Log:Knights of Ren: Rage Against the Light

As the fires rage deep within Coruscant, the forces of Light and Dark meet on the battlefield.

OOC Date: March 21, 2021
Location: Coruscant
Participants: Malik Ren as Self/GM, Errod Zand, Jax Greystorm, Kasia Ashkuri, Oozlevort, Sebek, Tamsin Cas, Tarq Najjic, Vhe Tenara, Zandra naMuriel, Knights of Ren, Jedi Order

[ Malik Ren (Mr)]

Coruscant is burning, and it has been for so long now, it's hard to remember when the galaxy's most important city-planet was not in a state of crisis. Uncountable numbers of refugees have fled to Chandrila and other planets, but without the economic resources of the citizens of Coruscant's upper levels, they are a drain on the governments of the planets which accept them. Tensions rise between locals and refugees as the flood of people who have lost everything in the fire continues...

Enough is enough.

So it is that the Jedi have come to the fires of this hell on a secret mission to try to do whatever they can to end this catastrophe. But so close to the Citadel, the beating, bleeding heart of the First Order, they are not without danger, and their arrival was spotted.

They will not be able to get close to the Citadel and determine more about ending this, without opposition....

[ Vhe Tenara (Vhe)]

The smell of the smoke fills the air insidiously worming its way into every fiber around it. Hair, clothing and skin so that even after they leave this forsaken place the smell and memory that it brings with will remain. The last time she was here Vhe barely walked flew away alive. Her hand unconsciously lifts to the burn scar along her left side, tracing the webbed, damaged flesh along her neck and jaw up to her ear.

Her hand lowers quickly enough so she can focus on staying low and ready, the brass saber with its kirruk tooth dangling from its hand already in her hand. This close? One must always be prepared.

Her lips firm a faint line and any sense of ease is lost as the tension remains bundled along her limbs. The mass of hair set into small braids are bedecked in beads and metal as the Ysanna turns her head to regard the others. "We should have come with more."

[ Jax Greystorm (Jax)]

Jax looks at the buring sky and the smoke rising, "I agree we should have brought more. Though it is beyond the time we can make that course correction. We will do what we can with those that are with us." The Corellian jedi knight pushing back his hood to reveal his face. He reaches out to the tides of the force searching for something in the force.

[ Zandra naMuriel (Zan)]

Zandra has a rebreather mask, so that she at least can breathe, learning perhaps from the last time. She too has bad memories of this place, but it's important to be here. Important to do what she can to help, to try to get those fires put out, somehow. If they can. She's alert, trying to stay out of sight, as they make their way along. Closer to the core than she at least has been since these horrible fires were started. She looks to one side, and then the other, looking to check on her team mates, and nods to Jax. "As we always do. We are a good team."

[ Tarq Najjic (T)]

At the next rise, a dark figure stands, and he doesn't stand alone.

The typical Knight of Ren helmet with its opaque visor masks his expression, but he tilts his head slightly to the side as he looks from Jedi to Jedi. His gaze pauses a moment longer on Vhe than the others. Through the vocoder comes a distorted baritone, no longer quite Tarq Najjic's melodious tenor voice: <<"Should not have come back. Foolish.">> He reaches up beneath the harness that supports his split cape and his hand comes back with a lightsaber hilt. With a flip of the switch his purple 'heroic duelist' outfit - it's hard to say what else this get-up can be called - begins to reflect the red of the blade. <<"Not your people. Why bother?">>

Tarq Najjic depresses the black button on his cylindrical metallic lightsaber hilt and with an electric snap-hiss a crimson red energy beam springs forth!

[ Tamsin Cas (Cas)]

The robed and helmed figure in the plain mask waited in what seemed a bastion of calm, not far from the line of demarcation of the citadel, weapon in hand, though, it was one that hearkened back to some members of the Knights and not others. She moved with a careful pace, helmet tilting now and them to observe the area around her. There were more dangers than the fire lurking in these unhallowed grounds, but such a conflagration was not to be underestimated. Tamsin spoke no words, nor gave any greeting to the Jedi as their approach was noted. She only moved to stand just behind and to the right of Tarq.

[ Errod Zand (EZ)]

At least one of the figures in black and grey is likely familiar to the Jedi. A plain sheet of metal forms the mask of his helm, obscuring his face from view, only two slits allowing his tired eyes to look out on the world. "Foolishness is the universal trait of existence. A shared delusion that each of us matters, that our actions matter, that we can change things somehow. Usher in a better tomorrow, as though the same patterns won't repeat again and again, erasing any good or ill we have done in our short, forgettable lives," Errod rasps, no vocoder, no amplification, just a grating voice like gravel being scraped together.

A gloved hand reaches back for the handle of the chainwhip poking over his right shoulder, unshackling the weapon and bringing it around to the front, a switch activating the rivulets of pink plasma that run down the finned 'blade.' "Fools on both sides and one hypocrite, pontificating. Ash and smog." He takes a step forward, distancing himself slightly from his compatriots to open up some room to swing and maneuver.

[ Oozlevort (o)]

Oozlevort waddles after the other Knights of Ren in his background-mimicking robes of the sacred Muilpëër'lac finders of Gand. In one hand he has a blaster and in the other is a rather ugly slugtosser. The small intake valves of his breathing mask glow orange, heating up two plugs of the altasocra sage incense that is key to his extrasensory powers of finding. Anyone standing nearby gets a contact high from the cloud of smoke when he exhales.

[ Sebek (SE)]

"Behold!"

And that was how we knew Sebek of the Desert, Flagbearer of Coret, Conqueror of the Sixteenth Deck, Consumer of Hounds, Wielder of Tei Tenga, He Who Hunts was here, bombastic presence and far too many appelations. "Fire and fury! A planet turning and consuming itself as it falls afoul of the beast that is entropy! Gaze upon it and rejoice, acolytes, for now it is the battleground of the strong preying upon the weak, the foolish, the fat!" The Knight of Ren with his double-length saber hilt was clad in full armoured battle cassock, wearing that snarling/screaming masked helmet with the kabuto flare and the hole in the top for his topknot, and even without his face visible his body language said he was having the time of his life.

"And thus it is She Who Cries!" A taloned finger extended and pointed to the girl with the cyan blade. "The Harbinger of the Cometburn! Has he finally cast you off to embrace his destiny?" There was a horrible grinding snap-hiss as the red blade of Tei Tenga burst into existence. "I shall do my greatest friend a favour, and remove the eternal distraction that you pose." The lightsaber growled angrily as the mad Falleen spun it into a ready stance. "Please be capable," was his oozing, smug request. "And do not bore me like last time."

[ Kasia Ashkuri (k)]

This is far from Kasia's first time on Coruscant, but her last time here was deeply unpleasant. Dropped down a trash chute and badly hurt unpleasant, so her desire to return to the planet so soon is admittedly pretty low. Were she not needed here she wouldn't be here at all, but she is and so here she is. It's no secret that the First Order is on high alert for Jedi, so she's already got her saber in hand, and as she hears the familiar drawl of Sebek, those fingers tighten around the weapon. "I know it's probably pointless to say this, but we don't have to do this, it doesn't have to be this way." She's not doing her best at selling this position, but it's all been said to these people -- or most of them anyway -- before.

[ Malik Ren (Mr)]

The Master of the Knights of Ren is the last to appear on the scene, but parting as though an apparition through the evil, noxious smoke, there he is -- his red blade is in hand, already humming. Kasia has said they don't have to do this, it doesn't have to be this way, and Malik laughs, the sound distinctive even if altered by the vocoder of his helmet.

"Don't we?" He is a native of this planet, so clearly marked in his accent, you'd think he'd care a little more about the fate of the under-levels. And maybe he does -- but there's another mission, one that has completely possessed the person he used to be, and consumed by his own ambitions, he can think of nothing else other than the Jedi before him. "I'm afraid that, as per usual... I cannot agree with you."

One hand moves as though in blessing or curse. "You are a blight, Jedi. It grieves me. Someone once asked me how many bodies I'm willing to stack up, to see this through?"

His smile is more heard than seen. "As many as it takes."

And so it begins!

[ Vhe Tenara (Vhe)]

The words exchanged flow around her and Vhe focuses on one even as the mention of bodies is set before them as a measure to determination. The Ysanna lifts the brass hilt and the brush of her thumb over the raised button. The blade elegantly hisses to life and unlike many of the other blue blades around her it hums softly, the blade near perfect in its presence.

The kirruk tooth sways at the end of the blade as she holds it outwards horizontally, tilting her head as she regards the falleen.

"It is the same battlefield as before but of those present you are a true agent of chaos and not a soul on this ground is safe."

She steps forward, knowing the climb up the rise as she begins to take the distance quickly. The blade sweeps back and through its downward swing misses the outspoken figure that is Sebek before she twists back around, weaving a seering color of blue until the third hit lands its mark ands he focuses fully upon him.

[ Jax Greystorm (Jax)]

Jax's saber is raised and the blue blade extends with a humm and a hiss. The blade held ready to defend. "Well at least there are no sith present. So we don't get to hear that story. Hello Malik. There is that small nicety." He eyes the warriors, "I see you have expanded your team. This fight does nothing to accomplish our goal in helping the people you do not. We won't be destroyed and if we are. The jedi will still exist. Let us help these people and we will fight another day."

[ Zandra naMuriel (Zan)]

Oh, here we go. It's almost the same old story. Same Jedi. Same Knights of Ren. Okay, there are a few additional people, so maybe things will go a bit differently. Spicier anyway. Zan's two bladed saber is out in a flash, as the very first of the Knights of Ren comes visible. "May the Force be with us," she says softly, as she too heads up the rise, along with Vhe. Though she's not headed Sebek's way, instead heading towards a different target. "We don't have to fight," she says, almost like it's a mantra. "War and violence are not the answer, we've seen this. Personally as well as over centuries of battle." Still, she heads towards that target she recognizes, and her saber comes out in a warning shot, the green blade aimed his way, the sound of it perhaps filling his ears, as Zan makes her presence felt. "We would far rather just help the people we are here to help."

[ Tarq Najjic (T)]

Tarq in the split cape, hidden behind his helmet, takes a long look at Vhe before pivoting to support Errod Zand. As Zandra approaches, he steps forward and aims a swing at her leg, misses; spins to swing at her shoulder, and is deflected by her double-bladed lightsaber, while the last swing goes wide as he buys himself some more space. <<"Together, Errod!">> He stays to one side of his opponent, hoping Errod takes the opposite side. Flanking!

[ Tamsin Cas (Cas)]

Though the battle was soon joined, Tamsin did not rush immediately into the fray. Whether out of an abundance of caution, or to allow herself to see what would be, she remained where she had begun, helmeted head scanning the combatants as she determined where best she might apply herself. It was about finding the best defense on the battlefield, and perhaps, today, Tamsin was that defense. The hand not holding her whip clenched, hidden beneath the overlong sleeves of her robe as she summoned a fist, not of flesh and bone, but of force and will, sending it towards the Jedi she did not know, but who was attacking Errod, the force of it attempting to push the Jedi away from the now two Knights.

[ Errod Zand (EZ)]

The green blade whirls in on him, and the eyes behind the flat mask widen slightly as the first swipe comes too close for comfort, leaving a tiny orange line through a piece of his armor where the tip grazes him just barely. Perhaps he was expecting more than a rote recitation of the Jedi ordeals before actual battle began, or maybe he's just getting old.

The second two swipes are caught on the blade of the chainwhip, its plasma sparking brightly as the lightsaber bounces off. "If it's not me, it's someone else. This dance always continues. There's always a fight, always struggle. It's the only thing we've really mastered. And it's never /enough./" The tired eyes narrow behind their slits, joints flexing into a practiced, drilled stance, and he comes on in return, stepping out to the right, her opposite side from Tarq, and shoving in with the tip of his weapon before jerking it up in a wide arc towards the young Jedi woman with dizzying speed. "Fight together, die alone," he mutters in response to Tarq. Encouraging as always.

[ Oozlevort (o)]

Oozlevort gets a little bit high on his altasocra sage incense. Maybe it makes him paranoid instead of clairvoyant. "Watch out, those mad Jedis are out for blood!" His insectoid glittering eyes reflect the light of the fires as he slugtosses randomly at Jedi. POW POW POW! None of it penetrates Kasia's defenses.

[ Sebek (SE)]

A faint weave, a short sidestep, it was mere child's play until Sebek had to move his arm. Tei Tenga flipped up and caught red on cyan, hungering, hissing, growling. "Chaos? You are fat." Oh he went there again. "This is the law of might, She Who Cries!" And as if to prove the point, Tei Tenga came crashing down in an overhead strike! "The mighty dictate the fates of the weak!" VWROOOOM, that was a huge left-to-right chop, theatric if not effective. "You know this law! It is why you lost your weapon to me in our last bout and why you shall lose it again!" The third strike was the opposite of the second, the Falleen was waving his saber around like a bat in a clear sign of not-taking-this-seriously.

[ Kasia Ashkuri (k)]

"Well, you know I had to try," Kasia replies to Malik with a small smile that looks amused for a moment until her expression fades into something more serious. Rather than move in to immediately attack, she lingers back to draw the force in around her, closing her eyes for a beat before watching one of the bolts from Oozlevorts weapon, two go wide, though one should have hit, but does no more than tear a hole in a flowy bit of her robes.

[ Malik Ren (Mr)]

"I'm afraid I can't do that, Jax."

Malik is not willing to let them have access to the Citadel, to let them try to stop the fires -- not when said fires aren't actually wrecking the Citadel itself, or the Upper Levels, and they've done such a wonderful job of luring in Jedi to hunt.

This is one of the closest forays the Jedi team has ever made it /to/ the Citadel -- it's clear that there was a massive amount of structural damage to Coruscant when it landed, and this was not an elegant drop. The city's infrastructure is twisted and tortured by the structure and the fires burning far below them, and the obsidian sheen of the Citadel itself seems to hum with sick, ominous intent. The Force is in aberration here, its sickness easy for all to discern. This is a place of ruin and death, not the clean rot of a forest, but something malevolent at its core.

Malik Ren steps forward to swing his blade at Kasia!! But babygirl blocks him with that cute-ass pink saber, each time. Please don't nom this Cujo will fire me early.

[ Vhe Tenara (Vhe)]

The flailing of Sebek has Vhe instinctively sidestepping and giving him room not because of any skill but because he himself has become unpredictable in his motions, watching as the of red whiffs through the air around her as the woman quickly side steps and tries to strike but each one comes short and finds nothing before her.

She ends up catching her breath, braids swinging as the Ysanna gives a look towards the lizard.

"We shall see, this time I have the benefit of being prepared for you..." Unlike the last time he came tearing through the underworld like some scaled wrecking ball.

[ Jax Greystorm (Jax)]

Jax frowns, "Surely you know the force here must be purified if the fire is ever to be stopped." Then as a Trio of Knights of Ren team up against Zandra. Jax targets Errod. He knew how dangerous the fighter can be. There's a trio of quick attacks that the martial artist dodges, "That is preplexing. You're almost as fast as somebody with the force."

[ Zandra naMuriel (Zan)]

There's a smack at the side of her head, that hurts, a cut slowly dripping a bit of blood. Zan actually isn't sure where that came from. She moves her dual bladed saber with practiced moves, defending against Errod and Tarq, mostly. There's a small slash through her robes that touches skin, so she feels it, but it's not a bad injury. There's a moment of pause that goes along with a blink. Zan manages to not say ouch, but it's close. With Jax having her back, she turns on Tarq. She doesn't know who he is, but he engaged her. Swift as she can, her green blade aims his way, followed very swiftly by the blue and then the green again. "It does NOT have to be this way," she says again.

[ Tarq Najjic (T)]

The new Knight engaged with Zandra knocks aside her first swing with his saber and the second slices off part of his cape and cuts a line along one of his black chiffon sleeves, but the third swing with the green blade slices right along his shoulder and right into his helmet. Only jerking aside and a reflexive gesture with his right hand save him, as the green saber fails to find purchase past his helmet he drops to a crouch, passes his lightsaber to his right hand, and backs up, pulling off his damaged helmet so he can see. Out pops helmet hair of brown, and then angry green eyes as he backs carefully away from Zandra and the new melee erupting as Jax comes into the fray.

Once clear of the immediate fracas, his hand goes to his shoulder and he bites off an expletive before it can escape. "Do not mean to alarm, Tamsin," he says with a bitter half-smile, "but Tarq Najjic feels like - icy - hand - of death." So dramatic. "Burns." He casts a glance at the Jedi to see if anyone is in pursuit, ensuring his face is visible to everyone, but better safe than sorry.

[ Tamsin Cas (Cas)]

It was likely for the good that Tamsin had not so foolishly rushed into battle, as the blades flew fast and hard, and already the Knights were showing signs of injury as they clashed with the Jedi. But Tamsin was not one to remain out of the fight when she was called to duty, and as she saw Tarq steeping back to escape the line of fire, as it were, Tamsin moved ahead, her weaponless hand reaching into the folds of her robes to withdraw a hypospray of synthsealant and she darted forward, half turning to put herself between Tarq and the battling Jedi as she did what she could for the wound to his shoulder in the heat of battle. "Not to worry. I am here." She was the cavalry, you guys. Trust and believe.

[ Errod Zand (EZ)]

"Hard work, clean living, and a lot of stims," Errod growls in return to Jax, gritting his teeth behind the mask as the Jedi presses him hard, the blue blade replacing the green as Zandra shifts targets and he's drawn off from her (successfully) by the other Jedi. The chainwhip moves with blinding speed to block the attacks, and who knows how much of Oozle's Secret Stuff the man in black inhaled before he came out here.

Breathing hard already, his chest heaves as he weaves in closer to Jax, finding time in between blocking and dodging for a few strikes of his own, but only just barely. "Must be irritating for you, after being so far above mere mortals."

[ Oozlevort (o)]

Oozlevort switches targets and shoots at Jax. BLAM BLAM BLAM! The slugs tossed don't connect or fail to do much damage. "Pishposh!" The short Gand holsters his blaster and slugtosser. He takes an oddly-shaped curved carbine from his back, loading the bottom with a square and boxy canister of ammunition.

[ Sebek (SE)]

"Curious."

The whirling of red and blue moved into violent clashes with yellow flashes as the Knight of Ren and She Who Cries matched each other blow-for-blow. Sebek was silent as he fended off blows and eased up on his own erratic swings to focus on something more defensive. "Perhaps it is not The Cometburn who has benefitted from his departure," oozed the Falleen. He ducked underneath another swing and then caught the cyan blade on Tei Tenga, forcing the locking of sabers.

Uncomfortably within the personal space of She Who Cries, Sebek's voice was deep, melodious, calm, and... pleased? "What would he think, knowing that discarding you has made you stronger?" was his sickeningly syrupy tone, showing zero exertion at keeping their sabers locked together in a furious shove-of-war. "Perhaps the Jeedai speak truths. Love /does/ hold you back."

[ Kasia Ashkuri (k)]

It's not much of a surprise to see that red saber swinging at her, but Kasia is fast enough with her own to block the slashes with a shower of sparks around them. It's very dramatic. A return trio of slashes with her on glowing pink weapon crash down on the shorter figure, but those too are denied with the dramatic clashing of blades. "We don't have to do this," she repeats to Malik, because apparently that first rejection wasn't enough for her. "We could put an end to the Sith together, because they're more a threat to everyone than we are."

[ Malik Ren (Mr)]

The battle rages on, as expert combatants on both sides do their best to debilitate and destroy the enemy!

When it comes, it hits like a wave -- no matter whether the Force-Sensitives are attuned to the light or the dark, it threatens to smother and overwhelm them, a sickening feeling of dread, doom, and danger.

Something is desperately wrong. Something dangerous is coming.

Malik is a fanatic, of course, and though he might have registered it, he's still focused on his attacks, this time swinging at poor Jax instead of Kasia!

[ Jax Greystorm (Jax)]

Jax laughs at Errod's statement. "I see. I do not find it irritating." Then before he can respond Oozlevort shoot him and somehow the force protects him but there's a hole in his robes side. "Okay that was annoying." Then his head twists to look at something coming towards them. "There's a darkness coming." He twists his head back just in time to keep Malik Ren from taking his head off. Then as the next strike comes in Jax pulls the force around him and strikes Maliks blade with his hand with just enough force to knock the blade off course. His body absorbing the energy that should have burnt him and releasing it into the force. "Hello, Malik. I didn't forget about you. You're special and are my favorite. There's also something really mean coming this way that isn't you."

[ Vhe Tenara (Vhe)]

The squeal of the red saber suddenly slamming into the light of her pontite blade as Vhe stares down the pontificating and trash talking falleen. Her amber eyes catch the light and reflect the brilliant blade's presence as the crystal within screams in familiarty. Familiarty in regards to the one that abused and bled it during the foul use of the blade.

"What comes of being forged in fire is strength resolution. My defeat at your hand is what gave me focus, it is best you not mention him."

She presses back and then thrusts forward, the first strike breaking past the Falleen's guard and claims its first mark upon his person but it is the flex and twist of her blade above her head as she steps to the side that is brought down in a circular sweep to slam downwards in an angle across his chest, parting armor, parting cloth or whatever else he wears fore the blade to mark the creature that had harmed it.

As the hit finds Sebek so surely she reaches her hand out and with a look directly in his eyes she unleashes the force in a wave to blast him backwards and possibly off the rise and out of the current field of battle. "Fires cleanse all." Just then the Ysanna hears the name said - Tarq -. Her head turns and she looks towards the unmasked figure, her hands tighten their hold upon the saber, a grim look upon her face.

[ Zandra naMuriel (Zan)]

Zandra does not go after the injured knight, letting him fall back. Instead, she turns to see where Errod is, discovering he's managed to get a bit away from her. Rather than chase him down, she hauls back and throws her saber, putting her oomph into it, sending the blue and green saber through the air aimed in Errod's direction. It is only at this point that the sickening sense of something wrong rolls over her, and she almost misses catching her saber as it comes back to her. "Wait, what - the heck is that?" She shakes her head, feeling almost sick to her stomach. "Wait, what /IS/ that?" The last is called out very loudly.

[ Tarq Najjic (T)]

Tarq lets out a sigh of relief as Tamsin applies synthsealant to his shoulder, its nerve-numbing letting him regain his focus. Even as he watches the Jedi assailants, Sebek gets pushed off the rise by Vhe. He raises his lightsaber in his right hand, and moves back out to catch his attacker. "Vhe, was - /unwise/." Of necessity he's fighting one handed now, and he looks like a duelist, whirling the blade and then taking one long step forward into a thrust that bounces off Vhe's own saber.

He brings his lightsaber up into a clash with Vhe, staring into her face as he pushes, the static sound and flashes of their blades veering back and forth. "Am sorry, but Tarq Najjic believes - no - less." And with a sudden shove and step partly back, he tries to buy space with a sweeping swing.

[ Tamsin Cas (Cas)]

Tamsin could see her fellow Knights dropping like flies. And for a moment, the good Doctor Cas became that title that Sebek had bestowed upon her, on that day, once, long and long ago, it seemed now, when she had been claimed by an artifact of the dark, and had been nearly consumed by it. Perhaps she was buoyed by the sense of dark and danger that came over her like a whelm. Perhaps she simply responded to the sight of the fall of her fellows. Again, that fist exploded from her body, attempting to wrap around the Jedi who had claimed Errod, attempting to lift her from the ground and hold her past one of the edges of the walkways. Should she succeed, She Who Rages would have only to release her hold, and the Jedi would fall, down, into the fires raging below. If she had enough will for it.

[ Errod Zand (EZ)]

Maybe Errod had a pithy answer or some more doom to spout, but the world will never hear it. As he opens his mouth to speak, having already had it open to pant, Zandra's lightsaber catches him broadsides, the spinning double-blade spotted as a blur of light in the corner of his eye at the last millisecond. He does the only thing can do, throw himself flat and move his weapon between him and the scything thing.

It's too slow and too little, and he falls smoking to the floor. The worst of the damage is prevented, though, as the lightsaber finally smacks into blade after going through some body and ricochets up and away. The downside is the sheared-off piece of smoldering rubble that falls in its wake, pinning the injured Knight to the street, where he lies motionless.

[ Oozlevort (o)]

Oozlevort holsters his pistol and slugtosser. He is still exhaling smoke from his breathing apparatus's exhaust valves while bringing up his new curved rifle-carbine. There is a touch of the watchface on his wrist and a big blue bubble surrounds him, trapping the toxic and hallucinogenic gases inside as he fiddles with his gun. There is a loud KA-CHUNKKKK as the boxy magazine finally feeds into the launcher.

[ Sebek (SE)]

Before the smack-talking Knight could get a word in edgewise, the Force that he oft so tightly gripped held him aloft. In perhaps a stunning reversal of their last encounter, it was now Sebek's turn to fall. And so he did.

The black-robed figure disappeared into the darkness, his torn raiment fluttering in the wind, with a a screeching cry of fire and fury emerging from his gullet. "CUURRRRRSSEEE YYOOOOOUUUUUuuuuuuu...."

And then he was gone.

[ Kasia Ashkuri (k)]

Kasia doesn't expect a response to her offer, maybe there isn't one, maybe it'll just take time to steep, like tea. And like tea, it'll also probably be forgotten. Rather than press further she simply tries again, and fails again, to attack Malik, the incoming blade batted away with each attempt. She retreats a step and lifts a hand to press at her forehead, wiping away the sweat starting to gather there.

[ Malik Ren (Mr)]

Errod and Sebek fall out of the fight, shortly followed by Zandra getting into a bad spot of trouble at the hands of Tamsin's telekinesis! Malik Ren -- silent against the words spoken to him by anyone -- slashes an onslaught against Jax a moment later, to unlucky consequence for the finest of the Jedi Knights. It seems the tide of the battle could yet turn either way.

The Force is sickening with darkness and danger, heavy and dizzying, overwhelming as though everyone's breathing equipment is not filled with oxygen, but noxious fumes. Even the non-Force-Sensitives can feel the sense that something is right (though for Oozlevort it feels like oxygen got into his noxious fumes instead of the other way around).

A scream sounds dimly in the distance, and a body falls from some unseen, higher level of the Citadel. Then a second. Men from within, facing something that forced them to a fate they could not survive, but one they at least chose for themselves.

Then a deafening BOOM!! follows, and a crack appears in the obsidian wall of the citadel, glowing white-hot.

Something is maybe not right in there.

[ Vhe Tenara (Vhe)]

Redemption. The fires of Coruscant are not going to consume her this day even though the memory sits like a dark friend in the back of her mind, influencing her every move. Vhe is thus met with the face all too familiar but not one she expected on the other side of a red saber. The pontite blade in its soft hum lifts to clash off of his and press him back, even when he takes that step away there is regret in her eyes.

"No, my friend. Forgive me, I do not want to harm you."

What comes next is the flash of her blade cutting through the angry flickering dark of Coruscant to land a harsh blow at the very same moment that the explosion happens at the Citadel. The saber is slammed hard against the Ren's and is torn free of his hand to be sent flying off to the side, flipping through the air to become nothing when no longer in the hands of the man before her.

She shakes her head causing the braids to sway before she steps past him, eyes lingering as she moves on. Leaving him to try to claim his weapon while closing the distance towards Malik. Whatever is happening at the Citadel is not likely to keep them safe and Malik still stands. Vhe's next two strikes come quick but are not enough to get past Malik's defenses as the Ysanna closes the distance.

[ Zandra naMuriel (Zan)]

Zandra gets pulled up and held and while she can't move, she can retaliate through the Force. "Let Go Of Me!" she grits out as she sends her own TK blast back towards the helmeted person holding her immobile. Not to do damage, just to get free. She lands safely on the ground, one hand touching briefly, and then stands. "Hey. You knights. Do you usually have people JUMP to their deaths from your CITADEL? I think we've all got a problem! Ren - Look, would you?" She reaches one hand to the crack in the citadel, and then tries to get something they can use as a shield, perhaps stealing the idea from the doctor-knight.

[ Jax Greystorm (Jax)]

Jax duels with the engraged Malik Ren. His saber strikes and blocks Malik at first. The dark side and anger ranging in the little man in the end get the best of Jax. As the blows of his oponent asctually drive him to the ground and send his saber flying from Jax's hand to land a few feet away and out of his reach. The force the only thing to keep Jax from loosing any limbs or digets. He had been defeated for the moment.

[ Tarq Najjic (T)]

One moment Tarq is standing facing his erstwhile friend Vhe with one of the most dangerous weapons in the galaxy humming death in his hand. The next moment it's wrenched free of his hand and goes sailing off to the side as he staggers down to his knees and Vhe rushes off to Malik Ren.

Cannot live on your knees. He pushes himself back up with his right arm and staggers a bit, and backs slowly away, distracted from his search for his saber by the calamity happening over in Citadel. He shakes his head for a moment. Whatever he can do, he'll do it defenselessly if he can't find his weapon. He plods towards it, breathing heavily, not trusting his concentration to pull it to his hand right now.

[ Tamsin Cas (Cas)]

Tamsin, feeling her hold on the Jedi break, turned away from the battle entire, eyes going to the citadel, though, to be fair, not to the bodies falling from it. They were likely dead already, and if not, well, they were not her immediate concern. Tamsin, still having never raised her weapon to attack, lifted her voice, the vocorder leaving it harsh, and still angry, "Help would be appreciated." And against all odds, or perhaps because the Force had a sense of humour, the Dark Knight and the Light, who had only moments ago been locked on metaphysical battle, now worked together, combining their energy towards rending up something that could be used to shield them from what appeared to be an imminent explosion. "Gather the wounded and go!" No, Tamsin was not the boss of any of you, but that did not stop her from being uppity.

[ Errod Zand (EZ)]

Errod lies there looking up, through eyes squinted with pain, considering. The blue sky above is nowhere in sight, just the hellish miasma that fills this place and the durasteel infrastructure that holds up the layers above. "Fitting," he mutters, about the time a body flies screaming past their level. He frowns behind the mask; it's a bit early for the wailing and gnashing of teeth, isn't it? Another falls. "...krif."

Numb fingers reach down under the rubble pinning his lower half down, and fumble through his pockets, made clumsy by gloves and adrenal fatigue. Some sort of injector is eventually drawn out, and plunged into his thigh with a hiss, either from the device or the man.

A few moments pass, and then a shriek of metal joins the cacaphony of sound as Errod slowly pushes the rubble up from his legs enough to slither out before letting it crash back to the pavements. Protesting joints scream and singed flesh cracks, but he's vertical again, limping like a monster from a cut-rate horror film towards the other Knights and the Jedi, tearing his helmet off and casting it aside to breathe more freely, letting his wild eyes out into the garish light. "That thing's coming down, can't you see? Whatever dark animus it's channeled into these fires must have hollowed out the core of it in the process. I'm going to fight it."

How? Unclear, but he starts shambling that way.

[ Kasia Ashkuri (k)]

While Malik continues to press the attack on Jax, Kasia keeps on trying to attack him, both to try and defend Jax and also because, you know, some part of her definitely wants to. There are explosions and dangerous things happening around them, but it's not until after another flurry of slashes that she bothers to glance back at the ever increasing danger. "Jax, are you okay? We might need to move here soon."

[ Malik Ren (Mr)]

Ren - Look, would you?

Maybe not something Malik would normally pay a lot of attention to. Just because a Jedi said it?! Hah, not hardly!

But Zandra's got a point. People leaping off the Citadel. A giant, heinous crack. This is, you know, aberrant. Jax is ignored once he falls, no attempt made to pursue or finish him off -- the lightsaber assaults of Vhe and Kasia are blocked and dodge with annoying skill. But his attention has shifted, toward the ominous black wall that until now has been so impenetrable and impervious. Towards the crack that goes down, down, down away from them into the fires below.

A narrow catwalk, shifting and twisted from the heat and the structural chaos surrounding the citadel, stretches away from the group toward a narrow service door. The door opens, and a woman stumbles out, wearing a First Order uniform, perhaps she is a tech. Or was. Her skin is blistered, and she is in a bad way.

"Help us. Help us," the woman rasps, crossing the catwalk and falling to her knees before the Knights and the Jedi. "The Citadel is falling. There has been a catastrophe, the systems have failed -- the fires are spreading." She falls to her hands and knees.

"It has to be stopped. The power has to be shut off, the emergency mechanisms have to be engaged. No one is left in there alive that can get to it... If it collapses, it will take the entire Citadel, it will take half of Coruscant."

Concerning to the Knights: The First Order will be crippled if this happens. Concerning to the Jedi: Millions upon millions of innocents, on every level of Coruscant, will die if this happens. Concerning to everyone: All of them PERSONALLY will die if this happens.

"Help us," the tech rasps, and then falls down and does not move.

Across the chasm, the Citadel burns, and awaits.