Open Under Crimson Skies

Novaron Rah

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There was no time to react, no time to save himself. There wasn’t even time to process what had taken place directly below him, to realize he was on death’s doorstep. As Andruil successfully separated the hilt through the Force, the overcharged kaiber crystal of Nova’s weapon released a pulse of pure energy that would effectively blind any within close proximity. Considering the dark and sealed in environment that was the foyer of the temple, likely anyone who was in the room would suffer it’s effects. Most of all, the man of whom had developed and grown a bond with the exact crystal that was now the vehicle of his demise. The heat of the energy wave immediately disintegrated the bottoms of Nova’s legs, starting at his feet and burning upward to his knees, finally his thighs and glutes. It would have stopped there, leaving the Cathar Jedi in a crippled state for the remainder of his life, had it not been for the additional gear he had opted to bring along to Dathomir. Perhaps it was simply a stroke of luck as the mercenary turned Jedi would have preferred death over the life of a wounded veteran anyway. As well, it would likely catch all of the Night Sister’s off guard…

As the flash of light subsided, Nova’s torso could be seen tossed forward from the blast facing towards the Kiffar Jedi he had brought along with him. The Jedi he had drug along on a doomed mission right from the beginning. He should have known better. He should have looked to other members of the Order rather than rushing into something head first. He should have come alone.

Gasping for air and in shock from the pain, Nova finally locked eyes with Isen. This was the end for him, that much he knew. But there was one last thing he could do that might give the young Kiffar an opportunity to survive. His hands were both burned and critically injured from the blast but they were still able to reach into the sash of his tunic. Painfully, Nova nodded at Isen. Hopefully he would understand that the Cathar never intended to bring him to such a lethal scenario. Hopefully what he was about to do was going to give Isen the opportunity he needed to escape and allow his memory to live on.

Clicking the activation studs of both of the detonators he had brought along, Nova turned his body to face the Night Sisters before flashing Andruil razor sharp teeth behind black lips as he pulled the remote from behind sash and pushing the button as he stared into her eyes. He was too far to do any real damage to the women but they were either likely still recovering from the blinding light of the kaiburr flash or were shielding themselves from it with their magic. Regardless, in the amount of time it took for his thumb to push the button, the remainder of his body was consumed in a blazing inferno of fire and shrapnel large enough to cover Isen’s actions.

((Exit Thread & This Life))


 

Renfry

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The first explosion, Renfry anticipated as she was its cause. It tore the cat-man to pieces, but it didn't sate Renfry's rage. Carnitine had been one of her guards, a near-constant presence in the palace. A friend. Her body was now broken on the ground, and her murderer was in front of the Queen. She would have her vengeance.

And yet, the cat-man wasn't quite dead. Defiant to the end, though. Perhaps Renfry would have given him credit for that if she'd cared for anything but his death.

The second explosion that consumed the man's body caught her off guard, but neither she nor her guards were within reach. In fact, given that Isen had caught the tail end of the first saber blast, it was a fair assertion that it was a much greater threat to him than to Renfry or her guards.

She forced her eyes closed, working to make the flashes of light clear from her vision. The Jedi would still have seven angry droids to deal with, however, as they were now all quite aggro against him in addition to the four Nightsisters who wanted his blood. @Isen
 

Isen Ramm

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Isen looked at Rah after the lightsaber crystal exploded and blew him further away. The Cathar would not live. He was so far gone, it would take a team of healers and immediate medical attention just to keep him alive, and that was not coming. Rah, however, was a soldier. A tough SOB, to be the truth and when his eyes met Isen's, Isen knew what was coming. He knew he had the detonators, and the look on Rah's face told the story that he aimed to used them, and wanted Isen to use it to get a head start on trying to escape.

Isen also had other issues. He had passed the threshold of the Guardian Droid's territory and they were all walking toward him, their lighted power cells in the center of their chests glowing brightly. Isen took off a sprint for the back door just moments before Rah set his own devices off. The explosion took out three of the closest droids to the now disintegrated Jedi. Four of the droids in the first room had been taken out but four remained, and Isen was still the only intruder past the threshold.

Two of them blocked his path and their sword-like arms would stand to protect the open passageway to the next corridor. The other two were coming from the other side of the V formation and would not be factor, or so Isen thought. Isen lept and somersaulted over the two guardian droids in front of him. They slashed with their razor-sharp arms, but Isen cleared them easily. The two from the backside, however, were gearing up with attacks of energy bolts from their central energy cores. Isen could hear the energy revving up and then - whoof-whoof - both of them unleashed huge white balls of collected energy directed at Isen. Isen lunged through the passageway, barely escaping the balls of power. The energy balls slammed against the temple interior near the door, bringing debris down from the wall and the ceiling. Unfortunately, the debris did little to block the door. There was plenty of room for both the droids and the Nightsisters to get through.

Now in the short hallway that led out of the grand entrance, Isen saw a set of stairs that went up and a set of stairs that went down straight ahead of him. There were corridors to the right and the left with long, dark halls. Isen chose up and started bounding up the stairs. The mission was aborted. Rah had died and the Nightsisters were out for blood. Isen had to hope that the guardians in the room would slow the Nightsisters down, and that when presented with the choice of up, down, right or left, they might choose wrongly...or at least give him a fighting chance by splitting up to take different routes in chase.


@Phoenix
 

Renfry

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By the time Renfry's vision had cleared, the Jedi had made his way through the droids. She drew on the Force, a green-flame consuming her and moving her across the room in a second flash. Within only seconds, she was on the far side of the droids, in pursuit of the escaping murderer.

A flash of glowing green lit over her palms, providing visibility as she pursued him. Her guards were no doubt caught up with the droids, but she would not be evaded and she would not relent.

She paused as she came to a crossing point, forced to look for signs of the path forward. Years of tracking in the wilds gave her some capabilities in that regard. She stopped, looking down at the dirt and dust covering the temple floor. In a building that hadn't been disturbed in centuries, anything that was amiss was from her prey.

As she stopped to examine the tracks, however, it bought him a bit more time, but only moments. She was bounding up the stairs after him within only moments, still wary in case he chose to lie in wait, though doing such a thing would likely be foolish of him.

@Isen
 

Isen Ramm

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Isen's long legs helped him take the steps three at a time and at the top, there was another choice with a multitude of options at his disposal. There were two corridors at the top of the stairs, one to his immediate left and one to his immediate right. They were very thin and about ten meters long. It would be slow going through there. He would have to squeeze his way through, and he couldn't see due to the many cobwebs in the tight corridors. Where they led was a mystery, and squeezing through would be time-consuming.

Isen could also drop down into a canyon of sorts, a dozen meters or so below him, that looked to have a very large passageway that ran left to right. He could also go up. It may not be the intended path, but there was a walkway above the large passageway that could be met with a Force jump, a grab of the ledge, and then using the Force to flip onto the walkway. That was the route Isen chose. His plan was simple- keep going up. Maybe he would find a passageway to the roof. If he could just get to the wilderness, Isen could melt his signature into the fauna and flora if enough surrounded him. Getting off-world would be a secondary concern.

He made his decision quickly, as instantaneously as he could. He wasn't going to sit and ponder with the Nightsisters presumably right on his trail. Before he jumped on the passageway, he would extend his hands outward and clear the cobwebs with a Force push before jumping onto the ledge. He had hoped to give any followers some pause about perhaps going in one of those directions seeing the cobwebs disturbed.

Now on the passageway, Isen could again go left or right. To the right was back toward the front of the temple, and he could not remember a window or another door in the front that would provide an exit for him that way, so Isen retreated deeper into the temple, choosing to run left once on the passageway.


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Renfry

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Renfry continued on, pursuing with the skill of a hunting predator. She caught a momentary glimpse of the Jedi as he fled, leaping up to a higher platform and she acted on instinct.

She reached out with the Shadow, gripping at his legs to hopefully force him to slam into the walkway rather than landing gracefully. Perhaps she'd get lucky and landing on an outstretched hand would snap his wrist or he'd twist his ankle.

She continued on, knowing he had the high ground, which was an advantage, but she was still unrelenting. Her eyes swept over the area, looking at ways to ascend and spotting the wall where the upper walkway connected to the wall. She didn't ascend yet, however, waiting to see what became of the Jedi.

@Isen
 

Isen Ramm

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Unfortunately for the Jedi, he had no idea how much ground the Nightsister had made closing the gap between them. When he attempted his flip to get onto the walkway, he felt a hard tug. Not expecting it, he was jerked down before he completed his rotation and his head bounced off the hard floor of the walkway. Isen got to one knee and saw the Nightsister, the apparent leader of the group was staring at him standing in the very spot he was just moments before.

Isen could feel something trickling down his face and it was too warm to be sweat. Though in the dankness and heavy air of the temple, there was plenty of that rolling over his body as well. He wiped his face, looked at his hand, and saw blood. He could feel it now. There was a significant gash on the top of his head where his forehead met the concrete. He looked down at the Nightsister as he stood up tall.

"I know this isn't going to matter, and I know you don't feel any remorse or regret over the death of my friend." Isen could feel the anger seeping out of her. He had felt the Dark Side pouring out of people before, but he couldn't remember where so much of it was directed at him specifically. He knew what he would say would have no bearing, but still, it was the right thing to do. "I know telling you this won't change what you feel you have to do. What you want to do. Be that as it may, I do feel remorse and regret over the death of your friend. Things shouldn't have happened this way."


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Renfry

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Renfry burned with rage as she looked up at him. In the dim light it was still difficult to see, but she thought she could make out blood running down his face. Good. He deserved that and so, so much more.

The fact that he tried to express "regret" over what he'd done didn't improve things. Not that much would.

You murdered my sister, she spat the words like acid. While the connection wasn't by blood it didn't matter.

You were given the opportunity to leave, but you just take and kill whoever stands in your way. Pretending to be the hero; power hungry, she said. Whether he would see himself that way or not, it would at least give him pause and someday force him to reflect on the fact that it was the reality of the Jedi to many - perhaps even the majority of - people. Hard questions that most didn't want to face, and those few who were daring enough had to come to terms with these things.

But now wasn't the chance to ponder it nor was it an opportunity for further discussion.

In a snap, her right hand came up and launched a concussion bolt at him. At speed, it was aimed to strike him in the chest, leaving burns across his skin and sending him flying backwards not unlike a blaster bolt with much, much more kinetic energy. A Nightsister special.

@Isen
 

Isen Ramm

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Isen was on full alert and saw the right hand rising. He was able to get his chest out of the way, but opening up to the left, the bolt clipped him in the left shoulder. He staggered backwards, his left shoulder stunned, immobile, and burned with carbon scoring. He gritted his teeth through the pain but calmed himself enough to address her once more. She was apparently hell-bent on getting her pound of flesh and then some.

Isen didn't feel that arguing the points with her would make any ground or do any good. It was the Nightsisters that attacked first, not the Jedi. And truth be told, Isen felt that he and Rah would have left if they had been given more chanced to negotiate but failed. "I don't pretend to be anything. I don't consider myself a hero. I was just here to research droids." He made sure to position his hand so his lightsaber could quickly flick into his palm in case she sent another bolt his way. He would be prepared to deflect another one should one be sent his way. "If we had known that negotiating a way to do our research would result in violence, we wouldn't have continued trying. We would have left."

The Jedi's eyes would set to hers, betraying no emotion. He would even hide the pain that was scorching through his left shoulder. "Perhaps our hubris combined with your...protective spirit...made confrontation inevitable." His chin rose while releasing a sigh, a symbol of maintaining confidence and pride but recognizing fault. "But you're right. If the Jedi aren't welcome on Dathomir, we shouldn't have landed here at all."


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Renfry

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She received a sense of satisfaction at seeing him struck by the bolt. Perhaps had one of her sisters not been killed, his words would have been enough to cause her to relent. But now, it was all but impossible.

She didn't continue talking, and instead took a step back. It wasn't immediately obvious what she was doing as her eyes scanned over the room for a higher ledge. There was another flash of green that began to envelope her and within seconds she was on the higher ledge above him. High ground, which boded poorly for him if he didn't continue onward. Primarily because her palms once more glowed green as concussion bolts began to rain down on him.

@Isen
 

Isen Ramm

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Isen watched as she started her ascent. It was easy to tell she was trying to take the high ground by going a level higher than even he was on with her angle and her velocity upward. The Jedi figured he stood a better chance of preventing more death, albeit his own was looking to be the most likely one at the moment, if he could just get to an exit. He knew of only one exit for sure, and that was the way he came in. He hoped she had provided him an opening to get back to that door.

Isen dropped a level even as she was going up. His lightsaber deflected the green bolts as he sprinted back to the top of the stairs. He gave a quick glance down the staircase to check for droids or the remaining Nightsisters who either decided to fight the droids or guard the exit before he lept. He wanted to clear the steps as quickly as possible. If he could get outside into the Dathomir wilderness, he felt his odds of surviving would be significantly higher.


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Renfry

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The Jedi's blades chopped through the hail of bolts, finding that they cleaved in two and dissipated immediately rather than deflecting around him. As he made it back to the stairs, he would be able to hear the other Nightsisters heading up the stairs. However, if he took the route with the cobwebs, he would find a ship that once belonged to the Zeffo. While not anything particularly special or exotic, it would be sufficient to get him off world if he was quick because Renfry and her guards would be on his tail again in moments.

@Isen
 

Isen Ramm

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At the top of the stairs, Isen had a decision to make. He could head down the stairs and continue with certain confrontation with the Nightsisters, or there was an alternate route available. Truth be told, Isen and Rah did not necessarily possess the entire moral high ground. While he no doubt felt that the Nightsisters jumped to violence much sooner than was necessary, there was a reason that the Jedi tried to sneak onto the planet- they knew they weren't welcome here. To that extent, Isen felt it was a duty to leave, if not altogether prudent under the circumstances of being outnumbered.

He slipped into the dark, tight corridor to his left. There was another one on his right, and when the Nightsisters gave chase, perhaps they would feel the need to split up to cover both corridors. Isen extinguished his lightsaber so that he basically disappeared into the pitch blackness and when he popped out the other side, he spotted an ancient ship in the middle of one of three landing pads. He didn't concern himself with how it got in here or how he might get out, as they were still inside the temple but he set to a sprint on it. It was a small two-seater, the front seat occupied by an ancient pilot droid.

Isen sprinted and Force jumped several meters into the open cockpit and closed the glass hatch. The droid looked out of commission, and Isen wondered if maybe he was going to be stuck in here. Isen checked the back of the neck of the droid for a power switch, flipped it and the droid buzzed and whirled to life.

"Can you fly me out of here?"

"It is what I am programmed to do," the droid said back.

"Great. Fly me out of here...however that works." Isen was concerned because as far as he could tell, there was nowhere for the ship to actually go.

"I need destination coordinates before takeoff."

"I don't care," Isen said. His eyes looking at the corridor, waiting for Nightsisters to come pouring out of it. "Anywhere off this planet is fine."

"I am programmed to not begin takeoff protocols until I have destination coordinates."

Isen didn't have time to argue with an ancient droid today. He quickly accessed the closest set of coordinates on his datapad and spouted out the coordinates of the Haven Class Medical Station that was between Dathomir and Ord Cestus. He had been there already, and he just wanted somewhere that the droid could calculate fast.

"Coordinates received."

The ancient ship rattled as the engines started to scream to life. Isen looked through the glass hatch as the ceiling above him began to open. Thousands of years of dust and grime began to fall from the ceiling as an opening to the dark Dathomir sky began to emerge. The ship began to lift off the ground, heading straight up on a path to exit the temple through the roof.


@Phoenix
 

Isen Ramm

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The ship cleared the temple, and the ceiling started to close back much like it had been for thousands of years. Isen looked out of the dusty viewport, and he was happy to have a droid who could fly by calculations and not by sight. As the ship was about to exit the Dathomirian atmosphere, Isen sent the droid different coordinates.

"New plan. We're going to Yavin IV."

The droid recalculated the path, and once out of Dathomir's atmosphere and were into the wilds of black space, the old ship zipped into hyperspace en route to the Jedi temple.


/exit thread
 
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