Run, run together in the night.

[ 05-23-2003 08:26 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by GhrrlanDrr ]

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Indeed, this is the mighty hunter? he thought to himself as he nodded once to the major, who turned to Ensign Bho'zhrr. The three eyed being snapped to attention, and opened a return frequency to the hovering infiltrator.

"This is Captain Landarian of Relentless, responding to infiltrator, signature 3489-Yh45-ST34, callsign, Usurper. You have entered into the Khar Delban system...."

...if he doesn't know that, then what kind of hunter is he?

"...which, as your sensors show you, consists of two planets in orbit about this rather nondescript red dwarf. Which one is Khar Delba and which one is K'eel Doba.... well.

"You have a fifty-fifty chance of landing on the correct planet on your first planetfall.

"Usurper, it would do you well to stay clear of any inter-ship transmissions in this sector. Landarian, out."

The captain of the SSD made a cutting motion of one hand, and the young ensign promptly obeyed, closing the link to the infiltrator but only after compressing the transmission and sending it off to Ursurper in one quick and scarcely discernable squirt.

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...and there was the fact that it was entirely too quiet.

Eeriely quiet.

Jasyn shivered, and he wasn't sure if this was because he was chilled by the rain or if it was because of something else entirely. Still, he pressed on, approaching the crashed Eagle and beginning to survey the damage so as to access just how to get inside safely. Her fore suffered the majority of the damage; the aft was still fairly in tact.

"Well, it'd be best to go in via the hatch, but she's secured right now, and I don't think we have the time to pry her open..."

"The viewport," Matt said simply.

Jasyn pursed his lips, then nodded, not saying a word but instead heading for the fore, starting to pick his way through the rubble so that he could get in.

All the while he couldn't help but note that it was entirely too quiet...

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Run I with he and she, run I towards blood-scent is smelling. Run we all in hunt is being...

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...which incidentally was sitting sideways on its base...

...had no pilot. Jasyn's browns flitted about the cabin as he began searching.

Gods, don't tell me she was thrown out during the crash...

"Jasyn, over here!" Matt exclaimed, skidding to his knees somewhere in the corner of the cabin. When Jasyn hurried over, Matt was already worriedly taking lifesigns on Galen, who was sprawled out in that particular corner, one of her arms laying at a peculiar angle...

Jasyn winced at the scratches and abrasions, falling to his own knees and getting medical supplies out to clean injuries and place bacta patches on them.

"Lifesigns are good, she's just unconscious; probably got knocked out," Matt observed.

"Do you think she has any neck injuries? I hate to move her without being certain..."

"We've gotta," Matt said. "I have a bad feeling in my gut."

Jasyn nodded mutely, still applying some bacta patches. The injuries were ugly enough and would probably hurt like hell...

...but there was nothing life-threatening, especially not after the application of bacta patches. Finally finishing up, Jasyn looked over to Matt, who had been assisting him. "Let's get her the hell out of here," he commented, scooping her up and heading back towards the smashed in viewport and climbing his way out, Matt again right behind him. As he headed back towards the Raptor, Jasyn reached out a hand and hit her on the side of the face, not really thrilled in having to do so but concerned that she might have a head injury. "Galen, Galen!" he said worriedly, "You've gotta snap out of it. Talk to me..."

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Jump I.

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...no, raking the Raptor's hull...

...and pounding. Something wanted inside. As if it was gonna do him a lick of good, Jasyn whirled, grabbing his blaster from his weapons belt and standing in front of the still-unconscious Galen. "What the kriffing hell is out there...?!" he blurted, blaster now trained towards the source of the sound. "Get us the kriffing hell away from here!" he continued, barely noting the movements of Matt as he made his way to the cabin, and started warming the ship up.

All the while, Jasyn stood, blaster still in hand. He eyed it for a second to make sure it was on kill...

...and just continued standing firmly.

"Hurry the hell up Matt, would you!" he yelled towards the cabin as the Raptor's engines started to wake up. "Whatever is out there...

...it ain't friendly..."

[ 05-23-2003 10:31 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Jasyn Lancaster ]

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Stay I.

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"Bloody hell," he growled a bit breathlessly, struggling to pull himself out from under the cot. Using his left hand, he grabbed a side and pulled his way out...

...which in turn made his right side throb even more. But through the stars, he was finally able to worm his way out...

...just enough to assess that Galen had fortunately only rolled over on her belly and against the bulkhead which was supposed to be behind the cot. About this time, Jasyn's commlink beeped, and he struggled a bit to get his left hand over to press the accept button without sliding underneath the cot again. "You okay back there?" came Matt's voice.

"I think I might...

...have broken something," Jasyn stated, wincing at a stab of pain. "Galen fortunately didn't roll too far. You?"

"Maybe a little banged up...

...but okay. Jasyn, we can't take off like this. Unless we can figure out a way to get ourselves right-side up...

...I think we could be in some serious poodoo, buddy."

Jasyn scowled, another throb of pain distracting him, but not enough for him to miss a final comment. "Tell something I don't know..."

[ 05-23-2003 11:14 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Jasyn Lancaster ]

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Now he sat there and stared at the two planets in front of the Usurper. One of them was K'eel Doba, the other one was...whatever.

As he stared at one of the planets, however, Romanus again felt that familiar Force-presence...

Well, it's the only thing I got for a sign, so here we go...

He set land coordinates for the ship onto that planet. Romanus also progammed the Usurper to auto-scan for any lifeforms once he was in range...

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...when several sensations descended upon her in a rush. Somewhere her daughter, the child between her and Dark Lord Roan, had awakened, and was fighting her own battles in the night. Graysith's violet eyes flew open and the Glyph began brightening as she stepped forth in response to that unintended cry, when the sensation of other entities joined that of ShaRhylla's in her psyche: somewhere the tuk'ata were hunting... finding something... someone...

Now she came to a halt, sensing out more intricately, sending a tendril of herself into the outness beyond her that was the warp and woof of spacetime in the immediate vicinity of K'eel Doba; what she found made her snort in a strange admixture of surprise and disgust.

Her sister was here... her blood-sister... and two others she had once held an alliance with.

Even as this recognition descended upon her it carried with it the assurety that her tuk'ata were on top of things, holding Galen and her companions in one place. She smiled, sending a message along the link she shared with her faithful M'wonBo'o.

"Bring them as sheep to the Temple, my sweet...."

Then she turned her attention to the other entity she sensed, one not yet treading upon K'eel Doban soil, but one in-coming nevertheless. There was a certain streak of darkness in this one that set her blood icing in sheer joy of the discovery; her eyes darkened then as she nodded to herself, and continued on her way back to the Temple, the ravening Glyph shattering the rain with its light.

How wonderful, to have... visitors once more, after so lengthy a time, she mused as she came at last to the Temple, sending another tendril out through the link yet maintained with Roan, a link she despised but kept enforced for obvious reasons, to notify him of the discovery.

Mounting the steps leading to the Temple's apex she quickly ascended, the darkness strobing with lightning all about her, and quickly gained the top. She then crossed the courtyard above and entered the Temple proper; passing through the great foyer where a certain dark sword had once shattered a pillar, to be sent into the Elseness forever, she came upon the Throne Room. A pause at the dias upon which the splendidly bejeweled and intricately carved Throne of the Dark Lord hulked; then she mounted those steps, seating herself atop in the Cathreda of the Dark Lady, waiting for Roan and "their"... visitors ...to make an appearance.

[ 05-24-2003 03:01 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Graysith ]

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As we surged through hyperspace, I kept my mind focused on locating Galen and the others. I was nearing exhaustion trying to keep a lock on them. It seemed we were headed in the right direction. Time passed slowly, noone speaking so as to not break my concentration. I pulled the lever to return to normal space. Just in time too! We almost went right through the planet. I guess travelling through hyperspace really wasn't like dusting crops.

"Master, can you feel it? The evil energy in this system. And wait what are those over there? Star desroyers??? In this supposed SITH system! This is not good!!!"

I quickly piloted the ship out of sensor range.

"This is going to be very dangerous, but you'll have to trust me. I'm gonna "LEAP" right into the atmosphere." I plotted a course that would take me right to the edge of the planets red hued atmosphere. "Here we go! Hold on tight this could get rough!" I said as I pulled the hyperspace lever once again.
5.....4.......3.......2.......1........ I pulled the lever one more time and reenterd normal space.
WHAM!!! We hit the atmospheric pressure like a tonn of duracrete. The poor old Lamby groaned in protest and swung out of control.

"We're going down!" I screamed. "Brace yourselves!"

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"Dash! Alexis uinconisnce and this is not going to be pretty." i said as I looked out the view port. The ground was getting closer and closer.

This is not good. I thought.

[ 05-24-2003 06:55 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Jebbua Dahutt ]

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"Jebbua, create a force sheild around the three of us while I pilot this thing down. That will take away some of the impact if I'm unsuccessful."

I closed my eyes then and let the force be my guide. My hands were a blur to the naked eye, moving this way and that pressing different buttons, pulling levers. Anything to level us off and regain control. I did manage to reduce the speed of the old Lamby. Mostly because the engines had gone off line.

"I can't get control! Brace for impact in 5....4....3....2...."

The impact of the ship colliding with the planets surface snapped the ship in half as if it were a dried up twig. The cockpit remained embedded in the small crator that it made. While the back half of the ship, including Jebbua and Alexis, went sailing on by me. It was the last thing I saw, before total blackness dominated my line of vision.

I lay there motionless, strapped into the pilots seat face down on the nav-board.

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1. i was on the ground and bleeding really badly.
2. part of the ship that must have broken off was on top opff me, so i couldn't move.

I tried to reach out with the force to push it off but I was to weak to do so. With one last effert I tried and manged to move some of it off one arm, but then everything went black again.

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But that one shall indeed come to me, oh yes, one way or another....

Her thoughts were interrupted by the harsh sound of bootsteps echoing hollowly upon the stone; Graysith arched a delicate brow as Dark Lord Roan approached and came to a halt at the foot of the dias. His turquoise eyes fairly glowed of their own accord as he stared up at her, the struggle to remain calm obvious by the manner in which his jaws were clenching, and his hands. For a moment he remained a silent shadow there; then he bounded up the dias in three great steps and whirling, took a seat in the Throne of the Dark Lord, gathering his luxurious robes about himself as though not to come in contact with her as he did so.

Graysith merely smiled darkly, questing outward yet again... and came upon it as suddenly as a dianoga's strike.

More interlopers, who hold their lives in such little value.

Now she straightened up in her seat, her eyes matching her smile, the Glyph beginning to raven upon her brow. She turned to Roan in one smooth motion, and in short, terse words informed him of the newest visitors to K'eel Doba; that fine personage merely curled his lip in a dark smile of his own and waved a commanding hand.

Salandaar was before them in a flash, bowing, then straightening up to await his orders. Roan turned to Graysith, a brow lifted as his lip curled and he nodded to her. Her smile only broadened and she turned to the Sith warrior.

"Take an... honorary squad of your finest Sith warriors, my dear Salandaar," she ordered him evenly. "Follow through the link I now give to you. At it's end will be a broken ship, and broken occupants, with broken dreams. Break them further, my dear one, and make certain they come here unto us... oh, and my dear Salandaar--"

She paused a moment to send a command flashing through the link she maintained with M'wonBo'o, informing him that he and his mates would soon have reinforcements; the Chosen Daughter of the Sith greatly desired that all those who had come to K'eel Doba so suddenly would be ushered into the capital city together. At the other end of that link, the great beast let out an affirmative growl; Graysith turned her focus outward once more.

"--M'wonBo'o and his mates have tracked others who have come to us. They will be joining us as well; I would desire to have all of you together here in the end of it."

She fell silent then as the Sith warrior bowed, turned, and calling to his finest troops exited the Temple. It was short work for these fearsome beings to march through the storm, soon coming to the broken ship where they found it's occupants laying about in unconscious, little heaps. A quick inspection, and those occupants were thoroughly disarmed, and dragged out into the raging storm. Lightning strobed the night, illuminating the horned and fanged Sith, who ringed the pitiful beings in rigid silence, muttering to themselves.

Salandaar shook his horned head, made commanding gestures. Several of his warriors gathered up the unconscious beings like so much cordwood, turned, and in formation marched through the storm back to the city. On the way Salandaar paused, pointing with one clawed finger toward yet another shadow in the storm-pocked distance. About fifteen of his warriors bowed, and broke from the ranks to go to where three tuk'ata were busily mauling another ship laying broken on K'eel Doban soil.

Then Salandaar continued with the remainder of his men, carrying his burden who yet remained unconscious, and in this manner brought them into the Temple and laid them on the stones before the Dark Lord and Lady. Then he bowed and backed off, stationing his men, weapons at the ready, and waited for his next order.

[ 05-24-2003 09:19 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Graysith ]

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Snarl I, growl I! Join I He pouncing, claws are a-grating. Sense I life is within; pounce again, again. Under I and He is shell a-straining...

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...one of the bulkheads. The Raptor meanwhile shook as whatever was out there persisted in trying to get in; Jasyn had a really bad feeling that it was going to succeed soon as the grating of what sounded like claws screeched against her hull.

Jasyn gulped as a memory popped out of somewhere deep within his mind where he’d buried it; a memory of the last time he had encountered anything having to do with both a Sith world and claws.

Terrin...

...the tuk’ata...

Jasyn gulped again, his eyes shifting to Galen’s still-limp form.

No WAY could he let that thing get in; at least, he couldn’t let it get to Galen or Matt....

Letting his mind spin a bit as he tried to come up with an idea, Jasyn pursed his lips. After some length of thought, he pressed a comm-frequency in, opening a secure channel with Matt once more. “Look, buddy, I have a feeling we have at least one tuk’ata out there. No way is he getting to us without a fight, and I’d be more than happy to take him out, considering our last brush with one of these monsters,” he said darkly. “I don’t know if we can roll ourselves back over,” he then continued, “But I figured maybe if we extend the Raptor’s wings that might redistribute her weight and get her back on the ground. And if it doesn’t well...

...maybe we’ll take out whatever is out there, tuk’ata or not...

...can you do it?”

“On it right now, Jas,” came Matt’s reply. “Anything’s worth a shot at this point.”

And even as those words were spoken, Jasyn could hear the whirr that accompanied the beginnings of the extension of a lamby’s wings, along with a whole hell of alot of grating. Whether that was due to the persistence of the animal outside or the protest of the Raptor, Jasyn wasn’t quite sure...

...but if it was whatever was outside, it had suddenly got a hell of alot louder...

[ 05-24-2003 09:22 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Jasyn Lancaster ]

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Wait I.

[ 05-24-2003 09:33 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by M'wonBo'o ]

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Man, did the tuk'ata manage to get in here fast...

And that's when Jasyn realized that it was not alone...

...and that suddenly a horde of Sith were upon him, fully armed. He aimed his blaster at whatever happened to be coming and his and Galen's general direction and squeezed the trigger.

Not that it was going to help, but give a guy credit for at least trying...

[ 05-24-2003 09:58 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Jasyn Lancaster ]

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I blinked that eye, wondering what was wrong with what I was viewing.

Lessee now, hmmm. I must still be in Eagle, for there are the familiar blue and gold seats, and there's the navigation console... even though they're suddenly affixed to the wall and not the floor... hmmm... and oh look, there is Jasyn and Matt, now how did they get here? I must be dreaming....

The last things I managed to see before nodding my head in affirmation to my last thought were the incredible ones of ten-inch claws piercing right through the hull, a powerful arm swiping them in a gleaming arc to wipe a blaster Jasyn was holding into nonexistence, followed by myriad looming and horned shadows which took over the night. Even as those demonic things took over my consciousness I caught a glimpse of two humans fighting... fighting vainly, even though one or two of the shadows seemed to yelp and drop from sight....

Yup. Sure as there's Treasure on Roon.

I gotta be dreaming....

I may have smiled to myself before letting myself go....

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Aaron's poor ship...

This time, however, the warriors were ready for what Matt was gonna throw their way; before Jasyn could react to it or try to assist, one of the warriors pommeled Matt on the head with his sword, instantly knocking the man out.

Jasyn grabbed the navigation console, hoping to catch the warrior off-gaurd as he swung with it. As he did so, parts flew all over the place, and a few grunts and yelps accompanied that. Jasyn was so consumed with taking out what was in front of him...

...that he thoroughly missed what might be behind. He didn't have time to analyze what hit him when the Universe immediately went black...

[ 05-24-2003 10:27 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Jasyn Lancaster ]

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Either Tarnus sent more guys like me after the child, which I seriously doubt, or the Imperials are starting to slip up in their defenses...

Curious as to who the inhabitants are of the ship, Romanus piloted the Usurper to land near the wreck.

As he approached it, he could no longer sense their presence there...but it was replaced by something darker. Something that was swiftly fading away...

A trail. Hell of a fast one, too. Whoever took these guys got some speed with 'em.

Seeing this as his only lead (for now, anyway), Romanus took off running and followed wherever this thing was heading...

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Primitive feelings of HATE and ANGER welled through my psyche. My blood coursed through my veins like an erupting volcano. Swelling with Dark energy. My head felt like it were about to burst. I relized that while I was out of the game that anything could have happened. You've let everyone down again! a voice in my head screamed to me.

"I won't let that happen!"But you can't even help yourself! How will you help others?

My Lavender orbs flashed open glowing in the dimmness of night, as I returned from the resesses of my mind to the land of the living. "AAAAAARRRRRRHHHHHH" I roared. I tried to sit up but to no avail, as I found myself fastened to some sort of stone slab.

With a surge of unprecidented strenght, I ripped free from my restraints. Quickly jumping off of the stone slab in time to avoid the large blunt object that crashed in the precise position my head had been. I reached for the borrowed Lightsaber at my waist to find that it was not there.I guess it's gonna be the hard way!

Several large an ominous looking creatures surrounded me. Claws raking through the air, hungry for my flesh. I used as much energy as I could muster and mentally pushed all of my attackers away. All but one. There stood a lone Sith warrior. Probably a high ranking officer in a grand army of warriors. He smiled at me with fanged teeth, as if to say your puny skills are no match for me boy!

"A tough one eh? We'll see about that!"

The sith warrior advanced as I searched for a weapon of some sort. Just my luck. Nothing around! But he wasn't going to get me without a fight! I rushed in at him, extending my left fist to make contact with the side of his head. CRUNCH!!! The contact with the Siths horned head shattered my hand. The being just stood there smiling at me.

Pain was not an option for me right now as I was too far lost in the Dark Side. All of that pain I channedled through my good hand and sent streakes of Blue/white lightning at the Sith. How I hated these beings! The Sith warrior reeled back against the wall, howelling with pain. I poured on the juice. The screaming stopped. The Sith was dead. But I took too long as the group of Sith I had knocked back surrounded my Exhausted body once again. With a final burst of Dark Energy I created an explosion of Blue Flames around my being. Dealing serious burns to all the Sith surroundiing me. I had weakend the group, but they were still too much for me in my now weakened condition. The sith over powered me and had me subdued once again.
There certainly was strenght in numbers! If only Jasyn had waited for Jebbua and I! These were my final thoughts as I faded back into the blackness.

[ 05-25-2003 04:45 AM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Dash Kelderon ]

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