Call of Silence(Kita, Kota, Sa’ato)

[Aliclair Austjor]

Aliclair clung to the closest handle she could find, seeing she didn't have time to take a seat and strap in. After a crash, hit and an extremely large bump, Ali let out an exclaim of surprise and slight pain having had fallen down. She rumbled while on the ground, shaking her head to realign herself. She'd barely caught Sa'ato's orders, commanding her small group forward.

Stepping out the ship was met with broken stone of the inners of a fortress. Her thinned pupils scanned around before shutting her eyes to tap into the Force to get a sense of what was in play. She could pick up a few bodies, mainly footmen but two powerful auras beamed into her tufts. Opening her eyes, Aliclair made the decision of ignoring superior orders and aiding him was the best course of action rather splitting up. She called to her group while sprinting to catch up with the Neti with her saber hilt in hand in case she needed to combat straight away.

[Neive Undant]

Prazutis could feel the eager energy of the Sith attackers, along with the fear of the troopers and officers trying to hold them back. The energy of the Dark Side was present in this place even more now than before, with so many force sensitives here to begin with.

Prazutis considered moving to the docking bay, where the battleground would be more open, but at the Grand Inquisitor’s words, Prazutis paused.

He turned to her, the glass of his helmet’s eyes gazing into the Grand Inquisitor’s soul for a moment before Prazutis spoke.

“If they manage to get this far, it would be wise to execute the prisoner, rather than let the Sith have another force adept in their ranks. She was trained by Tormentous,” Prazutis said, looking back to the exit and taking out his lightsaber.

“I doubt anyone could take on both of us at once. But I would rather have a corpse than let them have another asset.”

Prazutis took a few steps back, still between the Grand Inquisitor and the entrance to the prison cells, but now with enough distance to give himself warning when someone entered.

Finally, Prazutis’ helmet turned to face the Sith in the cell. He could almost feel bad for her, had she not so willingly become this creature. Although, Prazutis wasn’t too different. He only served a purpose with his power.

[Professor Mors]

Sa'ato had barely stepped into the hallway and activated his sabers when a fierce sensation shook his mind. To call it a disturbance in the Force would have been overly generous– a shift perhaps, a tug on the strings of fate that demanded the Neti's full attention (Sense Force Disturbance). The professor stopped short. Even as emergency klaxons filled the durasteel corridor of the fortress, Sa'ato concentrated on the foreboding aura of unease that permeated the air. Momentary reflection was sufficient to put a name to the vortices of energy: danger (Danger Sense). Close at hand, mounting, but not for the Neti.

The Darksider growled at his rotten luck. Of course, someone was weighing the option of whether to maintain or terminate the prisoner. The latter option would almost certainly mean a more united, and faster response from the defending Imperials. That was something Sa'ato could not abide by. It was not out of sentiment, much less strategic consideration for Silvanius that he began to rapidly alter his tactics. The simple, infuriating truth was that, for the moment, the Neti needed her alive if there was to be any possibility for escape. The academic quickly deactivated and holstered his sabers, and held up a fist to halt the scattering Sith forces.

"We must accelerate the operation", Sa'ato began with a hiss, "And redesignate our strategic objectives". A gilt eye flashed over to the Felidae, "You and Why-six will attend me as we journey to the holding cells–". The priest-elect of the Sith then swept a hand out toward the assembled raiding party, and loudly commanded, "The rest of you must journey to the facility's central reactor! Fix every explosive you can to its outer casing– our hosts will have to abide by our departure, or else we will topple their citadel and everyone in it! For the Order!". Some raised fists and echoed the Neti's sentiment. The gathered Massassi howled with blood-fury.

Those older, or more experienced, saluted, but remained silent. No doubt there were at least some that understood their survival rate was to become a non-factor. Sa'ato felt their resolve, and perhaps their remorse flutter quietly at the edge of his mind. The circumstances only caused his anger to build further. Leaving the more tech-savvy soldiers to slice a terminal and calculate their saboteur's route, the professor turned on his heel and let the Force guide him and his vanguard. It did not take long for Neti, his feline ward, and his droid adjutant to locate a functioning lift.

Not bothering to glance at the operating panel, Sa'ato let his feelings guide a long, imperious finger to the appropriate button. It was only after the fact that, to his infinite dismay, he realized that the trio would have to wait as the lift traversed some three dozen floors. To salt the wound, an obnoxious variant of an old marching tune began to softly play from overhead, set in a more friendly major-key than its usual overbearing arrangement. In a moment of weakness, the professor slammed a fist into the adjoining wall– the metallic impact of the blow disrupting the mocking tune for barely a beat. The Neti could now only sigh, seethe, and wait…

[Lady Kota]

Killing the prisoner was a bit extreme, especially when she seemed to have a desire to save Tormentous. "Killing her isn't an option just yet, force has plans for her." She said.

*Foresight* Explosion of the reactor goes off causing the citadel to collapse*

"Well that won't do, they are going to destroy the reactor. Could you see that doesn't happen, I will guard her. They will not get her easily." She said as she grabbed Kita's weapon. "Let's see what the Sith are capable of these days shall we." She said to Kita, as she ignited Kita's blade.

[Kita_Ikari]

Silvanius glared at Prazutis as he mentioned they should kill her. Even though the young Sith understood his side of things, she figured it was in bad taste. Had it been her, she would have found keeping her enemy alive more of a asset. "Your very close minded to the possibilities of having me around." She responded seriously. "Your way to quickly to act. Shame. That could cost you in the future." Kita shrugged as she glanced away indifferently. Turning her fading blue gaze at the inquisitor, her eyes shone with curiosity.

There was quite a few times Kita had heard from others the Force seemed to have plans for her, but how would the inquisitor know? How did anyone know? Of course, up until this point, her path has been rather complicated on all sides. Kita Ikari just seemed to feel like whatever the force did have in mind for her, she was rather apprehensive at what was coming next down the road. And so far, it wasn't pleasant.

As the inquisitor mentioned her comrades plans, she nodded to that plan. "Sounds about right. Nothing better than a explosion to make your day." Silvanius said sarcastically. It seemed to be a regular strategy for most. Including herself. If they managed to blow the reactor, then she would be able to get free. Although, she wouldn't currently be able to get away easily with someone who overpowers her own in the Force. The next best option was to await for Sa'ato and Aliclair to arrive before trying any sort of maneuver out of their.

As her silver blade was ignited, Kita clutched her hands in annoyance. She wanted her blade back. One way or another, the young Sith planned on regaining it once more.

[Professor Mors]

Despite his status as a nearly-eternal being, the monotonous descent of the access lift almost had Sa'ato praying for his own destruction. Upon finally reaching the detention level, the aggravated professor took great pleasure in prying the doors asunder with his thoughts, before stepping into the darkened corridor with murderous intent. Sending his thoughts zig-zagging down the various passageways, he reconfirmed the presence of Silvanius– along with the other presence, which practically constituted a Force Disturbance in their own right. Neither had moved or been moved. They anticipated confrontation, and therefore eschewed both stealth and tactical retreat.

So much the better, the academic thought to himself, briefly shutting his eyes and tightening his mental defenses against whatever foe sought to impede him (Force Shield). "Be on your guard", Sa'ato quietly addressed Aliclair, in an effort to encourage her to follow suit, "Even if we succeed in overwhelming Silvanius' captor physically, we do not know what magicks they may possess". The professor then turned to acknowledge his automated companion, "Configure for melee protocol besh Whysix". The Sith warbot chirped in compliance, retracting its wrist-mounted blasters and replacing them with a pair of blades, each coated in a thin layer of ultrachrome. His preparations thus complete, Sa'ato reactivated his primary lightsaber, and watched as the crackling orange blade lit the interior that lay directly ahead.

He advanced slowly, carefully, focusing his mind and steadying himself for what was sure to be his most uphill battle to date. Whether not he would survive was anyone's guess…

***

While their master elected to use the lift, the Darksider's troops had hurried to the nearest maintenance stairwell. The humanoid, and near-humanoid warriors that were able hastily applied tow-cables and began to rappel down the murky shaft that would, in theory, lead out into the reactor chamber. The Massasi, far too cumbersome for such maneuvers, surged down the metallic steps with the unyielding speed of a champion Huttball team, while the accompanying contingent of warbots put their servos into overdrive to keep pace. The tethered shock troops quickly set about activating chest and weapon-mounted headlights, while double, then triple-checking their ammunition.

While each would lay down their life for the primary objective without hesitation, the elite ground forces of the Sith were equally prepared to wreak as much havoc and collateral as they could muster en route. Even a partial power-failure or auxiliary fire would do much to further their overseer's mission. Explosives, flamethrowers, hydro spanners– all would be brought to bear against their most dogged foe. Those more learned in sharpshooting and the like, meanwhile, set their helmet displays for heat-based signatures, and waited with rifles at the ready. No matter the threat, no matter the direction, any who sought to oppose them would not arrive unscathed…

[Neive Undant]

Prazutis turned away from the Grand Inquisitor, as he knew his gaze didn't intimidate her as it did most imperials. At her word, he gave a nod and looked down the hallway outside the prison block, casting out his senses to find life.

A pair of lifeforms strong in the force were down the hall quite a ways, cautiously approaching. Two of them, and neither were anywhere near the strength of tormentous, closer to the sith in the cell's power. It seemed the dark lord hadn't come in person to attack. With the Grand Inquisitor at his side, this almost disappointed Prazutis.

"I have a squad of soldiers who are adept at facing force users. I'll send them here to assist you, and have the general order all other defenders to the reactor with me. We'll make short work of this assault." Prazutis gave one more look back at the prison cell holding the girl, then left, heading towards the reactor.

However, according to Prazutis' senses, above, there was a large group of assailants making their way down. At the speed of their descent, Prazutis assumed they were the group headed for the reactor, and followed their signatures to stand between them and their target.

Prazutis looked to the side, for the entryway that the larger force would be coming from to reach the reactor. A bulkhead door, no blast doors. That wouldn't hold a force like that for long.

So, instead of simply locking it, Prazutis set the door to lock, then stepped back and focused his will. He pulled the walls around the doorway, ripping, crushing them until the walls themselves blocked the doors in place. Without anywhere for the metal to go, the sith forces would have to cave the door itself in, an extremely hard thing to do, even for more skilled force users. Prazutis could likely do so with some time and a lot of effort, but he doubted any of the soldiers, nor the two force sensitives, could do so before the Grand Inquisitor was upon them.

That done, Prazutis turned and headed down the hallway towards the next portion of the maintenence tunnel, towards the reactor room to help defend against the sith troops when they inevitably did push through the door.

He was soon followed by a squad of stormtroopers, and likely at least one or two more squads would be waiting for him closer to the reactor control room, which was the last line of defense before the reactor itself. Prazutis would likely want to be in front of it, in the first line of defense, to hold them back as early as possible.



Nimbus squad landed.

"En route to cell block," their commander said, the group headed for the stairwell that accompanied a lift that, upon their checking, had been somehow disabled, thanks to the sound of grinding metal somewhere far below as they tried to raise the lift.

The squad would take a moment to reach the level of the cell block, but they were all ready with vibroblades, electro-whips and other weapons designed to take down force adepts. Weapons that Nimbus Squad had trained for years on, and were anticipating getting to use on real targets.

[Lady Kota]

The Grand Inquisitor know guards would only get in her way, but she let Prazutis send for them. Once they arrived she would send them to the end of the hall where the enemy would be arriving from. She looked at Kita, blade in hand. "I know this is not the time, but I know your quest. *She pulls out a simple recording device and places it in kitas pocket.* Play it when you have time, for there is only one person in this galaxy who can save a soul." She said loud enough only Kita could hear.

After that she walked to the hallway and simply waited, she wanted to see what today's Sith were capable of. Kota had fought Tormentus and Silas with vassyl and Argus, that seemed forever ago. These Sith seemed young, untrained and rash, a far cry from anything she was used to. 'I am getting to old for this foolishness.' she thought.