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<blockquote data-quote="Angcuru" data-source="post: 3209019" data-attributes="member: 10948"><p><strong>19 - Intentions</strong></p><p></p><p>Kal, Jorran, and Adrial stood tight back to back in a tight triangular formation to keep themselves covered from the incoming blaster fire. The three apprentice Sethi kept their defenses up, moving towards the closest group of stormtroopers who poured fire onto them as they approached, most blasts deflected by skillful manipulation of their lightsabers, and others missing entirely. As soon as they closed within melee range, the Sethi pounced on the stormtrooper formation that had taken cover from the <em>Dawnsprinter</em>'s E-Webs. </p><p></p><p>Jorran dashed towards the nearest trooper, dodging a blast before his blade seared a neat furrow through the trooper's chestplate. Adrial maintained a defensive position, covering Kal and Jorran from errant fire while they engaged the enemy. As Kal charged into the fray, felling a trooper with a thrust through his helm, one of the troopers leapt at him with a vibroblade slashing for his throat. With great agility, Kal tore his blade through the side of his last foe's head and struck the vibroblade full on, cleaving it in twain near the hilt. With a quick step to the left and a flick of his wrist, he eviscerated the hapless Stormtrooper. </p><p></p><p>Although half of the troopers were still standing, the blaster fire ceased. Kal looked up from the corpse of his fallen enemy and saw that the remaining troopers had given up on their blasers and all drawn full length vibroblades, also having taken cover by the other side of the shuttle. Six troopers cautiously approached the three apprentices, sizing them up and forming a circle around the Sethi learners as they moved closer. Ten of them had formed a ring around Arias, who watched them cooly with seven dismembered troopers laying motionless at his feet. Another four were backed up against the shuttle, stared down by Miera. Not far away the pack of nightstalkers was busy dragging away their kill, apparently having no more interest in the fight. Several troopers were slowly crawling towards their shuttle, one of them with one hand clutched to his throat as though trying to keep his flesh whole.</p><p></p><p>An eerie silence fell over the bloodied field. The Sethi stood, waiting for the troopers' next move. The Imperial soldiers clearly saw that they were obscenely outmatched, with half their number dead without wounding even a single one of their opponents. Kia stood cautiously to the side with her blaster pistol at the ready, having rushed down out of her ship once the enemy had moved out of the E-webs' field of fire. Aasan watched from the foliage with his rifle fixed on the troopers who were facing down Adrial and the other apprentices, curious at the lull in the fighting. </p><p></p><p>One of the Imperials behind Arias changed his footing slightly, crushing a dry branch underfoot with a sharp <em>snap</em>. Arias instantly leapt backwards into the air with blurring speed and whirled his double blade, taking the heads of that trooper and his nearest two allies. The fighting broke out again in earnest as Kia and Aasan both shot the same trooper, hitting him in the front and back simultaneously to put him quickly to the ground.</p><p></p><p>The troopers surrounding Kal, Jorran and Adrial rushed them as one, each attacking from a different angle. Polished durasteel flashed, two blades for each apprentice. Kal forced himself to ignore the attacks to his friends and utilizing parry and riposte as he had moments before. The fallen trooper formed a hole in the offensive circle just as an he saw a blade arc towards him and felt it rake across his ribs. Jorran immediately took advantage of the opening Kal had made. The former padawan darted over the still form to take up a position outside the trooper's circle, his subsequent strike downing Kal's attacker and further widening the gap. Adrial backed up through the opening side by side with Kal, concentrating hard not the stare at the stormtrooper who had just met his end on her blade. Shining steel met blazing energy once more, and then all was quiet. </p><p></p><p>Adrial took a deep breath and shivered. <em>So this is what real battle is like</em>. She had tried to prepare herself for the carnage, anticipating horror at the slaughter. In reality however, she felt little difference between this and when she had to defend herself from the local predators. She looked about and saw that nearly all of the troopers lay unmoving on the ground. Four were propped up against the assault shuttle's landing supports, obviously wounded and under close guard by Aasan who crouched in front of them, blaster rifle held loosely but ready to be used if necessary. Only one trooper with an orange pauldron indicating rank was standing, Kia's blaster in his face discouraging any movement. A ragged breath from nearby broke Adrial's reverie. </p><p></p><p>Adrial saw Kal leaning on Jorran, arm across the older man's shoulder for support. The gash across Kal's chest was ghastly, and bled freely. "I'm not much one for healing." Jorran said calmly, though with concern edging his voice. Kal's eyes were fixed on her, though with great effort from the lack of focus in his eyes. Adrial blinked in confusion for moment before tentatively reaching out and adjusting Kal's light robe to get a better look at the wound. She winced at the sight. The vibroblade must have struck at just the wrong angle for the ribs to be visibly scored so badly. The young woman placed a hand lightly on the gash and concentrated on wellness, but all she felt was weariness leaving Kal. The wound remained intact despite her efforts.</p><p></p><p>Kal shivered for a moment, then looked down at his chest. He briefly saw a slice as long as his hand caked in blood and still oozing dark blood before Adrial tucked his robes back into place. "To help slow the bleeding," she said to his puzzled look, "I couldn't completely heal it, but at least you won't pass out now. Jorran, we need to take him to Miera."</p><p></p><p>"That won''t be necessary." Jorran replied, gesturing towards Miera and Arias, who she had not noticed approaching.</p><p></p><p>"Miera, Kal has been wounded but I couldn't completely heal it." Adrial said quickly. Miera stepped wordlessly towards Kal, throwing his robes open and examining the wound closely.</p><p></p><p>"How bad is the damage?" Arias inquired.</p><p></p><p>"Nothing too extensive. Adrial seems to have stopped any internal bleeding, but getting the bone back in shape will take some effort." She said, placing a hand over the wound. Kal felt as if he had been dunked in icewater and then shoved in front of a roaring fire. Meira pulled back her hand, and all that remained of the wound was a razor-thin scar running across the right side of Kal's chest.</p><p></p><p>"Now I see why you kept emphasizing a defensive riposte, master." Kal said wearily. He stood on his own now, though swaying slightly.</p><p></p><p>"I doubt I'll have to remind you again." Arais replied with a wry grin as they walked back towards the grounded shuttle.</p><p></p><p>"Master, what is to become of the wounded?" Jorran asked, an outstretched hand pointed at the four bloodied stormtroopers guarded by Aasan.</p><p></p><p>"That depends on them." Arais said curtly. "Kia! Aasan! We'll see to the prisoners. If you would gather their weapons and find a place for them on board your ship, please?"</p><p></p><p>Kia looked at Arias as if he had suggested breathing air instead of dirt. "Of course I will. Come on Aasan." She stalked off towards the carnage.</p><p></p><p>"Now, would you mind removing your helmet or am I going to have to speak to a faceless thrall?" Arais asked the standing stormtrooper.</p><p></p><p>There was an insulted grunt from behind the dark visor, then the trooper slowly pulled off his helmet and held it at his side. He was well into his middle years, dark haired with a face hard enough to break rocks on. A blank expression met Arais' eyes unblinking.</p><p></p><p>"That's better. Now tell me honestly, I will know if you are lying. What were your intentions in coming here?" </p><p></p><p>"We were ordered to ensure that no one was to survive to interfere with our operations here."</p><p></p><p>Arias' face hardened.</p><p></p><p style="text-align: center">***</p><p></p><p>Aasan merely looked at Arais and Miera flatly before shaking his head slowly and following Kia. "I can't see what good that will do. I doubt we will have a need to arm the civilians."</p><p></p><p>"It's not a question of armament," Kia replied, "but one of profit. Do you have any idea how many credits a cache of E-11's like that can bring in?"</p><p></p><p>The Kel-Dor sighed as he began gathering the weapons from amongst the dead. "Here we are surrounded by death and you think of <em>profit</em>?"</p><p></p><p>"I can see them as easily as you can." She glared back at him. "The simple fact of the matter is that they're dead and we're not. We might as well get the most we can out of this. Besides, we may need credits for bribes to get back to safety."</p><p></p><p>"<em>If</em> we get back to safety." Aasan gently tossed a rifle into a small pile near the <em>Dawnsprinter</em>'s ramp. "We don't know how many ships there are in the fleet the Imperials sent into this system. We'll be lucky if we don't get cut to ribbons trying to enter hyperspace."</p><p></p><p>"Don't remind me. We'll be able to get out of here using this Imperial shuttle, but my ship still can't make the jump to lightspeed."</p><p></p><p>"Then we'll simply have to take over a small cruiser and make the jump with our ships in its hangar." Said a voice from behind them.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Angcuru, post: 3209019, member: 10948"] [b]19 - Intentions[/b] Kal, Jorran, and Adrial stood tight back to back in a tight triangular formation to keep themselves covered from the incoming blaster fire. The three apprentice Sethi kept their defenses up, moving towards the closest group of stormtroopers who poured fire onto them as they approached, most blasts deflected by skillful manipulation of their lightsabers, and others missing entirely. As soon as they closed within melee range, the Sethi pounced on the stormtrooper formation that had taken cover from the [i]Dawnsprinter[/i]'s E-Webs. Jorran dashed towards the nearest trooper, dodging a blast before his blade seared a neat furrow through the trooper's chestplate. Adrial maintained a defensive position, covering Kal and Jorran from errant fire while they engaged the enemy. As Kal charged into the fray, felling a trooper with a thrust through his helm, one of the troopers leapt at him with a vibroblade slashing for his throat. With great agility, Kal tore his blade through the side of his last foe's head and struck the vibroblade full on, cleaving it in twain near the hilt. With a quick step to the left and a flick of his wrist, he eviscerated the hapless Stormtrooper. Although half of the troopers were still standing, the blaster fire ceased. Kal looked up from the corpse of his fallen enemy and saw that the remaining troopers had given up on their blasers and all drawn full length vibroblades, also having taken cover by the other side of the shuttle. Six troopers cautiously approached the three apprentices, sizing them up and forming a circle around the Sethi learners as they moved closer. Ten of them had formed a ring around Arias, who watched them cooly with seven dismembered troopers laying motionless at his feet. Another four were backed up against the shuttle, stared down by Miera. Not far away the pack of nightstalkers was busy dragging away their kill, apparently having no more interest in the fight. Several troopers were slowly crawling towards their shuttle, one of them with one hand clutched to his throat as though trying to keep his flesh whole. An eerie silence fell over the bloodied field. The Sethi stood, waiting for the troopers' next move. The Imperial soldiers clearly saw that they were obscenely outmatched, with half their number dead without wounding even a single one of their opponents. Kia stood cautiously to the side with her blaster pistol at the ready, having rushed down out of her ship once the enemy had moved out of the E-webs' field of fire. Aasan watched from the foliage with his rifle fixed on the troopers who were facing down Adrial and the other apprentices, curious at the lull in the fighting. One of the Imperials behind Arias changed his footing slightly, crushing a dry branch underfoot with a sharp [i]snap[/i]. Arias instantly leapt backwards into the air with blurring speed and whirled his double blade, taking the heads of that trooper and his nearest two allies. The fighting broke out again in earnest as Kia and Aasan both shot the same trooper, hitting him in the front and back simultaneously to put him quickly to the ground. The troopers surrounding Kal, Jorran and Adrial rushed them as one, each attacking from a different angle. Polished durasteel flashed, two blades for each apprentice. Kal forced himself to ignore the attacks to his friends and utilizing parry and riposte as he had moments before. The fallen trooper formed a hole in the offensive circle just as an he saw a blade arc towards him and felt it rake across his ribs. Jorran immediately took advantage of the opening Kal had made. The former padawan darted over the still form to take up a position outside the trooper's circle, his subsequent strike downing Kal's attacker and further widening the gap. Adrial backed up through the opening side by side with Kal, concentrating hard not the stare at the stormtrooper who had just met his end on her blade. Shining steel met blazing energy once more, and then all was quiet. Adrial took a deep breath and shivered. [i]So this is what real battle is like[/i]. She had tried to prepare herself for the carnage, anticipating horror at the slaughter. In reality however, she felt little difference between this and when she had to defend herself from the local predators. She looked about and saw that nearly all of the troopers lay unmoving on the ground. Four were propped up against the assault shuttle's landing supports, obviously wounded and under close guard by Aasan who crouched in front of them, blaster rifle held loosely but ready to be used if necessary. Only one trooper with an orange pauldron indicating rank was standing, Kia's blaster in his face discouraging any movement. A ragged breath from nearby broke Adrial's reverie. Adrial saw Kal leaning on Jorran, arm across the older man's shoulder for support. The gash across Kal's chest was ghastly, and bled freely. "I'm not much one for healing." Jorran said calmly, though with concern edging his voice. Kal's eyes were fixed on her, though with great effort from the lack of focus in his eyes. Adrial blinked in confusion for moment before tentatively reaching out and adjusting Kal's light robe to get a better look at the wound. She winced at the sight. The vibroblade must have struck at just the wrong angle for the ribs to be visibly scored so badly. The young woman placed a hand lightly on the gash and concentrated on wellness, but all she felt was weariness leaving Kal. The wound remained intact despite her efforts. Kal shivered for a moment, then looked down at his chest. He briefly saw a slice as long as his hand caked in blood and still oozing dark blood before Adrial tucked his robes back into place. "To help slow the bleeding," she said to his puzzled look, "I couldn't completely heal it, but at least you won't pass out now. Jorran, we need to take him to Miera." "That won''t be necessary." Jorran replied, gesturing towards Miera and Arias, who she had not noticed approaching. "Miera, Kal has been wounded but I couldn't completely heal it." Adrial said quickly. Miera stepped wordlessly towards Kal, throwing his robes open and examining the wound closely. "How bad is the damage?" Arias inquired. "Nothing too extensive. Adrial seems to have stopped any internal bleeding, but getting the bone back in shape will take some effort." She said, placing a hand over the wound. Kal felt as if he had been dunked in icewater and then shoved in front of a roaring fire. Meira pulled back her hand, and all that remained of the wound was a razor-thin scar running across the right side of Kal's chest. "Now I see why you kept emphasizing a defensive riposte, master." Kal said wearily. He stood on his own now, though swaying slightly. "I doubt I'll have to remind you again." Arais replied with a wry grin as they walked back towards the grounded shuttle. "Master, what is to become of the wounded?" Jorran asked, an outstretched hand pointed at the four bloodied stormtroopers guarded by Aasan. "That depends on them." Arais said curtly. "Kia! Aasan! We'll see to the prisoners. If you would gather their weapons and find a place for them on board your ship, please?" Kia looked at Arias as if he had suggested breathing air instead of dirt. "Of course I will. Come on Aasan." She stalked off towards the carnage. "Now, would you mind removing your helmet or am I going to have to speak to a faceless thrall?" Arais asked the standing stormtrooper. There was an insulted grunt from behind the dark visor, then the trooper slowly pulled off his helmet and held it at his side. He was well into his middle years, dark haired with a face hard enough to break rocks on. A blank expression met Arais' eyes unblinking. "That's better. Now tell me honestly, I will know if you are lying. What were your intentions in coming here?" "We were ordered to ensure that no one was to survive to interfere with our operations here." Arias' face hardened. [center]***[/center] Aasan merely looked at Arais and Miera flatly before shaking his head slowly and following Kia. "I can't see what good that will do. I doubt we will have a need to arm the civilians." "It's not a question of armament," Kia replied, "but one of profit. Do you have any idea how many credits a cache of E-11's like that can bring in?" The Kel-Dor sighed as he began gathering the weapons from amongst the dead. "Here we are surrounded by death and you think of [i]profit[/i]?" "I can see them as easily as you can." She glared back at him. "The simple fact of the matter is that they're dead and we're not. We might as well get the most we can out of this. Besides, we may need credits for bribes to get back to safety." "[i]If[/i] we get back to safety." Aasan gently tossed a rifle into a small pile near the [i]Dawnsprinter[/i]'s ramp. "We don't know how many ships there are in the fleet the Imperials sent into this system. We'll be lucky if we don't get cut to ribbons trying to enter hyperspace." "Don't remind me. We'll be able to get out of here using this Imperial shuttle, but my ship still can't make the jump to lightspeed." "Then we'll simply have to take over a small cruiser and make the jump with our ships in its hangar." Said a voice from behind them. [/QUOTE]
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