United We Stand

[patient_zero]

"That was one hell of a move Shara and good job all of you. We've still got to get to that base and when we do, Shara you'll be coming with me."

 

Zarena emerged from her cover to join the rest of the group, her eyes still on the fallen Rancor as she paced over. She sheathed her vibroblade and eyed her blaster for a moment. If we're fighting Rancors already, I'm gonna need a bigger gun.

 

"What are the rest of us gonna do?" she asked Kevak. Hopefully nothing involving huge-ass monsters. She paused in thought for a moment, scowling to herself. "We don't even know where in the base this Sith Lord is, if he's in there at all."

[ForeverNight]

"That was one hell of a move Shara and good job all of you. We've still got to get to that base and when we do, Shara you'll be coming with me."

 

Thryyn nodded as Kevak spoke. "Makes sense." He said once he was done. "Looks to be only a few klicks away, so we should get there by nightfall."

 

"We don't even know where in the base this Sith Lord is, if he's in there at all."

 

"Ah, but they have communications, if we can get into the network, we can draw out this Darth Whatever." Thryyn said, feeling fully in his element. "If we can get into the network, we can put out a distress call and make a claim about some Jedi having broken in secretly and how we desperately need reinforcements." Thryyn shrugged.

 

"That's how we'd kill high-ranking Sith who happened to be Dark Jedi during the Sith War. I don't think they ever caught on to the tactic until the end."

[Niftyeye]

As the smoke cleared and the rancor was dispatched... there was no sign of Aeran, throughout the whole engagement with the rancor he was last seen heading into the smoke, then a roar, then silence until the rancor advanced.....

 

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Aeran moved up, slowly away from the entrance into the base that he came in to heading down the corridors, there was a smell of disinfectant in the air, which reminded him of hospitals during the war.

 

He peered around a corner to see a couple of Sith Soldiers, these guys were pretty much identical in armour, although their's looked a lot more bulky.... he had an idea, and as the other soldier left he fired a dart into him, paralysing him.

 

Minutes later Aeran had changed into the disguise, while dressing the Sith up as himself, and then stabbing him, to appear to the Sith and the party that Aeran had obviously been killed.

 

Or so they thought.... he began to march off into the base, before looking at his magnificent armour, now holding the body of a dead enemy, he headed off with speed, vigilance, and valor, for that was all a soldier needed.

[ForeverNight]

Aeran moved up, slowly away from the entrance into the base that he came in to heading down the corridors, there was a smell of disinfectant in the air, which reminded him of hospitals during the war...

 

Thryyn looked around at the party as they were marching towards the base and did a quick head count. One, two, three, four... Where's Aeran?

 

He took out his comlink and turned it on, checking for the static of commo-jamming, nothing. "Aeran, Thryy." He said into it. "Where the hell are you? Over."

 

"Kevak," he called after he had used the comlink. "Do you have any idea where Aeran is?"

[Rachel_Ewok]

"That was one hell of a move Shara and good job all of you. We've still got to get to that base and when we do, Shara you'll be coming with me."

 

"Yes si- Er, Kevak." Shara frowned, she didn't like to call people who were obviously giving her the orders anything but sir. She and Kevak seemed to be on a first name basis now so it was alright with him, but it still seemed a bit ackward to her.

 

"What's the plan?" She asked looking at him, "I'm up for a nice senic walk... Just as long as we don't have any more rancors to face..." She grinned, then quietly said, so only Kevak could hear. "Thanks for what you did back there. If you hadn't jumped up on it... I wouldn't have unfrozen... You saved my life. I am grateful." She nodded, and give him a small, yet sincere, half smile.

[Cyborg Ninja]

"We don't even know where in the base this Sith Lord is, if he's in there at all."

 

Kevak was about to answer but Thryyn responded with a much better idea.

 

"Ah, but they have communications, if we can get into the network, we can draw out this Darth Whatever." Thryyn said, feeling fully in his element. "If we can get into the network, we can put out a distress call and make a claim about some Jedi having broken in secretly and how we desperately need reinforcements." Thryyn shrugged.

 

"I'm very much a fan of that plan Thryyn, keep that in mind when we get to the base."

 

"Thanks for what you did back there. If you hadn't jumped up on it... I wouldn't have unfrozen... You saved my life. I am grateful." She nodded, and give him a small, yet sincere, half smile.

 

"Ib'tuur jatne tuur ash'ad kyr'amur adi'ka nayc'gar"

 

"Kevak," he called after he had used the comlink. "Do you have any idea where Aeran is?"

 

Kevak looked around and realized that Aeran was missing, he doubted he died in the explosion.

 

"Kill that comlink Thryyn, if Aeran's not picking up its because he doesn't want to. We have to keep moving, I got a good feeling we'll catch up with him later."

[ForeverNight]

"Kill that comlink Thryyn, if Aeran's not picking up its because he doesn't want to. We have to keep moving, I got a good feeling we'll catch up with him later."

 

Thryyn hit himself in the head after he heard Kevak's order. "Idiot." He muttered to himself as he deactivated the comlink and tossed it into his rucksack.

 

He started scanning the forest visually as the party moved deeper in. "Why is it that there's always some journey to the 'Evil Bad Guy's Fortress of Doom?'" he muttered to himself.

 

((I'm up for a little time compression if the rest of you guys are.))

[Niftyeye]

Aeran had searched around the base for what felt like hours, although it had probably only been minutes, it was easier than he thought slipping into the Sith disguise, he even felt comfortable in such a position....

 

Parts of the base were in certain disrepair, and there was always a door guarded, but as long as he didnt approach, not a single soul in the base questioned his post.

 

He headed in deeper, keeping an eye open for anything important.

[Rachel_Ewok]

"Ib'tuur jatne tuur ash'ad kyr'amur adi'ka nayc'gar"

 

Shara cracked a smile. "Today's a good day for someone else to die."

 

Boy was he right, she was enjoying Kevak's company and companionship more and more. She knew he had her back now- she would do anything in her power to watch out for him too.

 

"You're very brave." She commented, then looked up at him. "Thryyn is walking to the base.... We're going there too, aren't we?" She stopped, "Aeran's body isn't anywhere. He is safe, I can feel it. He wouldn't do anything too stupid." She grinned.

[Cyborg Ninja]

Kevak continued down the path until he finally reached the base. He took the sith soldier's hand he cut off and placed it on the scanner. The twin doors opened and Kevak tossed Thryyn the hand.

 

"There's probably a door in the back with the same type of scanner, if there's a password however its Malak. Try to be as stealthy as possible, I doubt there's any sith lords in here so if you keep your head down you'll be fine. Make sure to take Zarena and the others with you, Shara and I will meet up with you inside," Kevak than turn to Shara and held his hand out, "How well do you trust me Shara?"

 

If she took his hand he could cloak her too, if not they would have to improvise something Kevak hated.

[Rachel_Ewok]

Shara looked at Kevak's hand. This was the same person who when they first met didn't trust *her* at all. If Shara recalled correctly he had wanted to kill her.

 

But all that had changed now, she respected him. He was Mandalorian too, her father had always said 'Aliit ori'shya tal'din' - family is more than blood. There was an honour involved in the Mandalorian Code, Shara had no reason not to trust Kevak. Shara decided even if he wasn't truly a Mandalorian she would still trust him.

 

Shara looked up at his masked face, then at his hand again. "I trust you." She said, nodding, and grasped his hand.

[ForeverNight]

"There's probably a door in the back with the same type of scanner, if there's a password however its Malak. Try to be as stealthy as possible, I doubt there's any sith lords in here so if you keep your head down you'll be fine. Make sure to take Zarena and the others with you, Shara and I will meet up with you inside,"

 

Thryyn caught the hand with ease and nodded to the other members of the party, "you're with me." He said, becoming a Marine Sergeant Major for the first real time this trip.

 

"Kevak." He called. "Good luck, I have a feeling you're gonna need it. See you inside."

 

He sprinted around the fort and pressed the hand against the scanner. After a moment's pause, a full keyboard popped out along with a screen, which simply prompted: Password?

 

"M...a...l...a...k..." Thryyn said as he typed in the name. The screen blinked for a moment before the message: Password Rejected, appeared on the screen.

 

"You have got to be kidding me!" Thryyn muttered to himself before drawing out two frag grenades and placing them next to the door. "Let's see if they skimped on building material." He said, already moving away from the door so as to get out of the blast radius.

 

((If anybody needs a reminder of the breakdown of the teams, it's Jaq, Zarena and I going in through the back, and Kevak and Shara going in through the front. Everybody else is back at the ship.))

[Cyborg Ninja]

"I trust you." She said, nodding, and grasped his hand.

 

"And I you," Kevak resonded before adding, " I bet we're making your friend Erik jealous." He added in his last attempt at humor before getting serious for the mission.

 

Kevak chanted to himself very quietly as his head turned invisible. He continued chanting until his entire body was covered and then moved onto cloaking Shara. He moved to the door and put his back to the wall motioning for Shara to do the same by giving a slight tug on her hand. It was odd the two probably would have killed each other at one point but during the course of half of the mission that changed. He looked around at the structure within the base, it had been a while since he saw a Sith base. Thryyn would probably work his way to getting those communications out of the way so decided that taking out their armory at the same time would be the best course of action.

 

"We're going to down their armory before they know what hits them," Kevak whispered softly.

[ForeverNight]

He said, already moving away from the door so as to get out of the blast radius.

 

For a moment, nothing happened, then, after a deafening silence, and equally deafening blast was heard, and Thryyn could see several splinters of metal gleaming in the air as they caught the light of hte sun.

 

Thryyn walked around the base until he was where the door had been. "Look's like they're skimping again." He muttered to himself as he walked through the newly formed door.

 

"Communications... where would that be." He said to himself, looking for a directory of some sort... "Ah," he said. "Fifth floor... right next to the... Throne Room." He gulped slightly before squaring his shoulders and finding the nearest turbolift.

 

Funny He thought. Nobody's shown up at all

 

He turned to Zarena, who he guessed would have more experience in this sort of situation than Jaq. "So, any ideas on where the Sith are?"

[patient_zero]

"There's probably a door in the back with the same type of scanner, if there's a password however its Malak. Try to be as stealthy as possible, I doubt there's any sith lords in here so if you keep your head down you'll be fine. Make sure to take Zarena and the others with you, Shara and I will meet up with you inside."

 

Zarena nodded, and moved so she was standing nearer to Thryyn. He started to move, and she followed, assuming that Jaq would have been tailing behind them somewhere.

 

She watched as Thryyn placed the hand against the scanner. Password Rejected.

 

"Let's see if they skimped on building material."

 

He was moving away, and Zarena noted the grenades he'd placed and rolled her eyes. "Don't you think they'll notice the hole? We could at least try another pass--" Bang.

 

Thryyn walked through the hole where the door had once been. Zarena gingerly followed, dodging the shrapnel left behind, as if she stood on it it could go straight through her sole.

 

When she caught up with him Thryyn was examining a map on the wall.

 

"Communications... where would that be. Ah, fifth floor... right next to the... Throne Room."

 

He turned to her as she approached. "So, any ideas on where the Sith are?"

 

Zarena snorted. "A couple." She gave a moment's pause and folded her arms before she continued.

 

"Either they're stealthed and giggling at us - not very Sithly. The giggling, I mean. Or they might have noticed the lovely couple going in through the other door. Or they're heading for the Glider as we speak. The only other option I can think of is that they're sitting in the Throne room singing like a drunken Corellian soldier waiting for us to walk in and take out their boss, because there'd be far to many of them for us to fight at once and win."

 

She unfolded her arms and gave a light shrug. "But I can't say for sure until they start shooting at us."

[ForeverNight]

"Either they're stealthed and giggling at us - not very Sithly. The giggling, I mean. Or they might have noticed the lovely couple going in through the other door. Or they're heading for the Glider as we speak. The only other option I can think of is that they're sitting in the Throne room singing like a drunken Corellian soldier waiting for us to walk in and take out their boss, because there'd be far to many of them for us to fight at once and win."

 

Thryyn repressed a snort at the thought of the Sith being stealthed and giggling at them, but fought to keep his laughter under control when the Zeltron brought up Corellian Soldiers.

 

"You sound like you've known a few Corellian soldiers in your life." He observed as he walked to his right and a turbolift and pressed a call button. "That or you've been around more than a few people who have... Can you believe that the turbolift actually works?"

 

As the door slid open, Thryyn walked in, pressed the button for the fourth level and then stepped out. "There, that should keep them guessing for a little while... at least long enough to find the stairs." The last was said as he opened the door conveniently marked "stairs"...

 

...and ducked as a blaster bolt flew right over his head.

 

"Looks like we found those Sith." He said as he brought his assault rifle to bear. I'm getting too old for this...

[Niftyeye]

(You havnt found Aeran, but bear in mind that there is a Sith dressed up in Aeran's different looking armour, and since none of you have seen his face... :S)

 

 

Aeran kept 'patrolling' when suddenly a hooded figure turned the corner with a group of Sith behind him.

 

"All soldiers rally to me! Intruders are in the base and we, or rather I am going to clense them, you all follow and watch your master at work." He roared, before motioning Aeran and a few other sith soldiers to fall in and follow.

 

Aeran heard some shooting up ahead, at an area marked as 'stairs', he got ready to head in, and hopefully slip away, he didnt want to accidently get shot by his own party!

[patient_zero]

"You sound like you've known a few Corellian soldiers in your life. That or you've been around more than a few people who have..."

 

Zarena smirked. "I've dealt with enough Corellians in my time to learn some of their... finer songs off by heart."

 

Thryyn called the elevator and sent it up, but stepped out of it.

 

"There, that should keep them guessing for a little while... at least long enough to find the stairs."

 

She watched as he headed for the stairwell, quite handily marked in basic. A few moments later he ducked, and her eyes lazily followed the blaster bolt that had soared over his head.

 

"Should've taken the lift," she muttered, pacing towards the door. She put her back flat up against the side of the door frame, blaster held up to her chest. Just like in the holovids! Once Thryyn was out of her line of fire, she turned and pumped a few blasts into the doorway, striking one of their more enthusiastic assailants in the chest.

 

"Charging a chokepoint! Such clever Sith." She grinned, and almost hoped they could hear her.

[ForeverNight]

"Charging a chokepoint! Such clever Sith."

 

Thryyn, so help him, grinned when he heard that, the blaster bolt by his ear, however, brought him back to reality and he depressed his trigger on the rifle, spitting out projectiles, hitting at least two Sith in a perverse two-for-one deal.

 

"Yeah, you can always count on them to do the thing that will most likely get them killed." Thryyn said aloud, hoping to get a reaction out of one of the Sith...

 

...his hopes came crashing down around his head as he saw somebody, or rather something, wearing a hooded robe and wielding something that looked like a lightsaber stalk into the room.

 

"Shoot." Thryyn spat, he then dropped his assault rifle as useless and pulled out a knife.

 

"Zarena, try and distract them while I try to keep myself from getting killed by this guy." He called, hoping that the Zeltron wouldn't think he was overstating his abilities as much as he was and actually get the soldiers away from him while he did just what he said he would.

 

Flicking the knife on, he faced the figure. "Why'd you bring a sword to a knife fight?"

[patient_zero]

"Zarena, try and distract them while I try to keep myself from getting killed by this guy."

 

"Sure thing, hon." Zarena said, moments before Thryyn moved. The eyes of the soldiers turned to Thryyn as he marched towards the figure, and she knew it'd be her job to get them to look back. Stripping? Nah, leaves me too exposed to blaster shots, better not. Flash grenade? Might work, but I wouldn't want to be this close in case I blind Thryyn. Perhaps a Corellian drinking song or some rubbish battlecries are in order.

 

She fired a few shots into the Sith, and backed down the corridor. "It's alright, I'm on it!" she cried with a false arrogance, stepping back further and hammering the turbolift button. Curious, some of the soldiers followed, and she ducked down a different passageway.

 

Leaving her right hand holding her blaster, she moved her left to fumble about inside her jacket, gripping her flash grenade. She raised her hand to her headband, darkening the visor, and unpulled the pin of her grenade.

 

She reached around and fired a few shots, drawing the soldiers closer, before the flash grenade denotated. Oh man, I hope Thryyn hurries up with the killing.

[Rachel_Ewok]

" I bet we're making your friend Erik jealous." He added, just as the two of them began to become invisible.

 

Shara smiled, and was glad that the cloaking hid her face just as she began to feel her cheeks heat up with a slight rosy colour.

 

Kevak gave a slight tug on her hand, signaling her to follow. She knew that if she let go of his hand she was dead, and if he let go of her hand she was dead. Shara needed to trust him more than ever, and she really did.

 

The invisible pair walked down a corridor, and Shara was beginning to get the hang of walking with Kevak tugging on her hand telling her where to go, then his voice whispered to her, startling her a bit- but not enough to make her let go.

 

"We're going to down their armory before they know what hits them,"

 

"When we get there what's the plan? Do we take some stuff, make an explosion?" She asked, her voice a quiet whisper.

[Cyborg Ninja]

"When we get there what's the plan? Do we take some stuff, make an explosion?"

 

"Take what you can carry and..." Kevak began whispering before feeling a slight pain in his head. "Its Thryyn, he Zarena and Jaq ran into some trouble at the back door, if we hurry we can attack the sith from behind. I'm going to reccomend we stay invisble until we get to them and then attack."

 

Kevak began moving down the hall and took out his cloaked vibrosword. He eyed a cloaked figure and beyond that he could see Thryyn. Kevak put his sword away and puts on hand on Shara's shoulder. He let go of her hand as soon as his other hand made contact with her shoulder.

 

"Shara you have to take that Sith out, I can still cloak you if you want to take the shot now... or we do it the fun way," Kevak whispered into her ear.

[Rachel_Ewok]

"The fun way?" Shara raised an eyebrow, even though she knew Kevak couldn't see her. "You mean barging in? Full force? Guns ablaze?" She hissed gleefully. "Then let's do it the fun way." She pulled out her vibrosword. "Let's get a little closer first. Then let's take him out." She grinned.

[Cyborg Ninja]

"Let's get a little closer first. Then let's take him out."

 

Kevak nodded in agreement and slid his hand down her arm and back into her free hand. He took out his vibrosword out as well.

 

"It's easier for me to to cloak and move like this," Kevak whispered.

 

He moved the both of them closer to the cloaked figure before stopping. He made a slight movement forward with the hand holding Shara's hoping she'd get the message to strike now. He swung the sword with his left hand seeing that his right was preoccupied and hoped for a quick kill.

 

"Please, don't let it be a sith lord," Kevak thought to himself.

[ForeverNight]

The cloaked figure moved little as he examined Thryyn, and then dismissed him as a probable threat. Time to change that impression Thryyn thought to himself as he adjusted the grip on his vibro-knife.

 

"Sure thing, hon." He heard Zarena say before he moved.

 

Look at the feet Thryyn thought to himself, thinking back to Basic, and the other, less savory, stations he'd been assigned to. The feet never lie... or is that the eyes?

 

Deciding to throw Caution, and Thinking out any nearby window, Thryyn launched himself towards the Sith Lord, and did his best to stab with the knife, right where the heart would be if it was a human.

 

He didn't come through unscathed, the Sith managed to slice his back with the wicked looking sword he had, but Thryyn managed to pierce the chest of the Sith nevertheless...

 

...but it wouldn't die.

 

Grabbing his back in silent pain -like hell he'd give him the satisfaction of his screams- Thryyn turned around and prepared to launch himself anew at the Sith, and hope he guessed right when he decided that most anything couldn't survive without a head...