Ask Blood Omen

[Katherine Stargazer]

The open doors revealed... more tunnels. Great! Kat had certainly taken a liking to these dirty, poorly dug tunnels, and she most certainly wasn't starting to get claustrophobic. "Right!" Stetti rasped, so we set off, moving with purpose down the right tunnel.

"Cannon at the back of the pack! Celeste, I've seen what warlocks can do with those laser swords. Can you take the lead?" Kat asked while they moved. She didn't wait for confirmation; instead, she kept nudging the group forward when anyone started flagging. "Left!" Stetti barked, and the group took the left path in a four-way intersection. "A few more turns, and we should be at the top booth!" She panted.

Thankfully, the group didn't encounter any meaningful resistance. Anyone they came across that looked like a guard was shot or stabbed before Kat could even approach, which was nice! That meant Kat could rest for the moment. Her arms felt heavy, and she felt like she had gone ten rounds with herself! She didn't know how long it had been since they had been stuck in that arena, but it couldn't have been more than half an hour ago.

"Right here," Stetti growled, and the gang all got into position around the rather well-polished silver door. The average person probably couldn't hear anything through the thick door and all the rock, but Kat was far from average! Thanks to her cybernetics, she could hear muffled voices shouting inside, but she wasn't willing to focus on it lest the increase in sound overwhelm her. "They're in there," Kat said, moving to the button to open the door.

She pushed it with the outside of her clenched fist, looming in the door frame dramatically as it slid away, revealing the Golden Warlord and his local thuggery.

@LadyRen

 

[Celeste Stythani]

Celeste tried to sense what was behind that door but she could literally feel nothing. She trusted her sensing and so she breathed through, knowing that they still had to cover some ground first before jumping right into action. When Kat asked her whether she could take the lead, she nodded in response, before adding "It would be a pleasure" eagerly. She headed to the front, the glowing crimson lightsaber in her hands, letting it slide that Kat had entitled her as a 'warlock'. It did make her smirk, however.

Whenever the Rattataki woman, Stetti, called for a direction, Celeste turned accordingly, slashing down anyone who was in their way. Meanwhile Celeste was flanked by a tall, broad-shouldered man who always dealt with the guards at the back of every new cavern corridor by blasting them before anyone could even notice what was coming for them. "You have quick reflexes and an impressive aim. I assume this is not your first time shooting with a blaster" she remarked grinningly, with a hint of satisfaction in her voice. "No. I'm quite used to it. I've been a prison guard before I pissed off the superiority" he replied somewhat proud and maybe a little cocky, before adding "I'm Everett, by the way.", with a grin. "Celeste. Nice to meet you" she responded before reaching the massive, silver door.

Celeste laid a hand on it, sensing every single one inside, while Kat seemed to hear their muffled voices, too. She shot her a quick glance, using a nod to signal that she is ready before Kat was already on it. As soon as the door was open, that gold-plated bastard seemed to be already expecting them, or at least that was how Celeste interpreted his dirty grin. Without further ado, he yelled something in Rattataki, sending one of his thugs forward. Behind him, Celeste could see the silvery laser canon that was being adjusted in their direction, and without thinking twice, she shot forward, using her Force Push to send first row of thugs flying while throwing her ignated lightsaber with sharp precision into the direction of the man behind the canon. It went right throw his head, cutting it off cleanly and she knew that this was literally the starting signal for everyone to attack. Before anyone got the chance to approach her, she summoned her lightsaber back with an outstretched hand before readying herself for everything that was about to come.

@Shax

 

[Katherine Stargazer]

Kat saw the cannon, felt her eyes go wide, and then dodged back out of the door, only for Celeste to go screaming in. She ducked behind the tunnel wall and held her arms up, covering her head and squeezing her eyes shut. She had expected blaster fire to come ripping through the wall, but the only sounds were shouting, a spinning laser sword, and a slumping body.

One eye peeked open, and she relaxed, seeing that none of the group was char on the wall. She grinned, feeling a little foolish, absently noting that the rest of the fighters had taken their cues from her and dove for cover. Battle cries rang out from the room, and the fight was joined.

Kat sprinted in, clotheslining an armored man onto the ground. Kat scrambled to get on top of him, batting away his arms as she gripped his helmeted head and started wrenching it back and forth, finally breaking his neck after a few attempts. She got up just in time to dodge a blaster bolt, which killed the still twitching man she had just fatally wounded. The rest of the slaves piled in, firing their blasters at the remaining creatures in the room.

There weren't many men in the booth, to begin with. Some cowered in the corners of the room; they were foreign dignitaries or important muckity mucks, most likely. The fighters were armed and armored, probably personal guards of the golden man, but they were quickly surrendering or dying.

Kat put her arms up and spread her legs to lower her center of gravity. "Hey!" She barked at the golden man, and he turned his attention to her. He grinned an ugly grin and drew a mean-looking serrated Vibro-knife. Why a Vibro-knife needed to be serrated, Kat didn't know. She just chalked it up to over-engineering. Regardless, she was ready to show this jerk just how upset she really was with his leadership.

@LadyRen

 

[Celeste Stythani]

And again, all that was left was sheer chaos. From all around, the former slaves piled into the room, ready to attack the bastards protecting the gold-plated jerk. It was a little hard to keep track on everything that was going on inside the little booth, as the noise of the turmoil seemed to swallow almost everything while echoing back from the walls.

Right after Celeste's urged signal to attack, her lightsaber went zooming back in her hand and she grabbed it just right in time to deflect a blaster bolt. By simply bringing the ignited crimson blade upwards, thereby slightly tilting it to the right, the bolt shot back, right at its originator, hitting him right above chest. The problem was, however, that those guys wore better armour which could easily take a bolt or two, so the deflection of the laser beam was not quite enough this time.

Celeste rushed forward, diving under a metal sword that was just being swung at her, landing right in front of the thug with the blaster. She kicked it out of his hand with her right foot, but to her surprise, this man was faster than the average guard they had encountered. He managed to snatch her whole leg, pulling it back so that she landed right on her back, a little startled that they were suddenly meeting an actual sort of resistance and challenge. However, what the man didn't calculate was the lightsaber that was still in her hands, which she now brought forward, slamming it right into his guts, melting through the armour that was supposed to protect him.

Celeste immediately sprang back to her feet, searching the room for Kat, but when her gaze landed on the gold-plated warlord just in front of her, she felt her heartbeat accelerating. She knew that Kat was quite capable herself, but as this scum back was seemingly the leader of this place, she also knew that Kat might need a certain amount support. Celeste was just stretching out her left arm, wanting to reach out for the bastard with the Force to choke him, when she felt another presence behind her. A tall Rattataki man sprang at her, completely tackling her out of the way, not only throwing her off balance, but also momentarily stripping her of the concentration she had needed to attack Kat's opponent and so Celeste had her own next battle to fight at first.

When the man landed on top of her with his full weight, she could feel a certain rush of pain flooding her ribcage area, making her curse violently. She hoped that nothing was broken by the impact, but she couldn't quite tell right now. Her lighsaber had landed right next to her head, but she couldn't grab it as the man was just pinning her arms to her ground right next to her body. She was pretty aware of the fact that she was lacking a certain amount of strength, but she also knew that through pain and anger, she could feed her strength thanks to the dark side of the Force, making it easier for her to bring her left knee right between the unarmoured part inbetween his legs. The man let out a cry, but his rage also seemed to make him more eager to kill her, but before he could try to smash her own head, his helmet was suddenly torn off and she could just see Everett pulling him down from her, hitting his head it with all his strength, completely knocking him out. "Thanks" she breathed with relief, rolling over on her stomach, grabbing her lightsaber with her one hand while directing the other just towards the warlord that Kat was currently dealing with, grabbing his throat with an indivisible hand, hoping that it would be enough distraction to let Kat handle the rest by herself.

@Shax

 

[Katherine Stargazer]

Kat wasn't eager to rush right into the knife of her enemy, but at the same time, she really wanted to break his teeth. She displayed uncharacteristic patience, merely getting into her stance and holding her arms up, ready and waiting. Thankfully she didn't have to wait long, as the other man's savagery eventually won through his wariness.

The Rattataki was big and broad, and with the knife, he just edged out Kat's reach advantage. He thought to bowl her over, rushing forward to grapple her, where he would then have the leverage to stab her as much as he liked. Kat, not enjoying being stabbed, nimbly danced out of the way, planting a heavy punch in the man's armored back, striking at where she assumed his kidneys would be. Kat grunted because punching armor sucked; the man yowled because Kat was very, very strong despite being punched on armor.

He spun around in a wide slash at Kat's eyes, which she thankfully saw coming. She ducked down and dodged to the left, striking the man twice in the stomach, aimed for softer parts of his armored form. "I'm going to break you!" Kat growled, "I will kill you so thoroughly; no one will remember your name!" Kat didn't consider herself cruel, but she didn't want him to start fighting like a man with a knife should.

He wordlessly roared his rage, thrusting forward with the speed of a snake, aiming to stab her in the heart. Kat didn't have time to dodge out of the way and only narrowly caught the man's wrist before the knife sank into her chest. She never lacked strength; she had never felt her muscles inadequate for a task in all her life. And yet, this wasn't a question of muscle power, the leverage the man had given him the more significant advantage, and the thrumming knife-point was edging ever closer to her fleshy body.

She growled absently, focusing entirely on making sure she didn't die. Finally, the man's eyes widened in surprise just before catastrophe, and his mouth opened in a breathless gasp. The momentary distraction was all Kat needed to grab the initiative. She pulled her body to the left, readjusting her grip on the man's arm, pulling him instead of pushing against him. She fell to the floor, safely controlling the man's knife arm, and pulled him with her, putting one boot on his chest and wrenching with all her might. The man's arm dislocated at the shoulder with a sickening pop, and Kat's momentum threw the man to the floor in a crashing heap.

She quickly wrenched the knife from the man's hands, breaking two fingers to get his fist to open, and then crawled on top of him, straddling his chest. He glared up at her balefully and thrashed to get away, but she kept him pinned. She thrust the knife into his chest and stirred as best she could, ignoring his gurgling death rattles.

She heaved breaths and looked around. The fighting was all but done, and the former slaves, principally the Rattataki, were watching her proudly. She was confused but just rolled with it like any good slave. She took the knife and cut off the golden man's head before grasping his bald scalp, holding his severed head up like a trophy, and roaring her triumph.

@LadyRen

/End Thread.