Time To Step Up - The Refuge

[Gûry Sündr Gantz]

The cries of the dying and the fearful could not be ignored by the Knight Gûry anymore. Heedless of Master Guleya's instruction, and trusting in the man's capability to defend himself ably, the young man rushed off from the main group of defenders. Using the Force, he amplified his speed with slight pushes out of the soles of his feet as he sprinted in the direction of the screams. And while he loved dogs still, he did not think that the death of these mutts would bring him much distress. With an increasingly difficult to control anger flowering within him, the Knight was hard pressed to defend both the people and his own heart as well.

In his mind raced questions endlessly: inquiries into his purpose here, into the Jedi, into his own reasons for being one and for following the Code. He knew the answers, of course, but alone with his thoughts, the inexperienced Knight would find himself hard pressed to recall as easily as he did in the classrooms. Emerging from an alley, he found some mangled, torn bodies scattered about on the streets. Knowing that the grisly trail marked the path of his prey, though, Gûry gulped heavily to suppress a gag before following the carnage in search of the war-hounds.

 

[The Storyteller]

Spoiler: OOC, A Reminder

@Faded Truth
@Ero
@Laskt

Please post as soon as you can.
This is just to serve as a reminder.

 

[Thrash]

.

Thrash was running alongside Azar when the elder Jedi utilized his force abilities to swing one of their enemy combatants towards him in what appeared as a clever attack. She side-stepped to avoid any interference in his ability and quickly shifted her attention to their leading Jedi Master. Taking heed of his advice and command, her desire was to confront this Jyk individual herself in attempt to showcase her skills in front of her comrades. What a magnificent accomplishment, the young knight if she was successful in defeating him all by her lonesome self. Yes, that is what she would do, but first, to get to him would be a challenge. Her approach drastically shifted direction as she left Azar's side and charged towards the clump of soldiers who were firing on Bruce Guley and Vixur. Her advancement was concealed with utilizing natural cover, force building up in her free left hand while the blue saber was held defensively in her right. As she reached approximately 15 meters from them, she used their distracted focus on her comrades to unleash a powerful force push towards them. @Cazar

Senses on full alert and prepared to defend against anything they tossed at her.

 

[The Storyteller]

The scene found by the young Jedi Knight splitting off from the group (@Ero) was the result of two Kath Hounds pushing through town. His chase would not take long before he attracted their attention and came upon them. The pair of beasts would charge together towards their new prey hoping to take him from opposing flanks. If he froze and did nothing, they'd make short work of him before moving on. This boy would need to react quickly if he wanted to win, or even survive. Luckily though, that's all he found for now.

At the main battle for the Jedi things were about to come to a close. Most of the Jedi accompanying the Master (@Zigara) were much weaker than he was with the force. When he decided to push a giant blast of force energy into the line of enemies, that was the last straw for them. Azar (@Phoenix) had twisted the leg of one foe and would be in the middle of trying to follow up on it when the wave of energy washed over their foes. Thrash (@Faded Truth) never had a chance to push her foes who would be shattered to the bone by Master Guleya's attack. All of the thugs were done. All but the one on the ground due to Azar were killed, where as that lucky guy was simply knocked out due to his position. Vixur (@Laskt) would find himself stuck under a hound, but not injured. He simply would need to push the body off of himself to move ahead.

Jyk reached the village's central road about the same time the dust settled from Bruce's force blast. His small crew stared ahead at the carnage and did not dare back down. Azar and Thrash were flanking, making their positions obvious to the approaching boss and crew. The others were a bit too far away to worry about yet. At 150 meters they'd be a bit unable to do anything too drastic. The commander raised his fist and then pointed to the two Jedi who had just been flanking.

"Kill them." He ordered quietly as he fired two shots towards Azar's head.

Another soldier in the boss crew fired two shots at Azar, aimed for the center of mass. The other two both aimed at Thrash and each sent off a volley of three shots with no real target beyond suppressing and maybe damaging her. Jyk was in front of the group which had spread out into a small square to avoid being too close. Everyone was about 10 meters apart from each other in the group as they open fired at the Jedi. Azar and Thrash would likely be about 100 meters away while Guleya and those with him would be at 150 meters.

 

[Gûry Sündr Gantz]

As the Hounds barreled in with all the recklessness of their nature, The Knight would leap up into the air, higher than should have been possible due to his amplification of the movement with the Force. He let his body work naturally, forgetting himself, his furies and his excitements. Instead, he let instinct, peace, and the Force meld together to create a Will behind his actions. Reaching down, he attempted to grab and pull together the two war dogs beneath him, before pulling on the surface of the planet to effect movement on his much smaller body as he went in for a driving kick on the both of them.

Spoiler

I imagine the thing about pulling the planet to work like Magneto's powers realistically should, with Gûry, the much smaller object, being effected by the pull and drawn towards the surface of the planet. Not trying to claim he can move planets. Will edit if need be.

 

[Azar Torsin]

Power and strength seemed to flow from the Bardottan in abundance. Before Azar could even finish up the thugs were pulverized by his blast. The battle was drawing to a close... somewhat. Even so, the Jedi seemed to be on the receiving end of more attacks. Gunshots rang out and Azar moved quickly. His saber flashed in front of him and struck the first bolt flying for his head while he moved out of the way of the second. Likewise, the first bolt aimed for his torso smashed into his armor but the second missed as he moved.

He groaned slightly from the impact of the blaster bolt but he was still alive and kicking. He didn't stop moving as he slid into cover before more gunshots could unload on him. At 100 meters away it wouldn't be easy for them to strike an alert Jedi. It would take prediction of where he would be a full second later and so Azar intentionally kept his movements erratic and unpredictable as he moved to cover. On the bright side, it should distract the fighters until the other group of Jedi could arrive and help.

 

[Bruce Guleya]

Bruce wanted to help Vixur (@Laskt) as he struggled to gather himself, the clawdite was down - covered by the hound, the Master regrettably had to press on, the clawdite - weird as it was to say - was safer under the Kath hound, and if the bardottan tarried any longer more people would be at risk and this needed to stop much sooner than later. Bruce pushed the thought aside and advanced to the outskirts, the main source of the conflict. Bruce walked up right, confident, even possibly arrogant. His lightsaber burned bright, the golden blade shimmering off the snow; he moved with haste.


As Bruce approached he could feel some ripples in the Force. One of the Knights (@Ero) who had joined him on this strike mission, had a moment of weakness - giving into to the emotions and the lust for conflict, he felt the ripple if only for a moment. The dust hadn't settled yet, Bruce paused for only a second - he would have to ask or rather debrief with them to help them; but that would take another time, his focus was here and now. As the dust settled he laid eyes on the source of all this carnage. He knew the name, but didn't know the man.


Bruce closed the distance with that casual and confident walk, his lightsaber burning down to his right side with the blade pointed down. He walked about 50 meters before he halted as the dust settled, he was like a specter appearing before the man and his squad. “Jyk!” (@Cazar) Bruce shouted down range. “End this now. This fight is unnecessary, your issue is with me is it not? You and your squad - lay down your weapons and cease this mindless slaughter. These people, Jyk. These people are your brothers, sisters, your family. You've slain many because of your actions, stop. There were CHILDREN in there you senselessly murdered!” Bruce was on guard but locked his eyes with Jyk. The soft hum of his lightsaber. “You must answer for this. It's over.”


When the blaster shots ripped through the air toward his comrades, the bardottan brought his lightsaber up and across his body, prepared to deflect any shots. All the while he continued to let the Force flow through him, enhancing his reflexes, his senses, his control. He wasn't prepared to surrender, he wouldn’t allow more unnecessary deaths. He would have preferred to end this peacefully.


The bardottan suspected both of the Knights (@Phoenix & @Faded Truth) he had asked to flank would have taken cover by now and he suspected that by calling Jyk out and standing in the most open of spaces that he'd become a target - take their attention away from them and allow them a chance to strike unimpeded. The bardottan master suspected he'd also be able to withstand a volley of blaster fire, with the Force as his ally.

 

[The Storyteller]

Mild success came from Jyk's crew firing at the Jedi. One seemed to totally vanish into cover or something after being suppressed by fire while the other took a hit. The second target hit cover as well while the Jedi Master himself came forward to call to Jyk. A plea for peace and surrender was all he had to offer. That would never happen as long as Jyk was in charge. These were no longer his people. The raiders were his new family. No verbal response came to the master, but he got Jyk's attention.

All four of the men shot at Bruce three times each in a volley that would be devastating to most enemies. It would not be so simple to deflect them all but a powerful Jedi had options. Range and numbers were on Jyk's side. They'd work to tire out the Jedi and put an end to him. Then the town would fall to its knees at the sound of his name.

A pair of Kath Hounds had thought the young Jedi a simple target. The jump surprised them and they stopped to wait for him to land but... he didn't do so as quickly as they expected. Confused, they were unable to do much about the incoming kicks. Kicks that ultimately would be more annoying than deadly. Sure it hurt a bit and sent one of them tumbling away, but they simply resumed their attack. One lunged left while the other stayed back and lunged to wherever the boy would be a moment later to try to stop a counter.

@Zigara @Phoenix @Ero

 

[Bruce Guleya]

As Bruce called out, it didn't take much to recognize that he was now a target. The Force warned him that the blasters were beginning to be trained on him, as a result Bruce pulled some sizeable debris off to his left with the Force and tossed it toward Jyk and his crew on (Jyk's) right side, this action was designed to serve as an interrupt before they could even fire off the three shots. Bruce had no intention of killing them, all he needed to do was force them scatter - but if some were to be impacted, it could not be helped.

In addition to tossing one piece he pulled some more debris from his right, pulling the debris to in front of him to serve as a shield and barricade to absorb the shots coming at him - if they were even going to come slamming toward him; once the shot impacted and were hopefully absorb the impact before tossing what was left forward with no intended target.

As a final action, Bruce would begin to run toward Jyk and his crew, he'd move in an erratic pattern - a zigzag to prevent becoming an easy target. His speed would be slightly enhanced by the Force; so far Bruce hadn't had to do anything exhausting in terms of using the Force, all of his attacks - with the exception of the Force Push that eliminated much of the resistance, he was still fresh.

@Phoenix (to post)
@Faded Truth (to post?)
@Laskt (to post?)
@Ero (to post)
@Cazar (FYI)

 

[Gûry Sündr Gantz]

Gûry would look to the Hound that charged, watching the beast's maw open and teeth expose themselves to the light, stained a dark red by blood both new and dried. He had no doubt that even a single bite could prove deadly by the bacteria and diseases held in it alone. However, the more short-term fear of having his throat torn out took priority over that of infection, and so he chose to act. First, he would collect himself mentally.

Fear cuts deeper than swords,

he remembered, though he could not recall from where the euphemism came.

but the Force can stop even the fastest blade.

Raising his left hand, he exposed his palm to the monster, feeling the Force well up in a sphere of kinetic power just off the skin. Staring the Hound down with calm, reposed eyes, he would release the blast as a directed attack, sending it to tear into the throat of the monster to wreak havoc upon its insides.

 

[Azar Torsin]

Azar saw the bandits turn their attention back toward the Jedi Master and used it to his advantage as much as possible. There wasn't anyone looking his way or paying much attention to him, so reached out with the Force. His body was still mostly hidden behind cover to make it more difficult to both find him and shoot at him and he gripped one of the rifles of the fallen on the ground.

It floated up from behind the criminals and began to fire shot after shot into their backs. Azar wasn't one to enjoy killing and usually went out of his way to avoid it, but at this point, the criminals had made their choice. They'd been given the chance to surrender, they'd slaughtered civilians, and now they were going to continue to try to kill the Jedi. His priority was on protecting his own and the innocent, even if it cost these criminals their lives.

 

[The Storyteller]

The younger Jedi was doing surprisingly well for having no weapons against a pair of beasts. That was until right after taking down the first one. A wave of force ripped apart the forward Kath Hound in what would likely be a painful death for it. It shrieked in pain before stumbling to its side to die. One down, but there second was still coming in hot and had been unabated in its lunge. A single bite or scratch was not what killed someone, it was the continued rampage and ripping of vital locations such as the throat. This hound dug its teeth into Knight Gantz's left arm and pulled him to the ground. It then would go for the throat to kill the Jedi if the Jedi would not react or get help in time. The hound thought nothing of strategy or its own safety at this point. It was out for blood to avenge its brother.

Jyk on the other hand was suddenly faced with a few hardships. These Jedi were not pushovers and would not die to simple blaster volleys. His crew had luckily been spread out already so when the debris came there was no real confusion about which directions to flee to avoid hitting each other. It was an easy choice to move rather than be smashed by debris. Jyk himself moved to the left and forward slightly, avoiding both attacks with the debris in the process. His rifle did not need long to fire a pair of shots at Bruce's feet while they were still about 40 meters apart.

"Come, Jedi." He said as he sent the bolts down range.

All three of the other thugs ran back and to the left, being about 20 meters behind Jyk now. They managed to avoid the debris at the cost of not shooting as well. They were a bit flustered and took longer to counter attack than their skilled leader. These three did not fire at all this round. Luckily they avoided most of the rifle shots by moving from the debris but it got their attention quickly. One was taken down before they fully realized what it was. The two remaining took cover behind some of the thrown debris and quickly trained their rifles on Bruce, assuming it was him doing this. They did not fire as they'd not have time, but they got ready to shoot the Jedi Master once more now that their backs were covered.

The last hound and a few thugs still worked the village, but became aware of Jyk's battle. One small group began to pull back but the hound was not easy to command. It would run right for the city center chasing those who ran from it. Until it eventually came to the guards around Nim himself. The hound did not stand a chance and was put down rather unceremoniously. The same thing happened to a few thugs as well. Nim lost a few soldiers and some were wounded, but they won their small skirmish in the end. All the Jedi had left by the end were Jyk's crew plus another five thugs incoming.

@Zigara @Phoenix @Ero

 

[Bruce Guleya]

As the Jedi Master closed the distance between him and Jyk, he did something unexpected, he jumped back. Dodging the shots being sent down range at him. His landing was properly positioned that he managed to secure some of the high ground - the wall actually. He smirked at the thugs down below, his saber burning brightly and positioned across his body prepared to deflect any blaster bolts coming at him now that he was higher up. He tapped his comm, "Get them out - now." He was telling the shuttle pilots to round up the villagers after the successfully defended their attack; he had a Plan "B" in place, the villagers were already briefed on this possibility and most of them had secured their more precious valuables and it shouldn't take the team long to board the shuttles now; there was two shuttles ready - though civilian in nature.

He eyed Jyk who would no doubt fire at him, and he'd be ready to block - for his distance and height would likely play in his advantage possibly preventing anything but blaster fire. Bruce looked up at the hills behind Jyk and his crew, with a powerful wave of his hand and a thrust forward, he'd strike the mountain side - hopefully starting an avalanche to come hurdling down which would hopefully cause both Jyk and his crew to make a mistake or take a run, or have them lash out - for there was no real way to protect from the power of nature - at least not for any non-force wielders.

The avalanche would come crashing down, wiping the village or stopping short of the village, it was not really a certainty - and it was a risk that Bruce was willing to make, since leaders often needed to make tough decisions... and this one would weight heavily on the Master; one he would be able to deal with since the Jedi Master would have the comfort of knowing that the innocents would be saved and not all of the bad guys would die - at least he didn't think they would, much just incapacitate them.

Azar (@Phoenix) would likely know what was happening, for he would be able to see and sense what was going to be happening. He would hope that Azar would either take proper steps to protect himself or join the Master who would be adjacent to Azar's position; that way the Master to shelter both of them with ease.

As for Gûry (@Ero), we'll he would likely hear the rumble if not sense it when he managed to get himself free from the kath hound. The Knight still had a strong life in him, that meant the Jedi Master wasn't concerned for Gûry.

Bruce wasn't hiding, the Jedi would find him easily, and same with the shuttle pilots who would hopefully clear before the avalanche consumed the village - if it reached that far; in addition, the few remaining civilians would collect both the clawdite and the chiss to ensure they escape.

But Plan "C" was to place the thugs in a form of Force Stasis, effectively minimizing opposition with Jyk and his crew - minimize it to Jyk vs. Bruce, and his allies while his crew was frozen; however, Bruce didn't consider reinforcements from the town, but he would deal with that soon enough, once they had closed the distance.

@Cazar (FYI)
@Phoenix (To post)
@Ero (To post)
@Faded Truth (FYI / post)
@Laskt (FYI / post)

 

[Gûry Sündr Gantz]

Gûry would respond swiftly, pushing his left arm further down into the mouth of the Hound, using its attack to preempt his own, quickly slamming his open right hand on to the side of the Hound's head as he shoved it to the wall at his left, using another Force blast. With the kinetic energy forming a bit off the skin of his palm, he reasoned that it would gather within the skull of the beast and then blast out. It wouldn't even matter about the Force breaking through, the manifestation of energy within the Hound's head enough to turn its brain into so much soup.

And yet, even then, he did not hate this beast. He was not upset, or angry. He'd made his peace with the Hound's atrocities, understanding them to simply be a part of its nature. The Knight could not be upset at a fly for landing upon his brow and irritating him in its drinking of his sweat, so how could he react in fury towards the beasts killings? It was doing as it was supposed to do. He simply had to stop it for the sake of the people he was protecting.

 

[The Storyteller]

Jyk had come to end this feud. He would end his enemies here or he would die trying. It seemed the Jedi were putting up more of a fight than he expected. The very mountains seemed to fall from behind him as he readjusted his aim. Rather than shoot at the Jedi again, the whole crew glanced backwards to see the incoming doom. This would wipe away the whole town. What kind of game was this to the Jedi? Jyk was angry, but somehow also at peace with the result. It was an odd mix of emotions as he and his crew would have no escape from the incoming rocks.

Two hounds had come for what they thought was easy prey. An unarmed young boy had surprised them by using the force to fight them. While they did deal some damage that would take time to heal, they did not get a kill. They were the ones who got killed instead. Our injured Jedi would be further back from the avalanche of rocks that would sweep the town which would give him plenty of time to escape to the shuttles. Azar had a good view of the carnage and would find pick up easy as well.

None of the thugs or hounds would get out of the rubble alive or with all of their limbs. It was uncertain if Jyk himself was killed by the avalanche but in the end he was no longer a threat to the fleeing Jedi and villagers. Casualties were fairly minimal considering what they had been faced with here. All of the Jedi managed to make an escape while only a dozen or so villagers died. They would be mourned but ultimately it was much less than what could have been. Shuttles would take them all away to a safer place at the guidance of Jedi Master Bruce Guleya.

/The end
@Zigara @Phoenix @Ero