Jedi Rebels on Garrev

Jiub · Jedi Rebels on Garrev

Garrev is a small, almost entirely forested world. The capital and largest city is Haydros and has a population of a little under 500,000. The cities are surrounded by walls and there are few people who live outside the walls and the few that do must be heavily armed at all times because of the many dangerous creatures that live in the forests.

Most transport is done by air, but sometimes heavily armed convoys will travel between cities through dirt, almost nonexistent roads. Lately, a few of those convoys have disappeared. Some reconnaissance teams have found the remains; the convoys were robbed of everything valuable, including some dangerous materials often used in making bombs. The wounds and marks on the vehicles appeared to have been made by lightsabers.

A few months ago, three Jedi Knights and five apprentices went missing during a standard scouting missions in nearby systems. Two more knights were later found dead on Wroona with lightsaber wounds. It appears that the living ones killed these and went rogue. It is suspected by the council that the rogue Jedi are the ones that made the attacks on Garrev and are planning something unknown to the Jedi. They are sending in a strike team to hopefully redeem, if not kill the rogue Jedi.

Master Sallwey Menf looked out his window as the small transport craft carrying the eight Jedi neared the space port at Haydros. Their arrival there was not a secret, but it wasn't well known either. They did not want to raise an alarm. The fact that eight Jedi had gone rouge was of great concern and could unnecessarily turn public opinion against them. Also, the less the rouge Jedi knew the better.

Sallwey knew the plan, or at least what little they were able to develop given the limited information that they had. They would meet up with a military captain near the edge of town and he would set them up with a convoy that would take them down the dangerous route that the convoys are often attacked on. They would hopefully be attacked by the rouge Jedi and they would do battle with them.

Perhaps once the Jedi realized that they were doing battle with other Jedi, they would be willing to discuss or negotiate with them. If not, they would have to be killed. This plan was merely a basic outline, and many things could still go wrong. Sallwey knew this from both experience and the bad feeling he was getting about this mission.

He glanced over at his padawan, who had spent most of the trip either flirting with a human female padawan who was also on the mission, or trying to look as bored as possible. Kaydros Finsef, his padawan, was raw talent. He still had only the minimal amount of experience necessary to do any field work, but he had the potential to be one of the greats, or an idiot who rarely accomplishes anything. He was constantly concerned about his padawan, he was easily pushed to anger and liked to rely on his own physical skills rather than the force.

Kaydros saw his master still staring out the window as they were landing, obviously deep in thought. "Well it is about time we got here," he announced loudly to make sure to take him out of it. He hated the thought of his master thinking about new ways to test him and hold him back from any real action. "I thought that going through endless space was just another one of those tests that you give us! You ready, bothan?"

"You will call me Master Menf, Padawan Finsef," replied his master in a calm tone. "If you continue to refer to me as 'bothan', we will have a very long talk."

Kaydros hated "very long talks", but he also detested calling anyone "master". He liked to sound like he was in control. He would have to tolerate it for now. "Yes, 'Master Menf'" he said in a slightly insincere tone. "Would you like me to help you with your bags, 'Master Menf'?'"

Sallwey didn't like this; he would definitely have to talk to his padawan later. He did not believe that public humiliation was a good tactic, especially not with this padawan. He did need a firm grip on him and always being calm wasn’t going to fix it, maybe he could take care of it if they were in a transport vehicle together in the convoy. "Yes, please do," he responded politely.

Kad

((OOC: Would you like to have a BH help you?))

Jiub

((OOC: I don't think that the Jedi would call for a BH on this one, but if you want you could say that the local government doesn't trust the Jedi and hired a bounty hunter to go along with the convoy.))

Rive Caedo

Trish Orac was a rather unusual Jedi. She'd exiled herself to Garrev in order to model her life after the long dead Grand Master Orac's. This had seemed the natural course to follow after taking the master's name as her own.

She hadn't had any contact with the Bakuran Order in nearly six years - shortly after she'd left for Garrev at the age of 19. In fact, she'd had hardly any contact with anyone. This was with the exception of those few she found living in the vast forests with her - although more often than not she found their corpses. Now the Order had requested her to assist with some sort of crisis on Garrev. Whatever it was, she hadn't heard about it yet.

It felt unusual to be in Haydros again. She'd visited the city only once after her arrival, to receive treatment for a venomous bite she was unable to overcome with a healing trance two years ago. She was anxious to return the wilds. And, it looked like the time was nearly upon her. That looked to be the Jedi transport landing.

((If for some reason it's essential that no character have previous experience on Garrev, I can rewrite this post))

Lord Lanik

((So whut year is this set in? So I can decide what faction Lanik will be in if I can join))

Sirak Sazen

A slightly nervous Padawan sat aboard the transport ship. Sirak Sazen had gone on missions like this before, but never without the guidance of his master. Jedi Master Crescent was on a high-priority mission in Hutt Space and therefore could not join Sazen on his mission. He was given strict instructions to follow his superior's every demand. It would be a true test for the Iridonian boy.

Little was explained about the mission on this mysterious world. Details were spared. All he knew was that a group of rogue Jedi had to be stopped. This thought worried him. The thought of possibly fighting another Jedi rattled his mind. What if they had more experience than him? What if he were to be caught alone and outnumbered? Questions filled his head. He wished his master had been there but at the same time, wanted to prove to him what he could accomplish.

Those around him seemed more confident. He tried to maintain his composure around them, but this was difficult. Several masters were eyeing him over. Other Padawans seemed as if they didn't even care about the mission. Sirak was different. He wanted to show them all that he would stand his own ground and become a useful ally as a Jedi Knight.

Jiub

((Yes, she can if she is extremely talented in animal control or combat, as I said above, there are a lot of dangerous creatures, besides the Jedi, living in these forests.))

Sallwey was the first one down the ramp to the space port followed closely by Kaydros. Trish Orac was already there waiting for them. She had survived in hostile conditions with some of the largest, most dangerous predators in the sector. It was a shame that she had left the order, she was obviously very knowledgeable in the ways of the force.

"Oh look," Kaydros whispered almost inaudibly to him as they walked down the ramp, "there is the whacked out animal woman. I hope that she doesn't smell like the creatures she works with."

Sallwey hushed Kaydros harshly. This was the most sarcastic Jedi that he had ever worked with. Still, the fact that he had not said it out loud was progress. And seeing as how Orac was likely a little nervous about working with the order that she had left years ago.

Sallwey had not seen much of her while she was still in the Order or talked with her, but he still walked straight up to her and said, "Hello, Miss Orac, I am glad to see that you are well. The Jedi team is here and we would like to move out as soon as possible."

Kad

Kad's transport had just landed. He hopped out and saw the official that had hired him. "What's happening boss?" Kad asked casually walked towards the man. "Shut up, the peopl you are to work with are over there," the man pointed to a group of jedi, "Be nice to them." With that the official handed him half his payment and walked away. Kad shrugged taking the credits and jet-jumped over to the group, "So what are we after?"

Jiub

The Jedi had not called for a bounty hunter on this mission. The local government had hired a bounty hunter and sprung the news on them last minute as they were already getting ready to leave. They said that bringing the bounty hunter was mandatory, and although they would have preferred to have as few non-Jedi along as possible, they needed to complete this mission. Any rouge Jedi not only tarnished their name, but it was the Jedi's responsibility to get rid of them.

"I see that the bounty hunter is here," Sallwey said. "We are after a group of rouge Jedi, although I am sure that the Garrevan Government has already filled you in on all of the details." He had worked with bounty hunters before on rare occasion and it didn't really bother him, they would behave as long as they got their check, but it did disturb him that the local Garrevans had lost so much faith in the Jedi that they felt that they needed to hire a bounty hunter.

Kaydros had never liked bounty hunters. Whenever he saw one back on the lower levels of Coruscant it usually meant that something bad was about to happen. "That's right," Kaydros said, "so you just follow out lead and do what we tell you..."

Sallwey could see that Kaydros was about to go off on a long string of insults about the bounty hunter. It is never good to insult those that you are going to work with, so he gave a very small force push on the lower part of his legs. It didn't knock him over, but it did almost knock him off balance.

Kaydros got the message and just said, "Welcome aboard!" he said "scum" under his breath and kept the rest to himself.

Sirak Sazen

As Sirak waited behind the rest of the pack listening, his feelings of nervousness were replaced by those of triumph and pride. He had a revelation during the Jedi Master's conversation with the bounty hunter. If Master Crescent was confident in Sirak's ability, he would not of sent him alone. For a moment he forgot all about the mission, but it quickly returned to him as the group began to move along.

Kad

Kad glanced at the boy, "Very well, when shall we depart?"

Jiub

Sallwey replied, "If everyone feels well, I believe that the convoy is ready to leave when we are, and I am already prepared to head out."

There were already transports there ready to take them to the edge of town where they would meet the convoy.

Anakin

-Garrevan Jungle, 8 miles from the Haydros City outskirts-

Carkamo lifted the weak human off his feet, the Zabrak feeling the pumping of his neck veins as his grip on him got tighter.

"Possible sacrifice." Carkamo said, letting his rotten-meat stenched breath heave on the helpless human that struggled from his choke-hold, making guttural choking sounds.

"Carkamo, that subject is not worthy enough for the Gods." Came the deep voice of his master, Sley, from behind him.

The former Jedi Knight turned his head slightly to the left, his peripheral vision catching the trandoshan appearence of his master carrying what seemed to be a large leather-skinned bag over his bulky shoulder and curiously enough, it was dark crimson and seemed wet with blood.

"As you wish." He said, turning his red, devilish eyes to...it and slowly letting his razor-sharp, grime filled nails dig into the soft, sweaty flesh of his captor.

He sadistically smiled as the human---who was possibly a hunter---writhed and squirmed in his grasp intill his nails tore deep into the man's vessels, streaming fresh warm blood down his hand. The body stopped struggling and with a meaty noise, was dropped againts the trunk of a vine-covered tree.

"Come, we must find more candidates worthy of sacrifice."

Rive Caedo

((Instead of going back chronologically and having Trish answer Sallwey - we'll just say Kad's arrival interrupted her))

Trish Orac glanced back at the transports that the Jedi had apparently prepared ahead of time to ferry them to the convoy.

She shook her head, this was why she had left the Order.

Haydros wasn't very large as far as planetary capitals went. It was no more than a two hour walk from here to the edge of the city. And, as an added benefit, the Jedi likely would have been able to ascertain some direct knowledge of whatever these attacks were from the locals.

But that wasn't the Order's way - and it hadn't been for a long time - it required too much patience.

"Oh well." Orac thought to herself, "I didn't want to spend any more time in the city than necessary anyway."

She contorted her right hand to allow her thumb to stroke the small bone ring she wore on her middle finger. She had several pieces of clothing, armor, and accessories made out of various bone pieces (mostly from her time here on Garrev), but that one was special. It brought her calmness - and maybe a bit of luck.

"We'll want to get moving now unless you want to get stuck waiting until morning. There's less creatures active at night, but they're a whole lot meaner than the ones out now - and those are mean enough." Orac pointed skyward, "You don't want to get stuck out there unprepared for it."

Anakin

Carkamo hardly noticed the horrible set of clothes that stuck to his damp muscular body. However the jungle had completely ravaged it into a more...feral appearence. The nice flowing once-tan jedi tunic sleeves that once hung freely was now completely absent which left his bulging, toned forearms exposed, small cuts from thorns and bruises from his rough activites in the jungle was nothing new.

His baggy combat trousers were now darkened with mud and knicked with small tears and lacerations decorated it.

The Zabrak sat alone on the tall branch of a mighty tree in the midst of the jungle, his back againts the hard, craggy bark, but he didn't mind. His Masters had allowed him to come up here for prayer to the Gods and meditation to focus his mind for the coming hunt of sacrifices.

He tried to harness his strength, knowing that he hadn't ate in 4 days and caught himself at times chewing on plants to keep up his endurance as the other followers and he clensed themselves for the Gods. The jabbing of his lightsaber hilt in his side that hung from his worn-out belt reminded him of his duties and protection for the truth that the Holy Ones had revealed to them.

Jiub

"Right," Sallwey responded, "we need to get this underway as soon as possible." He was glad that she was along. They needed someone with knowledge of the planet like her.

Kaydros didn't need the force to know that this Trish Orac had a disdain for all of them. He had fought with people over less than the looks that she was giving them. She was much less obvious than most people, but he had still learned looks that people give when they think that they know everything. He hated it when anyone looked down on him.

Fortunately, he was not put in the same vehicle as her. Unfortunately, he and Sallwey were in a small vehicle with no other Jedi. That meant that Sallwey had some time to talk with him. He didn't listen to anything that Sallwey had to say. He barely paid any attention to what his master said and just continuously replied, "Yes, Master Menf." or "I am deeply sorry, Master Menf." It wouldn't take long to get to the edge of the city, he wouldn't have to keep it up for to long.

Sallwey knew that he wasn't getting through to his padawan. He could not at the moment. He could only hope that he would somehow learn on his own that he needed respect. That was why he had requested to bring him on this mission. On the job training is sometimes the most effective.

He had never been this obstinate back when he was a padawan, or ever. He couldn't relate to Kaydros. The force does everything for a reason, maybe he could learn something himself from being this padawan's master.

Soon they were standing right next to the transports that would take them through the forest. They were large tan vehicles with mounted guns on top. There were already mounted gunners sitting inside glass bubbles.

The glass bubbles were there to keep any animals hidden in the trees from attacking them easy and the mounted guns would make short work of any predator that Sallwey knew of. They were still out of date models and it didn't surprise him at all that Jedi were capable of destroying a convoy such as this.

They were 4 vehicles in all, each one with a large storage space. There were to be two temple Jedi hidden in each one. Trish and the bounty hunter would also be hidden with the Jedi in the vehicles.

From what Sallwey had heard about Trish, she would have preferred to not ride in the vehicles, but it was important that their presence not be detected by the Rouge Jedi to quickly. They would know to quickly and might break off the attack if there were any Jedi running along side the transports.

Sallwey gathered all of the Jedi going along on the mission up before they got into their transports. "Alright everyone, you already know the mission. Keep your senses open, it is imperative that we sense them before they sense us. Failure to do so will either give them an advantage or they'll break off and we'll have ruined our best chance at capturing them.

"Once we sense them, jump out of your vehicle and try and surround them. We will try and talk to them first. Remember, converting them back is the primary objective, but if we can't, be ready to fight, and if necessary kill them."

Kaydros was annoyed that the Jedi were concentrating so much on converting them instead of just killing them. They had messed up and killed people, now it was time for them to pay. He would do as his master said though, he secretly hoped that they wouldn't negotiate with them and they could fight.

He saw Cassal, the girl that he had been hitting on for most of the trip. He knew that she was a little flattered, but not nearly as much as he would have liked. He started walking towards the transport that she was going to travel in, but he felt a strong hand grab his shoulder. It was Master Menf. "You are coming with me," he said almost laughing. "Do you really think that I would trust you to go with her? Let her go with her own Master, we need at least one knight or master in every transport."

Kaydros grumbled and muttered some curses under his breath. With his master he could do nothing but sit there and try to sense the enemy. He would, however, obey. He didn't want this to be his last mission and he would have to tolerate his master's seriousness for now.

Sirak Sazen

Sirak stood in the rear of the pack of Jedi as Master Sallwey briefed them. This gave him a small oppurtunity to examine his comrades, particularly the bounty hunter. Sirak always had a bad feeling when he was around these people. All they wanted was money, the root of the Galaxy's corruption. He always eyed over several Padawans. One particularly caught his eye. A girl he had seen once before at the Jedi Temple. He had feelings for her. Not of love, but of caring and respect.

As the group split into pair to board the transports, Sirak waited and watched the pairings. Most were master and padawan, but the Zabrak was alone. He marched randomly into one of the transports, peering at the gunners crouched in their bubbles. He sat down in alone in a transport waiting for someone else to board.

Anakin

-Garrevan Jungle-

Carkamo through the very dense jungle, knowing that he was being relied on by The Order for setting up the sacrifical event.

He didn't bother swatting away a fist sized flying insect that latched itself on his neck weightlessly but knew that according to the Gods all nature's plan was righteous.

The Zabrak tightened his grip on the heavy bag slung over his left shoulder which let out metallic clicks and clangs as he strolled through the thickets and wooded paths. Explosives. A bit unrealiable but according to the Masters, the Gods had approved.

He finally made it to the right area and struggled through a thick green bush before walking onto the large gravel road that cut through the jungle like a broad sword. He looked in both directions of its expanse and saw no one in sight as of yet. Letting the bag slide off his shoulder and gently putting the bag drop to the ground, he opened the top and peered inside to see his holy weapons.

He quickly grasped at one and examined it. A improvised close-proximity mine that could easily tear through flesh and dig through durasteel with the sharp shrapnel that was packed inside of it. The explosives were like circular brown-colored discs, easy for concealing inside the ground and was hand denoted.

Carkamo blood lustfully placed the first one at the edge of the road, and noted how it indistinctively camoflaughed into the grass and dirt.

Now to place the other 19 of them.

Kad

Kad hopped in the transport with Sirak and went through his set. DC, check, blaster rifle, check, verpine, check, he continued to cycle through. After doing that he nodded he started chanting a Mandalorian song to himself.

Anakin

Click. He activated the last proximity mine, enjoying the sound of the death that was to come soon. The last explosive was hidden in the grass on the side of the makeshift vehicle path, along with the other 19 explosives he had placed around the area to ambush the sacrifices.

Carkamo raised himself up from his crouch and lifted his red, clawed hand in the air, signaling the ones watching him in the concealment of the trees to notify the Masters that everything was in place.

He then launched on a nearby tree, his nails digging into the tough bark and he quickly used his upper body strength to scurry up the side of it, and into the thick leaves that sprouted on the thick branches, camoflaughing his body.

Jiub

"Are you ready to sense anything coming our way?" Sallwey asked as he and his padawan sat down.

"It's not like I will be sensing anything before you sense it," Kaydros replied.

"It is likely that you are right," Sallwey replied. "It is possible that you are not though. Anyone has the potential to become great. Even you could sense the attack first, or at the same time as me, giving you the chance to be on your toes faster should we be attacked suddenly."

Kaydros rolled his eyes and responded with a "Yeah, whatever." He had no intention of trying to do this.

Sallwey was disturbed by this, but he had to concentrate on the mission for now. He wished that his padawan would take it seriously as well, but that was the way that it had to be. He always tried to be honest with his padawan to create trust between them. There was truth in what he had said, but Kaydros wasn't interested in learning. Instead he would just sit there fuming.

Anakin

Carkamo lifted his head slightly up and sniffed the fresh air. Hmm.

Besides the regular fresh lingering smell of plants, dirt, and wildlife, something else, something artifical was also lurking. He took two big gulps of air in his enlarged Zabrak lungs and instantly recognized the odor.

Gasoline. He raised his eyebrow and looked to the half-hidden figures in the other trees around him. He faintly saw a hand creep from in between the thick leaves in one of the nearby trees and point down the far road.

Carkamo followed the finger and finally saw it: very faint whisps of smoke tendrils that creeped right above the canopy. Sacrifices from the fortified city? It looked to be come from a couple of miles away, and if correct, they would be seeing the source coming down this very road in a little under thirty minutes.

Jiub

The convoy was out on the road soon. They hoped to be attacked before night came around. There were few disturbances to interrupt the Jedi's concentration, except for an occasional blast from the guns on top to scare predators away.

Sallwey and Kaydros were in the third transport back. For safety precautions, there was at least one Jedi Knight or Master in each of the four vehicles. Sallwey was constantly extending out his senses to see if there were any threats. It was a strain on him, but one well worth taking if it meant not being caught off guard. Still, he would need to save energy in case there was a fight when they met the Rouge Jedi, and he would keep that in mind.

Rive Caedo

Trish Orac growled. They were shooting indiscriminately at any creature that came near the convoy. The majority of the creatures small enough to be scared off by the aging blaster cannons weren't any danger to the armored vehicles at all - and the ones that were a danger wouldn't be scared off by the cannons.

All this managed to do was make her life here harder by making the smaller creatures more accustomed to energy weapons - and less likely to be frightened by her lightsaber.

Her growl turned to a sigh. She doubted the original Master Orac had to deal with this when he had exiled himself to Garrev. The planet was unpopulated back then, to the best of her knowledge. The world was truly wild - not corrupted by the encroachments of civilization... and it would only get worse as time went on.

Oh. And now, to top it off, the Bounty Hunter was singing. Wonderful.

Sirak Sazen

As Sirak attempted to meditate on the situation, his concentration was broken by the gently humming of the bounty hunter. He almost told him to stop, but it would be no use. The rocking of the transport and the constant roar of the guns disturbed Sirak anyway. Instead, he merely sat down, glancing over the other passengers in the cramped transport. The warm air force him to remove his robes for the time being.

He was unaware of when or where the convoy would be stopping, but he prayed it would be soon. Sirak had not eaten in several hours. He chewed the collar of his shirt out of nervousness and hunger. The Padawan almost dozed off several times, only to be awaken by the sound of the guns.

Anakin

The convoy was approaching rapidly and though not in sight yet, Carkamo could smell the burnt gasoline deep in the air.

The crackle and bursting of distant blaster fire told him they weren't the only ones trying to attack these outsiders. From the returning barrage of fire, he could tell that their sacrifices were well trained but that didn't matter.

He got into a crouch, his nails scratching into the bark and he slowly flexed his large muscles to get ready for the coming excursion. The lightsaber at his side, though futile to the Gods would be a whirl-wind of sick feral death in his hands. Not to mention the other 8 saber-wielding participants in the rite.

Jiub

Sallwey was mostly able to tune out the guns firing. It did bother him as well that they were shooting at all of these animals for no reason. Most of the time they would just shoot and the animal would run off, but sometimes they would shoot an animal and kill it. Sallwey felt this and didn't like it.

He had become good at drowning out what was not important and concentrating on the things that were. This skill had served him well many times before, and it wasn't quitting on him today. He kept his mind on one thing, finding and detecting the real threats.

Suddenly, he felt something. It seemed distant, but there. It was a force user. He couldn't make out a lot of details about the force user, only that there was one that wasn't in the convoy up ahead, very close now. It had to be the rouge Jedi that they were searching for.

He stood up and yelled, "Stop! We are getting close!" Just as he yelled this he heard an explosion go off. The first transport had run over a mine or something. It crashed into the dirt road immediately and the two vehicles behind it crashed into the back of it. No one had been seriously hurt beyond being thrown around a little and a few scratches, but the vehicles were all now damaged and possibly useless except for the last one which had stopped in time.

Sallwey immediately jumped out of his vehicle and unto the dirt road. "Hold fire!" he yelled as loudly as he could. "We would like to talk with you! We just want to know why you left!"

Kaydros was right behind Sallwey in getting out of the vehicle. He was already in a bad mood. He hated traps, which put him in a worse mood. "Screw negotiations! They attacked us, so let's get them!"

Before Sallwey could stop him, Kaydros had his lightsaber out and was running forward. Sallwey sensed a mine right in front of him, he was already stepping on it. The best thing that Sallwey could think to do was dive down and send a force push at Kaydros to send him flying into the air.

The bomb went off, but Kaydros was already flying through the air. He had not entirely escaped injury from the bomb and had some bad burns that would need to be treated, but he would live. He landed, unconscious, in some bushes way off to the side. Kaydros wanted to run over to him right away, but he would live for now and he had to concentrate on whether the enemy would attack or not at the moment.

Anakin

The shattering sound of explosives ringed in his ears and the sharp smell of acidic sulfur burned his nostrils but he shook it off with a wide grin as he slowly clicked each button on his detonator pad;watching from his high branch as the mines blew in succession in exceedingly high decibels that vibrated the surrounding area.

The sharp, jagged shrapnel screamed and hissed as it tore into the sides of the convoy vehicles, disabling most of them and making mass confusion.

There. His hatred-filled gaze met what he knew to be two Jedi already getting out of the vehicle, and one, to his very amusement, flying into the side of the bushes after a nearby mine exploded.

But none of his co-members attacked or came down from the trees, but knew, through the force, they were still hidden in the thick foliage that created the upper forest canopy.

Wait till' they all get out. He sent the message to the force, feeling the 8 others receive it and acknowledge. He knew they were quickly readying the primitive, lethal arrows from the thick-branch bows they had fastened days earlier and were getting ready to release a hail of knife-like arrows at the sacrifices.

Kad

Kad jupmed out his blaster rifle raised and pointed at the trees. He sighed as he realized that he couldn't see the rouges. He activated his thermal vision on his HUD, and saw eight figures in the trees. He brought his rifle back up and aimed at one.

Jiub

They still had the force and were good at hiding, but Sallwey still sensed them. It felt like they were all here. That was a good thing, especially if they were willing to negotiate. If it went to battle and they were surrounded, it might not be a good thing.

The bombs were continued to go off and Sallwey was forced to take cover behind one of the vehicles. The remaining bombs going off assured him that all of the vehicles would be useless before long. They would have to walk back. He couldn't believe that he had not foreseen this. He had no time to dwell on this, some of the people, mostly non-force users, were getting badly hurt. Two of the drivers were dead already. He had to help them and try to convince the Rouge Jedi to negotiate.

It was a rather gory scene. There were mangled, but still living bodies from the gunners and drivers along with the two dead ones. They would all be dead if they didn't receive medical attention soon. The other Jedi were mostly alright, although a few of them were a little banged up, nothing that would impede them much. Only one of the gunners was still alive and well along with the bounty hunter. For the first time he was happy that the bounty hunter was here.

He worked to help everyone out of the wreckage. As he worked, he yelled, "Come out! We only wish to talk with you! If you don't agree with us after the talk you can still attack us!" He didn't like that idea, but it might be the only way to get them out.

He found it strange that they were continuing the attack although they now knew that there was nothing of value here. He had assumed that they were doing this because they had become thieves, but it appeared that it was something darker. That could make this mission a lot harder.

Sirak Sazen

Sirak checked over his injuries whiles crawling out of the wreckage. His left arm was bloodied by a piece of steel. The young Jedi didn't know what had just happened, but could feel an omenous prescence in the Force. He checked back on the bounty hunter as he crawled through a small opening in the hull. Sirak raised himself up in time to see another Padawan flying through the air.

Smaller animals began gathering around them, curious of what had just transpired. Sirak clutchced his lightsaber at his side, unignited. Whatever had just happened was most likely the work of the rogue Jedi. The Zabrak expected another attack any moment now.

Anakin

All the mines had detonated and it wasen't long before there was a eerie, thick silence in the area. The smoke was clearing on the road from the explosions; the tinking of hot punctured dura-steel and the moans and groans of the dieing started to be heard.

Carkamo was caught in hesitation as one of the Jedi tried talking desperately to them. He knew that bounty hunter below had somehow found a clear shot on them though he had no fear, their weapons were primitive.

Hold fire. He sent through the force to the eight others who had their hands tightened on the bow string; ready to release a hail of arrows.

By commanding them to hold fire, he was risking the wrath of his masters and worse, the anger of the gods.

He let his body make a decision.

The Zabrak jumped down from the branch, flying down to the hot gravel road and landing in a crouch infront of the smoking, stalled convoy wreakage.

He had his hand over his lightsaber that hung at his side and he stood silent, still in his crouch position.

"Hand yourselves over and your death will be quick and painless to the gods." He growled to them.

Jiub

"To the gods?" Sallwey thought to himself. Was it possible that they had taken up some sort of extremist religion? This would be unusual for Jedi, but who knows what crazy ideas could be thought up or or dug up by an insane Jedi.

This religion was bad, very bad. It appeared that it needed sentient sacrifices. Those were nearly non-existent in the galaxy of today.

He could now sense these figures better. They had a dark presence about them, but not quite like the Sith. These were different from any enemy that he had ever faced.

"So, you have gods?" Sallwey said quietly, "We cannot surrender. We are here to tell you that the Jedi temple will take you back. Any one of you who wishes to come back to the temple with us, may do so."

Anakin

Carkamo, stood up, his figure towering, his forearm muscles bulging, beads of sweat dripped down his red colored skin, swollen insect bites littered his bare skin, his dark worn black clothing clung to his wet flesh.

He heard the crunch of rocks and empty explosive shells under his thick combat boots and he shifted his position to face the questioning infidel.

"You don't understand, heathen. No being disobeys the gods. And you will face its wrath. You should be thankful that the gods had granted you mercy."

He unclipped his lightsaber hilt from his belt and he let his hand fall to his side.

"Make a choice. And choose carefully."

The Zabrak horns that jutted from the top of his skull looked like devilish spikes in the scarce sun light.

Jiub

Sallwey took his lightsaber out of its' hilt and ignited the blue blade. "We have also come here to stop you from killing innocents. I repeat that we cannot surrender. We have no desire to kill you, but we will do what we must if you won't come peaceably."

Sirak Sazen

Sirak stood nervously still, observing the other Zabrak. His prescence was that of a dark entity. Talk of gods and sacrifices worried him. If there were gods, there was a religion. If there was a religion, there were followers of unknown size and power. How many enemies could 7 Jedi and a bounty hunter withstand?

The confrontation was about to become violent. This was inevitable as Master Sallwey ingnited his lightsaber. Sirak followed suit and activated his own handbuild saber, held at his side. The blade emitted a dark blue glow that radiated off the fallen leaves and insects. He was confident in the Jedi Master's actions. Sirak made quick, short breaths while peeking back to check on the others.

Cimil

Tazyn watched it all in amazment, his finger tightened ever so slightly on the trigger of his Long Shot rifle. He centered the crosshairs on the rogue jedi's head, ready to take him out.

The question wasn't he could hit him or not. It was whether he could retrieve the body, well the head at least, and make it back to the city. He knew there where others but he couldn't quite see them.

I could take, seven maybe eight. He tried to act it out in his head. In every scenario it ended badly for him. What about the others? Yeah. They could be useful. There was no way he could do this on his own. He refocased and braced himself. He would have to act fast.

Kad

Kad moved his gun to the rogue. "I say we take him," he commented casually over his loud speaker.

Anakin

He looked at them each. with a look of pity and anger. He slowly crouched down to the ground, his left hand scraping some of the dirt and gravel. He noticed the intricate pieces of shrapnel, still hot from being screamed out of a claymore mine. Some of the pieces were slick with blood and were among gunpowder. He sniffed it, and smiled.

"NOW!!!!" He yelled at the top of his lungs and he hugged himself to the ground as the dozens of razor-sharp arrows were launched from the tree tops above and behind, and he joyfully heard the screams of them whisping past his head and burying into soft flesh ahead of him.

Jiub

Sallwey did a strong force push as soon as he saw the arrows flying at him. He stopped all of the arrows flying directly towards him, but missed one that came in at more of an angle. It grazed his left arm. It didn't stick there, but it did cause a gush of blood to come out and intense pain. He didn't have time to think about that at the moment though.

All of the non-force users from the convoy not hiding behind something had been hit. Only one of them had been killed on impact and the rest were doomed to bleed to death. Sallwey didn't know if there were more arrows being prepared and sprang forward with his lightsaber in defensive position.

He had his lightsaber low enough to block any attempt by the man now laying low to the ground to avoid arrows. He put his lightsaber in position to chop off one of his arms and then the other one should he get his chance, but all the while he had to watch out for anymore incoming attacks.

Anakin

Carkamo clicked the lightsaber activator, a jet of bright green shooting forth from the hilt, licking the air full of ozone.

He stood up, spinning the very dangerous weapon in the air, enjoying the thruuummm sound as he twirled it in his grasp, knicking flying insects.

He eyed the Jedi infront of him who had his blade raised to strike him. He smiled visciously, pointing his finger and gesturing him to attack him as arrow still soared past his head and body by centimeters; the other members using support fire.

Kad

An arrow stuck itself in Kad's thigh, "Great," He aimed at a man in the trees and unleashed his battery on it. Dropping the rifle he pulled out two blaster pistols and continued shooting at the trees.

Sirak Sazen

The sudden attack from the enemy caught Sirak off guard. He barely had a chance to react as hundreds of razor-sharp arrows streamed at him. Most were knocked away with the Force, but others still came at him. One stuck directly in Sirak's shoulder, about an inch into his flesh. He cried in pain as another dug deeply into his shin. Sirak dropped his lightsaber and fell to the cold, hard ground. As bugs crawled over him, he could faintly hear the roar of blasters firing and the dim humm of lightsabers.

Unable to move and lacking the strength to check over his wounds, Sirak fell in and out of consciencness on the dense forest floor.

Kad

Kad dropped his pistols and grabbed the padawan by his collar. He dragged Sirak behind the wreckage of the vehicles and looked at the arrows. He broke the shaft of the one in his thigh absentmindedly and stared at the young jedi. He sighed and pulled out his useless knife and went behind the wreckage to the tree dwellers. He climbed the tree of one and yelled, "C'mon, face me like a man!"

Sirak Sazen

As Sirak slowly opened his eyes, he could make out the image of the bounty hunter tending to his wounds. The pain shot through him like a dart. He was moved from where he had originally fallen. This man had saved Sirak's life. He tried to talk to him, but only muttered the words, "Thank you" before he passed out.

Jiub

Sallwey struck at the enemy. He blocked and they went into a full battle. He regretted not being able to help the wounded more, but maybe by engaging the enemy in battle he could gain more time for everyone else in the convoy and the other enemies couldn't fire anything more without the risk of hitting their own man, although it was entirely possible that they wouldn't care about that.

Sallwey took on the offensive. He kept striking at his enemy, but kept his saber low to deflect any incoming blows. His objective was in part to keep him right in between the enemy archers and his own people. The more time that they had to reorganize the better.

Anakin

He easily blocked the enemy's blade with quick flick of his green lightsaber, deflecting it away from him which in turn he made a vertical slash down.

Meanwhile in the trees, the eight other occult members had fired the last of the deadly arrows and the snap-hiss of their lightsabers were heard along with it's glow that showed through the leaves.

Jiub

This mission had gone down hill faster than Sallwey Menf, or anyone else in the order had predicted. The entire crew was now injured in one way or another, but it seemed that most of the Jedi were still in a condition to fight. Unfortunately, the enemy was in a better condition and were now all igniting their lightsabers.

"Jedi, line up beside me!" Sallwey yelled as he dodged a swing and counter struck. With the enemy currently bunched together, it would be disadvantageous to be dispersed where the enemy could more easily concentrate on taking them out one at a time. Five of the enemies were still padawans when they recently left the order. Maybe they could still outrank their enemy by experience.

Anakin

Carkamo grinned, hearing the other jump down from the branches, their lightsabers ignited, menacingly casting vibrant light across the forest floor. The 9 of them had become a family, he knew most of their life stories well and loved them like brothers.

Five of the members had been "padawans" and 4 were human young men, their eyes sunk deep with lack of sleep, their mouths swollen from dehydration, their clothes torn and slashed in places. They looked like devils from hell; the way they grasped onto their humming lightsabers like a angry tribe. The last padawan was the biggest of them all, and the one with the most strength and endurance. With large patches of thick hair missing, and wads of dry blood matting some area of her massive body, the female Wookie, Leka, looked the most feral as she approached the bounty hunter that had had tried to climb the trees.

Before he could fire his primitive blaster, she whacked him across the body, flying the bounty hunter back at the infidel group.

The last three of the group, all former Jedi Masters,came from the back, pushing aside the padawans to come near Carkamo's side.

"You will pay later for your disobiediance to the group." He heard Master Sley whisper in his ear as came to his side. The trandoshan's rotten, meat smelling breath made him flinch as the sickening odor filled his nostrils.

The other two Jedi Masters, the tall bald human, Yurik, and the elder female twi' lek ,Vera, her torn tunic furnished and wrapped to cover her intimate areas, allowing her full movement in battle.

"You will not survive." Vera said to the weak infidel group in a half-whisper.

Jiub

Three of the Jedi had fallen. Kaydros, Sirak, and the human female Padawan Neesha. It appeared as though all of them could survive. Kaydros and Sirak were both incapacitated for the moment. Neesha was still conscious, but an arrow had gone through her leg. The damage would have been a lot worse if her master were not helping in blocking the arrows.

Sallwey was deeply concerned about Kaydros. If the Rouge Jedi went into a retreat, he was in their path and they could still take him. If the Jedi were able to retreat, it would be difficult to get near Kaydros.

It appeared that all of the Knights on the mission were still alright, and Trish had managed to hide inside one of the vehicles. She now had her saber in the ready position. It had been a while since she had been in one-on-one lightsaber combat or much less group combat, but she was still a competent fighter. She was not his highest concern for the moment.

Sallwey then took a strike at Carkamo, he went for an incapacitating move by doing a low swing to cut off his right arm. It would be better to incapacitate their enemies for the moment so that if the rest retreated, they would still be able to question one about the location of their hide out.

Kad

Kad frowned as he watched the wookie come out of the tree and make to hit him. He felt a really hard thump on his chest. Everything turned to blurs as he flew back towards the group. I'm not payed enough for this, he thought as he flew past the jetiise.He lay on the ground trying to gain awareness of his surroundings.

Anakin

Carkamo spun the hilt of his lightsaber, twisting it in a downward angle to just catch Sallwey's blade milliseconds before it would have cut through his bare, red skinned right arm. Sparks erupted between the two energy swords from the hard clash, the two lightsabers angryly hissing as the two opponents pressed with all their might againts eachother.

The Zabrak broke the clash, spinning backwards, twisting his blade around him to create a vibrant circle of green around him before he stopped and angled the tip of his blade to Sallwey, as if pointing to him to fight him.

Meanwhile, the 5 rogue padawans slowly moved forward, two going on each side of Sallwey, their blades erect in the air and ready to strike. The other three marched toward the destroyed convoy and to the surviving opposition of Jedi and the mortally wounded.

Master Sley slowly went to the bushes, inspecting the slumped body of the Jedi that had been knocked out from a explosion. (Kaydros) He pointed towards Master Yurik who calmly strode over while the battle raged on and came to his side, crouching near the unconscienceness warrior.

"I want him in our capture. He will be a awesome sacrifice to the gods, and possibly can tell us more about what enemies we face." Sley said to him with a dark grin.

Jiub

The enemy was using its' superior numbers to their advantage. Sallwey quickly found himself surrounded and with the three padawans attacking the other four Jedi, only one Knight was able to come to Sallwey's assistance. This was getting even further out of hand.

He jumped into the air above everyone else and landed near the other Jedi, the other Knight followed suit. As Sallwey landed he slashed down at one of the padawans that was fighting with one of the Jedi.

Anakin

Carkamo gasped slightly as one of the padawans fighting a Knight--Reese his name, was struck with Sallwey's lightsaber, cutting a deep glowing line down his back. Reese stood there in shock and fell to the ground, either dead or unconscience, Carkamo couldn't tell through the force.

"Regroup!" Vera yelled her female voice rising above the crack of lightsabers, making the Padawans break off, and form into a line, which Carkamo joined and soon Vera and Sley backed them up as they advanced as a impenetrable spear.

Sirak Sazen

It took all the strength in Sirak's body to get up, but the Force was calling him. The sounds of battle rumbled in his ears as he slowly rose behind the cover of a destroyed transport. Sharp, seering pain suddenly shot through him as he eyed over his wounds. A deep gash in his right shoulder and a bloody, more painful wound in his left thigh with half of an arrow sticking into it. After a moment of meditation, he slowly and painfully pulled the arrow out of his leg and tossed it aside before treating his wounds with the Force.

Standing up and peeking from behind the wreckage, Sirak pieced together the current situation. Several of the Jedi he had seen earlier where out of site, likely killed or wounded. The bounty hunter that helped Sirak was standing about 10 feet away from him taking shots at the enemy. The rogue Jedi were worse than the young Padawan had imagined and worse, they were winning.

Jiub

"Everyone this way!" Sallwey yelled as he ran off to the right. He and everyone else then started attacking the line at its' edges. The Jedi kept bunched up as a defense in case the enemy broke off their line.

Anakin

As the Jedi opposition started attacking the line's edges Vera yelled something in a foreign language, and the rogues reorganized into a lethal circle, protected on all sides as they continued to push the Jedi backing by probing, and spearing their lightsabers inches away from them.

Jiub

The Jedi continued their attack, but had to be more careful now. They would advance three at a time, the one in the center would take a few strikes at the enemy and the two one the sides would keep other Rogues from interfering. It was a difficult and dangerous tactic as the three would often have to be closer together than is convenient, but they had few other options.

Anakin

Carkamo stood with the others, forming the tight circle of the rogue padawans as the "circle" spun around, keeping a almost continious circle of slashing lightsabers, as to keep the Jedi from gaining a offensive on them.

Now He heard Vera resound in his head as his side of the circle spun to the face the Jedi opposition, instead of spinning his blade like the rest kept doing, he drove his green blade out, catching one of the Jedi off gaurd, and knicking one, grazing his waist. The Jedi cried out and reflexively backed away into the protection of the other two Jedi. Carkamo faded back into the circle as it kept spinning.

Jiub

Knight Valco was now injured on his waste. Attacking the circle with sabers was useless. The circle needed to be broken.

Sallwey ran over to the corpse of one of the gunners. They mostly just had guns, but they also carried grenades with them in case of emergencies. They were loud and with a bright flash, but they also had some shrapnel in case they were attacked by one of the larger beasts. He picked up the grenade and lobbed it into the center of the circle. It would take a few seconds to go off, but it could scatter the circle for now. All of the Jedi stood in a position, ready to push it back if one of the Rouges in the circle tried to push it away.

Anakin

Thud. Carkamo's eyes widen as he heard the heavy round grenade fall right at their boots. And everyone who was apart of the circle had the same thing in mind. RUN! They immediately stopped their ravage spinning and their all flipped back in each direction, flying through the air gracefully...

2...1....

BOOOOOOOOOOMMMM!!!

Hot air burned some of his flesh as still mid-point in his flip, the grenade exploded, sending shrapnel,heat, and ear-splitting sound in the small area. Time seemed to slow down as he used the force to spin him through the air, hearing the whisping of searing shrapnel whisp by his face and body. Zippp. A piece of metal easily slashed through his thigh, making him yell in pain as he tumbled to the ground.

Some of the padawans had not been so lucky in dodging the flak in their flips, as the rest landed in the surrounding area. The grenade had left a eerie silence, and those who were close to the explosive, their ears rang painfully.

Jiub

The Jedi were forced to jump back themselves. They were further away which gave them more time to sense the shrapnel coming. Still, it looked like a few of them were grazed by the shrapnel. No matter what happened, the Jedi were damaged in some way.

They did have a slight advantage this time around though, Sallwey and the other Jedi still conscious ran in for the attack, just attacking whoever was closest.

Kad

"Just the break I wanted!" Kad opened fire with a rifle he had picked up from a dead soldier.

Sirak Sazen

In the insuing chaos, Sirak rushed onto the pathway and retrieved his lightsaber. Once ignited, it cast a dark blue glow over his face. The light was becoming shadows as the sun moved behind the trees. The young Zabrak limped towards the other Jedi. "Didn't think I'd let you down, did you?" With a dry smile, he prepared for the fight of his life.

Jiub

Sallwey saw that one of the Jedi padawans was up and ready to fight again. He didn't seem completely ready as he had a limp. But this was a fight for their lives, and Sallwey wasn't going to tell anyone just to sit out. The fighting was in full swing now, so he didn't have any time to respond.

Anakin

Carkamo violently coughed, and tasted metallic-like blood in his mouth. He just clenched his teeth tight together and pushed himself off the ground, feeling the tight pain in his limb joints and the sting of the cuts that had liberated some of his blood out of his flesh.

He growled, his lightsaber out of sight. He looked and saw a medium sized crator in the middle of the road where his people had just stood. And he still felt some of the padawans faintly through the force but then---Vera, Sley, and and the tall, imposing figure of Yurik flew through the air, their silohoulettes cast in the dust as, their lightsabers lit, engaged the remnant Jedi.

They were all three skilled Jedi Masters, and Carkamo thanked the gods they had come to their ways and joined the occult. And his grinned widened as he saw the giant, striding Wookie padawan.

He could faintly make out the blood marks on her fur, but he knew, as the female wookie charged at the Jedi with her light lightsaber in hand, that she was filled with fury.

Jiub

It appeared that the Rouges were now getting reinforcements. "Just when it looked like we might get the upper hand!" Sallwey thought sadly. This was no time to get distracted by emotion, he had to keep strong.

He was now fighting 2 of the rouges at once. One was a wookiee and one was the rouge that he had fought with earlier. He couldn't take this for very long. He blocked a hard blow from the wookiee, but he had to put so much effort into that that he left his side open for an attack. He received a huge gash in his side.

He screamed out in pain, but managed to quickly stumble back. None of his vital organs had been seriously damaged, but he had to use the force to block out the extremely intense pain. It was obvious that he wasn't going to win this battle like this.

He jumped up into a tree and sent force pushes at a couple of the rouges fighting. He hoped to get a few of them to follow him into the forest to give the rest of the Jedi a chance in the fight. He didn't know if it would work, but it was the only thing that he could do at the moment. He then took off into the woods, relying heavily upon the force.

Anakin

Carkamo noticed one of the main Jedi fled, and as he approached the useless Jedi resistance he noticed that the three Jedi Masters had subdubed and wounded all the opposition.

Sley was standing over what seemed to be a bounty hunter, his lightsaber activated just inches above his neck.

"The sacrifices are in abundance." He hissed delightfully.

Sirak Sazen

The true Jedi were engaged in a fight that could not be won. Not from this point anyway. A wounded Sirak found himself pitted against the Twi'lek rogue. Despite his best attempts to defeat her and defend himself, the rogue left a deep slice in Sirak's hand with her lightsaber. He dropped his lightsaber and fell once again to the ground. She hovered over him, yet surprisingly didn't kill him. The Jedi had lost this round.

Jiub

Sadly, it appeared that Sallwey's plan had failed. The enemy wasn't pursuing him and none of the other Jedi appeared to be able to follow him either. Yet, although the Jedi were slowly being taken down one after the other, none of them were killed. This must be because of the sacrifice issue that Carkamo had brought up earlier. Sallwey Menf would not be responsible for leading an entire convoy of Jedi into a trap and then leaving them to die. He would fight to his dieing breath if necessary to free them, but he needed a plan.

He would obviously have to follow them to wherever their hideout was and try to liberate the captives there. It would be difficult if not impossible to follow them without being detected through the force, so if he couldn't come in hidden, he would come in letting them know exactly where he was. He picked a large orange fruit off of the tree he was standing on. He then threw it down towards the Rouges. He would follow them from a safe distance, continuing to do annoying and when possible things that could damage them.

Anakin

"Hmm.." His trandoshan nostrils flaring, Sley sniffed the ozone-filled area, the tang of gasoline, blood, and burnt hair coiled through the dusty air.

Night had fallen on the deep jungle of Garrev, and the chirping and buzz of insects had become to flurry as the the hum of cracking lightsabers and cries had suddenly ceased.

Carkamo felt his eyes readjust to the what was once the mishaped road, that was now pocked with small craters and scarlet with dark, dry blood. Vera, her Twi-Lek feminine form the only beautiful thing out here, had lighted a couple of torches that lit the area and handed it to a couple of padawans.

The group had left the burnt out hulks of was once the transport vehicles but had been unmercilessly destroyed and now, the occult group were leading just a few bound prisoners through the dark road path.

No one spoke at all, and the only sounds they made were the crunching of sticks and dirt underneath their boots. Only 5 Jedi had survived. Four were bound together by the hands with a thick, dry vine and were being pulled by the rogue padawans without care.

He, Carkamo, had taken the duty of being the guard at the end of the group, watching if anyone came out to strike. While he walked, he silently peered at the figure the wookie was carrying over her shoulder, just illuminated by the torch's light. It the fifth and last Jedi, but unconscienous.
(Kaydros)

Kad

((I assume I am being taken against my will))

Jiub

((Unless you want to be sacrificed. Wink

))

His eyes slowly opened. His entire body ached and he had no idea why he was here, or even where here is. He seemed to be laying on the shoulder of something large and soft, it was highly uncomfortable. Kaydros had been unconscious for hours, and he was not awakening to ideal conditions.

He still couldn't remember exactly what had happened, but he was regaining his vision. He could see that he was on a hairy giant's shoulder. He knew that he was being kidnapped. He force pushed at the wookiee's feet to try and knock him over as he yelled, "Set me down Echuta!" (He had learned a little Huttese in the Coruscant underworld.)

Sirak Sazen

Sirak's body ached of pain and exhaustion. The bounds around his hands were becoming painful as he was dragged along the road. Sirak meditated, trying to stay calm and survey the bleak situation. Several of his comrades were dead. The destination and intentions of the rogue Jedi were unknown to him. His attempts to use the Force for any gain of knowledge was useless. This planet was strong in the Dark Side and clouded Sirak's mind.

Looking over the remaining Jedi was difficult as Sirak was first in line. Sirak could feel the presence of a Jedi behind him. Knowing the risk, he made a weak attempt at communicating with the Jedi via the Force.

Anakin

Carkamo's eyes narrowed as he saw the Jedi on the mighty wookie's hump started to move around and beat its back.

He shook his head in pity and stifled a laugh as the wookie's grip on the struggling Jedi increased, possibly to the point of almost creaking the bones to their limit. Obviously the Jedi stopped and just slouched in the Wookie's grasp.

The Zabrak smiled and looked on. They were getting close to the home base they had made themselves.

Jiub

Kaydros felt the wookiee's grip on him increasing. It was getting painful now and he knew that he had to stop. He was breaking the rule that Master Menf had taught him many times before, and once again it was getting him in trouble. He stopped struggling, but continued to mutter curses.

He was starting to regain his memory, but it wasn't very helpful. They were out on a mission to bring in some rouge Jedi, he had run forwards despite warnings from his master, and then he ran over a bomb. He didn't know how he had survived, but he was lucky he had. If he could get out of his current situation, that is.

He was in a tremendous amount of pain. It was coming to him more and more. He had also lost more blood than is healthy. Master Menf had taught him some healing powers through the force. They took time and concentration, and a lot more experience than Kaydros had. As much as he hated finally having to submit and the low probability of him being successful, he had to try.

Sallwey continued to follow at a safe distance. The enemy did not sense him as much as he had thought. This was a good thing. He could finally rest his mind a little as he followed the group.

He saw that his padawan was struggling against his captor. That, was a bad idea, especially when his captor is a wookiee. "The boy never learns," he sighed quietly to himself. He could sense that one of the padawans, not his own was trying to communicate with him. Sallwey sent feelings signifying that everything would be alright.

The mission may have been disastrous and could no longer be completed. The new mission would have to be to try and get all of the Jedi back to the city and tell the Garrevans to use air transport until a larger team could be sent. It was not at all a desired result and could reflect badly on the Jedi Order, but sometimes one must realize when they are still fighting for good, and when they are just wasting lives. The Garrevans could use air transport, they just used out of date ground transports because they are cheaper for them.

Anakin

(Sorry for the short delay, I got Force Unleashed. Ya know how that could be.)

The almost primitive like occult group finally made it what they called "home" in the thick, humid forest.

Carkamo watched as Vera slender form, lighted by the flaming torch in her hand, casted dim light on what had been a Corellian Blockade Runner. The forest and age had visibly worn it out, as vines had started to grow on it. One would ask themselves on how it got there, since there seemed to be no canopy clearing at all above it.

The Zabrak watched as the female Wookie dragged the vine that tied the Jedi together and tightly wrapped it around a thick tree trunk just off to the side of the dilapadated ship.

As he approached he saw Sley and Yurik walk side up the open ramp, not caring for the weak rusted hinges that supported it, or the weeds and grass that had started to adorn it.

He knew they were going into the altar. The entire inside of the Corellian freighter had been swept out and deemed unworthy of the gods. Now all that remained inside the ship was a beautifully made centerpiece ceremonial stone altar that was drenched with old sacrifical blood.

Soon, Carkamo smiled, it would again be spattered with red, hot crimson.

Sirak Sazen

A sense of relief briefly flowed through Sirak. Somebody had heard his message. A plan had to be made if they wanted to survive. Deeper and deeper into the jungle they went. Bugs crawling over his body couldn't even be swept away by his shackled hands. Stepping over a dead animal, he caught a glimpse of what appeared to be a ship.

Overgrown with vines and ivy, the decaying corvette was visibly stripped of its parts. A large Wookie grabbed the vine binding the Jedi together and tied it to a tree. Trapped, he searched for any way out of their situation. He could see a rustling in the nearby trees, but quickly ingnored it.

Kad

Kad's eyes opened. He groaned and looked around. "Great," he muttered. "Let me go you brutes!"

Jiub

Sallwey finally made it to the hide out of the Rouges. That likely meant that not much time remained, but at least he was in a position to rescue the other Jedi now. Three of them were padawans and all of them were injured. It appeared that they were all tied to a tree now. He just had to stay hidden until he saw the perfect opportunity. If that never came, he would just have to do something crazy and at least try. He was not leaving unless every other Jedi and the bounty hunter that were still alive were with him.

Kaydros was now on the ground next to all of the other captives. At least he wasn't still on the wookiee. Going into a trance had helped with the pain more than he had thought it would. He still didn't feel good, but he did feel more aware and like he could do something if absolutely necessary. He looked at the other Jedi, his master was not among them. There seemed little for him to say, and that made him uncomfortable. "Well this sucks." he said as he moved around, trying to get into a more comfortable position.

Anakin

Carkamo gently applied natural palm oils to his arms, taking gentle care with the deep gashes and bug bites that was strewn on his bare limbs.

While applying the lotion while sitting on the ground, he couldn't help but notice what Sley and Vera were doing. They had taken out two large, stainless steel blades and were calmly running cool water down their grooves. It was the traditional cleansing process before a sacrifice.

He knew that soon Yurik would be calling the padawans one by one to the alter to where the god's would be honored with their spilt blood.

Jiub

Sallwey wanted to just cut the vine that currently bound the captives together and yell for them to just run, but most of them were injured, so they would not be able to outrun their pursuers. Sallwey alone could not hope to fight off all of these force-users alone. As much as it pained him, he had to wait for the perfect moment to intervene. Even if that meant waiting up until the time of the sacrifice.

Anakin

"It is time." Sley hissed as he came down from the ramp, a large blade in his hand, shining in the torch lights that were placed in various areas around the base camp.

The wookie nodded, sitting up from eating some wild insect----probably the only meal she had savaged today---and went towards one of the padawans and easily ripped one of the padawans from the vines and dragged him across the dirt towards the ramp...

Jiub

"Leave her alone!" Kaydros yelled as they dragged the female padawan away. He had always had a physical attraction to her, but now for the first time he wanted to help her completely out of compassion. There was little he could do. He had to just concentrate.

It was now or never for Sallwey, they were going to be doing the sacrifice. They had taken the padawan and were dragging her to the altar. He got in some trees close to the altar. When they were starting to raise the knife, he figured that they were least aware, and jumped down, igniting his lightsaber, and swinging at the closest rouges.

Sirak Sazen

Sirak, who had passed out do to exhaustion, was reawakened by the scream of Kaydros followed by the sizzle of a lightsaber meeting flesh. He had no weapon. His lightsaber was lost in the attack. As the Padawan tried to break free, he lost all feeling of pain, hunger, and exhaustion.

Anakin

Carkcamo's eyes widen as he saw that pesky Jedi (Sallwey) jump from a tree, and propel his lightsaber through the air. The sizzling blade caught Yurik by surprise, clipping him on the shoulder---just inches from his neck.

"HEATHEN!" Sley yelled, who was just about to stab the prostate female padawan who was laying strapped to the altar, bound by dried animal skin. Vera was the first to react, the female twi-lek jumping from down the ship's ramp, her blue lightsaber ignited--as if she expected this encounter.

Jiub

Cassal, the girl on the altar, was screaming bloody murder by now, but Sallwey didn't concentrate on that. He started slashing away at his enemy. He purposely cut the straps holding Cassal down. The enemy would obviously want to sacrifice Cassal right away. He started to make more aggressive movements towards the enemies closest to her, trying to give her some room to escape.

Almost as soon as Cassal was free and there weren't any lightsabers flying directly over her head, she got up and started running. Her Jedi training had helped her get over the terror more quickly than most would. She wanted to run straight into the forest, but then she saw the others. There was still Trish, Sirak, Kaydros, and Kad, the bounty hunter.

Her own master had been taken down in the fight. She had to concentrate on other things now, for one thing neither her nor any of her companions had any weapons, but for starters she would take a sharp rock and cut everyone free. They were large vines, but with the help of the force it shouldn't be overly hard.

Kaydros was glad to see that Cassal was okay for now, but his master had jumped down and put himself into danger and one of the rouges could run over at any minute.

Sirak Sazen

Sirak frantically tried to saw through the rope binding him to a tree with his dull pocket knife. They all had to work together if they were to survive the fight. Realizing his knife was no good, he resorted to the power of the Force. His strength alone was not enough. If they couldn't free themselves, Cassal would be killed, Master Sallwey overwhelmed, and all of them sacrificed to these alien gods the rogues had so devotely worshipped. All the captors were wounded in some way or another, Kaydros the worst of them. Sirak could tell they all had the same thing on their minds as they struggled to wriggle themselves out.

After another failed attempt, Cassal had somehow broken free of her bonds and made an attempt to rescue them. "Hurry up!" Sirak hastily screamed, drawing the attention of a rogue. The Wookie charged at Cassal, who was seeming very confident as she sawed the vine in half, releasing the captors just before the rogue Jedi could reach them. Sirak was unarmed and backed off from the Wookie, eyeing her down. "This won't end well for you. Give up or you shall be struck down." He was replied by with loud menacing growls. He kept his distance and from the corner of his eye could see Kad taking aim.

Anakin

"NOOO!!" Yelled Carkamo, flipping forward in the air. The Snap-hiss of his green blade being heard the comotion as the dark Zabrak landed infront of his Wookie comrade and blocking a what would have been a direct blaster hit, and deflecting it astray.

He turned towards one of the escaped captors (Sirak), his blade humming in the cool air, as he approached him.

"You have no chance!" He growled at him.

"Get the others before they escape" He hissed at his comrade, and the wookie growled in response and did as she was told.

Sirak Sazen

Sirak watched in utter horror as his comrades were rounded up to be captured once again. Their struggle was becoming useless against the forces of these... things. Sallwey was quickly becoming overrun by them and Sirak, Sirak was face-to-face with the leader of them. Unarmed. Wounded. What chance did he stand? He let out a long screach of pain and defeat that could be heard throughout the dense forest.

The two Zabraks stood meters apart. Was it really all over? How could it have come to this? Anything that could have went wrong with the mission did. The ambush on the seemingly unstoppable convoy. The escape attempt. Everything went to hell in a handbasket and there was nothing anyone could do about it. Further resistance seemed a useless gester that would only prolong the pain and suffering they had all endured on this wicked world.

Kneeling on the overgrown forest floor, he hoped for a quick death at the hands of the rogue. Everything seemed hopeless until Kaydros yelled out to him. "You coward! Get up and fight!" The boy was inexperienced (much like Sirak) and immature, but he was right. His personal goal was to impress the Jedi Order and his master Arik Crescent. Yet here he was, kneeling before the enemy begging for death. The smallest flicker of hope became an inferno within the Padawan. He wouldn't give up on the others, even if it meant his death. He rose to his feet, hands shaking and with tears in his eyes.

"Go ahead. Kill me." Sirak spoke in a confident, strong voice he didn't seem to recognize. "The Jedi know about this place. They know about you and your friends and your damned gods!", now shouting. "They'll come here and destroy everything you've created and there's nothing you can do about it." He could see the rage in the rogue's eyes. Now would be the time to make his move. Without thinking things through, he tossed a poisonous flying insect at Carkamo with the Force. With another quick gesture of his hand, he snapped the vine that had binded him to the tree at his enemy's legs, disorientating him enough that Sirak did a backflip away from the Iridonian. His next move was a Force push directed at his enemy's lightsaber.

Jiub

Kaydros was angry by now. He was almost fueled by his anger. He yelled at everyone to keep fighting. The only problem was, there was little to fight with. He muttered curses as he quickly surveyed the battlefield. All of the Jedi and bounty hunter would not last long without their lightsabers.

He saw an opening to the cave where the Rouges stayed. They had undoubtedly stored the weapons in there. He ran in using the force as much as he could to run fast and ignore the still existent pain.

Anakin

Carkamo felt his grasp on his activated lightsaber somehow get weak as a invisible force wave, slammed againts his front. He staggered back, his hilt dropping from his hands. Fssshhhhhh. Came the artifical noise of the lightsaber extinguishing as it hit the ground, rolling into the underbrush.

The Zabrak growled, his eyes staring deep in the fellow Irodonian, Sirak.

"Good, yes, I can see it now. No pain, no fear, but anger, and non discretion is strong in you." Carkamo snarled, raising his fists in the air, readying for hand-to-hand combat with his fellow species.

"Come, let us fight like real warriors. Let us become one in combat. Like brothers. Like enemies."

Jiub

It appeared that no one had followed Kaydros into the hideout. That was good in that it gave him more time to search, bad in that it meant that his friends were still outnumbered and without weapons. He looked around almost frantically until he found a small bag of lightsabers that had been hidden away in a corner. He pulled his own out and ran with the bag outside. He had taken a moment, he hoped that wasn't too long.

He began throwing lightsabers to everyone who was missing one. He started with Trish as she couldn't really use the force and it was difficult for her to keep dodging. He then threw lightsabers to the other two padawans. There were a few weapons left in there and he threw the rest of the bag to the bounty hunter.

His actions had not gone unnoticed. The wookiee now broke off from her current attack and charged at him. He could not block such a strong attack, but dodged off to the side and tried to graze the wookiee's side flesh with his lightsaber.

Sirak Sazen

Sirak knew he couldn't beat the rogue leader in a fistfight. His emotions were becoming too strong and he needed a moment to calm himself, but Carkamo wouldn't give him a moment. He had to be stopped or more innocent people would fall victim to the rogue Jedi on the hellish planet of Garrev. Fighting was the only option. Sirak raised his fists in the and caught sight of a gleaming lightsaber hilt coming at him. He caught the saber, gripping it tightly with both hands. "No. This ends here. I won't play your game. The Force will abandon you, as you have abandoned it for these gods. You're destiny ends today."

Anakin

The tall, giant figure of the Wookie cried out in pain as a slash cut into her side. In instinct, she reacted angrily, and swung her fists, making Kaydros dodge and retreat back. The Jedi had unwisely prompted a snarling, feral beast.

Meanwhile, Sley, and Vera were taking care of the other padawans, holding them back from escaping, and slowly making them be encircled.

Carkamo grinned, not at all fazed that his brethern had gained a deadly lightsaber, its bright beam casting a light onto his red skin.

"Come on! I don't need a lightsaber to kill you." The Zabrak prompted with a hand.

Sirak Sazen

The entire are had erupted in chaos. No longer was it a one-sided battle. It was a fight for survival in this dreaded forest. The Iridonian seemed to be dedicated with Sirak's destruction, evident in his challenge against an armed opponent when his own lightsaber layed on the ground barely ten feet away. Sirak pleaded with the being for a peaceful end to the ordeal. "It doesn't have to end like this. Why shed more blood for a lost cause? You will only bring about your own demise." This was a useless gesture. Carkamo would not be reasoned with.

Jiub

Kaydros saw that his cut on the wookiee's side had not done much damage to it, but had angered it more than anything else. He really needed to stop doing things like that. Now he was in trouble. The wookiee charged again and this time it wouldn't fall for the same trick.

Kaydros needed to calm himself and think despite the danger. He needed to be on a level ground with the wookiee somehow. The wookiee was just about on him when he stretched out his hand and gave the strongest force push he had ever given. It wasn't even approaching the strength of his masters, or even many of the padawans that had more experience than he, but for his level of training it was impressive. There was only one problem with it, it was fueled by his own rage, anger, and hate for his enemy, not at all Jedi-like.

The wookiee was taken back by it, and Kaydros automatically went in swinging his own saber, still fueled by his emotions, trying to keep the wookiee on the defense and hopefully get in a lucky shot or be assisted soon.

Sallwey had problems of his own. He had taken on the bulk of the enemy force now for a while and to little avail other than freeing the girl. His injuries were numerous and great now, if he were a normal bothan he would have collapsed early in the fight. Only his Jedi training and use of the force kept him going. He was entirely on defense himself, just trying to survive for a little longer.

Then it came, the twi'lek he was fighting saw that he was favoring his right side in defense and made a quick switch to attacking his left side. This gave her the chance to cut off his left arm. Sallwey screamed out in pain as he fell to his knees. His Jedi training was strong enough that he managed to raise his saber to block a kill blow, but he didn't have even close to the strength needed to win, if one of the other Jedi didn't finish their fight soon, he wouldn't last much longer.

Kaydros heard his master's scream, but couldn't help at the moment. He could almost feel his pain and he had to concentrate hard on his current battle to not cease his attack. He wanted so badly to help his master, but could not.

((Anakin, if you need to recruit help to do all of these battles, go ahead. If not, continue.))

Anakin

(Yeah, wait, I'm gonna post, but lemme get at least like two people to help me control all these peeps)

Sirak Sazen

The Wookie was unstopped by the glancing blow from the Padawan. Just a lucky shot. What had really surprised her was the emotion that fueled the Jedi in his assault. She blocked shot after raging shot with her emerald lightsaber. The Padawan had given in to his passion; she was winning thus far. Finally, she was struck yet again by one of his powerful strikes. This one could not be ignored. The rogue had clean slice down her torso nearly an inch deep. She fell to the jungle floor with a great screech that even startled the nearby animals. She was now fully at the Padawan's mercy.

Jiub

((Ah, thanks. I was afraid that this had gone dead. It still is possible that we could lose this, don't take it to easy on me, but I guess that works all things considered. Wink

))

Kaydros was breathing hard, but he wasn't tired in the slightest. It was in large part out of anger. He couldn't believe that he had taken down a wookiee, it practically defied the laws of physics. Then again, such was the way of the force. There are never any guarantees.

Kaydros brought his saber down on the wookiee's head, making sure that it was completely dead. Still, this didn't bring him nearly as much satisfaction as he would have previously thought. He knew that killing the rouges was not their objective and was wrong, but he didn't care. The others were engulfed in their own battles.

Then, Kaydros remembered his master. His master's condition hadn't improved and he ran over, anger still raging, to assist his master.