Sanctum of Darkness

[Saul Perth]

Spoiler: Mission Info

Sanctum of Darkness

[1-3 Players[+1-3 ARES]]

The ruins of the once mighty Sith fortress, the Sanctum Celestial sit on the outskirts of the capital, Xakrea. Normally we could care less about an abandoned ruin to some whackjob's ego, but this one has a few residents. Some Dark Side Cult worshiping Daiman, the Sith Lord who built it, has set up shop inside the ruins. If this group is allowed to continue existing it could grow to the point of threatening everything we're working on here. Their current numbers are likely in the teens, and there are certainly no more than thirty of them, but even that's too many. It's suspected that force-users are among the cultists, which is why members of ARES will be working with any other volunteers for this mission to evict these Dark Side Laserbrains.

OBJECTIVES:
Eliminate the Dark Side Cult in the Sanctum Celestial

Deep in the bowels of his once flooded fortress, the self proclaimed Lord Xanithal looked over his followers. Eighteen heads bowed before him, while his two Dark Hands stood silently on his sides. Everyone gathered in the dimly lit chamber was force sensitive to some degree, ranging from a lowly acolyte limited to short bursts of speed to Xanithal himself, a fallen but fully trained and powerful Sith Crusader. The kneeling acolytes all wielded personalized vibroswords, while the right of a lightsaber was reserved for Xanithal and his Hands.

Breaking the silence of the assembly, the Lord of Sanctum Celestial spoke.

"Brothers, sisters... A chilled wind blows through our halls, the whims of Chaos have seen fit to test our resolve. Ready yourselves my students, for tonight we will all be judged, blade in hand. The worthy will ascend to the heights of greatness, while the weak will fall and be forgotten."

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Hardly a mile away from Lord Xanithal, a lone VAAT dropship soared through the night sky above the city of Xakrea, the capital of Darkknell. Wind from the open viewport washed over Commander Saul Perth as he looked out at the ancient and towering fortress known as the Sanctum Celestial. Allegedly, this fortress was the home of a small Sith cult. While it wasn't believed that these cultists had any ties to the Empire, they could prove to be a major thorn in the Alliance's side and were deemed important enough to eliminate. Working with ARES, Commander Perth devised a plan to cleanse and capture the ancient fortress.

Saul would personally lead a squad of twenty five troopers, supported by an ARES team, in breaching the roof of the fortress. The inside team would secure the uppermost floor, then begin sweeping the Sanctum floor by floor, eliminating any cult presence. After a short time to avoid attracting too much attention, a second dropship would unload a second squad of troopers and agents into the fortress. All known entrenches to the fortress are kept under scope by ARES snipers, while the Heavy Frigate Kanaris and her complement of Rogue class starfighters wait in low orbit, ready to eliminate any who attempt to escape by ground or air. Once the fortress was secured, specialists would be delivered on site to return the fortress to proper working order.

Saul could feel the dropship beginning to slow, descending onto the seven sided fortress. Here we go, he thought to himself as the VAAT's blast doors slid open and a blast of night air washed over his face. As an ARES tech began hacking the controls on an access hatch, Saul spoke up.

"Remember, no prisoners. These are a bunch of sick Darkside bastards and they don't need a weapon to be dangerous. When we're inside, flashlights on at all times and watch the shadows, shoot anything that isn't us."

A hiss as the access hatch eased open punctuated his sentence, revealing an empty stairwell.

"Dupont," Saul addressed one of his veterans, "You're on point. Everyone form up, split into assigned fire teams and await orders once we're inside."

 

[Cainhurst Crow]

Jahairal sat with his eyes closed, hearing the sound of the vaat's engines as they began to approach the Sanctum Celestial. He wore his full armor along with his full armaments, his two vibroswords on either side of his waist, the blast pistol on his right legs holster for quick reach, ammo belts on his waist and across his chest with both bullets and blaster gas ready to go, and of course his trusted outland rifle, the silenced weapon packing the major punch of a semi-automatic long range weapon. It was rare to see such a weapon deployed on the front lines, but jahairal felt something special with the slugthrower, it had served him for most of his warrior life, and he trusted it to continue protecting him and slaying his enemies.

He held his rifle in his hands, resting them upon the stock and forestock as he focused on clearing his mind of distracting thoughts. He was willing to admit that he was nervous about this mission. He had never faced down enemy force users before, and knew the challenge ahead would be great. A part of him also feared what jahairal might find facing down this dark side cult, it had not been too long ago when jahairal had brushed the dark path and almost fallen to it, if not for the knights intervention. He knew his part as well, he was to help to bring up the rear of the squad sent in to clear the floors, providing long range support as well as force assistance when needed. He had worked with those of the republics rebellion before, and knew they were capable, but still felt a nervousness about who he was working with.

Their leader for this mission was a former jedi, and even with his limited knowledge, he knew enough to know about the jedi. His people even had stories about them, and how powerful they could be, though not as strong as those of the imperial knights. Still, having an experienced force user would aid the mission greatly, and jaharial would do his part to help protect him, and everyone else on this mission that he was capable of. As the ship landed, Jahairal opened his eyes and stood, tan cloak parted as he held his rifle at the ready, filing out with the rest of the squad as the hackers began to work on opening the roofs locks. Without a word, Jahairal went to his fireteam, and when the doors of the sanctum finally opened, he moved with his team into the old building, jahairal following behind as they entered the top level.

 

[biasedparagon]

Sato had never really believed in the force. Stories of people with the power to lift entire starships, choke the life out of a man and to shoot lightning out of their fingers seemed to him to be just that: stories. All the holofeeds and first-hand accounts of those had supposedly seen firsthand what the Jedi and Sith were capable always seemed too unbelievable, too fabricated. As far as he was concerned, the force was just a bunch of magic tricks used to either boost or crush morale, depending on which force alignment the propaganda was being made with. But given that Sato had never actually been more than a few hundred meters away from a Sith force user, he was starting to have his doubts now that he would be fighting in close proximity with them. Such doubts were only made worse when he noticed the expressions of a few fellow squadmates as they approached the fort ruins.

Putting these doubts aside, Sato checked his equipment while he still had the time. For this particular operation, Sato had chosen to forgo any sort of battle armor and wore only a set of black fatigues and a lightweight tactical vest, assuming that the rumors of Sith using swords instead of blasters were true. His primary weapon was an unmodified version of the Pz-95 Blaster Carbine that he had drawn from Ord Pardron's armory. Ready to be drawn at a moment notice was, a heavily customized heavy blaster pistol. For extreme close quarters combat, he also had a number of different knives attached to his vest, just in case. And finally, carried in his rucksack was a wide array of tools that ranged from small explosives to extra ammo for his blaster.

Once all his gear was squared away, Sato turned his attention back to the mission at hand as the VAAT's doors began to slide open. Stepping off the dropship with the others, Sato chose to stick close to the ARES tech working on the access hatch's controls, scanning the area for any immediate dangers to both him and the squad. Moments later, the hatch opened up and a man addressed as Dupont took point. New orders soon came to split up, and once he recognized a member of his fireteam by the two vibroswords at his side, Sato fell in and brought up the rear as they entered the fortress.

 

[Saul Perth]

Sergeant Dupont motioned another trooper down to the bottom of the stairwell, lit only by the flashlights attached to each blaster rifle. In unison they leaned around the doorframe and pierced the darkness with their mounted lights. Once both troopers signaled all clear, Saul stepped down into the darkness, unclipping a lightsaber from his hip and motioning the others to follow as he did so.

"Fireteams Gamma and Delta, clear the right. Everyone else, with me. Keep an eye out for a control or maintenance panel, we might be able to get some power to this level."

A short and uneventful walk through the blackened hall lead the remaining twenty Rebels into a larger room equipped with several large consoles.

"Looks like a comm center, sir.", reported Depont.

"It's a start. Hawke," he turned to the ARES operative that hacked open the access hatch. "See if you can find an interface here you can use, priorities are getting the lights on and the layout of the fort. Everyone else, secure the entrances until we get the lights on."

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In the bowels of his Fortress Xanithal still stood over his knelt followers, only one of his hands dare break the silence of the dank chamber.

"I can sense them, master. Let me greet them, I shall flay the flesh from their bones!"

"Patience." Replied the self-proclaimed Lord, "I have a surprise planned for our guests."

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"I'm in.", announced Hawke. "Full map should be uploading now, although I can't restore primary power, it looks like it's been pulled from the distributor manually, we'll have to get to the generators to restore it. Best I can do is a few emergency lights, but it won't be mu- hold on, primary power has been restored, I didn't- power spike! Turrets!"

"Above us!", Saul yelled in warning as multiple sections of paneling pulled back to reveal an equal number of deadly autoturrets. He hadn't expected such a small cult to be capable of restoring such old weapons, it appeared he was wrong, and this mission just became much more dangerous.

 

[Cainhurst Crow]

Jahairal did not like this place, not at all. The air was stale here, its stench was one he did not savor having to endure, nor was the great darkness around him. His sight was fine, he could see a lot in the darkened room just fine, thanks to the thermal pits his species had. Nothing he saw resembled a maintenance panel however, he thought as he traveled with fireteam Delta. He was one of the force sensitives brought along for this mission, and it would be unwise to leave a team without one. However, through the force, all jahairal could sense was something far worse then the physical darkness of this place. It was like someone had coated the place with an oily layer of darkness, it seeped and sputtered from every crack and crevice in the place, and jahairal had a feeling it was only going to get worse as they went along.

Holding his rifle in hand, he continued to scan the area, occasionally trying to reach out with the force to feel for something that might catch his attention, anything really that might cut through the thick black of the dark side this place was so strong in. Hearing the sound of shouting wasn't hard, this place was empty and vast, and the sound echoed clearly to the fireteam as they continued to clear.

"Graddakh..." Jahairal cursed in his native kaleesh as his eyes widened a bit, turning back to the fireteam as he made sure they knew what it was he wanted them to do, "We are needing to be regrouping. Be turning around, we are heading back." he said as he went on ahead, feeling the force flowing through him, making him run faster and feel less exhausted as he came to the entrance to the comm center, on the right side of its entrance way, and ready for anything.

 

[biasedparagon]

Sato felt strange as they walked through the fortress halls, but he couldn't put a finger on what exactly he was feeling. Disturbed, scared, and paranoid are just a few words he might use if anyone ever asked him. He felt like there was always someone behind him, above him, all around him, watching his every move. He would also occasionally hear whispers in the dark or nearby movement, but every time he glanced over his shoulder to check for the source, he found nothing. The creepy interior design he found common among the Imperials did nothing to help Sato feel at ease either. By the time the shooting started and Jahairal was leading the fireteam back Saul's group, Sato was glad that there was finally something for him to shoot at and was right beside the Jedi when they arrived at the scene. Unfortunately, keeping up with Jahairal was no easy task and when they did arrive at the scene, Sato was desperate for a moment just to catch his breath.

 

[Saul Perth]

((Was going to add a bit more, but I have to go and this will get us into the next round. Sorry guys, this 3 job life kinda sucks.))

A flurry of blaster bolts surrounded Saul like a swarm of angry hornets. A well timed flick of his blade managed to send one blast back at it's source, erupting one of the turrets in a shower of sparks. His main priority however was defense. Out in the open, the only cover Saul and those close to him had was what he could create with his lightsaber, quickly knocking blasts up and away rather than taking the time to completely redirect them.

A few seconds later the lights flickered out, while a small explosion sent sparks flying from all the remaining turrets. A faint whurring could be heard as the lights snapped back into full operation.

"Power surge, nobody'll be using those again any time soon.", Hawke spoke up.

"Nice work", Saul replied. "Everyone hold positions, medics tend to the wounded."

"I also engaged the emergency locks on all the power systems, I have full control. Turrets are disabled and the lights are working on all levels. Uhhh, actually, strike that, nothing's working on levels one through five, no power draws at all but air scrubbers."

"That'll be our friends. Any security cameras?"

"Nope, they've all been disabled, long time before we got here, guess they didn't like being watched. Wait, I have an idea.", Hawke's fingers blurred over his screen for a few seconds before he spoke up again. "Here we go, one maintenance droid is still operational, he's on level seven. Putting his camera on the main screen."

Countless years of dust and grime smudged the lens of the droid's camera, but what was easily recognizable as one of the fortress's halls snapped into view on the center viewscreen. The droid made it's way to the end of the all and prepared to round the corner, when a black blur dashed into view. After a quick glint of metal, all that was on the screen was static, with centered black text stating "Transmission Interupted".

 

[Cainhurst Crow]

Jahairal was surprised at the ease of which their jedi on their squad had managed to dispatch the turret, his gun having not even had the chance to fire off a shot. Jahairal soon collected himself, going to tend to his own fireteam at the moment. 'The might of a Khanastva is a truly impressive sight to behold. Imperial or not, he is a knight...' he thought to himself as he noticed one of the others from the mission, resting along nearby.

Jahairal approached her, bending down to meet her eye level, "Are you needing assistance?" he asked bluntly, wanting to make sure she was alright from the engagement they'd had. The last thing they needed was an unknown injury in the midst of an enemy attack to compromise their positions.

Jahairal heard news of a maintenance droids video feed, jahairal turning his head to watch the screen its feed was displayed on, and in time to see a black figure apparently disable the droid.

"...Graddakh..." Jahairal cursed as he patted his rifle, looking back to the member of his squad with his eyes speaking clear as day even in the darkness, that this was going to be a very long mission.

 

[Saul Perth]

Saul slowly shook his head after watching the droid dispatched so quickly, he may have underestimated how dangerous this cult was. They'd already inflicted casualties onto his team and his Rebels had only managed to secure one of the Fortress's ten levels. Still, all he could do now was stick to the plan. Regathering his composure, Saul spoke up.

"Fireteam Alpha, hold this position, reinforcements will arrive soon. Any with medical training are also to stay and manage the wounded, you too Hawke. Everyone else that's still combat worthy, with me. We're clearing level nine."

A quick headcount placed about 15 soldiers still following him as he lead his team to the fortress's main turbolifts.

"These don't look large enough for everyone.", said the Commander, "Split into two groups. We'll meet one level down."

Stepping into the elevator with half of his team, Saul thought a silent prayer to himself that everything would go over smoothly from this on out.

It didn't.

The instant Saul keyed the elevator for level nine, a mechanical thud shook the lift as the safety locks disengaged and plunged him and his team into freefall. Attempting to ignore the panic of the men around him, while simultaneously trying to overcome his own, Saul focused with all his might on the falling elevator, trying to halt it's decent with the Force. The former Jedi had no indication of how much time had passed, a fraction of a second seemed an eternity, focusing so intently. He could feel it working, the lift beginning to slow.

Then, a crash.

A crushing force flung Saul and his team around like ragdolls as the elevator slammed into the very foundation of the dark fortress. Darkness encroached over the Commander's vision as he sank into unconsciousness.

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A wide grin crept over the face of Lord Xanithal as the crash echoed through his chamber. Just as planned.

"Now is the time to strike from the shadows, take a cadre and secure the upper level. Deactivate the lights and then destroy the console. Cloak this fortress in darkness once more."

"Yes, my master." Replied one of the hands, bowing low.

"I sense some have survived their fall into the abyss, take the remaining cultists and bring them before me."

"As you command, my master." Replied the other, also bowing.

 

[Cainhurst Crow]

"Ser Perth!!!" Jahairal called out as he rushed towards the lift, looking down just in time to hear it hit the bottom. The kaleesh knight looked towards the other soliders, holding his rifle in one hand as he pointed towards the other lift, "Check the other lift. We cannot be affording to drop as well!" He ordered as he closed his eyes, hearing his heartbeat in his ears as he focused instead below the shaft, through the thick fog of the darkside permeating this place, to sensing who was alive below.

"Ser Perth is being alive. A few others are as well..." He said aloud, giving the others a status report as he sensed down the elevator shaft. "We must be getting to them soon." he said, not liking the idea of saul's group being seperated so far down from any form of back up.

And that was when the power seemed to drop, and Jahairal's eyes widened as the room was plunged into darkness. Jahairal however could see perfectly fine in the dark, his species having developed thermal pits which let him see everything around him quite clearly, if off appearing in color, "Graddakh...Everyone be staying near the walls. Guns being ready for fighting."

Jahairal reached out with the force as he tried to sense if anything was moving in the darkness, holding his slugthrower at the ready to snipe any targets who he might see, or sense.

 

[Saul Perth]

Oblivious to the chaos below, the second VAAT dropship touched down onto the roof of the fortress.

"This is squad two to Commander Perth, we've reached the drop point."

Static.

"Squad two to any friendly personnel, respond."

Static.

"The fortress walls must be blocking communication. Everyone inside, there's supposed to be a team waiting for us on the top floor. We meet up with them, and find where we stand."

Varying degrees of "Yes, sir." echoed out from the squad, none sounding overly enthusiastic. The squad entered through the open access door into the darkened interior of the fortress.

"You think they'd have the lights on by now, right?", one of the troopers asked nervously.

"Cut the chatter. Eye's downrange.", replied his Sergeant, also feeling uneasy.

Hardly a minute had passed before that same trooper spoke up again.

"Found a body he- Oh god, they're all dead!"

The rest of the squad rushed into the comms room, their combined flashlights illuminating the corpses of about 10 rebel soldiers. Most seemed to have their throat slit, a couple seem to have been shot, one had been plain hacked to pieces by what seemed to be a lightsaber.

"God damnit!", the Sergeant swore. "Corporal, get these lights on. You three, secure the bodies, we're not leaving them here. Everyone else, hold this area, use any extra illumination you have, spare lights, glow sticks, -anything-! I want five rifles pointed at each entrance, everyone else watch the perimeter. We've got sneaky bastards."

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On the opposite side of the level, the right hand of Xanithal and his cadre of nine cultists crept through the darkened hall, cloaked in both shadow and the light bending effect of their stealth field generators. He could sense that a small group of Rebels had remained on this level, and had ordered five of his cultists to encircle them to attack from both sides. After rounding the final corner, with the Rebels in sight, he began approaching for the kill.

 

[Cainhurst Crow]

Jahairal looked at the darkness, eyes narrowing as he thought he saw something, moving through the darkness. He couldn't tell, even with his infrared sense, but he could swear he saw something, almost like heat waves for a split second or two. The knight also felt something, a nervousness as his group worked on checking out the lift for safety as best they could in the dark.

He closed his eyes to try and calm down, but his sense of offness only increased. Jahairal frowned, a sinking feeling within his gut as he drifted from what his sight saw, and began to reach out, using the feeling to guide him. The felt it then, a dark and cold feeling that snaked its way around him and the others, closing in from all sides as his eyes snapped open. Suddenly he saw it, the heat like waves that he'd sworn he saw, looking around as he raised his rifle towards one of the figures, and pulled the trigger.

The slugthrowers flash lit up the area for a moment, it's whistling like shot from the suppressed barrel echoing through the level as the ball of gas propelled metal soared forward and hit its target square between the eyes. He'd hit one of the cultist, hearing the sound of a body drop as he yelled out to the others.

"Ambush!" He informed his men as he reloaded, pulling the straight bolt back as he loaded another round into the chamber, turning his gun to aim at the right hand of Xanthial and shot at him, only able to see silhouettes of their forms, but able to tell from his force sense that they were steeped in the darkside. "Into The Lift, Lay down a suppressive fire!" He ordered, figuring that they could form some kind of defensible position and force their attackers into a narrow killing field if they did so.

 

[Saul Perth]

The Right Hand of Xanithal swore as the alien rebel somehow detected his advance. One of his acolytes had been killed by the Kaleesh, while another three had been brought down by random fire from the other rebels. The Kaleesh readied his rifle at the Hand and fired, only to have the projectile vaporized by his now activated lightsaber.

"Into The Lift, Lay down a suppressive fire!"

Determined to not let his prey slip away, the Hand halted his approach and began to reach out with the Force in an attempt to shut the lift door before all the Rebels had made it through. He succeeded in trapping three of the troopers outside, who were quickly felled by advancing cultists, although they claimed an eye for an eye, taking out three acolytes before falling.

Motioning for his remaining allies to halt their attack, the Hand considered his situation. He had two acolytes left under his command, with four enemy soldiers cornered, but fortified. An idea flashed to his head as he bent to inspect the bodies of the fallen soldiers. He arose with a pair of thermal detonators, handing one to each of his cultists.

"Strike true brothers, and rejoice, for today you ascend into godliness. Destroy the invaders, and live like a king in the eternal Force."

With his cultists in position, the Hand stood back and opened the lift door.

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The sound of gunfire echoed throughout the ancient halls of the Sith fortress, alerting the members of squad two still holding the comm center. The Sergeant quickly motioned for everyone to remain quiet, before communicating with hand signals for ten of his soldiers to follow him through the darkened halls.

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At the darkest level of the fortress, Commander Saul Perth began to stir. The Force sent warnings through his mind, the sense of danger slowly urging him back to consciousness. He looked around as he slowly rose to his knees, his rebels lay scattered on the floor, either dead or knocked out by the crash. He could sense a concentration of darkness drawing closer. He couldn't flee and leave his soldiers to die, so he began to prepare for his stand.

 

[Cainhurst Crow]

Jahairal slung his rifle on his back, drawing two of his short-blade vibroswords as he activated the blades, a soft hum as they vibrated audible as he looked towards the others. "It seems we are being cornered..." Jahairal said grimly as his eyes looked between what few of them were left, hands tightening the grips of his swords as he looked back towards the doors.

Not again. He would not sit back while good men died around him, not again. "I will make an opening...one way or another. Be giving them everything. Be holding back nothing!" He said as he felt the rebels with him readying themselves, preparing for whatever came next. Some even drew the explosives from their armaments, thermal detonators as he looked towards the door. "Do not be letting a single of these Varren live unscarred from this fight."

Jahairal closed his eyes and opened his senses, feeling the cultists outside the door as he bent his knees, like a runner preparing for a sprint. Their intent for harm strong, their determination stronger. He kept his eyes closed as he remembered his training. 'Let the force guide your instincts. Let your will guide your hand. Let your hand guide your blade. And your instincts guide your will.'

The doors opened, slowly to jahairal as jahairal ran forward towards the opening doors like a blur, even as the rebels inside gave a battle-cry to begin fighting. Jahairal felt what he needed to do, acting upon his instincts, guided by the force, and threw out his hands, both still holding their blades. Jahairal let out a force push, enough to knock back the cultists near the doors as if they'd been shoved roughly, as the kaleesh ran with his blades ready. He flicked his blades as he brought out his arms to either side, Vibroblades cutting into two cultists he passed as it cut into the sides of both cultists throats, cutting halfway through their necks as he brought himself to a skidding halt.

Inside, the rebels opened fire at the culists, the two in front of the doors begin blasted apart as one of the rebels threw his thermal detonator out as hard as they could. The small orb flew forward, pass jahairals head and continued to fly into the darkened room, jahairal looking around towards the silhouetted figures of the dark cult.

 

[Saul Perth]

Chaos erupted throughout the hall as explosions ripped through the air in all directions. As the dust settled, two combatants remained standing.

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The Right Hand of Xanithal regained his composure, temporarily losing his focus due to the sheer volume of several grenades detonating in his vicinity. He spoke to the one left standing before him, despite the ringing in his ears nearly blocking out the sound of his own voice.

"Death or glory, an honorable approach, however futile. If you'd like to reserve any last words, now is the time. I may show enough kindness to mark them upon these stone walls in your blood!"

The Hand punctuated his statement by telekineticly hurling one of the fallen blades of the cultists at Jahairal from behind, then igniting his crimson blade and attacking head on with a right handed lunge.

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In the depths of the Fortress, the Left hand of Xanithal lead his allotment of cultists to round up any survivors of the lift trap. Had he been more focused on the task at hand, as opposed to stewing in his frustration at being assigned the simplest and less honorable task, he may have noticed the sense that something wasn't quite right. As it was however, his first warning that his task was not going to be quite as simple as he once thought was the twin explosions of a pair of remote detonators tore through his cultists, followed by bursts of blaster fire as the dust shorted out his team's stealth field generators. Without lightsabers and the training to protect himself, the majority of the cultists lay dead or dying as the dust cleared.

With it's power cell expended, a compact blaster rifle fell to the floor near the feet of Commander Saul Perth, a pair brilliant blades of blue energy taking it's place. Saul counted four enemies left standing, not quite what he was hoping for, but better than he started with.

"Well.", said the Commander, breathing heavily. "Come on then."

 

[Cainhurst Crow]

Jahairal felt a strong sensation climb up his spine as his force enhanced senses kicked into effect, leaping to the side as the vibrosword missed him by a few inches. Without the force to enhance his speed for that burst, he would have most likely died then and there. "I will not be dying to someone like you. Not so easily..." he snarled as he wondered what this darksider would do next. His nightvision however, allowed him to see exactly what he'd do next easily, the crimson blade of pure heated plasma heading for him as he ducked his head. Jahairal slashed one of his short vibroblades up towards the lightsaber as he tried to weave away from the blade, and found himself cleared of the blade quite easily, looking towards his sword that was suppose to meet his opponents blade.

Where there had been a complete blade before, there was now a hilt, leading up a few inches to a severed vibroblade, its send still burning white hot as the blade to his sword finally hit the ground with a clatter, having been flung upwards rather than doing anything to slow down or interfere with the saber. His golden eyes were wide as he threw aside the modified lig sword, tossing the one remaining blade into his dominent hand as he held it at the ready, even if it wouldn't do much, and brought a hand behind his back in what appeared to be a dualist like stance, when he was actually holding the blaster pistol he kept holstered on the back of his waist, keeping his golden eyes locked to the right hands saber.

 

[Saul Perth]

"I will not be dying to someone like you. Not so easily..."

A smile crept over the face of the Right Hand as he watched his lightsaber melt through the blade of his opponent like butter.

"To the contrary my friend. I believe this is going to be even easier than I initially thought.", his words practically dripping arrogance.

Assured of his victory, the Hand watched as the Kaleesh transferred his blade and took a dueling stance.

"Oh, my my, what have we here? Want to try it again, do we? No, that would hardly be any fun at all."

With a sweep of his left hand, the darksider conjured a wave of the Force, attempting to throw Jahairal into the wall to his left.

 

[Cainhurst Crow]

Jahairal concentrated on his body, his legs specifically, and focused on visualizing himself moving to the right of the strike, as he watched the hand's movement and realized what he might be up to. He leaped with an enhanced might, sending himself a dozen feet away with a single bound as he drew the DL-18 blaster pistol from its holster, aiming it for the dark sider as he opened fire, and ran forward towards the dark sider, hoping to keep him occupied with the blaster bolts as he tried to close the distance.

His weapon, and his body, would be useless against his weapon. What jahairal needed was an opening, a means by which he could get a strike on the man, and that meant keeping his attention focused on one attack, and ignoring another. It was a simple tactic, one he employed with his swords as well, though simply applied with different weapons in mind.

 

[Saul Perth]

The Hand was not that surprised to see the Kaleesh leap away from him. What he did not expect however was for his opponent to draw a pistol mid-flight. Had the two been standing closer together, the surprise draw might have been enough to land a shot against him. Given the longer distance, and that he wasn't doing anything more than observing his opponent, the Hand was able to react quick enough to deflect the first shot harmlessly away. Now that he had time to react however, the Hand began to reflect the incoming blaster shots, forcing the Kaleesh to charge through his own fire while taking a patient defensive stance, believing he had all the time he needed.

 

[Cainhurst Crow]

Jahairal scampered to a halt as he saw the shots from his blaster being deflected back at him, one bolt narrowly missing his foot and another burning a hole through his cape as he looked to the hand with wide eyes. Jahairal threw out his sword-hand, looping his hand through the hand-guard as he reached out towards one of the fallen dark siders blades, and hurled it towards the hand. The blade flew with a tumbling motion, not so much soaring as being thrown with great force, but still traveled quickly towards the Hand.