| abstract
| - It had been a long, grueling night for Luke Skywalker. After having barely escaped the destruction of the Senate building with his life, and nearly expended of his energy from the terrific Jedi feat he had pulled off in keeping the ceiling afloat, he had needed to find a place to rest; but not without making a few critical calls first. A scrambled message was sent courtesy of R2-D2 to the Jedi apartment. "Kyrin, Brandis, its Luke. It's begun." Surely they would understand what that meant. "Don't go back to the Reprisal yet, I need you here. Get all important Jedi artifacts together into one of the shielded cases in the storage closet, and be ready to meet me at the location embedded in this message, when I give you the signal that you're clear to leave." Simple instructions... the holocron and documents that were in the Jedi penthouse needed to be kept in Jedi hands. After sending the message, Luke found a hiding place and hunkered down for a few hours of deep meditation, locking himself in a rejuvenating hibernation trance. As he emerges, dawn is creeping over the horizon, which is peppered by the signs of war, with speeder traffic at a high volume and columns of smoke dotting the horizon. "Artoo," he says, "Start scanning for the nearest military registered speeder." The droid obediently beeps and opens his dome, scanning disk emerging. Skywalker then peers out from his hiding place, deep in an alleyway between two starscrapers, and checks the streets. No sign of Imperial activity here, and they are as silent as they had been all night. When the news filtered to the penthouse, the recovering X-Wing pilot and her doctor have been waiting for a message from Luke. Brandis would have known for sure if Luke was alive or not, but Kyrin didn't... still, she'd take her cues from him. Finding a pair of blasters for her civilian attire, so she at least had some means of defense, she helps Brandis load the precious Jedi artifacts into the case with a due amount of reverence... flavored with the need to be swift. Once that's done, she leaves the artifacts with Brandis and goes to meet Luke. Since they're needing speed, she takes the nearest available speeder and heads where they're supposed to be going, piloting the craft almost recklessly through the cityscape. If Brandis wanted to keep his lunch, this was not the way. One of the speeders is one that Aramis borrowed from a civilian. He's been out on the hunt for some of his 'top-sider' friends that he's made since being stationed here and checking on the extent of the damage that he only saw from his A-Wing during evacuation last night. He's located one and determined that two others were off of Coruscant before the attacks took place. He comes weaving through traffic and down the street, stopping briefly to push his goggles up and talk to another speeder driver for directions. The man he's speaking to shakes his head and Aramis sighs heavily before moving on. R2-D2 suddenly begins beeping rapidly. "What, did you find something?" asks Luke, scampering back to the droid and leaning forward to peer at one of the ridiculously small display screen mounted to the droid's chassis. Barely making out a set of distance coordinates, he turns and makes his way out from the alleyway, eyes searching for the sign of a speeder on the street, which is mostly empty save for a few disheveled civilians. He had picked a quiet location, after all. The speeder Aramis is driving his visible coming toward him, just out of eyeshot. Drawing on the Force, Luke's eyesight begins to magnify, and as soon as he's made out the vision of a familiar pilot's face, he looks back into the alleyway. "Artoo! Flare!" Lurching forward, the droid rolls at a rapid pace out into the main street, pivots about into the direction Luke is facing, and fires a bright red flare out of his dome, straight up into the air. He will need to hitch a ride on this speeder if he's going to be able to meet Kyrin at the right place, and the right time. Kyrin's speeder isn't the best hunk of junk she's ever commandeered. But then again, after a Star Destroyer, even a nice X-Wing might pale. However, she guns the engine as best as she can determine as being safe, heading unerringly toward the chosen rendezvous. With one pointed ear, she keeps tabs on any comm chatter going on to help give her any clues or warnings. And when she gets where she's going, she waits patiently, but somewhat hidden in shadows, out of sight until she's needed. Vengan sits with his back against Aramis', rifle between his knees and held in a loose ready position. The young Marine is paying more attention to the road than his pilot, though he does lean back to holler a reply at Aramis. Catching sight of the flare, Vengan taps Aramis on the shoulder and gestures at the floating light. "Over there!" he shouts, before settling back into his seat. Aramis sights the flare as soon as Vengan points it out and puts the speeder into full speed ahead without missing a beat. He doesn't seem phased in the least by the velocity or by the way he has to turn the speeder on an angle to avoid another craft crossing his path. "Let's see what's up, Trouble," he says, just loud enough to catch Vengan's ears. He ignores the angry shout fading behind him and soon comes to a very abrupt halt low to the ground and facing the alley, right where the R2 sent up a flare. This way, there's only a building behind them and the ground below, and the four most likely directions for unpleasantness are easily visible. As soon as the speeder is in sight, Skywalker emerges. His Jedi cloak has been buried in the rubble of the Senate complex, so his slender form is garbed in the gray tunic, which is covered in the dust and grime of his night's ordeal. He looks both ways to ensure that there are no hostiles in the area, even though his Jedi senses are tripling his certainty on that. "Tyrese!" he calls out, cupping his hands over his mouth, then raising his arms to motion wide for them to come on down to street level so he can hop on board. After helping R2-D2 aboard, Luke hops in as well. "I'm lucky I found you guys, I don't think there are any speeders within four blocks of this place," he says. "Listen, I need you to take me to these planetary coordinates." He leans over and punches in the coordinates, where he had sent Kyrin and Brandis: a residential district all but two clicks from one of the NR Marine garrisons on planet, a good twenty clicks from their current location. Aramis A tall, lanky young human male just reaching maturity. Aramis has very dark skin, nearly ebony with a hint of mahogany, and equally dark, intense eyes. His head is always shaved bare; not only for convenience but also because it emphasizes his features. He has high cheekbones, a strong nose, and a full mouth. While he is slender for his height and frame, he is also well muscled from hard work out in Tatooine's heat. His hands are marked by a plethora of small scars from being nicked and scraped while repairing machinery. He is wearing a full-body green jumpsuit with black and gray camouflage print. The suit appears to be armor reinforced from beneath, and has numerous pockets to allow the pilot to store items. A flight helmet is a standard part of the flight suit, and can be attached to create an environmentally secured atmosphere for the pilot once connected to the life-support controls in the command chair of an A-wing cockpit; in this case, the helmet is the standard stock white helmet, with blue Republic insignia. On his chest, he wears a simple white blast-resistant durafab composite vest, with a Life Support attachment upon it. Across the upper left-chest area is a dull-gray name patch with the name 'A. Tyrese' imprinted on it. Above it, his rank insignia indicates that he is a 2nd Flight Officer. On his left shoulder is a stylized patch, indicating his to be a member of Falcon Squadron. Under the squadron patch is a red 2. On the right shoulder is the familiar red Phoenix crest of the New Republic. Slung beneath the right arm is a blaster, strapped into a rugged black shoulder holster. The pilot's black flight boots are broken in well but polished to a high gloss. Vengan Remarkably bright, luminous green eyes regard the world with a solemnly perceptive gaze. Vengan's face is slender, somewhat feminine even, save for the hard lines on his slim jaw, or the breadth of his pronounced cheekbones. Blonde, arching eyebrows surmount his narrow nose and slender lips, making for a rather handsome combination. His skin is tanned, weathered even, as if by sun and wind, giving the man's five eight frame an almost nomadic appearance. His face and build make his age difficult to discern...he could be fifteen, he could be in his twenties. Either way, he is definitely young, fresh-faced with youthful exuberance. Sandy blonde hair has been tamed into a loosely controlled military crew cut...buzzed short above the ears, somewhat longer on top, almost as if sculpted to stand straight up. Vengan is wearing green and olive, camouflage-patterned utilities that are the standard uniform for New Republic Marines. Two diagonal pockets are on the chest of the shirt, above each of which are mounted name tapes, one of which reads | Draelis | in bold print. Unlike some tops, this one was evidently cut and tailored for the young Marine when it was first issued to him, as it tapers down to flatter the lean build of his torso. Barely visible on the sleeves are the marks of old enlisted rank, long since removed. On both shoulders are dull red epaulettes, marked with ^, indicating his rank as a 2nd Combat Officer. On the right sleeve, right at the shoulder, there is a black, round patch with the familiar red Phoenix crest of the New Republic inside of it. On his left sleeve is a three-quarters moon, blood red, with a seven point star in the center. Beneath each sleeve is a diagonal zipper, evidently a tailor-added pocket of some kind. He's rolled the sleeves of the uniform up carefully, exposing his weather-scarred forearms to just past his elbows. He wears a black utility belt with a sidearm in a drop holster on his right hip and a functional vibro-knife sheathed on the other, though he wears it with the blade pointed backwards for quicker access. There's one or two other odd boxes on his hips, likely a small medkit and extra ammunition, among other things. A pair of well-buffed combat boots round out the ensemble. Kyrin frowns as she listens to the traffic on the airwaves, and there's a shiver through her form. She's not sure she could face Imperials so soon yet... but after a brief glance at Brandis... her resolve stiffens, and her taloned fingers tap impatiently on the controls of the speeder as her gray eyes scan the sky. A warm hand covers hers on the controls, stilling the impatient tapping, and Kyrin settles down. Waiting. Vengan's eyes bug a little as General Skywalker- THE Jedi Master- jumps into the speeder next to him. The Marine catches himself staring after a second or two and finds something extremely interesting in the upper levels of the city to look at. He keeps glancing at Skywalker, however, sidelong flickerings. The young Marine's throat bobs as he swallows nervously, soundlessly reciting the multiplication tables to himself. After a few moments he leans back, speaking directly into Aramis' ear in a low whisper. "Tyrese... is he reading my mind? Like...right now?" He glances nervously at Skywalker, back at the pilot. Aramis is hardly so affected. He doesn't even waste time on a salute. "Sir, yes, sir. Please hang on, sir," is all he says as he takes the coordinates and throws the speeder into full speed again. "Good to see you again, too," he says to the R2 unit, once they're underway. He keeps them almost stomach-wrenchingly close to the buildings as they pass, weaving in and out, staying low. "No," he mutters, when he has a moment to take his attention away from the obstacles and talks to Vengan. "There's nothing in there worth reading anyway, Ewok-brain. Sheesh." He elbows back playfully, digging into Vengan's ribs a little to break the tension. "That was some brilliant work last night, sir," he says respectfully to Luke, glancing over at the man once he's cleared another corner. "Sure you know it, but bears saying again anyway." It's impossible to hear the whisperings of Vengan over the howl of the speeder's engines and the wind of flight, but even without using the Force to pry, Luke has a pretty good idea what's going on. He gives Vengan a rather boyish smirk, and while his grip on the side of the speeder is firm and he trusts Artoo to use his magnetic couplings to stay rooted, he otherwise seems unaffected by the speeder's tight and gut-wrenching movements. "Thank you," he replies to Aramis, though his smirk fades swiftly, and his tone of voice seems perturbed. "I now understand why the dark side has been clouding Coruscant so thickly for these last few months. We have had a Sith Lord in our midst." A scowl encroaches on his face... he wasn't powerful enough to see through it? His thoughts roil. He was a Jedi Master, he should have seen through the lies! Unless........ His face goes blank. "Just get us to those coordinates as soon as possible." Something else tickles his senses. A warning of danger. Vengan throws an elbow back at Aramis, grinning broadly at his friend. "Kiss a Hutt, Tyrese," Vengan replies with an easy grin. He settles back into his seat, rifle at a low ready. At Luke's words, however, he turns back to the Jedi Master. "Well...I'm not a Jedi, sir," Vengan says, raising his voice over the wind, "But if things were so clouded by Senator Faust, wouldn't that...well...mean there was a Sith Lord down there?" he asks. "Like when you can't see the mountains on Ruusan a mile out because of the smokestorms. You know they're out there, but since you can't see them, something must be hiding them. Right?" Having little familiarity with Jedi but a great deal of familiarity with shutting up and doing as told 'or else', Aramis says, "Yes, sir." He fiddles with the settings for the thrust and repulsor power, dropping them lower to the ground and feeding the extra power back into the thrust engines, causing them to hop ahead with a hiccup and settle down at the new speed. Red lights flicker on the control panel but he just mutters, "Oh, hush, y'big baby," at the speeder. There's a lot to be said for borrowing the best. They complete the last of their approach at full tilt, cornering hard enough to rock the speeder up nearly on edge each time. Luke casts his scowl toward Vengan, and softens it considerably. "I just didn't expect it to be Senator Faust himself," he remarks, agreeing with the marine's sentiment, but frowning nonetheless. Minutes later, as the speeder draws near, Luke begins clearing his mind of those thoughts and focusing instead on the task at hand. "Artoo," he says, turning to the droid. "We're close enough to the Blockworth Garrison. Try to log in to the network and get a status report on the planetary situation." The droid beeps in affirmative, and Luke is freed up to hop from the speeder and go looking for Kyrin and Brandis. Vengan shrugs as the Jedi shrugs at him, mumbling, "Just sayin', sir." As Luke turns away, Vengan turns his eyes back up to the tops of the towers, looking for snipers or lingering Coruscant Guard. At Luke's instructions to R2, the young Marine fishes in his pocket and pulls out a commo unit. "Hey, uh, Artoo!" Vengan says, holding out the device to the droid. "Commo frequency to the CP at Blockworth. You'll want to get a hold of Sergeant Variend, he's in charge of the communications unit." He hands the device to the droid and sits back again, glancing once at Aramis, then going back to his casual patrol of the rooftops. Kyrin lowers her gaze closer to street level as a speeder approaches, and she's advised that it's Luke nearby. Leaving Brandis with the precious case strapped in behind the two bucket seats, she hauls herself out of the speeder and stretches out her wings slightly, easing cramped muscles. "Master Skywalker," she greets warmly but still worriedly, showing none of the hero worship others might do. "We have the items, but it is not safe. I would suggest removing them from Coruscant entirely so the Imperials cannot claim them." Aramis checks the speeder read-outs, then slithers over the side. "Hang on, just have to check the electrocouple to the thrusters, make sure I didn't warp anything." With that, he disappears underneath the starboard thruster and flips open a hatch to stick his finger inside. "Ow," he mutters. "It's fine. Just hot." He pokes his head out to check on Skywalker and his friends, then swings back up into his seat. "Bloody hot," he adds, prodding at the coolant settings. Vengan grins at Aramis. "Stupid, don't go sticking your finger into hot engine hatches." He shakes his head, glancing at Kyrin and Brandis momentarily. After a moment the Marine slides across his seat and looks over the edge of the speeder at a landing port opposite, trying to pick out individuals in the crowd of people. He fishes for a monocular and presses it to his eye, scanning the crowd more thoroughly in search of any potential threats. R2-D2 beeps happily and sticks out a grappling arm, accepting the comm unit from Vengan and plugging it into one of his serial ports. Approaching Kyrin, Luke carries a dutiful expression on his face, and as soon as he sees that Kyrin doesn't appear shaken up, he keeps it that way. "I agree," he says. "Come with me," he says, beckoning her to follow. "Brandis, stay and guard that speeder." Once back at the speeder requisitioned by Aramis, he makes to address the lot of them, first giving Aramis and Vengan a briefing on the situation. "Tyrese, Vengan, this is Kyrin Sh'vani. The man over there is Brandis Finian, one of my Jedi Apprentices. He is in possession of some artifacts that are of critical importance to the Jedi Order. I cannot stress how important it is that these devices do not fall into the hands of the Sith." He looks over toward R2-D2. "Artoo, do you have that strategic map yet?" The droid beeps and whistles an affirmative, and broadcasts a large, three dimensional image of Coruscant. Areas shaded green indicate safely controlled NR zones, areas in red indicate hostile enemy areas, and non-shaded areas indicate areas the military has limited or no intel on--a standard strat-map. The green zones and red zones are about even, with an even greater area of non-shaded zones. "Zoom in on our current location, radius of 100 klicks." Artoo obeys Luke's order, and the image zooms in to show that most of the surrounding areas are unshaded, with the nearby Blockworth Garrison as shaded green. "Okay. We've got clear shots at reaching Blockworth and Headquarters, both green zones. We'll send Finian for HQ by himself, and head to Blockworth to summon some speeder and air patrols to guard him." That would be the plan, if it weren't for the change that takes place. Over the comm channels, suddenly alerts come in from the Blockworth Garrison - it is under attack by the rogue CorGuard agents! Vengan would be able to spot a series of airspeeders approaching on the horizon - most likely hostile and headed for Blockworth, but it will take them over their current location. "Ladies and gentlemen, this has just become a military operation." Vengan clicks his monocle shut and latches it back onto his utility vest. He sits back, activating the buffering chamber on his rifle and turning off the safety. He speaks in cool, professional tones as he does, looking out towards the horizon with a squint. "Five...maybe six airspeeders coming down on us, with one troop transport shuttle." He turns back to the shuttle group. "Sir, I'd recommend we drop a few hundred meters and take cover in the alleyways. Hopefully they haven't seen us yet, and they'll fly right over us and go for Blockworth. Otherwise, we'll have to deal with five to one odds, and frankly, I didn't bring enough ammunition." He sets his rifle on the edge of the shuttle, using it as a steadying post and getting low enough to use his sighting reticule. "Aramis, I hope that you still can maneuver this bird, because I think we're gonna need to do some fast flying to get out of this one," he mutters to the pilot. Aramis actually does give Kyrin a salute, and a grin. "Welcome back, ma'am," he says sincerely. And then he falls serious again. "Understood, sir." He looks over the map provided, frowning slightly as he listens to Luke's instructions. Vengan's alert has him sitting up straight and loosening his blaster in its holster, hateful thing that it is. "We can take the alleys, yes. Don't worry, I've got the coolant redirected. I don't think we need atmospheric cooling at the moment. Stupid luxury models. Let's see what we can do. I can keep us moving and out of trouble, you just tell us what you need, sir." He looks over at Luke and Kyrin and Brandis. "I've got my A-Wing on the ground, if nothing else. We might have a run at getting things off-planet if we have to try." Kyrin gives Aramis a rather troubled look at the 'welcome back' and the 'ma'am' bit, but she nods to what Luke has to say, glancing over to Brandis to make sure he heard. "I think someone should fetch Brandis' ship. The Rising Phoenix, with a gunner, would be better able to protect the items." Lovely YT-1300s. "But it is possible that it may be marked by the Imperials. I do not know. We came as swiftly and stealthily as possible." "Understood," replies Luke, turning to Kyrin. "Get back to Finian's speeder, we'll regroup down under." He thumbs toward the alleyways a few hundred meters down below, dangerously close to the undercity, as R2-D2 switches off the holo-feed and settles back in for the ride. "Lock on to comm frequency sixteen-seven-bravo," he calls to her, then hops back into Aramis' speeder. "Okay, let's go," he says, leaving the flying up to Aramis for now. He leans over and switches the speeder's inboard comm to the right frequency, so that they can continue to communicate with Kyrin and Brandis. "Check. Kyrin, I copy on the Rising Phoenix. Best bet is to play worst case scenario, and assume it's flagged hostile by the Empire." Aramis drops them out of the sky and away, relying mostly on thrusters and taking the power away from the repulsors. It's something of a controlled glide with a kick in the right direction, jerky at times as they drop sharply in the cover of buildings away from the enemy, so as not to catch attention, and then level out when they can be seen. Just another speeder toddling along in the skies of friendly old Coruscant here. "I knew I should have left you on the Rep," he grumbles at Vengan, completely lacking in sincerity. "But no. You said you'd keep me out of trouble. And I believed you. Last time, I tell you. Last time." "Hey, watch the road, flyboy!" Vengan shouts back at Aramis, though a broad grin belies his words. "And I'm doing a good job of it so far. I could have opened fire on them, just to see how many I could take down with me!" He lays flat on his back, then, propping his feet against the wall of the skimmer for support and aims his rifle skywards. An awkward position, yes, but the easiest way to look out for high-flying pursuers. He glances around the cabin. "Hey, Tyrese! Did you see a security vault on this bird? Should have a couple of emergency blasters in it, just in case!" He looks up, mutters a curse and lifts his rifle to his eye. "Two CorGuard shuttles coming in low and fast, folks! I think they've spotted us!" "Of course they have spotted us," Kyrin replies wearily as she heads back to Brandis and his speeder, whispering the instructions from the Jedi Master as she takes the controls once more, following the other speeder at seriously unsafe speeds, proving by the fact she's not crashed into anything that she hasn't lost her piloting skills during her incarceration. Having a bit of the advantage in speed and maneuverability, everyone can easily tell it won't be too long before the CorGuard speeders are in range. "Brandis, use your pistol, aim for the repulsorcoils," he instructs calmly over the open channel between the two speeders, then turns about to face the back end of their speeder. His lightsaber is ignited with a snapping hiss, and he shifts himself until he's leaning over the back seat, blade held aloft in a defensive position. "Here they come!" The two CorGuard speeders break off in either direction, one headed for Kyrin and Brandis, the other headed for the speeder Aramis flies. Blaster Cannons on both open up, peppering the sky between them. Two come dangerously close to the speeder, but Luke is quick to arc the lightsaber down and block them, sending them both off at a wide angle until they peg into the sides of a building. The lightsaber bounces a little each time, due to the heavier plasma load being deflected. "Whoa!" he cries, and moves another hand out to steady the saber's hilt. "Tyrese, they're ace shots. Let 'em get close enough that I can reach them!" Vengan adjusts his sighting reticule, dialing in the approximate range to the speeders. "Hey! Stop swerving, I can't get a clear shot!" he barks at Aramis. The Marine grits his teeth, muttering something about 'damn flyboys', and takes aim at the repulsorpods with his A280. A sharp retort cracks through the underlevels as he fires, then again, though the swerving and maneuvering of both vessels makes it hard to hit anything. "Yessir," Aramis says crisply, slouching down in his seat to make himself less of a target. "How about we hunt them instead? Shut up a second, Vengan, you'll get your shot. My job now." He turns the speeder right toward the enemy that Luke picked out for them, then directs all the power into the thrusters. "You did want closer, sir," he says to Luke. The speeder reaches full power in seconds and some of the oncoming fire rakes into the front of their speeder, for all that Aramis is slewing about in an arc along the axis of his approach. "I'll get you right there." Close-combat is ideal for the Jedi, terrible for everyone else. The noise of the thrusters is a roar and vision is obscured by fountains of sparks with each hit. The other speeder veers away, but Aramis sticks with it, cornering hard enough to take them up on their side and allowing those in the speeder with him a clear way right into the other speeder, if they're up for the jump or the shot. Kyrin keeps her speeder on course, letting Brandis take the shots that Luke instructs. Her course takes her around a power pylon of some kind, but she cuts it very very close. The speeder she's flying is whining worse than a kicked Jawa as she corners it around the pylon, making their profile harder to shoot at. "Good," replies Luke, who manages to deflect another pair of blasts, the others out of his reach and pegging into the speeder with the showering of sparks. He braces as the speeder corners, then vaults himself with the power of the Force into the air. An impossible leap, the Force propels him and he lands on the back end of the CorGuard speeder, causing it to bob once, and the Stormtroopers on board a moment of shock. It's all he needs. The lightsaber comes up in a swinging arc, separating the nearest trooper's head from his shoulders. Skywalker's left arm lurches out toward the other, and the Force lurches out, knocking the trooper over the left side of the speeder. He cries out in terror as he falls a few hundred meters into the depths of Coruscant, his cries echoing throughout the alleyways. This leaves the pilot and three more troopers to deal with, and they begin shooting at close range, right into a spiral of green energy created by Skywalker's Soresu defenses. Vengan turns his rifle away from Luke's blurring emerald defense, focusing his fire on the other pod. The young Marine takes a steadying breath, presses his shoulder firmly into the rifle's buttstock, and starts firing rapid, precise shots at the other repulsorpod's emitter. One of the thick bolts from his rifle hits hard, causing the pod's lifts to sputter and misfire. Vengan pumps his fist once, hissing triumphantly. "I hit him!" he shouts back to Aramis, before resuming his fire on the CorGuard shuttle, trying to bring it down hard. With the distraction of a lightsaber-wielding Jedi Master on board, the CorGuard speeder's pilot suddenly veers off hard to the left, and starts rising up and away from the pursuit of the other two speeders carrying the New Republic pilots and marine. Two deflected bolts send two of the Stormtroopers to their deaths, one slumping over with a hole in his chest, the other tipping over the side of the speeder and colliding with a maglev track forty meters down, where he's instantly electrocuted. The third Stormtrooper's blaster rifle is cut in two by Luke's lightsaber, and the Jedi shows no mercy where mercy is not intended. A hard kick to the Stormtrooper's helmet sends him losing his balance and falls over the same side, though he's fortunate enough to miss electrocution on the maglev track. As the CorGuard speeder fades from sight, Luke can vaguely be seen with his lightsaber put away, struggling with the pilot for control of the speeder.
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