Log:Knights of Ren: Encounters at the End of the World (II)
The Knights make their final bid to escape Hoth.
OOC Date: November 15, 2020
Location: Hoth
Participants: Errod Zand, Imani, Malik Ren as Self/GM, Sebek, Syrus, Tamsin Cas, Tarq Najjic, Knights of Ren
[Malik Ren]
The journey has not been easy. Bitter, blinding snow storms, hostile wildlife, frostbite, hunger only just barely staved off by eating the horrible meats available: Tauntaun, slug, Lieutenant Kepp. The Knights have lost several of their tauntaun beasts of burden to cold or accident, and one of their sledges of supplies as well, when it fell into a deep ice crevasse (along with the tauntaun).
Everyone is miserable, and with every day, hour, and minute of walking across this frozen hellscape, rescue seems less likely, finding their way to their destination seems less likely. Datapads and binocs are on the fritz in the bitter cold, making navigation uncertain, and who knows if the coordinates were completely correct?
To make matters slightly worse, Malik and Syrus are not well, burning up with a fever for which Tamsin's medical equipment can find no explanation. It hasn't crippled them (yet), but it seems like bad news.
Silence lingers now as snow falls around them, trudging up the top of a rocky crest. What can they expect beyond? Probably more rocks, more snow... and there is all of that, for certain, but this time, a beacon of hope: Blast doors nestled into the rock, of more modern production than the old abandoned civil war era base they just left. This is it: They found the Nightfall base, that remote nest of terrorists they came here to exterminate to begin with.
Inside, there is likely to be food, life support, ships, and comms... but possibly also defenders of the same, who won't part with it without a fight.
[Tarq Najjic]
How much cold does it take to freeze the sass out of a Kuati thief? "Finally," comes the muffled voice. "Tarq Najjic does not even care if this is Nightfall base or random survivalists. We kill them and take their precious heat. Lieutenant Kepp will not have been justly murdered in vain." More cold than we currently have, apparently, or the cold is just bringing out the crazy that was never hidden /that/ deeply.
He has part of his hat wrapped across his face to prevent inhalation of lung-damaging air. He claps his hands three times, then rubs them together. "It's go time, babes! We get weaker every moment out here." He does not pull out his stunsaber. Just as well, given how rubbish he is with it. "My-" *cough* "-sympathy is with those who must cut us an entrance with metal handled plasma. Think warm thoughts."
[Tamsin Cas]
There were few things that irritated Tamsin Cas, who had learned long ago how to subsume her emotions, to bring her own seemingly genetic inclinations more in line with the logical, mathematical species within whose society she had been raised. To turn the power they gave some into the impetus to find a solution to every problem. She had trekked with dogged determination, monitoring Malik and Syrus as best she could. But she knew, perhaps even better than the two knights themselves that time was running down and she had no hope of finding the supplies she needed her. Perhaps the base would hold some better resources, but she did not hold out hope for that. All of this though, was Inner Tamsin. On the outside she was dogged, efficient, logical, determined, doing all that she could to help the team make the trek, to keep Syrus and Malik moving, comfortable, free of pain. But the irritation was climbing. Tamsin Cas did not like problems to which she could find no solutions. "Unless we can find a way to open the base without brute force."
[Errod Zand]
"This place is starting to grow on me," Errod rasps, popping a small cap of mushroom fungus into his mouth to chew absently as he hurky-jerky lurches along atop a tauntaun similarly doped. "Reminds me of the time I spent a month on Mygeeto hunting the whiteworms that feed on the Lurmen villagers living out in the frosty hill country to avoid their Muun oppressors." He nods towards the blast doors up ahead, both hands tangled up in the matted, reeking fur of his mount. "They'd burst through the ice, a full ten meters long, with a ring of teeth that could carve through crystal, durasteel, and flesh. Latch onto your arm, or leg, suck you in an inch at a time, rows of teeth alternately digging in and tugging your body in through peristalsis."
A loose, amused smile splits his weathered face, before he tugs his scarf back over his nose. "Almost wish one'd pop up now so we could use it to get through those doors somehow."
[Sebek]
Sebek of the Desert, Flagbearer of Coret, Conqueror of the Sixteenth Deck, Consumer of Hounds, Wielder of Tei Tenga, He Who Hunts was only having a moderately bad time. He had a full belly (having now eaten most of Lieutenant Kepp and put a huge dint in the slug meat) and was rugged up in three layers of Knight Of Ren gear. Incensed though he was at the fall of He Who Leads, a similar fate befalling the weaker He Who Learns had buoyed him most immensely. But, alas, he stood as the only one with a lightsaber that was up for glorious battle. Not alone, of course, for one must not discount the raw efficiency of his fellow Knights, but even the lack of his most hated rival by his side would be felt in combat to come.
"Of us stand three who can weather the storm that is our prey," Sebek's tone oozed, the snarling animal mask vocoder could do little to hide the accented entitlement he carried everywhere with him. "It would not do for fledglings to fall before attaining glory. He Who Jests," that was Tarq, "She Who Rages," ...Tamsin? The Falleen had taken note. "Caution beholds you. The Knights of Ren do not waste."
Snap-hiss
Tei Tenga burst to life in Sebek's hands, to join him in conquer and feast of the blood of the fallen. "Grip the Force and demand your answers, Acolytes." Exactly what Sebek was doing, and the dark undercurrent that wasn't him was unsettled and spoke of warm blood. "Folly stands as our foe to assume this base bereft. Let us open this door in silence. Perhaps today is not the day we charge into darkness."
[Imani]
This has been, without question, one of the most difficult events of Imani's life. Between the questionable sustenance -- calling it food feels like a stretch -- the hostile wildlife, and the frostbite, she is more than ready to not be here anymore. All she can keep doing is putting one foot in front of the other, until she can't anymore, and so that's what she's been doing. Even if her toes are going numb. Concern for anything beyond everyone making it to their destination has been pushed to the back of her mind, but then they do make it. Most of the way, anyway, with one fun barrier in the way. "I have no idea how to get beyond this," she says, words muffled by the many layers, but even through the layers she sounds tired. "I don't suppose there's a doorbell?"
[Malik Ren]
"I'm not DEAD, Sebek," Malik Ren reminds their friendly neighborhood Falleen. Masked and robed and bundled up as best he can - despite the heat of fever, miserable! - there isn't a lot of indication that he's not right, but for those who know him, there's just a little less efficiency of movement than usual, a raspiness detectable in the vocoder-altered voice. "If I can stand, I can fight, and I can still stand. You are not the only one with a lightsaber; I will fight for this until someone or something kills me. And if that happens..." slight pause. "There is a recording on Spearhead that will let everyone know what to do next."
Malik's tauntaun bleats as he leans against it for support. "Pick a method of entry. If we have to fight Nightfall tooth and nail every step of the way, so be it. Nothing else has been easy, and I don't imagine this will be, either."
[Tarq Najjic]
This is a break-in, even if it would be the coldest one of Tarq's life. So he stares, shielding his eyes. "Cams. The blast door, it is watched. That is not our way in. Any metal that we can cut through, without people right below it - that might work." He glances sideways at Sebek, then over at Malik. "Surprise is the best advantage we have. Our enemies think us dead. Let us not waste it. Can anyone see vents? Anything metal other than doors and doorway?" He rubs his hands together more. "I can't see them."
[Tamsin Cas]
Now that the team had come to a halt, Tamsin did what Tamsin seemed to do best, which was a whole lot of looking on. Tarq's question brought her attention to the exterior of the building, where it was built out of the stone, and she frowned, searching for traces of venting or exhaust. "They must vent out of the base somehow, but the wind..." At least to the good doctor's eyes, the blustering snow was making it impossible to see anything of value.
[Errod Zand]
"What're the odds that recording just says, 'it was all a hoax, thanks for humoring me?'" Errod chuckles, uncharacteristically, sliding awkwardly down the tauntaun's back to land unsteadily in the snow where a thump from its tail nearly flattens him, but that just tickles him even more, and earns a rusty but genuine laugh. He squints towards the base at Tarq's direction, but it's been a week in the snow and he's not wearing snow goggles, and the gleam of the snow along with the buffeting wind makes it impossible for him to see anything, even a doorbell. "I see snow."
[Sebek]
"I will beg forgiveness for impertinence upon our safety." Sounded like Sebek was about to disagree with the man that could flay him with a thought. "The life of Ren stands above the lives of his Knights, for your purpose does thus." His tone lacked the smugness that pervaded it. It was 'I don't want to die but I'm going to insist'. Lifting his eyes and his ears, he looked above the blast door, turned, craned his head, but did not stop speaking. "Should you fall, then it shall be over our corpses. Behold, a scout." An abrupt change of topic and a pointing finger indicated an approaching probe droid, dark in colouration, approaching from a nearby ridge. Tei Tenga hummed in anger, and was abruptly silenced with protestation as it was a beacon for all that held desire to inflict harm upon them. "To us it comes. An avenue must be gleaned, else surprise leaves our arsenal.
[Imani]
Imani's head tilts back and she squints up at the blast doors, then around them, frown hidden beneath the many layers that protect her from the cold. "Yeah, no one go near those doors," she says, pointing off to one side of the doors. "There are mounted weapons. Anyone going up to that door risks being shot by whoever is watching on the other side of those cameras, if there is anyone in there. Could also be automated to fire, either way not a great outcome for us."
[Malik Ren]
What are the odds the recording says it was all a hoax? "/Very/ low," Malik growls at Errod, in a tone that sounds like illness is wearing his patience thin. It might not be a joke he'd weather well to begin with, though. What's even left of Malik Ren besides his cause? Anything? Not much.
Moving along, they have some decisions to make. "This base is built into the rocks, and if it's a cave system like we just left, there is no telling where it vents, how, if there are other exits, or how far away they might be. The options are to spend time searching for them... or have part of the group approach the door, cutting through it if necessary, while the others destroy the external turrets. It's possible we can disable these defenses before they have a chance to shoot--"
When Sebek spots the probe droid, he reaches out toward the thing immediately with one hand, as though to yank it out of the sky and crash it! Should be a very easy task, but, well... something is wrong, and he fails! "Bring it DOWN!" Malik hisses in distress, "Crash it before it can send data back to the base!"
[Tarq Najjic]
When Sebek mentions the probe droid, Tarq's gaze snaps that direction. Losing the element of surprise is enough to rip the snark out of Tarq. He raises his left hand, pinches his fingers in. The probe droid wavers in the air. He brings his fingers together into a fist, and the metal of the probe droid makes unhappy noises as it bends, wrenching tightly in on itself and crushing its internal electronics. Then he lets it drop into the snow, and with a dismissive backwards wave of his hand, it goes rolling down the ridge in the opposite direction of the base. "Droid dealt with."
[Tamsin Cas]
Tamsin was no fool. And if Sebek told her to stay back, she would indeed stay back. Else he might try to eat her face off. And she quite liked her face. But she knew she could help. A little. She had done it before. She drew her stunsaber, but did not ignite it. Her action followed on behind Tarq's as though they had worked it out beforehand. Wonder Twin Powers Activate! Tamsin raised her offhand, focusing on the turret closest to her, willing the air around it to warp and bend, to twist it and make it unusable, or, at least, less accurate.
[Syrus]
"The cold bites and rips at my flesh like so many dull blades. Cloaked in pain, my mind is...clear...it...I see the faces of those who came before. I hear their cries as the ice descends. The dawn of their final age, sealing them forever in a tomb of the void's design," remarks the hunched over, cloaked, and hooded form of Syrus from the back of the pack.
"Ours are not the first wills tested by this desolate place...but...we will," he trails off as the din of battle begins. "Where am I?"
[Errod Zand]
There's a very particular set of skills Errod possesses, and they don't lie along the lines of infiltration; Malik and Imani know this from the spirited pitch he once gave a gardener outside an enemy installation. When the turrets are pointed out above the blast doors, he just nods, pulls on his helmet with its blank metal face, and takes off.
Moving with the sort of ease that comes with experience and a carelessness in the face of death or dismemberment, the knight picks his way quickly along the snowy ridgeline, unhooking the chainwhip on his back as he arrives on the west side and chopping through the twisted turret Tasmin torqued. Then he stands there, just sort of staring at the thing, and his helmet twists around, looking for one of the others.
[Sebek]
It was moments like this that gave the Knights of Ren a reputation. Sebek and He Who Cares launched off the mark at the same time. The red blade burst to life once more, hungry for the machine-flesh of the false weapon, and as it crumpled under the grip of She Who Rages it sparks led the way for Tei Tenga to sink itself deeply into what remained. Unable to resist the inexorable pull of its demise, the turret went up with a small BOOM and a display of smoke and fire. "Behold, warmth!" boomed the victorious Falleen, unable to resist the very same pull to drive his lightsaber high into the sky in victory.
[Imani]
There is something to do other than just survive and walk, and eat questionable foods, so Imani is glad for that. A simple task to focus on. She doesn't move carelessly so it takes her a little more time to reach a viable spot to reach the camera, and once there she swings. There's a crack, and the camera goes down just like the turrets. Job done. It was easy. Maybe things are going to get better. Maybe she just doomed them all by even thinking that.
[Malik Ren]
Doubtless someone inside the base has noticed that the probe droid and cameras just went dead, and the turrets are offline. Will they assume it's an enemy attack? Or will they assume that some kind of hideous storm, annoying wildlife, or weather anomaly kicked up and set everything off?
Honestly, the second is more likely, isn't it? Who approaches a well defended facility in the middle of the nowhere on HOTH, on foot, with no ships anywhere in atmosphere in orbit? Who does that? Who could have survived the trip to get there?
THE KNIGHTS OF MOTHERKRIFFIN REN, THAT'S WHO.
Malik waits a moment for signs of life from the base, and from the way he's zoned out for a moment with one hand up in a 'wait' position, he seems likely to be assessing the situation as best he can through the Force. "Wait," their leader, who definitely doesn't have space rabies, rasps, "Wait...."
After what seems like an excruciating span but may have been only seconds, there's a CLANK-CHK-CLANK....scrrraaaapppppe noise as the blast doors fully open! A figure is stepping out, bundled against the cold but talking into a comm. "I don't know, everything just went dark. Probably the damn Hoth-hogs or ice-worms again..."
[Tarq Najjic]
Tarq Najjic is as impatient as the next murderous Knight, but when Malik says wait for it, and it could mean keeping this as an ambush, he waits. And waits. Then his eyes alight on the man coming outside. He watches the man speaking into his comlink, raises his left hand, and it flees the man's grip. It wobbles a bit during its trip to Tarq, and then he just lowers it gently but persistently into the snow. Snow dampens sound!
[Tamsin Cas]
The doors were opening and this was a dangerous time. Too dangerous, and she did not trust herself to have the ability to eliminate the figure without giving him a chance to call back into the base. Tamsin put on the frowny face. What to do. What to do. She nodded, trying to screw her ability to the sticking place and again, that hand lifted. Snow, a wall of it, a squall. A whipping to blind him.
Nah. Just joshing.
A rather wibbly wobbly little ball of snow rolled up in the man who was not a Knight, exploding with a happy little puff on the toe of his left boot.
[Syrus]
"Is it time?" Syrus asks, eyes widening beneath the visor of his helmet as they look to Malik. His saber is shakily removed from his belt and activated, his other hand lifting towards the technician. A wall of kinetic energy explodes from his palm, bursting forth plumes of snow in the sort of general direction of the man. It's largely ineffective. "I...missed," Syrus says, eyes looking to his hand to make sure it's not defective.
[Errod Zand]
Much like Tamsin, Errod has a great idea formulating in his doped-up brain as the technician emerges below. It's beautiful, really, the alignment is perfect for a falling spike. The knight will leap from the gate roof, land atop the tech, stabbing him in the process.
Taking a few steps back, he runs out at the ledge, already envisioning the path of his blade, the majestic swoop of a falcon falling from a great height. So focused is he, that the white snow on the ledge and the white snow beyond blend together and he fails to leap at all. Instead, he just falls, from a great height.
As the snowball poofs open, Errod lands 3 paces away, feet-first, and FLOOMPS in to his waist in the snow, just sort of... reaching out there towards the guy with the tip of his chain-whip. It doesn't reach, and he pokes out a few times, menacingly.
[Sebek]
Snow is like sand, but chunky and cold. Sliding down the dunes is a life skill in the arid parts of Falleen but there, they didn't get wet and squishy and stick together in blocks. So yes, Sebek did jump and slide and crunchcrunchcrunch as he came to a stop, falling, rolling, Tei Tenga hissing as it scored the frozen water. To his feet he came and, seeing the technician taken care of, he turned and walked on through the blast door.
[Imani]
Imani doesn't have a great plan formulating, but the not so great plan she has doesn't involve jumping. So rather than follow in Errod's drug addled shadow, she climbs back down more slowly. You'd think it was the safer path, but everything is frozen, possibly including her fingers, which means there's a lot of slipping and stumbling and clinging to rocks that she's trying really hard not to fall off of. She manages to not fall, but it's takin' some time for that to happen.
[Malik Ren]
While the Knights try various means of surprising the technician, Malik takes a moment to unfasten the remaining tauntauns from the sledges they were pulling. A moment is spent watching them, but who can guess what he's thinking behind that mask. Their dwindling supply of tauntaun-enticing mushrooms is cast aside, and the beasts immediately trot a few paces after it! "Go," he advises the creatures, then turns to the situation at hand -- this time the telekinesis is much more effective than it was against the probe droid.
Poor technician. He just came out to check the cameras when the feeds went down, and now --?! "What in the fresh hell is THIS?" he shouts, startled. "Where did you come from?! There's no ships anywhere in--!" Suddenly his comm is missing, and then an unseen force slams him into an outcropping of rocks near the entrance, opening up a bloody head wound that starts spilling red onto the snow. He's fumbling to draw his blaster, but having been knocked aside, he can't stop Sebek from entering. Nor can he comm anyone, but nonetheless he starts to yell into the base!
"We're UNDER ATTACK! NIGHTFALL! TO ARMS! Repeat, we are UNDER ATTACK!"
This base, in its interior, is cold... but nowhere near as cold as the places the Knights have been sheltering lately, so it feels positively balmy! There are LIGHTS ON and it's clearly meant for human habitation. There are comms arrays, boxes of supplies, rooms set up to house all sorts of useful life-supporting equipment and facilities, bright glass screens with neat redouts on them, comms arrays.
Every possible hatch and doorway is now spilling out panicked smugglers who want to prevent this incursion from happening, but just now, it's the nicest place possible a Knight could be. It seems like heaven. Heaven is full of people to kill anyway, isn't it? That's how this works?
[Tarq Najjic]
There are some pieces of these turrets that fell off somehow. Probably poor maintenance. Tarq peers down at the technician. He lifts a hand, and so does the heavy barrel of a turret. He flips his hand forward - bending the wrist, of course - and it speeds off into the poor technician's head. He's dead! Or almost. He will be when he wakes up alone and frozen, and that's good enough. Then he jumps down, breaking his momentum with a double forward roll, turning to face the oncoming panicked smugglers.
[Tamsin Cas]
Tamsin couldn't see a thing. Curse this stupid planet. She started for the way that the others had already made, hoping their movements had crunched down the show enough that she would not fall head over tip trying to get down there. She only just managed to keep hold of her stunsaber as she managed to wiggle slide shimmy down to the ground, nimble enough on her feet that she could send a wave of force, well, inside. She needed to let her eyes adjust. Just inside. Hopefully she might do some damage.
[Syrus]
"It's time," Syrus says, the scent of the technician's fear filling his nostrils. The Kiffar, begins his climb down towards the open door, his movements rigid and strange. They get the job done, though, and soon enough his feet are back on flat land, pushing him towards the opposition. His blade begins its merry work, vwooming, hacking, and chopping its way through the enemy; one with a freshly remove arm, and another cut straight through the torso and left to spend his final moments in abject horror, clutching for the legs that now exist some few yards away. "Come now, Nightfall. There still remains life on this wicked planet, and we would have words with you."
[Sebek]
Yes! YES! First through the door and they scurry like ants! As She Who Rages brought forth power beyond mortal Ken and He Who Learns finally made efforts to free himself from the trappings of pacifist dogma, Sebek laughed and laughed and laughed. It was not a pleasant sound. It carried no mirth nor joy. Only satisfaction of the bloodbath to come.
"BEHOLD THE DOOM THAT FELL UPON NIGHTFALL!" roared the topknotted, helmeted creature, his voice horrifically loud in the din of rage and slaughter and murder taking place around him. Tei Tenga twirled and pointed forward, its wielder completely addicted to the theatrics of battle. "DIE WITH HONOUR, DIGNITY, OR FEAR, IT MATTERS NOT!" Then and only then did he begin walking towards Those Who Die.
[Errod Zand]
Freeing himself from his temporary prison, Errod pops out of the snow like a springtime daisy that has spent the winter dreaming of murder. He charges into the base, vaulting a cargo crate and immediately spitting a TERRORIST through the chest with the spear-tip end of the chainwhip. Burning plasma activates as he tugs it free, spinning with careless ease and precision to rip through the throat of the next attacker on his way towards him. Blood sprays, drenching his black clothes with ruby droplets, and the daisy becomes gerbera.
[Imani]
Imani manages to make it to as solid a ground as you can find on this questionable ball of ice, and once there she pulls free her weapon again. She might have been struggling through a lot of this, but this? This is what she knows how to do. Like others, she charges straight in to attack the first not-black-clad person she sees, driving the tip of her weapon right into his chest. There is a simultaneous wrenching back of the weapon as she swings up her foot to kick the man back, freeing the chain whip so that she's able to continue on with this violent rampage.
[Malik Ren]
"Hold the line! HOLD THE LINE!" a Nightfall commander yells at her troops, but it's honestly pretty terrible advice, and the one who breaks free to run probably has the right idea. These terrifying foes are cutting them to pieces before they even have a chance to get a shot off, and the smugglers have been caught completely by surprise. They were so certain that they were safe out here. Wasn't that the whole point of putting up with the awful damn snow and ice and wasting all the fuel to get anywhere? The Knights found them, but they set the trap and sprung it...
Shot them down...
Didn't they?
"Get everyone out that you can! Launch! LAUNCH! Silence Base is lost, get out, evac!" someone is shouting into a com, directions for some unseen hangar bay, and whoever's left to fly anything in it. Meanwhile, the Nightfall Smugglers take what positions they can, and the brave terrorists shoot back... including one brave soul who is firing up an e-web with a dull whine, aiming it at the short man in dark robes!
[Tarq Najjic]
Look, behind the Knights! A hero rises, out of sight of those who would destroy and defile this place. Here he comes - and there he goes, as Tarq raises a hand and with a smirk, hefts the wounded and unconscious technician from outside and brings him into where it's warm - specifically, all of his friends with blasters, who he slams into. "I love my job," he says quietly before stepping back where Malik, Syrus, and Sebek stand between him and that E-WEb.
[Tamsin Cas]
Tamsin, still not a fighter, held the stunsaber as though she had forgotten she actually had it. She did not, also, immediately attack the smugglers who were engaging the Knights. No, Tamsin was thinking. You could see it on her face, and she moved, trying to get a better view of the enemy. As she did she caught sight of that massive weapon firing at the Ren. Oh no. Now they had made her angry. She had not completely released that memory of rage that had touched off something inside her, and in that moment, perhaps she was She Who Raged, as her fist tightened, the barrel of the gun twisting at a sharp angle, making it impossible for the weapon to be fired.
[Syrus]
His crimson blade whipping around, Syrus continues his feral lurch towards the enemy, whacking a bolt back towards one of them as he closes the distance. "It was /YOU/ that subjected us to this hell!" the monk bellows. "Were I not so tired, my eyes would be full of tears...for you have awoken in me something immense and terrifying. THANK YOU," he cries, that howling blade held to one side before a powerful swing rips through another man, the saber screeching as it sears through armor, flesh, and then the wall behind him. A second man is run through and hefted off of his feet by the Kiffar before the blade does its work and burns through his innards enough for him to touch the ground again. The now-dead smuggler is tossed aside and a third is lopped into two.
[Errod Zand]
The black clothing Errod wears steams in the relative heat, a silent reaper prowling through the base, cleaning up the last of the criminals that were living here with efficiency and precision. Another pair of bodies fall, and he pulls the helmet off, then the furry hat beneath it, letting his matted, sweaty hair breathe again as he looks around at the dregs, the other knights rounding up whatever is left. "Hell of a hallucination, this is," he mutters, blinking widely, his red-rimmed eyes staring. "I want to stay here. I don't want to wake up back in that cave." He fishes out another mushroom.
[Sebek]
The Force screamed, Tei Tenga whirled, and a crater appeared in the ceiling.
Sebek's head slowly turned to where a single brave, brave soul had decided to do his part and kill these evil, evil beings that deserved to be tortured in the worst afterlives for all eternity. It didn't exactly work out for him, especially not since his face was caved in immediately after by the flanged, menacing pommel of the longer-than-normal corrupted weapon of the Jedi. His friends nearby were luckier, the red blade cutting through them was far more instant in terms of fatality. Insert some sort of horrific wet blender noises.
"Acolytes, you have comported yourselves magnificently! Behold the power of the Knights of Ren! Behold the melting of your fat! Behold your kin!" There was something very, very strange in Sebek's voice as he addressed the TnT combo. Something that was only heard once before, when She Who Ignites char-broiled a Wookiee to absolute perfection.
Pride in someone else.
The roaring of the Kiffar did not go unnoticed. His hated rival, now something else. Something truer. Something fell from Sebek's attitude this day, replaced with something worse. "We are enlightened!" he cried out in awe and wonder. "Thus an era ends and a new one begins! Cast off are his trappings! Behold, He Who RISES!"
[Imani]
It's in pulling back from her first target that Imani is struck by a blaster bolt, using her own momentum against her to send her staggering back onto the ground with a clatter of armor against hard floor. It takes her a moment to register that she's even been hit, but there are scorch marks right on the protective chest plate of her armor that prove she was. Then it really begins to smart, but something like being shot isn't going to keep her down for long. She turns over with a hiss and pushes herself back to her feet, snatching up her weapon along the way.
[Malik Ren]
The room -- some kind of entrance portal, equipment storage, and communications area -- smells like blood, like burned flesh, like death.
It's so much warmer than outside, though, and it's not /their/ death this time, so this is fantastic.
"They're fleeing." The work is not done! "They're RUNNING, the rats!" This is Malik's voice, sensing the attempted exodus of the Nightfall survivors! He whirls, saber still in hand, to study the concentration of life forms for a moment, then wordlessly starts to run off down one of the corridors... but it's a very much implied 'this way, follow me!'
If they do, they'll find their way to the hangar bay... another cold, frosty hangar bay, but this one in much better shape than the one they left earlier this week. There are supplies here, weapons and a whole rack of explosives. Cold weather gear, and a couple mismatched freighters, some being left behind, and one, attempting to escape! It's a skipray, engines readying, starting to move!
"Stop that ship!"
[Tarq Najjic]
Tarq dashes after Malik, careful to avoid the lightsabers being swung around, and at the command to stop that ship, he takes a deep breath, and he tries. Bless his dark heart, he tries, both hands raised, trying to claw at the ship, but he just can't find purchase. He pours his frustration and anger into it - but no, his grip just slides off like he's trying to grab a frictionless solid.
[Tamsin Cas]
As the rest of the Knight tended to, you know, the actual fighting, Tamsin cast around the base. The ship was not here, but it must BE here. She had heard the order to take off. They needed that ship, kriff it! "We need to intercept that ship or we are never leaving this place!" Unless of course they had more than one ship. In which case, feel free to ignore the noob. Tamsin took off at a run. Any who were injured, well, they would have to wait. or else they might all die. She ran. And ran and then she skidded to a stop, flinging out her hand to try to tug the ship back down to the ground.
[Syrus]
"Face your judgement! Land your ship and make witness to our divinity! Ours is the truth! Weep and be laid bare before it!" Syrus barks as he spies the Skipray attempting to Skip-daddle. His hands jut out towards the small vessel and tendrils of Force stretch out through the air and latch onto the hull, the Kiffar growling and baring his teeth.
[Errod Zand]
This is a hell of a fever dream. Errod runs down the passage after Malik, because one doesn't question it too much in a dream or a hallucination, that can bring one out of it. He just goes right along, and when the Skipray is indicated as in need of destruction, he doesn't hesitate, seizing the moment to grab the nearest explosive, activate it, and throw it as hard as he can, directly at the ship, right in its trajectory.
A ship he is hallucinating. There's nothing there.
"That should do it," he rasps with a measure of satisfaction as the charge detonates in empty space, leaving a scorchmark on the hangar floor as Errod wipes his gloved hands together smugly.
[Sebek]
"We are," spaketh Sebek to She Who Rages as he took his place with the assembled ranks. "But they shall not."
Tei Tenga became inert and Sebek folded his arms behind his back. The Force curled, punching its way through the air to wrap yet another fist around the escaping fighter. "There shall be no escape for the peasantry. Their defeat is total. To flee is merely denial."
[Imani]
Imani is expected to run, and at this point in the infection Malik isn't zombie enough to not be trusted. So she runs. They're fleeing, and she hasn't the connection to the force to try and bring it down with her mind alone. What she does have is an explosive in the form of a grenade. She doesn't use these sorts of things a lot, but it's the best thing she can do in this situation, right? As long as she doesn't blow them all up, but if she does she'll probably die so no one can yell at her for it. As luck would have it, the throw is just good enough for the explosive to reach the ship before it detonates, and as it does she lets out a whoop of delight that makes the injury under her armor twinge with another jolt of pain. Her joy ends in a hiss, but it was definitely worth it.
[Malik Ren]
Who wants to play tug of war with a spaceship? WE DO!
The Skipray is trying to raise its engines and GO, but much to the consternation of its occupants, it can't seem to take off. Pieces of the ship's structure are breaking and snapping and creaking as the Knights of Ren collectively wield the might of the Force against the ship, straining as hard as they can, testing the limits of their telekinetic power and control of the Force...
This hangar is unlike the one they've just left in that it exits not over a flat snow field, but over a steep, sharp cliff, a thousand meters down. This ship has to take off, it has to clear atmo and fly, or the consequences will be dire. If the ship is dragged back into the hangar, they will be captured and interrogated, and face, perhaps, a fate worse than death. If the ship is broken but clears the hangar, it will fall, and everyone aboard will die.
"Hold it-- Stop...---!!" Malik's words are strained, as he struggles to stop the ship's escape and control the vessel! It's much easier said than done, this is no kettle bell in the training room, this is an absurd feat. The Skipray is edging further and further ahead despite his and Syrus's efforts, tugged a little further into compliance by Sebek, a tremendous crack shattering the connection of one of the characteristic fins at the back of the craft! Still it inches ahead, and the nail in the coffin for the smuggler-terrorists is that last grenade thrown by Imani. It hits at exactly the same time the Skipray has made its last surge forward, but now the craft is too damaged to fly... and at the same moment it defeated the telekinetic powers, so it begins to fall, and fall, and fall, and fall.
The explosion at the base of the cliff is terrible, and final, and there are no survivors.
Spent, exhausted, definitely turning a little bit into a zombie, Malik Ren falls from standing to kneeling, taking off his helmet to reveal a sweaty, awful lookin mess. Ugh, MR, put that back on. But he's laughing. There are ships here, working ships, warmth, coms, food, proper medical supplies. They're not going to die on Hoth, after all. "Collect the man at the entrance and stabilize him before he dies. I would enjoy speaking to him," instructions are issued. "Then raise Spearhead on coms, inform them of our location and condition, and pick a ship."
Another breathy, slightly deranged laugh. "Pick a ship. We're going home."
