribs, and one at his sternum.

 

[Clayton]

Nirn ducked. Valek, not yet committed to any attack other than moving to pin, reacted at the amazing opportunity the Jedi had given him and lashed out with the same knee he would have used anyway, not even halting his movement. It wasn't a strike with great force or weight behind it, but rather speed and the momentum to follow-through if Nirn flinched or reared her head back, as he was executing the attack he would have done if she had been pinned, the force ebhind the blow was enough to shatter her nose at the least.

Valek then fell sideways after the strike to the face. An observer might have thought he had overextended to one side to bring the kick and drunkenly fell over, but that was just the simple beauty of his chosen style. It was intentional. When he hit the ground, his pike, now behind Nirn due to her ill-advised duck, was brought up behind her knees in a clean sweep intended to knock her off her feet and even further prevent her intended follow-up jabs. Valek rolled onto his rear-end and sprang into a crouch, ready to strike if Nirn intended on fighting still.

 

[Bardan Kex]

Bardan could scarcely believe it as he watched the Jedi resist the Force Pull meant to take his feat out from under him, usually that trick worked. As he watched the man, he noticed a slight staining of blood on the man's right side as well as how he seemed to be favoring that side of his body, not putting too much strain on it. Beneath his helmet he smiled, it would present a good opportunity. Moments before firing on the man, he saw him gesture reaching out with the force for what could only be a push from that movement. He fired his weapon, reacting to the force push as it contacted him, sending three shots rapidly towards the man as the force wave hit him, the first aimed as soon as the man gestured and the later aimed with only his HUD's reticle and his own shooter's instinct. One for the man's left knee, the other for his groin and the last for his right abdomen. Push would connect to be sure, pushing Bardan back into the wall the impact doing little however. The three rapid fire shots would prevent any sort of follow up to the push (such as an attempt to disarm him) and due to the timing of striking while the Jedi was focusing prevent him from deflecting the shots with his lightsabers and leave him little to no time to dodge.

 

[Cainhurst Crow]

Djura was in the middle of his force push, his two sabers humming as he began to thrust his arms forward into a push as he focused on hitting Kex with his attack. He;d been uncertain if his attack would hit the man, but he;d thought it was safer to engage from a distance then fight his opponent while he had a saber and blaster to attack with. Djura gathered the power of the force and focused on sending it forward, his two sabers held in front of him, with his shoto still held in a reverse grip in his left hand, and his red long lightsaber held in a normal grip in his right. As he finished, he noticed only then that his opponent didn't seem to be making a move to counter his push, and as he watched him to see what he was up to, he saw the man's blaster, seeing his finger on the trigger as Djura realized his mistake.

'He's firing at me? He's taking my attack, so he could get a shot off at me! That's why he wasn't putting up a defense!' He thought in an instant as he began to move his sabers, turning his wrists and feeling as if the whole world was in slow motion as he did so. The shot went off the moment his force push hit Kex, the man beginning to be pushed back as his blaster bolt began to fire out from his barrel. 'I've no choice. If I'm going to make it, I'll need to use my speed.'

Djura opened his eye wide as he channeled the force into his vision and his speed, his right saber moving incredibly fast as he lowered it into a position to catch the first bolt. He also focused his speed to his legs, taking a step and pivoting on his left heel as he slide his right leg around, just as the second bolt was fired and trailed after the first one. Right before his leg completed the motion, Djura's red saber connected with the first blaster bolt, Djura turning his right wrist a split moment before the impact to send the bolt back in the direction it was fired, as he continued the motion to bring his saber up, and as a third shot was fired. Djura was now standing a step away from where he had been before, his left side facing Kex as his second shot flew past him inches from where his groin was now.

The first shot he deflected, which had come narrowly close to hitting his calf had he not used his force speed to block, was flying forward at the man a second before he hit the wall, the shot heading a bit higher due to the angle of deflection and heading for Kex's right thigh, the vastus medialis to be perceive, just above the knee. That deflection had been instinctual, unlike this one, as Djura's left hand at moved into a position and his reverse grip held blade angled just right to catch the third shot, and aim it square for Kex's blaster holding hand, aimed for his wrist. The two sailing shots would each be traveling fast, nearly as fast as they had coming at Djura. His shots had been a second apart from one another, so he had a second to deal with the shot towards his thigh, and another second before having to protect his blaster wrist.

As Djura stood with his left side facing Kex, his right blade had now been brought into a medium guard stance, Djura looking at Kex as he took in a heavy breath, eye narrowing as a snarled at him, "If you think you can come here, and kill people as you wish..." he said as he flicked his wrist and brought his left shoto into a proper grip, no longer in a reverse grip as he continued with his sentence, "You're dead wrong!" he said, not wanting to expose his left side. His face hide the pain he felt on that side of his body from the manuver, but he knew he could fight through it. He'd been through worse injuries, and he wasn't about to let one nasty cut stop him from defending his home, and the lives of his fellow jedi.

With that resolved, Djura turned his body to face Kex once more, walking towards him as he kept up his guard. The man could have been hit by both. He could have dodged one and taken another. Or he could have tried to dodge them both, which would require him to use the same force speed that Djura had employed, or it would have been impossible for him to dodge his own rapid fire attack. But whatever the case, Djura was going to close the distance, even if it took him an entire solar cycle of backing up, dodging, and evasion to do it.

 

[Nirn Pirta]

Nirn decided that rather than try to perform a new move that would take more time, she would try to simply step back as the knee came towards her. Unfortunately, the movement wasn't fast enough, and the knee slammed into her face, knocking her out as her unconscious form tumbled to the side that she had been moving to.

 

[Clayton]

Valek rose to his feet as Nirn hit the floor. He looked at her, the Jedi's face was oozing blood. He glanced over at Kex and saw that the guy was doing pretty well against his opponent, so Valek ignored the pair and set to work on Nirn's now unconscious corpse. He reached into one pocket and pulled out a permanent marker. He always carried one, you never knew when you needed to write something down in a permanent fashion. "I was expecting worse," he muttered to himself. Valek had gone into the fight expecting wild force attacks. He was pleasantly surprised.

He moved over to the wall next to Nirn and scrawled on the stone "YOU ASKED WHY"

Then, kneeling down, he opened Nirn's robes. He then tucked them over certain parts to protect modesty; Valek wasn't a monster. He then set about writing all over Nirn's body.

We are afraid of you

Who burns alive next?

Gods among men, we cower at your feet

Gone too far

Bombs weren't my idea

After the Sith, who do you Crusade against next? Regular men?

Monsters

You don't know your own power

We are afraid

Diiiiiiicks

Valek paused, looked critically at Nirn, then drew on spectacles and a mustache (after wiping away blood). He also added a unibrow for good measure. He stood, and grabbed Nirn's light pike, taking care to make sure the blades were extinguished. "Doubt I'll learn to use this, but it would look cool in a stand or something." Yes, it would look neat. Some people had swords displayed on a bookshelf or something, why not a lightsaber pike? He hefted the weapon, testing the weight. It was balanced well enough, but too short for a pike in his opinion. Still, it was a damn cool weapon. "You done, man?" he asked Kex.

He glanced up at the wall. Since he had refused to carry bombs, this part of the temple might suffer less damage than the others. The wall would probably still stand in this hall. When Nirn awoke, or someone found her, they would get the message.

 

[Bardan Kex]

He watched as the first shot impacted the Jedi's knee, causing the leg to buckle and the man to begin falling forward. By some grace the second shot had missed something Bardan chalked up to being at the height of the Jedi's push and the man avoided his groin being blasted. The third shot, the third shot hit the man square in the abdomen and he watched the already wounded Jedi twist awkwardly as he fell to the ground. Bardan sat where he had fallen for a moment, reaching out in the force to the man, as he kept his pistol trained on his body. He could feel nothing from him in the force, though that didn't necessarily mean anything. "You done, man?" He heard frombehind him and glanced over his shoulder in time to see Valek holding the fallen other Jedi's weapon, shutting his own blade off and clipping it to his belt he'd clip the saber to its spot at the small of his back and walk around to inspect the Jedi Valek had fought, his heavy blaster pistol still out in case the other Jedi wasn't finished. He looked down on the Jedi, and saw her chest slowly rising under labored breath. He also took note of the writing on the wall and scribbled across the body of the woman. It was a good an answer to their repeated questioning as any, using his HUD he snapped a quick image of it for potential broadcast. Taking one of his thermal detonators in hand he'd key in a detonation sequence of sixty seconds,hoping the delay in the fight might cause some more inquisitive Jedi to come looking to help, he'd toss the detonator into the cafeteria proper. Looking to Valek he'd level his blaster at the forehead of the unconscious Jedi and pull the trigger, the bolt would punch through her head into the hard floor it rest on with a dull thwack, it would leave the majority of 'art' intact. "Yeah, I'm done. I need a drink."

Turning, Bardan and Valek would then hurry back the way they had come before the fight, eager to depart before anyone else arrived, and the detonator went off.

 

[Cainhurst Crow]

Pain.

The pain that Djura felt now was familiar, but at the same time completely alien to him. He'd been shot before. He'd lost his left hand to blaster fire. But the pain he felt now, the burning and stinging, followed by a breif numbness, as he did his best to fight off the shock and focused to keep quiet. He couldn't breath, each breath was burning pain, but even if he could he'd be working not to as he lay facing away from his attacker, doing his best to keep from being sensed. He closed his eye, feeling the man on him through the force but doing his damnedest not to move, keeping himself from being sensed as best as he could.

Now was the time to wait, so he could strike at his foe. Nirn was a jedi, he was sure she could take on these two invaders. Slowly, he began to try and move, each inching a pain as he struggled to try and straighten out. The blood from his side was starting to slowly leak onto the ground, Djura doing his best to turn to face his foes.

He heard a thunk, the jedi freezing as he turned to try and see what it was, seeing the spherical object come to a rolling stop a couple of meters away from himself, into the mess hall. His eyes went wide as he struggled to try and move, freezing immediately as pain shot through his knee. It was bending the wrong way, limply now attached to the rest of his body as he gritted his teeth.

'I need to...I need to do something...' Djura thought in his head as he worked to crawl away from the blast radius. He put one elbow in front of the other, his right leg pushing him forward as his left leg dangled behind him like a tied on weight, dragging him down as he worked to get away. A trail of blood led from his side wound with each pull of his elbow. 'It hurts...it hurts so much...but if I don't...I;m going to die here...' he thought to himself as he kept up his crawling pace.

'Please...hang in there...just a little longer!' he thought to himself, thinking of the jedi who'd come to help him out here as he continued working to get away. She had put herself out here, answering the call to defend themselves when the explosions had gone off. He needed to help her, but to do so he needed to live. 'Just hang in...a little more...'

The blaster shot stopped Djura in his tracks as he stood on his elbows, looking down with wide eyes as he had to bite his lips hard to keep from screaming, blood trickling from his lower lip as he did so. He was completely still, not being able to do anything else but that as he worked on crawling his way towards one of the walls and away from his doom. The detonator hadn't gone off yet, but Djura couldn't let himself stop there, not until he was sure it was safe.

"keep moving...keep...moving..." he said to himself in a whisper, too quiet for anyone to hear as he took in a breath and hauled himself further and further, utterly in agony to the point of his nerves screaming in his head to just give up, but pushing through it. 'I need to survive. I need to live! I need to protect the jedi...from these people...these people...they have to pay...' he thought, a feeling of anger and rage boiling up in him as he slammed a fist down, lightsaber still in his hand as he kept moving, 'I have to live...so that they can pay!'

And that was when the color in the room changed, light exploding from behind Djura as the thermal detonator finally went off. The flash lasted only a moment before the rush of air and force came through, knocking him forward a bit as Djura's mind was filled with new burning pain as he tumbled forward, landing on his side as one of his sabers tumbled out of his grasp as he lay on his back. His eye was wide, and he let out a strangled cry as he struggled to sit up, a hand going to his gut as he looked down to his legs.

There was a smoldering pile of melting metal from the tables that had been around the explosions epicenter. Fire littered the mess hall from the detonator, as various pieces of half melted debris littered around. Djura's gaze followed the flames around himself, going down in front of him, where he got sight of his two legs. There was fire, both his legs were ablaze from the calf down, where he hadn't managed to pull himself out of the blast radius in time as he desperately lashed out with his left hand to try and beat out the fire. He got halfway towards it when he stopped, his gut exploding in agony as he doubled over. He tried to kick, but his legs gave merely a weak shuffle from his right, and nothing from his left.

He couldn't roll to put out the fire. He couldn't bat the flames. And he could feel it traveling up his right leg as he was too weak to beat out the flames. There was only 1 thing to do, to keep the rest of the fire from spreading, and to stop the bleeding that was now occurring from the melting flesh. With a desperate intake of air, he activated his lightsaber in his right hand, the crimson blade shimmering to life as he jerked himself forward and reared his arm back, and with a single heavy stroke, fell back onto his back as he finally let out a single, short scream of pain.

Djura pulled himself back, dragging himself away from the burning severed limbs, his new wounds cauterized and sealed as he lay on his back, breathing heavily as he took in the smell of burning flesh and debris, smoke slowly drifting along the ceiling as he stared up at it, feeling like he was going to pass out, the agony he'd felt from his limb gone, but replaced with an empty and cold feeling. His whole body shivered as he just lay there, before he finally had a single thought in his mind, that over ride even his own pain.

Nirn. The jedi who'd come to help him. Whose name he'd not even known. And the single blaster shot that had stopped him in his tracks before.

Djura turned over onto his stomach, working to crawl over as he managed to move a bit faster, now that he'd dropped the dead weight from before. He crawled towards the entrance of the mess hall, taking him agonizingly long as he hoped beyond hope that she'd be alright. 'Please...don't let her be dead...don't let her have died because of my weakness...don't let her die here to join you, please.' he thought to the force as he finally came to the entrance, seeing the cathar laying on the ground a bit away near the wall.

His breath caught in his throat as he worked his way towards his fallen comrade. Dragging a trail of blood behind him from his bleeding side, the wound now re-opening from the freshly dried blood as he worked his way over towards her. His eye went up towards the wall as he did so, seeing the words that had been written there.

"You Asked Why"

"No...no no no no...Please no...Please...not again...this can't be happening again..." He said, his voice cracking as he finally arrived at nirn's side. He was transported in his mind back to when he was a child. A padawan on one of his earliest missions to help his master. Losing his eye, slowing the man down, and costing him his shield arm in the process. Being near useless in the battle as he'd been able to do little but stay back and nurse his wounds.

And just like that Djura was back, looking at the Cathar's body, seeing her robes having been moved, the writtings on her body that blurred together in an angry assault of words. Then towards her face, where there were some drawings on it that would have almost been funny, if not for the hole in her head as she lay down, head tilted away from him, but the puddle of blood forming beneath her telling him what he needed to know.

Djura's tears fell from his one good eye, dripping onto the ground as he shook his head, resting it in his hands as he gripped his hair in a vice grip. His breathing was ragged, his voice shaking before he finally threw up his head and screamed. He screamed and cried as he allowed himself to fall into the pain that had practically burned his nerves to cinders as he collapsed in front of her.

The trail of blood from his side wound snaked past the stumps of his legs, cut off above the knees, back into the mess hall where his burning lumps of flesh and bone smoldered with the rest of the fiery debris of the detonators explosion. It was empty, and echoed with his sobs of pain and anguish as he stayed by Nirn's side, unable to bear anymore as he poured out all of his emotions.

When he was done, he felt empty and hollow. A husk, as his dried tears mixed with the blood from his lips as he slowly began to move down the hall. He'd tied the lightsaber to his waist, and with a sash from Nirn's robes, tied an improvised rope beneath her arms, as he worked to drag himself, and nirn, out of the temple. With his left arm, he dragged himself forward, his metal hand gripping the floor hard as he did so. With his right, he gritted his teeth and jerked it forward, to drag the dead knight with him.

He would not leave her here. He would get her to the jedi, and they would give her a proper burial. He would do so, even if it cost him his life to do it. No loss of legs, or loss of blood, would stop him from giving her the last rites she deserved. And then, he would live. He would go on to survive. And he would have what he deserved as well.

"They'll pay...they'll all pay...." Djura muttered through gritted teeth as he continued his slow and dragging journey to safety, "I will never...I will never...." He said as his eye stared ahead, burning with rage and hatred as he did so, "I will never...forgive them..." He said as his voice gave out, his mind finishing his words.

'I will never...forgive myself.'

-Fin-