The Jedi Temple- Thursday night
After finding Valin and Jysella, Ben and Jaina did try to go after Vestara, though there'd been another fight to be able to get to her. In the middle of it, hours after this had all begun, Luke and Corran showed up and helped them clear that group of Sith out. And then there'd been another fight that had meant Jaina had to shoo Valin through the delivery portal in the freight-handling system to get to the others when they were attacked again. By the time she'd gotten through herself she'd taken a blaster burn to the side and had bled a little through her robes, but the more pressing part had nothing to do with that.
Which was why when she cleared the portal she yelled, "Stay clear! Grenade!" while still firing her blaster in the direction from which she'd come.
Ben's hand shot up, catching the grenade with the Force in mid-air and throwing it more or les clear. The blast still sucked, knocking shelves and Jedi over, causing ringing in the ears once it was over, but it hadn't hurt anyone.
Besides, three two Sith that had followed Jaina were the big problem, though Ben took care of one easily while Jaina took the other two. It was actually pretty quick and simple, but with the broken ribs and the hole in her side, she was not enjoying this very much, and had to fight to catch a good breath.
"Jaina, are you okay?" he asked, apparently noticing this.
"Fine," she said, but her eyes widened in alarm when she dimly heard the activating control rings, which would mean even more Sith.
Ben pulled a thermal detonator from his harness. "Jysella!" he called, tossing it to her. "Blow it!"
While he did that, Jaina's danger sense enabled her to be able to throw herself in the way to catch the crackle of Force lightning from the portal on her lightsaber. Ben swung around, igniting his own weapon, and apparently recognized the Sith as the one that had taken Vestara.
And then he did something very dumb, and didn't just take him out. "Surrender or die," Ben said instead. "Decide now."
Jaina was gonna smack this kid.
The Sith stopped the attack. "What is it you want, Jedi? A trade?"
Ben thought about it, and nodded. "The thought had crossed my mind. Your life for-"
The cry of "Ben!" came from Jysella, though Jaina just acted and grabbed Ben in the Force to pull him away as a shikkar from another Sith caught him in the thigh. The Sith Ben had been trying to negotiate with used the Force to break the weapon off at the hilt, and Ben tried to lunge for him.
"No, Ben!" Jysella called again. "Detonator!"
He barely had a chance to look over before Jaina was grabbing him and pulling him away from the freight system, seconds before another blast that knocked shelves of heavy boxes over and filled the room with intense heat. Then Jaina looked at Ben and saw him open his mouth as if to cry out in pain, and she clamped a hand over his mouth, hissing "Quiet!"
She rose up just a bit to glance at the scene. The Sith that had been coming through the activation chambers were pretty much in pieces now, but there didn't seem to be an immediate threat. "He might still be alive," she hissed.
Ben swallowed and nodded, gently pulling her hand away. "I wasn't going to scream."
"If you say so," she said. Since they had a moment, she grabbed his leg firmly above and below the wound, using the Force to extract the glass blade. This time Ben did seem to have to stop himself from screaming, but Jaina could only feel so bad for him.
"You deserved that, you know," she said, keeping her voice low. "What were you thinking, trying to capture a Sith Lord? In the middle of hand-to-hand combat? You're lucky. A little to the left, and you'd be dead."
Not until the blade was out of his leg did Ben dare to speak, and even then he was out of breath from trying to hold back the pain. "He didn't miss, Jaina. He didn't want to finish me."
"Don't kid yourself, Ben. Sith don't play nice. You shouldn't, either," Jaina said, and pulled a clean bacta patch from a belt pouch and pressed it over his wound, then took his hand and placed it on top. “Pressure.”
He obeyed, but insisted, "He wasn't being nice. I think he wanted to take me prisoner. That's why he went for my thigh, instead of my heart or my abdomen."
Jaina remained silent as she secured the patch with a self-snugging bandage, then finally nodded. "Okay, you’ve got a point. You’re Luke Skywalker’s son. You’d make a pretty good hostage."
She slipped an arm under his shoulder and helped him to his feet. They were still looking back toward the gaping hole where the delivery portal had been, and as they watched, the familiar growling of activating control rings sounded down in the freight-handling system. A muffled scream came next.
"You guys took out the deceleration series," Jaina said. "Nice thinking."
"Jysella’s idea," Ben admitted.
Jaina shrugged. "It buys us enough time to join your dad and the others,” she said. “That’s what counts."
They started forward cautiously, still searching for signs of Ben's attacker, but all they found was Jysella, poking her head out of an aisle on the other side of the crater left by the detonator. "You’d better hurry. They’ve got problems at the interface station."
As if on cue, there was the blasterfire in the distance. Evidently, the Sith out in the hangar had finally realized they had trouble in the parts locker and launched an attack.
"Be right there," Jaina called. She slowly withdrew her support from under Ben’s arm. "Can you move on your own?"
He moved carefully, making sure he could do it. "I'm good," he said, and gestured toward the charred part of her robe where the blaster burn was. "How about you?"
Jaina glanced down at it. "A little trouble breathing, but not much blood loss. I'll be fine."
"Are you sure? Because if you're having trouble breathing-"
Jaina looked at him, honestly confused. After twenty years of doing all the crazy dangerous Jedi stuff, along with living in Fandom, this wasn't even a blip on her pain radar. "I'm fine. I’ve been doing this a long time."
The found the others at the interface station, ducked for cover and trading blasts with Sith while Rowdy was plugged into the data socket. He was chirping and rocking back and forth on his treads in what looked suspiciously close to frustration. The newcomers added their own fire to the fight, and dropped next to Luke and Corran behind the counter. "Problems?" Ben asked.
"You could say that," Luke said, almost having to yell over the noise. "Rowdy seems to think that all of the interface panels have been disabled."
"So? It’s not like we can get out there to use another one anyway."
"No,” Corran said, dropping back behind the counter and ejecting his useless power cell. "You’re not understanding. It’s not just the hangar stations that are disabled. It’s all of them. In the entire Jedi Temple."
Jaina cursed internally, but she was too busy firing at Sith to answer. Jysella did that instead. "Then how are we going to lower the shields? And get the blast doors open?"
No one spoke for a moment, then Ben said, "There’s only one way, at least if we want to open them all at once." He turned toward the corner of the parts locker, where Valin was dragging his lightsaber blade through the durasteel wall, just putting the final touches on the bolt-hole. "Rowdy needs to talk directly to the Temple computer."
Luke nodded. "We need to enter the computer core itself. And you can bet the Sith will be expecting us."
[NFB, NFI, OOC and sighing at Ben okay. Dialogue and some bits taken from Apocalypse by Troy Denning, who's gotten only marginally better at fight-planning.]
Which was why when she cleared the portal she yelled, "Stay clear! Grenade!" while still firing her blaster in the direction from which she'd come.
Ben's hand shot up, catching the grenade with the Force in mid-air and throwing it more or les clear. The blast still sucked, knocking shelves and Jedi over, causing ringing in the ears once it was over, but it hadn't hurt anyone.
Besides, three two Sith that had followed Jaina were the big problem, though Ben took care of one easily while Jaina took the other two. It was actually pretty quick and simple, but with the broken ribs and the hole in her side, she was not enjoying this very much, and had to fight to catch a good breath.
"Jaina, are you okay?" he asked, apparently noticing this.
"Fine," she said, but her eyes widened in alarm when she dimly heard the activating control rings, which would mean even more Sith.
Ben pulled a thermal detonator from his harness. "Jysella!" he called, tossing it to her. "Blow it!"
While he did that, Jaina's danger sense enabled her to be able to throw herself in the way to catch the crackle of Force lightning from the portal on her lightsaber. Ben swung around, igniting his own weapon, and apparently recognized the Sith as the one that had taken Vestara.
And then he did something very dumb, and didn't just take him out. "Surrender or die," Ben said instead. "Decide now."
Jaina was gonna smack this kid.
The Sith stopped the attack. "What is it you want, Jedi? A trade?"
Ben thought about it, and nodded. "The thought had crossed my mind. Your life for-"
The cry of "Ben!" came from Jysella, though Jaina just acted and grabbed Ben in the Force to pull him away as a shikkar from another Sith caught him in the thigh. The Sith Ben had been trying to negotiate with used the Force to break the weapon off at the hilt, and Ben tried to lunge for him.
"No, Ben!" Jysella called again. "Detonator!"
He barely had a chance to look over before Jaina was grabbing him and pulling him away from the freight system, seconds before another blast that knocked shelves of heavy boxes over and filled the room with intense heat. Then Jaina looked at Ben and saw him open his mouth as if to cry out in pain, and she clamped a hand over his mouth, hissing "Quiet!"
She rose up just a bit to glance at the scene. The Sith that had been coming through the activation chambers were pretty much in pieces now, but there didn't seem to be an immediate threat. "He might still be alive," she hissed.
Ben swallowed and nodded, gently pulling her hand away. "I wasn't going to scream."
"If you say so," she said. Since they had a moment, she grabbed his leg firmly above and below the wound, using the Force to extract the glass blade. This time Ben did seem to have to stop himself from screaming, but Jaina could only feel so bad for him.
"You deserved that, you know," she said, keeping her voice low. "What were you thinking, trying to capture a Sith Lord? In the middle of hand-to-hand combat? You're lucky. A little to the left, and you'd be dead."
Not until the blade was out of his leg did Ben dare to speak, and even then he was out of breath from trying to hold back the pain. "He didn't miss, Jaina. He didn't want to finish me."
"Don't kid yourself, Ben. Sith don't play nice. You shouldn't, either," Jaina said, and pulled a clean bacta patch from a belt pouch and pressed it over his wound, then took his hand and placed it on top. “Pressure.”
He obeyed, but insisted, "He wasn't being nice. I think he wanted to take me prisoner. That's why he went for my thigh, instead of my heart or my abdomen."
Jaina remained silent as she secured the patch with a self-snugging bandage, then finally nodded. "Okay, you’ve got a point. You’re Luke Skywalker’s son. You’d make a pretty good hostage."
She slipped an arm under his shoulder and helped him to his feet. They were still looking back toward the gaping hole where the delivery portal had been, and as they watched, the familiar growling of activating control rings sounded down in the freight-handling system. A muffled scream came next.
"You guys took out the deceleration series," Jaina said. "Nice thinking."
"Jysella’s idea," Ben admitted.
Jaina shrugged. "It buys us enough time to join your dad and the others,” she said. “That’s what counts."
They started forward cautiously, still searching for signs of Ben's attacker, but all they found was Jysella, poking her head out of an aisle on the other side of the crater left by the detonator. "You’d better hurry. They’ve got problems at the interface station."
As if on cue, there was the blasterfire in the distance. Evidently, the Sith out in the hangar had finally realized they had trouble in the parts locker and launched an attack.
"Be right there," Jaina called. She slowly withdrew her support from under Ben’s arm. "Can you move on your own?"
He moved carefully, making sure he could do it. "I'm good," he said, and gestured toward the charred part of her robe where the blaster burn was. "How about you?"
Jaina glanced down at it. "A little trouble breathing, but not much blood loss. I'll be fine."
"Are you sure? Because if you're having trouble breathing-"
Jaina looked at him, honestly confused. After twenty years of doing all the crazy dangerous Jedi stuff, along with living in Fandom, this wasn't even a blip on her pain radar. "I'm fine. I’ve been doing this a long time."
The found the others at the interface station, ducked for cover and trading blasts with Sith while Rowdy was plugged into the data socket. He was chirping and rocking back and forth on his treads in what looked suspiciously close to frustration. The newcomers added their own fire to the fight, and dropped next to Luke and Corran behind the counter. "Problems?" Ben asked.
"You could say that," Luke said, almost having to yell over the noise. "Rowdy seems to think that all of the interface panels have been disabled."
"So? It’s not like we can get out there to use another one anyway."
"No,” Corran said, dropping back behind the counter and ejecting his useless power cell. "You’re not understanding. It’s not just the hangar stations that are disabled. It’s all of them. In the entire Jedi Temple."
Jaina cursed internally, but she was too busy firing at Sith to answer. Jysella did that instead. "Then how are we going to lower the shields? And get the blast doors open?"
No one spoke for a moment, then Ben said, "There’s only one way, at least if we want to open them all at once." He turned toward the corner of the parts locker, where Valin was dragging his lightsaber blade through the durasteel wall, just putting the final touches on the bolt-hole. "Rowdy needs to talk directly to the Temple computer."
Luke nodded. "We need to enter the computer core itself. And you can bet the Sith will be expecting us."
[NFB, NFI, OOC and sighing at Ben okay. Dialogue and some bits taken from Apocalypse by Troy Denning, who's gotten only marginally better at fight-planning.]