Battle of Empress Teta - Rooftops

[Mars]

Empress Teta Temple Roof, 1300 Hours

The Sith have infiltrated the Deep Core.

Using information ripped from the captured Councilor's, Ebberla Daw's, mind, the Sith have managed to sneak a sizeable attack force past GA defenses and to Empress Teta. The planet is home to one of the Jedi's main training temples and many of the Jedi here are among their most talented with the Force. Ubiqtorate Spymaster Tarak leads an assault on the roof of the temple, seeking to bring the assault down upon the Jedi below.

FORCES:

Alliance: Green Ranger and Nite

Imperial: Raif and Mightypants

POSTING ORDER:
- Raif
- Mighty
- GR
- Nite

 

[Raif]

Royston Spektor stood in the noisy cargo bay of a Sith assault carrier. All around him were stormtrooper commandos, their black armor gleaming in the light as they prepared themselves for battle. Royston stood a little off and to the side of the main commando force, but not simply because he was a Sith Master and they were lowly commandos.

No, in this particular case it was because Royston was bedecked head to toe in armor exactly like theirs, except for the blood red rank stripes of a Command Master Sergeant. His helmet was sealed on his shoulders, and so the soldiers around him had no reason to think that he was anything other than what he appeared to be, and that was a highly decorated special ops soldier about to lead them into battle.

Well, that wasn't entirely true, was it? While the red stripes on his armor's shoulders made Royston the highest ranked military member in the cargo bay, the assault itself would be lead instead by the Chagrian Sith Acolyte standing nearby. Royston gave the Aco an armored thumbs up then turned to address the commandos.

"Listen up, ya sorry sacks o' shit! Buddy up an' get them Jump Vests secured, we are Oscar Mike to the drop zone!"

Royston turned away as he was assaulted by the "Ooh Rahs!" and other noises of excitement coming from the commandos. He walked over to Xelos and made sure the younger being's Jump Vest - which would allow the assault force to jump from the cargo bay and land harmlessly on the Temple's roof thanks to specially built-in repulsor pads - was secured and in place before taking care of his own. He clapped the Sith on the shoulder encouraginly.

"Remember the plan."

With those encouraging words Royston spent the last few seconds before they approached the drop zone checking his own personal gear. He had a repeating slug thrower pistol slung low on one hip, with a battle knife sheathed on his other. His lightsaber - not really his in truth, just a mass-produced red one he had grabbed while preparing for this assault - was clipped horizontally on the back of his belt, hidden from sight.

He stared fixedly at the cargo bay doors for a moment, focusing more intently than before on suppressing his Force presence. For Royston Spektor, such Force suppression was second nature, almost like breathing or controlling the shape of his skin. As a spy and agent provocateur he often found himself among Force users who would be less than pleased to detect his power, and so he had long ago learned to suppress his presence and seem like a normal, non-Force Sensitive humanoid.

He nodded in satisfaction just as an alarm klaxon began screeching, signalling it was time for the assault.

"Let's move, bitches!"

The cargo bay doors opened, and Royston clapped the first few commandos on the back as they leaped into the void, plummeting quickly down towards the Temple below. There were chaff explosions and anti-aircraft blaster fire lighting up the sky, but Royston worried little for them. If he was to be plucked from the sky by one of the temple's defenders it would happen with or without him stressing about it. Glancing quickly back over his shoulder toward Xelos, Royston stepped out into nothing.

The drop was over in a blur of motion finished by a jarring stop as he landed on the rooftop. The repulsors had kept him and the commandos from splattering on the rooftop, this was true, but their landing was none too comfortable nonetheless.

In a millisecond Royston took in his surroundings. Immediately surrounding him were the bodies of a few commandos, first to fall to the Temple Guards stationed here on the roof to meet them. All around him were a variety of Climate Control units, ventilation shafts, and cooling pipes, creating ample cover for the assaulting commandos to gain a foothold.

Immediately Royston dove behind cover, blaster bolts whizzing by overhead. As he lay prone he quickly reached up and peeled the red stripes off of his armor; they were not, of course, real Sergeant's blood stripes, instead simple imitations held on with a bit of cheap adhesive. He had learned quickly with the Mandalorians of Clan Ordo that such decoration could make him a target, and here more than anywhere he wanted to remain as low profile as possible. He hadn't become the Spymaster of the New Sith Imperium by being foolishly brave, after all.

His pistol was out of its holster but he did not waste any ammunition yet; he would trust the commandos around him to take care of the Temple Guards, while he saved himself for the real challenge to come. Every nerve ending in Royston's body was on edge, and though his Force signature was suppressed to the level of a normal human male he was still ready to react with blinding speed and reflexes to the Jedi counterattack that was doubtlessly imminent.

 

[MightyPants]

Xelos slipped his hand to the hood adjacent to his robe. Doesn't been recognized by the enemy force was one of his objectives, a secondary one though. He was among a lot of stormtroopers and commandos in the cargo bay, standing next to the door from where they were intended to jump. He didn't had more recognition or rank than a lot of them, but he was contemplated as the commander of the attack.

The background was covered by the excitement noises of the troopers, but he was quiet, quite as a statue. His instinct was being serious on every situation, calculating the variables and working on his own plans, yet his purpose now was trying to make convincing strategies to a bunch of men. It was difficult, but someone had to take the responsibility.

Xelos looked at Royston. He was the most important man in the mission, and it was crucial to it that he didn't died.

"I will see you again, either in hell or in the extraction zone"

The chagrian said in a funny tone after finally approaching to the drop zone. Differently to the others on the cargo bay, he was not checking his gear or doing stuff. He was only looking to the front, to his approaching destiny.

There were lots of possibilities and variables, but in this time he was preoccupied of anything but that. His future was winning, even if his death was required to. For something he had swear total loyalty to the Imperium.

"Time for the strike!"

And the klaxon started to imbue all the bay with his infernal sound, meanwhile the doors opened and the first commandos jumped to the void. Then, all the army jumped. Most of them could die in the fall, but Xelos trusted in their cappacities. Not for nothing they deserved to call themselves commandos of the Imperium.

Shortly after that, Xelos stepped in the void, converting fast all his surrounding into a blur of random things, to after convert the fall into a safe landing aided by the repulsors. Then, he touched the ground.

The sound of the blasters confused the acolyte until he got to cover. He only was able to look the bolts crossing the ambient fast, and unfortunately it was not time yet to act. Xelos grabbed his lightsaber, waiting for the troopers to clean his way.

 

[Green Ranger]

As the Imperial forces plummeted towards the rooftops, a hailstorm of blasterfire erupted from the ground beneath them, lighting the sky with streaks of angry red energy and cutting through the men as they fell. As more and more of the Imperial forces landed, the irregular thuds of corpses slamming into the thermacrete roof slowly dwindled, the sound replaced instead with the chaotic screams, shouts, explosions and blasterfire bursts of the makeshift battlefield that was the temple rooftop. Amidst the chaos, temple security darted from cover to cover with uncanny precision, firing quick bursts at the Imperials before taking cover behind air purifier vents and makeshift barricades of assorted refuge. Dotted amongst the men, blazoned on otherwise unremarkable, the insignia of the Red Hand burned bright.

The best of the best, and the worst at the same time, a company of the Red Hand had escorted Jedi Councillor Kara Vaalki to Empress Teta as an honour guard of sorts to oversee the inspection of the Temple. Empress Teta had been last on the Jedi Master's list following the re-opening of the temple on Coruscant, and she had barely gotten the smell of metal, oil and hyperdrive coolant out of her hair before the alarms rang. Within minutes, she had found herself atop the roof of the temple, shooting down the Imperial reinforcements as they descended on the complex. In the midst of battle she stood tall and proud, her raven hair tied into a tail and blown back by the wind, a blaster pistol in her hand. She wore a tight-fitted synthweave military tunic and pants with black leather gloves and boots, giving a stark contrast to her pale skin and luminous, icy eyes. On her belt, two lightsaber hilts were clipped on her right hip, just behind the leather holster that had held her pistol.

The Jedi Master ducked behind cover as a blaster bolt screamed overhead, cursing quietly to herself as she ejected the cell pack to replace it with a fresh one. Between the temple guard and the Red Hand, the Imperials were outnumbered...but in the rush to get to the rooftop Kara herself was already low on ammunition, and the firefight was far too intense to resort to lightsaber until the madness of the initial first rush abated. Darting up out of cover to fire off another two shots, she noted with some satisfaction that the bolts had hit the commando she was aiming for, searing through the man's armor and leaving a smouldering hole in his chest and shoulder.

 

[Orphen]

Well warned of an impending attack Vei had sat in a meditation room for some time, welling his power up as he could feel the close presence of someone he had sorely wanted to meet for some time, they talked over a telepathic link though their talk was stressed and mostly done through feeling of response. As well as the intention of questioning. Starrise was gripped in his hands closely, the powerful blade of his former master, he willed upon himself the strength of the kaminoan, he felt a warmth in the force, and he knew she was watching over him. Smiling, but worried about what was to come, when the alarms rang he had been meditating for several hours. The daisoujo of the Jedi order by far.

Walking in full battle meditation through the jedi order then breaking out into a run, Vei had no talent for long range combat, so when he came out onto the roof, his strength was organisation. He had rallied several of the defensive force that were panicked and confused to the roof, and as the Jawa appeared and darted into cover with two lightsabers harnessed to apparati on his wrists and the other in his hands, he hid behind the cover streatching out his senses, and sensing everything within them. each individual trooper, their equipment, was taken in, one of them had a lightsaber... a hidden sith? He didn't know. But he was one to watch out for.

The battle meditation began to work its magic as Vei's mastery of empathy began to wreak havok on the battlefield. The defensive forces were constantly rallying, never breaking to panic and their firm hands gave them uncanny aim against their targets. Pulling in and out of cover expertly. While in the meantime the effect was Vice versa on the side of the enemy. They were being powerfully demorallised. Prone to the unnatural panic they quickly began to make mistakes which would be considered amateur no matter how extreeme their training. Shots began to fire in bursts as the soldiers systematically eleminated precise targets while protecting their own. Vei, all the while remaining in cover and watching the obvious sith and the mysterious lightsaber'd soldier through the force as if through a spectral set of eyes. He was not about to let this attack be successful.

Not. One Bit.

 

[Raif]

As Royston remained crouched behind an A/C unit, momentarily hidden from sight, he grinned behind his black commando helmet.

Right on time.

Through the Force, the presences of the two Jedi entering the fray were like bright, shining beacons in the otherwise dark abyss of fear, anger, and pain that was the surrounding attack on the Temple. Royston could immediately tell that one of the two Jedi present was much more powerful of a Force user than he had expected to face - at the very least a Jedi Master, if not a Council member - but his thoughts turned instead turned to the other, slightly weaker presence. He could feel the tell-tale signature of Battle Meditation rolling off of this one...let's call him or her Jedi 2 for the time being...as Jedi 2 corralled the temple guards into an extraordinarily effective fighting force. The Mandalorian inside of him would have given his opponent a good amount of begrudging respect for this tactical move...but now was not the time to be a Mandalorian.

Now was the time to be a Sith, and Royston Spektor was one of the most powerful Sith in the galaxy.

If Royston's mind and ability to manipulate the Force were to be represented in some sort of physical form, it would be a being in the absolute prime of its life; blinding speed, incredible strength, and the sort of unconscious grace of movement that could only come as a results of years and years of practice.

This speed, strength, and grace leapt forward from Royston's mind in an instant, fueled by the aforementioned emotions roiling about the battlefield, not just here on the rooftop but below at the entrance to the Temple and further off in the woods surrounding them: fear, anger, anguish and pain, the succulent morsels that all Sith dream of gorging themselves on, right there at Royston's fingertips just waiting to be harnessed.

And harness he did.

In less than the blink of an eye, faster than most humanoid beings could even register a threat - let alone react to deal with it - the Sith Master Royston Spektor, known by a choice few as Darth Tarak, unleashed the furious wrath of the Dark Side on Jedi 2, the presence wielding Battle Meditation.

The term pyrokinesis means to be able to control fire with the mind, but in this instance it doesn't come close to describing what occurred. Even Combustion doesn't quite portray the sheer hellacious magnitude of the attack pointed at Jedi 2. Royston used himself as a funnel of sorts, channeling and amplifying the dark energy all around him and pouring it directly into the air molecules surrounding Jedi 2. The molecules would rub fiercely together for a moment, creating friction which would then be fed by the torrential cascade of energy flowing forward from Darth Tarak.

It was a conflagration.

The Jedi, so deeply preoccupied by maintaining its grip on Battle Meditation, would have almost no way to defend itself from the raging inferno that would blossom all around it with explosive intensity.

As quickly as he began, Royston finished. With practiced precision - though not without a bit of regret, for the dark energy was oh so wonderful - Royston smothered his presence once again in the Force, moving at the same time away from his previous position with the skill of a trained Mandalorian warrior. His extraordinarily powerful use of Combustion (or, in his mind Conflagration, which seemed a much more fitting word) would make him a giant target to the other more powerful Jedi up on the rooftop.

His best best was to try and blend back into the anonymity of his surrounding commandos, and allow the dark energy of the battlefield to replenish the energy he just expended snuffing out Jedi 2.

 

[MightyPants]

The acolyte remained covered, in one of the many obstacles of the rooftop.

Xelos was totally aware of what was happening behind the metallic cover. The increasing number of casualties was one of his matters to concern of, and it was not yet his time to act. Helped by his affinity with the Force, Xelos tried to distinguish between sensitives to the force and non sensitives combatants. However, those who constituted the greatest danger to his troops were not yet within his minimal range to sense.

He could only see the bloody slaughter that involved both sides. Xelos enjoyed, perhaps too much, seeing the others involved in conflicts, and even he enjoyed more unleashing those battles. The chagrian could not spent a day without creating some trouble among his fellows acolytes, even if he had to go through a coarseness of punishments.

Nonetheless, he had to restrain. He now felt two presences, both with a high affinity to the Force, approaching to his position. One of those had a power comparable to a normal crusader, yet the other presented a real danger to the operation. He either had the obvious fear of a confrontation with the powerful one and the curiosity of involving in a really good duel. But, despite all the indications of the power of both, he had to wait for his partner to start the real attack.

The indications were clear when they planned everything, and himself had repeated the instructions to his own during the trip on the cargo bay. The signal would be clear and would not require much attention to notice, though also put some emphasis on what the enemies were doing. If he was lucky, there were some seconds before engaging in battle, so he grabbed the saber with all his strength.

"I could not wait any longer"

And, looking at his companion, his finger slipped through the metal handle and pressed the unique button, giving life to a reddish light from the cylinder. Quickly, he stand up from the cover, looking for the stronger subject, aiding his search with the Force, until he knew the direction in which his next, hopefully, victim was covered.

Using his vast knowledge in the dark art of the Sith, Xelos launched a purplish bolt of ray to where the Jedi was in cover. Probably the beams would not do any wound on the girl or boy, but at least it would take the attention of it.

 

[Green Ranger]

It all happened in a heartbeat. Peering over from behind her cover, Kara squeezed off a trio of blaster bolts at a commando. Too slow to duck back behind cover, the man fell backwards, a stifled scream coming from within his helmet, fading out as it was swallowed by the sounds of blasterfire. As the Jedi Councillor ducked back down beneath cover, there was a sudden flash of light and a horrible sound, and Kara's temples fizzled at the sensation of the Force being manipulated so. Holstering her blaster, she drew her lightsaber as a Red Hand trooper flung a frag grenade out from behind the cover they shared.

"Red Hand, push forward," she screamed over the sounds of battle, "And flank left towards that explosion!" She narrowed her eyes at the distinctive snap-hiss sound of a lightsaber igniting nearby, the trooper next to her leaping out from cover to fire his rifle again - except instead he was caught square in the chest by a brilliant purple beam of light. Kara's temples fizzled again. "Temple guard, keep the Imps busy," she cried out again, before muttering half to herself, "This one's mine."

The Red Hand troops moved off as quickly as possible, ducking from cover to cover as they swept away towards the flank where another Jedi had been seen to go. Kara knew the Jawa from somewhere, but the small creature's name eluded her in the heat of battle. As the Red Hand troops moved, the Temple Guard flanked Kara's own position, pushing the battle forward enough to focus the Imperials' blasterfire. In the eye of the storm, a Chagrian man stood, lightsaber in hand. Kara stepped out from her cover to face him, a brilliant emerald beam igniting in her hand as she rose.

All the sounds of the battle seemed to fade away as Kara focused herself, mentally preparing for the duel. Judging by what he had done to the trooper next to him, it would be foolish not to take the man seriously. Lightsaber whirled in hand as Kara spun the blade a full 360 degrees, loosening her wrist for the inevitable clash of blades. Her lightsaber seemed to give off a higher pitched-sound then usual, a soft shriek piercing the air alongside the lower thrum of a lightsaber with every movement. Her icy eyes flashed with a strange intensity as she closed the distance between herself and her opponent, though her blade remained in a low, open stance at her side.

And then, the duel began. Kara whirled her blade backwards and over her head, twisting the hilt as her offhand moved up to grasp the hilt, reinforcing the sheer power behind the opening blow of the duel...and then the blade was gone again. With remarkable speed and ferocity, she whirled away from the feint, spinning around in the blink of an eye to strike at his left flank in a powerful horizontal strike. Each strikes was delivered with a ferocious intensity that seemed almost out of place coming from a Jedi, so much so that the Chagrian would feel the power behind every strike seemingly pounding through his very being, even when no contact was made.

 

[Orphen]

Channeling empathic focus to enhance his senses from a foreign source, vei felt a flicker of disturbance around him as one of the subjects within the range of his meditation stopped and the dark side flared from him. Vei wasnt shocked however, a master of his own emotions he reacted in a split second, the air around him shifted and he dropped his battle meditation, then FLAME!

In a blink vei took focus on the force as his trained instincts tore into a defensive curl and progressively strengthening an air tight telekinetic shield around his body instantly cutting the fierce flames around him as well as the air, his helmet had enough air in it to keep him able. Mind in one place, body in another. It was a staple of mental training, but his body did not go un damaged, seared and raw around his extremeties vei took a quick second to recover before raising his arms his sleeves rolled up, revealing two double sided shoto lightsabers extended to his elbows spinning like helicopter blades after their extension. These were veis weapons, lightsaber buzz saws.

Spinning full circle each of the twin blades flew from their holsters like disks of destruction, ripping through everything that got in their way. They traced around veis cover in a figure eight weaving around the defensive force and ploughing into the defensive troops centering on the sith acolyte at each of his sides one at knee height the other at shoulder height. Hopefully they could eliminate this threat quickly. Vei taking up the force affinity stance the force flowed through him easily. Telekinesis came second nature to him though pain was something he preferred to avoid.

The fire had taken a visual toll on his body, so vei intended to stay out of melee combat for now. Though with starfall at his side. And his twin blades like nodes of justice reaping the unjust, he was still a strong presence. But due to the speed of his reaction he lost concentration on the sith who used the fire. Not spying who he would become as he integrated into the crowd

(pm me if there are any problems, please don't ooc them)

 

[Raif]

Royston didn't even allow himself to feel disappointed over the fact that the Jawa Jedi had survived his cataclysmic combustion attack. He didn't allow himself to respect his adversary's ability to survive the attack, either.

No, the bloodlust was rising within the one known as Royston Spektor to some and Jon Viggo to others. His mind was on the battle, and any extraneous thought was purged from his mind before it could even take up space.

The Sith Master took in the current state of the battle in less than an instant as he peered over his current cover. His ersatz "apprentice" for this mission, Xelos, was in a bit of trouble, with both Jedi currently aiming their attacks at the big Chagrian. The more powerful Jedi - Royston's holographic memory and knowledge of the Jedi personnel files told him it could only be their Loremaster, Kara Vaalki, a less-than-pleasing thought which he did not allow himself to dwell upon - was moving to engage the younger Sith in lightsaber combat, while the Jawa - who other but Vei Hettoran, the only Jawa in the Jedi ranks as far as the Sith spymaster was aware (and he was aware of oh so much) - was hurt badly but not enough to prevent launching a pair of lethal-looking lightsaber buzzsaws at Xelos.

Roy knew he had to act, or the young Sith would be sliced and diced before he could take another breath.

Roy popped up from behind cover, his long time as a Sith and more recent training as a Mandalorian allowing him to accomplish multiple tasks at once. It was all about economy of action - if there was nothing else Mitya Ivanovna had taught him during his Mando training, it had been that: never waste energy being flashy, just do what needed to be done as quickly and brutally efficient as possible.

And so he resisted the urge to telekinetically reach out and pluck the Jawa's buzzsaws from the sky. While it would have been highly satisfying to crush the flying weapons in the air or even jerk them from Hettoran's control and send them flying back at him, Royston knew that it would be a wasteful use of his energy. Instead, he reached out with his mind and used the buzzsaw's own momentum against them; instead of trying to get into a mental tug-of-war with the diminutive Jedi controlling the weapons, Roy simply redirected their path somewhat. Now, instead of heading for Xelos they would veer slightly off course and aim instead toward Vaalki. Hettoran should have almost no time to bring the weapons back onto their original heading, leaving him with the choice of slicing the Jedi Master into three pieces or releasing his hold on the flying weapons.

While he was telekinetically occupied with the above action, Royston allowed muscle memory and a little bit of the Force to help him with a more direct approach to entering the fray. His pistol came up in a blur of motion and as he held it in a two-handed grip that had become second-nature over time the Sith Master unloaded his magazine at Vei Hettoran. If he could have fired at Kara Vaalki instead he would have, as she was the more lethal threat currently, but he didn't want to risk fratricide against Xelos. Roy's shots toward Vei were extremely rapid and highly accurate, and the Sith/Mando made slight adjustments to his sight picture as he fired so that his shots would be varied; some at head height, some at center mass, some aimed for the pelvic girdle. All lethal zones of fire and difficult to block against at once. Royston finally ejected his spent magazine and slipped in a new one before holstering the firearm and bringing his lightsaber to bare, up and across his torso in a medium blocking maneuver.

Finally, and most easily discernible to the casual onlooker, Royston opened himself totally to the Dark Side of the Force, channeling a small bit of the power at his disposal toward one of his favorite abilities: Alter Environment. Despite being only a little after one in the afternoon local time, the weather directly over the Jedi Temple quickly coalesced into a dark, nasty thunderhead. Deep within the newly arrived and ominous looking clouds could be seen muted flashes of lightning. The wind also quickly sprang up into a tempest, adding the finishing touches to what would quickly become an apocalyptic tropical storm if left unchecked.

Though the Jedi didn't know it, Darth Tarak - the bringer of chaos, as dubbed by the Empress Andraste - was here, and he had plenty of chaos to dish out.

 

[MightyPants]

A little smile flickered across his lips. Wasting his energy only to catch the attention of the Jedi was useless, instead he had reached one of the commandos that were with she. Xelos had nothing with those men who offered their life to defend his faction, yet his obligation was destroying all the obstacles that slowed his path of destruction, even if he needed to kill whatever crossed his way. Those were his rules of life imposed by himself.

But now, it was crucial for him to stop thinking in the others and start putting all his concentration on the incoming Jedi. For sure he or she was either a master in lightsaber combat or in the use of the Force to combat, or in the most critical scenario, a master of both. That doubt feeling was a critical disadvantage that could make the difference.

But for now, he was looking for Royston. He had few seconds before the duel beginning, and it was imperative looking to the actions of the real master mind of the plan. Maybe he wanted to engage in the duel with the woman, or either he wanted to go and battle the other Jedi. In both, his survival was obligated. But now the girl was approaching to his position, with an emerald covered lightsaber.

And the duel begun. Taking his saber with both hands and aided by telekinesis, Xelos tried to block the first attack, putting his saber horizontally over his body. He was not undamaged, but at least he was not cut in two pieces vertically. Trying to move at the same velocity of the Jedi woman, unsuccessfully, the chagrian blocked the other blow, barely with no notorious damage on his body. His extremities hurt though they did not touched the lightsaber. Looking to the corpses of some commandos, Xelos lifted them aided by the Force and threw one to the most powerful Jedi, shortly before trying to slash the zone of the right shoulder of the girl.

 

[Green Ranger]

Kara never really felt more at peace as when she was in the midst of a battle. Though her outward demeanour seemed to exude aggression from every pore, inside the Force flowed through her stronger then ever. As she turned away from the feint to land her next strike, he temples buzzed with energy again. For a moment, time stood still as the Jedi Master slid her feet apart, ducking down into a low crouch as the unfortunate body of a deceased Sith trooper was flung at her. Ducking her head down, she managed to avoid the human debris. In that same moment she reached out with the Force, snatching hold of the Jawa Jedi's buzzsaw sabers with her mind before whirling them down and in front of her in a circular motion - a brutal double threat mou kei, amplified in lethality tenfold by the unique design of the Jawa's blades.

More conservative Jedi would once frown on the move, which was specifically designed to dismember the opponent by lashing out at all body zones. Using the momentum of the final strike, Kara then flung the sabers back towards the Jawa before lunging forward from her crouched position, her blade sweeping up through the ferrocrete, sending molten globs and sparks up at the Chagrian as her blade swept up under his guard, again with such brutal force that the air itself would seem to slam into the tattooed Sith regardless of whether the blade itself struck home.

 

[Orphen]

Vei'd had a little amount of time to shake himself of the pain of the burns, he was a little mentally tired because of the pain, but his channeled focus from a meditative nearby force was helping him power through it. He'd lost control of his lightsabers for a moment as the master took them, as they returned Vei deactivated them and attached them seemlessly to their holsters in safe directions on his forearms, so if they should activate they would only cut clothing.

It wasn't long before the sith lords shots were fired, Vei luckily aware allowed himself to skink just behind his cover, the bolts simply crashing into the light barricade. His height made him barely visable to the shots in the first place, and he'd never broken cover while attacking up until this coming point.

But Vei could almost sense the dark power welling up within the soldier. Vei welled up power of his own, however his combat apt meditation. In the ball of his fist Telekinesis welled in full force capable to flip a speeder in force, but it was focused into a single punchlike wave.

With rediculous force for what he was trying to accomplish Vei Punched the air as if he were delivering a haymaker to something right in front of him, literally putting so much into the attack he physically fell over loosing his balance. His lightsaber in his other hand ready to be extended, and he was ready to react at a moments notice.

The Force blast of Telekinesis was angled in mid channel with the aim of taking the channeler off guard early. Though due to the height of the Jawa there was only one particular aimable location of the attack.

The force of the Telekinesis would be powerful enough to easily rip through any quick barrier and still have the strength to shatter the sith's pelvis and EVERYTHING ATTACHED TO THEM. If there was one thing that would break his focus, with the Jawas semi childish mind, it would be that.

They'd be calling him Darth Eunuch from this attack on.

Rolling from the Hit Vei reactivated his twin lightsaber saws ready to boomerang them at another unfortunate target, or guard his body from lightning as he rushed to support the other Jedi whom was fighting the sith, Sending her a psychic warning of the incoming potential storm

 

[Raif]

There was no time for Royston to do anything but react. As the Jawa Jedi popped up from behind cover, Royston could detect the swelling Force energy in the diminutive being's aura that would imminently be coming his way. Throwing himself to the side, Royston rolled over an exposed air duct just as the powerful Force blast impacted with an A/C unit that was just behind the space Royston had just been occupying. Impacted wasn't quite the right word, though - perhaps disintegrate would be more accurate. The A/C unit was demolished by the Force blast, and the height of the attack was not lost on the Sith Master.

As Royston finished his roll and landed back on his feet, he fired off a quick and hastily aimed bolt of Force lightning at the bothersome Jawa's general direction, at the same time yelling into his communicator for his fellow Sith to hear.

"Xelos! Take care of that blasted Jawa now, leave the woman for me!"

Royston then dove in the direction of the duel between the Jedi Master and the Sith Acolyte. He tucked his shoulder, rolled, and came up on one knee. The time it took him to complete this evasive maneuver should have given Xelos enough time to disengage from the Jedi, and so Royston worried little that his next attack would harm the Chagrian. On one knee, Royston brought his two hands together in front of him - one of them still holding his lightsaber - in what looked like an exaggerated, forceful clapping motion aimed at Kara Vaalki.

As his hands came together, the clenched fist of the one holding the saber impacting with the open palm of the other, an A/C unit and a blasted slab of duracrete on either side of Kara would rip free of their previous homes, suddenly gripped by the implacable telekinetic force of Darth Tarak. They would then come slamming together with incredible force, hopefully pinning the Jedi Loremaster in between like a Jedi sandwich.

Royston was not naive enough to believe this simple telekinetic attack would fell the Jedi Master - unless his luck was incredible, which was not something he was willing to bet his life on. So Royston immediately prepped himself for the inevitable repartee, coiled like a spring and ready to react however the situation dictated.

Above them all the weather worsened; Royston provided but the initial push, but now the storm overhead had begun feeding on itself, and as the clouds blackened and roiled to the sound of growing thunder a heavy rain began to fall, drenching all of the rooftop combatants in a matter of moments.

 

[Green Ranger]

The Chagrian had skill, Kara had to admit. As her Jawa companion's lightsabers closed in on him, he batted the twin blades away, the two blades spiralling away harmlessly before Kara picked them out of the air and flung them back at the Jawa, who caught them before continuing his own skirmish with the other Sith. The last deflection, however, caught the Chagrian off balance - or perhaps his Sith ally's command broke his concentration - and as Kara's blade circled around in her lethal, crippling attack, she knew it was all over for her adversary.

After the battle, Kara would muse endlessly on what happened then. As if some guiding hand came out of nowhere and grabbed her by the wrist, Kara found her blade angle changing by several degrees - barely noticeable, but the end result was vastly different to what she expected. Her blade swept up nder the Chagrian's defences, nicking his right thigh, wrist and left shoulder a it passed - far less critical damage then originally intended, the mou kei was designed to dismember the opponent of all limbs. Still, her opponent fell, his saber clattering to the floor lifeless as he slumped to the ground, barely conscious. In a continuation of her strike, the Jedi Councillor brought her own blade down into her off-hand, her right hand passing across the Chagrian's tormented face as she pushed the man over the edge of consciousness. Several men of the Temple Security rushed up to her, a stretcher ready to take the Sith away. Kara clipped the man's lightsaber to her belt before letting the men do their duty. The Temple didn't have adequate facilities to handle all of the wounded - no doubt he would be taken to a holding facility more suitably equipped to treat and contain him. With some satisfaction Kara watched the Chagrian's features relax as he was loaded onto the stretcher before returning her attention to the battle at hand.

She had barely risen to assess the battlefield before two chunks of debris rose up from the ground and hurtled towards her. With barely a moment to spare, the Jedi Master somersaulted herself forward, rolling back onto her feet with lightsaber in hand. She narrowed her eyes at her new combatant, her hair and clothes already drenched from the sudden downpour, steam pouring off the blade of her weapon as raindrops instantly vaporized on contact with the energy beam. Though the rain was freezing cold, her eyes were harsher still, glittering icily as she stalked forward through the dimness brought on by the storm.

 

[Orphen]

Vei stepped out behind cover now. Two thoughts crossed his mind, one was to fall back behind cover and re-assume battle meditation. But that still left the risk of the fight between them being a one on one. But it would no doubt help all the other defenders in the immediate area. The second however was to join forces with the master and fight their opponent on an unfair stage. Not giving the Sith the satisfaction of a one-on-one duel. Almost assuring his defeat at their hands. Vei was reasonably well rested, as he had not really been the focus of anyone's direct attacks, his ultrachrome helmet/ mask, stained black from flame. His chest rising and falling rapidly. He looked to the Jedi master as the spinning blades at his forearms lit up as he wrapped his own telekinesis around them, If the Sith wanted to veer them off course he would have to first contest Vei's mind and control over them to even make them budge even an inch. Not something that could be easily done in the middle of a heated fight.

The two spinning helicopterblade sabers fixed onto his arms with a single 360 degree spin of Vei's body shot out at breakneck speeds. Spinning in a wide circle around the two of them, as Vei drew Starrise. The 4' long almost solid blue blade extended as Vei was ready for whatever the Sith may pull, still mentally recognising the storm above them. There was a point that the two of them may have to shield it together at some point. Or perhaps work together to block it.

Vei's spinning blades circled them all, in a ten meter diameter. Waiting for the opportune moment to pull one of them in and strike the Sith from an unexpected angle. Vei was drawing his focus into multiple places, as if he were fighting multiple more opponents, not just two. But, as a supportive fighter, he waited for the master to enter combat with the Sith. So Vei could begin thinking about making his move.

 

[Raif]

Royston bit back a curse as Xelos was quickly and efficiently taken out of the fight and into the Jedi force's custody. The odds had shifted just like that against the a Sith Master, though he was by no means down and out just yet.

That being said, though, he was hardly the "die in a blaze of glory" type. He was Royston Spektor, Spymaster of the New Sith Imperium and the Bringer of Chaos; he did not get to his position without putting his own well-being above everything else.

Well, almost everything else. There was a certain Empress he would likely lay his life down for, but she wasn't here so he had to remove her from his mind for the time being and focus on the here and now.

Facing him was Kara Vaalki, the Loremaster of the Jedi Order and a rather accomplished wielder of the blade, if his intelligence reports were accurate - and they always were, of course. Royston was confident that if push came to shove and he had to face the woman in one on one combat, he stood a pretty good chance of beating her: his skill with the Force was second only to the Emperor and perhaps Darth Hazac, and he had been taught blade combat by both a former Jedi Master turned Mandalorian and his best friend in this miserable galaxy, Darth Vires. It would by no means be an easy fight, though.

And of course it wasn't one on one, was it. That miserable wretch, the Jawa that wouldn't die, was holding back like a coward, spinning his little toys around like oh so many flitnats and waiting for an opportunity to catch Royston off guard. The tactic was so Sith-like that Royston almost smiled, but he had no time for that now. His considerable intellect raced as he devised a way to escape; he would rescue Xelos if possible, if not today than some other, but he would not die for the Chagrian. He sent out a very quick encoded message through his helmet's comm unit as he made up his mind on what he would do.

Holding his lit saber still in front of him, and with his Force senses hyperalert for the Jawa's imminent attack with the buzzsaws, Royston was ready to either attack or be attacked and react in a split second.

Of course, this was Royston Spektor we're talking about here; when faced with two choices, he devised a third.

And so the Sith reached up and removed his helmet, letting the pouring rain pelt his face and hair. Although it wasn't his usual face and hair that he was currently wearing, nor was it one of his usual identities. No, at this particular moment he was wearing the face of an old human woman, her graying hair pulled back in a loose bun. The skin, wrinkled with age, hung loosely at her cheek and jaw, and the expression on the face of Agatha Morne was one of deep disappointment.

Kara's former master stared across at the Loremaster and shook her head slightly.

"Kara, child, just look at yourself! Is that hatred I see plastered across your features? Would you strike me down so quickly, just like that? What have you become, Kara? What have you let yourself become?"

 

[Green Ranger]

Kara paused for only the shortest moment, the initial surprise of seeing the former Archivist of the Jedi Order in front of her - or at least a very clever mockery - giving her pause momentarily. It was true that Kara had had a strong bond with the old woman before the Council separated them, and she was loathe to even strike at a likeness of the woman...but it wasn't her. Kara was a Jedi Councillor now, and cheap deceptions had been beneath her for a long time. The problem with imitations: the closer someone was to the person being imitated, the easier it was to see through the facade. Kara scowled.

'I don't know who you are,' she growled, picking up the pace of her walk before breaking into a full sprint at her opponent, 'But you are not her!'

The Force whirled around the Jedi Master as she moved into range with the Sith, her cyan blade matching her icy eyes as she suddenly leapt into the air. A second lightsaber suddenly sprung into her off-hand and ignited - the baleful red blade of the Chagrian she had defeated only minutes ago. In a whirlwind of fire and ice she struck down at the Sith with two diagonal strikes from her opponent's right shoulder to his....her...its left hip. However, the real surprise was yet to come.

As each strike swept down at the Sith, a massive amount of kinetic energy would be released in two arcs, the compressed energy shattering anything in their path - the first real display of Kara's mastery of the Force - and unlike her opponent, she had not expended any energy with unnecessary demonstrations of her power. If it came to demonstrating one's mastery of the Force, Kara already had the considerable advantage.

 

[Orphen]

Vei used the masters attack as a chance to attack himself. Using a quick force pull to bring in one of the blades across horizontally for his opponent's spine. The width and speed of the blade was enough so that the opponent would not be able to make a retreating move from the attack. Holding the telekinetic control over them so their redirection would prove exceedingly difficult. The practitioner of force affinity felt literally no drain from wielding his blades like this. This was his lightsaber art, his form, if you so would. So his power was still meditating within him. He had not been attacked enough to regain most of his strength and focus from the Darths' initial fire attack. Cowardly as it was, parallels could be drawn with this tactic now.

Though the parallels were slim. Vei attacked from a distance because he knew he would only be a liability in CQC, there was the chance he could get in the masters way. But he did not remain TOO far back, four- six meters at the most. His second blade was ready for any form of trickery his opponent tried to pull, whether it be a surprise move that caught the master off guard that Vei could use it to prevent/ intercept. Or whether The Darth made a move that Vei was assured he could counter. Keeping one blade free could mean the life of the master before him.

 

[Raif]

As the Jedi Master leaped forward to attack him, Royston acted without hesitation, all of the long months of combat training allowing him to move in an instant. The Sith Master dove forward and under the Jedi's attack, using the Force to get him quickly out of the way of the incoming attack. He tucked his shoulder and rolled, while at the same moment he felt the buzzsaw heading for where he had just been a moment before.

Even with the Dark Side broiling around them thanks to the death and destruction of the battle, thereby helping to refuel him, Royston did not want to waste any energy by wresting telekinetic control of the spinning weapon away from the Jawa. So instead, just as before, he just exerted enough control to guide the buzzsaw...

...directly into the path of Kara's powerful telekinetic wave. The Jawa should have little to no time to react and his flying weapons should quickly be reduced by 50%, pulverized by his own ally.

As Royston finished the roll and popped up onto his feet behind where Kara had just been, he continued speaking, the old woman's face registering something akin to disgust.

"You were my best pupil, yet you have debased yourself with such dark bloodlust. Look at what you are becoming..."

As Royston spoke this last sentence, his features melted and shifted, becoming a bizarre doppelgangar of the Loremaster he was facing in battle. The hair was dirty and disheveled, the skin gaunt and sallow across sharp cheekbones; the eyes burned yellow with a maniacal hatred, and the mouth was pulled back in a visceral snarl, as if anticipating the taste of blood and raw meat. The face was that of Kara Vaalki, Sith Mistress.

"Yes, look at yourself, Kara. Look at what you are letting yourself become..."

Royston added dark emphasis to his words, hoping they would take root within Kara's mind for but a moment.

The truth was, though he was using this as a chance to distract his opponent and escape, Royston actually saw a lot in Kara Vaalki that most Sith would envy. She showed little of the hesitation and emotional baggage that crippled most Jedi, and in fact seemed to revel in the bloody sport of deadly combat. If Royston hadn't just lost his only real ally in this fight he may have seriously considered trying to turn the Jedi loremaster.

As it was, though, his mission - which had never been outright destruction of the enemies he would face on the rooftop, instead aiming for mere distraction from the main entranceway assault - was now about one thing, and one thing only: his survival.