[b][u]Rakata Prime[/u][/b]
“My thoughts as well, my apprentice. We must be careful not to trust this agent or his employer too much. Alas, I did not have the time to penetrate his mind and find the secrets I was seeking. Worry not, though. I shall soon enough. Now then, Vistark, come with me; we shall make our way to the dig site of the ancient temple, and the agent shall accompany us in order to prove himself.”

With that the masked Sith Lord made his way out of the archives and down the hall toward the main entrance. As he exited, the guards at the doors bowed to him. A small smirk played across his face at their show of respect or fear; it was hard to tell which they felt more of toward the Sith Lord. It did not matter in the grand scheme of things when it came to the Sith, as fear was an important emotion to have; it kept people from making stupid mistakes, but if they let it rule over them they would be crippled by it. Scelus had trained for many years to acknowledge his fears, but to face them head on and not let them rule him.

In the midst of his thoughts, Scelus came to the speeder waiting to whisk the agent, his apprentice, and himself off to the dig site. The Sith Lord was the only one at the speeder besides the driver. Once seated, the masked hybrid sat and allowed his mind to drift off to thoughts of the ancient temple and what they could find within it. He couldn’t help but feel a bit of excitement at the prospect of discovering ancient secrets from the time of Darth Bane. Scelus had spent most of his life thus far studying Darth Bane and his rise to power. The knowledge he had found in the Jedi Archives was limited and biased as to what Darth Bane did.

[i]Peh! The Jedi and their narrowed view of how things are,[/i] Scelus thought with scorn as he continued his waiting for the agent and his apprentice.
--------------

[b][u]Csilla[/u][/b]
Krios watched as his former master faded from sight, whispering the blessing of the Force upon him in his separate mission from theirs. The young Drell was followed by the Kel Dor Master and his Togruta Padawan in setting their climbing harnesses; one spike fired from the bottom into the cliff under their feet and the other shot up into the face of the mountain. Krios tested the cord on his before clipping the firing mechanism to his belt and jumping up onto the wall of ice before them. The Jedi Knight began to climb, jumping from one outcropping of ice just big enough to hold to the next. The Kel Dor and Togruta followed him up the mountain after securing their own climbing cables; the cables the team was using were made with a thick cortosis weave in the cords to prevent snapping even in the harshest of conditions, and the Jedi currently found themselves in the harshest of conditions, so this was a comfort as they scaled the mountain with nothing but the cables and their hands.

The winds continued pouring snow down upon the strike team as they climbed toward the dark towers of the Sith prison. The young Drell wondered idly where Master Greon could be or what sort of tortures he had already endured at the hands of the Sith, but what was more troubling to Krios was what his Padawan had been through; the Jedi Master would not break, but could the same be said for the Padawan? Krios began climbing faster at these thoughts, growing more daring in the distance of his jumps to the next handhold. The Kel Dor took notice of this and spoke into his omnitool on the open channel between the whole team.

“Be careful, Krios. I know you are concerned for our comrades, but it’s hard to tell how strong or weak some of these handholds are. We will be of no help to them if we fall from the mountainside.”

Krios looked down at the Kel Dor through the swirling clouds of snow for a moment before he went back to climbing, being a bit less daring now out of respect for the Jedi Master. After what seemed a lifetime of climbing, the strike team came near the end of their climb. The prison was in plain sight now, even through the blizzard; the building sat on the very edge of the cliff to prevent assaults from all side but the front. There was a guard or two barely visible at the top of the wall overlooking the chasm. Krios slowly climbed toward the wall of the prison, trying his best to stay hidden from the guard just above them.

“I’ll cut a hole through the wall so we can slip in under the guard’s nose. Stay hidden in those small niches in the mountain.”

With nods, the rest of the strike team moved to hide as Krios unclipped one of his lightsabers from his belt. Closing his eyes and extending his arm, Krios concentrated on the Force, calling upon it to aid him. He allowed it to flow through him and then pushed it out in a wave of energy toward the sky above. The clouds snow around him blew upward, thickening the cover. There was snap-hiss, barely heard over the howling wind around him as he activated his lightsaber and plunged the dark teal blade into the wall of the prison and cut a hole. Using the Force, Krios lifted the circular piece of metal he had just cut out of the wall and laid it down inside softly. Slowly, the Drell climbed in through the hole himself and into the hall beyond. The Jedi crouched down in the hall, using the Force to conceal himself along the wall and examined the hall in both directions. Unclipping the climbing cable from his belt, Kriso sent the “all clear” signal over the comm channel to his team below.
-------------

[b][u]Eriadu[/u][/b]
The Republic troopers marched toward the pinned down Rebel squad, opening fire upon the speeder bikes as they neared. Blaster bolts sailed over the Krogan and his squad as they ducked behind the safety of the circle of bikes around them. The sniper did their job and kept the squad pinned down as his comrades approached the Rebel forces. One of the Rebels sent out a distress beacon to any other Rebel forces nearby.

Flynn sat on his back still from the sniper shot as a medic approached and knelt beside him. The Rodian pulled out a cylindrical object that extended on one end at the press of a button. The Rodian set the open end to Flynn’s shoulder wound and pressed another button on the tube, this one at the opposite end. A light blue gel-like substance came out of the tube as the medic traced around the blaster wound; the Krogan jerked slightly at the burning sensations the gel caused at first. When he looked down at his shoulder, though, the charred skin from the blaster was gone and scarred over a lighter shade than his skin color.

“Thanks, Edon.”

“No problem, boss. Bad news is, we’re low on bacta gel. Wouldn’t be a problem if we were well supplied, but considering the situation…”

“Yeah. I understand. Save it for serious wounds then until we can resupply,” the Krogan cut across the female medic. Flynn sat up a little and looked around as best he could. His squad was holding out for now, but how long until the Republic troopers were right on top of them? A stray blaster bolt found its mark in one of the Howlrunners, and the Nautolan male went down with a smoking hole in his chest. Fynn hit his speeder and allowed a string of curse words to spill from his mouth.
--------------

[b][u]Space Over Vondarc[/u][/b]
Xer Loa’s fleet moved into position on the Rebellion’s left flank, leaving The [i]Colossus[/i] behind with a few ships around it to sell the feint. As the majority of the fleet moved in, the Republic flagship opened fire upon the main ship of the Rebel fleet, luring them in. All the while, fighters and bombers continued to lock in dogfights amidst the debris field of the battle. Two more frigates went down as the Rebel fleet moved in toward General Vallen. As they neared the flagship, Xer Loa moved the fleet into a flanking maneuver at the same time as the rest of the Republic fleet appeared out of hyperspace to trap the Rebels in between the two flanks, effectively funneling them toward the massive hyper-collider canon that made up the front of The [i]Colossus[/i].

Both side of the Republic offensive opened fire on the trapped Rebel forces simultaneously whilst launching more fighter and bombers. The debris of the battlefield only increased from what it was before. Xer Loa looked on the battle with a stern expression; he didn’t want this war. He hated to think of all those lives lost, but he would protect the Republic and its citizens to the end. Laser bolts flew from both sides of the Republic fleets, tearing through the Rebel forces no matter how they tried to escape through barrages of laser fire of their own. Explosions painted the blackness of space orange and red with each passing moment of the battle. A few Rebel ships managed to escape the funnel made by the Republic forces, but their attempts to break the Republic lines were futile even if they did manage to take out a few frigates and corvettes here and there.

The Kel Dor Admiral watched, as if in slow motion as a few stray Rebel fighters broke through their lines and flew straight for The [i]Tresher[/i]. The fighters flew in toward the bridge and blasted at the viewport on the cruiser. The window gave way, and the vacuum of space began sucking the air and crew members out of the bridge. The Admiral grabbed hold of his command chair just in time. Unfortunately, he watched as several of his officers were sucked out into the vacuum of space. The vacuum continued for longer than it should; the fighters must have taken out the emergency shielding. It would have to be activated manually. Xer Loa let go of the command chair and flew toward the open viewport and the open void of space.; with each passing second the alarms blared accompanied with the flashing red lights, and the ship drifted closer toward the planet.

The Kel Dor caught hold of the edge of the viewport and began climbing down into the space set just below the floor level for the terminals and work stations. When he finally made it to a panel set into the wall under the viewport, Xer Loa pried it open and slammed his fist down on the button within. Immediately, an orange shielding expanded over the viewport, and gravity returned to the bridge, sending Xer Loa crashing down to the floor beneath. He heard similar thumps as the rest of his crew hit the floor from their positions of disarray. Brushing himself off, the Kel Dor Admiral limped his way back to his command station and reported the incident to General Vallen, noting the number of officers lost and the state of the ship; all in all, the ship was still fine other than some damage it took from Rebel bombers who took advantage of the chaos caused by their fighters.
--------------

[b][u]Aboard The [i]Nightingale[/i][/u][/b]
Corrin examined the Turian as she spoke, trying to take in all he could about her. She had said she was here to see who the new crew member was. Hadn’t the captain told them who he was before picking him up on Malastare? Corrin found this a bit odd, but decided to let it go, chalking it up to his paranoia again.

“I’m Corrin. I’m here to handle any slicing or repairs that need to be done on this ship.”

Having answered her question, Corrin allowed his mind to wonder again. He wondered where the ship was currently heading and what sort of “mission” the captain had in store for the crew. Curiosity got the best of Corrin, and he brought his omnitool up and began hacking into the ship’s systems until he found what he was looking for; the hyperdrive coordinates. He read through the history, until he found the current ones. The ship was inbound for a planet called Vondarc. Further driven by curiosity, Corrin accessed the extranet and dig a little digging on Vondarc; it was an important planet along some trade route that was currently being fought over by the Rebels and Republic.

[i]So… the captain’s going to try and profit off of the battle. Wonder which side he’ll get us hired by to help do whatever it is they hire us for?[/i]