FML

"Stop, Padawan!"

Salhaine spun for the second time, lightsaber raised, to find a hooded Jedi dispatching a trio of clone troopers. Clearly this was someone more experienced than herself, as he had little trouble removing the threat. She deactivated her saber as he approached - recognising him as a Miraluka due to the band over his eyes - though kept it loosely held in one hand. Odds were high that she would need to ignite its blade again.

"Padawan, my name is Alecar Drey. I am a Knight here at the Temple. I feel it might be safest for you to stay with me for the time being until we can find more survivors to group together with."

"Duly noted, Master Drey. I am Salhaine Lira, apprenticed to Master Rec Itan," Salhaine in turn introduced herself quickly. There was no time for the formalities she would normally have used. "We don't exactly have time to stand around talking about this attack... we need to find an escape, preferably sooner rather than later. You hold higher rank and experience; take the lead, and I'll follow." As she spoke, her thoughts briefly turned to her Master. Where was he now? Defending himself against clone attack, as Salhaine had managed? Or cut down in an unsuspecting betrayal?

"Tactus...", he muttered to himself. He seemed puzzled, likely because the two had never met. A reasonable reaction, he had only finished his trials some months ago, and in general he preferred to keep himself hidden away. As Tactus brought his attention to the matters at hand, the soldiers and so forth, he turned towards the console before him.

"Yes, right. I saw some soldiers running up to the hangar before I got here...", he said, based on the strewn bodies of both soldiers and Jedi, Tactus should've been able to deduct that there was a valiant defense here by some Jedi.

"When I reached this control room there were just two troopers left, likely an advance team while the other springs for the hangar itself", he continued. The monitors in front of him showed the ins and outs of the hangar, the docking complex that was used by Jedi and visitors alike. At the moment the safest one would be the Council Tower hangar, but there were no visuals for that from here. Within moments he saw the second team of troopers moving in.

"That must be the second team...", what he saw next caused both worry and fear... They seemed to be setting something upon the hulls of the ships. It was only logical they would do one thing here. They had their own modes of transportation after all.

"We... We have to move quickly. They're destroying the ships", he said. What can he do? What can he do...? Control room was communications and security... It became more and more difficult to figure out a course of action. These hangar bays were always open... A transport ship used by the clones just docked, and in not long, soldiers began to pour from it.

"Hmm...?", he spotted something on the hallway monitors... Jedi. Two of them. Allies. It appears Tactus sees them too on the same monitor. Okay... They can take the maintenance exit, the hangars here were a little smaller, so the catwalks did not cross over the entire hangar, but that should allow them to get a better position, with three Jedi seasoned in combat, and a little support from him, if done right, this shouldn't be too difficult...

"Well... This would be my second battle... My first was in this very room, the clone below my feet and the other by the broken vent. I am still quite nervous... How was your first my fellow?", he said, as he began walking towards the maintenance exit. This should lead them towards the hangar in not long. Hopefully they can be quick enough to secure a transport large enough for several people. There were a couple, but very few in comparison to the one man ships, and Asher had no experience as a pilot.

((OOC: Blaze, we should meet very very soon. You're still in the maintenance halls, but me and Tactus are not there yet))

"No kidding..." Drell muttered at the woman as she slipped her lightsaber away from his face. He shouldn't have been too surprised, seeing as how he just cut down some Clone Troopers, but it still was never a fun sign when the only trustworthy thing had almost tried doing some modifications of her own. As they started to move a slower pace, Drell found himself reaching out with his senses to see if he could feel or find something to get out of this in one piece.

"Agreed. I was hoping that we could possibly use the hanger as more of a foot exit more than anything, or some kind of distraction if we could." Drell replied, trying to come up with his own plan as he focused more on making sure they didn't just walk into a squad of clones.

"If they have already taken the hanger, perhaps they have their own ship there as well that we could use. Clone Transport would work for a small while to escape, enough to get clear of the Temple itself. Once that far, it would be best to walk, but unless there is another passage, we are not going to be walking from the temple." Drell suggested, hearing blaster fire down one of the halls, turning away a moment later as some shouts followed. There wasn't going to be an Order left after today, meaning the Sith had taken hold of the clones somehow. Meaning there was likely a Sith here. In the Jedi Temple. Drell kept that particular thought to himself until he was certain of it. They already had an army to worry about, adding Sith into it wouldn't help anything.

GM Actions

The LAAT in the hanger lifted off as the clones left the room. However another one came down, hovering outside of the doors and the doors open. The shadows of something could be seen in the main bay. Four legged and filled with a ravenous hunger that was broadcast through the Force. Two of them strained up towards the beams above the hanger, while another two were more interested with the control room. The doors closing the LAAT turned guns facing the left side of the hanger, strafing along the docked craft, fire and explosions filled the left hand side of the hanger followed by that off the right hand side of the hanger as all the craft were blown up. Not waiting to see if the Jedi remained the LAAT hanger opened, four Vornskr left the bay attached by leashes to four clone assassins, and another four assassins leapt out behind the other four. Clones trained to wield vibroblades, who had trained against Padawans for reasons that were now seen.

Jedi Hunters.

---

Tyrell spun around as he heard boots coming down the corridor. This is where they needed to make a judgement call. He turned to face his new reptilian friend. "We must head toward the hanger, while it will certainly be a trap there are bound to be Padawans heading in that direction. From there we can use one of the hidden passages within the temple that won't be... easily discovered. From there we can head to the lower bowels of the temple which will take longer to reach, and from there I believe I know a way out."

He looked down the corridor as eight clones, with four beasts with them came round the corner. Upon seeing them the clones let the beasts off their collars and they ran down the corridor. Tyrell cursed his lack of telekinetic ability. Enthusing the Force throughout his body he moved with lightening speed, curving his now again activated blade in a left to right arc as he jumped the hole in the floor slicing through the nostrils of two of the beasts sending them to the floor whimpering. The other two passed him and went after the Reptilian Jedi, while he would have protected him as was his duty he found it more important to go after the clones who could radio in their position.

He looked them, he had seen these clones in the temple training with Padawans under the guise of doing so that they could better fight commando droids, IG-100s or any Dark Acolytes Dooku threw at them. Now he knew their real job was too kill Jedi. "You may have trained with Padawans." He looked at them, clearing his mind of anger and hatred. Letting clarity guide his actions. "But I am no Padawan."

Shir as well could hear the armored footsteps approaching, though she had no objection to her fellow Jedi's plan. "Agreed, we need to keep others from the hanger if we can. Even if they can get a ship, they will certainly be shot down after leaving." She commented just as they saw the clones round the corner. The beasts they released sprang ahead immediately towards the Jedi. While Shir's new ally went on the attack, Shir adopted a defensive stance for the two creatures rushing her. She crossed her lightsabers in front of her just as the beast closest to her was starting to pounce, resulting in it jumping onto her blades and ending up in several pieces on the ground around her. The other attempted to circle around and attack from behind, but Shir was able to react more than quickly enough. While quite vicious, these creatures had no special protection against lightsaber attacks, and with how fast Shir could strike, she needed no special trick or strategy to kill it. All that was needed was a simple, direct slash across the front half of its body.

With the beasts dead, Shir rushed to aid the Human Jedi. She had not been at the Temple for much of the Clone Wars until recently, so she had not seen them training with Padawans, but even so, she could easily see that there was something different about this group; namely, the sizable twin vibroblades attached at their elbows. She had fought alongside clones long enough that she knew not to underestimate them in numbers, especially their special forces. They were outnumbered four to one, but in that regard, they had advantage. The hallway they were in, while tall, was only a few meters wide, which restricted movement enough to negate the clones' numbers advantage.

Shir ran to the side of the Human Jedi, once again dropping to a defensive stance. Together, they effectively blocked the corridor, so the clones could not flank them and were restricted to attacking only two, perhaps three at a time. If they had been training only against Padawans, as her ally suggested, then the clones would not be at the advantage.

Tactus watched as the clone gunship began to take off and leave the hanger. He wondered why they would do that. They could easily fit several of the craft in the hanger even if they parked them inefficiently. He didn't have to think long before another gunship entered and began obliterating all of the remaining craft. There was only a moment he had before he hit the deck as the ship lased the room. The green beam shattered the overlooking window and caused a small explosion on the other side of the room from him. Glass rained down as the assault ceased and the gunship began to land. Tactus felt something he had never felt before in the force and quickly poked his head up for a moment. But that was all he needed. The image of clone assasins was clear. But the other thing he saw was new. Whatever it was it looked mean and like it could kill them.

Tactus called out to the young Jedi. "We need to leave! I can sense other Jedi nearby! We need to get to them if we hope to have a chance at surviving the clone assasins......" Tactus thought for a moment as he tried to conjure a word for the beasts he saw." And the things they have with them. Follow me!" Tactics shouted as he pushed himself off the ground onto his feet and made for the door. He pulled out the dc-17S and put it in his right hand whitlist putting a deactivated saber in his left. He made sure the blade, should he ignite it would go along his left arm and provide him protection from blaster fire. While it didn't allow him to fully grip the weapon he was able to rest it on his forearm which while not the most stable firing position was better than one handing the rifle. He came out of the control room back into the hallway in a low crouching firing position. He quickly reached out with he force and felt the Jedi nearby. He quickly turned back to the other Padawan and said." Keep close and don't fight. We're outnumbered till we can get to the other Jedi." He then jumped up into a controlled sprint while this forced him to lower his weapons he would still be ready to fight.

As they continued down the hallway Tactus heard snarling and now sabers. The Jedi were close. They turned down a corridor and in front of them were clones and just beyond that he could see the tops of sabers clashing with what looked like.....vibroblades. He quickly activated his saber and that caused a few of the troopers to turn around. These kind of clones he had only heard of. Assasins meant to assist in acolyte hunting or he supposed Jedis. He began unleashing a barrage of fire on the clones though they managed to deflect most of the shots that came their way a few found there way past one of the clones quick reflexes and hit him in the shoulder. He heard the filtered grunt as 3 of the clones began to charge at him and the other padawan. Tactus gritted his teeth as he continued to fire using the force to guide his aim.

A young padawan sat comfortably in the archives with a dusty, almost ripped up book, something rarely used. The colours had faded from its pages, turning it from white to beige. The padawan's head rose when he heard muffled blaster noises from the entrance of the Temple. He shut the book and left it on his seat as he cautiously got up. After a moment's silence, the sounds were heard again, this time continuing without any pause. His hand went to his lightsaber, holding it beside him before activating it. Blaster marks appeared on the door along with some more audible screams. Instead of rushing forward to see what was going on, he made himself scarce, disappearing behind a small door. The giant doors slid open and the distant blaster sounds became easier to hear. He took a glance, forcing the door to slide just a little. What he saw shocked him, making him consider leaving his hiding spot but he decided against it, making his way down the dark corridor in un-shown panic.

The boy marched carefully, listening closely to his surroundings. There must be jedi who know what's going on... He could hear some blasters shooting from the same vicinity repeatedly and was slowly dying down. He started running, hoping to find some of the jedi.

Before Alecar had a chance to devise a plan as to how to escape, the boisterous sounds of the LAAT engines signaled the ship's ascent, the roaring sound growing quieter until fading away entirely. This most deafening silence, however, was not to last long as another LAAT landed not long after, a great disturbance in the Force alerting Alecar to its presence. Whatever had arrived was far worse than he was expecting.

He honed in on the disturbance, using his natural Force sensitivity to try and detect who or what could give off such a disruption. He needed not search for long, though, as distant snarls and barks rang off the Temple walls - Vornskr. Alecar only knew them from the time he would spent late at night in the Archives, studying more of naturally Force-sensitive creatures. The Vornskr he had found most peculiar: hounds who inherited Force-sensitivity to help them hunt the reptilian Ysalamir, who in turn developed the ability to create Force Bubbles as defense. Alecar had marveled at such adaptations in youth, but now he could only feel terrible anxiety...even slight fear.

He could not sense any of the Vornskr approaching his and Salhaine's location, at least not yet, but he instead could feel three other presences approaching quickly: Clones. Though not the standard fare, something about them was far different.

"Padawan Lira, please get behind me." Alecar ordered in a stern but not unkind tone, drawing his lightsaber from his belt once again, his finger brushing across the activation button should the need arise.

He reached out to the Force to give him strength, to clear his mind. A feat that naturally would have been second nature to him, like breathing. But with so much pain and death abounding around him, Alecar had a difficult time finding peace and clarity. Nevertheless, he slowed down his heart rate, eased his nerves at least slightly as he could now hear the armored boots of the Clones sprinting down the hallways, directly coming towards them.

Alecar hit the activation button of his saber just in time to directly sense three Clones enter the room. Using the Force, Alecar could get enough of 'vision' to 'see' these were no ordinary Clones. Their armor was shaped differently, and dual vibroblades replaced the rifles standard issue troopers wielded.

Alecar quickly entered a wide opening stance, his saber held firmly in his left hand whilst his right was crossed over his chest. Spacing his feet apart, he held his saber at an upwards and back angle. He inwardly regretted his lack of lightsaber training, but trusted the Force, as well as his study both in Niman and Makashi (the former more exclusively practiced) to defend himself and the Padawan.

In a split-second, all three Clones' blades spun out, sticking straight out from their forearm as they charged simultaneously at Alecar, who just barely managed to bring his saber up to block the first Clone's blades, the clashing sound of blade on blade resounding off the walls.

Alecar was flanked by a second Clone who promptly lunged a single arm out at the Miraluka, who used the Force to leap over both assailants, narrowly avoiding the vibroblade as he did so.

"Defend yourself!" Alecar called out to Salhaine before he was quickly engaged by two of the Clones at once, quickly forced to switch to a Makashi form to block the endless onslaught of attacks, his defenses becoming less organized, more reckless as he focused more on survival than form.

Because of this, he was unaware when one of the Assassin's blades swept across his thigh, causing him to drop his lightsaber reflexively, crying out in pain. Stumbling off-guard, Alecar defensively blasted both Clones aside with the Force before falling onto his knees, pressing both hands against his bleeding leg in an attempt to apply pressure.

One of the Assassins, now ready to finish off the wounded Jedi, pulled a DC-17 hand blaster from a hip holster, firing off a volley of shots at Alecar, who quickly deflected the bolts with the Force, sending them off in random directions. The other Assassin, however, had a different tactic in mind, and attempted to charge once again, blades at the ready.

Now desperate, injured, and overcome with a desire to stay alive, Alecar shot out his hand once more as luminescent blue tendrils of lightning shot from his fingertips, meeting the Assassin head on in a split-second, the Clone not trained to handle such techniques.

The Clone shuddered violently as the lightning coursed through his entire body, outlines of his skeleton flashing up randomly as smoke slowly rose from his armor. Within what felt like hours, the Clone's smouldering body fell to the ground with a clatter, leaving only two Assassins left; one directed towards Salhaine, the other still at Alecar.

Losing consciousness at a quickly approaching rate, Alecar telekinetically summoned his lightsaber to him, the Assassin attempting to work out a strategy against this Jedi who apparently was not against Dark Side techniques. Before the Clone could plan any further, however, Alecar threw his lightsaber, scoring several glowing gashes across the Clone's chest as he, too, fell to the ground dead.

Alecar, overcome by fatigue and pain was just barely holding onto consciousness, feeling his sensitivity to the Force begin to dim as his perception faded. He would be of no help in this current state.

"... Yes, you are right...", he responded. He sensed something malicious, but it appears his senior has a much clearer idea of what it is. Clone assassins... He has only heard of them, but the something new is what concerns him the most. It does him well that there are allied Jedi nearby, other than Tactus. As they moved to the next hallway, he could easily sense that there were clones right around the corner, and the unsettling unknown presences were someplace else at the moment thankfully... There was also a fainter presence, but he could not pinpoint where it was, but to him this was comforting... Only a Jedi or one trained in the force could achieve hiding their presence.

As they turned the hallway and carefully trudged down it, they could hear the sounds of sabers and the snarling of beasts... So this malicious presence was a beast of some kind. Combat erupted as they spotted the two, and Asher could only draw his lightsaber and hope the fighting would attract the attention of an ally. Running would be a difficult task, but if vibroblades was all they were going to use, then he may have a better time than anticipated. He wasn't sure what kind of training they possessed, so it was difficult to know if he can see any kind of opening if they were to attack. He readied his lightsaber not too far behind Tactus as the three clone assassins made their charge.

Tyrell feigned left, as if to join his current partner, and as such the clone on his side of the corridor took a step forward to try and flank the two Jedi against the wall, pushing back into his previous position Tyrell brought his blade on a low underarm arc, anticipating the attack the clone moved a vibroblade in to block. Swinging the other arm around to cut into his abdomen though as said before, Tyrell was no padawan. Stretching out with the Force rather than pushing his opponent right back as a Jedi more skilled in telekinesis would have done he merely applied the movement to the arm, the attack going wide with his free hand Tyrell channelled the Force into the muscles along his arm and moving with unhuman speed forced his fist into the gut of the clone with a satisfying thump despite the armour as the Clone recoiled slightly.

The clone still pressing against the blade of his lightsaber, and sensing the incoming backward slice he flicked the activation stud of his lightsaber. The Vibroblade pushing through thin air and the clone stumbling slightly as all the strength he had been using to push against the blade was suddenly released into movement. Taking that opening he flicked his blade back on centimetres from the clones chest, killing him. Before flicking the blade off again and letting the body fall to the floor. One down, three to go.

He heard the familiar sounds of both lightsabers and blasterfire nearby, as he pushed back. However the distraction almost proved fatal as a blade pierced his skin, he clamped down with the Force on that area and grimaced slightly. Until he got a chance to apply a bacta patch to the wound it would only get worse. His ability with the force over wounds was infinitesimal compared to that off other Jedi. He swirled his blade on front of him, doing a forward jab. The assassins raised both their blades up and caught his blade in a "V" the pure strength of pushing them against the blade stopping it. He considered lengthening the blade however decided against it, it would do him no good here, instead he dropped down, flinging his left leg down and round in a bid to take his opponents legs out from underneath him...

As they entered into the melee, Shir and her ally were able to keep control of the fight, blocking the clones from flanking them. The clone assassin who first engaged her started out conservatively, probing her defenses with a few, quick jabs. Suddenly, Shir quickly threw her shoto at him, but he demonstrated his own honed reflexed by narrowly dodging to the side, the blade singing his armor slightly before arcing to the right and embedding itself into the wall.

Thinking it an opportunity, the assassin lunged forward for two quick jabs to different parts of Shir's body. However, Shir's reaction was instant. She darted to the right to sidestep the first blade, then used her saber to clash with the second. Given the extended length of her lightsaber's hilt, she could use it effectively in a two handed style as a lever to deliver more force, which, combined with her own considerable physical strength, meant the clone stood no chance of resisting her blade without using both arms. Shir was able to force back his vibroblade until she could angle her blade towards his head, at which point all it took to finish him was the telekinetic turn of a dial to extend the length of her dual phase saber.

There was no time to recover before Shir had to again react immediately, but this time, it was to protect her ally. One of the clones who had been behind the others and too constrained by limited space to help forced his way to the front for a vertical slash at the Human Jedi. It looked as if he might be able to block it, but Shir was not going to take the risk of allowing him to open up her ally's defenses. Reaching out with her already extended blade, she managed to block his vibroblade, but using the momentum he already had, the clone assassin managed to retaliate quickly with an uppercut-like strike towards her neck. She sensed the danger coming and jumped back to evade, but even so, the clone was fast enough to deliver a slice diagonally up her torso.. Her reaction had just been fast enough to avoid a deeper, much more serious wound.

For a non-force user, to wound a Jedi in melee combat was an accomplishment, and Shir allowed her opponent to play off of that success. She allowed herself to fall on her back, to appear off balance and vulnerable. Her lightsaber even rolled out of her hand. Then, once the assassin committed to his finishing blow, she used the force to pull her shoto from the wall behind him, straight through his chest. As she rolled out of the way of his falling body, she pulled both of her sabers to her, then snapped back to her feet to aid her ally if needed. Her wound was bleeding, but not serious enough to stop her from fighting. It was not severe enough that she could not heal it, but to do so would require more time than she had.

Gar saw the two Jedi retreating and the creature looking up towards him. Making his way down he followed their path doing his best to stay out of sight even as the clones seemed to take some level of notice of him. Soon enough though he was back in old maintenance shafts in the walls working towards the last known location. The sound of blaster fire a constant companion in the old tunnels. The accompanying screams and cries were something he did his best to simply block out as he moved towards the Jedi.

I cannot escape on my own, those two are my best shot. He thought as the sounds of their battle became louder. He had a good idea of where they were both heading, they also weren't concealing their presence which made it far easier. He opened a hidden panel a small ways away from the two before exiting.

"With the beasts tracking us, it is best to stay outside the tunnels for the moment. It will only give away the method of movement if they haven't figured it out already." He said as he re-closed the panel. The time for introductions was later, though if asked he would introduce himself. Instead he merely fell in at the back of the group and waited to be told what was needed of him.

Drell grimaced at the sounds that he heard as they continued their way towards the hanger, meaning that they had likely just finished blasting every ship in the hanger to bits. Still, didn't mean it would be a bad place to go yet. Especially if there were other Jedi that had already made their way there, which was probably the more important thing at this point, seeing as while two of them could possibly escape, larger group with more knowledge would have a better chance at getting out of here.

"Sounds like we just lost any chance of flying out of here in one of our ships possibly surviving." Drell muttered, not pausing in his quick stride as he heard some lightsaber combat as well as...felt some fluctuations in the force. What was going on around here? Sith? Creatures against force? How long had they been planning on striking at them at this point?

Drell came around the corner approaching the control room of the Hanger before coming upon the sight of a different kind of clone troopers on the ground. While that in itself was a bit strange, what was more distressing were the clones taking down a Jedi, and likely going to be striking at another who was standing back from the incident. Perhaps a Padawan? With no time to really wait for the clone to make the first move, Drell took his lightsaber out, whipping it towards the clone in one quick motion. The blade soared quickly and with a bit of encouragement from the force, slammed into the clone's chest, killing the last of the assassins.

Tugging back with the Force to retrieve his blade, he first went towards the downed Jedi. It seemed that he had been wounded, but was not dead yet. Whether that would remain the case would need to wait to be seen. Turning some small amount of intention towards the Padawan, he gave a sigh.

"Are you hurt? And have you tried closing the docking bay yet? It seems that we won't be using them, and are more of a....detriment at this point...." Drell said, reaching out more with his senses to try and make sure they didn't have more to worry about yet. Some clones were in the hanger he could sense, but that was a bit of distance, which was all he needed at this point. He still felt some strange fluctuations in the force, but they weren't on top of them yet.

Tyrell swept in a low kick, the clone went down as his legs were knocked from under him. Diving his blade down into the clones chest the clone stopped stirring. Trusting the other jedi to keep watch he dove to the clones utility belt, unclipping it and putting it on himself. After which he took out a bacta patch and shoved it over his wound. Throwing an unused one towards his companion. After which he turned down the hall as he saw too other Jedi facing off against clones that had apparently either been rearguard or re-enforcements for the four assassins that he and the other Jedi had just killed. Deactivating his lightsaber and taking off at a run he shoved his shoulder into a clone in a firing position, knocking him over and his shot went wide. Ducking under the retaliatory blow he grabbed the clone by the waist and lifted using all his strength, with help from the Force and flew the clone over his shoulder and head first into the ground. At this point he was relying on the other Jedi to keep himself safe, it could be considered arrogant however for so long working as part of such a well maintained group it was hard practice to change to a solo act.

Kicking the legs out of a remaining clone and kneeing the clones head as he went down he turned to the two Jedi who had rushed to their aid. Both Padawans however there was a significant difference in both confidence radiating in the force and stature between the two. Despite the fact that the blue skinned one was obviously older he held himself better with more pride in the situation. The younger boy, he was uncertain off however he was sworn to protect Jedi and these two were Jedi.

"Thankyou for your aide Padawans, however we should not linger. There is a secret passageway near the hanger. Let us hope we can intercept anyone heading to the hanger or returning from after hitting the inevitable trap. Introductions will have to wait till later however do either of you have combat experience?"

Once back on her feet, Shir shifted her posture once again, this time to a defensive one. On the other side of the clone reinforcements, she could sense a familiar presence. They had the clones surrounded, so once, the Human Jedi went on the attack, so did she. She ran forward and threw her shoto, telekinetically guiding it through the center mass of one of the clones on the far left, while reflecting a blaster shot into the stomach of another beside him. One of the Padawans finished off the wounded trooper, and with Jedi on all sides, it was not long before the immediate threat was eliminated.

Shir made quick use of the bacta patch her ally gave her. She did have her own, basic medkit in a pouch on her belt, but she preferred to save it for emergencies, not that it would be greatly useful for serious wounds. In addition to her Shoto, Shir also made a point of pulling one of the clone assassin's blaster pistol to her. She did not have a specialized holster on her tool belt, but she found a way to make due with what she had. Most Jedi would hardly consider making use of blasters, but Shir was comfortable with using any resource at her disposal, no matter how "uncivilized."

Shir kept her lightsabers at the ready, and as pleased as she was to see her Padawan alive, was not comfortable with stopping for more than a few moments. "Tactus, it is good to see you alive. It seems the Republic has deployed Jedi hunters, so our time here must be brief. Have either of you been near the hanger, or know if other Jedi are trying to escape through it? As he said, it is surely a trap."

"Defend yourself!" No sooner had the Jedi Knight tossed out the command than he was engaged by two of the clones in unfamiliar armour. A third, however, made for Salhaine almost immediately. The younger Jedi had her saber up and ready in seconds; as it was a one-on-one duel, Salhaine slipped into Djem So's movements with ease.

With the first clash of lightsaber on vibroblade, Salhaine could tell she was outmatched. She was unprepared for the clone's attacking style - paired blades was not something with which she was familiar - and on the defensive almost immediately. She turned her next parry into a counterattack, making a slash at the clone's leg to unbalance him, but her lightsaber was quickly blocked with one blade while the clone launched a surprise slashing motion with the other. Fighting with a single blade in Djem So style gave Salhaine the strength to deliver powerful blows, but wielding two blades side by side gave the clone assassin versatility. There were more options, unexpected ways to attack with one blade while Salhaine's saber was blocking the other.

The Padawan was learning this the hard way, barely dodging the swipe of one blade as she glanced the other off of her lightsaber. And she dared not draw from the Force to turn the fight in her favour: she needed to maintain the strength enhancement required for her style. Taking a risk, she leaped backwards to evade the next set of attacks. Taking even one foot from the ground left you unbalanced in the fleeting time it took to replant it, leaving an exposed point of which an opponent could take advantage. But putting some distance between herself and her opponent gave Salhaine a second to refocus.

Salhaine readied her lightsaber for the clone's rush forward... only it didn't come. Instead he stopped dead, looking down at the blue lightsaber protruding from his chest. The blade withdrew, and the clone dropped in a heap, stone dead. Another Jedi approached with saber in hand, a Zabrak.

"Are you hurt? And have you tried closing the docking bay yet? It seems that we won't be using them, and are more of a....detriment at this point...."

"I am fine. Look to Master Drey." Salhaine waved away the unfamiliar Jedi's concern, deactivating her lightsaber once again. "You don't happen to have a med-pack or something, Master...?"

Tactus threw the backhanded lightsaber into the vibroblade, pushing it up and away from him. He then quickly spun around and grabbed the hilt so the blade was now facing away from him as apposed to his side. He finished this movement with a quick torso level strike. Of course however the clone blocked this and began sliding his vibroblade down his blade making a go for his wrist. Tactus instead of allowing this to happen let himself fall a little backwards and then disengaged the duel by using the force to push himself a bit away. He used this time to switch his blade into his dominant right hand and his blaster to his off hand. While he did this the clone charged at him determined to end his life. Tactus rested his blaster on his right forearm and used it to steady his firing. But then a curious thing happened, a light saber impaled the clone and it sent him sliding face first on the ground.

Tactus watched for only a few moments to make sure the clone was actually dead before he looked up. He was rather surprised by what he saw though. His master and what appeared to be a human jedi master. Just to be absolutely sure he felt out in the force and recognized Shir's presence, and the human defiantly had all the prowess and confidence of one. He disengaged his saber and lowered his weapons. "Master it is a relief to see you. We just came from the control room, if there was any jedi in the hanger I'm sure they are dead now. The clones destroyed all the ships and are using it to bring in troops now." He quickly turned to the new human and addressed him." If there are more heading this way we haven't seen them yet. I would suggest we move quickly to that exit however, the clone ranks are surely thickening exponentially." Tactus said as he began to reload his blaster rifle with a fresh cartridge, discarding the old one.

Asher made a sigh of relief as reinforcement came in, what appeared to Tactus' master... It was a boon to have a master it seems, such a boon that Asher currently does not possess. Though now was not the time to be bothered by this... He had more time to think now, these clones obviously were not going for a full lockdown, it was an eradication. After the clone was slain, Asher put his lightsaber away and stood at ease, though ready to move in case they missed something. Very likely the ship that dropped these assassins off was waiting with fighters within the temple's airspace... So this docking bay seemed to be more reliable as a place to gather some Jedi seeking escape, and then choosing a new route...

He turned towards Tactus' master. He must know this, surely. Asher merely silently kept to himself just behind Tactus as the two continued to converse. He knows there were more than just the clone assassins though, some kind of beast, but where have they gone...? Is it possible they have gone after another target? If so, then other fellow Jedi are in grave danger. He can feel a variety of presences, but his skill was very limited, there were definitely Jedi among those he can sense, but he struggled to obtain positions, only very general approximations...

"We... We should probably get moving... I feel as though those assassin clones are not the end of their... Kill force", he stated somewhat quietly.

So, one of them was his new friends Padawan. That sure made things interesting, and spoke a lot to the will of the Force. He looked between the two, and focused on the younger. He could sense the rawness, this wasn't a padawan and instead a youngling. While interesting it would have to be something that would have to be dealt with later. More importantly they had to get out of there hopefully with more Jedi following them. While he wasn't exactly the most ranking Jedi this wasn't exactly the time to discuss things, a plan of action was needed and he knew the way out and to explain in detail would take far too long. "I shall lead, I know the paths and corridors of the temple off by heart. When we approach the nearest hanger if there are no Jedi present we shall move into the passageways. While secret now I do not trust that they will remain secret for long."

HE turned to his reptilian comrade. "I shall ask you to act as rear guard, and have the padawans in between us so we can protect them if needed. At this time they are the future of what is left of the Jedi order. They must be protected and allowed to escape." He pivoted as he heard a blaster cock in his direction, however stopped as he saw two non-jedi guards with a youngling. "Quickly, come!" He waved them over. "We are about to leave." Luckily he recognised them, though of course they probably wouldn't recognise him. Having never seen him without his face mask on. "Jimmy, take rear guard. Dac your with me up front." He crouched giving the Twi'lek initiate a reassuring smile.

Nodding his head at the two padawans. "Do not worry young one. These two Padawans are strong in the Force. They shall keep you safe. Do not worry."