Dark Crusade: Prologue Team 17

Welcome to the Dark Crusade Prologue. The following rules are in effect:

1. 250 word minimum per post.
2. 1 post per player, per phase (this will be a three phase run-on separated conducted in 7 day intervals). If a member fails to post during a phase, the team will lose points.
3. Edits may occur on a post until a follow on post has been made (follow on posts include "reserving" a space).
4. Members may reserve post, but no posts can occur until after the reserved post is written.
5. The event will be graded by Raken, Sarin, and Muz using a rubric that focuses on creativity, plot development, realism, and grammar.

Event Timeline:

1. 1-7 January - Signups, Set up starting posts on 7th
2. 8-14 January - Phase 1 posts, 15th = Sarin post, start new phase.
3. 16-22 January - Phase 2 posts, 23rd = Sarin post, start new phase.
4. 24-31 January - Phase 3 posts, and the joys of grading.

You will find the details for phase one here: http://wiki.darkjedibrotherhood.com/view/Dark_Crusade_-_Prologue

Good Luck!

‘Anticipation,’ Etah thought.

‘The anticipation is killing me,’ the Battle Team Leader thought to himself again.

Etah and the four others, who were either members of his team or were temporarily assigned to Spectre Cell, stacked up outside of the hanger doors. All maps had been reviewed; all the practice run-throughs had been completed and all the speeches had been eloquently delivered. The enemy Imperial Star Destroyer had been breached and Spectre Cell was poised to occupy it.

“It’s all over but the shooting,” Etah said to himself.

The Arconan’s revelry was broken by the metallic rumble of the hanger doors opening. Curiously, the fact that the waiting was over and the dying would begin, was something of a relief. The calm before the storm of blaster fire was an agonizing and tedious review of equipment and tactics.

Putra was first in the stack and opened fire. The young looking Prelate wearing red armor stepped aggressively at a threat Etah couldn’t yet see. Putra stepped through the hanger hatch and hooked left and continued to fire at the as yet unidentified threat. Dark Jedi Knight Kalon Dane followed him, hooking right and continuing to fire. His heavy armor clattered as he moved about.

Etah, who was third in the stack stepped through the hatch and continued straight. Compelled by the force, the Prelate jumped high into the air and dodging a heavy blaster shot from the defense turret. The shot Etah had dodged nearly ended Anduriel’s life but the Acolyte clumsily dodged the shot as he fell back onto the deck.

Anduriel’s breathing was heavy and loud in Etah’s ears, the Prelate could feel the fear radiating from the young Acolyte. Etah felt a wave of momentary apprehension that his leadership would falter, that Anduriel’s confidence in the Mirialan’s leadership would get them both killed but the Prelate pushed those self-defeating thoughts aside.

Valeriuskane moved back and found cover from the fire, as Etah drew and activated his lightsaber deflecting a second shot from the turret, with one decisive slash, cleaved the dangerous turret in twine. The buzz and sizzle of the lightsaber cut was a familiar and satisfying sound to the Obelisk; like an old friend whose mere presence meant that he was safe.

The new room was very large, metallic and looked very much like every hanger that Etah had ever been in or saw on holo-dramas. There were vessels lined up on the left and right, and various crates, creating an inviting alley down the middle. But the problem with moving down this area is getting flanked by the sides. So Spectre Cell choose to move along the wall and move down the right side of the hanger before crossing through the center and moving along the left wall.

The nearby battle droids began closing on Spectre as Putra shot the lead droid twice in the torso, and the following droid once in the neck, disabling them both. Kalon fired once into the chest of a droid that wasn’t far away from him and crushed the droids head with the butt of his weapon. The smell from the blaster fire was strangely alluring Etah realized that this was not the first time that he enjoyed that lightly burnt smell.

Etah quickly counted three fallen droids and nine operational droids. The Prelate gathered the force underneath him and sprang over the lead droid, who was promptly shot by Putra and Kalon disabling it. Etah made three swift movements with his ignited lightsaber and lopped two of the droids heads off and cut a third in half from stem to stern.

The two remaining droids closed from Etah’s left side faster than he thought possible. He could have shot the Obelisk before he could twist around to defend himself but both of the droids were shot down. Etah, Putra and Kalon were momentarily confused, the shots that disabled the droids came from the opposite side of the hanger.

All of the confusion was put to rest as a fire team of Storm Troopers aggressively closed with the Arconan Cell. Apparently, they considered firing on the enemy more important than keeping their droid allies operational. Effective and well placed blaster fire ripped toward the Dark Jedi. Two of the Storm Troopers were laying down a base of fire, as the other two maneuvered toward Spectre Cells flank.

Valeriuskane moved through the hatch, with his clear riot shield in front of him. Storm Troopers accurately pinged it with their E-11 Blaster Rifles more than once but the Transparisteel shield stood up to the abuse. The Zabrak glared at the Storm Troopers as he moved ahead of Putra and Kalon, near Etah. Anduriel having found his feet, followed close by delivering shots towards the Storm Troopers.

Etah nodded toward Putra and nudged Valeriuskane. Putra placed effective shots toward the Storm Troopers while Etah moved beside Valeriuskane. The trio moved toward the small ship to their right. Kalon moved beside Anduriel and the pair attempted to draw the Storm Troopers fire.

A shot lightly grazed Etah’s arm, as Kalon and Andur fired on a Storm Trooper, disabling him. Putra disabled two other Storm Troopers by firing at their knee caps. Protected behind the small vessel in the lower right hand corner of the hanger, Valeriuskane positioned his shield where he could give Etah and Putra more cover and a better depth on the remaining Storm Trooper.

Kalon and Andur landed three shots on the final Storm Trooper, as they also moved to the ship. Etah peaked around the corner, preparing his trio to move forward and noticed movement. In a millisecond he counted two Storm Trooper fire teams and what looked to be an ignited lightsaber toward the other side of the little side pocket, the vessels created on the right side of the hanger.

Etah sighed as he began moving forward.

Kalon dropped to one knee besides Putra, swinging his head around the edge of the ship.

He could count around eight stormtroopers split into two four man fire teams, all with standard equipment and weaponry, just like the ones they had fought to get here. He glanced up at Etah, who had begun to advance across the right side of the hangar towards the stormtroopers. He made a hand gesture to the rest of the team to lay down some covering fire for the Battleteam Leader as he himself gripped his lightsaber in his left hand along with his trusty EE-3 carbine rifle in his right. It was his first time wielding two weapons at the same time, but it never hurt to improvise, especially in a situation such as this.

Even as he thought this he could sense Anduriel and Valeriuskane taking up positions behind him, blasters at the ready. With a sigh, Kalon sprung up from cover and swiftly fell into step behind Etah. In the corner of his eye he could see Putra do the same. This made sense, the more experienced members of the team would close in on the Stormtrooper squads, essentially cutting them to pieces whilst being covered by Anduriel and Valeriuskane.

A spray of red blaster fire sped past his right shoulder, hitting the closest trooper in the chest. The rest of the stormtroopers scattered and dove into the cover , hoping to return fire. Though it appeared they were too late. As one, Etah, Putra and Kalon smashed into the stormtroopers, intent on causing disarray amongst them. With a single fluid motion, Kalon raised his blaster, tucking the shoulder guard in comfortably and aimed towards a stormtrooper, firing the weapon with pinpoint accuracy. There was a gurgled shriek as the shot bit into the trooper’s neck, taking him out of the fight for good. Glancing to his right, the Mandalorian could see Etah cleave another trooper in two whilst Putra force choked a third.

Anduriel and Valeriuskane were taking in turns to move up, providing covering fire for the other repeatedly. A shot from the Novice’s blaster found its way into a trooper’s shoulder, then a shot from the Acolyte's finished him off.

The remaining three troopers had managed to get together and were know coordinating there blaster fire against the strike team, bringing the momentum of the charge to a temporary halt.

‘Flank right!’ Motioned the Battleteam leader towards Andur and Valerius, blocking shots with his saber.

Kalon watched as Anduriel and Valeriuskane pinned themselves against the wall and advanced behind the troopers, it appeared the remnants of the fire team were too preoccupied with the three saber wielding Dark Jedi among them to notice what was going on.

A trooper’s head exploded in a cloud of red brain matter as it was shot by a blaster rifle at almost point blank range. The pause in fire by the troopers comrades was more than enough time for Kalon, Putra and Etah to advance, slaughtering the confused troopers in a vicious melee of lightsabers.

The team wasted no time in regrouping, it was then that Kalon noticed a shrouded figure holding a red lightsaber raise out his hand. Kalon was forced back onto the ground, his lightsaber and blaster rifle skidding away from him. He cursed that while he was enjoying the fight with the stormtroopers he had failed to notice a greater threat. The shrouded figure used the force to jump, bearing down on the now unarmed Mandalorian.

Putra looks up from the fallen comrade, seeing the emanate danger and within an instant, uses the force to trow his saber at the enemy Jedi in mid air, piercing his chest and at the same time, Etah, shoots the enemy dark Jedi in the face, the lifeless body falls atop of a semi shocked Kalon. “Get up” Putra orders Kalon as Putra pulls his saber back into his hand.

“LOOK! MORE!” shouts the young acolyte Anduriel. Two more enemy dark Jedi charged towards the battle team.

The team, already pushing the limits of there bodies with the previous battles, were on the edge of physical exhaustion, the Jedi of the team ignited there sabers.

The hum or the blades seem to echo in the ears of Putra as if all else was silences, everything seemed to be in slow motion. Valeriuskane and Anduriel fell back to cover as Putra, Etah and Kalon charged foreword towards the enemy.

Etah and Kalon teamed up on the enemy Jedi from the right as Putra attacks the Jedi on the left. The the sizzle and popping as sabers clash echoed as the smell of ozone hung heavy in the air.

Putra let out a fury of quick hard strikes forcing his combatant back, as his enemy tries to keep his footing Putra reaches out with the force and pulls debris from a fallen battle driod across the way, lunches it towards the enemy dark Jedi only to be dodged, but the enemy, just for a moment left himself open, Putra preformed a quick half spin tossing the edge of his cape up at his opponent distracting him further and finishing by placing himself behind the distracted enemy, Putra cut down his opponent in one quick movement.

While at the same time Etah and Kolan battled there opponent, the two worked in unspoken unison. The two had forced the enemy back to the bulkhead, Etah went in for a hard over the head strike, a potential killing blow, the enemy dark Jedi reacted as would be expected, raising his saber over his head to block the blow, this allowed Kolan to move in quick, thrusting his saber through the neck of his enemy.

Three enemy Jedi lay dead on the deck, the commotion alerted a curious maintenance driod, “Over here!” the droid signals as the sound of stormtroopers armor could be heard clanking towards the teams position.

The five man Spectre Cell team was being pushed further than any of them had anticipated this day would take them. What was supposed to be a fairly vulnerable and somehwat defenseless vessel had turned out to be not only heavily defended, but by exceptionally adept defense teams. They also found themselves somehow in the open space of the center section of the hangar that was far too open and indefensible. As they ducked behind some miscelaneous storage lockers piled near the loading bay of the ship in the Northwest corner, the two rookie members of the group took this small lull as a chance to vainly attempt to get their heads together. Meanwhile the three veterans gripped their sabers and blaster handles and immediately pivoted out from behind the right hand side of the lockers to begin the encounter with two more advancing squads of Storm Troopers that Anduriel and Valeriuskane had not yet sensed.

The two, four man groups of Storm Troopers began to advance on the team, the first two of each group dropping to a knee to allow their fellows behind a clear line of fire. The first to react was not suprisingly Etah whose incredibly agile movements were sometimes hard to follow. He effortlessly aimed his EE-3 rifle and quickly took out the two standing Troopers from the right hand group with precision head shots, while two simultaneous blasts ripped trhough the chest plates of the kneeling Troopers from the same group fired by Putra who was instinctively following the flow of the battle and his natural instinct. This left one group to the left of the shabbily stacked storage lockers. Working as a team, Anduriel and Valeriuskane simultaneously used the lockers and the Transparisteel shield to provide blaster cover for Kalon who was rapidly advancing on them. Anduriel's covering fire caught one Trooper in the leg and wounded him. He was jolted out of his near trance by a belching "DUCK!" from the Zabrak at his side. He did duck just in time, as did Kalon while Valeriuskane wildly tossed a frag grenade towards the group in hopes of providing a little more distraction for his teammates. Luck was on the side of the battle scarred novice and the toss landed right at the feet of the front two Troopers, killing the already wounded soldier and gravely wounding the other as the concussion from the blast knocked back the remaining two who were swarmed instantly by Kalon in a hail of blaster fire.

With eight more dead Troopers in their wake, the five braced themselves for the Dark Jedi as he approached and launched his lightsaber towards the stack of lockers that Anduriel and Valeriuskane had quickly ducked back behind. The lightsaber quickly returned to it's owners hand just in time to delfect several blasts from Kalon, Putra and Etah's weapons.

Valersiukane caught the gleam in Etah's eyes as he shouldered his rifle and brought his saber to life for battle, "This is going to get ugly." He thought to himself. He recognized the battle trance that he had seen the Prelate slip into during their training sessions so effortlessly and knew the carnage that would follow. Anduriel seemed to sense the power of the Force himself as indicated by his wicked grin knowing full well himself what was to come. Without warning or exertion Etah used the Force to jump directly at the Dark Jedi in front of him while maintaining enough control to slash multiple times with his saber upon landing to confront his foe. Not wanting to be left out of the fun, Putra had leaped to his Team Leaders side to make things quicker. Anduriel, Kalon and Valeriuskane could only watch with great pleasure as the two Prelates performed a delicate and deadly balet of Force power and swordsmanship. They dodged and parried every blow with semmingly little effort as though they were toying with the Jedi. The Jedi caught Putra off guard with a force push that knocked him towards the locker jumble, but got a little too excited and forgot all about Etah who lithely slipped behind him and buried his Lightsaber through the Jedi's torso and pulled it out slowly as though sucking the Jedi's last breath along with the withdrawing blade.

With nine more on the body count the group quickly ducked behind part of the landing gear of the ship just to their left.

From their cover of the landing gear Anduriel heard the whirring sounds of droids moving about searching for the team. He looked to his right to see Putra close his eyes, trying to sense what was there beyond the ship. Putra opened his eyes and looked at the rest of the cell, “Whatever’s there isn’t alive, droids.” Etah nodded and signaled for everybody to move in formation. With Valeriuskane in front of him, Anduriel moved forward with Kalon guarding the team’s rear . As they went around the ship, the familiar whirring noises could be heard and they were becoming louder.

“Sounds like what could be a defense turret, stay sharp” Kalon whispered. Anduriel and Valeriuskane nodded and moved forward around the ship, trying to move as quietly and slowly as possible. As they rounded the corner, Anduriel saw the dozen battle droids ahead as well as the defense turret that continued to rotate searching for targets. Beside the turret stood another dark jedi. “Now!” Etah hissed, and Valeriuskane instantly rushed forward, bellowing his loudest to attract the attention of the jedi and company.

It worked, and as they turned to face the novice Anduriel, who had run up behind Valeriuskane, moved out and began to open fire on the droids, the surprise tactic worked and a few of the droids dropped under the unexpected shots from the acolyte’s carbine. Having bought precious time, Kalon also joined in the surprise fire, appearing beside Anduriel and opening fire upon more of the droids. They began to drop faster now, still disoriented and reflexively firing up on Valeriuskane, they’re blaster fire hitting his shield. Anduriel could feel the heat from the blasts emanating from the shield, and he sidestepped, moving to the right to take cover behind landing gear while delivering a spray of fire to attract the droid’s attention.

It worked, they turned to focus fire on him. “Oh boy” he thought to himself, and dived to cover, making it just in time with his heart pumping. The manouever however had worked, and attracted the attention just long enough for Valeriuskane to have thrown an adhesive grenade, and Anduriel could hear the explosion as Kalon barked “Turret down!”

“Huh, whaddya know, that worked” Anduriel thought to himself. He then leaned out of cover to fire more at the droids, and saw the two prelates had leaped into the fray, Etah taking on the enemy jedi while Putra began to work his way through the droids. The swordwork was mesmerizing by both Prelates. Putra moved fast, darting and weaving his way between the droids, cutting them down easily with his saber. Etah used his mastery of Soresu and Makashi to keep the dark jedi on the backfoot, and within a few seconds had oriented the enemy with his back to Putra. With a quick decisive strike against the final droid, Putra moved with a flourish to the enemy and stabbed him in the chest. The enemy fell to the floor, dead before even registering the second jedi’s attack. “That was stupid, and could have gone a lot worse, ” Etah said sternly, looking at Valeriuskane and Anduriel, “but it was effective I suppose”.

As the team regrouped and began to head towards the hanger, they saw the silhouettes of two more people standing in the door. “Prepare for trouble,” the one on the left said. “And make it double.” The one on the right finished his sentenced.

Anduriel couldn’t help himself. On reflex he shouted out, “Oh come on! You didn’t have to introduce yourself by saying something THAT stupid!”

If someone or something had made a cat sound, Etah would have lost it. Instead, the Obelisk Prelate leapt forward towards the two figures, brandishing his own lightsaber. Putra followed close behind.

Both men wore non-descript black robes that obscured their face. Their sabers were devoid of decoration and their saber blades were the bland red that the synthesized lightsaber crystals gave off. Their obscured faces made Etah compare the two men bandits, revolutionaries and holy warriors. It was quite possible that each of them were all three.

The Battle Team leader momentarily reflected that he should be saying something, possibly negotiating with them for a cessation of hostilities. Possibly let them limp away from the system without creating further Brotherhood loses. But then Etah realized that these heretics must be made to pay and the threat of their return must be stopped here and forever.

Etah let Putra close with the two first, and both of them struck out towards the heavily armored Sith Prelate in big arcs of their lightsaber blades. But Etah closed faster than they had anticipated and they both turned toward Etah, giving their backs to Putra. Putra slashed toward one with his lightsaber blade, and kicked the other in the lower back backing him stumble forward.

Etah cracked the Dark Jedi that had stumbled forward with the hilt of his saber, while positioning the blade to block a lightsaber attack from the other ninja Dark Jedi. After blocking the shot, the standing opposing Dark Jedi moved his blade in a U shaped arc and struck right at Putra’s dominant hand. The Prelate moved his out of the way, but was still grazed, instinctively dropping his Saber. Etah moved forward and slashed toward the standing Dark Jedi opponent, while Putra dropped to the ground, drew his firearm from around his back and fired multiple times, pegging his opponent all over his torso and once on his neck.

During all of this the first opposing Dark Jedi stood and moved toward Etah. The very fast Prelate moved forward and sliced straight through the Dark Jedi’s arm, severing it. Putra delivered several shots to the Dark Jedi’s stomach area, knocking him onto the ground and killing him.

Etah walked over to his comrade and helped him up, while looking back over the hanger full of droid parts and splashed with blood. The Battle Team Leader nodded as Kalon lead the Acolytes into exiting the hanger, while Etah and Putra followed.

Anduriel moved with the squad, third in the line formation the team had formed with Kalon leading and Valeriuskane behind him. With the two prelates taking the rear, Anduriel was fairly certain no nasty surprises would show up from behind. Still, as they exited the hanger into the corridor he kept his guard up, checking both directions as they entered the corridor that extended both to his left and right. As the team filed in, they began to stand around informally in a circle, looking to Etah for orders.

“Our primary objective is to disable all the security stations on this floor. There are two security stations down the left path, we’ll disable those first,” Etah stopped speaking then, looking at his team, scanning each of their faces, his eyes clearly focused, but lost elsewhere. Anduriel couldn’t help but quirk and eyebrow at Etah as his eyes went past Anduriel’s face. Etah saw the curiosity and sighed, “Alright, we’re a team, lack of communication is going to get us killed, so I’m going to be honest. The datapad contained a message that says, “There are traitors amongst us. I don’t know whether to even believe it or not, or what it means for the mission, but if ANY of you turns out to be the traitor and turns against us, I won’t think twice about cutting you down, no questions, no explanations.”

Anduriel gulped. Audibly. As did Valeriuskane right next to him.

“Let’s move.” Etah said, and they moved back in formation down the corridor to the left of the entrance door. As they moved down, Anduriel could feel Putra’s breath behind him slowing down as he felt the prelate tapping into the Force to sense the world around him. “Be ready guys, there are a LOT of guys in the next hall down.”

“How much is a lot?” asked Valeriuskane, confidence and arrogance beaming in his voice. “Try maybe…50 or so?” Putra replied calmly. “Hell’s bells!” Anduriel sputtered under his breath. As they reached the door they took formation around it. Etah slowly peek around the corner and saw a group of 12 Ailon Nova guards in front of 36 more guardsmen in the large hall beneath them. He looked to Valeriuskane, who nodded back, turning to face the doorway as he rolled a grenade right into the middle of the 12 man squad.

Incoherent shouts filled Anduriels ears from the other side of the doorway, and then a loud explosion rocked his ears, he looked to see Valariuskane back in cover, with bits of blood and gore flying through the threshold past the team.

Taking advantage of the confusion, the team moved past the first door into the entry corridor of the large hall, with Valeriuskane leading with his blast shield as the team laid down cover fire to keep moving. Anduriel dived into cover on the right side of the entryway, taking time to reload the clip of his carbine. Taking a second to center himself and focus, he leaned over the cover and fired three successive bursts, hitting three guardsmen who were still moving into cover out of sight of the hall way. His master Kalon then switched with him, leaning out of cover to fire five shots into the hallway. Anduriel then rotated with him again smoothly with his master, just as they’d practiced multiple times. He managed to fire two more stragglers before he instinctively pulled his head back into cover. Moments later he heard the sound of blaster fire hitting the metal right on the corner of his cover.

“Careless,” Kalon remarked as he rotated once more with Anduriel to fire off more shots. “I still got two people, and it was a good dodge if you ask me.”

“Nobody was asking you,” Kalon growled, “Everybody’s in cover!” he called out to Etah and Putra who were on the other side of the corridor. Etah nodded, looking out into the hall, “It’s clear. There are maybe what, 30 left? In all likelihood there are 1 full 12-man team on either side of the hall, and a the rest split up according to orders.”

“Well we can’t just walk out into the middle of the hall, we’ll be sitting ducks.” Putra pointed out. As the others continued discussing possible tactics on entering the hall, Anduriel found himself not participating in the discussion, instead staring down the corridor into the great big hall, thinking not about the formations or the people, but about what could happen as they walked in. He didn’t have experience with firefights like these…

but he’d seen a few holovids.

“Hey, big guy, how’s your throwing arm?” Anduriel asked his fellow journeyman Valeriuskane. “I can throw decently far. Why?” came the reply.

“Anything to suggest, apprentice?” Kalon said inquisitively looking at Anduriel. “Well,” Anduriel said, "they’re going to shoot at the first thing that walks in the hall right? What if we gave them something to shoot?”

Etah’s eyes brightened with understanding, “Now THAT’S good thinking, boy. Alright, form up, Valeriuskane take off your boot,” Etah ordered the novice. With a confused look on his face, the novice complied, taking off his right boot and taking it in his hand, giving Anduriel a puzzled expression. Anduriel couldn’t help but grin, “Chin up big guy, you’ll get to have fun to. Keep a grenade ready.”

As they formed up at the mouth to the hall itself, Anduriel could feel his heart pounding in his ears as he took cover on the right side of the mouth entryway. He looked to his left and saw Kalon beside him, and without looking he knew the two prelates had formed at the other side of the mouth. “NOW,” Etah yelled. With a grunt, and a two-step start, Valeriuskane hurled his boot into the air into the hall. Blaster fire ringed in Anduriel’s ear. He saw the boot get pummeled with blaster fire as all the guardsmen reacted instantly to the projectile.

However, he couldn’t stop and laugh at the efficacy of the distraction, he instantly leaned out of cover and began to spray fire towards the men firing on the left side of the hall. Between him and Kalon, the men were distracted enough that Valeriuskane was able to lob his adhesive grenade and attach it to the wall behind the guards. The resulting explosion vibrated Anduriel’s teeth, but he knew it had worked. Within another second he heard the explosion of another adhesive grenade on the right side of the room. “Hold fire!” Etah called, and as the team stopped firing, everything in the hall fell silent.

“Check the bodies for anything useful, and then move them out of easy line of sight,” the prelate leader ordered, and Kalon and Anduriel moved to the right side of the room, while the other three took the left side. As he approached one body, it began to twitch, as if trying to fight to get up again. Anduriel didn’t spare another second thought; he kicked the guardsman once in the throat to silence him, then promptly shooting him in the head.

After all the bodies had been accounted for, Kalon looked at Anduriel, “This was all…unorthodox, but effective. Not too shabbily done for an acolyte.”

Anduriel couldn’t help himself, he grinned back despite feeling his master cold, analytical eyes on him, “What can I say? I saw it in a vid once.” He then moved to the center of the hall towards Valeriuskane’s boot, hearing his master mixing a sigh and a growl into one sound audibly behind him. “I need to figure out how he makes that sound. Maybe it’s a Mandalorian thing,” Anduriel thought to himself.

As Anduriel approached Valeriuskane and the boot, he got a better look. It was clearly smoking from all the blaster fire it had taken. Holes lined the surface on all sides, and had turned the boot into a mixture of what Anduriel considered abstract art and smoking molten slag, in no condition to be worn any longer. “Figured you might need this,” Anduriel said, as he handed the novice a boot he’d picked up from one of the guardsman, “It’s probably more fashionable than yours anyway.”

“You’re buying me a new pair when we get back,” Valeriuskane growled. “In case you haven’t noticed, I’m a street urchin. Not much money over here,” Anduriel quipped back. He knew that even if Valeriuskane was serious, it wouldn’t matter. They’d survived their first big battle.

“Alright form up! We still have an objective to complete,” Etah called out, and Anduriel fell back in line with the team, as they headed left doorway of the hall towards the first security station.

“There are traitors amongst us.”

Etah’s words echoed with Kalon’s mind.

What had he meant? Who would betray us? Why? The questions continued to pass through the Mandalorian, threatening to overwhelm him if he dwelt on it too long. No, this was not the time nor the place to have these thoughts. He had to stay alert, it would almost certainly be fatal to do otherwise.

“Keep up Anduriel!” warned Etah, as the team proceeded along the left hallway. After the previous engagement, the corridor seemed rather empty and was just as equally silent, save for the metallic footsteps of the squad as they made their way to the first security station. It shouldn’t even be that far, if the intel provided was reliable. Kalon just hoped it it was, or someone would pay.

Up ahead he could see that the corridor broke right. As one, the team positioned themselves against the wall as Putra poke his head out to inspect the other hallway.

“It’s all clear.” said the Prelate, giving a thumbs up to the rest of the team behind him. Quickly, Etah moved to the front, making a gesture for the team to continue, his eyes constantly scanning the surroundings for any sign of danger.

“I sense something up ahead..” muttered Putra, indicating to the hallway ahead, which split into two doorways, left and right. From out of nowhere a dark figure emerged, hooded and cloaked to obscure his identity but nonetheless, it was obvious who he was.

“Sith!” hissed Etah, watching as the cloaked figure did the same, bellowing a challenge. “Kalon, deal with him. We’ll take the right doorway and meet you on the other side, we shouldn’t be too far from the station anyway.”

“With pleasure.” smirked Kalon, igniting his own saber.

“Oh and Kalon.” grumbled Etah.

The Mandalorian raised an eyebrow. “Yes?”

“Try not to get killed, that would be mighty inconvenient. We’d probably have to start using your apprentice as a meatshield.”

Kalon smirked, briefly muttering “Ib'tuur jatne tuur ash'ad kyr'amur.” before sprinting towards the waiting Sith. He could see the rest of the team enter through the doorway with Valerius and his shield taking point. In a split second they were gone, leaving only him and his opponent alone to do battle . Turning his concentration to the Sith, the Mandalorian lunged forward with his saber, it being easily deflected by the Warrior. Kalon managed to pull his arms back to parry a swift counterattack to the head. Spinning around and dropping to one knee, the Dark Jedi swiped with his saber hoping to separate the Sith’s legs from his body. Quickly the enemy jumped up before the weapon could make contact with his ligaments, striking down at the kneeling Arconan with his own blood red blade. But in one fluent motion, Kalon rolled to the right and stabbed forward, his lightsaber passing straight through the Sith’s heart. The Warrior fell back onto the cold metal floor, dead. Looking down at the corpse, Kalon smirked.Taking only a moment to enjoy his victory, the Dark Jedi Knight ran through the doorway to meet up with the others, going left and the left again along the abandoned corridor.

He emerged into a narrow passage, instantly noticing Anduriel and Valerius hiding behind the latter’s shield. A second look of the area told him why. He could see Putra and Etah locked in combat with another Sith, this one had come equipped with a lightsaber in each hand. Before Kalon could lend a hand, Putra managed to counter the Sith’s stance and cut off one of her hands. Etah then used the Warrior’s pause to force choke her, crushing her neck. Letting the body of the Sith fall to the floor, Etah motioned for the team to move up as they proceeded to the end of the narrow passageway, positive now that they were getting closer to the first Security Station.

On the right they could see the Station. It was essentially just a large console with three screens, two small ones with a much larger one in the centre. The sound of an igniting lightsaber caught the squad’s attention. To their left in the far corner of the room was yet another Sith, much larger than the previous two and a lot more menacing.

“Me and Putra will deal with this one!” barked Etah, readying his saber along with Putra. “Shutdown the station!”

“Affirmative.” said Anduriel, sprinting to the console along with Valerius and Kalon as Putra and Etah charged at the third Sith Warrior.

As they reached the console Valerius passed his shield to Anduriel, typing on the console. After several long moments the Zabrak sighed and looked at the Mandalorian.

“I don’t recognize their encryption. I can’t shut it down..” trembled the Novice, obviously nervous with all the enemy Sith around.
“Dik’ut!” swore Kalon, barging Valerius out of the way whilst brandishing his lightsaber. Several deep strikes from his saber all but destroyed the console, the lights on it flickered briefly before slowly dieing out.

“We speak Basic, not Mando’a.” groaned Anduriel. He looked just as nervous as Valerius did which was understandable, this was his first assignment.

“Besides I dou-.”

A quick glare from Kalon silenced the Acolyte. He turned to review Etah and Putra’s situation as Anduriel passed the shield back to Valerius. The Sith was dead, very dead. The Warrior had been completely mutilated by the Veteran’s punishing assault.

As the two walked back to the team, Kalon nodded. “The Security Station has been disabled, we are ready to proceed to the next one.”

“Good.” replied the Battleteam Leader, wiping blood from his hands onto his armour whilst Putra pretty much did the same. “Let’s move then, Valerius will take point. The next target is further down, I’ll direct you as we go along.”

As the began to move, Kalon looked down at his armour, noticing that he had hung his carbine rifle to his belt.

“I almost forgot I had this.” He thought, drawing the rifle whilst sheathing his lightsaber, swiftly following the team to the next objective.

As the team leaves the first of four security stations, they make their way to the southern corridor on to the second security station. The team takes their time, trying to avoid any ambushes along the way steeping over bodies of recently slain foes. “I don’t sense any living being ahead, but there is something there.” Putra alerts the battle team as they come to a corner. Kalon peaks around the edge of the corridor, “I see the second station.” The team files foreword only to be met with two security turrets dropping down from the overhead. “INCOMING!” shots Valeriuskane. The team tries to duck for cover but to relies that there is no cover to be found in the barren corridor. Valeriuskane moves foreword with his shield, covering the team, taking blast after blast “I don't know how long I can hold this!” the Zabrak cries out. Etah d'Tana and Putra move foreword, the two Prelates reach out with the force and rip the turrets from there mounts, a shower of sparks and electrical buzz and popping fallowing. The team paused for a moment, “Any one hurt?” the team leader asked. “No it seems everyone is ok, i'm ok.” Anduriel tries to replay but was cut off short by Etah, “Nice to know, 'cus I would leave your sorry corps were it dropped! Now lets push foreword, and this time, lets not be outsmarted by a couple of automatic antiquated guns popping out of the wall, shell we?” Putra, usually cool and serious, let off a slight smirk to his leaders frustration inspired declamation towards Anduriel and old auto gun turrets. “It's seems all clear.” Valeriuskane remarks from well behind his transparisteel shield. “Then lets move” Etah commands. The team moves forward again towards the security room, albeit a bit more conscious then before. The battle team enters the room with many terminals before them, Kalon steeps up, “Here, let me, I know how to work these things” the Dark Jedi exclaims arrogantly as he pulled out his saber and cuts into the machine, “Never thought myself as one to get into this computer slicing.” the terminal lets out sparks and sizzles to a stop. “Two more to go” Putra announces.

The Prelate paused to wipe his brow with the back of his hand as they exited the corridor that had led to the final two security checkpoints. With most of the enemies in this large corridor effectively disabled, Etah reflected that the lion’s share of the fighting might still be to come. The salty d’Tana caught a whiff of the burned devastation his team had wrought on the defenders and it invigorated him to some extent.

The Equites revelry was broken as a defense turret shot towards their position. The bright and powerful blast ricocheted down the empty hallway, missing all five Dark Jedi. Putra jumped up front and blocked a second shot and Etah motioned the group to the right.

The Apprentice carrying the riot shield moved up front, with the Acolyte behind him readying his blaster and Kalon readying his blade. The easiest corridor had been blocked by way to many defense turrets for his team to overcome. So instead the Obelisk Prelate was leading his team where intelligence reports indicated one of Zoraan’s few Elder level force users would be waiting.

In the meantime several small shots pinged off of Valeriuskane’s tactical shield. Etah instantly recognized those shots as coming from the kind of weapons Zoraan’s battle droids utilized. Anduriel fired shots into them as Putra moved forward and began lopping off the skinny necks of the mechanical creatures.

The shots fizzled as they blasted through the droids shell and the heavy creatures clanked against the deck one by one as they fell. Heavy bolts began blasting their way toward Spectre cell and Etah realized that those bolts were from a defense turret. He momentarily wondered if he had sent his team into a field of defense turrets and an antagonistic elder. Recognizing his insecurities again, he pushed them aside and leaped into the fray.

The Equite activated his lightsaber and hacked through the metal monsters one by one, stroke by stroke until he felt he was practicing lightsaber fencing techniques rather than putting his life on the line. Etah only came to a halt when he locked eyes with her from the others side of the fray.

The Umbaran stared defiantly back at Etah, as a very large and scary military droid loomed behind her. Putra sliced the defense turret in half as Kalon beheaded the last active battle droid. Valeriuskane and Anduriel moved recklessly toward the Dark Adept as Putra and Kalon moved around in order to close with the Adept.

Etah moved forward at a blinding speed, his already unnatural speed aided by the force. He cut the arm off of the large security droid, followed by a leg at the knee and then lifted his saber, cutting the droid stem to stern. It wasn’t as dramatic of a bout as the Prelate would have liked, but speed and the sheer destructive force of the lightsaber sometimes make for some disappointing climaxes. The quick defeat of the droid was nothing compared to what happened next.

Meanwhile the Elder moved toward Etah, having identified him at the strongest target. But Valeriuskane unleashed a glop grenade that subdued her physically and Etah cracked her over the head with the butt of his saber knocking her unconscious.

“Gotta pay attention to the little guy” Etah said as Putra hoisted the Dark Adept over his shoulders and Spectre Cell exited the area.

As the bedraggled Spectre Cell team exited the lift, the palpable feel of a powerful force user slammed them in the face like Bantha breathe on a hot day. Etah was instantly in motion while shouting to the rest of the team to take to the nearest cover. Anduriel and Kalon ducked out and to the immediate right behind some consoles, while Etah, Valeriuskane and Putra ducked down and to the left. Valeriuskane was having a hard time breathing with the weight of such a stifling power in the air. He thought to himself hell it's been fun and it's a good day to tempt fate.

Etah was noticeably agitated, one would almost say he look excited as a wry smile crossed the Mirialans' face.
"Be careful and keep your eyes open people." He barked as he began to scan the room with eyes and senses alike, noticing that Kalon and Putra seemed to be doing the same.
"I sense several of Necar's dirty beasts here." Kalon replied.

Just as he finished his sentence Valeriuskane barked, "What the hell is that thing." Gesturing behind the large console directly in the center of the room. A large slobbering Rancor looking beast with large tusk like protrusions coming from it's mouth and spines covering most of its upper torso and arms. One of these barbaric monsters could take out a small group of well trained dark jedi, let alone rip through Spectre cells less experienced members. On reflex action alone Valeriuskane tossed his final grenade in the vicinity of the approaching behemoth, then watched in shock and horror as it rolled directly onto the beasts foot and exploded with zero effect. It seemed that all he did was piss it off.

" How about some warning and a plan next time." yelled Etah while glaring at the shrugging Apprentice. The other reactionary member of Spectre, Anduriel, chuckled under his breathe so as not to anger his superiors anymore when lives were on the line.

Now Valeriuskane had the monstrosities attention and it began to slowly lumber towards him and the other two members of the team he was crouched beside. Anduriel as though taking the initiative from the naive Apprentice, stood up and shot several blaster bolts in the direction of the advancing Terentatek, only to watch them ricochet harmlessly off the beasts' thick hide.
Out of nowhere from an alcove near the groups front left flank, a second beast appeared and covered the ground between itself and the crouched Jedi in a matter of seconds. It raised a huge spiked arm faster than Valeriuskane could react and swung it on an arc at his chest which was protected only by his now battle scarred shield. The impact was so great that it cracked the shield and sent the young apprentice and Anduriel, who was caught off guard by the flying Valeriuskane, ten feet backwards into the wall near the lift door, where they slumped to the floor and slowly began to collect themselves.

Putra reacted and sent several rifle bolts into the terentateks face distracting it and gaining its ill favored attention. As the other beast began to advance on Kalon and Etah, Val's vision blurred and began to fade as Anduriel tried to help prop up the battered Zabrak and himself and try to gain his wits. From somewhere ahead in main bridge area came a cackling laughter.

"You think you can best me and my pets, let me show you what a true master of the Dark Side is capable of!"

“Valerius is unconscious.” Shouted Anduriel, as he picked himself up from the floor, shaking dirt and dust off of his robes.

“Stay with him until he’s awake. Protect him.” called Etah, his eyes fixed on the two incoming beasts.

Kalon realized that both of the beasts were focused on the two Prelates and not him, he could use this to his advantage or at least relieve his squadmates of some of the pressure. Running at the closest beast, lightsaber firmly in hand, Kalon stabbed forward with his blade. As it came into contact with the thick hide of the Terentatek, the blade momentarily stopped before gradually sinking slowly into the beast. With a devastating roar, the beast turned round and lashed a fist out at Kalon, its attention fixed firmly upon the Mandalorian with a hateful gaze.

In one fluent motion, Kalon threw himself out of the way of the enraged Terentatek, who now was advancing upon him. From the corner of his eye, the Dark Jedi Knight could see Etah and Putra diving out of the way of the other beasts attacks.

“We can’t do this forever..” muttered Kalon. As he retreated to the far side of the room, watching the lumbering behemoth follow him. Suddenly, blaster fire bathed the beast. Kalon glanced towards the lift and could see Anduriel kneeling next to Valerius, his blaster in hand. Whilst the intense blaster fire of his apprentice was not enough to do any damage, it served perfectly to confuse the beast. It did not know whether to pursue Kalon or Anduriel, standing in the middle of the room, glaring at both of the squadmates.

“I’m..ah...alright..” Grumbled a stirring Valerius, looking up at Anduriel, and then to Etah and Putra, who were still dancing around the other Terentatek, taking in turns to stab at the beast.

The Dark Jedi knight smirked to himself, sprinting across the room and past the now moving Terenatek, towards the unarmed Novice.

“Catch it or I’ll rip your arms off and literally feed you to these beasts.” Grumbled Kalon as he threw his weapon over to Valerius, who just about caught the weapon.

Turning his head to the right, Kalon realized too late that the Terentatek was charging at him. The lumbering beast’s attack connected with the Mandalorian’s right side, sending him flying into the wall besides where Valerius had landed. After a moment of white, Kalon slowly looked down. He could see that his armour was dented severely by the attack, without it he would have probably been dead. The rest of his body looked fine besides from his right arm, which had bent the wrong way, a bone sticking out through a crack in his armour.

“Well Krif..” Groaned the Mandalorian, wiping his sweating forehead with his good hand, before taking his lightsaber and standing up. Still in the fight, this time. He noticed Anduriel staring at him, no doubt at his arm.
“It’s in fashion.” Mumbled the Dark Jedi Knight, glad that the adrenaline helped him speak without passing out.

“Of course it is, Master.” Replied the Mantellian, lifting his blaster and aiming at the oncoming beast as Kalon ignited his saber, doing pretty much the same.

As Anduriel helped his master to his feet, he couldn’t take his eyes off the bone sticking out of Kalon’s right arm. He’d seen dead bodies before, and he’d seen some gruesome things. What surprised him was Kalon’s grim determination to keep going, and that he’d resisted passing out completely. He was intimidated at the strength, and impressed.

He may have also been in awe too, but he wasn’t about to start sucking up to his master right then. There would(hopefully) be time for that later.

Anduriel took quick stock of the situation. His masters arm was broken, Valeriuskane was one blow away from being out of the fight permanently, and the other two squad members were dealing with the other beast. He did the only thing he could think of at the moment: He took the silver sash from around his left arm and tied it around his forehead.

Kalon couldn’t help himself as he turned around, “You look like an idiot.”

“Better than having a bone sticking out of my arm,” Anduriel countered. Behind him he saw the enraged monster moving fast towards Valerius, and he did what he did best.

“Here Ugly, Ugly, Ugly! Here boy!”

The beast stopped advancing towards Valerius and turned around, having heard Anduriel’s goading. “Or girl, you never know these days,” the apprentice whispered to himself under his breath. He then started slowly walking towards the terentatek, which had begun to begin advancing towards him. Anduriel had planned on giving some overdramatic battlecry, but he had a lump in his throat from the nervousness from the situation. Heart pounding in his ears, he hoped someone would catch on and take advantage of the situation.

Valerius moved fast from behind the beast. With Kalon’s lightsaber he slashed at the terentatek’s back, leaving a line of burnt flesh where the blade had passed. Not damaging, but painful enough to regain the beast’s attention, who responded with a loud roar. Anduriel grabbed the opportunity, sprinting as fast as his legs would let him towards the monster, and in one motion, pulled out the katana from his back and stabbed at the face of the terentatek, where figured the eye must be. His guess was right, as he felt his blade sink easily into what may have been the creature’s single vulnerable spot. The creature roared in pain, standing up on its hind legs, taking Anduriel, who still had his grip on his katana, up with it.

“OH HELL’S BELLS!” He shouted as he felt his body fly up in the air. Instinctively he let go of the katana and kept flying behind the terentatek, rolling in a heap and trying to gain some control, stopping at Kalon’s feet.

He could feel his master’s eyes on him, “How are you NOT dead?”
“Beginner’s luck?”
“Stupid luck, di’kut.”
“Would you have missed me?” the apprentice as he got to his feet. He noticed the master’s bleeding had stopped, and he had managed to get some kind of rudimentary bandage on the wound. It wasn’t much, but it would keep him alive for now.

Before Kalon could reply Valerius’s panicked voice came out from behind Anduriel, “GUYS!” Anduriel turned around to see the beast moving with blinding speed towards Valerius , who had held the saber unsteadily, having no idea how to properly fight with it.

On reflex, Kalon picked up a carbine with his good arm, tossing it to Anduriel, who began to spray fire at the creature’s back. He couldn’t tell, but he must have hit the burned flesh, because the creature roared again and turned around. The beast’s rage-filled roar was deafening, and Kalon just began to move to his right, getting out of the way of the beast’s line of sight. Valerius took his chance, with one deft stab he shoved the blade into the beasts other good eye at an upward angle, going into the brain. The beast roared in agony, blinded, before falling dead at Valerius’s feet.

Valerius and Anduriel shared a look. Anduriel then walked over, pulling out his katana from the corpse of the beast. They both looked at each other, panting, “well, this is all horrible,” Anduriel said to Valerius, “Do you ever stop talking?,” the novice replied, holding the lightsaber carefully in his hands, his inexperience evident.

“Only when I’m not awake,” Anduriel smiled back sweetly.

Anduriel looked at the other side of the chamber and saw that Etah and Putra had gotten the same idea, albeit they were much more fluid. They moved swiftly and quickly with experience, taking turns stabbing and slashing at the beast till Etah found his chance and hit one eye of the beast, blinding it. The beast roared again, and they repeated the movements, dodging and weaving till the squad leader got a second opportunity, using it to his advantage and bringing down the beast once and for all with another blow to the eyes.

“Form up!” Etah called out, panting with the prelate Putra following behind.

As they met up they turned and headed to the main area of the bridge, moving forward past the door. There stood the dark Jedi apprentice, still robed in black and hooded, face obscured from view.

Anduriel couldn’t help himself, “Well, your beasts couldn't have SEEN this could they?”

The rest of the squad turned to look at him, each one of their looks clearly saying the same thing: “Really?”

He looked at his squadmates and shrugged, hoisting the carbine onto his shoulder ready to fire, “Did I say that out loud? Don’t mind me,” he grinned as he took aim.

He heard the lightsabers from his squadmates being activated.

“If we didn’t have a mission to complete…” Kalon grumbled under his breath.

“You would so miss me if I got killed, and besides, don’t you have a bad guy to kill?”

The Sith Lord stood at the entrance of the bridge of the super star destroyer, “Everyone get serious!” shots Etah. The Sith Lord pulled his Sith sword from behind his robe and charges at the team. “Watch out!” shots Anduriel. The Sith Lord charges strait for the injured members of the team, Kalon and Valeriuskane. Etah and Putra, in unison, force push the junior members out of dangers way, “Anduriel stay with with your master and Valeriuskane.” Putra commands and looks over to Etah, “We will take care of this” Etah states. Darth Necar turns around and sneers at the two prelates. The two equites of the team bring up there sabers with a flash of violet and silver, the two charged into battle, only to have there valiant effort come to not, with a wave of the Sith Lord's hand, he cast force wave on the two Brotherhood Jedi, tossing them effortlessly across the room into the bulkhead. “what to do that again” Putra comments with a groan. “We need to change strategies” Etah remarks as he pulls himself up off the floor. Meanwhile the three junior members of the team have fallen back and look on and can only watch the Prelates get pummeled by the Sith Lord. Kalon holds his broken arm, “There has to be something we can do to help” Kalon grunts as everyone continues to look on. “i don't know... I think maybe... we might just get in their way...” Valeriuskane remarks under his breath.

Etah had lived through many things: combat, war, epic lightsaber fights. Etah had faced down armies and slain monsters at different points across the galaxy. But never had his situation seemed so bleak.

Spectre Cell had entered the bridge only moments before, but the team was already scattered and shattered. Blood had been shed, bones were broken and they foreboding Dark Jedi Master had appeared only briefly before disappearing around a corner, preferring his beasts to take up his light work. The now stared at the Dark Jedi Masters pair demonic beasts which were nearly as terrifying as Darth Necar himself. To make matters worse, Spectre hadn’t wrestled Dantella Novae’s twin lightsabers from her and she ignited them and sliced right through the chalking from the glop grenade that had bound her off in the corner where Etah had discarded her upon entry into the bridge.

Faced with certain death within milliseconds, time passed painfully slow. As oral and visual occlusion set in, Etah’s vision became monochromatic and the beating of his own heart became the loudest noise in the room. The pale hued Umbaran Dark Adept looked even paler and starker as she stared angrily, straight into Etah’s eyes, her puffy robes billowing around her. The nearby Terentatek screeched. The massive pincers and endless rows of sharp teeth were the stuff of nightmares.

But still there was a presence even more terrifying within the room. Somewhere, around a corner lurked a man, or perhaps a monster, powerful enough to destroy the entire ship they had fought so hard to liberate, with but a whim. All forms of physical contact would be a complete waste, their futile efforts would doom both their lives and the teams mission objectives.

‘But what were the options?’ Etah silently wondered. ‘What in the world could they possibly do?’ he thought, before inspiration struck him.

He sent three quick mental messages, telepathically through the force. The messages were just simple images. Two of the messages were to the lowest ranking members of the team, who were also the only ones not wearing heavy pressurized armor. It simply showed a sucking void. The last message went to Putra and showed a bright wall between Etah and the beasts.

The Obelisk Prelate began moving incredibly fast, his already exceptional almost superhuman natural speed being aided by as many abilities and as much force as Etah could possibly summon. He moved like a blur nearly to fast to be seen, while Anduriel and Valeriuskane donned what looked to be facemasks or breathing apparatuses. Everyone in the team wore a black body suit similar to what storm troopers wore and the mask allowed one to breathe in a vacuum and pressured the bodyarmor.

Putre shot forth multiple volleys of Whirlwind and Obliterate toward the beasts and the Dark adept. The attacks weren’t damaging at all, mere annoyances to be sure. But enough to distract them long enough for the very fast Etah to move toward his target. Dantella narrowed her eyes at the feeble attacks and began to look confused as Kalon, Anduriel and Valeriuskane walked up behind Putra, began to stow their weapons and hold hands. Valeriuskane had put his riot shield upon his back and the Dark Adept began moving forward. But before she could make any progress, Etah ignited his lightsaber and made half a dozen strikes through the bulkhead.

The buzzing of the saber was accompanied by the smell of metal melting. There was silence and then an explosion as the hull of the bridge gave way to the strength of the saber and began to rapidly decompress. Etah was the first shot into space, his team came next one by one, gripping each other’s hands and following each other.

Kalon at the head of the file reached out and grasped for Etah as the group was expelled at a very fast rate. Having already deactivated his saber and replaced it on his belt, Etah gasped the young Mando’s hand back and sort of swam toward the other end of the line where he reached out and grabbed Anduriel’s hand. The five formed into a circle and spun outward from the capital ship. Spectre Cell’s formation looked similar to the skydivers of old.

The team watched as the four beasts were expelled into different directions, where Arconan forces could chase, engage and capture each one individually. Spectre Cell looked into the eyes of their team mates from across the way, let out a breath they didn’t know they had held and let out a soul soothing chuckle as they signaled to the nearby Arconan forces for retrieval.

Etah pondered how many more impossible scenarios like this, he could possibly experience and survive. He decided not many, as he chucked again boisterously.