Ol'averde be Haar Mav [Popsicles]

[Lilaena De'Ville]

===== 22:29 until Imperial fleet arrives to destroy the base =====
===== 5:54 until facility power cores explode =====

SUB LEVEL 8

Lilaena battered Helgast against a cryopod, the past five minutes of dueling seemed to have taken years as each stroke of a blade was met and counter,ed. He did not seem to be suffering from any sort of hibernation sickness, in fact hardly any of the freed prisoners were exhibiting symptoms. She could not think about the strangeness of that, however, as her rage boiled over.

She gripped him with the Force and lifted his body into the air, flinging the former Inquisitor meters away down between the cryopods. Lilaena took a deep breath, shuddering with power, but he did not return to finish the fight. She moved as though to follow his trajectory, to finish him off, but voices broke through her blind rage and she turned toward the closest one.

A blond haired man was crouching beside a support pillar, witness to her fight with Helgast. "What's happening?" he repeated, confusion etched on his finely drawn features.

Her comm crackled. Choruk. "I've rerouted power to the turbolifts. Oh, and this entire mountain will explode in about five hours."

"We'll be long gone by then. Switch to defense," Lilaena ordered into her comm, her eyes still on the long haired man opposite her. "Get as many prisoners out as you can."

Even as she said it, blaster bolts whizzed over her head and stitched into the pillar in front of her, sending a spray of duracrete down on the man. She crouched down, turning her head and noting Jeng in the distance as he jumped down from his vantage and began falling back toward the central 'lifts.

"We're here to rescue you," she said. "It's going great. Come on."

Lilaena hesitated a moment to make sure he was following her, and began to lead him to the turbolifts.

===== 22:27 / 5:52 =====

SUB LEVEL 7

The jetii slid off the console, leaving a smear of blood behind as Obed shoved her body to the floor with his remaining hand. He looked at Choruk, who shook his head.

"The download was interrupted when she stabbed the console. But, I did manage to restore power to the turbolifts." He pocketed the datastick, concealing it safely under his armor. Ciryc and Hel were waiting, and they joined together to make their way back to the central location of the lifts. One of the formerly frozen had joined them, and was holding a blaster rifle like he knew what do to with it.

As the man pegged a trooper with a carefully aimed bolt, Choruk gave him a nod. They moved in formation back to their vod, where Teroch was holding a turbolift for them. The great wardroid Jariler coughed out globs of weaponized energy, sending the last of the troopers on level 7 to their deaths.

"Up or down?"

"Both."

[Llamendo dal Iesin]

SUB LEVEL 8

There was no time to think, nothing to do but trust in the Force, as distant as it felt, as Llamendo stumbled after his mysterious rescuer. Ahead, the stranger was indistinct, sometimes a silhouette illuminated by the flash of blaster fire, other times lost in the darkness. Llamendo ground his knuckles into his eyes, trying to rub away the unnatural haze that clouded his vision, the aftereffects of his time in statis. How long had it been? With each step, his legs protested or felt like they were limbs belonging to someone else entirely.

“Where are we?! What is this place? I - need to find my master.”

[Sejah Haversh]

SUB LEVEL 8

"Don't think our masters are here, pal," Sejah grunted to the long-haired man before him. He was a stranger, but from the cut of his clothing, less strange than everything else which surrounded them, so the Nehantite guessed that this man must also be a Jedi. Or a Padawan. Or at least not trying to kill everyone, which was good enough for the moment.

Rescue. The woman had said it, and he felt no reason to doubt her, so he followed as well, keeping his head low, until reaching the relative safety of the turbolift. Only there could he see his new companions clearly, yet the first words out of his mouth were, "Anybody got a spare lightsaber? Or blaster?"

[Sherobah Angau]

SUB LEVEL 8

A matter of steps behind Sejah, Sherobah had moments ago concealed a stolen lightsaber - found near the malfunctioning wreck of a stasis pod - beneath her clothes. As she neared the group of three, she schooled her expression into something not quite as frantic and panicked as the human man, but less hard and cold than she truly felt.

“This is a nightmare,” she said. “We need to run, not fight.”

[Lilaena De'Ville]

===== 22:24 / 5:49 =====

LEVEL ONE / ENTRANCE

Vail clung to Buruk’s back as the besu’liik reached its fellows. Five other wardroids prowled the main courtyard, but there had been no resistance for the last ten minutes. She nudged the damaged droid toward where Aang sat astride Kotir, her right side numb where she had been burned in the explosion on sub level 3.

He turned his helmet toward her. “You look like shit.”

“Others fared far worse,” she replied.

Aang nodded. Vail noticed Laara’s absence, but said nothing.

A group of people came cautiously out of the freight elevator, two white armored figures with them. Her HUD tagged them as Tiktik and Granoi, and Vail smiled behind her T-visor. The biting cold of Hoth instantly cut through the thin and damp clothes the former prisoners were dressed in, and Acolytes surrounded them, herding the group quickly across the courtyard to where the Aranar was landing, great drifts of snow plowing up as it settled down.


SUB LEVEL 8

Lilaena nodded in agreement with the dark haired woman.

“Time to go.” They had reached the turbo lift, and she looked back at the cavernous room. Flashes of light were almost certainly signs of the recently unfrozen being killed or stunned by the troopers. The Imperials would soon realize that they were no longer pinned down. Lilaena switched to her internal comm.

“Jeng, where are you?” He had jumped down from his perch, but had not rejoined her.

A group of four people in wet prison jumpsuits came into sight, dragging a body in white Mandalorian armor. One was holding Jeng’s blaster rifle and covering their escape, shooting back toward the slowly advancing troopers. Lilaena cursed, her lightsaber igniting once more as she dashed toward the little group, deflecting blaster bolts as she jumped between them and the Imperials.

Jeng was unconscious and his armor carbon scored, but he was still alive. These people must have seen him fall and decided to get him to safety.

“Get him to the lift! Go up and out!” Lilaena didn’t bother with further instructions, focusing her rage at protecting their exit for as many people as possible. The Aranar had landed and the Haran was entering the system, but it was only a matter of time before the Imperials jumped into orbit with a response of their own. They didn’t expect the nearest fleet would be able to mount a response to the communications going down and arrive before a few more hours had passed, but it was best to get out as soon as possible.

[Llamendo dal Iesin]

SUB LEVEL 8

Llamendo darted forward to the group dragging the unconscious body. One of the four was struggling with the dead-weight and gladly relinquished the arm they were shouldering, allowing Llamendo to duck beneath it. With Lilaena deflecting blaster fire, the five of them make quick work of pulling Jeng into the waiting turbolift. Others followed and soon the lift doors were sliding shut, enveloping the group in a bubble of artificial stillness. Llamendo crouched beside Jeng, reaching for the Force in an effort to sense how critical the Mandalorian’s injuries were.

[Layla Cimmerian]

The lights winked out as she watched the duel between the armored figure, and the woman with the purple lightsaber. She instantly knew which side she needed to be on but did not take the most direct route which would have brought her through their scuffle. Instead she ducked down an adjacent row and moved parallel to the fight until she saw through gaps in the pods as the woman dispatched her enemy.

From her place on the other side of the cryopods she had her suspicions confirmed, the woman was here to rescue them. It was evident though that this was no prolonged foray into the mountain structure, and the window for escape was closing rapidly. She managed to slip into line behind the prisoners dragging one of their rescuers, joining the gathering that amassed at the turbolift. Layla tried to tuck her stolen brown robes in tighter around her frame for warmth, pausing halfway between the turbolift and Lilaena.

She could feel the darkside in this one, but not so much the others. It made her leery of revealing too much of who she was, or what she was. There was a moment though where she realized she had no identity any longer. She could be what she wanted, but the most important part was survival. How did she best survive? Lilaena took up a defensive position for the rest of them, and Layla spared a glance back to the turbolift. So easy to get in and ride it to safety. Would they leave without this other woman though?

“What about you?” She found her voice, considering her options. Fight or flight. No, delay or flight? That seemed more appropriate given the situation. She stilled a breath in her lungs, reached out and focused. A cryopod some fifteen feet ahead of Lilaena opened but only just enough for the hatched door to impede blaster fighter. She turned at the waist, focused and did so with another pods hatch, this one opening at a different angle. Focus, turn, attempt again. The next would not budge, and she wondered if it was merely locked or if her strength had only failed to return to her.

[Lilaena De'Ville]

SUB LEVEL 8


Behind her she could hear the turbolift closing, Jeng unconscious but safely inside with some of the others. Lilaena spun her lightsaber, purple light blazing a trail in the semi-darkness of the sub level as she danced with the blaster bolts. She could hold the stormtroopers off for a little while, perhaps long enough for the 'lift to return one or two more times.

The Force warned her, and she caught movement out of the corner of her eye - troopers spreading out through the level, no longer pinned down in one corner. If they flanked her it would be a fierce fight indeed. A flicker - and a cryopod door popped wider, blocking some of the incoming bolts. Another nearby did the same, and Lilaena risked a glance back to see one of the former prisoners with her hand outstretched, using the Force.

Lilaena nodded to her, and then returned her full attention to the troopers. Cold and wet beings were still trying to make their way toward the 'lift, some being cut down by blaster fire before they could get close enough for her protection. The rage inside her threatened to boil over, but she held it tightly, turning it into something cold and hard.



LEVEL ONE / ENTRANCE


Granoi turned from herding a group of people toward the Aranar, the Defender, and saw some new arrivals struggling with a body in armor. She clicked her tongue at Hel, gesturing, and the other warrior ran the distance toward the turbolift, Tiktik close on her heels.

Hel reached them quickly, helping the group to clear the turbolift so others could use it, and then dropping to her knees beside Jeng's body. One of the others was removing his helmet. She saw with relief that her vod was not dead, but injured.

"There is help on board, help me carry him," she said, reaching to pick him up.

[Layla Cimmerian]

Sub Level 8

She could feel the darkness emanating from their would-be rescuer, and Layla sought to feed off it. She drew strength from someone that had not suffered atrophied senses the way she had. That darkness was cold and familiar, inviting. She kept herself from plunging just over to keep her wits about her as she drew from her own well and from the fear, pain and death that surrounded her. It reinvigorated a part of her, though still in some manner of a muted form.

Layla sank down to a single knee, touching her hands to the floor. She kept her frame small to make her a more difficult target and searched with all of her mental capacity. Her senses felt along that same cryo-pod that had refused to budge, the power system on it flickering briefly. She traced along its component, until she found what she sought. A tube burst off from the side of the pod, flailed form a moment, then steadied in the direction of the troopers as frigid gas poured out.

The thick cloud of white obscured her vision enough that she didn’t know what became of them on the other side of the mist, but she only cared to delay and protect the line of escape for as long as necessary. Even as she held her concentration to keep the tube from moving uncontrollably, she sought what other tricks she could employ.

[Ryssa Kilvaari]

::Sublevel 8::

Ryssa had a lot on her mind. Having been frozen for so long and waking up in the middle of a warzone, the ancient Padawan had no idea whose side she was meant to be on to assist and briefly watched from a distance behind cover to gauge the situation. While she could not fully trust those that fired upon the stormtroopers, Ryssa saw a familiar enemy and remembered Jael's teachings about the enemy of my enemy hopefully being a friend. Her rescuers Force signatures were full of darkness, but Ryssa did not care. They had helped her so it was her duty to help them!

Coughing hard as he lungs burned for a moment, Ryssa took her newly acquired blasters and looked to Zero. "Go! I may be weak but I'm not without other tricks up my sleeve! Help the others escape if you can!" she said before closing her eyes a moment, allowing the Force to flow through her. She could keep her illness at bay for now but without medical treatment, she knew it could kill her, yet so could this firefight. In her mind, Ryssa truly cared little for her wellbeing. If she lived, she would explore this new galaxy once again to find her place amongst the stars. If she died here then she would've died doing her duty to her final breath. Finding herself behind a group of stormtroopers that threatened to flank her rescuers, Ryssa picked several of them off one by one to protect them. She could feel the darkness within her rescuers more now and any sane Jedi would've backed away, yet the ancient Padawan had come from a far different Jedi Order, one that had strived for balance of light and dark, not the Order of today. As a result, Ryssa, while still cautious, was far more pragmatic than most. She cared little for the background of others, but if they were in need of help, Ryssa would be one of the first to willingly stand by their side if they were willing to look past what she stood for.

As Ryssa fired a shot at the Stormtroopers, taking one down that was near one of her rescuers, the ancient Padawan smirked a little at them while in cover. "Sorry... I forgot to bring a lightsaber to this party..." she said in a way that broke the ice as she helped take down another trooper in range. "I do hope a blaster and some old tricks will suffice, however."

[open tag]

[Tank]

Tank had managed to follow his rescuers up the lift to the surface, getting not a damned bit of anything in response to his question. Whatever was happening, this looked like the staging for a dust-off. The former clone commander braced for a savage chill as he was herded towards the nearest ship, though he wasn't about to relinquish his weapon just yet.

"I want some answers. What clan are you? Who sent you?"

[Lilaena De'Ville]

LEVEL ONE / ENTRANCE
=== 21:53 until the Empire responds to breach // 5:18 until facility self-destruct ===


Ciryc reached down and helped Tank into a waiting shuttle from the Haran as the Aranar lifted off, blasting the ground with sharp ice particles. "There was a time we were Clan Ordo."

Lilaena staggered out of the building, half-dragging an semi-conscious Rodian as she made for the last remaining shuttle. Hands from her vod reached to help and her burden was lifted as she climbed in out of the wind. Her armor's climate regulators were damaged from the fighting and she struggled not to shake from the cold.

"Let's get out of here."

Within the next twenty-minutes there was no trace left behind of the Mando'ade, except for their dead left frozen on the mountain and immolated down below.