Jedi Expedition: Part 2 - Pursuit

The hum and flurry of lightsabers was deafening, the walls of the passage lit by a dazzling array of colors so that it looked like one of the laser light shows put on for tourists on Nar Shadaa. Some of the thugs tried to run and were promptly rewarded with a repeater bolt to the chest. In the confined space such use of blaster weaponry would ordinarily have been disastrous with as good a chance of shooting a friendly as an enemy. But they were all Jedi and whether it was a lightsaber or blaster the Force guided their hands to deliver precise, lethal blows to their enemies.

Despite being caught by surprise many of the thugs were managing to put up a good fight. The thugs that hadn’t tried to flee had clustered into a group and, while surrounded by Jedi on all sides showed no signs of giving up. Very well, if we must kill every last one of them so be it Will thought has he neatly decapitated a thug. Moments later Will saw two sabers ignite from a protected outcropping of rock and blurred shape went sailing right into the center of the pack. Even without seeing her distinctive armor Will knew it had to be Jayda. Taking advantage of the sudden confusion Will unleashed a flurry of attacks. First a horizontal slash across one thug’s abdomen, then he spun to his right and neatly sliced off the top half of another thug’s head. Turning 180 degrees with the momentum of his slash, he delivered a hammer blow with the pommel of his lightsaber into another thug’s eyesocket before quickly following up with a quick, lethal stab with his short saber. Lightsaber held high above his head ready for a diagonal downward cut he made a half turn to his left and cut the next thug diagonally from the left shoulder down to their right hip.

Will then took a moment to locate Jayda through the Force. We’re so close now, we’ve come too far to have you get cut down now of all times
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Soon there was nothing left but a pile of bodies in the carnage filled corridor. Heart pounding, lungs heaving, and adrenalin still pulsing away, Truger could help but be relieved.

"Can we go home now?" He chuckled despite it all. "I'm tired and I think we've racked up enough bodies here to overstay our welcome."

He glanced at the Duros. "By the way, I'm Truger. How'd you end up in this mess?"
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Doc took a deep, calming breath. He disliked combat, yet it was his lot in life to experience a lot of it. He noticed the charge on his blaster was low, and changed out the cartridge, offering the human a slight bow at the same time. 'Doc. Just Doc.' he said his name in a crisp fashion, almost like a glottal stop. 'And I've often wondered that. I can only surmise that my friend's aftershave severely messes with the olfactory sensors of varying species, or their pheromones, and induces a state of rage.' he grimaced, as if pained, 'in Duros, though, it merely induces nausea.'

'Hey! It was a gift from you!'

'I'm claiming the drunk defence.' replied Doc loftily. He swept his gaze around the new arrivals. He felt a certain level of unease around them. Despite his time around Jax, there was still an aura of Other that surrounded the Jedi sect, to him. He adopted a more prim stature to make him seem less of a threat. 'This is my counterpart, Jax 1347. Most people call him Jax. Or 'Hey You'.'

At this, Jax stepped forward, offering a discreet glare at Doc to be quiet. 'I'm sorry to drag you into this. It seems some old friends of ours, who we thought we'd dealt with, have caught up with us. Though we appreciate the-'

'Friends of yours?' said Truger, intrigued. 'Huh. I guess I'm just used to having bad guys shoot at me wherever I go. Jealousy.'
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I am a Star Wars fan. That doesn't mean that I hate or love Jar Jar. That doesn't mean I hate or love Lucas, or agree or disagree 100% with him. That doesn't mean I prefer the PT over the OT, or vice versa. That doesn't mean I hate the EU, or even love all of it. These are not prerequisites. Being a man is not a prerequisite. Being a geek is not a prerequisite. The only prerequisite is that I love something about Star Wars. I am a Star Wars fan.

Will withdrew his shortsaber blade from the chest of a thug and watched as the lifeless body crumpled to the ground with a thud. After carefully surveying the battlefield he shut his sabers down and hooked them back onto his belt, satisfied that, for the time being, there were no threats. Taking a deep breath and slowly exhaling he relaxed his mind, letting the adrenaline and Force heightened senses dissipate.

At the cave entrance he could see Jayne breaking down the repeater and the rest of the squad slowly forming up to join the rest of the group. Turning Will spotted Jayda a few meters away

For a Jedi who wears Mandalorian armor you sure are a hard individual to find!

He called with a grin as he walked towards her.
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Jayda twirled her sabers pointedly, then clipped them onto her belt. With the toe of her boot, she nudged the nearest fallen, muttering under her breath, "Kriffin' cultists."

Forcing her senses back to the moment, she caught the tail end of a statement tossed her way. "...sure are a hard individual to find!"

She mentally filled in what she assumed had preceded and glanced Will's direction. "I do try." She tipped her helmet in his direction, indicating her gratefulness for the rescue. Looking around, she caught Truger's attention and did the same. It was a simple gesture, but it would be understood.

Focusing again upon the bodies strewn about the cavern, Jayda posed the question at the forefront of her thoughts, "So who are these Sithspawn? And what in the nine Corellian Hells do they want?"
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"It's not about the legacy you leave, it's about the life you live." ~Mara Jade Skywalker

Jax exhaled heavily, the smell of ozone tingeing the air. 'They're a particularly nasty band of pirates that Doc and I ran into a short while ago. I thought we'd dealt with them.' Jax frowned.

'Maybe they're just mad that we stole their ship.'

'Borrowed. We borrowed their ship. And I think they wanted revenge. That's a pirate-y thing pirates do.'

'Keep thinking that, Jax.' Doc said loftily. 'I'll stick with the wanting the ship back. It was nice. Good engines. Comfy seats. Cup holders ...'

Jax shivered, as if he were willing himself to not throttle the Duros. When he spoke, his voice was calm. 'These pirates have been operating in the Sullust sector for a while now. They attack freighters and kidnap the crew. Some they kill quick. Most, they kill slow, torturing them until they become insane from pain. These pirates seem to worship pain. They're-'

'The Knights of Pain.' finished Will.
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I am a Star Wars fan. That doesn't mean that I hate or love Jar Jar. That doesn't mean I hate or love Lucas, or agree or disagree 100% with him. That doesn't mean I prefer the PT over the OT, or vice versa. That doesn't mean I hate the EU, or even love all of it. These are not prerequisites. Being a man is not a prerequisite. Being a geek is not a prerequisite. The only prerequisite is that I love something about Star Wars. I am a Star Wars fan.

The Knights of Pain finished Will. He knew there had been something familiar about the patches on some of the clothing of the thugs they had just killed. With Jax's added information it all fit into place.

A second ago he’d been cheerful that the rescue mission was a success with no casualties, but now things had become far more complicated and dangerous than he could ever thought.

Zarkov, this is Kelvar. Get the shuttle prepped for take off, we’re getting the hell off this planet and putting it as many klicks behind us as we can Will said into his comm urgently

Only static greeted Will’s ears.

Zarkov do you copy?

The one you call Zarkov is now in our custody as is your ship whose rusted parts shall decorate our halls. As we now speak his body is being broken as his mind slowly crumbles to despair with the knowledge that his last memories will be of pain that makes the belly of a Sarlacc a pleasure cruise. Replied a gravely, sadistic voice

Who the hell is this? Will growled angrily into the comlink

Why just a humble member of Sullust’s Knights of Pain. But you knew that already didn’t you? Who I am matters little in any event. You, starting with the one I believe you know as Jax, disrupted order. Order requires pain and we provide the pain that maintains that order. Thus, the anarchy you have brought to this place must be cleansed with pain so that order may once again prevail...

Will shot a glance at Jax upon hearing his name. Whether Jax had intended to or not he had put death marks on all their heads. It's disturbing that they know him by name and knew exactly where our shuttle was. What else do they know that gives them an advantage over us?

...a cleansing I might add your pilot Zarkov is doing a good job of, though I believe it would be more efficient if the rest of you joined him. In any event he has something he wants to say to you and it would be only fitting for your compatriot to be last person to talk with you on this line...

Kelvar...*gurgle*....please...*cough*...no...no...oh please no...*terrified whimper*...AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

Will cut off the comlink signal as the horrifying, otherworldly scream reverberated off the cave walls. The color had drained from Will’s face, Zarkov’s scream bringing back a hundred horrible memories of the hellish night he had spent on a nameless world huddled in a foxhole helplessly listening to the screams of fellow Jedi Commandos as they were subjected to mind shattering torture. And now here, on Sullust events threatened to repeat themselves.
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This just complicated things immeasurably.

Truger cast a quick glance across the group. The assessment wasn't positive. A few Jedi, a few others, no heavy weapon, little ammo, and no supplies. Sure as kriff not enough to take on a firmly rooted criminal organization.

Still, Truger felt something needed to be said. They surely couldn't stand here all day waiting to get caught. "We need to move. Anyone know a safe place on this rock? Somewhere we can hold up and form a plan?"

No one had an immediate answer, either still stunned by the scream or no one was very familiar with this place. "Or a ship we can steal to get out of here?"

Will shot him a hurt look.

"Look, Will, we're not properly kitted out for another rescue mission. Our cover's blown and we have no idea where Zarkov might be. Our best bet is to get reinforcements and come back for him."
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Will hated to admit it but Truger was right. Even if they had reliable intel to pinpoint Zarkov’s exact position there was no way such a small force could take on an entire cell of Knights of Pain. An entire company of highly trained Jedi Commandos had been decimated by a similar cell. Even if the rescue squad had all been Jedi Commandos who had trained together for months and were fully supplied it would be a nearly impossible task, with the under equipped rag tag bunch they had it would be suicide.

They know Jax by name and knew where our shuttle was. That means we have to assume the Knight’s have an intricate spy network in place and know everything we do. As a group we’ll be spotted easily if we try to go to ground. The likely know that we’ll come to this conclusion and will hope that we’ll split up so they can destroy us piece by piece. The longer we stay on this rock the easier it will be for them to surround us and each hour decreases Zarkov’s chance of survival. I’ve seen what the Knights do to their prisoners, if we can’t rescue Zarkov in the next eight hours he’ll either be dead or the pain will have driven him insane and beyond even the most skilled Jedi healer’s ability to help. That leaves us with one option: steal a ship and return in greater numbers or find some way to contact the Hilt to have them send reinforcements

That still leaves the problem of finding the location of the Knight’s base....if there was just some way to narrow down where the chakaar’s aren’t I could stay behind to recon the remaining places

OOC: I'm not sure if we'd like to find some way to contact Graves (IR2) and have him bring a rescue party down before we make a dramatic escape and time warp (we could always have a small party of characters get cut off from the rest and escape in the XS so the time warp goes as originally planned) or whether we want to escape in the XS and time warp leaving Zarkov behind by default.
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"Well I'm in favor heading to the nearest hangar and seeing what opportunities arise. We can try and call the [i]Hilt from there, see what Master Graves says, and if there's any ships we can hitch a ride on."[/i]

Everyone was in agreement. Rather than wasting time, they began heading for the surface, carefully navigating through the dark, croweded warren tunnels of Sullust, and narrowly avoiding any further run ins with the Knights of Pain.

Doc and Jax where able to lead the group to a nearby hangar that was thankfully full of vessels. "Jayda, can see if you can raise Graves on the comlink? I'm going to take a short tour of the hangar here and see if I can find us a ride."
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While Truger explored the hanger and Jayda contacted Graves Will organized a defensive perimeter just in case they had been followed. There were a few shipping crates which, after being checked to ensure they had nothing that might go boom, were easily moved to create cover for some improvised defensive positions. Not the most ideal place to mount a defense, much too open with more possible points of entry than we can cover and I wish we could create a bottleneck to offset any numerical advantage our enemies might have but we’ll have to make due. As long as we find a way off this rock before any hostiles discover a duct or maintenance tunnel we haven’t covered the defenses should hold...

Will saw Jayda nod and take her hand away from the earpiece of her helmet and begin heading towards the group again. Her body language didn’t indicate any urgency or sense that something was wrong so Will hoped the Hilt was still undiscovered and in a position to lend assistance. Just then Will noticed what looked like a shape moving in the dark shadows 30 meters outside of the hanger. Raising his carbine he flipped the safety off and began scanning, hoping that it was just some animal out foraging.
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