Log:Jedi Order: Menace of the Years

Jedi Order: Menace of the Years

OOC Date: March 1, 2021
Location: Devaron
Participants: Jedi Order: Rune, Chani Tahn, Vhe Tenara, Qutha Buvu Pah, Zandra naMuriel, Jax Greystorm, Aryn Cortess, Kasia Ashkuri, and Rey Skywalker with Ben Solo

When last we left our Jedi heroes, they had ventured to Dathomir, chasing a pathway to the Beyond, another name for the place where spirits go to rest in the Force. They encountered an Acolyte of the Beyond there, dressed similar to the woman that had attempted to kill them at The Pit near Kessel, in the midst of an occult ritual meant to summon a Sith spirit back from the Force to inhabit a captive woman's body. The Jedi disarmed and captured the acolyte, bringing him back to the Temple of Eedit for questioning. They had also brought the young woman with them, given that they could not rouse her from her stupor.

Now, the acolyte, unmasked, has been kept prisoner at the Temple, and every day since, Ben has gone in to interview him, refusing to allow anyone else to do so and refusing to allow anyone to attempt to read the captive's mind, growing surly at even the question. He has been kept in a locked chamber, the same ones the Jedi live in, and judging by his fairly plain appearance, is a human male in early middle age.

The young woman, an ashen-skinned Dathomir native, has been resting in the medical bay nearby, sliding in and out of consciousness and writhing violently in her sleep as though troubled by her dreams. In short, the atmosphere around this place has not been one of peace and calm under Ben's close attention this last few planetary revolutions.

All of this notwithstanding, he has asked the others to return to the temple today, hoping to have them nearby in case there is a breakthrough with the prisoner.

Rune stands off to the side of the hallway, his eyes locked on the door in which the prisoner resides. "He has not said anything, nor have you been able to get much of use from him, Ben?" The younger Ysannan asks, his eyebrow lifting as he swivels to regard the rest of the Jedi assembled. "What of the woman, has she recovered from her restless sleep? Offered anything of use to be able to further our search into this 'Beyond'?" it seems the novice Force user is full of questions, none too helpful or able to illuminate anything aside from restating what they already know.

One might find it odd to discover someone wearing combat equipment while gardening, but for Chani, who has taken to wearing the jumpsuit and armored plates as a way of endurance training, it's become something of a norm. She's already on Devaron when the message goes out to gather, and she adjusts out of her meditative pose in front of the plant she'd put in the temple gardens outside. Using a small canister, she waters the soil around the base of the plant's stem and then rises, dusting her ground-stained hands together first and then brushing them off on the jumpsuit. She pulls her gloves on as she enters the temple and heads for the turbolift, passing by the various other students going about their daily lives. Most of them stay here all the time. Chani wonders how the last few months would have panned out for her had she done the same. It's not something that she dwells on.

The turbolift puts her out on the habitation level, and she steps out to find Rune already there, near where the prisoner is being kept. "Rune," Chani intones, dipping her chin towards him. She does the same to Ben, though his irritable attitude as of late inclines her towards saying nothing. She approaches neither but moves towards the central column to be out of the way of any of the others arriving.

Turmoil as there may be, Vhe has sought peace in thought and meditation while they wait. But the restlessness grows and she has to shake off the attempt slowly and rise, her eyes opening to the sound of Rune's voice. She is silent, watching instead as she glances towards the two, her head tilting as she smooths her hands across her robes to settle them, a shake of her head to send the many beaded small braids back from her face.

Slowly she moves, stretching her limbs as she takes a few steps about the chamber. Chani's arrival gets a nod from Vhe.

Tending wounds? No. Medical study? Uh uh. Qutha is here today to help in the way he can best think of. Tea. A kettle is brewing and the orchardist has been blending dried leaves, flowers, spices and who knows what else until the area is fragrant and whatever he has set up is steeping in hot water. She may be from Dathomir, or not. But she's in their custody and should be given proper treatment, after all.

His appearance in the habitation level is with a pot warmer, kettles cups and various creams and sweeteners present, "Still not awake then I see... nodding to Chani and Rune while lifting a cup towards Vhe when he's close enough, "Breathe. You look as you need something to occupy you." looking back to the others before motioning to the repulsor cart with an inquiring tilt of his head.

Zandra spends some time on Devaron at the temple regularly. She makes a point to come and help out where she can, and to spend time meditating, in the classrooms, and learning from the holocrons, as she can. She is currently practicing one of her skills. So she's found a dark corner and is trying to be invisible. So far, it's not working. She sighs, makes a face, and then she moves to find the others. It doesn't take long for her to come to the habitation level, though she is staring at her hand as if she's never seen it before.

Jax had spent his day with the younger students. There had been stories and there had been games. All either to teach a lesson or to use a force power. The kids had a fun day of playing ball but now they had disappeared to eat dinner. Now the jedi knight was walking through the habitation floor. Seeing Zandra, he points her out, "I can still see you." Then he joings the others, "Qutha, How is our guest?" Then he nods hi shead to remaining jedi.

Aryn is in the medical chamber standing in front of several monitors with a holo-keypad out, typing. She has not provided a brief on the woman's condition, but she also thought it was obvious. Intense dreaming left the woman wet with sweat, something Aryn combatted with a cool damp towels. She had placed one over the woman's throat, and another over her forehead! The chamber is pretty quiet except for the methodical beeping of instruments and the rattle of the environmental ducts that put out cool air.

Kasia doesn't spend a lot of extended time at the temple. She visits often, but rarely stays for more than a day or two. Which means when the call goes out, she's not on world. Fortunately she's near enough that she's able to make it in time, and when she arrives she looks significantly more done up than when they're out adventuring in nature. A rattle of bracelets and the clack of low heels against the floor announce her arrival before she's visible, cheeks a touch flushed with color after hustling to get up here in time. "Hey, hey," she says, then quiets down to listen and get up to speed.

Rey had gone out early this morning on a hunting expedition with the Wookiees who live in the temple and offer security to the facility. The Wookiees like to hunt for food to supply the temple with good meals and they've grown quite fond of the dangerous jungles of Devaron and its varied threats of dangerous predators...

It's been quite a morning... becuase of that.

Returning now, Rey is coming out of the dining area and before that the kitchen, she's got her satchel in her hands and is raising it up to put it over her shoulders and let it hang at her side, her eyes see others up ahead near the captive's chamber and she starts to walk in that direction with the tabards of her clothing swaying at her legs.

Ben emerges from the room around the time that Rune arrives to question him, and the eager young man is given a long look, lips pursed tight together, an expression that suggests the answer before he even says it. "No." There's no additional answer to all the questions, just 'no' to cover all of them. He looks tired, a tightness lingering in the corners of his eyes, eyes darker than usual, pale skin doing little to hide it. "This was so much easier when I could just take what I needed." He braces a hand against the circular wall, leaning into it, and the others begin to crystallize around Rune and Chani like the plates of a snowflake.

Inside the medical chamber where Aryn is quietly working, the Dathomiri woman abruptly sits up, her eyes snapping open, pale grey like her skin. "They're coming. They're /coming./" Her hands claw at the rag on her throat, the one on her forehead already fallen away, and she tugs at the equipment attached to her monitors where it clings to her body. In a foreign voice, she cries "Let me out of here! Let me out! I have to go!"

"What's going on?" Ben glances towards the door to the medical chamber, brow furrowing with concern as the woman's shouts dimly echo into the hallway area.

The fellow from Ossus nods to Chani when she arrives, a smile is given to Vhe when she leaves the trance and stands, and finally widening eyes are flashed at Qutha and his cart when offered some tea. "Oh yes, please." Rune remarks, unfolding his arms from is chest to cross the hall and make away with some of the delicious beverage. A smile meets Jax and Kasia as he retreats with his cup, heading back over to the wall he had posted up on previously. This time, however, he has a nice warm cup of tea to keep him company.

His regard lifts from the tea and an eyebrow raises, one of which settles on Ben, the other at the top of his forehead. "Well, yes. Things are much easier when you can simply take them, but that is not the way of things." He nearly drops his cup when the woman inside screams out and begins tearing at her equipment, Rune taking one or two steps back from the wall to look through the door to the medical chamber. "It seems she has awakened."

Chani glimpses each of the arriving Jedi in turn, save for Aryn, who was already at work in the medical chamber, and provides the same subtle nod to them all. It's a strange waiting game, this, and Chani herself seems more muted in the oppressive atmosphere that seems to hang over the gathering. She breathes and forgoes posture, shoulder leaning into the stone and serving as the brace for the way she leans into the wall to remove some of the weight being focused on her feet. Her arms rise and fold around one another, allowing her right hand to tuck into a little nook left by her left elbow and side, while the left hand itself tucks up and underneath her right. Her lower lip folds in beneath it's twin, allowing her teeth to worry at the soft, flushed skin while she breathes steadily through her nose.

At the shouts, Chani returns to standing and steps across the stone, heading for the door and brushing her hand across the panel that triggers it to whisk open and reveal the scene within. "Is everything alright?" The question is directed at Aryn, but Chani's gaze is oriented towards the woman rather than the noble overseeing her care.

Vhe glances to Qutha as he enters and she shifts, drawing closer to him when the cup is offered. Taking it she nods to him with a smile, "I am, if I was not I would not be talking to you," she teases him softly but gives him a nod. Her amber eyes sweep back towards the captive's cell as the others begin to congregate. "Do you have another cup I could take to Aryn? I think she's still with the woman."

The Ysanna is waiting for the cup from Qutha when the sudden irratic behavior stops her, eyes lifting towards Ben and then to the room as well as she starts to slowly towards the chamber, a curious look on her brow. Just a few steps closer with the cup of brew from Qutha in her hand. "Aryn you okay?" She adds her chorus of curiosity to Ben and Chani's questions when the door whooshes open.

"Fitful dreams, sadly. I've been tending to some of the garden plots, been trying fresh blooms nearby for calm - but if she's from such as Dathomir... well I wasn't there with you all, but the scents that came back. I'd wonder if anything I could provide would be comforting for how alien it would be." noted to Jax as Qutha prepares a cup, thoughtful expression carving early lines in his face while sachets of herbs and leaf are prepared. "I've cups for all, Vhe, no worries to be had in that regard." motioning to his bounty.

"But I expect she'll be thirsty and dehydrated." head shaking in a 'dear oh dear' sort of manner while he works. "She'll need drink and something to give her a bit of strength before she has more than some soft nibbles for a bite." Ben's arrival brings a momentary quiet and a long look from the Zelosian, studying the dark haired man, bowing his head to Rune when he acquires his beverage.

"One will always find things shaded on the easy path. But won't earn what they find when they come out into the Sun." head snapping to the sound of the woman's cries and he is moving with his repulsor tray in tow. Nothing said in question, plenty of that going around, but he makes to enter with his lot, the tray moved before him and a cup being fixed that he suspects will never get to the intended.

Zan sighs but shrugs. "More practice," is what she says simply. "I'll get there." She does make a face at Jax behind his back - so grown up, but it's not a serious thing. She then follows after, pausing to nod to the others. She tilts her head a touch at Ben's words, and then just chuckles softly but says nothing. Surely he recalls her turn at having to try to get information from a prisoner. She did eventually succeed. Eventually. She might be about to say something when the comment comes from the woman, and her mouth snaps shut. She reaches for the Force, intent on seeing what she can sense. The hair at the back of her neck raises, hackles prickling as it were. Her breath wooshes out with a hiss, and she says, "We're in danger. I feel something or someone bad is comeing. We're all in danger." The words are calm, mostly calm, but there is a bit of urgency to her voice, her words spoken to cut through the rest of the conversation, somewhat echoing the woman in medical. "We're all in danger, I feel it."

Jax nods to Zandra, "You will get there. Thank of yourself as a shadow." He turns to make sure he doesn't see Zandra make a face at him either with perfect timing or on purpose. He nods to Qutha, "I'm quite sure that Aryn and you are doing everything you can do for her. Thank you for the drink." He nods his head to Rey as the leader of the order arrives. He looks to Ben, "Would you like me to try to question him?"

That though is interrupted by the cries of the young woman that Aryn is tending too. Jax frowns, "I have a bad feeling about this." He doesn't from his connection to the force but never the less.

The sudden awakening prompts Aryn to halt her work and turn about. Surprise is etched across her features when the others arrive to see what the commotion is. Rather than risk getting close to the volatile woman, Aryn keeps her distance and sheepishly backs up. To answer the concerns of her companions, she responds, "I am quite alright."

But the other woman was not. "Please, calm yourself, miss. Tell us who is coming.. and why?" If others wished to get involved by restraining the patient, Aryn would not stop them. She had been attacked before by a patient and learning occurred then. Now, Aryn kept her distance as to react and respond more appropriately!

Kasia is quick to answer the smile from Rune with one in return, finding a plot of open wall to lean against while they wait. She doesn't get to lean for long, as soon as the yelling comes from the nearby room she starts and straightens at once, hand immediately shifting to the weapon that's tucked away within the many layers of her outfit. Though she doesn't go into the medical space their guest occupies, she does step nearer to that door so she can listen for an answer if one comes.

Rey was about half way down the hallway toward the others when the general ambience of the surroundings changed and she felt an unsettling touch of something ominous.

This slows her strides, and makes her take a moment to 'feel' the Force around the temple. Her attention is drawn, however, to a door that slides open beside her and two of the younger students at the Temple step out and stop with surprise at seeing Rey there.

Rey looks to them and then steps out of their way. She talks to them quickly. "Take this to the dining hall." She tells them, picking her bag up off of her shoulders and offering it to one of them. "The younglings are there at the dining table. Lock the door for now. I'll come by to check on you soon." They... seem concerned but listen to her.

Rey starts further down the corridor now, moving to the others still within it. "Ben. What's wrong?" She asks, her eyes darting to the faces around him.

"I'll be sure to remember that whenever they reach the Beyond and summon back a dead Sith lord," Ben replies sardonically to the words of encouragement that the Jedi have given him. "At least I did the right thing." Rey's appearance shuts him up, though, glumly dropping his complaints as she arrives on the scene more fully. "I don't know what's going on. I haven't been able to get any answers. But the girl woke up."

"/They/ are coming!" The Dathomiri woman's voice is thick with her native accent, panicked and throaty from days of disuse. "The dark ones! They took me! I feel them again, they are coming! I have to get out!" Throwing her legs over the side of the medical bed, she casts the sheet back, still dressed in her tribalistic garb underneath. Regaining her feet, she stops abruptly on seeing the crowd of curious eyes at the door. "Where am I? Get out! I have to go. Somewhere else, /anywhere/ else."

Down below on the ground floor, visible from this sort of balcony corridor, shadowy figures slip into the shadows. At first, it's almost a trick of the eye, but if one really watches closely, they are there, a pair of black-clad intruders sticking to the edges and corners of the tower's bottom level, stealing quietly towards the turbolift.

Rune draws his stunsaber and Vhe blows across her drink and takes a sip of it before walking up to the side of the wall and setting it down. The brew still steaming as she turns back around and glances to the others. "It seems a hard thing to escape for us? The mysteries of the galaxy will always draw attention, good and bad."

She pulls her saber from her belt and glances to the turbolifts but pauses, allowing herself the moment to listen to what is being said in the other room as she watches the entrance into the habitation level. She rolls her shoulders back, the blade left unlit but the brass hilt held in her hand.

She moves to take up a position between med bay and turbolift.

The idea of anyone thinking of themselves as a shadow sets a shiver up Qutha's spine, even if he is becoming occupied with the status of their guest as she awakens. "Even in the face of the blackest of Night, Ben. Even if it's with the last breath before death takes you - best to know you did the right thing." quietly firm as he states this. He even puts action to words when he proceeds to get closer to the pale skinned woman, lifting a small cup.

"Safe here, at this time, miss. We're no enemy." cup lifted, "Have a drink, it's warm and will help your throat, yes?" Oh and then he puts his foot right in it. "Bother." looking to the figures making their way in. Lips pursing, and considering his limited talents in the arena of combat or defense.

"Bother and blow." the cup is still out for the woman, and Qutha is prepared to move to interpose himself as needed.

Zan is aware that there's danger, she is. And so she's roaming, uneasy, enough that she catches sight of the incoming shadowy figures about the same time as Rune. her hand goes to her waist, pulling her saber out so she's holding it in hand, though not engaged. She stands where she is, glancing towards the medical area. "It's too late to leave here, right at this moment," she says quietly. "We'll have to defend." She takes a breath, and then turns to look if there's any other way up, aside from the turbo lift. Just in case there's anyone else coming, sneaky shadowy figures that they might be. "I'm glad to see," she adds, with wry humour, "that I am not the only one who might need more practice." There is definitely no strong emotion there, just a light self teasing.

Jax turns to look at the two Shadowy figures making their way towards the group. The jedi knight's hand falling on his saber. "Why hello there. I'm not sure what you're trying to accomplish. There is a number of us here and we can see you. Perhaps it time to talk?"

"There is no where to go, miss. Please, calm yourself." Aryn did not mention that they were in the middle of a jungle with giant red spiders in it! She is not witness to the shadow forms either, because her attention is focused on the interaction between the woman from Dathomir and Qutha. Skeptical that the woman might find peace, Aryn begins to move some of the expensive and more sensitive equipment away to make room for an altercation, or prepare for the contents of that cup Qutha is offering, to go /everywhere/.

"There is only so much guarding and hiding people can do at a place where people come and go regularly," Kasia remarks to Rune, shrugging. Her focus returns to the panicking woman, brows furrowing. "You're in a place you're unfamiliar with, on a world where you don't know anyone. You aren't a prisoner, but if you try to run away from us, whatever is coming will stand a far better chance of getting you. Stay, and you've got us to help you." She isn't going to interpose herself between the woman and the way out, but she does at least lay out facts in a calm but fairly blunt fashion before turning to glance back in the direction of the shadowy figures.

Rey reacts to the growing danger by doing what comes to her first. She draws her own saber from her belt, glances over the ledge down in to the foyer of the temple below and then once back to the others.

"Make sure they don't get through. This is... bold of them to try this." She says before she simply reacts by tossing herself over the ledge and free falling down toward the first floor to land square footed upon the ground near the seating area at the center of the grand foyer.

Rey's eyes go to the intruders now as they continue to try to sneak and she swipes her finger over the activation switch of her saber causing the golden bright beam of energy to spring forth with a ghostly growl!

"Do you not hear what I say? We have to /go now,/" the Dathomir woman insists to Chani, exasperated, but she lets out a huff of resignation on seeing the set of determination in the young woman's face. "I am Zifa, a witch of Dathomir. They are here to take me again. Can you not feel it? We must go." Qutha offers her tea, a baffling affront that she bats aside, literally, with a jittery swipe of her hand, spraying warm leaf juice in all directions. "Get this away from me! I am needing help only in leaving this place." There is some serious cornered cat energy coming off of her. She falls briefly quiet while Kasia speaks to her but cuts in at the end with a biting "Then help me go!"

Out in the main tower area, the intruders in black look up as Jax addresses them, apparently realizing they've been found out and reaching for their weapons. One pulls a short black carbine out, but the other draws a long vibroblade, the entire blade of the weapon painted red. Apparently they're not big on conversing with words.

When Rey flings herself off the balcony walkway to the courtyard below, Ben shakes his head and walks quickly to the turbolift, hitting the button to open the door and stepping inside, waiting briefly for any of the others that would like to join him rather than jumping before descending. It takes five seconds! At the bottom, he steps out, eying the black-clad figures and the red vibroblade in particular. "Not this again."

Meanwhile, the Wookiee guards inside the temple, those not cleaning up after their morning hunt with Rey, have caught on that something is amiss and come to look down on the area, a few wroools and aaarrrlls drifting around as bowcasters are rounded up.

"Well, I thought they might be coming up to us... I suppose then we should be taking the fight to them." Rune mentions as he follows swiftly along behind Ben, turning off the saber before stepping into the turbolift. "Not a good idea to have so many people in such a small space with one of these out." He remarks and steps back, waiting quietly for everyone else who is coming aboard to arrive before they head to the bottom floor.

Once the doors to the lift open, Rune steps out and ignites the saber well away from the crowd. "There we are." He states, spinning the weapon around to get a feel for the moment before sliding in to make an attack. The first swing went wild, the blade passing harmlessly through some stunned plants nearby, the second connects, sending a wave of shock through the shadowy assailant. "One out of two is not bad."

Chani steps farther back into the medical chamber. "You may want to leave, but the safest place for you right now is here in this chamber. We can protect you here." Her hand touches against the panel, once more shutting the door but not sealing it. Right now, there are multiple Jedi going after the two figures who refused to identify themselves, and Chani would prefer not to get in their way in the relatively restricted confines of the Temple. In here, too, Aryn only has to deal with any threats coming through the door. "Please, allow us to deal with this situation so that we may speak in peace. To wildly run around only endangers you further." What she doesn't do is stand directly in front of the closed door. She's not sure if anything can shoot through it or not.

Vhe is among those that step onto the lift and ride it down to the first floor where Rey and the two visitors are waiting. Ding. As the door sweeps open Vhe steps out and to the side slightly to allow for the others and give them room. Rune engages and Vhe flicks the button on her lightsaber as the pale cyan blade hums quietly into being.

Her hand curls and with a bit of resistance the carbine free of the trooper's grip. As it rips free of his hold with the use of the Force from the tribal woman she tilts her head, braids clacking together as beads meet. The heavy weapon does not quite make it to her but lands, clattering on the floor as it slides a few feet and stills in the expanse between the Jedi and the interlopers.

It is then she lowers, readying herself as the blade sweeps forward in a defensive position as she eyes the carbine.

"As expected." a sigh, tea all over him. The Right Thing - even in the teeth of destruction. Rune is on the move are so many of the others. To the woman who has now cast tea upon him, lucky he sweetened with honey. Not the time to start getting inebriated.

Well maybe it is.

"Miss, come with me - I will lead you deeper in and away while the others handle this. My life before yours if they somehow get past the others - yes?" bright smiled and big brilliant green eyes offered while he extends an arm to offer ushering escort. Who knows what would happen if he offered her his hand? Or tried to take her on the hand. Ladies can be outright tetchy about such things. No need to get slapped, or worse given a scathing tongue lashing pointing out his variated number of faults!

Zan reaches for the Force again, still, spinning in a slow circle. "They're not alone," she calls to the group up top. "I sense danger on the other side of the outer wall. I think they may be a feint." She turns to face the wall, igniting her light saber. "On the other side of that wall." Right there on the second floor where they are. Someone's climbing the temple? She does not go right to the wall, expecting someone is going to try to blow it up or something.

Jax was on the way to the lift when he hears Zandra's words. He stops in his tracks. His expression souring for a moment. "I'll support you Zan." Though he's yet to make a move to draw his saber. Though as he peers over to where Rey just jump down. He sees the blaster of the shadow trooper fall short of Vhe. He reaches out with the Force and picks up the blaster and floats it to Vhe. "It appears you dropped something."

And there it goes.. /everywhere/. TEA. Thankfully, Aryn had the foresight to move some of the more sensitive equipment, but it was still all over the FLOOR. An exasperated sigh escapes from Aryn. She continues to move equipment back, pausing each time she hears the activation of weapons. The safest place was in this medical chamber, for now. Aryn remained with the patient, for as long as they could keep Zifa in one place. An appreciative look finds Chani, but for now, Aryn is quiet and trying to stay attentive to the room and what's going on in front of her! She has not reached for her weapon yet, she's still moving medical gear!

"The safest place is here, in this chamber. Please remain here, and no more flinging tea everywhere. There is very sensitive equipment here; technology we rely on to save people from dying!"

Kasia blocks the door before it can close, causing the thing to stop and hiss back open again, then steps inside before closing it behind her. "As Aryn says, we're not splitting up," she tells Qutha. "If they're here for her she stands a better chance of surviving with us, especially as we don't know how they found her in the first place." With that she looks to Zifa. "First we have to survive this attack, and then we can figure out how to get you off the world and somewhere safe." She doesn't have the authority to offer anything, but she's doing it anyway.

Rey isn't attempting to outright attack the intruders instantly, but she is making it clear that she's not pleased about their chosen methods of infiltrating this Temple.

She stalks toward the ones between where she is and the lift that the others are coming down aboard.

"This was a dire mistake." Rey warns the ones that are within range of her, her saber held up pointed skyward beside her. "Take your people and leave now, while they still can leave at all." She warns them, one last chance!

Rey may not have intended to attack the men (or women, it's hard to tell) in black, but when she warns them of their grave mistake, they certainly intend to attack her. The one with the red vibroblade lunges at her, swinging out with quick, scything movements that aren't quite able to connect with the wily Jedi paragon. The other, disarmed of his carbine, pulls a pistol from its holster and starts blasting, shooting indiscriminately at Rune first and then Vhe after his shot hits home.

"WRAWL," echoes above as the wookiees come hustling back to the central tower, bowcasters charging, a statement that roughly translates "It's always on the hunting day" or something to that effect.

While all of this chaos is unfolding, the Jedi in the medical chamber are trying very hard to settle down a riled-up Witch who eyes them all with outright suspicion and thinly-veiled hostility. "Why do you care for whether I live or die? Get out of my way. They will come, more will come, until they take me again. They want to do some... some /magick/ to me. Forbidden magick ma-kala to my people. Do you know this word, ma-kala? I must go." But the mass of bodies and the closed door and finally the entreaties of one blonde Jedi, combined with waning adrenaline, seem to reach her, and she wavers, literally, legs quivering from the strain and excitement after being in bed for a week. "...Yes. I will stay here. But keep this 'tea' away from me, yes?"

In all that's happening, only Zandra and Jax are directly paying attention for it whenever a dull thump shakes the wall of the corridor on the second floor, but there is no visible smoke or explosion, no breach in the wall of the corridor itself or in the medbay either.

It's the first time Rune has ever been injured not in the wilds of Ossus, and his eyes widen in shock. The pain is the same, the sensation of one's nerves on fire, it's the rest of the situation and the weapon used that is wholly different and nerve wracking for the young Jedi. He looks down at the hole through his leg and stares for what seems like an eternity. A few blinks later and he's limping toward his foe with saber raised high. "Ow!" Is his cry to strike fear in the figure's heart. That and the wild swings of the saber, both easily dodged, must have done the trick because, in his eyes, he can see the man tremble in fear.... Oh wait, maybe that's Rune's own vision.

The crumpled sound of an explosion is distant enough that Chani might have missed it, if not for the sudden sifting of loosened sediment sprinkling from the wall. "What was that?" Chani's face expresses her concern with a frown. Drawing the stunsaber off its spot at her left hip, Chani does not yet activate the weapon, but it is now in hand, and she keeps the emitter aimed towards the floor and away from anyone. Not that it would do any kind of damage except give a nasty, and potentially disabling, sting. Again, her gaze shifts to the door. Part of her wonders if she should lock it. Locking their only egress point might be unhelpful, however. She waits, thus, and glances from Aryn to the woman who seems to be calming after the noble gets through.

Jax sends the large carbine towards her and with a nod to him, she smiles and there is a flick of her wrist. She slices through the prone carbine with a soft screech of her blue blade. THe heated metal glows as she steps past and over it, leaving the dysfunctional weapon in her wake. "Rune!" She steps in to join him, warning him over her presence as she grips her blade and sweeps it up, her hand rotates with and so does her arm as the flash of her blade meets the pistol's barrel at an angle. Sparks flicker and flight, metal once more gleams in a red like fashion as the weapon always becomes useless.

"I suggest you do as was asked of you. Stand down." She does not strike the figure - not yet but she still stands in the way.

Keep the tea away. Really. The very nerve. Qutha shakes his head with a small frown, "It's just a drink, bit of herbal property." a small sniff - but his use having run dry at this point, the Zelosian backs away with an apologetic bow of the head towards Aryn for the mess made at the expense of his attempt at civility before everything went into the turbine.

Standing now with his eye for the door, letting Aryn handle the Dathomiri while he prepares to do as he must if the attackers get past those down below.

Zan moves to the lift, calling it to their floor, now that the others are down there. it means that anyone coming from below can't just step into the lift. "Maybe they're blowing that hole up one level?" she offers with some confusion. She steps into the lift intending to go up and see if she finds anyone there.

Jax turns his head to the side like a confused charhound listening to the wind or seeing something new. He blinks his eyes a few times and grimaces, "That was no where as pleasant as it has been in the past. Zandra! It's the prisoner room. We must go that way." He says hitting the button to call the lift and cause the doors to open before Zandra is gone. Then he takes off on a run towards Ben's house guest's lodgings.

Kasia tenses as things rumble, brows drawing closer as she twists around to look back at the door. There's a moment where she seems as though she's going to move toward it, but a look back at the room full of people -- young people, new to the jedi people -- and she stops. Instead she closes her eyes to try and reach out with the force to feel for who else might be nearby, but... it's too much. Too much noise, too many unfamiliar bodies in one place for her to pick up anything useful. "Oh, they might not be here for you." There's a concerned glance back at the door again, but still she doesn't leave.

When Aryn's voice comes over the comms, the link on the back of Rey's belt chimes the familiar voice out to where she's facing off with the warrior. The Archives entrance is behind REy, over her left shoulder and down a large set of stairs that go in to that chamber... she certainly wants to make sure these vagrants stay the heck out of there too!

The Warrior presses their attack though, and Rey blocks the vibro weapon with a splash of energy on energy! She comes in close to the black robed figure and snarls at them before sweeping her saber up and around to glide it down, put it in a position that lets her swipe upward and sever the attacker's hands from their wrists!

With a splash of sparks, the figure is de-clawed so to speak... Rey sweeps her saber around and eyes the others as she moves to further block the Archives from being infiltrated...

"What are you saying? Of course they are here for me. They want to take me away and do the ma-kala again. I remember- I remember horrible things," Zifa whispers, growing quiet, looking now for the side of the bed she sprang out of earlier to prop herself up on. She lets out a little cough too as the dust settles, squeezing her eyes shut for a moment. "I- I am sorry, I believe you do not wish me harm. I am afraid. A Witch of Dathomir should never be afraid."

Ben doesn't join the fighting; things seem well in-hand (get it) with Rey and the others taking care of the invaders, and something strikes him around the time that the explosion shakes the temple; he quickly steps back into the turbolift and takes off as well as soon as the doors open, chasing Jax towards the room the captive acolyte is being held in. "They're here for /him,/" he barks as he slaps at the control panel, stubbornly remaining closed as it is keyed for a code and he fat-fingers it. A light flashes red and he keys it in again, correctly this time, sending the door wooshing open.

The Jedi chambers are understated but comfortable, normally, but this one is covered in a fine layer of dust, the backside open to the wind, now, with the exterior wall blown wide. The acolyte, rather than spirited away, lies facedown on the floor, smoking from a burnt hole on his back. Ben rushes past his body to the gap, leaning out over the drop to cast his eyes down. "I don't see them!"

On the temple floor, the dark infiltrators exchange a glance, or rather one looks at the other looking down at his severed hands, and an unspoken agreement passes between them; they both snap something in their mouths, and an electric shock rips out from their teeth through their black-masked heads, sending their bodies into convulsions before they collapse to the floor.

In the medbay, Zifa glances up suddenly. "...I think I am safe here."

Back in the prisoner's room, Ben leans over and picks up another holoprojector, a small one the size of a palm, and switches it on. A masked figure, the familiar one from The Pit, speaks in that same feminine voice. "Meet me back on Sluis Van, Jedi. I have another gift for you." The image cuts out.