Round 12
[GM] Wei Ping shifts
her gaze from the bizarre tableau under the Lightwing. The rest of
the hangar seems secure. DT, wide-eyed, crouches with the R4 droid.
She guards the cargo bay doors, a blaster in hand. The panel next
to the pedestrian exit from the hangar glows red, showing that it is still
locked. There is no movement from the Rhodian's cab. Aeon lays senseless
on the tarmac, breathing unsteadily.
As DT glances toward the side door, she notes Wei Ping expertly assessing
the situation. R4 whistles worriedly. The struggle under the Lightwing
continues.
The possessed body of Are begins to heat even more, but Bif is able to
absorb the energy without harm. Are/M closes his eyes tightly, as
if trying to shut out the intensity of the light coming from Bif, Joan,
and Are's spirit. "Stop it!" he hisses. His finger begins to
tighten on the trigger.
Sensing this, Blackhawk exerts her telekinesis on the blaster. She,
Are and Bif can sense the Machshayfa resisting with his own TK force through
Are's body. Then Are adds his power to Joan's. With the sound
of tearing flesh, Are/M's elbow bends, the blaster coming just away from
his temple, but still in his grip.
Sha Ahree lashes forward just as Are/M's finger contracts, barely interposing
his cybernetic hand between blaster barrel and head. The blast chars
Sha's arm, exposing wires and circuitry. [GM note: arm loses its
+1D bonus to STR/lifting/resist damage until repaired.] But the bolt
is deflected, only singeing Are's hair. Bif still stands unaffected,
hand solidly around Are/M's other wrist.
These events prove distracting enough even to the Machshayfa. His
control of Are's body slips for a moment, and the blaster flies into Joan's
grip. "It hurts, doesn't it?" she whispers gently. "But
there is another way." She reaches forward in healing and compassion.
The Machshayfa's control of Are's body falters. With the Light Side
of the Force pouring into it from three Jedi, there are no shadows for
him to hide in. That portion of the Machshayfa that is inside Are
is exposed.
In an instant, there are several things the trio come to understand about
him and what he believes. He is dark, and powerful, but was not always
so. He willingly embraced and embraces the dark side, reveling
in its power. His way is the only way to reach his goals. Foremost
of those goals is to save the Batellian race -- *his* race -- from the
doom of the Ruach. And to thus ascend to galactic power as their
leader.
There is some special connection with Are, though what exactly is well
hidden. His possession of Are's body was an almost childish retaliation
to pay back Are for rejecting him in favor of Joan. But he wants
Joan and Bif as well for their strength in the Force and their special
abilities. In some way that is not clear, he intends to feed them
to the vortex.
The image of that vortex briefly appears as the Machshayfa withdraws from
Are's body. "You will face your destiny." It is a dark echo
left behind. "In the place where the stars end."
Are's body collapses. It hangs limply from Bif's hand, its unnatural heat
fading.
The hair on the back of Wei Ping's and DT's neck stands up for a moment.
Sha Ahree shudders, as if a great predator just passed without smelling
him. The three Jedi sense that the Machshayfa's presence is gone.
[Bif] Bif swings the limp
Are into a cradle position in his arms. He immediately heads for
the hatch of the Lightwing. He speaks to Sha - "Get Aeon into
my cabin immediately, there is a med unit there."
As he disappears into the Lightwing, He looks at Wei Ping over his shoulder
and says "I'll be out in a minute, keep the cabbie quiet."
[Sha] Sha will quickly examine Aeon to decide if moving him would cause further injury. If not, he will pick him up and carry him to the Bif's cabin. If he thinks moving him is a bad idea, he will call for DT to come and assist him since he knows she's a much better medic than himself.
[Joan] Joan looks around
the hanger once, dark eyes taking in the injured Aeon, Sha's blasted arm,
the 'civilians' in the area. A grim smile dances across her lips.
Nothing like combat to weld a unit together.
Seeing that Sha is managing fine with the limp form of Aeon, Joan follows
Bif quickly into the Lightwing. So soon -- one pupil injured gravely,
another slightly damaged. The image of one of her own masters being
knocked off a tree on Dagobah dances through her mind. Like herself,
Bif and Are, her pupils will obviously be tested by fire and early in their
training.
[Wei Ping] Wei Ping stops
short and realizes that her mouth is hanging open. She refrains from voicing
what she is thinking with great difficulty. *Who the hell died and made
him emperor? Who does he think he's ordering around?*
She calms herself and very deliberately stows her blaster. *Your captain,
you idiot, that's who. Get it under control.* and turns toward where
the cabbie is huddled. She is still irked at the summary dismissal but
she focuses on her job.
Wei Ping sweeps up
her discarded clipboard on the way to the front of the hanger and tries
to compose herself. At least she is in charge of the cabbie and what's
her name....DT. She thinks that's the name.
"All right you two, what do you have there and where do we need to hide
it?"
[DT] DT's head snaps
toward the source of an official sounding voice. Her eyes are still
wide from what they've seen but she's maintaining. 'Okay, so the
boss is giving orders to the 'crat with the clipboard. Same team,
then? Geez and what a team!?! Lightnin' bolts, smokin' people
... and one seriously messed up pro'col droid!!!'
DT doesn't stow her blaster as she stands, but she keeps it pointed at
the floor. Sometimes 'cleanups' could be as messy as 'incidents'.
The grungy tech walks forward waving the R2 unit with her.
"Not s'posed to hide it... really. S'posed to weld it. Boss
ordered a turbo laser, boss got a turbo laser. Cheap too."
DT smiles innocently.
[Are] Begins to concentrate on returning to his body, using the Force, focusing on his individuality as a specific but isolated identity within the Force. He will be slightly wary as he reenters, sensing the terrain for unwelcome lingerers...
Round 11 Return to
Star Wars:
Special Forces
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