Battle for Alsakan [Boarding Action #1]

[Kiro]

There was no word for 'Hero' in Mando'a. As the Alliance soldier with the missile launcher opened fire, one of the two shield-bearing warriors selflessly bounded forward to intercept the speeding missile by supercharging the servo-motors powering the massive suit's legs. The missile erupted against the shield, denting it quite badly, and the shockwaves rippled from the massive plate and into the warrior's body. The selfless warrior had perished to save the life of his brothers and sisters, and allowing them to fight on against the aruetiise. The outsiders.

The Grenadier proved more effective, killing three warriors with a single blast, before the two remaining warriors in the massive Zakkeg suits closed ranks once more to cover their Clan-mates. Their family. The massive soldiers stood firm, allowing the grenades to burst against their beskar shields without complaint. For every single Mandalorian warrior was in constant communication with one another, thanks to the powerful, encrypted, comlinks contained inside their helmets with those distinctive T-shaped visors. And thanks to those communicators, they knew that one warrior with a Shriek Cannon was ready to open fire upon the unwitting Alliance soldier. With a squeeze of the trigger, a massive burst of sonic energy headed straight for the man, and would cause all the organs and soft tissues within the man to burst, quite violently.

---

Due to the high leap and the Force Push, Carien of Clan Bralor skidded along the hangar deck with a shower of sparks and a single grunt, but not from pain. No, it was simply due to air being knocked out of her lungs. Ever since she had been a child, her father had trained her to harness her anger, to feed it, and draw upon it. Her body was flooded with adrenaline, both from the stim-injectors in her armour, and from nearly three decades of training. Entering this enraged state was no great challenge for the War Master. It deadened her to pain. It heightened her reactions. It pushed her instincts to the fore. And it made her mind unreadable to a Jedi.

The lightsaber had no effect upon the War Master's armour. It was made from the infamous Mandalorian iron, and as such, the only result of the lightsaber's swipe was scorched paint. The female Mandalorian rolled over to her back and raised her left arm. A whip of fibercord launched from the Mandalorian's rune-encrusted gauntlet to snare around the Jedi's wrists and forearms. Dropping the heavy beskad, Carien grasps the thick cord with both hands, and yanks as hard as she can. Regardless of wether the Jedi topples over, the Bralor would jump up to a stand, and attempt to deliver a powerful round-house kick. If he stood, to his chest. If he had fallen, to his head.

 

[Butler]

The missile wielding soldier gave pause to the one Mandalorian's audacious courage as he sacrificed himself and his shield against the fiery blast of the missile. Yet in his eye-widened moment of disbelief, he had not finished the long process of reloading before seeing a charging Mandalorian warrior. The warrior roared as he barreled towards the soldier, the soldier just managing to reload in time; to die. The Mandalorian's shotgun blasted through the soldier's armor as his arms were sent back, releasing the projectile in his demise that arced down into one of the few remaining fighters with a crash; spewing flame coated metal that spread through the hangar.

The Grenadier stood up. Screaming desperation through his helmet as his projectiles now glance off of hardily enclosed shields. Taking steady steps towards the phalanx, stuck in his aim for results, he walked out into his death. Then the projectiles stopped with an audible click; click, click. He was empty.

"Ah! -eck..." The man's scream was cut from the sounds of the living as the stream of sonic energy passed through him, stealing his soul and violating his organs with an instant and ever so soft pop-splatter into the walls of his armor. On the outside, the soldier's faceplate would discolor from the splatter as he simply went limp from a twitch and dropped to his knees and finally dropped completely flat. Residual effects were felt in a screaming soldier just near the downed soldier as his insides strained from radial effects. And he was quickly dealt with by repeater fire.

The soldiers were leaderless, a sign showing in their scattered attempts more and more. While at first groups had shown teamwork and coordinated resistance, now there were only individuals fighting for their lives. While there were still enough to impede the Mandalorian's advance through the hangar, they were bound to loose. It was only a matter of time.

One soldier got close enough to a Mandalorian to engage in a brawl of rifle butts and elbows. While another jumped up onto the side of a charging Mandalorian and jammed his rifle into the invader's neck with several point blank shots. One had managed to beat a shotgun from the Mandalorian's grasp and started using it against the Mandalorians in the mixed chaos of soldier and warrior. Another had climbed up onto a fighter jet and jumped down onto a Mandalorian and started beating him with his rifle and stuffing his face into the flames of melting armor from an earlier effect. Yet another soldier's arm peeked out from behind cover and rolled a concussion grenade along the floor to where some Mandalorians were crossing, erupting beneath their feet. Others still kept up the fire onto the shields, keeping them on guard and stationary while they dealt with what they could outside of the infiltrator pack.

The only remaining 'team' of Alliance soldiers held in front and behind the exit, where they formed lines along the internal halls. They had created a barricade of loading equipment, storage units, and the natural indentation of the hangar's architecture. It was there that another heavy trooper carrying a projectile launcher was ordered to save ammunition; 'ordered' by one of his own rank, yet understood as wise after seeing the one Mandalorian shield his group from the last rocket.

---

Lucifer's right forearm was snatched up by the whip, his body having turned so with the previous slash that his free hand was to the side, and he was tugged forward - ducking as he was thrown flat to his belly, the kick sailing just over his head and brushing through the tails of his feathered hair before he plopped to the ground.

As if his weight were the cause, the nearby ship exploded from the arcing missile of the killed Alliance soldier's projectile just as Lucifer hit the floor; one piece of the ship flying over them both, while another piece of the ship's wing crashed close by.

But Carien had kicked over her own whip as well as Lucifer. And as her kicking leg likely came back to ground, due to gravity's pull, Lucifer rolled further behind the Mandalorian; subsequently cutting the whip with the lightsaber in that hand, while raising his left hand to catch the possibility of the other foot kicking back. In that instant, he caught a glimpse of a couple possibilities. He had no time yet to act. But he'd kip up onto his feet and turn to face the Mandalorian as quick as he could.

If the whip could not be cut by a lightsaber, as Lucifer would instantly discover, then he would twist over and pull up on the whip - pulling the whip up between the Mandalorian's legs in order for him to get up.

 

[Gavin]

Birala barreled out of the way, and refaced the Jedi. She snarled at him, as he had burned the tip of her tail. Roaring at her new foe, she leapt toward hi, again, forward claws dripping with the neuro-toxin that would surely knock the Jedi out of the fight for her master to take care of. Her master had always been one to enjoy watching the life leave the Jedi. It was... rejuvenating for him. After all, that's how he had been raised and what he was trained for. He believed his sole reason for living was to see the indefinite end of the Jedi.

Oyariyu watched his Vorn Cat attack the Jedi from cover. He was too far away to cover fire for fear of hitting Birala. Instead, he took care of surrounding soldiers that could possibly take out Birala. The Alliance had been losing ground and the Mandalorians had begun to advance again, this time a group of heavy troops armed with blaster launchers disarm the shield emitters.

(Sorry, I have had little time of my own lately.)

 

[Kiro]

The Mandalorians were trained from birth to fight. To kill. To wage war. And the weapon of every Mandalorian warrior was equipped with an MV-1 vibroblade bayonet. Many were trained in at least the basics of various martial arts, and even those whom hadn't had at the very least ten years worth of basic brawling and close quarters combat. The Alliance soldiers however, were lucky if they had more than a few years of combat experience, and likely just an aditional year's worth of training. In adition, the Mandalorians' Outcry-class automatic scatterguns were far better suited for close quarter combat than the standard blaster rifles of the Alliance soldiers. To say the Mandalorians had an advantage was an understatement.

And then there were the Zakkeg warriors. Even when they had their massive shields up, they were still able to fire their massive heavy ripper guns, returning fire upon the grenadiers, and shredding them apart with the heavy calibre energy-coated slugs. With the threat of explosives having been removed, the remaining warriors charged forth to join the fray. And their task as guardians done, the giant warriors attached their shields to their backs with magnetic clamps, and with their Big Ripper repeaters in one hand, they drew a pair of quite hefty Hell Swords, which roared to life as they were activated, and the flames began to lick along the rapidly spinning teeth. Then, the giant, heavy, warriors charged in to join their brothers and sisters.

The strongest point of the Alliance's line was behind the well-defended barricades. There, the Alliance were capable of holding the Mandalorians at bay with their blasters and grenades. Even the impressive armour of the Mandalorians couldn't stand up to that much sustained firepower. And after having been repulsed twice, they instead hunkered down behind whatever cover they could find, until some sort of sollution could be managed.

---

A lightsaber was indeed quite capable of cutting the fibercord which connected the leader of the Bralor raiding party to her Jedi opponent. As the kick went a bit high and the Padawan darted behind her, Carien simply followed through with the rotationary motion, and ending up facing her opponent once more. Her jet black, reflective, T-shaped visor staring into the eyes of the young man. She raises right hand, much like she had done when firing the fibercord whip. But no whip was launched from the right gauntlet. Instead, a single thin beam of photonic laser energy was fired straight at the young Jedi.

Immediately after the laser burst was released, her hand dropped down to her waist, where her weapons were, sans the beskad, which was still on the hangar deck. And the weapon she produced was... a metal flute. She twirls the weapon between her fingers a few times, clearly used to it's weight and heft, before gripping it firmly with the mouth-piece pointing down and darting forth. She swings the weapon in a short diagonally upward arc, hoping to ram it between Lucifer's lower ribs.

 

[Butler]

The Alliance soldiers scattered throughout the hangar became little more than dangling meat in an obstacle course to be cleaved from their strings of life and cut down one by one. But their cutting would take enough time to slow the Mandalorian's advance and leave the two, War Master and Padawan, to continue in their solitude for a bit longer; while the barricaded force of Alliance soldiers held the exit and formulated a plan, allowing the Mandalorians to settle in just as they had and awaited the proper opening behind the wall of covering fire that threaten the Mandalorians with just enough to keep them from flat out charging before the heavy weapons could be utilized. The occasional projectile was once again put back into play, precisely aimed so as to keep the Mandalorians from becoming too bold. And if the Mandalorians managed to charge the barricade, the soldiers in the hall were already prepared to stall their advance once again by blasting the door controls; and while only a temporary solution, it would give them yet more time to regroup and might slow the Mandalorian's momentum. The tides of battle were important, and every second counted.

The Force shot up inside Lucifer as he served its warning purpose just before the beam was shot and twisted his body away with a lean, stepping back as the photon laser slit a thin wound through the surface of his left shoulder. Lucifer called out the pain with a short yelp, slapping his fist that wield the lightsaber onto that shoulder. It was not debilitating, but it hurt like the dark side itself. He'd have to be quicker than that if he wanted to survive this encounter.

Lucifer watched her twirl the flute with a maddening concern, wondering what she could possibly hope to accomplish with that little rod. But her charge demanded seriousness.

Lucifer crossed his lightsaber down, deflecting her right-handed flute's thrust past his right as his left shoulder connected with her right and he spun around her. He bit down the pain with the pressure of his wounded shoulder against hers, and slashed the blue blade just through the back of her knee with a drop of his turn. He was hopelessly fighting for his life, the light dimming all around him. He had not taken command as a Jedi should. The troops were helpless in the hangar and Lucifer was not their light. He gasped for relief of this pain with every breath. Was he even a Jedi at all?

 

[Maxx]

The GA forces were being cut down. The Mandalorians were just to well equipped and strong willed. One of the GA soldiers held a thermal detonator in his hand. The soldier activated it and sent it flying at the Mandalorian that was known as Oyariyu. Another soldier had gotten close to one of the Mandalorians and was using a vibroblade to try to find a chink in his opponent's armor and use it against him.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

As the feline predator jumped at Ben, he sidestepped out of the way. He brought his lightsaber down, attempting to clip its claws. If he swung too early nothing would happen. If he swung to late, well he wouldn't have to worry about the animal any longer.

 

[Gavin]

Completely focused on taking down the enemies before him, Oyariyu did not notice the detonator landing next to him at first but he managed to dodge the blast by flipping over his cover. Coming up and spinning back towards the enemy, he fired his rifle's last few rounds before switching to his Scattergun with an affixed vibro-knife bayonet and charged an enemy who attempted to kill a fellow Mandalorian. Together the two rushed into a melee with a small group of soldiers.

Birala pulled back her claw just before contact was made. The Vorn Cat snarled and paced around, in a half circle around the Jedi and lunged again, aiming for the leg below the knee. The strike would not have much power behind it, but it would break the skin enough to allow the neuro-toxin into his system. Affluent determination was burning furiously in this genetically engineered animal. The training Oyariyu gave her has turned her into a ferocious fighter, and as much a warrior as any Mandalorian.

 

[Kiro]

The Mandalorians were patient. They did not make any further brash assaults at the fortified Alliance position. Indeed, some of the warriors closest to it even began to pull back, darting from cover to cover, which seemed completely at odds with their earlier bloodlust and frenzy. The reasons behind this bizzare behaviour became obvious to the remaining Alliance defenders soon enough. The Warrior with the Bright Lance cannon, whom earlier had destroyed the suicidal fighter, had finally reloaded his cumbersome weapon. The warrior, at the far end of the hangar simply rose up, and squeezed the trigger. Again thunder boomed inside the war-torn ship, and a spear of pure photonic energy punched clean through the barricade behind which the brave Alliance troops had taken shelter. It went through barricade, armour, flesh, and even the blast doors behind it like a hot knife through butter. This was a weapon designed to take out the heaviest of armoured vehicles.

With the last point of resistance in the hangar cleared, the Mandalorians broke into three. A small number to serve as look-outs and watch both entrances into the hangar, and the rest moved towards their leader. The War Master. But these warriors did not interfere with the duel of War Master and Padawan. Instead, they formed a circle around the two combatants, and began to pound their armours in rythmic fashion with their fists. They were edging their leader on. The Battle Circle had formed.

The flute, having been made from beskar like Carien's armour, was unharmed by coming into contact with Lucifer's blade. As the attack was shunted to one side and rendered harmless, the Head of Clan Bralor could see the Jedi moving behind her and swing at the back of her leg once more. Such were the benefits of having Mandalorian armour: three hundred and sixty degrees field of vision. And with her instincts and reactions heightened thanks to the high levels of adrenaline flowing through her system, the female Mandalorian was able to intercept the blade before it made contact. The manner in which she did so was rather unorthodox, however...

She gripped the brilliantly blue blade of burning plasma firmly with her left hand. The secret behind this incredible manouvre, was the fact that the armoured gauntlet was a unique Mandalorian known as a crushgaunt, which was made from micronized beskar. Inside her helmet, Carien Bralor smirked. The Jedi's face was a mask of disbelief and horror. The "ultimate" melee weapon was being held in the palm of his opponent. But she didn't stop to savour that look. Instead she rammed the blunt end of her metal flute into the Padawan's sternum in order to knock the wind out of his lungs, while yanking at the lightsaber with all the strenght of a Mandalorian veteran in the prime of her life, in an attempt to disarm her opponent.

The warriors gathered around the War Master and the Jedi let out a loud cry. Several voices calling out as one: "Bralor!"

 

[Butler]

Lightning had struck, as the massive beam tore through armor and hull, and thunder followed as the warriors called out the name Bralor; Lucifer falling to the ground with a pit of emptied space in his chest, unable to comprehend what had just happened. As he collapsed to his back, time drifted past him; warped to his shock and recoiling attempts at breath.

Had the only remaining organized group in the hangar just been wiped out? The Mandalorians seemed the statues of gods, their powers in their stone hard skin. They were invincible to Lucifer's eyes, the fear of a child creeping into the shadows of his mind. Had this one just gripped the beam of a lightsaber? His lightsaber. It was unfathomable. How? It wasn't possible. He'd never heard of such a thing. Disbelief consumed him in his struggle to regain a steady breath pattern. What of the remaining Alliance soldiers in the hangar? Were they still alive? Did monsters such as these take prisoners? Lucifer's mind traveled to dark places, hoping he hadn't seen the end of an entire hangar's worth of soldier's lives; lives he should have protected. It was fate that brought him here, lost and without purpose to this fight yet right here; here, where the Mandalorians happened to hit. He was supposed to have shown leadership, courage and strength. He was supposed to have banded the scattered soldiers together and been their savior, praised at the end of the day and basked in the light of glory. This darkness did not suite him. It was wrong. This was wrong. He didn't belong on the floor, he belonged in the sky. This wasn't real. He hadn't lost himself, not yet. He could do this. He could save the entire hangar of soldiers and send them back to their wives, their children, and parents. They were calling out his name, Lucifer...Lucifer. Yes, he had saved them...

Then he looked down to it, his weapon of undefeatable light...it was gone. He shook his head to clear his vision, but it was not a dream. He had been stripped of his lightsaber. He looked up to the Mandalorian, realizing now that he had been surrounded by them. They were chanting their own name, one he did not know. Guilt engulfed him like a haze, unable to yet pierce his soul through the shell of his shock. His wide eyes, looking over the armor of this warrior with a maddening loss of sensibility, held his body prisoner as he lay there. What could he possibly do to survive this? They were immortal beings that held Lucifer's fear in their hands.

The reality of it all was too much to bear. Death and defeat smiled at him now, surrounding him into darkness. He began to raise his hand, his intensions unknown. Was it to blast one last Force Push? Or perhaps it was to ask for mercy? There was no telling, for even he did not know. It simply was...

 

[Kiro]

...a hopeless gesture.

The War Master reached down and grasped the front of Lucifer's robe, pulling the young man roughly up on his feet. Two warriors stepped forth, each one grasping one of the Jedi's arms and shoulders, and keeping him upright. The Mandalorian that had defeated the Jedi took a step back, and removed the face-concealing helmet they all wore, and revealing the true identity of the Jedi's opponent. This was Carien Bralor. The former Mandalore, whom had adressed the entire galaxy across the holonet a year ago, when the Alliance Chief of State had been kidnapped. After all, how many female Mandalorians with dark eyes and brown hair sported the disfiguring facial scar left by an acklay's claw? The Bralor woman stared into the Jedi's eyes, her own as unreadable as the visor of her helmet.

"You don't have the eyes of a killer." Those were the first words the woman had spoken to her opponent since encountering him here in this hangar. Shaking her head with a sigh, she produces a medical injector, and loads a bacta cartridge. With a gesture, she commands the two warriors holding the Jedi to turn him around. Once his back faces her, Carien promptly jabs the injector into the back of the young man's neck, pumping him full of the healing liquid.

"You're an idiot, kid. You come here to face Bralor, with the hopes of defeating us?" Her words are like those spoken to a child that has misbehaved, and injured itself in the process of said misbehaviour. "My brothers and sisters! Enlighten this di'kutla jetiise just what we Bralors are." And once more, all the Bralor warriors cried out in unison.

"Demons!"

Smiling down at the boy, Carien shook her head one last time. "You see? We simple demons have come to throw the Jedi, whom believe themselves gods, down into hell. And you can't stop a demon unless you have experienced hell. So live, boy. Live, kill a being in both hot and cold blood, go through hell, and come find me again so I can kill you." With those parting words, the Mandalorian War Master, the head of Clan Bralor, replaced her helmet. She turned away from her opponent to pick up his discarded lightsaber. The two warriors which supported Lucifer now began to move, dragging him along the lenght of the hangar.

The two Mandalorians eventually paused before one of the few fighters that had been left undamaged during the skirmish. One of the two warriors clambered into the cockpit, leaving his brother to take care of the Jedi. Eventually, with the auto-pilot and all the settings good to go, the warrior half exited the cockpit, and assisted his kinsman in wrangling the Jedi into the ship. As they were closing the cockpit, the War Master approached, and tossed the Jedi's weapon into the cockpit.

"See you soon, Jetii."

 

[Maxx]

As the feline lunged at Ben he jumped out of the way. Barely avoiding the claws of the animal attacking him. He quickly deactivated his lightsaber and equipped it ot his belt. He then unslung the rifle on his back. Even though this animal was trying to kill Ben, he wouldn't kill it. He liked animals and he wouldn't kill this one. He switched his rifle to stun and fired two shots.

 

[Gavin]

One of the stun bolts grazed Birala. This virtually shut down her will to fight and returned to her master who was hunkered down behind cover as the Mandos slowly gained ground. "It's alright, my dear, we will catch our prey soon enough," he says running his hand through the fur on her head. The Mandalorians had began battering away at the Alliance ferociously.

 

[Butler]

His hand fearfully fell over hers as she gripped him and pulled him to his feet, unable to touch her lest he provoke the lion and unable to resist the urge to cower. His eyes hung low, her visor staring back at him as two Mandalorians held him like a doll. He feared that this was the end, and yet for all his expectations he could not find the strength to act on that fear. It wouldn't matter. These warriors wouldn't be letting him go. But then she took a step away, and he heard the sounds of her helmet releasing from her suit. One Mandalorian nudged him aggressively, though he was reluctant still. But, slowly, he managed to find the courage to lift those eyes. He blinked as though searching for any reason to forestall the inevitable contact they would next share, but up those eyes came. And finally, he saw her.

"No..." he whispered. A woman? Lucifer's jaw fell loose, studying her scar and all those features that couldn't possibly be the warrior he just faced. But there was something familiar about that face. He'd seen it before, somewhere. But where? He couldn't remember why he knew her face, but he knew it from something he'd seen. But he still couldn't believe it. It was impossible, wrong even. Then finally she spoke those first words to him, those words that somehow dug into him like a nightmare he once had; but it wasn't a nightmare, it was a memory. It was his first kill, his first murder.

His eyes watered as he stared back at her, on the verge of tears. He didn't have the eyes of a killer. Had he truly lost that part of himself? Her statement meant so many things to him, accomplishing degradation on so many levels he couldn't yet make sense of it beyond simply falling apart. He couldn't breath fast enough, his chest hurting and decompressing more than it let lungs fill with air. He'd killed so many to survive, put himself before others; and then had the nerve to claim he'd never kill again, as if he could make amends some how. All this time with the Jedi, what had it done for him? He remembered that question that Gabriel had inspired in him. What had the Jedi done for them? What was he accomplishing now in the name of the Jedi? Was it nothing? He felt like nothing, worse than nothing. He'd lived in nothing, and taken from others that they might have nothing so he could see nothing in the mirror the next day. And now here he hung, in the arms of these true warriors, as nothing.

She pulled out the injector and Lucifer feared the worst. She signaled them and they turned him around. His eyes squeezed tight, the droplet of salt water dripping off those crisscrossing eyelashes and down his cheek. He was a complete failure, and now he would die a nothing.

"Heh," he clenched with the prick of the needle. She called him an idiot, a kid. And then the others all called out 'demons!' What was going on? He began to think he wasn't going to die. He could feel the bacta pumping through his veins and feeding his muscles, yet his soul hurt beyond the physical. He looked up at her as she did down on him, and he just watched her shake her head and address him as this pure being. He was lost in her words, thinking so many things that no thought was complete. Had he become so pure like the Jedi that he too made no sense, that he served no purpose and had lost sight of who he was? If he was to rise above them, he couldn't allow himself to be comparable to them. No, this was wrong. Yet, for all his uncertainty, he could only stare with a blanketed fear back into her powerful eyes. 'Live, kill a being in both hot and cold blood, go through hell, and come find me again so I can kill you.' The words instantly burnt into the walls of his mind, and he felt the pain of those scars even before they had solidified with their real meaning.

Lucifer was limp with defeat, trailing his toes behind as they pulled him along, and he could no longer see the Mandalorian woman; just the hangar floor, watching these two warrior's boots step over a fallen soldier's hand or kick aside a dislodged helmet as they passed the cracks of the scarred floor. They stopped and he just stared at the ground, taken into the one warrior's arms before being heaved into the other's grip as they levied him up into the cockpit. Lucifer just realized he'd been put into a fighter, and the controls were already set. He sluggishly looked back to the two warriors, but instead saw the War Master there. He felt a sinking feeling, just before he flinched to his own lightsaber hilt falling into his lap. The cockpit slowly closed over him as he stared at her with pure disbelief. He just sat there, leaving the Alliance to fight its battle without him. All those soldiers who expected him to turn the tide when tough times befell them. All those soldiers. And then he returned his focus to the beeping and blinking lights in the cockpit, before seeing red smeared onto the other side of the cockpit glass. His heart was pounding. All those soldiers...

The ship began to ignite, the pitch of its takeoff intensifying as he just sat there with his hands dropped into his lap; his lightsaber just there in the palm of his hand. He looked back, and she was still there with her visor on; like a dream. It was a nightmare. Terror gripped him now. The ship began to hover free from the hangar floor, and the engines boosted him from the station as it passed through the gate and into space. He was allowing this, leaving the battle. He was a runner. He was a failure. Lucifer felt small, worthless and cold. And while the ship made for the planet below, blinking some light that pointed him towards the other light, he felt as though he couldn't scream. He felt unable to do anything. He was worthless. Lucifer Vapaelraizo was no Jedi. He was just a child trying to escape death, just like always. He was a runner. He was a failure. And so he would be, on the surface of the planet as he was in its orbit, the Padawan that prematurely left his post and lost an entire hangar of souls without even a sliver of dignity. This was his first battle, the thing that most defines him as a 'Jedi'. And he failed with flying colors...

 

[Maxx]

After one of the stun shots had grazed the predator, it bounded back to its master. Ben then noticed that the GA Forces were being pushed back by the Mandalorians. Ben quickly switched the rifle back to its usual setting and began firing at the Mandalorians. One shot caught one of them in the chest and he staggered back, but he quickly regained his balance and began firing again. Ben could see that the Mandalorians were going to take the bridge even if the Alliance Forces stayed to fight. "Retreat to the turbolifts, provide covering fire!" Ben shouted over the noise of the battle.

At first the Alliance troops hesitated but then must have come to the same conclusion Ben had and began to retreat. Ben himself helped provide covering fire but soon his rifle ran out of ammo. He cast the weapon aside and took his lightsaber in hand, the blade snapping to life. He began deflecting fire back at the Mandalorians as the Alliance troops began getting into the turbolifts. As he stood their protecting the troops, Ben felt that something had happened to the other Padawan that had been stationed on the ship with Ben. The padawan was no longer on the ship, but Ben could feel him heading down to the Alaskan surface. And Ben knew that the deck three hangar bay had fallen, and soon the rest of the ship would as more Mandalorains poured in.

 

[Gavin]

Oyariyu and Birala stood up out of cover, as the Alliance began retreating. The Mandalorian began approaching the body of troops, hip-firing the JKR, sending solid slugs into the fray. Birala started forward as well, checking the bodies to see if they were actually dead, killing those unfortunate enough to have lived through having such a slug rip through his body. She mercifully numbed them at the neck with her neurotoxin saliva and then snapped their neck.

 

[Maxx]

Ben was the last to get into the turbolift and the door closed immediately after him. He looked at the control panel and was happy to see that the lift was heading for the deck four hangar bay and not the one on deck three. Ben's fears had finally been realized, the Madalorians and Sith were winning this battle, and that meant that they now could invade Coruscant itself.

The lift's doors opened onto the scene of deck four. It was quiet not, a single soul in site. The people usually there were mostly likely off fighting in other areas of the ship. "Secure two of the gunships, then rig whatever you can on this deck to blow, we're gonna cause as much damage as we can! We don't want them to have this ship fully intact." The soldiers ran off to secure two of the gunships. Ben pulled a thermal detonator out of his belt and set it with a thirty second charge. He threw it in the lift and pushed a button to send the lift back up to the bridge. The doors closed and it flew upwards.

He turned his attention back to the hangar. The gunships had already been secured and soldiers we're moving around, rigging machinery and ships to blow. One soldier moved up to a Y-Wing bomber was beginning to set charges on it. Ben ran up to him. "Hold on, leave this one alone." The soldier looked at Ben and then walked away. Ben jumped into the cockpit and started it up, prepping it for flight. He shut the cockpit and opened a comm channel. "Commander, are those charges set?" "Yes sir, but we have no way of setting them off without leaving a man behind." "Leave that to me. Get those gunships down to the planet."

He watched as the gunships lifted off and then exited the hangar. Ben brought the bomber up off the deck and then directed it out of the hangar bay. He turned around and nudged himself in far enough so he could fire his proton torpedoes. "Bombs away." The torpedoes soared forward and Ben kicked the ship back around and down towards the planet. Behind him the hangar exploded in a blazing inferno. The hangar bay was no longer there and the floor between deck three and the hangar was gone. Unfortunately, it hadn't done any damage to the deck three hangar. Ben turned his attention towards Alaskan and began his descent.