Round 11
On the Tarmac below the Lightwing
[GM] From the hatch of the
lightwing a figure swoops down, a form like that of a great dark bird swathed
in silver light. It takes Sha a moment to recognize Joan Blackhawk,
though it strikes some chord within him, the Barabel doesn't comprehend
the nimbus surrounding her. To Wei
Ping it seems as if Blackhawk
is expressing the kind of "battle aura" that practicioners of Ksai Vort
have always considered invisible. But to Bif Joan's appearance is no surprise
-- she is merely the Hakka'nar in the embrace of the Kit'argent. Their
strength and unity flows to him through their shared Force link, and as
Bif reaches forward he strikes as swift as the talons of the Falcon'or.
Bif's
hand siezes on the flesh of the coopted Are, clamping hard around his wrist.
A flare of golden energy appears as they touch. Are's wrist, hot
enough now to burn Bif's palm, itself chars and smokes. Bif begins
to sweat, as if standing next to a furnace, clutching a steam pipe. Are/Machsyafa's
throat lets loose a piercing scream, and his mouth exhales tendrils of
dark Force that reek of corruption and stolen dreams.
Simultaneously
the argentine glare around Joan flares and becomes more substantial. A
figure appears briefly, a shape like the antithesis of shadow -- darkness
casting a silhouette of light. Are/Machshayfa winces and turns his
eyes away.
Wei Ping
Colter recognizes a target of opportunity when she sees one. Whirling
in a fluid spin-kick, her heel connects with the hand -- now held immobile
by Bif -- that still clutches Are's lightsaber. The crack of breaking
fingers echoes in the aftermath of Are/M's scream, as he sacrifices bone
to retain a grip on the weapon. But the effort is not quite enough
to overcome the power of Wei Ping's blow.
The lightsaber
skitters to the ground, landing just in front of Sha Ahree. The sacred
blade of a Jedi, profaned by this mockery of life, stained with blood not
its own.
Are's
shattered and bleeding hand convulses spasmodically, but is still held
securely in Bif's grip. "You are indeed strong in the Force," he mutters.
"And you are many to my one. Given time, you might even win. But yours
has run out." With snakelike speed, his free hand draws a blaster.
Startlingly, he does not turn it on Biff, but holds it against his own
temple. He looks deep into Bif's eyes.
"Are
you faster than this flesh -- this brain's impulse to its finger?" He glances
over at the luminous form of Joan/Are. "And how much are you willing to
sacrifice to defeat me?"
[Joan] Instinctively,
Joan reacts as she always does when an inappropriate blaster is drawn in
her presence. She reaches out thru the Force and snatches the blaster.
(Translation: I will spend a Force Point and use Joan's Alter to
grab and pull the blaster to her, if possible. If Joan does get the
blaster, she will disable it -- pop out the power pack, jam the trigger,
whatever -- with one hand, while remaining focused on the Machshayfa.
Regardless of if she is sucessful or not, the following will take place.
I will hold any further actions to see what happens and what everyone else
is doing.)
Joan's
focuses on the Machshayfa -- not on the body of Are, but on the Machshayfa.
Her expression becomes warm and sympathetic. A sad smile lines her
lips.
"It hurts,
doesn't it?" she whispers gently. Joan's expression carries all the
remembered pain of the Dark Side -- the alienation, the physical torment,
the madness, the despair ... the losses.
"But
there is another way." Dark eyes flare with the Light. She
lets the hope in her swell up. Joan has accepted this Dark connection
of her mate's, even as he accepted the Darkness within herself. She
reaches forward in healing and compassion.
[Sha] Realizing most of this
combat is occurring on a level he can barely perceive, much less participate
in, Sha falls back on his natural instincts and abilities. As the "possesed"
Are focuses on Biff and Joan, Sha drifts to his right, moving as silently
as he knows how. He concentrates on being just another shadow caused
by the flickering lights and energies under the Lightwing. He times
his movement to the flickering shadows, flowing behind Joan (what is that
aura he see's - no
time to study it now...),
behind the landing legs trying to circle behind Are unnoticed.
Sha will
watch for any openings or actions from the others as he circles.
If Are spots him he will stop, hopefully not causing him to fire.
His's intent is to get close enough behind Are that he can try and block
the blaster by shoving his hand (the cybernetic one!) between the blaster
and Are's head.
[Wei Ping] Wei Ping moves
back into a defensive position ready to act if the need arises. The
focus of danger is no longer against Bif or other members of the crew of
the lightwing. She realizes that her reflexes are not fast enough to prevent
this madman from shooting himself.
She will
wait and watch for a target of opportunity, when the timing would be to
her advantage.
She will
also do a quick check of what else is happening in the hangar. (As much
as she can determine without moving more than a foot or so from her present
location.) If more than this one person was involved they should have made
their presence known by now, but she will err on the side of caution.
[Bif] Bif continues to stand, holding "Are", letting the light side of the force wash over himself and all around him. He does not respond to "Are's" taunt. He just stands in the peace of the light. (Bif is continuing to keep Force Harmony up, and preparing to use Absorb/Dissipate Energy.)
[ARE] I will send to Joan,
that I am thinking of TK or extending the force harmony to Biff and the
Machshayfa in between... but if I don't have an instant sense of Joan's
response or what she is about to do I will move to do telekinesis of the
gun-down and in towards behind his neck-what I mean is that he has curved
his arm and wrist to hold the blaster to his temple, I will pull in the
direction that would continue his motion moving-thus hoping to use as leverage
his own action, while at the same time pulling his hand and wrist into
a position that is awkward (the hand/wrist would be further invert/twisted,)
affording little control or resistance (hopefully). I am going to use a
force point, even though it is my life at stake, it is a major bad action
by a dark force and ain't good (neither is me dying).If the blaster is
easily grabbed and even comes towards us I would bring it to me/Joan. (Can
I hold it? If so I would, if not then into Joan's hand. If it doesn't
come that far then just
towards us...
By the Cargo Bay Doors:
[GM] R4 lets DT guide him to the concealment of the crates. He whistles a low tune of gratitude. Hiding seems like a good idea to him, especially as energies that his sensor's can't recognize bounce about under the hull of the Lightwing.
To DT, the scene looks like something out of a shadow play. There are screams and sounds of struggle, beams of light seem to spring from people's hands, flares of silver and gold light flash against darkness.
(Leslie -- I see that DT *finally* made her perception roll. <g>)[DT] DT stares wide-eyed at the scene under the blastboat. No wonder the droid panicked. She can't tear her eyes away as she escorts R4 to a safe cubby.
"F*ck! WhathaF*CK?!?" she mumbles. "Awww, hell. Ain't no Mafia I know does that kinda sh*t. Damn!" The rumpled tech looks down at R4. "Jedi? Really??? F*ck!!!" DT shakes her head to clear it.
"'K, 'K, 'K. Don' matter." She bends down to talk to the Astromech. "Look, don' matter what's happenin'. Our job is containment, right?" DT nods her head encouragingly. "No one in. No one out." She says firmly and hefts the modified blaster in her hand. The girl stands where she can see both the large bay door that she and the droid are near, as well as the side door. She watches both with edgy eyes.
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Star Wars:
Special Forces
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