Team and Snapshots

• Rian Snapshot
• Von Snapshot
• Appius Snapshot
• Aylin Snapshot
• Korvis Snapshot

Phase 1 Prompt

Tenixir Revenants: Teams pledged to the Expansionists and Retributionists have been tasked with boarding and disabling or destroying the Geta . The ship is defended by one TIE/LN and one TIE/SA Bomber squadron. The Principate’s VSD Vel , previously anchored in orbit, is approaching to protect the Geta but will take some time to arrive. It’s up to your team how you reach and board the Geta. Likewise, how you accomplish the ultimate goal of disabling or destroying the ship is your choice, but should be influenced by the alignment of your pledged sub-faction.

Revenant Expansionist upstream Command post
Dandoran
Doran System

Rian Taldrya strolled through the lines of hastily erected tents. Around him, members of the Expansionists, a sub-faction of the Tenexir Revenants buzzed from left to right. Men, and women, most of whom have never seen war before and thus more than happily obliged the orders given to them by the members of the Brotherhood who had aligned to their cause. For the mirialan, after all these years, war has become somewhat common, yet every war was different and while after years of Clans uniting under the call of the Grandmaster to fight for a common cause, the Dark Lord has forwarded the pleadings of both the Severian Principate and the Tenexir Revenants directly to every member of the Brotherhood, along with the opportunity to rise and shine – and each and every one had answered with the Brotherhood once more being torn apart in a quest for personal glory.

High above them thunder roared, causing a young woman to drop the crate she carried to the ground. Like her, Rian knew all too well it wasn’t a weather condition, but battles between pilots skilled or daring enough to engage in atmospheric dogfights, and one of them just had lost. Helping the woman up, he gave her an encouraging smile while catching a glimpse of two familiar faces, or better said one, as he had never seen the other one’s face behind the tinted visors. The one wearing bright red armor with an unmistakingly golden lightning crest among its chest, gave him a wink.

Walking over to the tent where the two Taldryanites were he realized that Appius and Aylin were accompanied by two more persons whom he hadn’t met before.

“Rian,” the taldryan Proconsul called when he entered the tent. “just the man I was looking for.”

“Von and I just received the latest intel from the Revenants Leadership.” Appius continued. “It looks like the Principate is setting up a blockade in orbit using an Immobilizer 418-class cruiser to prevent any reinforcements to make planetfall.”

“And for that reason the Revenant Leadership has ordered for it to be neutralized.” Von took up. “But apparently with the Brotherhood not standing together, our lines are too thin to just nuke it from the sky.”

“That is why we are setting up a team to neutralize the cruiser from within.” Appius again took the lead. “So what do you say? We could definitely use your help for this endeavour.”

Of course he would never deny another member of Taldryan asking for his help but this sense of unity coming from Appius and Von was what Rian had missed in this war. “I am game.”

“You sure they won’t spot us in this shuttle?” Aylin asked, her gaze worrying on the former Consul relying on the droid controlling the ship.

“Yeah, I mean, Arcee has been piloting since before the Clone Wars, if someone can get us unseen to the Geta it’s him.” Rian was interrupted by the chirping of the modified Astromech.

“Speaking off, Von, Aylin, we are coming up on the Geta just now.”

The Skakoan nodded, moving over to the communication panel of the modified Upsilon Shuttle.

Fingers flying over the controls, when Aylin created sensory shadows that mimicked enemy craft engaging the shuttle while Von opened a comm channel: “Principate Cruiser Geta, this is First Order Shuttle SH-0298 requesting clearance for landing. We are currently engaged in firefights with unknown enemy forces while returning a fugitive criminal back to the First Order.”

The answer didn’t take long: “Negative First Order Shuttle, we are currently engaged in firefights with enemies of the Severian Principate.”

“Arcee, give them a bit more of a show,” Rian whispered to the droid who beeped affirmatively, making the shuttle wave from left to right as it approached the Immobilizer’s underside.

Taking the helpful hint, Von stepped up his game at the comms: “Negative Geta, we are taking heavy hits. Initiating landing sequence.”

The Geta’s comm officer’s denials were cut short when the shuttle entered the Geta’s hangar bay only a few seconds later.

The result of Aylin’s, Von’s and Arcee’s performance must have given the Geta’s deck crew a great show when the shuttle came to a skidding halt.

“What the hell are you doing?” An approaching Stormtrooper yelled up into the ship but stopped and raised his blaster rifle the moment he saw two hulking Mandalorians approaching him. “Stop, don’t move.”

“Stay put.” Rian’s voice boomed from behind the mandalorian warriors. The Taldrya now clad in the garb of a high-ranking First Order officer moved past them followed by Aylin and the seemingly shackled Von. “These two belong to my task force.”

The trooper hesitated for a brief moment, lowering his rifle only slightly but immediately raised it again when he received orders from the command bridge.

Before the trooper was able to fulfill his orders, a red bolt of superheated plasma shot past the unusual teammates and straight into the forehead of the stormtrooper. At once all eyes turned in search of the shooter: Korvis.

The body of the trooper slumped down to the ground with a hard thud. For a moment, none of the Geta’s crew responded to the shock of watching their comrade get gunned down in front of their eyes. That all changed very quickly as a platoon of highly trained shock troopers approached the invader’s position.

“Korvis!” Von bellowed loudly.

“What are you doing!?” This time it was Appius’ turn to voice his disapproval.

“What the hell!?” One of the stormtroopers cried out.

“Get them!” A second called.

“OPEN FI…”

Snap-Hiss!

The third trooper, supposedly their commander, never finished his sentence as an emerald coloured saberstaff whirled through the air like a flying guillotine and severed his head, along with his comrades beside him. The saberstaff hummed through the air, slicing through the closest soldiers to them before Appius caught it in his right hand.

The Taldryan Proconsul sliced through the cufflinks that bound the Skakoan’s wrists together as a smorgasbord of blaster fire broke out in the hangar. Plasma pinged off durasteel and storage crates like a collection of angry hornets. The five Brotherhood members were forced to take cover behind one of the larger, rectangular storage units which thankfully kept them concealed for the moment.

“Alright then, Mr Consul. Since you are apparently full of bright ideas, what’s your plan for getting us out of this one?”

“Appius, now is not the time for sarcasm!” Von scolded.

“Credits, not words. I do not approve of acting like cowards to achieve our goal. This is the way,” Korvis explained.

“You know what isn’t the way? Getting us all killed because you are a frakking idiot!” Appius berated. The shock troopers unloaded with their blaster turrets upon the container as the sound of impending doom encroached ever closer.

“We need to work together!” Rian interjected before things got too heated between the two Mandalorians. “If we are to be successful, teamwork is key.”

Whilst the men were busy bickering amongst themselves, the Nautolan took the opportunity to hack into Geta’s security feed for the hangar. A collection of ones and zeros appeared on the screen of Aylin’s datapad as she painstakingly tapped her fingers on the datapad like a player trying to achieve a new high score in her favourite game.

“I got it!” Aylin cheered excitedly as she shoved the datapad into Von’s hands. “Rian, look!”

The Miralian quickly analyzed the security feed before handing over the datapad to the Jedi and pointing at what he saw too.

“That’ll work!” the Jedi exclaimed. “That’s our way out, but we will need a distraction.”

“Leave that to me,” Aylin declared confidently. The green-skinned woman reached into her backpack and retrieved a cylindrical object. She pulled the pin at the very top and threw it around the corner from them. It ruptured and hissed as fumes of pitch black smoke covered the area around them.

“Now!” Aylin cried as the group of five pressed themselves against the nearby wall. Under the cover of darkness, and with a lack of visibility protecting them for the moment, the Savant plunged his saberstaff into the wall and began to carve an entrance for them through the durasteel. The troopers shot aimlessly into the fog, and the shots that were on target were reflected by the sabers of both Von and Rian, who skillfully defended the group from certain death.

Thirty seconds later, Appius pressed the palm of his hand against his handiwork and summoned the Force into his hand. The Durasteel wall fell and crashed into an adjacent hallway, safely out of the way of imminent danger.

“Let’s go!” The Mandalorian Force User shouted over the plasma that soared around them. They filed into the hallway one by one, with Korv being the last. The Vizsla Consul spun on the spot, prepped his Amban rifle, and as the smog cleared, shot at a trooper before they could retaliate further. The white-armoured Principate soldier disintegrated into ash as Korvis ducked for cover in the hallway.

“Left is the engine room, straight ahead is the command bridge,” Aylin said quickly. They had seconds to decide before they were overwhelmed by troopers. “Which way?”

“The engine room would be the wisest choice.” Von declared. “Stopping the ship from escaping to hyperspace is paramount to the success of our mission. We must fight our way to the engine room where Aylin can rig us up with an ion explosive to disable the hyperdrive.”

“You want me to do what?!” Aylin asked incredulously.

“Create an ion explosive to disable the hyperdrive.” The skakoan repeated. “Such a task should be within your abilities, should it not?”

The Nautolan’s big red eyes stared at Von. The request was surprising but Aylin was pleased to see the confidence the Skakoan had in her ability to make such a demand.

“Of course it is!” Alyin replied with a smile. “Might take a minute to rig up but the engine room should be full of things I can use to get it offline.”

“We’ll make sure to protect you while you do,” Von reassured.

The Jedi strode forward, turning left around the corner towards the engine room, right into a squad of stormtroopers.

“Blast them!” a trooper yelled as they began firing.

Von’s amethyst blade whirled into action, intercepting shots as he placed himself in front of the group.

Appius stood ready to intercept any shots the Jedi missed.

Korvis returned fire, a blast from his Amban sniper smashed into the helmet of the Stormtrooper commander, who fell like a marionette with its strings cut.

The patter of footsteps on durasteel alerted Rian to the pursuing Stormtroopers.

“They followed us in!” He shouted as he turned to face the new threat.

Batting aside blasterfire with his offhand he jammed his mainhand saber through the chest of the nearest Stormtrooper. Lifting him into the air the Mirialan hurled the trooper into the men behind him, knocking them to the deck of the starship.

Aylin capitalized on this, grenade launcher in hand, as she fired an explosive into the cluster of bodies.

Appius knew they had to get to the engine room before any more troops came. He raised his left hand and shot a burst of violet electricity into a stormtrooper which arced throughout the whole squad. The human kept his hand raised as the lightning coursed in a steady stream, sending the group twitching to the floor.

“To the engine room now!” Von yelled.

The group ran down the hallway. They gathered by the door to the Engine Room. Testing the open mechanism they found it sealed tight.

“I can slice it!” Aylin exclaimed as she stepped towards the door panel.

“No time.” Von declared. “Appius, Rian, I require your aid. We will force the door open.”

The trio deactivated their sabers and raised their palms to chest height. In unison they pushed forward with their arms, sending the Force into the door in front of them. WIth their power combined the door bent and broke, flying inwards into the room and startling the technicians and workers within.

“I suggest you all surrender.” Von declared as he entered the room and ignited his saber.

The technicians cowered in fear and confusion. A blaster bolt whizzed into one of them, who fell over with a scream.

Turning around Von’s eyes narrowed in anger as he saw the smoking barrel of Korvis’ Amban.

“I’d suggest you listen to the big guy.” The Mandalorian stated.

“Korvis! WE DO NOT KILL PRISONERS!” Von shouted in rage.

“Relax. They haven’t even surrendered yet. I’m just enticing them a little.” Korvis replied glibly.

“W…we surrender! Please don’t hurt us.” One of the technicians called as he raised his trembling arms.

“You see Von? You should try doing things my way sometime.” Korvis snarked

“We’ll speak about this later.” Von spoke through gritted teeth. “Aylin, can you get started on that Ion bomb?”

“Sure thing boss!” Aylin chirped. “Just keep the stormies off my back while I work.”

Von nodded as the group moved to more defensible positions.

Korvis moved to the corner of the room and crouched behind a piece of machinery. He braced his rifle on the machine, ready to fire on anyone who entered the room.

The three Force users placed themselves in the center of the room as they prepared to intercept any blaster fire they may have to face.

Aylin quickly got to work on constructing an ion bomb out of her own grenade and the one she got from Von. Getting her tools from her belt and pockets she let out a yelp as a stray shot went past her head.

“Guys… I know I work better under pressure, but keep those bolts away from me and the grenades!” Aylin scolded them.

As a result, more shots went flying their way as the troopers that were trying to advance. They might have heard part of what she said.

“Gah!” Aylin quickly grabbed the grenades and tried to hide behind a console column in between the engines. “Bastards,” she muttered under her breath before she went to carefully open the mechanics of the explosives.

Meanwhile on the other side of the room the Force users were trying their best to take out the troopers as fast as they could by redirecting the bolts back at them. Korvis took out trooper after trooper that tried to round the corner.

“Aylin… How far are you?” Von asked.

“Hey, I just got started. You can’t make a bomb in a flash, unless you want to end up as one,” Aylin said with a grin on her face.

Von shook his head slightly and glanced towards Appius, “Are you sure it is safe to work with her?”

“Of course,” Appius replied, “Why did you think I brought her along?”

Von wanted to answer that, but kept the comment to himself. When he looked back into the hallway he now saw heavier reinforcements coming their way.

“Aylin! Get that thing ready!”

“What? I’m doing my best,” Aylin said as she dared to glance around the console, “A frakk…Right… Give me one more minute and pray to whatever you believe in.”

Aylin hurriedly worked further on the bomb and installed it on the pedestal before her. Moments later she was done and grinned at her handy work.

“Ok guys, the bomb is ready and armed. Maybe we should run!” Aylin yelled at them.

“We’ve gotta go now,” Appius barked out, “Use the force and jetpacks, Clear the way!”

With that the Jedi and Force Disciples augmented their speed and sped out of the room, troopers falling dead to the floor before they even knew what hit them. The two mercenaries followed suit with their respective jetpacks. Sounds of blaster fire erupting behind them as their enemies tried in vain to match their speed. As the sound of battle waned behind them the team slowed down to await the explosion.

“Shouldn’t it have gone off by now?” The semi-metallic voice of Von asked through his pressure suit.

“Look, it’s not rocket scie…” The Taldryanite started to reply. However, it was at that moment the shudder of the makeshift Ion bomb was felt. The shockwave emanating down the corridors of the ship. Everyone staggered just a little as the sudden lack of propulsion kicked in. Alarms redoubled as the ship was now dead in space.

“See, I told ya it would work.” the cocksure Nautolan replied with a smirk.

“We are wasting time with this babble, we have a mission to finish,” Korvis interjected as he turned towards the bridge and strode off a blaster pistol at the ready. “Let us not keep the captain waiting.”

“Well, isn’t he just as bright as Tatooine’s suns,” Aylin said mockingly, eliciting several snorts of muffled laughter as they followed towards the bridge.

Bridge level
Interdictor Gant

The turbo-lift opened to a hail of blaster fire and was met with a rolling Denton grenade. The sight of it sent troopers in a panic to escape the blast radius, but it was too late as the shockwave and explosions ripped them and half the corridor apart. Causing a renewed maelstrom of blaster fire.
Lightsabers spun in the air deflecting the bolts back in the direction of their originators as the team moved out of the lift and towards cover. Returning fire with their pistols, Korvis and Aylin hugged the edge of the beams on either side of the room.

It seems the captain had called half the ship to ambush the raiding party. Which explains the minimal resistance that the team had getting here. Korvis had hoped it was because they were all on the engineering decks attempting to repair the engines, but alas, that was not the case. However, the grenade had done its job clearing out the majority of the troopers which let the team mop up the rest. They now stood in front of the sealed bridge door. Carnage and destruction at their backs, and the captain and control of the ship behind one massive obstacle.

One massive obstacle that suddenly became a whole lot bigger when an extra two layers of durasteel covered the bridge door, barring their entry.

“The frakking nerve!” Aylin swore, huffing and crossing her arms in front of her chest. “That was so rude!”

“Regardless, we need a way in,” Rian replied calmly, as was expected of a former Consul.

“We can cut through it with our lightsabers!” Von suggested eagerly. No sooner had he spoken the words that the blast doors suddenly opened with the loud grinding of steel on steel.

“Or I can hack the terminal right beside the door,” the Nautolan said with just a slight smugness to her voice, causing Von to sputter a slightly embarrassed cough.

“Erm… right. That too,” the Skakoan said sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head.

The group of five entered the command bridge to the scrambling of officers and engineers working to fight the raid group that journeyed throughout the ship. Clinging to every side of the hexagonal shaped room stood advanced computers that controlled the life support systems, communication relays and the engines when they worked.

One gutsy trooper stepped forward with the intention of putting a blaster bolt in the side of Rian’s head. Unfortunately, the trooper was bold, but stupid. The moment he raised his arms, a bolt of lightning erupted out of Appius’ fingertips and coiled round the Principate soldier like a snake. The body dropped seconds later, charred, dead, and broken.

“Appius!” Von protested. “We are supposed to minimise casualties!”

The Mandalorian shrugged in response as the rest of the command bridge fell eerily silent.

“I am preventing casualties… on our side.”

The Jedi was about to voice his displeasure further when more blasters primed on their positions, courtesy of the engineers on the other side of the room. Ten in total, but these were not trained soldiers. They were technicians. Trained only to use a blaster in life or death circumstances, as was evidenced by how some hands shook as they pointed their weaponry at the group.

“Lower your weapons. You are not trained soldiers. Do not get yourselves killed trying to be a hero,” sounded a loud, grizzled Human male that appeared from amongst the chaos. He sported a pristine white admiral uniform. His cybernetic left eye peered on each member of the group whilst his weathered, wrinkled face told of his many years of experience. His ghostly white hair was kept short, but gelled and well-maintained.

“Are you the Captain of this ship?” Inquired the Vizsla Consul, stepping forward ahead of the rest of the group.

“I am indeed. My name is Sebastian Yarrick. I’ve been in charge of this vessel for thirty years now. These are my crew, they are good people. Take what you want, but leave them alive.”

Suddenly, Appius, Rian and Von felt a shift in the Force. Aylin watched as all three Force User’s tensed seemingly out of nowhere.

“Korvis, don’t!” Von pleaded, but it was already too late. The Rattataki Mercenary raised his Amban to the Captain’s face and without a shred of mercy, pulled the trigger. Sebastian recoiled from the shot as his body dropped lifelessly to the ground. Members of the crew observed the horror with gasps and clenched fists.

“You see that?” Korvis exclaimed, pointing to the Captain’s corpse. “This is what will happen to you if any of you defy us. This ship is now under Expansionist control and you will do as we say. Is that clear?”

The Vizsla Consul fired a stray shot from his rifle into a nearby terminal as sparks hissed from the electronics.

“I said, is that clear!?” Korvis yelled, finally getting the confirmation from the crew he wanted when a bright blue lightsaber blade appeared inches from the Consul’s throat.

“That’s enough,” Rian ordered bluntly with an intense look in his eyes. The Miralian and Korvis had a staredown for a few moments until the Mandalorian relented.

“Fine.”

That was all Korvis said. Rian sheathed his weapon, satisfied the ship was now under their control with no further loss of life needed. The Nautolan swiped from her datapad, relaying a message to Zyft Yadar.

We have secured the Geta, what are our next objectives?

It took little time to receive the Zygerrian’s response from her command post.

New target is Principate Destroyer Vel. Destroy at all costs. Your sacrifice will be remembered.

“A suicide mission then it seems,” the Skakoan stated matter of factly. “Not what we had planned.”

Logically the 5 of them could not in fact pull the same maneuver on a Severian Star Destroyer at battle ready status. The Geta had been caught off guard before the majority of the battle had started. The Destroyer would blast them out of the sky without one ounce of hesitation now.

“We need a plan now before that destroyer gets within firing range,” Appius said, “Any ideas?”

“We are adrift in space in an Interdictor with no engines, no manpower and have a Star destroyer on its way to turn us into space dust. I can’t believe I am saying this but we need to get off this metal coffin and planet side where we can continue the fight,” replied the hulking Mirilan, Rian.

“We have a contract to fulfill, credits not words,” Korvis responded, staring down Rian. “There will be no retreat.”

“That is your Creed, not mine. You can’t spend credits when you’re dead, tin man.”

“What did you call me?” the Vizsla consul asked as he drew his massive beskar vibroaxe from his back and walked toward Rian. “The force won’t save you from me, you won’t be the first or last Jedi I kill.”

Quickly placing himself between the two egos, Von did his best to talk them down. It was stalling them from blows but he could sense it was not working, the frustration and anger boiling out of them both. Appius too sensed the ensuing conflict and joined him in holding the Mandalorian and Obelisk at bay by forcing them to go through their own clanmates to get at each other. In the end it was Aylin that broke the charged atmosphere in the room.

“I got it, while you two lunkheads were fighting each other I downloaded the schematics of the ship and have an idea,” she announced. “We can reboot the engines from the engine bay, would have been easier if a certain someone hadn’t shot the head of engineering. That will get us moving. I can slice the controls there and set a timed jump to hyperspace straight through the Vel destroying both ships. We will just have to make it out of here before it jumps.”

“And the crew of this ship?” Von asked, looking at his Consul.

“We jettison the escape pods before we head back to engineering, no survivors.” The Rattattaki responded coldly.

“NO, that is not happening, you would doom them without even a chance at escape!”

“It is war, they knew the risk when they signed up.”

“Or we let them get picked up by the Revenants and interrogated. There could be a lot of intel there.” Appius responded. “Dead soldiers are not always as useful as live ones.”

“Dead soldiers, don’t shoot back. I will be heading to the engine room, do what you will.” The Mandalorian retorted as he turned his back and headed back out of the bridge to the lift.

While everyone set to follow Korvis back to the engine room, the Taldrya let all of them pass except Appius.

“Appius,” Rian grabbed the shoulder of the Proconsul. “You are right. There has already been too much bloodshed on this mission. Good soldiers follow orders but that doesn’t mean they are doing so blindly. If we at least give them the chance to escape…”

“Showing at least a sense of mercy may be counted in favor of the Revenants.” the mandalorian concluded scanning the nearby consoles.

Having found what he was looking for, he walked over to one of the consoles, tapping a series of keys.

“You made the right choice.” Rian encouraged the younger Taldryanite. “Let’s get to the others.”

Aylin, Korvis and Von had almost made it back to the turbolift when the air was split by a set of wailing sounds. Eyes switched back and forth between the group.

“What the frak is this?” Korvis asked.

Tapping her pad Aylin responded immediately: “Looks like someone on the bridge sent out a ship-wide evacuation alert.”

Korvis was pretty sure on which wimp said someone had been but this wasn’t the time to deal with him.

“Can you stop it?” He asked, anger boiling up within him when he saw the two taldryan stragglers nearing.

“Piece of cake.” Aylin replied, her fingers already dancing over her datapad.

“No wait, I got a better idea.” Korvis said, a sinister level of coldness emanating from him. “Launch the escape pods, all of them!”

An uncomfortable silence settled over the trio after that proclamation.

“You can’t be serious, Korvis.” Von stated in an affronted tone. “The ship will crash and complete our objective either way, why cause any more death when we don’t need to? Surely you realize such casualties are pointless?”

The Rattataki let out a growl in response. “Why should we bother saving our enemy? Our mission is to weaken the Principate, not ferry them away to safety. If you two won’t launch the escape pods then I will.”

Attempting to step forward, Korvis found his way barred by Von, who stepped in front of him.

“I won’t let you do this, Korvis. Not when there is a better way.”

“So be it.”

The Force sang out in warning. Von twisted his body sideways, narrowly avoiding the sudden punch Korvis threw his way.

“Korvis! What the frakk are you doing?”

“Completing the mission. Now step aside.”

Von didn’t bother to dignify that with a response. Stepping forward he threw a clumsy punch of his own. Korvis absorbed the blow with his left arm before rearing back and smashing his right fist into Von’s face.

The Skakoan stumbled backwards from the impact. His vision blurred and he only remained conscious due to an instinctive usage of the Force.

“Aylin! Resend that evacuation alert. I’ll keep Korvis occupied.”

Von felt a sense of unease. He stood no chance against his consul in a fistfight; the blow he received was evidence enough of that. But he didn’t have to win. He just had to last long enough. A smile blossomed behind his mask, now this was a situation he was comfortable with.

The Jedi allowed the Force to flow through him. He rushed towards his opponent at an accelerated speed. His arms slipped under Korvis and he held on with all his strength.

Korvis threw blow after blow into Von. Repeated knee strikes slammed into his chest, breaking his armor and shattering the pressure suit underneath. The suit let out a hisss as the pent up methane gas began to leak.

Through it all Von held onto his foe. The Force reduced the methane he needed to survive, allowing him to maximize every breath. It dulled the pain from each strike and allowed him to endure.

“I’ve got it guys! Alert sent.” Aylin chirped as she turned around. She immediately spotted the gas leaking from Von’s suit. “I’m no doctor but I don’t think the suit is supposed to be doing that. Why don’t you back off for a second and let me take a look at him, Korvis?”

The Consul pushed his subordinate to the ground before drawing his blaster pistol and aiming it at Aylin, who froze.

“Stay back. This is a Clan Vizsla matter.”

Von pushed himself off the ground. “This isn’t you Korvis.” He wheezed. His eyes widened. Maybe this wasn’t Korvis. The man followed his own code but could be reasoned with. This wasn’t like his leader at all.

The Jedi closed his eyes and began to meditate, trusting the Force to keep him alive long enough to confirm his suspicions. As he connected with Korvis he could feel an alien sensation, an oily blight which seemed rooted in his mind. It wasn’t just Korvis either. He could feel the presence from several soldiers on the ship.

Von’s Kyber crystals floated out of his pockets and began to glow. His awareness expanded further, encompassing Dandoran and the space around it. It became harder to concentrate as his head began to throb but the Skakoan could feel the presence among sentients in every faction.

His vision swam and he saw an image. A woman with black hair and covered eyes, with some sort of animal skull on her head. A bizarre crystal floated in front of her, exuding the presence that Von could sense.

A harmonic song filled his being, his kyber crystals sang of freedom, of sacrifice.

Von knew what he had to do.

Grasping a Kyber crystal in each hand he willed. He hoped. He poured his very self into them. Dandoran would be free.

A massive Force Pulse swept across Dandoran space, freeing friend and foe alike from the Sith Ritual of the Seer.

Von collapsed to the floor as his Kyber crystals crumbled to dust. He began to cough from exertion and lack of methane to breath.

Korvis lowered his blaster and stepped backwards as Aylin ran over and began to examine the pressure suit.

The Jedi looked up mournfully. “I can’t feel it.” He told Aylin.

“Can’t feel what?”

“I can’t feel the Force.”

“What? How?” Aylin inquired as she looked for a way to seal the pressure suit again. She didn’t understand much about Space Magic, but she knew it was important to the Space Wizards.

“It must have been something he did with the Force that disconnected him,” Appius explained. “But we need to get going.”

“You guys go, I need to help him first,” Aylin stated as she pulled some items from her many pockets. “Go do your jobs!”

Aylin didn’t bother to look up at them again as feet slowly started walking and set to work on fixing the suit of Von. She had to be careful not to spill more of the gasses than she wanted and hoped that she could fix it before the suit ran out of it.

After a moment the hissing stopped, and Aylin let out a sigh in relief as she sat back and looked up towards Von’s face.

“Von? Are you alright?”

There was no response.

Aylin poked his head. “Hey! Wake up! Your suit is fixed.”

There came a startled gasp from Von as he opened his eyes, “You stayed?”

“Of course, silly. I fixed your suit,” she said with a grin. “Come, the others went ahead to clear the path.”

“Get to work!” They heard Korvis yelling when Aylin and Von entered the engine room and the personnel were scurrying around to get the engines working again that had been stopped from evacuation.

“What the frakk are you doing!?” Aylin exclaimed as she put her hands on her sides.

The group turned around to face their comrades. Appius and Rian both let out a chuckle when they saw the handy work on Von’s suit, a big smiley made of glitter. The Skakoan sent a curious look back towards them.

“I see you left your trademark on Von’s suit,” Appius commented.

“We got no time for this,” Korvis interjected and grabbed Aylin’s arm, “We need to to help fix this.”

“Hey!” Aylin yelled as she pulled herself free from him, “Hold your kaadu’s, I know what to do.”

Aylin set back to work and motioned to some of the personnel to help her. With some reasoning she was able to get them to help in a more effective manner and it didn’t take them too long to get some life back into the engines and the ship.

“Aaaaand done!” Aylin cheered triumphantly as klaxons and alarms blared, flashed, and rang out through every corner of the ship. All five Brotherhood members turned their attention to the sirens and the voice that came from them as te ship’s crew started stampeding towards any exit they could find.

All personnel, please evacuate the ship immediately. We are under attack and we have lost control of the Geta. The ship is set for a collision with the Vel in five minutes. This is not a drill. I repeat, this is not a drill!

“That’s our cue! Let’s get the hell out of here!” Appius claimed. The Mandalorian didn’t need to wait for a response as all five members of the group began to take their leave. However, they barely made it through the first set of durasteel blast doors before one, in particular, began to lag behind.

Von dropped to his knees, winded, exhausted and unable to stand on his own power. Losing the Force had taken a terrible toll on him both mentally and physically.

“Von!?” Appius declared, turning around to help the Vizsla member. The Mandalorian Force User dropped beside the Skakoan and placed his hands on his shoulders. “Von? You ok there?”

There was no response for a few moments, until two words, barely louder than a whisper, nearly lost under the sound of the klaxons, were heard.

“Leave me…”

Von’s words came as a shock to Appius, and to the rest of the group that caught up behind him.

“Leave me, without the Force I… I don’t know what I am… I lost the very thing that made me who I am. What should I do now? Who… Or what do I become?” Von spoke gingerly before slamming one fist into the durasteel floor.

“You are talking nonsense.”

Everyone was surprised, especially Von himself, to hear the words come out of Korvis’ mouth.

“You are a member of Clan Vizsla. The Battleteam Leader of Deathwatch. Do you think we appointed you that position because of your Force sensitivity? No. We care not for that. You were given that position because of your ambition, your drive, and your hunger. You carried that with you when you had the Force, and you will carry it without it. The Force does not make a man. So, quit it with the attitude, or we really will leave you here,” Korvis finished, making his ultimatum clear. It seemed to stir the Skakoan as he raised his head slightly.

“You’re right,” Von muttered, confidence returning to him.

“But he still can’t move,” this time it was Rian’s turn to interject, though silently he was glad there was at least something resembling a conscience in the Vizsla Consul.

“I have a plan for that,” Appius suddenly declared with a mischievous tone in his voice. “Von, do you remember Lyra Colony?”

Begrudgingly, Von did remember, and his heart sank as he realised what was coming next.

The Geta
Hangar Bay

Rian was the first to emerge from the hole that they carved into the hallway. His ship was one of his pride and joy in this galaxy, and to suddenly see it surrounded by a platoon of troopers was disheartening to say the least. The troops all turned on the Miralian Juggernaut and prepped their blasters.

“This is our ship, our escape out of here! Find your own!” Shouted one overly confident Trooper as his finger pressed against the trigger of his blaster.

A shot fired, but not from the Trooper, but from Korvis’ Amban. It crashed into the troopers sternum and turned him into a pile of ash on the ground. Rian took the opportunity to activate his lightsabers before, then leaping into the fray. In seconds, the small group was nothing more than a pile of corpses on the ground.

“I wish I didn’t have to do that,” the former Taldryan Consul lamented as he sheathed his weapons.

Korvis barged past the Elder, completely ignoring him as his hard boots clanged against the metal ramp leading up to the ship. Aylin followed suit, gently giving Rian a nudge on his arm and a small smile as she passed, the kind that could warm even the bleakest of hearts.

Then there was the last two…

“This is humiliating! You are just the worst, Appius! Just the worst!” Von screamed over the klaxons.

“You started this, Von! This is your fault!” Responded the Taldryan Proconsul, laughing hysterically as he carried the Skakoan on his back like he was some sort of giant child. Rian just sighed, and followed them into the ship after they ran inside.

Aylin fired up the thrusters, and together the five Brotherhood members evacuated the Geta as the ship was about to collide with the Vel. A mighty fireball erupted as two behemoth freighters collided, causing a shockwave that rocked the group’s ship even in the distance.

“Well, that was close,” Aylin declared, pointing out the obvious. “So… Tipool City, then?”

“Ay, Tipool City. Maybe we can have a talk with Zyft when we get there,” Appius answered.

The rest of the journey took place in silence as they followed the numerous escape pods down to Dandoran’s surface.