Log:Jedi Order: Eternal Eye
Jedi Order: Eternal Eye
OOC Date: August 2, 2021
Location: Hosnian Space Station
Participants: Jedi Order: Aryn Cortess, Kasia Ashkuri, Ban Iskender, Vhe Tenara, Rune, Qutha Buvu Pah, Jax Greystorm, Zandra naMuriel, Chani Tahn, Yuun, and Rey Skywalker with Chewbacca and Ben Solo
Things were finally coming to a head. After rescuing the Dathomiri witches from the slave training compound on Ylesia, the Jedi had watched as a shadowy masked figure wielding Jax's lightsaber rode off into the darkness on the back of the maglev engine. Conferring with the captives revealed who, what, and where: an Acolyte of the Beyond, with the Matriarch of the tribe still in his clutches, heading to the science station in the ruins of the Hosnian system.
The station was oddly silent as the Jedi ships settled down in the hangar; no rush of guards nor curious researchers came forth to greet them. All was quiet. The walls, white and clean, bring a little brightness to the surroundings but with the lights powered down into what looks like an emergency setting only, there's an element of abandon to this place. Exploring unopposed, they proceed deeper into the station.
As they round a corner in the tubular passageway that leads towards the rearmost chamber of the station, they begin to hear voices filtering back to them. One is a fairly typical male voice, somewhat muffled but otherwise clear. The other is a much older one, and the familiarity of that voice is chilling to those that know it.
"You were told to bring /all/ of the test subjects here to me," the old voice invokes with a tone that will brook no dissent. "And yet you arrived with one only. Your /failure/... is near complete."
"Forgive me, wise one. The Hutt will pay for his interference, I promise you this. But he did provide one of the Jedi's weapons as recompense, I offer it to you."
"A mere trinket, next to the power I will wield if the ritual succeeds."
Moving closer to the entrance, Ben sidles up to the doorway, peeking around the corner into the laboratory beyond. A large white room with tall ceilings, filled with the equipment for conducting experiments, brightly lit and with a transparent panel on the far wall displaying the rubble that was once the Hosnian system. Two rows of black-clad figures wait quietly, looking onto the exchange between the two speakers, a masked man in black and a tall red droid, robed in red velvet, a glass dome head projecting a very weathered, wrinkled face onto its surface. The Matriarch, bound and unconscious, rests between them, propped against the large viewport.
"A foreboding set if one were to consider it. Powered down space stations that are abandoned give me chills that cut to the core," Comments Aryn upon disembarking the Falcon to venture further inside the station. Her experience with the Mnggal Mnggal and their pestilence has left her cautious of places like these.
It is not till they reach the rear room when the voices come into auditory range, and for those precious moments they have to observe what is happening, Aryn prepares herself for an altercation she feels may be inevitable. Unhooking her lightsaber hilt, she takes a place and motions for others to look. It's their objective..
The quiet of is more unsettling than outright aggression would be, at least to Kasia, because the reasons she can think of for it aren't terribly comforting. She doesn't voice those concerns, but there's a visible and telling frown as she looks around the station they've arrived on. She also preemptively takes the weapon from her hip and carries it in her hand, not activated, but ready should it need to be. The sound of the voices at first make her strain to hear it, but once she does she freezes. Her eyes widen slightly as she looks up to Ben, then over to Rey, dark brows creeping higher in some question that goes without voice just as the concerns of earlier.
The worn soles of Vhe's nerf hide shoes lend themselves well to arriving closer to the entrance with the others. Leaning into the wall that the door occupies she listens, dipping her head and tilting it just so to catch the words that soon cause the furrowing of her brows to drawn her gaze across the floor. Only when there is a chance to get a look inside without drawing attention will she do a quick assessment before ducking back out of possible view - but the conversation appears to be distracting enough that the figures within have yet to notice their uninvited company arriving upon their doorstep.
Her voice becomes a hushed whisper as she brushes fingers along her saber but does not yet pull it, yet it soon finds itself positioned in her hand. She glances up to the others around her, waiting to see if there is an indication how everyone is going to work together.
Creeping along isn't his strong suit, in fact Rune is more the Kool-Aid man when it comes to confrontation, possessing no skill in diplomacy yet aside from Aggressive Negotiations' as Anakin would have put it. But nevertheless, the lot of Jedi find themselves less sneaking and more just able to waltz to where they wish before a noise and a voice sends most of their hearts to beating rapidly.
He /does/ remember that voice! What was his name.... Palpitune? Palpatone? PALPATINE! Rey's grandfather! A chill runs up and down the youngest Ysannan's spine and he looks back at the group at large, his hand shifting to the newly fashioned hilt at his belt. "Didn't we already deal with this fellow?" He whispers, with a contraction, toward Rey... his hazel eyes wide with disbelief at the return of such a horrible man. Regardless, they have to deal with him again here... and looking at the large number of people in the room, it's probably not going to be as 'easy' as it was last time. At least now they're not creeping around in bright red robes... oh, and Rune can communicate a little easier.
Nobody wants the Wookiee in the lead. Because if Chewbacca were up in the front, nobody could see anything up ahead. So it is that Chewie is nearer to the back of the parade of Jedi. It's a lot like herding Loth Cats so he lets them do as they please as he brings up the rear, watching their six. Large hairy paws carry his bow caster as the Wookie moves quietly, watchful, listening, and sniffing the air while others scout ahead. Very quietly, before they come to the laboratory, Chewie rumbles low, "Place looks like a Kaminoan night club." And when the others begin to stop up ahead? Chewbacca listens up. They can't /all/ peer around the corner up ahead so he waits.
Oh thank the SUN. A area with bright light all around him. Even with the prospect of a horrific, green splattery, death to potentially meet him - at least Qutha will see this one come. There's at least that to be had. But with the murmuring, muttering and plotting to be heard the Zelosian keeps his own trap shut and away from where he might be spotted.
Sidling up, hood back and raising a brow at Rune's question before the Zelosian's emerald eyes go to the others for confirmation, all the while trying to position himself by Chewie. Because Chewie is an -amazingly- large distraction to stand next to. Also much more combat capable.
Jax disembarked from the Falcon with the others. He frowns at the lack of greeting but says nothing as he like the others begin their search of the station. It wasn't long before the voices start to filter back to the Corellian jedi knight and he makes his way toward the lab at the heart of the station. Though as the voices come clear Jax stops and looks to the ceiling for a moment, "How many times is this guy going to come back?" Then moving to ready himself. Rapping himself in the force to protect him form what he knows will be coming next.
Zandra finds it very eerie to be on this station in its darkened state. "Shouldn't there be people?" she asks as they start, but she quiets thereafter. Yes, they probably all have a bad feeling about this. By now, it would be difficult not to have. As they make their way deeper and deeper into the science area, she tries to just stay quiet and not make noise. The sound of the voice sends shivers down her spine. She recognizes it, unhappily. Her hand is on her lightsaber, which is unclipped from her waist, finger on the button to ignite it, but not yet letting the purple blades shine. She too tries to minimize her force signature, as doubtless they are all doing, and to get a peak at the situation - sitreps are important.
An abandoned science station in a dead star system? Chani thinks Aryn has the right of it. There's a feeling of unease she can't quite escape, and Chani's not sure if it's simply the desolate vibe from where they are, or some lingering sense through the symbiotic link she shares with the Force that knows this place for what it is: the general location of one of the greatest atrocities ever committed in known space. "I think you're right." Chani speaks low to Aryn, and part of it is because she doesn't want to raise her voice. It contains a certain degree of reverence for where they are. And a certain degree of caution. It doesn't help that there's a recognizable voice from the most dangerous mission she ever took part in. Still, Chani focuses more on calming herself than surrendering to the current of her emotions.
Yuun takes a look around the area he is in, and he watches as the others move ahead and he too does the same. Allowing the force to flow through him, Yuun's presence would fade from teh others as he moves, and he slowly allows the others to move ahead of him. He hears some of the others, "I don't know, and I don't like all of this. We need to be on our guard and watching one another's backs." he says. He goes quiet when he hears the voices ahead of them.
Rey was still visibly inside the Falcon's cockpit as others began to disembark the ship and head out. She was tinkering with the controls of the ship to have it on a specific stand-by exit route... because something about this station has her feeling very uneasy....
She's a rush of white fabric and blurred motion as she stands up inside of the cockpit and rushes out toward the aft of the ship.
She's joining the others a bit behind them, coming up on Chewie's right side. She looks up at him. "You're feeling all right then?" She asks him quietly, since he'd been recovering from that attack on Ylesia.
Her eyes go forward though as she sees the others reaching for their sabers..
Something about this whole thing seems off. "Why aren't they keeping watch?" Ben murmurs quietly, no more than a whisper, as he watches the exchange between the two figures at the far side of the room, one robed in black and one robed in red, one covering a face with a mask and one using a face to hide his mask.
As if in answer, the glass face turns to leer at the Jedi peeking around the corner of the entry. "As expected. Come closer, children. See what the future holds, one way or another. You cannot stop it, as you cannot stop the turning of the stars."
The sentinel droid nods once to the masked man, then raises a hand towards the row of silent fanatics on the right, bringing them to attention. "Follow me." A door whisks open, leading away from the laboratory, and the Sentinel steps through, followed shortly by half of the masked man's contingent and leaving him alone with the Jedi.
"I don't trust that," Ben decides with a frown. "We'll deal with this." Looking to Rey, he nods towards the door to the right. "You deal with that."
The complexion of things in the laboratory is already changing, though, with the masked man shoving the Dathomiri mother further upright against the glass, the remaining followers fanning out in a semicircle around him.
IN THE LABORATORY
"If we are to deal with /this/, then allow me to open the pocket for conflict. Make way to our Dathomiri companion, and disable those who stand in our path!" Aryn calls out just as she takes command of the force and marshals an impressive display that casts one of the guards out of the path to smash against the nearby bulkhead with a thunderous noise.
Just after, she activates her lightsaber to pursue, stepping into the line of danger to see this mission done, and these adversaries dealt with in a humane fashion!
"Maybe they don't see us as a threat," Kasia whispers the unhappy theory to Ben as she looks ever so slightly past him and into the room. She draws back and glances around at the others, but then a voice inside addresses them and she freezes. Rather than continue to keep back she steps out to watch as half the group in the room moves off elsewhere. "Well," she starts, eyes moving back to the remaining guards and the masked man that remains behind them. "Care to share with us what this future is?" she asks, taking the talking route before attacking today. "Since we're unable to stop it and all."
Ban Iskender steps out openly when secrecy is spent. Alone among the Jedi in wearing armor rather than the robes, his green sword keens to life, the gentleman voicing steadily aloud, "As Your Highness says. Ensure the prisoner is not slain ere we may cleave through this barrier, and let us begin." His saber is drawn up in a salute to the ten and one opposing them, as he strides toward the robed fellow at the center, striking at whichever of the guards intervene. The first is laid low with a swift thrust, turned sideways through the torso into a parry of the second, before a deadly riposte slays that foe. A step aside, turn, and diagonal slash cut down a third. The soldier returns to a traditional duelist's guard and resumes walking toward the man in robes.
As the group splits the various degrees of interaction unfold for those within the room, Vhe tenses, readying herself as Aryn and Ban engage immediately and she is quick to press the button to ignite the pale blue blade with its controlled and stable hum. A failsafe, or so it would seem as she does not rush forward to exchange blows with the blade but ather her gaze sweeps over the equipment that is arrayed around the room. Sharp as they may be nothing leaps out at her and she hesitates, her lips parting as she looks towards Kasia as she speaks, that once certain quick movement of her gaze is now darting in an effort to find something of import.
The various equipment means nothing to her presently, the Ysanna not familiar enough to spot anything that may need her attention. "They are here for a reason...a very specific lab..." she does step forward when room is made to get a better look around and beat the creature to the fruit of his machinations.
Whatever he had expected, he didn't expect this. Usually Palpatine had some way of being sinister and devious, in the one time he's had experience with him that is. But calling them all out and then splitting his force, not expected in the slightest. And there's a moment too, where Rune looks confused, uncertain what to do considering there is conversation... then lightsabers are out, Aryn is shoving the man in the hooded robe away and Ban is making his way through the group with that blazing rod of green. Kasia seems to want to communicate but he doubts there will be many more words that come in a constructive manner after the fighting begins.
Their mission here is to rescue the Dathomir Matriarch and that's what he's going to do. With a press of the button on his lightsaber, Rune adds his own emerald glow to the room and wades into battle, swinging the lightsaber about in wide arcs as he cuts through three of the Guards in an attempt to reach the hostage. "I am not certain what it is they are in this particular room for, Vhe. But I do know that she is in danger, I am going to try to cut her free!" The younger Ysannan calls as he spins and slices his way further into the room.
Jax goes for the blaster on side and opens fire at the guard hitting one them with a couple of shots. "You know this won't work out for you. Whatever Palpatine is up too. It never works out well for the people assisting him. It's not too late to reconsider. He doesn't like sharing his power.' The jedi calls out.
"The return of the true Sith, of course," the man in the mask replies to Kasia's question matter-of-factly, snapping his wrist and presenting a silver cylinder that activates succinctly, shooting a glowing blue blade forward. "Are you not the same Jedi that disrupted our previous attempt and killed two of my closest companions?" he asks, gesturing conversationally with the blade. "I've been looking forward to repaying the favor." Evidently unbothered by the deaths of half his defenders, he turns his back on the Matriarch.
The remaining guards open fire, blasting furiously in the enclosed space and peppering the white walls with soot and blastmarks, but the Jedi are nimble and quick and hard to track at close quarters.
Aryn avoids taking hits by stepping from the path of incoming fire. When she's close enough to strike, there is no hesitation. She struck her first adversary across the chest, then pivoted toward a second. Her first strike originated from down low, clipping their leg and bringing them to a knee. She spun in place dragging her blade along to strike a second time, this slash cutting their torso just deep enough to eliminate the threat.
Aryn moved in closer to stay in the fray and ensure none of the Jedi got boxed in or gunned down.
"Right, of course," Kasia responds to the masked man, the words carried on a sigh. "I suppose I have to give you all points for dedication, if not creativity." She spares a glance to the matriarch before thumbing the toggle on the saber already in her hand and moving quickly to land one decisive blow on the guard nearest to her. The following two slashes miss, only just, but enough for the guard in question to avoid injury from her.
"I daresay we had not cared enough to remember, *sir*," Ban notes archly to the mention of True Sith returning, and the Jedi already having heard this in prior clashes. Slipping through the battered remainder of the robed figure's guards, Ban presses an aggressive attack, moving much like he would if fencing with durasteel, and his deft opponent avoids the glowing green blade once, twice, and thrice. "If you've any further attempts at ominous oration, I would recommend you undertake them swiftly, sir."
The fruitless labor of identifying something that she is wholly unfamiliar with is rightfully abandoned when the Acolyte pulls the weapon that does not belong. Her eyes narrow and she comes about, the blue blade yet to be employed she reaches out her hand and even as the Force answers her call to slam into the arm holding Jax' lightsaber. Even if she may have sent the arm into some motion the grip is kept and the creature of darkness shakes off her attempt to help her fellow Jedi.
"Careful Rune!" Even as the younger continues to engage. So far they outnumber the Acolyte but it appears it may take more than their meager years of training to solve the problem.
Chaos erupts in the room as the Jedi move in to try to free the captive, some taking down guards, some moving on the acolyte through lightsaber use or telekinesis, all becoming active after conversations end. Rune moves on to try to close the gap between himself and the held woman, one lone guard standing after the Jedi arrived to do their work. With a quick slash, the novice Force user drops the remaining robed guard, stepping past the crumpling body to advance on the man baddie in the room.
"Always!" Rune calls back to Vhe as he engages their foe, two swings later and her claim seems to hold true, the man moving rapidly out of the way of his attacks, much more nimble than his clothing would seem to suggest. Then again, the lot of the Jedi tend to fight in rather voluminous robes so who is he to judge. At least the Jedi's fashion sense is better, more mottled, planet colors than just black, grey, and red. Though their choice of pants could do with some updating....
Jax frowns, "Are you sure they don't already exist? I fought one dressed in all white. Had the Monologing down and tried to hurt my feelings while throwing lighting at me." He says as he reaches out with the force and tries to push the Acolyte back with the force. "I mean you don't have to choose to follow evil but if you are. I feel like choosing the living one and not the one we keep killing is a good idea. I mean we can stop this and discuss philosphies." He says holdstering his blaster.
When the Jedi advance on him, the Acolyte's speeches stop, the wooden mask that covers his face an oblong teardrop with the tip at his chin that covers everything but the furtive eyes watching their advance. When Ban comes on, his backward step is as quick as his glib greeting, and the blade flashes up once between them to stop a blow that comes too close. He keeps on his guard as Rune presses in from the other side; it's going well so far, but it doesn't take a mathematician to figure out that the odds are not in his favor. He lashes out quickly at Ban, Jax's lightsaber a blur, but none are able to land a blow. Whatever practice he's had isn't enough.
"You Jedi think you have all the answers," he hisses from behind the mask, eyes darting between the two closest and over to Jax. "My mind is as set as yours."
Something strange is going on over by the glass panel set in the far wall where the Matriarch is still propped up. The glass seems distorted somehow, blurred, whorled. Moving, almost, like heat vapor.
Aryn breaks off from the fight to move for the Matriarch, and finds that the path to her is becoming more difficult. There is something about the space around her that makes Aryn feel like she's being repelled. Taking a moment to center herself, Aryn reaches out with a gloved hand to emit her own influence of the Force through a meditative state, repelling this arcane energy so she can reach this woman in, what seems like, simple binders.
"I don't think anyone doubted how set your mind is," Kasia assures the masked individual as she shoots another glance over at the matriarch. Aryn is moving to her, so Kasia heads for the Acolyte. There's no further repartee, she simply moves in to slash at the Acolyte with her saber, the first blocked with that distinctive clash and hum when saber blades meet, the second the same with a burst of sparks. He's fast, skilled, but she's not a total slouch, and her rather aggressive tactic -- won't go so far as to call it a form -- pays off in landing at least a minor blow to the mysterious pro sith figure.
Ban Iskender parries the first two of the Sith Acolyte's strikes, dodging a step further back to avoid the third. He hopes to bait the opponent into overextending in pursuit, but the sable swathed swordsman doesn't fall for the gambit, and Ban steps to the attack, voicing, "Admirably struck, madame," to Kasia's success. He places his steps in an effort to drive the would be Sith away from Aryn and the prisoner- well, he seeks to strike the other man down, but *failing* that, he attempts to force the other away from the doctor-princess and the presumed prisoner.
The others seem to have trouble landing blows and the area in which to engage the acolyte with lessens. Another worried glances is offered to Rune but her attention shifts to Aryn as the Ysanna glances to the matriarch, her lips parting as she considers what is happening with what looks like the glass. Possibly the glass? This may be why they are here like she had thought and she speaks to Aryn as her focus remains on the bound dathomiri. "Aryn, I am going to try to move her away from that area."
Just enough warning as she slides outwards with the Force and instead of endangering herself in the zone of combat she begins to move the woman only to watch as the distortions follow her having nothing to do with her location. Focused fully on what is before her she moves the woman carefully to the side. "What has he done to her? Injected her?" She furrows her brows, glancing to the doctor in the room. "What is going on?" She does not release the woman until she's somewhere that won't be directly in the line of fire.
"Well, not especially. For example, I still do not know how many licks it takes to get to the center of a Tatooine Pop." Rune replies, exercising some wit in an attempt to break the man's concentration. He's not likely to succeed but Rey has been teaching them to use everything as a weapon, conversation and wit included. The shimmer around the Matriarch has Rune very concerned, but seeing Aryn and Vhe turn that direction, he figures he'll let the ones most capable of helping her do so and he'll try to break this fellow's concentration.
As such he turns and swings again, all three attacks seeming to be predicted before they even land... the first swing itself felt like he was attacking a completely different target instead of the acolyte before him. Rune's confused expression says it all and he looks back and forth between his companions with shoulders lifting in puzzlement.
Jax shakes his head, "Fine, you're set on this path. YOu want to deal in absolutes, you can." The jedi rasies his hand and reach out with the force, "You won't do it with my blade. You want bring injury upon my order with my weapon." Jax's fingers curl in his out stretched hand and the Acolyte would feel the tug of the saber. Then the saber is tugged away. The blade powering down as the saber flies to Jax's hand. Then raising the saber above his head the blue blade extends with a hiss, "Surrender."
It was always a long shot. Surrounded and outnumbered, the Acolyte of the Beyond does his level best to fend off all assailants, and all things considered, acquits himself well, but Kasia's pink saber does manage to scorch a line across his shoulder. He stumbles back from the screaming pain, only to feel a tug on the weapon in his grasp.
He holds tight, knuckles white, fighting with all his might, but the silver cylinder slips by degrees through his fingers and finally flies away from him, the call of its true master too strong to resist. His eyes widen behind the mask, finding himself now behind a ring of sabers with no weapon to defend himself.
He stares at the Jedi. Then suddenly the station begins to vibrate expectantly, as though powering up for flight.
He laughs. "You almost did it!" It is the laugh of a broken mind, the lunatic chortle of a man staring at his own obliteration and finding the premise absurdly hysterical. "We will step into the Beyond together, now!"
The haze that follows the matriarch has begun to take on form, writhing in the air above her, ghostly shapes reaching from the miasma as fingers and hands, eager to take hold of a vessel here where the veil between the material world and the place in the Force the Acolytes call the Beyond is thin.
"This arcane energy follows her, it seems. No chemical that I am aware produces such results. Join me in pushing this energy back! It must be weakened and vanquished." Aryn says to Vhe, then raises both her hands and steps in front of the Matriarch. With palms facing this portal of energy, Aryn marshals her strength in the Force and hones in on the buzz of energy around her. Willing the force to dissipate and eradicate it, Aryn begins to solely focus upon this effort. It takes its toll, naturally, but there's measured success with it!
The Acolyte is disarmed and that makes him seem like... maybe less of a target. Kasia is conflicted, because he's clearly crazy, but also pro sith. BUT also not an immediate threat. OR IS HE? This is a real pickle and she hasn't the answer to it, so rather than attack again yet she joins Aryn in trying to stop this... whatever it is, this presence, to push it back from them. It's a struggle though, and that struggle is visible in the tremble of her outstretched hand and the clenching of her jaw.
Ban Iskender holds one of the sabers ringing the wooden masked acolyte. His green eyes widen subtly as the distortion near the viewport manifests into hazy.. hands? Altering the angle of his sword such that the disarmed Acolyte would risk impaling himself if he sought to rush toward the vortex, Ban raises his empty hand toward the haze, and voices to the others nearby, "If you cannot push it back.. then keep him from it." Projects his will through the Force, a frown narrows his eyes and draws at his mouth. He had remained calm and steady during the duel, but now sweat swiftly beads and begins to run on his face.
Vhe becomes momentarily distracted from the plight of the matriarch when the rumble is joined by the clamoring chorus of the mad acolyte. Forgetting about him as he seems to think that all this is at an end, the Ysanna nods to Aryn. "I will try..." she admits and try she will as she reaches out through the Force, trying to follow the tendrils of Aryn's work. Her own unravels before she can do any good for the poor matriarch with the questionable miasma that clings like a shadow.
"This is nothing...nothing I have ever seen before..." Nothing she has ever seen before and shakes her enough to her core that her voice wavers. "I am doing no good for her...but I will keep trying." She admits as her gaze focuses on the figure she'd moved closer to them - for better or for worse.
As noted, the man has cracked and his cackle and manner betray it, but he has lost... at least this fight. When the station begins to vibrate and thrum with a low bass, there is a sense of worry, but not nearly as much as the tendrils that stretch forth as disembodied hands to grab the Matriarch and drag her to Force knows where. Rune's first instinct is to fling the acolyte at the void, if he wants to be there so badly, why not take care of two things at once... but some rumination leads the young Jedi to believe that throwing a defenseless opponent into an unknown energy is probably a bad idea.
Instead Rune nods to Aryn's request and stretches his free hand toward the expanding void. He concentrates his will on this presence, this thing, and uses the Force to push it back into the unknown where it belongs. There's a line of sweat that breaks out on his forehead, his eyebrows knitting with the extreme concentration needed to exert his and the Force's will on this entity. "Nnnnh..." he cries, his hand shaking as it reaches forth, fingers extended toward the anomaly in the station.
The disarmed man isn't ignored but rather not Jax's focus at the moment. He reaches up with his handand using the technique to harmless dissapate energy and instead flip it to press the energy bakc out and away from him. "Be gone." Jax says quietly. "Let it guide you Rune don't fight the force."
"Don't you see it's pointless?" the masked man shouts at the Jedi as they gather around the wizened crone taken from her village all that time ago. "He's going to open the EYE! It's the end! The ritual doesn't even matter anymore! The station will be purged, every corner set ablaze! The last failsafe!"
While the others are dealing with the spirits straining to inhabit the vessel set before them, offered up in a place of unrest and disquiet where billions perished in the Hosnian cataclysm, Ben quietly reaches his hand down rather than up, prising the binders off the matriarch's wrists. They snap into the palm of his hand hand from across the room and he steps forward, businesslike, to roughly restrain their mad opponent and slap the binders on him instead.
The combined efforts of the Jedi push back against those reaching fingers, dashing them apart like a stiff wind through smoke, and as they fade back into oblivion, the air clearing, that rumbling that set the floor askitter fades as well.
"What? No, no, he was- the station's eye!" The acolyte's own eyes are wide with alarm, now, rather than sadistic glee.
"It looks like our friends are more reliable than yours," Ben remarks dourly, giving him a shove. "We're leaving. Move." For a moment, he looks distant, towards the door to the right. "We did our part. Sounds like you did yours." Then he's walking out towards the hangar the way they came, with their new companion pushed ahead of him. "Bring her along. I think both of them need to go back to a certain village on Dathomir."
IN THE CONTROL ROOM
Quietly, Chewbacca turns his head towards Rey first and makes a soft wuffle as he nods, "rwarrl rwal, rwal grarrrl." as hairy paw to lightly thump his chest once. The hair has just started to grow back on his chest where he'd been shot but the nasty burn has healed and his bandolier covers about half of the mark. Qutha also gets a friendly and encouraging look from the Wook.
Things up ahead begin to unfold and Chewbacca listens carefully to what he can overhear or is passed back to them. Ben gives the orders to split them up into two groups and Chewie looks to Rey. Where she's going, he will follow to watch her back. Door to the right where the strangers went off, got it. A duck of his head so he doesn't bust it on the top edge of the hatch and then he's through, looking around and sniffing the air as his huge feet slowly carry him forward down the passage.
How'd the walking carpet get in the front? Now nobody can see around him!
"Bother." moving with Rey's team, Qutha murmurs under his breath while keeping within Chewbacca's orbit, "I need to learn Shyriiwook." looking up apologetically as he hustles with, stunsaber hilt in hand and his expression going a little more slack while he stretches out - letting his instincts and reflexes be guided by the Force.
"I've quite the poor feeling about this." swallowing and allowing himself another deep breath while his nerves keep jerking him towards one source of light then the other in nastic response.
Zandra follows along, as she is standing nearer to Rey than to Ben. Somehow. She takes a breath, as they move laong, reaching for the Force as they go. Of course. "It's so definitely a trap," she murmurs. Well, they've been following after this Dathomiri headwoman, it's not ... rocket science ... to figure they're on the way here. And then there's the Force. Check. A deep breath, and she reaches a hand to Qutha's shoulder. "We're a team," she murmurs softly. "Together."
"Try to center yourself. Your anxiety will distract you." The aside to Qutha is said without divorcing her attention from the situation unfolding in front of them. Not that she can see much. The wookiee towering over them all blocks anything she can see beyond him, but if they were going to follow someone into a bad situation, Chewbacca is far from the worst person to be behind. As far as sentients go, he has seen more fighting than all of them. The fall of an Empire. The return of one. If his track record is anything to go by, he will see whatever comes after when people like her are gone. Internalizing her advice to Qutha, Chani spares a quick glance towards Rey, then towards Zandra. "There's nothing to do but see how it plays out."
Zan peeks past Chewie and past the guards, as well as she can. "He's moving into the control area and fiddling with the panels," she lets everyone know what she's noticed, softly, but still.
Yuun nods his head as the groups split up, he had made sure to keep himself further to the back of the group and as they separate, he follows his group. He smiles as he hears Qutha, though before he can say anything Zandra and Chani speak up. "Precisely. Focus on whats going on around you." he says to Qutha. With that being said, Yuun is in the back so doesn't know what the those ahead of him sees, until Zan speaks up. Keeping close to the wall, Yuun keeps a watch behind them as he continues his stealthy approach.
Rey gives a soft nod to Ben before she nods to some of the others. "Come on, lets split up." She reaffirms. Her right hand goes to her thigh and she slips the blaster gifted to her by Han out of its holster there, holding it aimed upward, Rey moves on toward the doorway. With it keyed open, she pauses beside it and peers through it to see the coast is clear so she waves the others through before coming through it herself...
With her blaster held up still, Rey's eyes scan over the interior of the corridor. Her mind is attempting to stay focused, but with Sentinel droids here.. its rather difficult, for obvious reasons.
Giving chase after the Sentinel and his contingent of the guards brings the Jedi into the control room after him. The guards are waiting, pulling up their military-grade blasters and facing down the Jedi from a defensive semi-circle around the control panel in the center of the room.
Unlike the laboratory, the walls in here are solid. Instead, the floor and ceiling are transparent, thin metal supports running from the walls to the middle of the chamber like spokes on a wheel. This leaves the blackness of space visible above and below, and the control panel the Sentinel stands at serves as the eye's pupil. The glowing face of the twice-dead emperor glowers at them from the Sentinel's head. "Did you really think you followed here against my wishes? That my plans are so simple as to be deciphered and picked apart by the likes of a /Skywalker/?" The animatronic voice spits the name with derision. "Now that you are here, you are at my mercy, and I will have my revenge even from beyond the grave." The glass floor begins to vibrate underfoot as the red gloved hand depresses a button, an eerie light welling up in the glass panels. "If you live to see it."
The guards prepare to fire.
Chewbacca comes to a stop and has stepped a bit to one side to make room for the Jedi to come into the chamber. He looks all around, the bowcaster already in his big hands. It's not a friendly sort of place, this station, this chamber filled with First Order guards, and the Sentinel. The Wookiee studies them, then the floor and ceiling, and the panels in the middle.
Oh boy, what a warm welcome! Chewie cocks his head then suddenly roars, "rwowoal, woeieowl wrall rwal rwarrl!" and lifts the bowcaster to try and take a shot at the Sentinal droid! If nothing else maybe he can cause a distraction to buy the Jedi precious fractions of a second. As he fires, the huge wookiee moves foreward, heading directly for the Sentinel!
"That is the least comforting aspect. Watch and wait, wait and watch." taking another long breath, seeking his center and letting himself hope. Even if some might say hope is the first step on the path to disappointment. Qutha's shoulders sag at the vehemence.
"No one is at anyone's mercy but their destiny. But if this is not really you; and just something programmed - I suppose that is not for you." it's a wonder what Chewie is saying... Because all Qutha hears is rwowoals, woeieowls, wralls, rwals and rwarrls. He could be spouting poetry but the Zelosian only hears his own glaring ignorance. "Bother..." cheeks puffing out and he makes his attempt.
"You're just being utilized, you're not tools, you're not weapons. Please, reconsider - we can help you." this being said to the guards, at first - before his attention goes to the glowing face - mouth opening and then closing before again he speaks to the soldiers. "What can he do? He's dead. Just come with us, we can help you find a better life. It's never too late." said solemnly, brows knit and imploring.
Zan pauses to look over at Qutha, and she tilts her head for a moment. "Great idea, nicely said," she says to Qutha. "But I'm not sure this is the right audience." She steps forward, both blades of her saber coming to life with the electrical sizzling hum that lightsabers usually have. She is aiming for the sentinel, but there are guards in her way. "He's right. You don't have to do this," she says aloud, trying to add to the idea that it's dangerous - for them, not the jedi. Her saberstaff swirls as she attacks high with one blade, following back with a low feint and another slash, engaging the first of the guards.
"Please lay your weapons down." Chani's voice projects a sense of calm that wouldn't have been present even half a year ago. Facing the trained weapons of a few soldiers is not the worst situation she has been in by far. "Let us resolve this situation without violence." It's a sentiment she expresses even after the Sentinel gives the signal for his men to attack. Chani's hand lifts and motions towards one of the guards' weapons. In synchronous existence with the Force, the gesture acts much like an invisible hand reaching out to one of the weapons to remove it from the guard's grasp and send it clattering to the floor and towards a corner of the room they are in. "I suspect this might turn out like the situation we found ourselves in when we were on the Pit, near Kessel. We should leave this confined space."
Yuun was keeping closer to the back and even as the opprotunity for their enemies to give up was asked for, it never happens. Honestly he wonders if those doing wrong will ever take the opprotunity for no violence to happen. Still he allows a breath to escape him and his hand moves to his lightsaber. He doesn't ignite the weapon just yet, waiting for the response and when he sees there was going to be a fight, he moves in. "Watch one another, try to flank them and cut them off from their leader." he calls as he moves in towards one of the guards. Yuun sees weapons flashing and he moves in on a guard and quickly with a lung and flick of his wrist, he brings his blade around in a arc, slashing across the guard, he follows up wiith a backhand slash and misses his final attack.
In to the chamber Rey goes, her eyes on the Sentinel across the distance. She hears his speech and the counter argument from those with her on this mission, but with the red lights coming up from below its clear the battle is about to break out. With Chewie opening fire, Rey is soon to do the same, her blaster pistol coming up and rapidly firing off several shots that all zip past the Sentinel droid in the chaos of the guards holding a line in front of it.
They're in enclosed space, which will make the fighting undoubtedly more challenging, but she keeps her blaster up as her left hand goes down to dip under her satchel and draw out her lightsaber to grip it by the leather clad handle...
The light that has begun to fill the transparent floor is slowly building, intensifying, and as it gathers strength, it begins to pulsate, the glass panels vibrating with the focused energy. When Qutha makes his plea for reason to prevail, there is a moment where it almost seems as though it will work.
It is broken by a dry, genuinely amused cackle. "You have no power here, my boy, except that which I give you." The projected face, distorted by the blueish glass dome, manages somehow to capture the cynical gleam in its flickering eye, the transponded voice full of mocking sorrow. "And I will see that you are given /full/ power in only a few more moments. When my eye is fully opened."
The crack of blasterfire zips past the red-robed figure as it deftly makes minute changes to its positioning, and the guards engage with the Jedi in response as they attempt to cut their way through.
As Chewbacca quickly finds that he can't make his way through to get to the Sentinel droid, he is forced to deal with guards! His powerful arms reset his bowcaster and the tall Wookiee keeps moving, finding it a tight space for him to grab heads, bash people and yank their arms out! Not while light sabers are swinging, being thrown across the chamber, and he's bumping up against Jedi. So Chewie keeps to the bowcaster. It throws another bright bolt across the room to strike one of the guards in the back that was taking aim at Qutha!
The Wookiee doesn't like how the floor is thrumming and lighting up, feeling the vibrations coming up through his legs. He warbles and yowls, "wrall wrall?! woeieowl rwowoal roarrl grarrrl?!"
This can't be good. No, not at all.
"There is no wrong audience to pleas for peace, Zandra." Qutha cringes at Yuun rushing forth with his blade out, motioning to Chani "Possibly the better option there!" what next, though? Of course it grinds down to violence, with the sardonic words from the gnarled figure, "Your eye? More weapons like your death star?"
Qutha reads history books. After all, ignoring it allows it to repeat all the more quickly.
Keeping near Chewie, blade out, the much smaller figure lifting up a hand towards one of the guards, attempting to put them up against a wall - hoping to disable tone who the big wook just saved him from. How do you thank a wookiee? That's best question. For now? "Thank you!" that should hopefully do.
Zandra looks at Qutha and nods. "It's always worth a try, but with the understanding that there are some who do not or cannot listen." Cause you know the crazy sentinel there might just keep the others from being able to do anything but jump when he says hup. She gets fired at, and dodges, Jedi quick, as they all are. "I'm sorry, but we have to stop whatever that thing is doing," she says, as she uses a staff move with her dual sabers, the two hitting one and slashing through before she turns to swing at a second, stepping forward. She swings low, and then the back blade comes around from the bottom to hit the second guard's shoulder. Zan keeps moving forward, as she can. There does seem to be a time limit here.
Having relieved one guard of their weapon, Chani now focuses on the task of limiting the ability of more to fire on her companions. The blaster fire erupting in the control room paints the solid walls with carbon pits smoking and flickering with small little flames. As Chewbacca and the other Jedi continue the fight, Chani yanks another blaster from the grip of its wielder to send it clattering across the floor and skidding to a halt against some panel. There's nothing more to say. She can only urge that they remove themselves from the situation and then hope it reconciles in such a way. But with the growing glow and pulsating tremors felt in the room, Chani begins to think they will not be able to do so, especially given the Sentinel's threats.
Havinig taken down one of the guards and seeing that the others are holding their own, "Rey, I'm moving in towards their leader." he calls to her. Though as he says this, he feels the shifting of the ground and the bright light. Slightly bending his legs to keep his balance, he turns his head slightly as the light builds up. Yuun still hopes Qutha's words get to the Sentinel, but when the red robed drek speaks and dismisses his words.
"I'm one with the Force, the Force is with me. Going in!" he calls out. Yuun races forward, as he gets within range, he swings his blade horizontally first. Yuun misses, the light distracted him, and so he closes his eyes, using the force to sense his surroundings, he spins and slashes vertically, bringing his blade aimed to take off the left arm. He then stops the strike and comes around to slash at the right arm.
Rey is up and out of cover as she sees Yuun make his advance. "Take off its limbs!" She shouts at him over the fighting around them, and the sinister ambience of the situation they've found themselves in now.
She has her blaster up, aimed at the Sentinel, but her mind is on its electronic presence in the Force. She reaches in to its simulated 'mind' and tries to speak directly in to it.
"Turn it off." Rey commands the Sentinel. "Whatever you're doing, deactivate it." She commands further, her stare deadlocked on that face behind the glass, the face of her... enemy.
The guards, alternately dispatched or disarmed by the Jedi's various methods of dealing with them, are too occupied to prevent Yuun's mad dash towards the control console, and before the Sentinel has time to properly react, two devastating blows of that lightsaber connect, nearly crippling the droid, and it collapses sideways onto the control panel. The image of Rey's father sputters and sparks, momentarily winking out before returning.
"Your little charade," the voice continues, garbled by the damage to its circuitry, "is at an end... Jedi. It is time... to pay the price." Struggling to remain upright, it attempts to interface with the control panel again, though whether it is shutting it off as Rey demands seems doubtful. "The eye of this station will focus and oblit-/erate/ you all!"
The guards Chani disarmed seem to register this information and about the time they've reclaimed their weapons, exchange glances and run for the exit.
"Everyone, we need to get back. This whole place is a super-weapon and it's getting ready to fire!" One hand up with his commlink, Qutha looks towards the door. He's no warrior, he's no technician. He's a farmer who tries to solve things peacefully. Stunsaber still out, he can't leave yet - having made it his duty to provide Chewbacca what cover he can.
Holding his weapon steady and watching while he waits to hear back from those likely caught in conflict elsewhere.
Wait, what? The eye is a weap - Oh! Oh. The hair at the back of Zandra's neck stands on end, danger sense not really needed. As some of the guards start to run for it, she does too. In the other direction. "Coming your way, Yuun!" A warning so her fellow isn't caught by surprise, nor the rest of her companions. That sentinel is her target, as she heads in, staff saber blades spinning. She's got deft hands, keeping the staff moving as she slashes with the front blade, then back, and then again. Zan's honed in, the Force guiding her, her blade a deadly extension of her right now, and the results shine through.
Chani does not attempt to stop the fleeing guards any more than she tries to flee herself. As Zandra and Yuun cut the Sentinel to pieces, the young Naboo native turns her attention towards the command consoles that were used to start this process in the first place. "I know nothing about these systems," She offers in a quick, short statement that informs the others she is ill-equipped to deal with the super weapon. "Is there anything I can do to help?" She glances towards Rey, the far more technologically inclined and capable individual for the answer to her question. Maybe Chewbacca knows. He was once traipsing around in the guts of a super weapon. What she refuses to do is panic. They'll solve this together or not at all.
With the Sentinel dispatched, Rey lowers her blaster pistol and jams it back in to the holster on her thigh. She steps around the console and sweeps her hand across it to push some of the Sentinel droid's body away from the controls. She scans her eyes over the console for a moment before her hand reaches out to press down upon it.
The console starts to blink rapidly as she reaches beyond the surface and into its core.
"Start falling back." Rey tells the others. "I'll handle this. We have to find out what the others status is, they might need our help..." She states all of that with her eyes still on the console, doing her best to deactivate it from within...
With the final stroke of the lightsaber, Palpatine's face on the Sentinel's dome flickers and dies for the last time, the red-robed mechanical body collapsing in a sparking heap next to the control panel.
The remaining guards that haven't already wised up to the purpose of the "Eye" take off, not willing to fight and die for the cause of a pile of scrap.
With Rey's focus on the console, a few moments later, the light filling the glass panels on the floor too slowly fades away, and the vibrations thrumming through the whole room gradually dissipate as the weapon powers down before it has a chance to fire.
The crisis averted, the group returns to the laboratory to find the other guards killed and the matriarch being gathered up by Aryn, Vhe, and the rest, while Ben is already pushing the Acolyte down the corridor in binders, saying, "Bring her along. I think both of them need to go back to a certain village on Dathomir."
