An Offer He Can't Refuse

[Val - Warning:Contains Sarcasm]

Her hand was taut and ready to release the fling of the lightsaber far across to the other side of the room when Xierra brought her own idea into play. As the Falleen began to pulsate with the Force and influence the beast at the other end of the room, Val's blade slipped slowly back inside the hilt. Her body ceased to be illuminated by the green backlight, and the Knight took a few cautious steps towards the animal with her hands ready to immediately reignite the blade if it started lurching towards her ready to dine. She felt her breath pause a second, and then shudder out of her throat as a smile broke across her face, turning her gaze back towards the Falleen and offering the contorted expression to her.
"Impressive..." She took a few more steps towards the Rancor, her interest getting the better of her as the monster stood transfixed and placid in the face of its dinner. She'd never really seen one this close before and now was probably her ideal chance. She was halfway over to it, giving a glance back at Xierra to check whether she was still OK, when it gave an angry roar.

Her vision snapped back to the creature, who now held a tiny figure in its grasp and continuing to devour it. Stepping back for a moment, she watched in shock as it proceeded to finish eating the person and then turn back on the Jedi, clearly not impressed.
"Xierra...?" Her voice took on a questioning, and worried tone, though was hardly heard over the growling of an angry behemoth and the thudding of its footsteps. Ground shaking a little, she observed it lumberingly charging towards her, crimson-stained teeth bearing down at her before shaking herself back into action. With a quick hiss, her green blade flew from the hilt once more, and the knees bent slightly before she flew upwards, travelling through the air. Ten, twenty, even thirty feet up, just out of range as a massive claw came swinging around for her to grab her, and probably try to eat her too. She sighed in relief, twisting her head a little to watch the beast continue its death march as she began to descend again towards the ground, her hand shaking slightly, yet visibly, at the close encounter. With a light thud she returned to the ground, bending her legs significantly to absorb the impact of the fall.

It... well, it didn't stop at the turbolift, which offered surprisingly poor lack of opposition against the giant wandering into it, and as much as she hoped it would, the impact didn't seem to actually affect the thing. There was a crash and the falling of materials around the animal as it broke through with ease, though it did stop and began turning, still howling. She realigned with it as he turned back towards her, though as she glanced Xierra was either not to be seen or hidden... or dead, but that wasn't an option she was willing to discuss. The lightsaber hilt dropped to the tip of her fingers, which rolled around the smooth metal texture for a second as she gauged the throw. Her body twisted to the right, lightsaber preparing behind her as the arm wound up another throw. She hoped this would work as the right arm shot through to the front, moving with the Force behind it. The blade flew from her grasp, spinning viciously through the air as it carved a green-tinted path towards the beast's forehead.

[Anackis]

Reins breath finally began to return in painful weezing gasps and he began to catch pieces of what Hage was saying to him. Mocking and laughing at him. An immense fear rushed over Rein as he realized how dire the situation was. Hage was going to kill him and he was helpless.

"So now, boy you obviously don't understand where I'm coming from... you see, yer supposed to be able to breathe, otherwise ya wouldn't have any air in yer lungs to scream with!"

Rein didn't want to believe what he was hearing, yet he knew it was true. Hage was enjoying this, as if Rein himself were no more then a play thing. Hage wanted to hear his screams of pain and anguish. Rein took a deep breath and tried to calm himself. The force was out of reach, but still he tried to calm himself with promises that, no matter what Hage did, he would not satisfy him with a single scream.

The impact came as a surprise, Rein didn't even notice the pain at first as Hages boot made contact with the side of his face. His small frame slid easily across the floor from the force. Rein tried to clentch his jaw against the pain to keep from screaming out, but the act of trying shot an even greater pain threw his jaw. Still he held back the scream as he tried to spit the blood from his mouth. It oozed out his mouth with short puffs of air, a tooth floating aimlessly out like a lone ship on a black sea. Again Rein let his thoughts drift back to his master, she was supposed to be there to tell him what to do. To help him. Where was she?

[Casual]

((OOC: I know I'm doin a lot of these OoC's, but surry 'bout the shortness, and the use of your character, Sparrow. I tried to leave it as open as possible for you ))

Two Trandoshans by the names of Regi and Steve turned and looked as the door opened, Steve even had his hand prepared for a high five. A hand that was promptly removed from the rest of his body by a vibrosword. He screamed in pain, and dropped his blaster rifle. To which Regi readied his own blaster and began firing at the Jedi. She managed to outmanuever his shots just barely and slice the blaster out of his hands in peices. As she proceeded to fight the trandoshan, who managed to survive much longer than he should with against such an armed opponent, Steve had made his way to the alarm and sounded it. The klaxxon sounded alerting the entire facility to her escape.

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

Marshall Hage didn't get excited for many things, this, however, filled him with all kinds of excitement. He wasn't sure how to follow up. The boy was spitting up teeth and bleeding a good deal. Perhaps it would be time to try some new tricks. This thought led him to withdraw a taser from his back pocket. He wasn't quite sure why he carried a taser around, he had a blaster attached to his hip, and his personalized and customized blaster rifle on his back. The taser was just something he had for good measure. Well now it would double for torture.

He walked over to the padawan and crouched to see him on his level. Then began his taunting once more.

Tsk, tsk, tsk. I know that you know that I am trying so very hard to get you to give me some feedback. If you don't give me any feedback, then I feel sad. You don't want me to be said now do you?

The signature smile crept to his face before he could finish. It was all he could do to keep from laughing. He turned on the taser and it began to crackle with the electricity running its way along the device. It hummed and crackled as he brought it into contact with the boy's left and useless eye...

[sparrow]

The average trandoshan possessed strength to rival a wookiee, and a thick scaly hide that could shrug off most glancing blows. The sword Elsie had picked up with a good deal heavier than she was used to, with a thick, broad blade. Her strokes were not as fast as they normally were; her moves were a bit off.

Time for a change of tactics. The normal method of quick, rapid blade attacks wasn't going to work, she had to work on conserving her energy more with this thing. And perhaps more importantly, she wanted to keep this one conscious enough to answer questions.

She ducked a particularly vicious swipe, nimbly sidestepping around the trandoshan as he was recovering his balance from the attack. Flipping the sword around in her hand, she stabbed the blade down and back, into his calf. A roar of pain, and the reptile was done on the ground.

Pressing the edge of the blade against his neck, she held him down on the ground. "If you value your life, you'll tell me where the boy is. Now."

[Mara]

For a while it seemed to be working, something that actually surprised the Falleen Jedi for a little bit. Though the rancor's mind was weak, she could feel through the Force that its anger was ebbing. Turmoil no longer roiled inside its brain. Once clear of those emotions, Xierra could feel that the rancor's mind was a lot stronger than she had thought (though still relatively weak). She got an image of the rancor being captured from its family, crying in fear and in pain. More recently, memories of torture, maiming and death. Now that the animal was calm, she found herself feeling sorry for it. But they hadn't come here to rescue an animal.

She stepped forward closer to the rancor that Forge had given it a name in Basic. Randy. Another pang hit her heart. This was no pet to be sicced on guests or enemies. This rancor belonged with his family. Xierra was about to suggest something to Val, now that the rancor was standing still, peaceful, but the situation changed drastically.

There was a rush of activity behind the animal. Xierra couldn't see them but felt their presences in the Force. All evil intent. In a stroke of premonition about what was going to happen, she broke her telepathic link with Randy and sprinted to the side of the room, hopefully out of his path. In her rush, she didn't notice the rancor devouring one of his handlers.

A bloodcurdling roar echoed throughout the room, and she involuntarily flinched at the loud noise. Her thoughts of rescuing the poor animal changed quickly to ones of survival. She was still a Jedi, though, and would only kill Randy if completely necessary. Xierra owed him that much, at least. Treating him like some inanimate object wouldn't do the poor creature, obviously trapped into slavery, any justice.

Xierra looked around for Val, noticing that the rancor was now charging straight down the room, headed for the door they had used to enter this hell. At the same time, she took her lightsaber fully in hand, gripping it tightly and depressed the activator switch. With a sharp snap-hiss! that was drowned out by Randy's growling, snapping and roaring, the pale green blade came to life.

Still looking for her fellow Jedi, she crouched behind a piece of excessively adorned furniture. If Randy came this way for another pass, she hoped for the benefit of surprise. Xierra saw Val then, spiraling in the air, nearly avoiding a face-lift by rancor claw. The animal, caught in its momentum, went crashing through the door, destroying the turbolift and the surrounding area. But just as she thought, it turned around, coming back the opposite way, back into the room.

She moved down the side of the wall, still trying to remain behind cover of various decorations and furniture, hoping to move in behind Val for some added protection. Xierra lightly touched Val's mind, letting her know where she was. When she did so, she glimpsed part of the other Jedi's plan. Another glance at her position, her grasp of her lightsaber, confirmed it. With the Force, she helped aid the ascent of Val's weapon, both of them shoving it business end towards the rancor's head. With any luck (if Xierra believed in luck) it would settle neatly into Randy's brain, killing him.

But, just in case, Xierra moved from her hidden crouch to stand beside Val, her lightsaber held in front of her. Though she stood still, all her muscles were tensing and active, ready for movement if necessary. She couldn't take her eyes off the green circular blur that was Val's lightsaber.

[Anackis]

Rein suddenly began to jerk uncontrolably. At first he was not sure what was happening, the darkness that surrounded him seemed to be replaced with white light. But with the light came the burning pain of the electicity as it pulsed through his body burning his face where an eye should be. For a moment the pain was almost bearable as it blocked out the other pains he was suffering. But then Hage pulled the taser away and all his pains combined.

Rein pulled his legs up close and curled into a small ball. He hadn't noticed the movements of the creature on his back as he was being tazed, but it had noticed what was happening and was not comfterble. Now Rein could feel the creatures adjusting its claws on his back, though Rein thought it no more then Hage trying something else.

[Casual]

Forge watched on with glee as the Jedi's concentration on Randy's mind began to fail with the arrival of the "shock-treatment." His fingers strummed against one another as he leaned back in his chair. It was like watching a holovid of an action movie of some sort, but this was live and was happening somewhere above him. Then came the grin shared by all with malicious intent. He hit the record button just as Randy roared a bloodthristy and enraged bellow. He proceeded to charge down the length of the room, making a swipe and narrowly missing one of the Jedi. This was followed up by a large crash and the rancor plowing his way through the wall unfazed.

The scene had Forge on the edge of his seat, with bated breath. He was somewhat upset that the beast had broken through the wall and into the adjoining hallway. It didn't matter, Forge would have his fun, this was to be sure. As he panned the camera, he saw that the Jedi who had just lept into the air was now hurdling her green lightsaber into the face of his rancor.

Nooooo!!!

The blade sunk deep into the rancor's eye, and he fell with a loud roar and a thundering crash. The Jedi quickly withdrew her lightsaber with the Force before the beast hit the ground. What none of them knew, was that she had struck the location of the brain that controlled the beast's lower body. The rancor was now paralized from the waist down, and raging. He made furious swipes towards the Jedi, but to no avail. What was left was the rancor a mere 5 yards in front of the door, blocking the only hallway they had access to, and crippled. Forge didn't know what to think anymore. He addressed his mercinaries on his com-link to prepare for the intruders just down the hallway. If they managed to get past Randy, they would have some fun handling his mercs.

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

Blade on his throat, Regi wasn't in much of position to discuss with the Jedi. Though he would have to make a run for it if they found out he told her. The alarm was blaring in the background, intiated moments before he had been striken to the ground. This Jedi was lucky he was a coward.

It's down this hallway and on the right. It should say Holding Cell D above the door.

He told her, adding a string of swears under his breath. As he told her, Steve was creeping up behind her, vibroblade in hand, and his arm regenerated. Both had the same thought in their minds also, that if the Jedi were to step about ten feet down the hallway, she would be out of range of the ysalamir...

~~~~~~~~~~

Hage looked down at his bloody, soiled little friend laying in the fetal position on the ground in disgust. He couldn't get the boy to make a peep. He was a blind, crumpled, defeated, weak and bloody mess, but he wouldn't yell out in pain at any of his tortures. Though he was without his orthodox torture devices, he still had ways, but at this point if the boy wouldn't scream, then he would just have to shoot him.

Now, he wasn't about to kill him, just shoot him. Put him a bit more pain, disable him a bit more than he already was, due to the cuts alon his arms. As he drew his blaster pistol, he remembered the other padawan, who was sitting in the corner of his force cage, on the brink of tears. An oppertunity for gloating and derail if he ever saw one.

Buahahaha! What is it little boy? Are you scared? Why the sad face? Hahahaha! You'll get yer turn, don't worry. I'm getting kinda bored of this one anyway. It's not very nice of him not to cry in pain, don'tcha think?

Marshall Hage's eyes shone with a bloody and sadistic intent. He was almost crazed with his bloodlust. He was so deep in the enjoyment of things that he couldn't hear the alarm blaring just outside the door.

[sparrow]

(( I'm not sure Trandoshans can regen that quickly. Oh well, we'll run with it ))

Catching a flicker of motion in the corner of her eye, Elsie reacted instinctively and quickly. Both hands on the handle of her sword, her grip tightened as she swung the blade around in a smooth, wide arc. One slash, two kills. A spray of blood erupted from the neck of the first trandoshan as the blade sliced through his throat. The other had been expecting to have the element of surprise, and was instead surprised himself as the blade travelled over his arms and bit into his neck, inflicting a virtually identical wound as the one on his companion.

Elsie Therin stood over the dying reptile. "I have a mission to accomplish," she said, her voice even, what appeared to be a dark glint in her silver eye. "And I will show no mercy to anyone who tries to stop me."

Tearing off a piece of cloth from the clothing of one of the deceased, Elsie wiped the blood from her weapon and off her face before heading down the hallway towards Cell D.

[Anackis]

It wasn't until Hage mentioned someone else getting their turn that Rein realized he had been talking to the other padawan. The boy whom they were sent to retreive, along with his master of course. Rein took in a sharp breath and rolled to his knees, he may have been abandoned, but he would see that he did everything he could to help this boy.

Pain shot up through his arms as he placed his hands on the cold floor to push himself up. He faultered a bit but slowly made it to his feet, barely able to stand. He teetered back and forth shuffling his feet lightly to keep his balance. Slowly he moved to where he thought Hage was, Rein knew he'd never make it to the man, but hoped his defiance would anger him enough to leave the other boy alone.

[Casual]

Well, well, well... what have we here?

Marshall Hage looked at the pitiful young padawan as he made his attempt to stand up, and after a brief struggle, managed to support himself on two legs.

I'm impressed, boy. Yer up and walkin' around! Heh! Why I bet pretty soon, you'll be able to walk right into my own FIST!

With that, Hage decked the young boy in the face, knocking him back to the ground. It wasn't a particularly strong punch, it was just enough to get his point across. Just as his punch reached the end of it's follow through, however, a huge commotion broke out at the doorway, ushering a string of choice swear words at those damn-fool guards, he decided to ignore it and continue his fun.

[Val - Warning:Contains Sarcasm]

Her breath held, quivering in her throat as the blade flew gracefully through the air, landing squarely in the Rancor's head and sliding all the way through into the skin up to the hilt, accompanied by a deafening roar. She shuddered a bit, wishing the beast would just lay down and die by now, half turning her eyes away as it stumbled and collapsed, still growling and clawing away. Surely... surely in its last moments? That didn't seem to be the case though, as it struggled more and more as the seconds passed. She felt almost as though she were causing it extra pain by allowing it to live, suffering with her blade embedded in its skull. She pulled at the hilt, drawing the green saber immediately from the wound which had cauterized instantly upon contact, and the ever-clean edge came towards her. Her steps in turn initiated her own journey forwards to make contact with the distinctive tool of her affiliation. Grasping the hilt loosely, the blade remained active and shimmering whilst her eyes scanned around looking from side to side for any means of leaving the room. With a sigh she found that between the numerous amounts of carnage and structural damage caused by the Rancor, their only way out lay behind it.

Well, if that was the way out, then that would be how she'd be leaving. Her thoughts verged on the wandering back to thinking of Rein and what he might be going through when she suddenly corrected herself. Not the time for considering what is happening elsewhere, though. Not if she had the means to get there and deal with it. Glancing at Xierra, who had appeared thankfully not dead next to her, she offered a nod before extending the unoccupied hand out towards the Rancor. Invisible threads of the Force seemingly wrapping around the monster, creating a tie between it and her arm. Pausing for a second to solidify her hold around the growling, roaring, scraping and desperate beast, she exhaled slowly before yanking her arm backwards and the animal followed the motion by sliding towards her across the floor. Chunks of rock and flooring turned itself up as the thing came ploughing through the ground towards her, and the huge clawed arms trying hard to grasp at something to stop it. It was nothing more fancy than her legs moving quickly to meet the sliding giant, leaping beyond claw and tooth and flying debris to place herself intentionally behind its head. A swing of the saber behind her, an arc of green light, and there was an end to it.

She shivered slightly as the tiny sparks of the Force whittled themselves away from the creature piece by piece, seeping from it and around her into the rest of the universe. She had done something... well, something that she did not enjoy doing. It was the rather unfortunate side of lightsaber use. As much as she enjoyed being a Jedi of two blades - the physical one in her right hand, and the unseen of her left - death wasn't something she ever wanted to get used to. Accepting death could lead to enjoying it. Jedi weren't supposed to enjoy death, heck they were supposed to prevent it whenever possible. The lightsaber slid like a dangerous, angry snake back within its hole, ready to leap back out and strike again should the need arise. Glancing back at Xierra she gave a solemn nod and proceeded to leap down from the back of the Rancor and make her way towards the newly revealed hallway. She could have just walked down the creature's back, of course, but that was disrespectful. Not that taking a life wasn't, but considering she'd ended the beast's suffering in at least one way, she thought she'd better not risk it.

She had barely stepped out into the hallway, having carefully avoided stepping on something that would make no quarrels about mincing her feet up, before blaster fire ripped past her vision and struck the wall next to her. Her body arched backwards, falling back towards the cover of the previous room and stepping on something sharp. Glancing down quickly, she found that there was no bleeding from what turned out to be a stone, and silently she was thankful that it was not anything hindering. The venomous snake slipped out from its hole once more and flared its fangs once more as she felt around the corners to find that only one end of the corridor was actually occupied with anything alive. The other was clear, but there were no Force voids in that direction. That meant the henchmen were essentially in her way.
"I always did like Soresu." She half whispered, half thought as the hand came down to bring her saber into the Resilience Form, the second hand joining it.

She pulled back out into the centre of the corridor, walls blurring for a moment as the first blaster fire echoed down towards her, and she parried it away with her slithering saber easily. It left a brief trail of light as it moved swiftly up into the path of the bolt and sent the failed attack darting off into the wall on her right. Taking a moment to consider her options, she found that she currently had a good deal more blasters trained on her than she had expected, some of which were already sending more shots toward her. The hands returned to the default position of the style she had never truly utilised outside of the Jedi Temple practice areas in preparation for the upcoming attacks. Knowing that she could hold her own, hopefully, and maybe cover enough ground whilst blocking to give her some sort of edge. Either that or she'd be filled with blaster holes faster than she could say 'Way of the Mynock'. There was her own backup in the form of Xierra, never to be counted out of an equation, but with the red bolts arriving quickly she drew into blocking holds, stopping the bolts a good two feet away from her body.

[Anackis]

Rein fell back to the floor, his head hitting the floor with a crack. His whole body ached and he could not help but question what he was doing. His back straining over the creature and pack that were stuck to him. The scaly creature had let out a slight hiss as Rein fell back on it, but now was silent.

It took Rein a moment to realize, through the pain, that his vision had returned. It was blurry, but he could see. He could feel empty spots in the force not far from him. He assumed they were in other rooms. He felt a slight bit of excitment as the feel of the force returned.

Instantly he tried to calm himself and let the force help him as it always had, but his wounds and pains broke his consentration. His head throbbed an off beat tune causing his mind to wonder. He felt helpless, even with the force right there he could not consentrate enough to use it.

He watched as Hage glanced at the door at some commotion that drew his attention. Rein slowly clenched his small fists, he had been abandond here. Left to die. A tiny rage welled up inside him like a flame in his mind. He focused on that flame letting it guide his mind to the force.

Master Adeera left me at the first chance she had. He thought to himself, Just like the Jedi Council. They wanted to get rid of me. That's why they sent me here. They think I'm useless. The flame grew brighter as his anger grew. He had always been taught to control his emotions, but he had a right to be angry. This is no mission, they set me up to get rid of me. But I will show them that I'm not useless.

Rein turned his attention to Hage again who was coming towards him ready to continue his play. Rein raised a slight smile the pain completely forgotten, absorbed by the thrill of the force running through him. He coughed a few times before letting out a broken laugh.

Rein reached his hand out and pulled hard with the force at the gun in Hages hand. Who's the weak one now? he thought to himself as he made his move.

[sparrow]

Holding Cell B,...C,... D....

Suddenly, something felt different. Slowly, the pain from her wounds seemed to recede, pushed to the back of her mind. Instead, there was hope, warmth,.... She opened herself up to the Force, welcomed it as it came to her, as if welcoming back an old friend. A flower in bloom, leaves and petals soaking up the sunlight.

Inside the room, she could feel the Force presences of two people. Rein,... and someone else. I'm sorry, Rein, I wasn't able to protect you as I should have. But I'm here now. She made her move.

The door slid open, and Hage barely had time to look back in surprise when his legs were pulled out from under him. Elsie flicked her fingers upwards, and Hage went from lying flat on the ground to being pressed flat against the ceiling. She moved across the room, looked up at the pinned man, and held up her sword, blade vertical, the tip only an inch beneath Hage's belly.

"Don't do anything to break my concentration, sir. You wouldn't like that." She turned towards the young miraluka. "Rein, are you okay?"

[Mara]

Xierra heard Val's lightsaber hit Randy's skull with a sickening crunch. As the weapon flashed back towards the other Jedi's hand, the Falleen kept her eyes on the rancor, watching to see if the stroke was indeed fatal. The large animal crashed to the floor of the room with a deafening roar. And it was still alive, thrashing about with its tiny arms and cavernous jaw. She didn't see its legs or tail moving, though. Paralyzed. The stroke hadn't killed it, just damaged it. Xierra set her jaw; it would be easier to take down in its weakened state.

In fact, they would have to finish the job. Firstly, the Jedi hated leaving a wounded animal like that. All her training led her to want to ease its pain, despite Randy trying to kill them moments before. Xierra knew he didn't really mean it. And, secondly, his huge mass was laying in the doorway out. So unless they cut through a wall or jumped over the struggling creature, there was only one way out. She glanced over at Val to see what she was thinking, her lightsaber blade still late, its pale shade like a shadow of the other Jedi's brighter green one.

She nodded back at Val, a flicker of the Force giving her understanding of what the human Jedi was planning. Giving her appropriate room, she stepped back out of the way. As Val lifted up the animal telekinetically, Xierra scanned the room, making sure there weren't additional dangers lurking around corners or furniture. She wouldn't be surprised by anything anymore, especially after seeing a Rancor in a bunker on Metellos. Turning back, she saw that the doorway was now clear. As her fellow Jedi moved in for the mercy kill, she closed her eyes briefly, willing the Force to not deal severely with Randy's presence.

But then it was back to business at hand: finding the now four captured Jedi and taking down Forge. Xierra headed towards the doorway and went into the hallway, only to be met with a barrage of blasterfire, immediately causing her to snap up her lightsaber blade to bat the bolts back to where they came from. There wasn't any time for anything fancy, no aiming to defect the bolts harmlessly into the floor in front of her. All she could do was defend herself. And this time she was smart enough to leave the second lightsaber hidden at her back. Time to focus on Ataru, single-bladedly. A decade of training focused on the mission.

Her blade spun dizzingly in front of her as it met bolt after bolt. With almost all her Force awareness focused on deflecting the fire, she only barely felt Val beside her doing the same. But Xierra was moving much more, hardly staying in the same spot twice. Jumping, ducking, spinning. Her arms moving at a breakneck pace as her clawed fingers moved around her black hilt.

Slowly, she moved forward, creeping one step at a time. Hopefully so slowly the enemies ahead wouldn't realize she was close until it was too late. She could now make them out now, counting at least half a dozen in dark clothing. Xierra had clear targets now and instead of merely just deflecting and defending, she began using her blade to aim her redirects at the torsos of those shooting at her. Still she was many meters away and held her ground for the moment. No need to let them get a better shot at her. Xierra was content with keeping up her blurry defense, resorting to acrobatics when necessary.

[Casual]

Forge swore for the entire length it took for the Jedi to put down Randy and relocate him that they may get past him. By the end of it, he was throwing various paperweights and office supplies all over his office. As the Jedi departed through the door, Forge switched cameras and followed their actions, they now had two choices if they got through his band of mercenaries, which he had no doubt they would. They were just pawns who, if they ended up dead, would be one less fee to pay. They would either head down the right-hand hall, to free their friends, or they would take the left-hand hall to his last resort. Either way, they would have to come right back up the hallway and into his security measure, there was no other way to his office. He spun around in his chair, deep in thought. This threat was becoming increasingly more… well, threatening. What if they actually managed to reach him? Bah, he thought, I mustn’t entertain such preposterous notions, no one was going to get through such a thing AND his blast door. He smiled to himself a wonderful smile. They were going to die in their vain attempts to reach him.

The buzz of his desk-attached com-link interrupted his comfortable thoughts.

Sir, the female Jedi has escaped her holding cell! She’s headed for the young Jedi!

Forge shook with anger, crumpling the piece of paper his hand had been resting on, he could hear the alarm in the background.

Dammit does your incompetence know no bounds? I want them found, and I want them dead, the games are over!

With that he shut off the com-link, fuming as his world crumbled around him.

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

Damn it men, HIT her!

Yelled the mercenary by the name of Web, the self elected leader of the squad that lay in front of him. His cunning and wordplay gained their respects after they received word of a monstrous bounty Forge was offering for these Jedi dead. It was all he could do to keep them from turning into independent bounty hunters on the spot. The price was outrageous, and luckily for Forge, so was his greed.

Don’t forget how much money we’re gettin’ outta this deal! Fire faster, harder, and for Sith’s sake, HIT them!

As a matter of fact they couldn’t land a single blow on them. Before they realized, the lizardly Falleen was much too close for comfort, as she was within range to redirect their shots. The man two down from his left took a blow to the torso by his own shot. At this, Web decided he’d had enough. He grabbed a fragmentation grenade off of his belt, triggered it and threw it as far down as he could, clearing the head of the closer Jedi, and a few feet from the one in the back. He let out a slight masculine yelp of excitement at his accuracy.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hage advanced towards the little boy, the time had come to end this, this was going to be the most painful death he could come up with. Though he never got the chance, the boy reached out and used the Force to propel the gun into his hand. Hage wasn’t sure what to be more shocked about, how the boy had managed to use the Force once more, or that the boy dared to challenge him, pistol or not.

Who’s the weak one now?

Hage stared at him for a second before laughing.

Boy, you wouldn’t know the first thing about what to do next. What are you gonna do? Shoot me? Ha! What happens when you miss? Should I just grab that pistol outta yer hand right now and shoot you in the foot? Save you the trouble? Hoo boy, I am going to ----

Hage had begun to walk towards the little Jedi, ready to strangle and throttle him. He didn’t get the chance. The door behind him burst open, and Hage turned around. Before his eyes reached the door, he felt his legs slip out from under him and he hit the ground. With a quick swear the only pause, he was then propelled straight up into the ceiling. He then saw what was throwing him around like a rag doll.

You witch! Devil woman, you are so done for. I am going to do such terrible things to you, you can’t even begin to understand. I’m not one to be messin’ with lady. I---

She held the vibroblade under his gut and he stopped talking, resorting to muttering under his breath. He was a warrior, not some Jedi puppet. He kills for a living, she talks to politicians and flaunts around with her peace and happiness. This is not how things should be.

Don’t do anything to break my concentration, sir. You wouldn’t like that.

Hage was now absolutely furious. He fumed and raged against the Jedi’s hold, but couldn’t budge. If he ever got even the slightest chance to break free, he was going to do such unmentionable things. His eyes burned with hate as she began to talk with that pitiful excuse of a boy.

[Val - Warning:Contains Sarcasm]

Discovering Xierra fully by her side and advancing in her aggressive posture, Val breathed again. Her own position didn't alter in the slightest, but the Falleen was intent on advancing. And so she did. Val's silvery eyes watched on as the other Knight drew in, step by calculated step, on the enemy, and finally she managed to hit one of the blaster bolts into the chest of its sender, who exerted a muffled shout. The shots became less and less accurate after that, giving Val the chance to take a few steps towards the firing squad, which she almost immediately conceded as a rush of the Dark side hit her sideways. Shaking a little, she half wondered whether that was coming from some other Force user, but felt it was coming from the way on her right. Lost in thought she hardly noticed the blaster bolt fly towards her, and instead was aware of its presence as it streaked past her head, barely missing it. It felt significantly warm.

Focusing against the Force’s aggressive pull on her attention towards the negative energies, she managed to vehemently lash a shot into the wall, achieving another step of conviction forwards as she did so. She was about to take another when the distinctly spherical body of a grenade bounced in its intimidating, clinking manner towards her. Leaping backwards to make herself harder to hit, she drew her hand up, feeling around the chilly, vibrating ball and lifting it quickly. The Force obeyed her, drawing it back away from Xierra and thrusting it through the hole they had just emerged from where the Rancor corpse lay. Before she could drop her hold on it, however, the timer expired, and in a shuddering blast of smoke and fire, several chunks of rubble came tumbling sideways at her. The woman’s body dropped into a crouched pose as the blocks and shards struck and surrounded her.

With her mind still reeling from the close contact of her mental attachment to the Force and, by proxy, the explosive, she cursed herself, and the mercenaries, and coughed hard against the suffocating smoke that made the blind shots of the soldiers impossible to see, cursing that too. Squeezing her eyes closed she finally managed to bring herself back up shakily, shrugging off the cerebral scarring she most probably just gave herself. The sleeve of her right arm came up to brush against her forehead and the soft, cheap fabric felt like Devaronian silk in that moment. Her grip on the lightsaber reinforced itself now, and she knew the tools of Forge were not going to surrender after that little stunt. Her steps were no longer full-on, tentative motions as she emerged from the asphyxiating cloud with her body inclined to the sides, one foot overtaking the other in lateral motions.

The lightsaber rested in the grip of her right hand, and had significantly less work to do as her crouched body with newly reduced target size began to annihilate the distance between the tip of her hungry saber and the shafts of the rifles attempting to gun her down. Her steps drew her alongside Xierra, where the attacks were particularly fierce, and with a swivel her second arm came around the traditional Jedi weapon, her full body appearing in a sturdy posture to defend. The steel-like eyes stabbed through into the flesh of each man, body denying any permission to strike her. The green blade swung loosely and easily from side to side, up and down in smooth, arcing and swinging motions.
”We can’t linger here, we’ve got to get past them.” She stated the obvious, winding an impressive hit back at one of the hired lackey’s shoulders, and he fell, to her personal satisfaction.

[Anackis]

Rein stared in disbelief for a moment as Master Therin burst into the room. He felt her force pressance, though as familiar as it seemed he could not understand what she was doing here. They had left him, he was sure of that. Had this been no more then a test? Rein glanced at Hage pinned to the celieing with the force, then back to Elsie.

He heard her ask him if he was o.k., but it didn't register. The long slits in his arms still oozed blood, his jaw was swollen and he could not tell if it was broken or dislocated. He turned his attention back to Hage.

Hatered boiled within him as his trembling hands lifted the gun towards the man. He could end it now. Rein could stop this mans sadistic enjoyment of torture. He should not kill the man, he was taught diffrently. But if he was to protect people at all, would it not be better to take one life to save others? His tiny fingers pulled the trigger. He heard the gun fire, but his vision began to blur followed by his knees buckling.

It was too much for his small body to maintain the force that masked his pain. The gun clattered to the floor as he fell to the floor, his muscles refusing to cooperate any longer.

[sparrow]

She let the now limp body drop to the ground. So much for the plan of interrogating him for Bey's location, she thought. She grabbed the dead man's card keys and headed to the computer terminal in the room. With luck, she'd be able to get a high enough clearance to find out Forge and Bey's locations. Forge no doubt had her lightsaber. She was going to find him and kill him for that.

No, that wasn't the most important thing right now. Taking down Forge and rescuing Bey were the ultimate objectives of the mission, but right now there were other things that needed her attention first. Rein still lay unconscious on the ground, and the other padawan, a boy no older than Rein, was obviously quite traumatized from what had happened to him. Forge could wait. She had to get these two kids out of here and to a safe place.

Quickly she brought up a map on the computer screen. It was a simple diagram, basic clearance only, but it showed all the exits. The guards seemed to be drawn towards one side of the base. Could that be Xierra and Val trying to break in? Probably. But she was in no condition to fight, not with her wounds and the duty of protecting the two padawans. So she would head the other side of the base. There was a small exit that went to the street there. From there she could take them back to the ship, where there would be some medical supplies. Once the safety of the padawans was taken care of she could then change into something a bit more combat-suitable, retrieve her sword, and come back to help.

"Can you walk, kid?" she asked the padawan, who nodded weakly. "Help get Rein on my back. I'm taking you out of here." She knelt down as the padawan helped push Rein onto her back, and she winced slightly as she tried to stand back up. The bleeding from those cuts had mostly been stopped by the strips of cloth she had wrapped around them, but it still hurt.

She steadied herself with Rein's arms draped around her neck. "Alright, follow me."

[Mara]

Blocking out all extra senses, Xierra had become one with her weapon, both of them moving fluidly together in perfect harmony. The Force surged through her, allowing her extra reflexes, a brief glance into the future within minds of the soldiers in front of her, a slight hold on the presence of Val. But mostly it aided her grip on her lightsaber, the pale green blade moving blurrily in front of her, blocking and redirecting blasterfire.

A feral grin briefly flickered across her greenish gray angled features as she saw one of the enemies drop down, a smoking hole in his abdomen from his own weapon's discharge. But then their tactics changed, and Xierra's face hardened, seeing the grenade come flying at her. She didn't move a muscle, continuing her focus on deflecting the bolts directed at her. There was nothing she could do about the grenade that was almost certainly heading down behind her towards Val. To divert her attention now would mean injury or even mortal wounds to herself. Despite her feelings towards the other Jedi after such short time spent together, the mission was the most important. And to complete it she needed to get past the guards shooting at her. And forget about Val for the time being, having faith in the other Jedi's skill in the Force.

She held her ground, not wanting to advance any further towards those shooting at her. If they were willing to change to grenades, there were a host of other things they could toss her way, and Xierra wanted to have the space to maneuver. Her lightsaber continued to move speedily through the air in front of her, the blade casting a light green blur in front of her face. Willing more bolts to deflect back into their fleshy bodies.

Xierra saw Val before she felt her, so focused on herself and her defense was she. She allowed a small piece of her awareness to draw away from the fight and move over the other Jedi, checking for anything she might have suffered from the grenade attack. A slight nod of her head acknowledged Val's words. They did need to get past this line of guards and soon. There was no telling what was going on beyond with Elsie and Rein, Tas Bey and his padawan. Forge. Keeping her voice quiet, for only her ears, Xierra asked after a particularly well-aimed flash of her weapon sent a laser of pain through the forehead of one of the guards, wounding him but not felling him. "Any ideas?"

[Casual]

Templar Forge was not a generally angry man. He normally kept his composure under the most extreme of circumstances. Backstabbing, difficult business meetings, point-black gun-points, you name it, he'd been through it, but the fact that these Jedi marched and pranced around his home! It made him sick to his stomach. It was something that truly surfaced his feelings of, well, anger. He paced back and forth around his office, equisite walls with their tapestries and designs stared back at him, displays of power, wealth and influence. He reflected on their transience. No! He would not lose these things, he would fight to the last breath to keep these things.

He walked over to his desk, and opened a drawer, proceeding to procure a box from within. He opened the lid to reveal a reptilian creature known as a ysalamir. It was what kept his foes weak, what gave him control, and it was the only one still alive within the entire building. The one that had been in the female Jedi's holding cell was reported dead, a story he did not want to think about, as the fact that his underlings would even think to horse around with such an exotic and expensive creature made Forge's skin crawl. Should the Jedi get to his office, he would be forced to take extreme measures in protecting his life and custody. He still held a trump card, one ace in the hole. He looked over to it in the corner of his office, allowing a sinister smile curve up the length of his face. It was enough of a comfort to calm him down as he sat in his chair and watched as the mercenaries fell one by one by their own blaster rifles.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Sith Spit! We're falling like flies!

In actuality, they only had two dead and one wounded out of twelve. It wasn't as bad as Web interpreted it, but that was beside the point. The grenade had failed him, as the blasted Jedi had launched it into the room they had entered from. The resulting explosion filled the end of the hall with smoke, which covered the Jedi, leaving the mercs blind to that Jedi. They were going to need some new tactic if they were to kill these Jedi. The two were pinned, it seemed, incabable of gaining ground. An idea struck Web. They would all push forward quickly. It meant a temporary cease in fire, but if they could pull it off, could keep the Jedi further back, with less time to respond to the blazing red blasts of their rifles. Web relayed this to the men crouched in front of him one by one, his face twisted and sick with a reckless glee. He didn't care for their mixed reactions, it was going to be done. He stood poised, ready to move. They were going to run five feet forward, breaking fire for that slight amount of time. They were going to win. With a big deep bellow, Web yelled:

GO!

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

Reskle Benne, the small young padawan of Tes Bay obliged to the wishes of the newly arrived and scantily clad Jedi Knight, helping prop the wounded boy on her back. He was absolutely shaken at what he'd seen, and hoped they would never be caught again as they made their way out of this place.

My name's Reskle He told her, and after a second's pause, he asked, Are we gonna be okay?