How Far Will You Go?

[Ysmir]

Jack was walking through the lively streets of Nar Shaddaa, hands tucked firmly in the confines of his jacket's woolen pockets. He was headed toward a swoop garage that stood by the side of the most notorious dejarik den in the sector. It was a place he spent many formative months of his life, fixing everything from swoop engines to navicomputers to speeders. All of it seemed like a passing fancy, a dream born from an idealisation of what he desperately wished his life still was. But he had to see her one more time. He had to. No feeling had compelled him in this way before, until now. He entered the front door, and then he saw her, and she smiled.

And he opened his eyes.

Nothing could still his fluttering heart as he sat silently in the cockpit of his faithful companion through all his journeys. As he stared into the gaping maw of Nar Shaddaa, a planet he once viewed as a haven from the toils of Galactic politic, he felt only emptiness. The only thing more apparent than the glow of the neon rock was the looming Spire that hung in the empty space just above its orbit, washing the moon in a purple glow that beckoned a feeling of disturbance. It was a sickly looking device, not one used for protection, or even deterrence. It was there for one purpose and one purpose only. He knew what had transpired on the smuggler's moon, and the one thing that ringed through his head like a holorecorder message on repeat was her name.

Janessa. Janessa. Janessa.

Jack was not a romantic man; on the contrary, he disregarded romance in favor of pragmatism. After all, how was someone like him supposed to make a living worrying about something like that? But now, at the end of the universe, with the Archeri infesting every world it touched like some sort of plague, all he could think about was the one person who made him feel anything approaching comfort. Was she even alive still? Would she be in the same place he remembered? These were questions that had no easy answer beyond the obvious; see for yourself. Jack was no stranger to foolish decisions. One may even say he made his living on them. But this? This was shaping up to be the one that put him down for good.

Although he knew this in his heart, it didn't matter. He had resolved to do whatever he could to try and rescue her from the grips of this doomed world. He had heard that the coalition fleet was planning to make haste to Nar Shaddaa in an effort to beat back the Chorus and halt their construction of a "Singing Spire", whatever that was. He had spent so much time far removed from the war that none of these words meant much to him, but they didn't sound good. In any event, the fleet's arrival posed the perfect opportunity to make a landing on the moon unnoticed, and hopefully in one piece. Hopefully.

It seemed like hours to him in his anxiety, but his arrival was timely; the fleets met head on just outside the atmosphere of the moon, and Jack steeled his nerves and pressed forward. His freighter was able to slip through the crossfire without being targeted, and before long he was approaching the all-too familiar trade sector. The sight of the Nar Shaddaa skyline used to fill him with wonder, but now, filled with plumes of billowing smoke, it reminded him of the stakes. But he was ready.

After landing, he and T7-E4 departed the ship and stepped out onto the landing pad, which was simply the closest one he could find to where he knew she resided. His blasters drawn, he had little idea what to expect, but things seemed far too quiet. The streets were empty, where once they would be bustling -- no, teeming -- with life of all kinds. People trying to score. People trying to find work. People simply trying to live. All those echoes of a life once lived seemed a distant memory now, and only isolation greeted Jack as he stepped through the deserted alleyways. As the battle began above, the skyline was filled with flashes of purple and red, and from his place on the surface he could not tell who had the upper hand, but for him, it didn't matter right now. All that mattered was Janessa.

Even after he had spent half an hour making his way toward the inner ring of the trade sector, not a soul was to be found. Only the whirring of T7's servos rolling him across the ground provided any sort of background noise to keep Jack's ears occupied. It all felt so foreign, but he kept his wits about him nonetheless.

And then it happened. He heard a rustling behind him. A shadow loomed across a wall bathed in neon light as Jack whipped his aim around.

"Dwooooo," lamented T7.

"I know, pal. I don't like it either. But we've gotta keep moving," Jack insisted. He kept eyes on his six as he and T7 continued through the dimly lit corridors that peppered the walkways of Nar Shaddaa. Besides that one scare, nothing else of note alerted his senses to danger, but for some reason he couldn't shake the feeling that there were eyes on him. And not eyes of scared civilians hiding away. He felt like prey. As his stomach twisted and he began to feel all the more uneasy, he heard another noise. He turned once more expecting a shadow to slink away, but instead, standing at the foot of the alley he had just entered was something ripped from his worst nightmares. Towering next to the wall, light purple and emitting a sickly white aura of dust, was one of the Archeri.

Instead of firing, Jack froze, and his eyes glossed over as the horrific creature began a slow gait toward him. T7 backed up, uncertain of what action to take. Finally, Jack reacted; he fired off two bolts from his heavy blasters into what he could only assume was the creature's head.

It recoiled from the hit, but it didn't fall. Instead, it stuck its razor-edged arms outward and made a beeline toward him, intent on skewering him. Jack reacted quickly and rolled out of the way, his back up against the wall as he blasted three more holes in its torso. Still not falling, the creature turned swiftly at its midsection and struck at him once more. He jerked his head out of the path of its bladed arm and watched with horror as the concrete to his right was stuck right through by the blow. He would be dead if not for his reflexes. Wasting no time on the ground, he stood and put distance between him and the creature. And as it raised its arms to do what, Jack didn't know, it became aware of a strange beeping beneath it.

Kaboom.

The thermal detonator left almost no trace of the creature, besides a plume of white and purple that shot up and out of the alley, and some twitching appendages nearby. Jack stood from the ground and retrieved T7 by his side. Then, his worst fears were realized when they prepared to leave the alley. A troupe of shadows stretched from around the corner, and from their wake came three more of the creatures, no doubt alerted by the sound of their struggle.

"New plan, T7. Run!" exclaimed Jack as he turned his tail and began running as fast he could, out of the alleyway and into the open air of the trade sector once more. T7 followed as swiftly as he could, but Jack would occasionally lag behind to blast away one of the creatures as it gained on him. As they ran, Jack spent more time checking on his companion than what was ahead of him; he ran headlong into the chest of one of the creatures which had climbed up from the central pit.

He fell back next to T7, disarmed and surrounded by four of the Archeri. And in his mind, he damned himself for being so careless. He nearly died on Nar Shaddaa a decade ago. It seemed all things must pass.

[Fromikeable]

Even as the dropship shuttered and weaved, Taas could sense that the soldiers around him placed their minds elsewhere. The sounds of explosions and screaming engines were nothing to these men; they had no doubt seen and heard as much a thousand times between the two dozen of them. No, their minds all wandered to the same place, to the same troubling thought.

What was this enemy they were fighting? What did it mean to lose it? And to a lesser extent, could the old Jedi standing among them spare them from such a fate?

He couldn't, of course. For all his efforts, Taas's only real advantage in understanding came from his familiarity to the Force. To these soldiers, it was only a mystical, occasionally manifest thing; that which allowed the Jedi and the Sith to commit acts more grave and wonderful than the average citizen could hope for. But to Taas, it only allowed him to see the full scale of the monstrosity that had come to oppose, to sense the terrible, heavy, oppressive presence that draped over Nar Shaddaa like a giant bedsheet.

Was their ignorance fortune or pain, he wondered? Questions for later.

The dropship finally began to level out, the pilot's voice crackling to life over their radios. "Target is in sight, Master Eras. ETA 2 minutes." As he said as much, the drop doors opened, allowing a rush of pollen-flooded air into the cabin as one of the soldiers peeked her head out, taking a gander.

"You sure about this, Master Jedi?"

"Quite sure, yes." Voice muffled by the sound of his helmet, Taas idly checked the seals on his armor. The Republic Special Forces he traveled with had been kind of enough to loan him a set, though finding one in his size had taken a moment. Still, its white paint job and quickly-added Jedi insignia on the shoulders suited him well. He would have to thank that quartermaster when he returned.

"Scans showed many thousands of people in that tower. They must be evacuated before the bombardment begins."

"Yessir." As the soldier began relaying to the rest of the squad, Taas stretched his presence out, watching the cityscape below them and all the life it harbored zip by. The presences they passed over varied wildly; angry people, scared people, people barely clinging to life, and worst yet, people in varying states of infection. The individual Archeri they zoomed above hissed in disdain, a few taking potshots, but their pilot proved astute enough to give them little chance.

... even still.

"Major Garga, I will regroup with you at the tower." Taas stood, inching out to the edge of the dropship's floor.

"Wh- Regroup? What ar-"

"Expect me shortly after you have secured the roof. Call for a few extra ships." With a smile, Taas stepped off the edge of the dropship and plummeted toward the moon below, pollinated air whipping past him. Taking another feel of the moon below him. There, in the streets. Adjusting his course with an inflection of his arms, he squinted until his landing zone came into view; a man and his droid surrounded by a quartet of Archeri. Plucking his double-sided saber from his belt, Taas took aim as the two purple blades hissed to life, drowned out by the wind. With a moment's worth of aim, he hurled it ahead of him, the blade rushed toward the ground on an arc accelerated by the Force.

It arrived before he did. The spinning purple saber came speeding into three of the Archeri, cutting each in half along a diagonal as it spun. Before the fourth could look up, down came the tall Jedi master, feet making contact with the creature's back just as a rush of the Force accompanied a rush of air, the latter softening what would have otherwise been a tremendous impact.

When the dust cleared, Taas stood, raising a hand. The spinning purple saber came flying back into his palm, landing with an almost satisfied hiss as its blades deactivated. Restoring the tool to his belt, Taas gently shook out his legs, a sound of agitation coming from his helmet.

"Goodness, I may be getting too old for that." With a final stretch of his back, he looked to the man now surrounded by four Archeri carcasses, offering a hand.

"Are you alright sir?"

[Ysmir]

As dire as things seemed in this very moment, time seemed to slow down to a trickle. Jack had found himself in worse situations before, yet somehow managed to always come out unscathed. But now, as his eyes scanned each and every avenue of escape, a chance at a way out, he came up short. A flash of violet appeared above his head; the spire's looming glow, no doubt. He closed his eyes and prepared himself.

Then came the pained screeches of the creatures as he heard three distinct thuds of bodies on the floor. When he opened his eyes and whipped his head around to look at the source of the impact behind him, there stood a lone Jedi clutching his saber as it deactivated. In his mania, Jack quickly rearmed himself, making space between himself and the man.

A hand produced itself, the hand that was once clutching a double-bladed lightsaber. Are you alright sir?, a voiced asked behind a hard-sealed helmet. Jack could only assume this was a member of the coalition fleet that arrived just under an hour ago to try and purge the city of the infestation that had taken root in the spaceport. The armor he wore was that of the Republic Special Forces, adorned with a Jedi seal that marked his standing. Jack hesitantly observed the hand offered to him for a time, nerves still rattled from yet another brush with certain death. Swallowing his pride, and lamenting at twice now being saved by a Jedi on the smuggler's moon, Jack holstered his blasters and took the hand, pulling himself to his feet.

"Doing well," Jack said with remission. He peered around every corner from where they stood in the open air, and it seemed the coast was clear -- for now. He returned his attention to the Jedi. "The fleet's deploying ground forces, too? Could've sworn I heard talk of--"

But before he could finish, T7-E4, elated at the Jedi's sudden and timely arrival, spun around Jack, producing a series of nigh-incomprehensible beeps and chitters, though even one unskilled in Binary could tell that the droid was simply happy to be alive. The astromech swayed side to side happily as he went on his tirade next to Jack and Taas.

"Well, anyway, I suppose I should say thank you. I didn't really know what I was gettin' into coming back to this rock."

[Fromikeable]

As the droid buzzed excitedly, Taas reached his hand out to give the machine a few fond pats to its top. He spoke the language, and the droid's thrilled and almost nonsensical joy to see him was met with a few kind chuckles. A man and his droid were inseparable company indeed.

"No thank you required. I only ask that you be glad for your health. It seems in short supply these days..." The Master Jedi paused for a moment, his eyes doing a circle around Jack as he bore witness to the world around them. Seeing it from on high was always an entirely different matter than viewing it from the ground. Up above, it was easy to reduce the fires and destruction to brutal arithmetic; catastrophes seen from orbit were situations to respond to, not things to witness. Standing beside them, however, the turmoil was clear.

"... hm. I'm sorry, you were saying?" Blinking back to the present moment, Taas required a moment to recapture his train of thought. "Ah, yes, the invasion. It is in full effect as of the top of the hour." Pointing at the horizon with his inactive saber, a feature became apparent in the skyline; a large, glowing purple crystal not unlike the one in orbit, its extreme height and size dwarfing the many buildings that surrounded it. "We must make haste, in fact. You and the rest of the peoples on this side of the Cerbozz Pit must be removed before the fighting arrives."

"Where you will go, I cannot command. But my military friends are bringing down transports for those who wish to depart. What say you?"

[Ysmir]

...be glad for your health.

Well, now that the Jedi mentioned it, he managed to escape from more dire situations than this with his health intact. And he certainly felt a far sight more healthy than those who were shambling through the streets like slaves to this twisted race's every whim. This pit must have been looking more and more inviting to those still living with every second that passed, he thought. As the Jedi pointed to the horizon with his hilt, Jack's eyes followed to the general area that he was referring to. Up there, vast and much taller than even the skyscrapers of Nar Shaddaa that were dwarfed by it, was another crystal. Its sickly purple, pulsing glow seemed to bathe everything in even more violet now that Jack was consciously aware of its presence.

Jack took a deep breath as his eyes flicked even higher upward to the sky, where the evidence of savage space combat was apparent. When he slipped in past the blockade, he remembered hearing that one phrase in his mind, in a voice foreign from his own... So be it. They were thinking creatures, not just some mindless congolmerate of fungi. And their thoughts were evil, that much was clear. So how far would he be willing to go for a ghost of his past?

"I'm sorry, but I can't go with you." Jack said as he recollected one of his fallen blaster pistols from the ground, shortly before checking the ammo left in his power pack. "I'm not here by accident. There's someone in this port that -- well, I used to know her. And not that I don't trust you and your friends, but the only way I can make sure she gets out of here alright is if I go find her myself." Jack spoke with a conviction that even he didn't know he possessed, but a trained ear could tell that after what he just witnessed, and with the things about to come to light, even he was rather certain this was suicide. He re-checked his grenade count, holstered his blasters, and offered the meekest of nods to Taas. 

"I've spent a lotta time fending for myself. I figure if the whole galaxy is gonna die, I may as well die trying to help someone who helped me a long time ago."

[Fromikeable]

The conflict bubbling through the man's presence answered well before his words could. That sense of apprehension and concern gave way to those most overwhelming, warm, passionate pangs of longing that seemed to carry over every planet, person, and place. When the words did come and agreed with the emotions, Taas couldn't help but give a gentle, understanding smile.

"Ah, young love."

Twirling his saber hilt in his hand, the Jedi master clipped it to his belt. Raising his wrist, his other hand poked it a few times to summon a small map across his HUD. He was quiet for a moment as he studied it, his pale eyes flitting from point to another as they put together a plan.

"In that case, I will simply have to come with you." Nodding more to himself than to the man, Taas dismissed the map and looked to his new companion with certainty. "You seem to need the help. I only ask that we extend your mission to helping anyone and everyone we came across, hm?" The suited Jedi extended a hand before snapping his fingers (or, at least, trying to through the gauntlet).

"Ah, yes, I've forgotten. My name is Master Taas Erastothenes. I would far prefer you call me something shorter for both our sakes." With his name delivered, the hand outstretched again, offered out to Jack.

"What say you?"

[Ysmir]

"Young--?"

Young love? Surely not. At least, it wasn't in Jack's mind. No; he was simply returning the favour to somebody whom he felt he owed. Whatever feelings he may have once held for her died a long time ago when he put this rock behind him for good. He watched the Jedi as he raised his arm and tapped away at the tacpad that was no doubt there. Jack furrowed his brows, eyed the Jedi curiously. What were his intentions? The beat of silence that spanned the gap between them seemed to last for an eternity, until the Jedi finally spoke.

Jack's eyes transformed from suspicion and curiosity to a mixture of shock and awe. For all his life, Jack turned his back to the idea of the Force, to the Jedi and the Sith both. In his mind, there was very little difference between the two, and he would hardly notice if the Galaxy was finally rid of them forever. Yet twice now, in the same place, in the very same time of need, they came from the shadows -- or in this case, the sky -- to save his hide. Jack did not believe in coincidences. He was once told the Force watched over him. Was this all the evidence he truly needed? He stood with his blasters drawn, staring at the hand that was produced and awaiting a shake of affirmation; a shake of partnership, if only for the time being. At their exchange, T7 buzzed up next to Jack and Taas and released a tentative whirr of clicks and beeps. He, too, was curious what Jack would do.

Even after the Jedi paused and properly introduced himself, Jack still hesitated for a few moments to take his hand. He chewed on his inner cheek in thought, but then a voice of reason popped into his head; What do you have to lose?

"Let's go with Taas, then." Jack said as he holstered his blaster and took the Jedi's hand, giving it an affirmative and firm shake. "You just call me Jack." After the shake, he shrugged his jacket fully onto his shoulders and looked at T7, gesturing his head to signal him to follow. Soon after, Jack began walking, assuming Taas would not be far behind him. He was headed toward the North of the Cerbozz Pit sector, where one of the many trading blocks that lined the promenades of Nar Shaddaa's neon skyline was located.

"We're lookin' for a swoop garage. It's called Hien's Handiworks. It'll be somewhere in the Northern Trade Sector."

[Fromikeable]

Jack's hesitation earned some silent patience from Taas, his hand unwavering despite the uncertainty. Mistrust was hardly a new issue for Force-users; just as many would hail the Jedi as crusading heroes, many others had their doubts. They were, after all, a monastic religious cult focused on honing what regularly seemed supernatural powers in a bid to advance their own agenda. That agenda was one of good intentions, of course, but some of the worst crimes in galactic history had stemmed from good intention. Some skepticism was warranted, especially from the unfamiliar.

It gave the Order all the more reason to practice their ideals by force of work. Random acts of genuine kindness. Like dropping out of the sky and saving a stranger in search of a past bond.

When Jack's hand finally filled Taas's, the old Jedi smiled. "Superb." As his new companion began to lead, Taas began to follow, sticking close. The streets of Nar Shaddaa made it clear that they would only be able to go so far, the effects of the Archeri on full display. Abandoned speeders and crashed ships marred the roads and walkways. The city below screeched and groaned with the sounds of distant and not-so-distant trouble, both from fighting and belabored architecture. Spores swirled through the air like a paused downpour, every other street corner coated with mixtures of blood, oil, and the fluids of the Chorus. The sky above them glowed with the sight of the space battle encapsulating the moon, the mighty purple Spire becoming brighter by the minute as two large ships stood against it, visible even from the ground. That was to say nothing of the faint purple glow that came from the Pit itself, as unnerving as it was serene.

Taas couldn't help but wish the hivemind had simply chosen somewhere else. That it had found an uninhabited world and been content, that it had been less focused on making everyone sing its tune and simply been content to sing at all. Under those circumstances, it would have been a marvel to study, not a monster to slay.

The greed of sentience was not limited to the individually-minded, it seemed.

Realizing that he'd been quiet for a few minutes again, Taas broke the silence with a hum. "Forgive me. I cannot help but wonder at the horrors we walk among." As it to accent his point, they passed by a pile of bodies, the Archeri among them sliced and twitching in a vain attempt to continue on, the others dead and bleeding thanks to a hail of purple crystals. Regarding it for a moment, Taas decided to continue his thoughts aloud for the sake of distraction.

"Have you had any contact with this woman since the Chorus arrived?" Not willing to be so pessimistic as to ask if she was still alive, Taas took a second's pause to choose his words carefully. "Was she prepared?"

[Ysmir]

He kept his eyes peeled and his head on a swivel as they moved; beyond the distant sounds of blaster fire, explosions, and the pulsing of the spire, the only thing that could be heard were their isolated footsteps and the low hum of T7's servos propelling him along. All of these lives lost, these freedoms sacrificed, and for what? Peace of mind? Unity? Togetherness? He had met those touched by the Chorus once or twice, heard how they spouted such archaic concepts as though it were the only true path to peace. Jack had always struggled with his own inner desire for justice, for as long as he could remember, but even someone as conflicted as he could see with his own two eyes that this wasn't safety. It was fear, and it was ugly.

He had only seen the effects of a war like this firsthand one other time; Coruscant. The site of the Empire's final assault on the Republic, his home. But this was something different. The Empire, for all its evil ways, was at its core a conglomerate not unlike the Republic itself. Two sides of the same coin vying for differing ideals of control, going about these ideals in very distinct ways. The Archeri represented none of that same complexity. They were primal -- animalistic, even -- in their pursuit of one supreme goal. Their focus was represented by their tenacity, on plain display in the twitching and half-lifeless bodies of the Archeri nearby that desperately tried and tried to continue on with their sacred mission. Jack grimaced at the sight and turned away. It made his stomach turn.

When Taas finally spoke after several minutes of silence, Jack looked over his shoulder at him. He offered a small shrug and turned back ahead, still walking as he replied. "I don't blame you. It's..." He paused a for a moment, looking down to his feet as he struggled to find the right word to describe the horrors they witnessed. "... pretty surreal." Yeah. That captured it perfectly. Surreal. What they walked among couldn't be real life, but it was. He sighed.

When Taas posed his questions, Jack bit his inner cheek in thought. For some reason, he held onto the hope that she was still alive. Nessa was smart, right? She'd know what to do? He hoped.

"No, he began plainly. "No, I haven't. We haven't talked for a real long time. She and I, well... I lived here for awhile. Years ago." His eyes drifted about the desolate walkways lined with bodies and chaos; to be fair, it didn't look all that different from how Nar Shaddaa usually did. Just far less... alive. He hearkened back to those days with a mixture of melancholy and nostalgia. "She was one of the first people I met. Swoop mechanic, owned her own garage. I'm pretty savvy with motors myself, so, when we started to get to know each other, she taught me about life here and I worked at her garage to pay off the fee of that tutoring. I wanted her to leave this rock with me, but, she was in deep." He sighed, recounted his thoughts. "Deep with the Exchange. There's no way they'd let her out of her contract without a really big sum. I wanted to help pay it off, but she wouldn't let me. Said it'd be too dangerous." They rounded a corner street into an alleyway with a flickering neon sign illuminating it in blue, which danced with the omnipresent purple glow from the sky. He checked both corners before walking out onto the walkway.

"So, I left. Haven't seen her since." Jack nodded to Taas as he finished his tale. He wasn't the most... extravagant at telling stories. But he got all the important details. That's all that really mattered. "Now, she's a survivor -- like me. So I don't doubt she'd take measures to avoid... you know." He implied the sickness that seemed to grasp everybody like a vice. "So I'm hoping she was."

Kinda funny how important hope can be, huh?

[Fromikeable]

"You care for her." Taas nodded without a speck of doubt, as if every word Jack spoke confirmed some theory working out in his head. The elements were all there; a separation of circumstances, mutual goodwill, and most obviously, self-sacrifice. Even if Jack's love for this woman wasn't romantic, it was apparent, or so the elder Jedi thought. People didn't bend themselves backward with effort and worry for someone they only "liked" or "knew".

"I hope so too." Love was always something worth hoping about.

Traversing the horrors that surrounded them, they moved swiftly for the next few minutes. Taas, for his part, kept busy keeping his presence outstretched, watching and tracking for the hordes of Archeri that swarmed the planet's surface. There was no hiding from the collective, especially when he was as Force-sensitive and trained as he was, but the Archeri's priorities had shifted since the invasion had begun. Scores of bodies flocked in only three directions; that of the growing crystal in the Cerbozz Pit, that of what few strongholds remained, or that of the encroaching counter-invasion.

A single Jedi and pilot were only worth so much trouble.

With minimal encounters, the two men and their droid came upon their desired street, a wide suspension between four large, complimentary towers. Closed shops and more carnage welcomed them, the former producing sound as their boots crunched broken glass and soot from a past fire, the latter maintaining the ever-present scent of smog and rot. In the middle of the street, however, stood their target; a small swoop shop, the doors jammed downward and warped, the sign missing. The entire building looked like the rest of the moon felt, blood smeared across a few walls, equal numbers of Archeri bodies and sentient corpses littering the ground about it. The windows offered little view of the interior, each hastily boarded with sheet metal. At the top of the garage, a piece of machinery hummed and skipped in equal measure, clearly in a dire state of disrepair.

Looking back to Jack, Taas's presence shot out. "Eight people lay within. Four require aid. One is sobbing. Two are talking very tersely. The last-" Taas interrupted himself with a hum, his lips pressing together.

"The last has just returned to the Force." He motioned at the garage, signaling for Jack to go first.

[Ysmir]

Inwardly, Jack thanked whatever gracious being watched over this cesspool of a galaxy for making himself and Taas the most insignificant specks currently traversing the surface of the smuggler's moon. It made for a smooth walk to the swoop shop where the question that burned in the pit of his stomach like raging fire would be answered.

Smooth, of course, being a relative term; this was hardly an afternoon stroll.

The sight of the building came to no surprise, but still left Jack ill at ease, a feeling that Taas could no doubt sense. Jack first stepped past the bodies that littered the street, occasionally kneeling down to turn the cheek over of some poor bastard to ensure none of them were the one he searched for. One by one he checked, but his mark did not lay amongst them. Good, he thought. But he frowned all the same, surrounded by the loss of so much life. For a fleeting moment, he turned over his shoulder to look at the pale Jedi Master who walked just a few paces behind him, and Jack thought of how this must feel to him. He didn't know everything about the Jedi Order, but he did know they fancied themselves as Guardians of the peace. And he also knew that their connection to the metaphysical Force meant that events very similar to the ones they were witnessing now registered... harshly on their senses. As if knowing the thoughts that sauntered through his mind, T7 spun about on his wheels and similarly took in the carnage. His thoughts on the matter were made clear when a low dwoooooo emitted from his vocabulator.

Jack pushed himself to his feet when Taas walked forth and examined the garage more closely. Jack walked alongside him, brow knitted as the Jedi listed the occupants. Eight... four injured... one dead... Jack nodded, walking forward to the warped doors. He investigated the wall mounted security system just beside them, holstering his blasters as he lifted his hands and interacted with it. He'd hoped the doors could be persuaded with a little bit of know-how, but even after undoing the emergency lockdown protocols the warped metal refused to unbond itself from the ground. Moving away from the monitor, he knelt down in front of the doors and reached inside his jacket, producing a plasma torch. Aimed at the ground where the doors were stuck, he activated the device and slowly began to drag it across -- brilliant flashes of light and the sounds of the plasma stream burning through the thick metal were produced. Jack turned his face away and squinted lest his corneas be roasted irrevocably. Eventually, the right knot was undone; when a bit of metal was blasted away, the doors flew upward and open so quickly Jack fell back onto his rear. He scrambled to his feet and put the torch away.

Jack looked back to Taas in a moment of hesitation, but eventually steeled his nerves and ducked into the doorway which led into a dimly lit lobby area.

The sight was a memory planted so deeply within his brain, but it looked different, more somber. Where once it was awash with the lighting one might expect in a workshop, now, only a forboding purple glow remained. The front desk which housed Janessa's clerk terminal and notes was covered in debris and in complete disarray. Walking further in, he turned his head around the corner behind the front desk to peek into the employee back room.

Taas and Jack were greeted with a grim sight. A woman sat on the floor, her head planted firmly on the chest of a bloodied man who just recently stopped breathing. Her muffled cries echoed through the room, only rendered silent by a bickering duo who stood above a quartet of four heavily injured individuals. One looked as though he may have been a mechanic working in the shop; two appeared to be a part of the local Exchange scene; one dressed like somebody who frequented a Pazaak den. It seemed in times of duress, the line between friend and enemy was blurred at best.

"... know that, but we can't just leave them. They'll die." Said a petite, wavy-haired brunette in a brown leather jacket.

"Yeah, and so will we if --", a taller man in combat armor went to answer, but his words were interrupted when he caught sight of Jack, Taas, and T7 who rolled up behind them. He reached for his blaster and aimed it at the trio, clearly startled by their sudden appearance.

Jack looked from the man to the woman. Both of their faces went stone in silent recognition. She took a measured step forward, eyes locked with his. Her expression shifted to one of utter confusion, and she spoke with a tilt of her head. "Cal...?"

Jack ignored the man brandishing a blaster and smiled. "Hey, Ness."

The man with the blaster looked rapidly between Janessa and Jack. "You know these clowns?"

[Fromikeable]

As Jack began to cut their way through the garage's door, Taas took the moment to shuffle off a few steps, approaching some of the many bodies outside. Both the Archeri and sentient bodies had clearly died of fighting each other, the Archeri riddled with blaster wounds and cuts, the others stabbed and pinned with crystals. Placing a hand on the ground between two of them, Taas closed his eyes, his presence mingling with that of the immediate area. Feeling the local flow, it took a practiced effort to discover the patterns and pushes of what had once been the living, the past revealing itself to Taas in reverse.

The fighting had been intense. The people in the street had died guarding the door, yelling for the people within to finish sealing it even as they'd been killed. Prior, the Archeri had arrived in a single horde, the majority of the garage's occupants running frantically back to their haven. Prior still, there had been silence, save for a single man on the garage's roof with a rifle, hollering at someone within the garage before taking a shot. The resultant cry of outrage had been apparent even to them, and the horde hadn't come long after.

Reeling himself back to the present, Taas produced a small holopad and made a note. Instance #46-NS: undisturbed individual provoked with rifle round, attracted horde. Hearing the door finally open, he stowed the holopad before rejoining Jack.

The garage's interior matched the rest of the moon. Detritus and dust greeted them at every corner of every room, given pause only by the occasional smear of blood or destroyed mess. The building itself looked rather beat, the ceiling bowing in lightly and several walls missing small to medium chunks. Had Taas not known any better, he would've guessed the structure had just suffered an earthquake.

Nar Shaddaa was not so lucky, sadly.

Entering the back room, Taas's eyes immediately glued upon the woman sobbing over the deceased man. Ignoring the others for a moment, he stepped forward to kneel beside her, gently scooping one of the man's hands. His status was apparent even without the Force; his chest had stopped moving moments ago, his eyes glazed over and still, and according to his suit's sensors, the body was already growing cold.

The grimmest sign of all, however, were the spores already beginning to spawn inside his mouth. It wouldn't be long until the body was nothing but biomass.

Noting that the woman was staring at his armor's Jedi insignia, Taas couldn't help but frown at the desperate hope in her eyes. The thought racing through her mind shook with need: Couldn't a Jedi...? Before it finished, he solemnly shook his head, her presence flaring with equal parts outrage and heartbreak. As she began to sob harder, Taas quietly placed the deceased man's hand on his chest, reached up to close his eyes, and placed a hand on the woman's back.

"From the Force made his being, from his being made the Force. He will be with you, always."

"You know these clowns?" Finally regarding the others in the room, Taas took stock. Noting the four injured people laying in the back of the room, Taas glanced up at the two debaters, the woman's voice betraying that she was indeed Jack's friend. The other man, it seemed, was far less welcome.

"I fear she is only familiar with him." Nodding at Jack, Taas stood.

"I am Jedi Master Taas Erastothene. We've come to collect you."

[Ysmir]

Even amidst the terse situation they found themselves in, Jack managed to take notice of Taas tenderly placing the man's hand over his chest. The woman cried, and Jack felt a twinge of sympathy resonate within him. Most of the important people in his life passed long ago, but he knew the feeling of loss and he knew it well. Taas' words hit him differently than most "Jedi-speak" he'd heard.

From the Force made his being, from his being made the Force. He will be with you, always.

He'd remember that.

"Oh, stars." Janessa sprang forward and lifted her hands to the slightly taller Jack's cheeks, shaking her head in disbelief as her eyes searched his features, as if in shock he was here. "What in space are you doing here? Why did you come?"

Jack shrugged, looking around at their situation; boarded up in a ramshackle garage, surrounded by death and chaos, a multitude of injured, at least two of which seemed like they were on their way out. Jack locked eyes with Janessa, lifted his hands and taking her wrists. He lowered her hands from his face, nodding. "First, it was to find you. But it looks like you all could use some help." As Taas introduced himself, Janessa and the agitated man turned their attention toward him.

"A Jedi?" The man questioned with an arcing of his brow. He bore signs of extended combat upon him; scars graced his upper browline and his lip, his hair was close cropped in the traditional military style. The combat armor he wore had a faded sigil of the Galactic Republic Special Forces. It was likely he was ex-military, turned to the life of a mercenary to make ends meet on the Smuggler's Moon. At least, that's what Jack deduced from a simple glance over his figure. It was difficult to be sure. The man went to keep speaking, but Janessa spoke first.

"Well, it's damn good to see you, Master Jedi." She stepped back from Jack a bit, trying to remain professional in the situation they found themselves in. She turned her attention over to the man in weathered armor, holding her hand out. "Put that thing down, Gerez, before you hurt someone." With a grumble, the mercenary named Gerez lowered his weapon and walked to one of the nearby windows. Evidently paranoid they may have made too much noise, he peered out of it, ever vigilant, while the other three continued their discussion. However, now that she spoke his name, Jack recognized the man; he was indeed former military, but he wasn't a mercenary. He used to work for the Exchange as muscle in the Entertainment Promenade. The line between friend and enemy was blurred at best, Jack reminded himself. They were no longer at war with each other.

Jack turned to Taas. "What's the play? My ship's pretty far off, and these guys --" He looked over his shoulder at the four injured individuals. The mechanic was unconscious but breathing, with a bloodied bandage wrapped around his head. The two Exchange thugs were conscious and releasing intermittent groans of pain, clutching their abdomens which were scarred by laser burn. The fourth, the finely dressed gambler, was both the best and worst off of them all; his leg was burned horrifically from the ankle to the upper thigh. Not life threatening like the others, but it would prevent any sort of locomotion. He looked back to Taas. " -- Well, they're in no condition to be moved right now. What do we do?" Jack was hoping Taas could bust out some pretty Force magic and heal the four miraculously... but he had a feeling it didn't quite work that way.

[Fromikeable]

Taas offered up a polite smile as the mercenary, Gerez, finally stopped holding him at gunpoint. The man's prescience radiated with stress and distrust, less like a man worried for his life and more like a man worried for his reputation. Between that and the psychometry from earlier, Taas couldn't help but inspect him for a second, his eyes flicking from detail to detail. The knife on his belt was coated with dried blood. His neck bore scratches too small to be incurred by the Archeri. His boots were mismatched, one clearly a different size than the other.

When Gerez caught him staring, Taas just turned his head a bit.

"You even listening?"

"Oh yes, I caught every word." Turning to Jack and Janessa, Taas hummed shortly.

"Bringing the wounded so far would spell doom for all of us. I will have to redirect one of the evacuation transports here." Shuffling over to inspect the wounded, Taas was quiet as he quickly appraised each. Only one of the four was conscious, a Duro woman with a brutal infection spread across her hip, a puncture wound there white and pungent. She lightly held Taas's arm as he worked, and he did what little he could to help her, alleviating some of the pain and boosting her immune system to at least slow its progress.

"The ship will likely tak-" The entire building shook as a distant thoom rolled through the walls, the other buildings outside dropping glass and dust. The sound was quickly followed by a second, then a third, until it developed into a rhythmic thumping, shaking the entire sector.

Glancing at his HUD, Taas watched as an advisory popped up.

IMPERIAL BATTLE GROUP HURON COMMENCING FIRE ORDER 89-14-B

Flicking on his comm, Taas's voice remained calm. "Republic Carrier Gilgamor, this is Master Erastothene."

The response was loud enough to be heard through the room. "Gilgamor copies."

"I require immediate medical evacuation. And please belay the Imperial Battle Group Huron from their bombardment. Civilians in the are-"

"Copy General, but we can't do anything about it. Their read admiral's technically under JMOC orders and went in without us."

"I see. Please make haste then. Instruct Captain Thrall and the rest of your battle group to wait until the evacuation completes."

"The Imps won't be happy about that, General."

"I will be happy to elaborate my thinking to them at their request." Flicking off his comm, Taas stood, unhooking his saber from his belt and twirling it once in his hand. Outside, the sound of bombardment intensified as a second round of thumps joined the growing symphony.

"We must move up to the roof and signal our ride. If you all would be so kind as to cover me, I will be able to move our wounded friends with minimal disturbance." Turning to the sick once more, Taas extended both hands and squinted. One by one, each of the injured lifted off of the ground at a delicate, slow pace. Each stopped about a meter up, floating just as they had laid on the ground.

[Ysmir]

Jack wasn't as blessed as Taas, sadly.

The small details about Gerez were lost on him. He failed to notice the dried blood or the mismatched boots, and definitely was unaware that the scratched that graced his neck were far too small to be inflicted by their common foe. Gerez watched as Janessa seemed to unconsciously stand close to Jack, her arms crossed as the two focused solely on Taas. Once Gerez called the Jedi Master out, Jack and Janessa looked between the two.

Jack nodded to Taas' words. In his (somewhat brief) stint as an evac pilot, he knew that moving wounded was a task far easier said than done. When Taas moved to the side of the four wounded in the corner, Jack followed. He stood by as Taas worked his literal magic; it still sat somewhat uneasy with Jack, watching as someone bended what was described as the very essence of their lives to their will. But at least the Jedi were, by most accounts, on the side of good. Morality was an ideal often lost among the battle for control that constantly seemed to wrack the galaxy, but up until the Sith were ready to quite literally destroy anyone in their way, the Jedi stayed neutral. Jack could respect that, at least. For now, though, his mind was unoccupied by thoughts of the Force. Instead, his lip curled up at the sight of the putrid wound on the Duros woman's hip. "I've heard of what the spores do to someone..." Jack began, kneeling down next to Taas. In an uncharacteristic moment of empathy, he placed a hand on the woman's shoulder while Taas worked on her. "... but I've never seen it up close like this."

Meanwhile, in the background, Gerez had called Janessa over.

"You really trust these guys? I'm wanted in this sector, and so is Hakai." Gerez stated as he pointed out one of the four injured -- the mechanic with headwrap. "What if he sells us out?"

"Gerez, you're overreacting. This is beyond damned bounties at this point. Look at what's happening!" Janessa gestured vaguely out the broken window to the carnage outside. And just as she did...

Raining fire came from the sky and shook the very foundations of the ground beneath their feet. Jack, still crouched near Taas, had to catch himself with his hand to avoid falling. Gerez stumbled back against the wall, and Janessa took hold of a nearby table to steady herself. T7, jostled by the volley, emitted a high-pitched series of beeps that indicated his stress.

"Shit!" Jack exclaimed as he stood and ran to one of the windows that was less boarded than the others. He looked outside and saw the bombing raining down in the distance. "Imperial bombing run?" Jack looked back at Taas in a mixture of disbelief and shock. Although, in truth, he shouldn't have been shocked at all; if the battle ever turned tide in favour of the Archeri, it made perfect sense for the Imperials to adopt a scorched earth policy. No survivors meant no chance the infection spread further. This may not have been that situation exactly... but it sure felt like it based on the rumbles felt through the ground. Whatever part of the sector they were hitting, no one would survive.

At Taas' request, Jack didn't hesitate to flick his coat back and spin out his blasters. He looked to Janessa and Gerez. "You heard the man. To the roof."

He began to walk, and Janessa hesitated. "Jack --"

"What?"

"This crew... they're not the only ones who were here. We sealed off the second floor because..." Janessa's eyes glossed over as her mind flashed back to imagery of the horrors she had witnessed. The spores did their job all too well, and the other survivors who had huddled inside the shop...

Gerez grunted and stepped up. "Forget it, Janessa. They're gonna die no matter what. Ain't no cure for this. We might as well be the ones to do it." Gerez hoisted his blast rifle and walked to the sealed slide door that led to the stairs. What little lighting remained in the building flickered in rhythm with the unrelenting bombardment occurring just across the sector. Punching in the emergency access code, the door opened. The stairwell leading upstairs was blackened and dark as night. Realizing there was no way around it -- die here, or risk getting to the roof -- Janessa unholstered her own weapon and stood behind Jack and Gerez as they took point. T7 stayed behind Taas, along with the sobbing woman who had reluctantly left the side of her dead lover.

"We gotta go through quick. Those bombs are getting closer." Jack observed as he took the first step forward. Gerez stepped just after him, though not without a roll of his eyes at the young buck's sudden boldness.

At the top of the stairwell Jack made room for Gerez, Janessa, and the rest to file in behind him. An interim occurred in the bombardment as they navigated through the second floor, where minimal neon signage that survived just outside bled through the boarded and cracked windows to wash the room in dancing array of colours. Gerez stepped ahead of Jack. "Ladder to the roof is just through--"

A crackling screech was emitted just from the corner of the room. One of the victims sealed away had succumb to the spores, now no longer recognizeable and partially mutated as the vaguely violet, four-armed humanoid charged at Gerez and Jack. Both rolled to their respective sides away from the attack, Jack landing on his back as he aimed his blasters to the creature. He was able to fire off five or six shots, punching holes through its torso, before the Archeri turned its attentions to him. It jabbed with one of its newly-grown appendages -- as Jack rolled from it and looked up at the creature, part of its former face had been assimilated by a mass of white crystals into its body; its single remaining eye seemed to cry out for help. As it reared back to make another strike, combined blaster fire from Janessa and Gerez peppered it from behind. The creature twitched and convulsed as it fell to the floor, arrhythmic and horrid noises gurgling from its gaping maw of what would be considered its face. Jack stood and, without hesitation, fired a single bolt into its head. The twitching ceased and the creature was put to rest.

Catching his breath, Jack looked to the mercenary Gerez. "Where'd you say that hatch was again?"

Gerez caught himself staring at the creature -- evidently, it was the first time he'd seen one up close. He snapped back to reality and nodded, walking to a nearby doorway. "Through here." As they went, it became evident that this second floor was something of a living quarter; two beds built into the wall by a large bay window were set by the eastern side, and to the west was a small kitchentte and dining area. Through a doorway on the northern wall was what appeared to be a study, now ramshackle and full of white fungal grass where the other victims who were sealed away in this forsaken place gestated, in the final stages of their transformation. Jack grimaced as Gerez led them to the ladder.

Up was all that was left, now.

[Fromikeable]

Taas offered Janessa a quick expression of understanding as Gerez chewed her out. Unimpressed with his gruff and selfish personality as the Jedi was, the mercenary wasn't wrong. There was no cure to the Plague as of yet, and even if there had been, it almost certainly wouldn't have been capable of reversing the physical transformations the least fortunate underwent. The people that far gone were quite literally no longer the same person. Their bodies were gone, their minds stripped from them, and their personas forever lost.

The Jedi Master absentmindedly patted T7's head as they began to move. "Protect her, little friend." One of his fingers motioned at the sobbing woman before he resumed his focus. The infected survivors followed behind them all single-file, each suspended in the air as if they were riding invisible clouds. As they approached the stairwell, each person remained completely flat, levitating level with the railings as they ascended at an angle.

The screech of an Archeri made Taas's saber jingle on his belt, his body flinching only slightly. For a heartbeat, he considered intervening, especially as it pinned Jack, arms at the ready. Gerez and Janessa allowed him to relax even before they had finished shooting, the creature collapsing in a horrid display, the convulsions arguably more disturbing than any conscious actions it had undertaken. The bolt Jack silenced it with almost rang with a tone of relief, Taas seeming to breathe a little easier afterwards.

The creature's face caught his eye, however. Approaching it, he couldn't help but lean down and study it a bit more closely. The dual nature of its face kept him quiet for a moment, an armored finger gently feeling the boundary between dusty fungus and pale dehydrated flesh. Taas had indeed seen samples and specimens before, but a specimen still completing its transformation?

"Invaluable..." Muttering to himself, he flicked his wrist. The dead Archeri began to float too, falling in line at the rear of the infected survivors.

Turning to Gerez, Taas spotted the ladder up to the roof. Peering up it, he opened the hatch at the top with another flick of his wrist. As natural light flooded in, he quickly headed up, poking his head out and swiveling it quickly.

Aside from rubble and another few bodies, the roof seemed clear.

"Watch your heads please!" As he called down, Taas moved his passengers up the ladder one by one until each was resting gently on the the roof, the Archeri corpse placed just separate from all of them. So done, he sighed lightly as he allowed the last of his focus to slip away, waiting for the others to ascend.

As they did, the ground shook again, a tremendous series of booms following brilliant flashes of light from the distance. The air in that direction. Producing a pair of binoculars from his belt, Taas peered over, humming lightly at what he saw.

"I fear our evacuation has just become quite stressful." By the time he dropped the binoculars, the rest of the group could no doubt see the hordes of Archeri flooding the street, the bombardment driving them from wherever they had been. And more than a few were headed their way, spilling through the streets and across the skyways.

"I humbly request your continued cover." Crossing his legs, Taas sat down just in front of the infected survivors. Unclipping his saber from his belt, he placed it just before himself on the ground, his hands clasping in his lap.

"What I intend to do will demand a some preparation."

[Ysmir]

As they made their way through the second story of the chop shop, T7 -- per Taas' instructions -- stayed near the mourning woman who herself stayed as close to Taas as possible. Quirky as they came, the heroic little droid even jumped in front of the woman just after the Archeri shriek pierced their ears. It seems Taas' words were heeded by T7, who had taken a liking to the elder Jedi.

Jack, Janessa, T7, and the woman -- who Janessa said to Jack in a low whisper was named Hana -- made their way toward the ladder hatch. However, Gerez lagged behind and observed as the Jedi Master knelt by the corpse of the Archeri, a mangled half-human, half-fungal hybrid monstrosity that now lay dormant. The man watched as Taas telekinetically lifted the creature in line with the injured and curled his lip upward in disgust. Narrow-minded as he was, Gerez simply couldn't fathom why the Jedi even bothered with the creature. But the thundering boom of the explosions were getting closer, and time was running out. So rather than question it, Gerez stepped aside and let Taas walk ahead of him.

When Taas flipped the ladder hatch open with the Force, Jack was the first to volunteer himself upward. It may have seemed like a streak of heroism; putting himself in harm's way for the sake of others. But really, it was pragmatism-- Jack didn't trust Gerez, T7 wasn't well-equipped enough to defend himself from the Archeri, he came here to save Janessa, and Taas was preoccupied. This left him, in his own eyes, as the only logical choice to take point. Jack stood atop the roof after climbing the ladder up and walked over to the edge.

The view was hardly any different from the one on the ground, only being two stories up. Except, of course...

Oh, great.

"Yeah... you can say that again," Jack said as he produced his dual blasters once more. While the others made their way up the ladder, Jack stood by Taas' side as the two observed perhaps the most dreadful sight Jack had seen in his short life; Archeri, by the dozen, had fled in an act of self-preservation from the oncoming ballistic hail of fire from the skies. In a rotten twist of fate, this pushed them from the more densely populated residential districts of Nar Shaddaa's many promenades here... right where they were. They seemed to move with inhuman speed and tenacity, and the few that had already caught sight of the group exiting onto the roof doubly so. They barreled over each other at times, and although the closest one was still several hundred feet away, it wouldn't take long for them to reach the building and begin scaling the walls. They needed to act fast.

Janessa came up to their side while Gerez removed his survival pack just behind them, rummaging through to see what he could surprise the Archeri with. Janessa grimaced. "How long do we have to hold out?"

Jack looked to her. "As long as we can. Dunno about you, but I don't plan on dyin' up here. Not my time." Jack locked eyes with Janessa for a moment before turning from the edge of the rooftop, walking over to T7. He kneeled down and patted his old friend on the shoulder. "I need you to stay by Taas, alright my buddy? Anything tries to get near him, you zap 'em. And if there's an emergency, you use this." Jack handed something to T7 that wasn't quite clearly visible to anyone but himself and the droid, which the droid took and concealed within one of his many torso compartments. Jack nodded and stood, and despite the situation they were in, Janessa smiled -- she couldn't believe Jack still lugged T7 around. She looked to Taas as he began meditating.

"What is it you're doing?" she asked with a curious tilt of her head.

Jack made his way to Gerez. The mercenary had laid out a variety of items; a heavily modified blaster rifle, various grenades -- most importantly, six adhesive grenades, and several mines of dubious construction, but a once over from Jack convinced him that they would work well enough for their intended purpose. He looked to Gerez. "I know you don't trust us, and I don't trust you as far as I can throw you. But we gotta work together if we're all gonna get outta this alive," Jack said as he tinkered with some of the mines. "You know that, right?"

"Watch my back, I watch yours," Gerez said with a measure of genuine confidence. He nodded. "Then we go our separate ways and hopefully never see each other again, aye?"

Jack nodded. He armed two of the mines and stood, Gerez standing alongside with two of his own. "Fine by me." The two men began planting the mines at weakpoints around the top of the roof, intent on bottlenecking -- or at least, slowing down -- a great deal of the Archeri before they even had to fire a bolt. Whilst they prepared, Hana hovered close to Taas for protection instinctually. She sat on the ground with her knees hugged to her chest.

The roar of the Archeri grew ever closer. Lights from the bombardment continued to illuminate the group on the rooftop. Jack stared out at the space battle raging above for a brief moment.

Not my time.

[Fromikeable]

"What is it you're doing?"

"Being selective with my targets." Taas patted her shoulder before closing his eyes, drawing in a deep breath. Even before his presence stretched out, he could feel the sheer weight of the oncoming Chorus. It lashed across the moon like the limbs of a snarling beast, the tranquility it boasted of mixed in equal part with a dearly harbored rage.

A mighty collective indeed. Graceful in its adhesion to base instinct, though perhaps Taas was simply biased.

A test for later.

The Archeri rushed forward through the streets, engulfing the world below. The majority went bounding by the garage, stomping over debris, jumping between buildings, scaling walls with their massive spear-like limbs. The mob took no notice of them on the whole, but the individuals began to come one by one. An Archeri descended from above as it moved between roofs, a short psychic snarl leveling at them. Three more began to scale the walls of the garage, veering off as they noticed the uninfected souls. Another five came leaping up from the street, slamming into roof in varying states of grace.

Four of them locked their smooth faces toward Taas, Janessa, and T7. As they charged, Taas lifted an eyebrow, eyes still closed. Immediately one of the invaders exploded, the rush of air moving in a shockwave from its center outward. The force smashed into the others before the flames and the sound did, sending the others barreling off the roof ablaze. As the shockwave finally washed over the rest of them, Taas paid it little mind, his hair blowing wildly.

"One more moment please." His eyelids twitched as doubled his focus.

[Ysmir]

This'll make a good story.

A story? Call him crazy, but for all his worrying before an undertaking like this, Jack had been thoroughly conditioned to find himself almost at ease during a conflict like this. The onrush of the Chorus was enough to rattle their brains in the physical and mental sense; the stampeding of their spear-like limbs and the screech of their psychic assault worked in tandem to craft one of the galaxy's most annoying headaches. But Jack didn't let that get him down.

The Archeri who dropped from the roof tops above was the first to go. When its limbs hit the roof, the shockwave set off a plasma mine that Gerez had lovingly placed as a greeting gift for any unwanted visitors. Jack and Gerez ducked their heads down as the device went off in a brilliant flash of orange-red light, dousing the fungal menace in superheated matter which began burning through its chitinous outer husk almost instantly. The explosion joined in with the rhythmic explosions and sounds of chaos that echoed from further away on the moon's surface, and the Archeri drone's pained screeches seemed eerily in tune with the battle cries of its comrades as it died from its injuries.

When the four made their way toward Taas, Janessa practically froze up. But she steeled her nerves and lifted her blasters before --

They were gone.

Taas' display made her jaw drop. Before her very eyes, that most wretched and horrifying creature had been reduced to a pile of nothingness on the ground, and in the same fell swoop the others sent tumbling from the rooftop. She had heard stories of the Jedi and their abilities, but no words could have ever prepared her for what she had just seen. It was in equal measures terrifying... and amazing. She quickly shook off the cobwebs and made her way toward T7, kneeling down to him.

"Keep her safe, got it?" Janessa said and pointed to Hana, who was in a heap in the center of the building near the four poor injured souls. T7 buzzed and beeped in recognition of her request, rolling over by the frightened girl's side.

Meanwhile, blaster fire rung out from the combined efforts of Jack and Gerez as they stood back-to-back near the group on the rooftop's center, cutting down the Archeri that had made their way up to try and ruin their day. The mines, which went off all at once almost as soon as the assault began, certainly did their job in making things easier for the defenders. Gerez was caught off guard as one of the drones wormed its way between him and Jack, however, latching onto his back and attempting to spear him through his chest like a skewer. But Jack was quick on his wit and quicker on the trigger; he turned at the sudden sound of Gerez's struggle and placed two well-aimed shots from his heavy blaster pistols into either of the creature's shoulders. It lurched back from Gerez as the bolts detached two of its arms, squirming on the floor before Gerez hoisted his rifle to pump five more bolts directly into its chest. Its agonized vocalizations soon died down as more of the drones began coming up over the threshold of the wall and the rooftop.

"T7, toss it!" ordered Jack as he grasped Gerez's shoulder and pulled the man down with him.

T7 obliged with a series of high pitched whirs and beeps. His torso compartment opened; firing from within was an armed thermal detonator that Jack had trusted the utility droid with minutes earlier. It landed on the far side of the rooftop, well out of range of the survivors but smack dab in the middle of six or seven of the oncoming fungal warriors. The fuse ran down, and a brilliant flash of photons preceded the iconic pulse of the detonator's core, reducing everything caught within its radius to a pile of ash on the ground. Jack and Gerez stood and looked about; they had bought themselves a minute or so at most. Jack walked to where Taas kept his focus.

"Don't mean to rush you, friend," Jack said as he looked across the forum on the streets below -- more hordes of the Archeri fled from the bombardment which similarly continued to inch closer and closer to their position, "but we're running out of time. I dunno how much longer we can hold out like this."

[Fromikeable]

The sounds of battle became distant echoes to Taas as he hastened his efforts, tuning out the world beyond. Soon enough, it was nothing but presences; the feared, alert presences of his companions of the roof and the flaring, aggravated presence that inhabited a billion bodies, blanketing the moon with a suffocating hold.

Taking a breath, Taas tuned out the weight of it and began to count.

His presence spread out, shooting out through entire city blocks. With every meter it crossed, Taas began to add up every Archeri body he felt moving, every one approaching the roof they took their stand on. He could feel the impact of every Imperial bolt, the rousing of every Archeri just under the streets. He could feel the first wave as they were demolished by Jack and Gerez, the presences never dying, merely returning via their link to the greater hive mind.

He couldn't help but linger for a moment and watch as the last were defeated. Amazing. The more he learned about the Chorus, the greater their tragedy of violence became.

As the last presence on the roof departed, Taas became vaguely aware of someone talking to him. Listening while retaining his focus, his eyebrows raised over closed eyes as he felt a ship descend from above, heading their way, the presences within equal parts anxious and prepared.

"Our help arrives momentarily." True enough, a glint above proved to be a descending Republic transport, engines flaring as it tried to descend as quick as it could.

It was racing what it had picked up on radar; the horde barreling toward the street, already audible.

As the ship neared the lip of the roof, the horde was unmistakable. Ramming through windows and walls, the Archeri were less a mob of crazed monsters and more a sea of bodies, each scrambling over the others, each roaring with psychic fury. As the door to the transport opened, the soldiers within shouted with frantic voices for them to get in, the ship's limited weaponry turning toward the encroaching threat.

"Jack," Taas called calmly. "Kindly move our friends onto the ship." The street below filled in an instant as a small army of Archeri began to climb the walls. When the first few leaped up and began to fall toward the transport, Taas finally raised a hand.

The first series of explosions bathed the roof in heat as the falling Archeri were sent barreling off. From there, a chain began, working downward in a cage over the building. The shop's walls began to burst with force as the Archeri there were blown limb from limb, the debris falling on their fellows below. As the explosions reached the street, they intensified, shaking the building as they grew in size and intensity. Archeri were blasted skyward fifty at a time in varying states of disrepair, a fair few missing most of their limbs landing on the roof and doing their best to crawl at whoever they could find. The soldiers and the ship's guns began to shoot in earnest, trying their best to help keep the roof clear.

But there were just so many.