The Lonely Mile

[Xanatos Etanial]

Coruscant

Laurent had vanished, perhaps he'd found a new toy, perhaps something had happened to him. By the time he'd realized that Laurent wasn't coming back for him, however, old memories - old dreams had started to creep in. He slumped back against the alley wall and shook his head. Nothing ever seemed to turn out right, did it?

First you tried to drink your problems away, when that failed, put your faith in another, only to be stolen away and have your mind warped. You've seen a lover killed before your eyes, commited unspeakable acts, and now find yourself looking back down a road you've been on before. He winced at that thought, the temptation to say hello to his old bottled friends. The sweet release of alcohol... but that was the easy way, wasn't it Etanial?

The easy way hadn't led you down many good paths.

And so once more, I face a crossroads, I face choices.

Drink yourself stupid, or just end your miserable existence. Perhaps fall into the habits you attempted to remove yourself from, dark thoughts that Laurent had filled your mind with. Or perhaps...

Finding strength he braced himself against the wall he had been leaning against and pushed himself up. Perhaps picked myself up would be a better phrase, he shook his head a bit and released a breath, can a monster be redemed? He straightened himself and walked out of the alley back onto the busy city street. This time he would make the best of his life, he swore it.

[Xanatos Etanial]

He passed a few well lit bars as he walked, and caught himself glancing towards them. He still had those lingering thoughts, a want of drowning his problems and memories in a friendly brown warmth. NO! He wasn't going to falter, not this time. A couple of bar patrons walked past, and he found himself having to stop to keep from running into them. He huffed a bit, rude drunks - he couldn't stand those. He needed to work on his temper as well, that violent, violent temper.

Shaking it all off he started walking again, these strange brightly lit streets of Coruscant - nothing like at home. Mithos of course had power. They weren't that backwards, however he'd noticed some striking differences. Where his society functioned around nobility, tradition and what many would call myth - these worlds seemed the opposite, driven on science, progress and growth. Coruscant itself seemed a testiment to those principles, and he was awe-struck by it.

He sighed again and began to smile, if everyone else could make it on Coruscant - then surely he, an Etanial, could as well. He turned a corner onto a much less busy pathway and searched the streets, he wasn't sure what he was looking for, but he would know it when he saw it. A couple of youths ran by laughing and holding onto a woman's purse. He frowned, if he was going to make the best of himself, and begin doing things the right way. Then he had best begin immediately. He reached out to stop one of them, and the boy fell back - before he had had a chance to grab onto him. He blinked a bit. Magic tricks, he smiled and chuckled. He'd always been talented - the gift, his people called it. He'd heard others on various worlds refer to something similar, magic - the force - sorcery.

He walked forward and stood over the boy. "Perhaps you should give me that, eh little one?" The kid stared up with wide eyes and finally nodded, handing the purse up to him. He slowly approached the woman, her eyes seemed just as wide as the boys - surely she was grateful for his kind act. He bowed slightly and presented her valuables. "Here you are m'lady," she took them, without a word and fell back on her heels, spinning and running off. She must be in quite a hurry to run off like that, before even telling him thank you. The youths scattered as well - a deathlike hush seemed to fall over the street, the only sound that of quiet whispers, and the whistling of one pleased Mithosian. He put his hands back in his pocket and continued on his way.

A job well done, Etanial. A job well done.

[Kyle Krogen]

"Don't expect them to thank you," A voice called out from behind Xanatos, "These people are not ready for heroes yet. The world they live in is so full of darkness that the light is alien to them, and equally frightening. They recoil, as if burned. One day, though, when the darkness has been lifted, the light will become more common and menial, but it shall lose none of it's brilliance," As he finished, Kyle Krogen walked up beside Xanatos, his black leather and cloth attire rustling gently with his movements. His spiky blonde hair, odd sense of style, and intricate silver eerings caused him to stand out, but not obnoxiously so.

Why was he back on Coruscant when authorities were still investigating whether he had died in the lower levels or was still in hiding, when in all truth he had fled planet? He did not know. He was in mortal danger here on Coruscant, but he found himself increasingly drawn to this place, this planet, this city. So much darkness, so much pain, so much sadness... it simply needed a being of light to dispell as much darkness as possible. Just enough for the citizens of Coruscant to see the truth.

"Take pride in yourself," He continued, "You did the right thing."

[Xanatos Etanial]

"The right thing..."

Now those were words he had longed to hear. Too many times he'd done the wrong thing - even if for the right reason. He regarded his new 'friend' calmly and pursed his lips in thought.

What would this one be? Another interested in using him? He hated to jump to such coclusions, but after recent... events... it was difficult not to. Finally he nodded a bit in agreement.

"We all live in a fair bit of darkness," he sighed a bit, "some of us more so than others." he whispered the last words to no one but himself. Putting back on his friendly smile he extended his hand to the stranger.

"Xanatos Etanial, of the Mithosian Etanials." When you announce yourself, do so properly. His mothers words made him grimace a bit, recalling just how dark his life had been, what right did a murderer have in 'the light' afterall? He tried not to show too much of his inner demons. "Yourself, sir?"

[Kyle Krogen]

"Kyle Krogen," He replied, taking the man's hand in a black gloved hand and shaking it firmly, but not aggressively so, "I do not have any titles, nor do I have a family. I am an orphan of this planet. Pleasure to meet you, Xanatos Etanial."

He released the man's hand and led his hand fall idly to his side. "It a pleasant sight to finally find someone else who cares enough to help others. Coruscant has become so corrupt that everyday heroes are something they write about in fiction as if they are a dead trend or never existed. It's a pity when so much life goes straight down the refresher," He made a little motion with his hand, similar to the motion of activating the flush of a refresher unit.

[Xanatos Etanial]

He nodded politely at his words, a life as an orphan? How sad, at least he had known his family, even if he had destroyed it.

"It is indeed my honor to meet you as well, Mr. Kyle Krogen. I am grateful to find a pleasant soul to talk with. If I can ask... what happened here?" He motioned towards the city around them. "You said it 'has gone down the refresher', what caused such a downward spiral?" He was curious as to what could cause a city so built upon progress to fall into the darkness.

[IMP]

The citizens of the Empire demanded security, they expected it. The upper levels of Coruscant, where the reach of the Empire functioned with almost an omnipresent clarity, were safe. Safe like a living body that when something, such as a virus, infects the body, the immune system promptly responds, removes the virus, and then implements an anti-body within itself in case the virus returns.

IMP, in general, saw most organisms as something to be categorized as a virus. But the citizens of the Empire had proven themselves time and time again that they were willing to improve. They had forsaken their old society structure to an upgrade that resulted in quite an overhaul of their authority figureheads. They had finally come to realize that such a random variable as the Force was as much a danger as it had been a benefit, chasing it out like a plague and burning it out of their minds and culture. And then their will to perpetuate their existence was so powerful, they would cut their own limbs off to manage, even if the cancer wasn't even there, they only needed a suspicion.

The suspicion ran like a fever through the masses too. And not long before it reached the Imperial surveillance in any sector it was present. Some well abiding youth had just tagged a tall man in a brief report to a patrol of stormtroopers. The sector was being shut down and Inquisitoriate forces were being subtley mobilized.

[Kyle Krogen]

"The Empire, Mister Etanial. Before the Empire came into being the world was a grand place of near-galactic peace. People did not have to worry that their democratic society would suddenly choose their planet to become the testing grounds for some new biological weapon, or worry about their youths being conscripted into the military and brainwashed through Imperial Youth programs, or have an absolute tyrant choosing what their future will hold. The days of the Old Republic were golden, to say the least. It is a pity, though, that the leaders of the Old Republic were too docile to observe the shadow descending around them. They thought their peace would last forever, and it did not, but that limited peace was so much greater then the so-called peace the Empire had brought about, and the Empire has only done so through show of arms rather than diplomacy.

The Empire, Mister Etanial, is the simple answer to your question. People live in a lie, a dream world created by the Empire by propaganda to convince the average person that they live suficient lives, despite the truth of the matter which is they are enslaved by the government they believe is taking care of them. Destruction, degeneration, and decay are the mandates of the Empire."

[Xanatos Etanial]

The Empire...

The thought resounded in his mind rather firmly. His homeworld of Mithos located amongst the outer rim, while under Imperial domain, encountered their direct intervention rarely. At least to the extent he remembered, and ever noticed. But being told it so plainly, it added up. What he had encountered since leaving home, what he had overhead in the bars - a light of clarity seemed to go off in his head, and then a further line of questions.

"What can we do?" If Mr. Krogen truly wished for the same things Xanatos had come to long for, namely above all, the light - through redemption, good acts, or what have you - and given the way he spoke of the darkness eventually being lifted from this world, surely he knew something Xanatos himself did not.

[Y'roth Helghast]

The people had dissipated now from anywhere in sight of the two men. Idiocy, sheer idiocy, the elders thought as they told others to follow in suit. No one spoke like that with the skies of Coruscant of above them and lived to tell about that. Security, they scoffed the notion, but those who enforced it were consistent in their policy.

Do not scoff a tyrant.

Agent Cl II Babelyn turned the corner with eight Inquisitoriate troopers in black storm trooper armor marching in two files behind him. He stopped abruptly at the sight of the two men, as if their presence was suprising despite that Babelyn was being given reports to their exact location from tactical. Reports were seditious speech and the possibility of an adept. This was Babelyn's first adept encounter, if it was really true, and he was a bit eager, in a sense of motivation that is, as adepts were said to be the true test of meting out corruption within the Empire.

"You there! Citizens!"

The soldiers behind Babelyn were enlisted and therefore had much more experience in the menial details of how such situations generally went and remained calm and complacent. A possible adept sighting for the majority of the time meant little more than a misunderstanding and then after a simple arrest and interrogation, they were back on the routine or even better, at the bars knocking shots back. So let the Agent get worked up, he's the one who has to do all the paperwork in the end. They weren't lazy though, their rifles were trained on the two, and they had response drills every other week, which left most Inquisitoriate soldiers almost paranoid when it came to adepts, but it was merely a matter of faith. They only needed to see the demon in action before the motivation to exorcise properly presented itself. Lead on fearless leader...

"Citizens, identify yourselves. We have received word of a possible hazard in this sector!"

[Kyle Krogen]

"We can pray, Mister Etanial..." Kyle replied, just as several Imperial soldiers came around the street corner and demanded that Kyle and Xanatos identify themselves, all the while pointing weapons in their direction. There was no way that this was a simple test of security systems. Those are live weapons, with fingers on their triggers ready to open fire at the first sign of, well, anything. It was not a situation that Kyle enjoyed, nor did he enjoy how carelessly he put himself in this position by not paying attention to his surroundings. He had become so engrossed in the conversation with Xanatos, one of the first men he had met whom actually seemed concerned about life and could see through the illusions of the Empire, even if just barely. Pity this had to happen. With time, he may have been able to convince Xanatos to some form of action. But that opportunity was likely gone now.

"... or we can fight..." He finished, this time in a whisper that only Xanatos would hear.

"I am Kyle Krogen, a citizen of Coruscant. I only give this information out of courtesy. Now put those weapons away before you hurt someone. There is no threat here. Someone has been crying wolf again." Would it work? Unlikely, but it was worth a try. He had no idea how much information the Empire had on him. During his employement with the Empire he had used psuedo-names and aliases. The only person that knew his real name was the man who gave him his orders, and that man was dead now. So, unless a file had been kept, the Empire should not know his name.

If only he was that lucky...

[Xanatos Etanial]

or we can fight.

Xanatos swallowed hard as the soldiers surrounded them and began making demands. Whatever conversation they had been having stopped sharply - and both men's attention had been drawn squarely to the man barking orders.

Citizens, identify yourselves. We have received word of a possible hazard in this sector!

Xanatos wondered if it had been his actions, or Mr. Krogen's speech that warranted this action. Mr. Krogen responded promptly and then requested they put their weapons away. He would like that very much. "...And I am Xanatas Etanial," he added, "citizen of Mithos - I have my travel papers with me."

[Y'roth Helghast]

"Proposterous! You give that information because you are obligated to as dictated. Who has been crying wolf of seditious speech, citizen Krogen?! Was it the three small children who spoke in stark fear of an adept on the loose? Or the crowd of people who eagerly pointed in the direction of the two men speaking with ill content towards the Empire?!"

Agent Cl II Babelyn was on a roll, he thought, all those loyalty confirmation classes were just coming to mind as if he were reading right out of the text book. And then the bug in his ear beeped and he felt stifled. To be exact, he balked right before he was about to start another sentence. He stopped, turned on his heel slightly as if by doing so, the two men would just pause their existence and allow him the brief moment to listen to whatever was coming through on the channel. Corporal Il'yan smirked beneath his helmet and rolled his eyes, ever thankful for the concealment as the Agent finished listening to whatever it was and then looked back to the two men.

"This voice doesn't belong to either of you, does it?"

He held out a comm link before them and it beeped.

"The Empire, Mister Etanial. Before the Empire came into being the world was a grand place of near-galactic peace. People did not have to worry that their democratic society would suddenly choose their planet to become the testing grounds for some new biological weapon, or worry about their youths being conscripted into the military and brainwashed through Imperial Youth programs, or have an absolute tyrant choosing what their future will hold. The days of the Old Republic were golden, to say the least.

BEEP

The Empire, Mister Etanial, is the simple answer to your question. People live in a lie, a dream world created by the Empire by propaganda to convince the average person that they live suficient lives, despite the truth of the matter which is they are enslaved by the government they believe is taking care of them. Destruction, degeneration, and decay are the mandates of the Empire."

"Kyle Krogen, you are charged under the Purification and Corruption Doctrines of the Inquisitoriate for sedition and treason against the Empire. You are guilty until proven innocent by an Inquisitor of the Empire. By cooperating to the fullest extent, you may help facila... facilitate this process and it will be noted in your favor. You will be held accountable for any other actions taken.

Xanatas Etanial, you are suspect by association and you fit the description given of the alleged adept. Your rights stand in conjuction with those of Citizen Krogen. Do you both comply?"

Babelyn sighed after saying all of that. Running through that kind of speech was like a ritual prayer for all Class I Agents when they first joined. They weren't even allowed out of the Cathedral until they were capable of giving that kind ultimatum to a group of no less than eight people at once. It was laboring for a green Agent to say the least.

Needless to say, the soldiers were very aware at the moment and their rifles were leveled and hot. They had spread out from two files to a semicircle before the two men. More soldiers in black with the red insignia of the Inquisitoriate were down the street and on their way.

[Kyle Krogen]

Foolishness, perhaps, but Kyle did not regret the conversation he had with Xanatos, even if it meant that he may face capture and imprisonment, or death. The engines of revolution run on the blood of martyrs. His only regret was that his followers on Naboo would be unable to progress without him, and possibly face such ends eventually. Pity was not something he offered to himself.

He listened to the recording, all the while watching the officers as they fanned out in front of them. His fingers twitched at his sides. He knew, for a fact, that he could get away, but that would mean leaving Xanatos behind. Although, in all truth, Xanatos was not the one with the rebellious speech, Kyle was. In all truth, Xanatos should be able to get away from this legally without much strife or pain. A short prison sentence, perhaps, but nothing too bad.

It was a poor excuse and Kyle knew it.

"Well, you've got me," he said as he raised his hand half way in the air in a half-hearted "Hands up" motion. Although, the real reason for this was not to preset his hands to the Imperials, but rather to allow him to project his force powers along an outward object, in this case his arms and hands. He had already begun manipulating the air particles around him with the force, merging them together into "bubbles", a process that was virtually invisible to the naked eye.

"Abrakadabra..." he whispered.

The air pockets shot forward, only a slight bluring in the air revealing the motion just before they collided with the closest Imperial officers, bowling them over with an impact force akin to a fist to the gut. Before the remaining officers could react, Kyle's force enhanced reflexes and reaction time allowed him to project the force into his legs, squat down, and push himself up into the air. Blaster bolts zipped around him, some coming dangerously close and scalding his clothing and flesh, but some in-air acrobatics saved him for the most part.

He landed, as all things must eventually, on a nearby rooftop overlooking the street. He did not even stop to look back. He pushed himself over the rooftops, jumping from one to the next. This planned was flawed, however, as most buildings on this planet are of the skyscraper variety, and only a few short buildings existed. So, in the end, he was forced down to street level, powering himself through the streets at such speeds that most only percieved a blur of motion as he tore past them.

He had to get away, his padawans depended on him.

[Xanatos Etanial]

"Xanatas Etanial, you are suspect by association and you fit the description given of the alleged adept. Your rights stand in conjuction with those of Citizen Krogen. Do you both comply?"

The lump in his throat could have choked him, if it had really tried. All he'd done was try and help a poor woman who'd been mugged and now he was surrounded by armed troops, and being told he and his new friend were going to be arrested. With wide eyes he turned his attention to Mr. Krogen - who had remained terrifyingly calm throughout it all. He watched as he raised his hands in compliance...

"Well, you've got me."

...the deathly silence allowed him to hear the next words he whispered with ease.

"Abrakadabra..."

Such a nonsensical phrase was followed by the most astounding of attacks - and an escape that frankly left poor Xanatos standing dumbfound. He understood, or at least tried to, why Krogen had just abandoned him there to save himself. He was what those on the principle worlds called Jedi, a master of the magic tricks he himself was somewhat gifted at. Mr. Krogen would more than likely have been killed for that - so while it was a bitter pill, he couldn't precisely fault him for leaving how he did, had he the ability Xanatos would have followed.

Soldiers ran off in chase of him, leaving fewer than had been, but more than enough to take Xanatos out. Xanatos had no training, no way of following, and at the moment - no hope of escape. He did the only thing he could.

"I surrender!" He clasped his hands behind the back of his head, and fell to his knees. He prayed softly to the Elders that he would just make it out of this ordeal alive.

[Y'roth Helghast]

The soldiers chasing after Krogen watched the adept make his initial leap and bound and then stopped slowly, caught in awe still at the abilities of adepts. They quickly turned back though, never forgetting their mission, partly out of sense of duty, and partly out of fear of being reprimanded.

"Dren!!!"

Babelyn stamped his foot and spit off to the side in anger, dusting his black uniform off, he looked to the returning soldiers and then to Xanatos who was now surrounded by the other soldiers, one had his rifle barrel an inch from the back of Xanatos' head.

"Surrender, huh? Thats something when an adept leaves another one behind like that. You both must've been real close friends for him to do a kind thing like that. Or maybe it was you who knocked us all on our rears and allowed him to escape. Maybe he had something vital to completing a terrorist act and you'd both do anything to make sure that happened, even if it meant that one of you had to be sacrificed? Don't worry though, Krogen will not escape. Where's he going to go? The Inquisitoriate security is more than capable of tracking an adept on foot, even with his corrupted powers at use. And know, Citizen Etaniel, any sign of struggle or conflict, and we won't hesitate to eliminate you. There is too much circumstantial evidence right now against you to label you nothing less than a dangerous risk to the Empire."

The stalwart and highly motivated agent looked to one of the soldiers and pointed to Xanatos like he was a dog, or less.

"Bind him. Transfer him to the nearest APC and deliver him to processing at the Cathedral."

"Sir, yes Sir."

Xanatos' wrists were forced down and cold binders slipped around his wrist, small needles sliding into the skin as they locked. Xanatos could feel the heads of the needles expand painfully under his skin. To force the binders off meant ripping a good part of the skin off that encircled his wrists now, they'd leave bruising but nothing beyond that as long as there was little resistance.

Agent Cl II Babelyn crossed his arms over his chest, and smirked as they brought the alleged adept up to his feet slowly and cautiously. Babelyn wasn't even worried about Krogen, that was someone else's problem now. As for him, he was hopefully looking at a promotion for bringing in an adept today and halting a public act of sedition. Not to mention identifying maybe two adepts even!

=======

The patrol vehicles were keeping a steady pace with the adept. To say the least, the pilots were astounded at the speed that the adept was capable of but their vehicles were just as manueverable in the wide streets of the sector and could go much faster than this adept was. It had taken a moment to locate the adept but he was still on the surface of Coruscant and too close to the Cathedral. IMP, the INQ AI was able to keep track of the adept using the installed surveillance systems and the AI was coordinating the four pursuit vehicles to perfection. There were two others being directed to intercept and a few more surprises for the adept as soon as he hit the edge of the current quadrant.

The adept hit the edge of the quadrant and the pursuit vehicles advanced on the adept. IMP had coordinated attacks and captures of adepts more than enough times that this tactic was more often than not successful. Besides, with the Force or not, all adepts had always fallen to one flaw, they were still just organic.

Neverminding the bystanders present, they understood that certain measures had to be taken in order to secure the safety for the greater good. Small turrets protruded from the rear panels of the vehicle and cryoban grenades rained down from the sky. The pattern in which they fell was calculated by IMP, which was remotely granted control to an acute degree by the pilots, whether they knew as much or not, in order that there was no actual escape for the adept. IMP understood the organic's functions but it could do their job so much better.

The speeders were rocked by the initial concussive blasts of the grenades and they struggled to correct themselves as blue goo fell in massive expanding globs that froze the moment they came in contact with something. The pursuit vehicles struggled to right their balance while they tried to turn themselves about, aiming their containment fields at the adept. They had warm up times of course, and that was something the cryoban grenades were supposed to make up for. Once the adept was held within a containment field, he was going nowhere. IMP already had the data ready for Kyle Krogen's processing as the first containment field was fired.

[Kyle Krogen]

Run, that was his only option right now. He could not fight his way through arial units as he could Imperial soldiers. Pity it had to be Coruscant that he was caught on. Any other planet in the galaxy would have been easier to escape persuit on. Why had he not listened to himself and stayed in the Red Light District? It would have been safer there.

Once again, his head got in the way...

The sounds of concussive blasts overhead caused Kyle to glance up at the persuit crafts following him, just in time to see several objects flying towards him. Moving quickly to the side, Kyle neared one of the buildings on the side of the street in the course of a several seconds, and upon reaching he jumped up, planted his foot on the second story wall, and then pushed off the wall, jumping even higher into the air. A wave of his hand sent the cryoban grenades flying away in the direction of one of the persuit craft, while his trajectory brought him towards one of the persuit craft.

The pilot saw his approaching through the air, and began to veer off, putting distance between him and the airborn Jedi. Kyle compensated for this by using the force to "jerk" on his own body and cause him to moving towards the craft. The impact jarred his body, caused him to knock his teeth together and sent pain surging through his legs, but he was on the craft. In one swift motion, Kyle slid his lightsabre from his pocket, activate it, and drove the blade through the durosteel windshield and into the pilot's heart. Death was assured.

Pushing off the craft, Kyle jumped towards yet another building and landed on an ledge below a series of windows, but he did not stop there. He kept jumping from building to building, sometimes propelling him all the way across the wide street in order to get to another foothold or simply pushing off walls to get higher and higher until, at last, he landed on the first rooftop of those higher buildings low enough for him to get to. It had to be twenty stories up, if not more, but he managed to get there.

Gasping for breath, he stumbled across the rooftop, his deactivated sabre still in his hand. Sweat glistend his brow and his legs were screaming in protest to the abuse he just put them through, but they did not scream quite as loud as his mind, which was utterly exausted from the extreme amount of force power he had just employed to proepell himself up so high with each bound and so quickly. Persuit would come, he knew that, but it was an achievement all the same.

"Let them come..." He whispered between pants. He would fight them here, where ground forces would not avail them and ground speeders could not follow. Which meant they could just use traditional air speeders or starfighters, which he could not contend with at all. Oops...

[Y'roth Helghast]

The living body, Coruscant, layered in a skin of metal plates had veins of transportation. The traffic of Coruscant, from a distance, looked like an unending labyrinth, as if everyone just drove their speeders inbetween, below, and above on a neverending loop. From high above, the metaphor was very visible, the streams of traffic like veins and arteries, carrying the blood of the city-planet across its surface.

The pursuit speeders had lost track of the adept in his resulting response but it was nearly impossible for IMP to lose track of adept on the Empire's capitol. The speeders set on an intercept course had been diverted and more units had been pulled from other sectors. They only circled above and below the rooftop though. They were ordered to only observe and maintain the perimeter of the area for the safety of the civilians.

The other units weren't needed because of the jet black deployment vehicle that was descending from straight above the rooftop. The side panels opened as soon as it was within range and five figures dropped from the sky. The rooftop shook upon impact, and the adept was suddenly surrounded by five monstrous, machine-like humanoids. The eyes of each black figure were a glowing pale blue and when they moved, it was with a speed that betrayed their massive appearance. There was nothing slow about them at all as far as that was concerned. This was the elite kill squad Project Nightmare and even the Inquisitoriate soldiers manning the encircling speeders tried to overcome the sense of dread as they watched the adept.

Agents Jerrard and Scothis had their C-14 rifles readied and Lang leveled her Jackhammer triple barrel shotgun on the adept. Agent Reyok was face to face with the adept and Inquisitor Helghast was directly behind him. Of course, that didn't provide any major advantage against an adept and their enhanced intuition. Helghast was well informed upon the abilities of adepts, as well as their limits. Enough of them had been slaughtered by the Inquisitoriate, that Project Nightmare was engineered to continue that legacy.

"Surrender adept."

The voice was Helghast's and even without the amplification from the powersuit, that voice sounded more dead and machine like than anything remotely human.

All five wore the CMC Nightmare gear. Their speed and strength was undeniably awesome, their training and skill was proven to be the best, and one tired, overspent adept terrorist who had just scaled a sky scraper and ran out of an entire sector with the 'force at his side' was outmatched. The small rooftop was more than enough space for the elite squad to engage the adept in combat.

[Kyle Krogen]

Watch and wait, that was all he could do as ships encircled the rooftop, watching him from a distance but making no attempt to attack, not yet at least. He fell into the habit of slowly rotating his body, watching all directions so that nothing could sneak up on him. His deactivated lightsabre never left his hand. He half expected troopers to scale the walls of the building and launch a never-ending assault against him. It was something Stormtroopers were famous for and it would give him that glorious end he desired to go out in. The flame of battle. He would rather die in it then be condemned never to feel it again. Well, that was what his foolishness told him, but he was not so thick-headed as to listen to it.

Then it happened, a ship descended from on high. It came straight down overhead and then sat there, sitting in the air above him as if to frighten him by it's size. Doors opened and grapple lines shot out with dark blurs shooting down them. Kyle could not see what they were until they were standing on the rooftop around him. Metal and cold, these beasts of war were far from frightening to Kyle, but they did push doubt into him as to if he could take these on or not. So inhuman in appearance, he doubted if he could even hurt such creatures of war. If he was a stronger mentalic he might be able to turn them against each other. Pity he was not.

They all possessed advance technology in the form of armor and weapons, the latter of which was trained on him. He knew he could survive the first barrage with his lightsabre and speed, but he also knew he was far too exhausted to keep such actions up long enough to escape, or kill them all. If he knew one thing about himself, it was his physical limits. This was not suppose to happen. It was not fair. How could the force be so cruel as to betray him into this trap. How could he be so foolish to come back to Coruscant...

With exagerrated slowness, he bend down in a crouch and set his lightsabre on the ground, and then pushed it aside, causing it to roll away. Next he slipped his blaster out of it's holster on his thigh and slid it across the ground. Finally, he slipped the small knife out of it's hiding place in his boot. Standing up again, he lifted his hands into the air. Disarmed, he could do nothing but look straight ahead and imagine the pain that was to come.