3:10 to Port Pixelito

[Ben Kenobi]

The decision had come to smack him right in the face and Ben Kenobi only had a moment to react. He dove forward in the wake of the Dark Lord's almost calm retreat. He did not recall where his staff went but right now he was diving and with both hands outstretched he caught the chain. Though with the woman's weight and the momentum it swiftly began slipping through his hands. But the chain was barbed...

Ben's hands ripped open at the palms and fingers as the chain's barbs sliced through his skin. He wanted to yelp out in sudden pain and reflexively pull away but the woman's screams bought him the constitution he needed to hang on just a little longer. He squeezed his hands shut with all his might and finally the chain came taught and stopped slipping through his grasp though now he was being drug towards the side. His feet fought for any sort of purchase in vain... he was going over with this woman.

As he was dragged forward his mind flashed over the spar of metal that he had seen Tormentous toss the chain around originally. Without looking his right hand shot out and gripped for something, anything. He caught the spar! It was sharp and dug into the meat of his hand.

Suddenly they both stopped as the momentum was abruptly stolen. His shoulder took a lot of punishment as he came too and he grunted in pain while doing so. There he hung, arms spread out wide with a sharp piece of metal in one and a sharp chain in the other.

He could not keep this up for long but he was not about to let go. His knuckles hurt from the tension within both hands. Fighting to pull her up failed, the position he was in forced the leverage on his elbow and he could not summon the strength from the overextension. So he grit his teeth and growled in effort just to hang on. In the end though he could not do it. Both hands demanded him to let go and he felt them both slipping.

No... he would not let this woman fall. Making the choice, he let the spar go and he set both hands back on the chain. Swiftly he began to slide again. His plan was to hang the chain on the railing of the train or failing that to catch her and cushion her fall by superimposing himself between her and the ground. The likelihood of them both surviving the fall was small but he was out of options. Prepared to accept that decision he embraced the chain as he slipped over the ledge...

A set of heavy hands gripped his ankles...

He looked back and saw three bloody and battered but brave Alliance Soldiers that had just caught him in the nick of time and they were already heaving to lift both he and the woman to safety...

[Aliclair Austjor]

Ali's foot connected with the ground faster than she thought, but her lance speared into Kita's shoulder, and she celebrated within herself briefly, as that's where she wanted to it. But, it didn't take her out of the ballpark just yet; Ali winced as her enemy pulled the blade from her shoulder. That, wasn't apart of Aliclair's plan when she decided to throw another kick. With the second kick, it left her leg open to attack and Kita did just that. Bringing down the lance, she managed to dodge the first but not the second; the electricity sliced past the weaker part of the antarian armor and caused skin contact. This made Aliclair kneel and clench her teeth, growling as she shoved the lance to the side. She huffed shakily, as being electrocuted was not fun whatsoever. The cut not deep as Kita's speared wound, it was a flesh wound that didn't bother her; what did bother her was the shock she received against revealed meat and nerves; she'd know that would leave a electric scarring on her leg. And was she stunned for a while but she quickly rose to her feet while unlodging her vibrolance from the ground and facing the feminine sith. Her eyebrows knitted in slight frustration; she wanted to just incapacitate Kita, not kill her, but Kita had intent to do more than just disable Aliclair. If not for her mission at hand, and a suspected time limit, the Sith would be putting her all into trying to eliminate.

With the cart being severed from the rest of the train, Ali felt the acceleration decrease, and this caused her to look around. So, it was just them two, until reinforcements would be called to collect the Warhead and no doubt to shoot on sight. The padawan had to move fast before that could happen. Huffing abit, she could feel the blood from her cut sink into her fabrics but at a slow pace. Surely, Kita would be feeling fatigue in blood loss; not even the most durable could keep a straight head with a wound like that. Ali would need to stall for time, until Ben realized the cart was detached and find a way to get backup to her.. if there was any left. She looked toward her now activated lance; she'd kept it off to not hurt the Sith too badly but she wasn't pulling punches and now, neither was Ali. She knitted her eyebrows and sheathed her shiv in her gauntlet before running forward, not jumping on the bomb but beside it with lance hovering the top in attempts to clip Kita off the bomb, and if she were to jump then Ali would have a chance to create a similar wound to her leg as she did to her.

[Jacobi Wylcott]

Unopposed.

Darth Tormentous had accomplished his end of this mission and more - the humiliation of that wretched Jedi Master. Gripping the throttle of the engine car he advanced it so that the speed of the engine would increase dramatically. It would also red line the engine and cause significant damage and should the engine arrive at any turn in the tracks it would likely derail which gave the Jedi another issue to worry about. With a single sweep of his vile sword he cut the controls of the engine apart. If the Jedi wished to use this train to reverse back and help his Padawan he would be sorely mistaken in doing so. Uncoupling the cars was next and he did so before smashing that terminal as well.

He keyed the Specter to come and retrieve him. His business complete here he had no desire to hang around. The bomb was more valuable to him at this moment than killing a few worthless Alliance flunkies. In the distance among the clouds the sleek black form of the Sith Infiltrator could already be seen.

Tormentous climbed to the top of the engine car as he awaited his transportation, he was pleased to view as well that the separated cars were now receding into the distance. There was no possible way Kenobi could save his Padawan now. He wouldn’t entirely discount the Jedi but in all likelihood Kita would have this wrapped up by the time Tormentous arrived with his ship to pick the bomb up and make their escape.

A valuable piece of machinery stolen right from under the nose of the Jedi and Alliance. Another black mark on their so-called sterling record. It seemed that in these days ‘good’ did not always win and lately their ‘wins’ were becoming few and far between.

[Kita_Ikari]

The wound was worse then Kita anticipated, however she hadnt felt the pain as much until she glanced downwards briefly to access the wound. Today just wasn't seeming to be her day as she felt the warmth of blood beginning to soak her shoulder, the opening stung as the wind and now slowing train car kicked up sand into her open wound. The young Sith apprentice knew she would have to work faster now to figuring out which one was the bomb and which was the decoy since she would be losing blood more so as the fight continued.

Anger and frusteration had already bubbled up from within Kita as she met Ali's gaze with narrowed blue eyes. She didn't want to fail her master again by being found unconcious losing to a padawan. Kita was already afraid that Lord Tormentous would leave her to die on this stupid train cart for punishment of her failure. But no. That wasn't a option. She had to do something. Her shoulder was already in pain, so there was only one other way to attack with full strength and allow herself to buy time to locate the bomb before her master arrived.

At least she had managed to strike the padawan somehow. Perhaps leaving a scar from their first meeting of sorts.

Keeping her eyes on her opponents movements, she realized that she was not meeting her on the high ground. It was obviously her advantage striking high. So, Kita had to do what she did best, play the defensive til a opening was seen or created. She wanted to avoid further injury. "Alright then…" Quickly she pulled out her Vibrolance and threw it with her other arm with such force that had it skewered or not the padawan, it bought her time to pull back for the time being to inspect the Crate in the center since it was the closest to her.

Swiftly she rolled backwards off the crate, hiding behind and rushing over to the next one giving it a loud knock. This time there was no echo. And Kita knew that this one had to be the real one. But she wanted to be sure. Sensing (life force) Ali approaching quite quickly, she ran behind the next crate and ducked, knocking on it to find it hollow as well. "So it is the middle one then." she thought. Hearing her opponent finally catching up to her, she pulled out her elctrostaff and activated it. She knew Ali didnt know which was the bomb. Which was why she was avoiding jumping on the crates. So Ali had to turn a corner in order to meet face to face with her once again.

This time she knew what she wanted to do. Shock and or knock her off balance enough with her electro staff to flip her off the slowing train car. And so she awaited for her chance to strike...

[Ben Kenobi]

The Jedi Master never let go even once he was on the roof of the train car and the Alliance Troopers had hefted the injured woman up. His hands were locked tight and he felt shock in his limbs. It was painful that was certain. But when he looked to the woman his pains drained away as he felt he did not deserve the right to complain in the slightest. With a wince and a grunt his knuckles opened, barbs of the chain were stuck in his palms and he had to pull the chain free, his bleeding hands were extremely tender with the actual tears that had dug well into the meat and one was deep enough to cut through to the bone of his thumb. They were shaking uncontrollably.

But the next thing he knew he was on his feet and staggering to the woman, “No, leave it in.” He instructed, they were about to pull the hook free. “Take your gauze and wraps and just try to get the bleeding stopped. We need a medic here to handle the hook.” They did not understand but they complied and after a quick injection of a stimulant and pain neutralizer, the trio went to work trying hard to stem the blood that ran from her innards.

He knelt beside her and bowed his head, closing his eyes and taking a deep breath to seek the Force in this moment of despair.

Keeping his hands away from the woman he touched the Light of the Force and asked of it to answer his call. A healing wave came down to touch the woman and while it took a moment for Ben was heavily distracted and could not concentrate fully, the woman’s bleeding slowed… and ceased. A smile crept onto Ben’s face when he suddenly sensed relief coming from her rather than utter terror. Pain still ravaged her but for a moment at least she felt safe. Her feelings were contagious and even the wounded men working on her began to feel the confidence given freely by the Light.

He did not wish to stop his healing, he had not done very much at all, but there was still Tormentous near by and so he dropped his concentration from the woman and stood back up. Turning to the train’s engine car he spotted the Dark Lord of the Sith climbing back onto the roof. Ben was worried, whatever the Sith had come to do he had accomplished it.

Feeling the acceleration of the train, Ben glanced behind him to see in the far distance that the train had separated. He did not need the Force to know for certain that the separation had just isolated him from Aliclair. He had to fight the urge to turn and sprint back in that direction. But with the Dark Lord only a few cars ahead of him… he had no choice but to stand his ground. In that however, his hands were dripping with his own blood and he could not feel or sense his lightspear. If the Dark Lord wanted him there likely was not much he could do about it. But the Jedi was not about to turn his back and leave these Alliance Troopers to the whim of the Darkside’s Champion…

[Aliclair Austjor]

As Ali's blades inched in on Kita, she could sense her plotting something. This attack wouldn't clip her; she'd known it was be a 50/50 chance of it hitting, or missing. But, in reality, this was an attempt to get Kita off the bomb. It didn't work; as Kita spear threw her lance, Ali gave a sharp gasp and quickly duck with her right leg extending and her hand to the ground. She let out a shaky huff and she was surprised she actually managed to dodge it.

Aliclair's head perked as Kita gave a loud knock to one of the decoys and a sense of hurry rushed through her body, but she knew she couldn't act on those impulses. The she-padawan didn't know if Kita had a trick up her sleeve, and if she had other weapons equip like Ali with her vibrolance hidden in her gauntlet. Looking to the lance that belonged to her enemy, she pulled it out of the ground. (life sense) Aliclair shut her eyes to see where Kita was pinpointed then, while keeping her eyes close, sprinted to face Kita on the other side, only to see her equipped with an electrostaff and she growled, stabbing Kita's lance into the ground to point/outstretch her hand, toward the staff; "How many weapons do you got?! And where was that even??" she asked with a bothered look on her face. Ali felt her cut leg going numb and cold. She huffed and shook her head.

Aliclair didn't attack.. that wound was deep on Kita and she didn't want to kill her. Clenching her jaw abit, she sheathed her lance behind her and while still on high guard, held one of her hands out as a sign of peace then used the other to pull out a cloth. "Let me wrap that up; you're no good dead. And I don't want blood on my hands just yet." she said, not moving until Kita gave the say so. While her Antarian armor was top of the line, it had weak points, and if the she-sith before her had any form of Force sense, she could detect it's weaknesses. But, as Ali stated, she didn't want blood on her hands. And even with this, at least she would've tried helping her instead of constantly attacking until she fainted from blood loss.

[Jacobi Wylcott]

There was nothing further for him here. Even with the legendary Jedi Master only three or four car lengths right in front of him and disarmed, the Dark Lord was on a mission and he would not be distracted by a tertiary goal. To get greedy this close to the end of the line would be foolish. One mistake and they could lose the bomb forever - no - he needed to play this carefully.

Spinning the Jidai Maras around he returned it to he clasp at his back. In a casual voice he called out to Ben, not even yelling and doubting the words would be heard over the harsh winds of the speeding train. “When next we meet Jedi.”

Wasting no further time the Dark One (Force Jump) leapt into the sky like a rocket ascending unto the heavens just in time for the Specter to fly by and pick him up within the open boarding ramp. The jump was extremely precise and the piloting skill of the AI was sublime. Tormentous hardly felt the reception and he did not bother to look back at Kenobi as he left him in the dust.

Closing behind him the ramp sealed shut. “Bank around. Move back to the separated cars. We are going to pick up my Acolyte, by the time we arrive she will have identified and secured the bomb.” The AI complied and the Sith Infiltrator made a sharp left turn banking around tightly and angling back for the rearward train cars.

[Kita_Ikari]

Of course there was only so much Kita could do. But she felt a bit proud she had managed to slow the padawan down enough to check the rest of the crates. She could sense Ali's panic and relief from her vibrolance just missing her. Really it was something the young Sith didn't want to do, but really she didn't have much of a choice as time was the enemy in that moment. For her Master Lord Tormentous wouldn't be gone much longer before arriving for the bomb.

Hearing her vibrolance hit the ground, Instantly her eyes met with Ali's, a small smile on her face as the padawan questioned where her second weapon had been hidden. "My," there was a tone of mockery in her voice. "your master must have not taught you how to pay attention well enough in the midst of battle. Now have they?" She replied sarcastically. She wasn't gonna let Ali read her cards on how many weapons she carried. That would have been stupid. She knew better. Kita had had her back up weapon on her back the whole time through the battle. For the padawan to not notice was pretty pathetic and also had been Kita's advantage. For if she noticed earlier, she may have been able to snatch it from her somehow.

She noticed instantly Ali seemed to be getting just as tired as she had been. So this battle was coming down to smarts and sheer will at this point. For both of the young apprentices of the Masters of Light and Dark had been wounded enough to slow themselves both in this battle between one another.

It had surprised Kita that her enemy was sheathing her weapon, much less offering to help her. If Tormentous was there, he would have been laughing at this scene for sure and telling her take advantage of it. It was a mistake for the padawan to offer assistance, for a Jedi should know better then to trust a Sith. And to be fair, Kita didn't trust her in turn either. She was a Jedi after all.

Setting her weapon down on the ground close next to her, she glared at Ali. "Fine. Get on with it then!" She snapped irritably as she looked away. Of course Kita wasn't going to allow this padawan to help her, but she knew the bleeding was bad. So the Sith was pushing her limits on avoiding help from their enemy to use her current injury as bait. Her master would call her weak for accepting her kindness, but if he knew Kita's plan, surely he would be proud to call her his apprentice.

The moment Ali had leaned in to help her, Kita quickly pulled out a dagger she had hid in her silver side pouch and lunged forward to wedge the cold blade between the crevices of her armor along her stomach and hip region. Meanwhile as she kicked her vibrolance out of the ground away from Ali and herself so Ali couldn't use it either, Kita had already grabbed her electrostaff/activating it and swung it at her already injured leg. Whether it hit or not, it should have been enough to stagger Ali, allowing somehow for Kita to wrap her legs and arms around Ali's waist to shift her weight and letting her go, swinging Ali over the side of the train car.

[Ben Kenobi]

Ben Kenobi felt nothing but relief as the Dark Lord of the Sith sheathed his dastardly weapon and jumped into the skies to be caught by his ship. Exhaling deeply the Jedi dropped to one knee and cradled his hands to his chest, bowing his head. He had not realized how fatigued he was after the incident and while blood loss was not a factor here his hands hurt terribly.

The reprieve did not last long. When the Infiltrator sped away he noticed it was flying in the direction of the rearward train cars on which he knew Aliclair was on. Ben Kenobi had control of his emotions, he had years of experience dealing with these things. He had been through so much that not many things bothered him now days. But when he watched that Sith ship flying towards his Padawan he felt ice grow within the pit of his stomach. “Aliclair.” He spoke aloud, climbing to his feet. Knowing there was no possible way to run all the way back to the detached train cars in time to intercede with whatever Tormentous had planned.

He just started running. He was not going to just stand there and watch it happen. As he passed the Alliance Troopers he urged one of them to get to the engine car and stop the train. Little did Ben know that Tormentous had increased the throttle to dangerous levels and he had destroyed the controls which was a suicide knell for the train itself and extremely dangerous to anyone still on the train when the crash inevitably occurred. As Ben ran he pulled out his comm-link and shot a message to his astromech droid aboard his ship and he insisted that the droid make all speed to fly the Talon to him and drop his speeder bike so he could quickly get to Aliclair and hope he was fast enough to help stop the Sith…

[Aliclair Austjor]

Aliclair's untamed sense made her hesitate, and thankfully she did. While still kneeling, she wasn't close enough and as Kita thrusted a new hidden blade at her, Ali was able to clench her fists, activating her stun gauntlets and let a quick but powerful jab to her arm. She scowled herself mentally, knowing the results of trying to help the enemy could go sour, and it did. She threw herself against the crate behind her to put him distance between them, and moved her vulnerable foot so the metal part could catch the electrostaff. The shock traveled, but not far, for only the soles were metal. The mixture of leather and rubber were her boots, blocking and ending the travel of the electricity. In her attempt to move from Kita's radius, her legs coiled around her love handles, and this caused Ali to growl, taking another swing with her stun gauntlets and holding on her leg there for a while. The pre-weighted toss caused Ali to let out a small 'Ack' and she fell onto her face.

Shoving Kita off of her, she stumbled to her feet with the help of the decoy warhead she'd grabbed to lift her. A scarlet rose droplet fell on the surface of the decoy, and with a quick swipe and examination, she confirmed a nosebleed. But, thankfully, not broken, but it would be bruised. She whipped out her shiv, pointing at Kita as she did a quick scan in attempts to find her lance, but she couldn't see it as her nose pulsed with intense pain. The nose being one of the weakest part of the body, this sent Ali into a semi-daze, but she was still aware. If her enemy had managed to use her full strength, Ali would've found herself holding onto dear life off the side of the train cart, but she had her stun gauntlets to thank for her save.