The Invasion Begins (Complete)

[Alexia Sturkov]

The space around Korriban was empty except for a few particle clouds that had been blown in by the interstellar winds from some neighboring planet. When the sun came up the clouds would light up like giant fireballs in the sky, only without the heat and impending doom normally associated with fireballs in the sky. But those clouds served a second purpose then a light show. They provided cover for a ship that was sneaking into the system. The ship was long and sleek, a large black vessel with no visible weapon systems. The ship positioned itself behind the cloud in such an angle that the sun did not cause its shadow to be displayed on the particle clouds. Eventually it poked its nose out of the cloud and a hatch opened in its nose. A long range communication array was extended and pointed down at the planet. A series of encrypted messages and file transfers were beamed up and down from the ship to the planet. Unknown to the sith on Korriban the ship had just hacked into their databank and downloaded the entire list of active sith within the Sith Order.

On the bridge of the Morning Star stood Alexia Sturkov. She was busy looking over the long list of names that filled the main view screen. Many of the names she knew, but more of them she did not. There was only two names that were of any real importance to her: Zereth Lancer and Yurza Magus. There were even images with the files. It would seem that the Sith did not trust each other enough and had extensive files on each other in the case that one defected, so that they could be easily tracked down and eliminated. Beside Alexia stood Zanon O'hara, her partner in crime and the creator of her army. The good Doctor had was viewing the information on a different screen but all he seemed to be doing was looking at all the female member's images and grinning to himself.

"File transfer complete," An Arkanian said from somewhere on the command bridge. All of Alexia's commanding officers were Arkanians. They were easy to bribe and very intelligent. Zanon had his own private force of Arkanian scientists to aid him in his work.

"Very good," Alexia said before closing the file and saving several copies of it to the ships internal systems, "Jurak!" She called and form the back of the command deck a large figure emerged. The creature reached her and dropped to one knee and bowed it's head.

Alexia looked down upon the giant that cowered before her. Jurak was easily seven feet tall, with pale greenish skin that poorly concealed the rippling muscles underneath. The force hunters where a living weapon with poisoned claws and fangs, bulbous eye with excellent night vision, and in Jurak’s case; large spikes that protruded from his shoulders, elbows, and knees. Deadly blades, power gauntlets, and face plates made them even more dangerous. Their blades where made of a dense metal alloy that allowed them to withstand contact with a lightsabre numerous times before being rendered useless, although this material was too heavy for human’s to wield in combat, the force hunter’s magnificent strength allowed them to use them to use the blade with ease. Jurak himself, with his even greater strength then the normal hunters, could wield two such blades at a time but preferred to use a single, larger blade, instead. The power gauntlets allowed the hunters to put their full strength behind a punch without the risk of breaking their fingers, and or wrists. Also hidden launchers filled with poisonous or exploding darts gave the hunters another edge in combat. The face plate was a helmet that only covered one’s face. These plates where equipped with heat vision, sensor equipment, and comm units. They also are strong enough to withstand a blaster bolt and save the hunter from a quick death. The hunters also wore a kind of black studded leather armor that offered them only mild protection but allowed them to move freely, all in all they where a formidable foe not to be reckoned with.

“Everything is ready, Trinity.” Jurak said as before raising his head and looked up at her, “All the soldiers are armed and prepared. They only await your orders.”

"Get them to their drop ships," Alexia commanded, "And prepare my dropship for departure. I wish to join this hunt," She turned and left the bridge with Jurak right on her heels. What Zanon did was not of their concern. He was only to remain behind and look over the ship.

Alexia entered the large docking bay and looked about at the ten dropships that filled it. Each Drop ship could hold thirty humans, but because of their larger body size, only twenty Force Hunters could fit aboard each ship. Alexia's own drop ship was hold her, Jurak, a ten Force Hunters and four Krath War Droids. When everyone was loaded in and strapped down the ships were launched with Alexia's drop ship leading the way. The other drop ships had been equipped with cloaking devices and radar jammers, a mix of equipment that rendered them invisible to the Sith Order's outdated sensor equipment. As they entered the atmosphere Alexia sent a pulse message down to the Sith Order's control center requesting the opening of the Hangar Bay doors. Alexia had modified the transponder beacon on the ship to say that her ship was the Star of Oblivion, which was one of Zereth Lancer's personal ships. Alexia knew the ship would not be here because Zereth always kept it docked on Corellia.

Access was granted and the docking bay doors were opened. The bay itself was hidden inside a cliff face and a mix of holo technology and camouflage hid the doors from the view. The holo was dropped and the doors were opened and Alexia and her ships flew right in. The force hunters were pouring out of their dropships before they had even finished setting down. The surprised technicians and sith in the hangar bay were quickly cut down before any alarm could be sounded.

Alexia herself did not leave her ship until after the slaughter was finished. She was dressed a mix of black leather and red cloth (see Character pic), her shoulder length red hair was loose and her piercing green eyes looked about critically at everything around her. On her belt hung a lightsabre hilt and a knife and a blaster pistol was holstered at her side, "The fools don't suspect a thing," She laughed and then ordered the Force Hunters out of the docking bay, down the hall, and into the "castle" of the Sith Order.

[Yurza Magus]

Yurza jumped out of bed, startled by a new feeling through the Force. He reached out to the people in rooms near hm and knew they had felt something as well. But what is it?

He quickly got out of bed and put on a pair of his black pants and a matching tank top. It wasn't much, but it was all he needed to do some quick investigating. On the way out of the door he grabbed his lightsaber and walked outside. Other Sith were standing outside of their rooms as well. He grabbed the two newest Apprentices and told them to follow him.

He opened his mind to the Force and searched for his fellow Knights asking if they too had felt the disturbance. He recieved Force nudges indicating that they had. "You two stay behind me and stay close. I don't know what is causing this, but it doesn't feel to friendly."

They travelled down the living quaters hall and turned left once they reached the outside garden. They walked around the courtyard to a large door that would lead them inside the Citadel and towards the training areas and kitchens and the libraries and the hangars. The last seeming to be the direction that the disturbance felt the strongest. He put his palm up to a small pad on the right side of he door and it opened with a swish.

He moved to the left and walked along the wall. Before long he came to the first hallway that branched off. He motioned for the two Appretnices to go down it and see if anything was down there. He would head over to the next hallway and see what was down there.

"And don't be foolish. You way be Sith Apprentices, but you are not yet all powerful. Understand?" He waited until they both nodded and tehm sent them down. He had not taken three steps before hearing two screams behind him. He turned around, activating his lightsaber in the process. Before he could do anything though, there was a large reptilian being standing before him. "What in the name of Darth Bane are you?"

It was all he got to say before the thing drew his left arm back and swung it at him. Yurza just barely moved out of the way as claws went centimeters from his face. He turned his lean into a backflip and landed in a defensive position, reaching out in the Force, sending out one simple message to all the Sith in the area. A message that might have been simple, but was more compicated than any dared to think about at the moment.

The Sith are under attack.

[Hara Kiri]

"Don't touch that Hara Kiri."

"Would you leave me alone Hara Kiri?"

The voices were her own as she mocked nearly every member of the Sith Order. She held a rock in her hand as she peered over the edge of the roof.

"Why'd you break the window Hara Kiri?"

She chucked it as hard as she could, but it failed to break the skylight... again.

A noise from the sky disturbed her as she looked up to check if the noise had a face. It did. A swarm of drop ships decending through the clouds. Since she had arrived, her telepathy had been increasing in power. She wasn't exactly a knight or anything, but she was talented enough to sense that the dropships weren't friendly.

----

"Someone!" She called as she entered into the residence halls. "Anyone, someone."

"Shut up Hara Kiri, we know." An adept said to her and gave her a dirty look.

"You shut up." Was her only response.

She turned to another adept in the hallway. "Where's Master Lancer? Or Master Magus? Or Master Vuntana? I need to talk with one of the Elders or something!"

He responded, "Yurza went that way." he pointed.

"And didn't you hear about Master Vuntana?" Another said, a little look of shock on his face.

"No, what is going on?" She started to scream.

"He was poisoned. He's in the med lab."

She was at a loss of words, whatever was going on had knocked out one Elder, presumably planning for the other two. "I- I- Why are we standing here?"

"We were told to stay put until someone figured out what was going on."

"Thats- Thats stupid!" Concerns of her own saftey broke into her head. "I saw a bunch of ships come from the sky. I think we need to run or hide or something."

"Go ahead, I'm not disobeying orders." Another adept said.

"Fine then. I'm finding Master Magus. Something isn't right." She said as she began to run again down the hall which Yurza had supposedly gone.

"Oh I'm sure he be sooo pleased to have you there to annoy him." She heard one say as she dashed off.

She rounded a corner, and continued to where the Force told her to go until after another corner a message hit her like a speeder.

The Sith are under attack."

"Oh jeez." She said as she continued to run finally approaching Yurza's back and in front of him a large green-brown creature.

"Oh wow." She said loudly. "Oh jeez."

[Yurza Magus]

Yurza made the mistake of turning to see who was behind. Before he could even think that it was Hara he sent sailing into her and they both went flying back into a wall.

"Ugh...," the Sith groaned as he got up to his hands and knees. "Hara...go...go get help...now..."

He looked over and saw that she was still staring wide eyed. "Now!"

Yurza got to his feet and turned his neck to the side, cracking a few bones, trying to get as loose as possible. "You wanted a Sith, well now you got one. Let's see how you do when I'm not off my gaurd!"

He sprang towards the large lizard and reached out with his right hand, calling the lightsaber he had dropped. Just before he collided with the monster, he raised his hands up, his lightsaber landing in his grasp just nanoseconds before he activated it and drop the weapon down in a downward slash. He used the Force to draw more strength into his arms. He was determined show this beast who the master was.

[Hara Kiri]

This was serious, very serious. She had never seen any Sith, let alone one of the Elders, ever in any state of physical existance similar to this. He jaw dropped for the moment as she couldn't help but turn and run with Yurza's words barely ringing in her ears.

She came to a cross in the hallways, unable to recall which way she had came from and frightened that one of the large creatures might show up behind her.

Get help! ran through her mind, where was she going to get help? She had no idea where Zereth might be and Jorshal was out of the fight... The med lab. Maybe she could help Jorshal or something. Maybe that's where Zereth might be. It seemed like her only and best choice. Knowing the lab was one floor beneath her, she headed down the hallway witht he stairs at the end.

[Je'gan Olra'en]

Slowly, feeling life enter his arms and legs, Je'gan Olra'en woke up. Something wasn't right. In fact, something was quite severely not right. Floundering his way out from under the blankets, he grabbed the loose pants draped over a nearby chair and pulled them on, then straightened his t-shirt absentmindedly and gestured. His pillow rustled, and his lightsabre shot out from underneath it to thunk solidly into his hand.

And suddenly everything clicked. Awareness of the Force, clarity of mind, the anger he needed to tap the Dark Side. Snatching his utility belt from the nightstand, he buckled it on, not bothering to fasten the ties that should bind the holster of his blaster to his outer thigh. The blaster's power cell was only half-charged, but it would have to do, and he was already out the door anyways.

Hangars. He had to get to the hangars. The lightsabre flared in his hand, colouring the walls blue. Gathering the power of the Force around himself, Je'gan began to cast ahead with his mind. The danger eluded him - but it was there. A lot of it.

He descended a couple of levels, meeting people on the way who were running one way or another. He spoke to few. For the moment he did not feel the need to run he would be there soon enough. Another descent put him on the floor above the hallway that accessed the main hangar. Here he could sense a knot of intruders. He closed his eyes and concentrated. Yes...yes. They were on the level below him. He could almost point to the spot. And better yet, there were none on this level, for the moment. Taking a few quick steps, he began inscribing a rectangle in the stone with his lightsabre, slicing quickly through the floor above the hallway to create a passage. The block fell; he jumped down after it, sabre raised, looking down the hall.

His face went pale.

And he jumped back up.

Time for Plan B. Ripping the blaster from his belt, he took a solid mental grasp on it and especially its trigger. That was all he had time for: a second later, he was backflipping in the narrow confines of the upper floor's hallway. A gauntleted hand had latched onto the still-hot edge of the hole. He aimed left-handed and fired above the hand just as the first monstrosity pulled itself up into the bolt's path. The shot took it in the face and whipped its masked head back, but it kept moving, crawling up and rolling into a charge. Behind it, others were coming up.

And Je'gan was without options. Mostly. Calling the Force to him, he leapt back towards where the hallway turned. He hit the wall feet-first and dropped into a ready stance. The blaster fired three times, catching the thing in torso, gut and sword-hand - it had tried to block. Barely slowed - that leather armour had to have something to it that he couldn't see - it leapt at him with a roar. Je'gan ducked and rolled down the hallway to the left, and the monster's dead blade rang off stone. He came to his feet just barely in time to parry the sword with a wrench to his wrist and meet it chest-to-chest. Of course he went backwards, but quick as a snake he deactivated his sabre, adjusted his grip, and activated it again, sending the blade spearing into the thing's ribs. Something sharp grazed his face, and he smelled foul breath. The monster's face was a blur as Je'gan executed a partial flip backwards and hit it in the chin with his knee. It dropped, and so did he, flat on his back in a corridor that was about to be overrun.

Lightsabres hummed, and he suddenly had exit cover. The other monsters of the little gang were being jut from a hole in this ceiling by a trio of Acolytes. Scrambling free, he raised his sabre and finished off the beast at his feet. His knees felt weak, his right wrist ached, and the cut on his cheek burned. The Acolytes were losing, badly, against only two of the monsters. One boy fell, then a girl, in the seconds before Je'gan lifted his pistol again. Anger fuelled his aim.

The blaster clicked empty, and the last Acolyte fell with a monster by his side. The remaining beast turned and lunged for Je'gan. Livid, the Sith Knight set his feet.

"No.

"You.

"Don't."

Je'gan gestured, extending energy through his fist at the thing's midsection. It flew backwards, smashed into the wall, and rebounded. A cloud of darkness rushed down the hall towards it, and in the cloud a spear of brilliant blue. The monster parried it.

And Je'gan's blaster whipped it smartly in the face, hard enough that both mask and pistol bent. The monster staggered, and Je'gan ran it through. Dropping the useless pistol from his numb fingers, he spat on the carcase and surveyed the fallen Sith. All dead. Three Sith for three monsters. What a waste.

[Yurza Magus]

Yurza flicked his wrist and a fallen stone flew at the monster, hitting him square in the face, but like his other attacks, it just shrugged it off. So whatever these things are, they are full of energy, have armor that can take a lot of lightsaber damage, and they are single minded in the fact that they seem to just want to kill me. While if one of me is enough to get it rilled up, let's see about three.

The Sith Knight leapt back, easily putting ten feet between him and the monster. He opened himself up to the Force. His hate and anger and rage poured out of him, and he could feel torrents of darkside energy flowing into him. He only need to provide it an outlet. He smiled and let his lightsaber hand hang to his side, the blue blade pointing outwards. He held up his fre hand, his wrist hanging limp at the end. "You want a fight, well here it is. Come and get it!"

He flicked his wrist straight out, splaying his fingers. Suddenly, the monster saw not just the one Yurza, but three identical Yurza's standing side by side. It was a trick he had fairly recently perfected, but he doubted he would have the necessary strength to hold the illusion for a great length of time. But maybe, just enough to let him slip between the monsters defenses and kill it.

"Here we come," the three said in unity. All three charged forward, the far left Yurza holding his saber in a low stance, the middle Yurza holding his saber straight out in front of him, and the last one held his saber out behind him, as if readying for one great overhead chop. Just before reaching it, the trio despersed and came in at him from all sides. It would have been no big deal to confuse him as to which was the real Sith using telekinetics to simulate the force of his blows, but he could only do it in moderation, and if he kept that up the monster would surely figure him out. Therefore the Yurza on the left, the real Sith Knight, only completed two attacks before drawing back slightly. He watched the monster fight the other two, looking for an opening. Finally one came as it turned its back to him to deflect a blow from one of the others. He took the opportunity and rushed forawrd, driving his blade into the monster's back up to the hilt. The spot he attack sizzled and smelled of burnt flesh and blood and, what Yurza hoped was bone and nerves since he had been aiming for the nervous system. He smiled as he creature tried to walk forward, off his blade before finally falling onto its stomach in a bloody heap.

"Didn't think I had it in me," Yurza said before closing his eyes and falling forward onto his hands and knees. He was drained from that illusion, and as far as he knew as good as dead. He doubted that was the only monster in here, and unless that was the strongest one of them all he was in trouble.

"No! I'll not give up that easy," he said to himself as he pushed up off the floor and stood up. He surveyed his surroundings. He reached out with the Force and touched one of his fellow Knights. Je'gan. I think it best for us to group up. Where are you?

[Je'gan Olra'en]

A floor above the door to the main hangar. Heading towards Flight Control at the moment.

The Sith Knight kept moving, taking stock of his injuries. His right wrist ached and moved stiffly; his left hand was slightly numb; and there was a cut on his face accompanied by assorted bruising. No more sabre fighting in his immediate future. Perhaps the medbay would have been a better goal, but no matter. He was going to Hangar Control now, and -

Belatedly, it clicked. Ripping the comlink from his belt, he dialed.

"Hangar Control."

"This is Je'gan Olra'en, command code one-five-delta-one-nine-blue. Hangar bay status?"

"We've lost internal cams, but security just patched us through to a couple outside. We can't see much, sir."

"Are the doors open or closed?"

"The field, sir? It's off-"

"The emergency doors. The physical ones. Close them."

"Yes, sir." There was a pause. Yurza - Control is trying to seal the attacking ships inside the bay, on my order. In the meantime - ah, here's the locker. The young man's mental tone changed to one of great satisfaction as he came upon his secondary objective: a weapons locker. I'm at locker 16, half-way between the hangar and Control. It's mostly full. If you want some firepower...

His wrist, he knew instrinctively, wasn't up to further sabre combat or gun recoil, not without further damage. That left grenades. Not his favourite weapon, but he'd survive. Pulling thermal dets, sonics and glops fom the shelves, he clipped them to his utility belt. He took a DL-44 and slipped it into the empty holster, then tied it to his thigh. Left-handed he was only a passable shot, but in corridors...

That, he judged sadly, was about as good as he could do. He was about to step out of the locker when he became aware of a sensation in the back of his mind: danger. Near. He focused, pulling a glop grenade from his belt left-handed and pulling the pin. He took a deep breath. A leap took him across the hall even as the grenade left his hand, smashing point-blank into a lone Force Hunter's gut.

Barely on his feet again, Je'gan felt a tendril of glop strike his back, adhering to a patch of his shirt and soaking through to skin. He was already spinning; the tendril wrapped itself around to his stomach under his outstretched arm. His focus was on one thing: the Hunter.

He needn't have worried. The monstrous thing was solidly immersed in glop, stuck to the wall, pinioned. Almost totally immobile. Breathing heavily.

And soon, thanks to Je'gan's lightsabre, dying.

Never mind, Yurza. They've reached locker 16. His tone was back to grim as he stepped into the locker again and grabbed a can of aerosol glop dissolver. He began to spray himseld down. Where do you want to meet?

[Yurza Magus]

Yurza closed his eyes, and tried to catch his breath as he thought of a place for him and Je'gan to hook up. His stunt with the illusions had left him nearly drained. Until he could properly rest, he would have to rely on the Force only to tell him where danger was and use it only sparingly, and then just for physical enhancement.

Just before he suggested anything, an image popped in his mind and he shuddered. How could he have forgotten? While he cared nothing for the disciples, they were key to the Sith's survival as an Order. And while some where strong yes, they were not as experienced or seasoned as warrior as the two Knights. He quickly formed a thought in his head and sent it to his fellow warrior. Je'gan, we must get to the Citadel and help the disicples. While I care for almost none, they are the future of the Sith. We have a duty to protect the ones that are still alive.

He jumped back as he saw an orange bolt fly just centimeters from his nose. He was close enough that his head was spinning from the iodized air. Another came at him, and he ignited his blade, twirling, swinging it like a club. The lightsaber connected with the bolt and sent it flying back to where it came from, and that just happened to be in the midst of three Force Hunters. By the Force, how are there so many?

He weaved his blade as close to his body as possible to deflet the bolts, until he was able to dive down another corridor and make a break for it. AT first he srpinted using the Force, but after a few seconds of that, he felt sure enough to run at normal speed and a few moments later even slow enough to get his bearings. I'm in corridor 5-BDE. Get here as soon as possible and by any means. I doubt that anyone'll hold a grudge if you use some of that 'firepower' you mentioned, to make your own corridor. And Je'gan...hurry.

He looked back to where he came from and saw the three Force Hunters coming at him. One was drasically outrunning the two and he thanked the Force for the small miracle of being able to deal with that one solo for a time. Prehaps he would be able to take it down before the other two got down here.

He brought his brilliant blue weapon up in a defensive stance and stepped back and to the right just as the moster barrelled past him. He swung down with all his might and had it any anyother species in the galaxy, the thing standing before him would have been in two pieces, but all Yurza had to show for this was a small dent in his back and a cut along a small portion of exposed ribs. He side stepped to the right and thrust his weapon in, and was almost thrown off balance by the strength of the beast's parry. "If that's the way you want it then fine!"

He move forward and reversed the hilt of his lightsaber and brought the weapon down in an overhead arc that went from the beast's left shoulder to his right thigh. For as long as Yurza had lived, and for as long as he will continue to live, he would never be able to reproduce the anger and focus and energy he had put into that one single strike.

He stepped back and for a moment he thought he had done nothing, but then he watched wiht much satisfaction as the Force Hunter stood up straight and seemed to want to come after him. It wasn't until he tried moving did Yurza notice the cut across the monster's body. Blood began seeping from the wound and finally it's torso slid right off the rest of its body.

"Now that's more like it-Ugh!" Yurza grunted as one of the other Force hunters slammed into the Sith's back and threw him to the ground. For a moment all was dark until he opened his eyes and found the two remaining Force Hunters standing over him. Poised to strike him down. Je'gan where are you...

[Je'gan Olra'en]

5-BDE...5-BDE...where was that, exactly? The Sith's pace quickened, left hand clutching his lightsabre and right wrapped around a glop grenade. The aerosol was in his belt, digging into his gut. He knew where he was going, more or less, but unless he found a stairway soon it looked like he was going to have to follow Yurza's suggestion. After a few moments, he hissed something unpleasant and began slicing through the ceiling. A square of stone dropped, and he followed it down into a training room, careful to keep clear of the glowing edges. There was nothing closer than Yurza's approximate whereabouts: he could feel that much.

Now where was he?

The door flew open and he stepped out, ten metres away from Yurza and the hunters. A smile flashed across his face; he lifted his hand, summoned the Force, and made a 'come here' gesture. Yurza skidded towards him, sliding out from under the monsters' blades; as they moved to follow, Je'gan's glop grenade took the closer one in the chest. There was a loud bloop, and suddenly the monsters found their feet and arms glued to the walls and each other. There were disadvantages to being large and underground.

[Yurza Magus]

Yurza rolled over on his stomach and started to get up off the floor. When he raised himself to his full height, he used his left arm to wipe away a trickle of blood that was flowing from where his lower lip had been busted. He extended his right arm and called his lightsaber from where it had fallen into his hand. As soon as it slapped into his hand he dropped both arms to his side.

"What took you?" He said with a smirk as he watched the two Force Hunters. "Think we got enough time to finish these two? Or should we just get back to the disciples?"

[Je'gan Olra'en]

"We can do both."

He pulled the pin on a thermal det and sent it soaring through the air to land in the glop, immovable. Stepping through the side door into the training room, he raised an eyebrow.

"So where are these disciples bottled up?"

BOOM!

The room shook. The monsters' deaths rang through the Force.

[Naira Cross]

OOC: Cross over from Sarin…

Hara ran off ahead of Naira at a surprising rate. Trying to watch your back, look for survivors and keep up with someone slowed her down just a little. Finally catching back up with her, Naira was taken to the hall where Hara had last seen Yurza. Judging by the dead Force hunter and the absence of a human body, it was safe to say that Yurza had gotten away… for now.

Not waiting for Hara to give a suggestion, Naira began to follow the path of destruction. All she heard was a “Hey! Where are you going?” coming from Hara behind her. No sooner after had Naira taken off, did the ground shake with an explosion from up ahead, and Yurza and Je’gan come in to view. “Hara, hurry up!”

[Yurza Magus]

Yurza smiled at the bang. He would have prefered to of them through means of his lightsaber. "Well last I saw any of them was in the Citadel, but they-"

He paused as he heard footsteps echoing down the hallway. He motioned to Je'gan to be quiet as he readied his lightsaber. He quickly moved into a striking position, but stopped himself when he saw Hara and Naira coming towards the two. "Well. Looks like we don't have to find them."

He grabbed Naira by the shoulders as she came running up to them. "What happened to the others?"

[Je'gan Olra'en]

.

[Naira Cross]

“What do you think happened?! Tarsis is on his way to the med lab and I saw two other adepts alive, but that was a while ago. Every one else we’ve seen on the way here was either dead or dying. We’ve been surprisingly lucky that we haven’t run in to one of those things and our luck is bound to run out sooner or later. What’s going on?!”

Up till now, no one was able to tell Naira what was happening, what those things were or anything. Yurza was an elder, so Naira was sure that if anyone knew what was going on it’s be him.

[Je'gan Olra'en]

Je'gan's carefully cultivated anger became a slow burn. Reaching into the Force, he began to scan. There had to be Sith still alive-

Only then did the bleakness of what he had just thought become apparent. Seeking relief, he pressed on with the mental hunt, a process that took him only seconds but felt much, much longer, not only because it was difficult but because he didn't want to know how few of his allies were left.

Without regard to what was being said, he began to speak.

"At a guess, there are something like a hundred of those monsters still alive, probably less. There are enough Sith left to be worth saving. A knot of them has taken a stand in a room five floors above us. They are beseiged by more than they can handle. For the most part they are acolytes. Between us and them, vertically speaking, there isn't much of anything."

There was, of course, only one thing to do. Afterwards, and only then, Je'gan would let himself think of the future of the Order.

[Yurza Magus]

Yurza looked up and then back to Je'gan and Naria and then back up to the stone cieling. "There isn't you say?"

He looked at his feelow Knight and the two Alcoplytes. "Well then seems there's only one way to go and that is up. Now while I'd just as soon leave everyone else to fend for and let the strong survive, unfortunately their survival could also mean the survival of the Sith as an Order."

He flipped his lightsaber in his hand so that the blade would shoot straight up when the weapon is activated. "Let's get to work then. Je'gan and I will cut away the ceilling. You two use the Force and keep the larger pieces from hitting us ok?"

[Je'gan Olra'en]

There was already a hole in this room's ceiling. Standing under it, Je'gan summoned the Force in a measured amount, just enough to get him to the next floor. His stamina was superb, but he couldn't keep going forever. If he didn't start pacing himself soon, this rescue attempt could become an absolute debacle.

Slicing carefully through the ceilings, he made sure to keep an eye on the pieces as they fell - just in case the Acolytes weren't up to it. He didn't know what level they had reached in their training, nor did it hurt to be careful.

[Naira Cross]

Since her grasp on the Force was no where near where Je'gan's was, Naira had to use her God given strength to reach the next level. Jumping and grabbing the ledge made by the hole, she pulled herself up and began to draw the Force into herself and move the larger pieces away from the two Knights.

Finding fuel for ther rage was not hard given what had just happen. How could this happen? This was supposed to be the place where she could train in a semi- state of safety, and now it was under attack. Yeah definately not hard to get mad.