Korpus V – The emerald jewel of Seti Arun system: lush jungles, coursing rivers and few and far in-between pockets of civilization. Many a Jedi has called this planet his alma mater, leading to a world that has known nothing but peace ever since the fall of the Empire. Alas, this was not meant to last…

As the planet made its infinite round around the sun, casting deep shadows out into the bottomless depth of space, one patch of the sky remained dark. A ship, sharp as a blade in form and black as the night in colour was slowly approaching the planet’s orbit. And as time would tell – peace was the furthest thing from the mind of its crew.

---

“Alright alright alright! Setting the approach vector to the coordinates of the Jedi Temple.” - Rodecay turned away from the controls, motioning his co-pilot to take over, and nodded to the figure at the back of the command bridge. – “Fifteen minutes to target.”

The figure, clad in black armour, cape and helmet nodded his satisfaction in return.

“Excellent. Send the word to others to get ready.” – Garrern’s booming voice rasped through the voice box in his helmet. – “How much time will we have?”

The cyborg pilot scratched his blond head for a moment then leaned back in his chair.
“Err, from my experience I’d say… roughly two hours from the moment we breach the atmosphere until the Republic fleet arrives. So you’ll have an hour and a half. We want the hyperspace wake to have gone cold by the time they get here. Can’t track us back that way.”

“That will be plenty.” – Rodecay could almost swear that the sith smiled behind his mask as he said that. – “Take the Ravenbeak low enough for us to jump, then swing about and provide fire support. I must re-join the others.”

Having said that Garrern turned around, whipping some poor technician in the face with his cape, and headed down the hall to the cargo bay. As the heavy blast doors slid open he looked over the group gathered inside – twenty of their best equipped shock troopers as well as his three friends that were all in midst of equipment checks.

Ansgar stopped fidgeting with his flamethrower and looked up at the sith with a silent question in his eyes. Or perhaps not so silent. With Lorrdians it was never really about the spoken language.
However before Garrern could say anything the ship shook – the tremors of atmospheric entry were all too familiar to everyone aboard. The shock troopers jumped up, readying for deployment while Arianna, Maegr and Ansgar approached Garrern.

“Ninety minutes” – he rasped – “You know the drill. Kill everything that moves.”

The familiar hiss of the rear hatch opening sounded all around the two Jedi. The pressurized air of the cargo chamber rushed from the opening hatch, rustling the brown robes of the young woman and her Master. Natural light poured into the dim chamber as the two stepped from the small ship. The day was mild and sweet with the scents of the surrounding jungle. Everything seemed so,peaceful. Kyra walked across the small landing pad with her Master, Knight H'daru, to her left and slightly ahead of her. He was a good deal taller than she was and often out-strode her. She had learned quickly that walking slow was almost always out of the question though. She had longer legs than most her size, but, that mattered little compared to her towering master. He seemed to float forward with the calculated grace that can only exist in one utterly connected to the Force. Kyra, quickly pattered after him.

A small number of rather surprised care takers approached. One of them, an old man, held a data-pad and kept darting his eyes down to it and then back to the two Jedi. "Excuse me, Knight H'daru?" it was less a question of who he was, but, more of why are you here. "We have tracked a dark presence. It comes shortly." Kyra's master always spoke like that. Quick, short, phrases. He did not waste time droning on or engaging in small talk. The padawan could not be more different. While she did not waste time she often wanted to just talk. Not everything had to be an order or about the mission. Sometimes, knowing what a culture chose to fill silence with would give you a better understanding of them. "this is a place of learning and training, Knight H'daru. Why would something happen here?" the old man seemed confused. "The cannock does not maul the rancor, but, it may prey on it's pups." finally the old man just silenced his questions and began to fall in behind the two Jedi. "I hope the Jedi here are more willing to listen." Kyra said quietly to her master. H'daru inclined his head in agreement as they stepped through the automated door from the landing pad to the halls of the academy. Kyra quickly scanned the halls. It was a marvelous place. She had not been trained here, but, she would have enjoyed it very much. The old Academy on Dantoine where she had studied was still being repaired when she was there. Not only that but the whole place was like a catacomb. Set into the wide fields resulted in a great deal of time underground. Here the air was moist and full of life. Kyra's eyes suddenly widened. She stopped walking. H'daru's steps stopped just as suddenly. The two shared a quick look of worry before Kyra spoke. "Master, are we too late?" H'daru broke into a quick dash toward the main chambers with Kyra at his heel. They needed to find the other knights here and warn them quickly. A shadow had been cast and they sat in it's umbra.

Distantly, the sound of decent thrusters silenced insects and drove away birds on the lush jungle planet. If only they had arrived ninety minutes earlier.

Arianna had been chatting in a low voice to one of the males next to her, Maegr, before Garrern entered the room while everyone was doing their checks. The nature of the mission was rather cut and dry, get in, kill everything, get out and report their results and observations to their Master as needed. However, there was something about this mission that just did not settle well with the young woman and she really couldn't pin point what it was which only seemed to make it worse. When the ship shook, she let out a sigh and stood up with the rest of the troops and glanced at her three friends before her hands patted the sabers at her side. The entries were always pretty rough, but she had nothing but trust for their pilot... unlike the first two who had been found in ditches, killed in a rather 'mysterious' manner.

"So, is it just me or is there something off about this mission?" she asked her companions, Terminate everything and anything that gets in my way... ensure the mission is completed before we return...

Arianna's thoughts were cut short as another violent shudder ran through their ship, forcing her to brace herself and switch her footing so she would not fall into any of the troops around them. However, even with that thought interrupted, the ever present thought of what would happen to Maegr rolled through her mind. She normally did her best to stay within sight of the male as she wanted to ensure that she was around should his rage consume him as it was known to do from time to time. There was no understanding on her part as to why, but she had always been able to calm him. Sometimes it went smoothly, other times she would walk away with an injury or two, but so far there was never anything fatal. She was not worried about the scars she received from him as she always thought them well worth bringing her friend back to his right mind.

Then there was Garrern, she never really had to worry about him as he always seemed to handle himself well enough. Even if she tried to help him on the rare occasion he was injured, she practically had to force him to allow her to assist. As much as they were part of the Sith, she felt them to be a part of her family and she cared for them as much as one could show without gaining grievous injury from a Master should you get caught. She knew that all too well and the intricate swirls and markings along her stomach were testament to what the Sith felt was a weakness within her. Maybe he refused her because of that, but she rarely ever allowed him to do so, and sometimes that meant he earned himself a solid smack upside his helmeted cranium.

Lastly was Ansgar, their star Commando whom was rather late in joining their rather tight knit group. I the beginning Arianna had no idea how to react to the male who had been thrown together with them from time to time on missions, but she could not say having him around hadn't been a life saver on occasion. As quiet as he could be, he wasn't bad company and it allowed her to work on her body readying, but when she would get him to talk she tried to get him to tell her about his training. He had been rather lucky to get the offer he had as most stowaways would have been murdered on sight, them choosing not to had left the three Sith with a most valuable ally. When she had found out them to be pretty much his one and only assignments, she was rather surprised, but not displeased with the knowledge and had expressed as much to him.

But now really wasn't the time to reminisce about meetings and growing up was it? They had a mission they needed to focus on and she hoped beyond hope that her fears would not be realized. Sith or not, there were some things she could not kill, even if that meant forfeiting her own life.

Ansgar had neither been chatting with other commandos, or one of the other three, nor had he been reminiscing or otherwise lost in thought. Rather, it was equipment checking that occupied his time, or 'fidgeting' with the flamethrower as some might call it. The T-21 currently on his lap as well was a robust piece of weaponry, sturdy and simple. Hell, the commando had, more than once, had to resort to a swift blow with the weapon to preserve his life, one of the others, or complete a mission. And yet it served as fine as ever. However, what many people seemed to identify with him when the group of four was often referenced, was the Oppressor Flamethrower. More complicated, and more delicate, of a weapon platform, it had quite a few advantages for its shortcomings. However, before he could go through the almost ritualistic recheck of his weapon platform, which he had done countless times on the way down, the head of the mission, and their merry band, one Garrern, the telltale shudder of approach speaking volumes alone if the man's return to the staging area had not said enough.

Garrern's arrival down with the rest of the troops signaled it was nearly time to deploy, assuming the shudders had not given that away. The cues were plentiful for a Lorrdian, really, to tell what was going on without being told anything really, but as he had learned in the years of service to the three sith, they would at least tell him what was going on upfront. It had been a breath of fresh air in comparison to the horror stories some of the older commandos had given, where their Sith commanders would keep them in the dark as much as possible to preserve their scheming and plots. Operational Security was one thing, being kept in the dark about something to the point of being unable to properly prepare for a mission? That had gotten good men killed. That key point helped fuel the respect he had for Garrern, Arianna and Maegr, as they had not kept him in the dark, not anymore than they would be kept in the dark at least.

Garrern gave them the nine zero minute time limit for the current mission, and Ansgar pressed a few buttons on his wrist mounted datapad. It was part of his armor, and the brief glow vanished after the command was punched in. Now, on his helmet display, was a stark white 1:20:00, a timer that would countdown and help him track the mission progress during operations. The Lorrdian Commando would not tarry and be late, thus jeopardizing the mission extraction due to the fact that the three others were a fair bit too nice for their own good, and he seriously would not be surprised to find out they risked life and limb to extract him should he fall behind. Comforting, from a personal level, but stupid and risky on a professional one. Ansgar found that happening quite a bit during his service with the three, having to rationalize the professional versus the personal. It was strange, given how much he had heard about Sith commanders, that it would be that way with these three.

With the timer set, Ansgar set about rigging his gear for combat movement. Flamethrower, strapped to his back, with the spare fuel canister in a secure pouch on the small of his back. Unlike some troopers, he took the thing deadly serious, and kept the spare fuel canister from overt harm so he didn't spontaneously combust. Next, sidearm, his heavy blaster pistol, was checked again. Once checks were finished, he holstered the weapon on his hip, right side to facilitate a strong arm draw. He was a right handed shooter by preference, so he would favor his right side when it came to operating weapons platforms. Lastly, his primary weapon, the light repeating blaster, was rechecked for safeties sake. Nothing that he could identify was overtly wrong, and he continued to hold the repeating blaster in his hands, ready to put down suppressing fire with the high powered blaster bolts. Its rate of fire was lower than your average heavy support weapon, but the T-21 was one man portable and had higher powered shots compared to your average support platform. It suffered in rate of fire, but when the given bolt could punch through armor on light vehicles and send most men, even in body armor, sprawling, it was a good trade off. Having fully checked his gear one last time, Ansgar gave Garrern a glance, enough to tell the Sith that the commando was locked, loaded, and ready for the nine-zero minutes of operations.

The troops grew silent as everything on deck rattled under the sustained fire of the temple's anti-air guns. The weapons, only suitable for shooting down starfighters were little more than white noise to the corvette's shields but it was, with the turmoil of atmospheric entry enough to shake the crew to the point of tripping a few of the men over.

The three Siths however, stood in line at the edge of the loading bay unphased, seemingly immune to the tremors.

Maegr reached for Arianna's hand. He spent most of the way down looking at her until the ship slowed and the bay's doors opened a good fifty meters off the ground. Letting go of Arianna's hand he cranked a valve on the chest piece beneath his robes, patted Garrern on the back with his other hand and jumped out of the ship sabers in hand.

The local planetary defence troops had entrenched themselves in front of the temple's sandstone walls. Mobile parapets and assault cannon nests had been set up. Barely more than a hundred men stood in defence of the holy site.
Maegr threw his offhand saber on the way down which swooped across the enemy defence line cutting down several soldiers in its wake and hit the ground down on one knee with no impact, as if weightless.
Not a second passed before his two comrades entered the scene of operation in a similar fashion, on either sides.

The Ravenbeak tipped its nose towards the massed crowd firing a volley of green plasma with its earshatteringly loud anti-starship guns leaving nothing but smoke and molten metal.
With this done, the ship stabilised and the Imperial troops rappelled down from its belly.

Maegr walked to the gate closely followed by the others and with a force push smashed the old wooden doors open to reveal a great empty and unlit hall.

As the Ravensbeak made its final approach to the temple, Garrern motioned to the figure standing at the back of the bay, apart from the rest of the soldiers. It was a heavy demolitions droid; the once bright orange pain of its chassis burned and blackened by the scars of perhaps one too many explosive mishaps. KD-50 (that was the droid’s identifier) however outright refused to get repainted, citing instead that the scars made him looks “all cool and camouflaged”. With the heavy clink of his metal feet the droid made his way over to the sith.

- “How come you fleshbags get to have all the fun?” – He quizzed with an annoyed tone, quiet enough not to be heard by others. As lenient as Garrern was with him KD was not stupid enough to openly show disrespect in front of the sith’s subordinates. – “Why am I sitting this one out Gar?”

Garrern looked the droid over, as if mulling over some thought then replied in an equally quiet tone.
- “I’ve a special mission for you KD, be discreet.”
The droid cocked his head to the side, perhaps the only one with enough perception to notice the unusually grim infliction in Garrern’s voice.

- “Is something wrong?”
- “Perhaps. I’ve had a dark premonition for this mission.” – Garrern then nodded towards the reserve stormtroopers who were not partaking in the assault. – “Take three troopers with you and prepare heavy ordinance for deployment.”
- “I get to blow stuff up?” – The droid failed to conceal his excitement.
- “Let’s hope not. Keep a voice channel open to me, exclusively. Move quick and quiet.”
With that he turned around, his cape whipping some unfortunate passerby technician in the face and headed towards the bay doors. It was undue for a commander to show worry in front of his soldiers, however to ignore the premonitions and not prepare would be even more irresponsible. Garrern simply chose to split the difference.

---

Garrern’s landing was perhaps a bit heavier than his compatriots, courtesy of the heavy armor, but he was always of a mind that landing with a bit of an impact made for a more intimidating entry. His brow furrowed under the helmet as he looked over the fortified defenses however. Ravensbeak was running stealth all the way through since they entered the system… so who alerted the guards? And with enough time to set up fortifications no less. The future he foresaw was coming true, and that was a great weight on his mind. Thankfully he instructed Rodecay with this possibility in mind, and the ace pilot skilfully veered the ship around and mowed the firing line down before they could cause trouble.

Maegr immediately proceeded to blow down the doors of the temple and head inside, Arianna in tow, as expected. Garrern sighed and hanged back waiting for Ansgar and the troops to land. Rushing in from the front was acceptable for a surprise attack, but if the enemy knew they were coming their attack pattern had to be changed.

Perhaps realizing the same thing Ansgar immediately approached the sith.
- “We were expected. Change of plans?”
Garrern nodded and raised his fist, the Shock troopers falling in line and awaiting orders at the sight of the signal. He looked over the hastily assembled ramparts and fortifications then raised his head to look at the anti-air gun.
- “The defense is too light; they had little time to prepare. If the force is with us they have not evacuated yet.” – Garrern turned to the commando. – “Split your men in two groups and go from the sides. Keep the enemy from fleeing the temple and drive them inwards onto my blade.”
He ignited his lightsaber as if punctuating the order.
- “In the meantime you personally take however many men you need and secure that AA gun. If they knew we were coming they could have requested air support from the capital. Ravensbeak will need support. Relay the new objective to Rodey and move out. Once you’re finished – find and keep an eye on Sond and Ari. Go.”

With the orders given Garrern turned around and headed into the temple. Maegr and Ari were nowhere to be seen, having most likely went off on a rampage elsewhere. Looking around the empty chamber he noted the mural painted on the limestone of the far back wall. Not by any means ancient it was a scene depicting the demise of the old Emperor at the hands of Darth Vader. The true triumph of light side over dark: the moment where the strongest sith chose to abandon the dark side. He couldn’t help it but get an eerie feeling from the mural. He had to destroy it. Had to.

Air shimmered in his clawed hand as Garrern gathered force into it for a second before thrusting out and letting it explode. The deafening roar of the Force Blast echoed off the walls as the unyielding, indiscriminate power of the shockwave crashed into the wall, limestone shattering and crumbling under its force. Dust filled the air but Garrern could still see the dozen or so guards that were scampering in a panic, on the other side of what used to be the back wall. Many of them were on the ground, knocked out by the shrapnel from the blast. Few panicked blaster shots whirred past him but he didn’t even bother deflecting them – they were never going to hit. The two jedi among the guards however drew his eye; temple instructors by the look of their clothes.

"Time to get to work" Garrern thought to himself as he stepped over the rubble into the room, limestone dust hissing as it hit his blood-red lightsaber.

The two Jedi burst into a room full of young students with low powered lightsabers deflecting bolts from small drones. The two instructors turned giving the two a confused look. "We saw that you would be arriving, Knight H'daru, you did not say why though." H'daru then began. He explained their tracking of the strange vibrations in the Force. The instructors listened intently. They kept their faces calm and serious. They knew the reputation of the Sentinel and that his senses were particularly keen. Once the explanation was done the two instructors acted quickly. They all knew that little time remained before whatever darkness that haunted the academy would be upon them. The three Jedi and padawan moved quickly prompting the defense forces in the area into a defensive position. They all knew this battle would not go well. They could sense the power of the Dark Side and it was cloying. The attackers would not be deterred so easily. H'daru turned to his padawan after they had inspected the air-defense towers. They were in good repair and manned by competent men, yet, they would likely be of little value. Their best hope was to hold the attackers at bay until support from the capitol could arrive, assuming it even did. The Republic was still hesitant to trust the 'hunches' of Jedi. It was unfortunate. They had seen so much evidence to justify the advice of Jedi yet all too often those deaf to the Force would mistrust those with understanding beyond their own. "Kyra," he began, "I need you to go gather the children. You must protect them at all costs. Take them to the lower dormitory and lock every door you pass on the way there." Kyra nodded. "Be wary master, I sense a terrible disaster may befall us." H'daru turned from her without directly addressing her question. She had not needed to speak those words. he knew all too well what his Padawan sensed. "Go. Make haste." he commanded before he strode off to guard the halls.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________

H'daru stalked the twisting halls of the academy. He passed doors and locked them with his own Counsel ID code. Each door snapped shut with a hiss as the mag locks engaged. He walked with his eyes half closed, breathing deeply, surrendered to the Force. He could feel the silencing of life just as easily as he felt the shaking of the very stone from the areal bombardment. They had pulled that ship into a very low flight pattern and used it's ship-to-ship weapons to blast an easy hole in the temple's frontal defenses. As the Knight had anticipated, the anti-air guns were of little effect. They had not been designed to face a threat this substantial. Now all hope rested on the Jedi here and the capital ships that might be on the way. H'daru locked another door behind him and felt through the Force. Around the corner, five, armed lightly, troopers. His towering form suddenly appeared before the troopers in a blur of brown cloth and the steady glow of his green saber. He crouched low and swung in a wide arch. The blow passed through the two troopers on the end of the formation with a sizzle. As his arch terminated he opened his hand sending the saber into a humming whirl, guided by the Force, tearing through the remaining three soldiers with gruesome effect. He gave the dead men not a second glance as he pulled the saber back to his hand and switched off the beam. His attention was elsewhere. He could sense the approach of something far darker than the five now dead at his feet. He began walking forward, shrugging off his Jedi robe. His left hand flexed and one of the trooper's blasters sprang forward into it. As the grip made contact with his hand, the form rounded the corner. One of the Sith. The man wore a mask and stank of fury barely held in check. Without a word H'daru threw himself into a run sending a quick burst of bolts at the figure. As the fourth bolt left the weapon H'daru opened his hand and sent the weapon itself hurtling toward the Sith's face. His saber sprang to life with a crackling whoosh as the Jedi launched himself forward with a Force enhanced leap ending in a crouch and swiping at the Sith's legs. He had surrender to the Force. It would guide him to whatever fate was meant for him.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________

The building shook with the impact. many of the children began to huddle together, plenty were sobbing. Kyra remembered being young like them. They were not too old to be scolded for their behavior, and, likely, would not respond well to person still with a braid telling them what to do. Maybe she was wrong though. These children had spent a good deal of time in the structure of the Temple. Kyra turned to the mass of children and knelt down. "You must all be strong. This is a situation can shape your will." Many of the younglings looked up from their quiet fear to the stalwart young woman. Some had stopped crying, "You must see the fear in yourself and understand it. Once you understand it you can let it go. You fear pain and death. I know, I have felt that too, but, you must know that the Force guides all events. We are Jedi, we are the guardians of balance. We must not fear what will come, we must face it with resolve." she sounded like the teachers she had once had. Many young faces looked as though they did not understand, yet, some other looked as though they had began to understand her. She flicked her green eyes between those resolute children and marked their faces in her mind. Those would be the ones who would lead. Another terrible tremor shook the building. It was not another one of the shots from the corvette though. No, not only did she feel the shaking of the temple but she could feel the hatred and fear in it. Someone out there was a terrible Force user. They had surrendered to the Dark in a way that gave him furious power. This would not end well. Kyra stood. She looked from the children to the door of the room. No. Hiding would not do. They would be sensed. This many Force sensitive children would be a beacon in the Force. She might be able to hide herself but not all of them. The padawan reached up and tossed her hood up. "We need to move. The Temple will fall, but, we shall escape." she reached out and entered the code into the panel by the door turning the screen from a dark red to the bright green meaning 'unlocked'. The door hissed open. The hall was empty, good, best not to fight so early in their flight.

The mass of students led by Kyra moved through the halls as quietly as they could. It seemed like all the locked doors were slowing down the progress of the invaders. Good. Let them feel the anger and frustration, let it cloud their minds. Kyra locked every door on her way down to the lower levels, and, now she was locking each door they passed through leaving no trace of their passing. Kyra stopped at the corner of a hall junction. Her eyes were closed. She needed no sight, she had the Force, three soldiers. They were hunting, she could feel their desire to find. Kyra waited until she knew they had turned away from the corner where she waited. The padawan rounded the corner and took three silent steps before throwing herself forward. Her Force powered rush ended in a slide as her lightsaber ignited. The yellow blade was a dazzling flurry as she came up in a crouch among the soldiers. A small gasp escaped one's mouth as the blade brought all of them down. Kyra slowly stood, extending her senses outward. kyra's eyes opened in shock as she felt the shadow cast over her mind. The padawan turned as the literal shadow someone extended through one of the doors that had been opened. This was no soldier. Kyra pulled her saber up into a Makashi guard and waited. This would be a true test.

Ansgar nodded slightly towards the Sith as he dispatched orders, and turned, watching the man stride forward whilst snapping out orders, saying the first words since he had arrived in the the system with the rest of the assault force. Which was saying something, all things considered, and his voice was held to a precise, level tone that indicated far greater control than one might expect out of your average Commando. "Sections 2 and 3, left flank. Sections 4 and 5, right flank. Follow orders as given. Section one, you're with me. Prepare the grapple guns." The other four sections, alongside their supporting personnelle departed for the given flanks, moving in support of the Sith while first section joined Ansgar at the wall of the compound. Without jumpjets, Ansgar had no interest in fighting through the temple just to get to the roof, and its AA platform, in a less than timely manner. As such, it was most expeditious to do it this way. First Section was equipped for it, and had a spare set up just in case one of the sith or, in this case, Ansgar chose to utilize them and come along.

With The grapples set up, with a slight motion, the hooks flew upwards, launched from the pseudo mortar tubes that now doubled as anchors for the hooks, the lines lodging into the structure just an inch below the top of the wall. Nothing so overt as hooks landing on the wall, alerting the AA crew to their arrival. Indeed, the few men manning the AA gun, including the Jedi more focused on organizing them and looking for any aerial threats, so while they watched carefully, no one would see the group moving up the wall of the building. After all, being under such intense assault, no one noticed the handful of commandos rappelling up the wall towards their given target. Reaching the top of the wall, Ansgar motioned for another commando to act, the man tossing several stun grenades over the lip of the wall. No equipment damage, but would stun and scatter the defenders on top of the AA position. Sure enough, after several rapid thumps, Ansgar hauled himself up and over the wall, alongside the other commandos of First Section. Indeed, the dozen or so men on the AA position were staggering back from where the grenades went off. Ansgar, seeing the Jedi Knight already igniting his saber, wasted no time in slinging the flamer forward, drawing his side arm and firing a distracting shot. Sure enough, the Knight parried the shot, round fizzing right past the Commando's head. Squeezing the trigger, the internalized preigniter caused a massive spurt of flame to shoot forward.

At the range, not even a Knight would have had time to react. Sure enough, the robbed man went up like kindling, screaming as the fire engulfed him, sticking to his clothings and sending him stumbling backwards, tumbling down the stairs, much the the horrified yells that a defensive position that was at the bottom of the stairs made. Cries to put the man out as several soldiers rushed forward were met with one of Ansgar's grenades, which did plenty of damage and ensured that the Knight was dead and gone. Never underestimate the Jedi that fought back, after all, sabers only needed one good swing to kill a man. Glancing back at First Section, he barked out orders. The men had handily cleaned up the disorientated and scattered troops that had been manning and guarding the AA Gun. "Three men man the AA gun, rest guard them. Prevent interruption of operations. Coordinate with the transport as needed. All targets valid. Exfil upon order via wall lines." With that, Ansgar slung the flamethrower onto his back, before moving down the stairs, T-21 Light Repeating Blaster in hand now instead, listening to the movements and scuffles that were being made by the survivors of the defensive position. Before moving forward, he opened a line directly to Garrern.

"AA Gun secure, proceeding with second objective. Striking from behind enemy lines, expect confusion and disorganization. Confirmed one Knight down." With that, Garrern would likely hear a second thump as the following grenade went off before Ansgar silenced the broadcast part of his comm line, no sense cluttering the line. Swinging around the corner, several steady shots from the T-21 nailed each guard that was still alive. Moving forward, Ansgar would brace before stepping out, swinging the weapon back and forth, looking for trouble. Nothing, seems most of the guards and Jedi were still moving forward to try and repel the assault long enough to survive for reinforcements to arrive. Poor souls didn't realize that they would not survive the nine-zero minutes required for the assault force to withdraw. For now, he would begin sweeping the interior of the building, looking for anything, either enemies, allies, or who he was supposed to find and watch over. Easier said than done, considering he had no clue where to go.

Maegr strode through the dark halls of the jedi temple with furious purpose, Arianna pressing behind as if anxiously watching over. The walls were painted with abstract symbols and force script in the Republic's signature maroon.

As he walked around a corner bolts flashed at his head which he dodged without much difficulty meanwhile raising his left hand to stop Arianna from walking into them with a gentle force push. The bolts quickly stopped only to be followed by a slash at Maegr's knees.
Maegr jumped over the blade and its weilder landing behind him without a sound.
He unhooked his main saber from his heap and ignited it with his left hand.
An Jedi knight stood in front of him, tall and thin, sunkissed. He had vibrant blue eyes, shaggy brown hair with grey strands and a week's beard.
"This one is for me." he told Arianna.
"Do not die." she beseeched as she ran off ahead.
The Sith paced left and right, sizing his opponent, the length of his reach and the speed of his footwork.
Temporizing would only play into the Jedi's hand. Raising his saber with two hands over his head, he came down with a blatantly telegraphed slash at his opponents head which met the other saber, bouncing off it into a circular single-handed slash at the waist which was stopped again.
Maegr span the blade around his body in a flourish, accompanying the movement with waist and shoulders as if to give it momentum. From that flourish flew a series of blindingly fast hits at all angles but the Jedi managed to stop them. It soon came apparent that the Sith did not seem to bother with holding up a guard. He struck out at Maegr's chest with lunging thrusts at his chest that the Sith dodged and blocked with unsettling ease.
With this H'ruda came to understand that his opponent's had a clear vision of his upcoming moves, more so than most opponents he had ever faced, more so than he himself had of the Sith's.

With the next moves the Maegr struck at him with wide slash, down, right, left, up. Every sideways strike was wound up with brutal power by the spins of his passing footwork. Each strike the Jedi blocked wore down his physical and mental strength as the dark power of Sith rage coursed through his body.

---

H'ruda sorely missing the fortitude of his prime saw that he could sustain the fight following that pattern for much longer. Looking to reengage on his own terms he broke off into a feat of force speed that Maegr stopped by blasting him against the wall at the of the corridor with force.
Taking a few steps of run up, he jumped at the Jedi in one of the spectacular slashes of the Ataru form. Though H'daru, after managing to retrieve his footing dodged the attack with relative ease by simply stepping aside and saw the opportunity of a counterstrike from behind his slash was met by Maegr's blade who had guarded his back before spinning into a jumped kick to the knight's head which sent him to the ground and a few meters back.

Marching towards him, Maegr clutched his hand and threw the Jedi into the large hall behind him.
Bracing his saber with both hands at his chest, he charged, letting out a painfully loud shout.

After her parting words the Maegr, Arianna made her way through a series of halls that she chose at random, her eyes scanning the area for any sense of danger. On occasion, her eyes would fall upon an abandoned pack, or one attached to a now deceased individual, and would rummage through it in search of something she felt was extremely important. Despite the numerous amount of packs however, only two ended up being fruitful with one explaining the Jedi way of meditation and another the Jedi’s art of healing… or rather a fraction of it. Without the full documentation it was nearly useless to her, but she felt it would be far better to study some rather than nothing at all. The fragment itself was more than likely something an acolyte had tried to take from whatever archive may rest within the building, and archive she just did not have time to hunt down.

Letting out a sigh of clear displeasure, she pocketed what she had found and continued her way down the hall, channeling a bit of her force power to her senses in hopes of catching any noise that would hint towards where her target was. Turning a corner, she caught the sound of shuffling feet and whimpering children, she had located their target and all that was left was to terminate. Eyes narrowing, she took off down the hall as quickly as her enhanced abilities would allow, her legs easily eating up the distance as she maneuvered her way through. It wasn’t until she finally sighted the gaggle of children that she stopped, mildly displeased to see that they were accompanied by what appeared to be an older Female… Jedi? Padawan? She couldn’t really tell.

The shadow had fallen. Kyra’s green eyes snapped over to the Sith. She knew that this foe was something the likes of which she had never faced. She could feel the presence of the Dark Side in her. Her very body was corrupted by it. The padawan had no time to think. The woman was on the other side of the younglings and she needed to ensure they lived at all costs. Kyra turned without a word and focused all of her connection to the Force in a single bound. The sudden burst of strength surprised the young Jedi. She tilted to the side in the middle of the air. Kyra managed to recover her balance at the last moment and landed in a somewhat awkward stance in front of the Sith. She was in striking distance, not where she wanted to be. The padawan narrowed her eyes at the purple haired woman, an expression of raw determination on her face. “Leave them be!” she shouted while keeping her saber up in a threatening stance. She did not strike though. She would wait, Makashi’s strength, the parry and counter-thrust.

Arianna couldn’t help the smirk that crossed her features upon seeing the rookie mistake behind instilling too much Force to strengthen a leap. Padawan mistake, so at least that answered her question about the level of training the female before her had. Then there was her clear want to protect the children her group had been sent to kill, which made her inclined to believe it was a task assigned to her otherwise she would not have herded them so far already. “I would think not,” she said, her tone calm as her own sabers jumped to meet her hands, “I have my own mission to complete, and it involves them dead on the floor of this… Day Care.”

Arianna’s last two word were punctuated by the sound of her sabers crackling to life. The mixed glow of the red and purple beams caused her pale pink skin to take on an almost darker shade for a brief moment before she lunged at the Padawan before her. She had no intention of allowing someone who seemed green around the gills get the better of her, or stop her from completing the mission she had been tasked with. One way or another, those children would feel the burn of her Sabers, no matter how brief.

This creature is evil. Kyra’s brief moment of hesitation and desire to use diplomacy vanished. It was now her only goal to see this evil thing meet it’s end on the edge of her saber, no matter how brief. The padawan may not have been the best at the use of the Force, but, her saber skills were close to that of a fully trained Jedi. her master had taught her well. Kyra took a quick step backward, gaining a more solid stance, and quickly brought her yellow saber up to intercept the first blow. She did not fully block the blow, only direct it away from herself as she returned her own thrust aimed at the Sith woman’s face.

Arianna wasn’t all that surprised by the block, but she found the intended attack rather amusing as she brought up her red saber to deflect the younger woman’s attack. This apparently ‘simple’ exchange of blocks, parries and attacks went on for some time with neither wanting to give headway to the other while the children huddled in the closest corner. The longer the fight went on, the more the Zeltron came to terms with the fact that a simple exchange of blows was not going to get them anywhere. With her next attack, she channeled a push to force the Jedi away from her a bit before following up with another attack rather than her typical block or parry, the purple saber coming straight for Kyra.

Kyra’s mind was completely blank. She had no time to think or consider. She had never crossed sabers with a foe this skilled and it took all of focus and connect to the Force just to stay alive. She felt a sudden surge of power in the Sith and braced for the impact. The push sent her skidding backward and scattering the children at her back. Many of them coward farther away from the dueling women. Kyra managed to stay on her feet due to her stance but she was off-balance as Ariana closed to finish her. The padawan brought her saber up and barely deflect the blow away from a lethal strike. The blade of the Sith’s saber skidded along her arm and seared the flesh of her forearm sending lances of pain through her right arm. Kyra held onto her saber through force of will alone. The young woman gritted her teeth and threw herself forward at the Sith, inside of the reach of her sabers. Kyra’s yellow blade shut off with a hiss and she threw a heavy uppercut at the other woman’s jaw using her lightsaber hilt as a fist-pack. At the same time she threw her left hand out and focused a lance of kinetic force energy into a lance aimed at the assailant's right knee.

Arianna managed to avoid the uppercut, the step back saving her knee but doing little to no good for her thigh. While she did not let out any real noise indicating she was acknowledging the pain, the warmth of her blood rushing to the surface of her leg did not go unnoticed. That alone was enough to aggravate the woman, which resulted in the Padawan becoming rather familiar with the Sith’s fist with a potentially overfocused amount of Force behind it. Using the time she could gather from the brown haired female being flung into the closest wall, the distinguishable sound of lightning could be heard erupting out of nowhere. “You shouldn’t have done that,” she hissed, yellow eyes narrowing as she spoke through clenched teeth before striking.

Kya’s back struck the wall and knocked the wind from her lungs. She gasped while what sounded like far off thunder was gathering. The padawan’s head was spinning and the words of the woman she had been fighting were like the wind whistling through a canyon for all the meaning they had to Kyra. Her training kicked back in as the Sith struck, Kyra’s saber coming up and alive with just enough time to stop a blow that would have sliced her completely in half. The power of the Force lightning in Ariana’s blade shot down the length of the padawan’s blade and entered her body. Kyra’s green eyes shot open as the most intense pain of her life shot through her. She screamed, one pupil growing wide as it could while the other seemed to vanish from view entirely. The mass produced padawan saber she held erupted into shards in her hand taking the right ring finger with it. A second later the entire blade of the Sith’s other lightsaber was driven through her shoulder promising a searing pain once Kyra could feel anything again. The brown robed figure slumped to the wall and then to the floor with a wheezed of inhaled breath. Kyra turned her one seeing eye’s triple vision on the children that looked on in horror. “Leave them…” she begged in a hoarse rasp. “Kill me, leave them. They have no crimes. They know nothing. They just… Children.” the young woman’s vision swam with dark spots before her mind surrendered to the promised respite of unconsciousness.

Arianna turned her attention to the children once Kyra lost her battle to stay conscious, her eyes sweeping over their small, cowering frames as the Female raised her purple saber with the clear intent to cut them down. However, Arianna froze just before she was about to bring the blade down, her body starting to shake as she found her mind beginning to really process what she was about to do. Despite how little the Jedi said in her attempt to dissuade the Female Sith from killing the children, it did make her stop and think. What was the point in killing someone so young? They had yet to truly go through the training that would push them into the light side, they were not her enemy… they had the potential to be allies even. Shaking her head as if to clear it, Arianna started to bring the saber down on the oldest child, only for her blade to retract before falling to the ground, any resolve to kill them gone. Instead, she stepped forward to who she assumed was the oldest. Even if they were going ot be her enemy some day, they were innocent for now, and she found that the very idea of taking that from them did not settle well with her. It reminded her of how her life, how Maegr and Garrern’s life… had been taken from them as they had had no choice but to join the Sith, and so many horrible things were done to them to get them to where they were now. “Take them and go,” she told the oldest child, “Get out of my sight before I change my mind.”

When they did not move fast enough for her liking, she caused a section of wall to explode near them with a rather violent force push towards that area. “I SAID GO!” She shouted, causing the children to scramble to their feet and flee. Leaving the woman trembling where she stood, a mild panic starting to set in as she realized exactly what she had allowed as they disappeared around the corner. Once they were out of sight, Arianna grabbed Kyra, draping the girl over one of the Sith’s shoulder like a sack of potatoes before she began her search for Maegr and his opponent knowing full well she was more than likely Dead Sith Walking.

The two Jedi ignited their sabers and slowly backed away as Garrern strode into the hall. The few conscious guards scampered for their blasters, but before they could get off even a single shot the Sith waved his hand and sent the lot of them crashing into the wall in a tangled mass of limbs.
“Go! Help the others get out! We’ll hold him back!” the younger jedi shouted, glancing at the few soldiers that remained standing on the opposite side of the hall. He looked unsettled, afraid even; must be barely out of his padawan robes, to be wearing his emotions on his sleeve like that.
Garrern looked over the other one: much older, with short grey beard and a calm expression, his stance was the same that the kid had assumed but far more refined; must be his master then.

“This is a place of teaching and peace, dark one. Leave and we will not pursue you!” - The older jedi’s voice resolute. Almost… too resolute. Garrern could feel that his connection to the force was strong, there was no way he didn’t grasp the difference in strength between them. So why such resolve to stand his ground? Why not flee with the others - aid their escape? Something about this mission continued to feel odd to Garrern, as if a silent voice was screaming in the back of his mind, louder with every second. But there’ll be time to ponder later, after his foes were vanquished.
With that thought Garrern pushed all feelings of unease out of his mind and took his stance.
“A dead man’s bargain,” – He rasped – “have some dignity, Jedi.”
“It’s two against one! You stand no chance!” – The youngling shouted, foolish in his age.
Garrern chuckled grimly.
“No matter how many rats band together, they are no match for a Rancor. Both of you will die today.”

The youngster apparently did not take to being compared to a rodent, and immediately lunged at Garrern, saber whirring through the air in a fast overhead swing.

“Miltaar no! Get back!” – The old master shouted, a moment too late.
The difference in physical ability was apparent; Garrern raised his saber and stopped the blow completely with a single hand. A quick step in with the right foot to apply extra pressure and his much lighter opponent was thrown off balance. Next, keeping the sabers locked he forced it upwards, exposing Miltaar’s midriff and delivered a tremendously powerful kick to his side. The hall echoed with the meaty sound of crunching bones, as the young Jedi’s ribs were shattered by the toe of Garrern’s steel boot, sending the kid tumbling half-way across the hall.

The sith slowly straightened up, locked eyes with the master jedi and this time assumed a proper two handed stance of Shien, waiting for his opponent’s move. The situation was clear to both warriors; with his apprentice alive but too injured to move and too brash to flee, the master had no choice but to fight. Even if it meant attacking an opponent in counter stance.
Raising his saber the old jedi exhaled and steeled his hand.
“My name is Com’hiru, Jedi of the Light and Master of this temple, and I accept your challenge, Dark one.”
With those words the Jedi launched himself at Garrern with much the same overhead swing as his apprentice. Garrern blocked, of course, but instead of letting the blow get stopped Com’hiru relaxed his grip and thrust downwards, letting his saber slide effortlessly down the guard and then struck out from below it, aiming to pierce the Sith’s throat.

Time seemed to slow as Garrern’s focus grew sharper. Taking a half-step back he released his left hand, switching back to a one-handed grip and with a twist of the wrist swatted the jedi’s thrust aside, while force pushing his away with his freed up left. The deliberately weak push did not send the old man flying, but gave him pause and threw off his balance, allowing Garrern to step back in and throw a lightning fast slash at the man’s neck, aiming to take his head.

However at the very last moment instead of resisting the push, Com’hiru submitted to it and added to it a push of his own, flinging himself out of the deadly strike’s reach. The air filled with the stench of burning hair, as the tip of Garrern’s saber singed a groove into the old Jedi’s beard. The split second exchange was over, and both warriors faced each other once more.
“Do not disappoint me, master Jedi.” – Garrern rasped in acknowledgement of his opponent.
Recognizing the respect given to him Com’hiru nodded in return, steadied his blade, and with a deep breath lunged at the Sith once more.

---

“Shit shit shit SHIT!” – Rodecay cursed indiscriminately as he swung the Ravensbeak around, dodging out of the way of an incoming X-wing. – “Where in the blazes did these guys come from?!”
The ship creaked under tension as yet another taxing manoeuvre put massive stress on its metal. Ravensbeak was slightly larger and better equipped than an average raider-class corvette, but it was still not designed for high speed dogfights in-atmosphere – the X-wings ran circles around it.

“Starboard deflectors at fifty percent!” – One of the co-pilots, a blond woman in her early thirties turned to Rodey. – “They’re too fast, turrets aren’t keeping up at close range! We NEED to get some distance between us!”

The ship trembled as yet another volley found its mark, prompting yet another barrage of curses from the pilot. A mere dozen ships were giving them this much trouble and it was driving the cyborg positively crazy. If only he wasn’t stuck piloting this giant ass of a ship and had something nimbler the fighters would’ve been ancient history by now. How did the bastards even know they were coming?! Their stealth was immaculate dammit!

Continuing to utter curses under his breath Rodecay slammed the seatbelts alarm, gave the crew five seconds to strap in and then sent the Ravensbeak into a barrel roll. Paltry as far as dogfighting moves went, but it worked well enough. One of the x-wings did not adjust his speed in time and ended up flying out on front of the corvette, allowing Rodey to shred it with forward cannons.
“Black Spear to Ravensbeak, Black Spear to Ravensbeak, do you copy?” – The radio came alive just as the cyborg levelled the ship out.
“Bit busy now! The hell do you want?!” – Rodey yelled back into the headset as yet another volley crashed into the rear deflectors.
“AA Emplacement secured sir! Ready to provide support!” – The trooper’s response was music to the pilot’s ears.
“Alright alright alright! Everybody hold on to your pantaloons! We’re get some speed up on these bastards, let the ground guns shred them!” – Rodey yelled and brought the Ravensbeak around, setting a straight line course back towards the temple. Going in a straight line was a gambit, but he wagered the rear shields would hold long enough. As the ship gained speed the x-wings fell in line behind it, peppering the rear deflectors with a near constant barrage of blaster fire.

Good, Rodey thought to himself, let the bastards get all nice and clumped together behind them, the anti-air will blast them into yesterday! The trembling was incessant but the improved shields were holding and as soon as Ravensbeak reached the temple, the pilot’s gamble paid off. The light AA emplacement, originally designed specifically to take down fighters tore into the unsuspecting pack, ripping half of them out of the sky in moments. Only five x-wings remained and they broke the pursuit and scattered, fleeing the ground fire.

Rodey whistled and leaned back in his chair.
“Okay everyone, we’re clear! Once we break atmosphere the rest of ‘em are-“ – His triumphant speech was interrupted by the violent tremor of blaster fire. “The hell?! Maggie, what in the blazes?!”
“One of the fighters did not break pursuit! He’s right on our tail! Rear deflectors at seven percent!” – The co-pilot responded with worry in her voice. – “Rodey, you need to swing us around, if we take any more hits-“
“I know! But if we break speed the rest will catch up and we’re dead anyway!” – Rodecay barked back and set the ship into an aileron roll, in hopes of making it harder to hit. If they could just hold out for a few more seconds and break the atmosphere, the Ravensbeak, unburdened by air resistance, would be nimble enough to take that fighter out. If only the real shields hold that long they’ll-

His train of thought was interrupted by the radio buzzing back to life with the distorted sound of what seemed like… music?
“….pleased to…you, hope you guessed *bzzt* -ame! *bzzzt*..puzzling yo, is the nature o…*bzzzzt*.. Hey there you half-metal bastard!” – the very familiar ‘voice’ broke through the music, causing Rodey’s face to sink.
“Oh no…”

Meanwhile on the outside of the Ravensbeak a service port opened, and out of it slowly rose a familiar figure. With a boombox player under one arm blasting music and a heavy rocket launcher on the shoulder, KD-50 stepped onto the corvette’s black surface, magnetic boots clamping down tight.
“You fleshbags can’t do anything without me!” – One could swear the droid was smiling as he said that out loud, trained his aim on the X-Wing and pulled the trigger. – “BOOM SHAKALAKA!”

Leaving the burning fireball of the X-wing far behind them, Rodey took the ship out of orbit swung it around. With a short command the gunners trained the long range weapons and blew the rest of the x-wings out of the temples airspace. As the co-pilots celebrated Rodey leaned back into his chair with a sour look on his face and rubbed his eyes.
“I…. REALLY hate that droid…”

This foe had incredible power. H'daru could feel his connection to the Dark Side just as well as he could feel his own connection to the Light. It was like being too close to a transistor when the two clashed. He could feel the pulsing and pulling of the Force. He would not be able to kill this dark thing easily. Perhaps not at all. His senses did give him some information though. This thing needed it's mask in some way. A strike to the head would surly kill the Sith so it was not a bad idea to try and strike high no matter what the situation. H'daru steeled himself as the raging Sith bore down on him. H'daru threw himself backward and assumed his usual one handed Makashi stance. Meagr came in inhumanly fast with his crossing strike, H'daru parried the blow, letting it slide off his blade and off to the side. As expected, the Sith redirected his blow and turned the cut in from the side. H'daru gave over to the Force and reacted preternaturally quickly. He directed the blow up and over his head in a semi-circle. As the parry reached it's apex the Knight switched off his lightsaber. The sudden loss of contact threw the Sith's flow off. H'daru twisted the hilt of his saber forward as the green blade sprang back into existence, filling Meagr's vision with searing green light. The Sith lurched backward from the thrust, reacting through the Force more than natural ability. The saber missed it's killing stroke but sheared the mast nearly in two on his face. H'daru brought his saber down to parry the expected afterblow as he pushed himself backwards with a Force powered jump. The impact of the Sith's afterblow at the start of his jump threw him off course. The Knight righted himself in midair and landed a few feet from the door to the gardens. He slammed his hand into he panel, it read his signature, and, the door hissed open. The Knight wheeled inside the doorway as a blow from the enraged Sith tore the wall panel to slag.

The gardens were a beautiful triumph for the Jedi attendants. Exotic plants of all kinds grew in stunning patterns in the center of the massive room. The entire garden was ringed with arched buttresses that separated the garden from the walk way around it. The roof was open to the elements here and the sound of the raging air battle could be heard now with nothing between them and the two dueling Force users. H'daru leaped into the air, landing deftly on the edge of one of the arches. He slashed a section of the arch free and sent it on it's way toward the Sith with a helping Force push. The Knight leaped from the arch and landed in a crouch with his saber silenced. He waited. Now all he needed to do was wait. The reinforcements were here and soon these Sith would fall under the heel of the Republic. Time was his ally, not their;s. H'daru sent his blade to life with a crackle as Meagr entered the garden proper. The Jedi sent a powerful blow toward the nape of the Marauder's neck from behind, the bow was dodged swiftly, before H'daru launched himself away from the creature again, placing many plants between the two of them, breaking line of sight. Delay, delay, delay. The thought was a chant in the Jedi's mind. He extended his senses and sought the presence of the Sith while using his powers to conceal himself from the other's Force sight.

As H'daru opened the gate to the temple's walled garden, green light poured through the four meters tall archway, flooding the unlit halls.
Taking advantage of that break in the fight Maegr brought his gauntleted hand to the scalding gash in his mask, probing at the damage. Though little heat had transferred to his face thanks to careful engineering the breathing system was destroyed, several pipes and cables had been severed and sparks came off the seared electronics.
As the drug was not coming through the overwhelming buzz and pressure in his head, the twitches of his every muscles, the constant itches and tingles of his skin were slowly fading away.
His vision was becoming increasingly cloudier. A deafening screech overwhelmed his hearing. The pulsating pain in his skull became constant and spread across his body.

As Maegr turned his glare away for a moment the knight cut away a piece of one of the beige pillars the outdoors archway and hurled it at the Sith. Though inconvenienced by the light, he felt the block of ancient masonry approach and with a force push of his shattered it, thus filling the air between the two men with stone dust.
Four massive flower trees cornered the square patio, casting protective shadows over a treasure of some of the rarest medicinal and aromatic plants in the Galaxy. In the centre was a pit of raked sand, six meters cross and interspersed with large smooth grey rocks.
Maegr took a run up and pounced on the Jedi who now stood in the sand with a whirl that brought his saber into a downward slash at the right shoulder.

The knight brought his own blade in opposition, letting the two slide and followed the movement into a backwards leap. Planting his feet in the ground he closed the distance with a lunging thrust at the Sith's chest but the Sith bashed the point out of alignment with a downward sweep and, wrapping around it, tried for a thrust at the knight's wrist who switched off the sabre's blade and pulled his arm out of harms way. Before he had a chance to ignite it again, white lightning surged out of Maegr's armoured off hand.

The streams struck H'ruda across the chest and skull. Groaning in pain for a second he managed to gather the willpower to ignite his light sabre again and bring it in front of him. With focus he managed to redirect the lightning into his sabre, dispersing them and with an overswung slash reflecting them at the Sith who stopped them with a simple flick of his own blade.

With the progressive dulling of his senses Maegr focused on his perception through the force. H'ruda took the chance to gather his strength before launching into a flurry of blows with intermittent cut and thrust that the Sith showed no difficulty in blocking. Finally at the end of his wit the master tried to once again use his previous trick. Coming down with an overhead slash he cut off his sabre but Maegr did not try to block it and instead waited for the blade to be turned to strike with blinding speed at H'ruda's wrist, slashing off the Jedi's hand.
Clutching his off at the hip, he grabbed the H'ruda with the force and smashed him against one of the standing rocks in the pit.

Slowly walking up to H'ruda he put the point of his scarlet sabre at his throat when a pit grew in his stomach. Fear, anger, regret and compassion. Distress. Maegr sensed what Arianna had done.
Turning back, he stared into the master's teary eyes.
- "You win."
- "I know."

Maegr stroke at H'ruda's throat only to find his blade slashing through the air. The Jedi's body vanished as a gust of wind sweeped through the gardens, leaving only empty robes behind.

As soon as the fight was over, the residual dark emotions started dissipating and his mind and body began shutting down. Falling to his knees, he leaned against one of the rocks, and ripped off his mask. Blood was dripping from the corners of his mouth. Realising that he wasn't going to go any further, he gathered force power into his lungs and throat and let out an absurdly loud shout, "ARI", before collapsing face down into the ground.