2373/Smash and Grab

Smash and Grab
Date of Scene:	03 June 2015
Location:	Faraway Galaxy <FG>
Synopsis:	The Empire managed to seize Juno Eclipse and the Rogue Shadow in the previous night's raid on Sienar Fleet Systems. Now, her allies and friends are determined to get her back.
Cast of Characters:	20, 64, 414, 428, 522, Starbound Flotilla, 731, 754, 794
Tinyplot:	Resolution

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Juno Eclipse (428) has posed:
The I.N.S. Emperor's Justice is a very large ship. Lictor-class ships, also known as Mandalorian Dungeon Ships, are versatile warships that can serve a variety of functions. Although Star Destroyers tend to make up the brunt of the front-line battleships, the Lictor-class vessels are respectable in their own right. Their primary function, however, is a lot more straightforward.

They're called dungeon ships for a reason.

These blocky, massive vessels are made and used to transport prisoners. Eight to nine thousand of them, to be exact. Fourteen hundred additional Imperials are also aboard such behemoth ships, serving as wardens and ship's crew. As a matter of security, much of the crew and wardens are droids.

Today, the Emperor's Justice is trundling down the Hydian Way, from Core World of Corellia to the Outer Rim world of Mustafar. Its load of prisoners are to be left on that volcanic hell-planet, condemned to some miserable fate or another that probably involves dying horribly at some point.

It's a very large ship, although only a third or so the size of the Executor. The Emperor's Justice still has an incredibly solid design, with reasonably heavy durasteel plating over its hull, two tractor beam projectors, and ten quad turbolaser cannons, the better to fend off potential prison breaks. It may be a tough nut to crack for any saboteurs, but not impossible. It's big, it's slow, and it's seriously about as subtle (and ugly) as a brick.

The prisoners are quiet, and the wardens are relaxed. Although there are a few high-profile prisoners, they're nothing serious. Rebels, traitors, and deserters, for the most part, with the odd smuggler or political enemy sprinkled in for variety. Of the nine thousand prisoners, eight thousand of them are kept in ordinary holding cells. Some of them are kept in special holding cells, such as captive Jedi, using technology that Force powers won't allow them to break free from.

The Rouge Shadow has been stowed in the cargo hold, although its systems have been taken wholly offline. Some misguided soul even stowed the parts needed to repair the ship in the cargo hold, perhaps mistakenly thinking that the ship was bound for a destination other than the Emperor's Justice. Seems the ship is ultimately intended for one of the many, many lava pits of Mustafar. Or some dumb grunt mixed up the paperwork.

Juno Eclipse is also aboard this ship, somewhere, in the cell blocks. It's been a very long twenty-four hours for the former Imperial, hours that have left her feeling wrung-out and even more exhausted than usual. Dangling from locks around her wrists, feet not quite touching the floor, her entire torso is a long line of pain focused at her wrists; they've begun bleeding slightly where she's been tugging at and testing the mangalock cuffs around them.

She stopped tugging about two hours ago, when she realised that no one's coming. There will be no grand rescue. She'll be brought to Mustafar, where prisoners and Jedi and other undesirables go to vanish, and that will be that. It was a good run, and she only regrets not being able to say goodbye to Galen.

Juno hangs her head, trying to find some slack in the cuffs around her wrist, but there is none. She gives a half-hearted tug before going still, resolving to ride out the pain in silence until their arrival on Mustafar.

Her head is pounding, and all she wants to do is sleep.

The first order of business for any Would-Be Rescuers will probably be to take out the lumbering prison ship's ion engines. Then, finding a point to board would be ideal. There are roughly eight thousand prisoners on this ship, and they're looking for one. Crew and passenger manifests are another excellent thing to look for.

Starbound Flotilla has posed:
The STARBOUND FLOTILLA is here.

They are an FTL Jump away, tracking it with Seft's sensors. Their members are on edge, full of a tense sort of energy, the whole Core Fleet seems like a coiled spring. Every inch of them is a mad, profound force. Albert's craft is an ultramodern white sort of thing, loaded brutally with numerous energy cannons and missile launchers designed for fighters, plus heavy shielding. Biteblade's is about five different ships salvaged and welded together, with a tremendous fixed-forward railgun mounted on the top. George's and Moonfin's, respectively a modern gray chunky gunboat and a sleek blue shark-like craft, are made for maneuverability, sporting their own energy weapons on turrets or fixed forward. Pavo's yellowed stone-like pirate-temple-ship may be designed for boarding action, but it also works wonderfully as a zippy little runner too, scouting and darting about. Seft's large sensor array and heavier bombardment cannons mounted on what appears to be a mixture of a spaceship and a castle provide copious tactical data on movements and formations.

Albert's craft is the main fighting force here, and as such, anyone wishing to engage in SHIP TO SHIP COMBAT will be aboard there, and will have full use of its subsystems to help in the battle. On the other hand, those wishing to engage in BOARDING ACTION will be aboard Pavo's craft. Those with their own craft were coordinated with; when the entire Core Fleet jumps in, all at once, charging their way to the craft. Albert has a few words for the group, relayed over radio, ship intercoms, and similar.

"They expect us. Captain Eclipse was captured with the specific intent of controlling Starkiller. There is no question that they have a trap, and intend to spring it as brutally as possible. There is only one option moving forward. Spring the trap with such tremendous and brutal force that it would be impossible for them to compensate. You will board or you will cripple the craft. We will bring to bear a martial force of such magnitude that their only possible response is to relent. Spare no expense. Immobilize the craft first. That is our priority. Strike now, and without hesitation."

The Starbounders are already opening fire. Biteblade, specifically, has the massive STARHUNTER railgun firing square at the engine, while Albert is trying to get a volley of lasers targetting shielding specifically, assisted by whatever data on the shields that Seft can get.

HK-47 (754) has posed:
How did the predecessor ever stomach organics in such high masses? That was what it kept asking itself, prior to returning for maintenance. That was why it had left them in charge here as it's response to any rescue attempts.

And yet, they were never given any confidence of success by their elder.

Striding down the hallway, two of the droids stalked toward the cell of former Captain Juno Eclipse, their shapes identical and uniform - steel-gray bodies, glowing yellow-gold photoreceptors, disruptor carbines slung to their backs and equipment belts around their waists. Their stride was in perfect synchronization - a pinnacle of coordination.

Yet they were looked down upon by their progenitor. They were treated as inferior. They had been left in charge of a mission their progenitor rightfully should have been carrying out himself, if not for his recall to Dromund Kass - for he had become somewhat eager to report to the Master the details of the stock frigate he had encountered over Corulag.

And so, in the absence of HK-47, his position was replaced by six of his successor units - his progeny - the HK-51.

Moving in tandem, they saw another member of the Confederacy - Gaius Van Baelsar, according to their datafiles - and fell into step behind them as he was heading in the same direction as them, their target likely the same.

"Greeting - We are HK-51, protocol and defense units for the Sith Empire. The two units before you will be serving as the personal defense sentries of the prisoner Juno Eclipse - we shall also serve as your escort, if you deem it necessary."

The droids waited for conformation before moving forward—

And that was when the alarms were triggered, and the droids began communing amongst themselves in the wake of their progenitor's predictions coming true, the other four units scattered across the ship taking action as they spread to the ships's central areas, intending to cut their opposition off.

It was just as they - both their predecessor, and Vader - had said. The inquisitor had come for his prize.

They would prove themselves worthy by neutralizing him... with lethal prejudice, if necessary.

Gaius Van Baelsar (522) has posed:
Gaius Van Baelsar is here for three reasons really. One: To get a good look at something far greater and grand then his own Empire could ever build – but maybe one day can once better relations are made with outside worlds. Two: To help make sure the Rogue Shadow and the like remain safeguarded – Then Three: To speak with Juno Eclipse aboard this massive Dungeon of a ship.

While she was captured was good news, the fact of her execution is something he is silently against. However, this is not his empire and she was deemed a traitor. A traitor with perhaps no out or any way to clear her name. It was – a shame to him really. She was a fine woman, a fine pilot, and honestly after that time in bar betting over pod racers... he had come to deeply respect her.

This brings the Garlean walking down the halls to where she was being held at, unless by some chance some Imperial stops the armored Legatus from continuing down that path. Which if they do, he'll perhaps only stare before doing told. If none was to stop him, he would go to her cell – to try and solve just what was going on.

Though instead it seems he gets an escort of two droids, which he does not protest against. This is not his ship nor his 'people'. This empire has their ways, just as his has their own. Ways he will respect, even if he does not fully understand.

Even if he can't change the fate Juno will face, he at least wants to hear the answers from her lips. Answer to why – it was bugging him to no end really.

As for the ship, if extra guards are required a few of his own troops are down there acting on duty. Two Centurions really in their own armor and a few Troopers that are not as armed. The Centurions might fit in (though maybe by a long stretch), the Troopers – well, they seem a bit outclassed by all the technology.

Though it seems someone has other plans and the ship goes on red alert. A sound and light show The Legatus know all to well from his own command on the Dreadnought. He comes to a halt in his steps and looks toward the emergency light. The red glow being reflected away from his dark armor and only caught in the edges of the gold trim. The crisp light doesn't even reflect on the void lens where his eyes should be seen, but do give an eerie contour to the white armor piece connected to the horned helm.

Space combat was not something he was capable of and fighting in zero g was not something any Garlean was trained for. So long as the gravity stays intact, he and his few men will be fine. Though the attack does not stray the Garlean from his coarse. He'll let the Imperials deal with the problem and his men aid in protecting the cargo. Maybe this little distraction can allow him to get closer to where Juno is, given the droids seem to have zero interest in stopping him and if he does get to her cell in time. He will simply come to stop in front of it and look at her in dead silence with the alert going off around him.

Galen Marek (731) has posed:
If anyone knows Galen Marek, they know which ship he's on. Standing behind Pavo, he awaits the ship to get into position for boarding. One prison ship, guard droids, crew droids, and whatever forces the Empire has on board besides. Galen smirks. It's almost too easy for him to spring this trap. He knows what's waiting. Not exactly, but enough. Vader wants him, and Juno is the easiest way for him to get Galen. It was almost as though the black-clad Sith was psychic. Or at least observant.

But what Vader wasn't counting on was the growing light in his heart.

Vader wanted the darkness to take hold. At least, he had in the past. He suspects it hasn't changed, but perhaps Vader just wanted to kill him personally. Regardless, when he sets eyes on Galen today, he will not see Starkiller. Starkiller donned dark clothing and was incredibly vicious. Blind, almost, to the world around him aside from his target. Galen Marek dressed in white today, the robes set off with a bluish hood. His lightsaber rests on his waist, and his appearence is calm.

They had Juno, but they would not have her for long.

Despite his appearences, he would have to channel a bit of Starkiller today. He could not just let those who took her forget his anger, but he couldn't afford for it to cloud his mind. Not today. He would see to the end of the droid and the mysterious hunter, but he would not let the rage overtake him. That was Starkiller's claim to fame.

Galen is still remarkably skilled, but he couldn't let the Dark Side win. When he ignited his lightsaber, it would not be out of anger.

It would be out of love.

He stares at the massive flying brick, watching as the fleet begins its assault. He tilts his head upward, face placid. He would await the command, and then the Empire would see to just what extent the former Inquisitor would go for his pilot.

Darth Vader (794) has posed:
Lord Vader is not present, and neither is his flagship the Executor. The intended destination of the prison transport is one that he is uncomfortable with, even if the entire thing is a trap meant to snare Starkiller. He will never forget burning on shores of black sand on Mustafar, or the many tragedies that preceded that moment. Setting foot on that planet makes the fury rise in him, and overtaxes his respirator very rapidly. It is not the only one. Tatooine and Naboo are forbidden to him for similar reasons.

Far, far away, Vader sits unmasked in his meditation chamber, working on installing the wiring on an astromech unit. The frame of a loader droid sits nearby.

In the meantime, aboard the Emperor's Justice...

The minimal crew required to operate the ship is in place. Approximately three hundred and seventy members of the Imperial infantry, dressed in grey uniforms with domed helmets, are scattered about the ship at various posts. The only patrollers are old droids that move in pairs, by appearance seeming to be old remnants of the Trade Federation's vast droid armies.

As for the prisoner cells...

They are non-standard. There are approximately nine thousand cells composed entirely of hard-light energy projections, about a thousand of which are solitary confinement cells. This place was meant to transport Jedi prisoners to their final resting place.

Each and every cell is filled with at least one individual. All male, with shaved heads. They seem abnormal somehow, as if they aren't quite human. Some kind of humanoid alien species, perhaps...? They have been maimed in the face, each and every one of them. Their features are scorched and warped, as if they've been tortured by burning and then nursed back to health.

When the Dungeon ship is attacked, it puts up a fight. But it isn't suited to true battle – it fires back and lumbers on, but it's slow, and has no means of escape. One of the engines is shot out after a short exchange, though the rest continue to operate and carry it forward. Disabling it outright will be a task of unnecessary difficulty, but getting in and boarding should be almost trivial.

Revan (414) has posed:
Lowri-Revan Shan found herself thanking the Force that she had answered that seemingly random distress beacon a few days ago. Not only was she able to fend off the Swarm and get Blurr to safety, but her new 'friend' had more than pulled his weight helping T3-M4 to repair the Ebon Hawk after the previous debacle. If time hadn't been of the essence, she would have enjoyed a brief respite in contributing to those repairs rather than let the droids handle the task, but there was an even more important task before her.

Rescuing Juno Eclipse from the Galactic Empire.

The Ebon Hawk was present together with the Flotilla, as she had been present when the Rogue Shadow was captured. Today, however, the freighter was merely going to wait, retreating out of the way once the ship made its drop and providing electronic warfare support if necessary. Revan would be accompanying the boarding party, rendezvousing with Galen and whomever else opted for the jailbreak. This was in part to lend her much-needed Force power against a Sith, but also to make sure Galen avoided succumbing to his rage. She had promised that to the other Juno, as well. The two needed each other...and no one had needed to tell her that. And it was becoming increasingly clear that Darth Vader was using the pilot as bait. Her job was to make sure he didn't fall into that particular trap.

None of her synthetic crew were particularly happy with the idea of letting their master go without them, expressing that displeasure in their respective ways. "It'll be OK," Lowri reassured them with a faint grin. "I'm not doing this alone....even *I'm* not that crazy."

Pulling in close to the prisonship in one of its blind spots – she would have to thank a certain someone for those schematics – Lowri opened up the hatch. But it wasn't the Jedi who boarded the ship. Rather, it was her passenger from yesterday, a certain young but powerful earthbender...who could bend metal itself. "Ready?" Revan cued before using the Force to hurl the spacesuit-clad Toph Beifong at the ship's underside at a speed that only a metalbender of her calibre could endure.

Once that was done, the Ebon Hawk pulled back to another part of the ship, waiting for Galen's party to board. But first, some significant attire change was in order...

Juno Eclipse (428) has posed:
Footsteps outside the cell alert her to someone's presence. It's a heavy tread, which could belong to a number of people. Not Vader, though. No respirator.

Slowly, Juno looks up to behold Gaius van Baelsar's intimidating helmet. She stares for a moment, face screwed up in an expression of intense concentration – and then she lets her head drop again.

"Go away. Vader's already gotten his information out of me."

Wardens are immediately in motion as the alarm klaxons begin blaring. The former CIS assault droids grip carbine rifles and other blaster firearms, although for the moment there's nothing they can do but mill around in anticipation, communicating amongst themselves in their uniform droid voices.

Toph Beifong (20) has posed:
Juno better appreciate this.

Clad in a spacesuit, Toph can only swallow as she stands by the open hatch, knowing there's nothingness between her and the large bulk of metal that she feels. "As ready as I can get...!" she half croaks, then yelps as she is tossed through space. There's brief panic as she drifts, but she feels the metal coming closer....! And then she hits the hull, her gloved hands bulking the metal as she climbs, feeling for a safe place to tear open the metal and break in!

This way they will be able to approach from several directions.

Lou (64) has posed:
The G-Flyer, a craft that would be vaguely familiar from the day of the fateful turn of Starkiller and Juno, is not exactly subtle with its own entrance. A slowly rotating, white circle appears projected in space close to the flotilla, spinning down as its circumfrence expands almost as if it were preserving angular momentum. Seemingly from inside it, the G-Flyer emerges, engine blaring at whatever speed is necessary to keep up, as whatever that half-mystical conveyance was closes behind it. It would be recognizable: the aeroshell's stylized lines and bold, blue color looking more like a Hot Wheels toy car than something fit for space.

And yet, it comes loaded. A Lou field unit sits situated at the helm, alone for the day, but that just leaves her free to operate all of the ship's systems on her own. Her eyes scan over the holographic panels, more than the view screen, soaking in every bit of data the ship's scanners can bring her beyond her own sensors, and a quick tactical decision is made: Adding to the chaos, to make the boarding even easier. The G-Flyer possesses no obvious weaponry, but from a half dozen points along its frame, beams of prismatic light escape parallel to it, before abruptly bending and being directed towards the prison ship ahead, taking care to avoid friendly, or even semi-friendly, fire.

It's all bluster, though if it happens to take out a few weapons batteries, all the better. The G-Flyer's otherwise not-so-subtle path has it cruising straight towards whatever opening other would-be boarders are approaching. Hopefully, it will be able to make a bit more graceful entrance than last time it attempted such a thing, but a bit of mayhem is within the Lou unit's calculations.

HK-47 (754) has posed:
As the warning klaxons sound, the droids are already forming up.

Two of them enter Juno Eclipse's cell, one standing on either side of Gaius as they refocus on the captive, one of them taking note of Juno's expression at seeing the two identical machines.

"Greeting - We are HK-51. Mass-production successor unit to the progenitor unit and high-assassin HK-47. We shall be your protocol and personal defense units for the duration of your stay aboard the Emperor's Justice."

"Advisory - We recommend you follow the express directives of Confederacy personnel while under our guard."

"Unnecessary Addendum - However, if you wish to attempt escape instead... we shall be more then happy to oblige you with our response."

Elsewhere on the ship, one of the HK-51 units had positioned himself in the most obvious point of entry for boarding forces - the central docking bay - taking up a sniping position with it's disruptor rifle from the cover of one of the crates.

Another positioned itself at the main airlock, awaiting any breaching attempts.

The final two made continual rotations through the vessel, awaiting news of an invasion so that they could move to reinforce the action site.

They would not allow anything to pass - not so long as they still functioned.

Starbound Flotilla has posed:
When the shields go down, Pavo darts in. She skims low to the surface of the ship, blasting TREMENDOUS amounts of teleportation energy square into it to breach it with a brutal spacetime force. Galen and other combatants ready to breach will be invited onto the teleporter, to have local space shunted brutally into the space of the ship itself, letting them get as close to the cells as possible.

Gaius Van Baelsar (522) has posed:
Gaius Van Baelsar stands there, even as Juno goes to meet his gaze. When she looks away and speaks, he only shifts his weight slight to face her more directly. He places up his hand to the HK-51 drones, "She will not attempt escape. She knows it would be futile under these circumstances." Gaius seemed rather sure of himself, or perhaps – trusting Juno to not push her luck even with possible intruders finding their way in.

The Legatus turns his attention fully to Juno once more. His voice remaining neutral as he speaks. "He may have gained the information he wants out of you, but I do not trust second hand sources when it comes to our ears."

"Even when from a powerful ally." Gaius remarks with a minor tilt of his head, his hands remaining at his sides with he crimson red leather-like cloth blending in at times with the flash of the lights. "Juno," Gaius says with his head lowered just a smidge. "Why do you betray the Confederacy? What could make you desire to become a traitor to those whom saw such great potential in you, potential even you yourself boasted in."

It may be clear by this point in Gaius' voice that he does not have really any true clue on to what has been going on here. To him, she was one moment a grand ally, next a traitor that needs to be shot out back. It didn't add up to him and he there was many pieces missing that would explain the truth.

"It did not have to be this way Juno. Your death is a waste." The Garlean explains with honesty in his voice. "It does not make sense for you to do what you have done. Are you truly a traitor or some misguided fool..." Not that he honestly would believe her to be a fool, far from it. She was an intelligent woman – but if this "Force" was as powerful as many declared it to be and she worked with the this man who held the "Force"... could he have twisted her heart to act in such a manner?

Gaius for the moment also ignores his comms. He will not sway away from this cell, not until he hears Juno's explination – though he may be soon running out of that time.

Starbound Flotilla has posed:
Albert wastes no time. There must be nothing left to chance. Arrays of missile weapons bristle with their payloads and immediately blast forward. They're not targeting the engines. They are targeting the communications equipment. Do NOT let this vessel call for help, that is his intent. Even now, Albert functions as the fleet's 'tank'; its wide shield provides cover for the others. Their target fires back and Albert takes the brunt of it, with shielding systems sparking and buzzing and melting aboard but the shield itself holding quite firm.

Darth Vader (794) has posed:
The exterior of the prison ship is predictably thick. If Toph wants to get in without venting the interior, which would probably be as much an issue for Juno as it would be for the Wardens inside, she's going to have to find an airlock to cycle through. Unfortunately, freestanding entry points just aren't very useful if you don't want everyone dead. There are access hatches here and there, though, to facilitate in-flight repairs. They're meant for droids, but Toph is small enough to get into them just fine. Navigation may be a bit complicated from there, though.

Opening fire on the hardpoints the turrets are mounted to has mixed success. Some damage occurs, but the shields are pretty thick there and so is the armor underneath it. It's really easier to just avoid the emplacements, there really aren't very many of them.

It's not like this ship is going anywhere fast.

The Wardens are going about their business calmly. Attempted prison breaks are hardly unheard of, and they have a plan for this particular attempt. It's not as if it wasn't expected.

Local communications frequencies start to go fuzzy and unreliable in response to Albert's bombing run. They don't seem entirely out of commission, but they're certainly not getting a -clear- message out. Strangely, there doesn't seem to be a call for assistance going out anyway. This is probably extremely suspicious.

Juno Eclipse (428) has posed:
The prisoner's eyes lift slowly, flicking from one identical HK-51 droid to the other. There is obvious recognition of their weapons, and she studies their expressionless yellow photoreceptors for a moment. Although superficially they might resemble PROXY, there is none of the droid's obsequious good nature in them. As their designation implies, they're killers.

Juno doesn't deign to give them an answer. They don't deserve one.

Instead, her attention wanders back to Gaius, even as she struggles to focus. She's tired, her wardens neglected to feed her or give her water, and all she wants to do is crawl into a hole and sleep for a very long time. Maybe she'll have an opportunity to do that on Mustafar before someone chucks her into a pit of boiling magma. She looks like hell, and that's probably a generous estimate.

"Smart enough." Juno eyes the Legatus as though weighing her options, before she shakes her head and lets it fall again, disheveled hair hanging to hide her face. "I'm still confused... about those charges, you know. I wasn't aware that trying... to save my own life was considered... high treason. And I wasn't aware that anybody who turned... turned on the Empire for my sake... was affiliated with the Union, either." She grins. It's more a baring of teeth than an actual pleasant expression. "My hands were a bit... full... at the time."

"I'm just... a misguided... fool. Nobody fights the Empire... and wins."

Galen Marek (731) has posed:
Galen steps into the teleporter, feeling himself transfer positions and suddenly there's a Starkiller on board the prison ship. To Starkiller, none of these prisoners mean anything. He's here for one prisoner among thousands. He can't save them all, and he doesn't want to anyway.

Galen, however, sees this as an opportunity. If they had a trap, then maybe he could counter it with something else.

[Galen to Flotilla. Can you get someone on the cell controls? I want all of these cells open. I can try to override them, but I don't have time to do that while searching for Juno.]

He pulls his lightsaber from his belt, making his way through the cell block he finds himself in. He needs to find Juno and secure her safety before anything else. He's expecting combat, clearly, not knowing the extent of the trap they had walked into. As he ignites his saber, it's clear that something is different.

Rather than a red blade, the blade is now a shining blue.

He spots one of the burned prisoners, flinging his open hand toward the barrier. A wave of lightning bursts out, testing the barrier's endurance as he searches for the one he's here for.

Revan (414) has posed:
The docking bay had a sudden nasty surprise when the Ebon Hawk lowered down from overhead, opening fire on the bay before pulling inside. However, instead of landing, the freighter hovered close to the floor.

"T3, Ulaire...try to disrupt communications and operations as much as you can." Lowri turned her head towards the yet-unnamed Insecticon. "Tend to the systems of the ship, OK?" She wasn't entirely sure how much the large robot-bug could understand, but he seemed to accept the order.

She shot a parting grin at her mechanical companions. "Stay safe, you three," she said before her face was obscured behind an old, battered mask.

A dark figure dropped out of the ship before it turned and blasted out at full-speed for a safe distance. Of course, it was an obvious entry point...all the better to deflect attention away from the other boarding parties. Anything remaining after the Ebon Hawk's initial attack was now faced with what appeared to be...as Sith?

Clad in a black tunic and hakama beneath deep maroon armour and a hooded black cape reaching the floor, the figure's identity and gender was even further hidden behind a mask of the ancient Mandalorians during the days of the Neo-Crusaders. Twin lightsabers in the figure's hands flared to life, bathing the bay in a violet glow. Possibly an intimidating sight for any remaining soldiers still breathing.

Darth Vader (794) has posed:
The lightning directed towards the energy prison doesn't really accomplish anything. These ships were designed to contain Jedi, and the ability to fling lightning isn't outside of the abilities of Jedi... even if it is quite odd. More alarming is the fact that this action appears to trigger a response by the Wardens of the facility.

Towards the bridge of the ship, the Chief Warden dials back several adjustable levers and presses an emergency release button.

All the energy cells deactivate... coincidentally this includes the one in which Juno is being held. But it also includes all eight thousand and ninety nine other cells.

The maimed beings stirr, gazing about blearily... and in some cases, blindly. Some sort of neutralization effect that was built into the hardlight shields appears to lift, as well, and quite suddenly the feeling of moderately potent force sensitives floods the ship like a sudden tsunami.

All of these prisoners are so mired in the Dark Side of the Force that they are insane. There is no coherent thought left in them, only a bestial sense of self-preservation. Galen had paused before the cell of one of these maimed beings, and it lingers for a moment, sniffing at the air and gurgling disturbingly. There is a momentary crackle, and an instant later both of the creature's hands are raised, projecting their own Force Lightning in his direction.

The primary impulse that can be felt from all of these beings as they explore their surroundings is hunger, and it's little wonder. They look as if they've been starved.

As all of this unfolds, the Wardens withdraw, leaving behind token forces of battle droids to take over the fight. There will be nearly no resistance to boarders. The problem isn't getting -in-. The problem is getting through this mess -and- getting out.

HK-47 (754) has posed:
The two droids stare at Juno impassively, those one seems to bob it's head in a somewhat bemused manner. "Chiding Query - And yet you fought not one Empire... but three. Surely you did not think there wouldn't be consequence to disobeying orders, much less collaborating with Union operatives? There was not much room for interpretation - but of course, organics tend to view things in such an abstract and nonsensical fashion. Mockery - I am sure that you must have felt you were doing everything right at that exact moment in time though."

However, as the two guard droids were busy enjoying their prodding of their captive... the one overlooking the docking bay from it's sniper-position was reeling as it's logic circuits received a near-fatal shock, questioning if it's optical input was functioning properly. "Incredulous Statement - Master?! Impossible - Master, you have never left the Capital in the past eight galactic standard years! How can-?!"

"Incredulous Response - You moronic factory reject!" the internal comm for the droid all but exploded as one of it's sibling units began barking at it. "That cannot be the Master! It is a deception - capture or exterminate it!"

The droid knew better then to compact it's failure, swallowing down it's humiliation enough to draw a bead on the oncoming specter of Darth Revan and pull the trigger on it's disruptor rule. Already, one of the other two patrolling units in the ship was making it's way down to the hanger bay to reinforce - and upon receiving word that a second interloper was invading through the docking bay, the third of the six units began making it's way to the docking bay as well.

Then the cells open up, and everything becomes much more complicated as the two back-up droids must wade through the congregating mess of prisoners.

Lou (64) has posed:
The shiny blue airframe (spaceframe?) of the G-Flyer cruises low over the turbolaser emplacements, as it makes its final approach, a stark contrast to the drab metal that likely sees little in the way of actual maintenance. This is intended to harass as well as make the medium-sized craft harder to track, rather than being part of an actual attack on them. It does get slightly rattled from being so close to one of the firing turrets, vibrations sent through the light weight materials. Rounding a corner, it comes upon the same docking area as Revan had just entered. Hopefully there's plenty enough temporary room for two, as the ship slows and begins to settle into place, even as the Ebon Hawk departs. Any cargo crates or equipment that happens to be in its way – well, that is also within calculations.

The back hatch opens, and a young woman with bubblegum pink hair, and some obvious non-human features, emerges at a surprisingly casual pace considering the circumstances. Her own ship continues to be bound here, but she seems to pay this little mind. Instead, the concentric rings in the irises of her eyes adjust, seemingly telescopically, towards the figure of Revan. A quick calculation, despite the intimidating appearances, rates as 'friendly'. "I will back you up," she quickly asserts, "Please proceed with your intended pacification protocols." Reaching a hand to the small of her black, a bluish light emerges from a solid disc there, forming into a photonic rifle as it seems to become coherent mid-way between being readied.

Assuming that any are left that haven't cleared from the path at the sight of Revan alone, Lou sends a volley of green laser bolts as warning shots just past them. There's something about the droid-like bits of her physiology that suggests the next won't miss. But, as her sensors suddenly detect a massive shift in energy on the ship as the cells open in concert, she gives another quick estimation, "Chances of complication in this operation have risen eighty-seven percent. Please continue with caution."

Galen Marek (731) has posed:
As the cells open, Galen's senses are overwhelmed. The Dark Side... he senses it EVERYWHERE, and it causes him to get blasted by the marred being's Force Lightning. He's knocked off his feet and into a wall, but as he bounces off of it he falls into a roll. As he recovers his feet, he channels more of his Force connection to blast the being with lightning before flinging his saber into its chest. He pulls the saber back with the Force, assuming his combat stance as he rushes onward. He can feel the darkness, oppressive and all-consuming, but he fights it, trying to sense for Juno.

The blue saber in his hand hums as he runs, sensing for the light inside the darkness. He reaches out, trying any way to convey to Juno that they're here, and that he's coming for her. But, he can also use mundane means.

"JUNO!" he calls, rushing through the ship. "JUNO! Where are you?!" He can sense Revan aboard the ship, but most others are buried under the Dark Side. The power it offers is tantalizing, and it would make things easier if he just tore the ship apart, but he doesn't. Unless he's attacked, he's just on the move.

Gaius Van Baelsar (522) has posed:
"For a woman who is so careful and calculative, odd that you would not have done your research." Gaius says after he listens to Juno. He crosses his arms over his chest as he looks down upon her. His stance shifts slightly, before he gaze moves over his shoulder.

Then he looks to the HK-51 drones, as the prod her and he wishes he could quickly find a means to be rid of them, even if they do bring up a good point, but people do stupid things and if she was blinded by some information, unaware of what she honestly was getting herself into...

...Yet she was protective of what missions she had always taken. This pattern of behavior was odd. Including what she had to say in the end.

When suddenly all the cells open and the captives seem to stir, the Garlean is quick to turn around and his hand reaches for the Heirsbane. While he may not have the force, it was clear that something was very wrong and by how these prisoners were behaving – it only reminded him of mad Tempered really; Men and women so consumed by the Primal's will that they had none left of their own.

The Legatus turned to the HK-51s near him and motioned out to them. "Make sure none of these prisoners get near this cell and protect the edges of it. No harm is to come to Juno further until her trial." Though he was aware the drones could ignore his request of an order, but really with these things possibly getting lose, Juno could get killed before she even made it to where she needed to be.

Gaius then looks over to Juno, "Juno—" There was a pause in his voice, a moment of hesitation, uncertainty perhaps. "—Move yourself against the corner of the wall. Keep yourself down." It seem the Garlean have every attention to make sure she remained safe with all hell breaking lose.

Starbound Flotilla has posed:
That's enough of that. Moonfin and George's craft are darting in now, though Moonfin's craft is now piloted by Seft! Nothing – NOTHING – can be left to chance for them. Seft's craft immediately works on gathering more data and those two work on short-range engagements with various power systems that Seft might be able to detect. And, perhaps a bit unethically... As soon as Albert hears that the craft is full of horrible torture victims, he immediately fires upon a certain specific target. Any escape pod ports. Any escape shuttles. Anything that could let the people of this ship get away. What's more important is what's going on inside...

Albert continues his direction; PAVO and MOONFIN are their boarding party. Their teleportation-based breach slams through the craft and deposits them inside. They have no stealth to speak of. Alerts will blare at their location. Pavo with her semi-powered mesoamerican-styled pirate armor outfit draws a one-handed POWER CUTLASS and a heavy LASER PISTOL in each hand, and Moonfin draws a two-handed POWER KATANA, closing two eyes and leaving his third eye open. Both of them have no objection to a slaughter. These are not the good members of the Flotilla. They split up and spread out, intending to engage anyone they encounter. They may encounter the HK UNITS that HK-47 has left behind, the SECURITY DROIDS, the DARK JEDI PRISONERS, or others; their primary objective is to thin the horde and clear a path for Galen to reach Juno.

Juno Eclipse (428) has posed:
Quite suddenly, there is no more power being fed into the magnalocks.

Juno crumples to the floor like a string-cut puppet, the breath flying from her in a rush. For several seconds she can't do anything more than lie there, stunned, silently checking to make sure everything's still working correctly. Every breath hurts, but the pain reminds her that she's still alive. Her wrists are slick with blood; slowly and clumsily, she pulls herself to sit upright, reaching around to rub at one of them.

She then turns to look up at one of the two hunter-killer droids, squinting slightly. The room swims a little as she tries to reorient herself.

"You talk too much," she finally states, tone rife with disdain and irritation. "Shut up."

Her attention promptly turns to look up at Gaius.

"I did do my research," Juno snaps in response to the Legatus. "Vader laid a trap for me that I had no way to foresee, because that's what Vader does. He spins his webs and he lays his traps, and he lies. And just in case you'd forgotten, Legatus, I'm a fugitive now, and a traitor, and a war criminal. The list goes on. I don't much care about the labels, but the reality is that I'm somewhat desperate—"

The pilot cocks her head, faintly, as though she were listening to something. There's a voice that sounds familiar, and it almost makes her think it's... no, that's impossible. How would they get here?

Shaking her head, she turns to look back at Gaius, a little bleary-eyed. She regards him suspiciously as he gives his instructions, gaze flickering briefly to the hunter-killer twins, and then to the Heirsbane. Wordlessly, and with an air of defiance in spite of her obedience, awkward for the long hours of hanging by her wrists, she shuffles into the corner and curls up miserably.

And though she's no Force-user, she concentrates with all her might on that voice she had heard. It was Galen; there's no mistaking that. I'm here. Hurry...

Darth Vader (794) has posed:
Any HUMAN personnel that have been encountered and not immediately put down have gone into retreat. The Droids onboard this ship, particularly stupid and single-minded, fight to the death. Which is to say they get slagged in short order, until a point comes when there's nothing left on the ship but retreating Imperial personnel and an endless cascade of raging madmen.

Escape pods begin to fire from each side of the ship as the human personnel evacuate, evidently not intent on being caught out in the open with the rampaging lunatics they released. A few of them who were farther out from the edges of the ship can be witnessed being overwhelmed... and cannibalized in short order. The escape pods that DO fire find themselves detonated in space, and after that the pods cease to fire and become hiding places instead of escape vessels.

Galen Marek cuts down his assailant, and its death resonates through the force with alarming strength. It is as if they operated on identical wavelengths in the Force, and that point of destruction reverberated into Marek. Like a Knight cutting down a foe with a blade of metal, he is forced to experience a "shock" through the Force. One which none of the other beings here are subject to.

The exterior defenses of the ship are becoming worn down now. A couple of the turrets have been disabled, and some of the others are clearly operating automatically now – they've lost their ability to aim properly. The ship itself is on autopilot, correcting its course clumsily as it limps along. Another engine is damaged enough to experience power failure, slowing the ship further...

The prisoners, however, are the worst of it. Some of them merely bite, while others exhibit truly unusual force powers. They glare particularly viciously and start to induce a very gradual but extremely noteworthy measure of disentigration.

A mistake is made.

When Juno calls back to Galen with all her might, the prisoners in the surrounding cell block all stop and stare at her.

Galen isn't the only one listening.

HK-47 (754) has posed:
One of the droids motions with it's disruptor in a rather threatening manner in response to Juno's quip, but it is forgotten when asked to guard the exits from the rampaging prisoners. Perhaps disturbingly so, the droids eagerly follow the requests of Gaius, both exiting the room with an almost sickengly-happy "Affirmation - Of course! Setting prejudice to Maximum!" The instant they step into the hallways, they stand together and activate their flamethrowers, dousing any and every unauthorized occupant of the hallway in thick streams of molten firespray - after all, according to the medical records of the prisoners, most had suffered severe burns. What better way to scare a scorched animal then with fire?

In fact, the same scene is being repeated in other areas of the ship, as the other two droids on patrol burn their way through hallways of prisoners en-route to the hanger bay - however, one of them is stopped when it sees an alert flash on it's internal displays... and witnesses a pair of organics breach the ship with an unauthorized teleport. The instant it sees this, the droid activates an adhesive grenade, intending to glue it's targets to the floor and leave them to be picked off by the swarms of insane prisoners.

The hanger bay is not much of a better scene, as the lone HK-51 droid is torn between shooting the oncoming and likely parallel version of Darth Revan, or the strange artificial female - and ultimately decides to try and wipe out both, lobbing an ion grenade in an attempt to stun the organic and perhaps cripple the seeming automaton.

The last one, standing guard before the docking hatch, takes note of what seems to be metallic impacts - small ones, akin to footsteps - on the outer hull and approaching a docking port. However, the droid brushes this off as a minor concern and refocuses on the hallways and the single hatch in front of it, as no humanoid could likely fit through those smaller maintenance hatches anyway.

Revan (414) has posed:
Revan had debated the wisdom of 'outing' herself and ultimately decided that the advantages had outweighed the disadvantages. With hostile parties already nipping at her heels, it was likely only a matter of time, anyway. And that calculation paid off.

The HK units were in disarray the moment she appeared, which made dealing with them easier than it would have been. Deflecting the shots in a flurry of Niman-stance manoeuvres, Revan raised her right hand and hit the droids with a blast of ionised energy. "You're right, I'm not your master. She's dead."

it still seemed that the HK units would hold her up – particularly once she heard Galen's particular problem over the radio – but fortunately she had backup just in time.

The CAST would likely not be able to see it behind the mask without a special scan, but Revan grinned. "You guys really are amazing. After this is all over, I seriously need to visit your homeworld."

Mission and beneath the Sith Lord 'disguise', she couldn't help it; revan would probably always be a robot fangirl. She did, however, have more than enough discipline to focus on her goals: catching up to Galen and rescuing Juno. Once their immediate opponents were dispatched, Revan made haste towards Galen's presence, confident Lou's satellite would keep up. And at the moment, he was surrounded by a very malevolent Dark Side force.

Juno Eclipse (428) has posed:
Scores of the crazed clones fall before the flamethrowers wielded by the various Hunter-Killer droids, but the prisoners seem to be too far gone to their madness to save themselves. In fact, some of them are so crazed that they throw themselves at the fire, like moths to a flame, screaming incoherently as they're reduced to cinders.

The smell of burning flesh and cinders in the corridors is nothing short of ghastly. Even if the droids aren't capable of detecting it, it's bound to be a morale blow to Juno Eclipse's would-be rescuers.

Galen Marek (731) has posed:
>>>>>!<<<<<

Galen's head pounds as the being dies, feeling the backlash of the death like he had struck the thing physically. The shock is enough to cause him to reel. And then it echoes again and again as the droids fight back. As the rest of the ship fights against the prisoners, he feels it. It resonates with him, and he can feel each death like a ringing through his Force connection. Whatever Vader had done to these things, he had done it well. His face pales as he makes his way through the ship. As prisoners move out, he uses the Force to shove them aside, trying to avoid fatal blows but still feeling the fights everywhere across the ship. He continues, but his face is contorted in agony, the ringing through his mind and soul almost too much to bear. Through all of it, though, he feels Juno. He tries to cling to it, but he knows these insane beings as converging on her now too. He calls out across the radio, telling his allies to not kill the prisoners, but the droids, and those not in his radio network... He can't stop them. And the shocks wear on him physically and mentally, his face losing all color.

The only thing keeping his feet moving is the mission. The thought of reuniting with Juno. And the knowledge that he would one day make Vader pay for this.

Lou (64) has posed:
The warning shots had been aimed at the few human stragglers that still remained, or were aimed at adding more speed to their flight. The somewhat out of date guard droids, that somehow look almost as abused and disenfranchised as the rest of the ship, do not receive the same kindness, considering they actually fight back. Aiming to carve a path as best she can for Revan, any of her 'fellow' droids are a target of her rifle shots. With no access to their schematics, she only focuses on the more obvious weak points of their chassis, sparing precious little movement of her own as she paces forward steadily, terminator-style. Every so often, a bolt of returned fire grazes close enough to activate her personal shielding. It makes her flinch, in body language more than facial expression.

Once their path is reasonably clear, she can once again engage in conversation, if one can count her droning, near-monotone as that, "The Guardians Colony is always open to tourism traffic, as well as visiting dignitaries." Is she really going into this now? She says this as she raises a fist to back hand a half-wrecked battle droid that was trying to rise up again, eyes never leaving the masked, robed figure. As Revan picks up the pace through the quagmire, she follows behind, slightly more slowly but just as deliberately.

Some of the crazed prisoners begin to filter in on her radar, their erratic movements and actions betraying their lack of sanity, and she simultaneously takes notice of something on her radio frequency scannings, giving a grim prediction, "Use of non-lethal force will reduce battle effectiveness." Nonetheless, there's a certain tone of concession to her voice, that suggests she will cooperate if it is likely to do less damage in the long run. Mid-pacing, the blips on her radar closing in, she exchanges her rifle - returning it to photon form - for, well, basically two light sabers of her own, though noticably different than the local flavor, they still make a vaguely copyright infringing sound as they arc to life.

Gaius Van Baelsar (522) has posed:
Gaius watches as Juno does as she is told and hears something in the distance as well. His stance shifts a little as he his gaze follows where the sound may be coming from. "We will discuss this further." Yet something is very off, as he notices some crazies that were ignoring them, suddenly looking their way!

He also reaches up to tap his comm as the HK-51s do their job with murderous glee. Any signal he tries to get out to his men on here is not coming through. Which means either they are being jammed, being murdered, or ran like damn cowards— which means they are good as dead.

This is one can not help but get a sickening feeling they too may been had. Though that is something he'll have to clarify later... IF he gets out of his alive. When a few of the crazies attempt to get past the flames, the Garlean opens fire with the Heirbane. The bullets aimed right for their skulls with piercing rounds.

He can only take a step back to give himself a bit more room encase he needs to move and maybe even to keep Juno further protected. Though that smell is not one he is going to forget any time soon, but it wasn't the first time either.

There was a click in his gauntlet as something was being moved into place. Long as the HK-51s could keep the main line back. He wouldn't need this. "Why did they become so interested in you?" He at last asks Juno. "What did you do?" Yeah. Gaius Van Baelsar had no idea what was going on.

Juno Eclipse (428) has posed:
Galen may not want to fight the prisoners, but the prisoners sure want to fight him. Scores of them advance towards him, practically stumbling over one another in their eagerness to seek out a target. In fact, they seem to seek out Galen specifically, those within his immediate area. He might need to use the Force to push them away if he doesn't actually want to fight against them, or disable and stun them with Force lightning.

They're not going to stop, otherwise.

Several of them attempt to claw at him with crooked fingers, screaming and gurgling incoherently. The noises they make are very disturbing; not because they aren't fully-formed words, but precisely because they're almost fully-formed words. Some of their faces are just too damaged and disfigured to facilitate speech, and for those that can, thier minds are too far gone.

Creepy.

Toph Beifong (20) has posed:
It was a long trek through the walls of the large ship, and with so many people on the ship it was a bit hard to move around. Especially when the cells have been unlocked and there are people anywhere. There's one goal, and that's saving Juno. So the blind girl had done things a bit differently than she usually does; she's evaded conflict so far and focused on getting to Juno. With her bending it's easier to get through walls, she's a small and quick target, and the others are drawing attention.

The moment she got close enough though, her seismic sense reveals Juno's shape, and she hurries on, determination as she tears through the walls and closes them after her. At least it's already noisy on the ship...!

Gaius might not get a full response to his question however, as suddenly the ceiling becomes alive, twisting and moving with a loud protest! It's moving quickly too, but strangely enough shaping itself so it doesn't hit Juno. Down it goes, closing off half of the cell and creating a wall between Juno and her captors.

From the darkness above, the former Imperial space pilot might recognize the voice. "Juno, up here! We're here to save you!" There's a small hand grabbing for hers, and then the floor underneath Juno moves to help her up to the level above.

Juno Eclipse (428) has posed:
Much as with every other living thing on this ship that isn't a crazed prisoner, crazed prisoners converge on Lou and Revan's position. They shuffle awkwardly, almost like what some worlds would consider zombies. They aren't dead, of course, unless one gets into the philosophical definition of what it is to truly die; because what they're doing certainly isn't living so much as surviving.

As with animals pressed into corners, they must feel the need to defend themselves and survive at all costs, because their fight seems desperate. They lay into Lou and Revan with the force of a singular being that has nothing left to lose.

This group seems more adept at using the Force, however rudimentary their tactics may be – mostly, they seem to be trying to Force-push Lou and Revan both into a wall, although their efforts are clumsy and extremely uncoordinated. Those that aren't focusing on their talents are trying to physically slam into both Lou and Revan, using main strength to overcome their lack of direction or finesse; flailing with limbs that have crushingly superhuman force, and trying to overpower through simple crowd crush.

Starbound Flotilla has posed:
When thinning the horde causes problems, the Starbounders react appropriately. Moonfin and Pavo are only merciful in that they are purposeful; Moonfin, in his samurai-styled semi-powered durasteel outfit, functions as the tank here, but only so much. The sword he wields is no normal sword; the prisoners who attack them will find that his blade can deflect and block bolts and arcs of Force power and lightning, but even so, he can't come out unscratched. Heavy impacts and burning wounds strike him, denting and slagging armor, and the exhaustion he suffers with flashy blocks against the Force attacks gives him an intense battle fatigue.

Galen asked the Starbounders not to kill. And so they won't kill. They will, however, dismember. And if someone cannot make fancy force gestures, they can't use the Force, from their vague understanding. Disarming these combatants involves a literal removal of limbs. They won't live long after this, but maybe the shock to Galen's psyche will be lesser. Or delayed. They are not, however, merciful in any capacity. They will kill everything between them and saving their ally, they'll just not do it immediately.

They're charging, hard, towards Juno's cell, where obviously HKs, more clones, and similar, are going to to be defending. They know Toph can get to her, but she'll need defense!

Juno Eclipse (428) has posed:
Juno Eclipse notices the prisoners at about the same time the prisoners notice her. Her eyes widen as she suddenly comprehends what they're doing – they're reacting to her call. But that's impossible. Why would they be able to notice what she was thinking, and what particular reason would they have to suddenly turn their attention to her? Their minds are gone; she can see that much through their uncoordinated movements and their animalistic behaviour.

"What in the hell is Vader up to?" she breathes, softly, drawing herself up very slowly and deliberately to her feet.

She staggers a little, but she can find her feet. "I didn't do anything," she snaps, tone one of command. "I thought about Galen. That's it. And they all seemed to notice. It doesn't make any sense. Legatus, if you want to get off this ship alive, you will give me a sidearm. Now." She's even holding out a hand expectantly. Her expression is haggard; that stench is horrible, and the way these things behave is sickening to behold... but this is quickly devolving into a matter of survival. She can't focus on the unpleasantries. "I'm not going to shoot you in the back. Not that it'd do anything with all that armour. Hur—"

Suddenly the ceiling starts rearranging itself into interesting patterns of twisted metal. Juno's head snaps up as she look to the source, eyes widening as it... parts around her. And isolates her, too.

"Toph?!" She's already reaching for Toph's small hand. "Oh, stars, am I happy to see you! But—" She looks back to Gaius, torn. He's been decent to her, but at the same time, he's still a Confederate, and they're not exactly nice people in the best of circumstances. Most of them also want her dead, or something. Juno hisses through her teeth.

"Get me out of here," she finally says, seizing Toph's hand. "But try not to hurt the Legatus," she adds, softening. "He was defending me against those – those things."

Galen Marek (731) has posed:
The prisoners are intent on picking a fight with Galen, forcing the ex-Inquisitor to emit Force pulses in every direction. His white robes are stained with red as he's clawed and bitten, before the offenders are blasted away again. He stumbles, his vision blurring as he continues shoving the monsters away from him both with he free arm and the Force. Something's not right about these things, though. Why is he feeling their deaths against himself. Why are they so steeped in the Dark Side? Why are there so many of them?

He has an idea, but it's impossible. They can't speak, and their minds are broken. He can't get the info he needs, so his guess is only that. If it was right, though, Vader would pay dearly.

However, it does strengthen his resolve. His strength begins to return, and he pushes and rams his way through the hoard, flinging them away and behind him as he moves. There was only one explanation for these things that made sense, and it disgusts him even more than the smell. It was sickening that, not only would Vader do it, but to torture them to such a degree showed the Sith Lord's immense rage. He would break the respirator-breathing bastard. Break him to pieces.

[Galen to rescue forces. Juno reached out to me. I'm on my way there, though it seems like Toph beat me there.]

'Juno! I'm coming!' he thinks, willing her to sense him. She had certainly reached out to him through the Force, despite her lack of mastery. Maybe she could receive as well.

Toph Beifong (20) has posed:
Toph grins when Juno responds and has no problems moving. She's all right! At least the Empire hasn't hurt her, which is indeed a breath of fresh air in this horrible place. "I wasn't coming here for a visit, no! We're breaking out of here, the Flotilla, Lowhri and your boyfriend are here! Plus some other guy too."

When Juno asks her to not hurt Legatus, she can only assume that was the other guy in the cell with her. Toph arches an eyebrow, then shrugs. "I'll only hurt him if I have to. Which means that we need to get going towards the others. Come on!" Toph says, pulling on Juno's wrist to guide her along on this other level, hoping that there are less problems to face on this level. But she is ready to metalbend as much as she needs to save her and Juno's hides! She does pull out her radio though, signalling to the others and keeping them updated on the progress.

[I have Juno! We're on the floor above the main prison levels! She's unhurt, and we're heading towards you guys!]

Lou (64) has posed:
The field unit is in for a slightly nasty surprise. It seems hokey religions and superstitions really do hold some merit. Internally, her algorithms are quickly number crunching, as her heavier-than-expected mass leaves the floor by awkward inches. The numbers all converge on one factor: WTF. The numerical equivalent of surprise doesn't register on Lou's face, even as she goes flying into a wall, and stays suspended there in the now slightly dented metal panelling, *something* inside of her body making a slightly audible, snapping sound, even if there's no superficial damage. More of that light flared, appearing to shield her from some of the brunt of the forcesmack, but the strength and desperation of the many outweigh the defenses of the few.

It actually doesn't make the interior of the ship look much worse, for it, anyway.

"Telekinesis," Lou chimes her spot analysis in a deadpan, a slight bit of static leaking in to her reverb, and she reaches back an arm to pry herself away from the wall, servos normally below the threshold of hearing whirring to life. "Such powers are in my databases. Attempting to compensate for inertial unbalance." That said, with her (thankfully light) internal damage, and the sheer willpower of the forming crowd, her movements against it are still visibly strained, almost like someone that is walking into a sudden windstorm. Both photon sabers remain firmly gripped in her black gloved hands, aiming to slash at any of the 'force zombies' that get too close to their loosely defined defensive perimeter.

She is making a 'best effort' at making it deblitating instead of (immediately) lethal, but considering the circumstances she can't make many promises, and they might just have to settle for some mild dismemberment. Revan, though, has some impressive tricks up those billowy sleeves, alleviating some of that immediate pressure. "Understood," she finally has a chance to say, to Revan's moral explanations, "As a Guardian, I understand that position. I will do my best." Even though, by her calculations, these psychiatric 'patients' would probably be beyond help. If her pity processors were active, perhaps she would feel some for them, and the way they have been treated.

She continues to stand by, while Revan parts the waters for Galen, as it were, batting back any of the prisoners that try to interfere with her. Body guard mode, activated.

Juno Eclipse (428) has posed:
Prisoners are sent flying like so many ragdolls, overwhelmed by Galen Marek's superior command of the Force. Most of them are slammed against the durasteel corridors with such force that they're knocked unconscious; through luck and finesse he manages to avoid snapping any of their necks. Some of them are bowled over into the ranks behind, tangling them up into angry gurgling crazy prisoners that can't seem to coordinate themselves beyond impotent flailing and gurgling.

They don't seem to slow down. There are literal hordes of these things, thousands, by the look of the prison block cells – this ship was stuffed to the gills with these insane burn victims. They've all gone hopelessly, helplessly berserk.

However, they're no match for Galen Marek's resolve. They lack that inner steel; that tempering through adversity. Their minds are broken and cannot even aspire to that kind of clarity of purpose. The prisoners fall in droves as Galen renews his purpose, flung away both into each other and against bulkheads. It's slow going, but Galen should be able to make his way down the corridor to where he needs to go – to that single bright, hopeful point he's fixating on.

Sadly, he receives no response from his query to his pilot. She's too busy being dragged by Toph, baring her teeth in pain as her bloody wrist is pulled on with enough force to drag her. Yes hello, that raw skin is exceptionally painful! Even so, it's a small price to pay in exchange for sweet, sweet freedom. She'd begun to give up hope.

"Legatus!" Juno barks over her shoulder. It's a risk, but she seems to be taking a lot of those, lately. What's one more added to the pile? "We'll talk again, if setting that record set straight's really what you want...!"

She turns her attention forward again, laughing; the sound has a slightly hysterical edge to it. "Toph, I'm going to spoil you rotten when we get out of here!"

Revan (414) has posed:
This was a familiar scene, certainly. "It was only just last week I was fighting zombies," Lowri muttered. "At this rate, I'm starting to wonder if there are some things which every world has."

It might have been a bad time for idle conversation for anyone else, but the former Sith Lord had a rather bizarre sense of humour and a habit of quipping. "That's good to know!" the Jedi replied cheerfully even as she and the Lou-controlled CAST fought their way through. "I wouldn't want to be rude and end up causing a multiversal incident."

In some ways, she could appreciate that cold effectiveness, even as she balanced it with compassion. "True, but we're the good guys, so we should at least try."

As if to underscore that point, Revan attempted to use a Force Stun where she was able, knocking the poor souls out. Unfortunately, there were even she couldn't save everyone, cut down with precise strikes of her violet-hued blades. "It's a bit of a philosophical matter, especially in our galaxy. Neglecting to at least make an effort tends to be a back-door to the Dark Side."

Even the weakest of Force sensitives could often sense intense emotions such as anger or pain. So when those strong in the Force felt it, such emotions could be overwhelming, particularly to Jedi who spent their entire lives trying to avoid them. For Revan, hearing Juno's call to Galen, as well as his pain as he was assaulted with the Dark Side and death energies, caused her to falter in her steps. The Guardian seemed to weaken, unsteady on her feet, giving the crazed prisoners enough of an opening to push the Jedi back into a wall. It was painful, but the fortuitous side-effect was knocking some sense into her.

Regaining her composure and fending off more of the unfortunate crazed Force sensitives, Revan shook her head as if to clear the last of the effects before dropping back into Niman stance. "Shards...we don't have any more time to waste. MOVE!"

With that, Revan unleashed a Force Wave to blow back the insane Force sensitives before boosting her speed to catch up to Galen. The Jedi could just make him out...though belatedly she realised that he might mistake her for an unknown Sith....

Gaius Van Baelsar (522) has posed:
"If I give you a weapon, then it is possible they will label me the same." The Legatus hisses out toward her as he looks over his shoulder to Juno. "I want to... I do... but there is a picture not being painted properly and this all feels like a complete set—" He doesn't have time finish what he was going to say.

There was a creek above him and he can only glance up then tsk under his breath, before having to get slightly out of the way of the smashing new wall. "Juno!" The Legatus barks out, before he goes to slam his fist into the new wall. It bends under the sheer force, but this is a prisoner ship – there is now way he can break though it. "Damn'it all!"

The Garlean then looks up, but he care hear the ally forces moving in quickly. "HK-51," The Garlean then aims up and goes to blast a segment a bit more free in order to do what he needs to do next. "Can you upload ship schematics? If so, please send me those schematics now." The droid will only have a moment to comply, as the Legatus has no time to wait.

Placing the Heirsbane back to his backside, he crouches down and then leaps up, taking hold of some broken metal thanks to Toph and then pulls himself through, before he shoves himself forward to the next ledge. Toph may hear the loud metal clang as the heavy armor is being easily moved by the man far faster then such size should be allowed. The magitek doing its work to allow this act of science and she may even pick up that the armor is a mix of ceramic and metal, with some normal reinforced steel.

Though as Juno calls out to him, he can only rumble lowly before he taking aim with his wrist gauntlet. It was hard to say if he was complying to her request – but as he tried to say before she was taken. This was all wrong. A few plasma shots sail for her and toph, but only a few. If one does hit, Juno or Toph may feel a sting, but – it was far from full power.

He does watch as a few crazed ones come up behind him and he swiftly turns himself to pull around the Heirsbane to cut one in half, before firing a shot into another. They would get away.

Juno Eclipse (428) has posed:
The prisoners don't seem to register any surprise whatsoever when Lou is summarily slammed into a wall hard enough to leave a crater; nor do they show any surprise as Lou begins fighting back against the wave of Force. In fact, they don't seem to be registering anything at all but the blind need to forcibly strike down anything in front of them, lost in a miasma of almost animalistic hatred and aggression. They fuel the lingering miasma of the Dark Side, just as the Dark Side fuels them; a vicious cycle of insanity that cannot, it seems, be broken.

Another wave of prisoners converge on Lou and Revan, but this particular group seems less adept with their Force powers than the last. They settle for using their superhuman strength, attempting to batter the field unit and the Jedi Knight with flailing limbs. Neither do they seem to be above the use of raking with their nails or attempting to bite anything that gets too close; for those who still have lower halves of their faces left, anyway.

It's not pleasant, and not killing them means that the horde has time to overwhelm the two would-be rescuers... but it's not an impossible situation, either. They are Elites; while the majority of this horde might have been, somewhere, they are too broken to be anything more than a particularly dangerous distraction. They can be struck down with relative ease, unable to think for themselves.

But man alive, there sure are a lot of them.

HK-47 (754) has posed:
One of the two droids pauses in it's extermination duties to acknowledge Gaius - "Affirmation - Uploading now. Addendum - As ranking Confederate on site, I shall acknowledge you as subsidiary Master of myself and my counterpart unit here." The other droid does not respond though, it is then activates the second charge on it's flamethrower, incinerating another wave of oncoming mentally-compromised organics. After the brief acknowledgment from Gaius, the droid that spoke returns to aiding it's counterpart, laying down disruptor fire.

However, the appearance of Toph causes one of the droids to level it's rifle at the girl in a rather threatening manner - "Warning - Submit or be disintegrated, organic!"

The droid in the hanger... was not doing as well - no sooner had it lobed it's ion grenade then it was abruptly hit with an ionized pulse, sending convulsing as it's internal defenses, weaker then those of it's progenator, were overpowered and the droid itself stunned... and promptly fell inner as it attempted emergency restart.

The HK-51 dealing with the interlopers from the Starbound Flotilla is giving chase to it's own targets, though it engages at a distance so as to avoid being sliced apart. However, it does lob a grenade at the attackers.

The droid by the boarding hatch finally has enough, breaking formation to try and reinforce it's fellows at the prison cell where the priority prisoner is being held.

Finally, the last droid, en-route to the hangar bay to assist it's now-disabled counterpart, stumbles upon Lou and Revan, only hesitating a moment before tossing an Ion grenade and snapping to cover, charging it's disruptor.

Lou (64) has posed:
If they were merely infected animals driven mad, or non-sentient robots, perhaps now would be a good time for Lou to summon her SUV weapon and inflict mass casualties. Given what she's come to understand from her brief monitoring, as well as Revan's reactions, it seems like it would do more harm to those still sane than it would help. She signals a warning to the robed figure of Revan, still in her vicinity, "Multiple new contacts are appearing on my radar. The numbers are beginning to overwhelm my ability to track them." Not that Revan would know, but considering that it is Lou reporting this would be starting to any familiar with her specifications. That's a LOT of zombies. Perhaps more alarming is how calmly she intones the fact.

With the situation continuing to deteriorate despite their best efforts, and the primary objective incomplete but progressing, it seems like a good time to begin securing their own escape. The tortured experiments have closed in, now; best effort gives way to basic necessity, as being kind to these crazed, ex-people isn't working. The ones that converge with brute strength clobber as best they can, with surprising tenacity and speed, quite literally having nothing to lose. A hexagonal-framed blue light appears at some of the glances, but one still bites onto her bare forearm. Not having much recourse, she slices into this poor soul, before kicking them away, bite marks leaking...well, 'basically' blood. She swings at a few more that get dangerously close.

"I calculate that it is a good time to begin the evacuation part of the program," she deadpans, not even having time to retrieve her disinfectant spray, given the vengeance and flesh-hungry masses that continue to pour out of every cell block. "

Toph Beifong (20) has posed:
"Shhhh, don't let him know where we are going!" Toph hisses at Juno. Though she does huff a bit when she gets promises of getting spoiled. "I'll get back to you on that once we are safe! I can feel him following us!" No, Juno doesn't sound like she's all there with that laughter, but then again, who knows how the Empire has treated her?

Gaius blasts through the door, and Toph winces as she feels the vibrations from him getting up into the vent, and she hears it as well. Ugh, that guy is heavy and armored. Perhaps if she could slow down she could focus on his armor, but she promised Juno... Ugh.

She does 'see' how he takes aim though, and Toph instantly kicks her heel down, causing the vent to close up behind her and Juno, though not quickly enough as some of the shots make it through, and Toph winces as she pulls on Juno's wrist again. It feels bloody...

"Come on!"

When HK-51 speaks to her though, Toph frowns. Oh yes, she remembers the threats that were made. Including threats that would hurt her dad. So her expression hardens considerably, and she reaches out with her free hand in the droid's direction... and uses her bending without holding back. "SUBMIT TO THIS, SCRAP METAL!" Then she picks up her radio to respond.

[Lowhri, taking the Fly Girl to you! Legatus is following us, but I'm doing what I can to slow him down!]

Starbound Flotilla has posed:
The Starbounders get the HK units' attention. At least one of them. An ion grenade goes at them, and the wounded Moonfin immediately moves to engage. Pavo seems to think he has it handled, and in a sense, he does; his blade moves to slice the grenade, setting it off. Somehow, he manages to also split the explosion itself in half, halving its damage against him and sending him skidding back. He firms up his grip on his blade and grunts with the pain of the explosion against his armored form, grimacing for only a moment.

"Machine that dares to meddle in the realms and stories of men, I will show you your true place." He says, simply, to the droid. And then he rushes in, with a highly mobile defensive stance that's meant to close the distance and swiftly put him in engaging distance with the droid while deflecting dangerous projectiles that will punish the rush! It's also incredibly flashy, for no reason other than the fact that Moonfin insists on inefficient flashiness.

Darth Vader (794) has posed:
Meanwhile, aboard the Executor...

Lord Vader remains in his personal meditation chamber, tinkering with an astromech droid. His presence is not truly here, however. His body works by reflex, repeating steps that he has taken countless times to create a functional wiring grid within the chasis. His mind has begun to creep elsewhere, and his presence has begun to make itself known around the Emperor's Justice. Pinpricks of shadow give way to the twinkling light of the stars as the burned prisoners are defeated or killed... but only for a short time.

Just as he often stretched forth a gloved, iron hand as a gesture of power, so too can Vader stretch his consciousness out and seize control of a situation on behalf of his Emperor. The feeling of it is oppressive and disturbing, a cooling hatred that burns low, but can never be extinguished. Or perhaps, to the enlightened observer who knew Anakin Skywalker, it is more akin to a dim candle surrounded by darkness. The effect is the same, regardless of the metaphysical details of Vader's presence.

This is some form of Sith Battle Meditation, and it is particularly unkind to those subject to it. The tortured, mad beings that were rampaging moments before pause what they are doing and begin to take a more rational course of action. They pluck blasters from deceased guards and droids and begin to move in groups.

Escape pods begin to eject from the Emperor's Justice again, and this time some of them are empty. Simultaneously, the mad force adepts pile into adjacent escape pods and jettison them... but they do not follow a natural course for an escape pod. They rocket outwards and then change course, guided by the telekinetic powers of the entities within towards the Flotilla ships that attacked the Dungeon Ship.

In the meantime, that same telekinetic power is beginning to be used to hurl the empty escape pods towards whatever enemy vessels happen to be convenient.

INSIDE, Galen Marek feels a powerful tug on the hilt of his lightsaber as several of his foes attempt to take it away from him in concert...

Juno Eclipse (428) has posed:
Juno's head whips around, and she barks a particularly unladylike curse at the sight of Gaius hauling his way up into the tunnel and after herself and Toph. "Toph!" the pilot calls, voice a tone of warning. "Full throttle, or we're not going to get out of here!" Her head whips back around to Gaius, frustrated. "Give it up! If you take me back to the Empire or the Confederacy, you're taking a bloody corpse!"

Not having a weapon is extremely aggravating, and all Juno can do is throw herself bodily out of the way of those shots, growling as one of them manages to skip past the twisted tunnel and find a target in her knee. It's not full power, but plasma is still plasma, and it's still excruciatingly painful. Just not lethal, or inclined to disintegrate the thing it hits. Which is good. That would be a pretty terrible way to go. Fortunately, Toph forestalls any further shots, kicking up an obstruction.

Face twisting into a scowl of pain, Juno tries to turn her wrist, blood-slicked fingers seeking Toph's own wrist to clamp on. It's hard to hold on; the blood makes it slippery.

All she can do for now, though, is to hold on for dear life as Toph drags her through the tunnel.

Starbound Flotilla has posed:
Pavo attempts to get Galen's attention! "Avast, matey! We got other business!" The cell area is getting way too crowded anyway. She's going to try to yank Galen off to one side after dodging around some more of those awful prisoners. Then she's going to pull out her MATTER MANIPULATOR, and use whatever data SEFT can acquire about the ROGUE SHADOW'S location within the ship to discern the direction to the CARGO AREA. "Need yer access, need yer know-how, need ye ta kill anyone stickin' their nose where it don't belong while I try to get it shipshape!"

And then, abruptly, she sets the Matter Manipulator to DIG mode, and tries to dig through the ground and into the cargo area where the Rogue Shadow might be impounded. She's vulnerable! Galen will have to defend her!

HK-47 (754) has posed:
At this point, the general consensus among the droids was unanimous - this was not going well.

The droid that had leveled it's weapon at the earth-bender did not even have time to fire before strips of metal suddenly speared it's body, then twisted sharply, warping it's frame in an instant - it's arms were turned inside-out and twisted behind it's back, it's legs undergoing a similar spontaneous inversion. It's torso bent inward and then spontaneously pulled open like a steel flower, it's power core flickering and sparking like a dying flame. It's head, vocoder leaking out garbled static amid the metallic scream of it's internal components being rearranged and pulled open, is suddenly, forcibly compressed into it's torso even as the later segment is pulled open. Then, what remains of the unit is shot backwards like a cannonball, exploding against the far wall as pieces of it splinter in all directions, with what's left being little more then a literal droid pancake.

The remaining HK unit under Gaius' command pauses long enough to see his counterpart's rather abrupt destruction, and, if a droid could express such emotion with body language, it would likely be quaking in abject concern. "Placation - Er, good organic. Niiiicee organic." His statement, even as he fires stream after stream of disruptor bolts at the oncoming lunatics, seems honest enough... though the fact that the droid can split it's attention between effectively begging for mercy and slaughtering insane organics is somewhere between impressive and disconcerting.

But ultimately, the droid opts to take Juno up on her offer, opening it's wrist-compartnent and emitting a sound that should be all too familiar to Toph - the hiss of a gas emitter as cyanogen gas spews out of it's toxin-emoter unit.

The HK-51 unit chasing the organic with the blade stops in it's tracks as the opponent enacts what seems to be a rather... ridiculously flashy style of combat. Not amused, the droid activates it's toxin emitters, spewing cynaogan gas - the same toxin it's progenitor HK-47 had used against the inquisitor and the earth-bender to great effect - as well as effectively poisoning all organics in it's way.

The droid that has located Revan and Lou approaches from behind in the chaos, drawing a vireo-knife to try and disable the lightsabers of the false Sith, even while keeping internal weapons primed for dealing with the android-girl.

The droid in the hanger bay, still offline, recovers it's disabled sibling, working to try and restart it.

Galen Marek (731) has posed:
Galen can see the crowds thinning around... a Sith?! No, not possible. They're battling against the mindless Force users. Perhaps they were like him, a former Sith, but no longer. One of the Jedi he sensed earlier, during the ill-fated betrayal mission? Who knows. "Hey, Sith-looking person!" he calls, his voice shaking slightly. He was exhausted and assailed on all fronts, but one thing rings in his head. Juno is with Toph. She's safe, and they were moving to take the Shadow back as well. "Help them get the Shadow back! I need to figure something out." He sends more Force pulses at the waves of Force-sensitive prisoners...

And then they change tactics. They grow smarter, less rage-prone. He winces as his saber is being wrenched on, his hand gripping the weapon as though his life depended on it. Because it did. His fist smashes against zombie flesh, opening his hand after a moment and, bracing himself, sending lightning toward those attempting to steal his weapon.

"No, Vader! You want my saber? Come and get it yourself!" he roars, not knowing if the man can hear him or not. He guesses not. "You sick bastard... What did you do to these? And how did you connect them to me?!" He sends more and more lightning out, no longer concerned with preserving their lives. He'd take the hits to his mind right now to free himself. He wouldn't let Vader take his weapon.

He wouldn't give the Sith Lord a trophy.

"Stop hiding in the shadows, you coward!"

Gaius Van Baelsar (522) has posed:
Gaius' HUD is updated as the HK-51 sends him the information. Which was a good thing, because Toph was trying to block him out. He activates the Magitek Shield to create a bubble field to fight off the closure – it will at least buy Juno and Toph some time to keep on the move.

The shield starts to crack, splint as Gaius goes to throw his body into it with all full weight. It wasn't designed for this, but right now it have to work. Once his body slams into it, the shield shatters into wisps of light and the vent slams down where he was.

He rolls out onto the floor, before getting back up on his feet. He studies the map sent to him and taps his comm. "HK-51. Can you override any blast doors or security doors? Maybe we can try to cut them off at any passes." If he was trying to help protect Juno it was now hard to say. If he was on her side, he was making it hard to tell.

Though in truth, while he hated this, it was orders. He was the Legatus of the Garlean Empire, next in line to become Emperor of his people. If he faltered because of personal feelings or gut feelings, it would look poorly on him – and the rest of the Garlean Empire... he already had one massive failing in his life, another that was personal – he rather not add one more to that list.

His steps quicken, before he is in a full run. He is moving far faster then a normal athletic runner as he tries to make up the distance. He doesn't respond to Juno. He doesn't even quip back, he just gives her dead silence in return.

As he tries to make the turn, his boots screech across the metal surface. Its only when he can get proper traction does he move again, but comes to a halt when he notices the HK-51s on the trail and with gas. His hand grip tightens on the handle and he can only step back. There was nothing he could do further. His free hand also tightens up, before he spins it around and then slams it into a metal section of the ship releasing all of his anger with it.

So many questions – and no real good answers. Even if he was to try and cut them off, it take to much time. He can only hope the Droid can follow through with the request or...or... Juno manages to actually escape before she is killed, because if she dies – so does the answers to it all.

Starbound Flotilla has posed:
"Foolish." Moonfin says. He is fully poisoned by the HK-51, suffering a lethal dose, and yet keeps going. He intends to flashily kill the droid long before that matters. "Second Sea Hylotl Style: The Shark Devours the Blowfish." He skids on his feet, native durasteel screeching against foreign durasteel, and does a swirling circular strike, intended to dismember the arm with the neurotoxin as well as swiftly behead the robot.

The arm with the neurotoxin is something he intends to leave intact as possible, in fact; he understands its potency, and with the time afforded to him by the poisoned state, he intends to rig something for the prisoners. He has to ensure this is dealt with to the man.

Darth Vader (794) has posed:
Before, the prisoners were easily dispatched. Now, standing united, they are able to combine their abilities to match that which would have overpowered them earlier. They divert their attention to defense, locking themselves into a clash of power with Galen, causing a shockwave to fire out into the surroundings from the combination of their abilities. The shouting from Galen does not appear to be comprehended. But a change of plans is evidently in order, because they cease paying him any mind. All of the clones, save those exiting the ship to pursue the Flotilla, cease paying anyone any mind.

They all direct their attentions to the exterior skin of the ship, the points where the Emperor's Justice are thinnest... and they begin to push. The most notable points are near the jettisoned escape pods, where there is little more than a single airlock between the vacuum outside and the people within the ship. The screech of durasteel and transparent aluminum being pushed outwards and, ultimately, puncturing echoes throughout the whole of the ship.

They're trying to tear the ship apart entirely, and they're already making noteworthy and alarming headway. There is a great hiss, then a howl of air as the ship begins to vent its oxygen supply.

The prisoners do not care.

The prisoners are being burned out, pushed to ignore their limits and to go on and on until there's not even rage and self-preservation left in them.

Like lit candles subjected to all the force of a hurricane, the prisoners begin to gutter out and die, casting themselves back into the force and leaving great ripples in their wake.

Starbound Flotilla has posed:
Albert already had firing solutions on those pods. When they go into a kamikazi mode, he becomes further frustrated. Biteblade begins to open fire along with him, lancing through pods with the railgun, but not everything can stop the assault. Though Albert's shields are heavy and his turrets are numerous, his ship is built to efficiently and quickly disable and kill ships, not to demolish the scrap that a pod might turn into after being blown up!

His heavy shields overload, the ship sparking with explosions as the shield systems themselves blow out, and the heavy armor of the craft beginning to ablate. Albert himself suffers bruising and burning within, as his craft begins to rock and shudder, and consoles begin emitting overloads. He begins to pull back, letting Seft's craft, with its stony hull, take more of it, and beginning to need to retreat from the area.

Revan (414) has posed:
She didn't like it. No, she didn't like it one bit. But there almost seemed as if there was no end to the insane prisoners, which could wear down even a Jedi Guardian. She had been saved, redeemed...she had even helped to redeem the spirit of an ancient Sith Lord...but it would seem that sometimes the Force willed that such poor people were put out of their misery to rejoin it. "Dammit!" she cursed, frustrated even as she had no other recourse than to try to end their lives quickly, becoming a blur of black, red, and violet as she cut down the insane prisoners before her.

"Become one with the Force," she whispered like a prayer.

Naturally, there was also another problem in the form of another of the later HK series. Swatting away a disruptor blast almost idly, she replied to the assassin droid in a cold voice that was clearly an echo of his master's. "Let your progenitor know that I have little tolerance of opposition."

Not that she gave him much of a window to do so, blasting the HK-51 with an ionized wave.

[Got it! We'll get her out of here.]

Lowri didn't waste time – even fending off the Force-mad – radioing her ship. "T3! We need extraction!" she barked at the utility droid waiting for her signal. "Ulaire and...uh, Tiny might need to cover fire, so be ready!"

The Force was certainly with them when she finally caught up with Galen. As if to demonstrate where her loyalties lay, the former Sith Lord released a torrent of lighting in the form of a Force Storm on a flock of the crazed Force sensitives behind him. "It's me," she said cryptically before turning sharply on her heel for the corridor towards Toph and Juno.

[I'll explain later, I promise.] It wasn't long – thanks to some judicious use of Force Speed – to find the two.

Not even waiting for their reaction, the masked figure barked out , in a voice both would doubtless recognise, "This way!"

Toph Beifong (20) has posed:
"On your feet, lily liver!" Toph barks to Juno. The woman is a trained soldier, right? So she should be able to push on through this stuff if she's given incentive, right? "We are meeting up with them now, and your boyfriend will punch me if I don't get you there safely! NOW MOVE!" Toph lets Juno grab her wrist, and she does her best to keep up a pace that Juno can move the best in.

The familiar sound however makes Toph's eyes widen in horror, and she lets out a startled gasp. "... no!" The memories of how she felt yesterday, how her lungs were aching until the healers tended to her this morning are too easily remembered, and she makes a choice. "Down!" she warns Juno, then crouches down and slams her fist into the vents to get out and down. Anywhere to get away from the gas! And she seals up the metal after them once she and Juno drops down onto the level again.

This means that they might encounter some of the other prisoners, but while they might be insane and dangerous, Toph is as determined as can be, not to mention motivated to protect the woman until she is safely reunited with Galen. A promise is a promise, and all around them is precious metal. Toph lets go of Juno in order to wreak havoc on any incoming forces, using the interior of the ship against them, creating as many walls as she can, not to mention tear off pieces of the interior and throw it at them. All while she leads Juno along and doing her outmost to keep anything from harming the woman further.

But finally they meet up with Lowri, and Toph can't help but push herself harder, pulling Juno along. "We're coming!" she calls. Sure, Lowri might be in disguise, but it doesn't matter much to Toph. "Man, I bet you're a sweet sight for sore and seeing eyes!"

It's time to get out of here!

HK-47 (754) has posed:
The remaining droid, seeing his query flee the gas in abject fear, takes the time to reply to Gaius' words on the comm and gives a short acknowledgement of "Affirmation - Enacting security override. Transferring full internal control to subsidiary Master Gaius." However, the overrides proved to be worth little as the vessel begins pulling apart. The droid instead decides to be pragmatic and focus on the next best thing - getting the ranking Confederate operative on the ship to safety. "Master Gaius, the force-users are tearing the vessel apart in an apparent self-destruct procedure! Immediate evacuation is recommended!

The droid facing the aquatic-looking creature draws a vibe-knife, parrying the blade as best it can, suffering a deep gash across it's chest-unit and losing the tops of all it's fingers on the left hand as it alters the trajectory just enough to keep from losing it's arm. It staggers backward a step, before activating it's flamethrower - if it could not poison the creature, it would simply roast it.

In the hangar bay, the HK-51 that has just arrived is in the process of restarting it's felled brethren - only for the entire vessel to shudder as the structural integrity began to give way exponentially. "Commentary ? Target the enemy ships. They will not be allowed to leave. If we are to perish, they are as well." And with that, they turn their weapons on the two vessels, focusing their fire on both the Ebon Hawk and the unknown vessel with aimed disruptor shots.

The final droid, approaching the ghost of it's Master, only gets so far before it is hit by an ion pulse like it's sibling unit - only this time, in a corridor filled with insane organics, it proves fatal, as one of the organics simply starts tearing at the downed machine... and activating it's final response - "Self-Destruct, armed - detonation in 3.... 2.... 1....

And thus, a blast tears through part of the ship's inner deck, weakening the failing structural integrity of the ship even further.

In short... it had all gone to hell. And only one of the droids at this point cared to try and escape, as it was currently with the ranking Confederate. The others, having no other recourse, opts that it shall be mutual destruction - if they do not survive, none will.

Lou (64) has posed:
The change in posture is immediately obvious. Mindless numbers are dangerous enough, numbers granted some measure of clarity - even if at the hands of a puppetmaster - are even more worrying. Lou's mask-like face again doesn't properly register the 'surprise' her algorithms are suggesting she might feel at this, but in a way it is also a welcome change to be faced down in proper combat, instead of being clawed and bit like a savage. "Unknown change in disposition," she factors, though as they begin actually arming themselves, and renew their attack in a more coordinated fashion, it is clear that it isn't for the better. Her normally ice queen positioning gives way to necessity, as she moves into more efficient combat maneuvers, that she likely copied straight from the battle data she took from some other, somewhat unwitting Guardian.

The 'dance' takes her into the thick of the enemy formations. Coordinated, they may be, but they are still...puppets. A slave to some unseen force, instead of their own internal demons. A 'Force' that, even though Lou is less sensitive to such things than even most 'organics', as the HKs might say, can still be detected on some deeper levels. That surprises even her; genuine surprise, not the algorithmic 'this statistically should not be possible' kind. It is likely a good thing that Revan is dealing with the droid, and that a number of the maddened have turned their pursuits to other things, considering she pauses in her movements to consider this.

When she comes back to realization, her sensors are blaring alarms. At this rate, they're going to tear the ship apart, with everyone still inside it. There's no more time left. A few more photon saber swings of opportunity, and she once again exchanges it for her rifle, pacing back towards the ship bay they had emerged from into the cell blocks earlier, taking shots at any HK droids, or the formerly crazed prisoners that might still be paying attention to them. "Withdrawing," she says, again with that static leaking into her voice. No pain shows on her face as she back steps, but she's visibly favoring one shoulder, and tries to cover everyone moving towards the exits.

Juno Eclipse (428) has posed:
Juno's eyes widen at the sight of that outpouring of gas from the droid. It isn't that she experienced the same chemical yesterday, but she can understand that it's something that shouldn't be mixed with the ambient oxygen. To go by those psychotic droids it's probably ludicrously lethal to overkill levels.

She crouches as she's warned, but she can't help having inhaled a little bit of it; enough to irritate her throat and redden her eyes, coughing helplessly, but when Toph restructures her tunnel she's already surging back to her feet as she's released, turning and watching.

Without a weapon it's all she can do.

Finally, they meet with a mysterious figure that has a familiar voice. This must be Lowri, or somebody very good at imitating Lowri. "She is!" Juno agrees to Toph, leaning forward and low, practically running as she lets Toph drag her along, coughing and wheezing. "Time to go...!"

Gaius Van Baelsar (522) has posed:
Gaius suddenly hears something wrong, then he can fell his ears pop horrible as the pressure in the room changes, before he suddenly can feel the air moving rapidly. "What the..." The Garlean Empire never been into space – they only read of it and it was obvious in some ways, he was still not use to everything that could happen to a space craft in space.

However there was something very wrong and he knew it. This was only amplified by when one of the HK-51's came up to him to voice the need of getting the hell out of dodge. "Understood. Lead us to an escape vessel and let us make haste. The mission is a failure, but we will recapture her."

The Legatus will follow the droid to where safety is and he will need to silently evaluate everything Juno said and did today.

Darth Vader (794) has posed:
Following the venting of the Emperor's Justice and the mass suicide of the mad prisoners he was using as his pawns, Darth Vader withdraws his presence from the area. The few zombies that remain – and there are few of them – devolve into panic, but aren't intelligent enough to escape on their own. There are still some vital signs in the ship, hiding in the escape pods that haven't jettisoned... but many of those were fired towards the Flotilla as a distraction to begin with. In all, there are very few Wardens who remain. Very few indeed.

There are no obstacles left, save for the depths of space itself.

Darth Vader opens his eyes and looks down towards the astromech unit in front of him. Again, he had sensed a force sensitive that he was not familiar with. Who could it have been? He frowns slightly, turning towards his parts box and rifling among the droid brains that he had set aside for this project. R5 brains are easy to come by, but the little bastards are... well, they're little bastards. An R2 unit tends to be similar, but less unpleasant to deal with. And R4 units are just stupid.

Deciding that he needs more choices, Vader motions the chamber to return his helmet and opens a comm connection to the bridge of the Executor.

"Set a course for Raxus Prime and inform me when we arrive." He rasps, as the chamber prepares him to return to the confinement of his own suit.

Starbound Flotilla has posed:
Pavo digs through the interior walls of the craft until she finally, finally reaches the cargo area. This is where she intends to steal EVERYTHING she can via her matter manipulator that's between her and the Rogue Shadow. She's got her oxygen nanoskin, fuck vacuums! But she can't survive if the entire space station goes up here. She's going to tear her way through cargo, looting and smashing any opposition, until she can get in there! Hopefully Galen will provide access! Good lord, this is cutting it close.

As soon as she and Galen are both inside, the latter will find out what 'hard ship extraction' means, because George and Seft (piloting Moonfin's craft) will, abusing their ship's relatively unscathed natures, suddenly slam their ships square through any exposed element of the cargo area, venting it to space and blasting out any obstacle that could impede the Rogue Shadow from barreling out of there. Pavo, presumably, will use the parts George stole at the production facility to forcibly rig up flight that might last a few minutes, and all three crafts will barrel out of there as soon as they can.

Revan (414) has posed:
The HK unit might appreciate the way that the alternate version of his master manipulated the droid's systems to work to her advantage...though not for long. "Watch it!" she warned the Lou-controlled drone as she evaded the self-destruct with some Force-assisted help, shielding the alien droid with the Force even as she evacuated. It was a good thing, too, as they were going to need cover fire very soon.

"Right back at ya," was Toph's dissonant response from the masked figure. Combined with Juno's affirmation, it was definitely their familiar ally. "Called a cab, hope you don't mind."

It was Lowri, all right.

When the Ebon Hawk arrived in the hangar bay, the units firing on it were as equally unfortunate. A tiny tiny droid perched atop the hull, expertly firing her Gatling gun at whatever nipped at their heels while the newly-christened Insecticon shot off poisoned barbs from its tail-stinger. While the poison was ineffective against the droids, the darts themselves certainly weren't.

The Jedi brought up the rear once the pilot and the metalbender had boarded, bellowing her order to the shinki and the Insecticon to follow her inside. "Time to go!"

HK-47 (754) has posed:
The only HK-51 droid willing to try and evacuate, clearing out any and every last one of the remaining lunatic organics, guides Gaius to the nearest remaining escape pod, hacking into the interface system and overriding the pod access, gesturing for Gaius to enter. "Supplication - It lacks in overt space, but it carries a hyperwave transceiver coded with all the most recent and up-to-date comm frequencies for every Confederate-affiliated space-capable faction. We will survive - and perhaps, you could mention my efforts in rescuing you and salvaging something from this operation?"

The remaining two droids in the docking bay continue to try and pelt the Ebon Hawk and the second vessel with disruptor fire, but annoyingly, the vessels seem to have an automated crew as they are forced to take cover when an underside anti-infantry turned pops out from under the Ebon Hawk's cockpit structure and begins firing at them. However, one of the droids notices there is activity behind it, moving to attempt an intercept - only to see the inquisitor, aiming it's rifle to try and snipe it's target with a final shot before the end. As a result, the Ebon Hawk ultimately disarms it's abandoned companion - literally, as the T3 unit manning the underside gun and the droid manning the gatling gun up top succeed in blowing off the arm of the droid, then it's leg, and then shredding it's torso to pieces.

The only other droid is still locked in battle with the aquatic organic, sustaining another slash to it's body and losing half the mobility in it's left leg.

Galen Marek (731) has posed:
With Juno secured, Galen books it for the cargo hold of the ship on Pavo's mark. Following the Avian along her looting path, Galen nurses a few superficial wounds, sheathing his saber back onto his belt. However, the moment they're on the Shadow, Galen pales again and drops into the co-captain's seat. The mass death rocks him, his eyes fluttering closed. "He... killed them. He used them to assault me, attack us, and then he killed them...!" His eyes open, and they're bloodshot terribly. Those are the only color in his face, the shocks rocking across his Force connection in painful waves. He glares at the space in front of him, anger gripping him again. Vader... he was truly steeped in the Dark Side, perhaps more than anyone else. That was Galen's impression, his own light struggling against his personal Dark Side. The power and emotionless... it was hard to unprogram, but the thought of Juno helped him keep it at bay. She was safe, and they were escaping. It had happened.

And now he had more motivation than ever. They had taken Juno, he and the others had gotten her back, and now Vader needed to pay for it all. He needed to find the Rebels, build an army to fight the Empire, but his former master was his personal target. Today's events would not be soon forgotten.

Gaius Van Baelsar (522) has posed:
Gaius looks at the pod and then back to the droid. "I will see what can be done about recovering you. Thank you, HK-51." He then gives the Droid a pat on the shoulder before stepping inside the pod, then making sure it is sealed.

Should have brought some cards...

Toph Beifong (20) has posed:
Uh oh! Sounds like Juno inhaled some of that gas! Toph swallows nervously as she calls up the Flotilla on the radio. But luck seems to be on their side, and Toph allows herself a brief smile. Good. Juno will be safe!

Toph hauls Juno with her up the ramp of the Ebon Hawk, all while reaching out to use her bending on any of the nearby HK-51 droids, doing her best to knock one of them into the other and giving the others an opening to get away!

Starbound Flotilla has posed:
Moonfin doesn't succeed in his effort to take the droid's head and arm, but there's some good damage there! Once again the wounded, now-poisoned fishman rushes in close, suffering a flamethrower assault this time! He parries flame. Flame! How does someone parry flame? It's not clear, but he swung his Power Katana through it and somehow deflected the entire jet of fire to light just one half of his upper body aflame, rather than his whole body. He is still, unfortunately, on fire, and that's just a fact.

He's also slowing down due to the poison. Due to his immense quantity of training and the assistance of his semi-powered armor, this is less of an issue. He tries to choke out another fancy style name but can't seem to get the breath to do it! He has to end this FAST. What comes next is probably the most absurd tactic anyone's ever done with a flamethrower gushing in their face.

With a swirling motion, he does another circular movement, and somehow, through some baffling samurai bullshit, guides the gush of flame around his body, circularly, to bring it back around towards the HK-51. He's not trying to strike with it. It's meant to be cover to obfuscate a desperate, impaling rush. One that might not even kill the HK-51, it just needs to stun it long enough for Moonfin to get an uninterrupted teleportation off!

Revan (414) has posed:
The HK unit might appreciate the way that the alternate version of his master manipulated the droid's systems to work to her advantage...though not for long. "Watch it!" she warned the Lou-controlled drone as she evaded the self-destruct with some Force-assisted help, shielding the alien droid with the Force even as she evacuated. It was a good thing, too, as they were going to need cover fire very soon.

"Right back at ya," was Toph's dissonant response from the masked figure. Combined with Juno's affirmation, it was definitely their familiar ally. "Called a cab, hope you don't mind."

It was Lowri, all right.

When the Ebon Hawk arrived in the hangar bay, the units firing on it were as equally unfortunate. A tiny tiny droid perched atop the hull, expertly firing her Gatling gun at whatever nipped at their heels while the newly-christened Insecticon shot off poisoned barbs from its tail-stinger. While the poison was ineffective against the droids, the darts themselves certainly weren't.

The Jedi brought up the rear once the pilot and the metalbender had boarded, bellowing her order to the shinki and the Insecticon to follow her inside. "Time to go!"

And much to Toph and Juno's likely relief, there are kolto packs waiting for just such an occasion.

Lou (64) has posed:
It's a good thing that Revan was there to help cover for Lou. Her line shield has taken an absolute beating from all this action, for one thing - she would have been wide open to the blast, if it had hit her fully. For another, her threat radar, while beginning to return to proper functionality, is still clogged with all the red pips everywhere. Over-reliant on it, at times, to a fault, she is caught off guard as the HK self-destructs. Again, thanks to Revan's intervention, it still slams into her, but to a more manageable degree. It does manage to knock off one of her pauldron parts, however, as well as her hat, exposing the horn-like antennae beneath, the garment careening over a walk way to be practically non-retrievable. "...my radome," she drones, for an odd moment a sense of loss manages to filter in to her monotone.

With essentially all of the prison ship's staff, and residents, a non-factor, Lou regains her focus, retuning her threat radar, now that it can be marginally useful again. That menacing droid seemed to be on another level from the zombies and prison wardens, so it is mainly that type of entity she maintains scans for, even as she paces towards the ship bays. She is still unhurried and purposeful in her steps, a servo in one leg still whining its disagreement after that slam into the wall earlier, even as her expanded sensors relay that the block ship is essentially disintegrating from all of the abuse. Her rifle remains trained, though even the last few red blips are vanishing. Now it is basically a matter of beating the clock, and the HKs, out of here.

Back in the docking bay, Lou gives one last glance over, perhaps doing a rapid head count, before she lowers the back hatch of her G-Flyer. No time for proper goodbyes or introductions, but the pink-haired robot girl does give a long glance as the door seals behind. Shortly after, the single, large engine flares with photonic energy, and the fine maneuvering thrusters engage, before moving to get the hell out of here. The G-Flyer could theoretically add some cover fire, but given the strength of its batteries are not tuned for this use, it is quickly calculated as unnecessary.

Juno Eclipse (428) has posed:
Using a combination of Toph's momentum and a grip against the entry hatch of the Ebon Hawk, Juno swings herself aboard and into the ship. Thankfully, that means she didn't have time to stare at Ulaire or the Unsettling Friendly Insecticon. She'll probably get to meet those later.

Right now her priority is to slump against the inside of the ship, coughing and hacking helplessly. It doesn't sound so good, but she didn't inhale enough for it to be lethal. Probably.

"Thanks," she rasps, glancing up to both Revan and Toph while she catches her breath. It's heartfelt gratitude in spite of its brevity; something both women would be able to feel through their respective senses.

She'll take advantage of the kolto packs, and promptly look for a crew cabin to collapse into. Whatever was done to her, it was probably exhausting. She looks shaky and unsteady, tired beyond measure, and harrowed as though she's been put through the wringer. The kolto does wonders for her abraded throat and her raw, bloody wrists, though.

For this, she can almost forgive Revan for teaching her Pazaak...

HK-47 (754) has posed:
The HK-51 droid is indeed stunned by the move made by the aquatic organic, but instead opts to try and counter by activating it's carbonite launcher, spraying the supercooled fluid into the flames and sending jets of steam hissing and billowing out through the room - but it ultimately comes at a cost as it's hand is sliced off at the wrist, cutting through it's internal weapons and leaving the machine all but defenseless as on the second spin the blade slices through it's optics, blinding it.

In desperation, it activates it's self-destruct, intent on trying to take the organic with it, it's lack of eyes allowing it to explode in peace believing it had taken it's target down with it.

The final HK-51 unit aboard the doomed vessel, turning around to face the oncoming specter of Revan and the artificial humanoid, is suddenly thrown like a rag doll as the earth-bender upturns several strips of the bulkheads and rips the floor away so fast that it sheers off one of the droid's legs and tosses it's rifle away, leaving the machine stunned and helpless as it's opponents retreat aboard the smuggler vessel.

Starbound Flotilla has posed:
Moonfin's blade assault comes to an end, launched back and partially encased in a gush of carbonite that immobilizes some of his lower body! Slowly, he begins to flash red while the machine's self-destruct sequence goes off. The countdown is a little desperate! It's only through the helpful hand of Seft, their robotic member, that Moonfin's ship manages to calculate the teleportation in time and get him out of there, just before the robot explodes.

It's shortly after that Seft will do her best to teleport aboard the Ebon Hawk as all the ships pull out and book it away from the main craft. She'll be carrying an unconscious Moonfin, urgently in need of some medical treatment!

Once everyone's clear – unfortunately that includes any of the Confederates who have chosen to escape – a burned and bruised Albert, still piloting a limping and injured SFS Vehemence, manages to get all the system failures in order. With the remaining kamikaze threats dealt with, there is little that needs addressing. "Biteblade. This is Albert." He mutters grimly over the radio. "The VIP and objective materials are recovered. Counterattack ability is neutralized. Annihilate the rest of it. Leave only salvage."

Biteblade will spend however long she's able to firing the massive STARHUNTER railgun at the compromised husk of a ship. Albert, apparently, wishes to make a statement that the Flotilla is entirely willing to use the same methods of utter destruction that the Galactic Empire will. Aside from chunks of salvagable scrap, they intend to leave nothing but a burned husk as their message. The prisoners inside were dangerous and the wardens deserved to die. Nothing can be left alive on the craft.