Death Throes

[daemonomicon]

The battle raged on, but while the crew fought valiantly, the Ohm continued to come at them at full force.

Something had to be done, or they would soon be overrun.

Cargn, ever thinking of the larger picture, had released his familiar, Unit XXVI, at the beginning of the battle. It flew high above the battlefield, watching, waiting, searching for one

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Thread Move: Rogue Three Down

[ladyofthesands]

ARHA MASAARI

Pop. Pop. Pop.

Arha knew that was a bad sound and it was worse when her engines died. Her head ached and she was dizzy and she was suddenly aware that her stabilizer had just rattled half way off. Without her droid to tack it back on, she knew it was going to be a hell of a ride.

She was headed planet side, in free fall.

"Rogue Leader, this is Three, I am going down," she said, keeping her voice as clear and calm as possible. "My stabilizer has popped, two engines are down. I repeat. I am going planet side." She tried a reboot processes as heat slammed into and around her cockpit on reentry.

She fired her remaining thrusters and managed to slow the wild spinning as the black spots floating in front of her vision gave way to a hazy gray mist that threatened black at the edges of her vision. She calculated her approach, and tried to pull up as much she could as the landmass slammed into view. Arha felt the landing stick, but it was rough and she could feel the way the landing gear protested.

Arha finally felt the X-Wing shudder to a stop and went limp in her straps as darkness crashed down on her.

KYLE KATARN
There was nothing Kyle could do. He had to watch her X-Wing on the scope as it went down. Reaching out in the Force he managed to find her. Even in all this noise, and battle she stood out in the Force like a beacon. At least he knew she was alive. Hopefully she didn't get too banged up in the crash. Pushing through his worries he focused back on the fight. He couldn't afford to think about it anymore. The battle was still raging, and they had a lot more fighting to do. Wedge would inform the recovery teams, and they'd get her back to Stacy safe.

At least they damn well better.

DARTH VADER

Across the battlefield, Vader heard a familiar crash and turned. He smirked as the ship spiraled out of the sky and made an inelegant landing (just short of a crash really). He had heard enough about the Rogues to know that, whether or not they were on his 'side' now, he was not a fan.

The presence emanating from the cockpit felt familiar--

Vader crushed a remaining grunt with much more force than was necessary. It was Arha, and she had the gall to still be alive. He would not be able to leave her there-- Luke would know if he did. That boy knew everything, it seemed.

He trudged over to the downed ship, step by unwilling step.

[ladyofthesands]

Arha heard the snap-ping! and the tick, tick, tick as the metal gave a little from the rough descent. The shrill, buzzing alarm bled into her unconscious state, mixing with the shock of her other injuries. Her ribs throbbed from where her flight stick had jammed into them and her legs ached, but it was her head that overrode the other pain.

Arha's nose was still bleeding just enough to make her feel sick to her stomach and she tried to push the Force through her again as she listened to muffled explosions outside her canopy. Shoving herself back from the black of unconsciousness made her gasp as pain hit her sharply, like every single alarm in her body had gone off at once. It was a wet sound, that gasp, and she forced her eyes open as a skittering clanking sound skated against the thick metal and plasglass. She watched an Ohm grunt pause, slipping and sliding as it prepared to plunge a leg through the window and she inched her finger to press the release mechanism. The canopy shot open and sent the Ohm flying.

Arha got the straps half off before darkness slammed back down over her once more. The last thing she registered was Vader's presence.

[restoresbalance]

If that was the last thing she registered, she didn't see the green blade flashing outside her cockpit, nor feel the ripple of Force that sent the pieces flying out into the fray. He'd left Mara and Ben to the Shadow and gone back out into the body of the fighting, though he knew that one-on-one combat was more or less pointless at this point.

But the Force had led him here, and so, the wrecked X-Wing clear of grunts for now, Luke popped the canopy and reached in, grabbing Arha with both hands and pulling her clear of the crash webbing. "Arha!" he called, shaking her gently. "Arha, wake up!"

[ladyofthesands]

Somewhere inside the darkness she knew Luke's voice and tried to stir, to get herself back up through the black. It was a long process that consisted of sheer will and determination, but she managed to force her eyes open.

The left one was definitely bloodshot and looked frighteningly strange compared to her clear eye as she worked to focus on Luke's face. Her lips moved, but nothing save a slight questioning croak came out. The only thought she could form with any coherence was a muzzy: Tired.

She'd shot down her share of Ohm and a nap sounded brilliant.

[restoresbalance]

Luke bit his lip, hooking Arha under the arms and hauling her up onto the nose of the downed X-Wing. For now they were clear, but he wasn't sure how long that was going to last. Arha's word echoed around his mind. Tired. Well, that described Luke to a T, as well. His muscles ached, the scrapes and cuts he'd sustained burned as sweat dripped into them. And he was beginning to feel the effects of using the Force far too much.

But his friend was in danger. He would persevere, because preserving life was what Luke did for a living.

Closing his eyes, Luke reached out to Mara, brushing against her mind affectionately to get her attention before sending the mental image of where they were. He and Arha needed a pickup to a ship with some medical capabilities so he could make sure she was stable, and her X-Wing... well.

Luke reached out again, tentative, to his father's mind, making himself not recoil at the oily touch of the Dark Side, and sent an image of a ship taking Arha's damaged X-Wing in tow. He was pretty sure from what he'd seen of the readouts the repulsors could still function well enough to get off the ground, and if not, Vader could use the Force.

Lightsaber in hand, ready to use, Luke cradled Arha against his chest and waited. "Mara's coming to get us in the Shadow," he told her. "And Vader will be here for your X-Wing. It's gonna be okay, just hang in there!"

[jaded_jedi]

Mara touched his mind back, letting him know she was coming. It took her a bit, and quite a bit of fancy flying, but soon enough she was hovering over them.

She lowered the ramp and the ship sank a few feet closer to Luke and Arha. Mara's fingers were tight on the controls, her jaw clenched hard against all of her worry and nerves.

She brushes against her husband's mind again, urging him to get on, quickly.

[restoresbalance]

Luke shifted Arha so she was draped over his back, gathered the Force around him as he watched the slight motions of the Shadow, timed his jump, and sprang. It was a longer and higher jump than any normal human could have made, but Luke Skywalker had to earn his name somehow, and leaping about fulfilled part of it at least.

"We're on!" he called down the corridor leading toward the cockpit, and slapped the ramp controls. It closed beneath them. "I'm getting Arha some medical attention."

[ladyofthesands]

Arha wondered when the last time she had felt so heavy was. As her positioned changed and Luke jumped, she remembered the time when she had given the young Shai-Hulud his mercy death and she had been close to dying herself. This was not so bad as that, but the heaviness of her limbs was the same.

Unlike her childhood memory, Arha was mildly aware of the confines of the ship, of Mara in the cockpit and of Luke carrying her. She did her best to keep herself as awake as she could manage, but she fell back into darkness only to wake herself up in the next moment. Her head felt as if it were several sizes too tight even if she had used the Force to stop the worst of the bleeding. At the angle she hung, the bleed broke through again angrily, though she sped up her natural clotting response to try and stop it once more. Her bloodshot eye throbbed and the bruising had begun to take effect, leaving her eye puffy and swollen shut.

The cracked rib made it hard to breathe and the wheezing came a little worse before she slowed her breathing down as far as she could without shutting completely down. It wasn't quite a Jed-Eye healing trance. Not quite.

[jaded_jedi]

Mara programed the auto-pilot before throwing herself out of her chair and rushing into the medical bay, quick on the heels of her husband and her injured friend.

"Set her down gently--I'll get her on a monitor--"

[restoresbalance]

Luke laid Arha out carefully on the little cot, making sure Arha was covered with a blanket to keep her from going into shock. "She's hurt pretty badly, the crash slammed her around I think," he murmured. A spike of worry when Arha's breathing slowed, but the light of her life in the Force didn't flicker, and he relaxed. "Get her hooked up and I'll put her into a trance until we can get her back to Stacy for treatment."

[ladyofthesands]

Arha let her mind ease away from her body enough to let Luke know what she'd been up to--that included using the Force to slam the two Shrikes into their wingmates. With it came the effort behind the move that explained a great deal of her condition. The crash itself had caused the cracked rib and her head had bounced around more than a little.

The trance sounded fine to her and that came back with a soft wash of relief. She could let go if he was going to do that. She'd be safe.

[jaded_jedi]

Mara paused as the images of the battle were transferred to her husband. Looking across Arha's body, she met his eyes for half a second, worried reflected there.

She quickly finished hooking Arha up to the monitors, and an IV to be sure. Checking the read-outs to make sure everything was working properly, Mara nodded. "She's good."

[restoresbalance]

Luke brushed against Mara's mind again, reassuring her. Then he turned his attention back to Arha, leaning over and stroking her shoulder and arm, wrapping her in threads of Force and sending her deep into the trance. It would help begin to heal her injuries, at least until she could get to a proper medical facility.

"There," he said, sitting back--and catching himself as he swayed a little. He was tired, more tired than he'd been in a long time. "She'll be okay."

[jaded_jedi]

Mara was at his side, almost in an instant. "Don't--why don't you sit down?"

She didn't want both of them uselessly passed out. Her fingers were firm at his arm and chest. "C'mon."

[restoresbalance]

"We can sit down in the cockpit where I'll be useful," Luke said, draping an arm around her--partly to reaffirm she was there and okay, and partly to lean a little on her. "I don't think Arha's going anywhere fast."

[jaded_jedi]

"Okay." Mara nodded, leading him out. They move slowly through the ship, before making it to the cockpit. She made him sit, before she let go of him.

"You good?"