Ask Help I've Falleen And I Can't Get Up

[Caelian]

Caelian's attention was returned to the guards as Hailee made short work of the overseers while they were distracted. The Echani moved swiftly across the span between them, carefully deflecting blaster bolts away as they attempted to blast him. A cloud of fear enveloped them as their difficulty mounted, but enhanced by the force, Caelian was upon the first one before long, cutting him down with one diagonal strike of his blade.

The second guard, seeing both the overseers and his fellow guards falling, decided to make the correct decision to drop his gun and flee. Carefully watching to ensure that no others were approaching, it seemed the workers were likewise doing the same and clearing the cavern they were in. A calming silence overtook the cave as the stampeding feet drifted off into the distance leaving the pair alone once more.

Making his way over to her at a reasonable pace, he looked over the pair of slain joined then back up towards Hailee. "It had to be done, you know that." With the overseers dead, they would presume that they would be able to leave through the front exit and thereby free everyone who was here against their will.

The more they looked around the more they would realise that the cavern was being used to store weapons and barracks for an eventually joined army that might be used to take over the planet. Based on its size and location, it would quickly overwhelm the local security forces and would continue to be a danger until it was closed up for good.

Though they would only get a short time on the platform before being disturbed once more. From the direction that everyone had run to, came a menacing sight as the architect of the operation walked boldly into the cavern to put down the pair that dared to disturb his work.

Caelian wouldn't break his gaze on the Killik approaching them but would weigh up their options. "That's the one behind all of this, if we take it out, this whole plan is destroyed. It's underestimating us right now, but we gotta hurry before it calls reinforcements. You take left, I'll flank right"

Jumping down off the platform with his lightsaber drawn and ignited, he started to draw the beast toward the right as he approached.

@LadyRen

 

[Hailee Lightwood]

After having dealt with all those around, Hailee took a deep breath and recentered herself. It would have been easy to freak out as the circumstances were everything but perfect, but she let the Force keep calming her, just like Pêro had taught her. There might not have been much light in those caverns, but she would amplify it as good as she could.

Yes, as they were Joined it had to be done, yet she wasn't too excited about that. All of this rescue mission had been a catastrophe right now so all she really wanted was to save those hostages. "I know...I know. I still just want to get those hostages out and leave this terrible place behind". Even though she said it with a light smirk, a sigh escaped her.

Right as they wanted to continue, something terrible stepped into the light and without ever having seen one in real life, it wasn't hard to tell that this was one of those Killik. The source of the problem here. She nodded, already readying herself without letting this creature out of sight.

Right as Caelian started charging, so did she, lightsaber ignited and determined to slit this horrible creature open before it could ever harm anyone again. Despite the pain, there was determination in her eyes as she started to close in from the left right as the Killik raised its spear. They timed their attack in perfect unison, so that this thing had no choice but to parry one and leave itself exposed to the other. In this case, it was using the vibrospear to block Hailee's incoming slash as she was there a split second earlier, leaving it vulnerable to a stab from Caelian, if he reacted in time.

@Xorism

 

[Caelian]

The killik was a fearsome warrior and with their mental connections with each other, they would fight with the appearance of the force. That was of course relying on them having a partner or more to connect with, but alone the warrior would have to rely strictly on their own martial prowess.

While it would be difficult if not impossible to fight against two force users attacking in tandem, it was determined to put up a good fight regardless of the circumstances.

Caelian raced forward and around the flank timed to attack with Hailee and stab his lightsaber forward as the beast was defending with his spear against her blade. The killik leaned heavily forward into Hailee's slash to avoid Caelian's attack before attempting to grapple her with its smaller arms. It would try to grab her by the throat while pushing her blade up and above her head as it closed the distance.

Caelian was undeterred by the first miss, following up the attack with a vertical slash toward the beast's thorax to chop it in half with the lightsaber. If they could disable or kill the massive warrior, the fight would be over very quickly. Plus, he had to do something before it choked out Hailee if she wasn't able to inflict damage in kind.

"Hailee.." was all he could project in the heated battle before she could respond to the new attack.

@LadyRen

 

[Hailee Lightwood]

Hailee was obviously disgusted by the insectoid foe, especially because it was actually unpredictable for her. She had never fought or even seen such a thing before, yet she had followed the news reports and so she had to admit to herself that it unsettled her.

She tried not to let this fear or insecurity get to her and so viciously slashed at the creature, however obviously it moved to block and also managed to evade Caelian's blow with that. She let out an annoyed hiss as it pushed hard against her and thus locking her lightsaber in place.

As this all happened within seconds and because she saw Caelian launching his follow-up attack, she decided to ensure the enemy was not moving. While they had already fought one another, they were now fighting together for a shared course, fighting to free the helpless hostages that had otherwise ended up as joined as well and after everything they had shared so far, she would always remember this particular scene well too.

Without allowing the Killik to push her blade up, she leaned back and used her free hand to catch her opponent in a stasis. The effect took a few seconds to enfold, yet the movement of the bug slowed, so that it didn't reach her throat before Caelian's red blade slashed right through.

An ear-tearing screech escaped the creature while the pressure on her blade faded away. She stumbled backwards and landed on the ground just as the bisected bug toppled over as well. She was breathing heavily and it took a few moments to catch her breath and to progress that they had dealt with that terrible thing, but relief slowly spread through her.

"Thanks...you're attack came at the right time" she blinked a few times before a grateful smile followed, but she immediately pushed herself up to her feet. "The hostages...let's finally free them and get the kriff out of here". She was still a little hectic and worried, although she couldn't sense any more incoming attackers for now."Are you alright?" she worriedly asked as her emerald gaze flicked over for a moment, studying him intently.

@Xorism

 

[Caelian]

The rigors of combat brought an intensity like no other, one wrong step or swing in a poor direction could leave one quickly out of the fight, or life. Just as quickly as the killik had fought back against Hailee, it found itself unable to reach her throat as intended. Worse, it found itself confused as its limbed froze mid-action not quite understanding what Hailee was doing to it.

A guttural scream erupted from its insectoid mouth, as Caelian's lightsaber sliced through its body. The beast suddenly released its grip on everything, stumbling a step or two before falling apart on the ground. Even in death, it attempted to continue the fight though without any real power behind it before slowly slipping away to the nether.

Caelian stood silently, finally releasing a heavy breath that he had been holding. His lightsaber withdrew back to its hilt and he stared at the killik in amazement. Fighting one was not the most difficult fight that he had been in, Hailee had personal experience in that, but he could only wonder how the heck anyone could fight a horde of these creatures.

Then a worse thought crossed his mind as he played out a different scenario where it had been able to catch her off guard successfully, the images playing in his mind causing him to grit his teeth. The idea of losing Hailee here in the middle of nowhere would have been unbearable as it would have been difficult to get her the proper medical attention fast enough.

The ominous thought caught him for a few moments until Hailee snapped him out of his thinking.

"Oh..yes the hostages. Let's find them, I think it's this way." He was a little shaken by the ordeal and how it could have quickly ended differently but tried to hide that earlier ball in his throat. Together they walked back up the path until they encountered the building from earlier, minus the guards and workers that previously stood by. It was eerie but all signs pointed them forward, Caelian looked back to Hailee for a brief moment before trying the door.

The door was unlocked and slowly creaked backward upon his gentle push. The building was clearly hastily constructed and did not have any real aesthetic to it instead focusing on functionality over beauty. There were a few doors to choose from but there was no time to check every room.

Using the force, Caelian reached out seeking to see if he could find where they might be. Each room nearby was as dead as the last, without a living soul in any, presumably not yet housing the maximum number of hostages they intended to take. Until suddenly Caelian gasped, looking suddenly at Hailee and grabbing her hand if she would take his. "Quick this way, they're in danger."

Caelian raced along a narrow corridor, passing by several doors until they reached one of the last ones. Busting through with a shoulder charge, the door came crashing down to the floor. From the door, they would see a dozen hostages all tied up against the wall standing in a shallow pool. An electrical wire was being lowered forcefully and would hit the water soon if it wasn't stopped.

The kilik had obviously set this up to kill them in the event of its death and perhaps it was activated remotely, but there wasn't time to think about it. They'd have to quickly save them and then escort them top side before feeling safe.

@LadyRen

 

[Hailee Lightwood]

After this thing was slain, she couldn't help but feel disgusted by the insectoid that was mind controlling humanoids like it was nothing. How the hell had this pest managed to make its reappearance in the galaxy?! It was horrible, and she didn't even want to consider where they had manged to fester already, but this was not the time to drift off anyway.

Oh kriff no..."I can sense it, too" she said, her voice hushed and hectic, her heartbeat involuntarily beginning to speed again. This wasn't good at all and yes, they had to hurry. She could already feel how afraid they were and it began to stress her, so that she actively had to calm herself and remind herself of how she could use the Force to calm her.

She pressed on, following Caelian who also followed his senses until the unlike duo reached the room hand in hand, as she hadn't pulled her hand out of his grip. He dashed through the door and their gaze finally landed on the hostages, who, however, found themselves in a very precarious situation.

"What?! How...oh kark no, they can't be serious!" she muttered under her breath, frantically glancing around and trying to estimate how much time they had left. The water levels were at least not rising, too, but the wire that was lowered was already dangerously close, so they has to avoid splashing water while walking.

"Let's cut them loose" she quietly said to Caelian before taking a deep breath, immediately starting to carefully wade through the water. "It's okay...there no need to panic. We'll get you into safety" she gently said to them, calmness radiating off her through the Force and aiming at soothing the panicked hostages. Instead of using the red bladed lightsaber she took or her knife and started cutting through the restraints, expecting Caelian to do the same.

@Xorism

 

[Caelian]

There wasn't any time for thinking, Hailee was right - they had to act immediately or the hostages would die. At first Caelian tried to use the force to halt the cable from descending, thinking that it would buy them some time. To his disbelief, no matter how hard he strained, it didn't stop.

Following that shock, he made his way over to the opposite side of where Hailee had started and began slicing rope with his own knife as well. It didn't sit right with him that he hadn't been able to stop it with the force, but neither was there any time to figure out what was behind it. As they met in the middle, the last of the hostages were freed and now huddled safely in the middle of the room.

Caelian looked around, hoping that they had found everyone and to his surprise, it appeared to be the case. "That's everyone here, we should get them back to the surface before anyone comes back." Carefully leaving, the pair would escort the hostages back out through the long cavern and out the exit that they had arrived in. There was a strange silence all around, as it had been completely abandoned which would allow everyone to leave as they pleased.

The Echani looked around, wondering what he could even say to Hailee after all that had happened and the danger he had put her through. True she had come of her own accord, but his actions had almost seen her die right there beside him. Not to mention the earlier fight they had, which streamed so vividly through his memory.

He wanted to say something to her, but he struggled to put his feelings into words which only resulted in him standing there uncomfortably quiet. On the one hand, he felt never closer to her than when he fought her, or with her and both filled his heart with fire. But on the other hand, their lives had gotten so very dangerous as of late, and it would be impossible for both of them to keep seeing each other like this.

What to do.

@LadyRen

 

[Hailee Lightwood]

Pearls of sweat were running down her forehead - a result of the stress and the worries about this whole situation. They hadn't gotten a single, quiet minute and things hadn't gone according to plan, yet they had finally found the hostages and were on their way to free them.

It was still a race against time, but as the last rope was finally torn, she exhaled as a wave of relief washed over her, only now realizing that she had held her breath for quite some time. "Careful. Walk carefully" she gently advised them, focusing hard in order not to lose her concentration as she was still soothing them with the calm she radiated through the Force.

Apart from the hostages, there was not much life force down in those caves, but she was clinging onto that light as strongly as she could. They retraced their steps and guided the frightened hostages out. Back at the fresh air, the factory suddenly seemed empty, which confused her, but despite having a bad feeling about it, it seems like they had made it.

They exchanged some words with the hostages and Hailee informed the authorities, so that they could have been taken care off properly, but as all the work was finally done, there was an awkward silence between Caelian and her. She shifted her weight, the wind softly blowing through her hair as she forced herself to relaxe a little.

Why it was good that they had made it, she simply didn't know how to feel. They had involuntarily crossed paths again, but being together brought them nothing but struggle, so what were they supposed to do? The words they had exchanged earlier still vividly echoed through her mind, but it seemed like there was no actually beneficial solution to their problem.

"Caelian" she finally decided to break the silence after a moment. "Thank you...". It wasn't just a 'thanks for saving my life', but more...still it was hard to grasp for both of them. She had no idea what to say, but it seemed like it was time for them to part again and she doubted whether it was a good idea to well...meet again. This encounter hadn't been planned at all, yet the Force had led them here...But why? To finally say goodbye?

@Xorism