Breaking down the doors (open)

[Jacen]

Jacen smiled as he walked past a holo vid stating that the galxy was now free. It had been just a few days ago since the Rebellion had overturned the Empire and now they were planning to take Coruscant. Jacen had seriously been considering contacting them to offer his assistance, which wouldn'thave been hard from Aargau, but in the end decided against it. The Force was pushing in a different direction, but what that could be he did not know.

He approached his mother's house, carrying two large bags of groceries and nodded to the door after checking to make sure no one was watching. The doors activation pad lit up and the door slide open. Just as he was entering the door, he almost lost his balancea nd dropped everythig as his younger sister tackled him in a bear hug.

"Jacie, Jacie! Your home! Can we play now?" She said in her most innocent voice, smiling up at the young Jedi.

He looked down at her with a mock-stern stare. "What did you do?"

"Nothing." she answered, with the innocent smile. "I been a good little girl!"

He shook his head smiling and nodded. "Ok let me take these to mom and I'll come play with you."

"Ok!" She saida s she turned and ran back to a room. Jacen watched her good and smiled. He made his way to the kitchen area and smiled as he saw his older mother sitting on a stool near the countertop. She was hunched over, working on something.

"Mother. I brought the groceries."

"Thank you Jacen, just sit them here and then come help me fix this."

Jacen set the bags downa nd walked over to his mother and kissed her on the cheek before looking at the pile before her. "What...what is that?"

"It was my datapad until Italie got ahold of it. Now it's just a pile of scrap cause I can't reach this one wire to connect it."

Jacen looked at the wire she was indicating and reached out with the Force. He movedit ever so slightly and held it there until his mother was able to solder the connection. "Thank you son."

"No problem. I'll talk to Italie since she wants to play."

"Ok now you two behave."

Jacen smiled and walked out of the kitchen. He spent the afternoon playing and teaching little tricks to his younger sister. Though she had the ability to use the Force, she was nowhere near as talented as Jacen. What he had learned within days, it took months for her to be able to grasp.

Soon the sun went down and the night air cooled. Everyone said thier good nights and went off to bed. Soon after midnight, local time, there was a loud crash from downstairs. The noise woke Jacen and he automatically reached for his two lightsabers. He went cautiously downstairs and just as he came around the last corner, he found himself face to face with a blaster rifle.

"Halt!"

Jacen? Jacen what is going on out there?" His mother yelled as she came around the corner. Taken by surprise, one of teh stormtroopers with an itchy tigger family turned and shot at his mother. Thankfully she was behind him. Thankfully he had honed his lightsaber skills as it was about to be evident to the squad of troppers in front of him. Two beams of light, one blue and one green, flashed and directed the beam back to the rifleman who had shot.

Seeing thier comrade fall, a switch finally flipped in the troppers and they opened up fire on the young Jedi. His weapons flashed as he deflected shot after shot. "Mom get Italie and get out of here!"

The young man thrust his blue blade forward and instead of craving up the trooper, he used the Fore to push ihm back and knock the others down. Jacen jumped over the railing and sprinted towards the door. Outside there was another half of a squad, apprently waiting on him. They opened fire imeadiately and Jacen's blades went back to work. It wasn't much of a challenge to best the four troops. They were slow from months of inactivity and thier recent defeat made them angry and dispirited.

Shortly before he dispatched of the last troop, the first squad had made it ouside and was blasting away. Fortuantely the only thing Jacen had practiced with most of the time, was someone blasting at him. Unfortunately he had never been good at placing the blasts back where he wanted them. "Come one! Can't you guys give me a handicap?"

[Karl Valten]

A tall figure, clad in ghost-gray plated armor that covered every perceivable part of his body, stood behind the ranks of stormtroopers, watching the pathetic soldiers futilely trying to bring down the Jedi. A tiny cable, hidden from view because of the blood red cloak draped over his shoulders, snaked up from the armor’s rear and connected to a hidden slot at the base of the man’s neck. Curving around the upper-right portion of his pale face was an intricate optical sensor array, connected to the armor in the same manner as the figure himself. A variety of weapons hung at his waist, several oddly shaped blades and a single pistol.

Inquisitor Karl Valten wore perverse smile as he gazed at the mutilated corpses of the fallen troopers. The grunts honestly stood no chance against a lightsaber. The Inquisitor couldn’t care less about the deaths, he was only looking for the best of the best, the weak ones were of no concern.

“Come on kill him already, he’s only a frelling kid.”

“Like you’re doing any better.”

Valten burst out in dark laughter at the bickering troopers. A few soldiers looked back and even though their faces were masked, Valten could see the shock on their faces. The Inquisitor’s hysterical laughter continued on. What was I thinking? None of these idiots are cut out for ‘Nightmare’.

One of the troopers, a captain by the rank plaque on his breastplate, stormed up to Karl, jabbing a white-armored finger into his chest. “Hey, I don’t care if you’re with the Inquisitoriate or not, don’t you giggle at us, those were all good men.”

Silence fell between the two. Both stared at each other, waiting to see if the other would back down. In a flash of movement nearly too fast to follow, the trooper found himself dangling in the air, a ghost-gray armored hand constricting around his throat. Valten’s icy gaze burned hole through the man’s visor. “You’re out of line, captain”

Slowly, the Inquisitor clenched his hands tighter around the weak neck joint until he heard audible crunch of snapping bones. With a flick of his arm, the lifeless soldier landed in a heap. Valten looked his arm over, always amazed at what the CMC-400 Power Suit was capable of.

“Out of my way.” Karl shouldered his way through the stunned troopers to face the young one. “I don’t think you need a handicap, boy.”

[Jacen]

Jacen spun deflecting the last of the blaster bolts, managing to catch the shooter in the knee. He dropped into a low crouching stance, one blade held straight out in front of him and the other held out behind him, as he looked up at the new comer. His face had a thin sheen of sweat from all the movement, but his breath came in slow steady draws, belying his fatigue.

"What? You want to join the party too?" He asked as he stretched out with the Force. Something was different about this one. He held a calm and cool aura rather than the excited fever of the other stomtrooper. "Who are you?"

[Karl Valten]

Amusement flickered across the Inquisitor’s face as he watched the young Jedi. The boy was doing his best hide his fatigue, Valten saw right through it. Never-the-less, he was still impressed, force-users were always unpredictable because of the variety of their abilities. That was the challenge of hunting these warriors, the constant surprise that hid behind the exterior. The challenge, that was the part Karl enjoyed most about hunting Jedi.

“Ha ha ha. I’m just another expendable pawn of the Empire, albeit higher in power than these gnats.”

The glowing blue optical enhancement covering his left eye focused in on Jacen’s sabers, a microcomputer within the armor's pack returned information to Valten via the cable connected to his neural implant. Still standing tall, the Inquisitor slowly started to circle around the Jedi.

“But if you must know, I am Inquisitor Valten. Perhaps you’ve heard of us, the phantoms the Empire, the wraiths that strike from the dark?”

Karl laughed as he recited the titles that rumors credited to the Inquisitoriate.

[Jacen]

The young man moved in a slow turn, not letting the newcomer out of his sight. He could still percieve the troopers behind him albiet not as strongly as physically seeing them, but he knew roughly where they were.

"I've heard a thing or two, but for all I know they could be rumors and you're trying to play on my fears."

[Karl Valten]

“Ha, you’re so droll. Most jedi would have made some arrogant quip or threat by now; of course I’m trying to play on your fears.” By this point many of the stormtroopers had lowered their weapons, listening to the Inquisitor in utter confusion. “Honestly, what are rumors for but to play on the hopes and fears of the populace.”

Valten gradually slowed his steps and turned to face Jacen. He searched the boys face for any signs of emotion. The only thing he saw was unshakeable determination and maybe a hint of anger, but no fear, no fear what-so-ever. Bright emerald eyes hardened into anger. “In this case the rumors are false. The truth is much…much….worse” The last part of the sentence was drawn out and spoken just above a whisper.

Karl reached to his belt and pulled out a short cylinder about forty-five centimeters in length. “You don’t know respect, Boy. By the time I’m through with you, you will fear.”

The Inquisitor pressed a button on the cylinder and one each end, a quartet of electrodes telescope out. A cruel smile crept over Karl’s face as he hit a second button. Instantly, violet arcs of energy crackled to life on each of the electrodes, turning the odd weapon into a one and half meter long electrostaff.

[Jacen]

Jacen shifted his wieght to his right leg and pulled his blades high above his head.

"Maybe, but I think, but I think not." He said as he twirled the blue and green weapons in a complete circle.

[Y'roth Helghast]

A buzz came through Valten's comlink on the PN channel, an almost bored voice following.

"Sir, Major Helghast here. The recruitment program was a failure in this sector. The soldiers suffered heavy casualties before the Squad intervened and removed the force sensitives. Your status is reading as still active, Sir. Permission to return to your position, Sir?"

Y'roth was stood from his crouched position over the dead body as he finished and switched the comm channel back to the Squad. He almost wished his helmet was not on just so he could smell the rank of the pathetic battlefield. The thought was easily pushed away with the protocol of maintaining the Squad's image. No one, unless directly ordered with specific purpose, was to breach the Squad's image. In fact, their presence had not even been recognized until Y'roth had given Crestmere the order to reveal their position. Valten had run things a bit differently, as he is a recognized authority within the Imperial ranks. Major Helghast did not mind running a mission by Nightmare standards though in the slightest.

"Lieutenant Jerrard, confirm the casualties. Lieutenant Lang, prep the site for departure. Master-Sergeant Scothis, go ahead and secure our route to Valten. Sergeant-Major Crestmere, refit yourself with standard issue. Sergeant-Major Horus, prep to clean the networks about this occurence."

The Major knew he really had no need of stating these orders as it was standard procedure for them but where orders existed, an excuse did not. They were all experts in their own areas but they knew how to follow through with each other as one entity, as if each one were merely an extension of the whole.

[Karl Valten]

Valten kept his eyes on Jacen as he tapped the commset connected to his optical interface.

“Permission granted, Major. The prospects here failed as well.” A grin appeared on the Inquisitor’s face yet again. He spoke just loud enough for the jedi to hear. “Before you do, be sure there aren’t any witnesses. If you end of having to kill civilians, make sure the bodies won’t be found.”

During his time on the comm., Karl had circled closer to Jacen. “Let’s see how good you are with those toys.” Nimbly spinning the sparking staff in his hands, Valten brought himself into passive combat stance; knees bent and left foot leading towards the jedi.

He wanted Jacen to make the first move, wanted to see the boys fighting style one-on-one before moving in for the kill.

[Jacen]

Jacen twirled his lightsabers once more, this time ending early and holding the weapons inverted. While his father had preached to Jacen to master Form IV of lightsaber styles, a more acrobatic form, Jacen had chosen to use a more defensive form. Form III was his choice of lightsaber skills. He had never really had the chance to study under a master, as the only person in the last few years to have known the skills was the Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi, but Jacen had been able to study old holo-vids of the Jedi's younger days to the point he had been able to grasp the basic ideas of it. Up until now it had proved a wise choice, but that was only against blasters and the occasional spar with his late father. Now his skills would be put to the test in real combat.

As plans of attack and his brain started to try and run through tactics, Jacen just let himself go into the Force and stepped forward with his right foot and then his left. He brought his right hand up and around, inverting the right blade back to its proper position and slashed down overhead and brought his other weapon low and in front to prepare for any counterattack.

[Victor Crestmere]

"Sergeant-Major Crestmere, refit yourself with standard issue."

Looking up as he began removing the Stormtrooper helmet and holstering the standard issued blaster, Victor nodded to Major Helghast with a, "Yes Sir!"

Standing up from checking a fallen Troopers vital signs, dead of course, Victor just looked around. The recruitment program was a complete disaster and now it was clean up time. The likely candidates that had been chosen failed miserably and the Squad had to step in and save what few were left. This was not what Victor was expecting, but then again, these were only Stormtroopers. They weren’t elites or had any special training, just grunts, maybe a few with a little experience, but grunts none the less.

Stepping over fallen bodies of what few force sensitives there was and Stormtroopers alike, Victor made his way over to where his equipment was located. It all had arrived in separate cases, his weapons, armor, and his personal box, all in their own cases. Opening up the first case, it was his armor. The CMC-400 “Nightmare” Exo-Armor, which was standard issue for Project Nightmare personnel, was a sight for sore eyes. It’s ghostly appearance with it’s blue eyes struck fear into so many and Victor could see why. To see seven soldiers coming out of the shadows wearing this armor, carrying C-14 Gauss Rifles or “Jackhammer” Assault Shotguns, and Vibroswords would scare anyone.

Speaking of weapons, Victor opened one of the other cases and inside was his C-14 Gauss Rifle, along with a few clips of ammo. "C-14 Gauss Rifles are the hybrid weapons of the future. Another perk of being Project Nightmare was these babies. It combines older projectile technology and modern linear accelerators, which boost standard combustion based projectiles, to fire solid slugs at nearly hypersonic speed similar to railguns. It’s 120 round clips that contain one of two different projectiles. 9mm hollow-point rounds used for anti-personnel and 12mm explosive-tipped AP ‘bolts’ that detonate once they have penetrated the target for anti-armor." Or so the commander would say. All in all, a beauty beyond any regular soldiers dreams.

Victor had the choice of carrying a side arm, but choose not to. He figured that if he couldn’t take whatever it was he was shooting down with the C-14, then it didn’t deserve to come down. Besides, he replaced the “Disrupter” blaster with two daggers, one for each leg. Besides that, Victor also had his fare share of grenades. Ranging from concussion grenades to regular frag grenades. To say in the least that Project Nightmare was armed to the T, was an understatement.

And finally, the last case. The case that carried Victor’s personal box. In that box, was everything Victor had become and had been. It was the box that created the life that he stole. He called it his “Pandora’s Box”, his “gift from the gods.” Insides was everything! Everything Victor would need to change himself into a given target. Whether it be a Senator of the Empire or a lonely Stormtrooper, it got the job done and then some. Looking over everything, Victor nodded in acceptance and began to change.

After 15 or so minutes of changing, Victor reported back to Major Helghast in full Project Nightmare gear. “Sir, Sergeant-Major Victor Crestmere refit with standard issue and reporting Sir!”

[Karl Valten]

Honestly, Karl did not know the specifics of Jedi fighting styles, but he knew enough to spy out the basics of certain styles. He had seen this starting stance before on previous missions. The combatant would rely on defensive parries and patience to wait for the perfect opportunity to strike. Jacen would not be making the first attack.

Truth be told, this would be a test for Valten as well, this would be the first time he would fight a force-user wielding a lightsaber without the support of a force inhibiting ysalamiri. He was confident, though, training with the Grand Inquisitor, a force-user himself, prepared Valten for anything the Jedi could throw at him.

At the same instant it took Karl’s brain to transmit the nerve pulses to his muscles, his neural implant picked up the signals as well and transmitted the armor’s servos. Mind, body, and armor working as one, the Inquisitor lunged forward in a flash, his speed enhanced by the armor’s cyber-network.

Like a violet centrifuge, the electrostaff came spinning towards the Jedi’s throat. Valten’s own fighting style was one of constant rapid movement, to launch a flurry of strikes and try to get as close as possible to an opponent so that his power enhanced strength would give him an advantage. His weapon wouldn’t cut like a saber, but it would send a powerful electrical shock through the victim’s body.

[Y'roth Helghast]

Lt Jerrard smiled as he bent over the body of a writhing stormtrooper. The dark vacant eyes of the white helmet stared back at Ylor; he could see the reflection of the blue eyes of the Nightmare helmet.

"Please... help-p-p-p..."

The trooper was missing an arm and a leg that near by. Lightsabers were efficient and delicate weapons, cutting through nearly anything with ease. The targeted force users had been good against the storm troopers at first but fatigue had set in. Regardless of their condition though, the Nightmare Squad had made ridiculously easy work out of the three combatives.

Jerrard put his vibroknife to the soldier's neck and pulled it across fluidly. Blood splattered across the the white armor and the man spasmed in protest for only a moment before becoming still. Jerrard stood, resheathing the clean knife

"Trust me soldier, I've helped."

He scanned the vicinity, the HUD tracking the slightest movements so that he might detect any survivors. Seeing a few more, he made his way to them, one a little girl underneath the torso of stormtrooper and the other what might be her older brother, trying to play dead, also under the other part of the stormtrooper. The girl might have been unconcious but Jerrard did not give a dren what the case was, orders were orders. Confirm casualties. He withdrew his Jackhammer from its holster on his back and loaded a clip in it. The thought had already triggered the armor and without even a second thought, the cross hairs displayed the target area of one round. One shot would kill both of them. The boy's eyes snapped open and the sound of the shotgun loading and his mouth opened in what might have been a retort. Blood and dirt splattered against Jerrard's legs as he holstered the shotgun and turned away.

"Major Helghast, casualties confirmed."

Lt Lang was positioned near the small building's energy converter. The explosives were specific in their blast and amount of damage, deceptive and time consuming for any who might try to examine the site after the Squad had left. The situation as reported by the stormtroopers would be that three force using terrorists had been discovered in the area and when an Imperial unit had been sent to detain them, fighting had ensued. The force users began to lose to the awesome power of the Imperial stormtroopers and decided to take more drastic measures. One lightsaber thrust into the energy converter would cause the given damage. Killing four civilians along with them and several loyal soldiers, the force users would become the object of scorn in the area for some time to come, accomplishing several objectives tonight for the Empire. Only a few more moments would be required before the charger and detonite were configured.

Mst Sgt Scothis could see the position of Inquisitor Valten from where he was. Withdrawing a small SDP (strategic datapad) from his utility belt, he took his existing route and finished it to Valten's position. When the other Squad members would look at their operations map in thei HUD or the compass, the route would then be displayed. It provided that no one would see their approach and allow them to prevent the force sensitive from escaping if he fled from Inquisitor Valten.

Scothis currently stood on top of a closed market building, using the magnification capabilities inside his helmet, he could accurately view the situation between Valten and the force user. Naturally, Mst Sgt considered Valten the predetermined victor but the force sensitive's lightsaber style was intriguing nonetheless.

Scothis proceeded to set up a networking station for Horus, as Horus would need a direct line into the small town's communications to prevent anything from getting out for the moment. He tapped the side of his helmet, activating his comm to Helghast.

"Major Helghast, our route to Valten has been established and is secure. A hot line for Horus is prepped at my position. Scothis out."

Helghast's neural implant willed the operations map as it took up the better part of the HUD. Quickly scanning it and estimating that it might take the better part of 10 minutes to get the squad to Valten's position.

"Sir, Sergeant-Major Victor Crestmere refit with standard issue and reporting Sir!"

Sgt Mjr Crestmere pulled Y'roth's attention and the map out of his HUD as he turned. The Sgt Mjr was back in the standard Nightmare gear and ready to move out as well as Jerrard. Horus stood beside Helghast, as he would be leaving to rendevous with Scothis at the hot line.

Lt Lang's slimmer armored body stood and began to approach the rest of the squad minutes later. The explosives were set and the site was secure. For all general purposes, the Nightmare squadron did not exist.

"Major Helghast, we are green for departure."

Helghast nodded and gripped his C-14, pointing in the direction that the compass indicated.

"Move out."

As they set out, Helghast tapped the comm to Valten's channel.

"Sir, we will rendevous with your position in an estimated 10 minutes. We're approaching from the east and will flank the target if he is still a combative when we arrive. Helghast out."

[Victor Crestmere]

Victor looked in the direction Helghast had pointed to, and started running. With his C-14 next to his chest, Victor followed along next to Helghast.

"Sir, we will rendezvous with your position in an estimated 10 minutes. We're approaching from the east and will flank the target if he is still a combative when we arrive. Helghast out."

Over hearing Helghast on the comm, Victor spoke up as Helghast finished. "Sir, maybe we should split the squad up into teams and flank them from the north and the east. Could make it easier on us and we‘d be able to cut off any escape route he might have planned.” Victor wasn’t sure how Helghast would take to that idea, but Victor was sure he’d find out one way or the other. Regardless, Victor kept up his pace as the squad moved closer to Inquisitor Valten position.

[Jacen]

Jacen brought his top ligthsaber down so that it blocked the strike tohis throat. At the same time, he rolled to the opposite side of the man's armor and around to his back. He swung his other weapon, still inverted, in a horizontal line, level with where armored man's breastbone should have been.

Along with the swing, he reached out with the Force for two different reasons. One to make sure his mother and sister were indeed out of the area. Secondly, to use his telekinetics to reach out for a lone blaster on the ground. It came in right behind his lightsaber. Jacen knew without a doubt it would not so much as harm the man, but it might provide a distraction long enough to escape the man for the moment.

[Karl Valten]

Valten started to pivot, following the boy’s movement, to bring the lower portion of his staff to parry the first returning blow. A drunken smile passed over Valten as the adrenaline rush of fighting for ones life reached a peak. His mind, body, and armor working as a single entity.

For a split second, just as he was bringing his weapon around to counter the second lightsaber, Karl caught a flash of motion in his peripheral vision. The neural implant interfacing with his armor was the only thing that allowed him to turn his shoulder towards the blaster flying at his skull. The rogue pistol bounced harmlessly of his armor. Valten didn’t even feel the impact.

The evasion move cost him, though, as the second saber creased the rear pack of the armor. Valten whirled around and pulled back.

If the blade would have punctured the pack completely, could have cut clean through the CMC’s portable fusion generator. The armor’s fail-safe would trigger if any trauma came to its power source.

“Watch it kid, you get too reckless and this whole block goes up in flames.”

Without another word, Valten dove back into the fray, electrostaff a blur of cackling electricity.

[Jacen]

OOC/ sorry for the long wait in replying been kinda busy ^_^;


Jacen jumped back, bringing his left blade in close to his body and his riht held slight out to the side. He jumped up and around blocking one attack and the swinging to the opposite side to bloock another. hey went like this for quite sometime. The young Jedi would eventually move in to make a small thrust or slash, but for the most part he was purely defensive.

He stretched out his feelings and noticed a small group of people coming. Whether they were with this guy or not, he couldn't tell, but he could venture to guess."Have to call your friends?"

[Karl Valten]

(ooc: No problem Jacen. Sorry about making this post sound rushed, I'm kinda busy this week as well.)

Valten’s twirled aside to avoid the weak slashes thrown at him. Ever grinning, the Inquisitor slowly angled his way around the jedi so that the boy’s back faced his home. Throughout the entire fight, not one bead of sweat formed on Karl’s brow.

“I have no friends, only pawns and allies.”

Time to change this up a bit The Inquisitor abruptly switched fighting styles. Changing from his whirling blows, he suddenly lunged forward in a powerful upward strike aimed one of the lightsabers. Karl took advantage of the split second when Jacen reeled back to plant a viscous kick to the boys chest.

“Come on Jedi, where are your vaunted skills”

[Jacen]

Jacen followed through the kick, and let it lead him into a backflip. Only when he landed did he notice that the hilt of his green saber had been damaged by the man's electtostaff.

"Frell," he mutterred. He tossed the weapon aside. He gripped his remaining lightsaber in both hands and jumped forward in a thrust, careful not to overextend himself.

As he was coming in towards the man, he could feel the precense of the others getting closer. I gotta make my move and soon.

[Karl Valten]

Karl laughed at the Jedi’s lost weapon, another one for the trophy case. The Inquisitor windmilled his staff, knocking Jacen’s blade towards the ground. Ferrocrete hissed as the blade cut deep into the road.

“Your skills are lacking, Jedi.” Valten jabbed the end of his staff towards the boys chest. “There must not be many masters left.” Karl slashed to the right, using the shaft like a rapier as the Jedi twisted around first jab.

“Your sabers aren’t even worthy to join my collection.”

[Jacen]

"Prehaps, but I don't plan on letting anything join any collection this night," Jacen said, more forceful then he intended as he jumped back and to the left. The staff's end missed him by mere centimeters, but it was still close enough for him to feel a jolt of electricity.

The young boy rubbed his side as he held his lightsaber one handed. "Prehaps there aren't many master's left but as long as there is one someone will find a way to do away with your kind!"

[Y'roth Helghast]

Helghast gave Crestmere a hand signal that in short meant negative and a few other things. Jerrard made a snort of laughter that was heard over the comm, Naomi's stifled giggle following. Victor did not need an explanation as to why his suggestion was denied, they merely continued.

The plan might have been able to follow through with Crestmere's suggestion if they had more than four soldiers at the moment. The squad was relatively "new" and from what Y'roth knew, Victor had little to no experience against an actual force adept except for the extensive simulations that were available for training. Those were very close to the real thing in Helghast's opinion but the possibilities were still too limited. The ability that force adepts wielded was often beyond the logical estimations of a computer. In short, splitting the squad down the middle for a pincer formation would only give the adept more of an advantage. Not to mention, Scothis had already signaled his weapon readiness. They had enough advantage as it was.

They were within meters and they broke into a sprint, their armor providing them with enough endurance to prevent them from tiring out. They approached in a diamond formation, Helghast at point, Crestmere and Jerrard behind and to the sides and Lang directly behind Helghast and further back from the other two. Lang and Scothis would keep the enemy from escaping, Helghast, Crestmere, and Jerrard would neutralize the situation for Valten. They arrived just in time to hear...

"Perhaps there aren't many master's left, but as long as there is one, someone will find a way to do away with your kind!"

A wry smile stretched across Helghast's lips to the familiar sound of desperate hopes. Their "kind" was really all that was left. Why even bother thinking the inevitable of a revolution might occur? Leaping through the door way and arriving on the adept's flank, rifles ready. Project Nightmare held the adept in nothing less than a death trap as Crestmere and Jerrard fanned out to the sides. The cold-as-steel voice of Helghast rang out in the air that smelled of burnt ozone.

"How unfortunate that you won't have the oppurtunity to see such wishful thinking, adept. Save yourself the trouble and drop your weapons."

Jerrard smiled, gripping his C-14 with the riot supressing mod attached.

"Yeah, we'd hate to have to kill ya, kid."

The commlink changed from local to private again as Helghast confirmed the rest of the squad's status.

"Scothis is green, Major. He can't escape if he tries."

"Lang is a green, Major. Proxies to the sides and a remote behind us."

"Horus, Major. Networks are down."

[Jacen]

Jacen turned on his heels to see the newcomers flanking him. He looked back and forth between all of them, trying to think of something. He knew he wouldn't have any trouble blocking the bolts, but the problem was that he would get tired and there was no way to know how much ammo they had. All it woudl take was one wrong move.

"Yeah...I'm sure you would just die," he said in the most sarcastic voice he could manage. As he talked, Jacen reached out and felt his mother and sister safely running away. He could suurrender now and atleast they would be safe. Or I could detonate that guy's suit and take all of us out.

Pick your battles wisely Jacen, and always know when to back down. His father's advice rang clearly as he looked about him. This was definitely one of those times he needed to back down.

The Jedi stood up slowly and took his thumb off of his lightsaber's power switch and threw the metallic cylinder down on the ground. "There ya go."

[Karl Valten]

Karl stepped back, deactivating his staff as he did so, at the arrival of Helghast and the others. The ever-present grin vanished as he leaned back, lazily using the inert weapon as a brace. He wanted to let the boy realize the hopeless situation he was in. Surrounded by an Inquisitor of the Empire and by five towering, faceless Nightmare soldiers in full armor should have brought fear to anyone, but the boy only showed unrelenting resolve.

“I’ve heard similar heroic lines from dozens and yet I’m still standing. Your kind always underestimates us, as if you think that because we can’t touch the force as you do, that we are weaker.”

Valten gestured at each of the soldiers around him. “We, however, do not think so lowly of you, we know what you are capable of...and what you aren’t capable of” The Inquisitor’s eyes darkened and his lips warped into a sneer. “You arrogant, sniveling worms have no place in this society.”

Karl reached to his belt, pulling out an illegal disruptor pistol. “As much as I want to do this the easy way, I think you be worth more alive.” Valten twirled the pistol back into its sheath.

“Take him away, break him….oh, and someone track down those two civilians that got away.”

[Jacen]

Jacen's eyes flashed as the man mentioned the civilians. To his knowledge the only civilians that could be going would be his sister and mother, but he tried to keep his cool.

"Leave civilians alone. You came hunting me and you have me. They are of no use to you."

[Y'roth Helghast]

Helghast and Crestmere appreciated the art of body language, both of them easily detected the tension in his last statement. A thin smile spread across Helghast's lips. This would be more fun than he had expected, watching a procession of culling the weak soldiers was one thing but finding a flexible target for interrogation was on another level.

"Confirmed, Sir. Sgt Mjr Scothis?"

"Confirmed, Major. I'm already moving."

Helghast motioned the squad forward, Jerrard retrieving the lightsaber and removing the power cell from it. Crestmere stepped directly behind the adept, rifle aimed at his chest. Helghast approached from the side, binders in his hand. Jerrard stood right in the adept's face, the pale blue light of the Nightmare helmet's visor cast on the young man's face.

"Move, please, give us an excuse to string you from your intestines. I'm quite skilled at it. Or go ahead and attempt some force trick. C'mon, I'm begging ya, it will take two seconds for me to wrap your face around my fist."

Helghast allowed it to continue, either way worked for the moment. He'd let the adept respond before they binded and sedated him. And Scothis could track down two civilians given time, especially with the scout kit active.

[Jacen]

Jacen weighed his options before finally coming to his decision. A smile was the only warning he gave that he was going to do something that might be considered desperate or futile.

He was reaching out with the Force and retching the gun from the man behind him and throwing it at the man in front of him. It might be a futile effort, but it would buy a few more precious seconds before they started searching for his family.

[Y'roth Helghast]

Crestmere's hands were empty for only a moment as he drew out his Jackhammer Assault Shotgun. It had caught him off guard but when it came to force adepts, just about anything could be expected and all one could do was respond in kind.

Helghast turned and caught the weapon in his off hand with ease, the suit compensating in every aspect of the gesture. Y'roth aimed the rifle with one hand at the adept as Jerrard responded.

Jerrard sneered beneath his face plate, his armored glove responding to his thoughts as he took the simplest of the Teras Kasi martial arts style and used it to its fullest. His fist slammed up into the adept's stomach, lifting the man off his feet and then letting him back down. The best analogy to what it might feel like would be if a durasteel pillar had just been rammed into your stomach. It was meant to be debilitating though, not fatal.

"This could have been much easier for you."

[Jacen]

Jacen doubled over, gasping for air. His vision blurred and finally blackened as unconiousness tried to ocercome him. His last thought. Please let them escape.

[Spada Elhow]

In a particular area of Coruscant, Spada was confused. Leaving a diner, he found that the pedestrian traffic was at a standstill. Pushing his way through the people, Spada moved up to see what was going on. What he saw would have made his hair stand on end if he had any. In front of the people were a small squad of stormtroopers closing off a section of street, and rumors spread through the crowd of a riot. Ducking out quickly to avoid contact with the Troopers, Spada quickly walked down an alleyway to find another way in to see what was happening. As he came to an intersection, Spada was almost knocked over by a woman and her child who sprinted by him, and their fright was shown obviously in their faces. Spada looked to where they ran from and saw a man closing the distance between them.

Spada squared up to the man who was not slowing up, and said deeply through his mask,

'Hey! Whats the big idea!?!'

[Y'roth Helghast]

Scothis stopped and examined the Kel Dor before him. His HUD scanned over the area and determined they were alone, the woman and child taking turns out of the alley. No matter, Scothis placed the small custom pistol back in its holster and drew out his C-14 with a startling grace in what might have seemed as cumbersome armor. The glowing eyes of Scothis' helmet did not look away from his newly acquired target. Scothis was not even considering questions. Merely a secondary objective, remove witnesses.

He raised the snipermod-C-14, a round being loaded into the extended barrel as a small grimace appeared on Scothis' hidden lips.

[Spada Elhow]

It was when the man raised a rifle at Spada that he realised he had gotten himself into some bad business. The man drew his rifle fast, considering the heavy layers of armor he appeared to have, and Spada quickly dove back around the corner, getting himself out of the man's line of sight. Spotting a fire escape, Spada focused the force beneath him and jumped up much higher than physically possible.

However, it was almost not far enough. As Spada reached the height of the jump he barely grabbed on with one hand, leaving him hanging there as he attempted to climb the rest of the way to the safety of the fire escape. Spada looked down, to be sure that if the man saw him and fired on him, he still might be able to react and risk a jump off the fairly high platform.

[Y'roth Helghast]

The witness suddenly became higher priority. The HUD within Scothis' helmet had tracked the Kel-Dor behind the building as it made an attempt to reach the fire escape impossibly too high above it. To Scothis' amazement, the Kel-Dor made it.

"Major Helghast, we have another adept within the perimeter."

Scothis' raised the barrel upwards and fired, the crosshairs firmly aimed at the Kel-Dor through a wall. The rounds in the snipermod-C-14 were more than adequate to pierce the building and hit the target on the otherside without losing any of its strength.

* * *

Helghast withdrew the tranquilizer from Jacen's neck and tightened down the locks on his wrists, ankles, and now his neck. Nodding to Y'lor, the adept was prepared for extraction. Y'lor threw him over his shoulder and headed out with Lang. Helghast expected a report from Scothis any moment saying that the civilians had been tracked. Then, on Y'roth's squad window, Scothis's weapon was discharged.

"Major Helghast, we have another adept within the perimeter."

And Helghast had been led to believe that their had not been anymore. Force adepts, specifically newer adepts, liked to pop out of the main frame when Imperial forces were on the move. Too many adepts underestimated their Imperial opponents, blindly standing against something that they could not even fathom. Just because Skywalker had almost been a success, it did not mean that all force adepts would follow under the same path. No, the most likely path would be that which the majority fell under, systematic execution.

"Inquisitor Valten. Another adept has engaged SgtM Scothis. Any specifics?"

As Helghast talked, he was already directing Crestmere to move towards Scothis' position.

[Karl Valten]

“For peace-preaching zealots, these adepts are attracted to blood like frelling Velkers.”

How so many force-users escaped the purge, Valten couldn’t fathom. The idiots practically threw themselves onto the pyre. At a thought, a crude map of the area materialized on the limited HUD of his single eyepiece, an inconvenience as a result of not wearing a full Nightmare helm. Blue blips represented the Nighmares while red marked out the last seen position of the adept.

“Horus search InquisNET for an ID on this one.”

Karl dissolved the map and turned to Y’roth, retracting the electrodes of his collapsible staff.

“We’ve had enough surprises today; we do this by the book…..no improvisation.” The Inquisitor threw a quick glance towards Lt. Lang to reinforce his statement.

“I’ll take the witnesses. You take the adept.”

Valten tossed the electrostaff to Y’roth. The Nightmares, while perfectly able to handle both situations on their own, drew an excessive amount of attention in the open. He had the best chance of eliminating the two escapees without attracting too many eyes.

“I’ll meet you at the extraction point.”

[Spada Elhow]

Spada was just getting his grip on the fire escape's ladder to climb when suddenly he felt a strange, distant humming in his ear. Spada listened, reaching out with his mind to feel what was going on around him. It was just then when Spada felt a strange impulse to jump, and heard a crack which sounded something like air being sucked through a small hole. Going by his senses, which had helped him many times, Spada leaped from the ladder just as a bullet penetrated the wall next to him and struck his cloak where his head used to be.

Falling quickly and out of control, Spada had little time to use his Jedi reflaxes and luckily landed on his chest, using his arms and legs to take some of the impact. As he did this, one leg sent a shock up his body, relaying its message of pain to him in a split second. Spada hissed through his mask; he must have torn a muscle in his calf.

Scurrying up as fast as his leg could carry him and doubling back to the alleyway he came from, Spada thought to himself,

'I must've asked questions to the wrong person'

[Y'roth Helghast]

The crosshair was on the small of the Kel Dor's back and the zoom reticule opened. Scothis's finger lay on the trigger, the rifle loaded and ready to make a clean hole in the back of the adept. Right on the exhale though, Scothis noticed the figures of civilians out in the street that the Kel Dor was about to enter. Witnesses. A man walked right by the adept and then suddenly turned in shock to see the wounded scum. Sympathy... and for such a creature to boot...

And yet, there were too many witnesses suddenly and mission objectives were too crucial to compromise for one adept. The HUD had captured enough activity to make sure the Inquisitoriate kept an eye out though and that was enough. Scothis quickly turned back around the corner and departed towards Major Helghast's position.

"Major Helghast, we've got witnesses everywhere near the target. I'm aborting. Reporting back to your position."

"Roger that, SMjr Scothis."

* * *

Helghast turned back to Valten before they both left.

"Sir, the target was aborted. We can extract information about the two civilians from the prisoner and retrieve them later. Horus can take their address and wipe any assets they might have, preventing them from leaving the planet. Then take care of that objective at another date due to the increase of witnesses in the area."