Invasion of Coruscant

Xander Vos · Invasion of Coruscant

Xander Vos sat in the Council Chambers, surveying the Jedi standing before the Council.

"The Council has received disturbing news that the Sith are launching an attack on Coruscant. The Republic military has called us here, to the old Jedi Temple, to protect Coruscant from attack," he relayed.

Lord Vexen

(Good old RPing)

Lord of Hunger Vexen sat aboard the bridge of his Super Star Destroyer Heaven's Fury and surveyed the battle in space, while talking to his field commanders via comlink. "All soilders are to land in the old Jedi Temple and occupy it. It should be relativly undefended, and will serve a symbolic victory for the Sith."

Xander Vos

"Everyone has been given command of a squadron of thirty Republic troops, and can use these men as they wish in the coming battle against the Sith," Xander continued gravely, "By sticking together we may be able to take them down, but by splitting up we may be able to do further damage where they least suspect it. Choose your plan of action carefully."

Sirak Sazen

OOC: Activity. I can do this. Mad

Sirak Sazen gathered up his meak belonging resting in his dorm at the Jedi Temple. A lightsaber, his datapad, and his spare robes that he liked to use in a fight were all that he could take. The news of a Sith attack came as a shock to him. It was so sudden and without warning. Sirak would soon join the flock of other Jedi scrambling to defend the Temple.

Lord Vexen

As the battle in space had died down a little bit, Vexen gave the order. "All commanders, launch your soilders. I shall join you shortly."

Xander Vos

"If no one has any further questions?" Xander asked, rising an eyebrow at the silent Jedi before him, none having spoken so far, "Very well, dismissed."

As the Jedi filed out, Xander turned and nodded at Rive Caedo, fellow Council Member, who Xander doubted would help in the attack. Rive hadn't been involved in any large-scale invasions in a while, though his help would be greatly appreciated.

Leaving the Council Chambers, Xander headed to his dorm, where he fitted himself in his armour and Mandalorian helmet [OCC: Mixing character's here Wink

]. The Sith were coming, and the Jedi needed all the help they could get.

Rive Caedo

"Ma'am, would you remind repeating that order?" The helmsmen of the Victory-class Star Destroyer Eternal Victory asked as he turned to glance at the Sith Lord standing at the back of the command bridge.

The black robed female walked down the steps to the helm station, "I told you to break formation! Maneuver us directly towards the Jedi Temple and prepare for ramming speed!"

The helmsmen shook his head and responded more formally, "Sir, I can't follow that order in good conscience. Our orders are to----"

She grabbed him by the throat and hurled him across the room into the other recessed operations area. She took the seat herself, "This relic would serve little purpose in this battle. It will be much better served in this blaze of glory - destroying that rotting husk of hypocrisy. It doesn't deserve to be occupied: it deserves to burn!"

Accelerating, Eternal Victory crossed under the bow of the much larger, Heaven's Fury.

Lord Lanik

The former Grand Admiral of the Sith Empire glanced out of the starport of the Imperial Class II Star Destroyer Retribution. Lanik could have had command of a larger ship, or the whole fleet, if he had wanted it, but he refused to command anything larger than a Star Destroyer now. He opened a comlink channel with the flagship of the Sith fleet Heaven's Fury to wait on orders.

Xander Vos

As Xander marched out to his troops in the Jedi Temple courtyard, a dark shadow fell across the Temple. Glancing up, his eyes widened in alarm as, over the horizon, an Imperial Star Destroyer began bearing down on the Temple. It was picking up speed, and many of the people deep in the Temple would not make it out in time.

Projecting his voice, he bellowed, "Everyone out of the Temple! Now!"

Sirak Sazen

OOC: I might have a heart attack. Rive posted.

Sirak was caught in the crossfire of crowds trying to flee the Temple and defenders attempting to get inside of it. In the confusion, he caught a glimpse of a well respected Council Member, Xander Vos. "Master Vos!" His shouting was wasted. No noise could make it beyond the mobs and the sirens. Sirak was confused and Master Vos could hopefully bring the Knight up to speed on the situation. He attempted desperately to reach him through the crowds.

Lord Vexen

Vexen recieved the com from Lord Lanik, commander of the Retribution. "Lanik, it has been a while since we have fought together. Have you soilders deploy to an area near the Senatatorial Apartments along with all the soilders aboard the Intelligence. Our soilders will regroup once the Jedi Temple has been occupied."

Xander Vos

Vos cut out much of the roar of the crowd in his helmet, and noticed a young Knight, Sazen, he believed, making his way towards him.

"Master Vos!" The man called, pushing through the surge of people fleeing the Temple grounds, Republic troops and Jedi alike.

"No time to talk now, boy! We need to get out of here," Vos growled, gripping Sazen by the wrist and pulling him sharply down the path as the Star Destroyer bore down on them, blotting out the sun.

Lord Vexen

As Lord Vexen's shuttle departed his ship among many others, he noticed the Victory class destroyer Eternal Victory moving on a collision course with the Temple. Vexen opened a com channel with the commander of the ship. "Captain, what the hell are you doing?"

Rive Caedo

Shadra laughed manically - allowing the communications channel to Heaven's Fury to stay open as she did so - as she saw the Jedi Temple begin to grow in the triangular viewports above her. Her black hair falling across her face as she did.

Her laugh vanished as the ship shook and creaked loudly.

____________________

Rive Caedo had stayed in the Council tower while the others had fled. He held his arms outward towards the Star Destroyer barreling towards them - trying to shake it from its path.

Sirak Sazen

All of Sirak's senses were instantly numbed by the figure of the cruiser bearing down on the Temple. "This... This can't..." He could barely get the words out and simply followed Master Vos to wherever he was being led. The Temple was likely in its final minutes.

Lord Lanik

"Roger that," Lanik said as he relayed the orders to the landing craft that were preped and waiting in the hangar bays. "And by the way, one of your Victory-class Star Destroyers are going crazy. Lanik out."

As soon as the orders came to land at the Senatatorial Apartments, the 15 Delta Class troop transports launched from the Retribution.

Xander Vos

Xander glanced back as the mob continued to press down the narrow avenues away from the Temple - still likely in the blast radius. The Temple had stood for thousands of years, had withstood the Jedi Purge by Vader, and the subsequent numerous invasions of Coruscant through Thrawn's attempted attack, and the numerous threats to the New Republic so far. Nothing had destroyed it, except for now.

As the Star Destroyer grew closer, it began to rattle and shift slightly in its path, and Xander's frown of confusion turned into one of amazement, as he reached out in the Force and felt a familiar presence stubbornly remaining in the Jedi Temple.

"Caedo..."

Rive Caedo

Shadra screamed, mostly in rage - not terror, as she saw through the Force the cause of the Eternal Victory's course change. Rive Caedo was trying to turn her from her course.

"Not this time, old man!" Shadra growled as she sent a great surge in the Force towards the temple's tower.

Success! The victory-class Star Destroyer was back under her command and reorienting itself to the nearing Jedi Temple.

____________________

Rive Caedo winced in pain as a blinding surge in the Force broke his concentration.

Sirak Sazen

"What, Master?" Sazen, still in a daze, could here the Master make out the one word. Caedo. He wondered to himself whether this person was a Jedi. This thought shook him out of his trance. There could still be Jedi left inide the Temple - doomed to a coming fate. There stood Sirak, couldn't do a blasted thing about it.

Xander Vos

"We need to go back," urged Vos, changing direction and yanking Sazen along behind him, ignorant of any of the yelping protests the man sent in his direction.

Surging back through the streets against the tide of the crowd with all the explosiveness of one using the Force, Xander reached the steps of the Temple, with the Star Destroyer so close he could make out the cracks in the hull where the air resistance had begun to take its toll.

"We need to help Caedo," Vos ordered, and closed his eyes, reaching out with the Force to lend his strength to Rive's battle with the ship.

Rive Caedo

Shadra growled as the Star Destroyer's course began to divert again - slower than before... clearly other Jedi had become involved.

No matter. Shadra broke her link with Caedo and placed her full strength into accelerating the Star Destroyer's speed.

White flecks of the hull armor began to peel off as the ship began reaching speeds it was never intended for in an atmosphere.

Sirak Sazen

There was that name again. Caedo. Whoever he or she was, Caedo had to be of importance to Xander to make him want to rush in to save him. The truth was that the plan was suicide. Nothing short of a miracle would get the two out of the Temple in time. Regardless, Sirak couldn't live knowing he left somebody behind. He followed Master Vos up the stairs and deeper into the panicked crowd.

Xander Vos

Xander grunted with exertion as the Star Destroyer's hull began to shift slightly, but with a great resistance, as it increased its speed.

"Sirak, I need your help boy!"

Aldar Natadare

((Yay, something that it would seem somewhat logical for me to join))

Ryan awoke to the sounds of mass panic outside his small studio tenement in the Coruscant underlevels. He quickly put on his clothing and rushed to the window. As Ryan peered out the window he saw people running everywhere, he hadn't seen a reason why though. Ryan grabbed his holster and put it on putting his pistol in the holster under his arm, he then procedded to put on his jacket.

Walking out of his tenement he was nearly run over by a stampede of people rushing into their tenements followed by the sound of their doors being locked. "What is going on here?" Ryan asked himself quietly as he shoved his way out of the building to an alley where he kept his swoop bike. As he was walking there a woman ran into him and he held her for a second and asked her "Ma'am what is going on here?"

"We are being invaded!" She screamed at him. He let her go and she sprinted off.

"That is impossible" Ryan said to himself as he jumped onto his swoop bike and quickly shot off for the "surface" of Coruscant. Emereging near the old Jedi Temple Ryan looked to the sky. Only to see his fears had become real when he saw Sith ships in orbit.

Lord Lanik

"Fierfek."

Jedi Knight Cain Mhoon had just reverted his ship the Paradise from hyperspace, and was greeted by the worst possible sight, a massive Sith fleet surrounding Corusaunt. He immeadaly activated his camaflauge on his ship and waited to see what would happen.

Xander Vos

Korus Zhett, Republic Captain of the 34th Brigade felt his legs burning, but knew he couldn't stop. A Star Destroyer was pretty big, and if they were anywhere near it when it went down, they wouldn't be around for much longer. The further away they got from the Temple, Zhett encouraged the men around him to also head down into the depths of Coruscant. Shelter and a layer of buffering from the imminent explosion would up their chances of survival.

The Jedi commanders around him seemed to be having the same ideas, moving deeper into the under levels of the planet, not paying attention to seedy individuals begging for a spare credit to no doubt buy death sticks.

((Post 16,000 FTW Smile

))

Sirak Sazen

"Help you what? Help you move that thing? It's craziness!" Sirak would never speak this way to somebody like Xander in a normal situation, but this was far from normal. The look in his eyes showed that he was determined to save the Temple. Sirak, hesitantly, began to focus all the energy in his body on the Star Destroyer.

Rive Caedo

((Grats

))

Eternal Victory had been rotated by the Jedi's combined efforts, but Shadras own exertions had kept it almost perfectly on course.

It wouldn't be long now...

________________

Rive redoubled his efforts now that the disruption had been lifted. But the Star Destroyer was still coming in hot - and - in fact - it was now likely to do even more damage now that it was facing broadside.

Xander Vos

The heat of the engines would have soaked Xander head to toe if his armour hadn't been self-air conditioned, but Sazen wasn't so lucky, and the man was drenched in sweat as the Star Destroyers massive engines loomed above their heads, brighter than the sun...

Lord Vexen

As asassin and bounty hunter Shin Kai sat in his shuttle approaching the planet, he thought about how he gotten to this point. His journey through space, ending on Nar Shaada, and being hired by the Sith to participate in this invasion. "I'm probably gonna die here, but at least I have fun doing it."

(Multiple characters FTW)

Sirak Sazen

Sirak could feel his legs begin to give way under the pressure of heat and exhaustion. The ship inched closer, every step like another level of hell to him.

Lord Lanik

Cain glanced at the sensors on the Paradise and cursed loudly. A Victory Class Star Destoryer was on a head on collision course with the Jedi Temple. He knew his former master, Xander Vos, was down on the planet somewhere, and he had to help him. He fired up his engines and hopped that the Sith sensors wouldn't break past his stealth generators.

Rive Caedo

"And..... FIRE!"

A massive laser beam tore upward across the city sky - emitting from the lower levels of it. Impacting against the rear of the Star Destroyer plummeting towards the ground, it completely destroyed one of the ship's engines - which triggered a chain reaction that caused them all to explode in short order.

"Hahaha!" Skod shouted aloud. He hadn't expected the results of overloading the mining laser (intended for examining Coruscant's core) would be that explosive.

His human assistant frowned, "I think we fried the generator."

The blue-skinned Rodian threw his straw-brimmed hat in the air, "Worth it! Entirely worth it!"

((Cameo ftw))

____________________

Rive's concentration broke again as he heard several loud explosions. After opening his eyes, he blinked several times in shock.

The Star Destroyer had been blown mostly clear of the Jedi Temple.

Xander Vos

Xander gazed in amazement as the misfiring engines of the Star Destroyer sent it spiralling off-course as if it were a leaf in the wind, flipping through the sky as the winds tore at its outer casing, causing the behemoth to almost disintegrate before his eyes.

Lord Vexen

Vexen saw the Star destroyer get blown off course from the Jedi Temple. "Well that was a bust. All soilders, rondevous at the temple while they are still destracted."

Sirak Sazen

In the explosions, Sirak collapsed to the marble floor. His body was void of energy. Sirak made no attempt to get up or make sense of the situation. All he knew was that he wasn't dead yet - and that was enough for now.

Xander Vos

Zhett gazed up in amazement as the Star Destroyer begun spinning out of control away from the Jedi Temple.

"Right men, halt," he ordered, and his men stopped, gazing at him questioningly, "Our designated commander is Xander Vos. Our first objective needs to be to find him."

"Sir, I think I saw him heading back to the Jedi Temple," one of the soldiers offered.

"What is he, space sick?" Zhett growled, "Let's go then."

Rive Caedo

Rive fell forward to the Temple floor as what remained of the Star Destroyer clipped against the south-west corner of the Jedi Temple. Even though the impact had been minimalized - the impact had shaken the entire structure.

___________

Shadra was thrown at extreme speeds from her helm chair as the ship impacted against the ground - spinning quickly as it hit the corner of her intended target.

______________

As Rive rose from the floor, he was greeted by a sight he didn't expect - an overhead view of the Jedi Temple.

The impact had been enough to break the high Council spire from its basing - and he was now falling, along with the entire top of the tower, to the ground.

Xander Vos

Xander's relief was halted with a heart-stopping lurch as the High Council spire shattered, the tip, housing the Council chambers, tumbling towards the ground hundreds of metres below.

"Sirak!" He bellowed at the man who had collapsed to the ground in exhaustion, "No time to rest now boy! Rive's life is in danger!"

He reached deep inside of himself, to the vast pools of strength that lay deep within him, tapping into him in desperation, trying to halt the free-fall of the spire.

Sirak Sazen

Sirak instinctively and painfully rose to his feet. Whatever strength was left in him was tapped the Force flowed from him to save the man in the tower. It was unlikely that the two would suceed in stopping the fall of the tower, but they could maybe slow it down and cushion the impact to protect whoever was inside.

Lord Lanik

Lanik sighed in disgust as the Victory Star Destroyer self-destructed. A good ship wasted for nothing. All that the fool commander had managed to accomplish was destroying one of the towers of the Jedi Temple. He commed his ground commander.

"Milord?" the commander asked as Lanik appeared on his wrist comm.

"How is the assult proceeding?" Lanik asked.

"We rendavauzed with the other ground troops and have secured the Senatoural Appartments. We are moving towards the Jedi Temple now."

Lord Vexen

As Vexen's ship landed, he ordered everyone to exit it imediatly. As soon as everyone was out, Vexen used his power to raise the ship in the air, and fling it with a great speed toward the Jedi Temple.

Rive Caedo

Rive held tightly to one of the Council chairs - he didn't think it was his own... and it didn't matter. He closed his eyes tightly as ground-facing windows of the spire darkened as it smashed into the edge of the Temple's north face.

The glass windows shattered in unison and metallic supports buckled. Rive's fingers slipped from the chair as he fell unconscious.

________________

Aldar Natadare

Ryan watched as a Sith ship spun out of control and crashed onto Coruscant. "Now that was a sight I thought I'd never see" he said to himself only to looke at the Jedi Temple and see that the tip of one of the spires had been knocked off by the ship and what he assumed was a Jedi was falling along the spire. "This is absolutely crazy" Ryan said to himself as he reeved his engine and then sped off closer towards the Jedi Temple weaving in and out of buildings on the way there.

Xander Vos

Xander's brow furrowed in concentration as he imagined the tower was nothing but a feather falling in the breeze. After all, size mattered not. The tower begun to slow in its descent, bumping slightly against the exterior of the Temple causing large chunks of rock to spin off the side.

Xander drew the spire towards them, slowing it as it approached, until finally the spire stopped completely, less than ten metres above his and Sazen's head. Breathing in relief, and exhaustion, Xander lowered it the rest of the way to the ground.

Lord Vexen

(Our first retcon. Did the tower crash? Or not)

Vexen saw a large explosion in the distance, and it seemed that his shuttle had hit his target. Soon after, Vexen decided he would move to whatever had cause the star destroyer to be shot out of the sky. He used the force to speed his movement, and was off.

Rive Caedo

((My post came first, so...))

Despite what Xander wanted to see - in his mind's eye. The tower had crashed - with his and Sirak's efforts only serving to slow it down slightly.

Xander Vos

Xander sank to his knees exhausted as the tower shattered into the ground, and the bloody figure of Rive Caedo was thrown free. He had no more energy to give. He couldn't heal the man, he couldn't do anything.

In the distance he heard the crunching of military boots, and glanced over, relieved to see a contingent of Republic troops rushing over to them.

"Captain, do any of your men have med packs?" He called.

"Yes sir," Zhett nodded, and directed several of his men to help the three Jedi, all of which looked in horrible condition, with the unconcious one looking by far the worst for, well, obvious reasons.

Io Lee

Seeing that the tower shatter to the ground from the temple, Io leaped out from the temple to meet the three Jedi down at the bottom. From what he could see there were Republic Soldiers assisting the three. As Io came close to the ground his cloak fluttered and he landed on the ground. He glanced over to Rive who from the look of it was practically dead. He looked at Zhett.

"Call for a medical transport and see that Rive gets some medical treatment."

"I was helping younglings out of the temple, then I heard an explosion and saw the High Council Tower fall. What happened Xander?" Io said turning to Xander.

Xander Vos

"There's no time to get a medical transport," Xander said, glancing down at Rive, "The Sith will be landing any moment. The Star Destroyer must have glanced off the building and knocked the tower loose, he fell unconcious in the resulting fall."

Zhett's men were busily treating Rive for his cuts and bruises, but there was nothing that could be done to wake him from his coma... He would have to do that himself.

Rive Caedo

The taste of blood, the sting of glass, the shame of defeat.

For a moment, Rive thought he could hear the Green Voice in the whisper to him... but no. It was surely illusion...

__________________

The taste of blood, the sting of glass, the shame of defeat.

Shadra spat glass shards from her mouth as she struggled to her feet. her legs shook unsteadily... the pool of blood beneath her was large - and still growing.

She had been hurled through one of the windows of Eternal Victory during the impact of the kamikaze attack. Her flight through the Coruscant air interrupted when she struck a second window of this building she now stood in.

Feeling safe enough, for the moment, Shadra allowed her form to shift into a billowing gaseous state. The hundreds of shards of glass previously embedded in her skin were now free and fell to the floor. She then shifted back into her humanoid form.

It was imperfect - she was still pale and weak from the irrecoverable loss of blood. But, not for the first time, her shapeshifting abilities had saved her life. The flow of blood was now ended and her skin perfectly smooth once more.

Turning around and then stepping through the thickening pool of her own blood, Shadra looked over the Coruscant skyline through the window her body had broken. She could smell the smoke in the air... she could see the flames on the Jedi Temple... but it still stood.

Xander Vos

"Come on, we've got to get him out of here, under cover," Xander said, "Does anyone have something we can use as a stretcher?" He glanced around, but only received negative reactions. "Fine, we'll have to find one. You stay here, I'll head out and try to find some medical supplies. Don't let anyone or anything distract you, and keep on alert, the Sith could be anywhere."

Sirak and Io nodded, turning to talk with Korus.

___________

Xander glanced around him as he moved further away from the Jedi Temple. The stim packs had eradicated much of his physical exhaustion, but his brain still felt drained, and a lot of the glowing signs weren't registering for him.

Stopping a passing droid, he asked, "Excuse me, do you know where I'd be able to find medical supplies?"

"Down three levels and across the Ajunta Crossing," the droid replied helpfully.

"Thank you," Xander said, hurrying off in the direction the droid had indicated. He stretched out in the Force to make sure that Io and Sirak were fine, and felt nothing but reassurance from them in the Force. However, not far from them, he could feel the growing, broiling, dark storm that meant the Sith had arrived...

Sirak Sazen

Sirak was still trying to piece together the situation. He turned man standing behind him. "What's the situation? Are the Sith coming? How many?," Sirak asked Korus. He was prepared to fight to the death. The question was if his fate rested on Coruscant.

Xander Vos

"Sir, reports say the Sith have landed in various locations and are likely headed this way. Their numbers were unclear, but I'm sure they'd outnumber us, so we'd better be ready," Korus said.

Lord Vexen

Vexen's fleet scanners had picked up the location of the lazer that shot down his star destroyer. It apparently had been a mining lazer that someone caused to overload. As Vexen arrived at the mining platform, he saw it was guarded be a few soilders. Vexen dispatched them easily, and moved inside the platform, killing everyone he saw.

After about 5 minutes of straight murdering, he arrived at the lazer control room. "Which one of you overloaded the mining lazer!" yelled Vexen. All fingers pointed towards a rodian cowering in the corner. Vexen lifted him up and crushed his alien neck with his bare hands. He then moved over to the rest of the staff and incinerated them with force lightning. Vexen then set the platform to self-destruct mode, and quickly fled the platform.

Talen D'aar

Talen ran as fast as he could, everything began to blur because of it. He had watched the tip of the High Council fall and its descent slow nearby, but he was too far to see the actual impact. He knew not whether there were still members inside - he hoped for the best. He assumed that the Temple had emptied, in light of the Sith invasion, so he trusted in the force and kept on his way.

As he grew closer, he could feel three force signatures, two were strong and vibrant, but the third was faint...

Oh no...

He stopped just short of the crash and the site before him nearly broke Talen's iron will. There were two Jedi that Talen didn't recognize and twenty Republic soldiers watching the perimeters, talking amongst themselves. The third Jedi, lying battered and bloodied was...

Master Caedo... The Zeison Sha Warrior had met Caedo once he had joined the Order, but it was only a brief passing of words, nothing memorable. Still, Talen could sense from the man, even in that brief meeting, that Rive was worthy of his respect, and Talen had tried from then on to give it.

"What is being done about his situation?" He directed the question towards the two Jedi.

[OOC: How was that for a first-time SW RPer? Razz

]

Sirak Sazen

OOC: I'm guessing that was directed at Io and I. Nice post. I'm also stealing Xander's divider.

The arrival of this new man interrupted Sirak's train of thought for the better. The more men, the better a chance they had at surviving. "Master Vos went to fetch medical supplies for Caedo," Sirak said. Exhaustion was rapidly becoming worry. Caedo needed help - fast. "We've been ordered to help defend this Temple. I'm wondering if you'll assist us." Sirak turned to Io. "We need all the help we can get."

___________________________

The cruiser was ablaze with activity. Soliders scrambled throughout the decks preparing to invade Coruscant. Officers and crewmen stood huddled in groups off to the side discussing the coming operations between blares from the loudspeaker. Darth Vereor was away from it all, sitting on a bunk in his barracks, awaiting his turn to be called into battle. He wouldn't be bringing much. His lightsaber, a small blaster, and a vile of blood attached to a thin necklace were all the Vampire-Sith needed to fight his foes.

Crozeus

Cheers echoed around the bridge as the laser platform collapsed. Lord Vexen clearly had taken matters into his own hands... not quite standard decorum for a Sith Lord, but effective nonetheless. Crozeus watched with a growing sense of satisfaction as the feeds from various vantage points filtered into the screens in front of him, things were going well indeed.

"We need to get men on the ground," an officer was saying.

"AA fire is thick, it will be costly." Replied another.

It seemed remarkable to Crozeus that the non-Force sensitive officers could be so stupid. There they were, sitting in a Star Destroyer, and they were discussing how to avoid AA fire. With a dismissive wave of his hand Crozeus leaned forth.

"We are in a Star Destroyer gentlemen... we simply bombard the AA positions. Find them, and feed coordinates through to our gunners. Clear an LZ, then deploy."

The officers nodded brusquley, and set about their respective tasks.

Talen D'aar

Talen nodded in thought. So... Master Vos is with us as well. Talen felt a wave of relief at the thought of the Master fighting along side them. He had met Vos before as well, much like Caedo, and he knew the man to be an exceptional Jedi. He didn't want to think ill of his allies, but he wasn't too sure what the three of them and a small force of Republic soldiers could accomplish once the Sith began to swarm. It was comforting to think that they would have Master Vos to help turn the tide.

"Of course," he responded to the young Jedi, "I am here to help in any way that I can." The Jedi turned back to his companion to discuss strategy as another squad of Republic soldiers approached the group. The man in front, a strong and hardy soldier by the looks of him, stood before Talen and saluted.

"Sir! We have been assigned to Jedi Master Rive Caedo. His last known whereabouts were here at the Temple." Talen looked at the wounded Jedi, then back to the Captain.

"Master Caedo is currently incapacitated, I will be taking his place." The Captain stiffened again and gave another salute.

"Sir!"

"What's your name Captain?" Talen inquired.

"Jordis, sir." Talen nodded as he watched the other nineteen men under his command form into straight, single file lines. They were efficent, disciplined, well-trained. Talen approved.

"You have good soldiers with you, Jordis." The Captain took the compliment in stride.

"Thunder Company is among the best of the Republic, sir."

"Good." Talen stood up straight and prepared to hand out his orders. "I want you to send three of your best men to scout the South, South-east and Western perimeter. First sign of trouble they are to radio in and retreat back to this location. This is where we make our stand."

"Yessir!" The Captain turned and relayed the orders, "Nero, Daelyx, Phoryl, front and center." The three soldiers presented themselves and took their orders with a quick nod, then headed in their respective directions. "Everyone else, secure the surrounds! Keep an eye out for any Darkies that may be heading our way."

"SIR!" The boom of their combined voices echoed into the distance.

Talen couldn't help but smile. Maybe we'll have a chance after all...

Io Lee

Io turned to Talen. "I believe that we haven't met yet. I'm Jedi Master Io Lee." Then twenty more soldiers showed up. "Sirak, can you go into the temple and find any capable Jedi that can fight and tell them to rally at this position?"

Xander Vos

"Sir... all the Jedi dissapeared into the underleves when that Star Destroyer showed up," Korus said, "If we're to get any of them to help, we'll have to go looking for them. It's either look for them that way, stay here with Caedo and wait for Master Vos, or we split up. No matter what, I'll be remaining here for Master Vos, with respect sir."

________________________

Xander was having a hard time of it. The original store he'd been directed to was closed for some local custom, and his searches for medical supplies had taken him further away from the Jedi Temple - although his senses kept him from getting lost, so he knew exactly where the Temple was in relation to himself.

As quakes begun to ripple softly through the streets, causing citizens to look about themselves in alarm, Xander adopted a grim smile. So the Sith had begun an orbital bombardment. Hadn't taken them long. Ever since Omas had decided to eradicate the planetary shield - it's taxing effect on the energy supply as well as the inconvenience it provided - had proven a foolish one. He'd have to hurry.

Finally, in relief, he found a shop up ahead which seemed to be open and operating, and inside he noted a hover sled on which Caedo could be placed to transport him easily until he regained conciousness.

Sirak Sazen

The decision to go back into the Temple wasn't something Sirak needed to think about for long. More Jedi were inside. He could sense it. "Don't worry, I'll be quick." Sirak nodded to those gathering at the entrance and ran up the stairs into the Temple. "Let me know if you need my help," he yelled with his back turned, jogging into the ancient structure.

Talen D'aar

"Wait!" Talen yelled after the young knight, but it was too late. The boy was already fading into the darkness of the Temple's shadow. He shook his head slightly at the brash action. We have no time... Though, to be totally honest, Talen had been thinking of volunteering himself, being both quick and able, he could have traversed the insides of the Temple with little effort while searching for more help.

It's no use worrying over it now. He thought to himself.

"Sir!" Talen turned to see Jordis rushing up to him. "We have found suitable locations for both the sniper teams and grenadiers to station themselves at for the coming battle." Talen nodded and thought for a quick moment.

"Perfect." He saw a few men still walking about scanning the area and keeping an eye out for enemies. "Have what men you can spare set up explosive charges at the bottlenecks leading to the Temple. If we can somehow disrupt the flow of enemies for a short while, it'll give us the time we need while we wait for Sirak to return with reinforcements." Jordis nodded, gave a quick salute and began taking men to set the charges.

"Captain," he directed the question towards Master Vos's squad captain, "how is Master Caedo holding up?"
_________________________________________________________________________________

((I figured I'd add a minor character, since Sirak's searching the Temple.))

Everything was dulled by the noise. Inside his head, from the chaos of people rushing out of the Temple, and the blaring sirens meant to warn against danger. The Twi'lek had been knocked down by some explosion. All he could remember was a large blast, getting hit with rubble and then passing out. The Padawan looked himself over, he still had his lightsaber, and everything seemed intact.

He rose from the floor and nearly toppled over. His head was dizzy and his legs felt weak, but he still had the strength to move on. He leaned on the wall, using it as a crutch, trying to get his bearings.

That was some blast... It didn't take long for him to encounter more people. A blur of faces passed him by but one stuck out as it approached him. Ylma...? Ylma, one of the Temple's lorekeepers was standing in front of him. She was talking, but the padawan could barely make it out, the ring in his head was too strong.

"...alright? Ado, can you hear me? Are you injured?" Her voice cleared as Ado became aware of the world. "Ado Relek, are you alright?" The elderly woman was basically screaming at him by the time he answered.

"I'm fine Ylma, just a little banged up, is all." A wave of relief flooded her face and she tried to take the young Twi'lek onto her shoulder. "I'm fine, honestly, you don't need to do that." She took no offense from the comment and just nodded. You wouldn't be able to bear my weight anyways. Ado, feeling a slight bit better, tried putting his full weight back on his legs. After finding that they regained their old strength he began walking with Ylma at his side.

"Right," she said, "let's find our way out of here."

Darth Splinter

The tall, intimidating figure clad in black armor, a trenchcoat, and a ghoulish white mask trudged down a duracreet pathway dragging his slow right leg. Two Republic gaurds approached the man, gesturing for him to leave.

"Nothing to see here, sir."

The man before them stood motionless, staring coldly at one of the gaurds through his mask. He pivoted on his heels and began to walk back the way he came. When he noticed the gaurds were doing the same, he quickly turned around, brandishing a vibro knife. His left hand wrapped around the first guard's mouth as his right hand that held the blade pierced the gaurd's spine. He twisted the blade to ensure spinal destruction, and pulled it out.

By the time the second gaurd turned around, the man with the mask had dropped the first gaurd's limp corpse and drew his pistol. He fired one clean shot through the second gaurd's cranium, watched as the skull smoked and charred and the body fell backward, and holstered his weapons.

He continued toward the structure ahead. The Jedi temple.

Xander Vos

Laden with medical supplies, Xander tried to hurry back to the Temple, pushing through the crowded walkways. It began to prove difficult to squeeze through the crowd with a sled and medical supplies, and Xander begun to scan around for alternate transport. This could prove difficult.

_________________

"Sir, as you're the only remaining Jedi Commander here, what are your order?" Zhett asked D'aar, "Should we remain in the open or seek shelter?"

"No, stay here, we don't want Master Vos to lose track of where we are," D'aar murmured, scanning the crowds that were gaping up at the smoking Jedi Temple, "Speaking of which, where is he? He should be back by now..."

Rive Caedo

The Green Voice whispered in Rive's mind, "You're not doing anyone any good lying on your back."

He drifted back into unconsciousness.

Sirak Sazen

Darth Vereor could feel an empty spot in the pit of his stomach as the transport carrying he and his team dropped from the lower atmostphere into the city below. The shuttle resembled a rectangular shipping crate with a cockpit and engines in the back. They would be nearly their when the pilot activated the boosters. With no weapons to guard itself, the transport had to be escorted by a pair of snub fighters.

14 men, Vereor included, lined the sides of the ship, strapped into their seats until the ride was over. The experienced Sith would be leading this operation. He'd already gone over the battle strategy with them and explained how fighting in an eviroment like Coruscant would be difficult for both sides. Somebody to his right coughed just as the ship jerked up. The passengers all lurched forward as the pilot gunned the engine. The rest of the ride was short. The shuttle landed and the team unstrapped themselves. A rear hatch opened down, exposing the men to the panic-ridden metropolis of Coruscant. The march to the Jedi Temple had begun.

______________________________

Sirak fought against the eradic flow of people rushing out of the Temple. Among the sea of unknown faces, one was recognizable: Ylma, a historian. A Twi'lek was at her side - wounded by the look of it. "Could the crash really be felt down here?: he wondered. Questions could be put aside for later. They need help at the entrance. "Ylma! Ylma!" he yelled. She turned to him, startled.

"Sirak, are you okay?" she asked.

"I'm fine, but there are wounded up top. We need help." He faced the Twi'lek. "What.... are you... are you alright?"

Talen D'aar

((Since Korus took the liberty of responding for me Razz

, this is an Ado post.))

Ado watched as a young Jedi Knight rushed over to them. He seemed in a hurry. The knight turned to him, wondering about his current state. The young Twi'lek nodded.

"I'll be fine. It seems I was luckier than most." Ado took a scrap of cloth hanging from his clothes and tied his dark blue headtails together. "I'm willing to help. My injuries are minor, if non-existant." Ylma had a worried expression on her face.

"But what of your Master? Do you not wish to find him?" Ado became solemn. He had hoped he wouldn't have needed to face it until later.

"...Master Tenno is gone." Ylma gasped. "He died during an assignment on Kashyyyk, while we were investigating the death of a tribal leader in the Shadowlands." Ado bowed his head, whether in respect or remorse, even the padawan did not know. "I barely made it out with my life."

"Ado...I'm sorry, I didn't know." The Twi'lek raised his head.

"It's alright. That's actually why I was here at the Temple. The Council was meeting with me later to decide who my new master will be. And then all this started to happen." He looked to Sirak with a new spark of determination in his eye. "Lead the way."

Rive Caedo

Shadra had hoped this wouldn't be necessary. It would have been so much easier if she had succeeded in simply destroying the Jedi Temple in a glorious fireball.

Her hands began to burn as she slid down the thick, durasteel cable of a long abandoned elevator shaft. She was also breathing heavily as her remaining blood cells tried to keep her oxygenated. If she managed to live through this - the first thing she would do is learn how to shapeshift into a smaller humanoid form: to better compensate for injuries while she healed.

She slid faster still as the elevator shaft darkened to near blackness - most the light providing glow-rods long dead this far down. But she had to go still further. There was already an army on Coruscant - and it was waiting for her down below...

Darth Samuel

As part of a weird quantum time shift, Darth Samuel, the Sith Lord, was transported from Kroprulu to Coruscant. Seeing Vexen, he charges with him at his saber.

"I hate you,Vexen!" He said.

He sliced down with his saber, only he cut off vexens hilt. All of a sudden, another quantum time shift transported sam back to Kroprulu and somehow left a hilt in Vexen's hand that was identical to his original one.

All of this happened int he space of 3 milliseconds, so noone noticed anything.

(Now you all can post again)

Xander Vos

Xander finally spotted the Temple, and breathing a sigh of relief made his way towards it. His stomach twisted as he did so however, and with good reason. As he came into view of the platform with Rive's prone figure and Korus' forces, he saw a platoon of Sith Troopers coming over the hill.

"Look out!" Xander screamed, drawing his lightsaber with the same breath.

Leaping forward, he sent a blaster bolt that had been flying towards Rive's head flying back into the chest of a Sith soldier, who stumbled backwards, his armour absorbing the majority of the blast's impact.

Talen Da'ar also drew his lightsaber, joining Xander in his defence of Caedo's inanimate form. Korus' forces spread out into a thin line, taking whatever cover they could from the sudden ambush. Xander leapt to the side, bouncing off a pile of rubble, and leaping straight at the front Sith trooper, decapitating him in a swift stroke, blocking anoter blaster bolt back into the helmet of a Sith troop, melting his helmet to his face, a faint sound, possibly his scream, barely escaping the distorted helmet.

Xander glanced over his shoulder, where Zhett and his men were firing with deadly accuracy into the Sith ranks, doing their best to affect the extremely one sided battle, but Xander knew it was no use.

"Da'ar! Get Rive on the stretcher and get back into the Temple!" We can ambush them in there, there's more Jedi in there, Xander added, hoping his intention would be conveyed to Da'ar.

Talen nodded, and Xander leapt forward into the midst of the troopers, his lightsaber a green blur of deadly energy as he forced the soldiers to focus on him, as Talen managed to secure Rive with the help of two of Zhett's men, and began their retreat towards the Temple, Korus and the rest of his men firing rapidly into the Sith ranks to make sure they had no spare attention to pay to Talen's retreat.

Now things get interesting, Xander smirked.

Talen D'aar

((Man...you guys don't mind GodModding here do you? Korus, Talen has two lightsabers...and it's D'aar, not Da'ar))

Before Talen knew what was happening they were under attack. Talen drew his azure lightsaber and began knocking back bolts as they flew towards him.

Damnit! Where were Jordis's scouts?! Master Vos joined them shortly as the battle began to thicken. Talen didn't even have time to draw his second lightsaber; they were pushing too hard. It was obvious, even this early into the battle, that they were extremely outnumbered and needed to pull back.

"D'aar! Get Rive on the stretcher and get back into the Temple!" Talen nodded and got the wounded Jedi onto the stretcher. As two of Zhett's men started off with the Master, Talen lead up from behind knocking away any blaster bolts headed in their direction. They made their way for the Temple. Talen understood Vos's orders. We'll be fighting on our ground. We'll be able to take them out on our own terms.

Soon, as the trio grew closer to the Temple and fewer bolts came their way, Talen shouted for Jordis.

"Captain!" The soldier, who had just been alerted to the situation, turned his head to the Jedi. "Give those men covering fire!" Talen pointed back to Vos's forces who were barely holding the line. The captain nodded and signaled to his snipers, who began opening fire on the Sith force from above the Temple's entry pillars (they had used grappling hooks to gain such a vantage point). "Have the rest of your men head into the Temple and set up defensive lines centered on Master Caedo!"

Jordis nodded and relayed the order to his men. As they started to hurry inside, he gave a final command to the sniper team atop the pillars, "Retreat back into the Temple with Master Vos's men! Then regroup with the squad!"

Talen could hear the snipers shout, "SIR!" As the captain made his way to Talen.

"What now, sir?" The captain asked. Talen drew his second lightsaber, a deep veridian, and replied.

"Make your way inside with your men. Tell any Jedi on there way out of the Temple the danger that awaits them, and prepare for one hell of a fight."

"What about you, sir?" Talen looked to the captain and could see the concern written on his face.

"I'll be joining with Master Vos's forces to aid in the retreat." The captain nodded, but said nothing. Talen took that as a sign and began to head towards the frontline, preparing his Battle Meditation as he did.

The captain's voice chased after him. "May the Force be with you, sir!" Talen smiled at that. And you, Jordis...

Talen sped forward and used a piece of debris as a spring to vault himself into the air. He landed just in time to deflect a blaster bolt that would have struck Master Vos in the back.

"I hope you weren't planning on trying to keep me out of the fight," he said to Vos with a smile.

Rive Caedo

The rusted metal grating at the bottom of the elevator shaft creaked as Shadra's boots impacted against it. The door leading outside was sealed shut. A quick slash of her lightsaber fixed that little problem.

She left her lightsaber on as she stepped into the eternal twilight of Coruscant's Undercity - casting a crimson light on the darkened building faces and into the alleyways surrounding her.

Xander Vos

((How was that God Modding? Confused

These are grunt soldiers... They have good armour and have numbers, sure, but that doesn't mean that Xander isn't a more skilful fighter))

Vos glanced at Talen, and spun away without a word, impaling a Soldier on his blade, and moved so that his back was pressed to Talen's. Together, they fought in grim silence, slowly edging towards the Temple entrance, forcing the soldiers to move with them.

SkywalkerAndVader

OCC: Somewhat long post, as I'm just making an entrance. Also, changed the spelling of me name.

Vykro sat in the cockpit of his E-wing as he traveled through hyperspace. Being away from Coruscant for so long made him extremely home-sick and he was rather excited when he was awoken from his meditation trace by his ship, telling him he was close to his desination.

He brushed the hair out of his eyes, and pulled it behind his ears, as the ship came to a near-halt.

"Home sweet home." He thought to himself - only to sense extreme danger right as he thought it.

Blaster shots skimmed past his fighter, and he swerved through them, coming almost nose-first into a enemy fighter, but he destroyed it in the knick of time.

"Sithspit." He shouted aloud "What is blazes is going on here? I'm gone for..." his statement brought to halt by the Force telling him to do 100 things at once.

Vykro obviously knew he'd be needed on the surface, it was just getting there that was the problem. He didn't like flying as it was, and the utter confusion was making it all the worse.

He programmed his auto-pilot to fly the most direct and safe route to the surface, and land someplace near the temple - the old Temple, where the Force was telling him to go.

______________________________________________

As Vyrko finally made it to the surface, in one piece, although he couldn't say the same for his ship, he made his way towards the Temple, only to run into Talen and Xander Vos, his old padawan.

"Xander, its been some time." he said, igniting his shimmering blue saber, Force shoving a trooper into a group of others.

"Too long." Xander said to him, nearly mimicing the Senior Council Member.

"I don't believe we've met, but I suppose this is good as anyplace for introductions." he said with a grin towards Talen

Talen nodded, focused at the task at hand.

Vykro then looked at Xander, as they both cut down the same trooper.

"I sense our losses are already quite high." he exclaimed, referring to Rive.

Xander Vos

Xander immediately felt at ease. It had been far too long since his old Master had stood side by side with him in combat, but the battle was now in their favour. The trio continued to back towards the Temple, and as they reached the entrance way, Xander glanced back, gesturing at the Jedi who were hidden within the Temple, and the strongest, least wounded of them rushed forward, brandishing their lightsabers at the enemy.

The Sith platoon that had started off with 50 men was now weakened to merely a dozen. Xander grinned with confidence. A battle that should have been easily won by the skilled Sith troops had swung in their favour in the space of a few minutes. Moving forward skilfully with Vykro at his side, the pair knowing each move the other would make, cutting two soldiers in half before Force Shoving - far stronger than a standard Force Push - another trio, blasting them into the far wall of the courtyard, shattering every bone in their bodies.

The battle was over within moments and, breathing heavily, Xander turned to Vykro, smiling in gratitude.

"You certainly pick your moments well, Master," Xander said, but immediately grew serious. "We must tend to Master Caedo, I can sense his life force is waning."

Rive Caedo

"You needn't worry, Jedi. You're all about to join him on his journey into death." A distorted, cracked voice called out from behind Xander, Vykro, Talen, and the other Jedi walking back towards the Jedi Temple.

Vykro turned first and spotted a hideous half-woman, half-feline beast crawling its way out of the cracks just beyond the Temple surface entrance. It was becoming more human with each moment that passed - its form shifting.

"Shadra." Xander said as he turned as well, "I suppose it was too much to hope that you'd died. Have you come to complete your failure?"

The woman's feline claws retracted and the hair on her blackened and grew down to her shoulders as the last of her other hair receaded into her skin - which was noticeably paler than the last time Xander had the misfortune to run into her on Rori. She looked... weak.

Talen muttered, "Something's not right."

"There's a Sith cat-woman in front of us. Of course something's not right." One of the other Jedi responded.

D'aar shook his head in response, "No, I don't meant that."

"I don't see..." Xander's voice trailed as he picked up on something in the Force. A wave... a wave coming this way. He hadn't felt it at first because it was lost in the overwhelming presence of the trillions of other individuals on Coruscant.

Shadra glanced down the crack behind her and smiled, "You'd be amazed at how easy it is to manipulate the minds of the broken - especially if you're willing to shatter their minds the rest of the way."

Now Vykro could feel a slight tremor beneath his feet. The Temple was shaking slightly under some immense movement.

Out from the cracks behind the Sith woman's pale form - paler beings crawled out from the depths and onto the surface entranceway of the Temple. First a dozen, then a hundred. Rive would have recognized them - if he were conscious - he'd heard thousands of stories about them and seen them more than once during his years growing up in the Undercity of Coruscant. They were the Cthons. The mutants of the dark places of Coruscant that were better left alone and forgotten.

Now Shadra had found them, broken whatever was left of their minds, and planted the very strong suggestion that they should crawl up... crawl up and feast.

Xander Vos

"We need to get back to the Temple," murmured Korus Zhett, hoisting his blaster to rest against his shoulder.

The first of the Cthon begun to lumber towards the group.

"We need to get back to the Temple now."

Xander nodded, distracted by Shadra, a being he thought belonged to the distant realms of memory. How he had hoped she had died on Rori, all those years ago... but as Vykro had said at the time, a shape shifter is as impossible to kill as a Neimodian Roach.

Xander, still out of breath from the intense fight that had just occured, reignited his lightsaber, and glanced over his shoulder. The Temple entrance, so close moments before, now seemed kilometres away. The fresh Jedi were beginning to look nervous in the face of this new threat, one they were unsure of just how to deal with.

This was going to be trouble.

SkywalkerAndVader

Vykro grimaced. "This is now starting to get interesting." He said to himself

He finally spotted Rive's bloody and exhausted body a couple dozen feet from where they stood.

We have to get him out of here. thought Vykro

The only issue was the cat-like/human-like/everything-like Sith that stood before them, calling on an army of Cthons. Vykro knew Rive had to be out of harm's way before they arrived.

As Xander and Vykro circled around Sharda, Vyrko heading in the direction of Rive's body, they talked to each other in the Force.

"I'll get him out of here, I know you can hold her until I can get him to a safe place." Vyrko said through the Force, surprisingly serious for once.

Vyrko gestured towards Xander, and they both let out a Force shove, directly at Sharda. It was at this moment Vyrko broke into a Force speed, racing towards Rive's body, and tossing him onto his back, and making his way towards the Temple. As he ran, he slowed down, in order to channel some of his energy into a Force healing trance, to use on Rive. The safest, closest place Vyrko could find for Rive, was a storage closet. He quickly found some bandages, wrapped up the most injured parts, and left Rive lying on some towels in the closet.

"Sorry, old friend, but what can you do?" he said to Rive with a half-smile, as he closed the closet door, and used the Force to hide Rive's presence in it.

Vykro then left, racing back to where he had left Xander.

Darth Splinter

The man in the mask continued his limp up to the temple, but got to his knees when he saw heavy activity in the courtyard before him. He lifted the scope from his rifle to see what was happening, only to find it difficult to use through the mask.

He placed the rifle on the ground and pulled the mask off slowly with a heavy cough. Revealed was the horrendous scarred face of a once pround warrior. Starting from his left eye and down his cheeck was large black spot of dead skin, bone, and cartiledge to the bottom of his jaw line. It was crusted with dried dark blood and calcium dust from shattered bones. The left eye itself was entirely white, whilst the right maintained a green shade identical to any other eye. His grayish white hair was short as was his moustache. One might see this as a worn human being, but in fact this man was a Shi'ido. Extensive torture and experiments left him in his human form. Very rarely could this man muster the strength to reappear as his natural self, and today wasn't one of those times.

This man was Raaton Nedor. A man once known as Darth Splinter no longer holds any firm alligence to the Sith. Nor the Jedi. Being here, though, just felt...right. He was going to find out today whom he truly owes his alligence: the Sith whom betrayed him, or the Jedi whom have always opposed his old affiliation.

He had one Jedi in his sights who was attending to another fallen Jedi; possibly unconscious. This one seemed important enough, until a horde of Cthons came about.

"Typical." Raaton rasped. Another Sith ploy orchestrated by one of the fools in command of their forces. "What happened to getting things done yourself?" With that he began quickly cutting down Cthons in their tracks with a bit of well placed shots. Deep inside him, Raaton felt a thrill in killing that he had not felt in quite some time. Sure, he had killed a lot well before this, but never felt like this since he was with the Sith. No. It's too early to take sides. Wait. I must wait

Rive Caedo

Shadra winced as three of the charging mutants ahead of her partially exploded as their pale flesh was sliced through by a trio of high-powered blaster bolts fired in rapid succession.

Not taking the time to try to identify or locate the shooter, she made a quick run for a golden statue of some long-dead Jedi at the edge of the Jedi Temple she still stood at as the Cthon swarm parted around her. The statue served as ample cover for herself from the sniper. The Cthon losses would be negligible - there were simply too many targets - and they were expendable in any case.

Rive Caedo

Shadra squirmed at the unpleasant sensation of skin sliding down over her eyes.

It wasn't a perfect transformation. She hadn't studied the Cthons closely enough to shapeshift into an exact imitation... but it was close enough. It was extremely unlikely she'd be spotted amongst the crowds of other pale mutants storming up the stairs and into the Temple.

Safety in numbers. Shadra closed off her Force presence as well as she was able and joined the charge.

Xander Vos

"We have to get back!" Xander called, finally realising how disastrous the situation had become.

Zhett and his men fired rapidly into the crowd, covering the Jedi as they sprinted back into the Temple, sliding the door closed behind them. Zhett and his men spread out outside the Temple, providing covering fire as, one by one, they too slipped inside the Temple.

Lord Vexen

OCC: Last I checked, I was still at the platform, I'm going to be at the temple and join Shadra and the Cthons in the charge.

Lord Vexen calmly exited the platform with a few seconds to spare, and it exploded in a huge fireball that flung metal and body parts alike everywhere. The bridges behind Vexen also began to break, and the whole platform fell into the darkness of the mine.

Vexen sent a message to a sith recon officer to find out what was going on at the Temple. When Vexen heard that an army of Cthons were attacking the temple, and that they had been commanded by Shadra, Vexen was shocked. He thought she had been killed, but nevertheless she had been useful. Vexen decided he would join the army, and force ran to the Temple area.

Darth Splinter

As the Cthon horde grew accumulated, Raaton decided to reposition to a point where he could possible enter the temple. Damn... if only I could still shapeshift.

The Cthons were oddly centralized, as if stratigically commandeered. Habitually they were an aimless species that preyed on any unfamiliar being that got too close. To himself, Raaton praised whoever was in charge of the Sith forces for manipulating these creatures.

He found an overview of the main stairway, where the Cthon attack seemed the most concentrated, as well as the Jedi defenders. Raaton grabbed a smoke detonater off of his belt and armed it. It would release a disorienting black gas that had side-effects lasting up to a half hour, like nausea, dillusions, body spasms and arduous coughing and throat pain. A well trained Jedi or Sith could endure the main brunt of it, but it would leave a non-force sensitive temporarily distraught or incapcitated.

Raaton doubted it would have much affect on the the Cthons, but surely the defenders of the temple. He was safe as long as his mask remained on. He tossed the beeping detonater into the crowd, and within seconds it had blown. An enormous dark cloud of smoke filled the air at the Jedi temple entrance, and Raaton sprinted down in to the Cthon crowd, which seemed barely phased. He charged with the Cthons, pushing aside any that got to close to him.

He neared the cloud of smoke, and when he was only about a couple of meters in, he tripped upon the corpse of a Cthon he had previously blasted. He quickly tried to get to his feet once more, but a group of Cthons charged him. The leader of the pack pulled Raaton's mask off. Within moments, Raaton was coughing aggresively and his eyes were watering up from the smoke's toxic effects. He had just punched the lead Cthon and the others had continued forward. He couldn't even sit up as he coughed up blood and his vision became hazey.

This struggle... this pain... this suffering... I feel like Darth Splinter once more.

He began a crawl toward the entrance of the Jedi temple. Determined, but without a purpose. He just had to enter. He had to kill. He had to kill a Jedi.