KOTOR: Check and Mate

[Chevron 7 locke]

Aboard Escape Pod 05. Heading toward the asteroid N'tala

 

"What of the others...how many survived?"

 

Juhani paused for a moment and then reached out through the force to try and detect any survivors. "I can sense Perdante through the force, and a few others. But from what I'm sensing many of the crew have been killed."

 

She looked down at the floor of the pod. It was the way of the jedi to protect others and she had not been able to save the crew.

 

I couldn't sense anything during the attack or before the attack for that matter. I am the Grand Master of the Jedi Order! I should have been able to do something!

 

Juhani continued to stare at the floor of the escape pod in silence as the pod hurtled through space.

[Alkonium]

"I can sense Grand Master Juhani in the nearest escape pod, and Perdante's not far either. I'll see if I can contact her." Torent explained to Niera. "Grand Master, it's Torent. I managed to get Niera out in my Aurek fighter. Do you require assistance?" He transmitted to Juhani's escape pod.

[Tysyacha]

NEAR THE EXPLOSION SITE OF THE MILLENNIAL

 

How in space could I have missed?! thought Torian K'il to himself as his rage increased all the more. His proton cannons had not met with their intended target: a witness to the explosion of the starship Millennial. Clutching the controls of his own sleek fighter, specially crafted for a lone assassin, Torian did three slow barrel rolls and whirled closer to the other vessel. Honing in on the unwelcome guest with his custom targeting computer, the Rodian fired again.

 

This time both of my shots have connected! Ha, ha! They've hit the left wing, causing some damage, but not enough. Fighting the urge to succumb to unconsciousness, Torian suddenly noticed an Aurek fighter struggling to escape the intense heat, shockwaves, and flying hunks of shrapnel that were still careening around in space. You too must die, fools! he sneered, firing two more proton beams at the Aurek craft. As each beam hit, his screams increased in volume until they were deafening.

 

At last! My Prophet wins! The Aurek did not have a chance to dodge the two proton beams, and they had nearly melted the outer hull. Torian's eyes, once black, now appeared a silver-grey, which meant only one thing:

 

They were filling up with fluid. The Rodian had withstood G-forces that no normal human or alien could, and now he was paying the full price. As he struggled to keep a lookout for who and who was not still alive, Torian panicked. He was going blind, and there was absolutely no way to stop it.

 

INSIDE ESCAPE POD 01, HEADED FOR THE ASTEROID N'TALA

 

Perdante shuddered again, but this time, not from despair or another wave of the pain of death overcoming her. At this moment, she felt an emotion that had abandoned her as soon as she found out that Pauel was dead: hope.

 

"Someone's coming," she said excitedly, turning to Sal. "Or, they've just arrived. They're witnesses to the scene--another ship. They've come to save us!" Then, a tsunami of doubt swamped her voice. "That, or they have arrived at the Millennial's explosion site at exactly the wrong time. They don't give a fig about us, or what just happened. They want to survive."

 

She squeezed his hand. "Either way, that buys us and the others more time."

[ForceFightWMe12]

That was, of course, one more fear that he hadn't wanted to worry her with, and frankly, didn't want to think of himself. Whoever it was that fired on the had Millenial clearly had every intention of killing every person on that ship. Once they realized that escape pods had been launched, it would have been like shooting fish in a barrel; the pods had atmospheric shields to protect them in an uncontrolled descent, but proton torpedoes of the caliber that were used against the main ship could have easily taken out two or three closely-clustered escape pods with a single blast. There was a very good chance that, by jumping out of the frying pan, they had merely landed in the fire.

 

But evidently, Perdante had arrived at that conclusion without him having to voice it. The younger of the twins gave a small, sad smile as he squeezed her hand back. "I guess someone in the Force was looking out for us after all." He turned slightly so he was looking through the front view screen. Soon, they would be within the gravital pull of the asteroid, and he would have to get up and steer them to someplace safe for landing. From there, who know what else would happen...but for now, he was content to merely sit there, with her. "Now, it's just a matter of time."

[Tysyacha]

ABOARD ESCAPE POD 01, HEADED TOWARD THE ASTEROID N'TALA

 

"Indeed," she replied, not pulling her hand away from Sal's. It was nice to know that someone else was there with her, and for her, if the day's events took another turn for the worse. Against her better judgment, she scooted closer to the Republic officer. "It's also a matter of time until..."

 

Until I do what I have done before. This time, I don't care if I'm a Jedi.

 

Her lips sought Sal's again, and found them. Intertwining her fingers with his, she leaned into the kiss and met no resistance. This was truly meant to be, Perdante thought, Code or no Code. Why have the Jedi made it a crime to love as well as hate? It seems to me they want to outlaw all emotion, at least when it counts--like in the heat of battle, or a heated embrace...

 

When their lips finally parted, she whispered, "No one has to know. I may be a Jedi, but I think the Order is wrong about this. About us. What, are we automatically going to turn into Sith because of the way we feel? I don't think so, although the Council on Coruscant does. As I said, it's our secret, and as long as we keep it quiet, we're going to be okay." She nuzzled Sal's nose.

 

"Right?" she asked. She felt the escape pod lurch into N'tala's atmosphere.

[Alkonium]

"T7, see what you can do about that rupture." Torent called out to the Utility Droid attached to his fighter. "Juhani, I've taken heavy damage, and I won't be able to get to you, but I'm going to try to land on a nearby asteroid. I'm sending you the coordinates." He then sent out to Juhani's escape pod. "What about our assailant?" Niera asked. "Even in prime condition, an Aurek fighter can't take out something with that sort of firepower."

[ForceFightWMe12]

"It's also a matter of time until..."

 

A kiss had been the last thing that Sal was expecting - but when she moved, it all happened too quick for him to register, let alone avoid. One minute she was sitting safely next to him...the next minute, her warm lips were pressed against his, her hot breath was on his mouth, the scent of her hair and skin swimming around him...

 

He released his hold on one of her hands, sliding his fingers out of hers, and as his fingers threaded instead into her hair, to say that she had been met with 'little resistance' was an understatement; as long as she was kissing him, he was kissing her right back, and indulging in every minute of it. What had inspired this moment he neither knew nor cared. All that mattered was that it was happening, right then and there.

 

But in that moment, Salvatore had also forgotten that it wasn't just a woman he was kissing, it wasn't just Perdante. She was a Jedi. Which made what they were doing wrong...

 

But, like Perdante said, there was no way that anyone could find out about this if neither one of them spoke about it. What they were doing was wrong, but if they couldn't get caught...

 

Her lips still hovered so close to his, their foreheads brushing, her nose brushing against his as she spoke in the soft, confidential tones of a secret lover, of one half of a conspiracy. She was calm, accepting of what had just had happened between them. On the other hand, Sal was quivering; his fingers shook a bit, his lips didn't seem to quite know what to do with themselves. His mouth was dry. His voice had disappeared.

 

When he snagged Perdante away from the Bridge, he had only expected to indulge himself; it had never occurred to him that the memory of what had passed between them in the gym had ever passed in front of her mind's eye again. That she had ever thought of him like that came as such a shock to him...indulging himself was one thing. He couldn't hurt anyone or break any rules if it was just himself he was torturing, if it was just him imagining, indulging, pretending that this alone time meant anything. Now that it did...There was a part of him that was ecstatic. That couldn't be denied. But another, larger part of him triggered his sense of duty, and that left him with that heavy, uncomfortable feeling in the pit of his stomach that left him without an answer, a fish out of water. It was the sudden jarring of the escape pod and the proximity alert that went off from the dashboard that gave him room to escape.

 

When the console gave its warning beep, his hands disengaged from her, his body moving almost robotically - and without a word - to plant itself in the pilot's seat. For another minute the silence continued, and then he finally found his voice. "My readings from the Millenial were correct." he said dully, still on robot mode. His mind was whirling with far too many other thoughts to be concerned with something as elementary as landing their escape pod. "There are lifeforms on this rock. The good news is that it means that the atmosphere is breathable. The bad news is that we don't know how friendly our new hosts are towards military-equipped new-comers."

 

He needed to figure this out.

[Rexraptor2000]

Issac's fighter jerk violently as the proton rounds struck his left wing. The klaxons which had been going off since his arrival in the system intensified once again, accompanied by warnings from a calm, feminine voice. The calm voice, however, did not have any effect on the status of Issac's mindset.

 

“The fanatic who pushes himself beyond his limits.” Issac struggled to enunciate clearly, as he fought with the controls to stabilize his fighter and stay in his seat at the same time. The fighter continued to whiplash dangerously, and it was only when he cut the power that Issac managed to stabilized the fighter once again. He sectioned off the damaged components of his left wing. Issac watched as the fires that had ignited earlier dissipated and he used short bursts with his thrusters to right himself again. Above him, the enemy vessel wobbled and Issac could feel panic rolling off it in waves. This was something that was not there before, and whatever maneuver the enemy had pulled made that possible.

 

“The body cries and asks what it has done to itself,” Issac added, gently turning the nose to align his remaining weapons' systems with the unstable enemy vessel. The vessel had focused its attention on another ship. Issac activated the targeting computer and a lock was achieved not a moment later. “And the mind looks back, grief-stricken and horrified that it has failed.”

 

Issac fired his own torpedoes and they streamed through empty space toward the enemy vessel. They were like predators, and they hungrily closed the gap.

[Chevron 7 locke]

"Juhani, I've taken heavy damage, and I won't be able to get to you, but I'm going to try to land on a nearby asteroid. I'm sending you the coordinates."

 

Juhani turned her gaze up from the floor and slowly got to her feet so she could input the coordinates into the pod's computer. Even as she began to input the codes into the pod's computer she could sense something was...not right with her apprentice.

 

What could Perdante be up to?

 

Apprentice...she sent the message through the force. What are you doing? Are you alright?

[Tysyacha]

NEAR THE EXPLOSION SITE OF THE MILLENNIAL

 

Torian K'il was losing control, both of his craft and of his mind. He simply could not fathom how, and why, he was going blind. There he was in the cockpit of his expertly-crafted stealth fighter, supposedly the master of the situation, reduced to madly flailing about and fiddling with its many buttons and switches. I'm about to die when victory is mine?! It cannot be! Where is my target? Where are the escape pods, which I intended to shoot down as well? Where is that Aurek fighter that I hit just a few seconds ago? I can't see them! I can barely see anything! What in space is wrong with me?

 

"Insanity" might have proven a salient answer, but Torian rejected it outright.

 

I'll fire one more shot. It had better hit that other fighter...It will!

 

Unfortunately for the Rodian, he was proven dead wrong as the torpedoes from the enemy fighter slammed right into his craft, causing it to explode.

 

Torian K'il, like the unfortunate crew of the Millennial, became a sizzling fireball of grease. Khristoff had trusted him, relied on him, and he had failed.

 

ESCAPE POD 01, NEWLY LANDED ON THE ASTEROID N'TALA

 

In tandem with the explosion of Torian K'il's stealthcraft, the thunderous landing of a tiny escape pod sounded upon the asteroid of N'tala. Perdante was unprepared for the shock of the inelegant and dangerous crash, and the back of her head was whacked soundly. Stars swam in front of her.

 

Through the second wave of blinding pain she felt whilst in the confines of Escape Pod 01, she could sense the worried voice of Juhani, her mentor.

 

Hurt...upon landing. Not unconscious. Sal and I are both still intact...

[Chevron 7 locke]

((I'll introduce Zarev in my next post if thats alright with you Tys.))

 

Hurt...upon landing. Not unconscious. Sal and I are both still intact...

 

Juhani sighed in relief. It was her duty as the Grand Master of the order to watch out for both the innocents and her apprentice and she had already failed the crew of the Millennial.

 

She could sense that they were quickly approaching the asteroid since she could feel Perdante's unique force signiture getting closer.

 

She turned to Zen as she strapped herself in. "I would highly suggest that you strap yourself in. I'm going to try and make our landing a bit softer with the force but this could get rough."

[ForceFightWMe12]

Sal was badly rattled by the crash; despite his attempt to stablize the craft, the impact was still mainly on the nose, sending his body flying forward. The restraints cut deeply into his shoulders, and were sure to leave deep welts on his chest and collarbone. But nonetheless, he was conscious and intact, both things that he counted in his favor.

 

Unbuckling himself from his restraints, he jumped out of his seat and went to Perdante's side, kneeling beside her. She looked a little dazed, as if...

 

"You okay?" he asked, getting the restraints for her and sliding them back against the wall and out of the way. A hum that had been a constant background noise disappeared now that the systems were shutting down, and it seemed eerily quiet in their tiny little pod. He sat beside her, gently bending her head forward.

 

And sure enough, there was a welt already swelling at the back of her neck.

 

"Man," he chuckled lightly, "You're just getting beat up today, aren't you?"

[SkywalkerRules]

((Sent you a VM, Tysy.))

[Tysyacha]

ESCAPE POD 01, NEWLY LANDED UPON THE ASTEROID N'TALA

 

Perdante smiled ruefully and rolled her eyes at Sal. "Impressive for a Jedi, no? I mean, what kind of Knight doesn't use the Force to cushion the blow upon landing? A weak one, that's what, or at least a forgetful one." She let him bend her head forward some more. "Careful. I'm going to have a nasty bruise there, if not a full-blown concussion. Escape pods aren't built for luxuriously smooth arrivals at their destination." She chuckled. "They just make sure we're alive."

[SkywalkerRules]

((Where can I meet you guys, Tysy?))

 

A little girl had her kness crossed, as she meditated on the ground of N'Tala. Kyza Donro was practicing to lift a meduim-sized rock from the ground, using her special Force technique. "I can do this. I can do this..." All of a sudden, the rock lifted in the air. Kyza was surprised.

 

"I did it!" the seven-year-old said with joy. She placed the huge rock down.

[ForceFightWMe12]

"Oh stop," he said quietly, shaking his head. "There's no reason to beat yourself up. It was my mistake; I misjudged the aircurrents, and they sent us nose-down."

 

Standing up, he shifted to face her, gently taking her chin to hold her head steady. "At least your cheek's stopped bleeding. Can you stand?"

 

Salvatore stood straight and offered her his hand to help her. He couldn't help but feel bad; somehow, he'd managed to escape the chaos with barely a scratch, and Perdante was just getting beat up left and right - mostly due to his mistakes. Even as he stood there, looking down at her, his lips tingled with the warmth that hers had left so many minutes ago. If her kiss buzzed for so long in his mind...maybe principles and rules didn't matter.

[SkywalkerRules]

All of a sudden, Kyza saw what appeared to be an escape pod crash on the ground, distance away. "Huh? What in the world was that?" The young girl ran to where it crashed. Although she had no one but herself to look after, Kyza was sure brave to face any danger. Even if she was a little girl.

 

"Gotta find out what crash-landed here," she thought to herself, "Hopefully, nobody's hurt."

[Tysyacha]

UPON THE ASTEROID N'TALA, ESCAPE POD 01 CRASH SITE

 

Perdante Dareva and Salvatore Caraway exited the escape pod that had landed them, a bit wounded but still alive, upon the asteroid of N'tala. It was not a very unique or noteworthy chunk of rock, except for being inhabited by sentient aliens called the Mal. However, the first being that Perdante saw was a cute little girl, who could not have been more than ten years old. She was rushing over to the site where their escape pod had made its inelegant final descent.

 

"H-hi," Perdante said timidly. "Did you come to check on us? We're fine."

[SkywalkerRules]

Kyza stopped when she reached the escape pod and looked up at the lady. Strange. She could sense the Force in her. Maybe... she was a Jedi? Kyza was afraid to ask.

 

She then smiled brightly. "Yep! I just wanted to see if anybody was okay! I was practicing with my rock when I saw a crash. Who are you guys anyway?" The little girl stared up at both people, waiting for an answer patiently.

[ForceFightWMe12]

Now Salvatore stepped forward, putting himself between Perdante and the little girl. On an unfamiliar, possibly hostile world, the man's military training took over; and that training was to trust no one until the situation was fully evaluated. But, with the smack that Perdante's he'd had taken...he might have to evaluate and go at the same time.

 

"I'm Officer Salvatore Caraway, of the Republic Fleet. She's Jedi Perdante Dareva, and don't let her fool you. She took a hit to the head during our descent; is there anywhere around here that she might be able to sit and rest for a while?"

[Master_Archon]

"Confirmed: an escape pod from the explosion, two confirmed, male, female, Sir, they're Republic, one's injured," were the words that could be heard in response to Salvatore's last question as a group of roughly ten troopers wearing rebreather masks came upon the three technical bystanders. There was around six Mal security officers and four republic soldiers, though the security officers acted with the same professional and disciplined aptitude as a well trained Republic soldier. They surrounded the group, weapons wafting back and forth as they secured the area. "Problem Sir, it's, uh, a little girl," the same security trooper reported into the heel of his palm.

 

Only the slightest of a crackle and a reply came, "Again? Goodness. I'll be there shortly, be sure to secure rebreathers on them."

 

"Roger"

 

The men almost immediately swarmed them, jostling them and grasping them roughly as they held them in place, placing rebreathers over their heads and securing them to their faces. Moments later a Mal in a Republic Officer's (rebreather also) uniform approached them, the troopers of both Republic and Mal Security stood with respectful straightness as he approached, but remained poised with weapons in hand as if the surface of the asteroid would burst open and enemies would pour down upon them.

 

"Enough of that," the men relaxing and returning to surveying their surroundings. The Officer approached the security trooper but simply stopped, staring straight at the fellow Mal, they seemed to become fixated with one another. Then the Officer turned and stared at the three humans standing there like herded cattle, stating crisply, "I apologize if they were rough, we were expecting hostiles, so they're on edge. It's not everyday that a ship comes by a traveling colony and suddenly erupts in flames."

 

He then approached them, allowing them to see the full detail of his uniform, which was like any other Republic Officer's uniform, only it was coated in service bars to display the events and campaigns he'd taken part in, and they nearly filled the whole portion of his left breast, making him look more like a wartime General than a simple Officer. He had a medal hanging from each sleeve facing outwards, and his right breast carried many more, while adorned on the forehead of his Officer's cap was - instead of the sign of the Republic - another medal, this one was quite easy to distinguish as it stood out from the rest as it had 'P.O.W.' stamped boldly on it. His belt held three distinct things: A Mal crafted sword on his left, and two holsters doubled up on his right. The holsters were set strangely, as one was mounted above the other, but they were not stacked; if he reached up he could grab a heavy blaster pistol of more modern design, if he reached down he could grab an almost antique looking blaster pistol designed and crafted around the early years of The Great Sith War, a relic of battles once fought.

 

"I'm Field Commander Ny'eh Yy, though I'm often referred to as Commander Tu'un to make it simpler," he introduced with a nod, his near-permanently squinting eyes glaring over at Sal immediately as the young man's Republic issued fatigues ((He was off duty from what I recall)) caught the Mal's attention first. He then looked over at the woman who was wounded, he looked over at the troopers and they nodded.

 

"We'll escort you all inside for medical attention, but I need some questions answered on the way soldier," he stated towards Sal as the troopers began to escort them towards a hatch a ways off from the escape pod's crash sight.

 

Tu'un glanced over at the little girl as they moved along, finally. "And you, young Kyza, should know better than to be outside of the facility, the atmosphere around the asteroid is too thin for someone to be out without a rebreather mask on," he scolded. He technically only knew the girl as a strange human child who was oddly alone on the nearly all Mal colony, he knew her name the way he found out most names without being told, telepathy.

 

He returned his attention to the other two, "I need your names, ranks or titles first, then I need the name of your commanding officer and the name of your ship, after you answer those I'll ask some other questions to best assess how the situation at large should be handled."

 

The questions weren't all too necessary, but Tu'un needed to abate any nervous feelings from them, and putting their minds to work answering questions was the best way. The 'situation at large' as Tu'un put it, was already being handled. Though there were some details that Tu'un needed, and that's what he wanted most.

 

((As usual a poor introductory post, but I tried. Tell me if anything needs changing.))

[Cyborg Ninja]

"I would highly suggest that you strap yourself in. I'm going to try and make our landing a bit softer with the force but this could get rough."

 

Zen didn't need to be told twice to strap in. He waited patiently in his seat while he braced himself for the landing. He certainly hoped they would be able to find some type of ship in order to continue their journey. Zen would then be able to confront Khristoff once they arrived on the planet. Only then would Zen be able to redeem the lives that were lost. He sat in silence and would not speak until they had safely landed. He did not want to throw Juhani off her concentration by speaking.

[Tysyacha]

UPON THE ASTEROID N'TALA

 

Through her rebreather mask, the startled and curious Perdante tried to answer the Mal officer's questions as best she could. He and his kind did not seem hostile; on the contrary, Commander Tu'un had even offered to get both of them medical attention (which she sorely needed). Thus, she told him proudly:

 

"My name is Perdante Dareva, and I'm a Jedi Knight. Our commanding officer was one Captain Fara Starr, and we were crew aboard the starship Millennial." She took a long, labored breath through the mask before continuing on. "Our vessel was attacked by forces hostile to the Republic and the Jedi Order, and as a result, it happened to explode just as my comrade and I launched away in one of the escape pods." She shook her head. "Most personnel are likely dead."

[SkywalkerRules]

Kyza looked at both Perdante and Officer Mal curiously as she wore the rebreather mask. A Jedi Knight?! She was very excited to hear that. Maybe she could learn moreabout these people.

 

"Nice to meet you guys! I'm Kyza Donro! Learning the Force myself! To me, actually... I think I'm almost getting there." She smiled brightly.

 

Then she looked at Tu'un and sighed in frustration. "And yes sirrr. I'm sooorry." She giggled brightly. It was annoying but funny how people thought that because she was little, she'd get hurt easily. But they didn't know Kyza very well...

[Master_Archon]

"My name is Perdante Dareva, and I'm a Jedi Knight. Our commanding officer was one Captain Fara Starr, and we were crew aboard the starship Millennial. Our vessel was attacked by forces hostile to the Republic and the Jedi Order, and as a result, it happened to explode just as my comrade and I launched away in one of the escape pods." She shook her head. "Most personnel are likely dead."

 

The woman answered first. "A Jedi indeed. As for the personnel, we're making absolutely certain that if there are any survivors, that we ensure they are rescued. No one can be certain the full extent of survivors, even if they're dying, if there's any chance of them being rescued, we're going to ensure it," Commander Tu'un stated rather powerfully, obviously he was a Mal who only accounted losses when the certainty of that loss was absolute.

 

"E.R.T. units, as well as scavenger teams are being escorted by the Mal-Commons Militia's very own 'M'tr'eh', a Heavy Assault Cruiser capable of dealing with any major threats out there," he assured them both. "Other measures are being taken, but right now I want to remain on getting some questions answered. You, soldier, I didn't get your name or rank and/or position aboard the ship, then, like I said, we'll move on to other questions."