TSO Training Mission: Hold Back the Day

[Jorshal Vuntana]

The Sith Order had touched down quietly on Kashyyyk that morning. So far, no one knew the Sith were present on Kashyyyk. Now it was night and the Sith Order was about to begin their mission.

A group of Jedi venerates was forming amongst the population. This was obviously dangerous to the Sith and just as dangerous to the way the galactic power sat. It was best to uproot soon. The particular city where the venerates were gathering was even more dangerous. It was one of Kashyyyk's major ports. Ideas could be spread even quick in such an area.

Jorshal stood outside of a tree hut in the outskirts of the city. The wind breezed past his face an whipped his cloak into the air while he pondered the mission. Three knights, three acolytes. Much could go wrong, yet perfect success was not unattainable. His greatest worry was that the Inquisition might disturb them. The ruthless hounds had a way of preventing anyone from knowing what their next move was.

He looked over his shoulder to Dakler Terrcin, the Sith Order's newest apprentice. He had to admit, he was nervous about jumping into a mission with someone he had never fought with before. But then again, there was a first time for everything.

He unclipped a generic lightsaber from his belt and handed it to Dakler. "Use it if you know how."

[Dakler Terrcin]

Dakler leaned up against one of the giant trees, awe'd at it's age and strength. Korriban was dead. It had once held great power, and he could still feel the echoes of that power when he was there. It was essentially dead, however. Dakler wanted to rule the living, not commune with the dead.

"Use it if you know how."

Dakler took the lightsaber from Jorshal. It felt cool and heavy in his hand. It reminded him in a way of the first time he had held a blaster as a young man. It felt wrong that an inanimate object should be so powerful. Only the living should have the right to take a life. That power should not belong to a souless machine.

Igniting the lightsaber, Dakler felt it come alive in his hands. He immediatly realized why it was a weapon for force users. It already seemed almost like a part of his body, so much more than any vibrosword he had ever held. The lightsaber itself was almost alive. Truely, as he had been told, a lightsaber was a weapon unlike any other.

Dakler began working through the forms he knew for a standard sword, getting a feel for the lightsaber's heft and weight. He would use the lightsaber today for the intimidation it would provide, but he knew it would be a long time before he was a match for a trained user.

After he felt confident that he wouldn't be slicing his own leg off in the heat of battle, Dakler turned to Jorshal. "When do we start this?"

[Jorshal Vuntana]

"Now."

As Dakler had examined his own borrowed lightsaber, Jorshal had spotted another, this time clipped to the belt of a Wookie. A Jedi was bad, a Jedi Wookie was worse. However, Jorshal hadn't turned down a challange yet. Surrounding him were three other aliens, none of which Jorshal could identify.

He leapt from the tree, ignighting his lightsaber on the way down, and sliced from the wookie's eye to its shoulder. The putrid scent of singed flesh and fur burst into the nostrils of the next largest alien as Jorshal spun on his heel and kicked it in the gut. If they were going to find the leaders of the Jedi venerates, then some short time interrogation was in order.

[Dakler Terrcin]

"Now"

Jorshal was gone and the wookie dead before Dakler even knew what was happening. Dakler clipped the lightsaber on his belt and lept after the Knight. Just as his feet reached the floor, Dakler brought his elbow down with crushing force on the remaining alien's head, and it crumpled to the ground.

Dakler quickly glanced about for any threats, but it seemed, for the moment, at least, that he and Jorshal were alone with the remaining, disabled alien. This, at least, was something Dakler had done before, and he had always found that fear and confusion where priceless in interrogation. Give someone a chance to catch themselves, to steel their mind against the pain to come, and they would proove much harder to break.

Dakler immediatly went over to the fallen alien, who was coughing violently, and tied a rope around his leg, and then quicly tied the other end to a strong railing. He yanked the coughing man to his feet and drug him over to the edge of the platform they were standing on. Pushing the unfortunate alien over the railing, holding him there, Dakler screamed, "Your leader, where is he? How many Jedi are there? how many?"

With that he let the alien fall, a fall that would have taken nearly 30 seconds if not for the rope. As it was, the alien's hip had probably come out of the socket when the rope went taut, causing him excruciating pain, not to mention the birds-eye view of the shadowlands. Dakler looked over at Jorshal as he began to haul the alien up hand over hand. "I bet five credits that he talks this time" he said with a wink.

[Jorshal Vuntana]

As the alien's head finally showed over the railing Jorshal said, "Tie it to his other leg now. There's no bone connection with his hip out. We don't want the flesh to rip and loose him to the shadowlands."

The alien began chattering in some uncomprehendable language.

"We speak basic here, alien." He replied to the nonsense and pushed it over the edge again. He could always use the Force to translate or search the alien's mind, but nothing instilled fear quite like a good interrogation. Jorshal's personal objective was to make sure that people understood that Jedi Veneration was a horrible offense against the Sith and that the Sith were jealous and vengeful people.

[Dakler Terrcin]

Once the creature again reached the top, Dakler again hung him over the railing. The question was repeated: "How many? Where?"

The alien, sobbing now choked out "one Jedi, just one. below, halfway down to the shadowlands. We hide....everything... from the Imperials. You get there through a trap door in Urbaca's Pub. Please..."

With a devious grin on his face, Dakler pushed the alien even farther over the edge. "We know you're lying," he said. We both read your mind long ago. We know everything."

"Ok, ok, there are two Jedi. Urbaca's pub. That's the place though. Go there, just let me go. Please"

"Let you go?" Dakler said with a laugh. "well, ok, since you asked so nicely." and with that Dakler dropped him over the edge once more, the aliens terrified scream piercing the still air. Turning to Jorshal, Dakler asked "Well, what are we waiting for?"

[Nyloh Heat]

"Commander..."

Nyloh sat up from his cot in his hut that was purposefully in the middle of nowhere. The commlink had beeped to life and the voice that followed was something out of a bad dream. He groped in the nearly pitch black shade for the comm on the table; frustrated more that he actually did find it.

"Yeah, go ahead. Wait, which one is this?"

"You designated me as Seeker Alpha, Commander. Seeker Bravo has detected four individuals that are confirmed force adepts."

Nyloh closed his eyes for a moment. Four? They had to be wrong. With a heavy sigh, he continued.

"Confirmed? Elaborate on the evidence, Alpha."

A different but equally rough voice came across the comm.

"Seeker Bravo here, Sir. I waited in the given position at the ports as you ordered. The arrival of six individuals was noted, one matched our files as a previous case within the Inquisitoriate. They split into three groups, unfortunately we lost one of the groups."

Nyloh's heart skipped a beat. Had the Inquisitoriate planned this out? Had they known a former... detainee of theirs would be coming here or was it just extremely bad luck on his part? And the Seekers had lost one of the groups?!

"How do peo- things like you go about losing them? You're designed to not lose them right?"

"Commander, you gave us strict restrictions against entering mainstream public."

Heat rubbed his eyes slowy with his thumb and index finger. Were they being difficult on purpose? This was exactly why Nyloh preffered just to do it all on his own.

"Nevermind... Continue..."

"Seeker Chakra awaits on the outside of the perimeter though for the missing group, Commander. Seeker Alpha and I located an additional two force adepts hiding half way the distance to the ground level before coming across the group we were tracking. They just engaged battle with three personnel, two died and they interrogated the last before executing it as well. They-"

"What evidence do you have, Bravo? Give me one thing, clear and simple."

"Lightsabers and verbal confirmation, Commander."

The voice that came out of the commlink was clearly a recording, it was faint and digital, but belonged to a voice that had an edge to it, but not a rough edge. It seemed like an edge to a blade that that had been used maybe once or twice in its lifetime.

"We know you're lying. We both read your mind long ago. We know everything."

Good bluff, thought Nyloh. If you knew everything you wouldn't be asking questions. Heat smelled the typical cruelty that he had seen throughout the galaxy. Force or no, the method to their means was far too often of the stereotype.

"Right then, that's enough for me. Forget the other team, we're moving on the two teams we know of. We'll track the active ones, Delta and Echo can maintain their pursuit, Chakra will ditch his post at the perimeter and flank the active team, which I'll designate as team opal, the others are team sapphire, and consider the missing team as ruby. I'll track the team from a recommended path from you, Bravo. You and Alpha are to seperate and surround team opal on each side. We'll close in on them from there. I'm moving as we speak, Heat out."

"Roger Commander, Bravo out."

Heat stood slowly and stretched... He supposed it was about time he actually did something hands on AND mission related. He moved into the small hut and clicked the charger off. He sat down in a small wicker chair and slowly began to undress. He hadn't had even this much luxury on Onderon. Just wearing the powersuit all the time. He was really more comfortable in it, he felt secure. But sleeping was always an issue, and here in this lax humidity, it was so easy to fall asleep with the light breeze coming through the monstrous forest.

He slid the first layer on, a simple mesh that worked with the powersuit in several areas that Nyloh had found necessary, waterproof, temp control and such. Then each seperate plate until he was covered in dull gray armor. He was rather fond of the modifications he had spent hours and hours building into the simple powersuit. The Mandalorian additions had been very helpful. Melding what technology was out there with the hunter oriented Mandalorian plans, Nyloh had gained an edge in a hunting environment that so far was unrivaled. Proven only by the fact that he was still alive. He slid the helmet over his face, the inside panels blinking on, as he was sure the orange receptor in the middle of the face plate brightened then dimmed as it adjusted to the light.

He stepped out into the open air of his porch once more. The entire atmosphere was no longer relaxing, the hunt was on. And his prey used the force.

[Jorshal Vuntana]

Rip

Thud

Jorshal ignored at the sound of the alien breaking free from the rope and plummeting until he hit a large branch. Two Jedi? Doubtful. Unless the Jedi had a major operation on Kashyyyk, Jorshal was only expecting one if any at all.

"From this point on, we attack every individual who has been involved with the Jedi veneration and strike them down. We move from hut to hut, until we find Urbaca's pub." He instructed. Along with finding the leader, Jorshal wanted desperately to punish every single follower as well as find the leader. "Use the Force as an inutitive tool and we'll sweep through this village like wildfire."

----

"[What do you mean you're not up to anything!]" The elder Wookie Rahshook roared and threw its arms in the air. "[You're always trying to cause trouble! You need to act like an adult instead of some rowdy cub!]"

"[Don't call me a rowdy cub! The Empire is oppressing us! Palpatine even enslaved us and you're saying I'm just rowdy! We need to stand up for ourselves!]" The younger female wookie, Arshala, responded in equal in ferocity and anger. Since the Empire had come to power shortly in her multicenturial life she had been working to resist and over throw it, no matter the cost.

""

Her father's clawed hand reached out towards Arshala and he gripped it, pulling herself off out of the corner she had crouched into early in the fight. Her father was too afraid of change. Afraid to rock the boat no matter what it might cost for a cause greater than any one person. She knew he just wanted to look out for her safety, but he didn't know she just wanted to look out for his. The Empire was constantly shipping out whole villages to be sold as slaves. Rocking the boat was their only hope.

Arshala took her seat at the table between her youngest brother and her mother as the family had already started to eat. The table was silent as it always was when she and her father fought beforehand. She couldn't help but feel bad, she was conflicted inside. She knew that fighting hurt her family, but she couldn't back down; she had to stand up for what she believed. She lost her appitite and now was only muddling with the food on the wooden dish while the rest of her family woofed it down. Silently she thought about the meeting her friend took her too in the shadowlands, what the self-proclaimed Jedi said... She loved her family, but in perspective of the galaxy it was a small price to pay for the freedom of millions. Or so she was told. She longed for a way to act without putting her family on the line. Perhaps her father was right, she needed to choose her battles, not for her own sake but for theirs.

[i]Thud

Arshala looked up from her plate and abandoned her thoughts.

The cry of a female wookie erupted into the air. Nerewhalasha, their younger neighbor in the tree next to theirs was screaming something... Nirashh? Niroach... Nirrwrash!? Nirrwrash were the monsters of bedtime stories that only naughty children believed anymore. But to Arshala it sounded genuine. Nerewhalasha and her husband Orbaka were young but not pranksters. Arshala had actually meet with her husband at several wookie freedom gatherinds. Even saw him at the Jedi thing the other night.

THUD

This one was louder now. Across from Roashook's tree. He stood up from the table and peered out the window before going to open the door. Something was frightening the whole damn village. A wild animal from the shadowlands, maybe?

The door cracked down the center as if a battering ram had hit it. Roashook jumped back startled. Then the door gaved in with a thud and the cries of the village faded to the background. Everyone at the table was too stunned to move.

The humanoid's yellow eyes stared into those of each family member for a second and then focused on Arshwala. She studied its features for what seemed like forever, yet was only a breif second. It's face was painted white, a crimson cross peaked with a diamond was imprinted on its brow and nose. It came for her. It wasn't Nirrwrash, it was what the Jedi-wanna-be was ranting about the other night.

Her eyes witnessed her father get pushed across the room by unseen forces, but her mind was still trying to believe that this was what the fake-Jedi was talking about.

It hopped on the table with incredable speed as Arshala's mother scrambled to maybe stop it or maybe run. She couldn't get up, she couldn't break fixation though logic screamed to her 'RUN'.

Her scalp reddened as the creature with the cross on its head yanked her warrior wookie braids, hauling her onto the table with a great clatter and dragging her towards the door. Her father attempted again to defend his family but was easily throw about again without anyone touching him.

"Arshala!" He called hoarsly while the rest of her family seemed to be making a noise between cries and screams.

Red heat hummed in front of her and singed her fur.

Darkness flooded her eyes and crimson soaked her fur.

[Dakler Terrcin]

Jorshal let Dakler enter a few of the first homes, allowing him to get a bit of valuable lightsaber experience. It wasn't the same as real combat, but to an absolute lightsaber novice, it was someting. Dakler was amazed at the effect the red lightsaber had on his victims. If he had burst into one of these houses with a vibrosword, the wookie's would have rushed him, and Dakler didn't have much confidence that he could defeat 3 or 4 full-grown wookies.....especially without the Force. With the lightsaber, however, most were too stunned to moved, or simply cowered in a corner, waiting for the end.

As they worked their way through the city, Dakler began to worry. Success in any battle required engaging him at the time and place of your choosing, perferably as a surprize. He and Jorshal, however, were setting themselves up to be ambushed. Surely word of Deamons, Sith, or something of the sort was spreading throughout the village. The last thing Dakler wanted was some sort of organized resistance finding him and Jorshal.

In light of this, Dakler left Jorshal to scout the surrounding area, moving from rooftop to rooftop, keeping to the shadows, deciding where he would make an ambush if he were a bunch of Jedi-lovers. Everywhere he saw doors being locked, old wookies grabbing the blaster they kept stashed away, making sure the power packs were fully charged. Each successive house was going to be more difficult for Jorshal to take. The venerates themselves were probably already putting a plan into action. Any group worth it's salt would have weapons reserves, a system for informing members, etc. After all, the Inquisitoriate...or the Sith.... could show up and attack them at any time.

After several minuets of searching for resistance, Dakler found what they had been looking for the whole time. He got on the comm and transmitted to Jorshal "No signs of resistance yet, although I expect when it comes it will be sudden and in force. More importantly, I've found Urbaca'a Pub. Come find me when you've finished having fun."

Now he simply had to find a way into the pub and down to the shadowlands. He was sure some idot venerate would come along and show him exactly what to do, so long as he was patient.

[Nyloh Heat]

Seeker Chakra slowly moved beneath the walkways, suspended upside down. His claws and metal spikes in his feet enabled him to scale nearly any surface with ease, his undaunted endurance keeping him in such a state as long as necessary. He could clearly see some kind of elevator that lead to a hut a good distance down. A quick scan told Chakra that it was that no life forms occupied it at the moment. He knew one of the opal adepts was right above his position, Bravo had informed him of as much. And his system had intercepted that last comm message. The adept would be very disappointed to discover that his prey was no longer here and that he had now become the prey.

Bravo was balanced on a tree limb high above the adept, his vision zoomed in to confirm the target for Chakra. Bravo extended his arm, the wrist twisting as the barrel protruding from his forearm extended. The built in blaster rifle activated with faintest of noises as he slid a power cell into the slide with his other hand. The adept was merely looking about, which made Bravo's job that much easier. Alpha was on the other side, Bravo had seen Alpha moving from house to house, mimicking the method of the other adept but finishing the life forms off within each house with stealth efficiency.

Alpha stood with a grace that suited his deadly appearance. The blade that seemed to grow out of his forearm turned to catch the claws of the advancing wookie. The wookie couldn't scream as it had some kind of cryogoo over his mouth. It was actually a similar material used in sticky grenades, just in a smaller projectile like form for such purposes. The blade removed the claw and appeared to get longer, catching the wounded wookie off guard as it sliced through its neck. Alpha stepped underneath the wookie's arm and let the body fall to the ground as he lifted his knee up to catch the next silenced wookie in the stomach. He grabbed the wookie by the face and stepped to the side, using his momentum to hurl the wookie into the ground. The odd wristblade followed a second later to skewer the wookie in the back twice.

"Alright, Seekers, I'm on point."

Nyloh's voice rang through their systems, confirming that the commander had finally arrived and they could begin contact with the adepts. Alpha's lips had been sewn shut nearly 15 years ago when he had undergone the Seeker processing, and in a long time, he smiled.

Nyloh landed the swoop and stepped off a distance away from the noises within the small area. No help was coming for the wookies. Nyloh had made sure the Seekers cut off and blocked any outgoing messages. He activated his suit's stealth system, every noise suddenly dampened to an undetectable level, even for the Seekers. He in nearly all senses, became invisible. He ran though, not that any would know, but he ran to the indicated position of the closest opal team adept. He was inside a building at the moment, doing who knew what, especially if civilians were concerned. Nylod drew his lithe vibrosword, the vibrations at such a high frequency when activated that air was visibly pushed away.

No need to activate it yet though. He was fighting a force adept, which meant lightsabers most likely. Lady Dahmonwight had sent this vibrosword with the Seekers, saying it was a weapon that had seen to the death of many force adepts when they had scoured the galaxy like a plague. Heat didn't give much for legends, the fact that the blade could withstand a lightsaber was reassurance enough.

[Jorshal Vuntana]

The population of Jedi venerates was now reduced to little under half. Jorshal stalked out the next door, ever aware of the happenings around them. It seemed that more of the Jedi Venerates were running for their lives now once it became apparent what the two Sith were after. The call for violence was now wearing itself out, Jorshal had enough information to know how to identify the leader and what to expect. Let the rest of the venerates run, the word would spread and they would know they're being hunted now. It was time for the Jedi Veneration community to become afraid.

Jorshal burst through the doors of the pub and found Dakler. The whole town was in chaos now, they didn't have time to wait and find someone to take them to the leader. "Alright Dakler," He passed a mental image he compiled form invading the minds of several now dead venerates over to Dakler. "Keep an eye out for this guy."

A blaster shot nearly grazed his head. He was never too good at multitasking, he silently cursed hismelf for being so slow as he turned to face what was there.

[Dakler Terrcin]

"oh #$%#" Dakler yelled as he pushed a table over and crouched behind it. Peaking around the corner, Dakler's head was almost blown off as four blaster bolts slamed into the table and floor. The mental image Jorshal had given Dakler was good, but not as good as a real picture would have been. In his quick peak, Dakler saw four men, obviously brothers, who all loosely matched Jorshal's mental picture. Now they couldn't just kill them and be done with it.....
Dakler seized the force and bent it to his will, feeding it into his legs, arms and torso. He quickly checked to make sure the four brother hadn't moved and then he hured the table at the four of them. It caught the middle two across the chest, knocking them over and pinning them to the floor. The other two, however, had sidsteped and were now leveling their blasters at Dakler. His strength still amplified, Dakler leaped at the neared opponent. A blaster shot whizzed just beneth him as he flew through the air, but before the Venerate could fire again, Dakler had smashed his face in and turned to face the remaining Venerate.

[Jorshal Vuntana]

The remaining man's body lifted into the air and flew against the wall as the remaining patrons of the bar scattered. Silently he was grateful that Dakler handled the initial shooters with such efficiency.

Quickly he stalked to the survivor and picked him up off the floor, hand tightly clenched around his throat. "You mind is strong, so I need you to tell me about the venerate web. What have you got in the Shadowlands?" For a second, it seemed as if the one in his hand might be the leader, he looked similar in the face. Brothers maybe? Regardless...

"Frack you." He spit between broken teeth and blood.

Jorshal pushed a finger on the eye of his captive, the lid fluttering around it. Slowly, he pushed in as the man howled.

"Again. What have you got in the Shadowlands?"

"I'm not giving in to you monsters." He said between moans of pain.

Jorshal sighed and pressed into the eye a little harder causing screams to echos through the village. Before he could question for the last time, his comm alarmed him to an incoming message.

"Jorshal, this is Yurza. We've made contact with the fanatics and have confirmed that there is a Jedi among them. A Kel Dorian named Torn Dlo. I must caution you now, be wary of the Jedi Master. He is very powerful. I've dealt with him before and trust me his lightsaber skills are more of a challenge than I suggest you taking up."

Suggest Jorshal take up? Had he any idea of Jorshal's skills? Regardless. He smiled a toothy grin in the face of his victim. "You hear that? That's you Jedi facing five of our Sith. This whole hting is going to shatter beneath you. Now, if you make my job easier you'll be granted life. What's going on in the Shadowlands?"

"Frack-"

Before the other word could exit his mouth, his face seemingly exploded as Jorshal's amplified arm pummeled into it. Most of the right jaw was broken, right cheekbone as well. Jorshal pulled open the trap door leading to the Shadowlands and tossed the former victim down it.

"Well, he wasn't the leader. With the time we've got he wasn't going to confess anything." He stared for a moment at Dakler's expressionless face. "Let's persue this leader in the Shadowlands and get out of here."

To Jorshal, things were getting progressively bad and he wanted to get out fast. The Jedi presence seemed to push things to the point where they could get worse.