Dark Age of the New Republic

[Flamehart]

Strider nodded, his expression growing serious as well.

 

"I'm standing by your side, Riebe. Tell me what you need me to do, and consider it done," he said to Riebe, placing a hand on his fellow Hunter's shoulder.

[Writer]

"Tell me something," Riebe said quietly. "Do you think the others are ready to take a stand on this little planet, a place that none of them have fully embraced? I sense Jahara misses Ossus... will they defend a place merely because it means something to me?"

[Flamehart]

"They have been here for two years learning the ways of the Sith Hunters. They will defend this place in respect for it has made them, and for the sanctuary it gave them from the rest of the galaxy," Strider replied, looking directly at Riebe to show he had faith in the younger Hunters.

[Writer]

"Why don't you find them?" Riebe said softly. "Tell them what's happening. I'll return to the cave. When you're done explaining the situation, come help me. The sooner we get those generators online, the easier this will be for us. Have one of the kids make an announcement over the citywide intercom. Word for word, they should say, 'Citywide shutdown.' Have them repeat it three times. The citizens will know what to do."

[Flamehart]

Strider nodded, and without another word, turned and left to round up the other Hunters. He walked through the mess hall as he passed, waving at Danera and Jahara to come with him as he passed. He reached the training rooms, in which Katherine, Kin, and Raek were either practicing or meditating, and waved at them to also come with him. Finally, nearing the exit if their training facility, he turned to face them.

 

"Darth Tepe has discovered the Watchtower. I ask you now as Hunters...to stand by Riebe and myself to help us defend this planet. Katherine, you know where the citywide intercom is, go there and make an announcement. State clearly "Citywide shutdown," three times. The citizens will be able to take it from there. The rest of you, follow me to Riebe. Katherine, once you are done, just track us down, just like all of you have been trained to do. We will move from there. We have little time. Let us hurry. The defense of The Watchtower starts now."

 

With that, Katherine left to the city intercom. Strider beckoned at the rest to follow him now as he sprinted back to the cave to catch up with Riebe.

[Writer]

((Tepe, you weren't supposed to post that just yet! I had a cool little scene planned for before you got here! ))

[Black Knight of Keno]

((Well sorry to be awake to post it. Bt go ahead, post your thing, I'll drop my post below your post unless your post would involve other people to reply ))

[Writer]

((Just some minor char control and people won't have to reply before you Also, I like your amusement at the holograms. It's quite accurate that you'd be amused... since these generators are something like 60 years old ))

 

"Citywide shutdown," Katherine's voice rang through the city three times. The citizens of Andarin methodically left whatever they were doing and entered a portion of the city everyone called 'the maze'. This section of buildings had been built with so many crisscrossings of streets and so many buildings joined together that, unless you had a map or had grown up in the city it would be impossible to find your way out once you went in.

 

The maze also went several levels underground. And there, underground, it continued to veer and twist, turning this way and that, eventually leading well beyond the outskirts of the city to a pre-stocked underground waiting area. In this place, so far removed from the city and impossible to get to, the citizens would wait until the Sith Hunters gave the proper return code.

 

Curious as to their movements, Katherine watched them for a moment. Then, she ran to join her fellow Hunters in the cave. There, Riebe was manipulating the shattered and twisted pieces of the holo-generators, reforming them into what they once were. As she worked, she seemed to be telling a story.

 

"This cave is drenched in darkness," she said softly. "A young Dark Jedi named Kavin once lived here, using his toys, the holo-generators to spawn tangible Sith combatants to raid the little town of Andarin."

 

Piece after piece reattached itself to the broken generators and Riebe continued. "Then, a woman crashed her ship on the planet. And with her, a Phantom Savior arrived, combating the holo-images. With help from two Jedi, who'd been attracted by the extreme Force use and the ripples of disturbance, she brought the Dark Jedi to his end."

 

Her eyes opened slowly and she turned to face her companions, never once neglecting the duty of putting piece after piece on the rebuilding generators.

 

"Now, that man's generators will be used to simulate every living person in the great city of Andarin," she told them. "And among them, we will stand. We will stand and fight for this little planet and for its people!"

 

Turning back to the generators, she closed her eyes again. To the Hunters' ears and minds, her words boomed, "To combat the darkness, give me all your light. Let us banish the shadows."

 

Sensing her wishes, Strider joined his mind with hers, combining their power. Then gradually, the others joined the bond and their power increased.

 

"Together, we stand," they said in unison. "Together, we create a beacon, banishing darkness in an overflow of light. May the darkness tremble in fear."

 

A brilliant flash of white light flooded the cave, crushing any remaining dark presence. When the light faded, the generators were whole and the group, with a unified thought, switched them on. Instantly, Andarin was filled with holograms, each one going about his or her buisness.

 

"Let us return to the city," Riebe said and slowly their unified mind seperated. "Darth Tepe will be on his way soon, I think. We ought to be there to welcome him."

 

((Tepe, keep in mind that these are tangible holograms. If you touch them you will feel something... and they'll turn to ask you what you need ))

[Black Knight of Keno]

When the Sith would arrive, his force trace was quite hidde. Not because of his powers were hidden, but more suppressed by the Ysalamir sleeping on his shoulder. He wore a more traditional merchant clothing while the Colonel wore the disguise of a bounty hunter. However, the Sith Lord also wore below the clothes his Tunic and could easily rip the outer layer off to show the true himself. Also, with the white eyes, he could easily disguise himself as a totally new race, the Arkanians. He only needed to blend the irirses with the white, which was quite easy seeing as what powers he had gotten from the ancient and powerful rage.

 

The freighter landed but it was somehow odd. Tepe looked out of the cockpit and smirked as he started the scan that showed no life in the near vicinity even if they were in the "center" of a busy city.

"Holograms..." the colonel said and laughted. The Sith shushed his fellow infiltrator and stood up, walking outside and looking around. They would need to act this out properly without making themelves too known. The colonel brought out two elegant swoop bikes or them to use to get to the Hunters swifty without a hickup. Just then, a holographic mechanic walked straight throught a table. Tepe started laughting.

"They seriously need newer equipment. Ihaven't seen this lousy work coverin up since my birth" he aid as he stepped on his swoop and left dor the house of the Sith hunters.

 

As the swoops came near, the nose of them could be already heard. They stopped next to a hill, unknown to the fact that the cave of the Sith Hunters was very close to them. They looked at the house before smirking and looking around.

"I'm waiting here. Check if they have left" Tepe said and the Colonel left for the house to try and find out if someone was still inside. He even circled the place to try and look inside throught the windows. Unfortunately, the Colonel had taken the Ysalamir too far and now the full power of the Dark Lord could be senced easily and located even more easier. He knew what had happened and so made his irises appear again, ripping his merchant clothes away and stepping off from the swoop bike. He got ready and looked around, sensing about for the Hunters to appear from somewhere and so they did. He had been quite fast enougt to get there that the Sith Hunters were on the open grounds. Tepe gave a laught and then whistled with a sharp tone on his voice. As the Hunters turned to see him, he hopped on his swoop and races towards them. As he got near enought, he stopped the swoop but he himself continued to do a flip over the handlebar and land right infront of the group, his eyes shining with a bright white. You could sence he had gotten a major upgrade even if he didn't use any of his powers. As the grin on his face widened, the younger Hunters might just flinch at the hideous power they felt inside. The older ones could feel the same but could look in deeper to see a power just waiting to be unleashed in a blast that could even disturb a whole planet into a lifeless one.

 

"I must thank you again, Riebe. Without you causing a diturbance in the force, I wouldn't have my pretty nice powers. Now, I haven't exactly yet found out what these powers are, but I would like to, so please, do fight me if you feel the urge" he said and laughted.

"And after that, you should get a new holoprojector. The one you now use is quite outdated. I just saw a guy walk throught a table. Straight throught the middle too" he said as the Colonel arrived, staying on his bike. This wasn't his fight and if it would, his Lord would tell him so

[Writer]

"Not my fault the generators are near sixty years old," Riebe chuckled. "Guys walking through tables shouldn't be happening though... they're tangible holograms." She shrugged. "But I suppose it wouldn't hurt to upgrade the old things."

 

She shot a quick look at Strider and then began to mentally feel for the other Hunters. One by one, as they realized what she wanted, they connected, forming the joint mind they'd used to overpower the darkness in the cave.

 

"We draw on one another's strengths," they said in unison. Then, Riebe's voice rose alone. "You fight one, you fight us all. Gerv will not be yours."

 

As if to emphasize her point, all of the Hunters activated their lightsabers.

 

"Your move," they told Tepe in unison.

[Black Knight of Keno]

"Whoah! I didn't come here to invade. Nobody else knows about the place but me and Colonel over there" he said and smirked. That was a neat trick what they had managed to pull off and his hands went to his belt, ready to draw the lightsabers.

"However, if there is just one of you, doesn't that mean that I should use Makashi?" he asked before backing off and laughting lightly.

"Cheer up, guys, nobody's killing anyone today"

[Writer]

"We take your arrival here very seriously," the united mind informed Tepe through its six mouths. "And while you're right that there will be no killing..."

 

Riebe's voice broke away from the others, declaring, "We will soundly trounce you."

 

"Yeah," Strider agrees. "And what's with Makashi? To our unified mind, I bring something far less structured and yet just as deadly if not more so..."

 

A collective grin spread over the Hunters' faces and, with Strider's voice leading, they said, "... a nice big can of this stuff known as whup-ass!"

 

In preparation for Tepe's first strike, the Hunters fanned out, each flourishing his or her saber or sabers in a show of 'whup-ass'.

 

 

((Wow, this is a rather entertaining post, if I may say so myself... Thanks to Strider for the can of 'whup-ass'

 

Tepe, I found your MSN IM addy off your profile page here at LF and have added you to my contacts. Hope you'll return the favor ))

[Black Knight of Keno]

((God dang it with you! You have been lying to me about not having MSN! Rawr!))

 

"Okay... That's really creepy, but if you really want to taste some whoop-ass, I'm your man then" he said and looked at the colonel, smirking. The Hunters wouldn't know what hit them when their force powers wouldn't work because of the ysalamir hidden by the Colonel nearby. The Sith knew that he would be quite hopeless without the force also, but at least he knew about it and could use another style of fighting Emukiel tought him once that worked better when not connected to the force. The Sith drew a piece of cloth from his swoop, tied it to block his vision and then waited for a minute, breathing and preparing for the fight that would ensue. In this moment that he prepared, his other sences sharpened. He could hear where the lightsabers were and his feet could sence the trembling of earth as the Hunters took steps. He could also smell the sweat and so identify the sex of his opponent. The sith then took his first step, his lightsabers grasped in his hands. As he pressed a small button, the hilts curved slightly by the bottom parts moving. He ignited both blades and took his stance.

 

"Ready then?" he asked before grinning and rushing forwards. The first reaction of course would be to evade his sudden burst and laught at the petty try as they thought he was blind and could not see where they were. How wrong they were. Danera was first to fall victim to his new style. As the man jumped away from the Sith, the Sith jumped after him, slicing with both blades and making deep cuts onto the arms of the mercenary. Danera fell down from pain, cutting off from the unified mind but not without first sending the shocks of pain throught everyone else. He lay down, holding his hands and crawling away from the battle. He would need the medical droid. Tepe now stood behind the group so that on the other side was the colonel and the Sith Hunters were in the middle. The Dark Lord gave out a laught and grinned viciously.

 

"I am a man of my word. Nobody dies today. Now, who's next?" he said and seemed to look around like a blind man. Well, he was a blind man, but he was not looking around because of that. He was smelling and trying to hear their moves. He took a defencive posture now, knowing that the dumbfoundment of he hunters would be great when they found out they could not use their force-enhanced speed or agility. It was a fair fight now and all depended on the skills of the fighters

[Sigundr]

((I'm gonna post from school from now since I can't from home. Is the unified mind necessary? I mean, the pain gets distributed to everyone else. But whatever.))

 

Raek grimaced at the pain that went through their unified minds, but shrugged it off. He gave a wicked smile and crossed his sabers in an horizontal "X". Time to put his Ataru to the test.

 

((Time for some whup-ass))

[Writer]

((The unified mind enables them to fight better as the one mind can better keep track of what the seperate parts are doing. Also, Tepe, don't you think the Hunters would've immediately felt the effects of the Ysalamir? One further thing: Riebe has been alive and fighting for more than 2000 years and Strider's been around for 4000. Given their experience, I think they'd know why they couldn't use Force powers... and given the fact that they've been training the younger generation, I think the younger Hunters would get it too. I think you're underestimating us ))

[Black Knight of Keno]

((Correction: The Dark Lord is underestimating you. Danera was a fool who didn't concentrate and thought the 'unified mind' thing was bull))

[Joetheeskimo]

Kin sensed that absence of Force energy, but his expression didn't change. He quickly adapted his plan to make himself independent on the Force. This battle would be much harder now, but it would also be more fair.

[Sigundr]

You ready, Kin?, Raek said through the Force to Kin. Time to roll over him like a angry bantha.

[Black Knight of Keno]

((There is still no force around them, but let's just say yo have learne dthe technique from Riebe and Strider))

 

As the two came in for the kill, the Sith suddenly did a massive backflip, changing the form of the lightsabers back to two straight ones as he stopped Makashi and countered the two with a Juyo style. He didn't even have to tap into his anger as he launching his counter-attack on the two. It would've been an easy kill, but Jahara intervened and hit his lightsaber. Tepe grunted at the fail of his attack and concentrated on Jahara now, backing her off with one lightsaber while defending himself from the others with his second lightsaber.

 

"What have you been doing, Riebe? Lazing off? Your pupils know nothing of fighting a Sith" he said and nodded to the Colonel that swiftly pulled the ysalamir out and a vibroblade, thus killing the creature. Quickly the vloth was from the Sith's eyes and he used the full potential of his immense powers. The nearest force-user even in a neighbouring world could feel the energy pulsing from the one man that bathed in hs own hatred and power. The Dark Lord enhanced his speed and managed to disarm Jahara just in time to counter an attack from Rthe other Sith Hunters

[Joetheeskimo]

Kin realized now that Tepe could kill one or even two of them without any effort. He connected his minds to the other Sith Hunters: We have to attack at the same moment together, or else he will be invincible.

[Flamehart]

Strider moved quickly, his hand reached behind him and withdrew another lightsaber hilt, handing it off to Jahara before flipping forward at Tepe and began dueling him, drawing on his own vast amount of Force strength, as well as sharing it with the rest of the Hunters through the mind connection, with no reprecussions on his own ability. He caught the Sith Lord off guard with his aggressive and unique style, giving the others time to now adapt to the swelling of power they were receiving from him and join in his offensive.

[Black Knight of Keno]

Strider was indeed aggressive, forcing the Sith Lord to go defensive, but only for a short while at that. The first mistake that the Hunter would do and the Lord would go aggressive again, pushing the man back before suddenly detatching himself from the battle and closing his eyes for a single deep breath before placing his other lightsaber away and raisin his hands. Throught the natural instincs, all slightly cowered to get ready for some sort of a force attack, but the Sith Lord did not do so.

 

"Ah... This day has been the one I have waited for so long. I will leave this battle as a tie. You have wounded me and I have wounded you. If you plan on leaving this planet, Ossus will be the planet to go to. Most of the others under the Republic are shadowed by doubt and many civilians have do not trust anyone who wields a lightsaber. Not even a Jedi. Farewell then" he said and put his other lightsaber away also, jumping over the Hunters and landing on his speeder before the two left swiftly. The fight had ended with more casualties to the Sith Hnters than the Sith Lord. The only thing they left behind was the corpse of a poor ysalamir, still emitting a weak field just going a few meters around it

[Flamehart]

Strider growled, angry with the undecided end of the fight. He turned back to the hunters, reaching his calm once more, to realize that all of them had made it through safely, with the exception of Danera's wounds. "Get him to the med bay," he said, before turning and eying the Sith leaving in the distance. He had gotten quite stronger, but Strider vowed to himself he would drain the last inch of power from his body to bring an end to the conflict.

[Writer]

Riebe grimaced slightly and projected a few thoughts into Strider's head: Danera is a fool. And I'm loosing patience with him. In my opinion, we ought to patch him up and let him take his leave. His heart has never been with us. It's always been about money for him. But I value your opinion, my Brother. What do you think we should do with him?

 

Oblivious to their conversation, Jahara returned the saber Strider had given her and retrieved her own, thanking him as she did so.

[Flamehart]

Strider took the blade and put it back on his belt, nodding in thanks to Jahara for returning it, then turned to Danera, glaring at him a little, then turned back to Riebe.

 

Patch him up, let him stay, but he will not participate in any of our training for awhile. He knows too much and we cannot send him on his way, because like you said, he cares only for money. Money in the right place could persuade him to let others know the location of the Watchtower. We can't have that. However, feel free to put a pinch on his payments - how much is entirely up to you.