Survival is Victory

Powerfullhorus

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The cloaked girl jumped from one rocky tile to another with unnatural speed, her path illuminated by nothing but the blue glow of her lightsaber. Neri Dahle took another quick glance behind her, but it was just as she expected. She saw no one. Heard no one. Their attackers had waited for nightfall, before they made their move. With marksmanship, numbers and extreme skill had their unknown attackers forced them deep into the ruins of the labyrinth-like temple they had wanted to explore.

Panting, Neri took another glance behind her. She was sweating and had trouble to stay focused. If it hadn't been for the sudden alarm sounded by her white-haired companion, all of them would've been dead by now. In fact, most of them were. Their team consisted out of archaeologists, some mercenaries and the two Jedi who were invited to oversee this whole operation. The entire expedition consisted out of at least three dozen men, but only four of them were still alive.

The Force suddenly screamed out as danger approached the young, white-haired Jedi. The sound of blasterfire echoed through the canyon soon after, which was all the indication Neri needed. The girl spun, as she raised the curved hilt of her blue lightsaber just in time to deflect an otherwise fatal blaster bolt.

"They have snipers!" she cried out to her remaining three companions, as she briefly noticed a silhouette closing in on her position. For a moment, she was tempted to try and hold their assailants here. She was the last one in their line, if she just sacrificed herself here, perhaps the others could get away... No. Her sacrifice would solve nothing. She wasn't a fighter, she wouldn't be able to buy them enough time. Maybe a few seconds, but that would be it.

Hesitating for a second, Neri's eyes widened as the sound of flying metal sung through the air. Stumbling to the side, she barely evaded a small throwing knife that would've cut clean through her carotid artery. Yeah, that was all the motivation she needed. Regaining her footing, Neri rapidly turned and dashed over the half-crumbled path to catch up with her allies. They stood no chance against their opponents here, out in the open. They had to get deep inside the ruins, before their attackers got to them.


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This whole mission had more holes than a Rodian at a spice deal. Alana knew it was too good to be true, just a free rifle to stand there and look pretty, that's what she was supposed to do. She was still looking pretty, but there'd been no standing around as of late, in fact they were hauling like mad. It had been by pure luck Alana had spotted their attackers, her cravings just got the best of her, but it was fortunate that it had; else they'd be like everyone else in this doomed expedition of theirs. Fumbling around in the dark without the damndest clue of where to go wasn't her idea of a good time; well- never mind you know what she meant.

"Come on Nelly, don't let me down."
Alana muttered as she slid another energy cell into her trusty rifle, ready for another round of extreme laser tag. She turned back, firing off seven shots with her rifle. She had to use the first two shots as a target reference with the third being the kills hot, as she managed to off a pair of the worm faced freaks and sent them tumbling, but there were too many for a proper shoot out. "Put your rears in gear ladies!" Alana shouted, as she continued firing towards the pack of Anzanti moving towards them, but she soon found it better to turn and catch up with the rest of her party. She was good, but she wasn't that good. Alana could hardly make out the path up ahead, other than the fellow shifting figures up ahead of her. They needed to find shelter and quick, or this little trek was going to be their last. The white haired huntress was hoofing it, rifle tucked against her chest, tugging hard on her hat to keep it from going airborne, as this night of horror was off to a rocky start. There was a shrill scream that kept crawling in her head, the hiss of static in her ears, and a dark and crawling sensation that seemed to pulsate at her from the thick cover of night. She was going to have to take a smoke break once the coast was clear, because she was straining herself right now not to lose her cool.

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"This was not what I signed up for!" Mina cried out as she ran after the rest of the group. The one ahead seemed to be the exact thing she read of in her books. What she idolized. If they weren't in such a dangerous situation, she would be asking her a million questions. But right now that had to wait. They needed to get to safety.

Both hands were holding tightly onto her field bag. Her backpack with all her other survival gear was abandoned when the camp was attacked. All she had on her now was a small multitool and her research books in the bag slung over her shoulder. Shots flew past her as she ran to stick close to the Jedi. If all her research was anything to go by, then she was their best chance of survival.

"I'm running as fast as I can!" she called out to the other one with an absurdly large hat. She glanced at the rifle she held, wishing she took up her dad's offer on taking one of his blasters on this trip. She regretted reassuring him that this trip would be quite uneventful. She felt an urge in the back of her mind as well as a humming in her montrals. Acting on instinct, she ducked down and watched as a bolt zipped over her head and impacted the ground in front of her. It was times like this that she was glad she was a Togruta...though she wasn't sure what that pull in the back of her mind was. She looked behind them, seeing that the Anzati were gaining on their little group.

"We need to get out of here, where did you guys park the ship?!" she called out, hoping one of them could answer her.

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The priority now was for the Jedi to protect the two remaining members of the team, namely Mina who was unarmed and thus depending on her companions for protection whereas the mercenary could protect herself to an extent, although it would become apparent that teamwork would be the key from here on out if they wanted to stand a chance at survival. The Anzati were ferocious hunters and would stop at nothing if they thought a meal was at the end of the line.

They were playing a dangerous game, with the only light to guide them from the purple and blue lightsabers held by the Jedi surrounding the group, one misstep could cost their lives and with so many lives already lost Kiara wasn't willing to let an accident claim another.
"Keep up, Neri!" She called urgently to the younger Jedi who had fallen behind the group, though she didn't slow down for her, Neri was capable enough and besides - the worst was yet to come.

"We can't get to the ship if we don't lose these guys!"
She called back, not even attempting to hide the fear in her tone, it would be foolish to try , fear was a given in this situation. She leapt over steps at whirlwind speed, fuelled by adrenaline as she was unaided by the force since at least half of the group did not have that advantage and so it would expose them to attack if they fell too far behind.

Looking beyond the glow of her lightsaber, Kiara saw an opening in the wall up ahead and set course for it, intending to lead the group further into the ruins so they could use the terrain to their advantage. She sprinted through the opening, the shine of her lightsaber becoming more prominent against the walls as they became closer. This was very evidently a kill or be-killed situation so the Jedi prepared herself for the worst outcome as the group came closer to what may have been their final battle.



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"I'm trying!" The girl yelled to the older Jedi up front, as she batted yet another blaster bolt aside. The attackers were starting to closing in; they were far more nible than Neri initially had thought. She didn't know what kind of species their attackers were, but they were frightening. She was one jump away from the final rocky bridge, the one that led to the opening in the wall Kiara entered.

Neri held her breath as she took the final jump, she felt the presence of the Anzati right behind her, followed by a sharp pain as a second throwing knife grazed the right side of her waist. As her feet touched the ground again Neri swiftly turned and channeled the Force through her body, unleashing a wave of telekinetic energy at the two figures who jumped after her. Her swift push wouldn't be strong enough to affect them, had the two Anzati not been mid-jump as it hit them. With a surprised scream, one of her two assailants fell to his death in the gap between the two stone platforms. The other one, however, managed to land next to the young Jedi. Not that it would save him though, as he immediately upon landing received a hard kick against his kneecap. Now unbalanced the second Anzati tumbled backwards, which gave the blue-cloaked Jedi the time she needed to get away.

With one hand pressed against her superficial wound, Neri jumped through the opening in the wall. "Close it!" she managed to exclaim while out of breath. She needed a moment to recover; for the first time in her life, had she killed in order to survive. No matter how skilled those murderers were, they would never survive that fall.

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If one of her companions would somehow barricade or obstruct the entrance, Neri would press her back against the cold wall, and sit down. How did they even get in this situation to begin with? Had the entire excavation just been a ruse, a sick game for these... these monsters? The white-haired girl shook her head. No, she could think of that later. What mattered right now, was that they had to survive. With her lightsaber still ignited, Neri got up again and scanned the room ahead of them. "This temple... it's huge... How are we ever going to navigate through this?" she asked, her voice devoid of hope.

 

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Alana had to just stow her gun and run, as she and the younger jedi were in a contest to not be last. "Don't you even think about tripping!" Alana shouted as she couldn't tell where the attackers were, but they were none too pleased. It was dark and running as fast as they were didn't leave much room for dodging attacks, especially if you didn't know they were coming. Seeing the temple in the distance, the padawan to her side had knocked a blaster shot away and been struck in the side with a knife, drawing Alana's attention towards her. That attention was soon retracted, as a fierce burning pain blew through Alana's right leg, her mid thigh, which squeezed the air from her chest as she let out a agonized cry into the night.

Alana was sent flying forward, striking the ground and bouncing off the hard terrain, her face having found time to strike a rock in the meantime; as small rush of blood began to seep down the right side of her face. She could smell her own flesh cooking, her sight robed from her by the oncoming rush of her own blood, and she couldn't tell if her leg was still attached or not. Her head was throbbing from having hit the rock, but the adrenaline in her body told her to rise. She tried to do just that, but her right leg had the integrity of a tooth pick, which did little but send her falling forward, as she loosed another pained cry; felt like someone had just jammed a red hot vibro knife through her leg and twisted it. Alana was in a full on frenzy now, as she scampered for ground with her one good leg, hardly able to move the injuried one without screaming out in agony. Her right leg ended up being drug behind her, as she knew their attackers would be upon her at any moment. Blood flowed down her face, dripping onto the ground and trickling into her shirt. She gritted her teeth, her eyes watering from the pain she was inflicting upon herself as she struggled towards the temple. She could hear their attackers speaking in their strange tongue, shouting to one another, just as she witnessed Neri leap into the temple up ahead of her. A sudden realization seized her. Was she going to die here? Alana redoubled her efforts, but it wasn't going to happen. She was screwed.

Sorry Astra. Guess, you'll have to wrangle this galaxy on your own.


She dropped to the ground, still mad with pain, as she grabbed for her hip holster and began to fire back at the damn monsters that had downed her. She wasn't going without a fight, even if she couldn't see them.

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Mina kept up with the front one, trying her hardest to not falter as they ran. Thank goodness she was in shape. With all this running, she was lucky to be able to keep up. She was going to bake her father a cake and buy him a proper bottle of whiskey after this ordeal...that is, if she managed to survive it to begin with.

She heard the others call out but she didn't answer. She needed to focus on slamming face first into the ground. She kept running until she heard a scream from behind her. Looking behind her, she saw one of the girls slam into the ground. She stopped dead in her tracks and for a second she simply thought the situation over. Then, without any hesitation, she jumped the space and ran towards the girl. When she reached her she wrapped an arm around her side and hoisted her to her feet. "Come on! We need to move!" she shouted over the commotion. Once she was on her feet, Mina helped her to start moving again. She didn't leave her side as she tried to move as quickly as they could. Every now and then she would turn to let Alana get a shot or two off at their pursuers to keep them occupied.

At the hole she paused. She quickly thought it over and pulled Alana over her shoulders like her father showed her. Taking a few steps back, she got a good momentum to jump over the hole. As soon as they touched down, she kept running until they ran into the hole in the wall.

Mina dropped to one knee and let Alana slide down as gracefully as she could manage. She finally got the chance to catch her breath as she waited for her compatriots to get in as well. Whoever was last needed to close the hole. But just in case they weren't quick enough, she grabbed Alana's pistol with both hands and sat down, facing the hole. If any of their pursuers got through, she would try her hardest to stop them. If they were in the clear, she would drop her hands into her lap and relax. Hopefully this wouldn't be the day she needed to actually use all the skills her father taught her.

"Navigate?" she suddenly asked and cast a glance at Neri. "Navgate! I can help with that!" she practically cheered and carefully placed the pistol on the ground before fishing through her bag and pulling out her datapad. "I actually have a map of the temple. It's not completely intact but it gives us a rough idea." she explained as she paged around to find the picture of the map.

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Kiara halted as she felt her companions falter one by one as their attackers closed the distance between them and she couldn't help but wonder if she had made a mistake by leading instead of taking the rear of the group, although there was no point to wondering such things in hindsight. What happened here and now would be ultimately be her responsibility as the more senior out of the two Jedi.

"Neri!" She called out instinctively in horror as the Jedi was attacked by two Anzati but her fear was short-lived as the younger Jedi proved herself to be capable of defending herself without getting too badly injured, though the same couldn't be said for the mercenary who was hobbling towards the opening. She was aware that this was Neri's first kill but the younger Jedi would soon come to learn that a first kill was a necessary battle that all Jedi must conquer and that to kill in self-defence was not dishonourable.

Kiara stepped out, lightsaber pointing skywards, ready to defend the group from any incoming gunfire while their backs were turned. The group had proven to work exceptionally well together - they might just stand a chance of getting out after all.

Once everyone was behind her, Kiara followed closely behind and without a second thought, held an open palm towards the entrance and closed her eyes in concentration, using the force to manipulate the structure and create a barrier between the survivors and the Anzati. Focus was vital but under such trying circumstances it was proving difficult when the Anzati were getting ever closer but after a few moments, though they felt like eternity, the walls around them seemed to rumble and the entrance they had come through collapsed under its own weight.

However, they were not out of the woods yet. Kiara immediately turned her attention to Alana and knelt beside the young woman, deactivating her lightsaber and laying it on the floor beside her. She assessed the wound, it wasn't pretty but she felt capable of being able to help, however taxing it may be. "Do you mind if I-" She gestured with her hands, placing them directly over Alana's wound, being careful not to touch it and cause her any more pain.

With no resistance from Alana, Kiara began using the force to heal Alana's wound, focusing on maintaining her own inner peace as she did, unwilling to allow any more damage to befall this unfortunate soul, especially at the mistake of her own hand. Slowly, the wound began to heal from the inner-most layers of muscle to the skin, it would be uncomfortable but no more so than receiving the blow had been. After minutes of laborious healing, Kiara was satisfied with the effect she had had on the wound and looked Alana's leg over once more to check all was well. "Maybe rest for a moment while you have the chance." She suggested as she reached for he lightsaber hilt from the ground and got to her feet.

Kiara approached Neri and placed a hand on the girl's shoulder. "Don't worry, the force is with us." She attempted to offer some comfort to the younger Jedi but also reminded her who she was supposed to be, she would be wise to keep outward displays of emotion to a minimum, especially when it could perpetuate fear in their companions who were relying on them. "It's better than nothing." She said to Mina with a smile, trying to help ease the others' fears by concealing her own.


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Neri's brow furrowed as the Togruta responded to her exclamation. She had a way to navigate through these dark ruins? In this moment of terror, the Force refused to guide Kiara or her. They were surrounded by the Dark side, and Mina didn't seem like the type to rely on the Force. "You can lead us through this temple? How..." she asked, both skeptically and in disbelief. That quickly changed, however, as Mina pulled the datapad out of her field bag. At that moment, it finally hit Neri. Mina was one of the archaeologists, of course she had a rough map of the explored parts! In truth, the young Jedi from noble birth had kept her distance from her companions. She had been tasked to act as overseer, and she took her tasks seriously, mostly because of her age. People rarely took her, a 17-year old girl, serious if she acted affectionate or friendly. It wasn't necessarily the most practical way to follow the Jedi code, but so far it had worked for her. Well, until the massacre happened. The results of her distance, was that she didn't know half of the survivors in the room; the only one she actually knew was Kiara.

Neri quickly glanced at the more experienced Jedi who remarked that the Force was with them, as she went on to take care of the mercenary. "It is most certainly not. If the Force had been with us, we wouldn't have gotten into this deathtrap to begin with!" she countered. Of course, Kiara meant no harm, but Neri felt a little insulted. "About three dozen innocent explorers just got slaughtered while were unable to act. No, the Force is not with us at all." the blue-cloaked girl shook her head. "We should have faith in the Force, but the only way we can survive this is by working together." Neri paused, taking a deep breath as she tried to make sense out of the situation. "With that said, I think introductions are in order... My name is Neri Dahle, Jedi Padawan." she stated, a little more calm this time around.

After everyone introduced themselves, the Padawan continued. "I hate to ask this, but did any of you know about this possible danger? I don't get how those... monsters found us... This excavation was supposed to be top secret. Did we have a traitor in our midst?" The white-haired girl paced through the corridor uncontrollably as she voiced her thoughts. There was something off about all this, but she couldn't figure out what. The Dark side clouded her mind; the few traces of the Living Force present in these ruins did not grant her the answers she was looking for. And they needed answers quickly, for their attackers would no doubt be able to catch up with them. If they had managed to find the camp, they most likely had access to more information than just the camp's location. "We have to keep moving... There is no telling how much these monsters know about the ruins." with that said, Neri turned to Mina again. "How far in can you take us?"




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Mina watched as one of the Jedi knelt down beside Alana and...healed her. She stared wide-eyed at what was happening. She finally got her wits together and started taking notes. She had read about Jedi abilities like healing and things like that, but to see it in action was amazing. She documented the entire occurrence. She also tried to get details on the Jedi's weapon. To see a lightsaber up close was probably not something she'll get the chance to do again. She managed to draw a picture of it as well as the controls of it.

She retreated and sat back when the Jedi, Kiara if she remembered correctly, took her lightsaber back and stood up. She watched as the other one ranted about the force not being with them. Wasn't that basically blasphemy for a Jedi to say? She couldn't comment on what the girl said. While she knew about the Force, she didn't have any experience on it...and the writings she did find didn't make much sense. "I mean...is it really all the Force's fault? If those Anzati followed us, there was no way to stop them to begin with." she found herself saying. It felt wrong to her to have the Jedi bach the Force like that, despite knowing nothing about it. She could also feel the frustration coming off the Jedi. It was weird, but she could tell that she wasn't in a good place at all.

"The name's Almiina. But you can call me Mina." she decided to formally introduce herself. "...And I don't think this was all that secret. Like, I saw the ad for it on the notice board on campus and I imagine the rest of the crew also found out about it in their own way. It's not that far-fetched to think these Anzati only took an opportunity after seeing an ad for it somewhere." she explained as she rose to her feet. Neri asked about her map and she quickly returned to her datapad. "If my map is at least partially accurate..." she swiped and tapped a few times. "A few clicks away. There's supposed to be some tunnels to shorten the route...over here." she walked towards one of the walls and glided a hand over it. She quickly found what she was looking for and activated the hidden button...but it didn't do what she expected.

The ground shook and rumbled. Before she even knew what was going on, stones were coming down, making her backpedal towards the group. The ceiling came down and not only destroyed the hidden tunnel but also cut off the supposed shortest normal route. Now they were forced to take the long route.

Mina's face twisted as she watched it all come down. She slowly turned to look at the rest of the group, her orange cheeks turning red as she felt her heart sank. "Maybe not..." she said with a nervous laugh. She was now tempted to ask Alana to make some good use of that blaster right now...

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Alana had figured she was half past screwed, so needless to say when the Togruta girl seized her and drug her into the ruins it was a hell of a shock. Reaching the safety of the ruins, Alana's face was contorted in agony, and the reason was rather apparent. The blaster shot had seared through her leg, burning through several layers of tissue and muscle, as she had a good three inch impact mark on her thigh. Her blaster pistol clattered to the floor, as the huntress pressed her palms against the stone surface, eyes clinched as she focused on the pain and worked through it. She took several shaky breaths, as she could hear the rest of the group discussing among themselves. The pain was still bad, but at least she could manage it for now. When Kiara moved up towards her, Alana squinted at her with one eye, her other eye being obscured with blood. "If you got something you can do to mend the hole in my leg, I'd be awfully apperciative." She muttered through clenched teeth, as she'd let the woman tend to her wound. A relived sigh escaped her lips, as while the healing was painful, the agony that tormented from it began to lessen increasingly; though she felt a strange pull towards Kiara, she just wrote it off as being part of her head injury. When Kiara finally finished the healing, Alana smiled and tipped her hat to her. Giving her newly fixed leg a nice pat down, she took the time to observe her group before throwing herself into the ring. She took the handkerchief from her jacket and swiped at the blood covering her forehead and face; it'd have to do, least she got the blood out of her eyes.

It seemed that their little foursome was in the midst of a quarrel. The alien woman seemed to be totally lost despite claiming to be the guide, the one jedi seemed perhaps jumb about this whole situation, and the younger woman Alana groaned, as she would push herself up from the ground, her newly mended skin poked through the puncture above her kneecap. Pushing her hat down on her head, Alana straightened her stance and opened her mouth. "Listen up you little schutta's." She hollared, knowing it would get their attention. Reaching up and unslinging her blaster rifle, Alana opened up the barrel and check edthe charge of the energy cell. Seemingly satisfied, she whipped it up as the barrel locked into place. She looked around at the three women that were now trapped in here with her, seeing that she had their attention. "Now that I got your attention, I'm Alana and I'll be saving your hides today. Yea, those worm heads got us pinned down in here, and maybe our maps aren't worth drek right now, but we ain't gonna die here. We clear?" She would give the group a moment to process what she said, before continuing. "Look, you two with the glow sticks, you're the best asset we got right now. You can clear the way and knock back blaster shots, as well as light the path. Sadly that makes us a target, but, I think we can use that to our advantage if we're smart." She pointed to Mina, setting her rifle against her shoulder. "And you, you're familiar with the layout of this place right? Well, we got time to work this thing out, so how about you sit down and go over your notes again. We get out of this if we work together, start doing what we were doing a few minutes ago and we'll all end up in a pot of brain stew. I don't know about y'all, but that don't appeal to me." Alana reached back into her coat with her free hand, dragging out a death stick and sliding it into her mouth. She bit down on butt of the stick, as a puff of smoke shot out the end of it, she inhaled a huff of the chemicals and let it drown out the maddening echo in the back of her head. She pulled the stick out and gestured to each of the women, grinning with an air of certainty that they'd get out of this alive. "Now, if any of y'all have any questions, now is the time."

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Kiara was surprised at being challenged, she never would've dreamed about doing such a thing at Neri's age but she calmly allowed Neri to express her feelings on the matter, accepting that perhaps the current situation wasn't the most appropriate time for use of such a phrase, though she did only have everyone's best interests at heart and the statement was intended more as a comfort for the non-Jedi among them than a fact.

However, she still believed Neri to be wrong to respond in the way she did. "I'm willing to accept that I was wrong but regardless of your personal feelings you would be wise to keep such outbursts to yourself. You are not just representing yourself but all Jedi, reflect this in your actions." She whispered to the younger Jedi, though kept a calm demeanour as she did not want to show any obvious tension between the two lest it languished the leadership they were trying to exert over the group. Although she did not want nor intend to be unkind to Neri, she knew this would be a lesson the padawan would have to learn.

Had they been alone, the situation would have been different but with non-Jedi accompanying them then they would need to continue to portray themselves well so they wouldn't get a negative reputation. Neri would do well to remember how her actions affected not just her but the Jedi as a whole. Still, she wouldn't press on the issue there, instead allowing Neri to reflect on her actions. The situation had led her to feel conflicted between her role as a Jedi and her own feelings, she knew that as the higher ranking Jedi she should be the one to offer Neri guidance but she did not want the younger Jedi to dislike her for doing so.

When introductions were initiated, Kiara allowed Neri to take the lead, after all, if they survived this then it would offer her invaluable experience in the future. "And I'm Kiara Jace, Jedi Knight." She added after Neri's introduction. The accusation of there being a traitor among them surprised Kiara, it was a bold accusation to make but she offered a potential alternative explanation. "The Anzati are known for their extremely high force sensitivity and feeding on other force sensitives increases their own connection to the force which makes other force sensitives especially desirable to feed on. They could have found us because of the force." She pondered before adding. "Just a thought." To negate any accountability in case she was wrong.

Kiara immediately turned her attention to Alana when she called them all schuttas. Who did this woman think she was, demanding control over the group? She stood and listened to Alana, arms folded, clearly unimpressed with the attitude the mercenary displayed. "Really? I didn't see you do a whole lot of saving back then." She replied with a frown, having not even gotten a thank you for saving Alana's life. Despite being generally very easy going, it annoyed her greatly when she or anyone else was disrespected.

"What do you think you're doing?!" Kiara asked incredulously as she walked over to Alana and plucked the death stick from her hand and held it out of her reach. "Your habits are your own business but do not take these here and now when you are putting not only yourself but everyone's lives at risk when you become a liability because you are high." She glared at Alana, unwilling to compromise the safety of the group over the mercenary's stupid decision.

With a final disapproving look over her shoulder directed at Alana, Kiara turned to go and follow Mina to a hidden tunnel she suggested they could use, only for the tunnel to collapse moments after discovery. The Force definitely wasn't with them today.


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Neri was at a loss for words. First, the Jedi Knightess ignored the casualties and now she scolded her for stating the truth? She couldn't possibly be serious about this. A true Jedi should be level headed, should have the most serious mind. And Neri wasn't about to beat around the bush, to make their situation seem a little better. It would just make her seem less reliable than the Jedi already were, given how they had been unable to save the majority of the camp. No, she wouldn't act like Kiara and try to uphold a false image.

The Togruta, who introduced herself as Almiina, also seemingly disagreed with her 'outburst'. At least she didn't feel the need to scold her for it. But still, the Padawan felt out of place. Especially considering the fact that the one person who hadn't spoken yet, started with 'Listen up you little schutta's'. This was exactly why she preferred to keep her distance from others. Something she would do once again, as the blue-cloaked girl kept her mouth shut and turned her back to the more experienced Knightess and the archaeologist, who just made a part of the cave collapse. Neri only partly listened to Alana's speech, as only one thought moved through her head.

I'm going to die surrounded by idiots...

The white-haired girl took a deep breath, as Kiara went on to scold yet another member of their group, this time for taking out a death stick. They couldn't afford to start squabbling among themselves right now. Deciding not to pay any attention to the two women, Neri approached Mina. "Let's go, we'll take the long route instead. It won't be long before the Anzati get to us, so we'll need to find a defendable hiding spot somewhere deep inside the ruins." she stated, as she moved through the corridor.
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After what felt like half an hour of walking through the endless labyrinth of stone, illuminated only by the blueish glow of her lightsaber, Neri almost wanted to give up. Their map was vague and the Force felt absent. They had absolutely nothing to go by, except for her own gut feeling which she had to admit; wasn't that good. Just as she prepared to apologize to her allies and fully take the blame, however, the Padawan stumbled upon something unexpected. Draught. "I think I found something..." Neri exclaimed, as her pace quickened. After a few more twists and turns around the stone corners, the blue-cloaked Jedi found herself in the middle of a large, ominous looking part of the cavern. Various evil-looking statues were illuminated by what she presumed was daylight, coming from far above their current position. But that wasn't all there was to this part of the cave. It felt cold, warped and corrupt. "This... this is a Dark side nexus..." the Padawan uttered in disbelief. Never before had she been to one, but she was certain of it.

With her lightsaber still raised, Neri took a few careful steps forward. Cautiously, she studied the statues which emanated the with the Dark side. "It appears as if they worshiped some evil deities here.." she mentioned, not certain how exactly to put it. Perhaps the original inhabitants of this place sacrificed their own here; she just didn't know. Didn't want to know. As she turned to face those who followed her, however, Neri heard a low, growling noise. Followed by a second, and a third. The Padawan froze, as she scanned the caverns for movement, her gaze locking on some of the most hideous creatures she had ever seen. "I think we may be in trouble..." she whispered, as she opened herself to the Living Force the best she could.



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Mina saw the two Jedi going back and forth for a bit, but she kept quiet. She knew that getting involved was a really bad idea...plus seeing the younger one of the two being so conflicted wasn't nice. She could tell that she didn't appreciate being confronted like that, and she didn't blame her. Overall, she was glad that they didn't chew her out for destroying the shortcut. She was fully prepared to endure the verbal assault.

Her eyes glanced over to the older Jedi who decided to introduce herself. She flashed a warm smile at the woman before looking at the rest again. Alana drew her attention, yelling at them quite unnecessarily. She blinked at her words, fighting to keep a laugh in to not embarrass the woman's speech. But when Kiara called out exactly what the Togruta was thinking, a snort escaped her. Her hand came up to her mouth to cover the toothy smile she had on her face. Her smile quickly faded, though, when Alana pulled a deathstick from her pocket. She covered both her mouth and nose as her eyes went wide. "Uhhh...you know those things are called death sticks for a reason, right?" she commented, pointing at the drug. Luckily Kiara confronted her and got rid of the drug before she could put them all on a trip.

Neri spurred them on and Mina took to guiding them. With her datapad in hand she led them through the caverns. They were making great time of the journey...until Neri got sidetracked. "Wait, Neri!" she called out, but the woman didn't listen. The area on her map was crossed out, marking it as a highly dangerous area. She decided to follow her, not wanting the girl to get into a hazardous area. Of course, she didn't expect to find what they did at all.

As she entered the chamber, she felt cold. And she heard whispers in the wind. Her hands came up to hug herself as if it would stave off the cold. But it was useless. This coldness didn't come from the area, it came from within her. It was surreal, actually unnerving. This wasn't right. But she couldn't deny the curiousity she felt over the statues. "It's amazing...but something isn't right. I feel...cold. You feel it too? Something about this place is off." she said to Neri before giving a shiver. Then she saw it. From the shadows appeared these monstrous beings. They weren't animals. They were something else. Something unnatural.

She backpedaled as the creatures closed in, reaching out with her hand out of reflex, but something odd happened. A shockwave of sorts erupted from her hand, knocking into the creatures and forcing them back a couple meters. It was over as soon as it happened, leaving Mina wide-eyed and perpetually perplexed. "What just happened?" she muttered, staring at her hand...and totally forgetting about the priceless window of opportunity she made for them.

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"If it wasn't for me, we never would have gotten out of camp, but I guess that doesn't really matter to you." Alana was as cool as a cucumber. She was totally fine, no reason to get uppity or mad at her party, after all they were just scared but she would be the level head that would see them through. Then that nice lady from before that had healed her wound snatched her deathstick out of her hand and started talking down to her. Alana's gaze when from soft and compassionate to hard and firm. "You're going to give that back right now, or things will get real unpleasant real quick." Alana craned her neck, rolling her shoulders, to show she wasn't scared of no glowstick wielding little princess. "Listen, I really appreciate that you healing me and all, but I need those things to not go crazy. So, if you'd be so kind, I'd like to have that back." She repeated, still keeping the same tone, but it was rather apparent that little miss attitude wasn't in the mood to listen. As Kiara turned away from Alana, the woman only shook her head and sighed. "Guess the force isn't with you after all." She muttered, knowing now why the jedi got killed off, did all of them have this attitude? Maybe that Empire had the right idea after all. The rest of the group began to wander off down into the ruins, of course without any plan of action, so Alana was forced to follow behind; though honestly she was starting to think that the Anzati were going to treat her better than her group right now.

As they moved down the tunnel, Alana could feel those sensations from before getting worse. She could tune out the voices, that never was the issue, the issue was the fact the voices wouldn't stop coming. Her pace slowed drastically, as the voices began to grow louder, the cold became unbearable, she felt as if thousands of cold icy hands reaching up from the grave tugged at her and tried to pull her under. Her eyes widened, as she could hear the voices speaking to her, the cold began to drill into her chest like a drill. 'I can sense your fear' 'You shouldn't have come here'. Alana's lower lip trembled, as she felt herself becoming lost in the enveloping darkness, the lights from the jedi's weapons growing dimmer through she was not lagging behind; there was something unnatural at work here. "We should turn back." She muttered, but of course as was to be expected, no one listened to her. Then it happened, these....creatures were laid out before them. Alana raised her rifle, ready to fire, when the Togruta woman threw back several of the creatures with the extension of her hand. Alana's guard dropped for but a moment at the initial confusion, wondering if she was under the affect of her drug or not. She was snapped out of this thought as one of the beasts leapt at her, knocking her back as it clawed at her.

She slammed the side of her rifle into the creature's chest, keeping the beast off of her as they struggled on the ground, the beast screaming and scrapping wildly as it began to bring it's weight down on Alana. She wasn't going to be able to hold it, even with the adrenaline pumping in her veins this thing was strong; too strong. The beasts jaws' snapped closer and closer with each passing second, she couldn't stop it. "Get off." Alana muttered, as her arms began to give, panic seizing her mind. The beast snapped closer again, her arms trembling as her muscles couldn't keep it at bay. She wanted it off, she wanted the damn thing to die. Rage boiled up inside her, her teeth gritting together as she was on the verge of losing the struggle. Then, something in her just 'gave' way, as that cold sensation wrapped around her, forming a blanket that filled her with a burning resolve. "GET OFF!" She bellowed, a deafening shriek escaping her lips as a torrent of blood erupted from the creature's ears. It let out a pained whine and leapt back, blood pouring from it's ears and flowing from it's eyes, as she had clearly hurt it somehow. Alana wasn't sure what had happened, she couldn't process it currently, as she just kicked her legs out and slammed it into the creatures chest and gave herself some breathing room.

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Kiara ignored Alana's demands for her death stick to be returned to her and continued on the path being led by Mina and Neri, keeping her distance between herself and the padawan who she knew she had irked, albeit unintentionally. She wanted to be a good and noble Jedi, at almost any cost, only everyone's views on what a Jedi should be were subjective and Kiara's particularly were strict.

As they trekked through the underground maze, she thought about how to better the situation between herself and Neri, wondered what she could say or do to relieve the padawan's emotions towards her. Kiara's desire to be a good Jedi was paralleled only with her desire to be liked which wasn't often problematic as the two usually came hand in hand as being a 'good Jedi' was a sure way to be liked within the Order, but the tension between her and Neri was her own fault, she knew, because of the high standard she held herself and everyone else up to.

"Neri! Don't run off ahead, it could be dangerous!" She called, quickening her pace to catch up with the padawan, out of care for her wellbeing. As they drew closer to what Neri claimed to find, Kiara sensed the unmistakable presence of the Dark side growing stronger and felt a shiver down her spine. She ignited her lightsaber, preparing for the worst, the Anzati were bad enough but the Dark side of the force was beyond the constraints of naturality.

There was barely time to absorb the surroundings before the situation took a turn for the worst as three beasts emerged from the shadows ahead and began closing the distance between them. As Kiara walked towards the creatures, to meet them in the middle, thus drawing them away from the most defenceless member of the group, Mina, they were suddenly pushed backwards out of nowhere. She spun around to look at the three people behind her and surprisingly saw Mina staring at her hand, having expected such an action to come from Neri.


Force Sensitive. She thought, maybe Mina wasn't as defenceless as first thought but that would be a conversation for later, if there was a later. For now, she would need to keep herself alive long enough to have that conversation but those armed among them would do their best to make sure all escaped with their lives.

Kiara, on the other hand, had another idea. With only two of the creatures diverting their attention to her she stood a good chance at keeping the others safe while allowing the creatures too to escape with their lives, a skill which unfortunately only worked on wild sentient beings with the Jedi mind trick being the only comparable equivalent for people but it was not reliable in a battle situation. She could only hope that Alana and Neri could subdue the creatures long enough for Kiara to complete her task.

Once face to face with the creatures, separated by about ten metres, they snarled and approached her but Kiara deactivated her lightsaber and placed it back on her belt, holding out both of her hands, one towards each creature and closing her eyes, opening herself to the force to allow her to establish a link between herself and the creatures, causing them to halt in their tracks. They only seemed to get angrier for a moment before Kiara began to approach and then they slowly calmed down until she had a hand on the hairy neck of one and the face of the other and then she opened her eyes to meet one of the creatures who stood docile before her.




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It was total chaos. She had her guard raised, ready to defend Mina and herself against the horde of creatures, just to watch the three creatures being flung back. But not by Kiara's hand, who stood before the two girls with the same, confused expression. Her eyes locked with Neri's who, immediately shook her head. It wasn't her. It had been Mina who, against all expectations, had suddenly reached out.

In the chaos created by Mina's sudden action, one of the large beasts managed to slip past the three Force-sensitives, attacking the last remaining mercenary. She had to deal with the creature on her own, however, as Neri quickly found her path blocked by two of creatures. The white-haired girl quickly took the offensive in an attempt to scare the creatures away, swinging her lightsaber in a horizontal slash. The first creature, barely managed to jump back as the lightsaber passed by, but the second was not so lucky. Neri's blade severed one of the beast its large fangs, just as the second creature leapt back. Believing that would stop them for now, the Padawan took another quick glance at Alana, only to conclude that the mercenary wasn't doing well. She was being overwhelmed, and there was nothing Neri could do to help her. If she rushed to Alana's side right now, the two beasts would surprise and overwhelm Kiara.

At that moment, however, a second miracle happened. Alana released a deafening shriek, heavily injuring the disgusting creature who had almost finished her. That was it. Neri turned to face the two creatures in front of her again. "Cover your ears!" she shouted to her allies hoping that they, for once, would listen.

The blue-cloaked girl took a deep breath, channeling the Light side of the Force through her as she brought her fingers to her mouth. She needed to make an extremely high-pitched sound for this to work, and a finger whistle would do just that. With the aid of the Light side, Neri released a heavily amplified high-pitched sound. Alana's Force scream had revealed something major; the beasts were extremely susceptible to harsh or high-pitched noises. That theory proved to be true, as not only those in front of her, but all six of the remaining creatures in the cave cried out in pain. It wouldn't be devastating enough to permanently injure them; but it did what it had to do. Confused, hurt and in fear, the beasts made a hasty retreat.

Exhausted, Neri fell to her knees. Using the Force bellow technique was taxing, especially for a Padawan like her. "Sorry, I shouldn't have gone in here to begin with..." she muttered, fully expecting another scolding from Kiara or even Mina.



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