Aether kept silent as Merak and Alessia went over the mission details, she herself simply getting a look at her surroundings. She hadn't the opportunity to see places as beautiful as Dantooine much in her life, being raised in the vast expanses of space and Valkaina, so she appreciated a bit of sight-seeing before she got to work. It also helped mentally prepare her for what she may face in the coming mission, seeing as most of the time she did this Aether would get at least a small glimpse into whatever wildlife may be present on any given planet.

Once the details of the mission were out of the way, the two teams split up and went their separate ways, circling round towards the Jedi enclave. The Mirialan continued to keep quiet as they made their way down the ridgeline, Aether following behind Alessia using a similar technique to her, minus a roll. The Blitz Crew made their way inside with their team behind, though both teams were halted by the Mandalorian patrol dead ahead. Alessia laid out her suggestions, and Aether took a moment to think.

'Mmmmmh... Fifteen is a solid number... If we engage, we'll want to deliver our attack swiftly and silently.' Spoke Aether to her comrades telepathically, using the Force to help better everyone's strategy. 'I can knock quite a few down with the Force. Additionally I can make use of my speed and precognition to help dispatch of our foes quickly, though I will require backup. If I become overwhelmed I may knock them down and create a doppleganger to confuse our opponents. Worst case scenario I will fall back and maintain a shield for the rest of you. Unless we can use anything else around or let them pass. For instance, Alessia and I could use those crates you're hiding behind to crush the enemy and initiate the ambush.' Her suggestions implied teamwork, but they also were heavily independent. Though Aether knew this would be a tough situation, she would take it upon herself to rush into the fray before anyone else if it meant protecting her comrades. Just because she didn't wholly trust their capabilities in combat didn't mean she wanted them dead by any means. With her suggestion out of the way, she kept her telepathic link open in case anyone else on the team decides to voice their ideas.

With Maria strangely mute and Ana seeming to have everything in order, even settling down to meditate, Valdis returned his attention to the controls, though that really just means he settled in for the uneventful ride for awhile, at least until Ana came up asking if he could show her how to fly. While Valdis certainly knew how to pilot, and was a decent one at that, teaching was another thing, that he never had an apprentice as a temple guard was something he was actually thankful for to be honest. Still, he responded with "um, Teaching is...not one of my strongsuits. you're welcome to sit by if you think observing would help, and I could show you a few basic things maybe" He gestured to the co-pilot chair "I'm sorry if that disappoints but...perhaps under less pressing circumstances" He held an apologetic look behind his helmet.

@Sohtem

With the briefing out of the way, they could part ways with Blitz Crew and focus on their part of the mission. As they approached the enclave, the trio took cover behind a large stack of crates before making an initial move into the courtyard out front, which was just as well for at that moment a patrol of about fifteen or so Mandalorians appeared. Craske and the rest of his men had already disappeared from view. They were on their own.
It made Merak nervous. He had been hoping for a ‘creep in, creep out’ approach where they completely escaped notice from their enemies. Of course, fate, or the Force as his Jedi companions might have said, had other ideas…
He should have of course been used to their mysterious ways by now, but it still caught him off guard slightly to hear their voices in his head, especially for the pair to exchange words as casually as if they were having a verbal conversation. The smuggler would sit there for a while as Alessia and Aether both proposed strategies for moving forward.

He realised that they couldn’t just sit there and wait for the Mandalorians to pass them, and that the Jedi were waiting expectantly to hear his input. Blinking at them both, Merak shook his head and, with some difficulty (he never did understand exactly how to do this whole ‘talk inside other people’s heads’ thing the Jedi had going on), managed to put forward his own thoughts without speaking and just hope that they could hear him.
Well...we can’t risk them doubling back and finding us while Blitz is busy, can we? he pointed out. So Alessia’s right, we’ve got to put them down or we’ll be in for more trouble later. Using the crates as cover sounds like a good idea, and we do have the element of surprise on our side. of course none of the trio had considered the possibility of backup being sent once the fifteen-man patrol never returned to their leaders to deliver their report; but that wasn’t their chief concern in the moment. The patrol was getting closer, a moment longer and their window of opportunity would pass.

Hefting his vibroknife into a better grip position, Merak nodded again. I’m ready when you are.
Whether they chose to use the crates or not, they would have to move quickly once they revealed their position to the Mandalorians in order to dispose of them before they could make enough noise to alert any more of their allies. Though he was less skilled with a knife than with ranged weapons, it would be easier to get past the heavy-duty armour the Mandalorians wore with a blade that could slip through the gaps in the plating than it would be trying to blast straight through the thickest parts with gunfire. He’d learned that during the war and hadn’t forgotten it.

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@Delta44 @The Elvenqueen

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With their course of action decided, Alessia nodded to Aether and the two jedi rose to their feet and extended their off hands, channeling the force within them to generate a single immensely powerful force push which sent the crates hurtling towards the patrol. In the same moment, the human padawan activated her lightsaber, an azure beam of plasma jetting forth from the emitter of her shoto. Before they knew what had happened, two of the mandalorians were either knocked down or unconscious by the tumbling crates. Without pause, Alessia took a step forward and planted her right foot, with a burst of force energy the padawn propelled herself into the air a few feet above the soldiers, twisting her body mid-flight in a somersault-like action before hurling her lightsaber at a man clad in black crusader pattern armour in her force jump's trajectory. Moments before it would impale itself into the mandalorian rifleman, Alessia utilised the force to pull at her weapon's pommel, forcing the lightsaber to make a one hundred and eighty degree turn, causing the short blade of the weapon to slash through the chest of the somewhat stunned warrior and the shoto to reverse it's trajectory entirely, nearly instantly returning itself to the hands of it's owner.

Landing in a roll, Alessia narrowly avoided a horizontal vibroblade slash which was clearly meant to disembowel her as she had landed. However whilst the padawan was one of the weaker duellists among the Valkaina enclave, she was still more than capable of dealing with a few troopers. Her attack was unusually flawless for her own talents, bringing herself upright once she had passed the mandalorian's blade, Alessia swung her shoto in a low sweeping arc at her foe's relatively unarmoured legs, dismembering him in an instant. As he slammed down on his spine, the female Jedi brought her left leg to bear and stomped on the side of the mandalorian's faceplate. Though she was not very strong, nor physically imposing, the angle and speed of her strike was enough to make a sickening crunch as her enemy's neck was broken. Turning her attention to one of the only remaining soldiers whom had not been taken out, or was not currently distracted by Merak or Aether. The man began to raise his blaster to fire, but was prevented from doing so as Alessia sent a storm of force lightning towards the mandalorian with her left hand. As the crackling energies were conducted by the man's heavy armour and began frying him inside his suit, the padawan cautiously tapped further into the dark side of the force as her master had taught her, using her deepest suppressed fears, such as the thought of losing her sister to this conlict, and the anger that scenario would incur. Before long, the disgusting odor of burning flesh and hair began to permeate the air in the courtyard. A sharp gasp crept from her lips as this smell reached her nose and she released the now obviously incapacitated mandalorian from her grasp.

Alessia began to recover, and attempted to enter a state of meditation to prevent her emotions overcoming her during the melee, this technique was not entirely unlike the battle-medidation that many Jedi had made use of during the mandalorian wars. But before she was able to, she sensed imminent danger from behind her and turned to block the incoming attack, raising her lightsaber in the process. Fortunately, she was able to rapidly parry the man's cortosis woven blade and engage in a short duel with the Mandalorian, wherein she made use of her soresu fighting technique to parry the overly aggressive mandalorian's attacks, it was not long, however, before he slipped up and made a vital mistake, over stepping in for a powerful swing in an attempt to break Alessia's guard. Costing him his right arm, and his head.

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@Sohtem @Zetsuko

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Maria had resigned herself to staring at Dantooine's location on the galaxy map on deck of the freighter's cockpit. Leaning back in her seat and seemingly absent minded, Valdis and Ana went about their own business, which she was not entirely sure what that entailed. Her mind was elsewhere in these moments, feeling the stress her sister did. The Jedi knight hated being away from Alessia. the two had grown to become very promising Jedi together, and many of their combat techniques were centered around one another. Soon however, she felt peace once again, and assumed that her sister was not in any real danger, and was brought back to her senses as in her current surroundings. Noticing Ana's position in the co-pilot's seat, Maria shook her head and smiled slightly. The woman had never understood why so many Jedi take such an advanced interest in piloting, to her, there was now bigger rush than the thrill of active duty in service of the force. However, Maria was more than capable understanding the need for force-sensitive pilots in these trying times and would never criticise her comrades for wanting to learn their way around a cockpit, even though she would never consider it.

"If it wouldn't bother you two, I would like to go and prepare my equipment for the coming mission. It's all in the med-bay ready for me. I'd just rather get comfortable in that damned disguise while I can. I hate being out of these robes." Came Maria's voice after a long period of what sounded like nothing but flying jargon to her ears. As much as she loved being out in the open galaxy once again, she hated not having her boots on the ground.

"Oh, trust me, you're not interrupting anything, just a boring Jedi reading about an extinct culture and the history of an lifeless planet. It would be my absolute pleasure to assist you. It is what I'm here for after all." Maz had said, and Wilkdon had responded with "That's good that I'm not interrupting anything. I'd hate to disturb important business.

"Now let's not disappoint your new acquaintance. If you'd follow me, most everything we have on force sight should be just this way."

Wilkdon followed along as Mazai guided him to the various texts he had requested. Very appreciative of her aid in gathering the various writings, Wilkdon felt that he had to be sure to return the favor sometime in the future. After all, one good turn deserves another. he thought, a slight grin on his face.

Maz was an interesting person, a skilled Jedi, and a friend that Wilkdon was glad to have around. Her knowledge of the force and related topics was a great asset to have at the enclave, her library archives a fount of learning, and her combat skills weren't too shabby either. She got along well with most people, and it seemed to Wilkdon that most everyone at the enclave enjoyed her company. So as the two walked the library halls, Wilkdon felt a positive mood that seemed all too rare in these dark times.

With the texts on Force Sight having been easily found and acquired, as presumed by Maz, all that remained was to find the texts on the Miraluka. Wilkdon looked to Maz and stated "I hope you have at least an inkling idea as to where the books on the Miraluka might be. I don't mean to be forceful or impatient, I'd just like to get these books to my young friend before the council meeting Luthor mentioned the other day."

Maz let out a slight chuckle at Wilkdon's comment as her eyes fell back to being transfixed on the datapad before her. She scrolled through hundreds of keywords and titles searching for the books Wilkdon was seeking. Sadly the Jedi Archives could at times be a bit hard to navigate, it was problem that couldn't really be solved due to the sheer size of the information held within it's shelves. Even here on Valkaina where they only had a significant fraction, organization was difficult. The problem she was facing now was that there was two places that were likely to have what they were after. A section devoted entirely to the biology of any and every species, and another smaller much more remote section devoted to Miraluka in general. And unfortunately in this case there seemed to be one book fitting the bill in either section.

"Well, I wouldn't be a very good librarian if I didn't know where my books were now would I?" She spoke through a smile and tapped a button on datapad dispatching one of the library's droid attendants that served alongside a select few to maintain the Library alongside her to retrieve the text from the biology section. Setting her course now for the section on Miraluka as a whole.

It wasn't far from where they were, just a short walk the only concern was the height, it had just so happened that it was on the very top shelf. Once they were stood in front of the shelf in question she looked down at the datapad to confirm it's location and glanced at a library ladder at the far end of the shelf before staring to the top of the shelf towering before them. I'd be really bad at this if I weren't a Jedi. she thought considering her height, or lack thereof. She pocketed the datapad in one of her robes deep pockets and reached out with the force, gently pulling a holobook from the top shelf and lowering it down into her hands. She blew on it lightly as it came to rest, shedding off a thin layer of dust before presenting it to him. "Here you are, aaaaaand" she extended her word a little, waiting as a protocol droid carrying another smaller holobook strode to her side. Grabbing it from the droid and presenting it to Wilkdon in one swift motion. "That should be just about all we have on the subject. Apologies if they don't suffice." She glanced over to the droid and nodded "Thank you JN that will be all." The droid let out a "Yes ma'am" with a slight bow before walking away to attened to it's duties once more.

Tan had escaped the confines of his office for now, sneaking off to the one of the empty docking platforms having it closed for maintenance. The young sentinel hummed to himself as he began to practice forms, he had little time to properly review his knowledge of saber combat in months, not to mention it was how he relaxed and found peace through remembering his masters lessons and what he learned on his path to becoming a skilled duelist.

He started simple, a review of Shii'cho, next moving Niman and then Juyo, his least used form wanting to keep it fresh and under control in his mind. The Jedi kept at until he remembered the meeting, so with grace of a dancer he put away his sabers and tugged his robes back on before he trundled back down through the halls to fetch his data pad for the meeting. He wondered if they were finally to discuss his endless pestering for a Padawan today, if he could hold a seat on this council he also had the right to train a Padawan.

Ana sat in the co-pilot seat, looking over the controls as she tried to familiarize herself with everything, “Oh, that’s fine, I don’t need to know everything, I don’t see myself getting into a fight with other ships, I could just really use a distraction right now,” she gave a feign smile that quickly faded, she hoped that she wouldn’t be a hindrance on the mission, she knew if she wasn’t focused on the task at hand, she would be a liability.

She glanced back when Maria spoke up, “No, I don’t mind, to be honest, I’ll actually be glad to be in a different set of attire, still not used to these things,” Ana responded with a chuckle as she motioned to her own set of robes. Even though she spent a few short years with the order, she still wasn’t entirely used to everything, such as the rules as well as the robes that they wore, but she didn’t mind them and she was at least thankful she was with them, she didn’t know where she’d be if her former master hadn’t found her and brought her in.

Ana glanced out the cockpit window, watching as the hues of hyperspace flew by, she wondered how long it would take to get to their destination, she was looking forward to getting her feet on the ground as well, to be doing something instead of being stuck in one place, she was always like that, but recent events didn’t exactly help with that, but she would try her best to remain patient.

Giving Alessia a nod of affirmation, Merak rose from his crouched position as the two Jedi Padawans began channelling their Force energies. He would need to be ready to move, their element of surprise wouldn't last long and they would need to make the most of it. The stack of crates dropped, a chorus of surprised exclamations and curses leaving the Mandalorian troopers as the trio sprang from their hiding place to engage them. Three to fifteen, theoretically that left five Mandos to each of them, if they could play it out right, his mind already trying to work out some kind of strategy as he sidestepped to avoid a shot aimed at his chest, just in time for Alessia to go soaring over his head and her lightsaber to cut through the man who had just tried to shoot him. Merak ducked past his Jedi companion with a quick shout of thanks, lunging for the next nearest assailant as a small group converged down on the pair. He narrowly avoided a slash from the trooper’s own blade, ducking swiftly beneath the man's sword arm and bringing his knife up to protect his back as he made a quick half-turn to launch another attack. His opponent grunted and tried to turn to follow Merak’s movement but the heavy plating of his Beskar armour impeded his movements, allowing the smuggler an opening by which to slide the blade of his knife beneath the join at his neck and shoulder and drive it into the Mandalorian’s flesh. With a pained cry, the man lurched forward, dropping his weapon as he collapsed.
Blood roared in his ears as the Mirialan quickly leapt over the fallen body to intercept another of the gunmen before he could fire at Alessia or Aether to aid his own squad mates. His back was turned and he never saw Merak coming as the smuggler brought the butt of his weapon crashing onto the man's helmet, hoping he had put enough force into the blow to knock him unconscious. Realising they couldn't take the risk, he executed a similar maneuver to Alessia to snap the Mandalorian’s neck.

Looking around them, he would find both Padawans finishing off the last of their assailants. Merak slid his knife back into the sheath at his belt, striding across to join them again. He tapped a small device attached to his belt beside the weapon sheath and muttered. “I've got a stealth generator, I can go in first and scout it out a little, find the terminals and make sure there aren't any more ambushes inside waiting for us.”
There was a chance of their battle being loud enough for any Mandalorians potentially within the enclave building itself to hear them and prepare an ambush in retaliation. As far as he was concerned, he was more disposable than either Aether or Alessia, so if any of them were to risk being captured (or killed) in order to check, it should be him.

"A distraction?" Valdis cocked his head slightly to the side and noted the smile that quickly faded from her visage "is something bothering you?"

He looked back when Maria finally spoke out "of course, I'll let you know when we're getting close" his gaze coming back to Ana as she remarked about her own clothes "there should be some more clothes back there if you'd like to change before we arrive, though we still have a bit of time before then so no need to rush" he gestured toward the back of the ship.

Little time was wasted between the throwing of crates and Aether's comrades rushing forward, however whereas they chose to rush in immediately, Aether took a moment to fully attune herself with Battle Precognition and Force Speed. Though the two had handled themselves well, they still left plenty of Mandalorians between them, for which Aether chose to rush forth before their enemies could regroup. With a swifter step than most due to her faster speed, Aether charged directly into the fray and ignited her blades, before utilizing a saber throw to impale two more Mandalorians. One of the remaining Mandalorians took this opportunity to fire at Aether, however didn't anticipate the blaster bolt being sent right back at him, deflected. As Aether recalled her blades with the force she zipped in close before slashing at the Mandalorian, cutting him down with ease.

The trio managed to take down the remaining Mandalorians together, with Aether's final kill occurring moments before the other two finished their kills, about to rush in and assist before realising they had it under control. She ignored the wretched smell Alessia's technique had spread throughout the area, having smelled much worse gutting what little creatures roamed Valkaina. She was surprised when the sudden surprise attack on Alessia occurred, however the attacker was thankfully dealt with without too many problems. "Does anybody need healing?" Asked Aether bluntly, as she used the technique on herself to heal a wound which had grazed her hip, causing a moderate burn. "Do not worry, this wound is not too serious. It will need a little treatment back on Valkaina, however this will stop it from worsening." It was enough to allow the wound to be covered and stop from bleeding naturally, at least. As the three found their way together once more, Aether listened to Merak's suggestion and nodded in partial agreement. "I can also transcend through locked doors and bypass anything you may not be able, Merak. I believe I would be a valuable asset in our scouting mission." She then turned her attention to Alessia. "That said, we will need to clean up these bodies before we leave, or leave the task to Alessia. It would do us no good to have our enemy raise the alarm at finding the bodies of missing patrols. Radio silence only lasts for so long also, so we will need to be quick. I would suggest us to move ahead and have her hide the bodies, perchance quickly regrouping later, so to save time on both fronts. That, or we do both tasks as a group."

Leaving the padawan amidst a dead patrol team could be considered reasonably safe, though Aether didn't quite want to let her out of her sight, either. Luthor Antilles would likely not want her, as the highest ranking Jedi present, to leave a padawan alone, as she was aware how close Alessia and Luthor were. Thus she hoped that the second option would be their chosen path.